September 11, 2012VOL. XXXVI, NO. 1

Non-Profi t Organization

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

Sacramento, CA

Permit No. 1668

THEOTHETHEOOTHEOTHETHEOTHE ctagon

Contemporary renovations transform quad

Why caps and gowns

aren’t a good idea for

Country Day gradua-

tion.

Enrollment

Country Day may be turning

away prospective students this

year for the first time in three

years.

Grades four, six, seven and

nine are all full and any more

students seeking admission to

these grades will be placed on a

waitlist, according to Lonna Bloe-

dau, director of admissions.

As a whole, Country Day opened

this year with a total enrollment of

469 students, one more than last

year. As of Sept. 7, there were 474

students enrolled.

In the high school, enrollment

was 135 as of Sept. 7, compared

to last year’s 131.

None of the four high-school

classes have dropped in size, and

five new international students

joined the freshman and sopho-

more classes.

The lower school lost a total of

25 students in pre-kindergarten,

kindergarten, second, third and

¿�IWK�JUDGHV��EXW�ODUJH�QXPEHUV�RI�new students in the middle school

led to “incremental growth in the

right direction (overall),” Bloedau

said.

—Maxwell Shukuya

Stolen laptop

On orientation day, Aug. 27,

math teacher Chris Millsback left

his computer on his desk before

going to the high-school orienta-

tion meeting.

Since desks and other furni-

ture were still being moved in, the

room was unlocked at the time.

When he returned, Millsback

realized his school-issued Mac-

book Pro was missing.

Nothing else was stolen, but

the value of the brand new

computer was approximately

$1200.

The school did not contact

police and, according to Tom

Wroten, director of technology,

the tracking software installed on

the computer has been unable

to locate it.

In light of the incident, teach-

ers have been advised to store

WKHLU�ODSWRSV�LQ�WKHLU�ORFNDEOH�¿�OH�cabinets.

—Skovran Cunningham

Our junior reviewer

doesn’t much like an

East Sac hipster break-

fast restaurant.

PAGE 5:PAGE 4:

Right before taking fi nal exams, stu-dents are always reminded: don’t for-get to take your computer profi ciency test —you need it to graduate.

But starting this year, that pesky little exam is no more.

The programs it tested—Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel—all have a niche in re-quired high school courses, making the test un-necessary.

“We felt it was more eff ective to have it within the content of the academic classes,” Sue Nellis, head of high school, said.

“There were always problems (getting people to take the test). Everybody even-tually did it, but it was some-times like pulling teeth.”

The test was split into three parts—one for each program—so students could fail specifi c parts and retake only

those.Students had to create documents to show their

competence in each part—documents, simple slide shows, spreadsheets and graphs.

Microsoft Word is a basic prerequisite for all English classes—by high school, nearly everyone can use it.

“Most (students) know enough about it that we don’t have to show them how to input docu-ments,” English teacher Brooke Wells said.

PowerPoint and Excel, on the other hand, are introduced intentionally into the sophomore cur-riculum via the sophomore project and the re-quired chemistry class, respectively.

Chemistry teacher Alan Beamer sets aside two weeks near the beginning of the year to teach his

students Excel, which he later tests them on.

Beamer also requires students to use Excel for lab reports throughout the year.

Beamer has always taught Excel in his curricu-lum—even before he came to Country Day—as Excel is the most-used program in the world, he said.

His fi rst year teaching at Country Day, however, he did not include Excel. So this year’s seniors who did not continue to AP Chem-istry weren’t exposed to the program.

No more tests—computer pro! ciency exam eliminated by curriculum changes

An open vaulted awning. Windows practically from fl oor to ceiling. An elevated and elegant platform for the classrooms and lawn.

A few months ago this would hardly have de-scribed the high school.

But the decaying 21-year-old portables have had a rather dramatic facelift.

Over the summer they were refurbished and revitalized along with the rest of the quad.

After the Newton Booth plan for the reloca-tion of the high school fell through early last year, the school immediately began looking for solutions to improve already existing facilities,

according to headmaster Stephen Repsher.They found that solution in the PPRRSM,

or Provision for Plant Renewal, Repair and Special Maintenance fund.

This fund contains money designated for “capital projects,” or investments that leave behind concrete improvements to the school rather than simply contributing to day-to-day operating expenses.

Using approximately $435,000 from this fund and others, the school embarked on a complete update of the high-school quad, as well as most of its classrooms, over the summer.

Carpets, wall sidings, doors and windows were replaced in all but two of the classrooms surrounding the quad, and a massive vaulted colonnade was added over the central row.

Around the quad only rooms 1 and 2 (used by teachers Brooke Wells and Patricia Dias)

were left relatively untouched.Louis Kaufman, a local architect and Coun-

try Day parent who consulted on the design of the middle school in 2011, oversaw the project with input from both the administration and the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Trustees.

“The main challenge was to create a strong sense of place, so the landscaping and archi-tecture were focused on redefi ning the high school as a unique space,” Kaufman said.

However, the color palette, door and light-ing fi xtures and window styles from the lower school buildings were reincorporated into the high school.

“The school has always had an emphasis on Mediterranean architecture,” Kaufman said.

By Jeffrey CavesEditor-in-Chief

By Garrett KaighnCopy Editor

Renovations like a colonnade and tile roofs create a “Mediterranean” setting in the high-school quad. (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

Soph trip relocates to ‘dude ranch’

When PE teacher Mi-chelle Myers was fi ve years old, she spent her fi rst sum-

mer at an equestrian camp, Copper Creek Ranch in Quincy, Calif.

“I was learning to jump a horse at fi ve!” Myers said. “Are you kidding? I was so there. I stayed the whole sum-mer and I loved it!”

Now, Myers will be revisiting her past this fall as a chaperone on the new sophomore trip.

For years sophomores have been spending their trip rafting on the American River.

Due to a lack of water, however, the trip has been changed to four days at the Greenhorn Creek Guest Ranch in Quincy.

Because of the low snow level last winter, power companies have lim-ited water releases and can guarantee only enough water to raft on week-ends during October.

Since the upperclassman Ashland trip is in October and all the high school trips must take place during

By Emma WilliamsReporter

See Renovations, page 7

See Requirements, page 7See Sophomore trip, page 7

Tom Wroten, director of technology, helps sophomores Lauren Larrabee and Tori Peff er-le with their new laptops, which will be incor-porated into their classes and help eliminate the Word, PowerPoint and Excel profi ciency tests. (Photo by Will Wright)

SCDSOCTAGON.COM

ofPoints

Interest

For the second year in a row,

the Octagon has been nominated

DV�D�¿�QDOLVW�IRU�WKH�QDWLRQDO�3DFH�maker award, often referred to as

the Pulitzer Prize of Journalism.

The Octagon has entered over

17 times, but has been nomina-

WLRQ�DV�D�¿�QDOLVW�RQO\�¿�YH�WLPHV��winning once in 2002.

The Pacemaker winners will

be announced Saturday, Nov. 17,

at the JEA/NSPA Fall National

Journalism Convention in San

Antonio, Texas.

—Mary-Clare Bosco

Pacemaker nomination

2 Community The Octagon September 11, 2012

Students travel over 9000 miles to Rwanda

Five high-school students spent a month in Rwanda, Africa, in July, learning about the history of the country and leading commu-nity service projects at a number of organiza-

tions, including The Rulindo School. Led by Elena Bennett, lower-school music teacher,

the team—composed of seniors Donald Hutchinson, Brandon Mysicka, and Brandon Peff erle, junior Pat-rick Talamantes, and sophomore Micaela Bennett-Smith—joined Chico High School and C. K. Mc-Clatchy High School to embark on their 21-hour trip to Kigali, Rwanda, July 7.

The trip was organized by Afripeace, a nonprofi t organization which aims to promote peace and con-fl ict resolution between Africa and the U.S. through education and community development.

From going on a safari in Akagera National Park to swimming in Lake Kivu, the group also shopped at traditional markets, attended special lectures at the University of Rwanda and visited museums.

However, a trip to the Murambi Genocide Memo-rial Centre impacted the students in indescribable ways.

The memorial was a school, the exact site where 20,000-40,000 Rwandans were massacred, and their bones preserved.

Bennett-Smith especially remembered seeing the skeleton of a child with chopped-off ankles and of a person with arms frozen in the air as if trying to shield himself from an attack.

“They told us it would be powerful,” Peff erle said, “but looking back, words can’t even describe how I felt. I’ve never seen a dead body before.”

But the somber experience contributed to the stu-dents’ gradual understanding of Rwanda’s recovery from the genocide.

In Kayonza, the Afripeace students met the wom-en from the Association of the Widows of Rwanda (AVEGA), who are genocide survivors.

Bennett-Smith remembered asking them whether they hate the United States, since the country did

little to help Rwanda during the genocide.“They said no because we had helped them after-

wards,” she recalled. “Lots of people don’t know about the genocide and think it’s still going on, but Rwanda is so peaceful. The kids are just like us, and it’s impor-tant to keep a relationship with them and try to sup-port them. Everyone is trying to move forward.”

And that feeling was only intensifi ed when they ar-rived at The Rulindo School for their second commu-nity service project.

To the students’ surprise, The Rulindo School, a term so commonly used, turned out to be misleading, since there are actually seven schools in the Rulindo “community,” and the group was only visiting the main campus.

Welcomed by Father Onosphere, a line of drum-mers and the welcoming committee, the Country Day and Chico teams settled in the rooms of the parish in preparation for the work ahead.

The project was to construct fl oors and install win-dows in classrooms of the Gasiza Secondary School.

“It was extremely arduous,” said Mysicka. “We had to go all the way down the hill and carry up anywhere from 15-30 pounds of stones.”

But throughout the project, the team wasn’t alone. Although the school was not in session, many Rwan-dan students came to help, even if they lived far away.

For example, a girl Bennett-Smith met lived 45 minutes away. “It was awful,” Bennett-Smith said. “I thought about how she has to walk that every day.”

And through working and interacting with Rwan-dan children and adults, the students observed that the people had moved past the genocide.

“Watching Patrick playing with bubbles with three children was one of the cutest things ever,” wrote Mysicka in his blog. “It just goes to show that Rwanda is not just a country scarred with genocide, but a re-covered, growing and happy region.”

Although the team was unable to fi nish the project because it had only fi ve days, to Hutchinson, it was the eff ort that was important.

“Our ability to work was the highlight of the trip,” he said. “We were actually giving something other than money.”

Above: Sophomore Micaela

Bennett-Smith (second from

right) shows Mansi a video

of himself reciting English

words. At right: Senior Don-

ald Hutchinson and a Gasiza

Secondary School student

carry stones uphill for the

foundation of new school

buildings. Below: Junior Pat-

rick Talamantes plays “car”

with an orphan child in Rul-

indo. Students brought gifts

such as Frisbees, stuff ed ani-mals and toothbrushes. (Pho-tos courtesy of Elena Bennett)

By Ryan Ho

Page Editor

In a sparse fi eld in Paraguay, two groups of children crouch facing each other, their small fi ngers digging into the soft dirt. Their eyes fl icker between senior

Jacob Frankel, who stands out of the fi eld of play, and the object in between themselves and their opponents: a dirty, wrapperless wa-ter bottle.

Then Frankel makes his move. “Cuatro!” he

shouts, and the game begins.One child from each group launches them-

selves to their feet and races as fast as they can toward the water bottle that at any other point in time would be a piece of trash.

But today the water bottle is not waste. It is the “Mandioca” (a starchy, white root veg-etable available at every meal), as in the game “Steal the Mandioca”—or as you probably know it, “Steal the Bacon.”

And this was only one of the games Fran-kel played with these children this summer. As a volunteer with Amigos de las Américas, a nonprofi t organization that, according to their website, aims to inspire and build young leaders through collaborative community development and immersion, Frankel spent eight weeks in a small village of 200, work-ing with elementary-aged children as well as the rest of the community. While there, he

was attempting to “apo no audior” or “assist, not help.”

“A lot of people who do community ser-vice say, ‘We’re going to go to help the poor people’—but that’s not what we were doing,” Frankel said. “We were going to get the youth involved, to facilitate working together.”

Frankel initially heard about the organiza-tion from Spanish teacher Patricia Portillo who, two years before, had suggested Sarah Fleming, ’11, volunteer with them. Once Frankel told his parents about Amigos, he learned they, too, had volunteered with the organization while they were in college.

He applied to Amigos programs in Peru, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Nicaragua, and nine months later found himself dropped off by a bus in the tiny cam-

By Madeleine Wright

Editor-in-Chief

Senior bonds with host family, assists village in Paraguay

Senior Jacob Frankel and his host dad,

Miguel. (Photo courtesy of Frankel)See Paraguay, page 6

3 SportsThe Octagon September 11, 2012

FALLSPORTS

Senior Elise DeCarli serves the ball during the Cavaliers’ 3-0 victory over the Waldorf Waves. Their 3-1 pre-season record includes a win over Victory Christian, the team they lost to in the section championships. (Photo by Will Wright)

At left, senior Logan Winfi eld and sophomore Erik Morfi n-Ruiz mount an attack on the Capital Christian defense. Country Day went on to lose the game, 4-0, in their only loss in The Cougar Classic tournament, Aug. 29. The Cavs took second place. (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

At left, senior Jianna Gudebski hits the ball at the waiting Waldorf Waves. So far this sea-son Gudebski has 13 kills. (Photo by Will Wright)

Junior Darby Bosco cools off after a hot 5K race in 95-degree weather. Bos-co fi nished with a time of 20:40 at the Del Oro meet in front of the cheering crowd (at right). (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

At left, senior Jacob Fran-kel, four-year member of the cross-country team, sprints to the fi nish line. He fi nished with a time of 15:40 at Del Oro High School, Aug. 30. (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

At right, senior Logan Win-fi eld dribbles through aWal-dorf Waves defender, Aug. 24. Seniors Morgan Bennett-Smith and Donald Hutchin-son combined for three goals while Winfi eld scored one. (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

Onions to. . . the re-

moval of the drink-

ing fountain by the se-

nior lockers . I t used

to provide the cold-

est water in the high

school.

Orchids to. . . the Harvego fami ly

and Parents’ Associa-tion for donating and distributing free spirit T-shirts to the whole school.

The Octagon is pub lished eight times a year by high-school jour nal ism stu dents of Sac ra men to Coun try Day School, 2636 Latham Drive, Sac ra men to, Calif. 95864. Phone: (916) 481-8811, ext. 347. Email: octagon@saccds.org, Web address: http://www.scdsoctagon.com.

The OctagonEditors-In-Chief

Jeffrey CavesYanni Dahmani

Madeleine WrightCopy Editor

Garrett KaighnBusiness Manager

Jeffrey CavesNews Editor

Mary-Clare BoscoEditorial Editor

Ryan HoCommunity Editor

Connor MartinSports Editors

Micaela Bennett-SmithMorgan Bennett-SmithSkovran Cunningham

Centerpoint Editor

Madeleine WrightOpinion Editor

Darby BoscoFeature Editors

Yanni Dahmani

Kamira PatelOnline Editor

David MyersPhoto Editors

Kelsi ThomasWill WrightReporters

Annie BellZoe Bowlus

Emma BrownElise DeCarliEric Hilton

Madison JuddGrant Miner

Aishwarya NadgaudaMax ShukuyaManson Tung

Anthony ValdezEmma Williams

Foreign Correspondent

Margaret WhitneyCartoonist

Shewetha PrasadAdviser

Patricia Fels

My Angle

ByMargaretWhitney

It’s funny. When I would tell people I was mov-ing to Texas, the conversation always fell into the same pattern: after the initial why’s and when’s, we’d inevitably start in on the stereotypes.

Had I bought my hat and boots yet? How would I survive all those Republicans? Would I get an accent?

Now I’ve only been here a couple of weeks, and, though I have yet to encounter any gun-toting, hat-wearing, fervently patriotic Romney-voters strolling down the street, I have encountered my fair share of Texas clichés.

There are the occasional “honey”s and “y’all”s (our realtor, for one, was an apparent devotee to “Southern Hospitality”); I’ve seen a few pairs of boots clicking their way through the halls at school; and I expect the Republicans will come out in force now that Mitt’s of-ficially nominated.

The masses have, however, proved dead wrong on one point: forget the heat and humidity—Texas is cold.

This week there was an average high of 90 degrees and the humidity hasn’t dipped below 70 percent, but, short of reading an actual weather report, you’d never have guessed it.

You see, the old adage “everything’s bigger in Tex-as” is proving to be all too relevant, especially when it comes to AC.

In Houston they don’t cool; they refrigerate.Step into almost any building and you’re greeted by

the icy waft and gentle hum of the busy machines as they work exhaustively, over-compensating for the ris-ing heat outside.

At my new school the unofficial uniform seems to be some combination of pants, long-sleeves and sweaters. And it’s September.

You feel a little ridiculous sweating through the early morning heat of the parking lot, but such preparations are necessary to survive the icy breeze inside.

It was incredibly disorienting exploring the quaint Woodlands Market Street right after moving down here. I’d duck into stores to escape the mid-July swelter, only to find myself looking for a sweatshirt.

Oftentimes the only things warm about a place are the people. Most everyone (yes, even the ladies at the DMV) has been more than hospitable.

For instance, one neighbor, an outgoing lady with a bubbly personality and bashful beagle, gives our yellow lab treats whenever she passes our front gate.

She also brought over a heaping plateful of choco-late-chip cookies to welcome us to our suburb, The Woodlands, but only when she knew the whole family would be home to enjoy them together. (Hectic sum-mer schedules kept at least one of us absent most of the summer.)

And thus you have the great paradox of Texas life: they welcome you in while freezing you out.

(Junior Margaret Whitney will contribute regular columns

from her new home in Houston.)

Texas: it’s really cool

Orchids to. . . the Student Counci l

for implementing new fun events on Olympics Day, such as the dunk tank. What a bril l iant opportunity to dunk Mr. Beamer!

Onions to. . . the

vending machine

for not accepting debit

cards. This issue has

continued since last

year, and it’d be nice

to have it fixed.

If you’ve ever been to a public high-school gradu-ation, you know it is nothing like Country Day’s.

At other schools’ graduations there is a big auditorium. Every ticket is claimed. Hundreds

and hundreds of identical caps and gowns sit in neat rows. The three-hour-plus service seems never-ending as student after unknown student marches across the stage.

Recently seniors Natalie Polan and Jianna Gudeb-ski petitioned the administration to have seniors wear caps and gowns at the 2013 graduation.

Their argument: “We want a traditional gradua-tion.”

But wearing caps and gowns does not make it a traditional graduation.

Instead, it takes away the uniqueness of our cer-emony.

We embrace our non-conformist ways here by toasting or roasting every senior. Only such a tight-knit community such as our own has the opportunity to do this.

Another part of this individuality is the seniors’ free-dom to dress in a personalized, yet classy, style.

Our graduation is this way on purpose. We can af-ford to be unique because of the small class sizes.

“Country Day is such a special place and we are treated as adults, and that is represented at gradua-tion through the roasts the teachers give us,” Meredith

Bennett-Smith, ‘06, said. “And the individuality of everyone not looking the

same on stage along with the roasts really showcases each individual’s personality.”

Therefore, why would we try to mimic something that we are not?

If they want a traditional graduation, then should we eliminate the toasts and roasts?

It’s hard to imagine the traditional individuality of this event with everyone looking the same up on the stage.

The high-school faculty is unanimous in their opin-ion that each student should dress as they please. Anyone who wants to wear a cap and gown is wel-come to.

Not only will these seniors be attempting to ruin an unbroken “non-tradition,” but they will also be trying to force those students who are opposed to caps and gowns into wearing something they are not comfort-able with on one of the most memorable nights of their lives.

It is understandable that some seniors may have imagined their graduation day for years—tossing their tassled caps high in the air along with a few hundred other clones.

But that is simply not what Country Day is about. We are about celebrating individuality, not confor-mity.

Onions

Orchids

4 Editorial The Octagon September 11, 2012

&&&&Onions&OnionsOnions&OnionsOnions&Onions&Orchids

&OrchidsOrchids

&Orchids

EDITORIAL: caps and gowns are overrated

5OpinionThe Octagon September 11, 2012

By JeffreyCaves

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to

write a column on the finest of fruits.

The words should have come easily to me.

And yet they did not, as a rather angry

journalism adviser can attest to.

The tomato is an organism of such importance

that the Supreme Court of the United States ruled

on whether it was a fruit or vegetable (I’m not kid-

ding. They actually ruled on it and came down on

the vegetable side.).

It is impossible to describe the delight of those

few months when fresh tomatoes are available.

And indeed the length of that season is one of

the main benefits of being a Californian.

Perhaps that’s an exaggeration, as is the asser-

tion that disliking fresh tomatoes in California is

tantamount to sedition.

Nevertheless, those claiming to dislike fresh to-

matoes have likely been deprived of a good one.

Sweet, juicy and pleasantly acidic, a good to-

mato represents everything summer can be.

Add some olive oil, a few shreds of mozzarella

from the milk of the Italian water buffalo (yes, a

water buffalo) and perhaps a splash of balsamic

vinegar to lend it that deep, nuanced acidity, and

you have something truly remarkable.

A quick trip to any farmers market in the state

will show you what the tomato can be.

This time of year stands are filled to bursting—

Cherokee purples, green zebras, brandywines, to-

matoes so dark purple they verge on black—and

every bin is a myriad of colors and tastes.

The tomato is a New World fruit, a member of

the deadly nightshade family and therefore con-

sidered poisonous by many in Europe for centu-

ries even as other New World exports like beans,

corn, potatoes (and syphilis) spread widely.

Perhaps because of its supposedly deadly heri-

tage (guilt by association at its worst), it was re-

garded as inedible for centuries in Europe.

And yet one day a brave Italian thought to char

that strange orange fruit (yes, tomatoes all used to

be orange) and created a sauce that would unlock

the full potential of pasta.

I am speaking, of course, of tomato sauce.

Now it is certain that a fresh tomato—perfect-

ly grown and perfectly ripe—is superior to any

method of cooking it.

A great tomato sauce, however, comes closest

to rivaling that glory.

Here is the unfortunate truth: tomato sauce is

barely Italian at best.

I don’t just mean that it is made from an Ameri-

can fruit; I mean that in most of Italy it lacks the

spicy garlicky wonderfulness that we associate it

with.

It is enjoyed rarely in the north of Italy, and

one has to go as far south as Sicily to regularly

encounter the intense flavors that mark the best

examples of its American cousin.

That’s right—by and large it is the American

version that is superior.

Now savor that statement, for it is not one you

will hear me say often.

A great tomato sauce has four things in com-

mon: chilies, garlic, herbs, and finally something

that few would ever think of in a tomato sauce

and that sounds disgusting to those who have not

tried it— anchovies.

That’s right: those little fish that only bizarre

human beings—beyond the scope of my under-

standing—like on top of their pizza are key to the

good sauce below.

Granted, the sauce is not bad without them,

but it lacks the depth of flavor, the intensity that

these morsels bring to the party.

But as I said before, making sauce from toma-

toes, even a great sauce, is at best a compromise.

A perfect tomato at the height of the season,

sprinkled with nothing but salt, pepper and ba-

sil, is something that is not just quintessentially

Italian but representative of all that is great about

food.

Unlocking tomatoes’

juicy secrets

Long wait, way too many ! ies: East Sac hipster breakfast place just doesn’t live up to all its hype

Hundreds of Yelp reviews urged me to try Orphan Breakfast House (3440 C St.), many of which claimed that this is by

far the best breakfast in Sacramento.So why, then, was I so disappointed?Orphan serves breakfast until they

close at 2 p.m. Although they off er a lunch menu, breakfast is the restaurant’s focus.

From the outside, Orphan’s façade is just as depressing as its name. The exterior walls are covered with olive green stucco and black awnings.

And the “h” in the Orphan logo is created by a somewhat creepy silhouette of an adult holding a child’s hand.

Known for its non-conformist style, the interior decor includes syrup dispensers made from old Coke bottles, and the ATM machine (Orphan doesn’t ac-cept credit cards) has been decorated to read, “B-ATM-AN.”

My party of three sat outside on the pa-tio on a Wednesday afternoon, anxious for the food all those re-views raved about.

We sat in the sun for almost 10 minutes without water or a menu.

When the waiter arrived, we ordered water and coff ee. The heat became too much, so we decided to move indoors.

The booths, padded with fabric cush-ions, seemed inviting at fi rst, but a closer inspection revealed dirt and stains.

The menu, however, was impressive. It boasted a huge variety from banana-blackberry pancakes ($8.95) to breakfast tamales ($8.50) to the “Zen Breakfast” complete with brown rice, grilled tofu and scrambled egg whites ($8.50).

Unfortunately, that creative food took

almost 25 minutes to arrive, and it was only decent.

The blueberry cornmeal pancakes ($8.95) had a great texture around the edges with a perfect amount of fresh blue-berries in the batter, although towards the center, the pancakes were doughy.

The pesto scramble ($8.50) is made with delicious house made pesto, but the texture was monotonously soft and mushy. Aside from eggs, it included only grilled zucchini and tomatoes, so there was no interesting textural element.

Between bites, we constantly swatted fl ies away from our food. I noticed other tables had the same problem.

I thought I would be forever done with Orphan, but my friends expressed shock when they heard about my experience.

Nicole Antoine and Parul Guliani, ’11, are both frequent customers at Orphan.

Guliani says Orphan is one of the fi rst places she suggests when meeting friends for lunch.

“It’s the best breakfast place I’ve ever been to (in Sacramento),” Guliani said. “It reminds me a lot of New York cafes.”

Guliani, a sophomore at Columbia Uni-versity, loves the diversity of the menu,

from Hispanic off erings to Asian stir fries, as well as the traditional American breakfast fare.

According to Antoine, the service is al-ways slow.

“I go to Orphan knowing that it’s going to take a long time,” she said.

When I mentioned that I was turned off by the dirty seat cush-ions, she responded, “I haven’t noticed (them), but it wouldn’t surprise me since (Orphan) is a hipster place.”

Antoine noted that she enjoys the unconven-tional qualities of Orphan.

For instance, she pointed out that one can order a multivitamin or an American Spirit cigarette (both for 75 cents each).

After talking with Antoine and Guliani, I better understood Orphan’s mystique. On my fi rst visit, I went nitpicking every-thing that wasn’t perfect, so I was bound to be unimpressed. I wasn’t prepared for the laid back, unconventional style.

But, if I go back in the winter (when fl ies won’t be a problem), seeking that hipster style, I’ll ignore the slow service and maybe get myself a multivitamin.

By Connor MartinPage Editor

“I go to Orphan knowing that it’s going to take a long time,” she said.

When I mentioned that I was turned off by the dirty seat cush-ions, she responded, “I haven’t noticed (them), but it wouldn’t surprise me since (Orphan) is a hipster place.”

Antoine noted that

An Orphan waitress pours hot water over coff ee grounds then stirs the cof-

fee while it drips into cups. Orphan is known for roasting its own beans and

brewing each cup of coff ee individually. (Photo by Will Wright)

Cooking in the Cave

:

Find Chef Jeff ’s recipe for tomato sauce at “Cooking in the Cave” at www.scdsoctagon.com.

September 11, 20126 Feature The Octagon

After 10 years, Country Day is welcom-ing back one of its own.

Alexis Covey, ’02, has joined the Country Day staff as a second grade

teacher replacing Sue Ryan, now the lower-school librarian.

Covey, now 28, was encouraged by her parents Jacqueline DeLu and Michael Covey, who taught at Country Day from 1998 to 2005. DeLu taught life science, and Michael taught chemistry and is currently teaching gardening at Country Day.

Covey attended Skidmore College where she majored in child psychology.

Covey took a part time job working with chil-dren in My Gym, a gymnastics and play program for young children, while she attended college.

Covey considered quitting her job to focus on her studies, but realized that this was not what she wanted.

“I realized I loved teaching and nothing was stopping me from doing that,” Covey said.

Covey obtained her teaching credentials from Sacramento State University after working at My Gym and decided to teach at a public school.

Since she attended Country Day, Covey knew students would already get a good education here. However, she felt that the same was not true of public schools and she could better serve children there.

She spent a year as a long-term substitute at Regency Park Elementary School, in Sacramento.

At public schools it was diffi cult to make sure all the stu-dents had a suffi cient grasp of the topic, Covey said. The large class sizes made it impossible for her to give individual atten-tion to students during class time. “It was very frustrating not being able to help the kids there,” Covey said.

On occasion, Covey had to cut in on their art-activity time or when they were playing a math game to help them keep up.

“Students who needed extra help had to miss out on other valuable learning opportunities just to stay afl oat,” she said.

Covey says she looks forward to the more “open (SCDS) curriculum.”

“This fl exibility makes all the diff erence in the world,” Covey said.

She says that at public schools if a teacher spends more time trying to develop a skill they fall behind schedule and its diffi cult to make that time up.

But working at Country Day will be a “big transition,” Covey said. For one, the technology is diff erent. Covey is ac-customed to using a Smartboard, a digital, touch-sensitive whiteboard. She’s excited to use the iPad’s that Country Day has introduced to the lower school. “It’s diff erent technology that I haven’t used before but it’s exciting. Plus it looks cool,” Covey said.

Covey describes the faculty as “fun without being unpro-fessional.” She enjoyed the faculty meeting in August when Patricia Fels, junior English teacher, wore a wig and did a rap to encourage teachers to donate to the school.

“I needed to come back to where my roots are and pursue what makes sense for me,” Covey said.

po (countryside or village) of Cerro Cora with only a small packet of information, his bag, and Val Frank, his partner in the mission.

And with three parts to Frankel’s project, that’s exactly what it was—a mission.

Over the course of the eight weeks, Frankel and his partner would have to organize the Campamentos, Somos el Presente, and a Commu-nity Based Initiative (CBI).

The Campamentos (“Camps”) and Somos el Presente (“We are the Present”) were time devoted to working with the youth of the campo.

Campamentos took place once a day—Fran-kel and Frank would divide the older kids (third and fourth graders) from the younger kids and work with each group for one hour, educating them on topics such as reforesta-tion, oral hygiene and proper eating habits. Each topic was introduced with a game such as “Toothbrush Tag,” “Tree Club,” or the ev-er-popular “Steal the Mandioca.”

But working with the children wasn’t easy, and language quickly became a barrier.

Because the younger children had not been exposed to Spanish in the school as long, many of the children spoke only Guaraní, the local language of the campo (Spanish is con-fi ned mainly to the cities, as it is the language of commerce).

“I had been told some people spoke Guar-aní, but it wasn’t very prominent, and that the rest spoke Spanish,” Frankel said. “But every person in my community spoke Guaraní per-fectly, and not a lot of Spanish.”

Somos el Presente occurred less frequently. Twice a week for an hour, Frankel and Frank led a photography class, which culminated in the kids taking photos with fi lm cameras sup-plied by Amigos and entering their pictures in a project-wide competition.

The fi nal part of the mission, the CBI, was to organize a project that the entire com-munity decided on. Frankel and his partner acted as facilitators, not laborers, and with the $350 awarded to them by Amigos, funded the building of a pileta, or dishwashing sta-tion. The community had wanted to build a kitchen for their school, but it exceeded the budget.

So Frankel and Frank applied for a grant of $1000 to build the kitchen—and they got it.

A fundraiser was organized within the community to demonstrate the project was something everyone wanted and the commu-

nity was not “leeching off an American com-munity service organization,” and a festival was held at the local school.

In support of the fundraiser, Frankel and Frank made and sold chocolate chip cookies.

The pair, along with Frankel’s two host brothers, walked an hour into the nearest pueblo to buy the ingredients. The store didn’t have chocolate chips, so they settled on a chocolate bar, and instead of butter, they had to buy margarine. They baked the cookies at Frankel’s host uncle’s house in their convec-tion oven—the only one Frankel knew of in the community.

“We wanted to give them something Amer-ican—everyone in that entire community had given us so much, from food to companion-

ship, and we felt like we needed to give back,” Frankel said.

Despite the time commitment of his proj-ect, Frankel feels it was the time he spent with his host family (his parents, Miguel and Ignasia, his brothers, Demitrio, Angel and Isidrio, and his sisters, Belen and Elisa) he will remember the most.

“My host dad is one of my favorite people,” he said. “On Sundays when the rest of my family went to visit the grandparents, he and I would just hang out all day. One time we talked about what happens after you die. An-other time we chopped down sugar cane and fed it to cows.”

And while Frankel did live with his host parents, they were not the only family he grew close to over the eight weeks he was there.

Because his host mom could not aff ord to feed him every day, she set up a system with the rest of the families in the campo for Fran-kel to rotate from house to house for various meals.

It was on one of these treks across the campo that Frankel and Frank came across a “diff erent” member of the community.

A very poor woman with her three children and three dogs lived off the path through the woods in a home Frankel described as “some boards nailed up in a circle.” The children didn’t attend school (and therefore did not know Spanish), and no one in the family

brushed their teeth.It was dark. Frankel and Frank were mak-

ing their way back to their homes, when out of the bushes three snarling dogs surrounded and circled them.

“They were the largest dogs I ever saw there—I stopped short, held my hands up in surrender and tried to ‘shh’ them. They ran away, but from that point on whenever we walked by the house at night we carried sticks and stones,” Frankel said.

Still, the pair was circled two more times before the end of the trip, and then one eve-ning in the middle of dinner his host uncle heard barking.

“He grabbed a gun, ran outside and we heard two shots,” Frankel said. “He came back in, his mood no diff erent, and told us he had shot the dogs.”

The dogs had belonged to the woman.“(My host uncle) was perfectly fi ne—the

dogs had been trying to steal his chickens, but they were all this woman had,” he said.

On some days Frankel’s host mother couldn’t fi nd a house for him to eat at—so she sent them to school to have lunch.

He remembers one occasion when the teachers prepared a meal of seared chicken, potato salad, bread and guarana soda.

Also having lunch were the school children, but rather than the teachers sharing the food they had prepared for Frank and Frankel with them, all the kids got were bowls of rice.

“The kids just sat there and watched us eat our heaping plates of food,” Frankel said.

“I felt like Major Major Major from ‘Catch-22’ when he’s promoted and Milo makes him eat better food than the rest of the men.”

But Frankel’s frequent visits to all house-holds in the campo were marked by more posi-tive experiences than negative ones.

“I became part of the community—every-one knows everyone, and everyone is family. People just call you over, off er you some yerba mate (a highly caff einated herbal tea) or some food, like tortillas or beef stew. That’s how it is,” he said.

And returning to the United States made Frankel realize just how diff erent the coun-tries actually are.

“Here it is so diff erent—coming back to all the hustling and bustling is super weird. In Paraguay, everything is tranquilo (“calm”). People say come at 3 p.m, you show up at 6 p.m. Ninety nine percent of the time I was just sitting around, talking to people.”

The night before Frankel returned home, his host mom went into labor. Frankel was home with his host parents and sisters, and his host dad approached him, saying he need-ed to take his wife to the hospital and needed Frankel to stay to watch Belen and Elisa.

“He was saying he trusted me as a member of the family. I didn’t realize until then how much the Amigos idea meant to me.”

The next day, Frankel and Frank took a bus out of the campo and fl ew home. One week later, Frankel received a call saying the kitch-en and pileta were complete—and the entire community, including the youth, had showed up to build them.

Paraguay: language problems, snarling dogs & warm cookies

At center, senior Jacob Frankel stands at the top of El Cerro with his host brothers, their friends, and his Amigos partner, Val Frank (far right). The day-long hike up El Cerro was an activity that all the youth of Cerro Cora did at least once. (Photo courtesy of Frankel)

(Continued from page 2)

Alumna comes full circle

Second grade teacher Alexis Covey, ’02, helps six-year-old Tom-my Goyette with a spelling assignment. It was the class’s fi rst spelling lesson. (Photo by Will Wright)

By Aishwarya NadgaudaReporter

Covey returns to teach second grade

French teacher Richard Day

is thrilled to be teaching in a

newly renovated classroom.

But the large windows, new

cabinetry and fresh paint job accom-pany another change that is less no-ticeable, but even more welcomed by

Day: more students in the seats.

A look into the sixth-period French III class reveals 15 students, making

it one of the largest French classes in

Day’s 15-year tenure at the school, as well as one of the youngest.

Four freshmen are enrolled in

French III, a more advanced level

than usual. Middle-school students have traditionally enrolled in French

I in seventh and eighth grades, before

moving to French II their fi rst year of high school.

But three years ago, Melissa Al-brand, middle-school French teacher, changed her curriculum so that French

I began in sixth grade and eighth grad-ers took French II.

“The lower-school French program has gained so much momentum since

the arrival of Madame (Patricia) Nay-lor fi ve years ago,” Albrand said. “By the time students come to sixth grade,

they have the necessary foundation

and background to begin a more rigor-ous program.”

While the high-school French pro-gram saw no change in the number of

overall students this year, the uptick

in students taking higher level French

classes has Day optimistic that more

will continue on to AP French.“We’ve averaged between eight and

10 students (in French III) the last few years,” Day said. “I’m obviously hop-ing to have larger AP classes (in the future).”

Sue Nellis, head of high school, said that the unusual enrollment fi gures in French III didn’t cause any more prob-lems than what advanced students in

math and other world languages usu-ally do.

“Because students will take the AP a year before they ‘normally’ would,

it might aff ect what other AP classes they will and won’t be able to take,” Nellis said.

This has historically not been an

issue for the French program, which

has not had as many students enrolled

compared to the Spanish or Latin pro-grams.

The disparity still exists—there are 27 French students in the high school

compared to the 37 students in Latin

and 49 in Spanish.

But even given the gap between stu-dents enrolling in French and the oth-er languages, AP French in particular has suff ered from low enrollment.

Just four students have taken AP French in the past fi ve years, although more than 40 took at least French II.

There are currently eight students in

AP Spanish. At the very least, “this is the fi rst

year that I’ve been concerned about

space in my classroom,” Day said.One thing Day is not concerned

about, however, is a diff erent class-room dynamic, even with a mix of

older and younger students.

“(Day and I) have been working side by side so that we’re at the same place

with our students,” Albrand said. “The students have really met the

challenge,” she said.Freshman Jenny Kerbs admitted to

being a little intimidated initially in a

French III class that is usually just for

sophomores, but said, “Now that I re-alize that they’re all nice and welcom-ing I feel that it’s going to be a good

year.”Day said he expects his now small

French II class to also benefi t from the shift in enrollment.

“There are three very lucky students

who will get my undivided attention!” he said.

“We wanted to be responsive to the style of the lower school

while incorporating a more contemporary look.” “The tile roofs and colonnade, for instance, not only serve a

functional purpose but it is also a very Spanish idea to have a fl ow from indoor to outdoor,” he added.

Teachers and students are generally enthusiastic about the

changes.

“They really

enhanced the

space and gave it

a sense of order,” teacher Jane Ba-tarseh said. “It

just seems more

planned and more

balanced now.”“It makes (the

buildings) look like respectable

school build-ings, not old por-tables,” senior Gerardo Vergara

said.

Arguably the

most striking fea-ture of the reno-vation—the near-ly fl oor-to-ceiling windows in most

rooms—was “an easy decision” for Repsher.

“The idea of having an elegant interior space was key, and we

wanted to introduce natural light into the rooms,” Repsher said.“I think (they) make everyone, or at least me, a little bit hap-

pier,” senior Taylor Oeschger said.Other students, however, have reservations about the amount

of visibility that the windows provide. “It’s going to be distract-ing in class,” senior Ben Hernried said.

But the motivation for revitalizing the quad was not merely

aesthetic, according to Repsher.

The portables that make up much of the high school were

badly dilapidated after 21 years of use. Wall sidings were rotting,

and there was termite damage in several buildings.

The renovation removed those problems, replacing much of

the original materials with high-quality composites. “(The sid-ings) we used are extremely durable and very high quality. They’re meant to last,” Repsher said.

Because the renovations addressed years of maintenance is-sues, the upkeep cost in the future will now be much lower, ac-cording to Repsher.

The school also used approximately $180,000 left over from the bonds issued to cover the cost of the lower-school construc-tion project, Repsher said.

Some donations given towards the new campus were used in

funding the renovations.

However, many donors were reluctant to allow their money to go towards the new renovations and requested that donations be

used for only the dual campus vision.

But that vision is on hold for the moment.

“I would say (a second campus) is more of a ‘maybe some day’ idea now,” Repsher said.

RemainderThe Octagon September 11, 2012 7

The new awning provides shelter for rooms 4-9. (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

Frosh pack soph French III class

We thank

Renovations: style re! ects Mediterranean architecture(Continued from page 1)By Micaela Bennett-Smith

Page Editor

These students—or others who didn’t take Beam-er’s sophomore class—still must prove profi ciency.

“I track them down before they graduate and we

fi nd a mutual time and I run them through a few days of the curriculum,” Beamer said.

Unlike Excel, PowerPoint isn’t explicitly taught in class, but is included in the sophomore projects—stu-dents must be able to use it for their presentations.

Still, most students have at least a basic under-standing of these three programs without teaching.

“Interestingly enough, when I asked this year who

had experience with Excel, almost everyone raised

their hands,” Beamer said.And Wells doesn’t even have to bother teaching

Word and PowerPoint.“I can’t recall anyone ever asking me how to use

PowerPoint,” he said.The sophomore project has existed for only four

years, and Beamer has taught at this school for only

two years, making this year’s seniors the fi rst class with all three programs in their curriculum.

On top of all this, the laptop pilot program further

supports removing the profi ciency test, Nellis said.So by the end of senior year, the odds of anybody

not being able to use a computer is rather low.

“Why force you guys to take a test on something

you already know?” Wells said.

Requirements: senior class " rst to bene" t(Continued from page 1)

the same time, there was no way for the rafting trip to remain a

possibility.

Before deciding on Greenhorn, Brooke Wells, trip coordinator

of the trip, considered a trip to the Tahoe area or Sugar Bowl.

The class will spend the days “horseback riding, swimming,

frog racing (yes, frog racing), dancing, singing, and generally hav-ing a good ole Western time of things,” Wells said in a letter.

This trip will be much more structured than rafting with two

to three activities planned each day, and the students will sleep in

cabins with two or three people instead of camping out in tents.

Many sophomores are looking forward to the trip. “I love riding

and I get to go with my friends,” sophomore Erin Reddy said. Wells, who helped create the rafting trip and goes rafting in his

free time, may off er a voluntary rafting trip in the spring. So what lies in store for the sophomore trip next year?

“It depends on how this trip goes,” Nellis said. “The rafting trip was new a few years ago. Students ( used to kayak) in Tomales Bay for many years so we don’t mind changing if a new trip needs

to happen.”

Sophomore trip: cabins replace traditional camping(Continued from page 1)

“This is the fi rst year that I’ve been concerned about the space in my classroom.”

–Richard Day, French teacher

Lisa Wible Wright

The Myers FamilyLee Tait

The Williams Family The Martin Family

The Kong Family

Sutcliffe LLP

The Nadgauda Family

nutcracker

Perform

The

B a l l e t

S i n gRecital

Dance

The Music Man

BalletA Midsummer NIght’s Dream

Joseph and the Amazing Technicol-or Dream-

Sleeping Beauty Ballet

The Three Little Pigs

The Nutcracker

8 Feature The Octagon September 11, 2012

Hanging out with freshman Elie Kuppermann is like being in a “High School Musical” movie.

Out of nowhere she will spontaneously start singing famous songs from Broad-

way musicals, like “Hairspray,” while pirouetting around the room.

Aspiring to one day perform on Broad-

way, Kuppermann started her professional career in The Music Circus’s production of “The Music Man” this past summer.

According to her mother Nicole Glasner, Kuppermann was drawn

to theater throughout her child-

hood.“We took her to see ‘The

Lion King’ in New York when she was not even three, and she sat through the whole show, absolutely mesmer-

ized.”Even before Kuppermann

could talk, she was singing, Glasner said.

“She didn’t know more words than ‘mama’ and ‘dada,’

but would sing the Barney theme song with the right tune

and a bunch of random syllables thrown in,” Glasner said.And Kuppermann’s love for Broad-

way musicals grew along with her—

according to her mom, she always preferred Broadway show tunes over “usual kids’ music.”Kuppermann enrolled in her fi rst dance class

at age 2.She always enjoyed going to class, Kuppermann

said, and by the fi rst grade she was dancing with

girls two years older than she was.“It acts as a form of therapy,” Kuppermann

said. She trained in ballet for 10 years, but has

experimented with many styles of dance from samba to jazz to Mexican folk.

Now she focuses on contemporary dance—

a combination of modern dance elements with classical ballet—at iMPACT dance

studio in Folsom.Kuppermann’s passion for dance moti-

vates her even through injury.Four years ago Kuppermann broke

her arm in gymnastics the day before the auditions for The Sacramento Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker.”

Not wanting to miss the auditions, Kuppermann abandoned the pain medication that made her wobbly while dancing, and went to the audition without it.

The pain was overshadowed by nerves, and she just felt numb the

whole time, Kuppermann said.“(But) the minute the audition

was over, she was in horrible pain and barely made it home—she

was screaming the whole way,” Glasner said.

Even so, she got the part she wanted as a “party girl.”

While dancing was the focus of her energy as a child, singing has

also been a passion of Kup-

permann’s.She began pursuing her singing career

when she was 11 in The Music Circus’s junior production of “Annie Junior,” in which she played an orphan.

Her fi rst professional show, however, came this

past summer with “The Music Man.”Rebecca Plack, Kuppermann’s voice coach for

the past two years, suggested that she audition for her fi rst professional part in that play.

Kuppermann’s voice is unusually pretty and sweet for her age, and she has excellent pitch, according to Plack.

“(Kuppermann) is what’s known in musical

theater as a ‘triple threat’—that is, she can sing,

act and dance,” Plack said.

The audition process was grueling, though.Kuppermann was called back four times before

her part was solidifi ed—most actors are called back

only once or twice.While auditioning, Kuppermann performed

the song “Far From the Home I Loved” from the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” and did a reading from a scene in “The Music Man.”

“(Kuppermann) is good at auditioning because

she is a very expressive young singer,” Plack said.

“She sings with beautiful expression, both in her voice and on her face.”

Kuppermann originally tried out to be in the junior company (ages 9-13) as a River City “town-

skid,” but she got called back for the larger part of piano student Amaryllis.

In the end Kuppermann was cast as a “town-

skid.”The company rehearsed nine hours each day on

weekdays for two-and-a-half-weeks.

Kuppermann was not involved in any of the dance numbers, but she sang six songs with other members of the cast.

And of the 22 kids chosen for the junior com-

pany, Kuppermann was one of six selected to wear

a microphone to highlight their voices.They performed eight shows in six days, in front

of an unusually large crowd due to the presence of Shirley Jones who played Mrs. Paroo.

Jones, more famously known for her part as Mar-

ian Paroo or Marian the Librarian in “The Music

Man” movie, took the stage again 50 years later.But this time her son, Patrick Cassidy, who she

was pregnant with in the fi lming of the movie,

played the lead Harold Hill, alongside her.“It was very inspiring to act alongside Jones,”

Kuppermann said.Although Kuppermann never interacted with

Jones backstage, she got the autographs of all 53

cast members, including Jones and Cassidy.Kuppermann spent most of her time with the

other members of the junior company.To get themselves amped up and rid of all their

pre-show jitters, all the kids would sing a special

warm-up song.

“We would sing it over and over, and then dance to it,” Kuppermann said.

It was really refreshing to be around a group of people that shared her passion for theater, Kup-

permann said.“(Theater) does limit her social life and she’s had

to struggle with that,” Glasner said.Although she has reached the age limit of 13 for

children’s roles, Kuppermann hopes to one day secure an adult role at Music Circus.

“My dream is to go to college in either New York or Los Angeles and try and get a job on Broadway,” she said.

By Darby Bosco

“(Kuppermann) is what’s known in musical theater as a ‘triple threat’— that is, she can sing, act, and dance.”

—Rebecca Plack, voice coach

‘ Music Man’ launchesdancer’s career

BalletBalletBallet