IN THE NEWS

The Augur Bit Non-Profit Org.U.S. PostagePAIDWashington DCPermit No. 8073

Georgetown Day High School May 2017Volume XXXI, N° 1

The AP Debate

“How many APs are you tak-ing?” As course selection comes to a close at Georgetown Day School, students are often asking this question around the halls of school. According to the College Board, 2.5 million United States students took Advanced Placement exams in 2015. Advanced Place-ment (AP) is a program run by the College Board that allows students to take courses in high school that can earn them college credit and qualify them for more advanced classes when they begin college. Each AP course culminates in a standardized exam. But, why ex-actly are APs a controversial topic within the GDS community?

Not everybody in the GDS community is in favor of AP classes. Martin Bullock, a teacher in the science department, explained that, “at a school like GDS, where we have highly mo-tivated students and really highly motivated and capable teachers...

Only a week into his presi-dency, Donald Trump signed an executive order administering a more rigorous screening of ref-ugees and visitors from cer-tain countries he claimed would help to prevent terrorist attacks. Trump’s executive order, which he calls “extreme vetting,” stated

GDS Muslim Students React to President Trump’s Muslim Ban

since 1975 there has not been a person from these seven countries who has committed a deadly ter-rorist attack on U.S. soil. This led many civil rights groups to denounce this order as discrim-inatory. Muslim students at GDS spoke out on the temporary ban.

“I wasn’t surprised when I first learned about the Mus-lim ban,” noted freshman Mu-rad Nashid. He added, “through-out Trump’s candidacy he made it clear [the ban] was one of his top priorities. I was disappointed, but I wasn’t surprised.”

Sophomore Sarah Cooper re-membered her parents telling her at the beginning of Trump’s can-didacy, “right now is not a good time to go around telling people you are Muslim.” She said that outside of GDS walls, and DC, she wouldn’t feel comfortable telling people she is Muslim.

“I don’t look particularly Mid-dle Eastern. I suppose it is a form of white privilege, because I have the ability not to have to disclose that I’m Muslim, which is some-thing I always have safeguarding me. I have the privilege to hide something because people could discriminate against me because of it. To be able to hide that, and to be able to decide when you disclose [being Muslim], and if you disclose it is a privilege,” Sarah said.

Sophmore Sophia Moham-med remembered going to mosque when she was younger. “I used to ask my dad why the police were al-ways there. He could never tell me if they were there to protect us or to protect other people from us.” She said she feels like this ban is making discrimination even more of a reality.

Sophia was frustrated when people claimed Trump's executive order “was not a Muslim ban.” She added, “so many Islamophobes are coming out of the woodwork be-cause of Trump’s allowing and breeding hate. Many people have asked me about being Muslim, because some people don’t know what it really means to be Muslim or that it's so similar to Christian-ity and Judaism. Islam is a really important part of me and my fam-ily, and I think awareness is im-portant and voicing our opinions is most effective at a time like this,” Sophia noted.

Murad added, “we need to continue to fight against what [Trump] stands for, and not only for Muslim rights but also for women, African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities to resist Trump’s hate.” Under the new administra-tion, it is important to understand the effects of Trump’s presidency on the United States and members of the GDS community.

by zach blank

Continued on Page 2Continued on Page 2

Zach Blank and Will Klein cover the power of music and jazz at GDS

PAGE 2

FEATURESJazz Hands

OPINIONTI-Eighty More?

Math is hard enough as it is. Should the school provide calculators? Should math class be canceled?

PAGE 6

ARTSArt in the age of Trump

Jenna Schulman and Caroline Catziv cover how protest art is being used at GDS during the Trump administration.

PAGE 8

SPORTSGDS's Sk8R Boy

GDS said "see you later boy". Just kidding, he's still enrolled. Read more about Connor McDermott-Mostowy.

PAGE 10

Make it Count

by deniz ertem

by amelia myre

Address Service Requested

Over one half of all high school students in the United States have admitted to using il-licit substances in the past year. Although many would like to think otherwise, it is true that GDS students use drugs and al-cohol as well.

In response to this problem-atic issue, GDS recently directed a program after school called “Conversations that Count.” Par-ticipants sat at tables with eight people: four students and four par-ents. Students, however, were ran-domized and not placed with their own parents, allowing a free flow-ing discussion to occur with adults who do not necessarily have an immediate connection to the stu-dent. The idea was to talk about the topic of drugs and alcohol at GDS and allow students to openly discuss their experience without fearing their parents’ reactions. First, the program began with a formal presentation, followed by

"Most of the pressure [to take APs] doesn’t come from the school, it comes from the students"

we shouldn't be wasting our time with standardized courses.”

Evan Smith, head of the lan-guage department, added, “how am I supposed to have a progressive class if the syllabus is already set for me from the very beginning? It doesn't matter what student is sitting in front of me. I simply am there as outercourse teaching.”

Smith continued that, “if we’re a school that is about pro-gressive education, the College Board is an intrusive entity. They make the test, they write the test, they tell us what's important for us to know...that doesn't take into ac-count the students...and that to me, seems to be bad course design.”

Bullock suggested that APs may soon be removed from the GDS curriculum, remarking that,“there are plenty of dissent-ing voices among the teachers that make it feel like we could be headed away from APs.”

However, the move away from APs wouldn’t be easy. Ju-nior Avery Adomaitis expressed

GDS Holds “Conversations That Count” on

Drugs and Alcohol

Sophia Mohammed '19 and Aziz Mohammed '18 react

that, for 90 days, travelers from seven majority Muslim coun-tries are banned from entering the United States. These coun-tries are Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Iraq. Trump has said that this ban is temporar-ily necessary to guard against ter-ror attacks. However, a researcher at the CATO Institute stated that

I don’t look particularly Middle Eastern. I suppose it is a form of white privilege, because I have the ability not to have to disclose that I’m Muslim, which is something I always have safeguarding me

The Augur Bit2 May 2017

questions and discussion within the table groups. Earlier that week, the school administered a survey that gathered information from the student body about drug and alcohol use at GDS.

Sophomore Bridget Dick found the program to be help-ful for the most part. “I learned the point of view of parents,” she said. “In general, they would want their kid to let them know [if they were in a situation with either drugs or alcohol] so that they could help.” But Dick had some thoughts on the discussion itself too. She was at a table “with similar peers, meaning we don’t do that stuff [drugs or alcohol] ever, so we didn’t really have any experience or stories.”

She also liked the idea of having students sit apart from their parents, because it can be uncomfortable to talk about il-licit substances with one’s own family members.

Sophomore Danielle Soto said that she thought the format “was very good. I don’t think I would have changed it. … I re-ally liked how, at each table, they said you can’t have a student

sitting with one of their parents, so you were open to hearing ev-erybody’s experiences with their kids.” Soto added she learned something new. “I think the big-gest thing that I took away from [the program] is the parents’ re-sponses versus the students’ re-sponses to the questions. When we went over the survey, I think about 55% of parents were okay with their kids drinking from the ages of like 21 or over, and then there was a percentage of like 25% saying that it’s okay to do like 17 through 21. And for stu-dents, it was more of like a 25-50% thinking it was okay for 17 through 21.”

Despite the students’ and parents’ conflicting perspectives, both Dick and Soto found that the idea of having students not sit with their parents made the pro-gram far more productive and im-pactful. While it is unlikely that the conference will influence a decline in the future use of drugs and alcohol at GDS, it was im-portant to open a dialogue on the issue and figure out how to cre-ate a safe environment for high school students.

From Page 1

Drugs and Alcohol Cont.Technology in Class

Jazz Hands

A Necessity or Distraction?

The Power of Music

AP Cont.

that “most of the pressure [to take APs] doesn’t come from the school, it comes from the stu-dents...and also from parents.”

History teacher Sue Iken-berry disagrees with the notion that GDS should get rid of APs: “I've been here for a long time and this argument has been raging and raging and raging,” Ikenberry said. “I think with the current crop of parents you’re not going to see a change.”

One reason that many people at GDS are pro-AP is because of the standardization of the course. Particularly, Ikenberry likes how APs control what goes on in a classroom. “Everybody knows what we’re doing, so when you come away from the course that one of us taught, and you have a good grade, you have a good grade in a known quantity,” Iken-berry explained.

Other members of the GDS community, like sophomore Alan Goldfarb, enjoy AP classes not for the standardization, but for the ac-tual course content. Goldfarb ex-plained that “AP classes and AP testing are a good way to accel-erate students who want to go be-yond the standard high school cur-riculum.”

Many high school students are motivated to take AP classes and exams to help with college ad-missions as well as college cred-its. However, Goldfarb “didn’t re-ally have college in mind” when he chose to take AP Chemistry and AP Spanish as a sophomore. “I chose my [AP] Chemistry class because I genuinely wanted the extra challenge,” he remarked.

On the topic of college ad-missions, Bullock added that “I think our students would bene-fit more from taking classes that are unique to GDS, because that gives you something that sepa-rates you from everybody else in

the country who’s applying to the same schools as you.”

On the other hand, Theo Schmidt, a sophomore who has taken five APs said, “personally AP classes are beneficial for me, but I don't believe they should be instated.” Schmidt agreed with Bullock in the sense that APs do not differentiate students that much from others. “There’s not much depth to each subject,” he said, “And it's taught towards ex-amination. [Classes] are less fit-ted to each student, and they can also create pressure for students who wouldn't usually take hard classes to take [AP classes], just for the sake of taking them.”

To deconstruct these col-lege-based initiatives to take AP courses, Smith pointed out that “in the past 10 years [col-leges] are granting less and less AP credit.”

This debate about whether APs are beneficial to GDS is nothing new. “The faculty talk about it every year, and there [are] plenty of teachers who are sick of talking about it,” Bullock explained.

“Our conversation about APs right now is in a holding pattern,” Smith accurately remarked; the push and pull over the AP argu-ment at GDS has stagnated any major changes in the high school in the recent past. For the time being, both Adomaitis and Gold-farb impart the same advice to students deciding on which courses to take. Adomaitis ad-vised, “take classes that you are actually interested in".

From Page 1

Despite the necessary use of computers outside of school hours, how should laptops be used during school? Many students use laptops regularly to take notes, write es-says, and work on projects. Ta-lia Rodriguez and Gari Puckrein, two freshmen at Georgetown Day School, both could not imagine going a week without a computer. Gari said, “I wouldn’t be able to do half my homework.” Due to the fact that many students rely on the use of technology to complete school assignments, teachers dif-fer in their opinion on how they allow students to use technology during the school day, while still being productive in class.

Spanish teacher Larry House has a strict no-phone policy while she is teaching. “A cell phone or a laptop, even if it starts out with good intentions, can be a tempta-tion to quickly check an email, or send a text, or do something that is not course related,” House ex-plained. She only allows students to use laptops during class if they have doctor-ordered accommo-dations which permits them to do so. House wants her students to be engaged in the class and

by abby murphy

by zach blank and will klein

believes that a cellphone or lap-top can prevent her students from remaining focused on what they are learning.

House believes that writing and note-taking by hand is far su-perior than typing on a laptop or computer. “I have read research that shows that using technology like laptops to take notes is det-rimental and less effective than writing by hand,” House said.“Ac-tually, writing by hand stimulates a part of your brain that is essen-tial in processing information.” House even found a study which concluded that elementary school students who wrote essays with a pen wrote longer and more com-plicated sentences than their peers who used a laptop. “[Studies show that students] can process better, and store [information] better, and remember better, and think more critically if they are writing by hand,” House explained.

Laela Lucas-Walker, an-other GDS freshmen, agreed with House’s opinion on the benefits of writing by hand rather than typing. “Writing it down makes me think about it more than typing it,” Lu-cas-Walker said. She also prefers to draw as a method of note-tak-ing, which helps her remember the

information more clearly. In op-position to House, however, Lu-cas-Walker believes that everyone should have access to a computer, even during class. “Personally, I don’t really mind writing things down, but I feel like we should have the option [to use laptops],” Lucas-Walker said.

Talia Rodriguez does not use her laptop to take notes very often, but she said she believes technol-ogy should play a bigger role in GDS classrooms. “It’s super im-portant [to use technology in class] because a lot of stuff is now online, and things will continue down that road especially when we enter the workplace,” Rodriguez said. Ro-driguez said she finds technology more efficient and much faster than writing by hand.

Most people can agree that technology is constantly im-proving and is a major part of the average GDS student’s life, but members of the GDS commu-nity disagree on whether comput-ers and laptops should be used in the classroom. While laptops en-able students to take notes more efficiently, some teachers ques-tion whether the computers are harmful because they distract kids from classes.

While a recent Washing-ton Post review of Wadada Leo Smith’s concert at Georgetown Day (GDS) refers to Smith’s mu-sic as “jazz,” the title couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the musician rejects the term and prefers the name “creative mu-sic,” because the word “jazz” connotes the classic sound of the Swing Era.

principal has more than everybody else. I began to see that there was some kind of a division of power [in society],” he added.

Smith used what he learned about power in Mississippi and applied it to his passion for mu-sic. On the importance of mu-sic in society, Smith explained that “music provides a forum… [for] everything to be forgotten for a moment. [Music] clears the mind and also makes it possible for inspiration [to be had].” When Smith found out about the op-portunity to participate in GDS’s Martin Luther King Jr. Social Jus-tice Teach-In Day, he was excited because much of his music is in-spired by the work of Dr. King. “I don’t know which one I’ve re-searched more,” Smith stated, “but I constantly am doing research on Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy because each of them gave their lives trying to improve the American society. [Kennedy] thought that it could be done through voting and King thought it could be done through a transfor-mation of society to [reshape the way people previously thought].”

As part of his visit to GDS in early February, Smith directed workshops on power struggles and spoke to multiple classes on dif-ferent ways to succeed as a musi-cian. To conclude his stay, Smith made a short keynote speech to the school and performed a few pieces from his album, “Ten Free-dom Summers,” which chronicles the history of racial oppression in America. Zain Sandhu, a senior and member of the jazz program at GDS, attended each of Smith’s seminars and the concert. Sandhu was particularly “inspired by the fact that each song [in the album] was based on a historical character

of people and interaction… even with the success he has garnered, he remain[ed] humble, grateful, and dedicated to sharing his tal-ents with those around him.”

Although Smith was only at GDS for a few days, he did not fail to touch the hearts and minds of many. Reminiscing on Smith’s stay, Linde exclaimed that “there really is no music like [Smith’s].” Inspired by racial injustice, Linde contended that “Wadada makes art and music as a statement of his be-liefs and his passion for commen-tary and change.” Will Gerson, a senior and baritone saxophonist at GDS, claimed that “it was cool to get a fresh perspective… [because Wadada] has an interesting take on music that’s pretty different from a lot of the music that [he] plays and listens to.” To Linde, Smith’s un-conventional music is a passion-ate “explor[ation of] sound.” Ju-nior Alexander Thompson aptly conveyed GDS’s appreciation for Smith and his message: “it was a pleasure and an inspiration to col-laborate with Wadada and to hear his music.”

“I started composing… because I felt [I had] something to write down.”

“The faculty talk about it every year, and there [are] plenty of teachers who are sick of talking about it,”

Inspired by racial injustice, Linde contended that “Wadada makes art and music as a statement of his beliefs and his passion for commentary and change.

Smith grew up in rural Mis-sissippi, where he became inter-ested in both music and social justice at a young age. “Before I learned all the notes on the trum-pet,” Smith began, “I started com-posing… because I felt [I had] something to write down.” In his small hometown of Leland, Smith explained that “religious… life was important.” It was in his close-knit community that he be-gan to question the insensitivi-ties of the world around him. “In those churches and schools,… you begin to understand how power works,” Smith said. “For exam-ple, in churches, normally the preacher has more than everybody else, and, in school, normally the

or event.” Brad Linde, the Direc-tor of Jazz and Creative Instru-mental Music Studies at GDS, ex-plained that Smith “was excited about teaching his music to the band, open to discussing art and politics, and has a genuine love

The Augur Bit 3May 2017

Sad FarewellC.A. Pilling Steps Down as High School Principal

by isabel boyer

One Man’s Fight to Preserve 40s Fashion

Even if you’ve never been taught by Topher Dunne, you’ve seen him around. Maybe it was in the hallway, or maybe it was through a window into one of his history classes. And when you saw him, you saw his outfits. He sports the most unique look at GDS-- among both students and teach-ers. Topher’s wardrobe is an insti-tution at this school. Sophomore Zach Blank enthused: “Topher’s sense of fashion is really unique. When I had seminar with him last year, some of the first things I no-ticed were [the] plumed hats and colorful ties.”

The history teacher primar-ily dabbles in 1940s men’s for-malwear. Reminiscing about the bygone era, Topher said that “the quality… is at an apex in the 40s and 50s. It was all still natural fibers and it was all pretty well made...Once you get past there, you’re talking about polyesters, stuff that’s more cheaply made...if something has survived since the 40s, it’s probably because it was well made. And the ties were very much art.” To Topher, ties are the centerpiece and can make or break a look. He explained to me that, “a lot of these were sort of ‘art’ ties. For a while, Salvador Dali did ties in the 40’s, which, I don’t own one because they are kinda crazy expensive. But, this notion of 40’s ties were meant to be like art deco, a lot of geomet-rics, like that. That’s really what inspired me, ‘if I’m going to go for an era, that’s one that’s really neat.’” His collection of vintage clothes started from his “grandfa-ther’s leftovers.” There is a story behind every piece in his col-lection, and many deserve to be told. When I sat down to inter-view him, he was in a gray jacket with matching gray slacks. The

by sophie leviss

Beloved Principal C.A. Pill-ing has been the leader of George-town Day School for many years, and first became a part of the GDS community at large in 1991. Pill-ing started her tenure at GDS as a coach, later becoming a teacher, and was finally appointed as high school principal. Recently, she de-cided to step down as principal in order to concentrate more on teaching once again. I had the opportunity to interview her, and gained the following insights into her decision:

Of the positions you’ve held at GDS including coaching, teaching, and serving as principal, which have you enjoyed the most?

C.A. Pilling: “I’ve loved all of them, but I think probably the teaching and the coaching because it had me interacting with students the most. Those moments where I really get to engage with students are the most rewarding.”

How long have you been considering stepping down from your position?

C.A. Pilling: “I don’t know if there’s an actual moment, but I feel as if I’m just not spending enough time with kids. And I re-ally thought I’d be able to over-come that, and be able to be with students, to organize my day around being with students first and foremost, but I have not been successful at that. Much of the job has grown away from students and that pull was getting further.”

Was this position what you thought it would be?

C.A. Pilling: “Yeah, a lot of parts have been, I think the num-ber of initiatives and programs that the school has been mov-ing forward has been more than I thought it would be. The school has evolved so much in the last few years with all sorts of ideas, and I think much of the carrying of that has been logistical in na-ture and has taken a tremendous amount of my time away from being with students. It has been what I thought it would be, other than I thought I would have more time with kids.”

What are the best aspects of this position?

C.A. Pilling: “Whenever I get to work with kids, partic-ularly when I get to make de-cisions that really impact stu-dents.”

Will you miss this position?C.A. Pilling: “Oh yeah, I to-

tally will. I think I absolutely will miss thi nking about--- I feel like I’m a problem solver, so I’m al-ways thinking of solutions, and that’s an exciting thing to always be a part of as principal.”

Question: What are some lessons you’ve learned from the job about yourself and others?

C.A. Pilling: “That no day is ever the same. You have no idea what’s going to happen when you

I asked him about where men’s fashion is heading right now, in 2017, he offered a nuanced take. “If anything, the inno-vation is away from the suit-and-tie,” he said. “Figuring out ways to move away. There is that whole suit with a t-shirt thing, which got marketed to us in Miami Vice in the 1980s with the pastels… it’s all about incongruous pairings.” But at the same time as he recognizes the innovations going on now, at the end of the day, the 40’s will always reign supreme in his mind. On the topic of the quality of the 40’s cloths and fabrics, he slyly added that it was “not like your H&M stuff that’s gonna fall apart by next season.”

Question: Do you have any regrets moving forward?

C.A. Pilling: “I think there’s loss on both sides. Of moving to-wards what I’ll be doing next, and moving from this. I won’t get to do some of the things I’ve still wanted to do in this position, but I still feel like the tug to students is stron-ger. Like I said, I’ve loved this job, but I love kids even more. One of the big regrets of stepping away from this is, you know, being able to lead a community. But I’m hop-ing I’m going to be able to go back and have a big impact on students’ live in the classroom, and coaching hopefully. I really hope to coach again. I will regret not being able to continue working with an ad-ministrative team that puts kids at the center of every decision, every moment, every day. Their talent, compassion, commitment, and self-lessness has been inspiring; I will miss working with them more than they will ever know.”

come in, there’s something new every day. I have also learned to always seek different sides of the story. A lot of times people come to me, to either adjudicate or sort out an issue they’re hav-ing, and it’s important to make sure that the parties involved ac-tually know all the sides and to understand why they feel the way they do. There are always mul-tiple sides to a story and getting both (or all of them) before mak-ing a decision or a judgement is incredibly important. And some-times you have to make deci-sions that don't make sense to some people because they don't have all those sides to that story. I’ve also learned to always take a deep breath before actually acting. Craft an email, but don’t hit send. Sleep on things before making major decisions. Every-one has something to bring to the table and contribute, or they wouldn’t be here, including stu-dents and adults. As a private in-stitution we have the opportunity to bring in who we want to have here, and so we have made those selections based on that fact. Ev-erybody has a worth and reason to be here, and we should be honor-ing everyone, and what they bring to the table, no matter their age or background.”

Question: What have been the most challenging parts of this job?

C.A. Pilling: “I think balanc-ing all the balls that are in the air at once. Being able to prioritize when you want to do so much, so fast. And looking back on that, I think that’s what’s really hard. This is such a vibrant commu-nity, and everybody has ideas, student, adults, parents, and ev-erybody wants you to do some-thing. You know, I have students who come in here with all sorts of ideas, and I don’t want to turn any of them down. I think the big-gest challenge to this job is that there’s only 24 hours in a day. I would have loved to spend more time on programming, and less on logistics.”

C.A. Pilling in her office

Even though he teaches history, and clothes himself in these tiny pieces of history, he still is aware of the present and the future

look was completed with a beige shirt and a patterned red tie. Starting with a gray base “means [he] can mix it up with sort of anything.” He added, “most days it’s a white shirt, because again, with a neutral background you can put whatever you want over it.”

Even though he teaches history, and clothes himself in these tiny pieces of his-tory, he still is aware of the present and the future. When

The Editorial Page4 May 2017

Hello From the Other Side

Why does the Military Support Donald Trump?

“Love Trumps Hate!” On No-vember 10th, two days after Don-ald Trump was named the 45th President of the United States, I marched in downtown Washing-ton D.C. alongside fellow George-town Day School classmates in re-sponse to the election outcome. With my metrocard and sign in hand, I chanted at the top of my lungs as my feet became sore from marching up and down the streets of D.C. Flash forward to January 21st, and I was in the same po-sition, only this time I was sur-rounded by hundreds of thousands of women in the historic Wom-en’s March.

Having gone to bed before the final results had been announced the night of November 8th, I had woken up the next morning in utter disbelief that America had chosen Donald Trump as the next Commander-in-Chief. As a young woman, I had hoped that I would wake up and find out that Hillary Clinton had shattered that glass ceiling and made history as the 45th President, and first woman president, of the United States. This outcome did not happen.

Until this election, I had never been very interested in politics. Both the Republican and Demo-cratic parties had always seemed to put forth respectable candidates who merely differed in how they thought America should be run. I had always been taught to respect and be open-minded to people’s opposing views. However, this election cycle, I found it difficult.

As a teenage girl who has grown up in the nation’s capital and always been surrounded by a diverse group of peers, I was offended by Trump’s remarks about women, Muslims, immi-grants and other minorities. The way he spoke about inappropri-ately touching women and build-ing a wall to keep Mexicans out sickened me. I wanted a president who would inspire me and help America progress; I did not want someone who resorted to tweet-ing and hate speech.

After being upset and angry at the results of the election, it was easy for me at first to disregard and insult those who supported Trump. I felt betrayed by extended family members and friends who supported Trump and, at times, could not find it in me to respect

what they had to say. A few weeks after the shock wore off and I real-ized that Donald Trump would be the next president, I began to try to understand why so many people had supported this man. For years I have been working with military families at Walter Reed Military Hospital, and one night while vol-unteering at the video lending li-brary in the unit where most of the veterans who were severely wounded from the recent wars live, I noticed that a large num-ber of military personnel seemed very pleased with the results of the election. Despite his criticism of the Gold Star father, Khizr Khan, whose son was killed serving in Iraq, and his remarks about war veteran Senator John McCain in which Trump stated he prefers “people that weren’t captured,” Trump still maintained support from veterans and active-duty mil-itary members. This was puzzling to me, so I decided to talk to mili-tary members I knew to try to un-derstand why they voted for him.

After a polarizing year-long election campaign, Donald Trump received more votes from the mil-itary than Hillary Clinton. Ac-cording to a poll conducted by

Across1. Initials of teacher who leads VISFJ elective 4. “famous” vending machineproduct 8. What many a GDS teacher fear becoming11. Non affinity version of SPECTRUM12. __ Alto, CA13. Repeated word in Jessie J song title15. Band teacher Linde 16. Problem that's only skindeep? 18. 4th largest desert in the world located in Mongolia20. Teacher that teaches you about corporate bigwigs? 23. Salt used to treat sore muscles 25. Initialism for Agnico Eagle Mines 28. Coffin Alternative 29. Attract’s opposite 32. What one makes at a horse race34. __ Mahal 35. 45th president of the United States 36. “Like and I’ll DM you a ____”38. Egyptian Goddess39. Between a yes and a no 40. Teacher with a questioning name? 42. Non senate part of exec. branch43. Country that will host the 2022 World Cup47. Not twice 49. Steve Bannon and Richard Spencer Group/Infamous political group that dined at Maggiano's 53. Room 107, or where 1, 20,and 40, across and 8, 27, and 28 down hang out (abbr.)54. Alternative Fact 55. Eastern religion sometimes spelled with a “T”

Down 1. 35-across's favorite intelligence agency 2. Socially-minded GDS club 3. What an off-topic math teacher goes on?4. Double Period Sci. class5. 3rd mth of the year 6. Antagonist in Lemony Snicket Series 7. Sprite or Coke, for example8. GDS teacher that teaches you about the 4th largest lake in US?

the Military Times/Institute for Veterans and Military Families, which surveyed nearly 2,500 ac-tive-duty troops in October 2016, more than 40.5 percent of service members were planning to vote for Trump as the next commander in chief. Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson was a favorable second choice to Trump with 27 percent, while Democratic nominee Hil-lary Clinton had 20.6 percent of favorability among service mem-bers. The survey found that en-listed military members favored Trump more than military offi-cers favored Trump. My family has many close friends who serve or have served in the military, and I decided as a way to cope with and understand the results of the 2016 election, conversation with the “other side” would be a bet-ter alternative to shutting every-thing out.

Jose Gordon, who has spent 21 years in active duty and contin-ues his service as an Army Ranger for a special missions unit, sup-ported Trump over the other nom-inees. “I don’t necessarily support Trump as much as I didn’t support the other options,” explained Gor-don. “From my perspective, being

a military guy, I happen to know people that literally lost careers, lost livelihoods, lost families over committing one one hundredth of what she [Hillary Clinton] did. For me, it was a character issue more than anything.” He was referring to the FBI investigation into Clin-ton’s handling of classified infor-mation. Gordon explained that he believed Trump was the better op-tion because he “seems to connect with us [the military] because he thinks like us and he does have an appeal with us because he seems to be genuine.” Trump repeatedly said throughout his campaign that if he was elected, he would de-mand a plan to defeat ISIS. This resonated with military personnel who have been fighting in wars for more than fifteen years since 9/11 and view fighting ISIS as one of the country’s most pressing pri-orities.

When asked about Trump’s controversial statement on Senator John McCain in 2015, Gordon be-lieved it did not have a lasting ef-fect on voters by the time the elec-tion ended in November. “It was an absolutely ridiculous, out-of-line,

9. Starts 3/1 and ends 4/1310. First half of famous Vine catchphrase14. Initialism for republican party 17. Soon to be united GDS feature19. GDS affinity group21. Fancy name for fruit pie 22. Toothpaste’s container24. Form of self defense 27. Teacher with a colorful class?

28. Teacher whose class is a “Major Key”?30. Make a sound 31. Shì, Etiam ,Si, Oui33. Home of 42 Down 34. Junior Joseph 37. Monday Foodtruck product 38. Anagram of type of beef/what a wearer of socks and sandals receives42. Farm residents of 33 down 44. NPR program hosted by I. Glass

Crossword

45. Becomes a Senior 46. 20th letter of alphabet cubed 48. Electric sea creature50. 17th letter of greek alphabet51. Infamous former Ugandan president Amin52. “History and Pedagogy of Mathematics” initialism

Continued on Page 5

by annalise myre

The Editorial Page 5May 2017

Features Editors: Zach Blank ’19, William Goldberg ’19Associate Features Editor: Will Klein ’19

Opinion Editors: Eli Doroshow ’18, Ilana Zeilinger ’19 Associate Opinion Editor: Shira Minsk ’19, Hannah Plotnek ’18

Bitdoms editor: Grace Mahaffie ’18Staff Photographers: Margaux Van Allen '20

“A very auger bit will now be turned into your souls until your honesty is proved”Arthur Miller, The Crucible

Arts Editors: Caroline Katzive ’19, Jenna Schulman ’19Staff Cartoonist: Shonali Palacios ’19, Margaux Ameer ’19

Faculty Advisor: Jon KeljikSports Editors: Ben Stern ’18, Alexander Thompson ’18

Business Managers: Arie Cymerman ’19, Levi Freedman ’18and Carly Grossfield '19

The Augur Bit

Bit-DomsOther Side Cont.Overheard at GDS gets heated: Whisper doesn’t seem so bad anymore

C.A. Piling steps down as principal:Did she meet with Russian Officials too?

Women Reclaim Weight Room as Weight Womb:Men resist by spreading legs

Senior dropout numbers increase: Coincides with elevator outage

Spanish 1 student caught using google translate: Class meetings are Called

Campus expansion halted:Freshmen skaters rejoice

Co-Editors-in-Chief: Eli Kaplan ’18, Annalise Myre ’19Creative Director: Nick Moen '19

The Augur Bit welcomes letters to the editor. Please write us to express a difference of opinion or to comment on our reporting. Email letters to ekaplan18@gds.org or amyre19gds.org or leave them in our mailbox in the student publications office. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity.

3rd edition:4th quarter

SSC discusses hosting Prom at Safeway:Ted agrees to DJ

Hipmetheaddy owner revealed as Quinn K:Amy calls his parents

PS113 website debuts: GDS campus feels earthquake after they were shook

Graduation Attire Committee reaches a verdict: Men will wear white dresses

un-American, stupid statement,” responded Gordon. “At the time I was not a Trump fan, I’ve al-ways been a Rubio fan. It was early enough in the campaign that there were plenty of other Repub-lican nominees in the running,” he added. “It didn’t bleed over into the actual election cycle.” Many military personnel have been pleased with Trump’s picks for National Security, especially with James Mattis being chosen as Secretary of Defense. “I think he’s got a pretty good team, on the National Security side, with Mat-tis, Tillerson, Pompeo and now with HR McMaster. I think he’s got a very promising National Se-curity staff,” said Gordon. “Any-body that knows HR McMaster knows how he is outspoken. I doubt very seriously that HR Mc-Master is going to bow down to Steve Bannon at all. Mike Pompeo doesn’t buckle to anybody, even Donald Trump,” stated Gordon on Trump’s picks. “We are seeing he is placing a National Security staff that is contrary to him. They are not going to be afraid to tell him, ‘Hey Boss, this is where you’re going wrong,’ so hopefully that will balance out his wackiness and his clumsiness.”

Sarah Verardo, spouse to Ser-geant Michael Verardo who served for seven years in the military, became her husband’s primary caregiver when he was injured in Afghanistan in 2010. Sergeant Michael Verardo served with the 82nd Airborne as an infantry-man in Afghanistan when he was wounded at the age of 25 in two IED attacks less than two weeks apart. The attacks left him without an arm and leg, and since then he has undergone more than 100 sur-geries. “Originally we were asked to work with the Jeb Bush cam-paign, on the steering committee for military and veteran issues,” said Mrs. Verardo on how she be-came involved in the Trump cam-paign. “Once he left the race, we were tapped by the Trump cam-paign to share with them some of the struggles with the V.A. (Vet-eran’s Affairs) and what our day to day challenges were like.” Ve-rardo explained how she and her husband are Catholic and have al-ways been life-long Republicans, thus they knew they would sup-port the Republican nominee be-cause of their pro-life beliefs. “In July, we unexpectedly got an in-vitation to the RNC to sit with and meet the Trump family and

Governor Pence at the time and his family. That is really when we became closely engaged with them and saw first hand his com-mitment to families like ours. He really took an interest in learning what real change would look like at the V.A.” says Verardo, who lives in North Carolina. “I think that with Donald Trump, he has a ten-point V.A. platform plan. A lot of that is putting veterans back in charge of their healthcare, which they have had to rely on a system that is really just archaic and an-tiquated and not set up to fit the needs of these men and women. I do think Trump is going to em-power the veterans and he is go-ing to empower their caregivers, and that’s an issue that is very im-portant to me.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs has faced a lot of crit-icism within recent years for not adequately catering to the needs of veterans. The Verar-dos know first hand what it is like to deal with the bureaucracy that is the V.A. “We face a lot of red tape. When we were newly out of the army, about three and a half years ago, a t one point Mike’s prosthetic broke and he had no back up. I had to wait for 57 days for someone to find a piece of paper authorizing re-pair,” recalled Verardo. “Just a couple weeks before the elec-tion, I got called and told that I needed to bring Mike into, and I quote, ‘check if he still has se-rious combat injuries.’ Families that are dealing with these level injuries have given so much al-ready and we shouldn’t be ask-ing even more of them just to get basic health care needs met.”

As a woman and mother of two daughters, Mrs. Verardo did take offense at Trump’s comments about women during his election campaign. “I one hundred per-cent find his comments offen-sive. I have two little girls, with another two on the way, and there are some things that are just inex-cusable, like the comments about the Khan family. But, overall, I believe he was the best candidate for our military and for our vet-erans. We have many friends who are still in the service, making sure that they have what they need so that they can actually engage the enemy. I think that he was the one to be able to provide that to them,” she added. “I certainly don’t like everything and I definitely take issue and offense with certain things, but I do think he was the best person for the job. This was a polarizing, ugly election and so

From Page 4many issues on each side.”

Under the Obama adminis-tration, many veterans said they felt their concerns were ignored, resulting in an outcry from mili-tary personnel. “I think that Pres-ident Obama obviously had many fabulous accomplishments that should be celebrated, I think he did a lot of great things for our country. However, I do think that his support of military and veteran issues wasn’t where we should be at a time that we are still at war. One of my very best friends talks about getting a condolence letter from him [President Obama] that had his stamped signature. That to me is just unacceptable. These are people whose husbands, whose fa-thers and sons and women too that are sacrificing their lives, they de-serve a lot more than that,” said Verardo.

Having personally spent time with the Pence family at the RNC, Verardo explained her connection and admiration for the Vice Presi-dent and his family too. “I found Mike Pence to be one of the most genuine people I have ever met in my life, and I sincerely mean that. I think he has a fervent heart and I think he has a deep appreci-ation for the military.” Verardo ex-plained that many military person-nel are drawn to Trump because of his transparency. “I think that Donald Trump, a lot of what you see is what you get. I think he is a man that is going to get the job done and that is what our military needs. I think the military likes strong leaders and he certainly has a strong personality whether or not you like him or agree with him. He believes strongly in what he says so I think that does appeal to the military.”

Although it is easy to point fingers and call names about the opposing political party, it is im-portant to respect and try to un-derstand the other side. Especially in D.C., where Democratic nomi-nee Hillary Clinton won more than 90% of the vote, it is easy to stay enclosed in the D.C. bubble and close off those who do not share your political views. Only 1% of Americans serve in the military, and those Americans mostly voted for Trump. Trump’s win has im-pacted every American differently, and it is important to have conver-sations, as opposed to arguments, about the outcome. Many import-ant issues have been brought to the surface, and it is our duty as Americans to talk and understand why people with different views than our own feel the way they do on these matters.

The Augur Bit6 May 2017

OpiniOn

2+2=5?

In GDS math courses, owning and knowing how to use a graphing calculator is integral to student suc-cess. While students are sometimes able to swap their phones for cal-culators at the math office, during weeks heavy with exams, this be-comes problematic for students who have lost their calculators or never had them in the first place. Moreover, it’s fairly inconvenient to swap out a phone for a calculator multiple times a week, and it be-comes more difficult to complete homework without the necessary tools. Standardized tests like the SAT and ACT require these cal-culators and students must provide their own. This is why the school should implement either a one-to-one or supplementary program to provide the student body with graphing calculators.

with the cost of such an everyday tool, Goldman described, would probably be remedied by the im-plementation of a one-to-one pro-gram. “I think it would be great if the school had a system for that, or if we can’t do a one-to-one, then something like anyone on Finan-cial Aid can get one for free from the school.”

When students were asked how they felt about such a pro-gram, the reaction was generally positive, though there were a few questions. “I think that it’s an in-teresting idea, but we have to more research about how many students need calculators,” said Jack Rud-nick ‘18. More research would, in fact, be necessary because if five hundred kids need calculators, that is an extra five thousand dollars out of the school budget. Connor McCormick ‘19 was strongly in favor of the idea: “School is hard enough; we pay a lot of money to

The daily schedule of a stu-dent athlete at GDS is hard enough: seven hours of school, two hours of practice five days a week and an average of two to three hours of homework per night. Is requir-ing an additional class for physi-cal education pushing these student athletes past their limit?

P.E. has always been manda-tory for freshman and sophomore students, but it might be time to evaluate the benefits of this class. Of course, P.E. is more than just play-ing games and working out. Fresh-men get CPR and First Aid-certi-fied and sophomores participate in the health fair. In both courses stu-dents learn about drug and alcohol awareness, along with some basic

knowledge of human anatomy. These topics are useful to students and should not be disregarded, but is the rest of the P.E. curriculum re-ally useful to student athletes?

Twelve season athlete Jack-son Todd ‘17 said, “aside from the CPR certification, everything I have learned in P.E. I have learned in track.” Todd continues, “I re-ally didn’t learn that much, and I think a lot of kids view it as a waste of time, and mess around in class. Especially freshman year, we just played games the entire year.” Ath-letic Director Kathy Hudson dis-agrees, saying, “P.E. is important because we’re teaching you the tools necessary to be able to live.”

Many students and teachers underestimate the rigorous sched-ule of a student athlete in addition

Though many students can purchase calculators with little trouble, a commonly-used TI-83 or 84 graphing calculator costs at least one hundred dollars. When asked if she thought the school should have a one-to-one pro-gram for calculators, Math De-partment Chair, Lee Goldman replied, “Yes I do… hopefully everyone would have their own and wouldn’t have to borrow from somebody else which then makes this long string of people losing them.” Goldman explained, “You can’t do a statistics course with-out it, you can’t do an AP Calcu-lus course without it, and there are places in the Algebra II and Trig PC curricula where you really need it. It is absolutely a neces-sary tool, ... but they’re one hun-dred and fifty dollars -- that’s a lot of money. For some people that’s a lot harder than it is for others.” The equity issues that come along

by ilana zeilinger

Calculators for rent in the Math Office

by shonali palacios

done,” says Sara Zargham ‘17, an-other twelve season athlete.

Mandatory P.E. classes limit students’ options to choose how they want to invest their time. Hudson still stresses how import-ant she thinks P.E. is: “If I had my choice, I’d have P.E. for all four years, because those students that aren’t athletes after school then have nothing.” But what about the students who devote over twelve hours a week to GDS sports? “I get home a lot later, and I still have the same academic requirements as everyone else, so that means I stay up later, and I don’t perform as well in school, or in my sport, and I think that not making P.E. a requirement for [all students] who do three sports a year would re-ally help athletes get more sleep,

and they could perform better all around as students and athletes” says Todd.

The workload and stress that a student athlete experiences could be reduced by using the time spent in P.E. for more productive activ-ities. Providing student athletes with a free period, at least twice a week in exchange for their com-mitment to GDS sports, would go a long way. The downsides of a three-season athlete participating in a P.E. class seem to outweigh the benefits. One possible solution could be substituting a P.E. class for a health class that meets once or twice a week freshman year. Whatever the solution to this is-sue may be, the P.E. requirement for three-season athletes should be reevaluated.

When the Land of the Free Isn’t

Free To Allby joyce yang

On January 27, President Don-ald Trump announced the tempo-rary entry restriction United States for travelers from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen - seven majority Muslim countries. Likely the most controversial of all the executive orders Trump has is-sued, the “Muslim ban” has invoked mass protests all over the nation, caused confusion and disorder at many airports, and separated sev-eral families. With its broad impli-cations and heavy historical im-pact, there’s no question that this will significantly change the course of American history and our rela-tionships with other nations, specif-ically in the Middle East. Even if it has no direct effect on many GDS students at the moment, the Mus-lim ban will play an important role in shaping the future of the coun-try in which we live.

In his original proposal of the Muslim ban, Trump supported his claim by saying that people who solely believe in jihad “have no sense of reason or respect for hu-man life.” He continued by citing the Center for Security Policy’s poll of six hundred Muslims in Amer-ica which stated that fifty one per-cent “agreed that Muslims in Amer-ica should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah.” Many supporters of the ban believe that it is necessary, even temporar-ily, to stop the influx of Muslims while the government sorts out how to counteract terrorism in America.

On the outside, the ban may seem like a quick fix, a simple no-brainer solution to disregard any risk of the terror attacks that dom-inate the headlines for days, never failing to highlight race or religious affiliation as the dominant factor.

9/11 has turned into the Trump administration’s number one tool to

be here, and some kids can’t pay for them, and we need our own calculators -- why not?” Margaux Ameer ‘19 agreed. “I mean I defi-nitely have friends who borrow my calculator and sometimes [there are] people who are going to have tests in the same period that I need to use it, so I feel bad, and it would be really nice if GDS could give us all one.” Quinn Killy, Dean of Stu-dent Life, wouldn’t be opposed to a one-to-one program, saying that when students come into his of-fice asking for calculators he gen-erally tries to give them one that has been abandoned in the forum for a long time.

There are lingering ques-tions about how a system to sup-ply the student body with calcula-tors would be implemented, and whether it should be need-based or available to all. GDS should make it easier to get equal access for such a necessary educational tool. Continued on Page 7

Student Athletes Are Running Away from P.E.

"Mandatory P.E. classes limit students’ options to choose how they want to invest their time."

Why GDS Should Provide Students with Calculators

to fulfilling a P.E. requirement. “It just seems a little ridiculous that as an athlete we [got] home at around seven every night and then we

[had] to start our homework while other students [got] to start their homework at 3:30-4:00. That's an extra four hours they [had], and I recognize that we make this com-mitment, and this choice, but then we should have some extra time during the day to get our work

Student athlete grind is hard enough, why should students have to take P.E. too?

The Augur Bit 7May 2017

block, the overall trend of the school is moving away from mid-term exams, and for good reason. During the duration of a semes-ter, GDS students spend count-less hours completing homework, studying for quizzes and tests, and agonizing over projects and papers. Our winter break is prom-ised to be a “no homework break” where students can travel, spend time with their families, and let go of work for a bit. However, the stress of studying for mid-terms often devalues that time. Like many of her peers, sopho-more Revati Mahurkar believes that there is hardly any way to avoid studying for midterms over winter break, at least for th ose that take place the first week back from break. “I think either we should get rid of [midterms], or we should have them before winter break, that way it’s actu-ally a no-homework break,” said Mahurkar.

Aside from the positioning of midterms, the practice itself is un-fair. Determining 15-20% of our grade on the basis of two hours of work can undermine an entire se-mester’s worth of learning. While exams halfway through the year are commonplace at universi-ties and colleges, GDS’s pur-pose is not solely to prepare us for college but to inspire a love of learning for the sake of expand-ing knowledge in its own right. Furthermore, exams favor certain

for their projects. For example, when Ben Kaslow-Zieve ‘17 was asked if he would consider some form of travel for his Senior Quest, he said, “yes, because I think it’s good to see other parts of the coun-try.” Kaslow-Zieve’s view is not unique to the Class of 2017, whose students recently began brain-storming ideas for their own Quests this spring. When asked the same question, India Cox ‘18 said, “for sure[because] travel is an opportu-nity for personal growth.” While Kaslow-Zieve and Cox may not actually leave town for their fu-ture Quests, they both demonstrate the common desire to have travel available as an option.

While the administration cur-rently doesn’t enforce any severe travel restrictions within the coun-try, that doesn’t rule out any future restrictions. According to Quinn Killy, Dean of Student Life, “the Senior Quest overall is something that needs to be looked at.” Killy explained that a couple of years back when the administration pon-dered possible changes to the Se-nior Quest, one of the topics that were discussed was limiting the geographic areas open to travel. While these discussions have yet to materialize into concrete rules, they do show that future travel re-strictions are far from impossible.

In fairness, there are sev-eral potential benefits to a geo-graphic limitation. Two years ago, the administration decided to ban international travel for the Senior Quest, citing equity and liability as the driving forces behind the decision. The school wants the Quest to provide equal opportu-nities to students of all economic backgrounds, and in general, the high cost of international travel yields inequity.

Regardless of the rules the school does or does not enforce,

“It’s the best time of the year!” is not usually how George-town Day School students think about midterm exam weeks. Still, this is how the time after win-ter break is advertised to ninth graders: a week of work with time allotted daily for meditation, healthy meals, and social time sprinkled in. Contrarily, midterm exam week is when stress levels rise for GDS students, who cram into the library with some even taking to the floor. While classes on review days start at a later time in the morning, midterm exams loom around the end of the week promising to take control of your semester grades for each class. So why should - or shouldn’t - we

point a finger at every single per-son with brown skin, increasing in strength with every attack made by a Muslim. Yet, conveniently, this is never affected by attacks made by white, “lone wolves” whose main problem was not seeking proper treatment for a mental illness that got out of hand. Our society’s dis-torted view on Muslims has turned evidence from the FBI that sug-gests that terror attacks are nine times more likely to be caused by a non-Muslim than by a Muslim, into one that is greeted with sur-prise and disbelief.

Yet what many Americans fail to see are the long-term effects of this ban. Claiming that all Muslims are dangerous and taking away any hope of escaping from their war-torn homelands does nothing but push aggrieved Muslims straight into the welcoming arms of extrem-ist groups and thus aggravate the issue further. The extremist groups who prey on Muslims who are sim-ply looking for some kind of pur-pose have finally received their con-crete evidence to the claim that they have been making all along, that America is waging a war against

the entirety of Islam. Trump has essentially put them in a box and given them no other path to take and then, confused as to why any-one would choose to do something so horrendous from the comfort of his five-star hotel room, goes on to blame their skin color and religion for their actions.

Personally, as a Chinese Amer-ican, the ban serves as a harsh re-minder of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. The act banned Chi-nese entrance into the U.S. to pro-tect the interests of gold miners as competition for work increased around the 1850s. Though initially intended to last only ten years, it was not formally repealed until 1943, somehow escaping the con-cerns of twelve different adminis-trations to be part of American pol-icy for sixty one years. The Chinese Exclusion Act is hauntingly simi-lar to Trump’s promise to make the Muslim ban temporary; I imagine that the scene at airports following the travel ban announcement was rather similar to that of the ports of San Francisco in 1882, when many Chinese immigrants were informed that they would not be able to enter

The Senior Quest is ideally an exclamation point to a GDS stu-dent’s high school career. While the Quest is the last assignment a student will complete at GDS, it is one of the first which allows students to follow their own, less structured paths. The Quest is not graded, it does not show up on a transcript, nor does it appear on a college application. At a school as competitive as GDS, these are all the makings of a project where stu-dents have the free dom to do what they want, and maybe discover something about themselves, their peers, or even the world around them. Yet, while a student’s Senior Quest leaves room for personaliza-tion and freedom, students don’t have total control over the project. Indeed, decisions on travel, which can be one of the main components of the project, are increasingly left in the hands of the administration.

Travel can be an integral part

Land Cont.From Page 6

Take a Trip

The Future of the GDS Senior Quest

by eli doroshow

Expelling Midterms

by shira minsk

"A blanket, rigid restriction eliminates certain projects which may actually be worthwhile"

While the administration currently doesn’t enforce any severe travel restrictions within the country, that doesn’t rule out any future restrictions

the country. A clear testament to the age-old saying that history repeats itself, I believe that we must remain vigilant and continue to hold the ad-ministration accountable for their actions.

The ban has prompted many concerns and questions through-out America and in the GDS com-munity. Aziz Mohammed ‘18 ex-pressed his concerns about how this has all happened so early on in Trump’s term: “The fact that he is willing to do something so brazen in his first few weeks in office doesn't look good for the rest of his term.” Who knows what Trump will do for the next four years given what he has already done in his first month? Doubtless, there are a million ques-tions going through the minds of not only Americans but people around the world -- questions that will only increase given Trump’s vola-tile decision making. What will he do next? Where are the boundaries of what he will do? Who can or will be able to stop him, if anyone? After all, Trump himsel stated “Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension.”

flexibility and openness to excep-tions are essential to both an equi-table and fulfilling Senior Quest. While some foundational rules are necessary, a blanket, rigid re-striction eliminates certain proj-ects which may actually be worth-while. The administration took a step in the right direction last year by establishing a “Quest commit-tee” with the goal of “[making] projects more mission-driven.” According to Killy, “nobody’s goal is to limit what kids can do,” but instead to “refine [their ideas] and give [them] more direction.”

Overall, the Senior Quest is only valuable if the stu-dents have as much independence as possible, without putting the school at risk or creating inequi-table opportunities. As far as lia-bility goes, a student skydiving in Maryland poses more dangers than a different student learning French in Quebec. Regarding eq-uity, since plane tickets represent most of the expenses created by long distance travel, maybe air travel as a whole should be re-visited. It would most likely be more expensive for a student to fly to Los Angeles than for them to drive to Toronto.

If the school is concerned about students taking excessively costly trips, it should address how students travel, not where they travel. While these are specific hypotheticals, they do show that projects should be examined in-dividually.

have midterms at all? While the value of cumula-

tive assessments is undeniable, in many subjects exams can be re-placed with papers, projects and presentations designed to incor-porate themes and trends span-ning the previous semester. In the humanities and sciences, this plan could fit nicely; however, math classes present a roadblock. Math Department Chair Lee Goldman explained that though certain ad-vanced classes such as Linear Al-gebra and sometimes (non-AP) Statistics culminate the semes-ter with presentations, the math classes that most GDS students take during their high school years are better assessed with cumulative exams.

“I think there are possible alternative assessments,” Gold-man commented on classes such as Geometry, Algebra and Trig-onometry/Pre-Calculus, “but it’s really hard to test the whole se-mester [with a project].” Gold-man spoke about projects that take place in Geometry Extended which apply classroom concepts on a real life scale, explaining that “when students are studying for that cumulative exam, they are connecting things in their minds from the whol e semester...and that doesn’t always happen with a project.”

Even though finding a re-placement for exams in certain subjects presents a stumbling

I think either we should get rid of [midterms], or we should have them before winter break, that way it’s actually a no-homework break.

While exams halfway through the year are commonplace at universities and colleges, GDS’s purpose is not solely to prepare us for college but to inspire a love of learning for the sake of expanding knowledge in its own right

students’ strengths over others; when staring at a sheet of paper, students who are tactile learners might have a harder time express-ing their understanding of the ma-terial than visual learners do.

Cumulative assessments are certainly a key part of participat-ing in the high school experience and higher learning, yet there are so many possible improvements to be made to the midterm system currently in place. As a school that labels itself progressive, let’s live up to our own standards and allow midterm exams to become part of the past.

of the Senior Quest. It provides stu-dents opportunities to explore an interest or have an experience that they otherwise wouldn’t during high s hool. In fact, many students are open to leaving the local area

"I hate the Augur Bit"-Martin Glusker,

previous creative director

The Augur Bit8 May 2017

ArtsIdentity

Show

The Identity Art Show is a collection of student work that showcases some of the best art that GDS students have to offer. The central theme of the show was how different intersections of identity, such as gender, sex-uality, race, ethnicity, and favor-ite pastimes affect students’ lives and experiences at GDS. The me-dia are varied, stretching from ce-ramics, to paintings, to photog-raphy. Because the nature of the show is so personal, each work tells a unique story, and allows the viewer to see the artist’s percep-tion of their own identity. Below are just a few examples of these beautiful pieces.

In her piece Queens of New-ark, Jazzmin Cox-Càceres ‘19 wanted to create a work that il-lustrates the effect that European beauty standards have on society today, and contrasts those stan-dards with the modern woman. The work’s background features graffiti from Newark, where her parents are from, and contrasts with Marie Antoinette-style dresses. “It’s a concept I’ve al-ways wanted to paint,” said Cox-Càceres. “The Identity Show was the perfect platform for it.” The biggest challenge for her was conveying what she wanted to say within the given time frame. “This is the biggest piece I’ve ever done. Deciding how I was going to fit so much into one painting was re-ally challenging.” This work was a step out of Cox-Càceres’ com-fort zone, and she advised others who are new to art to step out of theirs. “Don’t be afraid, just trust the process”

In her piece Outsider, Sophia Mohammed ‘19 wanted to create a work that expressed her identity as a Muslim American and illus-trated her relationship with reli-gion. “My first memory of religion was not knowing what to do,” said Mohammed. “There was this mo-ment where I got to see everyone else, and felt like I was part of a community.” For Mohammed, the work also represents the con-cept of feeling in the middle of things. “Being bi-religious, bi-sexual, and biracial, I wanted to convey the idea of being a part of something, but also standing out.” During the creation of the piece, she thought about her relationship with the Quran and the struggle between being Muslim and being a woman. Following these ideas, she chose to incorporate phrases in Arabic that she felt defined her-self more so than the Quran does. “I decided to write about being not quite right, but not necessarily bad,” said Mohammed. For Mo-hammed, an important part of her artistic process was her growth as an artist, and was inspired by the work of her peers. Being new to art herself, she advised others to take risks. “You really can make anything happen. Go for it, and do whatever you want to do.”

by lucy walker

The Theatre Arts program at Georgetown Day School nurtures and develops the creative instincts of its students. While for many stu-dents, this experience simply be-comes part of a well rounded high school career, for others it drives a life long pursuit of theatrical arts. Jordan Friend exemplifies the lat-ter category.

Participating in all of GDS’s high school productions ig-nited Friend’s passion for acting and directing. Friend graduated from GDS in 2012 and studied at Ithaca University. Currently, Friend is the founder and artis-tic director of 4615 Theater Com-pany, whose goal is to reinvigo-rate classic pieces as well as stage provocative contemporary plays. “Our aim,” the mission states, “is to give young artists a space to col-laborate and push the boundaries of conventional theatre.”

In speaking with Friend about

Interview with Jordan Friendhis experiences at GDS, he listed the many performing arts classes and clubs he participated in in-cluding Dance for Musical The-ater and Ballet with Maria Wat-son, GDS full Choir and Chamber Singers with Ben Hutchens, and Directing with Laura Rosberg. Friend considers this Directing class to be the most “crucial” to his development as a performer and director. Of all the produc-tions Friend took part in at GDS, his favorite was Macbeth during his senior year. The production showed him how “imaginative a director’s interpretation can be.”

Friend has seen every GDS show since his graduation. His fa-vorite since he left was Romeo and Juliet in 2013, because of the dark, fascist, and foreboding “Italian 1930s vibe” that Laura Rosberg created and because he considers himself a “Shakespeare nerd.”

Asked if he believes the the-ater department has changed, Friend stated that theater at GDS

ProtestArt

by caroline katzive andjenna schulman

by matthew ciazza

Continued on Page 9Continued on Page 9

Manchester By the Sea Review

“Didn’t you cry?,” my mother texted me, shortly after I finished watching Kenneth Lonergan's crit-ically-acclaimed film Manchester by the Sea. I had to think about this for a second. I didn’t remem-ber crying through that whirlwind of a movie. Although there were some scenes that evoked emo-tional reactions from me, I didn’t cry. At most, the film received slight whimpers from me. I believe that my own lack of sentiment was a reaction to being overwhelmed for two hours and seventeen min-utes by constant conflict and lit-tle time to absorb each one. The screenplay, though it covered con-cepts that were incomprehensibly tragic, seemed bland, while the quality of the acting varied.

Casey Affleck plays Lee Chandler, a man who is forced to take care of his nephew after his brother unexpectedly dies. Affleck brings a sort of under-statedness to his character which is exactly why I didn’t love him in the role; his acting became

so boring after watching him for several minutes that I kept checking my computer screen to see when the movie would end. However, I found that the more action-packed scenes redeemed Affleck because of his ability to quickly change his emotions from calm to unhinged. I don’t know if it was Affleck’s acting or the screenplay that made his charac-ter so flat, but Affleck’s portrayal of Lee, a part that seemed to be written with much emotion, be-came dull. Maybe it was the hype surrounding his performance, but Affleck did not impress me in the slightest (especially because he won the Academy Award over Denzel Washington, whose per-formance I enjoyed much more).

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Sup-porting Role, Lucas Hedges plays Lee’s nephew, Patrick Chandler, and uses the understatedness of the script more to his advantage than Affleck does; instead of telling us his emotions, he displays them.

The other Oscar-nominated actor is Michelle Williams, who

by cole wright-schaner

During any era rife with ten-sion, private citizens have adopted a myriad of ways to express their displeasure. One of the newest and most quickly-evolving forms of which is protest art.

Protest art has become a pop-ular method of sparking conver-sations about controversial is-sues. While people have been using art as a means of express-ing dissent throughout history, the idea of “protest art” as a genre is a relatively new one that began in the 20th century, taking root in pieces such as Pablo Picasso’s 1937 work, Guernica, a protest against the violence and fascism that occurred during the Spanish Civil War.

According to art teacher Adrian Loving, protest art has become more “activist-oriented” in recent years. “You have pro-test art, activist art, and advo-cacy art,” he explains. “Activist art is a lot of the stuff you see now for the Trump campaign. It is for inciting people to act...to do things like vote or take action. Protest art is direct op-position to something, like the travel ban.” Recent large pro-tests, such as the various Wom-en’s Marches around the world and the demonstrations at air-ports have featured a mixture of the three types of art.

is constantly changing, because new students get involved every year and each season brings some-thing new. He’s confident how-ever, that the “level of creativity and imagination” has stayed the same. Aside from working at 4615 Theater Company, Friend is an En-glish and Theater substitute teacher at GDS.

Jordan Friend describes GDS performing arts as his main inspi-ration and motivator as a performer and director. As his previous direc-tor and teacher Laura Rosberg de-scribes him, “He loves Jacobean plays. Like Jordan, himself, those playwrights were out to cause trou-ble. they explored the darker side of human nature--lust, greed, and violence.”

If you want to learn more about Friend’s upcoming work, visit the company’s website, www.4615theatre.com. The company is not currently producing any shows but many are planned for this summer.

plays Chandler’s ex-wife. She is rather one-sided in her acting, and by that I mean she spent most of the movie crying. It isn’t until the final moments of the movie that her character reveals its complex-ities. In comparison to the other Oscar-nominated actors with lim-ited screen time, Williams pales in comparison to Naomie Harris from Moonlight who brings in-tensity and sadness to her charac-ter or Viola Davis whose acting in Fences is second to none.

Overall, I was impressed by the cinematography. The beauti-ful seaside homes and represen-tation of everyday life shown in the movie were subtle but power-ful. Upon reflection, I especially enjoyed the juxtaposition of the calm seaside and hectic and tu-multuous film.

I would recommend this movie for those who enjoy a film with relatable and well-portrayed characters as well as lots of emo-tion. However, if I were to recom-mend any 2017 Oscar-nominated movie to watch, this film would not be my first choice.

Artists from all around the world, like Ai Weiwei and Shep-ard Fairey, have used their artis-tic talents as a form of protest and activism. Ai Weiwei, a Chinese contemporary artist and activist, uses his art to critique the Chinese Government's stance on democ-racy and human rights. With his 2013 album, “The Divine Com-edy,” he uses influences from pop, heavy metal, and punk to protest against the Chinese political cli-mate. Shepard Fairey, an Ameri-can contemporary street artist who painted the 2008 presidential cam-paign posters of Barack Obama, “Hope”, as of Trump’s inaugura-tion produced a new set of three posters depicting Muslim, Latino, and African American women. These images are a part of a po-litical campaign called “We the People,” which describes itself as a “art machine for social change.” In an interview with CNN, Fairey said, "We thought [they] were the three groups that had been maybe criticized by Trump.” Fairey hopes

In the upcoming years, as a community we will be faced with trying times and throughout these times it is important to find platforms to express your views.

The Venus Fly Trap by Mai-Han Nguyen

The Augur Bit 9May 2017

Identity Show Cont.

by abby brickman and mica maltzman

by revati mahurkar

that his images will raise aware-ness and shed a light onto the neg-ative impact the new president is having on our country.

While Fairey and Weiwei have received international rec-ognition for their work, “very little protest art makes it into the muse-ums,” says ceramics teacher Nick Ryan. “Shepard Fairey is an es-tablished name...but the major-ity of them, they do their art and then they move on, either to an-other political movement, or they evolve so they’re no longer polit-ical and they just make art, and they’re not necessarily recognized for what they did. So it’s kind of a selfless act that they do that.” Loving adds that the nature of the work is to be unrecognized. “I still think protest art is underground and renegade, because it’s func-tional art….There’s always a dan-ger between artists making things that are collectibles, but they don’t necessarily serve a purpose. So right now, it’s still pretty rene-gade, and that’s why you don’t know a lot of these artists.”

The abundant supply of re-cent protest art has been aided such by digital platforms and the internet. “Digital art is now a major part of protest art,” says Ryan. “Before, silkscreening was a very big way of making

protest art because you could make quick multiple images. Now, you can do that all on a computer digitally.”

Within the GDS commu-nity, artists have taken to creat-ing pieces of protest art. “Kids come in [the art studio] all the time when there’s a protest and then they make signs and then they go out and use them. So they are expressing their sentiments vi-sually and verbally,” says Lov-ing. In the recent identity show, students created pieces that had “political overtones or under-tones,” tackling such issues as ra-cial, gender, religious, and sexual identity, all of which have recently been topics of discussion. Lov-ing says that he wants to continue the idea of protest art and intro-duce it to his curricula next year. “I’m thinking about for the fall, doing a project where we research certain trends or movements that are protest-worthy.” The project would involve students creating a sign that featured an issue they cared about.

In the upcoming years, as a community we will be faced with trying times and throughout these times it is important to find plat-forms to express your views. We encourage students to find ways to voice their opinions whether that be through protest art or day to day conversations.

Protest Art Cont.From Page 8

Mai-Han Nguyen has spent a majority of her high school ca-reer in the GDS art gallery. As a senior, this is Nguyen’s last chance to participate in the Identity Show. She took her natural artistic tal-ent above and beyond her already sophisticated style when she cre-ated her final piece, “The Venus Fly Trap,” which portrays a nude figure that Nguyen mentioned was outside of her comfort zone. “When I was younger, I was a very soft-spoken and shy person and part of that was due to the culture inside my house. In a lot of Asian cultures, women are expected to be very obedient and submissive. There was definitely a cultural dif-ference between the environment at my house and at school. So I wasn’t really sure how to act.” Ex-plained Nguyen ‘17. She described her piece as portraying a naked woman with the venus fly trap plant coming out of her mouth. The work was made from oil paint and ink. Nguyen described the ink as “uncontrollable” -- a charac-teristic she connects to her own identity. She explained that “the human body acts as a container for this huge voice and person-ality.” Nguyen has dedicated her life to her art and this dedication is clearly shown through her pieces. She expressed that “becoming an artist is a gamble. Freshman year, I had to figure out if I wanted to pursue art no matter what happens. It’s not a decision that is obvious but it’s these little decisions that make up your life."

From Page 8

Throughout the halls of GDS, you may not realize that some of the teachers have hidden talents and are highly accomplished in the art world. Two of these teachers are found in the science department.

One teacher is the bot-any-and-biology-loving Bill George. While you might be fa-miliar with his love of natural selection, you might not know that he was almost selected for a highly prestigious award him-self. George was nominated for a Tony award in education: a spe-cial award for educators who have inspired actors and directors to do what they love. Leigh Silverman, current Broadway director and GDS alumna, nominated George. Silverman performed in the GDS production of “Anne of the Thou-sand Days,” directed by George. Besides directing, George com-mits to his love of performing arts through singing.

George’s passion for singing is obvious; he has been in almost every choir in DC and has sung for the Pope as well as Ronald Reagan . This passion is carried through everything he does, and he is happy he chose both teaching and singing. “I have had two won-derful experiences,” he says, “I am teacher by day, singer by night.”

You may encounter another talented artist in GDS’s science department-- Greg Dallinger. While it is common knowledge that Dallinger is a gifted chemis-try teacher, he is a gifted dancer as well. When he was ten, he par-ticipated in a summer theatre pro-gram that sparked his interest in

Hidden Talents in the Science Department

A Jolly Holiday!

dance. This interest soon became a passion and when he was four-teen he took a risk and auditioned for The Nutcracker with Indianap-olis’s professional ballet company. Dallinger was cast and traveled across the country performing. By the time Dallinger was a junior in high school, ballet was becoming more of a full time commitment, making it difficult to balance ac-ademics and dance.

As Dallinger described, “as much as I fell in love with dance, I fell in love with chemistry as well.” He chose to step back from his rigorous ballet classes and joined his high school’s dance team. By joining, he became the first male member of a high school dance team in Indiana. He gained recognition in the dance compe-tition world and helped lead his team to win third place in the state, advancing his team to nationals. Dallinger’s dance career contin-ued into college as he performed on College of Wooster’s dance team during basketball games. Al-though Dallinger never became a professional dancer, his years in dance influence his teaching to-day. Dallinger explained that per-forming in front of large crowds makes him less nervous to teach in front of his classes and that dance made him more confident in how he carries himself.

Both George and Dallinger have great passion for the arts, but chose to become science teach-ers instead, for they had an even greater love for teaching. If you have a strong dedication to the arts, George recommends taking the plunge. “It is not an easy ca-reer choice,” he says “but if your passion is there then take the risk.”

This year’s spring musical, Mary Poppins, featuring Katie Abramowitz ‘17 as Mary and Alex Carnot ‘19 as Bert is go-ing to be a great show. The tech crew will definitely have their work cut out for them. “It’s a show with a lot of different loca-tions,” explained director Laura Rosberg. “Even just within a house there’s a kitchen, a par-lor, a study, a bedroom, a roof-top.... but then there’s also a park and a shop in the park and on and on and on”. For a show with so many locations, the tech crew will use many projections as well as a single unit set. Fur-thermore, the magical aspect of the show gives the tech crew an extremely fun job as well—mak-ing the cast fly.

“We are working with a company called Flying by Foy, and they fly everybody,” director Laura Rosberg informed. “They flew Mary Poppins on Broadway, they flew Spiderman…they send people in, help set up the rigging, then train both the people who fly and the people who fly them. It’s very exciting.” Depending on how brave the actors are, they might even get trained to somer-sault in the air. Actors aren’t the only ones who have to get used to flying; theatre technicians will have to maneuver tricky ropes to hold performers in place-- some-times ten feet above the ground.

The show will include a lot of complex and visually stimulating costume, hair, and

makeup design. “[The design-ers] are going into this very goth, romantic thing that’s very dark and dreary like London in the pe-riod and Mary makes it magical and colorful and full of light,” Laura continued. Costumes and makeup are working on a lot a contrast for the show. Dark col-ors versus light colors will tell the audience about the magic and wonder that Mary brings into the world.

Since early February, the cast members (both new and returning) have been working en-thusiastically on the show. “I’m really excited to get to know my peers and make new friend-ships,” said Christina Zaki ‘20, who is interested in learning from the senior actors this sea-son. Returning actors also share excitement for the upcoming show. “I’m very excited for all the dance numbers and to work with Maria, Laura, and Ben and to put on such a big show,” said Shira Minsk ‘19

Mary Poppins will feature many dance numbers with big groups of performers. The cast looks forward to sharing their hard work at the end of April. The show will have evening per-formances on the 21st, the 22nd, the 27th, and the 28th and will perform two matinees on the 22nd and the 23rd. Additional information can be found online on the GDS website’s perform-ing arts page. You won’t want to miss out on this Jolly Holi-day at GDS!

Mary Poppins at GDS

The Augur Bit10 May 2017

spOrts

Super Skater Boy

For decades, Georgetown Day School has churned out well-rounded, academically ca-pable, high-caliber athletes, but the school has never produced an Olympian. That may soon change. World-class speedskater and GDS senior Conor McDer-mott-Mostowy is eyeing the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, and he is well on his way to securing a spot on the U.S. team. He has already qualified for the upcom-ing Olympic Trials, and if he per-forms well enough, he might even snag a slot on the next Olympic squad, which will hit the ice in Pyeongchang in 2018. He humbly concedes that making the roster this time around is something of a pipe dream, but if his meteoric ascent over the past few years is any indication, the Beijing Games seem well within reach. It would be unimaginably exciting to watch a Hopper square off against the world’s best on national televi-sion.

As a child, McDer-mott-Mostowy was generally ea-ger and active. Baseball, his first sport,