The Viewpoint September 2016 Extra

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Viewpoint A R T X E

Mountain View High School 2135 Mountain View Road Stafford, VA 22556

STUDENT NEWS Magazine MVHS VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 September

Asia Elkins poses to represent the censorship happening in many colleges in America.

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The Viewpoint ExTRA

TO A NEW YEAR This is it, our last year writing for this beautiful, award-winning magazine (can’t you tell how much we love our publication?). We, personally, have been in room 303 for four years now and have enjoyed every second of it. Well, of course, besides the seconds of late nights filled with stress and rushing around trying to finish our pages and last minute touch-ups. But secretly we still love it even then too. With as much time as we work on these pages, we should basically be experts at brainstorming ideas, using Adobe InDesign, making pages, and writing after doing it for so long.

As seniors now, we have been so lucky to be on this staff. We love hearing your stories in interviews and taking photos at games. We especially love seeing you walk down the halls with the newest magazine in hand and hearing your thoughts on Twitter about an article. It just makes us happy because we know you’re reading The Viewpoint and that you care.

SEPTEMBER 2016 VOLUME XI ISSUE I

Managing Editors

We are so excited for this year and what’s to come, especially since we will be producing an issue every month instead of bi-monthly this year.

This means more magazines, more topics, more pages, and of course more happy readers(and stressed staff members).

In this magazine in particular we talk about the football team’s plan for the rest of the fall season, organ donation, your options for voting other than Clinton and Trump, and old fashion trends becoming new again (and that’s only a few).

However, before we end this, we want to say thank you. Thank you for reading our magazine, thank you for retweeting our tweets and liking our photos. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us and telling us what you want to see. Thank you for caring. And as always, we hope you like this magazine and the ones following.

Hailey Bullis Morgan Ocetnik Social Media Editors

Lexi Strawder Abbey Whitehead Copy Editors

Leah Garza Reagan King

Photography Editor

Emilee Holmquist Extra Editor

Paige Doerfler Briefs Editor

Ruby Jackson Adviser

Managing Editors Hailey Bullis and Morgan Ocetnik

Trisha Strahl The Viewpoint is a cross-section of the news and opinions of the student body of Mountain View High School. It is a forum of expression published by aPrintis. Letters to the editorial board are welcome and should be submitted to rooms 303 or 311.

Staff Writers

Feature Figure

by Jenny Bullers

Paige Doerfler

This year Mountain View High School received a new assistant principal: Katie Werner. Werner replaced former assistant principal, Tammy Houk, who is now the principal of Brooke Point High School. Werner started teaching with our very own Dr. Stemple at North Stafford High School in 2002, then they came to Mountain View together when the school opened in 2005. Werner taught ninth grade English, Learn and Serve, and Leadership from 2002 to 2013. Werner was the assistant principal at H.H. Poole Middle School where she worked for the last three years.

Werner said, “I had heard the position [at Mountain View] was open and I was excited to come back and be on Dr. Stemple’s team again. I really love the family community that is here. There really is no other school that has that really warm feeling and such amazing teachers.

The student body is really great and spirited and I really feel like the students, teachers, and faculty really work together like a family and we really all support each other personally, professionally, and academically. It is a great place to be.”

As an assistant principal, Werner’s job consists of the safety and security of the students, partnering with the families to make sure the same expectations at

the school relate to the expectations at home, helping students to resolve any conflicts, and working with the English and history departments. Upon her return to Mountain View, Werner stated she noticed an impressive progression in the school since she first worked here in 2005. For example, student collaboration, technology, and the popular IB program has grown tremendously and flourished.

“I am excited to be back at home and have the opportunity to get to know the students better. It is difficult being out of the classroom because that is where I made good relationships with the students, so my hope is that I have the opportunity to get to work with a lot of the students and build those kinds of relationships with the new teachers I haven’t worked with before, and I’m always excited to partner with the community and parents to make sure they know that we are the best high school in the country,” Werner elaborated.

Not only is Werner excited to be back at Mountain View, but the whole student body is ready to welcome her with open arms.

Jenny Bullers, Nicholas Chechak, Charlotte Hazard, Damien Veal, Austin Venable, Adam Skoloda, Sophie Perez Front Cover Hailey Bullis 2014, 2015 Virginia High School League State Championship First Place Award Winner 2013, 2014, 2015 Free Lance-Star Best Over All Newspaper 2011 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medalist 2011, 2010 and 2009 Virginia High School League First Place Award Winner

Mountain View High School 2135 Mountain View Rd. Stafford, VA 22556

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Bonjour by Austin Venable

Sarah Yakulis

Over the past summer, a group of 13 students travelled to France and Spain to strengthen their fluency in learning languages and to experience cultural enrichment. One of these students was Sarah Yakulis.

“It was the most wonderful experience of my life,” Yakulis stated.

She believes one of the biggest cultural differences is that people always seem to be in a rush in the United States, where as people in France and Spain take their time and enjoy life.

“Someone asked for a to-go box for his food and the waiter was insulted that he didn’t just stay and finish it,” Yakulis recalls. Another highlight was the age of all the buildings in the countries.

“In France, even shopping malls are in old, historic buildings,” she said.

While the group did a plethora of other things, Yakulis’ favorite memory was visiting the Vers-Pun-Du-Gard on the Gardon River.

“We were allowed to swim for a few hours, and there were these cliffs there that some of us jumped off of, myself included,” she stated.

Overall, Yakulis thoroughly enjoyed the experience and says she cannot wait to visit again.

“You learn so much more being there than just reading a textbook,” Yakulis said.

Sierra Villarreal

Sierra Villarreal participates Biomedical Engineering Lab Internship by Nicholas Chechak This summer, Mountain View Senior Sierra Villarreal embarked on a particularly elucidating endeavor: an internship at the Arizona State University Biomedical Engineering Lab. Her interest in science drove her to pursue the position after coming across the opportunity through extended family.

Her time at ASU immersed her in the world of biomedical engineering; she not only researched and helped conduct experiments, but also conducted a number of her own. Working primarily with glucose and lactate biosensors, she learned about gold disk electrode testing and developed the design for a continuous lactate sensor that was implemented to aid critically ill patients. She helped lead master students on the project.

Villarreal feels that, in addition to providing her with firsthand experience performing scientific research, the internship taught her a great deal about teamwork and her personal capabilities. She said, “I learned a lot from this experience. You have to go out and try new things and be a people person even if you are not. Working with a team is imperative for success. Don’t be afraid to speak up and let your ideas be heard. Also, even though people are older than you and have more experience doesn’t mean they are always right.”

Villarreal states that her favorite experience during the internship was the simple pleasure of wearing the lab coat, because it imbued her with a sense of purpose and confidence. “Being in the lab is great and filled me with so much happiness,” she said, “I just love science.”

NASA, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, took in Mountain View student Amanda Wyche to participate in their program.

The applications started in November with the online course going until March. Applicants had to complete a very challenging online course, as well as had a technical report to complete, a math assignment, an engineering design and an engineering case study. A lot of the people in the program were full IB Students or AP students, so the work was very difficult to complete and have in on time.

Wyche was enrolled in the rigorous NASA program which strived to teach participants basic engineering and earth science. The course was very selective with 500 people who applied and only 250 kids were accepted to do the online course. About 213 people were chosen to go to the summer academy. Only 120 people actually went to the camp, Wyche included.

“The trial to get there though was very testing… We had a month’s worth of work in only three weeks,” Wyche said.

The camp lasted a week with the participants creating their own space missions that haven’t been done before. The camp also expanded on what was previously learned in the online course. The students even learned about aviation and launched their own model rockets at camp.

Many students left NASA’s program without completing the whole week, but Wyche was one of the few to complete the rigorous course.

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Paige Doerfler

Amanda Wyche participates in NASA camp

by Damien Veal

September

at Mountain View

Adam Skoloda

The Production Club by Adam Skoloda The Production Club held their first meeting with Todd Welker on Thursday, September 15, 2016.

The Production Club is one of Mountain View’s many clubs that are based on hands-on activities. In this club, similar to the class, students learn the basics of working with wood to build several products. In the past they have created winter items and have worked for the community, providing them with different products.

This year’s Production Club will be doing a number of different things.

They plan to build and sell for this year’s Stafford Fair. Every year the Production Club works with homecoming and prom with the decorations. In addition, the Spotsylvania Dog Park may donate wood to Mountain View in order for the Production Club to make benches for the park.

“It’s nice to do fun things for the community,” Welker said about making benches for the dog park.

The goals of the Production Club are to build friendships, to learn new things, to compete with other clubs around the school, and to open up leadership opportunities for students.

Welker plans to be the supervisor for the time being, but he said that it would be nice to see somebody take charge of the operations.

In early August this past summer, Felicity DeToll attended the youth conservation leadership institute at Virginia Tech.

The youth conservation leadership institute is a camp where people apply to do an internship to do hands on volunteer services and talk about environmental topics.

Felicity was assigned a project to measure the levels of E. coli in local waterways.

Every Sunday or after it rained, DeToll went outside to test the soil and record her data. After 20 hours of being mentored and 20 hours of service, she then had to present the project and receive a certificate.

DeToll first fell in love with the idea of studying the environment when she attended the envirothon earlier that year. It was when her mentor, Izabela Sikora, mentioned attending the conservation leadership institute that DeToll realized that this was something related to what she wants to do when she’s older.

She said, “I went to camp and it was really interesting; I think it’s something I want to do when I’m older, something to put on a college application.

Even though applicants had to work hard, they also got to really enjoy themselves and were able to play hard, too.

At the camp site at Virginia Tech, DeToll said, “We went to the animal hospital, hiking, and touring the campus because they are very eco friendly. We talked about the different EMP’s and the different practices they have there”.

She will be attending the next mock envirothon for two days in Madison county.

Felicity DeToll

Felicity DeToll attends youth conservation leadership institute by Lexi Strawder

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Bring coupon on October 15 and get a discount!!

Schedule early to ensure a spot!

Address: 315 Garrisonville Rd Ste 111, Stafford, VA 22554 Phone: (540) 659-7220

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Careful What You Say Educational institutions are to be beacons of free speech and flow of ideas, but are college speech codes putting this in danger? by Austin Venable

Many students aspire to go to college after high school to acquire higher knowledge and to quench their intellectual thirst. You may think you will have greater freedom in college to say what you want in class or on campus, but that isn’t the case According to the Foundation for Individual Freedoms in Education (FIRE), about 62 percent of all colleges in the United States enforce speech codes that could seriously violate a student’s first amendment rights.This means that our rights may very well be under siege by the institutions that are to promote them.

Much of these speech codes are influenced by whatever is considered “politically correct” at the time of their forming. In other words, something you say that wouldn’t have gotten you in trouble in 1986 may cause you to lose your scholarship in 2016.

These speech codes could become a major problem. If college speech codes are followed as written, some of the biggest authors, filmmakers, and artists could be banned on the grounds of being offensive or outdated.

Trigger warnings are another attempt to cater to political correctness. Trigger warnings are essentially red flags that say “you are about to see/read something that may cause a negative response”. Last time I checked, life doesn’t come with a trigger warning. Trigger warnings do nothing more than demean classic works of literature that do nothing more than show what was common at the time. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was a target for this, and many students from multiple universities have petitioned for trigger warnings on racism, and some schools have outright banned the book.

This goes against the very core of education. Socrates encouraged his students to actively seek out others with opposing opinions to engage in a healthy debates and exchange information.

How can we claim to be intellectuals when we can’t even listen to opposing opinions anymore?

Is the art of being able to listen to an argument gone into such decline that we mentally cannot handle ideas that go against ours?

Religious freedoms are also at stake. While I personally am part of the growing religiously unaffiliated, I sincerely understand and respect those with devout religious beliefs. If it brings them a sense of comfort and security, by all means practice it. Numerous colleges do seem to hold this belief as well, however there are quite a few that feel the opposite. All too often, religious groups

on campuses are easy targets. At Vanderbilt University, the Graduate Christian Fellowship (GCF) was given a choice; either drop the requirement that student leaders affirm to the doctrinal and purpose statement or lose their status as a registered student organization. The leader of the GCF, Tish Warren, met with administrators to discuss this change. She stated that anyone was welcome as a member of the group, but asked for anyone with a leadership position to affirm to their doctrine, which covered broad orthodox Christian beliefs. Did this work? Nope, the Christian students were compared to segregationists, and the group lost its official status as a student group. They were no longer allowed to attend student fairs and could no longer associate its name with Vanderbilt. In protest, the students met outside of campus and designed shirts that simply said, “We are here.”

Colby College in Maine has a bias incident log that anyone is allowed to report any behavior, and literally anything can be reported. “A bias incident is an action that violates college policy and is motivated, in whole or in part, by the perpetrator’s bias or attitude against an individual or group based on perceived or actual personal characteristics, such as race, color, religion, sex, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, sexual orientation or gender identity.”

While this may not necessarily be bad thing, there are other policies at the campus that make the definition of harassment very vague and easy to bend to whatever the individual’s will is.

Harassment is defined at Colby as “Any on unwelcome hostile or intimidating remarks, spoken or written.” With this definition, literally almost anything can be interpreted as being offensive. One of the most outrageous “incidents” was a report on someone for using the phrase, “on the other hand”. The basis for the report was that it was offensive to those that may not have the ability to do so.

Are you kidding me?

Some universities claim to protect freedom of speech, but don’t always enforce it. In one famous incident, Milo Yiannopoulos, a British journalist, had his speaking event at DePaul University in Chicago forcefully stopped by a group of Black Lives Matter activists when he was discussing the topic of “microaggressions”. The students stormed the stage, yanked the microphone out of his hands, made obvious gestures of violence toward him, and started speaking their own agenda. Even after the campus police arrived, they made no arrests of the protestors disrupting the event. The College Republicans group had paid a hefty $1,000 security fee last minute, but when the police arrive to arrest the disruptors, the college president ordered the security team to do nothing..

Perhaps it was to not cause an incident, but if this was the case, there shouldn’t have been any security fee.

Yiannopoulos’ comments may be quite inflammatory to those with staunch liberal views, but none the less, his views deserve the same platform that any other individual or group would get.

We all need to remember that we have freedom of speech, not freedom from speech. Just because you believe the opposition’s views to be backward, ungodly, homophobic, communist, or whatever term you decide to come up with, they are still valid views, and therefore, are legally protected. Once we start banning things based on how certain people feel about them, we start to walk on a slippery slope and could very easily cross the fine line into outright censorship.

Universities need to be marketplaces where ideas can be discussed, exchanged, debated, and critiqued. There should be no agenda being pushed in any educational institution, political or otherwise.

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Back to

Adam Skoloda

School New oceanography teacher, Sarah Pacheco, starts her first year at Mountain View.

How do new teachers prepare differently than more experienced teachers?

by Adam Skoloda and Damien Veal

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veryone has their own way to prepare for the school year. Some people study, and some people suffer from the thought of summer ending. But how do teachers prepare for the upcoming school year? How does a new teacher prepare differently than a teacher that has worked for multiple years?

Many teachers go to orientation week and workshops throughout the summer to stay organized. Sarah Pacheco, first year teacher, began to get ready as soon as summer started. he prepared throughout the summer by collecting materials and creating a curriculum.

She spoke to other teachers to get some tips and advice because of this being her first year as a teacher. She said, “If I had more time this summer, I would have started to plan lessons in advance.” She then explained how sometimes teachers have to make changes to their lesson plans depending on students.

Lisa Renard has worked here since Mountain View opened in 2005. She has been teaching for twenty years all together. She says, “Most of the preparation is mental.” Like

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most teachers, she prepared all summer long.

She, like Pacheco, goes to teacher workshops.

“I've been doing this long enough. Now, I'm pretty happy with my routine.” She went on to say how there is always the question of more time. If she wished anything it would be that the teachers got paid two weeks full prep in the school Both teachers, experienced and new, said they began preparation at the beginning of August, but worked throughout the summer in workshops and orientations. Teachers can only do so much of their work at home during the summer, and they only get paid to come back a week before the students for preparation. The planning that teachers can really do in advance is dependent on whether or not they are teaching the same curriculum or not. Many teachers also change their lesson plans from year to year based on what they observed and reflected in the previous year.

Teachers prepare throughout the summer to be ready for their classes. In the end teachers prepare in their own way, but they are always ready to take on the new school year.

How to stay healthy and active over the school year It is important to keep active but we all know it’s a little harder to do that during the school year. Here are some suggestions that make the task a little bit easier by Sophie Perez The school year is a time filled with many responsibilities and activities. For many students it can be a little more challenging to get in a good workout during this time of year.

Even though school work and any obligations outside of school can take up a lot of time, it’s a great idea to join a school sport if your schedule allows time for it.

Here at Mountain View, there are plenty of sports to tryout for and enjoy. Some of those sports include football, field hockey, cross country, golf, volleyball and cheerleading. Those are only fall sports; there is also “fall ball” for some sports such as lacrosse, softball, baseball, and basketball. Fall ball is a great way to stay fit and healthy all while getting to know your future coaches and teammates.

Another more flexible option would be to join a gym.

There are a couple of local gyms and although it may

not seem as fun as being on a team, there are plenty of ways to make it work. You could ask a friend to come with you, which allows you both to motivate each other. If you choose to go alone, you could bring a pair of headphones and listen to music while executing a workout that works best for you.

If neither of those things seem like your scene, there are plenty of outdoor adventures to be had that you might enjoy more. You could go hiking, swimming, or just on a jog somewhere in nature. There are plenty of great trails in Stafford in places like Government Island and Curtis Park that would be perfect for jogging. If you’re willing to travel a little farther, then there are plenty of places in the mountains to hike, like Old Rag or White Oak Canyon Trail.

Hopefully you’ll be able to add a little healthy adventure into your busy school time routine.

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Stop by the Athletics Department for Pricing Today!

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“For a week I couldn't receive any signal and it was hard! I felt the need to check and see what was going on in the world with my favorite people. I was almost anxious.”

-Freshman Karoline Colucci

disconnect

Lexi Strawder

“A lot of teens are way addicted to their phones and don’t know when enough is enough, so it all depends on their maturity and appreciation for things around them”.

Sophomore Madison Jones

Growing up as a teenager in the prime time use of smart phones has been great to stay connected to one another, but how do we know when enough is enough? by Lexi Strawder If somebody ever asked you what you thought was the most important thing you owned, some of you would say it's a cool pair of shoes, your headphones, or even your dog.

In all honesty, that's not the case in this generation. You can leave the house without any of those things but there is one thing that we have found it extremely hard to leave behind: the cell phone.

Growing up as a teenager in the prime time use of smart phones is hard, because everyone wants to stay up-to-date to figure out who is dating whom, what everyone is doing and ultimately stay connected which is great and all, but it has come to the point where we find it extremely difficult to go a day without touching our phone to even keep our snapchat streaks up.

You should be able to share your adventures and memories and stay connected online but let’s not get so distracted we can't live in the moment.

But how do we know when enough is enough? Sophomore Madison Jones said, “A lot of teens are way addicted to their phones and don't know when enough is enough, so it all depends on their maturity and appreciation for things around them.” We hear our parents nag us about spending too much time on our phone but we

shrug our shoulders because we think they are wrong when they might actually be right.

Freshman Karoline Colucci said, “For a week I couldn't receive any signal and it was hard. I felt the need to check and see what was going on in the world with my favorite people. I was almost anxious.”

So much in and out our community is going on that we could be taking part in while we're still young and able, and we are taking it for granted by paying more attention to what's happening on our cell phones rather than what's going on around us.

Junior Meredith Speet said, “Although technology fosters education, millennials are tied to technology, and I am guilty of this as well.”

So much in and out our community is going on that we could be taking part in while we're still young and able, but we are taking it for granted. You never truly understand what you have until you get it taken away from you. Go outside and explore, find your happiness, take a picture while you're at it, but before you post it on social media, just enjoy it a little longer and really soak it up. Who knows? It might be your new favorite memory.

“Although technology fosters education, millennials are tied to technology, and i am guilty of this as well.”

-Junior Meridith Speet

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Disappointment How do you deal with disappointment, even when it comes back again and again?

by Leah Garza

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isappointment: Webster’s says it’s “feeling sad, unhappy, or displeased because something was not as good as expected or because something you hoped for or expected did not happen.” We’ve all been there; according to Webster’s, the first known use of the word “disappointment was in 1537. There isn’t anyone among us humans that hasn’t experienced appointment, whether it’s because someone ate the last slice of pizza that you’d been looking forward to all day or because you failed to achieve a long-term goal you’d been striving for.

As many times as we’ve all experienced disappointment, very few of us have found ways to heal from it. Of course, virtually everyone has heard the stereotypical solutions for negative emotions: relax, watch a movie, eat good food, find a hobby or a passion. But how does one find a hobby or passion to distract them while they are struggling?

When we are happy and fulfilled, most of us choose to ignore hypothetical about what we might be able to do to cheer ourselves up if something were to happen. Conversely, while we are in the midst of our struggles, we often don’t have the energy or willpower to do anything other than mope and wallow i n our emotions.

High school is a petri dish of emotion and with many different ingredients and outside influences, mutation are inevitable. So how do you pick yourself up when you feel like the world is crashing down around you?

Everyone has heard the famous saying, something to the effect of: admitting you have a problem is the first step towards solving it. Of course, most of us realize that something is going wrong, but being able to say it out loud or write it down can relieve the pressure of holding your emotions in.

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The next step is to healthily address your feelings without complaining too much. Voicing concerns or issues with which others can help you is useful, but pestering your support system with the same complaints every day is ineffective.

That’s where goal setting comes in. In order to begin to rebuild and move on, set small, attainable goals (or even long term goals if you’re feeling adventurous) and focus on achieving them every day. Goals ranging from not complaining to acing a quiz can help focus your negative energy towards a positive outcome.

Finally, the most important tool is perspective. Being able step back from your situation and compare it to others’ situations can be extremely helpful to recognize the actual scope of your personal disappointment.

Band director Gene Welch says, “I think of the positives and try to gather the information I can learn from the situation.” Welch also tries to gain perspective and tries to understand the bigger picture.

Senior Caleb Smith is one of the lucky few who is not bothered by disappointments: “I can’t change it, there’s no reason to be upset about it.”

Senior Zane Gobie has a unique way of dealing with disappointments. He has a jar with slips of paper containing positive messages and memories that he writes and reads.