NHSOmniscient April 2018

Points of Interest

Photo courtesy of Taylor Roberson

DANCE ENSEMBLE took home first place in a statewide competition this February. pg 15

Chase Miller/The Omniscient

Photo courtesy of Kendall Sutton

KENDALL SUTTON and MADISON HOMOVICH have competed at nearly Olympic levels. pg 21

Northwood’s Theatre Department presented the Spring musical “Little Shop of Horrors” March 2224. The 80s cult classic is a whirlwind of genres, blending campy sci-fi satire with dark comedy and budding romance. Months into rehearsal, members of the cast who were also a part of Northwood’s a capella group “Pitch Please” faced a scheduling conflict. Forced to choose between performances, they decided to leave the show, which was now without multiple central characters.

Some ensemble actors and Sharp herself stepped up to assume the missing roles with only a few weeks before opening night to make the adjustment. “The show went on, even though it seemed like it was going to be a disaster,” said junior Marcus Jackson, who starred as Seymour Krelborn, a hapless florist shop worker who stumbles upon, and proceeds to raise, the smooth-talking, man-eating flytrap around which the show revolves. “Ms. Sharp and the cast did an amazing job.”

O MN I S CIEN T - THE NORTHWOOD -

EDITORS Sara Heilman Editor-in-Chief Photo courtesy of m01229/Flickr

SPRING has sprung, and The Omniscient has the latest gardening tips and tricks. pg 13

Chloe Maynard Online Editor STAFF WRITERS Madeline Conte

Bella Goupil Ava Johnson Grace Lake Jeffrey Marcin Chase Miller Davis Palermo Harper Johnson Lanna Read

Rachel Stoner Sam Vanolinda Zoe Willard Courtney Wolfe ADVISER 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 to the school’s address. Letters must be signed, and the staff reserves the right to reject any letter 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.

Chloe Maynard/The Omniscient

“FORTNITE” has taken Northwood by storm, capturing the attention of countless gamers. pg 11

Page 2, The Omniscient, April 2018

Front Cover: Junior Anisha McFadden believes that teen activists should have their voices heard.

Photo Credit: Sara Heilman

PEPI and BASIC LIFE SKILLS STUDENTS attend a Special Olympics rally in Raleigh.

Photo courtesy of Jason Amy

More Than Just a Disability: Northwood aims to become more unified

By Courtney Wolfe Staff Writer On March 7, senior Morgan Simmons and Basic Life Skills student Tyrone Glover got on stage to give a speech during a Special Olympics rally in Raleigh. According to Simmons, the speech was a testament to how working with Basic Life Skills students, such as Tyrone, has changed her life.

“The speech was a testimonial about how working with him and his classmates has affected me,” Simmons said. “It had a lot to do with what I learned from that.

It’s about how well you love people because that’s what Tyrone taught me. It’s not about small things that we get caught up in. Tyrone is a good example of how to generally love people.”

Although Simmons was telling her story, Glover was able to put in his thoughts and make jokes, something he loves doing in and out of school.

“No matter what I would’ve said, Tyrone would’ve loved giving a speech,” Simmons said. “He loves the limelight. He was just glad to have the opportunity to get in front of people and speak. He loves to make people laugh. I think he enjoyed the whole experience.”

Glover and Simmons were brought together by a class called PEPI (Physical Education Pupil Instructor).

Introduced by physical education teacher Jason Amy, PEPI is used as a way for students to become more involved with the Basic Life Skills class. The class teaches students how to promote an active lifestyle for students in younger grades and the Basic Life Skills class.

“At the beginning of the year, I watched the PEPI kids interact with the Basic Life Skills kids, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t think they can do this,’” said senior Mallory Storrie, who works with the Basic Life Skills class during her first period. “It just seemed so hard for them to grasp different moves…. I was so worried, but now they’re flourishing. They can do push-ups and jumping jacks, and they want to be there. I think it’s so good, not just for their physical health, but also their mental health. It encourages them to keep trying.”

PEPI also plans the annual celebration of the Special Olympics. Basic Life Skills teacher Carol Bartholf has enjoyed the awareness brought to her students because it has influenced them in a positive way.

“There are a lot of opportunities now that my students didn’t have many years ago when I started here,”

Bartholf said. “[One is] an openness to a communitybased education. Bringing back the Special Olympics to the Northwood community is another opportunity that is a nice change to see.... My students now have a new mindset with living a healthy lifestyle and exercising, and that’s been a positive change.”

The students have also been given the opportunity to take elective classes such as band and PE. Some students even participate in extracurricular activities. The other Basic Life Skills teacher, Kylie Finley, likes providing more chances for her students to be more involved.

“Josh’s favorite part of the day [is marching band],” Finley said. “Piotr is taking PE and next year we’re going to see if he can try dance because the teacher said she was fine with that. He’s on the track team and he has lots of friends—I think it’s really nice.”

When the Basic Life Skills students aren’t with the PEPI class or in their elective classes, they’re in the classroom learning. According to Storrie, they focus a lot on real-life skills, which is why it is called Basic Life Skills, rather than being referred to as special education. “[The Basic Life Skills students are] learning how to count money, they’re learning to read a menu, they’re watching and trying to understand what’s going on in the news everyday,” Storrie said. “They’re learning real-life skills, which goes with the name. I think this will help them outside of school and in real life. Basic Life Skills is a class just like you have. Just like Math 1, it’s a class, not a type of person. Special education, it kind of identifies a kind of person, and they should be looked at as equal to us; they’re just in a different classroom.”

Storrie began working with Basic Life Skills this year, driven by a desire to know more the students in the class.

“I didn’t know much about them,” Storrie said. “I would be in their lunch and I saw them sitting at two tables. Nobody was interacting with them, and they weren’t interacting with us. I hated that. I wanted to talk to them and have them be comfortable with us…. I wanted to know who they were besides just saying, ‘Oh, they’re that class at the end of the school in the corner.’”

Despite the rise of integration between the Basic Life Skills students and regular students, Finley still believes there is room for improvement in the acknowledgement of her students capabilities.

“I know people who still say the R-word like it’s nothing or just say, ‘They can’t do that’ when they don’t

really know,” Finley said. “Out of all the kids I have, I would say most of them could go out and get a job to support [themselves]. I don’t think [some people] look at it that way. They would see someone rocking in a corner and think, ‘He needs to be in an institution,’ when most of them are fine. They’ve been in the community so much. People are getting better, [they’re] just not quite there yet.”

Simmons has also seen progress.

“I think it’s getting better,” Simmons said. “I think especially in the past, obviously there hasn’t been a very positive look on kids with disabilities, but I definitely think people are starting to open their eyes and starting to see it’s not about what you can do, but who you can be. Not success-wise, but I think we’re starting to change the definition of success and starting to realize it’s more about happiness. It’s not about what you do but how you can love others.”

Storrie believes there is more to these students than meets the eye, and wants people to realize they’re just like every other student.

“Students at Northwood have something to learn from them, and I wish more people from Northwood would get that chance,” Storrie said. “I’m trying to do that now, but they’re just the same as us. They’re all different in their own, unique ways, but they’re still teenage kids, and they still live like us.”

Photo courtesy of Jackie Harpham

TYRONE GLOVER and JASON AMY enjoy their time during a Special Olympics event.

April 2018, The Omniscient, Page 3

Zoe Willard/The Omniscient

THE 911 GOOD SAMARITAN LAW can save lives during emergencies involving substances.

Be a Good Samaritan: Call 911

By Zoe Willard Staff Writer

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Page 4, The Omniscient, April 2018

If you had the chance to do the right thing, even if it had consequences, would you?

According to the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, the 911 Good Samaritan law seeks to encourage individuals enduring a drug overdose to get help. The concept is, if you witness an overdose, you won’t get in trouble for calling for help, or if you are the one experiencing the overdose, you won’t get in trouble for receiving the help called on your behalf. This also applies to underage drinking and small amounts of drugs or paraphernalia that may be on the scene at the time. Introduced to North Carolina in 2013, the law seeks to help prevent the more than 60,000 overdoses the United States sees per year and the estimated 1,100 in North Carolina alone.

Good Samaritan Law advocate and educator Julie Cummins, who lost her son in 2017, believes the law could help today’s youth if more were educated on the topic.

“If you or a friend is in any kind of danger, you will not be in trouble,” Cummins said. “All you have to do is make the call for help. I’m really passionate about [promoting this law], because the time I feel good [about my son’s death] is when something positive is happening from it.”

Tessie Castillo is the communications coordinator for the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, an organization that played an important role in getting the law passed in 2013.

“First we had to find advocates, such as mothers who had lost children to overdose because someone was afraid to call 911, to help advocate for the law,” Castillo said. “One of these mothers talked about losing her daughter in front of a group of legislators.

Two legislators came forward afterwards and offered to help introduce a bill into the legislature. From there, we had to help craft the bill and convince the other legislators to vote for it as it moved through committees and floor votes.”

Castillo also notes the impact of the implementation of the law.

“We‘ve taken surveys of people who use drugs through our harm reduction program,” Castillo said. “[The results] of a survey we did in 2015 [reported] 88 percent of respondents saying they were more likely to call 911 because of the [new] law,” Castillo said.

North Carolina is considered a state with statistically significant drug overdose death rates, seeing a 24.7 percent increase from 2015 to 2016. Since 1999,

opioid overdose deaths multiplied five times, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I think we live in a world that is extremely harsh on kids,” said Michelle Guarino, a licensed clinical social worker who has been actively fighting the battle against teen drug use for years. “It’s a very hard society for kids to grow up in. Drug use is a coping skill. Law enforcement would absolutely rather get that call that someone needs help than have to make that phone call to tell a parent their son or daughter isn’t coming home.”

The push to implement education about this law into public schools has increased in recent years as the law’s benefits become more and more crucial. “[We should] get students to default in a bad situation, where they know they can make this call, they can still be there and they’re going to be okay,” principal Justin Bartholomew said. “I didn’t even know the law existed [until recently], but something had happened [with a member of our community], and one of the detectives told his mother, ‘Hey, you know there’s this law where you can call 911, and you’re not held liable.’”

However, some concerns arise with the law’s wording and specifications. The immunity from the law in these situations is considered “limited,” meaning some rules and regulations do apply. Most of these include the physical amount of substances allowed on a citizen at the time of the incident. Additionally, if it is determined there was no reasonable cause to call for help, the immunity may not apply. While these factors create some issues, members of legislation and community members alike are trying to make the law more accessible.

Cummins’ daughter, Elly, has been actively attempting to alter the law so that it may apply to more people.

She is working alongside Bridget O’Donnell, whose brother Sean died in 2017.

“The girls have been able to get [word about the law] out,” Cummins said. “They’ve been working with the lady who wrote the first version [of the law] in hopes of figuring out how to get rid of the loopholes in it. One of the glitches it has right now is it says the first person to call [for help] has immunity. We’re trying to get that fixed so that anyone who calls has immunity.”

While the law has some current complications, law enforcement encourages teens to make the call that could save a life.

“Younger kids are using harder drugs,” said John Paul, a law enforcement gang specialist. ‘In that moment, when you’re talking about life or death, the last thing that should be on someone’s mind is, ‘Am I going to get in trouble?’ Make that call, save a life, and we will figure everything else out later.”

Facing a Moral Dilemma: Teachers explain how they make accommodations

By Rachel Stoner Staff Writer Starting in January of 2006, Christine Mayfield taught English at a high school in New Orleans, where students were recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

“Many [students] were not in good shape academically, and lots were returning on their own, sleeping where they could, on couches of relatives, and finding jobs of some kind to get by,” said Mayfield, who retired from Northwood last year.

“It was difficult to find a balance between upholding academic standards and dealing with the severe challenges that these students faced,” Mayfield said.

Mayfield remembers that students were returning to school at their own pace, which inhibited her ability to teach effectively.

“I felt I had to be flexible about deadlines, for example, as attendance was spotty,” Mayfield said.

As she continued to teach, she began to realize that her job as a teacher had differed from what she had been expecting.

“I felt that my job was to follow the students’ needs and aspirations as strongly as I could, rather than going in with a preconceived set idea of what they should be doing,” Mayfield said. “I still feel that this is the basic mission of teachers.”

While students at Northwood may not deal with outside factors as extreme as Hurricane Katrina, teachers still may have differing expectations for students who face hardships outside of the classroom.

“I like to be aware that there is something going on [outside of the classroom],” said Cari Christopherson, who

teaches biology and AVID. “For some kids, school is not the main focus. Sleeping and getting food is.”

Christopherson said she tends to be somewhat lenient with her students when it comes to deadlines and expectations.

“If I know what is going on, like if a student is really tired or hungry, they can talk to me about it and get an extension,” Christopherson said.

In the classroom, Christopherson tries to connect with each of her students individually in order to teach them to the best of her ability.

“I know that for 75 percent of my students, school is not a priority, so I try to use my time with them wisely,” Christopherson said. “I try to teach life lessons indirectly, but I also try to get the content in there in some way, shape or form.”

Terrence Foushee teaches both AVID and English classes.

“I believe that all students can learn and that all students have potential that they can unlock,” Foushee said. “But, I do understand that not every student is the same.”

Like Christopherson, Foushee tries to accommodate each student individually based on their needs in the classroom.

“I try to keep the lines of communication open, allowing [my students] to talk to me whenever they need to,” Foushee said. “I also give extensions so that they have time to complete their work.”

Access to resources at home such as the internet

proves to be a limiting factor in terms of students’ ability to complete assignments.

“There are a lot of challenges that come with having students without access to the same resources as others,” Foushee said.

Similar to his colleagues, and exceptional children’s (EC) teacher David Holub believes that there is difficulty when it comes to teaching students who have a bigger focus on the things happening in their lives outside of the classroom. “[The EC Staff has] a lot of different students with a lot of different needs that could be economic, physical or emotional,” Holub said.

“We have to take all of those things into account.”

Alex Hart attended Northwood as a high school student and now is the AVID Coordinator and a physical education teacher. He shares some of the same beliefs regarding a student’s ability to learn in different situations.

“It’s really important as a teacher to understand the demographics of the students that you teach, because the way that kids are raised and their cultures are so important to who they are as a person,” Hart said.

Hart believes that there’s a way to teach students the same way regardless of their background.

“When an opportunity gap exists between students, I think it becomes imperative for the teacher to identify what those are and figure out what resources they can bring as a teacher to assist them,” Hart said. “I think the best thing we can give students is our time.”

“For some kids, school is not the main focus. Sleeping and getting food is.”

— Cari Christopherson, science and AVID teacher

April 2018, The Omniscient, Page 5

#NeverAgain: Teens spark anti-gun movement in wake of school shootings

By S ara Heilman & A va Johnson Editor- in -Chief & S taff Writer November 13, 2017, Northwood was placed under lockdown for approximately one hour and thirty minutes after a teacher heard what sounded like gunshots coming from between the math and world language pods. The lockdown happened before the start of the school day, a period of transition in which students and teachers were caught off-guard by the sudden chaos. While the shots heard were those of a hunter in the area and ended up being benign, this situation was a reality check for many members of the Northwood community.

“It could literally be any school today,” social studies teacher David Orphal said. “We had our own real lockdown here, and for me, I kept saying out loud and to myself, ‘It’s a hunter. It’s a damp morning. I’m sure that gunshot was much further away than it sounded.’ But inside, I was a little scared.”

February 14, the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen students and faculty were killed, and 14 others were taken to the hospital after the alleged shooter, 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz, opened fire on the school with an AR-15 style rifle that he obtained legally. The mass shooting in Florida changed the perspectives of teachers and students at Northwood as they look back on the November lockdown.

“The reality is that my kids aren’t as safe as I’d like them to be,” Orphal said. “It’s a reality that’s very uncomfortable. I don’t think anybody’s parents want to stop and think as they drop their kids off and kiss them goodbye that it could be the last time. Because the reality is that it’s a very big country, and most kids were safe [on the day of the Florida shooting]. Every school in this country but one was safe that day.”

In the wake of the shooting, many of the surviving students from MSD have been very vocal on social media, particularly Twitter. The students have started a trending hashtag, #NeverAgain, and their online presence has gained the attention of politicians, lawmakers and the rest of the nation. Rania Kazmi, a former Northwood student and current senior at Green Hope High School, believes that the reason behind the students’ massive support is their refusal to be silenced. “[The students] were vocal from the beginning, and they refused not to be heard,” Kazmi said.

“It’s not like they tried and then gave up—they put their foot down and said, ‘No, we have to be heard. This is serious, people are dying, and we are not going to stand for it anymore.’”

Social studies teacher Skip Thibault has similar opinions about the student protesters.

“I think the kids are pretty sharp—some of the kids involved probably had some great teachers along the way,” Thibault said. “They seem very comfortable handling themselves in this situation. They seem pretty cool and thoughtful about everything they do, which I thought was very neat.”

Lily Skopp attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas and is currently a freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill (UNC). She was involved in planning the “UNC Rally for Our Lives,” which took place March 29, and is one of the founding members of UNC 4 MSD, an initiative to “[raise] awareness on campus and [support]

the Stoneman Douglas community as well as other communities that are [affected] by gun violence.”

Skopp believes that those at her high school were already predisposed to activism, and this contributed to their vocality after the shooting.

“I think that we’ve had a lot of student activists: people that advocate for themselves, people that advocate for others, and they don’t let injustice just sit,” Skopp said. “So I think that this is a perfect community to bring awareness and change, because we care and we want to make the change, not just for ourselves, but for other students.”

While the Parkland students have received some criticism due to their age, Orphal believes that their voices should be heard.

“I think there are some folks who argue that they are too young and that they shouldn’t have an opinion on the gun debate, but all of them are a year or two away from legal gun ownership,” Orphal said. “There are some who want to argue that they don’t understand the complexities of the debate, and yet they’ve been there, and they are speaking out of their experience.”

The Parkland students have also been a catalyst for widespread movements in protest of gun violence in schools and communities, including a National School Walkout on March 14 at 10 a.m. Students around the nation have planned their own events and protests, such as the student-driven walkout at Green Hope High School in Cary February 28. Approximately 2,000 students participated in the event, which lasted for about an hour and featured speeches from the mayor of Mor-

“I think we’re inheriting the world, and so just because not everyone’s of voting age... doesn’t mean we can’t be politically active.”

— Lily Skopp, MSD graduate

Sara Heilman/The Omniscient

TREVOR KIKUYU (right) and OTHER STUDENTS show their support for the victims of the Parkland, Florida school shooting at a school-sanctioned memorial event March 14.

Page 6, The Omniscient, April 2018

Graphic by Ava Johnson/The Omniscient

According to CNN, there have been 17 school shootings in the first three months of 2018 in which someone was injured or killed on school grounds, not including the shooter. These shootings include gang violence, fights, domestic violence and accidental discharges.

Their locations are marked above. risville, North Carolina, city council members and two Green Hope students who formerly attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

“There was a person who just about nearly lost one of her best friends back home, and she was standing up there crying, and it really drove home how serious of an issue it is,” Kazmi said. “Even though a lot of people at Green Hope themselves weren’t affected directly, there were these other kids who had friends and family back home who went to that school, who lived in the general area and were very deeply affected. And that sort of brought that back to Cary.”

Some students, including junior Savannah Her, attempted to garner support for the protest at Northwood.

“I think the walkout is very important,” Her said.

“It just kind of symbolizes that we stand with the survivors of the Florida shooting, that we actually care and that we want our school safe.”

In an email to the Northwood community, principal Justin Bartholomew stated that the school “is not in the business of creating a platform for politics or political fights.” However, Bartholomew wrote that the administration does aim to provide a platform for students to “work through big issues so they can have their voices and concerns heard.”

“If it has to do with guns, it has no place here,” Bartholomew said. “If it has to do with stopping violence against schools, that has a place here. Everybody can get behind that.”

Because of the school’s desire to be apolitical, rather than a walkout event, Northwood sanctioned an optional school unification event at 10 a.m. March 14. Participating students wrote letters to the kids from Parkland, signed a banner in honor of the victims and carried signs protesting violence in schools.

Junior Shamar Wilson was one of the student body representatives during the planning of the event. According to Wilson, approximately 400 students participated. To Wilson, the purpose of the event was to show that “students do have power and do have a voice.”

Some students, like sophomore Jackson Davis, chose not to attend. Davis felt that the event was innately political by nature.

“I don’t like to get into politics too much, and I thought today, while the school did try to make it non-political, I still felt like it was a very political and touchy subject,” Davis said. “I feel like we could’ve gotten a better solution than walking out of class. I would like to say on the record that I didn’t feel like the walkout wasn’t a powerful move, I just felt like I didn’t want to be a part of it.”

Orphal proposes an alternative course of action for students to take against gun violence.

“I think for me, if I were a young person, and I wanted to make real change around this topic, I would get [myself and] four friends, and we would all go register to vote,” Orphal said. “Then the five of us would commit to getting two more people to go register to vote, then have conversations and say, ‘We are going to vote for people who are for gun control.’ That’s the big thing about serious change.

There’s this famous guy Saul Alinsky who said some of the most effective ways to make change aren’t very flashy and aren’t very fun.”

According to Skopp, students should have “complete authority” in regards to political decisions that affect their futures.

“I think we’re inheriting the world, and so just because not everyone’s of voting age, just because some people have just become of age, that doesn’t mean we can’t be politically active,” Skopp said. “Because at the end of the day, in a few years, we’re going to be the ones living in this economy, living in these conditions. We’re the ones that go to school, and we’re the ones that are directly affected by this. I think that anyone who thinks that we’re too young is ridiculous, because we’re not.”

April 2018, The Omniscient, Page 7

Photo courtesy of Sarah Robertson

SARAH ROBERTSON holds a bear cub during one of her research projects in Arkansas.

Bats, Bears and Biology: A look into Sarah Robertson’s life and classroom

By Madeline Conte Staff Writer

Page 8, The Omniscient, April 2018

As Sarah Robertson flips through the slides of her PowerPoint, she suddenly ducks behind her desk and pulls out a rock, stroking it gently with her fingertips as she saunters to the front of the class. The students look at each other in disbelief as she strikes a match and holds the flame to the rock that she calls her “best friend.” “[When I teach] I like to sometimes be a little crazy, sometimes a little off the wall, but at the same time, it gets the kids interested,” Robertson said.

Robertson has been at Northwood for over a decade and teaches a variety of sciences, including biology, earth and environmental science, and anatomy and physiology.

Robertson’s passion for science stems from her childhood curiosity of how the world works and the role of its species.

“When I was itty bitty, I just liked to go out in the woods and explore,” Robertson said. “I would find creatures, and I would wonder why it lives the way it does and why [it does] what it does. I just wanted to have answers for all these questions.”

Even today, Robertson still enjoys the thrill of spending time in the outdoors through daily hikes around the Haw River after school.

“I am always looking for excitement, and I find excitement in the natural world,” Robertson said.

Before coming to Northwood, Robertson taught at Missouri State University, where she researched the effects of urbanization on seven different bat species in Springfield, Missouri.

“I spent a lot of time in caves and in storm drainage systems crawling around looking for bats,” Robertson said. “And yes, I have been bitten a lot.”

Aside from her own research ventures, Robertson has also assisted many of her fellow researchers on their studies. Robertson estimates that she was a member of 20 different research projects prior to her high school teaching career.

“I was pulling bears out of dens that were hibernating,” Robertson said. “I was jumping on, I can’t even tell you how many deer, so that I could put radio collars and ear tags on them to get health assessments and a population estimate for the area.”

Junior Adam Khrais has had Robertson for three

different sciences and shared a memorable experience he had in his anatomy and physiology class.

“One time she pranked the class by telling us that there was a track runner that died in the woods, and when we went outside to see, we saw bones, but they were just from an animal,” Khrais said.

Students who have had Robertson describe her teaching style in a similar way.

“The way she teaches makes science fun and easy to learn,” sophomore Ashanti Moore said. “She puts everything in a simpler way through her PowerPoints and the activity we do after to better [understand] the information that we learn.”

Like Moore, sophomore Elena Shipp also enjoys the way she learns in Robertson’s class.

“She is a very loud and exciting teacher,” Shipp said. “I am always interested in what she is teaching about because of how enthusiastic she is.”

Shipp vividly recalls a lesson Robertson taught about how quickly the nerves in the human body communicate with each other in her biology class.

“She was explaining how our nerves communicate with each other by sending signals, and in the middle of the lesson, she just screamed randomly,” Shipp said. “It was absolutely terrifying.”

Robertson believes science is not only an important subject in school, but one that is essential to mankind. “[Science] explains the world around us,” Robertson said. “If we just go through our days and don’t pay any attention to what is really going on, how do things advance?”

Although Robertson feels that science is necessary in order for our society to progress, she believes the greatest issue the scientific community faces today is that it is not listened to.

“Scientists are no longer considered the expert in the room; they are just considered as another opinion,” Robertson said. “Their expertise is called into question by too many people, and it’s really hurting the scientific information that’s out there for the general public.”

Robertson looks forward to meeting new students each semester and has a message for the newcomers to her class.

“Get ready to learn,” Robertson said. “You are not going to be the same person walking out as you were walking in.”

Religion, Culture and Diversity: Faith influences the lives of students Bayan Dadressan – Baha’i Faith Senior Bayan Every year, Dadressan and his famDadressan, one- ily go to pilgrimage in Haifa, Israel to third of North- visit the Baha’i temples and shrines that wood’s Nuthouse serve as places for people of all religions leadership team to worship without restrictions. He even and a member of applied to spend a year doing service DECA, is a practicing follower of the through his religion in Haifa.

Baha’i faith. This religion originated “I applied for administration,” in Iran, where Dadressan’s family is Dadressan said. “Basically that means from, and focuses on teaching about that for a year I’d be working with peounity, the worth of all religions, and ple traveling to Israel for pilgrimage by equality among all people. helping them get around and telling them Dadressan is thankful that his parents about local religious opportunities.” emphasized the importance of “unity” and “bringing people together” throughout his childhood. Now, he places a lot of importance on how their influence guided him to become who he is today.

“I definitely think [my religion] has affected how I’ve grown up,” Dadressan said. “My family really tried to connect me to the faith, and I think they did a really good job having me Photo courtesy of Bayan Dadressan find my own path and not BAYAN and ZAYNE DADRESSAN attend trying to force my connecpilgrimage in Haifa, Israel. tion with a religion.”

Tala Farah – Islam Senior Tala Farah, a follower of the Islamic faith, grew up studying and worshiping at the mosque every Sunday. Despite the time she spent practicing her faith, Farah doesn’t see a connection between her religion and who she is today.

“I wish I could say my religion had an effect on me, but I don’t really think it did,” Farah said. “My culture at home hasn’t changed anything, because my culture at home is basically an American culture, just with different practices.”

The Islamic religion is an Abrahamic faith following Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah. Farah classifies her family as “not very strict” when it comes to religion.

“We pray five times a day and we cover ourselves, but you don’t see me wearing a hijab to school,” Farah said.

Every year while Farah was growing up, her family would visit their relatives in Sudan and Egypt. She attributes religious influence to the cultural differences she has noticed.

“The culture is much different over there,” Farah said. “When you go to Sudan, the people are so open with each other; you expect at least 20-30 people

coming to your house every single day saying, ‘Hi! How are you?’ But you also see the people being judgmental.

For example, when I go there, I’m always getting weird looks, because I’m so absorbed into this American culture, wearing my casual clothes, while they are wearing full fabric with a hijab covering their face.”

Photo courtesy of Tala Farah

TALA FARAH and HER FAMILY stand in front of the Cairo Tower in Cairo, Egypt.

Jaspal Singh – Sikhism Senior Jaspal Singh traces the biggest influences on his life to more than just his religion, Sikhism, a monotheistic religion founded in the Punjab region of India. He credits having grown up in a minority household as well.

“There are always those stereotypes of how religious and minority parents bring you up,” Singh said.

“It’s pretty different than the way that [traditional] American families bring up their kids, and I think that it has had nothing but a positive effect on me.”

Throughout Singh’s childhood, he traveled to India to visit Sikh temples with his grandparents and attended summer camps devoted to teachings of the Sikh faith.

“Both of these events had a major effect on the way that I’ve grown up,” Singh said. “[They] changed me as a person, and I feel like after, I became more religious, because they were so eye-opening for me.”

Singh believes religion can have this same effect on anyone.

“I feel like no religion, at its basest level, preaches anything immoral,”

Singh said. “They’re all pretty much good ideas for the most part, and they’re just intended to make you a better person.”

Photo courtesy of Jaspal Singh

JASPAL SINGH and HIS FAMILY visit the museum Anandpur Sahib in Punjab, India.

Joshua Sickels – Judaism Senior Joshua Sickels, a follower of the Abrahamic religion Judaism, is another student who attributes much of who he is to his religion.

“I definitely think [growing up in a Jewish household] had an effect on me,” Sickels said. “Jews are very hardworking and ethic-centric, so my parents really pushed me when I was growing up to do better and to do a lot of community service, because that’s a huge part of Jewish culture as well.”

Sickles wears a yamaka in religious devotion and says this led to discrimination from other students in his younger years.

“In my earlier years, there was definitely a traditional sense of light bullying and name calling,” Sickels said. “It doesn’t really bother you after a while, because you just kind of get used to it.”

The summer before his junior year, Sickels went on a religious retreat called CTeen in New York to spend

one Shabbat (Judaism’s day of rest) with teens from all over the world.

“We took classes to learn more about Judaism and did prayers,” Sickels said.

“Also, there are no electronics allowed, so it was kind of a day to unplug.”

Photo courtesy of Joshua Sickels

JOSHUA SICKELS attends CTeen shabbaton with other Jewish teens in New York City.

— Compiled by Lanna Read April 2018, The Omniscient, Page 9

Page 10, The Omniscient, April 2018

Entertainment

EPIC GAMES released a mobile version of “Fortnite” in March, available on iOS and coming to Android in the upcoming months.

11 Photo courtesy of BagoGames/Flickr

“Fortnite” All Night: Inside students’ addiction to video game “Fortnite”

By Chloe Maynard Online Editor There you are, hiding in a bush, scared for your life.

Out of 100 people, only one other person remains with you. The deadly storm is closing in, and you have to act fast. The storm is getting closer and closer—it’s now or never. You run out of your hiding spot, ready for a fight.

Shots are fired from behind. You turn around as quickly as possible and fire twice. Suddenly, Victory Royale reads across the screen, and you start to yell. Immediately, the next move is to get out your phone and post it on Snapchat, Twitter and every other social media site.

Some people will scroll past your post without concern, while others recognize the accomplishment because they are familiar with the September 2017 released video game “Fortnite: Battle Royale,” which is based off of the paid version, “Fortnite: Save the World,” both by Epic Games. The game is a 100-person player versus player setup with only one player or team claiming Victory Royale.

One of the noticeable impacts of the rise of “Fortnite” has been its effect on social media. Many players are known for posting their wins on social media, usually on Snapchat.

“It’s one out of 100 that you win if you’re playing solo,” senior Austin Nykamp said. “That’s pretty slim chances, and that’s a big accomplishment. I think it’s [Snapchat] story worthy.”

As for why these types of posts are so common, it all comes down to pride.

“It’s an addicting game,” said senior Bryce Davis, a self-professed everyday player. “It’s really tough to get a win, so everyone’s striving to get said win, and when you do get it, there’s no better feeling, especially when it comes to video games.”

Within the short period of time it has been available, “Fortnite: Battle Royale” has amassed more than 40 million downloads and peaked at two million concurrent players as of January, according to Rolling Stone.

“Fortnite” has become an integral part in many players’ daily routines, and it has even been substituted for face-to-face time with friends.

“Some days on school nights, I stay up until like 1 a.m., but that’s only if I don’t have any homework, or I know it’s going to be Friday and I can stay up the next night,” senior Bayan Dadressan said. “Multiple times, my boys have asked me to hang out, and I’m like, ‘Why don’t we just stay home and play “Fortnite”?’ It’s pretty much the same thing.”

Avid “Fortnite” players admittedly neglect other responsibilities to play the game. “[I haven’t missed] anything big—I don’t have a girlfriend—so I don’t have to worry about Valentine’s Day or anything,” senior Jonny Robbins said. “[I’ve missed] maybe a homework [assignment] or two, but other than that, no.”

While many players confess to missing some homework assignments, others confess to missing an entire day of school.

“I skipped school yesterday to play ‘Fortnite,’ not gonna lie,” Nykamp said. “It was the last day of season

two. I had to grind.”

Senior Bryce Tricas is on the tennis team with senior Thomas Russell and claims that playing “Fortnite” together has made them better on the court.

“It’s actually pretty funny; since [Thomas and I] are on the tennis team—we’re duos partners—it’s made us better at ‘Fortnite’ and tennis,” Tricas said. “We really know each other like the back of our hands. ‘Fortnite’ gets all the credit for that.”

Another reason for the extreme popularity of “Fortnite” is the fact that the Battle Royale version of the game is free.

“It was free on PS4, so I got it, and my friends got it, and we just started playing together,” Davis said. “The game improved itself, and we improved at the game, so it became more enjoyable.”

Davis’ sentiments are echoed by other players; the fact that the game is free to play is a large selling point for many. “‘Call of Duty’ costs $50, and if you haven’t played ‘Call of Duty’ before, you don’t want to try it, because you know you’re going to have to spend $50,” Tricas said. “‘Fortnite’ is free—you can just try it. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it, but so many people like it.”

Although players are drawn in by the lack of a price tag, many become regular players, because the game enables them to play and bond with their friends.

“I’ve played with people that I’m good friends with in school, but I’ve also played with random people or people that I don’t really know at this school, and I’ve grown closer to them,” Russell said.

Vocals director Matthew Hanson

Senior Brenda Ruto and actress Lupita Nyong’o!

and actor Paul Rudd!

Photo courtesy of Stephanie Moreno/ University of Georgia

Photo courtesy of Mingle Media TV/Wikimedia

Who looks like who?

Take a look at some of Northwood’s most accurate celebrity look-alikes!

Junior Carter Stallings

English teacher Jill Jackl

and actor Dylan O’Brien!

Photo courtesy of MTV/Viacom Media Networks

and actress Kim Rhodes!

Photo courtesy of John Heller/WireImage

— Compiled by Grace Lake Page 12, The Omniscient, April 2018

Spring Into Gardening — Compiled by Ava Johnson

What You’ll Need

Tips and Tricks Start slow and small Spring is a great time to begin digging and growing.

Plan ahead what seeds you would like to acquire and where you wish to plant them. Consider carefully what plants you choose, and research their compatibility. Sometimes plants will compete for space and try to kill each other. If you are starting your garden from scratch, it’s best to only pick a few things, rather than 10 or 15. It’s better to succeed just a little than to fail grandly.

Do some spring cleaning This may sound a little strange, but make sure to clean your garden. Removing debris like leaves, sticks or other objects that may get in the way of your growing is important.

Get a head start Starting your seedlings inside allows you to get ahead of the game. You can pot your seeds in pretty much any small container and keep them somewhere where there is “bottom heat,” like the top of a refrigerator. Once the seeds begin to sprout, you can gradually begin to transfer them to their permanent homes outside.

Group plants around a theme This tip is more about visual appeal. Creating a collection of plants with the same foliage or flower color is an easy trick to make your garden Instagram-worthy. Planting a border plant around your garden in a contrasting color will really make it pop. Vegetables and herbs are wonderful to edge flower beds with, both visually and logistically.

Variegated plants are valuable If you are struggling with your garden being a sea of green with no color variation, variegated plants are your friends. Variegated plants have leaves that are lighter in color. They help to “lift” what would otherwise be blocks of solid green foliage.

A place to plant- Figure out exactly where you’re going to start your garden. This could be a four-by-four foot area in your yard or a planter in your window; it all depends on the space you have available. Raised beds are typically easier to grow things in, and you get a better yield. If you have an opportunity and the space to create a raised bed, definitely do it!

Good soil- Nutrient-rich soil is essential to your success as a gardener. If you don’t have great soil available to you, enrich what you have using a 50-50 mix of compost and your native soil, or simply buy soil from a nursery.

Sun- Vegetables need at least eight hours of full sun a day, while flowers and other decorative plants have varying sunlight needs. Study what kind of light your garden area receives throughout the day, and pick plants accordingly.

Basic Tools- Make sure to have a spade, a garden fork, a hoe, a hand weeder, some hardy gloves and a basket for moving around mulch or soil.

Seeds or Clippings- See the bottom of the page for the best flowers and vegetables to grow this spring!

The Plants to Plant This Spring

Bluebells Beets

Carrots

Spinach Kale Pansy

Daffodil Lettuce April 2018, The Omniscient, Page 13

STRANGER THINGS premiered July 16, 2016 on Netflix.

Photo courtesy of Stranger Things/Facebook

Stranger Things Have Happened: Hit Netflix show is based on Durham area

By Chloe Maynard Online Editor

58 Chapelton Court Chapel, Chapel Hill

Page 14, The Omniscient, April 2018

Streaming giant Netflix has proved its ability to churn out award-winning original series, producing hit shows such as Orange is the New Black, House of Cards and most recently, Stranger Things.

“I do like Stranger Things,” senior Bryce Tricas said. “I like how the topic goes against some of the regular things that we see on TV, like a lot of dramas in hospitals, like Grey’s Anatomy, or just random cop shows like NCIS.” The sci-fi show has gained a massive viewership and online cult following. Although Stranger Things has resonated with viewers worldwide, for some people it resonates on a more local level as well. Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, the creators of the show, are native to Durham, North Carolina.

The brothers leave Easter eggs about the Triangle area and allude to their own childhoods throughout both seasons of the show.

“What they will say is that they’re too lazy to think of an original name for a river or a lake or a street name, so they used street names that they remember from their time in Durham,” said Allen Duffer, the father of the Duffer brothers.

“I think there may be some truth to that, but also their childhood was special to them, and Durham is special to them.”

Allusions in the show include staples of the area such as Jordan Lake, Eno River and Forest Hills Park, but according to Allen, there are many more references to teachers, neighbors and childhood friends of the boys.

“In addition to the locations that they reference that are related to Durham, some of the names of the characters in the show are people that are teachers or that they knew while growing up here,” Allen said. “If you remember, in the end scene of season one, where the boys are playing Dungeons and Dragons again, they bring up a character called King Tristan, and Tristan Smith was one of their friends growing up. They made all of their movies with him, so that’s a reference to him…. Dustin calls Mr. McCorkle when he’s looking for his cat in season two, and the McCorkles are our nextdoor neighbors, so that’s where that name comes from. I think they’re in a sense honoring friends and neighbors and places that were important to them growing up. But also, they’re just looking

for names, and some of these names they like the sound of, so they use them for that reason as well. I think it’s sort of a combination of things.”

A large part of the show’s popularity is attributed to the nostalgia that the show provides, as it is set in the 1980s; however, parts of this are also based on the creators’ own childhoods, as they were born in 1984.

“So most summers, I’d say from about age 10 on, they, along with their friends in the neighborhood, would make a movie,” Allen said. “So they spent most summers preparing that movie and filming it in the neighborhood, and as a result of that, they ventured out, just like the kids in Stranger Things do…. Of course they never encountered any monsters or anything, but some of that’s reminiscent. I know one summer, one of their films involved a train and train tracks, and so those scenes in season one and season two, where the kids were walking down the train tracks, talking to each other, while it evokes some of the scenes of Stand by Me, it’s actually something that they did during the summertime while making a movie. So a lot of what they did during the summer, in terms of the movie making, hanging out with their buddies and playing and making films is very reminiscent of the relationship between particularly the four boys in the show.”

While according to IMDb.com, the Duffer Brothers’ show has amassed 29 awards and 118 nominations since the release of the first season in 2016, the broad success of the show has surprised many people involved.

“I always believed in their talent,” Allen said.

“We supported them, and I always felt like they could do this, so I’m not surprised that they’re able to do this as a living and that they were successful at it, but I’m certainly surprised at the scale and the scope of the success. There are people in Hollywood who have been making movies their whole life and have never had a hit like this and are still successful and making good films. So the sort of acceptance of this show and the broad appeal of it surprised everyone. It surprised my sons, it surprised Netflix, it surprised all of the actors in the show. I mean they all liked it—they all knew they were making a good film—but I don’t think they recognized that it would connect with as many people as it has connected with, so it’s been pretty amazing from that standpoint.”

THE DANCE ENSEMBLE celebrates after receiving its state title.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Roberson

Dance ensemble wins first at Scholastic Dance Festival

By Lanna Read Staff Writer A curtain is drawn open to reveal 17 dancers hunched over, bathed in pink light. The opening chords of Ingrid Michaelson’s “Open Hands” begin to play and the dancers slowly stand to see an audience of their supporters and judges.

The dance ensemble class won first place in both the contemporary dance and student choreography categories and received the Outstanding Student Choreography Award when they took to the stage Feb. 17 to compete at the North Carolina Scholastic Dance Festival. The competition was hosted by Durham School of the Arts and featured 17 high schools from all over the state.

Northwood’s group competed with a class piece choreographed by former student Taylor Roberson. Roberson now attends the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and was offered the opportunity to get the experience for her resume by dance teacher Leah Wilhelm.

The group began working on the piece before a string of snow days that kept students home, leading to irregular practice schedules that many could not attend; Saturday’s performance in competition was the very first time all the dancers were able to do the piece together.

Despite their lack of practice, Wilhelm had confidence in the ensemble’s ability.

“I was super confident because of the talent that we have,” Wilhelm said. “I knew if the judges could not see it, then they were blind.”

Even with her certainty in the group’s capabilities, Wilhelm doubted whether she wanted them to take part in the competition at all.

“I am not a big fan of competitions,” Wilhelm said. “I think it has a place in dance, it’s just never been a place that I’ve wanted to be a part of.

Dance to me is more about the emotion and the heart and the storytelling rather than proving that I’m better than someone else.”

Wilhelm’s doubts, however, were overshadowed by pride when she watched the ensemble perform at the competition.

“I knew as soon as the curtain closed,” Wilhelm said. “I didn’t need to hear about the other pieces, because I knew when that curtain closed that they had done it. It was the best I had ever seen them dance; it was perfect, and it was one of my best moments teaching, hands down, ever.”

Senior Skyler Herrick was sitting next to Wilhelm in the audience and felt confident in the performance as well.

“They did it so well, and I was surprised at how well everything fit together,” Herrick said.

“Mrs. Wilhelm and I just kept grasping at each other because it was so exciting.”

Leading up to the announcement of the winners, the team waited in nervous excitement.

“I wasn’t really sure if we were going to win,” senior Shannon Brennan said. “When we heard that it was us, I think all of us were a little bit shocked, but it turned from shock immediately to excitement.”

This excitement involved, according to senior Sam White, an inability to breathe. When asked if there was anything she would go back and do differently, White said she “probably wouldn’t have cried in front of so many people.”

The other piece that Northwood brought to competition won first place for student choreography and was arranged in two days by five dance ensemble students: Delaney Galvin, Sara Heilman, Skyler Herrick, Alexa Simeonsson and Megan Walker.

“Piecing the dance together was kind of easy, actually,” Walker said. “We all got together and we’d just pitch an idea and either turn it down, or we’d say ‘yes’ right away. It was so easy to work with each other, because we all know and love each other so well.”

Walker believes that the close ties the ensemble shares can be traced back to their dance teachers.

“I think our family begins with Mrs. Wilhelm and Mrs. Oakes,” Walker said. “They’re our leaders, and both of them make us feel like we really mean something. When we come together as a group, we’re just so much more powerful.”

White believes the connection the ensemble has is about the support they give one another.

“It’s a really strong bond,” White said.

“There’s some bickering just because we’re high school teenage girls (and a boy) but I think it’s very strong because we’re so supportive of each other. It’s like a little family.”

When asked about next year’s Scholastic Dance Festival, Wilhelm described herself as 80 percent excited and 20 percent nervous.

“We got two perfect scores this year, so we have big shoes to fill,” Wilhelm said. “It’s a challenge we will take head on and hopefully make Northwood proud again.”

Get connected to DANCE! Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Acrobatics, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Clogging, Creative Movement, Adult Dance – Ages 2 years and up!

(919)542-1882 or (910)540-8679 (352 East St., Pittsboro – backside of Piggly Wiggly Shopping Center) www.chathamdanceconnection.com

April 2018, The Omniscient, Page 15

16

O pinion

Wolfpack to Wwoof-Pack: I chose an alternative education Zoe Willard

As a 17 year old, stressing endlessly about the perfect university is almost a right of passage. It’s cliche: the late nights, creeping deadlines, excited Instagram acceptance posts and adding #InsertCollegeHere’22 to every social media bio. It’s an exciting time—a time of change. I, on the other hand, have yet to unlock the opportunity of wearing my college t-shirt and telling all my family where I’m heading in August. I spent months on end stressing about where I wanted to go to college, and not in a good way. The Common Application tab stayed open at all times, and my email was constantly refreshed to ensure I hadn’t missed any important deadlines or acceptance letters. Hours per week were spent in my room, in the dark, crafting the perfect essay to guarantee colleges would fall in love with me. Do I sound like the typical high school senior? Probably. Would I consider myself that? Absolutely not.

Throughout high school, my dream was to suck it up and go to a school I don’t really always to attend N.C. State University. I spent love. I just need to stick with the system and months researching programs, acceptance graduate, and then go to some school and find rates, SAT scores and more. This college some job someday. I mean, I hadn’t even been quickly became my concrete school of choice. declined from N.C. State; it just wasn’t an I toured it, emailed admissions counselors, immediate yes. I just needed to wait it out or explored programs, pick from one of my and applied early. So, handful of other acas a high school senior, ceptances. Then, one I was notified one day of my closest friends late in January that my told me about this decision was ready. program, Wwoof— And it was deWorldwide Workers ferred. on Organic Farms.

While this wasn’t From there, I spithe sole deciding facraled uncontrollably tor that sent me on into a world of farms some wild journey to and plane tickets, and find myself, it did send there was no going some ideas churnback. ing through my mind.

Late February, What if… now this is a I officially made new one… I didn’t go the decision to be Photo courtesy of Kathie Russell to college? an American nomad ZOE WILLARD will embark on a I spent a couple and spend time farmWwoofing journey across the country. of weeks pondering hopping through the this idea. I have always wanted to travel far entirety of the country, from Maine all the way and wide, but that costs money. Plus, I’m not to Hawaii. I’ve never been “that girl” who was even 18 years old, and the world can be a enthralled with the idea of moving away from scary place. No, I began to think, I just need public school right into another four years

of education, so taking a short break before seemed like the perfect idea to me.

The past few weeks, I have been obsessively researching farms and cheap flights to get where I need to go. What I’ve taken out of all of this is sometimes plans fall apart for something a little better, and taking on the unknown is okay. It’s more than okay, it’s great, and I am a firm believer in chasing your dreams, no matter how unconventional they may be.

So, come August, if you need me, I’ll have many different homes to call my own.

I’ll spend time in San Francisco, Las Vegas (New Mexico), Seattle, Honolulu, Philadelphia, Boulder and more. What I want everyone to know about my decision is that it is my own and that’s all that matters. College, while beneficial and a great choice for many, doesn’t have to be for everyone, especially not right after graduation. Taking alternative routes can be looked down upon by some, but if the decision feels right, then it shouldn’t matter to anyone but you. I couldn’t be more excited to see the world, meet new people and expand my horizons.

So, Common Application, N.C. State WolfPAW account and FAFSA: I’ll see you again. Until then, bon voyage—I’ll be back in a year.

Gun control will not solve this problem Harper Johnson On February 14, 17 were killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Since then, the national debate about gun violence in America has taken center stage. Students who survived the shooting started the #NeverAgain movement, and in just a few weeks, gained massive support in fostering change in America’s legislature. The fact that these students have taken action is great, but there are two major problems with the protests and many responses to the protests.

1) Saying “you’re either for us or against us.” Every American agrees that shootings like the one at Stoneman Douglas are a horrible atrocity. The #NeverAgain movement has gained so much coverage and support because people on both sides of the aisle understand the dire nature of the situation. Anyone who claims that the debate on a

solution to this violence is a battle of good vs. evil is wrong. Emma Gonzalez, a survivor and student at Stoneman Douglas tweeted, “They are actively rooting for our deaths” in response to the Senate’s rejection of an assault weapons ban. Not only are things like this morally wrong, saying something like that is not a great move for support. Statements like these alienate a great portion of the country by calling them bad people because of what they believe.

2) Pretending any of the students are experts. Just because someone went through an awful tragedy doesn’t mean that they are now more qualified than anyone else in creating policy for the country.

While these students are not stupid and are just as capable of having good ideas, they are also capable of having bad ones. The opinions and ideas of the survivors, while still important, should not be treated as any more factual or wise than any others.

I commend the students for taking action to change America and solve a problem in their world. Now, as an equally qualified high school student, here is my opinion on what America should do moving forward.

I believe that there is some criticism to

be had with the system of purchasing a gun in America; there should be more thorough background checks to assure that disturbed people like Nikolas Cruz, the accused Stoneman Douglas shooter, cannot legally obtain a firearm. However, I think that gun control measures should stop there.

America guarantees the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment because America was established by everyday people who used their guns to fight tyranny and assured that future oppression and tyranny could be resisted. Some people believe that this does not account for modern weaponry like assault rifles, but I disagree.

In the modern day, handguns, not assault rifles, are used in 80 percent of gun violence in America annually, so unless we are willing to ban handguns, gun violence will not decrease. American citizens legally own about 270 million firearms, so seizing this many weapons would be next to impossible. Additionally, there is no evidence to support that this would be a good idea. A 2007 study published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy found that “the nine European nations with the lowest rates of gun ownership (5,000 or

fewer guns per 100,000 population) have a combined murder rate three times higher than that of the nine nations with the highest rates of gun ownership (at least 15,000 guns per 100,000 population).”

In America, specifically in schools, we should encourage, not discourage, responsible gun ownership. Teachers should be allowed (but not forced) to carry guns in school, and gun-free zones in general should be reduced. While this solution will not completely erase gun violence or violence in general in America, it is the easiest, most efficient, and most reasonable solution available right now. The best way to stop bad guys with guns is good guys with guns.

All this being said, I think the most important thing to keep in mind after the atrocities that America has experienced recently is unity. Civil discourse and disagreement is healthy for the country, but conflict and bitterness between parties is extremely destructive, and it gives more power to the people who seek to cause chaos in our society. We win by moving forward and making progress together, not by allowing evil people to create so much tension that we tear ourselves apart.

Bases Loaded, No Outs Davis Palermo Life is designed for you to get nervous—whether it’s about what has happened in the past, what is happening now or what is going to happen in the future. It is how you deal with that fear that will determine how you live your life.

During my sophomore year of high school, I was pulled up to play baseball for the varsity team. I was excited, but I had zero expectations of actually playing. We had three pitchers older than me, and I was an unknown underclassmen. However, I went into the season with a positive attitude, focusing on how I needed to prove myself, get better and hopefully get an opportunity to get a couple of starts against weaker teams. And, if I was really lucky, I would get some middle relief appearances against better teams.

In the first game of the season, our ace pitcher got hurt. The next week of practices involved my distraught coach trying to figure out who was going to take his place. I saw the opportunity in front of me, but I was nervous. The prospect of starting big-time games made me a little squeamish. Yet, the next week came, and I was deemed to be the replacement.

After a couple of starts, I was doing okay. My performance was not fantastic, but I was providing solid efforts against subpar teams. But, looming the next week, we were going to be playing the best team in our conference, and I was named as the starter. This was a big game that would help decide our seeding in the conference playoffs and possibly the state playoffs.

The opposing pitcher for this team was a kid named Bryse Wilson. Kid is an under-

Off the Grid: Life without a phone

statement, as the dude looked like he was 25 years old. He was committed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the time and his fastball topped out at 96 mph (he was eventually drafted in the fourth round by the Atlanta Braves, and he signed a professional contract for over $1 million).

And then there I am, a scrawny, 150 pound, 16-year-old thinking about how I’m going to compete at his level.

There are a few moments before the game that I will never forget. I remember playing catch and seeing the first MLB scout walk up the gravel road with his hat and backpack, followed by 15 more. I remember throwing my pregame bullpen right next to this behemoth high school senior with all of these scouts standing behind us, watching, radar guns pointing.

We lost. 2-1. I pitched well, but the biggest takeaway was that I wasn’t nervous while I was out on the mound. I didn’t care what the scouts thought, about how good the team was or how big of a game it was. I just pitched, and I pitched with confidence.

And that was a moment of realization for me. Live life how I play baseball—without fear and with confidence.

There is a difference between thinking you can do something and expecting yourself to do something. With expectations, there comes an ultimate desire to succeed and the belief that you will accomplish the goal. It keeps you from hesitating and second guessing yourself. This has helped me in the classroom, as well. I hold myself to a higher standard that has enabled me to be successful academically. It has also helped me socially with interacting with people in different scenarios.

Life hands everybody “bases loaded, no outs” situations. You’re in a terrible spot and just need to find a way to get out of it. And I can’t thank the sport of baseball enough for when life throws me those situations; instead of giving up a grand slam, I can strike the next three guys out.

People often make the assumption that every teenager has a cell phone and some type of social media account. While this assumption is a fair one, considering how the world we live in today is completely saturated with technology and how communication with others is now reliant upon avenues such as social media, I consider myself an outlier being that I have neither of the two. As the rest of the world walks around with the latest iPhone or Samsung in hand, my main means of communication is via iPod Touch.

Through my middle and high school careers, it has often been difficult not having something that the rest of society seems to rely so heavily upon. When you are with a group of friends and everyone is talking about the latest trends on Instagram or Snapchatting other people, I simply can’t relate. Or when teachers ask the class to “get out your cell phone and sign up for the Remind,” I look around the room and realize I am the only student not digging into my backpack for a phone. Situations like these can make feel me very isolated and like I am missing out on what appears to be such a big part of life for the average teen.

However, I do believe that this feeling of isolation in certain situations has been worth it, looking at the consequences social media brings.

Although I do have access to social media on the iPod, not participating in social media has been a personal choice of mine. It saddens me to see students in the lunchroom sitting right next to each other, and instead of engaging in conversation, they are immersed in their cell phones. Not having a cell phone has forced me to appreciate the value of face-

only be informed on political and social issues, but they should be activists for matters they believe in.

In recent weeks, there has been a surge in teenage activism across the country; however, many adults question the validity of teenagers’ opinions on such issues. Student-led movements such as the national school walkout and March for Our Lives have empowered teenagers to speak up and encouraged them to recognize the importance of their voices. Many kids hold opinions on issues, but do not know how to use their voice to make a difference. A very important way that teenagers can make their voices heard is by voting. Although many students are not yet old enough to vote, they can still pre-register to vote

and advocate for candidates who they believe will represent them. Another way kids can be involved in issues they care about or wish to change is by contacting their representatives and urging them to take action.

It is essential for teenagers to be involved, because current issues such as gun violence directly affect their lives. The teenagers of today will be the leaders of tomorrow, and Chloe Maynard/The Omniscient it is important to recognize that their voices matter as STUDENTS from Great Mills High School in Maryland protest in Washington, D.C. March 24. it is their future at stake.

Madeline Conte

to-face interaction, which is unfortunately becoming a thing of the past.

There have also been too many instances where I have seen people becoming addicted to social media. It is genuinely hard for some to go extended amounts of time without checking their Snapchat or Instagram feed.

Teens today are constantly comparing themselves and their lives to those of others and not ever thinking that they are good enough just as they are. By posting pictures of yourself, you are also making yourself vulnerable to hateful and nasty comments that, whether you think so or not, have an effect you.

To me, social media is just another obstacle to happiness and not something that I would receive a great amount of pleasure from.

When parents and schools lecture teens on how you should think twice before you post something online, I am part of a small population to which this conversation does not even apply. I think growing up not having a cell phone has had its challenges, but it has allowed me to see things from a different perspective, one that many teenagers could never imagine their life with the absence of.

I have often been told by my peers that my parents must be so strict because they don’t let me have a cell phone. Although this may seem true, this is just not the case.

I believe my parents’ decision is a completely logical one and I consider myself lucky to not have been given one. It would not be far fetched to say that my parents are “old school,” but this is something I am happy to acknowledge. I am thankful that my parents have not given into society’s norms, and in the future, I hope I will have this same mindset for children of my own.

To this day, I am still surprised I have not succumbed to the pressures of trying to be like everyone else in getting a social media account, but when I have doubts, I try and see it as something that sets me apart from the rest of the crowd, not as something I am missing out on.

Teen Activism: Students have a responsibility to speak up

Staff Editorial

We are the generation that has not experienced a day of school before Columbine. We are too young to remember the world before 9/11.

We grew up during the presidency of Barack Obama and now are becoming adults during the presidency of Donald Trump. Historically, teenagers and young adults have been politically apathetic; however, we have grown up in a world where not being politically knowledgeable is almost impossible.

We are confronted by political issues on almost every platform with the ubiquity of social media and the immediacy of news. It is the opinion of The Omniscient staff that teenagers should not

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Wed-Sat 10:30-5:30, First Sun 12-4

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What It’s Worth: What is the toll the Tobacco Road rivalry takes on friendships?

By Jeffrey Marcin S taff Writer It was another cold, winter night in Raleigh as a friend and I were going to a Carolina Hurricanes game.

Both of us were in UNC hoodies. As we walked through the security line, we were complimented by the security guards on our sweatshirts, making us feel more comfortable in Wolfpack territory.

But as we climbed through seats to find where we were supposed to sit, we heard the yells of “boo” and “filthy cheaters.” Later that night, a fan hoping to find his car was about to ask my friend for directions, but he was interrupted by another fan, who yelled, “They don’t know nothin’­­— they’re Carolina fans!”

Duke, N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill make up a highly competitive three-team rivalry. The three schools’ men’s basketball programs have combined for 13 national championships, 48 ACC Tournament championships and 37 first-team All Americans. All three of the schools lie within 25 miles of each other, jamming most fans of the schools in one place, including Northwood.

“I think the best part is that we’re all so close together,” said junior Katie Fuller, who cheers for UNC. “I’ve grown up with State and Duke fans around me in ways that other rivalries haven’t.”

Growing up around fans from the other two schools, though, can result in conflict. Fuller, takes her hatred of Duke very seriously.

“I have a PowerPoint saved on my phone that a

friend and I made that just explains all the reasons campus in a Carolina shirt, it’s funny to watch people get that UNC is better than Duke,” Fuller said. “I get into mad,” Harradine said. “My fraternity brothers do make arguments pretty often.” fun of me a lot, but it’s all in good fun.”

However, some Tar Heel fans, and even a player, Despite what fans classify as a rivalry, according to studo not feel the same way about their dents, all three matchups have other rival, N.C. State. UNC star “I realized I just couldn’t provided some incredible games guard Joel Berry came out to say he root for State. I could just and memorable moments. doesn’t treat N.C. State as a rival.

“My favorite moment is never really switch.”

“I don’t necessarily treat that as either when Dennis Smith Jr. a rivalry,” Berry said in a press con- ­—Ryan Harradine, N.C. dunked after the buzzer when ference in January. “When you talk [N.C. State beat] Duke [last State student about a rivalry, you always talk about year], or beating UNC in the Duke-North Carolina. That’s the biggest one.”

Dean Dome this year,” Davis said.

Senior Bryce Davis, an N.C. State fan, does not agree History teacher and UNC graduate Nicholas McAliwith Berry’s comments. ster also has fond memories of the rivalry games.

“Some people believe UNC-N.C. State should not “I was watching the Tyler Hansbrough game live be called a rivalry, and that’s just inaccurate,” Davis said. whenever he got the Gerald Henderson elbow in the face, “Granted, UNC-Duke is one of the biggest rivalries in all so that obviously stands out,” McAlister said. “Also, of basketball, but the State-UNC games should not be over- beating State by like 80 last year stands out as well.” looked in basketball.”

At the end of the day, fans from all three of the Former Northwood student Ryan Harradine gets schools don’t let the rivalry get in-between their friendcaught up in the UNC-N.C. State portion of the rivalry on ships. Junior Duke fan Adam Rimolt never has bad intena daily basis. Harradine grew up as a UNC fan, but now tions when talking trash to his friends. attends N.C. State for college.

“It’s all in good fun,” Rimolt said. “If people let “I was born and raised a Carolina fan, and around the rivalry separate them from their friends, then they halfway through college, I realized I just couldn’t root for are probably taking it too seriously.”

State,” Harradine said. “I could just never really switch.”

Fuller agrees.

Harradine, though, enjoys the experience of being a “I’m still friends with fans from each fanbase,” Tar Heel fan on the Wolfpack’s campus.

Fuller said. “But most of them are lighthearted, and “It’s kind of fun at times, because when I walk around it’s something we both enjoy arguing about.”

Trust the Process: Coaches tell their best recruiting stories

By Davis Palermo Staff Writer For me, the recruitment process was extremely stressful, just as it is for most student athletes. Trying to get college coaches to notice you and then performing well when they do is difficult and creates a lot of pressure. The process itself is complicated, as there is a plethora of rules and regulations that the school and players must follow in order to stay out of trouble. Throughout the years, different coaches and players have been involved in interesting recruiting situations.

My junior season, I was being recruited by a school for baseball. The talks were fairly serious for this specific school (Team A), and it was one that I was very interested in attending. During the baseball season, my favorite team growing up (Team B) had beaten this school in basketball. I, stupidly, then preceded to retweet and tweet things on Twitter in favor of Team B. The next day before practice, my coach pulled me aside and told me a coach from Team A had called him, as they had noticed my activities on social media and were concerned about my actual interest in going to their school. From then on, the talks about my recruitment with Team A died down and eventually dissipated.

It was a valuable lesson for me, as everything you put on social media is magnified and seen by everybody, including prospective colleges, and it is certainly not a mistake I’ll make again.

Skip Thibault: Social Studies Teacher In 2009, Skip Thibault, the AVID coordinator at the time, experienced the intensity and persistence of a prominent Southeastern Conference (SEC) school. After graduating from Northwood, one of Thibault’s former students did not make eligibility requirements for college, so he spent a year at Hargraves Military Academy in Virginia. That’s when the SEC school first made contact with Thibault.

“The first time [the offensive line coach] called me, I was at school, and I gave him my personal cell, as I knew the kid really well,” Thibault said. “I knew he had taken online classes, and they didn’t count them properly in the clearing house. And I think the mistake was made here.”

After numerous phone calls to Thibault and Northwood, including some with choice words for the school,

Page 20, The Omniscient, April 2018

the online classes were counted.

“They were relentless; they just wanted to find a way to make the numbers work to get him [eligible],” Thibault said. “[The school] has to be able to justify admitting that kid to school. I would say I probably had six phone calls from the guy from the SEC school. And I was getting a kick out of it when I was getting calls from a coach at a big time school.”

Cameron Vernon: Girls’ Varsity Basketball Coach

basketball. According to Hart, the student was not getting much attention from any college programs.

“He was a tough kid and a very streaky shooter,” Hart said. “For the three weeks of the state playoffs, he did not miss. He shot 61 percent from three in the playoffs; he was on fire.”

When recruiting, colleges tend to listen to recruiting services and third party reporters/ scouts that they trust.

“Dave Telleb, who was the biggest national high school basketball scout at the time, was the color commentator for the TV network when we played the game,” Hart said. “So nobody in Division I basketball has heard of this kid, and he caught fire once again in the championship game.”

After the game, Telleb tweeted that there was a Division I caliber shooting guard from New Hanover High School. Overnight, the student athlete had seven to eight Division I programs come to watch him work out.

“It was amazing because of the cache that Telleb had at the time, and people trusted his evaluations,” Hart said.

“One tweet started a two-week recruiting cycle for him.”

“One tweet started a two week recruiting cycle.”

— Alex Hart, physical education teacher

In 2011, Cameron Vernon had a player by the name of Shelby Wolfe.

She had an extremely successful high school career, scoring over 1,100 points.

“I had been emailing and sending tape out to Brevard College, because I thought she had a chance to play there,” Vernon said. “Brevard [was] a Division II school.”

Despite the persistence from Vernon, Brevard did not show any interest. Wolfe had visited Bluefield College and was about to sign when the head coach at Brevard called Vernon.

“Right when she was about to sign, the Brevard coach calls me and says, ‘Is Shelby still available? I saw she was All-State,” Vernon said. “And I said, ‘Yes, ma’am, she is,’ and she said, ‘I just had a girl quit, and I have scholarship money available.’”

Wolfe took a visit to Brevard and fell in love with it.

She eventually signed and played four years there, becoming the all-time leading offensive rebounder.

“It was almost like it was meant to be,” Vernon said.

“It was crazy, almost fake.”

Alex Hart: Former New Hanover High School Assistant Boys’ Basketball Coach

During Alex Hart’s tenure at 4A New Hanover High School in Wilmington, the basketball team went to the Final Four three times and won the state championship once. The year they won the championship, the team had one very good player, a 6-foot-1 shooting guard. That is relatively small for a shooting guard, which is why there are few of them in college

Matthew Brown: Former Basketball Coach at Dutch Fork High School in South Carolina “About five years ago, I had a senior about 6-foot5, 6-foot-6 who could have played football, tight end, anywhere [he wanted],” Brown said. “His senior year, he decided to stop playing football and pursue basketball.

His dream was to be a Division I basketball player.”

The athlete was getting recruited by some Division II programs, but his dream was still Division I. After the team made a playoff run to the elite eight, he got accepted into Winthrop College.

“I called the coach [at Winthrop] and talked to him about it, and he got a preferred walk-on spot there,” Brown said. “His sophomore year, he earned a full scholarship. He played there for four years, and although he didn’t get much playing time, he fulfilled his dream of playing Division I basketball.”

Almost Olympians

Madison Homovich

By Lanna Read Staff Writer

that a lot of people don’t like to hurt when training, but that’s kind of the main reason I swim: because I feel so accomplished after a Walking into the Root Cellar Cafe, good practice.”

Woods Charter senior Madison Homovich She trains every day except Sunday, exudes her status as a dedicated swimmer. putting in four and a half hours on Monday, Wearing a Team USA jacket, memorabilia Wednesday and Friday, two hours on Tuesfrom competing in the sixth FINA World Ju- day and Thursday and four hours on Saturnior Swimming Championships, Homovich day. According to Homovich, her training has goggle tan lines around her eyes, clear schedule has paid off, getting her ready for evidence of the time she puts into training. the longer races that she swims.

In 2017, Homovich qualified to be on the “You work different energy systems deUSA National Junior Team. She competed at pending on the length of your race, but with the World Junior Swimming Championships mine, [training is] definitely pretty grueling,” in Indianapolis, swimming the 200m butterfly Homovich said. and 400m medley events against competitors Training paid off for Homovich in more from all over the world. In order to qualify for than just one way. She earned a scholarship the national team, swimmers must be among from the University of Georgia, a Division the top ranked athletes I school and her top in the world for their pick, which she will Olympic event. attend in the fall.

At the world “I signed my Nachampionships, Hotional Letter of Intent, movich placed fifth so everything is offiin the women’s 400m cial now,” Homovich medley finals, ranking said. “I’m just really as the top USA conexcited; I have a lot tender. In the women’s of friends going there 200m butterfly, Howith me that I’ve met movich again finished from meets, and I as the top USA swimthink we’re going to mer, ranking 10th overhave a lot of fun.” all, just 0.24 seconds Though Homovaway from making it to ich didn’t make the the finals for the event. cut for the Olympics Moving from this year, she says that Pennsylvania at the doesn’t rule it out as a Photo courtesy of Madison Homovich future possibility. age of seven, Homovich transferred to MADISON HOMOVICH holds the “Ever since I Perry Harrison and sixth FINA World Junior Swimming was a little kid, I’ve joined the North Car- Championships trophy after Team wanted to make the olina Aquatic Club USA won in Indianapolis.

Olympic team,” Ho(NCAC). From there, she transferred to the movich said. “Now, I guess I’m just seeing Marlins of Raleigh on North Carolina State’s where it takes me. Obviously I would really campus, where she developed a drive to train like to make it to an Olympic team, and that’s and compete with her newfound talent. something that I want to work towards, but I “My favorite part about swimming is want to enjoy my life and enjoy swimming training hard,” Homovich said. “I know as much as possible.”

Kendall Sutton

By Lanna Read Staff Writer

spins you’re capable of before they say you can pass to the next level.”

Sutton rose to the junior level, right Even to those who know junior Ken- before the Olympic senior level, before dall Sutton best, her former life as an ice quitting her freshman year. She gives skater is a little known fact. many reasons for why she stopped ice Sutton began skating at the age of skating, including the rising price that seven, taking lescomes as skatsons as a leisure ers get older and activity and dismore involved. covering a passion “As you go for the sport that higher up, boots beled her to train gin to become more and compete for expensive with Italseveral years. ian leather, different “I started figpadding and sepaure skating berate blades,” Sutton cause I went to a said. “When you friend’s birthday start out, it’s like party and just real$60 for two pairs ly enjoyed it,” Sutof boots with these ton said. “It was all crappy blades, but Photo courtesy of Kendall Sutton when I got to where me pushing for it. I asked my mom to KENDALL SUTTON ice skates competi- I was, it started to give me lessons, tively the summer before high school. be $2,000 for the and my parents slowly started to support boots and then more for the blades, and then me wanting to skate.” to put them together and get them fitted was Sutton quickly outgrew those les- even worse.” sons, beginning to work one-on-one with Another reason Sutton decided to end a coach six days a week, morning and af- her skating career was the growing amount ternoon. Her coach urged her to compete of time she had to spend on the ice. throughout her eighth grade year and the “I thought about the Olympics for a summer before high school. According to long time because I was working my way Sutton, these competitions were never her up so fast,” Sutton said. “But my mom favorite part of ice skating. knows someone who has kids at the Olym“Honestly, practices were always the pic level, and they train seven days a week most fun for me—spinning, jumping and for 10 hours a day and do online school, just joking around with it,” Sutton said. “I so they don’t have time to have normal didn’t really like when I had to get serious lives. Eventually I just realized, with that for competitions.” in mind, that I didn’t want to do it.”

Sutton’s training consisted of spendDespite having to stop competing, ing nine week periods at different skating Sutton misses this part of her life. levels before she could rise to the next.

“I still don’t like that I stopped,” Sut“As you get higher, you have to start ton said. “I miss being athletic and having going to testing,” Sutton said. “You get something that I’m dedicated to. Someon the ice, and you have to show that you times I wish I could go back and do it all can be technical with your footwork, what over again, but I just do not have the time moves you can do and what jumps and on my hands.”

April 2018, The Omniscient, Page 21

Sprinting to Tennessee: Cameron Council seeks college success

By Sam Vanolinda Staff Writer Senior Cameron Council steps up to the line. It’s the 2017 3A State Championship at North Carolina A&T’s Irwin Bell Track. The gun is fired, and off he goes, hungry for victory. The 6-foot-4, 185-lb. Council runs with long strides, edging to the front of the pack, not looking back for one moment. Eyes on the prize, he crosses the line in just 21.74 seconds, winning the 200meter boys’ state championship.

Just months after that race, Council was being recruited by multiple Division I colleges for their track and field programs, and, after turning down multiple football offers, Council will trade in the green and gold of Northwood for the orange and white of Tennessee.

“My recruiting was unusual,” Council said. “I had a lot of recruiters come in for football, and I had a lot of highprofile track offers…. [Choosing track over football] was a decision that had to be made, and I made it.”

Council has been one of the most distinguished athletes at Northwood in his four years. Students often define Council’s athleticism by one attribute: “his speed.”

His times speak for themselves: a 4.4 second 40-yard dash (according to SB Nation, the average 40-yard dash for cornerbacks in the NFL is 4.55 seconds), a 10.72 second 100meter, a 21.74 second 200-meter and a 48.39 second 400meter. These were times that attracted Division I schools.

Throughout his time at Northwood, Council has accumulated two state championships and multiple conference

championships, as well as being named an all-American athlete three times.

Junior Joshua Scott, Council’s teammate in both track and football, thinks that Council has the talent to make it big.

“He’s going all the way,” Scott said. “He’s going to the Olympics.”

The high expectations people put on Council are not something that he focuses on.

“I really just want to improve,” Council said. “If I could get to a point where I run professionally like my dad has, that would be amazing, but I’ve reached a lot of my own goals…. I just want to run faster and keep improving.”

Council’s family has had a big influence on his track career: “My mom and dad were both sprinters,” Council said.

“They went to Auburn on full scholarships, so I’ve been running track since I was born and it has been part of who I am from the start.”

Council uses his parents as inspiration when he runs track, especially his mother, who passed away when he was young.

“I think of her all the time when I want to do better,” Council said.

Even though Council has committed to Tennessee and is moving on to a new chapter of his track and field career, Council says he will remember the coaches and peers at Northwood that helped him.

“In the last four years, I have met some of the most amazing people and have had some of the greatest experiences I could ask for,” Council said in a Twitter post.

“He’s going all the way. He’s going to the Olympics.”

— Josh Scott, junior

Sam Vanolinda/The Omniscient

Cameron Council warms up before a meet.

Page 22, The Omniscient, April 2018

Nothing But Nettles: Senior works through injuries

By Harper Johnson Staff Writer

for recovery, so when Nettles was injured (both the first and second times), it was hard for her to be a part of clubs and sports. As a successful athlete and dancer, The ball is inbounded and the point guard takes this frustrated her, because she missed valuable time it up the court. The ball is passed inside, a shot goes honing her skills and contributing to her teams. Nettles up, and it comes off the rim. Senior Erika Nettles is also a prospective college basketball player, so two jumps up for the rebound, a routine movement injuries of this magnitude heavily impacted the amount she’s done a thousand times. This time though, of recruitment that she received.

Nettles collapses after her feet hit the court. Her “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Erika cry, and I teammates quickly surround her to help her up, and think that if it were me… and this happened to me not she waves them away. Still, she can’t get up, so her once but twice, I would be in tears almost every day,” teammates help her walk to the bench. It was her Wilhelm said. “Somehow she pushed through, and she junior year, and Nettles suffered a torn ACL as well always made it positive. She was like, ‘Okay, this hapas a torn medial and lateral meniscus. pened to me, let’s deal with it and move on.’”

“I was angry, I was upset, I was mad,” Nettles Despite the setbacks, Nettles has still continued said. “[I thought], ‘Why did this happen to me?’” to train in the gym and on the track to continue to Nettles spent the strengthen and imrest of her junior year prove herself to rein and out of physical turn to the court. She therapy, rebuilding her has received multimuscles and learning ple offers to continue how to walk again. her basketball career She eventually was in college, and she cleared that June. has committed to In her senior Bridgewater Colyear, Nettles was able lege in Virginia last to fully participate in month. sports again, but this “Junior year didn’t last very long. is the year you get Last fall, during vollooked at and colleyball practice, she leges are looking at tore her ACL and latyou to play for their eral and medial meschool,” Nettles said. niscus, this time on “It’s been very stressher right leg. ful and disappointing, “With my secbecause I know I’m ond injury, I realized good, but I’ve torn Photo courtesy of Michael Robert Izquierdo both of my ACLs... that I could use this as a stepping stone to ERIKA NETTLES plays during senior night this year. It I’ve been thankful to move me forward, or was the only game she played this year. get many more offers I can take it as a sign to play basketball.” from God to pursue other things such as dance or other Through her injuries, Nettles remained loyal to her things that I like to do,” Nettles said. “I’ve taken this as teammates and coaches and maintained the mindset a stepping stone and I’ve pushed myself forward, and that even if she was physically unable to perform, she I have a new attitude and a better belief in why this is was still an important part of the team. happening to me.”

“For me as a person, I know I’m injured, but Over her high school career, Nettles has been a I’m still willing to help,” Nettles said. “I’m still part of many organizations and activities. In addition willing to be a part of [everything]. I never thought to volleyball, basketball and track, she also has been I was going to be able to pursue any athletic cain dance for four years, including dance ensemble this reer... For me to have opportunities to still play and year. Additionally, Nettles is the president of My Sis- still go to school and be a normal student is really ter’s Keeper, a club promoting women’s success and amazing to me.” unity at Northwood.

Senior Natalie Womble, a teammate on the bas“She’s just this light when she walks into the ketball team, commented on the leadership that Nettles room,” dance teacher Leah Wilhelm said. “Everyone showed even while she was injured. just loves Erika because she doesn’t take herself too “Every practice we had with basketball, she was seriously, but she gets the job done. She’s dependable always there,” Womble said. “She’s a huge supporter too—everyone can depend on Erika Nettles.” of [the basketball team]. Whenever any of us had a Nettles’ classmates and teachers know her for vari- bad game, she would come talk to us on the bench and ous reasons, but when people talk about her, they all make sure we were doing okay.” seem to say similar things. Senior Morgan Simmons, Because of this mindset, basketball Coach Camera close friend, says that Nettles is a leader and that her on Vernon believes that Nettles’ abilities extend farther work ethic sets her apart. than sports.

“She is one of the hardest working people I know,” “She’s a great kid,” Vernon said. “She works hard Simmons said. “I’d be surprised to encounter some- in the classroom; she’s a great role model. She’s going body that didn’t know her name... for a good reason.” to do great things in our world that have nothing to do ACL tears usually require six months at minimum with basketball.”

Float your Troubles away

- Carrboro Ǥƪ Ǥ

April 2018, The Omniscient, Page 23

SUPER

CHARGED

The student athletes shown below have exhibited traits that have earned the recognition of their coaches for exemplary athletic accomplishments.

— Compiled by The Omniscient Staff

Skyler Waugh/The Omniscient Sam Vanolinda/The Omniscient

Courtney Wolfe/The Omniscient

Johnny Mazurek

Jack Holeck

“Johnny is a hard working fellow who puts his entire heart into our team. Can’t kill dirt.”

— Carter Stallings, junior

“Jack is a good leader. He works really hard at practice everyday, and he encourages his teammates.”

— Thompson Little, junior

Chloe Maynard/The Omniscient

Lars Hoeg

Through eight games, Hoeg leads the team with 20 goals and 21 assists.

Featured Athlete: Anna Goldman Photo courtesy of Mara Strayer

Natalie Womble

“Natalie is a leader on the field and always comes ready to play. In every game this season, she’s been fierce.”

— Coach David Holub

Sami Ennis

Senior Anna Goldman is team captain and first baseman of the softball team. Through the first eight games of the season, she leads the team with a .625 batting average, two home runs and nine RBI. She grew up playing softball and started playing travel ball when she was 14. Next year she will be playing softball at Meredith College. She said that while she is excited to play

Lanna Read/The Omniscient

“Sami Ennis is truly one of the most hardworking athletes I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Everyday I am floored by her passion, friendliness and commitment to her sport and her colleagues.”

— Elan Doyle, senior

Adam Rimolt/The Omniscient

softball in college, she doesn’t want to wish her time away at Northwood.

“I love to compete,” Goldman said. “This year we’ve had so much fun together. We don’t have a dominating softball team per se, but we just have fun and enjoy each other’s presence.”

Because of her seniority and experience, Goldman has become a go-to for advice for many of her teammates.

She said that she has developed the role of “team mom”.

“She has always known a lot about softball, so I feel like she has always been a leader,” teammate Candice Overcash said. “She has always been encouraging for her teammates and is really just a fun teammate to play with.”

Coach Jacqueline Sculli said that Goldman’s work ethic sets her apart.

“She has led the team by showing her work ethic, her dedication to the team and the players, by giving advice, supporting the players and making sure that everything is set for games,” Sculli said. “She’s a workhorse.”

— By Harper Johnson

Courtney Wolfe/The Omniscient

Tullis Davis

“He always trains very hard in practice, and it really shows in games by how determined he is to win.”

— Sam Hall, senior

Photo courtesy of Cooper Patterson

Cooper Patterson

“He’s demonstrating great leadership.

He comes out every day and makes sure that the team practices with a purpose.”

— Coach Nicholas McAlister