Last week, Holton seniors taking Ms. Maggie Spak's Love in Literature class participated in an exciting partnership through the PEN/Faulkner Foundation's Writers in Schools program. The Writers in Schools program brings nationally-known authors into classrooms to discuss literature and the writing process with students.

During the program, the Holton students were paired with a dozen young women from Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C. All seniors in high school, the Holton and Bell students had the honor of discussing the book, This Angel on My Chest, with each other as well as the book's author, Leslie Pietrzyk. Prior to meeting in person, the students had the opportunity to get to know each other during preliminary discussions via Skype.

"To my knowledge, this is Holton's first public school partnership regarding literature, so I think this example of local engagement is very exciting," said Spak.

The students carried on a lively discussion of the book which is a fictionalized, but very personal account of Pietrzyk losing her first husband. The students had many questions for the author which she answered openly and honestly, giving them an insider's take on the book.

Regarding her students' participation in the program, Spak said, "I was delighted to see that there never seemed to be a lull in conversation . . . I know that my seniors and Bell's seniors had much to learn from each other and share with each other."

Caroline McDonald '16 described the field trip saying, "[It] was a wonderful surprise. At first, I was scared that it'd be awkward and forced. However, I found the conversation with the girls was very easy and that they had some really interesting insight. Also, the author was so open and welcoming. I was disappointed when the question time was over."

Mya Harris '16 agreed saying, "I appreciated the discussion with the other school and the author . . . Seeing another class' perspective on the book was very eye-opening as well."

Holton-Arms aims to provide experiential learning opportunities whenever possible. The School is proud to be one of the first schools to participate in the Writers in Schools program and hopes to continue the partnership for years to come.

(Left): Caroline McDonald '16 chats with author, Leslie Pietrzyk. (Right): Mya Harris '16 and Gigi Asamoah-Mensah '16 discuss This Angel on My Chest with Bell Multicultural High School students.

(Left): Mya Harris '16 (left) continues the discussion with the Bell students. (Right): Megan Saunders '16 and Suhina Lal '16 also enjoy sharing and learning alongside the Bell students.

Greetings All,

Welcome to a "straight no chaser" edition of the weekend building hours. There are many things taking place around campus today, so I am going to quickly make the most of a few tranquil moments. This busy Friday greets us with the arrival of Senior Spirit Day in Nome, Alaska. Oh no, wait a minute, check that, we are actually in Bethesda. Please pardon that geographical miscalculation. Seasonal anomalies aside, we did not allow chilly temperatures (great day for a Tea House) to dampen the well earned enthusiasm of the day. Congratulations to the Class of 2016 !

This was a wonderfully productive week propelled by the success of many events. I know that numerous memorable moments have emerged including the WIS Handbell Festival and certainly the always engaging Middle School Mini-Mester. The Mini-Mester incorporates so many components of our school and the greater community at-large. I want to personally thank all of my Middle School CSI Detectives once again on a job well done.

The weekend building hours are posted below. Please note that building will open at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday in support of each day's events. Provisions have been made throughout the course of the weekend for activities potentially commencing at earlier times. On behalf of everyone in the Facilities Department, I would like to wish all of my colleagues a safe and enjoyable weekend.

Thank you my friends and take care.

Ken

WEEKEND BUILDING HOURS FOR 4/30-5/1 2016

Saturday, April 30th, 2016- 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 1st, 2016- 12 noon until 7:00 p.m.

Drawing on Brigid Schulte's Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time, we have talked about how the unreasonable expectations for the "ideal worker" and the "ideal mother" contribute to our sense of overwhelm. Fortunately, Schulte offers some solutions to help ameliorate this all too widespread condition.

Let's begin with the context for the "ideal mother." While things have certainly improved, women still perform most household tasks and the bulk of duties related to children. Many mothers who work outside the home work a second shift at home, undeniably contributing to a sense of overwhelm. The "ideal mother" subversively promotes the second shift by demanding that we do everything, preferably perfectly. This leads to "gatekeeping," not letting anyone else do the whatever because they won't do it right.

We need to let go of our perfectionism, and we need to let others help – and ask for help. Honestly, it is truly unrealistic to expect that one could work a full-time job and bear the majority of the responsibilities for the household and children. We prove nothing to anyone when we try to do it all; all we prove is that when we try to, we become overextended, don't get enough sleep, and get stressed and often resentful. Those conditions serve no one well, neither ourselves, our spouses, or our children (nor our work selves). One of the appealing aspects of Schulte's book is that it is a personal journey out of overwhelm as much as it is a well-researched study of the topic. She is so obsessively tidy that her husband accused her of still doing dishes while the house was burning down. She had to work hard to allow pots to soak, as long as they actually got washed the next day. In my favorite example, she forgot to make baked goods for a school concert reception. She asked her husband to get cupcakes from the grocery store bakery, but, much to her horror, he bought Twinkies instead. He responded to her protests saying, "Are you kidding me? It's middle school. They'll sell out in a heartbeat." Of course, he was right. She admitted that she had to let her inner Martha Stewart go. (170)

We can break away from the tyranny of the "ideal mother" -- which oppresses both working and stay-at-home mothers, but it takes work. We have to be willing to buck convention and the powers that tie our worthiness to this concept. Jessica DeGroot, a Wharton MBA, advocates for a "third path for couples who want to share their work and home lives as full partners, each one with time for work, love, and play."(156) DeGroot believes that we don't recognize the "invisible forces" wielded by the "ideal mother," the "ideal worker" and the "provider father," the forces that actually cause our stress.(158) These ideals exert a very powerful (and often invisible) hold, a hold that makes acknowledging and then challenging them very hard. However, change can only happen when we do just that. As DeGroot observes, we easily "get stuck" in gender-defined patterns of behavior, patterns informed by the ideals and cemented by busyness so intense that it prevents imagining alternatives or by the financial demands of a lifestyle or of burdensome debt levels that make change feel impossible. But if we want a real partnership characterized by mutually agreed upon goals and a path to reach those goals, we have to be willing to fight DeGroot's "good fight."

Ideally, the "good fight" begins around the birth of a first child, the point at which we are most likely to drift into gender-defined roles. As mothers bond with their children during maternity leave or as stay-at-home moms, we become attuned to our babies and they to us, making it easier for us to anticipate and attend to their wants and needs. Meanwhile fathers, who rarely take true paternity leave, can feel left out and inadequate.

However, even if we missed that opportunity, we can still fight the "good fight"; it will just be harder. The idea is not to play roles simply by default and to recognize, too, that there are ways in which dads lose out in this gender-defined system. For example, just as mothers may at times feel resentful that they handle the majority of childcare, fathers may feel bad that they haven't developed the same bond with their babies that their partners have.

Schulte points to several ways we can help ourselves reduce the overwhelm and find more balance in our lives. First, we can seek help from the likes of Jessica DeGroot; she has a website for her Third Path Institute full of resources. Second, build a network of like-minded people ready to challenge the ideals with us. Schulte finds groups of women doing all kinds of things. For example, "Mice at Play" helps women inject play into their lives by organizing adult playdates in New York City.

Just as children benefit from play, so do adults. However, throughout history, women have played very little. We generally don't feel comfortable taking time to have fun. Indeed, Schulte notes that scholars "say women taking time for themselves, deliberately choosing leisure without children or family, is nothing less than a courageous – subversive, almost – act of resistance." (237) But we should play: it promotes creativity and problem solving; it makes us happy. When we try new things, we stretch ourselves, building confidence and making us more interesting. When we play together as a family, we build a collection of shared, memorable experiences that bind us closer together. Making time for play, with our children, our spouse, and without them, makes us healthier and happier; we should make it a priority.

Also, in New York, the WoMoBiJos (Working Mothers with Big Jobs), support each other as they live fulfilling lives that include rewarding work, loving families, and time for fun. Admittedly, these women have reached a professional level that affords them considerable flexibility, but they also "automate, delegate, or drop everything else – shopping for groceries on line, hiring help, or not caring if the house is less than perfect of if their husbands all make sandwiches for dinner." They feel comfortable in following this course because, according to Schulte, they are not ambivalent. They are "ruthlessly clear" about their priorities and they avoid succumbing to the "ideal mother" and the "ideal worker" standards. (260-1) Lack of ambivalence should rise to the top of our goals as we seek to tame our overwhelm. Lack of ambivalence comes, in turn, from a sense of self-efficacy.

Harvard MBA and GW professor Kathy Korman Frey, known as the "Confidence Guardian" has committed herself to developing women's self-efficacy. She runs something called the Hot Mommas Project, the world's largest database of stories about how women entrepreneurs run their businesses and their home lives. She believes that women's failure to negotiate competitive compensation and benefits packages; the reason we feel like imposters and why we lean out instead of in all result from a lack of self-efficacy, a quality we start to lose as teenagers. I would add that it's also why we don't advocate for ourselves at home. We can learn self-efficacy, however. Here's how:

• "Have 'mastery experiences.' The more you do some things well, the more you'll build the confidence to do other things well."
• "Find role models and seek out mentors."
• "Listen to and believe the positive and encouraging words people have for you."
• "'Get a grip.' Recognize that perceptions are what shape experience. And when it comes to negative and self-defeating patterns of thought, she advises, as Cher did in Moonstruck, 'Snap out of it!'" (262)

Frey recognizes we're in crisis. However, although it's not easy, she says we have to believe in ourselves; "it's like you're wearing the ruby slippers. You have the power. You've had it all along."

As you might have gathered, I really liked this book. However, at times I wondered whether Schulte was falling into a classic American trap of individualism. In short, the issues we face are ours and by dint of willpower and some tough conversations, we create a better way, a third path, if you will. I have great faith in the power of individuals and I do believe in the viability of everything I've outlined above. However, I want to emphasize that we shouldn't have to be doing this alone; moreover, it will be hard if not impossible to do so. We have to get our partner on board which, as Schulte herself discovered, is not always easy. He may not see a problem. We will also be able to sustain our challenge to those powerful invisible forces, the ideals, far better if we enlist allies in our cause. Plus, we can't stop here; we must together work for more family friendly policies and programs like affordable, good quality childcare and paid parental leave. For an organization doing great work in this area, check out MomsRising. Next week: the "ideal worker."

Varsity lacrosse goalie Kaitlyn Pham '18 was selected by the Holton Athletic Association as "Panther of the Week" for her performance and strength throughout the season.

Pham is new to Holton this year, entering in her sophomore year. Though quiet and small in stature, her performance between the pipes is larger than life. Pham is currently second in the D.C. Metro region for saves, according to The Washington Post. Her hard work in games throughout the season has helped Holton capture huge program wins and battle against nationally ranked opponents.

On April 21, Holton took on nationally ranked Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School. After a rocky, 0-4 start, Holton decided they weren't going without a fight. The fight began with Pham. Throughout the game, Pham came up big, saving 55% of Visitation's shots. She stuffed future Division One players, came up with interceptions and tallied two ground balls. Her fire and passion between the pipes helped the team fight their way back, taking Visitation to three overtimes.

In recent games, over half of the teams have pulled their starting goalie when things have turned south. Pham doesn't have the luxury of having a back-up, she sees every shot in every practice and over 250 shots in games so far. As one teammate put it, "I feel honored to play with her, to call her my teammate and be around someone so special."

You can check out Pham and the varsity lacrosse team as they compete in their last regular season game versus Stone Ridge, at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, May 5 at Stone Ridge. Click here to check out the rest of the schedule and results.

Holton-Arms' Level I and Level II Chemathon teams both competed at this year's 32nd Annual Chemathon on Saturday, April 30. Held at the University of Maryland, the regional chemistry competition welcomed schools from Maryland and the District of Columbia. Twenty-four Level I, made up of first-year chemistry students, and 21 Level II, or AP level, chemistry teams, entered the competition; Chemathon teams competed in 20 different events including lab activities and knowledge-testing games.

On-site team members Jayme Slotkin '18 (captain), Bonnie Akhavan '18, Isabelle Koff '18, Christine Padalino '18, Stephanie Jiang '18, Lexi Boo '18 and off-site team members Amber Batra '18, Anna Haskin '18, Audrey Bochi-Layec '18, Brijit Sangha '18, Jackie Hardie '18, Cayla Strong '18, Rayne Layton '18, Isabelle Ross '18, Reagan Leibovitz '18, Morgan Abdo '18, Julie Hirsch '18, Caroline Albright '18, Charlotte Butz '18, and Ava Weinreb '18 enthusiastically made up Holton's Level I team. Their stellar performance earned them a first place finish in the Level I overall standings.

The strong AP team consisted of on-site team members Yasmin Alamdeen '17 (captain), Lillian Baker, Alex Steelman, Ava Jundanian, Rebecca Chan, Gillian Hutter, and off-site team member Grace Tung '16. They earned fourth place overall in the competition.

Holton received the most individual event awards amongst all participating schools with a total of 14, including five first-place individual event awards in Reaction in Action level I, Viscoelastic Bounce Level I, Threaded Ion Level I, Make My Faraday Level II, and Threaded Ion Level II.

"It seems that the full adoption of inquiry-based labs this year has made our students savvier in their hand-on and 'minds-on' skills," said chemistry teacher and Chemathon mentor Xu Duan.

Congratulations to these outstanding student chemists!

On-site members of Holton's Chemathon teams smile for the camera.

The Level I team carries out a titration experiment during the Chemathon.

Two news stories from last week sufficiently disturbed me that I decided to write about something different this week than what I had planned. The first was a New York Times article last Thursday about how women sports journalists get harassed online. The second was an NPR piece about Nicole Mittendorff, the Virginia firefighter whose body was found in the Shenandoah National Forest. These seemingly disparate stories share a theme: the online harassment women who venture into non-traditional professions experience. I am fairly familiar with this topic because my sister-in-law, Soraya Chemaly, a feminist activist who writes and speaks about violence against women, has covered this issue and has received personal threats herself. Nonetheless, these two stories shocked me again. I find the behavior so appalling, so reprehensible, so hard to understand that I feel compelled to draw attention to it. We need to understand this world because our children already have access to it, because we need to think about what it means for our daughters, but also our sons. I'm not sure that many people comprehend the depth of the misogynistic vitriol that gets freely expressed in the cyberworld. Only by shining light on this behavior can we expect to end it.

The article about the female sports journalists focused on a video created by two Chicago-based reporters, Sarah Spain (ESPN Radio host and espnW reporter) and Julie DiCaro (a radio show host and Sports Illustrator writer) to highlight the harassment they endure. In the video (be careful where you watch this – it's not appropriate for any audience especially young children), male friends sit in front of them and read tweets they've received out loud. The men show visible discomfort, hesitating, one even saying he couldn't read a tweet, apologizing. Almost every tweet has words prohibited from the airwaves and the mainstream print media. The printable ones include hopes that Spain and DiCaro will be physically assaulted, even raped or killed. One urges Spain's boyfriend to beat her up. Another hopes that "this skank Julie DiCaro is Bill Cosby's next victim." "That would be classic," he adds. One recommends that "the players should beat you to death with their hockey sticks" while another believes "You need to be hit in the head with a hockey puck and killed."

Not surprisingly, this video went viral and prompted a series of news stories like the one in The Times. The female sports writer, Juliet Macur, who wrote that article experiences the same kind of harassment. People excuse this kind of attack saying that men receive similar messages. However, as Spain explains, there's an important difference. "Men get mean comments, too, but I think the context of it is quite different for women," Spain said. "It's not just, like, 'You're an idiot, and I'm mad at you for your opinion.' It's: 'I hate you because you are in a space that I don't want you in. I come to sports to get away from women. Why don't you take your top off and just make me lunch?' " What is going on with these men that women sports reporters provoke such powerful reactions?

While no one is saying that cyberbullying caused Fairfax County firefighter and paramedic Nicole Mittendorff to commit suicide, her death has brought to light another arena in which online bullies target women who, like the sports reporters, have chosen a traditionally male field. According to the NPR story, women represent fewer than 4% of firefighters in the U.S. In Fairfax County, a thread devoted to firefighters on the "Fairfax Underground" provides a forum for people to bully female firefighters. WTOP says "Most of the posts are too obscene to quote, and call the 31-year-old Mittendorff out by name." The anonymous contributors "criticize her body, her sex life, even her death, while also shaming other women." Apparently, given the familiarity of the posters about firehouses, it appears that the commenters to the blog are fellow firefighters. This makes the harassment all the more troublesome, especially in a job that already suffers from high stress levels and in which you identify the people with whom you work as family.

Several weeks ago, Upworthy posted an article by Matt Schlicht entitled "Every man should see the infuriating reaction to this woman's blog post" about Helen Situ's blog about SH//FT, a new non-profit organization founded to encourage women and minorities to get involved in virtual reality. Schlicht understands the underrepresentation of women in technology – fewer than 20% -- and he applauds the women who have created SH//FT, saying "women supporting each other is awesome." He urges men to be like those who wrote positive comments on Situ's blog, and deplores the negative posts, most of which I can't even include here. Here's one I can: "I would love to see her in VR [virtual reality], esp in a maids costume!" The rest are even more demeaning and marginalizing. I guess the very idea of any number of women working in the world of virtual reality, which, it seems to me has particular opportunities for women given its wide range of applications (not just gaming), seriously threatens these men.

Like sports journalism and firefighting, men dominate and define the culture in the tech world. We saw similar violent online attacks on women in the gaming industry in the fall of 2014 during what came to be called "Gamergate." As tends to be the case, this was a fairly complicated event/movement. However, in terms of facts, it involved men attacking female video game designers and critics so viciously online that the FBI got involved. The attackers objected to women entering the realm of video games, especially when they create non-traditional games or criticize the gaming industry for its violence and lack of inclusivity. In addition to anonymous rape and death threats, common fare for women in non-traditional fields as we've seen, people posted nude photos of these women as well as their home addresses. Fearing for their safety, several of the women fled their homes.

I will confess that it's hard for me to understand why anyone could get so exercised about video games. However, as The Washington Post's digital culture critic Caitlin Dewey observed, Gamergate, which went on for months, actually represented more than just a horrifyingly brutal digital war within the gaming world. "In fact, in many respects," she argues, "Gamergate is just a proxy war for a greater cultural battle over space and visibility and inclusion, a battle over who belongs to the mainstream — and as such, it's a battle for our cultural soul."

This conflict lies at the heart of these vicious attacks on women who dare to step outside traditional female roles. Another sports journalist on a CBSN piece shared a tweet she received asserting that women "don't know [expletive] about sports" with the hashtag #stayhomeandcookplease. Like it or not, we no longer live in a world where the majority of women stay home and cook. As a country, I don't know what we do with the level of anger these online messages reveal. We know that it's easier to act intemperately when we can be anonymous, and I would argue that allowing oneself to write such sentiments helps cement them in our minds. Because social media is just that, social, when such violent expressions go unchecked, it makes such discourse appear acceptable to large online audiences.

The vast majority of men count themselves with the horrified readers of DiCarlo and Spain's tweets, the Fairfax County Fire Chief who has called for a full investigation of the misogynistic postings about female firefighters and consequences for perpetrators, and tech reporters like Matt Schlicht who support women in technology. However, there exists a loud, belligerent minority of cowards who hide behind the anonymity of the internet to behave in reprehensible ways. While we may need to think about why these men are so angry, we do not and should not tolerate this vicious misogyny. I hope that we will talk to our children, especially our sons, who surely read this kind of thing online, about why this is wrong. I hope that we, especially men, will stand up in the digital space for women's right to assume non-traditional roles. Finally, I hope we will lodge complaints about inappropriate postings on blogs like the "Fairfax Underground" and "DC Urban Mom" and even encourage the big social media entities like Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, and Snapchat not to allow hate speech. If we don't, by creating such a hostile environment that young women, like one whom Spain has been mentoring, will choose other professions, we let these men win.

Greetings All,

Well, to say that today was an interesting one is certainly an understatement. However, we have ended the day on a good note with an apparent successful conclusion to the earlier events. These incidents did indeed impact the entire county for a period of time. We know that we train and drill for such unexpected ocurences and today provided us with an opportunity to apply those skills. One of the challenges in establishing emergency response prortocols is mastering the ability to somehow expect the unexpected. That would certainly appear to represent a contradictory objective towards achieving a state of readiness. Accordingly, preparing for the unknown will always represent a daunting task. We cannot possibly predict every potential act that might impact us. However, that is why we establish response plans that serve as templates to address a wide array of critical incidents. I want to thank everyone throughout the school community for their cooperation and patience that was exhibited during the course of this afternoon. Although our campus never faced any imminent threat, like schools across the county we wisely chose to exercise caution while minimizing operational disruptions. Even in recognition of that fact, it is important to remember that we will always choose safety over inconvenience. Thank you again my friends.

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to share a few pre-weekend thoughts with everyone. When I said that, I did not expect it to focus on the serious topic of emergency preparedness. In the effort to take us into the weekend, I am going to lighten it up a little bit and just mention a few brief things. First of all, thank you to Susanna and Janice for a wonderful First Friday Breakfast. That special gathering always serves to end the week on a good note. Once again there were a number of accomplishments and achievements reached throughout the school community. To everyone who has excelled, we salute you. I have to mention the pride that I know many of us shared in watching Hannah's appearance on Jeopardy. Wow, talk about stepping up to the challenge in the face of tough questions. Hmmm, I found myself lost right after they announced "Welcome to Jeopardy". Go Panthers.

With Mother's Day on the horizon, I want to take a moment to wish everyone the very best. We can share endless stories about the unique role of a mom. I know that I could expand upon that point for days, but as the afternoon winds down I will simply say thank you.

The weekend building hours for May 7-8, 2016 are posted below. Please remember that the building will be closed on Sunday, May 8, 2016. We want everyone to enjoy that special day. On behalf of all my good friends in the Facilities Department, I want to wish all of my colleagues a safe and relaxing weekend.

Take care

Ken

WEEKEND BUILDING HOURS FOR MAY 7-8, 2016

On May 7, 2016, Holton seventh graders competed in the Seventh Annual Chinese Singing Contest for the Greater Washington Area, which was sponsored by the Taipei and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, D.C. The competition was open to grades K-12 as well as college students who take Chinese in schools. This year entries included university students as close as Georgetown University to public and independent schools as far away as North Carolina. The first place team sang "Baby" by Justin Bieber and "Sorry, My Chinese is Not Good" by Transition.

We would like to congratulate Annika Chidambaran '21, Katherine DiPaolo '21, and Nina Sebastien '21 for winning the first place prize and Huntly Rathbone '21 and Maryam Garavi '21 for winning the third place prize. Chinese Language Teacher Dr. Liao proudly comments, "Congratulations to all of our student on this achievement."

Left: Annika Chidambaran '21, Katherine DiPaolo '21, and Nina Sebastien '21 receive their first place prize alongside teacher, Dr. Liao. Right: Huntly Rathbone '21 receives her third place prize.

In "The Internet is Distract –OH LOOK A KITTEN!" by Ian McWethy, high school student Micah struggles to complete her English paper as her best friend Taylor sends persistent zany messages and cat videos to distract her. Personified versions of popular websites Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia vie for her attention and eventually attempt to take over her brain.

In "Gray Area" by Ian McWethy a school is thrown into turmoil by the outrageous online comments following a student's science project about optical illusions.

In "The NSA's Guide to Winning Friends and Influencing People" by Don Zolidis government agents use insight they've gathered surveilling Americans to recommend hilarious lifestyle changes.

Drama Director Elizabeth Zitelli leads this group of over 60 artists assisted by Upper Schoolers Eden Halpert '19, Charlotte Koonce '18, Samantha Noland '17, and Shea Sion '17. Technical Director Mark Robinson designed the lighting, set and projections.

DATES:

Thursday, May 12, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, May 13, 7:30 p.m.

LOCATION: The Diana Coulton Beebe Black Box Theater at Holton-Arms School

PRICE: Adult tickets are $10. Holton and Landon faculty and staff members may receive a total of two free tickets. Student tickets are free.

RESERVATIONS: To reserve your tickets to the Holton-Arms production of "#SCREEN/PLAY" to be presented in the Diana Coulton Beebe Black Box Theater on Thursday and Friday, May 12 and 13, send your ticket request to boxoffice@holton-arms.edu. Seating is limited so reservations are recommended. To help us process your order, please be sure that your request includes your name, the performance you wish to attend, and the number of tickets you want (please distinguish between student, adult and faculty/staff tickets).

Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m.

Holton-Arms is incredibly proud of Clara Ferrari '17 who recently received Bethesda Magazine's Extraordinary Teen Award. Clara is one of 13 students given this honor. Read about her inspiring volunteer work, participation in the Children's Chorus of Washington, and many other accomplishments here.

Dr. Yasmin Tyler-Hill is currently Chairperson of the Department of Pediatrics at Morehouse Medical School and Medical Director of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding. She obtained her undergraduate degree in biology from Princeton University and medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina. In 1992, Dr. Tyler-Hill was honored as a Holton's Distinguished Alumna, which is given to an individual for recognition for professional or volunteer service accomplishments. "She remembers Holton as the place where she developed much of her philosophy about her work ethic and life's goals. To this day, she lives her life by the Holton's motto: "I will find a way or make one," as written in her Morehouse School of Medicine biography.

Congratulations Yasmin on this accomplishment!

Award-winning actress, Julia Louis-Dreyfus '79, and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde '74, have been named as two of TIME's "100 Most Influential People." You can read about Louis-Dreyfus and Lagarde in both the print and online editions.

Left: Christine Lagarde (photograph by Ben Hassett for TIME)
Right: Julia Louis-Dreyfus (photograph by Art Streiber)

In "The Internet is Distract –OH LOOK A KITTEN!" by Ian McWethy, high school student Micah struggles to complete her English paper as her best friend Taylor sends persistent zany messages and cat videos to distract her. Personified versions of popular websites Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia vie for her attention and eventually attempt to take over her brain.

In "Gray Area" by Ian McWethy a school is thrown into turmoil by the outrageous online comments following a student's science project about optical illusions.

In "The NSA's Guide to Winning Friends and Influencing People" by Don Zolidis government agents use insight they've gathered surveilling Americans to recommend hilarious lifestyle changes.

Drama Director Elizabeth Zitelli leads this group of over 60 artists assisted by Upper Schoolers Eden Halpert '19, Charlotte Koonce '18, Samantha Noland '17, and Shea Sion '17. Technical Director Mark Robinson designed the lighting, set and projections.

DATES:

Thursday, May 12, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, May 13, 7:30 p.m.

LOCATION: The Diana Coulton Beebe Black Box Theater at Holton-Arms School

PRICE: Adult tickets are $10. Holton and Landon faculty and staff members may receive a total of two free tickets. Student tickets are free.

RESERVATIONS: To reserve your tickets to the Holton-Arms production of "#SCREEN/PLAY" to be presented in the Diana Coulton Beebe Black Box Theater on Thursday and Friday, May 12 and 13, send your ticket request to boxoffice@holton-arms.edu. Seating is limited so reservations are recommended. To help us process your order, please be sure that your request includes your name, the performance you wish to attend, and the number of tickets you want (please distinguish between student, adult and faculty/staff tickets).

Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m.

Today marks the beginning of a championship weekend for lacrosse, softball, and track and field. Varsity lacrosse will take on Stone Ridge away at 5:30 p.m. in the first round of playoffs. If they win, they will advance to take on the winner of Georgetown Visitation and Holy Child at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 14 in the semi-finals. The AA lacrosse championships will be held on Monday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Stone Ridge. Click here to check the lacrosse team page for the most up to date times and locations.

Varsity softball is also gearing up for a championship weekend after an impressive year in the AA Division of the ISL. They will take on Sidwell Friends away, in their final regular season game at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 13. Once all of the regular season games are completed Holton will have a clear view of the championship bracket and where they are seeded. They will start their quest for a championship at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 12 at home. If they win, they will advance to the semi-finals on Sunday, May 15 at 12:00 p.m. The AA softball championships will be held on Monday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Flint Hill. Click here to check the softball team page for the most up to date times and locations.

Holton is proud to host the ISL track and field championships and Saturday, May 14. Click here for a current schedule of events. Please be sure to check the track and field team page for the most up to date information as we make adjustments for the weather.

Go Panthers!

WEEKEND BUILDING HOURS FOR MAY 14-15, 2016

Saturday, May 14th, 2016-7:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 15th, 2016- The Building will be Closed .

The Music in the Parks program provides an incentive for student musicians to strive for musical excellence in their performances. As a reward for these efforts and accomplishments, the program presents distinctive and impressive awards to the various participating performing organizations.

"Both groups performed beautifully and received high marks from the judges. Mr. Tilley and I are very proud of the groups for playing with great musicianship and maturity," said instrumental music teacher Jon Hansen.

Congratulations to these accomplished Upper School musicians!

Congratulations to the Holton-Arms softball team who defeated Maret, 16-6 in the first round of the AA ISL tournament. Yesterday, they went on to beat Potomac 12-7 in the semi-final round. Pitcher Lillian Baker '17 struck out seven batters, while the team stepped up in the third inning scoring seven runs. Defensively, Clara Ferrari '17 came up with a big time, over the shoulder catch in center field, to close out the fifth inning. Be sure to cheer on the Panthers today as take on Flint Hill in the AA ISL Championship at 5:30 p.m. at Flint Hill School.

Track and Field hosted the ISL Championships on Friday and Saturday. Haley Butler '16 finished third in the high jump jumping 4 feet 10 inches. She has medaled in the ISL Championships for the past four years! Congratulations, Haley!

Holton lacrosse beat Stone Ridge, 14-4 in the first round of the AA ISL tournament on Thursday, May 12. Stephanie Hong '19 lead the team with seven goals and nine points and Annelise Kotz '17 finished with five goals and five draw controls. Kaitlyn Pham '18 saved 67% of their shots and came up with two ground balls. They went on to lose to Georgetown Visitation, 8-12, Saturday in the semi-finals.

The varsity crew team went to the Washington Metro Interscholastic Rowing Association Championships this weekend where the novice four took home the championship! Congratulations to Ava Mendelsohn '19, Delaney Bond '19, Sasha Mills '19, Lily Schmandt '19, and Amy Ballard '19.

On Thursday, May 12, eighth graders participated in the annual "Make Your Way" Day, an inspiring day where Holton alumnae come back on campus and give our students a glimpse into life after Holton and different paths that one can take. Speakers included in this year's "Make Your Way" Day ranged from careers in the medical, law, entrepreneurial, and technology fields, as well as many more. The students were able to spend time with four out of the 11 alumnae speakers in 45-minute sessions with time to debrief at the end of the day.

Below are the bios of our 2016 "Make Your Way" Day speakers:

Jessica Rosenthal Chod '01 attended Cornell University and then continued on to Emory Law School and the Emory University Goizueta Business School where she earned her JD/MBA. She is currently a Corporate Counsel for HMSHost Corporation in Bethesda, MD. HMSHost creates and operates concessions in airports and travel plazas. Prior to joining HMSHost, she was an associate at Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy & Ecker, PA in Potomac and an associate at Skadden Arps in Washington, D.C. She was named the 2001 Alumnae Scholar on Class Day and was also a four-year member of the Upper School Chorus and a two-year member of Chamber Singers. She was inducted into Tri-M in the 9^th grade and she was also a member of Boosters. She currently serves as one of the Alumnae Co-Chairs of the Holton Fund and is a member of the Alumnae Board.

Diana Munger Hechler '74 attended Middlebury College and received a Master's Degree in Law & Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She founded D. Tours Travel in 1999 where she creates and produces great vacations at home and abroad. She specializes in European travel, but she sends happy clients to just about every country in the world (but not N. Korea!) Prior to starting D. Tour Travel, she worked in telecommunications policy at the National Cable Television Association, AT&T, and the U.S. Council for International Business. At Holton, Diana was active in the World Affairs Club, Model U.N., and Drama Club and was named to the Cum Laude Society.

Dr. Sabah Fatima Iqbal '94 attended medical school at Georgetown University. After completing medical school, she moved to New York for residency in Pediatrics at New York Presbyterian Hospital at the Weill Cornell campus. She then returned to the D.C. area for further training: a three-year fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Children's National Medical Center. During her fellowship, she was awarded a K-12 grant from the National Institutes of Health for research in asthma. She currently splits her time between shifts in the Emergency Department and an after-ED asthma care clinic for inner city children. She also sits on the steering committee of the women's leadership group at Children's National. Her research interests include improving the health of inner-city African American children, asthma, and teaching negotiations. At Holton, she was a Thespian and a Booster. She credits Holton (especially Mrs. Lippold, Mr. Gilbert, and Mr. Tupper) for laying the groundwork that helped her succeed in medical school and beyond.

Dr.Schuyler Winstead Matthiesen '02 works as an Emergency and Primary Care Veterinarian at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Northwest, Washington D.C. She is a manager and coordinator of the Internship Program at Friendship Hospital and volunteers at the Washington Humane Society in her spare time. While at Holton, Schuyler played varsity lacrosse, ice hockey, and soccer. She went on to play lacrosse at Middlebury College in Vermont and her team won the NCAA Division III National Championship Title in 2004. After college, Schuyler worked at the Food and Drug Administration for a year prior to attending the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Veterinary Medicine. She completed a rotating medicine and surgical internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York City prior to moving back home to D.C. Schuyler welcomed her daughter Palmer, a future Holton girl, earlier this year. Schuyler's sister, Lindsay Winstead '06, also attended Holton.

Mehr Pastakia '04 enjoyed growing plants in the windowsill of her science class in high school. By 2012, she was the founder and owner of a contracting company, Pratum Greenroofs, LLC that she started by bumming off the Wi-Fi at the Starbucks in Bethesda and Potomac. After winning a few small high-profile projects, she teamed up with old friends and new and grew Pratum to perform nearly a quarter million dollars of work in 2016 on Class A commercial properties. Her company installed the greenscreen on the roof terrace of One Franklin Square (The Washington Post's new HQ) and maintains one of the largest greenroofs in D.C. at the Department of Transportation HQ in Navy Yard, the greenroof at the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the greenroof at the 2016 TOBY Award winning 700 Sixth Street NW. This year she is looking to expand her contribution to the world into areas beyond greenroofs and is basing her next steps on the core values of beauty, sustainability, and wellness. Mehr earned her MBA from Johns Hopkins (although technically she gets her diploma next week) and continues to learn how to maximize all that life has to offer.

Molly Madigan Pisula '90 graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with an MBA in 2000, Molly spent six years working as a high-tech product marketing manager at Apple before quitting to start her own business as a personal chef and owner of Vanilla Bean Cuisine. As a personal chef, Molly taught cooking classes for kids and adults, catered dinner parties and small events, and baked lots and lots of cupcakes. In early 2016, Molly hung up her chef jacket to take a job as the Brainfood Homegrown Manager for a youth development non-profit in D.C. called Brainfood. At Brainfood, Molly helps a small team of young entrepreneurs run a snack food business and retail stand in Union Market. While at Holton, Molly was the editor of Scroll, played Varsity Tennis, and was an avid photographer and member of Thespians.

Dr. Caroline Silby '83 is an expert on the development of adolescent athletes, author of Games Girls Play: Understanding and Guiding Young Female Athletes and contributing author to The Female Athlete Triad and Sports Secrets and Spirit Stuff. Dr. Silby has worked on an individual basis with two Olympic Gold Medalists, twelve Olympians, two Paralympian Gold Medalists, three World Champions, thirteen National Champions, and hundreds of National Team members and Division I student-athletes and their coaches. She was a professor at American University for twelve years and currently Chair of the Board for the Southwest Women's Law Center. She has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show, National Public Radio and soon to appear on Fox's new science show for girls, FABLAB (www.fablabtv.com).

Danai Mattison Sky '05 attended the University of Maryland where she was a Communication major with a focus and passion for marketing. Upon graduation with a B.A. in Communication in 2009, she entered the real estate arena. She recently transitioned into management and is the Sales Manager at Long & Foster Real Estate, was previously a top producer with Long & Foster selling residential properties, and actively participates in the industry on a local and national level. Her success in real estate earned her the honor of being recognized as a top 30 under 30 in the country by Realtor Magazine in 2013 and this year was appointed to the District of Columbia Real Estate Commission by the Mayor. While at Holton, Danai played tennis and was active in the Performing Arts (Chorus in grades 7-12 and Swing Choir in grades 9-12) and as you can imagine Mrs. Pagenstecher was one of her favorite teachers! Danai is evermore grateful for her Holton education and experiences - a wonderful preparation for both her professional and personal life.

Lakia "Kiki" Somerville '92 attended The College of William and Mary and earned her degree in Sociology. While at W&M, she conducted her study abroad at Cambridge University at Christ's College, studying English Literature. After college, she went to New York and began working in special events and production for Viacom/MTV Networks, on productions such as MTV Spring Break, MTV Music Awards, and more. She received her law degree from Fordham University School of Law. During her legal training, Kiki worked in the general counsel office of Austin Nichols and provided operational oversight over marketing and events for brands like Yoo-hoo and Orangina. She worked as an entertainment lawyer with a boutique firm whose clients included Comedy Central and Lifetime Television. She started her own firm seven years ago doing marketing consulting for the entertainment industry which included creating a successful series of events in NYC twice a month, which averaged 400 people. Since 2011, Fearless Artist Media/ The Fearless Artist, has put together numerous informational, educational and entertainment events geared towards connecting the global artistic and creative community. Kiki credits her time at Holton for developing her leadership skills, and providing a place where she could pursue her love of writing and art.

Mollie Klurfeld Williams '99 lives in New York City and job involves overseeing an engineering team responsible for professional technical services for Google's biggest advertisers including companies like American Express, Johnson & Johnson and Expedia. Mollie's teams are located in cities across the country and provide customers with advertising solutions across Google search, display, mobile and YouTube. Since joining Google in 2006, Mollie has been located in multiple offices including San Francisco, California and Hyderabad, India. While at Holton, Mollie played Field Hockey, Lacrosse, and Ice Hockey. She also enjoyed being a Tour Guide and member of Peer Counselors. Mollie earned her bachelor's degree in English from Cornell University, and her MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mollie and her husband Bill have a nine-month-old son, Wesley, and are expecting another boy this October.

Sasha Whitaker '01 is a director of strategy for a health IT company, managing the largest cancer oncology research database for the National Institutes of Health. As a cancer survivor, she is particularly interested in working on software development projects that enhance patient health and communications with doctors. She is also an inventor with two patents pending and she is the founder of a small business called Brobows, which produces magnetic bowties. Sasha attended Kenyon College, where she served as Senior Class President and founded and taught her own hip-hop dance class (which is still offered today). After graduation, Sasha embarked on some extensive travel, spending time in Brazil, Switzerland, Italy, Nepal, and India, where she worked for a microfinance company to help poor women get small loans and health care. While at Holton, Sasha was a member of HAA, Model U.N., Chorus, and the soccer, crew, and diving teams. She was also a founding member of PUNCH, a producer of Coffee House, and president of the SAFE club.

Thank you alumnae for sharing your successes with our students!

(Left): Sabah Fatima Iqbal '94, Mollie Klurfeld Williams '99, and Jessica Rosenthal Chod '01 introduce themselves to Grade 8 in the Middle School Study Hall.

Varsity Crew's novice four, comprised of freshmen Ava Mendelsohn, Delaney Bond, Sasha Mills, Lily Schmandt, and Amy Ballard, were selected by the Holton Athletic Association as "Panthers of the Week" for their commitment and hard work throughout the season.

This young group of rowers first touched an oar this past March; through determination and diligent effort they have come together as a group and really learned how to move a boat. Throughout the season, they have seen much success, with early wins at scrimmages against Holy Cross and Seaton. As the season progressed, they had a nice second place finish at the WMIRA Novice Regatta. This added fire to their practices leading up to the WMIRA Championship this past weekend.

The hard work paid off as the novice four took home first place in the race! "Having come together as a boat in March these girls showed determination and drive from their first day in the boat together. Each day that they sat in this line up, they improved; each race fueled them to continue to work hard, with their eye on championship. Quickly figuring out how to gain speed, they started posting times very close to the varsity boats that have much more experience. As a coaching staff, we are so proud of the whole team, and particularly this novice four, as they walked away from their competition Saturday, to hold the title. We look forward to what they will do next year and beyond!" commented coach Stephanie Acerra.

These successes have only come through hard work, determination, coachability, and the willingness to work together for a common goal. Congratulations, Ava, Delaney, Sasha, Lily, and Amy!

You can check out the novice four and the varsity crew team as they travel to Philadelphia, PA for the Stotesburg Cup this weekend. Click here to check out the rest of the schedule and results.

In this final column on this topic, drawing again on Brigid Schulte's Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time, we'll look at the workplace and what steps we can take to make our work-lives more balanced. We'll explore this issue from two directions: what we as employees can do and what we as workplace leaders can do. Obviously the second perspective offers more power to make a difference, and I imagine that a significant portion of the readership of this column enjoys some influence over employees' experience at their place of work.

Let's begin with what we as employees we can do to achieve greater balance. Schulte found "chunking" her time to be one of the most helpful strategies she learned. Research shows that we really only work effectively for 90 minutes at a stretch. After that we should take a complete break for an extended period of time (not just five or ten minutes). The research also shows that knowledge workers work productively for no more than six hours a day. A study of Microsoft workers revealed that they worked productively only 28 hours of their 45 hour work week, or 5.6 hours a day.

Applying this research, Schulte works in focused 90-minute chunks. She assigns different responsibilities, responsibilities determined by overarching goals, to distinct chunks of time. This way she knows that while she's doing her paid journalism work, she doesn't need to worry about her home/family tasks because she has allocated focused time for that as well. Tony Schwarz, author of The Way We're Working Isn't Working and the advocate for the 90 minute chunks, also advises that we choose one important thing to do each day and to do it first, when research shows we are most productive.

Full focus requires that we acknowledge how much email and our phones distract us. Most time management experts recommend turning off the indicator signaling a new email. We should also turn off our phone, and maybe even put it somewhere where we can't see it. We can allow ourselves to check email and the phone during our breaks.

Some of us certainly work in a face-time culture: places where employees are expected to be physically present, regardless of whether the face-time hours demanded of them actually bear any relationship to productivity. People in these situations who feel they can't go elsewhere, might try this strategy. If we're leaving at a reasonable time, and a supervisor expresses disapproval, politely ask, "Is there something you need?"

Which brings us to this face-time culture, the "ideal worker," and the role we as supervisors can play in creating balanced, humane work environments. On the basis of extensive research, Schulte argues convincingly that organizations that provide employees with more sense of autonomy and control over their time, that focus on performance rather than time in the office, that provide flexibility and breaks, and that give employees the opportunity to have a life outside of work have proved as productive if not more so than organizations with demanding face-time cultures. One of the many studies demonstrating the advantages of a more reasonable work environment comes from Harvard Business School. They compared two sets of workers: one group worked forty-hour weeks, took their full vacation, and created an on-call system to meet client needs that allowed those not on call to unplug. The other group worked fifty-plus hour weeks and did not take their allotted vacation. The first group enjoyed higher job satisfaction, learned more, had better teamwork, and, most importantly, proved more productive than the second group.

Schulte finds many "bright spots," companies that have adopted policies that allow their employees to find balance: Menlo Innovations (a software company), Stanford Medical School, Ernst & Young, Patagonia and L.L. Bean, the U.S. Patent Office and the Pentagon's policy branch. She also identifies several law firms that are challenging the "billable hours" culture including Valorem in Chicago and the Potomac Law Group here in D.C. The strategies the different organizations have adopted include firm ends of the workday with no expectation for after-hours digital connectivity; flexibility about when and where work gets done as long as it is done well; encouragement of outdoor activities; perks to make life easier such as zipcars to get off the crowded Stanford campus easily to go to an appointment or attend a child's play.

The law firms present particularly interesting examples since generally lawyers make their money by billing their clients for the work they do on an hourly basis. Up to a point at least, such a system favors inefficiency. One of the women who founded Valorem became more efficient once she had children. Her work was just as good and she won cases; but, because she didn't bill as many hours as some of her arguably less efficient colleagues, she got passed over. Without offending my many lawyer friends and attorney readers, I have to say I have never understood a business model that values physical presence over getting things done. These new law firms don't work that way. Valorem, for example, offers fixed fees and other payment arrangements and allows its employees to do their work when and where they want to. They have clients such as 3M, DSW, and Kayak and one of their founders has been named to Illinois' list of top fifty female lawyers. Valorem is proving that law can be practiced well under a different system that provides much more flexibility and autonomy to its attorneys.

Schulte identifies several important characteristics shared by successful organizations that have established more reasonable work environments. Everyone, from top to bottom, must buy into the system and actually practice it. Having policies is not enough; leadership has to model the behaviors they say they want for their employees. They need to leave work at the appointed time, work flexibly themselves, go for a hike in the woods, use all our vacation, or take paternity leave. If people are supposed to unplug after the workday, leaders need to as well. Or at least they shouldn't send emails after hours (that's what the delay-send function is for). Even if I'm not expecting an answer to the email sent at 10 PM until the next morning, the person on the receiving end, who reports to me, may not know that and feel obligated to answer it immediately. We have to help people learn to work differently and in particular we need to train managers to evaluate employees on the basis of "performance, not hours."(130) We also need to frame these kinds of changes as a "morale and staff issue," as Michele Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy under Robert Gates, did when she shifted her Pentagon department to an Alternative Work Schedule, "Because this has never been just a women's issue."(147) These kinds of changes are about making life better for everyone, not just working mothers. Moreover, if we don't make these kinds of changes, Millennials will leave to work somewhere that has.

We need our organizations to have clear, well-understood missions. We need to outline and communicate clear expectations. We need to structure work so people can easily fill in for each other. We need to have deadlines and hold people accountable for producing quality work. We need to answer employees' questions: "How much is enough? When is it good enough? How will I know?" with sufficient specificity that they can feel confident about what is expected of them. This kind of clarity relieves ambiguity and anxiety and frees people to do their work well. It should also give them time to spend with family and friends, and to pursue interests beyond work. We should pursue such approaches if for no other reason than it makes people more productive, which, in turn, redounds to the benefit of the organizations for whom they work.

While I know we could make Holton an even more positive work environment, we do a lot. Teachers have always done a portion of their work at home, meaning there is an element of flextime built into the profession. They also get long breaks, time to rejuvenate after the intellectually and emotionally demanding work they do. We have generous benefits including paid maternity and paternity leave, and ample sick and personal days. We support our employees with professional development funding and encourage people to seek out leadership roles, at Holton and elsewhere. We provide wellness classes, the use of the fitness center, and "renewal grants" of up to $3000 to use largely as someone wishes. We offer 50% tuition remission at both Holton and Landon for faculty and staff children. Perhaps most importantly, we provide onsite day-care, a benefit that I am positive keeps many women working. And let's not forget the yummy breakfast and lunch. We want happy, fulfilled employees who are free to concentrate on their jobs. When we do this, they can do their best for their students, your daughters.