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. 

How To Make a Hugely Popular, yet Seemingly Pointless TV Series (with John Wilson)

The first episode of “How To With John Wilson” opens with a straight shot of a dumpster overflowing with trash. The camera, shaking slightly, stays on this frame for a moment too long, as the monotone voice of John Wilson begins an awkward and unsure introduction to his show. The viewing experience of the rest of this TV series is encompassed in the opening scene: uncomfortable, weird, and yet impossible to look away from.

Wilson’s show, streaming exclusively on HBO Max, has taken the country by storm, receiving a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and gaining a devoted following only weeks after it premiered in October of 2020. John Wilson, the 35-year old filmmaker whose face never appears in the show except through the occasional reflection in a window, is the humble writer, director, producer, and narrator of “How To”.

In viewing “How To”, it is easy to forget that the purpose of the show is to offer advice. Wilson provides a step-by-step guide on important life lessons, ranging from “How to Make Small Talk” and “How to Put up Scaffolding” to “How to Split the Check”. Through his many pauses and stammerings, Wilson seems unclear as to why he’s even at liberty to offer such advice, but his narrations are endearing and at times profound. 

“How To With John Wilson” does not offer viewers an escape from reality like most popular TV shows, which feature plots people can disappear into and use to forget about the outside world. Instead, “How To” is deeply rooted in reality, in the moments of life when most people are on autopilot: a man surreptitiously picking his nose while waiting for the subway, a woman trying to lure a pigeon into a plastic shopping bag, an inflatable giraffe sitting in the passenger seat of an empty car.

Through the never ending B-roll footage of New York City and its eclectic inhabitants, Wilson offers viewers insight into the world through his eyes. And though it is framed as a love letter to New York City, the dysfunctional and almost sociopathic depiction of New Yorkers seems more like a warning sign.

John Wilson is the little voice in the back of your head that wonders, “What would happen if I did everything that my parents told me not to do?” He talks to strangers, buys a rug off craigslist with a bloodstain from “stress related incidents”, and purchases the building he lives in from the elderly landlady downstairs despite the fact that it is literally crumbling before his eyes. He acts on the desires you didn’t even realize you had. And reminds you why your parents advised you against those desires in the first place.

At times, viewers fear for the safety and wellbeing of the narrator, who jumps at the chance to visit a “child predator catcher’s” house in Virginia after having a minutes-long conversation with him at Wrestlemania. Yet Wilson always emerges safe from these outrageous interactions with strangers, often having gained no answers to the question the episode posed.

The show itself feels like one long tangent, so much so that you forget where you started, or why you clicked on the episode in the first place. But rest assured that John Wilson will take you right back where you began, and leave you feeling like you know less about the subject of the episode than thirty minutes prior.

So why do people love “How To With John Wilson”? All of these reasons and more. It’s real. It’s raw. It’s gross. It’s awkward. And it’s a masterpiece.

Beyond The MPR: The Disconnect Between the Middle and Upper Schools

To many Athenians, the Middle School is simply the area past the gym where the loud kids on the bus go. Maybe they’ll see a few kids around the Main Hall who are too short to be freshmen, or have an eighth grade prodigy or two in their Algebra II or Spanish class. But to others, it’s full of nostalgic memories.

The Middle School and the Upper School are related on an administrative level, as they are two parts of one institution, but in the daily life of an Athenian, they’re notably disconnected, in terms of the campuses as well as students’ personalities.

“Middle schoolers tend to worry more about little things than high schoolers do,” Peter Bonfanti, Middle and Upper School math instructor, said. “For example, they might be really worried about whether they can put their graph above or below a certain line when it really doesn’t matter.”

Some of these more trivial differences may owe simply to the different ages of the students.

“High schoolers are much better at articulating when something isn’t the way they think it should be, like if your grading isn’t fair or they need more time for an assignment,” Bonfanti said.

However, Middle and Upper School students also have different experiences of Athenian education. Middle schoolers are involved in more experiential learning activities than high schoolers, partially because of the nature of the two educational levels.

According to Lauren Railey, Middle School Head, Assistant Head, and Acting Head of School, the Upper School may indeed start to see more experiential education. “Part of our strategic plan…[is that] we’re looking at the curriculum six through 12 to find ways that it can be more cohesive, include more CIS instruction, and also be more project-based and experiential in the Upper School” Railey said. “We’d like to have it be more unified, and…we are moving in that direction.”

The Middle and Upper School administrations are not nearly so distinct as in student and faculty ranks and are in almost constant communication.

“We have a leadership team,” Railey said. “That’s where we all meet and try to make big decisions…about policies and think about kids six-through-12.” This leadership team is called the Leadership Committee, formerly known as the Head’s Advisory Committee, and is concerned with the logistics of running a school. There is a separate committee that has more of an effect on Athenian life.

“We also have a Teaching and Learning Committee,” Railey continued. “That’s a six-through-12 committee that Meadow and I chair together…and [on it are] deans who are in charge of different aspects of teaching and learning. We talk a lot about the best ways to teach and how kids learn most effectively, and what that looks like in a middle school and in an upper school.”

The Upper School is intended, to an extent, to build on a Middle School education, although the existence of Upper School students who did not attend the Middle School limits this cohesion.

“We certainly try with skills like writing and math to have a sequence of skills [that] build on each other,” Railey said. “The connections are about general skills students will develop in terms of their academic performance.”

Some eighth graders, and occasionally seventh graders, also take language and/or math classes in the Upper School so that they can continue learning the subject at an advanced level. “The most noticeable thing about taking upper school classes is how disconnected it feels going between the middle school and upper school,” Cameron S. ’23, who took Chinese II and Algebra II Honors in eighth grade, said.

While the overarching vision for the two schools is connected, it is unlikely, according to Railey, that the students start to interact significantly more.“There are always ways for the students to interact in really positive ways,” Railey said. “But I’m not sure most high school students really want to interact a lot with middle school students.

The disconnect between middle schoolers and high schoolers is not insignificant, but varies depending on the student. “[I think] Upper schoolers who came from the Middle School seem to be more down on the middle schoolers because it reminds them of when they were kids,” Bonfanti said. “Upper schoolers who didn’t come up from the Middle School have much less of an opinion about the Middle School.”

Some Upper School students do, in fact, support more connections between the two. “Upper School students should be more involved in Middle School classes, presentations, and Focus Days, and Middle School students should have a larger degree of access to Upper School resources and teachers,” Jacob T. ’22, who took Spanish II in 8th grade, said in an email.

The existing interactions between middle and upper schoolers often end up being, if not positive, neutral and respectful. “As I’ve noticed with the Athenian community, outsiders are so well…integrated with the other students,” said Roark G. ’26, an eighth grader enrolled in French III Honors and Algebra II Honors. “I’ve been well accepted by my peers and teachers. Many think I am, in fact, a high school student.”

There is also the potential for larger-scale interactions, like all-school meetings, that could build a sense of community between the schools. 

“It’s sad we’ve missed Convocation for two years now,” Jacob T. said. “As an event that involves both schools, it puts the entire Athenian School and its students into perspective.”

While the Middle and Upper Schools will likely remain mostly separate, there may be even more avenues for connection, and those that exist can be truly valuable to students.

“I am so excited to join the high school community next year…[especially] because I have an idea of what my future will look like,” Roark G. said.

Which Subject Matter Matters?

Electives such as  Journalism, Yearbook, Debate, Entrepreneurship and Physical Education(PE) are listed on official Athenian schedules as being held during Conference and Collaboration(C&C) time. In theory, this isn’t a problem. A lot of students don’t have classes then, so it’s a good time for teachers to hold office hours and for students to do homework.

But when your teacher says that their only available times are during your PE class, you look at the schedule and wonder how on earth we got to this point. Half of the woodwinds leave midway through E-Band during the shortened end-of-day period on Monday in order to go to basketball practice. Band members can only hope that, despite conflicted schedules, maybe they’ll practice their parts on their own. Your C period teacher says on Friday that it’s the last class of the day, and you sigh and mutter that you have Journalism after this. By the time an administrator says that we sort of have a late start on Wednesday because the first class is E period, you barely even bother rolling your eyes, because everyone knows the arts don’t matter!

I’m well aware that there isn’t really anywhere else to put E Period besides Monday. I know office hours are important and that teachers being available at the end of the day is critical for a lot of students. I understand why the schedule is organized the way it is. It’s difficult, logistically, to fit seven full-length class periods into a five-day week, and even harder to afford extra time for Electives and PE, especially considering the classes for which we need to share spaces with the Middle School and the added complications of community meetings, advisory, C&C, and community service. But even within the constraints of our schedule, we can do better.

Maybe we shift Monday’s schedule up fifteen minutes and get rid of Wellness Time so E period can have as much class time as every other class. Maybe we hold more visual arts classes during E so it has a little more traction, or if we’re feeling really radical, just stop pushing all entry-level performing arts classes to their own period. We could pretty easily not list PE and Elective as official C&C times and instead ask teachers to name a couple class periods during which they will hold office hours. Perhaps we could shift Elective or PE up to directly after lunch on certain days, before the last lettered class period, so they aren’t quite so disproportionately affected by students leaving for sports. I don’t know exactly how feasible all of these changes are, but something needs to happen. It’s hard to ask my peers to respect these classes more when our schedule doesn’t.

Practical concerns aside, there’s a clear reason these classes are so often pushed to the side. Really, it all comes down to the eternal question: is Athenian a college prep school? To the extent that it is, E period, Elective, and PE really don’t matter as much as other classes. They aren’t classes like math or history—they’re effectively extracurriculars. But regardless of how much we are a college prep school, we’ll always be more than that. For as long as we keep talking about our pillars and our mission of developing the whole student (even if Gabe and I are the only people here who actually know what the Mandala is and what it means), we need to be treating all disciplines as equally worthwhile.

Satire: The Athenian Farm Plan

Athenian, I come to you as a fellow student outraged over the (seemingly never-ending) Meatless Monday controversy. Though there is strong support for Meatless Monday among groups like the Veggie Club, many others firmly oppose it and have called for either a Beefless Monday or a Complete Removal of Any Special Monday menu. Community Meeting proposals have been discussed, and arguments have been had via social media, but that all ends today.

Naturally, this proposal falls in line with Athenian’s cherished environmentalism Pillar and our devotion to clean energy, a reduction of waste, and education surrounding the gruesome nature of the meat industry. My conscience simply couldn’t stand to not uphold those values, and quite honestly, I’m certain the rest of this progressive community feels the same. 

With all of the aforementioned context in mind, I implore you all to open your hearts, and your minds, to what I’d endearingly like to call The Athenian Farm Plan. I find this name ideal, as it is easily transferable to the community meeting format, which I’m sure will yield a great outcry of student support and echoing calls for change. 

What exactly is The Athenian Farm Plan, though? This: Athenian will commit to installing a decently sized farm complex on campus, including barns, fields for grazing, and a state-of-the-art slaughterhouse. Suggestions for specific locations would be much appreciated, as student input, of course, is always key. Beyond usage in accordance with The Plan, this farm complex already affords myriad benefits, and opportunities for capitalization, to the school. 

A brief thought on those opportunities: It would be a new and unique feature of the school that surely would draw new students to apply and increase student retention during the Middle to Upper School transfer. Moreover, Athenian could exploit the addition in order to draw new types of students, especially those seeking to pursue unique career opportunities (but more on that in a bit).

Once this farm complex is installed, animals like  cows, pigs, and possibly chickens would be introduced. Upkeep of said farm complex would fall to the student body, which introduces another enticing indirect benefit; this new responsibility would give students more experiential learning opportunities, which Athenian clearly values, and prepare them for future careers as farmworkers, if they so desire to lead such a life. Animal husbandry, anyone? 

The actual execution of The Plan would begin on an appropriately deemed Monday in the coming months. Students of all grades would be excused from their first period classes (I’m aware that this could wreak a bit of havoc on the schedule, but honestly, it would give students a much-needed break from strenuous classwork and allow them to focus on their mental health, which Athenian has clearly articulated that it values) and they would come together at the newly installed farm complex. 

Once there, students would be handed a weapon of some type, perhaps a knife or axe (specifics can be left for later), though I do find machetes particularly enticing, and instructed to select an animal that is to their liking. That animal would then be slaughtered; I suggest going straight for the neck, as that seems the easiest way to go about it. That freshly harvested meat would then be whisked away to the kitchens and prepared for that Monday’s lunch, appeasing all parties involved: ‘Meatless Monday’ certainly wouldn’t be meatless anymore, but awareness would still be raised on the brutality of the meat industry. 

Moreover, it would give students the opportunity for more lunch personalization, through their selected animal, which would undoubtably ease some of the complaints about lack of lunch variety/options. After all, with knife (or machete!) in hand, the power is truly being handed back to the students. My only hope is that those appetites don’t go awry and a notably unliked member of the community is served up, though, democratization and empowerment always come with consequences, so who am I to condemn this? 

The Plan itself would also place increased emphasis on experiential learning, as previously mentioned, and it would certainly set Athenian apart in the world of Independent Learning Institutions. After all, where else are students educated in methods of slaughter and primed for successful careers as Meat Plant employees and serial-killers?

Athenian may even go on to matriculate students that follow in the footsteps of household icons such as Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dahmer, and Albert DeSalvo, all of whom successfully engaged in animal cruelty ‘crimes’ (in quotations because what is really so criminal about raising environmental awareness?) prior to their dedication to the art of mass murder. 

So, what do you say, fellow students? Will you join me on this crusade for a new, and improved, Athenian? Will you join me as I usher in a new era of environmentalism and community building? Will you pick up a knife, and lure young women into your Volkswagen, alongside me and choose to spearhead this change, this taking back of control? After all, what’s so bad about a bit of spilt blood? We don’t seem to have any qualms when it isn’t on our hands anyway.

What To Do with the Founding Fathers

Let’s talk about plastic. The substance is made from natural materials such as coal, cellulose and crude oil. Since its invention in 1907 by Leo Baekeland, synthetic plastics have been vital to the average American’s daily life. It is found in almost every product. However, the problem with plastic is that it destroys the environment. The fumes from the plastic cause global temperatures to rise, causing increasing natural disasters and rising sea levels. Large numbers of animals die when they eat the plastic that is polluted.  

Despite these facts, plastic consumption and production is still on the rise. It is something that has been ingrained in our culture, and it doesn’t seem like it will stop anytime soon. We are complicit in the climate crisis. Even those of us who advocate for sustainability and more environmental regulations have used plastic at some point in our lives, all of which contributes to the deterioration of our planet. When the generations that come after us realize what we did, they will have judgment. 

But is it really our fault? We were brought up in a culture that prizes consumerism. It is considered normal to throw away toxic plastics on a daily basis. Does that mean that everyone who has contributed to climate change (which is most people) is inherently evil? 

To believe so would be outrageous! We can’t forget all the good that people who have used plastic contributed to the world! Martin Luther King Jr. used plastic. Most presidents since 1900 have used plastic. Plastic is used in life-saving medical devices. The great people of our generation should be celebrated for the good that they contributed to the world. Not disgraced for the normalized evils of society, evils like plastic. 

The same is the case when it comes to our founding fathers. Over the last few years, people have become increasingly critical of our founding fathers. Statues have been removed and buildings and other dedicated spaces have been renamed. Why? Because those whose names were stripped from monuments owned slaves, a horrible crime that should be recognized and not overlooked. They also treated the indigenous people like they deserved nothing. They violated their rights and plundered their people. This seems like a good reason to stop celebrating them, right?

Although these acts are inexcusable, we must remember that slavery and indentured servitude were common practice on every continent by many nations over time. Military conquest was also the normalized way of empire expansion. In fact, military conquest was generally accepted until the end of World War II.

So is it fair that the likes of George Washington should be judged on the evils of slavery, which every other prominent civilization also practiced? I would argue no. Especially considering his amazing contributions to American society. 

The founding fathers laid the building blocks for the freedom that all Americans now enjoy. In the Declaration of Independence, it is written that “all men are created equal.” This principle is the foundation of modern-day American freedom. (However, this principle was definitely not applied equally at the time. Only the property owning white men had the rights laid out in the constitution.)

What makes the Constitution amazing, and the founding fathers by extension, is its ability to evolve. The founding fathers knew they didn’t have all the answers. They had the foresight to see that many of the practices of their time could be viewed as wrong. That is why the constitutional amendment process was added. So far, 17 amendments have been ratified since the original Bill of Rights. Some of which, have abolished slavery, and granted women the right to vote, to name a few. 

When speaking of the founding fathers, slavery and the horrible acts committed should not be left out of textbooks. We need to recognize that the societal conditions of the past were unacceptable. However, we cannot judge them based on the pretenses of modern morals. Instead, we must look past societal wrongs and focus on the individuals who strived to create a better world, those who rose past the sins of their time to create something greater than their surroundings. While the founding fathers fell short, their positive impact was above anyone of the time.  This is why we should never stop celebrating the founding fathers. 

Give Us the Placement Test! One International Student’s Call for Justice

I have always described myself as an academic, especially in mathematics and science, two of my favorite courses. When I was in Korean public school, I could not learn as much as I wanted since every student took the same curriculum. As a result, I invested most of my time attending a private academy, sometimes studying 16 hours a day. I gained most of my advanced knowledge in mathematics and science during this period, which has given me pride up to this day. 

After graduating from Korean middle school, I decided to study in the U.S. and got accepted to the Athenian School. For two reasons, I had a strong hope that I would finally be able to take any course I wanted as long as I was qualified and prepared. The U.S. is known for its meritocracy, as a place where people earn what they choose when they put in time and effort. Along those lines, I believed that the Athenian School would have more teachers and educational resources compared to those of public school, thus providing more opportunity for students to learn. 

However, when I was a freshman, I was placed in Geometry and Physics, which I had already taken in Korea. I suspended judgment since I understood that it is common for freshmen to take Geometry and Physics and that there is no way for Admissions to know the aptitude of students without a placement test. Moreover, as an international student, I understood how complicated the course placement might be because of a difference in Korean and U.S. report cards. For instance, my middle school transcript just shows as “mathematics” and “science,” not “algebra” or “biology.” So with patience I asked for a placement test in math and science to skip the materials I already know.

The answer from Athenian was that I coud only take the placement test for Algebra II  Honors, but not for Pre-Calculus, Advanced Physics, or Advanced Chemistry, since my transcript did not show those courses, and since the school provides placement tests only to students who had taken the courses. 

  As mentioned above, I learned most of the advanced materials of math and science from my private academy, which did not specifically show subject matter on the official transcript. Thus, with no placement test, I had no way to show the skills and knowledge I earned from investing three years of my middle school in subjects taught in high school at Athenian. 

At least my science classes had new skills for me to practice through experiments and lab reports. However, my math classes did not provide any new skills for me to learn. Since I wished to study new materials rather than reviewing the materials I already knew, I consistently contacted the Math department to find a way to get placed into a course where I could gain knowledge in both depth and breadth.

    Over the first semester of my Freshman year, I was able to prove my mathematical capabilities to the Math Department, and I asked to be moved to higher math courses since my goal was to take Multivariable Calculus in this school. However, their answer was that I would still be able to take Multivariable Calculus by doubling up in math in senior year, and taking Calculus BC along with it. In other words, they did not allow me to skip math courses. 

Since I have strong academic interests, I had been looking forward to other courses like advanced science, other math courses, and even art. Yet, because of high school’s four-year time constraint. I have to manage my timing well in order to take the classes I want to. Following the plan proposed by the math department has placed me in direct opposition to my goal.

I believe that a school must support students’ learning by placing them into courses in which they can best utilize their indivudal capacity. Athenian, for math and science, has provided me neither optimal course placement nor the opportunity to prove my capability. As a result, I did not make any progress in those two courses for two years, which were once my most proficient domains. I even lost some of my enthusiasm for math and science. 

My call to action is for Athenian to provide more equitable and accessible placement tests. Athenian should reform its course placement system so that students’ depth of understanding is closely and evaluated; it should provide the most suitable courses for each student; and it should encourage students’ learning. and fulfillment of dreams.

NFTs, and Three Other Fundamentally Worthless (Yet Wildly Successful) Products

Digital pixels, water, and rocks are everywhere, easily accessible and affordable for anybody to obtain. But what happens when the market decides that these items are worth something? As the demand for something inflates, so does its value, creating unbelievable market prices that may seem arbitrary to the item in question. By taking a look at some of the highest-grossing examples of these paradoxically prized products, we attempt to answer the age-old question: How are things worth the value that we’ve assigned to them?

NFTs

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), best recognized by their use in art, have recently taken the investment world by storm. Despite lacking tangible form, their outrageous price points (a collage of 5,000 artworks created over the past 13 years grossed over $69 million) have garnered the attention of worldwide media outlets. Thousands are flocking to online markets to purchase their own. 

An NFT functions as a unique, tradable collectible. Current formats that are popular include art, domain names, tweets, and original memes. The original doge meme, for example, sold for $4 million in June of 2021. The first tweet in internet history from Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, sold as an NFT for $2.9 million. In its first few years of commerce, NFTs garnered over $174 million. 

But with visual images of these digital pixels so accessible on the internet, anyone can download or screenshot them for free, raising the question of why essentially worthless digital art sells for so much money. Coinbase co-founder, Fred Ehrsam was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that “[90% of NFTs produced, probably will have little to no value in three to five years.” Essentially, their value is dependent on their exclusivity. The rarer or more popular the image, the more sustained the demand, and the higher the price it can command. Put into simpler terms: it’s worth a lot because people have assigned it that arbitrary value.

Bottled Water

Water is everywhere, falling from the sky, flowing through our taps, and gushing in natural rivers and springs. Even in drought-ridden California, drinking water is an abundant resource. With water so readily available for most Americans, how has a $217.66 billion industry been created from bottling it? Companies like Nestle, Fiji, and Poland Springs gain profit margins of 50% to 200%, meaning that with a little extra filtering, they can turn tap water into billions of dollars. Dasani and Aquafina, with gross annual sales of $675 million and $872 million, respectively, source their bottled water from municipal taps, the exact same water that flows out of the tap in your kitchen or bathroom. 

The water itself is worth close to nothing, because anyone can simply find water for themselves, but the marketing, packaging, and consumer agreement to buy this product have given the (essentially free) water that you already have, a price. 

The $1 Million Homepage

Synonymous with the header of this section, The Million-Dollar Homepage was a website that garnered one million dollars. In 2005, 21-year old Alex Tew was a college student looking for a way to pay his college tuition. His solution? Selling one million pixels of ad space on his website (www.milliondollarhomepage.com) for $1 each in ten-by-ten pixel lots. Within five months he had done it: all one million pixels on the homepage had been sold and were occupied with an ad, meaning that around one million people thought that a single pixel was worth a dollar. 

The Pet Rock

The creator of this national fad, Gary Dahl, reached millionaire status in the 1970s by selling one million rocks for $4 apiece. What gave these solid gray stones that you pass by on the sidewalk every day the value of $4? Was it the googly eyes glued to it? The instruction manual it came with? Or perhaps, the little nestling of paper scraps that the rock is packaged with? 

All of these examples go to show that value is completely subjective to the consumer. Anyone could pick up a rock and stick on googly eyes, then sell the idea, but in the case of the Pet Rock, one million people happened to share the same sense of humor as Gary Dahl during the Christmas shopping season, allowing this simple rock to quickly gain traction. His marketing definitely played a role in its success. By advertising it as a gag gift, people were more likely to buy a $4 rock because it was about the humor of it, not as much the product itself.

Today, you can buy an original Pet Rock for around $40, ten times the original price. But Is a decorated rock really worth $40? Is tap water worth paying for? And are pixels worth millions? It’s for you to decide.

Tensions Escalate Between Russia and Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shocked the world. The Russians have many demands for the United States, such as a complete withdrawal of all North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO)   weapons from Eastern Europe and a guarantee that Ukraine will never be allowed into NATO. Experts agree these demands are not serious, with Russia aware that the U.S. is unlikely to agree to them. The intention behind this set of demands lies in Putin’s desire to re-establish Russia as a dominant player on the world stage. 

Where Putin goes  from here is anyone’s guess, but to truly understand what he wants from this conflict, it’s necessary to look at the last forty years of Russia’s relationship with the West.  In 1949, NATO was created to combat Soviet aggression in Europe. After the Soviet Union–Russia’s pact of communist countries–collapsed in 1991, the Warsaw pact dissolved as well. Ukraine, the historical heartland of Russia, separated and became an independent country. For Russia, this was humiliating.

This is the backdrop upon which Vladimir Putin rose to power, and he has made his views on Ukrainian sovereignty clear. Speaking with President George Bush in 2008, Putin stated, “Ukraine is not a country.”

Furthermore, Putin has made a point of negotiating solely with the United States and refusing to negotiate directly with Ukraine, signifying that he views Ukraine as a pawn of the West instead of a legitimate independent country.

Photo: Shutterstock

However, this true takeover of Ukraine has proven difficult to the extent that many modern Ukrainans and Russians see each other in a favorable light. Nicolas K. ‘23, a first-generation American student at Athenian whose family is originally from Russia, reiterated this belief. “There is a lot of respect between Russians and Ukranians. We view each other as brothers,” Nicolas said. “Because of that, I don’t think a lot of people would be that happy about an invasion, so it would be difficult for Putin to hold public support.” 

However, many point out that Putin doesn’t operate under the same code of ethics as other world leaders. Lea Hartog, a humanities teacher at Athenian, expressed this view. “Putin doesn’t have to answer to the will of the people,” Hartog said. “There is no accountability if he makes a mistake or does something wrong, which emboldens him to make riskier moves. That’s why I believe the U.S. has an obligation to protect Ukraine—because we have to show that democracy will be protected around the world.”

But there are limitations to what Putin has the power to do, and this full invasion of Ukraine may have terrible consequences for his country. If Putin continueshandhexpands his invasions, a serious military counter-offensive by the West could escalate to all-out war, one Russia would almost surely lose, and would result in vast amounts of casualties for both sides. Because of the inevitable loss of life in that situation, the West doesn’t want to see this play out—something Putin can use to his advantage. No matter  whathPutin chooses to do next, his actions will be crucial to the future of democracy and to Russia’s relationship with Western nations in the coming decades. His decisions will hinge upon the degree to which he is willing to sacrifice his own agenda. 

  Taking over Ukraine will have serious consequences for his country in the years to come, as would any additional invasions Putin might think to carry out, but he appears set on being the man who took Ukraine back for Russia.

Virus Variants: Something To Fear?

In March 2020, most Americans assumed that COVID-19 would sweep through the nation and be gone within the span of two weeks. In the summer of 2020, those week-long predictions stretched into months. Would the virus be gone by Christmas? By 2021, worried Americans were beginning to wonder: how many years until this would all be over? So, why hasn’t COVID-19 disappeared yet? What’s taking so long? While there are numerous reasons why COVID-19 remains prevalent in the United States, much of COVID-19’s longevity can be boiled down to one key biological principle: viruses are always changing. 

Sometimes, these changes are minute and don’t affect the virus’s overall transmission rates or virulence. Other times, however, these changes are so significant that they are labeled “virus variants,” the infection rates and lethality of which can deviate from the original virus. Therefore, any conversation about viruses that lacks mention of variants would be incomplete. Virus variants are essential to understanding viruses and why they stick around for so long.

“A variant is where the virus has one or more mutations in the genetic code,” Dr. Jeffrey Silvers, infectious disease specialist, said. “With the incredible number of people with COVID in the world, the number of mutations that are occurring is enormous.” 

Put differently, due to the far-reaching spread of COVID-19, the virus is rapidly mutating, resulting in a multitude of variants. A given variant might become more commonplace if its respective mutations enhance its capacity to survive, infect, or reproduce. Occasionally, scientists can forecast which mutations might become problematic for human health. “A variant of interest is defined as a group of mutations that are predicted to reduce our ability to diagnose or treat the virus and may have increased transmissibility and virulence,” said Dr. Silvers.

Of course, certain variants, such as those which have a greater ability to evade the immune system or disrupt normal bodily functions, can complicate the process of combatting the virus overall. This dilemma can be framed in terms of the current pandemic. “Because there are so many variants, whenever we manage to get through one variant, like Delta, sometimes we right away get another, like Omicron,” Marianne Sekany, registered nurse, said. “The scary thing is wondering whether, after Omicron, there’s going to be another variant.” 

This worry that is shared by many medical professionals truly underscores the gravity of the current pandemic. While society may be on the verge of overcoming the current variant, it’s impossible to know if another variant awaits in the future. Moreover, this rapid succession of new variants can make it difficult to develop effective vaccines that curb viral propagation. This is partly due to the fact that vaccines stimulate the creation of antibodies, which are meant to inhibit viruses by binding to a specific component of their structure (in the case of COVID-19, the antibody binds to a part of its spike proteins).

“Some mutations in viruses can alter their three-dimensional shape,” said Dr. Silvers. “Certain combinations of mutations that can be very successful (from the virus viewpoint) can occur. These mutated viruses are able to more effectively evade our immune system.” 

In other words, these antibodies that are produced as a result of the vaccines are trained to inhibit the virus according to its original shape. Since variants can have shapes that differ from the original virus, the antibodies induced by the vaccine are often rendered ineffective. Given that variants present numerous obstacles to virus containment, it’s essential that medical professionals prepare for new variants ahead of time.

“The best way to prepare for new variants is through modern science,” said Dr. Silvers. “Genomic sequencing of enormous numbers of specimens from around the world has enabled us to determine and follow mutations. There are definite patterns to which mutations are worrisome and likely to get passed on.”

But this preparation is no easy task, and the incessant onslaught of new COVID-19 strains has placed serious pressure on hospitals, exposing certain issues that had previously underlied the healthcare industry. 

“Burnout and medical staff illness have been highlighted by the pandemic,” said Sekany. “Taking care of very sick patients and operating hospitals at full capacity can be utterly exhausting… Not to mention, many nurses and medical professionals really feared for their health at the beginning [of the pandemic]—we didn’t know what we were dealing with.” 

In short, virus variants can wield great power, and are sometimes capable of being even more infectious or deadly than the original virus. Therefore, in the face of Omicron, COVD-19’s latest variant, it’s more important than ever to adhere to the guidelines set forth by medical professionals. 

“Wear a mask, get your vaccine and booster, maintain personal hygiene, and just be careful,” Sekany said.

Colleyville and the Oldest Hatred

People Love Dead Jews. Not only is this a provocative declaration–it’s one that merits enough truth to serve as the title of Dara Horn’s 2021 novel. Horn’s book examines society’s eagerness to mourn Jews who perished in past atrocities, and its paradoxical refusal to coexist with them when they are alive. She arrives at this bleak conclusion through the analysis of antisemitic hate crimes that have occurred throughout history and into the present day. Though these violent attacks against Jews manifest differently, the nature of antisemitism remains the same; no matter where they go, Jews are accused of holding too much power, and simultaneously, of being subhuman, or unworthy of their societal standing. 

The events at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas are the most recent example of this phenomenon. On January 15, 2022, a gunman entered Congregation Beth Israel during Saturday morning services. While spewing antisemitic rants, he proceeded to take four Jewish individuals hostage, including the rabbi of the congregation. FBI agents and S.W.A.T. teams surrounded the small synagogue, and 11 hours later, all of the hostages escaped safely. 

Although the sleepy town of Colleyville seemed an unlikely setting for an antisemitic terrorist attack, the gunman, Malik Faisal Akram, specifically chose this synagogue because of its proximity to a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, where Aafia Siddiqui is being held. Siddiqui is currently serving an 86-year sentence for attempting to murder U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and Akram was convinced that the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel had the connections to orchestrate her release. This conspiracy-laden belief that all Jews are powerful, connected, and driven to influence the workings of society, is ancient in its origin.

At the turn of the twentieth century, in the antisemitic climate of Czarist Russia, a pamphlet called “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” was created to incite hatred against Jews. This text detailed the “Jewish plan” to achieve world domination and enslave all of mankind. Yedida Kanfer, the Director of Programming at the JFCS Holocaust Center, explained this text and its significance.

“Antisemitic stereotypes are ancient, originating in the very early days of Christianity. A turning point was the publication of ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’. This pamphlet argued [falsely] that Jews engaged in a worldwide conspiracy to gain power and economic control,” Kanfer said.

“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” cemented the antisemitic myth of Jewish world domination, and stirred a deep hatred and fear of Jews among its readers. This text has been widely disseminated since its creation, serving as a basis for Nazi ideology and even extremist hate groups today. 

 “‘The Protocols’ was essentially a bible for the Nazis,” said John Efron, the Koret Professor of Jewish History at UC Berkeley. “They took it literally. It’s still one of the most widely distributed books in history. And essentially, it became the blueprint for the extermination of European Jewry. And so the Nazis acted on that deeply held belief and perpetrated genocide in order to combat the [nonexistent] world Jewish conspiracy.”

The way Jews are depicted in “The Protocols” laid the groundwork for modern antisemitism, which Professor Efron describes as a unique form of discrimination.

“No other form of discrimination is based on a conspiracy theory,” Professor Efron said. “At the heart of all modern antisemitism is a profound belief that Jews control the world, control the banks, control the media, control the government. So, whereas most forms of discrimination are rooted in a sense of the inferiority of the other, antisemitism is different insofar as it’s a morbid fear of Jews.”

In the past decade, instances of hate crimes against Jews have skyrocketed. According to FBI statistics, antisemitic hate crimes account for 51% of all religious hate crimes in the U.S. This statistic is especially troubling considering that Jews make up less than 2% of the U.S. population.

The Anti-Defamation League, an organization that monitors antisemitic hate crimes in the United States, and that trains institutions to combat antisemitism, has tracked this alarming increase of attacks against Jews.

“Nationally, ADL reported over 2,000 antisemitism incidents in the year 2020, and that was the third-highest tally since we began tracking in 1979. We noted a dramatic increase in reported antisemitic incidents over the last decade, with the last four years being the most volatile,” Teresa Drenick, the deputy regional director for the ADL Central Pacific Region, said.

This rise in antisemitic attacks has had a direct impact on the ways in which Jewish communities function. Many individuals do not feel safe publicly expressing that they are Jewish, whether that is wearing jewelry with the Star of David or walking to synagogue with a traditional scullcap on. 

Rabbi Mark Bloom of Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland explained how his synagogue has had to modify its practices in order to ensure the safety of congregation members.

“We had to close many entrances to get into the synagogue. During services, I often had to start by announcing where the exits were. The employees had to take active shooter drill online classes. We hired security for services, not just for the high holidays,” noted Bloom.

So what does all of this mean? It means that one gunman in Colleyville Texas, charging into a synagogue with the aim to attack Jews and use their “connections” to his advantage, is not an isolated incident. In fact, there have been many “Colleyvilles” in recent years: the Charlottesville rally in 2017 when rioters wearing Klu Klux Klan robes chanted “Jews will not replace us,” the Pittsburgh Tree Of Life synagogue shooting in October of 2018 in which 11 Jews were killed, and the San Diego Poway synagogue shooting in April of 2019 when one Jewish congregant was killed and three others injured. When ancient conspiracies about Jewish influence and inferiority bleed into modern society and catalyze violence, these disparate acts can be recognized as symptoms of the same illness. 

As many in the Jewish community grapple with this surge in antisemitism, they may find that it is time to take action and pay homage to an ancient Jewish proverb: If not now, when?

Can Friendships Extend Beyond Boarders?

“I feel excluded from the day students, and I feel like they don’t want to talk to me because I’m an international student,” an Athenian junior boarding student said. This statement has been said not only once, but multiple times over the years. 

By contrast, a freshman day student expressed an opposing point of view. “I don’t have many chances to talk to the boarders,” they remarked. “First, I don’t really have any boarder friends. Second, I always think that they don’t really want to talk to day students.” This disparity in opinion is evidence that issues of inclusion and belonging are complicated ones. 

The question of how intentional (or unintentional) such exclusion might be was pointed out by a sophomore boarding student. “It feels like it’s more boarders staying together than not trying to interact with day students…when Main Hall is only open to boarders, boarders will tend to stay indoors and have lunch with boarders instead of going outside to mix.”

A 2020 alum, who was an international boarding student during their time at Athenian, agreed with this point of view.  “ I have to admit, it was quite difficult to jump into a new culture and environment and just branch out. Plus, a lot of the people in my grade went to middle school together, so there were already friend groups. Instead of trying to figure out how I could fit in…I found [myself] more connected with other international students who speak the same language as I do or share similar cultures.” 

A junior day student had deeper thoughts on self-isolation and the potential need for an adaptation period. “I think there’s an unstated division between day students and boarders. And that may be due to a language barrier or just different interests.”  

But not everybody has clear ideas on why this separation exists. “I honestly have a hard time figuring out why there’s a barrier,” another day student said. “My best guess is it’s a combination that boarders become friends in the dorm and feel comfortable with each other, and then day students don’t really go out of their way to get to know the boarders. And also I know there are pretty strict rules for living in the dorms, and, like, freshman year, when you get to know people, it might feel easier for day students to be friends with people who don’t have those restrictions.” 

       But could it be a simple misunderstanding to think that boarders don’t want to hang out with the day students? Maybe boarders tend to feel more comfortable talking to someone who shares the same cultural background as them. However, can anything be done to break this barrier?

“I don’t think there is a solution for this problem,”  a junior day student said. “We can’t force the day students to hang out with the boarders, as well as the other way round. I think the best we can do is to be nice to each other and treat the boarders like how we treat the day students.” 

A sophomore boarder agreed. “Honestly, I don’t know what we can do to break the barrier. It is hard for both boarders and day students. For me, I think it is fine that they don’t interact with each other as much. It’s their own decision who to hang out with.” 

While some international students may think that they’re being excluded, other international students may not really care about not talking to day students, since they already have their own friends in the boarding community. Day students may have similar ideas. 

Does this mean that day students will forever only be friends with the day students and the boarders will forever only be friends with the boarders? Hopefully one day this divide will be resolved. 

Student Life: Private vs. Public Schools

While public and private schools are clearly distinguishable from their price points, the precise differences in experience are sometimes difficult to pinpoint. Do students from both kinds of schools get the same opportunities? What are the pros and cons of attending public and private schools? Are private schools really “better”? 

“Public and private schools don’t provide the same opportunities,” said a sophomore who is currently attending a public school, Dublin High.  

As a common perception of private schools is that they are likely to be supported by high-income families, it is also common for public school students to perceive a disparity that they view as unjust.  However, some private school students refute the idea that private school opens more doors. 

“Yeah, we might have more interesting courses than public schools,” a junior at Athenian said. “But at the end of the day, colleges don’t compare us to them. So it doesn’t really matter.” 

These opposing viewpoints highlight an important distinction: some students only care about college admissions. Other students care about equal education. 

“Honestly, I don’t really care if there are pros or cons for both public and private schools,” said the same Athenian junior. As long as I get good grades in school and go to a good college, then my life is going to be fine.” 

A junior at Dougherty Valley cited social differences as another consideration. “I went to a public school because I wanted to go to a bigger high school with more people, which means more people to meet, and so you can experience more stuff,” they said. A sophomore from people, which means more people to meet, and so you can experience more stuff,” they said. A sophomore from Dublin High School agreed. “I would prefer going to a public school because they have better social networks, more freedom, individual thought, and less competition for colleges.”  

However, this is not always the case. Some private schools might have done a great job at balancing both maintaining a good social life and education for students. “I prefer private schools because they have smaller class sizes, so more attention on you, so better learning experience. Also, definitely more resources because we all pay. And the curriculum is much more flexible because we are not restricted by the government,” said a senior who’s studying at Bentley High School.

From the interviews, it is apparent that most of the public schoolers think that attending public schools can have a better social life, while the private schoolers think that attending private schools can have a better education.

What Can We Learn From Dyke Brown?

“It is not enough to be concerned with the scholarly excellence of our students alone. The values and purposes with which well-trained minds will be committed are of equal importance.” -Dyke Brown, the founder of Athenian.

Current students may only have a vague idea of what Athenian stands for. The school emphasizes ideals of experiential learning and the six Round Square Pillars. While all of these are valuable, none of them really continue the legacy of Dyke Brown. The Pillars represent six categories that the school believes are a good way to achieve its goal of “developing the full person”, but they are almost completely unrelated to the Mandala, Dyke Brown’s initial sketch for how the school should function. The details of Athenian’s original plans and are barely remembered today.

Dyke Brown

Dyke Brown sketched his initial ideas for the school in a model he called the Mandala. It was the founding document of the school, and while many people recognize its ideas as common sense now, it was seen as progressive at the time. It ingrained the ideas of experiential learning and developing the full person into the school’s psyche, but the document itself is barely discussed today. There is so much to Dyke Brown’s vision that much of Athenian has forgotten about.

The Mandala emphasized a multitude of areas that the school should focus on for its students. These goals were: bodily capability, rational capability, spiritual capability, understanding of nature, understanding of humanity, understanding of self and others, under-standing of society. Dyke

Brown defined “under-standing of society” as the study of power structures and freedom/authority, while “understanding of man” was seen as the knowledge of various cultures and traditions. 

The goals are grouped by capability and understanding. Capability is the ability to do something, and understanding is the development of our knowledge, which is tied to our being. Capability and understanding are related, and both help develop all aspects of a person. Dyke Brown had a revolutionary vision that is rarely emphasized today—to develop every single aspect of a student’s life. Rather than just teach students the academics and leave them to develop on their own everywhere else, Brown wanted to work on everything—which was eventually sterilized into modern Athenian’s goal of “developing the whole person”.

“The whole of what you do, 24 hours a day, is your curriculum,” Dyke Brown said at his 90th birthday party. To realize his idea of developing all aspects of life, Dyke Brown understood that the school would need to take up the student’s whole existence. Thus, Athenian was developed as a boarding school. However, being a boarding student today is probably different from what Dyke Brown imagined. Although it is freeing to not have a constant “curriculum” every second of the day, being a modern boarding student is more about the community and commute rather than being a way for the school to help the student learn in all aspects of life. 

Experiential learning was at the core of the founding ideas of the school. Even before official studies had been conducted on experiential learning, Dyke Brown knew that students would learn best if they were allowed to experience their curriculum rather than just being told about it. 

One thing that has been long forgotten is the emphasis Dyke Brown placed on the experiential learning benefits of field trips. In 1974, Dyke Brown wrote this list of the planned trips Athenian students would embark on in the next year: an excavation at Point Reyes searching for artifacts from the Sir Frances Drake expedition, a professional dig in Mexico studying pre-conquest Native American groups, a month living with Inuit people to experience a non-Western culture and study their environmental balance, a program in Washington where students interned in government offices, and a month where students lived at a Mexican clinic and helped the families there.

Although it’s probably unrealistic for the school to attempt to financially support that many trips ever again, it shows what Dyke Brown’s devotion to “experiential education” meant. He also had several ideas for classes that could even be applied to modern Athenian. Of course, it’s important to understand that these classes could have evolved past what he envisioned for them due to a variety of circumstances. But if it is now possible to hold these classes again, it could be an option worth considering.

In the 1970s, an “Urban Center” concept was introduced , wherein seniors could choose to live in a house in the middle of a city for part of the year. They spent their time doing unpaid internships in government agencies, organizations, political campaigns, and media companies. The students would read a variety of political science books about urban society in their free time. 

As Dyke Brown explained it: “The main goal was to provide a more realistic way of learning about the processes, problems and institutions of modern urban America. At the same time, the students were jointly responsible for food preparation and procurement, and the running of the house.” Though this idea may seem extremely ambitious, it seems like a relevant experience given a world in which cities and urban problems are growing in importance. 

Dyke Brown suggested two more good ideas: that the best way to have students learn foreign languages was to send them to households where only that language was spoken. Language immersion is now commonplace but was not at the time. He also wanted to show students in-person demonstrations of surgeries for medical biology. He also had many ideas about how building character could be done through manual labor, and thought that having students contribute to the maintenance of the school was a good way to incorporate this. Athenian students from earlier decades had a lot more on-campus duties, including dishwashing and gardening.

Dyke Brown was likely not correct about everything, and all founding ideas ultimately have to adapt to the times. Additionally, outside factors thwarted certain ideas and plans. For example, the school developed day student programs and expanded to include a middle school, which created curriculum and culture needs that Dyke Brown hadn’t outlined. Still, many of his unimplemented ideas could still be as relevant and important now as they were back when Athenian was founded. There are many things to be learned about modern day Athenian by looking into the past at Dyke Brown’s founding ideas and methods.

The Past, Present, and Future of Athenian’s Land

Very few students are aware of how much natural space Athenian has on its campus. The school’s land holdings total 75 acres, but central campus takes up only 23. The Tim Holm Trail and other trails that sit at high point on campus showcase the vast amount of undeveloped acreage. But what plans does Athenian have for its undeveloped land? 

The answer to Athenian’s future may lie in its past. This year’s convocation represented the first ever Land Acknowledgement Athenian issued since its founding. The school recognized that the land it occupies was once lived on by the Bay Miwok-speaking Tatcan tribe. As part of this acknowledgment, Athenian vowed to work towards correcting the injustices set in motion by colonists when they seized indigenous peoples’ land hundreds of years ago. However, there haven’t been any apparent changes that seem to serve this goal. 

Keith Powell, the school’s Chief Operating Officer, explained why development will not begin in the foreseeable future. “There’s lots of things in terms of wanting to think about the environment and thinking about water usage, noise, and lighting. All these things that the neighbors are concerned about,” Powell said, “And we usually have to go through an approval process that requires community input and community approval in order to build. When we did the project where we replaced the Main Hall, we probably reached the limit of the patience and support that people would have for us building more.”

While it is possible to push the boundaries set by the local community, Athenian would first have to consider the demand for changes that might utilize more of its land. Powell said that Athenian is satisfied with its current student population of ~540 and has capped class sizes for five years. It is safe to assume the school will not be needing to expand campus spaces any time soon. 

But the question still remains: what might the school eventually do with its land? It may seem like a natural solution to return the land to indigenous people, but Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice(DEIS), Sanjev deSilva, explains why this will probably not become a reality.

“I think it’s less about ‘give us our land back because it was taken from us’ and more about ‘where are we now in 2022, what has happened, and what can we do moving forward that will repair some of these relationships,’” deSilva said.

The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an organization led by people indigenous to this region that facilitates land return, cultural revitalization, and public education about indigenous traditions. While Sogorea Te’s website does profess its vision to be an organization that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to indigenous people, deSilva expresses that such a goal may be far in the future. 

“What they’re working on is more about education around the history and the legacy of the land and getting us to reimagine things,”deSilva said. “To reimagine the way we think about things like real estate, territory, things like this, ownership of land. Getting us to understand the different perspective that’s out there, and that’s the indigenous perspective.”

There are many ways to begin to right the injustices committed upon Indigenous people. Athenian is considering a seed bank program and an exchange program of sorts between indigenous tribes and Athenian students. Additionally, collaboration with Sogorea Te’ on an upcoming garden lab project seems like a likely possibility. 

Whitney Hofacker is the head of this initiative, which aims to build different agricultural projects around the campus for students to tend to and benefit from. Though no details have been decided, this could be a natural partnership–indigenous people could lead cultural revitalization via the opportunity to work on their ancestral lands; students could learn about indigenous culture and the products of the garden could flourish.

Another step that Athenian has recently considered is paying the Shuumi Land Tax. This is a voluntary donation that could be made to begin to repay for occupying stolen land. The Land Tax would go toward cultural revitalization for impacted groups and public education. But it seems that the best way to collaborate with Sogorea Te—to begin to correct the injustices of the past and improve the school’s relationship with them—could be through taking their guidance in cultivating and gardening Athenian’s vast amount of natural land. Theoretically, it could be a perfect relationship, allowing Athenian to retain the ‘green space’ so important to its mission and community while letting native tribes access land to perform traditional cultivation techniques that are so important to cultural revitalization. 

Corrina Gould, Co-Founder/Director of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust emphasized how important being able to interact with ancestral land is for native tribes: ​​“Sogorea Te’ Land Trust makes it possible for us to relearn our traditional methods of taking care of the land. We can begin bringing back some of our traditional foods, like acorns. With that comes ways of taking care of the land, such as prescribed burning. Burning also helps to bring back some of the native plants that were here before, so that we can bring back the basket weaving, we can bring back the medicines that were always here, we can begin to teach ourselves how it is that we are supposed to live on this land again.”

Even though Athenian has no plans to expand onto its undeveloped lands for the near future, that does not mean it cannot put the land to use in other ways–it could be used for the extremely important task of repairing the relationship between Athenian and indigenous tribes.