the B E A C O NVolume 65, No. 6April 2017

W-H spring concerts will celebrate diverse musicBy Ellena Son ‘17

The Wardlaw-Hartridge School is celebrating the arrival of the spring season with its wonderful annual Spring Concerts. The diverse arrangement of songs will take audience members around the world, from China to Italy to Jamaica.

The Upper School concert will feature performances from the Concert Choir, MadJazz, MadJazz Men, Concert Band, and Jazz Band on Thursday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m. The choir, conducted by Mrs. Sharon Byrne, Upper School Music Teacher, will begin with the traditional Iroquois song, Yanaway Heyona, in which Marissa Pyne ’17 will be singing a solo. The following piece will feature Thomas Borner du Cane ’18 and Priya Golding ’18 in Rabindranath Tagore and Karen Electra Christianson’s song, Prayer. The final Concert Choir performance will be accompanied by William Rehwinkel ’19 on the piano. MadJazz

and MadJazz Men will be performing a variety of songs ranging from Take the A Train by Billy Strayhorn, arranged by Steve Zegree, and Penny Lane by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, arranged by Audrey Snyder.

One of the highlights of the Upper School Concert Band, conducted by Mr. Rick Fontaine, is Abracadabra by Frank Ticheli. The Jazz Band will be performing Mr. Lucky, by Henry Mancini, and will feature soprano saxophone played by Ray Huang ’19. Following the Jazz Band, the audience will hear Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, performed by the Upper School Sax Quartet.

“I have mixed feelings about this concert because it’s rather bittersweet in a sense,” Neha Chhabra

‘17 said. “It is my last concert at Wardlaw-Hartridge, and it’s been a great experience, but I’m sad to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The Middle School concert, which will be held on Thursday, May 11, will start off with the sixth grade choir singing Yonder Come Day, a traditional Georgia Sea Islands spiritual song, arranged by Judith Cook Tucker. The students will also be singing Zi Zhu Diao arranged by Mark Weston, and then traveling back in time to sing Risseldy, Rosseldy from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film, The Birds.

The Middle School Concert Band will be performing the popular tune, On Broadway. The Emelyn Girls’ Choir will then follow

with a more contemporary song, Best Mistake, originally recorded by Ariana Grande, and will feature Suniti Shah ’21. The Leal Boys’ Choir will also sing the classic Duke Ellington song, It Don’t Mean a Thing. The seventh and eighth grade choirs will sing Non Nobis Domine by William Byrd and Olá! o che bon eccho! by Orlando di Lasso. The Middle School concert will then come to a close as the three grades sing It Takes a Village by Joan Szymko.

The Lower School students will entertain parents during their concert on Thursday, May 4. It will feature a variety of vocal music, under the direction of Mrs. Shannon Sari, Lower School Music Teacher. There will also be instrumental performances by the fourth and fifth grades.

“The instrumental groups on all three concerts this spring have worked very hard to prepare music in a variety of genres and are very excited to share their talents with the W-H community,” Mr. Fontaine said.

Upper School elects Student Council officersBy Sanjana Nalla ‘18 On Monday, April 3, The Wardlaw-Hartridge School’s executive board elections took place in the All-Purpose room. Several candidates from each class in the Upper School ran for one of the three positions: President, Vice President,

and Secretary/Treasurer. The nominees discussed their qualities, suitability for the positions, and future plans for the school. After listening to the speeches, the Upper School student body voted for their student council officers.

The election resulted

in Logan D’Amore ’20 winning Secretary/Treasurer and two runoffs for President and Vice President. Ray Huang ’19 and Stanislav DeLaurentiis ’19 ran against each other for Vice President and were presented with further questions regarding their specific attributes, goals,

and how they would achieve them. Cathy Bi ’18 and Clifford (CJ) Stueck ’18 took part in the process as well, running against each other for the President position. The student body was required

See Student Council, continued on Page 3

The MadJazz ensemble rehearses in the choir room.

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Refugee symposium informs students on important issueBy Anuva Goel ‘17

More than 20 million people worldwide are refugees. More than half of these 20 million refugees are children. They have been forced to flee their home countries out of fear and hope to seek refuge and rebuild their lives in other countries. The way we perceive and handle the current refugee crisis is in our hands.

On Wednesday, March 8, The Wardlaw-Hartridge School held its biennial symposium, which addressed the crucial global issue of The Refugee Crisis. The symposium allowed community members to personally understand the plight of refugees as well as to hear from a broad range of speakers dedicated to helping refugees resettle in the United States.

The day began with a powerful simulation of The Refugee Experience, designed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. In preparation for the experience, Upper School students and faculty were assigned to refugee families, each consisting of eight to ten members. The simulation exercise took place in the Laidlaw Gym. Amidst the chaos and confusion of a bomb raid, family members attempted to reunite. Forced to flee their

homes, families evaluated which items to take. They then spent a night in fear and discomfort in crowded refugee shelters, caring for injured family members, and contemplating the difficult choice to leave the country. The final component involved the attempt to overcome language barriers and other obstacles in order to pass border patrol.

“I think the simulation worked well. Students really felt some of the challenges that would be faced by a refugee family,” Mrs. Elizabeth Plautz, a member of the Refugee Symposium Committee, said.

Having gotten a glimpse into the painstaking journey refugee families endure, students settled down in the AP Room to listen to keynote speaker Ms. Ann O’Brien, who works to resettle refugees in the New Haven area through her role as Director of Community Engagement at Integrated Refugee and Immigration Services (IRIS). Bushra Mahdi, an Iraqi refugee whom IRIS helped to welcome and resettle, also spoke about her experiences adjusting to a new life.

Students then attended two out of the five breakout sessions offered. Mr. Flamur Prishtina, parent of Learta Bajqinovci ’17 and Laura Prishtina ’19, shared

his story of fleeing the war in Kosovo as a refugee. Dr. Peter Kahn talked about the Bosnian Student Project he began at Rutgers University, and even brought one of his former students, a Serbian refugee. Ms. Jana Laiz, an International Rescue Committee (IRC) case worker, discussed her interactions with a refugee and the inspiration for her book, Weeping Under the Same Moon. Mr. Patrick Barry talked about the Refugee and Immigration Services at Catholic Charities, for which the Upper School community collected Welcome Kit donations. Ms. O’Brien and Ms. Mahdi also held a breakout session.

During lunch, each family had the opportunity to reflect on their experiences thus far in the day. They also viewed the interactive photo exhibition, featuring side-by-side comparisons of W-H students and refugee children at various ages.

Lastly, as the culmination of a day filled with moving experiences, touching stories, and greater understanding of a prominent conflict, Mr. Nino LaStella, of InterfaithRISE, led a constructive engagement session. Stressing the theme of global interconnection and community service and activism, he had advisory

groups design their own plan to serve refugee committees. Translating border crossing papers, holding ESL classes, and providing refugee child care were a few of the many innovative plans students created.

“The symposium I feel was a success as it pushed students to learn about a global issue and called for solutions. I’m impressed by students because even now they are discussing the issue and connecting over the issue,” Simu Singh ’18, a student member of the Refugee Symposium Committee, said.

Planned by the members of the Refugee Symposium Committee, Mrs. Plautz, Mrs. Stephanie Cohen, Mr. Jim O’Halloran, Mr. Andrew Webster, Dr. Bob Bowman, Dr. Corinna Crafton, Mrs. Nicole Nolan, Cathy Bi ’18, Kevin Nader ’18, Yumna Naqvi ’17, and Singh, the symposium led to thought-provoking questions and greater awareness of a mounting conflict.

“In the short-run, the symposium had a tremendous impact. It’s harder to measure the longer impact - how students are working to help refugees. Students took a piece of the simulation experience as a call to action, but that’s only something we’ll see over time,” Mrs. Plautz said.

Blindfolded faculty and students attempt to find their family members after a bomb raid.

Silvia Xia ‘20 succeeds in overcoming the obstructions and crossing the border.

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W-H students experience Chinese culture in exchange tripBy Sanjna Patel ‘19

Ten Wardlaw-Hartridge students, accompanied by two W-H teachers, Mr. Russell Althouse and Sra. Yolanda Reyes, boarded a flight on March 11 that would take them on an adventure of a lifetime. The group of 12 traveled to China, where they were able to experience the unique culture and customs of a country on the other side of the world.

Their experience began in the city of Chengdu, where the group first visited Shí Shì High School, W-H’s partner school. The sister school had sent their own students to W-H as the first part of the exchange a few weeks prior, so it was the W-H’s community chance to share a part of themselves with their peers in China. They presented on various forms of American culture such as jazz music, Hollywood, sightseeing in New York City, and musicals. In return, teachers at Shí Shì High School gave lessons on the history of China and Chengdu and different cuisines in regions around China, even adding a cooking demonstration as part of the class.

“I think the students at Shí Shì High School really

enjoyed the presentations and they were asking a lot of questions about American teenage culture. Our students got a lot out of it too; they had to learn to present in a way that these students from China would know what they were talking about. The challenges didn’t really concern the language barriers. It was more of a, “How do you explain baseball to someone in China?” Overall, I think it was a worthwhile exchange for both sides,” Mr. Althouse, the Associate Director of College Counseling, said.

While still in Chengdu, the group of W-H students and teachers visited the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, which was originally built in 256 BC but is still in use today. They also visited the Chengdu Research Base

of Giant Panda Breeding, a place where they were able to view rescued pandas in artificial habitats that mimic their real environment.

“The experience was exhilarating and truly eye-opening to a culture that is so far away. My language skills improved greatly and I met a lot of cool people willing to learn about the American culture and language,” Stan DeLaurentiis ’19 said.

From Chengdu, the group traveled to Beijing, where they visited famous places like the Great Wall of China, the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, Beijing Olympic Park, and the Summer Palace. They, once again, had an encounter with animals when they visited the Beijing Zoo, and got to visit the center of the city, Tiananmen Square.

“This Chinese trip and exchange program allowed me to fully immerse myself in the culture. Through this experience, I learned how to be comfortable along with being uncomfortable, while making incredible memories,” Victoria Georgiou ’19 said.

Upon returning to the United States, the group missed its connecting flight from Beijing and unfortunately, the next one was canceled due to mechanical repairs. Although Mr. Althouse stated that this was one of the biggest problems they faced on the trip, he mentioned another challenge was trying to fit in with the culture there, like being bold enough to speak Chinese to strangers even when they didn’t need to or deciding whether or not to try new foods.

“China was nothing like I thought it was. When you read or hear about it, the image is not what you see when you get there. It’s different for everyone, but I was always thinking that it’s so similar to back home, yet so different. The trip was also a way to connect with the students and be able to get casual and joke around with them outside the classroom. I would definitely do this again,” Mr. Althouse said.

Student Council,continued from Page 1

to vote again, resulting in CJ Stueck ’18 winning President and Stanislav DeLaurentiis ’19 winning Vice President.

“When I found out I was up against Cathy, I knew it was going to be close because she has a very loyal following and was a very strong candidate,” Stueck said. “Winning the election was truly an honor because it was a vote of confidence

by my fellow students who believe in my ability to accomplish what I said I would. I’m excited to get started.”

Individual class

elections took place on Tuesday, April 11. The four positions that students ran for were: President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer, and Judiciary Board. The Freshman class results were Sydney Johnson ’20 for President, Gurleen Sindhar ’20 for Vice President, Ricardo Garcés ’20 for Secretary/Treasurer, and Brianna Chambers ’20 for Judiciary Board. Sophomore class results were Ayush

Menon ’19 for President, Dazlyn Erachshaw ’19 for Vice President, Dev Dasondi ’19 for Secretary/Treasurer, and Kelly Lawrence ’19 for Judiciary Board. The Junior class results were Suraj Chandran ’18 for President, Cathy Bi ’18 for Vice President, Soorya Srinivas ’18 for Secretary/Treasurer, and Austin Guo ’18 for Judiciary Board.

Congratulations to all the new officers!

Students and chaperones pose for a group picture on their trip to China.

Newly elected Student Coun-cil President CJ Stueck ‘18

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Green Corner: W-H Celebrates Earth Day

EARTH DAY SPECIAL

By Claire Stout ‘18

Happy Birthday Planet Earth! On Saturday, April 22, everyone around the world celebrated Earth Day, a holiday devoted to raising awareness for nature and the environment.

Each year, The Wardlaw-Hartridge Lower School takes time around Earth Day to start planting its garden with beautiful flowers and vegetable plants. On Friday, April 21, 2017, Mrs. Bonnie Farrell, botanist and parent of Sara Reiss ‘21, and Ms. Katherine Heiss, third grade teacher and Coordinator of Environmental Sustainability, led the Junior Kindergarten through fifth

grade in planting all sorts of wonderful plants in the garden, including pansies, tulips, and lettuces.

The fourth and first grades learned about the weather by making barometers and creating a weather station. The second graders read poems about the earth, while the fifth grade and their kindergarten buddies worked together to spread awareness about Earth Day by making infomercials about how to help the earth. The second grade and the Pre-Kindergarten classes painted watering cans in art class to use in their own gardens. Every class learned about the earth that they like to live on and how to help it in an interdisciplinary and

containers.Taking short showers

and turning off the lights helps reduce the amount of water and power that you use at home.

Every little thing you do to help the earth, at home or at school, can go a long way into keeping the planet that we live on green and healthy.

Earth Day gives us a time to think about what our environment does for us and what we can do for our environment, both now and in the future. This is our chance to celebrate the truly amazing world that we live in and appreciate what our planet does for us.

engaging manner.You can help the

earth as well. Following the three Rs – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – you can cut down your carbon footprint.

By making a composting plan, you can reduce the food you throw away and turn it into dirt for a garden.

Spring is the perfect time to go outdoors and breathe clean fresh air after a winter spent inside.

In addition, you can plant your own garden with fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and spend time outside tending to it.

Using refillable water bottles allows you to reduce the plastic that you use when you buy bottled water

Scenes from the Classrooms...

Max, Mark, Mandy, and George work on creating a sustainability poster to complement their letter urging the school community to make every day an Earth Day celebration.

Ms. Katherine Heiss teaches her third grade students a lesson on the environment.

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A Letter to the W-H Community:Every Day is Earth Day!

Scenes from the Garden...

Dear Wardlaw-Hartridge Community,

April 22 is Earth Day. Since 1970, people in different parts of the world have been celebrating this holiday to bring awareness to the environmental challenges. Although there are many things that require everyone’s attention, we, as W-H students, would like to write about four of them. They are: water waste, food waste, paper waste, and electricity waste.

Mother Teresa once said, “I only feel angry when I see waste.” We think she would have been very angry in our school some days. Have you seen the water running in the restrooms? Food thrown in the AP Room? Unclaimed copies or printouts by the printers? Lights turned on in empty classrooms? These are the times we are referring to.

Quick facts that we researched in class are important:

1. Leaving the

water running even at the rate of one drop per second can waste up to 2,700 gallons of water each year (savethewater.org).

2. One third of theworld’s food is wasted - 1.3 billion tons per year, which is enough to feed 3 billion people, or 10 times the population of the USA (theworldcounts.com).

3. Recycling oneton of paper saves 17 trees, 26,500 liters of water, and 682.5 gallons of oil (theworldcounts.com).

4. The average schoolelectric bill in the United States is about $7,500.00 (need.org).

This letter is a call to celebrate every day as EARTH DAY! It looks like simple, small things can make a BIG difference.

Thank you,Shaotai “Max” Zhu

‘21, Yuze “George” Zhong ‘21, Xinyue “Mandy” Fan ‘21, and Zhixing “Mark” Zhang ‘21

Mrs. Bonnie Farrell gives the students some gardening tips.

Claire Stout ‘18 helps the Lower School students plant flowers.

Camilla Argote ‘30 makes her contribution to the W-H garden.

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SPORTSTennis team ready to rebuild after losing star player

Shivam Patel ‘18 returns a forehand shot.

By Soorya Srinivas ‘18

Although it lost the White Division in 2016 by a narrow margin, the Wardlaw-Hartridge boys’ tennis team is ready for a strong 2017 season. Although two seniors graduated, Akash Dalal ‘16 and Gavin Huang ‘16, and the team lost star first singles player Satish Kumar ‘17 to injury for the year, the Rams are still a strong team and look to carry their success last year into the new season.

Underclassmen Dev Dasondi ‘19, Edward Zhang ‘19, Sahil Mulji ‘20 and Anshuman Apte ‘19 have stepped up to fill four spots on the varsity starting lineup. The team is captained by Dasondi, who is also the first singles player. The varsity lineup includes Suraj

Chandran ‘18, Shreyas Heragu ‘18, Shivam Patel ‘18, Soorya Srinivas ‘18, CJ Stueck ‘18, Apte, Zhang and Mulji. The team also returns both coaches, Ron Haynes and Janice White. Dasondi is extremely proud of the team’s ability to work well and support each other

despite losing several integral parts of the 2016 team.

“I feel that our team has grown closer from the start of the season. We’re always there for each other, and no matter what, we’re still a team,” Dasondi said.

Despite the talent stepping up, the loss of

Kumar is certainly being felt by the entire team. Kumar was slated to be one of the best in the state before a bad wrist injury took him out for the entire season. As a result, everyone on the team had to be pushed up one slot with moves such as Dasondi going from second to first singles and Heragu going from third to second singles. The team has come out with a 2-3 record.

“Satish was such a big part of the team, but I know we have the resources to overcome it. We can still make a strong run at the division,” Patel said.

The tennis team is primed for another strong run in the GMC White, and with this young promising group, the team is ready to grow together.

Golfers hoping to continue run of success

The Wardlaw-Hartridge School golf team has been very successful over the last few years in the GMC Blue Division and that run looks to continue this year. With a large portion of the team returning and talented newcomers coming in, the team is expected to win another division title. That certainly looks to be the case

By Andrew Park ‘17 as the team has gotten off to a quick 5-0 start with all the wins coming by a decent margin.

“We definitely came into the year wanting to win the division again, so getting off to a start like this is good. It gives us momentum to push us through the season,” captain Brennan Wright ’17 said.

Wright, Cathy Bi ’18 and Mia Sutton ’19 highlight the returning players from

last year’s team. Each of these returning players finished all-division last year. The team also adds multiple freshmen to the roster such as Logan D’Amore ‘20 and Sydney Kuo ‘20, both of whom have joined with the previous three to form a fearsome five-person group. This is a group that can certainly win the division, while also making some noise at tournaments and against bigger teams.

“We always have done well in the division, but now we have a chance to beat more competitive teams, and I think we have a shot at accomplishing that,” Bi said.

The golf team, while already good, now has a chance to grow over the course of the season. With all the promise in this group, it is not hard to predict that multiple awards will be coming home at the end of the year.

Track athletes seeking another solid seasonBy Soorya Srinivas ‘18

Coming off a strong spring 2016 season, the Wardlaw-Hartridge track and field team is ready to continue its success into the 2017 season. The Rams are hoping to build on their efforts last year where they set various school records.

coach Jamaal Burden and assistant Pat DaCosta.

Unlike many other sports, track and field comprises a variety of events, ranging from shot put and long jump to relays and individual events. Often times, the events that the team partakes in are

The 2017 W-H track and field team is captained by Kevin Nader ‘18, and also features Aaliah Burney ‘18, Shaun Martinez ‘18, Shalon Wallace ‘18, Victoria Howell ‘19, Alexandra Lack ‘19, Kelly Lawrence ‘19 and Adisa Morgan ‘19. The team is coached again by head

determined by the school they are competing against. However, there are also times where they compete at much bigger meets against many teams like Penn Relays in Philadelphia and the Blue Devil Classic in Westfield. See Track,continued on Page 7

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Softball team comes out strong despite losing seniors

Despite losing three seniors from last year’s team, the Wardlaw-Hartridge varsity softball team has responded to open up the season. The team has begun 2017 with a 3-4 record.

Samantha Anastasiou ‘17, senior and captain, said, “Though I had hoped to win some games, losing is a part of the game and we have to learn from it. We have tried our hardest to be where we are now and we’ll continue to grow.”

The whole team has come together to practice and put their best out on the field. Many freshmen have come forward and made a huge

By Laura Prishtina ‘19

difference on the team such as Jane Anderson-Schmitt ‘20 at shortstop and Kristyn Smith ‘20, who is playing catcher in place of starter Brittney Wilson ‘18 and making a big contribution in her first year, especially with her bat.

“The transition wasn’t very difficult for me. I have

my days and I love the game and this team. I am so grateful to be a part of this team,” Smith said.

Despite the great infusion of youth into the team, the veterans have been the ones leading the charge. Anastasiou, Kerry McGrath ‘17 and Wilson have been on the team multiple seasons

and are doing a strong job as captains. Their veteran experience is something others on the team look up to and all three have had strong starts to the season.

“Having captains like them is something that really helps bring the team together. Without them I don’t think we’re as productive and unified as can be,” Anderson-Schmitt said.

The team roster includes Anastasiou, McGrath, Gabby Hoffman ‘17, Andrea Tobar ‘17, Wilson, Priya Golding ‘18, Kaeli Montague ‘19, Laura Prishtina ‘19, Olivia Tobey ‘19, Anderson-Schmitt, Smith, Giavanna Brito ‘20 and Brianna Chambers ‘20.

Boys’ lacrosse attempts to resume growth in first co-op seasonBy Andrew Park ‘17

Three years ago, The Wardlaw-Hartridge School’s boys’ lacrosse team played its inaugural season and seemed like it had the hope to be another staple sport in the W-H athletics picture. It had a strong second season, but then struggled to bring in numbers for year three and eventually failed to field a team. Now, the program returns and has combined with Union Catholic Regional High School in order to field a joint boys’ varsity lacrosse team.

“Although it’s definitely not ideal, it does allow two schools to try to

start their own programs together and give all of us kids who want to play a team to play on,” captain Jack Sartor ’18 said.

The schools will combine for a two-year time period, in which the team will be a varsity program playing in the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division, which contains some of the best teams in the state. As a joint team, all practices and home games are being held on the W-H turf fields. The Union Catholic athletes travel from their school each day to practice. While both sides had to get adjusted to playing with kids from a different

school, the team has come together really well.

“Even though we all had to get to know each other, it feels like the whole team has gone to the same school for years. It makes playing that much better,” Lucas Danchisko, a Union Catholic player, said.

Just like the team, many players joining the team are very new to the sport as well and this has allowed the team to learn and grow as the season has progressed. Despite rough results to open the season, the team has had to learn more about the sport rather than worrying about results. The

team has really employed this mind-set especially since it has had to play against much more experienced teams.

“It’s hard to go through this because many of us aren’t used to losing so often, but to have a growing mind-set about this is the only way we will improve and get better,” Andrew Park ’17, a W-H player, said about the team.

Despite the results not being great, the first year of the team has brought some growth to the entire team. With a young group that is eager, there is no doubt this program could grow into something bigger.

Coach Elizabeth Martin and the softball captains get ready for their home game.

Track,continued from Page 6

Regardless the team loves competing and growing together.

“The W-H track and field team has become more of a family to me than just a team over the past years. The hard work and dedication expressed by every athlete

on the team is astonishing. In the future however, I hope the team grows a lot, as our numbers are our only disadvantage. But we are like no other team because the amount of effort we put in this season was amazing. We had a few new members this year and there is already a big improvement from where they started,” Burney said.

The team this year has large shoes to fill from last years team as they lost key contributors Diogo Ferreira ‘16, Nathaniel Nyema ‘16 and Noah Toney’ 16. Many feel that while they may not be able to be successful right away, they can improve a lot over the season and the next year.

“Last year’s team was

very good, but that shouldn’t put down the group we have this year. There’s a lot of potential here and we can really surprise teams even after losing those seniors,” Nader said.

The Rams will continue to grow as the season progresses and with a majority of the team back next year, the future is bright.

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The Beacon • Volume 65, No. 6

Published by the students of:

The Wardlaw-Hartridge School1295 Inman AvenueEdison, NJ 08820

Editor-in-ChiefAnuva Goel ‘17

Assistant EditorsNeha Shukla ‘17

Soorya Srinivas ‘18

Sports EditorAndrew Park ‘17

Faculty AdvisorMr. Rudy Brandl ‘83

Staff Writers

Zishan Sajid ‘17Ellena Son ‘17

Sanjana Nalla ‘18Sanjna Patel ‘19

Laura Prishtina ‘19Isaiah Singh ‘19

Guest Columnists

Claire Stout ‘18

Photographers

Silvia Xia ‘20

The Beacon serves as a student voice for those in all divisions. The paper strives to give a full account of current events and problems facing The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in a truth-ful, comprehensive manner. The paper also serves as a me-dium through which all members of the school community can voice their opinions about issues through “Letters to the Editor.”

The Beacon reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity and to reject letters. Opinions expressed in letters and signed opinion writing are only those of the writer.

All letters should be sent via e-mail to beacon@whschool.org

Baseball program looking to grow with young playersBy Isaiah Singh ‘19

The Wardlaw-Hartridge School varsity baseball program is looking forward to the rest of the 2017 season after a slow start under veteran varsity head coach Andrew Mulvey. The Rams are hoping to improve on their 9-11 record from the 2016 season.

The team is currently at two wins and four losses, the same record to start last season. They’re looking to the future hoping that they can improve and maintain an over .500 record.

“The boys are working hard and have been competitive. We hope we will be able to keep improving as the season progresses. I’m quite pleased with their performances right now especially for a younger squad like this. We’re off to an alright start but we can and will do better,” assistant

coach Chris Parisi said.The team roster has

changed drastically over the offseason with four seniors graduating from last year’s team. Despite this turnover, the team returns many talented players including captains Ovidio Chavez ’18 and Ryan Petela ’19 and others such as Sandy Miller ’19 and JJ Stueck ’19. The team also brings in talented newcomers AJ Massaro ’20 and Joey Walker ’20.

“We know that we have one of the youngest teams, which is great since we will have a team which won’t be losing any seniors going into the next season. But, we need to focus on the season right now. We’ve won all of our close matches, which is good. Now we need to keep the rest of our games close so we can have a better chance to win those too,” Coach Mulvey said.

The team has came

out of the gate with a 2-4 start, but they’ve been competitive in every game. They have seen hot starts from Chavez and Massaro help carry the offense while the pitching staff has been shaky but seen promise from the variety of arms they’ve used. Overall, the team understands this can be a foundation to improve over the rest of the season.

“We have a lot of games to play. We have a strong team and will do our best to show how strong we are. We will continue to work to improve the parts of our game that need improvement as the season progresses, but for now it’s one game at a time,” Petela said.

The W-H baseball team will without a doubt see its share of ups and downs throughout the rest of the season, but it seems the future is full of potential.

Ovidio Chavez ‘18 delivers a pitch during a home game.

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