Portfolio

I still remember when our grade received our ASL usernames in Lower School. The formula for each student was simple: first name, first initial of last name and then
24, the mysterious number that all our usernames had in common.

Customers dash desperately through the aisles of
the bustling Target store, their eyes fixated on one destination: the gleaming rack of 40-ounce pink water tumblers. Their movements are frenzied as they elbow their way through the crowd, some nearly coming to blows on their way to obtain the coveted “Stanley” bottle.
Across the U.S., particularly in suburban pockets and college towns, a reusable water bottle known as the “Stanley cup” has become the accessory of the season.

In today’s climate, phrases such as “run
like a girl” and “she’s smart - for a girl” are
rightfully recognized as sexist and diminishing. However, the current surge in online trends embracing “girly” aesthetics indicates that pop culture has simply rebranded archaic sexism.

As of March 2024, 240,000 and 116,400
TikTok posts containing hashtags of terms
such as “girl dinner” and “girl math” respectively. These trends bear a painful resem

At the beginning of the year in Research Colloquium, I walked into class and one of the boys was like, ‘What are you doing here?’” Kira* said. “I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t be taking this class? Like, I get it. Maybe you’re smarter than me, but like, I really can’t sit down and take the same class that you can?’”

Kira’s experience dealing with sexist behavior at the school is not uncommon.

According to an online survey conducted by The Standard March 7-22 with 149 student responses, 61.1% of students believe sexism is a problem at ASL. However, many more have experienced or witnessed instances of sexism occur around the school, and countless of those stories remain unshared.

At the beginning of the year in Research Colloquium, I walked into class and one of the boys was like, ‘What are you doing here?’” Kira* said. “I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t be taking this class? Like, I get it. Maybe you’re smarter than me, but like, I really can’t sit down and take the same class that you can?’”

Kira’s experience dealing with sexist behavior at the school is not uncommon.

According to an online survey conducted by The Standard March 7-22 with 149 student responses, 61.1% of students believe sexism is a problem at ASL. However, many more have experienced or witnessed instances of sexism occur around the school, and countless of those stories remain unshared.

When deciding whether her family should move to London, Science Teacher Kara Anderson said she flew in to get a feel for the city. After stumbling upon Paddington
Recreation Ground, she knew London would be her next home.
“I didn’t know where we would live, but I came to the school and then I just walked the neighborhoods,” Anderson said. “I remember sitting in Pad Rec for like an hour and just watching the people and just sitting being like, ‘Yes, I could call London home.’”
The Royal Parks, 11 of the city’s oldest and largest green spaces, including Hyde Park, Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill, are known as “the lungs of London,” according to their website. Beyond central London, parks in the northwest part of the city provide spaces for

For English Teacher Mark Mazzenga, collecting "Star Trek" memorabilia has been a constant throughout his adolescence and adulthood. Mazzenga has accumulated a collection of "Star Trek"-themed board games, magazines, action figures and even wine bottles. “It really comes from my affinity for the television show and the
culture surrounding it,” Mazzenga said.
Mazzenga began collecting the franchise’s merchandise
when he attended his first "Star Trek" convention

As part of the experiential learning curriculum offered by the school, the Teaching Apprenticeship class enables Grade 12 students to gain experience working with young children first-hand in the second semester. Along with learning about educational methods, including social-
emotional development and responsive classroom management, students also assist their assigned teachers by planning lessons and volunteering in their classrooms.
Director of Teaching and Learning Jennifer Kirstein said
the class aims to provide students with a greater sense of how schooling works.
“I want students to have a better understanding of what
learning looks like and how teachers actually facilitate that

For many students, their morning routines consist of a cup of coffee to wake them up, followed by a brisk walk through St. John’s Wood. For others, their mornings involve watching the sun rise while crossing the River Thames or listening to buskers at tube stations miles away from the school. Although their journeys may be more complex, many community members have become well-accustomed to London’s ins and outs during their commutes to school each morning.

Over the last three school years, the number of students in the High School has increased by almost 12%, according to the Office of Admissions.
Lucy Ilyas (’26), who joined the school in K1, has witnessed the expansion of the community. She said it seems like facilities have become overcrowded as the student body continues to grow.
“I can’t get to my classes anymore,” Ilyas said. “It’s too crowded. I stand in the hallway getting pushed around because there are too many people in this school.”

Om Agarwal (’25), Edward O’Dwyer (’24), Matteo Salloum (’24), Ishaan Sareen (’24) and Yifei Yan (’24) founded the non-profit computer science organization XCelero in the fall of 2022. The program currently functions as a community partnership at Harris Academy, teaching children computer science through different programs, lessons and projects.

With Artificial Intelligence ever-evolving, people in workplaces and schools are continuously implementing AI to increase efficiency and innovation.
This has prompted discussions on whether AI has
the potential to outperform human beings on various
tasks and skills, and to an even more frightening
extent, whether computers may one day replace
entire professions.

Thinking about which skills I possess that could
be rivaled by AI, I began to consider my role as a high
school journalist. I can only rightfully attribute many
of the skills I have developed over the course of high
school to being on The Standard.

As anyone on the publication would know, being a
skilled journalist entails choosing the best quotes from
interviews, writing according to AP style, considering
ethics with difficult topics and much more.

Does ChatGPT have the capability to demonstrate
each of these skills, and if so, is journalism one of the
professions at risk of being replaced? If a reporter
were to submit an article completely fabricated by AI,
would I even notice? To find out, I created an account
for ChatGPT and gave it a role as a reporter for the
day.

I assigned the computer multiple articles to write,
trying different techniques in my prompts to see if
it would change the quality of writing. Throughout
this process, I instructed the chatbot to detect and
imitate certain editors’ writing styles, encouraged it
to implement more quotes from a diverse range of
sources – in other words, fake people it generated by
itself – and reminded it several times of the difference
between a title and a headline.

Ultimately, I selected two examples of AIgenerated
writing which could be put into two
sections of the publication (features and opinions) that
I felt best exemplified its strengths and weaknesses.
Just like any reporter for The Standard, ChatGPT was
put through the editing process, and each article was
critiqued by three editors from the corresponding
section. Here is how each editor evaluated ChatGPT’s
skills:

The Student Learning Differences Program provides 18% of the High School student body with the support they need to succeed at school, according to Learning Specialist Heather Statz. Director of Student Support Services Belinda Nicholson said the program works to accommodate the diversity of learning differences held by students.

Eva Marriott-Fabre (’24) is the Features Editor: Online of The Standard. Her interest for journalism began in Grade 8 when she became an Arts Editor...