Aaron Tang ‘24 COVID-19 vaccines are currently available for EA seniors and juniors and will soon be available to students ages 12 and up on campus. As of now, EA is not planning to require vaccines for the 2021-2022 school year. As of May 2nd, 58% of the seniors are entirely vaccinated or currently in the vaccination process, according to the EA Health Services department. EA hosted a Springfield Pharmacy vaccine clinic in the Field House on Monday, April 26th, which offered the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine to 80 students. The pharmacy will be offering the second dose…
Author: TECHALERT
Ashley Kim ‘23 Following months of Black Lives Matter protests, communities nationwide celebrated the long-awaited guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin. On April 20th, 2021, Chauvin was convicted on all three counts of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for the killing of George Floyd in May of 2020. Suspicious of the use of a counterfeit $20 bill, Chauvin, a white cop with the Minneapolis Police Department, arrested Floyd, a 46-year-old black man. Following the arrest, Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while he was lying facedown on the ground. Three other police officers…
Ashley Kim ‘23 Following months of Black Lives Matter protests, communities nationwide celebrated the long-awaited guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin. On April 20th, 2021, Chauvin was convicted on all three counts of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for the killing of George Floyd in May of 2020. Suspicious of the use of a counterfeit $20 bill, Chauvin, a white cop with the Minneapolis Police Department, arrested Floyd, a 46-year-old black man. Following the arrest, Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while he was lying facedown on the ground. Three other police officers…
Ashley Kim ‘23 Following months of Black Lives Matter protests, communities nationwide celebrated the long-awaited guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin. On April 20th, 2021, Chauvin was convicted on all three counts of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for the killing of George Floyd in May of 2020. Suspicious of the use of a counterfeit $20 bill, Chauvin, a white cop with the Minneapolis Police Department, arrested Floyd, a 46-year-old black man. Following the arrest, Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while he was lying facedown on the ground. Three other police officers…
Alex Gobran ‘23 | Riya Mukherjee ‘23 Episcopal will experience a disproportionate loss of teachers of color in their faculty, with Upper School History teacher Kalil Oldham, Upper School English teacher Alexander Jimenez, and Upper School Math teacher Grace Wingfield leaving at the end of this year. Jimenez emphasizes that he made his decision to depart from EA primarily because he is “ready for the next opportunity and the next chapter in [his] life.” Similarly, Oldham and Wingfield’s reasons for leaving are not due to any unhappiness at EA. Oldham wanted to take on an administrative role as Director of…
Alex Gobran ‘23 | Riya Mukherjee ‘23 Episcopal will experience a disproportionate loss of teachers of color in their faculty, with Upper School History teacher Kalil Oldham, Upper School English teacher Alexander Jimenez, and Upper School Math teacher Grace Wingfield leaving at the end of this year. Jimenez emphasizes that he made his decision to depart from EA primarily because he is “ready for the next opportunity and the next chapter in [his] life.” Similarly, Oldham and Wingfield’s reasons for leaving are not due to any unhappiness at EA. Oldham wanted to take on an administrative role as Director of…
Arjun Bhamra ‘22 | Maggie Lo ‘23 Parking availability issues in the student lot have long been a source of frustration for the student body, and with an increasing number of sophomores getting their licenses, spots continue to fill up faster every morning. Joe Mulligan ‘22 finds parking difficult, saying that the “lack of spots make us pick between getting detention for parking at the Athletic Center or going to the student lot with no spots.” In the morning, some say that there is a race among students to find parking. Lauren Jones ‘21 explains her experience: “I leave my…
Nayan Shankaran ‘24 Outward Bound trips are now scheduled to occur in May 2022 for rising sophomores and May 2023 for rising freshmen, according to Michael Letts, the Head of Upper School. EA intends to run the same program as in previous years. Letts feels that if students traveled to Outward Bound in August, they would have a different experience than previous grades due to COVID-19 restrictions, such as “not having EA staff on-site” and “not being able to climb.” Letts believes, “By pushing [the trip] to next May and May of 2023, we don’t have to worry about restrictions.”…
Nayan Shankaran ‘24 Outward Bound trips are now scheduled to occur in May 2022 for rising sophomores and May 2023 for rising freshmen, according to Michael Letts, the Head of Upper School. EA intends to run the same program as in previous years. Letts feels that if students traveled to Outward Bound in August, they would have a different experience than previous grades due to COVID-19 restrictions, such as “not having EA staff on-site” and “not being able to climb.” Letts believes, “By pushing [the trip] to next May and May of 2023, we don’t have to worry about restrictions.”…
Nayan Shankaran ‘24 Outward Bound trips are now scheduled to occur in May 2022 for rising sophomores and May 2023 for rising freshmen, according to Michael Letts, the Head of Upper School. EA intends to run the same program as in previous years. Letts feels that if students traveled to Outward Bound in August, they would have a different experience than previous grades due to COVID-19 restrictions, such as “not having EA staff on-site” and “not being able to climb.” Letts believes, “By pushing [the trip] to next May and May of 2023, we don’t have to worry about restrictions.”…
Isabel Rozes ‘24 An in-person, combined junior-senior prom will be held outside on the center green between the academic buildings on Thursday, June 10, 2021; the scheduled rain date will be Friday, June 11. In previous years, excluding 2020 when prom was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, EA’s prom was held at various special event venues, including the Camden Adventure Aquarium, the Please Touch Museum, and the National Constitution Center. Zachary Richards, Form Dean of the Class of 2021, explains that plans to hold this year’s prom at the National Constitution Center were abandoned because of Philadelphia’s COVID-19 restrictions…
Morgan Bramwell ‘21 Esse Quam Videri (EQV) is comprised of students who are deemed to “most embody the stripes” and are in charge of orienting the Freshmen class as well as other activities that enhance their first year of highschool. However, despite the significance of the club’s mission, Episcopal students are left wondering what they actually do. Vince Vento ‘21 shares, “I think EQV is a cool idea, but I also don’t really know what they [EQV] do besides seminars for freshman and freshman orientation.” “Part of our job is to help introduce the Freshmen and the rising Freshmen…
Brendan Schlitt ‘24 Colin Schlitt ‘24 Ronak Nagar ‘24 Senior speeches, a tradition since the 1960s at Episcopal, provide an opportunity for seniors to articulate a lesson through their personal experiences, and also for the greater community to benefit and learn from their insights. According to Head School Chaplain Father Tim Gavin, senior speeches “allow students to reflect on their experience within an ethical, spiritual, or personal framework and share their newfound insights with the community.” Although underclassmen and juniors are not barred from giving a speech, seniors are specifically “invited in the late spring of their junior year to…
Brianna Bellinghieri ‘22 Madeleine Ott ‘22 A case that can impact students’ First Amendment rights nationwide started in rural Pennsylvania. Now, the case is in full swing with oral arguments beginning April 28. The incident in question involves Brandi Levy, a former student at public high school in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. After not being selected for her school’s varsity cheer team, she posted a profane message on Snapchat venting her frustration with the school, which was eventually seen by her coach. Levy was banned from the team for a year and subsequently sued the school for violating her First Amendment…
Dear EA Faculty and Administration, In a year full of uncertainty and challenge, the Scholium Staff would like to express our gratitude for all you have done to ensure our safety and offer a sense of normalcy in these unprecedented times. While many schools across the country were forced to stay in a virtual learning format for the entirety or majority of the year, we are grateful for EA’s commitment to safe, in-person learning. This required immense flexibility, cooperation, and planning across all departments. We would like to specifically thank Laura Hurst, our Upper School nurse, for spearheading the contact…
Dear EA Faculty and Administration, In a year full of uncertainty and challenge, the Scholium Staff would like to express our gratitude for all you have done to ensure our safety and offer a sense of normalcy in these unprecedented times. While many schools across the country were forced to stay in a virtual learning format for the entirety or majority of the year, we are grateful for EA’s commitment to safe, in-person learning. This required immense flexibility, cooperation, and planning across all departments. We would like to specifically thank Laura Hurst, our Upper School nurse, for spearheading the contact…
Riya Mukherjee ’23 | Alexandra Gobran ’23 Grade bumps for Honors and AP courses are set to be eliminated beginning with the class of 2025 – next year’s freshman class. Michael Letts, Head of the Upper School, explains, “In essence, everyone who is currently in the upper school has essentially been grandfathered in. We are not going to change the game and recalculate their GPAs, so they will continue to use the weighted system. But, beginning with the rising ninth graders, they will go on a straight 4 to 1 scale and no weighting will be given if it is…
Aryav Dhar ’24 Kelly Moore, Episcopal Academy class of 2008, works as Director of Communications for the United States Senate. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Communications, and she earned her Master’s Degree in Public Relations and Corporate Communications from Georgetown University. Here, she discusses her experiences both as a student at Episcopal and as a communications director during the Trump administration. Please explain what you do and who you work for. Answer: I work on Capitol Hill as Communications Director for U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia. I was actually born in…
Isabel Rozes ‘24 The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, passed on March 10th, fails to benefit independent schools like Episcopal although it promises aid to EA parents and faculty. The Act designates around $165 billion dollars for Federal Education Funding and COVID-19 relief targeted specifically at schools, with $2.75 billion given specifically to schools that fall under the designation of the “Emergency Assistance to Nonpublic Schools” Fund (EANS). In addition, the ARP provides economic support for individuals, state and local governments, and small businesses and tools to combat the virus. President Joe Biden signed it into law on March…
Rohith Tsundupalli ‘24 Students have provided their teachers with feedback via Google Forms this year. Prior to the 2018-2019 school year, faculty members received student comments through a paid, third-party software called Folio. EA temporarily opted not to mandate opportunities for student feedback for the 2018-2019 school year, but has reinstated the requirement this year. “This change was a long time coming, but of course, with last year coming to a screeching halt, things got pushed back further,” states Head of Upper School, Michael Letts. Folio is an online feedback site that encourages professional development across schools. It provides anonymous…