An Interview with School Captain Claire Radin

Written by Victoria Hrvoic
Edited by Noor Khan
Cover Image by Nancy Cao

What’s a fun fact about yourself that not many people know?

I am an avid Pez collector and enthusiast. I even like the grape flavour. The best Pez dispenser that I’ve accumulated has got to be the Voldemort one, which my sister Paige recently got for me. My Olaf dispenser is a close second.

What’s your favorite thing about Havergal?

My favorite thing about Havergal is the unique combination of support and spirit within our community. In my experience, teachers and classmates at HC have created an environment in which I feel cared for and academically sustained. This sense of security allows me to fully participate in school events and have fun doing so. I have not heard of another place that has as much spirit and participation in our events and traditions as HC does. Dancing past 11 pm on a school night at Gator Gala, chanting school hymns in the snowy quad after a Hockey Day win, and all the 11’s and 12’s coming to school on our first day of summer to “pass on the torch” are all such uniquely Havergal experiences, and they are also some of my most valued memories.

Share a memorable experience that occurred at Havergal:

A memorable experience I had at HC happened in my calculus class last school year. It was after we had finished all of our tests for the year, including the AP exam, and we had some extra time at the end of one class, so we decided to do Just Dance. Obviously the classics--Waka Waka and What Makes You Beautiful--were involved, and then we also rocked Umbrella and Dynamite. Everyone in our class was going so hard at Just Dance for a solid 15 minutes, and it was such a gratifying culmination of our year of hard work and learning in Calc. I guess it’s not much of a story, but it was just such an enjoyable moment that felt even better because our class knew that we had worked hard and done well that year. Calc ended up being my favorite class that semester, even though it definitely wasn’t the easiest. We had so much fun while still learning a lot.

What inspired you to run for School Captain?

I love HC and everything it has done for me by showing me compassion and giving me confidence. However, I have noticed that not everyone feels supported by the HC community, and I was inspired to do what I can to help everyone feel included and cared for at HC. Every student here deserves to feel part of the community and to have a great year, especially after being online for so long. I want to work to make that possible.

You incorporated into your School Captain speech the Will Smith Oscar slap and the discourse surrounding alopecia that it generated - as someone with alopecia, what immediate connections did you draw between this event and Havergal’s environment? What motivated you to talk about it?

At Havergal, my friends and I would make jokes all the time about my alopecia and some of our best laughs were from bald jokes like the one Chris Rock made at the Oscars. However, I noticed an important difference between this event and the Havergal environment. The difference was that the Havergal community was extremely perceptive and sensitive to my feelings and potential insecurities when this was a noticeable difficulty for me. People would only laugh if I made a joke and would only build off the jokes I had initiated. In this unfortunate situation at the Oscars, Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia in front of one of the largest audiences of the year without considering how she, specifically, copes with her disorder and how comfortable she is joking about it. Jada and I have had very different experiences and prognoses, so I can’t really compare our situations, but everyone deals with it differently; Chris Rock was not as empathetic that night as the Havergal community has been to me.

I was motivated to share this experience with everyone because the support and empathy I received from HC had a huge impact on my self-confidence and overall happiness during the formative years of my life. I wanted to thank HC and challenge us to make sure that everybody else in our community receives the same support with whatever it is they are going through.

What aspect of the position are you most worried about?

Balancing the huge time commitment with my homework and university applications... or, maybe, being part of the Welcome committee and giving tours, because it took me half a year to learn my way around the school, and I still take wrong turns.

What are your goals for next year?

My main goal for next year is to have every student feel supported and valued within the Havergal community. To accomplish this goal, my main priorities as School Captain are uplifting mental health and wellbeing, strengthening our community across and within grades, and encouraging DEI initiatives and more student perspectives. My experience on the rowing team has really given me an appreciation for how fun and helpful it is to have friends across grades. In my experience, receiving support and compassion from the community allows you to focus more on academics while also having a lot of fun at school!

Do you have anything to say to the Havergal community?

I’m so excited to get to know all of you and hear all about your summers!!