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Homecoming:

Please RecycleSpectrum After months of Jamba Wednes-days, students finally reep the benefits of their purchases.

Are Class Sizes Really Increasing?

October

October 2009

2009

The great class of 2010 wanted to make sure that this year should

be one of fun, spirit and an immense amount of trophies. It was during the summer that class member Charlie Walden ’10 coined the phrase “Back to the BasiX” (the X is for the class of ’10) to describe how we should approach the school year. It was in this spiritual rebirth that The Playa’s Club 2010 was formed. With the precision of the ultimate task force and a core of individuals who are committed to life, liberty, and the Blake Bears; this year’s club is more than ready to tackle the job of school spirit rather than leave it standing, as done in certain years. This third generation of playa, however, has already begun something to separate it from past successful cam-paigns. The Blake vs. Breck bowl series is something we want to make the norm at our school. The passion is evident in the Big Ten conference, fighting over inanimate objects like Paul Bunyan’s ax, the Illibuck, and the Little Brown Jug. To make that kind of elevated excitement and school spirit tradition for our school is what we’re going for. Furthermore, the Playa’s Club is anxious to see the entire student body take on the task of bringing an unparalleled amount of school spirit as compared to the schools we compete against. Finally, when a student from some other school who has just experi-enced or watched others be mentally and physically dominated on the field, pitch, or in the gym, just know that all you have to say is: “Don’t hate the playa. Hate the game.”

Kasey BoydStaff Writer

Playa’s club awakens Blake Spirit

School NewsOct 09

02Spectrum

Model United Nations. You have prob-ably heard the name and seen the

club’s booth at the club fair, but what is this club? If you haven’t already guessed by the name, Model United Nations is a club that simulates the United Nations. The club is sponsored by Mr. Randy Rob-erts, and it meets once weekly during Wednesday tutorial in Roberts’s room. The group is assigned one to two coun-tries that they will represent in various committees for which they will research specific issues, such as the economy of the country, and take on the countries’ perspectives. Last year, Blake represent-ed Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The students’ work culminates with a conference that is attended by students from all over the country. In years past, Blake has gone to Chicago. This year, students who wanted a foreign experience helped organize another trip to Montreal. However, the Montreal trip is only available to the par-

ticipants of the club that have gone to Chicago in years past. These trips are a unique expe-rience for students, who are given they opportunity to develop their negotia-tion and public speaking skills. However, the students attending these trips must pay for themselves. The Chicago trip is around $500 – $600 per student. The costs come from busing fees, hotel rooms, meals, a group delegation fee and an in-dividual delegate fee. In previous years, students have flown to Chicago. However, last year, in an effort to reduce costs, the Blake Model United Nations participants went by bus and “saved a considerable amount of money,” according to Roberts. The cost breakdown for the Montreal trip will be slightly different because students will have to pay for one additional night in a hotel, taxi fees, as a bus will not be available once there, and, because Mon-treal is too far to travel to by bus, airfare. The overall cost for this trip will be in the neighborhood of $1,200. There are ways to save money

on the overall cost of the trip. Financial aid is available for students who qualify. In order to receive this assistance, stu-dents must contact Cheryl Boyd in the business office and apply for financial aid there. This year, some of the students who are interested in going on the trip to Montreal have discussed having a fund-raiser to help with some of the costs of the trip, as it is roughly double the cost of the Chicago trip. Some students have ex-pressed the desire to attend both confer-ences; however, the students interested in being present at both conferences will have to pay for both trips in full. If a fund-raiser does come into being, donations and support will be appreciated greatly by the participants of the Model United Nations program. The popularity of the club has grown over the years and new members are always welcome to join. If you are interested in participating in the club, please contact Mr. Roberts via email.

Breaking Down Model U.N.Spectrum Staff

Staff WritersSam Michel

Kolten FischerPatrick Dunphy

Allison ByeHannah Tieszen

Kimmer PotuznikTaylor Rondesvedt

Mason HinkeElinor MitchellAnnie Peterson

Contributing WritersEmily MooreLaine HigginsBarbara Laco

Hannah FalveyNatalia GonzalezChance LilleheiPhelan O’NeillErik LegriedKatie Emory

Stephanie Stahl

AdvisersJennifer ArnottChristina Colvin

Over the summer, Blake staff replaced all of the slow and aging Windows XP

desktop com-puters in the Library Walk-in Lab with Macs. “It’s a recycling of computers,” says Upper School Tech-nology Special-ist Allen Hill. “The life cycle [of the old com-puters] ended.” Students have been excited to see the new-er, faster and more efficient computers in the lab. How-ever, Blake’s administration did not put the computers in the Walk-in Lab for efficiency. They put the computers in the Walk-in Lab in order to best use avail-able resources and to prepare for Blake’s possible future laptop policy. The Macs in the Walk-in Lab are not new. In fact, they were previously

used elsewhere in the Upper School. Last year, they were in the Multimedia Lab. “Instead of purchasing a bunch of new computers, we already had some,” says Mr. Hill. “It’s just a matter of shifting mon-ey from one division to the next.” Blake

shifted this money by reusing and con-serving computers. When the PCs in the Walk-in Lab were retired, the Multimedia Lab computers replaced them. To fill the gap in the Multimedia Lab, only a few new computers were purchased. These com-

puters will go to one of the Lower School campuses next year and the Multimedia Lab may be used for laptops or other technology. Blake’s administration is ultimately moving all of these comput-ers to prepare for the potential “student

one-on-one lap-top initiative” that is being discussed for next year. Under this policy, the school would provide laptop computers to students in the Upper School. As to which stu-dents would get laptops Mr. Hill says, “I don’t know if all stu-dents will get laptops, 9-12, or just a certain grade.” He con-tinues, “I don’t know if the school will own the computers, the students... [would] own the computers,

or [if] it... [would] be a lease.” However, there is one thing Mr. Hill is sure about, if the policy were to go into effect. “The students are going to like it.”

New Computers Spruce Up LabPatrick Dunphy

Staff Writer

Laine HigginsContributing Writer

Students hard at work on the brand new desktops in the Multimedia Lab

Sutton Higgins

Mike GrahamOpinions

Bailey DunningVariety

Nina KellyOpinions

Shorty BullockSports

Hannah PageNews

Sutton Higgins News

Hayden BrobergEditor-In-Chief &

Feature

Susie MarshallCopy Editor

School News 03SpectrumOct 09

Sipping Our Way to Better Lounges

TASC Force Rallies Student OpinionHannah Tieszen

Staff Writer

Jamba Juice has returned to the high school for the second year! Jamba Juice

has become a yummy and nutritious after-school snack, as well as the Up-per School’s only fundraiser. The goal is for Jamba Juice sales to meet or exceed sales from last year to improve the high school’s resources. Last year’s proceeds went, in part, to new furniture in the lounges. This year’s uses for the profits have yet to be determined. However, sug-gestions and ideas from students are en-couraged. Through your support, money can be raised again for additional im-provements to Blake Upper School. As mentioned above, a large part of the income from last year’s Jamba Juice sales went to purchase new furniture for the junior and senior lounges. The designer of the furniture, Maureen Rudd, hoped to provide furniture that would encom-pass the requests of the students and the administration. Students asked that the furniture remain comfortable, and administrators requested that the new furnishings make a good “first impres-

sion” of the high school. Rudd tried to find a balance. She stated that two of her

goals in the design process were to cre-ate “furniture that would be durable, and that would fit the aesthetics of the space.”

Although she has tried her best to make the furniture long lasting, Rudd hopes

that “students will be respectful of the furnishings for their future classmates.” Rudd has also always kept her budget

in mind. She noted that she tried to be “really careful about spending enough to make the furniture well built yet not making the furnishings overly extrava-gant.” Last year $3,000 was raised through Jamba Juice sales , according to Dana Al-peter, this year’s fundraising parent co-chair. There were multiple ideas of what could be sold for this purpose. However Jamba Juice was selected because, as Alpeter specified, “Jamba Juice is a rela-tively healthy, grab-and-go after-school snack that the students like.” As for uses of the 2009-2010 proceeds, Alpeter says, “We are looking for ideas from the com-munity.” Students are encouraged to pro-vide their input on where profits should go. New this year, Jamba Juice will also be offered at events such as the high school bonfire, Blake Homecoming, and pos-sibly future dances. Alpeter recognizes that Jamba Juice last year had great re-sults and “was a success we will build upon.” Sales will continue through fall and re-commence in the spring. Jamba Juice fundraising has brought positive changes to the Upper School and with continued support from students even more progress can be made.

The Blake School of Excellence has always had a commitment

to bettering its environment and making itself a safe, respectable learning environment for all. Mr. Bogursky, using the feedback and thoughtful consideration of other staff members and parents, has put together groups that combine to make the TASC force. The groups will have forums focusing on indi-vidual topics, including Integrity, Respect, Service Learning, Green Initiative, Assembly, Public Spaces, Student Workload, and Diversity planning. The goal of these groups is to make our community better as a whole, and to produce produc-tive and proactive solutions to bet-ter the most important elements of our community. Each group will be comprised of eight adults and five to six students from all grade levels. The administration would like to include parent volunteers in the mix as well. Mr. Bogursky says his in-spiration for the groups was his desire to improve the negative elements of our Upper School culture. He men-

tions that the amount of independence

that goes along with the Upper School must go with a great deal of responsi-

bility. “We have to make sure empower-

ment does not become entitlement,” he says. “We have to do what makes sense

(i.e use integrity) while staying flexible.” As upper schoolers, we should all take responsibility for our actions, such as picking up after ourselves in the lunchroom. The TASC force will make issues like this top priority and will address ways to make the school run more smoothly and effi-ciently. The goal is to make the com-munity “feel as good as possible” and to look towards “doing the right thing and learning to take respon-sibility for our actions.” In order to achieve a true sense of community, we all have to do what is right and what makes sense. If we can all work together, we will all reap the benefits of these student/teacher collaborations and feel more of a sense of community. Bogursky also hopes they will encourage our com-munity to use face to face conversa-tion to confront our biggest issues and inflate a sense of integrity in the school. He hopes the groups will in time come up with specifics on how to change or alter the negative aspects of our community without putting in place rules or penalties. The goal is NOT to make our com-munity more restrictive, but to have

a student voice in changing and voicing important issues.

Sutton Higgins Students enjoying the new lounge furniture.

Emily MooreContributing Writer

Some of the co-chairs of the nine TASC forces and their creator, Mr. Bogursky. Hannah Page & Sutton Higgins

OpinionsOct 09

04Spectrum

Awakening Spirit

The cry, “seniors, seniors!” rang con-stantly through thewalls of the JNA

during the 2008-2009 school year, ex-emplifying the spirit of the senior classof2009.Movingforwardintothe’09-’10schoolyear,thetorchhasbeenpassedtoanewgroupof leaders.During the firstmonth or so of school, the senior classsetsthetonefortherestoftheyear.Theupperschoolhasbeenwaitingwithbait-edbreathtoseethespinthatthisyear’sseniors will put on Blake’s atmosphere.Sowhatmakesagoodseniorclass?Thisisanimportantquestion,andonethathasnodoubtbeeninthemindsoftheseniorsduring these firstweeks back at school.Itiseasytocomparethedifferentseniorclassesbasedonafewnarrowcriteria(i.e.whichclasshadmoreathletic teamcap-tains, orwhich senior boys you thoughtwere cuter) and write them off with asimple pass/fail. However, we must re-memberthateachclassbringssomethingunique to theBlakeSchoolandplaysanintegral role in the community.Michael Palombo ’11explains,“SeniorsshouldbespiritedandinvolvedwiththeBlakecom-munityandrelatedactivities.Theirjobis

togettheBlakespiritrollingthroughtheschool.”“Ilikeitwhentheymakelotsofvideosandarevery interactivewith thecrowd(likeinassembly)andreallymakean effort to include the other grades,”saysMarielle Foster ’11.Izzy Swanson ’13 addsthatthemostimportantaspectsofaseniorclassare“Lead-ershipandbeingloudand outgoing.” Theseare certainly impor-tant qualities in mymind as well, as thesenior class will beremembered by theirenergy and their ac-complishmentsduringtheirlastyearatBlake. The class of2009 undoubtedlyleftalegacybehindatBlake last year. Brim-mingwithtalentinthearts,athleticsandacademics,theymademanyaccomplish-ments.Dion Crushshon, gradedean fortheclassof2009,says,“Theclassof2009wasmarkedbyitsexceptionalactorsanddramatists, but also had its share of ex-ceptionalathletes.The fact thatwewontheChallengeCupagainsaysalotabout

the leadershipand contributionsof ath-letes in theclassof2009.”Evenwithalltheir hard work and dedication, theywere able to maintain a great sense ofunity and camaraderie throughout theirtimeattheupperschool,onethatshould

be emulated by future senior classes. Thisyear’sseniorclasscertainlyhasbigshoestofill.Thefirstassembliesandfootballgamesoftheyeararewherethe senior classmust show if they havewhatittakes,andthelowerclasseswaitin anticipation. Have they risen to thechallenge?Ibelievetheclassof2010has

goneaboveandbeyondwhatwasexpect-edwiththeirenthusiasm.MichaelPalom-bo agrees, “This year’s seniors are a lotbetterthanlastyearbecausetheyhavealotofspiritandarebetterrolemodelsfortherestoftheschool.” Walkingthroughtheseniorlounge,sittingintheJNAdur-ingassemblies,andcheeringontheBlakeBears at theAamothStadium, I’ve felt agreatsenseofopennessandinclusivenessfromthisyear’sfun-lovingseniors,anditisapparentthattherestoftheschoolhas,too. “Thisyear’sseniorsaregoofier,andtheyhaveasongtogowitheverything,”says Taylor Briggs ’11. Michael Lima ’11 adds, “They’re more approachable.” As the rest of the school is cer-tainly pleased with this year’s seniors,they are even more excited about theirlast year at Blake. Alyn Eastin, gradedeanfortheclassof2010,hashighhopesfor her seniors. “Focused, goal-oriented,and united as a class on leadership andlegacy, this year promises to be mostmemorable for the class of 2010,” shesaysproudly. I lookforwardtowatchingtheirclassthroughouttherestoftheyear,andevery time Ihear theirvoicesecho-ing, “Mymomma don’t wear no socks!”through the school, I know their legacywill be a unique and memorable one.

Annie PetersonStaff Writer

Pro (Phelan)

ACap and Trade system is a systemwherein “a central authority sets alimit...on the amount of a pollutant thatcan be emitted. Companies...are issuedemission permits...which represent therighttoemitaspecificamount.Thetotalamount of allowances and credits can-notexceedthecap...Companiesthatneedto increase their emission allowancemustbuycreditsfromthosewhopolluteless.”(Wikipedia) Ibelieve thereare twodistinct benefits of this type of system: First,itefficientlyregulatespollu-tionwithoutharmingcompaniesbecausethegovernmentsetsthestandardstoen-couragerealisticreform.Thereshouldal-waysbeanexcessofcreditsavailableforpurchasemeaningevenifthegovernmentmisestimates howmuch a company cancutemissions,theyshouldalwaysbeableto stayunder the “cap”. This is an easywayofcurbingemissions, thusreducingpollutionandimprovingtheenvironment. Second,CapandTradeprovidesincentivesforalternativeenergy.Regard-lessofourpoliticalbeliefs,everyonecan

agree that the development of alterna-tiveenergy isagoodidea. Todoso,weneed to encourage companies to makethe transition by allowing them to earn

money by going green, something CapandTradecando.Thisisthe“bestofbothworlds”(aspecialthankstoMileyCyrusfor ruining this expression, still a hugefan though) - the government is able toensure proper development of alterna-tiveenergy,andthefreemarketisableto

regulate itself. There isminimal yet ef-fective government involvement - some-thing that everyone can agree is good.

Con (Erik):Prior to delvinginto the indepen-dentmeritsofaCapandTradeprogram,wemustevaluateitin its political con-text. Decisions incongress are notmade in a vacuumand every bill haspolitical capitaltradeoffs. Politicalcapital is definedloosely as the abil-ity for a politicianto push for a cer-tainpieceoflegisla-tion. Hence, whenlookingatthemas-

sive amount of debate going on regard-inghealthcare,CapandTrademusttakethe back burner. Health care is alreadyan extremely divisive issue across con-gressional aisles and bringing anythingcontroversiallikeCapandTradeontothefloor could easily jeopardize both bills.

DemocratsshouldpourasmuchpoliticalcapitalintoHealthCare,andworryaboutCapandTradesometimedowntheroad.Second,though,CapandTradeprogramswillbackfireand increasepollution.Thesocial stigma associated with pollutionis growingquickly. In the last five yearssome of the largest corporations in theworld have gone “Green”: McDonaldsnowworkscloselywithPETAforanimalandenvironmentalconservation,GEhasincreased sales and development in itsEgomagination department by $12 bil-lion,andBankofAmericahasdecreasedpaperuseby30%.These are just a fewexamples but the underlying trend isclear – change is occurringwithout anygovernmentalmandates.Now, the intui-tive counterpoint is that a federalman-datewouldsimplystrengthenthemove-ment. However, that is not the case. Byturning emissions into commodities thegovernmentseverelyweakensthestigmaassociated with polluting. The oppor-tunity to buy and sell pollution creditscreatesamarketwherenonepreviouslyexisted,removingthestigma.Ifwewanttoseerealenvironmentalreform-with-outhinderingtheprogressthat’salreadybeenmade-wemustavoidfederalman-datesthatturnemissionsintoabusiness.

Buying Our Way Out of Global WarmingPhelan O’Neill & Erik Legried

Contributing Writers

Erik Legried

Winnie VaughanSeniors enthusiastically cheer on the football team!

Opinons 05SpectrumOct 09

Stephanie StahlContributing Writer

Oodles of MoodleKatie Emory

Contributing Writer

It’s here, and it hit Blake like a tidal wave: Moodle. Teachers at Blake are

using it to post what we will be work-ing on in class each day, as well as that night’s homework, and class resources. It boasts different categories and menus, a calendar, and seven different language options, including, oddly enough, Latin. On the site, we’ve even got an aesthetical-ly pleasing banner and photos of fellow Blake students hard at work. Many of us are content with this new way of checking our homework. When asked if he thought Moodle was a good idea, Al Barnhart ’12 replied, “Yes, because if you forget your planner at school or if you’re sick and you can’t call any classmates, you can use Moodle instead.” Not only is it efficient, but it can also be very accessible. Owen Duncan ’12 agreed with Al, and pulled it up on his iPhone in only a few seconds. Chloe Davis ‘10 says it helps her balance her schedule, “It’s great because it’s not just for homework, and some teachers even post guidelines.” For some, however, the website is little more than annoying. “It’s a pain to have to carry around a computer to check the homework. It’s a lot of extra work for the students,” says Matt McFar-land ’12. Students aren’t the only ones

who are frustrated. Patrick Barry has this to say on the subject: “It’s like Atari or Pong - it’s a good idea in theory, but the software is primi-tive and clunky. I mean seriously, it’s 2009 and we’ve upgraded to Wii. Plus I cannot fully trust a thing named ‘Moodle’. Words that rhyme with Moodle: poodle, noo-dle, strudel, caboodle.” Of course, when stu-dents heard that Moo-dle would be the only way to access home-work, possible disaster scenarios ran through their minds. What if there’s a power black-out? What if something unexpected happens and I end up with no access to the Internet? How will I know which problem set to do?

Blake’s use of Moodle for home-work assignments isn’t just an effort

to keep up with our fast-paced digital world, but an attempt to be more eco-friendly. David Graham remarked that by not handing out an assignment sheet to each student in all of his classes, on the first day of school alone he saved about 200 sheets of paper. This reduces not only

Blake’s ecological footprint but also our fiscal as well. But will saving a few measly piec-

es of paper really affect the environment, and is it worth the hassle that Moodle presents? Maybe not. “I don’t think it will make a big impact on trying to go green,” says Christine Ricard ’12. “The truth is people are still going to print out paper anyway.” So it’s supposed to be simpler, and supposed to help the environment,

both of which are debatable. What are the real reasons we switched to Moodle? Jim Mahoney answers this for us. “Parents

want to keep track of classes and class schedules. This way no one’s running around trying to find out what’s going on. By not printing things out, it not only helps the environment, but cuts down on paper costs, too. It’s really changed the way I do things. I never print out anything anymore!”

When asked what he would say to a student who was not so enthusiastic about Moodle, he replied, “The word I’d use for Moodle is benign. It really does take some getting used to, and even the teachers are having a hard time keep-ing up with it. It’s functional though. Not pretty, or flashy, but functional.” Will Moodle be a very long-term thing for Blake? “Probably not. I see it as

more of a transition between paper and something else. We might move on to an-other, similar but more advanced online planner, like Blackboard or Blogspot” (For a sample of Blogspot, check out ‘P-Bear’s’ www.oceanonotions.blogspot.com.). “But there’s always the possibility that Moodle will evolve, and we’d evolve with it.”

Ever since the early summer of 2009, the virus H1N1, more commonly

known as swine flu, has been front and center in the media spotlight through-out the world. I can only imagine that news stations across the globe threw their hands in the air in celebration when they received the news on June 11th that swine flu had been officially labeled as a pandemic by the World Health Organi-zation. The global media has made sen-sationalizing any issue, big or small, an art, and it did not disappoint with the an-nouncement of the new health crisis. Pre-dictions of death, disease and the end of human civilization at the hands of swine flu swamped the media channels only days after the official WHO announce-ment. Headlines such as ‘Roman Catholic Church Bans Handshakes As A Result Of Swine Flu’ and ‘WHO Says Swine Flu Virus Could Delay World Economic Recovery?’ were the center pieces of many a news-paper over the summer. Companies made millions off of the flu scare as they sold H1N1 protective masks and emergency swine flu kits. According to the news, the world was going to experience round two of the Spanish Influenza, only this time

the virus would hit twice as fast and be much more deadly. But now it’s September. We are all still here. What happened to the dooms-day predictions? The dire warnings have all but evaporated, to be replaced with news of vaccines, much smaller death counts than expected, and the basic line of: “life will go on, with or without swine flu”. H1N1 is still prevalent, but now the media is sheepishly branding its initial wave of headlines as “overreactions”. Go figure. So while the media is recovering from its bout of H1N1 fever, the echoes of the sensationalizing can be heard in the halls of Blake. In previous years, a cough or sneeze was usually dismissed as an al-lergy, an early cold or an attempt to get the attention of someone. Now, the au-tomatic reaction is either edging slowly away from the culprit, or a rapid feeling of the forehead, along with the concerned question, “Do you feel okay?” Responses have become more and more radical, culminating in deans pulling kids out of class to question them on their health, or the forceful temperature check on stage during assembly. Both students and fac-ulty have been working themselves into a frenzy state over the possibility of a mas-sive outbreak at our school. One of the

most common comments I heard in the halls the first few weeks of school was something along the lines of, “If at least 10% of the school population gets swine flu, Center for Disease Control shuts us down for a week!” That remark, some-times excited and other times fearful, in-cites numerous reactions from surround-ing students. Depending on their natures, people laugh, gasp, cry, or frantically jot a note to themselves to check for a secure way to contact their teachers in case they need to remotely get a week’s worth of homework. And the faculty is only stress-ing the matter more. We are constantly urged to be alert to symptoms around us, eat well and get lots of sleep, and to stay home if we feel even a bit unwell. But de-spite these warnings, people are still get-ting sick. Why is that? As Caroline Masko ‘10 so wise-ly put it, “It’s the workload that is really behind all the swine flu outbreaks. The stress is weakening our immune systems.” Erik Germundsen ‘10 added, “students are afraid to miss class. They know that making up a day or even a week’s worth of homework could mean a month poten-tially spent frantically trying to catch up. They’d rather risk coming to school sick then to miss even a day of school.” While such dedication is commendable, is it re-

ally worth risking the health of the school just to avoid doing makeup work? Sadly, the answer on the tips of the tongues of most Blake students is yes. How can we change what we do in order for people to value our health and our peers’ health above their poten-tial workload? Teachers could be more reasonable when it comes to deadlines, for one thing. If the faculty is willing to be flexible and understands that a student will have makeup work in another four to six classes, people may be willing to stay home, knowing that they have a bit of elasticity when it comes to due dates. Also, students could certainly work on their preventative measures in order to reduce their chances of contracting the flu from their friends. Washing hands, limit-ing contact such as hugs, handshakes, and water bottle sharing, and bathing in Purell throughout the day are all preven-tative measures that, if taken, could result in the gradual disappearance of swine flu from the school community. So please, use your common sense the next time you feel even a bit sick. Spare Ms. Eastin the task of having to track you down to tell you to go home.

Swine Flu and You

Nina Kelly

What Are We Paying For?

FeatureOct 09

06Spectrum

Recent economic changes in the world and in our community have led Blake students to think, “what is the future of the Blake system?”

How has Blake been affected financially in the recession? And, most importantly, what are we actually paying for? Students are upset about the large class sizes; so the question arises, “Is it still worth it to pay for a Blake education?” We investigated these questions and found some surprising answers. People have been throwing around some pretty hefty financial terms about the American economy’s future such as ‘sub-prime mort-gage crisis,’ ‘depression,’ ‘stock depreciations,’ and ‘large portfolio losses. Every business and institution in the country has been touched somehow by the current financial crisis, and schools have been hit especially hard. The downfall of the market has had harsh consequences on endowment funds across all levels of education. According to the New York Times, Harvard’s endowment fell almost 27.3% this past year and Yale’s fell nearly 30%, over the past year. For Harvard and Yale’s billion dollar funds, that percentage drop is disastrous. Blake’s own endowment fell about 18% between June 30th, 2008 and June 30th, 2009, reported by Roger Martin, the school’s Business and Finance Director. The Blake website explains, “the endowment fund provides a solid basis of support for the school.” The school draws from the fund to help pay for things like “professional development, program initiatives, endowed chairs and fi-nancial aid.” Blake’s full tuition is $22,790 a year. The high cost of a Blake education means that the school must be prepared to provide significant amounts of financial aid to families that need it. Blake states, “to ensure socio-economic diversity is represented, cost should not and must not be a deterrent to our prospective families. That’s why we provide one of the largest need-based financial aid programs ($3.5 million a year) in the Midwest.” Some of the money that helps pay for that aid comes from the endowment. According to Mr. Martin, “The school works very hard to balance its budget each and every year. We do anticipate that the level of demand for financial aid will remain high for some time as a result of changes in individual family’s circumstances.” This means that at Blake there will have to be a drastic change in the market for finan-cial aid to really be affected. Compared to other schools, Blake is lucky to have such a stable financial situation. The Investment Sub-Commit-tee oversees Blake’s endowment. “The committee is comprised of a well qualified group of financial professionals who are assisted by an outside consultant in their role as fiduciaries, a mutual trust between parties, for the school’s investments,” says Mr. Martin. At Blake the committee is trusted to have the school’s best financial interests at heart as they invest the school’s money. We went on to ask Mr. Martin if the school’s endow-ment had been affected by the sub-prime mortgage crisis or the Bernard Madoff scandal. We are happy to report that Blake was not affected. “There have been no direct negative implications of these issues on

Blake’s investments. Of course, news of scandals such as the Madoff mat-ter will almost always have some indirect impact on the value of markets and the mood of investors in general.” As Mr. Martin stated, “More recently, the markets have been kind-er to many investments and those changes will be reported at the end of the current quarter. All investors are continually reminded that past per-formance is no guarantee of future returns.” Although this coming year is predicted to be kinder to investors, but we still had to ask: where do you see Blake going in the future? His answer was reassuring, “enrollment will always be the key ingredient of a school’s financial success from year to year. Blake has a long history of stable enrollment and operating within its budgetary and strategic guidelines. The success of any organi-zation in today’s economy will be a direct result of its ability to be agile and react swiftly to changing economic circumstances. The governance and leadership teams that look after Blake’s finances are well qualified and seasoned individuals who have successfully served in the indepen-dent school world for a very long time.” According to Adaline Shinkle, the Admissions Director for Blake, the average number of applicants in the last five years is about 439. One would think that in these hard times there would be significantly fewer applications, but, in fact, Blake had 416 applications for the 2009-2010 school year. Paying $22,790 for your child to go to high school is investing a lot in their education to say the least. Tuition at Blake goes to pay for lots of different things. According to Roger Martin, “the full tuition at Blake covers instructional costs that include faculty salaries, benefits and faculty advancement. Other items such as the arts programs, athletics, technology equipment and support, adminis-tration, facility maintenance, security, and debt service (the money required to pay back debts) are funded principally by tu-ition.” It’s important that there is enough money through the endowment to cover the dif-ference in tuition. Blake also promises a lot of benefits for this costly tuition, but most importantly the instillation of a love of learning into its students. Here’s a list of other Blake attributes as advertised by the website: -Student-adult ratio of 9:1- Average graduating class size of 125- Students from 55+ Twin Cities communities

- 18% of students and 10% of faculty self identify as people of color- Blake families speak 40+ languages regularly at home - Non-sectarian, with an emphasis on character, integrity and re-sponsibility- Liberal arts, focusing on academics, the arts and athletics - Nearly 20% of Blake students receive financial assistance- Annually, 20-25% of students officially recognized by the National Merit program- Blake graduates attend some of the most selective, challenging col-leges and universities worldwide. Another thing that the website promises is small, intimate classes. This year, many students have been feeling like their classes are more crowded than usual. There are some academic classes that have up to 18 people in them. According to Marc Bogursky, the average class size in the Upper School has not increased by any significant amount in the past few years (if it has, the change has been very small). Mr. Bogursky, however, did mention that there are usually 8 blocks of most prerequisite classes, for example, Introductory Biology, US History, but recently, some grades have had to add an extra block of these courses. Take the enor-mous class of 2011, the biggest grade in Blake history. Though Mr. Bogur-sky assures “the average class size has not changed in any significant amount,” he says that the amount of students in the school and therefore the amount of faculty to accommodate these students has had to change over the last ten years, but there has been no significant change in the last three years”. Take the case of the class of 2011; last year, if only 8 blocks of US History were run, there would have been about 17 kids in each class. To fix this problem, another block of US History was added to keep true to the promised value of “less than 16 students per class,” as advertised on the Blake website. So even though it may seem like your classes are getting bigger, they aren’t. As reported by Karen Philips and Mr. Bogursky, the average class size in the Upper School is 14.6. Students need to understand that while a class of 18 seems large, like AP Biology, there are classes like American West with only 8 students. This variation in numbers is what allows

the average to reman small. In recent years, Blake students have made complaints about how crowded various places around the school seem to be. These complaints led us to question what our school is doing to solve the issue. Is the school getting more crowded? Yes. Are more rooms be-ing added to the school? No. Are more blocks being added to the school day to accommodate more classes? No. Is the lunchroom getting any bigger to prevent growing lines? We wish. This crowding is bad because it causes traffic jams in the halls, crowded lunches, less available com-puters, and a shortage of seats in the auditorium. On the other hand, by adding more teachers to accommodate a growing student body, more classes are made available for students to take. We can trust the admis-sions department to solve this problem in the years to come. The Blake School, more specifically, the administration, has the best intentions for its students. It should be noted that they are working very hard to main-tain the intimate class sizes that distinguishes Blake. Should we be worried at all about Blake’s financial and structural health in the near future? “First and foremost, I think it is important to know that the governance of the Blake School is in very good hands. The Blake Board of Trustees is comprised of individuals from many disci-plines with a wealth of expertise in overseeing organizations like Blake. The Blake Board and its committees are very active and meet regularly to ensure that the school is operated within approved funding levels and in appropriate and compliant ways,” says Mr. Martin. Blake is now in it’s 109th year of operation, and, so far, everything has been going quite smoothly. But even though Blake does have these great committees over-seeing the school, they are comprised of adults that do not get the full perspective of Blake that a student has. While it is clear that the adminis-tration is aware of the situation, the student body still insists that there is much more work to be done.

Taylor Rondestvedt & Max JohnsonContributing Writers

Minnehaha

Av. Class Size: 18Full Tuition: $13,875

SPA

Av. Class Size: 15Full Tuition: $22,410

Information was provided by the admissions representative from each school. All schools include meal plans, but exclude any athletic fees as well as books.

FeatureOct 09

07Spectrum

Recent economic changes in the world and in our community have led Blake students to think, “what is the future of the Blake system?”

How has Blake been affected financially in the recession? And, most importantly, what are we actually paying for? Students are upset about the large class sizes; so the question arises, “Is it still worth it to pay for a Blake education?” We investigated these questions and found some surprising answers. People have been throwing around some pretty hefty financial terms about the American economy’s future such as ‘sub-prime mort-gage crisis,’ ‘depression,’ ‘stock depreciations,’ and ‘large portfolio losses. Every business and institution in the country has been touched somehow by the current financial crisis, and schools have been hit especially hard. The downfall of the market has had harsh consequences on endowment funds across all levels of education. According to the New York Times, Harvard’s endowment fell almost 27.3% this past year and Yale’s fell nearly 30%, over the past year. For Harvard and Yale’s billion dollar funds, that percentage drop is disastrous. Blake’s own endowment fell about 18% between June 30th, 2008 and June 30th, 2009, reported by Roger Martin, the school’s Business and Finance Director. The Blake website explains, “the endowment fund provides a solid basis of support for the school.” The school draws from the fund to help pay for things like “professional development, program initiatives, endowed chairs and fi-nancial aid.” Blake’s full tuition is $22,790 a year. The high cost of a Blake education means that the school must be prepared to provide significant amounts of financial aid to families that need it. Blake states, “to ensure socio-economic diversity is represented, cost should not and must not be a deterrent to our prospective families. That’s why we provide one of the largest need-based financial aid programs ($3.5 million a year) in the Midwest.” Some of the money that helps pay for that aid comes from the endowment. According to Mr. Martin, “The school works very hard to balance its budget each and every year. We do anticipate that the level of demand for financial aid will remain high for some time as a result of changes in individual family’s circumstances.” This means that at Blake there will have to be a drastic change in the market for finan-cial aid to really be affected. Compared to other schools, Blake is lucky to have such a stable financial situation. The Investment Sub-Commit-tee oversees Blake’s endowment. “The committee is comprised of a well qualified group of financial professionals who are assisted by an outside consultant in their role as fiduciaries, a mutual trust between parties, for the school’s investments,” says Mr. Martin. At Blake the committee is trusted to have the school’s best financial interests at heart as they invest the school’s money. We went on to ask Mr. Martin if the school’s endow-ment had been affected by the sub-prime mortgage crisis or the Bernard Madoff scandal. We are happy to report that Blake was not affected. “There have been no direct negative implications of these issues on

Blake’s investments. Of course, news of scandals such as the Madoff mat-ter will almost always have some indirect impact on the value of markets and the mood of investors in general.” As Mr. Martin stated, “More recently, the markets have been kind-er to many investments and those changes will be reported at the end of the current quarter. All investors are continually reminded that past per-formance is no guarantee of future returns.” Although this coming year is predicted to be kinder to investors, but we still had to ask: where do you see Blake going in the future? His answer was reassuring, “enrollment will always be the key ingredient of a school’s financial success from year to year. Blake has a long history of stable enrollment and operating within its budgetary and strategic guidelines. The success of any organi-zation in today’s economy will be a direct result of its ability to be agile and react swiftly to changing economic circumstances. The governance and leadership teams that look after Blake’s finances are well qualified and seasoned individuals who have successfully served in the indepen-dent school world for a very long time.” According to Adaline Shinkle, the Admissions Director for Blake, the average number of applicants in the last five years is about 439. One would think that in these hard times there would be significantly fewer applications, but, in fact, Blake had 416 applications for the 2009-2010 school year. Paying $22,790 for your child to go to high school is investing a lot in their education to say the least. Tuition at Blake goes to pay for lots of different things. According to Roger Martin, “the full tuition at Blake covers instructional costs that include faculty salaries, benefits and faculty advancement. Other items such as the arts programs, athletics, technology equipment and support, adminis-tration, facility maintenance, security, and debt service (the money required to pay back debts) are funded principally by tu-ition.” It’s important that there is enough money through the endowment to cover the dif-ference in tuition. Blake also promises a lot of benefits for this costly tuition, but most importantly the instillation of a love of learning into its students. Here’s a list of other Blake attributes as advertised by the website: -Student-adult ratio of 9:1- Average graduating class size of 125- Students from 55+ Twin Cities communities

- 18% of students and 10% of faculty self identify as people of color- Blake families speak 40+ languages regularly at home - Non-sectarian, with an emphasis on character, integrity and re-sponsibility- Liberal arts, focusing on academics, the arts and athletics - Nearly 20% of Blake students receive financial assistance- Annually, 20-25% of students officially recognized by the National Merit program- Blake graduates attend some of the most selective, challenging col-leges and universities worldwide. Another thing that the website promises is small, intimate classes. This year, many students have been feeling like their classes are more crowded than usual. There are some academic classes that have up to 18 people in them. According to Marc Bogursky, the average class size in the Upper School has not increased by any significant amount in the past few years (if it has, the change has been very small). Mr. Bogursky, however, did mention that there are usually 8 blocks of most prerequisite classes, for example, Introductory Biology, US History, but recently, some grades have had to add an extra block of these courses. Take the enor-mous class of 2011, the biggest grade in Blake history. Though Mr. Bogur-sky assures “the average class size has not changed in any significant amount,” he says that the amount of students in the school and therefore the amount of faculty to accommodate these students has had to change over the last ten years, but there has been no significant change in the last three years”. Take the case of the class of 2011; last year, if only 8 blocks of US History were run, there would have been about 17 kids in each class. To fix this problem, another block of US History was added to keep true to the promised value of “less than 16 students per class,” as advertised on the Blake website. So even though it may seem like your classes are getting bigger, they aren’t. As reported by Karen Philips and Mr. Bogursky, the average class size in the Upper School is 14.6. Students need to understand that while a class of 18 seems large, like AP Biology, there are classes like American West with only 8 students. This variation in numbers is what allows

the average to reman small. In recent years, Blake students have made complaints about how crowded various places around the school seem to be. These complaints led us to question what our school is doing to solve the issue. Is the school getting more crowded? Yes. Are more rooms be-ing added to the school? No. Are more blocks being added to the school day to accommodate more classes? No. Is the lunchroom getting any bigger to prevent growing lines? We wish. This crowding is bad because it causes traffic jams in the halls, crowded lunches, less available com-puters, and a shortage of seats in the auditorium. On the other hand, by adding more teachers to accommodate a growing student body, more classes are made available for students to take. We can trust the admis-sions department to solve this problem in the years to come. The Blake School, more specifically, the administration, has the best intentions for its students. It should be noted that they are working very hard to main-tain the intimate class sizes that distinguishes Blake. Should we be worried at all about Blake’s financial and structural health in the near future? “First and foremost, I think it is important to know that the governance of the Blake School is in very good hands. The Blake Board of Trustees is comprised of individuals from many disci-plines with a wealth of expertise in overseeing organizations like Blake. The Blake Board and its committees are very active and meet regularly to ensure that the school is operated within approved funding levels and in appropriate and compliant ways,” says Mr. Martin. Blake is now in it’s 109th year of operation, and, so far, everything has been going quite smoothly. But even though Blake does have these great committees over-seeing the school, they are comprised of adults that do not get the full perspective of Blake that a student has. While it is clear that the adminis-tration is aware of the situation, the student body still insists that there is much more work to be done.

Blake

Av. Class Size: 14.6Full Tuition:$22,790

Breck

Av. Class Size: 18Full Tuition: $22,625

Shattuck

Av. Class Size: 12Full Tuition: $23,950(day, not boarding)

SPA

Av. Class Size: 15Full Tuition: $22,410

When many people hear the word run followed by a distance they

cringe in fear. And yet some embrace it. These people are the members of the Blake Cross Country teams. Cross country is one of the most physically challenging and painful sports that Blake has to offer, yet every year, the rosters are filled with both genders and all grades, including Middle School athletes. Currently there are 30 boys and 20 girls on the two cross country teams, ranking 3rd and 2nd in their section respectively for each gender. Practices include a variety of workouts from a 20 minute jog to a 14 mile run. They can also include hills, sprints or in-terval runs, which are timed runs with an allotted break in between. Both teams practice together and are coached by head coach Gary Lee, along with assistant coaches Keith Clark, Carrie Tollefson, Paula Sadler and Ja-son Shantz. Keith Clark primarily works

with the boys team. According to Brett Szalapski ’11, “Keith is the strategizer. We talk about which runners to look out for, how to start races, when to make your move, and how to create tailor-made workout schedules.” Strategizing is very important to running because you don’t want to run out of energy too early, but you also don’t want to conserve anything. Carrie Tollefson ran in the 2004 Olym-pics, making it to the semi-finals in the 1500 meter event. She also won the 1999 NCAA Outdoor and Indoor 3000 meters and Outdoor 5000 meters events, and in 2004, was ranked #1 overall in Track and Field News. Obviously, her abundance of experience is very helpful, and inspires many of the team members to push them-selves to run a little faster. Each meet is a regulated dis-tance: 3.1 miles for boys and 2.4 miles for girls. At any given meet, there can be 7 to 35 different teams, so races can get pret-ty crowded. Hannah Tiezen ’11 said, “The meets have insane energy and it’s really fun and competitive. The coaches

put themselves on different areas of the course and yell at you until you go fast-er . . . which is great motivation!” Girls’ team captain Courtney Alpeter ’11 said, “Even though it is technically an individu-al sport, the team atmosphere is amazing and everyone is incredibly supportive of each other.” One of the highlights for each cross country member is the Swain Invi-tational. It is a race in Duluth that both

teams take part in, including JV and Mid-dle School. Tiezen said, “The Duluth race is fun because it’s a whole day with the teams and it’s a great bonding experi-ence. But the course is insane and really hard, it’s pretty much all hills!” Overall, it tends to be a great time to get closer to teammates and bond despite the chal-lenging course, which apparently lives up to the saying, “It’s one hill of a race!” In the second half of the season, the both boys and girls teams are hoping for big results. Senior Paul Koullick ’10 is ranked number one in the state as an individual, with many of his teammates close behind him for support. With an in-dividual victory in the 3200 meter event in track last year, Paul will be a targeted man at many of the races, and it will be great to see how well he and the teams perform as the year progresses. Sections are on October 29 at Battlewood Creek in Maplewood, and the Cross Country teams would love to have fans come out to cheer them on to victory.

SportsOct 09

08Spectrum

People Run... For Fun?

Seivold Continues Soccer Sucess

Mason HinkeStaff Writer

After Boys Varsity Soccer’s former coach, Charlie “Sparky” Seel,

wrapped up his 41 year coaching career with his first state title in 2008, Blake an-nounced its new head coach would be Assistant Athletic Director Joan Seivold. As an All-American player at the Univer-sity of North Carolina in 1984 as well as a member of the first United States women’s national team, Seivold pos-sessed the most impressive background of any soccer coach candidate. As a result of leading the girls varsity team at Dur-ham Academy in North Carolina to twelve state championship appearances, Seivold won two “Coach of the Year” titles. Blake was fortunate to find such a uniquely qualified candidate. Jim Lindsay, Blake’s Athletic Director, agrees Seivold was the right choice “based upon the strength of her playing and coaching background.” Although there have been some questions regarding a woman coaching the boys’ team, there is no challenging Seivold’s extremely impressive personal soccer career as well as her coaching experi-ence. In the end, gender had no place in the selection process as her qualifications proved she embodied all that made an ex-ceptional coach. During the past two years, Blake’s very successful boys soccer teams made two state championship appearances, winning the championship in 2008. This year has challenged Seivold and her play-ers as they were forced to create a co-

hesive and successful team without the twelve graduated seniors who had been the backbone of the team during the past several years. Though the boys have been tested, Lindsay emphasizes that they have certainly “risen to the occasion” as they have started their season with an unde-

feated record (8-0-2, to date) and main-tained Blake’s reputation for great soccer. There is no doubt Seivold has brought out the boys’ potential through intense condi-tioning and the promotion of aggressive man-to-man defense. Jack Mortell ’11 says, “She motivates us with constructive

criticism…she pushes us to be versatile.” Coach Seivold is an outstanding addition to the boys soccer staff and is sure to up-hold her excellent reputation as the year continues. Blake is very lucky to have her. Alex Gersovitz ’11 puts it best, saying, “I love Joan!”

Elinor MitchellStaff Writer

Bailey Dunning CaptainJackMarkusenisconfidentwithhisabilityontheballina4-1vicoryagainstSPA.

Shorty BullockCaptainCourtneyAlpeterwarmsupbeforepractice.

Sports 09Spectrum

Oct 09

Kiley Naas-ty

Who Pays for This?

At a Blake girls swim meet, if you hap-pen to see a girl dancing, singing, and

swinging a mace, you have found Kiley Naas ‘10. She has an energy that inspires her teammates to always give it their best. Kiley is extremely hardworking, both in the pool and out. As Head Swim & Dive Coach Kris Rosenberg says, “Kiley is one of the few swimmers that actually enjoys our VO2 sets.” For those of you who don’t know what a VO2 set is, I’ll lay it out plain and simple. It’s torture. During these swim sets you will find your heart rate at 200 or higher. It takes a very driven per-son to make it through those sets with a positive attitude, but somehow she does it and is always cheering on the rest of the girls in her lane. Her ambition can be seen in her numerous accomplishments. Some of these include: earning MVP and Most Spirited, participating at the state championship for four consecutive years, earning two all-state honors in a row, all-conference three years in a row, and an all-conference honorable mention. On top of all of this, she is extremely reliable. You can be assured that she will do whatever it takes to be at every swim practice and

meet possible. Kiley is a great role model, and there is no question to why she was elected as a captain for the 2009 season.

As a leading butterfly and IM swimmer, she plays a key role in team’s success. Ki-ley is a perfect example of a team player.

She makes the effort to connect with each and every person on the team no matter how young they are. You will always find her surrounded by her teammates as she tells one of her crazy, but hilarious, sto-ries. Those who don’t know Kiley very well should be informed that it is practi-cally impossible to not laugh when she’s around. She manages to make even the worst situation seem funny. Which can be extremely useful as the swim girls have now learned, a season does not go by with out some sort of crisis occurring. Her pep talks before meets are not just humorous, they are inspiring. Her love for the team and the sport really show when she is giving these talks. Now, it is pretty crucial to explain to all why Kiley won most spirited. At most meets you will find the team decked out in strange, but amusing, “gear”, hence the mace men-tioned earlier. Kiley has supplied the ma-jority of these costumes and was the one that brought the idea to the team. To her, it is not just about beating the opposing team in the pool, but also on the deck. She has brought a sense of team spirit that is impossible to beat. So next Blake swim meet, look for the girl swinging the mace, and you will have found a truly outstand-ing athlete.

Natalia GonzalezContributing Writer

Shorty BullockKiley stops just long enough from leading a busy practice to take a picture.

School has started and so have fall sports. All sports share one thing in

common --and it’s not what you may be thinking. It is not the hard labor spent in practicing; it is not the thrill of victory, or the pain of defeat. It is that they all need some type of equipment. Every sport has specific equipment but some sports have much more than others. The question then is, why does the school only pay for certain sports teams’ equipment? The football team is one of only a few teams that does not have to pay for any equipment, excluding cleats and gloves. The school provides everyone with shoulder and protective pads, hel-mets and jerseys. This is not to say that some athletes don’t go out and buy their own pads and helmets, but in the inter-est of saving money most athletes do not. Compare that to hockey, which requires players to pay for everything except jer-seys. That means hockey players are pay-ing for their sticks, gloves, helmets, pads and skates, just to name a few items. This adds up to much more than what the foot-ball players have to pay. The reason for this, said Jim Lindsay, Athletic Director for Blake is that “usually protective equip-

ment is provided by the school except in situations where the individual athlete wishes to use the protective equipment as a personal item on a year round basis”. Lindsay also mentioned that the school collects the football pads at the end of the season and only reissues the equipment for school purposes. So if athletes want-ed to play football during the off-season they would need to purchase their own helmets and pads. Many hockey players do use their gear outside of the Blake School’s sport season so they need to own their own equipment. Hockey is one of the more expen-sive sports to participate in, especially compared to some, like cross country, where all you really need is a pair of run-ning shoes. Hockey skates can range in price from $80-$250, another $80 for a helmet, and another $70 for gloves. All together you’re paying at least $230. This doesn’t even include a stick, which is one of the more important pieces of equip-ment and can cost around $150. A goalie’s gear is even more costly. Meanwhile run-ning shoes cost around $80-100 on av-erage a much smaller investment than most sports. This comparison looks mostly at the difference between the various types of sports. But is there a difference in cost

for boys and girls sports? While different sports can vary a lot in their equipment costs, most sports are fairly even in cost of equipment for both genders. It appears that one notable exception is lacrosse. Boys have to buy helmets, sticks, gloves, elbow & shoulder pads. Because of dif-ferent game rules, girls only need sticks and goggles (except for goalies), which creates quite a significant price differ-ence between the two genders. Lacrosse helmets can cost up to $285 and shoulder pads are around $100 on Laxworld.com, making the sport much pricier for boys. The school may not pay for every

team’s equipment but they do have a val-id reason. It is not just because they favor certain sports over others. It is because the school is aware that many athletes do not play their sport only during the spe-cific season, they also play it during the off-season. These athletes need their own equipment and it would not make sense for the school to pay for that equipment. It is actually in the best interest of ath-letes to buy their own equipment to use whenever they need it, and in the best in-terest of the school not to provide equip-ment for personal (non-school) use.

Chance LilleheiContributing Writer

Erik MuellerA pair of running shoes costs $80-100 while hockey requires a bag full of stuff total-ing well over $300.

Once again, the drama department has successfully chosen a fabu-

lous fall play. The Dining Room, by A.R. Gurney, is a contemporary production entirely set, you guessed it, in a dining room. The play consists of many scenes each featuring different types of families and situations. They range from a five year old’s birthday party to a heated dis-cussion with a boy asking his grandpa for college money. A cool aspect of this play is that all scenes occur on the same day, beginning at dawn and continuing to dusk. In an interview with Diane Landis, she explained that she plans to “expand the cast to around fourteen to eighteen actors to provide more role op-portunities, since originally The Dining Room had a cast of six actors perform-ing in the roles of fifty-six different char-acters.” This being said, the “expanded” version will still showcase the actors’ versatility in that each will be playing three to four different characters. The Dining Room is sure to be a beautiful display of the theater arts and a thoroughly entertaining performance! The play runs Thursday, November 19th through Saturday November 21st. Don’t miss it!

After many long hours of homework, sometimes you maybe tempted

to blow off steam on Facebook. While surfing the web can be fun; there are many more ways to waste your time. If you are curious about life’s many wonders yet impatient like me, then maybe you would be in-terested in StumbleUpon.com. On StumbleUpon you fill out a quick quiz and click subjects you are inter-ested in. This quiz will take anywhere from 2-3 minutes and is truly worth it in the end. After this process is over you click “Stumble” at the top of your page and the website will take you to many other websites that tailor to your interests. “Stumble Upon is a marvelous tool of enchantment. It is easily a fantastic way to explore new cyber-fun,” said by Caroline Masko ’10. StumbleUpon has proved to kill time effectively and I have learned about many new sub-jects I may not have known about before. The intriging world of Facebook sometimes fascinates

students because they are then able to “get in the know.” How-ever, sometimes knowing too much stuff about people can

be creepy. StumbleUpon can also help you with school! If you set one of your interests to

“Biology” or “American History” then it will send you to websites that

will have tutorials and explana-tions that you will not be able

to find in your text book! Another cool fea-ture of StumbleUpon is that you can search all of your subjects or just one subject at one time! This helps to narrow down your search results to learn about certain things more quickly. And while StumbleUpon is surely to help with school, it is definitely proved to be

fun and time-wasting. StumbleUpon covers

anything from neuroscience to scuba diving to being left-handed.

With the vast amount of subjects, you can really learn about anything! So after

you’ve thoroughly checked Face-book, go and ‘Stumble”, you might just learn a thing or two.

Blake can become a stressful place, especially once the workload starts

to build up. With these inside study tips from students and faculty you can learn to become as efficient as possible when it comes to school. Start by finding a quite workplace, as Alyn Eastin stated, “Find a place that works for you to distance yourself from the traffic of the halls.” Es-pecially with the new backpack rule find-ing your own place can be achieved much easier. Eastin’s advice can set you up for being as productive as possible, and limit you from numerous distractions.

Avoid pushing back assignments that are due at a later date, procrastinat-

ing leads to very late nights and a lesser caliber of work. As Bryn Hart ’11 stated, “ Don’t study right before, study a little bit each day.” Getting into the habit of keep-ing on top of your work also makes your work become second nature. As crazy as it seems joining an extracurricular activ-ity, whether it be a sport team, club, or art program helps with time manage-ment. Knowing you have only a specific timeframe makes you more focused to get your work done, verse having a whole night. As Nik Kosieradzki ’10 stated, “Don’t leave things to the last minute.”

Having your work done early allows you to feel less stressed, and the time to talk with teachers on any problems you faced. Also spreading a future assignment out results in your best work in every aspect, and without the stress of feeling rushed.

If you are behind in class or overwhelmed with work talk with your teacher to see if you can get an extension. Coming in to school early or staying after is also an effective way of catching up on assignments. When it comes to study-ing for a big test take out the flashcards.

Flashcards are helpful to Izzy Swan-son’13 who states, “Writing out things I need to memorize allows me to see it in a different way.” Flashcards can also help you learn to explain a subject instead of simply trying to memorize a page in front

of you. Forming study groups with a few friends is a great way to get ready for upcom-ing tests. In groups you can bounce ideas off one another as well as go over questions/check answers within the group. When you’re studying its helpful to explain the sub-ject to yourself. Jen Vance stated, “Talk to yourself, teach your teddy bear, or your par-ents, if you can explain it to someone else, then you know it.” Also through explaining a subject you can become aware of specific areas that you still need to work at. Specifically during tutorials and free peri-ods/study halls, use teachers and learning halls to your ad-

vantage. Extra one-on-one help can quick-ly clarify problems you have been facing, and help you master specific subjects. If your teacher is not available at a specific time there is also learning centers set

up within the upper school that you are more than welcome to use. Even talking with another teacher in the same subject is perfectly fine. Also before tests or presentations make sure to get enough sleep, as simple as it may sound coming to school awake allows you to think more clearly. Also eating a good breakfast can help to make you think more and be more focused. In-stead of worrying about lunch a few hours away. Keeping good organization skills can make life much easier, if you have a system that works put it to use. If you do not have an organization system talk with any one of the teachers, and they can help you get organized to stay on track. Zeynep Tuzcu’10 advises to “Use a plan-ner to map out upcoming events.” Using a planner to write down assignments and approaching tests is a great way to plan out your week to get your work finished. Plus checking off completed assignments lets you keep track of what you still need to finish in one convenient place. Lastly taking good notes will cer-tainly help you in any class. Anything that a teacher writes on a smart/black/white board is important enough to write down. Using different color pens is also a good way to separate different chapters or notes. Hopefully these few simple ideas help you get organized for the school year!

VarietyOct 09

10Spectrum

“Teach Your Teddy Bear”Hannah Falvey

Contributing Writer

StumbleUpon Fascinates and Teaches Students Allison ByeStaff Writer

Bailey Dunning

Jackson Sabes attempts to teach his teddy bear.

Bailey Dunning

The Dining RoomKimmer Potuznik

Staff Writer

Variety 11Spectrum

Looking to go out to eat somewhere new? Burger Jones is the perfect feel-

good food joint. Whether you’re look-ing for the biggest burger around or just some fantastic cheese curds, Burger Jones has it all. It is conveniently located on West Lake Street in Minneapolis, near Lake Calhoun. If you go there at lunchtime, you may have to wait a few minutes. However, the service is fantastic, and actual conver-sations with the waiters and waitresses are not uncommon. They are great at helping you pick the perfect burger. While the items are fairly pricey (roughly $10 per burger), the quality makes the price worth it. There are some noteworthy selections on the menu. The White Trash Burger, with chicken-fried bacon, fried cheese curds and Velveeta, is definitely not a burger you would find anywhere else in Min-neapolis. My feelings about it are mixed. The Banzai Tuna Burger Sliders, two ahi tuna mini-burgers with chili sauce and

shaved carrot, are very popular, while the Schnauzer, with sauerkraut, caramelized onions, whole grain mustard and kosher beef, is definitely one of a kind. A Bison Burger is also of-fered, featuring seared Tatanka (the Lakota word for bull buffalo) with Prairie Rose gruyere and red onion marmalade. This is probably one of the best bison burgers you’ll ever eat, and Blake students certainly know their bison burg-ers! I n t e r -esting sides also abound, like the Faribault Creamery “Caveman” Cheese Curds. Beer battered and served with smoked tomato ketchup, these are the ultimate guilt food. Cheese curds in gen-eral are dangerously delicious, but these

are just addicting. Another favorite is the Tri-Fry Tasting Tower, featuring hand-cut russet fries, maple-bacon sweet potato fries, and parmesan waffle fries with a

choice of dipping sauces. If you need a fry-fill, this is the dish to get. Dipping sauce choices include béar-naise, ranch, chipotle aioli, bleu cheese, beef gravy, and bourbon barbeque.Burger Jones also special-izes in malts. They have fla-vors from Vanilla to Oreo to Twixie Tweat (Twix, choco-late, and caramel). Quality malts are a great side for any entrée. Although Burger Jones isn’t the healthiest or least ex-pensive place to eat, it is def-

initely worth going once in a while. With the cheery

staff, fantastic food, and fun atmosphere, Burger Jones is definitely one of the best new restaurants in the Twin Cities.

We should tell you ahead of time, this is not an article promoting the

upcoming Twilight movie. In fact, if the trailer wasn’t playing every five minutes on TV, we probably wouldn’t remember that it was coming out. We’re sorry but frankly we’re just not that interested in a girl meet-ing a vampire who has uncontrollable hair. No, instead today we want to talk about something big-ger. Something that actu-ally matters. These days, where moviegoers seek something more than the formulaic boy-meets-girl, boy-turns-out-to-be-150-year-old-vampire story, a new style in filmmaking has emerged as the future of movies. Sure, IMAX movies are cool, but the movie world is constantly evolving. 3D movies have arrived, big time! 3D movies have had a significant impact in 2009. While Star Trek and Harry Potter 6 impressed audiences on IMAX screens, 3D movies have wowed moviegoers. The excitement for 3D movies hit an all-time high with

the release of Up, Pixar’s newest (and ar-guably best) release, this past summer. A fantastic, emotional joy ride, Up used its 3D technology to wow the hearts, minds, and eyes of its audience. But as good as Up was, it doesn’t even come close to the lineup of 3D movies set for 2009 and 2010. While 2009 3D movies were domi-nated by animated pictures, Monsters vs.

Aliens, Ice Age 3, and Up, in the coming months that will certainly change. James Cameron, the director of Titanic and Terminator is set to release

his $200 million project that has been 10 years in the works, Avatar. First, let us clarify. This is not the Nickelodeon show made into a movie. Instead, Avatar will be a blend of 3D, CGI animation and live-ac-tion. There is so much anticipation sur-rounding Avatar that the studio decided to release it in IMAX and 3D. It will be out in theaters this December.

And while Ava-tar will create much of the hype for 3D movies, 2010 is expected to be even bigger. Next spring, Tim Burton (Edward Scis-s o r h a n d s , Charlie & the C h o c o l a t e Factory) and Johnny Depp will release their version of the classic children’s book Alice in Won-derland in 3D. Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy

are also set to return for Shrek

Forever After in May 2010. Other 2010 3D releases include Despicable Me (Steve Carell, Jason Segel) and How to Train Your

Dragon. For some reason Step Up will go 3D next August. We’re not really sure why. Our excitement, however, is not for any of these movies. This October, Pixar will re-release Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D in preparation for their 11th movie next summer. Eleven years in the making, Toy Story 3 will arrive in theaters on June 18, 2010. Surprisingly, the hype for this movie isn’t aimed at 7 and 8 year olds. Instead, the target audience is teen-agers, who grew up on Toy Story, and who are likely to make Toy Story 3 a mega-hit. So, yes we didn’t write about any new movies this fall because we’re not in-terested in them. Sure, there will be some good movies that come out, but for the most part, the September-October movie season is awkwardly placed in between the blockbusters of the summer and the equally successful blockbusters of the winter. What we’re really excited for is this revolutionary filmmaking style that is sure to become even bigger in the year ahead.

Oct 09

Movies With Sam & Kolten

Spotlight on Restaurants: Burger JonesBarbara Laco

Contributing Writer

Sam Michel and Kolten FischerStaff Writers

Off-Campus Programs In-

formation Night

All Upper School students (and their parents) are invited to come to hear

about all of the Blake Spon-sored Trips Abroad for the 2009-10 school-year and

summer. In addition, many programs offering summer opportunities to study or serve in a foreign country

will be on site to share information and answer

questions.

Date: Monday, October 19

Time: 7:00 - 8:30 P.M

Hope to see you there!

Bailey Dunning

Bailey Dunning

Back PageOct 09

12Spectrum

Whether or not Blake’s new teachers have come to replace retired teachers, teachers who transferred elsewhere, or to keep class sizes down; each one is a welcome addition to the Blake community. There are five new teachers at the Upper School: Mr. Robin-

son, Ms. Colvin, Ms. Pelish, Ms. Wang and Ms. Buchanan. Each brings their own unique teaching style and opinions, which keeps class interesting. I took the time to sit down with the five new teachers and to get to know them a bit better.

New Teachers Keep Blake Interesting

Q: “What do you hope to gain or accomplish by coming to Blake?”A (Ms. Buchanan): “I’m really excited to get to know new students and to become a librarian and work with the awesome technology we have here at Blake.”A (Mr. Robinson): “I hope to inspire young adults to enjoy mathematics even if they thought they couldn’t.”

Q: “Who is your favorite musician or band?”A (Ms. Buchanan): “I [have] really been into Modest Mouse lately. ”A (Mr. Robinson): “I’d have to say Flogging Molly.”A (Ms. Pelish): “Lund and also The Magnetic Fields. The Magnetic Fields rival Cole Porter for lyrcal ingenuity.” A (Ms. Colvin): “I like Jets to Brazil... or, Boards of Canada.”

Q: “What was your least favorite subject as a kid?”A (Ms. Buchanan): “Definitely math.”A (Mr. Robinson): “Now that’s a tough one. I think it would have to be social studies or history. No wait! Change that to say music! I really did not like music class.”A (Ms. Wang): “Physical Education. I am not athletic.”

Q: “ And for the knowledge of Blake students, what is your biggest student related pet peeve?”A (Ms. Buchanan): “When student do not take things they print. This wastes paper.”A (Mr. Robinson): “Ooooh. I really dislike it when students start to pack up and shuffle school supplies before class is over.”A (Ms. Pelish): “I really don’t like it when students come unprepared to class. I really don’t like it.”A (Ms. Colvin): “My biggest student-related pet peeve is when other people talk when someone is trying to present ideas. Drives me nuts.”

By Harrison Feldman

Mr. Robinson

Ms. Pelish

Ms. Wang

Ms. Colvin

Photos by Hayden Broberg Ms. Buchanan