February 2013 Spectator

T h e L a k e F o r e s t A c a d e m y

S P E C T A T O RVOLUME 91 NUMBER 5 FEBRUARY 28, 20131500 WEST KENNEDY ROAD, LAKE FOREST, IL 60045

Featured Stories

NEWS

Controversial lin-guist visit LFA

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NEWS

Cracking down on dress code

page 3

FEATURES

When gamers and programmerscollide

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Symphony from Nashville pays a visit to LFA

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SPORTS

EFT becomes a hot-spot for LFA Ath-letes to train

page 15 THE ORANGE

Caxy cartoon looks at the Robotics Club

last page

By Zunaira ArshadEditor-in-Chief

LFA’s Curriculum Committee examines the homework policy

Corbin plans finalized for Summer of 2013By Bailey AyersEditor-in-Chief

When students come back to LFA next year, once again there will be a change in the buildings. The first stage of the renova-tion of upper Korhummel was completed last summer. According to Dean of Faculty and Curriculum Phil Schwartz, the second stage of renovations will start in lower Corbin, which will be empty once the Sci-ence Dept. moves to its new building, this summer. The following summer (2014) stage three of lower Korhummel and upper Corbin will be completed. The most no-ticeable change in Corbin will be that with the science department moving out of the space, the math department will be mov-ing into the six classrooms still in the area. In addition to math, the IT department will be partially moving into lower Corbin. “The whole IT department will not be moving, just one person. More of the sort of Apple help or Genius Bar feel,” stated Schwartz. One member of IT will always staff the IT area so that there is a more local area for students to get technology help. Me-dia Instructor Ashley Kolovitz will also move into the new technology area. A stu-dio to make video presentations as well as sound recordings will also be added. “A spot where you can go and it is

acoustically nice and [students] would be able to make more professional looking presentations and recordings for classes,” is how Schwartz described the space. Next to the IT space will be another study space for student use. It will be an open commons with some high-end computers.

It is not a computer lab, but there will be computers, most likely nice Macs, avail-able to do word processing. There will be a printer in this area as well, so that students don’t have to walk all the way to the printer in the library. This should be an active

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Photo by Bailey AyersSenior Zunaira Arshad and sophomore Liana Shallenberg get things from the lockers in Corbin, which will no longer be there next year.

Lake Forest Academy’s Curriculum Com-mittee, chaired by Assistant Dean of Curric-ulum Kristine Von Ogden, aims to look at specific issues that deal with the curriculum in general. The focus is not on one single department, but rather on the school cur-riculum as a whole. The issue that the com-mittee has recently focused on has been the current homework policy as stated in the handbook. The aim is to develop Lake For-est Academy’s overall philosophy of and the pedagogical goals towards homework. In past years the committee has dis-cussed topics like public speaking, and it has begun initiatives to deal with such topics. The committee is comprised of rep-resentatives from separate departments. This year’s representatives: Ms. Kathleen Schlosser of the English Department, Mr.

Edward Shaughnessy of the Science De-partment, Mr. Adam Schlipmann of the Fine Arts Department, Mrs. Michele Vaca of the English as a Second Language De-partment, Mr. Joe Ward of the Mathemat-ics Department, Dr. Stephen Johnson of the Language Department, and Mrs. Jennifer Madeley representing Seminar Studies. “This year we have several different things that we are looking at, but some-thing that the entire committee felt very strongly about was the way we handle homework and what homework means to us as a school,” said Von Ogden. Under Von Ogden’s direction, the committee has been reviewing LFA’s homework policy, the way homework is outlined in the handbook, and the way different academic departments and fac-ulty handle homework assignments. “We are looking at why we assign home-work, the types of homework we assign, the

amount of homework we assign, and what is the goal of our homework,” remarked Ogden. “It’s very different in each depart-ment. We have just been creating dialogue amongst the faculty about the subject.” With this increase in dialogue, the hope is that teachers can use insight from their col-leagues on successful practices in assigning and evaluating homework. Subtopics that the committee is trying to address include how much homework is needed, what are specific ways teachers use to calculate the time requirements for assigned homework, how often and whether or not homework is collected, and how homework is graded (in terms of participation or correctness). The end goal of the committee is to en-sure that the homework policy, as stated in the student handbook, has been very clear-ly examined and modified, if necessary. As a result the committee may make some suggestions to modify time requirements.

World News Roundup

Compiled by Amelia Moses

Sharing the future of techology

LFA hosts iCon conference

Controversial linguist to visit LFABy Amy KrivoshikNews Editor

Beginning in the 1970s, linguist and au-thor Daniel Everett traveled to the Amazon Basin to decode the little known language of the Pirahã people. Now, as part of this year’s Head of School Symposium on Bra-zil, Everett will travel to LFA to speak on March 27th about language, culture, and the nature of happiness. French teacher Steve Ryder said a docu-mentary he watched about Everett, called The Grammar of Happiness, inspired him to invite the controversial Everett to LFA. “I was relaxing during the summer, watch-ing TV, channel surfing, and then suddenly this thing came up,” said Ryder, “…I’m falling asleep and then wait a minute this is really interesting. I woke up and I thought, hmm, I wonder if this guy is here. Where is he? Can I contact him?” The documentary, which will be screened in Cressey on Multicultural Day, March 6th, follows Everett’s study of the Pirahã language and his resulting controversy with the linguistic community. Pirahã can be hummed, sang, spoken, or whistled, Ev-erett claimed. He reported that there is no past, future, conditional tense, or numbers. Everett attested that there is no recursion, the ability to combine endless ideas in a single sentence. Linguist Noam Chomsky, heralded as ‘the most important intellectual alive’ by the New York Times, openly doubted Ever-ett’s findings. “It might be an interesting question of social anthropology,” Chomsky said in

“When we introduced this program two years ago, there were maybe a handful of schools trying anything like it. Now, if you follow anything out in the world of edu-cation you’ll realize every school is now trying the same thing,” said Lake Forest Academy Director of Academic Technol-ogy Grier Carson. The program Carson referred to is the LFA iPad program intro-duced in 2011, an experiment which ac-cording to Carson has not gone unnoticed. “After spending a year and a half going to other schools at their request and explain-ing how we put on an iPad program, we’ve decided to go ahead and host something here at this school,” said Carson. The result was iCon, a mobile technology conference that was held earlier this week at Lake Forest Academy with the goal of, “fostering an enthusiasm for the adoption of mobile technology across education.” “This program is something that’s been

quite successful for us, and quite frankly it’s a hot topic in the world of education... so we’re expecting to have over 100 people registered by the time registration closes,” said LFA Director of IT Dave Akyroid. After hosting a successful probative mo-bile technology event last year, iCon was pushed through and became the first-ever mobile technology conference held by LFA. More than 100 schools were present including Woodlands Academy and Regin Domican. It featured workshops in which the LFA faculty showcased different as-pects of the iPad suited towards education. In addition to workshops, the leaders of the iPad Ambassadors club answered ques-tions and hosted round-table discussions centered around mobile technology. The LFA laptop orchestra also performed to demonstrate the iPad’s capability outside of a traditional classroom. However, while iCon seemed to focus on the iPad program, Akyroid insisted that the actual focus of iCon was not simply the iPad, but rather finding the most effective

way to educate through the use of technol-ogy. “There are some schools that don’t have an iPad program and are interested in see-ing what we do with technology, and we also want to look at other schools and see what they’ve done with mobile technol-ogy. Obviously the iPad is 99% of what’s being done in education right now, but more importantly, we want to foster a culture in which teachers share new ideas about mobile technology in education,” said Akyroid. The success of the iPad program, how-ever, has not deterred LFA from remaining open-minded about the future of educa-tional technology. “Today, the iPad is far and away, in our estimation, the best tool for education... But when something eclipses it, we built our program to be flexible so that we can move on,” said Carson. When asked if LFA will be renewing its lease on the iPads for the next two years, Carson responded,”Very probably”.

The Grammar of Happiness, “but it can’t have anything to do with the nature of language…There’s also questions about whether any of it is true.” If verified, Everett’s findings would un-dermine Chomsky’s highly regarded argu-ment that all languages share a universal structure within human DNA. However, Everett was barred from returning to the Pirahã people, in part, he speculated, be-cause of allegations against him. “I had people sending me hate mail ac-cusing me of racist views,” Everett said in The Grammar of Happiness, “The reason there was so much fuss was not very sci-entific. It was here’s this guy coming out of the jungle with this language that only he knows and he’s saying that the greatest

linguist in history is dead wrong.” Ryder said he hoped Everett’s visit would encourage LFA students to become more curious about language. “I think it is good to learn about differ-ent cultures, how they speak and how their language sounds,” said junior Abena Bo-sompem. Senior Jacqueline Cooper said she was looking forward to hearing Everett speak. “I think it is really amusing how…he got interested in their culture as opposed to them getting involved with his,” she said. Everett’s interest in the Pirahã people stemmed from his belief that they were fundamentally happy. “They just have so much to teach us about taking one day at a time,” he said.

Photo courtesy of The GuardianDr. Daniel Everett learned the language of the Pirahã people by immersing himself in their culture.

Ecuador President wins his third term Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has been re-elected for a third term, winning more than 50% of the vote. According to BBC News World, as a socialist leader, Correa has been recognized for bring-ing political stability into the country after years of rebellions and protests. The US-trained economist has continu-ally been accused of dictatorship due to introducing and practicing policies that strengthen the government’s power. Now, he calls his supporters to “another four years of revolution.” Although he is constantly criticized, his call to revo-lution has gained him popularity with the citizens of Ecuador.

South African Olympic Runner, known as the Blade Runner, Oscar Pistorius has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. He has admitted to shooting 4 bullets through his bathroom door on Valentine’s Day thinking he was shooting an intruder. He said the murder was not premedi-tated and was a horrible mistake. There had been several reports from his neigh-bors that the couple had been fighting a lot more than usual. The preliminary evidence given has been suggested that it was possible to be a premeditated murder because Pistorius had time to put on his prosthetics, walk over to the bathroom and shoot his gun. It has been predicted during his bail hearing that Pistorius case “seemed to be leaning towards giving him bail. This is just the first step in what’s going to be a very long process,” according to the NPR Correspondent Renee Montagne’s tran-script.

Blade runner or murderer?

Photo courtesy of Tribune Media Services

Pistorius runs in the 2012 Olympics.

FEBRUARY 28, 2013

T H E S P E C T A T O R

News2

By Yakov ShapiroStaff Writer

Campus NewsIn this space, The Spectator pro-vides further details on ongoing and upcoming events at Lake For-est Academy

Compiled by Bailey Ayers

Dress code confusion From leggings to colored jeans and from-dress socks to hats, Lake Forest Academy students seem to always find new ways to break the dress code. Many students feel they are “called out” for being out of dress code, even though they “look presentable”. Some students would argue that the dress code isn’t specific enough, while others complain that there are too many restric-tions on what they can and cannot wear. “I struggle with dress code, personally,” said Mrs. Kate Jones, the new Assistant Dean of Students. “I think it is a really dif-ficult thing to enforce and I think what I have noticed over the course of this year was there has been a big decline in people actually wearing dress code.” Many people feel that the actual dress code does not offer enough clarity on what students can and cannot wear and leaves several loopholes for students to break. “Personally, I think they [students] do a very good job looking nice,” said Dean of Students Chris Tennyson. “Whenever a school has a dress code though there will always be people trying to break it. I think when people go out of their way to delib-erately break the dress code, it becomes a source of frustration for the faculty.” When Jones was asked what her biggest concern about dress code is, she said she wanted to make sure that all students are informed about what clothes are actually permitted and what clothes are not. She be-lieves that if LFA is going to reinforce the dress code and have tougher consequences,

then students need to know what is accept-able and what is not. LFA’s goal is to help prepare students for the “real world” and how to present oneself in the workplace. “When people meet you for the first time they are making an assessment of how seri-ous you are about whatever you are doing,” said Jones, “When you look at a person in full dress code and someone who is not, it looks like that person is more invested in what they are doing, whether or not that is

true, it is important for students to be aware that is the reality and that also plays for-ward in the outside world, not just LFA.” Is it possible there will be major dress code changes in LFA’s future? “I think the first step I am looking to do is to clarify what we have this year,” Jones responded, “There is a certain culture and style of dress that is expressed through our dress code.”

Second fair reboots clubsmuch at any time. If you put too many rules or regulations on it then people might not feel as supported in starting a club. A good example of a recently-started club is the one created by senior Josh Casper called Students Helping Students. This club meets regularly on G days in up-per Reid. His club is a place for people to come and talk about their problems and get advice from other students. “It is basically just a way for kids to help other kids deal with stressful situations and learn how to relax and get through the stressful thing that is high school,” said Casper. Clubs at LFA offer a way for students to meet people with the same interests, get involved, create change, and learn some-thing new. The second club fair at LFA was a way to give the student body a second chance after a busy first semester. “I hope that people learn a few things. One, that if you band together with other people that share your interests you can ac-complish things,” said Small. “I guess you can say you can make a difference.”

how often. She was surprised to learn just how many clubs are currently active. Jones is recreating a page on the school website that lists the clubs by categories such as diversity, service, and personal in-terests. Under these categories each club will have their club name, a 1-2 sentence summary about the club, and a person to contact regarding the club. “The second club fair is really smart be-cause it helps recalibrate the base, it helps organize people, it helps get people that weren’t there before, or that were only par-tially excited, so it is a good idea,” said Mr. Nathaniel Small, Harlow Society and GSA faculty supervisor. Although it may seem that there are many inactive clubs at LFA, or ones that are seen as a “joke,” the clubs stay listed on the website to remind people exactly how many club opportunities LFA offers. “You don’t want to restrict anybody from pursing an interest. The great thing about clubs at LFA is that you can start any club you want, within reason of course,” stated Jones. “You can start any club and pretty

At the beginning of the new semester Lake Forest Academy had a “second” Club Fair in order to give clubs another chance to start up and to give students another chance to get involved with clubs. The first semester at LFA can be very busy and goes by quickly only having 10 academic cy-cles. At the first Club Fair in the start of the school year, students are often very excited and sign up for more than they can actually squeeze into their busy schedules. This has lead to some clubs losing membership and momentum. The new “second” Club Fair was created in order to help clubs attract new, active members. Ms. Kate Jones, assistant dean of stu-dents, specifically wanted to target new and transfer students by having the “sec-ond” Club Fair. According to Jones, clubs are a great way for students to meet new groups of people around campus. Through structuring this fair she found out what clubs were actually meeting regularly and

Seniors Grace Coburn and Meg Kennedy demonstrate how to break dresscode while still “looking presentable”.

Photo by Bailey Ayers

By Margaux BolesSports Editor

FEBRUARY 28, 2013


News 3

This month has been filled with the sophomore seminar projects. Each class worked on a service project that ranged from Cancer support to Ani-mal rescue. Some that are coming up are gathering supplies for Orphans of the storm. Another group is start-ing a environmental initiative where house points will be given for using canvas bags while shopping. Another group will be raising awareness of LFA’s emergency plan as well as rais-ing money for the Sandy Hook com-munity. On March 5th they will have an event where they will sell ribbons for $3 with profits going to the United Ways Foundation.

This year’s Multicultural Celebration Day on March 6th will focus on the film, “The Grammar of Happiness.” The movie features Linguistics profes-sor Daniel Everett, who will travel to LFA and speak on March 27th. Semi-nars will be lead by student leaders on the path beyond tolerating diversity. There will also be a fair where booths from around the world will be dis-played. The night before, March 5th, will be the annual International Talent Show.

Over Spring Break the school will take students on various trips. The Head of School symposium trip will take stu-dents throughout Brazil. They will travel to Rio de Janeiro, Iguazu Falls, and Salvador de Bahia. Ms. Von Og-den will take a group of students to Paris. Dr. Barton’s AP Environmental Science will travel to Hawaii, where they will camp on the beach.

Sophomore Seminar Projects

Multicultural Day

Photo Courtesy of LFA FlickrYaqub sisters Arwah and Aban pose in Pakistani traditional clothing at last year’s fair.

School Spring Break trips around the World

Photo courtesy of Mr. MurphyStudents pose at the Dead Sea on last year’s Head of School Symposium trip.

By Mary Kate PattonNews Editor

FEBRUARY 28, 2013


News4

Improved recycling program sparks a greater sense of environmental awareness on campus

student space with upper-end technology as well as IT and me-dia support for students and fac-ulty. Schwartz commented that the school “recognized the need to provide an active learning en-vironment... The library has tradition-ally been a place where you go, you’re quiet, and you sit and work. We want students to collaborate and actively engage on some work, so we want to provide a space for that. For some students that’s a better learning environment. We want to give ev-erybody a spot where they learn best.” Due to the renovations, Journal-ism and Computer Science will move into lower Korhummel. “I look foward to an exciting new space for the Journalism Program. We know have aproxi-mately 10% of the students in the school working on the newspaper and we will make good use of our new room in Korhummel,” com-mented teacher Bill Murphy. Also, moving to lower Ko-rhummel will be a locker room in

Having made the transition into single stream recycling - meaning that paper, plastic, and glass no longer need to be separated be-fore they are recycled - Lake For-est Academy was looking for the next thing they could do to pro-mote the three Rs: reducing, reus-ing, and recycling. The school’s solution was individual recycling bins for each dorm room. As staff members are constantly look-ing for more ways to lower the school’s environmental impact,

every member of the community should be asking themselves, “Am I doing everything I can?” Over the past year, new black recycling bins have been added to nearly every academic and ath-letic building and the Ferry Hall dorm. Yet some dorms are still missing the appropriate bins to promote proper recycling. Atlass Hall, for example, has no recy-cling bins in the commons and only one recycling bin in each hall. Ferry Hall, on the other hand, has at least one recycling bin in each common area, as well

as a recycling bin in each study room and a recycling bin on each hall. Marshall Field House, McIntosh Cottage, and Warner House dorms also have recycling bins in the commons. Atlass boys admit that when hanging out in the commons they aren’t inclined to walk down the hall to recycle their bottles or wrappers when there is a regular waste bin much closer. Faculty and staff are aware that many teenage students look for practicality rather than efficiency so they are working to find the

most effective solutions to the most common problems. Right now, Mr. Tom Wenman, Director of Purchasing, and Dr. Kathleen Barton who teaches AP Environ-mental Science, are working to put small recycling bins in each dorm room. “We like to hear suggestions from students,” said Wenman. “Students know more about the campus and can tell us what works and what doesn’t, and what can be done to improve the system.” “Many boarders are too lazy

to walk to the recycling bin each time they finish a water bottle,” said senior Whitney Wright, “by having a recycling bin in my room, I only have to empty the bin once a week, along with my regular garbage.” While there are still some de-tails that need to be sorted out, the idea is to make recycling as hassle-free as possible. The LFA community should feel a sense of pride about the steps taken to advocate a greener lifestyle and students need to remember that they are all part of this process.

room 221. “There is going to be a locker spot there where there are lockers above and underneath a bench-like area with a bag drop,” ac-cording to Schwartz. That will be finished this summer. History teachers will also teach an occa-sional class in Lower Korhummel,

due to the ad-dition of a history office in Upper Ko-rhummel. Some ad-ditional fea-tures to the building will be a new door on the opposite side of the build-ing, closer to Cressey.

There will be small areas for group work throughout the halls and a large conference room that could possibly be used as a classroom. Additionally, one classroom has a removable wall so there will be a larger area for presentations if needed. While the area is designed to look like Upper Korhummel there will be some differences. “We have learned a lot from Upper Korhummel, so the doors will be slightly different. It will have the same open feel, more natural light. We are going to cut windows down further,” shared Schwartz.

(Continued from page 1)

Math department to move into Lower Corbin after renovations

The blueprint above shows the plans for Lower Corbin next year.

By Hannah Vivienne Thuroff

Op-Ed Editor

Image courtesy of Phil Schwartz

“We want stu-dents to collab-orate and ac-tively engage on some work, so we want to pro-vide a space for that.”

-Phil Schwartz

5


FeaturesFEBRUARY 28, 2013

AP Computer Science, now one of the largest classes in Lake Forest Academy history with 23 students, has not only gained popularity in recent years, but it has also made professional programmers out of many students involved in the class. Some students have found it to be a struggle to take the class until later in their academic careers, but many of these fledgling pro-grammers have developed great dedication to the craft. Taught by Dean of Faculty Phil Schwartz, the class includes web design, database integration, game development, and robotics. “It’s a very different way of thinking. The way you have to approach a problem is very different and challenging. Using cod-ing you must replicate a real-life object,” said senior Palmer Taylor. Taylor went on to explain what it is like to create a “table,” which would have cer-tain characteristics of size, shape and color. Through coding, one would reproduce ob-jects in a computer program by their details and behaviors. Another example of what a student would commonly come across in this Computer Science classroom would be creating a calculator. One would have to make sure that each function in a program works cor-rectly and each button would correspond to a certain command. This is consistently a normal project. Last semester the class had to construct a text-based role playing game for their final project. Taylor has also been building his own computer desktop. Other students that have accomplished this task are Will Shoemaker, Arlo Clarke and Oh Joon Kwon. Before teaching students about “tables” and “calculators,” Schwartz developed his own interest in Comp Sci during his under-graduate work that involved the develop-ment of topographical maps. “Personally, I am working on Arduino [a single board microcontroller] so I can ap-ply this knowledge in Computer Science and am going to attempt to learn Blender for 3-D modeling. Most of the work I do now is work with students to help them ac-quire the skills necessary to solve certain problems or to gain new information to ap-ply in my classes,” said Schwartz. Mathematics Instructor Joe Ward and John Luttig, who took AP Comp Sci his sophomore year, worked together on an iPad project. Luttig helped develop an iPad programming project to make a testing and practice application to allow AP Statistics students to prepare for course material and tests. This project was completed last spring and continues to be improved and

When programmers and gamers collideAn inside look into Computer Science students’ projects

Craig Scott Senior

Ben ShaughnessyJunior

updated. Also, a specific trend with both current and past Computer Science students has been the development of independent vid-eo game projects. Senior Craig Scott took AP Computer Science his junior year and is now creating role-playing and stealth games independently. It has taken about four weeks to create. Math is heavily in-volved with positioning of the characters. To form a 3-D object, one must detect a player based on his/her position in the 3-D space. The object of the game is to find the vector between the guards and the players. “After testing out Craig’s game, I was truly impressed even though it’s still a work-in-progress. I remember playing a really simple game of his a few months ago and to see how much he’s improved over such a short period of time is really awesome. I’m looking forward to playing the finished product,” commented friend Mantas Ivanauskas. Similarly, senior Chris Shadek, who is cur-rently taking the class, has recently created programs that simulate such well-known games as Battleship, Hangman, and other role-playing games. “I really like the fact that in computer programming you are attempting to reach a certain goal. However, computer science is unique because it doesn’t matter how you achieve the goal, only that you are able to do it effectively in a time efficient way,” said Shadek. “Computers are also unique in the fact that they give you imme-diate feedback and you can know whether something works or not in a matter of mil-liseconds. Lastly, programming is a ton of fun and you can accomplish many different tasks with it.” Another student, junior Ben Shaugh-nessy, recently created a 2-D role playing game. The use of various images create a world filled with monsters and quest giv-ers. The player can also roam around and kill any of the monsters he finds, and loot their corpses if they survive the fight. The player also can be given quests by non-playable chracters that they find. Most of the aforementioned students have the intention of continuing Computer Science in college, and many of these stu-dents are interested in making it their ma-jor. Computer Science is an extremely vi-brant industry that should continue to grow to match the growing societal aspects of an Internet-driven populace seeking more technology-based activities. “Nowadays everything is going towards software and if you don’t know how to make that software, you are going to fall behind,” said senior Arlo Clarke, a current member of Schwartz’s class.

An example of the 3-D objects in Scott’s RPG game.Photo courtesy of Craig Scott

Shadek’s alien RPG in action.Photo courtesy of Chris Shadek

Chris Shadek Senior

Photo courtesy of Ben ShaughnessyAn example of Shaugnhessy’s 2-D RPG game.

By Amelia MosesEditor-In-Chief

6


FeaturesLake Forest Academy’s resident authorLFA Alum becomes published fiction writerBy Nancy WangFeatures Editor

Living on campus with her husband LFA English instructor Mr. Jonathan Freeman and two beautiful daughters, LFA alumna Rebecca Makkai is a well-established fic-tion writer who has produced many in-triguing short stories, personal essays, and a Booklist Top Ten Debut novel entitled The Borrower. As a proud member of the class of 1995, Makkai referred to Lake Forest Academy as the place where she had discovered her wish to become a pro-fessional writer. “I grew up thinking it was very natural to write stories,” said Makkai. “But I didn’t switch to saying ‘that’s what I want to be when I grow up’ until high school.” Growing up with two parents who were both linguistics professors, Makkai gained an appreciation, at a very young age, for the written word. As a teenager, she en-joyed reading a variety of books, both classics and “junks” like The Baby-sitters Club, and creating imaginative stories with complicated plots. It was not until her time at Lake Forest Academy that Makkai start-ed to realize her talent as a special gift. Makkai explained that creative writing assignments and the encouragement from her amazing English teachers truly helped her to see her talent. She recalled partici-pating in Sophomore Narrative and work-ing as both a contributor and editor for Lit-erary Magazine as important experiences for her when deciding to become a writer. “It really wasn’t this obvious thing,” said Makkai. “It really took teachers finding pieces of my creative writing and saying

‘this is unusually good and you should do something with it’ to make me realize I could be a writer.” After earning an M.A. at Middleburry College’s Bread Loaf School of English and a B.A. from Washington and Lee Uni-versity, Makkai accepted a job offer as a schoolteacher in Maryland, which pro-vided her with some time for writing. Af-ter hearing a story about a 9 year-old child (not her student) who was put into an anti-gay therapy by his parents, Makkai started working on her first novel after work and on winter and summer vacations. “I find the story of the boy alarming on a personal level,” said Makkai, explain-ing how she came up with the plot for The Borrower. “I was in no position to help this child, but I was interested with how weird the concept was and what would happen if someone did step in and help.” Telling a twisted story about a librarian helping a supposedly gay boy escaping from his parents, Makkai explained her intention to explore what would happen if people were to push the limits of their nor-mal behavior. Regarded as an “engaging and learned and funny and moving” first novel by Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author Richard Ruso, The Borrower truly opened up a “murky moral territory” that sparked intriguing discussion amongst readers. After the huge success of her first novel, Makkai has recently finished her second novel, The Happensack, a story about a haunted house told backwards, which is coincidentally based on a mansion in Lake Forest that looks very much like the Ar-

By Carina BakerManaging Editor

Photo courtesy of the LFA flickr photostream

Makkai. “It feels like this whole world you have created, living inside for two years, has been taken out of your hands.” Makkai’s novel The Borrower is avail-able for purchase in major bookstores and online.

mour house. Although very excited to enter the editing routine and move on to her next project, Makkai felt nervous and a bit sad to finish her book. “It’s an emotional roller coaster,” said

Makkai has recently finished her second book and is living on campus with her family.

Among the many interesting features planned for the new LFA science center will be a room devoted to “more hands-on building work,” according to Dean of Faculty Phil Schwartz. The new room, which will contain high-end computers with processing power for 3D-modeling and workspace for electronics or even metalworking, will be available for all students to use under supervision. How-ever, Schwartz envisions it being especial-ly utilized by science teachers -- physics teachers in particular. But LFA’s Robotics Club has its eye on the new space, too. Robotics Club, led by Schwartz and Mr. Keith Cameron, has big plans for the space. The question is, however, will the club have enough of a budget to fully utilize the new space. “If we were to move to a new location, we’d probably need more money, but we don’t know right now where that would

come from,” said Cameron. Robotics is already one of the best-funded clubs in the school. According to Schwartz, the club is allotted $10,000 per year, an amount supplemented by various

large corporate sponsors (such as Boeing). Most people may not realize that Robot-ics is a very expensive endeavor. Simply being admitted to the annual competition that the club participates in costs $5,000.

Since the club’s inception three years ago, Robotics has spent much of its funding on raw materials for building its competitive robots. “All the basic tools, all the basic metals, metal rods, metal tubing, sheet metal, plexiglass, screws -- stuff like that are necessities and they usually eat up much of our budget,” said Cameron. Now, though, Cameron’s new plans for the new space call for an undetermined amount of possible new funding. The club wishes to purchase better, more elabo-rate machinery (such as a CNC machine, a very precise automated cutting tool; a mill; a lathe; a sheet metal cutter) as well as more powerful computers to do 3D processing. With the addition of 3D printers, the club could scan objects with Xbox kinect, model them in 3D, and even print more of them out. As yet, however, Cameron doesn’t know where that new funding will be obtained.

Robotics hopes to expand into new science wing

Sophomore Julian Bailes and junior Ben Shaughnessy during last year’s FIRST Robotics Competition

FEBRUARY 28, 2013

Photo courtesy of Google Images

7


FeaturesFEBRUARY 28, 2013

of the Month

Visit youtube.com/user/LFASpectator to see the full video!

Caxy TrendsEvery month The Spectator will look at up and coming

fashion trends that are taking over at LFA!

If someone asks high school students what the hottest electronic item is, “iPhone” is probably one of the most popular answers. Ever since Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone to the world in 2007, Apple has never failed to entertain and surprise the growing population of teenage fans with its newest models. As the “iPhone frenzy” grows larger and stronger, many users start to invest in decorating their phones with accessories such as iPhone cases. At LFA, not only do many students claim they are iPhone fans but most of them also enjoy owning a variety of iPhone cases. “I have had two phone cases: one is from Marc by Marc Jacobs and one from BCBG,” said sophomore Aban Yaqub. “I like this case in particular because it has lace print on it. It’s elegant but still edgy. It has a classic look of white against black. And the bunny ears are a cute and an ‘ob-

noxious’ addition to the overall look.” Like Yaqub many LFA students enjoy adding a little personality and spice to their iPhone. “I got the case because it caught my eye right when I walked into the store,” said sophomore Madeline Sommer. “I thought it was pretty and soft. I also really needed an iPhone case.” Sommer also commented that iPhone cases are designed to accompany and en-large the aesthetics of Mac products. “They are popular because Mac products are, in general, all about aesthetics,” said Sommer. “Customers want something that looks nice to go with their phone. Also, compared to other brands, iPhone only releases one model at a time so that it is easier for other brands to produce cases.” Aside from the fashionable and colorful looks, many customers also praise the ac-cessibility and protection provided by the designs of iPhone cases.

Graphic created by Jane XuA few of the trendy and fashionable iPhone cases on campus.

“I think the iPhone is already very pretty. I use my phone case to protect my screen,” said sophomore Katherine Chen when asked about what she looked for in an iPhone case. “That is why I like tight fit-ting phone cases that are see through so I can still see the beauty of my iPhone.” Like Chen, many students find the Apple cell phone model beautiful but sometimes vulnerable. In this case, a rubber or plastic case with extra soft layer in the front can nicely protect the screen from shattering. With more than 100,000 cell phone case

designs for Apple cell phones out in the market, more and more LFA students de-cide to explore and purchase accessories that provides style, fashion and necessary protection.

Fashion Destination: BCBGSpeckAmazon.comApple Store

This issue’s Spectator of the Month is Maria Pereira, a freshman from Brazil who joined the LFA community in second semester, and has already begun to show-case her great talents in multiple sports. Although primarily a volleyball player, her talents also extend to basketball, of which she has only just started playing since com-ing to the US, and to European team hand-ball. Team handball is an Olympic sport in which two teams of seven players (six field players and one goalkeeper) dribble, pass, and try to score goals. The ball, which is smaller than a volleyball, is thrown into the goal of the other team for points. The sport is somewhat of a blend between American basketball and rugby. The typical team handball match plays for two 30-minute periods, and the team with the most points wins. The game is almost always played

indoors, although there have been handball clubs that play on outdoor fields and some-times beaches. The governing body of handball is the International Handball Fed-eration and the current world champion, as of 2013, is Spain. “There are some similarities with team handball and American basketball, but for the most part they are quite different. Teams usually have four players on de-fense and three on offense,” said Pereira. In team handball, offensive players can only dribble three times before they have to pass to a teammate. Defensive players, when entirely in front of offensive players, can use body contact. A major difference between team handball and American bas-ketball is the number of fouls. A basketball player can commit a total of five fouls, whereas a handballer is allowed an unlim-ited number fouls, which are called faults.

“I’m more of a volleyball player, but I played handball a lot last year for my school. I played the center position because of my height [6 foot 5]. Basically, I was the one who tried steal the ball,” said Pereira. In the sport of team handball, the cen-ter player is usually the tallest and fastest player, but also the most creative. They are often referred to as the playmaker. The center player is part of both defense and of-fense. They have to set up different plays, or ‘attacks’, and players in shooting posi-

tions. From an athletic standpoint, the 6’-5’, multisport talent has great potential in any of the disciplines she decides to pur-sue. Although she is a varsity volleyball player and great handball center, it is quite remarkable that she is playing and compet-ing for the JV girls’ basketball team with nearly no experience or exposure. Her height and speed should allow her to have great success in the future. By James Paige

Features Editor

By Nancy WangFeatures Editor

Cold Cases: Trendy iPhone Accessories

8


Arts and Entertainment FEBRUARY 28, 2013

By Bailey AyersEditor-in-Chief Another one of the hidden tal-ents of the winter musical is the Pit Orchestra. Comprised of stu-dents who volunteer and don’t get any PE credit, they are a group of students who truly love music. While the group is small, they play an important part in the Musical. Without them the show couldn’t go on. Director of Music Timothy Plambeck conducts the group, which consists of 16 stu-dents. It is a big decision to have a pit orchestra comprised of students. Some high schools choose to go with other pre-recorded alterna-tives. “We could choose to do a re-cording and have them sing semi-karaoke style but that is not live music,” mentioned Plambeck. Another option would be to hire professional musicians, but the

Students expand musical experience in Pit Orchestra

If you know who they are, then they aren’t doing their job

The backstage element: Stage Crew and Pit Orchestra

cost for that is extremely high. “I think it is really important for the kids to have a chance to play in a pit orchestra. If you think about the types of music [they] play, [the students] play short pieces many of times,” comment-ed Plambeck. “The style of music is different, and they must learn more music they are used to in a shorter time.” While it is a good experience for the kids, a lot of them struggle with having the time. The Pit Or-chestra operates on a strictly vol-unteer basis. They don’t receive any sports credit as the musical actors and stage crew do. In past years finding enough people was a struggle, but Plambeck is happy with the number of students who come back year after year. For senior Lauren Pugliese, Pit Orchestra is another way to fur-ther her music abilities. “I think it is important because it’s a different musical skill than

other opportunities. We have to focus on the music but at the same time focus on the actor on stage, because they come first,” commented Pugliese. Because of the size of our school it is difficult to fill the en-tire orchestra. Many instruments we simply don’t have and people who play the others are already too busy. “Being a small school, that is bound to happen. I just pick up the instruments that we don’t have on the keyboard,” added Plambeck. While they aren’t the perform-ers of the musical they do have the spot on stage. In the past years the Pit Orchestra has been hidden behind set pieces and even up on the balcony in Cressey. But this year they are on the stage in view. “Being on the stage is a differ-ent kind of feeling. We always have to be paying attention, even when we are not playing,” com-mented Pugliese.

As the actors prepare for the doors to open and the performance to begin, the stage bustles with Stage Crew and Pit Orchestra members ensuring the show can go on. Pit Orchestra warms up as Stage Crew aligns set pieces, double-checks props, and straps mi-crophones on the cast, sound checks echoing out. Pit Orchestra and Stage Crew are the “ninjas” of the theater; their goal is to go unseen and unnoticed. This month, The Spectator decided to take a closer look at the backstage element of LFA’s theatrical productions.

The Pit Orchestra, led by Music Director Mr. Timothy Plambeck, warms up before the Friday performance of Carousel. Photo by Bailey Ayers

Freshman River Lund and senior Jay Kim warm up before Carousel.Photo by Bailey Ayers

Pages compiled by Bailey Ayers and Carina Baker

9


Arts and EntertainmentFEBRUARY 28, 2013

By Carina BakerManaging Editor

Most after-school activities don’t involve paint-splattered coats and saws bigger than your head. Stage Crew is just different.

More than a crew, they are a familyThe backstage element: Stage Crew and Pit Orchestra

The Stage Crew, a group of about 20 students led by Mr. Ja-son Koenig, is tasked with man-aging the set, the sound, and the lights during the winter musical. During the winter season, they spend several hours each day af-ter school cutting, nailing, paint-

ing, and drilling, gradually craft-ing the musical’s set and setting up the light and sound systems. The cavernous area Stage Crew inhabits behind Cressey’s curtain is filled with wood, power tools, and buckets of paint, as well as an eclectic collection of stray objects- giant masks, silverware, fake flowers, and Carousel’s eponymous horses. Each piece of the set is built back here. Members of stage crew are involved with each step in the process, from cutting the wood to make the base to painting on the final details. The first week of stage crew, everyone is taught to use the tools and the systems that are so integral to their work backstage. “Every person here can turn on the sound system, same with the light system, and they all know how to work a drill,” said senior Madeleine Hale. “We know how to use everything.” And Stage Crew does seem to use everything. Students run around in overlarge white painter’s coats wielding paintbrushes and power tools, or sit around a table adding details to the lettering on a sign, or haul around huge cylinders of wood and “cheesecloth-mâché.” They continue, unconcerned, as the cast of the musical warms up their voices and begins rehearsing on the stage behind them. “When people see a show, they

don’t t h i n k a b o u t how one scene changes to another or how the lighting plays a part,” said junior Miriam Fraga. Fraga is one of several stu-dents who, although there is no hierarchy in Stage Crew, are in charge of different aspects of the job. Fraga, junior Mattie Franks, seniors Matt Johnson, Madeleine Hale, and Emma Haupt make up a loosely defined group of more senior Stage Crew members. Why join Stage Crew? Many Stage Crew members said they do it because they love the pro-cess, or be-cause they love drama, or just be-cause it’s fun. “It’s fun to be a part of the musical but not exactly go on stage,” said freshman Maggie Meyer. “It’s a welcoming envi-ronment. You are all the ninjas of backstage.” “I like building things, and that’s cool, but there’s also talk-ing to people you never spoke to before- and just getting to know

new people. I really like that part,” explained freshman Claire Sylvester. In the months before the mu-sical opens, Stage Crew puts to-gether the set and organizes the light and sound systems. During each performance, Stage Crew-

decked out all in black to blend in with the b a c k s t a g e dark- man-

ages the set changes, some of the props, the sound system, and the light system. It’s their job to go unnoticed; unlike the perform-ers on stage, they’re only ever acknowledged during the bows at the end of each performance, as the cast of the musical sweeps one hand out to thank them.Senior Emma Haupt and junior Jeovanny Bermudez draw “siding” on a

set piece for Carousel.

Photo by Bailey Ayers

“It’s a welcoming envi-ronment. You are all the ninjas of backstage.”

-Maggie Meyer

A look back at past set designs

Photos courtesy of Mark Dryfoos

Before they begin building, Stage Crew designs the sets in a virtual Cressey Theater. On the left is the mockup for the VonTrapp House for the Sound of Music in 2011. On the right is the original design for the balcony for Romeo and Juliet of 2010.

The VonTrapp’s house and Juliet’s balcony

Graphic courtesy of lfanet.org

FEBRUARY 28, 2013


Opinion and Editorial10

Caxy Rant: Change is good

Other Preps versus LFA:

Hannah will be spending this year looking at LFA’s rules and codes of conduct and comparing them with other prep boarding schools around the country to see if anything we do can be improved.

This month, Hannah compares post-graduate students at various other prep schools with LFA’s rules.

Photo by Emily Shanley-RobertsJunior Michelle Whitehead finds no laundry money in her pockets.

“It isn’t their job to be our personal change

machine.”

Illustration by Jane Xu

PG students are often bigger and stronger than high school athletes.

The boarders at this school know the drill: it’s Sunday and your closet is looking pretty empty. At this point, you have two options: buy a completely new wardrobe during the conve-niently-timed Target run or, more realistically, do your laundry. If you’re like me and you settle for the second option, there is a much larger problem that now exists: you need several quarters in order to do laundry. I person-ally have, on average, two loads of laundry to wash each week, which costs $2.50 in Ferry Hall. That is almost always $2.50 that I do not have in quarters. My first approach to the situa-tion is to try and get change from the vending machine, a trick I’m sure most of the boarders at this

By Michelle Whitehead

Op-Ed Editor

school have tried before. The flaw in this plan is that when you feed the machine a $1 bill, it gives you a nice, shiny dollar coin in return - there are no quar-ters to be found. The laundry machines don’t take dollar coins. Just a few weeks ago, I attempt-ed to put in the only bit of cash I could find, a $5 bill, into the vending machine, praying that it would give me quarters. The ma-chine promptly spit the bill right back at me without even a hint of sympathy. These vending ma-chines make it extremely difficult to keep up my personal hygiene. It would be helpful to ask my friends for quarters if they all weren’t in the exactly same boat as I am. I would also consider going to the teachers, but on the off-chance that they actually do have quarters (which is usually not the case), it isn’t their job to

be our personal change machine every time we need to use the washer and dryer in the dorms. They shouldn’t have to dig through their drawers, purses, and wallets to find us quarters so that we can do our laundry. If we had change machines in the dorm, doing laundry would be a thousand times easier. Imagine, boarders, a world in which you wake up on Sunday morning and don’t automatically dread having to find quarters for laundry. Imagine a world where you can simply go to the com-mons or kitchen area, feed a machine a few bills, and have it give you something almost as precious as free food: quarters. A change machine in each dorm would be incredibly beneficial for all boarders because - let’s face it - quarters are pretty valu-able these days.

By Hannah Vivienne Thuroff

Op-Ed Editor

Prior to my enrollment at Lake Forest Academy, the term PG was merely a movie rating. Within my first few hours on the

campus, it dawned on me that parental guidance was not quite what this term meant at LFA. PG stands for post-graduate student and is the term used to refer to students that decide to attend a private school after hav-

ing already obtained their high school diploma elsewhere, usu-ally for sport-related reasons. It is commonly believed by many that it is considered normal for prep schools to have PGs, yet boardingschoolreview.com actu-ally states that most do not. With that I began to consider how PGs shape and influence a campus. Are they beneficial to the com-munity, or is a high school not the place for a graduate to return to? Within the past four years LFA has taken an average of three post-grads each year, most com-monly males that played football and/or basketball. Many other schools also see the athletic value in PGs. Salisbury School of Salisbury, Connecticut, is an all-boys school that actively recruits PGs to strengthen their athletic programs. Accepting well over 20 post-graduate stu-dents each year for a variety of sports, the school and PGs

have mutual gains from their relationship. Then there are also schools such as Episcopal High School of Alexandria, Virginia that do not have a PG program at all. Many schools similar to Episcopal High School share the belief that adult high school graduates do not belong on the same campus as young freshman students. As they have already graduated from high school, many PGs do not seem fit to have to follow the same rules and regulations as students up to five years younger than them. While post-graduate students may not be able to make the transition back into regular high schools, the solution may be true PG schools such as the all-boys Bridgton Academy located in North Bridgton, Maine. Their mission is to prepare “young men” for “the rigors of college and beyond” by providing them with a unique post-graduate

environment. These men have different requirements and val-ues than the average freshman student. By surrounding them-selves with others in similar situations, they are capable of focusing on improving their confidence, life skills, judg-ment and maturity to succeed. Throughout my LFA career I have met a total of eleven PGs and with that I noticed the ad-vantages and the drawbacks of their presence on the campus. While some were able to abide by LFA’s rules, others did not. While some sport teams ben-efitted from having the strength and power of a grown man, the dorms had to face the constant struggle of distractions of the PGs, as they did not have the same focus on their academics. Although there were some PGs that seamlessly fit into the LFA community, more did not.

FEBRUARY 28, 2013


Opinion and Editorial 11T h e L a k e F o r e s t A c a d e m y

S P E C T A T O R

Zunaira ArshadBailey AyersGrace CoburnAmelia MosesCarina BakerJohn LuttigAmy KrivoshikMary-Kate PattonJames PaigeNancy WangBrian AhernMargaux BolesJenna SelatiHannah Vivienne ThuroffMichelle WhiteheadEmily Shanley-RobertsLauren ClamageMeg KennedyJane XuYakov ShapiroAmanda BozorgiSophie HansonAyo IfatunjiWilliam Murphy

Editors-in-Chief

Managing Editors

News Editors

Feature Editors

Sports Editors

Arts & Entertainment EditorOp-Ed Editors Orange EditorPhoto Editors

Staff Writers

Faculty Adviser

STAFF LIST

PUBLICATIONThe Spectator is published eight times per year by the students of Lake Forest Academy and is a forum for student expression. The views and reporting herein are the sole product of The Spectator’s student reporters and in no way reflect the official views of Lake Forest Academy faculty, staff, administration or Board of Trustees.

Opinions of the staff are presented in the form of unsigned editorials. Personal views are bylined or presented as formal dissents.

EDITORIALS

The Spectator welcomes submissions from the community. If you would like to write an article, please see Mr. Murphy (please note: if space is limited, priority goes to journalism students). We also welcome short stories and poetry for our “Featured Writers” column, and we are always interested in publishing student artwork and photographs. Please send all submissions to Mr. Murphy via e-mail at [email protected], or hand them to him directly.

SUBMISSIONS

The Spectator welcomes responses to its articles in the form of Letters to the Editors in addition to letters on subjects of the author’s choosing. Please e-mail Letters to the Editors to Mr. Murphy at [email protected].

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

The Spectator has been awarded several prestigious journalism awards in recent years. It has consistently taken first place in competitions against schools of similar size held by the American Scholastic Press Association and the Kempler Moraine Press Association.

AWARDS

QUOTE OF THE MONTH“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest

virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak

immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of

triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.”

-Henry Anatole Grunwald

EditorialClubs, clubs, clubs

Caxy RaveEveryday I’m shuttlin’

By John Luttig

Managing Editor

On a recent cold and blustery morning, I angrily mumbled as I drove past the empty park-ing spaces in the Atlass lot. As I pulled into the Fitz lot, I braced myself for another long and frosty jog to Hutch. Just before I developed a minor case of frost-bite, a white figure appeared be-side me: a Caxy Van. A man in-side waved at me. Expecting him to keep driving, I continued my journey to Hutch. I looked back and the van hadn’t moved. Per-plexed, I approached the Caxy Van cautiously, and the driver opened the door, inviting me in-side. I was unsure of the situa-tion, but I knew that I wanted to get out of the cold. I scurried in-side, embracing the sudden rush of warmth. The driver asked me where I wanted to be dropped off. I said, “Hutch.” He drove me all the way there in the Caxy Van. After thanking him pro-fusely, I walked into Hutch much happier and warmer than usual.

Although this sevice was unex-pected, I was thankful for it for two reasons: I got inside faster and managed to beat the break-fast rush by a few minutes. While there aren’t many things that could make up for the tempo-rary loss of senior parking, this may be one of them. I think it’s safe to say that on behalf of the

day students that drive to school each morning, we applaud LFA’s effort to minimize the time and loss of body heat that it takes to get from temporary parking to the school building every morn-ing. It is thoughtful things like this shuttle service that make LFA more like a home.

Photo by Lauren ClamageSenior John Luttig enjoys the morning shuttle service.

With more than 50 clubs of-ficially listed on the Lake For-est Academy website, but only a small portion of those clubs having regular meetings, The Spectator staff thought it would be time to revisit the issue of clubs and the responsibil-ity of being involved in clubs. Many new students have com-plained about the lack of active clubs and whether there should be more specific restrictions for establishing clubs so that inac-tive clubs do not become an issue in the LFA community. “A lot of times, people will sign up at the Club Fair and won’t ever show up to regular meet-ings,” says junior Miriam Fraga. Fraga is a student leader of Menudos and Cultural Diver-sity Club, and is also a mem-ber of Stressbusters Club. Fraga said that about 25 per-cent of the people who are signed up for her clubs actually

show up to regular meetings. “A lot of people just put clubs on their college resume and never show up,” Fraga said. “It hurts the clubs because we have such high hopes for our clubs at the beginning of the year, but end up having only five people show up to regular meetings.” Too often, the case that Fraga describes is the norm. Students sign up for clubs, or form clubs, to pad their college applications but never seem to take a serious interest. That’s a waste of time for seriously-involved students and possibly a waste of student activity budget money as well. Clubs that are currently ac-tive tend to have clear missions. Dean of Students Chris Ten-nyson does not plan on more restrictions for forming clubs but he recognizes the problem. “Keeping an active club is a challenge for the whole LFA com-munity,” said Tennyson, “and I

think it is a good idea to keep the school club website updated.” The Spectator agrees with Ten-nyson when he stated that clubs could have various purposes. Some clubs, such as Cultural Diversity Club, could be very serious, and some clubs, like Gentlemen’s Society, could be light-hearted as well. Tennyson does not want to restrict students who have genuine interests from forming the clubs that they want. The newspaper staff agrees, in theory. In practice, it just isn’t working that way. Students need to be more realistic about what clubs they create or sign up for. Does the club have a sustainable mission? Will students come regularly and help make the club active? If not, they are wasting other people’s time and resourc-es and creating a poor image of LFA clubs for future groups of students.

FEBRUARY 28, 2013


Arts and Entertainment12

Choir plans trip to New York CityBy Jenna SelatiA&E Editor Returning to school after spring break is a difficult feat for students everywhere, Lake Forest Academy included. However, LFA’s choir has plans for an action-packed excursion that will no doubt make its mem-bers’ return a little less painful. The choir will be taking their fourth trip to New York City in April, with plans to sightsee, take a class with a Broadway cast member, and perform their own material for a variety of audiences. “I’m really excited,” said freshman Ken-dall Logan. “We’ve been learning songs from all around the world, in different lan-guages.” The choir has two performances planned for their four-day trip, starting at a senior-living retirement center. “It’s a place that we’ve been a couple times and it’s always fun to go just sing for people that we’ve never known before,” said Director of Music Timothy Plambeck. “They always love having us come in, and we sing choir songs and solos and do sing-alongs (which is) a really fun thing.”

In addition to their concert at the senior center, the choir will sing for students at Promise Academy in Harlem. Choir mem-bers will also attend two different perfor-mances over the course of their stay. Their first night in the city, the choir will see the musical ‘Once.’ On the final night of their trip, the choir will see ‘The Last Five Years’, a musical by Jason Robert Brown who performed at LFA in 2010. “Thursday we go to ‘Once’ and then Fri-day morning we’re doing a master class with a cast member of the show,” said Plambeck. “He’s going to teach us the most famous song from the show and then do some movement with us.” The choir will also be taking a master class with Dr. David Fryling, a friend and Interlochen (summer musical camp) col-league of Plambeck’s. “I’m really appreciative that we have the chance to take the trip,” said Plambeck. “It’s just fun to be in New York, it’s a great time.” The group will visit numerous NYC sta-ples, including Rockefeller Center and 5th

Avenue, where they will observe the Today Show. On Friday evening they will visit

the Museum of Modern Art, followed by an evening ride on the Staten Island Ferry.Also on their itinerary is a visit to the 9/11 Memorial, which was still under construc-tion during the choir’s previous trip. “Last time we sang at the church across from the 9/11 Memorial construction site,” said senior Kemmer Cope, who traveled to New York with the choir in 2011. “This year we’re going to visit the actual memo-rial, so it will be great to see how that has come along.”

In addition to providing a wide range of cultural and performance experiences for the choir members -- and cushioning the transition back to school -- the trip to New York will create special memories that Plambeck hopes will stay with his students for years to come. “I always hope that it’s a life experi-ence,” said Plambeck. “[I hope that] when they graduate from LFA, and 20 years from now, they’ll still remember going to New York and the things that we did.”

Orchestra prepares for visit from Nashville’s Huntsville Youth SymphonyBy Justin Nakasu and Michelle WhiteheadStaff Writers

On March 27th, the Lake Forest Acad-emy Orchestra will be rehearsing with the Huntsville Youth Symphony, visit-ing from Nashville, Tennessee. This visit will parallel the Nashville trip taken by the LFA Orchestra last year where they had an opportunity to rehearse with HYO Resident Conductor Joseph Lee. This year, Northwestern University’s Professor Rob-ert Hasty has been invited to oversee the

March rehearsal and provide an objective critique of the two groups. “I think it’s always nice to meet and talk to other students who have the same inter-ests as you do, but are learning in a differ-ent geographic location or are on a differ-ent level,” said LFA Orchestra Instructor Adam Schlipmann. “I think it’s good to interact with other teachers, too, whether it’s their students getting to work with me, or our students getting to work with Pro-fessor Lee, or everybody getting to work with Professor Hasty from Northwestern.” Students that went on the orchestra trip

last year are looking forward to meeting the visiting ensemble. “I think it will be a great opportunity for us to learn from people in our age group,” said senior Jessica Lee. “A lot of people here at LFA have never been involved in any other orchestra besides the school’s and this orchestra can help people get mo-tivated to be more involved.” Although many members of the orchestra made the trip to Nashville, there are still a number of people that joined this year. “I am looking forward to having the op-portunity to learn how they put their or-

Photo courtesy of Timothy PlambeckThe choir performs in St. Paul’s Chapel in 2011.

chestra together,” said freshman Marcus Koppenhoefer. “They can see what we’re good at and what we need to touch up on.” The two orchestras are tentatively play-ing two pieces: Danse Infernale by Igor Stravinsky and Symphony No. 1 by Lud-wig van Beethoven. After the rehearsal, the two groups will have an opportunity to eat pizza and socialize. Both orchestras are looking forward to the visit. “This experience reminds me what it’s like to be in a youth orchestra,” said Jessica Lee. “I think it’ll rekindle my interest in music.”

Photo by Michelle WhiteheadLFA violinists practice in Cressey lobby for orchestra performance.

Photo by Michelle WhiteheadHaving traveled to Nashville last year, the orchestra looks forward to Youth Symphony’s visit.

The WrapPricing: $$ ($7-15 / entrée)Taste:

Service:

The Bottom Line: It’s safe to say that we’re crazy

for Stir Crazy.

FEBRUARY 28, 2013


Arts and Entertainment13

J&J Restaurant Review

Photo by Jenna SelatiAt Stir Crazy’s market bar, customers construct their own stir fry and watch the chef’s prepare it.

By John Luttig and Jenna Selati

Stir Crazy offers much more than deli-cious stir-fry – it has delectable menu items, authentic chefs, and a trendy atmo-sphere. For more economically conscious diners, a side dish called Nutty Noodles offers a huge portion of delicious egg noodles and vegetables topped with peanut vinaigrette. Although they are on the side menu and

Being gluten-free, Jenna’s only option was a custom stir-fry from the market bar. Marinated in gluten-free sauce, her mix of vegetables and shrimp was fresh, delicious, and satisfying. For his entrée, John tried the Blazing Noodles dish, which has the distinction of being the hottest item on the menu. Even for John, who has eaten many-a-Blazing wing at Buffalo Wild Wings, the spicy chili sauce and the Fresno peppers

cost a mere $5, the Nutty Noodles provide more than enough food for an entire meal. They were John’s favorite menu choice. For the more adventurous eaters looking to try something new, the Thai BBQ Tacos are an Asian take on the popular Mexican tacos – they consist of a tangy cucumber salad and chicken, beef, or shrimp wrapped in a Roti Prata bread that is to die for.

atop the Blazing Noodles were too spicy to handle. He ended up taking more than half of it home. The great thing about Stir Cra-zy is that it is almost too much food. This means leftovers for the next day’s lunch, which are still equally delicious. With reasonable prices and an abundance of tasty options, Stir Crazy is the perfect choice for lunch or dinner any day of the week.

Photo by Jenna Selati

Custom stir fry is only one of the many delicious choices offered at Stir Crazy.

By Amelia MosesEditor-in-Chief This month, The Spectator was inspired by the Sundance Film Institute to create an independent film contest. If you are not fa-miliar with the Sundance Film Festival, it takes place annually in Utah. It has been known to be the largest gathering for inde-pendent films. The festival gives a chance to showcase new work from American and international filmmakers. We are calling on all aspiring actors, producers, directors and filmmakers to participate. Depending on how many contestants partake in our film festival, the categories and winners will vary. Also, the winners will be announced at morning meeting and featured in April’s issue of the newspaper.

We ask you to focus your lenses on a story about life and style at Lake Forest Academy. We are encouraging any dorms, clubs, or any theatrical enthusiasts to com-pete for the coveted titles and a prize that will be announced with The Spectator’s April issue. Tell the epic of how you asked your winter formal date, a day in the life of a fascinating student, or simply a complex music and dancing video. Other possible categories include a hero’s journey, a silent film, horror story, or a feel good romantic-comedy. When you hear the word Sun-dance, the image that most likely comes to mind is a large quantity of hipsters trying to make it in the big leagues; this is true. However, do not let this common stereo-type stop you. The goal of this contest is to foster even

greater amounts of spirit throughout Lake Forest Academy’s student body. It is hard to deny the creativity and uniqueness among our community members, so here is a chance to use those innovative outlets. Now, LFA visionaries, we are challenging you to channel your inner Steven Spielberg and bring life to your most inspiring, mov-ing, and passionate abstractions. “Pick up a camera. Shoot something. No matter how small, no matter how cheesy, no matter whether your friends and your sister star in it. Put your name on it as di-rector,” once said very famous film direc-tor James Cameron. “Now you’re a direc-tor. After that you’re just negotiating your budget and your fee.” Get to work Caxys! The Spectator is awaiting your submissions.

For rules and standards, please respect the following:

Photo courtesy of Sundance Film Institute

1. An LFA faculty member must be featured at some point.

2. A scene must be filmed in at least one LFA building.

3. The LFA Four Pillars must appear in or be associated with your film at some point.

4. Please avoid inappropriate lan-guage and subjects.

5. The film must be three to five min-utes long.

6. Please upload your video to You-Tube or Vimeo (for better quality).

7. You must submit your film by March 26th to the Spectator’s facul-ty advisor at [email protected]

Crazy for Stir Crazy

FEBRUARY 28, 2013


Sports14

By Michelle WhiteheadOp-Ed Editor

The Lake Forest Academy Indoor Track team was formed during the 2010-2011 school year and has been a strong entity in the athletic department ever since. Because the majority of its members continue on to the outdoor track season, indoor track is a great opportunity for many athletes to get in shape and begin racing. There is just one problem: we do not have an indoor track. The members of the “indoor” track team (especially the distance runners) find themselves practicing outdoors more often than not and, in January, this is not ideal. “A downside of indoor track is that we’re outside every day,” said sopho-more Cece Boles. “Once we can say we practice indoors, I think the sport will be more appealing to people.” I love running as much as the next in-door track athlete but running 800m repeats in 30 degree weather is not my idea of a good time. As I bundle up for practice, visions of brand-new 200m indoor tracks dance in my head. It isn’t just the runners that suffer. For the athletes on the team who do field events, the lack of an indoor track is crippling. “We can’t long jump, throw the

shot, or high jump outdoors in the win-ter,” stated Head Coach Joe Ward. Olivet Nazarene University in Bour-bonnais, Illinois was in the same boat as LFA until a month ago when they constructed their own $30 million field house that houses, among oth-er things, an eight-lane indoor track. “Although it is expensive, the arena al-lows us to host indoor track meets rather than traveling every weekend to other universities, saving us thousands of dol-lars in transportation, lodging, and meal costs for our track squad of over 125,” said ONU Athletic Director Gary New-some. “By charging admission to our indoor meets we are also able to gener-ate income for the track program. The building itself will be paid for by the sell-ing of bonds and individual donations.” The obvious solution to LFA’s indoor track problem would be to follow in ONU’s footsteps, but LFA Athletic Di-rector Darrin Madeley has made it clear that we simply don’t have the funding. It won’t be built before I graduate, but I think we need a track as soon as the mon-ey comes in. Future generations of LFA track athletes will be forever grateful when they can practice Indoor Track indoors.

Photo by Meg KennedySenior Fei Li (right) and junior William Wang (left) warm up before indoor track practice.

Personal

The Lake Forest Academy Boys’ asket-ball team took on cross town rival, Lake Forest High School on Saturday, February 16 at Lake Forest College. The Scouts defeated the Caxys 49-41 but had to sur-vive a fourth quarter surge by LFA. It was a sloppy game on both sides as turnovers were plentiful and baskets were few. In fact, at the end of the first quarter the score was eight to six in favor of LFHS. “We were happy with the defensive bat-tle,” said LFA head coach Matt Vaughn. LFA came into the highly anticipated matchup with a record of 13-9. Win-ning seven of their last nine games, the Caxys were clicking at the right time and looked ready to face the 17-7 Scouts. The defining runs of the game came at the beginning of the second and third quarter. The Scouts opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run and the third on a 7-2 run. They built up a lead as high as 17 going into the fourth. However, the Caxys came storming back in the fourth, outscoring the Scouts 18-11 and getting within three of the lead at one point. The fourth quarter push was inspired largely by the two leading scorers for the

Caxys, sophomore Dejon Brissett who ended up with 16 and freshman Daniel Jo-seph who had, 14. The wind was taken out of the Caxys sails collectively when, late in the fourth quarter, Joseph picked up a technical foul and soon after fouled out of the game. Though Brissett was in foul trouble much of the second half, he left his mark on the game both offensively and defensively. To go along with his scoring, he ended up with three steals and a block. For the Scouts, senior Carter Bass lead the way with 17 points, including a con-troversial uncontested dunk as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Interest-ingly enough, most websites list the final score of the game as 49-41, however, the LFA website lists the final score as 47-41, presumably not counting the final basket. One of the main reasons the Caxys fell short in the matchup was free throw shoot-ing. LFA shot 6 of 14, failing to take ad-vantage of numerous one-and-one oppor-tunities. This is unusual for the Caxys who usually shoot better from the free throw line. Coach Vaughn attributed the free throw woes to a combination of the atmosphere of the big game and fatigue. “It hurt,” he noted. “But I think that showed

some of the nerves we were experiencing.” The cross town matchup marks the end of the season for the Caxys. They finished with a record of 13-10 and look forward to four returning starters next season. The future is bright for the Caxys as they look

ahead to next year. Losing to the Lake Forest High School Scouts is upsetting but the LFA Varstiy Boys’ Basketball team put up a good fight and will have another chance to play them next year.

Photo courtesy of the Chicago Sun TimesLFHS senior Carter Bass drives to the hoop on LFA junior guard James Wick.

LFA defeated by LFHSLFA falls short in late game comeback

Indoor track needs new facilitiesOpinion

By Brian AhernSports Editor

FEBRUARY 28, 2013


Sports 15

EFT becomes hot spot for LFA athletes to train

By James Paige Features Editor

NCAA-Division-III-bound senior and four-year varsity starter Lauren Clam-age left her mark on LFA basketball his-tory when she recently scored her 1,000th point during the 3rd quarter of a game against Latin High school in the Fen-ton Tournament. She is thought to be the first-ever LFA girls player to score 1,000 points. Coaches, friends, and teammates attribute her talents on the court to her trademark hard work and dedication. “Lauren’s accomplishment is amazing. The consistency it takes to be able to pull this off shows how good she has been. What separates her is the amount of work she has put in away from practice. She loves playing the game and it shows,” said Director of Athletics Darrin Madeley. Lauren started playing for the team her freshman year. It didn’t take long for those around her to realize the po-tential for greatness in the young player. “She improved tremendously as a result

Clamage scores more than 1,000 career points

Photo by Lauren Clamage Photo courtesy of Facebook

Sophomore Ryan Clamage (left) earns his celebratory EFT shirt after throwing up from his workout and Robert Hughes (right) runs ladders during a recent EFT workout.

Walking into Executive Fitness Training (EFT) for the first time about three years ago, I had no idea what to expect. When walking into the facility with my brother, we were greeted with a big bear hug by quite possibly the strongest man I have ever seen. This man turned out to be the owner and founder, Elias Karras. I remember feeling unbe-lievably welcomed yet terrified as I was envel-oped into a similar bear hug my first experience. Athletes began flowing in and out as we caught up with Karras and I began to see a few fa-miliar faces. My jaw dropped as Chicago Bulls’ small forward Luol Deng entered. I remember feeling the grip on my arm tight-en; I took that as a sign from my brother to keep my cool. On a separate occasion, San Diego Charger and former Chicago Bear Tommy Harris was working out as the same time as me. Karras, who is known for his out-going personality, called over to Harris, “Tommy be polite.” I looked over as Harris waved over to me and called out, “Whats up?!” Other Bears’ players work out at EFT include Devin Hester and Matt Forte. EFT is located in Highland Park and is home to more than 50 NFL athletes, six Su-per Bowl champions, four Olympians, an NBA All-Star, and a World Series cham-pion. A number of LFA athletes who plan

on continuing their athletic endeavors in college now also work out there. The fa-cility was founded in 1993 and has grown tremendously into a “world-class train-ing facility that caters to a wide variety of clientele.” This sports complex has been recognized by respected publications such as ESPN the Magazine, the Chicago Sun Times, the Chicago Tribune, ESPN.com,

and the Washington Post for its rigorous workouts and loyal following. They offer programs of all sports including football, baseball, basketball, soc-cer, and sports medicine, as well as adult programs. According to eftsport-sperformance.com their goal is to “[bridge] the gap between strength

training and sports training through the use of dynamic, movement-based exer-cise.” They directly apply the strength and power that you gain during the workouts to the movements you would be making dur-ing your specified sport. Karras’s personal goals go beyond the physical aspect of the training itself; building relationships with clients and employees are a top priority. The linebacker of the San Francisco 49ers, Darius Fleming, can vouch for that. “Elias has been like a father figure, big brother, uncle type of figure to me. I don’t know how to explain how much I appreciate him, his facility and his staff,” said Fleming. “They welcome every-one that comes here and treat it like a family, they want to help you overall.”

The facility consists of 2250 square feet of turf that can be used for functional movement training; position-specific skill work; unique sled work; and speed, de-celeration, and agility drills. They also have custom dumbbells up to 150lbs, a Tred Sled, three large tires, three lifting platforms, and a large variety of unique strength, speed and agility equipment. Karras first began working with LFA when LFA was recruiting Robert Hughes, current running back for the Indianapo-lis Colts, to build their football program. Although Hughes didn’t end up attending LFA, Karras was hired to work on strength and conditioning with student athletes. The list of LFA students who have

worked out with EFT is extensive: Todd Zafirovski, Bobby Coburn, Todd Walk-er, David Smith, Michal Banczer, Cole Moore, Lauren Kramer, Brian Lunar, Remi Ndiaye, Don Carter, Jared Dima-kos, Julian Rutkowski, Jamie Balkin, Lauren Clamage, and Ryan Clamage. All have great things to say about the facility. “EFT has really pushed me to my full po-tential and after going there for about a year I’ve really seen a difference in my athletic ability,” said Lauren Clamage. “The trainers are really nice; they want the best for you.”

“As far as getting ready for the season and staying in shape, I don’t think there is a better place than

EFT.”- Darius Fleming

of her hard work and dedication; and she was lucky to be so talented and possess a competitive drive that would propel her to 1,000 points,” said Dean of Students and Girls’ Basketball Coach Chris Ten-nyson. “It has been a privilege to coach her, and she is a fun person to be around.” Lauren, who plans to attend Macal-ester College and compete at the Divi-sion III level, is a guard who, according to an article by the Lake Forest- Lake Bluff Patch, had to shoulder the weight left by current Division I LFA gradu-ates Lauren Kraemer and Victoria Smith. Because of Kraemer and Smith, op-ponents had big expectations of LFA. “Lauren scored her 1,000th point during the Latin game in the Fenton tourney. No one on the team, not even Lauren, knew that she was close to 1,000 points. It was bittersweet because we had just lost a re-ally close game where we played really well, and we were upset about that, but we were all so proud of her for reaching the milestone,” said teammate Allie Cedergen. “I would say it’s been the best four years

Photo courtesy of Lauren Clamage

of my life, playing varsity basketball for LFA. I couldn’t ask for more supportive coaches and amazing teammates,” said Clamage. “This season was the hardest schedule we have ever played and the team really came together and proved to everyone we can play a g a i n s t a n y t e a m w e want. I think t h e b i g -g e s t game f o r me was b e a t -

ing Culver Academy. It’s really sad that

it’s finally over! I couldn’t have achieved my 1,000 points without all of my team mates.”

By Grace CoburnEditor-in-Chief

The rangeFreshly squeezed, WITH PULP

The rangean orange a day keeps scurvy away

Wanted: Winter Formal Date I am an insanely attractive fresh-man boy looking for a girl to ask me to Winter Formal. Meet me by Sonia’s if you’re interested.

#LFAproblems Caxy Match

Caxy Cartoon: Robotics

This is not a true story or based on a true story. Do not regard this story as fact.

Lost: Library Books The library staff requests the help of the student body in find-ing the nonfiction section. All of the books have been missing for a few weeks now, and the staff would like them returned. There will be a reward and no punish-ment as long as all of the books are returned and the thief explains why on earth they would steal a nonfiction section. The staff was unaware that anyone read nonfic-tion print books anymore.

Photo courtesy of target.com

Photo by Emily Shanley-Roberts

By Jane Xu

Classifieds

For Rent: A seat by the fireplace The Reid fireplace, a popular site for homework and socialization, is often overcrowded. So, for the low price of $30 per month, an armchair can be reserved for you during all of your free periods. This offer is open to upperclass-men only, and all payments must be made in cash and given to The Orange editor.

For sale: Jeffrey’s scooter This classic Razor scooter is everyone’s dream this spring season. Perfect for transporta-tion between classes, its sleek, aerodynamic build will keep you fast and furious. The traditional design will remind you of those great days playing in the streets as a kid, complete with the stubbed toes and bloody knees. Not only that, but this scooter is a relic of LFA society - a memory that will stick with us all. Contact The Orange ASAP to place your bid. Bidding starts at $75.

For Sale: Little Theatre Formerly known as “the library,” this room is located off of Reid Hall. After the recent loss of every nonfiction book ever owned by LFA, administrators decided that the room is unneeded. So, for the low price of $10 million, you can purchase your own private prop-erty on school grounds. So, all the things prohibited on campus can go on in the Theatre - provided that you do not step outside the doors. The only downside? As a technically off-campus property, you must sign out before crossing the line between Reid and your new property, or risk being sent to the disciplinary committee.

Photo courtesy of knowyourmeme.com

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

Photo courtesy of yourfireplaceandgrill

The Spectator staff agreed that junior Madeleine Pat-tis, who acts and sings in various LFA ensembles and musicals, looks very similar to the young Christina Ricci in her role as Wednesday Addams in the ‘90s TV series “The Addams Family.”

Photo taken by Emily Shanley-Roberts Photo courtesy of enjoy-your-style.com

LFA Memes

Every month, The Orange comes up with a list of (hopefully, maybe, not really, funny) tweets.

Every month, The Orange creates a series of memes, usually with the

consultation of senior Palmer Taylor.

February 2013 Spectator

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