This year, the beloved MIT Splash event was held online. From a safe distance, teachers and students alike enjoyed the Kahoots, mock game shows, and Q&As. Stanford OHS spirit was tested through questions that revealed how well the participants knew their OHS teachers. 

The first event at the School Spirit Assembly was held by Kabir Gupta and Grey Peters who put together a wonderful Kahoot with some fascinating information about the instructors. Feel free to take the test below in order to figure out your degree of school spirit!

Kahoot Questions

1. 1. Which instructor just got a new puppy named Suki?
      1. Ms. Kato
      2. Ms. Tock
      3. Mr. Fredericks
      4. Dr. Chudzinski
   2. Which of the following isn’t one of Magister Lanier’s favorite artists?
      1. Moreau
      2. Peter Paul Rubens
      3. Kandinski
      4. Vincent Van Gogh
   3. Which instructor has not only deadlifted 600 pounds but also met Muhammad Ali in 1995?
      1. Dr. Rees
      2. Mr. Van Lingen
      3. Mr. Fredericks
      4. Mrs. Stanford
   4. Which of the following has Dr. Chudzinski done?
      1. Sang at Carnegie Hall in New York
      2. Took the wrong train one night and ended up in a different country
      3. Worked at the Smithsonian in DC
      4. Eaten ice cream every single night of grad school
   5. Which instructor took a college class called “Strategies in Stress Reduction” and got a low grade?
      1. Dr. Tillman
      2. Dr. Rees
      3. Dr. Gilula
      4. Dr. Kerr
   6. Dr. Banks’ least favorite movie is Mulan (the original Disney cartoon)
      1. True
      2. False
   7. Which instructor loves organizing things… except computer files?
      1. Ms. Shapiro
      2. Ms. Fielder
      3. Dr. Nuckols
      4. Dr. Failor
   8. Which of the following is not true about Dr. Hicks?
      1. She played varsity tennis in high school
      2. She was knocked over and concussed by a 350-pound buck and later went on TV
      3. She placed in the Top 10 at Future Business Leaders of America Nationals
      4. She lived in 5 states, but only voted or had a driver’s license in 2
   9. Which instructor has 21 first cousins?
      1. Dr. Lal
      2. Ms. Zaurova
      3. Magistra Pisarello
      4. Dr. Chudzinski
   10. Which instructor dropped out of college (while doing an undergrad in computer science)?
       1. Dr. Tillman
       2. Dr. D’Urso
       3. Magister Lanier
       4. Dr. Thananjeyan
   11. Who got a job when they were 14 to pay for a Super Nintendo, then felt guilty about spending that money on a video game?
       1. Dr. Gonzales
       2. Dr. Tillman
       3. Dr. Hruska
       4. Ms. Tock
   12. Dr. Banks drives a red mustang
       1. True
       2. False

Kahoot Answers

1. Ms. Tock
2. Vincent Van Gogh 
3. Mr. Fredericks
4. All of them
5. Dr. Rees
6. False
7. Ms. Fielder
8. She was knocked over and concussed by a 350-pound buck and later went on TV
9. Dr. Chudzinski
10. Magister Lanier
11. Dr. Tillman
12. True

Are you smarter than a core student?

The brave Magister Lanier, Ms. Zaurova, and Dr. Doherty stepped up to test whether they were smarter than an OHS Core student. Their trials consisted of questions from each core class designed by their respective instructors. After a trying assessment, Dr. Doherty triumphed and was crowned the victor. If you’d like to test your wits yourself, watch the recording and start at 19 minutes. 

Dr. Hoshi Hot Seat:

(If you’d rather watch the recording, you can start at 42 minutes)

Q&A:

Favorite OHS Class?

That’s an extremely tough question for various reasons as you can imagine, but right now I want to say that I’m doing a wellness homeroom and that’s the only one I’m kind of teaching this year, so I’m going to pick that one. Wellness Homeroom—Philosophy and wellness. 

Who is the best anime character:

I know many of you guys know Japanese anime characters, but my favorite would be, um, do you guys know Doraemon? *looks at chat* Oh yeah, you guys do. Japanese anime, I love it, and my kids love it. And, I’m not sure, but it looks like some of you guys have seen it. And I definitely like Son Goku. Is that what you guys call the main character in Dragonball? When I was, I think, [an] elementary school student, the first episode of Dragonball came out in Japan. I was a big fan of Shonen Jump and I was buying it every week.

What is your favorite thing to cook?

That’s a tough one. Now I’m really into barbecuing meat. Sorry, if you don’t eat meat this might not make much sense, but I make the steak in a very particular way. My wife hates it and she doesn’t really appreciate me spending too much time on it. 

What is your favorite color?

My favorite color is probably blue. I like black as well.

What is the weirdest thing an OHSer has asked you?

Actually, I think you guys have been extremely polite and nice to me, so I can’t think of anything. Sorry for that boring answer. You can probably ask the weirdest question now if you want to. 

How were you as a teenager? 

I think there are some parts that I can talk about very easily here, and there are some parts that I cannot. My academic record, first off, was pretty much on average. Like in Japan, like you guys have A through F, in Japan it’s 1 through 5. And my GPA was literally like 3 or between 3 and 4. Up to I think middle school and even the beginning of high school. But somehow I met this great teacher, an English teacher actually, you know English as a second language. But once I met with that teacher, somehow, I felt that something changed in my mind, and the grades, not just in English, went up. So that’s kind of a generic thing to say, but that meeting with my teacher changed my academic attitude, and after that, my grade was on more like the 4-5 side. I did my bachelor’s degree in Japan and then came to the United States for my postgraduate degree. 

Favorite Karaoke Song

I’m sure this might be from a teacher or staff member, so there is this kind of end of the year staff party and I’ve been opening the staff party by singing. Many of you might know the previous year’s student life [Director] Karina Momary. At the end of the year is the graduation ceremony and graduation weekend. It’s a big event, and I want to thank her and I’ve been kind of singing a song for her. And I do like karaoke, so maybe a fellow staff member asked this question. Actually, I like karaoke too much, so I can’t really pick a favorite karaoke song. I only really sing Japanese songs, but I don’t know too many Japanese songs. I do really like Enka. Do you guys know Enka? Enka is this kind of older, traditional Japanese songs that I do like. 

What is your favorite type or species of plant?

Tomatoes. So during this COVID-19 time, I started growing tomatoes from seeds. It’s been pretty fun to do. And actually I didn’t kind of grow plants when I was really young, and I think the reason may be because my parents ran a flower shop and there were so many plants everywhere. This was probably the first time for me to see a plant grow from a seed and really take care of it, so, yeah, tomatoes.

Where can I get a homecoming shirt like yours?

Oh yeah! I didn’t realize it until this morning but this is a homecoming shirt from 2019, so last year. And I took this home, but then I realized that we didn’t make one this year. 

Dr. Failor Hot Seat:

 (This can be found at 50 minutes in the recording.) 

How are you doing today?

I am doing wonderful. So I’ll show you my shirt. This is swag for OHS back when we were EPGY, so I pulled that out of the closet. And I also pulled out one of the original pixel stuffies. This is one that I made, so I couldn’t come without my stuffie.

Favorite color?

Mine is probably also blue, like Dr. Hoshi. I don’t know. Blue skies, blue water, and…blue is a very nice color.

What’s the most uncomfortable situation you’ve been in?

I don’t know. *laughs* I think it would make me uncomfortable to talk about it, so I’m going to skip that one. 

Should we burn A. Dumosa?

I’ll say no. 

What’s your favorite Advanced Topic in Bio Research Paper?

I can’t choose a favorite! Just like I can’t choose a favorite student. They all do such a wonderful job and I get to read and learn so many fun things with the Advanced Topics in Bio Research papers. There have just been way too many good ones from hip surgery to prion diseases to bioengineering.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

French Fries or Tater Tots?

You know, not all french fries are created equal. There’s like shoestring french fries and waffle cut and steak cut french fries, so it’s hard to say if it’s just french fries versus tater tots. They’re all pretty good. My favorite french fries, though, come from a place here in the town where I live called urban fries and they come with blue cheese and chili oil and they’re delicious. Those are my favorite french fries.

The worst thing you did as a teenager?

I saw a similar question for Dr. Hoshi and my twenties were when I was at my nadir of behavior. So the worst thing I did as a teenager… Ok, so I had a car that had a very powerful engine and I lived in a rural town and the railroad tracks were raised so I would jump the car over the railroad tracks. Don’t tell my dad that I did that. 

What’s the last good book that you read?

I read The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson, I just finished that one, that was a really good book. I like to read books in a group, so I read the biography of Rachel Carson and the authors that inspired her, so it was good to round out that group.

Favorite college class

Japanese flower arranging was my favorite. This was my favorite because I went to the University of Illinois—also a rural college town—and on the edge of campus was our Japan house, which had all these gardens done in different styles. So to get to class I would walk through these beautiful Japanese-style gardens. And this old Japanese woman would come in and she would rub her feet on the tatami mat. It was this whole sensory experience. You had to wash your hands and then she taught us about these Japanese aesthetics and we would arrange flowers, and that was class. I recommend taking a variety of classes in college. [And for the final] we did a showcase sort of thing where we could invite friends and family to come and see what we had arranged. And she would make us tea. She would whisk it up with like a bamboo whisk and make us tea while we arranged flowers.

Po-TAE-to or po-TAH-to?

I actually like to say badeta, because that’s how my grandmother said it. And we would all smile a giggle when she said it like that and she got a little self-conscious about it so we would say “no, no, we love it!”

And now, for the moment everyone has been waiting for: Superlatives, Homecoming Royalty, and Class Cups!

Superlatives:

Middle School:

Freshman:

Sophomores:

Juniors:

Seniors:

Teacher Superlatives:

Spirit Points and Class Cup:

This year, the class cup went to… drumroll please…the middle schoolers! With 1090 ekudos—more than there are students at OHS—164 passive participation points, 42 superlative points, and 43 theme day points, they got a total of 1394 spirit points.

In second place were the Freshmen with 867 points.

In third place were the Juniors with 816 total points.

In fourth place were the Seniors with an unknown number of points.

In 5th place were the Sophomores with 275 overall points.

Congratulations to the middle schoolers for winning the Spirit Week Class Cup and excellent job everyone for demonstrating your school spirit!

Homecoming Royalty

Last, but not least,  homecoming royalty was announced at the School Spirit Assembly. All hail Nikolai Ortiz, the homecoming king, and Kee Olandesca, the homecoming queen!