Rohith Tsundupalli ’24In recent months, students submitted their early decision and early action applications for college admissions. Early decision entails applying to a preferred college before the regular deadline, usually in November, with admissions decisions expected in the following months. Students accepted through early decision are obliged to enroll in the chosen college and withdraw all other applications. Conversely, early action is a non-binding process that allows applicants to consider multiple college offers before making a final enrollment decision. Many students apply early decision because it increases their chances of being accepted. In order to increase equity in the admissions…
Author: TECHALERT
Kyle Zhang ’27 The Community Service Student Board unveiled new community service opportunities through “Students Serve” and Strafford Friends initiatives. Student Serve is held every Monday during Domino in the Chapel and allows any Upper School student to join. Rebecca Brinks, the Community Service Coordinator, says that when creating Students Serve, she wanted to make it easy for all students to attend. “The idea for Students Serve was to create something that was consistent and easy to participate in when you had time, but it was flexible. So the idea of doing something once a week, on a drop-in no…
Gray Collins ’25 Domestically, institutions like the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and Cornell University have been epicenters of demonstrations related to the Israel-Hamas war and the United States’s involvement in the war. These protests have created tensions as dangerous anti-Muslim and antisemitic attacks increase in frequency around the country, complicated by the notion that some people perceive any condemnation of Israel to be anti-semitic. At Penn, CNN writes that the “Israel-Gaza conflict has inflamed existing tensions that began with the Palestine Writes Literature Festival last month. The university acknowledged the event included speakers with a history of making antisemitic…
Lucas van Binsbergen ’27Upon the completion of final exams each year, students have the opportunity to explore their interests with a two-week program called May Term, in which they can decide whether they want to stay on campus or possibly learn abroad. May Term began as a way to give students new experiential learning opportunities at the end of the school year. Head of Upper School Michael Letts discusses the evolution of May Term explaining that it started out as J-Term, “Thirteen years ago, students would come back after Christmas break and have a full exam week. So kids were…
Chase Bearly ‘24 is known for his speed, determination, leadership, and encouragement in and out of the pool. Captaining both the swimming and water-polo teams, he has made himself a force to reckon in all aspects of the pool. Being celebrated as Main Line Athlete of the Month and being the 38th best swimmer in the state of Pennsylvania, Bearly has solidified himself as one of the best swimmers in his recruiting class. Bearly is known for his determination in and out of the pool. Aiden Tsaturyan ‘25 comments, “Chase is one of the most determined swimmers I have ever…
Addison Chang ’25 | Ella Becket ’25 Since Avery Elliott ’24 started running track at the age of twelve, she felt she could never stick with just one event. “I do the multis [the heptathlon and pentathlon], which is seven events. So I do the long jump, high jump, 100 hurdles, shot put, javelin, 200, 800, but also 300 hurdles and 400 hurdles, which are not in the multis. I just really liked jumping and sprinting, and multis allows me not to have to choose.” But Elliott’s favorite events are the hurdles, the high jump, and the long jump. Associate…
Libby Flaisher ’25 | Lilly Smolenski ’27 | Arudra Venugopalan ’24 Girls’ Soccer Varsity Head Coach Andy Fraggos sums up the season in one sentence: “This team put together what will go down as arguably the greatest season an Episcopal girls soccer team has ever had.” The team’s statistics and accolades indicate their tremendous success with an overall record of 19-2-1, 15 total shutouts, and obtaining the treble consisting of the Inter-Ac Championship, PAISAA Championship, and AIS Day victory. Coach Fraggos speaks to the character of his players, saying, “They stuck together, trusted each other, and put their egos aside…
Libby Flaisher ’25 | Lilly Smolenski ’27 | Arudra Venugopalan ’24 Girls’ Soccer Varsity Head Coach Andy Fraggos sums up the season in one sentence: “This team put together what will go down as arguably the greatest season an Episcopal girls soccer team has ever had.” The team’s statistics and accolades indicate their tremendous success with an overall record of 19-2-1, 15 total shutouts, and obtaining the treble consisting of the Inter-Ac Championship, PAISAA Championship, and AIS Day victory. Coach Fraggos speaks to the character of his players, saying, “They stuck together, trusted each other, and put their egos aside…
Darian Mihalakis ’27 & Joseph Doyle ’27EA/Haverford/AIS Weekend is just around the corner, and it’s time to get ready for a jam-packed, nerve-racking weekend of intense sports battles. These two days are when it all comes together: an entire season of hard work, all for the moments when our teams can stifle EA’s fiercest rivals. As Varsity Girls Soccer Head Coach Andy Fraggos says, “This game is never a typical game.” But what exactly is at stake? And what preparations go into such important games? It’s time to dive deeper into this year’s EA/Haverford/AIS Weekend. According to a Scholium article…
Lilian Wang ’26 This school year, EA introduced a new grading system. Previously, students’ semester grades were independent of each other, and they each accounted for 40% of their final grade. However, semester grades are now the cumulative score of all the work done throughout a course; the total semester grade still accounts for 80% of the final course grade but the way in which it is calculated has changed. One main reason for the change was that many students perform better in the second semester because they need time to adjust to their classes and teachers. Freshman Dean and…
Karen Shi ‘27 | Vivian Jiang ‘27The speed at which Generation Z is advancing towards a world of robots, killer drones, and powerful 3D printing is like an accelerating train that everybody, whether they like it or not, must board. Amidst the torrent of constant technological advancements, standardized tests such as the PSAT have unsurprisingly followed suit. PROS First implicated at EA in the fall of 2023, the digital PSAT has welcomed criticisms and praise with evident room for improvement as it adheres to modernization. While some students prefer the traditional structure, others have embraced and encouraged the new format.…
Karen Shi ‘27 | Vivian Jiang ‘27The speed at which Generation Z is advancing towards a world of robots, killer drones, and powerful 3D printing is like an accelerating train that everybody, whether they like it or not, must board. Amidst the torrent of constant technological advancements, standardized tests such as the PSAT have unsurprisingly followed suit. PROS First implicated at EA in the fall of 2023, the digital PSAT has welcomed criticisms and praise with evident room for improvement as it adheres to modernization. While some students prefer the traditional structure, others have embraced and encouraged the new format.…
Jack Cellucci ‘24 The history of literary destruction itself is ironically well documented. For example, there are records of the burning of Chinese manuscripts, and their authors, at the hand of Shi Huangdi of the Qin Dynasty. Books are just as versatile and powerful as humanity itself, leading to them being censored (or even destroyed) along with the information they contain. In fact, in the modern age, en-masse literary destruction targeting an ethnic group is a violation of national law. As Upper School History teacher Christopher Row warns, quoting nineteenth-century poet Heinrich Heine: “Where they have burned books, they will…
Gavin Schmidt ’24 | Nayan Shankaran ’24Student journalism publications have an important obligation to the community. Their job is to make all of the voices of their fellow students heard. To make an effort to connect with the students on a personal level by affirming their experiences, and discussing their interests. Scholium has taken this ethos to heart. We have something for everyone. Through written articles across sections that each report on different issues from different angles, we provide a medium by which students can talk about things affecting them. In the absence of this medium, freedom of speech and…
Jack Riley ’24The summer exchange program at EA is back and in full swing. Each year, a couple of EA students travel to either South Africa or Australia and live with another host family. They stay with their exchange partner for 6-8 weeks in July and August, during which they attend school and become immersed in their culture. During the fall, their exchange partners join the EA community from October to November. The hope is that after the exchange is over, both students leave with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the other’s culture. Khoa Tran ’24, who went on…
Gray Collins ’25Did you always want to become a teacher? No. When I was in high school I thought I’d go into sciences or travel. When you’re young you have grand aspirations. But the more I did Latin, I realized it really gave me a lot of fulfillment. And the more I rowed, the more I thought I could give it back to someone else. Why do you think teaching Latin is important? I think Latin encourages kids to think differently and it forces delayed gratification that kids don’t have these days. I think it is amazing to be able…
Jack Riley ’24The Lilley Fellowship Fund was established by William Lilley ’55 in 2018 and “awards fellowships to students who exemplify academic curiosity, intellectual rigor, and scholarly passion.” The inspiration for the Lilley Fellowship program came from Yale University’s Scholars of the House program that ran from 1945-1995. The Lilley Fellowship Program offers two research opportunities available to Upper School students: the traditional Fellowship and the Advanced Independent Study. This year’s Lilley Fellows are Michelle Jiang ’24, Ishani Khanna ’25, Nayan Shankaran ’24, Alyssa Sterner ’24, and Arudra Venugopalan ’24. The fellowship is open to all rising freshmen, sophomores, and…
Gray Collins ’25 As per The New York Times, Josh Kruger, a Philadelphia journalist, LGBTQ ally, and HIV+ advocate, was shot seven times and killed outside his home on October 2nd. The suspect, 19-year-old Robert Davis, turned himself into the police on October 25 after a two-week manhunt. This event, seen initially by Philadelphians and media outlets as a senseless, yet straightforward, killing, has grown more complex due to new information revealed about Kruger and Davis’s relationship. Sean Magee ’25 remarks, “A couple of weeks ago, I thought this story was deeply saddening, but nothing unusual. However, everything has been…
Lucas van Binsbergen ’27 In the past year, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made significant strides globally. EA’s Center for Learning and Teaching (CTL) has recently integrated Flint K12, an educational AI platform designed to support student learning in classrooms. Flint K12, described as akin to ChatGPT for schools, offers teachers access to ChatGPT 3.5 and 4, generating assignments such as exit tickets and homework, while also providing a secure ‘walled garden format’ similar to platforms like Canvas. When discussing EA’s recent educational advancements, particularly the adoption of Flint K12, Justin Cerenzia, the Buckley Executive Director Chair for Teaching and Learning,…
Kyle Zhang ’27 The DEI department has recently introduced new community offerings, providing more opportunities, events, and clubs for Episcopal Academy students to celebrate diverse individual backgrounds. Under the leadership of Erica Snowden, Executive Director of the Office of DEI, and Ayinde Tate, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, students receive resources that not only guide self-engagement but also provide dynamic spaces for awareness and education. For instance, the establishment of affinity groups is one of the department’s key strategies in fostering a sense of belonging among students. Affinity groups encompass a range of identities (Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American communities, and more)…