NHSOmniscientJanuary2018

Points of Interest

Photo courtesy of Jesse Singh

JESSE SINGH and other students participate in uncommon sports. pg 22

Joshua Eisner/The Omniscient

Photo courtesy of Stefan Ritt/Wikimedia Commons

THE NEW YEAR is finally here. Read your horoscope, students’ resolutions and more. pg 14

The Winter storm that hit North Carolina Jan. 3 kept students out of school for three days. Icy roads and freezing temperatures also prevented various events from taking place, including basketball games and the Fall art show. “I watched Netflix and ate Chinese food,” senior Kayla Reta said.“When I caught up with Jane The Virgin, I was sad, but then I started watching The Fosters.”

For some, the cold weather didn’t stop them from getting things done. “After the roads were clear enough, I did a lot of dance rehearsals, and all the women in my family went to go get our fancy dresses for my cousin’s wedding in April,” junior Anna Pickens said.

O MN I S CIEN T - THE NORTHWOOD -

EDITORS Sara Heilman Editor-in-Chief

Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore/Flickr

TRUMP’S FIRST YEAR OF PRESIDENCY is reacapped. pg 7

Chloe Mayard Online Editor STAFF WRITERS Tanner Althoff Madison Clark Heather Drake Joshua Eisner Sarah Fowler

Samuel Fuelleman Bella Goupil Ava Johnson CC Kallam Chase Miller Georgia O’Reilly Garrison Parrish Athziry Peralta Emma Pollard Emma Quasny Colin Revels

Jonathan Robbins Zoe Willard Riley Wolfgang 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.

Photo courtesy of Tracy Miller

This year, MARCHING BAND had an all-superior season for the first time in four years. pg 10

Page 2, The Omniscient, January 2018

Front Cover: Pittsboro labradoodle Lily plays in the snow.

Photo Credit: Ava Johnson

Uprooted by Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rican student starts over at Northwood

By Chloe Maynard Online Editor

seem really bad, like there was no power, and I was really worried.”

Axel was less informed on the damage left be“We spent the whole night in my mom’s room hind by the hurricane; therefore, he was more indifbecause the hurricane was too loud and the windows ferent to the situation. were about to burst out,” senior Diego Castro said.

“Honestly, part of me wanted to care, but then “My neighbor had to go inside his bathroom because my real part of me thought I would care more,” Axel his windows weren’t protected.” said. “I kind of just lived life on as usual. I was just Castro and his mom, Samantha, are two of the at home playing and talking to my friends. I couldn’t many Puerto Ricans who fled to the mainland United even tell what was happening.”

States after Hurricane Maria, a category 4 hurricane, Despite his initial reaction, after spending more time made landfall on the island Sept. 20. According to with Castro, Axel ended up being glad that his family CNN Money, approximately $45 to $95 billion in came to North Carolina. damage and a death toll of 51 was left behind by the “I didn’t know what to think,” Axel said. “I wanted to hurricane after it hit Puerto Rico. Much of the is- be happy, you know, because here they have a better life. land’s 3.4 million population was left without power Over there, there aren’t the jobs [that we have], they don’t or cell phone service. pay that well. But then, if they came over here, that means “[We moved here] because we don’t have anywhere else we wouldn’t go over [to Puerto Rico] as much. So I kind to go, and my school basically got destroyed,” Castro said. of didn’t want them to come, just so I could enjoy more According to Castro, even tasks like getting gas time [in Puerto Rico], despite them being in bad condior driving became extremely difficult. tions. At the same time, I wanted them to be happy and be “It was horrible,” Castro said. “The gas, it was over here with us. I’m glad they came now, though.” like five to nine hours just to get a little canister of Gabe was also happy that Castro and his mom came gasoline, and the [traffic] lights, people would just to live with his family here, and he has made efforts to drive through there. Like if you were walking down make the move easier for Castro. the street, you would have a 60 percent chance of get“I toured him around the school first off, and I gave Chloe Maynard/The Omniscient ting run over by a car, because they don’t really care him a bunch of tips on how life is over here,” Gabe said. “I DIEGO CASTRO moved to North Carolina from about the lights. There were some cops [directing] explained things to him and introduced him to my friends Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. traffic, but after they did their time, they just walked and other people.” away and didn’t care.”

Castro is less confident in his transition, but con“It was pretty boring [after the hurricane hit], because Castro and his mom came to North Carolina from firms he is becoming accustomed to life here. Castro there is no power, no signal—there is basically nothing,” their hometown of Gurabo, Puerto Rico, to live with his says the change from his old school of roughly 300 Castro said. “All you can do is just sit in your house and cousins, senior Gabe Soto and sophomore Axel Soto. Cas- students to Northwood’s population of about 1,400 wait and play board games. That’s all, nothing else.” tro is now a student at Northwood as well and will gradu- students is one of the most notable differences.

Castro and his family prepared for the storm, but ate with the class of 2018.

“It’s pretty hard, but slowly I’ll get there in time, it was more destructive than they imagined.

“At first I was scared, because [my family] didn’t even though there’s only one year left,” Castro said.

“We did get prepared, but we weren’t expecting have service, so they couldn’t call us and let us know Despite starting his life over in North Carolina, that much damage from a hurricane,” Castro said. they were okay,” Gabe said. “I wasn’t really expect- Castro recounts what life was like for him and other “The other thing is that the big companies like AT&T ing that much damage, and all of the reports made it residents of the island immediately post-hurricane. and all that didn’t prepare for it, so all of the communications just dropped.”

As a result, even more dangerous situations stemmed from the chaos.

“We were at this gas station, and there was this Chinese restaurant behind it, and the Chinese guy decided to fuel the [generator] while it was on, so it just caught fire and the whole restaurant [did too],” Castro said. “The cops moved the line out because there was a chance [the gas station] was going to explode.

Then they just restarted giving out gas and then the people right in front of [the line] ended up in the back so they started arguing. When you’re in the end of the line, and then it’s your turn, it’s like, ‘Oh, we ran out of gasoline—too bad.’”

Although the move has been difficult at times, Castro and his family moved to North Carolina to live a better life, and a collateral effect of that has been a closer bond with his family.

“We were pretty tight,” Gabe said. “Especially when we were kids, we would always hang out.

Whenever we went [to Puerto Rico] for Christmas, we would always hang out, because we’re a close family. We would have fireworks, mess around and make movies. Now we’re closer, because we spend a lot more time together.”

Castro is thankful for his family here.

“It is beneficial [to have my cousins], because if Chloe Maynard/The Omniscient they weren’t here, we would have nowhere to go,” CasDIEGO CASTRO (left) and GABE SOTO (right) have developed a closer relationship since Diego tro said. “If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be here.” moved to North Carolina.

January 2018, The Omniscient, Page 3

Illustration by Bella Goupil/The Omniscient

A Colorful Question: Does Northwood embrace cultural diversity?

By Georgia O’Reilly Staff Writer

Pittsboro 35 Thompson St. Suite 103 Pittsboro, NC 27312 (919) 542-5481

Chapel Hill 101 Conner Dr. Suite 401 Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (919) 929-2365

www.severtsmiles.com Page 4, The Omniscient, January 2018

people or the art people. But we have to look at society as a whole and look at what impact has been made.”

Some math teachers, such as Jack Hunter, have Every year, students are asked to fill out a percep- come up with creative ways of incorporating diversity tion survey of their teachers. The questions are usually into their teachers. about how much students respect the teacher in the “Mr. Hunter did a lesson a little while ago where classroom, the way teachers carry out lessons, whether he related math and the diversity of the student body, they understand students’ needs, etc. This year, how- and he used math to explain how we’re all related,” ever, there was a different question at the end of the senior Austin Parsons said. survey. It stated, “In this class I am As well as teachers exposed to a variety of cultural les- “Our country is based on having this as part of their sons that celebrate cultural diver- a big melting pot, so the lessons, the school is also sity.” Many students were puzzled steps to embrace culmore you understand dif- taking by this question, and even some tural diversity more. teachers were unclear on what this ferent cultures, the more “Charger Day was anquestion meant. it will help put you in a other way of embracing “This is a part of our school everybody’s diversity, difbetter place.” improvement plan this year based ferences and likes,” Smith on the climate of the United — DeLisa Cohen, Career said. “Pairing you with States,” assistant principal Mattie Development Coordinator people you are usually not Smith said. “Teachers are evaluused to hopefully helps ated yearly, and as part of their evaluations, [admin- you form new friendships.” istration] looks to see if they are embracing diversity The school hopes to make every teacher’s lesin their classrooms.” sons include references to cultural diversity, whether Many students didn’t know how to answer this it’s discussed for a whole period, or shown through question, especially because some believe cultural di- a short video. versity cannot even be incorporated into certain class“In the future, when you go either off to college es, such as maths and sciences. or into the workplace, you’re always going to be faced “For some teachers, [incorporating it] is kind of with different cultures, so it’s a really good thing to hard because of the subject they teach, but for other understand other people’s point of view,” Career Deteachers, where they teach history, for example, they velopment Coordinator DeLisa Cohen said. “[You should try to be more aware of culture and try to teach should be] learning tolerance especially in the school it to their classes,” freshman Princess Scotton said. or in the workplace, college, wherever you are. Our Administration believes that there are simple ways country is based on a big melting pot, so the more you for teachers in departments such as math and science understand different cultures, the more it will help put to incorporate culture into their lessons. you in a better place.”

“I think there are a lot of opportunities in science, Students also believe that cultural diverbecause science is a lot easier to connect to current sity recognition is necessary in their everyday events and real world issues,” assistant principal school environment.

Janice Giles said. “It becomes harder with math, but “I think it is important because lots of people just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. It come from different cultures and backgrounds and could even just be a matter of using culturally diverse we want to recognize that,” sophomore Mackenzie names in world problems; using culturally diverse Holland said. names that represent our students is one option This question may have caused confusion in for math.” the school, but the reasons behind it were for the Some believe that classes such as history and benefit of the students, as well as the school’s English already have enough cultural lessons, atmosphere as a whole. while some believe none of their classes feature “[Administration] wants to make sure everyone these lessons. feels, number one, safe, as well as included,” Smith “I think it depends on the objective, the different said. “We are all different in ways, but we are also all types of lessons, the different departments,” Smith alike in ways. Everybody should feel proud of their said. “Social studies, I’m sure, would have an easier diversity, proud of where they come from and at the time of integrating cultural diversity than the dance same time make Northwood a better place.”

NUTHOUSE PARTICIPANTS attend a soccer game in low numbers.

Sara Heilman/The Omniscient

Spirited Debate: Does Northwood have school spirit?

By Heather Drake & Emma Quasny Staff Writers Participants of the Nuthouse celebrate a victory by throwing white powder and streamers in the air to represent the night’s theme: white out. The Northwood Nuthouse is a representation of what school spirit looks like, and a lot of students are a part of this organization.

Some students even classified this as the most spirited thing about the school. However, many students find Northwood to be less spirited than they think it should be.

“A lot of students at Northwood have a bad morale of the school,” sophomore class president Shamar Wilson said.

Some students say that Northwood has a contagious negative attitude that spreads throughout the student body.

“I think [Northwood] doesn’t really have great school spirit,” junior Mackenzie Mason said. “I think there should be more teacher, staff and student involvement.

I think that teachers have a lot of school spirit, but the students do not. I think that there would be more fun activities that we could do to involve the students instead of just spirit week. If there were activities that got the students more involved and the students enjoyed, we would have more school spirit.”

However, freshman Mia Bone feels that the Northwood population does show spirit.

“I’d like to think that for the most part that this school has spirit, because when we have big games, everyone participates, and during spirit week, a lot of people dress up,” Bone said.

Principal Justin Bartholomew believes that the alumni of Northwood play a critical part in the spirit of the school.

“I think the biggest source of school pride comes from our alumni,” Bartholomew said. “Especially if they grew up here, they love this place.”

Bartholomew believes that he won’t be able to excite his children about going to Northwood as well as someone who grew up here in Pittsboro and was a student at the school.

“I think that’s why our alumni base is so important, because they really are a connection to what we have done in the past and what we could be doing to get things going,” Bartholomew said.

History teacher Skip Thibault thinks the lack of spirit could be directly correlated to the start of Northwood itself.

“School spirit is something that goes back and something that needs to be part of the culture of the school,” Thibault said. “Part of it is that we haven’t had a lot of continuity. I’ve been here for 18 years, and there’s been seven different principals, so if you don’t have the continuity in leadership it’s harder to have people get excited about the school.”

Bartholomew believes the idea that social media has influenced the lack of school spirit.

“Back then, there was no social media,” Bartholomew said. “All contact was face to face, and when you’re out with your friends, you’re out with your friends, and you have the common interest of going to the same school.

Now, everyone belongs to everything. Yes, you belong to Northwood High School, but there’s this group and that group and then there’s social media. You’re connected to all these other people and a worldwide network that we belong to, so their circle of who they communicate with goes far outside of Northwood. Getting to know face to face with another person and interacting with them, not on social media, but in person, is a lost skill.”

Data Manager Bonnie Morris talks about her days as a Northwood student in the 70s.

“There is not as much school spirit as there used to be in the school,’” Morris said. “I think it’s because [Northwood] is a bigger school, and times have changed.”

Morris mentioned that there used to be nothing to do in Pittsboro; like Bartholomew, she believes that new technology has had an effect on the spirit of students.

“We came to after school functions all the time and ball games because it was the thing to do,” Morris said.

“We didn’t have computers, we didn’t have cellphones, we didn’t have any of that stuff. If we wanted to talk to each other, you had to either go home with them for the weekend or all meet at the ball games.”

Junior Kristin Kennihan, a former Northwood student now attending Broughton High School in Raleigh, says lack of school spirit is just a part our generation.

“Everyone either is engaged in their phone or buried in their laptop [at Broughton],” Kennihan said. “No one really communicates anymore, and it is sad that our generation has come to this.”

So the question is: What can be done about the lack of school spirit at Northwood?

Student council organized Charger Day, where students had the opportunity to participate in outdoor activities and interact with new people instead of sitting in a desk doing classwork all day. While some students found Charger Day worthwhile, others made the decision to stay home.

Bartholomew estimated about 20 percent of the student population did not attend: a large amount of students being seniors. “[Charger Day] was fun because we got to meet new people and play games with them, and even if the games were lame to some students, they were still fun to me,” junior Daisy Kilgore said.

On the other hand, some students felt that Charger Day was a waste of time.

“I thought my time could be well spent somewhere else and doing something else,” Mason said. “I personally, honestly, would’ve rather had class. It’s just not something that I want to do.”

Kilgore suggested an alternative option.

“Maybe if students didn’t want to do games, they could have a spot where they could read or do homework, not feeling like they are forced to participate in the activities,” Kilgore said.

Mason even offered a completely different scenario instead of Charger Day. “[We could have something] maybe like a movie day, something that is more appealing to students,” Mason said. “I feel like Charger Day put us more back into elementary school and middle school.”

Bartholomew disagrees and believes students should not pass up an opportunity where they can meet new people and interact with each other.

“I think that students think a lot of things are childish, and I think that’s sad that someone feels like they have to be so grown up that they can’t go have a fun and competitive day,” Bartholomew said.

Bartholomew believes that the students who don’t participate in school events are doing so to their own detriment.

“You have one opportunity at high school,” Bartholomew said. “If you decide you’re going to bail all the time and live behind your computer or your phone, then you certainly can make that decision, but I’m just telling you, not just for high school, you’re going to miss out on a lot of your life.”

January 2018, The Omniscient, Page 5

Page 6, The Omniscient, January 2018

Year of Trump: A recap of the president’s term so far

By Joshua Eisner Staff Writer Few would disagree that the 2016 election was one of the most controversial in recent memory. Scandals on both sides, divisive rhetoric and sweeping promises left few without an opinion on who should lead the country. On

Plans:

election night, Donald Trump secured the highest office in the United States. With a Republican-controlled Congress and White House, the Republican party has an opportunity to enact the policies and programs it has been championing. With the one year anniversary of Trump’s presidency behind us, now is a good time to look back at what the president has accomplished so far.

Progress:

Tax Reform: A big part of Trump’s platform was a reworking of the tax code to make it more business friendly to boost economic growth. The deficit would be made up by reducing and closing loopholes that allowed for evasion of tax payments.

Tax Reform: A Republican-sponsored tax reform bill is currently working its way through Congress. The bill has already passed in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congress still has to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions.

The Wall: Probably one of Trump’s biggest campaign promises was to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to bolster existing fences along the border.

The Wall: The border wall project was authorized Jan. 25.

Various companies are constructing prototypes in an effort to secure the contract to build the wall.

Muslim Immigration: Throughout his campaign Trump promised a ban on immigration for Muslims. This was a key part of his plan for increasing national security.

Muslim Immigration: Trump has enacted through executive order multiple travel bans that prohibit travel from several majority Muslim countries to the U.S. The bans are currently facing legal challenges.

Healthcare Reform: Since the beginning of his candidacy, one goal of Trump’s has been to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, an Obama-era program that established state-run marketplaces for health insurance.

Healthcare Reform: While parts of the ACA have been rolled back and funding to the program has been cut, a full repeal has failed to pass Congress.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Rocky Andrews, junior “He is delivering adequately on what he promised to do. He is acclimating to the task ahead of him.

I don’t think he was prepared for the amount of work that comes with the presidency.”

Tyler Moore, junior “He has not delivered with what he promised to the American people. They haven’t passed a tax bill, and the Affordable Care Act repeal has failed.

He just isn’t delivering on the promises he made.”

Sam Earnshaw, junior “I feel like what he has done with executive orders, he has done quite well. A lot of what he is trying to do in Congress has been blocked by the senate.”

January 2018, The Omniscient , Page 7

Mayor Perry, Extraordinary: Who is the Mayor of Pittsboro?

By Madison Clark Staff Writer

very concerned about that, and we’ve been working with the state of North Cindy Perry, former real estate attorney and a Carolina Environmental ferocious recycler, was elected to a second term as Management Group to get Pittsboro’s mayor Nov. 7. As a former “city girl” from them to monitor the [Haw] California, Perry moved to North Carolina to attend River and monitor where Guilford College. She married into a family from Pitts- that chemical is coming boro, thus beginning her life in rural North Carolina. from. It may be coming “My father-in-law was one of the sweetest and from wastewater treatment smartest farmers I’ve ever known,” Perry said. “He plants or industrial wastes. taught me, being a city girl, so much about being That’s been something a kind and caring member of the community. If that’s really important for there was anyone sick in the community, he and my me to work on.” mother-in-law were always out taking food, taking In order to resolve care of animals or feeding cows if somebody was issues like this, Perry atdown and had a broken leg or something.” tends meetings with other Perry retired in 2014 after working as a real estate mayors in the state. attorney for Chatham County for 25 years. She later “[Pittsboro] is the first Photo courtesy of City of Pittsburgh ran for mayor because she “wanted to keep giving municipality to drink back to the community.” out of the Haw River, and CINDY PERRY signs a climate charter in Chicago Dec. 2017.

“I’ve always had an interest in local politics,” Perry Fayetteville is the second,” memorials, plaques and other markers that are on said. “I’ve helped other people in their campaign and Perry said. “We sat there and had lunch together public property without permission from the N.C. never thought that I would run myself. When I retired and said, ‘Okay, how can we solve this? We’ll have Historical Commission. from practicing law, I didn’t miss the work, but I a conference call with the State of North Carolina “One of the things I want to do is to maybe missed the people. I really got to know a lot of people; Water Quality Division. We’ll tell our local legislahave a listening session and ask people to come I really enjoyed what I call ‘the happy side of practictive organization.’ We got all that just sitting together and give us their ideas about Pittsboro in general ing law.’ I missed those people, and I wanted to keep at a lunch meeting.” and the statue and the racial divide that we’ve had giving back to the community by running for mayor.”

Being mayor isn’t a solo gig. Perry works with the through the years,” Perry said. “When I first came From her time on the West Coast, Perry developed Board of Commissioners and attends their bi-monthly to Pittsboro, blacks were not able to be served in strong feelings about the environment, including how meetings to hear the public’s voice and make decirestaurants. There used to be a restaurant that served Pittsboro could take its first steps toward being a sions for the town. white people in the front and blacks had to come more sustainable community.

“I’d like to think that my personal style as well as through the back door and take their food and take it “I went to Food Lion the other day and tried to my personal philosophy is to bring people together home. That’s just heartbreaking.” talk them into leading the way to do away with plasto make good decisions, good researched decisions,” Other tough issues to tackle include the cultural tic bags and to not wrap all the produce,” Perry said.

Perry said. “We have some excellent town commisimpact of Chatham Park on Pittsboro. While Perry “If I want six apples, I can pick them out myself. sioners who study their [planning] packet, and most is a non-voting mayor, she attends meetings with I don’t need for them to be packaged in a tray that of the board will have questions written out about Chatham Park to acquire information and explore can’t be recycled and wrapped in plastic. If you go to things they’re concerned about and things that reach ways to make the development better. the West Coast, where I was raised, in California and the depth of issues. We have a public expression “When Chatham Park starts building things, Washington, they don’t have grocery stores that have period in our meetings where people come to speak there’s probably going to be Targets and hopefully everything wrapped in plastic. It’s a big, big waste.” about traffic issues, a hole in the pavement or water not too many big box stores,” Perry said. “Chatham Eliminating chemicals in Pittsboro’s water has pressure or they don’t like a zoning proposal.”

Park is going to make some big changes, but they also become a priority for Perry.

Sometimes, specific issues regarding Pittsboro can came here for a reason. They came here because “We have a chemical (1,4-dioxane) in our be completely out of the local government’s hands. we’re a fun, welcoming and warm community, and water that is coming from upstream in Burlington “Our biggest divider has been the issue of the con- I don’t think they’re going to destroy that. I think or Greensboro,” Perry said. “That chemical is not federate soldier monument,” Perry said. “We really they would be foolish to destroy the very thing that proven to be a carcinogen, but it is suspected. I’m haven’t pursued that, partly because we just don’t brought them here.” have the right to. The legAside from law making and representing the islature passed a law about town, Perry is often invited to attend events such as a year or two ago that said birthday parties or family reunions. municipalities don’t have “This family had a great big happy birthday parthe right to take down ty and they asked for me to come and speak,” Perry statues or confederate mesaid. “It was so much fun to celebrate the long lives morials. It was almost like of accomplishments. The man that was turning 90 they were anticipating it, years old has these wonderful memories of Pittsboro that we were going to have in the old days. He has the greatest insights on how this division. Sure enough, incredible this community really is.” we have.”

At the end of the day, Perry believes that Pittsboro Former North Carois truly a “unique” town due to the welcoming atlina governor Pat Mctitude of its inhabitants.

Crory signed the law in “We don’t carry grudges here,” Perry said.

2015 following the call “People have come before the Board and they might to remove Confederate be pretty angry about something that happened in the statues after the shootcommunity, but then they’ll come back and smile and ing in Charleston, South shake your hand and say, ‘Thank you for helping that Carolina. The law preget resolved.’ Look at the signs that say ‘Love and vents removing, relocating Tolerance.’ This is a really unique community from Photo courtesy of Cindy Perry or altering monuments, the standpoint of really caring about each other.”

CINDY PERRY attends meetings in Raleigh with other mayors of North Carolina.

Page 8, The Omniscient, January 2018

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January 2018, The Omniscient, Page 9

10 Entertainment

Not to Toot Their Own Horns: Marching band sets new standard of excellence

By Garrison Parrish Staff Writer

Bright lights. Blaring horns. Banging drums. A figure in a red-and-white-striped hat. The marching band performs its Dr. Seuss-themed show, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” at Ledford High School. The judges give them a Superior, a score between 80 and 100 percent proficiency.

In each subsequent competition, the band brings home a Superior. Finally, the band wins its last Superior Nov. 4, marking its first All-Superior season in four years and in band director Brett Cox’s tenure.

“I remember we marched up to the field once they revealed it on the board and everyone was screaming,” said junior Marcus Jackson, who portrayed The Cat In The Hat in a voiceover narration of the Seuss book for the show.

“This is our first [All-Superior season] in four years; it was really long overdue.”

Junior Clayton Hinson, an assistant drum major, feels the same way.

“It means a whole lot to me, it means a whole lot to the band—the sense of pride that we have for being able to show off how great we are and doing the best we could possibly do,” Hinson said.

The band has been striving for this goal since it won its last All-Superior season in 2013. Each year, members said, it has demonstrated an upward trend in quality of performance.

This progress culminated in this year’s band, whose success Cox credits to two factors.

“One, this leadership team has been with me for four years, so they’re the first group that’s really grasped onto what my personality is, the kind of leadership that I want out of my students and the kind of culture to get set,” Cox said.

“They implemented that well. They led well. They upheld the culture that I wanted to promote.”

The second factor is the band’s concept, inspired by Dr.

Photo courtesy of Tracy Miller

BRETT COX led the marching band to an AllSuperior season for the first time in his tenure.

Photo courtesy of Tracy Miller

MARCHING BAND performs in its first competition at Ledford High School Sept. 30.

Seuss’ Oh, The Places You’ll Go! “Our generation is really nostalgic—the millennial generation, that is—and to think back and connect with something from your childhood resonates with us, so I think the show resonated with the students,” Cox said. “They liked the music, and they got behind it.”

Senior Macie Marsh, a drum major, credits the band’s success to another factor.

“We’ve had this director for four years,” Marsh said.

“We’ve had him for a longer period of time, so we know his work ethic and we were able to match our work ethics, but past bands didn’t have that same ethic.”

This year held particular significance to Cox. “I didn’t tell the kids this, but in my mind, with the show that I had planned and the leadership that I had, I knew that if any year we were going to do it, it was going to be this year, and in my mind it was All-Superior or bust,” Cox said.

Having fallen short in previous years, the marching band was hungry for an All-Superior season.

“No one in our band had ever experienced getting AllSuperior before, so we kind of had a drought—four years of not getting one—so it meant a lot to everyone in the group to get that Superior for our seniors,” Hinson said. “I think that determination and that dedication made it matter a lot more to everyone.”

Last year’s band failed to earn an All-Superior season by a hair. In the first competition, the band scored a 78.9, just below the minimum 80 points required for a Superior. Every other competition that season earned a Superior. Cox says the band failed to earn that Superior because it had not fully learned the show.

“I think this group bought into the music, they practiced on their own more and they learned the show quicker, and that was the number one thing,” Cox said. “We had the whole show, before we went to the first competition, on the field and ready to go from start to finish.”

Winning a Superior in the first competition relieved pres-

sure and restored confidence for the band.

“We were really nervous at first because we’d been practicing a lot, and our first competition was nerve-racking,” junior Meredith Clouse said. “[In] our first competition, we got a Superior, and we knew from there that it would keep going.”

This, however, was not the greatest challenge in store for the marching band.

“The number one obstacle of the year was the second competition at Wakefield High School,” Cox said. “It was a rainy day, and we were really excited about how well we did at Ledford the week before, so we show up to Wakefield, and the weather kind of gets in our heads a little bit.

We go out there and we’re about to march on the field and it just starts to downpour on us. The weather got in the kids’ heads, and we performed like it. We still came out with a Superior, but we knew that it wasn’t our best run. We come off the field and it’s dead quiet, and the students know that they didn’t put their all into it. They had a choice when they came off that field that day: they could mope around about it and be sad, or they could use it as fuel for the next one; and they chose the second.”

Indeed, the marching band managed to bring home an All-Superior for the eighth time since 2000. Having achieved a milestone in band history, Cox and his students believe this trend will continue.

“I think that with this season, we have a new standard of excellence where we’re expected to be every year, so I think that we’re going to do better,” junior Sam Shi said.

Cox hopes that he and his creative staff continue to produce high-quality shows that motivate his students. However, he hopes band members give full effort not because of their opinion of the show, but because of the marching band’s high standard of excellence.

“I hope that the underclassmen don’t have this sense that this was a one-time thing,” Cox said. “It’s a one-time thing for now. Hopefully, this builds a culture of excellence and it becomes something that is a regular occurrence.”

COVER ART COURTESY OF CASSIE NAVARRO

CHARLEY JAMES’ cover art as featured on SoundCloud.

Charley and the Music Factory: Senior pursues music career

BY ZOE WILLARD STAFF WRITER Whether you know him by “Charley James” or just by Caleb, students often associate senior Caleb James with his musical talent and lyrical knack. James is a student who has been creating beats and writing songs since middle school. His work is uploaded to the popular music streaming platform SoundCloud, where some of his songs have received thousands of plays.“I wrote my first song when I was 12,” James said. “I’ve been writing music pretty much since then.”

James said his inspiration to create music came directly from his love of music of all types.

“I listen to everything,” James said. “I take inspiration from the rap music I listen to, the samples I create and everything else I listen to.”

James also attributes his inspiration to visual arts.

Cassie Navarro, James’ girlfriend and cover artist, creates the pieces that compliment James’ work.

The artistic pairing began after she created the art for his song “Baby We’re Optimists Remember?”

“You don’t want a super loud piece of cover art with a minimalistic album,” Navarro said. “I really think cover art is so important, because it’s usually what I picture in my head when I think of a song, so it stands as sort of a symbol or visualization.”

Navarro also notes the development she has seen in James’ music.

“I feel like he’s experimenting a lot with different styles and sounds,” Navarro said. “When I compare his [work] from the beginning of the year to now, I can really see a large amount of growth. I really like how he’s fearless with his music and creates things that have a lot of variety, which is important when trying to make a strong body of work. He’s one of the hardest working people I know.”

James also collaborates with other artists, such as childhood friend Sam Kofi. Kofi and James met at their middle school in Georgia, where they began creating music together. Their song “Tony” has received over 34,000 plays on SoundCloud.

“I think the most inspiring thing about his growth as an artist is that he’s found his niche or

specific sound that he loves and tailors to,” Kofi said. “His production skills have definitely gotten better—it’s wild. I come up with the ideas and lyrics for it, then record them and run demos by him. All of the songs I have released right now have been produced by him.”

Kofi also notes the determination and drive James possesses.

“In seventh or eighth grade, we used to sit around and mess with MixCraft 7 just making horrible beats,” Kofi said. “When he moved to [North Carolina], he started saving money like crazy and bought all this music equipment and just started off making beats.”

“I was in a journalism class my freshman year,” James said. “I told the teacher I wanted to write under a pen name and they said, ‘Okay, what name do you want to use?’ Off the top of my head, I said ‘Charley Longhorn.’ I also had a math teacher who could never remember my name…. He told me I ‘looked like a Charley.’

So half of my friends knew me as Charley, half as Caleb, and that’s where Charley James came from.”

Although currently music is a passion of James’, he plans to one day make it a career and further build his future with music. James will attend the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia this fall to study sound design.

“I hope to be doing shows in the future [and making] new songs,” James said. “I definitely want my career to be in music.”

James’ EP will be released early 2018.

“He’s one of the hardest working people I know.”

— Cassie Navarro

Use a QR code scanner to access James’ music through his SoundCloud.

January 2018, The Omniscient, Page 11

— Compiled by Tanner Althoff Allen & Sons’ Located just off of 15-501, three miles from the esteemed Northwood High School, Allen & Sons’ offers an easy and delicious way to get some barbeque.

The atmosphere is comforting with a sit-in restaurant and a to-go counter.

The sandwich is heavy and has a lot of meat, an excellent fill up. It was made with shredded pork, cooked well except for a few chewy parts which really took away from the overall quality. The sauce is a Carolina vinegar based which the meat seems to be cooked in rather than one that you put on yourself.

This lack of choice causes another problem for the overall quality. The bun was the biggest issue, as it was soggy on the edges and seemed to be a bun that one could buy at a local store. The coleslaw was chopped rather than sliced or shredded and had no carrots, just cabbage. However, the slaw was very well made and added a great element to the sandwich. For a side order I got tater-tots which had a golden brown, crispy outside with a soft and warm inside.

Overall, this sandwich on its own doesn’t match up with the others sampled as it was simple and quickly made. However, the price and convenience make up for the overall quality.

Overall:

Crossties BBQ Right in downtown Carrboro, Crossties BBQ makes for a great date night or family dinner. The scenery of the place is the best of the places I visited. It is built using old train cars—the seating area is in a passenger cabin and the bar and kitchen is in a storage car.

The sandwich was $10 and came with one side; I decided to get the smoked gouda macaroni cheese, topped with cayenne pepper. This was an excellent side item that complemented the sandwich. The sandwich was made with pork that had some pink parts to it and didn’t have much mass.

For 10 bucks, I was expecting something more filling. On the outside was a toasted, brioche bun, which was an excellent touch. The slaw was made of cabbage, beets and carrots, with a slight vinegar taste. For sauce there were three choices: a vinegar based, a Texas style tomato base and a Memphis style with a hint of bourbon. This variety was an added bonus as you get to decide which is best.

Overall, the atmosphere made this place, but for the price, I was very disappointed in the amount of meat. Everything else from the variety of sauce to the bun was excellent, but the lack of meat really takes away from the sandwich.

Overall:

City BBQ Off of highway 54 in Durham you’ll find City BBQ, which also has locations in Raleigh, Cary and Garner. The building has wooden barrels and walls which worked really well for a BBQ place. It offers both take-out and dine in which is always a huge plus.

The sandwich was just $7 and came to $10 with two sides. The bun was pedestrian at best, similar to Allen & Sons’, as it was just a hamburger bun that you could buy at your local grocery store. The meat, however, was the best I have tried because of the quality, amount and the fact that every bite was cooked all the way through. It didn’t come with coleslaw and didn’t even seem to come with that option. Now for the sauce: City BBQ gives you an option of a multitude of sauces ranging from Carolina vinegar to Memphis sweet bases. This variety was the best I have seen and the taste was even better. The sides I chose were the mac and cheese and the gumbo. The mac and cheese, if I’m being honest, was some of the worst I’ve ever had as it had an almost sour aftertaste. The gumbo, on the other hand, was very good as it had a good element of spice and was loaded with a variety of ingredients.

Overall, City BBQ exceeded expectations of a chain restaurant. With the quality of the meat and the wide variety of sauces, this place ranks among the top of the list. Though the bun and mac and cheese were big disappointments, I didn’t feel these flaws affected the quality of the sandwich too much.

Overall:

Page 12, The Omniscient, January 2018

Original Q Shack Where University Drive and 15-501 meet, you’ll find the Original Q Shack. The building is well, a shack, and has an outdoor picnic eating area along with tables inside.

The meat was the best I tried. It was succulent and melted in my mouth.

I could tell that the owners here spend a lot of time perfecting the meat. The bun was simple, but still a step above just a regular old store bought hamburger bun. The sauce on the sandwich was a North Carolina vinegar base. Like the meat, it was the best I tried as it was a perfect mix of tangy, sweet, and salty.

The only issue I had with the sauce was the lack of choice; for example, I couldn’t get a Texas style barbeque on the pork. For sides I got mac and cheese and hush puppies which were both made very well. The mac and cheese, though simple, had a rich creamy flavor. The hush puppies were crisp and had a sweet and salty taste.

Overall, what made this place for me was the convenience and the price.

My order came out within five minutes but it didn’t feel like fast food. Along with that, my meal was under $10. Though the quality was not affected by the price or the speed.

Overall:

Riley to the Rescue: Advice from yours truly Welcome to Riley to the Rescue, where the one and only me, Riley Wolfgang, is given the chance to take a peek at your life and season it with whatever I see fit. If you don’t like the seasoning, make the meal yourself. And keep in mind, although clearly intelligent, I am a student just like you, so if anything bad happens as a result of my seasoning, don’t hold me to it.

What is the best thing to know as a freshman?

Dear freshman, It is cool to be involved! I am a huge advocate for having school spirit and being involved in different clubs and organizations. I know that it’s intimidating to try out for a sports team or join a new club as a freshman, especially when all of the jaded and angry upperclassmen around you are talking about how much they hate Northwood, but if you don’t start now, you won’t be able to grow as much as you could by the time you’re a senior. It is cool to be involved! Go to football games and be in the Nut House. As a Nut House captain, let me tell you how annoying it is to see all of the freshmen hiding behind the bleachers making out or doing whatever you guys do back there. Cheer on the team and get into the Nut House themes!

Also, upperclassmen do not hate freshmen. We aren’t mean and we don’t bully people, so if you need advice or help or anything that one of us can help you with, any upperclassman would love to be your friend and help you out. I promise.

friend in a nonconfrontational way and ask how they feel about the situation. As a rule of thumb, please don’t try to date one of your bestie’s new exes or anyone they dated for a super long time that they recently broke up with. For example, my friends each kind of have one guy that’s “off limits” to the rest of the friend group, and we have always been able to respect that. If you don’t want to bring up to your friend that you like their ex, maybe you could casually suggest discussing your list of “off limits” exes and see if said ex is on said list. This topic will always be murky water, so tread cautiously.

What if you need to be put on birth control, but don’t know how to ask your parents?

Dear Ms. Responsible, I’m very glad you asked this! Right off the bat, I want to say that I am always an advocate for honesty being the best policy, but I completely understand that sometimes, it’s just not an option. While many people don’t take this into consideration, birth control can be used for many more things besides preventing pregnancy. I suggest that you research some other

I recently got back together with my ex and I’ve noticed him talking a lot to the girl who he cheated on me with. Should I be okay with this? Should I ask him about her? Or should I just ignore it?

Dear He is Probably Still Cheating, NEVER GET BACK TOGETHER WITH SOMEONE WHO CHEATED ON YOU is the first thing I have to say about this. No, you shouldn’t be okay with it, you shouldn’t ask him about her and you shouldn’t ignore it. You should say, “Listen here, buddy,” and break up with him. If someone cheats on you, they do not value your feelings or your relationship, despite what they might say to try to apologize or get you back. There are plenty of fish in the sea, so why are you letting a flounder swim in place of what could be a mahi-mahi?

Is it a bad friend move to have a crush on your best friend’s ex?

Dear Crushing Bestie, In most cases, probably yes. Your friend will most likely be angry, but honesty is the best policy. If you have mutual feelings with one of your friend’s exes, you should talk to your

Illustration

by

Ava Johnson/The Omniscient

positive effects of taking the pill and present to your parents some other health benefits that apply to you. Do you want to regulate and lighten your period? Do you struggle with acne and want to decrease your breakouts? Again, I am always an advocate for being open with your parents, because in the long run, things will be much easier if your parents know the truth. However, since saying is much easier than doing, and if your parents will completely shut down the idea due to religious reasons or concerns for you, it is possible to obtain a birth control prescription without parental permission. There are many health clinics relatively close to Pittsboro, and you can set up an appointment with them so that you can have one of their health care employees coach you more and write your prescription. If you choose not to tell your parents the truth, it will create the possibility for conflict; however, your health and well being are the most important at the end of the day, so take the steps to do what is best for you. And also—seventy percent of US teens have had sex by the time they are 19, so if this is the decision you want to make for yourself, please do it safely. And don’t forget, sex is kind of a big deal, so make sure you’re ready.

Why does Riley Wolfgang have so much power in the school?

Dear Concerned Peasant, Honestly, I wish I could tell you.

I was dating someone and then she broke up with me and a different guy asked her to prom. She said yes, what should I do now? I have two classes with her, and I really want her back.

Dear Dumped Boyfriend, I am sorry to say it, but she is just not into you any more. If you broke up, you’re done.

If she’s already going to prom with someone else, you’re done. If said girl was still interested in you, she would not be going to prom with someone else already. I know that rejection sucks, but the best thing to do at this point is move on. If you really feel like you can’t move on without talking to her, or you still feel like you need closure, ask her in a mature way if you guys could talk about stuff such as why your relationship didn’t work out. You can also use this as a chance to ask any questions regarding your relationship that you want answered once and for all. And who knows, as a little glimmer of hope, prom is like four months away, so there’s a chance they won’t even end up going together. But don’t do anything stupid to try to break them up. You could always find a smokin’ hot prom date to make her jealous, which is a little immature, but I’m not here to judge. Good luck!

January 2018, The Omniscient, Page 13

Happy 2018!

— Compiled by CC Kallam & Emma Pollard

2018 HOROSCOPES

MY NEW YEARS RESOLUTION IS...

Aries (3/21-4/19): Your 2018 will be full of success, energy and determination. Your health will be excellent and you will grow to be more mature and decisive.

“I’m five foot and my new year’s resolution is to be five foot three.”

- Sasha Swift, sophomore

Taurus (4/20-5/20): Your 2018 will be full of peace and freedom. You will gain power and live harmoniously, while also leaving time to rest and relax.

Gemini (5/21-6/20): Your 2018 will be full of new opportunities and will consist of high energy levels. Business will bring you benefits and rewards will be high.

Cancer (6/21-7/22): Your 2018 will be a positive one. You will be lucky and fortunate, with a gain in social status. There will be developments and advancements, and you will have a more lavish lifestyle.

Leo (7/23-8/22): Your 2018 will show radical changes and you will journey on a road that will eventually lead you to success. Along this road, you will experience new things and become more materialistic.

Virgo (8/23-9/22): Your 2018 will be full of many activities and will lead you to pursue your goals. You will have a rise in social status and in achievements.

Libra (9/22-10/22): Your 2018 will give you more time to focus on yourself and will bring good opportunities your way. Your hard work will result in an increasing income.

Scorpio (10/23-11/21): Your 2018 will bring fun, laughter, happiness and serenity. Throughout the year, inner peace will be accomplished.

This will lead you to dominate over your opponents.

“To pass my freshman year with A’s.”

- Andre Jackson, freshman “My new year’s resolution is to get an A in Dr. Raymond’s class.”

-Rachel Covington, freshman “I suppose one would normally say to get active and in shape, but I believe I’m already there, so maybe eat healthier.”

- Cera Powell, junior “My new year’s resolution is to get more sleep. Trying to get at least seven hours a night, and I’m hoping by the next New Years, to get at least eight hours a night.”

-Jackie Harpham, sports medicine teacher “My new year’s resolution is to pass AP US History with at least a B.” - Jennifer Dowden, junior “I’m going to start going to the gym everyday before school with my friend Derek Cohen.”

- Henry Taylor, sophomore

UPCOMING EVENTS January

February

March

April

Sagittarius (11/22-12/21): Your 2018 will conquer frustrations and bring a new level of energy. You will work hard and grow further in life.

- The Grammy Awards - Exams

- The Oscars - March Madness

- Spring Break - Prom

Capricorn (12/22-1/19): Your 2018 will bring a sense of joy and happiness and reveal hidden talents. You will gain authority and power, which will improve weaknesses.

- Winter Olympics in South Korea - Super Bowl LII

May

June

July

August

- NASA launches InSight - Avengers: Infinity War

- Graduation - World Cup

- Wimbledon - San Diego Comic-Con

- School starts

September

October

November

December

- Pepperfest - Youth Olympics

- Shakori Hills - State Fair - World

- Voting - Death Faire

- Pittsboro Christmas Parade - Reindeer Run

Aquarius (1/20-2/18): Your 2018 will lead you to further understand your emotional self, bringing along good relationships and fame.

Pisces (2/19-3/20): Your 2018 will lead you through an important phase in life, when your desires and ambitions take flight. Expect changes to your lifestyle, career and future personality.

This is the year of the dog on the Chinese calendar. People born in the year of the dog (1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018) possess the traits of honesty, friendliness, loyalty, intelligence and responsibility.

Page 14, The Omniscient, January 2018

Puppies of Pittsboro

“For many years he played a singing reindeer at the preschool I taught music at.... he would join in and sing with me. Now he is requested by friends and family for singing “Happy Birthday”. People love it [when Benji sings]. He also loves to join in for the National Anthem.”

BENJI, Miniature Schnauzer, 8 years old

Ava Johnson/The Omniscient

“We got Lily about three years ago. We weren’t really looking for a dog but one of my friends called and asked if we were looking for one. She said she ran into her old pastor who was fostering a fourmonth-old Golden Doodle puppy.... We agreed to meet Lily on a Sunday afternoon. She came to our doorstep and [my daughters] immediately put a bow in her hair and she never left. She has been such an amazing part of our family.”

LILY, Labradoodle, 3 years old

Ava Johnson/The Omniscient

“I received my dog from one of my students 14 years ago. She was the best present ever. My student just didn’t want her anymore, and she was only 9 months old when I got her. We made the exchange in a parking lot of a strip mall.... In her 14 years, she’s accompanied me through several moves and has had a few four-legged siblings. Some she has gotten along with, while others, not so much.”

SWEET PEA, Jack Russell mix, 14 years old

Ava Johnson/The Omniscient

— Compiled by Ava Johnson January 2018, The Omniscient, Page 15

16

O pinion

Ode to Football: A player looks back on his career Jonathan Robbins

“You’re a football player, aren’t you?” says a 60-year-old man at any formal dinner, anytime, anywhere with my parents. I have heard this conversation starter with tons of men at tons of places, but now I have to give a different answer.

I’m used to smiling and saying, “Yes, sir, I am,” and he would smile like he’s done some Grade-A investigative work and nod his head. We would continue to talk about what position I play, how good our team is and where I want to play in college. I got pretty good at keeping them happy enough so that they would eventually leave me alone.

After having this conversation countless times with countless people, I recently had to say, “No, sir, not anymore” for the first time. That hurt. For most of life, I’ve considered myself to be a football player. Fun fact on the first day of class? I play

football. Need to find a way to get out of something I don’t want to do?

I have football practice.

Why are you so tired? I had football practice last night. You want to do something Friday night?

No, I have football. I could answer anything with something about football. Now I can’t.

I’ve been asked if I play football anywhere you could imagine, from my dental hygienist to a biologist at the Atlanta aquarium during their presentation. From waiters in Chili’s to college tour guides. I halfway Sam Fuelleman/The Omniscient expect everyone I meet to lead with a football ques- JONATHAN ROBBINS has been playing as a center and linebacker for all four years of his tion, and most of the time Northwood career. they do. Starting to say no to these people asking is going to 36th straight game at the end of the sea- Just memories. What I take from footbe very hard. son, I was a returning varsity captain, ball to the rest of my life won’t be how I’m still in the process of figuring a two-time all-conference player, and good I was, or how many games I won. out who I am besides a football player. offensive lineman of the year last year. It will be the friendships I gained, the I don’t know where to start. I thought But I see how little those accolades hardships I fought through, the grind it I had everything figured out going into mean in the grand scheme of things, out attitude and so much more. senior year. I was going to start in my because now they don’t mean anything.

I will always be thankful for that.

Unblocking the Road to Success: College must be accessible to all Sara Heilman I am not a first generation college student. My parents both went to college in Pennsylvania before moving down here to start a life in warmer weather, eventually having two kids who would end up being pretty good at school.

At the moment, I’m in the throes of the college application process, and if we’re being honest, it’s hard. Like, “Am I sure that I don’t want to just abandon the whole idea and save money to travel the world instead?” hard.

But I know that I’ll make it there.

I know that I’ll probably attend graduate school, and in the grand scheme of things, “success” in the traditional sense of the word seems reasonably at-

tainable. I’ve never had to question it.

As someone born into a middle-class family full of educated people, my future was set for me before I could even write my name. My parents would make sure I went to college, because they had the privilege to do so.

For almost the entirety of my academic career, I’ve been blind to this privilege. I figured that I’d be going to college because I worked for it, because I was driven and because I had a knack for the type of learning that public school enforced. While this is true, I have to acknowledge the fact that I’ve made it this far because of the people I was born to. I have the money and time to complete my applications. I’ve had an army of support since my earliest days.

But kids with the same potential as me won’t make it as far. Kids with the same brains won’t have the same opportunities, because they have to spend time supporting their families instead

of working on applications. Or because they don’t have internet at home. Or because their parents don’t know how to complete the FAFSA. So many aspects of the college application process are inaccessible to first-generation, low-income and minority students.

The cost of college applications must be eliminated, and the cost of tuition must be greatly reduced. Schools should allow more access to college visits and provide as much support as possible throughout the application process. Plus One and lunch periods should be devoted to helping kids who don’t have the time or resources to apply outside of school. But even with these changes, there are larger systematic issues that have to be addressed.

From our earliest days in school, we assess kids’ potential and divide them into gifted and non-gifted tracks, and these systems, while not malicious, so often divide kids based on privilege or based on the support they receive at

home. As early as elementary school, we’re condemning groups of students to a future of little support, and ultimately, little success.

And despite this, there’s still such a stigma around choosing to attend community college or no college at all.

There is a level of elitism ingrained in the American education system, and this elitism follows us from kindergarten to graduation. If you don’t go to college, unless you’re starting a soon-to-be multi-million-dollar business, you are told that true success is unattainable. But how soon do we acknowledge that this success is based so heavily on something out of the hands of the kids applying? How soon do we examine the flaws of the system, rethink its focus on privilege and provide a more accessible approach to higher education? Without accessibility, we are doing nothing but killing inclusivity and stunting the growth of the future.

Dim the Thursday Night Lights Tanner Althoff I have always thought high school football games are on Fridays, college on Saturdays and NFL on Sundays with a game on Monday night. Nowadays, the NFL has put a big emphasis on its Thursday games. These games are harmful for players and the short week affects the quality of the games played.

First off, the games on Thursdays are just four days after the Sunday games. This does not allow enough rest for the players.

This is why there isn’t AAU football, where teams play multiple full-length games in one day—it is different than basketball and lacrosse. The essence of football is to give your all for 60 minutes and go full speed on every play. After the game, you should be gasping for air.

More importantly, football is the ultimate contact sport. Almost every single play involves someone going to the ground. Every play, huge, 300+ lb. men are hitting each other as hard as they can. Take former Seattle Seahawk cornerback Marcus Trufant, a 5-foot-11, 199-lb. defensive back. Though not comparable in size to offensive linemen, he can still generate 1,600 pounds of tackling force in one hit, according to Timothy Gay, a physics professor at the University of Nebraska. These huge hits take a lot out of the players, and they need the proper time to rest and heal their battered bodies. Many

The Other Thing That Trickles Down

players agree that the Thursday night games are not good for them, including Steelers quarterback Ben Rothlesberger, who told Pittsburgh’s 93.7 The Fan: “[Thursday night games are] miserable. It’s terrible. They need to get rid of this game… Just play Mondays and Sundays. It’s so tough on guys.”

Secondly, the quality of play for Thursday night games goes way down in comparison to the regular Sunday and Monday night games. Though a few of the games this year have been competitive, most are just not worth watching. This year, the league has done a better job at scheduling good matchups, but this means that the good teams and the division games will be played on less rest.

The other issue is that the games have horrible ratings. The division game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders Oct. 19 earned a 4.5/14 TV rating.

The same week, the Sunday night matchup (Falcons vs. Patriots) earned a 12.6/21 rating.

Thursday games get lower ratings than Sunday matchups regardless of who’s playing.

However, despite all of these problems, the NFL will never get rid of Thursday night games, because they bring in money. Think about it: if the NFL moved the Thursday night game to Sunday, then they would be further splitting up viewership between games. Thursday night games allow a game to be singled out, much like Sunday and Monday night. The only way that the NFL will even consider getting rid of them is if someone does a study and finds that the games heavily affect the health of the players, because after all, the NFL would never want to appear not to care about player safety.

It has often been said that our nation’s leaders are held to a higher standard. That we only select the best and brightest among us to represent our interests in the government. That sure sounds about right. I mean, we’re handing over the reins of our country.

Why would we demand anything less than exceptionality? Yet, recently, it seems the standard has been dangerously lowered.

October, 2016. The presidential race saturates the media. NBC releases an “Access Hollywood” tape on which then-candidate Donald Trump brags about his ability to grope women without their permission. This makes waves, but is immediately dismissed as “locker room talk.” Trump is sworn in the following January.

A year later. The Washington Post breaks a story about Judge Roy Moore, a Republican Senatorial hopeful. A woman claims she was intoxicated and assaulted

by Moore decades earlier, when she was only 14. Over the following months, eight other women come forward, some with allegations of assault, and others of merely predatory behavior. Regardless, he was long projected to carry Alabama’s special election, losing by less

from our social lives to our school work. It is the opinion of The Omniscient staff that the repeal of net neutrality will have little to no consumer benefits and will mainly benefit internet service providers. Thus, the vote of the FCC will do nothing but harm the common consumer.

The fight for net neutrality is mainly a fight between Internet Service Providers, like AT&T or Comcast, and content providers, like YouTube or Twitter. Because the net neutrality repeal puts more power in the hands of ISPs, these corporations now have the ability to charge content providers more to be available on their platform or to work at the highest speeds. Look at it this way: if Comcast is tight with Netflix due to financial reasons, they may have the ability to deliberately slow down Hulu, a direct competitor of Netflix. Though this battle does not directly involve consumers like us, the

effects of the repeal will almost certainly trickle down.

Although nothing has been immediate since the repeal, as the decision is now making its way through the court system, we, as consumers, are fearful that the internet will no longer be the accessible, easy-to-use web of information we know it as now. If internet service providers decide to make changes such as differing the speed from different content providers we hold so dearly, like Netflix and Google, it is almost certain this extra cost will be passed down onto the consumers. This could cause low-income families and those who do not have

Chase Miller

than 2 percent of the vote.

November, 2017. Two of 27-term Congressman John Conyers’ former staffers accuse him of sexual propositioning and inappropriate advances.

He denies it completely, but still steps down as ranking Democrat on the judiciary committee, and, days later, resigns. Despite this, he is called an “icon” by his party majority leader.

The cases above exemplify many of the problems in the justice system.

Corruption of the powerful, reluctance to investigate them, and ridiculous attempts to discredit accusers.

The ceaseless efforts of politicians to excuse their own grave sexual misconduct serve only to fuel rape culture in America. If we continue to condone the blaming of victims and pointing of fingers, continue failing to hold our leaders to that high standard we’ve heard so much about, then nothing will change.

Except, perhaps, for the worse.

When we have potential sex criminals on the floor of the House, on the floor of the Senate, even in the Oval Office, what kind of example is set?

Not only does it paint such inexcusable acts as, in fact, excusable, it goes so far as to associate them with relevant, successful individuals. It subtly changes the outlook of the population, which is troubling in-and-of-itself. You may recall how the snake rots.

It is not an issue of party. It is not an issue of agenda. We simply can’t elect lawbreakers to be our lawmakers.

There is no room for debate.

Net Neutrality: Consumers deserve access to an unrestricted web Staff Editorial

In the modern age of technology, the internet functions as almost a necessity. In 2015, under the Obama administration, a set of rules were put in place that required Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to offer equal access to all websites and internet content to consumers without charging a premium for higher-quality content or speeds. This prevented providers from giving preferential treatment to certain websites, a set of rules commonly referred to as net neutrality. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), headed by Trump appointee Ajit Pai, repealed net neutrality in a 3-2 vote Dec. 14, 2017. Leading up to the repeal, there was a large protest cultivated mainly online and participated in by many consumers. Most those against the repeal were teenagers like us, who rely on the internet for many things,

access to news sources other than the Internet to face barriers when seeking basic news and information. Those that were in favor of the repeal of net neutrality argue that it will stop the government from micromanaging service providers and actually give consumers greater choice. Ultimately, the effects of the repeal will be up to the providers to decide, as this decision now puts more power back in corporate hands.

Photo courtesy of Backbone Campaign/Flickr

January 2018, The Omniscient, Page 17

Opinion: Northwood talks about divorce Finding the Silver Linings Zoe Willard Let’s talk divorce. Almost 50 percent of any given marriage in today’s day and age will end in a divorce.

Let’s restate this—theoretically, of the 1,400 or so students at Northwood, around 700 would say their parents are divorced. This number is staggering. Why are couples not staying together? Are the underlying issues becoming too severe to be dispersed?

Are we too lazy to fix these issues?

However you want to look at it, divorce is more common now that it has ever been before, and I, honestly, am okay with this.

Divorce is a result of unhappiness of whatever form. By divorcing, it means someone in the situation has created a happier life for themself. As a child of a few generations of divorce, having step-parents and many stepgrandparents—family that I still have no idea if I’m actually related to—divorce is sometimes confusing, hurtful and sad. Growing up, it hurt me that I didn’t get to split time between my parents equally. It still hurts me to this day that I legitimately cannot remember the last time I saw a certain parent on Thanksgiving. Despite everything, I’m glad my parents divorced—I’m glad anyone who has divorced in my family did so. It’s always been for the

greater good. I mean, let’s face it: no divorce stems from being too loved or treated too kindly.

Divorce sucks in some aspects, such as never having the “normal family experience,” but I am glad my parents aren’t together. It’s resulted in two happier families, kids under happier custodies, and honestly, I now know what I don’t want out of a relationship or marriage. I have grown up knowing my parents as two separate individuals, each unique and quirky in their own way, just not as a single unit, and I admire both of them for the sacrifices they have made and the unconditional love and support they have given me.

Divorce has shown me what it means to make the best of every situation, how to be a stronger individual, how to keep in touch with family and how to feel truly loved. It helps you grow up. And while this is not me saying, “Everyone should be divorced!

Marriage is overrated anyways,” I am saying that to those who have divorced families, look at the bright side if you are able to.

I write to relate to the 700 other students here that are going through the same things. Whether your parents are in the middle of separating or have never lived at the same household, I know firsthand having two different roofs is hard. But two roofs are often a covering for a life of love under each.

And you know what? I think I can accept that. I am loved. I am cherished. I have two parents and two families. If it’s under two different addresses, I’ll sort out all the mail later.

Students’ Takes:

I’m Not a World Traveler Ava Johnson I spend a lot of time in airports.

Raleigh Durham International Airport and I—we’re tight. I’ve got the whole traveling thing down pat. I always have my ID ready, rarely check a bag and never set foot in the airport without a pair of headphones. I am better at traveling than most adults I know.

But I’m not some jet-setting world traveler. In reality, I spend most of my time on planes going to Florida, where my dad lives.

My parents got divorced when I was in the first grade, and through the years, my parents have moved farther and farther away from one another. I know this isn’t uncommon. Parents, despite our assumptions, have dreams and wants, and they sometimes have to move away to make that happen.

I also understand that I am not some special case. A lot of kids have parents who live far away from one another; even more have parents who are divorced. I think the point I’m trying to make is that it’s a lot harder than it seems.

I had never really been bothered by my parents’ divorce until more recently. My mom gave me her and my dad’s wedding album. It’s difficult to see them look so blindingly happy with one another when now they live

thousands of miles apart. Because they got divorced when I was so young, I didn’t really get a chance to see them together, and it’s a little disconcerting to see them in pictures with one another. It’s kind of like seeing two friends who you didn’t know knew each other in a photo together, but worse.

Everyone’s first assumption about divorced parents, besides the fact that it’s sad and unpleasant, is always, “Oh, well at least you get two [insert holiday here].” But for me, that’s not really the case. I generally have to choose between who I’m with for holidays, which is an uncomfortable decision to make. It’s really difficult to have Thanksgiving with one parent, get on Facebook, and see your other parent with the rest of your family enjoying themselves. It’s basically the worst kind of FOMO (fear of missing out) possible. Flying between North Carolina and Florida during random weekends and portions of the summer is frankly exhausting, and it feels like I’m constantly away when really cool things are happening. Of course, this isn’t really true, but I’m a teenage girl, so it feels like it is.

Having parents who live far away from one another is an inconvenience, but everyone seems to be happy right where they are. I’m leaving for college pretty soon, and I know I will be grateful that I got to spend time with both of my parents before vacating the premises for good. But for not being a world traveler, I sure am in airports a lot.

“[Divorce] teaches you a quick struggle when you’re young and that the world isn’t promises and hopes—it’s definitely problems and bad stuff that’s going to happen no matter what.”

“I understand it and I can accept it because [parents] aren’t happy with each other. They are your parents, so you want them to be as happy as they can be, so you have to accept it.”

“There’s really no way to describe how [divorce] makes you feel. It’s more or less how it changes you; it adds to your personality.”

“It’s not fun—it’s just a very weird system. If 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, what’s a marriage?”

Page 18, The Omniscient, January 2018

Top 5 Movies and TV Shows of 2017 — Compiled by Samuel Fuelleman & Colin Revels

Movies

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

It is the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s chilling novel and a reimagination of a ‘90s TV miniseries. The film revolves around a group of seven young outcasts in a small Maine town, where a sinister force is at work behind the recent slew of suspicious disappearances. Over the course of one summer, this ragtag group of unlikely heroes unravel a blood-riddled mystery dating back hundreds of years, with the shape-shifting creature known as Pennywise at its core. Though this movie is surely not for the faint of heart, it’s easily worth seeing if you’re in for a fright.

— Chase Miller

This thriller is an award winning movie, sitting at an impressive 99 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The main character, Chris, and his girlfriend, Rose, go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.

— CC Kallam

Split is a psychological thriller that features Kevin, a man who has been diagnosed with 23 different personalities.

He kidnaps three teenage girls and they must try to escape before the apparent scariest 24th personality emerges. The viewer gets to see the more psychological side of Kevin through his sessions with his psychologist, Dr. Fletcher. With a new obstacle around every corner, Split presents the journey of three girls escaping 23 different people all living in one body.

— Georgia O’Reilly

Diana is a princess of the Amazons and a trained warrior raised on a sheltered island paradise. When a pilot crashes on their shores and tells of the conflict raging in the outside world that her family had tried to hide from her since she was a child, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat.

Fighting alongside mankind in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers and her true destiny.

— Colin Revels

Dunkirk is an intense World War II thriller that depicts the British evacuation of the war-torn beaches of Dunkirk, France. The movie follows the story from three different perspectives. The first is a soldier on the beach desperately trying to get out. The second is a crew of civilians in a small boat trying to rescue those on the beaches. And finally, the third is a fighter pilot trying to provide air cover to the boats and soldiers on the beaches. All of this action eventually all comes together, and it keeps you clinging to your seat the whole time.

— Samuel Fuelleman

Photo courtesy of Netflix

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Photo courtesy of Netflix

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Stranger Things returns for a second season, picking up a year after the first. Victory over the demogorgon was not the end, and the shadow of Hawkins lab still lingers over the small town. The things that made the first season great, like the sense of mystery and small town feel, are back. Every episode is permeated with ‘80s nostalgia, with every frame loaded with sly references to ‘80s classics.

Escalation is the best word to describe Stranger Things 2, with the stakes and threat raised higher than ever.

— Joshua Eisner

Shameless follows the life of the Gallaghers, a South Side Chicago family who deals with the problems of living in that rough area. There are six kids, whose parents, Frank, an alcoholic, and Monica, who has bipolar disorder, fail to provide the proper care that their six kids need. The other thing that makes the show a hit is that the family is able to stay together despite all the horrible things that occur.

—Tanner Althoff

Before her suicide, the enigmatic Hannah Baker recorded a set of tapes. On each, she placed blame on a different person, explaining how a series of tragically preventable events led to her death. The story centers on her once-friend and mutual crush Clay, as the mystery of her tragic choice and the role he played in it unravels. Old flames, school scholars, even negligent teachers—they all wronged Hannah in some way, and she won’t just let them forget it.

— Chase Miller

Cult is the seventh season of American Horror Story, an anthological horror series based around (you guessed it) American horror stories. It’s set in the fictional town of Brookfield Heights after the election of Trump. Resident Ally Mayfair-Richard struggles with multiple phobias after the election and her family and friends are pushed away as she struggles with “hallucinations.” This show will keep you on the edge of your seat, although it is NOT recommended that you watch it alone.

— Bella Goupil

TV Shows

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Riverdale is a popular TV show loosely based on the Archie Comics, which were created in 1939. In the story, Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Jughead Jones and Veronica Lodge begin to discover the secrets of the not-so-innocent town of Riverdale. It all starts when a popular Riverdale High School student’s body washes up on the shore of Sweetwater River.

— CC Kallam

January 2018, The Omniscient, Page 19

S ports 20

Hard-Hitting News: Football team concludes participation in UNC concussion study B y S ara H eilman E ditor - in -C hief

According to headcasecompany.com, high school football accounts for 47 percent of all reported sports concussions. Because of statistics like this, football programs have been making efforts to reduce head injuries and increase the safety of the game. For three years, the Northwood football program has been involved in a study run by the Matthew Gfeller SportRelated Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center at UNC-Chapel Hill (UNC). The study, called the Behavior Modification (BeMod) Concussion Prevention Study, is concluding this year.

Sports Medicine teacher and head athletic trainer Jackie Harpham first got the team involved.

“I got connected to UNC and their concussion research center because I did my Masters there a few years ago, and my thesis was using the helmet sensors and looking at concussion research,” Harpham said. “So I got connected to them when I was at grad school there, and then when I got this job, they knew we had a football team, and they kind of used it as a way for them to be able to get more research on high school football.”

The study is entirely voluntary and centers around the installation of a “head impact telemetry system” (HITS) into the helmets of team members participating. Essentially, the helmets contain sensors that can feed researchers information about the severity of the head impacts sustained. Between JV and varsity, about 30 players have had the sensors installed.

“It just tells us the locations of the head impacts, the severity in a G-force number (the acceleration and force absorbed by the helmet), and then the frequency, so how often they get hit,” Harpham said. “So it doesn’t go, ‘ding ding ding—this person has a concussion.’ It just tells us more about the head impacts they received throughout a practice or a game.”

With this information, players who are identified as high-risk, meaning they tend to receive hits that may lead to concussions, can become part of the BeMod program. Once enrolled in the program, they meet with researcher and mentor Kody Campbell, a student getting his Ph.D. in concussion research at UNC. According to Harpham, Campbell is Northwood’s “liaison to the study.” Campbell spends time matching up film from games and practices to data from the sensors in order to work with high-risk players.

“Kody’s in charge of player technique,” senior Dalton Romagnoli said. “He’ll come and talk to you if your technique is wrong and your sensors are reading high.”

Senior William Yentsch initially chose to participate in the study because “it helps people later on.”

Inside of Helmet Front

Left

Right Back

Illustration by Sara Heilman/The Omniscient

THE RIDDELL HEAD IMPACT TELEMETRY SYSTEM (HITS) is installed in players’ helmets to measure impact frequency and severity. The system is U-shaped and holds six sensors that sit in the top of the helmet.

He has also worked with Campbell.

“He would just invite us in after school, and he basically would just show us film from previous games and show us how we could improve our technique,” Yentsch said. “He pretty much [teaches you] just to keep your head up to prevent concussions and better blocking techniques.”

Campbell comes from a background in football, and Harpham believes that this helps players identify with him.

“He actually played football in college in Canada,” Harpham said. “He knows football. So I think it really helps because the kids look to him and respect him as a past football player and the fact that now he’s doing all of this research, so I think he’s a really great resource for us to have.”

According to Harpham, Campbell’s sessions have led to a decrease in head injuries for affected players.

“We have seen that the kids who are a part of those sessions have had a positive change, meaning they have less [frequent and high velocity] hits to the tops of their heads after those sessions,” Harpham said. “So we have seen good numbers as far as how those sessions can help.”

Romagnoli believes that the sensors have also been effective because they encourage players to report their head injuries.

“I’d definitely say there’s been an increase in reported concussions because there’s more awareness,” Romagnoli said. “People understand the negative effects of having a concussion, so it’s good in

terms of more people reporting concussions.”

Players have chosen to opt out of participation in the study for various reasons, including the fear that information from the sensors will prevent them from playing.

“I think that reservations that our players have about the sensors are similar to reasons why college and professional athletes are hesitant to use them,” Harpham said. “These players are afraid that I might use the data as a way to keep them from playing.

Once they listen to me talk about it more, I think they understand that I would never keep someone from playing just because of something the sensor says. It’s only more information we can use to learn more about the hits they may have gotten…. I think at first, they get nervous about anything that might affect their ability to stay on the field.”

Players may also choose not to participate due to the discomfort caused by the installation of the sensors.

“They’re uncomfortable sometimes,” Yentsch said. “The first week you wear them, it hurts pretty bad, but you get used to it.”

However, according to senior Alex Parker, the discomfort is a minor inconvenience.

“I mean, it’s not really like they make a huge difference in the feeling of the helmet or anything, so I was like, you know, might as well let them have a little bit of extra information to help out their research,” Parker said. “I really just don’t see any downside to it.”

Freshman running back’s injury raises safety concerns

By C hase Miller S taff Writer Oct. 12, the Orange vs. Hillside junior varsity football game is drawing to a close, with tensions high and stands brimming. Midway through the next play, freshman Thys Oldenburg is roughly tackled to the ground. In the fall, he endures severe head trauma and has to be carried from the field.

When the scope of Oldenburg’s injuries became clear, he was immediately rushed to the hospital where they could be further assessed. At Duke, three emergency cranial surgeries were performed within the first 24 hours. Shortly after, Oldenburg was placed into a medically induced coma as a part of the continuing effort to reduce the swelling on his brain.

He remained in that coma for over six weeks, missing visits from his family, from his girlfriend, the rest of the football season and what would’ve been his first high school dance.

Though Oldenburg’s family wished to retain some privacy during his stint in critical care, they always said his condition was “steadily improving.”

Due to the encouraging results of a CAT scan, they always expected he’d regain consciousness before long. Then, in late November, he did.

Orange’s next game after Thys’ injury was at Northwood. To help raise money, orange towels were sold, branded with the Oldenburg’s number 22 above a pair of hands clasped in prayer. The towels sold out within the first 30 minutes, with all proceeds going

toward Oldenburg’s medical bills.

The towels were donated by Robyn Allgood, owner of M2 graphics, a Pittsboro-based printing company.

“I couldn’t imagine what that family was going through,” Allgood said.

Being a mother herself, she said that the situation must have been “devastating,” and that she just wanted to “do whatever [she] could to help.”

Allgood’s charitable efforts were not alone.

Oldenburg’s aunt, Caroline, started a GoFundMe page. It has, thus far, raised almost $30,000 of its $100,000 goal.

Caroline Oldenburg said that if her nephew makes a speedy recovery, any remaining money would carry over for “the next kid who this happens to.”

But will there be a next kid? The recent slew of high school football injuries left many parents on edge, wondering if their teens were safe behind their helmets.

Back at Northwood, football coach Brian Harrington shared his thoughts on the danger of the game.

“Right now, all football coaches do everything they can, safety-wise,” Harrington said.

They try to teach the safest playing strategies and keep the head out of the tackle.

“With that being said, it is still a contact sport,” Harrington said. “Kids get hurt. That’s why we wear helmets.”

The helmets themselves are becoming safer as well. In recent years, the Northwood athletics department has installed sensors to measure how hard players collide.

“The impact sensors we put in the helmets will hopefully gather enough data to help with injury prevention in the future,” Harrington said. “If not in the prevention, maybe the reduction.”

It’s undeniable that playing football is associated with certain hazards, but Harrington believes the reward outweighs them all.

“The risk isn’t that high, and the reward is through the roof,” Harrington said. “If I really, truly believed that it wasn’t worth it, my son wouldn’t be playing.”

Harrington goes so far as to call football the “ultimate team sport,”` Harrington says his players “learn the true value of teamwork and camaraderie” during their time on the field, “preparing them” for adulthood and professionalism in a way school is unable to. Though such benefits go hand-in-hand with serious risks, they are ones that he and his players have accepted.

“We’re doing everything we can to prevent injuries.”

— Coach Brian Harrington

January 2018, The Omniscient, Page 21

Photo courtesy of Grace Duff

SENIOR GRACE DUFF plays polocrosse.

Students participate in uncommon sports

By Sarah Fowler Staff Writer

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

Page 22, The Omniscient, January 2018

Senior Grace Duff - Polocrosse Polocrosse is a team sport that combines lacrosse and polo on horseback. With a total of six members, only three are allowed on the field at a time. On the field, there is one designated person who has the ability to score for their team, one person whose job is to guard the goal and one person whose job is to always be positioned in the middle of the field.

At age seven, Duff was introduced to polocrosse at Pony Club, an organization that educates children about horses and teaches them how to ride properly. After discovering an interest in this sport, Duff later decided to leave Pony Club behind in order for her to be able to learn the game she has come to love.

“I dropped everything else after I found out about it,” Duff said. “I used to do events like show jumping and things like that, and I thought that was lame after I starting playing polocrosse.”

In order to compete in most competitions, Duff has to go out of state. She has traveled to Florida, Alabama and Maryland for competitions.

“They’re definitely intense,” Duff said.

Senior Jesse Singh - Yo-Yo For the past five years, Singh has been yo-yoing competitively after stumbling across this interest on YouTube.

Yo-yo competitions work by giving judges two clickers, one positive clicker and one negative clicker.

Each time a contestant does a trick they will receive a positive click, and each time the contestant makes a mistake they will receive a negative click.

This portion of the judging covers the technical evaluation. The performance evaluation is judged and determined by the contestant’s stage use, music choice and how well the choreography fits with the song they have chosen.

“The end goal is that you want to entertain the crowd, and that’s what I try to do,” Singh said.

Singh has been in a total of 15 competitions, and in 2015, he won second place in the amateur division of the International Yo-yo Contest in Disneyland. “[Yo-yoing] is really creative and innovative,” Singh said. “Creating tricks is what’s really fun to me: creating tricks that people have never done before and stumbling across tricks that people have never thought. In the long

run, you kind of inspire other people to do tricks.”

Sophomore August Russell - Paddle Boarding Russell was first introduced to paddle boarding through his dad, who was a paddle board distributor at the time.

Paddle board competitions start out on land and begin when the whistle blows. The contestants then run into the water against 19 other racers. The contestants continue to paddle out into the water until they reach the water buoys where the contestants attempt to paddle around it while trying to complete the course and finish before other competitors.

Russell has competed in a total of 10 competitions in Miami, and he has won three in his life.

“There was a lot of fundraising that was in it, actually, for charities, autistic funds and for the Make a Wish Foundation,” Russell said. “That was a big part of [my racing]. It was kind of like an idol for my dad. Since he was a paddle boarder, I wanted to be like him.”

Senior Ross Bryant - Krav Maga Krav Maga is an Israeli martial art that is a military self-defense and fighting system. Krav Maga consists of combinations of techniques from boxing, karate, judo and wrestling, along with realistic fighting training.

Bryant learned about this sport through a friend and has been practicing it for nine months.

“I thought it looked pretty fun, so I thought I’d try it,” Bryant said. “I tried a lot of different sports, and nothing was really that interesting to me, but when I heard about this and started trying it, I really liked it.”

Krav Maga teaches self-defense, with only one goal: survival. It incorporates moves and defense styles that other martial arts are banned from using, due to the fact that they target pressure points and other vulnerable parts of the opponent’s body. In order to see who is the best, people from the same class and ranking will fight each other until time runs out. If you are in a higher class, you fight until your opponent is knocked out.

In the nine months of practicing and learning Krav Maga, Bryant has participated in two matches at Triangle Krav Maga in Durham, leaving the matches with only a few “black eyes.”

“Krav Maga is a “no-rules” fighting. You can do groin kicks, ear rips, eye gouges—whatever you want,” Bryant said. “There is a lot of sparring during the classes, especially [in] the higher classes, so it is mostly like fighting every day.”

Katy McReynolds

Photo courtesy of Jackie Harpham

UNC ATHLETIC TRAINERS Bailey Edwards and Morgan Davidson tape up soccer players’ ankles.

Taping Tar Heels: UNC athletic trainers assist Northwood athletics

490 West Street Pittsboro, NC 27312 (919)-444-1900

By Jonathan Robbins Staff Writer

Over the past few years, Harpham has had one to two UNC students in the first semester and two to three students in the second semester. These If you’ve looked at the sidelines during a students are at practice every day with the teams Northwood athletic event during the past few and lift the load off of Harpham’s shoulders. years, you may have noticed spots of light blue “They help me immensely,” Harpham said. in the sea of green and gold. These spots of blue “Being one athletic trainer in a high school is nearly are students at UNC-Chapel Hill (UNC) spendimpossible by myself, but they give me an extra set ing their time learning about of eyes and hands to help out in“They give me an extra jured players the best we can.” athletic training.

As a part of UNC’s major set of eyes and hands to The trainers stay for one to become an athletic trainer, semester, and they get to know help out injured players many students at Northwood students need to spend a certhe best we can.” tain amount of hours workduring that period. Harpham has ing with a high school athleta program where Northwood — Jackie Harpham, ics team to learn the ins and students can be trainers for teams athletic trainer outs of helping athletes. The alongside the UNC students, and students have a course called Clinical Experi- they can learn from each other. ence, and they receive credit for helping out high “It’s been a great experience getting closer to school teams. They assist with diagnosing play- the trainers over the years,” senior Jordan Gorry ers, getting water ready and more. said. “I want to go into athletic training in colHeather Fowler is a junior at UNC and has lege, and talking to them about the programs and been the student on staff this football season to what you have to do has been super helpful.” help evaluate and treat injuries. She says working The students spend most of their time helpat a high school has given her a chance to practice ing injured players get back to full strength when her clinical skills and has made her more confi- Harpham is busy. They set up plans to follow and dent while working with players. help the injured players stretch so they can get “As a part of our athletic training program back on the field as soon as possible. we’re required to do a full semester at a local “They spent a lot of time with me,” junior foothigh school,” Fowler said. “I had heard great ball player Nate Little said. “I had a season-ending things about Ms. Harpham, so I asked to be as- injury and had to do a lot of rehab, and they stuck signed to Northwood.” with me to create workouts and stretch the best I Jackie Harpham is the head athletic trainer could to let me come back at 100 percent.” at Northwood. She helps treat injuries of playUNC students spend a lot of extra time at ers from all sports and makes sure they are Northwood, learning more about themselves and properly hydrated. Harpham was connected to what it takes to be an athletic trainer. the program when she got her master’s degree “I’ve really enjoyed my time here at Northat UNC. wood,” Fowler said. “I’m going to miss it a lot.”

January 2018, The Omniscient, Page 23

SUPER

CHARGED

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

Heather Drake/The Omniscient

Cam Goins — Boys’ Basketball

Georgia O’Reilly/The Omniscient

Anthony Brinitzer — Wrestling

“He is becoming very vocal, a presence in the “He is a good wrestler and an even better friend.” locker room, and is really buying into what we are trying — Ben McGaughnea, sophomore to achieve.”— Coach Matthew Brown Jasmine McDougald Amanda Montgomery Cheerleading Girls’ Swimming “During cheer practice, Jasmine is really helpful with the whole team, and she knows how to lead and guide us.”

“She works really hard and has a lot of Charger spirit.”

— Emma Douglass, sophomore

— Alisia Cross, senior Heather Drake/The Omniscient

Sarah Helen Shepherd/The Omniscient

Sam Earnshaw Boys’ Swimming

Emily Nettles Girls’ Basketball

“He has a really great positive attitude that spreads to other swimmers.”

“Emily has great heart and always puts everything she can into helping the team perform.”

— Coach Jennifer Parks

— Courtney Wolfe, senior Heather Drake/The Omniscient

Chloe Maynard/The Omniscient