Mr. Benjamin Harper will join the Social Studies Depart-ment as next year’s new World History and AP United States History teacher.

Mr. Harper started his col-lege career at American Uni-

versity of Rome and finished his Bachelor’s degree at Florida State University, receiving his BA in humanities with a focus on history. He went on to re-ceive his Master of Arts, with a focus on globalization and US-Middle Eastern relations, at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Currently, Mr. Harper is fin-ishing his Ph.D. on US-Middle Eastern relations and Eurasian affairs at Florida State Universi-ty while also teaching there. He has been a US history lecturer at FSU for about two and a half years.

“I started teaching during my doctorate program because I am absolutely passionate about trying to form connec-tions between events from the not-so-distant past and our cur-rent state of affairs,” Mr. Harp-

er said. During his lectures, he tries

to emphasize relevancy and the role of individual respon-sibility. He believes that he can help impact future generations by helping them develop these skills and creating a more tangi-ble connection for the students he is teaching. He also stresses the importance of individual decision-making.

“I hope to continue this pro-cess at The Benjamin School this year, to get involved in the Benjamin community, and to form some great relationships along the way,” he said.

During his interview pro-cess, Mr. Harper taught a dem-onstration class to some current AP US history students. Junior Samantha Kochman said, “Mr. Harper was a great teacher. He

Volume 324875 Grandiflora Road, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, 33418 May 25, 2012 Issue 6

Always PreparedStudents earn their Eagle Scout merit

page 2

Mapping out the FutureA look at where this year’s senior

class will be going to collegepages 10-11

Summer of Science Juniors to intern

at Scripps page 5

Olympic AlumnusBerube (‘92) gives his take in

light of the London gamespage 18

Tanning TroublesAn exploration of the

dangers of tanningpage 13

By Juliette Mercadante Staff Writer

At 1:30 a.m. seniors barged into building five with a helium tank and hundreds of balloons, where, accompanied by Dean of Students Ms. Sue Ball and her trusty canine sidekick, Bud-dy Bear Bo-jangles Ball, they ex-ecuted their senior prank.

Senior and Benjamin stu-dent for 14 years Scott Slawson said, “Well, it was originated by the Goon Squad whose mem-bers cannot be disclosed. It’s good we left an impact on the school with this prank because it’s harmless and looked like a lot of people got some laughs out of it.”

While Slawson identifies the prank as being harmless to the upper school campus, se-nior Anna Dwyer explains the challenges faced by the stu-dents involved. “Blowing up that many balloons and put-ting them around the school was definitely difficult because there weren't that many seniors helping,” she said. “There was a group in charge of blowing up the balloons, another tying them, and another filling

Going out with a splash

LIAM FINE / Staff PhotographerSenior boys rejoice in their last moments of school, which they spent aboard a floating dock setup before the jump.

Beginning with a balloon-filled building five, the senior class passed the time of their final day with emotional goodbyes and countless shirt signings, ending with the traditional lake jump.

See Seniors page 4

Newly hired college counsel-or Mr. Jeffrey Wong visited cam-pus two weeks ago in an effort to ease the transition following the anticipated retirement of college counselor Mr. Neil Culhane.

During his visit, Mr. Wong toured the school with the cur-

rent college counselors, met par-ents at a brunch in the Kirkwood Library and conferenced with his future advisees in one-on-one meetings.

In his current job, Mr. Wong serves as an Assistant Director of Admissions at Brandeis Univer-sity. He travels around the

EMILY DUNKEL / Graphics Editor Mr. Wong spent time meeting students in his new office.

Newly hired college counselor visits campus

World and AP US history teacher hired for next year

See Counselor page 4Mr. Benjamin Harper See Harper page 5

By Casey Pearce Managing Editor

By Laura Barry Outgoing Executive Editor

News: 1-5 School Life: 12-15Opinions: 6-7 The Scene: 16-17Senior Wills: 8 Sports: 18-20

Page A2 May 25, 2012 The Pharcyde

View more news @ PHARBLOG.COM

Two students reach Eagle Scout, two aspire to the honorBy Ben Greenspan

Copy EditorTheir members include as-

tronauts Neil Armstrong and James Lovell, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, New York Mayor Michael Bloom-berg, and President Gerald Ford. Some might guess that these are all Freemasons, but they’re not; they’re Eagle Scouts.

Among Benjamin students, Senior Daniel Ditaranto and junior Randell Doane have achieved this highest rank of scouting while junior Kody Rue-disili and sophomore Kyle Rue-disili are very close to becoming Eagle Scouts.

To qualify as an Eagle Scout, one must complete 12 “Eagle Re-quired” merit badges which in-clude First Aid, Personal Fitness, and Environmental Science. A scout then must acquire an ad-ditional nine badges of his choice

as well as do an Eagle Scout Proj-ect. Furthermore, a prospective Eagle Scout should show Scout Spirit and demonstrate leader-ship in the troop. The scout will then be reviewed by the local Eagle Scout council for approval.

Doane has been a member of Boy Scouts of America since he signed up as a Cub Scout in first grade. “When I joined, the only

thing on my mind was the notion of fun, camping and shooting BB guns,” Doane said.

As scouts move through the six ranks, their responsibil-ity within the troop grows. “Our troop’s big fundraiser is Lobster Fest,” Kody Ruedisili said. “It’s basically a dinner and then a si-lent auction which raises a lot of money for our troop.” Ruedisili,

as one of the more senior mem-bers of the troop, helps organize the fundraiser.

Perhaps the most well known part of becoming an Eagle Scout is the Eagle Scout Project, something Doane describes as a “daunting requirement, where the candidate must plan, de-velop, organize and carry out a community service project that

is first approved by the Council.” For his project, Doane worked

with scientist Dr. Maurice Thom-as in a field research to survey bat populations around MacArthur Beach State Park. “I spent many nights setting nets in the park to catch, tag, and count the bat populations,” Doane said. “Ad-ditionally, after much research, I constructed and mounted two bat houses at the park.”

Kody’s project took him to the Dominican Republic. “I took gently used and new baseball equipment to the kids there and handed it out to them and played with them,” he said. “They really have nothing compared to us.”

As he continued scouting, Kody’s reasons for being in the Boy Scouts of America changed. “In middle school, there wasn’t much motivation. But my par-ents kept pushing me and telling me how big of a deal it was,” he said. “As I got into high school, I realized how much it would im-prove my future and help diver-sify myself.”

Doane says the scout pro-gram has really helped him grow as a person. “I joined in first grade,” he said. “When I look back now over those many years of merit badge work, ser-vice projects, and leadership experiences, I realize just how much I have learned under the guise of having fun.”

The Benjamin Upper School’s yearbook staff and the senior class, at a recent assembly, dedi-cated the yearbook to history teacher Mr. Steven Anderson.

Surprised by the announce-ment, Mr. Anderson did not speak to the senior class then, but at a later assembly he gave a heartfelt speech directed towards the seniors.

This is the second time in Mr. Anderson’s 11-year career at Ben-jamin that he was honored with the yearbook dedication. In 2004, after his third year, the students also surprised him with the dedi-cation.

Because of a miscommuni-cation, however, the yearbook editors were not able to present his first dedication in assembly, so Mr. Anderson did not learn about the honor until the year-books were distributed. Lack-ing the opportunity to speak to the seniors as a group, he chose another way to thank them indi-vidually. “I think it’s very impor-tant to give thanks where thanks are due. Consequently, I felt obli-gated to send a note to each of the seniors individually to express my thanks,” Mr. Anderson said.

Surprisingly, Mr. Anderson almost did not become a teacher. When he graduated from Boston

College, he had an undergradu-ate degree in economics and political science, but he was still searching for a career path.

“I consider teaching to be one of those special callings which of-ten chooses you rather than you selecting it,” said Mr. Anderson. “I thought that teaching would be an interesting vocational choice for the short term by pro-viding me the funds and the time which I would need to pursue my graduate studies. Little did I realize at the time that a ‘tempo-rary’ job would evolve into a per-manent career that I would grow to love and would not trade for any occupation.”

He says that a rewarding as-pect of teaching is helping stu-dents discover their gifts and passions. He believes that, as a teacher, he can help students by assisting them to develop the skills which they will need later in life and to “uncover the good-ness that is within them so they may acquire a solid moral com-pass.”

History Department Chair Mr. Jamie McVicar praised his coworker’s success saying, “Mr. Anderson is an educational icon. He has the uncanny ability to re-late information to his students in such a way that learning is fun.”

Describing Mr. Anderson as “second to none,” colleague Mr.

Matt Peal said, “I have never met a teacher who cares for students the way Mr. Anderson does. He genuinely cares about their emo-tional, social, physical and men-tal well-being.”

Over his years of teaching, Mr. Anderson has found that the most effective way to bet-ter understand students is to re-late to the student outside of the classroom whether it is through coaching or developing extra-curricular and co-curricular ac-tivities. On average, he plans two 10 to 14 day trips, one weekend trip, and about six day trips every year for his classes.

“He is so deserving of the yearbook dedication. He enrich-es students’ education with his sense of humor, and his demon-stration of his subject’s relevance to the real world and his awe-some student trips he selflessly arranges and chaperones,” his-tory teacher Ms. Sara Misselhorn said.

Reflecting on his career, Mr. Anderson said, “I consider one of the ultimate goals of teaching to be encouraging students to be-lieve in themselves and in their ability to make a difference in our society. It is rewarding to see how students mature into upperclass-men and it is always special to encounter graduates and to hear about their accomplishments.”

Anderson receives second yearbook dedication

Photo courtesy of Ms. Sue Ball Sophomore Kyle Ruedisili, juniors Kody Ruedisili and Randell Doane, and senior Daniel Ditaranto are or are working to advance to Eagle Scout Status, as boy scouts.

v

LIAM FINE / Staff PhotographerMr. Anderson delivers an acceptance speech in assembly after he received his second Benjamin yearbook dedication. v

By Jerrie JamesStaff Writer

vStudents, faculty reflect on Mr. Anderson’s impact on school community

“I realize just how much I have learned

under the guise of having fun.”RANDELL DOANE

junior

The Pharcyde May 25, 2012 Page A3News

Seniors Katie Murray and Nikki Connaughton received 2nd and 3rd places for their artwork, respectively, in the 2012 Congressional Art Com-petition.

For both Murray and Con-naughton, this was the first time they had submitted a piece to this competition. Both girls live in District 22, which is represented by Representative Allen West. According to an article posted on west.house.gov, this art competition is sponsored by the United States House of Representatives each spring. This year, 70 pieces of artwork were submitted from District 22, but the judges chose only four winners; one 1st place, one 2nd place, and two students tying for 3rd place.

Murray submitted a poster, “Austin Grand Prix,” which had won 1st place previously this year in the Savannah Col-lege of Art and Design Chal-lenge.

“My poster was for an actual event. Formula 1 is a prototype open wheel racing series that has races all over the world. There has not been a race in the US since 2002 and next year it will return to Austin, Texas,” she said. “The composition is of an F1 car with bulls running in the background,” she said. “It is significant of both the Texas longhorn bulls and also the current team that holds the F1 world championship in both the driver and the constructor's championship, Redbull Rac-ing.”

Upon discovering that her poster had placed 2nd in the congressional competition Murray said, “It was a little like Ground Hog’s Day, ‘Oh, it won again? OK,” she said. “I’m happy it keeps on win-ning though.”

Murray’s piece will be dis-played in Congressman West's Capitol Hill office. She also re-

ceived a gift card to a local art shop, Jerry’s Artaroma, and a personal invitation from Con-gressman Allen West for a tour of the White House and the Capitol building.

In the fall, Murray will be attending the Savannah Col-lege of Art and Design where she plans to major in industrial design and minor in graphic design.

Similarly to Murray, Con-naughton, who placed 3rd for her photograph “Lunch Time” also plans to pursue photogra-phy at the College of Charles-ton this fall.

According to Connaugh-ton, she was shocked by her win based on the rigor of the competition she has seen in the past, and the fact that she only submitted one piece of artwork while the majority of students submitted two or three pieces.

“I was surprised that I won because I expected the compe-tition to be a lot harder judg-ing by the pieces that won last year, and I only submitted one piece of art,” she said.

Nonetheless, Connaughton was pleased with her success. “It was exciting being recog-nized by Congressman Allen West and receiving my cer-tificate with the United States Congress seal on the front,” she said. “Being in AP Pho-tography, I have learned that I have a talent for photography and I intend on pursuing this skill in college. Charleston is a very good place for taking pic-tures.”

Connaughton also received a gift card from Jerry’s Artaro-ma, and her photograph will be displayed in Congressman West's District offices in south Florida.

Visual Arts Chair Mrs. Me-lissa Ford commented on the success of her students this year. “I am thrilled with the results of this year's Congres-sional Art Awards. Both Nikki and Katie are dedicated artists

who challenge themselves to produce exceptional work,” she said.

“Nikki has traveled on the weekends to different parks and nature preserves to photo-graph extraordinary vignettes of nature. The quality of the image is reflective of the time spent producing the work and her understanding of the tech-nical aspects of photography,” she said. “The jury recognized the technical abilities of both students citing Katie's skill at eloquently presenting a mes-sage using the medium of the future, referring to graphic de-sign and web-based graphics. Katie's foundation of tradition-al drawing skills coupled with her mastery of Adobe Illustra-tor yielded a professional qual-ity advertisement.”

As reported on west.house.gov, Congressman Allen West was pleased with the results of this year’s competition. "I will be proud to display the winning entries in the hall of the United States Capitol and in both my Congressional and District offices," West said. "They will serve as a reflec-tion of the talent and creativity of so many of our students in south Florida."

Artwork awarded in Congressional Art Competition

NHS elects officers for new school year

Photo by Nikki ConnaughtonConnaughton’s photo won third place and will be displayed in Rep. West’s congressional office.

Poster by Katie MurrayMurray has been awarded in two competitions for her poster.v

Honor CouncilPresident: Samantha Kochman Secretary: Liam Fine Assistant Secretary: George Donaldson Student Council President: Dean SandquistVP: Alex ScheppsSecretary: Lindsey SlavinAssist. Sec.: Ellie JamisonTreasurer: Brenna Tiano

Class of 2013President: Wil-liam ConranVP: Austin RosenthalSecretary & Treasurer: Chandler FordRepresentatives: Jasmine Adams and Sally Frankel

2012-2013 School Year

Student Leaders

The new elected leaders for Benjamin’s chapter of National Honor Society have already met and are enthusiastic for the next school year.

After a set of tight election rac-es, junior Savannah Johnson was elected president of the chapter. “I'm excited to work with those who were elected,” Johnson said. “I know how much National Honor Society and everything it stands for means to all of us. We

just had our first meeting and I'm already confident about next year,” she added.

Serving alongside Johnson will be junior Liam Fine as vice president. Fine plans on working closely with Johnson.

“I am truly flattered and hon-ored to be the Vice President of the National Honor Society; it has been a vision of mine since middle school. I am proud to be a member of the National Honor Society because I am wholeheart-edly in favor of what it stands for: scholarship, leadership, service, and character. I feel that these qualities are not only necessary to embody in high school, but nec-essary to be successful in adult-hood,” Fine said.

Junior Natasha Zachariades will serve as chapter secretary. Her job, primarily, will be to keep track of who is attending each meeting and what goes on during meetings. At inductions, throughout the year, Zachariades and other elected officials will make speeches to new members.

“I decided to run for secretary because I really wanted to be a bigger part of National Honor Society and be able to contribute more. I'm so honored to be cho-sen for this position and cannot wait to work alongside the other officers next year,” Zachariades said.

In addition to Johnson, Fine, and Zachariades, junior Sally Frankel will serve as Treasurer, junior Lauren Bernick was elect-ed Community Service Coordi-nator, and junior Brenna Tiano will be the chapter’s historian.

Mrs. Anita Spassoff, the chap-ter’s school sponsor, is looking forward to next year.

“I am very pleased with the results. I believe that these stu-dents will do a great job leading the chapter in 2012 and 2013. There was a joint lunch last week when the outgoing and incom-ing officers met with me, so the new executive board members are well aware of their responsi-bilities. They are assuming their leadership roles immediately,”

Mrs. Spassoff said.With over 70 members and

various projects occurring, Mrs. Spassoff asked Ms. Sara Misselhorn, history teacher, to join the chapter as a second advisor. While a student at Benjamin, Ms. Misselhorn was a member of National Honor Society.

“Being a graduate of The Ben-jamin School and having been a member of National Honor So-ciety, it is nice for me to be able to participate, once again, in it. I will be heading up the service portion of National Honor Soci-ety, overseeing the group and in-dividual service hours… [I] look forward to a great year with Na-tional Honor Society,” Ms. Mis-selhorn said.

As this school year comes to an end, all of the new leaders are excited and enthusiastic for the next school year.

“It was difficult to decide who to vote for because everyone who ran was extremely qualified,” Johnson said.

Savannah JohnsonNHS President

v

By Andy WeirStaff Writer

By Lauren BernickCo-Editor-in-Chief

The PharcydePage A4 May 25, 2012 News

them up with helium. The worst part was tying them because some of us got really bad blis-ters on our fingers towards the end of the night.”

While the seniors’ hard work paid off, it also brought disagreements and tension between some students. Dw-yer said, “A couple arguments broke out because it was late and people got cranky, but with the help of Coach Ball, everyone kept quiet and we got the job done.”

Even though some seniors seem to use second semester of their senior year as an excuse to check out of the high school years and check into the college years, senior Jamie Corey is sad to see her 14 years at Benjamin come to an end.

“After about 20 years being a part of the Benjamin commu-nity, it is the end of an era for the Corey family at The Ben-jamin School. Personally, it is really emotional to graduate, as most people saw at assem-bly, but I am really excited for what I have ahead of me,” she said. “I’m so used to waking up every morning and seeing the same people, but now I’m going to have to get used to going to a new community with different people.”

Slawson agrees with Corey. “It's kind of bittersweet that we're graduating and I just can't believe that I'll be in college in a few months. Senior year went by way too fast, but everything that happened throughout high school will be a time in my life I'll never forget,” he said. “It's

crazy to think that after 14 years I'm leaving Benjamin; it’s defi-nitely bittersweet.”

Although Slawson sees grad-uation as “bittersweet,” he only seems to have a “sweet” opin-ion about the traditional pond leap that the seniors do every year. “The pond was definitely not as gross as everyone said it would be, and it was actually very refreshing,” he said. “My grade doesn’t compare to any other grade. I mean, what other class would have a girl take her shirt off and jump into the pond other than Belle? Everyone was pretty shocked about that after-wards.”

While Slawson thought that senior Belle Shea’s leap was surprising to most people, she seems to have something of her own to say. “About the lake

dive, well, I've been getting a lot of comments about that. To set the record straight, I didn’t plan on going in, but I did consider it before. It's something I wanted to do since my freshman year and I chickened out the day be-fore after seeing how disgusting the lake water is,” she said.

“When all the guys were jumping in the lake and all of the girls were just sitting on the sidelines watching, I thought that if I didn't just go for it, I would regret it for the rest of my life,” she said. “I thought that I would have to come back when I'm like 80 or something, and jump in. It has been on my bucket list, so I thought that I might as well just do it now.”

While Shea left the seniors with something to remember

about the traditional pond leap, she seems to have mem-orable moments of her own.

“I could never see myself attending another school be-sides Benjamin for the past 14 years and I’m really happy we

have such a great community here that no other school has,” she said. “I really am going to miss seeing the people at Ben-jamin every day, but I’m also really excited to be a part of a new community.”

Seniors look back on time at TBS, prepare to move on

country to visit various high schools and college fairs, and in the fall he reads the applications from students in his territory, which has been Florida for the past four years. Mr. Wong also manages various on-campus pro-grams and supervises Brandeis’ student employees.

He made the decision to transfer to college counseling af-ter realizing the benefits that it could provide. “While I’ve loved the world of admissions, I origi-nally got into the field to help de-mystify the process for prospec-tive students and their families and help them make a decision on where to go to college. While I get some chances to do that in my current position, I want to meet with students on a more regular basis and truly help guide their decision-making process,” Mr. Wong said.

A committee of faculty and administrators and a panel of stu-dents were involved in the search to fill the upcoming vacancy in the college counseling office.

“We were so fortunate that many really great candidates found their way to us. We used the network within our indepen-dent school community, but we were looking for someone com-ing from the admissions side,” Dean of College Counseling Ms. Kristen Learner said. “We went

into the Carney Sandoe employ-ment agency, we put our feelers out with a few people, and Jeff Wong’s name came up multiple times.”

After considering other ap-plicants, the student responses to Mr. Wong helped convince the committee that he was the right choice for the Benjamin family. “Our student responses to Jeff Wong were just tremendous, I think across the board he was well received by this community, and I think the feeling is mutual,” Ms. Learner said.

Mr. Wong shared this enthu-siasm as he described his experi-ence with the school so far. “Since I first visited The Benjamin School several years ago, I’ve been very impressed with the students and families. The students at Benja-min are incredibly bright and the parents with whom I’ve met have been kind and caring,” he said. “Everyone seemed incred-ibly passionate about their jobs and had the shared goal of help-

ing their students. The Benjamin School obviously offers a warm, active community, and I can’t wait to join you all this summer.Also, the buffet offered to admis-sions counselors at the college fair is simply outstanding.”

As an admissions officer, Mr. Wong will bring a new per-spective to the College Coun-seling Office that has not been present before. Ms. Learner is looking forward to the new bal-ance in the office. “My whole career has been in independent schools and my focus has been on counseling, so I’m really ex-cited to bring in the other side of the desk and work in tandem with someone from admis-sions,” she said.

Through his years spent read-ing applications and serving on the admissions committee, Mr. Wong believes that his knowl-edge will help his future stu-dents. “These experiences have not only helped me understand what we look for in an applicant

at Brandeis, but also what other college admissions offices are looking for in their students,” he said. “I want to use this knowl-edge to help my students pres-ent themselves in the best pos-sible light in their applications, as well as helping them find schools where they can learn more and truly thrive after high school.”

“I plan on visiting campuses around the country to learn about different college options and new admissions processes. In June, I’ll be attending a workshop for new college counselors to learn more about different colleges and how a college counselor operates in a secondary school community,” Mr. Wong said.

Ms. Learner believes that he will have plenty of time to get to know his students in the class of 2013 before writing their counselor recommendations in the fall. She said, “We’re small enough that it won’t take him long to get to know this com-munity, and remember a com-pleted application includes a counselor recommendation, two teacher recommendations and a lot of writing from the student, so college counseling is one piece of a very whole school approach to this pro-cess.”

Mr. Wong also plans on get-ting to know students outside of the college counseling setting. He

said, “I would love to get involved in some of the many extracur-ricular activities that are offered at The Benjamin School. During my high school and college years, I was involved in a wide variety of activities ranging from Model UN to political groups to college radio and would love to get involved in similar clubs at Benjamin.”

The college counseling of-fice is excited for the prospects of the new school year. Secretary of College Counseling Ms. Linda Twitchell said, “Mr. Wong will be bringing a new perspective to the college search process. I think he’s a really neat guy and the kids are going to love him.”

Ms. Learner spoke for the two of them when she said, “I think it’s going to be a won-derful collaborative team ap-proach to college counseling, just the way Mr. Culhane and I have been during our time in our five years together. We’re fired up if you can’t tell.”

Brandeis assistant director of admissions to join TBS

From Seniors page 1

From Counselor page 1

LIAM FINE / Staff PhotographerSenior Michael Milbauer charges towards the lake.

BEN GERMANO / Co-Editor-in-ChiefSeniors Heather Doan and Payton Celedinas sign Ms. Ball’s shirt.

“The Benjamin School obviously offers a warm, active community,

and I can’t wait to join you all this summer.”MR. JEFFREY WONG

Incoming college counselor

“We’re fired up if you

can’t tell.”MS. KRISTEN

LEARNER Dean of College Counseling

v

v

May 25, 2012 Page A5The Pharcyde News

Three students will research and design experiments with professional Scripps scientists this summer as part of the Scripps Florida Kenan Fellows High School Student Summer Intern-ship Program.

Recently, juniors Alexandra Kaye, Randell Doane, and Adri-enne Propp received notification from Scripps that they will par-ticipate in its summer internship program. In this program, from early June through late July, they will be involved in the hands-on program at Scripps’ Jupiter re-search center.

The six-week program fo-cuses on biomedical and neuro-logical research with a primary goal of preparing participants for continuing education in sci-ence. Using the scientific method, research planning, experimental design, and data analysis, stu-dents create their own experi-ments and engage in interactive lab-work under the supervision of professional Scripps scientists.

Along with the hands-on work, the participants are also responsible for a written scientific abstract and an oral presentation at the end of the program. In addi-tion, students will attend special seminars and lectures featuring professional Scripps scientists.

Although Propp, Kaye, and Doane are all looking forward to the internship, they are each ex-cited about different aspects of it.

“I am extremely excited to work at Scripps. This is such an amazing opportunity, and I couldn't imagine any better way to gain experience in this area. One of my favorite things about the internship is that we are re-ally going to be scientists for six weeks; we work with the head scientist in a specific department and perform experiments and re-search,” Propp said. “When I am in college, I plan to major in some type of science. My dream is to become some type of medical re-searcher so that I can really make a difference with the work that I do,” she continued.

Kaye, on the other hand, is looking most forward to the spe-

cific fields she will get to explore. “I'm really thrilled by the oppor-tunity to work on a biomedical re-search project,” Kaye said. “What I am especially excited about is what I will be doing this summer, which is working on memory and learning research,” she added.

Excited about the program’s legitimacy, Propp said, “It's not like we are going to be going on coffee runs like interns in movies do.”

Every participant had to have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher and be sixteen years old and a rising junior or senior. Par-ticipants also must submit two letters of recommendation from teachers and present a full re-sume.

“It is phenomenal that a rela-tively small school such as ours has three students that were se-lected for this national and highly sought after internship. This real-ly speaks to the quality of a Benja-min education,” Science Depart-ment Chair Dr. Darryl Martino said.

Although all three students are participating in this program to pursue their passion of science and prepare for additional edu-cation and various careers in sci-ence, for Kaye, this internship is also personal.

“I had a close relationship with my grandfather, who had Alzheimer’s Disease, and I spent many hours with him while he was suffering from its symptoms. It was incredibly sad to watch such an intelligent and interesting man, whom I loved, deteriorate until he was not even able to feed himself or recognize our family. It was a painful experience, and I deep-ly wish for a cure to be found so that no one else will have to suffer from this tragic illness,” Kaye said.

As these students pursue their passion in science, they are hope-ful that they can make even a min-iscule difference for the world.

“Nothing would satisfy me more than playing even one small part in helping to im-prove the health of our com-munities and the people of the world,” Kaye said.

Three juniors to intern at Scripps Institute

had a lot of enthusiasm when he taught and definitely had a lot of energy in the classroom. It was obvious that he loved what he was teaching and therefore all of the students in the room enjoyed the material as well.”

Aside from his love of his-tory and teaching, Mr. Harper enjoys traveling with his wife Emily. He also loves to play tennis, as well as most other sports. He likes going to the beach, boating, reading, and

spending time with his Aus-tralian Shepherd puppy, Strider.

When the student panel interviewed Mr. Harper, many loved his enthusiasm and positive attitude. “He [said] that he would want to be involved in everything from sports to clubs. He's definitely going to be a good addition to the Benjamin community because he wants to be involved in so many as-pects of the school, and that's

exactly what we need,” Koch-man said.

Mr. Harper is very excited for the opportunity to teach at a high school for the first time in his career.

Sophomore Hannah LaBovick commented, “I think he will fit in well with the teachers and will be really liked by his students. He was funny and seems to know how to get along with his stu-dents. He obviously loves his work which will make him just that much better of a teacher.”

From Harper page 1

Harper to join Benjamin community

Two seniors were honored at the 29th annual Pathfind-ers High School Scholarship Awards ceremony, held May 8 at the Kravis Center.

Senior Christian Sendler took home the second place award in the History/Politi-cal Science category, receiving $2,000 in college funds, and senior Katie Murray placed fourth in the Fine Arts category receiving $1,000.

At the event, sponsored by The Palm Beach Post, 72 high school seniors in the Palm Beach and Martin counties were recognized for their out-standing achievement in one of eighteen academic or athletic categories.

Each participating school can nominate only one candi-date per category, who must then create a twenty-page port-folio application documenting their achievements during their high school years, and face a panel of judges in March for a ten-minute intensive interview.

Traditionally, Benjamin will nominate students from about fifteen different disciplines and come home with at least one

award. Each department iden-tifies their candidate in the first semester.

“The students who are nominated really represent the best of the best,” said Span-ish teacher Mrs. Montserrat Arpa. “It is extremely helpful for students while applying to college, because admissions of-ficers know that these student’s are the strongest in the school at their subject.”

Commenting on the over-all experience, Sendler said, “The takeaway was very posi-tive. I feel we had a lot of very qualified candidates, but it’s a big pool of very deserving students. Everyone does some-thing significant within their field.”

Mrs. Arpa said that one of the most touching aspects of the event is realizing how many gifted young people there are in the community. “This is an event that anyone that is an educator should go to, be-cause you realize how much talent is out there. It also gives you a feeling of what the other schools are doing.”

Mrs. Arpa has noticed that each year, there are more and more schools in the area, and more students competing for

the Pathfinder Awards. Also, the number of specialized schools has increased, which makes it even more competi-tive for Benjamin’s candidates competing for awards in art or math and science.

“You can have a really, re-ally good student,” Mrs. Arpa said. “But it’s difficult because you don’t know what else is out there, or who you are compet-ing against. It’s amazing what some of these students have ac-complished.”

The extreme competitive-ness of these awards makes for an excited and nervous atmo-sphere, as the nominees and their families and friends fill the Kravis Center.

“It really does have the feeling of the Oscars,” Mrs. Arpa said. “There is a good feeling when you are there; everyone is young. You have an entire orchestra of young people, with some teach-ers, administrators, parents, and friends upstairs. It’s free to the public but nominees have special seats downstairs.”

Sendler admits that he was blown away as he walked in to the auditorium. “The Post does a great job putting this event to-gether,” he said. “And they have for a number of years.”

Two seniors place in Pathfinder Awards

Photo courtesy of Karen SendlerSenior Pathfinder recipients Katie Murray and Christian Sendler stand with Head of Upper School Mr. Latta Baucom and Assistant Head of School for Academics Mr. Ken Didsbury at the 2012 Pathfinder Awards ceremony. Sendler and Murray placed second and fourth, respectively.

LIAM FINE / Staff PhotographerJunior Adrienne Propp readies for a lab in Mrs. Spino’s room.

v v

v

By Averill HealeyStaff Writer

By Andy WeirStaff Writer

As we came together to celebrate our fiftieth anni-versary last year, students, faculty, and parents alike re-membered the beginning of our school and its founding principles. While nearly all of those remembrances were memories of a bygone era, one concept that dates back into Benjamin history still affects students today.

This is the requirement that every student in the up-per school play at least one sport each year. The Pharcyde recognizes this as a well-intentioned policy to foster growth in students from every angle.

We also recognize it as outdated. Promoting student involvement in athletics is a wor-

thy cause. Humans, by nature, are reluctant to try new things and often end up enjoying activities they never thought to pursue in the first place.

That said, as upperclassmen step on campus for the beginning of their junior and senior years, the trial and error period of high school is over. By this time, students have found their role in the Benjamin community, and it could be in any number of places including, but not lim-ited to, athletics.

It is in that spirit—the spirit of not limiting students—that The Pharcyde proposes a change to the sports policy. We suggest that the participation requirement of upper-classmen be lifted. Freshmen and sophomores would still have to play a sport, allowing them exposure to a valu-able part of high school that they might not otherwise experience.

This change would allow upperclassmen the op-portunity to commit their time to the activities they care about most. For the majority, this will mean con-tinued and enthusiastic participation in their athletic endeavors, but others should have the opportunity to pursue different goals.

After two years, the sports requirement is no longer helpful to the student, and instead is about the athletic department. The first two years of the requirement serve their purpose, to expose students to the athletics, and this is a mission we value.

However, as the burden of a four-year commitment wears on, students begin to recognize their implicit debt to the athletic department. It is hard to justify re-quiring upperclassmen to play a sport on the basis of promoting exposure to the athletics, as it can be reason-ably assumed that exposure has already been achieved in the underclassmen years.

The athletic department may argue that the four-year sports requirement is necessary to have enough players to fill out their rosters. We reject this as a cause of concern.

Teams that stay afloat on the basis of indefinitely forced participation lose their legitimacy as teams at all. If two years of mandatory participation is not enough to keep students wanting to play a sport, they should certainly have the right to leave what is appar-ently an uninspiring program.

What we are proposing is not radical. It is, how-ever, a progressive take on a founding principle of

our school. By affording upperclassmen freedom from compulsory athletics, we are only empowering stu-dents to explore their passions.

Researching the policies of other area schools, The Pharcyde found that Benjamin is alone in its mandatory participation in the athletic department. This finding reflects information gathered from The King’s Acad-emy, St. Andrew’s School, Pine Crest School, Oxbridge Academy, St. Edward’s School, Cardinal Newman High School, and American Heritage School.

We do not believe this policy change would af-fect a large number of students, and this is encour-aging. Benjamin is blessed with innumerable im-passioned athletes, and it is in the same spirit that we encourage them that we feel other nonathletic endeavors should be encouraged as well.

The goal to promote student involvement in the athletics is one that we understand and respect. Our proposal is careful not to undermine this, as it still requires participation from underclassmen.

We are less tolerant, though, of the justification of anything on the basis of its status as a Benjamin tradition. The school cannot use the past as a justi-fication for an ineffective present.

It was just this school year that Benjamin decided to drop the Carden Method, a sacred lower school grammar curriculum developed 78 years ago. If the school can remove this founding principle, why can the sports policy not be changed?

Our hope is that it does not take any longer to amend a program that is already out of date. After all, Benjamin is peerless in its full-fledged, man-datory athletic participation for a reason, and we would suggest it is not a good one.

Page A6 May 25, 2012 The PharcydeCheers Jeers

Iron WomanCongrats to Ms. Carol

McGrath for completing her 2nd Iron Man race.

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Editorial BoardLauren Bernick Co-Editor-in-Chief Ben Germano Co-Editor-in-ChiefCasey Pearce Managing EditorSam Greenspan Online EditorDean Sandquist Sports EditorEmily Dunkel Graphics Editor Ben Greenspan Copy Editor Hunter Toro Outgoing Editor-in-ChiefLaura Barry Outgoing Executive EditorMeredith Berger Outgoing Copy Editor Victoria Cribb Outgoing Multimedia EditorAlana Dresner Outgoing Columnist

Staff WritersTory Tiano, Rachel Smith, Averill Healey, Jerrie James, Riley Burke,

Ashlyn Sendler, Paige Sode, Juliette Mercadante, Andy Weir

May 25, 2012

The Benjamin School4875 Grandiflora Road

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33418

Contact InfoPhone: 561-472-3485

Fax: 561-691-8823

Advisor: Mr. Ken Didsbury kdidsbury@thebenjaminschool.org

Co-Editor-in-Chief: Lauren Bernicklauren.bernick13@thebenjaminschool.org

Co-Editor-in-Chief: Ben Germanoben.germano13@thebenjaminschool.org

GeneralThe Pharcyde, the Upper School newspaper of The Benjamin School, is published six times a year.

The Pharcyde is distributed to every student and faculty member and is availalbe in the Upper School office. Each issue is mailed to every Upper School family’s home address.

The Pharcyde encourages submission of Letters to the Editor. Send your feedback, criticism, or outside opinions in 150 words or fewer to ben.germano13@thebenjaminschool.org. The Pharcyde reserves the right to edit all letters for length, grammar, and clarity.

MembershipThe Pharcyde is a member of the Florida Scholastic Press Association, American Scholastic Press Associa-tion, Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Asscociation.

Online at www.PharBlog.com

EditorialThe opinion of The Pharcyde

Quiet Please The library’s noise

level is getting increasingly unbearable.

Mission StatementThe Pharcyde is a student news-paper produced to foster an open dialogue about topics that relate to The Benjamin School. The is-sues that appear throughout our pages may be light-hearted or serious, but regardless we aim to reflect the diversity of opinion within our school that we value so deeply.

In order to move for-ward, we need to leave the full-fledged sports requirement behind.

It’s time to end an unnecessary burden

The last word had been spoken, the candidates were confident that their formal dress and witty speeches would pay off, and everything depended on the most sig-nificant factor in the student council elections: the voter.

Unfortunately at Benjamin, voter is a term that is lim-ited only to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. Seniors are left out of the voting process in student council elec-tions. They have just as much, if not more, of a right as other grades to make their voices heard in student coun-cil elections.

Most students know that the vast majority of Student Council officer candidates are juniors, and most students also know that the upperclassmen bond between juniors and seniors is closer than that of juniors and freshmen.

Seniors have experienced almost the entirety of high school with the juniors. They have seen them as freshmen

and watched them grow into upperclassmen. They have developed relationships with many of them and know who they are as students, people, and who they can be as future leaders of the school.

They are the most informed and aware community members. They are not undereducated about the candi-dates, and they have seen numerous different Student Council officers over four years, so they know what Stu-dent Council can do and what being a good leader entails.

We are all aware that the two most significant factors in the voting process are the speech and the voter’s rela-tionship with the candidate. In most cases, students vote for their better friend rather than the student with the better speech. However, if a voter does not know any of the candidates, his or her vote will depend solely on the speech heard.

This is the case for most freshmen who vote. While I’m not attempting to undermine the impor-

tance of the Student Council election speeches, I think the candidates deserve to have their future roles determined by more than what they say in the span of two minutes.

With the seniors being able to vote, the results would be more balanced as most of them at least know of the majority of candidates and the vote they cast would de-pend on the people running and not just the speech given.

The senior vote would also give many hardworking candidates, who clearly deserve a position but who do

not necessarily shine in the speeches, a chance to compete in the elections. They would not have to worry when they spent time constructing a serious and heartfelt speech, while their opponent made theirs a standup comedy show. The seniors have seen three years of this person continually working hard in order to become a leader of the school and are aware of how much it would mean to this candidate.

With Student Council elections taking place near the senior’s last day, the senior vote would also give the seniors one final chance to have their voices heard at Benjamin.

While the seniors have many opportunities to add to their legacy, few opportunities are available to them to actually make a contribution to the school which will carry into the next year. The vote would be something that would allow us seniors to feel comfortable leaving the school behind knowing that we had a say in the fu-ture of the school.

I am not saying that I don’t feel comfortable leav-ing the school behind now, as I personally think the students in Student Council for next year are well de-serving of the positions they received and will serve as good leaders of the school. However, the voting process would be the most effective if seniors were al-lowed to end their leadership by assisting in choosing the future leadership of Benjamin.

Leaving a Legacy: Allow seniors to vote

Liam Fine Photographer, William Conran Photographer,Kelly Moran Illustrator,

Staff Artists

Tory Tiano

Staff Writer

Let’s just say I didn’t have the best track record in middle school.

Whether I was blinded by my teen-age angst, or by the heavy coating of eyeliner, I frequently made poor deci-sions that landed me in constant trou-ble. As surprising as that may sound to some, my transition from middle school to upper school was obvious enough to win me the superlative “Most Changed Since Lower School.”

I now serve as a “poster child” for overcoming bad attitudes and bad reputations, but all too often my trans-formation gets credited to me. In real-ity, without the support of countless outside sources, I would probably still be found in detention, wearing a pout and far too much makeup.

My frequent eye rolls and out-ward displays of a bad attitude were a mask for the fear I felt, even though I couldn’t admit it. I, like many, was limited by my fears, and by what peo-ple told me I could or could not accom-plish. Sometimes, we are not strong or brave enough to see our potential, or what needs to change in order to make us become better, to realize our true possibilities. Sometimes, we need an outside source’s help.

The staff at the Benjamin Middle

School challenged my preconceived self-limitations; they didn’t accept them and didn’t allow me to accept them. In middle school, they didn’t define me by my bad reputation, as most of my classmates did. “You’re better than this,” they would tell me, even though I couldn’t see it myself.

No matter how many times I dis-appointed them, they never gave up. They forced me to raise my expecta-tions. They challenged me to be better, because I couldn’t do it on my own. I had allowed, for so many years, my fear to limit me. But they changed this. With their help, I began to see what I could accomplish. So in high school, I started anew, with both the angst and excess makeup washed away.

High school was much better for me than middle school. But that’s not to say it was always easy.

Many times I believed my teachers overestimated me. As a freshman, I didn’t think I could handle the course load and rigors of an honors or AP class; I had never been challenged academically before. But the teach-ers pushed, and told me “you can do this.” I was once again challenged to expect more from myself; I learned I could handle much more than I previ-ously thought.

But sometimes, I took on more than I could handle. And even then, when it got to be too much, there was always someone there to catch me. Mrs. Don-aldson “caught me” so many times; she probably should have charged me a therapy session fee. Through her support, and that of many others, I

learned about balance and the hardest lesson for me to learn, “it’s okay to not be perfect.”

Despite a poor reputation, frequent doubts, emotional breakdowns, and countless other mistakes throughout the past 14 years, I am forever thank-ful to the entire Benjamin community, not just the staff, for never giving up on me, and for always giving me a second chance, even when I didn’t de-serve it.

Through their dedication and faith in me, I learned that when people de-serve love least, they need it most.

Despite the hallmark-ish nature of this final column, every word I’ve written I believe to be true. Benjamin may not be perfect, but in the years I’ve spent here, I’ve learned that it al-ways was exactly what I needed when I needed it. Despite what your fears tell you, the Benjamin experience is whatever you make of it. Don’t take it for granted.

Thank you to those of you that didn’t give up on me, even when you could have given up on me, when you probably should have given up on me. That has made all the difference.

The Pharcyde May 25, 2012 Page A7Opinions

Bidding Farewell

Hunter Toro

OutgoingEditor-in-Chief

vThe graduating Editor-in-Chief shares her parting thoughts in her final issue

Respect the Athletes

For the past 20 years, the sports awards ban-quets honored teams and athletes by recognizing their season accomplishments in front of parents and other relatives. However, this year the school moved the ceremony to the morning assembly.

Reasons for the change, according to Athletic Di-rector Mr. Ryan Smith, include wanting the athletes to be recognized in front of the entire student body, faculty and staff; freeing up three nights on the cal-endar for games or school events; combining ath-letics and fine arts by having drumline and chorus perform; and giving faculty and student relief from yet another evening commitment. Also, during the previous ceremonies, many parents and athletes would leave after their team’s recognition. Many teams have their own banquets as well, where play-ers are recognized by coaches, Mr. Smith noted.

Although these are sound and justifiable rea-sons for moving the awards ceremony, the change prevents many parents from attending because of work requirements, and the morning ceremony

diminishes the accomplishments of the teams and student-athletes.

Coaches and their players deserve more than the approximated five minute recognition under the new arrangement. After a strenuous and demand-ing season, student-athletes ought to hear more than their names read off the roster because of time constraints. At the nighttime awards banquet, each team and player received ample recognition, and coaches were given the opportunity to speak about their teams and their accomplishments.

Granted, some coaches rambled, but they can be given a time limit. Allowing them to speak gave the ceremony a more personal touch. They had the op-portunity to explain what happened during the sea-son and could point out an individual who made an amazing play or the selfless player who never stopped supporting his or her teammates. The coaches and players together share the good times and the hardships that come with a long season. They develop unique and special relationships, but by not having coaches speak at the abbreviated morning assembly, we do not get to hear about that special connection.

Let’s reward our student-athletes and coaches for their dedication by moving the award’s pro-gram back to the evening. If athletes are going to be honored, the ceremony should be in front of an au-dience that includes parents and special relatives, and in a program where there is no rush to stay on schedule and get to class on time.

Riley Burke

Staff Writer

vThe sports awards ceremony should be moved back to the evening and out of assembly

Photo courtesy of Hunter ToroThe middle school Hunter enjoyed making faces in Apple Store photos.

Illustration by Kelly Moran

Ceremonies during assembly diminish the awards’ significance

Have your voice heard.

Send a letter to the editor.Send your thoughts, in 150 words or fewer to ben.germano13@thebenjaminschool.org.

The PharcydePage A8 May 25, 2012

Senior WillsEvery year, seniors leave behind both

physical and figurative legacies to their teachers, friends, and family members.

STUDENT SOUND

OFF

“I’m pretty upset my brother is leaving. I can always go to him for advice and he comes to me for advice especially when it comes to what he should wear. It’s go-ing to be really hard for me to get used to not having him around.”

MARIA DATTOLO freshman

“Although I don’t want to admit it, I’ll definitely miss Tor being around. I’ll miss laughing at his hilarious personality and having someone who can let me in when I come back past curfew. I wish you the best of luck in college.”

BRENNA TIANOjunior

I, Alana Dresner, leave my _______ dipped in Kalila sauce for LO00oo and my girly tail ac-

cessories (assessories) for

Samantha Johnson.

I, Gabrielle Belle Erin Wynne Shea Tan-nenbaum, hereby leave my fierce Anti-gone earrings and attitude to Angelica Bafitis and my Katniss aspirations/skills to Sydney Schultz. The tenor section is to be left in the care of Jessica Armstrong, for her use in chorus and PFP. To Nick Castriz and Hannah Labovick, I leave Conferen-cia, in hope that they will come up with more inside jokes involving nuns. I also leave my tardiness to Coach Ball, as I don’t think I can take that with me to college.

I, Hayley Miller,

am leaving my heart

to Edward Rieck.

I, Bridget Crosby, leave my beachy legacy to Kelly Christiansen.

I, Heather Doan, leave @BucLax to Isabelle Haddad and Leroy, our baby rat, to Sam

Ritenour.

I, Hunter Toro, leave the care of my Pharcydians, Mr. Dids,

and the paper to the very capable team of Ben Germano and

Lauren Bernick. I also leave Lau-ren Terri Rose. I leave my baby brother, Parker Toro, to Coach Ball (but we both know you’ve

always been her favorite).

I, Jamie Marie Corey, leave the leg-acy and pom poms of basketball cheeleading, the cliquey chorus gals, and drum sticks to twirly girly, Claire Kearns. I leave the “Variety Show,” soon to be “Ethan Kaslow Show,” to DJ Big Ezzy. I leave the duty of Red Cross meeting before

the meetings to Lindsey Slavin. And I leave my tardiness and

chattiness to Doctor and Mr. McVicar.

I, Roberto Mendoza, leave behind the

JV Soccer captaincy to Shane Searson in hopes that he keeps the tradi-tions of JV Soccer such as

T of the W and the Cardinal Lewis stretch.

I, Sara Forrest, leave my extensive calf sock collection to Corinne Davidson.

I, Megan McCraney, leave Jazzy J’s hispter

glasses and the ukulele to the

cheer squad.

I, Laura Barry, leave my tender

care of the baseball team to

Corinne Davidson.

I, Jeanelle Acker-man, leave Coach Aft to Benjamin

Horowitz.

By Lauren Bernick Co-Editor-in-Chief

When someone passes away, we shed tears together, share warm embraces to-gether, and moments of remembrance to-gether. Today, though we still gather with others affected, we can pay our respects in the privacy of our own bedrooms and through the use of our computers.

“Obviously it’s important to have something like a tangible item of remem-brance such as a grave or memorial site when someone passes away. However, nowadays it’s almost easier to share your condolences on Facebook than it is to visit an actual site,” said senior Meg Downey.

As Facebook has become fully integrat-ed into many people’s lives, it has taken on a cyber responsibility beyond connecting family and friends. When someone passes away, their Facebook profile and groups made in honor of them become their on-line memorial pages. This use of Facebook in coping with deaths has become second nature to many users, proving Facebook to no longer be an extension of daily life, but a part of it.

When the school community lost be-loved history teacher Mr. Dan Wissner in 2010, students relied on Facebook as a means of mourning his death.

According to Downey, who was one of Mr. Wissner’s students during the time of his passing, the news of his death was an-nounced to the majority of the community through Facebook.

“I found out that he had passed away through another student’s status on Face-book,” she said. “Almost immediately a group was created in honor of him as a me-

morial type page.”Similar to the public attention that Mr.

Wissner’s death created on Facebook, when senior Cali Cramer lost a friend of hers in October of 2010, loved ones wrote messages on her private Facebook wall and a separate group was created in her honor.

At first when her friend was in criti-cal condition in the hospital, her family used a separate website to notify family and friends of her status. When it was an-nounced that she had died, people auto-matically went to their Facebook to say their goodbyes.

“People would write messages on her wall to her and to her family just saying how happy they were to get to know Zoe and even people who only met her once would share the unbelievable impact that she had on their lives,” she said.

“I spoke to her parents and it made such a big difference for them to be able to read those messages and know what a big impact their daughter had on people’s lives even for such a short period of time that she was around,” she said.

According to local licensed psycholo-gist Dr. Sara Ehrich, using Facebook as a memorial site has recently become very common. She also said that following a profile of a loved one who has died can be a comforting form of mourning in many respects.

“Certainly, when a loved one has passed, it can be very healing for people to communicate about their feelings, thoughts and experiences with others. Many find that sharing photos and memories of the loved one, as well as sharing their feelings about the grieving process, can be very helpful,” she said. “Furthermore, it can be very comforting for individuals that are mourning to connect with others going through the same experience and to feel that they are not alone.”

For Cramer, following the posts of oth-ers was an assurance to herself that others were experiencing a similar pain.

“I would go through and read other peoples messages to her literally all day. It

was sad but it was a way to see how other people were feeling the same things as me,” she said. “Reading other people’s messages who wrote such strong things who hadn’t even met her before made me feel better.”

In spite of the benefits Facebook can have during the grieving process, Dr. Eh-rich also expressed her concerns.

“It is very common for those who have recently lost someone to want to ‘stay con-nected.’ This can occur because it is tre-mendously painful to lose someone that we care about,” she said. “However, this coping mechanism could potentially be less healthy if it were to interfere with the reality that the person has passed or if this constant reminder were to truncate the mourning process in some way. Certainly, it would not be advised to use these memo-rials in the grieving process in lieu of treat-ment when necessary, like depression.”

According to Cramer, though it has been about a year and four months since her friend’s passing, her Facebook is still commented on today.

“It is a way to vent,” she said. “When you’re writing on her wall, it’s weird, but it actually feels like you’re talking to her.”

As staying connected with those who have passed has become a new way of

mourning, Facebook has recognized that without acknowledgement that a user has passed, the remaining profile of someone who has passed can be upsetting to some. In order to regulate the accounts of those who have passed, Facebook has the ability to “memorialize” accounts.

In response to this policy, Cramer said, “When that person was alive people used Facebook to talk to them, and just because they’re gone that doesn’t change. It still re-mains a way for people to talk to them and stay connected,” she said.

According to a 2009 article from TIME.com, users would become up-set when one of Facebook’s sidebars would ask them to re-connect with a friend or family member who had passed away.

Cramer commented, “I guess it could be upsetting but I think it would be more like a reminder. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing that you are forced to remember that person.”

“I feel like it has to come a point where Facebook is almost a way of life. I guess in some aspects it’s gone a little too far but I think that the posi-tives of Facebook outweigh the bad things,” she said.

When someone passes away, their Facebook account remains active until it is ei-ther de-activated by relatives or settings are adjusted other-wise. In an effort to minimize the presence of Facebook users who have passed away on the

news feeds of their family and friends, Facebook created a memoralizing account policy.

It reads, “When a user pass-es away, we memorialize their account to protect their priva-cy.

Memorializing an account sets the account privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile (timeline) or locate it in search. Friends and family can leave posts in remembrance.Memorializ-ing an account also prevents anyone from logging into the account.”

The Pharcyde May 25, 2012 Page A9School Life

“It just made my family feel really good that so many people were thinking about

us and thought so much about Mr. Wissner and his jokes. Reading what they said and telling all of his old jokes made us laugh and it warmed our hearts. I really liked

that. In fact, my whole family did. It was wonderful. My two little grandsons were

able to read about their grandfather and they were able to understand that

the messages were all talking about grandpa and how nice he was.”

MRS. PHYLLIS WISSNER

Mourners find outlet through Facebook, preserve accounts of lost loved ones

“Nowadays it’s almost easier to

share your condo-lences on Facebook than it is to visit an actual site.”

MEG DOWNEYsenior

As mentioned in the March and April is-sues of The Pharcyde, the dystopias that Ben-jamin students read, 1984 by George Orwell for example, describe the dehumanizing sides of technology, yet, as students and faculty have discovered, these tools allow them to reach out and communicate in intimate and powerful ways.

The first installment of this three-part se-ries focused on forms of technology, such as YouTube and Skype, which have exceeded their original intended purposes. Now, they are not used for simple and occasional communication, but have become a way of life for many.

The second installment of the series high-lighted students sharing the truth about their lives through Facebook. From “tagging” to “lik-ing,” Facebook provides a platform for students to become more transparent about their lives.

In this final installment of the series, The Pharcyde explores how Facebook and similar social networks are used as significant grieving methods for those who have lost loved ones.

Facebook’s Memoralizing

Accounts Policy

Screenshot from FacebookMoments after discovering that he had passed away, students created Face-book pages in memory of Mr. Wissner where classmates, friends, and rela-tives could share jokes and memories.

Page A10

The Pharcyde

May 25, 2012

150Number of different universities seniors have been accepted to

61Number of different universities seniors will be attending

24Number of different states seniors will be attending college in

16Number of students who will be playing sports at the collegiate level

28Percent of students will be attending college in Florida

11Percent of students will be attending college in North Carolina

Mapping out the Future After months of college counseling, college applications, wait lists, and excitement, seniors have officially made their college decision. And we have it all mapped out.

College by the Numbers

Statistics courtesy of the College Counseling Office

Page A11

The Pharcyde

May 25, 2012

Mapping out the Future After months of college counseling, college applications, wait lists, and excitement, seniors have officially made their college decision. And we have it all mapped out.

Graphic by Emily Dunkel

By Juliette MercadanteStaff Writer

Woody Allen once said, “Eighty per-cent of success is just showing up,” and in this sense, one Benjamin senior has been incredibly successful, as she has attended all 2,020 school days since first grade.

Most students had at least a few in-stances in their 14 years of attending school where they needed to miss a day of school due to an emergency or a sickness, but senior Katie Murray is an exception, as her attendance has remained perfect since she was in first grade. “The last time I was absent was when I was in kindergarten and that was because I had strep throat,” she said.

Murray seems to think that one of the main reasons that she did not miss a day of school is that she “rarely gets sick,” and that if she does, “it’s never strong enough to miss a day of school.”

While most absences at Benjamin are inexcusable, college trips and school events can be excused with a teacher’s consent. “I have had excused absences for sporting events, like swimming,” Murray said. “But that has not happened more than one or two times.”

Not many people seemed to know about her perfect attendance until the end of lower school, when the faculty members hosted an award ceremony to commemorate the students in their ac-complishments from pre-k through fifth grade. “The people who haven’t missed a day of school in four years were awarded and I started to panic because they hadn’t said my name,” she said. “But I knew I hadn’t missed a day of school since the middle of kindergarten, so they ended up giving me an award separately.”

The award ceremony seems to have helped students, such as Murray, recog-nize their accomplishments as they went through lower school. Her attendance seems to have been helpful as she ap-plied to colleges. “I started thinking that if I kept this perfect attendance up, then it would be a really interesting college essay topic just because not a lot of people have made it that far without missing a day of school,” she said.

Even though Murray sees her perfect attendance as something that has been useful throughout her high school expe-rience, she seems to have had occasions when she wishes she was absent.

“There were a few days when I really wanted to stay home, but I wasn’t sick enough to just not go, or I didn’t feel like making up all the work that I missed for the next day,” she said.

After about 12 years of constant school, Murray seems to think that a break from her weekly routine of school is in order. She said, “Definitely this year there were a few close calls when I almost missed school, but that’s just senioritis.”

Ironically Murray’s spectacular at-tendance is an accomplishment she feels she has to apologize for, as it

is brought up comically in conversa-tions.

“The fact that I haven’t missed one day is kind of funny. If I bring it up in a conversation, then it’s usually said as a joke because not many people attend every single day of school. If someone brings up a weird fact or something funny that not a lot of peo-

ple have heard before, then I’ll say, ‘I haven’t missed one day of school since the middle of kindergarten’ and the response is usually ‘how,’ ‘why,’ or ‘what.’ Even though I joke about it sometimes, I’m actually really proud of myself and happy that I haven’t missed a day of school for so many years.”

Page A12 May 25, 2012 The PharcydeCOUNTDOWN: 7 days until the end of school on June 1

“The last time I was absent was when I

was in kindergarten and that was because I had strep throat.”KATIE MURRAY

senior

Perfect Attendance: Murray sets twelve year record

EMILY DUNKEL / Graphics EditorMurray takes pride in her perfect attendance of the past 12 years.

By Ashlyn Sendler Staff Writer

The contrast between the recent ac-tions needed to address bullying at the middle school and the lack of needed ac-tion at the high school raises a very impor-tant question for Benjamin: why does one year make such a huge difference?

Beginning in October, the middle school administration initiated many changes to prevent bullying as much as possible. They have sent the parents of all their students a Bully Discussion Guide, created a bullying prevention policy, had special speakers come lecture the students on the dangers of bullying and even of-fered lectures for parents to attend. One bold action was having plaques placed on every lunch table that list the guidelines of how to make lunch bully free.

“The middle school simply doesn’t have a tolerance for this behavior. The school has worked hard to develop a pro-cess where students are held responsible for inappropriate behavior and to create a school culture where students will re-port unacceptable behavior, stand up for each other and not be victims themselves. We have a very good character education program as well as for teachers. We have worked on the advisee program a lot in the middle school, so that they have be-come a lot more involved, and we have even switched the schedule so that the advisors can spend more time with the students,” Mr. Chuck Hagy, head of the middle school, said.

Mr. Hagy, who is proud of what ad-ministration has done with the issue, add-

ed, “A big part of this is related to brain development and maturity. Kids literally grow out of it; they become more mature the closer they get to upper school.

Sophomore Ally Sexton, reflecting on her days at the middle school, said, “There was constant fighting over silly things that really had no importance. We were much less mature then and concerned with the wrong things like what people thought about us. Our priorities weren’t straight. Half the things that went on there we would never even imagine taking place at the upper school.”

After being in high school for a year, the freshmen noticed that plenty of the bullying stops, and even though some bullying will persist, it is a huge improve-ment from middle school.

“The drama in middle school is crazy, but that is just a part of growing up. It’s going on everywhere and no matter how hard people try to make it stop, it will al-ways go on. But as the students mature and enter high school, they realize how irrational they were all being in middle

school,” sophomore Katie Dominick said. Students agree that the middle school

is doing a great job trying to make it a drama-free environment. At the request of administrators, high school students have visited the middle school to give the younger students advice on bullying and why it needs to stop. They did this most recently last year before the sixth grade went to environmental science camp.

Sophomore Courtney Doran thinks that not only is it important for the teach-ers to keep reminding the students about the issue of bullying, but it is also impor-tant for upper school students to con-vince them to end the nonsense. Doran, who has younger siblings in the lower school campus, is constantly approached by them about bullying. She gives them her input and reminds them almost ev-ery week to stay out of the drama or to not get involved.

“I always over hear them gossiping about drama and bullying, and I am always giving them advice. I try to get them and their friends to stop the non-sense, but the best advice I can give them for now is to just wait for high school.” Doran said.

“Bullying is seen all the time at the middle school. But not a lot of it really takes place at the high school. I think it’s all a difference in the maturity. Younger kids don’t understand it. I would never even think to see some of the kids in the high school act like the ones at the mid-dle school do. It’d be shocking. It’s sim-ply just a matter of the age difference and level of maturity,” she said.

Bullies Be Gone: Harsh bullying stops in high school

“The drama in middle school is crazy, but thatis just a part

of growing up. KATIE DOMINICK

sophomore

The Benjamin Middle SchoolLunch Protocol

During lunch, we will do the following

1. The Benjamin School is a family. We will treat each other with respect and kindness.

2. We will do whatever it takes to be good citizens and encourage others who are struggling in and out of the classroom.

3. We will not bully others. Bullying includes any aggressive behavior in-tended to intimidate others.

4. We will speak up and not tolerate being bullied ourselves.

5. We will help students who are bul-lied.

6. We will include students who are left out. No one sits alone.

7. We will greet each person at our ta-ble each day and include everyone in our conversations.

8. Cliques are not allowed. Groups that are not exclusive are permitted.

9. We will treat our facilities with re-spect, cleaning up our tables, recy-cling, and using the compost bins.

10. We will eat lunch for at least 15 minutes before going to the fields to play. (Our lunch rules also apply to the fields.)

This protocol is posted on picnic tables and walls throughout the Lower School campus.

The Pharcyde May 25, 2012 Page A13School Life

By Victoria Cribb Outgoing Multimedia Editor

On a warm, sunny, summer day, soph-omore Megan Sullivan often throws on a skimpy bathing suit to avoid tan lines, grabs a beach towel, and heads to the beach to lie out in the sun for a few hours.

By tanning in the natural sun, Sullivan thinks that she is avoiding the harmful ef-fects presented by high radiation tanning beds, yet she and many other students may be too blinded by the sun to realize that any exposure to Ultraviolet (UV) rays causes harmful damage over time.

In this culture, many view a tan as a healthy glow that represents beauty. The fashion and entertainment industry fea-ture “tan” as an aspect of beauty; even the tanning industry promotes the “benefits” of tanning, such as the vital effects of vita-min D on health.

While the message presented by the various industries has appeal, scientific re-search studies have proven it false. A tan is not a sign of beauty and health, but rath-er a sign of skin damage. It is the body’s at-tempt to protect itself from the deep pen-etration of UV rays. The maintenance of a tan is associated with continual skin DNA damage, according to LIVESTRONG.com.

What works for some, does not always work for others. Students with a fair com-plexion will never be anything more than sun burnt, regardless of hours spent “tan-ning,” while students with a darker skin tone are more prone to getting a tan. This occurs because darker-skinned people produce more melanin, the brown pig-ment that protects the body’s skin from burning.

Darker skin or not, students still strive for that beachy, tan look. One method of doing so, tanning beds, was a popular trend a year or so ago, but with the health hazards widely publicized and various laws passed to keep minors out of tanning salons, teens are less likely to fry them-selves under bulbs.

“I started using the tanning bed last year mainly because I just wanted to look tan; it helps clear up acne, and I can-not sit still in the sun for three hours. I learned that ten minutes in the tanning bed is equivalent to two hours in the sun. I would so much rather do it the quick way,” junior Brenna Tiano said.

Yet by spending those ten to twelve minutes under UV bulbs in the tanning beds, students may also risk finding the quick way to developing cancer. Accord-ing to the American Academy of Derma-tology, tanning bed users face a 75% in-

crease in the risk of melanoma. With the health risks of indoor tan-

ning in mind, students are ditching the beds and taking their tanning practices outdoors, with the misguided conception that the UV rays provided by the sun are healthier. “I prefer to lie in the sun and soak up some vitamin D,” Sullivan said. “In the summer when I’m out in the sun, I use minimal sunscreen, and if it’s not summer, then I don’t use any sunscreen. I like to get a little burnt.”

Yet, the effects of spending an exces-sive amount of time unprotected outdoors are equivalent to the risks presented by indoor tanning beds. Acording to GOS-UNSMART.com, without a minimum of SPF 30 sunscreen and over, exposure to any type of UV rays will over time result in wrinkles, freckles and sun spots, retinal damage, cataracts, and most severely Bas-al Cell cancer, Squaramous Cell cancer, and Melanoma. Up to 80% of skin dam-age and 90% of skin cancer are caused by the sun.

So why would students constantly subject themselves to the harmfulness of

the sun? For one reason, it is hard to avoid the sun in a state that is infamous for its consistently sunny weather. “I do a lot of activities outdoors, like playing beach vol-leyball, boating, or running, and therefore I tend to be in the sun a lot,” senior Sam Hagar said. “Honestly I get so caught up with what I’m doing that I don’t consider putting on sunscreen or the risk to my skin. So sometimes I get burnt when I for-get to apply sunscreen and I end up being in the sun for more time than I planned.”

While most students shrug off having a slight sunburn, and expect to tan over, GOSUNSMART.com explains that even a little redness causes adverse effects such as permanent DNA damage, which dra-matically increases the risk of developing cancer. Oftentimes, students misjudge the strength of sun rays, since clouds can be deceiving, and as a result, suffer painful consequences.

“One time I didn’t put any sunscreen on and I ended up getting blisters and I peeled for weeks,” senior Bridget Crosby said. “Because of my excessive sun expo-sure and many sun burns, I am definitely

going to get cancer in the future.” According to students, bad experi-

ences and knowledge of the health risks do not hinder their desire to be tan. “I am so tired of everyone commenting on how white my skin complexion is. So despite the consequences, getting my tan is more important to me than getting skin cancer,” senior Morgan Welton said.

To protect against sun damage, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation suggests that when out in the sun, instead of mak-ing fun of the older women in their big, floppy hats, oversized sunglasses, with skin lathered in SPF 99, sun bathers should emulate their actions. Other sub-stitutes are non-UV self-tanners and pro-fessional spray tans.

“Now that I have been more exposed to the truths about tanning from my der-matologist, I would so much rather get a spray tan. It’s definitely not worth ruining my skin to be tan all the time,” Tiano said.

However, artificial tanning products are only temporary, so experts always suggest applying sunscreen, because scars from skin cancer last forever.

Students tan despite knowledge of health risks

The Pharcyde supports Cosmo’s and Seventeen’s Practice Safe Suncampaign in raising awareness for the harmfulness of tanning and turning sun worshippers into at-home tanners.

Although the self-bronzing process can be tricky, beauty expert Paula Begoun on Consumersearch.com states that the products below produce splotch-free and streak-free success.

EMILY DUNKEL / Graphics EditorAlthough most students are aware of the risks of outdoor tanning and tanning beds, students choose to put their immediate beauty desires over their potential future health emergency.

Go Sunless: Protect your skin

Experts rate Clarins Self Tanning Instant Gel as the best instant self tanner for easy ap-plication and smooth texture. It is virtually streak-free, with a more tolerable odor than most other tanners.

Clarins Self Tanning

Alba Botanica Very Emollient Sunless

TanningThis instant tanner is fa-vored as the best natural sunless tanner. The for-mula is unique in that it contains natural and or-ganic ingredients such as aloe vera, chamomile, and green tea, to produce moisturized and tan skin.

Jergens Natural Glow Revitalizing Daily Moisturizer

This gradual sunless tanner creates a natural tan, after multiple ap-plications, and moistur-izes well enough to take the place of body lo-tion, making it the best gradual tanning lotion, according to experts.

Mystic Tan UV-Free Spray-On Tanning

Mystic Tan’s UV-Free Spray-On Tanning is vot-ed as the best alternative to professional airbrush tan because it provides a quick, even tan, yet ac-cording to users the smell is a bit overwhelming.

Tan Towel Self-Tan Towelettes

Professional reviewers rate Tan Towel Self-Tan Towelettes as the best tanning towel. Experts say that these wipes are better suited for occa-sional touch-ups or eve-ning out missed spots from other tanners.

The PharcydeSchool Life

New first-come, first-served parkingsystem yields positive feedback

1. Get to school early. Most students show up around 7:45. Make it to school by 7:30 and the spot you want will be yours.

2. Slow and steady wins the race: Don’t risk getting in an accident over a parking spot. 3. Don’t key someone’s car just because they are in the spot you want. 4. Patience is a virtue.

By Sam Greenspan Online Editor

For the upcoming school year, Dean of Students Ms. Sue Ball initi-ated a change regarding the assign-ment of student parking. Rather than assigning individual parking spots, students will park on a new first-come, first-served system that will be organized by grade level.

The parking plan for next year will reserve senior spots marked by an “S,” towards the front of the parking lot and into the faculty parking lot. In order to ensure that only seniors are parking in these spots, the school will issue each senior an orange tag to put in his or her car instead of distribut-ing numbered tags.

“I will be enforcing the parking system, and if I see that you are not a senior and you are parking in the se-nior lot, then you will lose your driv-ing privileges,” Ms. Ball said.

In the past, students were assigned their own parking spot based on a lot-tery system. The parking assignments were supposed to be based on senior-ity, as upperclassmen would pick first in the lottery. The lottery system, however, had put some upperclass-men in a less convenient spot than some underclassmen.

“I think seniors should have a spe-cial spot,” Ms. Ball said. “The reason I am putting some of the seniors in the

faculty lot is because it is convenient and when sophomores have gotten their licenses in the past the overflow was placed in that lot.”

Rising senior Lindsey Slavin is pleased about the effect that the park-ing change will have on upperclass-men.

“As a junior this year, I parked next to the baseball field even though I got here early in the mornings,” Slavin said. “The new first-come, first-served system will allow seniors who get here early to get the best spots, but at the same time will allow the seniors who get to school later to get a convenient spot.”

The new system will also apply to the juniors and sophomores, who will be parking in the far end of the park-ing lot.

Rising junior Tres Pimentel feels that the new first-come, first-served system will encourage students to be prompt in arriving.

“I think that it will create an incen-tive to get to school earlier, possibly resulting in fewer kids coming late to school,” he said. “I personally like the system as well because I like to get to school early, so that means I will be able to get a decent spot every day.”

Ms. Ball feels that the new system will simulate real world parking. “I think the new system will work, but if it doesn’t, then we will go in a different direction.”

Photo illustration by Laura Barry The first lot of parking spots will be marked with an “S” to indicate spots specific to seniors, similar to the graphic representation above.

Tactful Tips

By Meredith Berger Outgoing Copy Editor

As senior year comes to a close, se-niors reflected on the last four years. Though many reminisced over positive memories, others shared what they con-sider to be their biggest regrets and mis-takes.

Five out of every six seniors that were interviewed cited “freshman year” as their biggest mistake. “I wish I had tried harder freshman year and put more ef-fort into school,” said senior Robert Honig, whose message resonates with many of this year’s graduating class.

Senior Ben Appleby agreed with Ho-nig and added, “Freshman year I just didn’t try and that really does affect the rest of high school, so if I could go back and change things I would definitely try harder.”

Another resoundingly common re-gret among seniors was not managing their time well in the college process. Se-nior Meg Downey expressed regret over her procrastination with her college es-say, “I wish I spent more time on college essays and put more effort into them. I should have gotten all of my essay top-ics near the end of the summer so I had time to think about them.”

Another senior, Ben Gross, regret-ted a different aspect of the college pro-cess—school selection; “It wasn’t that I rushed in my choices of schools, but I wasn’t smart when applying. My advice is don’t do early decision unless you know you want to go there.”

Seniors also stated that they wish they took certain courses and wish they had specific teachers at least once in their high school careers. Senior Erika Cas-triz said, “I’m pretty happy with what I’ve done in high school, but there are definitely a few things I wish I would have tried, especially The Pharcyde. I also would have liked to have tried some more electives like the film class, bioethics – there were so many classes that seemed interesting to me but never fit into my schedule of core classes.” Ac-cording to other seniors, the most com-

mon class they regretted not taking was Marine Biology, and the teacher that seniors most regretted not having? Mr. McVicar. “I really wish I had Mr. McVic-ar at one point during my high school career,” senior Nick Theofilos said.

Fellow senior Jonathan Taylor, con-sidered a “veteran” for taking five of Mr. McVicar’s offered courses, said, “A lot of people tell me they regret not hav-ing Mr. McVicar. As someone who expe-rienced five tours of duty, I personally believe it is an honor and a privilege to have had him as a teacher.”

Aside from classes students regret-ted not taking, students expressed their regret over classes they took and wish they didn’t. “I really wish I didn’t take AP European History. It’s important to find something you’re interested in and to build your schedule around it. Euro-pean history was just not that something I was interested in, and I didn’t like it,” Theofilos said.

Another common regret, shared by senior Erika Castriz and others, is con-cern over not getting to know the stu-dent body well enough. “As cliché as this might sound, I wish I would have gotten to know more of my classmates. Freshman year you kind of find your little group of friends and don’t stray too far from it, but this year I’ve gotten to know people I never really spoke to before and found that there are a lot of interesting and cool people here. I wish I would have been more open to that in the past, because it makes your experience infinitely more exciting,” she said.

Despite regrets, however, Castriz is incredibly happy with how high school turned out, “All in all I don’t really think about changing anything from my high school experience. Sure it would have been nice to do some things differently, but I truly did have a good time and it has helped shape me as a person. It’s been a wonder-ful learning experience with amazing teachers and friends, and I know I’m ready for college because of it.”

Seniors reflect on high school regrets

Artwork by Kelly Moran

Some helpful hints for a parking lot experience void of accidents and drama.

Page A14 May 25, 2012

The Pharcyde May 25, 2012 Page A15School Life

Taste Buds Reveal the Truth: Rival chains compete in blind competition

vThe Pharcyde hosted our very own taste test on April 19 to survey students’ preferences in local food joints. About twenty students from all grades met after school to blindly sample rival restaurants’ food. Menchie’s frozen yogurt faced off against Swirls, in which Swirls was favored by a vote

of 5-0. In a competition of Moe’s chips and guacamole versus Chipotle, Moe’s won 4-1.The newly hatched rivalry of CG Burger v. Chuck Burger was tested by The Pharcyde where students sampled the standard burger from both restaurants. Chuck Burger was victorious. The last test was between

Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. and Bagel Boyz, in which Bagel Boyz trumped Brooklyn Water Bagel Co.

By Paige Sode Staff Writer

As he rushed out of last period, hop-ping over desks, shoving chairs, and at-tempting a full-on sprint to the freshman picnic tables, sophomore Ethan Kaslow eagerly waited for his turn in The Phar-cyde’s very own blind taste test.

A number of Benjamin students as-sembled after school on April 19 to blind-ly sample frozen yogurt from Menchie’s and Swirls, tortilla chips and guacamole from Moe’s and Chipotle, cheeseburgers from CG Burger and Chuck Burger, and ‘everything’ bagels from Brooklyn Wa-ter Bagel and Bagel Boyz. Unaware of which was which, taster’s sampled por-tions of each item labeled (A) and (B). The student’s then revealed their prefer-ences with a vote.

After calculating the results, Swirls, Moe’s, Chuck Burger, and Bagel Boyz each beat their rival chains by a substan-tial margin.

Over the past year, frozen yogurt venues have been popping up all over the county. Two extremely popular yo-gurt destinations, Menchie’s and Swirls, have also popped up in Palm Beach Gar-dens, catching the attention of Benjamin students.

Of the five students who blindly tast-ed both Menchie’s and Swirls, all pre-ferred Swirls.

Senior Daniel Ditaranto, who refers to himself as a Swirls fan, proved his loyalty by blindly choosing Swirls over Menchie’s. “I have a very delicate pal-ate, and I could tell right away that there was a creamier and lighter taste to it,” he said.

When experiencing Menchie’s, sev-eral students clenched their faces be-cause of the sourness they found in the frozen yogurt. Sophomore Hayley Cik-lin was first to notice the unusual taste.

“It had this really overly sweet taste, and my left eye shockingly twitched a little. I think that everyone at Benjamin is so used to having Swirls, that no other frozen yogurt place can live up to our expectations,” she said.

Though she did not participate in the taste test, freshman Monica Anderson still favors Menchie’s despite its loss to Swirls.

“I don’t understand how Swirls could possibly dominate Menchie’s; there isn’t even a comparison,” she said. “Every person who voted for Swirls, was obviously lying.”

Moe’s and Chipotle are direct market competititors, with similar menus and setups. Each restaurant serves a variety of burritos and tacos with customers’ choice of ingredients.

Moe’s and Chipotle are both located in Palm Beach Gardens, but students al-ready have preconceived perceptions about which place they are heading to after school.

Of the five students who blindly tasted both Moe’s and Chipotle, four favored Moe’s chips and guacamole.

“I was so excited to be tasting chips in general, but when the first chip entered my mouth, I automatically knew it was Moe’s. For a second I thought that my mouth was a waterfall due to the greatness and quality of the Moe’s chip,” Kaslow said. “When I tasted the Chipotle chip, it just didn’t feel the same.”

Students’ preferences were split as some preferred the chips from one loca-tion, but the guacamole from the other.

“I personally think that the chips from Chipotle are much better, but their guaca-mole does not live up to Moe’s guacamo-le,” sophomore Ashley Miller said.“At the taste test, I wish I could have picked Chi-potle because of their amazing chips, but Moe’s guacamole ultimately won me over, so that determined my pick.”

Agreeing with the minority vote, fresh-man Izzy Grabel did not feel that she need-ed to participate in the taste test, as she swears by her favorite chain, Chipotle.

“When I want a burrito or bowl, my mind automatically goes to Chipotle. I don’t know who was involved with the taste test or why Moe’s was preferred, but I do know that the better place, Chipotle, should have won by a landslide,”she said.

These two relatively new burger chains, CG Burger and Chuck Burger, have battled for customers in the past year, creating many Benjamin fans, as well as enemies.

Of the five students who blindly tasted both CG and Chuck, four favored Chuck Burger.

During the taste test, students noticed that one of the burgers had a special unde-fined sauce that really made a difference between the two.

“I chose the Chuck Burger because of

the special sauce itself. There’s something in there that just really got the attention of my taste buds,” senior AJ Alevizos said.

Chuck Burger’s sauce is not the only ap-pealing factor in its product, but the burger itself has become the standard of excellence in the area according to students.

Sophomore James Theofolis, a self-pro-claimed burger connoisseur, has been loyal to Chuck ever since it’s opening. “It didn’t surprise me that more people preferred Chuck over CG in the taste test. Chuck has this certain taste that brings me back to the time when I had my first cheeseburger,” he said. “And that moment was very special, so thanks Chuck.”

Brooklyn Water Bagel clashes with homegrown Bagel Boyz in a battle for the best bagel in town.

Of the five students who blindly tast-ed both Brooklyn Water Bagel and Bagel Boyz, four favored Bagel Boyz.

Throughout the taste test, several stu-dents complained about how the Brooklyn Water Bagel left an extremely salty after taste.

“Brooklyn Water Bagel had way too much of everything on it. All the season-ing and salt defeated the power of the ba-gel and it just was not a good time eating it,” sophomore Arden Sanford said. “Bagel Boyz, on the other hand, had the perfect balance of dough, pepper, and salt. My taste buds would not stop spinning.”

Brooklyn Water Bagel claims to have the one special ingredient that can live up to a “New York style” bagel, water that is imported from New York. Benjamin stu-dents beg to differ, believing that Bagel Boyz makes a better product while also be-ing a few minutes away from school.

“I have grown up in this town since about third grade, and Bagel Boyz has al-ways kind of been there as a place to go ev-ery morning. I mean they deliver; they’re right down the street from school; and the delivery girl is also really nice, so that’s a plus,” junior Ryan Rengasawmy said. “I will never go anywhere else, no matter how good it is.”

A daring “do-not-cross” line between different food chains located in Palm Beach County certainly exists among Ben-jamin students.

Whether it’s a meat patty, a self-serve treat, a good morning meal, or a little taste from south of the border, students made it clear that they have strong opinions about the food they sample every day, but in the end, taste buds reveal the ultimate truth.

VS.

VS.

VS.

VS.

And the winners of the blind taste test are...

STUDENT SOUND

OFF

Swirls Moe’s Southwest Grill Chuck Burger Joint Bagel Boyz

“Not only does Chipotle taste better, they use more natural ingredi-ents compared to Moe’s.Although Moe’s does have good queso and gives free chips, overall Chipotle is beyond re-

proach in comparison to Moe’s.”

KRISTIAN LLORETsenior

“Bagel Boyz is better be-cause it is delicious and cheap, and it is a place

every Benjamin student has gone to countless times. I am forever a

loyal customer and will never betray Bagel Boyz

for a mediocre Brook-lyn Water Bagel, with

their sub par H2O.”CHANDLER FORD

junior

“I like Chipotle more because the service at

Moe’s was terrible. I went to Moe’s for the first time and ordered tacos, I asked the man for guaco-mole on my taco and he

simply replied ‘No.’”ETHAN KLEIN

freshman

Photos by William Conran and Lauren Bernick

Page A16 May 25, 2012

By Jerrie James Staff Writer

“I have a passion for pho-tography and I wanted to study abroad at the same time. I saw this as an opportunity to both learn and have fun while travel-ing,” said junior Jake Reitman.

Reitman, like many other stu-dents, has found a way to make his summer vacation productive.

Unlike many of his peers, who will be simply traveling over summer vacation, Reitman will be going to London in or-der to intern at a digital media company, where he will work in a photography and graphic edit-ing department.

Another student who is trav-eling over summer is sophomore Kallie Atterbury. She is visiting East Harbor, Maine, to be a row-ing instructor. She taught six, seven, and eight year olds last summer how to tie sailing knots

and row boats. This summer she plans on doing the same. She hopes this will enhance her eligi-bility to teach sailing in a couple of years.

Junior Max Seiss, like some other students, has decided to take academic courses over the summer. Seiss is visiting Massa-chusetts to attend Harvard Sum-mer School. The courses include Fundamentals of Music and Modernism-Post Modernism.

“Attending the Summer School allows me to study in areas that I cannot study in cur-rently, get a feel for what college courses are like, and to experi-ence Harvard’s campus,” he said. “The courses I am taking do not give me college credits. I will put my attendance on my tran-script, but it was not the main reason for doing so.”

Like Seiss, Reitman plans to take a college course while he is

in London; he will receive a col-lege credit for the course from New York University.

Other students are choos-ing to work, instead of taking an academic class. Junior Rachel Baucom will maintain her job at Publix. She has decided that it would look great on her college applications. “Colleges want to see that students take time out of their summers and afternoons during the school year to work,” Baucom said.

When asked what she sug-gests students should do over summer Dean of College Coun-seling Mrs. Kristen Learner said, “Do something meaningful. That can range from volunteering, taking a class, getting a job, or traveling. It doesn’t have to be the whole summer. Have some fun, read your summer reading books, and rest up for the follow-ing school year.”

Students take advantage of summer with jobs, travels

By Riley Burke Staff Writer

As high school comes to a close, seniors are prepar-ing for the next chapter – the prime time of their lives—col-lege. Some students are jump-ing right into their college experiences, while others are savoring the time they will have this summer with their family and friends. They still feel the tug on the strings at-tached to home, though, as they get ready to embark on new adventures.

Senior Meg Downey will be attending the University of Florida and is beginning her college curriculum dur-ing Summer B, one of three summer periods offered at UF. However, continuing her education during the sum-mer is not a new approach for Downey. Last year, she attended classes at Columbia University.

Downey believes that start-ing college earlier than the typical fall start date has ben-efits.

“I’ve always wanted to do Summer B so that I can get to know the campus and make new friends before my actual freshman year starts,” she said.

Before Downey leaves for school, she will have time beforehand to go on a biking trip with her family in Ireland. Downey, however, will be sac-rificing time she could spend hanging out with her friends, some of whom she has been with for 14 years.

“I’m sad I won’t be able to spend too much time with my high school friends before I leave for college, but we’ll be able to keep in touch through Facebook and telephone,” she said.

Like Downey, senior Anna Dwyer will also be heading off to college sooner than others, but in her case because she will be playing volleyball at Villanova University.

Not only will she leave ear-lier, but she will also spend time preparing while she re-mains in south Florida and travels to California, where she lived before she started at-tending Benjamin in her junior year. Dwyer explained, “I will be given a strict workout rou-tine and diet that I have to follow so that I will be in re-ally good shape when I get up there for pre-season at the end of July.”

She is excited about attend-ing Villanova, where she plans on majoring in business, and she looks forward to hanging out with her new volleyball teammates, some of whom are already friends.

At the same time, Dwyer has mixed emotions about

leaving home.“At first I was super anx-

ious to leave and experience college life, but as gradua-tion gets closer and closer, I’m starting to feel some nerves that I haven’t felt before,” Dwyer said. “Luckily for me, I have an older sister who has already gone through the out-of-state college process so that makes me feel much more confident about leaving.”

Unlike Downey and Dw-yer, senior Jeanelle Ackerman will not be starting college in the summer; in fact, her fall term starts later than most. “This summer will be pretty similar to past ones, except I get to stay on vacation longer. That was honestly an advan-tage that BC had over other schools I was looking at: it starts weeks later than the rest!” she said.

That leaves Ackerman plenty of time to vacation in Italy with her family, and stay in their cottage on a lake in Canada throughout the sum-mer.

Regardless of whether they stay home or leave early, the soon-to-be graduates are ex-periencing mixed feelings as they prepare for college. Ack-erman, also a member of the 14-year club, is looking for-ward to college, but also real-izes that she must cherish the time she has left at Benjamin.

“I’m really excited! I can’t stop thinking about how I’m going to decorate my dorm and shop for winter clothing.” she said. “All of my excite-ment is mixed with a little bit of nostalgia, so I’m trying to live in the moment, because I know these last ones are pre-cious.”

Senior Jenn Nestler is also excited about going to the University of Georgia, but leaving home will not be easy. “I’m both happy and sad about leaving. Happy because I’m entering a huge, amazing chapter of my life but sad be-cause I’m leaving everyone and everything who make me who I am. It’s very bitter-sweet!” she said.

EMILY DUNKEL / Graphics Editor Junior Rachel Baucom checks out a customer during her summer job at Publix.

Seniors get started early on college, summer programs

Columbia University Crest

Downey took courses at Co-lumbia University last sum-mer - Juniors Liam Fine, Sa-vannah Johnson, and Nataly Lambert plan to take courses there this summer as well.

Find nearby restaurants and make a reservation with “Urbanspoon.”

Get prepared for any vacation with this packing aid app.

Keep busy with arts and crafts

projects found on

Pinterest boards.

Instant message for free through “What’sapp.”

Find clean bathrooms on-the-go with “Sit or Squat.”

Graphic by Laura Barry

COUNTDOWN: 88 days until the first day of school on August 21

One of the principles in the Benjamin mission statement reads, “We must prepare the students for their future and not our past. ” This principle acts as a warning sign to all teachers and parents, caution-ing them to keep up with their children’s knowledge in tech-nology.

Marc Prensky, a technologi-cal commentator, has labeled this split in knowledge by di-viding the population into two groups: “digital natives,” those who have grown up with this technology, and “digital immi-grants,” those who have had to learn more advanced technol-ogy later in life. The Benjamin community consists of both of these groups; students being the natives, and most teachers and parents filling the roles of the immigrants.

Now the important ques-

tion to ask is: who is supposed to teach the digital immigrants? This duty is falling into the hands of the natives, and some-times creating a hero of sorts.

Recently, senior Jake Eisen-berg had to transform into the super digital native. He has saved digital immigrants from technology by teaching essen-tial information, ranging from copying and pasting a docu-ment to uploading music to an iPod.

One day, he received a mes-sage from his mom about a problem she was facing. “I had to leave school during Health and Math to go home and help my Mom locate and attach a document to an email so she did not miss a deadline,” Eisen-berg said.

This, along with many other similar stories from students, has revealed that a generation gap is forming the more ad-vanced technology gets.

Students are accustomed to the everyday programs that they are forced to use on their computers, whereas parents have a slight disadvantage never having been taught to use them in school.

Sophomore Ivy Missen said, “Teaching my parents how to use the computer is annoying because they think the comput-er is so complex.”

Even though these natives are getting annoyed with this issue, some parents have a hard time facing this gap. For some,

it is hard to learn the programs that an advanced technology school requires students to use constantly.

Benjamin mother Mrs. Sele-sa Missen said, “I did not know how to put music on my iPod Touch. That was tricky to learn and Ivy had to teach me how to use it. I’m still learning how to use my Mac and Blackberry. Also, it is annoying when I have to wear glasses to see my screen.”

A slightly different story shows an interesting twist to

this widening generation gap. Technology has become a big part of many jobs and everyone has to use it at least once a day.

Sophomore Sean Ovelmen has to help his father with a simple Microsoft document even though his father’s job is surrounded by technology.

“My dad is a software engi-neer who writes the code that runs the cockpit computers in the G-3, G-4 and G-5 aircrafts,” said Ovelmen. Yet despite this fact and his talents with his job, he has no idea how to work Mi-

crosoft programs. Some parents, however,

are making the transition to advancing technology. Sopho-more Eric Rosen said, “My mother is very hip into com-puters because of her job, so she’s normally on top of up and coming technology.”

He added, “Obviously there are some people who find tech-nology too rapidly moving and that combined with the fact that ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ can cause some resentment towards the new technology.”

The Pharcyde May 25, 2012 Page A17The Scene

By Alana Dresner Outgoing Columnist

I can’t believe it’s finally here: my last column as a Phar-cydian. Sure, I could take this opportunity to write a contro-versial piece bashing certain aspects of school life, but that’s totally not my style. As some-one who doesn’t cry when she should, yet cries during inap-propriate times, I’ll admit that seriously reflecting on my time at Benjamin awkwardly brings tears to my eyes. Join me as I look back on my 14 years at TBS, where I will revisit the good, the bad, and the down-right hilarious.

Surprisingly, most of my childhood memories are from my lower school years. I miss absolutely everything about lower school, from the argu-

ments over which pick-up dot was better (Green Dot clearly trumps all) to the St. Augus-tine trip. Most of all, I miss nap time. It blows my mind how I truly loathed our hour-long nap times, and now I would love nothing more than to sleep during high school. Now, I find it weird visiting the lower school campus because it’s flooded with hot, young blonde teachers and parents who could easily grace the cov-er of Vogue. It’s hard not to feel ugly and fat when I venture down Ellison Wilson.

Most kids go through a “mean” stage at some point in their lives. I was never the mean girl in school, except for one little stint in fifth grade. Hunter Toro and I co-founded “The Pencil Club,” a group of

our best friends teaming up against one girl in particu-lar who is actually one of my best friends today. We would coat pencils in orange juice, throw them in ant piles, and perform a mini-tribal dance around the spot in celebration of hating this girl who was in our friend group. Worst of all, we convinced the girl that we actually hated pencils, and we ultimately talked her into join-ing our club, a.k.a. her own hate club. I’ve definitely had better days.

When I think of middle school, I immediately think of MySpace. Remind me, why was it cool to pose in pictures with our hands hovering over our open mouths while we look in random directions? The hardest part about mid-dle school wasn’t the work-load or trying to “fit in,” but choosing who should be on my MySpace Top 8 friends. The highlight of my entire TBS career wasn’t winning the Olympics in fourth grade or even getting into college, but the seventh grade Keys trip. I knew I could die happy when I saw a bird swoop down and embed itself in Tess Rollins’ hair while she innocently sat on one of the boats.

Coming to high school, I pictured a Mean Girls-esque setting where I would have to choose between various

bizarre cliques to sit with at lunch. Luckily, Benjamin is the complete opposite. On the first day of high school, I sat in the bleachers with my fel-low freshmen as we absorbed the camaraderie of the gym during morning assembly. Suddenly, the seniors started the “We’ve got spirit” chant, and we all nearly peed our-selves. Little did we know what we were in for weeks later during homecoming week. As we sat helplessly in the stands, we saw the senior class rise and the gym ceiling turned black as hundreds of mini bouncey balls launched towards our faces. I haven’t

been able to touch a bouncy ball since.

Of course, I’ll never for-get times like when I threw up during the Chillin ‘n Gril-lin basketball game or when Tim Lynch and I acted like an old married couple in sec-ond grade. I laughed when Chloe Bieber mistook wasabi for green icing in third grade, and I cried during Mr. Sel-vig’s last TBS assembly as Head of Upper School. These moments at Benjamin helped shape who I am, and for that, I am grateful. Thank you all for being loyal PharPhans, and I promise I’ll remember you all when I’m famous.

vThe Echo’s Last Sound: Humor through the years

Alana Dresner reflects on the good and the bad throughout her 14 years at TBS

Technological advancements leave adults behind

Photo courtesy of Alana DresnerDuring the lower school Olympic games Alana (center) pos-es with her classmates, who were France for the Olympics.

“I had to leave school during Health

and Math to go home and help my

Mom locate and at-tach a document to an email so she did

not miss a deadline.”JAKE EISENBERG

seniorArtwork by Kelly Moran

By Casey Pearce Managing Editor

For some seniors, their varsity athletic careers have come to an end, which leaves them with the dilemma of having to find a way to con-tinue their athletic passions in college.

Playing her final varsity soccer game was difficult for senior Mariana Zindel. “When you have been doing something since the age of eight, then obviously it will be hard to let it go,” she said.

Zindel will neither re-ceive an athletic scholarship nor make the varsity team in college, but she and other athletes can continue their athletic passions in college by playing club or intramu-ral sports. “I am going to try very hard to play club soccer in college,” she said.

Club sports teams com-pete against other colleges at a lower level than do varsity

collegiate teams. Intramural sports are more casual than club and varsity collegiate sports, as students play in leagues that compete only against other intramural teams in their school. Athlet-ics at the club and intramural level are not always a solu-tion, but instead they serve as a fallback option for some people who cannot make the varsity cut in college.

Senior Andrew Katzen-berg would have liked to have had the opportunity to play on a varsity team in col-lege. “I wish I would have taken tennis more seriously from a younger age,” he said. “If I had, then maybe it would have affected my college de-cision.”

Katzenberg acknowledged that it is easier for tennis players to continue with their passion in college because they only need to find one other person to play a match.

He feels this will allow him to develop his love for the game even further. He hopes to join the club tennis team at Syra-cuse University next year.

Like Katzenberg, senior Cameron Kaplan will not play his favorite sport at the varsity level in college. He has played basketball since the age of seven and will try to preserve his passion for the game both on and off the court at the university he will attend. “Duke offers a fantas-tic basketball team that I can root for,” he said.

Kaplan never planned to play a sport at the varsity collegiate level, but he has had to realize that his varsity basketball career has come to an end. “I loved playing basketball in high school because it taught me many life lessons. I learned how to win and how to lose,” he said. “It’s bitter-sweet that my organized sports career is over. I am sad knowing that there’s no next year.”

Page A18 May 25, 2012

Olympian swims through Benjamin memories By Dean Sandquist

Sports Editor After watching this sum-

mer’s Olympic Games in Lon-don, incoming freshmen, in their first assembly, will see that bold sign in the gym that reads: Gold Medalist Ryan Berube, and will perhaps be shocked to know that they walk amongst glory and triumph.

For Ryan Berube, from the Class of 1992, his 14 years at Benjamin taught him how to be a fierce competitor while also remaining true to his roots. The support he received from members of the Benjamin fam-ily, along with an unparalleled work ethic, drove him to the top of the swimming world.

Berube, along with three of his swimming teammates, com-peted in the 4x200 Freestyle Re-lay in the 1996 summer Games in Atlanta. “Winning in front of the home crowd in Atlanta was an incredible gift for me,” he said.

Berube attributes plenty of his success to the support he received from his teachers. He said, “Mr. Ridgeway’s passion-ate history lessons, Mr. Fitch’s excitement-filled physics class-es, and Mr. Sanders’ wild sci-ence labs reinforced that to be great at something, like they were, you have to love it and be passionate about it.”

The hard work Berube put forth in the classroom paral-leled his pursuit of excellence in the pool. “Hard work can be monotonous, but if you love it, you’ll sharpen your skills faster and be more effective,” he said.

Not only was the academic rigor an obstacle to overcome for Berube, but the Benjamin social life, for a dedicated

swimmer, was somewhat over-whelming as well. “Student life at Benjamin taught me a lot about myself and the world. I was a swimmer, which wasn’t a very popular choice at Ben-jamin at the time. I also didn’t hang with the more popular crowd. There was always a group of close friends who were supportive though, which was vital to my success,” he added.

Ms. Linda Twitchell, Secre-tary of College Counseling at

Benjamin and one of Berube’s biggest fans, was a mentor to Berube when he was in high school and always believed in him when it seemed no one else would. “All of his peers thought he was stuck up, but that wasn’t the case at all. Ryan knew what his priorities were and he wouldn’t let any obsta-cle get in his way. One time he told me he was going to be on TV and four years later, I saw him on my television standing atop the Olympic podium. That

was one of the best moments of my life,” Ms. Twitchell said.

The self-discipline Berube displayed during his years at Benjamin allowed him to re-main humble even after he championed the world with his stroke. “Long after you do it, you don’t think about it be-cause you’re busy trying to get on with the rest of your life, trying to figure out what to do when you don’t define yourself as a swimmer anymore,” he said.

As a husband and a father, Berube knows where his priori-ties are, but, the joy and happi-ness he feels while he cares for his family allows him to remi-nisce about his remarkable feat.

“There are times when you realize just how special the ac-complishment is, when your son realizes that his daddy ac-tually did something unique; when you see the joy and ex-citement of a family close to you whose son or daughter is reaching to make an Olympic team; when you realize that your presence and example can motivate and benefit a young person who looks up to you,” Berube added.

While admiring his fam-ily and the connection he has with them and his personal accomplishments, Berube com-mented about the Olympics on a global level. Through his rep-resentation of the United States of America, Berube has more of an earthly opinion about the Games. He displayed this when he mentioned the creed of the Olympians and how it not only guides these athletes through peaceful competition but through life itself.

The creed reads, “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” As the athletes gather and the torch is lit, the wide world of sports is at its peak through unity and harmonious celebration. “It’s the most amazing sporting competition in the history of the world,” he said. “It exhibits peace through sport.”

Career Ends: Senior athletes hang up varsity uniforms

ASHLYN SENDLER / Staff Writer Ms. Twitchell was a die-hard fan of Ryan Berube through his high school years and throughout his professional swimming career. A signed photo of him hangs in her office.

LIAM FINE / Staff PhotographerKaplan hangs up his basket-ball jersey for the last time.

v Alumni Ryan Berube shares how his 14 years at TBS influenced his future in and out of the pool.

By Sam Greenspan Online Editor

By Ben GreenspanCopy Editor

A short sprint, a pole placed into the ground, a vault while trying to avoid hit-ting a bar, and then a soft landing. This is the extent of most Benjamin student’s knowledge of pole vaulting.

While a seemingly simple sport, pole vaulting, according to senior Taylor Cog-sil, takes extreme concentration. “I once counted 37 different things that you have to think about once you plant the pole,” Cogsil said. “You have to straighten this arm, pull this arm back, you have to swing this, and turn. It’s really a lot.”

Pole vaulting originated in the Nether-lands as a mean of crossing marshy areas. It then developed into a competition with the poles initially made from bamboo or aluminum. Flexible poles made of fiber glass or carbon fiber then allowed athletes to vault to greater heights.

Modern day pole vaulting is included in the Summer Olympics. “I love Olym-pic pole vaulting,” junior pole vaulter Ben Horowitz said. “It’s my favorite event.”

Horowitz, who became attracted to pole vaulting after viewing it in the Olym-pics, cites patience as the most difficult ob-stacle he had to overcome as an amateur vaulter. “I thought that I would be clear-ing 9 feet right away, which really isn’t that high as the average height for boys is about 12 feet,” Horowitz said. “But we

didn’t have the right pole for my size and weight, so that was difficult.”

Horowitz claims that there are a few variables that factor in to his eventually jumping 13 feet. “I definitely need a good wind behind my back,” he said. “A wind behind your back gives you that extra force and speed to go higher.”

Cogsil, how-ever, found that the awkward po-sitioning necessary for jumping was her big-gest obstacle. Pole vault-ers must have their hands an arm’s length apart with the back hand lowered so the pole is facing up-wards, something Cogsil describes as uncomfortable. As the vaulter ap-proaches the jump, the front of the pole is gradually lowered until the vaulter is ready to place the pole into the ground and vault.

The fall is the part of vaulting that Horowitz loves most of all. “The best part is the fall. I don’t chase the fall more than I chase the height,” he said. “When you fall, and you feel the wind coming up from underneath you, it is just the greatest feeling in the world. You look up at the bar and think ‘I can jump over that.’ It’s liberating.”

As pole vaulting is not as popular or as easy to practice as other sports,

athletes must search to find proper practice facilities. Many colleges hold track and field camps that attract pole vaulters because of the coaching and recruiting benefits.

Horowitz hopes to continue pole vaulting in college, despite the inconvenient recruiting season. “Recruiting for track and field ends af-ter the winter so I think I’m going to join a travel team,” Horowitz said. Cogsil also wishes to continue pole vaulting in college and has re-cently met with the Yale University track and field coach.

Horowitz, who vaulted his best height of 13 feet this season, be-lieves he was meant to pole vault. “I was always the little kid swinging from trees and climbing everything,” he said. “A couple of weeks ago I fell and tore my rotator cuff while vaulting. I was itching to get back on the track, and in two weeks, I was jumping again.”

“You look up at the bar and think,

‘I can jump over that.’

It’s liberating.”BEN HOROWITZ

junior

Sports May 25, 2012 Page A19 The Pharcyde

A hop, a skip, and a vault: Discovering pole vaulting

By Rachel SmithStaff Writer

Senior Taylor Cogsil was recently selected to the Ron-ald N. Davis Academic All-State Team by the Florida High School Athletic Associa-tion (FHSAA).

According to the FHSAA website, “[The] program hon-ors 24 graduating seniors from around the state who excel in both athletics and academics.” The group is equally split between boys and girls.

Each high school may nominate one girl and one boy who have a minimum of a 3.5 grade point average un-weighted and have received at least two different varsity letters during both their ju-nior and senior years.

Cogsil dove and played la-crosse as a freshmen but has participated in varsity cross country, soccer, and track since her sophomore year.

All 24 nominees will re-ceive a $1,000 college schol-arship and medal at a ban-quet in Gainesville on June 11 which Cogsil will attend along with her family and Athletic Director Mr. Ryan Smith. While they are there, the FHSAA will announce the Scholar-Athletes of the year, one girl and one boy, who

will be awarded a trophy and $3,000 in additional scholar-ship money.

“When I heard from Coach Smith that I was the school’s nominee for a state award, I was overjoyed in knowing that they thought I had dem-onstrated the most success out of an incredibly talented class,” Cogsil said.

“Every day I walked through the College Counsel-ing Office and I see [class of 2011 graduate] Brett Rosen-thal’s award from the Palm Beach Post last year as the county’s Scholar Athlete of The Year and always hoped that I could leave a legacy like his,” Cogsil said, explaining why her nomination was so meaningful. “That day I ran to track practice and jumped on my coach telling him that I had been nominated because it has always been important to me to succeed in both ar-eas of my high school life: academics and athletics. To be considered the best was an incredible feeling.”

After finding out about her nomination and submitting her application, she constant-ly checked the FHSAA web-site to see if the results were up yet. “When Coach Smith saw me one morning and said he had news from the FH-

SAA, my heart stopped.” “We are thrilled that Tay-

lor is receiving this award; it is the ultimate honor for a stu-dent-athlete in Florida. This is great for Benjamin and the Athletic Department as our re-petitive theme is that it is stu-dent first, athlete second. This is truly what we want to be about as Taylor has achieved at the highest level in her aca-demic studies and on the ath-

letic fields. All Benjamin stu-dent-athletes that follow will have something to strive for and someone to look up to,” Mr. Smith said.

Although earning the award is significant in itself, it addi-tionally opened up other doors for Cogsil. “[My selection to the All-State Team] has also provided me with many other scholarship opportunities in the area and in the state for aca-

demic athletes,” she added. Cogsil’s selection to the team

enabled her to accomplish one of her high school goals. She said, “More than anything in high school I wanted to be considered a Scholar Athlete, even more so because people think I’m clumsy and spastic, and to know that I am one of the best in the state of Flor-ida is an incredible feeling and an extraordinary way to finish my high school career with triumph.”

Senior named to Academic All-State Team by FHSAA

LAURA BARRY / Outgoing Executive EditorTaylor Cogsil prepares for “the run” up to her vault during an on-campus track meet.

Definition: A competition that involves

jumping over a high crossbar with the aid of a long pole.

Five main stages of Pole Vaulting:

1. The run-up: Generating speed2. The plant: The point at which the pole makes contact with the ground3. The swing: Athlete pulled up-ward by the pole4. Rock back: Weight distribu-tion changes5. Athlete uses his strength to force himself over the bar

Equipment needed: Pole vault crossbars, base

pads, long pole (typically made of fiberglass or carbon fiber)

Pole VaultFast Facts

LIAM FINE/Staff Photographer Artwork by Laura Barry

Horowitz swings himself into the air and prepares to force his body over the bar.

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwnh t t p : / / w w w . l i v e s t r o n g . c o m /article/148871-pole-vaulting-facts/

Sports May 25, 2012 Page A20 The Pharcyde

After a disappointing 9-18 record last season, the boy’s varsity baseball team made an impressive resurgence and finished with a 21-8 record in the 2012 campaign.

Led by senior captain A.J. Alevizos, the Bucs put in plenty of work during the offseason so that they could be successful on the diamond. “Last year we weren’t a true team; the chemistry just wasn’t there,” Alevizos said. “Conversely, we had a com-pletely different mindset going into this season, and we started playing as a unit.”

Like a true team, the baseball players bonded off the field and were able to utilize that connection to produce solid performances in games. “All of my best friends are on the team. We are so tight and be-cause of that, we are all comfortable when we play baseball,” junior catcher Brian Dolan said. “Plus, it makes the game much more fun to have your bud-dies by your side.”

With the addition of former major leaguer Brook Fordyce as an assistant coach, the team received some vital expertise from an experienced baseball player, and the coaching staff was stronger as well. “Coach Brook had what it took to make the big leagues when he was in high school and that kind of baseball knowledge was extremely beneficial for the guys,” Alevizos added.

All of the changes the team made, such as their serious attitude and Coach Fordyce’s presence, led to some exciting moments during the season. Head

coach Brian Kaplan said, “Wins over marquee pro-grams such as Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens and West Boca are the moments that stand out when looking back on the season.” Also, some other no-table moments from the season were Dolan’s grand slam against Jupiter and junior Matt Harris’ no-hit-ter against Jupiter Christian.

These big plays and big wins were lacking last season. With young players who were not used to a competitive setting, the journey towards success was hard for the baseball squad. “The guys weren’t mature enough to be a legitimate high school team in these past couple seasons,” Kaplan added. Agree-

ing, Alevizos said, “We had limited experience on the team last year. Most of our lineup consisted of underclassmen, but this season, with the maturity level on our side, we were able to succeed.”

As for the future, expectations are high for this particular team. Having played varsity baseball since freshman year, the majority of the lineup is poised for an even more successful season in 2013. “The loss of the seniors is difficult; they were true leaders. However, a full commitment from the boys, both veterans and incoming players, will make Benjamin Baseball one of the best programs around,” Kaplan added.

Varsity baseball makes comeback in recent spring season

By Ashlyn Sendler Staff Writer

Three Benjamin lacrosse players were recognized na-tionally for their in-game efforts, constant acts of sports-manship, and leadership on and off the field.

Junior Colby Kempe and Sophomore Hayley Ciklin were named All-Americans for their performance in their lacrosse seasons. Also, Ciklin joined her fellow sopho-more Hannah LaBovick in making the national team. Ciklin and LaBovick also made the Under Armour South Team on May 21. The Under Armour South Team only took 24 girls and the girls ranged from Texas across to North Carolina, and down to Florida.

This is the second consecutive year both girls have made the national team, and the first time they made the Underarmour South Team. “Having been a part of

the national team the year before, I came into the tryouts with much more confidence,” Ciklin said. “I was suc-cessful last year as a little freshman and now that I am an older and more skilled sophomore, my expectations were high.”

However, LaBovick’s experience was different be-cause of her crucial change in position. “I was worried about the national tryouts because I tried out as a de-fender instead of a midfielder, which was my position on the team last year,” she said. With 85 girls trying out and only 20 spots available on the squad, her comfort level could only have been so high. “Despite my nerves and my change of position, I played hard during the tryouts and felt really confident when it was over,” she added.

Winning the state title his freshman and sophomore year put a lot of pressure on Kempe and the boy’s la-crosse team. “My expectations were high for this season;

I worked harder than ever to better myself and my team-mates so that we could reach our ultimate goal, which was to three peat,” he said.

After a few upsetting losses, the dream of a “3-peat” title was no longer possible, but that did not mean that Kempe’s efforts would be missed. “My dedication and the amount of time I invested [in] la-crosse were higher than ever during the offseason,” Kempe said. “When I received the All-American honor, I realized that hard work really does pay off and because of it, I was noticed by not only the people around me, but by a national panel.”

Having one or more seasons left to play in high school, the three competitors have many more chances to enhance their already outstanding repu-tation with not only the lacrosse team, but also the larger Benjamin athletic community.

Three lacrosse players recognized nationally

LAURA BARRY / Outgoing Executive EditorSophomore Bennett Sousa swings at bat at Jacob’s Field during the team’s 21-8 record season.

Photo courtesy of Colby KempeAll-American, Kempe, looks for a pass during a home game.

Photo courtesy of Hannah LaBovick LaBovick ducks away from a

defender during a home game against Jupiter.

Photo courtesy of Hayley Ciklin Hayley Ciklin faces the Ju-piter High goalie in a fast-

break toward the net.

“Last year we weren’t a true team; the chemistry

just wasn’t there.”AJ ALEVIZOS

senior

By Dean Sandquist Sports Editor