Emma Brumbaugh ’14, Carli Grims ’14: As spring sports get under way, teams will travel to destinations both near and far over spring vacation to kick start their seasons. Typically the trips include some kind of practice for the teams, either scrimmaging opponents and or practicing with the team on courts, fields, and courses. Varsity boys’ tennis coach Whit Powell, a lower school fifth grade teacher, plans to take his team to Florida from March 23rd to the 30th for their annual trip. Powell stated, “The team will be traveling to Club Med Sandpiper Bay in Port St. Lucie, Florida.…
Author: TECHALERT
You are given a deck of cards in a completely dark room. The deck you are given has X cards face-up while the rest of the cards are face-down, and you are told the number X. Assuming that you cannot see any of the cards and that you cannot pullout your cell phone as a flashlight, how would you separate the cards into two piles so that each pile has the same number of face-up cards. Please submit answers to scholiumpuzzles@gmail.com. Winners will receive a box of Tastykakes. Congratulations to last week’s winners Jeffrey Hu and Dr. Goebeler.
Timmy Freese ’14, Mimi McCann ’13, Erin McCarthy ’13, Michael Smerconish ’14, Newtown police are currently investigating a situation involving an unidentified male who claimed to be taking pictures of both the squash and swim teams on behalf of an Episcopal family in the Dixon Athletic Center on Thursday, January 31st. Jim Farrell, Associate Director of Athletics, recalled “There was a varsity swim practice and a man was up top taking photos on the catwalk. Mrs. [Colleen] Bernabei [lower school gym teacher and diving coach] asked him what he was doing. He said he’s taking pictures for an EA family…
During the first chapel after Christmas break, a student stood up in front of the entire Upper School, including faculty, students, and administration, and delivered a public apology, an unprecedented event in recent school history. This student apologized for an off-campus altercation, which injured a Haverford School student. While some argue that this speech, given a month after the incident occurred, helped the student move past the mistake, the Scholium staff believes it exacerbated the situation by bringing it to the attention of many who were previously unaware. Furthermore, the apology was unnecessary and detracted from what we believe should…
Michael Quinlan ’14: The Pentagon’s recent decision to allow women to serve in all forms of armed conflict opens thousands of combat positions and high-level military jobs to women. The change in policy, which came during Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s last days, replaces a previous rule, enacted by the Pentagon in 1994, that allowed women to only serve as “units below the brigade level.” Upwards of 230,000 combat positions, in addition to the approximately 200,000 positions that combat-active women currently hold, will be opened to women within the coming years. 14,500 of those openings, mostly in the Army and…
Michael Smerconish ’14: Yaniv Schulman had good reason to be nervous, even before he entered the quaint family home of his internet sweetheart in Ishpeming, Michigan. After being in contact with Megan Faccio for over nine months, Schulman, a resident of New York City, was finally meeting his unofficial girlfriend for the first time. However, when Schulman and his brother Ariel, who helped document Yaniv’s romantic episode in the movie Catfish, approached the home, they could sense something was off. Just a few days prior, Schulman had been listening to one of the several songs Faccio had written for him…
Alex Archambault ’14: The mission statement of the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus (PGMC) states that it “is a community united around the performance of creative and challenging music that entertains, inspires, and affirms with a spirit of friendship and hope.” As this mission outlines, PGMC attempts to demonstrate passion and talent in a positive and comfortable environment where the chorus can share its love for music with the audience. On their website, PGMC declares, “We are a vital organization striving to present challenging musical opportunities to our members, audiences and broader communities.” But as much as the chorus is about…
Toni Radcliffe ’14: As Episcopal has publically acknowledged a recent altercation between two students, The Haverford School’s reaction to the confrontation has gone largely unnoticed by Episcopal students, but is far from insignificant. The conflict has been informally addressed at The Haverford School. An anonymous Haverford student stated, “[The administration] said they knew about the event, but that we should remain respectful and appropriate in the way we conduct ourselves at sporting events. Our Athletic Director also mentioned the incident following an assembly, [but] he gave no description or summary.” John Nostrant, Athletic Director of The Haverford School, clarified, “I…
Chester Thai ’14: Amid increased implementation of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, the United States and the international community must establish stricter regulations to maintain responsible use of drones while taking advantage of technological advancement. On January 28th, President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou granted permission for the United States to station a drone base on its territory, in order to gather intelligence on al Qaeda-linked terrorists in northern Mali. This will be the sixth U.S. drone base stationed in Africa, and continues a recent shift towards drones in warfare and surveillance. Since the first ever armed drone strike in Afghanistan…
Rohan Gulati ’14: Aaron Swartz, the co-founder of Reddit, a developer of RSS feeds, and activist, galvanized the tech community to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). His tragic suicide on January 11th calls into serious question the lengths that prosecutors took against him, the arcane nature of laws surrounding computers and copyright, and most importantly, the absurdity of academic paywalls. Over three-months, Swartz accessed the popular digital library JSTOR and downloaded millions of articles by connecting his computer directly to the MIT network in a restricted closet. Interestingly, the apparent victim of this crime, JSTOR, did not pursue…
Catie Hopkins ’13: After the unfortunate events of last year’s post-prom resulted in negative publicity for Episcopal, as well as trouble for students in the classes of 2013 and 2014, parents have expressed increased concern about a similar situation occurring in 2013. In an effort to avoid another incident, The Episcopal Academy Parent’s Association (EAPA) has been working on creating a new activity for students to participate in after the prom, which may take the form of a parent-sanctioned after-party. However, the negative consequences of one party should not affect all parties, most of which are safe and under control.…
Dimantha Andrahennady ’14, Richie Palazzese ’14: Sydney Francis ’13, a member of the girls varsity squash team, hopes to add to the legacy she has already built for herself as she finishes her last season at Epscopal. However, Francis’s athletic career will not end at the culmination of this season. Francis will play squash at Cornell next year. When asked about her future squash career, she stated, “The future will definitely hold lots more squash…it is an essential part of my life. Not only is it a great workout, but I also find it a great de-stressor. I know I…
Patrick Espe ’14: The Episcopal Academy community was shaken recently by the news that E. Newbold Smith ’44 had passed away on January 18, 2013 at the age of 86. Smith was a Philadelphia native and an Episcopal graduate whose name is probably most well known by current Episcopal students as the namesake of our Smith football field. It would, however, be a travesty if Smith were only remembered for this reason. Scholium would like to provide a brief picture of E. Newbold Smith’s life so that he may be remembered for all of his contributions to both this school…
Tyler Haab ’14, Moose Recktenwald ’14: Michael Niu ’13 started swimming when he was twelve years old. Despite admittedly being “forced” to swim at first, his coaches soon helped him to develop both skill and passion for the sport. He noted, “All the coaches on the Episcopal swim team have been really helpful. They always have a piece of advice to help me get faster. However, I think that Bob Kupperman, one of the assistant swim coaches, has helped me improve the most over the years.” Niu regularly competes in four different races: the 200 meter medley relay, in which…
Mimi McCann ’13: At the Delaware Valley Girls’ Track Coaches’ Association meet at Haverford College on January 11th, the girls winter track 4x400m relay, comprised of Keri Boyce ’13, Kelly Szafara ’13, Leigh Adelizzi ’15 and Tara Boyle ’15, qualified for both the Pennsylvania State Championship meet and the National Indoor Championships. Together, the four girls ran a time of 4:07.50, surpassing the minimum qualifying time for the State Championship meet by nearly four seconds. Szafara recounted, “We weren’t really running to qualify for nationals. We were running to qualify for states.” She explained, “The nationals time was four seconds…
Nellie Konopka ’16: Joe Buches, Chair of the Music Department, has been a member of the Episcopal Academy faculty since 1998; however, he has had a passion for music and teaching all his life. Buches, who plays the organ for chapel services at Episcopal, began his musical career at the age of five when his father taught him to play the organ. At the age of seven, he began taking formal organ lessons, which continued into his teenage years. By the age of 14, Buches was playing the organ in churches. However, it was not until high school that he…
Jessica Bai ’16, Sarah Barr ’16: This month, Episcopal’s resident artists, musicians, and dancers will be celebrated in the Crawford Campus Center at the annual “Arts on the Move” program. The event will begin with the opening reception of the winter student art show, followed by performances from the Dora Khayatt Music Competition winners, and concluding with a dance program by Episcopal’s Varsity and Junior Varsity dance teams. The Crawford Campus Center Gallery will feature the artwork made this year by students in Upper School art classes, providing an opportunity for Episcopal’s artists to show their peers and teachers the…
Kayla Coleman ’14, Gonzalo del Peon ’13: When it was announced in 2010 that a film adaptation of the renowned, globally successful stage musical Les Misérables was beginning production, thespians around the world grew concerned. For years it was thought that this particular stage musical was safe from the corrupting influences of the film industry, but like other successful stage shows, Les Misérables was finally given the green light by a major studio, and thus began production. The musical is based on a long, French novel written by Victor Hugo published in 1862 whose characters partake in various uprisings during…
Alex Rice ’14: Thanks to the reduced stress of the spring semester, the seniors have declared “checkmate” on working in frees. Rather, they have taken to playing heated matches of chess. Whenever one walks by the senior lounge, there are always games going on. The sheer number of students who wish to play chess has created an ultra-competitive atmosphere among the members of every free period. With this sweeping movement in mind, Scholium took a closer look at what caused this newfound obsession. Chess is a head-to-head game of strategy played with 16 pieces per player. The goal is to…
Katie O’Reilly ’14: The winter months are filled with snow, ice, and a seemingly never-ending gray sky. During the month of January most people set New Year’s resolutions that revolve around the idea of creating a healthy lifestyle, such as setting weight-loss goals or eliminating certain items from their diet. By February, that motivation and willpower tends to disappear. With shorts, tank tops, and bathing suits replaced with winter coats, chunky hats, and wool gloves, it is difficult to find motivation to lace up your Nike training shoes, put on your Lululemon workout gear, and get to work. The Episcopal…