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A YEAR OF TRANSITION (Continued)
First and foremost, Byer wants
the entire community to understand that,
as he explained, My primary concern
is the safety of the students. Were talk-
ing about the physical safety, the moral
safety, the academic safety, of students.
Thus, Byer explained that risk
management will be a central focus for him
in his role at the school this year. Thats a
big deal to me, he stated. I dont think
the school has paid as much attention to
that, and [Im talking about] the assess-
ment of all kinds of risks, from transporta-
tion on busses to the immersion program.
As the school moves forward,
Byer feels that the administration will need
to reconsider every aspect of the schools
policies and procedures in order to ensure
that the students safety in every regard.
The incidents that occurred
will make us look very closely at ev-
New Courses Promote 21st Century Skills
ALEXA ANDRIOFF
STAFF WRITER
The process of getting new cours-
es approved first begins with student inter-
est and teachers who are willing to teach
the course. This year, some of these new
courses are Philosophy for Gamers, IB
Global Politics SL, IB Economics SL, and
Honors Investments and Entrepreneurship.
IB Economics is a course taught
by Mr. Toth that emphasizes the economic
theories of microeconomics, which deal
with how economic variables affect indi-
viduals, firms, and markets, and the eco-
nomic theories of macroeconomics, which
deal with how economic variables affect
countries, governments, and societies.
According to Mr. Toth, The goal
of adding this course was to offer more
course choices in the IB program, both
for Diploma and Certificate students.
Students like senior Hannah Hagen, who is
not in the full IB Diploma program, became
intrigued by IB Economics after hearing
about it from Mr. Toth last year in her eco-
nomics class. Hagen felt it was an impor-
tant class to take since she has an interest in
the subject and wants to get extra practice
in writing and developing stronger essays.
She describes the transition
from regular economics to IB as a step
up, since they use a lot of writing and
examples that connect to ideas that in-
volve international markets, Hagen said.
Writing is also an important skill
CREEPY CLOWNS POSE THREAT TO P.B.C.
KATE CASSIDY
STAFF WRITER
Clowns have always struck fear
into the greater number of the population.
It, Twisty the Clown, the Joker and his
femme fatale companion, Harley Quinn,
are all famous clown criminals recognized
across the world. It is not known where
exactly the most recent surges of giggly
obsessions have come from, but one thing
is for sure: Clowns are inciting fear and
wrecking havoc through Instagram ac-
counts and sightings in random areas in-
cluding our county and around the world.
If one goes on Twitter and search-
es clown, thousands of tweets and media
attachments pop up showing clowns chas-
ing cars, standing on the side of the road and
luring young girls into the woods. The fear
is not within the appearance of the clowns
themselves, but what could be lying beneath
the gaudy makeup that frightens to the core.
An Instagram post from the
account @_clownlivesmatter_ threat-
ened to attack Palm Beach County
erything we do that relates to the safety
of the institution and the people in it.
While I think those situations created
a setback for this school, they will also
make us stronger as long as we respond
positively and move forward, he said.
In an email to the community
on October 19, Dr. Byer explained that
the school has hired Dr. Fred Alford, for-
mer Dean of Students at Trinity College
in Hartford, Connecticut, as Associate
Headmaster for Safety and Risk Manage-
ment. Dr. Alford will evaluate, assess,
and act on all matters related to safety
as part of his comprehensive review of
our schools policies and procedures.
Further, the school has also en-
gaged the services of Dr. David Hanson, a
nationally-recognized expert in risk man-
agement and student health and safety.
Even though the incidents that have caused
incorporated in Honors Investment and
Entrepreneurship, a new course taught
by Mr. Daly that teaches students about
personal finance. Students practice build-
ing and managing a portfolio by invest-
ing with a virtual platform and by man-
aging a portfolio using real funds from
an account set-up by Saint Andrews.
After writing a business plan,
students participate in a competition
with students from other schools and
present their business plan to business
leaders in the community in a Shark
Tank format called Spark Tank.
Senior Mathew Reyes, enrolled
in the course, describes Honors Invest-
ments and Entrepreneurship as a great
class taught by Mr. Daly. We are able to
learn more about stocks and trading, which
is beneficial since I want to go into the fi-
nancial field, and the class offers important
life skills I am going to need in the future.
Life skills are also incorporated
in Philosophy for Gamers, a course that
allows students to engage in the study of
philosophy on a number of levels. Ap-
proaching philosophy via narrative struc-
ture, the games in question provide the
starting point for students to explore a
number of topics including: Formation of
Identity, Reality, Good vs. Evil, Justice
and Duty, Love, Freedom, and Gender.
Ms. Wilkinson, the teacher of the
course, said that the idea for the course
started with the whole side of the Gamer-
gate discussion that focused on aspects of
Schools, saying, we will be at every
school in Palm Beach County and we
will kill all the teachers and principles
first before we get to the childrens.
the schools recent tumult occurred in the
Residential Life Program, Byer said that
all changes that are reflected in safety
standards and procedural standards in
the Residential Life Program will trick-
le down to affect the day population.
In large part, students do not
seem impacted by the scandal that sur-
rounded the school or the changes
that have directly resulted. Instead,
they are focused on living their lives.
Senior Mario Mercado said, We
can either let it affect us and bring us down
as a community or we can cope with it
and push forward. It doesnt need to affect
me personally. I can do well socially, aca-
demically, athletically, and push forward.
Additionally, senior and board-
ing student Enrique Rodenas-Parra
stated, I think students dont really
take part [in what has happened.] The
problems are with the administration,
gender and repre-
sentation in games
(in terms of plot
and mechanics).
T h e
height of Gamer-
gate hit just as Ms.
Wilkinson was
teaching gender in
IB Philosophy HL,
so video games/
the Gamergate
discussion became
incorporated into
the lesson plan.
Senior James
Chanpalangsri,
a student in Philosophy for Gam-
ers, said he enjoys the course be-
cause [he] likes playing games and [he]
would love to explore more aspects
of gaming other than playing for fun.
In IB Global Politics, a new
course taught by Mr. Pozo, many aspects
of modern history are explored in depth.
Students are given various sources to un-
derstand the world we live in today, and
they view the world from multiple perspec-
tives that complement political theories set
forth by intellectuals and philosophers.
The course is broken down into
four mandatory units and each unit must be
explored from the perspective of People,
Power and Politics. The course helps stu-
dents to understand abstract political con-
The threatening post from
@_clownlivesmatter_ has since
been deleted, but it exists in screen-
shots lurking around the Internet.
FALL 2016 2
so its not the student bodys problem.
But, some students have concerns
as to how the schools recent tumult will im-
pact its future. Within the school nothing
has changed, but it may hurt our chances of
going to college because it gives the school
a bad reputation, senior Jordan Peck said.
According to Dr. Byer, the stu-
dent body has, largely, been taking ev-
erything in stride. He said, I have
mixed impressions [of student reaction];
some people are very concerned and
upset, but I think the majority of stu-
dents have gone along with their lives.
Ultimately, despite the turmoil
Saint Andrews has recently faced, this is
still Saint Andrews School. And, just as
Saint Andrews has faced recent trials that
have caused the community to look in-
ward, it now has the opportunity to grow
and flourish and better itself. As Dr. Byer
said, I havent lost faith in this school.
cepts by grounding them in real-world ex-
amples and case studies, Mr. Pozo said.
Senior Alyssa Daily, a student
taking IB Global Politics, became in-
trigued by the course and said, [since]
Im pretty sure about joining the military,
I figured taking a class in international
politics would be a good idea since I po-
tentially want to go into national security.
As Saint Andrews looks to the
future, Dr. Laliberte, the JK-12 Dean of
Studies said, We will continue to ex-
plore different options that will expand
the array of classes that the IB program
is able to offer at Saint Andrews. Part of
that is finding the right balance between
the range of courses to offer and then
having a large enough body of students
who are willing to take these courses.
Palm Beach County Schools have taken
these threats seriously by raising their
security. The Palm Beach Sheriffs Of-
fice said that if anyone is found wear-
ing a clown mask, he or she could pos-
sibly be arrested for disturbing the peace.
Regarding these creepy clown
threats, Saint Andrews School sent an
email to the community on October 4,
2016 and said, As a safety precaution,
please note that our school will not be al-
lowing any type of clown costumes during
upcoming Halloween activities on Oc-
tober 31. The email states that no direct
threats have been made against Saint An-
drews School directly, but they are taking
safety precautions as the threats were made
against the schools of Palm Beach County.
In response to the threats, se-
nior Zack Sadaka said, I dont believe
they are legit and they [the clowns] are
someone who is trying to cancel school
for their friends. Yet Sadaka said he
does feel threatened when making night-
time errands or going out after dark.