LoomisOCTOBER 21, 2016 ChaffeeIssue 101, No. 2 Logthelclog.org BLUE IN A POLICY LC ELECTION SEA OF BLUE RUNDOWN POLL PAGE 5 PAGE 5 PAGES 6 - 7 ELECTION CLASS REFLECTION Graphic by Claudia Liu ’17 Hanna Hameedy ’17 | Contributor LC POLLING highly anticipated class offered only in presentations and papers THE LOOMIS CHAFFEE LOG the fall term of an election year, the based on what topic within our PresidentialA Election class has garnered a lot of issue needed to be properly addressed and SURVEYED attention from faculty and students alike. The students, why. 332 STUDENTS AND FACULTY mostly seniors, get the opportunity to discuss and analyze We stuck with this model of research and projects as the election in a classroom setting. Unlike most history we shifted our focus onto the candidates’ policies. It is REGARDING THEIR VOTING PREFERENCE electives at Loomis, the election class has no textbook and important to note that this class, while based the same FOR THE UPCOMING ELECTION. no consistent syllabus. With such a broad and constantly special event that only happens every four years, differs changing topic, I had no idea what to expect going into greatly from any past class analyzing the election. While a the class, but like many others, I found myself excited and class learning about and focusing on either 2012 or 2008 SNEAK PEAK eager to fi nally have a space to talk politics and to do it election would have more debate and discussion on each right. candidate’s policies, our fi rst task, to research the import- I quickly learned, as someone who likes to consider ant issues, was partly to fi nd out where the candidates WHO DO YOU SUPPORT? herself informed and “tuned in” to current events, I did Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton even stood on many not truly understand what was unfolding on our national issues. Although this research on policy and the issues stage. The fi rst class of the term began with the broad, facing our country was necessary to have a correct and U.S. CITIZEN daunting question, “What are the most important issues informed conversation, it was especially necessary in an and why?” After justifying our answers and tweaking the election like this where the mainstream media zeros in list, the class divided into pairs to analyze the economy, the on the candidates’ personality fl aws and politicians have candidate backgrounds, race relations, education, national resorted to personal attacks on one another. security, and immigration, to name a few. Cycling through the research process, we each submitted one-page summa- (continued in Election Special) ries that barely grazed the depth of the issue, a checkpoint Graphic by Anh Nguyen ’17 in our search for answers. Then we began to construct NEWS: OCTOBER HEAD RA ELECTIONS ROSIE PARK ’18 EDITORS’ FEATURES: SOPHOMORE RETREAT PICKS KENNETH CHEN ’19 OP-ED: FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE SEE MORE ON PAGES 6 - 7 IVY NGUYEN ’18 SPORTS: POLITICS MEETS FOOTBALL EUGENE PARK ’18 VERACROSS: MELANGE: S A T IRE RACHEL WALSH ’17 DOES IT WORK? HESHIMA MOJA Lucy Shao ’19 | Contributor “MUSIC SAVED MY LIFE” ebates over the faculty’s usage of the Veracross Ethan Levinbook ’20 | Contributor portal have been frequent and wide ranging. DFirst addressed by Jean Lee ’15 in a Log article “Vera- cross Issue Comes to a Head” in February 2014, the op- n honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the tional nature of faculty Veracross usage has long inspired Offi ce of Diversity and Inclusion welcomed jazz and controversy in the LC community. Finally, on April 10, R&BI instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, educator, and so- 2015, the Veracross Proposal was presented to the faculty cial justice activist Heshima Moja to the Island. During his by the Student Council, requiring universal usage of the stay, he led a number of open discussions regarding social Veracross grade book. This proposal intended to increase justice and ran several workshops for music students. His the transparency of students’ grades, reduce stress, and visit to the Island culminated with an evening performance make the grade-weighing process easier for teachers. Al- by his musical group, Ofrecimiento (meaning “offering” in though the proposal was supported by the majority of the Spanish). school, few concerns arose in the process (continued in Features) (continued in News) INSIDE NEWS FEATURES ELECTION SPECIAL OPINION SPORTS MÉLANGE THE LOG 2 - 3 4 5 - 7 8 - 9 10 - 11 12 NEWS | October 21, 2016 BY STUDENTS NEW SCHEDULE APPLAUDED Robert Wang ’18 | Staff Writer AND FACULTY Angela Wang ’20 | Contributor or the 2016-2017 school year, a newly imple- mented block schedule has replaced the old, faster-paced,F schedule. Classes are no longer 45 minutes long with one dreaded 80-minute double a week; the new schedule has extended regular classes to 75 minutes and has eliminated double periods. As a result, classes now meet less frequently and teachers have more time to go in depth with their lessons. In addition to the extended class times, the lunch period has also been increased to 40 minutes every day. Last year, while this new schedule was being created, one of its main goals was to lower the stress level of stu- dents across campus. In order to see to what extent this goal has been achieved, we canvassed the Loomis Chaffee community to see what people were thinking of the new schedule. The fi rst student we interviewed on the subject was re- turning sophomore Rebecca Mucheru. Stating how she has “mentally less to prepare for,” Mucheru expresses how she is generally pleased with the new schedule. Going on, she began to talk about how the longer blocks really benefi t her in Spanish class. In the previous schedule, she had only 45 minutes to adjust to and start learning in a foreign lan- guage. There simply “wasn’t enough time to switch the way of thinking,” said Mucheru, and having to change gears so Graphic by Anh Nguyen ’17 quickly could become stressful. On the other hand, Mucheru in workload that occurs when one moves from junior to sional diffi culty. For example, with the longer periods she did have some issues with the new schedule. She mentioned senior year. Gu also enjoys how the longer classes provide has had to adjust her 45 minute tests and either turn them how some teachers have needed to assign more homework more time to engage in the class and absorb the material into 75 minute tests or use the additional time to teach more to compensate for the fewer number of classes each term. taught in class. material. Nonetheless, Mucheru prefers the slower-paced new sched- Switching gears from students to faculty, we went on to Despite the fact that we are barely a month into the ule over the one from last year. Now, despite having some interview Ms. Conger, a biology teacher who has spent 31 school year, the effects of the new schedule are already extra work from some teachers, the longer periods and less years at Loomis Chaffee. She greatly appreciates the new very prominent around campus. The general reactions so frequent meetings have generally lightened her workload. schedule as it allows for a greater number of labs and thus, far have, for the most part, been very positive. As we head Pengfei Gu, a 4-year senior, supports Mucheru’s view re- more opportunities to implement knowledge learned in into fi nals, then winter term, then AP’s in the spring, we’ll garding the benefi ts of the new schedule. Pleased with the class. Unlike last year when longer labs could only be done be eager to see how well this new schedule holds up. If all fewer number of classes, “Now, we have fewer classes a during a double period which met once a week, the new goes well, stu-co and faculty are even planning on a separate day, so we only have to move from one location to the other schedule allows teachers to do labs during any block the “term” during the two weeks between Thanksgiving break 3 times. Before, we would need to move almost 5 times a class meets. Exclaiming, “This allows us to do activities and the winter holidays to take place in future years. The day,” Gu also prefers the new schedule over the old one. and projects that we can complete within the 75 minutes’ Loomis community is buzzing with excitement, so keep up Despite the fewer classes, with the amount of AP classes class that I haven’t been able to do before,” Ms. Conger with the log and don’t miss a second of it! in his schedule, he doesn’t think there is a signifi cant reduc- advocates for the greater potential for learning in the longer tion in the total amount of time he spends on homework. periods. Although many of Ms. Conger’s opinions of the This, however, may be the result of the expected increase new schedule are positive, she has experienced the occa- VERACROSS PROPOSAL REVISITED Lucy Shao ’19 | Contributor (continued from front page) of the proposal, she preferred solely to use a paper grade book, which, according to her, has the notable advantage egarding the student-faculty disagreements, the of allowing her to make personal notations. She gave an Student Council sent out a survey to both faculty example of one occasion when a student did not do well andR students, to gather public opinion. While 246 out of on a test because he or she missed a previous class that 321 student respondents expressed their expectations covered the test materials.