March 2013

RenaissanceVolume XXX, Issue 3 Praecellemus March 2013

The Voice of the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts Natchitoches, LA

In this issue...

2 Thespian Con.

2 Dr. Beier

3 Couch Story 4 Tech Column

4 Lock-In

5 Nat’l Merit Finalists

6 Europe Trip

8 Bomb Threat

7 Faculty Auction

8 Bomb Threat

9 Folio

9 Boarding School Problems 10 Art Show

11 Phonathon

11 Faculty Auction

12 Continuations

Jones-Fosu Makes Lasting Impression on Students at Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly

Justin Jones-Fosu—a professional inspira-tional speaker, author, and entrepreneur from Baltimore, Maryland—gave this year’s keynote address at the Martin Luther King assembly. With a pragmatic ap-proach and high-energy style of speaking, Jones-Fosu spoke to the Loui-siana School about the progress already made in racial equality in America as well as the progress left to be made, keeping consistent with the theme of judging people by the content of their character rather than by the color of their

skin. Jones-Fosu chided the media and other sources for a current design in American society that provides for emphasiz-ing racial separation and competition, claiming each race has historical-ly fought for dominance over the other. To illustrate, Jones-Fosu gave the example of American reactions to Hispanic aliens and their employment in the States. As a solution, Jones-Fosu offered an inter-pretation of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ideas, suggesting society should not be colorblind—i.e. blind to racial identity and

Bomb Threat Shakes Teachers and Students Alike

Kyle WelchAssistant Editor


On Monday, Febru-ary 25, LSMSA re-ceived the first bomb threat in its nearly thirty-year history. This event marked a generally turbulent day that included warnings of violent weather in Natchi-toches. According to memos distributed by LSMSA Executive Director Dr. Patrick Widhalm, a typed message left in the Center for Perform-

ing Arts (CPT) boy’s restroom between 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. indicated that an explosive would be detonated in the High School Building (HSB) at 1:00 p.m. Within fifteen min-utes of the discovery, members of the Safety and Wellness Net-work including Derek Little, Chuck Stoker, Allison Landry, Ken-neth Olson, and Ken Stevens were clearing the buildings. Stu-dents were required to return immedietely to residence halls and

classroom activities were suspended for the rest of the day. NSU Security and State Police Emer-gency Services led by the Deputy Command Technician swept the HSB and advised the threat was “without substance,” according to a memo distributed to the campus com-munity by Dr. Wid-halm. An investiagtion into the incident be-gan immediately, and members of the cam-pus community were asked to forward any

information to Detec-tive Doug Prescott of the NSU campus police. The incident re-inforces a decision announced last week to purchase an emer-gency text message system for immedi-ate implementation and underscores the importance of the diligent work of the Safety Team during the past several years.

Continued on p. 12 asMLK Day

Jones-Fosu speaks about racial equality and the leg-

acy of Dr. King. Photo by Melissa Peveto

uniqueness—but in-stead tolerant of each race’s uniqueness. In other words, people should embrace individual differences while disregarding the stereotypes of a group. With that, Jones-Fosu celebrated the progress already made, such as integration and the equality of opportuni-

ties in America. He praised the Louisi-ana School’s example of

More about the bomb threat on pg. 5

Jones-Fosu with Dr. Pat Widhalm, Brian Kim (Sr.), Jasmine Hardy (Sr.), Jacob Foreman (Jr.), and

Amber Kropog (Sr.)Photo by Melissa Peveto

Page 2 Renaissance March 2013


Thespian Convention

About every three years, depending on demand, Dr. Nahla Beier offers a course in Arabic literature and culture. Dr. Beier also teaches Composition and Literature, British Fantasy, Shakespeare, and British Literature. The semester begins with lessons in Arabic language (which can consume much of the semester), then culture, and lastly literature. “I don’t think a person can appreci-ate the literature of an area without first appreciating its culture and understanding its language,” said Beier. “Sometimes it can take more than a month to teach the alphabet!” With much of the course’s time spent on

Dr. Beier Bridges the Gap Between the West and the Middle East

LSMSA joined several schools from around the state to participate in the annual Thespian Convention at NSU on January 25 and 26. The Thespian Con-vention is a statewide convention centered on the art of theater. Students not only compete to win scholar-ships and awards, but also engage in work-shops and other ac-tivities to enhance their acting skills. Not only actors par-ticipated in this conven-tion, though. One of the events highlighted at the Thespian Convention

was called the “TECH Olympics,” a competi-tion for theater techni-cians. Basic skills of theater technicians were put to the test. “You had to run up a ladder, change a gel, focus lights, drill ply-wood, quick change, spike, and put up a table as fast as you could,” said Selene Allain-Kovacs, sopho-more. The workshops there encompassed a wide range of skills actors that and actresses use on stage. There were work-shops for dancing, singing, makeup, and costume design, among other things.

“I went to a workshop for cold reading, which is when they hand you lines and give you ten minutes to learn them. Then you act them out with a complete stranger.” said Glenn Underwood, junior. Though no awards were won by LSMSA this year, all the thes-pians that participated are anxious to compete again next year. “This year was good,” Underwood said, “but next year we’re going to kick butt.”

language and culture, it’s easy to imagine that by the time the semester is over, many students of the course are eager to learn more. Thus, the course is nearly always followed by an intimate independent study with Dr. Beier. The few students who enroll gather every week at Dr. Beier’s house to sit in a circle, learn Arabic, and eat Middle Eastern food. Much of the language learned is conversa-tional. “It’s fun to teach them that a window is masculine and that a table is feminine,” said Beier. “I feel sorry for people who aren’t na-tive [Arabic] speakers because the language is so beautiful, and it would probably take them forever to learn it the way a native has.”

“Most people think of language in pragmatic senses,” she continues, “but I think languages offer much more, and every language offers things that aren’t trans-latable to other lan-guages. Arabic is very flowery and pretty; it’s visual and poetic—very idiomatic. For example, you might say someone is proud by saying ‘your nose is in the sky’ or you could say someone complicates things by saying ‘you carry a lad-der sideways.’” “I like teaching Arabic because it serves as a bridge between me and my culture and the students. The Middle East, I feel, is a very misunderstood place, and I think teaching its language and culture builds an understanding for it and a bond be-tween the students and

me.” This year, there are four students enrolled in Dr. Beier’s Arabic inde-pendent study: Spencer Perry (Sr.), Josephine Robichaux(Sr.), Marie Motahari(Sr.), and Clay-ton Ragan(Jr.). “Right now we’re learning how

Carlie ProcellLayout Editor

Dr. Nahla BeierPhoto by Melissa Peveto

Thespians Julia Landon (Soph.), Selene Allain-Kovacs (Soph.), Glenn Underwood (Jr.), and Eric Dilmore (Sr.) strike a pose af-

ter the closing ceremoniesPhoto by Carlie Procell

to conjugate verbs,” said Perry. “It’s really fun because Dr. Beier has so many cool stories about the Middle East, and she gives us stuff like pop-corn and coffee. It’s too bad more people didn’t join.”

March 2013 Renaissance Page 3

Normally Lazy Students Pull Off Incredible Feat

If you happened to be walking or driving down Keyser Avenue at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 2, you would have noticed the usual urban sprawl of Natchitoches: the flashing billboard adver-tising Walgreens, the big red bulletin with Shop Rite’s gas prices, and even the alligator pull-ing Santa’s sleigh on top of the stop light. But on that day, you definitely would have observed something else. Three LSMSA students carry-ing a couch on the side of the road. For Nilupul Bulath-sinhala, Shade Gaspard, and Patrick Hennigan, three seniors at LSMSA, that Saturday started off like every other week-end, slow and lazy. For lunch, they decided to walk to Trailboss Steakhouse to get away from cafeteria food. After lunch, while other students may walk back to the school or enjoy sundaes at Dairy Queen, these three had other plans. “We didn’t feel like walking back to the dorms. We were too full and the weather was too hot. So, we decided to take a break at Goodwill to get out of the sun,” said Hennigan. Goodwill is a favorite store amongst LSMSA students because it sells eclectic clothing styles and is an opportune place to find costumes So it was normal that Bulathsinhala, Gaspard, and Hennigan would

Brian KimEditor in Chief

Bulathsinhala, Hennigan, Tesnow, and Gaspard smiling proudly next to their new couch.

Photo by Ethan Tesnow

stop at the store to look around. While brows-ing the aisles and tables of the store, they no-ticed an amazing couch that while seemingly unkempt and slightly dusty was pleasant to sit on. “We were too full and lazy to really do anything else so we just sat on the couch,” said Bulathsinhala. By this time, most students would leave the store after resting for a certain period of time. However, these three had other plans. The boys found the couch too comfortable to do anything other than pur-chase it. “We could not pass up on this couch. It is wonderful. It smells like Roses,” described Hen-nigan. After paying 75 dol-lars for the dilapidated

red and green sofa, they next had to figure out how to transport the heavy new addi-tion to their hall. At this point, most students (if they even got this far), would call a Student Life Advisor (SLA) to pick them up in a van.

However, Bulathsinhala, Gaspard, and Hennigan decided they didn’t feel like calling John Shore, their SLA on 1A. So, the decision was made to carry it. At the Goodwill parking lot, they started their long haul back to the dorms carry-ing the heavy couch. At first, great progress was made, but soon, the weight finally took its toll on them. “It was extremely heavy after awhile so we decided to stop,” said Hennigan. And stop they did. During the long voy-age back to the dorms, they stopped every 50 yards or so to put the couch down and rest. While other students would rest trying to re-gain energy, these three planned to have fun every step of the way. On the side of the street, they sat on the couch and started to take pic-tures and wave at people as they drove by. “We were making

many friends as we sat there,” said Hennigan. “Some people actually stopped and took pic-tures of us and we had interesting conversation with them. There was even this one girl who was running by us and so we asked her to take a break and sit on the couch with us. Unfortu-nately, she didn’t.” About halfway back to the dorms, it was de-cided that they could use another pair of hands. So they called their friend Ethan Tesnow (Jr.) to help them. These four students success-fully arrived back at the dorms with the couch, which they put in Henni-gan and Bulathsinhala’s room. Initially, Shore was very apprehensive about allowing such a large couch in the duo’s room. However, he soon gave in after considering the distance these tenacious boys had trekked to transport the couch. Today, the couch proudly rests against the wall in Hennigan and Bulathsinhala’s room.

Hennigan, Gaspard, and Bulathsinhala in their room with their couch.Photo by Shade Gaspard



Technology Column: Operating Systems

Conversations at an LSMSA lunch table aren’t exactly stereotypical for the normal high school. They can be based on opinions about the fiscal cliff, the molecular structure of lettuce, or even on the correlation of lip color to nipple color. But a conversa-tion that never goes out of style is the ongoing debate on which operating system is the best. Operating systems, or OS’s, consist of the software that computers use to do what they do. They change the way a desktop looks, manage the memory, and can tell a lot about the user. Now, how do you know which one is right for you? Well, some prefer Windows, some are cool with Macintosh, some are intense Linux fans, and some just don’t care. For those of you who are undecided, this guide tells you the advantages and disadvan-tages of each one. Then you can decide what team you’re on.

WindowsPros:1. Almost all software runs on it. It’s hard to find soft-ware that isn’t compatible with Windows.2. You have a lot of support if something goes wrong. Since a lot of people use it, almost every problem that could possibly happen with Windows has happened to someone, and that someone has asked about it on some internet forum.

Cons:1. Since it’s the most popular, it’s also the most popular for viruses and malware. Un-less you have good antivirus and firewalls, you’re going to have a bad time.2. It’s not that pretty. Unless you know how to tweak and customize it, it’s going to be bulky looking and ugly.

MacPros:1. The Mac OS comes with a lot of nifty little programs like: iMovie, Garage Band and, the ever popular among teenage girls, Photo Booth. 2. You’ll get barely any viruses with it. 3. It’s super easy to use. If you don’t know anything about computers and don’t really care to learn, then Macs are for you.

Cons:1. It’s hard to find outside programs for it. 2. You can only get the OS on an Apple computer. 3. You have to go to Apple for everything. If you break something, you can’t just buy a new part on Amazon, you have to go to the Apple Store and pay a lot more.

LinuxPros:1. It’s open source! (free)2. There are so many ways to customize it. There are so many distros (packages of soft-ware) like Ubuntu and Fedora.3. Almost any console can support it. It’s probably the most versatile of the operating systems in that respect.

Cons:1. It requires knowledge of computers to run it efficiently. You’re going to have to learn how to use Terminal if you want to do anything on it.2. You’re probably going to have to install it on your com-puter yourself. 3. Barely anything is compat-ible with Linux, but there is software you can add on like Wubi or WINE that runs pro-grams through Windows.

SAB Lock-In

Photos courtesy of Google Images


LSMSA’s Student Activity Board (SAB) puts on a variety of activities year-round to keep students sane while they drown in homework. Activities include campfires, dances, and spirit days, among other things. On January 25, SAB organized a free lock-in from midnight to 2:30 a.m.. The two and a half hours that students used to evade curfew were spent eating pan-cakes, watching movies, hitting pinatas, playing video games, and merely socializing. “The turn out was great, around 60 students showed up with four staff members chaperoning,”

said Jenny Schmitt, the SAB sponsor. Senior, Brianna Lawson, spent her night doing home-work for linear algebra. “I know it sounds lame,” Lawson

said, “but it was a great op-portunity to do homework with friends while also having fun.” The night dragged on and no one fell asleep, surprisingly. The walk back to the dorms

Left: Oliver Daliet (Sr.) helps Aubrey Mohr (Jr.) put syrup on her pancakes made by Pratik Patel. (Sr.) Right: Students gather around as students attempt to break the pinata.

Photos by Khalilah Al-Amin

was difficult for everyone, but everyone could agree the lock-in was worth sacrificing their sleep.


Bomb Threat Elicits Diverse Reactions on Social MediaKyle Welch

Assistant Editor After the news of the bomb threat broke at the Louisiana School and Northwestern State University, students of both schools were quick to share their reactions via social media, par-ticularly Twitter. While some users were somber in their

tweets, others exploited the vapid atmosphere—which followed an evac-uation to the dormitories for LSMSA students and the scramble to find a decent bomb party for Northwestern students—for social media atten-tion by sharing clever and often crude remarks about the situation. “SHOUT OUT TO THE BOMB THREAT FOR GET-TING MY BURKMAN TEST MOVED TO WEDNESDAY!!! YOU DA BOMB, BOMB,” tweeted Emily Learned (@Emily_Learned) from LSMSA. “All jokes aside, I love all of y’all and this school and I really hope we don’t blow up,”

Learned later tweeted. Dejhane Lee (@CallMeDejhane), when tweeting her own words, took a generally mature approach to the situa-tion. “NSU students, remember that some-one’s mental instability doesn’t mean that we’re immature. It means that he/she needs help,” she tweeted.

Amber Kropog, a cuurrent Louisiana School senior, by the same token as Lee, posted on Facebook, “Sorry for adding to the mass posts about this bomb threat. But seri-ously guys, you need to show some respect. Yes this is probably just a threat. But being happy about this is wrong. This school means the world to so many of us. Fac-ulty and students. Some teachers were crying and Dr. Pat was distraught. If you love this school as much as I do and many of us do, then you wouldn’t be so joyous about this. Whether your classes or tests are cancelled or whatever. This isn’t funny. So to

whoever did this, you’re sick.” A few students even coined a hashtag for the occasion: “Apolo-gies2NSU.” Of course, the news of the bomb threat inevi-tably leaked outside of the Natchitoches com-munity, and alumni even participated in the social media hysteria surround-

ing the incident. NSU students were generally unfazed by the news, only feeling slightly inconvenienced

by the disruption of their schedules. Many orga-nized parties to occupy their newly acquired free time. “So who’s having a bomb threat party since classes are cancelled?” tweeted Alex Taras (@Calio_Swag) from NSU. “Sorry guys I said I was da bomb, not there is a bomb #misunder-stand,” tweeted Marc Paz (@Marc_A_Paz) from NSU. “S/O to the ‘bomber’ because he totally lightened up my day,” tweeted Hannah Walker (@misshannahhhhh) from NSU. Judging by the social media reactions, the at-mosphere of the day was lax and unconcerned,

proving students in Natchitoches are smug about their safety. Still, the latent thoughts of many LSMSA students concerned the pos-sibility of a real threat to the community, as shown particularly in Emily Learned’s latter tweet. Especially with the perpetual nature of social media updates, the events of Monday are likely to remain in the profiles and memo-ries of this generation of LSMSA students and staff members who received the threat and organized the appropri-ate safety plan.


Europe Special Projects Trip 2013

Thirty-five students, nine adults, and one child all piled on a plane from New Orleans to Atlanta on February 9 awaiting the trip of a lifetime. This trip was orga-nized by Mrs. Sanjeetha Peters and she had been planning this for months. From Atlanta, we would fly to Heath-row Airport in London and begin the nine-day trek across Europe’s most popular tourist at-

tractions. Customs at Heathrow was intense, with it be-ing the third busiest air-port in the world. Luck-ily, no one was detained. For many of us, it was our first time traveling internationally. We joined our tour guide Tony after getting luggage and hopped on a bus to visit our first hotel. The weather was like any other London day--cold, wet, and cloudy. After dropping our bags off, we proceeded to trek the quarter mile

walk to the subway sta-tion to eat our first for-eign feast. It consisted of edamame and noodles at a Japanese restaurant called Wagamama’s. We then did a walk-ing tour of central Lon-don that ended in Pic-cadilly Circus, the Times Square of London. That would’ve been fine and all, but a wave of freez-ing rain crashed on us in 30 degree weather. No one was prepared for this, so we were mis-erable throughout the duration of the night. The next day was bet-ter; everyone had a good night’s sleep and knew to wear proper attire for the weather. We did a bus tour of the major attractions in London-- Buckingham Palace, Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, London Bridge, the River Thames--and it culminated with us taking a trip to Windsor Castle. While we were tour-ing around Windsor, it started snowing and

the first international LSMSA snowball fight occurred. No survi-vors were left standing. Clothes were soaked, hair was frizzled, and friendships were torn. But everything returned to normal once we stepped inside the castle and saw the sheer gran-deur of it. After Windsor, we went back to the hotel and woke up at a lovely 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning to board the three-hour Eurostar ride to Paris. Our first impression of Paris was not good; the Eurostar left us off in probably the ghetto neighborhood of Paris. It stunk, there was trash everywhere, and we had to hike a few miles to get to the near-

est metro station. Our first Parisian meal was at a chain called Flam’s that served bottomless square shaped pizzas. They were greasy and thin, but nevertheless delicious to our starving bellies. We then went on a walking tour to visit Notre Dame and had a bit of free time to shop and get a feel for Paris. I went with some friends and we explored the area and got food. After that, we all loaded onto a bus again to visit Versailles. The Palace of Ver-sailles was magnificent, extravagant, and gor-geous above all. We visited 17 rooms of the palace. Our tour guide was cool, too. His name was Brian and he gradu-ated from Cornell and


Seen & Overheard“It’s a constant; it does what it wants, it doesn’t give a damn.”

-Sanjeetha Peters

“My stuff’s sorted? More like sordid!” -Mz. Gleason

“What Hitler did in his spare time? Check Facebook, Twitter, that #swastika”-Dr. Feske

“The Middle Ages will finally have come to an end when Dr. Link Hall and I retire.”-Dr. Art

“I’m not saying I taught Michael Jordan everything he could do with his tongue, but...”

-Dr. Atkins

“My idea of hell is being behind an 85 year old little woman that looks through the steering wheel to see and she’s driving 25 in a 65 zone and I can’t pass her.”

-Dr. Van Rhyn

Dinner at Wagamama’s in LondonPhoto by Carlie Procell

Group shot in front of Buckingham PalacePhoto by Sanjeetha Peters

Windsor in the snowPhoto by Carlie Procell


Voices

What was the best thing before sliced bread?James Rodrigue (Soph.)- Mrs. Dr. Hall

Maddie Inzenga (Soph.)- Natchitoches water

Katelyn Fitzpatrick (Jr.)- Bread

Brandon Kongphonymany (Jr.)- Women

Poll by Allison Smith Staff Wrtier

was super nice. Our final day in Paris was spent properly in the Louvre. We spent six hours there, which wasn’t nearly enough to cover even half of everything the museum

Group shot in front of the Eiffel TowerPhoto by Sanjeetha Peters

had to offer. I managed to hit all the highlighted works on the map, namely the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, the Code of Hammurabi, the Coronation of Napoleon, Liberty Leading the People--it was amazing. We left Paris to board a 12-hour--that’s right, I said 12-hour--train ride to Florence. It was awful. We were stuck in cabins of six that were about a third of the size of a room in Caddo. Not only were we cramped with our lug-gage, but it was freezing and the train bumped us around everywhere. Somehow, I managed to sleep. When we awoke at seven in the morn-ing, we had exactly four minutes to get ALL of our luggage off the train. It was difficult, but we did it by pushing every-one’s luggage down the aisle with a “train” of people. We ate a cute, little breakfast in Florence

and proceeded to take a walking tour of the city. It was gorgeous. The weather was per-fect, the people were nice, and the city itself was stunning. I espe-cially enjoyed it because

it’s one of the settings in one of my favorite video games, Assassin’s Creed. Our day in Florence was not nearly enough time to see everything and fully appreciate it, but we got as much in as we could and departed to Pisa later that day. Pisa was all right. By that time we’d seen many beautiful build-ings, so it didn’t surprise us too much to see the cathedral at Pisa. The tower was super tall and definitely leaning, though. But the major event that happened in Pisa occurred when we returned to the bus and received bad news that luggage had been stolen off the bus while we were gone. Six people lost some luggage, so everyone chipped in and really came together to help the people who had lost their luggage clothes and toiletries. Despite that setback, we departed for Assisi

ready to delve farther into Italian culture. The countryside around As-sisi was calm and beau-tiful, a sharp contrast to the cities we’d been visiting. The walk up the hill to Assisi woke us all up, and the church itself was as beautiful as the countryside around it. We spent a few short hours there and then headed to our final desti-nation, Rome. Before the day ended, we squeezed in a tour of the Vatican. St. Peter’s Basilica was just as exquisite as every other church we visited. But the inside of the Sis-tine Chapel was truly angelic. It looked a lot smaller than I imagined, but still marvelous.

Group shot in front of the Leaning Tower of PisaPhoto by Thorn LaCaze

Relaxing in the Roman ForumPhoto by Sanjeetha Peters

February 17 was the last full day we had in Europe, and we spent it in the tantalizing city of Rome, the Mecca for Latin students. We drove by the Circus Maximus, toured the Colosseum, and walked around the Roman Forum before getting let loose for 6 hours of free time.

My friend, Alyssa Schulenberg (Jr.) and I spent the time going to a fancy restaurant, visiting the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon, and shopping. At 3:00 a.m., we bid our farewells to Tony and stepped inside the Leonardo da Vinci air-port to catch our flight to Amsterdam. All in all, it was the trip of a lifetime. The 35 of us became pretty tight and had a good time stocking up on our knowledge of geogra-phy, history, and culture. Although the trip pro-vided a lot to absorb in a short time, each partici-pant took away knowl-edge and memories that will enrich us through-out our careers.


LSMSA’s National Merit Finalists for Class of 2013Lauren Sobel

Arts Editor

Like studying for cal-culus tests and making ramen, taking standard-ized tests—and awaiting the results—are among the rituals of life at LSMSA. Every October, all juniors and sophomores take the PSAT. For the sophomores, the test is only practice, but juniors take this test as the Na-tional Merit Qualifica-tion Exam. Every state’s top scoring students are lauded as National Merit Semi-Finalists, a huge accomplishment in itself. This year LSMSA has nine Semi–Finalists and National Achieve-ment Scholars: Raine Hasskew, Maya Welch, Freddy May AbiSamra, Louis Tao, Brian Kim, Dyadra Saulsberry, Aaliyah Sanchez, Bron-son Schoen, and Hana Stillmaker. Among these, Hasskew, Welch, AbiSamra, Tao, and Kim were recently named Na-tional Merit Finalists. “Basically, I just went with it and reasoned things out. I only re-ally studied grammar rules,” said Hasskew. She postulated that being a Semi-Finalist helped her Early Deci-sion acceptance to MIT. Her planned major is physics, as Hasskew is focusing on aerospace engineering as a future career. “Don’t stress too much,” advised the senior. “To be totally honest, I don’t like SAT format too much; every-one should figure out your best test and go

with it.” She received high marks on the SAT, but prefers the ACT, on which she achieved a perfect score. Welch’s success on the PSAT was earned by creative methods. As the PSAT has a heavy vocabulary focus, Welch recorded herself saying certain words and would later listen to the tapes. “I think everyone should eat a good break-fast beforehand,” Welch said. “I think I had yogurt and a banana.” The strategy worked, as Welch received impres-sive scores. North-eastern University in Boston, where she has already been accepted, offers full scholarship to finalists, but Welch is also considering Tu-lane’s International Po-litical Economy program or the Plan II Honors program at UT Austin. Her good luck of be-ing a Finalist extended beyond the academic realm: “My car broke around the same time, and I got my new car as

an 18th birthday-Nation-al Merit-Valentine’s-Day present. My dad put a Valentine’s Day Bow on it. He is really proud,” she said. “I probably wouldn’t have gotten a car as nice if it wasn’t for National Merit.” Similarly, Welch’s roommate AbiSamra also had a proud father: “I think it’s funny that he thinks I’m a big deal now,” said AbiSamra.

Seniors Maya Welch, Brian Kim, Louis Tao, Freddy May AbiSamra, and Raine Hasskew are National Merit Finalists

Photo by Melissa Peveto

She did not study at all for the PSAT, but came out with an almost per-fect score. She later did math practice tests for the SAT and ACT. “Initially, you should do the practice the school gives you to find your weaker areas and practice in those spe-cifically to improve,” AbiSamra said. “Na-tional Merit is a good thing to have in appli-cations, but I am most likely going to art school for either screenwriting or theater, so my writing samples mattered more.” Tao believes his score on the PSAT was greatly aided by taking advanced math courses early on in eighth and ninth grade. Tao also cited Dr. Art Williams’ Introduction to Writing course his sophomore year at Louisiana School as a big source with critical reading and writ-ing. “My college coun-selors during the new college seminar pro-

gram at the school were especially helpful in reminding me of paper-work deadlines for the competition,” Tao noted. He later did several practice tests and memo-rized 300 SAT words to achieve his National Merit status. Kim, another of LSMSA’s Finalists, is president of LSMSA’s Student Government Organization. “It was in my town newspaper,” Kim said, referring to Monroe. “It was cool because I have been involved with the LSMSA newspaper for the past three years.” Kim cited that he was studying for the ACT already at the time and believes that helped him. His near-perfect ACT score is just another testament to the value of studying. The National Merit program, however, ex-ists to reward those who hit the books, and the Louisiana School will continue to see Finalists walk its halls for years to come.

National Merit Semi-Finalists: (top, left to right) Aaliyah Sanchez, Louis Tao, Brian Kim, Bronson Schoen, Maya Welch, Hana Stillmaker (bottom)

Raine Hasskew, Freddy May AbiSamra, and Dyadra Saulsberry

Photo by Melissa Peveto


Folio: The ArticleJacob Foreman

Staff Writer

Folio, first printed in May of 1985, is the Louisiana School’s annual literary magazine that features original, creative, out-standing student work. Students can submit work in humanities, art, math, and science. To Dr. Link Hall, faculty advisor of Folio since 1990, it is impossible to choose a favor-ite edition of Folio because “each edition of Folio has lots of outstanding fiction, poetry and art, and some years we have had outstanding work in science and math as well. Try-ing to choose a favorite edition would be like trying to choose a favorite child”. The vision of Folio is “to publish a book of good poems, short stories, artwork, and es-

says that will hold the reader’s attention,” said Dr. Hall. “It is a great place to see your colleagues’ work and get to show off the things that make you unique,” Josephine Robichaux, General Editor, said when asked what makes Folio special. Sidney Reynen, Co-Editor for Humanities, also com-mented about her excitement to get all of the great writing submissions from students whether they are a haiku that makes her cry, a history story that tells her about something she has never heard of, or a short story that makes her laugh. My advice to aspiring writ-ers would be to “avoid unnec-essary wordiness with your prose, and to make vivid im-ages in your poetry. A sense of humor always helps, too” said Dr. Hall.

Folio has been recognized by the National Council of Teach-ers of English several times and has received the “Highest Award” six times. Folio is always looking for ways to capture the talent of LSMSA’s student body, so students should not hesitate to submit work just because they think that it will not be able to fit in with the overall format of the magazine. Last year, Folio was able to include outstanding musical and digital submissions in DVD format, which Dr. Hall hopes to do again this year. Students can submit their work to any of the editors. Questions about the sub-mission process for Folio or what is allowed in Folio can be directed to senior edi-tors: Freddy-May AbiSamra (General Editor), Josephine Robichaux (General Editor),

Boarding School Problems: RainLauren Sobel

Arts Editor

The old adage that “every-body talks about the weather but no one does anything about it” maybe true some places but not at LSMSA. Our residential experience causes peculiar adaptations and rituals to form to deal with the environment. Most high school students in the state use either buses or personal vehicles to get to school. A slight drizzle for them might only merit a sigh or the activation of windshield wipers. LSMSA students, however, have to walk in these conditions. Some students have very meticulous methods to stay dry. Senior Janie Stulz, who is also a lifetime resident of Natchi-toches, loyally uses the weath-er.com app on her i-phone. “Any day where the chance of rain is 30%,” she detailed, “I make sure to wear my rain

boots and bring an umbrella.” Many other students follow the weather on their phones, but vary in their degree of prepara-tion.

On days where there is more than 50% chance of rain, senior Justin Manning will wear flip-flops to school, even in December. “I just hate having to wear wet shoes all day,” agreed Saw-yer McMicken, who similarly alters her footgear when rain is likely. “Wet jeans are even worse,” said Maya Welch, who only

wears shorts when she knows there is a high chance of rain. Planning aside, weather is erratic. Students who ride bikes to school always seem to pedal faster when rain is falling down. With many future scientists amongst us, the “en-gineer’s raincoat,” a trash bag with three holes in it, is also a viable option. Other teenage scientists experiment with how many students can fit under a single umbrella. Others, however, are more apathetic. “I just don’t care,” said senior Grace Herrington. Senior Emily Ribando-Gros simply looks out her window in the morning and decides whether to bring her raincoat. Many other students noted that on days they did prepare, it did not rain, so they stopped trying all together. Often, I noticed a relationship where one room-mate sedulously monitored weather patterns, and the other intermittently asked them for the report. Like all things in life, Loui-siana School students retain

Sidney Reynen (Humanities), Benjamin Lane (Humanities), Snehaja Yadlapati (Science), Brianna Lawson (Math), or Dr. Link Hall.

Folio Editors Freddy May Abi-Samra, Josephine Robichaux, and

Sidney Reynen eating bacon.Photo by Lauren Sobel

their sense of humor even when trudging through a torrential downpour. “I remember some boys wearing swim trunks to class last year when it flooded,” laughed senior Madison Con-lay.1

“I always get a kick out of seeing students splash through those big puddles that form on the athletic field,” chuckled Coordinator of Student De-velopment T.C. Veit, who has worked at the school for eight years. In the end, rain unites stu-dents. Sarcastically comment-ing the millionth “OMG RAIN TWO DAYS IN A ROW?!?! #wetsocks #cantdeal” facebook status and complaining about the other people complaining brings students together both virtually and in person. Teenag-ers connect over complaining more than anything else. Rain is simply part of the climate here.

1 Editor’s Note: Swim trunks have also been viewed on students on sunny days when they aredoing laundry


Brother Michael’s Art ShowLauren Sobel

Arts Editor

Continued on p. 12 asArt Show

Brother Michael Da-vid Elvestrom is a sort of enigma for LSMSA students. We all have the same relatively basic knowledge of him: he was an art teacher at the school, is usually wera-ing robes, and frequents Front Street. Yet, most things said beyond that are generally hearsay. I knew that he was a skilled artist; one of his paintings-Jesus on the crucifix-is in the stair-well of the 2nd floor of Watson Library, but I, myself, was unsure of what I would get out of his gallery opening on January 31st . I arrived five minutes late, but luckly Brother Michael was not there yet either. Several other students were congre-gated in the atrium and

walked around the gal-lery with me. “What I liked the most was finding many specific, eclectic de-tails,” Cole Meisner (Sr.) said, gesturing at his personal favorites. If one was to simply walk through the gal-lery, it might seem like merely a religious exhibit. While angels and saints are featured in many of the works, closer inspection reveals that the pieces’ subject matter was more com-plex. Cole drew my eye to recurring objects in a couple works including shoes, fur, and vintage cars. Walking with Ms. Linda Gleason, a math teacher at Louisiana School and long time friend of the artist, I recieved more insight to these objects. Ms. Gleason had taken a printmaking class taught

by Brother Michael during her own years at LSMSA. She knew the intrica-cies of his work well and gave me stories behind several pieces. For example, a farm house in the corner of a charcoal drawing, one of many farm details the artist incorporates, gained depth when Ms. Gleason told me Brother Michael was raised on a dairy farm. My favorite story behind a piece was for the piece Ms. Gleason titled “tattooed skull.” The canvas was actually a salvaged sliding door from one of LSMSA’s old dormitories. “He would take students to the old gym, back when it was almost a garbage dump, and have them take a door or a shelf to create assem-blages,” Ms. Gleason told me. “The school’s budget is not the very best, so he was very resourceful in utilizing what we had to continue his teaching and own art.” Like in many of his works, Brother Michael used mixed media for the skull, incorporating pre-made wallpaper and gold foil. Abstract pastel shapes filled the canvas in a pattern reminiscent of stained glass. It was curious to think some-thing so aesthetically pleasing was once in a dorm.* Brother Michael, himself, eventually ar-rived, and after a brief introduction, he decided to lead me on a tour. “I was surprised they put much of it in the gallery,” he said

in an almost whisper. “So much is so racy, or excuse me, vulgar for Natchitoches.” He was referencing in particular three different canvases of saints with exposed breasts in the back of the gallery. It was here Brother Michael surprised me and deepened my un-derstanding of the literal and figurative back-grounds of his various pieces. I had noticed a lot of fabric in a ma-jority of the pieces on display. Looking around with the artist himself, I asked if there was a theme of something unseen. “It is about coming out and revealing the hidden,” he said. “While it may look hidden, it is really about what is be-ing exposed.” “It is amazing how one person can express himself in both sacred and worldly manners,” Dr. Pat Widhalm said at

the gallery opening. The artist gave him an acrylic painting from his Cane River Lake se-ries a few years ago that now hangs in Widhalm’s home. Dr. Link Hall, an English teacher also attending the show, had been given a landscape piece by Brother Mi-chael featuring a planta-tion scene. Speaking with Dr. Hall, who has worked at the school for thirty years now, con-veyed to me that Broth-er Michael has a definite talent for making things beautiful, even outside a frame or gallery. “I remember when he first started the school’s Christmas decorations,” said Dr. Hall. “He didn’t tell anyone about it in ad-vance, so it was a really pleasant surprise after Thanksgiving break to return to all these

Eric Dilmore (Sr.) and Misa Rendon (Jr.)Photo by Lauren Sobel

Brother Michael David ElvestromPhoto by Melissa Peveto


LSMSA Phonathon 2013Allison Smith

Staff Writer There was silence in the room as students and teachers gathered themselves before the hustle and bustle of the night to come. The clock struck six and the Louisiana School’s fourth annual Phona-thon kicked into high gear. Students whizzed around the room col-lecting call cards, dial-ing phone numbers and leaving the infamous ‘I’m calling because it’s the Louisiana School for Math Science and the Arts 4th Annual Phonathon’ voice mes-sage for people who missed their cheerful conversation. While the students were busy calling, two

teachers, stationed in the corner of the room, took credit card pay-ments from helpful donors. The true close-knit feeling of the Louisiana School shone through when Dr. Link Hall ended his conversa-tion with a past alum saying, “Take care of yourself, stay warm, and come see us in the pelican state.” Ms. Linda Gleason squealed with delight when she realized she was on the phone with one of her favorite former students. After a substantial donation, I was even rewarded with a fist bump from former English profes-sor Dr. Rodney Allen. As students made more and more calls

the donations contin-ued to stack up, and by the end of the third night the Foundation was just $1,600 away from its goal. Students were rushing around bringing slips to profes-sors to calculate when suddenly the phones shut off. Volunteers sat in shock as they repeatedly tried to dial the phone number that would lead them to more money for Louisi-ana School. Finally, like any good LSMSA student, pho-nathoners began to pull out their cell phones. They called back their donors and even man-aged to rake in a few hundred dollars while the phones were wait-ing to be resurrected.

Junior Class Faculty AuctionLauren Sobel

Arts Editor How much would you pay to hang out with your favorite teacher? No, there isn’t anything seedy going on here. The junior class faculty auction was February 19. This year, a little over 1000 dol-lars was raised. Students paid surprising amounts for home-cooking, activities, or other items donated by the staff and faculty. A yearly ritual, all the money goes towards throwing a fan-tastic Prom in April. Taylor Weakley (Sr.) purchased tennis lessons with English teacher Dr. Art Williams for herself and three other students for 100 dollars, the highest bid at the auc-tion.

“While I don’t play tennis, I bought this to hang out with Dr. Art because he is my fa-vorite teacher,” beamed Weakley. She will be accompanied by fellow seniors Maya Welch, Evelyn Lambeth, and Austin McMichael. All four girls have taken what they describe as several enjoyable cours-es with Dr. Art, and they are looking forward to what is sure to be an interesting outing. “I just thought it was a good idea to take advantage of getting some tasty food,” said Matt Fults (Jr.). He purchased several items, including lasagna from Ms. Shumate and fried chicken from math teacher Mr. Burkman. Additionally, Matt took

advantage of one of the auctions best items. For only 21 dollars, math teacher Ms. Mangum will making him scones, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookie cake, and oatmeal cook-ies as part of a dessert of the month club spanning from February to May. Fults is just one of many Louisiana School students with a sweet tooth, as a popular category this year was brownies. Chemistry teacher Dr. Hynes of-fered up a batch for the auction, as did many members of the residen-tial life staff including Michelle Treadway, Lisa Pierce, and Courtney Duda. Past director of Outreach and Admis-sions, Dr. Sharon Wil-liams donated her sym-phony brownies, which have been a student favorite for the 30 years

she worked at Louisi-ana School. Despite her retirement last year, she graciously participated in the auction again this year. Her brownies went for 55 dollars to Annal-ise Labatut (Jr.). “They are just the best thing I have ever eaten,” said Labatut. She had eaten some a suitemate had purchased at last year’s auction, so she happily paid the 55 dollars this year to once again eat them. “We always raise a lot of money from the fac-ulty auction,” said junior class sponsor of three years, SLA Kim Rog-ers. “I like it because teachers donate what we are auctioning off and so their generosity really allows us to raise more than if we had to purchase the items ourselves.” Kim donated a scarf she personally

knitted into the shape of a smiling alligator, which Brianna LeBoeuf (Soph.) purchased for 25 dollars. “I’m so grateful for our faculty and staff,” said junior class presi-dent Cheyenne Ortiz. “Their donations and support are incredible. I appreciate them, and the students who came to the auction.” Ortiz had a major role in preparing the auction according to Kim. Along with other officers, she solicited donations from teach-ers and later prepared a master list and the items’ prices with Kim. Ortiz herself paid 15 dollars for teatime with SLA and master chef Mary Bess Wiggers.

Dr. Pat encourages students as they make calls for the annual Phonathon.

Photo by Melissa PevetoContinued on p. 12 as

Phonathon

Continued on p. 12 asFaculty Auction


Renaissance715 University ParkwayNatchitoches, LA 71457

Dr. Arthur WilliamsFaculty Sponsor

Faculty Auction

Staff Writers

Allison Smith Jacob Foreman

Bronson Schoen (Sr.) chats with prospective students on Exploration Day.

Photo by Lauren Sobel

Brian KimEditor in Chief


Lauren SobelArts Editor


festive decorations.” From these stories, both faculty members were among the numerous people at the show to detail Brother Michael’s generosity. From attending the show, more about both the artist and his work was revealed.

Art Show

Students laughed about conversations they had with alumni. The best excuse of why somebody couldn’t donate to the school: “The man said, ‘I live in Virginia and I have never heard of this school so I do not think I will be donating’ so I just thanked him and hung up”- Tory Some students even received

Phonathon

As auctioneer, I tried to hike up prices on movie runs, cupcakes, and t-shirts, but students surprised me on their willingness to perhaps pay more than an item’s worth if it meant getting food from or time with their favorite teacher. The auction was a fun event in that while rais-ing money for our hope-fully Jamestown-themed prom, I witnessed stu-dents’ and the faculty’s generosity. We have some of the best math students in the state, so it was touching to see overpriced des-serts being purchased by students who could calculate the items’ fis-cal value to the square inch but paid based on sentimental value.

interesting stories about past teachers, “Yeah, he was like is Dr. Art still there? All the girls loved him,” said Deborah Adeyemi. The bond that the Louisiana School brings between teach-ers, current, and past students is irreplace-able and was displayed throughout the Phona-thon. Many phone-call recipients answered with glee as they knew it was that time of year and were looking for-ward to speaking with current students about life at LSMSA. The school brings people together, creating an instant bond between a first-class alum and a future thirty-first class alum. In the end the LSMSA Foundation exceeded their goal of $40,000 collecting $45,724.03, making this year’s Phonathon an of-ficial success.

MLK Day

A sign of the shared accomplishment and ad-venture, this upholstered dust ball serves as the main “hang-out” loca-tion for the four boys. “At first, I really wanted to buy the couch because it was so com-fortable,” said Bulasin-hala. “However, car-rying the couch on the side of the street, I got tired really quickly and I no longer wanted the couch. However, now that it’s in our room, I don’t regret what we did because this couch is amazing!”

Couch

the school that such ex-amples do not exist ev-erywhere, asking what its students and faculty could do to bring racial equality closer to its realization in America. With dance, lyrically-appropriate music, and encouraged audience participation, Jones-Fosu left the Louisi-ana School audience in Treen Auditorium entertained and maybe humbled. But Jones-Fosu cer-tainly provoked thought and discussion among Louisiana School stu-dents. Some students were concerned that Jones-Fosu was too arrogant in his convictions and delivery, citing his sup-posed “hypocritical” support for diversity while advocating only one point of view. Others were affected more by the significant points of his presenta-tion rather than his argumentative ethos, agreeing that racial progress has been made and can be pressed further.

1. Chrysalis Ortiz (Sr.), Savannah Billings (Sr.), Hana Stillmaker (Sr.), and Saolam Nguyen (Jr.) at a hall event. 2. Pratik Patel (Sr.) and Louis Tao (Sr.)

hanging out.Photos by Lauren Sobel

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Documents

March 2013