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News and Opinions from the Students of Berkshire School March 4, 2010 Prom to be held on campus By Jacob Weiner ’10 For the first time in recent school history, prom will be held on campus this year, according to Student Activities Director Katherine Simmons. The decision was reached after an e-mail survey of seniors. With only 53% of the class taking part, 39 voted in favor of on-campus in the Stewart Athletic Center and 18 in favor of off-campus. At a form meeting on February 11, Ms. Simmons explained the options for this year and what on-campus or off-campus proms would entail for the seniors. One senior said, “I really couldn’t care less,” and left along with majority of his classmates. Among the handful of the seniors to stay after was Head Prefect Alex Colbert. “Mrs. Simmons explained Alfredo, a delivery man from Mizza's. the options to us and in the end we as a group decided that we should send out an email to all the seniors and New discovery winning pizza war those who wanted to vote could.” By Colin Puth ’10 Alex said she wound up voting for prom to be on campus. “It just made sense to me. We could stay out Manhattan Pizza in Great Barrington, Berkshire’s go-to pizza place for over ten years, has recently taken a later, we could use the professional decorations set up huge dip in popularity. While the restaurant was every student’s fall back, many began to get fed up with from Reunion Weekend, it was cheaper ($30 instead of Manhattan’s attitude towards the school. $45), and it gave us more options for senior skip day “Overtime food prices increased, orders were frequently messed up, and the delivery car began showing up because we can use the extra money we save on prom later and later,” said Jackson Beaver, a fourth-former and longtime customer of Manhattan Pizza. to travel to New York City or Boston. Overall I think With no other place to turn to, Berkshire students had to continue to put up with Manhattan’s unreliable continued on page 2 service in order to get their pizza fix. However, students recently discovered a nearby restaurant that proved much more efficient. continued on page 2 Concussions Hot Topic at Berkshire By Ryan MacDonald ’10 With the National Football League recently making news with its stand on concussions, Berkshire has experienced problems of its own, with over 20 diagnosed this year, according to head trainer Marc Wysocki. Concussions occur most commonly in rough or high-speed sports like hockey, football, soccer, lacrosse, skiing, snowboarding, and boxing. “The problem with concussions is that they are misunderstood, and oftentimes people brush Left to right: Henry Ehret, Jr. ’16, Edward Peters’ 12, Edward Gardiner ’15 them off as not that serious,” says Mr. Wysocki. “Would you brush off a minor heart attack? Remembering the memorial in Memorial No! The brain is an organ, too. People don’t By Adam Albelin ’10 see down the road.” A concussion is an injury to the brain caused by When the 90-year-old Memorial Hall is finally razed in favor of the new math and science center, the chest- a sudden blow to the head, which causes the brain nut arch above the entrance to the old headmaster’s office and library will be among the first things to be saved to shake inside the skull. In fact, the word concus- for posterity. sion comes from the Latin word concutera, which Carved in chestnut on the arch are the names of all those Berkshire alumni who served in World War I. At means to “shake violently.” This shaking causes the the crest of the arch are the names of the five men who gave their lives in the conflict. A search in the school brain bang against the skull and causes it to bruise archives found information on only three of the five. and swell. This swelling causes the brain to stop The first was Henry Sidney Ehret Jr ’16, who was from Philadelphia. His yearbook lists his accomplish- functioning properly for a period of time. This ments as football team ‘13 ’14, club hockey team ’14, baseball team ’14, hockey team ’15 and captain ’16, time can vary from a few hours to years. Committee of five ’14, Dance Committee ’15-’16, and the associate editor of class books ’16. After Berkshire Although the symptoms of concussions vary, the he attended Princeton University. immediate ones are headaches, confusion, dizzi- Edward Hooper Gardiner ’15 entered Berkshire in 1911 and was from Boston. He attended Harvard after ness, ringing in the ears, nausea or vomiting, his time at Berkshire. Some of his activities include club football ’11, fFootball team ’12, ’13, and ’14. He also slurred speech, and fatigue. Other symptoms, played club baseball in ’14, ’15 as well as being a part of the Athletic Association those same years. In ’11 and which can take hours to days to notice, are irritabil- ’12, Mr. Gardiner was a part of the Rifle Club, as were many Berkshire boys at that time. ity, depression, sensitivity to light, sleep distur- Edward Mclure Peters Jr. ’12 hailed from New York, and came to Berkshire in 1907, the year Berkshire was found- bances, and memory and concentration problems. ed. Mr. Peters was part of the Drama Association in 1908-12. He was a part of the football team in 1909. Mr. Peters The N.F.L. was recently criticized by the New too was a member of the rifle club from 1910-’11 and was its secretary of the rifle club in 1911-’12. He participat- York Times and other newspapers for its policy on ed in the green club baseball team as well as the green club football team. He served as the editor in chief of The handling concussions and has since tightened up its Dome in 1911-’12. Mr. Peters was also associate editor of the yearbook. policy. Now teams are required to remove players The two other alumni who died in the war were Edward Walson Hatch ’18 and Joseph Mallalieu King ’19. continued on page 2 A total of 123 former Berkshire students fought in World War I. Page 2 THE GREEN AND GRAY March 4, 2010 Pizza War Prom Concussions continued from page 1 continued from page 1 continued from page 1 “We discovered a restaurant called Mizza’s in prom on campus could potentially be the most well put from a game or practice who show significant signs of a Lakeville, Connecticut, after returning from winter together party that Berkshire has ever had.” concussion and bar them from returning the same day, break,” said sixth-former Mike Middelburg. “Since The prom takes place the day after Reunion according to the Times then all of deWindt has switched over to their serv- Weekend, which will be held this year while school is in However, the concussion policy at Berkshire is much ice. They arrive at any time, don’t charge for deliv- session. The prom costs each senior $30 instead of the more conservative and less scrutinized. First, one of the ery, and the food is much less expensive.” $45 for off-campus, and plans for a deejay are “in the trainers will evaluate the person and then diagnose Word-of-mouth quickly transferred the loyalty of works,” according to Karina Srb. Sage Dining Services whether the individual has a concussion. Once the train- many students from Manhattan to Mizza’s. will cater the event. er has diagnosed a concussion, an appointment is set up “It’s been great working with Berkshire so far”, Reaction to the move was mixed. Sixth-former Sierra with the school pediatrician, who will then decide said Alfredo, a Mizza’s delivery man. “Business is LaBonte, who as a fifth-former went to last year’s prom whether the patient needs to see a neurologist. going well and the students have been awesome. with Klayton Johnson, said, “Dude, prom was so much In order for the individual to participate in sports Berkshire’s got really great kids.” fun off campus last year. I was really surprised they again, he or she must take and pass an ImPACT test. Manhattan quickly took notice of its rapid decline changed it up, but it should still be good.” ImPACT stands for Immediate Post-Concussion in pizza demand. Randy Reyes ’10 said that upon hearing that his prom Assessment and Cognitive testing. According to the “The discovery of Mizza’s has certainly affected he has been waiting four years for to attend was going to ImPACT test Web site, the test measures players’ atten- Manhattan’s business,” said one of Manhattan’s be on campus, he was “really pissed off”. He wondered tion span, response variability, working memory, sus- deliverymen. “Berkshire has been a huge part of our why for his last three years he watched the seniors travel tained and selective attention span, non-verbal problem income, and it could really impact the restaurant if off campus for prom and now suddenly seniors are hav- solving, and reaction time. service continues to decline.” ing it in the “hockey rink.” The ImPACT test consists of questions that make you Manhattan responded with an all-new delivery But Randy changed his mind on the matte after remember shapes, words, and provides speed testing. For menu exclusively for Berkshire. The menu features finding out about the benefits to having prom at example, the test will show a list of words twice.

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