This year, the school in-

vited author and New York Times reporter Jacques Stein-

berg to be “Admissions Schol-

ar in Residence.” A resident

of Westchester and a friend

of a Masters family, he will

share his expertise on the

college process in collabora-

WLRQ� ZLWK� WKH� FROOHJH� RIÀFH��Steinberg has focused on ed-

ucation for almost 25 years. In

his book The Gatekeepers, pub-

lished in 2003, he shadowed a

Wesleyan University admis-

VLRQ� RIÀFHU�� 5DOSK� )LJXHURD��for over eight months to pro-

vide an inside look of the

college admission process.

Steinberg shared his in-

sights with the faculty on Aug.

����,Q�WKH�ÀUVW�KDOI�RI�KLV�SUH-sentation, he touched on top-

ics such as taking rigorous

courses versus earning high

grades, the impact of alumni

interviews and crafting of

students’ application essays.

To answer a frequently

asked question about whether

highly selective colleges favor a

B in rigorous courses or an A in

lower level courses, Steinberg

DQG�)LJXHURD��)LJXHURD�MRLQHG�the meeting via Skype) said

that it is impossible to provide a

general answer — but that the

most competitive colleges like

to see students do as well as

they can in challenging courses.

Longtime AP and senior

seminar English teacher,

Caroline Dumaine said, “It

takes foresight for students

to tell whether they will be

able to do well – a kind of fore-

sight that may be unrealistic

or even impossible.” She said

she encourages students to fol-

low their passion, though col-

OHJHV� HPSKDVL]H� WKH� GLIÀFXOW\�of courses so much that many

students, especially those feel-

ing pressured, will decide to

take that into consideration.

In terms of application es-

says, Dumaine agrees with

Steinberg that essays should

sound like the student’s own

voice and should not be heavily

edited by others. Dumaine said

that she did not read her son’s

essay until well after he was

admitted to Brown University.

When she did read it, she said

she found a spelling error. Du-

maine suggested that the pres-

ence of that error might have

helped convince the Brown

DGPLVVLRQ� RIÀFH� WKDW� LW� ZDV�truly the work of a 17-year-old.

Steinberg focused on how

to write an effective recom-

mendation in the second half of

the presentation. He compared

faculty recommendations to

MRXUQDOLVWLF� DUWLFOHV�� (QJOLVK�teacher Sharon Linsker said,

“He talked about having a

strong lead to grab the reader’s

attention, and emphasizing

certain details to help colleges

understand the student’s aca-

demic and personal strengths.”

Two years ago, Steinberg

left The New York Times and

MRLQHG� 6D\� <HV� WR� (GXFDWLRQ��6D\� <HV� LV� D� QRQ�SURÀW� RU-

JDQL]DWLRQ�EDVHG�LQ�1HZ�<RUN�that works with entire cit-

ies to help every public school

graduate to have access to a

college education. Its offer-

ings include scholarships,

WXWRULQJ� DQG� RWKHU� EHQHÀWV��Steinberg said, “I was very

intrigued by the opportunity

to help build this organization,

VR�,�MRLQHG�WKH�6HQLRU�0DQDJH-PHQW�WHDP�LQ�)HEUXDU\������µ��

As an “Admissions Scholar

in Residence,” Steinberg will

periodically come to work

ZLWK� WKH� FROOHJH� RIÀFH� DQG�the prospective college stu-

dents throughout the year.

To follow up on the 2011

1<6$,6� UHFRPPHQGDWLRQV�and to better serve the needs of

students, the school has hired

a health coordinator and is ex-

tending health center hours

until 8 p.m. Monday through

)ULGD\��The new health coordinator,

Meredith Pope, will be on cam-

pus from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and

available on-call overnight as

an Emergency Medical Tech-

QLFLDQ��(07���VR�WKDW�VWXGHQWV�have access to health care at all

times. In previous years, health

center was open from 7:45 am

until 4 p.m. Monday through

)ULGD\���7KHVH�KRXUV�ZLOO�EH�H[-tended by four hours on week-

days.

Pope decided to take the

position of Health Coordina-

tor because the nontraditional

shifts work well with her busy

schedule. “The hours I have al-

low me to go back to Physician

Assistant School,” Pope said. In

addition to taking classes, Pope

is also teaching athletic train-

ing classes both at Mercy Col-

lege and Dominican College.

6KH� IHOW� FRQÀGHQW� LQ� WDNLQJ�WKLV�QHZ�MRE�ZKLOH�JRLQJ�EDFN�WR�

school. She said, “The Masters

School, as an establishment, is

very supportive of continuing

professional development.”

Pope thinks it’s a great idea

that she will now be on campus

for several hours a day so that

she becomes a familiar face

and also connects better with

both students and health cen-

ter faculty. Her position was

created because administra-

tion felt there was a need for a

health coordinator to maintain

communication between health

center staff and dorm parents.

Others on campus are also

pleased to learn that the health

center will be open longer. Jeff

Carnevale, a dorm parent in

)RUG� 'RUP�� VDLG�� ´,� WKLQN� LW·V�great to have health personnel

on campus in case a boarder

gets sick around study hall or

hurt during practice.”

Junior and boarder, Ali Ince,

also added that she feels having

a health coordinator will make

the community safer.

Pope is making a smooth

transition into the Masters

community and is already mak-

ing a difference. Ginny Deckl-

eman, Coordinator of Upper

School attendance, said, “She is

a fantastic addition to our fac-

ulty because she has helped me

with medical forms.”

VOLUME 71, NUMBER 1 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 tower.mastersny.org

TowerThe Masters School 49 Clinton Avenue Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. 10522

INSIDE THE ISSUE

NEW HEALTH COORDINATOR Meredith Pope will be on duty from 3-8 in the afternoon. Lon-ger health center hours benefits boarders and day students stay-ing late after school who need medical attention.

Former journalist aids teachers in college process

WEN-XUAN NI/TOWER

Wen-Xuan ni

Editor-in-Chief

NYSAIS follow-up: Health Center hours extendnaomi nivar

Staff Writer

NAOMI NIVAR/TOWER

FORMER NEW YORK TIMES journalist Jacques Steinburgh converses with college counselor Kathy Woods and Head of School Matt Ives. Steinburgh has been reporting on education news for more than 25 years.

PAGE 3

NEW SCHOOL YEAR EXPECTATIONS

With a new start, stu-dents and faculty are all expecting chang-es and encounters.

PAGE 4

BETTER PRESEASON SCHEDULING

Improved schedule makes the blood, sweat and tears worth it.

PAGE 3

M.A.A.C. OPENING DELAYED

Questions raised about who will get to use the M.A.A.C.

OpiniOnEDITORIAL

2 OP-ED TOWER/SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

Tower2014-2015

Editor-in-ChiEfAbigAil CostigAn

sofiA lindenWen-XuAn ni

distribution ProCEss

Tower is hand-delivered on the day of publication to the Upper School. 500 copies are printed, and one is put in each faculty member’s mailbox. In ad-dition, a copy is sent to each of our advertisers.

sCholastiC PrEss affiliations and lEttEr PoliCy

Tower is an award-winning member of the National Scholastic Press Associa-tion (NSPA), Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), Journalism Educa-tion Association (JEA) and Quill and Scroll. To send Letters to the Editor, e-mail TowerEditors@MastersNY.org. For more information about Letters to the Editor, see the comic below. Published approximately six times a year, Tower, the student newspaper of The Mas-ters School, is a public forum, with its Editorial Board making all decisions concerning content. Unsigned editori-als express views of the majority of the Editorial Board.

staff WritErAriel CensorrAjAn CuttingnAomi nivArYiYi ouYAngjAke regele

rAChel sAunders

faCulty advisormAtt broWneellen CoWheY

Our diversity-themed VFKRRO� \HDU� ÀWWLQJO\�coincides with recent

acts of race-driven violence. Goals for this year include mak-ing the school more open and accepting to all people, and cel-ebrating the diversity among students and faculty. This surge of acceptance will hope-fully work to counteract the racial adversity that’s recently been plaguing the news.

Police brutality is the bitter aftertaste of a history of vio-lence. American history started with the genocide of the native peoples, followed by cruel acts such as slavery, leading to fur-ther societal racism.

These violent acts of the past have been echoed by re-cent stints of police brutality, such as events in Ferguson, MO where African American teen-ager Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white policeman despite being unarmed and, ac-cording to some news sources, raising his arms to indicate be-ing unarmed. Later, in Staten Island NY, a similar event oc-FXUUHG� ZKHUH� D� ZKLWH� RIÀFHU�strangled a black man, Eric Garner, to death in a chokehold while Garner was saying re-peatedly “I can’t breathe.”

Race should not matter, but

in the criminal justice system inequalities based on race are a sad reality.

Perhaps students are not being shot without cause by policemen, but students have certainly faced issues such as being stopped and frisked based purely on the color of their skin.

The primary job of the po-lice is to make people feel safe and protected, but when they become the ones striking fear amongst innocent citizens, there’s a systematic problem.

Throughout American histo-ry minorities have been unfairly accused of crime. According to U.S. census bureau: State and Country Quick Facts, the per-centage of black people in the United States is 13.2 and the percentage of Hispanics is 17.1. Yet the combined 30 percent of these two minorities compro-mise 58 percent of inmates says the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Ser-vices Administration (SAMH-SA), black and white Americans are equally likely to use illegal drugs, with variations between VSHFLÀF� GUXJV�� 7KLV� GLVSDULW\�between use and punishment is purely based on race.

Yes, there are issues of race across the country, but they also exist in New York, West-chester, and even in our school. Having students of every race and many ethnicities who trav-el and commute from various parts of the world and country, it is inevitable that students at our school will face racial issues in their lifetime.

We should feel jarred and angered by events in Ferguson and Staten Island, where police have been overtly violent and shown signs of blatant racism. However, we shouldn’t be com-placent with just being angry. We should take this anger and use it to generate change.

We are young. We are the next generation and we have a choice. We have the power to continue these cycles of dispar-ity. Or, we can throw out the old seeds of hate and sow a new garden of love.

When any group is treated as “other” or “less than,” it de-means everyone in the society where that injustice is occur-ring. Students should take the opportunity to engage deeply in the diversity dialogue this year and leave this community and change the world for the better.

Diversity theme in context:

Athletics convey gender inequality regarding dress code

On an average day in a sports practice, any student that passes by can generally see a male student exercis-ing shirtless or in a tank-top. Nearby, female athletes can be seen sweating in a shirt with sleeves and shorts that

PXVW�PHHW�D�ÀQJHUWLS�OHQJWK�requirement.

When someone is exer-cising, they normally think about dressing for comfort. Because it’s already hot out-side and exercising causes one to heat up, it makes sense that student athletes don’t want to wear a lot of clothing while working out. However, while male stu-

dents go shirtless, coaches often hold female students to much more conservative standards, in some cases, not even allowing them to wear tank-tops. For girls, this not only is unfair, but extremely uncomfortable.

Different coaches have different standards for how their female athletes dress for practice, some more lib-

eral than others. However, in almost all cases, girls aren’t allowed to dress as freely as boys. For example, in the weight room, girls aren’t even allowed to wear tank-tops while boys sometimes aren’t wearing a shirt at all.

These arbitrary restric-tions enforced by some coach-es on the way girls dress for practice are only detrimental

to the girls. If there are to be standards on what is worn to practices, they should be par-allel for both genders. Other-wise, there should be very liberal guidelines. It’s much better to have loose rules and trust students to be able to determine what is appropri-ate and what’s not than to have unfair ones that only target one gender.

Ariel Censor

Staff Writer

As the school focuses on acceptance, the world retains its past predjudice

Become a Columnist or Blogger Correction In “Athletics convey gender equality regard-ing dress code,” we wrote that girls aren’t allowed to wear tank tops while boys are free to go shirtless. In fact, in the weight room, the required athletic attire for all students includes a shirt with sleeves, shorts or sweat pants, and an athletic shoe.

1. Come up with an idea 2. Write out 2-3 samples 3. Submit to the editors 4. Get published!

3 FEATURES AND ARTS TOWER/SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

The new Masters Athlet-ics and Arts Center is near-ing completion with an ex-pected ribbon cutting on May 15th and a possible opening date much earlier, caus-ing many questions to sur-face. What hours will it be open? How will it be staffed? While most of these ques-tions are without answers ,a few have been decided.

One main Question asked by the Master’s community that has come to light regard-ing public use of the M.A.A.C.. Many of Masters’ facilities are open to the public such as the

track, or open to teams and tournaments such as the gym. Although the topic is still be-ing discussed, the M.A.A.C.’s pool will most likely be open to swim teams, and even has a door to lock visiting teams out of the main building. “We want to get in the building and see how we use it before mak-ing it public,” says Tim Kane, Associate Head of School for Institutional Advancement.

Students have mixed opin-ions on the public use of the M.A.A.C.’s pool. “I think it would be OK for swim teams to use the pool, so long as it is not open to the general public,” said Alice Kins-ley, a returning member of the class of 2017. Other stu-

dents are not as accepting. “It could become a huge

liability issue,” said ju-nior Sophia Patterson.

Another concern that has aroused questions is about the cafe. Kane explained that while it will not be open to the public, the cafe will be us-able by parents of students as well as parents from visiting teams. Kane went on to say that the cafe will be cash and credit only for at least the ÀUVW� \HDU�� EXW� DQ� ,�'�� GHELW�system is very likely to be present in the following years.

There will also be an em-phasis on alumni in the M.A.A.C. “I’d love it to be a place for alumni to come back to and use,” said Kane.

Questions arise regarding the M.A.A.C.

THE ATHLETICS AND ART Building (M.A.A.C) is still undergoing construction while plans for its future uses and publicity are being made. The M.A.A.C will connect to Strayer Hall, which is also under-going renovation to accomodate the new addition to the campus.

Jake Regele

Staff Writer

What are you looking forward to this year?

“I’m looking forward to the opportunities that masters

has to try new things.”

Ella Hogan Freshman

Emma FriedmanFreshman

“I’m looking forward to chal-lenging myself.”

Fatomata KontehSophomore

“I am really looking forward to chilling with my bros in the dorm.”

Gavin KoepkeJunior

Annie CanningJunior

“I’m looing forward to see how all the sports teams perform this year.”

Royal PeoplesSenior

Mark WhitleySenior

“I’m looking forward to being with you guys, it’s invigorat-ing, energizing... I’m looking forward to just being with the kids.”

6NHIÀQJWRQ�<RXQJHistory teacher

Tom WethingtonHonors algebra II teacherDean of residential life“Getting to know my new sopho-

mores, helping my juniors figure out what their colege interests are, and assisting my seniors in determining

their paths for next year!!!”

Adam GimpleCollege counselor

Compiled By Naomi NivaRPHOTO BY NAOMI NIVAR, RAJAN CUTTING, WEN-XUAN NI AND ELLEN COWHEY

“I’m looking forward to being an upperclassmen. The sense

of leadership increses in ar-eas like sports and clubs.”

“I’m looking forward to prom.”

JAKE REGELE/TOWER

“I am really looking forward to meeting new people and having a bigger grade.”

“I am really looking forward to interacting with students in new settings.”

4 SPORTS TOWER/SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

As the summer comes to an end, over 180 students arrive at school a week early to participate in pre-season in order to prepare for their upcoming seasons.

Students around cam-pus feel differently about preseason and its effective-ness. Junior Varsity Boy’s Soccer player Khoi Tran feels as if preseason is too long. He said, “I would much rather have one long practice a day than hav-ing two shorter ones.”

On the other hand Soph-omore Boy’s Junior Var-sity Soccar player Daniel Roma thinks preseason is too short. He said, “If we had a longer preseason we would be in better shape and would have more time

to prepare for a competi-tive season, which would put us in a better spot.”

Freshmen Diego Medi-na doesn’t feel he has an-other time to showcase his VNLOOV�� ´)RU� WKH� ÀUVW� GD\� RI�preseason I was really ner-vous because everything was so new to me. If there was more time I could show the coaches more,” he said.

Junior Girls Varsity play-er Laura Silva thinks Varsi-ty and JV should split soon-er. “The two teams playing WRJHWKHU�GRHVQ·W�EHQHÀW�DQ\-body. Varsity players lose rhytmn playing with less talented and experienced players, but JV players also ORVH� FRQÀGHQFH�µ� VKH� VDLG��

Athletic Director Kevin Versen believes our pre-season is standard. He said, “Our system is pretty basic and will change according to popular demand from players as well as coaches.”

Even so, changes have

been made from previous years. The break between morning and afternoon practices has been short-ened. Last year, morning

practices were held from 8:30-10:30, and afternoon practices were from 3:30-5:30, leaving a six hour break between practices.

7KLV�\HDU��WKDW�EUHDN�LV�ÀYH�hours long, with practices starting from 9:00-11:00 and afternoon practices starting from 3:00-5:00.

Debating and comparing the effectiveness of preseason

SportS

When three coaching spots opened up at Mas-ters, Kevin Versen, Ath-letic Director, contacted nearby colleges to try and ÀQG� JRRG� FRDFKHV� DQG�possibly students who could also coach. Mercy College is 0.8 miles down the road from Masters, making it a great out-OHW� WR� ÀQG� ZHOO�TXDOLÀHG�coaches. So far a total of three coaches at Masters have been recruited from Mercy: Jillian Maricondo (Girl’s lacrosse), Her-nando Santamaria (Girl’s soccer) and Mallorie Hop-kins (Girl’s volleyball).

“It’s right down the street, so it’s a good av-enue to [recruit coach-es],” Versen said, “I’m not seeing those connec-tions with other colleges in the area. Mercy was just the easy connec-tion right off the bat.”

Mallorie Hopkins is a senior at Mercy College; WKLV�\HDU�LV�KHU�ÀUVW�\HDU�coaching at a high school.

“You [high school ath-letes] learn to bond on a different level … because

you’re not getting this teaching from an adult who is like twenty, thirty years older than you,” said Hopkins. She said that student coaches clos-er in age to athletes can better relate to them so-cially and academically.+RZHYHU�� WKH� EHQHÀWV�

of this relationship are not one way, “I think [coaching at masters] is EHQHÀWWLQJ� WKHP� >0HUF\�coaches] because right now the coaches get extra jobs and its more coach-ing they can actually take and put into the students here,” said Hopkins.

Like many other col-lege teams, Mercy is fol-lowing a trend of early morning practices, free-ing up the coaches for the afternoon. This al-lows Masters to take advantage of their free time and offer opportu-nities for Mercy coaches and students to get in-volved with the school.

“They’re also bringing in a lot of knowledge of the game and the sport,” said Versen, “I think the kids are learning a lot from them, and I hope, they’re noticing it.”

Athletics and coaching links Masters to Mercy College

GIRLS VARSITY SOCCER WARMS up during afternoon preseason practice. The JV and Varsity player practice on the same feild, and are not seperated in the beginning, but students and faculty have been debating the effectiveness of this system.

SOFIA LINDEN/TOWER

Rajan Cutting

Staff Writerabigail Costigan

Editor-in-Chief

RaChel saundeRs

Staff Writer

Dorm Olympic SnapshotsONE BOARDER FROM EACH dorm battle it out in the final round of ninja. Anais Mazic took home the gold for Ford Dorm (not pictured). From left to right, Madeline Watkins’15 from Cole, Shermon Goldbrum’16 from Thompson, Shelly Wang’18 from McCormack, Allen Miyazawa’16 from Strong.

THE WHOLE BOARDING COMMUNITY participates in a nail-biting game of ninja. The boarder olympics are a fun way to promote friendly competition at the start of the new year.

ELLEN COWHEY/TOWER

NANCY GORMLEY