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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 Kate Rogers

Most of you like me probably know little about Lovett’s trees, other than we’ve got a lot of them.  That is unless you’re a part of Mr. Reynolds’s Botany Class, which extends their learning outside of the classroom when they tour the campus with the goal of finding the biggest tree, as well as many others. 

Yesterday, I joined him in the Dell to get a little taste of this experience, and we discussed his passion for trees while surrounded by them. 

The “tree tour” tradition started a while ago, Mr. Reynolds told me.. “So inevitably we have a couple of days when it’s just a nice day to go for a walk in the woods,” he said.  “And so I came up with this idea years ago with one group of students, not my botany class, but another group. We were looking at different parts of campus and kind of the trees that you see representative of different areas on campus because it varies a lot, like with the river versus all the way in the woods. And we ran across some really big trees.” 

But his inspiration for this experience goes beyond a nice walk in the woods, in fact, it goes all the way back into Mr. Reynolds’s days of adventure. 

In the past, he has worked for the National Park Service, hiked the Appalachian trail, and gaped at the California Redwoods (apparently these are a must-see). All of these amazing sights have inspired him to give his class just a taste of the awe he felt encountering these natural wonders. After all, Mr. Reynolds excitedly said that the Redwoods are the ones “people drive their cars through.  If you see a tree that big, it just changes all perspective. It would be like if you’d never seen a mountain before or if you’d only ever seen, like, Kennesaw Mountain, and then all of a sudden you saw Everest. It’s like all of a sudden your eyes are open. It’s just awesome because they’re so huge and just for something living to be that big I don’t know, it’d be like snorkeling next to a blue whale or something. It’s just amazing.”

And, we can see a little bit of that magnificence right here on the Lovett Campus. According to Mr. Reynolds, some of the trees here come close to the size of other champion trees throughout the state ( those are the largest tree of their species in the state). 

Some of the most impressive trees here are pine trees. “What I love to talk to my students about are the pine trees that are the biggest,” Mr. Reynolds said. “If you compare them to the Georgia biggest pine trees, they’re like right up there with them. Some of our largest pine trees on campus are just as old as the biggest pine trees in the state of Georgia, which I think is pretty awesome.” 

But the pine trees aren’t the only incredibly impressive and large trees here on the Lovett campus, we also have a variety of hardwood trees. 

One of these is a Tulip Poplar which this year measured as the biggest tree on campus. “The diameter of this tree is almost a meter and a half,” Mr. Reynolds said. “That’s like 5ft, right. So if you take your average 9th grader and you put them sideways against the tree, that’s how big that tree is around.” 

He especially enjoys leading his students to this tree, which never fails to amaze them (perhaps because he builds it up so much. “To me, that’s the fun part,” he said, “because I want them to walk in the woods and I want them to see something interesting.”

So, if you can’t make it to the redwoods in California or Mt. Everest, you can still find inspiration right here at Lovett. I highly recommend signing up for Mr. Reynolds’s botany class. But if you can’t, at least consider visiting some of our very own 150-year-old trees. 

“I’d just like the woods to get better use by students so they can see more stuff,” he said. I know I certainly enjoyed venturing outside, breathing in the fresh air, and seeing all those trees. 

By Leah Cox

For many students, math has been quite different this year – at least as far as grading goes. Many of us are accustomed to taking tests at the end of the unit and quizzes along the way, however this year a number of teachers in the math department have tried a strikingly new approach to assessing what students know and can do.

The new grading philosophy is based on a standards-based grading system. Students following this grading system still learn based on a specific curriculum tailored to their respective courses, but are taught based on individual standards within chapter units, rather than the entire unit itself. 

For (almost) every unit, students are afforded the opportunity to be tested on a standard at least twice. The grading scale operates on a one to four scale:1=60, 2=73, 3=88, 4=100. Students are tested on these standards in an assessment known as a Learning Check. Each learning check is divided into the material students will be assessed on, and therefore their grades are based on their performance on individual standards – rather than the usual practice of grades based on the accuracy of the entire unit test. 

As I said before, students see (almost) every standard twice. The second time they see it, there’s an opportunity to replace their first-time grade if they receive a grade higher than the one previously earned. If they receive the same or lesser grade, their grade for that standard will be averaged with the first attempt. 

Lastly, there are opportunities to “recheck” individual standards. Each math class may have a different policy for the number of rechecks, however most are limited to four or five. Just like the second time you see the standard, a higher grade can replace the grade and a lower grade will round out to an average.

I sat down with Mr. Amar, the Upper School Math Department Head, to discuss this change in grading philosophy. It was interesting to go not only figuratively, but literally behind the scenes of the math department for this article. Going into their big office made me feel like I was walking into some top-secret operation or the unveiling of a new art piece – the latter of which is kind of like the unveiling of the new standards-based grading system. 

Mr. Amar seemed pretty excited to talk about the new grading system. At the same time, he told me he had mixed feelings about the article, especially knowing that the math teachers would get a chance to hear feedback about the new grading system from the students themselves. 

The first question I asked Mr. Amar was about the why behind the new grading system. In other words: what sparked this idea, and why are they doing it now? He responded that there were many different inspirations. “There’s a growing body of work where people are looking at grading practices, and how they motivate students,” he said. “It’s not only what we grade that matters, but also the ways in which we grade…students often get credit for doing things versus getting marks for learning things. Learning happens over time and learning is a process…every student’s process looks different. In that regard, sometimes grades are really unfortunate.” 

When he said that, I thought to myself “Amen!” At least from my perspective, it’s really nice knowing that some of our teachers realize that grading isn’t one size fits all – and it’s even more encouraging to know that they are willing to confront that and try new things. 

He first pointed out how muddy the current system can be. For example, a student might be doing well under the current system because of the system itself rather than because they truly understand the material. And a student who is frustrated might have no idea how to proceed. ”What we were aiming for [in the decision to switch to standards-based grading],” Mr. Amar said, “is to have a manageable enough number of targets for it to mean something.” 

With the traditional system, a student might have trouble accessing the one or two specific topics inside the unit (or chapter) that they need to work on. However, with standards-based grading, it becomes easier to examine which specific topic to work on, since the unit is divided into smaller (and more bite-sized) topics hitting specific concepts. 

“It can be motivating to know that you won’t be dragged down in a test for not knowing one thing,” Mr. Amar said. ”And overall, the goal is to make this process more meaningful for students, and to make clear where they need to spend their time to get the result that they want.”

There is research and precedent behind this new system. The math department modeled this grading approach after a Texas teacher named Laura Ringwood, who implemented standards-based grading in her AP Statistics class. 

All of this has had a big impact on the format of the curriculum. Mr. Amar told me that one thing the department looked at was the number of standards students were expected to master each semester. One school he referenced had over 50 targets, which he felt was “way too many.” He told me that this process is about seeing what works and what doesn’t work for Lovett students.

I next asked Mr. Amar what strategies the math department has been using to implement the standards-based grading system. The first thing the math department “swore not to do” was “significantly change the curriculum.” The math teachers used previous curricula as a backdrop for making additions, removals, and rearrangements from the curriculum for this school year. This process essentially makes it easier for the teachers to access the types of questions they ask on learning checks, as well as how they ask them. 

Another strategy the math department used was collaboration. He didn’t say so explicitly, but from what I inferred as he spoke, collaboration was a helpful tool. For example, he said “the three Algebra II teachers… split how the learning rechecks are written,” and “the geometry teachers had to write a fair amount of stuff for their course.” 

One of the most important aspects of the new system is the emphasis on growth, learning, and relearning. 

As a standard-based grading student, I can confirm that rechecks are a lifesaver. Every time I have an Honors Chemistry test, it happens to fall on the same day as a math learning check. I always prioritize studying for the Honors Chemistry test and sometimes slack on studying for math. If I don’t study for the target that I’m seeing a second time on the learning check, I may end up getting a 1 or 2. But to me this is fine. Knowing that I have five opportunities to fix my mistakes is really soothing, just as long as I don’t do this every time I have to take a target for the second time. While the system builds in the opportunity to improve, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to do poorly.

Samar Kibe, a 10th-grade Algebra student, seemed to agree with me. The learning check system “allows you to make up for things that you don’t get right the first time and it gives you some leeway. For example, if you do bad on a target initially, then in the future you can replace that grade. Through this system, students can learn from their mistakes – and it gives them a second chance.”

It’s also a bonus for the teachers. In the past, teachers had to spend a ton of time writing multiple tests and grading those tests, “when all they really needed to do was redo the one problem they didn’t understand how to do. This makes it easier…and we [teachers] are happy with the results.” 

But what about the students? I wondered if Mr. Amar had a sense of whether the students are also happy with the results. He acknowledged that they’re in a transition period “where students are managing their grades…and figuring out how to manage their time.” 

He said some students catch on to the flow of the grading system early, like those in his AP Calculus BC class, and others take more time to catch the drift. In his words, the Calculus students “have it down to a science.” 

But he knows that not every student has adapted so easily. For example, there’s no curving of grades, even if everyone else did badly as well.  “If everyone did bad, it just means we’re going to spend more time working on it,” he said. While this may be frustrating, it does mean that  “if you learn it, your grades will follow.” 

Mr. Amar is hoping students understand that with this new grading system they have the “ability to chart…the path of their grade. That this isn’t just up to the teacher.” Most teachers want to encourage their students to succeed, but they also have to give you the grade and determine whether you succeeded or not and how well you succeeded. “That can be rough,” Mr. Amar says. He hopes that standard-based grading can promote collaboration between students and teachers. 

Another thing Mr. Amar thinks students are responding well to is the major point jump they can get just by going from 1 to 4 on a target. Speaking from personal experience, the point jump is real, and a lifesaver. He does however understand that it can be different for students to have to “learn how to manage their math class differently than other classes.”

As for the teachers? Well, “they’re getting used to it.” Math teachers weren’t forced to implement standards-based grading in their classrooms, but those who were interested decided to give it a try. As with anything, it takes those who are nervous, curious, and willing to implement major changes to 5, 10, or 20-year-old existing norms. 

I did wonder if there were any unintended consequences as a result of the new grading system. 

He said it’s been tricky to deal with students moving from a class with the traditional system to one with the new system. Also, homework is not counted towards the grade in standards-based grading. Of course, this sounds wonderful, but he says there are also a lot of students who aren’t doing homework at all. So while they don’t lose points from incomplete or missing assignments, it’s reflected in their grades – and not necessarily in a good way. 

Nevertheless, Mr. Amar said the math department would like “to see students thinking more broadly about the role and power that they have in this system.”

Anticipating the mixed reactions he assumed I would get when I interviewed students, he made clear that the math department is in a transition period. They are always looking for ways to improve, and the implementation of standards-based grading is proof of that. 

He and the other math teachers are pretty open and willing to listen to student perspectives. For example, he “hears the stress about the four to three cutoff.” In standards-based classes, a three is equivalent to an 88, while a four is equivalent to a 100. 

As I talked to Gisella Brok, a ninth-grader taking Geometry, about how she feels about the new grading system, she said “the cutoff can be pretty frustrating because there’s no in-between.” I completely agree. Missing one or even two problems for a target shouldn’t drop you down to an 88. In my mind, it’s kind of stressful. Plus, that’s a 12-point difference. Keya Nijhawan, who’s also a ninth-grader in the Geometry course, said, “It would be nice to have a 92 or 94. I can’t tell you how many times my grade dropped from getting 88 for one or two problems – which to me, isn’t even that bad.” Samar agreed with the statements of the 9th graders. But he also included that “it does fix itself because we do get a chance to recheck targets. However, it still remains to be a stressor.”

Mr. Amar mentioned that even now the teachers are working on ways to improve standards-based grading, and the three to four point grade equivalents seem to be at the top of their list. The math department wants to make this new philosophy work for everyone.

Regardless, it’s nice to know that some of our teachers are looking for ways to improve the learning experience for students. The way I think of it: if we have to take certain courses to graduate, at least make them more learning-focused rather than grades-focused. So whether we love or hate the math department’s new standards-based grading system, it certainly helps to know that the department is adapting to a new generation of mathematicians!

By Olivia Janis

Could there be a better place to spend a French class than a cafe? Sure, the cafe was right here at Lovett rather than on some Parisian boulevard, but the Honors French class and on-level French classes did get to make crepes. 

Crepes are thin pancakes that originated in Brittany, France. In honor of the holiday, La Chandeleur, where the French eat crepes all day and celebrate the return of spring, we had our own take on crepe day. 

“It was really fun, and I think we should do it more often!” said freshman, Anna Marie Samp. 

The French classes congregated in the cafe around 9:00 AM. The cafe was already set up with three different stations. Each station had premade crepe batter, a bowl of butter, and utensils to help flip the crepe. 

At the start of the class, Chef Kat and Chef Lewis gave us a tutorial on how to properly make a crepe. Their instructions were very easy to follow and sophomore, CJ Cooper, a student in the Honors II French class, was one of the first to rise to the challenge. 

Making the crepes was quite simple. When it was my turn, I got a little too excited with the butter and managed to somewhat mess up one of the simplest processes. Thankfully, it did not mess up my overall crepe and it was still just as delicious. 

In the center of the seating area in the cafe was a platter of topping options. Typically the toppings for crepes are fruit, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, powdered sugar, and much more. We were supplied with all of that and in my opinion, it was all super scrumdiliumptious.

Before Crepe day, both French classes researched the history of crepes, where to eat them in France and Atlanta, and what to eat them with. 

Freshman Anna Goodsell informed me that crepes were originally called Galettes. 

“A Galette consists of buckwheat flour, water, salt, and eggs,” said Anna, who did extensive research about the history of crepes. She found out there is a group in the northernmost part of Brittany dedicated to the history of the first galettes called the Galette Brotherhood. 

But where do you go if you can’t make it to Brittany? According to Anna, here in Atlanta you can find crepes at restaurants like Chez Albin and Julian’s Crèpes. 

The day after our cafe feast, our classroom conversations focused on what we’d made and eaten. 

“Crepes day was one of the highlights of French class this year for me,” said freshman Cleo Wynn. “It was super fun to make, and I loved being able to enjoy it with all my friends.” 

It seems like the only way not to enjoy it was not to be there. 

“It’s a bummer I missed out,” said freshman John Gatley, who missed that class.  “I really hope we do it again.”

By Alexis Dalton

With the Oscars wrapping up the night before, Lovett students got a taste of some films by young filmmakers who could one day walk across the stage to pick up their golden statue. While on a much smaller scale, the Lovett High School Film Festival, started by Mr. Silverman in 2009, got students clapping, laughing, and freaked out by severed hands. 

This year, about 500 submissions came in from 54 different countries around the world. “This is our tenth year, and it’s a little less than we are used to getting,” Mr. Silverman told me in his room in the community center. “We’ve had as many as a thousand (submissions).” Entrants must be 13 to 19 years of age. 

Mr. Silverman said he “started it as a way to connect Lovett students who are interested in film to other students all around the world who have the same passion.” He wants to “feature the best filmmakers” in hopes of inspiring Lovett students to make films of their own.

“It’s an ongoing process,” Mr. Silverman explained. Ten films are selected out of 500, and Mr. Silverman watches every single one. “They start coming in during August, and the deadline is at the end of February.” 

Students in his advanced class help him watch and select the films. In the past, there has been a panel of professional judges, but this year they have changed it up a bit. The last couple of years it has been easier to handle the judging internally, and it made more sense for Mr. Silverman and some of his students to figure out which ones were “suitable.” 

Cooper Pope, a senior in Advanced Movie Making III taught by Mr. Silverman, told me how he and his class helped with the Film Festival. They sorted through some of the hundreds of self-submitted high school film entries representing  “a wide range of professionalism.” It took about two weeks to watch and pick the ones they liked the best.

Cooper said there were a lot of good films, but also a fair amount of bad ones. “Sometimes we would see a movie that was so bad we’d only get through 15 seconds of it and be like ‘yeah, we can’t watch this.’”

However, Mr. Silverman and his class didn’t just pick a movie because they thought it was interesting. They looked at the cinematography, how good the camera work is, the sound quality, and more. “Sound quality was a big part of that,” Cooper noted. It was clear that “a lot of people didn’t use microphones.” 

There were ten official selections and eleven awards. For the categories “Best Documentary,” “Best Animation,” “Best Music Video,” and “Best Narrative,” two awards are given each (one for a film from the United States and one international film). The categories “Best Short Short” and “Festival’s Director Award” have one winner each (check the end of this article for the names of the films shown and their awards). Unlike the rest of the awards, the “Audience Award” was voted on by the community after the assembly. It went to “A Pair Of,” a grim mystery about an old lady who lives in a cabin that has a dark secret and a strange collection. 

Normally, a film festival has more official selections than awards, but because of the decrease in time allotted for the festival (due to it being during community time), they narrowed it down to the ten award-winning films. 

Though Mr. Silverman did most of the planning, the film class gave their opinions on how the films should be shown and helped with the voting process. This was the first year that the Film Festival was an assembly for the entire student body. In the past, the festival was in the evening. “Unfortunately, the reality of the Lovett-life is it’s hard to get anybody to come out for anything,” said Mr. Silverman. In the past, he would spend around 6 months curating the Film Festival and only 20-30 students would attend it. “It was endlessly frustrating to me.”

Mr. Silverman is very excited the Film festival is finally getting the publicity it deserves and people will be able to enjoy it. Instead of trying to find time in their busy schedule, students and faculty were able to attend the Film festival during community time. “I love the idea that it might turn somebody on to the idea that ‘hey if they can do that, I can do that.’”

From a student’s perspective, the film festival was a success. The films were interesting and diverse with a good mix of animations and live actors, and each film left you wanting more. 

The Film Festival isn’t the only thing the class has been working on. They are currently making the “Senior Video” which is a comedy skit video that shows where the seniors will be in twenty years. For example, a senior has a leap year birthday, and his skit shows that “in twenty years, he will still be in the Lower School celebrating his 9th birthday.” Another skit involves all the smartest students in their class being a part of a “prison gang.” The Senior Video will be presented in one of the last chapels of the year. Though it’s a tradition, this is the first year that an actual film class is making it.

Cooper is taking the course because he’s always had an interest in making movies and “wanted to know how to do it for real.” Prior to taking Advanced Movie Making III, students must take the first two classes. The first class is watching movies and becoming familiar with cinematography, and the second class students write a script for a short film. Advanced Movie Making III “combines the two.” The class is very hands-on, and “right from the get go” the students start making movies.

Getting behind the camera has given him a new appreciation for details when making films. “You have to make sure every little detail is correct,” Cooper explained. “You can’t have a basketball in one shot and in the next shot it’s gone.” 

Not only has this class taught him how to make films, it’s also changed the way he views them. “I watch movies differently now,” he said. “I can understand the work that was put into a movie a lot better now.” 

Best Documentary (U.S.): “Home”

Best Documentary (Int’l): “3 Epistolary Films”

Best Animation (U.S.): “Grizz”

Best Animation (Int’l): “A Pair Of”

Best Narrative (U.S.): “Zero Hour”

Best Narrative (Int’l): “My Grandma Is A Vegetarian”

Best Short Short: “Saudade”

Festival Director’s Award: “The Hole” Audience Award: “A Pair Of”

By Gisella Brok

In the weeks leading up to the course request deadline, students spent a lot of time thinking about what they wanted their schedules to look like. For some Lovett students over the years, that planning has included studying abroad. 

Ms. Turner, the Director of Civic and Global Engagement, called the many abroad programs that Lovett offers  a “jewel of a thing.” According to Ms. Turner, they are part of  “a long tradition of including engagement with the wider world” and a “signature Lovett experience.” 

Our school offers a variety of programs to any student who may be interested in travel but doesn’t necessarily want to be gone for a full semester or year. One of our “amazing opportunities” in the summer is Siempre Verde, where students can take a trip to the land Lovett owns in Ecuador. 

We also offer a trip to Israel in the summer, which also counts as a religion credit! Ms. Turner describes it as a “great way to get a credit in an experiential way.” 

If students would prefer a lengthier program during the school year, we’re partnered with 12 semester away schools, ranging from North Carolina all the way to Switzerland. These programs are especially helpful for students who want to dive into a particular interest and simply keep up with their other classes. 

We also offer many exchange programs, including to Australia, South Africa, and England (which has been offered for girls this year!). It’s set up so that students can visit a country without missing school and focus more on the social part instead of having to stress about grades. Ms. Turner said that it’s an “authentic way to get to know a country,” and because students stay with a host family, the student only has to pay the cost of airfare!

Finally, a program that might be introduced for Summer 2023 is a trip centered around marine biology in the Bahamas! The idea’s currently being proposed, so we’ll have to wait for more details to come.

When I asked Ms. Turner if there’s a specific type of student who usually participates, she said that in reality there’s “something out there for everybody,” which is part of what makes these opportunities so special. For example, if someone’s interested in science or Spanish, they would have tons of fun on the Siempre Verde trip!

Speaking of students, a couple of students here at Lovett have participated in these programs such as Griffin Bain, a senior who went to South Africa, and Mikayla Carter, a sophomore who went to Switzerland this year.

At Griffin’s school, which was an African leadership academy, he saw “a lot of different cultures.” While life there was “pretty normal,” the school used the Cambridge system rather than AP or IB like we see in America. He lived on campus and described it as a standard boarding school.

Mikayla spent 3 months in an alpine town in Switzerland. During her free time, she spent “half the time hiking and the other skiing.” Every weekend she would go on a trip, and some of the planned ones were to Italy and France!

Of course, being in a different country could invite some difficulties with language or the learning, like how Griffin said the curriculum was different.

Even though everyone at Griffin’s school had to speak English to go, that didn’t mean everyone was fluent in it. While it took a while to get used to the accents, he “got around it.” Luckily, two of his classes had a “more Lovett teaching style” since the teachers were American. 

At Mikayla’s school, she was “always doing something,” because they really made them focus on work. After dinner, they’d have a 2-hour study hall, then 30 minutes of free time before lights out, and along with this, she didn’t even have her phone. In Switzerland, they speak Swiss-German, but because most Europeans speak English, the language barrier is “not super hard.”

When you’re living somewhere, no matter how far you are, you start to feel like a local. Griffin said he was “not really feeling like a tourist,” and Mikayla even said, “When tourists came, we got annoyed.” 

In a foreign country, the thing most people look forward to most (and probably the whole reason they went) is being able to explore and do exciting things. For these students, this opportunity was given to them during their free time. Griffin had “plenty of freedom” and often went to malls with his friends and roommate (the rule was to stay with at least one other person.) Mikayla said she was “always skiing,” and often went into town to explore and eat some good food. There was also an ice skating rink, which was a popular place to go.

There’s so much to love about every single one of these opportunities. Going into it, Griffin didn’t know what to expect, but he loved “how nice everyone was.” Mikayla loved how everyone that was at the school with her had a common interest, so they “worked well together.” The town was “perfect,” and in the off-season there aren’t many tourists, so she was able to get close with a lot of locals. And when it was finally time for her to leave, she wasn’t ready to go back.

When I asked why someone should do this, Ms. Turner explained how she herself was an exchange student and said, “It transformed my life.” She hopes that every kid can have this experience, because it truly helped her become confident and independent. Along with this, both the students that I spoke with said that they would definitely recommend this to other students.

The only downsides would be the expenses or planning. Since students usually have other commitments, it can be difficult to juggle many things at once. For the expenses, Lovett offers financial aid that can help with that. The staff are working towards getting the information out to families before school gets out for summer, so that there aren’t as many last-minute decisions for anyone.

For each program, the students need to fill out an application. For this, it’s mainly just writing a couple paragraphs to questions that “make sure you can handle it” as Mikayla said. Along with this, students usually submit their grades. 

Ultimately, this is a unique and special opportunity that is offered here at Lovett. Ms. Turner says, “We want kids to know about it,” and if there is a student who doesn’t feel like their interests match up with any of these programs, they should stop by her office. “We want to help,” she explained. Plus, now that more and more countries are opening back up, “we’re lucky to get kids out” because “after Covid they’re hungry to travel.” 

By Beza Kifle and Keya Nijhawan

Back in November, freshmen girls were asking themselves “Who should I ask to PDC? Will he say yes? What do I wear?”, whilst the boys thoughts took them to, “Do I say yes to the girl that asks me?” or “Will I even get asked?”

The stress for the freshmen began in November, when the first girl asked the first guy. “Why did all the girls ask so early?” asked freshman boy Samuel Yang. Word spread like wildfire, and soon girls were asking boys to be their date, even if they had never spoken to them before. 

On the night of the first girl asking the first boy, someone started a google spreadsheet with the names of all the boys names in the grade. The girls would tell the spreadsheet manager to type their names next to the boy they had asked or were going to ask. The creator of the spreadsheet announced the drop of the spreadsheet, and shared it with everyone. However, the creator was the only one able to edit it, which may have caused some problems for some people. Many think the spreadsheet caused the girls to ask faster. “I hadn’t even talked to my date before,” said freshman MaryPoole. 

As soon as the girls secured their dates, the search for dresses commenced. They looked for the perfect PDC dress on many different websites, such as Revolve, Lucy in the Sky, Hello Molly, and a few others. It took some girls a while, but they were all able to find a dress. “We probably ordered over 100 dresses and still ended up having to go to a store,” said freshmen Sutherland Newton. Many ended up having to go to stores in person because shipping was going to be delayed or dresses just did not fit. “I luckily got a dress right after I asked my date, so I didn’t have a lot of stress about it,” said freshmen Ella Fletcher.

In the weeks leading up to the “formal” event, freshmen girls spent a lot of time talking about their expectations for the dance. They’d obviously been hearing a lot from upperclassmen and no one’s expectations were too high. No one believed that the dance would be really fun, and most knew beforehand that the “getting ready” part and the picture part would be the highlight of the night. And many looked forward to the events that were coming after, such as Waffle House and the after parties that some hosted.

Since both of us are girls, we had to go around to ask what the experience was like for the boys. Most boys had zero interest in this dance, but were asked and did not want to be rude, however many were. A few of the boys decided to break the unspoken rule of “If you say no, then you can’t go.” 

The moms of the freshmen seemed to be more excited about PDC than the actual freshmen. It was their “baby’s first high school dance,” and they wanted it to be special. Moms gossiped with each other, and attempted to set up dates for their kids, and many wanted to host picture parties and after-parties for their kids.

In the days leading up to the dance, girls got their nails done, got spray tans, and got ready for their hair appointments. Fast forward to the day of, March 20th 2022. The process of getting ready started around midday for the girls, as many picture parties started around 5 pm. The boys got ready 30 minutes before leaving for the picture party. 

After the picture parties, freshmen carpooled to the dance. As soon as they walked in, boys and girls went into 2 separate lines to get patted down. Then, freshmen had to get their IDs checked. Once they passed this table, freshmen proceeded down a hallway with their date and were told to sit at a table that sat 10 people.  At the tables, there was lettuce on a plate and water. Few ate the lettuce on a plate. Soon after sitting down the freshmen were given grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Few ate this as well. 

After the attempt at dinner, freshmen went to a dance floor, where a band was playing music that no one knew. “The only song I knew was Sweet Caroline,” said freshman Anna Fow. The dance floor was full of clumps of teenagers on their phones, since no one liked the music enough to dance, with few exceptions. Most Lovett students separated from their dates and went off with their friends, while students from other schools tended to stay together. The girls took their shoes off due to their feet hurting. At this point, everyone was just waiting to leave. 

As soon as the clock hit 10, everyone rushed to get out and find their rides. The parking garage was a complete mess and every car was struggling to find the freshmen girls and their dates, and then get out. Students went to Waffle House, Fellini’s, and people’s houses for after parties. Soon, the night ended and everyone was dreading coming to school the next morning. 

At least we know what to expect now for next year. Hopefully, we can wait until the fall to start filling out the spreadsheet for sophomore PDC.

By Mackenna Stewart

We spend a lot of our days clicking away on our laptop keyboards, each click adding a letter, a number, a punctuation mark to some thought we are trying to put down in writing. Of course, some of us are better and faster at adding those symbols than others. 

A few weeks ago, we sent out a survey to the Lovett upper schoolers about typing. As many upper schoolers know, it is important to find an efficient and comfortable way to type in order to keep up with the numerous assignments that require us to use the keyboard.  While many of us may have learned the “correct” way to type, we all just do the best we can to be efficient and comfortable..

69.6% of the upper school says that they have received typing instruction at school. 88.3% recall receiving typing instruction in elementary school. I think we can all see the value in learning how to type the correct way. Essays become more efficient to type, improving your focus, and maybe even reducing fatigue. 

In spite of these potentially positive impacts of proper typing, only 1.4% of upper school students report getting work done faster after learning how to type the correct way. While about half of upperschoolers don’t think their typing skills impact their work at all, the other half said their typing skills have actually saved them a lot of time.

Based on this evidence, two main viewpoints of typing arise, effectiveness and speed. 

There are a variety of ways that members of the upper school recall using to learn how to type. One student recalled how her fifth-grade teacher   warned her that if she didn’t finish the typing lessons “that I wouldn’t go to middle school.” 

Another student had a more positive memory: “I took a class on computer science where I learned how to type purely off of playing racing car games!” Methods of learning included being taught to type at school, learning from a friend, or teaching oneself. 

But how effective was it? Measuring this effectiveness could help explain why there is almost a 50:50 split between those that don’t think their typing ability impacts their work and those that believe they have saved a lot of time.

According to wikihow there is indeed a correct way to type. Wikihow first recommends you place your fingers in the “home position”. They define the home position as the letters A, S, D, F, J, K, L, and the colon key. After placing each of your index fingers on J and F and allowing your other fingers to naturally fall on the remaining home keys, you should place both of your thumbs on the space bar. The idea of placing your fingers on the “home” keys, is that you are able to move your fingers up and down the keyboard for other letters you may need, but still retreat back to the home position. 

WIkihow then suggests that typers familiarize themselves with the keyboard to become comfortable with the positioning of the keys and to prevent typers from always looking down at the keyboard as they type. Only 69.6% of Lovett high schoolers said they occasionally look down at their keys when typing, while 20.3% report never looking at their keyboard when they type. I would say, based on these percentages, the effectiveness of some kind of typing instruction, no matter if it’s taught at school, self-taught, or taught by a friend, is pretty effective when it comes to students’ ability to keep their eyes off the keyboard. Not looking, and not having to peck at the keyboard like a chicken, can be very beneficial as it can improve speed and posture. 

Now we don’t only type on our laptops, of course. In fact, we may spend more time tapping at those tiny keyboards on our phones.  Unlike computers, there is no “correct” way to type on our phones. Maybe this is because typing on a phone is more of an exercise for our thumbs than any other fingers. Although the differences between typing on a computer and phone are clear, such as the area that the keyboard covers and size of the keys, 55.1% of high schoolers say that they are actually faster on their computer than on their phone. 23.2% of high schoolers say that their speed is about the same.

This data is interesting because given the differences between the two devices such as the size of the keys and the area that the two keyboards cover, you would think typing on a phone would be much easier. Especially since people are always using their phones on a daily basis. 

I think it’s safe to say that typing the correct “way” is in some respects a myth. There are a lot of us who have found a way to effectively type whether it’s trained or self-taught. 

Still, based on the survey feedback, there are definitely benefits to learning to type, avoiding chicken pecking, and finding a good posture. And who are the best typers at Lovett? A number of survey takers said they’d participate in a typing competition. So stay tuned. It should be exciting. As one student wrote: “I will destroy all competition.”    

By Beza Kifle

We have all heard the joke: “Why did the chicken cross the road?” We all know that the answer is to get to the other side. Turns out Lovett chicken Loretta did cross the road. Nobody knows exactly why this bird went on her adventure, but it did earn her the nickname Loretta “the Forest” Chicken. 

At the end of March, Ms. Greenberg and Ms. Vernon discovered a hole in the side of the chicken coop, and unfortunately one of the chickens, Loretta, had escaped. “We think that it was a student that either kicked it, ran into it, or threw a rock in it,” said Ms. Greenberg, US Math Teacher and caretaker of the Lovett Chickens along with Mrs. Vernon. “The hole was big enough for a chicken to escape, and Loretta is definitely the most curious,” she added. Loretta saw the hole and took the opportunity to leave. Unfortunately, she was gone for 3 days.

Somehow, Loretta the Forest Chicken made it pretty far. Different advisories come to the chicken coop to refill the food and water for the chickens every week. (They get to have the eggs from the chickens, too!) When Mrs. Konigsmark’s advisory was out refilling water for the chickens, a student said that she and her family had seen a chicken in their yard. Turns out, Loretta made it to a house on the street closest to the front gate.

Loretta is a pretty lucky chicken, considering that she was able to go through the woods and cross the street safely.  “Chickens are literally defenseless in the dark because they can’t see anything, and they can’t detect predators around them. So if a predator finds them, they’re dead,” Mrs. Greenberg explained. When the chickens are let out from the coop, Loretta always goes the farthest, which explains why she was the one to escape. “She’s definitely the most daring,” said Mrs. Greenberg.

While at her temporary new home, Loretta laid an egg. The student called some friends over, and some of the friends had broken the egg. Immediately, Loretta ate the raw egg, shell and all, which grossed everyone out. The broken egg can tell predators where the chicken is. “It’s their way of protecting themselves by hiding the evidence so that a predator can’t find them,” Mrs. Greenberg explained. This wit is probably what helped her survive the streets of Buckhead!

Loretta is one of 5 chickens in the coop. Lovett has had a chicken coop for at least 4 years, and all of the chickens are about 2 and a half years old. Sadly, 3 of the original 8 chickens have died, due to their short lifespans of about 4-5 years. We don’t get new chickens often, but Mrs. Greenberg says that they will start to see this summer if the Lovett coop will be a home for some new chicks!

The 5 chickens are Hops (Lavender Orpington), Little Yaki (Blue Orpington), Freddy (Austra White), Cornelia (Black Jersey Giant), and of course, Loretta, a Partridge Rock. Apparently, the chickens are brutal. There have been snakes that have gotten in the coop and have been pecked to death by the chickens. Unfortunately, a baby turtle that got in the coop was also pecked to death. “They are the closest living things to dinosaurs genetically,” Mrs. Greenberg said.

The chickens do work well together in a positive aspect, unlike the previous example. Freddy is small and sassy, while Hops, the gray one, is a little leader. One time, she was on the perch in the coop “preaching” to the other chickens. Cornelia is the all-black chicken, and now every time she hears Mrs. Greenberg’s voice, she runs away after Mrs. Greenberg had to give her medicine a year ago. 

Now that the adventures of Loretta the Forest Chicken have come to an end and Loretta is safe and sound, life in the Lovett chicken coop has returned back to normal!

By Olivia Janis

Near the end of 2021, Lovett students, like people all over the world, went crazy over the five-letter word game, Wordle. Many of them still take time each day to figure out the Wordle. 

“I’m fascinated by anything that starts small and goes global,” said Mr. Newman, who’s a big fan of the game and suggested we could do a story on the game’s popularity at Lovett.

Wordle was originally developed by the Brooklyn software engineer Josh Wardle in 2021. Wardle made this program as a gift to his partner, who enjoys word games. The game became so popular that the New York Times bought it and now distributes it on their site. 

While some students enjoy playing this game during advisory, or during breaks throughout the school day, Mr. Newman enjoys playing this game on his front porch. “It’s become a thing for me,” he said. “Sun comes down, usually in the late afternoon, school is over, and I usually just sit out there and do the wordle.”

The instructions for the game are quite simple. The goal is to guess the 5 letter word with only 6 tries. You start the game by typing a 5 letter word of your choice. The game then turns letters that are in the correct spot green and the letters that are in the word but in the wrong spot yellow. From then on you have five more chances to guess the right word. 

I had never played before, so for my first game I started off with the word “place.” The letter “e” in the word place was the only green letter, meaning it was the right letter and in the right spot. I strained my brain to think of words that end with e and are 5 letters. Struggling to think of the perfect word, I put it in “scene.” The “s” was green. Words that start with “s” came to me quickly so I put in “stoke.” All the letters were green except “k.” I sounded words in my head and then put in “stone”. Unfortunately, the n was incorrect. Finally, on the fourth row, I put in the “stove” and to my surprise all the words were green.  

The game can definitely become frustrating depending on the gamer’s patience levels. Mr. Newman said it can be difficult “when you get a combination of letters when it’s difficult to work in your mind what it could be. It’s tricky when there’s a repeat letter.” 

Gamer Taylor Johnson said that when she is frustrated in order to maintain her patience she takes a break and comes back to it in a couple minutes. Taylor’s friend, Milan Barns, was doing the daily word at lunch later that day. 

I had the opportunity to see Taylor in action and document her path to victory in the game. Taylor always starts with the word “place.” Unfortunately, none of the letters were green and she felt let down. She then put in booty (smiling as she did so), and one letter was green and one letter was yellow. 

“It means the t has to be at the end,” she said, trying to think of the right word. “Ahhh.” 

As Milan did the wordle, she made some wise remarks. 

“Now that I play the wordle, I feel like my vocabulary has expanded,” she said. 

I asked her how long it usually takes for her to complete the wordle and how often she gets frustrated. 

“It takes me a good 15 minutes if I don’t get stumped,” she said. She went on to talk about what she does if she does get stumped. “I normally just ask a friend who’s already completed it for hints. If I still can’t get it after that, I give up and play the old ones,” she said.

Overall, students of the Lovett school have been caught spending their time productively using their brains as they play this game. It has been nice to see a game that is actually beneficial to our brains that brings students together, as they help each other out or compete with one another.  

And for a game this popular with teenagers, it surprisingly has absolutely no bells or whistles.

“When I see how complicated some video games are, you can imagine the programming that goes into that, and how simple, relatively speaking this is, yet how popular it is. I like that,” said Mr. Newman.