Amanda Turner ’19: Nick Gaynor’s recent appearance in Chapel gave students a snapshot of how disability is handled at Villanova, and reinforced the Episcopal discussion about disability awareness. Nick Gaynor and Frank Kineavy, two Villanova students, spread awareness of cerebral palsy through the short film they are featured in, Coming off the DL. Similarly, Episcopal strives to embrace awareness, especially with the disabled, both temporary and permanent, members of our community. Cerebral palsy is a disorder caused by damage to a developing fetus’ brain or infant’s brain shortly after birth that causes permanent harm to the muscles and can affect hearing,…
Author: TECHALERT
Amy Chen ’19: Domino Block is the period of time between the last class and sports that is meant to be productive for students and teachers alike, yet it usually ends up being just the opposite. When introduced to the concept of Domino, students were told that it was meant to be an opportunity to meet with teachers for help or to make up assessments. However, Domino is usually wasted due to the hubbub that occurs at the end of the school day. Those students who do, in fact, try to use Domino productively are discovering that their teachers often…
Nick Horbowy ’17 The much beloved tradition of easy and inexpensive takeout of food from the cafeteria has been made problematic with the replacement of inexpensive takeout containers with costly environmentally-friendly ones. There is much to commend the use of ecologically conscious containers, but the issue arises at the exorbitant price tag of eight dollars for a glorified plastic box. Because students would be foolish to buy these high priced containers every day, the students are intended to take them home, wash them, and reuse them, and as John Familetti, Director of Dining Services, says, “This makes the price almost…
Nick Horbowy ’17 The much beloved tradition of easy and inexpensive takeout of food from the cafeteria has been made problematic with the replacement of inexpensive takeout containers with costly environmentally-friendly ones. There is much to commend the use of ecologically conscious containers, but the issue arises at the exorbitant price tag of eight dollars for a glorified plastic box. Because students would be foolish to buy these high priced containers every day, the students are intended to take them home, wash them, and reuse them, and as John Familetti, Director of Dining Services, says, “This makes the price almost…
Accessibility to bathrooms is a basic need that most assume is always met. For the majority of people at Episcopal the most challenging decision when choosing a bathroom is which floor of Upper School they should go to. Yet for some members of the community, and other institution’s populations, going to the bathroom with only gender specific facilities can be a challenge. No new facilities need to be built, a simple accommodation would be to open one of the single stall faculty bathrooms up to students as a gender neutral space. It may seem unnecessary for most, but for many…
Matt Freese ’17, Sarah Barr ’16: Sports are an integral part of the lives of many students, at Episcopal Academy and beyond. However, with the rise in the significance of sports achievements – recruitment opportunities, awards, overall prestige – sports specialization seems to be on the rise as well, bringing with it controversy about its overall downsides or benefits. According to stopsportsinjuries.org, “overuse injuries are responsible for nearly half of all sports injuries to middle and high school students.” Because so many students start to focus on a singular sport so young, they work those specific muscles too hard and their other…
Nick Sustersic ’18, Justin Hersey ’18: The number of Independent Sports Contracts given out at EA has been steadily increasing. A sports contract is when a student receives permission to not participate in a school sport and does outside of school activities to enhance their performance for a specific sport instead. These contracts used to be reserved for few people and were quite difficult to obtain. However, in recent years, it seems the requirements have been significantly more lenient. More students are receiving these contracts so they do not have to do the one or two inter-scholastic sport requirement, or because they…
Lily Shaner ’17, AJ Marcucci ’17: This year will mark Elodie Furey ‘17’s third year on the Episcopal Academy varsity basketball team. Furey is a forward whose main roles are to post up at the basket and rebound shots from both teams. She has been playing basketball since first grade, and, aside from playing for Episcopal, she plays AAU basketball for Comets Girls Basketball Club. When asked about her own skillset, Furey replied, “I think I see the floor well and stay level headed throughout the game. My height helps with rebounding and blocking shots on defense and making moves around the…
Sarah Keffer ’17: Since the age of three, Ben Glidden ‘16 has developed into a talented goalie as well as a leader on the ice. Glidden noted he originally became interested in ice hockey as a result of his dad saying, “My dad played hockey and wanted me to try it out. I had a lot of fun and wanted to keep playing.” As Glidden got older he tried a new position, goalie. “When I first started, I didn’t play goalie,” he remarked. “But that’s because the youngest kids don’t play with one. I was defensive-minded though, and once I got…
Sam Macrides ’18: There is one tradition that comes around each December, one chapel in particular that excites every student and faculty member in the Middle and Upper schools: the Scrooge chapel. Every other day, students and faculty at EA flock to the chapel for inspiring speeches, empowering discussions, and new perspectives, but this chapel has been an annual celebration at EA for as long as anyone can remember and is always largely anticipated. The whole production begins with Theater and Dance Department Chair, Dan Clay, who first thinks about what characters from today’s culture may be funny to see…
Kate Beinkampen ‘19 Grace Reilly ‘19: Unlike many other schools, where substitutes come and go and do not work exclusively for a specific school, Episcopal employs a specific group of teachers for the sole purpose of teaching a specific class. Permanent substitute teachers have the ability to make the transition period for teachers’ absence run smoothly. Most teachers have significant influence in deciding who substitutes their class and ensuring he or she has the right credentials and experience to equitably teach their students. Depending on the situation of the teacher’s leave, the amount of communication between the teacher and the substitute…
Olivia Cipperman ’19: A trip to Disney world was for years a much anticipated element of participating in EA’s music program. According to Ryan Dankanich, jazz band teacher and coordinator, the annual trip was inconvenient for students due to the timing of Easter break and pre-planned family and sports trips. “Unfortunately we just didn’t have enough sign-ups to make it performance worthy,” he said. Some were worried that the elimination of this trip meant that all trips were a thing of the past. But the year ahead will actually include a number of opportunities for EA’s musicians to travel. Once…
Jessica Hao ’19: “When I was only a few years old I would be dancing to Michael Jackson and trying to imitate him,” explained Brian Seam ‘16, co-captain of the Episcopal Dance team. Many of Seam’s skills have been self-taught. He explained, “The earliest type of actual dance class I had was winter dance in sixth grade. Before that it was just like in my room.” “I feel like dancing gives me a release or outlet to anything I’m feeling. If I’m super happy or just really frustrated and annoyed, I can just dance and it will help release my excitement…
Sarah Barr ’16: “No plan, no actual practice, is going to feel…radically different” stated Dr. Cathy Hall, Assistant Head of School, at a meeting regarding the change from the current schedule – which revolves around a 12 day cycle with seven 40-minute periods – to an eight day cycle with five blocks a day, where classes are either 60 or 80 minutes long. Hall explained the multitude of changes would still bear resemblance to the traditional Episcopal schedule, because “our day to day, for the most part, is going to feel relatively similar.” The change in cycle length from 12…
Sarah Barr ’16: “No plan, no actual practice, is going to feel…radically different” stated Dr. Cathy Hall, Assistant Head of School, at a meeting regarding the change from the current schedule – which revolves around a 12 day cycle with seven 40-minute periods – to an eight day cycle with five blocks a day, where classes are either 60 or 80 minutes long. Hall explained the multitude of changes would still bear resemblance to the traditional Episcopal schedule, because “our day to day, for the most part, is going to feel relatively similar.” The change in cycle length from 12…
On December 3rd, 2015, Becca Archambault ’16 recited a poem that she wrote as her Chapel speech. Watch the full Chapel service here. Her poem is found below. I want to tell you a story, if you ‘ll lend me an ear, Not an extraordinary story, but one completely sincere. Of a girl in your shoes who was consumed in her stress, And lost sight of the meaning of fulfilling success. Until one day on campus, she had a revelation, Brought on by unnecessary pressure causing frustration. For the girl on her journey had been cheating herself, Boxing up all her…
Disability is not the first thing to come to mind when one thinks of diversity. However, “ability is one of our social identifiers,” Director of Diversity and Inclusion Walidah Justice explained. The Upper School was first introduced to the story of Nicholas Gaynor, a Villanova student with cerebral palsy, during Chapel on Thursday on November 19th, 2015. The student body and faculty watched a 30 minute short film called Coming Off the Disabled List which featured the story of Gaynor and another student called Frank Kineavy who also has cerebral palsy. The film highlighted the warmth of the Villanova community,…
Disability is not the first thing to come to mind when one thinks of diversity. However, “ability is one of our social identifiers,” Director of Diversity and Inclusion Walidah Justice explained. The Upper School was first introduced to the story of Nicholas Gaynor, a Villanova student with cerebral palsy, during Chapel on Thursday on November 19th, 2015. The student body and faculty watched a 30 minute short film called Coming Off the Disabled List which featured the story of Gaynor and another student called Frank Kineavy who also has cerebral palsy. The film highlighted the warmth of the Villanova community,…
Eric Haab- Boston University-Lacrosse AJ Lotsis Georgetown University-Baseball Christian Feliziani-Ohio State-Lacrosse Andrew Owsiany-University of North Carolina-Diving Sydney Gagnon-Virginia Tech-Lacrosse Haley Potter-Boston College-Crew Claudia Becker-Davidson College-Lacrosse Margaux Paolino-Duke University-Field Hockey Courtney Williamson-University of North Carolina-Field Hockey Matt Blommer-University ofNotre Dame-Lacrosse Alex Burman-New Jersey Institute of Technology-Baseball Julia Thompson-University of Virginia-Squash Drew Silvera-University of Delaware-Lacrosse
Photographer Jonno Rattman presented his work “The Ride of Their Lives” in the Campus Center Art Gallery during lunch on November 17th, 2015. Also attending was Burkhard Bilger who wrote about the context behind the photos in his article in The New Yorker. The photo series introduces a very different world from ours in which children “prepare for the world’s most dangerous sport” (Bilger, The New Yorker) of rodeo. "Can you explain the context behind this photograph?" (Jonna Rattman) "What is a cultural difference you found most striking in the world of rodeo?" (Burkhard Bilger)