A Hopeful Future for Exercise

Photo Credit: ORION PRODUCTION / Shutterstock.com

By Ilah Ross

Jack LaLanne, the man who shaped the 50s with his message about the importance of exercise and healthy living, passed away on January 23, 2011. Throughout the 34 year run of his fitness television program, The Jack LaLanne Show, he impacted millions and led an exercise movement which overtook the American public. However, his impressive legacy did not end with his passing at the age of 96. 

Chris LaLanne, the great nephew of this iconic figure, possesses the same infectious passion for exercise and healthy living as his great uncle, and he too has impacted countless individuals with his work running LaLanne Bootcamp in Castro Valley, California. Chris, who studied exercise and nutrition at San Diego State, began his fitness career by working as a personal trainer. In 2008, he opened one of the first Crossfit gyms in San Francisco and successfully led a tight-knit Crossfit community for eight years. In 2017, he opened LaLanne bootcamp in Castro Valley, which he ran for three years. Though the COVID-19 pandemic forced LaLanne Bootcamp and other gyms and businesses worldwide to close their doors, it did not prove to be a challenge too daunting for Chris to overcome. In March, LaLanne Bootcamp shifted into an online format, an entirely necessary pivot to survive as an exercise business, and in doing so, adapted to a COVID-19 world in a way which redefined what gyms are and how they function.

On his new LaLanne Bootcamp app, Chris LaLanne has created a holistic approach to exercise. 

“I’m not necessarily just doing things like a workout or a plan; it's more of a holistic one-on-one makeover of your entire lifestyle,” LaLanne said. “I’ll be honest, this has been far more fulfilling for me than allowing people to just take a class, and then going back to their life. Now we can work on your whole day and get results in a very efficient and far more intimate way. Going online has opened me up to a completely new avenue in how I help people.” 

However, despite the many benefits of being online, there are certain aspects of working out in person that cannot be replicated on an app. The community created in an in-person setting is not only important for gym members, but coaches too.

“I’m a people person and so going to work and driving to the gym was something I did forever, and I miss it, I really do,” LaLanne explained. “But nowadays we just don’t have a choice, we need to pivot and see the opportunities available or create one of our own.”

There are also many challenges regarding the motivation of participants which an online format presents. When faced with the choice of working out in a group setting with a supportive coach just a few feet away, versus following an online class in the basement, many will opt for the in-person approach.

“Most people, naturally, are going to want to see other people and go to a class or a gym. It’s a social experience,” noted LaLanne. “So replicating that is difficult because you’re at home all by yourself.”

There are many parallels between the stories of Jack and Chris LaLanne. Both men worked to create positive change in their communities, and both chose to go about their work in creative and unconventional ways. In the ever-changing industry of fitness and health, the story of the LaLannes provides insight into the importance of creating a unique approach to exercise, and challenging the status quo.

“Now that I’ve closed my gym and I’m no longer leading groups or individuals in the flesh, I’ve been thrust into this online setting which is allowing me to reach more people in a more authentic way, just like Jack LaLanne did on the television in 1953,” LaLanne said.

Despite the many challenges the pandemic has presented, LaLanne has maintained a positive and enthusiastic mindset which allowed him to adapt his business in this evolving world, and has provided a way for his message to reach countless individuals around the globe.

“I have opened myself up to the entire world by going online, and so I’ve now been able to help people from all over the US and even abroad, which is amazing,” LaLanne said.

Just as Jack Lalanne was a pioneer of fitness in the ‘50s, Chris Lalanne has become one of the brave individuals paving the way for his business and others as they shift to an online environment, while maintaining that healthy living and exercise are both possible and necessary aspects of our daily lives in a COVID-19 world.

The Stress of Staying “Informed”: A Mental Health Dilemma

Photo Credit: Crush Rush/Alamy Stock Photo: South Carolina Protestors hold a rally at the South Carolina State House protesting the death of George Floyd

By Allison Chabala

Everyone is vulnerable to the feelings of stress that can be induced by a myriad of reasons. It’s sometimes nice to de-stress by surfing the waves of Netflix, letting the tide of relief wash over our minds and bodies. It is a much needed amelioration to the constant notifications on our phones, and the sober headlines that feel like they are being obtrusively thrust in our faces. 

According to an article by the American Psychological Association, 95 percent of Americans surveyed regularly follow the news. Of this percentage, 56 percent said that being informed causes them stress. Additionally, 63 percent stated that the future of the nation is a major source of stress for them.

This article was released in 2017. But this was just a mild presage to how people feel today. There has been a rough awakening for many Americans amidst a global pandemic, perpetually stressful politics, social injustice and unfair persecution of minorities, particularly African Americans. It is harder to rebuff these topics and turn to Netflix because many people encounter a moral dilemma—is it ethical to turn away from the news when so many people are suffering, now more than ever in their lifetimes? Ninth Grade Dean Mark Lukach shared his views of the importance of balancing mental health with news. 

“If it’s ethical ...yeah,” said Lukach. “But there's ethics on how you take care of yourself, and there's also ethics on how you take care and you help others.” 

 “Americans’ stress levels were significantly higher than the global average of 35 percent leaving the U.S. tied for fourth (alongside Albania, Iran and Sri Lanka) in Gallup’s ranking of the world’s most stressed populations,” reported a Smithsonian Magazine article written by Meilan Solly.

A more recent article by U.S. News provides additional commentary on the public’s mental health in the face of current events. “For a lot of people, we might be reaching the breaking point in terms of the amount of stress and uncertainty we are experiencing," said Vaile Wright, the American Psychological Association's senior director of health care innovation, as quoted by U.S. News. But in the wake of all the unfortunate events happening in the world, how should we find a balance? 

“I would say that about ‘being informed’—it’s a gradient,” Lukach states. “Like I could have the NYT open on my computer and be refreshing it every five minutes and I could be informed. And that's probably gonna cause me immense anxiety. I could also dedicate 20 minutes a night to reading the news and staying up-to-date. I'm still informed, I'm way less anxious in doing so.” Lukach also offers an interesting analogy about the importance of staying informed. “It’s almost like your homework as a citizen. You're not constantly doing your homework, you set time aside to do your homework,” said Lukach. “You’re not constantly reading the news, you’re setting aside [time] to check in, make sure you know what’s happening, and then, you put it away! And you go about the rest of your life.”

The Science Behind the COVID-19 Vaccines

Photo Credit: M-Foto/Shutterstock: COVID-19 vaccine on a laboratory bench.

By Noelle Woodward

2020 has been an arduous year for us all, with the most notable event being the pandemic that has claimed nearly 300,000 lives as of mid-December in the U.S. Scientists around the world have been tirelessly working to design and create a fast, safe, and effective vaccine in attempts to end this fear-filled time of change and uncertainty. Though traditional vaccines take years to develop, scientists have discovered a new opportunity for vaccine advancement through mRNA technology. 

Recent statements from two pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer and Moderna, reveal that their mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been 95 percent effective in preliminary trials, introducing us to all the possibilities of mRNA vaccines and the dangers and benefits they possess. 

Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is a nucleic acid that carries the genetic instructions to produce DNA particles and proteins. 

“It has a couple of known features,” said Dr. Marica Grskovic, a molecular biologist who studied RNA translation at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. “At the end of it is a polyA tail which is a bunch of adenosines [one of the chemical “letters” that make up RNA] in a row. This is the structure that is recognized by translational machinery in our cells that make proteins from it. So each mRNA will code for a specific protein based on the nucleotide sequence that it carries.” 

Unlike traditional vaccines that work by injecting a weakened or small, non functioning part of the virus into your body used to create a reaction from your immune system that builds antibodies, mRNA vaccines use synthetic chemicals and enzymes to make up mRNA that is derived from those specific spike proteins on COVID-19 cells. 

These mRNA proteins are encased in fatty cells called lipid capsules that allow our body to accept the vaccine. 

“They work in a nutshell by hiding [in] the human cell, by pretending to be human mRNA, so that they can get in the cell and they're not rejected and recognized by the immune system,” adds Dr. Grskovic. “Once they’re in, they take possession of this translational machinery, and they make viral proteins.” 

Our immune systems then produce antibodies in response to these viral proteins, building up the immune response to the actual COVID-19 virus. 

Both of the leading mRNA vaccine candidates, the pharmaceutical partnership between U.S. Pfizer and German BioNTech as well as the government funded biotechnology company Moderna, have succeeded in reaching 95% effectiveness in their vaccine trials of this technology. 

Although they possess broad similarities in success rates, Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines differ in molecular structure as well as transport and handling capabilities. 

“For Pfizer, the thing that's really key is that for long-term storage it needs to be at -70 degrees Celsius,” said biology teacher Maria Luca. “That’s a pretty extreme request for different parts of the country. [...] Moderna, (which only needs to be kept at -20 degrees, is) refrigerator stable, and that's really, really important for shipping and getting the vaccine to different areas.” 

Despite the extensive amount of research in the last year, mRNA vaccines are relatively new technology. Research began during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, when populations all over the world realized that we need to be more prepared for emerging epidemics. 

As with any new technology, widespread doubts have developed over safety, effectiveness, and potential side effects. As of now, the mRNA vaccine candidates appear to be very safe, and their 95% effectivity rate proves reliable even in small trials. Even the side effects will likely be consistently lower than those of traditional vaccines. 

“mRNA is like a temporary copy,” said Luca. “Because it's so temporary and so fleeting, there's less potential side effects for mRNA vaccines.”

The only uncertainty left is over how long these vaccines will actually last in the human body. It is not yet known if we will need to get revaccinated often in a matter of months, or if the mRNA vaccines will be long-lasting and we can go years before revaccinating. 

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have already been identified as requiring two shots to build up the immune response effectively: 21 and 28 days apart respectively. 

“One of the things they initially tried was a higher dose of the mRNA on some of the initial tests, and that initial higher-dose led to an extreme fever and [other extreme symptoms],” says Luca. “They had to lower it by over half for that sort of thing, and so over half then means that there's going to be an initial immune response, but that second immune response is what you’re trying to build up and train the body for.” 

In spite of these unknowns, this introduction to  mRNA technology has opened the door to many new benefits, most notably the speed at which vaccines can be produced. Though the process of creating a vaccine typically takes years, Moderna was able to design one in 32 days due to the relative simplicity of the mRNA process.

The months between Moderna’s first 32 days and now haven’t just been occupied by production. The additional time required for testing and revising has been a time-intensive process. 

After designing a vaccine, scientists first have to administer preclinical testing where they test their vaccines on cells and animals such as mice or monkeys. The vaccine then goes through three phases, (safety, expanded, and efficacy trials), in which it is administered to increasingly larger, regulated groups of people and compared with a placebo. The vaccine can then be put up for approval where country regulators such as the American FDA must approve it before it is sent out to the public. Both Pfizer and Moderna have applied for emergency authorization, and have been approved for public use. 

As of now, both vaccines should be ready for widespread public implementation in mid-spring, with distribution for healthcare workers and vulnerable citizens already occurring.

How Athenian Boarders are Managing School Abroad

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By Amanda Cutrer

A very beloved part of the Athenian community are the Athenian boarders. Boarders have always brought intriguing new perspectives to campus, but this year, as summer came to an end, it became clear that the pandemic was going to affect the 2020 school year. Some students chose to come back to campus, but with very limited student visas available and concerns with safety pertaining to COVID-19, 15 students were faced with the reality that returning to the dorms would not be an option. 

Remote learning can be hard for everybody, but attending school remotely from a different country than the majority of the student population and faculty presents unique challenges. Due to the time zones, for many international students there is no ideal way to attend class. Being so far from the community can cause students to feel disconnected.

Pow Vachirajindakul ’22 lives in Thailand, and she chose not to attend classes synchronously due to the 14-hour time change. 

“I didn't feel as motivated to study at home as I was at school. Every day, I spent the whole day watching the recordings and catching up with all the assignments,” said Vachirajindakul. “It took me forever to understand everything and finish each assignment as I couldn't ask teachers [questions] right away.”

Not being able to attend classes synchronously strips students of the learning experience they had once enjoyed. Many are unable to talk with their peers and teachers, and the classes can begin to feel like independent study full of busywork. In response to these struggles, some students made an effort to attend their classes. 

One student who is currently living in China, Clara Feng ’23, consistently stayed up in the middle of the night to go to class. 

“Before you guys started the in person school I used to stay up till 6:30 am to go to all my classes including E period and elective, and [then I usually woke up at] 3 pm,” said Feng. “Now that all classes end at noon for you guys, I can go to sleep at about 3:30 am, but sometimes I have E period or electives later, so I’ll just sleep for like two hours and then wake up for classes.”

These hours seem unreasonable for many, but only watching class recordings brings additional social challenges. In addition to academic obstacles, living abroad creates a social barrier between the boarders and the day students. Weizhi Du ’23, a new student living in China, responds to this struggle. 

“It’s hard for me [to get to know the school as a new student],” said Du. “I try to attend a few classes if I can. Because I’m a new student here, I can only connect with a few people… [I wish] there could be more activities that I can attend in my time zone.” 

For some boarders to even see the faces of other students, they must maintain an absurd sleeping schedule. Especially for our new students, getting to know Athenian while living in a different country is far from easy, and can easily lead to the deterioration of students’ mental health.

“It sometimes feels like I’ve been left out of something at school,” said Feng. “I’m fine for now. I might not be once the in-person E period starts. I’m thinking I’ll go back to school next semester. I will feel terrible if the theater starts to do a show at school and I’m not in it.”

Whether it is the musical, sports, or other programs that are generally a part of life at Athenian, attempting to continue these traditions without our boarders can make them feel isolated. It is a hard situation with no clear answer, but the best the school can do is reach out and try to make them feel like a priority.

“I was lucky that most of my teachers are very understanding and flexible with due dates of the assignment for those who were overseas,” said Vachirajindakul. 

Du echoed this sentiment, saying “I think I got a lot of support. For example, my history teacher scheduled a discussion with me every week, so it’s been really good.”

Athenian students have always loved the teachers at the school, but the pandemic really highlighted their care and resilience. Teachers went out of their way to try and make this transition as comfortable as possible for the students living abroad. 

Domestic students can follow this lead and reach out to boarders. As the world awaits highly anticipated vaccines and the Athenian community has to patiently await the day we can all be together again, it is important to connect with one another in whatever way we can in order to support each other through this time. 

“I went to the campus last September. It’s really nice,” said Du. “I like the school… And one day if I can go to the campus in person [I know] it will be much greater.”

Despite being thousands of miles away, Athenians can find ways to unite through their collective struggles and hope for change. For now, the students and faculty can acknowledge the challenging position of those overseas and try to make a difference, and the community will look forward to filling the dorms back up with boarders.

The Impact of Social Media on U.S Elections

Photo Credit: Cienpies Design/Shutterstock

By Zachary McGraw

According to polls published by the Pew Research Center, 55 percent of American adults get their news from social media. Social media has been crucial for social and political justice movements in the last few years, sparking the MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements. But there is also a downside to relying on social media for information; according to the Pew Research Center, 38 percent of 35 to 49 year olds often believe fake news, and 41 percent of 18 to 34 year olds believe fake news articles are real. It is evident that social media has an immense influence on our society and politics; how social media companies choose to manage their platforms will have a large impact on our country and the world for years to come.

In the last thirty years, 92 percent of Republicans have become more conservative and 94 percent of Democrats have become more liberal, according to the U.C. Berkeley Political Science newspaper, The Greater Good. While this alone may sound harmless, the percent of Democrats and Republicans who view the other party negatively has doubled and it is only getting worse. Sophomore Ousseynou Ndoye says he has noticed the impact.

“It has become more difficult to talk about politics in the last few years—people seem less open to new ideas and listening to the other side.” said Ndoye ’23

The polarization in politics has also led to more extreme politicians getting elected. Politicians who used social media to their advantage have won unlikely elections, such as Donald Trump and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. Some believe that social media gives a voice to those who wouldn’t have been represented before in politics, while others think it makes elected officials have more extreme views; there is truth on both sides. Politicians who have less money are more likely to win, but the average congressman has become more extreme in their political views. Social media has amplified more dangerous voices as shown by the 2020 election of a Georgia QAnon supporter to Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene. Social Media amplifies radical ideas and makes them mainstream, which can have dangerous effects on our world. According to studies by NBC news people are more likely to believe outrageous and obviously fake news on social media. This problem is amplified when members of the left and right are only given biased news on their feed which further validates their worldview. 

Social media has led to the growth of many social justice movements that are widely viewed as positive for society, such as Black Lives Matter and the MeToo movement. Social media spread the killing of George Floyd, creating mass awareness and visibility of issues such as police brutality that people may not have been aware of twenty years ago. Lizette Ortega Dolan, tenth grade humanities teacher and a frequent user of social media states, “Social media hasn’t impacted my political views, but it has become an additional way for activism. There's strength, possibility and knowledge in social media, we just have to learn to use it correctly.”

Under the layers of hate and disagreement, social media contains valuable information and discussions that can impact our world in a positive way.

Although social media can be used for positive change, it is a breeding ground for misinformation. Fake news spreads 70 percent faster than real news and leads to widespread confusion and distrust about what is true or not. Politicians continue to manipulate the truth to fit the narrative they are pushing for their own self-interest. 

In the last few months, sites like Twitter have started cracking down on misinformation spread by politicians. Many politicians have countered this with the narrative that Twitter is biased and unfair, but this claim is simply false; Twitter’s fight against misinformation has no apparent biases and holds the same standards for both parties. While this is widely regarded as a step in the right direction, many ask if this is enough. Despite social media companies’ best efforts, many conspiracy theories and radical policies continue to become mainstream on their platforms. Many more regulations on content are considered, on both sides, necessary to lessen polarization in this country, and how these social media companies decide to regulate their platforms will have lasting effects on our democracy for years to come.

Does COVID-19 Mark the End of Small Business?

By Ilah Ross

Does Covid-19 Mark the End of Small Business?

On April 16, 2020, Neal Gottlieb, founder of Three Twins Ice Cream, one of America’s leading grocery store brands in organic ice cream, announced that his business of 15 years would be ceasing operations as of April 17. Many were distraught to hear this news, as Three Twin’s iconic flavors of Lemon Cookie, Dad’s Cardamom, Land of Milk and Honey, and more, were staple ice creams in countless Bay Area homes. The reason for this abrupt closure was not unique to Three Twins; many other small businesses are also closing up shop due to the immense economic strain brought about by COVID-19.

When citizens of the United States were sheltered in place during the months of March and April, many were worried about the most pressing insecurity which COVID-19 introduced: the health and safety of their family members and themselves. However, a significant subset of Americans had other worries on their minds in addition to this basic concern. For the 49.2 percent of Americans who are owners and/or employees of a small business, COVID-19 was not only a matter of health, but also of livelihood, as the pandemic had a direct impact on the way in which these vital businesses function. Beyond the primary issue of many businesses completely closing down during March, April, and May, small businesses had to reevaluate how many people they could keep employed, and whether they could afford to stay open at all.

“The local business climate has been heavily impacted by the pandemic,” said Judy B. Lloyd, president and CEO of the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce. “Small businesses in the retail and restaurant sectors have been hit most directly, and many of these businesses have been well within compliance guidelines issued by the State and County, yet they were still forced to be closed out of fear of spreading the virus.”

According to the latest research by Yelp, 72,842 businesses in the United States have been forced to close permanently due to the impact of COVID-19 on businesses. As Lloyd notes, the food industry has been one of the most harshly affected by COVID-19. An estimated 15,770 restaurants have permanently closed in the US alone. One out of every 10 restaurants which temporarily closed in March, April, and May has since closed permanently. These devastating statistics are concerning for small business owners, as they serve as a reminder of the looming threat bigger businesses pose in encroaching on their market share. For Gottlieb, this threat came in the form of companies like Ben and Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs. 

“The biggest challenge of the grocery side of the business even before COVID was competing with the likes of Ben and Jerrys and Haagen-Dazs, who are cheaper grocery market brands. It’s just really challenging to offer a clean and organic product, and to get consumers to pay significantly more for it,” Gottlieb said. 

The concern of national brands overtaking small business may have been exacerbated by the pandemic, but Gottlieb’s account suggests that it existed long before COVID-19. Most consumers opt for the more convenient and cheap option when it comes to food and other products. Supporting small businesses is becoming less of a priority for the American public.

Unfortunately, Three Twin’s business model was inherently harder to sustain due to their commitment to producing reasonably priced organic ice cream through environmentally friendly means of manufacturing. In the current consumer economy, it has become increasingly difficult to survive as a business while staying true to these values.

“I wanted to create a business that was organic and environmentally friendly but appealed to the masses for reasons far beyond just being a green business. So I wanted to put that out into the world at an affordable price, which was something that had a lot of initial success but that also proved to be very challenging as far as getting to a place where the business was sustained and profitable,” Gottlieb explained.

Then came the pandemic, an obstacle which introduced a new level of financial instability that Three Twins was unable to keep up with.

“The more established companies just have deeper pockets, and they have established profitability. So they are able to weather the storm when there’s a downturn, whereas we just didn’t have that. We were already running on fumes before the pandemic,” Gottlieb said. 

The story of Three Twins Ice Cream is one of hope and resilience but ultimately loss. The 72,842 businesses which have permanently closed in the recent months suggest that there are many other stories like Gottlieb’s. COVID-19 has served as a harsh awakening for small business owners who started companies from the ground up with hopes of providing consumers with unique products. Many of these businesses were ultimately unable to withstand the combined forces of an economic recession fueled by a raging pandemic and the competition created by bigger companies who have established profitability.

There are, however, cases of successful pivots to an online format during the pandemic. Chris LaLanne, owner of LaLanne bootcamp in Castro Valley, California, quickly shifted his fitness business to an online format when the pandemic hit.

“In March, when the state mandated closure of gyms and bars and restaurants and all those services, there was lots of writing on the walls in the business community. The time to close down and pivot to an online format was something that couldn’t wait any longer.” LaLanne explained.

On his new LaLanne Bootcamp app, Chris LaLanne has created a holistic approach to exercise. 

“I’m not necessarily just doing things like a workout or a plan; it's more of a holistic one-on-one makeover of your entire lifestyle. This has been far more fulfilling for me than allowing people to just take a class, and then going back to their life. Now we can work on your whole day and get results in a very efficient and far more intimate way. Going online has opened me up to a completely new avenue in how I help people,” LaLanne said.

The future of LaLanne’s venture in connecting with customers online is yet to be determined, but this potential success story may be the exception among most small businesses. 

In a time where the average American’s trips to the grocery store are increasingly centered around finding the least expensive products in the shortest amount of time, many wonder if small businesses and brands still have a future in our world and consumer economy.

Meet Lizette Ortega Dolan

Lizette Ortega Dolan

By Zoey Patterson

Lizette Dolan is a new Humanities teacher at Athenian, but it’s not her first time working here.

“I was hired as Dean of Equity and Inclusion back in 2006, and I…did a lot of explicit training on equity and inclusion,” Dolan said. “I had just developed an Ethnic Studies course at the school where I was teaching before I came to Athenian, so I was really excited to bring that knowledge and that energy and passion to a different school.”

Dolan explained that part of what attracted her to Athenian was the emphasis it places on equity and inclusion.

“I…really believed that there was an authentic desire to improve the learning environment for marginalized groups,” Dolan said.

Athenian’s community is also something Dolan is glad to return to.

“I’ve been working independently for about three years as a consultant, and so I’m excited to now kind of be a part of a team again,” Dolan said.

Dolan is even more excited for when Athenian can return to normal in-person classes.

“That’s one of my favorite places to be…in the classroom with students,” Dolan said.

However, classes aren’t the only thing Dolan misses from before COVID–19.

“I certainly see myself as the hostess with the mostest,” Dolan said. “I love having people here. I love, like, setting the table and deciding on what I’m gonna serve and making little name cards…I love hosting, so that’s what I miss the most.”

Dolan’s own ideal meal, however, is less common for hosting.

“It’d be French toast with sausage, scrambled eggs, sourdough bread, sour cream on the side, and fake maple syrup,” Dolan said.

But that would not be the only component of Dolan’s ideal start to a day.

“I would love it if it was a normal thing for every day to start like a musical,” Dolan said. “Like, if I could wake up and be like ‘ONE DAY MORE’...like, everyday, where that is just, like, normal, I’d love that. I think it’d be great.”

Musical theater is not, in fact, Dolan’s main passion, especially in the realm of school.

“I absolutely love, love, love history,” Dolan said. “And…studying history and the humanities is everything, everything’s connected to it, it’s all about, literally, humanity.”

To explain this, Dolan paraphrased the words of a more famous humanities expert.

“There’s this great quote that I like by Paulo Freire that says, ‘It’s about learning how to not simply read the word, but read the world,’ and I feel like, as a humanities teacher, that’s what I’m supporting students in doing.”

Meet Nenelwa Tomi!

Nenelwa Tomi

By Zoey Patterson

Nenelwa Tomi is the new Associate Director of Admissions and Financial Aid. She’s especially interested in working in admissions because of the unique perspectives she can bring to the table.

“In thinking about my role here...what comes to me is my experience in admissions as a student ...and just feeling like there wasn’t much support along that journey, and feeling like there were people in the spaces who didn’t represent the experiences that I had gone through,” Tomi said. “So part of what drew me to this work was trying to be that person for others, to see themselves represented.”

Tomi is also interested in how the current pandemic provides an opportunity to reimagine Athenian’s admissions process.

“I think this year, because we don’t have the capacity to have prospective families visiting our campus, it offers us a really interesting opportunity to think of new ways to showcase our experience, or...what distinguishes Athenian from other spaces and places,” Tomi said.

The current admissions process, she said, has “been a bit stale.”

“We’ve all done kind of the same things across institutions,” Tomi said. “Whether you are at a school on the East Coast or the West Coast, you kind of have the same standard of experience. We just have different campuses.”

However, Tomi not only believes in Athenian’s mission, but has a personal connection to it.
“It values experiential learning, which is something that was a core component of my upbringing not just in the classroom, but also outside of [it],” Tomi said.

Tomi finds this quite meaningful and is excited to share it with more people.

“The fact that I’m at an institution that places high value on that...idea of creating and innovating in the classroom and finding ways to be yourself, or bring yourself into that classroom space, is so powerful to me,” Tomi said. “[I want] to think about how to increase...the capacity that Athenian has to reach more phenomenal students to experience this.”

Being off-campus, however, has made it harder for Tomi to properly acquaint herself with working at Athenian.

“It’s kind of a strange space to be in in terms of being a new person because you don’t even know how to be proactive because you don’t really know people, and you don’t know the systems yet,” Tomi said. “So it’s been great to engage with...forum and community meetings and see students from that perspective, but it’s been strange to not meet them.”

Tomi is still eager to meet whoever she can within the limitations of (partial) distance learning.

“I encourage students—or faculty and staff who are interested—to just reach out,” Tomi said.

When we do fully return to campus, Tomi has a note on something distinctive students might notice about her.
“I love to sing, so you can find me singing in the car,” Tomi said. “If you’re ever leaving the Athenian parking lot and you see someone singing and dancing in their car, that’s probably me.”

Meet Robert Nelson

Robert Nelson

By Zoey Patterson

Robert Nelson is a new Humanities teacher at Athenian. He’s teaching ninth graders this year, which might be conducive to developing relationships with students for him in particular.

“It takes people a while to get me,” Nelson said. “People kind of think I’m...grumpy or aloof, and kind of distanced, but honestly, if you talk to students who have been with me and had me for multiple years as a teacher, you [will] find that we have a really close, trusting relationship.”

Nelson added that these relationships, which often last beyond graduation, make his job particularly special.

“They’ll still send me emails and tell me about their college courses and ask my advice on this and that,” Nelson said. “I think that’s the best thing about being a high school teacher…[getting to] watch as students get older, and play a part in that, but also keep in touch after they’ve gone on and done awesome things.”

Nelson is also looking forward to interacting with the Athenian community.

“[I love] the feeling that you get when you’re in the right place and the people around you share your values and share your ideas about what education should be,” Nelson said. “When people genuinely believe in the power of education, you come together around it.”

Even so, the community is only one of the nice things at Athenian.

“One of the things that is very appealing about Athenian is just the physical location of it, being right near Mount Diablo,” Nelson said. “I’m very much an outdoors person, so I can totally relate to that.”

The aesthetic side of the outdoors is not the only thing about it that Nelson appreciates, however. He also enjoys “just you being outside” and interacting with the outdoors.
“I like throwing a ball around, whatever type of ball it is,” Nelson said. “In high school, I played baseball, football, and ran track.”

These things have also helped Nelson interact with other people.

“You’re part of a team, and you automatically have this community set up for you,” Nelson said. “They want to welcome you in and make you a part of their team.”

This was particularly important to Nelson as a child because he moved around frequently.

“Being a person who sort of has to adapt to new places and has to get used to new communities, it gives you a sort of perspective on people wherever you go,” Nelson said. “There are people who are very likely to find differences in comparing people from one place to another, but I like to think of it more like similarities, like looking for human nature and what makes us all very the same, in a way.”

This is part of the reason Nelson ended up teaching history.

“I’d always wanted to explore more things about the history that was around me...the differences between peoples and towns and landscapes always interested me, so I just wanted to know more,” Nelson said.

Nelson has an interesting personal history as well.

"My mother is from Iceland, and there are a lot of cool things about being descended from a small group of people,” Nelson said. “There’s only about 250,000 to 300,000 of them in the country right now, and they have a really well-documented history, so if I actually did my genealogy...it would go back over 1,400 to 1,500 years.”

The variety in Nelson’s backstory gives him an interesting way to explain who he is.

“I like it when people ask me where I’m from,” Nelson said, “because I never have a good answer.”

NASA Mounts OSIRIS-REx Mission to Asteroid Bennu

Graphic By Alekhya Maram

By Adam Tufts

Ever since the turn of the 18th century, when modern scientific thought started to gain traction, astronomers have puzzled over how Earth, or more generally the Solar System, came to exist. Nothing concrete could be concluded, but several popular hypotheses permeated throughout scientific circles. Currently, the most generally agreed upon theory dictates that 4.5 billion years ago a dense interstellar cloud collapsed upon itself, and the remnants of the phenomenon condensed to form the Sun and all the surrounding astronomical bodies. 

This elegant explanation, however, is inadequate in one key respect: it lacks substantial empirical evidence. Moreover, to the disappointment of many modern-day astronomers, obtaining this evidence, if it were to exist, was, and remains to this this day, an extremely cumbersome process. This can be attributed to the turbulent history of most terrestrial material. 

“It is very hard to find old rocks on Earth, because [Earth] has volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and plate tectonics. The surface of the Earth is always getting recycled and renewed and reborn,” said astronomy teacher Andrew David. “There are only very few places on Earth where we can go back and see rocks that were formed in the early days of the Earth and Solar System.”

After accepting this reality, many scientists turned their focus to certain extraterrestrial bodies, which they realized, unlike the Earth, could yield incredibly valuable insights on the origins of the Solar System. Following this epiphany, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) initiated the OSIRIS-REx mission in September 2016. The core objective of the operation was to send the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to Bennu, an asteroid whose orbit can run only several million miles from Earth’s, in hopes of gathering a sample. Bennu, in specific, attracted many NASA scientists to the prospect of the OSIRIS-REx mission largely due to its classification as a carbonaceous chondrite, or an asteroid very rich in carbon.  

“[Carbonaceous chondrite] asteroids, which Bennu is one, are important in answering question about the origin… of the solar system because these objects are pretty much unaltered for the past 4.5 billion years…” said Ross Gaunt, member of the Tri-Valley Stargazers Astronomy Club. “The carbon found on Bennu likely came from an exploded star. The star(s) that produced the material contained in our solar system [and, thus, on Bennu] exploded, probably, billions of years earlier.” 

Two years after the launch of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, it arrived at Bennu on December 3, 2018. However, while many were excited by the landmark occasion, the NASA research and engineering teams were first greeted with unfortunate news. The engineers of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft had anticipated a generally smooth surface covered with centimeter-scale particles, but the camera bolted onto the spacecraft revealed a different reality: a surface with an unexpected amount of superficial diversity in the form of boulders, hills, and rocks. In response to the unforeseen developments, the spacecraft orbited and examined the surface of Bennu to find a suitable site from which to extract a sample for a little less than two years. Bennu is a relatively small entity, so extremely precise measurements had to be manipulated to allow the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to orbit Bennu from the right distance and at the correct speed.

“Bennu is only a couple Empire State Buildings tall, which... compared to the Earth is really tiny, so it has a really small amount of gravity,” said David. “The spacecraft going around Bennu was going at a very specific and precise speed of a couple feet per second. If the spacecraft went any faster, Bennu wouldn’t have enough gravity to keep it in its orbit, but any slower and it would gravitate towards Bennu.” 

Even after the minute calibrations had been administered to the spacecraft, the most intense and stressful leg of the mission had yet to come. On October 20, 2020, after an optimal collection location had been selected, OSIRIS-REx descended towards Bennu. The collection apparatus momentarily came in contact with the asteroid to collect material before boosting off into space. At first glance all appeared to be well, in fact, it was clear that the spacecraft had collected far more than the 60 grams of material they had intended to gather. After close inspection, however, NASA officials reported that the mission had been too successful. During the collection an excess of particles and rocks had been swept into the collection arm, causing several to get caught in the flap of the mechanism. This, in turn, resulted in the precious asteroid material slowly leaking from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft into space. 

“You’ve got to remember the entire system is in microgravity,” Dr. Lauretta, the principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission, said in a New York Times telephone news conference in October. “The particles are kind of diffusing out.” 

In an effort to mitigate the issue, mission coordinators elected to immediately load the material into the sample return capsule, where it would stay for the remainder of its voyage back to Earth. Previously, they had planned to weigh the rocks—in order to ensure they had enough material—by spinning the collection apparatus around the spacecraft. They quickly noted that such a procedure would likely dispel much of the sample so they opted to contain the rocks before they dissipated, sacrificing an exact measurement of the material’s weight. Gaunt references this decision to emphasize the importance of human control over purely automated commands. 

“Deciding not to weigh the sample… shows the importance of exploration under the control of humans,” said Gaunt. “By having exploration controlled by humans, we enable the missions to overcome problems, to choose landing sites, to select components to sample, etc.” 

Luckily, the process of loading the material into the sample return capsule was successful. Individuals curious about the origins of our Solar System must now sit in anxious anticipation for September 2023, when the spacecraft will supposedly touch down. 

“This achievement by OSIRIS-REx on behalf of NASA and the world has lifted our vision to the higher things we can achieve together, as teams and nations,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in an October press release. “Samples like this are going to transform what we know about our universe and ourselves, which is the base of all NASA’s endeavors.”

Election 2020 — the Aftermath

Photo Credit: Stratos Brilakis / Shutterstock: President-elect Joe Biden

by Sahana Garg

It has now been over two months since the record-breaking election of this catastrophic year took place, and the media’s fixation on it has not settled down. Consumers of news media will hear about two major things: primarily COVID-19, but also the voter fraud allegations being made by the members of the Republican party. These claims include accusations of Democrats both stuffing the ballot box and removing Trump votes. With all of the turmoil surrounding the allegations, people haven’t been focusing on what is really going on in the background: the aftermath of the election.

Although we have yet to transition from the Trump administration to the Biden administration, we can already foresee some of the changes that may be made. Sources such as NPR already predict many improvements, such as large monetary aid being offered to households, state and local governments, and small businesses being made by the Biden administration. They also believe that the country’s economy will lift. However, as the Democratic party has already promised, taxes will increase, but these tax increases will only be applied to wealthier citizens. Families making under $400,000 per year will receive tax breaks. Much of this newly generated money given to the government will be used towards healthcare, help for the elderly, people with disabilities, climate change, affordable housing, immigration, and LGBTQ rights.

Many officials are even going as far as to say that there will be changes in the government immediately after the transfer of power. But, first and foremost, the goal of future president Biden is to get the pandemic under control. Mask-wearing and other prevention tactics will be enforced across the country in hopes of slowing the spread and transmission of this deadly disease as well as give us time to find a workable solution. Biden is also working to make coronavirus tests, treatments, and vaccines free. The biggest hope of all is that a vaccine is coming. 

To hone in on a more local aspect, we spoke with the past mayor and councilmember of San Ramon, Dave Hudson, to hear his thoughts about the transition between governments as well as another important topic concerning the election: the passing or failing of California propositions 16 and 18. Proposition 16, which failed, would have repealed the law that prevents public universities in California from considering race in college admissions. Proposition 18, which also failed, would have allowed 17-year-olds who would be 18 by the next general election to vote in the primary election. 

“Prop. 18 is the wrong direction. It took me four terms (16 years) to understand the crafting of propositions,” Hudson said when asked about the failing of these propositions in an email. “It’s not the beauty contest you are led to believe. Don’t be in a hurry to choose the path that doesn’t produce the campaign promises,” he said. 

Hudson also claimed that these wouldn’t affect local students directly, and he doesn’t imagine that Proposition 16 will make college applications more difficult. He fears for the lack of money being put towards transportation in the next four years, but looks forward to what Biden has to offer and hopefully his positive impact in California as well as the Bay Area.

As life goes on and we all recover from the damage this year has done to the world, politics will continue to change and affect us in a variety of different ways. We are all in pain whether it comes in the form of being stuck at home, ill in the hospital, or missing our friends and family, and are hoping for an outcome that allows for prosperity and success. 

What Does it Mean to Live a Sustainable Lifestyle?

Listen to Hudson Scott and Brittany SchlaeGuada discuss what it means to live sustainably.

Oil Spill Near Trinidad and Tobago Threatens the Health of the Caribbean Ecosystem

Photo Credit: Ohrim/shutterstock: Volunteers clean ocean coast oil after tanker wreck in Mauritius.

By Kati Wilkes

Twenty-four miles from the coast of Venezuela, near Trinidad and Tobago, sits a slowly sinking oil tanker that threatens to  cause one of the greatest natural disasters to date. The 1989 Exxon-Valdez oil spill in Alaska spilled nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil, and is considered to be one of the worst oil spills in history. It covered 1,300 miles of coastline with oil slick, and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds and various types of marine life. Now, nearly 30 years later, the impact of the spill is still felt, and remains a reminder of the devastating environmental impact that spilled oil can have. If the Venezuelan oil tanker, FSO Nabarima, were to spill its 1.3 million barrels of oil, its effects would be five times that of the Exxon-Valdez spill. 

Environmental groups, such as Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, went to the sight of the sinking oil tanker to raise awareness of the disaster that is set to occur, yet no government has taken any action to stop the tanker from sinking. The organization seeks to inform the public about the threat that the spilled oil poses to coral reefs and the general long term biodiversity of the region. Nearly 50,000 fishermen rely on that region of the ocean, and an oil spill would drastically impact their ability to find fish and other healthy marine life. 

Though Fishermen and Friends of the Sea have been the most active organization in drawing attention to the looming natural disaster, the first individual to speak publicly about his concerns was Venezuelan oil worker Eudis Girot. He posted his concerns via Twitter as early as August 30th. However, his warnings were largely ignored, as evidenced by the lack of response by the governments of both Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. 

In his tweet, he warns that the conditions onboard the tanker are very poor, and that it is quickly deteriorating. Girot goes on to tweet in Spanish that the “lower deck and equipment is 3 meters underwater.”

Though it’s impossible to predict the specific effects that the FSO Nabarima oil spill will have on the marine ecosystem in the region, it’s clear that general sea life will be negatively impacted. Once oil has spilled any animal or wildlife that comes into contact with the contaminated water will itself become oily. 

“One of the things that can happen especially with marine mammals and birds is that the oil will absorb into their skin, and the reason that is harmful is because it will allow certain contaminants that are in the oil to get into their skin, which will cause toxic poisoning,” said Athenian science teacher Brittany SchlaeGuada.

Even if an animal were not to come into direct contact with the oily water, its food might be contaminated. 

“Either their food or plankton or whatever they are eating are now coated in oil so they are also ingesting it, which is a stomach problem,” SchlaeGuada said.

In addition to these detrimental effects on marine animals, marine plant life will most likely also be affected. When oil spreads and becomes a layer on top of the ocean it begins to block sunlight that normally would make its way down to the lower depths of the water. 

“The reason that becomes a problem is because marine plants need sunlight to photosynthesize. So, when that happens they aren’t able to get the sunlight they need to produce their own food,” said SchlaeGuada. 

In addition to these more general effects of spilled oil, the biodiversity of the region is in specific danger, because of the vast swaths of coral reefs that are at risk. The reefs in the Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago regions are key to the health of coral ecosystems of the entire Caribbean. 

Each coral region that originates from Venezuela & Trinidad and Tobago is genetically unique and impacts a larger reef system that reaches as far as the Florida coast. These reefs evolved from Trinidadian corals and various types of bacteria that surrounded the coral. Other coral systems throughout the Caribbean depend on the nutrients and healthy bacteria that these reefs provide. The effects an oil spill would have on these already climate-stressed reefs will be detrimental. 

The spilled oil is nearly impossible to completely clean up and will impact regions of the ocean for decades to come. These pollutants become a long term problem, as they are cycled through the plant and animal life of the region. Oil is a perpetual toxin and the spilling of it needs to be properly addressed if there is any hope of curbing its long term effects. 

Though oil spills aren’t necessarily a new phenomenon, no real action has been taken to stop these man-made natural disasters. In reality, the possible FSO Nabarima spill will kill hundreds of thousands of innocent marine animals, severely deteriorate the health of the Caribbean ecosystem, and put thousands of fishermen out of work. Many remain unsure if the governments of Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago will make the next move. 

The Implications of the 2020 Election

Listen to Hudson Scott and April Smock discuss the implications of this historic election, and the significance of elections in general.

Meet Amy Pitsker

Photo Credits: Amy Pitsker

By Zoe Patterson

Amy Pitsker is one of two new French teachers at Athenian. She’s teaching French 1, 2, 3-Honors, and 4-Honors. While she loves French, she started learning it because of a different interest of hers: art.

“I grew up around art, and I really loved art, and I wanted to go see some of this art at some point in my life as a young person,” Pitsker said. “And so I asked my mom, how can I get to [this museum], and she said...if you learn French and went to a school that had a study abroad program, you could get there.”

However, as Pitsker learned French, she began to fall in love with many aspects of the language and culture.

“I got really passionate about the language and the beauty of the poetry in the language,” Pitsker said. “I really loved it. And also, the cinema was another thing that really drew me in.”

Pitsker is quite interested in the arts in English as well, especially in music.

“I love talking about songs,” Pitsker said. “My favorite song right now would probably be Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here.’”

Making her own music is something that Pitsker claims not to be good at, but that she enjoys regardless.

“I picked up the guitar in my 30s, and I’m all self-taught, so I’m not very good, but I’ve gotten better over the 20 years I’ve been playing,” Pitsker said.

Pitsker’s love of live music in particular has been unfortunately affected by the current situation with COVID-19.

“Dancing to live music...is the thing that feeds me and centers me,” Pitsker said. “It’s the thing that I have to do to feel really in my body. And I’ve been dancing...and it’s just not the same. I miss that so much I can’t even tell you.”

However, in other areas, Pitsker has long been an adaptable person who is open to change, partly due, she says, to her childhood.

“I went to—I think it’s 13...K–12 schools, and I think one of the reasons that’s important is that it developed me personally in a lot of ways,” Pitsker said. “Like, I’m really flexible and curious, and I think both of those things came out of having moved so many times and having to change communities so many times that it became a way of being for me to be a person who welcomes change and newness. I like things that are new.”

This has, in fact, influenced Pitsker’s experience with French.

“Even within the United States, I’ve lived in different cultural kind of groups of the US, and they’ve been really different...and then of course, I lived in Paris for a year, and that was very different, and I’ve traveled in a lot of French-speaking countries that are different as well, and lived for, like, a month in France a couple of times,” Pitsker said. “All of this is the kind of thing that is fed by my childhood of having to change so often and explore what’s new and rise to the moment.”

Pitsker has always looked at this affinity for change optimistically and considers it an important part of her life.

“When you leave a place, there’s always things you miss, but then there’s always something good about where you’re going, so that’s kind of my motto in life,” Pitsker said. “There’s always something good about where you’re going.”

Race In the Bay Area: A Conversation With Kalyan Balaven

Hudson Scott and Kalyan Balaven discuss police brutality, mixed race identities, and how to enact change regarding racial equality.

Hindsight is 2020: What the Media Failed to Learn From the 2016 Election

Photo Credit: Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock.com

By Ilah Ross

On November 9, 2016, a victorious Donald J. Trump sauntered onto the stage at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan, New York. The energy in the crowd heightened with each step he took towards the podium, and the chants of “USA” got louder and louder. “I’ve just received a call from Secretary Clinton,” he began. In typical Trumpian fashion, he took a dramatic pause before continuing, using  the time to survey the crowd. A sea of red MAGA hats and signs lay before him. As Trump finished his sentence, the crowd began to cheer once again, for they knew what was to come: “She congratulated us on our victory.” The crowd exploded, and with it, our country as we knew it.

Sixty-nine percent of Americans were surprised by the outcome of the 2016 election, and rightfully so, as Hillary Clinton had not only won the popular vote by approximately 2.9 million votes, but had also been projected to win by the New York Times, Washington Post, and countless other respected institutions. However, looking back on the drama that was the 2016 election,Trump’s victory should not have come as a surprise. 

Trump spent significantly more time being discussed and analyzed by the press than Clinton and was permitted to tell blatant lies time and time again without being held accountable by the very media which ridiculed him. In a 2016 article by the New York Times, it was determined that “Hillary Clinton [had] a 91% Chance to Win” the election, not only exhibiting the Times’ incorrect assumptions, but also their refusal to recognize that a significant subset of Americans were indeed in support of Trump. This gave many Americans a false sense of security, leading them to believe that they need not vote, as the outcome of the election had already been determined.

In her 2020 documentary “Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press,” Vice News President Susie Banikarim outlined the many missteps which the media took during the 2016 election, and more importantly, how Trump was able to exploit the underlying issues in the political press to his advantage.

 “The 2016 election revealed so many flaws in how journalists had long been covering politics'', mentions one of the interviewees during the film, “The ground was shifting under their feet, and they just didn’t know what to do.” In the face of such unprecedented change, the media attempted to continue on a path of normalcy in their coverage of the election, and in doing so, helped Trump win. 

Looking back at the road to the 2016 election, many journalists acknowledged the extent to which the media was at fault for Trump’s disproportionate amount of air time. In a 2016 article by the New York Times, it was determined that Trump got the equivalent of $2 billion worth of free media during his candidacy, in part because many Americans found his outrageous character entertaining, and the media tends to focus their attention where the demand lies.

Though the purpose of the media is to deliver a balanced and unbiased representation of each candidate, their attempts for equal coverage have ended up working in Trump’s favor in both the 2016, and now the 2020, elections. In a recent interview with PBS News, Banikarim notes that currently, “At the same time as Trump is saying that he wants Amy Coney Barrett confirmed so she can weigh in on the election if it goes to the Supreme Court, the media is spending a lot more time asking Biden about court packing.” She goes on to say that “the reality is, sometimes, two things are just not equal, and it's our job [as journalists] to contextualize that for people and help them process it...when we sort of push to balance, just because we don't know another way to seem objective, we're doing a disservice to the audience.”

A similar attempt for equal coverage by the media was seen in the 2016 election, specifically during the height of the Clinton email scandal. Though the press rightfully focused on Clinton’s wrongdoings and how they affected her electability, they failed to exhibit the same level of investigative journalism for matters pertaining to Trump. From his refusal to release tax returns during the campaign, countless sexual assault allegations, outright misquoting of facts, and more, the press often refrained from challenging Trump and holding him accountable, resigning themselves to the notion that those are just the types of things Trump does. The media has allowed Trump to define himself as someone who does not need to adhere to the norms and rules of a presidential candidate, simply because he doesn’t want to. 

With all this in mind, it seems that the months leading up to the 2020 election should have been a chance for the press to rectify their former mistakes, as Trump’s presidency is no longer a theoretical and amusing possibility, but our reality, making this arguably one of the most important elections in American history. However, this has yet to happen. The media has failed once again in delivering Americans a clear representation of reality, without the “spectacle”-as Banikarim puts it. 

With the pivotal night of November 3, 2020 fast approaching, it is time for the American people to decide what they value more; press which delivers us endless coverage of the spectacle, or truth.

Past, Present, and Future: The Black Lives Matter Movement

Photo Credit: Matteo Roma / Shutterstock: Black Lives Matter Protesters

By Thalia Collins

Protests for the Black Lives Matter movement are popping up throughout the country in 2020 as people push back against police brutality and racism in the police force. 

According to Vox, “In the weeks following the police killing George Floyd, millions of Americans marched in the streets. Many had never attended protests before, and some lived in historically conservative towns. At the peak of the protests — around June 6, according to publicly collected data from the Crowd Counting Consortium — people across all 50 states and dozens of cities around the world had participated in demonstrations that called for racial justice and an end to police violence.” 

The movement was sparked in 2020 by a spike in murders of black victims at the hands of police. The killing of a man named George Floyd is what many are protesting about. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was arrested in Minneapolis after allegedly using a counterfeit bill. The security camera of a nearby shop shows the police officer kneeling on his throat until he died. Other victims of police brutality include Rayshard Brooks, Daniel Prude, Breonna Taylor, Atatianna Jefferson, Aura Rosser, Stephen Clarke, Bothan Jean, Phillando Castile, Fanisha Fonville. And although there are many protests across  America, there are also protests internationally. These places include Buenos Aires, Vienna, Antwerp, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, Montreal, and more, representing every continent other than Antarctica. 

Protesters are fighting for changes  such as defunding the police, taking away their weapons, or fighting against white supremacy. Although the movement is going strong, it has lost some support over the summer.  

According to Fact Tank “A majority of U.S. adults (55 percent) now express at least some support for the movement, down from 67 percent in June amid nationwide demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd. The share who say they strongly support the movement stands at 29 percent, down from 38 percent three months ago.”  This decline in support can be traced further.

“The recent decline in support for the Black Lives Matter movement is particularly notable among White and Hispanic adults,” the Fact Tank article stated. “In June, a majority of White adults (60%) said they supported the movement at least somewhat; now, fewer than half (45%) express at least some support. The share of Hispanic adults who support the movement has decreased 11 percentage points, from 77% in June to 66% today. By comparison, support for the Black Lives Matter movement has remained virtually unchanged among Black and Asian adults.”

Because we are in a pandemic, public safety is very important at this time, however there has been no evidence these protests have spiked COVID-19 cases. Although these protests have had an impact on people's interest in the movement both nationally and internationally, there is little evidence that it has impacted the country much politically.

An article by Politico quoted our current president’s opinion on the matter: 

“Left-wing mobs have torn down statues of our founders, desecrated our memorials and carried out a campaign of violence and anarchy,” President Trump said. “Whether it is the mob on the street, or the cancel culture in the boardroom, the goal is the same: to silence dissent, to scare you out of speaking the truth and to bully Americans into abandoning their values.” 

The upcoming election will have a great impact on the country and the current issues we are facing. In an interview by Heinz College newsletter, with Professor Dainel Nagin, winner of the Stockholm Prize on Criminology, Michael Cunningham asks him if he thinks the protests are outlying incidents or systematic. 

“The Black Lives Matter Movement has to be understood in the context of the historical legacy of the ill treatment of blacks by the police and the criminal justice system and American political and social institutions more generally,” Professor Nagin said. “That legacy is a fact. The Movement, I think, is a reflection of and reaction to that legacy. I don’t think people should be surprised by it, and it’s part of why people should listen to the Black Lives Matter position. At the same time getting people to listen has been greatly complicated by the lethal ambushes of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge.” 

Although people think that the Black Lives Matter movement is tied to the civil rights movement of the 60’s and believe it is a thing of the past, the stark truth is that this political issue lives on.

Election 2020: What’s Causing Worsening Partisanship?

Photo Credit: BBC

By Adam Tufts

As Election Day 2020 approaches, anxiety and suspense festers in the hearts of millions of Americans. Naturally, this trepidation stems from different sources depending on the individual: politically informed citizens are likely concerned with the likelihood that their candidate of choice may lose the election, while undecided voters are tasked with determining which nominee deserves their vote. These high-strung emotions, paired with the conglomerate of diverse and conflicting opinions within the United States, inevitably lead to political divide.

In 2016, following the election of Donald Trump, 66% of Americans reported that they perceived the nation to be “greatly divided,” according to a Gallup poll. Four years later, as the next election nears, this number has increased, with 85% of registered voters, in response to another Gallup poll, describing America as “greatly divided.” Even journalists, whose jobs are centered around current events, experience difficulties in navigating the tense political terrain. 

“In my 40 years in Journalism, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done—cover politics at this time,” said Christine Stapleton, award-winning reporter, quoted by Nick Moschella in the Palm Beach Post. 

The “time” Stapleton alludes to is election season. Politics are inherently polarized, but elections typically widen the chasms between political adversaries. 

“Everyone wants their guy to win,” Understanding Elections teacher Stephanie McGraw said. “So much is on the line, so people really double down on what they believe during election season… Election seasons do exacerbate political polarization.” 

Social media, like election season, possesses a polarizing quality that further alienates disagreeing political factions. The effects of social media have become ingrained in society, with over half of teenagers obtaining their news solely through popular Instagram and Youtube platforms. 

“Today, with the internet it is a lot easier to be insular,” said John C. Green, former director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute for Applied Politics at the University of Akron. “You can disappear into your little cocoon... and never have to come across, let alone engage with, someone who has different ideas.”

Clearly, the growing popularity of social media has trapped users in echo chambers which consistently validate their views and shelter them from opposing beliefs. This inability to properly converse across ideological divides worsens political partisanship, and presently this growing divide seems to have reached a crescendo. With nationwide protests, a global pandemic, and the rapidly approaching election, the immense strain the American political sphere faces in 2020 is uniquely polarizing. 

“Dealing with the charged political climate in America is difficult,” said McGraw. “A pandemic, the recent Black Lives Matter movement, and many other recent events make some people view this election as life or death.” 

The apparent high stakes of the 2020 Election prompts American voters to double down on their fundamental values and, possibly, adopt extreme variants of their previous beliefs. In fact, the Pew Research Center reported that since 1994, Americans have tended away from centrism (to growing extents) during election seasons. This could be attributed to the efforts of politicians and public figures to underscore the seemingly monumental importance of each election. This method of exciting the voting population persists into 2020, with politicians continuing to emphasize the significance of the coming election. 

“There’s just one month left until the most important election of our lifetime,” tweeted Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in early October.

Senator Bernie Sanders, endorser of Joe Biden, echoed this assertion days later. 

“This is the most important election, in not only our lifetime but in the modern history of our country,” tweeted Senator Bernie Sanders. 

Whether the politicians and media outlets have been correct, and each election since 1994 has been the most consequential in its time or not, is irrelevant. The true crux of the matter is that political partisanship is a growing dilemma in the United States of America. Whatever the causes may be—either election season nerves, the intolerant nature of social media, or political manipulation—Americans are failing to empathize across ideological differences.

Newfound Student Voice at Athenian: The Story Behind @athenianprotectors

By Kati Wilkes

The summer of 2020 was filled with uncertainty and apprehension due to the coronavirus, but that didn’t stop Athenian students from coming together to try and make social change. 

Student voice is constantly encouraged at Athenian, but doesn’t mean that it’s always heard. With a rise in general student activism and newfound energy to enact change, two anonymous students created two different Instagram accounts for students to use to voice their thoughts, opinions, concerns, and proposals for change at Athenian. The first account, @athenianprotectors, was focused on giving students a platform to talk about issues, both inside and outside Athenian, related to sexual assault and harassment.

“When I started to see other schools and individuals speaking up about their personal experiences, I realized that our community needed a similar platform. We needed a place where people can be supported and feel comfortable sharing their stories,” says the creator of the initial account (@athenianprotectors).

Anonymous platforms, just like the two at Athenian, have become increasingly popular on high school and college campuses all across the country. Most notably, in 2016 students at Harvard created an anonymous app called Campfire that served a similar purpose. According to The Harvard Crimson, the student-run newspaper, the forum was created to foster campus-wide discussion about classes, social issues, and allegation of sexual assault. 

As of now, the @athenianprotectors account has posted around one hundred anonymous submissions; none of which have any names or information listed that tie the accusations to specific individuals. However, it was noted recently at a community meeting that most students were able to figure out who the submissions were talking about based on their own knowledge and experiences. 

The initial account was met with some backlash from members of the student body. There was some questioning of the validity of certain allegations that were posted as well as submissions that tried to undermine the seriousness of the platform. The administration has also voiced some of their own concerns about the forum.

The student leading @athenianprotectors says, “There was a lot of positive feedback towards this platform that reinforced the need for students to have a safe space to get support. As expected, there were also some mixed responses from the student body, as it is hard for a site like this to meet everyone’s needs.”

The platform, as of recently, has become a point of controversy within the school. Administration members have made statements to students stating that due to the anonymity of the forum, it was difficult to do thorough follow-up on the content of the postings.

“Things were being posted but nothing was being brought to the school. The school wasn’t being informed, it was being posted on a site, so the school couldn’t do anything with the information,” says Amy Wintermeyer, Head of Upper School.

The administration continues to urge students to use more official channels of communication with the school itself if they want to report anything. More information about those specifics can be found in the student handbook, or students can reach out to the administration directly.

“I worry about kids needing help and not getting help because it’s being done on a site and not being reported to adults who can help,” adds Wintermeyer.

For some students, that wasn’t a good enough answer. They want the concerns they voiced to be acted upon. The community is attempting to find a way that everyone in the Athenian community, both students and administrators, can work together to resolve any possible issues. 

The second account, @athenianchange, was started shortly after the first account began posting because the creator wanted a platform where students could talk in the same open manner about issues other than sexual assault and harassment. 

“I saw how the first account was causing people to speak up more publicly about stuff that I’ve been hearing about for years, so I wanted to make another platform to start a discussion about other issues at school like sexism, racism, xenophobia, etc,” the account creator said. 

The @athenianchange account has nearly 140 posts, though it should be noted that there were nearly twice that amount of submissions. Most of those were either duplicates, responses to other posts, attacks on people with no basis, or threats towards the owner of the account.

“I only really wanted to post things that were productive and could actually spark some conversation at school. I, by no means, censored people I didn’t agree with, I just didn’t think it was in the account's best interest to post submissions that were blatant jokes or just complaints about me and the account,” adds the account creator.

Somewhere along the way, the account owner asked students to respond in the comments below previous posts if they wanted to make a comment of any sort or agree/disagree. They hoped that by doing that, they could better start a conversation and make it easier to have a real discussion with someone, instead of just submitting anonymous responses. Not much has been done formally to address the more general issues and ideas that were shared on @athenianchange.

As the summer came to an end, some students wanted to continue the conversations that were started via the two accounts. Tess Shotland ‘22, the founder of the new student group, “Uncensored,” (no affiliation to the old uncensored meetings) hopes that by bringing more students together to talk in a school environment can help make some change. 

Shotland says, “I wanted to [start uncensored] because I didn’t want to be anonymous. I wanted to be able to talk to other people about what I was saying instead of just posting it and being done because that wouldn’t really do anything.”

The conversation has just begun, and she hopes that by creating this new platform even more students will be able to speak their minds and really be heard. The group is currently working to create a safe space for students to gather and share their ideas and opinions about current issues at Athenian. Their hope is to connect with Forum and Community Meeting leaders to create a plan of action. 

“It's harder to say no to a group of students than just one student,” says Shotland.