The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Ella Manners

The Perfect Game Changing & Memory Making Dip

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Byram Hills Varsity Field Hockey team in 2016 wearing pink socks for breast cancer awareness in October.

 

A simple five layer dip can have a quite powerful unifying effect, to many’s surprise. The Byram Hills High School Varsity Field Hockey team made this discovery all the way back in 2016, and it changed the game forever for them. 

I, myself, was a member of this team from 2016 to 2020: my freshman year of high school. Our team was composed of an unproportionally large group of freshmen talent, and by talent, I mean we were losing all of our games. The team had previously been a force to be reckoned with in the county, but after losing much of the team at graduation, they suffered with a lack of experienced players along with a new coach that 2016 fall. The group assembled was young, unorganized, and very timid – understandably. 

The captains had organized a team dinner to try and increase morale and create a more tight-knit, cohesive team. My mom, Palma Manners, volunteered to make dip for the dinner; little did she know the impact this dip would have on the coming season and the following years. The dip itself is simple (and definitely worth trying yourself): it is a beautifully constructed five layer stack of (from bottom to top) 1 (16 oz) can of refried beans, 1 (16 oz) container of sour cream seasoned with a ½ package of taco seasoning mix, about 10 ounces of guacamole, 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, and finally topped with 1 large tomato, chopped. 

“I only started making it your freshman year when you started doing team dinners,” she reflects. “I had offered to make it your very first team dinner, and it was such a hit that it was requested for every team dinner after. It became a bit of a tradition.”

A tradition indeed! It gave the team something to bond over, a sort of unifying ritual. Every week for the rest of the season, we would get together, over dip, and slowly form the close-knit team that we had wanted to be. We didn’t win many games still, we were still a young team with much to learn, but we started actually playing together, we found a rhythm. We even started writing “TOGETHER” on our legs in sharpie before every game as a reminder of this.

Every year for the next three years that I was playing and my mom was making dip, some players graduated and we gained new ones, but the tradition remained, and each year we would become a stronger team. The dip was such a simple tradition, but it became iconic for our group, and we still all reminisce about it today. I don’t remember any scores from that first year or the result of any of those games after, but I do remember the players, many of whom are still my best friends two years out of high school, and the memories we made over chips and dip every week.

 

Becoming an Eco-Warrior

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Photo courtesy of the ClimateCenter.org

Most educated adults are aware of the rapidly declining state of the environment, but many, if not the majority of us, find it easy to ignore the urgency of it. I, myself, did not confront exactly what is going on and what I can do about it until I started studying it in college. 

I did not go into college planning on studying the environment, I didn’t even know there was a major for that, but now as a rising junior, I have found myself as an environmental studies minor at Georgetown University. I had picked a random class to fulfill my “science for all” credit that I need to graduate, and it ended up inspiring my minor. Becoming environmentally conscious can be easier than you think, and it is becoming less and less of a choice. The world is suffering at the hands of global warming, pollution, and loss of biodiversity, among a variety of other devastating issues, but change, believe it or not, can begin with you!

The first step you can take to make a difference is educating yourself. There are plenty of resources both online and off that make this very accessible and interesting. A great online tool to bring your awareness to the impact we each individually have on the environment is carbon footprint calculators that take information about your lifestyle and living habits. They tell you in what ways that is contributing negatively to the environment. Being aware of this may be intimidating, but is also important so you can figure out how to change some of these harmful habits. Websites like footprintcalculator.org tell you specific ways you can reduce your footprint based on your results. 

Another way to educate yourself is by taking a trip to your local library (or an online alternative). There are great books that turn this invaluable information into an interesting read. Some suggestions that I have found to be helpful and fascinating reads are The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales, The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough, and The Serengeti Rules by Sean B. Carroll.

Beyond educating yourself, you can also take action in your home by switching to a variety of reusable products. These products are usually fantastic swaps, with many of them being far more cost effective and better quality, all while being better for the environment. A lot of these switches are much easier to make than you might think: you can start just by using reusable water bottles, straws, and shopping bags. You can go even further by investing in wool dryer balls – a one-time purchase alternative to dryer sheets – eco-friendly tampon alternatives like the DivaCup, or making the switch to zero-waste shampoo and conditioner products that avoid plastic packaging. 

So many products in our home have sustainable alternatives, and all of these changes can go a long way for our planet. From educating yourself and others to taking action in your own home, these simple tasks can make you an eco-warrior – something our planet and our future generations will thank you for.