Dunwoody Music Performance: The Dunwoody Music Performance Club is a club that sponsors two semiannual music performances at Dunwoody Village, a retirement center in Newtown Square. his club seeks to provide EA students with the opportunity to showcase their musical talent while giving back to the community. Fantasy Sports and Statistics: The Fantasy Sports and Statistics Club will be a club devoted to learning more about sports analysis and evaluation. By bringing students interested in professional football, basketball, and baseball together to discuss drafts, trades, and general sports news, this club seeks to build stronger bonds in the community while…
Author: TECHALERT
Samantha Macrides ’18, Anabelle Wondrasch ’18: As Nick Sustersic ‘18 angled a volley winner cross court, EA’s boys’ tennis team clinched the championship in the inaugural George Shafer Doubles Invitational. Traditionally called the New England/Middle Atlantic tournament (NEMA), this year’s competition was held at Episcopal and renamed the George Shafer Doubles invitational after George Shafer, a teacher and coach at Episcopal for 41 years who passed away just last year. Phillip Tobar ‘17, one of the senior captains of the tennis team, says, “Being able to win a tournament at EA named after one of the greatest coaches our tennis program has…
Annie Rau ’19: Due to the 27 available job positions that the 2017-18 school year will bring, there is now a pressing need to locate multiple potential faculty members. While this number may seem abnormally large, it is in fact quite similar to the numbers of years past. Many are the result of internal promotions, 14 of which will be in the Upper School due to departing faculty seeking new opportunities at different schools. The hiring process at Episcopal has attempted to become more rigorous in order to select the candidate with the best fit for the job. Tracie Lee, Coordinator…
Phoebe Barr ’19: “Grade Inflation,” the idea that students today earn higher grades than students of previous decades, has been causing increasing worry at many school across the nation. According to a study done by the National Center for Education Statistics, the average high school GPA across the country rose from 2.77 in 1990 to 3.10 in 2009 for girls and from 2.59 to 2.90 for boys in the same period. These raw numbers appear to provide concrete evidence of grade inflation, but opinions on the topic are varied among students and faculty throughout EA. Molly Konopka, Middle and Upper School…
Phoebe Barr ’19: “Grade Inflation,” the idea that students today earn higher grades than students of previous decades, has been causing increasing worry at many school across the nation. According to a study done by the National Center for Education Statistics, the average high school GPA across the country rose from 2.77 in 1990 to 3.10 in 2009 for girls and from 2.59 to 2.90 for boys in the same period. These raw numbers appear to provide concrete evidence of grade inflation, but opinions on the topic are varied among students and faculty throughout EA. Molly Konopka, Middle and Upper School…
Nick Horbowy ’17 had the opportunity to travel to Cuba with the Jterm , and wrote about his observations about Cuba and the changing relations with America regarding President Trump. Nick Horbowy ’17: U.S. policy towards Cuba has varied considerably over the past decades, largely depending on the contemporary occupant of the oval office. Relations have been tense and limited since the advent of Cuban communism, but the severity of sanctions and restrictions has ebbed and flowed, with recent actions by President Obama constituting a major shift toward normalized relations. As is customary, the new presidency will almost certainly alter Cuban…
Alexis Lowber ‘17 writes about her first hand experience in a Cuban high school outside the city of Cienfuegos. This January she traveled to Cuba for ten days with the J-Term group. Alexis Lowber ’18: One of the most known aspects of senior year is its heavy involvement in the strenuous college process. As deadlines in November and January loomed, there emerged an air of anxiety and exhaustion as students scrambled to finish their personal essays, edit their supplements, take last-minute SATs or ACTs, schedule interviews, fill out financial aid forms, and visit colleges. After winter break, the college application process…
Kate Beinkampen ’19, Grace Reilly ’19: Valentine’s Day is a time to remember and appreciate loved ones. Students, teachers, and staff alike experience this holiday in a unique way. While some teachers regard the holiday as a “Hallmark Holiday” others use it as an opportunity to express their affection for their families. Couples among the Episcopal faculty celebrate the holiday in many ways. Anna McDermott, Upper School history teacher, admits she and her husband, Bryan McDermott, Upper School Science teacher, are “not big on Valentine’s Day.” They have not yet made any plans for the holiday because, as she describes it, “it’s…
Phoebe Barr ’19: Since being sworn in as President on January 20th, Donald Trump has issued several executive orders concerning promises he made while on the campaign trail. These orders have ranged from a withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to the blocking of refugees from several Middle Eastern countries from coming to the United States. Student reactions have been similarly varied. Two executive orders have been signed regarding the US-Mexico border, the first one concerning a wall or “physical barrier” along the border, and the second concerning hiring 10,000 more immigration officers and no longer offering federal grant money to…
Nicholas Christos ’20: JucieDr., located in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, is a thriving entrepreneurial smoothie and raw food company, founded by Episcopal’s very own FJ Leto, from the Class of 2004. Just two years ago Leto founded his company, which acts almost as a milkman service by delivering juices throughout the week in freezer bags shipments to his hundreds of subscribers in Philadelphia and across the Main Line. After graduating from Episcopal and then Saint Joseph’s University, Leto moved to California and taught environmental sciences in the mountains of San Bernardino and later worked in Berkeley. When living in California,…
Schuyler Kresge ’18: President Donald J. Trump is no stranger to controversy. Prior to becoming a presidential candidate, he was known for heckling and “trolling” people online and in person. Some of his most memorable tweets include: “I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke,” he tweeted in 2012. However, on January 20th, 2017, I was able to see Chief Justice John Roberts give these aphoristic gems a much larger stage: the @POTUS handle. On an overcast Friday morning, I left the George Washington University dorms at 6:45 AM for the inauguration of the 45th President…
Abigail Hogan ’18, Sarah Keffer ’17: Alex Dimarco ’18 was introduced to rugby by her dad and her older sister when she was in the eighth grade. Her dad, Wayne Dimarco, played collegiate rugby at Lehigh University and encouraged her sister Kaitlyn to try it during her senior year. Kaitlyn enjoyed the sport which inspired Alex to give it a try. Four years later, Dimarco is playing on three different teams and has proven herself to be a threat on the field. Although rugby is not a common sport in our area, there are a fair number of teams available…
Alec Austin ’19, Michael Zeng ’19: Construction on Episcopal’s main turf field, the Smith field, began in November 2016. According to Josie Tomaino, girls’ varsity lacrosse coach, the constant use of the field was the main reason for its sudden replacement. “It had shown significant wear and tear, which is completely normal, given the average “life” of a turf is about 10 years, especially taking into account the number of athletes who utilize the field across different sports teams and programs,” she explained. As Tomaino alluded to, many of Episcopal’s sports teams use this field, including the boys football and…
Olivia Cipperman ’19: With the success of last year’s Hairspray and the talk of the revered (yet controversial) musical, Chicago, the EA theater department continues to surprise the EA community in their choice of musicals for the EA community. Chicago is an old Broa dway favorite including murder, showbusiness, and the power of the media, as the first line says, “all the things we hold near and dear to our hearts.” Although seen as a classic, Chicago is rarely brought to high school stages for two main reasons. First, it is currently on Broadway and second, it makes frequent use…
Parisa Afsharian ’19: From Artsfest to the EA dance concert, EA’s dance team tirelessly trains to showcase multiple performances around the school in the month of February. Brynn Doyle ’18, member of the dance team, says that the team’s goal throughout winter is to prepare for the four following performances: “Artsfest, Arts on the Move, Lower School dance preview, and the EA dance concert are what the team dances in anticipation for.” Mackenzie Lee ’19, another member of the team adds, “EA dance has one overall performance at the end of February which showcases group dances, solos, and duets of…
Adelynn Anderson ’18, Amaal Ladha ’18: Often overlooked in a world of never ending political news and developments are different aspects of the art world; musical entertainment, theatre, television, movies, and visual art have thrived in recent weeks. Perhaps the most shocking and exciting announcement came from a worldwide phenomenon and superstar on Wednesday, February 1st, when her groundbreaking news hit social media: Beyonce and Jay Z Carter announced that they will be having twins in 2017. In four days time their post reached close to ten million likes, and has received hundreds of thousands of comments. Their post’s caption read, “We…
Jonathan Huang ’19, Nishant Thangada ’19: “Art is all I know and love. The thought of me studying anything else is hard to imagine,” explains February’s Artist of the Month, Paloma Zozaya ‘18. Art has been a part of Zozaya’s life since realizing the power of expressing herself through images in Lower School. She says, “I wasn’t a good writer in Lower School, so my teacher had me draw out the stories in class just to make sure I was comprehending.” At EA, Zozaya is heavily involved in both the visual and technical art programs. She is a member of various art…
Jonathan Huang ’19, Nishant Thangada ’19: “Art is all I know and love. The thought of me studying anything else is hard to imagine,” explains February’s Artist of the Month, Paloma Zozaya ‘18. Art has been a part of Zozaya’s life since realizing the power of expressing herself through images in Lower School. She says, “I wasn’t a good writer in Lower School, so my teacher had me draw out the stories in class just to make sure I was comprehending.” At EA, Zozaya is heavily involved in both the visual and technical art programs. She is a member of various art…
The following students have been selected for the Chicago Cast: Anderson, Adelynn Rose Tilley Bassett, Lauren Elizabeth Beinkampen, Emily Barlow Brady, Jessica N Bryant, Helena Calhoun Buckley, Lily Cherry, Anaya Cipperman, Olivia Rita Imparato Coote, Jeffrey James Cosby, Dejah Devereaux, Leah Raine Sydney G. Donaldson Doyle, Brynn Marie Flynn, Kelly Freeman, Jon’avin Franklin, John Christopher Hennigan, Grace Winifred Humann, Emma Katherine Jacoby, Claire Margaret Ketchum, Arielle Learnard, Daisy Powell Lee, Mackenzie Marie Lemke, Theresa Kem Morgan, Georgia Porter Nabulsi, Bryce A Oliva, Alexander Rehak, Madison Repke, Matthew E Riordan, Kasey Eleanor Robertson, Cerena Caitlin Schiller, Ryan Allgood Shaner, Lillian Ittle…
Phoebe Barr ’18: In the weeks following the election of Donald Trump, intense and often violent political demonstrations have swept the country on both winning and losing sides. Young Episcopal alumni have shared their experiences on college campuses following the election. In Ann Arbor, University of Michigan student Sarah Barr ‘16 reported thousands of students “walking out of their classes,” in protest of the president-elect. “They marched all throughout campus, cheering things like ‘no alt-right, no KKK, no fascist USA.’” On the other side, “women reported being followed home or being heckled with Donald Trump lines such as ‘grab her…