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Verba Volant, Scripta Manent

Verba Volant, Scripta Manent

Verba Volant, Scripta Manent

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Verba Volant, Scripta Manent

The Hill News

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The Hill News 2018-19

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Message from The Editorial Team

Interested in writing for The Hill News in the 2020-21 school year? Contact our Editors in Chief:

Tess McArdle ([email protected])

Elizabeth Hudak ([email protected])

Interested in writing? Contact Us!

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The award-winning student-run newspaper of The Hill School. Verba Volant, Scripta Manent. Content policy below.
Most recent article here! 👇

ARTS & LEISURE • Dinning hall dessert tier list,

ARTS & LEISURE • Dinning hall dessert tier list, check out out Instagram story to participate in some polls!

📋 Tier list by Sarah Jiang ‘22

Sarah and Noah SGA Candidate Interview. Sarah Jian

Sarah and Noah SGA Candidate Interview. Sarah Jiang ‘22 and Noah Toole ‘22 official THN SGA interview.

Anna and Eddie THN Interview. Anna Schlegel ‘22

Anna and Eddie THN Interview. Anna Schlegel ‘22 and Eddie Proffitt ‘22 official THN SGA interview.

Anthony and Kiersten THN Interview. Anthony Wise ‘22 and Kiersten Dagg ‘22 official THN SGA interview.

SGA • The 2021 SGA Co-Presidential election is c

SGA • The 2021 SGA Co-Presidential election is coming soon. Here is what you need to know!

Issue 6 is out! Find it around campus or wait till

Issue 6 is out! Find it around campus or wait till dorm distribution tomorrow night. If you are not physically at Hill but still want a copy then check out our website @ thehill.news

FEATURES • “The Hill School is home to numerou

FEATURES • “The Hill School is home to numerous pieces of history: one of the most notable being the collection of original paintings that hang along the interior perimeter of the Dining Hall. The dark wood paneling, high ceilings, and intimate seating convey an essence reminiscent of Hogwarts, yet amid such splendor, many remain oblivious to the slice of American history that lives upon the wooden walls. These images depict significant Americana events and officials, ranging from Ulysses S. Grant in combat to George Washington at Valley Forge and include scenes from four different wars: the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I.

These stately pieces of artwork were presented to Hill as a gift in the spring of 1923 by Michael Sweeney -- the same Sweeney to whom the upstairs gymnasium is dedicated. Sweeney was the head of the Department of Physical Education and played an integral role in creating one of the first Physical Education curricula ever. Additionally, he was well-respected as an athlete, once holding the World Record for his high jump of six feet and four inches.

After retiring at the culmination of the 1922-23 school year, Sweeney presented The Hill School with a collection of 17 oil paintings. “He had purchased the paintings and given them to The Hill School in gratitude for his years of service,” said Head of Archives Louis Jeffries.”

Read the rest of the article here: https://thehill.news/features/lunch-with-a-side-of-american-history-how-century-old-paintings-have-a-home-at-hill/

📝 Anna Yao Carroll ‘23 Reports 📸 Photos by Erick Sun ’24

FEATURES • “With great unrest in the world, th

FEATURES • “With great unrest in the world, there is no doubt that the last few months have made it more difficult to be physically separated as a school community. Between the Capitol insurrection, President Joe Biden’s inauguration, record breaking COVID-19 cases and months of political unrest, what is it going to be like as students flock back to campus? How do we return, and what should we expect?

Students will return to school in the spring in a similar manner to how the Hill community returned in the fall still in the midst of a pandemic and in the aftermath of more political unrest. Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Rev. Kristi Adams offered her thoughts on the upcoming spring term and how the DEI Committee plans on moving forward.”

Check out the rest of the article on our website: https://thehill.news/features/how-do-we-return-to-campus-after-months-of-political-unrest-and-record-breaking-covid-19-cases/

📝 Bella Basile‘21 Reports 📸 Photo Courtesy of Claire Hartemink ‘21

CAMPUS NEWS • “Knowing the spring term at Hill

CAMPUS NEWS • “Knowing the spring term at Hill is not going to be the same as previous years, the administration is currently evaluating different options and considering the interests of students in all forms.

According to Katy Hudak, the academic dean, “We have great hope to retain some of these traditions and they will be beautiful no matter what.”

Events such as Parent’s Weekend, Commencement, the Strawberry Festival, yearbook signing and Sixth Form Dance are still in question. Depending on how the spring term unfolds and the condition of Montgomery County in May, these events will either be conducted in the virtual world or on campus with specially adjusted COVID-19 protocols.

Director of Student Life David Hoffman ‘01 explained, “It might not look exactly the way that it has in the past, but we will pull out all the stops when it comes to creatively finding new avenues to make this a fun spring term for our community.”

According to the sixth form SGA representatives, Sasjha Mayfield ‘21 and Andrew Chirieleison ‘21, the Hill School administration is currently in the process of setting up a variety of events: Prom, food trucks, the Dorm Cup and a lot of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion events. Throughout the months of March and April, speakers are lined up to discuss topics centered around DEI to all forms. The first event will be in honor of National Women’s Day on March 8, along with a movie on the quad on the weekend of March 13.”

Link: https://thehill.news/news/students-and-faculty-arrange-plans-for-upcoming-spring-term-events/

📝 Paige Timbrook '22 Reports ✍️ Illustration by Tina Wang ’22

FEATURES • Editor’s Note: The writer of this a

FEATURES • Editor’s Note: The writer of this article is a member of “The Blues” team.

“Since 2018, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has been conducting a statewide competition for teams of high school students. This year, as part of the “Innovations Challenge” competition that deals with real and modern transportation issues, teams had to find a viable and plausible solution to the department revenue insufficiency, improve their reputation, and educate Pennsylvanians.

Hill’s own team, “The Blues,” was selected as a regional winner. The team is composed of team captain Eddie Proffitt ’22, Juan Hinostroza ’21, Rohan Dondeti ’21, and Andres Arevalo ’22, with Athey Family Master of History Chris Chirieleison as an adviser.

After the initial proposal, regional winners were selected and invited to display their idea

to judges. A statewide winner will be selected from the pool of regional winners and awarded with certificates and an engraved trophy.

“We believe that PennDOT can take advantage of the ever-expanding market of online advertisement and apps to provide a new revenue source and reach Pennsylvanians,” Hinostroza said regarding the ideas behind their proposal.”

Read the rest of the article here: https://thehill.news/features/the-blues-gain-recognition-for-plans-to-innovate-transportation/

📝 Andres Arevalo ’22 Reports 📸 Photo sourced from the PENDOT Website

SPORTS • "Coaching at Hill during a normal year

SPORTS • "Coaching at Hill during a normal year is chaotic in itself. However, coaching during a global pandemic brings even more changes and variables. Leading a team during COVID-19 has proven to be a challenge in many ways, especially with changing guidelines and a constant need for safety. Hill has tried to give safe options for playing sports, which has been quite difficult but has resulted in some small but meaningful positives. Hill coaches and student-athletes have been given a unique opportunity this winter, where students may enroll in specific courses and train on-campus. Especially during this period called H-Term, Hill coaches worked toward personal and team-wide development, combining old and new strategies for team bonding, building skill, and finding satisfaction in practices.

The fall term was especially strange as student-athletes got used to new guidelines on campus and even stricter rules for team practices. Mark Nelson, the head coach of the girls water polo team, stated in an email, “Practices were limited to non-contact drills and our interscholastic competition season was canceled.” For any team sport, finding new drills and formatting practices was a huge change from previous seasons.”

Read the rest of the story here: https://thehill.news/sports/the-trails-of-coaching-during-a-pandemic/

📝 Ella Scott '22 Reports 📸 Photo courtesy of Hill Snapshots

ARTS AND LEISURE • “On Jan. 15, the world of e

ARTS AND LEISURE • “On Jan. 15, the world of entertainment shifted in a major way. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney’s $23 billion franchise, made its first venture into streaming television. The show, titled “WandaVision,” isn’t exactly what the average audience member would expect. When someone hears “a TV show based on Marvel characters,” they wouldn’t think of a comedy-drama series that forces the viewer to figure out what’s going on. Long gone are the days of formulaic action films about saving the world; “WandaVision” has more in common with “The Truman Show” or “Twin Peaks” than any of its predecessors.

Opening on a title sequence right out of a 1950s sitcom, “WandaVision” takes the typical Marvel structure and turns it on its head. Instead of having everything spelled out to the viewer, the show opts for a more “off the beaten path” approach to its material. The first three episodes don’t explain anything, instead acting as a seemingly normal sitcom about characters from “The Avengers” trying to attain a suburban lifestyle. The result of this eccentric form of storytelling? A show that gracefully departs from the blandness that plagues much of the Marvel Studios filmography and genuinely tries something new.”

Check out the rest of the review here: https://thehill.news/arts-and-leisure/the-mystery-of-wandavision/

📝 Luke Gerdeman '23 Reports 📸 Photo courtesy of Google Images

OPINION • “I remember back to the first email

OPINION • “I remember back to the first email I drafted to counseling@thehill.org during the beginning of my fifth form year at Hill. I was going through a lot emotionally, which many external factors were playing a role in, and did not know how to properly give those emotions a healthy outlet. I perpetuated my habit of internalizing my issues by procrastinating sending the email to sign up for counseling. When I would do that, I would then make myself feel dumb for stressing over a simple email that could read, “Hello, I would like to sign up for counseling, thank you.” This cycle continued for quite a while until I finally hit “send” months later.

Once I started, I found it hard to open up at first. It felt strange to discuss my personal issues with an adult who did not know me at all, and that contributed to my discomfort. On top of this, I gaslit myself by degrading my mental health issues and what I was going through because I believed that so many people had it worse than me.”

Read the full article here: https://thehill.news/opinion/mental-health-must-be-higher-on-our-priority-lists/

📝 Lauryn Fudala '21 Reports ✍️ Illustration by Tina Wang ’22

OPINION• *Editor’s Note: The following is a fi

OPINION• *Editor’s Note: The following is a first-person account of Staff Writer Harry Zhu’s ’22 experience debating as a remote student part of the speech and debate team.

“The Hill Speech and Debate, like other co-curricular activities, has been tested by the COVID-19 pandemic. On-campus debaters managed to compete virtually, but how about those living in different time zones with limited competitive opportunities?

Last September, Coach Nick Malinak and I created “Hill Lincoln-Douglas Debate Abroad” (LD is one of the two debate events at Hill) that aimed to provide weekly debate practices for LD debaters at home via Zoom. We had welcomed about 12 students across American boarding schools, all of whom are experienced debaters, philosophy lovers and news enthusiasts. In the first few meetings the crew was drawn to the LD September topic titled, “In a democracy, voting ought to be compulsory,” and read relevant political theories, finding evidence and constructing cases under the guidance of Malinak.

         As school got tough, granting us limited time for debate prep, I advocated retailoring the format to low-pressure current news discussions–one would come with a self-picked news/topic–  discussing and debating it out with peers. Covering important topics such as the 2020 U.S. Election, worldwide vaccine distributions and the riots at the Capitol, the crew kept developing a habit of using evidence to back their arguments up, considering counterarguments, not from textbooks but from peers, cross-firing each other, and getting emotional when they felt their beliefs and values were being challenged, so much that Malinak had to occasionally moderate.“

Check out the full article here: https://thehill.news/opinion/hill-lincoln-douglas-debate-abroad-debating-when-theres-no-incentive/

📝 Harry Zhu '22 Reports 📸 Screen shot by Harry Zhu '22

CAMPUS NEWS • “Temperature taken, hand sanitiz

CAMPUS NEWS • “Temperature taken, hand sanitizer applied — now you’re welcomed onto the Hill School campus. As the virus shut many other boarding and day schools in various ways, Hill continued to keep its doors open to allow for not only in-person classes but also in-person tours conducted by faculty members.

“Things have been extremely busy this year … we are one of the only boarding schools that allowed tours,” said Chris Bala ’97, the senior associate director of admissions.

Although student tour guides are currently unavailable to conduct in-person tours, they, including faculty members like Christopher McGriff, the director of the CFTA, and Margie Neiswender, the director of instrumental music, contribute to the admission process by reaching out to prospective students and their families to answer any questions they have.

“Personally, as a tour guide, I really enjoy meeting prospective students and talking about my experience at Hill. Unfortunately, due to COVID this year, we were unable to give tours. However, while prospective students can’t ask questions and talk to the students of the community, we have seen great responses to the postcards and emails. I definitely think this method of reaching out can be more strongly implemented in the future!” Head of Tour Ellie Lee ’21 stated in a text.”

Read the full article here: https://thehill.news/news/hills-admissions-continues-in-the-face-of-covid-19-prepares-for-spring/

📝 MoniYah Person-Henderson '23 Reports 📸 Photo by Nolan Richards ’21

FEATURES • “Each year, the Alliance for Young

FEATURES • “Each year, the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers recognizes students across the country for their creative work through the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Founded in 1923, the program is comprised of a regional and national competition level, honoring students through a multitude of different award categories and scholarships. This year, 20 Hill students received regional writing awards from the competition, the highest number of winners that the school has ever had in a single year.

According to Director of the Humphrey Writing Center Mark Pearson, the most regional winners that Hill has had prior to this has only been around eight or nine. He explained that receiving a Scholastic Award is a particularly impressive accomplishment considering that the Philadelphia writing region is an extremely competitive one.

“It’s a big deal,” Pearson said. “I think, because the Philadelphia region is very competitive. There are a lot of great public and private schools in our area, and I think it says a lot about our students’ work to be recognized among the work of all the other students applying.”

On the regional stage, Hill students received five Gold Keys, 13 Silver Keys, and 18 Honorable Mention awards, with the five Gold Key works automatically being considered for judging at the national level.”

Read the rest of the article here: https://thehill.news/features/twenty-hill-students-are-honored-at-the-scholastic-art-and-writing-awards/

📝 Diemmy Dang ’24 Reports 📸 Photo sourced from Scholastic Art & Writing Website

Issue 5 of The Hill News is out! Pick one up anywh

Issue 5 of The Hill News is out! Pick one up anywhere around campus, or if you are remote you can access it on our website: thehill.news

SPORTS • “The COVID-19 pandemic has made a sig

SPORTS • “The COVID-19 pandemic has made a significant change to daily life, but one aspect of life that has been hard to deal with is recruiting. Many juniors, known as fifth formers at Hill, have had a hard year trying to get noticed by coaches when the recruiting process has limited opportunities for showcases and official visits.

Student-athletes are still unable to meet with Division I coaches in person; this has been a rule set by the NCAA since the pandemic started. The limits placed on these athletes have been stressful for them because this is their future that they are playing for.

Gilbert Saunders III ’22, a member of the Hill baseball, said that COVID-19 has affected his recruiting process since the summer “since coaches were unable to see me play.” Saunders also mentioned how at this time he would probably have been committed but due to the pandemic he cannot go on his official visits.”

Read the rest of the article here=> https://thehill.news/sports/student-athletes-at-hill-deal-with-the-college-recruiting-process-during-covid/

📝 Noah Toole '22 Reports 📸 Photo by Noah Toole '22

LOCAL NEWS • “Since the start of the distribut

LOCAL NEWS • “Since the start of the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, cases have begun to drop. On Feb. 8, there were 129,961 new cases in the United States, decreasing from a peak of almost 300,000 new local cases per day on Jan. 8.

Pennsylvania has also experienced this positive impact, with 100,000 fewer active cases than in late December. Still in phase 1A of the vaccine distribution (including healthcare personnel, persons over 65 and persons 18 to 64 with an underlying health condition), Montgomery County continues to focus on health workers and essential workers. However, Montgomery County’s wait line is 140,000 people deep, as Philadelphia is expected to be vaccinating residents for at least a year.”

Read the rest of the update here=> https://thehill.news/news/weekly-covid-19-update-montgomery-county-and-beyond/#

📝 Philippe Jin '21 Reports 📸 Screenshot taken from the World Health Organization Website

LOCAL NEWS • *Editor’s Note: The following is

LOCAL NEWS • *Editor’s Note: The following is an account from Staff Writer Jason Zhou ’23 as he travels to campus from his home Shanghai amidst the heavy travel regulations dictated by the pandemic. A remote student during the fall term, this will be Zhou’s first time back at Hill since last winter. He will be updating this log consistently and it will culminate in an Instagram takeover on Feb. 25, the last day before he reenters the United States from a quarantine period in Singapore and a full article in Issue 5. Please stay tuned.

“As spring term approaches, Hill students are finding ways to come back to campus from all across the globe. The Hill Chinese community is facing challenges in coming back as CDC announced that any foreign nationals who have been in China along with several other countries during the past 14 days may not enter the United States. This means that most of the Chinese international students cannot fly direct to the United States under any circumstances. To counter this travel restriction, some of my fellow classmates and I planned a detailed trip to Singapore before returning to the States. We are set to begin our journey on Feb. 11. I will be recording and writing live to bring you the full coverage of this long journey back to Pottstown.”

Read the full story here => https://thehill.news/opinion/long-journey-back-how-hill-chinese-students-are-returning-to-campus-through-various-restrictions/#

📝 Jason Zhou ‘23 Reports 📸 Photo by Jason Zhou ‘23 *Image blurred for privacy

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