 By Catie McGuigan ’23 and Hayden Schneider ’25The Choate Rosemary Hall hosted the premiere meet for the Westminster girls’ cross country team Saturday, Sept. 17. Catie McGuigan ’23, Saskia Mattiko ’23 and Hayden Schneider ’25 stepped onto the starting line for the varsity race. The two returning Sixth Former brought in the incoming Fourth Former for a huddle before Schneider’s first 5k as a martlet. The team of three took their first strides into the season. Schneider, McGuigan and Mattiko stayed together as a team for the first mile all the way through the third and crossed over the finish with each runner kicking with the remaining energy they had so as to not let any competition pass them. The girls blew through the finish line within seconds of each other, starting out the season as a team.
0 Comments
 By Alice Tao ’24In the modern world, Halloween festivities have become nearly sacred traditions. This year, the spooky season on the hill was filled with mysteries, screams and nightmares. Community members participated in a series of activities that accelerated their heartbeats. Besides the horrifying haunted house the Sixth Form put together, students competed in the annual Halloween Costume Contest. With over 100 contestants, Sydney Courtmanche ’24 triumphed through popular votes by her peers. Alongside her buddy Ava Lynch ’23, Sydney dressed up as Zach from Zach and Cody. After being inspired by the trendy social media TikTok, Sydney and Ava began their planning process for this coveted competition. Sydney purchased her shirt and shorts from Goodwill, and her infamous wig from Party City. She stated: “Honestly, I think the wig really sold it. The cargo shorts were a great touch but I think the wig was what brought home the dub.” For those who don’t know Zach, he is a Disney character for an older generation and the crazy brother of Cody. When asked about her costume next year, Sydney explained that she will keep that information confidential but she will definitely come out with something big and interesting. Stay tuned!
 By Rhys Marschke ’24As we are now almost two weeks removed from Halloween festivities and the annual Martlet Mush at Westminster, reflecting back on the event seems easy. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and different restrictions on our school and campus, the Mush was one of the awesome things that was taken from us. This is my third year at Westminster, and was also the first Martlet Mush I had experienced; I had merely settled for hazy details and tails of the Mush history books prior to this Halloween.
 By Margee Mahoney ’24We’ve all come to know and love our campus dogs. They’re always there to brighten up our day and make campus feel a bit more like home; however, recently, dogs have been revoked of their in-dorm privileges due to allergies and a few too many stolen-goods scandals.
 By Chip Genung ’25On Nov. 8, the U.S. held the midterm elections to choose the entirety of the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate, and over half the governors. The Republican Party and Democratic Party had very different strategies going into this election. The Republicans went into it with a focus on the economy. They knew that if they could blame President Joe Biden for the recent troubles of the economy and get voters to blame him as well to sway more support to their side. They were also operating on historical trends; since 1922, the opposite party as the president have gained seats in congress in roughly 21 out of the 25 midterm elections.
By Sam Bradley ’23Over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, the Philadelphia Eagles compiled 13 total wins, with prominent struggles on both sides of the ball. This year, they’ve yet to lose a single game. So how did they transform from a .500-ish team into the Super Bowl favorites?
By Mia Lee ’24On Oct. 29, 2022, a Halloween party took place in Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea. The Halloween festival in Itaewon was banned for the past two years due to COVID. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic eased this year, Itaewon streets were again filled with music and lights.
By Johnathan Li ’24Following former U.K. prime minister Liz Truss’ turbulent time in office, the term “trickle-down economics” has returned to public political discourse. Critics attributed this term to her massive tax cuts associated with chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s Growth Plan of 2022. Trickle-down economics is a critical term given to the ideas, often based on supply-side economics which focuses on maneuvering aggregate supply as opposed to aggregate demand, that promotes tax reduction, especially for the upper-income class. The wealth created by these reductions would then in turn, through expenditure and investment, “trickle-down” the economic ladder. The Growth Plan decreased both the base income tax rate to 19% and abolished the 45% rate of income tax for earnings over £150,000; these measures were criticized for disproportionately benefitting the wealthier taxpayers. However, while the Growth Plan was meant to promote economic growth, it has been detrimental to the UK economy, further exacerbated by massive bond sellouts related to concerns about the economy.
By Finn Seeley ’25This October, scientists at Cornell University’s Laboratory for Intelligent Systems and Controls developed algorithms that can predict in-game actions of volleyball players that has been tested at an 80% success rate. The lab is now expanding the project’s applications to include the school’s ice hockey teams. These algorithms combine visual data, such as an athlete’s location on the court, with more implicit information, such as a player’s role on the team, to make predictions in regard to what that player might do next.
By Camilla Norton ’25Saturday classes have been a long-standing academic norm at Westminster, but as the school changes and adapts to modern society, is school on Saturday still necessary? Although Saturday classes do balance out the half day on Wednesdays due to sports, it adds to the busyness of the week and gives students too much work. On top of the draining effects of Saturday classes, Westminster is one of the few boarding schools that still has regular Saturday classes. The majority of other schools have either abolished them or reduced them to every other week. Having no class on Saturday would not only reduce stress, but it would also provide students more free time to express their interests. Rather than having to attend traditional school, clubs could meet, students could catch up on work, or just enjoy the day off. Currently, Sunday is the only day that can be used for leisure, but at the same time it’s the only day to catch up on work. As a result, many students end up spending the day drained in homework. Without Saturday school, students can actually have a day off where they don’t have to do work. Overall, the abolition of Saturday classes would greatly benefit the students' mental health and give them some well-deserved rest time.
By Tarapi Pyo ’24 and Jacqueline Wu ’24 On the night of the 13th, a boy crept down the stairs of Cushing. He opened the door to the laundry room and stood all alone, surrounded by the noisy cycling of the washing machines. He scoured the room for a minuscule cross necklace, the one from the rumors. On the far right, methodically wrapped around the pipes, the cross dangled like a pendulum, swinging endlessly. But there was no wind. The cross necklace did not belong there, yet it seemed to be at home.
By Asia Daniela ’24Fun fact: The United States Postal Service is so efficient that nothing can stop them from delivering mail. Not even the death of recipients. Therefore, when someone dies, the deceased’s loved ones are responsible for stopping the sending of mail or forwarding it to another address.
By Carolyn Cheng ’24did you know that while orca fathers will raise the offspring of other orcas,
they will never raise their own? By Lily Raskind ’25I wish I was like her
She broke the surface of the water with an almost perfect dive. Her feet were slightly apart taking one to two seconds away from her streamline. Ugh, I wish I was like her. She took her first stroke halfway across the pool, already ahead of the others those seconds missed were made up. Ugh, I wish I was like her. The light on the screen read 17.74 almost the world record. Ugh, I wish I was like her. When she arose from the water and took off her cap I could’ve sworn her hair was perfectly dry. Ugh, I wish I was like her. Soon after the races were done she hugged her teammates so tight as if they were all her besties. Ugh, I wish I was like her. So much of the time she walks the halls, surrounded by people who wish to be her. Ugh, I wish I was like her. Her grades were perfect, and her smile was even better. Ugh, I wish I was like her. Only if I was slimmer, prettier, more grown up, sweeter could I really be like her, and even then I wish I was like her. By Paolo Wan ’26There was this crossroads in front of the international school I used to go to. Right in front of the school was a hospital that seemed like it was under construction forever but had never been finished. My mother would make a right turn here in her SUV every morning before dropping me off. The dull mornings were matched by the gray and white apartment buildings on that side of the road. The left turn led to a territory I never explored until my 6th-grade year. The smells of buttered baked sweet potatoes and sizzling dian fen chang, a kind of starch-filled sausage, often tempted me when I walked by. But the good kid inside of me and my mother’s vehicle seemingly staring at my every move always kept me walking straight past it.
By Cindion Huang ’25“Pandemic prevention at all costs.”
We crumble through white lies, believe in falsehood; oblivious but deeply immersed in deceptions that they have created -- about us. “Pandemic prevention at all costs.” Under their power, our voices mouthed nothing but useless cacophonies, scattered through the silent air as they gradually erase our thoughts -- with a single tear. “Pandemic prevention at all costs.” Still echoes, When we fall and crash into the abyss on the tour bus that was supposed to take us to quarantine camps; When she watches as her infant dies of miscarriage in front of the hospital gate because she’d have to test negative first; When she gets beaten up by drunk, mighty men just because she said no to their ruthless harassment; when he gets aggressively arrested for grocery shopping under lockdowns; when we’re threatened by armed forces to stay inside our houses; When every inch and fraction of freedom was suppressed; When all COVID-related posts were banned; When we are muted; When we are silenced; When we die -- by being alive. “Pandemic prevention at all costs.” Exactly, what they really mean is: We are the cost. |
