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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 Katie Maier

The Gold Award, as I always explain, is the highest award that a Girl Scout can earn. It’s basically the Girl Scout equivalent to the Eagle Scout. However, it has virtually no name recognition outside of the Girl Scout community. Over the almost three-year course of my Gold Award project, as I was reaching out to and working with various members of the Greater Atlanta community, I probably found myself having to explain what the award is over a hundred times. Even after I tell people about my project, they’ll often refer to it as the “Golden Award,” “Golden Medal,” or “Gold Star Award.”

So, for those of who don’t already know, here are the basics of the Gold Award: To achieve this honor, a Girl Scout must identify a challenge or opportunity in her community, research the root causes of it, and lead a team initiative to address it. She must log at least eighty hours of work on her project (although mine ended up taking more than twice that long!) and ensure that it will be sustainable past her involvement. This process fosters the development of leadership, collaboration, organization, and so many more invaluable skills.

On March 6, 2022, three members of Lovett-affiliated Girl Scout Troop 11461 were officially honored for their projects at the Girl Scout Gold Award Ceremony. This ceremony was the culmination of thirteen years of scouting for each girl, as we all joined as Daisies in first grade.  

I’m not sure why the Gold Award doesn’t get as much press as the Eagle Scout, but I hope that by reading about Phoebe Ellis, Mary Ashley Jacoppo, and Katie Maier, you will come to understand just how incredible Gold Award Girl Scouts really are.

Phoebe Ellis

For her Girl Scout Gold Award project, called “Stories on the Go: A Rolling Literacy Cart,” Phoebe worked with the Ansley School, a tuition-free private school in Atlanta for students who have experienced homelessness. At the point when she started her project, the school was operating in a basement of a church, and the students had limited reading materials because there was no space for a library.  

After learning about the Ansley School and the challenges it was facing, Phoebe connected with the school administrators to see how she could address some of their needs. She decided to build a rolling literacy cart for the kids that would give them access to a wider variety of books without taking up much of the school’s limited space.

Phoebe designed a rolling cart and went to a carpenter to have it constructed. She filled the cart with some lightly used books, as well as over 150 new books which the school requested. Her project will be sustained through her church community, who will continue to donate books through their vocation bible school each year.

Mary Ashley Jacoppo

For her Girl Scout Gold Award Project, called “The Walton Service Spirit Club,” Mary Ashley worked with students in the special needs program at Walton High School. Mary Ashley saw that of the over eighty student-led clubs at her school, none of them were readily advertised for the students in the special needs program, so she decided to create a club that would give these students an opportunity to engage in their school and local community.

The fifteen members of the Walton Service Spirit Club meet every month to work together on service projects. Some of their recent activities have included making holiday cards for police officers, goodie bags for the lunch and custodial staff, and appreciation cards for their school administration.

Mary Ashley has really enjoyed having the opportunity to help the students feel a greater sense of belonging. A teacher at her school has committed to carry on the club after Mary Ashley graduates so that the students in the special needs program continue to have this space to connect with each other and their broader community.

Katie Maier

For my Girl Scout Gold Award, called “Picture Your Path,” I collected artwork from local kids and transformed the designs into a series of eight murals along local walking/biking trail Path400. My goal was to make a public art display to enhance the beauty of our natural surroundings while bringing together my community and inspiring young student artists to create art, and I partnered with the nonprofit organization Livable Buckhead to help realize my vision.

I started my project right after finishing ninth grade, and I’m glad to have gotten a head start, because I never could have anticipated the obstacles I encountered. The culminating event of my project was originally designed to be an art celebration event. However, it was scheduled for the end of March 2020, and the pandemic put it on hiatus, as it did so many other Gold Award project. Over the next year, I restructured my project to focus more on involving the kid artists in the actual painting of the murals, inviting them to the mural site to help transform their designs into large-scale pieces of art. Even when a permit issue that was out of my control delayed my project once again, I adapted to the ever-changing situation, and because of that, there is a permanent series of murals along Path400.  

Through the obstacles I faced in making my project a reality, I came to learn that my original vision for my project does not have to be my only vision. When the situation changes, I have to change, too, because flexibility and adaptability is a part of leadership.

By Katie Maier

Now more than ever, politics are a point of conversation to avoid. Everybody’s got an opinion, and very few people know how to express that opinion without creating a social media firestorm. But every year, a group of a few hundred Georgia high schoolers get together to express their political beliefs in a more constructive way: Youth Assembly.

From March 20th to the 22nd, the Georgia Center for Civic Engagement hosted the 77th Georgia Youth Assembly conference, where students from across the state convened to simulate the real-life Georgia legislature at an Atlanta hotel. Serving as state senators, representatives, floor leaders, and more, students got the chance to take part in a model legislative process by writing, debating, and (sometimes) passing bills into Youth Assembly law.

Last year, when our usual Model United Nations conference was canceled, I decided to expand Lovett’s MUN team by leading a team to our first-ever Youth Assembly conference, which was modified to a one-day experience due to Covid-19. It gave us a taste of how the state legislature really works and inspired us to return back this year to the full-fledged experience.

This spring, Lovett’s seven-member delegation consisted of students in all four Upper School grade levels. Split into the two chambers of the state legislature, we debated bills, proposed amendments, and voted on issues ranging from setting term limits for Georgia senators and representatives to legalizing marijuana.

I wrote and presented Senate Bill 3, which aimed to introduce free summer childcare at public school facilities to allow parents to continue working without struggling to find and pay for summer camps. The bill made it all the way through the state senate only to be squashed by a tie in House Committee 2.

“It was more difficult than I thought it would be,” admits Lovett senior and state senator Arden Gibson. Seeing the legislative process play out can be inspiring at times, but it can also be frustrating when a vote goes the other way or the presiding officer cuts off a debate right at its climax. Arden says that going through the ups and downs of policymaking “gave me more respect for people involved in civics.”

Fortunately, congressional power also comes with some perks. In between debating on the house and senate floors, we ate some delicious meals at Mellow Mushroom, played Bananagrams, and even attended an impromptu party in the Senate Chamber on the second night of the conference. I had to drag some of the more reluctant delegates to that Senate party, but they thanked me later. There’s nothing like a group of geeky teenagers dancing to the YMCA song in a hotel conference room on a Monday night.  

These informal interactions helped us not only to grow closer as a delegation but also to get to know other students who we wouldn’t otherwise meet.

Because we were some of the only delegates at the conference from the metro Atlanta area, we came with some preconceived notions about the political opinions of the other delegates. However, we were all surprised, and impressed, by the diversity of thought within the assembly.

“I learned to not expect people to follow stereotypes,” says Lovett freshman and state representative Chase Elsas, reflecting upon his interactions with the other delegates.

Interestingly (and unfortunately), even as a group of angsty teenagers, we also seemed to be able to confront and deal with our different opinions better than the “real” politicians do. We countered each other respectfully, we proposed compromises, and our disagreements didn’t extend to unpleasantry outside of the house and senate chambers.

Maybe this says something about our current political culture. Perhaps our main problem isn’t the policymaking process itself but rather the partisan systems that surround and influence it. Youth Assembly certainly helped us all to envision a government where policymakers work across the aisle so that ideas are more efficiently, and more successfully turned into action.

“Polarization is not the normal state of humankind,” reflects Lovett sophomore and state representative Samar Kibe, “and I think that Youth Assembly is a testament to that.”

By Katie Maier

In the summer of 2020, when Covid-19 shut the world down, I was able to connect with someone from the other side of the world. Mrs. Turner, the awesome Director for Civic and Global Engagement at Lovett, reached out to all of the students pursuing a Diploma Distinction in Global studies about a unique opportunity. 

A member of the Buckhead Rotary club, Peter Vang Jensen, was looking to hire a summer tutor for a secondary school (high school) student in Tanzania, also named Peter. Adult Peter wanted to help teenage Peter develop his English language skills through grammar activities, reading practice, and one-on-one conversations. 

Ten minutes after Mrs. Turner sent out the announcement (yes, I check my school email during the summer), I took on the role which would become one of my greatest passion projects in high school. 

During that summer, I met and worked with teenage Peter over Google Meet. I learned that he wants to be a lawyer, loves the “Fast and Furious” franchise, and can see Mount Kilimanjaro outside of his window. 

The experience was incredible, but when fall came and Peter and I both headed back to school, I figured it was over (at least, the tutoring part of it…we still text each other from time to time). 

However, later that fall, in the midst of my crazy junior year, Peter Vang Jensen reached out to me about creating a new tutoring opportunity, and once again, I took up the offer. 

Over the next several months, I worked with him and Mrs. Turner to establish an international tutoring program in which ten Lovett Upper School students would regularly meet with ten secondary school students at the Naura School in Arusha, Tanzania. 

With the partnership of the Buckhead Rotary, the Arusha Rotary, the Lovett School, and the Naura school, I launched the America-Tanzania Tutoring Program (a.k.a. The English Language lab or Tanzania Tutoring) in February 2021. I design the curricula for the now-weekly sessions to consist of get-to-know-you questions, a reading about an aspect of either American or Tanzania culture, and a discussion about the reading. 

Both the Lovett tutors and the Naura students opt into the program, and it’s so popular that there is always a waiting list on both sides. 

One of the current Lovett tutors, sophomore Hannah Brown, says she joined the program last fall because  she “thought it was a cool opportunity to get to know people from another country and connect with them.”

Of course, because the program entails connecting students on opposite sides of the world, the logistics are inherently pretty complicated. 

For example, the East Africa Time zone is either seven or eight hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, depending on whether it’s daylight savings time. That means the only mutually convenient time for both schools is morning in the United States and afternoon in Tanzania. So we had to take advantage of Lovett’s Wednesday late start days to make the program possible. 

Instead of sleeping in on Wednesday morning, when school doesn’t start until 8:50AM, Lovett students in the America-Tanzania tutoring program wake up early and log into 7:45AM sessions. 

“I always look a bit frazzled” senior Kiley Jones says about the Wednesday morning meetings, “because I legitimately get to school exactly five minutes before the meeting starts.”

But the most challenging aspect of it has been the technological piece. A grant from the Buckhead Rotary provided ten laptops and wifi service to the Naura School for use in the program, but the implementation of the technology wasn’t easy at first. Thanks to virtual school during the Covid-19 pandemic, Lovett students were well versed in Google Meets, but most of the Naura School students did not have any experience using computers or email accounts, let alone video conferencing. 

Along with helping the Naura students learn English, we had to dedicate a good amount of time to helping them get comfortable with technology. We taught them the Google Meet etiquette that we all learned during the pandemic (muting and unmuting, joining breakout rooms, etc.) as well as how to open and respond to emails so that we could communicate between sessions. 

Even as we sorted all of this out, we still had to stay flexible and understand the realities of working with people in another country. Power outages and spotty wifi are a lot more common in Arusha than they are in Atlanta, causing not-so-infrequent session cancellations. 

We’ve also learned to consider the fact that Arusha students and Lovett students come from different cultures. It’s what makes the program truly eye-opening for all participants, but it can also cause some frustration at times. 

For example, in America, we tend to plan out our lives far ahead of time, while in Tanzania, people tend to live more in the moment rather than stick to a strict schedule. Last-minute cancellations, or calling off sessions without any prior warning, do happen from time to time, although they have become less common as our partnership with the Naura School has become stronger. 

Despite all of these logistical challenges, the America-Tanzania Tutoring Program has been incredibly successful. It’s an opportunity for the Tanzanian students to develop their English skills through interactions with native English speakers, but it’s also a cultural exchange between young people in America and Tanzania. 

In fact, the great success of the program inspired the expansion of the program. Georgia State Honors College now has a program with their student body. We continue to run sessions on Wednesdays, and they lead additional sessions on Mondays and Tuesdays. Now, the Naura students get to engage in three English language sessions every week, and even more American students can take part in this international experience. 

As for me, I will be graduating this spring and calling on a Lovett underclassman to run the program for the next group of students. After two years of planning and establishing this international partnership, it will certainly be bittersweet for me to pass the torch, but I feel very lucky to have had the privilege of working with some incredible students in both America and Tanzania. 

By Mackenna Stewart

At the beginning of the year, all upper school students are drug tested. After this universal drug testing period in August or September, any student in the high school is subject to random drug testing up to two times. 

Recently, the OnLion sent out a survey to find out what students thought about the random and universal drug testing policy and its effectiveness. 

When it comes to universal testing, 56.6% showed approval for the policy because not only does it “hold a standard for students,” but it also “benefits the school as a whole.” The other 44.4% expressed disapproval for a number of reasons, including the belief that “If students know there will be a drug test they will just plan around the date.” 

When I asked students how they felt about random drug testing the answers were a bit different. 47.2% of students believe random drug testing should continue because it “discourages constant use” and it’s a “good way to see who tries drugs, especially returning from breaks.” 

But the remaining 52.8% of students tend to see things a little differently. Some students expressed that it was “annoying” primarily due to hair loss or “stressful” because not all students do drugs. Although the free will of students to learn and experiment is encouraged, drug experimentation of any kind at an early age is a concern for admin. Studies show that the earlier adolescents experiment with drugs, the more likely they are to have negative experiences with drugs in adulthood. From a student point of view, it may appear that the administration is trying to control students lives but after speaking with Mr. Boswell, the intentions of administration are focused on health rather than discipline. 

I spoke with Upper School Head Mr. Boswell about the history of the policy and its implementation over the years. In November of 2015, when Lovett announced that they would begin random drug testing students, there was a concern that it would create a distrustful community. But according to Mr. Boswell, since the program was launched, many parents have been thankful to have learned things about their child that they wouldn’t have known without drug testing. 

According to copious research that Lovett has done, the “earlier a student uses drugs and alcohol, the more likely they are to have adverse outcomes later in life.” In order to deter habitual drug use, Lovett finds that the most effective way is through drug tests. 

And 41.9% of upper school students do seem to agree that random drug testing is a pretty effective way of deterring habitual drug use. Still, while 36.4% of the Lovett high school agrees that drug tests are pretty effective, 45.6% of the Lovett high school community believe drug tests are not very effective as sometimes may continue to engage in occasional drug use despite having drug tests. 

Lovett drug tests are proactive for this reason because Mr. Boswell and the admin understand that not every student is perfect. If a student tests positive for a drug test, there is a clear line of action to deal with this in a health and wellness category rather than a punitive one. 

When a student tests positive, only 3 people on campus are aware: Ms. Cole, Mr. Boswell, and Ms. Friedman, Director of K-12 Counseling. Next, the outside company that handles testing will reach out to the family of the student to let them know that the school will reach out soon. 

Following this notification, Mr. Boswell will set up a meeting with the student, parents, counselor, and Ms. Cole. During this meeting, Lovett will ask the family to get a drug and alcohol evaluation. In addition to this evaluation, the student must wait 100 days when the drugs are cleared out of their system before they take another drug test. The family will also be asked to speak with an outside counselor, who will communicate with one of Lovett’s counselors, to figure out if the drug use was addictive or experimental. This will help the student and family talk about ways to prevent drug use along with ways to cope with what may have caused drug use. After the 100 day period is over, the student will be tested again. If this same student does receive another positive test, Lovett will ask that the student withdraw for medical reasons and not behavioral.

Mr. Boswell notes that there are “far more single positives.” This simply means that if a student does test positive, the effectiveness of the rehabilitative process deters the student from habitual drug use, and prevents another positive test. Lovett’s rehabilitative process is so successful, primarily because there is a balance between private and Lovett support. There are times when Lovett is completely hands-on and then there are times when Lovett helps advise families on the steps to recovery in order to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the student.

But while the drug testing is primarily proactive and meant to help, there are choices students can make that will result in more severe disciplinary consequences. “For a student who brings alcohol and drugs to campus or school events, that is a behavioral and discipline issue and could result in immediate removal from school,” Mr. Boswell said. If drugs or alcohol is brought to school, any school-related event, or circulates around social media with Lovett connections, it can result in a more harsh consequence because it can cause danger to the community as a whole. 

Whether the matter is behavioral or related to health and wellness, it is not lost on Lovett that not everyone agrees with the policy and that some think Lovett could do more to prevent drug use. Due to this, Mr. Boswell said they were considering adding optional drug tests, but it would be separate from the regular drug program. For example, Mr. Boswell said a parent could ask for their child to be tested for alcohol and nicotine. Lovett uses Psychemedics five-drug panel and randomly includes testing for other amphetamines, fentanyl, and synthetics.

Currently, while Lovett does have the power to test for various other drugs, such as nicotine, it doesn’t because it isn’t illegal to possess. 

As for alcohol, Mr Boswell explained how when drug testing was first proposed at Lovett, some thought “the idea of testing for alcohol seemed like a bridge too far.” Alcohol is deemed more socially acceptable and a “rite of passage” in adolescents but students that are under the influence on school property endanger themselves and the school community which is why it is not acceptable at school. 

Another legal and socially accepted drug is caffeine, which is sold here in drink from, but Lovett strives to make the distinction between drugs like caffeine and “other drugs” in order to bring attention to other substances that are not as hardcore as a substance like heroin or cocaine.

Lovett has continued the drug testing policy to keep the community safe. And for those that are skeptical about the random nature of the random testing, Mr. Boswell said that the outside company that Lovett partners with is in charge of randomly pulling ID numbers. A common misconception is that athletes are drug tested more than others. At Lovett, after a student is selected twice for random drug testing, they will not be tested again even if the private company pulls their ID number. On the other hand, students that have received positive tests before are subject to more frequent drug tests. 

As Lovett continues to find ways to prioritize mental health and safety, drug tests will likely remain, which will annoy some students.

But others are supportive, like the student who wrote about having gone to public school before Lovett and noticing “such a big difference because of the drug tests.” This student seemed to feel like drug testing is effective in protecting the community and deterring habitual drug use. 

Some students agree and some don’t, but we must agree that safety is a priority. And whether students believe that drug use (occasional or habitual) is problematic or not, the policy seems to give everyone a good excuse not to give in to peer pressure, or use drugs as a coping mechanism for dealing with the pressures of school and life. Of course, that means the school and families will need to help students find other ways to maintain balance in their lives.

By Alexis Dalton

When I think about detention, the first thing that comes to mind is John Bender from The Breakfast Club (an amazing movie… go watch it after you read this). He’s the classic bad boy who skips class, badmouths teachers, wears red and black, and raises his fist on a football field, forever paused in his defiance as Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” cranks up to goosebump-inducing effect. But not everyone that ends up in detention is a young criminal. (Sometimes they’re also a brain, athlete, basket case, or princess.) 

While Shermer High School’s detention system is known to generations, few students (including myself) seem to know how detention works in the Lovett Upper School, so I talked to Ms. Morris, one of the deans. 

First of all, let’s start with the vocabulary. An infraction is a violation of a rule that needs to be reported. These are usually a result of repeated behavior that has not stopped even after a warning. A detention is a consequence for accumulating infractions.

The main goal of the discipline system is to make sure students can learn from their mistakes and to make sure a positive learning environment is being created for all students. “I think that it’s not overly punitive,” Ms. Morris said. “We’re not trying to hand out detentions the first time a kid makes a mistake. It’s more just a way for teachers to highlight a behavior that needs to change.”

According to Ms. Morris, the administration has tried over the years, to make sure the system “fosters student learning and the other goals of the school like creating a sense of belonging” She added, “These rules serve as boundaries to make sure that can happen.”

I’ve had a quick taste of what it’s like to cross those “boundaries” In 7th grade, I got detention for chewing gum. So one Friday after school, instead of walking to the pond to get picked up, I stopped at the MPR to serve my time. When I walked into the room, I sat down and got some stares since everyone in there was a regular. I stayed in that room for 30 minutes writing how I will never chew gum in class again (this clearly didn’t stick (no pun intended) because I’m chewing gum as I’m writing this). 

Since my detention story doesn’t go through all the stages of the discipline system (thankfully), I will be using a made-up student named Jimmy to explain. 

Jimmy has been messing around on the weekend. He’s been going to games, parties, and doing pretty much everything except schoolwork. He comes into class on Monday morning late as usual and is constantly talking to his friends about his insane weekend while his teacher is teaching. This is the tenth time Jimmy has arrived late and disrupted his class in the past month, so he receives two infractions: one for being late and one for incomplete homework. Those infractions are only warnings and there are no consequences. 

A week later, Jimmy forgets that he has chapel, and wears his navy polo instead of his chapel shirt. When he walks into school, he is spotted by Mr. Melito who gives him his third infraction of the semester. Since this is his third infraction, he has a morning detention where he has to come in 30 minutes before advisory, sit in a dean’s office, and “sit quietly to think.” 

Over the next three weeks, Jimmy gets two more infractions. His fourth infraction sends him back to the dean’s office. However, his fifth infraction gets him a weekend detention. This usually requires the student to come into school over the weekend and help out with an event that is going on (like an open house).

Jimmy clearly has not learned his lesson, because he gets a sixth infraction. Now he is required to go to the Discipline Council where he will have the opportunity to explain his side of the story, answer questions, or admit to what he’s done.

Though this scenario is a “very unusual, extreme example,” according to Ms.Morris that’s the process of detentions at Lovett. The question is, however, how much does this process help prevent future poor behavior from the student?

Ms. Morris said that she could not think of any instances where a student had gone to discipline council multiple times in one year, and when I asked Ms.Morris if she thought that the system is helping students and preventing students from making the same mistakes, she laughed and said she hoped so or she would “need to reexamine” it. 

When I asked if Ms. Morris, a former Lovett student, had had any detentions, she shook her head and laughed. “No, I never got any detentions…” she told me. “… but my husband, who went to school with me here, definitely spent some time in the principal’s office.” 

Her husband’s detentions seemed to have taught him a lesson. “Now he’s a model citizen… his detention days are far behind him.” 

Now that you know the ropes of the Upper School’s detention system, you might be able to better avoid being a part of it. Of course, some of you might still think a Breakfast Club-type Saturday might actually be kind of interesting. But remember, just because John Bender got to kiss the girl at the end of detention doesn’t mean you’ll get to.

By Ella Kate McCord

In the years before I started attending Lovett, I would often hear my Dad and Uncle speak about the amazing experiences they had while they were here, and the fond memories of the teachers that impacted their lives, affecting who they eventually became as adults.  

In middle and high school, I’ve been surprised at how many teachers and coaches either taught or knew my Dad or Uncle from their years here. This made me wonder how prevalent this was for other students at Lovett.  

I truly thought that this was rare but have learned that it has actually become fairly common for a good number of teachers still at Lovett to end up teaching the children of their former students. To me, it says so much about Lovett that many teachers and faculty members have chosen to teach at one place long enough to get the opportunity to teach and impact multiple generations in some families… like mine.   

When someone recognizes my last name and inquires about my possible family relationship with one of their former students, I often hesitate for a moment before answering because you never know if the teacher will see it as a good or a bad thing. In that moment of hesitation, I always really hope that they remember my family member in a positive way and that my connection with them won’t reflect poorly moving forward.  

Both my Dad and Uncle are pretty incredible, but let’s just say that some teachers didn’t love them as much as others so I just always hope they either had a good relationship or that the teacher is able to see past that connection if they didn’t have the best one.

Since I started Lovett in Middle School, meeting teachers that knew my family members really helped me to feel connected to Lovett as I started at a new school.  It was fun to hear Mr. Sayles tell funny stories about when he taught my Dad and his friends. It was also funny and quite interesting to hear Jimmy Jewell talk about coaching my Dad in soccer and how they had their ups and downs but ended up having a pretty good relationship in the end. 

I started Upper School off in the same manner as I did middle school by immediately making a connection with another teacher that taught one of my family members.  On my first day of Upper School, my English Teacher, Mrs Morgan, recognized my last name and made that connection with me as she had been my uncle’s Advisor for all four years of high school and had also taught him English as well. Similar to the start of Middle School, this immediate family connection gave me the same sense of comfort as I started Upper School.  

My most recent and one of my favorite connections I have made is with Coach Davis.  After 31 years of teaching at Lovett, he told me that it is becoming more common for him to figure out multi-generational connections between some of his current students with ones he taught years ago.  “The students will either tell me or I will hear the last name,” said Coach Davis. He recognized my last name in the first class that I had with him and asked about my relationship to my uncle.  It turns out that he coached my uncle in baseball for all four years of high school and had a great relationship with him.  Although he was excited to find out that I was related, he also said that it “just made him feel old.” 

Coach Davis and I talked about how things have changed between generations of students and compared students today to my uncle’s graduating class.  Coach Davis said that throughout the years at Lovett, the kids have become a lot less disciplined at school. I talked to him about my uncle’s class of students and he said that they were a lot more accountable for things back then than they are now.  

While I hated to hear about how students had changed over the years, it made me wonder how we could look back and learn from previous generations.  The absolute best part of making this connection was that Coach Davis was able to find and show me videos of my uncle playing baseball at Lovett.  Not only was it so fun for me to see my uncle in his “glory days” and scoring the game-winning run, but it was also incredible to get to share the video with my uncle (especially because he didn’t remember ever seeing it).  

Since so many Lovett Alumni chose to send their own children to Lovett, it is more common than one would think for teachers to end up teaching children or relatives of former students.  I have really enjoyed making these connections with teachers who taught my Dad or Uncle in the past.  It has not only helped me to feel connected to the school, it has also been so fascinating to hear all kinds of stories about who they were while they were at Lovett.  I would assume that this is not common at many other schools and think Lovett should be honored that so many teachers chose to remain for so many years and that alumni chose to send their own children to the school they loved growing up.  

By Ella Kate McCord

Since the cafe opened at Lovett, they have served delicious warm chocolate chip cookies on Wednesdays.  “Warm Cookie Wednesdays” have become something that decades of Lovett students have looked forward to.

I always knew what a big deal “warm cookie Wednesdays” were, but truly had no idea the insane amount of cookies that the cafe sold each week until I had the opportunity to speak with the cafe manager, Cat Chartier.  

“We sell around 100 cookies a day,” says Cat. I was completely shocked that on an average “warm cookie Wednesday” the cafe uses seventy pounds of cookie dough more than doubling the amount they use on an average day. 

Some might wonder just what makes these cookies so much more delicious than just normal cookies. Of course, serving the cookies warm makes them more appealing but I also found out that the cafe makes the chocolate chip cookies from scratch.  No wonder they are so good! 

In addition to the delectable “made from scratch” chocolate chip cookies, Cat and the cafe staff also want to make sure that they offer a variety of options to appeal to the majority of the student population.  “We make some of the cookies by scratch and then we often try new flavors by ordering them from our main vendor,” says Cat. 

The cafe would ideally love to offer new options each week as well as seasonal and specialty cookies.  Recently, the cafe has offered new flavors like salted caramel, M&M, and Reese’s Peanut Butter in addition to “seasonal” options based around holidays or seasons. For example, they were able to offer Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies around Valentine’s Day. 

When asked how they choose their flavors, Chef Kat answered, “Availability, for one, because right now supply chain issues are hard.”

With all this talk about cookies, I just had to know what Cat’s favorite cookie was and I had to chuckle a bit at her answer.  Maybe preparing that many cookies weekly from scratch or talking about cookies all the time has steered her away from cookies a bit, but Cat says she actually prefers to have a donut from Da Vinci’s Donuts or Ice Cream from Brusters or Coldstone Creamery over a cookie these days. Still, she did mention that she really has enjoyed the Reeses Peanut Butter Cookie from the cafe lately. 

Expanding the cookie options at the cafe seems to have attracted more students. Lately, while walking through the halls you will see a lot more people holding cookies in their hands and there is definitely much more talk about the cafe cookies than there has ever been before.  

With that in mind, I decided to roam the halls at Lovett asking students about their favorite cafe cookie and no one was hesitant to pass along their answer. Of course, everyone still seems to love the classic chocolate chip cookie but lots of the new flavors were mentioned. Junior Aiden Hahn said that her favorite continues to be the chocolate chip cookies that made “warm cookie Wednesday” famous, while others have really taken to the new cookie options like Sophomore Connor Davis who said his favorite was the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookie. 

If you haven’t popped by the cafe lately, you should definitely do so and try one of the new cookies they are offering! You won’t be disappointed!

By Kate Rogers

Projects, or “proyectos,” are an integral part of Spanish Class, and a hallmark of any Spanish learning experience. Since I started Spanish in fifth grade I’ve done a countless number of them, so when Señora Mitchell announced our “Las Noticias Project” I was unsurprised. For this one, we would spend two weeks brainstorming, stressing, and creating our very own newscast all about Lovett…in Spanish, of course. 

Señora Mitchell summarized the project this way: “It is a newscast where students have to have different sections about Lovett; what is trending at Lovett, what’s happening in sports, and the weather.” Essentially, we all put together a short newscast about our school, which is relevant to us because our current vocabulary in Spanish is “Los Medios de Comunicación” or Modes of Communication. Our newscast included many words from the unit, in fact we were required to put in at least ten per section.

Señora Mitchell wants her students to “practice their real-world work, working as an expert in the field because they can apply their vocabulary and you know the authenticity is very important and is meaningful for the students because they are applying all of the vocabulary.”

And it really was cool to be able to make a newscast a lot like one you might make in the real world, using the vocabulary we had learned right there in class. It was an opportunity to see how our Spanish skills could be applied in a wider setting.

It was even a great opportunity for those who were interviewed. Christine Lee, a tenth grader who I interviewed for the project due to her involvement in the Signature, corroborated saying, “I learned some new vocab terms because I wanted to say something, I wanted to say certain words in Spanish so I looked it up”. Basically, everyone benefited from the project.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t yet spread to other Spanish classes, though she started doing it three years ago. “Right now it is only my Spanish Three Honors Class doing it,” Senora Mitchell explained, “but soon my Spanish Three Class will do it as well.”

We started by planning an entire newscast, then we made a script (making sure to add in the subjunctive, indirect/direct/double object pronouns, commands, and our vocabulary), set up interviews, conducted interviews, put together a video, edited it, and finally presented it. While it was time-consuming, it was actually really fun and a nice break from the monotony of Spanish vocabulary, grammar, and more. 

In the end, we had a video with two sections and four interviews, covering multiple sport teams, the play, and the Signature. We even put in a commercial (all in Spanish) for the cafe, specifically promoting their cookies, pizzas, and bagels, three of the best foods there. 

Señora Mitchell said she’s seen a lot of great projects over the years.  “I am expecting this year to be the best because it is my honors class,” she said. I have to say that comment scared me a little, the pressure was certainly on. 

Overall, we learned a lot, had fun, and got a great new experience. Hopefully, other Spanish teachers could implement a project like this in their own classes. 

“They help the students understand how to use the vocabulary in the authentic and real world,” Senora Mitchell said.