Inside the Gates: Fall 2024

5 questions for Na’imah Ford ’25, L10 News anchor, who explains why being on either side of the camera is an act of creative expression. And … action!

What’s been your favorite role on L10?
Stepping into director of production. I have been so excited to oversee and help other filmmakers with a passion for the cinematic arts put together engaging segments.

What class have you enjoyed the most at Lawrenceville?
Explorations in Film. From playing with lighting and sound to creating short horror movies, I’ve explored every creative crevice in my mind and have translated what seemed like colorful, jumbled ideas and thoughts into an actual film.

What is your favorite movie?
Mahogany is a classic film that I go back to often. It isn’t just Diana Ross’ breathtaking performance, flawless ’fro, and riveting vocals on the soundtrack, but it’s the film’s magical way of telling so many stories at once.

How does Harkness benefit your learning experience?
It’s made me value the fact that it’s OK to disagree, and it’s also OK to have your mind changed.

Advice for incoming Lawrentians?
To “do” Lawrenceville well. Involve yourself in the community, try new things, talk to different people, and further your passions by staying active in clubs. And don’t sweat the small stuff.

Case Studies in International Policy and Strategy | IN506/507

“Case Studies in International Policy and Strategy” explores the causes, effects, and potential solutions to issues rooted in history, economics, and political power. Last year, the two-section interdisciplinary course focused on regional conflict in one unit, with in-depth studies of migration in Africa and sea trade in Southeast Asia, and “Space Command” and “Future of the Fleet” in the other, exploring the global balance of power through control of the cosmos and the seas.

Each section has a sponsor affiliated with the U.S. Navy – the U.S. Africa Command and the Center for Naval Analyses – and one from the National Security Policy Center at the University of Virginia. With English teacher Ash Shah ’93 as their guide, students present their findings and recommendations to their sponsors, with a chance to influence U.S. policy.

Sponsors “recognize that the future of what they do relies on having an informed population,” Shah explains. “They see a program like this as an investment.”

Change

“It is not news to anyone that you can’t fool young people with fancy language. Nor is it a sudden discovery that the growing potential of a young person is infinite in possibilities. What is different today is that the world itself has shifted in the tensions it creates for young people. As one of my colleagues remarked not very long ago, “Nothing is more frightening than to rocket from side to side in a value vacuum.”

From Head Master Bruce McClellan’s Alumni Day remarks as recounted in the July 1974 Lawrentian.

Predicting Success: Taksh Gupta ’25

Taksh was the lead author on a scientific research paper published in the peer-reviewed journal BioMedInformatics in November 2023. The paper, “Predictions of Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 Blockade Therapy Success in Patients with Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer,” revolves around using machine learning – artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science using data and algorithms to imitate the way that humans learn – to predict the success of a lung cancer treatment on patients before it is administered.

“Right now, there is a promising lung cancer treatment available, but it is only successful in 20-40 percent of patients,” Taksh explains. “We created a model to predict which patients the treatment will be successful for, reducing costs and mitigating potential side effects of the treatment for patients for whom it is ineffective.”

The model Taksh and his two co-authors created achieved an average success rate of 70 percent. “This means that we can predict whether this treatment will be successful for a patient before administering it at a rate much higher than chance,’ he says. “This could allow doctors to prescribe this treatment to patients who are more likely to benefit from it, increasing the treatment’s cost-effectiveness.”

Ring Out Loud, Lawrenceville! | Founded 2022

Schedules students and faculty to ring the chapel bells after classes and on important school occasions.

Late in the afternoon, as your stomach reminds you that dinner beckons, you can hear the distinctive tubular bells pealing from the steeple of Edith Memorial Chapel. And when you do, please note it is the work of Ring Out Loud, Lawrenceville – or ROLL, for short – striking just the right notes. President Jenny Zhao ’25 and her ROLL-players use a 1930s motorized console with 15 white and 10 black keys, which send electric signals up into the belfry to chime the corresponding bells. The timeless “Triumphant Lawrence” is a favorite, but by no means the complete repertoire for the club, which was inspired by the playing of former chaplain, the Rev. Sue Anne Steffey Morrow H’12.

From an L10 report by Augusta Sagebien ’24, Clementine Sutter ’25, and Marco
Pellgrini ’26

3 Things we learned producing this issue of The Lawrentian

1. Lawrenceville’s first astronomy class in 1934 made use of a Ramsden telescope created by Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800), to whom the editor of this magazine has long sought to establish a familial connection.
2. The photograph in this issue’s Go Big Red! section of Bernadette Teeley P’24, who earned All-America rowing honors at the universities of Dayton and Michigan, and Vivian Teeley ’24, who will row this year at Duke, was taken by onetime collegiate rower Danielle Rappaport, who is now the head graphic designer in Lawrenceville’s Communications Office.
3. Photographer Colin Lenton, who shot this issue’s cover story, once photographed the feature’s author, Jen A. Miller, for a 2016 profile in her alumni magazine.

Salsa Dancing

“With the abundance of tomatoes coming into season at the Big Red Farm, I have been making fresh tomato salsa,” says Gary Giberson H’11 ’18 P’10, the founder and president of Sustainable Fare, which makes sure Lawrenceville students get three square meals a day. “It’s great to have on hand for a quick snack with chips – and perhaps a margarita – or as a condiment with grilled chicken, fish, or with eggs at breakfast.”

Big Red Farm Salsa

Yields about 2 cups

• 12 ounces or 2 large
  ripe tomatoes, cored
  and diced
• 2 serrano chili peppers,
  minced, with stem and
  seeds removed
• 1 large garlic clove,
  minced
• 1 small white onion,
  diced
• ¼ cup cilantro,
  chopped
• 1½ teaspoons
  fresh lime juice
• ¾ teaspoon
  kosher salt

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Let salsa stand a few minutes for the flavors to meld. Taste for seasoning; adjust if needed and then serve.

What is your favorite spot on campus? Why?