Opinion

By Miro Bergam (V) Last month, Headmaster Nat Conard went before the Pingry community at a morning meeting to speak about a situation in which one student addressed another student using a racial slur over social media. His other recent appearances include his speech...

By Maddie Parrish (VI) “Everything seemed so easy. No way we would get caught.” This is a quote from the notebook of Eric Harris, one of the two perpetrators of the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 that killed 13 people. Since then, journalists have attempted to...

By Felicia Ho (V) “At 17 years old, he’s won it -- the first gold medal for the United States at the 2018 Winter Olympics.” “She’s a golden girl! What a force to be reckoned with!” As the Winter Olympic Games opened in Pyeongchang, South Korea on February 9, two...

By Ketaki Tavan (V) The first time I was ever exposed to the concept of affinity groups was during my freshman year at Pingry. These groups were presented as “safe spaces for students to learn more about their various identities and to discuss their questions,...

By Brooke Murphy '18 As many people have seen by now, a new “Participation Policy” has been put in place. The policy, which was emailed to parents around November 26, states that students must participate in activities that they excel in throughout their time as a...

By Felicia Ho (V) Shrill, piercing, and unbelievably scratchy. The first time I heard a violin, I couldn’t believe my ears. Yet, there I was at my local music shop, picking out my first violin as a fourth grader. Hundreds of violins lined the walls, waiting to be...

By Darlene Fung (V) I am a swimmer, and being a swimmer means having a notoriously large appetite. We high school swimmers might not be inhaling Michael Phelps’s famous 12,000-calorie diet, but we certainly do consume more than the 2,000 calories an average American...

By Alexis Elliot '18 “Ok, now can you describe yourself in 30 seconds or less?” During my college interview, I shifted in my seat as I tried to come up with an answer. Not wanting to seem unprepared but also worried to speak without gathering my thoughts, I asked my...

By Anna Wood '18 Simply put, media is powerful. A single hashtag or posted message can influence people for months. We’ve seen trends such as store robberies and dangerous stunts. We absorb the posts we see online, oftentimes more than we think we do. As members of...

By Felicia Ho (V) Transitioning into high school is a lot like walking into a dim sum restaurant. Sometimes you hear great ‘reviews’ of high school, sometimes you only hear about the huge amount of pressure during high school. However, you never know until you truly...

By Ketaki Tavan (V) We’re told as children that sitting in front of the TV is a waste of time. It hampers creativity, creates couch potatoes, fosters laziness, and leads to a meaningless existence. We’re told that our time would be better spent reading a book instead....

By Miro Bergam (V) “Lean into discomfort.” This phrase may sound familiar from the multiple diversity assemblies you’ve been asked to attend in your years at Pingry. It is a part of a list of “conversation norms” that Pingry’s diversity work is grounded in. For many...