Lacrosse looks for a goal

by Lauren Scott

Despite a rocky start, the boys lacrosse team remains optimistic for the rest of their games this season.
At first, the team found it difficult to recruit new players. On top of that, the team was playing schools in higher divisions, so the idea of winning many games against large schools appeared hopeless.
Despite these weak spots, captain junior Jared Agnew said, “Chadwick lacrosse  is on the rise.”
Although the lacrosse team currently  has a 2-4 record, the season is still one of the best lacrosse seasons in Chadwick history.
“The season is going really well so far. After Coach Willison took over as head coach we got about 10 new players which has really made a difference in our season,” said junior Zach Goodman. “Compared to my last two years playing lacrosse at Chadwick, this is by far going to be our best season with the most talent.”
The players are most proud of their game against Joran High School. The boys lacrosse team won 15 to 0, the first shut out in the last two years.
Goodman said, “Even though the other team wasn’t the best competition, it was great to see all of us having fun with the victory.”
Similar to Goodman, Captain sophomore Jake Radeski said,  “We are very proud of [our win]. We did not let them score any goals thanks to Zach [Goodman] and our defense, and we scored a Chadwick record 15 goals thanks to [junior] Kyle Ulman and our offense.”
Over the course of the season, more players have joined, bringing the team even more success.
“The team itself is very talented and everyone works together very well,” said Radeski. “We are a very young team so we believe that next season we will do even better than this year and we have a very promising future.”

Softball hits a homerun

by Susan Wang

Winning for the sake of winning is not the goal for the girls softball team this season.
With seniors who strive to support and help younger players, the team feels that softball has been a great bonding experience.
Sophomore Molly Rowe says, “I love being a part of the team because it is relatively small, and I get to really know everyone on the team.”
Under the guidance and mentoring of coach Theresa Reyes, the team won against their rival, Westridge School, with a score of 11-8.
“[Coach Reyes] understands how we work, and she is able to have just as much fun as we do,” said captain senior Morgan Peterson.
Sometimes, all the lightheartedness on the field does not yield success in winning matches.
“Sometimes it doesn’t exactly help us win, but even when we’re losing, we are still laughing and having a great time on the field!” said Peterson.
Overall, the team bonding has many rewards, and the players are ecstatic about their close friendship.
“We have a lot of fun together, and we are all friends,” said senior Nicole Hutchison. “My favorite part of this season has been going to Yummy Yogurt with the team on Fridays.”
The team does have a priority in trying develop and grow as a team overall and as individual players.
Rowe said, “I’d really like to grow as a hitter. I definitely need more practice, and I’d really like to get better as the season goes on.”
Similarly, Hutchison hopes to contribute her all into her last season of softball at Chadwick: “My goal for the season is to help the team out however I can so we can do our very best.”

Volleyball teams sets the ball high on the way to CIF

by Amanda Long

The combination of newfound talent, awareness and determination has given the varsity boys volleyball team both a successful season so far and hope for further accomplishment.
The team has an overall score of 14-5, and is ranked as the number one team in Division 5 of Prep League.
“This is the first year we’ve ever had the number one ranking at any point,” said varsity  coach Michael Cass.
Junior James Lenihan said, “We’ve had some rough matches, but we’ve also had some pretty close ones too.”
Although all team members are skilled individually, unity among the team members is slightly lacking.  The volleyball players have not yet formed the strong bonds that make a team.
Cass said, “I think this is one of the more talented teams, but I don’t think they’re playing as cohesively as other teams yet.”
Co-captain and senior Ryan Hood agreed: “The chemistry just needs to be there. The team worked together great last year and we’re still struggling to get it this year.”
The team has struggled with the loss of core team members. “We had [alumni] John Scott ‘10, Faheem Qazi ‘10 and Steve Sinclair ‘10, who all were huge emotional parts of our team,” said Hood.
The three provided the team with amusement, calmness and focus, as well as leadership.
Leaders have yet to rise on the team, which is negatively impacting their connection. Hood said, “We need to combine as one big team: bench players and players who are on the court.”
The team’s lack of harmony has manifested itself through more noticeable attitudes. Sophomore Jordan Lucier said, “A weakness would probably just be staying positive and not dwelling on the mistakes we make.”
Additionally, the team feels that they lack in energy on the court sometimes. freshman Tyler Colon said, “One of the weaknesses is that we don’t always have enough energy.”
“Everybody’s good at volleyball: there is no doubt in my mind, but we just need to be a lot more positive and need to focus all of our skill into a single team rather than as individuals,” said Hood. “You realize that the teams that aren’t that great are the ones who are not as emotional and who aren’t as enthusiastic.”
The team believes that the minute moments can make or break a game or season.  Cass said, “It’s really about being able to focus on all of the minor things as well that make the difference when you’re playing a top team.”
Similarly, Hood believes that focus is a fundamental detail: “If everybody focuses on the team then it’ll help the leadership and it’ll help the chemistry as well,” said Hood.
Enthusiasm is one of the most crucial parts in establishing a strong sense of team unity, but their enthusiasm should not be solely based on the team scoring a point agianst their opponents.
Cass said, “I always like a team to respond to winning or losing a point the same way.”
The team also has new players senior Larry Feygin and Colon to bolster the team’s lineup.
Addressing an issue is the first step to solving it, and the team is determined to solve their problems as they continue to have great expectations. The team  is already projected to strongly compete in the CIF final round.
“These guys have kind of a very high bar to meet, but with that being said, I mean they have a very legitimate shot at winning CIF,” said Cass.
The team aspires to even greater heights than CIF finals this year. The team hopes to compete on a higher level after CIF. Hood said, “We want to compete at state again this year.”

Boys tennis serves yet another ace

by Alex Nguyen-Phuc

Despite the realitively small size of the team, boys tennis shows potential early in the league season.
Only a few league games into the season, coaches Rob Fronauer and Carolyn Leach comment, “We’re still figuring out our strengths and line-up for singles and doubles. We have some depth and options as to how we are going to organize the season.”
Currently, the team has a record of 3-5, undefeated in league play. Sophomore Jackson Belcher commented, “We have had a rough start since last year we started out 5-2.”
Last year, the team went 11-3, undefeated in league, but lost           in     the first round of CIF.
Sophomore Maximilian Hawkins said, “Our team this year is more focused and determined to win than last year. I think we are a bit better.”
According to senior and team captain, Saagar Shah, “The team is strong as always and we are improving rapidly, so it will be easy to make it into the playoffs as first in league”.
Director of Chadwick athletics, Rollie Johnson has high hopes for the team.  Johnson says, “I think Maximilian Hawkins is going to kill everyone.”
Freshman Derek Char agreed that Hawkins is a strong key player on the team.
Char says, “The hardest match was the one against Peninsula since Max lost. That doesn’t happen.”
The main difference between last year’s team and this year’s team is most likely the team size. Despite the fact that the team lost some important members when the previous seniors on the team graduated, it has gained new important figures such as sophomore Matt Sumen who says, “We have to improve on our serves and most of all, our mental game.” Other new players include senior Conor Dawson, junior Jasper Burns, as well as six additional freshmen.
Even  with this new crop, there are less than twenty students on the team, making the team significantly smaller than last year’s team. Earlier in the season, matches were being played with just a varsity team. Hawkins had even gone on to say, “Three more guys need to come out for tennis so we can have a junior varsity team.” Though three more guys never went out for tennis, the coaches eventually split the team. This means there are few subs for varsity and junior varsity plays with only eight members, one tennis player short of the typical three singles and three doubles teams line-up. But the bright side of having such small numbers is that players get more time on the court, which not all players from last year’s team got to enjoy.  Even those who are playing tennis competitively, like freshman Derek Char, do not mind sharing the playing time. Char says, “Being a freshman on the team doesn’t really feel that different except they don’t care as much about us messing up during the games.”
However, having such an undersized team has meant that bonding between the players has reached a new extreme. They bonded over making freshman Zach Herbst bring baked good for the entire team because he forgot a history textbook after an away game before league play started. “I forgot to make cookies and had to convince my mom to go out and buy some before practice.” said Herbst. Even Coach Rob took part in torturing this freshman by forcing him to run laps because he forgot to bring a sweatshirt to a game. But Belcher clarified: “We like to joke around a lot, like when my partner Saagar and I sing songs during practices. But we get very serious during matches.”
The new level of team bonding has helped the team to become closer with each other, which is important considering that tennis is a sport the requries a high amount of trust between team players during play time.
However, some of the best moments of this year’s season did not occur on the court at practice or during the matches. Many of the top memorable team experiences have happened during the bus rides.  According to Hawkins, Matt Sumen can really rock out to his iPod, especially when he thinks no one is watching.
The bus rides to practice and to matches have given the team even more time to bond and get to know one another.
With such a small team, the team can enjoy the bus ride experiences together instead of in separate smaller groups.
Though they may have had their doubts, the team has been able to turn its small size into an advantage.

Golf gets a “hole in one” on the course this spring season

by Lauren Scott

Small, but mighty, Chadwick’s boys golf team has a good chance at making it far this spring season. In comparison to an inconsistent past, the team is back on track and headed in the right direction again.
Mike Galloway, the Chadwick golf team coach, says, “This team is starting to rival the great teams Chadwick has had in its past.”
“This year could end up being one of the better years in Chadwick Golf’s history,” says junior Michael Stone, captain of the golf team. For a while, Chadwick’s golf team was one of the best teams in the South Bay. However, in 2009 and 2010, Chadwick has had a hard time bringing in wins.
“Last year, we were younger and had some injuries. Our League record was 0-10, 1-10 overall. The year before that we were 2-8 in league,” says Coach Mike Galloway.
However this year, the golf team hopes to make their way back up to the excellent team it used to be—and it seems to be heading in that direction. The Chadwick boys golf team has a tough road ahead of them playing large schools in Bay League like South Torrance, Mira Costa, Peninsula, Redondo Union and West Torrance. However, they have a great shot in finishing first this year.
So far this season, the team has had much success. They have won all of their home games and even an away game making them 3-2 in league. The team is already in third place out of eight teams after winning most of their games as well. The boy’s golf team has also made a goal to make it to CIF, with strong contributors like  Stone and others leading the way. If they win the rest of their matches, Chadwick has a chance to become co-champions or even win Bay League. Advancing far in CIF Individual Competition is another goal for some this season.
Not only has this golf season brought success in golf games, but also in the strong bond between the players. There are a few, but great personalities added to the golf team that help contribute to the relaxed and friendly chemistry between teammates. “They’ve created strong, new friendships and helped strengthen existing ones, and they help make everyone want to play better,” Stone says.
Even newcomers to the team found a nice niche in the team bond. Freshman Michael Duan says, “It is easy to fit in.”
As far as strengths, the team has a lot of depth. Any of the top seven on the team can get the lowest score of the game so if someone has an off day, he can depend on his teammates for a good score. The only weakness Galloway says is that the team is young and they don’t have any seniors on the varsity team, however this will change for next year.
Stone says, “I just want to thank the people who have shown support for Chadwick Golf, and I hope we can continue to represent Chadwick well for the rest of the season.”

Swim teams aim high, look to win league title

by Montana Morgan

Off to a swift and steady start, the swim team held their Spirit Day competing against Flintridge Prepratory School and the Webb Schools.
The girls swim team began the meet with a resounding and gratifying win against Flintridge.
“Flintridge is a very good team to play when we want to boost our self-esteem,” said captain junior Elyse Werksman.
However, the girls team did lose to one of their top rivals, Mayfield, who took the league title last year.
“Mayfield has quite an army of swimmers, but there were still some good races,” said coach Diane Gallas. “ We won a lot of events, but we just didn’t have as much depth as they did.”
“We were all kind of broken down that meet. We’ve been doing a lot of really tough practices, so none of us are really peaking yet, but we were happy with how it went,” said Werksman.
Werksman also has high hopes for the future of the girls team.
“There are a lot of girls that are trying to go below a minute in the 100 [meter] free [style], which is a really big feat, so I’m really excited to see [how they do],” said Werksman.
The girls team will have to compete and win against a myriad of solid and seasonedprep league teams.
Captain junior Matty Gallas is optimistic about the girls’ chances and believes Chadwick can do it, “The girls will have to beat some strong competitors like Poly, Westridge, and Mayfield, who all have very good club swimmers and deep teams; however, I’d say the girls have a good chance at winning.”
“Last year the girls were third in league, so this year we would like to try to get second,” said  coach Gallas, “And it would be nice to qualify two relays and four individual girls for CIF.”
As a Division II team, Chadwick will have to compete among the best teams in the area. The swimmers must compete against larger schools with many club swimmers like Mira Costa High School and Oaks Christian School.
But a league title may not be far out of reach for the boys swim team. They will be aiming for their second straight title in a row.
“Even though we lost Kurt [Buchbinder ‘10], our team is just as strong, if not stronger,” said Matty Gallas. “Personally, I would be surprised if we didn’t win league.”
A league title is fully within reach according to their results from the tri-meet. The team beat Flintridge with little trouble and ultimately finished with first place in the meet.
“We were a little worried about Flintridge because they apparently had a few new freshman who swam club,” said Diane Gallas. “But we won pretty easily and everyone raced well.”
The mere idea of stronger competitors even sparked competition in the boys swim team, and they challenged themselves to swim even faster against Flintridge’s club team members.
Coach Gallas said, “This is my third year coaching at Chadwick and this is the best team I’ve had in the three years that I’ve been here as far as a well rounded good team and good dedication.”

Jaye Buchbinder: runner extraordinaire

Mainsheet: So tell me about your sports.
Jaye Buchbinder: Ok well, I do cross country and track, and they both entai how fast you can run a certain distance. I like track more because of the crowds there, there is so much more energy, there are no hills, which is really nice because cross country hills are like the worst part. Although it is not with a team, overall, the team points count. For me, it is the purest form of a sport, because there are no balls or nets, just you and the ground and your feet.
MS: How long have you been running?
JB: Well, my parents used to force me to do the long beach fun-run every year, which is two miles, and that started like since I was born. They used to take me with them, and then I started to do a few 5K’s, like in 6th grade I would jog them. Then, I did track in middle school, but I though it was a joke. Then, I started cross country in my freshmen year, my mom made me. Actually, she told me that if I wanted to do water polo then I would have to try cross country, and I loved it.  I also did track, but I didn’t take it seriously. Sophomore year is when I really started to get serious about track.
MS: Why do you like to run so much?
JB: I don’t know. I think it kind of gives my life a different dimension. It gives me a way to get away from everything else, and at the same time it’s something I know that if I put work in I will get results, and it’s always been faithful to me. I think it just gives me an outlet to get rid of all my stress, and everything around me. It’s just kind of been amazing to watch my whole life progression in times.
MS: How often do you run?
JB: I run everyday. So, the last time I took a break was, well actually, I took a break this week because my foot was bothering me, but I usually run seven days a week or a swim the seventh day, and I run for about an hour. The most I have ever run is an hour and fifteen minutes.
MS: Do you often run with other people?
JB: Yes, most of the time it is with the team, but sometimes in Long B
each I run alone and put on my headset.
MS: Do you like to run with your friends or your family more?
JB: I would say a mix of the two. My dad and I run a lot together, which is kind of cool and special. My mom can’t really keep up anymore. But, she was an amazing runner.  She went to the Olympic trials for the marathon. So, she and my brother run together. It’s kind of like a fun family thing too.
MS: But whom do you like to run with the most?
JB: That’s a tough one. I would say that my favorite people to run with are when it’s a whole group of us from Chadwick. Lately its been so much fun with me, Evan [Hamilton], Alec [Borsook], Lucas [Lebovitz], Sam Cartwright and [coach Tyson] Sacco. We have so much fun on our runs.
MS: Do you know how many meets you have been to?
JB: I would say around twelve per season. Twenty-four per year, and this is, like, my fourth year. I would have to say more than 100.
MS: Wow, that’s a lot.
JB: I never realized that until now.
MS: When you go to college do you think you are going to continue to run?
JB: Yes, I am definitely going to continue to run.
MS: Do you ever feel stressed having to juggle both school and running?
JB: Oh yes! All the time! It doesn’t stress me out the fact that I have to run. It’s mostly just a big time commitment with all the meets that take up all of Saturdays, and I always have to fit in extra time to run later. But running is nice because there is only so much time you can run before getting injured. So it is not like football style all-day practices.
MS: Do you know how many awards you have received?
JB: No idea.
MS: Do you have an award you are most proud of?
JB: I would have to say the award I am most proud of is the award I got when I am a freshman. I got the unsung hero award on the cross country team. I wasn’t the best girl, but it showed that no matter what speed you are, you contribute to the team, which really meant a lot.
MS: Robert Leach told me to ask you where you keep all your awards.
JB: I keep them in my closet, or in a zip-lock where I keep my medals, and I put that in a box after every season.
MS: Do you know how many records you have set?
JB: I have the eight hundred, the fifteen hundred, the sixteen hundred, the thirty-two hundred, distance medley relay and the triple jump.
MS: Who do you think is your number one supporter?
JB: I would say my parents for sure. They go to every one of my meets. They are always there, and they have never said any negative word whether or not it was a good or bad meet, but I also think Sacco and Ramos. They are huge Jaye-Supporters, which is nice knowing that your coaches support you.
MS: Do you ever wish you could do a different sport other than running?
JB: Definitely! Running is based on how much pain you can handle. Like, sometimes I wish I did volleyball, which not saying volleyball is easy, but I would be with a lot of friends and I would have a lot of fun and I would maybe be more coordinated than I am now!
MS: Do you have any secret ambitions?
JB: Well, actually it’s not so secret. I want to go to the Olympics.  At least be a contender. I think that would be an amazing. There’s so much I want to do, and so much I want to accomplish. It’s kind of daunting.
MS: Name three things no one knows about you!
JB: Sometimes, I freak out before races. So, I end up tying and untying my shoes. Just to make sure they are absolutely perfect. Sometimes when I am in the shower, I’ll see a mosquito on the wall and get some water and shoot it at the bug, and I’ll kill it.  I’m also really good at killing flies with my hands.
MS: Finally, a lot of people would like to know how long your legs are.
JB: Well, when I was going into ninth grade, I had my huge growth spurt where I grew six inches, but I only grew one inch in my torso and five inches in my legs. I am assuming they are like one foot, two feet, like four feet maybe. I don’t know. Something around that.

Track gets off to a fast start with new records

by Margot Zuckerman

Chadwick Track and Field kicks off the season with a record-setting season.
In the team’s first eight meets, seven school records were set. Junior Sam Cartwright broke the 800-meter record twice, and seniors Alec Borsook and Jaye Buchbinder set new boys’ and girls’ 3200- meter records. Both boys’ and girls’ teams broke Distance Medley Relay records and are on their way to breaking the 1600-meter relay records, and the boys have broken the record for the 4×400-meter relay.
Sophomore Sam Speroni also has competed in pole vaulting this season, which is an event that many Chadwick athletes participate in during track and field.  However, just by attempting the event, pole vaulters are able to earn points for their team in league meets.  This season, Speroni has broken the pole vault record.
“[So far,] our team has done outstanding,” said Buchbinder. “[Coach Tyson] Sacco has really raised the level of competition and is really instigating change in the distance program that has paid off.”
Although Sacco has been involved with Track and Field for a long time, this season is his first season as a full team coach for the distance runners on the team.
The team’s success is owed in part to Buchbinder herself, who has broken four Chadwick records and now hopes to win state in the 800-meter and the 3200-meter events this season.
Buchbinder has already qualified for the National Championships in the mile and two-mile this season.  She is currently ranked 10th in California in the mile and 8th in California in the two-mile.  Her goal is to be in the top five in the nation in all of her events.
Another exciting factor in this year’s team is the large number of new runners, said Coach Sacco. ”We have freshmen and sophomores that have never raced before on the team, and some of them have improved their times in every single race. It is cool to see future star Chadwick runners at the start of their careers!”
Several underclassmen, including freshman Ben Bush and sophomores Moises Valencia and Evan Hamilton, are currently running as fast or faster than Borsook (the current school record holder in the two-mile) did when he was in 9th and 10th grade.
“They could be next!” Sacco said. “The same thing goes for a big group of 9th and 10th-grade girls. They are amazed to see Jaye Buchbinder competing with the best female runners in the nation. What they don’t realize is that she started out just like them, and if they keep working hard and love the sport, they can get to her level, too.”
Of course, in order to obtain this level of excellence, many practice sessions this season have been noticeably hard.
Buchbinder said, “Although we’ve been working really hard, practice every day is so much fun, and I can’t wait to see some new records!”

Leadership group hosts Special Olympics

by Michael Duan

More than three million disabled athletes from over one hundred fifty countries compete annually at the Special Olympics. These olympians compete in similar events as the regular Olympics; however, they all compete with a significant physical handicap.
In the beginning week of April, students competed in Special Olympics events hosted by seniors Dana Ayoob, Harrison Kidd and junior Erin Owen for their leadership class project.
The Chadwick Special Olympics was a series of events and mini-games where participating students would engage in activities where one or more of their body parts would be disabled with the aid of tools such as crutches or blindfolds, making the games much harder.
“We got the idea for these events because we followed a Special Olympics basketball team for about two months, watching and filming their practices. We made the footage was used in documentary we made about sports in our community,” said Ayoob.  “We gained an appreciation for handicapped, mental and physical, sports through our experience and wanted to share it with Chadwick.
The group hopes to donate sizable profits from their fundraisers to the charity they have spent so much time supporting.
“We are either donating to Mychals learning place or the special Olympics program,” said Kidd. “They both use the money to buy new equipment and expand their program.”
Each of the sports required the particpants to have a physical handicap. The students participated in events ranging from wheelchair competitions, crutch soccer, and blind softball.
The additional crutches, wheelchairs  and blindfolds made it difficult for players to follow the new rules. Immediately, participating students were wholly disorientated and were forced to improvise for the special scenario.
The required skill and endurance needed to participate in the actual Special Olympics as a professional disabled athlete truly shone after student spectators surveyed the matches.
“It was an amazing sight to behold. At first, I was thinking, where was the beeping coming from?” said Freshman Dominic Grande. “Then, I saw these upperclassmen tossing a beeping ball while blindfolded. I think these events are the highlights of the year. The Special Olympics event allowed us students to empathize with the actual Special Olympics athletes and see what challenges they had to overcome, and how strong they have to be to cross each and every obstacle.”
Kidd said, “Our goal was to get the student body to realize the greater significance of sports in every part of our community, and I had a lot of players come up to me and say it was a lot harder than they thought, which was good.”
Freshman Wayne Chou said, “[These events really relieved the stress caused by the massive numbers of homework our teachers assigned us. The school and its students should organize more of these events, as not only does it enlighten us, it also provides a good source of entertainment and variety.”
On the last day of the event, the leadership group held a barbecue in order to raise donations for organizations that raise much-needed funds for special needs sports. Kidd cooked barbecue to raise
“What I think is the most amazing thing is that ordinary students could organize such an event,” said sophomore David Harris. “Beneath all the fun and games of the events, I feel that the week allowed us to appreciate special sports, and the real Special Olympics. Not very many people I know personally know too much about it, and I definitely know for a fact that it is not as universally known as the main, regular Olympic Games.”
Overall, the leadership group fulfilled their goals.
“[Sports] allow kids and adults with special needs to feel equal and make new friends. Sports allow everyone, disabled or not, to have fun, make new friends, and get exercise,” said Kidd.

Shark Tank: Should students still read “Three Cups of Tea”?

PRO–Zack Blickensderfer

I actually liked the first 153 pages of Three Cups of Tea. Sure, I join most of my peers in finding the other 200 pages sappy and, sorry David Relin, poorly written. But those first 12 chapters I really enjoyed. I liked the story of how this nobody, coasting through life could become a hero. His Horatio Alger-meets-Mother Teresa story made me believe in the potential of the individual. So, like many others, I was gravely disappointed when I heard that the efforts of Greg Mortenson and his Central Asia Institute (CAI) were now being called into question.
The charges made against Mortenson fall into two categories: misappropriation and lies. He has been accused of misuse of the CAI’s funds and disorganization in the construction of his schools in the Middle East. His stories in Three Cups of Tea have been accused of fabrication—especially those involving his K2-disaster-turned-humanitarian-mission and his kidnapping (except not) by the Taliban (except not).
I make no effort to cloak these accusations in any cosmetic protection for Mortenson. Some completely denounce Mortenson, like Mansur Khan Mahsud, who, after being accused of being a member of the Taliban in the book, calls it “lies from A to Z.” Others say that his work has shown no mismanagement, no lies, and no scandal. Personally, I believe the truth is in between. But the legitimacy of Mortenson’s shortcomings isn’t what I find so debatable in this issue; how we should react is the true question. What should we think of Mortenson now? It all comes back to that one thing that annoyed us students all summer: the book. Should we still read his book, despite the charges against it? I say yes, and I divide my defense of our tea-drinking crusader into three parts:
1: He could do worse. Mortenson did not break into the Watergate Hotel. He did not take steroids, and he certainly didn’t sleep with Monica Lewinski. His lies in Three Cups of Tea were immoral (and unnecessary, seeing as the book still wasn’t very good with them). But that’s all they were: embellishments, maybe thought up by Relin, for the purpose of selling more copies of the book to raise funds for CAI. As for his misuse of those funds, I am not surprised. Mortenson never got a business degree—how could he be qualified to run a multi-million dollar non-profit corporation? It’s not reasonable to expect him to be flawless. And if you want to raise a hand at Mortenson for his charity’s mismanagement, why take a look at your local United Way, whose CEO pocketed $1,037,000 last year.
2: From a literary perspective, it’s okay. We don’t stop reading Lord of the Flies because (spoiler alert) Roger kills Piggy. As we have done in years of English classes, we look past these actions to find the deeper meaning in the story. Purely from a literary standpoint, why wouldn’t we do the same with Three Cups of Tea? Do accusations from outside forces alter what Mortenson was ultimately trying to say? I don’t think so.
3: Deeper meaning, emotions, blah blah blah. What I got out of the book is this: an individual can change the world. What I loved about those first pages was that Mortenson told us how he managed to build a school. He tells us how one man rose from obscurity and changed the world. That story, which is not being accused of fabrication, is proof that one man can accomplish what he sets out to do. And that is a message worthy of being read.

CON–Austin Welch

I think that I am with most fellow Chadwick students when I say that the book Three Cups of Tea isn’t the most action-packed thriller to hit shelves. It isn’t even close, but it does give an inspiring story of one man’s attempted journey to the top of the world. That’s why when I found out that the book was fabricated I was very upset. Not because I care too much about Greg Mortenson, but because we read an entire book that was untrue. Now, let it be known that only a few things are allegedly false in the book and last year there was $11.67 billion in sales of fictional books. That still doesn’t excuse the fact that the stories were fabricated and passed off as true. The book might have been a okay fiction book but instead Greg Mortenson used it to create his Central Asian Institute (CAI).
The CAI has also been subject to much scrutiny. One of the biggest accusations is about the mismanagement of funds. Only 41% of donations make it to the schools and of that, there have been reports that money is being misused. The money is used to build the schools, but the village must maintain them by their own means. When the community can no long keep up the school, they start using it for storage. So, an American who gave $10,000 to build a school in war-torn Pakistan is really donating a very expensive storage shed. Those accusations are terrible because there are children in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other places the CAI works who do need an education.
We have it really good here at Chadwick. When we graduate we aspire to go to a great university. In the places where the CAI works the best job you can get for most people is as a terrorist. At least you know that your family will be taken care of when you die. The point I’m making is that just because Greg Mortenson lied doesn’t mean the action he was taking wasn’t necessary. Keep the stories from the book alive, even if they are made up. The children are still out there. The CAI can still save itself. 41% isn’t even close to the worst operating cost compared to some charities. After 9/11 the Red Cross only got 30% of the over $500 million those who needed it, and they didn’t have to send it half way across the world. My point is that if the CAI still functions and Greg Mortenson leaves, I see no reason why they can’t keep helping and why you shouldn’t keep supporting them. Greg Mortenson is a different matter.
Greg Mortenson is stealing money that he shouldn’t have. A shocking fact is that the books sales of Mortenson’s books don’t go to the CAI. The CAI pays everything from the privet jet to the advertising to the actual printing of the book. That is right, not the profits from the book, but the CAI pays for the printing of the book. 1.6 million dollars from the last filing period alone. A New York Times best seller is living up to its charitable reputation. Instead it goes right into his pocket for his spending discretion. That is the reason no one should ever teach this book. Teach the stories of people who are actually there and fighting to survive. Donate to those people and make their lives easier. Give them an education so they can pass it on to their children. The story of the CAI, Three Cups of Tea and Greg Mortenson is not yet done. We could find out that 60 Minutes is wrong and he really was kidnapped. We could find out that the CAI is really the CIA working to find terrorists and this is all a big government conspiracy. We don’t know yet so stay informed. The people of the world need your help and this is no excuse to ignore them.

Music Moguls: Black’s ‘Friday’

by Ryan Duncan and Kyle Ulman

On February 10, singing sensation Rebecca Black released her critically acclaimed new single, “Friday.” Coming from mere obscurity, this luscious teen idol has the looks and charm of a Taylor Swift, yet the ambition and sexiness of a Miley Cyrus. This new pop sensation has hit YouTube and iTunes by storm and is on the verge of global stardom.
Born on June 21, 1997 in Anaheim Hills, she struggled as a youth. Raised in the hills by a pack of Coyotes, she learned the way of the dog. Her normal diet consisted of small mammals that she ate whole as well as grasses and other shrubbery.
But at age ten, much to her dismay, she learned that she was not in fact a coyote. At age 11, she grew so different from her Coyote brethren, that she felt distanced and alone. This is when she claimed that she discovered her musical talents. When feeling alone, she would crawl up the tallest peak in the Anaheim Hills, and howl at the moon. On one of these solemn nights, musical producer Maurice Starr was feeding gazelle when he heard a voice as beautiful as that of the Sirens of the Aegean. He immediately signed her to a record twenty year, one billion-dollar contract.
From the point of her signing, it took Rebecca a mere two years to come up with the lyrical masterpiece of “Friday,” as well as its wonderfully aesthetic music video. The song begins with Rebecca howling, which seems to be a tribute to her coyote roots. Rebecca is then pictured springing out of bed and spewing lyrics so fast she makes Busta Ryhmes look like Barry Manilow. She proceeds to the bus stop where her friends happen to offer her a ride.
With this, Rebecca is confronted with the timeless question that only Socrates and Plato would attempt to answer: which seat should she take? Usually the most common solution would be to take the only available seat in the car, but Rebecca dares to explore other options. She decides to take the back seat, and in an obvious middle finger to authority, she stands erect. And if this isn’t enough of a perturbation, an obviously unlicensed ten-year-old is pictured driving the car with one hand.
In the next scene, Rebecca is shown rolling up to a huge house party, where she continues to howl her little heart out. This leads to the heart and soul of the song where Rebecca reminds us all that when it is Friday, the day before is Thursday and the next day is Saturday with Sunday following immediately after. This line of the song is especially appreciated because it shows the contrast of “Friday’s” artistic lyrics compared to the corporate idiocracy of today’s mainstream music.
The song culminates with a featured performance by the fifty-year-old Maurice “Show Me The Money” Starr as he races in his car to make it in time for Junior High house party. Overall, we believe Rebecca Black’s “Friday” was a huge success. With its timeless lyrics and rhythmic beat, “Friday” can easily be known as the song of our generation.
Nevertheless, the Music Moguls can not wait for her upcoming album, which is dropping in 2012.

How to say goodbye and look forward to the future

by Nicole Stanton

Seniors, we’re nearly done. The Senior Sleepover, Senior Trip, Graduation – it’s all coming at us at full speed. The word “last” has been on all of our minds the past week. Last assembly, last Chadwick performance, last day of class, last test, last free period breakfast, last carpool and so on.
Some of the “lasts” are more welcomed than others. I am sure we all are looking forward to shedding the tremendous workload that has been on our shoulders the past four years. It seems as though Chadwick has forcefully exiled any and all “Senioritis” for the last week of school. We are reminded of how hard we have had to work to get where we are, and that the work is not over until we walk through those graduation gates.
Other “lasts” are much less welcome. Especially those “lasts” that are completely unique to our Chadwick experience. Those “lasts” we will never come by again are much more difficult to let pass. Never again will we sit in the amphitheater surrounded by the entire Chadwick student body, listening to the weekly announcements, including everything from Kapple Facts to Dr. B. giving away flowers. We will have few more opportunities to just sit with our friends on the lawn.
This is the last time we will go to a school where everyone knows us by name, and where our guard is down. We will never again attend a school that contains all of the Chadwick friends we have come to know and love.
Even though those “lasts” are somewhat heartbreaking, the fact that we are leaving has not seemed to hit us quite yet. The gravital finality of the situation as of yet seems unreal.
When the Class of 2010 had their Senior Sleepover, it seemed as if we were more upset than they were. I distinctly remember our grade, in particularly me, crying miserably while our favorite 2010’s comforted us, decked in their college sweatshirts. I now realize why that happened.
As juniors, watching the seniors leave, we only could comprehend an “end” when leaving Chadwick. We understood that they were done with high school and that idea was depressing to us. Now, however, we are in their position, and the finality is closing in. Yes, we have an end very near in sight, but we also have a beginning. One chapter is closing and another is starting right away.
While the knowledge of a new beginning may not be enough to console us entirely, it at least helps a bit. The excitement of a new school and new life has held back the tears and sadness for a long while. When we see each other in our college sweatshirts it will be nearly impossible to only think of the end. Although we are going our separate ways, we still are together in a sense. Yes, our destinations lie in dozens of different cities and states, but all of them are somewhat the same.
We have spent the last four years, some even more, together. In spending this much time with a class so small, we have all witnessed each other change and grow. We have seen the good and the bad, and everything in between. It is undeniable that we are entirely different from our freshman selves. While this change is mostly individual, we are also highly affected and molded by our friends, classmates, and teachers. Not in a negative way, but in a way that allows us to find the best parts of ourselves. We all have molded each other in some way and because of this, we all move on together. Physically we will no longer be present on the small campus that has become our second home, but we take a little bit of everyone along with us, towards whatever our next step may be.
This is the first significant end most of us have had in our lives. High school is over, we’re moving away from home, and we are starting our newly independent lives. This is a big one, but we will have many more “ends,” and even more “lasts” ahead of us. We must acknowledge and accept the end of every great thing, and give it what it deserves.
We can’t waste the last bit of time we have here focusing on the sadness of leaving. Instead, we can focus on the fact that we all are moving forward to an exciting beginning. As we say goodbye to Chadwick, we can find solace in the next step we take together.

Top Ten Songs of all time

by Jared Agnew, Matty Gallas and Blake Range

We listen to music just about everyday.  We hear some good songs and some bad songs, but very few great songs. So what makes a song a classic?  This week we decided to uncover the top 10 greatest songs of all time and find out.

1. Afternoon Delight by Starland Vocal Band
If you’ve ever heard this timeless classic, then you will agree that it deserves to be on our list. Whether you prefer the vocals of Will Ferrell in Anchorman, or those of the Glee cast, this song is a must-have in any iTunes library.
2. Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees
This song owes its fame, in part to Saturday Night Fever, but also to the fact it is one of the catchiest songs out there. Literally everyone has heard this song and danced along at least once. Whether you’re 7 or 70, this song is, and forever will be, one of the greatest of all time.
3. Numa Numa by Ozone
The only way we know this song is from the Youtube video, and if you don’t know what we’re talking about just search Numa Numa. This song is a necessity on our top ten due to its ability to captivate any listener. Seriously, this song is the paragon of stuck-in-head music.
4. I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry
This song is awesome, and it’s either because Katy Perry is a great singer and songwriter, or because she’s smokin’ hot and this music video supports that claim. Our senses say the latter, but the choice is up to you.
5. Thriller by Michael Jackson
He was and still is the King of Pop. His music is played everywhere by everyone.  Thriller, without a doubt, is his most iconic song and deserves to be revered as one of the greatest.
6. Hey Ya by OutKast
Hey Ya is one of the greatest lyrical masterpieces in the last 100 years. The song has everything from cooking advice, “lend me some sugar, I am your neighbor,” to photographic suggestions “shake it like a Polaroid picture.” Such a song is fixture in our a top ten and any party playlist.
7. Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira
As many of you may already know, Shakira has fantastic hips, and similar to Katy Perry, Shakira has an incredible music video.  Her looks alone could have gotten her onto our top ten. Don’t even pretend like you disagree.
8. Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival
This famous song seems to appear in almost every Vietnam related movie. The iconic image of a sleeveless, tan and young soldier seated on the edge of a helicopter in the baking sun comes to the mind whenever this song plays.
9. My Humps by Black Eyed Peas
This famous beat reminds us of the awkward moments at a Middle School dances when everyone danced in a circle of twenty people like complete idiots—its funny to look back on now. However, Middle-Schoolers were not the only ones dancing to this song. The majority of mainstream America was shaking their HUMPS!
10. Donk by Soulja Boy Tell’em
Austen Peterson and Nicole Hutchison forced us to put this song on the list simply “because its so catchy.” Upon further review, this song did not live up to the expectations garnered from Austen and Nicole’s optimism, and should never be listened to by anyone.

Werksman Wonders: hypocritical officers

by Elyse Werksman

But what’s confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners’ saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
Cause I’m in need of some restraint
 -“Sympathy for the Devil,”
The Rolling Stones

The devil wore an officer’s badge and carried a gun. The story of corruption in the Manhattan Beach police department was as unexpected as it was disappointing. It started with a crash.
On Jan. 31, 2010 three Manhattan Beach police officers were involved in a car accident after drinking at Grunion’s bar in Manhattan Beach. Officers Eccles, Hatten and Thompson were off-duty at the time, and were probably drunk. They smashed the Corvette they were driving into another vehicle. They left the scene, and hid at a nearby Arco station, but not before a witness wrote down the license plate number of the car that fled the scene.
The officer who was called to the scene of the accident, Officer Goodrich, recognized the license plate of the car involved in the crash as belonging to a fellow officer. In his report on the crash, he decided not to mention the hit-and-run, which, in California, can be a felony.
A fifth officer, Officer Klatt, the watch commander at the time of the accident, did not report to the chief that there had been a hit-and-run involving his own officers, although he knew all about it.
In short, the Manhattan Beach police formed a club to protect their own. The fabled  “blue line” became a blue wall of secrecy and deceit.
If you or I were accused of a crime, we would get no such protection from the consequences of our actions. We would spend a night in jail to sober up, we’d have to appear in court to face criminal charges, and our driver’s license would be suspended for at least a year.
Instead, the officers who got drunk and smashed their car into another driver tried to avoid punishment. It took 14-months for the truth to come out, and for the police department to take action against these crooked cops. They were suspended, and are now facing termination and possible criminal prosecution.
One can only wonder how many police reports these five dirty cops fabricated during their careers, and how much other misconduct was overlooked before they were finally busted and brought to justice? In fact, we have good cause to wonder if a culture of corruption exists in the Manhattan Beach police department—were these five bad cops rogues, or was their behavior typical of a “we’re above the law” attitude that is prevalent in the Manhattan Beach police department. One can only hope that this was an isolated incident, and not par for the course.
It is especially troubling to think that those who are sworn to protect us often act as the predators. Some poor driver that night was hit by a Corvette driven by three drunken cops who fled the scene. Who does one turn to when the cops have become the crooks?
The officers now have the rights of any criminal defendant—they get due process, a right to counsel, and cannot be convicted of any crime without proof beyond a reasonable doubt. But, at the very first sign that they had done something wrong, they should have been thrown off the force. There must be a policy of zero tolerance for dishonesty by police officers who, because of their position in society, must be held to the highest standard of honorable and ethical behavior.
If a society cannot trust those sworn to protect it, then the very fabric of our society will unravel.
At Chadwick, we have an honor code because we want to ensure that every student will comport him or herself with the highest standard of ethical behavior. We trust that our classmates, students and friends will not cheat, steal from us, or break the rules of our school. The police officers who guard our safety must be held to no less of a standard.

Guido go to Hooters for a final feast

The girl with the long blond hair greeted us at the entrance. With a body fit for a Baywatch lifeguard, she pushed away the hoards of people in the restaurant guiding us to our table.
Our little Jason Sim almost fell into a trance, but fortunately our waitress, Candy, heroically hoisted him in her arms and carried him to our table. The flair on the walls and the dynamic pulsing neon lights were a bit overwhelming, but Candy’s warm personality and tender touch made us feel right at home. After we found our seats, Ari felt affirmed of his choice. “Am I right or am I right, you guys?” He could have meant heaven, but this time he was right about Hooters.
Everything felt right in this gastronomic temple. Even Chudi felt satisfied, even though he was about to kill Ari if we didn’t make it in time for the Laker game. Luckily, we made it in time, and there were plenty of TV’s for Chudi to cheer on his favorite player, Luke Walton.
Then Jason’s mouth suddenly started to water. He said, “I need some of that sweet stuff.” Thankfully Candy came back to quench his sweet tooth and take the rest of our orders. Chudi, Ari and Larry all wanted Hooters’ self-proclaimed “nearly world famous” wings, and Ari added some lip-smacking fried dill pickle chips to his order. Ari ordered his wings “3-Mile Island” spicy, while Chudi, being a man of simple taste, ordered just “hot.”
Jason, feeling inspired by the wild atmosphere, ordered a pulled pork sandwich. Larry, on the other hand, could not project his soft-spoken voice over the load noise of the Long Beach Grand Prix racecars. His order didn’t get taken, and a sudden wave of sadness drowned him in sorrow. He hadn’t felt that sad since the unexpected death of his Mexican, regaeton-singing hen, Mini Daddy.
Fortunately, Larry placed his order once Candy brought back the drinks. Within minutes, she returned with heaping piles of food.
Ari felt somewhat nervous taking on his Adam Richman-esque challenge of eating Hooters’ spiciest chicken wings, but the grotesque sweating soon subsided after he tasted them.  Chudi, Ari and Larry each agreed that these wings oozed deliciousness; similar to how Jason’s aura oozes poor driving. The crispy golden breading provided a great textural contrast to the moist, tender chicken. The spice level on the Three-Mile Island chicken was a bit underwhelming. In fact, they carried a cloak like our favorite deceiving author, Greg Mortenson. Larry’s wings carried too much sauce for his taste.
Nevertheless, the rolls of paper towels on the table made it easy for this normally animalistic eater to stay clean. Jason liked his sandwich, but he couldn’t fully appreciate it since he was still traumatized from his near-death driving experience on the way to the restaurant. Lastly, the fried dill pickle chips were a crowd favorite. Larry wished fellow guidette Snooki was there to enjoy the dill pickle delight with him.
With our bellies full and Chudi flaring after the Lakers’ loss, we left our beautiful waitress Candy and the fellow Laker fans who shared our sorrow. Candy put Ari’s heart in a lovelock. Though he couldn’t give his heart to her, he ended up leaving a 25% tip, which made the frugal Larry furious.
We left the restaurant with mischievous James Bond music playing, which would have made our sly friend Arjun Reddy feel right at home. Ultimately, Hooters’ combination of impeccable service, lip-smacking food, and beautiful women make it an experience that is hard to beat. It truly is “delightfully tacky, yet unrefined.”
As we walked to our car, we knew we had reached the end of an era. Our time at Chadwick has come to a triumphant finish, and you, our faithful companions, have stuck with us through the good times, the bad times, and the incredibly weird times.
Our four years of high school can never be relived, yet our memories will always stay with us. The guidos could not have done it alone, and you all, our readers, provided us with the courage that kept us motivated throughout these past four years, and for that we thank you. Viva el guido!

The Mainsheet’s editors-in-chief bid Chadwick adieu

As we two seniors sit here putting the final touches on our last issue of the Mainsheet, we can’t help but feel a tad baffled. It really does seem like it was just yesterday when we were scrambling to memorize our Piercy I.D.s, constructing our toothpick egg drop, and sitting happily and comfortably in our beloved Pub Lab (may you rest in peace). A wave of nostalgia hits; where did the time go?
Some of us want to cling forever to the now overgrown grass on the Main Lawn. Some of us ache to hit the ground running toward the next chapter of our lives. And for some of us, it’s an amalgamation of the two. Regardless of where we individually stand on leaving Chadwick, the fact that we will not be here next year is, for lack of a better word, weird.
It’s weird that we will never have another class in Roessler. It’s weird that in a matter of weeks we will be considered “alumni.” It’s weird that our only remaining presence on campus will be the simple frame containing our portraits in the hallway.
But regardless of how weird we feel about all the changes that will soon come to our lives and how much we will miss the people that we have encountered during our time at Chadwick, the clock is ticking toward the day that we will be walking through those Chadwick gates, diploma in hand.
Without a doubt, we will look back fondly at all of the wonderful times we have had here, but we also know that we will walk through those monumental gates with a radiating sense of accomplishment, equipped with just about everything we need to survive in this wild world.
In the meantime, seniors, we still have so many things to look forward to! Between our last amphantasy and prom, to the senior trip and senior service, these next few months will be an exhilarating period of fun times for all. So savor these precious moments we have left together! And may the Class of 2011 forever reign.

Man’s Manifesto: The Promised Land

by Hank Trumbull and Jim Simmons

Every spring, all junior bros start to worry about college. Finding the right college for any man isn’t as easy as one might think. While parties and the quality of women are top priorities on all lists, sports and the fraternity scene are important as well.
Everyone knows that we won’t be paying 50 grand a year just to study, so we would like to focus on the more important aspects of the experience. We have come to find that there are so many colleges around the nation that there is a perfect place for everyone.
After going on our college visits, we concluded that the East Coast is a tough place for a man. The harsh winters and pale women can’t supply the needs of a Californian bro. We walked on to campuses and needed to put our “East Coast Goggles” on to find attractive women. We really wish they could all be California girls.
As well, no bro can survive in an environment that looks at “68 degrees” as a great day, because that’s the temperature of our ocean. You can have as many snow days as you want, but we can buy a snow cone from the Ice Cream man and that’s wintery enough for us.         Unless you can play a sport and get into a good college, leave your fears of losing your bronze behind—go West Coast. There is truly nothing better than surfing the warm pacific waters while Harrison works on his puzzle record in the East Coast blizzards. As junior Kyle Ulman best put it, “Everybody dies, but not everybody lives,” and we therefore recommend picking West Coast schools.
However, sports are a main role in the college decision process and should be considered before picking a school. Playing a sport is a great way to meet people and have fun your freshman year, so make sure your team doesn’t go 1-7 in the NESCAC. If you have the talent, we generally recommend picking an Ivy League school. Even though we have our doubts about the East Coast, Ivy League schools have strong academics and are way more serious about winning than the other East Coast football leagues. If the East Coast doesn’t work out, football in Texas or California is always a great option.
There may not be a single factor more important than the quality of women at a college. The most influential moment in picking a college may just be how hot the tour guide was. “The boy-to-girl ratio at Georgia Tech is 3:1, but when I saw my tour guide I got butterflies in my stomach and knew there was hope,” said senior Larry Feygin.
Just like bros, good-looking women love warm weather and a laid-back environment. Finding this kind of combination in a school isn’t as easy as you might think. For this reason, Florida, Arizona and California all are states where you can’t go wrong. At  schools like USC or ASU, beautiful women flourish. They gather in packs called sororities, and the increased competition makes them easier to hang out with.
Luckily if you are also smart, if you end up at an Ivy League, don’t lose all hope on possible women. Almost all females care about their education, so women are plentiful even at the hardest of institutions. Just look at Hermione Granger; she makes studying sexy.
The Greek life at any school will affect the floor you wake up on every Sunday morning, so at any frat make sure the rugs can keep you warm. Having solid fraternities at any school makes dudes’ lives a lot easier. Not only will a frat house have a cozier feel than a dorm, but also fraternities are where you make your best friends.
College is known as a time that separates the men from the boys. Don’t make a foolish decision by putting little thought into where you will take your talents. With these culminating suggestions, hopefully you choose a school that fits you..

Word from the Wise: Ramos says ‘Let it flow’

“You better lose yourself in the music, the moment / You own it, you’d  better never let it go,” sings Eminem in a song most of you probably know. I don’t listen to Eminem (other than right before the Cross Country State Meet), so I can’t really say for sure what he means. However, I know all about losing myself in the moment, and you might know too.
Mrs. Bradbury, Mrs. Ramos, and I are reading a book on motivation called Drive by Dan Pink.  (Go to http://www.ted.com and search his name to hear Pink give a presentation on the book.)  Research on motivation has yielded some surprising results. External incentives such as rewards and punishments can 1) kill your internal motivation, 2) weaken your performance, 3) stifle creativity, 4) inhibit moral thinking, 5) encourage dishonesty, 6) become addicting, and 7) encourage short-term thinking.
Need an example of an external incentive? Grades come to mind. When students have their minds on grades (short term) rather than on learning (long term), they can see school as a chore, learn less, focus on routines rather than higher-level thinking, think that the ends justify the means (an attitude), cheat, crave A’s at the expense of wellness, and memorize to pass the test rather than to master the material for future use. Perhaps you’ve experienced some of these negative effects of grading in your time at school.
What works better in the long run than external motivators? Internal drive! In his book, Pink uses the example of Wikipedia, whose contributors don’t get paid. Say what?! The people who write the biggest encyclopedia in the world don’t get paid? Well, why do they bother then? Do you use Firefox to browse the Web? Nearly all of its producers work on a voluntary basis. Have you seen the video for “This Too Shall Pass” by OK Go, the one with the Rube Goldberg project? Its fifteen designers shared a relatively small sum to create it, but the additional forty-five workers who helped them build it did so for free, at night, after having worked at their normal jobs all day (as reported in an interview on The Nerdist podcast). Why would someone do anything without asking for something in return?
For fun! For fulfillment! Pink highlights three conditions that lead to this internally motivated behavior: autonomy, mastery and purpose. He writes that this behavior “is self-directed. It is devoted to becoming better and better at something that matters. And it connects that quest for excellence to a larger purpose.” Wikipedia and Firefox both have contributors who choose what area they want to work in, they want to make the best product possible, and they want to make their respective domains (knowledge and the Internet) the best they can be. The builders of the Rube Goldberg for OK Go? If you’ve seen the video, you know that they built a project that runs for the exact length of the song in sync with its beat–a nearly impossible task, but a worthy one. They wanted to make a viral video (26,464,452 views!) and master an impossible challenge.
Internal motivation can lead to a mental state called “flow.”  When you experience flow, you become so engaged and focused on your task that you can see your goal clearly, what you have to do and what you can do perfectly aligns, and you lose yourself in your work so deeply that you lose your sense of time, place, and even self–you lose yourself.
Have you experienced flow? Have you ever lost yourself in a task that you found fulfilling, one in which you sacrificed more than you seemingly gained? Perhaps you have. If you’re an athlete who’s passionate about your sport, you’ve experienced flow. If you   act, you’ve experienced flow. If you have a class that you enjoy, maybe you’ve happily lost yourself in learning the material or working on a project.
I’m talking about passion, people! Yes, if you go to school, you’ll get graded, and one day you’ll need a job that pays in order for you to lead your life. But once you can find a purpose in your life that matches your passion, you won’t need a lot of external motivators like cash or grades or gratitude; you’ll be so fulfilled that the work itself will serve as your reward. I sincerely hope that one day, all of you can find flow. You’ll lose yourself in a really good way.

Foreign Exchange: a day with Shaira

by Andie Conlon

Shaira Bedi is a fifteen-year-old from an urban area in India. She lives with her mother, father, grandmother and brother. Her school, a K-12 school much like Chadwick, is one of the best schools in her area. Bedi is here for two and a half months as part of the Roundsquare exchange program. “I leave the day before your finals,” she explains with a smile.
Back in India, visiting Roundsquare student Bedi’s day starts off much like it does here as a student at Chadwick School.
Bedi wakes up early, has classes for most of the day, participates in extra-curricular activities in the afternoon, and ends her day with homework. Despite these similiarities, Bedi’s life in India is vastly different from the life she is experiencing in America and at Chadwick School.
“Well, both schools have people, books and very good teachers, but other than that, they are completely different,” said Bedi.
One of the things that most surprised Bedi was how “relaxed and chilled out” Chadwick is in comparison to Vivek High School, the school Bedi attends in Chandigarh, India. While Chadwick has rules that some students consider strict—blocking facebook, having areas assigned for backpacks, an afternoon tardy meaning a detention—Bedi explains that her school has way more rules in comparison to Chadwick.
“In our school, we have uniforms. We are supposed to get up when the teacher enters. We do not change classes like [at Chadwick]. We have assigned seats and we don’t sit wherever we want to. The list goes on: we aren’t allowed to eat in or after class, and no Ipod, no phone, no headphones and no internet at school. None of that is allowed,” said Bedi.
With changes in her daily routine (in India, her school day ends at 2:00 p.m. and she has lunch at home every day), different styles of teaching math and science classes and new foods to get used to, it is no surprise that Bedi’s biggest challenge has been “adjusting to a new lifestyle.”
Sophmore Catalina Simmons and her family are hosting Bedi during her stay. Simmons was inspired to volunteer as a host after hearing about the Roundsquare Program at an assembly. In the past, Biesman-Simons and her family have hosted visiting students from France, Germany, Scotland  and Wales.
“People always bring new cultures and experiences with them and it’s interesting to learn what different people find surprising about America,” said Simmons. “We’ve learned about the ways people live and [about the] social norms and unspoken rules that we take for granted.”
On Bedi’s first day, she felt that although the transition was sudden, the community helped her immensely.
“Before I entered school, I had these butterflies in my stomach and stuff,” said Bedi. “But it turned out to be better than I expected, especially because the people here were very warm and, you know, they helped me around. I’ve made some really great friends now.”
Bedi has found her place at Chadwick, joining both the swimming team and the Improv class. Swimming and soccer are her favorite activities in India, although in India, extra-curricular activities are done out in the community rather than in school. Bedi’s favorite class is Mr. Detloff’s English class. Math, on the other hand, has been the most challenging.
“Everyone used to say that math is easier abroad because, in India, math is really tough,” said Bedi. “However, the terms used in class, are different than in India, making the class very challenging.”
Still, Bedi is enjoying new ways of learning, including class projects.
“The exchange is about what you give and what you take. I am here to learn about whatever comes and then pass it forward to people in India.”
Both Simmons and Bedi recommend involvement in international exchange. “Hosting is always fun, interesting and a great way to share our culture with other,”  said Simmons.
Bedi has this advice for other students hoping to study in America: “To the students looking to go to America, they should make the best of the opportunities they get here. Also, they should go have a blast. This chance won’t come again.”

Spotlight on Stage Crew

by Ally Van Dueren

Lights, camera, action and all; nothing would happen in Laverty if it weren’t for Chadwick’s “men and women in black.”
Headed up by technical director Rodney Rincon, Chadwick Stage Crew is a dedicated group of unsung heroes within the Upper School student body.
The group meets on Monday and/or Wednesday afternoons to build, paint and move sets and set the lighting for shows and performances in the Laverty Auditorium.
With three mainstage high school shows and countless other events each year, stage crew commits many hours to working to make Chadwick shows great.
Rincon has been working as Chadwick’s technical director for fifteen years and considers the lighting booth his second home.
“We are very blessed here,” Rincon said, referring to the state-of-the-art facilities in the Geoffrey Alan Laverty Center for the Performing Arts.
He was fortunate enough to know Geoff Laverty, a Chadwick WOW-to-be, before he passed away before junior year in a car crash. Laverty participated in many theatre and crew endeavors while in the middle and upper school at Chadwick.
“Geoff used to say to me, ‘Mr. Rincon, you’re a genius.’”
Rincon believes that each person in a show serves an integral function in the success of that show. “Either way, you are part of the show,” said Rincon.
Seniors A.J. Ferrara and Spencer LaFrance, two diehard members of Stage Crew, have been under the direction of Rincon for four years and agree that they have grown immensely.
“Working as stage manager is very rewarding,” LaFrance said. His favorite aspect of Stage Crew? “Building things then destroying them. It’s fun to take down a good set as it is to build one.”
Numerous challenges come with being a part of Stage Crew.
“It stinks immensely for them to bring up the lights while you are still changing the set,” said Ferrara.
Senior Nicole Jamgotchian, who has been on Crew for three years now, shares that she was afraid of going on the grid, the place above the stage where members of crew fix lighting.
“The first time I went on, I was scared and never wanted to go up again,” said Jamgotchian. “But, as I started going up more, I realized how fun it is.”
Senior Lisha Kim has been working on Stage Crew for three years and says Rent the Musical in the spring of 2010 was her favorite production to join.
“We always have fun singing backstage during the show,” said Kim.
She also explains that her most memorable and unforgettable moment occurred while working on sound for Hair, when she fought with microphone technician Gordon Firemark in front of Wieds.
Jamgotchian, along with the rest of Stage Crew, is appreciative of all the work that Rincon has put into making Stage Crew a fun and educational activity.
“Thank you, Mr. Rincon, for showing me the ins and outs of Laverty that I never would have seen otherwise,” said Jamgotchian.
Members of Stage Crew, along with Rincon, do not expect much change to come to the tech theatre department at Chadwick in the upcoming years. He hopes that the facilities will be treated with utmost care and respect.
Regardless, Rincon also doesn’t anticipate changes in his students.
Rincon said, “Every time you think you can’t be more impressed by students, they impress me more.”

The Wolrd According to Us: April time!

by Ally Van Dueren

Mainsheet: Did you prank anyone on April Fool’s day this year?
Austin: Yeah!
Grant: I pranked my brother a lot, but sometimes not even on April Fool’s day. I just prank him randomly.
Skylar: My dad got me. When I was going into his room to give him a kiss, he acted like he was asleep and then when I got off his bed, he grabbed me when I didn’t even know he was even awake.
Grant: On April Fool’s day, my friend was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a spider on your head! Oh no! And then she got it off and she was like, ‘April Fools.’” And I was like, ‘I didn’t even know it was April Fool’s. I was just going along for the ride.
MS: (to Grant) You said you prank some people even though it’s not April Fool’s day? How do you do that?
Austin: My brother. I prank my brother all the time. Like one time, I remember I pranked him by saying ‘There’s something in my hair., and then I was like ‘Gotcha.’ It was a lot of fun.
MS: That’s similar to your other one, huh? What about at school?
Grant: I never prank anyone at school.
Skylar: No one at school.
MS: Did your teachers prank you?
Skylar: It was spring break in April, so I went back to my old school and I got my friend, Esme. I said, ‘there’s a worm on your head!’ And she tried to wipe it off and I was like ‘April Fools!’
MS: Do you guys have an obsession with bugs on your heads or something? You all have the same story.
Grant: I love bugs!
Austin: I don’t.
Skylar: Once my friend Murphy tricked me that there was a worm on my back.
Grant: Remember this, Skylar. Worms can’t stick on you.
MS: What else do you guys do in April? When you hunt for things that the Easter bunny left you on Easter…?
Skylar: He put a lot of eggs and I found so many that the eggs kept falling out of my Easter basket!
MS: Well, that’s always a good thing to have happen!
Skylar: So I got a lot of candy, but I just want to eat it all!!! But my mother won’t let me eat it all! I just want to eat it! ALL!!
MS: Was the Easter bunny good to you too?
Austin: I didn’t even know it was Easter on Sunday!
Grant: He didn’t even bring me anything.
MS: Well, he’s a busy man!
Grant: But he travels all the way around the world! Except for Asia and China.
Skylar: Have you ever seen the movie Hop? It’s hil-arious.
MS: Do you have any advice for the upper schoolers? Or do you have anything to say at all?
Grant: Why do you have a camera?
MS: Because we are going to take your picture in a second.
Skylar: Why do you have a phone?
MS: Because we are recording this conversation.
[long pause.]
MS: Are you excited?! You are almost first graders!!
Skylar: I’m not excited at all! I’m scared!
Austin: I’m kinda nervous!!

Senior Spotlight: the “twins” takeover

by Nicole Compton

Mainsheet: It is unique to have three sets of twins in a class under 100. How is it being in the same class as your twin?
Anna Berman: Well, Scott and I never had a class together until 7th grade, English with Dr. Andrews.
Haley Bush:  Abbey and I are great study buddies. She helps me with English and I help her with science.  We studied for the APUSH test together and both did well.
Abbey Bush: It’s honestly the most convenient thing to have a twin in the same grade.  We did the junior year English/History final project together and I think we were one of two groups that didn’t stay up the until five the day before it was due.
Dana Ayoob: Having a twin in the same grade would have been awesome if, one, she remembered the homework and two, we didn’t argue every time we tried to study together.  It’s a nice concept, but in reality never really worked out well for us.
—
MS: Do you guys have any interesting stories Ayoobs?
DA: I remember when Kari and I were in kindergarten, we thought we were pretty sweet since we were twins and Parent Trap was out around that time.
Kari Ayoob: Our plan was based off of a Sister Sister episode.
DA: So we were in different classes during kindergarten, but the classrooms were right next to each other. One day we came up with this awesome idea: to switch classes after recess.
MS: But you guys don’t look alike!
KA: We were thought it would work since we were both twins.
DA: We were so sure it would work, but we chickened out and switched back into the right class at the last minute.  But it would have been awesome.
—
MS: Are any of you identical twins?
ABerman: To be identical the one egg splits, so it’s impossible for Scott and I to be twins.
Scott Berman: But it’s weird. Even though people know, sometimes they say happy birthday to Anna and not me.
—
MS: Bushes? Do you have any twin stories?
ABush: Well, we never schemed to change lines like the Ayoobs, but the first time we ever had a class together was also in 7th grade for P.E. The teacher would go down role call alphabetically, so its like Bush, then another Bush.  Haley was always late, so I would just answer twice. “Bush?” “Here.” “Bush?” “Here.”
HB: She always covered for me while I changed in the locker room.
ABush: We also have this ongoing joke. When we were born, I weighed close to six pounds and Haley weighed almost ten. So we pretend that Haley ate our triplet.
MS: In terms of what you do around campus, how are your schedules different from your twin’s?
ABush: I can’t play any contact sports, unlike Haley. I played soccer sophomore year, but I didn’t really do much for the team.
HB: That’s true. Also, Abbey stole my English powers, but I’m a bit better at math and sciences.
—
MS: Scott, what about you and your sister?
How are your schedules different?
SB: I play waterpolo and golf. I guess I’m more of the athletic one even though Anna thinks riding horses is athletic.
ABerman: I’ve played so many more sports than you. Soccer, volleyball, swimming…
SB: That was in middle school.
ABerman: I still count that.
SB:  Whatever, I work on the Yearbook also. But fine, Anna is probably the more studious one.
ABerman:  I was the more studious one, until this year when he’s killing me in physics. I’m in chorus, musical theatre and admirals.
—
MS: Ayoobs, between the two of you, who do you think is the nicer twin?
KA: Definitely me. There’s no question.
DA: Nah, people just think it’s Kari, but if you ask our close friends, they will say me.
KA: Not at all, not even a little bit. They just tell you that so you don’t feel bad about yourself.
DA: Oh, like how they tell me you’re a bad driver? Remember that time you drove up into the ivy?
KA:  That’s not true! Don’t put that in The Mainsheet. I’m a good driver, I swear.
—
MS: What do you think people will remember you as?  Anyone can answer.
ABerman:  I don’t know, probably as a studious person.
SB: I think for me, it’ll probably be like a student-athlete, even though I’m not really that high up in either.
HB: Dana, you should be the sass queen.
DA: What! Nah, people didn’t think I was sassy until this year.
KA:  Yeah, like no one thought I was a bad driver until this year!
MS: Haley? What about you and Abbey?
HB: I guess the student-athlete sounds like me too. It’s boring, but true. Abbey, you could be the kid with demented pinkies.
ABush: [Raising her right pinkies] Yeah, they don’t straighten at all. It sucked since I couldn’t do jazz hands when I was in Chicago.
KA:  Aww, but I love your pinkies!
MS: Alright, Kari, what about you?
KA: I’m not really sure. Dana, what do you think I am?
DA: Crusty.
KA: What! God, look at what I live with.
ABerman: Scott is worse, trust me.
HB: Dana’s just tryng to help you come up with ideas. Aren’t you supposed to be the nice one?
ABerman:  How about the indecisive twin?
HB: The one that doesn’t wear shoes?
ABush: Dana’s shadow?
KA:  Story of my life!
—
MS: Is it going to be weird going off to college without your twin, since you’ve spent the first 18 years of your life together?
SB: Nope, not weird at all.
ABerman:  I’m really excited to go off to college, too. It’ll be weird at first, but since my twin is a brother instead of a sister, we already don’t share with each other.
HB: I am going to miss Abbey.  When I was at a summer program over the summer for three weeks, I called her everyday!
ABush: Well, I’m excited to go off to college, but I wouldn’t say I’m looking forward to leaving my twin. It’s like going to a different college than your best friend.
DA: I’m also excited to go off to college. I think it’ll be good fun to try out being separated for once.
KA:  Yes! I’m very excited to go to different colleges and finally not have someone following me around everywhere calling me crusty, meatball, fudgeworthy, turd, tard, stinky, stanky, etc.
MS: Ok, we’ll end on that note. Thank you.

Laura Gonzalez explores testing options across the world

by Laura Gonzalez

Let me ask you: what are you planning on doing in the future? I was probably six when my mom first asked me that question, and my answer was: “Mom, I want to be a construction worker.”
At six years old, I could totally picture myself doing that, but not anymore. I simply changed my mind as I grew older and knew more, as most everybody does.
Knowing what you want to become when you are just 18 is barely possible, for there are many options to choose from. However, in some countries like Spain, you are required to know your response before you start the application process.
In the US, you have more leisure time to chose what you want to pursue, for most colleges wait till sophomore year before you declare a major.
Imagine the pressure you are under if you are as indecisive as I am (I’ve been thinking about it for at least 4 years, I am still clueless and I need to decide by June). Something that I have learned during my stay in the United States is that almost nobody has a clear idea of what they are going to do in 10 years from now.
When I asked senior Marina Place, she said: “Psh no, I’ll probably experiment in college.”
Another important difference between the United States and Spain is the college admission test, the nightmare of most high school students worldwide.
SAT in the US, Selectividad in Spain, A levels in United Kingdom, they are all different depending on which country you are taking it in.
However, to me, they are equally as pointless. Designed to make it easier for universities and colleges to pick their next successful students, they tend not to measure your knowledge; instead, they grade your accuracy when taking a test with insufficient time limit. So, my next question is: Who made them up?
And if you think the SAT is hard, what would you say if instead of multiple options, you had to take a test based on a 100 page book where you have to answer every single question with your own words?
That’s what Selectividad consists of, 3 days in which you have to take an English test, a Spanish test, a Calculus test, a History or a Philosophy test. These are the mandatory ones; although, you have at least two more.
Junior Ally Melido said, “I would rather take four different tests that you can mess up on rather than the pressure of one big test.”
The tests last about two hours, and you can be scheduled to do them any time between 8 a.m and 7 p.m. This madness starts in the beginning of June, and you may wonder: how do we survive?
The key is in many cases: coffee, coffee in the morning, coffee at night, coffee 24/7.
Junior Molly Zuckerman said, “Now that I hear about Selectividad, the SAT sounds really good.”
Unlike the SAT, it’s important to understand that you take “la Selectividad” once in your life, if you don’t want to lose your spot in the university. Besides, it is crucial for you to get a really good grade on “Selectividad” because this is 40% of your GPA (more or less). The other 60% is the average of your grades during the junior and senior year.
Your GPA is just a number, a simple number: nevertheless, it is the only thing that matters to Spanish universities. No interview, no essay, none of those things are necessary– just a paper with your grades will give you the ticket to go to the university.
Which education is better? I don’t really know, but from my perspective, being interviewed before being accepted by an university makes the decision based on interests, hobbies and passions, not just on the GPA. In any case, I don’t know the rest of the Spanish population; however, I am going to study in the US.

Alum Chris Conlon describes his inspirations

by Andie Conlon

Rumors and legends constantly buzz throughout Chadwick School, passed down from sibling to sibling. Some stories are romantic: teachers falling in love and running away to exotic places. Others are simply outrageous: the headmaster is a “were-bull” and grazes on the Main Lawn during a full moon.
Some are scary: the Village bathroom is haunted.  Some have to do with ordinary events that have taken on an “extraordinary” quality as they fade into Chadwick history.
Such is the case with “the Evacuation Plan,” a concept originated by and proposed to Chadwick’s student body by Chadwick graduate Chris Conlon ’09.
Conlon, currently a student at Whitman College, describes the inspiration for his plan.
“Assemblies were too darn long, you know… I realized that one of the biggest obstacles was that people were really, really stupidly evacuating the amphitheater. They were kind of like chickens trying to leave the chicken coop, bumping into each other, and not doing it in a very efficient manner,” said Conlon.
During his senior year, Conlon took it upon himself to find a solution to the chaos that followed each assembly. He designed a protocol for evacuating the amphitheater after assemblies and presented his ideas to the student body.
“The simple plan is that you want to get away from choke points as fast as possible. And so, rather than walk up the stairs so that you can get out of the amphitheater immediately, you walk down to either the main stage area, or up in to one of the wider walkways,” said Conlon.
Conlon’s Plan was very popular among students who were in the Upper School at that time. Junior Zach Blickensderfer recalls the Plan as “a noble effort to organize the chaotic exodus that ensues at the end of every Monday and Friday assembly.”
Unfortunately for Conlon, the actual implementation of the Plan never really caught on. “The one time we did it, it worked really well,” he said.
Some students would disagree. “I remember a while back when we tried it, it only caused more confusion,” said sophmore Bryan Renslo.
“That’s one of the pervading myths about my evacuation plan—is that its complicated,” said Conlon.
Upon graduation, Conlon appealed to the rising juniors and  seniors to carry on with the plan.  Many current freshmen and sophmore, however, appear to be unaware of the Plan’s existence.
When asked if the Plan should be reinstituted, students responded in a variety of ways.
Senior Jaye Buchbinder said, “I definitely think the evacuation plan should be reinstated—since we have failed to teach it to both the freshman and sophmore classes, it has become increasingly difficult to leave the amphitheater.”
Junior Abby Mendez said, “Yes, because certain staircases have become clogged with students leaving after assembly, while others are ignored.”
Blickensderfer said, “Chris’s brainchild must never die!”
Still, many students echoed this viewpoint expressed by Junior Erin Figel: “I think ‘reinstated’ implies that it was once followed, and honestly, I don’t think anyone ever actually did it. But I could be wrong.”
When told that his evacuation plan had been abandoned, Conlon said, “They’re stubborn.”  He prefers to talk about his other accomplishments at Chadwick School, especially his role in the creation of “the Lounge,” a sub-forum that contained many of his FirstClass posts.
“It is my belief that any form of communication is enhanced when it isn’t serious all the time.  For a while I was the only one who made any posts that were unrelated to academics­posts that were creative, funny, or surreal.  So eventually, the Student Council felt my posts needed to be contained,” said Conlon.
Meanwhile, at Whitman College, Conlon has discovered new opportunities to put himself in front of a microphone (he admits that his announcements were one of the reasons assemblies ran long). He performs stand-up comedy, helped to create a documentary about a middle-aged women’s roller-derby team and hosts his own radio show, called, “Sleep Loss,” which features live readings of scary and/or disturbing short stories.
As usual, Conlon continues to put forward new ideas. “I’m interested in war paint catching on as just a casual thing,” he said, “It’s a really good way to shield your eyes from glare and the sun. I don’t see why people don’t just wear it all the time.”
Conlon is pursuing a joint degree in math and computer science and will be spending his summer at Washington University in St. Louis conducting research in the field of computer science.

Hello, World

Elderly couple stung to death by swarm of bees in Texas

An elderly couple was stung to death by a swarm of bees in McCallen, Texas on April 16th.
The husband and wife, in their late 90s, and their son, 67 years old, were cleaning out their hunting cabin when they were attacked. The son, still hospitalized, says they were moving an old wood burning stove when the hive was exposed. The son, Richard Steele, tried to run from the cabin but fell and was immediately stung by hundreds of bees. His parents, William and Myrtle, were hospitalized and died soon after. Richard Steele drove 15 miles to the nearest road after the attack where he called for help on his cell phone. Authorities say that the hive was most likely one of Africanized honey bees, more commonly known as killer bees. As a result of this tragedy, the US Department of Agriculture is distributing advice as to what to do when facing swarms of bees.

Social networking goes political: friend Obama on Facebook

As President Obama gears up to increase Democratic constituencies, he is gainingnew friends in the social networking world. Obama participated in a “town hall” on Wednesday, April 20, at the Facebook headquarters to be broadcast to millions of users.
Obama stated his motivation for speaking at Facebook was to prove that “there are many ways to speak to the American people.”
The question arose as to how effective the use of social networking sites is for political gain.
According to recent statistics only 1 in 5 internet users utilize social networking sites for politics. Statistics also say that more Republicans than Democrats use these sites for gain; hence Obama’s recent attempt to gain Facebook followers.

85-year-old sailor fulfill his dream

An 85-year old British sailor recently completed a 66-day trek across the Atlantic ocean—on a raft. His childhood dream was fulfilled with three of his lifelong friends. The raft was a large sail-powered craft that survived the two-month journey unscathed except for some damage to two of the rudders. Their goals were not only to fulfill dreams but also to raise awareness about the environment and use of eco-friendly watercrafts.
The crew departed from the Canary Islands and made a farewell speech to a crowd of locals. Oranges, avocados, potatoes, cabbages, and a pumpkin were some of the foods on board. Once the bread was consumed, they began making bread by hand in a small oven. The raft was built with seven pipes supplying fresh water to the crew. A forty-foot long mast and 400 square foot sail propelled the boat on the 3,000 mile journey. The journey was a success for them all. One man said there was nothing at all to fear on the trip, because they are all old men.

What’s up, LA?

Fleet Foxes at the Palladium

The Seattle-based folk band Fleet Foxes will perform at the Hollywood Palladium on May 7.  The five-person group describes their style as baroque harmonic pop and is widely recognized for their lyrics and harmony.  The group formed among a group of high school friends who idolized Bob Dylan and Neil Young.  After gaining a following on their Myspace page, the Fleet Foxes rose to popularity by late 2007, and their fan base spread until they earned a record deal with Warner music. Their upcoming album Helplessness Blues, which is set to release on May 3, is being anxiously awaited by critics and fans. The hope is that the new album will echo the same lyrical brilliance and musical originality as the last.  Fans can see for themselves by purchasing tickets, ranging from $60 all the way up to $200.

Xavier Rudd sings of social themes

Australian singer-songwriter Xavier Rudd will perform at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on May 2.  After establishing a strong following in Australia and Canada, Rudd began to gain recognition in the states by performing in music festivals and concerts.  He often integrates themes of social consciousness into his music, singing about environmentalism and the rights of the Aboriginal people. Known for his original mixture of styles and themes, Rudd covers many different subjects in his music, all unified by romantic idealism and folk style.  To make his act even more unique, Rudd plays a wide variety of instruments, including guitars, didgeridoos, stomp boxes, djembe drums, and slide banjos.  Tickets to see this rare and rising artist range from $25 to $60.

Yelle at Music Box

Yelle, a French electro-pop and dance favorite consisting of lead singer Yelle and her band mates, will perform on May 21 at the Music Box in Los Angeles.  The band gained a following on Myspace after posting their first single, “Je ve te voir.”  The song attracted the attention of the record label called Source.  After rising to fame in France, the band has captured attention globally despite making songs completely in French.  They have completed a North American tour and also performed at the Coachella Music Festival in 2008.  Their diverse fan-base from multiple countries can finally enjoy the group’s second album, Safari Disco Club, which was just recently released.  Yelle fans can look forward to a spirited, humorous and energetic night of dancing at the Music Box for the price of a $25 ticket.

Love brings new energy to Chadwick’s Diversity Week

by Venessa Contratto

The Chadwick community celebrated Diversity Week between Monday, Apr. 18 and Friday, Apr. 22. Director of Multiculturalism and Inclusion Jasmine Love led this week-long series of events with the Diversity Council and different school clubs.
Senior and co-leader of Diversity Council Airiss Finley said, “This year we are trying to focus on bringing other aspects of diversity into this week.”
“The clubs are collaborating, which is perfect for Diversity Week, because what I love about just the word “diversity” is that people get together from different cultures, different background, all kinds of diversity and do stuff” says Love.
The week was kicked off on Monday with three activities. One activity was making Native American prayer feathers, which are used ceremonially as a way of cleansing. A second activity was supporting Japan, and the Diversity Council provided origami paper to make paper cranes and write letters to the workers in Japan.
Tuesday’s main attraction was speaker, Amer Ahmed, expert on Islam and Muslim Culture and Associate Director of the Office of Multi-Ethnic Students at the University of Michigan. His speech focused on “Islamophobia,” a word created to express the feelings many people have towards the Muslims and the Islamic culture. He was informative yet entertaining as he incorporated rap and hip-hop into his speech.
Love said, “I think it’s very pertinent because a lot of people don’t know a lot about the actual facts about what Muslim culture is and what Islamic faith is, and I think we will learn a lot.”
On Wednesday, students had the option to be silent for the day. Lisha Kim, senior and co-leader of the Gay Straight Alliance, said, “We empathize with the many members of the LGBT community and protest against the fact that they have been silenced by harassment or abuse.” Also, students formed the silent triangle for 10 minutes. An organization called the Rainbow Delegation donated 300 rainbow bracelets to Chadwick, so students could show their support.
During lunch, the Measles Awareness Club and Black Student Alliance came together and sold baked goods. The profits go to vaccinations for people in Africa with measles.
On Thursday, the Hispanic Culture Club, the ImaginAsian club, and the Micro Finance club held a Korean BBQ and taco sale, followed by a ping pong tournament. Also, the Genki Club, focused on Japanese culture, had a sale of Japanese trinkets and sold the “Lady Gaga Pray For Japan” bracelets.
Diversity Week concluded with Finley’s introduction of her new club, LBR, or Love Between Races. She described the club as, “Talking about…people that are multiracial…We have to have a group out there, here at Chadwick, that talks about that group of people that fit right in the middle.”
Love said, “I think that is just a really beautiful way to end diversity week.”
Love believes that Diversity Week does not last only one week, but rather the whole year. “We really have to live in a multicultural world…it’s really not diversity, its more about cross-cultural communication and just getting to know people who are different than you” she says. “If we are really honest and compassionate, we can learn a lot from each other.”

Wick welcomes visitors

by Katherine Richardson

Chadwick welcomed a few new faces to campus during the week of Apr. 24.
A group of 18 girls from Cape Town, South Africa will be visiting and touring Los Angeles for eight days, during their two-week excursion of America.
The girls come from St. Cyprians, an all-girls independent school in Cape Town.  One of the founding Round Square Schools, it prides itself in its association with the organization, sending students all around the world on exchange and trips.
The visit was made possible through the efforts of teacher Siri Fiske, along with a few other teachers and administrators. Two years ago, Fiske and a group of students visited India for a Round Square Conference. They met a group from St. Cyrpians in Cape Town and made plans to exchange students between the schools.
Fiske said, “I brought 16 Chadwick middle schoolers and some parents to Cape Town for three weeks.  We went on safari tours, worked in an orphanage, cleared non-native vegetation, visited Nelson Mandela’s jail cell and spent time at St. Cyprian’s School.  This year they are coming to visit us.”
Before arriving at Chadwick, the group visited different sites and landmarks throughout the United States. First, they flew from Cape Town to Las Vegas. Casey Rautenbach, a student that will be on the trip, said,  “It was a long journey, some 32 hours from when we left Cape Town airport until we got to Las Vegas, but worth it no doubt.”
After their long travel hours, they will visit multiple attractions and landmarks around Las Vegas and Los Angeles including the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Monument Valley, Lake Powell, and Joshua Tree. They will also visit a Navajo Reserve and get a tour from a Navajo elder.
While in Los Angeles, the eighteen girls, between seventh and ninth grades, will be hosted by different families from Chadwick. The Kathuria, Williams, Sim, Moskowitz, George, McEvilly, Richardson, Davis, and Bair families will be hosting two students each.
During their time with the Chadwick community, they will be visiting Universal Studios, Disneyland, downtown Los Angeles, and will also take a kayak tour with Marine Biology teacher Amy Hill.
The girls will also attend classes at Chadwick for a few days to see what Chadwick life is like. Fiske said, “While here they will get a glimpse of the life of a Chadwick student and visit some of our famous sites.  My hope is that we are setting up a relationship with this particular school that we can cultivate and perhaps invent a new model of exchange trips for the Round Square organization.”
The students are looking forward to the rest of their trip. Rautenbach said, “I have dreamt of seeing LA and Hollywood all my life [because] I love acting, and Disneyland is a close second.”
Cassandra Grimbly, another girl on the trip, said, “I am most excited about experiencing another school and I can’t wait to meet [everyone].”

Mollenkemp shares secrets, feeds the masses

by Hailey Waller

Good knife skills mean good life skills? Who knew! For their leadership project, seniors Ally Van Deuren, Arjun Bedi, Nadeem Khulusi, and Areille Levine invited Chadwick alumna and Food Network chef Aida Mollenkamp to cook with Chadwick students on Wednesday, April 20.
Aida Mollenkamp has worked with Ernst and Young Hotel and Restaurant Consulting, received a Grand Diplome from Le Codon Bleu Culinary Academy, lived in Florence, Italy and Paris France, and currently resides in San Francisco.
Eager to educate her classmates about the importance of proper nutrition for his final project in Ms. Stern’s Leadership class, Nadeem Khulusi said, “ My group and I sat down and discussed what interested us.” The four seniors decided to organize a seminar on good nutrition habits.
With help from Mrs. Lucier in the Alumni Office, they contacted Aida. After the groups extensive planning, announcements at assembly, Facebook notifications, and posters anticipating Aida’s appearance, their big day finally arrived.
In Laverty, Aida explained that eating mindfully benefits everyone. Many people don’t realize that America is at a crazy nutritional paradox. While obesity is all the chatter, on the opposite end of the spectrum one in ten kids goes hungry every day.
Today, 15% of Americans don’t have access to normal food.  Still, the average American wastes a pound of food a day. That’s 27% of their food and enough food to fill the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to the brim on a daily basis. The average American eats too much processed food and excess amounts of salt, sugar and fat.  Aida shared her ten secrets to success:
1.  Shop on the perimeter of the market. The whole foods are usually refrigerated on the outer walls. Don’t get lost in the inner isles of doom and processed food!
2. Eat locally. Our average meal travels 1300 miles to simply get to us. What a waste of gas!
3. Eat organic. You are not only what you eat. You are what your food eats. Stay away from cows that are fed antibiotics.
4.  Use meat as a condiment. That means spare yourself the whole chicken and shred a few ounces up and throw it in a taco.
5. Taste the rainbow. Not the skittles rainbow, the real rainbow of fresh fruits and vegetables! Get white off your plate!
6. Eat mindfully, not on the go. Sit down, be conscious of what you are putting in your mouth. Twenty percent of Americans eat in the car. Sit at the table.
7. Don’t drink calories. Drink water. And then drink more water.
8. Try to eat only ingredients you can pronounce. If you don’t know where it came from, be suspicious.
9. Family meals are of the utmost importance important.
10. Vote with your fork. Think a little more before you eat what’s on your plate.
In the amphitheater, students munched on fresh samples of strawberries, cucumbers, and ripe tomatoes donated by local farmers. The hungry high schoolers also  chowed down on an assortment of hors d’oeuvres: pasta shells, burrito bites, chips and chutney, and mint brownies.
Meanwhile, Chadwick’s own top chefs Marci Hall and senior Larry Feygin whipped up some simple salad dressing and raspberry whipped cream dessert with dark chocolate flakes.
On the other table, Aida demonstrated her simple pasta salad with a homemade vinaigrette. Her secret is four parts fat to one part acid. She used oil and vinegar, but lemon juice could be substituted. Aida added spinach leaves, mozzarella, olives, and a dash of salt and pepper to cooled pasta shells for a delicious twist on an incredibly healthy salad.
Aida’s smooshed sandwich turned out to be crowd favorite as well. Junior Hank Trumbull was so big on Aida’s meat and avocado delight that he leapt out of his seat and snatched the sandwich right off of Aida’s table.
The famous smooshed sandwich consisted of fresh Bristol Farms whole grain bread, sliced avocado, juicy tomato, prosciutto, and oregano for flavor. Half the time sandwiches get smooshed on the way to school anyway, so why not embrace the smoosh?
Essentially, any ingredients will do. Aida’s secret is in her smooshing technique. She recommends wrapping the sandwich in foil and leaving your ten-pound backpack on the sandwich, or even sitting on it to make sure it gets as smooshed as possible. She swears it tastes better that way!

Conference in Canada: students unite and serve

by Jennifer Calfas

Chadwick representatives traveled to Canada to participate in Round Square’s regional conference, hosted by Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario. Over the course of five days, student participants freshman Patty Jeon, sophomore Kelly Lee and juniors Crystal Ciaramitaro and Jennifer Calfas and Round Square Head John Nordquist advanced their understanding of the conference’s theme “Unity in Community.”
Delegates from various regional Round Square schools, ranging from Canada to India, joined the group as well. Connie Serra, one of the conference organizers and the Director of Round Square at Appleby College, stated that the participants would ideally discuss and experience multiculturalism and its effects on the modern world.
“I thought about a theme that really showed multiculturalism and diversity especially in Toronto,” said Serra. She strived to break the cultural barriers among students.
Delegates arrived to Appleby College on Friday, April 8, and lived with host families of various students from the school.
“My host family was unbelievably hospitable,” said Lee. “They gave me a whole bath set, like the ones that are wrapped nicely from Bed, Bath and Beyond, put chocolates next to my bed every day and even cooked breakfast each morning. I felt very welcomed and at home.”
However, delegates and host students alike remained busy with a full-day schedule filled with speakers, activities and socializing to promote the theme of Unity in Community. The speakers each shared a common message of promoting equity and unity in the world. Through the lens of photography to the cultural dances of indigenous Canadians, conference participants discovered the value of multiculturalism.
“I thought the first speaker, Chris D’Souza, was the best,” said Ciaramitaro. “He taught me that there’s discrimination within every diverse environment and that multiculturalism benefits the world a lot more than I thought before.”
Nonetheless, some delegates felt unsatisfied with the discussions held after the speakers’ presentations. “The reactions the other students and their opinions on the speakers’ presentation made me realize that what we are learning at Chadwick is actually two steps ahead of what other schools were learning,” said Lee.
With unity in the air, delegates also volunteered at service organizations near Toronto. One of the service spots, Community Living Oakville, strives to provide community participation with disabled people. Lee, who volunteered there, helped paint a mural of the conference’s logo. “I loved painting the mural,” said Lee. “I thought it was a great interactive experience that tied in with the conference’s theme nicely.”
In comparison to conferences in the past, Nordquist noted that diversity wasn’t as prevalent at a smaller scale regional conference. “Each conference has reflected the culture and perspective of the host school,” said Nordquist. “I think that because the culture of US and Canadian schools is not that different from that of Chadwick, conferences hosted there may not be as powerful as those held in countries with more radically different cultures, such as Thailand, India, and Peru.”
Overall, Serra believes the conference provided students with inspiration to break the common social barriers that they live in. “I hope that people succeeded in seeing that stereotypes aren’t always based on true facts, and that maybe people will start to see each other as more the same than different,” said Serra.

Computer virus hinders school, stalls efficiency

by Chris Stanton

Infectious terror hit Chadwick School last week when a deadly insect known as occidit studiosorum—“Oxy” for short—infested the campus’s Wi-Fi server, effectively slaughtering dozens of PCs in what has officially been labeled as a massacre.
“Macs appear to have dodged a bullet with this one,” said an anonymous technological expert, “But we believe Oxy may be evolving, as it has already reached level 20. Soon, nothing and no one will be immune. Oxy travels through wiring and can kill a human if looked at in the eyes.”
Oxy nearly claimed a life last week, that of sophomore Stella Dong. However, Dong’s color-changing contacts protected her and she was only petrified. The administration assured the Chadwick community that Nurse Ellie would be able to cure Dong in a matter of days. The attack has had a dramatic impact on the student body.
Junior Jessie Ralph said, “For the first time in my life, I’m worried about something other than grades and SATs.”
The administration of Chadwick School has been frantically attempting to rectify the situation, one they believe may negatively impact the impeccable reputation of this academic institution.
“The overblown issue regarding a sentient computer virus, nicknamed ‘Oxy’ and ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,’ is completely under control,” said the Chadwick administration in an official press release, “However, we are still willing to accept donations to stop the virus.”
Despite the attempted reassurance, Mainsheet journalists went incognito and unearthed a few facts on their own, mainly from an extremely reliable source who wishes to remain anonymous.
“Oxy continues to be a threat, and Chadwick’s attempt to tell people otherwise is merely a conspiracy dedicated to preserving the Chadwick image,” claims the source. “Oxy is very much alive, and also pregnant. He will give birth to a second, much larger- scale virus that will no longer remain restricted to wiring.”
Tech experts believe the only way to truly defeat the ever-growing threat is to trace it back to its source, something that will require taking a break from long hours of playing World of WarCraft. The task requires endless hours of checking Internet histories and taking long breaks to discuss video games and methods of killing Oxy once and for all.
However, through a whole week of tireless effort, several witnesses have come forth, namely sophomore Victor Martinez.
“I saw a hooded figure walk into the PC Lab and upload something into the computer,” said the entirely inconspicuous Martinez. “I never saw his face, but I am sure it was him.”
Though his story may seem improbable, the lead has helped the tech experts determine what computer the virus came from, and they are currently working on helping teachers fix their computers instead of killing the virus.
Unsatisfied with the actions of the tech experts, several students have banded together in the fight against the crazed killer, forming an organization labeled Oxy Resistance Group that has been responsible for several sabotages and guerilla assaults.
“The fight can only be won while separate from the bonds of establishment,” said sophomore and freedom fighter Austin Welch, “And I believe ORG should hold dictatorship over the school until the threat is eliminated, and I say we do so by any means necessary.”
While many may not agree with Welch and ORG’s rationale, almost the entire Chadwick community has joined the effort to be freed from the oppression of Oxy, who has been described as a “scorpion-like insect with a thirst for blood.”
Students from all over campus have joined in peaceful protests to end Oxy’s discrimination and animosity towards students. Several fundraisers have also been held to fund the resistance.
Despite the hush-hush nature of the administration’s efforts, Mainsheet has discovered an underground bounty on Oxy’s head that was set by a high official at Chadwick School. The bounty rests on Oxy’s head until a brave bounty hunter will step forward and slaughter the menacing bug. Many a man has tried and failed at this endeavor, and even Dog the Bounty Hunter failed at his attempt at catching the technological criminal.
The unstoppable nature of Oxy has many people worried, and until the killer’s weakness is determined and tech experts manage to erase its presence from the Chadwick server, it is advisable to keep small children at home and to avoid using any technological devices for fear of Oxy having become air-communicable.
The threat has risen to all new stakes, and soon someone’s life may be lost. The administration and ORG as well agree that the Chadwick community needs to keep a level head and try to remain calm in this dire situation. Teachers have been advised to give endless hours of homework for their students to complete on top of their extracurricular activities, so they can remain focused and do not get distracted by the event.
Until Oxy has been defeated, please refrain from using Chadwick Wi-Fi, and do not forget to re-register your laptop when the situation has been eradicated.

…..April fools!

Detloff directs Shakespeare with a twist for senior project

by Chris Stanton

Participants opened to raucous applause at their Friday, April 22 opening of the much anticipated rendition of the classic Shakespearean tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. The production, largely student driven, was directed by Chad Detloff and art directed by senior Marisa Melideo. Seniors Cotter Phinney and Sarah Lindstedt played the respective leads.
The rendition was dubbed “modernized” by its participants and, although the original dialogue was featured and the plot remained unchanged, many aspects of the play were indeed altered through a more current pop culture lens. For one, the costumes were updated and many of the characters’ genders were altered. The hairstyles also included much more vibrant colors and teasing than was typical in Shakespeare’s time period.
“Conceptually, the vision of the show was to create a visual palimpset, superimposing a contemporary aesthetic both in costumes and set onto a more romantic, classic, period aesthetic,” said Detloff.
The production also featured modernized combat, including a slow motion chain fight and Romeo’s use of a pistol instead of the more traditional sword. Blackouts were covered by modern music, even going as far as to include a Lupe Fiasco song and a scandalous party scene played to the backdrop of a Lady Gaga single.
The more risqué alterations made to the Chadwick rendition of Romeo and Juliet earned the production a PG-13 rating for slightly sexual content and some violence. The rating and the justification were displayed on all posters advertising the play.
“I cannot express how easily Marisa, my artistic director, and I collaborated, and I have to credit her with the truly brilliant way she brought our vision to life,” praises Detloff.
The ambitious production also featured student-constructed sets, ranging from Juliet’s window to an apothecary’s door, which was constructed almost entirely out of Sprite bottles.
“We spent a lot of time making the sets,” said senior Nicole Stanton, “The soda bottle doorway especially took a long time to make, but I think it paid off.”
The show, which was put together and produced in under a month, was initially labeled as the senior project, but later expanded to be an option for all upper school aspiring thespians for lack of actors.
“It was a great experience getting to know some seniors and juniors in such a high-energy environment,” said freshman actor Matt Beshke.
Other students recall more intriguing memories of pre-production.
“It was all so hectic I can barely separate one rehearsal from another,” sad junior actor Molly Zuckerman, “I do, however, recall Marisa Melideo giving Evan Hamilton a haircut at one point.”
The production opened to a full house, and had an equally sustained audience on Saturday night, after which the cast and crew had to deconstruct the sets and repaint the entire stage in preparation for the orchestra concert taking place the following afternoon.
Detloff concluded, “As a set of goals, and I believe we achieved all of these, I hoped that the play would be a truly collaborative effort, that we would connect with the text on a more profound level, and that the seniors would be given a final opportunity to shine onstage before graduating.”

Speaker challenges distorted notions in Islamophobia

by Jimmy Courteau

Amer Ahmed’s visit to Chadwick on April 19 provided students with a unique perspective of Islam contrary to the prejudice and bigotry the world is too often exposed to by blaming Muslims for depriving women of rights, committing violence against Westerners and Jews, and conducting terrorism against the United States.
But rather than explain where and how the prejudice and the bigotry started and is perpetuated, Amer Ahmed espouses a simple greeting of peace.
Why is it important that we, as students, are exposed to a person who is dedicating his life to the respect and dignity of all people? Is it simply because we are students and the exposure of knowledge is the paramount goal, or is it because we, as human beings, want or need to gain a perspective, an deeper insight, into our own prejudice and bigotry? Which is more important; the knowledge of Islam and what is a Muslim or the questioning our ourselves? Who am I?
Ahmed told us, as human beings, that it is far better to respect others because we have questioned ourselves rather than merely respect others because we have been told to do so, as students.
Ahmed suggested that life is a path toward insight of how we can be better at understanding why we are the way we are. This is the life that Ahmed has chosen for himself.
When Ahmed spoke of “breaking down the barriers,” the simple mental image is that of barriers separate and exterior. Barriers certainly exist out in the world. But as Ahmed spoke about barriers, it slowly developed the idea that these barriers, or the barrier, is not out there somewhere, but rather right here on the Chadwick campus. It is in you.
Ahmed said that when we substitute myth for fact we create our own reality, our own barrier, blocking us from seeing. How many times have we heard someone say, “That may be your reality, but it’s not mine.”
Ahmed’s reality is that Allah, God, is for all people. His life’s work is built on Allah’s, God’s, five pillars of faith; and by following the five pillars, Amer Ahmed is allowed to see the dignity of all people.
During Ahmed’s talk he never once asked us to look inward or question our own personal beliefs. But because of who he is, what he has become, and what he is becoming, his presence at Chadwick and his speaking to us about the myths and the barriers, floated stuff to the surface that otherwise would sink us to negatively view others in a false reality.
While listening to Ahmed one got the feeling that he enjoyed showing us that reality is peace not conflict. That reality is easily explained and not complicated or confusing.
Ahmed spoke about Muslim belief, Muslim faith, Muslim life, and Muslim family. Perhaps it is in this last word “family” that we can all find common ground with Amer Ahmed. The “Family of Man” might be an alternative title for Amer Ahmed’s presentation, “Islam: Beyond the Myths, Breaking Down the Barriers”; as family is the starting point for all of us even if it’s a Muslim family like Amer Ahmed’s in Middle America: Springfield, Ohio. Yes, a Muslim family in Ohio. Think about that. Somewhere in Ohio, U.S.A., a family is following the teachings of a prophet named Mohammed, praying five times every day to Allah, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, and saving money for a pilgrimage to Mecca to be with thousands of other Muslims in a small area.
Ahmed has given us a view into his life as a Muslim, an educator, a speaker, and a person whose work is his life. He’s not Amer Ahmed from 9 to 5. He’s Amer Ahmed 24/7. Maybe this last aspect, life’s work as one’s life, is the reason he came to Chadwick.
Amer Ahmed is very much like Margaret Chadwick: another person whose life’s work was her life.
Mrs. Chadwick knew that learning involves the whole student­—not just the mind —and that we must be open to new experiences and differing viewpoints. Ahmed spoke of the Five Pillars of the Faith. Chadwick School has followed Mrs. Chadwick’s inspiration by identifying five core values: honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness, and compassion. It’s not difficult to see that as students there are many roads to take to reach one’s goals, but only a few pillars or values that will make us better people.

Students create a new student lounge in library

by Ally Van Deuren

Are you always looking for a place to relax at school, but can never seem to find the right place? Look no further; Chadwick students will make it happen.
Each year, juniors and seniors in Lauren Stern’s History and Literature of Leadership class are asked to make a positive change in the community for their second semester project.
Seniors Natalie Behenna, Spencer LaFrance, and Lindsay Szper and junior Jared Agnew chose to create a new indoor environment on Chadwick’s campus where students can hang out without having to worry about being quiet.
After much discussion, they decided to renovate the magazine room in the library to serve this purpose.
“Team America,” as they call themselves, is hoping to put in glass doors in the spaces where there are now two doorways in the magazine room. These students are also planning on painting the walls, adding new and matching couches and furniture, video and board games, and other items to ensure that all students are satisfied.
“We want it to be a comfortable café or coffee house style,” senior Natalie Behenna said. “A place where kids can do group study and club meetings.”
In addition, the group of four believe that the student lounge will be a great location for younger siblings to hang out in if they are waiting for older siblings after school during Upper School sports practices.
Junior Jared Agnew adds that the lounge will be an exciting place because it will provide a studying venue for students that is “not the wooden benches in Roessler or the dirty carpet or the cold outside.”
The four have had many meetings with members of the faculty, administration and CPA board, who all approved their project and agree with the team’s ultimate goal of creating more of tight-knit community. They have high hopes that they can get their project underway as soon as humanly possible.
The group aims to have the room painted by the end of the year and to have it re-modeled, with the help of Bill Gibbs, by the end of the summer.
Current underclassmen and Middle Schoolers, look forward to reaping the benefits of this team’s hard work and dedication!
All four members of the team agreed on the fact that their extraordinary progress on something so huge and influential for the Chadwick community taught them more than just methods to make a positive change in the community.
Agnew said, “The project opened the door to the actual factory that Chadwick is.”

Teachers circle for a win and a cause

by Nikki Stein

The teachers strutted their competitive edges, each vying for the final chair on Tuesday, April 26 as students sat in suspense for  the Faculty Musical Chairs, hosted by the Foreign Languages Honor Society.
Teachers who teach in many different departments and a variety of grade levels came together to compete in this annual competition.
Members of the Foreign Language Honor Society run and play the music for the people competing in the game.
President of the Spanish Honors Society and senior Lindsay Szper said, “Musical chairs is a good way to share good foreign language music and hype up some fun and competition on campus.”
In previous years French Teacher Chantal Wilson, one of the head advisors of the honor society, has helped to plan this event. Although still very involved in the process, Wilson granted the society members with the responsibility to run the show on their own.
Ten teachers and faculty members competed in the festivities: science teacher Alana Wallace, English teacher George Ramos, headmaster Ted Hill, college counselor Marian Hersh, registrar Mrs. Hall, science teacher Trish Stevens, math teacher Sandy Morris, college counselor ShawnRae Passalacqua, English teacher John Matson and math teacher John Braadflat.
Before the event, Hall said, “I chose to participate in [musical chairs] because it is a fun activity. I have enjoyed the laughter and excitement generated by the contestants and their supporters alike.”
When asked why he chose to participate in musical chairs, Ramos said, “It’s for a good cause, and I think it’s important that students see that faculty members know how to have fun too.”
Before the event, Alana Wallace said, “I decided to participate so that I might beat Patrick and because Jim Wysocki would not be in the contest, although Trish Stevens is still around and she is hard to beat.”
In previous years, as well as this year, all the money made has been donated to benefit orphans in Rwanda. This charity organization is called, “Orphans of Rewanda.” This charity sponsors an African orphan to go to a university and get a higher education.
Chadwick has sponsored a young man in Africa for several years now. This former orphan now holds the resonsibility of supporting his siblings while trying to finish college.   Chadwick donated money to this man to help him pay for his college education.
Szper said, “I hope we raise a considerable amount for our charity and have a good time. It’s always fun to see our faculty (and student body) all excited for something light and non-academic for a little while…hopefully there won’t be any broken fingers this year!”
To raise money, members of the foreign language society sold raffle tickets to other students and teachers. These raffle tickets sold for two dollars, and on this raffle ticket students wrote which teacher they thought would win the musical chairs. Then after event everyone’s raffle ticket who had the name of the winner on it will be put into a bowl, and a ticket will be picked at random.  The student who wins gets a prize of fifty dollars.
In anticipation for the event to begin sophomore Molly Rowe said, “I am very excited for the musical chairs to begin. I think that this is a great annual Chadwick event because the students and teachers come together as one Chadwick community! I also love that we can come together as a community to help the charity Orphans of Rewanda. Although, I hope this year no teachers gets hurt like Mr. Detloff last year. I am so excited to see the game mainly because I love how feisty the teachers get, and how much they want to win!”
The MC for the games, Lucas Lebovitz, started with ten teachers standing by nine chairs. The song “Jump Around  by  House of Pain” started to play, and the teachers rotated around the nine chairs.
Within a couple of seconds the music stopped, and the teachers scrambled to grab a seat. Stevens got to a seat before Passalacqua, and Passalacqua sat on top of her lap, and he was out. In the second round the music stayed on for a little bit longer than in the first round, but Wallace could not grab a seat in time and she was out of the game.
In the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth round: Hersh, Matson, Morris, and Stevens respectively were eliminated. In the seventh round Hall and Hill both grabbed the same seat, but Hall prevailed and pushed Hill off of the sea.
When this happened Lebovitz sarcastically stated, “Mrs. Hall may now have a smaller salary.”
In the eight round the song “Jai Ho” played, and karma caught up with Hall, who was eliminated from the game. In the final round, the game was now between Braadflat and Ramos, but Ramos wrapped up the game by sitting down first, and he was crowned the winner of the game.
After the game of musical chairs ended Stevens said, “It was intense. I am proud that the games started with an Irish song, ‘Jump Around!’”
Matson said, “I got out much later than I thought! Overall it was a great game!”