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INKLINGS

January 9, 2015

Vol. 87, Issue 5

INSIDE Page 8 Gap years gain popularity

Page 12 Students drive under the influence of marijuana

1 7 11 17 21

News Opinions Features Arts Sports Photo by Colette Lippman ’17

IICONN welcomes refugees to Connecticut Colette Lippman ’17

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onnie Kern, Chief Program Officer at the International Institute of Connecticut (IICONN), on the way up to her office, walks past shelves and display cases full of items that represent the pride, culture and gratitude of people who have benefitted from the supports offered by IICONN in Bridgeport, Connecticut. These items are mostly from immigrants and refugees coming from countries all around the world, including Syria.

According to NBC Connecticut, Governor Dannel Malloy continues to accept Syrian refugees into the state. Kern can attest to this. “Nothing has changed at all,” she said in reference to the number of Syrian refugees coming to the area. thatHowever, after the terrorist attacks in Paris that occurred on the evening of Nov. 13, many US governors have attempted to put stricter regulations on immigration out of fear that the admission of Syrian refugees would result in a terrorist attack on US soil.

These concerns and fears are shared by some Staples students, including Grant Tobben ’16 who disagrees with Malloy’s decision to accept Syrian refugees. “It seems that accepting masses of refugees

makes it very easy for ISIS members to slip into the US,” Tobben said. “I would like for us to be able to allow more refugees in, but the threat to our safety is too great.”

However, Kern disagrees. With a seemingly frustrated expression, Kern acknowledges the anti-refugee views but finds these fears to be mostly unfounded, as she believes communities have the power to be a positive influence on the lives of many suffering people. “We underscore the importance of the community’s participation in resettlement.” Kern said. “From finding a job to mentoring to donating funds, we all need to come together to empower refugees to reach their fullest potential.” thatisOther Westport residents, like Staples student Taylor Githens ’17, share Kern’s views. “It’s confusing and also sad to hear about states like New Jersey who, after hearing about the Paris attacks, feel threatened by Syrian refugees,” Githens said. “It shows how Islamophobia is growing in our nation.”

According to Kern, there is actually little to fear since refugees go through a lengthy process in order to enter the country. “Refugees arrive in the US after a series of thorough background and

medical checks,” Kern said, adding that their resettlements have been largely successful. “At IICONN, we have resettled refugees who had spent the past 15 years escaping from their country of origin and then living in a camp waiting to be able to come to the United States.”

In fact, IICONN resettles 100 refugees per year, aiding families from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, East Africa and Iraq. The mentoring programs

offered by IICONN also help immigrants assimilate into Fairfield County, as they provide support to families and assist in making them feel comfortable in their new environments.

“Arriving in Connecticut is an exciting experience for refugees,” Kern said.

“Fairfield County is very welcoming and most refugees are grateful to have an opportunity to start a new life, away from violence and persecution.”

Photo by Colette Lippman ’17

Counties attempts to accomodate LGBT community Seat belt policy Newly implemented policy seeks to be more inclusive Cooper Boardman ’17 As the calendar turns to late January, the junior class starts to take a step back from the frantic pace of midterm exams and endless college visits, trading out their textbooks and binders for tuxedos and corsages. For many students, thoughts turn to the Counties Assembly Charity Ball — the annual, formal dance held at the Stamford Marriott Hotel.

While the dance is often traditionally thought of as a girls-ask-guys affair, the

assembly recently instituted new measures to ensure lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students are comfortable at the event.

As of this year, the assembly “decided we’re just going to eliminate any discussion on the topic,” Susan Safko, a member of the Counties Assembly Board of Directors, said. “If you want to bring another girl and she happens to be on our list, just go ahead and do so, and you don’t need to notify us at all.”

Up until this point, there has been no formal policy from the board of di-

rectors on the subject, but Safko believes the dance is open to all.

“We’ve always been inclusive of any lesbian or [bisexual] girl,” she said. “We have in the past and will continue to [...] encourage all girls who are invited to attend.”

Still, only girls may ask their dates to the dance, and only girls can register to buy tickets. This means that gay males are not able to attend as a couple, males in general cannot attend without a female date, and no one can go as a single.

Continued on page 2

STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL| 70 North Ave., Westport, Connecticut

discussed by BOE Julia Rosier ’18 It’s 6:00 a.m., and it’s time to roll out of bed and catch the bus to school. The exhaustion has taken over, so the safety of the school buses probably rarely comes to students’ minds. But it is on the mind of the Westport Board of Education (BOE).

The BOE is debating whether Westport school buses need seat belts. For about 15 years, this has been a prominent topic of discussion for the BOE, but no changes have ever been made to the buses.

Continued on page 3

inklingsnews.com

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News | January 9, 2015

Photo contributed by Nick Massoud ’15

ACTIVIST INSTINCTS Nick Massoud ’15 attends a protest at Yale University, where he is currently a freshman.

Timeline of Yale campus protests Sarah Sommer ’16

Oct. 27

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) sent out an email urging students to be sensitive when picking Halloween costumes.

College-campus protests prompt debate

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Jen Gouchoe ’16

tudents across the nation have been discussing issues of racism on college campuses ever since protests erupted at University of Missouri in September and at Yale University in early November. While students and college administrations continue to grapple with these complicated issues, many people hope that the discussions will spark change to benefit students who feel marginalized on campus.

“For a period of time, the issues and conversations here had reached such an extent that it was impossible to avoid talking or thinking about them,” Rachel Treisman ’15, a current Yale freshman, said.

Will Vester ’15, also a current Yale freshman, has witnessed how these protests and discussions have greatly affected the student body.

“I think a large part of the student body really got behind the protests,” Vester said. “There was huge turnout at certain events.”

Treisman mentioned that she attended the March of Resilience, an event where students marched to all the different cultural centers on campus. The march ended at the library, where students celebrated different cultures with music and dancing.

“I have tried to be as involved and supportive as I can,” Treisman said.

In addition to the March of Resilience, Treisman attended the chalking outside of the library where the dean of Yale College, Jonathan Holloway, listened to the students’ concerns. She also participated in a teach-in, with discussions about race and ethnic studies.

Though a good portion of the student body stood behind the protesters, Vester mentioned that “there was definitely a segment of campus that viewed the protests with suspicion.”

“I don’t necessarily disagree with the aims of the protestors, but I think that some of the methods and rhetoric employed went a little too far,” Vester said. “I think some of the students critical of the protests are put off by the often confrontational rhetoric used by protesters.”

As the discussions continued on the Yale campus, many other universities have felt the ripple effect of these protests.

Simon Stracher ’14, a current sophomore at Amherst College, noted that although the protests haven’t consumed the student body as much as at Yale, the students have been advocating for change on campus. Stracher mentioned that he took part in a sit-in to show support for the students at Yale and University of Missouri.

“The main goal was basically to show solidarity with the students of Missouri and Yale,” Stracher said. “But then students

here started talking about their experiences with racism at Amherst and how there were some truly awful things they had experienced.”

In addition to sit-ins and other protests, Amherst College will officially repeal its mascot, Lord Jeff, who was infamous for his racism towards Native Americans.

Stracher believes the Amherst administration has made progress. However, he said that there are still long-term issues that have yet to be solved.

“You can’t change racism overnight,” Stracher said.

While the protests may have died down, students and school administrations are furthering their discussions in hopes of resolving these issues in the future.

“In my time here, I have not gone through the same experiences that [students of color] have, so it’s harder for me — and I think many white students — to feel that they have the right to be very outspoken about this issue because there’s a fine line between being supportive and appropriating — for lack of a better word — an issue that is not about you,” Treisman said. “But for better or for worse, events at Yale and other colleges have sparked a national discussion about really critical issues, and it’s a really interesting and unique time to be here.”

Counties changes rules regarding couples Cooper Boardman ’17 Continued from page 1 Girls that ask someone are expected to pay a fee that covers both her and an escort, and in the case of girls taking girls, just one partner must pay the allotted amount (this year, the cost is $110). According to Safko, this money helps cover the costs of the venue and other portions of the dance, and any amount left over is donated to local charities.

However, the assembly has also instituted a more traditional change within the last few years. After a hiatus from the long-established long gowns and tuxedos, the board of directors announced in 2012 (the 75th anniversary of the dance), that students would again need to don formal attire.

“We did feel in recent years attire has gotten more in line with Hollywood dance party than black-tie-gown event,” Counties Assembly President Cathy Zilling said in a 2012 statement.

Some LGBT students have reached out

“If you want to bring another girl, and she happens to be on our list, just go ahead and do so, and you don’t need to notify us at all.”

-Susan Safko (Counties Assembly Board of Directors member)

to the assembly explaining they are not comfortable wearing a traditional gown and push for further changes. thatOne senior student who identifies as queer believes the assembly can do more to make the dance welcoming for LGBT students by eliminating escorts altogether.

“I know single people who can’t go and gay people who switch dates or have to go with friends,” this student said. “It’s pointless, old-fashioned and very heteronormative. If it was just bringing a date, that would be much more inclusive because

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

then two gay guys could go and trans people wouldn’t be confused and uncomfortable.”

In response, Safko says the dance works hard to accommodate everyone.

“We don’t hesitate, if you’re a girl and you want to wear a tuxedo, as long as you wear a tuxedo or gown that’s perfectly consistent with our dress code,” she said. “Each year we have a few couples who call just to make sure that it’s okay, and there’s never, ever been an issue nor would there ever be about two girls as a couple going together.”

Oct. 30

Erika Christakis, an associate master of a residential college at Yale, sent out a mass email in response to FIRE’s message that sparked protest and caused students to call for her resignation.

Oct. 30

Minority students were allegedly denied from a Sigma Alpha Epsilon party based on their race.

Nov. 9

Students partook in the “March for Resilience” across Yale’s campus.

Nov. 12

Students marched to Yale President Peter Salovey’s home to demand a series of changes to curriculum and administration to aid minority students.

Nov. 7

Salovey unveiled a plan to enhance the academic study of race and ethnicity and to improve the experiences of people of color, including a $50 million, five year initiative to increase faculty diversity.

Dec. 4

Christakis resigns from her position at Yale in response to ongoing protests.

News | January 9, 2015

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Student developer faces backlash over an app Justin Schwebel ’16

Photo dramatization by Caroline O’Kane ’16

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hen Dylan Diamond ’17 launched myHAC in early 2014, he hoped to provide “an easy way for students and parents to access Westport Public School’s grading system,” according to the app’s official description.

The free version of myHAC has over 6,000 downloads within the district and Diamond has also created a version of myHAC for use outside of the Westport School District. This version of the app costs $1.99 and has tensof-thousands of downloads worldwide. In fact, at one point the myHAC paid version was listed as a top app in the “Paid Educational Apps” chart on the iTunes App Store.

This success, however, has not come without backlash. The app has received criticism from the district, administration and the student body.

On Nov. 6, Principal Mark Karagus sent an email out to students. “The overuse of this App has caused undue stress and anxiety for students and their families,” Dr. Karagus wrote.

“We do not recommend use of this App. It is NOT sanctioned by Staples High School.” wlelllDiamond acknowledged that Karagus and school staff must address the issue of stress within the school but does not believe it is his app that is causing the stress. “The school, guidance department and principal’s job [is] to reduce stress,” Diamond said. “However, since the app is an extension of the school’s grading system, there is no difference between viewing the grades on a web browser and the app. The app is not a cause of stress. It is just a way to view grades.”

However, in Dr. Karagus’ letter, he explained that the app had not received prior approval. “The app was not cleared by the school board,” Karagus explained. While he could not legally force Diamond to take the app off the store, he felt as though he needed to do something to address some of the concerns with students, prompting the district-wide email.

Natalie Carrignan, Director of Technology for the Westport Public Schools, pointed out some possible security concerns with the app.

“In addition, since my department cannot see into the apps’ code or support the apps in any way, and since the apps collect students’ and parents’ usernames and password, we cannot verify the security or usability of these apps, and as such, must let the end users (our parents and students) know they are using the apps at their own risk and that we, in no way, can endorse or encourage the use of the apps,” Carrignan said.

Dr. Karagus also questions the accuracy of the GPA calculator. “Students were not accurately [certain of] their Grade Point Average, and people [had] misinformation, and we had to get that out. It was troubling a lot people,” Dr. Karagus said. He encouraged students to use the official web version of Home Access Center. “Our GPA system is the only means of [calculating an] official GPA,” Dr.

Karagus said.

Diamond nevertheless stands by the accuracy of the automatic GPA calculator and the security of his app. “The data comes straight from the school’s own servers, and your login information does not leave your device,” Diamond said. “[The] GPA calculator is correct on a quarterly basis, as stated in the student handbook when discussing how honor roll is computed based on a quarter GPA.” gooCarrignan acknowledged some of the shortfalls with the school’s official grading system but explained that the school’s system is the only way to be certain student’s and parents are receiving accurate information.

“The official online platform, while klunky and far from pretty, is supported and secure,” Carrigan said. “The data shown from within the online program to parents and students is guaranteed to be accurate based on direct teacher input and official calculations reviewed by the Staples guidance department.”

Despite being discouraged by the administration, many students continue to use Diamond’s app. Buster Scher ’18 opts for Diamond’s app for the convenience. “It makes it a lot easier to access grades,” Scher said. “The platform is simpler.”

Dr. Karagus explained that he is looking into the improvements of Diamond’s app updates and of a similar app created by Garry Perlberg ’18 called easyHAC. Perlberg’s app includes a few additional features, such as access attendance records and faster load times.

“We are always evaluating the situation,” Karagus said.

Despite not being an advocate for the use of the apps, Dr. Karagus praised Diamond’s and Perlberg’s accomplishments. “We recognize the skill [and] accomplishments of those individuals. No one is discounting that end of it,” Dr. Karagus said. “But as a school, we have to be sensitive [to] how this is going [to] impact all students accidentally and emotionally.”

Photo by Claire Dinshaw ’17

ALL ABOARD Bedford Middle School students board buses after school on Monday, Jan. 4. Each will ride home in a bus without seatbelts.

Lack of school bus seat belts inspires town discussion Julia Rosier ’18 Continued from page 1 On Nov. 25, the BOE held a meeting and Superintendent Elliott Landon again brought up the fact that the school buses do not have seat belts.

Landon would not be opposed to the implementation of the seat belts. However, the installation will be costly. thatsIn order to install these seat belts, Westport Public Schools would have to spend approximately $630,000. Landon said that if so much money was spent, the BOE would need to protect its investment by hiring bus monitors who would confirm that students were buckled for every ride.

Landon also stated a preference for installing the three-point seat belt over the lap belt in order to protect the children if the vehicle were to flip over.

“I am an advocate for seat belts only

on passenger cars, vans, SUVs and trucks.

However, I am not opposed to having three point seat belts installed on school buses. I am vehemently opposed to the installation of lap-type seat belts on school buses,” Landon said.

Michael Gordon, the chairman of the Board of Education, agrees with Landon about having the three-point seat belts.

“On balance I would prefer to have seat belts on all buses,” Gordon said. “Threepoint harness seat belts seem to be the most effective, as compared to simple lap belts.”

The BOE’s discussion about seat belts is now timely, as the issue has become a topic for national news.

On Sept. 10, The Today Show reported on seat belts on school buses and why there were not many states who install them. According to the Rossen Report reporter Jeff Rossen discovered that the only states that require seat belts on all buses are California, Texas, Florida, New York,

Louisiana and New Jersey.

According to the same report, if a bus were to crash and the kids were not protected by seat belts, the children could potentially get thrown around the vehicle.

Rossen performed the experiment of a bus traveling approximately 30 miles per hour down a track into a cement wall at the Transportation Research Center in Ohio.

The results of the experiment were that the children-sized crash test dummies were thrust around the vehicle.

Furthermore, especially with children of elementary-school age, children tend to stand up on the bus, which can distract the driver. A member of the PTA Council and mother who prefered to remain anonymous watched her daughter and her friends “bouncing around the back seats one morning,” and she questioned what would have happened if the bus had crashed. good“Our children are accustomed to buckling up when they get in a car. As par-

ents, we go to great lengths to ensure the safety of our children even though many of us grew up at a time when seat belts were not required,” this mother said.

Olivia Katz ’23 is a fifth grade student at Long Lots Elementary School.

Katz takes the bus everyday to and from school. “A lot of people stand up on the bus to school, and it makes it hard for the driver to see behind them,” Katz said. “I think that the buses would need seatbelts for this reason.”

Maddie Dick ’16 was in the third grade when her bus hit a tree. She remembers the startling bump as the driver did not make his turn wide enough and collided with the tree. The Rossen Report clarifies that if an event similar to this were to happen, three-point seat belts would help secure the children in their seats.

The safety of school buses and the potential need of seat belts will be a study among news networks and among the Westport BOE.

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

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News | January 9, 2015

Looking forward to 2016 January MLK Day

February Presidential primaries

The 30th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be observed on Monday, Jan. 18.

The Iowa Caucus will be held on Feb. 1, and the New Hampshire primary will be held on Feb. 9. Nevada and South Carolina will also hold separate caucuses and primaries for the Republicans and Democrats at the end of February.

Image from Google labeled for reuse

April Harry Potter

March New SAT

On March 5, the new SAT will be offered for the first time. It will feature an optional essay and no “guessing” penalty. Staples is not a test center on this day, but students can take the exam in neighboring towns.

May

The Queen’s birthday From May 12-15 a pageant celebrating the Queen of England’s 90th birthday will be held at Windsor Castle. Her birthday is actually in April, but festivities will continue through the months of May and June.

Image from Google labeled for reuse

Dec. 18 The birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. will be celebrated this year on Saturday, Jan. 16. King was a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a Baptist minister and a civil rights leader devoted to nonviolence. To celebrate his contributions and sacrifice, the Westport Historical Society will host its annual celebration for children to educate students in grades K-5 about the influential leader and the ongoing fight for racial equality.

Second quarter officially ends on Thursday, Jan. 21, following midterm makeup day. Normally, Staples students enjoy a long weekend before beginning third quarter.

This year, however, second semester begins immediately after makeup day, which is on Jan. 20. With the end of first semester, many students will need to adjust to new schedules midweek as the result of their semester-long courses coming to an end.

NASA’s spacecraft Juno is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter after five years in travel on July 4.

Graphic by Max Bibicoff ’16

September iPhone 7 unveiled

The games of the XXXI Olympiad will open on Aug. 1 in Rio De Janeiro. The events will last two weeks with closing ceremonies held on Aug. 23

Martin Luther King Day

End of second quarter

June July Gay pride parade Juno at Jupiter

August Olympics

Emma Lederer ’16

Jan. 21

On April 7, 2016, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will open at Universal Studios Hollywood after its success at Universal Studios Orlando.

Throughout the month of June in New York City, the bouroughs will be hosting a variety of events and protests centered around LGBT pride.

Local Briefs

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will come out in September 2016.

Western Regionals Jan. 15

Staples will host the Western Regionals Music Festival on Friday, Jan. 15, and Saturday, Jan. 16. This event is held by the Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA), whose mission is to “[provide] programs and activities for professional educators, students and future music educators striving to enhance the quality of music education for all children.” The concert will feature student musicians from Western Connecticut who are members of CMEA.

Library writers’ workshop Jan. 16

At the Westport Library on Jan. 16, 2016 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Mary-Lou Weisman will be holding a workshop for beginning writers that focuses on personal essays and memoirs. Weisman has published two memoirs, a biography and a best-selling humor book and has given lectures at New York University, Manhattanville College and The New School. Those who attend her workshop will be guided through “a series of motivating exercises” that aim to bring out creativity and inspire imaginative writing.

Jazz Band concert Graphic by Claire Dinshaw ’17

October Orionids meteor shower

November Presidential election

Voters will head to the ballots for the 58th presidential election on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

On Oct. 21 through the 22 the Orionids meteor shower will be at its peak, producing about 20 meteors per hour. This shower is produced by dust grains that are left behind by the comet Halley.

Image from Google labeled for reuse

Image from Google labeled for reuse

December Holidays Another year comes to a close with the celebrations of Hannukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa.

Photo by Claire Dinshaw ’17

Jan. 26 On Tuesday, Jan. 26, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., the jazz bands from Coleytown Middle School and Staples High School will hold a joint concert in the auditorium at Staples. Every year, the jazz band here at Staples holds a special performance with middle school students.

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News | January 9, 2015

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Staples ramps up its course selection for the upcoming 2016-2017 school year Sophie Call ’16

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or the 2016-2017 school year, Staples will be introducing nine new courses in the English, world language, music and science departments. These classes will offer students a wide range of new topics, from 3-D Design and Engineering to Earth Science to Gothic Literature. Students seem intrigued. “I’m very excited that Staples will be adding classes that appeal to a wider range of students,” Gabi Dick ’19 said.

AP Music Theory

Creative Technological Solutions

Current students of Music Theory are excited to hear about the introduction of the new Advanced Placement Music Theory course. “Students taking AP Music Theory can get an even better education on music theory than is offered in Music Theory 1,” Ellie Klein ’19 said. The higher level class will encourage more students to take the introductory-level class, Klein says, and Klein believes it will also encourage more people to take it.

Creative Technological Solutions is an engineering course. In this class, which will be open to all grades, students will work on projects, such as programming LEGO robots and building balloons to reach the edge of space, that could help improve their performance in various STEM-related competitions, according to physics teacher Humphrey Wong.

Sports Literature and Research Sports Literature and Research will be a new course offered by the English department next year. The class will teach students to “recognize the huge importance sports play in culture by reading about and analyzing different sporting events, athletes and social issues,” English teacher and co-creator of the course Brendan Giolitto said. The course’s syllabus will change semester by semester so that the class stays up to date with the most recent sports news developments.

AP Chinese The Introduction of Chinese 5A, Chinese Honors and AP Chinese classes are necessary for the current juniors, as they would run out of Chinese classes after this year. While the Chinese 5A/H classes will continue with the current textbook series, the AP Chinese class will have a new textbook that includes “more ‘real-life’ realia, such as passport and visa forms to fill out and menus,” Chinese teacher Chris Fray said.

Gothic and Horror Literature Gothic and Horror Literature is another English course that will be open to juniors and seniors. Students will read Edgar Allen Poe, H.P Lovecraft, Stephen King and more. “I would want to learn about the roots of this kind of literature and understand why authors weren’t imagining the extremes of happiness but of tragedy instead,” Sera Levy ’17 said.

Earth Science Earth Science is the final new science course being offered and will be available to sophomores through seniors. Scheetz explained that the course will cover “how the Earth’s systems interact with each other to create the planet on which we live” and predicts that many students will take it between biology and chemistry. “I really enjoyed the ecology units of biology,” Kaela Fodor ’16 said, “and wished that we could have had more time to study this kind of science.”

3-D Design and Engineering In 3-D Design and Engineering, students will learn to use Solidworks, a program commonly used in engineering firms and will prepare students to take the Solidworks certification exam, AJ Scheetz, science department head, said. This course is also in-line with the 21st century learning ideal of teaching students real world skills.

Materials and Design Science Materials and Design Science, one of the new science courses, “explores the properties and behavior of the materials that drive and make today’s technology possible,” physics teacher Scott Lee said. Because students will explore the properties and behaviors of a wide variety of materials, such as metals, ceramics, plastics and composites of the content of the class, students interested in a wide range of not only sciences, but arts as well, will find the class engaging.

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ight now, the world is a very complicated place. There are people claiming to be armed militia in a building in Oregon; there are threats of terrorism left and right; there is a deadly outbreak of microcephaly in

Inklings

EDITORIAL Brazil. On top of this, there is still racism and sexism that permeate daily aspects of society.

The feminist movement and many feminist-minded members of our Staples community are fighting one of the many

opinions

“Free the Nipple” feminism movement fails to resonate important fights. We live in a world where women get paid $0.77 to every male dollar, are prohibited from getting an education in many countries, and are often the victims of violence––these are certainly many issues we feel deserve the world’s attention.

“Free the Nipple” is a feminist movement that many Staples students have heard of. The movement defends their racy slogan, claiming that it brings attention to their “equality movement” to “ empower women across the world.”

However, many students on our board feel that this movement isn’t the most effective way to promote feminism. While the board recognizes that the movement actually takes on and supports a variety of feminist issues, the slogan is misleading for many students. Unfortunately, the slogan itself seems to emphasize a fight over a dress code rather than what this board would deem to be more pressing feminist issues, such as wage gap and education.

And even if the campaign achieved the slogan’s suggested goal of “freeing the nipple” and it became legal nationwide for women to be topless in the same public places as men are topless, no one on our board thought it would be a right they would even want to use. Changing the law wouldn’t exactly change the social norm and cultural values that shape the main pressures for women keeping their shirts on.

While “Free the Nipple” is a movement that stands for important issues, it is the opinion of this board that its slogan is not the most effective for progressing the fight for women’s rights.

And this is why we believe the Staples population, overall, has not connected with it in the way the movement intends.

Drawing by Channing Smith ’17

Inklings

Editors-in-Chief Adam Kaplan Jane Levy

Crown Finalist for Inklingsnews.com from Columbia Scholastic Press Association 2015

Managing Editors Claudia Chen Margaux MacColl

Silver Crown Award for Newspaper Columbia Scholastic Press Association 2014

Web Managing Editors Kaila Finn Talia Hendel

Pacemaker from National Scholastic Press Association 2013

Breaking News Managing Editors Quinn Hughes Jane Schutte

All the opinions, news and features in this paper are those of Staples High School students. Inklings, a curricular and extracurricular publication, has a circulation of 1,800 and is uncensored. All letters to the editor must be signed. The editorial board reserves the right not to publish letters and to edit all submissions as it sees fit. The editorial board determines all editorial opinions, which are authored faithfully by the Editors-in-Chief. Inklings reserves the right to not publish advertisements that promote products that could be harmful to student health.

The paper is a member of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association and supports the Student Press Law Center.

Public Relations Directors Will Dumke Julia Greenspan Creative Directors Caroline O’Kane Channing Smith News Editors Max Bibicoff Claire Dinshaw Becky Hoving Fritz Schemel

Opinions Editors Kit Epstein Caroline Lane Lulu Stracher Jackie Sussman Features Editors Eliza Goldberg Emily Olrik Sarah Sommer Izzy Ullmann A&E Editors Abigail Lamb Margot Mather Frenchy Truitt Renee Weisz Sports Editors Max Appell Cooper Boardman Amelia Brown Julia Rosier Web News Editors Molly Liebergall Zach McCarthy Web Opinions Editors Rebecca Rawiszer Andrew Vester

Web Features Editors Jen Gouchoe Blake Rubin Web A&E Editors Alice Hickson Ivy Prince Web Sports Editors Jesse Greenspun Brendan Massoud Web Creative Director Jimmy Ray Stagg Assistant Web Creative Director Anders Hovstadius Business Manager Kacey Hertan Assistant Business Managers Ben Foster Alix Sommers Alex Spadacenta Advisors Mary Elizabeth Fulco Rebecca Marsick Cody Thomas

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INKLINGS | January 8, 2015

70 North Ave. Westport, CT 06880 Phone: (203) 341–1994 Inklingsweb@gmail.com Decisions of Inklings and Westport Public Schools are made without regard to race, color, age, sex, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, disability or any other discriminating basis prohibited by local, state or federal law.

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inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

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Opinions | January 8, 2015

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Letters to the Editor

ear [Inklings]: In the [November] issue of Inklings, we were pleasantly surprised to see an article about transgender rights.

We thought that your inclusion of student opinions...the anecdotes which you collected from *Liam and *Andy...,[and] the accuracy of given definitions and the explanation of school rules around this topic was very helpful.

That said, we did have some concerns.

There was a lack of student experience from all points of view, including M-F or other gender non-binary students who are not trans. Even though it is understandably difficult to obtain these viewpoints, the article still felt like something was missing. While an article on such a controversial topic would be incomplete without opposing opinions, we found [one source]’s opinion to be relatively offensive towards transgender individuals.

Addressing trans people as ‘transgenders’ is seen as a slur. [The source] did not seem trans positive...[N]ext time the wording could be changed as to not insult others. [The source] also seemed misinformed about the issue because [the source]’s claim that these bathrooms would be “awkward for everyone” [is false];...in reality, cisgendered people would not be forced to use the genderneutral bathrooms. The school wouldn’t remove the already existing bathrooms, as it would be economically unfeasible. We

also thought there were too many politics involved in the article. As this is a very personal subject, pulling opinions from high title figureheads does not make for change in the actual school environment.

Additionally, you added that the students *Liam and *Andy were trans individuals, but failed to identify Megan Brown or Nicole Kiker as cisgender, implying that individuals should be assumed cisgendered, thus reinforcing the gender norm. If you are going to label one, then please label the other. Another observation is that there were no cisgender males who commented on this issue... Is that because you did not ask or because they were anti trans and clearly stated so?

In the event that future articles are... written about gender or sexuality, to

improve the accuracy and represent the diversity of opinions of Staples students feel free to contact Halley Jonas or Ariana Idrisaj (representatives for the Staples High School GSA) for interview contacts.

Ultimately, we would like to thank you for taking your time to read our thoughts on your article. We appreciate your writing and look forward to reading it in the future.

Sincerely, Lily Besen-McNally & Max Franklin

Dear [Inklings]: We recently read the article concerning transgender rights for our English class: Literature of Gender, Sex, and Identity. By and large, we were very pleased to see an article in Inklings

addressing the issue...This is a topic not everyone can relate to,...so to hear what students thought and felt was illuminating.

As for the article itself, we thought that it was strengthened by the quotes and experiences of...transgender students.

That said, there were a few things that we felt would have added to the article. As an introduction to the larger discussion of transgender rights, this article functioned well. However, it seemed a bit cursory in that it really only discussed one aspect of being transgender in Westport: the ambiguity of bathrooms. It would have been very interesting to...hear more about the experience of these students growing up in a town where this topic is often not discussed. Moreover, we think the article would have been well supplemented by more opinions in general, be they those of another transgender students or cisgender students who want to weigh in on the subject. Considering there were only two other Staples students interviewed (both female), different perspectives from varying grade levels would have been interesting. It certainly is not a simple issue, and hearing the opinions of students on what we should do, on whom the responsibility falls, and what advantages and disadvantages they see arising from any changes would have been a nice addition to the piece.

Sincerely, Jess Greenwald and Arianna Markel

Take a “gap” from fast track

Staples remains ambivalent to the growing number of gap years taken worldwide Kit Epstein ’17 From the day I first stepped into Staples High School, I had only considered one plan for after graduation. It was the plan that is force fed to most students upon first hearing about the perfect storm that is the college admissions process: you get into college, you go straight to college.

Until recently, I had attached a stigma in my head to the idea of a gap year. I thought that gap years were only for students who

struggled profusely throughout high school or for students who were unable to get into college. However, after reading up on the matter, I can safely say that I’ve never been more wrong.

In such a high stress academic environment that is Staples High, I have now become a huge advocate for students understanding that they have more than one option instead of going straight to college. In fact, as a community, we should be encouraging students to take a year off t o

Graphic by Julia Schorr ’16

mature and relax a bit before turning inaccurate stigma of being indifferent their lives upside down just three months about the college admissions after receiving a high school diploma. process and not being good students.

In truth, a gap year is a year that a The truth is, according to The New student typically takes off between his or York Times, Robert Clagett, former her senior year of high school and freshman dean of Admissions at Middlebury year of college. This year can be used to get College, found that the average GPA a job, relax, travel or even do an internship. for 35 Middlebury students who took According to Americangap.org, gap a gap year was consistently higher years are fortunately on the rise. Since than those who went straight to 2010, U.S. gap year participation has college after graduating high school. gone up by a staggering 294 percent.

Furthermore, according to However, although gap years are americangap.org, 90 percent of those gaining in popularity nationally, Staples who defer for gap years return to school class of 2015 surprisingly had only five within that one year. So, based on these students with a plan to take a gap year. statistics, there are a lot of benefits in “I just came back from 10 weeks in taking a gap year: you’ll still have a South Africa so I’m home for a month,” school to return to next fall, you’ll be one of those five Staples graduates, able to experience new cultures, and Michael Reid ’15, said. “Then, your GPA will most likely improve.

I’m going to Cambodia for Not only are there personal benefits to another 10 months to work taking a gap year, but gap years are also at a school and an elephant supported by some colleges. For instance, sanctuary. I wanted to Princeton University and University of experience new cultures North Carolina Chapel Hill offer fully and new countries.” funded gap year opportunities for students With experiences entering as freshman. The Global Gap like that, who Year Fellowship at UNC offers seven wouldn’t want a early-action admits a chance to customize gap year? In fact, their own gap year, while Princeton’s we should all take Bridge Year Program allows admitted a page out of students to complete community service Michael’s book for a year while living with a host family. and take time If you still aren’t convinced, maybe to explore new a few words from Crissy McCarthy ‘14 cultures, which will help. McCarthy took a gap year, and a gap year explained her decision this way: “I grew serves to do. a lot during my year and met so many After four amazing people. The atmosphere of Staples years of high really burned me out, and academically school, taking I was ready for college, but emotionally a break from and mentally was looking for something academic stress different before school right away.” to find other So, let’s all take a moment to relish areas of passion in the opportunities at hand-- if you don’t and expertise in feel comfortable going straight to college our lives beyond after high school, you don’t have to. As the AP test needs a community, we need to move beyond to be a priority. the one-size-fits-all college plan, and It’s odd that encourage more students to explore new students who take gap cultures before being shoved into academic years are a minority rigor for another four years. If that means and it’s disappointing deferring a college for one year to mature that they carry the and find emotional stability, then so be it. inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

Opinions | January 8, 2015

Graphic by Julia Schorr ’16

Barbie sparks a new wave of gender equality

Becca Rawiszer ’17

Kaila Finn ’16

ith my breath suspended, my heart pounding and my stomach churning with anxiety, I open myHAC. I immediately examine each grade in my AP Lit class, checking the last entered grade.

Alas, my GPA has dropped .0000002 points! I survey my options and make a game plan to repair the damage. I will email my teacher and ask for just a small extra credit assignment.

As I begin typing the email, I think about how much more helpful myHAC would be if it had more options. It takes so much time to open the app, and scan each class, and then check each grade. It’s not enough for our grades to be updated in real time and be accessed in a few seconds!

Being an avid supporter of myHAC, I thought of a few suggestions to make checking myHAC even more fun.

1. More colors: At the moment, there is only green for As, blue for Bs, red for Cs, and dark red for Ds. In order to capture the attention of a population understandably distracted by man buns and the Kylie Jenner lip challenge, there should be more variety. I suggest having a different color for every grouping of grades. Maybe fire engine red for C-, scarlet red for a C, and ruby red for a C+.

2. Template e-mail to teachers: Teachers love getting emails about a student’s grade stress almost as much as we students love random e-mails from colleges we’ve never heard of! But sometimes writing emails can be tricky. Students need to have finesse in their writing in order to convince teachers to change their grade from an 89 to an 89.5. So, here is a template I suggest students follow:

Hi [insert teacher name], I recently saw my grade on the [insert assignment name] in [insert class period] and was disappointed. I prepared for [insert reasonable exaggeration of hours of preparation] and do not believe the grade reflects my level of effort. I don’t understand what went wrong! Considering the exorbitant amount of effort I put into this test, would you offer a small extra credit assignment?

Thank you!

3. Notifications: Notifications are key to knowing the status of your GPA and grades. If you are a student at Staples and are not checking myHAC at least two times a minute, then you will fall behind. If there were notifications, we would all be so much more motivated and focused on our grades! All I want is for my iPhone lock screen to light up more than a freshman girl’s. Is that so much to ask?

4. Template text message to parents: Of course, since parents naturally check myHAC more than you do, you need to reassure them that you are going to bring that one physics grade up. To assist you, myHAC should offer students suggested, prepared responses that are proven to shut down helicopter parenting.

Option 1: “Don’t worry about my physics grade. I’m meeting with my teacher every day for an hour after school rather than drop the course.”

Option 2: “My teacher is crazy!

Don’t worry, though. I’m reporting [insert teacher name] to Ms. Morgan. Prepare the family lawyer to sue.”

With all of the benefits myHAC provides, it is simply unfathomable that the Staples administration ever hesitated to make grades public. Just think: with all of these new options, psychiatrists in town will be booming with business!

It’s not enough for our grades to be updated in real time and be accessed in a few seconds!

-Kaila Finn ’16

Photo by Caroline O’Kane ’16

Concerned student advocates for more HAC options

W

9

When I was a child, a little boy skipping into a store, purchasing the newest Barbie on the market would have seemed unimaginable. The boy would have stopped short, his shoulders sinking as he saw that it was in the “girls” section of the toy store.

Clearly, much has changed since then.

A commercial for the new Moschino Barbie squashed gender stereotypes when it featured a young boy along with two girls, marking the first time the company has ever used a boy in any of their marketing campaigns. Finally, some iconic companies are making drastic advances in their advertising to satisfy the social needs of Americans.

It’s about time that toy companies, and companies in general, keep up with the marketing trends of society.

“Moschino Barbie is so fierce,” the adorable boy said after it showed him laughing with the two girls.

This was a huge step in the right direction for Barbie, Inc. In their past commercials, they only presented stereotypical girlygirls purchasing and playing with Barbies. However, this time around, they considered society’s social needs. It should be obvious that boys can like Barbies just as much as girls do. I guess it just took the company a while to do something about it.

Along with Moschino Barbie, Target has also made efforts to remove gender stereotypes. They actually removed gender from the way toy sections are organized.

This allows kids to choose who they want to be rather than companies choosing for them.

What Moschino Barbie and Target did was great, but if only a couple companies progress, it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Other companies need to follow in their footsteps in order to make a lasting change.

This year, a commercial for Nerf Gun’s featured about 30 boys shooting and playing with their guns. Not one girl was featured. The violence of the toys is a different argument, but this company’s marketing techniques are moving much slower than the trends of society.

Girls can like Nerf Guns just as much as guys.

This commercial is not only supporting gender stereotypes but contributing to them as well.

According to HealthGuidance.org, two of the most prominent stereotypes for boys are that they play sports and video games, while the most prominent stereotypes for girls include playing with dolls. Society has progressed so much from these stereotypes, yet somehow some people still see boys and girls this way. Being that we are in an educational environment filled with talented female athletes, we evidently realize that these stereotypes are not valid for all girls and boys.

So why should we see Barbie and other genderlabeled toys as strictly for a particular gender?

That’s what I thought; there is no reason.

Redefine ridiculous New Year’s resolutions Erin McGroarty ’18

If you’re a regular gym-goer, you know that the week right after Christmas is the least wonderful time of the year -- and not just because the Nike sales are over. The minute Jan. 1 rolls around, your favorite, always-open treadmill by the window is taken -- with five people waiting to use it. Every piece of equipment you wanted to use is being attempted by the delusional, Christmas-cookie-stuffed influx of believers in the misleading saying, “New year, new me.”

As of the first day of January, piles

and piles of empty promises are made by Americans all across the country in hopes of achieving mostly unrealistic goals in an impossible amount of time. Early January is a very important time for the majority of Westporters because it means the adoption of the size-2, straight-A, Olympic-athlete version of themselves that many believe to be completely obtainable.

According to the Sheridan Press, there’s a 33-55 percent increase in gym memberships during the early weeks of January, and 12 percent of new members each year join in January. Shockingly enough, half of them will drop out a month later. Actually, “shocking” is the

wrong word. A better choice would be “obviously.”

In the average human being’s defense, maintaining a perfect diet while working out five days a week, while reading a book for two hours every night, while maintaining straight As is a difficult task, especially if absolutely none of these things were attainable the year before. And let’s remember that we live in Westport, with high stress levels and hours upon hours of work to occupy 90 percent of our time and energy.

It’s a great idea for millions of insecure teenagers to reflect upon every single mistake they’ve made in the past

year and then judge themselves for it more than they usually do (sarcasm intended).

How fitting an idea to conform to our judgemental self-destructive society.

According to Forbes, only 8 percent of people -- bless these incredible humans -- can actually maintain their New Year’s resolutions, so it’s important to gradually make little adjustments in your everyday life.

Lanny Basham, writer for Mental Management University, wrote, “You might just get so excited and stay the course and do it for once. Now isn’t that better than giving up on the annual New Year’s Resolution?”

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

10 Opinions | January 8, 2015

Graphic by Melanie Lust ’19

Don’t let fear dominate the country I

Jimmy Ray Stagg ’16

n the wake of recent attacks in Paris, as well as threats against the U.S., many people have been increasingly frightened of the threat that ISIS poses.

However, we should not be in constant fear of ISIS because, frankly, we have extremely extensive security measures that protect us from the kind of attacks the terrorist group has made of late. If we let fear overtake us, then the tactic of terrorism is working.

This is only exacerbated by the fact that it has been such a widely discussed topic by those campaigning for the presidency. Some of these politicians are fear-mongering, capitalizing on the fear of the American public to make outrageous claims in order to further their own agendas.

Some of the most appalling comments have come from the current Republican

frontrunner, Donald Trump. His story about seeing Muslims applauding the 9/11 attacks has been near-proven to be entirely untrue, but he gained support from citizens. His hateful comments are talking directly to the fear in Americans’ hearts, which can account for his popularity.

However, Trump seems to have gone a little too far with his comments about banning the entry of Muslims into the U.S. He has alienated himself from the other Republicans, to the point where the Chairman of the Republican Party and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan spoke out against him. “This is not conservatism,” Ryan said in a press conference. “Some of our best and biggest allies in this struggle and fight against radical Islam terror are Muslims.”

Trump has been one of many G.O.P. candidates who have criticized President Barack Obama’s strategy in the Middle East, and his company includes Jeb Bush

and Marco Rubio. All three have proposed that they would increase airstrikes.

However, the air campaign against ISIS has already conducted around 8,000 attacks against known ISIS sites since it began last year, constraining the numbers to avoid heavily populated areas. So, basically, the President has already done the same thing Rubio and Bush have suggested.

The idea that something like this could happen in the U.S. is unnecessarily planting fear and prejudice in the minds of Americans and is also entirely misguided.

The screening process to take refugees in the U.S. is extremely rigorous.

Less than one percent of the global refugee population make it past the very first step, which includes collecting all data on the supposed refugees, as well as a primary interview. The following eight steps include multiple screenings by the F.B.I., Department of Homeland Security, State Department and National

Counterterrorism Center, as well as several interviews and fingerprinting. If any new data surfaces during the process (a nickname or old phone number), for example, the applicant begins the entire process again. The whole screening takes more than a year to complete, and the tiniest tie to any form of terrorism fully disqualifies someone from taking refuge in the U.S. The security doesn’t stop once the refugees enter the country. Within the U.S., we have so much security that would protect us against the kind of attacks ISIS orchestrated in Paris. The attempt at the soccer stadium in Paris was supposed to be the most violent part of the attack, yet the attacker wearing the explosive vest was denied entry by a security guard.

We cannot let the extremists terrify us. If we allow this fear into our hearts and minds, then we have allowed the idea of terrorism to win.

Social media undermines relationships Jane Levy ’16

My parents met when they were 18 during the first week of their freshman year at college. Initially, all they knew about each other was WWWmy mom’s roommate’s friend from camp knew my dad from home.

Little by little, my parents got to know each other through casual inperson conversations and study sessions at the library. As they became closer, they would hope to see each other around campus, to bump into each other in the dorm hallway, at the coffee shop, in the local pizza place. On Friday and Saturday nights, they would go from party to party, hoping that they would look across a crowded room to find each other.

By their junior year, their close friendship had developed into something more, and a few months ago, my parents celebrated their 19th anniversary.

This story is factual. Nevertheless, I’ve come to regard it as a fairytale.

Stories like theirs just don’t exist anymore.

As a “Notebook”-loving hopeless romantic, I’ve almost completely lost hope that a relationship beginning like my parents’ will ever be a reality for me.

In our technology-driven world, where with a click of a button, you can

Graphic by Melanie Lust ’19

know where someone went on vacation in 2011, who your mutual friends are and what they’re doing at every second of the day, relationship beginnings that my parents enjoyed are no longer the norm.

Technology makes it so you can know everything about a person before actually knowing them. Social media, especially, is supposed to make maintaining and creating relationships easier. Yet, from my experience, social media dilutes the significance of relationships and makes them one-dimensional.

My parents didn’t stalk each other on Facebook, follow each other on Instagram or add each other on Snapchat. They got to know each other. They spent time apart without being able to communicate.

They fell in love with each other for who they were in person and not who their social media profile said they were.

I’m not advocating for everyone to shut off their phones and completely vacate the world of social media—at this point, disconnecting is almost impossible. But I am advocating for chance, for the idea that life can be spontaneous, that social media doesn’t have to dominate every second of it. All I’m saying is that when we allow technology to control us, and we judge a person based on their social media, we might be missing out on the real deal.

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

11

Features | January 9, 2015

features Photo by Alex Spadacenta ’17 & Graphic by Channing Smith ’17

Best skates into the math department Alice Hickson ’17 & Rebecca Rawiszer ’17

A

llison Best, an Algebra II and geometry teacher new to Staples this year, may appear to be the typical California girl with her sunkissed skin and golden hair, but don’t let that fool you. Best has a real taste for the ice and snow.

“I was a professional figure skater before I went back to get my teaching credentials,” Best chuckled. “So I didn’t grow up right away.”

In addition to competing in

skating competitions and performing shows professionally, Best coached skating all through college. While Best pointed out coaching skating is certainly a different type of process, she has “always really enjoyed teaching and [has] a passion for math. I love the real stuff, the higher learning.”

Her high energy that she once brought to the ice is present in her teaching as well.

“She’s really eager and willing to meet with kids before or after school,” Phoebe Mendelson ’17 said.

Best’s students also react well to

her attention to detail and her positivity. Lexy Barlow ’18 said, “she explains things really thoroughly” and makes learning “more fun and enjoyable.”

After being born and raised in the sunny city of Mountain View, California, and attending university and teaching for a year in San Diego, Best decided to make the move from the West to the East coast, joining some of her extended family who live in Newtown.

“Everyone has just been really, really nice and supportive, and the school environ-

ment is great here,” Best said when talking of the adjustment.

Best’s students have also pointed out the ease with which she has assimilated into the Staples community.

“She fell into the flow of Staples very quickly,” Gavin Berger ’17, a student in her Algebra II class, observed.

“She adapts to everyone’s level.”

As with figure skating, Best appreciates all the thrills that come with teaching math at the high school level.

“It challenges you day in and day out, in a good way,” Best said. “It’s definitely never boring.”

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

12 Features | January 9, 2015

Some students dismiss dangers of Sydney Kaplan ’17 & Jackson Livingstone ’16

J

*names have been changed

ake* ’16 sucked in quickly, his mouth pressed over the opening of the bong.

His lungs flooded with acrid smoke, burning his throat as he began to feel the dizzying effects of the marijuana on his body. He pulled the bowl, a device used for smoking, using the last of his air space to clear the glass tube of fumes before passing it to the next of his friends in the circle.

His phone buzzed. There was a problem. His parents were coming home early.

Panic ensued as Jake and his friends cleared the living room of paraphernalia, hastily sweeping pizza boxes and candy wrappers into a trash bag. The bong went in its carrying case, and cell phone chargers were yanked from outlets as the boys rushed for Jake’s car.

To them, Jake driving de-

spite his impaired state wasn’t out of the norm: it was expected.

While people will react with disbelief to Jake’s decision, his situation is identifiable to some high schoolers. Jake, like many Staples students, repeatedly finds himself in situations that push him to drive while high.

Sophia Stanley ’16 can attest to the prevalence of driving high at Staples. “You hardly ever hear about one [specific] incident because it happens every day. You just assume it happens because everyone knows it does,” Stanley said, adding that, “Most people don’t drive high, but for the people who do, it happens a lot.”

The issue is not isolated to only Westport, as the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health revealed that 9.9 million people, or 3.8 percent of teens and adults, reported driving high at least once within the past calendar year.

This popularity is often derived from a driver’s desire for personal convenience

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

and a confidence in their abilities to get behind the wheel while under the influence.

“I drive high because I have to leave my house to go smoke with my friends. I believe that I have smoked

“There’s definitely an argument to be made that driving while on drugs can impact you as much as driving while drunk. The effects are similar.”

-Sandra Resnick, school nurse

enough to where the marijuana doesn’t affect my reactions as much as the next person,” an anonymous Staples senior said. “I feel like I’m an experienced enough driver and smoker to drive high.”

However, this misconception is at the heart of the driving-high epidemic, as two of Staples’ nurses, Diane Bosch and Sandra Resnick, have attested: “It impedes your motor skills, reflexes and so many other skills you need while driving,” Bosch said.

Resnick added that drunk driving and driving high may not be as different as people think.

“There’s definitely an argument to be made that driving while on drugs can impact you as much as driving while drunk,” Resnick said. “The effects are similar.”

A study conducted by the National Institute of Health led to a similar conclusion in that marijuana also causes impairment with driving a vehicle, including motor coordination and visual functions.

Administrators and students have repeatedly tried to address the issue, most notably through the local student run Teen Awareness Group, also known as TAG. President Emily Eldh ’16 said that driv-

13 Photo dramatization by Caroline O’Kane ’16

Out of a survey of 100 Staples students.

56% 49% driving high ing under the influence has always been one of the group’s key topics of discussion, regardless of the substance involved.

“We really try and make it clear that even though, societally, driving high seems more accepted than drunk, neither are okay and both can lead to extreme harm to not only yourself but to others as well,” Eldh said.

This student-led effort has been encouraging to faculty and administration members who understand the realities of the issue.

“I would be naive to think students don’t party on the weekdays. We have had incidents in the past where students were caught coming into school,” assistant principal Patrick Micinilio said. “The work done

by TAG is just a start. Kids see those shows, they see some of the performances that come through here and it has an impact, but it has a fleeting impact because once students leave the building, and they get together with their buddies, it’s a different story.”

of students believe driving under the influence of marijuana is common at Staples.

38% 18%

of students believe driving under the influence of marijuana is equally as dangerous as driving drunk.

of students have been the passenger in a car of someone who is under the influence of marijuana.

of students admitted to having driven under the influence of marijuana.

Infographic by Emily Olrik ’16

14

Features | January 9, 2015

Toplessness controversy strikes debate I Julia Greenspan ’16

Graphic by Chase Emilio ’16

n the bustling center of Times Square, Free the Nipple founder Lina Esco takes her top off. She accepts the stares of those passing by and embraces her nudity. There’s a reason she bares it all This scene from Esco’s self-produced film “Free the Nipple” is the basis of her campaign. The Free the Nipple movement aims to destigmatize women’s breasts and bring attention to issues regarding female oppression and censorship worldwide.

“The movement is so much more than just freeing the nipple,” Jess Spector ’15 said. “It’s about women owning who they are and embracing their bodies.”

Spector is a longtime feminist who supports the Free the Nipple movement and promotes its message by featuring female nudity in her personal art and exploring women’s oppression in her writing.

Today, Spector preaches the idea of “women empowering women” to Brooklyn girls in her Pratt Feminist Club where she uses Free the Nipple’s ideas to teach other women about their roles in a future for change.

Other supporters, such as Maddie Jones ’17, see the Free the Nipple movement as a way to address the sexualization of women’s bodies.

“Lots of people claim that women who are involved in the movement are just taking advantage of an opportunity to show off their naked bodies,” Jones said.

She calls this “saddening yet not surprising in such a sexually-oriented culture” and, therefore, attempts to educate her peers

about the human right to body freedom.

However, not all find exposing the nipple to be the best way to enact change.

Jacob Offir ’16, a member of the Women’s Advocacy Club, thinks women should have a choice to expose their bodies, but when it comes to going topless, “there is a time and place,” he said.

“Men and women have very different bodies,” Phoebe Mendelson ’17 said.

She claims that restricting female toplessness is not actually oppressive to women.

While select cities, such as New York

Paris attacks affect alumni studying abroad Talia Hendel ’16

The terrorist attacks in Paris, France, on Nov. 14 hit close to home for some Staples alumni who are studying abroad. However, these students are determined not to let fear hold them back.

Haley Zeldes ’13 ended up in a scary position as she happened to be in London during the attacks. “It was very scary because of possible threats to London and just being so far away from home,” Zeldes said. Zeldes attends the American University of Rome, Italy and has signed up for warnings from the United States Embassy.

She said her university has been “helpful in giving advice and having extra secu-

rity in place to make us feel really safe.”

Nevertheless, Zeldes said some programs have given students the option to go home early. “I decided to stick it out because I love being in Rome and didn’t think the threats were that prevalent in Rome and would affect my day-to-day life,” Zeldes said.

One popular college for Staples students outside of the US is St. Andrews in Scotland. Student Angus Armstrong ’13 said that while his program hasn’t been considerably affected, he had to cancel his plans to go to Belgium and the Netherlands because of the “heightened terror levels in Belgium.”

Although his program has not been affected, Armstrong said the students

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

have been. “I’ve received plenty of warnings from the embassy, the University of California Education Abroad Program and many other sources,” Armstrong said.

Nick Moro ’17 is also studying at the University. While he agrees that there hasn’t been a “big disruption to studies,” he said he has a “feeling of higher vigilance when I travel now.” Moro added that the attacks have added some concerns to a charity event in which he will be participating in January called Race2, which is a race from St. Andrews, Scotland, to Budapest, Hungary, over the course of five days. He said that a representative from the French embassy will be

City, Washington D.C. and Honolulu, allow women to be topless wherever men are allowed to be topless, nationally and statewide it is still banned. In countries like Mexico or Egypt, females can even be prosecuted, jailed or fined for going topless in public.

Free the Nipple supporter Monique Ostbye ’18 has found the internet to be just as limiting as the laws. She is appalled to see photos of breasts being prohibited on Facebook and Instagram, where she mainly expresses her support, while other gruesome images of mass killings and beheadings are allowed.

“Is the nipple so sexualized that it is more shameful than hatred and violence and the brutal murder of a human being?” Ostbye said.

After receiving similar criticisms from users, Instagram updated its policy to allow “photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding,” but still restrict images showing full-fledged female breasts.

The Free the Nipple campaign has taken off to new heights because of its challenge to the societal norm. Esco continues to fight for her cause and uses her viral campaign to facilitate discussion on what freeing the nipple means and how men and women can take part in the movement.

“Freeing the nipple isn’t always pretty,” Spector said. “It’s about women who have had mastectomies embracing their scars, trans women being proud of who they are and women who just want to express themselves and their bodies.”

Graphic by Alex Spadacenta ’17

visiting the school to discuss travel safety.

Maddy Rozynek ’14 is nervous to go abroad but is not prepared to let fear ruin her experience. Rozynek is going to New Zealand and Australia in the winter and has concerns about her trip. “Though we will not be close to Paris, we have been warned about going abroad to both these places due to the fact that we can easily be identified as Americans,” Rozynek said.

However, Rozyneck is prepared to move past these obstacles.

“I’ve come to realize that holding back from participating in experiences I will probably never get the chance to have again is not worth it,” she said.

Features | January 9, 2015 Photo by Jen Gouchoe ’16

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Keeping up with your attendance Students fake absences to miss tests Ashton Dedona ’17

MAKING A DIFFERENCE (From left) Guidance counselors Victoria Cappozzi, Deborah Slocum and Leslie Hammer continue progress with the Resillience Project by promoting stress-free awareness throughout the school. They are trying to make an environment for students where they can unplug from their school work and relax.

Fighting for a change Resilience Project progresses in guidance

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Jen Gouchoe ’16

“Students are bombarded socially constantly and, in my opinion, don’t always have the developmental capacity to be able to say ‘no’ and turn it off and give themselves a break,” Slocum said.

The counselors have also introduced the “Stop, Breathe, and Think” app to freshman health classes, an app designed for breathing exercises and meditation.

This technique of winding down coincides with some long-term goals of the project.

“We are hoping that eventually the school will sanction some mindfulness skillbase training for students,” Slocum said.

In addition to mindfulness activities, the counselors hope to bring in therapy dogs during midterms and finals and create a relaxation area in guidance where students can “relax without judgement,” as Capozzi described it.

Outside of the Resilience Project, many teachers have been integrating this message of resilience into the classroom.

Bridge classes, classes that help ninth graders transition from middle school, are participating in a DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Training) pilot in which students participate in a mindfulness activity once a week.

“One thing that we’re trying to do is to get students to be more mindful and sort of in the moment and not always thinking

about what’s coming up next or perseverating on something that might be stressful,” Barbara Robbins, Bridge teacher, said.

Robbins also noted that the DBT pilot is teaching students lessons in accordance with the ideals of the Resilience Project.

“I think it’s important for students to be able to manage the high expectations, the stress and pressure, and still feel happy and healthy,” Robbins said. “I think they’re skills that exceed way beyond high school.”

Although aspects of the Resilience Project are being implemented in Staples, the counselors expressed that there is still work to be done.

“To get the word out globally and to get the community on board is very difficult,” Capozzi said. “I think initially one of our incentives or objectives was to somehow get this information down to the elementary schools […]

We want to get the parents on board because that will trickle down to the kids.”

Though these are long-term goals, the counselors hope that their smaller initiatives are making a difference for students. They also encourage students to give them feedback on their projects.

“Do I think it’s effective?” Capozzi asked. “I think we’re fighting an uphill battle, but we’re not giving up.”

Photos by Emily Olrik ’16

uring the 30-minute break between midterms, students often cram for their next test or frantically ask teachers last-minute questions. However, other students may use this time to take a break and enjoy the milk and cookies provided by the guidance counselors, just one of the many perks initiated by the Resilience Project.

The Resilience Project was created in the 2012-13 school year by guidance counselors Victoria Capozzi, Deborah Slocum and Leslie Hammer due to the uptick in stress-related mental health issues.

According to Slocum, there are two main goals of the project. “One is for students to learn stress reduction techniques because stress is a reality in life; it’s not going anywhere,” Slocum said. “Secondly, it’s working with the community to focus on […] the health and well-being of the whole child.”

Other than the milk and cookies during exams, the three counselors have initiated activities to help alleviate stress, such as the homework-free weekend over Thanksgiving break and the recent technology break. The counselors agreed that social media is one of the more stress-inducing aspects of a student’s life.

One step at a time

TAKING INITIATIVE (From left) Guidance counselors have started to give out milk and cookies for midterms and finals as a part of the Resilience Project. They have also implemented the app “Stop, Breathe and Think” to help students take a break from school. Yoga is another tool that guidance counselors have promoted in order to show ways to relax from academic stress.

Students suddenly becoming sick or unavailable at the time of a test or quiz has developed into a noticeable trend, as some students fake sick in order to capitalize on the school’s make-up policy.

“I spend one of my free periods in the Learning Center,” English teacher, Holly Sulzycki, said. “It’s interesting to see when I open up a teacher’s folder to give a student a test and see that 10 other students missed the same test.”

Sulzycki is not the only Staples teacher who has noticed the trend. “I don’t think there are a lot of direct consequences with our current attendance policy, and I think there are some students who take advantage of that,” math teacher Rebecca Nickles said.

A junior girl who asked to remain anonymous confirmed Sulzycki’s and Nickles’ suspicions. “Teachers never ask why I was out, but if they did, I would just say I wasn’t feeling well,” the junior girl said.

While some students feel the need to skip tests due to unpreparedness, others are taking advantage of an absence as an easy way out.

“I’ve missed a class so I can ask other people what was on a test,” an anonymous junior boy said.

Students admit to missing class because of the workload they receive. They prioritize, skipping their least important classes in order to have more time to do work due in

“It’s interesting to see when I open up a teacher’s folder [in the Learning Center] to give a student a test and see that 10 other students missed the same test.”

-English teacher Holly Sulzycki

their

more time-consuming classes.

“I do this at least once a week,” another anonymous junior girl admitted.

There are some parents who also facilitate taking absences.

“My mom’s pretty cool about it and writes me a note saying I had a headache,” an anonymous senior boy said.

But not all parents are to blame.

Sometimes, the child will purposely dupe the parent. “I told my mom I wasn’t feeling well, so she let me come home because she thought I was sick,” another anonymous junior girl said.

For others, however, faking absenses isn’t just a once in a while incident. A n anonymous senior boy admits to frequently skipping a difficult AP course.

“Although I’ve missed a lot of my AP tests this year, I’m still doing pretty well because I get most of the answers from people in my class who already took it.”

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Features | January 9, 2015 Photos by Margaux MacColl ’16 & Graphic by Philip Han-Lemus ’16

“I love driving into Weston and Easton.

It’s so pretty and peaceful.”

-Liz Hogan ’16

ON TOP OF THE WORLD About a 15-minute drive from Westport, Liz

Hogan ’16 often finds herself at a reservoir in Redding to unwind.

Hogan explores her identity in nature Chase Gornbein’16

W

hen Liz Hogan ’16 gets in the car to turn on her radio, the last thing she wants to hear is Justin Bieber’s latest hit. Instead, she turns on vintage 80s tunes.

“It all started from my dad,” Hogan said. “He’s always been into 80s music, so I guess I just became accustomed to listening to that style of music” Eighties music is so prevalent in Hogan’s house that she names “her mom’s old records” and her record player that is “constantly generating oldies and classical rock throughout the house” as the two qualities that separate her fam-

ily from nearly all others in Westport.

But while Hogan has an ear that appreciates 80s music, she doesn’t claim to be musically gifted.

Despite her passion for listening to music, she jokes about her musical past and inability to commit to an instrument.

“I played the recorder in fourth grade like all the other fourth graders,” Hogan said. “I wasn’t very good at it, but I did it because we were required to. Then, once middle school started, I began to play the cello. I played for a little bit but quickly stopped because it was far too big to carry.”

Nevertheless, while Hogan does not personally play an instrument, she still plays music to wide audiences — over the radio, that is.

She has been the co-host of her own radio program for four years, as a contributor to the Staples Radio Program. Hogan gets to play her own music and listens to the requests of those who call in, but she always finds herself resorting back to the music of the 80s.

“I really enjoy being a part of radio,” Hogan said, “because it’s really fun to connect with those that call in on a musical level.”

Hogan’s love for music has also inspired her love and appreciation for other activities like exploring the outdoors.

Whenever Hogan takes a roadtrip through the neighboring towns of Weston and Easton, she always makes sure during each expedition that

her car is playing her favorite toons.

“I love driving into the wilderness,” Hogan said. “It’s so pretty and peaceful. Every trip I make out, I am always listening to my 80’s music thanks to my aux cord. Listening to this kind of music just sets up the outdoors to be so calming and relaxing.”

Hogan has always considered herself to be an “outdoorsy” person.

“Ever since I was little I always enjoyed being outside,” Hogan said. “It just seemed natural to me.”

Although Hogan has always been drawn to the outdoors, she doesn’t get along with her friends’ dogs. “For some odd reason, most of my friends’ dogs pee when they see me,” Hogan said. “I guess you can call it a special power of mine.”

International students adjust to culture differences Olivia Foster ’18 Mumbai, India, New York. It is a fast-paced, vibrant financial center and coastal city with a population of about 21 million. It is the birthplace of Bollywood, and it is where Sudhanshu Mathur ’18 lived until August of this year. Now he is adjusting to living in Westport and attending Staples. But Mathur isn’t alone in his struggle to adjust to suburban Westport as an international student.

Anton Pinto Gouveia Mahr ’18 and Daniel Perez Elorza ’16 have also moved to Westport to the US. All three students agreed that moving from other countries where English was not the prima-

“The first couple of days were tough as I barely spoke English, but after that I picked up English pretty quickly.”

- Daniel Perez Elorza ’16

ry language created language barriers.

Elorza moved from Mexico City to Westport in December of 2005 when he was 8 years old. He said the move was hard at first, but he was eventually able to overcome his struggles.

“The first couple of days were tough as I barely spoke English, but after that, I picked up English pretty quickly,” he said.

“I was completely fluent within three years.”

Mahr, who moved from Portugal during the summer of 2014, can attest to such language difficulties. “I have to admit that the language really screwed me over because I wasn’t fluent in English,” he said. “Every day, I learned a little bit, and now I can say I know enough to have a good conversation with anybody.”

“Depending on what language the student speaks and whether or not they speak English can make the process more difficult,” guidance counselor Thomas Brown said. To add to the difficulties, Brown said that “[the guidance department] get transcripts from other countries that have no bearing to what we do at Staples.”

Nevertheless, Maynor Herrera ’17, who moved from Honduras in October of this year, is “happy with the education and the behavior of the people here.”

A testament to Herrera’s statement is the fact that Elorza, a student ambassador, has helped Herrera assimilate to the Staples community. “He spoke little English, and I got him involved in the community by showing him around the school, teaching him how Staples works and introducing him to some of my friends and a couple

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

of kids on the soccer team,” Elorza said.

To further assist foreign students with adjusting to the language, culture and expectations at Staples, the guidance department is prepared to -help. “The process is very individuated,” Brown said. “We usually meet with the student and their parents and develop an appropriate plan to help them find the right classes and adjust to the community.”

Although assimilating to the Staples and Westport community for international students is made easier through the help of the guidance department, both Elorza and Mathur admit that there are still aspects of their old lives that have been hard to forget.

“The thing I miss most about my hometown is my family and the food, especially the enchiladas and the beans and tortillas,” Elorza said. “They are delicious.”

Mathur, who moved this August, misses his “friends, my grandparents, my many relatives, the independence (I could walk to any place), the hustle-bustle, the weather and good Indian food.”

Even though the move may have been relatively difficult in the beginning, Elorza and Mathur say they have benefited positively from their moves.

“I am now fully bilingual and almost trilingual, I will be going to college in the United States, and I have learned about the difference in cultures between Westport and Mexico City,” Elorza said.

Mathur already sees his recent move as a worthwhile experience. “There are new opportunities over here,” Mathur said. “I look forward to the education system and the opportunity to do so much, which wasn’t really possible in India.”

Brick Oven Pizzeria

arts

Photos by Alix Sommers ’16

17

INKLINGS | January 8, 2015

SHREDDIN’ THE GNAR (Above and bottom left) Vail Mountain has operated since Dec. 15, 1962 with 193 trails, 5,289 acres of skiable terrain and a summit elevation of 11,570 feet. (Center and bottom right.) Just a 30 minute drive from Vail Mountain, Beaver Creek Mountain has operated since Dec. 15, 1980 with 150 trails, 1,832 acres of terrain and a summit elevation of 11,440 feet.

Alix Sommers ’16

T

he crisp air of the Rocky Mountains in the heart of winter calls for a day to be spent shredding the neighboring Colorado resorts of Vail and Beaver Creek.

With buckets of snow pouring down from above and goggles masking my blue eyes, all I can feel is the wind at my back and the peace and serenity of nature.

Beyond the snowcapped pine trees at the top of the mountain, I can see for miles.

Skiing has always been a bonding activity for my family, and from the day I could walk, my parents were determined

that my sister and I learn to ski. By age 4, I was enrolled in cub camp at Mount Snow in Dover, Vermont, and ever since then, skiing has been more than a family activity.

My family’s passion for skiing has taken us to mountains all over the country, but Vail and Beaver Creek are particularly special. We have spent many holidays enjoying the terrain of the Rocky Mountains, which makes returning exciting and fulfilling.

When you arrive at the base of Beaver Creek, you feel as though you’ve been transported to Europe. The darkwood accents on the main base lodge and the surrounding buildings give off a cozy,

homey feeling in the stark temperatures of winter. The friendly atmosphere of young kids and families holding hands while ice skating on the rink in snowpants and heavy winter jackets makes for a pleasant scene.

Depending on what month during the winter you visit Beaver Creek, you might witness some professional competition, as the mountain is a regular host of World Cup events, something fun the whole family can watch.

While on the gondola at Vail, you can make small talk with the skiers and snowboarders with whom you happen to be riding. The gondola is the perfect time to get the scoop on the best runs

and the parts of the mountain that have the best powder. Since Vail is the third largest single-mountain ski resort in the United States, there are so many trails to ski that, even by the end of the day, you haven’t conquered the whole mountain.

Every day at 3 p.m., it’s cookie time, where free, freshly baked cookies are served to everyone.

Whether you end the long, tiring day at Beaver Creek or Vail, there’s nothing better than kicking off your ski boots and relaxing to the crackling sounds of the mountain’s communal fire.

Presidential candidates’ campaign songs rally audiences with a beat Megan Doyle ’18 As the presidential candidates parade their way across the stage, an upbeat song blares in the background. Although it is merely the opening, the candidates are already setting the tone for the rest of the debate.

The phenomenon of campaign songs has been around since the first presidential elections in the United States, and this round of candidates is no different. Despite its prevalence, though, most students at Staples don’t even know it’s a common strategy. Out of 23 randomly picked students, only one knew that the candidates use songs at the beginning of debates.

Each candidate attempts to have a unique music selection that is meant to reflect their personality. For example, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal uses the song, “Country Must Be Country Wide”

by Brantley Gilbert to appeal to southern men. Hillary Clinton, on the otherhand, uses the song “Roar” by Katy Perry.

“I think she wants people to view her as a strong woman because she wants to make an impression on the American people,” Emma Hague-Rogers ’17 said.

However, sometimes candidates accidently end up sharing the same song. For instance, Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and Republican candidate Donald Trump have both used “Rockin on a Free World” by Neil Young.

Charlie Colasurdo ’18 emphasized that he does not think these songs actually have much eaffect their campaigns. Instead,

he said that they “took the essence of their personalities and put it into song.”

Other Staples students think the songs are mostly an attempt to pay tribute to the United States.

“I don’t really think the music reflects their views,” Madison Sell ’18 said. “I think it’s just chosen if it’s a feel good, ‘I-love-America’ song.”

However, Brian Solomon, an English teacher who wrote the book “Pro Wrestling FAQ” and has worked at WWE, had an alternative view.

“It’s because they are trying to get an emotional reaction,” Solomon said. “It’s the same reason they do it in wrestling.”

Solomon referenced Chris Christie’s selection of the song “Enter Sandman” by Metallica as support for his claim. Solomon said Christie most likely uses this song to “get his constituency psyched up and to let them know that he’s a man of action.”

There are a few circumstances where the theme songs will be made specifically for the candidate. The most prominent one comes from the two conservative teenage sisters, Haley and Camille Harris, who made a song for Rick Santorum called “Game On,” which he uses frequently. Katy Perry also offered to make a song for Hillary Clinton, but “Roar” became her theme song.

However, using a song without the permission of the artists can result in backlash. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker attempted to use a song from the Dropkick Murphys, but they called him out on Twitter.

“Please stop using our music in any way,” the Dropkick Murphys wrote. “[W]e literally hate you.”

Graphic by Julia Schorr ’16

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

18

Arts | January 8, 2015

shines on the other side of the spotlight

Photos by Channing Smith ’17

LASER FOCUS Jack Norman ’17 has had a role on the production team since his freshman year. He describes the auditorium as his home and has helped produce sixteen Staples Players shows.

Becky Hoving ’17

F

or Jack Norman ’17, his happy place is not the football field or the swimming pool, nor is it the basketball court or even the stage. Norman’s happy place is in the Staples Players tech booth where a heavily annotated script balances atop his legs and the buzz of his headset fills his ears.

But this hasn’t always been Norman’s preferred place of dwelling. Just a few years back, Norman imagined his involvement in Players to be much different.

“I tried out for the show my freshman year, and I didn’t make it,” Norman recalled. “But I still really wanted to stay involved, and I learned another way to do that was by being a production assistant.”

Eventually, Norman was able to earn the title of senior stage manager, a rarity among juniors to hold, and spoke with passion about his role.

“For lack of a better explanation, what I do is essentially conduct the technical side of the show,” Norman said, his eyes lighting up. “Every set change, every spotlight turning on or off, every curtain closing you see, well, that’s me telling those students when to do their job and how.”

And while it can be hard to tell others what to do, Norman does so with poise and

professionalism. In fact, even Staples Players director David Roth said that Norman has gained his “implicit trust” and stressed the demanding realities of Norman’s job.

“His job is not easy because sometimes he has to be the ‘bad guy,’ but his maturity and intelligence show through, and he always gets the job done,” Roth said.

“Jack has made himself vital to the everyday operations of Players. He is a natural leader, and he has earned the respect of his peers.”

Sarah Barnett ’17, a dance captain for Players, also attested to Norman’s innate leadership capabilities, joking that despite him being “a little tough on us sometimes,” she still finds him admirable. “He really is a great leader,” she said.

Norman himself admits that he is “passionate” and “hardworking,” but notes that it all comes from his love of not only his job but the Players community as a whole.

“It’s definitely hard,” Norman said with a sigh. “But 95 percent of the friendships I have are because of Players. 95 percent of the sleep deprivation that I have is because of Players. And I would say 95 percent of the fun I have had in high school is because of Players.”

Zoe Samuels ’17, another member of Players, praised Norman’s immense dedication to the club and his tendency to keep

working in the theater wing until late at night.

“Jack stays after everyone else has already left,” she said. “He doesn’t even have to. He just does.”

But it is not about the praise or even the respect. According to Norman, in the last few moments of a show, as the lights turn on and the most lively musical number is revived for the finale, all the coffee and late nights become worth it.

“The final bow is my favorite part,”

Norman said, a smile beaming on his face. “I saw these kids during their auditions, during the read through and really every day during the rehearsal process.

Everyday of tech week, everyday of hell week, through everything,” he said. “And then, I get to see them bowing, after the tremendous amount of hardwork they put in, and knowing that I was part of this amazing thing is such a great feeling.”

“They are a great hybrid of formal and casual wear,” Ahlgrim said. “I love my pair.”

As the shoe has only recently come into the spotlight at Staples, some students have yet to see them. After being shown a pair, Ben Harizman ’17 became an avid supporter. “Those are tight,” he said. He liked the shoe so much, he now intends to buy a pair for himself.

Andrew Speed ’17, a well-known leader on the football field and also in the Westport fashion scene, is another big-time desert boot wearer. He is often seen sport-

ing his pair of dark brown boots with pale laces and amber trim in the hallways. He believes the trend of the boot is “infectious” and “sure to grow even more popular.”

However, with all new fads there are the naysayers. Julia Kaplowitz ’16 looked at a pair of Clarks desert boots with shock and maybe a hint of fear. “They’re very weird,” she said. “I don’t like them.”

Timmy Liles ’18 also described himself as “not a fan” of the unconventional boot.

Regardless, the shoes have proven to be popular both now and for the

better part of a century. Originally worn

by British troops during World War II, desert boots first became popular for casual wear in the 1940s in the United Kingdom. They have consistently been common in British fashion but have not always been as popular in America.

For now, desert boots seem to be growing in popularity in Westport and provide another outlet for a slightly fancier in-school look. “They look nice, Alexa Mysel ’19 said. “If kids want to dress up, they are great for that.”

Desert boots careen into Staples fashion scene Quinn Hughes ’16

The floors of Staples are graced with new fashionable shoes on a weekly basis, whether it’s Sperrys, work boots, high-tops, L.L Bean Duck Boots or Converse. Recently, a new fad has peaked its head into the foreground of Westport fashion -- desert boots.

Desert boots are an ankle-high leather or suede shoe that have become an integral part of the Staples sneaker-game.

Sam Ahlgrim ’16, a proud owner of desert boots, had nothing but rave reviews.

Photo by Quinn Hughes ’16

THESE DESERT BOOTS WERE MADE FOR WALKIN’ The original desert boot from Clark’s was first manufactured in 1949 in Cairo, Egypt and commonly comes in leather or suede variations.

Photo by Caroline O’Kane ’16

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

Arts | January 8, 2015

A modern look meets old fashioned cuisine Lauren Stack ’17

I

n the months leading up to the grand opening of Jersey Mike’s Subs, the town filled with anxious chatter about the newest addition to the Compo Acres Shopping Center on the Post Road. The new sub hot-spot took the place of the beloved smoothie joint, Robeks, but has left the community with a bitter sweet taste.

After hearing the rumors about the new sandwich shop, I knew I had to try it out.

As soon as I walked into Jersey Mike’s, I was overwhelmed by the aroma of deli meats, fresh bread and, surprisingly, cleaning products, which didn’t spark my appetite.

However, the unique maps and paintings on the walls gave the chain store a nice personal feel.

At the counter, I asked a worker why he enjoyed working there. “It’s like a perfect mix between a modern grill and an old fashioned deli,” he said with a smile.

As most hesitant first-timers do, I asked the workers for their opinion and recommendations on the seemingly endless menu. I decided to get the #17 or “Jersey Mike’s Famous Philly Cheesesteak.”

The sandwich promised thinly-sliced tender steak, accompanied with

Jersey MikeS’s

19

SUB

roasted peppers and grilled onions, placed ture of the bread complimented by the prices and welcoming atmosphere continin their toasted, famous sub roll. Its de- peppery ham and succulent tomatoes. ue to attract a wide variety of hungry pascription alone made my mouth water.

Even though there were some trons. Each sandwich they make has classic With their quick and very friend- disappointments with the elements mixed with new flavors, making ly service, there was little-to-no line to food, Jersey Mike’s Jersey Mike’s a unique and one of a kind sub wait in, making it convenient and ex- affordable s h o p. e ’16 tremely easy to order and I looked n a K e O’ olin forward to taking my first bite.

Car y b But it didn’t take long to real- Photo ize that the sanwdwich was not all it was cracked up to be, and definitely didn’t live up to the description. Despite the perfectly melted cheese, the bread was slightly soggy and the meat was rather tough.

Dissatisfied but keeping an open mind, I decided to order another sandwich. I chose #13 or “The Original Italian,” which is their most popular cold sandwich. Piled high with provolone, ham, prosciuttini, lettuce, tomato, salami and pepperoni, and squeezed between two fresh pieces of bread, the description certainly touted this sandwich to be the epitome of Italian subs.

Thankfully, the experience with the second sandwich was drastically different from the first. As soon SANDWICH CENTRAL Jersey Mikes offers a variety of cold subs, hot subs and wraps. All cold subs, like as I bit into it, I tasted the crisp tex- the Italian bread and ham sub pictured, include onions, lettuce, tomatoes, vinegar, oil and spices.

Music department hopefully awaits Grammy Signature Schools award

Graph ic

by Ale x

Spada centa ’1

7

Maialie Fitzpatrick ’16

public high schools that are making an outstanding commitment to music education during an academic school With a quick swoop of the year,” according to grammy.com. conductor’s arms, the orchestra The Grammy Signature Schools fades to silence. Their recording for the Grammy Signature program is a two-tiered process. First, a candidate school is required to fill Schools program has come out extensive paperwork describing the to an end, and their responsibility is school music department’s features and completed. accomplishments. Then, they must wait The Staples High School’s music to see if they proceed onto the semifidepartment was recently selected as a Grammy Signature Schools semifinal- nalist round. If chosen, each school is ist. This is the first year Staples has ap- then required to submit samples of all plied to the Grammy foundation, and aspects of their department’s work.

Valovich also had to meet even it is one of 119 schools in the country chosen to be honored as a semifinalist. more detailed requirements. “It had Orchestra director Adele Valovich to be 15 minutes in length, with no less than one-and-a-half minutes per explained that the music department applied in order to help promote their selection,” Valovich said. One section successful program. “One of our guest required the school’s large ensembles, such as band, orchestra and chorus, conductors for Orchestra Festival and another was for specialty groups, was a college professor that said like chamber orchestra, orphenians and that ‘our music program is the jazz band. best kept secret in the state of Samantha Chachra ’16, a memConnecticut,’ so we decided not to be so secret any more,” ber of the orchestra, Orphenians and Valovich said. “We wanted to choir, felt the process was very laidback. “It ended up being very nonchaput our program up against lant, except for the fact that it’s, you the best programs in the know, the Grammys,” Chachra said. country and find out how From the semifinalists, the we compared.”

Grammy Signature School program The Grammy Signature Schools program will select six schools as finalists and in March choose the one Gold Signature was created in 1998 to School. “recognize top U.S.

The recognition has stirred feelings of pride in the music department.

“I guess we were shocked because we didn’t realize we were that good,” Chachra said. “That sounds kind of bad, but the reality is, we are so used to having a high-level school orchestra that we forget that some other schools don’t, and as a result we hold ourselves to a higher standard than some others.”

The department feels the Signature School program is giving them the appreciation they deserve. “I think the Grammy recognition would not only boost the reach and name of the Staples music department, but it would also push everyone to work harder and really show that we deserve to be recognized nationally,” Jacob Leaf ’17, member of Staples Orphenians and the choir, said.

Included in thier feelings of honor and pride is also a healthy does of humility. “It may be a cliché, but it’s an honor just to be considered,” Jordan Goodness ’16, member of Staples Orphenians, said.

Thomas Scavone, the district’s music supervisor, feels this opportunity “validates all of the work and commitment of the students, administrators, teachers and school system, K-12,” he said. “Without this clear vision and commitment to the music program, none of this would be possible.”

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

Adv e

tim e

Coldplay released their newest album “Head Full of Dreams” featuring a new pop style and the upbeat single, “Adventure of a Lifetime.”

Life

ntu re o fa

Justin Bieber’s new album “Purpose” is full of soulful music, including “Love Yourself ” written by Ed Sheeran describing a relationship with an egotistical lover. The song has since hit the number one spot on iTunes since its release on Dec. 7, 2015.

2

3

nF un k

1

EDITOR’S PICKS Songs of 2015

This catchy song brought back a timeless and classic style of funk characteristic of the 1930’s. The song spent 14 weeks in the number one spot on iTunes and Billboard music.

Up tow

BEAT

Arts | January 8, 2015

THE

20

Love Yourself

A year in review

Looking back on some of the biggest pop culture trends of 2015

W

hether it be one of the big-time couples that broke up in the summer or the hottest new movies and clothes, 2015 was chock full of new, old and revamped trends. Here are a few highlights from this past year.

After her four year hiatus, Adele’s “Hello” came in with a boom. One week after the song dropped in the middle of the night with no forewarning, it broke the world record with one million digital sales.“It really came as a big shock to me, but [‘Hello’] was amazing as always,” Vanessa Wynter ’18 said. “Hello” is a part of her new album “25,” which focuses on her becoming an adult and growing out of her naivety.

After dying out in the early 2000s, Adidas Superstars are making a comeback, becoming the new “white Converse.” They are a staple in the wardrobe of the teenage girl. The white leather canvas material with black stripes, accentuates an outfit. “I genuinely think they look good on people,” Bonya Kleyman ’16 said.

Starring the ever-so-funny Amy Schumer, “Trainwreck” proves to be a comedic gold mine. Schumer plays a 30-something commitment-phobe who just so happens to fall in love. But don’t think that it is sappy. The title stays true. It is very popular among the young-adult crowd because it is able to make you crack up at the same time that it helps you understand the hardships Schumer’s character has to face.

Like most John Green works, “Paper Towns” illustrates love, rejection and, above all, teen angst, starring Nat Wolff as Quentin “Q” and Cara Delevingne as Margo, his love interest. “I really liked the movie because I thought the characters were cast very well. It really stayed true to the book,” Andrew Taets ’19 said. “Paper Towns” has received critical acclaim among the younger audiences.

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Graphic by Channing Smith ’17

Rowers return to pivotal CT Indoor Regatta Tori Lubin ’18

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hough the weather may be getting colder, the intensive training for the rowers at Saugatuck Rowing Club is only heating up. In fact, on Jan. 31 of this year, Saugatuck Rowing Club will host the CT Indoor Rowing Championships regatta.

Unlike a traditional regatta, the CT Indoor Rowing Championships do not have rowers actually going out into the water. Instead, the rowers use ergs to perform this 2k meter race. These ergs are used as training tools for rowers, allowing them to exercise the same skills used while rowing on water but on equipment that can be used inside.

Roughly 300 athletes attend this event from all over the Connecticut area. There are many different categories that rowers fall under for competition. These distinctions include the rower’s age, gender and skill level.

Though this event raises money for the club, it is an important opportunity for the rowers to showcase their talents, so they can “get recruited for college,”

Photos by Maddy Grey ’16

ROWERS KEEP WARM DURING THE WINTER Girls from the Saugatuck Rowing Club workout inside as the weather dips into single digits. The frozen water does not stop them from rowing, as they move practice on ergs for the upcoming CT Indoor Regatta. The erg allows them to work on strength training and their form for races on the water.

Lucas Manning ’16, captain of the boys’ team, said.

Alin Pasa ’18, who is currently a coxswain for the boys’ team, explained how this event helps with recruitment. “If you win or pull a personal record, you get recognition for your time,” she said. “College coaches and other people will hear about your time.”

Not only is doing well at this event rewarding for the rowers on the grounds of college recruitment, but it can also help determine how the Saugatuck Rowing coaches will decide who is awarded with the more highly competitive boats later in the season.

“CT Indoors counts as a test for us, so if you do well you get a better boat in the spring,” Isabelle Grosgogeat ’18, coxswain for the girls’ team, said.

There are a limited number of positions for the highly competitive boats, pushing the rowers to attempt to achieve their best time in regattas such as this one.

The turnout is expected to increase this year, making the regatta more competitive. Compared to last year, the event will likely be “the same with a few more people,” Manning said.

Saugatuck Rowing Club has been highly successful, as proven by their stellar record. The club won the gold and silver medal for junior women in the Head of the Charles Regatta earlier this year, achieving a repeat victory and breaking a course record.

This success has come at the price of extensive practice on the ergs. “Erging is an essential part to strength training,” Grosgogeat ’18 said. “It will set the precedent for the spring races.”

Girls’ basketball continues Paco era Team thrives under coach’s strong leadership Jack Zapfel ’16 Last year, Paco Fabian stepped in for former girls’ basketball coach Ed Huydic, who retired after the 2013-14 season. Huydic had 30 years of coaching experience and 453 career victories, leaving a large void for Fabian to fill.

Previously, the Wreckers had made the state tournament for 28 consecutive years until the 2012-13 season. The program won just seven games in 2013-14, resulting in missing the state tournament.

In Fabian’s first year coaching, though, the Wreckers returned to the tournament, winning nine regular season games.

A portion of the success can be credited to the support of Fabian’s players.

“Last season we adjusted to our new coach smoothly, and we played together as a team,” former captain Maggie Fair ’15, who played two years under Huydic before her senior year, said. “Coach Fabian put girls out on the floor who played well together and worked well off each other.”

The girls had a successful first year under their new coach and are looking to continue the success into this season and years to come.

“This year we return with players who now have some experience in the tournament, and they want to get back,” Fabian said. “We are looking for our seniors Talia [Hendel ’16], Gabby [Perry ’16] and Alyssa [Perry ’16] to lead us to states with their experience.”

The team did not have this playoff experience last year, and

now the girls are even more familiar and comfortable with their coach.

“We respond well to coach Fabian,” captain Gabby Perry ’16 said.

“He seems to have a good feel for when we’re losing our focus and will bring us back into attention quickly.”

Coach Fabian shared that the team is striving for the same goal as last year: they want to return to the state tournament. He described himself as “excited” for the upcoming sea-

son and added that if they can make states, they “will aim for FCIACs.” Fair suggested that it was a luxury to have a young coaching staff filled with a lot of energy. Fair has a younger sister on the team who also praised Coach Fabian, and the older of the siblings is excited to watch her sister and former teammates grow within the program. “The future of this program is in good hands under Coach Fabian,” she concluded.

Fabian is no stranger to coach-

ing, especially at Staples. Previously, he has worked with the boys’ soccer team as an assistant, as well as the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams. Formerly, Fabian was an All-FCIAC Western Division selection as a guard for Norwalk High School, and helped lead the Bears to the 1996 Class LL Boys’ Basketball Championship. Fabian has coached multiple sports, but said, “basketball has always been my favorite sport to play and watch.”

Fabian has suggested that he wants to be at Staples for many years to come.

He thinks highly of the students he’s coached, and believes their future is very bright. “We have a well balanced team, freshman through seniors,” he said.

Fabian, so far, seems to have lived up to his predecessor’s standards.

“[We] will aim for FCIACs.” - Paco Fabian Photo by Sarah Sommer ’16

PACO’S TEAM Coach Paco Fabian comes back in his second year as head coach for the girls’ basketball team. He reenergized the team last year and led them to the state championship tournament.

He hopes to do that again this year, and the girls are 5-1 this season.

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21 sports

INKLINGS |January 9, 2015

22

Sports | January 8, 2015

Ski team carves into a new season Anders Hovstadius ’17

Photos by Channing Smith ’17

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he Staples boys’ and girls’ ski teams have returned to the slopes this season with high aspirations of success following an extraordinary regular season last year. The boys, in particular, went undefeated in the regular season and won third in the state championship.

Rory Steele ’17, a varsity skier, described last year as “an amazing season all around.”

However, the loss of last year’s seniors has left big shoes to fill. The team lost several key leaders, like Trevor Penwell ’15, Jack Reichhelm ’15 and Trevor Harker ’15. Still, Steele thinks that the team “can replace them if we continue to do well, as we have been doing,” he stated.

Timothy Chiang ’17, another varsity skier, discussed how the season works. “The season consists of five races, where various teams meet to race,” Chiang said. “The state open is the final race of the season, held at the end of the season for the top teams.”

Over the course of one race, each skier gets two runs, one from each of the two start gates. Skiers start when the previous skier on that course has finished their run and gotten out of the way.

After a skier has completed a second run, they are compared to all of the other skiers of their

gender and ranked according to their times.

The goal of alpine racing, a certain event that skiers compete in, is obvious: to get around the gates and get to the bottom as fast as possible without being disqualified or falling. Once the first run is complete, the athlete takes the chairlift up to the top, gets in line at the other start gate and waits until it’s his turn to ski his second run.

The team uses Southington Mountain for training and competitions, which is approximately an hour away, so the team only practices on Wednesday nights. Due to the lack of places to ski in Connecticut, Staples practices alongside other towns.

Isabel Amelicke ’17, skier on the girls’ team, explained the difficulty of their practice course. “[Southington is] pretty much flat at the top of the hill,” Amelicke said. “You start off skating around the first couple of gates and then work up speed as the hill gets steeper.”

Chiang thinks that this season’s captains have a lot of potential with senior captains Campbell Ashman ’16, Ben Friedman ’16, Will Dumke ’16 and Nate Fanning ’16 leading the way. “Our team has a strong foundation of senior leadership,” Chiang said.

The team has high hopes to do as well as last season.

HITTING THE SLOPES The Staples boys’ and girls’ ski team members get to look at the snowcapped mountain scenery surrounding Southington Mountain as they shred the gnar at practice on Wednesday nights.

Gymnastics team looks to stick landing this season Eliza Goldberg ’17

Despite the fact that the Staples gymnastics team does not practice at school, they still work incredibly hard to represent the Wreckers off campus.

Because of the available facilities, the team practices at the Westport/ Weston Family YMCA four days a week for two hours each practice, with meets usually on the weekends. There are currently 13 team members, many of whom have been competing together since long before becoming Staples students.

“Our team is pretty close because a lot of us went to the same gym before we were in high school, so we’ve known each other for a long time,” Chander O’Reardon ’17 said.

Isabel Offir ’18 feels similarly, explaining that her favorite thing about gymnastics at this point is the close friends she has made through the team.

“I would describe my team as hardworking, crazy, loving and motivational,” Offir said. “Everyone on the team is always more than willing to cheer you on or help you out with anything.”

According to co-captain Hannah Rose ’16, even though many of the girls have been doing gymnastics together for years, high school gymnastics is not based on levels and gymnasts do not start on a 10.0 value like they do outside of high school.

“High school gymnastics is a lot more team oriented,” Rose said. “We do four events, and for each event six girls are allowed to compete. At the end of each meet, the teams’ scores are tallied, and the team that’s gathered the most points wins the meet.”

The girls compete against teams in the surrounding area, in-

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

cluding Darien, Trumbull, Fairfield Ludlowe and Wilton high schools.

Co-captain Lexi Wetmore ’17 is optimistic about the current winter season.

“Our team’s goal for this season would be to increase our scores from last year and move up from fifth to [at least] fourth in our FCIAC rank,” Wetmore said. “We lost some people but hope to do well.”

Coach Kelsey Martin is now entering her sixth year with the Staples gymnastics team and says she has loved every second of it.

“The girls work hard, and we have fun,” Martin said. “To be a gymnast takes a lot of dedication and sacrifice, so the girls are really committed to the team and the sport in general.”

Photo by Caroline O’Kane ’16

FLIPPING FORWARD Lexi Wetmore ’17 impresses the judges at a Wilton match that Staples lost last February.

Sports | January 8, 2016

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Rec basketball spurs competition and camaraderie

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Molly Liebergall ’17

n any given Tuesday or Thursday night, someone might assume that they’d find the large majority of Staples students at home, hunched over their math homework or procrastinating with Netflix.

During the winter months, however, this assumption would be dead wrong.

For much of the male student body, there is nowhere to be but in the fieldhouse, wrestling over rebounds, stretching out muscle strains, and competing to be the best recreational basketball team in the town.

“It’s the best time of the year,” Jackson Daignault ’18 said. The buzz of rec basketball fills the hallways from December to March.

Photo by Max Appell ’18

“I can make it rain from deep. Every other team has a weakness, and we definitely don’t.”

-Nico Rossi ’18

Chances are that if a swarm of Staples boys are heard yelling words like “filthy,” “tres” and “nice,” they are not discussing the quantity or quality of their New Year’s resolutions but instead hyping up their teammates for that evening’s match while simultaneously trash talking their competition.

“Trash talk is by far the best thing about rec, so that makes it much more fun and competitive,” Nico Rossi ’18 said. Tensions run high between teams and grades, especially since most players thoroughly believe that their squad will be the one to bring home the gold come championships.

John Fincher ’16 was a part of last year’s winning team, and this season his goal is to maintain his title by “getting buckets, and-one's, throwing block parties in the paint and proving that [our] grade is

the prominent grade,” Fincher said. His prediction for his team’s 2015-2016 MVP is Jared Himmel ’16.

“He incites a fire in all of us,” Fincher said.

His confidence is a common trait among most rec players, as Daignault believes that his team will go onto win it all and defeat their rivals, especially the squad of Nico Rossi ’18. Rossi, however, has other plans.

“I can make it rain from deep,” Rossi said. “Every other team has a weakness, and we definitely don't because every player on our team is capable of dropping 40 points a game.”

It is this “clean, competitive fun” that rec basketball Commissioner Richard Gabor loves to be involved with. Gabor is “a big Net fan, and this year they stink,” so the entertainment of rec is a substitute for the entertainment he would usually find on ESPN. “I'm looking forward to a season filled with nail-biting endings,” Gabor said. In addition to the entertainment and fun of rec, he believes that the opportunity it gives students to de-stress is equally important.

“With all the pressure that goes along with high school, rec basketball gives the kids an opportunity to blow off a little steam,” Gabor said.

Daignault agreed, adding that “kids go wild” because they can’t wait for their weekly games. The players maintain their wildness from tip-off to the final whistle, but this intensity sometimes leads to injury.

On opening night, Bobby Becker ’16 was attempting to grab a rebound and instead received an accidental elbow jab to the mouth, resulting in a loose tooth.

However, Becker did not let this collision phase him.

“Lose a tooth, keep playing,” Becker said.

Fellow teammate Andrew Van Riper ’16 patted him on the back, adding, “That’s the price you have to pay to be the best.”

EARNING FROM THE LINE Alec Competitive rivalries, merciless overconfidence O’Donnell ’18 takes a free throw and lost teeth are characteristic of the sport that shot to help his team take home Bryce Reiner ’16 believes is more than just a sport. a victory and start their season “It’s not a choice,” Reiner said. “It’s a lifestyle.” off 1-0.

Live at Toquet Hall January 15, 2016 7pm w/ Pizza Dust & The Foresters Advanced tickets: $7 at toquethall.org

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Sports | January 8, 2016

The cost of Creatine

Protein powder has benefits, but not without a price Sarah Sommer ’16

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“Not everyone can be the best, right?

So I think whenever anyone thinks they have an advantage, they want to use it.”

- Jeff Doornweerd

Photos by Channing Smith ’17

ichael Jennings ’17 took a final gulp of his juice — supplemented with a heavy dose of creatine powder — and planted his feet in front of the long mirror lining New York Sports Club’s white walls.

With deep, well-trained breaths, he worked his way through a set of split squats, straining to straighten his knees one more time than he had the week before. “I noticed my weight increase and my lifts at the gym went up significantly [when I started taking creatine],” Jennings said.

Creatine is a chemical compound that occurs naturally in the body; the supplement increases the amount of it in the user’s muscles, thus increasing his or her energy.

Because it is natural, creatine supplements are considered fairly safe. However, there is still worry over how the supplement affects developing bodies. According to MensHealth.com, “Kids under age 18 should avoid creatine because few studies have been done on children using creatine as an exercise enhancement.”

Since its debut in the early 1990s, creatine’s popularity has grown exponentially. “Creatine is like quick energy,” gym teacher Jeff Doornweerd said. “It’s for when you need to lift something really heavy or run really fast or do something powerful.

You can lift something a little higher or do it a little faster.”

However, an anonymous senior athlete recently went off creatine in order to avoid negative side effects, though his concerns were largely short-term.

“I stopped because I heard it gives people acne,” he said.

Jennings agreed that consequences including “stomach pain, nausea and muscle cramping” were a risk. “That being said, I

never noticed any of these side effects,” he added.

Despite being commonly discussed, these concerns are currently unproven.

“Simply stated, there is no evidence that creatine supplementation causes dehydration, cramping, muscle strains/pulls, gastrointestinal distress, kidney damage, muscle damage, liver damage, cancer, or death, as has been ‘anecdotally reported’ in the popular media,” Dr. Richard B. Kreider, from the Exercise & Sport Nutrition Laboratory at University of Memphis, said in a Creighton Prep Performance Nutrition Buyer’s Guide.

Still, he emphasized that children should avoid creatine unless medically prescribed.

Doornweerd believes that it’s easier for teenagers to ignore the possible dangers of creatine on developing bodies in favor of short term gains. “There’s a culture here, and I’m sure you’re familiar with it.

You need to be the best,” Doornweerd said.

“Not everyone can be the best, right? So I think whenever anyone thinks they have an advantage, they want to use it.”

The senior athlete admitted that his creatine use had been a cause for some controversy among his friends. “No one really cared that I was using it, but they thought it was unfair in terms of gaining muscle,” he said.

Similarly, Jennings dismissed animosity towards the supplement attributing it to, “a lack of knowledge by the general public.”

Though Doornweerd has used creatine in the past, he believes strongly that it is not the right decision for everyone.

“The science is there that, yes, it will make you perform better, but we’re talking about such a small margin that if there’s any sense that we’re not sure how it might harm you until you’re older and developed, is it worth it?” he said, pausing. “I just don’t know.”

“I noticed my weight increase and my lifts at the gym went up significantly.”

- Michael Jennings ’17

POWER POWDER Creatine helps build muscle mass faster. Though creatine is naturally produced in the body, the additional amount found in protein powders can cause negative side effects. Creatine can be found in local stores ranging from 15-40 dollars.

Photo by Eliza Goldberg ’17

INSIDE THE ISSUE page 21 ROWING MOVES INDOORS Even with the seasons changing and weather getting colder, rowers are not quitting on their dreams to be recruited by colleges.

page 22 PACO TAKES OVER Second year coach Paco Fabian enters the girls’ basketball season with high expectations after taking over for Ed Huydic.

inklingsnews.com | STAPLES HIGH SCHOOL

page 23 REC BASKETBALL MID SEASON UPDATE As Rec hits midseason, teams continue to work towards a strong year and hope to end with a championship.

page 23 STAPLES SKI TEAM HITS THE SLOPES As the snow starts falling, skiiers get excited for a new season and set high expectations.