Student Stress Reaches All-Time High: Admin Considers Unconventional Response (Satire)

During finals week, one of the most stressful times of year on Athenian’s campus, upper school students are afforded the privilege of stress-relieving puppy playtime, affectionately called “puppy therapy”. In recent years, however, “puppy therapy'' has evolved, no longer a crowd of adorable dogs for students to play with, but now just one or two rat-terriers, with foam coming out of their mouths and their scrawny legs trembling from the frigid 70 degree weather. 

With student mental health declining, and the dogs on death’s doorstep, the administration has decided to take a stand. In recent weeks, there have been countless administrative meetings regarding the implementation of de-stressing practices on campus, including, but not limited to, hot-rock massages in the main hall, facials in the nurse's office, and “nibble fish” pedicures in Courtside, which eat dead skin and relieve stress.

After receiving a lukewarm response from the student body following their “Just Sleep More” propaganda posters plastered around campus, the administration is taking a more aggressive approach to the epidemic of student stress. 

“Placing the onus back on students to regulate their stress levels just makes more sense, and makes our jobs a lot easier. With hot-rock massages available at all times, students will be able to take agency in their quest for a healthy school-life balance,” said an Athenian administrator who would prefer to remain anonymous.

It should be noted, however, that administrators will have priority in receiving the new stress-relieving commodities. 

“Well, students have a lot on their plates and probably don’t have much time for massages, so it only makes sense that these services not be available to them for the majority of the school year. We would never want it to impede upon their academic performance,” the administrator explained. 

It remains unclear how these new endeavors will affect morale around campus, but the general sentiment among administrators seems to be that students should start getting excited; after all, what’s more Athenian than an ineffectual and costly master plan with no student buy-in?

What—And Who—It Takes To Pass A Meaningful Town Meeting Proposal

So you have an idea for how to improve the school. You know that Athenian has a process called Town Meeting that allows students to submit, debate, and vote on proposals that would change school policies. You might worry that this process isn’t very effective for making bigger changes if you’ve looked at the proposals we’ve passed in recent years, but I was somehow able to pass a proposal that completely changes and reforms the school’s attendance policy. That clearly means Town Meeting actually works exactly how it should—right?

The idea for the proposal wasn’t mine. A couple people in my advisory brought it up after the Town Meeting in which we debated whether students should be allowed to take their shirts off during sports practices. The former policy reduced letter grades in a class by a third per unexcused absence, so they mentioned how missing class negatively impacts grades anyways. Initially, I was concerned about classes like E-Band, which aren’t directly graded based on cumulative material you’ll have to catch up on, but rather on participation. Then I remembered that participation involves showing up.

I liked this proposal. Several arguments in favor were already bubbling up in my head. Seela Haidari ’22 submitted the idea in the Google Form that was sent out, and we waited. The following week, Seela told us that Hollis Carey ’22, one of the Town Meeting officers, told her that the idea had been shot down by the administration. We collectively sighed and moved on.

Some time later, it was announced in an email the day before and at a Morning Meeting the day of that there would be a meeting on Friday at lunch between Mod 1 and Mod 2 to discuss possible changes to the attendance policy. I usually spend lunch on Fridays at Poker Club (this article is not sponsored), but I was invested enough in this proposal that I begrudgingly decided to skip gambling for the day and bring my lunch of pizza and cherry tomatoes to the meeting. I invited a few friends to come with me, but due to scheduling conflicts and fear of large discussions, we decided I would be the delegate representing our perspective.

This ended up meaning that aside from a couple of the Town Meeting officers, I was the only student at this meeting. Almost a dozen faculty members showed up over the course of the meeting, including several administrators, but I’ve never been particularly afraid of adults, so I stuck to my guns and argued my points.

This proved difficult because everyone at the meeting seemed to be discussing different things. A few teachers seemed to agree with me, but I found myself repeatedly clarifying that no, I’m not saying unexcused absences shouldn’t be recorded; yes, some people can easily get tardies and absences excused, but not everyone; and wait, why does any of this mean that we have to reduce letter grades by a third per unexcused absence? The meeting came to no satisfying conclusion while I was there. I had to leave so as not to be late for my Justice For All class, which is several layers of ironic, probably.

Despite the relative inaccessibility of this meeting to those who fear public speaking, don’t frequently and thoroughly check their emails, or already had things planned, what bothered me the most about it was the assumption that we all had to come to a consensus in order to write up a proposal. I’m a student, and I’m supposed to be able to bring forward any proposal I want provided I get the required number of signatures (I wasn’t sure how many because I couldn’t find the by-laws anywhere online, but it turns out it’s only 10).

The following Wednesday, we had a special schedule that put A period at the end of the day, after four other classes. For me, that was Calculus BC, so I spent the latter half of class writing up a proposal to entertain myself. A couple classmates made some suggestions, and on Thursday night, I typed it up, printed it out, and pocketed it in preparation for the Town Meeting ideation session that was supposed to happen on Friday. 

I showed up to the ideation session ready to challenge the entire school to come up with a reason my proposal wouldn’t work. I sat down and waited with bated breath for the announcements to finish—and waited, and waited, and slowly realized that there was going to be no ideation session at all. After pacing around Knoll 2 ranting in French (and reviewing the past tenses), I handed my proposal to Dean of Students Susie Childs at lunch. She said she’d pass it along to Head of the Upper School Meadow Davis.

I let the issue rest over March Term, but I later sent a carefully worded email to Meadow and the Town Meeting officers asking if they’d received it and what my next steps should be. A week later, I sent a follow-up email and attached the proposal, and at lunch on Friday, as I went to sit down, I saw Chad McElroy ’22, a Town Meeting officer. He apologized for not responding to my first email. As I assured him that it was fine, the other officers and Meadow started showing up, and all of a sudden, I was at a meeting. 

Fortunately, I’d been thinking about it enough that I was prepared to present a defense of my proposal at a moment’s notice rather than being sent into a panic by an impromptu meeting. They all liked my proposal, and they told me that they would get it approved by the Leadership Team on Tuesday, I could get the signatures on Wednesday, and the proposal would go to Town Meeting on Friday. The meeting was short enough that at the end, I walked across the lawn and arrived to Poker Club right on time.

The following Tuesday, when I got on the bus, I opened up Teams and saw that Hollis had asked if it was okay to, per the Leadership Team’s request, change the last line of my proposal from “If a student is frequently missing class, their advisor and the Academic Dean will work with them to develop a plan going forward” to “...the Academic Dean will determine disciplinary consequences.” I typed out a polite response explaining that the whole point of my proposal was to make the policy less punitive, so that kind of defeated the purpose. Then I checked my email and saw that the edited version of my proposal had already been sent out with my name on it.

During this process, I’d been frustrated at times, but now I was livid. I sent a slightly less polite email to Meadow and the Town Meeting officers explaining that if they couldn’t change the proposal back to what it was (with a line at the end about determining consequences if absolutely necessary as a compromise), I didn’t want to sponsor it. A Teams exchange with Hollis later, we did indeed update it to that version, and I sighed and shifted my focus back to Tech Week.

The Town Meeting on Friday wasn’t particularly interesting. I blanked and forgot all of my good points when I was speaking in formal debate, but I was proud enough of my wording in the proposal itself that I didn’t care too much. To nobody’s surprise, it passed in a landslide. Meadow told me I’ll be included in the process of translating the proposal into an actual policy. I think she got the message about not changing it without my approval.

Of course, the point of all this isn’t actually that passing a significantly impactful Town Meeting proposal is easy, or even particularly doable. I was only able to because I was very stubborn and unintimidated and did most of the work myself. I was very deliberate in the wording of my proposal, touching on several points Athenian likes to talk about (such as restorative justice and equality in grading), and I think if I’d simply brought forth my idea and asked the officers for help writing it up, the proposal at least would not have been what I intended. I also suspect I would’ve had to try even harder if I had broken rules in the past.

However, I think the main issue with the way Town Meeting works is that the meeting itself isn’t actually that important in the grand scheme of the process. The challenge is getting the proposal approved by the administration, not by the student body. I understand why proposals go through the Leadership Team, but acting as if this is democracy is misleading. At the very least, Athenian needs to make the process of getting proposals approved more transparent and straightforward and, frankly, more emphasized, because as important as it is, it’s absurd to pretend that the actual Town Meeting is the part that really matters.

Dying in Line: A Look into the Sri Lankan Protests

In the busy streets of Sri Lanka, winding lines grow longer as the day passes, and thousands wait hours to receive basic necessities like medicine, food, and fuel. After a searing day of queuing, protesters emerge onto the streets as the sun sets, protesting their government’s handling of an economic crisis. Their peaceful calls for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down are met with tear gas and water cannons. 

This has become the new reality for citizens of Sri Lanka amidst the worst economic crisis the country has seen since its independence in 1948. A result of mismanagement, outstanding foreign debt, and inflation has caused the country to face unprecedented humanitarian issues, including lasting electricity, fuel, and food shortages. 

Sanjeeva De Mel, a social worker in Sri Lanka who founded SERVE, a nonprofit working for poor women and children, explains the origins of this crisis. “This present crisis started a few months ago with gas [prices] exploding, non availability of milk powder, and the change of the dollar rate,” Del Mel said. “It has roots from one step to another but it started from very long term incidents—suppression, malpractice, mismanagement, wrong policies, and wrong investments.”

Sanjev DeSilva, who has Sri Lankan heritage and lived in Sri Lanka in 2012 doing post-war reconciliation workshops for Sri Lanka Unites, also elaborates on the political turmoil of the island state. 

“The current regime that controls Sri Lanka is kind of like a mafia family, known as the Rajapaksas,” DeSilva said. “Basically you have the president who was the former defense secretary. The prime minister is his brother. The cabinet—all these different powerful people—are all members of the family. And so they've been accumulating wealth and basically enriching their family while ruining the island's economy.”

President Rajapaksa’s 2019 election was cemented by his prominent role in ending the 26 year-long Sri Lankan Civil War as defense secretary in 2009. Immediately after, the country was hit by the 2019 Easter Bombings, a terrorist attack that killed 269 and injured 500, and the COVID pandemic soon followed. Now, despite facing the increasing consequences of his economical and political mismanagement, as well as the mounting civil protests for his resignation, Rajapaksa still refuses to step down. 

“This is now the first time in over a decade that they've been challenged in this way,” DeSilva said. “It's a clear message and people will cross all kinds of different boundaries to be united on this one message that this regime has got to go. So they're not gonna give it up peacefully and they're not gonna give it up happily, but the sustained energy of the protest has been critical to keep the pressure on.”

The protests, which have been going on for almost two and a half weeks, were started by a group of young activists. 

“They went and started protesting in front of Galle Face Green,” De Mel said. “That area is mainly a tourist area with five star hotels, a port, the president's house, and the prime minister’s house. Today’s the 19th or 20th day, they’ve been hanging there and protesting. The police try to control them but the lawyers and the bar association and the courts have been trying to ensure the right of expression and the right for them to protest.” 

“[The protests] have been extremely peaceful,” DeSilva added. “This has been one of the largest sustained demonstrations that have had no incidents of violence. The only violence that happened a couple times had been police that actually shot some protestors with live rounds. But besides those isolated incidents, it's been completely peaceful in a way that serves as almost a model of unity.”

Additionally, De Mel added his experience with the government suppression of these protests. 

“The government thought they should try and silence the protesters,” De Mel said. “They brought an emergency law—they can take anyone into custody without having a court case or normal process. The police officers are in power to basically take anyone into custody. When this happened, the political parties had a one-day campaign against the government. Then came the curfew, which means we can’t go out of the house.”

Besides the curfew, De Mel shares how his life has drastically changed since the beginning of this present crisis due to the mandated constraints on daily necessities. Even after living in Sri Lanka for over 50 years, he describes these as unprecedented living conditions. 

“In my life, the biggest problem has been the electricity cuts,” De Mel said. “Everyday, we have 3-4 hour power cuts, some days we have 6-7 hour cuts. Our working life became miserable. We don’t have a generator, we don’t have solar power. We don’t have access to our computers, so we try to do a little bit of handwritten work and discussions. But then we don’t have ventilation so it’s very tiring. In the houses, we always put up a fan, now I struggle with the heat. It’s very warm, and it’s not easy.”

De Mel also tells how extreme inflation has also become a huge challenge, especially with the donations SERVE has received. 

“A pair of shoes that we bought for a poor child was $20, now it’s $30 or more,” De Mel said. “Everything has gone up by ⅓ or more. Some of the funds we’ve raised before were projected for the old prices. Everything is very expensive.”

Seeing how Sri Lankan citizens have been affected by the consequences of administrative mismanagement, DeSilva believes that in order for the crisis to be solved, major governmental restructuring must be done.

“The biggest thing is this regime has got to be removed,” DeSilva said. “They've proven time and time again that they do not work in the interests of the people and that they are completely inept and not able to be leaders at all.”

But he still has hope for the future of this island. 

“I've never seen the country quite unified like this at all, ever,” DeSilva said. “We're all one people, but some people are very sectarian, so to see those sectarian borders being dropped down is pretty beautiful.”

De Mel agrees.

“I think we are a resilient set of people—even after the tsunami, we bounced back, even after the war, we bounced back in certain areas,” De Mel said, “We should be able to do it. . . . Each country and each nation has faced different challenges at different areas of time. As a nation, we have all come together. In the protests you don’t see any difference between ethnicities and religions. We should, as one set of people, move forward.”

And as the protesters have been chanting night after night: “Go home, Gota. Go home.”

Forum Returns After Long Hiatus

For many students, the Forum held on February 24, 2023—directly after a regularly scheduled Town Meeting—was their first introduction to an age-old Athenian tradition. 

Uncensored, later amended to Forum, is an Athenian practice dating back to 1996. Once a week, students gathered in the main hall to debate a wide range of hot-button topics. Without a clear structure, students found the freedom to practice their public speaking, engage with peers on relevant issues, and witness the value of their voice on campus. 

The tradition was started by Dick Bradford, Head of the Upper School from 1994 to 2018, who wanted to provide a space for student reflection.

“I took after the idea of a Quaker meeting. The general gist of it is that you sit there and if you feel moved to speak, then you get up and you speak. So, there’s time for speaking, but a lot of time for reflection as well.” said Bradford.

His vision had to be adapted over the years as it was implemented at Athenian. 

“If you wanted to discuss something outside the realm of Athenian, whether an international affair or something that happened in the news, it was an opportunity for you to get up and share your opinion. And then people would react.” Bradford said. “It was admittedly hit or miss, depending on what people had on their minds. As it evolved, I tried to give it more form.”

In 2019, Uncensored evolved into Forum, and took on a more structured format. Student leaders posed a predetermined question and led a schoolwide discussion, open to people who had researched the topic when it was introduced by email the night before. 

“So it became Forum. But what we wanted to do is to organize it by topics, and people had a hard time coming up with topics. And so again, it sort of fell apart,” said Gabe Del Real, Athenian Upper School Academic Dean.

In this iteration, Forum faced substantial opposition from students and faculty, primarily due to its shift online during the pandemic.

“It was a double-edged sword. People could speak on big issues, elections, and things happening in the real world in an unfiltered way. But [Forum] could also start arguments, especially through Zoom, which was kind of a nightmare,” Kasey Kazliner ‘23 said.

By the time Meadow Davis joined Athenian as the Head of the Upper School in 2021, administrators were phasing out Forum. Davis explained that upon arriving at Athenian, she received negative feedback surrounding Forum from many community members.

“What I heard from conversations with students and faculty was that some of the Forums that took place during COVID left students feeling unsafe, attacked, and offended,” Davis said. 

In the fall of 2021, without any official communication, Athenian stopped holding Forum. This iconic tradition was quickly forgotten by the majority of the student body, in part because most students had never experienced an in-person Forum themselves.

Jia Hwang ’23, discussed the value in a practice like Forum. 

“Forum was a good place for students to talk through their opinions, find different perspectives, and expand on their own. If Athenian really values student voice like they claim, then having a space to put that in practice would align with that promise.”

Given the school’s year-and-a-half-long hiatus from Forum, it came as a surprise to many community members when a seemingly impromptu Forum meeting took place on February 24th.

“I was surprised when Forum appeared on the projector right after we finished Town Meeting, since we haven’t done a Forum since the pandemic. It was just dropped in our laps, and it felt weird because there was no context given to explain the history or function of Forum,” said Hwang.

The reintroduction of Forum—according to Del Real—is part of a greater effort to bring back Athenian traditions lost in the wake of COVID.

“Certain things that were sort of a matter of course over the years have gone away after the pandemic. We’re trying to resurrect some older traditions like Forum and Town Meeting. But we’ve got new people, and new people have new ideas. They don’t know how Uncensored worked, so we’re trying to reestablish some things," said Del Real.

Del Real mapped out what Forum might look like for future Athenians.

“The hope is that next year, now that Chris [Crisolo] will have a year under his belt, we’ll be able to map out the Morning Meetings with more regular opportunities for Forum. But admittedly, maybe we’ll have one per semester, because we just don’t have that many Morning Meetings,” said Del Real.

This is one way to bring back a decade-long tradition, but are there other avenues Athenian should explore that may be more conducive to the school’s current environment?

Other faculty members shared their opinions on what an evolved version of Forum might look like. 

In the eyes of April Smock, the Head of Athenian’s History Department, increasing student voice at Athenian means accepting the extremes of conversation topics.

“If you genuinely want student voice, there is going to be a little bit of talking about goofy things. If it’s a forum for students to talk about what is of interest to them, there is going to be a large range of topics, some of which don’t seem serious or relevant to everyone,” Smock said.

Davis has a different take. She said that she hopes to create a more structured and intimate environment for these conversations.

“My fantasy would be that we develop something more like the Courageous Conversations model, where we train student facilitators and we have conversations in small groups that are student-led,” Davis said. “I say that because of my experience with those groups. It’s not just the people who are willing to stand up in front of 360 people, but everyone is brought into the conversation.”

In determining the best approach to a new era of Forum, it may prove useful to keep in mind the intentions of Forum’s founder.

As Bradford said, “I’m a big believer in student voice. The thought behind [Forum] was student voice, reflection, and thoughtful discussion, which I think are the underpinnings of an Athenian education.”

Why the French Election is Important for the Rest of the World

One of the most significant overseas events in Global politics this year was the French Presidential election. Even American newspapers like the New York Times that primarily report on domestic issues put out articles and headlines about the French election. These newspapers recognize the degree to which this event will be an important indicator of the future of France and the European Union. 

On April 24, President Emmanuel Macron went on from the election’s first round to win the run-off, retaining his status as President. But despite this run-off pitting the same candidates against each other as the one before it, it was notably closer. This is mostly due to the increased dissatisfaction the French people have felt towards Macron. 

Macron’s popularity has been steeply dropping. According to a recent poll from the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP), only 37% of French citizens approved of their president. Many people now believe that Macron’s ideology is defined by nothing but its marketing appeal and that it is not a political force that can bring actual change. Originally seen as a moderate who stood above the pettiness of partisan politics, Macron’s unpopular policies on COVID lockdowns and gas taxes outraged many along the political spectrum.

Robert Nelson, a history teacher at Athenian and the Current Events seminar instructor for next year, explained Macron’s decline in the eyes of the French public. 

“He campaigned on a promise to basically blow through France’s heavy regulations, to make them more business friendly, and to make them a little less rigid in their politics, which he has largely done,” Nelson said. “But of course when you do that the spoils are distributed unequally. Some people are enriched by that process while other people feel like they’ve been left out. So, Macron, for whatever reason, is seen as an elitist who sides with pro-business, wealthy French people.”

Macron’s opponent, Marine Le Pen, also represents part of why this election is so important. Le Pen is seen by many as a far right populist from the same mold as Donald Trump. Lea Hartog, the current International Relations teacher, explains Le Pen’s campaign in 2022.

“In this election [Le Pen’s campaign] had been about the economy and trying to promote the belief that her policies would better serve most French people,” Hartog said.

There has also been widespread concern that the election of Marine Le Pen or another figure from the French right will nullify much of the social progress that France has made during modern times. While Marine Le Pen is more centrist on cultural issues than her father Jean-Marie Le Pen—possibly as a tactic to appeal to the general populace—she could still serve as a gateway for increasingly nationalist and nativist policies from the right. 

Jean-Marie Le Pen originally created the party that Marine Le Pen ran with during this year’s election, until she ousted him for his inflammatory and divisive rhetoric. Several times over the course of his career, he gained significant political momentum and threatened to win the presidency, most notably while France was considering membership with the EU.

Kim Webb Palacios lived in France for several years while studying the European Union. She illustrates the general sentiment of the French right through rhetoric associated with Jean-Marie Le Pen.

“[He’s] anti-immigration, pro-French identity and French industry, and believe that France wouldn’t benefit from being part of the [European Union] for reasons that didn’t relate to the potential erasure of French identity,” said Palacios. “[He] made the case that economically [joining the EU] didn’t make sense and that the math wasn’t going to add up and just felt that France would be better off if it was idealized for ‘French People,’ and I’m using air quotes because what he meant by that were ethnically French people.”

Macron beat Marine Le Pen easily in their 2017 matchup, but this recent election was projected to be much closer. One poll released by IFOP-Fiducial on April 10 this year suggested that Macron would beat Le Pen narrowly by just 51% to 49%. Additionally, the traditionally center right and center left parties collectively received only 10% of the vote. This illustrates that the French people have been looking for new solutions and they have found that increasingly in the extreme right and left.

For many French citizens, the new populist right has become an enticing movement. It has promised alternatives to Macron’s stifling COVID lockdown policies and perceived elitism with the offer of decreased immigration and a nationalist approach to the EU.

Robert Nelson provided insight into the rise of the far right in France. “You can look at the same trends in globalization,” Nelson said. “Populist movements everywhere respond to the loss of identity or decision making at the local level, and they’ve sent [people] running to the far right parties. But it’s also specific to French causes. France used to be a major power on the world stage and [some of its citizens] feel like it’s been much diminished. People feel like the state is too bureaucratic or the people have no agency at the local level, or they feel like French culture is under assault from outsiders or immigrants—most notably Islamic immigrants from North Africa. And that kind of argument has hit a nerve with, unfortunately, an increasing number of French people.”

But the question remains: what does this all have to do with the rest of the world? The main reason why the French election will be so impactful—among many other geopolitical events that could be influenced by French policies—is that France is one of the most influential members of the European Union (EU) and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Because of this, a French wave of anti-globalism could easily cause France to leave and noticeably weaken these organizations. We can use the war in Ukraine as an example here: Le Pen has strong ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and if she did end up being elected president this year, her nationalist leaning could cause France to break line with the rest of Europe on sanctions towards Russia. It’s impossible to understand what the direct impacts would be, but there is almost no circumstance under which this would be good for Ukraine or the rest of the world. 

With the recent withdrawal of Britain from the EU, many people see the possible exit of France as a final blow. While Le Pen has deliberately retracted any sentiment that could be seen as advocacy against the EU, her nationalistic and xenophobic rhetoric may still result in a desire to strengthen France at the cost of the European Union. 

A French student who prefers to remain anonymous explains how he sees the threat of Le Pen and her policies: “I mean, it would be the end of the EU if Le Pen was elected, or any candidate who has similar views. I don’t know if she’s worse or better than any other candidate.”

Although Le Pen lost the election this time around, she could easily run again during the next cycle. Each time she runs, the world has seen the growing influence of France's right on full display. The EU and NATO are two of the most important international organizations to exist in our modern world, and the rise of the reactionary, nationalist right in France could serve to severely weaken them, leading to innumerable consequences that will even affect us across the ocean in the United States.  

The Athenian Garden Lab: Here’s What You Need to Know

Has Athenian forgotten about Round Square's Environmentalism pillar? The internationalism, democracy, leadership, and service pillars are apparent in students’ everyday lives,. but the Environmentalism pillar hasn’t received much attention. A new Garden Lab project may revive Athenian’s focus on this important principle after years of decay. 

The Garden Lab project was started in order to support Athenian’s stewardship of its environmentalism pillar. 

The Athenian Garden Lab will be a collection of gardens and intentional outdoor spaces placed around Athenian’s campus, inviting the broader community to be in touch with the environment available around them. 

“[This is a] huge opportunity to create a space and an outlet for students to learn about [eviromentalism] together,” said Erin Frederick, Director of Philanthropy at Athenian and member of the Garden Lab Committee with an administration standpoint.

Frederick, along with Whitney Hofacker, Dean of Experiential Education, and Cassie Kise, Director of the Carter Innovation Studio at Athenian, have been stewarding this project in many phases. In 2020, a generous donation was given to the school to support the project of revitalizing the school’s connection to nature and a culture of responsibility to environmental sustainability. 

While the Garden Lab hopes to shift individuals’ viewpoints on their responsibility to the environment, some physical results the Garden Lab would like to incorporate include: an organic outdoor garden, a greenhouse, an indoor vertical garden, rainwater catchment, orchard revitalizations, an olive press, and even an apiary. These structures will encourage student involvement and hopefully make students cognizant of the purpose of the space. 

These structures will be established with the objective to educate and empower students, for “if students have something tangible that [they] can enjoy the fruits from, then [the nature is] more incorporated in [their] lives, and the connected culture around environmentalism will be strengthened,” said Andrew David, current physics and astronomy teacher in the Upper School.

The Garden Lab Committee consists of three administrative members, one resident or boarding community member, two middle school faculty, two upper school faculty, and three upper school students. 

“This committee brings together people who share [the same] interest of bringing environmental education and sustainability and garden programs here to Athenian, and can speak from different viewpoints,” Britt SchlaeGuada, current environmental science and chemistry teacher and a member of the Garden Lab Committee, said.

The purpose of the committee is to inform decision-making on landscape and architectural design, the integration of the Garden into the school curriculum, and to cultivate a culture of shared responsibility for the environment. 

The Garden Lab supports Athenian’s environmental stewardship pillar and will be a space to explore food systems, climate solutions, and wellbeing. It will be in the working over the next few years and will hopefully make a successful recommitment to the Environmentalism pillar.

Let's Welcome back the Internationalism Pillar!

For years, the Round Square exchange program has been a prominent attraction at the Athenian school, giving students the opportunity to study abroad and host another exchange student at home. 

However, throughout the pandemic, the program came to a halt. For a year and a half,  no one was able to travel internationally through exchange. That pause was especially hard for the class of 2022, the current seniors, because many of them hosted students at Athenian and were subsequently unable to travel to their host school. Because of this, no current student at the Athenian School has completed a Round Square exchange.

During the period of absence, virtual exchanges were attempted, where students would attend online classes from another school. These exchanges were set up by Mark Friedman, the Round Square and community service coordinator for the Athenian School. 

When asked about the students' experience on virtual exchanges Friedman pointed out that “No, it’s not the same as living in another country for two months but they were really glad they did them. The students who went on these had better experiences than I would have expected.” 

While virtual exchange was indeed meaningful, some were left disappointed with the experience. “It's not even close to the same,”. Said Cecilia Bersamin ’24. “[Online exchange] is like going to some online classes on zoom where you aren’t even paying any attention, but [in-person exchange] you are completely immersed.” 

Fortunately, with the coronavirus letting up, exchanges are allowed to continue, and Mark Friedman, Head of Round Square and Community Service says “There were a lot of students that were unable to have this opportunity so I’m glad that students are able to have these experiences again.”

This year, 24 students are going on exchange to the countries of Argentina, Colombia, Peru, South Africa, Germany, Denmark, Australia, and India. So far exchanges from Colombia, Peru, Germany, Denmark, and India have attended classes at Athenian and students are excited for more to come. 

So far Bersamin ’24 is one of the only students to be in another country visiting her host family. Bersamin vouches that it is a great experience and definitely worthwhile. 

She offers advice to future exchanges: “Put yourself out there, which is hard, surprisingly.”

She explains how to combat homesickness: “Bringing a stuffed animal really helped me. Also call your family and friends. I don’t really talk on the phone very much, but calling them was nice.” 

Bersamin has been in Colombia for about a month and will return in the beginning of June. 

Phoebe Hughes ’23 is also going on exchange, and she has only hosted a student so far. 

“It was really nice getting to know someone from another country and getting to know more about what life is like for her,” said Hughes ’23. “I am most excited about seeing Camila [her exchange partner] again and learning more about Peru,” added Hughes ’23.

So far,  the exchange program has been running smoothly and everyone involved has been having fun. The program has been a staple at the Athenian School, and we hope it will stay for a long time to come. 

Beyond Pandemic Literature: The Study of Self

As Athenian lives through the pandemic, continuing to deal with the controversy and hypocrisy that have risen through isolation, many of us have changed our self-perceptions. Whether it was picking up a new hobby through quarantine, forcing ourselves to begin something new (perhaps to calm ourselves down) most found new passions through confinement. These hobbies, much like the hobbies of students at Athenian, became more prevalent in our lives, leading some of us to unconventional realizations about our true selves. To helps uf further build on these perceptions, humanities teacher Alex Mattraw began her Pandemic Literature class in the Spring of 2022. 

Pandemic Literature teacher Alex Mattraw

Pandemic Lit focuses on the essential questions: who has the agency to narrate and navigate crises, and what ought our responses be? And how can form and figurative language offer useful perspectives with which to understand suffering? Not only does she teach these impactful concepts, but Mattraw is also the first high school teacher to teach a pandemic literature course in the whole Bay Area. 

When asked about the impetus for the class, she said, “I started thinking about a pandemic literature course while I found myself concerned about the literature that my students would want to read, or rather, benefit from reading. The question of self-confrontation often required the characters in the books I teach to self-express, make art, or make imaginative experiences. Self-confronting is an amazing art; I thought, what if it could be a whole course?”

Not only does this class invoke themes of renewal, bravery, and authority of agency, the overarching theme of the class is the self—self-realization, identity, and moreover, inner peace. It begins with a short unit on the history behind pandemics; transitions to a novel, the Blue Book of Nebo; brings in another novel, Station Eleven; and wraps up with a unit about lyrical essays, which are ultimately the final project. These texts all contain characters through pandemics that battle with self-realization, serving as models for students in the class.

“A day in the class consists of discussion topics about the self and consistent journaling; we think about coping from the pandemic, finding one’s growth, or admitting self-realizations from the course curriculum,” Rishi R. ‘23 said. 

“Environmental crises, impermanence, and other themes empower students to highlight their authentic selves, but by using the journal, we further concretize and understand the self identities as we move past pandemic,” Mattraw said. 

“The course materials continue to prepare students to find their own versions of self through the isolation period of COVID,” Tanvi C. ‘23 said. “The novels focus on characters, how they deal with their own realizations, and their own revelations about their identities.” 

As the stories dig into the mechanics of quarantine—including windows, caves, and basements—themes of containment enter the literature that students read. Not only does the class reflect on our lives for the past two years, it provides excellent resources. Journals, reputable pandemic author visits, and a panel of authors that share their pandemic stories and practices have helped us find ourselves through this crisis and possibly revert to normalcy. 

As Mattraw works on the course with plans to offer it next year, she said her hope is to “cover practices for wellness by finding oneself, by confronting oneself.”

And in Knoll 7, that’s exactly what students do. 

“The Slap” - Why Is It So Important to Hollywood?

Will Smith–the lovable, well-rounded star that debuted his career in the show the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air–seems to have fallen from the good graces of major media sources, celebrities, and possibly the future of his career.

On March 27th, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held its 94th annual awards ceremony (e.g., the Oscars), with comedian Chris Rock hosting. Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and mocked her hair loss while presenting the award for best documentary. Rock said in passing, "Jada I love you, 'G.I. Jane 2,' can't wait to see it,". Abruptly, Will Smith walked up to the stage and slapped Rock on the face. After walking back to his seat, Smith yelled, "Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth!"

The public has spoken up with numerous defenses of  Rock, from claiming that Rock had no idea that Jada suffered from Alopecia to speculating that the joke wasn’t improvised but rather provided by the writers at the last minute to perform. There are also many defending Will Smith, saying that Rock had no right to make jokes about anyone’s health condition and that Smith was right to stand up for his wife. 

Many celebrities have also made statements about the incident. Zoë Kravitz posted on Instagram, “We are assaulting people on stage now.” Mark Hamill also tweeted, "Stand-up comics are very adept at handling hecklers. Violent physical assault... not so much. #UgliestOscarMoment_Ever."

Should Chris Rock have made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair? No. Did Will Smith have the right to slap Chris Rock? Also no. The physical assault would not be the answer to a joke, even if the joke was out of hand and disrespectful. Chris Rock should have made a different joke, one that didn’t make fun of someone’s medical conditions. Will Smith probably should have reached out privately and talked to Rock individually, if it bothered him enough to slap him. 

Will Smith’s actions do not excuse the rudeness and insensitivity of the slap, and Chris Rock’s joke does not excuse Smith’s blatant violence and public assault. However, the slap itself at the moment is less complicated than the consequences of Smith’s actions, and the question of if it’s deserved.

People have already come forward and speculated that Smith’s job opportunities have been compromised. Celebrity gossip sites, such as an Instagram page called Deux Moi, have claimed that some producing teams, casts, and crew members on projects Smith had committed to having anonymously admitted to being fearful of an outburst on set. Deux Moi also reported that some directors have asked Smith to resign from contracted roles or ones in progress. Smith has faced verbal degradation and criticism and has been “canceled” by some (i.e. fallen out of grace with the public). 

A different punishment came from the Academy a few days after the slap. They announced that Will Smith would be banned from the organization for 10 years. This means that he could not receive any more Oscar awards, or attend the ceremony. Also, the general humiliation and shunning from the statement is a slap in itself (pun intended).

Yet, there is controversy around the Academy’s ban relating to who it doesn’t extend to. Many have spoken angrily about an apparent double standard, how many others who may have deserved to have been banned, weren’t. , For example, Roman Polanski received an Academy Award after fleeing the country to avoid a conviction for pedophilia; Harrison Ford accepted the award on his behalf. 

I heard about the Smith Rock scandal for weeks, and still do, while people like Polanski require a google search to refresh the memory of who he is and what he did. Polansky’s offenses seem buried by time and relatively forgotten, which just goes to show the priorities of our society and who they deem “punishable”. 

It seems very strange that a very rich 80-year-old white guy from Europe gets his crimes and reputation swept under the rug while a black man (albeit rich as well) is disgraced for something with a very large difference from pedophilia. Of course, this does not go to say that Will Smith’s actions are correct or excused. However, it is important to compare it and think about how the public's reaction differs when it comes to certain people in the biased scene of Hollywood.