:
Points of Interest
Photo courtsey of Leslie Burwell
LESLIE BURWELL encourages students to tell stories through their art. pg 9
Madison Clark/The Omniscient
STUDENTS participate in the egg and spoon race during Charger Day.
Sara Heilman/The Omniscient
NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE includes tales of ghosts, devils and mermaids in the Haw. pg 14
Students were told to dress out and bring sunscreen for the first annual Charger Day, a school wide field day held May 18 in place of Senior Day. Students were sorted in teams and competed in various team building activities such as an egg race and tug of war. “The only thing I wasn’t fond of was that we were put in groups,” junior Delaney Galvin said. “I think it would have been a lot more fun if I was able to do it with people that I knew.” Teachers were notified about Charger Day the week of the event. “I think that a lot of teachers were nervous about it going in, because we didn’t know about it until the week of,” English teacher Heather Harvey said. “I think that the students who put it together did a great job, and it went off without a hitch.” - THE NORTHWOOD -
O M N IS C IE N T
EDITORS Sara Heilman & Jessica Kolomichuk Editors-in-Chief Leah Kallam Opinion Editor Jessica Kolomichuk/The Omniscient
DOWNTOWN PITTSBORO offers several spots for students to enjoy. pg 15
Chloe Maynard Social Media Editor STAFF WRITERS Colin Battis Cameron Bernstein Karina Black
Meera Butalia Madison Clark Jessie Craig Declan Dolan Dane Hagens Carolyn Hammond Ava Johnson Peri Kennihan Riley Koch Hailey Neal Carter Owings-Hurgronje Cooper Patterson
Lanna Read Samantha Rhyne Adam Rimolt Mary Scholle Tory Scott Chantal Shine Sarah Helen Shepherd Briana Stone
ADVISER Neal Morgan nmorgan@chatham.k12.nc.us
The Northwood Omniscient is published by journalism students at Northwood High School. It aims to present accurate coverage of events of interest to our readers, as well as provide an open forum for the opinions of students, faculty and the community. We welcome letters to the editor, which can be delivered to the advisor in Room 607 or sent to the school’s address. Letters must be signed, and the staff reserves the right to reject any letter containing libelous statements, to edit for length and to ascertain the truthfulness of the content. Unsigned editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board. Columns, letters and cartoons represent the views of the authors. Chloe Maynard/The Omniscient
TREY ROMEL runs to third base to contribute to the baseball team’s success. pg 20
Page 2, The Omniscient, June 2017
Front Cover: YouTuber Grayden Knoll ollies the stairs at a local skatepark. Photo Credit: Jessica Kolomichuk
Students host Chatham County Special Olympics
By Carolyn Hammond & Hailey Neal Staff Writers
“Watching them smile while I took their picture with their ribbon, that was just everything,” senior Bryn Aydt said. Aydt, among other Physical Education Pupil Instructor (PEPI) students, helped the special education students prepare for the county-wide Special Olympics held at Northwood April 27. The opening ceremony caught everyone’s attention, and as the Pledge of Allegiance was read by junior Tyrone Glover, the event started soon afterwards. “I think that my students were really touched by the opening ceremony when we were all walking down the track. The people in the stands were clapping for them, and the people that were lining the track were clapping,” exceptional children’s teacher Carol Bartholf said. “They were being recognized for who they were, and I thought they all felt really, really good about that.” As the day progressed, many athletic events took place on the field and track. The events included running or walking 25, 50 or 100 meters, tennis ball or softball throw and running or standing long jump. “It sounded too overwhelming, but we’ve been practicing, and they’re surprising themselves about how much they can do and how good they are,” Bartholf said. “My favorite thing is just seeing what the students are capable of doing; they surprise themselves.” After each event, the participants were awarded ribbons based on how they placed. “When they got their ribbons, when they placed and stuff like that, they just had the biggest smiles on their faces,” senior PEPI student Rhys Lauffer said. “That was probably the best part.” Many family members of the competitors noticed a difference in the behavior of their child or sibling after winning multiple ribbons. “He was very happy and just kind of proud of himself, and
I thought the whole ribbon thing was really cool,” said senior Isabelle Malinowski, older sister of freshman Piotr Malinowski. “He was carrying around the ribbons for the rest of the week.” Apart from the competitive nature of the events and winning ribbons, event organizers say the students participating benefited in many other ways. The participants who congregated for the Special Olympics had the opportunity to socialize with participants from other schools and feel included in the community. “We had adults out there that were like 40 years old participating and mixed in with kids that were in like third grade, and it was all the same; they were talking to each other,” Lauffer said. “It was just a way for them to Jessica Kolomichuk/The Omniscient get into the community and KEVIN OLVERA RUBIO smiles after competing in the ball toss. for them to do sports that they usually wouldn’t be able to do but they like to participate in. tors; you’re happy for them when they do well, and they’re So it’s just really nice seeing all those kids smiling and stuff happy for you too.” like that, having a good time.” Above all, the participants took pleasure in the positive Bartholf also saw the community interaction as a great atmosphere of the Special Olympics. opportunity for her students. “I honestly think that they enjoyed all of it; some of the “I would say that you celebrate your accomplishments people you could literally walk up and give them a high five, and celebrate the accomplishments of others, and that it re- and it made their whole day,” Aydt said. “So just seeing the ally is a celebration of the best that you can do and your best smiles on their faces while they were competing and feeling effort,” Bartholf said. “And you share that with your competi- like they were included in all the events made it worth it.”
Jessica Kolomichuk/The Omniscient
Left to Right: AMBER RODRIGUEZ, TUCKER BARLOW, ALEX GLOBUSCHUTZ, JAKE MAY and CHRISTOPHER BURSTEIN
June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 3
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Page 4, The Omniscient, June 2017
www.alberellonc.com
Dorm Room DIYs —Compiled by Carter Owings-Hurgronje
Magazine Wall Art ft. Yosef
Materials Needed: •Magazines •Wood/Board/Canvas •Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue Sticks •Pattern •Tape •Scissors
Tin Can Caddy
Materials Needed: •Cans •Duct Tape •Gorilla/Super Glue •Platform *If you’re using fabric panels/ribbon instead of Duct Tape, grab Mod Podge.*
1. Print and cut out your
1. Collect close to five cans of
2. Rip colorful pages, fold
2. Cover the cans with duct
3. Hot glue the rolls onto the
3. Use Gorilla/Super Glue to connect the cans to each other, then add a platform on the bottom.
4. Hot glue the excess paper
4. Load it up with desk,
silhouette.
various sizes, and if you want, one large coffee can.
tape, fabric panels, or ribbon. Tape is the easiest option. (If you choose fabric panels or ribbon, use Mod Podge.)
the pages in half, then half again, forming quarter rectangles. Roll the magazines and then tape them.
silhouette and cut the silhouette out. The excess paper will be used to cover up the small spaces.
onto the silhouette. Glue the silhouette onto the canvas and hang it on your wall.
Room:
Linens for Twin XL Fridge/Microwave Mini Trash Can Bed Risers Rug Full Body Mirror Snacks!
craft or makeup supplies.
Before you go checklist:
Bathroom:
Shower Caddy Typical Toiletries Bathrobe Shower Shoes/Flip Flops Towels Washcloth/Loofah Q-Tips
Study:
Backpack Planner Laptop Flashdrive(s) Notebook/Notebook Paper Stapler/3-Hole Punch Desk Lamp
Misc:
Air Freshener Command Hooks Dishes/Silverware Water Bottle ` Swiffer/Vacuum Extension Cord Under the Bed Storage Bins June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 5
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Ava Johnson/The Omniscient
SENIOR JULIA CIMLER practices assisting another student into a wheelchair.
Nursing Fun(damentals): Class trains future nurses
By Ava Johnson Staff Writer During a few months of every school year, a select group of students can be seen roaming the halls in scrubs. These students are participating in clinicals for a course offered called Nursing Fundamentals. According to the course guide, Nursing Fundamentals is “designed for students interested in medical careers where personal care and basic nursing skills are used.” The course itself helps prepare students for the National Nurse Aide Assessment (NNAAP). Nurse aides, also called CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistants), lend patients assistance with basic tasks like bathing, feeding, dressing, shaving and positioning. “I remember walking out of my first day of clinicals and being like, ‘Wow this is what I want to do, this is what I want to be; I want to work in the healthcare industry,” senior Julia Cimler said. “It was a lot of fun. It was a little bit stressful, just the fact that it’s real now. If you mess up a step, it’s not, ‘Oh, Ms. [Julie] Fogle, I messed up. I’m sorry. Let me go back and retry that.’ If you make a mistake, you can’t go back and fix it. You’re interacting with a real person.” Clinicals are a chance for nursing fundamentals students to acquire hands on experience. During their class period they travel to Camden, an assisted living facility, as well as Galloway Ridge, a memory care facility, where they shadow certified nursing assistants. For second semester, clinicals began on March 13 and ended on April 26. The class is comprised of two parts: the curriculum and the skills portion. “[The students] learn the theory behind the skills and taking care of residents,” said Julie Fogle, first-year nursing fundamentals instructor and registered nurse. “Then we put that theory into practice with the skill. They have to pass off on 67 skills and they have to do that at 100 percent proficiency—if they miss a step, they don’t pass that skill. Once they’ve passed off on all of those skills, then we put what we’ve learned into practice by going to clinicals.”
Becoming a CNA before nursing school or before following the pre-med track is useful because it allows students to acquire hands-on experience. It also gives students a chance to decide whether or not entering the medical field is a logical choice for them. “I chose to take this class because I know that later on in life, I want to go into the medical field,” senior Savannah Bass said. “I’m going to start in nursing and then make my way up to whatever I want to be. I’m not sure right now, but I’m leaning towards a Pediatric Physician, so I think starting out here is the best way to see if it’s actually what I want to do.” According to Indiana University-Bloomington, shadowing a doctor or nurse is one of the best ways to get direct exposure to medical practice and learn what it really is like to work as a healthcare professional. “Clinicals are where we go to be ‘in training’ to become a CNA,” Bass said. “So we go and we are paired with a CNA. [We] shadow them and perform the skills and tasks that we have to pass off on in this class.” Because clinicals require students to do personal tasks, occasionally clients become unruly. “A lot of them like to yell at you—you get a hit a lot—but I think a lot of it is forming a bond with the people that you go and see every day,” Bass said. “I’m definitely not going to let it phase me, because it was still a good experience, and I still enjoyed it.” Senior Rachel Shore had similar opinions. “[Clinicals give] you the basic foundation of what you need to do and what you’re going to do in the future [when becoming a nurse],” Shore said. “Hopefully I’m not wiping butts in the future, but that’s part of your starting point. I liked doing clinicals at Galloway. It was clean, and we were at Galloway long enough to actually build relationships with people.” Nursing fundamentals is work-heavy, but opens many doors for students looking to dive into the medical field. “This class is an amazing opportunity, and I like to say that it’s truly what you make of it,” Cimler said.
Sarah Helen Shepherd/The Omniscient
SENIOR17IS:
Motivation is lost as graduation approaches By Sarah Helen Shepherd Staff Writer
“I turn some things in—enough to get a passing grade—but for the most part, I try to slack off wherever I can, because it doesn’t matter as much,” senior Rohan Dash said. Each year, seniors slowly develop senioritis as their final high school year comes to an end. Senioritis is a “disease” that is characterized by a lack of motivation and continuous absences from school. Like others in her class, senior Darcy McGregor has experienced senioritis this year. She will attend N.C. State in the fall and will be in the Women In Science and Engineering program. She plans to major in applied mathematics. “I still make a point to keep my grades good,” McGregor said. “I’m not striving for perfect A’s, however—I am trying to maintain a B [average]. There will be times when I turn in stuff late or I will half-ass it pretty much. There have been a few assignments that I haven’t turned in.” Senior Zoe Kaegi wishes her teachers would give their students a little break during second semester. “I’m not even trying to be a lazy student, but sometimes [teachers] need to give children a day to chill out before their brains explode,” Kaegi said. “Because that is where I am at right now—my brain is on the verge of exploding.” American History teacher Melissa Hayden teaches mostly senior students. She believes that seniors realize that they need to pass their classes for the final semester in high school. “Ultimately, you are still in school, and you still have responsibilities,“ Hayden said. “Even though kids go through senioritis, they get that and they pick that up, because you have to finish out your year. You don’t have to finish completely strong, but you do have to finish.” Dash’s grades have dropped since last year, when he had 90s in most of his classes. This year, he has continued to take AP and honors classes. He believes that his grades this semester will not affect his admission into N.C. State.
“It makes me feel like anything I do now doesn’t really matter as much,” Dash said. “Because if it is not going to affect my record as long as I keep going to N.C. State, then what difference does it make whether I make a C or an A?” Kaegi will also attend N.C. State and plans to major in Biomedical Engineering. She says that she is not bothered by having lower grades than last year. “I don’t really care,” Kaegi said. “I don’t really notice it either. It is hard to tell if I am just taking really hard courses… or if I am just being lazy.” McGregor believes that the hardest part of second semester is completing her homework outside of school. “Especially in the spring semester, [my motivation] has died,” McGregor said. “I dread doing homework. I put it off, and I typically end up doing my homework—if I do it at all—in my online class first period.” AP Statistics and Discrete Mathematics teacher Jennifer Parks allows her students to pick the topic for their project at the end of the year, which she says keeps them motivated. She also gives her students candy to keep them invested in class. McGregor has a few teachers who gave less busy work this semester to help seniors stay motivated. “Some teachers will continue giving the work, just because they expect you to keep giving, even though you are pretty much done,” McGregor said. “Other teachers will understand, and they will talk to you about it. They will ask you if you want to do it, and if the class says no, then [the teacher] will just say, ‘Okay, we will do less of the [busy] work and more actual learning.’” Hayden keeps her students motivated by giving her students small group projects so they can talk and enjoy being at school. She notices a decline in her senior students’ motivation as the weather becomes warmer. “As the weather gets nicer, that is what changes motivation,” Hayden said. “Even this group in the beginning was very motivated, but then it seems to be as it gets nicer out, the motivation goes away. But also after spring break too, which is a really nice time to have to be refreshed, it is a downhill turn from there.”
“I’m not even trying to be a lazy student, but sometimes [teachers] need to give children a day to chill out before their brains explode.” — Zoe Kaegi, senior
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June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 7
SAGE Academy: The misconceptions about alternative schooling By Briana Stone Staff Writer
explained how the transfer process works. “With a few exceptions for special circumstances, we accept applications twice each year, for fall There are a handful of reasons why a student and for spring semesters,” Saylor said. “The process might feel inclined to switch high schools: they’ve typically begins with students being referred by a been expelled, they want a clean start in a new loca- school counselor who recommends SAGE for their tion or they are simply unsatisfied with their current particular situation. We have a two-part application: education. In addition, many students transfer high one part is for the student and family to complete, schools within the same community for better aca- the other part is for the school. After we receive the demic, social and extracurricular opportunities. application, we audit the student’s transcript to see Darius Horton attended Northwood for three what classes are needed. We contact the family to years before transferring to SAGE (Student Achieve- set up an interview where the interested student and ment Guarantee in Education) Academy, where he family come in to meet with us. At that meeting, we graduated in 2016. He aspired to play college bas- can better assess the student’s needs, and the student ketball, but his grades were not sufficient enough at and family can learn more about our program and Northwood to reach that goal. ask any questions they may have.” While Horton attended SAGE to further his Bartholomew believes some students might academic career, he also enjoyed the benefits that have a better experience following a nontraditional he received during his senior year that he would high school path such as SAGE. not have experienced at Northwood. “I could probably come up with a dozen kids “SAGE is a good school; where I think SAGE would be “It’s a great opportunity it’s not bad like people would a better fit, but they’re so inthink,” Horton said. “The that no one really pays at- grained with Northwood,” Barteachers are chill, and they tholomew said. “They close tention to, because there out [their options] to SAGE, only want to help you succeed. Plus, the principal for is that perception that it’s and to me, that is a big mistake. SAGE was my guy, so that academic growth wise, a school where kids with Even made it better. The best beneSAGE has been crushing it the problems go, and that is last several years. It’s a great fit for me that I had at SAGE is that I got out every day at opportunity that no one rejust not the case.” [noon]. I could have gradually pays attention to, because — Justin Bartholomew, ated early, but I decided not there is that perception that it’s to so I could play basketball. a school where kids with probNorthwood principal I saw my friends every day at lems go, and that is just not the football or basketball, so SAGE gave me no draw- case. I think SAGE is very well run; [Principal Bobby backs personally.” Dixon] is an exceptional principal, and he’s got some Principal Justin Bartholomew compared the gen- teachers over there that are top notch.” eral nature of SAGE to Northwood. Students wishing to transfer to SAGE must already “SAGE Academy provides students with be enrolled in a Chatham County School. The adminisan opportunity to get a 22-credit diploma,” Bar- tration will consider any interested student, 10th grade tholomew said. “For Northwood, you need 28 and up, who wants the opportunity to earn credit. credits to graduate. Also, SAGE has the Chatham Misinformed students may have a negative perCounty School for Science and Engineering (CC- ception of SAGE, according to Bartholomew. SSE), so they have a separate school now that is “I think if you talk to the students that gradujust STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and ated from SAGE, they are very thankful that they Mathematics) focused. There are a lot of online went there,” Bartholomew said. “SAGE provided classes [at SAGE]. SAGE students still can partici- them a place to get their work done to graduate and pate in NHS extracurricular activities in many in- move on to do whatever they want to do. The overstances. SAGE and [CCSSE] function on a college whelming majority of students are there because schedule, [meaning] it doesn’t function on a Aug. they want to be there.” 29 to June 9 schedule.” Saylor believes that the negative perception of Sophomore Johnny Mazurek attended North- SAGE most likely surfaced from incomplete or inwood for a year and a half before transferring to accurate information about the school. SAGE. He was motivated to switch schools in order “I have heard people say that they believe to be at the same school with his older brother. SAGE is where the ‘bad’ students go to school,” Since there are much fewer students attending Saylor said. “There are two things wrong with that SAGE compared to Northwood, Mazurek believes that statement. One is that there are no ‘bad’ kids— the smaller class sizes are beneficial. there are young people who make poor choices “I feel like I have a better relationship with my and who need to learn more positive approaches teachers,” Mazurek said. “They have more one-on- to life or to problems. The other is that SAGE is one action with you, and they really get to know a school of choice. Sometimes we do have a stuyou, because there are only 30 people. I like going dent or two who have been long-term suspended to school more; I wake up in the mornings and I’m and are placed here by the superintendent, but 99 more excited for my day, so I’m not as moody in the percent of our student population is made up of mornings as I used to be.” young people who just need or want a different Jennifer Saylor, a guidance counselor for SAGE, pathway to high school graduation.”
Page 8, The Omniscient, June 2017
Northwood’s Resident Storyteller: Burwell teaches through stories By Lanna Read Staff Writer Visual arts teacher Leslie Burwell has always been a storyteller, her roots in the craft going as far back as her love for art itself. “[When I was a kid], I was always making,” Burwell said. “My mom said my favorite thing to do was sit at my table, make Play-Doh animals, put them on the windowsill and talk to them; they would become my little critters in my stories.” Today, if you ask the people around her what they think is interesting about Burwell, they will probably mention something about her stories. “She is one of the most surprising people I have ever met,” theatre teacher Kayla Sharp said. “She will tell a story that will shock you but at the same time make you laugh and give you an emotional reaction in a very raw, real way.” Sharp believes that Burwell has brought this ability to elicit a strong emotional reaction through storytelling into the classroom as a strategy for connecting with students. “She is able to do that with her students too,” Sharp said. “She is able to tap into a very clear emotional response in them, even if it’s just through their artwork.” Burwell’s students see this in their teacher as well. “She likes to have us talk about ourselves and our lives,” senior Sara Jackson said. “She lets us come to her almost like a mother figure and [she] gives us advice and is there for us to support us.” Burwell’s love for telling stories recently came to Northwood in the production of “One Home,” a play written by Burwell in the wake of her return from a trip to South Africa. “I’ve seen poverty in my life, but I’ve never seen that amount,” Burwell said. “The thing about it is, you don’t feel like you’re walking away from poverty…. In South Africa there was such joy and happiness despite the situation, and I just wanted to bring it back and share it with my students.” The proceeds from the show were all donated to LIV, an orphanage in South Africa. Several of Burwell’s students became involved in the production and were very impressed by their teacher’s devotion to this cause. “It was an amazing experience,” said junior Joseph Lorbacher, co-president of the National Art Honor Society. “I think it was so great that she did something like that, especially when not many organizations here are doing something that really affects somewhere else around the globe.” The word “global” is something else that comes up often in the discussion about Burwell. In her time at Northwood,
she has taken student groups on trips to New York City, Paris, London, Italy and Spain. Because of the value she sees in traveling, she has made it a goal to provide the opportunity to students. “When my daughter got to travel, we made her get a job to pay for the trip,” Burwell said. “I saw the benefit of what traveling did for [her] and [my son]…. The independence that they came back with and the ability to know that they’re okay if they decided to travel on their own made me want to do that globally with my students.” Burwell believes that, especially in the art field, travel gets students involved in a way the classroom cannot. “I realized the value of traveling with my students because those that went with me were able to connect to the art they saw and see it come alive and then carry that over into the classroom environment,” Burwell said. Burwell’s passion for helping students can be traced to her past. “I didn’t want to be an artist at first,” Burwell said. “My mother was an artist, and I wanted to be very different from her, as I think most of us do. I went to college for special education and took art classes as part of that field, because you have [art] tasks that you can teach students who face challenges.” Burwell’s studies in special education brought her to Duke Hospital, where she met a man named Patrick. “He was an artist who had lost his leg, so we used to draw together, just thinking of therapy,” Burwell said. “This is when I decided that I really liked teaching. I didn’t think I wanted to be so emotionally invested, so I switched to art education and went to Meredith [College].” Following in the footsteps of her mother, Burwell became an art teacher. “I was going to get an MFA (Master of Fine Arts), but that never happened,” Burwell said. “I fell in love, got married and started teaching to help raise the kids.” Burwell and her husband Lee have two children, Rebecca and Daniel. Now that they have grown up, Burwell does not see Northwood as her final destination. “I think in our society, we think ‘one career’ and ‘one job,’ but I think because women have children, we always have different seasons in our lives,” Burwell said. “And for me, I love teaching, but it’s not going to be the only thing I ever do.” Burwell plans to get her MFA when she retires. However, for the time being, she will continue teaching, and many students think she is very well suited for the job. “She’s probably one of the most dedicated and hardworking teachers that I’ve ever had,” junior Sierra Black-
Lanna Read/The Omniscient
LESLIE BURWELL hosts an after-school art session.
well said. “There’s never a day that she’s not here for us. She goes out of her own pocket to get us materials all the time, she gives people rides home if they need it, she just does everything she can for her students to get the most out of her class.” Other students thank Burwell for helping them find their inner artists. “If it weren’t for Mrs. Burwell, I definitely wouldn’t be a painter right now,” senior Tatyana Barrett said. “I’ve grown close with [her], and I can trust her with anything.” Burwell’s job as an art teacher has allowed her to reach young adults and impart the wisdom she has learned about finding herself. “I think that life is an adventure,” Burwell said. “Our goal as teachers is to prepare our students so that they can live their dreams and be prepared for whatever they want to be prepared for. I think that a sense of adventure and a little bit of ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m going to try it out’ is all somebody needs.”
Pictured is artwork painted by Leslie Burwell (left to right). AUTUMN MIST embodies the feelings of change and rebirth that are connected with the fall season. MY HOLY MOUNTAIN was painted in homage to all women battling breast cancer in response to Burwell’s mother and friend being diagnosed with the illness. FALL INTO RAIN symbolizes forgiveness and reflection.
June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 9
Page 10, The Omniscient, June 2017
Tory Scott/The Omniscient
Gale Brickhouse helps a student in her Animal Science class.
A Lack of Color: Teacher diversity sparks conversation By Tory Scott Staff Writer
Approximately 17.7 percent of the teacher demographic at Northwood is minority teachers; the remaining 82.3 percent is white teachers. Many have wondered why there is only a small amount of minority teachers, even though the student body is more diverse. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a minority teacher in Northwood,” senior Edward Austin said. “It is really weird that there wouldn’t be more African Americans or Latino-descent teachers around here because of how diverse the school is. There should be a whole lot more.” Sophomore Anisha McFadden thinks the students make the school diverse, but there are not enough minority teachers. “I feel like the students allow more of a diversity feel for Northwood,” McFadden said. “I feel like it makes it more of a melting pot. You have students and clubs united together. GLI (Girls Learn International), My Sister’s Keeper and My Brother’s Keeper are coming together to make it more diverse. As far as the teachers, there are only a few select teachers that actually recognize the diversity as being an issue.” Principal Justin Bartholomew said Northwood’s faculty is not as diverse as he would like. “You want your student body and your teachers to be reflective of one another. And we aren’t even close to there. I will say that when you go to hire teachers, you have a white dominated group of potential employees that show up.” Bartholomew has seen the impacts of minority teachers on the lives of students. “Academically, I think you have students who gravitate to educators who care about them and that could be from whatever background,” Bartholomew said. “If that teacher understands them and their background and is of the same background, that is huge.” Hispanic senior Dennis Ixcajo thinks minority students benefit from having minority teachers. “For the minority students that are here, I guess you can see a stronger relationship with minority teachers,” Ixcajo said. “They share the same background and they understand each other more.” Ixcajo has been impacted by one of the minority teachers at Northwood, Terrance Gary. “Coach Gary just came this semester, but he reached out to me, and he knew when something
was up with me,” Ixcajo said. “He would ask me questions and make sure I was okay. He pushes me and encourages me to do well in school.” Agriculture teacher Gale Brickhouse hopes that she is impacting the lives of all students and wants be a role model for other African Americans. “I hope I have [influenced students],” Brickhouse said. “[By] seeing someone like them in the teaching pool, [they know] that they could do this, if they so desire.” She was influenced by her African-American teachers, and that is one of the reasons she decided to become an agriculture teacher. “My AG [agriculture] teacher was African American, and there were a lot of African-American teachers [at my old high school],” Brickhouse said. “They were probably the big reason why I decided I can do this.” Brickhouse thinks there is absence of diversity due to the region in which Northwood is located. “I’m thinking there’s just not a lot of people that want to come to a rural school,” Brickhouse said. “If [teachers] come into teaching, they want to go to places like Charlotte, Raleigh, Fayetteville— some of the bigger schools and the bigger areas.” Bartholomew explains that finding teachers is difficult, despite the county attending frequent job fairs. The amount of applications the administration receives is limited, making it hard to find teachers in general, let alone minority teachers. “Ten years ago I might have gotten 100 applications for a position, now I might get 12,” Bartholomew said. “And by the time we call up those folks, that well is pretty much dry.” According to the National Education Association, North Carolina ranks 41 in the United States of America in teacher pay. Bartholomew thinks teacher pay plays important role in teachers seeking careers in the state of North Carolina. “We are competing with South Carolina, Virginia and all these other states around us that pay their teachers more,” Bartholomew said. According to Bartholomew, ethnicity and race do not affect the hiring process. “You don’t just go and hire minority teachers because a teacher is a minority teacher,” Bartholomew said. “They have to be highly qualified. Like most any public organization, we do not discriminate. So when looking at names on a paper, you’re looking at names and qualifications. And you call people based on what their experiences have been.”
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 June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 11
E ntertainment 12 Meera Butalia/The Omniscient
FRESHMAN ERIC SHADOAN demonstrates a magic trick for sophomore Thompson Little.
The Freshest Magician: Freshman gains reputation for his magic By Meera Butalia Staff Writer
Though it may have taken freshman Eric Shadoan some time to gain his reputation as the school’s resident magician, dance teacher Kristin Oakes said he quickly gained a reputation with her in a different way. “One of his first times in my Plus One class, he took his schedule and wrote his name on it and his number and put it up on the mirrors in the dance room, then said he wanted some girls to ‘hit him up,’” Oakes said. “I was like, ‘Sir, you cannot do that,’ and then he was like, ‘No, I’m a magician; I can show some magic tricks.’” This joke may be how she got to know him, but some time after that, Oakes got to see his magic, and when she did, she was impressed. “I was in awe,” Oakes said. “He busted out these cards, and I was like, ‘What is going on?’” Shadoan said that kind of reaction is what motivates him to keep doing magic. “I just like seeing the smiles on people’s faces—just to watch the ‘Holy crap, how did he do that’ look,”
1. Shuffle the deck. While you’re doing that, look at the bottom card and memorize the number and suit.
Shadoan said. “That’s why I do it.” Shadoan has been doing magic for a year, after the movie Now You See Me inspired him to try it out. Shadoan says he practices doing tricks for people during Plus One, walking around after school, or on the bus to away games for his three sports, and his tricks often get very positive reactions. “People go around screaming and yelling, and they’re like, ‘Oh, do another one, do another one!’” Shadoan said. Sophomore Ryan Parker had a similar reaction when Shadoan first showed him his tricks. “I was shocked at first,” Parker said. “I was kind of questioning how he did it.” Parker, who has known Shadoan since fifth grade, believes that his tricks have definitely improved since he first saw them. “He’s been getting a lot better and cleaner with them, and it’s harder to tell what he’s doing with the tricks,” Parker said. “He’s really good at it; he should keep it up.” Shadoan said one of the most important things about making magic believable and enjoyable is keeping the
2. Fan the cards out and ask the person to pick a card, look at it and put it on the bottom of the deck.
Magic 101
3. Next, cut the cards, only up to four times. Be sure not to separate the bottom two cards.
magic of the tricks alive. “I never teach people my tricks; that’s the magician’s code,” Shadoan said. “You never tell them your secret, because then it’s not magic anymore, and they lose all interest, whereas if you amaze somebody, then they’re like, ‘Woah, there’s no way, show me again.’” Oakes agrees with Shadoan, and doesn’t want to ruin the magic of it, but said she still finds herself trying to figure it out. “I have watched him do some of the same tricks, and I’m thinking that every time I watch him do some of the same tricks I’m going to catch something, even though I don’t want to catch it, because I want to believe in the magic,” Oakes said. “But he’s very quick; I have yet to catch on. Some students are like, ‘Oh, I see how you do that,’ and I’m like, ‘You’re lying. I was staring.’” Shadoan plans to keep doing magic as a hobby, so he can continue making people happy. “I like the reaction that people get, the amazement in their eyes and the smile on their faces,” Shadoan said. “It just brings joy to people whenever I do a good trick.”
4. Start flipping cards over, and once you see the card that you originally memorized, the next card will be the card that the person picked.
5. Ask, “Is this your card?”
Watch Your Step:
Visual arts students enter the Vans Custom Culture contest By Leah Kallam Opinion Editor
The V ans C ustom C ulture C ontest is a nation-wide high school competition created to inspire arts students and bring attention to decreasing arts education budgets. Shoe entries are narrowed down to the top 50 schools, and later the top five. The top five schools in the contest are flown to Los Angeles to celebrate their work and have judges vote to choose the final winner of the $50,000 grand prize. Although Northwood did not place into the top 50, the shoes remain a showcase of student artwork.
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Local Flare
Music “We looked at Samoan tattoos to come up with the wave design on the edge of our shoes. We have a very curly, almost cinnamon-roll looking design, and that’s where that came from. I also looked at lots of native Hawaiian flowers.”
“I based the shoes off of Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday.... On the backs of the shoes I have a picture of the world to symbolize the song ‘What a Wonderful World,’ but it also represents how music brings people together.”
— Anna Pickens, sophomore
— Hannah Weigle, sophomore
“We painted parts of Bynum Bridge, some landscapes of the beach and the mountains and some hometown things like S&T’s.... You can’t use ‘North Carolina’ anywhere, but you have to make it so someone can look at the shoes and know that they’re from N.C.”
“We chose art history in general for our shoes, and we decided to include Egyptian art because we come from many different places, and so we were pulling things from different cultures and different time periods.”
— Morgan Roberts, sophomore
— Dakota McLean, senior
Art
“They’re really beautiful. I really love how they turned out, and I think that [students] could take away that we’ve created something really fabulous. It’s not about winning, it’s more about coming together as a group of people.” — Visual Arts Teacher Leslie Burwell — Photos courtesy of Meagan Shirlen June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 13
North Carolina Folklore North Carolina often earns its spot of the map for its basketball rivalries and famous barbeque. However, one of the lesser known aspects of North Carolina history is its folklore. Below are some of the spookiest places in the state.
Gimghoul Castle’s Bloody Rock Gimghoul Castle, located on the UNC Chapel Hill campus, has an alleged deep and dark history. A young man by the name of Peter Dromgoole was a student attending the university from 1831-1833. He had his heart set on a young woman named Miss Sara Heilman/The Omniscient Fanny, who also caught the eye of another man. In an attempt to win her affection, the two fought in a pistol duel that ended in Peter being killed upon a castle rock. Peter’s companions covered up the murder by dragging the rock on top of Peter’s body. Legend has it that the rock is stained with Peter Dromgoole’s blood to this very day.
The Ghost of Mordecai House Most of the hauntings that are said to occur at the Mordecai House in Raleigh revolve around Mary Willis Mordecai Turk, who died in 1937. Many visitors have heard the sound of the piano playing only to discover a female apparition, made Sara Heilman/The Omniscient of a gray mist-like substance, sitting at the musical instrument. These same individuals have clearly described the spirit’s clothing as what appears to be dress that was considered to be standard in the 19th century. It is also believed that during the Civil War, many fights and deaths occurred near the house, leaving many spirits lingering in the afterlife.
The Devil’s Tramping Ground The Devil’s Tramping Ground is located near the Harper’s Crossroads area in Bear Creek, North Carolina. A source of local legends, the site holds a 40-foot ring in which nothing has grown for 100 years. Items have been said to disappear from the ring, dogs have been reported yipping and howling at the grounds and strange happenings have been reported by those who have spent the night in its boundaries. The ground on which the devil “tramps” has also supposedly been a site for various satanic rituals. Sara Heilman/The Omniscient
Mermaid Point Deep in Moncure lies the intersection between the Haw and Deep Rivers, also known as the Cape Fear River. It is rightly named Cape “Fear,” for there have been numerous alleged mermaid and supernatural sightings. In the 1700s, tavern goers by the Sara Heilman/The Omniscient Deep River supposedly would see mermaids on a sandbar combing their long hair under the night sky and laughing and splashing around. However, whenever they would try to approach the mermaids, they would dive back into the water to be unseen. Though the sandbar is no longer accessible, the mystery around Mermaid Point and the Cape Fear River still lingers.
The Ghost in the Governor’s Mansion The North Carolina Executive Mansion sits on Blount Street in Downtown Raleigh. Built in 1891, the building housed the family of Daniel G. Fowle. After Fowle and his four children died, a later inhabitant named Governor Scott claimed to have expeSara Heilman/The Omniscient rienced paranormal occurrences throughout the house and in the bedroom of Governor Fowle. Scott moved Fowle’s bed out of his bedroom after it caused him discomfort while he slept. Afterward, Scott claimed to hear a strange knocking sound at precisely 10 p.m. every night— knocking he believed came from the ghost of Governor Fowle.
—Compiled by Cameron Bernstein & Sara Heilman Page 14, The Omniscient, June 2017
By Madison Clark Staff Writer
Hours: Monday – Friday 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Sunday 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. At Circle City Books, there are no walls. Only towers of books and CDs. The first building on the right on Hillsboro Street is a small bookstore with an open door that drags one in with the smell of aging paper and tables overflowing with books on the sidewalk. “I’m not going to brag too much, but a town without a bookstore is a sad situation,” said owner of Circle City Books, Myles Friedman. “Any town is going to have a positive impact when a bookstore opens there.” Wander through the shelves filled with classic and contemporary novels, or try your luck at finding a record or CD you have sitting in your Amazon cart, collecting dust. “It’s a used bookshop in downtown Pittsboro, and it’s one of the best places around to get well-known books for cheap, because they’re used,” sophomore Abby Goyea said. “Basically half of my book shelf is from there, because it’s so cheap, and it’s good to support local businesses.”
Madison Clark/The Omniscient
S&T’S is well known for its extensive ice cream variety.
CIRCLE CITY BOOKS offers CDs and vinyl records.
Madison Clark/The Omniscient
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. S&T’s Soda Shoppe stands as a gem of the Circle City. For less than $5, one can receive a towering “one scoop” of ice cream chosen from over 30 varieties. “My favorite thing in Pittsboro is S&T’s Soda Shoppe,” senior Edward Austin said. “Ever since I was in middle school, I would go every Friday, and I’ve always kept that tradition.” Located on the main strip of Hillsboro Street, this 20-year-old hotspot is decorated with various nostalgic knick-knacks ranging from vintage chocolate sauce dispensers to a jukebox in mint condition. “It was my husband’s idea; he had always wanted to open a restaurant,” owner Vicky Oldham said. “I thought he was crazy, but I thought if he can fight for his life, he can do this. We talked and if we never worked, we would lose our home. He found the furniture at another drug store, the same time period as this building. After fifteen months of renovation, we opened.” This is the place to be when it’s hot and sunny or cold and rainy. Ice cream is great year round! House Favorites: A sundae with your choice of ice cream!
Hours: Everyday 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Right in the heart of Pittsboro is the always convenient Blue Dot Cafe. This shop’s homemade pastries and handcrafted beverages fill not only one’s physical hunger, but spiritual craving as well. “It’s one of the local spots where friends and family can get a good cup of coffee,” said Kara McSpadden, one of the baristas at Blue Dot Cafe “It’s important to have a spot where you’re comfortable and can hang out with your family no matter what.” Browse the art hanging on the walls-most of it is created by local artists. “The owner is really into art and supports local artists, a lot of the art that we hang is by local artists,” Kara said. “We change it out every couple of months and give everyone a chance.” House Favorite: Honey Vanilla Latte
BLUE DOT CAFE has locally sourced pastries.
Madison Clark/The Omniscient
June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 15
Colin’s Declassified Tech Survival Guide
Whether utilizing resources, working on your own projects, shopping around or just having fun, you probably dedicate a substantial amount of time to the Internet. But by having so much of a presence on a medium designed to be accessible to anyone, there are always risks, especially with cyber crime steadily rising. Based on the time you have to follow through, here are a few strategies for online privacy and security. — By Colin Battis
In Five Minutes
In Fifteen Minutes
In 2 Hours
Protecting Sensitive Information
Install HTTPS Everywhere: You should never enter credit card info, personal details or other data anywhere not encrypted through the security protocol HTTPS. Check that an address begins with https:// and click the adjacent lock symbol to verify the site. However, HTTPS isn’t used by every website, and many don’t use it correctly, so a valuable step in protecting yourself is to install the browser extension HTTPS Everywhere, so every request your computer sends to websites will be properly encrypted.
Change Your Settings: Disable automatic connection to open Wi-Fi networks, and restrict location data sharing to applications you really need it for. On a laptop, restrict file sharing to devices you know, enable your computer’s firewall on all public networks and turn off network discovery—you can make these settings automatic in the Advanced Sharing menu on Windows, and on Mac you can download the free app ControlPlane for similar automation. Enable automatic updates, so you’ll always have current security fixes.
Update Your Habits Use one browser for sensitive activities like shopping and accessing your bank account, and another browser for everything else. Change your passwords to strings of several unrelated words, the most secure method of password construction. Regularly back up all your files to an external hard drive or cloud storage. If you want a final measure of confidence, many banks allow you to create temporary credit card numbers for which you can set expiration dates and charge limits.
Keeping Your Activity Private
Install Privacy Badger: If you want to keep your web usage out of the hands of advertisers and other third parties, Privacy Badger is an extension that automatically blocks anything recording your activity unannounced. It only blocks entities that don’t respect the Do Not Track messages it sends them and that haven’t qualified for a list of the services necessary to browse the web, so it doesn’t hide everything you do and it isn’t a universal adblock. It is still a convenient and reasonable approach to privacy.
Use 10-Minute Mail and 2FA: To prevent the sites you sign up for storing your contact information and potentially selling it to advertisers, 10-Minute Mail is a website that provides you with a totally functional email address you can use before it self-destructs in 10 minutes, keeping your real inbox clean. While its effectiveness varies, you may also want to use two-factor authentication where it is offered, which requires you to supplement a password with a piece of information only you have.
Get a VPN: A Virtual Private Network, or VPN, is one of the most powerful tools for those interested in obscuring 100 percent of their web traffic from outside observers. If you do want to use a VPN, you will need to do your own research—they come with different costs and different levels of reliability, with free VPNs usually untrustworthy. Still, if you’re interested in something safer than The Onion Router and more convenient than your own virtual machine, a VPN can be worth the investment.
Page 16, The Omniscient, June 2017
Like, Comment and Subscribe: Junior builds YouTube channel Photo illustration courtesy of Grayden Knoll
By Riley Koch & Ava Johnson Staff Writers Some students play baseball or golf. Others dance, paint or horseback ride. Even more students participate in clubs like HOSA or DECA, but junior Grayden Knoll participates in an entirely unique after school activity: he’s a YouTuber. Knoll has many other hobbies and interests like skateboarding and snowboarding, but his main focus is creating YouTube videos, although he incorporates his other hobbies into his content creation. In addition to posting boarding videos, he posts video blogs (vlogs) about his daily life. Knoll started creating content for YouTube two years ago. He has always been interested in filmmaking and video producing but was unaware that he would end up investing so much of his free time into it. He has 192 videos, close to 450 subscribers and over 1,000 views on a select few videos. “I got a GoPro and I was taking a lot of videos, but I wasn’t doing anything with them,” Knoll said. “I started editing and posting them—not really for anybody, just for myself. That’s kind of what started it, and it evolved from there.” Knoll always loved movies and film as a kid, but making YouTube videos truly sparked his interest in pursuing a career in filmmaking. “I’ve always liked watching movies, and I think creating a reality that’s super exciting is possible through video,” Knoll said. “I always liked cameras and
filmmaking and the things you can do with it…. Once I saw what I could create with it, that’s when I really said, ‘This is something I could do for a living.’” Knoll taught himself fundamental video editing skills and has continued to improve. “I started with the basic stuff,” Knoll said. “I had Movie Maker on my computer, and I started messing around with that.... I quickly found the limitations of [Movie Maker] and wanted more, so I downloaded Sony Vegas and just kind of jumped in with both feet. I was confused but just sort of learned over time and watched tutorials on how to do things.” Knoll devotes a lot of time to creating his videos, editing them and making them appealing to the masses. He feels like he creates his best videos when he’s serious about the whole process: thinking of the idea, recording, importing and editing for the public. “I could spend two hours fully on a video and just have it be a crap video, and nobody would really enjoy watching it, so that’s the reason I put so much time into it,” Knoll said. “The time is spent sitting down, opening up a Word document and just start typing an idea that just comes to my head.” Knoll created stickers to advertise his YouTube channel. According to Knoll, they are a “more modern take on business cards,” and people “just like stickers.” “I tell all my friends about it,” junior Connor Lewis said. “I have his sticker on my laptop. I have an extra one—I’m thinking about putting one on my car.” Knoll gets most of his inspiration from other smaller YouTubers like Sean Brown, but he also
learns from more popular YouTubers like Casey Neistat. Knoll’s influences affect the way he produces his own content. “I think taking inspiration from other people is a great way to elevate your own skills and your own content,” Knoll said. “I’ll see something in one video and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I need to try that, and here’s how I’ll take my spin off of it.’ I think watching other YouTubers is a great way to keep the creative ball rolling.” Still, Knoll strives to be different and offer unique content on YouTube. He is dedicated to creating his own brand. “I think watching different people all doing the same thing is very boring,” Knoll said “I know that deep down, people have their own style, and people just need to find it and look for it. Once they have it, it’ll be a lot better than just copying someone else.” At first, Knoll’s peers didn’t realize his videomaking skills. “It’s literally amazing,” Lewis said. “It’s so impressive. I never would’ve assumed he had such a skill in that, but he obviously does, and he thinks of very creative shots. He’s also always very excited to make new videos.” Knoll’s classmates say they enjoy his videos because they are personal and make his audience feel included. “I can’t skateboard, but I can watch Grayden skateboard and get enjoyment,” junior Chris Drake said. “It feels like we are doing it together, even though we’re not at all.”
From left to right: QR code links to Grayden’s YouTube channel; Knoll utilizes his GoPro to capture action shots; Knoll films a Q & A
June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 17
O pinion 18 I get by with a little help from my friends Cameron Bernstein I sit down in the patch of sunlight shining through my bedroom window, closing my eyes and basking in the warmth. I carefully pick up different colored crystals from my windowsill and place each color in the corresponding areas of the seven chakras. Purple stones over top of my head, green stones over my heart. A sense of relief and relaxation envelops me, and I am content. This is the process of crystal healing. When not in meditation mode, I carry my crystals everywhere I go. I keep snowflake obsidian in my car for balance and carnelian around my neck for daily school motivation. When I tell people the reason why I always carry my crystals with me, some scoff at the alleged silliness. I just laugh along, because it does sound like the bouts of witches and fortune tellers. However, it’s actually an activity that anyone can do and that can bring peace and relaxation to one’s mind. It’s much more spiritual than magic, and it creates a door to open up your subconscious mind. Almost a year ago, my friend Savannah introduced me to the world of crystal healing. It was a stressful time for me;
my boyfriend was thousands of miles away, I was overwhelmed with stacks of summer work and I had the ever-growing pressure of applying to colleges. Over late night FaceTimes, Savannah and I would discuss incorporating all the good energy we could possibly have through the stresses in our daily lives. They told me about their crystals and how much energy they could receive just from a couple little stones. Since then, the crystals I have acquired have provided the stepping stones for a path of positivity and grace. I learned to take time out of my day to relax, bond with my crystals and get to know myself on a level that I wasn’t consciously aware of. Just sitting down, learning to control my breathing and feeling the energy radiating from the crystals quiets my jumbled thoughts and fills me with feelings of tranquility. I believe that working with my stones has changed my mindset and overall outlook on life. I have surrounded myself with much more positive energy and healthier lifestyle choices. Ultimately, I have found a close to perfect balance in my life that I had never known before I started healing. I am so thankful for the metaphysical community and all the progress they have helped me make on my spiritual journey. It is filled with such kind people who were more than obliged to educate me and help me fill my life with overflowing love, happiness and positivity.
You know that feeling when... Ava Johnson
You miss a step while going down the stairs, and your stomach lurches, your heart flutters and you feel a little uneasy, just for a split second. By the time you’ve registered that you’re even feeling any of it your feet are already planted firmly on the floor. This is what having anxiety feels like. I spend most of my days hovering in that split second that your foot is in the air when your brain thinks it’s on the ground. There are moments when I feel like I’m overreacting. After all, I’ve found ways to dull the shaking hands and the crying jags and the little voice in the back of my head that criticizes and worries over every single thing I do. But then I remember that sometimes I can’t get out of bed to go to school, I have spent too many weekends waking up crying and falling asleep crying and feeling like the world is crashing around me and the only thing that’s ahead of me is impending doom. Going to the airport or walking into a room full of strangers feels overwhelming most of the time. If someone doesn’t reply to my text or a couple of my friends hang out without me, my immediate conclusions is
that they hate me, or are plotting against me or something equally as ridiculous. My thoughts become my worries, and my worries become my thoughts and there’s no way to escape them. Living life hoping you won’t be knocked down by your own thoughts is not a way to live. Diminishing the shaking and the tears and my constant self-criticizing only accomplishes what shoving things under your bed accomplishes (i.e. nothing). It’s not easy to accept that I won’t always be in control of my anxiety, it’s not easy to accept help and it’s not easy to know that sometimes there is no real reason behind the anxiety. But I will learn how to overcome it. It will take time. I will take one step forward and three steps backward, and I’m learning, with the help of therapy, that that’s okay. Anxiety is scary and heavy and big and people don’t always understand what it’s really like. I’m lucky that my parents and my friends always try to support me, even when they don’t understand, but not everyone who suffers from anxiety has that luxury. I decided to speak out about my own anxiety disorder for the most cliché reason—to let others know that they’re not alone in the feelings they have and that sometimes anxiety isn’t explainable. Realizing that I can live a life filled with love, joy and accomplishment despite my anxiety disorder is the most valuable thing I’ve learned, and others who struggle with anxiety deserve to know the same thing.
Battling with Trivialization: Mental illness should not be overlooked Sara Heilman May 1st: the first day of Mental Health Month and a perfect time to start a conversation about mental illness. A day that held a certain purpose. A day that inherently felt important. After crafting an Instagram post about the purpose of the month—raising awareness and providing resources for people struggling with mental illness—I started to scroll through my feed. And, inevitably, I saw multiple posts about “crazy” people. I saw my friends joking about killing themselves because they don’t like their homework. I received texts from peers jokingly
asking how to “fix the fact that they hate themselves.” It all feels a little ironic, right? We take the time that we should be using to focus on one of the most important issues facing teens, and we choose to make jokes. One in five adults in America experience a mental illness. Ninety percent of those who commit suicide suffer from an underlying mental illness, and suicide is the third leading cause of death for people our age. But still, living with mental illness is a constant battle with trivialization. Suicide becomes a joke. Or a poem. Or a Netflix show. To an extent, it’s hard for me to blame my friends for their microaggressions. This is how we’ve been raised. I’d like to think that it comes from a lack of education. North Carolina’s 20122013 curriculum included mental and emotional health, including: “9.MEH.1.2 Plan effective methods to deal with anxiety.” The lesson objective states, “For those
struggling to cope with their anxiety, it may be necessary for them to change their thinking. When stress and anxiety levels rise, one may resort to negative thinking and say to themselves, ‘I can’t handle this’ or ‘Why do things like this always happen to me?’ With these negative thoughts, success is almost impossible. By changing one’s negative thoughts to positive ones, such as ‘I can do this,’ young people can improve their selfconfidence and come to believe that they can handle a tough situation.” While this section of curriculum aims to deal with anxiety less severe than diagnosable anxiety disorders, there is little to no integration of mental illness into the discussion. There is a lack of acknowledgement that leaves kids who can’t “fix their thinking” feeling broken. Defective. Inadequate. The following section, however, does deal with “depression and mental disorders.” But I have to ask, how many times do
we have to hear the generic story about the suicidal kid who drops his books on the way home, only to be saved by a helpful passerby whose kindness is the magical cure to his depression? How many times do we present the solution to mental illness as a random act of kindness? As an easy change in thinking? As a one-time fix? Would you tell someone with a broken leg to walk it off? Would you tell someone with lung cancer to “think about” breathing better? We trivialize people’s struggles just because we can’t always see them. We teach kids that they’re broken if they can’t “handle a tough situation.” We paint mental illness as taboo in every aspect of our lives: in our schools, in our culture, in our media. Erase the stigma surrounding mental health issues. Let this serve as a reminder that they’re valid and painful and real, and they’re more normal than anyone cares to admit.
A Year in Review
Every year is filled with up and downs, high and lows, pits and peaks, milestones and memories. This is why our staff would like to take this page to reflect on the 2016-2017 school year. This page includes important events, Northwood firsts and everything in between. Photos courtesy of The Omniscient archives.
August : the end of summer and the start of school, a bittersweet time for the
2016-2017
January : back from break blues and stress from upcoming exams plagued
student body. August was filled with assemblies, open houses and many other start of the year activities. This year, Northwood welcomed an incoming class of 371 freshmen, the largest yet, and held the Annual Shaner Jamboree. Northwood also welcomed change with the new school year in terms of single stall bathrooms and the long awaited change of the dress code.
our minds. The light at the end of the tunnel, however, is that January is a month of little school. Between exam and snow days, much of January is remembered at home and not in Northwood, which was very much appreciated.
September : nights start getting colder, and summer fully fades into fall. It’s
February : a month for lovers or a time to feel a little alone... However you spent your February, Hunter Queen spent his bringing home the title of Wrestling State Champion, and we think that’s pretty cool. February was also the start of spring sports, with try outs taking place on Valentine’s Day (cough cough, thanks coach). Along with sports, it was also CTE month and when we honored our bus drivers with “Love the Bus” week.
the start of Friday night lights and many fun memories to come. College mail starts filling seniors mailboxes and college representatives are visiting Northwood every other week. The reality that we are actually back in school for nine more months hits us solidly in the face. Luckily, football season is there to distract us.
October : leaves are changing, bonfires are taking place, jackets and boots
March : we finally made it to spring, spring musical and two months from us
are brought out of the closet and Halloween costumes are chosen. On top of the usual costumes and craziness October entails, this year Northwood hosted its first Haunted Trail event planned by the Relay for Life club. October also held our annual spirit week, fall chorus concert and our first home football game of the year against Orange High School.
springing our happy butts out of school and into summer. This March, Northwood’s theatre department produced Once Upon a Mattress, its first year back on stage in 10 years. It was also the month of March Madness, and we are pretty sure North Carolina is the only state to play the NCAA tournament in class and at lunch.
November : when we think of` November, we think of turkeys, intense Black
April : showers bring May flowers right? Well this April also brought a bombardment of
Friday sales and this year... a tense election. To avoid speaking on either side of that subject, our staff would like to instead highlight the start of basketball season, the production of Leslie Burwell’s original puppet show One Home and Kayla Sharp’s self written play, Queening Alice.
December : holiday music was playing in every store and every single one of us was counting down the days until break. Basketball season was now in full swing, and the girls were on a hot streak. Hot cocoa filled our stomachs, but cold air did not fill our lungs. The weather over break was disappointingly warm and let down some of our snowy expectations; however, all of us made the best of our time outside of Northwood and into the new year.
promposals, prom plans and prom pictures. And even though March is remembered for its madness, the final round of the NCAA took place in April, crowning the UNC Tar Heels as champions. We also had student groups traveling across the globe to destinations of Costa Rica and Spain, and traveling inside the country, Pitch Please made its way up to NYC and into the prestigious Carnegie Hall to perform.
May : I please leave this school now? Just kidding (kind of), May is the last real month
of school and all of us were counting down the days. This May, our minds were taken off of the summer with activities such as human rights week, state titles by Tessa Sheets and Cameron Council, the final art show, Davis Palermo throwing a no-hitter, our first annual Charger Day, the lack of senior day (we are only slightly upset) and a bomb senior breakfast (slight redemption).
June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 19
20 Sports Jessica Kolomichuk/The Omniscient
Northwood vs. Everybody: The Chargers rise to success
THE BASEBALL TEAM gathers after their prayer circle to get themselves amped up for the fourth round of playoffs.
By Cooper Patterson Staff Writer
“We’re not just on a team—we’re also all brothers and friends,” junior Jake McNeil said. “We all connect on a baseball level and a friendship level. I think it comes naturally.” Baseball has been one of Northwood’s most consistent and successful sports, making the playoffs for 11 straight years. This year, the team finished 19-4, winning their conference, making it to the fourth round of playoffs. The team had three out of six seniors sign with a college team. The Chargers have made it to the playoffs ever since Parks became the head coach, and made it to the final four in 2013. They have also made it to the regional series in the past. Some attribute this success to head coach Rick Parks. This season, like many times before, the baseball team clicked because many of the current players have played together since childhood. Junior Max Hundley believes that playing on the East Chatham little league teams set the tone for Chatham County baseball. “When we were younger growing up, the little league teams were always really good,” Hundley said. “It was always successful when we were young, and everyone kept going.” Hundley and current teammates then moved onto Team North Carolina, a travel baseball team based out of Chapel Hill. “It definitely helps chemistry,” Hundley said. “It always helps win games when you know who you’re playing, and you’re more comfortable with the guys you’re playing with.”
Hard work and dedication has also proved to be successful this season for the Chargers. “I think heart has a big thing to do with it,” Parks said.” “I think that the dedication to a sport as far as wanting to get better and continuing to work out at that sport year round [is important]. Baseball is a real tough sport—you can’t just put it away and then pick it back up. We’ve gotten to a point here at Northwood to where we definitely encourage our guys to play multiple sports, but even if they’re playing multiple sports, it’s tough to keep up with the other teammates on the team if you’re not at least hitting and throwing if you’re a pitcher in the offseason. We’ve gotten to a place now where all that stuff is done regularly without me having to say it. The kids know that they have to put the work in.” The baseball team also has a summer league that allows the team to play and work during the offseason. “The summer ball really just started to make sure the kids could continue playing in the summer,” Parks said. “When a community has a culture of baseball, it goes on. They call it the boys of summer for a reason. You learn by experience and trial and error, seeing these guys, and just getting out there and playing and playing and playing, trying to fix as many situations as you can. When you play a baseball game, you always see something you’ve never seen before. That’s still true in my 11 seasons here at Northwood. It’s been a really good time.,” Parks said. Hundley believes that the team’s relationship is what sets the team apart from other schools. “All of our guys are so close and we’ve grown up together,” Hundley said. “We’ve played together for so long that I think it just helps us play well together.” McNeil believes that the transition into high school ball is easier after playing with your current teammates
outside of school. “I’ve played on travel teams with most of the kids in my grade,” McNeil said. “Having played with them growing up, you get used to it, and you know how to work with them on a team and don’t have to adapt.” Along with close bonds, talent has been a factor in the team’s success. “It’s very rare that you have a very talented team and a very team-oriented team,” Parks said. “There’s camaraderie between the players. When you have those two things that come the same year, that’s when you can have a very special team. That doesn’t always work out. We have playoffs starting this week, but we finished 19-4 this year, and a lot of that had to do with the camaraderie of the players and the talent.” The baseball team went to Emerald Isle during spring break to face Croatan High School, winning three out of three games. Hundely believes the beach trip allows his team to bond. “Going down there, being in a house with everybody for three or four days, you just get closer with everybody,” Hundley said. “Even if you’re already close with somebody, you’re with them four days straight, and it helps everybody come together.” Parks agrees that the trip also helps bring the team closer. “We try to do it every other year,” Parks said. “It’s the whole brotherhood type thing. Any time players are together long enough to where they can start to get on each other’s nerves, that’s when you’re creating family. We’re really big about being supportive. We try to be on each other’s team and support one another. It was pretty cool—by the fourth night out there, they were getting on each other’s nerves just like your brothers and sisters would do.”
Pay to play — Compiled by Jessie Craig
What makes an athlete? Their athletic capability or how much money is in their pocket? The price to play on a high school sports team is increasing. According to Time Magazine, the annual average amount of money spent on extracurricular activities (including equipment, gas to get to and from games/practices and other expenses for one sport) is $1,124,
roughly a 10 percent increase from 2015. Not all equipment and expenses are provided by the school, so students must purchase equipment such as shoes, clothes or medical supplies. Although, for some lower income families, spending high amounts for sports equipment is not a possibility. This can prevent the student from
participating in competitions and games or the sport at all. “There are kids who can’t participate or can’t participate at the best level, because they don’t have the proper shoes or equipment,” said track athlete Clayton Hinson. “If they get injured, that’s it for them.” Scholarships are provided to students
to play various sports in college, but the trend has not carried down into high school sports. “I think some coaches would be willing to help out if they knew about a situation,” senior swimmer Leah Nelson said. “I think it would be a good idea [for schools to provide scholarships].” — Madison Clark
*The costs of the items listed have been estimated by coaches. Individual prices may vary depending on the individual athlete*
Golf
Lacrosse
• $500-1,200 set of clubs
• $120 shaft
• $200 uniform fee
• $100-120 cleats
• $200 bag
• $100 pregame meal fee
• $120 shoes
• $80 gloves
• $80 balls
• $80 elbow pads
• $20 gloves
• $80 head
• $5-10 tees
• $75 gear
• Average Total: $1,053-1,830
• Average Total: $635-655
Ben Choate
Dylan Hamer
Baseball
Marching Band
• $200-400 bat
• $450 “Fair share” payment
• $250 glove
(covers: entire uniform, food,
• $120 cleats
water, etc.)
• $100 turf cleats
• Individual personal
• $40-50 helmet
instrument repair
• $20 hat
• Average Total: $450+
• $5 black socks • Average Total: $735-945
Patrick Szczypinski
Emily Robertson
Club / Northwood Swim
Cheerleading
• $200-600 competitive suit (5 wears) • $150-300/month club membership • $100 USA dues • $50-75 swim meet entry • $50-60 fins • $45-60 swimsuit • $25 snorkel • $12 buoy and board • $3-11 cap • Average Club Total: $635-1,243 • Average NHS Total: $110
• $402.05 first time uniform fee • $275 camp • $123.04 returning uniform fee • $75 team fee or volunteer hours • $60 shoes • Average Total: $935.09 Kayla Elliot
Hannah-Gail Shepherd
June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 21
Conference change challenges Northwood athletics By Adam Rimolt Staff Writer
The Big Eight will soon turn into the Big Nine. A recent change to the Big Eight athletic conference (which Northwood is a part of) promises an upheaval in the current athletic hierarchy. With the influx of competition and talent into the conference, these shifts could provide a more challenging conference for Northwood athletes. Currently, Northwood is part of the Big Eight conference, which includes Southern Durham, Orange, Chapel Hill, Cardinal Gibbons and Cedar Ridge. The conference change will provide a shakeup by replacing Vance and J.F. Webb with Northern Durham, Hillside and East Chapel Hill high schools. Former head basketball coach Alex Hart put it simply: the conference changes are going to make this one of the best 3A leagues in the entire state. He believes that now it’s really going to be one of those conferences from top to bottom in which every team is going to have the talent and skill to go to a state playoff. “There’s no room to rest on your laurels and be content or relaxed,” Hart said. “You have to lock in and bring it every night that you play, because you know these new teams are going to be killing it and completely taking care of business out there.” For the basketball team in particular, Hart is worried that Northwood’s culture of multi-sport athletes could possibly impact their ability to compete against schools such as Northern Durham and Hillside. “Historically, Northwood has been a place where we’ve shared a lot of athletes—football to basketball—for example and at some of these places where they’re not sharing athletes, it’s easier for them,” Hart said. “The new change in rules and regulations, particularly with skill development, is going to make that a huge advantage for some of those schools who could essentially start practice in September.” Co-Athletic Director Cameron Vernon agrees, saying the level of competition has risen considerably, while the margin for error is much lower. “Night in and night out, the conference change just made things extremely difficult,” Vernon said. “It’s going to be much harder to succeed and much easier to fail.”
For the football team and head coach Brian Harrington, the Big Eight conference is about to become more difficult because the change will remove weaker teams while adding good ones like Hillside. “When you add another team that was winning its conference every year like Hillside, the level of competition definitely goes up,” Harrington said. “Instead of competing for first and second place in our conference, now we’re going to be competing for second and third.” Despite the influx of difficulty and competition making its way to the Big Eight conference, Harrington is determined to prepare and practice the football team the same way. “Hopefully this won’t change the identity of the football team; we’re just going to prepare to play each week and maintain the standards we’ve always had for ourselves,” Harrington said. For head coach Kevin McDaniel and the lacrosse team, the level of competition and difficulty is going to be raised by a completely different team: East Chapel Hill. “East Chapel Hill is going to be a very good competitor in our conference, so with the new changes, they’re going to be one of our biggest threats now,” McDaniel said. For swimming and volleyball coach Lyn Smith, the proposed conference change creates a unique set of circumstances. In the winter, Smith coaches both the Northwood and East Chapel Hill swim teams, which she was able to do, because they were completely apart from one another. Now, however, the conference change creates a conflict of interest for Smith. Because the extent and impact of the changes is still uncertain, Smith is still unsure of how much she will or won’t be able to do. “It makes it difficult for me, because I’m so passionate and caring about both programs, and I would like to continue coaching both of them,” Smith said. “So for me personally, the conference change is a bad thing.” Much surrounding the scope and magnitude of the effect this conference change could have on Northwood and the league at large is still up in the air. Despite this, the one certainty to be found is that the Big Eight conference is going to be one of the most competitive, difficult and best in the state, and Northwood is going to be right in the middle of it.
The Big Eight: Who’s In and Who’s Out
Northern Durham: IN
Hillside:IN
East Chapel Hill: IN
Men’s Football: Undefeated record of 16-0 and won the 2010 state championship 40-0 over Davies County.
Sports Illustrated’s Best NC Sports High School in 2005 Men’s Lacrosse: 2 state championships and 3 runner-ups in the past 10 years. Tennis: Won 7 state championships in a row as of 2004
Men’s Basketball: 2014 Pac-6 Conference champions with a 26-3 record and placed third in state playoffs.
Northern Vance: OUT
Page 22, The Omniscient, June 2017
J.F. Webb: OUT
Absent for Athletics:
Commercial
Residential
Student-athletes get released early for sporting events B y C hloe M aynard S ocial M edia E ditor For some student-athletes, the phrase “away game” means more than just game day—it means early release. Depending on the sport, athletes can miss anywhere from 10 minutes to a full day of school for one event. For many teams, the reason for early release often has to do with the travel time to their opponent. Since the golf team cannot compete at “home,” they must travel long distances for almost every match, resulting in being released as early as 10:30 a.m. “We get released early because we usually travel, and our longest travel time is probably an hour and twenty minutes,” said junior Ben Ramos, a boys’ golf player. “It also takes about an hour to warm up, and then finishing a round before daylight takes about four and a half hours, so getting [a match] in before finishing in the dark [is important].” According to junior Colton Lineman, a varsity baseball player, the baseball team is often released early during their season as well. “We get released early for almost every away game, and depending on how far it is, we leave somewhere between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.,” Lineman said. Junior Dalton Romagnoli, another varsity baseball player, corroborates Lineman’s statement and believes that the time is necessary. “It takes us a long time to stretch, so we have to get to the field and be ready to play, and we play a lot of teams that are far away,” Romagnoli said. Varsity baseball coach Rick Parks considers a lot of factors when determining early release. “I look at where we’re traveling, I look at what time I’m planning on getting there, if their field offers batting practice or not—meaning that we have access to their cages—and also any time, depending on the game time, if there is a need to stop and eat something before the game,” Parks said. “If it’s a seven o’clock game, I put all of that in my calculations, and I always try to be at the field an hour and a half before the game.” Although it is common practice to leave early for away games, there have been instances where teams were released early for home games as well. “We got released early for one home game and that was because the team had to come especially early,” Lineman said. “They had to come and play the game by 4:15 p.m. Because the game had to be played so early, we had to get out early so we could prepare ourselves.” Junior Austin Nykamp, a boys’ tennis player, agrees that teams need time to prepare. “We need the time to warm up,” Nykamp
said. “We need at least 30 minutes before the match starts to warm up, and our matches usually start at four o’clock.” Athletes can end up missing a lot of instructional time for their sport, which can impact their academics. “It does [impact my grades] sometimes actually, especially in Spanish,” said junior Ben Choate, a boys’ golf player. “You have to be there for all of [your classes] because you can’t just pick up Spanish from somewhere random. It kind of puts me behind sometimes.” According to Parks, he advises his players to make smart choices and keep up with their classes. “I hope it doesn’t [hurt their academics]; we try to talk to them about making good decisions,” Parks said. “With Plus One in place now and the extended lunch periods as far as with Plus One sometimes, I encourage all of my kids to take steps to make up work, study more and go to see their teachers. I encourage them to do that before school and during Plus One, so that’s when they’re supposed to be doing it. I think we’ve only had to leave early, I’d say no more than eight or nine times this year. It should not affect them negatively.” Ramos believes his academics should come first, but golf is still important. “Some teachers think that athletics are not as important as academics, which is true, but you know, it is what it is,” Ramos said. However, according to Lineman, the extra time awarded by early release is essential. “This time is very necessary, because without it, we won’t be ready,” Lineman said. “If you’re not ready, there’s really no point in playing.”
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“If you’re not ready, there’s really no point in playing.” — Colton Lineman, junior
Chloe Maynard/The Omniscient
A STUDENT-ATHLETE boards an activity bus with his backpack.
June 2017, The Omniscient, Page 23
Supercharged Signings “[Signing] was a great accomplishment considering how I tore my ACL and I was out the whole season. I’m just grateful to have a team, a college pick me up, even with the circumstances that I had.... I was still able to accomplish my dream.” —Jazanae Billings, senior
Bryn Adyt, Mars Hill University, Basketball Jazanae Billings, Mars Hill University, Basketball Allie McKee, UNC-Pembroke, Softball Hannah Omar, Meredith College, Soccer Logan Crabtree, Wake Forest, Baseball Wesley Roberson, Guilford College, Lacrosse Carson Shaner, UNC-Wilmington, Softball Tessa Sheets, Purdue University, Track & Field Trey Barnes, Weselyan College, Football Kadie Snipes, Methodist University, Basketball Michael Hayes, Weselyan College, Football Sarah Helen Shepherd, Davidson College, Swimming Matt Oldham, Elon University, Baseball Hunter Queen, UNC-Chapel Hill, Wrestling Carson Amy, UNC-Pembroke, Wrestling “It just shows you all your hard work has paid off, all the times you couldn’t go to football games... and you couldn’t do things with your friends because you were making sacrifices for basketball, but then knowing that you have a free education coming your way just felt absolutely amazing.” — Kristian Eanes, senior
Patrick Szczypinski, UNC-Charolette, Baseball John Terzotis, North Greenville University, Track & Field Kristian Eanes, Queens University, Basketball
“It was good to have my parents there and see the smile on their faces and to see how proud they were of me and of my accomplishments.” — Gordon Brann, senior Page 24, The Omniscient, June 2017
Gordon Brann, NC Weselyan College, Basketball Christian Farrell, William Peace University, Basketball Demuntey Thomas, NC Weselyan, Football