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Massive Art Installation Depicts Story Of American Nonviolence
By Audrey Lutz
Ms. Switzer and her History of Nonviolence class made an outstanding art installation depicting a visual timeline of nonviolent movements in American history. The project is the culmination of many years of preparation, research, and development.
After involving Ms. Story, an upper school art teacher, they decided to make a timeline following events through history. We were standing in front of the artwork when we spoke and she said, “If I were to go back 20 years when I first started teaching about non-violence I would not have known half of what is up here.”
Each student made individual tiles that show non-violent activists and researched them to gain a better understanding of who they are and how they affected history. I was able to speak with Leah Cox about her involvement with this project. “I was a student in the class, so I helped with brainstorming and making the background,” she said. “If you look at the board, on the far right, there is a collage of non-violent organizations and above it there are doves. I made both of those.”
Ms. Switzer said that the installation is a way “of visualizing all of the interconnected complexity of non-violence in American history.” Everything is connected one way or another, and this installment shows all of the historical branches.
As we started the interview Ms. Switzer implied that “Non-violence isn’t just about creating peace and justice, it’s creating conditions where violence is less likely.” This art is meant to show that peace is possible and that people are willing to risk their lives to stand up and say, they want a better society.
There are 14 different non-violent movements that are represented on the board, but the art piece starts with the Indigenous people in the United States. “What my students discovered is that from a very early point, Indigenous people in the United States had non-violent peacemaking kinds of cultural technologies, and a lot of the non-violence that evolved came from seeing the way the Indigenous people resolve conflict,” said Ms. Switzer.
The Indigenous people are the true roots of America and the first people to teach non-violence. “Many people think that the Indigenous people were just bows and arrows, but they had such a complex life,” said Ms. Switzer.
Next, we move on to the Quakers and Anabaptists. “The historic peace churches (the Quakers and Anabaptists) came to the United States to escape persecution.” The Quakers and Anabaptists lit the fire for the anti-slavery movement. “They believed that there is a god and somehow that god is present in all people, so then anytime you’re unjust or violent to another person, you’re being unjust and violent to god. So that sort of theological premise motivated them to confront slavery first.”
Everything is connected in history and this board is illustrating that. “So we have this early women’s movement that starts, and those same women became the leaders of the suffrage movement.” Ms. Switzer then shows me how the branches connect everything together.
As we keep moving down the boards we are introduced to the pre-civil rights which of course leads us to the all mighty civil-rights movement. They tried to include as much as they could, but the board can only hold so much. The board includes the majority of the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
Finally, we come to the final board with the Black Lives Matter movement “as the most recent manifestation,” with its focus on anti-racism. “We have anti-racism, kind of having these moments of surging and then receding and then surging over time, but always there.”
People have always been fighting against racism in history. “A takeaway that one of my students realized is that since the 1600s, there have been people, white people standing against racism, all the way to the current time. And since 1730-1740 every year someone has been born in America who has fought against racism.”
At the end of the final board, there are many pieces of art. “We have this collage of doves and it sort of represents the future for hope and peace,” Ms. Switzer said. There is a collage of different activists, and then finally a mirror “because we wanted people to get to the end of the installation and say, well what can I do to make a more peaceful future?”
Under the mirror, it says “The Future of Nonviolence is You.”
This project was a semester-long idea, yet the idea mainly came to fruition right around thanksgiving. As Ms. Switzer usually has a much bigger class she doesn’t do big projects like this one. This year she only had 9 students in her History of Nonviolence class, so Ms. Switzer asked them if they wanted to do something more creative than they normally couldn’t do with a greater number of students. “We talked to Ms. Story and we started brainstorming options. My students wanted to work together so we developed this idea, which was much more complicated than we were expecting and I didn’t know if we were going to finish.”
They started making it right after fall break and only had until exams to finish. “Towards the end of the last 2 weeks of class, this project was all we did. The students came before school, after school, and during lunch. They spent so much time on this and it’s incredible.” Leah Cox, a student who worked on this project, said that “There were times when we would have to come during our free periods, and we would work together and collaborate throughout the whole process.”
As the artwork started to finish they brought in Ms. Story again to take a look. “Once Ms. Story saw the project coming together she said that we needed to get this in front of other audiences.” Then came talk of where this outstanding project could go. They are considering the Hartfield Jackson airport, which has a section where they display student work; the Center for Civil and Human Rights; and even the history center of Atlanta. “Right now the chief of the marketing department – Janie Beck- is working on finding out if this could be a traveling exhibition.”
Ms. Switzer is so proud of this piece and it has only made her think of what she could do in the future. “I’ve been trying for years to know how to organize this incredibly complex history and the more I taught the more I realized that it’s not just the history of non-violence but the histories of non-violence, and I’ve always struggled to make sense of it all visually. And the fact that they were able to create a way of visualizing it is amazing, not only to me but to them and future students.”
This project was huge, not only for Lovett but for the future of Ms. Switzer’s class. This artwork alone holds so many important people, dates, and moments in history that are not talked about in the history books.
The students had to work so incredibly hard to get this project completed and it brought them closer together. “I think that this bonded my class,” she said. “We would see one another so much during the day that our close proximity to each other almost forced us to get closer.”
This artwork will be displayed in the art gallery hall until the end of February. After that, no one is truly sure where it will end up but, hopefully, wherever it goes it will inspire people. “We’re trying to create a better world,” Leah said.
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Five Minutes With…Long Gamer Chay Simons
By Megha Lakha
As I stumbled into the jammed library during lunch, I ran into sophomore Chay Simons. I randomly asked Chay how his last name was pronounced because I had heard people address him as “Chay Simmons” and “Chay Simon-s”. He told me it was the latter, and then I asked him a few quick questions.
Chay told me he was currently dating a girl from a different school. He met her “at one of our football games.” Chay said that the girl had a boyfriend so he “had to play the long game.” He said the guy cheated on her, and, “I was like ‘you gotta break up with him… so I was there, and I was like ‘don’t worry’ and I was smooth with it.”
I wondered how things were going and he told me “The long game is okay, you could have multiple long games, I’d say it’s fine to do that to multiple people because you’re not playing them since you’re their friend.” So this clearly isn’t Chay’s first rodeo and it seems that this strategy is tried and true for him.
Chay said that he took this girl to The Sandy Springs Taphouse to see a movie, but it was kind of awkward because he saw “like ten total people from Lovett.” Chay isn’t officially dating this girl yet but he confidently said that “it’s pretty set in stone.”
Chay wanted to make things official, and I suggested that he ask this girl to be his Valentine this year, so it seems Chay might not be spending Valentine’s Day alone.
When he’s not working on his love life, Chay often plays hockey at Atlanta Fire Hockey Club. “When you hit someone and you ‘kill’ them it’s just like adrenaline, I only care about the score,” Chay stated “Like a yard sale, they’re all sprawled out and dead.”
Chay hopes to commit to playing Hockey in college. He said his “favorite school is Cornell, but its standards are really high.” While he wants to commit D1, he thinks he “would be able to be in D3 at the least if I keep on working.”
Chay’s older brother goes to a prep school in the north for hockey, so his whole family is pretty into the sport.
Chay’s hobbies are pretty diverse. He likes to golf, hunt, fish, and ski. He also enjoys video games (like pretty much every high school guy). He said he likes to play “NHL, Rainbow Six Siege, and Brawlstars.”
My final question for Chay was his hopes for this semester. He told me that the one thing he wanted was to simply “have fun.”
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Still Mean After All These Years?
By Eliza Pieschel
The night before I went to see the new Mean Girls movie, I watched the trailer. My impression? The movie would be fun, with some scenes mirroring ones in the 2004 original but with a modern twist. I can’t say I didn’t have my concerns. After all, remakes are notoriously difficult to make especially when the original movie is one of the most iconic of all time.
The new Mean Girls is a musical and is based more on the Broadway musical adaptation of Mean Girls than on the original movie. The trailer showed glimpses of scenes and moments that were in the original movie, like the famous “burn book” and the fight scene that it causes. I was slightly worried that they would try to change the original movie too much and that it would lose its original charm. And I wasn’t sure about the whole musical thing.
The next day, I went to see Mean Girls in theatres. It was shockingly good. There were new, modern elements that were a little cheesy but there weren’t too many. It was clear they were trying to appeal to Gen Z, but it wasn’t aggressive throughout the entire movie. The soundtrack was good, and for the most part, I thought the casting was very good and the acting brought the story to life. I thought the film did a good job of balancing the original charm with a new lively, fun vibe.
The trailer was accurate in stating that “This is not your mother’s Mean Girls.” The fashion sense and some plot details were much more modern such as including current social media influencers and modern-day phenomena such as Regina going “viral.”
The characters’ personalities were the same but with new actors come new representations of these characters. Regina seemed much more powerful and feared, different from in the original where she was an icon that wasn’t loved, but pretended to be nice. Cady was clearly the main character of the original, but a serious spotlight was shown on the new Regina that made her seem like the main character of the musical. Even in the posters Regina is highlighted clearly and is usually front and center. Reneé Rapp played Regina as much more intimidating than Rachel McAdams’s version. Ultimately, if you don’t enjoy musicals, the new version most likely isn’t for you. The music was very organically added and instead of interrupting the plot, it helped to push it forward.
With the new movie coming out it’s interesting to look back on the impact the original had on 2000’s culture. English teacher Ms McCord actually wrote her college thesis on the 2004 movie, which makes her a local expert. Her thesis was not just focused on Mean Girls, but also the portrayal of teen girls in other movies including Clueless.
There were two competing ideas in her thesis, she said. One was what it meant to be a teenage girl in America in the 2000s, with its focus on girl power, pink shiny things, the Barbie message (you can be/do anything), and the trending of the Spice Girls. The other idea was what Ms McCord described as “girls in crisis,” A rise of girls experiencing depression and eating disorders. She analyzed how these were shown in Mean Girls.
She told me that Mean Girls was based on a parenting guide: Queen Bees and Wannabes, How to Help Teenage Daughters Get Through Teenage Years. Tina Fey took the guide and made it into a story. Many examples from the parenting book were used in the movie such as the falling out between Regina and Janis. Tina Fey put girl power over a girls-in-crisis narrative to make this more of a comedy.
Still, the story did convey lessons, with prominent adults throughout to make it clear that it is up to adults to help, and to the teenagers watching, there are adults that can help you. She pointed out how in 2004 many jokes were made that couldn’t be made today such as Regina’s affair with a teacher that got changed into Regina having an affair with another student in the 2024 remake.
She said she was drawn to write about the topic because she was a high school film teacher, and she wanted to write her thesis on something she would enjoy. She also recognized the huge impact that the movie had on culture and the interesting underlying layers. The movie has always been wildly popular, even twenty years later. If someone makes a “stop trying to make fetch happen” joke someone will always laugh because of the popularity of the movie and reference.
In terms of her current take of the 2004 movie, she said that it was definitely funny with good jokes and that it wasn’t making any bold moves that changed the world with a big message. It didn’t really say we should disrupt the entire system that degrades women, but we should come together and not degrade each other. A key factor of Mean Girls popularity was its ability to reach many different audiences and age groups and still be funny for adults but also appropriate for middle and high schoolers.
For a student perspective, I talked to freshman Sonia Kukreja who’s seen the original and the new musical in theatres. Her expectations going in were low. “I thought it would be really bad just because usually remakes are not as good as the original,” she said. She had seen the original and enjoyed its humor and good story.
Many people online had said they were disappointed that the new Mean Girls was a musical, especially when it was advertised mostly as a normal movie. I asked Sonia, who went to see the new movie, her opinion on it. She had not seen the Broadway musical, but had seen the 2004 film, and now the 2024 film/musical. She replied, “I liked the musical version of the movie because they took out the unnecessary songs and the music helped the plot line, adding to it. Most of the singers were very talented although I felt Cady’s voice did not match her character.”
I asked if there was a specific scene that was better in the musical than in the original. “I loved the one where they’re at the Halloween party and where the original simply showed Regina going up to Aaron and reviving their relationship, the musical number and cinematic effects added to the drama and intimidating factors of Regina,” she said.
On the other hand, like many others online, she didn’t like the addition of influencers and TikTok because it made it feel like it was being shoved down Gen Z’s throats. While a lot of people said that the musical was almost too similar to the original movie, Sonia felt more like it was a good balance of paying homage to the original and being its own new adaptation.
“I feel like because the time period has changed they did a good job of modernizing it,” she said. “I didn’t like the wardrobe though because the outfits were frankly cringy and ugly.” In the end, when I asked her whether she liked the 2004 or 2024 film more she pointed out that it isn’t fair to compare them given that one is a musical and that both films had very different takes on the characters.
Overall, do I suggest watching the new version? Honestly, I do. You may not like it as much as the original but it was well done and didn’t just seem like it was another cash-grabber remake. It was a fun opportunity to revisit a classic with friends in a new way. The fact that it was a musical and that the characters were played differently makes it difficult to compare the two and say which is better because each has its strengths and weaknesses over the other.
And songs or no songs, 2004 or 2024, fetch still isn’t happening.
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Though Unique, Wrestler Elle Kauffman Is “Part of the Team”
By Tanisha Naik
Sophomore Elle Kauffman has dominated in girls wrestling. Last year, she won state, and this year she’s ranked number one in the southeast and 23rd in the country.
I wanted to check in with Elle and see how things were going with her season.
Elle has been wrestling for eight years now. What drove her to a sport that is primarily done by boys? Actually, it was boys. “My brother and my dad did it,” she told me. Her family is very supportive of her wrestling career, “but most of all my dad,” she said.
She’s somewhat limited in the meets she can attend because girls aren’t allowed to wrestle guys, so “I have to pick out very specific tournaments, but I’ve been to 5.” She also competes on the Georgia women’s team.
Even though girls wrestling isn’t quite as common here at Lovett, it’s one of the fastest-growing women’s sports in the country. “Georgia has some of the best female wrestlers in the south,” she said. “One I know is even on the U.S. national team.”
Speaking of competing, she is looking forward to competing in big tournaments like state. She’s also excited to try Greco, a new style of wrestling. “I can’t wait for those types of tournaments,” she told me.
Being ranked 23rd doesn’t come easily and requires a lot of practice. Lovett’s practices are 2 hours every day with occasional practices on the weekends. Every Monday and Wednesday they have a 30-minute team lift before practice.
“The first hour to an hour and a half is just drilling different moves,” she said. “Then during the last 30 minutes, we practice live wrestling and conditioning.”
Coach Maldonado had only great things to say about Elle.
“It’s going really well. She has wrestled in a couple of college tournaments and also a few national events and is having a really good year,” he said.
He values her intensity and commitment. “She works extremely hard, she is really focused, and I never have to remind her about her goals,” he said. “She’s very self-motivated.”
All of this has led to achievements like winning the Folksdown National twice.
In terms of technique, Coach Maldonado noted her ability to capitalize on the top position. “She is very aggressive and she is able to pin girls that are pretty good, and she is very strong,” Coach Maldonado told me. Something that Elle wants to work on is a shot where she goes for the legs.
Obviously, girls wrestling is pretty uncommon. “It’s just such a unique sport that if you’re not used to seeing it or doing it, then it’s hard to get into,” Coach Maldonado said. He hopes that Elle will inspire other girls.
Being the only girl on the team doesn’t seem to affect Elle. “I’ve been wrestling on boys teams my whole life so I’ve just gotten used to it by now,” she said. During practice there isn’t much room to chit chat so “you don’t really have time to talk,” she added.
“At the end of the day I’m still part of the team and I’ve gotten nothing but support,” she said.
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On Trend: Flaired Leggings, Octobuddys, and More
by Megha Lakha and Leighton Maynard
As the Lovett students stumble back onto campus after a long (not long enough) Winter Break, new and not-so-new trends start to flow in just in time for Semester Two. Lots of new trends pop up over break because so many students get trendy gifts for the Holidays.
The first and most mainstream trends are always related to new clothing, jewelry, and shoe options. A prevalent choice for the Lovett girls is wearing flared leggings under their skirts. “Flair leggings have been in since 7th grade and never gotten old,” Susie Roper (10) says. A popular legging brand that you will notice around school is Aerie or Splits59. “Flairs just go with the Lovett uniform so much better than leggings that are tight at your ankle,” Lindy Jernigan (10) notes.
Flares are comfier and flowier, and the lines of the leggings flare almost mimic that of the skirt. Flares are also more flattering and feel less awkward when paired with the rest of the uniform. The majority of the newspaper class seems to be on the same page when it comes to the high-priority flare topic.
Another popular clothing choice the Lovett girls usually lean towards is the Free People fuzzy, sherpa jackets (these have been in style for a long time). The “Hit the Slopes Jacket” has a magnetic pull for all the girls, costs aside. “The jacket is super comfortable and looks really good with our uniform,” Amelia Friedman says. The jacket comes in many different colors. The white and navy are the most popular, most likely because of the dress code.
The boys’ version of a Free People Jacket is wearing flannel over their sweatshirt. Some boys like to wear flannel, but some think it’s too wannabe southern and yeehaw. David Rumph (10) said, “Ew no, the flannel is awful” when we caught up with him in the library. “I hate flannel it’s putrid, I see too many people wearing it.” So clearly, not all the boys like the flannel, David in particular.
According to Tristan Sindoni (10), the better clothing trend for Lovett guys is wearing clothes from the brand Peter Millar and wearing t-shirts, specifically, from Onward Reserve.
Shoe styles have also been fluctuating recently. The most popular brand you will notice around school is Ugg shoes, and this goes for girls and guys. With the cooler temps, students have been retiring their sneakers and busting out their warm and fuzzy Uggs. They come in all shapes and forms but the most popular styles you will see on girls are the Ugg Minis and Tasman Slippers. They come in many different colors as well. “A lot of people came back from break wearing Uggs,” Olivia Simms (10) said. This was probably one of the most popular presents over the holiday season.
The Ugg Tasmans must be pretty appealing because now some of the Lovett boys have been spotted wearing them as well. “In my opinion, boys should just wear tennis shoes,” Susie Roper said. Other popular shoe choices for the boys are loafers, Jordans, and Dunks. Lovett guys also tend to gravitate towards New Balance sneakers. Dominique Walsh (10) says that the New Balances are super popular right now.
Shifting away from clothes, there have been some new “things” or “gadgets” dropping into the mix. Apple Airpod Max headphones were one of the popular holiday gifts this year. Regular old Airpods are “out” and the Airpod Maxes are “in.”
Another tech accessory is the OCTOBUDDY, which is a silicon suction stick-on for your phone case. Senior Noelle Bowman showed us her OCTOBUDDY and stuck it on a wall to show us how it worked. “That’s a huge trend,” senior Annabeth Bell added. OCTOBUDDYs are super helpful for filming and watching shows, and they’re just cool in general.
Another popular object that’s stayed on trend is the Stanley Cup, which you’ve undoubtedly seen. The Stanley Cups have come out with a ton of new colors ranging from rainbow to simple white, and they’ve been popular for quite a bit. In fact, we wrote about them last January, in our first ever “On Trend” series. (But you never know when something is going to go out of style, so hold onto that Hydroflask.)
Still, it seems that Stanley Cups are only increasing in popularity as time goes on. Lovett students came in after break flexing their new Stanleys. Not only have the upper schoolers been big on these famous “Water Bottles” but so have the middle schoolers. “I tutor a middle schooler and she comes with a Stanley and I was like girl, I know you got that for Christmas,” Susie Roper said.
Another thing that never escapes Lovett students is Sephora. The biggest beauty products right now are lip balms. If you are ever in class and see a girl whip out her lip gloss, it turns into a domino effect. The next thing you know everyone is pulling out their Laneige or Summer Fridays. “The best thing about Laneige and Summer Fridays is the taste,” Sarah Barwis (10) says. They both leave a shimmery and tasty effect on your lips.
Annabeth Bell and Noelle Bowman told us that they liked both brands, but Annabeth stands by Summer Fridays, while Noelle has never tried it. When Annabeth realized that Noelle had never tried Summer Fridays, she immediately pulled out a mint-flavored Summer Friday lip balm from her jacket pocket and said, “Dude, try it.”
Moving onto entertainment, some movies and shows that are skyrocketing right now are the newly released ones in particular. Anyone But You, a romantic comedy starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, has all the movie theatres jam-packed right now. Junior Em Fougerousee says that “the movie was amazing.” She loves a good rom-com, and Anyone But You is one of her new favorites.
Some other trending entertainment includes a Netflix show that came out in December called My Life with the Walter Boys. Susie laughed and explained that the show “was cringy but [she] was kind of enjoying it a lot.” Mean Girls, the remake of the classic, is also getting a lot of buzz from Lovett students because it was recently released. Noelle Bowman saw the movie and said “it was horrible because the original was way better.” Sophomore Patrick Smyth says that the show Suits is popular for the guys. On the topic of entertainment, an anonymous source says that “the guy from Shameless’ Calvin Klein ad” is trending, and “was really explicit.”
Finally touching on apps, Patrick said that Fantasy Football is always popular with the Lovett guys. Also, Instagram reels have been declared superior to TikTok by popular opinion. Tristan Sindoni said that he sees “so many videos of people falling,” but he can’t stand “the videos of the 9-year-olds doing the skincare routines.”
Presumably with those Summer Fridays and Laneige products…
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Jingle Ball Rock
By Maiya Tomlin
The 2023 holiday season was packed with family time, gift-giving, and great food, but also music. Yes, there are the Christmas songs piped through the loudspeaker at Target, but for me and a few friends, it included a trip to IHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball.
The Jingle Ball is an annual concert where numerous artists perform 20-minute sets in big cities all over the United States. In Atlanta, it is typically held at the State Farm Arena.
The release of the Jingle Ball lineup is always the cause of discussion and excitement. Freshman Evvie Bresnahan told me she initially saw the lineup on Instagram (@iheartjingleball) when it was released in late September. The lineup for the Atlanta show included some of my friends’ and my favorite artists, like veterans Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida, and ones who recently gained more recognition such as Sabrina Carpenter, Ice Spice, and David Kushner. We were all anxious to buy tickets.
Purchasing the tickets for me was a total last-minute decision given that I had to convince my dad that I was ready for my western world exam the next morning. It was a bit easier for my friends, who could fully enjoy the concert without the lingering thought of potentially forgetting every Roman emperor.
For freshman Janey Aaronson, it was more about the social experience than the music itself. “I think it was a good opportunity to hang out with my friends,” she said, adding, “It was a new experience. I have never been to a Jingle Ball before.”
Janey and Savannah Jones appreciated that the time crunch for each artist meant they only performed their most popular songs. They knew every word, and so did the crowd.
For me, Nicki Minaj had the best set, but Evvie and freshman Riley Tillman were quick to say that Flo Rida was the best. “He brought the energy to the room,” Evvie said. Savannah admired how he engaged the audience. Specifically, Janey said she liked how he had members of the audience come on stage, even though she wished she was one of them. Evvie also said he gets “bonus points for being bald.”
Savannah was a little disappointed because Olivia Rodrigo, one of her favorite artists, was on the Jingle Ball lineup, but did not perform in Atlanta. “I think it was only New York and Los Angeles,” she lamented.
Riley was the only one of us to have attended a Jingle Ball. The previous one for her was in New York City, but she says she was too young to remember it.
When I asked her and Evvie if they would go again next year, Evvie said, “It depends who’s performing.” Evvie and Riley agreed that Drake and Flo Milli should definitely be considered for the 2024 lineup. Savannah and Janey agreed they would love to see Frank Ocean there, but they doubt it would be a possibility due to his disinterest in performing at festivals.
I guess we will have to wait until September to see it on the @IHeartJingleBall Instagram and repeat what will hopefully be a yearly tradition.
In case you were wondering, I got a 90 on the Western World exam. I got home from the concert at 12:30 and studied until 1:30. Trajan was arguably the best Roman emperor.
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Unresolved?
By Anna Mefford
When it comes to looking backward at the turn of the year, we can only hope that there are good memories of fun friends and food, of more successes than failures. Regardless, it’s all been written. When we look forward, however, the new year is full of uncertainty. The good news is a new year can mean a “new me.” One way to get there is by setting goals.
In the past, my New Year’s resolutions have been to drink water more or eat healthier foods, however they never end up lasting.
I asked people around the school what their New Year’s resolutions were. I was particularly curious if they have a history of sticking to them.
“None, I did not make any this year because there’s no point, they never last,” Julia Batchelor, a sophomore, said. Ridley Sands, Mason Bosworth, and Hollis Fann then added in “Yea, me too.” Seems we all have that in common.
This got me thinking about why no one’s doing them this year. I feel like New Year’s resolutions are universal and everyone should at least make an attempt, at the start of the year, to be a better version of themselves.
Clearly, 2024 does not seem to have a lot of excitement or hope for change.
Finally, after speaking to many students resolving to go unresolved, sophomore Olivia Simms said that she is trying to work out this year and read the Bible more. A little exercise for the body and mind. I asked her why she made these resolutions and she replied, “Last year I slacked off and wasn’t my best, so I am determined to be better this year.”
I felt bad bursting her bubble but it seemed only fair to ask if she hoped to maintain these goals. “I have an everyday after-school plan,” she said, “and I made a private story where I post all my workouts.” She added how the story keeps her motivated because she does not want to let her “fans down.” Accountability seems to be important.
So does the right kind of inspiration. “It’s giving Alix Earle,” Francie Loven, a junior, said about Olivia’s efforts.
Alix Earle, a famous influencer, is doing the “30 hard challenge” to start her New Year off right. The challenge consists of eating healthy, drinking 1 gallon of water a day, doing two 45-minute workouts (one inside and one outside), journaling, and reading. As you can tell the word “challenge” is not taken lightly.
Abby Odegard a junior says that she is trying to join Alix and see if she can start her year on a refreshing and resetting note.
Abby said she has to modify the challenge because unlike Alix she has to go to school for most of the day, however, she still manages to make it work.
“I try to drink 3 hydro flasks during the school day, I then go to Cheer after school which counts as one of my workouts, then I walk my dog as my second workout,” Abby said, adding how she eats healthy meals throughout the day.
Abby and Olivia are starting the year right and are inspiring me to join them. Thank you Olivia and Abby for keeping New Year’s resolutions alive.
I suppose if I HAD to make one I’d drink more water and work out more, but I have to be honest with myself and know that if I do those things, it won’t be because I made a resolution or Alix Earle told me to, but because I just wanted to. Or didn’t.
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Five Minutes With…Local Celebrity Mr. Brunt
By Mylee Dubin
After waiting for several of his tutorial-goers in the afternoon, I got to catch up with a favorite face of the Upper School. Mr. Brunt was wearing a rather dark-toned outfit, in contrast with his naturally bubbly and upbeat personality, as well as his signature bright smile.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t so smiley over winter break when he was plagued with Covid.
“On the 24th at 4:00 I am feeling horrible,” he said. “And so on Christmas day, I started to lose taste and smell, and I tested positive for Covid.”
I previously knew of his condition over the break when he was missing from Lovett swim practice, but didn’t know the extent of his misfortune. And it was quite a bit worse than when he had Covid back in 2020, “This one really took me down,” he told me. “I didn’t leave my house until January 3rd to come back to school.”
Fortunately, Mr. Brunt still managed to have a relaxing first half of the break by spending time with his mom, going Christmas shopping, and seeing his favorite OnLion reporter at swim practice.
Now that he is back and in good health, Mr. Brunt is ready to get the semester underway. “I have really good students,” he said, to which I had to interrupt him to make sure they weren’t as great as my class last year, of course. “Obviously! sure, sure,” he joked, playing along. (It’s okay, 4th period AP World History knows deep down we’re his favorites.)
In his second year of teaching history full-time, Brunt is feeling much less stress than he was in his first year. “I was very concerned with my ability to make sure that my students were successful,” he said. “Then by the end of the year and with the AP exams, I felt much better.” This year, Brunt has gained confidence in his teaching, telling me that the stress he feels this year is “just not as great as last year” and he’s glad for it.
It is going to be an exciting semester for the teacher/coach. When asked what he is looking forward to, he immediately declared how excited he was for the rest of the swim season. “As a coach, a lot of times kids don’t really understand how invested we are in their success,” he told me. “We want the very best for y’all.”
Brunt is also looking forward to his spring break. Along with Mrs. Hooker and Dr. Myers, Mr. Brunt will be taking 23 students to Africa. “We’re going to Tanzania, so I’m really looking forward to that.” It will be his first time on that continent.
As a swimmer, I had to pick his brain about his thoughts on our season so far. “At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t sure because we graduated a lot of talent,” he reminded me. “I really wasn’t sure where we would end up.” Luckily, this season has gone ‘swimmingly’ to say the least. He told me how well both the girls and boys have done this season, capitalizing on the senior talent. “Like I said, we graduated a lot of talent in the boys, but the senior class has done really well,” he said. “I’ve been really impressed with some of the guys who have really had a lot of personal records.” He is confident in the team’s abilities leading up to the state meet on February 7th.
Looking further ahead to the summer, he plans to travel to Boston, Cape Cod, and Nantucket. Brunt is excited for some time up north. His Boston visit will have an educational aspect to it. “I’m going to do all the historical things, the Freedom Trail, all the Paul Revere stuff,” he said. “I might even go up to Harvard just to see the campus and MIT.” After that, the other two destinations are all about the R&R.
By the end of our interview, we were laughing and joking about the rest of the swim season. In fact, he was heading off for practice ahead of our meet at Wesleyan. I had club practice at Dynamo in Chamblee, so he excused me (this time).
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Five Minutes With…Bike Rider Dan Ruppel
By Leighton Maynard
If you are in one of the new English teachers Dr. Ruppel’s classes, you know he’s an incredibly interesting guy with a wonderful style as a teacher.
Dr. Ruppel teaches American Studies and English 10. The fact that his classes are filled with excitement and energy might not be surprising to you. What might be surprising is that they occasionally feature cartwheels and jump rope. (I am saying this after just being in class and jumping rope outside by the cafe). He grew up in Philadelphia and went to McGill University for undergrad in Montreal and then Brown for grad school.
His decision to become a teacher came later. “I studied Middle East studies and I was going to go into the State Department,” he said, “and then I talked to a lot of people who were working in the State Department and I was like, this isn’t for me.” He decided to go into a different field and founded a theater company.
“I was doing a lot of teaching, teaching theater and teaching activities, and teaching English language in Montreal. And I realized that I got a lot of the joy that I got from the theater in teaching,” he said. He loves the deep and very real conversations he can have as a teacher. His favorite thing about teaching is seeing the light pop up on students’ faces when they’ve understood what he’s taught.
Once his love for teaching flourished, he continued to teach in many different places. “I’ve taught in 15- 20 schools,” he said. Not only has he been switching schools but he has also experienced many different places. “I moved from Philly to Montreal, from Montreal to Rhode Island.” He also spent a big chunk of time in France. Settling is not a word in Dr. Ruppel’s vocabulary.
The Lovett School came up in his most recent job search. “Every school has its labels and the biggest one I read for Lovett was the word nice,” he said. This made him excited and eager to work here.
Dr. Ruppel’s affinity for movement is not restricted to where he lives. If you ever see a guy biking to school in the morning it’s probably Dr. Ruppel. “I’ve biked to work for my whole life,” he said. If the distance is 20 miles every morning or 1 mile he is on it. And that’s every morning. I asked him the farthest distance he’s biked and it was from Montreal to Ottawa. If you aren’t aware that is around 120 miles.
Another outside-of-school hobby Dr. Ruppel is interested in is theater. His career started in theater and he has always had a passion for it. He has directed many plays. “I directed last fall or last spring, I directed a version of Pride and Prejudice. I’ve done a few Greek plays, so not Oedipus, but I’ve done Hercules and the Buckeye. And then I directed a couple of plays by a contemporary playwright named Paula Vogel,” he said.
For Dr. Ruppel, learning is about being curious. His advice to students: “Ask questions that you care about because if you’re not doing that, then we’re not going to know what you care about and we’ll just tell you what we care about. And the more you’re curious and asking questions, the better classes will be.”
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A Hunger Games Fan Is Snowed Under
By Maxine Smith
While some people ate turkey and stuffing over Thanksgiving break, others ate popcorn and candy while watching the new Hunger Games movie. If you are unaware of the new movie it is a prequel to the original series about one of the main villains, President Snow, when he was younger.
Sophomore Abby Thompson was one of the many who spent three short hours watching, as Abby put it, a “life-changing” movie. Abby, a fan of The Hunger Games since the first movie, immediately supported the movie when she heard it was being made. Still, she had some concerns. “I have to admit I was a bit doubtful that it was going to be good because it didn’t have any of the original actors,” she said, before adding, “The movie definitely did not disappoint though.”
More proof of her appreciation: Abby saw it twice in theaters. The second time was because she “just wanted to see Snow again.” The first time she went with one of her friends and the second time she saw it with her mom, who is also now a huge fan of Snow, played by Tom Blyth
“I think the whole three hours of the movie I was thinking about Snow,” Abby said. If you are on TikTok or any social media you may be getting bombarded right now with edits of Snow, a main character in the new movie. Many teenage girls right now are obsessed with him and his buzz cut. And the fact that he’s a villain and a horrible person doesn’t seem to be stopping people from being obsessed with him.
Although Abby is obsessed with Snow and has many saved edits of him, she still has her love for the original dystopian men. “Although I’m obsessed with Snow, Finnick and Peeta come first always,” she said.
Another obsession that isn’t about Snow is the new song that Olivia Rodrigo wrote for the movie, Can’t Catch Me Now. “The song has been stuck in my head since I watched the movie,” Abby said. Many fans, including Abby, believe that this is Olivia’s best song. Abby also liked Nothing You Can Take From Me.
Abby told me that when she took her mom to see the movie, she made her mom stay through the credits to hear Rodrigo’s song.
Although Abby Thompson loved the movie, she did have one critique, which was really praise in disguise. “I wish there wasn’t such a big cliffhanger because I can’t wait three years for another movie,” Abby said.
The good news is that she can watch it as soon as it comes out on streaming. “I will be watching it at least three more times,” she said.
As you can tell Abby loved this movie. Or did she just love Snow?
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Lovett Network Captures Life On The Riverbank
By Beza Kifle
When Mr. Hoegel started at Lovett in mid-May as the Broadcast and Video Production Manager, the Lovett Network had a great group of “20 – 25 students that were exceptional at running the network and doing all of the productions for all of the different sports and various levels,” Mr.Hoegel told me.
But it turned out that the majority of the group had been seniors, so one of Mr. Hoegel’s big tasks when starting at Lovett was recruiting a new group from scratch.
Fine Arts events are simpler to run. Lovett Network broadcasts and streams all of the plays, concerts, and musicals. Students can show up, and “one person can operate the cameras and broadcast it, get it online, and send out social updates on it,” he told me. They also broadcast the all-school Chapels.
But for Athletic events, broadcasting requires quite a few people to run it. There are commentators, sideline reporters, technical directors, graphics operators, and camera operators for different angles.
“It could be like six to eight people very easily so that part has been tricky in just figuring out who is interested enough and who’s available often enough to reliably set it all up,” Mr. Hoegel explained.
On his computer, Mr. Hoegel pulled up an Excel spreadsheet of the Fine Arts events. “I would say there’s probably more than 50 in that list,” he said. But when he pulled up the athletics spreadsheets, it was in the hundreds, especially since it included the different levels including middle school.
One member of the Lovett Network is Alex Deveault, who joined last year after an email that was sent to the school announcing a pizza party and an opportunity to talk about the club.
Alex does a lot of different things for the Lovett Network. “It really depends on what kind of sport, but for football, most of the time I’m working with cameras,” he told me, “I worked a lot with the Gimbal.” A Gimbal, Alex explained, is a handheld “tripod” that holds a phone as it records.
He told me that with the Gimbal, he filmed the ball and gets closer to the action. Alex also conducted interviews with it. “I think it was Preston Lusink last year and Kalil Townes at one point,” he said.
When Alex isn’t on the Gimbal, he works on the other cameras, including a main camera in the Crow’s nest, which is on top of the press box. He also works on graphics with the scoreboard, since “a lot of stuff is actually inputted manually, it’s not automatic,” Alex explained.
For basketball and volleyball, “we would put a camera on a platform in the Wallace Gym, and we would pan it around.” Last year, during Baseball season, Alex commentated and filmed because they were understaffed. “I had a lot of fun commenting on baseball. I know it kind of looks kind of boring, just like watching just a slow-paced game, but for me, it was really fun,” he told me.
In regards to Fine Arts, Alex worked on The Crucible and middle school plays last year and some of the concerts this year. “We try our best to film all of the Fine Arts events, but they’re just so many that we can’t possibly be everywhere at once,” he told me. For example, Alex is part of the Ellington Jazz Band, and at their Spooktacular Jazz Festival, there weren’t enough people to broadcast, since he was already performing on stage.
Right now, Mr. Hoegel has a mailing list of 75 kids, 40 middle schoolers and 35 upper schoolers, who have expressed some interest in being part of the Lovett Network. Middle schoolers have been very eager to work on the broadcast since they don’t have as many extracurriculars, but upper schoolers have more things on their plate, which makes it harder for them to find some time to broadcast.
Danica Tai, the production coordinator, also sends out a signup calendar list, which allows students to sign up for different positions.
Since there is more involvement from middle schoolers, it is harder to broadcast athletic events that aren’t at home because middle schoolers can’t be unsupervised.
Mr. Hoegel is also a teaching partner with Mr. Silverman for a broadcast media and video production class. It’s a smaller class, but “they’re definitely a good place to recruit from. And that’s something that I need to focus on and get those kids to step outside of their comfort zone and volunteer,” he told me. They can use the skills that they’ve been learning for an actual broadcast.
But getting students to “self-govern” and show up to do the work is a little challenging. “If equipment is wonky or needs replacement, or if they need training on how to do something or run any of the specific roles, I offer after school hours,” Mr. Hoegel said.When I asked Mr. Hoegel if the technology and equipment is complicated to use, he told me that a lot of it is familiar to upper-school students since they all have smartphones.
There is some software on the computer “that we use to switch camera angles, put up the score graphics, mix the audio, and do those sort of important parts that are less intuitive and do require a little bit more training,” he explained.
For staff that are in the “on-air positions” like commentators and sideline reporters, “you have to have good interpersonal skills. You have to be good at public speaking and have an outgoing personality to do well in those roles,” Mr. Hoegel explained. “But that’s not to say that people who are a little more introverted can’t try it and get better at it if that’s something that they’re interested in.”
In the long term, Mr. Hoegel is looking forward to the new building that is being built in 2026 because there’s going to be a “nice new top of the line production studio being built, a control room, and photography type studios,” Mr. Hoegel told me. Since he last worked in corporate broadcasting for CNN, the new studio is really exciting, and “knowing that that’s something the school wants to build and invest in for their students is really cool and honestly was one of the main reasons why I came in and accepted this job,” he told me. “And because I geek out on the engineering and technology side of everything.”
Not only will the new technology be cool to work with, but learning how to use it could lead to lucrative careers. The skills provide “a very widespread skill set that you can use in a lot of different areas like music, production, film, TV, and like any kind of marketing corporate companies,” Mr. Hoegel explained.
A lot of broadcasting is trying different things out, according to Alex. “It’s not really like ‘we have to do this, we have to film this.’ It’s more of like exploration, like what works and what doesn’t work.
Alex told me that Lovett Network also does photography and video. For Homecoming, Alex took a lot of photos of the parade and the talent show. One of his favorite moments was when he was taking pictures at the talent show with a semi-professional camera. Due to the darkness, the camera was taking long exposure photos. “But then I had an idea when people were waving their phones around with the flashlights. I took several pictures, and the results were a nice image, but with long streams of lights and it was absolutely beautiful,” Alex told me.
When he told me about taking pictures, I asked Alex if he had taken any photography classes here or outside of Lovett. “A lot of the photography that I’ve learned is self-taught. Most of my camera work was just me teaching myself and watching some TV to see how they operate the camera,” he explained. He is also taking Photography I next semester.
In the future, Alex wants to keep broadcasting and photography as a hobby, but he does want to go into journalism. “If I want to become a journalist, maybe I could use my time at Lovett Network as part of my resume, but really I’m just doing it for fun. That’s why I’m part of the team,” he said.