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October 2014
The Omniscient
Points of Interest
In Loving Memory
frances Beroset/the omnisicient
The future for undocumented students at Northwood is uncertain. pg 8&9
Carver Meyer
November 6, 1997-October 6, 2014
O M N IS C IE N T - THE NORTHWOOD -
Photo courtesy of Pitch Please
Pitch Please was featured at national collegiate a capella competition SoJam. pg 15
EDITORS Frances Beroset Editor-in-Chief John Dunning Layout Editor Chloe Gruesbeck Layout Editor Becca Heilman Online Editor Adrianne Cleven Photo Editor Meredith Norman Social Media Editor Skyler Waugh Social Media Editor
Jamie Palermo/the omniscient
Bill Hall is ending his last year as head coach of Northwood Football. pg 21
STAFF WRITERS Byron Aguilar Lilli Hoffman Jennifer Jimenez-Cervantes Leah Kallam Wesley King Jessica Kolomichuk Bailey Miller Jamie Palermo Emma Reinberg Katie Robbins Ellie Saksa Jacob Sipe Elizabeth Thompson Riley Wolfgang
ADVISOR Neal Morgan nmorgan@chatham.k12.nc.us
The Northwood Omniscient is published by journalism students at Northwood High School. It aims to present accurate coverage of events of interest to our readers, as well as provide an open forum for the opinions of students, faculty and the community. We welcome letters to the editor, which can be delivered to the advisor in Room 607 or sent
Katie Robbins/the omniscient
Plus 1 has changed. For a full story, see the changes online at nhsomniscient.com
containing libelous statements, to edit for length and to ascertain the truthfulness of the content. Unsigned editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board. Columns, letters and cartoons represent the views of the authors. Unsigned editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board. Columns, letters and cartoons represent the views of the authors.
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The Omniscient
October 2014
news flash: what YOU need to know
Across the World: Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
Closer to Home: The North Carolina Senate Race What is the Senate and what do they do? The senate is a legislative body consisting of two elected officials, called senators, from each state. There are 100 in total. The Senate represents the citizens of the state and makes laws in collaboration with the House of Representatives. The Senate and House of Representatives combined are referred to as Congress.
Shashank Bengali/Los Angeles Times/MCT
RADICAL ISLAMIC SOLDIERS in Iraq. Who is ISIS and where are they?
ISIS is an Islamic extremist group. With brutality as their policy, they have rallied up to 31,000 fighters, some from al-Qaeda and some new. They are currently led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi; however, the founder of ISIS was Abu Ayyub al-Masri. ISIS is stationed in Syria and Iraq. They have taken control of many Syrian and Iraqi areas including, but not limited to: Mosul, Tikrit, Kirkuk and Paqqa. What does ISIS want?
Why is the North Carolina Senate race so important? Currently, North Carolina is a swing state, meaning the electorate is not clearly Democratic nor Republican. In 2008, N.C. voted for President Barack Obama, but in 2012 N.C. voted for Republican Mitt Romney, making it difficult to predict how N.C. will vote. The Republicans need to win six seats in the now Democratic-controlled Senate in order to gain control. There are many states still up for Republicans to win, North Carolina being one of these states. Republicans currently have Georgia, Kentucky and Kansas and will most likely gain Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia, which analysts say leaves Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Iowa, New Hampshire and North Carolina up for grabs by either party.
ISIS wants to restore the “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq. A “caliphate” is an area whose government rules by a strict or extreme interpretation of the Islamic religious law (also known as an Islamic State). ISIS takes a “deviant and pathological” route of interpreting the meaning of a caliphate and the Islamic religion, according to M. Alex Johnson of NBC News. An ISIS spokesperson said this regarding their violent tactics: “If you can kill a disbelieving American or European – especially the spiteful and filthy French – or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever…including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way.”
By Ellie Saksa & Riley Wolfgang Staff Writers Jamie Rose/MCT
Kay Hagan Democrat •Elected with a 53 percent majority in 2008 against Elizabeth Dole •Seeking re-election this year •Received the Democratic nomination for N.C. Senate on May 6
Bailey Miller/The Omniscient
Why does this concern the United States? ISIS was officially formed in 2003 by Abu Ayyub al-Masri. America’s attention turned to ISIS when they recently decapitated two American journalists: James Foley on Aug. 19 and Steven Sotloff on Sept. 2. ISIS has sent multiple threats to the U.S., including a CNN report where an ISIS spokesperson stated that, “It is you who started the transgression against us, and thus you deserve blame and you will pay a great price.” Intervention raises traditional questions regarding U.S. involvement in Syria and Iraq.
Chuck Liddy/Charlotte Observer/MCT
Thomas Roland (Thom) Tillis Republican •Currently a member of the N.C. House of Representatives from Mecklenburg County •Received the Republican nomination for N.C. Senate on May 6
Scenarios: If Thom Tillis is elected as senator, N.C. will become a Republican state, and depending on the status of the other swing states, Republicans will have control of the Senate. If Kay Hagan is reelected, N.C. will be labeled as Democratic, and it will be up to the rest of the swing states to decide which party will have the majority in the Senate. If third party Libertarian Sean Haugh continues to gain popularity, Republicans are afraid of losing on-thefence Republican votes to Haugh, which would give Democrats an advantage.
The Omniscient
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By Chloe Gruesbeck Layout Editor Education has widely been recognized as the great equalizer. The “American dream” that children raised in poverty have the ability to become successful with a proper education is a theme throughout American culture. However, recent studies suggest that the distance is widening between students succeeding in school and those who are not. As a result, the much sought after “American dream” is becoming more difficult to attain. This concept, known as the socioeconomic achievement gap, can be defined most simply as the difference in success in school between lower-
income students and higher-income students. This gap can be observed through a variety of measures, such as standardized test scores, grade point average and dropout rates. Regardless of the method of measuring the gap, many agree that the issue is becoming more complex. “It used to be that education was the solution to a lot of your issues,” principal Justin Bartholomew said. “You could go ahead and get an education, and that would solve a lot of the problems associated with poverty. It is so much more intricate now.” While data published in recent months by Stanford University has shown that the achievement gap between white and black students has lessened, the gap between poor and wealthy students has grown
October 2014
significantly. “We have moved from a society in the 1950s and 1960s in which race was more consequential than family income, to one today in which family income appears more determinative of educational success than race,” said Sean F. Reardon, a Stanford University sociologist, in an interview with The New York Times. Social worker Saundra Gardner said that Northwood is not excluded from this national issue. “Our school definitely has the haves and the havenots,” Gardner said. “I have kids who come in here crying because they didn’t get to eat because they had to make sure their brothers and sisters did…. There are students in this building that are really struggling financially.”
The Omniscient
October 2014 Dana Suskind, a pediatric surgeon at the University of Chicago, found that children from low-income households typically hear 30 million fewer words by the age of 3 than their affluent peers. Suggesting that education starts from the cradle, this study from the early 1990s kick-started a movement to close the gap early. “How well a student can read by the end of first grade predicts how well the student will achieve in their life, because that literacy component opens up all sorts of windows,” Noblit said. “If a third grader isn’t proficient, they have to go to summer school. In my opinion, it has to start as early as kindergarten to correct the issue.” In the big picture, these students falling behind are less likely to graduate high school, earn a college degree and have a higher-paying job. This concept is not a new one either. “Achievement gaps have been around since desegregation, so it’s not a new problem and it’s not something that’s easily fixed overnight,” principal Justin Bartholomew said. “It’s an ongoing issue for the district and the country as a whole.” According to Chatham County administrators, a wide variety of support systems are in place across the schools that work to reduce the gap. These include programs
like summer reading camps for elementary students, afterschool tutoring and even the Plus 1 program. Gardner says that with individual students, she helps out by sending backpacks of food home with students and gathering gifts for families during the holiday season. “We have students who I might get a call that they are being evicted,” Gardner said.
of a pregnancy, then the child will achieve lower than those who didn’t.” While many dispute the causes of the achievement gap, there is a general consensus that the gap is centered around the child’s family’s economic status. A study by a group of researchers at the University of Michigan found that the imbalance between rich and poor children in high school completion, an important predictor of success in the working world, has grown by about 50 percent in the last 30 years. Gardner is hopeful that the construction of Chatham Park will help close the gap by bringing new jobs to the area to employ the parents of students. “[Chatham Park] will definitely stimulate our local economy,” Gardner said. “I have even seen a difference since the opening of Bojangles. I have seen parents working there that I have never, in my 15 years of working here, work.” Varying views on how to improve the gap combined with complexity of the issue creates a long-term challenge for educators. “I don’t think there is ever going to be a day that if you just had a million dollars it would fix the issue,” Hartness said. “It’s bigger than a program or an amount of money. If it were money or a program, someone out there would have fixed it already.”
“How well a student can read by the end of first grade predicts how well the student will achieve in their life.” — UNC Professor of Sociology George Noblit “Whatever is going on, we still try to motivate that student and teach them that when you walk in this building, you’re going to get food. Somebody is going to love you and care about you.” While administrators and programs like these work to lessen the gap, the actual causes of the achievement gap are broadly debated and researched. “It’s really difficult to pinpoint the actual cause,” said Chatham County Assistant Superintendent Amanda Hartness. “There is actual research out there that suggests if a mother drinks soda during the duration
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The Omniscient
Becca Heilman/The Omniscient
Are You Stressed?:
Teens suffer from variety of pressures By Becca Heilman & Lilli Hoffman Online Editor and Staff Writer Seventy three percent of teachers consider school and teen life far more stressful for students compared to the previous decade, and 89 percent believe that excessive classroom assignments and testing are the main cause for high teen anxiety according to a poll of 804 teachers conducted by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the United Kingdom. During the teen years, adolescents experience newfound responsibility, which can be a lot to handle. Many teens load up on difficult classes and extracurricular activities in order to be competitive for college. “I’m more lethargic, it’s hard for my brain to process things and I start forgetting things because I have so much on my mind that things just slip from it,” senior Madeline Yentsch said. “It affects me emotionally too because I get more sad and upset about things because I think that I’m not working as hard as I could. I’m trying to do my best, but I feel like everything I do is not my best, and I could do better than that.” Many teens react similarly to stress. According to a study by the American Psychological Association, 40 percent of teens report feeling irritable or angry, 36 percent report feeling nervous or anxious and around 30 percent report feeling overwhelmed, depressed or sad as a result of stress. “I don’t sleep, I’m tired all the time and I’m never hungry,” senior Alex Bortey said. “I can’t think straight and I can’t concentrate. There is also a small level of paranoia that my grades are always going to be bad and that I’m never going to get anything done on time. It’s a little scary.” Having a high level of stress can affect how one goes about one’s day-to-day life. “[High school students] are under constant pressure to do well in school and still stay [involved] in everything,” senior Jacob Fowler said. This overload of responsibility can become especially prevalent during senior
year, when students start the process of submitting college applications and preparing for life after high school. “Since I’m a senior, [I’m stressed out about] college applications and teachers giving a lot of school work,” Yentsch said. “I have auditions coming up [for] dance programs at colleges, so I’m working on that. Trying to balance school work, extracurricular activities and college applications gets really stressful.” Other seniors blamed school and the activities surrounding it for their stress as well. “[The pressure to get into a good college] has made me work harder, and made me get more stressed. I guess those things coincide,” senior John Atwater said. “The harder you work, the less sleep you’ll get and the more stressed you’ll be.” Sometimes, students feel obligated to take classes just to be competitive for college, not necessarily because they really care about that certain subject. “It’s really competitive in high school, and colleges really look at the letter grade and your course rigor, so if you take harder classes and you do very well in them, then colleges see that and they really expect that, and they think it’s really cool,” Atwater said. “That’s why I take really hard classes even if I’m not interested in that subject.” Because admissions are becoming more competitive, many students find it necessary to take as many difficult classes as possible. “When I was in school, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State didn’t have such hard admission requirements where they wanted to see students taking that many AP courses, so I think it was a lot of stress for students, but not nearly as stressful as it is for students now,” guidance counselor Ciera Dixon said. The pressures to get into college have changed over the last 20 years, and the percentage of students applying to college has grown tremendously. According to The New York Times, since 1994, the percent of Americans accepted into Harvard has dropped 27 percent, and many colleges nationwide have started accepting more international students.
October 2014
“Because collegiate entrance is more competitive than it used to be, I think that a lot of folks are putting a lot more stress on themselves to get what they think they need to get into a college,” science teacher Victoria Raymond said. This pressure to do well in classes and get into college can put a strain on students that can affect their minds and bodies. “I’ll stay up late trying to finish homework, and then I’ll sleep during school because I stayed up late, and it’s just a vicious cycle,” freshman Connor Lewis said. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens need about nine and a quarter hours of sleep to function at their best, but one study reported that only 15 percent of teens sleep even eight and a half hours per night. This lack of sleep can take a major toll. “It makes the days go by [slower], and it makes the week seem like a month because there is so much going
on and I’m so busy,” Yentsch said. Although stress has become customary in the lives of most teens, many have found ways to control and minimize it. “Last year I was really stressed out, but I got a tutor who helped me get all my schoolwork in line and do my homework and understand the study guides before tests,” senior Ellie Frost said. “I keep a planner and I write everything out so I know when everything is going to be due. I study for things and I make flash cards.” Frost had another word of advice for students dealing with the stress of school work, and encourages people to remember that grades aren’t everything. “I know grades are really important to people, and it seems like it’s a really big deal, but you just have to be patient and work hard,” Frost said. “Even if you get a super bad grade and it brings your grade down, you have time in the semester to bring it back up. One bad grade isn’t going to ruin you for the year.”
Stress Stats
100 random students were polled.
What is your stress level on a scale of 1-10? Key Low (1-3) Medium (4-6) High (7-10)
What stresses you out the most? Key Grades Sports/Clubs Family/Friends College Admissions
Graphs made with nces.ed.gov
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The Omniscient
October 2014
Valencia Toomer
Alex Hart
Adam Perry
Kristen Norwood
Here and back again:
Northwood alumni return as teachers By Katie Robbins Staff Writer
“I was definitely that senior that was ready to get out of Northwood,” dance teacher and 2006 Northwood graduate Kristen Norwood said. “I was ready to leave and I swore I would never ever come back.” Despite her vow to never return, Norwood is in her third year teaching dance at Northwood. “I got a job teaching dance at a high school in a different county, and I have never missed home and my family so much as in those first years I was teaching so far away,” Norwood said. “It was 45 minutes away, but it felt like hours.” Similarly, Adam Perry, Photography and Tech Theater teacher and 2010 Northwood graduate, could not picture himself teaching at Northwood when he was a student. “I would’ve laughed in your face if you told me as a student that I would be back here as a teacher,” Perry said. “I knew I was going to come teach here about a month before I was here doing this.” It took Perry a lot of adjusting to go from a student to a teacher at the same school within a few years. “It’s different that I get to call my old teachers by their first names and they’re cool with it,” Perry said. “It’s almost like I have to relearn what to call them.” Physical Education teacher and 2008 Northwood graduate Alex Hart has also had a hard time adjusting. “It was really weird the first couple of days walking through the hallways,” Hart said. “In some ways it reminded me of being a freshman again, because it’s a brand new experience.” Although the school has developed, Perry doesn’t think there have been any drastic changes. “Northwood hasn’t changed as much as I thought it might have,” Perry said. “Even though teachers have come and teachers have gone, I still get the same kind of vibe from the faculty.” However, assistant principal and 1998 Northwood graduate Valencia Toomer has noticed some major developments throughout the school since she was a student. “There have been a lot of changes,” Toomer said. “The addition of the arts wing is brand new, the enclosed cafeteria and display is new, the entrance to the gym is new, the multiple pods and trailers are new, the paved football area is new, the bleachers are new and so are the outside restrooms.”
One difference Perry has noticed is how the students at Northwood interact. “Students are very different than we were when I was here,” Perry said. “We live in an age where technology moves so fast. When I was in high school, [the] iPhone wasn’t a thing yet. All we had was Facebook, and it was the one and only social media network that existed. Now there’s Twitter, Tumblr, Snapchat and Instagram.” According to Toomer, the community of Pittsboro is evolving as well. “[Pittsboro] used to be more rural, but now it resembles a suburb,” Toomer said. “When I was here, there was Hardee’s. That was the central hangout spot. But now you have so many things that are right here at the school. That has also increased jobs, so now we have a greater influx from Chapel Hill, which changes our culture here in Pittsboro as well as in the school. My graduating class was a little over 100, and the school didn’t even have 1,000 students.” Norwood believes she has gone through many changes as an individual. “Since I have been able to return and teach here, I feel like I have grown as a person, I’ve grown as a teacher, and I’ve grown as a choreographer, just from being in this awesome environment that we have here at Northwood,” Norwood said. Although Perry did not expect to become a teacher, he has enjoyed watching students learn his craft. “It’s nice to see some of these people who initially had a rejection to art suddenly get it,” Perry said. “You see them doing work and you can tell that they actually are enjoying it in some way, even if it’s not the way they thought.” Norwood also likes to see her teaching pay off when she sees students starting to love dance. “My favorite part is coming in everyday, teaching students new things and seeing that light bulb go off,” Norwood said. “Most students are very unsure of themselves when they start, because the majority of them have never had dance before, so we teach new stuff and we see things happen. That’s really exciting.” Although Norwood started off thinking she would never become a teacher, she enjoys her role in the arts department at Northwood. “The musical is one of those things where we all come from different backgrounds and we mold together to create this magical, beautiful thing,” Norwood said. “As a teacher, being a part of something like that, playing a tiny role in that huge thing is just one of the most rewarding things ever.”
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The Omniscient
“My real home is here now”
October 2014
Undocumented students in Chatham County face stigma, financial woes By Byron Aguilar & Frances Beroset Staff Writer and Editor-in-Chief
The names of the undocumented students in this story have been changed for their privacy. “My mom wanted to come,” undocumented student Coby Heart said. “[In Mexico], you have like no chances of going to college, and I guess she thought over here I could go to college and be more successful. It opens up more doors for me to go to college and get better jobs than I would have gotten in Mexico.” Many undocumented students mentioned the lure of the “American Dream” as a major reason for moving to the United States. “It’s where the most opportunity is,” undocumented student Isabella Smith said. “Even though the ‘American Dream’ is basically just a dream, it can happen when you put a lot of thought into it. Even though we have passed a lot of challenges, we’ll still live here.” Some students who have lived in the U.S. for a long time expressed uncertainty as to whether living in the United States has given them a better life. “I’m guessing my parents came just to get a better job,” undocumented student Jerry Ellis said. “I’m not sure [if it would be better to live in Mexico].” However, some students do miss certain things about their home country. “The only thing I miss is my family and the food, pretty much,” Smith said. “I don’t really miss the place in particular because I know there’s certainly dangers out there, like the militias going against the government; every place has that.” Xavier Viscarra, a Bolivian student, recently came to the United States on a student visa. Though Viscarra’s parents did not come to the United States with him, he says his father had a big impact on his decision to come. “My dad did college in San Francisco, so he told me, ‘The United States is great, let your mind grow,’” Viscarra said. “It’s a good, good place to grow.” Students who have grown up in the United States have trouble identifying with the roots of their country of origin. Mateo Garcia, an undocumented Northwood graduate who recently graduated from a small private university, came to the United States from Mexico when he was three years old. “I pretty much grew up here,” Garcia said. “I’ve spent 20 years of my 23
in the U.S.; this is my home here. This is all I’ve ever known, so going back to my country, I would feel like I’m visiting instead of returning to my home. This is my home, but at the same time, I do want to go back some day.” The biggest adjustment for most students coming into the United States, documented or undocumented, is the language difference. “It took me a year to start getting [English],” Smith said. “I remember the first year, sixth grade, I was put Frances Beroset/The Omniscient into an ESL class, DOCUMENTATION is required for most jobs, public colleges and financial aid. and the rest of my classes were guage, so it really helped to be able to too afraid to answer. I would never put in English. That was pretty hard, and connect what I was trying to explain them on the spot.” after that, they changed it to a regular with what the students were actually Phil Cox, a science teacher and reschedule, so that’s when I had to get it. doing. And that transcends all lancent transplant from Jordan-Matthews, I used to read a lot to get new vocabuguage.” agreed. lary and get myself used to the English Most teachers agree that documen“[Legal status was never talked language.” tation status is not an issue for them. about] unless the student brought it up. English as a Second Language Just this year, the U.S. Department of I’m here to teach everybody, and if you (ESL) classes are important for Justice in collaboration with the U.S. walk in the door, I’m teaching you. I children of all ages who move to the Department of Education released don’t care what your status is,” Cox United States from other cultures. guidelines concerning the citizensaid. ESL instructors work with classroom ship status of a child. They state that Yesenia Martinez, a sophomore teachers to assist in providing different citizenship or immigration status is involved in an organization called the accommodations to ESL students. irrelevant to district residency, which is Immigrant Youth Forum (IYF), which “It depends on the school; there’s the information used to place children is dedicated to helping undocumented never enough training,” former Northin schools. In other words, students and documented youth in the Orange wood ESL teacher Katherine Rangel who are undocumented have as much County area, thinks more attention said. “Each kid is really different. So a right to high school education as needs to be brought to the challenges much of it is case by case that it’s hard anyone else. of people who are undocumented. to know really what the right training “Most of the things that would “I feel like there’s a lot of unfairis every year. The ESL teacher at each impact an undocumented student, a ness now,” Martinez said. “People are school has to know their students and classroom teacher wouldn’t necessarjust unaware; they don’t realize all this know their faculty to walk that line.” ily know about,” Spanish teacher and stuff is happening. You see the outside, Science teacher Victoria Raymond AVID coordinator Henry Foust said. but not what’s really happening.” has taught biology, physics and physiMany teachers said that a student’s Rangel said that a difference cal science at both Jordan-Matthews immigration status is unimportant to between Northwood and Jordan-Matand Northwood. She says that the scithem. thews, which has a 41 percent Hispanic ence curriculum may be easier to teach “It was kind of a ‘don’t ask, don’t population, is the frequency of converto ESL students than other subjects. tell’ kind of thing,” Raymond said. “It sations about documentation. “Because of what we teach, being was never an issue in the classroom, “I saw Northwood students just hands on was absolutely essential,” because, who cares? I was teaching wanting to blend in and be a regular Raymond said. “If I’m trying to show the kids. But no, I would never ask a high school student, which is totally how things move or push or pull or student any of that kind of question understandable,” Rangel said. “I think light up, you can see that in any lanbecause they would be afraid, much I heard more students at JM kind of
October 2014 openly saying their documentation status than at Northwood.” Most teachers tend to note the similarities, rather than the differences, between undocumented students and any other high school student. “They’re just high school students,” Rangel said. “Nobody in high school wants to seem different, and this is a huge difference. You just want to hide it as much as you can.” Foust said that undocumented students may face a stigma because of the inherent prejudices of human beings, rather than any specific qualities. “It’s part of human nature to look askance at whatever is different,” Foust said. “They may sound romantic, people go, ‘I love people from other cultures,’ but there is no doubt that a lot of people’s opinions toward anyone who’s different, in any way, will impact how they interact with people.” Northwood ESL teacher Chris Atkins agrees. “There’s still enough racial tensions within the United States that there’s stigma between blacks and whites, but there is now increasing stigma between Latinos and blacks and Latinos and whites, as well, as they become a third group,” Atkins said. “It’s not unusual in new immigrant groups, though it’s not as though Latino immigration is new; it’s very old. It’s been happening since the United States started. They face a stigma, and I think there’s often a case of, ‘Why don’t they just speak English?’ I wouldn’t say it’s universal and I wouldn’t say most people have it, but it certainly comes across sometimes.” Some students argue that racial discrimination plays a large role in the prejudice undocumented students may face. “Just being Latino in general, there’s discrimination everywhere,” Martinez said. Rangel said that the fear of stigma also impacts the way that students who are undocumented interact with other people. “[There is a] fear of a stigma, the fear of ‘coming out of the shadows’— an expression a lot of the undocumented community uses—who to tell, who not to tell that you’re undocumented, or you tell someone and they don’t agree with that, politically or culturally, then you’ll be shunned or turned away,” Rangel said. “So there’s just a lot of fear that really lays underneath everything else.” The fear, not only of stigma but of legal action or at worst, deportation, can impact an undocumented student’s achievement in high school as well as their future. College choices are severely limited for a number of reasons. “Their whole mindset has been to
The Omniscient
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stay out of range of attention,” Foust from, and so they were still busting of the seemingly insurmountable odds. said. “They don’t want to draw any their butts in school.” “You have a lot of kids who would attention because that could draw in Still, the challenges that students say, ‘Why do I have to try? I’m just not some kind of oversight, which could who are undocumented can face are gonna try, I’m undocumented, so I can’t result in having to deal with the legal much more difficult to surmount than go to college,’” Cox said. “Sometimes system. There have been some stumost other groups. you get attitudes like that, and you [feel] dents [in AVID] that we’ve really “Especially in high school, [unbad for them. They were in a catch-22.” had to work with to figure out how to documented students] worry about Foust is of the opinion that changmake it happen. And for the most part, the future; they want to go to college, ing the way people think about students the ones that I can remember, have but aren’t sure if they’re going to be who are undocumented would be a big always worked out, but it took effort able to financially,” Rangel said. “I step towards reducing disenfranchiseboth within the school and outside the mean, there are some scholarships that ment. school to make are available “Learning the language would be a it happen.” regardless of big step, and it’s not even so much tryGarcia was immigration ing to accommodate the people who are very successful status, but not immigrants, but it’s the whole mindset in high school as many. You of understanding how big the world is, and received a can’t apply for and understanding our role in involvfull scholarship FAFSA, you ing ourselves in the rest of the world to the small can’t apply for instead of always waiting for the rest of private univerfederal aid, the world to accommodate themselves sity he attended, some colto us,” Foust said. “The world is bigbut he said that leges won’t ger than Pittsboro, or even bigger than he went through even accept North Carolina or the whole United a period of undocumented States. That’s a basic thing that people demoralization students. You could do, just learning the language, during high school after a conversation have to find the right college fit, so just learning any language.” with another student. that uncertainty, the same uncertainties “We just need to treat people like “It’s kind of funny though, because that all high schoolers face, but it’s just they’re people,” Foust said. “The my freshman and sophomore year, I more, more stressful. Everybody’s hop- world’s not getting any bigger. The probably got only two Bs, and then my ing to get financial aid for college, but population isn’t going down, so the junior year, I had another Hispanic kid for undocumented students, there’s just possibility that we’re going to be dealsay to me, ‘Man, why are you working so much less available.” ing with people from other cultures, so hard? You can’t even go to college, Students who are undocumented and that those people that don’t speak bro.’ And that kind of stuck with me. may struggle with motivation because the language, is just going to increase.” It took about a good week for it to settle in,” Garcia said. “It kind of takes you down because at the end of the day, you’re just like, ‘I’m French Antiques & Home Decor • African Art • Imported Fabrics working so hard—for what? I can’t even go to school, and that was my goal.” Cox notes that many undocumented students he has taught in the past were very ambitious. “We had some good kids that were undocumented and in the top 10 of their class, and they were really good, strong students,” Cox said. “It wasn’t universal of undocumented students to say ‘I’m not going to go anywhere.’ You also had kids that still would bust their butts and say, ‘I’m going to go to school in Mexico,’ or ‘I’m going to go Mon - Sat 10:30-5:30 • 1st Sundays 12-5 to college in Hondu178 Hillsboro St. • Pittsboro NC ras or Guatemala’ or wherever they were www.french-nc.com • (919) 545-9296
“My junior year, I had another Hispanic kid say to me, ‘Man, why are you working so hard? You can’t even go to college, bro.’ And that kind of stuck with me.”
French Connections
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The Omniscient
October 2014
Hello
My Name Is
David Orphal Photo courtesy of Michael L. Dorn
Orphal spent a year of his life in Africa.
Photo courtesy of David Orphal
Orphal has an eye-catching style that has many students talking. He especially likes his bowties. Above are a few of his favorites.
Orphal has been featured in the well known lecture series, “Ted Talks.”
By John Dunning Layout Editor “I don’t know a lot about Northwood; I’m new here,” David Orphal said. “But every year I’ve taught I’ve gone to funerals for my students. Last year I went to three, all violence related.” Orphal, a new social studies teacher at Northwood, is out of his comfort zone at his newest school. He finds himself more at home when teaching at inner city schools such as Skyline, where he taught in Oakland, Calif. “Originally, I thought Northwood didn’t really need me,” Orphal said.“I’ve always worked in real high poverty, high needs areas, and that isn’t Northwood. Frankly, that was actually a strike against Northwood.” Orphal explained that working in a school like Skyline created a certain dynamic to the task of teaching, a dynamic which most Chatham County teachers would not be able to relate to. “Northwood is absolutely nothing like Skyline,” Orphal said. “Here, everybody’s got a laptop. At my last school we had 200 putty colored desktop computers for 2,000 kids.” Orphal recalled a time when a girl, whom he called Janice, had been having issues throughout the day with outbursts of anger in various classes. These outbursts were related to fear, which Orphal explained is “not something you want to show” in a school like Skyline, because it “marks you as victim.” In Orphal’s account, he went on to say that Janice had been in a verbal argument with another female student, but her aggressor had decided to take it to the next level and involve her older sister who said she would “come to the school and shoot Janice.” This sister had been convicted in the
past and had a violent history, so the threat held legitimacy. “‘Big Sister’ had been in and out of prison a couple of times, and had actually done drive-bys,” Orphal said. “This wasn’t like a kid saying ‘I’ll kill you’ with nothing behind it; this was the kind of kid where this threat was real. It wasn’t until later in the day that we were actually able to figure out what the problem was, get the two kids to sit down, get the issue all worked out and also get the one kid to call off her older sister. All this came out of name calling.” Orphal said that the needs of his students at Skyline made him a more involved teacher. “Teachers can’t be just teachers,” Orphal said. “We’ve got to be social workers, we’ve got to be first responders. So much goes on that gets in the way of kids learning.” The environment Orphal came from in Oakland was one of an unpredictable nature, and has affected him physically—Orphal was once shot in the hip. “I don’t want to dive too deep into that because there are going to be kids on campus that think somehow that’s cool, and it’s not,” Orphal said. “Violence in the inner-cities isn’t cool, it’s ugly; I wasn’t cool when it happened. I was crying. I wish my mom had been there; I had pissed myself. There’s nothing cool about that.” Despite Orphal’s previous experiences as a teacher, he is optimistic about his first year teaching at Northwood. “I feel like I’ve got my first shot at making it through a whole year without going to a funeral,” Orphal said. Teaching in the inner city is not Orphal’s defining affair. After recently packing up and moving across the country, he plans to use his broad life experience to start fresh in Pittsboro, where he’ll be
closer to the people that matter most. “Part of it’s getting closer to Grandma and Grandpa [who live in Florida], and part of it is I’m falling in love,” Orphal said. Orphal explained how having adopted what one might dub a “yes-man” personality has gotten him involved in numerous organizations and groups. “I was working at a continuation high school and I had an opportunity to get my master’s and I said yes,” Orphal said. “While [I was] working on my master’s degree, the board said ‘Are you willing to be a part time professor for these classes?’ and I’m like, ‘okay.’ When that had passed, the local teachers’ union said they needed someone to be the grievance chair so again I said ‘okay’ and spent a year doing that. I just kept saying yes.” Orphal credited his variety of life experience to this open-minded, “yes-man” personality. “Just sort of saying yes when an opportunity comes my way and going ahead and jumping in and doing the work has led to some really magical experiences,” Orphal said. Despite interest and participation in secondary involvements, Orphal has kept teaching students and staying in the classroom his priority. “I got offered jobs with textbook companies, sales, education-related software companies, all things that would have paid tens of thousands of dollars more than teaching,” Orphal said. “I said no every time. I don’t want to work and not see kids lighten up inside.” Orphal explained he has further reason to say no to alternative jobs and the higher income they may bring. “I am a religious man,” Orphal said, “and I do believe that God has called me to serve kids directly.”
Photo courtesy of David Orphal
Orphal was always interested in “Medieval legends” as a child, but as he grew older, he discovered a passion for Arthurian tales and other authentic medieval history. Back in California, Orphal often participated in medieval reenactments such as the one pictured above.
Photo courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Orphal knows enough French and Japanese to “get around town.” Orphal can also greet someone and ask about their family in Wolof, Malinka, Pular, Arabic and German.
The Omniscient
October 2014
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October 2014
The Omniscient
Serving Up Success:
Northwood lunch ladies dish it out By Adrianne Cleven Photo Editor Each day, over 500 teens file through the cafeteria lines at Northwood. Some of them pay little attention to those who prepare, serve and clean up after their breakfast and lunch. One of these people is Faye Robinson, who has been the cafeteria manager at Northwood for 14 years. Robinson is lively and animated, overheard insisting, “I don’t holler! I talk very loud.” Cafeteria workers had to change their schedule with the advent of the Plus 1 and homeroom program, enacted by administration at the beginning of this school year. “We had two lunches now where we used to have four lunches, and the kids get to go outside,” cafeteria worker and self-proclaimed “snack room lady” Venna Price said. “Well at first, with the two lunches, we thought we wouldn’t be able to do it. The first two days [of the school year] were hectic, but after that it was a piece of cake.”
As of Oct. 27, Northwood returned to a schedule with four lunches. This year’s school nutrition regulations have changed as well, altering the manner in which Robinson and her fellow workers run the cafeteria. “We’re just so restricted in what we can serve and what we can’t,” Robinson said. “Each week you’ve got to have so many grams of this, so much fruit, so many vegetables, not any salt; it’s just really put a bind on the things I can serve the kids. In Chatham County, all the high schools follow the same menu. We have a dietitian; she plans our meals. It really has to balance out.” Filling out paperwork has become a growing portion of a cafeteria worker’s job. “I hate doing [paperwork],” Robinson said. “[I have to record] everything that is opened, everything that is disposed, the temperatures when it was taken out of the oven, just anything that goes on in this cafeteria has to be recorded.” Though there are trials, Robinson’s favorite part of her job is the student popula-
Adrianne Cleven/The Omniscient
CAFETERIA WORKER JACQUELINE BRADY serves lunch to students.
tion at Northwood. “I love meeting the kids, especially the new ones that come in,” she said. “And I guess after the kids have been here for four years now you’ve gotten attached to them and you really hate to see them leave.” Robinson and the other cafeteria workers see the students from a unique perspective. They serve kids day after day, semester after semester, often all the way through a teen’s high school years. Normally, even teachers do not have this kind of long-term relationship with their students. Robinson enjoys “seeing the freshman class come in, and then four years later seeing them getting ready to graduate, feeding them every day and getting close to them.” She has her own personal perspective about a high school student’s growth. “[They are] so scared when they first get here, and then about the 11th grade is when they really start to come out,” Robinson said. Her overall view of the job is one that several cafeteria workers seemed to share. “We’re getting the kids fed,” Robinson said. “And that’s the main thing.”
Entertainment HALLOWEEN What are you doing? By Meredith Norman Social Media Editor Getting dressed up in costumes, going from door-to-door and trading treats with friends. If we close our eyes, these are probably some of the images we would conjure up for Halloween: a familiar and repeated tradition of trick-or-treating and candy. But as teenagers get older and the scope of activities they can partake in increases, do students look for other things they can do to have fun on Halloween besides trick-or-treat, or do they stick with the same old routine? “One of my friends recommended a Halloween horror show where two legitimate Hollywood producers and a guide would lead you through this sort of maze thing and certain characters from horror movies would pop up,” senior Katie Pernell said. “There was the triangle head man from Silent Hill, there was the girl from The Ring, the headless horseman and a lot of others. I would always spoil it for people because I would be in front like ‘Oh there’s someone moving over there!’” In addition to haunted houses, teenagers also take part in fall activities such as picking out pumpkins, going on hayrides or throwing Halloween parties. “A few years ago I went to a Halloween party and we played a game called ‘Wrap The Mummy’ and we had all these rolls of toilet paper and
we raced to see who could wrap the two people the fastest,” senior Holly Thacker said. “It was pretty hilarious and going to Halloween parties is always a lot of fun.” Some teenagers decide not to do anything at all. “I went Go-Karting last year on Halloween,” junior Gabe Webb said. “I used to dress up but now I’ve evolved into a lazy sloth who does nothing but eat candy without actually having to go get it.” Every year, there are still teenagers who decide to stick with their routine and go trick-or-treating. Because many of them are older, their experiences are different than those trick-ortreaters who are younger. “‘You’re too old for this, so why are you still dressing up and going around outside in the dark?’ Is what people would say to me, because when you’re older, you need to be more aware of the fact you’re a teenager and still trick-or-treat,” freshman Mariah Shobande said. Despite this, teenagers still find it is worth it to go out trick-or-treating. “When you’re a teenager you’re not a kid anymore, and people are less inclined to give you candy, but it’s still fun to go trick-or-treating,” sophomore Sabrina Mather said. “Teenagers have to deal with a lot of things like AP classes and learning how to drive; the least we should get is some candy.”
“[My favorite part of Halloween] is dressing up, everyone’s always so creative.” — Elizabeth Her, junior
13
How do you spend Halloween? 18% 47%
18% 17%
“[I like Halloween] because it’s a great time to hang out with friends.” — Christopher Cotten, sophomore
Graph created by nces.edu.gov
“[My favorite part of Halloween] is eating candy and spending time with my friends.” — Kirsten Sellers, junior
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October 2014
The Omniscient
Disney Through the Years: The Evolution of the Disney Princess
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Bailey Miller Walt Disney Animation Studio released Snow White in 1937. This was the studio’s first full-length animated feature. Since then, millions have flocked to theatres to watch the 53 animated feature films that Disney has released. Disney isn’t just a company that makes movies; they create fantasy worlds. They have always strived to make movies that interest moviegoers, and incorporate the values that parents want their children to learn. To do this, Disney must create a story that is cohesive with the standards of our current society. “I think that, as Disney movies have evolved, they have changed us as a culture, but we as a culture have also changed them,” sophomore Sabrina Mather said. To keep up with our changing social views, Disney has had to transition from princesses such as Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora. These princesses waited to be saved and sat back while their story progressed around them. More recent princesses, though, like Rapunzel, Anna and Elsa, have taken control of their own destinies and actively participated in the progression of their own stories. The princesses of the 1930s and 1950s dreamed of a prince, a wedding and a palace. The Disney princesses that graced the big screen in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s had goals that they wanted to accomplish, but to accomplish those goals they needed men. Princesses of the 2010s have aspired to follow their own dreams, achieve independence and be themselves. This goes hand in hand with the
Snow White 1937
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Pocahontas 1995
Cinderella 1950
Mulan 1998
shift in roles of women in society. “I think they have kind of changed with the acts of women through time,” junior Vanessa Jones said. “They have gone from doting housewives to getting out and doing their own thing. I think Disney’s really made that clear, that they have been making these women more independent. It went from Cinderella and Snow White, the helpless girls who are struggling, to Mulan, who saves China.” Disney has made plenty of changes, but they have also kept certain aspects of their films the same. The princesses have become slightly more diverse, but most are still the same dainty, doe eyed, beautiful girls. The movies have slightly shifted their focus off of princesses falling in love, but the romantic aspect is still there. Disney has also continued to show nontraditional family dynamics and addressing the loss of a loved one. “As a parent who showed Disney films to her children when they were growing up, I liked that they dealt with issues of loss,” art teacher Leslie Burwell said. “I think that Disney allows kids to grapple with that idea of death.” Of course Disney has made several animated films that don’t follow the normal princess filled, fairy tale format of the franchise; some examples are Treasure Planet, Lilo and Stitch and The Emperor’s New Groove. However, the majority of Disney’s most famous films have kept with a similar plot and style. I would argue that, while Disney has progressed and changed, their movies have remained the same for the most part. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. Disney movies have been bringing joy to people all over the world for over six decades, and they have obviously been successful. “At the end of a Disney movie I feel happier,” Jones said. “I love that it’s kind of a little escape from the rest of the world.”
Sleeping Beauty 1959
Tiana 2009
Rapunzel 2010
Ariel 1989
Merida 2012
Belle 1991
Jasmine 1992
Anna and Elsa 2013 Images courtesy of Disney.com Bailey Miller/The Omniscient
The Omniscient
October 2014
A cappella group Pitch Please participates in SoJam By Emma Reinberg Staff writer
Page 15
I knew I wanted to be in the group. I auditioned with for the competition and attend various workshops [Matthew] Hanson, and about five days later I was in throughout the weekend. Pitch Please submitted their the group.” video, singing “Ain’t It Fun” by Paramore. For many students, singing is a way of expressPitch Please serves as a musical outlet for its “The requirements for the video were to record a ing emotions. Pitch Please, Northwood’s a cappella members, but is also a good support system among video of a song with no audio changes done and only group, is made up of some of the best vocal musithe students. video adjustments made if needed,” cians in the school. “Everyone gets along so well. We teacher and director of Pitch “[A cappella] gave vocals “I’ve been in [Pitch Please] for about two years. have a lot in common. It’s almost like Please Matthew Hanson said. me a purpose I joined after I saw them at the fall concert,” senior a second family for me, especially SoJam chose Pitch Please to Sean Thompson said. “After I saw their performance, being here at a new school,” senior in high school. I perform at the competition held at Jawuanna McAlDurham School of the Arts alongside know what I want six collegiate a cappella groups from lister said. “It’s usually really hard to do with my life around the country. to make friends at “It doesn’t seem like SoJam is that now.” a new school, but big of a deal because it was held in I got to know a lot -— Sean Thompson Durham, but it is a great achievement of people in the for us to have been chosen for this first few weeks of competition,” Hanson said. school.” “[SoJam] was amazing,” McAllister said. “It was McAllister was in the a capan incredible experience. It was hard to be profespella group at her old school, and sional, especially since Avi Kaplan was there.” looked forward to seeing what Kaplan, the bass vocalist for the popular a cappella Pitch Please had to offer. group Pentatonix, was a judge for the competition as “When I found out that [Northwell as a teacher for one of the master classes. wood] had an a cappella group, “I got to sing with Avi and it was unbelievable. We I was really excited,” McAllister sang his song ‘Run to You’ with him and it was... I said. “It was something I could be just can’t put it into words,” Thompson said. a part of here at a new school.” After developing his musical skills in Pitch Please SoJam, an a cappella festival and spending time at SoJam, Thompson has decided and collegiate competition, anto pursue music as a career. Becca Heilman/The Omniscient nounced a high school video con“[A cappella] gave me a purpose in high school,” CONNOR LEWIS expresses his excitement in the moments before test that would reward the winning Thompson said. “I know what I want to do with my going on stage at SoJam. group with the opportunity to open life now.”
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The Omniscient
October 2014
Marching to a New Beat: Cox replaces Cottrell as band director By Skyler Waugh Staff Writer
“It was so sudden,” junior Tommy Lorbacher said. “He never gave any hints about leaving. No one really knew.” Eugene Cottrell taught band at Northwood for 15 years, but moved to Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines at the end of the last school year. Cottrell’s departure has left many people emotional. “It was heartbreaking. It felt like betrayal almost because he was going to a school we competed against a lot,” Lorbacher said. “I also felt abandoned because he was such a great role model to me.” The new Northwood director, Brett Cox, may be young, but has been involved in band for years. “This is my first year as a band director, but since I graduated high school, for the past five years, I have been [employed] at a high school as a part of marching band staff,” Cox said. “This will be my first year being a full fledged band director.” The first band competition Northwood participated in this year was held Sept. 27 at Pinecrest High School, where they saw Cottrell again for the first time. “We saw Cottrell,” junior Ally Freeman said. “It made me feel really special that he made Pinecrest come to the field and watch us perform. I felt like he hadn’t given up on us, no matter where he was.” The Chargers had their second competition the following weekend Oct. 4, and earned superior rating.
“We went to Southeast Guilford High School and had a really good showing,” Cox said. “[We] came in second overall and had some really good scores. We felt really good about that performance.” Despite the change, Cox and Cottrell have remained dependable colleagues. “Cottrell and I have been talking ever since I got hired,” Cox said. “Every couple of weeks we will check in with each other. He is very supEmma Reinberg/The Omniscient portive and any questions BRETT COX directs the band during an after school practice. I have, he is more than willing to help me out. We Cox expected difficulties when he came into such can support each other; a closely-knit program. As a student, his high school we want each other to succeed.” band changed directors as well. Cottrell not only impacted the band program, but “[My teacher] was a great teacher,” Cox said. “I also the lives of the students involved in it. went through the same thing. I had a band teacher “He was this pretty intimidating director at first, for two years in high school who I loved, but he had but once you got to know him, he was one of the to move on. I know down the road, it will be me. I’d greatest people at Northwood,” Freeman said. “He rather them be attached to him than not liked him at has made me grow so much musically and as a perall. I think it is a good sign for me.” son. I am just so grateful for that.”
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October 2014
Page 17
Invasion of the Parents: Students react to parents on social media By Jennifer Cervantes Staff Writer
“[My mom] stalks me on Instagram, but I blocked her,” freshman Austin Williams said. Like many teens, Williams feels awkward when his mother comments on his posts; he does not like it and feels the need to block her. “[My mom] stares at my photos and just likes them,” Williams said. Unlike Williams’ mother, senior Cali Powell says her parents are not able to properly work social media, and they make common mistakes. “My mom tries to zoom in on Instagram,” Powell said. However, some parents are more tech-savy than others. Some can use technology well enough to embarrass their children with comments such as, “My baby boy all grown up!” This was a comment from Williams’ mother on his Instagram account. Not every parent is on social media to embarrass their teens; some of them are just joining websites to connect with distant friends. “My dad mainly just got [a Facebook] to talk to friends that are far away,” senior Rory O’Dell said. O’Dell is not concerned that her father is on social media to stalk her or embarrass her. She finds it intriguing when her father questions, “Why do [they] post that? You can just message someone; why is it so public?” Some teens like to keep their posts private from their parents and would rather not have them know what’s going on in their lives. Senior Kaitlyn Wheeler likes to have
her life on a “low profile.” “I think it’s weird that they know what I’m doing,” Wheeler said. Wheeler likes to keep her life and the things she posts private from her parents. However, she found herself in a situation where she posted a picture and her aunt got very upset. “My aunt is a really [religious] person. I posted this picture of [myself] in a bathing suit, and she was like, ‘Take that down; that is not appropriate,” Wheeler said. For other students, keeping social media accounts private from their parents isn’t as easy. Freshman Connor Lewis feels that even if he tried to keep it on the low, his mother would find a way to track and see what he’s doing. His parents do not use social media the same way he does. “[My parents] are just lame and like random things,” Lewis said. “[They will] be like, ‘Oh, cat photos!’” Lewis feels annoyed and suffocated by this. He thinks that his parents use social media way too often. Previously, they were becoming friends with his school friends on Facebook. “I gladly stopped that,” Lewis said. Lewis’ parents also like to embarrass him with “dumb” baby pictures. “It’s one of their favorite things,” Lewis said. All in all, parents are constantly making common mistakes and embarrassing their kids with posts and comments. Although social media lets teens grow more independent from their parents, as this independence grows, parents gain more opportunities to jump onto the bandwagon.
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“Don’t let your parents get Snapchat; they’ll ask you, ‘Who is this? and ‘Who is this?’”
—Freshman Zoe Willard
“My parents post pictures of my brother and they’re really embarrassing.”
— Freshman Natalie Womble
“[My mom] just goes on it [Facebook] to be nosey, she ‘lurks’ on people’s profiles.”
— Freshman Orshio Riggsbee
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The Omniscient
October 2014
“NETFLIX IS MY LIFE” By Jessica Kolomichuk Staff Writer
“If I’m having a bad day, I just put on Netflix and everything is automatically better,” senior Dustin Schuessler said. People of almost every age deal with some type of stress on a daily basis. Whether it’s a second grader who is behind the reading curve, a high-schooler who is swamped with college applications, a parent who is balancing three kids and two jobs or even a grandma who is dealing with retirement funds,
everyone has something on their plate. So what are people doing now to deal with the stress? It’s called binge watching. Netflix conducted a study in which 73 percent of its participants defined binge watching as people watching two to six episodes of the same TV show in one sitting. They found 61 percent of Netflix users guilty of binge watching. “[Binge watching] is kind of like reading a book and you can’t put it down,” senior Lea Zdanski said. According to the Newsweek article
“Why You’re Addicted to TV,” people binge watch because they want to see how the problem in the last episode was resolved. They get too drawn into the next episode and can’t turn it off. For some people, like senior Kellsie Weiss, the only solution is to terminate their account. “I watched about seven hours a day and I just felt like I needed to stop and do something with my life,” Weiss said. When interviewed, a majority of Northwood students said that Netflix and binge watching distracts them from
Hours of Netflix Watched Per Week
Top Shows Binge-Watched on Netflix (Based on poll of Northwood students)
(Based on poll of Northwood students)
0-5 Hours
9.64%
6-10 Hours 11-15 Hours Over 15 Hours
everyday life and that they get “caught up” in shows very easily. “TV viewers are no longer zoning out as a way to forget about their day, they are tuning in, on their own schedule, to a different world,” said cultural anthropologist Grant McCracken in his report with Netflix. “Getting immersed in multiple episodes or even multiple seasons of a show over a few weeks is a new kind of escapism that is especially welcomed today.” In simpler terms, from senior Brett Svendson: “[Netflix] is my life.”
“I watched about seven hours a day, and I just felt like I needed to stop and do something with my life.” — Kellsie Weiss
1. Other (Miscellaneous) 2. Orange is the New Black 3. TIE: Family Guy & The Walking Dead 4. Breaking Bad 5. Blue Mountain State
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Keep Pittsboro Small:
Student Rejects Chatham Park Initiative
Byron Aguilar I’ve lived in the same house for about 13 years. I went to Pittsboro Elementary School around the corner from my house, and I walked to and from Horton Middle School. I can stroll into town for a quick snack or the local library for a book. I sleep comfortably at night knowing I live in a safe area. I can hear the bell tower when it does its afternoon rings and the local bands playing weekend nights. I see my friends working in town and teachers that I haven’t seen in awhile. I can go on a trail near my house or head to the lake with friends. I can explore the Haw River or visit the great Bynum Bridge. But I can’t see 7,000 acres of land being taken away to disrupt an already established environment doing any good. The future generations will see a technology park. They won’t
19
see summer days walking down the pected to live in Pittsboro. A stroll in quiroad to your best friend’s house. They et Pittsboro will not be realistic. Bustling won’t experience the quiet beauty of cars and activity will instead dominate. If a town covered in snowy dusk. They I haven’t made it clear, Chatham Park is will instead see a town a former shell supposed to be essentially a technologiof itself. cal park encompassing homes, parks, Why would loand businesses. cal business thrive Preston Developif corporations ment Company existed? Why buy with billionaire bread from the Jim Goodnight local bakery if a has bought up corporation down land in the area the street has it for for close to a much cheaper? I decade. This isn’t don’t think buildabout them. This ing this “Chatham is about Pittsboro. Park” will be good Our town. I don’t for Jordan Lake, want to come which has been back one day to Courtesy of Pittsboronc.gov on the Polluted traffic and chaos. Water list for the THE PROPOSED BOUNDARIES for Cha- Thirty years from EPA since 2002. tham Park. now I want to This is a town come back to a with people who care. Not a business quiet stroll on the same sidewalk that I plan full of maps and documents. Pittstook as a child. boro is full of 4,000 unique people who Unfortunately, that seems unlikely beall have a voice. In 30 or so years, that cause this summer the Pittsboro Board won’t be the case with 60,000 people ex- of Commissioners approved a rezon-
ing request giving the project the lift it needed to go forward. I’m fortunate enough to have grown in a safe, welcoming environment. A lot of people don’t get the chance to grow up in a small town in America where there is such a pleasant atmosphere. I did, and I wanted to keep it that way. I’m open to change. Just not to 60,000 people moving into the town I know. I’m all for new jobs. Just if it doesn’t turn us into the next Town of Cary. I sure do love technology. But there’s already a research triangle located in the piedmont of region in North Carolina. Yes that’s right it includes Chapel Hill, which is just a couple of miles up the road. There’s something special about a small town like Pittsboro. Whether it’s the extravagant scene of a county fair, the taste of funnel cakes on a Sunday afternoon, or the sound of a local band, Pittsboro is special. More special than a bunch of documents and maps trying to ruin everything a town put its heart and soul into. I guess the small town atmosphere was just too boring. Not to me.
back, while healthy students who were tested by the school were not permitted to come to school until their negative results were confirmed. Exceptions are being made for students who were sent home by the school, but only because it is a situation out of their control. However, since all illness is out of a student’s control, and most students would prefer to be well, the pertussis outbreak should not be different. For students to receive exemption they
decreases the incentive to go to core classes. From both personal and observational experiences, we have noticed that students are more willing to leave early or entirely miss core classes rather than electives for doctor and dentist appointments. This is problematic because we are supposedly learning the most important material in core classes, and therefore should have the highest attendance, but this is not the case because of the exam exemption policy. Even though our complaints may be overwhelming, we do appreciate the ability to be exempt from exams. However, changes need to be made. Our solution is to make excused absences due to health, court dates or death of an immediate family member actually count as excused absences. While we do note that it would take a tremendous amount of paperwork to keep track of all the exemptions, we know that PowerSchool automatically keeps track of the types of absences. While no one knows what will happen as the Common Core educational system changes, all we can do is lobby for a policy that accommodates the students and faculty better.
“Cough, cough —excuse me (from exams)” Staff Editorial
Typical sounds in the Northwood hallways include the ruckus of students talking and shouting, laughter of students and the sniffling and coughing from infectious peers. During the school year, many students attend class, not necessarily for their love of learning, but in order to gain the golden ticket: an exam exemption. Students will come to school sick so that later in the semester they will not have to take teachermade final exams. Currently, Northwood is facing the threat of the spread of whooping cough. Is it safe for students to be coming to school while they are ill? We recognize that the exam exemption policy helps to ensure that students attend class to learn essential concepts and gives students time off at the end of the semester, but do these positive effects of the current policy truly outweigh the negative? The health of the students and faculty is at risk when sick children attend school due to the exam exemption policy. During the recent pertussis outbreak, students who may have been sick and infectious came to school while waiting for test results to come
must achieve one of the three desirable balances between the grade received in the class and the number of absences: three absences with an A, two absences with a B, and one absence with a C. With the new Common Core curriculum, core classes, English, History, Science, and Math all have state-mandated finals that students cannot earn exemption from. Elective classes still offer exemption. The combination of the exam exemption policy and Common Core
— By Bailey Miller/The Omniscient
The Omniscient
Page 20
Treating ADHD: To medicate or not to medicate? Jessica Kolimuchuk
“Don’t let them drug you.” That was the first thing my dad said to me when I told him I was diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This disorder is extremely common in teens and can be somewhat treated through therapy, but is most commonly treated with medications such as Adderall, Vyvanse or Ritalin. When you type the words “Adderall” and “teens” into a Google search bar, the full first page of search results all include the word “abuse” in the title. This large generalization of teens misusing Adderall, along with how the medication will affect growing minds, is the main reason for people’s negative reaction to treating teens and kids with disorders such as ADHD by using medications like Adderall. Another thing I’ve heard from multiple people is that as soon as a kid gets a bad grade or can’t focus for a day they are prescribed Adderall. Many family members told me this and said I just needed to “try harder” or “apply myself.” None of them truly knew how much I wished the fix was just that simple. I remember sitting in Honors Biology and watching how everyone around me was independently working so hard, but for me no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to focus. It got to the point where I could not understand why it was so hard for me and easy for others. A couple of my teachers put me in the category of their “lazy students,” but what many of those teachers didn’t know was that I really was trying my hardest. Some nights I would stay
“A sea of refugees”
October 2014
Student confronts crisis in Syria
up until three to four in the morning trying to do homework and I simply could not do it, and not because I didn’t understand the subject, but because I couldn’t keep my focus long enough to finish a ten minute worksheet. I would go home and spend hours doing an assignment I completely understood, while someone else could jot down the answers in just ten minutes when they got home. Getting medicated for ADHD is not something you take lightly; the doctor lists all the possible side effects such as an irregular heartbeat, stomach pains, nausea, loss of appetite, dry mouth, insomnia, anxiety, mood swings, depression, severe headaches and a reduced seizure threshold. And while most people reading this pull out the scarier symptoms, the every day common ones are the ones Adderall users hate the most. Constantly needing to drink water, and never wanting to eat, then getting headaches and stomachaches when you don’t eat. It’s not the ideal situation by any means, but it’s the trade-off we have to accept if we want to concentrate. Adderall isn’t something to take lightly or start popping in your mouth on a quiz day; it’s a serious drug that has serious side effects and can honestly cause addiction. The FDA deems Adderall as a class II stimulant, along with Ritalin, Vyvanse, methamphetamines, coca leaves and cocaine. I didn’t start taking Adderall lightly or because of one bad grade; I struggled until I couldn’t anymore and then I got diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder of ADHD. Adderall isn’t a magical pill; it takes trial and lots of error with dosing, it’s not something fun to take that magically fixes your grades or makes you start caring about school. It is a stimulant drug that aids in focus for kids who lack it. So yes, I “let them drug me,” but if you were placed inside my body, wouldn’t you?
My mom and I walked the ancient Istanbul cobblestone trying not to step on the sea of Syrian refugees. A little Syrian girl, who couldn’t have been more than five, was dressed in ripped clothes that were once white and yellow but had changed to a dusty hue. Her curly hair was flattened from the dirt and her shoes were lost in a street someplace. Her newborn sister, coated with the same sandy filth, was in her arms, threatening to collapse at any second. I remember them both so clearly. The big sister was frantically begging for money, but no one noticed. I walked over to the pair and handed the sister the last of my coins. I looked into her pale green eyes. It was hard to see their family and futures slip away. They were innocent kids now depending on each other for survival. I didn’t wait to see where they went; I kept my head down to get her vulnerable face out of my mind. I couldn’t, though, and I still can’t. I think about them every day, maybe out of hope or maybe out of guilt. I felt to blame for the conditions of the girls’ lives. I felt bad for the difference in our worlds. All of the issues in my life then became so small. My problems were like a speck of dirt on their clothes compared what they were going through. England’s The Guardian said in
told you that I don’t want to waste my time putting crap on my face in the morning. I have since realized that this is not an especially nice thing to say because it implies that everyone who puts makeup on in the morning is wasting their time. I don’t think that’s true. I think it makes people feel better. I like the idea of having a layer between myself and the world, like another kind of armor. My friend who wears red lipstick says it makes her feel strong. I have a red sweater that makes me feel strong, and I imagine that the feeling is the same. Some people like to look older or younger, and some people like to cover up acne and scars. Some people like to wear makeup to match their outfit, or make their eyes look bigger or their skin less red. I would like to look older, and cover up acne, too. I think I missed the makeup train. A lot of people’s mothers taught them how to use makeup, but I learned makeup strategies from Seventeen Magazine, which
I think is where I got the blue eyeshadow idea. Makeup to me is like a layer of armor that I haven’t really learned to wear. The closest I can usually come to explaining why I don’t use it is to say, “If people think I’m ugly, at least I can say that I haven’t tried.” This is also a kind of armor. I’ve had acne all over my face since I was 12 or 13, and the makeup I tried then to cover it up didn’t really hide it that well. After a while I quit wearing it and I never tried again. I think this suggests to people that I am not interested in being sexualized, but I am not making a political statement any more than anyone else is. I don’t really know how to put makeup on, but if I did, I probably would. Women wear makeup for all kinds of reasons, and one of those reasons is attracting a man, but that doesn’t have to be the only reason. I like to think I will be able to attract another person even if I don’t put powders and pigment on my face, but so far no luck.
Skyler Waugh
June, the numbers jumped passing 1 million Syrians who had crossed the Turkish border. The movement began mainly because of peaceful protests that quickly turned into a bloody civil war against civilians and President Rashar al-Assad. Refuges have described that people are being beheaded and slaughtered at random. They travelled 500 miles to save their already tattered lives just to be more at risk. My mom and I were in the thick of it. When we were there, thousands of immigrants filled the streets, protecting any space they had to sleep. Police with loaded semi-automatics blocked every street entrance in preparation for any potential melee. I have never moved from my home, and it’s hard to imagine moving to a completely new place. It is like someone said, “Okay kids, today you and your family need to drop everything they’re doing and pack up. Everyone is leaving to never come back.” That is a difficult pill to swallow. My mom and I were eating dinner our last night in the city across from the Bosporus Strait. The setting could not have been lovelier. I looked to my right to see two little girls, probably sisters, climbing the steep mosque wall. They too were wearing ragged and grungy clothes with exposed feet. There was a huge piece of wood hammered to the siding. The oldest scooted to the top and put her limited belongings beside her. She reached her short arm down, pulling up the youngest. They slid into the gap between the wooden sheet and the wall and never came back.
“Putting on armor:” why I choose not to wear makeup Frances Beroset
I don’t wear makeup. When I was 10 years old, I convinced my mom to buy me a $3 Wet and Wild eyeshadow palette at CVS. I chose the bright blue one and when I got home I smeared the color all over my eyelids. When I went downstairs, my mother exclaimed, “What on earth have you put on your face?” I washed it all off. Somewhere I still have the eyeshadow. I don’t wear makeup anymore. I haven’t worn it at all since I’ve been in high school, and if somebody asked me, I don’t think I would be able to tell them why. If you had asked me when I was 13 or 14, I might have
Someone once told me that I am “very brave” for not wearing makeup. I don’t think this is especially true. I think all women have to be very brave to go out in the mornings and show their face to their world, a world where people feel like it’s their job to comment on how other people’s faces look. About a year ago an especially blunt friend looked over at me in the car and said, “I’ve never really noticed this before, but you have pretty bad acne.” I laughed. I did read in a magazine the other day that women who don’t normally wear makeup should put some on for work and especially job interviews so that they look professional. I also read that a woman got fired from her job for being “too attractive.” Too much and your mom tells you to wash your face, too little and your friend tells you you have a lot of acne. I think the lesson is we should all do whatever we want because there’s no way to win.
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S ports
Elizabeth Thompson/The Omniscient
FOOTBALL COACH BILL HALL gives a speech to the team after a game against Orange.
Hall’s Final Ride:
Long time football coach to step down at end of season By Jacob Sipe Staff Writer Since 2001, one thing has been stable in Northwood Football: Head coach Bill Hall. Hall has taken the Chargers five times to the third round of the state playoffs, but after 14 years as the head coach of Northwood football, he has decided that this year will be his last. Hall started in 1989 as an assistant coach at NHS and said he never had aspirations to be a head coach. Over time, Hall realized more and more that he wanted to be a head coach. Hall took over the program in 2001 and has coached the Chargers to many playoff appearances. Before Hall, there were seven different coaches over the span of 30 years. These changes left the program fairly unstable, but when Hall took over in 2001, this changed. “Hall is one of the most stubborn people I know,” said assistant coach Brian Harrington, who has been coaching under Hall for 14 years. “For some people, being stubborn is bad, but for Hall this is very good. Hall has a very old school coaching style that allows him to succeed. Hall believes in his system and the players buy in, and this
leads to success.” Hall’s old school coaching style has allowed athletes to prosper on the field. Over the course of Hall’s time as a head coach, there have been nine single-game team records, nine season team records, 14 season individual records and 14 career individual records all set under Hall’s guidance. Hall has the most wins for a coach in school history. Yet, after all this, Hall says he only wants to be remembered for the kids. “When you remember me, remember all the kids who played under me, all those who have gone on to play college football,” Hall said. “Remember my staff and all of the hard work we put in. ” Hall is passionate about the kids he coaches. Many student athletes fondly recall memories of Hall from his time coaching at Northwood. Kadarus Rone, a senior who has played football under Hall for four years, has many. “I will always remember Coach Hall for advising me on what to do on and off the field,” Rone said. Not only has Hall been a good coach, players say he has been a positive role model to them. “I will always look up to Coach Hall as a father figure; he is a positive figure in our
14 season individual records
community,” senior John Atwater said. “Coach Hall always is able to motivate us in order to win.” Hall has led the Chargers to many playoff wins while at Northwood. Hall has done this not only through his on-the-field actions, but also his off-the-field actions. “Coach Hall is a very good leader and really tries to make the team one big family,” senior Trent Cline said. “This allows us to come together as a team and share common goals, which allow us to win.” Hall is a well known personality around the school and has been a household name around Pittsboro for years. “[The thing I will miss most about Coach Hall] without a doubt is his beard— it is a classic,” senior Jared Worley said. After this year, the program will have to find a new coach to fill the void left by Hall. This won’t be an easy task. “It will be a very tough transition,” said Athletic Director Jason Amy. “Trying to find someone who knows how to run the program as well as Hall is able to will be very tough. There will be very big shoes to fill.” Next year will be a new chapter for Northwood football, one without Hall at the helm. Nevertheless, players are
109 Wins
hopeful. “Next year I expect us to be pretty good; we went 9-1 on JV last year so that will hopefully translate to Varsity next year,” junior Conner Leinbach said. “We will have a lot of seniors that we will lose, but we also have a lot of good players on JV that will help to carry on the Northwood Football tradition.” After 14 years, the face of the Northwood football program will no longer be coaching. However, Hall will continue to teach at the school and intends to support Charger Football on many more Friday nights in the future. “I’ve enjoyed coaching and the players I’ve had the pleasure of getting to coach,” Hall said. “It’s been a good ride, but it’s time to do something else.” In his final season, Hall looks to help the Chargers make one final playoff run. The Chargers are currently 7-2. Hall is looking to make his last season his best one. “I haven’t really prepared myself for the emotions of my final game and how it will feel to walk off the field,” Hall said. “I hope my final game is at Carter Finley Stadium [at N.C. State] for the state championship; that will be great.”
9 season team records
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The Omniscient
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At Home on the Field:
October 2014
Northwood’s first full time athletic trainer By Jamie Palermo Staff Writer “My favorite part of my job is getting to help kids through the whole process of the injury,” athletic trainer Jackie Harpham said. “I’m usually here when it first happens; I am able to evaluate them and figure out what’s wrong, help them throughout the rehab process and get them back on the field.” Harpham is Northwood’s athletic trainer and Sports Medicine teacher. She came to Northwood last year and was hired by athletic director Jason Amy and former principal Chris Blice. “I was down here for two years during grad school; I got my master’s at UNC and as I was getting ready to graduate, I decided I wanted to stay in this area,” said Harpham, who is originally from Downingtown, P.A. This is Harpham’s first job working as an athletic trainer for a high school. She works full time at Northwood, and she is dedicated to helping athletes here. “Her drive and determination to strive for the best are very apparent,” Amy said. “She is very thorough as far as getting everything done. She is extremely professional.” Having somebody who is educated in athletic training here at Northwood can benefit the student athletes. Harpham brings attributes and skills that show professionalism, allowing the athletes to feel comfortable when coming to talk to her about an injury. “She has absolutely given the students at Northwood the opportunity to feel the safety of having someone that skilled in medical attention here at all times,” Amy said. Harpham has had to make changes since she has started working at Northwood. Before her arrival, Northwood did not have an exact plan to follow procedurally in the event of an emergency. “When I first got to Northwood, the first thing I did was create an emergency action plan, which is a plan to access the emergency medical system,” Harpham said.
The emergency action plan consists of different step-by-step processes to take in the event of an emergency such as injuries or bad weather. “This is actually a law in North Carolina, so this was a really important first thing for me to do,” Harpham said. She gave each of the coaches a copy of the new plan so they would know what to do in the event of an emergency. Having a step-by-step plan that was actually enforced was new to coaches. “I think that all coaches can be a little hesitant to change, but when they saw that I was here for the benefit of our students, and for the safety of our students and when they see that anything I do is for their well being, they are usually very open and welcoming and accepting of the decisions I make,” Harpham said. Students have also responded well to Harpham’s Sports Medicine class. “She’s very interactive; she does lots of projects and gets us all involved in what we do,” senior Courtney Wilson said. Wilson is one of Harpham’s student trainers. She helps her treat injured athletes, as well as making sure all athletes have water. “As a trainer, she works hard, so it makes us want to work hard. She does a good job of doing what she does,” Wilson said. Senior student trainer Briana Robinson agrees. “I feel like she makes us more responsible and she prepares us, because most of us [trainers] want to go into the medical field,” Robinson said. Harpham arrives at Northwood for the second part of the day to teach two Sports Medicine classes, and is here until the sports games and practices have ended. “She is the backbone of all athletics; she is always here supporting everyone and we appreciate everything that she does,” Amy said. Harpham feels that working at Northwood has been a positive experience for her so far. “I feel really lucky; this is my first job out of school,” Harpham said. “I feel blessed to be at a place that has been so welcoming to athletic training and with so many great kids that I get to help.”
Experience shopping at a locally, family owned and operated independent store in the heart of Pittsboro.
Photo courtesy of Kyndal Hutchinson ATHLETIC TRAINER JACKIE HARPHAM tapes junior TYSHUN TINNENS’ hand before a game.
October 2014
The Omniscient
Championship Curse:
Page 23
Kendale Lanes
NHS Athletics has not won a championship in 42 years
Photo courtesy of Mark Goods, Sr.
By Elizabeth Thompson Staff Writer After 42 years, one back-to-back state semifinal appearance in baseball, five consecutive third round playoff appearances in football and a state championship appearance in basketball, Northwood has never won an official state championship. Some people blame it on a “curse.” However, multiple sports have come very close to winning a state championship. “I’ve coached in two state championships in basketball, 2009 and 2011, and in 2011 we had the lead with five minutes left in the game; we just couldn’t finish,” former assistant basketball coach Rick Parks said. “That was the closest I’ve ever come to winning one. We ended up losing the lead and we just couldn’t quite get it done.” The football team made it to the third round of the playoffs five years in a row, but were stopped every time. “Four out of the five were very good ball games; Reidsville kind of blew us out of there, but the other four games were very competitive,” head football coach Bill Hall said. “We had leads out of the first half; we had chances to win them, and we just didn’t get them done.” There are many theories as to why Northwood has yet to win a state championship: they don’t try hard enough, their teams aren’t experienced enough, multiple new coaches in a relatively short amount of time and not enough support from the community. “We lack school spirit, and if you lack school spirit, how can the players believe that ‘Oh the community is behind me, I’m going to give 110 percent, because not only am I playing for myself, I’m playing for my best friend in the stands who is yelling his head off,” assistant football coach Brian Harrington said. “It’s our mentality here at Northwood that keeps us from winning a championship.” Some students, however, have a positive outlook for this year’s teams. “I don’t think negatively towards [Northwood not
winning a championship]; I feel it can be done if we work hard enough toward it,” sophomore basketball player Bryn Aydt said. Many other students, all of whom seem to believe that the secret to winning a state championship lies in working harder, share this sentiment. “It’s kind of sad that we haven’t won a state championship out of that many years, but there are a lot of other [schools] and I think we just need to step up our game,” sophomore volleyball player Briana Stone said. Despite all of this, Northwood has won two unofficial state championships; they were unofficial due to the fact that one was a club sport instead of a varsity sport and the other was not a sanctioned North Carolina High School Athletics Association (NCHSAA) title. In its maiden year, 2007, Ultimate Frisbee won the state championship. “Mr. Thibault, our chair at the time, kept saying ‘forget dodge ball, this is the true underdog story,’” said P.E. teacher and boys basketball coach Alex Hart, a Northwood alum and member of the championship team. “It was neat, and to this day we are probably the biggest mystery to everybody involved in frisbee because we showed up once, won it and never came back.” Because of its position as a club, the Ultimate Frisbee Championship does not count. “I like to joke around, but it shouldn’t count,” social studies teacher and former coach Thibault said. “It wasn’t a real sport, it was a club.” In 2006, 2007 and 2008 the Northwood cheerleaders made it to, and won, the state championship for competitive cheerleading. However, because of the fact that the competition was not a NCHSAA sanctioned event, it did not count as an official title. With many of this year’s teams forecasted to do well, football is the supposed strong front-runner in carrying Northwood to it’s first state championship. “[Football] has got a chance; we have 30 seniors and a very experienced team, so you know I’m not saying we will [win a state championship], but we’ve got a chance,” Hall said. “When the season is over, I think the teams around here are going to know we exist.”
WHERE ARE NORTHWOOD’S STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS? — Photos courtesy of Foxj/Wikimedia.org
Sanford, North Carolina (919) 776-0729 www.kendalelanes.net Find us on Facebook: Kendale Bowling Lanes
The students shown below have exhibited traits that either earned the recognition of their teammates or coaches for various individual accomplishments.
Kyndal Hutchinson
Faith Peoples Alexa Bernard
Cali Powell
Darius Cole
Noble Larocco-Massi Photo credits Clockwise from above: Jacob Sipe, Meredith Norman, Kyndal Hutchinson, Skyler Waugh, Kyndal Hutchinson, Jacob Sipe, Jessica Kolomichuk, Jessica Kolomichuk, Courtesy of DeLisa Cohen and Kyndal Hutchinson
Sarah Salzman (right) Daniel Moody