Kelly Anderson

When Sidwell’s varsity soccer squad plays the first game of its season on Sept. 4, some of the school’s most talented players won’t be on the field. In fact, they won’t even be on the team. One of those players, Senior Arjun Rohlfing-Das, has been playing since he was a toddler and has developed into one of the DC region’s top soccer prospects. He works out regularly with a private trainer, and expects to receive multiple offers for soccer scholarships from Division I schools. He has never played a game for Sidwell’s Upper School soccer team.  “The level of consistent competition is higher in the academy system in both games and training,” said Rohlfing-Das, referring to the confederation of teams that form the most competitive level of youth soccer in the United States. Coaches and players also say that college recruiters watch the elite club teams that compete in the academy system, not high school league play, when looking for the prospective recruits. Many aspiring soccer...

Dear fellow Sidwell students, I regret to inform you that you are: “Jewish kids taught by WASPs;" “Self congratulatory and entitled;” and “[Attending] a girls school that happens to have boys.” The good news? Your “moms are hot.” The source of this information is DC Urban Moms, a local parenting website that allows users to post comments anonymously on topics ranging from real estate to private schools. The website has gained a reputation as a place parents in the affluent neighborhoods of upper Northwest Washington and the close-in suburbs go when they want to trade gossip, get advice on day care, or trash talk the private schools attended by their friends’ children. Few schools face more scrutiny on the site than Sidwell, which is frequently criticized for things ranging from its football team to the cafeteria food. According to Jeff Steele, the founder of DCUM, the idea for the site came from his wife, Maria Sokurashvili, who started a listserv in 2002 for fe...

Teens at Sidwell - and their peers across the country - increasingly see getting a driver’s license as more of an expensive, time-consuming hassle than a ticket to freedom. “D.C. is such an easy community to get around by public transportation, so I don’t really feel the need to learn how to drive,” Sidwell senior Jasmin Perrier said. As a District resident, Perrier could have applied for a learner’s permit more than a year ago, when she turned 16, but she just doesn’t think getting a license is worth the trouble. “Parking is a huge issue that I don’t want to worry about, and there are so many other options now, with Uber and other things, that you don’t really need to know how to drive,” Perrier said. Data from the Federal Highway Administration, nationwide surveys, and interviews with Sidwell students show that Perrier is far from alone in putting off getting a license. According to data from the Federal Highway Administration, the number of teenagers who are licensed to dr...

Delight and alarm are competing reactions to an ambitious redevelopment project on the Fannie Mae property across the street from Sidwell’s Upper School campus. Roadside Development, a local real estate firm, plans to break ground on the project at 3900 Wisconsin Avenue after the Federal National Mortgage Association, also known as Fannie Mae, moves its headquarters downtown late this year. Roadside has won DC government approval to replace the existing office complex with a mix of residential units and retailers anchored by a Wegmans grocery along with a boutique hotel and movie theater. Richard Lake, a principal at Roadside, said the project has the potential to fill the gap between the retailers and restaurants in the Cathedral Commons development to the south and Tenleytown to the north, bringing new conveniences to Sidwell students. Lake said Fannie Mae’s move is an opportunity to make the neighborhood more lively. “There was no activity, no energy other than during luncht...