The Commonwealth MAY 27, 20111

The CommonwealthVolume 3 • Issue 4

LAST CHANCE TO LEAVE LEGACYBy Reed Lovitt

Seniors (left to right) Jack, Maddie, Nkechi, Val, Khari, Andrew and Haydn pretend to be asleep in their pajamas during a recent free dress day, but they and fellow seniors will soon wake up to a harsh reality.

Seniors Bracing Before Facing A Brave New world

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“College has lost its magic touch.” With those five words in asimple declarative sentence, recentPilgrim School graduate David Chosummed up the predicament thathe and fellow college students neverimagined they’d find themselves in.They’renotalone,though.ThecurrentclassofPilgrimseniorshasrecognizedthat theworld that theyareabout toenter has been adversely affected bythedownturninthenation’seconomy. Like it or not and ready ornot, Pilgrim seniors will head off totheirfirstsemesterofcollegethis fallat a time when recent studies haveshown there is greater anxietyaboutthepresentandfuturethanthereeverhasbeenbeforethroughoutAmericancampuses. Aretheirjobsforcollegegrad-

uates now?Will there be jobs for Pil-grimgraduatesfouryearsfromnow?College graduates and high schoolseniors alike find themselves askingthemselveswhatwillthefuturebring. According to the most re-cent edition of a 25th annual surveyentitled “The American Freshmen:National Norms Fall 2010,” the num-ber of college students who regardedtheirmentalhealthas“belowaverage”hasincreasedtoitshighestlevelsince1985. Meanwhile, the percentageof students who said their emotionalhealth was above average fell to 52percent compared to 64 percent in1985.Thenumbersarenaturallytiedtothenear-recordnationalunemploy-ment figure that continues to hoveraround 9%,which doesn’t even take

ByXavierSallas-Brookwell

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It’s graduation ceremony and you’ve just been handed your diploma. What’s your first thought?Maddie:Finally!Nkechi:HopeIlookcuteforallthepic-tures.Cantheyseemyshoes?Ipaidalotforthoseshoes.Val:I’llmissmyfriendsmorethanI’llmiss the school.Andre:Me,too.

It’s 20 years from now. What are you doing?

Val:Maddie,she’sPresidentofCMAST.Soundsimpressive.Maddie: Not really. It’s CaliforniaMathematics Association of Student/Teachers.Val: Nkechi, she’ll be Headmaster ofPilgrim. Telling all the kids: Don’t BeAwful!Nkechi:Makingmini-Nkechis.

Let’s go back in time. Your first day at Pilgrim. What were you like then?Val:Oh,man.Ninthgrade. Iwasshy.Kepttomyself.Hard to believe.Val:Iknow.Maddie: I shadowedwithVal, buthelostmefirstperiod.Notagreatstart.Khari: I came dressed in chapelclothes. My dad made me.Val:Iknewthenyouwereacomedian.Andrew: I’m forty-five minutes latemy first day. They introduce me atmorningmeeting.I’mnotthere.

Something must’ve changed.

Val:Igrewup.Becameoutspoken.About what?Nkechi:Howhard it is toaccomplishanything as a class. We’re the oneswhocanreallytellwhatwe’veaccom-plished.Val:Youcan’tmeasureschoolmorale.But look at Homecoming. Look howmanykidswegottogotothedance.Nkechi: It’s hard to change things.They’llmiss us. They’llmiss our per-sonalities.Andrew: We’ve had some privilegestakenawayfromus.Butalotofushavebeentherewheneverthey’veaskedustodosomethingfortheschool.Khari: It’s all about what we’vebrought to the school based on whatwe’ve done as individuals. Before wewerehere, there reallywasnomusicprogram. There really was no dramaprogram.Therewasnoartcenter.Themusic popped off. It’s like the schoolsays, We Grow Students. Our classgrewmusicians.Maddie:ThefirstBarnumCafé.Every

studentwhoperformedwas fromourclass.Nowthereareperformersfromotherclasses.Nkechi:OurpoetryprogramissogoodnowpartlybecauseBriannaissuchagood poet.Khari:Samethingwithsomesports.Maddie:Theytalkabouthowseniorsdidn’tcomeoutforfootball.Butlookatboys’volleyball.Allbutoneplayerisasenior.What happens next year?Nkechi: The juniors? They’ll be fine.With ASB, they’ll have good leader-ship.They’regonnafacethesamekindofproblemsthatwefaced.Thenthey’llhave to do what we did: stay strongandstaytogether.How do they do that?Nkechi:Speakout.Andrew: You have an opinion? Saywhat you think. I mean, at CampbellHall, you challengea teacher on, say,Libya?.They’llshutyouup.Nothere.

Everyyear,anewgroupofse-niors graduate from high school andare hopefully prepared to enter therealworld. Given all the recent tech-nologicaladvancementsthathaveputmorepowerthaneverbefore intothehandsoftheyouth,thisyear’sgradu-ates atPilgrimand other schools arepoisedtochangetheworld. The revolutionary spirit isthere for the entire world to see inEgypt, Libya and elsewhere. Pilgrimseniors understand and appreciatehowtheyarepartofagenerationthatwillnotbesatisfiedtofollowtheleadofthoseincharge. Classmembershavemet so often with Dr. Mark Brookswhile trying to convince the Head ofSchool to change policy that he hasdubbed the Class of 2011 as FutureCEO’softheWorld. In the days leading to theirgraduationandinthewakeofcurrentevents that have had local, nationaland international repercussions, TheCommonwealthdecidedtoplayhosttoa“SeniorRoundtable,”whereagroupoutspoken Pilgrim students held anopen discussion concerning issuesfromoncampustoaroundtheworld.Among the participants: ValentineAdell, Nkehci Ampah, Khari Rhynes,Maddie Kanazawa, Andrew Burkle,Camille Reyes-Gilpin, Clare Reyes-Gilpin, Andre Voloshin, Jeffrey Brad-shaw,andReedLovitt.

It won’t be long before seniors (left to right) Khari, Val, Jack, Nkechi, Maddie, Andre, Alice and Reed leave the Pilgrim School main entrance for the last time before they face their new challenges as college students.

The Commonwealth MAY 27, 20112

We Couldn’t Have Done It Without Him

As the student most responsible for the production of The Common-wealth, Reed Lovitt has used his experience to open doors into colleges.

ByMarinaPena

10-Refereeingeveryfivemin-utes Gavin and Marina fought it outover who will eventually inherit thecovetedpositionofEditor-in-Chief.

9-Watchingshyandunassum-ing Gabriella transform into all-know-ing,all-telling,all-powerfulDearGabby.

8 -TryingtofigureoutwhyYi-hanandKeiwanweresoanimateddur-ing theirmany shoutingmatches thatcamewithoutsubtitles.

7-Prayingfordivineguidancebut then relying on computer-savvyCallatosolveglitcheswiththeclickofamouse-withouttravelingtoLAX.

6 -ConstantlysendingSamonmissions to retake photos, especiallywhen female subjects of stories com-plainedtheydidn’tlooksogood.

5 - Sneaking peeks at Ana-bella while she smiled at her comput-er screen, which meant she probablywasn’tonaWorddocument.

4 - Catching Xavier hold upthe Christmas issue to his video chatscreen so his girlfriend could see howhementionedhernameinprint.

3- Choosing the best fromamongDom’sfamousquotes:“WhatdoIdonow?”“I’mCanadian.”“Wherearetheheadphones?”“Idon’tdolayout.”

2 - Panicking whenever Reeduttered “uh-oh”atapageweassumedwas finished like a doctor blurted out“oops”duringasurgery.

1 - Using Chris as a humanpunchingbagtosetthetoneandstan-dard for theentireyearwith the infa-mous, “This is%$#$ high school jour-nalism!”message.

Top 10 MemorableMoments

from class

Reed Lovitt – Editor-in-ChiefXavier Sallas-Brookwell–Senior EditorMarina Pena – Senior WriterCalla Carter - Senior WriterGabriella Carmona - Senior WriterSam Kim – Staff Photographer/WriterGavin Somes - Assistant EditorAnabella Arakaki – Feature WriterChristopher Yoon - Staff WriterEric Hwang – Staff ResearcherJustin Choi – Staff ResearcherYihan Chan - Staff WriterKaiwen Liu – Staff WriterAudrey Yun - Staff ArtistMr. Smith - Advisor

The Commonwealth2010-2011 Staff

“From Yugo To Mercedes”ByCallaCarter

As youwalk intoRoomC331during Newspaper Class, you natu-rallyseeateam-butsoonenoughyoualsorealizewhoistheman.Whileev-eryoneasksquestionsaboutanythingfromcopytocaptions,theycalloutonenameandonenameonly.ReedLovittisnotjusteditor-in-chief,he’sthecen-terofattentionwhose jobdescriptionboils down to making everyone whocontributes to the pages of The Com-monwealthlookgood. Reed’s journeytohispositionof responsibility that has helped himinsomanywaysprepareforhisnextadventureincollegebeganbackin8th grade at Harvard-Westlake School,where,“Ihappenedtobeoneoftheold-erkids,”hesaid, “soIgottobenewseditor.” Reed then brought along hisexperiencewhenhetransferredtoPil-grim,wherehesoonunderstoodtherewasmuchworktodo. “WhatIremember,”Reedsaid,“ishowwehadtoestablisheverything:fonts, headers, captions. Everythingwas reallydisorganized.” But just astimeschange,sodid theclass. “We’remore solidified, like a well-oiled ma-chine,” he said. “We used to work ata really slowpace.Now,everybody is

alwaysdoingsomething.We’realwaysupandrunning.” As much as Reed has helpedthenewspaper,ithasalsohelpedhimusehistransferableskillsinhislifebe-yondPilgrim. “Allmyworkdoinglayouthasallowedmetousemyartisticside,”hesaid.“It’salsoallowedmetolearncom-puterdesignthathelpedmelandajobwithabusiness thatneededsomeonetocreateadvertisement.Andmylead-ership role on the newspaper helpedmetocompletemyEagleScoutprojectthatwasahugecommunityactivity.” Likea jugglerable tokeep somanyobjectsintheairallatonce,Reedisable todesign the lookof eachandeverypageofthenewspaperinawaythat the reader could never imagine.Each story, eachphoto, each caption,andeachheadlinemustbedesignedtofit intoagivenspacewhilealsobeingpresentedinareader-friendlyway. “ThethingI’mmostproudof,”Reed said, “is establishing the head-ers [a format including the name ofthe newspaper plus date of the issueconsistent on every page], because Iknow that those will be used for Pil-grim newspapers from now on. I’malso proud of our second issue [thatfeatured a centerfold spread on Dr.

Brooks containing copy plus a photocollage],because laying itoutwasre-allyhard.Intheend,itturnedouthowIwantedittoturnout.” All of Reed’s hard work withthe newspaper didn’t go unnoticedwhen itwas time forhim to sendouthiscollegeapplications. “I didn’t really do so well inthe 9th grade at Harvard-Westlake,”hesaid,“buteversinceIgotinto10thgradeandstartedatPilgrim,I’vebeenworkinghard,notonlybytakingA.P.courses, but also by participating inextracurriculars, themain one beingnewspaper.Theexperiencehelpedme

get accepted into several schools, in-cludingCalBerkeleyandMichigan.” As he prepares to attend thecollege of his choice, Reed has someadviceforthenexteditor-inchief:“It’simportant to not be too hard on thekids, because, let’s be honest, every-onehastroubleturningineverythingontime.” Reed alsowants everyone onthenewspaperstafftoknowthattheyhaven’t seen the last of him. “EvenwhenI’mincollege,”hesaid,“I’llcon-tinuetohelpMr.SmithwithTheCom-monwealth.Ifheoranybodyelsehasquestions,I’llbethereforthem.”

Mr. Smith always knew thathe wanted to work for a newspaper.“WhenIwasa littlekid,”hesaid,“wewould play whiffle ball on the street,andafterthegamewasoverIwouldgoup tomy roomandwrite aboutwhathappenedonmychalkboard.” Hisloveofwritingfromchild-hoodtoadulthoodresultedinacareerasasportswriterbeforeMr.Smithleftthe newsroom for the classroom. Bythe time he reached Pilgrim School,“Dr. Brooks took one look at my re-sume,”hesaid,“andmadeitclearthathewantedmetorunthenewspaper.” Asaformerprofessionaljour-nalist,itwasjustascleartoMr.Smiththat there was plenty of work to bedone. “If we were going to producesomething up to my standards,” hesaid,“weallhadtoworktogether.” ThestudentsnotonlylearnedfromMr.Smith,healso learned fromthem. “I had no doubts about how Icouldgive themthebenefitofmyex-perience,”hesaid,“butIhadallkindsof doubts about the technical aspectsofpublishing.Forthat,Ireliedonthekids.Theywerewillingtogiveevery-thingtheyhadanddoeverythingtheycouldtoreachthatbarthatIraisedsohighforthem.” Once word spread about thenewenergyandapproachtotheclass,thestaffbegantogrowwhenfreshmenGavinSomes,GabbyCarmonaandCal-laCarterplusjuniorAnabellaArakakisignedup.“Growth is important,”Mr.Smithsaid,“butifyou’renotgrowingwithqualitykids,itdoesn’tmatter.” Withhis teamassembledandthestandardset,thenextstepwastocreate page after page of stories thatwent -asMr.Smithsooftenremindshisstudents-“beyondthetypicalhighschoolattemptatjournalism.” The impact Mr. Smith hasmadeon thenewspaperhasnotgoneunnoticedbyitsreadersaswellasbyits staff. While considering sendingher daughter to Pilgrim, parentBebeJohnsonwasgivenacopyofThe Com-monwealth.“Iwasimpressedwiththeprofessionallookofthepaperandthequalityofthewriting,“shesaid,“espe-

ciallygiventherangeofgrades.” Editor-in-Chief Reed Lovittknows best about the changes madebehind the scenes have produced theresults that everyone eventually cansee for themselves. “This year, it’smoreorganized,”hesaid.“We’vemademoreissuesthanwehaveinyearsbe-fore. That’s because every day whenwe come to class, each of us knowswhatwe’reexpectedtodo.” Togethernessonlygoessofar,though.It’sthestoriesthatultimatelymakeorbreakanypublication,whichis another wayMr. Smith’s “newspa-permentality”comesthrough.“WhenIwrotearticleseverydayforaliving,”he said,” I had to constantly think ofideasthatwouldmakeforarticlesthatI’d like to read.” According to Gabby,“he’s always giving us ideas. It’s likehehasastoryforeverything.” The last word on the evolu-tionofthenewspapergoestoHeadofSchool Dr,Mark Brooks, whose anal-ogy sums up the improvement: “It’slike,”hesaid,“we’vegonefromaYugotoaMercedesBenz.”

The Commonwealth staffers (left to right): Sam, Keiwan, Justin, Chris, Gavin, Xavier, Reed, Eric, Anabella, Marina, Calla and Gabriella.

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The Commonwealth MAY 27, 20113

Keeping Teaching All In The Family

Mrs. Debbie Koller (left), daughter Autumn (right) and grandson Joshua form their very own Pilgrim School family that spans three generations.

ByMarinaPena

seniors sharing words of wisdomContinued From Page 1

It’sonethingfortherestofustosaywelikePilgrimSchoolsomuchthatweeitherattendorteachclasseshere.It’squiteanotherforthemother-daughter team of Kollers to expresshow they feel about our school. Theylove Pilgrim not only enough to bothteach here, but also to entrust theschoolwithamemberoftheirfamily’sthirdgeneration. Meet theKollers,whoonanygiven day at Pilgrim might just runinto one another if they aren’t toobusy:Mom/GrandmaDebbiehasbeenteachingfifthgradeforsixyears,beenatPilgrim for20.Daughter/MomAu-tumn is inher secondyearhereasasecond-grade teacher. Grandson/SonJoshuaisinhissecondyearinthetod-dlerprogram. You’d think that the Kollershadthisfiguredoutthatthey’dsome-daybealltogether.Thinkagain.KobeBryantdidn’tdedicatehimselftobas-ketball because as a little kid he sawhis father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant,play in the NBA. Kobe has said thathe was inspired to play the game byavolunteercoachatanagesoyounghecouldhardlydribble,letalonedunkthe ball. It’s the same storywith theKollers. “My mom was not a teach-er,” Mrs. Koller said. “As a teenager,I worked as a volunteer at the BlindChildren’sCenter inHollywood.IwasmentoredbyateacherwhosaidIwas‘anatural’with children, and she en-couragedmetogointoteaching.Itfeltright. Initially, I thought I’d go intoSpecial Education, but later decidedthatEarlyChildhoodwouldbemyfit.” For Ms. Koller, it was a caseoflikemother,likedaughterasfarasfinding inspiration from outside thefamily - but inside Pilgrim School. “Iwantedtobeateacher,”shesaid,“be-cause during my sophomore year, ItaughtdancealongsideAndreaLocke.

ShehelpedmerealizethatIwantedtobecomeateacher.” It’sonlynatural,though,thatmotheranddaughterwouldsharecer-taintraitsofasuccessfulteacher.“Themost important thing we both have,”Mrs. Koller said, “is a similar voicewhen we talk to our students. Eventhough we teach children at earlyages,weareabletoseethemaspeople,whichinmanywaysIthinkisthekeytobeingagoodteacher.” TheKollersalsoagreethatbyworkingtogether,they’vebecomeclos-erasmotheranddaughter. Neitherofthemeverdreamedthey’d be working in the same pro-fession, let alone at the same school.Whenaskedtodescribetheexperiencein a single word, mother said “fabu-lous,”whiledaughtersaid“perfect.” Well, almost perfect. TheKollersbothadmit that theyquiteof-ten turn aroundwhenever they heartheir last name from a student or acolleague.Therehavealsobeentimeswhenthewrongsetofbookswasdeliv-eredtothewrongclassroomwherethewrongKolleristeaching. Although they both enjoyworkingatPilgrim,bothKollershavekept their dreams alive about whatthey’dliketoaccomplishinthefuture. “I want to have taught everygrade in the elementary level, andhavebroughtmystudent’s fullestpo-tential,”Ms.Kollersaid.“Ialsowouldliketogetadegreeinmarinebiology.”Hermomadded,“I’d liketobringoutmystudents’fullestpotentialandfindawaytoworkwithanimals.” Mrs.Kollerhasanotherambi-tion that goes beyond the classroom.“I’ve alwaysdreamedofbeinganau-thor,”shesaid.“Specifically,I’dliketowritechildren’sbooks.SofarI’veonlyearnedtherighttocallmyselfa‘Frus-tratedWriter.’But I haven’t givenupon the dream.” The most importantthing,accordingtoMrs.Koller,ishowsheandherdaughter,“bothenjoythe

sortof‘magical’qualitythatthefutureholds,inthatitisunknown.” That future, of course, in-cludes the education of 2-year-oldJoshua, who isn’t old enough yet todiscuss how he feels about attendingthesameschoolwherehismotherandgrandmother work. You get the feel-ing,though,thatallthreegenerationsofKollerswillbewelcomebyeveryoneatPilgrim-includingtheboss-foraslongastheywanttostayhere. “The day after Autumn washired,Dr.Brookscametomeveryex-cited.”Mrs.Kollersaid.“Hehadase-cretplantogiveAutumnacompletely

remodeledroom.Thefunnypartwas,her new roomwasmine,while Iwasmoved into an older room. Autumnended up with the Smartboard. I gotoneof the fewoldchalkboards left inthewholeschool.Ah,thethingswedoforourkids!” Likewise, the Kollers havedone so much for so many Pilgrimkids.“Havingthreegenerationsofourfamilyhereatoncespeaksvolumesintermsofhowwe feel aboutPilgrim,”Mrs.Kollersaid.“Itkindofmakesus‘poster children’ in a way, ya’ know?IfeelthatDr.Brooksappreciatesthatfact,aswellasheappreciatesus.”

As ASB president, who better than Val (right) to make a point during the Senior Roundtable session, where Jeff and others also shared opinions.

Khari has contributed his passion plus music to the Pilgrim scene.

What about Pilgrim?Andre:I’llneverforgethowwhenIfellbehind inmywork,especiallywhenIhadmononucleosis,theteachershereworkedwithme.Itmeantalot.Maddie: If I had stayed at LACES, Iwouldn’thavegottenintogoodcolleg-es.IlikewhatIwasabletodoatsuchasmall school.Reed:It’sallaboutpickingupkids.For

me,it’sallaboutsecondchances.Igota second chance here. If I didn’t getit, I’dprobablybehavingahardtimeright now getting into a communitycollege.

Any thoughts on not just your class but your generation, especially heading into a real world that has recently become more compli-cated than ever before?

Reed:Allpeopleourage.Allpeopleinourgeneration.It’suptoustochangetheworld.Wehaveagreat chance tomakeitbetter.Andrew:Wealsohavethebestchancetoscrewitup.Andre:We’renotaspecialgeneration.Khari: Yeah, we are. With YouTube,Twitter, everything else, we have allthe information out there so we alsoneedtogetalltheknowledgeweneedtosolveproblems.Weneedtobeour-selves to do it.How so?Khari:Do somethingyouwant todo,man.Dosomethingtohelpothers.Mymusic.It’smyown.Iuseittotellsto-ries, andmy stories are different be-causeit’spersonal.Whateveryoucando,ithastobefromyou.Reed: Formulate your own views.Don’t take your teacher’s opinions.Don’ttakeyourparent’sopinions.Camille: That’s right. We have prob-lems that need to be solved. And themorewewaittosolvethem,thebiggerthatthey’llbecome.Maddie:Youlookatallthenewsthesedaysandsomuchofitisbad.Lookatwhat’s happening in Libya with thebombing.I’magainstit.Sowehavetodosomethingaboutit.Val:Beactive,Butremember,changedoesn’tcomequietly.Finally, your legacy at Pilgrim?Nkechi:We’vehad somanydifferentpersonalitiescomeshiningthroughinthisclass. I thinkthat’swhatwe’llbe

rememberedfor.Notsomuchforwhatpeople can actually point to and say,‘Theydidthisortheydidthat.’Imean,we’llberememberedforwhoweare.Andrew:It’sallabouthowwemadeitthroughsometoughtimesasindividu-alssowecanalsomakeitasanentireclass.Our legacy ishoweachandev-eryoneofussurvived.Nowthatwe’vesurvived,it’suptoustomoveon.Khari: I wouldn’t do anything differ-ent.Wemadethebestofwhatwehad.

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The Commonwealth MAY 27, 20114

Catch The TigerBy Our Many Tales Pilgrim students take time out of each academic year to become immersed into another culture. The latest school wide experience was entitled White Tiger Week in celebration of all things Chinese, The Com-monwealth asked Calla Carter to keep a log while participating in the events of February 28-March 3 that culminated in student demon-strations during a closing assembly.

ByCallaCarter

A Legacy That’s All About Speaking Out Theyearwas1942,andwhileAmericawasofftowar,approximately110,000 people of Japanese descentwereforcedbythegovernmentoftheLandof theFree intocampsbynamebutprisonsbynature.Theyhadcom-mitted no crime yet were consideredguilty by association with the PearlHarbor attack. It wasn’t until threeyears late that they were finally re-leased,butthedamagehadbeendone.Areluctantwitnesstothispieceofhis-torycametoPilgrimtotellhisstory. Dr.Kidder’s8th gradehistoryclasswas thefirst to be soprivilegedto listen to Laurence Matsuda. Theysatquietlyandfocusedashereadhislyrical poems about his family’s ex-perience in theMinidoka internmentcamp, followed by his family’s situa-tionafter theywerereleasedbuthadnoplacetogo. ThoughborninMinidoka,Mr.Matsudawasmerelyninemonthsoldatthetimeofhisfamily’srelease,sohedoesnothaveanyfirst-handrecollec-tionofthecamp.Growingupinafam-ily thatwas forever changedby theirinternment is all he needs to knowabouthisexperience. “It [the camp] was men-tionedallthetime,”Mr.Matsudasaid.“Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays,- therewasn’toneoccasionwhenourwhole familywastogetherthatsome-one didn’t bring it up. We would sayGrace, and then someone would say,‘Remember, we used to have a pianoright here,”andwewould go on fromthere.”

Mr. Matsuda also recalledhow,evenatanearlyage,hewasabletopickupontheresentmentthattheadults in his family had toward theUnitedStatesgovernment.Hisparentsdespised the man who most Ameri-cansloved-FranklinDelanoRoosevelt-forthewaythatthePresidentduringWorldWarIIapprovedtheideaoftheinternmentcampsevenasheoversawthefightagainstHitler’soppressionoftheJewsinEurope. “Iknowsomeofyouwillhavea hard time understaning this,” Mr.Matsudaadmitted,“butthetruthis,Ihadahardtimesayingthepledgeofal-legianceinkindergarten.” Asthe8thgraderslistened,Mr.Matsuda spoke aboutwhat he thinksthere have been so few Japanese-American rebellions against their in-ternment. “There’sasayinginJapanese,‘Shikataganai’,”hesaid.“Thatmeans‘It can’t be helped’. Japanese people,if they can’t do anything, they justsay ‘Shikata ga nai.’We then act likethere’snothingwecandoaboutacer-tainsituation, soyou justdo thebestyoucantosurviveit.” Mr.MatsudaalsosharedwiththestudentshowtheJapanesepeopleplaceagreatvalueonhandling intol-erable situations with dignity calledganam.Buthedisagreeswiththatphi-losophywhenitcomestointernment. “If something like this everhappensagain,”Mr.Matsudasaid,“weoweittoourselvesandotherstostandup and speak out – thatmust be ourlegacy.”

ByCallaCarter

The ping-pong tables were one of the most popular attractions during White Tiger Week festivities, as students of all grade levels sharpened their skills while taking advangtage of a week of cultural experiences.

While a group of Pilgrim students experienced many memorable moments while accompanying Dr. Walker on a recent 10-day trip to China, we asked our Commonwealth staffers Yihan and Keiwan to compile their own Top 5 list of Strange but True elements of Chinese culture:

Un-fortunate Desserts

PeoplewhoeatatChineseres-taurantsinAmericacanorderfortunecookies after their dinners. Thismaycomeasasurprise,butinChina,thereisnosuchdessert.

Eight is Enough

Americans are used to cel-ebrating national holidays one at atime.TheChinese,however,haveNa-tionalDaythatlastseachyearOctober1-8, leaving plenty of time to have agoodtime,

Big is Beautiful

The emphasis on Americanmoviestarsandmodelsisforthewom-entobeverythin,butduringtheTangDynastyinChina,plumpwomanwereviewedasbeautiful.

No Sibling Rivalries

Because of the large popula-tioninChina,thegovernmenthas in-stituted its own formof birth controlby limiting couples to have only onechildperhousehold.

Better to Receive

A Hongbao is a read pocketthatcontainsmoneyasagiftthatchil-dren receive from adults during theannualSpringFestival.Sotherearenoreturnstothemall.

Students learned valuable lessons while taking part in Paper Cutting class during White Tiger Week, where precision produces perfection.

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White TigerWeek beganwithstudentsfromKthrough12gatheredinthegymnasiumtowatchoneoftheworld’smostrenownedping-pongplay-ers who showed off her many tricksbefore taking it easy while matchedagainst undaunted yet overwhelmedopponents,Mr.GradyandMr.Hassan.

Monday:

ABriefHistoryofChineseAc-tionFilmsandBasicFightChoreogra-phywasupnext,thoughtheclasswasbetterknownas“kickingclass.”Afterwarming up,we headed straight intohow to perform front kicks, round-abouts,andmuchmore.Weevengottotest ournewfound skills on each oth-er – not directly, of course.Wemadesure that we were far enough awayfromeachotherthatwewouldn’thurtanyone.WhileGavinSomes threwanespecially intimidating kick towardsDr.Gregorytotrytomakeherflinch;meantime,therestofuspracticedre-actingtooneanother’spunches.

Tuesday: Picking up where we left offin kicking class, we watched a filmabout Jackie Chan and how he pre-pareshisfights.Hehasoneofhisstuntmen break a chair rather than usethe“American”wayofsimplydoingitwithspecialeffects.Turnsout,JackieChanactuallyhitshisopponentsinhismovies instead of simply pretendingto land the blows. Tomake sure thatnoonegetshurt,hetakestheprecau-tionofwearingafoamshoeinsteadofleatherone. The instructor shared sto-riesabouthisexperiencesasamoviestuntman. He once was supposed toautomatically flip over after beingpunched.Notonlywashehit in sucha place that he lost the feeling of theleftsideofhisbody,buthehadtotakethepunchthreemoretimestogetthesceneright.

Wednesday: BruceLeeneedednointroduc-tionthroughouthismotionpictureca-reer.ButwhenDr.Kidderpresentedtoan assembly the daughter of the latekickingclassicon,welearnedhowshealsohashadquiteacareerasasinger,actorandwriter,aswellaspromotingthe Bruce Lee Foundation that con-tributesscholarshipfundstostudentsinneedof financial aid.Youwould’veexpectedShannonLee to feed off thefactthatherfatherwasafamousmar-tial artist, yet Shannon Lee insteadpresentedherselfasherownwoman.rather than being satisfied to live inherfamousfather’sshadow. Tai Chi class was all about

preparing for the next day, while welearnedhowtofallinkickingclass.Dr.Gregorygotakick(nopunintended)outofthewayweeachgottopusheachotheroverwhileshegradedpapers.

Thursday: The final day of White TigerWeekgaveus the chance to seewhateveryone had experienced over thecourse of the classes. Our artworkfrompapercuttingclasswasdisplayedinStewartHall,whiletheothersideoftheroomwasfilledwiththesightsandsoundsofstudentsplayingping-pong.Littlewhite balls were flying all overthe place. ThedayandweekcametoanendwheneveryonemovedintoShatto

Chapelforthedemonstrationphaseoftheclosingceremonies.Alloftheactswerememorable,butnonesomuchas

“ItgavemegreaterinsightintoChineseculture.”-AlecPalchikoff

“BruceLeeismynewfoundhero.”

-DustinPark

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watching Marina Pena and GabriellaCarmona scream while ripping eachother’s hair out. Their role-playingmade you laugh, but also made youthink about how the skills theyweredisplayingcouldbevaluablesomeday- which, come to think of it, was thepointoftheentireexperience.

The Commonwealth MAY 27, 20115

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Instant Message:It Will Get BetterSam

Kim

Have you ever been ap-proached by an individual - a verylarge individual - who threatens youforyourlunchmoney?Bulliesareste-reotypically portrayed as tough guyssporting pairs of muscular guns onevery layer of his biceps. That’s justfiction,though.Therealityishowbul-lying comes in all shapes and sizes.Physicalbullyingnaturallyhurts,butnotasmuchastheverbalvarietythatcan leave emotional scars far worsethananycutsorbruisesfromapunchorapush. Bullying has probably beenaroundever since the cavemandays,butithastakenanespeciallytrouble-some turn in recent times with thegrowthoftechnologyandtheeasethatit takestousesocialnetworksontheinternettospreadallkindsofrumorsabout kids that are then instantlyavailabletoanyonewhosignsontoaparticularsite. TheproblemhitshomeatPil-grim,which as a laptop school offerssecondary students the opportunityto surf the web. They invariably enduponFacebook,wheretheycheckoutmessagespostedontheirhomepagesthataretherefornotonlythemselvesbutalsoalltheirfriendstosee. Mostofthemessagesarefunnyorfrivolous,butwhatifthey’rehurtfulorharmful?Evenworse,whatifthey’retooperson-al?Whatiftheycarelesslyorcallouslyrefertoastudent’ssexualorientation? Pilgrimadministrators,teach-ersandstudentsaredoingsomethingabout it. Inspiredby theworkof oth-ersonthesubject,Ms.HatfieldandherHonorCouncilmembersareputtingto-getherananti-bullyingvideothatwillincludestoriesofsomestaffmembers’personalexperiences. Art teacherMr. Kopp his ex-perience of being bullied during hismiddle school years to the point hesufferedabrokennoseandacrackun-der his eye socket. “I was constantlybulliedbyfellowclassmatesandteach-ers,” he said. As a result, Mr. Koppbandedtogetherwithagroupof“mis-fits”inordertosurvive. “Bullyingisaprobleminmany

differentways,”Ms.Hatfieldsaid.“Wedon’t see kids shoving other kids inlockers,orgetour lunchmoneystak-enaway,butwedoheargossiping.“Itdoesn’tsoundlikemuch, “but ifgirlsmake funofothergirls forwhat theyare or what they wear or what theysay,”Ms.Hatfieldsaid,“theycanbere-allymeananditcanreallyhurt.” Thethemeoftheanti-bullyingvideo,ItGetsBetter,comesfromaYou-Tube video on the same subject thatwasrecentlyproducedbytheeditorialdirectorofaweeklynewspaper.Aproj-ecttogoalongwiththevideowasde-signedspecificallytosupporttheLes-bian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender(LGBT)group. When two teenaged targetsof such bullying took their own livestoendtheirpain, theproducerof thevideo,TimSavageputtheprobleminperspective when he said how he re-grettedthatheneverhadthechancetotellthevictims...itgetsbetter.” “Asourceofbullyingcancomefrom homophobia,” Mr. Kopp said.“People don’t understand when youcallthingslike“gay”or“homo”wemayhurt someoneclosebyanddeeplyaf-fectthem.TheBiblecallsmarriageofthe same sex an abomination.Yet, inotherteachings,eatingshellfishorcut-tingsideburnsarealsoabominations.” The project that encouragedvictims of bullying over their sexualorientation to hang on to their livesinsteadofgivinguphasgrownfromasinglevideotoaworldwidemovementthathasattractedspokespersonssuchasPresidentObama,actorDanielRad-cliffe of Harry Potter fame, and talkshow host Ellen DeGeneres, who fa-mouslyannouncedthatshewasales-bianduringascenefromherpopularsituation comedy show. Now, it’s Pil-grim’sturntocontribute. “Bullying and cruelty aren’tjust childish things,” Mr. Kopp said.“Theyaremanifested ineveryaspectof ourworld.” The challenge then be-comeshowtodealwith thepain thatcomes from such treatment. “You getcomfortable when it’s all over,” Ms.Hatfield said. “Justwait for things togetbetter.”

BySamKim

... But the two best buddies, who were only playacting, show how in the end it’s true that things will get better.

Delina (left) shows the effects of Chloe’s bullying tactics, which can leave emotional as well as physical scars ...

The Commonwealth MAY 27, 20116

Here’s Where We’ve Been Accepted ...

Seniors’ Experience:

American UniversityAustin CollegeBoston UniversityBryn Mawr CollegeCal ArtsCal Poly PomonaCal Poly San Luis ObispoCal State East BayCal State LACal State Long BeachCal State Monterrey BayCal State MontereyCal State NorthridgeCase Western Reserve UniversityCollege of William and MaryDePauw UniversityEmerson CollegeEvergreen StateFordham UniversityGeorge Washington UniversityGoucher CollegeHampshire CollegeHumboldt State UniversityIndiana UniversityLewis and Clark UniversityLoyola Marymount UniversityLoyola University, New OrleansManhattanville CollegeMenlo CollegeMichigan State UniversityNaropa UniversityNortheastern UniversityOccidental CollegeOhio State UniversityOtis Art InstitutePenn State UniversityPitzer College

Weighed down by the heavyequipment,Iranallthewayacrossthefield while looking back and upwardfor the ball, but nothing appeared infront of me. Then I realized that theballwasalreadyon thegroundwhileIwastoobusygazingattheskywhileactinglikeIwouldsomehowmakethecatch.IguessIwon’tmakeittotheNa-tionalFootballLeagueafterall. Coming from China and thenliving in America has been difficult,but it hasmade a real impression onme. For the first time inmy life, I’vedonemyownlaundry.I’vealsolearnedhowtocommunicatewithotherswith-outanyhelpfrommyparents.Italsohelpedme becomemore independentandmature.AndInowseehowabitofhumor intoughsituationshashelpedme. Theculturalandlanguagedif-

MyfavoritememoryfromPil-grimwasthedayofourvolleyballsea-son’s last game. Itwas the last gameI’deverbeplayinginhighschoolandIrememberhowbadlyusseniorswant-edtowin.Weallworkedtogetherasateamaswepulledoutourbestgame.Itwasahomegame,andthegymwasfilled with Pilgrim students showingtheirsupport.Usuallybeforethehomegames,thevolleyballteamwouldgath-erinfrontofthelockerroomandsingour pre-game cheer, “shabooya.” Wesang that cheer like it was our last,and ran out onto the court with thegreatest of spirits. Unfortunately, welost a very close game that day andwewereallfilledwithremorse.Afterthegameended,itwastimeforthese-niorawards. I’llnever forget the feel-ing I had during the handing out offlowersandgiftstotheseniors.Itwasthenwhen I realizedwhataclosere-lationshipI’dbuiltupwiththerestofthegirlson the team. I’dnever thinktobecomeascloseasIhadwithsomeofthegirls,andthat’ssomethingthatI’veheldmuchvaluetosince.

Graduating seniors naturally find themselves in an awkward posi-tion - not ready to say goodbye to their pasts yet eager to meet their futures. It’s just as natural for them to think of themselves as adolescents just as they are about to become adults. In keeping with the theme of how Pilgrim seniors are about to leave behind one phase of their lives while beginning the next one, The Common-wealth asked every member of the class to take stock of themselves by having them consider their past (favorite Pil-grim memory), their present (plans for next year), and their future (where they see themselves 20 years from now. Here are some of those reflec-tions - Xavier Sallas-Brookwell

Purdue UniversityRensselaer Polytechnic InstituteSan Francisco State UniversitySarah Lawrence CollegeSkidmore CollegeSonoma StateSyracuse UniversityThe College of WoosterTrinity CollegeTulane UniversityUC BerkeleyUC DavisUC IrvineUC MercedUC RiversideUC San DiegoUC Santa BarbaraUC Santa CruzUCLAUniversity of IowaU-Mass, AmherstUniversity of MichiganUniversity of Minnesota, Twin CitiesUniversity of OregonUniversity of PittsburghUniversity of RochesterUniversity of San FranciscoUniversity of the PacificUniversity of VermontUniversity of VirginiaUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington, SeattleUniversity of Wisconsin, MadisonUrsinus CollegeWheaton CollegeWorcester Polytechnic Institute

ferences were hurdles that I had toovercome to study here. I could notkeep up with my other classmatesinitially; I still cannotunderstandthemeaningoftheirwordssometimes.SoIdecided to tryeverything I could toadapttothisstrangeenvironment. It’s not just school that hashelped me feel at home here. MyAmerican family life also played animportant role. I developed a strongrelationshipwithmembersofmyhostfamily,whogavememore confidencetosolveproblemsinmylifewhilealsogrowingup.GivenallthatI’vefacedsofar,Inowfeelconfidentaboutconquer-ingallthechallengesthatI’msuretofaceinthefuture.

Alice Oh:

Kaiwen Liu:

Valentine Adell demonstrates how he is so excited to graduate from Pilgrim School that he is literally and figuratively climbing the walls.

Jack Gallagher stretches his arms out wide to showcase his fellow class

Sam K

im

The Commonwealth MAY 27, 20117

Back To The Future

... And Here’s Where We’ll Be Heading

Alice Oh- Pasadena City CollegeAndre Voloshin- UC Berkeley

Andrew Burkle- Pitzer CollegeAngela Xu- Rensselaer College

Briana Marhencke- Santa Monica CollegeCamille Reyes-Gilpin- UC Santa CruzCaroline Wade- Toronto University

Chris Han- UC IrvineClare Reyes-Gilpin- UC Santa Barbara

Grej Pesjaka- UC RiversideHadassah Heard- Evergreen State

Haydn Muir- CSU NorthridgeHenry Downs- Ursinus College

Jacky Ng- Pasadena City CollegeJeffrey Bradshaw- University of Oregon

Jenny Choi- Boston UniversityJohn Gallagher- Loyola University of New Orleans

Kaiwen Liu- University of RochesterKhari Rhynes- CSU Long Beach

Kira Liu- Boston UniversityMadeleine Kanazawa- Skidmore College

Michelle Koh- Pasadena City CollegeMingan Zhu- University of Washington

Myriam Oranga- Santa Monica City CollegeNkechi Ampah- Bryn Mawr CollegeReed Lovitt- University of Michigan

Sean Dew- Tulane UniversityShannon Vasilev- Naropa University

Sophie Park- UCLATillie Wu- UC San Diego

Valentine Adell– San Luis ObispoYihan Chen- University of Washington

Yilin Chen- University of WisconsinYou Jin Park- Otis College

I’ll be attending Naropa Uni-versityinBoulder,Colorado.IwanttostudyEarlyChildhoodEducationanddevelopment. I feel that children arevery sacred little beingswith a lot ofwisdom.Theydon’talwaysrevealthatwisdom because it’s so simple, theyfeel everyone already knows. I wantto be someonewho can connectwiththese children and allow them a fairandfunchildhood.Pilgrimhashelpedme prepare for college by giving meteacherswhopushmetothinkbeyondthe simplicity of academics, but stillto do what I must to be respected. Ihope togainmoreperspectiveon liv-ingresponsibly.Idependmostlyonmyparentstosupportme,buteventuallyIwillhavetotakecareofmyselffinan-cially.Ialsowouldliketogainwisdomin theareas ofmindfulness and com-passionformyselfandothersthroughmeditation,which isabigpart of thecurriculumatNaropa.

I’mgoingtotravelasmuchasIcan.Seenewplaces.Learnaboutothercultures. Meet interesting people. Asfarasmarriageandchildrenarecon-cerned, I don’t want to think aboutthat right now. I’ll have that conver-sationduring some life-decision time.My ultimate goal is to contribute totheworldartistically,tocherishallthehappymoments and to forget all thesadones.

Clare Reyes-Gilpin:

Shannon Vasilev:

Reed Lovitt: I’vehadsomanygoodmemo-riesatPilgrim,butIwouldhavetosaythatmyfavoriteonewasgoingtotheChannel Islands with my classmatesduringmy firstmonth here. I got toreallyknowmyclassmateswhilecre-atingstrongbondswithmyfellowstu-

Alice Oh hopes to find as nice a spot in college as she did at Pilgrim.

dents with whom I was to spend thethreeyears.Ihavemadeitsofarwithmyfriendsatmysidetheentiretime.I canbarelybelieve thatwewill soonbefinallypartingways. NextyearI’llbeattendingtheUniversityofMichiganunlessIcanmi-raculouslygetoffthewaitlistatHar-vard. Nomatterwhere I go, I amassurethatIwanttobeamathmajorasIamthatIwillfindsometimebeyondallthehardworktoalsohavesomefun.

What I’ll always rememberaboutPilgrimishowDr.Kiddermadeit possible for me to come here, andnowattheendit’sironicthatheandIarealsoleavinghereatthesametime. Dr. Kidder taught me middleschool U.S. history at PolytechnicSchool in Pasadena. When he took ajobatPilgrim,hewantedmetocomethere, too, but therewas supposed tobenoroombecausetherewasa limiton how many kids would be in thefreshman class. They expanded thenumbers, though, so I came, - so didValandBriana,andnowwe’re in thesamegraduatingclass. My experience with Dr. Kid-deratPolywaslikebeingaguineapigforall the simulationshe’sdonewithhiseighthgradersatPilgrim.Hehadusplaythisgamewherewehadtogiveanswersorallyforpoints.Thegoalwastogetto100,butIwasupto200.Dr.Kidder and I have talked about howwecamehereandnowwillleaveheretogether. We’re even heading in thesamedirection,sincehe’llbeworkingataschoolinSanFranciscoandI’llbeattendingCal-Berkeley.Iguessitwassupposedtoworkoutthatway.

Andre Voloshin:

The Commonwealth staff extends its congratulations and best wishes to the Pilgrim School Senior Class of 2011.

members who gathered during a morning meeting prior to graduation.

Sam K

im

Sam K

im

The Commonwealth May 27, 20118

She drives the welcome wagon

helping hand comes from heart

It’s not just the administra-tors, faculty and students who helpform the Pilgrim community. Thereare plenty of ordinary people whoseextraordinary contributions inspiredTheCommonwealth to create this se-ries of articles dedicated to all thosewhoweandothers recognizeandap-preciateasourUnsungHeroes.

Ms.SusanSwanhasauniqueperspective among all Pilgrim Schoolemployees. She’s the one who greetsfrom her front office desk everyonewhowalksthroughthemainentrancedoorsandgainsapositivefirstimpres-sionofthecampus. Always as cheerful as she ishelpful, Ms. Swan is a friendly andfamiliarfacetooneandall.Everyoneknows who she is, but not everyone

knowsherbackground. Bornand raised inLosAnge-les,Ms.SwanattendedHollywoodSe-niorHighbackinthedaywhenitwasoneoftheverybestschoolsinthecity.Onlya fewyears later,Ms.Swanandher husbandmoved from L.A. to theislandofSt.ThomasintheCaribbean.“Wemoved.”Shesaid,“tosimplydoit.Wehadnoideawherewewouldliveorwhatwewoulddo.” Her tropical adventures over,Ms. Swan tried her hand in profes-sions ranging from special educationtorealestatebeforesettlinginhereatPilgrim, where she still never knowsfromonedaytothenextwhoorwhatshewillencounter. It’ssafetosaythatMs.Swan’sfavoriteanecdotescome fromherex-periences with Pilgrim’s ridiculouslycutetoddlers.“Theyareallsounique,special,andverybright,”shesaid.“IfIhavearoughday,Ilovetojustgoseetheyoungerstudents. I love towatchthemandplaywiththem.” Thoughtheyallleavetheirim-pressiononMs.Swan,onelittlegirlinparticularwarmedherheart. “I remember this kindergart-nerwholovedRudolphtheRedNosedReindeer,”shesaid.“Shecameintotheofficewearing a red sweater and shewas frustrated about something uphernose.Theysearchedendlesslyforwhatever was up her nose, and theydiscoveredaredbutton.Shewastry-

ingto lookmorelikeRudolph.Ittookeveryounceofmenottolaugh.” Though somewhat less ador-able, the elementary and secondaryschoolstudentsalsohavewarmedMs.Swan’sheart. “I love justgoing intoaclass-room and seeing how the studentsrespond as well as the quality of theteachers,” she said. “It’s extremelystimulating to see the constant turnofeducation.Itkeepsmeyoung.”Shealso has a simple secret for buildingstrong relationships with all the stu-dents:“Ifyoucomeintotheofficewithrespect, I give you that respect rightback.” The greatest part of Ms.Swan’s job is the satisfaction it givesher. “There’s never a dull moment,”shesaid.“Ilovefeelingappreciatedbyeveryone in the school … the admin-istration, the children, the students.”She said her greatest accomplish-mentsonthejobarethesimpletasksshecompleteseachandeverydaythatmay go largely unnoticed but never-thelesskeeptheschoolchurning. It’sthosemomentsthatcomeoutofnowhere, though, thatnotonlykeepher going, theyalsodescribeallshebringstoherjobandherschool. “Ionceneededtoholdaveryillchildforalongperiodoftime,”Ms.Swan said, “and a few months latershecamebackwithherMomandsaid,‘ThisisMissSuzie.Shemademewell.’”

Ms. Swan is proof positive about the importance of making a first impres-sion when she’s the one who greets visitors to the school with a smile.

ByAnabellaArakaki

ByCallaCarter Students lined up duringmorning break in front of a table inNancyWhiteWayforarecentbakeun-like any other. There were the usualmuffins,cookies,anddoughnutsavail-abletosatisfyanysweettooth.ButforaspecialmemberofthePilgrimSchoolfaculty,theeventtouchedherheart.

Ms. Hiromi Takahashi isknown across campus for teachingJapaneseaswellasadvisingclubspluscoordinatingallsocialandcompetitiveactivities that relate to school spirit.Yethercommitmenttoherworkandherabilitytoleadwasputtoanurgenttest when she organized fundraisersforthevictimsofJapan’srecentearth-quakeandsubsequenttsunami. Though the devastation took

placehalfaworldawayfromPilgrim,the impact hit close to home for Ms.Takahashi. “I was trying to get ready tosleepandmyfriendtoldmethattherewasanearthquakeinJapan,”shesaid.“IimmediatelywentonlinetosewhatIcouldfindout.”Whileotherswerecuri-ousaboutthedamage,Ms.Takahashihadreasontobeconcerned. “My parents live in Japan,”shesaid,“soItriedtocallthemrightaway but the phone lines were dead,and that never happens. I don’t re-member the last time we had poweroutageinJapansinceIwasborn,soIwas surprised I couldn’t reach them.AndthenItriedmyfather’scellphoneandmymother’scellphone,buttheywerealldead.IsawthevideoclipsofwhentheearthquakehappenedandIthought,‘OhmyGodit’ssobig.’ThenIstartedworrying.” It wasn’t until the followingday that Ms. Takahashi received anemail from her father, assuring herthat he and hermother were fine. “IjustfelthelplessandIrealizedthatwerelyontechnologysomuch,”shesaid. Afterher fears forher familyand friends were allayed, Ms. Taka-hashirealizedthatotherswerenotasfortunate. She also realized she hadtodosomething tohelp. “Not justbe-causeit’smyhomecountry,”shesaid.“Imean,ofcourse,Ifeelaconnection,astrongconnection.ButIjustfeltlikeIneedtodosomething.” Ms.Takahashisoonfoundoutthat there was plenty of Pilgrim stu-dentsandteacherswhofelt thesameway. “ItoldabunchofpeopleinTo-kyo,‘Iwanttohelp.Iwanttohelp.’Ipostedlikemymessageonabunchofpages.WhatcanIdo?IaminLosAn-geles. What can I do? What was the

bestwaytohelpforpeoplewhoarenotinJapan?” The day she returned to Pil-grim after the earthquake occurredduring vacation, Ms. Takahashi pro-posed fundraising ideas to her Japa-neseClubmembers.“Theyweretotallyonit,”shesaid.“EvenbeforeIfinishedtelling them, they felt the same wayI felt. I also startedhearing fromPil-grim people. They called me. Theysent emails. They came to seeme inmyroom.Everybodywassowillingtohelp. “Some people would say, ‘Oh,whatdoes itmatterthatakidpaysadollarforacookieatourbakesale.’Butthat’s not what’s important. What’simportant ishoweveryonewantedtocontribute.Therewerekidswhocame

back and gavemoremoney. I was soproud.Itoldmyparents,sotheycouldunderstandhowmucheveryonecametogetherheretohelpoutpeoplefromsofaraway.” Ms.Takahashi feltevenmorepridewhen she and some of her stu-dentspassedalongthedonationsthatthey collected to the local Red Crosschapter.Thoughit’snowbeenamatterofmonthssincethetragedy,shekeepson her classroomdesk a reminder ofthe generosity from her Pilgrim col-leaguesandstudents -asmallplasticcontainer filledwith pennies, nickels,dimes and quarterswith a fewdollarbillssittingatopthechange. “You can actually feel thewarmth,”shesaid.“Itmeansalot.Re-ally,ittouchestheheart.”

ms. takahashi leads japan relief effort

Ms. Takahashi is joined by Japanese Club members Henry Downs, Hadyn Muir and Hadassah Heard (left to right), as they offer baked goods for sale in order to support earthquake and tsunami victims.

Sam K

im

Sam K

im

ThePilgrimfacultyandstudents who followed Ms.Takahashi’s lead in support-ing the victims of the Japanearthquakeandtsunamiwerereminded that good deeds donot go unnoticed when someof the cards and messagesthey sent to residents of aparticularlyhardhittownap-pearedintheKahokuShimponewspaper from Sendai, Ja-pan.Ms.TakahashitranslatedtheApril 23article thisway:“Sendai Airport receives theheart-warming messages onacardfromthestudentsfromPilgrim School, Los Angeles,CA,USA.TheHeadofSendaiAirport is going to frame itandtreasureit.”

The Commonwealth May 27, 20119

Her Life Has Spanned The Globe ByMarinaPena

Everyoneeventuallytakeshisorheseparatepathsinlife,butalongthejourneymanyofustrytonotloseourselves while recalling everythingthatgotustowherewearetoday.Pil-grimSchoolseniorMyriamOranga,ison her own version of The Road NotTaken, having lived in Kenya for 17yearswhile experiencing all that herhomecountryhad toofferbefore shemovedheretoLosAngeles. Myriam describes he journeyasnotonlyunique,butalsodifficultyetenjoyable. “It’s pretty tough becauseit’satotallynewplacewhereyouhavetoadapt,”shesaid.“Theopportunitieshere are like no other, though.” Youwonder how a girl fromKenya foundherwaytoPilgrim,butthat’sjustoneof theopportunities thatMyriamhasmadethemostofonbothcontinents. “ThesetwokidsnamedJoyceand Kamau were here (at Pilgrim)before I came,” Myriam said. “TheirmomwasanambassadorfromKenyajustlikemymomisnow.Theytoldusaboutthisbeingagoodschoolforme,andtheywereright.” Howso? “Ihadhopedtoaccomplishbe-ingconfident,speakingout,andsocial-izingheretheUnitedStates,”Myriamsaid,“andIfeellikeIhavedonethat.”But itwill soon be time for her leavePilgrimforcollege,andafterthatwillcomeacareer.Wherevershegoesandwhatever she ends up doing, though,Myriamwillalwayshaveaplaceinherheartforherhomeland. “I can see myself somedayreturning to Kenya,” she said. “I feelbadly for the people there who don’thave the same chances to succeed asI’vehad.IwanttohelpwhenI’molder.Here,thingsarebetter.Here,youcanget a job.” While she remains here,Myriam wants to experience all thatshehasdreamedaboutAmericasinceshetraveledherewithhermother.ButshestillhasdreamsofAfrica,too. “There is something in myhearttellingmethatImisshome,”shesaid. “I try not to get sad.When youget sad, you think of memories andofstuffyoucouldbedoingbutyou’renot doing. I try not to get homesickbecause then you get toomany prob-lemsandstress.Idofeelhomesick,butIputasmile.”Likeanyoneelse’s life,Myriam’s couldn’t be picture perfectorelse itwouldbea fairy tale ratherthanreality.Herrealityhasbeendif-ferentthanmostlives,especiallywhenitcomestoherfamily.“ThefirstdayI

metmy fatherwas special,” she said,“becauseIhadneverseenhimsinceIwasasmallbaby.In2004wasthefirsttimeIeversawmyfatherthatIcouldsayIreallyknewhim.Iwas11yearsold. He stays in England because hehasajobtherebeinganengineer.I’musedtomymom,butnotmydad.” Myriam is close to hermom,whoworks inaconsulatehere inLosAngelesbutmaysoonbeonthemoveto another U.S. city to continue herwork for the Kenyan government.Meanwhile,MyriamhasfoundwaysatPilgrimtoexpandherfamily.byplay-ingbasketballfortheLadyPats. “Whenwewonthechampion-ship in our league,” Myriam said, “itwas one of my proudest moments.”If you’ve seen her on the court, youare familiar with Myriam’s aggres-sive style. She loves to race ahead ofher opponents and score on runninghookshots.Yetshewasonce just theoppositeoffthecourt.“Iwasshy,”shesaid,“becauseIwasdifferent.ThewayIwasusedtotalkingisdifferent.”Thentherewasschoolwork.“Thereweresomany things I didn’t know,” Myriamsaid,“buttheteachershelpedexplainthem to me.” Myriam’s words of advice tohelpothersadapttonewexperiencesorunfamiliarterritoriesissimple:“Beyourself”Shehastriedtodojustthatby blending her native culture withthatofthetypicalAmericanteenager.Ithasn’tbeeneasy,yetshehasfoundways that may seem trivial but arequitesignificanttoher. “Sometimes I wear my tribalclothes and bangles,” Myriam said.“During Halloween, I wore my tribalclothes as my costume. I also play the drumsets.Italktomyfriends,too,ifI buy a calling card. The first peopleI call are my best friends Diana andYvonne,whoareinKenya.” Myriam looks forward some-day to visiting her friends, but sheknowsshefirsthasmuchmoretoac-complishhereinAmerica. “I want to study music, vo-calperformance,sportsmanagement,communications, and creative writ-ing,” she said, “because they interestme and that’s how I roll.” Myriam’sdreamcometruewouldbetoplaybothbasketballandmusic. It won’t be easy for her, butthenMyriamhasalreadyproven shecan make it while living in differentcountries that aremore like living indifferent worlds. Having come so faralready,nothingcanstophernow.

pilgrim studentsget to experience“meet the obamas” Most kids claim that they know people who know people whoknowcelebrities,butoneluckygirlonthePilgrimcampusisabletosaythatherunclepersonallyknowsthePresi-dentoftheUnitedStates. Myriam Oranga is alreadyrecognized as being unique amongher senior classmates because of herKenyan upbringing, but that’s not allthatmakes her special. Imagine hav-ing familymemberswho are close tothemostpowerfulpersonintheworld.Myriamdoesn’thave to imagine.HeruncleisnotonlythePrimeMinisterofKenya,he’salso familiarwithBarackObama. Whilespeakingabout the lasttimesherevisitedhernativecountry,Myriamexplained,“I’veseenObama’sgrandmother and mother becausepeople fromAmericawereall comingtointerviewthem.IevenwenttotheirvillagetoseethegraveyardofObama’sfather.”Heruncle,though,hadamuchmore personal experience with theleaderofthefreeworld. RailaOrangaisnotjustMyri-am’suncle;he’sthePrimeMinisterofKenya. Given his position in the gov-ernment,itwasnaturalthatPresidentObamacalledonhim inKenyabeforehe assumed thepresidency. “Becausethey’rebothofficialsoftheircountries,Myriam said, “they were getting ad-vicefromoneanother.” Now that her uncle hasmet

withthePresident,Myriamwouldwel-comethesameexperience,whichshemaysomedayhaveifnotthroughheruncle than through her mother, whois stationed here in Los Angeles asan ambassador for Kenya. “I hope tomeetObama,“shesaid.“Idon’tthinkIwouldbeintimidatedbyhim.Heseemsverynaturalwhenhe’saroundpeople.MaybewecouldtalkaboutKenyaandAmerica.” Meantime, you’d naturallywant to be nice to Myriam, but youmightthinkaboutbeingespeciallynicetoherthenexttimeyouseeher.Afterall, you never know who she mightsomedaybeabletointroduceyouto.

ByMarinaPena

Myriam’s uncle, the Prime Minister of Kenya (right) has held meetings with President Barack Obama.

Thanks to students like Myriam Oranga, Pilgrim has been able to enrich its diverse student body while adding to its unique cultural melting pot.

HIGH ANXIET Yintoaccount thoseworkerswhohavegivenuplookingforjobs. The numbers hit home be-cause Pilgrim is, after all, a collegepreparatoryschool. As such, its cur-riculumiscenteredontheideathatitispreparingstudentsfortherigorsofcollege, which creates a stressful at-mosphere when students know thatthey are competing with each otherfor admission to the colleges of theirchoice. There is an additional stresslevel,however,ifthechoicesthatstu-dents ultimately make are based onwhichcollegetheycanaffordtoattendrather thanwhichcollege theywouldprefertoattend. Themorecompetitioninturnsproduces more stress, which is be-ingfeltbyPilgrimseniorsandjuniorsalike. “It’shigherthanever,”seniorNkechi Ampah said. “It’s hard notto thinkaboutwhat’s goingon in the

worldthatwillhaveaneffectoneachand every one of us beginning nextyear.”JuniorDustinParkhasalreadybeen impacted forthewayhesaidhehas “studied at least 12-15 hours aweek”whilepreparingfortheSAT. Once on college campuses,preparationbecomesallaboutthejobmarket,wherestudentsarefeelingthesqueezeduetohighunemployment. “It’sapanickysortoffeeling”said Christina Campbell, a Universityof Michigan freshman with personaltiestoPilgrim.Shesharestheburdenof tuitionby takingoutstudent loansthatmustberepaidaftergraduation.“Having the stressofpayingmonthlyinterest on my loans just piles up,”Christinasaid.“It’sasortofaremind-ereverymonth.” Is there a bright side to thesituation? “All the stress we’re goingthrough now,” Christina said, “willhelpushandlethingsinthefuture.”

Myriam

Oranga

Sam K

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Asitturnsout,MyriamOrangaisn’ttheonlyPilgrimstudentwithaconnectiontotheObamas.Themiddleschoolchoirrecentlyreceivedaninvi-tationtoperformJune14inPasadenaataluncheonattendedbyFirstLadyMichelleObama.ChoirdirectorMs.AmberFarriscallstheopportunity,“Aonceinalifetimeexperienceforourstudentsandourcommunity.” Theinvitationwasmadepossible,accordingtoMs.Farris,becauseofPilgrimSchool’sreputationfordiversity.“Wewereselected,”shesaid,“be-cause theywere looking foragroupof students thatrepresent theworld.ThankstoDr.(Mark)Brooks,ourschoolisintheforefrontintheeducationalcommunity.Whenhecametomeandaskedifwecoulddothis,Iimmediatelythoughtofourmiddleschoolchoir.” Thestudentswillperformana’capellaselection,“LiftThineEyes,”fromMendelssohn’s Elijah. Ms. Farris believes the song will reverberatethroughouttheschool.“Itshouldimpact,”shesaid,“becauseitcanonlybringpeople’sattentiontothegrowthPilgrim.” Ryan Banks, Tehya Buckley, Ava Hawk-McDean, Alysha Johnson,XavierOrozco,MaliaRigby,DavidRyoo,JourneyStreamsandNadiaSkelilmakeup thegroup that , doesn’thavea calling card, butMs.Farris said,“MaybeweshouldchangeournametoThePresidentialSingers.” Malia summed up the feeling among her peers about the perfor-mance:“It’slikeadream,”shesaid,“onlyit’sbetterbecauseit’strue.”-MarinaPena

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The Commonwealth MAY 27, 201110

Pilgrim’s Changing Of The GuardByAnabellaArakaki

Fun In The Sun? Or Labor Of Love?ByGabriellaCarmona You walk towards that doorpassing the Help Wanted sign withyourheadheldhigh.Youwanttoshowapotentialemployerthatyouarecon-fident and prepared, even if you’relacking in the experience depart-ment.Resumeinhand,youthinkhowthiscouldbe theone.NomoreonlineGoogle searching. No more stealingyour parent’s newspaper just for theemploymentsection.Nomoredealingwith familymembers asking you dayin day out “You get that job yet?”Asmuchasyouwantyourfirst summerjob,youhavenowayofexpectingwhatyoumightbegettingyourselfinto. Working all summer doesn’tsoundveryappealingtomostteenag-ers, yet many have trade their sun-glasses and beach towels for theirworking permit. Being in high schoolmeans going through that awkwardstagewhereyou’renotakidanymorebut you still aren’t considered anadult.It’shardtofindajobthat’sbothfunandlucrative,andsometimesyouhavetotakewhattheygiveyou. Consider yourself lucky evenifyou’re takingdownordersorpack-ingupgroceries.Whateveryouendupdoingthissummer, itwon’tbeasbadaslivingwiththedead. “Mybossonasummerjobonceasked if Iwas scaredofdeadbodies?AndIsaid,no,aslongastheydon’ttalkback,” Pilgrim art teacher Mr. Koppsaidabouthisexperienceasacarpen-terfortheliving-impaired. When you think of a mortu-ary, the imagesof refrigeratedroomsfilledtoptobottomwithstainlesssteelcome tomind,yetwhocould imaginethatthedeadbusinesswassuchahap-

peningindustry.“IgotthejobthroughatempservicewheretheyfoundmeanopeningattheForestLawnMortuary,saidMr.Kopp.“Itwasmostlygarden-ers, but therewere different types ofshops,andIwasassignedtothewoodonewheretheybuiltthecoffins.” LuckilyforMr.Kopp,handlingthe remains of the dearly departedwasn’t in his job description, but itdidn’tmeanhedidn’tseehisfairshareof corpses. “I went on repairing ev-erything thatwasmade ofwood,” hesaid.“Oneday,Iwasaskedtofixatrapdoor in theatticof thepreproom,soIwent into a room that looked like ahair-dressingplacebut everyonewaslaying down and peoplewere puttingmake-uponthedeadbodies.” ExtremeMakeoverForDeadGuys? “I’m in the roomand I noticethiscorpsewithanexpressionofhor-roronhisface,alldressedup,withthisgood-looking women hovering overhim,cleaningthebody,”saidMr.Kopp.“Shewasjabbingthingsintothebodyso casually, like itwasnormal tovio-late thedead,whileshe talked toherbossaboutherweekend.” Not surprisingly, Mr. Kopptook only a few months to realize,“I couldn’t take it any more,” eventhough he admitted that taking anysummerjobmeansentering,“Awholenew,strangeworld.” WeofferthefollowingsummerjobexperiencesfromPilgrimstudentsandteachersforthoseofyouwhowillcomplain about soon having to workforthefirsttime.Youmaynotbeableto pickyour own jobdescription.Butatleastyouwon’thaveMr.Kopp’soldbossandhavetopicksomedeadguy’snose.

Xavier Sallas-Brookwell & Dustin Park – Childcare War-riors.

It’sXavier andDustin vs. lit-tle kids and female counselors.Whileon break, Xavier heaves awater bal-loon30feetintheairandontarget-itdrenches the counselor leader,whichprovokesawarbetweenapairofPil-grim students and 15 kids and coun-selors.Atruceisfinallycalled…it’sadraw.

Mrs. Turro - Acrobatic Wait-ress. While working in a seafoodrestaurant, Mrs. Turro must masterskills of waitresses such as holdingfiveplatesinonehandwhilescribblingdownorderswiththeother.Shedropstheplateswhilespittingonacustom-er’s sweater, which almost gets herfired.But shepracticesandpracticesuntilshefinallygetsitrightandkeepsherjob.

Senora Arribas - Moldy Sau-sage Salesperson.

According to Senora, sheworksas15-year-oldsellingsausagesat the Aloha State Fair in Honolulu.Instead of having themeat protectedintheusualplasticwrappings,Senoramust deal with sausages wrapped inmold,whichshethenpeelsoff,coversin aluminum foil and sells to unsus-pecting customers who never knowwhathitstheirstomachs.

Mr. Concialdi - Ice Cream Scoo-per Has Hairy Experience. Ithasnothingtodowithmath-ematics,butMr.Concialdiworksasanice cream scooper at a parlor where

customerswanttheirordersperfectlyfilled. Not this time. Mr. Concialdi issportinghisJesusHair,andoneofhisstrandsjusthappenstolandintheicecream of one of his customers. Cus-tomer screams. Concialdi apologizes.Customergetsnewicecream.

Dr. Gregory - Super Strong Life-guard. While taking her practicalexam for her lifeguard certification,Dr.Gregoryfacesaweightyproblem-namelyapairofmuscularhighschoolfootballplayerswhomakeherrescueattemptmoredifficultwhentheysinktothebottomofthepool.Shereliesonherstrengthfromrunningmileseachdaytopulleachguysafetytothesur-face.

How ironic that themanwhocan be seen everywhere around Pil-grim School soon won’t be seen hereanylonger. Dr.JonKidderhasforthepastfour years held the title of Second-ary School Head, yet students, staffand faculty alike know him better asthepersonwhoasksforSATscores…gives tours of the school for prospec-tiveparents…findsmissing I-pods…checks for proper uniforms … solvesallproblemshavingtodowithsched-ules…eventellsoccasionaljokes. It’sallpartofthejobasDr.Kid-derseesit,whichissupportingasbest

hecanall thepeoplewhoworkorat-tendPilgrimbasedonafeelinghehadabout theplacewhenhefirstarrivedthat won’t change even as he leavesthissummerforhisnewpositionwithaprivateschoolinSanFrancisco. “My impression of Pilgrim,”Dr. Kidder said, “has only been rein-forcedovertimebythespecificactionsofsomanygreatpeople.” It’snosurprisethatDr.Kidderis placing family first in his decisiontomove. Ask anyone around Pilgrimabouthim,andyou’llhearnotsomuchabout administrative skills, but rath-erhispersonal touchthathasgonealongwaytohelpbuildingacommunitywithintheschool. “Heengagesthestudentsandalways strives to get themost out ofthem,”saidMrs.CherylSarafian,whohas observed Dr. Kidder through theyearsfromherpostasassistanttotheHeadofSchool,Dr.Brooks. “He loves

Would you hire this man (it’s Mr. Kopp) for any summertime job?

Among the many places Dr. Kidder felt right at home on the Pilgrim campus was Shatto Chapel, where he regularly led morning meetings.

the students and he’s just a kid atheart. Becausehe’sabletoseethingsfromastudent’sperspective,Dr.Kid-derhasalsobeenabletohelpsomanyof them. “If it wasn’t for him duringmy college application process,” saidsenior Alice Oh, “I don’t know how Icould’vedoneit.” You might also wonder whatDr.KidderwasthinkingwhenhewastheonlymemberofthePilgrimfacultytovolunteertobethevictimofadunktank.“Hewasjustsofunnybecausehewasjustbeinghimself,”saidMs.MaryLou Malphus from the developmentoffice. It’s not always just for laughs,though.“Iremember,”Dr.Kiddersaid,“beingonanoutdoortripwiththekidsandhavingtodigoutthevanfromthesnowsoIcouldtakeaninjuredstudenttothehospital.Youneverknowwhensomeonewillneedyou.” That includesvolunteering toputawaytheadministrativesideofhisjobtobecometheKingofCostumes. “Theman,”saidMs.Malphus,“lovestodressup.”Amongthecharac-tershehasplayedthroughtheyears:Aleprechaun,asurfer,atrashcan(forEarthDay,ofcourse)andSantaduringtheannualChristmaspageant forthetoddlers on campus. Try as hemighttoconvince thekidshewasJollyOldSt.Nick,“Thelittleonesfigureditout,”Dr.Brooks.“Peopleweresaying,‘Look,there’sSanta.’Butthekidsweresay-ing,‘No,it’sDr.Kidder.’’’ It’snotjuststudentsofallageswho appreciate Dr. Kidder’s enthusi-asmforhis jobaswellas forPilgrim.“Hisneverending-energy,”saidmath-ematics teacherMr. RyanGrady, “iswhatkeepsusallgoing.”It’salsowhatmakeshismovesobittersweet. HisnewjobattheDrewSchool

in the heart of San Franciscowill al-lowDr.Kiddertobeclosertohiswife’sfamily. “It’s an opportunity,” he said,“thatisveryimportanttomebecauseIknowthatit’simportanttomywife.” Whenaskedabouthisgreatest

accomplishmentatPilgrim,Dr.Kiddertypicallythinksoftheschoolinitsen-tirety rather than from his personalperspective.“Ithinkaboutalltheprog-ressthathasbeenmadeinthepastfewyears,”hesaid,“andhowitcanbedi-rectlytracedtotheeffortanddedica-

“He’sjustakidatheart.” Sam

Kim

Sam K

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tionoftheteachersandtheconsistentworkethicofthestudents.” Dr.Kidder’sfinaltaskismak-ingMs. Klein’s transition as his suc-cessorassmoothaspossible. “He’s been so supporive ofme,” saidMs.Klein. “He evenofferedtoputhimselfonspeed-dialnextyearincaseIeverneedanything.”Dr.Kid-derseeshisroleinpreparingMs.Kleinasanaturalextensionof, “howmuchthe students and faculty care aboutoneanother..” Dr.Kidder’spartingadvicetostudents:“Workhard.Havefun.Listentoyourteachers-theyreallydohavegreatthingstoteachyou.Andcherishyour memories of being at Pilgrim. IknowIwill.”

“Hisenergyiswhatkeepsusallgoing.”

-Mr.Grady

-Ms. Malphus

The Commonwealth MAY 27, 201111

Feeling Crabby? Ask Our Dear Gabby

What if my best friend is a se-nior and is about to graduate? No sweat (except while in-sideyourTigercostume).Youcanal-waysbecomethecollegemascotoftheschoolwhereyourbestfriendwasac-cepted.You’llget intoshape, improveyour spirit and never have to do ge-ometryagain.Butifyoufindthatyoudon’t pass theTiger tryouts, you canlearn to deal. Change is a big part oflife.Someday,you’llbetheonetograd-uate, and someonewillmiss you. It’snotasifyou’llneverseeorhearfromthemagain. Thinkabouthowour en-tireworldisconnectedwithFacebook,Myspace, Twitter, AIM, Skype, etc.Youmay be saying goodbye now, butit’snottheendoftheworld.

What do I do when I don’t like the school lunch menu? How about organizing a hun-ger strike? After all, it worked forGhandi.Butmakesureyour strike isheldoutdoors.Andmaybewhileyou’reoutthere,youcanputdownthepicketsign long enough to wander over toCarlsJr.foraburgerandfries.Ifstrik-ing isn’t your style, you can alwaysbring your own lunch to school.Whobettertomaketheprefectlunchthanyourself, since you know just whatyoulike,evenifit’speanutbutterwithcucumbersonwholewheat toast.Re-member,wehavemicrowavesoncam-pus.Thereisreallynoneedforyoutogohungry – especiallywhenyou canplaceanorderwithasenior.

What if I’m in class and the discussion is something I know noth-ing about? This is where your therapistskills fromwatchingDr. Phil come inhandy.Youknowhowtheydoit.Theysit there, they listen, they nod a lot,andtheysaythingslike,“umm…hmm…” If you haven’t yet received yourdegree inpsychology,youcanalwaysstopdaydreamingordoodlingandac-tually try listening. This may soundradical, butyoucouldalso raiseyourhandtoaskaquestionandstillsoundlike you know what you’re talkingabout.Teachersloveitwhenkidsaskquestions,right?Solookatitthisway:By taking the initiative to raise yourhand,younotonlysolveyourproblem,youalsoscoresomebrowniepoints. How do I tell my boyfriend that I want to break up with him? Usethemovie,“HowtoLoseaGuyin10Days,”asyourguide.Showhim the worst time of his life (extraMath help?), be clingy (snuggle dur-ing chapel?), or be a jerk (start tex-tingfirstgraders?)Ifallelsefails,tryeatinglotsofonions,garlicandbeans.That’lldothetrick.Bythetimeyou’redone,thejobwillbealsobedonewith-out having to hurt his feelings. Seri-ously,youshouldjuststraightupandtellhim.Youmusthaveagoodreason,andthoughitwillhurt,hewillunder-stand inthe longrun.Youguysprob-ablyhadsomegoodtimes,soyouoweittohimtoplayfair.It’slikehowtheysayhowthetruthwillsetyoufree.

What do I do if I can’t even understand the Spark Notes edition of a book?

If it’s a class assignment, I’mguessing some dead guy wrote thebook. Take that Ouija board from thebackofyourclosetandcalluptheau-thor. Hopefully he or she will speakEnglish, since I can’t imagine howyou’d put them on hold to consult atranslator. You don’t want Shake-spearemadenoughtohauntyouwithhis“tocheatornottocheat,”question.Inthatcase,stoptalkingtodeadguystrytalkingtothe living.Friendstendtobehelpful.Asalastresort,therearealways teachers. They assigned thebook,sotheyprobablyknowwhat’sit’sabout-especiallyiftheywentonSparkNotesbeforeyoudid.

What do I write in someone’s yearbook if I really don’t know what to say? Gowiththeoldstandbys,onlywitha twist.He’ll thinkHAGSmeansHave a Great Summer, but what youreally mean is Hurry And GetouttaSight. She’ll believe BFF means youtwowill be Best Friends Forever, butyou are actually telling her she’s aBlackFootedFerret.Hey,whatdotheyexpect?Hedancedwithyourrealbestfriendrightbeforeyoureyes,andsherefused to share her homework withyou when you spent all of the previ-ous nightwatching Snooki on JerseyShore or Kim with the Kardashiansrather than studying chapters. Oh,well.You’vejustjoinedLOL-LitanyofLosers.

ByGabriellaCarmona

Dear Gabby (right) provides comfort, but don’t feel badly for Calla Carter, since she’s more the good sport than someone really out of sorts.

A Year In Sports: Ups And DownsByChrisYoon

It’s all hands on deck for the boys’ volleyball team prior to a match.

Jeffrey Bradshaw is on the move as a Pilgrim senior basketball player.

Sports have been a staple ofthe Pilgrim School community sinceits inception in 1958. One look at allthe league championship bannershanding in the gymnasium is all theproofyouneedthatthePatriotshaveenjoyedsomememorablemomentsonthe courts and fields over the years.Butwhenyoulookbackatthe2010-11schoolyearinsports,it’shardtodenythedisappointmentofanathleticpro-gramwithoutvarsityfootballorbase-ballteams. No member of the PilgrimcommunitywashitharderbythelackofparticipationinthetwosportsthanCoachMike Sarafian, who as athleticdirectorandbaseballcoachhadtodealwith for the first time in his long ca-

reerwiththesoundsofsilenceratherthan the blare of hiswhistle.He saidhe received many emails and textsfrom fellow coaches asking if he wasallrightoncetheylearnedthatPilgrimwouldn’tfieldteams. Allkiddingaside,theproblemwith fielding both teams had a lot toduewiththelackofinterestamongtheseniorclassthatisabouttograduate.Not a single senior signed up to playfootball. Notwoclassesarethesameasfar aswhether studentswill bemoreinterestedinsportsordramaormusicoranyotheractivity,sothereishopethatthingswillchangebeginningnextyear -especially if juniorDustinParkhasanythingtodowithit. Like the Uncle Sam postersfromtheWorldWarIIera,Dustinhasbeentryingtogeneratesomeenthusi-asmamongboysfromallupperschoolgradestocomeoutnextyearforfoot-ballwithhis“IWantYou”approach.Isitworking? “I’ve heard from some kidsthat they will come out or that theymay come out for the team,” Dustinsaid. In addition tohis recruiting ef-forts, there is hope for the future offootballbasedonthesolidseasonthatthemiddleschoolfootballputtogether. Coaches Sarafian and Manlyagree that you don’t have to look orplaylikeasuperstartojoinanysport.The whole idea is to have some funwhilestayinginshapeandplayingforyour school. “I hope,” Coach Sarafiansaid,“thatwedonothavetohavean-otherconversationabouthowthereisnofootballorbaseballteam.” Therewasalsogoodnewssur-rounding Pilgrim athletics this pastschoolyear,mainlythankstotheboysandgirlswhohitthecourtsinbasket-ballandvolleyball.

AccordingtoMs.Hatfield,themost impressive number associatedwith the girls’ volleyball teamwasn’tthewin-lossrecordbuttheroster“Weusually have a small team,” she said,“but this year we have the largestteam,tomyknowledge,with13girls.” Sheespeciallyappreciatedse-niors Maddie Kanazawa, NkechiAmpah,AliceOh,MyriamOdingaandBriana Marhencke, “for being greatleadersandsettinggoodexamplesforthe rest of the team, including fresh-manSofiaWalton,MarinaPena.GabbyCarmona,FrankieLilesandKrisztinaBentsen,whowill provide the team’sfoundationforyearstocome. Itwasjusttheoppositestorywithboys’volleyball,whereallbutoneplayerswasasenior,severalofwhomhadneverplayedthesportbefore.Ac-cordingtoMs.Hatfield,theboys“wereperformerswhoworkhardest if theyhaveanaudience.” The girls’ basketball teambrought home the banner for earn-ing theregularseasonOmegaLeaguechampionship before winning a C.I.F.playoffgamebeforethegirlsbidfare-well to seniors Maddie, Nkehci andMyriam,whowentoutat thehighestpointintheprograminmanyyears. It wasn’t surprising, though,that Coach Manly was “intenselyproudofeverysinglegirlontheteam.”Coachaddedthathe’dliketoseeevenmoregirlscomeoutnextyeartoemu-lateMyriamorChloeChais,“whomaynotbethetallestorthefastest,butsheisthetoughestkidaround.” Eventhoughtheboysfailedtoreach theirgoalsofawinningseasonandpostseasonappearance,theytwiceenjoyed the buzzer-beatingheroics ofjunior CosmoKelly, whose shotswongamesatWestmarkandagainstFirstLutheran. The Patriots will miss Val

Adell, Jack Gallagher, Jeff Bradshawand JackieNg, but enough returningunderclassmen tobeoptimisticaboutthefuture. The future was now for thesoccer team, which scored a playoffgoal for the first time in school his-tory. Dustin Park showed the type ofprogression through a high schoolcareer that Coach Sarafian liked toseewhenhefolloweduphisMostIm-proved award as a freshmanwith anAll-leagueselectionasajunior. WhilemostPilgrimopponentshavehadsoccerprogramsfordecades,the Patriots have now earned fourplayoff berths in their short seven-yearhistory,whichgivestheprogramplenty to look back on and look for-wardto.

Sam K

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James Son

James Son

The Commonwealth MAY 27, 201112

Our One-Of-A-Kind Teacher ... ByCallaCarter

... Leads Once In Lifetime Trip

Dr. Walker, here with Mr. Reyes in the center of a Chinese square, felt right at home while showing off her native country to Pilgrim students.

Teachers and doctors areamong the most important membersofanysocietyforthewaytheycontrib-utetothephysicalandintellectualwellbeingoftheirstudentsandpatients.Itisonlyonrareoccasionsthatyouwillfindbothqualitiesinanyoneindividu-al.It’sevenmorerareforsomeonetoperformboth jobs sowell indifferentcountriesthatherinfluenceispartofheridentity. MeetourownDr.SherryWalk-er,awomanwhobringsherlovingna-turewherevershegoes. While working in a hospitalinTibet,Dr.Walker once touched theheartofalittleboywithtuberculosis.Hewas in thehospitalwhile shewasonthenightshift.Hehadarrivedear-lier thatday,andstartedtocryafterwakingupinastrangeplace. ThoughhespokeTibetanandDr. Walker, spoke Chinese, she com-municatedsoftlytohimwhileofferingmuch-needed comfort. The next day,the little boy was diagnosed with tu-berculosisandtransferredtoanotherpart of the hospital specifically setaside forpatientsof thehighlyconta-gious disease. Another doctor therecalled Dr. Walker, asking her to visitbecause the little boy would not eat,drink,ortakehismedicine.Whenshearrived,thelittleboynotonlydidev-erythinghewastold,buthewouldn’tlethergo. “Icameover,heholdmehand,andhesmiled,”Dr.Walkerrecalls.“Hewon’t letme leave.And I understandfeeling, even though we cannot talktoeachother, I feelhewantmetobethere.But if I leave,hewon’t feeding,takingmedicine, or anything, andwecannotmovehimto thenormalarea,and I am not the kind of doctor that

I can come here [to the tuberculosisarea]sowhatwedo.Iasksomebodytobetranslator,andItelltheboy‘Honey,youstayhere,andIpromiseyoueveryday I come to visit you, but only onerequirement:youhavetolistentothedoctor.Youhavetotakemedicine.Youhavetoeat.Youhavetodrink.Ifyoudothat,Iwillcomeeveryday.’” For months, as the little boyrecovered, he followed Dr. Walkeraround,wheneverhehad the chancetogowherevershewent.Whileshewasinmeetings,hesatquietlybyhersideforhours,andcouldbeentertainedforthat amount of timewith items suchaskeys.Whenhewasn’tfollowingher,Dr.Walker’scolleagueswouldaskher,“Sherry,where’syourtail?” A few days before he left thehospital,Dr.Walkermadethelittleboyasweaterasapartinggift. “The next day, his grandmatellsme,‘Evennighttimehewon’ttakethesweateroff,”Dr.Walkersays. “Heissleeping,butwearethere!’” It’s along way from Tibet toPilgrimSchool,yetmanyofDr.Walk-er’s students admire her just as thelittleboydid. “She’sthekindofteacherwhoreallymakesyouwanttodotheworkreally well,” said freshman Chinesestudent Marina Pena. “Like, when Idon’tdohomework,shedoesn’tyelloranything,butyou feel, likereallybadaboutit.Soyoumakesureyoudon’tdoitagain.” To the Chinese InternationalstudentswhohavecomeasfartogotoschoolasDr.Walkertraveledtoteach,she is more than someone they canlearn from in the classroom.She is amentortosophomoreRickZhang,whoalsocallsDr.Walker’shomehisown. “Igivehermyhomeworkandshe tell me what to do,” Rick said.

“[She]Helpmetoimprovestudy.TellmealotaboutAmericanculture.Yes,she help me a lot.” Wereshenotateacher,Dr.Walkerbe-lievesshewouldenjoybeingaveteri-narianbecauseofherloveofanimals. “Inmymind,animalsjustlikeyouandme,”hesays.“Onlydifferenceis, they don’t speak the human lan-guage.” Fornow,though,Dr.Walkeriscontenttobeateacher. One day, she says, when shewastalkingabouttheword“principal”in Chinese class, one of her students

askedherwhyshewasn’tthePilgrimprincipal. She said she wouldn’t giveupher job for themoreprominent ti-tle. “Now, I am very happy withmylife–withmyjob,”Dr.Walkersaysshe toldherstudents. “Principalonlystayintheofficeroom!Principalnev-ergetheadachefromyouguys.Nevergetlaughingwithyouguys.Nevergetmadwithyouguys!Who’sgoingtoev-erydaygiveme love?Who’sgoing toeverydaygivemeheadache?Whowillgivemetear?Youguys,Iprefertobeteacher.”

The gang from Pilgrim strikes a pose at the famed Great Wall of China, one of the highlights of their adventure to the other side of the world, where students learned more about themselves as they did the country.

Jose Reyes

Jose Reyes

ByAbbyBergman WhatstruckthoseofuswhomadeourtriptoChengduandBeijing,China,withDr.WalkerandMr.Reyeswas that while we are so culturally,ethnically, and spiritually differentfrom theChinesepeople, at the sametimewehadsomuchincommonwiththem. Thetripwasanexplorationnotonlyofanotherculture,butalsoofeachandeveryoneofus.Wewereableto look at things that we had alwaystaken for granted through the curi-ouseyesofthosewhodidnotknowus.Ofallthatshesawandheardwhilesofar away from home, sophomore LilyArmstrong recalls how, “There’s al-

waystheweirdnessofrandomChinesepeople taking pictures ofme. ‘Causetheylikedmyhair,orsomething.Theyprobably hadn’t seen many peoplewholookedlikeme.Itwasstrangebe-ing considered so different. I liked it,though.Itwascool.” Whengiventheopportunitytomeetagroupof10thgradeChinesestudents, I was surprised at how, de-spitetheculturaldifferences,wecouldmake more comparisons than con-trasts.Itwasanoddfindinghowthingsthatwe take for grantedwere thingsthey knew very little about. For in-stance,oneChinesestudentaskedmeto explain Easter to her because shehad seen Americans living in China

huntingforeggsintheparkandfoundthat curious. They then explained tousthetraditionsoftheircelebrations,suchasthedragonboatfestival,whichIhadneverheardof. ItwasentertainingtotheChi-nese people to watch us try to growcomfortablewith their customs, eventhe little things such as how to usechopsticks insteadofknives, forksorspoons.“IlearnedthatwhenIfiguredouthow touse chopsticks, I likedus-ing them,”seventhgrader IzzySabersays.“SoIlearnedhowyoulikethingswhen they come easily to you andyou’regoodatthem.But,youalsohavetodealwiththingsyoudon’tknowhowto do. Itmademe happy that I fit inwith everyone else because I learnedto do something that everybody elsecould do.” Therewerequietafewinspir-ing sights, of course, that also madethetripsomemorable.TheGreatWallwasaptlynamed.ThelargestBuddhacarved into themountains of Leshanwasimpressive.Thehomeofthegiantpandaswasunforgettable.Wefelt for-tunatetotourtheForbiddenCitythatwas, of course, off limits to outsidersfor so longa time.And itwasa treatfor anyone who watched the recentSummerOlympics fromBeijing to ac-tually pose outside themain stadiumthatbecameknownworldwideas theBird’sNest for theway it appears onthe outside. Afterspendingmosteveningsonthetripinhotelrooms,manyofusspentthefinalnightwithalocalfam-ily,which according to juniorAudreyDalton put an exclamation point onourjourney.“Stayingwithahostfam-ily,”Audreysaid,“allowedustoreallyexperience the culture. It was some-

thing thatmany of uswill rememberforalongtime.” Though there was times wefelt out of place so far away fromhome,wealwaysknewthathavingDr.Walker as our leaderwas like havingourownpersonaltourguideofChina.Andifwhenwewereoutandaboutwecouldn’tpreciselyunderstandthelan-guage,shewasreadytobeenourownpersonaltranslator. “Ilove,”Dr.Walkersaid,“tobeable toshowChina tomystudents. Ifthey are able to see the country andthepeoplethere,theycanhaveabet-terunderstandingofhowwecanclosetoeachothereventhoughweareveryfarapartfromeachother.” Wehadtheopportunitytotrymanyinterestingdishes,includingtheworld famous duck that comes fromPeking. Depending on how bold youwere at sampling everything onyourplate, you could sample some delica-cies you would surely not find in anAmericanrestaurant. On our first night in Cheng-du, we were eating hot pot, a dishcomprisedofboilingbroth intowhichwe dipped raw meats and fresh veg-etables. Suddenly, our waiter walkedup to the tableanddumpedabowlofmovingobjectsintooursoup.Manyofus jumpedbackbeforewe tooka sec-ondlookandrealizedthattherewerefreshlydeadshrimpinoursoup. When we were walkingthroughanopenmarket,someofourgroup was brave enough to try livescorpions that been skewered on astick and deep-fried. According tosophomoreGabeGarza,“Thescorpiontasted exactly like fried chicken.” Itwas then thatweknew it is indeedasmallworldafterall.