January 2017

January 2017 lightningboltonline.com

20402 Newport Coast Drive, Newport Coast, CA 92657 www.issuu.com/shsbolt @theboltonline

Volume 17, Issue 6 www.facebook.com/sagehillschool

Native Guard: Guarding the Past, Present and Future

By Daniel Fishman 19fishmand.publications@gmail.com

Bringing nationally acclaimed plays to campus doesn’t happen every day. But when they come, they leave a mark that forever changes the community.

Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey, U.S. Poet Laureate, reenacts a Pulitzer Prize-winning book that all students were required to read over the summer.

Mary Robinson, an essential member of the Sage Center and Sage Hill Arts Dept., recalled the collection of poetry, Native Guard, as “the story of “[Natasha’s] childhood growing up in the Deep South in the 60s during the Civil Rights Movement and all of the racial tensions and questioning that came up for her as a child.”

Facing prejudice and discrimination from both black and white people because her mother was black and her father was white, Natasha lived her childhood isolated from two already separated communities altogether.

Later, Robinson commented that after a divorce and remarriage, Natasha’s “step-father ended up murdering her mother.

When her mother died, she didn’t know what to put, how to memorialize her, on her tombstone. She had a half-brother from her mother’s remarriage who shared [her] last name, but she didn’t want to [use] that name because the man had killed her mom.

But she also didn’t want to put ‘Trethewey,’ her last name, as it would have taken something away from her step-brother. So, they left it blank. [Natasha] really went through a lot of pain and grief about how it’s not right to leave it blank, but until [she figured] out about what [was] right [she was] going to wait on it.”

Just a few years later, Trethewey started to write a piece about all the black troops who fought in the Civil War as the Native Guard who were never memorialized.

She remembered all the poems she had written about her mother and decided to combine both collections to memorialize both the Native Guard and her mother. The show began and is typically performed at the worldrenowned Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.

At every show, audience members write something, someone, or an event that they wish to memorialize on a piece of paper, just as Natasha did with her mother and the Native Guard.

Students and audience members participated in this tradition by writing memory tags for the wall of the show and to become part of the family of memory tags for all future productions.

Robinson noted that “it’s a gift for the audience to have the opportunity to memorialize something that they didn’t even realize they would have the opportunity to do. It takes courage to add your significant person or event to this memory wall, but it is also an honor to have the opportunity.”

The collection of poems along with its backstory have a deeper meaning that must be understood and cherished by all audiences alike. The first act was a recitation of poetry accompanied by music and photography.

The second act of the show was a talkback with the cast and audience members discussing the problems and challenges brought up during the play and brainstorming ways to move forward.

Robinson highlighted that “coming to the show with wonder and openness after reading the poetry will help [the audience] discover it in a new way or have a new experience with the poetry because of all the different elements that back it up in production.”

The lighting, backdrop, scenery and audience all enhanced the ways in which the poetry was delivered. The lead actress, January LaVoy, has been best friends with Robinson for 15 years and, upon receiving the role, gave Robinson the book and inspired her to bring the production here.

“This show broke box office records at the Alliance, one of the nation’s top theaters. It’s a big deal, and we’re a high school,” Robinson said. “I can’t think of a high school who is producing with a professional theater like we are.”

After spending nearly 10 months preparing for the show, Robinson was exceedingly pleased with the performance and is thankful to Danae Howe, the rest of the Sage Center team and the Performing Arts Dept. for its support and help producing the show. South Coast Repertory’s artistic directors and staff along with The Geffen came to

see the show at Sage Hill.

Robinson hoped that people would “open up and discuss what’s important to them, whether it’s about race, religion, inequality, privilege or hotbutton words that have come up on our campus before. The piece may bring that up, and [she hopes] we all embrace it and see it as an opportunity rather than thinking about solely being politically correct or not. [She] really [hopes] we take it as an opportunity to discuss, learn and grow from it together.”

The production has reached out to many areas of our community, and the truth stretches far beyond campus boundaries.

Viewers come to face the reality of what life was like and in some places of our greater community, what life still is.

“I am grateful to our students and faculty for having the courage to participate and join the broader conversation,” Robinson said.

More important than the show itself, however, is how each person takes it in and responds to the production. Every time we remember what makes us who we are or think about the past and how we can change the future, we are memorializing our own Native Guard.

Krystal Gallegos

Book-in-Common Presentation. Lead actress, January LaVoy represents the speaker of a poem from Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey.

Krystal Gallegos

Poetic Liberty. A professional actor, portraying a Union soldier, gestures to the audience while performing a poem from Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard.

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The Bolt Sage Hill School January 2017

EDITORIAL

Fake News Isn’t Real Journalism Accountability “It keeps us honest, it makes us work harder” - Barack Obama

Did you hear that next year’s schedule will include Wednesday schedules everyday? Did you know students will now also be required to carry a hall pass at all times and will be forced to study in the library during their free block? And FLIK prices are being raised to $10 an entree?

You probably didn’t hear any of this.

That’s because none of it is true.

Free speech and especially freedom of the press has never been more important than today. After what could generously be called a tumultuous election cycle, President Donald J. Trump has said that he wants to “open up our libel laws” in order to allow him to more easily sue news outlets, like The New York Times and The Washington Post for writing “purposely negative and horrible articles.”

It is our duty as journalists to report news, even if it can be seen as negative or horrible. However, there is a difference between being critical and being fake.

Throughout this election cycle, we’ve been exposed to a concept that isn’t necessarily new, but has a newfound impact on society and politics in particular: fake news.

Fake news sites can often mimic the logo and image of real news sites which fools readers, particularly on social media, into believing the information is true.

Because of social media, fake news circulates easily, with people just reading headlines and not fact-checking the information or verifying the reliability of the source.

The fault lies with the media. It’s the media’s responsibility to prioritize report-

T

ing real news over profiting from misinformation.

Fake news has real consequences as it impacted this election. By election day, there was more Facebook activity on fake news stories than on mainstream ones, according to Buzzfeed.

Lily Humphrey

Fake news sites managed to spread the incorrect news that Pope Francis had endorsed Trump to 960,000 people and that Clinton sold weapons to ISIS to 789,000 people on Facebook alone. While it is impossible to say whether this changed the election results, there are nearly a million people in the country who believe something about our president that isn’t true.

Fake news isn’t real journalism, but challenging authority and being skepti-

the

he Bolt, published seven times a year, is a student newspaper and serves the public forum at Sage Hill School. Its content - news, editorial, opinion and feature - is protected by Education Code 48907, the state student rights law and the California Constitution which guarantees all citizens the right of freedom of speech and of the press. The Bolt accepts signed letters to the editor from members of the Sage Hill Community which may be posted as comments to our website, lightningboltonlilne.com, or addressed to editor-in-chief Vale Lewis and put in her mailbox on campus. These letters may not exceed 150 words or they wil be edited for inclusion.

Editors-in-Chief

Vale Lewis, Stephanie Min, Claire Lin and Tommy Lee Associate Editors

Christina Acevedo, Niva Razin and Catharine Malzahn Adviser

Konnie Krislock

cal is. The press is often referred to as the fourth branch of government as it provides a system of checks and balances for the three existing branches.

Going forward, it is important for the media to reevaluate its priorities, and for citizens to challenge media bias.

The media may be a check on the government, but the people are a check on the media.

In his final press conference, President Obama said to the press, “You’re not supposed to be complimentary, but you’re supposed to cast a critical eye on folks who hold enormous power and make sure that we are accountable to the people who sent us here…. It keeps us honest, it makes us work harder….”

For the next four years, the press will be one of the groups challenged by the new administration, but free press is essential to any democracy, and it is imperative that the media continues to be critical of any person in power to hold them accountable for what they say and do.

People in power shouldn’t get away with lies or corruption because of their position, and it’s the media’s responsibility to make sure they don’t.

By abiding by EdCode 48907, Sage guarantees freedom of speech for high school journalists, so as a staff, we strive to the same goals as the national media. We strive to be critical, but fair, and to challenge the community, while also being a voice for students.

We will continue to report the news without embellishment and be dedicated to maintaining journalistic integrity.

Bolt Yuna Baek Halah Biviji Alessia Bothorel Jonathan Chance Jamie Dailey Karli Davis Emma Dickerson Amanda Duong Julia Dupuis Sahar Emtiaz Jo Farkas Daniel Fishman Lauren Fishman Lynn Fong

Jerry Fu Krystal Gallegos Genesis Gonzalez Karina Grover Madison Harris-Weiner Lauren Hausman Richard Horn Lily Humphrey Michelle Hung Sarah Kim Jennifer King Trevor Klein Olivia Lowe Sarah Lowey

Abby McGuire Monis Mohiuddin Isabella Mora Stephanie Morris Rowan Oliphant Ishani Patel Sahar Rohani Emma Ruck Brett Super Amani Tarsadia Peyton Webb Hannah Woodworth Jessica Yang

NEWS

Author Relives Mixed-Race Childhood in Modern Poetry U.S. Poet Laureate Honors a Little-Known History of Black Civil War Soldiers

By Hannah Woodworth

19woodworth.publications@gmail.com

This year’s book-incommon, Native Guard, was reawakened when author Natasha Trethewey visited campus. Trethewey, winner of a Pulitzer Prize and a two-time United States Poet Laureate, is the daughter of a black mother and white father who illegally married in the1960s, giving her work a unique perspective of the racial issues she faced throughout her childhood in Mississippi.

Utilizing the long weekend from Jan. 13-16, Trethewey spoke directly to the community and offered master classes; both oversaw and contributed to an incredible production of the book.

When speaking directly to the community, she utilized anecdotal evidence to describe her connections with the underlying issues throughout and after the Civil Rights Movement.After the assembly, she had an lunch

mother. One day, she was playing on the playground with two of the few white kids in her class. The two little girls went to either side of Trethewey and squeezed her hands, saying ‘now we have three of us in this class.”

Trethewey, in that moment, chose not to tell the girls that she was truly African American. Looking back she stated, “life is about getting over the initial shame of doing things like that.”

The discussion continued as students shared their difficulties as people of color.

Junior Taylor Garcia added to the conversation, as a student of mixed race, explaining how she felt like a “genetic accident.”

She also explains the differences between how her and her siblings live simply due to the color of her skin. Not having the physical traits that represent her life and her culture, she questioned, “What would happen if I didn’t have my mother to remind me of

krystal gallegos

with the Sage Hill Poetry Club, where they discussed how racism is evolving and still affecting people today.

During the conversation, Trethewey reminisced on a childhood memory of when she went to an elementary school with predominantly black students. As a person of mixed race, her skin happened to be very light despite having an African American

where I come from?”

Members of Poetry Club Miles Wilson and Capri Campeau closed the conversation by explaining the differences between open racism and silent racism. Throughout the lunch, Trethewey guided the conversation in interesting directions, giving the up-andcoming poets a unique and special opportunity. Additionally, she was able to empa-

thize with students in the room also facing an identity crisis due to their race, showing emotional support as a successful and well-respected role model.

That afternoon, the first production of Native Guard took place in the Black Box Theater. This production added an entirely new side to the book as this visual experience became interactive, allowing the audience to become part of the show.

In its West Coast premiere, the show’s first act involved music and poetry, while the second act consisted of a discussion between the audience and cast. In that evening’s performance, Trethewey participated in the conversation, offering an exclusive opportunity to that audience.

“Native Guard is a wonderfully-done piece. I am especially impressed with the combination of poetry with acting, music and visuals. The blending of artistic elements provide for an interesting show, while keeping the emphasis on the poems and emotions,” junior Ashton Carroll said.

“I think it is really interesting to listen and engage in the discussion at the end of the Native Guard show,” senior Julia Lowe said.

“Many people in the audience [felt] comfortable sharing their own unsuspected histories with everyone else because of how personal and honest Trethewey’s poems present themselves, and that is really interesting to listen to.”

Adding to Trethewey’s time on campus, it is fitting that January is also the opening of the Sage Center, which helps incorporate the 6 C’s into all areas of the community to promote a diverse and inclusive environment.

Students look forward to the establishment of the center and to seeing how it helps the overall community.

The Bolt Sage Hill School January 2017

What Do We Know About Sage Center?

“I don’t know what the Sage Center is and what its purpose is.

All I know is that a lot of our tuition is going towards this program. I think the faculty involved in the Sage Center are really great, I just don’t know what the Sage Center is for.”

Maya Jaffe, 10 “I don’t know much about the Sage Center other than what they told us at the presentation. I know that it has many different aspects going towards the student experience and wants to know how to optimize that experience.”

Kelly Lester, 10 “I feel that Sage Hill students have a lack of exposure to the Sage Center despite the reputable nature of many of its facets.”

Karishma Raguram, 10 “I sat through the whole thing and all I got out of it was something to do with integration and diversity within the community.

They just kept repeating certain words.”

Ian Huang, 11 “Sage Center is basically helping the students communicate more with the different aspects of culture at Sage.”

Brian Kim, 11 “I found out they had an office.”

Sydnee Francis, 10 “I don’t really understand what Sage Center does. All that I understand is that Spring at Sage and other groups were all moved under the same roof.”

Noelle Reyna, 12 “I believe the Sage Center is based on the 6 C’s, offering more education to students.”

Camille Hansen, 9 “The Sage Center is about advancements of art and various perspectives of it. It is helpful because it gives people who enjoy art an opportunity to do it better.”

Shreya Chitoori, 9 “I think that it might be sort of an organization that teachers from different programs can come together and work on projects, but other than that I have no idea what it is.”

Dylan Long, 9 “I’m not exactly sure what it is and I had confused it for a building or place of some sort.”

Morgan Bolen, 9 “I don’t understand what the Sage Center is and why we’re spending our time on it. We had an entire presentation that didn’t say exactly what the purpose was or how it’s going to change our school from what it already is. It confuses most of us.”

Juliana Brandt, 11 “I understand that the Sage Center has done and will continue to do incredible work, such as bringing Natasha Trethewey to campus, but I think that they need to be a lot clearer as to what they’re all about. The Town Meeting announcement was ineffective and probably alienating to a lot of students, which is sad, considering what positive change the center is going to be to the community.”

Taylor Garcia, 11 “I don’t really know what it is.”

Austin Liao, 9 “I don’t understand what it does.”

Jeff Xu, 10 “I believe that the Sage Center will advance the interactions of students with the community through the resources that this new program will offer.”

Arielle Hinrichs, 10 “It will give us an opportunity to interact with our teachers and it will allow us to excel with the help of our peers. All in all it allows us to see the idea of teamwork and working as one in action.”

Jared Levine, 11 “Sage Center explains the Sage community and our values as a whole. It will help parents and future students of Sage Hill to explain our values.”

Ben Gil, 11 “I think it’s innovation, but I don’t know that much about it. I think it’s for the students. When I hear Sage Center I hear the 6 C’s.”

Kianna Dominick, 9 “I feel like the Sage Center has been associated more with values than described as an actual place students can go for resources.

I think that it should be explained more precisely so that people can access and benefit from it.”

Naya Gomez, 10

Adults Connect with Campus Diversity Through Café

By Hannah Woodworth

19woodworth.publications@gmail.com

One avenue through which parents can remain connected to Sage is Café, a “diverse and dedicated group of faculty, staff, administrators, parents and board members, exploring issues of diversity, inclusivity, equity

and justice, to ensure that we are living up to our school mission, diversity statement and core values in all areas of campus life,” according to Mindy Aguirre, assistant director for Inclusion and Outreach.

Café members meet four times per year and typically talk about events and topics

that are circulating among students and faculty.

“For instance, we have a meeting coming up and we are going to be talking about how a bunch of students and faculty recently went to the People of Color Conference in Atlanta, so the faculty that went are going to be able to talk about their experience,”

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Aguirre said.

A primary part of that Café meeting will be addressing how to bring the experiences of the conference back to campus. It is very important to share all that was learned with the community, Aguirre said.

Another event that Café members will discuss is the

upcoming Multicultural Symposium. Students speaking at the symposium will go to the next meeting to talk about their plans for the event.

The committee can suggest ideas or use their expertise in diversity, inclusivity, equity and justice to help benefit those students speaking at the event.

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SAGE C

The Bolt Sage Hill School January 2017

What is the

Sage Center?

Connecting the classroom to real world experiences

“The Sage Center team supBy Michelle Hung ports educators as they integrate our core competencies 19hungm.publications@gmail.com throughout the curriculum and student experience, utilizing innovative tools and resources. The Sage Center guides members of our community as they explore their connection to one another and to life beyond the campus, while our students grow into balanced and compassionate global citizens.” - Sage Center Vision The Sage Center... core competencies.... student experience… these are all familiar phrases. And yet... what exactly is the Sage Center?

“I don’t think that’s an actual thing,” said freshman Jake D’Amico.

“Nobody really knows,” said sophomore Brian Dong.

Clearly, there is much confusion on campus about the Sage Center, ever since its official launch during town meeting on January 10.

Put simply, the Sage Center for Innovative Curriculum is a program which aims to teach students how to apply academic content learned in their classrooms to the real world beyond high school.

“I’m intellectually stimulated when I’m in the classroom learning new things, but sometimes I feel that this new knowledge will not be useful when I enter the workforce,” said junior Nicole Condas.

In the midst of studying a mathematical formula or listening to a history lecture, you too have probably asked yourself at some point, “Why do I need to know this?” or “What does this have to do with anything?”

According to Danae Howe, Sage Center director, who came to Sage from the Westridge School in Pasadena, the answer to these questions is more than just “so you can get into college”.

With the launch of the Sage Center, Howe and her team hope to bridge this disconnect between academic curriculum–information you learn in your daily classes–and the real world–life after Sage.

“You’re getting a ton of information from all of your classes, and we’re here to help you develop the skills that you need to apply the knowledge that you’re getting, and sort through it in a way that makes sense,” Howe said.

For some students, the “real world” may seem like an abstract idea, a faraway time and place irrelevant to high school, but the reality is that college is quickly approaching and students need to be prepared to deal with the challenges of living independently and functioning as part of an adult community.

“When you enter the real world, you’re no longer shielded by your family.

You’re in college and you lead an independent life,” said sophomore Charlene Gao. The five signature programs under the umbrella of the Sage Center–Spring at Sage, Service Learning, Wellness Initiatives, Parent Education, and the Sage Hill Internship Program (SHIP)–aim to give students a taste of what the real world is like while equipping them with the skills to succeed in life after high school.

“Most of what I learned from building an electric guitar was about using trial and error to find what things work and what things don’t,” said sophomore Alice Warden, who participated in the Build Your Own Electric Guitar seminar for Spring at Sage last year.

“A lot of the process was centered around following instructions, but sometimes things break or don’t work properly and I had to find a new solution to the problem. These skills are similar to what is involved in conducting lab experiments and looking for the source of an unexpected outcome.”

Spring at Sage, along with the rest of the signature programs, offers unique opportunities for students to apply their classroom knowledge in new settings,

intimately connecting them with diverse cultures and issues of the real world.

Though these programs are all pre-existing, the Sage Center adds more intentionality by identifying a clear vision for the future and working with faculty to implement necessary changes.

Sage Hill’s most recent Strategic Plan, developed in 2014, identifies six Core Competencies (known as the 6 C’s) that students should possess in order to thrive in the real world. These 21st century skills are critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, character and cross-cultural competency. The Sage Center aims to achieve its vision by infusing these Core Competencies throughout all parts of the whole student experience.

Students should expect to see the effects of the Sage Center in all aspects of their daily lives, including academics and athletics, says Howe.

“The collaboration between players in a team sport such as soccer or football, learning to communicate well with teammates, thinking critically about strategy–these are 21st century skills,” she said.

The Sage Center team also works actively with the academic department chairs to incorporate the 6 C’s into curriculum. The impact of the Sage Center on academics can already be seen in Stephen Schumacher’s AP World History classes, who were asked to characterize and compare two periods of history based on three of the 6 C’s for the midterm final essay.

In addition, the Sage Center is also responsible for overseeing various efforts aimed at community building, including last November’s community dialogue and recent activities related to the Book in Common.

Though the Book in Common and the Native Guard performance were decided upon before the introduction of the Sage Center, “the topics involved in Native Guard are very much connected to our commitment to diversity and inclusion, equity and justice,” according to Howe.

The Sage Center is currently financed through the operations budget of the school, which is a combination of tuition dollars and annual fund support.

“The school is all-in when it comes to the Sage Center and the purpose of the future fundraising initiative is to insure the Sage Center is part of the life of the School in perpetuity,” Howe said.

“To date we have raised $1 million of a $5 million goal to endow the program which will make sure that future generations will get to experience the great work that the Sage Center will lead.”

Though the Sage Center does have an office–located in room H214–it is not so much a physical place than a school-wide effort to integrate the 6 C’s throughout the signature programs and the entire student experience.

Communication

Character

Critical Thinkin

Our founders envisioned a Sage Hill School education to be about much more than just filling students’ brains with loads of information and sending them off to college. As expressed in our mission statement, the leadership of Sage aims to equip students with the tools to become successful, productive citizens once they graduate Sage and enter the “real world” of employment, real estate, and taxes.

This sincere dedication to the long term growth and betterment of students is what makes Sage Hill unique, even among other independent schools.

The goal of the Sage Center for Innovative Curriculum is to further Sage’s mission statement by teaching students the skills to thrive in a 21st century world.

Howe and her team hope to give students sense of continuation of their high school education, guide them in developing the skills needed to become capable and confident members of the workforce, and inspire them to become innovators who can change the world.

Collaboration

Cross-Cultura Competency

Creativity

Learning to Serve

By Karli Davis

19davisk.publications@gmail.com

Artwork by Lily Humphrey

If you would like to read more about the Sage Center, visit lightningboltonline.com

“Our Service Learning program is one of the primary opportunities our students have to connect with the greater Orange County community,” Mindy Aguirre, Sage Center assistant director for inclusion and outreach said.

The Service Learning program contributes to the vision of the Sage Center by teaching students to apply what they are learning in the classroom through handson experiences in the real world.

In the ninth grade program, the students from El Sol and EBC come to Sage and work on a kite project throughout the year.

The tenth grade program includes the students going to El Sol, EBC and Scholarship Prep (new this year).

Each visit they get to create a unique lesson plan and teach them how to write essays to develop their leadership, collaboration and creativity skills.

“This year, I feel like the program is more independent because we get to choose the activities we do with the kids.

I feel like we are giving them a more personal experience,” sophomore Charlotte Cohen said.

“I also like getting the chance to go to their school, El Sol, once a month so I can better appreciate where they come from.”

A new addition to Service Learning this year is that the juniors are now able to join a faculty-led project.

These projects were created so that students will be able to connect their Service Learning project with something they are interested in and learning in school.

“For example, Tanya Lerch’s 3D prosthetic hand project connects to our robotics program and math and science curriculum and Dr. Vivo and Dr. Haney are working with students to serve nearby marine environments through conservation efforts and marine research,” Aguirre said.

Lerch’s 3D prosthetic hand project and Chris Vivo and Todd Haney’s environmental conservation project both promote creativity, collaboration and critical thinking, and all projects better the community.

The purpose of Service Learning is to make a difference in our community and it is an excellent program included in the Sage Center.

CENTER

The Bolt Sage Hill School January 2017

Jobs, InternSHIPs

Since its launch four years ago, the Sage Hill Internship Program has been a great success as several hundred students have been matched 19harrisweinerm.publications@gmail.com with internships that explore their passions, and it has guided many to fields that fit them perfectly or, on the other hand, guided some away from jobs that just aren’t right for them.

“Many have chosen their college majors and careers based on their experiences. Importantly, others have ruled out certain fields after realizing from first-hand experience it is not the right profession for them,” Pitassi said.

From a student’s perspective, SHIP gives a genuine preview of what working life involves and helps to ease fears of the unknown future. “It is a great program that shows students how to face the challenge of the real world,” sophomore Ariana Dominick said. “Even if you don’t intern at your favorite place, you will still learn a lot of important skills that can be used in any job or other internship.”

Pitassi is certain that by integrating SHIP into the Sage Center along with the other programs it “will be given the attention it needs to be developed into a true signature program that the majority of our students participate in, much like Spring at Sage and Service Learning.”

“The Sage Center is focusing on how to integrate the 6 C’s into all aspects of the school and the 6 C’s are really a set of 21st century skills that employers are looking for in their employees,” Pitassi explained.

SHIP puts this set of skills, as outlined in the Cs, to action by supplying students with real life experiences that put the 6 C’s into practice.

By Madison Harris-Weiner

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Springtime Events

The goal of the Sage Center is to connect the classroom to the outside world. Spring at Sage is a great

By Michelle Hung opportunity to make these connections and create 19hungm.publications@gmail.com real world experiences.

“For example, if the Marine Biology class has been studying manatees all year, that class should travel together to Florida to study manatees in person,” Bethany Pitassi, assistant director for global outreach, said.

This year, Pitassi is adding journal writing to the program to go along with her Spring at Sage theme of “zooming out.”

“Last year I went to Alaska for Spring at Sage. I didn’t know what to expect, but it ended up being an eye-opening experience,” sophomore Eliza Feffer said. “I saw so much beautiful scenery, but I also learned about the Iñupiaq culture. I think that keeping a journal will add to the Spring at Sage experience this year because it will allow students to reflect on their trip or seminar. It is also fun to have your memories written down so you can read them later!”

Many students had different opinions on the new addition of journal writing. Some students, such as Eliza Feffer think it will add to their Spring at Sage experience, whereas others are more uncertain.

“This year I’m going to Italy for Spring at Sage! I’m so excited for this experience because I have always thought that Italian culture is super fun and intriguing!” sophomore Kelly Lester said. “I think that the journals might take away from the overall experience if we are expected to write an extensive amount, but in the long run I think it will help me remember the trip and appreciate it more.”

This year, whether students choose to practice their Spanish skills by traveling to Argentina, delve deeper into their knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement by visiting the American South or boost their creativity by writing a pilot screenplay, they will hopefully emerge with a widened perspective of the world’s diverse cultures and people.

Juniors, Seniors Can Take Online Classes

By Michelle Hung

19hungm.publications@gmail.com

Next year, juniors and seniors will have the opportunity to supplement their on-campus experience with a full year of course credit from Sage Connected, an innovative learning model which combines customized online material with frequent in-person meetings occurring outside of the typical school day.

“We’re looking at a new model for students and teachers that might work better for certain types of learners and certain subjects,” said Chris Irwin, dean of academic technology.

Sage Connected classes will utilize frequent short meetings in which students will give updates on their progress and teachers will give them advice on how to proceed and point them to helpful resources.

The time students spend face-to-face with teachers will be “primarily focused not on delivering content but rather looking at ‘OK, what were you working on since last time I saw you and where did you get stuck, how can we help you get this road block out of your way so you can do the next step,” Irwin said.

He compared this type of learning to a coaching model students might experience on their sports teams. “[As an instructor], I’ll be

more like your tennis coach than your physics teacher in that I can look at you play and identify which drill you need to do right now, and the type of practice you need to have,” he explained.

Content-wise, instructors will have a lot of choice in how to structure their classes, depending on what content delivery methods work best for their particular students and subject matter.

Some resources for students may include video lectures, textbooks, online conferences and various online sites.

Though the idea of hybrid online-classroom courses throughout the school year is relatively novel at Sage, the Sage Connected program has existed since 2013 in the form of summer courses, combining a flexible online learning environment with periodic campus visits for assessments and group work.

“The summer Sage Connected was really important just to see, as a school, whether different types of content delivery worked for our students,” Irwin said.

“We did a pilot program and saw, OK, how do teachers and students feel about this, and also how do they track?” he explained.

“After someone takes a Sage Connected summer math course, for instance, do they feel like they have the knowledge and background to be successful when they go on in their math curricu-

lum? Do they feel like they are on the same level as their peers who had the traditional summer school class?” he said.

Some students felt confident that the Sage Connected summer courses prepared them adequately for the following school year.

“Taking the [Sage Connected geometry] course has helped me as a lot of it was still fresh in my mind when I started the next level,” said sophomore Hamza Simjee.

On the other hand, others expressed more negative feelings about their Sage Connected summer experience.

“I’m having to spend months playing catch-up with outside school tutoring [because] one cannot [successfully] compress 10 months of involved in-depth learning into 5 weeks of homework and review,” reflected sophomore Isabella Mora, who took the Algebra 2 Sage Connected course last summer.

“I’m done experimenting with shortened or altered courses–I prefer the long term traditional school year… I’m sure this type of class works for other students, but I do hope learning at Sage doesn’t become all about watching lessons on a computer– that’s just sad,” she continued.

The initiative to expand Sage Connected into the school year aims to change the way students and teachers interact in order to achieve a greater element of

independence and personalized instruction for students.

“We thought, what’s the best part of this online program? It’s not that it’s online–it’s that you can go your own pace as a student, it’s that the instruction ends up being very individualized,” said Irwin.

Irwin is working closely with Matt Balossi, dean of faculty, Patricia Merz, head of school and Danae Howe, Sage Center director, to make Sage Connected a reality.

Irwin credits Merz with the initial innovation and vision behind Sage Connected. He and Derek Carlson, chair of the mathematics department, who taught the first two Sage Connected summer courses four years ago, each plan to teach a Sage Connected class during the 2017-2018 school year.

Irwin will teach Physics, a non-AP course designed for sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are interested in learning introductory physics. Carlson will bring back the Financial Literacy course, which was offered in previous years and is a favorite among many Sage alumni.

Several other courses are also on the horizon for the 2018-2019 school year. Faculty interested in instructing a Sage Connected class recently submitted applications, which are currently being reviewed.

Next year, 11th and 12th

grade students may take a Sage Connected class as a 6th or 7th class supplementing their regular course load. Instructors will meet with students during a zero period (7:35-7:55 AM) at least 3 times a week. Students may only take on Sage Connected course in an academic year, and receive a full year of credit upon completing that course.

Though Sage Connected is not under the Sage Center umbrella, it is certainly an innovative model of education (the full name of the Sage Center is the Sage Center for Innovative Curriculum) and will be working alongside the Sage Center to infuse the 6 C’s throughout academic curriculum.

As part of the application process to teach a Sage Connected course, teachers are expected to be able to articulate how they plan to incorporate the 6 C’s into their class in a way that is “authentic and meaningful to them and their students,” said Irwin.

“The last thing we want is to have those core competencies–which we believe are really important to you and your future–to feel like something that we stuck on to the end of the physics curriculum just because,” he said.

The Sage Center will serve as a valuable thought-partner for teachers to explore ways to adapt their class to fit a Sage Connected model.

6

The Bolt Sage Hill School January 2017

OPINION

Don’t Forget: White Women Voted for Trump

The Problem of White Feminism at Post-Inauguration Marches

By Julia Dupuis

17dupuisj.publications@gmail.com

On Jan. 21, millions of people from all over the world united to march in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

With chants like “Not My President” and “No Justice, No Peace,” these marches aim to be a message to the new administration that many Americans plan to press the issue of women’s rights over the next four years.

Beneath the thrill of a broad-minded demonstration, with pink pussy hats and colorful signs, the Women’s March doesn’t come without flaws.

We can’t forget that one of the reasons Trump became president in the first place is because 53 percent of white women didn’t stand up for other women.

For some women of color, the march feels like a show of solidarity that has come too late.

It raises the question: if we had elected Hillary Clinton, how many of the white women who marched on Saturday would still feel as though there was anything about America worth protesting?

It’s important to examine the role of white women in the issue, and hold ourselves accountable for the ways we might be perpetuating an exclusionary brand of feminism.

For example, many celebrated the fact that no arrests were made during the Women’s March.

While it’s a success that people have safely exercised their right to protest, it’s important to acknowledge the fact that the outcome would likely not have been the same if the march had been mostly attended by women of color.

In today’s context, a group of mostly white women wearing pink knitted hats and waving around uterus puppets are simply not seen as threats to the same extent as women of color.

This isn’t about dividing feminism or pointing fingers.

White women shouldn’t feel bad about their activism, and nobody is ignoring the very real oppression that we face—but it’s still necessary to acknowledge that the presence of white women at the march served as a buffer to police.

Of course, it’s undeniable that all women will be affected

by Trump’s presidency, but women of color will bear the worst of his policies.

His stance on heavy policing in communities of color, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the defunding of Planned Parenthood and his anti-immigration policies will largely fall onto the backs of women of color, especially those from low income areas.

“Being Latina is a part of my experience as a woman,” senior Krystal Gallegos said. “I wish more people could have addressed immigrant rights and Latino rights.”

The lives of non-white wom-

en are intersectional by necessity.

In order to make feminism more diverse and inclusive, it’s vital to examine the ways in which our privilege can make other women invisible within the movement.

White feminism doesn’t help liberate those who are not straight, white women.

It’s a brand of feminism that is commodified in mainstream media and creates a “one-sizefits-all” version of activism that ultimately ends up erasing the experiences of women of color.

Even if all women deal with sexism, not all women deal with sexism that is racialized.

White women want to assume that good intentions are enough. We don’t want to dig deeper and recognize that oppression is a complex, multi-faceted experience that our limited view can’t possibly encompass.

“If we’re going to call ourselves feminists, we have to remember that white women are not a representation of all women,” senior Paige Reyna said.

Our activism only exists when it is convenient for us.

We love our safety pins and our pink hats—lazy activism where we can sit in the comfort of our homes and shake our heads in disgust at racism on the news.

We post our anger on social media and call it a day. We leave people of color to fight their own battles.

We only stir when something comes along that affects white women directly. Overturning Roe v. Wade? Taking away birth con-

trol? Grabbing our pussies? Only then do we mobilize and call on women of color to support us.

“This affects you too!” we say. “ See all the memes we posted? The safety pins we’re wearing? We care about you!”

But good intentions don’t excuse our apathy.

If we refuse to explore the discomfort of our own privilege and confront our white fragility, we will never achieve a truly inclusive, intersectional feminist movement.

If we don’t question the ways we are complicit in systems of oppression, we can’t demand

that women of color stand side by side with us in our efforts.

The crowds on Saturday were so large, so radiant with love and dissent, that it sparks a beacon of hope for the next four years under President Trump.

We’ve been silent for long enough.

Now it’s time to listen to marginalized voices, unlearn the things we have been taught, educate ourselves on the roots of white supremacy and the ways in which race informs experiences of feminism.

And now that we’re here, it’s time to get to work.

Pondering the Inconsitency of Beauty Standards Is a brace face a necessity?

By Niva Razin

18razinn.publications@gmail.com

In the midst of my own Invisalign® treatment, I have had many empty hours of orthodontist appointments to ponder the inconsistencies of beauty standards. Here is the result: From ancient Egyptian kohl to 11th century Chinese foot binding to the rise of the modern supermodel in the 90s, it is evident that the pursuit of beauty remains a constant in human history, even if standards of beauty evolve.

In more recent decades, technology has enabled us to achieve physical “beauty” in ways previously unthought of.

We can now enlarge, reduce and rearrange our bodies with

unprecedented manipulation and relative ease.

However, in spite of the widespread knowledge and use of these “beauty enhancement” methods, a dichotomy has developed between those enhance-

ments which are considered too extreme and those considered generally accepted, even expected.

Take braces and cosmetic surgery, for example.

The former represents our

societal expectation that every man, woman and child must have uniform, perfectly aligned teeth.

The latter is often considered a social taboo frequently condemned as being a too extreme, too desperate a leap for beauty.

Although some argue that braces have medical value, they are primarily used cosmetically.

As one website states, “Between 50 percent and 80 percent of children in the United States get braces, but very few cases are considered ‘medically necessary’.”

And, while plastic surgery methods are often criticized as being too invasive, pain subsides approximately two weeks after a rhytidectomy, or facelift surgery.

On the other hand, the aver-

age length of treatment for braces is 24 months, with tightening every 6-8 weeks.

Thus, braces, which are more cosmetic than medical and must be worn longer and involve more periods of pain than cosmetic surgery, are more accepted and commonplace than cosmetic surgery.

So, the question is: why are we ready to label some beauty treatments as self-indulgent and over-the-top while others are customary?

Where and how do we, as a society, draw the line of being ‘in’ and ‘out’ with regards to the pursuit of beauty?

And more pressingly, why do we (feel the need to) get braces, get cosmetic surgery in the first place?

SPORTS

The Bolt Sage Hill School January 2017

From a Local Court

To the

Big Stage Stanford Wins 2016 NCAA Women’s Championship. Thousands of people fill the stands to watch the Stanford Cardinals take on the Minnesota Gophers on Dec. 15, 2016.

Photo courtesy of Halland McKenna

By Jamie Dailey

17daileyj.publications@gmail.com

On the evening of Dec. 15, more than 18,000 people packed the stands of Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, to watch the NCAA volleyball championship.

After leading the dominant Sage Hill volleyball program for her four years here, Halland McKenna, ‘15 helped the Stanford University team take home the National Championship beating the Minnesota Gophers.

“Put winning aside for a second; just being there in the first place was something indescribable,” McKenna said.

“Leading up to the tournament, the older girls and coaches would try to explain what it was like to be in the semifinals and final, but the descriptions couldn’t possibly come close to encapsulating the experience.”

Taking down No. 4 ranked University of Texas at Austin was no small task for defensive specialist McKenna and the Stanford team, who prioritized

staying focused among the excitement of the competition.

“Because of the...activities in Columbus, it would have been extremely easy to get distracted by the production.

However, the older girls and our coaches kept reminding us that we were there for volleyball, the game we play everyday— there was nothing new about it,” McKenna said.

Winning a National Championship clearly took years of perfecting her game, but McKenna isn’t the only Sage community member who had this kind of determination.

Wellness Coordinator Merja Connolly also won the NCAA championship when playing on UCLA’s volleyball team in 1984.

“This match is forever in my memory…,” Connolly said. “The celebration was huge. Of course tears and hugs went on for days.

None of us slept that first night. We celebrated and walked around Westwood.

We all felt really accomplished.”

Being a former National Champion herself, Con-

nolly loved getting the chance to watch McKenna, who posted 10 digs in the final game.

“I felt so happy and smiled the whole time watching Halland dig balls and celebrate rallies by throwing her arms in the air and cheering,” Connolly said.

“I feel very lucky to share this experience with Halland because there are many good teams out there and a little bit of luck comes into play when it all comes together like this.”

Connolly has proudly taken everything she learned playing volleyball at UCLA to her students at Sage.

“Good things happen to students or teams that work hard. The journey is the important part, committing to something, believing in it and sacrificing for it,” Connolly said.

“When you do this, you develop character which will help you off the court, later in life—in relationships, your employment and future challenges.”

Just like Connolly has brought her wisdom as a high-level athlete to her

students at Sage, McKenna attributes much of what she learned about being part of a team to her high school experiences.

“During my time in Sage’s volleyball program, I learned the importance of the team.”

The girls we play with may or may not be our best friends (at Sage they definitely were), but we are teammates,” McKenna said.

“The game is 10 times more special when you embrace every single person on the court and on the bench.”

Winning a National Championship is an experience McKenna will never forget.

“From both Sage and Stanford, I learned that while volleyball is just a game, my coaches and teammates are family,” McKenna said.

“After we won match point, I felt like I had melted right there in the middle of the court; all the hard work and determination had come down to this last point, and we succeeded —there is not a comparable feeling.”

7

BRETT’S BOX

Catch my Drift?

I will take this time to educate many of you on the Coastal California Gnatcatcher, a threatened species that calls the Coastal Sage Scrub habitat its home.

The bird’s existence boggles my mind. It cannot fly more than 30 feet at a time, and there are no gnats to catch in the surrounding area; therefore, neither its classification as a bird nor its name make any logical sense to me.

Regardless of the logic, or lack thereof surrounding the bird, it calls Sage its home.

Even though I harbor an irrational animosity to a bird that has in no way directly impacted me, I still see similarities between it and myself as a Sage Hill student.

For example, I too do not eat gnats or possess the ability to fly more than 30 feet.

On a deeper level, I should not succeed, but because of privileges I have been given, I am thriving in my protected habitat.

However, much like the Coastal California Gnatcatcher things are about to change.

The Coastal California Gnatcatcher has seen its population rise steadily since its addition to the threatened species list, and because of that, potential reforms to the Endangered Species Act could remove it from the list. Meaning it may have to find a life away from sage.

With second semester beginning, the whole senior grade will find themselves in much the same situation.

Here is my message to all the Gnatcatchers that call Sage their home: Seniors, do not spend these last few months hindering the habitat that provided you with countless opportunities; juniors, keep flying from branch to branch in search of the best place to call home; sophomores, keep scavenging for all the seeds you can find, you will need the strength for your longer flights in the future; freshman, keep learning about your environment by trying new berries and branches.

See what Sage can do for you, and see what you can do for Sage.

8

The Bolt Sage Hill School January 2017

BACKPAGE

How do you celebrate?

Lynn Fong

Interesting and Humorous Sage Hill Family Holidays

By Trevor Klein

19kleint.publications@gmail.com

Most of us think of Winter Break as Christmas Break. It is a time for Christmas presents, caroling and the Christmas spirit.

But, what about those who do not celebrate Christmas? What do they do over winter break?

As we all know, there are winter holidays other than Christmas, but most people do not know how and why many less common holidays are celebrated.

There is a broad spectrum of holidays at Sage Hill which are commonly celebrated. These include common ones such as Hanukkah and Chinese New Year, and also less serious holidays like Festivus, derived from the 90’s TV show Seinfeld.

“Hanukkah is based on the Maccabees claiming the Holy Temple,” sophomore Daniel Fishman said when talking about his winter holiday. “Hanukkah was founded before the birth of Jesus and the beginning of Christmas.”

Hanukkah was founded 139 years before the birth of Christ when the rabbis proclaimed that the anniversary of the Maccabees claiming the Holy Temple should be celebrated every year for eight days and nights.

According to Time Magazine, it is likely that Christ was born in September not around

the Winter Solstice. Since Jesus was born Jewish, the timing of Christmas is probably based on Hanukkah and other common winter holidays.

Now, Hanukkah has also incorporated some elements of Christmas, such as gift giving over the eight days.

Most people who do not celebrate Hanukkah do not know about the numerous traditions.

Some of the traditions are the spinning of the dreidel to win chocolate coins, eating potato pancakes called latkes and lighting one of the eight candles of the menorah each night.

Many students celebrate multiple holidays over the break.

“My mom is Jewish and my dad is Christian,” sophomore Jack Strohman said. “Every year we celebrate Hanukkah—two sets of presents, two sets of relatives to see—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Other students celebrate Christmas in a different way than most.

“Día de los Reyes Magos is different from a regular Christmas,” said senior Carlos Orozco who is Mexican American. He celebrates Día de los Reyes Magos, also know as Three Kings Day, with his family.

Día de los Reyes Magos celebrates the Christian epiphany, but for Orozco it is more than just a religious celebration.

“We start off with a party with a lot of food,” Orozco said.

“Then, at the end of the night, [the kids] place [their] shoes at the edge of the bed, and the story is that the Three Kings will come and leave [a gift] in your shoe.”

The Three Kings—Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar—are very much like Santa Claus.

“We leave our Christmas Tree up the whole time, so it is the end of Christmas,” Orozco said.

In Mexican culture, people go to church on Christmas Eve, so Día de los Reyes Magos is very similar to American Christmas as it is the day of gift giving.

“I celebrate Christmas, but I also celebrate Festivus,” sophomore Ashwin Chona said.

Festivus, a once-fictional holiday which protested the commercial aspects of Christmas was founded on the show Seinfeld in December 1997. It turned into a real holiday when fans started celebrating it annually on Dec. 23.

“My friends and I celebrate it on Dec. 23,” Chona explained.

“In the past we had a small celebration consisting of the ‘Airing of Grievances’ and the ‘Feats of Strength’.”

Festivus is celebrated over dinner at the host’s home. During dinner, the guests and host hold an Airing of Grievances.

“As a joke, we tell each other

all the ways we have disappointed each other in the past year, at least, that’s how they did it on the show,” Chona said.

On Seinfeld the ‘Airing of Grievances’ is followed by the ‘Feats of Strength.’

“Originally the ‘Feats of Strength’ were a wrestling match between the host and a guest.

The match continues until the host is pinned to the ground, then Festivus is over,” Chona said. “At my celebration, we usually just arm-wrestle.”

Chona also remarked that instead of a tree, he should have an aluminum pole on display, but he does not actually own a pole, so he just imagines it is there.

On a less humorous note, many students also celebrate holidays after winter break.

“My family celebrates Chinese New Year,” junior Matt King said, “Many people celebrate for two weeks, but we only celebrate the first day and the last.”

This year Chinese New Year begins tomorrow. It is based on the Chinese lunar calendar.

2017 is the year of the rooster.

Those born this year are trustworthy and good with numbers “On the first day, we eat traditional foods like fish and oranges, and the whole family gets together and has a fun time,” King said.

“The last day, the Lantern Festival is my favorite. It is

loud, and there is the well known Dragon Dance, then, to finish it off my family and friends [release floating lanterns] into the air.”

Another New Year celebration, Persian New Year falls in March, on the first day of spring.

“For [Persian] New Year, [my family] celebrates the spring equinox,” freshman Ryan Hosseinzadeh said, “I like celebrating the New Year in spring because everything is blooming, and it feels like the right time to start a new year.”

Persian New Year lasts for 13 days. Inside, Persians set a table with a core seven items relating to nature such as grass and colored eggs. Elders traditionally give children gold coins, but Persian Americans now often give children cash.

Persian and Chinese New Year are similar in that they celebrate new beginnings.

In addition, Hanukkah and Christmas are both derived from the traditional celebrations of the Winter Solstice, dating back to ancient times. The idea behind a winter solstice celebration is to celebrate the end of the worst part of winter, the shortest day of the year and to look forward to warmer, more prosperous times.

These holidays and many others seem to have great cultural differences, but really they all share the one most important aspect: a chance to begin again.