Eastside: May 2014

www.eastside-online.org

Vol. 48 No. 9

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

May 2014

Art by Haley Schultz (‘14)/ Eastside News/Features Editor

NEWS/FEATURES

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EASTSIDE

May 2014

Multicultural clubs share their heritage with East African-American Club ■ By Haley Schultz (‘14)

Eastside News/Features Editor

This year, the Multicultural Day theme was “holidays”. Each club had to chose a holiday that best represents their culture to share with the East community.

Greek Culture Club

The Greek Culture Club is always easy to spot on stage with its traditional outfits and its dances in a continuous circular motion.

“We got more people [to do the dance this year],” said Alex Birbilis (’16). “Last year we had four and this year we had seven.”

The members learn their dances at their church, Saint Thomas, in Cherry Hill.

“We wore diferent costumes and we chose some more upbeat music,” said Birbilis.

The Greek Culture Club shows the school its culture every year with its traditional dances. This year, with more dancers and dances, the Greek Culture Club really stepped up its game.

Breakdancing Club

The Breakdancing Club is home to a wide variety of people who thoroughly love to breakdance. Breakdancing is a part of the modern-day culture of numerous diferent countries. Each year the members amaze their audience with their tricks and stunt-like dance moves.

“We have a playlist that we play at meetings and these are basically all the songs that we can dance to and we like dancing to,” said Weslie Chiu (’14) a member of the Breakdancing Club.

The leaders see what moves everyone can do and let the members choose what song they want to dance to.

“We match what song would give the feeling that the part in the dance gives,” said Chiu.

The club chose to base its dance on the theme of tournaments that happen within the breakdancing world. The Breakdancing Club won third place in this year’s Multicultural Day dance assembly.

The African-American Club at East always represents its heritage during Multicultural Day. This year was no different, as it chose Heritage Day for its holiday.

“It’s [a holiday] in South Africa and it is basically to pay homeage to different parts of [our] culture,” said Ebony Thorpe (’14), the club president and participant in the dance.

The club used modern music from Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria in its dance. The club also incorporated the Caribbean into its dance by having Jamaican music. “[Africans are] really invested in their tribes, so we kind of took different parts of Africa and put it to modern music,” said Thorpe.

The members found it difficult to find a holiday because African culture is prominent in three parts of the world: Africa, America and the Caribbean.

The dance was primarily choreographed by Shae Ross (’15) with help from Novae Barnes (’16).

“We basically wanted to show the two parts of African dance,” said Thorpe.

“We had traditional moves paired with modern music.”

The African-American Club dazzled on the Multicultural Day stage.

Filipino Culture Club

Santacruzan was the holiday that the Filipino Culture Club chose for its Multicultural Day theme.

“Since the Philippines is mostly dominated by Roman Catholics… the women would dress up as Reynas, or what we call Queens, to represent the Virgin Mary,” said Luigi Gabriel (’14).

The Reynas parade around with flowers over their heads with a male partner. The male partners wear a type of Polo called a Barong. These couples circle around the church in the city.

“Then we would have a festival where we dance traditional dances like Tinikling, which is what we did in the performance where we jumped on sticks and the dance where the girls danced with candles on their hands,” said Gabriel.

Some dances are passed down and taught to the new Filipino Culture Club members, but most are taught by the parents of club members.

The members chose their songs by finding out what music most of the Tinikling dancers would use.

“We tried to use hip-hop, modern songs that are either high in the Philippines or in the U.S,” said Gabriel. “We just wanted to have a variety in our songs.”

The Filipino Culture Club was the winner of last year’s Multicultural Day dance competition and continued to impress the audience this year.

German Club

Korean Culture Club

The Korean Culture Club wore its traditional New Year’s clothing to show that the holiday it chose was the Korean New Year.

“On Korean New Year’s, we all go around to our elders or our grandparents,” said Abigail Hong (’15), “and we do a traditional bowing ceremony, [so we are wearing] the clothing we wear for that.”

The club usually dances to the same type of songs in Korean culture and “the song [they] danced to [this year] is a traditional song from a long time ago,” said Hong.

The members have a dance teacher who teaches them the dances each year. Hong explained how the dances with the fans can vary from a wave to a flower to other traditional fan dances. The flower that the fans make is a symbol of Korea, which was a great way to end their dance.

Additionally, the Korean Culture Club had a hip-hop part to its dance. With the combination of beautiful traditional Korean dances and fun modern Korean dances, the Korean Culture Club truly impressed the audience.

Indian Culture Society

The Indian Culture Society based its dance on a main holiday that is celebrated in India. Navratri, the holiday the members chose, was incorporated in the finale of their dance.

“We celebrate it basically by having a bunch of Indians get together and dance,” said Amrita Mitra (’15), a member of the Indian Culture Society and also a participant in the dance.

Although the club used songs in their dance that are popular now, “[The dance] also [had] some songs that [were] native to certain parts of India,” said Mitra.

One of the songs was a South Indian piece and another was from the state of Punjab, showing the variety in their music.

“India is a very diverse country so we made sure diferent parts of our dance represented diferent parts of the country,” said Mitra.

The Indian Culture Society came in second place in the Multicultural Day dance assembly.

This was the German Club’s second year performing in the Multicultural Day assembly. The club was persistent and really wanted to perform in the assembly again.

“We did it last year and we kind of just wanted to play,” said Dylan Pogust (’14), who is president of the German Club and the singer of the German rock band, “so we chose one in German.”

Pogust went to Germany and heard of the band Die Ärzte from the friends he met. The song they performed is called Schrei Nach Liebe.

“It’s a song that’s against racism and hate in general,” said Pogust.

The band’s act was different from the other performances that were shown, and the club provided a different view of the school for the past two years.

Chinese Culture Club

The Chinese Culture Club chose Children’s Day as its holiday for the Multicultural Day dance competition.

“We are all youthful trying to show the kids inside of us even though we are in high school,” said Arisa Komatsu (’14), a member of the Chinese Culture Club who performed in the dance.

The Chinese Culture Club included a special type of its culture in its dance.

Two club members did various Kung-Fu moves during the song. They knew their Kung-Fu routines beforehand.

“We actually started discussing it in the beginning of the year and I was saying how I really liked it,” said Komatsu. “It was a really upbeat and easy song.”

The Chinese Culture Club’s dance was choreographed by the club’s president, Jenny Gao (’14).

The club’s hard work paid off when it was awarded first place in the dance competition this year.

Vietnamese Culture Club

This year was the first year that the Vietnamese Culture Club performed a dance in front of the school. The holiday the club chose was Chinese/Vietnamese Lunar New Year.

“In Vietnam it is a major holiday,” said Tommy Chung (’14), a member of the Vietnamese Culture Club who performed in the dance. “Everyone is in the streets partying and having fun and celebrating with their friends and family.”

Members of the Vietnamese Culture Club, Vy Le (’14) and Delena Nguyen (’14), choreographed the dance and taught it to those who participated. They were working on the dance since October.

“We wanted to show how the streets of Vietnam are like,” said Chung. “We wanted to incorporate the traditional dance with the modern dance.”

The Vietnamese Culture Club succeeded in its first performance in Multicultural Day history.

All art by Haley Schultz (‘14) Eastside News/ Features Editor

NEWS/FEATURES

May 2014

EASTSIDE

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Prom has changed throughout the years described his invitation and attendance at an early prom at Smith College in 1894.

Prom is prominently popular in Prom has been a tradition at nuthe United States, but it is becommerous high schools for many years. ing increasingly well-known in Prom, which started before the other countries. Although prom has 1900s, is a school formal that takes always been one of the most anticiplace towards the end of junior and pated events for a junior and sesenior year. Proms first began in nior in high school, it has changed the elite colleges of the Northeast, throughout the years. When the taking their cue from the debutante prom first began, early 19th cenballs of the rich and classy. tury teenagers would dress in their Middle- class parents admired the Sunday finest as opposed to purpoise and composure of debutantes chasing new clothing for the event. and their escorts and began Prom was a giant tea-party, which to institute formal consisted of socializing and dances as a means dancing. of instilling soDuring the 1920s cial skills and and 1930s, Amerietiquette in can youth began to their chilexperience more dren. The freedom with dances the arrival of w e r e the car and strictly other luxury chapitems. The e r high school oned prom exa n d panded into were a yearly often class banr e quet in strictwhich seed to niors aro n l y rived in seniors. party clothes T h e and danced. formal In the dance that 1950s, as Ameris now reicans enjoyed the ferred to as luxury of the postprom was first war economy, proms given the name began to become elabo“The Prom” in the rate events.

1890s. The It became Courtesey of Janice Feinberg very imporword “prom” is a short- A couple poses at the class of 1989 prom. tant to come ened form of with the promenade, best-looking meaning “a date, and bemarch of the guests at the beginning ing named to the prom court guarof a ball or other formal event.” anteed instant social status. It was The first reference to prom in also during the 1950s that teenage history comes from the journal of girls began to pay more attention to an Amherst College student who their prom dresses and make special ■ By Liza Rothkoff (‘16)

Eastside Staff

shopping trips for the perfect dress.

While the high school gym was adequate for sophomore dances, the settings of junior and seniors proms were gradually moved to grander locations.

At Cherry Hill East, the prom has changed considerably. In the seventies, eighties and nineties, the students chose Prom King and Prom Queen. At the time, being elected to Prom Court was considered the highest honor for the teenagers. Many believed the voting was unfair and considered the whole process to be a popularity contest. The Prom Queen and King would even get special privileges at events.

“At the football game, [the Prom Queen a n d P r o m King] would go on a float,” said P a mela Khan (’93).

style in the ‘80s was much different than it is now. During the 1980’s, popular styles included ruffled ballgowns and white tuxedos. This style is forever immortalized in the clasic ‘80s movies, such as Pretty in Pink.

“Girls would wear ruffles and tea length and long dresses,” said Meredith Cohen (’89). “Guys wore colored tuxedos.”

Nonetheless, not much has changed in terms of picture-taking to remember the prom. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, students went to friends’ houses to take pictures before the prom, just as they do now.

“We took pictures at friends’ houses. We would also take pictures at the prom,” said Khan.

Students also still anticipate prom like they did many years ago.

“It was fun because I was with friends and we were dancing and having a good time,” said Cohen.

N o w a days, many Years students go to later, the prom with P r o m friends.

Queen and “Now it is more Prom King of an event to go were chosen to with friends. It is by teachers. This not as important to go method was adapted with a date as it was back so that the then,” added Zach Mindel (‘14)/ For Eastside Khan. students w o u l d A couple poses at the class of 2015 prom.

P r o m have a fair throughout chance at the years has winning the changed in coveted titles. More recently, howsome aspects at Cherry Hill East. ever, East does not permit Prom But one thing remains the same— King and Queen to be chosen. that other than graduation, prom is Additionally, the style of attire one of the most anticipated events worn to prom has changed. The for any junior or senior.

Maryia Oreshko reigns over the game of chess advised by science teacher Mr. Greg Rouen, placed first at Regionals and competed at States. “[Maryia is] not only the strongest Chess, a test of skill and strategy, is chess player Cherry Hill East has a game played all across the world. One ever had, but one of the nicest kids all freshman at East, however, brings this around,” said Rouen. thousand-year-old board game a Currently, Oreshko takes little closer to home. lessons once a week over Skype Maryia Oreshko (’17) began with a teacher in Ukraine. The playing chess at the age of seven. instructor educates her on how “My dad introduced me to the to recognize reoccurring patgame,” said Oreshko, “and then terns in the game, a skill that found out that I liked it and I was helps her during competitions. also good at it.”

“There are many patterns,” Oreshko started out by playing Oreshko said. “The more you chess against her father, but she know, the better player you soon outgrew his skill level and are.” began playing more challenging Oreshko admits that algames online. She progressively though she should study chess got better, which caused her to several hours a week, she typibegin competing in tournaments cally only fits in one game due by the time she was in second to homework. grade. “[My favorite part] is the Oreshko typically competes challenge,” said Oreshko. once a month in two main types “Coming in to strategize and of tournaments: Round Robin [to] see things like patterns.” and Swiss. In a Round Robin The chess team at East bentournament, each contestant Meghna Kothari (‘15)/ Eastside News/Features Editor efits from having such a talplays each other once, and the Oreshko practices chess and recieves weekly lessons via ented and world-renowned tournament lasts about a day. player on its team, who only The Swiss competitions usually Skype. continues to improve. With last longer, and contestants play Oreshko’s fierce dedication against opponents based on their and rapid growth, who knows skill ratings.

World Championships. what awards she will be winning in just In 2011, Oreshko received the honor In addition to individual competia few years from now. of competing in the World Youth Chess tions, Oreshko also competes with the Art by Haley Schultz (‘14)/ Eastside News/ Championships in Brazil, placing sixth chess team at East. This year, the team, Features Editor

■ By Kaitlin Boyle (‘17)

Eastside Staff

among girls under age 12.

“I’ve been invited [to the tournament] a few more times,” said Oreshko, “but because of conflict and school...I can’t really go.”

However, there is still a possibility that she may one day return to the

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NEWS/FEATURES EASTSIDE

May 2014

Poet Lamont Dixon holds poetry residency at East ■ By Julia Rothkoff (‘16)

comforting crowd.

The crowd of students down below provided constructive criticism to their fellow student poets. Each shared poem brought a wave of emotions across the friendly crowd—joy, laughter At East, the and even writing currictears. ulum is strictly Di x academic; there on exis not much pressed room for crehis satative writing in isfaction English class. with the However, Ms. Skye Silverstein poems and Ms. Alicia DeMarco are once each looking to change that. Silstudent verstein and DeMarco put toshared. gether a poetry workshop for “These East students of all grades. are only The workshop was open to any f i r s t student interested in poetry, drafts, whether the student was a so imagnovice or an experienced poet. ine how Students had to apply for the g r e a t workshop via a basic questionthese ponaire. The full-day workshop ems will was open to 60 students—30 be after students on April 22 and the they are other 30 students on April 25. edited Experienced poet, Lamont and reDixon, hosted the workshop. v i s e d Dixon is familiar with the East a few community because he hosts times,” the poetry slam every year in D i x o n the library annex. Just like the said. poetry slam, the workshop was T h e held in the annex. a t m o The workshop started at sphere of 7:30 a.m. and continued until the whole 2:30 p.m.—a full school day. day was Upon entrance to the library very reannex, Silverstein handed Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor l a x e d , each student a poetry note- Dixon’s creative atmosphere follows him wherever he goes. especially book, filled with lined paper for when it students to write their poems came to sharing. What I found most interestin throughout the day. ing was the minimal use of phones amongst Dixon started off the workshop by exthe students. During a typical school day, plaining his love for poetry. students try to hide their phones under their “It’s a joy for me to do this,” Dixon desks in order to text friends about the borsaid sincerely. ing class they have to sit through for the next Dixon is a retired postal worker who hour. The low use of phones suggested actual now writes and performs poetry for a interest in poetry amongst the students. living. Even while working at the post Our third exercise was a skit. Dixon chose office, Dixon’s friends would call him ten students at a time to perform a silent skit. “the postal poet” because he was conThese skits ranged from acting out emotions stantly writing poetry. to being in fourth grade and waiting for a bus Additionally, Dixon is a member of stop to trying to survive in a desert. a band that performs poetry and blues This exercise prepared us to write a haiku music. His performance name is “Nawith a theatrical twist. Haikus are poems palm the Bomb”. Dixon explained that with a five-syllable, seven-syllable, five-syla teacher once became suspicious of lable structure. These poems traditionally him because of his pseudonym, but even contain themes of nature and imagery. We throughout this story, Dixon’s love for had five minutes to write our poems. Many poetry was obvious. students had trouble writing a full haiku in The first lesson of the day was on the the time given. We were then put into groups various styles of poetry, including haiof four to create a jumbo haiku, composed of kus and free-verse poetry. Dixon then all four of our poems. recited the same poem twice, but in two The groups were given fifteen minutes to different ways. The first was a recital memorize their poems and to create a theatpoem, which is performed with minirical performance to go along with the pomal body language, and the second was Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor ems. Dixon graded each performance on a a slam poem, which was performed in Dixon uses expressive movements to teach slam poetry. scale of 1-10 on a white board at the front a very theatrical manner. Dixon made of the room. Each group got a score higher us grade the poem on voice projection, than a seven; however, after every group diction, articulation, world play and the performed, Dixon erased the scores with the content of the poem. palm of his hand.

“I am in my element,” Dixon said whole“The point is not the scores, the point is heartedly a few times throughout the poetry,” Dixon said, holding up his hand that workshop. was covered in black ink.

Our next exercise was to list items that Our last task was to write a free-verse poem describe where we come from. After five about hands or blood. The majority of the stuminutes, I had about 25 items on my list dents, including myself, chose to write about to write a “Where I’m From” poem. Dixon blood. We started by creating a web of words. I gave us freedom with the structure of the chose words that obviously related to the topic, poem, which most students appreciated. like red, heart and crime, but also more obOur only task was to focus on sensory descure words that only I knew how they related tails, imagery and alliteration in our poto blood, such as time, love and face. ems.

The free-verse poem was the hardest poem We had ten minutes to write the poems to write of the day—that is probably why Dixabout death, love and what makes us the on saved it for last. A free-verse poem has very people we are today. Dixon walked around little structure, and the length of the lines has the tables during that time to give stuto be varied. dents suggestions.

We finished out the day by sharing our poAfter those ten minutes, we were reems with one another. The young poets seemed quired to read our poems to Dixon, Silvermuch more comfortable sharing their poems at stein, DeMarco and the other students on the end than they did during the first task. the second level of the library annex.

Dixon left the eager students with one last “I usually tell students to project their thought. voices up and out, but now I am telling you “Poets use words to create images,” Dixon guys to project down,” Dixon said with a said, encouraging us to continue exploring chuckle. poetry and to let our creative minds take us The requirement to share poems with Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor wherever we please to go in order to express others led to joy from some and groans ourselves. from others. I was not excited to share my Students apply what Dixon teaches them.

Eastside Community Editor

poem, mainly because of the personal aspect of poetry. However, once I walked up the steps to the second level of library annex and looked down at my fellow poets, my hands stopped shaking and I projected my voice down to the

COMMUNITY

May 2014

EASTSIDE

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Used music stores provide “new” music to customers ■ By Ashley Cooper (‘17)

Eastside Staff

With the innovative and the rapidly groundbreaking world that we live in today, online music has become extremely accessible and quickly downloadable.

Today, music can be downloaded from almost any device at any time. As the world has become so technologically advanced, it remains a large question why people in society still frequent music stores. Albeit, an even bigger question is why people still frequent used music stores.

There are several used music stores near Cherry Hill. For example, in our local community, there are two Tunes CD’s located in Voorhees and Marlton.

Tunes CD’s is one of the most prevalent and promi-

nent used music businesses country to rock. The store Main Street Music is in the area. The company even sells one-of-a-kind inanother well-known music is well known for its repustruments. Rustic Music store in the area. The store table music and benevoalso sells a wide-range of viis located in the Manayunk lent customer service. Also, nyl and cassettes—perfect neighborhood of PhiladelTunes has a wide range of for any music enthusiast. phia. Not only does the remerchandise, as cord store provide the store buys, quality music, sells and trades but it also offers used CDs and several discounts. vinyl for a deFor example, cent price.

Main Street MuRustic Music allows buyers sic is a lesser to use a frequent known, but still buyer card, alhighly frequentlowing shoppers ed, used muto save even more sic store in the money during area.

Located their visits. in Philadelphia, With the popuRustic Music larity of digital has an enormusic, it is permous selection plexing as to why of music from record stores still which to choose. thrive today.

The store sells a According to Andi Leff (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor vast collection of Tunes CD’s emmusic—anything Vinyl and CDs line the walls of Tunes CD’s in ployee Brian from hip-hop to Voorhees.

McCoy—store

worker at Tunes’ Voorhees location—there are several reasons why people visit the Tunes store.

“I would have to say, people still visit Tunes for the novelty effect,” said McCoy. “It’s really a different experience to hold a CD in your hands than to just buy it online.”

Whatever the reason, people still frequent used music stores, which makes them a popular destination for unique finds.

Phone numbers of used music stores: Voorhees Tunes CD’s: (856)-782-3733 Marlton Tunes CD’s: (856) 983-2566 Rustic Music: (215) 732-7805 Main Street Music: (215) 487-7732

The Victorious Rose flash mob proves to be successful

off their illness. We meet around six times a year and talk about fundraising ideas and ways to further The Alicia Rose Victorithe foundation. ous Foundation (ARVF) The Teen Council also is an organization helped raise created to awareness provide for the orcomfort to ganization teens with by particicancer and pating other sein a rious illflash nesses m o b while in dance the hosat the pital.

MooreThis ors t o w n ganization Mall durwas created in ing Teen memory of 17C a n c e r year-old AwareAlicia Rose Rachel Pacitti (‘15)/ Eastside Art Director n e s s DiNatale of Week in Voorhees, who succumbed January. The AVRF also to cancer after a brave hosts an annual 5K Victorifight. ous Run/Walk in Voorhees I became involved with where over 400 runners and this organization last walkers participate. Teen spring as a member of its Council members help in Teen Council. Teen Council many ways before and durmembers help further the ing the 5K by directing the cause of ARVF in a number participants, and giving out of ways. We help assemble gift bags and refreshments.

Teen Kits to be distributed This year’s 5K is on Sunto teens while in the hosday, June 1. The money pital. These kits contain raised during the 5K, as items such as a bandana well as during other fundpillow, art supplies, DVDs, raising events throughout a journal and other items to the year, helps fund not help teens take their minds only the Teen Kits, but also ■ By Leah Korn (‘16)

Eastside Staff

Courtesy of Leah Korn (‘16)

All volunteers gather for a photo after the successful flash mob. the creation of Teen Lounges and teen activities in hospitals.

I, along with other teen volunteers, participated in a flash mob this past year at the Moorestown Mall. It was a huge success, and I felt overwhelmed by the experience. I am so lucky to

be a part of this wonderful organization.

The feeling that I get from participating in events with the Victorious Rose Foundation make the whole experience worth it.

Check out ARVF’s website at www.arvf.org to sign up for the 5K run or to

learn even more about how you can participate in a community service organization while having a great time with the Victorious Rose foundation. For more information on how to get involved in the Teen Council call 856-784-0165 or email the info@avrf.org.

also states that the “ultilar Sherri Hill brand, in which makes it the perfect mate goal is to ensure that both long and short dresses, place to shop for any girl our customers looking for an exlook sensatravagant dress. tional before In Haddonthey leave our field, NJ, there store.” is Beaute Ange AdditionBoutique, which ally, in Cherry features top deHill, there signers Sherri is Dare BouHill, Lafemme tique. AccordTerani, Dave and ing to its webJohnny, Vienna, site, “the main Johnathan Kaygoal of Dare ne and Jovani. It Boutique is to has over 11 years create a differof experience and ent and better allows you to orshopping expeder any dress rience for the online as well as customer” and shop in the store. it “specializes Viewing the colin tween and lections online teen fashions.” is a perk for any The store girl who wishes carries the exto browse before Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor tremely popu- Prom dresses cover the walls at Jan’s actually going to

the store.

Right over the bridge is Golden Asp, in Bensalem, PA. It only sells prom dresses and is an authorized retailer for all the designers it sells and it only sells authentic prom dresses, which prevents girls from accidentally purchasing designer rip-offs. There is also Marlene’s Dress Shoppe, which opened in 1983 and has been voted “Best of South Jersey” for over 15 years by the readers of the Courier Post. It has also been voted “best” by South Jersey Magazine for “Best Gowns & Best Sportswear.” It sells the popular brand Jovani, as well as many other designer gowns.

With all of these stores, Cherry Hill East girls have an ample selection to find the perfect dresses.

Local dress shops offer prom dresses this prom season ■ By Jenna Wilson (‘15)

Eastside News/Features Editor

With prom quickly approaching, finding the perfect prom dress is a top priority for the girls at Cherry Hill East. While many girls buy their prom dresses online, for the girl who wishes to physically try on dresses, there are numerous dress shops within the area, making it easy for any girl to get the prom dress of her dreams.

Jan’s, perhaps the most well-known prom dress store, is located on Route 70. According to its website, the store has had over 100 top “name-brand” designers and the largest selection of inventory to choose from in the Delaware Valley for the past 38 years. The website

COMMUNITY

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EASTSIDE

May 2014

Cherry blossoms add cheerful flair to Chapel Avenue ■ By Liza Rothkoff (‘16) Eastside Staff

While driving along Chapel Avenue throughout spring, it is not difficult to notice the multitude of cherry blossoms that line the street.

The cherry blossoms on the west side of Cherry Hill originated in 1972 when a group of Cherry Hill residents wanted to prove that the town was not a “plastic society.”

In order to show that the town had spirit, it was decided that cherry blossoms

would be planted to bring the community together.

The first cherry blossom tree was planted on March 17, 1973, with an outcry of support from the community.

While the original goal of the cherry blossom project was to unite the community, Joseph Zanghi, the organizer of the cherry blossom project, does not think that the project achieved its goal.

“Unfortunately, I don’t feel the warmth of the community [from the cherry blossoms],” said Zanghi.

Throughout the orga-

nization’s forty-year existence, it has continued to plant cherry blossom trees throughout the community.

The organization has arranged many events such as community-wide parades, carnivals, races and concerts.

The group has also put together a memorial in remembrance of the September 11 attacks.

In early 2013, the rows of cherry blossoms were completed. The trees spread two miles across Chapel Avenue. Since 1973, 1,464 cherry trees have been planted to unify the people

of the east and west sides of Cherry Hill.

The cherry blossoms were planted with help from the community and the mayor. The Cherry Hill Fire Department has taken the responsibility of planting the cherry blossoms in order to finish the two-mile trail of the beautiful trees.

The mayor accepted the organization’s request to plant the cherry blossoms due to its petition that the occupants of the homes on Chapel Avenue were content with the old trees being knocked down in order for new trees to be planted.

Many community members have also donated their time and money in order to make the dream of planting the cherry blossoms possible.

On April 21, 2013, the organization celebrated its fortieth anniversary ceremony. After forty years, the vision of the cherry trees is complete, as the cherry blossoms extend from Haddonfield Road to Kings Highway.

This spring, the Cherry Hill community can continue to enjoy the beautiful sight of cherry blossom trees lining Chapel Avenue.

Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Cherry blossom trees have lined Chapel Avenue in Cherry Hill for forty years.

Italian delicacies reach Caffe Aldo Lamberti ■ By Ashley Cooper (‘17)

Eastside Staff

Caffe Aldo Lamberti, located in Cherry Hill, has existed for over 25 years.

When I decided to try out the well-known restaurant, it exceeded my expectations with its elegant ambience, delicious food and exceptional customer service.

Initially, the ambience of the restaurant truly shocked me in a positive way. Known as a “familyowned Italian restaurant,” I assumed Caffe Aldo Lamberti to be a mediocre and unimpressive restaurant, but I was wrong. When I first came to Caffe Aldo Lamberti, I realized that valet parking was offered, which suggested a luxurious feel. Additionally, the restaurant’s 25 years in business gives the restaurant a dignified atmosphere. Also, the inside of the restaurant is reminiscent of an ancient Tuscan Villa, adding to the luxurious atmosphere.

At the restaurant, I or-

creamy, smooth and rich on flavor. The tasty flavor of Overall, the restaurant dered heirloom tomatoes its bottom layer. The crème the dessert brought me all was well worth the visit, with burrata for my apbrûlée melted in my mouth, the way back to its native and I plan to be back again petizer. The tomatoes and and it really bursted with country of origin, France. soon. cheese were both beautifully seasoned.

The two foods held strong flavors, which blended quite nicely together.

The herbs had the perfect spices, which enticed my taste buds.

For my main course, I had the Caffe’s delicious homemade pasta. I seasoned my pasta with sautéed onions and butter sauce. The homemade pasta was so fresh and very appealing. ​Finally, for my dessert, I ate the Caffe’s signature crème brûlée.

The dessert was absolutely delicious, browned and baked to Julia Rothkoff (‘16)/ Eastside Community Editor perfection on its Caffe Aldo Lamberti’s exterior contains valet parking and outdoor seating. top layer, while

OPINIONS

May 2014

EASTSIDE

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Marijuana legalization Women should be allowed to fight combat important programs like this to where they need to Eastside Staff be.

However, New Jersey Pot is popular, no doubt would be, by no means, the about it. However, all effirst state to legalize canforts to try to criminalize nabis, as Colorado was the the plant have been unsucfirst state to allow recrecessful. Is there another ational pot use. Estimated reason, besides continued revenue from pot sales were policy failure, why states estimated to be 100 million such as New Jersey should dollars per year, but actual decriminalize pot? The anrevenue has exceeded that swer lies in money. number by 40%. In addiThe pot industry has the tion, opponents of legalpotential to be very profitization have argued that able for states should they allowing recreational pot decide to legalize due to the would increase crime in the drug’s popularity. The first state; however, since JanuNew Jersey pot bill, put ary 2014, the state of Coloforth in late March, aimed rado has seen a decrease to decriminalize pot possesin violent crime. New Jersion up to one ounce and alsey would do well to heed low individuals to g r o w the success of the Coloratheir own pot. dans by legalizing weed.

A second pot Taxes from pot bill, filed by would help Gusciora communities and Assuffering from semblyunderfunding. woman LinThe way that da Stender marijuana would conhas been tain providealt with sions on state for the last distribution 40 years has and maribeen based juana taxon superstition ation as well and not on scias outlining how entific evidence. profits from pot Lawmakers have would be distribignored how, due uted. This would to its popularity help inner cities and its low negative and low-income effects compared to areas by providalcohol and tobacco, ing funds for infrathe plant can serve Cannabis plant art by Sydney as new taxable marstructure upgrades Steele (‘15)/ For and free clinics for ket that would proEastside those who are unable vide significant revenue .for the state. It is time to afford healthcare. Prothat the old, ineffective, grams such as California and short-sighted policies Tobacco Control Program, be laid to rest and a newer an anti-tobacco campaign, policy be put into practice, have been severely underone which has shown pofunded for a number of tential in helping the comyears and money from pot munity and the people. could go towards getting

■ By Rui Zhang (‘15)

■ By Jenna Wilson (‘15)

Eastside News/Features Editor

Women have been serving on the front lines for years now, and it is time for them to be recognized for their efforts. These servicewomen have fought in combat, but since it cannot be acknowledged, they are unable to use this experience to be promoted into many mid-grade or senior roles.

Twenty-percent of the military is comprised of women.

Over 200,000 women have dedicated their lives to serve their country, 20,000 of whom served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In this day and age, women are equal to men.

But policy currently limits where women serve in the Army and Marines. Specifically, women cannot be assigned to units whose primary mission is to engage the enemy. The fact that women are not officially recognized for fighting in the front line is offensive to the millions of servicewomen who fight for our country daily. Thousands of women have died, unrecognized for their military efforts, on the front lines.

Every woman who fights for our country may engage the enemy. The argument that women should not be allowed to fight on the front lines is invalid.

Many believe that women are not physically able to fight in the infantry.

Allen West, a former congressman and army veteran, surely speaks for many when he came up with this gem: “GI Jane was a movie

and should not be the basis for a policy shift.”

He, along with many others, argues that women are physically unable to fight and will endanger the rest of the soldiers. But, women are able to perform just as well as men. The Economist’s Will Wilkinson expalins, “The relevant standards need not be lowered.

If such outstanding women can’t rise to the level of performance required of Navy SEALs or Army Rangers, then they should not be SEALs or Rangers. This mentality is one that should be accepted by all. If women are physically a n d

Photo courtesy of Laura Browder

mentally able to fight in combat, why should they be denied this opportunity?

If someone is able to carry 100 lbs of equipment on their back, why should it matter if they can also carry a baby?”

Women should be judged based on their ability, not immediately discounted due to their gender. If a woman cannot meet the physical requirements needed to fight on the front lines, she will not be admitted into that unit. But, if she can meet those requirements, she should be allowed to be in that position. Just as the Air Force, Army and Marines would never allow an under-performing male into combat, they will not allow an under-performing woman into combat. Both men and women will be held to equal standards and be required to meet those standards. Allowing women onto the front lines will not cause the quality of our military to deteriorate.

Opponents of the ban also say that the presence of women in combat units will disrupt the cohesion of the team and male soldiers won’t be able to trust that a female is able to adequately back them up. Again, this is untrue. The gender of a solider has nothing to do with his or her trustworthiness.

A woman who enlists in the military knows what she is signing up for. She will work just as hard as a man and will not run away when it comes time to fight.

There is no reason that women should not be given equal opportunity to men.

The military should allow women to fight on the front lines, representing the United States next to their male counterparts.

Some East courses may overlap, but each is unique ■ By Joe Levin (‘17)

For Eastside

As scholars at Cherry Hill East embark on their four-year journey, there are many subjects that have two or three distinct curriculums.

There are various physical science courses, such as Quantitative Physical Science (QPS), Chemistry, and Physics. Similarly, each level of Spanish offered at East teaches the same general principles, but difficulty is progressively increased with each level as more information and detail is included to enhance students’ educations.

The same can be said regarding science courses. Many would argue that science classes, especially classes taught in students’ freshman and sophomore years, cover topics that are strikingly similar.

It is often said that when students move from QPS Honors down to Accelerated Chemistry, they discover that the material covered in the honors course has already been taught. However, East’s QPS Honors and Chemistry teachers would disagree. The course system at East, especially that of scientificfocused courses, is not twisted or broken. The idea of identical material being taught in honors and accelerated courses is a prevalent misconception.

After the first few months, the chemistry subject matter becomes more detailed. Skills learned in QPS Honors, such as nomenclature and reaction prediction, are taught in these months to prepare students

for more challenging upcoming units. Ms. Susanne Casey, a QPS Honors teacher at Cherry Hill East, said that after students’ memories are refreshed after a long summer break, the more extensive topic list begins, touching on subjects such as “gases, liquids, molecular geometry and intermolecular forces.”

It is understandable why students may believe that Accelerated Chemistry and QPS are similar, but it will eventually become apparent that Accelerated Chemistry courses go into far more detail than QPS courses do.

The same can be said regarding Honors and Accelerated courses offered in the same grade level. A common complaint from students who change a level as they struggle to find the class that best fits them is that classes of different levels are similar.

However, this sentiment was contested by two students of two different courses. Jordan Shapiro (‘17) who moved down from English IH to English IA, said that English Honors and Accelerated courses are “built around the same topics,” but that “honors goes a little faster and more in depth,” which ultimately “creates a heavier workload.”

Furthermore, Ronnie Mu (‘17), who decided to increase his level in science by moving up from CPS to QPS, said, “[CPS is] slower in lessons than QPS [and] asks for a little less [effort] on labs and on classwork.”

Although there may appear to be overlap between some of courses, such as QPS H and Chemistry

1A, it is clear that the majority of classes do indeed differ according to their level.

Another misconception regarding East’s science courses involves these classes’ reputations among middle school students. I am only a freshman and have not yet had the opportunity to experience all of which East has to offer. But I have taken the QPS course, and realized that rumors around the class’s workload and material can some-

times get blown out of proportion.

Every student is different, and every student has his or her own capabilities. However, there is no doubt that it is important and beneficial to students if they are exposed to honors courses even in small doses. Cherry Hill East is a large school with many opportunities to lead you to a decent education, but only if you do not allow others’ opinions and experiences to sway your course selections decisions.

OPINIONS

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EASTSIDE

May 2014

Does East need a new football stadium?

■ By Brooke Greenberg (‘17) Eastside Staff

Cherry Hill East has stellar varsity and junior varsity football teams as well as many other regionally ranking teams including track, soccer and basketball. The track and the soccer teams practice in the state-of-the-art, freshly cut grass fields and cushioned running metered track, and the basketball teams shoot hoops in the shining DiBart Gymnasium.

But what about our football teams? Many students reluctantly attend our games, simply because they are not held at East, due to our lack of a football stadium. The majority of the East student body lives on the east side of Cherry Hill, and it is a great inconvenience for the players, spectators and marching band to have to travel all the way to the west side of town to West’s stadium.

Marching band member Lewis Cohen (’16) said that having a stadium at East “would allow our award -winning band to get bigger home audiences and possibly host our own competitions. If our football team gets better, it would attract a better audience.”

East needs a real football stadium. In order to keep up with the high status of other regional high school stadiums, especially crosstown rival West, our stadium needs a makeover. This way more students, faculty

and fans will come out and Eastside Staff support our own football team.

Although adding a footEver since Cherry ball stadium may be Hill East was built, it costly, East, having has never had a true such high quality football stadium. sports teams, will Games have been greatly benefit played at Cherry from having our Hill West since own stadium they have a because it will proper football increase the field that attendance can accomoat games. date large Finally, crowds. having a Currently, large staEast has dium will bleachers, be a step but lacks forward other stainto moddium elernizing ements East. East such as a was built press box more than and field 45 years lights. ago and is If East in desperwere to ate need of r e n o v a t e some revivthe football als. Buildfield, the cost ing a stawould be dium could outrageous. be the first The price step into refor a football vamping the field that fits old school East’s deand creating sires would a new 21st be around five million century environment dollars. that will drastically change “It would be expensive to the course of the school fordo,” assistant principal and ever. athletics director, Dr. John Next time you walk Burns, said. “We would around the track or cut have to do it in stages.” across the field, think of If this money was inhow amazing it could be Alex Grayson(‘14)/ Eastside stead used for academic if we had a shining large Opinions Editor stadium there rather than A current view of East’s football purposes, such as purchasing and implementing simply a few bleachers. more advanced educationfield.

al technology, the impact would be phenomenal, and could benefit every student.

Stadiums usually take two to three years to build.

A stadium would also take up more space, probably decreasing the field space devoted to other sports.

If East decides to add a new stadium, artificial turf grass is recommended because it drains water effectively and is used in modern facilities. Turf grass would cost more than 500,000 dollars and needs to be replaced every 10 years.

Adding stadium lights would cost more than one million dollars. Adding lights would also have to be approved by the township.

The money and time involved would not be worth it just to add four lights that brighten up the football field for night games.

The stadium East currently has is in a condition good enough for games to be played. Even if the new stadium looks newer and can hold up longer, the money that can be used on this project should be spent on more important things, such as computers for the PARCC testing. More work would be needed in order to add a new stadium as well as the time it will take until the stadium is completely built.

Although the current football stadium we have is not the most professional, adding a new one would be a waste of money that can instead be used for necessary projects.

to hold many students and their belongings. “ T h r e e years ago they painted the floors, the lockers, and they redid the numbers,” said Ms. Kristen Hildebrand, a gym teacher.

“That’s all Kaitlyn Boyle(‘17)/ Eastside Staff they did.”

However, Kaitlyn Boyle(‘17)/ Eastside Staff Rarely-used sinks take up space. a d ditional Lockers in the East gym locker r e n ovations room are shiny red. are necessary in order to ensure a sanitary environment for students.

In regards to the bathrooms, repairs should be made to the faucets and the Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo stalls. ExpectEditor ing a gym class Dilapidated lockers in the filled with girls Auxiliary Gym locker room.

Kaitlyn Boyle(‘17)/ Eastside Staff to have time to use the bathA broken toilet in the East Gym cult to see through them. room before locker room bathroom.

Additionally, hidden togym, yet only wards the back of the room girls’ locker room - soon. provide two lies a large open space filled A complete renovation is functioning stalls, is abwith shower stalls and extremely pricey; however, surd. Even something as more lockers. The faucets this is not necessary. Consimple as fixing the lock on are covered in mysterious trary to popular belief, the one of the stalls eliminates grime, and in the corners locker room actually has some of the problem. lie bags of trash, dirty mats useful qualities. The shiny Another factor that and spiders. red lockers are in good concomes into play is cleanliObviously, something dition, and the large room ness. Although it is difficult has to be done about the has a great deal of space to keep a locker room com-

pletely spotless, a slight dusting and wiping of the mirrors could reduce some of the major issues. This not only keeps the room looking nicer, but also keeps it more salubrious for the students getting changed inside. Addressing this issue may also help to clear up the infamous odor.

As for the situation with the showers in the back of the locker room, they are simply a waste of space.

“I think the water works,” said Mrs. Anita Bowser, a gym teacher, “but [the students] don’t have time to shower.”

Therefore, the area should be turned into something useful rather than a dump for garbage.

“The bathrooms are old and need some repairs,” said Sydney Treiman (’14), who has played several East sports. “They can get rid of the showers because they are not used, and build bathrooms there.”

This section could also be used as a storage room for sports equipment or other gym supplies; however, a dark room filled with bugs is certainly not healthy or safe.

Every day, dozens of female students enter the unsanitary, hazardous part of the school that is our girls’ locker room. All of them would greatly benefit from a few renovations.

■ By Jenna Myers (‘17)

Y E S

N O

Girls’ locker rooms are in dire need of renovations ■ By Kaitlyn Boyle (‘17) Eastside Staff

Dimly lit hallways, buginfested corners, broken faucets and hidden rooms all sound like the perfect setting for a horror film.

Welcome to the East girls’ locker room.

With just one foot inside, a mysterious pungent odor smothered by cleaning supplies enters your nostrils. Many female students complain about the terrible smell in the locker room upon entering.

The locker rooms have four bathroom stalls, yet one toilet is missing a seat, and another stall does not even have a lock on it. Out of the four sinks, only two of them let out a steady stream of water, and the grimy water fountain leaks a small drip from which it is impossible to drink. “[The bathroom] smells and looks pretty disgusting,” said Maria Timuscuk (’14), a member of the girls’ varsity swim team. “Everything looks dilapidated.

Both [the Auxiliary Gym and the East Gym locker rooms] look disgusting, so I try not to go in there.”

Although the lockers are fully functional, the tops are covered with a thick coating of dust. The mirrors are fogged over, making it diffi-

EDITORIAL

May 2014

EASTSIDE

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

Administration should hire willing and qualified teachers for extracurriculars

At every open house, orientation and introductory guidthere should be another factor that should be considered in ance appointment, East students are constantly encouraged the process: out of the many applicants for East teaching to not only succeed academically, but to also get involved positions, how many people are willing to advise extracurin other facets of East, such as sports and clubs. Of course ricular activities such as theater, or SGA or even Eastside there are exceptions, but almost everyone at East has his or itself? her niche—somewhere to channel passion through hobbies Of course, a potential faculty member must principally and fit in. possess sufficient teaching qualifications, but individuals Through consistent recognition in many areas of this with a focused passion for a specific activity or sport should school, whether it come from the Cougars winning the South be ranked more highly than others when hiring.

Jersey Group IV title in basketball, first place in vocal comNot only does East need to seek out willing faculty to repetitions or competing in national DECA championships, place current advisors, but also to make up for the many East currently teachers that only imhas a very high pact the school academreputation among ically. Many students many schools in would argue that exthe area. tracurricular activities In addition to teach more about life passionate and skills than any acadedicated studemic course would. dents who make Teachers should be up these awardable to celebrate that winning organiby contributing to the zations, the East extracurricular envifaculty that overronment. sees such triumAdditionally, there phant groups are are multiple East just as important teachers who currentas the students ly advise not just one, and deserve more but several clubs and recognition for activities, which only their overlooked adds more voids in the endeavors. extracurricular scope Eastside would at East after these inlike to primarily dividuals retire. Clearthank the faculty ly, there is no need to members who have two advisors for have active roles the same activity at in the East extrathe same time, but if Rachel Pacitti (‘15)/ Eastside Art Director it is apparent that an curricular spectrum.

Neverthe- Advisor positions remain vacant because no one was hired to continue advisor is near retireless, East does not the advisory. ment, someone should keep the same staff be hired to fill both the eternally. As teachers retire, clubs and sports lose outstandacademic position and the advising role. ing advisors and coaches. In order to renew the acclaim of In essence, Eastside would like to kindly point out that so many of East’s glories, the administration must seek out the administration should view the faculty and position fulteachers with strong intentions of getting involved in the fillment in a more holistic nature. This year’s teacher evaluEast community outside of the classroom. ation process does take into account teacher’s involvement Eastside would not like to imply that the current East within the school, and this change in evaluation should be staff is deficient in this area. We would simply just like to seen as one for the better, as it goes beyond simple numbers acknowledge the fact that many of the advisors and coaches and rubrics. Academics clearly matter greatly; however, adat this school have worked here for many years and have vising activities is also no easy task. excelled in their positions. Clearly, these teachers will evenTo carry on our tradition of “striving for excellence,” East tually retire and leave vacant leadership positions within students need role models—teachers who are willing to go the school. When the administration is hiring new teachers, above and beyond regular scholastic endeavors.

Page 9

Cherry Hill High School East 1750 Kresson Road Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 Phone: (856) 424-2222, ext.

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Contact the Board: 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: julia.rothkoff@eastside-online. org.

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Page 10

COMICS EASTSIDE

Random Axe Of Kindness by Ben Abbaszadeh (‘15)/ Eastside Staff

Prom and Circumstance by Jeff Braun (‘15)/ For Eastside

MDW by Haley Schultz (‘14)/ Eastside News/Features Editor

May 2014

ENTERTAINMENT

May 2014

EASTSIDE

Page 11

East vocal groups showcase variety of talents

Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

East Singers performs at the Winter Concert.

Miku Fujita (‘16)/ Eastside Staff

Vocal Workshop performs.

■ By Rachel Cohen (‘15) Eastside Editor-in-Chief

At Cherry Hill East, every vocal group sings an array of distinct music pieces. With four choral classes and four small vocal groups, the Vocal Department covers enough songs to leave any listener pleased. Whether members of a group sing an Italian song from 200 years ago or the latest hit single on the radio, each vocal group at East has an entertaining sound of its own.

At East, students must enroll in a choice of four choral classes which one must be in before being considered for a more distinct small group.

Ms. Heather Lockart explained that there is Vocal Workshop, which is the entry-level choir in which everybody starts. From there, students can audition for Concert Choir, a select mixed choir, Chansons, a select all-female choir, and then the top mixed ensemble, East Singers. There are not as many distinctions between these four choirs as there are between the small groups, but there are still some guidelines each choir follows.

“In the period of four years when a student is in the Vocal Department, we really like to make sure that they’ve hit all languages that we sing in. So in their four years, we hope that they’re going to sing from every time period and they’re also going to sing in various languages,” said East music teacher Mrs. Laurie Lausi.

Besides these general guidelines, the pieces the choirs sing also vary in difficulty. The students’ vocal ranges, strengths, weaknesses and experiences are taken into factor when the vocal directors are choosing new pieces to sing.

“East Singers is the most advanced level group so a lot of the things that they sing are going to be college level, they’re going to be eight part, they split in a lot of different parts,” said Lausi. “The advanced women’s chorus, Chansons, they’re going to do music that is also three and four part…but [all of the choirs] really sing all

have been Art by Haley Schultz (‘14)/ Eastside News/ a r o u n d Features Editor for more than 35 years, so sometimes they’ll choose s o m e t h i n g that’s been arkinds of genres in music.” ranged by a former member,” said Lausi.

While the pieces sung by the largThe Madrigals also sing songs from many er choirs vary in difficulty, the pieces sung by different genres and carry a sound and the smaller groups vary in genre and sound. look that is similar to those seen on “Glee.”

The a capella groups, which are led by Lock“[They] sing all kinds of music from earart, sing contemporary pop music like the songs ly music through classics, even classic pop— played on the radio. The girls’ small group is but not current pop because the current pop is called Key of She and the boys’ small group performed by Lockart’s groups,” said Lausi. is called Casual Harmony and these groups Within the past few years, the Madrigals combine for competitions to form Stay Tuned. shifted from a renaissance look and sound to the “In a capella, everything is sung—there’s no “Glee” look and show choir sound. With this type instruments, it’s all sounds, drums, you name of change, many new opportunities opened up for it, all made with your voices,” said Lockart. the members to perform different types of music.

Because there are so many parts to sing in Lockart and Lausi introduce new songs to an a capella song, Lockart looks for strong sothe groups each marking period, so each group loists who can hold their own parts in a song. sings about 10-15 pieces per year. Since finding The members of the Belles and Madrigals, new music can be a struggle, they attend conferwhich are directed by Lausi, should have a ences with choir directors, look on the Internet sound different from the a capella musicians. and even sometimes take advice from students Lausi said, “In Madrigals and Belles I’m looking to discover a new perfect song—the teachfor strong musicians who can sing musically and ers always succeed in finding the right pieces can blend their voice so that they don’t stand out.” for each group by keeping the listener in mind.

The Belles and the Madrigals each has its own “We really have the big picture of a condistinct sound. The Belles are a 14-member allcert, we try to vary that concert to keep it infemale group and they accompany themselves on teresting for the listener, so even if people handbells when they perform. They sing a wide vathink they’re not into choir music, they reriety of genres, from Broadway to holiday songs, but ally should give it a chance,” said Lausi. each song is arranged so it goes with the hand bells.

The vocal groups showcased their diversity at “The girls decide what songs they’re interestthe Vocal Concert which was held on May 15, at ed in performing and then somebody within the Cherry Hill East. While singing a variety of songs group will arrange the music. There isn’t music out from different genres, the groups and the Vocal there that has bell accompaniment. We also have Department celebrated a successful year of music. a whole library of past bell arrangements, Belles

Miku Fujita (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Casual Harmony performs at the Kaleidoscope Concert.

Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Chansons performs at the Winter Concert as Ms. Lockart conducts.

ENTERTAINMENT

Page 12

EASTSIDE

May 2014

Film Appreciation class travels back in time

Students enjoy the magic of classic and modern films that have shaped cinema history into what it is today.

■ By Sonia Kim (‘16) Eastside Staff

Film Appreciation class provides students with an opportunity to explore the world of film by learning more about its history and the stylistic techniques used in filmmaking.

Through watching films from various time periods, students gain insight into the creative approaches behind filmmaking and how it has developed over the years.

Also, the class offers an introduction to defining and understanding the different genres, terminology and elements of a film, which allows students to critically view and understand films in a more artistic way.

Gabby Harster (’15) said that she particularly enjoys how, through Film Appreciation, she can watch films that she would not have typically watched on

her own.

One of the films that students watch in Film Appreciation is City Lights, which is a 1931 American romantic film starring Charlie Chaplin.

Through watching this film, which was part of the 1930’s unit, students learn about the production process and the different components including music and camera angles, which classifies film and its industry.

“We watched old classic movies and even horror movies… I learned to appreciate all the different genres of [movies],” said Mika Murphy (’16).

After watching the films in class, students to write an expository essay which includes their own informed perspective of the different elements of the film that they noted.

This assignment allows students to use analytical techniques to form their thoughts on the way that

the different technical components are utilized to ultimately convey the meaning of the film.

Jessica Wrinn (’16) said, “The [class] definitely made me look at movies differently and I also thought deeper about how they were created.”

In order to become a critical viewer of cinema, students learn about the myriad of artistic choices that construct a work and how each component impacts the completed film.

“I think that this is a class that [students] should definitely take before graduating East,” said Harster.

Whether students are watching a black and white classic or an Alfred Hitchcock horror story unfold before their eyes, Film Appreciation definitely offers students some valuable insight into the world of film and the magic of Hollywood throughout the years.

Miku Fujita (‘16)/ Eastside Staff

Film curriculum The Kid (NR) - starring, written and directed by Charilie Chaplin, this 1921 silent film incorporates drama and comedy.

A Night at the Opera (NR) - the hilarious 1935 Marx collaboration featuring music and endless physical comedy.

Casablanca (PG) - iconic 1942 Academy Award-winning romantic wartime drama that introduced the famous, “here’s looking at you, kid” line.

Rear Window (NR) - Hitchcock’s 1954 famous mystery thrillers starring A-listed celebrities at the time, James Stewart and Grace Kelly.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (PG) - Paul Newman and Robert Redford’s popular 1969 Western portrayal of the infamous robbers from the nineteenth century.

The Godfather (PG) - the gruesome 1972 Academy Award-winning film for best picture invites viewers inside a New York mafia family.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (PG) - Spielberg’s 1982 innovative film, starring a family-friendly alien.

Dorothy Gale returns to the yellow brick road

■ By Dani Roth(‘15)

Eastside Entertainment Editor

Dorothy Gale is a household name, and her adventure down the yellow brick road continues to be one of the most popular stories in entertainment history.

Originally written as a novel by L. Frank Baum in 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz reached critical acclaim and financial success in its time, and continues to prosper today, over seventy years later.

Years later, in 1989, Baum’s great-grandson, Roger S. Baum, followed in his great-grandfather’s footsteps and prolonged Dorothy’s journey in Oz. His novel, Dorothy of Oz, entails Dorothy returning to Oz, where the Jester, the brother of the Wicked Witch of the West, governs Oz through the power of his deceased sister’s wand, which also contains the Wicked Witch of the West’s ghost.

Dorothy is wisked back to Oz upon hearing from Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, that the Jester has maliciously taken over Oz and has captured the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, and has taken them as hostages in the castle. Also, he has cast upon a spell of darkness in the Emerald City.

Dorothy returns to a new setting, Candy Country, in which everything

and everyone is made up of sugary sweets. From here, her journey to save her friends and the Emerald City from the evil influences of the Jester b e gins.

Dorothy of Oz has since been adapted to a 3D animat

ed musical feature film, Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return. Made with state-of-the-art computer graphics and innovative 3D animation techniques, this film shares an ent e r taini n g stor y for all

generations to enjoy.

Prod u c e d by Summertime Entertainment, Legends of Oz: Courtesy of moviepilot.org

Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return to surprise audiences worldwide.

Dorothy’s Return features music composed by the Canadian singersongwriter Bryan Adams and is produced by Sony Entertainment.

The film additionally offers Alist celebrities including Glee’s Lea Michele as Dorothy Gale, comedian Dan Aykroyd as the Scarecrow, Kelsey Grammer as the Tin Man, and Jim Belushi as the Cowardly Lion.

In addition to the new setting, Dorothy meets a new cast of characters, including a bossy china doll princess named China Princess (Megan Hilty), a charming marshmallow man named Marshal Mallow (Hugh Dancy), an intelligent large owl named Wiser the Owl (Oliver Platt) and the flamboyant Tugg the tugboat (Patrick Stewart).

These new friends join Dorothy on her quest to restore peace and happiness in the Emerald City.

This film revives a timeless classic, yet introduces a new adventure.

With new music and the colorfulness of innovative 3D computer animation, this film ought to make audiences nostalgic of a time when ruby slippers and yellow brick roads answered all of life’s problems.

This film is made for fans from any generation since it recreates such a classic tale.

Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return opened May 3 in theaters across the country.

UNDERGROUND

May 2014

EASTSIDE

Page 13

K Pop makes its way into American teenage culture ■ By Ethan Tinkleman (‘17) Eastside Staff

Korean pop music, also known as K Pop, has grown to great popularity throughout the world. Many Southeast Asian countries and others like the U.S., France and Canada have many supporters of this music genre. However, Japanese pop music, dubbed J Pop, which is similar to K Pop, has not developed international popularity because of its Internet and social restrictions. Many people, including East student Amy Chen (’16), enjoy K Pop because while it is an entire

genre by itself, it contains multiple subgenres and various music types.

Chen is from Japan, and actually likes K Pop more than she likes J Pop. K Pop was just beginning to rise in popularity when Chen moved to the U.S. Once K Pop really sprouted, Chen’s friends from Japan told her to start listening to it.

She listened to artists like SHINee, Exo and B.A.P, who are still very popular in the K Pop industry today.

Chen said, “K Pop is different because its style of music goes with its culture.

It is fresh and constantly changing for the better.”

Some people who have been listening to K Pop from the start say that the older music is better. According to Chen, multiple other East students listen to K Pop regularly and really enjoy its unique sound.

There are typically very few K Pop concerts in the U.S., but recently and surprisingly there has been a slightly larger selection.

“I have seen three K Pop concerts in New York City, and I am seeing another very soon,” said Chen.

She explained that it is not very easy for the bands to travel to the U.S., mostly because of strict budgets, but the K Pop bands often

travel to countries like Japan and Malaysia. Recent studies show that people who listen to K Pop are psychologically proven to be more accepting of other cultures, and more diverse, because the themes of K Pop music stray away from racial commentary and social prejudices.

Even more interestingly, Chen said, “The reason that J Pop is not international is because many Japanese companies, like Johnny’s, don’t want to be on the internet, [in order to force] J Pop fans to buy the music in actual stores.”

The companies make it so that there are very limit-

ed pictures or music files of J Pop artists on the Internet or YouTube. The reasons for these limitations are unknown, but most likely relate to government policy.

The main difference between K Pop and J Pop is that K Pop consists of multiple music styles and J Pop is only pop music.

K Pop contains pop, rock and electronic sounds.

In Chen’s opinion, K Pop is vibrant while J Pop is smooth, which is why K Pop has gained such a large audience. Listeners love the versatility of the music which keeps them on their toes wanting more.

Monica An (‘15)/ For Eastside

Amy Chen (‘16)/ For Eastside

K Pop Band B.A.P. performs live for hundreds of fans in concert in New York.

Out of the Vault: Tamagotchi ■ By Julia Rothkoff (‘16) Eastside Community Editor

The Japanese company Bandai introduced a very popular digital handheld game in the mid-nineties.

Originally, it was designed to show teenage girls what taking care of children would be like. Tamagotchis first popped up in stores in Japan back in 1996. A Tamagotchi is a small, handheld virtual pet that was -- and still is -- very popular among elementary school children. The pet goes through many stages in its life cycle, just like a normal, real-life pet would. A Tamagotchi starts out as an egg, then hatches and becomes a baby.

The virtual pet will then go on to become a child, teenager, adult and, in later models of the Tamagotchi, a senior citizen.

The toy has many meters to measure the overall well-being of the pet. The Tamagotchi contains a hunger, discipline and happiness meter to inform the player when the pet needs to be cared for. The parents of this virtual pet must view these meters frequently in order to keep their Tamagotchi pet alive and well.

If the parent neglects these aspects of the game, the pet will die.

Tamagotchis can die of old age or neglect if the player does not care for it properly, for example, not keeping up with its needs and wants. An angel appearing on the screen signifies the death of the pet.

When the pet dies, the player can

restart the game with a new pet. In earlier versions of the Tamagotchi, the pet must be constantly watched so that it does not die. However, in later versions of the game, the player can pause the Tamagotchi when the player cannot watch his or her pet.

Not only must the owner care for the Tamagotchi like a virtual pet, but can also play with their friends.

Two players can enjoy their Tamag o t c h i s together.

Through the use of infrared communication, two players can connect their Tamagotchis onto one screen.

From there, the pets can become friends, play games together, give each other gifts and marry each other.

Although newer versions of the Tamagotchi have not been released in North America for a few years, a reincarnation of the toy is expected to appear in North American stores later this year. These new Tamagotchis will be released under the brand, Tamagotchi Friends. This modern generation of the toy features contemporary designs and characters for a new breed of Tamagotchi lovers to enjoy.

Until Tamagotchi Friends is released, Bandai hopes to remain relevant by entertaining Tamagotchi fans with an iPhone and Android app, which was released earlier last year.

Out of the Vault logo by Helena Sirken (‘15)/Eastside Art Director

UNDERGROUND

Page 14

EASTSIDE

May 2014

Jai Paul pleases music fans around the world ■ By Zach Kasdin (‘14) Eastside Staff

Listening to Jai Paul all the way through will leave any listener amazed.

The eponymous album—well, almost album—of Jai Paul, a UK native signed to XL Records, came with much discussion as it was leaked on the website Bandcamp in mid-2013. Although only releasing two singles—“BTSTU (Edit)” in 2011 and “Jasmine (Demo)” in 2012—over the past six years, Paul has received widespread praise, with “BTSTU (Edit)” named the ‘Hottest Record in the World’ on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show in 2011. After its release, both Paul and XL Records quickly denounced Jai Paul. The “album,” thus, is a collection of previous demos and other various unfinished recordings, which were once posted on Paul’s MySpace page.

While there is a plethora of conspiracy theories regarding the true legitimacy of this album release, I will spare you, and we’ll take this all at face value. Despite the unfinished nature of the collection— many songs fade out in less than a minute—it still forms a comprehensive, intelligent and relatable trajectory; more comprehensive, even, than most legitimate albums of the previous year.

Paul begins—if we can assume that the version of the “album” I was able to find is complete and in the right order—with the “Well come on then, let’s go,” of a young Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Pot-

ter. Pitched-up, cut-up and nearly indiscernible, the inviting vocals dance amongst buzzing bass-lines, an unforgiving kick, and swelling strings—hip-hop meets the magical Dumbledore, only to soon fade out. This sets the overall tone of the collection of songs as many speculate that Paul himself released it.

Just as a song begins to resonate, it soon fades away, leaving you longing for more. Of the 16 songs on the album, six follow this trend to the mark.

“Raw,” the sixth song on the album, surprises and worries with a yet another oddball sample, which preaches the “quite chewy but very terrible” qualities of raw skin throughout. This song only escalates, as the hand drums of a Jamaican drum circle, chest-rattling 808 kicks, and the synths of a “Gin and Juice-”era Snoop Dogg join in.

Similarly, “Rain Bot,” “Baby Beats,” (which actually samples Gossip Girl) and “Chix” amaze, despite the truncated length. “Rain Bot” is one of the most accessible songs on the album, with its funky Nile Rodgers-esq guitar riffs accompanied by the most discernable vocals of the album, which carelessly loop Paul’s stereo-spread vocals, (“Just wanna have a good time”), not to forget the 1950’s Universal Monster-flick-era sample, of course.

The most dazzling aspect of Jai Paul is how closely the instrumentation lends itself to the message and feel of the song—while this sounds like a “that’s how it should be” moment, think about Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” which happily, ca-

sually and carelessly talks about a grey area of consent; here, the instrumentation does not reflect the subject matter in any sense.

The most laudable example of this shines in one of the officially released singles, “Jasmine (Demo).”

The song begins with a droning, guttural bass, which seems overbearing at first, only to soon relent as welcome presence—as it breaks to introduce the vocals you feel a sense of emptiness. Joined by overlapping guitar riffs, which blend to create emotional swells throughout, the instrumentation follows the narrative set by Paul.

A serenade to a lost love, “Jasmine (Demo)” grows from timid to bold, sad to passionate, with the lyrics echoing the evolving layers of sound in perfect synchronization.

While he once questions, “Are you with me, Jasmine?/ Will you let me in?,” Paul concludes, passionately, asking his lost love to “just go come back to me, baby;” his final plea.

While “Jasmine (Demo)” is a highly restrained, bubbling love ballad, the other formally released single, “BTSTU (Edit)” is quite the opposite. Prime for the overly-indie dance floor, chorused vocal backgrounds face off with a gritty, behind-the-time bassline, creating a catchy, almost contradictory feel— should I dance? Should I sit sipping tea out of a Mason jar and pondering human existence? The answer: both.

The slower, more understated songs such as “Zion Wolf,” “Magic,” “Merman” and “All Night” on Jai Paul also deliver. Each song blends swooning synths with heartfelt,

minimalist lyrics—some serious genre bending material right here.

Similar to the first three songs, “All Night,” a nostalgic, genuine ode to lost love—a seemingly pervasive theme throughout the album—rises and falls with ease, as warm analogue synths swell with emotion; my favorite song on the album, it soulfully brings Paul’s style back to earth.

The remaining songs on the album fit into one main category: funky. Among these upbeat gems is a cover of the 1998 Jennifer Page single, “Crush,” which blends Paul’s characteristic booming 808 kick drum with upbeat guitar and synth riffs, delivering an original, inventive rendition of the original.

While “Str8 Outta Mumbai” blends Indian tablas, a sample from Vani Jairam, and a dance-floor-worthy beat, “Genevieve” and “100,000” blend booming kick drums, unrelenting energy, and love-lost lyrics seamlessly—contradictory? Maybe.

Something you can’t help but dance to? Absolutely.

The mystery which surrounds this leak—e.g. the “did-he-or-didn’the-release-this-to-circumvent-XLRecordings” vibe—makes the presentation of this pseudo-album even more exciting. For a mere collection of songs to be this linear in thought and emotion—themes of love lost and nostalgia paired with hip-hipmeets-funk-meets-ear-shatteringbass-meets-love-ballad instrumentation shining throughout—the finished version of the album will surely amaze beyond any possible expectation, serving as a mere introduction to Jai Paul’s work.

Christy Marrella-Davis College Consultant

311 Tearose Lane Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 Home: 856.795.4143 • Mobile: 609.744.8666

Email: cmarrella@aol.com “Like” us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kickinyourapps

HUMOR

May 2014

Seniors battle for best parties

EASTSIDE

Non-graduates take part in their own form of celebration ■ By Brett Dashevsky (‘16)

Eastside Staff

■ By Brittany Moneybags (‘14) For Eastside

So, as you know, my graduation party is coming up next week and I want you to keep a few things in mind. I realize that there are a few other people who are having a grad party on the same day as mine. But let me tell you something: mine will be better.

So, Timmy Lewis claims that he’ll be having a petting zoo at his party.

Well, my grad party is having an African safari and an underwater safari. Not only will there be zebras and giraffes, but it will also have a whale shark, which, if you didn’t know, is the largest sea creature.

There will possibly also be a living mammoth from the Ice Age. Trust me, you don’t want to miss it.

Now, I understand that Kim Johnson will be having Lil’ Wayne perform at her party, but I will be having Big Wayne at mine, who is way cooler and world-renowned.

She also said she’s having a Make Your Own Burger stand with only 50 toppings… Well, mine is going to have a Make Your Own Burger stand with 51 toppings. Beat that, Kim! Also, I heard that Chris Pratt is having purple balloons. Yeah, well, I’m having lavender balloons that will have tie dye strings as opposed to plain white, so, like, mine are better, don’t you agree?

Alright, y’all, that’s all I’m gonna share for now! It’s going to be really thrilling. Oh, speaking of thrilling—and I don’t mean to brag, but my grad party is having an amusement park built into my backyard with the highest roller coaster there is, which is, like, I don’t know, maybe 5,000 feet high.

My grandfather’s friend’s, brother’s friend knows Paula Abdul’s assistant’s assistant, so like I am basically famous and maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to meet her.

Don’t even fret! If you say you won’t be at my grad party, I’m having security and they were trained in Kung Fu and other different martial arts like Kung Pao. I have no problem having them come to your house and “assisting” you in making an appearance at my grad party.

P.S. I’m giving away Lamborghinis to the first 100 people who show up, but, like, it’s whatever.

Story actually written by Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor Photo by Molly Schultz (‘14)/ Eastside Humor Editor

Page 15

It’s that time of the year again—let the graduation parties begin. Parents have already sent out invitations and started planning elaborate backyard barbecues to celebrate their childrens’ high school achievements.

Seniors have not stopped talking about all of the parties that they will be going to this May and June. It has provoked a lot of jealousy among the underclassmen, as well as those who didn’t quite rack up enough credits to graduate on time.

Austin Mahone (‘14), who was unable to graduate because he did not attend the mandatory Saturday school session, said, “If everyone is celebrating for graduating, I’m gonna start celebrating for not graduating.”

And thus a new trend has begun: non-graduation parties filled with underachievers and underclassmen.

This has also made underclassmen less eager to graduate. They have become inspired to participate in this craze and throw non-graduation parties along with those who throw graduation parties.

Donny Larson (‘16) said, “I think the non-graduation parties are sick, man. I love

Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Thompson celebrates his non-graduation party with a goose. high school, and I don’t ever want to leave. Especially now that we get to start at

7:30 a.m.”

These parties have caused many members of

Alan Beckerton (‘17) agrees.

“I feel like they embody the spirit of one very important concept,” he said.

like a symbol for my life.”

He paused to adjust the pinny tied around his baseball cap to continue, “Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you

the community, including parents and teachers, to scratch their heads in confusion. It’s difficult for them to understand the true spirit of a non-graduation party.

Gifts have even been given at the parties, especially cards reading “non-conGRADulations!”

Mahone was incredibly proud of the first non-graduation party he threw.

“The party was a huge success and a lot of people showed up,” he said afterwards. “I love that the whole freshman class showed up!

I can’t wait to spend another year with them. They are some really cool, intellectually stimulating kids!”

After the great success of the first non-graduation party and extreme fun everyone had, there is a growing fear that even those seniors who have committed to college next year may request to stay back at East for one more hurrah.

“Who cares about Harvard?” Carrie Swan (‘14) said. “I hear that the next non-graduation party is going to have a Slip ‘n Slide.”

A few seniors have retained their cool and common sense through the mayhem. Megan Rabinowitz (‘14), for example, will attend graduation this year, and will move on to bigger and better things.

Sophomore uses gym pinny as a fashion statement

“King of Swag” by Beckerton, has high hopes for the future of pinny-wear.

Instead of settling for an In a world where isolated trend at East, he the fashion scene conplans to spread word of pinstantly turns from one ny fashion internationally new trend to the next, through various social meAustin Bronsky (‘16) dia sites such as Facebook, believes he can make it Twitter and the comments big. section of Psy’s “Gangnam His secret lies in Style”. a colorful clothing he However, students like first encountered at Deborah Clark (‘16) reEast: the gym pinny. main skeptical.

“It’s lightweight, “He’s just some random versatile, and it’s got sophomore who thought a lot of ventilation,” he it would be funny to said. “Also, one size fits wear pinnies,” she said, all, kind of like Snug“and I guess everyone else gies.” thought it was funny, too.

Within a week after I’d bet ten dollars that it’s Bronsky started weargoing to get old within two ing pinnies to school, months.” approximately 65 perFortunately for Broncent of the student body sky, the trend is still going began wearing them as strong. Dozens of students well, according to one can be seen in the halls evcomputer survey. ery day, showcasing their Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor “They’re incred- Physical Education student wears his newest creation using new pinny styles in an inibly cool,” said Theodora pinnies in gym class. credible display of the pinMontague (‘15). “Like, ny’s versatility. there are so many difThe only people upset by ferent ways to wear them.

“And, you know, I live my what the concept actually this are the gym teachers.

I love being able to display life according to this one is. It’s #yoloswag.”

Now, they have a lot more my natural creativity.” idea. So pinnies are kind of Bronsky, hailed as the trouble organizing teams.

■ By Lanxi Li (‘16)

Eastside Humor Editor

Lunch cart occupies road to enforce traffic rules ■ By Rebecca Cohen (‘15)

Eastside Underground Editor

The backup usually doesn’t start before 7:15 a.m. Kids who leave the house before the usual rush are always at school by now, but today, it’s seemingly impossible to make the right turn into the East parking lot. This infamous line presents new problems that could not have possibly been forseen by any attentdants of East.

Drivers turn right and left coming from Spring-

dale Road onto Kresson, but they immediately slam on the brakes so that they won’t crash into the endless line of cars waiting to get in. Cue the groans from both students and parents.

Road rage is prominent among every driver, old and young.

But why is no one taking advantage of the illegal right lane? This lane easily lightens the traffic by providing more room for cars .

Then, one student, apparently inspired, tries to cross over into the right

lane. People roll down their car windows and start cheering. He gets close and BOOM! He is bounced back to the JCC by an invisible force field.

As drivers approach even closer, trying to stay far away from the field, they see a small silver contraption. And what’s that smell… waffles?

The cars slowly pass by to see an Aramark cart selling breakfast in the beloved right lane. East has implemented another infamous Aramark food cart to pre-

vent students from driving illegally in the right lane.

Students who walk to school love the cart, as it is an easy way to grab breakfast every morning.

However, the number of students who are late and get detention has grown exponentially since this new addition to the right lane.

From now on, it it crucial to leave the house before 7a.m. to avoid this traffic— as if 7 weren’t already early enough.

“Still,” said Ralph Fiori (‘14), “It’s sort of worth it.”

HUMOR

Page 16

EASTSIDE

Student spits on audience during Spring Concert ■ By Alex Grayson (‘14)

Eastside Opinions Editor

On May 2, 2014, in the middle of the Spring Concert, Maya Friedman (‘15), third-chair violinist, spat water onto a crowd of students, parents, teachers and administrators.

Friedman said, “Honestly, I don’t even know why I did it. Like, I just needed to spice it up a bit and all I could think of was my main girl Miley.”

She continued, “If Miley’s fans liked it, then why wouldn’t these fans like it, too?”

The actual spitting occurred during the East Singers’ acoustic rendition of “Light My Candle” from the Broadway musical Rent.

The sequence of events leading up to the spitting are hazy due to the emotional impact “Light My Candle” had on the audience.

“It was so touching,” one parent said as she dried her hair off in her car with a discarded Dunkin’ Donuts napkin. “One moment tears were streaming down my face, and then another source of water was hitting my face... I don’t know what happened.”

Luckily, the spit itself was caught on camera. Apparently, Friedman took a sip of water, walked up to

the base of the stage and proceeded to spit on the crowd while simultaneously pivoting her head in a fluid, circular motion. Immediately after drenching the crowd, Friedman let out a “woo-girl” woo and walked back to her seat to rejoin

working for hours at the [bowling] alley to hear every ‘ding,’ every concert, so you better believe the spitting was welcomed. I really dig any special effects.”

East English teacher, Ms. Lola Wright, said, “I missed the ‘Bangerz’ tour

had heard about the spitting plan before the concert. They chose to attend just for that experience.

“Miley, we love Miley.

We’ve been to every concert and we heard that she would be here spitting on the audience at this smalltown choir concert,” said Bartholemew Kristoff, a Philadelphia resident. “Of course we had to go.”

Unfortunately, he and his friends soon realized it wasn’t Miley who was spitting on the audience, but Friedman. His group then departed with gloomy looks on their faces.

Other audience members did not share the same sentiments.

One parents said, “If I wanted aquatic effects, I would have gone to Sahara Sam’s Oasis.”

Another student, Kayla Hudson (‘15), Alison Wooton (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor said in between tears The inspiration for Friedman’s spitting during this year’s and profanity, “I was Spring Concert. wearing suede, suede.”

She then proceeded the strings ensemble. and was really down for the to walk away, screaming The reactions were mixed longest time, so this was “suede!” from the audience members pretty cool.”

Disciplinarian action is with a range of emotions After the spitting incipending on Cherry Hill’s from melancholy to cheery. dent, Wright posted a selfie Board of Education review.

One parent, Jacob Amaro, to Instagram of her smeared It is clear that there was no said, “Let me drop a truthmascara with the hashtags: malicious intent by Friedbomb on y’all, my kid plays “CrayCray and Blessed, Orman, who “was just trying the triangle, the triangle… chestra Fountain.” to enhance the concert and and I have to sit here after Some audience members have some fun.”

The Mortal Instruments is a new musical hit ■ By Emma Silverstone (‘15)

Eastside Staff

If you’re interested in action novels, The Mortal Instruments is perfect for you. A thrilling tale of trombones, violins and the like, the story focuses on the struggle of musical instruments that have to escape death on a daily basis. Written by Cassandra Clare, the first in this series of books describes the instruments’ first life-threatening adventure. The instruments have the ability to talk, similarly to the toys in the Toy Story movies.

In the beginning of the novel, Tanner the Trumpet and Fiona the Flute are peacefully sitting in their cases when a bunch of children grab them and begin to throw them around. They yell to be placed down, but the children don’t hear them. Tanner and Fiona are flung to the ground. Their pieces are dented and broken. Struggling to stay conscious, they think it’s the end. Luckily, their owner comes to the rescue and puts them away in a safe place. The thrilling action scenes in this book should not be missed.

Similar obstacles are faced by Troy the Triangle, Richard the Recorder, Gary the Guitar and Ben the Bass. One of the friendlier instruments even gets moved to another school, and the subsequent farewell scene is sad enough to reduce even the toughest reader to tears. The novel focuses on the importance of friendship and unity, because the instruments help their friends when they need it the most.

The novel is directed to teens aged 14 and up. Due to the small amount of violence in some of the scenes, students who aren’t in middle school should wait a couple of years to start it. Students who aren’t mature enough might not be able to handle some of the descriptive fight scenes between the instruments and the humans.

The Mortal Instruments is definitely a novel worth borrowing from the local library or buying at a bookstore. It will leave readers singing with satisfaction from the realistic dialogue and Clare’s fast-paced writing style. Check it out if you’re interested in musical action.

May 2014

The timeline of an English essay

■ By Abby Hoffman (‘14) Eastside Entertainment Editor

Three weeks ago, I was assigned the task of writing a flawless English essay.

Adding to my great misfortune was the assignment’s due date, which is tomorrow.

Realizing that I had less than 24 hours to produce the best essay that I could muster, I planned to immediately go home and start writing.

When the bell rang at 2:30 p.m., it occurred to me that stopping by Wawa was a superb idea. It was hard to make the decision between a Mint Chip milkshake and a classic pretzel, but I finally decided to go with the milkshake.

I arrived home at 2:53 p.m. and sat down at my computer to do a hasty check of my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine and Formspring feeds. After what seemed like an appropriate time to log off, I checked the clock to make sure my plans were still going smoothly. To my dismay, the clock read 6:45 p.m.

By the time I had three sentences completed, my mom called me down for dinner. Dinner lasted for 34 minutes. Then, I was back on track.

As I approached the third paragraph, I nodded off into a semi-conscious state. I have remained in this state for two hours.

It is now 3:21 a.m., and I am still on my third paragraph.

Photo by Molly Schultz (‘14)/ Eastside Humor Editor

Newsbriefs logo by Helena Sirken (‘15)/ Eastside Art Editor

Senior gets off college weight list and is now of acceptable body mass to attend.

Oompa Loompas immigrate to East the week before junior and senior proms.

Every girl at Senior Prom shows up in the same dress, many tears.

Senior girl tweets about how much she hates, like, school.

Student takes Buzzfeed quiz, lives life accordingly.

Retiring teacher admits to suffering from Senioritis.

SPORTS

May 2014

EASTSIDE

Page 17

An update on some of East’s varsity teams Baseball

Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

East varsity baseball looks to perform exceedingly well this season.

With big expectations for the team to perform at a high level this season, the East varsity baseball squad has delivered thus far. The team boasts a handful of top performers such as Nick Ciocco (‘14), Mike Brambilla (‘14) and Nick DiEva (‘14). Head Coach Mr. Erik Radbill plans to guide the team to victory with his winning mindset.

“Going into every year, the first goal is to win the division,” Radbill said. “We have quite a few seniors going to college for baseball. We’re going to rely heavily on them to get us those wins this year.”

Radbill said the key to the team’s success will be how it performs against other teams in the Olympic Conference.

“Our record against the Olympic Conference will set the tone for how

well we do the rest of the season.

We expect to do fairly well against every team,” Radbill said.

Radbill praised his players for visibly bettering themselves day in and day out.

“We have some kids with tremendous character in the program this year,” Radbill said. “All the players improve off of each other.

Just about everyone on the team has made a drastic improvement from last year.”

The team has already clinched a playoff berth with a 13-8 record and is striving to stay as hot as possible throughout the remainder of the season to get a higher seed.

With all of the senior leadership and players stepping up into their own roles, the team should have no problem winning in the playoffs.

Softball

The girls’ softball team has been playing well so far this season.and the girls have improved a lot since last year. Head Coach Ms. Stefanie Digneo has high hopes for the rest of the season.

“Our main goals for this year were to improve upon our season from last year and become more competitive,” said Digneo.

Digneo also beleives that the team will find its success through the team’s strong senior core.

“We have a big senior class this year,” Digneo said. “They are a strong group, but we also have younger talent to support them. Kendall Geis (‘16) and Kendall Borman (‘15) are two players who complement the seniors very well.”

To make sure every player reaches her potential, Digneo believes

that working on individual and team weaknesses is key.

“We just try to practice and as a coaching staff work on the little things. Each hitter is different, weaknesses are different, so every day we try to attack those weaknesses individually and then collectively as a group.”

Captains Casey Clark (‘14) and Megan Martin (‘14) are eager to finish the season on a high note.

“My goal is to improve from how we did last year. We are hoping to get some more wins and just play together as a team,” Clark said.

Martin’s personal goal was to improve on the team’s 5-16 record last season and have done so with a team record of 7-14-1. Clark and Martin have supported their teammates and are happy with this year’s season.

Alison Wooten (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

East softball hopes to improve from last year’s 5-16 record.

Boys’ Lacrosse

Alison Wooten (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Despite a rough start to the season, the boys’ lacrosse team still aims to win in the playoffs.

The boys’ lacrosse team has fought through a rough beginning of the season and is starting to play strongly. The team features key players Brian Stamm (‘16) and Nick Trombetta (‘15) on defense, while Ian Sheeky (‘16), Brandon Stern (‘15) and Chris Hammerquist (‘15) hold down the offense. Stern, one of the team’s captains, plans on leading the team to ensure that everyone is devoted to victory.

“My goal is just to play as a team and we’ve got to play as a team and win one game at a time,” Stern said. “Having a lot of young players on the team, we all have to start learning how to play together, which will hopefully lead to a playoff win if we make it.”

Coach Mr. Erick Wood said that the players’ focus will be the key to finishing the season strong and ultimately making the playoffs.

“We have to take every quarter one at a time,” Wood said. “Sometimes we’ll have a great quarter followed by a bad quarter followed by a great one, and we just want to try and have four good ones every game.”

Wood believes that the team can turn this season around and win in the playoffs.

“The season started a little chaotic because of some internal issues, but we’ve just got on track and we’re starting to play really well together,” Wood said. “The end of the season should go very well.”

Girls’ Lacrosse The girls’ varsity lacrosse team had started off rough but got its record up to 6-12 after a slow start.

The girls recently had a huge win against Cherry Hill West and won the game by a score of 14-7. This was the first ever night game against Cherry Hill West.

“We work well as a team,” said midfielder Brooke Beatty (‘14). “We have a solid defense and move the ball well.”

Also, Captain Megan Thompson (‘14), a Montclair State commit, is happy with the results so far.

“I think we have played well and specific players have stepped up in different games,” said Thompson. “As a team we need more communication

on the field from the defensive end up to the attack and we need to work together moving the ball around.

We also need to be smarter when we have to ball and make the right decisions in whatever the situation of the game.”

Some key players for the team this season have been Thompson, Stetson University commit Taylor Patrizi (’14), midfielder Priya Kavuru (’17), Arcadia University commit Courtney Capehart (’14) and goalkeeper Rachel Adap (’14).

The girls team managed to slide into the playoffs at the end of the seaosn and is highly anticipating it.

The team really hopes to win in the first round to prove they are worthy.

Alison Wooten (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Girls’ lacrosse looks sharp through the first half of the season.

SPORTS

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EASTSIDE

May 2014

More updates on some of East’s top teams Boys’ Volleyball

This season, the boys’ volleyball team has been playing at the top of its game.

The team has played with enthusiasm and has displayed a positive attitude throughout the season.

Because the team won the Olympic Conference Championship last year, the players are continuing to find success in hopes of making the post-season once again.

The team has hovered around .500 all season. Yet, the team has exceeded all of the expectations that have been set for it.

Captain Jake Rudin (‘14) said, “Since last year we won the conference championship, our goal this year is to be even more competitive and make it into the playoffs.”

The team has had some mon-

mental victories this season which has propelled them to where they are now. The team won 2-0 against Cherry Hill West, Washington Township, Gloucester Tech, and Clearview. They have also won games against Pennsauken and Collingswood, by a score of 2-1.

As captain, Rudin has led the team just by being an example for younger, inexperienced players.

The East volleyball team has earned 12 conference titles in the past 20 years. Some players to look out for are Kyle Baker (‘15) and Tanner Smith (‘15) along with Sam Berman (‘17).

This year the members are striving to do more great things, as they already have, in hopes of succeeding in the playoffs as per usual.

Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

The volleyball team hopes to win under new coach Ori Haver.

Boys’ Track & Field

Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

East boys’ track takes the lead against Lenape.

The boys’ varsity track team is yet again off to another very successful season. The boys have posted a phenomenal record all season and plan to keep winning as the as the bigger events at the end of the season approach.

Head coach Mr. Anthony Maniscalco said, “Our two biggest wins were against Cherokee and Washington Township, but we aren’t concerned too much with winning until we get to sectionals.”

Javelin thrower Steve Benigno (‘14) has not only already made a huge impact for the team, but has also signed his National Letter of Intent to be a part of the track and field program at the University of Connecticut next year.

“My goal for the second half of the season is to throw the javelin 220 feet,” Benigno said.

Other standout performers thus far are distance runners Aaron Groff (‘16), Dan Helfand (‘15) and Ben Dillon (‘14). Kennedy Omari (‘16) is doing exceptionally well in the high jump and Jordan Clark (‘16) is holding it down in the hurdles. Vladimir Theophile (‘15) is the team’s best 400m runner.

Groff, Helfand and Dillon all broke the 38-year-old school record in the 3200m this year. Groff is the new record holder with a time of 9:24.

The boys have already begun to get the job done and are eager to begin the playoff meets.

Girls’ Track & Field

The girls’ varsity track team is off to a phenomenal start thus far.

The team recorded its first win against Washington Township in four years, showing improvements in all fronts. The team also showed improvement since its loss to Cherokee, losing by only eleven points to one of the conference’s top teams.

“We have a wide variety of talent on the team and have made large improvements from last year and the seasons before,” said Captain Maddy Berman (‘14).

Berman continues to find success in the 1600m and 3200m races and has signed her National Letter of Intent to be a part of the track and field program at the University of Delaware.

Along with Berman, jumper and sprinter Christina Stanley (‘14) will be a part of the track and field program at Rowan University next year.

Other standout performers on the team are jumper, sprinter and hurdler Chelsea Campbell (‘14), hurdler and sprinter Grace Garemore (‘16), distance runner Monica Lee (‘15), sprinter Mollie Taylor (‘14), mid-distance runner Nicole Marchetti (‘15), and Darby O’Rourke (‘15), a sprinter and hurdler.

As with the boys’ track and field team, the girls are looking forward to the start of sectionals and hope to continue the success through the playoffs.

Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

The East girls begin a race against Lenape.

Boys’ Tennis

Ali Wooten (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

East players shake hands after defeating an opponent.

The boys’ varsity tennis squad is compete well in the division and adhaving another successful season. vance deep into the playoffs. As the Coach Greg DeWolf has made it team’s coach, his personal goal is to clear that he believes this team has see everyone improve throughout the talent to advance far this season the season. and cited a few key players as poten“The goal is for everyone to imtial break-out stars this season. prove daily, for everyone to push “We have a freshman Rahul Kuleach other to improve,” DeWolf said, catta (‘17) playing in the singles po“On the tennis court, we do drills sition this year. He’s a very talented that a lot of times we practice in young player. We have returning match scenarios so that players feel veterans like Nikhil Shukla (‘14), comfortable while playing a match.

Dan Xeng (‘15), Jay Park (‘14), and That way, players know how to hansome sophomores like Aaron Silverdle certain match scenarios. Instead berg (‘16) and Drew Meklinsky (‘16) of getting flustered because you’re who could really show up this year,” down or your serve isn’t working, a said DeWolf. player might think ‘I’ve been here DeWolf also said that on a large before so I know what I need to do to scale, his goal for the team is to fix this and come out winning.’”

All team updates written by Jacob Borowsky (‘16), Nick Ciocco (‘14), and Marlee Zeitz (‘16)/ Eastside Sports Editors Baseball, Softball, Lacrosse & Tennis art by Spencer Maussner (‘16) Track & Volleyball art by Grace Shen (‘16)/ Eastside Staff

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EASTSIDE

May 2014

Jake Rudin: leading the volleyball team to victory ■ By Sam Greenberg (‘16) Eastside Staff

Jake Rudin (’14), captain of the volleyball team, is among one of the most decorated Cherry Hill East senior student-athletes.

Rudin will be continuing his volleyball career at Baruch College at the Division III level next year. Rudin expressed gratitude for being good enough to compete at a school that was recently ranked third in the nation for DIII schools.

Baruch, located in New York City, is without a doubt the school for Rudin, as he confessed his love for the city.

Rudin has had high expectations and goals ever since he began playing volleyball his freshman year.

When he first stepped on the court, he knew he had a future with the sport.

“Playing at the collegiate level has always been a dream of mine,” Rudin said. “Now it’s becoming a reality.”

For Rudin, there is no off-sea-

son—volleyball never stops. Rudin plays club volleyball outside of school in a league comprised of teams with the area’s best players.

“Players are made in the club season,” Rudin said, “teams are made during the school season.”

Although the volleyball team lost eleven seniors from last season, Rudin has high hopes for the team this year to repeat as conference champions. Among the many players expected to help Rudin is Kyle Baker (’15).

“Rudin has a great knowledge of the game,” Baker said. “His experience allows him to be a great teacher.”

Rudin plans to lead the team through their transition from Coach Moehlman to new Coach Ori Haver.

Haver, a former player for the Israeli National Team and a coach in Israel, has a lot of faith in the team to have success this season.

“Confident, competitive, and joyful,” Haver said. “These are three traits that make Rudin a great player on the court and a great leader off the court.”

Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Rudin goes up for a spike during a volleyball game.

Multi-sport senior Patrizi is a natural on the lacrosse field ■ By Brett Dashevsky (‘16) Eastside Staff

Alison Wooten (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor

Patrizi attempts to intercept a pass.

Taylor Patrizi (‘14) is an East student who plays both field hockey and lacrosse, the latter being her strong suit. Her great accomplishments on the playing fields have been strongly noticed by both faculty and peers at East.

Patrizi began to play lacrosse her freshman year and found success almost immediately.

“The first time I played lacrosse for East, I was excited and grateful to perform well enough to be a varsity starter,” Patrizi said.

By her sophomore year, Patrizi was a varsity starter, and is now the girls’ varsity lacrosse team captain.

Though she is an excellent player in her own right, Patrizi dedicates much of her success to her supporting cast.

“Without my teammates I would definitely not have accomplished the goals and achievements I have,” Patrizi said.

Patrizi won All-Conference honors for lacrosse last year and currently holds the East record for most draw controls in a season with 103. Additionally, she was named

the “Player to Watch” in this year's High School Spring Sports Preview published by Suburban Family.

When asked why she loves playing for East, Patrizi said, “I like being part of a program that has a lot to offer and that works for what they want. I like being a part of a close-knit group of girls that is easy to work with.”

Aside from playing lacrosse for East, Patrizi also plays in the summer for her club team, the South Jersey Devils. She has been invited to play in tournaments against AllAmerican teams.

“I enjoy challenges, so I definitely enjoy playing in the summer against the more difficult teams,” she said.

Though Patrizi is a senior, she is not done with lacrosse just yet. She looks forward to playing next year at Stetson University, a Division I school in Florida. Patrizi visited the college last year and immediately fell in love with it.

“When I visited and played with the team this summer, the coach had a lot of faith in me,” Patrizi said. “He made me feel welcomed and already like part of the team.”

Patrizi is hoping to have another stellar season to further cement her pro;ific athletic impact at Cherry Hill East.

Steve Benigno is one of the best javelin throwers in the country ■ By Haley Schultz (‘14)

Eastside News/Features Editor

Track and field at East has excelled in javelin for many years now. The success of East’s javelin is exhibited through Steve Benigno (’14). Formerly a sprinter, Benigno tried his hand at javelin last season to much success.

“I wasn’t the best at sprinting, and I have an arm, so I just tried javelin,” said Benigno. “It was something new.”

Benigno began practicing javelin in the beginning of March of last year. He realized that javelin was a talent of his when he made it to the state championship. It took him a lot of practice with Coach Jeff Bramnick, the javelin coach, to get to where he is today in his javelin career.

Bramnick inspired Beningo to try javelin after seeing lackluster results from Beningo in other track and field events.

“He’s a natural thrower, but not the best sprinter, so we figured we’d

try him at the javelin,” Bramnick said. “It came to him easily.”

Even though Benigno is a bit shorter than his competitors, he excels. He made it to Nationals, where he threw a 168-4.75, earning himself second place in the event.

Benigno plans to continue throwing at the University of Connecticut next season.

On April 2, 2014, Benigno threw a monster 209-0 throw, the longest throw of the season. The throw was the number-one throw in the country for ten days in April. Previously, Benigno’s top throw was a 171.4, which earned him the number 6 rank in the state at the Group IV state meet last spring. The recordbreaking throw was augmented by a 203-6 throw at the Jim Camburn Memorial Buena Relays on April 5, his second longest throw in his high school career.

With the help of Benigno, East’s javelin squad helped track and field to the Sectional and Group IV state meets last season. When Beningo graduates this year, the javelin team will lose a great asset.

Benigno prepares to throw off.

Jordan Stein (‘14)/ Eastside Photo Editor