Gryphon Gazette 2011-12, Issue 3

Volume X, Issue III

Gryphon GazetteTheThe Newspaper of St. George’s Independent School

December 2011

Gryphons triumph at Model UN“Democracy must be learned by each

generation.” –Benjamin Franklin. The Model United Nations students

began their quest to learn about the world’s governing powers this No-vember at the 31st Annual Tennes-see YMCA Model UN. St. George’s students attended the conference in Murfreesboro with almost 700 other students from across the state. Most participants came as delegates from countries with resolutions to propose to the rest of the delegation. These reso-lutions ranged from asking the UN for supplies to fight and treat malaria, to declaring dominion over the moon. Ju-nior Caleb Whitehead, who represent-ed New Zealand, had his resolution about illegal substance trade passed in the General Assembly. At the clos-ing ceremonies, Whitehead and sopho-mores Leann Beard and Andrew Gris-som were recognized as Outstanding General Assembly Delegates.

Senior Sophie Kennedy and sopho-more Kate Sweat braved the Interna-tional Court of Justice where lawyer teams argued a court case about ten-sions between Iran and the United States. There they discussed how to deal with self-defense and the destruc-tion of the tanker, Sea Isle City. Oth-ers worked on the Security Council, which has the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security. Each year, the Security Coun-cil deals with a fictional crisis in which members must agree upon peacekeep-ing actions. In this year’s crisis, Israel

and Iran both had access to nuclear weapons and declared war on each other. All of the countries on the Coun-cil were split between Israel and Iran. Iran cut off access to the oil. Israel moved into Iran. The Security Coun-cil finally decided to condemn their actions and ask Israel to retreat from Iran. At the end of the conference, senior Tara Schulz was recognized as the Outstanding Security Council Member.

Aside from our delegates, lawyers, and Security Council members, St. George’s had a large group of elected officers. Seniors Taylor See and Cara Bargiacchi served in the General As-sembly as Vice President and Liai-son, respectively. In the Internation-al Court of Justice, senior Meredith Compton served as Liason and senior Joanna Spinolo served as a Justice. The officers worked tirelessly to run the conference and even went to Mur-freesboro a day early to prepare.

At the 2012 conference next year, junior Samer Istanbouli will serve as the Video Production Editor and soph-omore Kate Sweat will serve as the In-ternational Court of Justice Liaison. Both students were elected based on their hard work during the weekend. Almost every person who goes to Mod-el UN comes back with fun stories and great memories. Model UN students are learning how the world is run in the best way — through experience.

St. George’s takes a bite out of the Big Apple

Make-A-Wish makes a difference

While sitting on the floor of the Atlanta airport, several Citizen-ship students, including myself, anxiously waited to board the plane that would take us to “The City that Never Sleeps.” Although there was an itinerary planned for a three-day adventure in New York City, there was no way to know where this trip might take us. Four students from the senior class, Rebecca Hol-lis, Brandon Williford, Mary Claire Wilcheck, and myself traveled to the “Big Apple” with Luther Mer-cer, Director of the Institute for Cit-izenship, to continue our education in citizenship by learning not only how the Federal Bank works, but also how to successfully navigate

The Make-A-Wish Club has been an institution at St. George’s longer than many students can remember. It all began with one student, Taylor Evans, Class of 2009. Her family had always been involved with Make-A-Wish, and she felt like St. George’s was the perfect place to start a club. The very first wish was to a little boy named Jake, who wanted to go to Orlando, Florida. It started out as a quiet effort, but as more students learned about the cause, more mon-ey was raised. You can see Jake’s picture hanging in the hallway; the first wish St. George’s granted.

Mrs. Lisa Ayerst, 9th grade ge-ometry teacher and faculty sponsor of Make-A-Wish, has bright plans for the future. She mentioned that,

“The Make-A-Wish club will con-tinue to sell Chick-Fil-A biscuits throughout the year. We will also raise funds hosting a basketball tournament on the day of the Polar Plunge and selling Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.” Ayerst also explained plans to continue an event started last year,

“We will also have another “Wang’s Week” with Wang’s Man-darin House at Park and Ridge-way. Wang’s graciously donates a percentage of their sales towards Make-A-Wish. Last year was the first time for this and we hope it becomes a bigger event.” Ayerst said the club has a number of other ideas in the works.

With all the enthusiasm the

the subway. When we arrived in the bus-

tling, rainy city, we immediately took a taxi across town to the Federal Reserve. After the forty-five minute drive with our lost and confused driver, we made it to the Federal Reserve. There, we took a tour to see how the bank runs. Mercer served as our tour guide for the day in the bank as well as on the streets of New York. After learning about the economy and how the Fed-eral Reserve plays a role in run-ning America’s financial system, we traveled just a few blocks to Occupy Wall Street.

Continued on page 7 Continued on page 6

Claire Peeler ’12 Madison See ’13

Taylor See ’12

Photo: Samer IstanbouliModel UN participants strive to find solutions to international issues as they vote on resolutions.

Editorial Page 2

Dear St. George’s Community,

There is a feeling we all get when we meet someone important. We are all guilty of getting a little star struck when we come across a person who is in the public eye. I recently had this experience when I had the oppor-tunity to sit down with Chris Peck, the Editor-in-Chief of the “Commer-cial Appeal,” who spoke to the St. George’s community in October. His role as a journalist and head of the most widely read daily publication in the area gives him the enormous responsibility of informing the pub-lic about their community and their world — he also made me just a little bit nervous. Despite my nerves, we had an interesting discussion about his experience with media, his per-ception of the media today, and how individuals have to take the initia-tive in order to be strong members of their communities.

Most people agree that it is impor-tant to be engaged in the world, espe-cially as it becomes more connected and more dynamic. As Peck said, “Just because you don’t want to run

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

Editor in Chief Copy Editors Layout Editors Advisor Photo Editors Sophie Kennedy Erika Zurburg Samer Istanbouli Margaret Robertson Mary Kathryn Philips Nathalie Vacheron Erika Zurburg Melissa Grant

Managing Editor Civic Awareness Editor Opinion Editor Entertainment Editor Sports Editor Student Life Editor Grade Page Editors Blake Carruth John Marc Shelly Hunt Seabrook Claire Peeler Brandon Horne Rachel Stires Ashley Moody, Corky Paul Rachael Smith

Commercial Appeal meets Gryphon Gazette

for office, doesn’t mean you can’t have an opinion.” Being informed is a fun-damental aspect of citizenship. Two of Peck’s “Top Ten Tips from an Old Guy on Getting from 14 to 61,” shared at the St. George’s assembly, relate to be-ing informed. Number 1: “Learn how to think.” That is, take the time to consid-er what’s going on in your own mind; don’t just follow the crowd. Number 2: “Know what you don’t know.” No mat-ter how smart or privileged you are, there is a lot that you don’t know. Be aware and on the look out for things you don’t know or don’t understand and actively work to reconcile this.

Peck’s words about educating your-self and our conversation about today’s media got me to thinking about my place, and the importance of my ac-tions.

The world is an exciting place these days and for individuals like those in the St. George’s community, it is alive with nearly unlimited opportunities. In such a time as this, individuals should get up each morning and ask them-selves, “What am I going to do in the world today?” This question can mean of course, “What am I going to eat for

breakfast?” or “Am going to skip first period?” Or, it can mean, “How am I going to make my life count today?” The answer can be extremely sim-ple — get informed. A person cannot hope to make positive contributions to their community with out first know-ing what’s going on.

With so many search engines and media sources available today, it is not difficult to pursue information. But, how do young people, who are preparing to vote, make independent decisions, and pay taxes, sort through the heaps of information out there and get to the real story? The an-swer is that the real story can only be found by using multiple sources, not just one, but two or even three.

Because the business model of me-dia companies that target one spe-cific audience has been so successful, many media outlets choose to make their news appeal to just one group of people. So, if a person is watching only Fox, or only MSNBC, that per-son is not getting the whole story. The whole story comes from a combination of sources, including those not consid-ered part of traditional media. Face-

book, Twitter, and YouTube are all viable sources of information that can showcase the climate instanta-neously, and provide an outlet for direct communication.

Seek out a few trusted sources and be disciplined in gathering in-formation from both sides of the spectrum. Peck encourages individ-uals to cultivate a “healthy degree of skepticism.” All people will benefit from navigating the media with an attitude of inquiry. Informed people are those who gather news from multiple outlets and check into dis-crepancies. It is the combination of skepticism, discipline, and a certain degree of humility that makes such a person.

So, I ask not only “What are you going to do in the world today,” but, “How are you going to make the choices about what you do in the world tomorrow?”

Sincerely, Sophie Kennedy ’12Editor-in-Chief

Photo: Hannah BuckmasterChris Peck, Editor-in-Chief of the Commercial Appeal shares valuable life lessons with the entire student body.

Opinion Page 3

Helpful or hurtful: The class ranking

controversy Class rankings are a contro-

versial topic which the majority of high school students do not understand. For people who are not familiar with class rankings, they are a list that measures a student’s performance against the other students in their grade.

It consists of the rank the stu-dent holds in his or her class and the corresponding percentile. Both the class rank and the per-centile are found using the GPA of all of the students.

Many small private schools like St. George’s do not have class rankings and many students do not understand why. One prob-lem with class rankings is the fact that many students do not understand how the class rank-ings can hurt them more than it can help them.

St. George’s, for instance, does not have class rankings because of how small the school is. The administration, in agreement with college guidance, believes that having class rankings would hurt the students’ re-sumes rather than help them. Questions on common college applications regarding class rankings have a different con-notation for huge public schools than they do for St. George’s. Be-

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

Albert Cantu ’12

With the holiday season fast approaching, we find ourselves struggling once again with the conflict that has vexed men for ages; should one say “Happy Holidays,” or “Merry Christ-mas”? As American society be-comes more tolerant of differ-ences in faith, and by extension, celebratory salutations, does the popular “Merry Christmas” have a place in an increasingly global-ized world?

This humble commentator asks, “Does it really matter?”

According to a recent poll, most Americans do, in fact, prefer to say “Merry Christmas.” Like-wise, the poll showed that people would not be offended if someone said “Happy Holidays” to them. However, the phrase “Merry Christmas” may be viewed by many as an exclusive term meant only to make other Christians feel a sense of unity; whereas, “Happy Holidays” gives a sense of inclusion, while forgoing any emphasis on any specific religion.

This discussion, I believe, is fundamentally flawed. On one hand, there are the religious in-

dividuals who feel they must impose their specific holiday-centric ideas on others. On the other hand, there are people who are paralyzed by their de-sire to be politically correct. Why can’t we just live and let live, and put the issue to bed once and for all? The people concerned with the religious af-filiation can say “Merry Christ-mas” ‘till their heart’s content, while those apathetic to the plight of Christendom may say “Happy Holidays,” “Happy Chanukah,” “Leave-me-alone-you-freak,” etc.

For those who cannot content themselves with either of these options, a third course does ex-ist. This holiday, of course, is the glorious, uniquely American celebration of capitalistic excess known as X-mas. The vast major-ity of Americans celebrate X-mas without realizing it. Oftentimes, they attempt to hide under the thin guise of a religious holiday, using it as an excuse to gorge themselves and buy expensive things that no one really needs. But such is life, and such is the holiday season. Merry X-mas ev-eryone!

Scandal surrounds seasonal salutations

What Would Jasmine Do?

cause St. George’s has such a small number of students and more challenging courses than what one might find in public schools, our rankings would be obscured when compared to other school rankings. Some colleges would look at our school’s class rankings and not acknowledge the number of students in that class or the difficulty of classes compared to many public school systems.

Some students at St. George’s are rallying to get class rank-ings. I understand that the students are curious to know where they stand compared to their friends, but it would not be a good idea for our school. Schools all over the country are starting to get rid of their class rankings system because of the negative impact it has on their students’ resumes.

St. George’s decided at its creation not to utilize class rankings, and it is going to keep it that way for the re-mainder of its existence. This was a good decision on the ad-ministration’s part because it makes the college application process easier and fairer for their students.

Jamie Roche ’13

Dear Jasmine,All of this talk of the world ending in 2012 with the Mayan cal-

endar, the rapture and what not, is, like, totally freaking me out! With New Year’s approaching and this whole end of the world business, I feel like this year’s New Year’s resolutions matter just a bit more. It is times like these, times of doubt and uncertainty, that I look to someone incredibly superior to me — I look to you, Jasmine. So I’m wondering, all great and powerful Jasmine, what do YOU think are the most important things to do before you die? Sincerely, Upset Uncertain Underclassman

Dear Triple-U,I’m glad you’re taking this so seriously, and I am especially glad

you have come to me. If there is anyone you should look to for an example of how to live your life, it is I, Jasmine. There are really three major things I feel are vitally important to do before you die.

Give. Give people a piece of your mind. I’m not talking about telling your loved ones how much they mean to you. I’m talking about, “Girl yo breath stanks, have you ever heard of a Tic-Tac?” to that poor individual who sits next to you in math class with breath that could wilt flowers. Some may call this an “insult,” but I prefer to think of it as a helpful tip that enhances their way of life and makes them a little more attractive.

Appreciate. Appreciate how really, really ridiculously good-look-ing I am. Appreciate the fact that I am talking to you. Appreciate the rare occasions that you are graced with my presence. Why, you may ask? Because gratitude is good.

Do. Do things you think Jasmine would do. Wait… on second thought, maybe you shouldn’t. You could never come close to achieving anything “the Jasmine Yunus way”; it takes a certain talent to be me. You might as well stay true to yourself, no matter how different we may be — but do SOMETHING. Stop picking your nose, get off your tushy, and live.

Live your life, love your life, and make this year your best — it might just be your last.

You know you love me,Jasmine

Page 4 Student Life

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

Deck the halls with Christmas spirit

Looking for ways to make sure you are on Santa’s nice list? An easy way to avoid getting coal in your stocking this Christmas would be to volunteer at the Col-lierville Animal Shelter.

Basically, you help get ador-able animals adopted, as well as play with and walk them. Whether you are a dog or cat person, you will certainly find your niche here working with the animals. You can also choose to volunteer out at the Avenue Carriage Crossing Mall in Col-lierville. The shelter occupies a store space and has cats and dogs there on Fridays, Satur-days, and Sundays.

I volunteer there every Sat-

urday, and I can personally tell you that it is a blast, especially around Christmas! Last year we had a litter of seven adorable black puppies, all with Christ-mas-themed names. They got adopted quickly, but my fellow volunteers and I were fortunate enough to get to play with them first.

Not only is volunteering at an animal shelter an excellent way to get into the holiday spirit, but it is also a life-changing and ex-traordinary experience. As soon as the Sarah McLaughlin song “Arms of the Angel” starts up on the TV, we have all felt compelled to change the channel or flee the room before we dissolve into ut-ter misery and self-loathing be-

cause of sweet faces sweeping across the screen.

The truth is, it is not that hard to help them. All it takes is a two-hour training program and you are ready to help dogs and cats find new homes. This opportunity teaches you the im-portance of serving your com-munity and promotes a strong foundation for good leadership. You form friendships and bonds that you will never forget, as well as come back with some hilarious and heart-warming stories. I personally believe that volunteering at the shelter has helped shape me into a better person, taught me important life lessons, and blessed me with new, irreplaceable friends.

A helping holiday at the Animal ShelterRachel Stires ’12

St. George’s has many unique Christmas traditions. With the holiday season upon us, the community is ready to come together once again and share the Christmas spir-it. Students from kindergarten to twelfth grade are excited about Christmas time and the traditions that really help spread Christmas cheer

Breakfast with Santa is an event that seniors look forward to. A faculty member dresses up as Santa and invites all seniors to take pictures with the jolly fellow and his helpful elves. The seniors always anticipate who will be Santa and who will be the elves. After asking Mr. Tom Morris, Upper School Director, if he could shed some light on the identities of this year’s elves, he said, “It de-pends on which of Santa’s elves are avail-able.”

The senior moms also spend time adorn-ing the lounge with expressions of holiday spirit. Corky Paul said, “I can’t wait to see Santa. I have been texting him for weeks but he hasn’t responded. I’ve requested that he bring an elf, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens!” Mr. Morris also stated that this particular tradition always gets the seniors in a “festive spirit.”

Another senior Christmas tradition is the hayride through Starry Nights at Shelby Farms. A few senior moms arrange for the entire senior class to be taken through the park on a hayride. In the past, it has been very cold, so all of the seniors bundle up to-gether and enjoy the lights. Erika Zurburg stated, “I am excited for the Starry Night hayride. It’s sad to think that it is our last Christmas together as a grade.” This is al-ways an event that seniors look forward to, and it is fun to spend time as a whole class outside of school.

Senior caroling is another event in which students particpate during the Christmas season. Seniors spend a morning during the Christmas season caroling through the halls of the Germantown and Memphis campus-es. Mr. Morris said, “Students get to display their vocal talents to younger children who are generally not too scared.” Some seniors will dress in extravagant Christmas cos-tumes and others will lead the singing.

“I am so excited to debut my pipes” said senior Jasmine Yunus. I have been practic-

ing in the shower for months.” The younger students always look forward to the older stu-dents singing through the halls and getting everyone ready for winter break.

One Christmas tradition available to all students and parents is Lessons and Carols. This event takes place in the chapel at the Germantown campus. Chaplains from all three campuses organize this special event during which the various choral groups sing Christmas songs while students read lessons. Mr. Morris stated, “It is truly a school-wide celebration.” This event gives all students a chance to come together as a community and celebrate the meaning of Christmas.

We are also lucky to have willing parents who decorate our halls to spread Christmas cheer. They spend their time putting up all sorts of decorations throughout the Collier-ville campus. They even provide the school with its very own Christmas tree, located in the Dining Hall. Mr. Morris said, “The par-ents are very generous with their time and energy in decorating the school.”

There are also many traditions present at the lower school during Christmas time. At the Memphis Campus, students in pre-kin-dergarten through the first grade performed in a Christmas program on December 6th. On December 7th, the junior kindergarten students at the Germantown campus had their chance to shine in a classic Christmas program. December 8th was also a day full of Christmas cheer as the second through fifth graders at the Memphis campus took part in the elementary grade Christmas program. Senior kindergarten students and first grade students wrapped up the Germantown Cam-pus Christmas programs on December 9th. In these Christmas programs, students donned the traditional cottas, white smocks with big red bows. When asked about her cotta experience Mary Claire Wilcheck said, “It’s definitely a favorite memory. When looking back at pictures of the cottas, I realized how ridiculous we all looked.” Peyton Wheeler re-marked, as she remembered the cottas, only, “Oh dear!”

On December 16th, St. George’s Christmas traditions will come to a close as elementary students celebrate the coming of the Winter break there with Christmas parties.

Britt Paul ’12

Photo: Rachel Stires

Christmas is quickly ap-proaching and everyone is gearing up for this exciting time by creating their annual Christmas gift lists. I made my way through the upper school of St. George’s, asking, “What is big on your list this Christmas?” The results are in and the St. George’s com-munity is itching for a…10. New Bicycle – A timeless classic, sophomores Kellen Young and Jason Crawford shared their desire for a new bike this Christmas. Might I suggest throwing in a helmet and bell as well? 9. College Acceptance Let-ter – This is popular on the seniors’ Christmas lists this year; Evan Vihlen and Mer-edith Compton said that they would love to get this Christ-mas gift. Hopefully, Santa has a few meetings with college admissions before making his rounds.8. “An uninterrupted day of reading” – When asked what he wanted for Christmas, Mr. Culley replied that he only wants to get away from the noise and enjoy some good reading. Perhaps “A Christ-mas Carol?”7. Schnoodle – Senior Corky Paul would enjoy nothing more than to find a schnoodle puppy under her tree on Christmas morning. A cross between a poodle and a schnauzer, this fluffy little dog would indeed look great in a Christmas sweater.6. Pair of Shoes – It is not

surprising that a good pair of boots was a big hit on stu-dents’ gift lists this year, as the cold weather rolls in, and people begin to trade in their sandals and t-shirts for sweat-ers and mittens. 5. Clothes – Again, a frequent student wish was a change in wardrobe as they prepare for the cold of winter. And as we all know, Santa does have a great sense of style.4. Car – As many sophomores and juniors begin to drive, a new car is high on their lists. Some are hoping to ride in style, but most would just be happy with anything that moves. As an upcoming driver, I am in support of the latter.3. Money – This was a very popular item among students; though not the most original, I must admit that there is noth-ing better than being able to pick your own gift.2. iPhone 4s – As usual, Apple has come out with yet anoth-er “best iPhone yet,” and ap-proaching the holiday season, everybody who is anybody has this technological wonder high on their wish list.1. Chia Pet – Winning the award for most original gift, Mr. Morris is itching with an-ticipation to discover if he will find under his tree the ever popular and always entertain-ing, Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia.

So off you go to complete your lists, but I must warn you that I spoke with Santa, and well…don’t get your hopes up.

The St. George’s Christmas Wish List

Kate Sweat ’14

Page 5

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

On October 30th, Taylor Swift came to town and captured the hearts of many young fans through her ballads of love, high school, and growing up. To be perfectly honest, though, I was a bit un-derwhelmed by Miss Swift’s performance. I had heard raving reviews about past Taylor Swift con-certs, so I was expecting something spectacular. Unfortunately, I saw more of a theatrical produc-

tion than a concert. From Swift’s eight different dresses, cliché backdrops, and the red velvet cur-tain that surrounded the set, it all seemed staged; even Swift’s dialogue appeared to be scripted. Everything she said was a transition to her next song. At one point, Swift went on and on about how nice her fans were. Turns out, this compli-ment was merely a transition into her next hit song titled “Mean.”

Swift was also suffering from a severe cold, but told the crowd that she did not want to cancel on her Memphis friends. While I appreciate her

toughing it out and not bailing on us, her girl-power infused lyrics lost some of their flair when she began coughing.

Her corny dialogue and bronchitis aside, I thoroughly enjoyed each one of Taylor Swift’s dresses. The crowd’s favorite dress was the princess gown she wore during the finale in which she sang her classic song, “Love Story.” The concert seemed to be at its peak when Swift went back to her most popular tracks. Swift has plenty of songs that make you want to get up and sing along including “Mine,” “Tim McGraw,” or “Teardrops on My Guitar.” Unfortunately, Swift chose to shy away from those songs and focused on the more personal tracks from her newest album, “Speak Now.”

Despite the fact that I found her numer-ous hair flips and coughing distracting, others may disagree and say that it was a

Speak Now. Or, on second thought, don’t.

Elijah Poston ’13

On their new al-bum, “Mylo Xyloto,” Coldplay spared no expense. The album, presented as a concept album, shows fans that Coldplay has not

yet lost their roots, as many feared with 2008’s “Viva La Vida.” The album is a perfect mix of their classic sound from “Parachutes,” “X&Y,” and “Rush of Blood to the Head” and their newer sounds from “Viva La Vida.”

The album also has several surprises worked in with the help of Brian Eno. The band used Eno, a producer and songwriter who has worked

with acts such as David Bowie and U2, to help arrange the album’s songs. One listen to “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” or “Paradise” is all it takes to hear Eno’s additional composition. These songs, in-cluding “Princess of China” and “Para-dise” have an extremely poppy edge. Nev-ertheless, the pieces are solid.

Coldplay’s old sound can be heard most in the songs “U.F.O,” an acoustic ballad, “Charlie Brown”, which sounds like some-thing straight off of “X&Y,” and “Major Minus”, which features some lead vocals by drummer, Will Champion. Also, old sounds, similar to their 2000 album Para-chutes, really come out in “Us Against the World.”

Lead vocalist, Chris Martin, has a voice that is raw and moderately filtered. In some places, he struggles to hit notes, but

the band keeps it in the mix. Johnny Buck-land’s guitar riffing is as prominent and clev-er as it was in “A Rush of Blood to the Head,” and Guy Berryman’s bass grooves in “Major Minus” and “Hurts Like Heaven” are just as “hooky” as they were in songs like “Daylight” and “Sparks.”

The band has also adopted a more elec-tronic sound in this album. “Paradise” and “Princess of China” are the first songs that have this obvious new technique. “Princes of China” features Rihanna on lead vocals and sampled drum track. The song “Up in Flames” takes a surprising turn with an elec-tronic drum track.

The album is, by any standard, a great al-bum. Coldplay’s attempt to meld their old and new sounds is a perfect success, and the music is exactly what Coldplay fans have been hoping for.

Mylo Xyloto

Life is full of questions. Why are we here? What should we be doing with our lives? Which Mem-phis restaurant has the best fried-rice? As an in-vestigative journalist for the Gryphon Gazette, it is my goal to provide answers to some of these tough questions. To get some answers, I decided

to take on the most difficult one; which Memphis restaurant has the best-fried rice? With chopsticks in hand, I set out to fi-

nally answer this question once and for all. I began my search for the best fried-rice by going to some of my favorite lo-cal Asian restaurants, including Noodles and Pei-Wei. Although there was noth-ing particularly bad about the fried rice at these establishments, nothing about it stood out either. Therefore, I decided to focus on local Hibachi restaurants that are better known among St. George’s stu-dents for their fried rice.

This was clearly the right choice, and I soon had it narrowed down to Osaka and Stix. Though many people at school would argue that Stix has the best fried-rice, I would have to give that particu-lar award to Osaka. Although Stix did have quality-fried rice, easily beating the

other Asian restaurants I have visited, I still felt like something was lacking. When I ate there, I found their fried-rice to be a little bit plain and dry, and leaving something to be desired as far as flavor is concerned.

It was a different story at Osaka, where the fried-rice had a unique flavor created by all the sauces that the chef added. In addition, the rice was cooked perfectly, although I am willing to acknowledge that that probably has more to do with the chef then the res-taurant. Also, the addition of chicken greatly improved the overall fried-rice experience at Osaka.

If you are in the mood for fried-rice, there are plenty of great choices in the Memphis area. However, if you want the best fried-rice Memphis has to offer, Osaka is without a doubt the place to go. Aren’t we thankful that we can at least answer one of life’s most difficult questions?

Fried-rice face-off: Osaka dominates the competition

Amanda Bennet ’12night to remember. Regardless, I found Taylor Swift to be very impersonal. I think I will just stick to listening to her music in the privacy of my own car.

Andrew King ’12

Entertainment

Photo: Mary Kathryn PhilipsTaylor Swift sings “Love Story’ to her fans at the FedEx Forum on October 30th

Page 6

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

sible for preparing arguments for this case as any lawyer involved in a real court case would. Some team members assume the roles of the various witnesses and have to learn all the aspects of the wit-nesses’ stories as provided in the case materials. Other team mem-bers assume the role of a lawyer; they prepare questions to ask the witnesses as well as opening state-ments and closing arguments. There are two “sides” to each team — the defense and the plaintiff/prosecution. A team has to prepare both sides of the provided case be-cause, during competition, the team must be able to present ei-ther side. The case is presented in front of a judge and a two-member jury, all three of which judge the two teams.

Competition begins in Febru-ary 2012, giving the students only three months to prepare their ar-guments. All Mock Trial teams in Memphis go to the courthouse located downtown and compete against each other in a week of

heated trials. As a team pro-gresses through the competition, they return to the courthouse each night during the week to compete against other schools. If they are lucky, they come back a second week to participate in the pre-State rounds. The St. George’s Mock Trial team has done very well in the past. Last year, one of the St. George’s teams placed fourth, losing to White Station and just missing the opportunity to attend the state competition.

This year’s case materials were released on November 17th, and the St. George’s Mock Trial team is very excited to start analyzing the case and preparing their argu-ments. The St. George’s team prac-tices three days a week to prepare their arguments and questioning for competition.

However, as February gets clos-er, the practice schedule is much more rigorous in order to ensure that everyone is prepared for the first round. This year, the St. George’s Mock Trial team plans to

St. George’s Mock Trial: Coming soon to a court near youWith the Mock Trial season

kicking off, there is a wave of ex-citement passing through the St. George’s team members. Everyone on the team is actively readying themselves for the next several months, which are sure to be full of meticulous study and prepara-tion for the Mock Trial competi-tion, beginning in February.

Mock Trial is a club dedicated to preparing students to participate in the legal world. Its structure is based on that of the real court sys-tem; all aspects are very similar to a true court proceeding. Each year, the Tennessee Bar Association re-leases a mock court case, complete with a premise and several wit-ness statements for both sides of the argument. The two types of cases, criminal and civil, alternate each year. As the 2011 case was a riveting criminal case involving wire fraud and extortion, 2012 brings a civil case involving an in-surance company accusing a fac-tory owner of arson.

The Mock Trial team is respon-

Sarah Vaughn ’12work harder than ever to succeed in the competition rounds.

This year’s team consists of nine seniors, four juniors, and two soph-omores. Lisa Leach and Kimberly Brown-Gibbs coach the group to help prepare the case for competi-tion in the best possible way. The fifteen St. George’s members will divide into two teams, each with a defense and plaintiff side. Every-one spends practices reviewing the witness statements and the rules that apply to the case, and, as the season progresses, members start piecing together their court pre-sentations.

The team will enter the com-petition in February with confi-dence and will present their case versus other schools. As the next few months progress, the air of excitement will grow and the St. George’s Mock Trial team will en-ter competition ready to take on the challenges that the intense weeks in February present.

school has for this cause, there should be no problem raising the $5,000 needed to grant a wish. Ayerst states, “We have raised over $35,000 in seven years to grant the wishes of seven children. If all goes well, this year will be our eighth wish.”

When asked about their favorite part, Ayerst and 11th Grade Make-A-Wish Presi-dent Molly Schaefer agreed on Wish Day. Schaefer said, “At the end of the year, seeing the little kids getting their wish granted. It makes it worth all the hard work.” Mrs. Ayerst agrees “without a doubt, the best part is ‘Wish Day’ when we grant the wish of a child.”

Mrs. Ayerst is proud to have granted all the wishes, but her favorite wish was the one granted to a little girl named Rebekah, who wished for a play set for her yard and

loved Dora the Explorer. “We had students dress as characters from

the show who guided her through a series of tasks,” Ayerst recalled. “With the comple-tion of each task, a trumpet blared and she received a gift. She had to match shapes, play a game, and, even, scare trolls away on the boardwalk. As she entered the gym, the en-tire school, dressed in various colors, lined a path for her, leading her to the stage. It was overwhelming and very special.”

St. George’s has helped seven children get their wished granted, and Mrs. Ayerst would like to send a big “thank you” to all the people involved, “The wishes would not be possible if it wasn’t for the support of the SG commu-nity.”

Make-A-Wish, continued from page 1

Cultural Awareness is a whole week or day devoted to one purpose: teaching people to appreciate differ-ent cultures around the world. Cul-ture awareness means to be aware of the world and different cultures around you.

Many times, people go through life not caring or spending enough time to appreciate the cultures that are all around us. People talk about making the world a better place with more cultural unity, but the problem is many people are only talking and not doing. Instead of just talking the talk, most of us need to actually walk the walk.

William Orville Douglass asked, “Why cannot we work at cooperative schemes and search for the common ground binding all mankind togeth-er?” Many people believe that dif-ferent cultures are the barriers that hold back mankind to a greater goal of unity. The fact of the matter is, dif-ferent cultures are the very common ground that can unite us. Finding the differences and the similarities between diverse cultures is what can unite us to a greater goal of under-standing people in the world.

One person here in Memphis de-cided to take that initiative by open-ing up a program to all Memphis City

Schools. Director Gwen Crawford Hayes helps organize a program in Memphis known as “Gear Up Mem-phis.” The premise behind the pro-gram is to help lower income families get their children into college.

The program comes into different schools around the city, and works with children to reach the goal of get-ting them a higher education. Within this program, they teach kids to be culturally aware by devoting a part of their program to this.

Although kids are not always the first to care about different cultures, Hayes recognizes that they seem to take something away from it, which

is all that matters in the program. People like Hayes realize that cul-tural awareness should not be just an option but a necessity in a stu-dent’s curriculum.

Gear Up Memphis equips students with the tools to succeed in life and to be a culturally aware citizen. As a student growing up in a more di-verse world, I feel that a way we can truly cultivate citizens is by having a Cultural Awareness program here at St. George’s. By taking this small step, we can become more culturally aware citizens of the global commu-nity.

Ian John ’13Cultural Awareness: Greater unity through diversity

Photo: Mary Kathryn PhilipsEager students reach for their breakfast.

Civic Awareness

Civic Awareness Page 7

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

Occupy Wall Street is a group of protes-tors who are fighting for a change. They are concerned with the wealth gap in America, believing that one percent of the nation is extremely wealthy, and the other 99 percent are stuck in an unending cycle of poverty. After circling the herd of tents, witnessing protestors putting on a musical performance, and interviewing one of the active members of the demonstration, we were off to the 9/11 memorial site.

Trying to escape the rain and the lost taxi drivers, we entered the place where no con-fused Southerner should ever go— the sub-way system. When it comes to experience with the subway system, Tennesseans tend to have very little. This inexperience was evi-dent the entire time we were trapped under-ground. Watching Mary Claire Wilcheck fail to swipe her ticket multiple times to get to the subway was an experience in and of itself

as a mob of New Yorkers lined up behind her. I will never forget Luther Mercer attempting to navigate a subway map for an extended peri-od of time so that we might safely return back to our hotel.

Friday morning, we attended a public tour of the United Nations Headquarters. After that, we attended a meeting across the street where we watched a presentation at the Office of Will Kennedy, the Senior Program Officer for the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships and United Nations Office for Partnerships.

But the New York trip was not all work and no play. We were able to explore Fifth Ave-nue, visit the Museum of Modern Art, and of course, eat. There was also an unexpected ad-dition to our trip — snow. After spending most of our Saturday morning in the MoMa, we were unaware of what was going on outside in the streets of New York until we walked past a

window. It was snowing! But this was not the type of snow that we see in Memphis twice a year. This was a blizzard. After attempting to shop on Fifth Avenue, we escaped the icy downpour in the closest eatery we could find and then made our way back to our hotel.

As a result of the snow, our flight home was cancelled. Mary Claire, Rebecca, and I snug-gled up in one bed for our last night in the city. The following morning, we finally arrived at the LaGuardia Airport, otherwise known as one of the smallest airports in the world. While the kids ordered their delicious donuts and drank their coffee, Luther Mercer was in the mood for something else — Chai Tea, of course. But unfortunately Dunkin’ Donuts does not have Mr. Mercer’s favorite drink.

Four days, a dozen meals, a blizzard, and some five thousand New York minutes later, we arrived home a little more aware and a little more experienced.

Gryphons in the Big Apple, continued from page 1

St. George’s seniors prepare for their first voteIt’s wintertime in the senior dining hall, and stu-

dents are hunkered down with warm sweaters and cups of Starbucks coffee. However, cold weather does not only signal a change in fashion. It is now official that seniors are only a year away from their first national election. You read it right, a year from now, all current seniors will be voting for the next president of the United States.

As scary as this news may seem to some of you who skeptically look through the glass into the se-nior dining hall, I am happy to report that many seniors are taking the election seriously. CNN and Fox News web pages can be seen on many laptop screens. As more seniors turn 18, they go off to buy lottery tickets and register to vote. Andrew McBride and Kimberly Sammons recently walked into the dining hall with new 18-year-old drivers’ licenses and their official voters’ registration cards.

Like these two, many seniors are proud to take the next step in their lives by registering to vote. More seniors, however, are excited to officially join their chosen political party. McBride and Sammons represent the Republican Party of the senior din-ing hall while other seniors, such as Rebecca Hol-

lis, are waiting for their birthdays to register for the Democratic Party. Needless to say, based on our lo-cation in the Mid-South, it seems likely that many members of the St. George’s class of 2012 will vote Republican in the upcoming election.

Though some make the argument that a major-ity of seniors will vote with their chosen party, se-niors are staying updated on potential Republican candidates. Recaps of the many Republican debates are watched during study hall instead of doing the ever- bothersome calculus homework. Some stu-dents have friendly arguments about the hot topic issues of the 2012 election — economy and health-care. Government classes are following the debates closely and attempting to find a candidate that they can identify with or a candidate with whom they can respectfully disagree.

In any case, the current seniors will be voting next fall and the winter chill brings everyone excite-ment. Some lucky students will be able to vote in the Tennessee primary in the spring, but as for the rest of the seniors, they will just have to wait until next November.

Tara Schulz ’12

Photo: Claire PeelerCitizenship students Brandon Williford, Claire Peeler, Rbecca Hollis and Mary Claire Wilcheck visit the United Nations with their teacher, Luther Mercer, while on their trip to New York.

Photo: Melissa GrantSenior Caroline Giddis smiles about her new opportunity to vote.

SportsPage 8

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

Pre-gaming with the Gryphons: Superstitions a recipe for success

All Gryphons Athletes prepare differ-ently for their games. Often these rituals are odd, secret, and comical. But all are performed with same goal in mind — vic-tory.

Before the umpire yells “Play Ball!” or the kicker legs one to senior football-player Drew Bishop to return, the base-ball and football teams both go through a strenuous pre-game schedule that in-cludes jogging, throwing, running routes, taking ground balls, and a prayer. While these activities prepare each player to play, other pre-game rituals bring these teams together before the sound of the whistle.

“Freshman year we started the ‘Fest’ in left field just before every game,” claimed senior outfielder and pitcher Jonathan Coleman. “People always ask me ‘What exactly is a fest?’ and it is tough to ex-

plain. The team chemistry among us Gry-phon baseball players sometimes seems a tad much, but it works,” said Coleman. “The fest begins with our fest bag which is composed of a prized possession from each Diamond Gryph. These items are quite confidential and will remain that way,” ex-plained Coleman.

Coleman continued, “We huddle around the bag, fill it up with baby powder, hold it up, and create a mosh-pit amongst our-selves. Not only do we fest before each game, but each game we play for a differ-ent baseball god such as John Rocker, the baseball god of emotion. Or Pete Rose, the baseball god of hitting. Or Pablo Sanchez from Backyard Baseball, the ultimate god of baseball,” said Coleman. After every game, win or lose, the Gryphon baseball team pays their respects to the loyal fans of Andy’s Army, “Win or lose, we get on the

left field line and salute them for their fanaticism as fans.”

The baseball team is not the only team with pre-game oddities. Senior lineman and ‘bull neck’ Hugh Stephens gladly dis-cussed the Gryphon football team’s pre-game rituals. “We always have Thursday night dinner at Duncan Monger’s house before game day on Fridays. It is tradi-tion to eat the same thing every Thurs-day,” explained Stephens. “Our meal, cooked by the lovely Margaret Monger, is composed of the juiciest pork tender-loin, the cheesiest mac and cheese, some mouthwatering manicotti, savory salad and rolls, and succulent sausage and cheese smothered in Sweet Baby Rays award-winning barbecue sauce.”

Stephens also added, “Another pre-game food ritual is that on Fridays after school, Terry Eleazer, Duncan Monger,

John Marc Shelly ’12Pearse Deaton, and myself go to Sub-way and get the same thing.”

Stephens also used to verbally lead his troops into battle by saying a few words before each game, “The movie Braveheart touches home to me. Before we played Franklin Road Academy early this year, everyone was really nervous, so we needed something to cut the ten-sion. I quoted the speech, straight from Mel Gibson, and we won the game,” said Stephens. The football team is fairly secretive about their on-field pre-game ritual. Stephens declined to comment on their Thursday night trip to Fergu-son Field.

From “festing” and worshipping to feasting and speaking, Gryphon athlet-ics is full of superstitions, known as the pre-game ritual, or a recipe for success.

Fall teams triumph: Volleyball, football claim state titles

With the fall season wrapped up, it is now time to recognize the fall teams for their achievements. Each sport performed at a high level, and the volleyball team and football teams both brought home state championships to St. George’s.

The football team had a very successful season. After a couple of disappointing performances during the season the team really got it together at the per-fect time heading into the playoffs. They won their first round matchup against Ezell-Harding 52-0. The team then went on to beat a very tough opponent in Donelson Christian. Then, the Gryphons faced a re-match with Harding team they had beat earlier in the year, this time with the same result. The Gry-phons were able to win that game behind a huge per-formance by senior Omar Williams who had 5 touch-downs. The win over Harding clinched a spot in the state championship game against University School of Jackson, in which the team won with another huge performance by Williams. The football team was able

to shake off some early struggles to ultimately finish very strong in the end.

The girls volleyball team also wrapped up a domi-nant season in which they won the state champion-ship and finished with a 37-9 record. They were great from start to finish with a very strong senior class including Lehigh University signee Amy Matula. The other seniors included Michelle Cunningham, Sarah Shochat, Katie McCormack, Taylor See, Rachel Ste-venson, and Caroline Giddis. The team came into the season with the goal of repeating as state champions and were ultimately able to achieve their goal under the direction of first-year coach Emmy McClain.

The cross-country teams each had successful sea-sons as well. The girls were able to place second in the regional tournament and then were able to go on and place a very solid sixth place in the state meet. The boys were able to place fifth in regionals but un-fortunately were not able to qualify for state.

The golf teams at St. George’s have become accus-

tomed to finishing strong each year at the state tour-nament. This year was no exception. The boys’ team was able to take home runner-up in the state cham-pionship behind many strong individual showings, including that of sophomore Grant Hirschman. The girls’ team also had another very strong season in which they were able to finish third in state behind the leadership of senior Jennifer Kim.

The girls’ soccer team had a disappointing regu-lar season; however, they were able to turn it on at the end of the year behind a large number of senior leaders. They won many must-win games down the stretch, and despite their losing record were able to make it all the way to the semi-finals in the state tournament. They were ultimately knocked out by Franklin Road Academy.

Overall, it has been a very strong season for the Gryphons.

Brandon Horne ’12

Photo: Mary Kathyrn Philips Gryphon football players celebrate their victory at the state final.

SportsPage 9

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

An exciting wrestling season is expected this year with new coach Jefferson Brant heading the program. Brant is a gradu-ate of the University of Memphis and was a long-term substitute last year at St. George’s early in the school year. He be-came a full-time teacher at Tipton Rose-mark last spring. Then a spot opened up for the ninth-grade world history teacher position at St. George’s. The varsity wres-tling coach position was also open at the time and Brant took it without hesitation.

When he took the position, Brant was familiar with the excellent wrestling pro-gram at St. George’s as he was an assis-tant coach last year. When asked about what plans he has for the team, Brant responded that he wants to keep building the tradition already established here and keep the program moving in the right di-rection. Just a piece of their impressive resume: The wrestling team won the state

championship two years ago, and was the runner-up last year.

Brant was a wrestler himself in high school at Clarksville High School. He said his most memorable moment as a wrestler was when his team beat Father Ryan his junior year.

Brant says the hardest part of wrestling would have to be “the mental discipline, because it is such an individual sport, and there is no one else to blame but yourself.” Wrestling is unlike many other sports in that there is just as much emphasis placed on the individual as well as the team.

Brant is obviously excited about the up-coming season, and commented, “not huge numbers, but a solid team, and guys really are stepping up while developing tough-ness and work ethic.” He also stated he plans to “be here for years.” This season certainly looks to be a memorable one with new leadership for the Gryphon wrestling team.

The beginning of a new era: New wrestling coach expects great seasonHayden Tupman ’12

one meet in their young season. The team finished third in their first meet, the Shelby County Relay Meet. They are looking for a solid season from both the boys’ and girls’ teams behind a lot of senior leader-ship. Seniors boys include Andrew McBride, Lukas Leung, Mason Mc-Gough, Ryan Grover, and Justin Kilgore. Seniors Amanda Poole, Katherine Christian, Rebecca Hol-lis, Anna Lewis Matson, Amy Mat-ula, Sarah Shochat, Taylor See, and Rachel Stevenson lead the girls. Overall, the swim team has a lot of senior leadership and is looking to expand on a solid third place fin-ish in their first meet as the season goes on.

The wrestling team has yet to start their season, but they have been working hard in preparation

As the weather cools down, the winter sports teams at St. George’s are heating up. The basketball, wrestling, swim, and cheer teams are all off to great starts in the sea-son.

The boys’ varsity basketball team has started off strong and plans on making a deep run in the playoffs this year. After a quick exit last year, the team has been hard at work to make a much longer run, and they have the firepower to do so. The team is 1-1 so far, though neither game has been against a division team. They had a rough opening game against MHEA, Memphis Home Education Asso-ciation, but rebounded nicely with a win against FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, 69-66. Senior guard Alec Mulvihill is making a

strong push for Mr. Basketball, leading the team in scoring with 22.5 points per game

The girls’ varsity basketball team also started off 1-1. They began their season with a big win over First Assembly Christian School. The Gryphons were led in scoring that game by newcomers, freshman Olivia Roberts and junior Brooke Wertner, who both scored 9 points. The Gryphons then played a tough FCA team and lost a hard-fought game. The Gryphons were led in scoring again by freshman Olivia Roberts who had 20 points to boost her season scoring average to 14.5 points per game. The girls’ basket-ball team is off to a strong start and plan to have a strong showing in the playoffs as well.

The swim team has already had

Winter Sports UpdateBrandon Horne ’12

to make a third straight appear-ance at state. New coach Jefferson Brant, who junior Brendan Horton describes as a great addition to the team, leads them. Horton also added, “Even though we have a young team, we still have potential to make an appearance for our third state cham-pionship in a row.”

The cheer team also had a csucces-ful state competition. They received fourth place and a bid to the nation-al championship in February. That championship will be in Orlando, Florida.

The Gryphon winter sports teams all have great potential and are look-ing forward to great seasons. All teams have aspirations to reach the state championship and they all pos-sess the talent, will, and determina-tion to achieve that goal.

Winter cheer has gone through some exciting changes this year. Stu-dents are used to seeing the girls perform at basketball games during half-time, but this year they are tak-ing a different approach.

“We have worked really hard to schedule more crowd-friendly, fun entertainment,” says Corky Paul. They plan on having new interactive activities such as “Minute To Win It” games and a performance by the Riverdale Ropers to get the crowd more spirited and boost game atten-dance.

Because winter cheer will not be performing half-time dances, the team has had to learn five smaller dances for quarter changes along

with several other cheers. “We started practice in October twice a week for two hours,” Emilee B. Gonzalez says. Gonzalez is a freshman on the team who has been cheering for eight years. “Winter cheer is fun! Darlene Paul, the sponsor, is really nice and under-standing.” She does admit it is differ-ent than the cheering she is used to. The schedule is more flexible and she likes the fact that she still has time to do her homework and study for school.

Now that winter is upon us, the team is practicing more regularly During practice, the girls go over cheers and dances to make sure they are well pre-pared. “We don’t actually choose the songs; the person running the clocks normally has a lineup of songs that we

Winter cheer: Bringing spirit to the season can dance to,” says Britt Paul. Once the girls have memorized the side-line dances and cheers, they plan to use practice time to work on crafts for the players. The winter cheer team also decorates the varsity boys and girls lockers every year during the season. In addition, they make goodie bags for the players and bake them treats for after each game.

The majority of students on the team are seniors and will be gradu-ating next year. Two senior members of the team, twins, Britt and Corky Paul, mentioned, “We are definitely going to miss winter cheer. We have grown really close to the girls on this team and will miss them dearly.” They have been cheering since mid-

dle school, but they do not plan on pur-suing cheer in college.

As for this season, the seniors plan to make the best of their last year on the winter cheer team. The team is excited to have five new members: freshman Emilee B. Gonzalez, freshman Denise Horner, senior Jasmine Yunus, senior Emily Smith, and senior Abby Corkins.

With the enthusiasm of five new members and new interactive games during halftime, the team is thrilled to start cheering for the varsity boys and girls basketball teams. Make sure to come out and see the new, improved winter cheer team!

Ehi Ike ’13

Photo: Hannah BuckmasterJefferson Brant teaches a move at wrestling practice.

Lower ClassmenPage 10

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

Julia Spinolo ’15Though October 27th was a dreary,

cloudy day, it proved to be full of excite-ment for the class of 2015 as they took part in the annual freshman retreat.

Freshman students began their day in the Stokes Fieldhouse with the Peer Leadership Council and upper school fac-ulty. There, they anticipated the mysteri-ous activities to come.

Prior to the day of the retreat, fresh-men students had no idea what their day would entail. The class was excited when teachers announced the theme of the

retreat: “The Amazing Race.” Once the theme of the day was unveiled, it was not long before the faculty began to prepare for the exciting activities by dividing the class into random groups.

When the time to begin the games fi-nally arrived, the groups began rushing around the field house, competing and working together to win each game. The freshmen teams accomplished a series of team-building activities and fun events, ranging from anagramming words and writing raps to playing basketball and volleyball.

Most freshmen said they really enjoyed

Dark skies do not dampen spirits at the freshman retreat

Sixth graders Kellie Taylor, Alex King, and Grayson Walthall were anxious the week before exams. All sixth-grade students had exams for the first time in math, sci-ence, language arts, and English. “I am really nervous. I just don’t know what to expect,” said Taylor. Taylor attended the Germantown campus for elementary school, and is now a middle school student on the Collierville campus. All three sixth graders agreed that middle school is different than fifth grade. They say that it is more chal-lenging and they have more responsibility. “However, there is more freedom and more places to play!” King said. King shared that the work is harder, but he feels like there is more time to do it since students are given one study hall each day.

Even though the students have more time to do schoolwork, it does not mean the ex-ams are easier. Luckily, these students have great teachers to help them out. “Our teachers have helped us a lot. They spend time in their classes going over everything,” Walthall says. With great teachers helping them, each student should have been well prepared for the exams; however, these 6th graders were still quite nervous.

When asked if they were planning on studying an excessive amount, all three gave an exaggerated, “Yes!” With this response, it seemed like these students are not playing around when it comes to their exams; they are making sure they get a good grade. “I probably won’t study as much as I say,” Tay-

First-year Gryphons face exams

Photo: Mary Kathryn PhilipsThe egg-drop is one of the challenges freshmen physics students have to face. Above Rebecca Matson gets ready to test her luck.

lor admitted, “but I will study a lot.” Once exams were over, the same three

sixth grade students were individually asked how their exams went. “While I was taking my exams, I felt pretty confident. Now that I have experienced exams, I don’t think I will be nervous anymore,” King told me. King says that he actually felt overly prepared for his exams. His teachers went over everything in class and his exams were fairly easy.

Taylor gave me a different answer on her exams. She does agree that teachers pre-pared her, but her view on taking the ex-ams were different. “Some of the questions were easy but some, I completely forgot and freaked out!” Walthall also said the same thing about his exam questions. “I definite-ly benefited from my teachers, and for the most part, I studied.”

However, it doesn’t quite seem like these students studied as much as they said they were going to before the exams. “I kind of studied,” King said. Taylor told me a very interesting way of studying. “I know it sounds weird but I studied a ton for the classes I like, but I didn’t study as much for the classes I don’t like; I just tried to avoid it!” Taylor says.

Overall, these sixth graders did pretty well on their exams and are happy with their grades. We will have to wait and see if they will have the same to say in the years to come.

Ehi Ike ’13

the retreat. Many students agreed with Hallie Gillam that, “it was nice to have a day off from academic responsibilities.” Many freshmen also agreed with Tatum Nix in saying that the day was “a great bonding experience.” Heather Walters said the day was great because everyone “got to hang out with people we wouldn’t necessarily hang out with that much.” Emma Irby also enjoyed the “extra time at the end of the day” as it allowed the freshmen to bond with upperclassmen, learn about upperclassmen’s responsi-bilities, and ask questions about their future in high school.

Even though the day of the retreat had gloomy weather, it turned out to be bright for all members of the freshmen class. Overall, it was a fun and eventful day, with lots of team-building activities and time to make new friends, hang-ing out with old friends, and getting to know the upperclassmen. The retreat proved to be enjoyable, exciting, and en-tertaining. Most importantly, it brought the freshmen closer together and set up the Class of 2015 for a successful high school experience.

Photo: Mary Kathryn PhilipsEnthusiastic freshman enjoy a fun round of tug of war, overseen by Mr. Jefferson Brant. Students enjoyed indoor activities on the dark and stormy retreat day.

Page 11

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

Super SwimmersUpper Classmen

The sophomore class is bubbling over with super swimmers. Calla Michalak and Wil Barton have been swimming for as long as they can re-member and for good reason. Right from the start, they far surpassed “average” and were thrust into the category of “great.” These are their stories.

Sophomore Calla Michalak, 15, has been swimming since she was three years old. She was put into a swim class and almost immediately re-moved; she was told she was too ad-vanced for the class. From there, she made her way onto her first competi-tive swim team and swam alongside her sister. Michalak reflects, “I like swimming because I do not have any hand-eye coordination and I cannot run…plus I am good at it!” And good at it, she is!

Michalak joined the St. George’s swim team in sixth grade. She was voted Most Valuable Player in sev-enth grade. She recaptured the MVP

title in eighth grade as well as break-ing the middle school county record for the 100 meter individual medley. In ninth grade, she broke the school record for the 100 meter backstroke, her favorite stroke, and swam for a relay team that broke the school re-cord for the 200 meter medley relay.

Aside from swimming for St. George’s, she has been swimming competitively for Memphis Thun-der for eight years. She claims that she does not have an off-season, but she likes to volunteer in the Special Olympics and coach the younger swim groups in her spare time. Look-ing towards her future in swimming, she says that she would love to swim on the collegiate level. Great things are sure to come from this super swimmer.

Barton started his swimming ca-reer at St. George’s in sixth grade. The team won the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade championships. He was awarded Most Valuable Player

in eighth grade and again in ninth grade when the team made state. When asked if he had broken any re-cords during those years, he replied, “No, because I always had Michael Shepard ahead of me.” His favorite strokes are freestyle and backstroke, because those are his best. He com-mented, “I’m a distance freestyler.”

When not swimming for St. George’s, he swims for a club team, the Memphis Tigers, and for a sum-mer league, where he holds the record for the 50 meter backstroke. Wil has been swimming for the Memphis Ti-gers for eight year, and was voted the 2010-2011 all-star for his age group last year. Thus far, Barton has com-peted in state, county, and southeast-ern small meets. He travels constant-ly, saying, “I’m all over the place.” His plans for this season with the St. George’s swim team include making finals in state for the 200 meter and 500 meter freestyle and capturing the record for the 400 meter medley as a

school. Within his club league, he hopes

to rise to the next level — the ju-niors, which is like a small Olym-pics. Barton explained, “It’s what the colleges are looking for.” Bar-ton values swimming as a great way to make and strengthen friendships, saying, “It gets boring. Without my friends, I would have quit a long time ago. They keep me going.”

Just as with Michalak, there is no off-season for Barton. He spends over twenty hours in the pool a week during the summer and eigh-teen to nineteen hours during the school year. Looking past high school, Barton also wishes to swim at the collegiate level and hopes to make the Olympic trial team af-ter that. His final statement was, “I will not let my kids swim. It is so much time, money, and driv-ing with practices and out of town meets; it piles up.”

Zoe Leake ’14

Since its creation a few years ago, the Coexist Club has encouraged St. George’s students to broaden their perspectives and learn about other religions in or-der to promote peace and tolerance. For some, it can be challenging to look past their own religious views to understand and even appreciate others’ beliefs, but these St. George’s students make it look easy.

“When I was a freshman, I remember someone talking about this club and I was interested,” says club leader Elijah Poston, junior. Two years later, he is, along with junior Kiyana Kavoussi, in charge of the club and responsible for many of the great ideas and activities planned for this year’s club members. “This year, we’re planning on making Co-exist more of a mixture of culture and re-ligion, because we feel that people don’t know much about other cultures, just as

much as they don’t know about other religions.”

Compared to some of the larger clubs at this school, such as Make-A-Wish and Invisible Children, Coexist comes up looking rather small. “We’d always like more people to come in, depending on what they want to do in the club…but, as soon as any people hear the word ‘religion,’ they don’t want to do it because it’s a touchy subject for a lot of people.” The Coexist club hopes that as they begin to incorporate a greater em-phasis on culture, more students will be inspired to join and expand their cul-tural horizons.

Another interesting club St. George’s has to offer this year is Autism Speaks, which also stems from a movement out-side of St. George’s. The goal of Autism Speaks is to promote awareness of au-tism and also to raise money to research

this enigmatic disorder. The founder of the St. George’s chapter, junior Ehi Ike, created the club in hopes of informing the St. George’s community about au-tism and what students can do to help disease. Her own sister was diagnosed with autism, which inspired her to in-troduce this club to St. George’s. For a new club, Autism Speaks has been very active already.

“So far, we’ve done a bake sale and raised at least one-hundred and five dol-lars,” says junior Samer Istanbouli, an active club member. The money raised will be donated to Autism Speaks for research purposes, and preparations for other activities are already underway. “There are going to be maybe talks and other bake sales or other activities,” Istanbouli predicts. “Maybe a chapel about it or a video.”

Autism may be an unfamiliar topic

to the average student, but in an in-creasingly connected world, it is al-most inevitable that you will encoun-ter autism in some shape or form. “We want people to be educated about autism,” explains Istanbouli. “We want people to know what they’re go-ing through and how to reach out to them.”

One of the many unique attributes of St. George’s is the abundance of opportunities students have to learn outside of the classroom and explore new things. These two clubs embody the St. George’s spirit of going be-yond what is expected to discover and learn more about the world. These clubs take two very important issues, religion and autism, and make them accessible to other students who may have questions or just want to know more.

Juniors take the lead with clubsLeAnn Beard ’14

Gracie Livingston, a sophomore student this year, is the newest member of St. George’s Class of 2014. She came from St. Mary’s Episcopal School because she felt that the school was “just not a good fit” for her.

Considering that St. Mary’s consists of all girls and there are only about sixty people per grade, it has been quite a big change for her. She had also found that the amount of academic work at her previous school had made it diffi-cult to participate in all the many activities she enjoys.

Livingston has found the teach-ers at St. George’s to be very friendly and supportive, and she is excited to join an environment where the faculty is encouraging, open and helpful. Her experience so far has been positive, and her days enjoyable.

Upon her arrival at St. George’s, Livingston joined the soccer team as well as a few clubs, such as Bears of Hope, Make-A-Wish, and Orphanos. She was previously a member on St. Mary’s varsity soccer team, but is only allowed to play on the St. George’s junior varsity soccer team due to her

switch of schools in the middle of the season. Despite not being on varsity, Livingston had a very good season and loved starting on a team alongside many girls in her grade.

Livingston reflects that she felt nervous, but also very ex-cited about her transition. On the first day of school, she felt that she was greeted with open hearts as everyone was wel-comed her to St. George’s. Liv-ingston has been warming up to everyone nicely and plans on staying at St. George’s through graduation.

Gracie goes Gryphon: St. George’s welcomes new studentMolly Courtney ’15

SeniorsPage 12

December 2011 St. George’s Independent School

Coming of ageAsk a teenager what they want more

than anything, and chances are good that you’ll hear something like this: “I want to be treated like an adult.”

It is a common theme among teens these days, and perhaps the most important benchmark towards reaching that goal is the eighteenth birthday. Many privileges come with hitting the big one-eight, with a fair share of drawbacks as well. And, as a recently adult-ified senior, I can tell you that there’s certainly some good and some bad.

But what really happens when you cross that exciting (and daunting) thresh-old? Perhaps the most important privilege granted at eighteen is the right to vote. More young people than ever are being granted the opportunity to take part in se-lecting their elected officials. Voters in the 18-29 age demographic make up well over twenty percent of voters in some states, and it’s estimated that 20.1 million young voters participated in the 2008 presiden-tial election.

Voting is the most effective and most basic method of effecting change in a community, and so developing political opinions and becoming an active citizen is crucial at this age. Registering to vote is relatively simple and can be done at any DMV, public library, county govern-ment office, or by mail when you legally become an adult. It is only since the pas-sage of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment in

1971 that U.S. citizens could vote at age 18; in previous years, the voting age had been 21.

Turning eighteen also brings with it the opportunity to serve your country as a member of the armed forces. If you are a male, you are required to register for the draft, which can be done online relatively quickly at the Selective Service website. Men are draft-eligible from ages 18-25, and the older you are in this age group, the less likely you are to be drafted, should selective service be enforced. Eigh-teen year-olds can serve on a jury, and be tried as an adult in criminal cases.

Eighteen year olds of our generation ex-perience a vastly different range of privi-leges and obligations from those many of our parents may have been given. The big-gest difference is the voting age, but our parents (many of whom likely came of age from 1975-1990) would not have been re-quired to register for a draft during a time of peace. The drinking age, which is cur-rently 21, would have varied from state to state, and in states like Mississippi, drinking could have been legal as young as eighteen.

Basically, turning eighteen entails a host of privileges and responsibilities that may be intimidating at first. Ultimately, though, it means taking another step to-wards adulthood, and most teens would agree that is a good thing.

Joe Holley ’12

arches signifying gardens. This limit-ed use of the set allowed the audience to focus solely on the actors.The audience was able to see more

of the talents that St. George’s has to offer. There is no doubt that everyone is looking forward to the next school production. As a whole, the play was very well executed and each of the ac-tors truly deserved the crowd’s stand-ing ovation. Congratulations to all of the actors, actresses, tech people, contributors, and also, to Mr. Brown.

Seniors take the stage

This year’s fall play, “Our Town,” brought freshness to the theatre pro-gram here at St. George’s. The students behind the production worked together magnificently to create a wonderful ren-dition of this famous piece by Thorton Wilder. Despite the fact that this was the first lead role for four out of the sev-en lead characters and it was Director of Theatre Arts, Mr. Marques Brown’s first SGIS play, the show was outstand-ing.

Seniors Amanda Bennett and Carol Anne Weaver had a chemistry on stage that allowed them to play the mother and daughter roles splendidly. Bennett

was able to evoke emotions of happiness and sadness through the entire crowd. After Bennett’s character died, she per-formed a soliloquy in the graveyard scene that left barely a dry eye in the room. Through the romance between senior

Evan Vihlen and Bennett, the loss per-formed during the graveyard scene, and the humor shown in various scenes, the audience was able to connect with all as-pects of the production. Junior Samer Istanbouli, who played

the Stage Manager, was able to converse with members of the audience and make the play more of a personal experience.

Seniors Albert Cantu and Taylor Money played a marvelous married couple. Se-nior Sophie Kennedy stood out as a source of comic relief through the very emotional scene of all of the deceased characters.

One of the most interesting parts of the show was the source of sound effects. Ev-eryone who saw the play had to notice the small table covered in various items on stage left. Throughout the play, various “Grover’s Corners Citizens” would sit at the table making the appropriate noises. Thorton Wilder intended the play to

take a minimalist approach to props and set, so the only ones used were tables, chairs, and ladders, along with a set of

Kim Sammons ’12Photo: Kim Sammons Thespians Evan Vihlen and Amanda Bennett are pictured in the midst of this year’s fall play “Our Town.”