Eastside: November 2017

www.eastside-online.org

Vol. 51 No. 2

Cherry Hill High School East: 1750 Kresson Road, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003

November 2017

The Shoe Game

Photo by Dakota Rosen (‘19)/ Eastside Photo Editor. Art by Sabrina DeAbreu (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

How two students cash in on the hype Liebman poses with only a small sample of his massive shoe collection to reveal his success in the sneaker resale business.

■ By Gregory Rothkoff (‘19)

Eastside Entertainment Editor

“There’s no better feeling than seeing that the pair ended up in your cart,” said Justin Liebman (‘18).

He is not just referring to any pair of sneakers. It is the pair that has been hyped for months and that everyone is trying to get, but only a select few are able to get. With that pair, Liebman makes profits that can sell for quadruple, and often much more, than the price he paid. This is the reality of sneaker reselling.

The sneaker resale culture has taken off in recent years. Indeed, Liebman, who has been reselling

sneakers since he was eleven years old, has sold about 200 pairs of sneakers.

Even Josh Kimmel (‘19),

dollars in profit.

As kimmel represents, a lot of people are being turned from sneaker hobby-

are not alone. According to sneaker data website, StockX, the sneaker resale industry is estimated to be

“The exact total I have done since I was eleven or twelve, I would keep confidential because it’s pretty big.”

-Justin Liebman (‘18) who has only been selling sneakers for about a year, has sold sneakers totalling close to thirty thousand

Sneak Peek

ists to resellers. This trend has sparked an increase in the market as a whole.

Liebman and Kimmel

Run through Washington Township’s Nerf arena Community, Pg. 7

worth one billion dollars.

This firgure represents a 40% growth since 2004.

As glamorous the experi-

Get your hiking boots on for extreme ironing Underground, Pg. 16

ence of Liebman and Kimmel may seem, this is not the case for an overwhelming majority. After waiting hours for a release, only a few end up without dissapointment. The average Yeezy release pulls in well over a hundred thousand people seeking to get a pair out of as small a quantity of a few thousand pairs.

Even though there is an abundance of frusturation in not getting a release, a new industry has erupted.

Sneaker resale culture is flourishing under the likes of many who not only r e sell sneakers, but keep the passion for all things shoes alive.

See SHOES, pgs. 10-11

Surrency and Radbill are ready to lace up Sports, Pg. 19

NEWS/FEATURES

Page 2

EASTSIDE

Another side of after-school clubs Clubs at East aren’t just for students anymore: after-school organizations run by teachers, for teachers, have been popping up around the building unbeknownst to the student body.

Teachers bookend school day with book club

Cooney. “If you don’t read the book one month, you can still go to the meeting.”

What do teachers do The book club is currentwhen they aren’t educatly reading The Women in ing students in Cherry Hill the Castle by Jessica ShatEast classrooms? tuck.

Maybe they sit around, “For me, [the book club] chatting about anything is really fun,” said Ermey. from Homer’s The Odys“Since it’s mostly English sey to the teachers, I Fahrenheit enjoy hear451 essays ing what they recentthey have ly finished to say about grading. But the books seven years we’re readago, Enging.” lish teachers Over the Mrs. Janine past seven Cooney and years, the Mrs. Jennifer book club Greenwald, has grown.

Psychology Though it teacher Mrs. began with Grace Ermostly Engmey and forlish teachmer English ers, it now teacher Ms. includes Julie Bathke teachers decided that, from all diffor a change, ferent dethey wanted partments, to talk about and the books that members were not on welcome the curricuanyone who lum for their would like respective to read, eat classes. and unwind “We wantwith them.

Ilana Arougheti (‘19)/ Eastside News/Features Editor ed to do some“We are thing for our Faculty book club members show off their silly side in Mrs. Cooney’s Room. not excluown growth,” sive,” said said Cooney.

Cooney. “It Suddenly, a book club minutes are spent discusserPoints and lesson plans, started as a small group of was formed. ing the book. For the rest there are no strict rules or people, but we’ve expanded Once a month, the book of the time, the colleagues formal agendas. to include anyone who is inclub members gather. They and friends eat and catch “It’s very informal,” said terested in joining.”

■ By Ali Koenig (‘20)

Eastside News/Features Editor

take turns so that for each meeting, a different member sends out an email with her chosen book, date and time. At a typical meeting, the members will meet at a restaurant or someone’s house. Meetings generally last about two hours, but only thirty to forty-five

up with each other’s lives.

“We use the time to catch up,” said Ermey. “We work in different departments, so we don’t see each other much in school.”

As the club is a social activity as well as mental stimulation and a break from the monotony of Pow-

Faculty work out in a different gym class ■ By Karissa Murray (‘20)

so it’s almost like an opportunity for the teachers to take my Mind and Body class,” said Hildebrand.

Last spring, Mrs. Marie Hildebrand has always Hunter approached Ms. had a passion for fitness.

Kristen Hildebrand with She even worked as a peran interestsonal trainer ing new idea: before beTo create an coming a opportunity full-time for teachers teacher. She to exercise at talked about school, an idea how exercise Hildebrand has impactwas taken to ed her and immediately. how that ties “The goal is into her misto make peosion of allowple feel good ing teachers about themto keep up selves, and with their provide them workouts. a free opportu“[Exercisnity to relieve ing] is just some stress, this great and just get wonderful stronger,” said feeling. [The Hildebrand. club is] just a With the good thing to approval of do for other her supervipeople to emsors, Hildebpower [themrand set out selves], ” said to do just that, Hildebrand. with a variT h e ety of teachCourtesy of Ms. Kristen Hildebrand Teacher Fiters and faculty Members of the Teacher Fitness Club pose after a workout during finals week. ness Club participating it,” said Hildebrand.

The club’s workouts are hopes to continue to inspire last year. The club is not Hildebrand coaches soccurrently centered around more teachers to take care exclusive; any teacher who cer after school, but now bodyweight and strength of themselves through fitwants to stop by is always that the season has ended training. ness, and spread positivity welcome. They meet in the this month, she has picked “I teach Mind and Body within the East community dance gym once a week afup where she left off. She is to the juniors and seniors, and beyond. ter school and three times Eastside Staff

during finals.

“A lot of times it’s easier if you can get [your workout] done right away, as opposed to once you go home, you have other things you want to do, you never make

looking forward to expanding and getting more staff involved. She eventually plans to introduce nutritional fitness to the club, as well, with the help of East Nurse Ms. Joy Atkins.

November 2017

PRO REPUBLICA ■ By Joshua Pipe (‘20) Eastside News/Features Editor

If the month of November was as kind to the Democratic Party as it has been to Cherry Hill students, the self-professed ‘party of the people’ would have a congressional majority, Hillary Clinton in the White House, and, perhaps, control more than just a quarter of state legislatures nationwide.

Much like Cherry Hill students, the Democrats got this November off (for the most part) in terms of big races, with only two gubernatorial races (Virginia and New Jersey), one Senate race (Alabama’s Senate class I seat) and one contested state legislature (Nevada). Next year, on the other hand…not so lax.

Next November marks the first midterm—and Democrats hope the last midterm—of President Trump’s presidency, and the Democrats already have a strategy in place: Use the same lackluster, coast-centric political idiocy that lost them the last two midterms.

The Democrats have identified their targets for elections in the House: Plain-state districts disenchanted with Trump’s constant reneging on his promises and general failure to make a difference for their communities—just kidding! The Democrats have decided to target the uberaffluent Orange County in California and blue-leaning districts with red occupants in our very own state, perpetuating the notion that the Democratic party is out of touch with middle America (the location of a large portion of the Senate seats they need to defend).

If only the House were the only worry for the Democrats; in reality, they have to worry about a Senate race skewed undeniably toward the Republicans (Democrat seats up for reelection: 25; Republican seats: 8). Additionally, 36 governorships and 87 state chambers across 45 states are slated for the midterms.

What I’m saying is this: as great as it would be for the Democrats to give our representative, Donald Norcross, some company in the House, if the Democrats really wanted to make a difference for us NJ residents, they would get off their donkeys and win some seats from the plain states.

The time for coastal elitist tendencies in the Democratic party has long since passed: in fact, the most successful midterm for the Democrats in recent years was in 2012, where the Democrats picked up seats in both the House and Senate, including many in rural areas where the Dems campaigned.

Pro republica, political parites should talk to everyone.

Logo by Rose Ni (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

NEWS/FEATURES

November 2017

EASTSIDE

Page 3

Vision and Revision: Evolution of the 2020 Plan

■ By Joshua Pipe (‘20)

Eastside News/Features Editor

As a new decade approaches, the creation of a “2020 plan” has been the object of intense discussion among Cherry Hill Public School’s administrators and families. Since work began on “Cherry Hill Public Schools 2020: A Clear Vision for the Future,” the Board of Education has coalesced district-wide studies and community input to create a plan that could address what members of the Cherry Hill community saw as critical issues in the district. “[The BOE and I] realized it had been about 20 years since, truly, a fullscale, comprehensive of who we are as a school district had taken place,” said District Superintendent Dr. Joseph Meloche.

The 2020 plan, which was presented in Janu a r y 2017, identified f i v e m a jor areas of work: Renovation a n d i m provement of school buildings, making sure all classes and extracurricular activities have the materials they need, hiring a more diverse and expansive staff, reforming the district’s governance process from the BOE down, balancing the CHPS budget and procuring fair funding from the state of New Jersey. Additionally, the 2020 plan sought to address issues such as fullday kindergarten, narrowing the achievement gap and bridging the East-West divide.

Most of these original goals made it into the second stage of consideration, which began in May and will continue until December.

Currently, the 2020 plan’s major initiative is to

establish full-day kindergarten in the district.

“School districts in New Jersey and beyond have had success with both kindergarten and sixth grade centers,” wrote Meloche in his April 7 weekly message to the district.

However, the contingency plan for implementation of 2020 goals has changed significantly over the summer. For example, the original plan for the implementation of full-day kindergarten, the creation of new kindergarten centers from existing school buildings, was deemed unfeasible.

“We are not continuing down the path of kindergarten centers,” said Meloche.

Another possibility for the implementation of fulld a y kindergarten

“The goal would be, honestly, with a vote on September 25, 2018, that [The class of 2020 will] see the impact...”

- Dr. Joseph Meloche

Superintendent of Cherry Hill Public Schools was the construction of additions onto currently existing elementary schools.

“There was discussion [about wanting] to build on to some of the… elementary school buildings,” said Carlee Cohen, Cherry Hill

West’s Student Representative to the BOE. “I believe they were concerned with… the price and how it would interfere with… classes going on.”

Meloche indicated that the board has tasked Central Administration with the enating of a contigency plan for introducing fullday kindergarten to some neighborhood schools, but not all twelve elementary schools, meaning the district will have to find a way to either circumvent or bear the brunt of the costs associated with that plan.

Earlier versions of the 2020 plan also included a potential policy that would have converted Rosa Middle School into a district-wide sixth-grade center. This policy, as of May 9, 2017, is no longer under consideration by the BOE. “We are no longer considering turni n g Rosa Midd l e

School into a sixth grade center,” wrote Meloche on May 10, 2017, in a FAQ sheet on the 2020 plan, located on the district website.

As the 2020 plan evolves, East teachers and parents can continue to give feedback by going to the Cherry Hill Public Schools 2020 tab on the BOE’s website.

“The goal would be, honestly, with a vote on September 25, 2018, that [the class of 2020 will] see the impact...and the work being done within the district before [they] graduate,” said Meloche.

Art by Rose Ni (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director Photo Illustration by Ali Koenig (‘20)/ Eastside News/ Features Editor Photos courtesy of Cherry Hill School District

Infographic by Ali Koenig (‘20)/ Eastside News/Features Editor

Mr. Tom Storer: East’s sixth new administrator in two years ■ By Eugene Kim (‘18)

Eastside Staff

East’s newest assistant principal, Mr. Tom Storer, began his tenure at East on October 2, replacing the position vacated by Mr. Bernie O’Connor, who is now the principal at Beck Middle School. Since then, he has become a familiar face around the building as he greets students and staff members in the mornings.

“I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to work at East with all the dedicated teachers,” Storer said. “I look forward to spending time with all the students as well, especially the Class of 2019.”

With a background in education that spans more

work in that field. In 1984, he became the school’s first athletic trainer and played a major role in pioneering the field of athletic training throughout South Jersey, drawing on his experience as a gameday athletic trainer for the Philadelphia Eagles for 14 years.

From 2002 to 2017, he served as the vice principal of Highland High School before accepting the assistant principal position at East.

In addition to his role as Dakota Rosen (‘19)/ Eastside Photo Editor the Class of 2019 adminisStorer settles into his new position at East. trator, Storer oversees the departments of Science, than 40 years, Storer brings High School as a special Math and Fine Arts at East tremendous experience education teacher. After and observes classes in and knowledge to East. In six years, he transitioned these areas to ensure their 1974, he began his career to Highland High School. ongoing success. in education at Paulsboro where he continued his

“The immense amount of classes that students can take as well as the huge variety of clubs and activities offered here is one of my favorite things about East,” said Storer.

As part of his educational philosophy, Storer believes that a strong relationship between the teacher and the student is essential for academic success.

“My goal is to find the best in every teacher,” said Storer.

Furthermore, he views effort as another component of achievment within the school setting.

“Striving to do your best and setting individualized goals is just as important as enjoying school and being happy,” said Storer.

Page 4

NEWS/FEATURES EASTSIDE

November 2017

Inspiration East works to create first album, Creative Space

last June.

A second recording session took Eastside News/Features Editor place in October, and Leonard hopes to have the seven tracks that will comprise the album finished by Deep in the recesses of F-Wing, December so that editing and mixroom F088 has a secret identity. Set ing can commence toward the start discreetly beyond the classroom’s of 2018. spacious rows of lab tables and As Inspiration East’s sound enstandard Smartboard setup lies a gineer, Myles Drayton (’18) pointed little room open to all but known to out that the introduction of audio few. The space is well-lit, crammed technology into the group gives stuwith carefully calibrated recorddents like him, who are interested ing equipment and strewn with an in sound mixing rather than playarray of instruments poised for a ing an instrument, the opportunity lunchtime concert or an after-school to get involved in music at East jam. while staying true to their interThis is the home of Inspiration ests.

East, the ‘Creative Space’ after “I just get to come here, learn which their most recent musical ensomething new and advance my deavor – an album of original maskillset,” Drayton said. terial set for release later this year Similarly, Williams describes – is titled.

Creative Space as “the mark for Inspirathe next level,” while guitarist Jon tion East Hess (’18) applauds the introduchas been tion to new genres that he experiaround enced as a result of working with since 2006, the album. when the When not busy with Creative assistant Space, the group plays various gigs princiaround the school — they have perpal at the formed at events like Coffee House, time, Mr. Back-To-School-Night and MultiLeonard cultural Day in the past.

TerranoLeonard believes that the group va, apcontributes significantly to East’s proached school spirit; “I think that when we Mr. Ceplay, everybody connects with it,” cil Leonhe said. ard about Inspiration East has also been starting known to play spaces like the Croft a music Farm Art Center. Last year, they group that acted as the pit orchestra, and existed wrote some original score, for varioutside of ous local productions of shows the East Dakota Rosen (‘19)/ Eastside Photo Editor such as Tulsa during Black Music De■ By Ilana Arougheti (‘19) History Month.The partment. Inspiration East members hold practice in F088. group’s next big goal Leonard Eastside News/Fatures Editor “It’s almost like a meltis to collaborate with had been playing music professioning pot of ideas…” said musicians at West; ally with various groups from Texas As Inspiration East continues to work on Gabriel Ritter (’18), an they hope to incorto New Orleans, before getting loCreative Space as a group, guitarist Jon Hay Inspiration East guiporate a full horns cally involved with the Philly Sound (‘19) proves to be no stranger to the album process. tarist. “When it comes section of West movement. With such an extensive Hay, primarily a blues musician, has been in Inspiratogether in this room, students in the musical background under his belt, tion East as a guitarist and part-time vocalist since his it’s really somecoming months. founding this sort of group at any freshman year. In addition, his own group, The Jon Hay thing... all those difGenerally, Inschool he works at has become a Band, released its first album, Won’t Let You Go, on October ferent parts of muspiration East’s pattern for Leonard throughout his 1. After returning from the Derry Jazz Festival in Ireland, sic converge in one members, along teaching career.

Hay felt restless and wished he was back in a musical envispot.” with Leonard, “I try to get those students who ronment. This initial epiphany inspired his track “Boring Leonard hopes have high hopes are not necessarily in the reguLife Blues,” which “explains the high-to-low aspect… and that the album can for the future of lar music program, but still have how [he] just wants to keep going on the road and performintroduce members the group and enthe talent and the inspiration to ing,” Hay said. to the process of recourage all interplay,” said Leonard.

Hay wrote six more original songs over the course of cording, and that it ested students to Entry into Inspiration East inthe next year, which are featured on the album along can expand their muget involved. volves a relatively informal audiwith four covers. Most songs on the album are based on sical experience beyond As Ritter tion process that mainly assesses Hay’s life experiences. Each took about a day to write, inthat of live performance. said,

“This creative potential, and members say termittently. Although Hay has been playing the guitar Every track is original, and p l a c e that they found out about the group since the age of four, he recently took up songwriting in most are written by Leonard. breeds mostly through word of mouth from order to make his musical skillset more lucrative.

“I try to find songs that potenpast members. “[I] have to put [my] own stuff out there,” said Hay. “Very convey powerful meaning. tial.”

The group currently consists of few people can cover other people’s music only and get successful off of that... I chose to do it so I could have a little bit more of me in my music, make it a little more personal.”

The Jon Hay Band consists of Zach Lees on guitar, Randy “Rando” Branning on bass, Sean McIntyre on drums and Eric Christian on keyboard, along with Hay himself — the only member who has not yet graduated high school — on guitar and vocals. The group first met at a blues jam at The Twisted Tail in Philly. Once they officially formed a band, they rehearsed five or six times, then went in for an eight-hour recording session at Morningstar Studios in East Norton, PA. Each song took about two or three takes to record with a brief second session for editing.

Hay has played dozens of gigs across the country, most notably the Remembrance Ride and Concert in Austin, Texas, on October 1, and most recently at the Reading Blues Festival. He gets most of his work through friends in the industry but does not consider himself nationally known yet. Therefore, Hay has high hopes for the new dimensions that Won’t Let You Go could add to his career.

“I see [the album] as a physical representation of my trade,” Hay said, “because my goal after school is to just go right into music and try to make it a full-time thing. It is a job to me. So it’s more about having something I can give to people so they can remember me, and hear me… I guess it just makes the whole thing a little more solidified.”

Won’t Let You Go can be downloaded via iTunes or CD Baby for 10 dollars or streamed through Spotify and Apple Music. A physical CD copy can be obtained through CD Baby or in person for 13 dollars. More information can be found at www.jonhayband.com.

■ By Ilana Arougheti (‘19)

twelve student musicians.

Most members are further involved in music creation outside of the group, which practices on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays after school, and during homeroom daily.

The group began working on Creative Space during the 20162017 school year. The album brings together various musical genres from its members’ different backgrounds — from students’ hard rock and blues penchants to Leonard’s funk expertise — to create unique tracks with positive messages.

Infographic by Ali Koenig (‘20)/ Eastside News/Features Editor

I try to find songs that have great aesthetic value,” Leonard said. “These are songs that are timeless.”

Four of the album’s diverse tracks have been conceived and recorded, with three more to come.

One track is entitled “Chi Power,” and it spreads a message about generating positive energy.

Leonard describes another, “Reflect,” as “a mellow Afro-Cuban Latin song” that reminds listeners to “reflect and take a look at [themselves] and what [they’re] really doing and who [they’re] really being.”

Each track is shaped by the students, who add to it and rework it as they rehearse; one track in particular, “Evolution,” was written by Leonard during his naval career and completely reorganized by Jaden Williams (’18).

The recording process began in the practice room, which was converted into a quasi-recording studio, before the group went on the road to record at The Blue Room, a studio in Bethesda, Maryland,

Art by Sabrina DeAbreu (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

SPECIAL

November 2017

EASTSIDE

Page 5

Halloween Dance: East students dress up to get down

Mr. Weaver and his look-alikes get groovy at the Halloween Dance at Cherry Hill East.

Adiel Davis (‘18)/ Eastside Multimedia Director

Devang Patel (‘19) dresses as a king.

Adiel Davis (‘18)/ Eastside Multimedia Director

Leah Levin (‘19) and Arianne Martin (‘19) take a break from dancing

Adiel Davis (‘18)/ Eastside Mulimedia Director

Adiel Davis (‘18)/ Eastside Multimedia Director

Students like these chose to dress up as a group.

Adiel Davis (‘18)/ Eastside Multimedia Director

Courtney Bird (‘18) dresses up as Mr. Gambino.

COMMUNITY

Page 6

EASTSIDE

Thanksgiving race supports low-income students ■ By Julia Benedetto (‘19)

Eastside Community Editor

People have all felt the grueling effects of a lavish Thanksgiving feast, feeling the need to run a 5k in order to counteract the massive amounts of stuffing and pumpkin pie. Fortunately, now people can get in shape beforehand—and support a good cause while they are at it.

On Thursday, November 23, the morning of Thanksgiving Day, the charitable Moorestown Turkey Trot will take place at the Moorestown High School crosscountry course. Over ten years old, the Turkey Trot is a run/walk that consists of two different events, a 5k and a One MileFun Run. Registration for each event costs ten dollars, and participants are able to register online until November 22. Runners of all ages are welcome to come participate in this fun and festive Thanksgiving event.

Starting at 9:15 a.m., the One MileFun Run gives younger kids the opportunity to run a shorter distance but still help raise money for a good cause.

“The One MileFun Run is basically targeting kids who can’t do an entire 5k… so it’s just one mile for them to go out and run,” said Kathleen Trommelen, who is the girls’ cross country and spring track coach at Moorestown High School.

The 5k, which starts half an hour after the One MileFun Run, is also a great

way for participants to help raise money and awareness. While a 5k may seem daunting to some, race participants have the option of taking the 3.1 miles at a slower and more leisurely pace, if they wish to do so.

“We don’t have official times or race numbers or anything.

We just kind of have the clock running in the stadium s o people

expenses.

On the day of the run, the members of the cross country team act as ambassadors of the course. Many of the student-athletes will be found running alongside the other race participants, helping guide them around the course since they know it best. “[The c r o s s country teams] work a s vol-

can look up and see their times...it’s a very laid back 5k,” said Trommelen.

The Moorestown Turkey Trot accepts donations online and has a donation goal of 250 dollars. All of the donations received from the race go toward the Moorestown boys’ and girls’ cross country teams, who use the donations to pay for the upkeep of the cross country trail and uniform

u n teers that day to kind of give back to the community since the race supports our team and our program,” said Trommelen.

Food donations are also welcome and greatly encouraged at the race.

MooreKids will be at the Turkey Trot to collect donations of healthy breakfast/ snack food items such as granola and protein bars, individually packaged

applesauce pouches and healthy fruit cups, shelfstable milk and healthy juice boxes.

MooreKids is a nonprofit organization that works in the community to help assist Moorestown’s underserved youth in accessing sports and extracurricular activities while also addressing the needs of the township’s low-income student population. About ten percent of Moorestown’s student population, or four hundred children, receive free/reduced lunch, and many of these children come to school without even having breakfast.

MooreKids works to regularly supply all of the Moorestown Township schools with healthy breakfast foods so these children can concentrate on their studies.

Although this event occurs on Thanksgiving morning, that hasn’t stopped the people of Moorestown from coming together and supporting their community in past years.

“If it’s a nice day out, we have had over a thousand people [participate in the run] before,” said Trommelen.

Registration forms and any other additional information can be found online at runsignup.com. The Moorestown Turkey Trot is a great way to give back and show support to the community while also getting some steps in before a big Thanksgiving day feast.

Eastside Staff

A Cherry Hill mosque named the Gracious Center of Learning and Enrichment Activities has opened its doors to provide free health services to people of all religions in an effort to strengthen the relationship between Muslim neighbors and the local community.

The mosque clinic opened this past April and has seen over a hundred patients since then. The clinic offers uninsured residents in the community the opportunity to use the mosque as their primary care facility. The clinic offers services for well-checkups, sick visits, chronic diseases, routine physicals, women’s health, mental health, dental referrals and sleep studies.

Before the clinic opened, there was concern that the service would only be able to assist a small population because many Cherry Hill residents have health insurance. However, studies showed that over 20 percent of Camden County residents are uninsured. As a result, the mosque leaders decided to offer their facility as a health clinic twice a month instead of once a month, as initially planned.

“In three hours, we were seeing over 21 patients, which is a lot even for an

urgent care. So [in a couple of] weeks, we see about a total of over 100 people, which is a lot,” said Dr. Jubril Oyeyemi, the clinic’s head medical director.

After they saw this high demand for the health clinic, they decided to open up the clinic on another day of the month.

The idea for the clinic was formed by The Gracious Center of Learning and Enrichment Activities, because the organization felt the need for the Muslim community to reach out further into the South Jersey community.

“The Muslim community has made many efforts to serve the community more, and when the idea was brought to me to serve the local community by the idea of the free clinic, I felt like it was an exciting thing to be a part of,” said Oyeyemi.

T h e clinic’s t a r g e t population is all the uninsured and underinsured people in

the immediate Southern New Jersey community and beyond. The population also consists of those in financial need, minimum wage workers, single parent families, those who are working two or three jobs, senior citizens who cannot afford medicine and people who cannot afford private care.

Oyeyemi noted the rewarding feeling of going to bed at night after a day at the mosque’s health clinic, where he slowly but surely makes the world a better place. He discussed how some doctors participate in a program called Doctors Without Borders, where physicians travel around t h e world t o vol-

■ By Sophia Liang (‘19) Eastside Community Editor

untarily help people in underprivileged areas.

“It’s nice to be able to help people in need without having to take a flight anywhere to any remote places. It’s a very good feeling at the end of the day and [provides] some sense of a reward,” said Oyeyemi.

Inside the mosque, on a bulletin board, there are pictures of the ways in which its members have helped the community in the past. The mosque offers many ways to give back to places both near and far, such as car donations for Syrian refugees, lunch bags for the poor and Syrian Refugee Day, as well as various outreaches. It also offers community-building programs such as family nights and carnivals in order to bring neighbors together.

With its clinic for patients, as well as its community events, the GLCEA has already made progress in its goal to help others and strengthen its relationships with the community.

Who would have thought that an action as simple as a check-up can encourage coexistence and break barriers between people who practice different religions?

Freshly prepared, artfully presented and incredibly addictive, sushi is a food beloved by people all over the world.

The dish dates back to the second century C.E., but its popularity has surged in Western countries in recent decades—a June 2017 study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American sushi industry generates over two billion dollars of revenue each year, and that sushi consumption increased by 28 percent from 2010 to 2014.

All this begs the question: What’s the best place in South Jersey to fill up on this yummy dish?

According to a recent survey of 50 East students of all grade levels, the answer is Megu Sushi. Twenty-eight percent of respondents named this sushi and hibachi restaurant as their favorite place to get sushi, praising its freshness and large selection.

“I love how diverse the menu is. There [are] so many different options to choose from,” said Ira Sharma (’19).

Angelina Pfaff (’19) agreed, adding, “[Megu’s sushi] tasted good and the service was great.”

Meanwhile, Sushi Kingdom came in at second, with 26 percent of respondents naming it the best sushi restaurant in the area. Its fans noted its great value and affordable fixed price for unlimited sushi.

Other popular choices were Zushi Dozo, Mikado and Kazumi Sushi Kingdom, with 14 percent, 12 percent and eight percent of students preferring each, respectively, to satisfy their Japanese cuisine fixings.

OSushi, located in Marlton, was the favorite sushi restaurant of six percent of respondents.

“I love their sushi,” said Carlie Wiseman (‘18), who frequently orders OSushi’s rock shrimp tempura. “It’s delicious but healthy.”

Four percent of respondents said sushi from grocery stores, such as Whole Foods or Wegmans, was best. Those who prefer supermarket sushi are willing to sacrifice the five-star taste of restaurant rolls for the convenience and accessibility of ones from local food marts.

South Jersey has definitely hopped on the sushi trend bandwagon, and Cherry Hill East students certainly don’t seem to mind. Whether it’s an extravagant hibachi experience or an all-you-can-eat spread of gourmet rolls, in the end, no matter which restaurant you prefer, there’s one thing we can all agree on—the sushi craze is here to stay.

Art by Sabrina DeAbreu (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

Logo by Sabrina DeAbreu (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

Art by Avena Patel (‘18)/ For Eastside

Cherry Hill mosque opens a free health clinic ■ By Maddy Kagan (‘20)

November 2017

COMMUNITY

November 2017

EASTSIDE

Get “fired up” for Nerf arena area,” said Neidig.

Neidig’s predictions proved true. Since “1...2...3...START!” opening, the company The referee blows the has been hit with conwhistle, marking the stant requests for bookstart of a new battle. ings from customers. AvImmediately, the playeraging between 40 to 50 ers pull their triggers, reservation requests per releasing hundreds day, Neidig and his wife of bullets into the air. have a tough time keepWith no time to waste, ing up, especially since the players dodge, leap they are still in the proor take shelter behind a cess of digitalizing the nearby fort. Kids call out booking process.

“Get down!” or “Heads “Everybody loves [the up!” to warn teammates arena],” said Neidig. of an advancing bul“Ask everyone who has let, their voices echoing been here. At evoff the walls. With ery party that we players constantly have had, there running across the has been at least arena, bullets flyone attendee ing all throughout that has booked and the sound of a party for his or gunshots filling the her child.” room, energy levels While Darts at the Darts of War of War is caArena in Washingtered primarily ton Township are altoward children, most always at their it really is suitpinnacle. able for people Of course, with of all ages. In this excitement fact, Neidig said, and energy comes “We’ve actually a great deal of comhad [everyone motion: running from] kids as and screaming kids, little as two to whizzing darts and grandparents children upset by a come in.” lost. But in spite of Parents esthis apparent chaos, pecially want owner Douglas NeiJonathan Calabrese (‘18)/ Eastside Video Editor to join in on the dig said on behalf of People of various ages duck for cover behind the barriers and fun. For this reathe players that there son, Darts of War obstacles in a Nerf tournament at Darts of War. is actually quite a lot plans to make of strategy involved Friday nights a on the field.

“We cut through the of planning, according team night competition To play, the particidoors, windows and hallto Neidig. He was first with people of all ages pants are first divided ways of the building,” inspired to start it when and reserve Saturday into two teams and given said Neidig. “Currently, his son was watching a nights for competition a jersey in their respecwe do not have much YouTube video of chilbetween adults and tive team color, either room for crowds. But dren playing in a Nerf teenagers only. red or blue. Darts of War once the construction is arena. Finding it a parDue to increasing provides the face proteccomplete, we will have a ticularly intriguing condemand and populartion, ammunition and Close Quarters Combat cept, he asked his son ity, Neidig has hinted at the player’s choice of Arena, as well as party where this arena was loplans to construct a new gun. The players then rooms, concession stands cated. Colorado, replied Darts of War arena in battle it out in the arena. and an arcade.” his son. Upon realizing the Cherry Hill and the There are two game Though Darts of War that nothing even reMount Laurel area in the modes offered: re-spawn celebrated its grand motely similar to this exnear future. Meanwhile, and elimination. For opening on August 25 of isted in the South Jersey stay tuned and take re-spawn, once a player this year with a ribbonarea, Neidig decided to cover for this Nerf arena is hit, he or she must cutting ceremony, it instart his own. expansion throughout head back to the retends to have a second “Frankly, what I realSouth Jersey. spective team’s side celebration once all the ized is that we could creArt by Sabrina and touch the wall. construction is comate a similar, if not even DeAbreu (‘18)/ Upon completing Eastside Art Director plete. The first opening better, Nerf arena in this ■ By Nafessa Jaigirdar (‘19)

Eastside Webmaster

this, he or she is allowed back into the game. As for elimination, once the player is hit, he or she is out for the remainder of the game. Games, however, last only a matter of minutes.

With only one room at the moment, the arena faces one major limitation: space. Fortunately, though, there are plans in place to expand into the building next door, which, according to Neidig, was a preschool that never opened.

received great feedback from the community; it had a huge turnout and appearances from Washington Township mayor Joann Gattinelli and members of the Washington Township Chamber.

The owners hope the second celebration, which will feature giveaways and special deals, will be just as, if not more, successful than the first.

Though the arena opened up only a couple of months ago, it is the result of well over a year

Page 7

EDITORIAL

Page 8

EASTSIDE

November 2017

Editorials represent the views and opinions of the Eastside Editorial Board.

East must increase communication efforts Students feel lost throughout a period of prolonged construction

As the 2016-2017 school year came to a close, East students had their daily routines perfected. Students knew the ideal routes to their classes and how to get to them with time to spare. Yet, students were left perplexed on the morning of May 12, when a blockade barred all faculty and students from entering the hallway connecting East’s C-Wing and B-Wing.

Little communication transpired between administration and students throughout what Mr. Don Bart, the Director of Operations, said was a project in planning for months before construction began.

When students reported for school on September 5 after summer break, it became clear that the blockade was to remain intact well into the new school year.

Up to this point, the “BWing Wall,” as many students have dubbed it, has

acted as a hindrance for busy students and teachers attempting to make it to class on time. Due to the lack of access to the hallway, crowding has become an issue in many other areas of the school. The chaos once present in C-Wing intersection is now present in the smaller F-Wing hallway, thus leading to a dangerous amount of aggression on behalf of students who resort to shoving their way to class.

Despite the fact that the construction was planned far in advance, confusion remains among East students as to why the project came to be.

In the Spring of 2017, an Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act inspection was conducted, as it is done every three years, and a memo was released in August detailing the fact that asbestos was found in a window glazing from BWing.

The memo states that the result of the three-year inspection report are on file with the Asbestos Management Plan in each school.

However, when an Eastside editor visited the office and requested to view the document, the person in the office was unsure of its whereabouts. In a followup conversation with Principal Dr. Dennis Perry, he agreed that the location of this information should be more prominent in the office.

Eastside urges the district to increase efforts of communication between administrators and Cherry Hill families.

Eastside recognizes that the lack of disclosure may not be intentional, yet inhabitants of the district have been left in the dark regarding the substantial changes interrupting the school day.

According to Bart, construction was held up

throughout the summer due to inclement weather, yet no updates were released throughout the break to prepare students.

As the school year has progressed, students have begun to suspect that more major construction is in the works.

More transparency on behalf of district administrators would combat the spreading of unnecessary rumors. Only minor work, such as door repairs, will be carried out after the BWing project is completed.

As the construction is now almost complete, Eastside would like to commend the appealing appearance of the completed project.

Walls made completely of window are now apparent in the front hallway and in B-Wing. The natural light is an immense upgrade to the usual dimlylit hallways, and Eastside looks forward to any further improvements.

Cherry Hill High School East 1750 Kresson Road Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 Phone: (856) 4242222, ext. 2087 Fax: (856) 424-3509

Eastside Online

http://www.eastsideonline.org

Publisher

School Paper Express Wappingers Falls, NY

Letters to the Editor

Submit signed letters to F087

Eastside wins NJ accolades

At the Garden State Scholastic Press Association Fall Conference on October 30 at Rutgers University, Eastside took home its 9th straight Distinguished Journalism Award, based on the number and level of awards in 12 individual categories. Eastside won first place in six of the twelve categories and won 33 awards total. Eastside also took home the first-ever Distinguished Online Journalism Award for coming in first place along with Pascack Valley High School for the number and level of awards in online categories.

Jeffrey Kaminer (‘21)/ Eastside Staff

Students have trouble navigating the hallways with the current construction.

Platinum The Rothkoff Family Sam and Debbie First Matt and Cheri Cohen Andrea Cohen and Dave Samuel Sherri and Ken Hoffman Deluxe Packaging Fran and Sid Fisch The Duffy Family Lois and Mitch Cohen The Fisch Family Jared Fisch

The Sodicoff Family Anne and Jerrold Fleisher Michael and Donna Koenig Melissa Gagliardi Michael Fleisher Linda Ross Lonnie Propass and Susan Ogul Ed and Lynne Cohen Marilyn DiCiurcio Silver

Rochelle Dashevsky

Friends of Eastside Greg Rouen Sari Cohen Marilyn Koenig Sy and Florence Jerome Heidi Silverberg Bernice and Irving Kernis Kaitlyn Valladares Louis Zimmermann Christine Benedetto Ali Family Abbie Levine Elaine Yang Ben Zemele

PRINT CONTEST FIRST PLACE WINNERS: Feature Writing: Luke Hinrichs (’17) for his feature on Mairead Sauter Sports Writing: Elissa Cohen (’18) for her story on the Ciocco-Allen field hockey connection Editorials: Eastside Editorial Board for its editorial on Ragtime Illustrations: Dawon Seo (’18) for her artwork of a story on 504 approvals Photography: Emelia Keller (’17) for her photo of fans at a basketball game Opinions: Holly Seybold (’17) for her opinion piece on legacy in admissions ONLINE CONTEST FIRST PLACE WINNERS: Podcasting: Jared Fisch (’18), Ben Goldsmith (’17) and Drew Hoffman (’18) for their Fantasy Football Fridays podcast Broadcast Sports: Ben Goldsmith (’17) for his ice hockey sports feature Breaking Sports: Sari Cohen (’18) for her Powder Puff recap

Jingli Cai Jazz Unlimited Tanziyah Mugeem Eric First Nancy & Ron Stearn Regina Green Harry Calabrese

Bronze Dana Swain

Bill Eccles Keenan Rosen Susan Rosen

Ann Le Anthony Brocco Marc Pierlott Brian Connolly Lillian Halden Tim Hunter Dean Kenny Harel Tillinger Yash Menta Jacob Sokoloff Reid Hardowottam Erin, Neil, Sophie & Alex Levine Christine Lind

Eastside 2017-2018 Editorial Board

Managing Editor: Jared Fisch Editors-in-Chief: Elissa Cohen, Sari Cohen, Hope Rosenblatt Adviser: Mr. Greg Gagliardi Photo Editors News/Features Editors Community Editors Ilana Arougheti Julia Benedetto Jiseon Lee Ali Koenig Sophia Liang Dakota Rosen Joshua Pipe Chelsea Stern Sports Editors Adam Dashevsky Jacob Kernis Sophie Levine Opinions Editors Eric First Joshua Sodicoff Louis Zimmermann

Contact the Board: Art Directors Sabrina DeAbreu Rose Ni

Video Editor

Webmasters

Multimedia Directors Adiel Davis Drew Hoffman

Business Managers Nashita Ali Abigail Richman

Entertainment Editors Jonathan Calabrese Nafessa Jaigirdar Harry Green Eli Weitzman Luke Shin Gregory Rothkoff Underground Editors Claire Joanson David Le

To contact a member of the Eastside Editorial Board via email, type the person’s first name followed by a period, then his or her last name followed by “@eastside-online. org,” ie: adiel. davis@eastsideonline.org.

(Note: There is a dash between “eastside” and “online”)

COMICS

November 2017

EASTSIDE

Page 9

Return of the PSL by Rose Ni (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

Math Help

Math Enrichment

Test Prep

Homework Help

G N I N R A W UR CHILD YO COULD BECOME

Crazy about math

Mathnasium of Cherry Hill

(856) 874-0050 mathnasium.com/cherryhill 1892 Marlton Pike East Cherry Hill, NJ 08003

Ad inquiries?

Email: business@eastside-online.org

First Semester by Jonathan Calabrese (‘18)/ Eastside Video Editor

ENTERTAINMENT

Sneaker resale culture spreads to East Page 10

EASTSIDE

■ By Gregory Rothkoff (‘19)

Eastside Entertainment Editor

The Growth

Sneaker resale has faced a dramatic change in the past few years thanks to Adidas and other brands that are changing things up.

“From 1985, the time of the first Air Jordan, to three or four years ago, it was all about Nike and Jordan,” said Justin Liebman (‘18), who added that it used to be all about the different colorways.

Liebman said, “My personal collection has shifted in the past few years from 90 percent Jordan to now where it is 40 percent Adidas.”

The Original Adidas Superstar that started it all for Adidas gained national attention when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar laced up in Adidas Superstars in 1970. This growth was furthered by the up-andcoming rap culture.

“Ever since Run DMC made the ‘My Adidas’ song, Adidas has been there, but not the same hype as Jordan,” said Josh Kimmel (‘18).

Even before the song, Run DMC was wearing the Adidas Superstars, making the shoes synonymous with rap culture. The connection would continue with Missy Elliott landing a deal with Adidas in 2002.

The spark which was lit by Run DMC has become a full-fledged fire, burning other brands, making Adidas the number-two brand in America now, behind Nike.

Above the many reasons to explain the surge in the growth of Adidas’ popularity, both Liebman and Kimmel agree that without Kanye West signing a wider shoe deal, Adidas would have never experienced such growth.

“Having someone like Kanye West who presents himself the way he does, is the type of person who can really headline the company,” said Liebman.

Kanye has certainly done just that with his own line of shoes, the Yeezy Boost collection. Other Adidas shoes such as NMDs and Ultraboosts have been a hit with resellers as well, sporting the Boost technology.

According to StockX, Adidas represented onehalf of one percent of the resale market in 2013. After the first few Yeezy Boost releases in 2016, Adidas’s resale percentage skyrocketed to 30 percent.

The Community

There are countless Reddit groups that claim to have insider information on when the next Yeezy Boost is releasing. However, no other group has sported a better track record in predicting the releases than the self-proclaimed Yeezy Mafia.

The Mafia provides its information primarily through Twitter, giving details into future releases,

November 2017

allowing resellers to have good knowledge of when a release will occur. Even Jon Wexler, Adidas’ Vice President of Global Entertainment and Influencer Marketing, has admitted that the Yeezy Mafia can be an annoyance.

However, Liebman believes that the Yeezy Mafia is no different from any other group.

“It’s good to have a group of people that can provide you with valid release information, but that is also something you can put ten minutes of research into,” said Liebman.

Those who have been in the reselling business for a while support each other in the community.

For instance, Liebman started out by asking people in school and going into online chat rooms. Since then, he has met people whom he can rely on to help him get the limited releases.

Overall, whether from online chat rooms or Twitter accounts, the community of sneaker reselling has brought the business to the next level.

The Release

There are numerous ways in which a sneakerhead can purchase hyped releases. Products such as AIO Bot offer an automated checkout process which they promise will create higher chances of buying the shoe.

Sneaker bots have undoubtedly changed the way in which resellers get their shoes. Bots allow people to purchase as many shoes as they want at a time, whereas purchasing from the Adidas website has a one-per-customer limit.

“I’m not going to spend my money on bots when I can do it myself,” said Kimmel, who usually has 13 devices at a time on the same page during a release.

This attitude echoed by Kimmel is how many resellers choose to get their shoes.

The downside of this method, however, is that one must sit around for hours, with a smaller chance of getting the release.

The classic go-to-store method is still alive and well amid all the other online options.

Apps such as Adidas Confirmed and the recent Launch Locator feature in the Foot Locker app allow people to reserve limited releases before even getting to the store on the day of a release. This ensures that one will get a release before even going to the store.

“I don’t have to hope on getting the release, I know I am getting the actual shoe,” said Liebman of his method on getting releases.

A few days before a release, Liebman texts out to people that he has met in the sneaker community of where they should go to get him the

Dakota Rosen (‘19)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Kimmel’s collection reflects interest in the Jordan brand sneakers.

November 2017

EASTSIDE

Page 11

upcoming release. In return, Liebman pays for the shoe and the time people spent to get him the shoe.

Being a sneaker reseller has its ups and downs when it comes to this part of the process. Kimmel recounts a time when he was able to get five pairs, but his internet crashed when he was checking out.

Meanwhile, Liebman once sold an original pair of Yeezy’s for $8,500.

After all, getting a limited release is always due to luck. No one ever truly knows if his or her method of getting a shoe is the best. The hardest part for resellers is over after this; now it is time to make money.

The Aftermath

There are many options when it comes to how a reseller can make a profit. Companies such as Flight Club and Stadium Goods deal with the selling of a shoe and give the owner an 80/20 split when it has been sold.

A related service such as GOAT posts a seller’s shoe on its app and verifies the authenticity for the buyer. The difference between GOAT and the other services, however, is that GOAT does not hold onto the shoe. eBay is still the preferred method of sneaker resale, allowing users to list items for free. Other resellers may purchase a domain to list and sell shoes themselves.

“The thought is of how eBay can create much more of a profit, rather than looking at a random website and paying the domain every month,” said Liebman.

Kimmel added, “The only downside of eBay is that there is no middle man to guarantee if shoes are real or not.”

Because of this notion, some buyers like to meet in person for a purchase.

The resale prices for Yeezy shoes have been gradually decreasing over time thanks to re-releases from Adidas. Take, for instance, the re-release of the Yeezy colorway of the Zebra.

“When people wanted it at first, it was so limited and rare, but after they came out with a few thousand more pairs, people found that it would be easier to get them now,” said Kimmel.

The downward trend of the Yeezy resale price will continue to decrease if Adidas does not put an end to the saturation of the Yeezy market with rereleases.

“Word of mouth connections and the amount of people who can say good things about you adds to your credibility as a reseller,” said Liebman.

All in all, sneaker reselling really does come down to the culture of the people who promulgate it.

Liebman’s collection includes some of the most limited sneakers out there.

Dakota Rosen (‘19)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Dakota Rosen (‘19)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Kimmel shows off one of his many pairs of Jordan brand sneakers.

Art by Rose Ni (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

OPINIONS

Vocab assignments need revision

Page 12

■ By Louis Zimmermann (‘18)

Eastside Opinions Editor

Pusillanimous, reticent, obsequious, nebulous and many more words are all found when flipping through what seems to be countless pages of Building an Enriched Vocabulary.

In correspondence to the 30 units of base words, a plethora of synonyms and antonyms, ranging between 5 to 10 per base word, add to the rapidly growing list of terms to remember for dreaded unit tests. However, the heavy focus placed on vocabulary throughout an East student’s freshman, sophomore and junior years has been completely outdated and useless.

In the spring of 2016, the SAT experienced a revitalization in which the 2400-point scale was reverted back to the previously used system of scoring based on a 1600-point scale. Along with this change, College Board decided to lower the expectations of a student’s knowledge of rare vocabulary. Therefore, the test minimized the amount of vocabulary significantly by eliminating the fill-in-theblank vocabulary section.

Instead, College Board implemented vocabulary words into reading passages for the student to decide

how it is used in context.

Students at East take countless vocabulary unit tests styled according to the old SAT format. With the change in 2016, East stayed complacent to the obviously flawed system. Yes, vocabulary unit tests may increase a student’s vocabulary range; however, most

EASTSIDE

students study for the exam and forget about these words a week after the test, failing to use them in everyday speech.

Not o n l y does vocabulary s e e m outdated, but it also r e quires a lot o f time both i n English

class and at home. English teachers give out a huge amount of homework for each unit.

Furthermore, students spend hours memorizing words that sound extremely similar to one another.

English class should not be spent studying words that do not challenge the brain to prosper and grow.

According to the National Reading Panel, “seeing vocabulary in rich contexts provided by authentic texts, rather than in isolated vocabulary drills, produces robust vocabulary learning.”

Instead of examining the green or orange vocabulary books from cover to cover, English class should be invested in studying and analyzing literature. With each novel read in class, students should be given a vocabulary list corresponding to the given text. In this sense, students are exposed to vocabulary in context, similar to the new SAT, while spending more time

East should recognize new vocations ■ By Joshua Sodicoff (‘18)

Eastside Opinions Editor

The year is 1979. Nationally, only one-half of high school graduates enrolled in secondary education, with the rates for men and women within two percent of each other. The other fifty percent did not go off to immediately work in unskilled jobs in retail or in restaurants. Many went to work in trades, like carpentry, plumbing or in some sort of craft.

You would imagine that with the way that everyone treats college today in Cherry Hill, as a necessary next step, that nearly all high school graduates now go on to college. That’s wrong. Thirty percent still do not go to college.

Why, then, h a s E a s t scaled b a c k its vocational courses to such a great extent? The explanation, up to this point, is that students were not enrolling in courses like auto mechanics or cosmetology at a high enough rate to justify the resources needed. The last vestige of the vocational system, the Industrial Technology Department, has lost its use as a means of education for careers and has become

a home for the “fun” electives like cooking, applied technology and computer graphics.

I’ll be fair with the school district: courses in the traditional vocations will not attract large numbers of students. The disparity in pay between college graduates and high school graduates has been increasing for years, and as such, students very often do not see these jobs as options. But, I think it is unfair to say that just because one set of voca-

tions has fallen by the wayside, no vocational courses will be popular. If anything, the new set of vocations are more attractive than before.

With changes in technology, careers as operators and technologists have be-

come more prevalent and high paying. Jobs in the operation of nuclear and standard power plants both require only a high school diploma and pay over sixty-five thousand dollars a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A number of technician and repair jobs in fields like aerospace, the electrical grid and medical imaging pay nearly the same and require only an associate’s degree. In partner-

s h i p with Camden County College, they may even be able to expedite or even grant an associate’s degree in some of these fields. By promoting these careers through focused courses, East can set students, who may not prefer a college education, on the

path to success.

The growth of the internet has also created new markets for technologically savvy young people.

For many base-level jobs in web design, database architecture and software development, certifications like the wide array provided by Microsoft can act in place of a computer science degree. Although East currently has two courses in its computer science curriculum, they do not teach the specific skills necessary to become certified and find a job in the technology sector right out of high school.

To teach these skills, all the school needs are teachers, computers and the appropriate software as compared to the cars and tools of the auto mechanics days.

Although I mean no disrespect to any department, course or student at East, some people would be better off in the long run both financially and emotionally if the school offered a new comprehensive set of vocational courses, based off of the wants of the student body and the prospects for these careers. Being a mechanic might not appeal as much as it did in the late seventies, but operating power plants and writing code might.

Art by Rose Ni (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

November 2017

studying the English language and history through literature. After all, most students cannot comprehend certain words that are critical to the plot Namely, books such as Romeo and Juliet, read freshman year, Julius Caesar, read sophomore year, Death of a Salesman, read junior year, and Hamlet, read senior year, all exemplify literature with difficult vocabulary that is critical to one’s understanding.

The student body would prefer to multitask, learning to both read and write while completing one unified activity.

Although it may take time to transition from a heavily based vocabulary curriculum, the end results will be better for both students and teachers. This prevalent issue hinders the English Department from deeply exploring more important novels. East cannot and should not push this issue aside for later consideration. In the best interest of all students and East English faculty, the English curriculum must be changed.

Art by Carmen DeCosmo (‘18) / Eastside Staff

Vocational Careers Web Developer:

$66,130



Cardiovascular Technologist:

$55,570



Nuclear Technician:

$79,140



Medical Imaging Technician

$75,429



Statistics courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics

OPINIONS SAT fails to accurately score aptitude November 2017

■ By Sari Cohen (‘18)

Eastside Editor-in-Chief

Many believe the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) sets a precedent and levels the playing field for students all over the country, as it should. Unfortunately, discrepancies between schools, students and economic statuses prevent this test from providing consis-

tency, making the SAT a poor depiction of academic abilities.

Different schools in different districts in different parts of the country teach

varying curricula and use differing lessons and activities to prepare students for the SAT. The problem is simply that. How can one test equally evaluate the education provided in over 13,000 districts across the country? It cannot.

A five-year University of Maryland study completed in 2007 found “the pressure teachers were feeling to ‘teach to the test’” s i n c e the No Child Left Behind Act

(NCLB) led to “declines in teaching higherorder thinking.”

A single test score is subjective, and it falsely represents students based on the quality of their education.

Likewise, every student learns differently and expresses knowledge in a

EASTSIDE

unique way. A multiplechoice test which fails to include all subject matters falsely depicts the intellect of any student.

According to a late education researcher, Gerald W. Bracey, PhD, standardized tests cannot measure “creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, emp a -

Page 13

ture?

The SAT lacks uniformity as students and their families put forth efforts, or do not, to prepare for the exam. Some pay great amounts of money to SAT tutors in order to obtain the test score they desire, which further skews the test results. One student, for example, may pay thousands of dollars to an SAT tutor to reach the de-

thy, selfawareness, self-discipline, leadership, civicmindedness, courage, compassion, resourcefuln e s s , sense of beauty, sense of wonder, honesty [or] integrity.” Evidently, the SAT hardly measures anything of beneficial consideration to a college.

Of all the tests a student takes throughout his/ her high school career, why should a four-hour reading, writing and math assessment determine his/her fu-

s i r e d goal of a perfect 1600. On the other hand, a student may enter the test virtually blindfolded not knowing what to expect. Receiving the same test, having similar grades in school and earning different scores most nearly relates back to

and manage my outrage, I’ll just describe one notable instance in which the character of Eugenie runs away with her female mu-

progressive connotations are completely lost in the abridged version, completely eradicating Dumas’s attempt at modernity and

the money paid for preparation.

The so-called standardized tests, in reality, are far from standard. The SAT provides a three or fourdigit number to represent a student’s many years of education when applying to college. But, that one number does not mean much when it does not accuratel y portray t h e s t u dent. A history buff or aspiring doctor cannot express his or her other knowledge on a math and English-heavy test. Why not just look at the grades students earn in high school? After all, students take a variety of courses that help them find and better express their academic strengths and weaknesses than a 1600 point exam. They should not let four digits define you.

Art by Rose Ni (‘18) /Eastside Art Director

The COMC must remain unabridged ■ By Ilana Arougheti (‘19)

Eastside News/Features Editor

T h e Count of M o n t e Cristo by Alexandre D u m a s is by and large the best part of the sophomore English curriculum. Its story is compelling, its plotlines dance with poetic irony and classical allusion, and each character inspires social criticism and critical analysis. It is the syllabus’s crown jewel.

Which is why I contend that the indiscrimin a t e l y abridged version of “The C o u n t ” that sophomores are currently given is an insult to the classic’s considerable literary worth. It omits important subtext, descriptions, plot interactions and moral issues. This results in curtailed prose, a choppy plotline and the outright absence of valuable thematic ideas. Yes, the original is

just over 1300 hundred pages long, but if we as a society rejected all long books, then I guess all dictionaries must burn. At the end of the day, if the text is to be properly presented to students, it should be read u n -

ultimate fates represent a wide divergence from the state of the characters in the first chapter, where all are relatively prosperous and none have betrayed each other yet – the path from such innocence to such ultimate gruesome ends are therefore extremely long and involved. If any part of the plot is cut, then each individual story becomes more confusing and less linear, making English teachers’ attempts at character analysis moot overall and reducing what students stand to gain from following each person to his or her sad fate.

I must have heard at least a thousand times throughout my high school English career, when studying Shakespeare or other works that have been translated or reinterpreted before being slapped between the covers of our Penguin editions, that literary volume editing tends to be highly subjective and much of the texts’ beauty is lost in translation.

If we are already capable of recognizing and mourning the issues with this botched standard of work, then why does our curriculum persist in expanding its effect to taint “The Count,” an even larger novel with an even longer impact on the scholarly year?

“Yes, the original is just over 1300 hundred pages long, but if we as a society rejected all long books, then I guess all dictionaries must burn.”

abridged or cut from the curriculum.

I could go on all day about

sic teacher, Louise. The abridged version briefly alludes to the fact that the two were bedfellows, but their relationship is poorly managed and seems like an addendum.

M e a n w h i l e , the unabridged version gives Louise and Eugenie a full relationship, with subtext and the examination of the social issues of being a closeted homosexual Art by Sabrina DeAbreu (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director in old-day France.

The each outrageous omission entire historical commenwithin the abridged vertary, and all of its rich sion, but to avoid spoilers development, drama and

subversion.

Further, the dramatic tension and poetic justice of the individual charac-

ter arcs suffer from the cut backstory and anecdotes. I won’t spoil anything major, but by the time the novel ends, the reader will have witnessed kidnappings, suicides, loves lost and loves won. Each of these

Logo by Rose Ni (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

OPINIONS

Page 14

EASTSIDE

November 2017

E-shopping can bring delight – or destruction ■ By Madi Palat (‘18) Eastside Staff

The convenience of next-day delivery with Amazon is not even comparable to the trouble of getting in a car to get clothes, food, school supplies and other necessities. The lives of many working parents are already hectic enough, and having to go out to shop is nearly impossible to fit into the schedule.

Online retailers such as Amazon, eBay, W a y fair and O v e r s t o c k provide consumers with easy- toreach, sometimes less expensive items that come straight to the door.

Most of these online stores often have “flash deals” that are only good for a few hours. “Flash deals” occur when a retailer discounts an item for a limited period of time.

Anybody could go online and search for what he or she is looking to buy and find it in a minute.

Shopping online gives consumers a huge variety and selection that is hard to find in a store. Often, a far greater selection of options are at disposal online.

“Amazon just makes things easier. You don’t have to go to the store to buy things, and Amazon Prime helps you get the products quickly,” said Jake Swerdloff (‘18).

Amazon Prime is a service available for customers to purchase for $99 a year or $10 a month. Even though this may be costly, it definitely pays off with all the benefits it includes: free two-day shipping, Prime video streaming, Prime music and more.

When shopping at the supermarket, more likely than not, a shopper will purchase way more than he or she had initially intended to buy. Online food stores such as Amazon Pantry, Netgrocer and ShopFoodEx give consumers a way to purchase exactly what they intended to buy and ultimately save money.

This food shopping feature helps people keep

money in their pockets and unnecessary food on the shelves.

It is extremely difficult to get in and out of a store in 10 minutes or less. With online shopping, if you’re in a rush, you can buy as many sizes as you think you may need to try on and always return the ones that don’t fit.

Don’t grab your car keys; grab your phone or your laptop. The variety, convenience and inexpensiveness of online shopping cannot be beat.

■ By Eric First (‘18) Eastside Opinions Editor

Amazon and other online retail giants have put a stranglehold on our society. They are directly responsible for destroying jobs, local economies and a sense of community in shopping. Online retailers c a n be

thanked for the thousands of empty storefronts comprising the countless vacant shopping centers across America.

Since January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the retail trade industry has lost over 107,000 jobs. The loss of so many jobs results from the demise of brick and mortar stores. Over this past year, many staple retailers shut their doors. Nationwide, Radio Shack closed over 1,400 stores, Payless closed more than 800 stores and hhgregg and Kmart each shuttered upwards of 200

stores.These are just a few prime examples of stores that have fallen victim to the online retail giants.

As a result, jobs have been lost and will continue to be lost, forcing even more people out of work with nowhere to turn.

By feeding into the trend of shopping online, people are also losing a sense of community. Gone are the days of going out with friends to explore the hidden treasures of the malls. Now, many malls, such as the Echelon Mall, have e i ther closed c o m pletely or have been reduced in size due to the lack of customers.

The mom and pop stores of the twentieth century can no longer compete in this hostile environment either. As a result, local small business owners are forced to close up shop.

Since people are opting to shop almost exclusively online, the chances of running into friends and old acquaintances and having conversations with them is now limited. It is a shame that online shopping gives the next generation an excuse not to be social each day, further diminishing communication skills through face-to-face conversation.

While Amazon has over 80 million members subscribed to its Prime service, translating to nearly 64 percent of United States households, it is important to still support local stores. By purchasing everything we use from major online retailers, communities continue to deteriorate, turning the once vibrant main streets and malls into ghost towns.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon

Jiseon Lee (‘20)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Amazon and other online retailers have ruined the profitability of numerous businesses, casuing them to shudder.

November 2017

EASTSIDE

Page 15

www.y2academy.com

ACADEMY SAT

Impact of Y2 Academy

At least 270pt.Increase or Minimum 1500pt.

(1600 Perfect) on New SAT

SAT & ACT Score Guarantee Program

ACT

At least 6pt.Increase or Minimum 33pt.

(36 Perfect) on ACT

Students who do not increase guaranteed points are eligible to take future lessons tuition-free until the goal is achieved.

Y2 Hybrid Study System Test & Lecture in Class (Off Line) + Self Study for Practice & Homework (Online) anytime anywhere with Wifi

Æ

Best Result & Score Guarantee

#1 in USA

ð

It is the guarantee to achieve the goal.

Without the system, there is no accomplishment.

No further explanation is needed. Visit the nearest Y2 campus.

You can experience the performance and effects directly through system demos and explanations.

þ A unique user name and password provided after registration for system login. þ Continue through online study for at least 2 months after the end of the semester. þ Provides opportunities to improve grades. This is a Y2 system effect and advantage.

TEST Prep Fall 2017

SAT

10/01/17 - 1/27/18

16days&extra sessions (196hrs)

8:00am-6:30pm

Fall 2017

ACT

10/01/17 - 1/27/18

16days&extra sessions (196hrs)

8:00am-6:30pm

Winter 2017

The Score tells Everything!

1 1600 Perfect Scorer: Palak Shah (College Board Dec 2016 Test)

24 SAT Perfect Scorers 5 ACT Perfect Scorers 4 SAT Essay Perfect Scorers 33 SAT 1540pt. & above students(1600 perfect) Sept.~ Dec. 2016 Test results

Winter 2017

$400

OFF

expires

10/27/17

SAT

12/23/17 - 2/17/18 8:00am-6:30pm

Extra Full Test:2/24 &3/3

Winter 2017

ACT

12/23/17 - 2/17/18

Summer 2018

8:00am-6:30pm

$500 expires

OFF

Extra Full Test:2/24 &3/3

12/08/17

www.y2academy.com

ACADEMY

Cherry Hill Main Campus

(856)888-2123

300 Marlton Pike West, Cherry Hill NJ 08002 Email: mainoffice@y2academy.com

„Edison(NJ) „Tenafly(NJ) „Bridgewater(NJ) „Marlboro(NJ) „Princeton(NJ) „Parsippany(NJ)

„North Wales(PA) „Levittown(PA) „Hockessin(DE) „Cary(NC) „Ellicott City(MD) „Paoli(PA) „Fort Lee (NJ)

UNDERGROUND

The Obscurest of Sports Page 16

■ By David Le (‘18)

Eastside Underground Editor

As fall is in full swing, there are many mainstream sports that come to mind, such as basketball and football. But what about the lesser known activities, the so-called “obscure sports”?

EASTSIDE

When people consider obscure sports, they usually mean something to the effect of table-tennis or cricket. However, as one delves deeper into the rabbit hole of sport obscurity, the activities start to become more and more… unusual.

Below are four of the most “popular” obscure activities from around the world.

The Art of Chessboxing Many people think of chess and boxing as contrasting activities. However, one obscure sport by the name of “Chessboxing” shows that nothing is immune to the combo-sport trend. Chessboxing is a worldwide sport that combines the mental and physical disciplines of chess and boxing, hence the name.

The sport was created in 2003 by Iepe Rubingh, a Dutch performance artist. Although it was originally meant to be an art performance of sorts, chessboxing rapidly caught on as a competitive sport.

A chessboxing match has a total of 11 threeminute rounds with one-minute breaks in between. It alternates between five rounds of boxing and six rounds of chess.

A chessboxer can win in one of six ways: knockout, technical knockout, checkmate, exceeding the time limit, referee disqualification or opponent resignation. The requirements to be a chessboxer are just as vigorous as the sport itself. One must have strong skills in both chess and boxing to participate in a professional fight. The requirements for chessboxing

include a high proficiency rating in chess and a record of at least 50 amateur fights in boxing.

However, the sport is not all about mental and physical skill, it is also about endurance. Chessboxers must be able to withstand the constant switch from a full contact sport to a tactical one each round. As the fight progresses, this switch becomes increasi n g l y hard-

er for the chessboxer and results in physical and mental exhaustion.

In order to be adequately prepared, participants undergo specialized chessboxing training sessions, which include intervals of physical training and speed chess games. Despite the rigorous training and fierce competition, the sport is quite popular in many countries, including Great Britain, Germany, India, the Netherlands and Russia.

Major organizations for the sport include the World Chess Boxing Organization (WCBO) and the World Chess Boxing Association (WCBA), which includes

different branches in Berlin, India, Iran, Italy, USA, Russia and Mexico. The marketing agency, Chess Boxing Global, is responsible for professional fights and all commercial activities affiliated with chessboxing. Many people consider chessboxing to be a sport that should be part of the mainstream.

Sean Escareal (‘18) said, “Chess boxing is certainly exotic and has the potential to be a worldclass sport due to its demanding expectations in [mental and physical] dimensions of sports.”

Others, however, believe that chessboxing is simply a strange combination and should remain unknown from public recognition.

Jaehoon Kim (‘19) said, “[Chessboxing] doesn’t sound legitimate.

It’s not popular, so why should it take the place of dependable sports like basketball or football?”

Yet, with the sport becoming more and more popular around the world, the art of chessboxing is proving to be a real knockout.

Art by Jeffrey Kaminer (‘21)/ Eastside Staff

Ferretlegging Pastime In a history filled with tests of grit, the ultimate test of endurance is ferretlegging, where live ferrets are trapped in pants worn by the participants.

The sport is said to have originated from a time when only the wealthy in England were allowed to have ferrets. This forced poachers to hide their illegal ferrets in their trousers to avoid detection.

This was later adopted

by Yorkshire miners as a pastime in the 1970s.

In ferretlegging, competitors tie their trousers at the ankles before placing two ferrets inside and tightening their belts to prevent them from escaping. Competitors must stand in front of the judges for as long as they can. Neither the competitors nor ferrets are allowed to be drugged. Competitors cannot wear underwear, which allows the ferrets to access both legs.

Competitors can try to remove the ferrets from

the outside of their pants, but since these animals can maintain a strong hold for long periods, their removal can be quite

d i f ficult.

The winner is the person who lasts the longest.The current world record for the sport is five hours and thirty minutes. Ferretlegging involves very little skill and focuses mainly on endurance. Some argue that ferret legging does not qualify as a sport.

Mikail Khan (‘19) said, “I don’t know what to think of it. There doesn’t seem to be any [purpose]. I guess it could be fun if you like stuffing ferrets in your pants, if you’re into that sort of thing, but I really don’t think [ferretlegging] qualifies as a sport.”

Despite the controversy, it gained popularity as a sport when a humor article written by Don Katz, titled “King of the Ferret Leggers,” was published in the October 1987 issue of Outside magazine.

Although it seems to be fading in popularity, national ferretlegging events were hosted in Richmond, Virginia, from 2003 to 2009.

Even today, ferretlegging is a national event in England and the United States. It seems that no matter what, ferret leggers believe, this sport will ferret out anyone unwilling to test his or her grit in this unusual activity.

Art by Samantha Dayton (‘19)/ Eastside Staff

November 2017

Mountain Unicycling If you thought that unicycling was hard enough, try it on a mountain.

Mountain unicycling, otherwise known as MUni, is an adventure sport that involves navigating rough terrain on a unicycle. There is no exact origin for MUni; however, it is widely speculated that it came about in order to demonstrate the unicyle’s superiority to the bicycle.

The unicycle’s lack of a typical gear system and its overall instability makes descents extremely difficult and prevents the rider from reaching high speeds. Due to the disadvantages of a normal unicycle, many mountain unicyclists use specially designed unicycles that can handle rough terrain. These unicycles are equipped with strong axles, thick grip-tires for shock absorption, high pedals, rugged frames and rim brakes for stopping or deceleration. These accessories allow the unicyclist to maneuver difficult paths and compensate for the steeper slopes.

Mountain unicyling is different from regular unicycling or mountain biking.

Participants must train core strength and balance,

as both are important parts of this sport. It has been considered an extremely challenging activity, even for experienced unicyclists or mountain bikers.

David Ha (‘18) said, “In my opinion, [mountain unicycling] seems somewhat dangerous, I’m not surprised that it takes a lot of practice and skill [to mas-

Many have tried to answer the age-old question: How can one make ironing a more fun and challenging task?

The answer lies in the latest activity to join the ever-expanding ranks of extreme sports: extreme ironing.

In extreme ironing, participants take ironing boards to remote or dangerous locations and iron items of clothing.

According to its creator, Phil Shaw, “The sport is an outdoor activity that combines the danger and excitement of an extreme sport with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt.”

The sport began in 1997 in Leicester, England.

Shaw created the sport after he combined his chore of ironing with his passion for rock climbing.

The sport was the object of international attention after a documentary called Extreme Ironing: Pressing

for Victory was aired on the National Geographic Channel.

Extreme ironing can be a solo or group sport and is open to interpretation, with varying levels of difficulty.

Some examples include ironing while mountain climbing, skiing or parachuting. Basic equipment consists of an iron, ironing board and all necessary safety equipment related to the secondary activity.

Due to its extreme adaptability, many people have been intrigued by this fascinating sport. Andrew Huynh (‘19) said, “It sounded like a joke at first, but now I want to look into it to see what it’s about. It’s like an add-on to any activity.”

In everyday chores, one may be able to take the extreme out of ironing, but this sport has proven that anyone can put ironing to the extreme.

ter].”

MUni is popular wherever there is unicycling, and organizations like the International Unicycling Federation organize events across the globe for mountain unicycling. The rise of mountain unicycling or MUni as a sport only proves that sometimes two is not always better than one.

Art by Sabrina DeAbreu (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

Extreme Ironing

Art by Rose Ni (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

November 2017

UNDERGROUND

EASTSIDE

Social media apps try to prevent harassment ■ By Harry Green (‘20)

Eastside Entertainment Editor

In today’s world, social media has become increasingly divisive. Users of social media are not blind to changes in what was once considered an accepting cultural hub, in which social media is being pervaded by violent, negative and generally malicious behavior. The added factor of internet anonymity does not present any sense of relief. By being anonymous online, users of social media are often emboldened to attack and harass others in a way they wouldn’t be able to in person. However, new social media apps seem to be moving in the direction of positive anonymity.

Take the iPhone app TBH, for example. The application, released in early September, allows users to compliment their friends anonymously. It provides the user with a computergenerated, personalitybased statement, such as “This person is your happy place,” with a list of four names to choose from.

Whichever friend the user feels most accurately displays that characteristic is treated with a notification telling him or her that a friend thought he or she was “their lucky charm,” or had “the most contagious laugh.”

This app has been very successful in the time since

it became available. Nearly a month after its release, TBH remained the #1 free app in the iTunes Store.

Many people seemed to be encouraged by the positive comp l i ments t h e y received on the app, regardless of their anonymity. One customer review o n t h e iTunes store said that “I love that we can be positive for a change.”

However, Facebook purchased the app in early October, and although promising at the t i m e t h a t the app wouldn’t change much, it has already undergone a significant alteration.

Now, despite the app originally saying that users would be limited to completing surveys, it now fea-

tures private messaging.

Users can now respond to statements sent to them by others. If the other user replies to the original comment, the identity of both users will be re-

vealed. Several apps with similar anonymous commenting features have been popularized in the past few years, such as Ask.fm and Sara-

hah. However, these apps maintain fewer restrictions about what a user can or cannot say. This left the apps’ users susceptible to being targeted by hateful comments without the ability to find the source of the negativity. Riley Johnson (‘21), who has used Ask.fm in the past, said that “people think it’s okay to say whatever they want to.”

Aliyah Anderson (‘19) also said that although “these apps are...interesting…[they] can also be a way to bully.”

Newer social media apps have increasingly been trying to solve that issue by limiting what and how people comment. TBH’s original model of generating its own questions ensured that users couldn’t be harassed. Additionally, people couldn’t comment on statements other people received, which further discouraged any negative interactions.

With an increasingly malicious social media culture, user-anonymity remains an issue. New apps, however, are increasing the shared efforts of the technological community to reduce negativity and use anonymity to their advantage. Although TBH has since altered its original structure, its ideas represent a developing shift toward positivity within social media apps.

Art by Noah Kaminer (‘18)/ For Eastside

Underground History: Garden State of Mind farm was not alone, however. According to historical documents, most of the N e w town was engaged in agriJersey is culture, milling and carknown for a riage making. few things.

A lawyer by trade, Traffic, yes; Browning had a number of the shore, prominent positions in the yes; and Cherry Hill area and state. produce, He attended the New Jeryes. We are “The Garden sey Constitutional ConvenState,” but in our suburban tion in 1834 to aid in draftsetting it ing our is easy to state’s forget that second throughconstiout the tution, rest of the which deUnited veloped States, we the judiare known ciary and as a key executive agriculbranch of tural prothe state ducer, with governtomatoes, ment in blueberorder to ries and balance cranberthe legries as our islature most noand attable prodtempted ucts. Conto cap sidering s t a t e Courtesy of NJ.gov our small debt. He size, dense Browning owned the Cherry was also Hill Farm. population the attorand sandy ney gensoil, New Jersey seems like eral under two governors, an unlikely state to take up but that seems irrelevant the nickname. considering the topic. How In 1876, Cherry Hill was many of us know, or rather, not Cherry Hill, but rather care about our current state Delaware Township. Howgovernment? We do, however, the seed of the future ever, care about the state name was planted by a nickname and it just so singular farm. The Cherry happens to be that BrownHill Farm, located at what ing is an important figure is now the intersection bein that story. tween Haddonfield Road The legend goes that and Route 38, was owned at the 1876 World’s Fair,

by Abraham Browning. His Browning delivered an ad■ By Joshua Sodicoff (‘18)

Eastside Opinions Editor

dress on the economic power of New Jersey.

He referred to New Jersey as a metaphorical barrel of food, with ends open to Philadelphia and New York; and supposedly within this speech he called New Jersey the “Garden State.” This, at least, is the story supported by the state government. It claims this as fact on its website and further confirmed it when Governor Christie signed into law an act making “The Garden State” New Jersey’s official slogan in Au-

gust of this year.

The validity of the history of the name is disputed in the media. The Philadelphia Inquirer published a report in which it went back through its archive and found no reference to a “garden state” in a transcript of his speech while finding

evidence that a number of other states also referred to themselves as “gard e n states” during the same time period.

This brings us to a crossroads as Cherry Hill citizens.

Should w e s u p p o r t t h e m y t h t h a t brings us historical significance? Or the facts that argue against the originality of our state’s nickname and its official doctrine? From the vast majority of vantage points within town, it seems that we do not deserve credit for naming our state. Yet, in memory of Abraham Browning and our rural past, I for one will continue the tale of how a Cherry Hill resident created one of the most recognizable symbols of New Jersey.

Art by Carmen DeCosmo (‘18) Eastside Staff

Page 17

Out of the Vault:

Pokémon

■ By Jared Fisch (‘18) Eastside Managing Editor

It was 1995... the year that would change the video and card game industries forever. A man by the name of Satoshi Tajiri created The Pokémon Company, which Nintendo currently owns. The Pokémon Company bases its game and storyline around animal-like creatures called, you guessed it, Pokémon.

These creative, often funny-looking beasts are found and captured, and eventually trained by Pokémon Trainers. These Trainers are either in-game characters or you, the player.

Trainers use their specific collection of Pokémon to battle other Trainers in the game. The most famous Pokémon Trainer, Ash Ket-

chum, is a fictional character from the series who is well – known for his red hat and catchphrase, “gotta catch ‘em all!”

After the game’s launch and sweeping success on the Gameboy, the Pokémon Company went on to expand Pokémon into a card game, animated television show, comic book series and much more. In the video game industry alone, it is the second best – selling franchise behind Mario.

Pokémon is also the highest grossing media franchise, surpassing Star Wars by over ten billion dollars.

The point of the game, whether you play it on a gaming console, your phone or through the card version, is to catch or collect many different types of Pokémon in order to complete the Pokédex (an inventory of all existing Pokémon) and train these Pokémon to battle other Trainers. The game seems simple in concept, but becomes increasingly complex with additional rules and regulations associated with different species and specific abilities. Over the years, the game has become even more complicated as new Pokémon were added over time. The first generation started with just 151 different Pokémon. Fast forward seven generations, and the total number of Pokémon now surpasses 700.

Pokémon celebrated its 20-year anniversary last year and is still dominating the market. Although it has slowed down since its golden years in the late ‘90s to early 2000s, the game is still catching attention and players are still catching Pokémon.

Logo by Sabrina DeAbreu (‘18)/ Eastside Art Director

Page 18

SPORTS EASTSIDE

November 2017

New Athletic Director looks to unite East and West

Dakota Rosen (‘19)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Athletic Director Mr. Michael Beirao sits on his new desk showing off his East apparel, sports equipment and hardware. seven years and Sterling new policies that he hopes will attend every game and has caused.

■ By Sophie Levine (‘19) High School for four years, to enforce.

These policies keep people updated by the Finally, Beirao wants Eastside Sports Editor where he was also a wreswill make both Athletic Deusage of the schools’ Twitto see a great product on tling coach. Before coming partments even stronger. ter accounts. In the near the field between East and Red against purple. Couto Cherry Hill East and One of the first policies he future, he hopes to expand West. For the “Boot Game” gars against Lions. Just West, he was the assistant implemented was having his social media realm to an on the evening before about any student who atprincipal at Kingsway Reeach athlete on the cheerInstagram account because Thanksgiving, he is having tends Cherry Hill East or gional High School for two leading squad be required he believes that the maa T-shirt made for himself Cherry Hill West can exyears. to get progress reports jority of the younger genthat says, “Cherry Hill Pubplain the historic rivalry be“I worked really hard to signed by their teachers to eration use Instagram over lic Schools Athletic Staff.” tween the two schools. The get to this position, through ensure that their grades Twitter.

He wants the game to be schools, on opposite sides coaching... I felt like I spent were sufficient enough to Although Beirao said he entertaining and is indifof town, have been competmy whole life trying to participate in the sport. adores his job and helping ferent to which team comes ing against each other ever get to this position,” said The coaches also now have all of his student-athletes out on top, as long as it is a since the schools opened Beirao. access to Genesis, so they gain success, there are competitive game, he said. their doors. In athletics, The job of Athletic Direccan access their athletes’ some difficulties. He noted Although there is a masthe two rivals have always tor entails a lot of respongrades online. Other sports that the most significant sive rivalry between East tried to edge out each other sibility and also takes a cowill follow this policy in the challenge was due to incliand West, Beirao brings in competition. However, pious amount of hard work coming months. mate weather and the nuboth schools together in an as of this school year, the and dedication. It requires “I think this is a good merous schedule changes it unusual way.

Athletic Department will overseeing all of the coachidea so that be somewhat more united. es and student-athletes for we are reThis summmer, East both East and West. Beirao quired to keep and West hired a new Athmanages 52 varsity teams, our grades letic Director, Mr. Michael over 1,000 student-athletes up,” said Sam Beirao. Beirao, a graduate and approximately 132 Greenbaum of East Carolina Univercoaches and athletic staff. (‘18), one of sity in 1998, is extremely “On a regular day, I deal the Varsity excited to take on the role with business offices, reCheerleading of Athletic Director of both sources departments, the captains.

East and West, a position buildings and grounds, as S o m e that is not usually shared well as two principles from coaches say between the two schools. two schools,” said Beirao. that this new He took over the position Another vital aspect of policy can be for Dr. John Burns and Beirao’s job is time mantime-consumMr. Lou Papa, both assisagement. Considering he ing. However, tant principals. This allows works at East and West, he it is essential more time for the assistant has to split his time evenly to make sure principals to do their work, to ensure that each school that their including discipline and gets an equal amount of atathletes are overseeing academic detention. Beirao has a schednot failing so partments. ule that he tries to follow they can con“Having one person strictly. He typically spends tinue to play whose sole responsibility is three days a week at West a sport. devotion and commitment and three days a week at “[Beirao] to athletics is huge for me.

East, considering East has wants to It is huge for East. It will be many athletic events over make sure much better than what it the weekend. that the has been in the past,” said “I want to make sure that coaches are East principal Dr. Dennis I am there for the coaches, paying attenPerry. the students and everybody tion to their Beirao’s passion for else who may need me,” [athletes’] sports and people is elecsaid Beirao. grades,” said tric. He loves everything A primary goal that Mrs. Jenabout sports and wants Beirao wants to achieve nifer DiSteto see success achieved this school year is improvfano, Varsity through every one of his ing the Athletic DepartCheerleading scholar-athletes. ment and to have it reach coach of five “I absolutely love sports new heights. He wants to years. and people… and the bigmake sure that the departFurthergest kick I get out of my ment has a clear-cut vision. more, Beirao life is seeing other people “I am looking for [a] WE is in charge of achieve success,” said [West and East] before ME the East and Beirao. mentality. You really need West AthletBeirao has a long histo focus on how to make ics Twitter tory and many qualificathe team successful before accounts. If tions that ensured that he I can make myself successhe is at the was the right person for the ful,” said Beirao. building durposition of athletic director.

In addition to a clearing a sportHe was a teacher at Cincut vision, Beirao has a few ing event, he naminson High School for

A Kickin’ College Tip: If you have a word count, make your words count!

When writing your college essays remember to Go Big, Go Bold or Go Home.

Now go kick those apps into gear!

SPORTS

November 2017

EASTSIDE

Coach Surrency returns to East after medical scare

■ By Adam Dashevsky (‘19) Eastside Sports Editor

diately request a more challenging one, whether it was to rehabilitate his memory or his speech.

Surrency said, “I would say, ‘You have to get me back to the kids.’ I love what I do. I love the kids.”

When it came to rehabilitation, Surrency had the same drive and determination as he instilled in his players on the sports field. If Surrency ran on the treadmill for 15 minutes one day, he would run on the treadmill for 18 minutes the next day, and so on. This progression not only made him physically stronger, but mentally it was encouraging, as Surrency could see he was advancing in his therapy sessions, which meant to him that he was getting better. Surrency’s positive thinking and optimistic attitude are what got him out of bed every day and to therapy, where he put in a hard day’s work with the goal of merely returning to normalcy. But, he wasn’t alone. Surrency, fortunately, had an amazing support team.

“I was so happy that my family was there for me. Just knowing that in a time of crisis, there are people

Page 19

Coach Radbill survives bacterial infection

■ By Adam Dashevsky (‘19)

Eastside Sports Editor

Super Bowl Sunday: a time when “March comes in like a lion football fans all over gather in front and goes out like a lamb,” accordof their television sets to watch the ing to weather lore. But, the only two highest ranked teams battle it animal Mr. Erik Radbill thinks out for the NFL season championabout are cougars, as March ushship. The day was no different for ers in the spring baseball season the Surrency family. East football at East every year. and track coach Mr. Mike Surrency It’s 2017, and the 47-yearwas casually conversing around the old Radbill is eager to begin his TV with his sister and brother-intwelfth season as coach of the law during the pre-game festivities Cherry Hill East Cougars Basewhen he suddenly passed out. ball team. Though the team’s “The best thing that ever hapoutlook for the season was bright, pened was that [my sister] called Radbill’s health took a turn for 911,” said Surrency. the worse. Unfortunately, he conThe paramedics quickly arrived tracted the strain B flu, the start to transport an unconscious Surrenof his many health issues that cy to the hospital. He was kept oversidelined him for the majority of night for observation with the hopes the spring sports season. that the doctors would quickly deterVarsity baseball player Zach mine just what caused Surrency to Padersky (‘17) said, “[The baselose his consciousness. The following ball team] didn’t know the severmorning, on his way to a scheduled ity of the situation. At the time, electrocardiogram (EKG) exam to we expected him to be back in test his heart’s electrical activity, about a week or so. We thought it Surrency’s heart abruptly stopped. was just the flu.”

For 12 minutes he laid on a gurney Medicine seemed to be ineffecwith no heartbeat.

For the next three days, it was a touch-and-go situation as Surrency remained on life support. His family tried to maintain a positive attitude with a hopeful wait-and-see approach. The hospital contacted Surrency’s daughter to inform her of her father’s grave situation, prompting her to drop everything and immediately fly in from Alabama. She promptly arrived at her father’s bedside with her son. Surrency awoke four days after the frightful incident, disoriented and confused as to why he was situated in a hospital bed with his daughter and grandson next to him. The faces of his daughter and grandson were plastered with bright smiles when Surrency awoke. Through the dark incident, the doctor had good news to lighten the otherwise grim situation.

Surrency said, “The doctor basically said [I] took care of [myself] throughout the years, and that’s what’s going to save me.”

Once the news reached the hallowed hallways of Cherry Hill East, students and faculty members were instantly heartbroken and most were understandably in shock.

Scared and confused, many students and faculty members wanted to rush to the hospital to see the mighty teacher and coach they collectively revered.

Jiseon Lee (‘20)/ Eastside Photo Edtior Varsity sprinter and football play- Surrency and Radbill pose together near the student entrance. er Isaac Jean-Baptiste (‘19) said, “The incident was sad and disheartening. He’s a huge role model for us.”

Faculty members echoed similar tive as Radbill’s health progresthat will help you no matter what sentiments. sively worsened. He began to the situation is, helped me,” said “It was very shocking to see a guy have difficulty breathing, which Surrency. who is very health conscious fall into resulted in some scary events.

Despite a barrage of testing, Sursuch a dangerous situation as he Much to her horror, East Engrency’s team of physicians still apdid… When you lose a personality lish teacher Mrs. Katie Radbill peared baffled as to what caused such as Surrency, the student body’s found her husband passed out the heart of an otherwise healthy personality kind of falls along with on their bathroom floor, prompt54-year-old Surrency to suddenly it, as well as the staff’s,” said teacher ing an emergency trip to the hosstop beating for 12 minutes. Now, and assistant football coach Mr. Joe pital. After testing, Mr. Radbill specialists are doing genetic testCucinotti. was cleared for discharge. Howing on Surrency, his daughter and When people experience a mediever, over the following days, his grandson to determine if his heart cal crisis as Surrency did, there are health would start to worsen. issue is congenital. often long-term effects. Although his “He looked like he was going to One of the main aspects that kept long-term memory was not affected, die,” said Mrs. Radbill.

Surrency moving forward each and Surrency’s short-term memory took Those two days are a blur in every day was his knowledge that he a small hit. He could still recount to the mind of Mr. Radbill. Mrs. had the support and encouragement his friends the millions of memories Radbill rushed him back to the of the entire East family. Being away they shared in high school, but the hospital, where further testing from school and out of his daily rouevents that transpired on that Febdiscovered a streptococcal infectine for such an extended period of ruary 5 were a loss for Surrency. tion in his blood — a bacterial time allowed time for Surrency to reThis is when the rehab process infection which was poisoning flect on his life, and he realized just began. Surrency only has high his entire body. Soon he would how much his East family means to praise for the excellent therapist be diagnosed with sepsis, a lifehim. The nurses admonished Surand doctors that helped him along threatening complication of a rency that he had to stop accepting the way. During his rehabilitation, bacterial infection in the bloodvisitors in his hospital room because Surrency always wanted to quickly stream. it was hindering his recovery. That advance because he knew how imTo make matters worse, the caused a huge smile to spread across portant his rehab process was. He sepsis caused Mr. Radbill to deSurrency’s face, as he realized his would complete a task and immevelop pneumonia in his lungs, See SURRENCY, pg. 20

which gave him empyema. Empyema is a condition in which pus gathers in the area between the lungs and the inner surface of the chest wall. Mr. Radbill had tubes going in and out of his chest to remove the empyema. It was feared that his organs would fail.

“I didn’t want to think the worst, but I was starting to think the worst… I had a regret that we didn’t go on enough dates. I was staying positive, but in the back of my mind I was really preparing for the worst,” said Mrs. Radbill.

Being the active person that he is, Mr. Radbill had difficulty remaining confined to a bed all day. Not having the ability to get up and move around really impacted him.

Mr. Radbill said, “Being such a mobile person as I am, I can hardly sit still. To be stuck in a hospital bed for 21 straight days, 16 of them of which I wasn’t eating solid food, it was hard to breathe, I had tubes sticking out of my back.”

Fortunately, the Radbills had a very supportive extended family that was there for them to help in any way. Mrs. Radbill’s mother took care of the kids, while Mr. Radbill’s parents offered moral support to both their son and Mrs. Radbill. Being away from his family for such an extended period of time really affected Mr. Radbill psychologically.

“It was extremely difficult to be away from my family, and you take it for granted. I mean, I love my job and what I do, and the community that we have. You realize when something is taken away from you that is out of your control, you really realize how good you have it and how many people are important in your life,” said Mr. Radbill.

As the news of Mr. Radbill’s grave condition spread throughout the school community, endless amounts of support for him and his family poured in. From teachers and staff to students and baseball players, everyone sent positive thoughts and prayers to the Radbill family.

“The outpouring of support from everybody literally made me cry more than one time in my hospital bed. It was probably the most humbling thing ever,” said Mr. Radbill.

Even Mr. Mike Surrency, who was dealing with his own medical issues at the time, made sure he reached out to his co-worker and good friend, Mr. Radbill.

“We kept in contact the entire time I was out of school, the entire time he was out,” said Surrency.

Due to his illness, Mr. Radbill was not able to complete his coaching season. The baseball team’s replacement coach was Mr. Radbill’s long-time friend, physical education teacher Mr. Jason Speller. Speller was able to deliver updates to the Cougars baseball players about their beloved coach’s recovery.

Mr. Radbill’s coaching and mentoring were surely missed by the team and the other coaches.

Speller admits that there was definitely something missing from the team dynamic with the absence of Radbill. “[Radbill is] such a dynamic personality, so whenever he is not around, he is going to be missed. So when he’s not around, the energy tends to dip a bit,” said Speller.

See RADBILL, pg. 20

SPORTS

November 2017

EASTSIDE

Page 20

East alums dominate the sports animation industry ■ By Jacob Kernis (‘20)

Eastside Sports Editor

sing, I like to make characters, and so to me, animation was the natural way of putting all those things

still in school,” said Craig.

Adam’s early success led to Craig teaching himself how to animate. He later

hoo called Sports Friends.

Sports Friends was the beginning of their careers in sports animation.

“I noticed that there wasn’t a lot of funny cartoons in sports areas,” said Adam.

As their work gained popularity, Bleacher Report reached out to the brothers about possibly collaborating. Adam and Craig pitched an idea of a “Game of Thrones” parody surrounding current NFL drama, but was later replaced with the NBA. This pitch birthed the popular humor cartoon series known as Game of Zones.

“We take real NBA news and situations and then transpose them to a medieval world. We take reallife drama and put them into a medieval fantasy world,” said Adam.

They released the first episode of Game of Zones in April of 2014, and the success was immediate.

“When we made the first episode, we were making it out of our apartment, and we were saying to each other ‘if you look at the Venn diagram of basketball fans

The animated series Game of Zones has reached immense popularity amongst NBA fans through its short existence. For the past three years during the NBA Playoffs, Bleacher Report (a sports news website owned by Turner Sports) has released the beloved parody of NBA drama through a “Game of Thrones” style setting.

Adam (‘01), age 34, and Craig (‘08), age 28, Malamut are the Senior Animation Producers responsible for Game of Zones, Sports Gods and multiple other animated sports cartoons. The brothers have attained massive success through skills they acquired during their four years as Cherry Hill East students.

Courtesy of Adam and Craig Malamut Adam, from a young Adam (left) and Craig (right) Malamut celebrate winning age, had a knack for car- awards for their animation achievements. tooning, but throughout high school he began to take his hobby more seritogether,” said Adam. joined his brother in aniously. He began pursuing As Adam moved on from mating as a career. a career in art by drawing high school to receive his In 2010 while Craig was cartoons for Eastside.

Bachelor’s Degree in Arts “[At East] it was about at Emerson College, his making kids laugh and beyounger brother Craig being funny, which was the gan his four years at Cherbeginning of doing that ry Hill East. Like Adam, he professionally. It was at was interested in drawing East where I really honed and was the Art Director for the skill of being able to Eastside. He was a talented make my peers laugh,” said artist, and during his junior Adam. and senior years, he placed His enjoyment of being second in the country one the ‘class clown’ was a peryear and third in another fect marriage with his pasin the National Scholastic sion for cartoons. He was Press Association Cartoonalways a good artist, but ist of the Year competition. his incorporation of humor Although Craig achieved in his cartoons separated success for his cartoons, he Adam from the rest of the had a passion for astronopack. my. His interest in space Throughout high school, and science led him to go Screenshot by Jacob Kernis (‘20)/ Eastside Sports Editor his comics were extremely for his Bachelor’s and MasJoel Embiid on Season 4, Episode 6, of Game of Zones. successful, but they were ter’s Degree in Astrophysshort-lived, as an incident ics at Wesleyan University. with a teacher led him to At this point, Craig did not at Wesleyan, Adam upand Game of Thrones fans, being kicked off the newstreat animation as a career loaded to YouTube a short how many people are gopaper. After being kicked choice. cartoon of former Phillies ing to overlap?’ We thought off, he began to focus on “I always drew a lot, but players Chase Utley and maybe twenty thousand… learning how to incorporate it was Adam’s influence Ryan Howard discussing but then when the episode drawings and humor into that got me into animation. their love for hitting home first went out, to our suranimation.

I dabbled with animation, runs. This became his first prise, it went completely “I could draw, I knew but it was because Adam major success, which led to viral,” said Craig.

I could be funny, I like to sold his cartoon while I was a viral series bought by Ya“We thought it was just

Surrency lives for his students Continued from pg. 19 good fortune of having many friends there for him in a time of need.

“The kids may not know what they do to me, but we’re teachers for a reason. I need them as much as they need me,” says Surrency.

Varsity football player Sean Coen (‘20) said, “He has always been a great motivator. I’ve always known him as a very strong guy… He is always someone that wants to see everybody succeed. He always pushes everyone at every position to get better.”

Every day of rehab was another day closer to finally seeing the students’ smiles as they walked into East. Any day at East is a great day in the eyes of Surrency. His first day back to school was monumental for Surrency. He looked forward to arriving at the high school, walking through the front entrance doors and doing what he needed to do, which is helping his students.

“That first day was a pretty sobering moment, being able to appreciate where he was and to see the recovery

going to be a one-off comedy video. We didn’t see it as a series when we first made it,” said Adam.

As the show was quickly increasing in popularity, Bleacher Report turned the short cartoon to an annual eight-episode season during the NBA playoffs.

For the Malamuts, Game of Zones is their most popular project but not their only claim to fame. They also create and work on other cartoons including Sports Gods and Superteam: A Warriors Musical. “[Sports Gods] is my favorite cartoon to make because it’s much easier to make in terms of the animation style… it talks more about the philosophy of sports, which I find interesting,” said Adam.

Although the Malamuts created all their cartoons from an idea to the finished product, their current project is helping on the second season of Gridiron Heights.

The show is a parody of the NFL, much like Game of Zones is for the NBA. Although they did not create the show, they are overseeing its production to make sure it is well-crafted.

As well as their passion for animation, they use another one of their interests in their sports cartoons.

They use politics and other universal themes to create the most popular cartoons in sports.

“We find that talking about philosophy and politics really shape a lot of the underlying ideas of our cartoons,” said Adam.

Throughout the past five years of animating, the brothers have gone from making cartoons in their apartment to being the heads of Bleacher Report’s animation faction. Game of Zones won Best Video Series at the 2017 Digiday Publishing Awards back in March. The category is for the publisher that best uses video to deliver quality storytelling. As past students, they applied lessons they learned from high school to become successful in their adult lives.

Radbill prevails from illness

that he made,” said Cucinotti.

Continued from pg. 19 Students can now see Surrency every day before school in the stuIf you know Radbill or see him dent enin the trance densely with a populath u g e ed East smile halls, on his y o u face. He k n o w will eiwhat a ther be positive talking man he to some is.

He teachwalks ers or around helpt h e ing out school s o m e with a s t u constant dents. smile on Surrenhis face, Jiseon Lee (‘20)/ Eastside Photo Editor cy real- Surrency speaks to students before school. ready izes just to help h o w students close to death he truly came. That is in any way he can. Radbill is also why he is thankful every day to be a mentor for his baseball players, able to return to the place where he where he assists them in their is able to help out the people he cares baseball and academic abilities. about: East.

“For four years he has been one

of my mentors and a great coach.

He has just been there for me all the time, and to see him throughout the school, he’s such a positive energy,” said Padersky.

Varsity baseball player Sean McKenna (‘19) echoes this sentiment.

“Radbill is an important part of our team’s success. His upbeat and positive energy on and off the field carries over to the players,” McKenna said.

The day he finally returned to school, Radbill experienced jitters typically experienced by freshmen entering their first day of high school. Because he almost died from an infection, Radbill was apprehensive about entering an unsterile building and being exposed to germs from over 2,200 students and faculty members. Although he was concerned about his health, he knew how important he was to his students, players and faculty members, whom he considers family. Radbill is ecstatic to be back and is blessed to be healthy once again.