the B E A C O NVolume 63, No. 3December 2014

Winter concerts set to amaze audiences across all divisionsBy Ellena Son ‘17

The sixth grade choir rehearses in the AP room for its upcoming performance.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Every year, the music teachers and students work together to put on a won-derful performance in the All-Purpose Room of The Wardlaw Hartridge School to start off the holiday sea-son. Jim Little and Shannon Caldwell are temporarily fill-ing in for Sharon Byrne, who typically conducts the Girls’, Boys’, Upper and Middle School Concert Choirs, and MadJazz. Chris Messina is also working with the Lower School students as a tempo-rary replacement for Shannon Sari. “Mr. Little, Mrs. Caldwell and I are very proud of how far the students have come over the past several months,” said Rick Fontaine, instrumental music teacher and band director. “It’s going to be a wonderful perfor-mance!” On December 4 at 7:30 p.m. the Upper School Concert Choir and MadJazz, conducted by Mr. Little, and the Upper School Concert Band, Jazz Band, and Percus-sion Ensemble led by Mr. Fontaine, will begin the joy-ous season of music. Mad-Jazz will be performing Fa Una Canzona, The Road Not Taken and Wade in the Water. The Concert Choir will be performing The Waterfall, words by J. Paul Williams and music by Joseph M. Mar-tin, Festival Sanctus by John Leavitt, Dravidian Dithy-

ramb by Victor Paranjoti, and Hayo, Haya, by Stephen Prussing. The Concert Band will be performing The Head-less Horseman by Timothy Broege, Sousa Spectacular by John Philip Sousa, ar-ranged by David Shaffer, and Our Kingsland Spring by Samuel R. Hazo. The Con-cert Choir and Concert Band will be joining each other in their grand finale of Sammy Cahn’s and Jule Styne’s Let It Snow. The Jazz Band also will perform. The Middle School Con-cert, conducted by Mrs. Caldwell and Mr. Fontaine, will be held on December 11 at 7 p.m. The Middle School Jazz Band will be performing C Jam Blues by Duke Elling-ton arranged by Rick Stitzel and Jazzers Start Your Instru-ments by Paul Clark. Sixth graders Emma Ja-cobson, Talia Jacobson, Simone Erachshaw, Jason Kisare, Nadia Valcourt, Kyler Montague will be soloists in Miller’s Solfege Santa and John Papetti III, Mikayla Cole and Giulia Pinelli will provide solos in I See A Star. The sixth grade band will be

performing Bold Adventure by Andrew Balent, Royal March Of The Lion by Ca-mille Saint-Seans, arranged by Michael Story, and Count-down to Christmas, arranged by Joseph Compello. The seventh and eighth grade band will be perform-ing Bryce Canyon Overture by Mark Williams, A Song For Friends by Larry Daehn, Themes from Harry Potter by John Williams arranged and Paul Cook, and Festival of Eternal Lights, arranged by Clark Taylor. The seventh and eighth grade choir will be performing ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas by Clem-ent Clarke Moore and Ken Darby, arranged by Harry Simeon, with soloists Shane Kornecki, Mayah Nissim, Lillian Helander, Logan Hill, Anna O’Connell, Svanik Dani, Robert Brandl and Syd-ney Rose. They will also sing a folk song called Mi Yemale, and E La Don Don by Ruth Morris Gray, accompanied by Aanandi Murlidharan and Katrin Schildge. The Middle School Boys’ and Girls’ Choirs also will be perform-ing. As always, the Middle School Concert Choir finale

will be Leroy Anderson’s famous Sleigh Ride. To bring the concerts to an end, Mr. Messina will be conducting the Lower School students at 11:00 a.m. on December 19. The students of Pre-K and Junior Kindergar-ten will be performing Santa Claus Is On His Way by Teresa Jennings and Snow-flake Snowflake by Mozart. Kindergarten and first grade students will be performing the traditional Italian song, Dormi Dormi, arranged by Mary Goetze, O Kwanzaa by Teresa Jennings, and A Gift For Santa by Teresa Jen-nings. The second and third grade will be performing the traditional English song, The Holly and the Ivy, arranged by Ruth Elaine Schram, Win-ter Wish by Dave and Jean Perry and the traditional Is-raeli song, Shalom Chaverim. The fourth and fifth grade will be singing Beautiful December by Amy F. Bernon, the African American spiri-tual song, Go Tell It On The Mountain, arranged by Dw-yer and Waller, and the tra-ditional Jewish song, Ner Li. The 5th grade band will be performing When The Saints Go Marching In, arranged by John Higgins, First Holiday Concert arranged by John O’Reilly, and Featuring...The Band by Sandy Feldstein and John O’Reilly. As the finale, all students within kindergar-ten through fifth grade will be performing Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.

Student introduces ‘Humans of Wardlaw-Hartridge’ By Emily Saadi ‘15

W-H launches new website with many featuresBy Anuva Goel ‘17

A glimpse at the home page of the new website.

Many students and faculty members who have a Facebook account may be familiar with the widely ac-claimed page, “Humans of New York” (“HONY”). This page, which has accumulated over 11 million likes, cata-logs the lives of New York’s inhabitants. Founded by Brandon Stanton in 2010, the “Humans of New York” page offers a new perspective on the daily activities of unsus-pecting New Yorkers. Stanton has created a dynamic mosaic of people and their stories by post-ing their photographs and interviews on his Facebook page. Stanton’s methodology of documenting people and their unique lives has inspired

others, including myself, to follow his footsteps. Stanton’s “HONY” page acts as a lens that views people in a different and new perspective. His ability to portray the eclectic personas that represent New York’s community has motivated me to showcase The Wardlaw-Hartridge School through a similar angle. At the end of the Oc-tober, I formally announced that “The Humans of The Wardlaw-Hartridge School” page would finally be launched. After running the page for a month, I quickly unearthed the powerful views and stories within our school. I adopted a similar process that Stanton has

always used to approach New Yorkers. Walking through the halls of W-H with my Nikon camera slouched over my shoulder, I will run into a random student or faculty member and ask them per-mission for an interview and a photograph. I will start of the interview with a thought-provoking question such as, “Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?” or “What are you most grateful for?” I asked these ques-tions to two students who have given me exception-ally personal and profound answers. Among the other students and faculty members I have interviewed and photo-graphed so far, their answers

and insights have all been special and extraordinary in their own way. As I continue to run this page, I hope to start building a mosaic of The Wardlaw-Hartridge School. Everyone in W-H has a story and a viewpoint to contribute. “The Humans of The Ward-law-Hartridge School” will allow students and faculty alike to share their thoughts and their anecdotes for our school community to appreci-ate. This page has been an exciting adventure for me so far, and I hope all students and faculty will feel free to participate in this project.

The next time you type in www.whschool.org into any web browser, you will not see a chalkboard. In-stead, you will see the fresh, sophisticated look of the new Wardlaw-Hartridge website. The new Wardlaw-Hartridge School website was launched on November 11, 2014. For the past 10 months, six committee members worked diligently to make the dream website become a reality. The committee for the new website consisted of Rudy Brandl, Director of Communications and Alumni Relations, Linda Coleman, Director of Admission and Financial Aid, Gerard Gon-nella, Associate Director of Admission and Financial Aid, Maggie Granados, Dean of Studies and Middle School Head, Karl Miran, Athletic Director, and Marc Spivak, Director of Technology. These committee members worked together towards the goal of creating a website

truly representative of life at W-H. “The main goal was to design a website that had a fresh, new look and was visually appealing. We felt that the old website was outdated with the chalkboard and wanted a website that was up to date with our 21st century world and the educa-tional experience this school provides,” Mr. Brandl said. “The new website reflects the vibrant nature of the school. It allows us to showcase our

core values and what the school really represents.” In the new website, the admission section has been redesigned to attract prospective families. With new, updated videos making up the site, families are able to gain a deeper insight into the W-H experience from the eyes of students, faculty, parents, and graduates.

In addition, current parents, faculty members, and students will find the new website easy to navigate.

The responsive design al-lows for optimal viewing of the website on all devices. Also, parents can now create a customized school calendar to reflect events and activities their children are involved in. They can then export this customized calendar to their personal calendar applica-tion. They can even sign up to receive real-time alerts and updates for events. “There’s not one calendar; instead there are many calendars. You can pick which calendars you want to see depending on your needs,” explained Mr. Spivak, another committee member who specialized in the technical elements.

So far, the new web-site has been received with positive feedback from the school community. With an attractive look, streamlined content, updated features, and ease of access, the new W-H website is proof of an ever-adapting school environment.

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JV boys’ soccer season ends with friendly match against facultyBy Andrew Park ‘17

SPORTS

On Thursday Novem-ber 14, 2014, the JV boys’ soccer team went out and played one final game, except this game was different. The team was not facing another school, but instead played their own faculty as well as various coaches within The Wardlaw-Hartridge School. The game was intended to be a way for the JV team to come together and play people they know for one last game of the season. “I liked getting to play the faculty, and I thought it was a change of pace and a good way to end the season,” JV player Jack Sartor ’18 said. As for the faculty and

coaches, they were ready to play. The roster included teachers and administra-tors from various areas of the school. Teachers such as mathematics teacher Jim Howard and physical educa-tion teacher Lee Nicholls competed, as well as Ath-letic Department administra-tors Karl Miran and Ryan Oliveira. Rudy Brandl ’83, Director of Communications and Alumni Relations, Marc Spivak, Director of Technolo-gy, and Gerard Gonnella ’89, Associate Director of Admis-sion, enjoyed an opportunity to play a friendly game of soccer. Multiple coaches were highlighted as well including boys’ varsity soccer coach Pedro Aresta and girls’

varsity soccer coach Mike Romeo. In addition, Andrew Webster, Head of School, also played in the game. “Playing in these faculty games is always something I enjoy doing,” Mr. Webster said. “It’s espe-cially nice playing against the students and to see them show commitment outside the classroom.” The game was very evenly matched. It looked like it was going to be fac-ulty domination when Mr. Nicholls scored on a curling shot from outside the box within the first five minutes, but the game remained close throughout the first half. Af-ter the half, the boys went on the offensive and in a matter

of minutes got goals from Sartor and Shaun Martinez ’18, to take a 2-1 lead. The faculty began to grow frustrated, but decided to make this friendly game more exciting, and turned up the flare. This turned up intensity yielded tying and winning goals from Nicholls in the final 12 minutes to pro-duce a 3-2 win for the faculty. “Sure we lost, but it was definitely a good way to end the season and also to see how good the faculty is,” Suraj Chandran’18 said. While it was a loss for the JV boys, they competed hard and enjoyed the experi-ence more than the result of the friendly soccer match.

Cameron Caberera ‘16 flies towards the end of the pool.

Swimmers look forward to continuing their winning waysBy Ryan Price ‘15

As the fall season sports end, swimmers are gearing up to begin the long-awaited 2014-2015 season. The Wardlaw-Hartridge School swim team had an impressive season last year, finishing second overall in the White Division. The team, headed by coaches Jessica Wilson and Jaclyn Santamaria, began practices on Monday, November 17. A week later, with only six practices under their belt, the new swimmers along with the rest of the swim team competed in the annual Relay Carnival.

“We swam nearly everyone on the team who was eligible for the Carnival, which gave some swimmers their first meet experience. However, the competition

was very strong and we were only able to come out with a fifth place finish,” Coach Wilson said. The Wardlaw-Har-tridge swim team will have its first two meets against Colonia and Rutgers Prep. Both meets will provide an opportunity for the swim

team to demonstrate the new talent in the pool. The team suffered the loss of some fine swimmers from last year’s senior class, but has received some fresh talent to rebuild.

“This year we are obviously missing some great swimmers from last year but this year we have so many

newcomers and an ample supply of great swimmers and we are only going to continue to improve with our hard training. I think this sea-son is going to be great. I’m really looking forward to it,” junior Brooke Sutton said. The team, along with its coaches, has high hopes for this season.

“We hope to be White Division champs! We edged out South Plainfield in the Relay Carnival, so I’m hope-ful that this is our year to beat them. They were our only division loss last season,” Coach Wilson said.

The new swimmers, along with the veterans, hope to make this goal a reality for the team.

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W-H cheer completes competition seasonBy Aneesa Sonawalla ’12

Published by the students of:

The Wardlaw-Hartridge School1295 Inman AvenueEdison, NJ 08820

Co-EditorsDaniel Gallagher ‘15

Charlotte Sweeney ‘16

Faculty AdvisorMr. Rudy Brandl ‘83

The Beacon • Volume 63, No. 3The Beacon serves as a student voice for those in all divisions. The paper strives to give a full account of current events and problems facing The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in a truth-ful, comprehensive manner. The paper also serves as a me-dium through which all members of the school community can voice their opinions about issues through “Letters to the Editor.”

The Beacon reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity and to reject letters. Opinions expressed in letters and signed opinion writing are only those of the writer.

All letters should be sent via e-mail to beacon@whschool.org

Staff Writers

Sara Begalman ‘17Anuva Goel ‘17

Sydney Hughes ‘16Brendan O’Brien ‘16

Andrew Park ‘17Ryan Price ‘15

Emily Saadi ‘15 Zishan Sajid ‘17Neha Shukla ‘17

W-H girls looking to rebuild after losing many key players By Sara Begalman ‘17

Boys’ basketball team optimistic for successful seasonBy Brendan O’Brien ‘16

Coming off a bit of a rough season, the Wardlaw-Hartridge boys’ varsity basketball team is up and ready for another season. With a second-year head coach and many returning players including the team’s three captains - John Pohopin ’15, Nick Palko ’15 and Mike Newman ’15 - many believe it could be the start of re-building the team and devel-oping a successful program for many years to come. With the three cap-tains, and returning players such as Luke Romeo ’15, Brendan O’Brien ’16, Jordan Rose ’17, Raphael Genty ’17,

and incoming talent such as twin brothers Garrett and Alden Racz ’16 and sopho-more Scott Hargrove ’17, the season is looking bright.

Along with new players, the Rams also have two new coaches joining the team. Head JV coach Richard Steerling, and assistant JV

coach Scott Zimms will be adding heir knowledge and helping aid the team to a suc-cessful year. “I am eagerly await-ing the start of the season because of the returning talent to the team and the amount of ambition the team has. With the potential that our team has we should be in the running for the division,” Pohopin said. Eugene Maxwell, now in his second season as head coach, is still getting adjusted to the program at Wardlaw-Hartridge. He has his players working hard and they believe this is going to be a good season.

The Wardlaw-Hartridge girls’ varsity basketball team has already begun preparing for its first scrimmage on December 8, an away game against Rahway High School. The Rams lost many well-respected players to graduation last year, leaving the question; how will the girls’ basketball program function this season with so few players?

The answer is simple: Quality over Quantity.

“Practices have been going well,” team captain Camille Menns ’15 said.

“If we keep up our quality of play, we will be great no matter how many players we have on the bench.”

Menns expects an interesting and successful year for the Rams. Veteran coach Mike Howell likely will start Menns, juniors Lacey Gress and Sydney Hughes and sophomores Allison Haley and Michelle Afflu.

“All of these girls are returning and dependable players,” Haley said. “These are just the type of girls we need to help W-H girls basketball be victorious.”

Nick Palko ‘15 makes a layup during a game at W-H.

Lacey Gress ‘16 wards off defenders in a home game.

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