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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.

By Ella Kate McCord

While the Lessons and Carols chapel service is a fun way to celebrate the holiday season, it also comes with the challenge of having to decide what to wear.  

While the day can be very stressful for some, for others it is an opportunity to see everyone looking better than usual. 

In looking around the cafe, I realized that a lot more girls were dressed up than boys. “I wish some people with the opposite gender would go out more for it too, but I think it’s so fun,” junior Coi Kilcrease said with a touch of annoyance. 

Many girls were stressed because they couldn’t wear jeans.  But while choosing an outfit and preparing took work, “when you’re here it’s fine,” sophomore Addison Cunningham said. 

Anna Mefford disagreed.  “I don’t like it because it just puts a lot of stress and there’s a lot of factors that go into the outfit. You have to think about the length of your skirt or about going up the stairs, and it’s just, it’s too much stress for one day,” she said. 

But after some serious thought even she started to shift her perspective. 

“The only thing is I don’t think I would make a change, only because I know I’m complaining,” she said, “but it’s one day out of the year and I think, I would like to wear my uniform, but when I’m a senior, I feel like I’d want to have this day because all the seniors were really cute stuff. Although, next year I don’t have to do this all over again. So I don’t know if I’d change it just because it’s fun for some people,” she said. 

What isn’t fun is not feeling like you have an outfit to wear. “I don’t have clothes, but I like seeing everyone’s outfits,” senior Alex Chen said. Susanna Lynch felt the same way. “I think it’s more stressful, honestly, and it’s kind of hard to wear nice clothes to school and just do things,” she said.

When I walked into Mr. O’s office, I realized that no one had on a fun dress-up outfit. Junior Maddie Boatright was in her uniform. “I didn’t know what to wear, so I feel like it was kind of stressful. I feel like they should have given us more notice,” she said. 

Back in the cafe, I ran into senior CJ Cooper, who was rocking a red and black dinner jacket. He’d clearly gotten into the holiday spirit. “I mean, everybody wants an excuse to dress up, so I like to dress up,” he immediately said to me. 

Ultimately, the day seemed to be more enjoyable for students who knew that they had an outfit. And the option to wear a pair of dressy jeans and a nice top would go a long way. (Especially to solving any issues with walking up stairs.)

By Zoe Robinson

When I asked junior Sophie Hatfield how she would describe her day, she simply said, “Busy.” And after hearing her daily schedule, I can say that’s a fair summary. Not only is she in two math classes and three APs, but she also has been a stage manager for every high school play for the past three years. And that’s just this semester’s schedule.

“I just kind of don’t stop,” she explained to me. To balance all her classes, Sophie can often be seen diligently studying in the library. “I try to just get as much work done as I can. I stay on my grindset,” she said.

On top of her classes, her role as a stage manager also keeps her quite busy. It all started when she was in 8th grade Design and Production and her teacher asked her if she’d be interested in doing stage management for the play. She instantly fell in love with it and has been an essential part of every production since then. 

While she does love the job, it’s not always easy.

It requires her to come every day after school for 3 hours to keep records of attendance, take notes made from rehearsals, and control the often chaotic environment of the actors. Sometimes she even does tech work on top of it, designing lighting for the shows and using other skills she’s learned from her Design and Production classes over the years.

But even though it can be a lot, the people she meets along the way make it all worth it. “I think that if I weren’t friends with people there I wouldn’t do it,” she said. Being able to spend time with the community of actors she’s gotten to know and love over the years has been a major part of the experience for her. It’s almost like her job (aside from school of course) and she “loves being able to put together a show for the actors.”

Sometimes, the intensity she brings to the job makes her a bit scary to newcomers. “I’ve been told I’m intimidating,” she said, “but when the actors get to know me they see that I’m really chill.”

She even told me about the time when one of the actors was asleep at rehearsal, and she allegedly dropped a book on her head. While Sophie remembers that being accidental, the actor has said that it was on purpose. Ironically enough though, Sophie and the actor are now best friends, so her point about people seeing her chill side has definitely been proven. 

Preparing for her exams has been stressful, but Sophie’s coping by spending plenty of time at Coldstone and playing video games. Surprisingly enough, she’s a talented gamer in her time outside of school. “I could definitely beat any of the boys in my grade at Fortnite and I love the Sims 4!” she said. 

With all of her responsibilities and the exams coming up, she reminds herself that all the work she does for school and stage management is “going to be so worth it for college.” 

Once we wrapped up the interview, she put all of her textbooks and stage management stuff in her bag and headed off to Design and Production to keep the grindset alive once more.

By Taylor Johnson

Christmas break is arguably the most exciting break during the school year (summer is obviously the best break overall). 

Once students reach Christmas break, this means that they are halfway through the school year. When they come back to school after the break, a new year will have begun. So Christmas break is mega important. 

I don’t know about y’all, but this school year has been one of the most stressful years of my life. This is probably because I am a junior. Almost all of my peers feel this way too. We have all been looking forward to this long break. 

When I was walking through the halls this past week (the week before exams), I could smell the excitement of Christmas break. When I saw juniors Lucy David and Chase Elsas in an alcove, it looked as if they were majorly in need of some time off. 

On the table in front of them was an ocean of flashcards, pens, pencils, and notes. I think I saw tears ricocheting from their eyes. They were obviously beginning the grind on studying for exams. 

I knew just how to brighten their mood. I asked both of them what their plans for Christmas were. Their eyes lit up. 

“I am so excited to sleep,” Lucy said. Chase was quick to chime in and said, “I haven’t gotten good rest in weeks.” It was relatable. 

Other than sleeping, Lucy’s whole family is coming to town to visit. Every year they have a tradition of going to a Christmas Eve Service and after that they go to Ani’s Cafe and Bistro to celebrate her dad’s birthday. “We have been doing this for as long as I can remember,” said Lucy. 

Chase’s family plans to voyage somewhere but they don’t quite know where yet. So I asked Chase what he was looking forward to seeing under the Christmas tree, and he got excited. “Oh let me show you something,” said Chase. 

Chase busted out a Christmas list that was written on his notes app. This list ranged from new AirPods to a new desk chair for his room. 

As I was leaving the alcove I ran into junior Coi Kilcrease and senior Kennedy Cambell. I brought up Christmas break and Coi had an outburst. “I am so so excited, I already have all my plans made,” she said. 

When I asked her to be a little more specific, she declined. “I can’t disclose that.” Now I was really invested. After some convincing, she told me a list of plans she has. 

“I am trying to get my budget together, do Instagram photo dumps, go to Atlantic Station, go ice skating, and take photoshoots,” she said. This girl is about to go crazy over break. 

Coi told me her goal over break is to have someone come up to her and ask to flic her up. “A byproduct of all these plans is people asking to take photo shoots of me,” she said. I love this girl. 

She then brought up how she was going to be hitting up all these events with her trio. Kennedy jokingly said, “Oh no.” The third person in their trio is senior Zora Payne. They seem like extremely fun people to hang out with. I would never get bored. 

Kennedy’s break plans consist of taking a little pilgrimage to Park City, Utah to ski. “Coi is NOT invited,” she said laughing. Coi then came back and said, “It’s ok. I will be flicking up in Atlantic station.” They kill me. 

This is going to be Kennedy’s first time skiing. Her mom surprised her earlier in the year with this Christmas break trip. “I am super hype,” she said. 

I then stopped by the cafe to see Milan Barnes purchasing a hot chocolate. “I hope this is going to get me through the day,” she said. Milan is stressed about exams, but she is pushing towards her goal of reaching break. 

Milan has to take the ACT this weekend on top of studying for exams,  which is a double homicide. “I can’t wait to just get all of this over with and rot for a couple of weeks,” she said. So real. 

I don’t think Lovett students have ever needed this break so badly. I heard that on Monday of this week, there were 91 absences in the Upper School due to an illness that is wiping people out. The teachers and staff can tell we are going through it. 

To try to brighten our moods, the office played music over the loudspeaker during passing periods on Tuesday. This allowed a nice little dance break. 

T-Minus 8 days, 192 hours, and 11520 minutes until break. Stay strong.

By Sarah Garrett

Everyone wants to be remembered when their classmates look back at their senior year yearbook, maybe even decades later. The senior pages, located at the back of the yearbook, allow parents to show off their children’s accomplishments and share fond memories. 

However, nothing can be worse than flipping to your page in the yearbook, and seeing the most embarrassing photo you could ever imagine smack in the middle of your page. Because of this, many seniors choose to work with their parents or take complete control over their page.

“I had a big role in making my page because I am weirdly controlling,” one senior, Hannah Brown, said laughing. “I gave my mom the pictures and I told her what layout to do but she put it together and wrote the message.” 

Parents have a funny way of thinking the worst photos of their kids are somehow the best and most adorable. “My mom wanted to put a horrible photo of me as a little kid on the page, but luckily, I stopped her before it was too late,” Palmer Kloberdanz said. 

She may have gotten lucky, but other seniors were blindsided by their parents’ photo choices. “My dad showed me my senior page after he submitted it, and he picked the worst photo of me playing the guitar in my pajamas,” Kathryn Ferguson said in shame. 

Although some people got stuck with embarrassing photos on their page, they still were able to laugh about it, because they are just being their genuine selves. No one wanted a page that didn’t truly portray who they were. 

According to Ms. Konigsmark, the yearbook advisor, she doesn’t have much to do with the senior ad pages. “I am not very involved in this process. I had to go through and approve certain photos this year, but other than that, as long as everything on the page is appropriate, I let all the seniors and their parents have complete control over what goes on their page,” said Ms. K. So, it is completely up to the seniors how they want to portray themselves on their pages. (She said she also has to step in sometimes with the senior quotes.)

Most of the seniors I talked to feel their pages truly reflect who they are and their high school experience. “My page included everyone in my life who I value. I included my parents, my grandparents, my closest friends, and pictures from my favorite memories,” Brooke explained. “When I look back on my page years from now, I want to be able to reflect on all my favorite memories with people who’ve had a positive impact on my life.” A lot of people also included pictures of them doing things they love. “I love XC and it has had such a positive impact on my life, so I made sure to put a picture of me running on my page; it is one of my favorite memories from Lovett,” Kiran said. 

Inevitably, seniors can’t include everything. With a limited amount of space on a page for each senior, people had to figure out what photos they would have to cut out. “I would have liked to include another picture with my family and one with my dog, but there just wasn’t enough space. I loved the pictures with them, but there were just other pictures I liked more,” Celia Morton explained. 

It may seem like organizing your senior page might not take that long, but it takes time to comb through 17-18 years worth of photos and narrow them down to about 12 pictures that portray you correctly, and then figure out the layout. 

“Honestly it took me about 3 hours to complete the whole thing,” Isabella Gray said. 

Even though putting a senior page together can be stressful and overwhelming, or maybe even embarrassing, in the end, it is a great way to reflect on our experiences at Lovett and our childhoods with our peers. 

Whether students have been at Lovett since Kindergarten, 6th grade, 9th grade, or any grade in between, there is so much everyone has to share. As Anna Jaje said, “Senior pages are the perfect way to wrap up our childhood experiences and tie it together in a pretty bow.”

By Megha Lakha

I was roaming the halls when I ran into one of my favorite sophomores, Ava Boren. Ava clearly has a lot on her plate with exams coming up, managing a club, being a track star, and performing as a top Cross Country runner and soccer player. 

When I sat down with her in the alcoves and started asking her about herself, she grew a bit nervous, but I had to remind her that this interview was on the chill side. Ava is shy when you first meet her, but after getting to know her she’s a bubbly and unbelievably funny person to be around.

As Ava’s friend, I already knew a lot of information about her, so that’s how I know she’s a triple threat- she plays soccer and participates in Track and Field and Cross Country. 

Ava has run in state for both Track and Field and Cross Country and she’s a major contributor to both teams. 

Ava has been playing soccer for as long as she can remember, but decided to take up Track last spring because she “wanted to do a sport that [she] thought [she] would be good at” and she “ended up loving track.” 

Track starts in January and Ava hopes to get to state again this year in the 4 x 800 relay and in an individual event. Ava also began Cross Country for the first time this school year and immediately claimed her territory as one of the top 5 varsity runners. “Most of the people [she] ran track with were also doing Cross Country, and [she] decided to join and try it out.” Ava prefers track because “there’s a lot more variety event-wise.”

Ava’s Cross Country season had more ups than downs, but one mishap was her minor injury to her foot just a few weeks before state. Ava had to sit a few meets out, but immediately bounced back at state, helping the girl’s team place 4th overall.

Aside from sports, Ava also mentioned a club that she’s co-running this year called Hand in Hand Club. Ava’s super proud of how it’s been going and they’ve “already raised a lot of money.” All of the money raised goes towards the Tillman House which Ava called a “nonprofit multifunctional charity house.” She said, “Their main aspects being a food pantry and afterschool program for children from underprivileged areas.”

As you can imagine, Ava’s hands are full with sports, clubs, and schoolwork. Ava said she was extremely stressed about exams and she’s the most worried about her Math exam. “Math is a subject that I have to work the hardest in,” she said, “and it’s the first exam on the calendar.” She also expressed worry about her AP World exam “because, in [her] opinion, it’s the hardest to study for.” She also had an exam study plan on her laptop that had a note saying “to hope and pray for French” because that clearly isn’t one of her favorite subjects.

Ava hopes to make Principal’s List both semesters and says she wants to “push [herself] academically and athletic-wise.”

The always hopeful Ava says, “Once [exams] are over, it’ll be winter break, which I’m really excited about because I have lots of plans with friends.” Ava also can’t wait to spend her break at the beach and lake enjoying Christmas and New Year’s with her family.