How often should the Choate community gather for school meetings? When should students be able to meet with their teachers during the day? Should advisees choose their advisers after their first year at school? Are houses to be linked with each other geographically? These are only a few of the many questions that the Community Task Force is currently addressing, as it considers possible changes to the daily schedule, the school calendar, advising, and the associations that we have within residential life.  

On Sunday, April 15, the Choate Debate Team won the 32nd annual Yale Osterweis Debate Tournament. Russell Bogue ’12 and Nat Warner ’13 placed 1st as a team; Ben Della Rocca ’12 and Obaid Farooqui ’12 won 3rd place; Evan Goldstein ’12 and Sarthak Agrawal ’13 won 4th place; and Courtney Pal ’14 and Rachel Alpert ’14 won 12th place. Individually, Bogue won 2nd place speaker, Della Rocca won 3rd place speaker, Farooqui won 4th place speaker, and Warner won 5th place speaker.

On Saturday April 21, thirteen students attended the tenth annual Student Diversity Leadership Conference at King Low Heywood School in Stanford, CT, hosted by the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools (CAIS). In the past Choate has been a location for the event since its size can accommodate all of the participants.

Ms. Tracy Ginder-Delventhal, an acting teacher, and Mr. Bradford Seymour, the Paul Mellon Arts Center (PMAC) technical director, chaperoned a group of eleven Choate students to Hotchkiss on Sunday, April 15 to attend the Eight Schools Play Festival, an event now five years old.

This spring, the Choate Leadership Institute (CLI) hosted two leadership-training sessions on April 19 for the newly elected Student Council and Judicial Committee members and on April 23 for the newly selected Assesement Team and Peer Educator members.

On Saturday, April 21st and Sunday, April 22nd, Lucette Moran ’12 and Rachel Mellon ’12 respectively held their senior recitals in the PMAC Recital Hall.

In May, Charlie Calotta ’13 will be playing Tevye, the lead in Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Ms. Tracy Ginder-Delventhal.

Last Friday, students across the country participated in the single largest student-led action that works towards creating safer environments, the National Day of Silence. In past years, a number of individual students at Choate have pledged their silence. However, this year, for the first time ever, students formally took part in this event, which was sponsored by the Sexual Minorities and Straight Supporters (SMASS) organization.

Trayvon Martin’s killing and the subsequent arrest of George Zimmerman clearly reveal the stereotyping issues that still pervade modern society. Yet while much of the press has been covering the galvanizing story of this young boy, the larger issue of gun rights has seldom been mentioned. Indeed, the shooting of Trayvon Martin proves that legislation surrounding gun rights is outdated and must be seriously reconsidered.

April 22nd, Earth Day, is one day of the year that holds different meanings for everyone at Choate.  While not exactly controversial, it’s definitely a topic that will generate a variety of different responses.

Earlier this spring, the Choate Italian Awareness Organization (CIAO) advertised with “Gym, Tan, Laundry” (GTL) shirts the reintroduction of a controversial SAC dance from last year: the Jersey Shore dance. Prior to the scheduled April 14 dance, the name and the respective theme of CIAO’s dance were changed to “A Night in Venice.”

Two months ago, the race for the Republican nomination for President of the United States seemed to be a close battle between Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Yet after Romney rebounded with big wins in Ohio, Arizona, and Wisconsin, Santorum suspended his campaign on April 10, 2012.

On Saturday, April 21st, Choate’s annual Dance Company Concert was held on the PMAC main stage, showcasing many talented dancers performing various dance forms.

Nothing has upset my Spanish family more than my habit of using the wrong spoon for the wrong kind of food. Apparently, a society devoid of political correctness but rich in cuss words still values table manners.