Graffiti found in private study rooms
Roughly at the beginning of November, in one of the enclosed study rooms, graffiti was found on all of the walls. Someone used the dry erase whiteboard markers to vandalize and write all over the white, blank walls. As soon as the librarians and the administration noticed the defacement, they closed the study rooms indefinitely.

“Students ought to know that it is a privilege to use the room,” librarian Dr. Nina Waite said. “And we felt that right had been abused.”
The culprits were never caught. The librarians found the graffiti later on in the day, so they weren’t sure when the vandalism occurred. Neither Waite nor the administration would comment on the content of the graffiti. The private library rooms are now once again open, but the librarians are keeping a much closer eye on who is using the room at all times.

Seniors recognized for National Merit
Seniors Eleanor Arculus, Jessica Fan, Daniel Moerner, Neha Shah, Daniel Son-Bell, Benjamin Struve, Lauren Taylor, Jing Wang and Holly Yort were named National Merit semifinalists in early September.
The National Merit Scholarship program ranks students nationwide based off their junior year PSAT scores. There are two levels of recognition: commended and semifinalists. Overall, the school had 39 commended students, including the 9 semifinalists.
The nine seniors are now working towards making it as a finalist. Finalist selection is based on the student’s SAT score, leadership in both school and the community, academic record and an essay as well as teacher recommendations.
There were roughly 1.5 million students that were in the pool for being ranked by this program.

Art Department hosts student exhibit
On Friday, December 5, the Art Department held its first department-wide show of the school year. The show took place all day in the cafeteria. Every art class participated in the show.
The art show served as a reflection of many of the students’ works from the first three months of school. Each student had anywhere from three to five pieces of art in the show. Teachers were assigned to bring their classes into the cafeteria at various points in time.
This was the first of three department-wide shows of the year. Each show is meant to be a display of all the work the student have put into their artwork.
“[They] have put endless hours of work into their pieces,” art teacher Christine An said. “They deserve some recognition.”