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the <strong>Pebble</strong><br />
May 2016<br />
Dress Code<br />
How to Get Free Stuff<br />
Marketing MPH<br />
Seniors Give Advice<br />
advice<br />
• culture • food • issues • spotlight
Spring 2016<br />
<strong>Issue</strong> 1<br />
editor-in-chief<br />
managing editor<br />
creative directors<br />
designers<br />
photography<br />
staff writers<br />
advisor<br />
HYEMIN HAN<br />
JEONGYOON HAN<br />
SPENCER KRYWY<br />
MADDY RIEKS<br />
SAM GOLDMAN<br />
HYEMIN HAN<br />
SAM GOLDMAN<br />
CHRIS HUNTER<br />
MADDY RIEKS<br />
DANIEL ALBANESE<br />
MAJA CANNAVO<br />
JUSTIN DING<br />
SAM GOLDMAN<br />
LILY GRENIS<br />
CHRISTOPHER HUNTER<br />
SEAMUS MULHERN<br />
SUZANNAH PECKHAM<br />
EMMA PITNICK<br />
JEANNE ALBANESE<br />
Manlius <strong>Pebble</strong> Hill School<br />
5300 Jamesville Road<br />
Syracuse, New York 13214-2499<br />
Phone: (315) 446-2452<br />
thepebblemag@gmail.com<br />
2
ON THE COVERS: Sam Goldman and Maddy<br />
Rieks, photographed by Hyemin Han, edited by<br />
Sam Goldman and Chris Hunter.<br />
Departments<br />
4. Letter from the Editor<br />
5. MPH by the Numbers<br />
6. Spotlight<br />
8. Ask an Alum<br />
10. Advice<br />
12. Selfie<br />
Features<br />
20.<br />
MPH 2.0<br />
By Hyemin Han<br />
Crane Metamarketing rebrands<br />
Manlius <strong>Pebble</strong> Hill.<br />
13. Seen at School<br />
14. Culture<br />
15. Interactive<br />
16. Health & Beauty<br />
22.<br />
26.<br />
Dress to Impress<br />
By Maja Cannavo<br />
<strong>The</strong> evolution of the MPH dress code.<br />
Respect Your Elders<br />
By Sam Goldman<br />
<strong>The</strong> Class of 2016 gives advice to rising seniors.<br />
18. Food<br />
28. <strong>Issue</strong>s<br />
spring 2016 | 3
letter from the editor<br />
4<br />
and it will be given to you.” and re-edited. Every page, from the extra<br />
Out of context, it’s any petulant 1/16th of an inch in the margins to the picture<br />
of Mr. Leclercq in the Dress to Impress<br />
“Ask,<br />
child’s dream. But it’s also the<br />
statement I’ve grown to appreciate at MPH, a feature, was thought out, re-thought out,<br />
school that provides us with the opportunity debated, consulted, laid out and re-laid out.<br />
and support to pursue what we care about, Everything you see and read is a reflection of<br />
even if it means letting go of something that our deliberate decisions, made right up until<br />
we’ve had since 1927. MPH bets on its students;<br />
it certainly bet on us, when we chal-<br />
go to the printer for publication.<br />
the timer ran out and we were forced to let it<br />
lenged to create something wildly new and This kind of devotion is what made this<br />
unproven, while giving up a long-standing, magazine a reality. I’m thankful that this<br />
award-winning tradition.<br />
year’s staff, from the new members to the senior<br />
seniors and Ms. A, were willing to go on<br />
But we asked, and we received.<br />
A magazine format provides versatility in this journey. This issue is what it is because<br />
students’ expression, more so than a newspaper<br />
format could, both in written word and and sometimes conflicting personalities that<br />
of the humorous, sarcastic, bubbly, genuine<br />
hin design and photography. It was difficult make 2<br />
up this year’s class. I can’t recall a more<br />
for <strong>The</strong> Rolling Stone, published quarterly, to fun and meaningful journalism experience<br />
rightly keep its title of a “newspaper,” especially<br />
in today’s instantaneous news culture. I came full circle by shooting Maddy (who’s<br />
than the final photo shoot for the cover, when<br />
Shifting to a biannual magazine would also been on the paper since her freshman year,<br />
allow for different kinds of features and the longest of all of us) for the cover of my final<br />
issue, as I shot her for my first cover story<br />
exposes as well as more creative and pertinent<br />
photography. After 46 volumes (and too for <strong>The</strong> Rolling Stone.<br />
many issues to count) with the same types of As I recall my journalism beginnings at<br />
spreads, we were ready for some text-bending MPH while I approach the end, it’s humbling<br />
layouts and full-bleed pictures.<br />
to know that our magazine contains the<br />
As the apogee of Upper School-wide same determination, effort and thought that<br />
tutorial discussions, one-on-one interviews was put into <strong>The</strong> Rolling Stone. Despite the<br />
and in-class debates, the new format brings change in size, the article topics have not diminished<br />
in seriousness or relevance, and the<br />
with it new content: MPH By the Numbers,<br />
Ask an Alum, Spotlight, Food, <strong>Issue</strong>s and journalistic integrity with which we approach<br />
Interactive. Even the stuff we’ve kept from the our reporting has not relaxed.<br />
newspaper— Advice, Selfie, Culture and Big In other words, everything’s changed,<br />
Picture—are all reimagined.<br />
except for us. This is <strong>The</strong> <strong>Pebble</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se changes were, in part, driven by<br />
you. Though a handful of students started<br />
the conversation and executed the plan, this<br />
publication has its foundation in its audience.<br />
But our process has not changed. Every<br />
story, from the Spotlight of Mr. Z to the<br />
Big Picture on cancer masks, was outlined,<br />
re-outlined, discussed, workshopped, edited
1<br />
“I had not played the banjo before [in<br />
a competition] and I hadn’t played the<br />
banjo in front of a crowd before.”<br />
-Ted Curtis, after he won “Best<br />
Showmanship” at the “Rockin’ the<br />
Redhouse” benefit concert, March 11<br />
at <strong>The</strong> Landmark <strong>The</strong>atre<br />
41<br />
Awards won by the<br />
MPHMUN team this<br />
school year<br />
4<br />
“If the average AP exam score in<br />
my class is a 4... I’ll dye it [my hair]<br />
then I’ll shave it. ”<br />
-Matt Vural’s promise to his AP<br />
Chemistry students<br />
By Justin Ding<br />
MPH BY THE N U M BERS M PH BY THE N U M BE RS<br />
9<br />
MPH former athletes to<br />
be inducted into the MPH<br />
Athletic Hall of Fame on<br />
June 4<br />
31.5<br />
Overdue slips handed out<br />
400<br />
each month<br />
Books checked out per month<br />
42Students to recieve diplomas at<br />
commencement in June<br />
16,874<br />
Books in the library<br />
56<br />
Average bags of<br />
Munchies sold by<br />
the Campus Shop<br />
each week<br />
spring 2016 | 5
spotlight<br />
For Ryan Zlomek, becoming an adult—<br />
going out on his own, getting a job and<br />
buying a house—was inevitable. But<br />
he was determined to stay best friends with<br />
his inner child.<br />
When Zlomek bought his first house in<br />
2013, in addition to considering the quality<br />
of the heating system, the age of the roof,<br />
and the size of the bedrooms, he made sure<br />
his dream house had enough room for the<br />
pinball machines he planned to collect.<br />
“I had all of those things,” said Zlomek,<br />
MPH’s tech teacher. “And then there was a<br />
little footnote on every one that was, ‘Where<br />
on Earth would I put the pinball machine?’”<br />
During a trip to a family friend’s house<br />
when he was 10, Zlomek discovered pinball—which<br />
became his secret to never<br />
having to truly grow up.<br />
“I was like, ‘This is awesome. Adults<br />
can have toys, cool toys—not like bank<br />
accounts—but pinball machines,’” said<br />
Zlomek, 29.<br />
From there, Zlomek’s exposure<br />
to pinball continued to<br />
grow. Some of his most vivid<br />
memories are of going to<br />
arcades with his dad. His<br />
favorite place to play<br />
was Button’s Arcade in<br />
Eastwood. Shortly<br />
after he purchased<br />
Zlomek keeps a machine in his classroom, Sky Kings, which he worked with several MPH<br />
students to repair. Zlomek hopes to put the machine to good use at school.<br />
6
his first home, Zlomek bought his first two<br />
pinball machines from Craigslist and set them<br />
up in his living room. Soon after, he started<br />
playing after coming home from work to decompress.<br />
He now owns 11 machines.<br />
Eventually, he started competing in weekly<br />
tournaments at Trapper’s Pizza Pub in East<br />
Syracuse and Al’s Wine & Whiskey Lounge<br />
downtown. Based on these tournament performances,<br />
Zlomek is ranked among the top 3,000<br />
(out of 40,000 players) in the world.<br />
His highest score is 980 million points on<br />
his own machine, Judge Dredd, which is based<br />
on a British comic book. But a great score<br />
involves more than pushing buttons. Zlomek<br />
said that playing pinball requires interacting<br />
with the machine—bumping, nudging and<br />
adjusting it throughout play.<br />
“If I have a really good run on a machine,”<br />
Zlomek said, “I am physically tired afterwards.”<br />
Now, Zlomek’s goal is to help bring pinball,<br />
which had its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s,<br />
back to life around Central New York with his<br />
new venture called Syracuse PINheads.<br />
With PINheads, he hopes to grow interest<br />
in the game locally through tournaments,<br />
events and seminars. Four of his machines are<br />
currently on loan at Cloud City Comics and<br />
Toys in ShoppingTown Mall for customers to<br />
enjoy.<br />
“My ultimate goal,” Zlomek said, “is to<br />
build a pinball arcade.”<br />
Story by Suzannah Peckham<br />
Photo by Sam Goldman<br />
Life of a PINhead<br />
Zlomek bumps and flips his way to pinball glory<br />
spring 2016 | 7
8<br />
ask an alum<br />
From the Red Schoolhouse<br />
to the Red Carpet<br />
Estabrook at a dinner party hosted by Vanity Fair in Beverly Hills to celebrate<br />
the Oscars. She is wearing Zuhair Murad. Photo courtesy of Estabrook.<br />
Amber Estabrook balances family life and a busy career at Vanity Fair<br />
By Lily Grenis<br />
Alum Résumé<br />
Amber Estabrook, 41 (Class of ‘93)<br />
College: Bucknell University, 1997. Spanish and Geography majors, minor in Creative Writing.<br />
Job: Associate Publisher Luxury, Vanity Fair<br />
Family: Husband Simone Poggi; three children<br />
Career: Estabrook began her career in publishing with W magazine. She met Poggi while working<br />
in Milan for“W.” <strong>The</strong> couple moved back to New York, where Estabrook eventually became<br />
Executive Director of International Fashion at Vogue, traveling often to Milan, London, Paris<br />
and Germany. Estabrook then moved to Vanity Fair. Festivals, dinner parties and even private<br />
performances from celebrities like Gwen Stefani come with the job description.
Q: What are your responsibilities as associate publisher of Vanity Fair?<br />
A: I oversee the luxury category. My specialty is managing the relationships with the large European<br />
investors that we have, the large European fashion luxury companies that invest money to<br />
advertise in Vanity Fair, in our brand.<br />
Q: What is the hardest part about your job?<br />
A: <strong>The</strong> hardest part is that you always have to do more. In sales, the goal is a number that is<br />
always growing. You’re only as good as your last number, so you’re constantly trying to do more.<br />
Q: To what do you attribute your success?<br />
A: I think grit. I’ve been working since I was 14, from bagging groceries at a supermarket [to<br />
working] as a hostess at the Dinosaur BBQ. I always had numerous jobs throughout the summer,<br />
and I grew up working. I’m exceptionally competitive and I love to win, and so sales is the right<br />
profession because it’s a competitive field. You’re constantly being charged with doing better than<br />
you did before, and winning. That’s a personality requirement I guess. So work ethic, being competitive,<br />
wanting to win, and loving what you do. You have to really like what you do.<br />
Q: What are you most proud of?<br />
A: Having a wonderful family coupled with a fun and successful career that is stimulating and<br />
rewarding.<br />
Q: What did you want to be when you were in high school?<br />
A: I thought a lot about either international law or environmental law.<br />
Q: Have you seen yourself change a lot since then?<br />
A: A little bit. I think the international part is still very much there. I was a big champion of environmental<br />
rights and that sort of thing, but I kind of grew away from that, and the international<br />
aspect of it all stayed with me. When I got to college, I went to Spain on my semester abroad, and<br />
that was my first trip to Europe, and that’s really what planted the seed. I knew I wanted to go<br />
back. I just loved living in Europe, I loved living in Spain, I loved the Mediterranean culture.<br />
Q: How did MPH contribute to your success?<br />
A: I had a wonderful experience at MPH. <strong>The</strong>re was a lot of individual attention that you received<br />
because the class sizes were very small. Some of my best memories are really in the Lower<br />
School, kindergarten through fifth grade. Those were really formative, fundamental years there.<br />
Great teachers and a real sense of community and family. And as a matter of fact, my two best<br />
friends today ... I met in kindergarten at MPH. We are still very close today.<br />
Q: What advice do you have for MPH students?<br />
A: Be gritty. Stick through even the hardest times. Don’t give up too easily. Hard work does pay<br />
off. You can create your own luck and opportunity. Always create short- and long-term goals.<br />
Always have a vision of what you want to achieve. Trust your gut and intuition. And know you<br />
can do anything you set your mind to.<br />
spring 2016 | 9
advice<br />
YOUR SUMMER PLANS<br />
Q: What should I do over the summer?<br />
10<br />
By Chris Hunter<br />
A: Summer is the time to take a break from<br />
school and focus on your mental health and<br />
academic future.<br />
For rising sophomores, I recommend<br />
doing fun or amusing<br />
activities, like<br />
going to the MOST<br />
or rebelling against<br />
those who control<br />
the social means<br />
of production: the<br />
bourgeoisie. <strong>The</strong><br />
freshman-to-sophomore<br />
summer is one of the last “free” summers<br />
you’ll have, so enjoy it.<br />
When the summer of your sophomore-to-junior<br />
year approaches, the dawning<br />
realization that you are becoming a young<br />
adult comes to light. This summer is when<br />
some would say that you should find a job,<br />
but that’s exactly what they want: for the proletariat<br />
to stay underneath them. Either that,<br />
or go visit the Dinosaur BBQ with friends.<br />
Probably one of the most important<br />
summers of your high-school life is the summer<br />
of your junior-to-senior year. Colleges<br />
are likely looking for things that make you<br />
college-worthy, but don’t stress. If you’re<br />
interested in art, visit the Everson Museum<br />
of Art; if you find theater entertaining, take a<br />
trip to Syracuse Stage.<br />
If you’re frustrated with working long<br />
hours with low wages for the benefit of the<br />
upper class, take up arms against the<br />
bourgeoisie. It’s important to reward yourself—here’s<br />
room where you can be a narcissistic<br />
capitalist.<br />
Some colleges<br />
ask applicants to<br />
list their favorite<br />
concerts, exhibits<br />
and movies, so not<br />
only will you have<br />
fun doing things<br />
you love, but it may<br />
give you an upper hand in the application<br />
process!<br />
<strong>The</strong> summer before your senior year is,<br />
in my opinion, a time to relax. By this time,<br />
you’ve concluded months and months of<br />
schoolwork, so you have time to unwind.<br />
Make a bucket list of things you want to do<br />
or a list of materials needed for the rebellion.<br />
Gathering friends for the revolution is step<br />
one to our step-by-step plan to end the capitalist<br />
rule that we have all learned to obey.<br />
If you want actual advice, finding things<br />
that interest you is a great place to start. Go<br />
buy tickets in advance for the Great New York<br />
State Fair in August and go as many times as<br />
you can afford. Keep in mind that you don’t<br />
have to do everything; just do things that<br />
you know will help you have fun and have a<br />
stress-free summer.<br />
“If you’re frustrated with working<br />
long hours with low wages for the<br />
benefit of the upper class, take up<br />
arms against the bourgeoisie.”
By Dan Albanese<br />
being true to yourself.<br />
In all seriousness, summer is a time<br />
to enjoy yourself. Summer can be a lot of<br />
fun, but it’s also really easy to waste time.<br />
Find stuff you can do with your friends, like<br />
Graphic by Chris Hunter<br />
“I personally like hanging out with my friend Jeff, who is<br />
actually a 3,000-pound Beluga Whale.”<br />
A: Congratulations! You’ve survived another<br />
year of “<strong>The</strong> Man” trying to get you to<br />
conform to his plan for you. It’s summer.<br />
Summer is the time to sit back, relax and<br />
enjoy yourself, and nothing says relaxing<br />
like eating a big bucket of bees. Summer<br />
can get very hot, and it’s important to stay<br />
hydrated, and nothing says thirst-quenching<br />
like a nice tall glass of bees. Just eat<br />
them by the handful. Kill as many bees as<br />
you can, because at the rate the human race<br />
is killing them, you might as well join in on<br />
the fun.<br />
It’s also important to stay social during<br />
the summer. I personally like hanging<br />
out with my friend Jeff, who is actually a<br />
3,000-pound Beluga Whale. Jeff and I love<br />
to swim and hula hoop and look like really<br />
fat dolphins with tumors on our foreheads<br />
and talk about how much we love anime.<br />
While you’re hanging out with your<br />
whale friend, this is the perfect time to have<br />
an absolute existential crisis. You only have so<br />
much time on Earth, and yet you are spending<br />
your limited time eating bees and talking<br />
about anime to whales, and more importantly,<br />
you’re making life choices based on an<br />
advice column in a magazine.<br />
Bottom line, you have to do what makes<br />
you happy, which is why you are going to<br />
confess your repressed love for actor John<br />
Goodman to your whale friend. You’ve kept it<br />
bottled up inside your whole life. Love should<br />
never be a secret. If you keep something as<br />
complicated as love stored up inside, it could<br />
make you sick. Today is the day you start<br />
going to concerts or going to the beach or to<br />
amusement parks. It will be a lot more fun if<br />
you’re doing stuff with your friends, even if<br />
they’re whales, instead of staying at home and<br />
watching Netflix for three months straight.<br />
Trust me, I know.<br />
You only have a little bit of time until you<br />
gotta go back to school, so you have to try to<br />
make the most of it.<br />
spring 2016 | 11
selfie<br />
GOODBYE,MPH<br />
A senior reflects on high school and looks forward to college<br />
Photo and story by Seamus Mulhern<br />
For me,<br />
high<br />
school is<br />
like a relationship.<br />
One day,<br />
you’re going<br />
about your<br />
business and<br />
you meet this<br />
person. You<br />
strike up a<br />
conversation<br />
and it quickly<br />
becomes apparent<br />
that this person is … different.<br />
For example, during my first day of high<br />
school, I spent a whole study hall talking to<br />
people I had just met rather than doing work.<br />
I know that sounds trivial, but compared to<br />
middle school, where someone gets lectured<br />
for whistling too loudly, it felt liberating.<br />
It seems as though there’s a world of mystery<br />
surrounding this new person in your life.<br />
A collection of undiscovered revelations not<br />
just about them, but about your life and the<br />
world as a whole. At first glance, High School<br />
is welcoming and interesting and warm and<br />
sweet. <strong>The</strong> teachers are nice, the students are<br />
all right, the lunch is certainly better than at<br />
the public middle school I attended.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first few days together live up to expectations.<br />
You’re inseparable. Every day feels<br />
like the best day of your life.<br />
Sure, the classes are a bit harder, but<br />
every day is a new adventure. Every day, I was<br />
meeting new people and making new friends.<br />
Best of all, it’s all under the guise of being able<br />
to say that you are a high-schooler. During<br />
my first few days of high school, I had a much<br />
easier time making friends than my entire<br />
time in middle school. <strong>The</strong>re was a sense of<br />
liberation, as if I was being restricted for my<br />
entire life and I was just then learning what<br />
it meant to be my own person. I will never<br />
forget the time when I helped make a bike for<br />
a science project or my first free block when<br />
I watched Monty Python with friends when I<br />
should have been studying for a math quiz.<br />
It’s unexplainable. It’s engaging. Nothing<br />
can stop you. You’re killin’ it.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n, what feels like an eternity passes<br />
by. Suddenly, this person who had once felt so<br />
welcoming and interesting becomes someone<br />
you feel distant from. What used to fill you<br />
with excitement and joy now just becomes a<br />
source of needless anxiety and stress.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re’s a consistent onslaught of difficult<br />
projects and exams, social drama, and, a lot<br />
of the time, whenever you’re there, you just<br />
feel uncomfortable with yourself. It just does<br />
not feel like you’re in the right place.<br />
In my case, I was obsessing over creating<br />
the perfect college application, creating a<br />
great artistic portfolio to apply for a screenwriting<br />
degree, and, all the while, trying to<br />
make time to be a relatively social person in<br />
my final year of being “young and innocent.”<br />
Because of all of this, High School feels<br />
very clingy. Though still nice and all, High<br />
School’s previously inviting embrace suddenly<br />
becomes an inescapable grip that makes<br />
you feel trapped. It feels like you’re being tied<br />
up by college deadlines, STP deadlines and<br />
homework deadlines. You just get to a point<br />
12
where you’d rather be anywhere but here.<br />
Near the end of senior year, I was at my<br />
lowest point. I was just coming to terms with<br />
this anxiety and stress being a part of my life<br />
when, all of a sudden, I met someone new.<br />
This new person’s name is College. In<br />
College’s eyes, I see even more difficult classes<br />
and the eventual social controversies that will<br />
occur. College initially terrified me.<br />
<strong>The</strong> very thought of living on my own<br />
(and, potentially, in a different part of the<br />
country) was enough to send shivers down<br />
my spine. I can barely do my own laundry!<br />
It’s intimidating and somewhat terrifying, but<br />
for some odd reason, I want to try and see<br />
College again … perhaps on a regular basis.<br />
<strong>The</strong> worst part about all of this is that you<br />
know in your head that you want to be with<br />
College, but there’s a very particular moment<br />
where you second guess yourself and think,<br />
“Maybe High School wasn’t that bad.” You<br />
think about the triumphant Rocky-esque<br />
feeling of accidentally acing a math quiz. <strong>The</strong><br />
days when the lunch that’s served is actually<br />
something that you like. <strong>The</strong> early morning<br />
drives to Taco Bell during your senior year.<br />
It’s all there. It’s all real.<br />
But, in the end, you have to make the<br />
decision that makes you happy.<br />
Ultimately, I’m gonna feel happier in a<br />
place where I can find that thrill of adventure<br />
I felt in my freshman year. It may be strange<br />
and scary and it may be a metaphorical dive<br />
into the deep end of the introspective pool of<br />
life, but it’s gonna make me feel better.<br />
High School will understand.<br />
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have reservations<br />
with College… also, laundry. I need to<br />
learn how to do laundry. If anyone is willing<br />
to teach me, that would be fantastic.<br />
the backpacks of MPH<br />
MPH students sport trendy backpacks<br />
seen at school<br />
Photos by Maddy Rieks<br />
From left: James Xu - Korea MCM $2,500; Lexie Wiggins - Michael Kors $200;<br />
Meredith Yang - Louis Vuitton $3,000; Juli Teres - Journeys Kidz $42.<br />
spring 2016 | 13
culture<br />
Summer Movies and Concerts<br />
By Dan Albanese & Seamus Mulhern<br />
Summer is the biggest time of the year for blockbuster movies and great concerts and this<br />
summer is no exception. Movies like “Suicide Squad” and a remake of the classic “Ghostbusters”<br />
are scheduled for release. In music, the famous Vans Warped Tour, consisting of<br />
dozens of performers, comes to the Lakeview Amphitheater in July. But most notably, there’s<br />
“Finding Dory” and a performance by Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa in Syracuse.<br />
“Finding Dory?” More like “Finding Ellen<br />
DeGeneres’s Credibility.” (When did she lose<br />
it? At the point where her biggest claim to<br />
fame was taking a selfie at the Oscars.) In<br />
all seriousness, “Finding Dory” should be decent.<br />
<strong>The</strong> art direction looks vibrant, DeGeneres<br />
seems just as funny as Dory as she was<br />
13 years ago, and returning director Andrew<br />
Stanton seems to be looking for a sure hit<br />
after making one of the biggest flops of alltime.<br />
(Anybody remember “John Carter?”<br />
Exactly.) Worst-case scenario, this movie<br />
should make Ellen’s wife financially secure<br />
enough to make “Arrested Development”<br />
season five. Get on it, Portia!<br />
Syracuse doesn’t usually get a lot of interesting<br />
concerts. This summer is highlighted<br />
by the Dave Matthews Band, the Zac Brown<br />
Band, 5 Seconds of Summer and Keith<br />
Urban. And on Aug. 13, Snoop Dogg, Wiz<br />
Khalifa, Kevin Gates, and Jhené Aiko will<br />
perform at the Lakeview Amphitheater. Like,<br />
dude. That’s pretty cool. We have no idea<br />
who those other guys are, but everyone loves<br />
Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa. This comes<br />
after Snoop’s initial plans for a free concert at<br />
Chevy Court last September were canceled<br />
and he was replaced by Nas. So not only will<br />
Snoop Dogg really perfom in Syracuse, but<br />
it will be even bigger than initially planned<br />
thanks to the addition of Wiz Khalifa.<br />
14
interactive<br />
“Make America __________ and __________ again!”<br />
screamed Donald with glee. <strong>The</strong> crowd __________<br />
with ____________, for their one true ____________,<br />
Trump, was making his speech. Trump had been<br />
planning for __________; now was his chance to put an<br />
end to ________________’s campaign once and for all.<br />
Trump’s plan to brainwash the entire world with his<br />
___________ Trump Steaks would be ___________! <strong>The</strong><br />
ADJECTIVE<br />
Trump Steaks would be laced with his special ingredient,<br />
_________ ____________. With his _________ plan to<br />
ADJECTIVE<br />
Trump’s Steak Over<br />
EMOTIONAL STATE<br />
ADJECTIVE<br />
AMOUNT OF TIME<br />
2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE<br />
PLURAL NOUN<br />
ADJECTIVE<br />
PAST TENSE VERB<br />
OFFICIAL TITLE<br />
VERB (ING)<br />
ADJECTIVE<br />
control the minds of all the ___________ in the world,<br />
PLURAL NOUN<br />
soon everyone will be divided by walls!<br />
Created by Chris Hunter<br />
spring 2016 | 15
health and beauty<br />
Tap, Shop, Save<br />
Three easy apps offer great student savings<br />
By Emma Pitnick<br />
For my birthday, my grandmother usually<br />
sends me $200. This year, however, she sent<br />
me $100, for which I was grateful, but it was<br />
not enough to buy the For Love & Lemons dress<br />
that I’d had my eye on for six months. <strong>The</strong> dress<br />
cost $230. Instead of trying to scrounge up the<br />
other $130, I waited.<br />
Lo and behold, after only a few weeks, UNi-<br />
DAYS sent me an email with a special code for 60<br />
percent off anything at For Love & Lemons, a Los<br />
Angeles-based retailer.<br />
I couldn’t believe it. My dream dress now cost<br />
$100—exactly what I had.<br />
This is how I shop. I’ve rarely paid full price<br />
for anything in more than a year. <strong>The</strong>re must be a<br />
catch, right? Think again!<br />
I use three free, easy apps that help me get everything<br />
from discounts to completely free clothing<br />
and cool gadgets: UNiDAYS, Shopkick and Shopular.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se apps will permanently change the way<br />
you shop for anything, ever.<br />
Photo by Maddy Rieks<br />
Purse bought with a matching faux fur scarf from ASOS through<br />
UNiDAYS. Scarf purchased at 50 percent off.<br />
Makeup: Clinique - $50 savings from Shopular. Dress: Forever 21 - $15 savings From Shopular.<br />
Purse: Asos-$40 savings from UNiDAYS. Socks: Urban Outfitters - $10 savings from UNiDAYS.<br />
Shoes: Public Desire-$12 savings from UNiDAYS.<br />
16
UNiDAYS:<br />
UNiDAYS is created just for students. It is<br />
the “Shop more, spend less” app that gives you<br />
great discounts online and in stores.<br />
Just verify that you are currently a student—you<br />
will need a school email or school<br />
ID—and you’ll be instantly dropped into a<br />
boatload of discount codes. Most of them are<br />
for clothing brands such as Urban Outfitters,<br />
American Apparel and Jack Wills. But there<br />
are also discount codes for a range of other<br />
companies. <strong>The</strong>se include Ray-Ban sunglasses,<br />
Dylan’s Candy Bar and Casetify phone cases.<br />
Just log onto your account, copy the code,<br />
go to the website and shop away. One of my<br />
best deals through this app was getting 40<br />
percent off at For Love & Lemons, which saved<br />
me $190 on another important dress—my<br />
prom dress.<br />
Shopkick:<br />
Shopkick rewards users with free gift cards<br />
for the shopping they already do. Shopkick has<br />
more than 15 million users who have earned<br />
more than $60 million in gift cards.<br />
This program has tons of uses. <strong>The</strong> app<br />
locates where you are, programs itself to all<br />
of the stores near you that participate with<br />
Shopkick, (for me it’s places like Target, Wegmans<br />
and Marshalls), and hooks you up with<br />
coupons for those stores.<br />
But there’s more: when you open the app<br />
upon entering one of the stores, it gives you<br />
points called kicks. (Yes, just for walking in.)<br />
You can also get kicks from scrolling<br />
through ads or from scanning featured items<br />
on the app that they have in the store. It’s like<br />
an instantly rewarding scavenger hunt.<br />
Once you save enough points, you can<br />
choose from one of almost 50 different free<br />
rewards, ranging from gift cards, to donations<br />
to charity, to products such as headphones or a<br />
Vespa scooter.<br />
To date, I have almost 6,000 points. That’s<br />
pretty good because I have more than enough<br />
points to get $25 in gift cards and donate to a<br />
charity. In the past, I’ve earned a $30 Aerie gift<br />
card and donated to the American Red Cross.<br />
While I am nowhere near winning a Vespa,<br />
which costs 1.8 million kicks, I gain points<br />
and get free gift cards all the time. What’s the<br />
best part about all of this? It’s 100 percent free.<br />
You’re literally getting paid to shop.<br />
Shopular:<br />
Shopular is similar to both UNiDAYS and<br />
Shopkick in that it helps you save money while<br />
you shop. What makes Shopular different,<br />
however, is that it takes over 100 stores, many<br />
in the area, and gives you a range of weekly<br />
ads, promo codes and mark-down items. Even<br />
better, these offers are updated every single<br />
day. You can also pick out your favorite stores,<br />
and it will send you an alert with their deals.<br />
<strong>The</strong> best coupon I have used so far on<br />
Shopular was for Macy’s. I bought a Clinique<br />
beauty product, a foundation costing just $27,<br />
and received a free eight-piece makeup set<br />
worth almost $100.<br />
Most of the clothing stores Shopular<br />
promotes are big brands such as Abercrombie<br />
& Fitch, Bath & Body Works and Forever 21.<br />
Shopular also has tons of deals for restaurants,<br />
craft stores, pet stores and even drug stores.<br />
***<br />
Shopping is and will probably always be<br />
my favorite hobby. Teachers scold me for being<br />
on my phone during class but always end up<br />
laughing because they realize I’m not texting,<br />
but shopping online.<br />
How could I not constantly try to shop<br />
with all of these amazing apps giving me the<br />
chance to save hundreds of dollars every day?<br />
Without these apps, I would feel so lost. Soon,<br />
you will too.<br />
Stop reading, and get saving.<br />
spring 2016 | 17
food<br />
Super Summer<br />
Ever want to cool down on a hot summer day and enjoy<br />
a delicious treat? <strong>The</strong>se three quick, easy and healthy<br />
smoothie recipes are the answer!<br />
Berry Green Tea:<br />
Ingredients:<br />
- ½ banana<br />
- 1/3 cup mixed berries<br />
- ½ cup iced green tea<br />
- 1 tsp. honey<br />
- 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt<br />
- 1 tsp. chia seeds<br />
- 1/3 cup ice<br />
Directions:<br />
Pour green tea, yogurt, honey<br />
and chia seeds into blender<br />
first. <strong>The</strong>n add banana<br />
and berries. Add ice last and<br />
blend to desired<br />
consistency.<br />
18<br />
Graphic by Maddy Rieks
Smoothies<br />
Carrot Cake:<br />
Ingredients:<br />
- ½ banana<br />
- ½ cup diced carrots<br />
- ½ cup almond milk<br />
- ¼ cup vanilla yogurt<br />
- 1 tsp. of honey<br />
- ¾ tsp. cinnamon<br />
- ½ tsp. ginger<br />
- ½ tsp. nutmeg<br />
- 1/3 cup ice<br />
Directions:<br />
Pour almond milk, honey and<br />
yogurt in first. Next, add<br />
cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n add banana and<br />
carrots. Add ice and blend<br />
until smooth.<br />
Tropical Tundra:<br />
Ingredients:<br />
- ½ banana<br />
- ¼ cup pineapple<br />
- ¼ cup mango<br />
- ½ cup coconut water<br />
- 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt<br />
- 1 tsp. honey<br />
- 1/3 cup ice<br />
Directions:<br />
Pour coconut water, yogurt<br />
and honey into blender<br />
first. Add banana, pineapple<br />
and mango next. Add ice<br />
and blend until completely<br />
smooth.<br />
*Recipes adapted from Pinterest by Emma Pitnick<br />
spring 2016 | 19
features<br />
MPH<br />
By Hyemin Han<br />
This fall, the MPH and greater CNY<br />
In the summer of 2015, Head of School Jim Dunaway attended a workshop for new heads<br />
of schools in Atlanta, where he heard a presentation given by Crane Metamarketing. Dunaway<br />
learned about Crane’s brand work for independent institutions and knew that MPH,<br />
recovering after a year of a crippling financial realization, had to work on its marketing.<br />
After the workshop, Dunaway shared his interest, yet inability, to hire Crane with an<br />
established school donor, who requested anonymity. <strong>The</strong> donor agreed to pay for what<br />
Dunaway calls the “astronomical” expense of retaining the firm.<br />
But the costs are worth it to Dunaway, who said that there is some perception within the<br />
local community that MPH did indeed shut its doors, or is planning to. <strong>The</strong> end goal is that<br />
with a new marketing emphasis, Manlius <strong>Pebble</strong> Hill School and what it is about will become<br />
as recognizable as a can of Coke.<br />
One year after a financial crisis that threatened to shut down the school, it’s easy to question<br />
the validity of using this money to work on branding rather than put it towards something<br />
the school lost, such as scholarships. Dunaway, however, believes rebranding will be<br />
most beneficial to MPH moving forward.<br />
“[It] will, in my opinion, have more long-term positive effects than having used it for<br />
scholarships,” Dunaway said. “We would have run out of that money very quickly with scholarships.<br />
... <strong>The</strong>re would be no continuing value.”<br />
To attempt to understand MPH fully, Crane team members spent 33 hours on campus<br />
conducting interviews, observing classrooms, touring campus and attending MPH events.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y led focus groups with 129 members of the MPH community, including students, faculty<br />
20
2.0<br />
community can expect to see, hear and read about a new MPH message<br />
Photo by Sam Goldman<br />
and board members.<br />
“Our job is to capture the essence of MPH, not to create it,” said Christina Albetta, Crane<br />
program manager who visited MPH’s campus this year.<br />
<strong>The</strong> administration has since been presented with a reflection paper (a report of what<br />
Crane saw and understood about MPH) and a Promise Statement (the text of which may<br />
or may not be fully released to the public), which intend to detail the MPH experience, the<br />
core of what represents the school. <strong>The</strong> administration will utilize language in the Promise<br />
Statement and reflect that message on the school website, in the literature MPH sends out, its<br />
letterheads and radio advertisements. Crane will be on retainer until next year to continue<br />
consulting for MPH as these materials are implemented.<br />
While the school continues to recover from the crisis, and faculty and students look forward,<br />
the events of last year have left an indelible mark.<br />
“It’s a feature of the history of this place now,” said English teacher Pat Bentley Hoke.<br />
“Have we moved on? Yeah, although, I don’t think we want to forget it.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> effort to rebrand MPH comes at a crucial time. With the unforgettable backlash<br />
towards the “Way Forward” and “MPH First” campaigns when the financial situation was<br />
revealed, whatever new project that is launched, especially one that seeks to depict MPH’s<br />
essence, will not only be under scrutiny of the MPH community, but the MPH alumni, donors<br />
and greater CNY community.<br />
Crane will “recognize, identify, and articulate, using common language, what we really do<br />
well,” Dunaway said. “Maybe we all know that, but people out there need to know that.”<br />
spring 2016 | 21
features<br />
dress to<br />
By Maja Cannavo<br />
It’s a warm spring day, and MPH students<br />
have welcomed the change in weather<br />
with shorts, skirts and dresses in a<br />
rainbow of colors and styles. Upper Schoolers<br />
walk to class chatting and laughing. But<br />
anyone who’s left a little too much of their<br />
legs or shoulders exposed is also watching for<br />
Dean of Students Alex Leclercq, who could<br />
be lurking around the corner with his red<br />
notebook, lying in wait for the next out-ofdress-code<br />
student.<br />
Through April of this year, Leclercq had<br />
cited students for 53 dress code violations.<br />
Two years ago, he recorded 101.<br />
But despite students’ perceptions, Leclercq<br />
doesn’t enjoy playing the clothing police.<br />
“Quite frankly, the idea of telling people<br />
what to wear,” Leclercq said, “is antithetic to<br />
what kind of person I am. I sometimes feel<br />
like a Taliban who’s conquered the land and<br />
decided to impose a dress code on the people<br />
in that land, and I hate being in that position.”<br />
Even so, Leclercq acknowledges that the<br />
MPH dress code is an important part of the<br />
school’s identity. While today’s standards are<br />
much more relaxed than those of the past<br />
and some miss the days of neckties and dress<br />
shoes, the code’s current expectations reflect<br />
the school’s values of promoting individuality<br />
and freedom of expression in a welcoming<br />
atmosphere. This is reflected not only in<br />
the more causal expectations but also in the<br />
enforcement policy that Leclercq said affords<br />
students respect, as does the open invitation<br />
for students to have a say in their own rules.<br />
“I’m not sure the dress code contributes<br />
to MPH’s identity so much as reflects<br />
it,” Head of School Jim Dunaway said in an<br />
email. “<strong>The</strong> school is relatively casual and<br />
supports individuality, and I think you can<br />
see that in the dress code. MPH is a place that<br />
not only tolerates differences, but actively<br />
supports them.”<br />
Although students tend to complain<br />
about the dress code, some also acknowledge<br />
its positive effect.<br />
22
Seniors Ato Arkhurst and Madison Brang with Dean Alex<br />
Leclercq in his office, photographed by Maddy Rieks.<br />
impress<br />
MPH’s dress code evolves to reflect individuality and fashion trends<br />
“I appreciate the level of class that it gives<br />
to the students,” junior Lisa Morocco said.<br />
“And when you look at the student population<br />
here compared to other student populations,<br />
it makes us stand out, I think, in a<br />
positive light.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> current MPH dress code is far removed<br />
from the school’s original one, which<br />
was similar to that of Christian Brothers<br />
Academy. CBA’s dress code allows dress<br />
pants, knee-length skirts, oxford shirts, polos<br />
(in the fall and spring only) and sweaters; it<br />
prohibits sneakers and sandals, among other<br />
items.<br />
When Donna Meehan started teaching<br />
math at MPH in 1984, Middle and Upper<br />
School boys had to wear ties or turtlenecks,<br />
and girls in those grades had to wear stockings<br />
or socks. Pants had to be dress pants<br />
worn with belts; boys had to wear dress<br />
shoes and socks as well. Sometimes when<br />
the weather was warm, the Dean of Students<br />
would declare a “No-Tie Day,” allowing boys<br />
to take off their ties and girls to take off their<br />
stockings or socks.<br />
Today, the dress code has far fewer<br />
restrictions. Ties and belts are no longer<br />
mandatory, nor are socks or stockings. Sneakers<br />
are allowed, as are all pants except jeans,<br />
leggings, yoga pants, pajama pants, sweatpants<br />
and athletic pants.<br />
Changes to the dress code have occurred<br />
gradually; important changes last came<br />
during the 2013-2014 school year, when the<br />
school abolished the requirement that skirts<br />
and shorts reach students’ knees. Now the<br />
dress codes states that clothes must cover<br />
shoulders, thighs, stomach and chest.<br />
Thanks to a petition by then-senior Hannah<br />
Lukow, the dress code also became gender-neutral<br />
that year, meaning that its rules<br />
became the same for boys and girls. Most<br />
notably, boys were no longer required to wear<br />
collared shirts. However, all shirts must have<br />
a “finished neckline” if they do not have a<br />
collar. <strong>The</strong> meaning of “finished neckline” has<br />
spring 2016 | 23
ecome a topic of contention and confusion<br />
among students.<br />
Another controversial aspect of the dress<br />
code is its ban on hoodies. Students often<br />
wear them to keep warm, and junior Andrew<br />
Park believes they should be allowed.<br />
“No hoodies makes no sense,” he said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> current dress code reflects, to some<br />
degree, today’s cultural expectations. Leclercq<br />
said the professional world is shifting toward<br />
a more relaxed standard of dress; he expects<br />
school dress codes to follow suit.<br />
But what are the implications of a relatively<br />
relaxed dress code on students’ behavior<br />
and performance? <strong>The</strong> 1991-1992<br />
MPH Palladium, a condensed handbook for<br />
students, stated, “At MPH we expect students<br />
to be well dressed because we see a high correlation<br />
between behavior and dress.”<br />
Such a statement is no longer written<br />
in the Palladium; however, history teacher<br />
Edward Curtis, who started at MPH in 1992,<br />
agrees that it is important to dress well. Curtis,<br />
who wears a tie to work every day, said he<br />
would be open to a stricter dress code.<br />
“I think that the clothes you wear tend<br />
to reflect your attitude and approach towards<br />
your daily work, and dressing according to<br />
a certain standard improves your work and<br />
your attitude,” he said.<br />
Dunaway views dress similarly.<br />
“We send strong messages with our<br />
clothing; there is a reason one doesn’t wear<br />
shorts and a T-shirt to a job interview or a funeral,”<br />
he said via email. “<strong>The</strong>re is an element<br />
of self-respect and regard for others in the<br />
way we dress.”<br />
Experts disagree on the impact of dress<br />
codes. While some believe dressing up aids<br />
performance, others argue that dress codes<br />
can create a stuffy environment that hinders<br />
success.<br />
MPH allows students to dress down for<br />
AP and final exams in the interest of comfort.<br />
<strong>The</strong> third Wednesday of each month is also a<br />
dress-down day, a policy similar to casual Fridays<br />
in the professional world, and students<br />
can dress down on Fridays if they wear MPH<br />
attire.<br />
Regardless of the research, Leclercq said<br />
the dress code helps students transition to the<br />
expectations of the workplace and fosters a<br />
sense of togetherness.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> dress code is not about individuality;<br />
it’s about community,” he said. “Although<br />
we have a dress code that, in my opinion,<br />
promotes a certain level of individual expression,<br />
it’s also a rule, or a set of standards, that<br />
we all share in common, and it’s one expression<br />
of our being together as a community.”<br />
And although the dress code can present<br />
a hassle for students, some say that it has<br />
a positive effect on the school. Even senior<br />
Madison Brang, who said she breaks the dress<br />
code once or twice a week by wearing leggings<br />
or torn pants, acknowledges its benefits.<br />
“I am glad I go to a place where I am<br />
surrounded by people who are dressed fashionably,<br />
along with myself,” Brang said via<br />
email. “It’s not like I’m [breaking the dress<br />
code] to rebel or make a statement; leggings<br />
are just really comfortable and easy to wear<br />
with anything.”<br />
Despite the dress code’s advantages, some<br />
faculty agree that it is, and should be, far<br />
down on the school’s list of priorities.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> focus ought to be on academic work<br />
and what you’re doing to make yourself the<br />
Photos courtesy of MPH.<br />
24
est you you can be,” Curtis said. “A school<br />
that focuses very, very strictly on dress code<br />
and never talks about ideas is not a school<br />
that I think we want to go to or work at.”<br />
Leclercq also said that enforcement<br />
should not infringe upon students’ dignity.<br />
“I mean, to a great extent, membership<br />
in the MPH community is a chance for<br />
young people to experience a certain level<br />
of freedom … and I think it’s important<br />
that you do get a chance to experience this<br />
freedom, even if you’re going to break small<br />
standards like the dress code from time to<br />
time,” he said.<br />
Accordingly, consequences for dresscode<br />
violations are fairly mild. Students<br />
receive a verbal warning and an email to<br />
parents for their first two violations each<br />
school year. A third violation results in the<br />
loss of free blocks or lunch duty.<br />
“I once had to do lunch duty for a week,<br />
which was not fun,” Brang said via email.<br />
By contrast, Christian Brothers Academy<br />
has a strict dress-code violation policy. CBA’s<br />
Parent-Student Handbook states that students<br />
breaking the dress code may not attend class<br />
until they are in dress code. Teachers may<br />
give them zeros on any work, including tests<br />
or quizzes, they miss.<br />
Regardless of the enforcement policy,<br />
Dunaway believes it is impossible to eliminate<br />
violations altogether.<br />
“What I have seen is that whatever the<br />
dress code, strict or lenient, students test the<br />
limits,” he said in an email. “That’s just the nature<br />
of being an adolescent, I think.”<br />
However, Meehan values consistent enforcement<br />
of the dress code.<br />
“I think it’s not fair to the other students<br />
who follow the dress code,” she said. “<strong>The</strong>y’re<br />
being part of it, buying in, and doing the right<br />
thing, so I think it’s important for people to<br />
realize that.”<br />
Although some students and faculty<br />
In the 1990s, boys were required to wear<br />
a collared shirt or a turtleneck.<br />
agree that enforcement has become more<br />
relaxed in recent years, Leclercq maintains<br />
that he eased up only last year due to the<br />
stress of MPH’s financial crisis, logging only<br />
23 violations for the year. However, he admits<br />
that it is difficult to spot all violations.<br />
Perhaps the most prominent dress-code<br />
violation came during last year’s financial<br />
crisis, when two students dyed their hair<br />
blue and pink, respectively, to protest the loss<br />
of their scholarships. <strong>The</strong> MPH dress code<br />
prohibits unnaturally colored hair as well as<br />
facial and body piercings.<br />
Leclercq sees the dress code as a work<br />
in progress. Students can petition him for<br />
changes but rarely have; Lukow was the last<br />
student to do so.<br />
“I’m very disappointed,” Leclercq said.<br />
“I was hoping for more changes to the dress<br />
code. I mean, the dress code is intended to<br />
evolve with fashion, right?”<br />
Leclercq said that changes should be left<br />
up to the students and that even jeans could<br />
be allowed should a student compose a valid,<br />
logical argument.<br />
“I think students are more on the edge of<br />
fashion than any of the adults in the building,”<br />
he said, “and so I think that push needs<br />
to come from them.”<br />
spring 2016 | 25
features<br />
Respect Your Elders<br />
Current seniors give advice to the Class of 2017<br />
Story and graphic by Sam Goldman<br />
Visit one of the junior class meetings at<br />
MPH, and the sense of urgency in the<br />
soon-to-be seniors’ voices is obvious.<br />
Each student at MPH is uniquely different,<br />
but something on everyone’s mind is applying<br />
to college.<br />
College is especially alarming to the Class<br />
of 2017 in part because of the newly formatted<br />
SAT. This raises questions regarding its<br />
difficulty and scoring system, and adds itself<br />
to the already large list of daunting senior<br />
tasks. Do I have a “good” SAT score? Will<br />
they accept me? How can I get into the college<br />
of my choice?<br />
<strong>The</strong> shift between junior and senior year<br />
is the most important one in high school.<br />
Though seniors set high expectations and<br />
worry about their future, one senior offers<br />
advice all juniors should take to heart.<br />
“Don’t be afraid, don’t feel like you aren’t<br />
worth it and that you aren’t going to get anywhere,<br />
because everyone is a smart person,”<br />
said senior Dorothea Hamblin.<br />
Be confident, and get off to an early<br />
start. While summer is normally for rest<br />
and relaxation, for high-school juniors, it’s<br />
quite the opposite. Summer is a crucial time<br />
to improve the chances of getting into the<br />
college of your choice by broadening your<br />
knowledge. Do this by attending a summer<br />
camp that suits your interests. Some colleges,<br />
like Princeton, have asked prospective students<br />
to list what they’ve done their previous<br />
two summers. Whether it’s a camp dedicated<br />
to aerospace engineering or pogo sticking,<br />
there’s something out there for everyone.<br />
“Going to a summer camp is very beneficial<br />
because it shows colleges what your goals<br />
are,” said senior Amina Gingold, who attended<br />
camps for photography and film. “It shows<br />
that you’re actually doing something, as<br />
opposed to sitting on the couch all summer.”<br />
Getting a job can be equally helpful.<br />
Holding a job shows colleges your maturity<br />
and responsibility, and also puts money in<br />
your pockets and gas in your tank.<br />
“I would definitely get a paid job and<br />
then do something that you’re interested in,<br />
because colleges like to see that,” said senior<br />
Cady Ridall. “Also, it’s fun to do something<br />
that you like.”<br />
Community service is another thing<br />
students can do and an area more and more<br />
colleges are starting to value. But don’t try<br />
to become someone who you are not. You<br />
shouldn’t partake in community service, or<br />
anything else for that matter, unless it”s<br />
something that interests you.<br />
“Do something meaningful to you and<br />
perhaps your family,” said Will Cardamone,<br />
MPH’s Director of College Counseling.<br />
Additionally, the overwhelming advice<br />
from the senior class regarding academics<br />
and college applications is to start early.<br />
Whether it’s your summer assignments or<br />
the Common App, don’t procrastinate. Doing<br />
some of the work at the end of junior year,<br />
and even over the summer can alleviate the<br />
stress that comes with being a senior.<br />
<strong>The</strong> most daunting and time-consuming<br />
part of the college application process is the<br />
Common Application, aka the Common App.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Common App is a generic application<br />
that many colleges now accept. With it, you<br />
26
are able to create one in-depth application<br />
and send it to 625 schools that accept it.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Common App is going to be your<br />
life,” Gingold said.<br />
But several seniors agree that though the<br />
task seems overwhelming, it is manageable if<br />
you’re smart about it.<br />
“It’s a very time-consuming process so I<br />
would recommend splitting up your application<br />
process into little chunks,” Ridall said.<br />
During senior year, the academic load of<br />
classes and AP courses is difficult to balance<br />
alone; add the college application process,<br />
and it becomes excruciating. Getting a jump<br />
on things will allow you to take it easy the<br />
second semester of senior year, unless you’re<br />
waitlisted. Being waitlisted by a college can be<br />
discouraging but you have to remain hopeful.<br />
A marathon runner does not jog the 25 miles,<br />
just to walk the rest of the way.<br />
“[If I were waitlisted] I wouldn’t be able<br />
to chill,” said senior Joel Kaigler. “I’d act as if<br />
I’m a first-semester senior.”<br />
Cardamone said that though the college<br />
search can be stressful, it is important to keep<br />
it in perspective, and he advises that students<br />
avoid focusing on school rankings found in<br />
guidebooks.<br />
“What students do when they get to college<br />
(making the most of academic/extra-curricular<br />
opportunities) is far more important<br />
than the name of the college they attend,” he<br />
said. “Understand that a thoughtful process<br />
with healthy doses of self-discovery and honest<br />
communication with parents will lead to<br />
the best outcome at the end of the search.”<br />
Although senior year is difficult, make<br />
sure you enjoy it. Recognize that high school<br />
is a time to try new things and discover what<br />
interests you. Try something new, whether it’s<br />
extracurriculars such as theater, sports, or the<br />
tons of clubs offered at MPH, or even branching<br />
out to a new group of friends.<br />
Often, unique strands of the notorious<br />
disease “Senioritis” have infected countless<br />
seniors. John Bierut fell victim to “Senioritis”<br />
toward the beginning of his senior year,<br />
quickly warning others that “senioritis is<br />
gonna hit, and it’s gonna hit hard.”<br />
“[Senior year is] way harder than you<br />
think,” said senior Bryce Church, “but make<br />
sure you enjoy it. You can only be a senior<br />
once.”<br />
spring 2016 | 27
issues<br />
Election of a Lifetime<br />
A junior overcomes her ineligibility to vote<br />
By Jeongyoon Han<br />
I<br />
was born in 1999, which makes me ineligible to vote in the 2016 Presidential election by<br />
one year. Some say this is a blessing, but I see my ineligibility as a curse.<br />
<strong>The</strong> remaining candidates represent all parts of the political ideological spectrum,<br />
from Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders to the radical right businessman<br />
Donald Trump.<br />
Because these candidates have such a wide range of political views, it has been harder for<br />
them to gain approval from the majority of Americans. In a Real Clear Politics poll done in<br />
seven states, Republican support ratings for any of the GOP candidates were generally dismal.<br />
With the country in a frenzy over who to vote for, I’m more concerned than ever about the<br />
future of our government. <strong>The</strong> next president will have to settle the nation’s qualms<br />
over our most pressing issues, and in such a crucial election, it’s more important<br />
than ever that the younger generation is heard. World relations with<br />
China, Russia and Arab countries, along with domestic policy issues<br />
over immigration and the budget, are so fragile that it is imperative<br />
for every voice to count.<br />
Matthew Twomey-Smith, who teaches AP U.S. History<br />
at MPH, said this election season is especially important<br />
and unique. As unconventional runners, Sanders and<br />
Trump have managed consistently strong campaigns,<br />
which hasn’t surprised him. Twomey-Smith said their<br />
popularity resulted from the “confluence of a perfect<br />
storm”: Americans have reached a point where they<br />
are tired of politicians constantly fighting.<br />
“[Americans] don’t want the same old, same<br />
old candidates anymore,” he said.<br />
Neither do MPH students, like senior Emery<br />
Spina, a registered Democrat. His strong opposition<br />
to the GOP is the result of what he views as<br />
the party’s insensitive stance on social issues.<br />
“I’m kind of ashamed that people like Trump<br />
have made it this far,” he said.<br />
Many share Spina’s disdain for Trump.<br />
Gallup Poll stated 7 in 10 women disapprove of<br />
Donald Trump, and that 50 percent of Americans<br />
would be scared if Trump was elected<br />
28
president—and with good reason. He is unable to empathize with anyone who isn’t white or<br />
American, particularly immigrants and Muslims. Duke University professor and imam-in-residence<br />
Abdullah Antepli once said, “Trump is validating the narrative that the West is at war<br />
with Islam.”<br />
Even some of our allies have distanced themselves from Trump. U.K. Prime Minister<br />
David Cameron called Trump a disgrace, and more than 600,000 people in the U.K. signed a<br />
petition to ban Trump from entering the U.K.<br />
Contrastingly, Trump supporter Jordan Darling believes Trump would be the right fit as<br />
president because he will represent all of America’s values in international issues.<br />
“I think a lot of people are just entertained by him and I think he isn’t going to be afraid<br />
when it comes to world leaders.”<br />
Regardless of their views, some new voters agree this will be an election to remember.<br />
“Three or four years ago I would not have ever thought I would be thinking of Trump for<br />
president,” said Darling, a senior.<br />
Yet, we have seen what once was considered absurd come to reality. And of all age demographics,<br />
my peers are left with the task of addressing our ever-so-evolving politics with<br />
the power of the ballot, something that we have wanted our whole lives.<br />
That’s the exciting part: the thrill of the election is not just hitting<br />
new voters, but those of us under the age of 18.<br />
Should the race boil down to Former Secretary of<br />
State Hillary Clinton or Trump, had I been old enough<br />
to vote, I would have had to think deeply about my<br />
decision. Clinton’s connections to large corporations,<br />
her untrustworthiness and Trump’s<br />
offensive remarks have made me wary of voting<br />
for either. Plus, though this isn’t new to<br />
American politics, the candidates’ quickness<br />
to slander each other, some of the GOP<br />
candidates’ insensitive comments and<br />
ideologies have made me embarrassed of<br />
our leaders.<br />
While it is a bummer I can’t vote,<br />
my disappointment pushed me to be<br />
immersed in the campaigns: attending<br />
political rallies, phone banking and<br />
canvassing for Sanders. Even though<br />
it’s not the same as voting, remaining<br />
active in the campaigns as a minor can<br />
be just as impactful. It has given me a<br />
taste of the excitement I will feel once I<br />
actually step into the voting booth and<br />
cast my first vote on November 3, 2020.<br />
spring 2016 | 29
ig picture<br />
30
from adversity to art<br />
Cancer masks transformed into masterpieces for charity auction<br />
Everything will be OK.<br />
I’ll be in a better place.<br />
I love you.<br />
By Lily Grenis<br />
Amina Gingold’s mother spoke these words to her while dying of colon cancer.<br />
Gingold paid tribute to her mother by embellishing these phrases with paint and flowers<br />
as a way to transform suffering into beauty.<br />
Gingold and six other MPH students in the Advanced Studio Art class created art out of<br />
radiation masks used to treat head and neck cancer as part of Beneath the SurFACE, a project<br />
organized by the Upstate Cancer Center. Eight schools and 25 professional artists from Central<br />
New York participated in the project, which also educated the artists about these cancers.<br />
Gingold lost her mother, Naomi Chernoff, in fifth grade.<br />
“I wanted it to be something meaningful for the cause,” said Gingold, a senior. “I thought I<br />
would make an ode to her.”<br />
Gingold painted her mask white with tears flowing from its closed eyes. Clustered in the<br />
blue are vibrant flowers, representing beauty growing out of pain.<br />
Creating beautiful art from unimaginable ordeals was no simple task, however. Teresa<br />
Henderson, chair of the Visual Art and Design Department and class instructor, described the<br />
difficulty of doing justice to a cancer patient’s experiences through the masks.<br />
“Because it’s such a big topic and it’s such a real topic,” Henderson said, “the topic has to be<br />
treated with a level of respect, but it also needs to have the balance of the artistic voice as well.”<br />
Six MPH masks, including Gingold’s, were auctioned off at the Upstate Cancer Center in<br />
April. <strong>The</strong> auction raised more than $6,000 for the center’s head and neck cancer patient fund.<br />
Upstate also produced a documentary about the project designed to serve as an educational<br />
tool for cancer prevention. MPH students were interviewed for the film.<br />
Going forward, Henderson hopes the masks will be informative tools in the community.<br />
“Art isn’t something that just hangs on the wall,” she said. “Art is something that has the<br />
ability to engage, it has the ability to advocate, and it has the ability to bring more information<br />
and more awareness.”<br />
Photo courtesy of Teresa Henderson<br />
Amina Gingold’s mask was featured in an auction benefiting the Upstate Cancer Center in April.<br />
spring 2016 | 31
5300 Jamesville Road Syracuse, NY 13214