School News
Sept 10
Expectations & Anxieties for the New Year
Kalpit Modi
Contributing Writer
A brand new school year is a year
loaded with opportunity, excite-
ment, and fresh experiences unin-
fluenced by the year before. Since
no two years are alike, you are
bound to meet new people and at-
tend different classes. However, on
the not-so-bright side, there are al-
ways issues of anxiety, stress and
worry for the upcoming school year.
For the incoming class 0f
2014, it is the start of an Upper School
career. As many of the 10th, 11th, and
12th graders remember it is a year
that is loaded with unfamiliarity. In a
typical first day of Upper School: you
walk through the front gates staring
at the older people already making
themselves at home on the couches
and benches. You are scared to be late
to a class because it create a bad first
impression, but you aren’t one hun-
dred percent sure where every class
is. You fumble around the school and
eventually find your class. After that
first trip to your first block, every-
thing gets easier, you start to get the
hang of things and hopefully, relax.
For an Upper Schooler, high school
is full of new opportunities. As Hirsh
Shekhar ’14 and Ryan Stocking ‘14
explained, “There are many more op-
Girls and Boys or Women and Men?
Sutton Higgins
Page Editor
T he recent resurgence of con-
flict between students and the ath-
letic department over using “wom-
en’s” or “men’s” versus “boy’s”
and “girl’s” has the student body
abuzz. I sat down with athletic di-
rector, Jim Lindsay to find out the
reason word choice has become a
hot topic in the Blake community.
There are two main rea-
sons the athletic department has
banned the use of qualifiers other
than “boys’” and “girls’” when refer-
ring to Blake sports. The first reason,
says Lindsay, is a matter of official
policy. “At the most fundamental lev-
el, the Minnesota State High School
League sponsors girls’ programs
and boys’ programs.” It is impor-
tant for the athletic department to
be consistent with labels, particu-
larly in official apparel or literature.
However, Lindsay “never thought [us-
portunities [at the Upper School] than
Middle school. There are a lot more
clubs to join, for example you have
Debate, Math Team, Quiz Bowl etc.”
However there is a downside
to all of these opportunities – there
isn’t enough time to do them all with
the amount of work assigned in each
Hannah Falvey can use during class and at home.
class. Almost all freshmen inter-
viewed worried about the homework
load and the amount of time it will
take to finish the homework. How-
ever, sophomores, Anders Ekholm
’13, Babs Laco ’13 and Kylan Duff
’13 explain, “You hear stories about
how much work there is in freshmen
year, but [it] isn’t as bad as it seems.”
For the upperclassmen, a new
stress factor arises: Tests and College.
In your junior year of high school,
ing men’s or women’s] was a conflict”
until complaints were brought to him
attention four years ago. “Some par-
ents were very concerned about put-
ting the label of women on what are
in some cases 13-15 year old young
girls. They felt it was very inappropri-
ate.” These concerns sparked a meet-
ing between Lindsay and various fe-
male coaches. “We decided, let’s be
consistent and call ourselves what we
really are – boys and girls.” The de-
partment decided to use only “boy’s”
and “girl’s” in official references to
Blake sports team from that moment
on – both in announcements and lit-
erature as well as on team apparel.
Mr. Lindsay asserts that the athletic
department enforces this policy as
efficiently and equally as possible,
but they “can’t control everything
that goes on. What we can – and do
– control is how we are officially
represented.” Official representa-
tion was what instigated the minor
conflict over the girls’ soccer team
Spectrum
03
DO YOU WANT
you are bombarded with tests: AP’s, SPECTRUM
SAT’s, ACT’s etc. On top of that, you
DELIVERED TO
have the constant homework load.
For seniors a different stress factor
is prevalent – college decisions as your HOME?
Audrey Greene ’11 and Grant Laco
‘11 stated, “[Students] are very ner-
vous about College Decisions and Order a full year sub-
[the process] of getting into college.”
A senior in high school has to write
scription for $20!
many applications for colleges. How- Email spectrum@
ever, Tyler Leslie ’11 mentioned,
“Being a senior you get off-campus blakeschool.org with
privileges. Also you get to choose your name & address!
pretty much all of your classes.”
For teachers a new school
year means a new batch of students
to teach. However this year, they
have one additional means of teach-
ing, Laptops. Every upper school
Homecoming Logo
student has one laptop, which they
Alex Herkert
Contributing Writer
Therefore, the teachers have a special
task of using the laptops as a teach-
W
ing aid for their classes. Enunciating
ith homecoming near, you
her own excitements for the school
must be wondering, what’s the slo-
year, English teacher, Kate Sullivan
gan and the design on the t-shirt?
enunciated, “One source of excite-
This year, to sort of coincide with
ment [for teachers] is putting the
the release of the first part of the
technology to the best use [in class].”
seventh Harry Potter movie, the
So, for this 2010-2011
image will be
school year, be sure to take the
Bearry Pot-
numerous opportunities, face
ter. It depicts
the challenges, enjoy the excite-
a bear with
ments and remember don’t worry.
a cape and
a lightening
scar. Creators
include Cole
S p e n c e r,
Romy Ack-
burg,
chael Lima,
Mi-
and Sydney
Armstrong
and many
other con- Hannah Falvey
tributors.
Ellie Alldredge When getting reactions from stu-
shirts, says Lindsay. The captains of
dents, Caroline Hunsicker ‘13 said,
the team came to the athletic depart-
“I’m so exited. The bears will be the
ment to inquire about using “wom-
team that lived after our homecom-
en’s” on their shirts, were told no and
ing game. We are unbeatable!”. Also,
given the rationale explained above.
the pins that you can buy during the
However, due to misunderstanding
homecoming week say “Go green,
between the two parties, the shirts
Go blue”, for Blake spirit. The shirts
were ordered with the word “ladies’”
are very exiting, and they will help
on them which, while not “women’s”
bring a lot of spirit to Blake during
was still not the required “girls’.” The
this upcoming week and the week-
shirts were called back and new ver-
end following. So bring your money,
sions without a modifier ordered. Mr.
its worth stopping by to get one.
Lindsay emphasized that conflict was
not intended; “I said this shouldn’t be
a distraction, it never was meant to
be a controversy, let’s just move on.”