ON THE COVER
WHAT’S INSIDE 4-5
‘Christmas House’ remains lit despite loss
6-7
War on drugs, Women in Congress
8-9
Room in the Inn, Beach Food Pantry
10-11
Jacy’s jaw journey, Seve saves animals
12-13
Sister act, Winter concert Q&A
14-15
Livingstons travel the world, Davis acts
16-17
Artists in the Spotlight: Roberts, Cowan
18-19
#tb Christmas photos, Selling trees
20-21
Our view: Hawk Talk, Empty chair
22-23
Gender roles, Sunsets, Letters to Editors
24-25
Early Christmas, Playlist, Why politics?
26-27
Winter sports, Hawbaker wrestles
28-29
Bombs away for Blake, Good Guys wrap
30-31
Photo by Buzzy Staten/Nighthawk News
From the Nighthawk News family to yours, editors-in-chief (from left) Hannah Ellington, Chloe Futrell and Hunter Haskett send along best wishes for the holidays.
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ights flicker around our homes and evenings are either filled with screenings of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” or a nostalgic trip to the famous Poulos “Christmas” house. Nothing says “Christmas on the OBX” like this destination, and nothing makes Jim Poulos happier than seeing hundreds of locals and tourists flood his yard every year to see his decorations. Recently, Poulos’ wife passed away, making it hard for him to continue the tradition. But with the help of close family members and the community, the house remains – fully decorated – waiting for families to come admire it this holiday season.
We went several times ourselves, with Peyton Dickerson writing a feature story about the family that can be found on Page 5 and Buzzy Staten getting great shots of all the decorations. We thought it was important to let our readers know that this tradition will continue so that repeat visitors and first-timers alike can experience the magic. The days between Thanksgiving and winter break grow shorter and the list of fun traditions we celebrate grows longer. Our families plan trips to the Christmas tree lot next to Longboard’s or Outer Banks Boarding Company. When we walk into school on Dec. 14, the orchestra serenades
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staff and students with holiday classics that fill the rotunda – this is when we know it is officially the holiday season. The chorus goes caroling through the halls, Secret Santa exchanges take place and people prepare to travel either far or near for holiday cheer. Singing carols, driving to MacArthur Center to shop for loved ones and seeing the extravagant decorations, walking through the Elizabethan Gardens’ light show, participating in Duck’s Great Elf Hunt – these are some of the yearly outings our staff enjoys during the holidays on the Outer Banks. Every local has his or her own traditions, but most of us can find unity in every cup of Front Porch coffee or helping out with Room in the Inn or donating items to the Beach Food Pantry. For Nighthawk News, some of the best things about the holiday season are planning this issue, participating in our annual white elephant gift exchange and volunteering to help take pictures with Santa for families within our community – an event hosted
graciously by Southern Shores Realty, where our On the Cover photo that accompanies this article takes place. We love to see the cute, matching holiday outfits of families and the kids’ lists being read to Santa during these photo sessions. Being part of this special moment in a child’s life is something we’re thankful for, as are the donations their parents make, which allow us to buy new photography equipment. We’d like to thank Southern Shores Realty, especially Mike Stone, for including Nighthawk News in this annual endeavor. In this issue, we cover the warm feelings of the holidays but also the cold reality of celebrating Christmas without a loved one, Dare County’s war on drugs and life’s debilitating gender roles. At Nighthawk News, we strive to bring the stories of as many individuals as possible to our readers. We hope you enjoy unwrapping each story, and know that whatever you celebrate – Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa – the Nighthawk News crew wishes you happy holidays. – Chloe, Hannah and Hunter
It’s Never Too Late for a
New Beginning Christie McEwan MS, M.Ed, LCAS, ICCDP, ICAADC, CCTP
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NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / on the cover
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Spirit of the community helps Poulos house shine By Peyton Dickerson Staff Writer
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yriad lights, Nativity scenes, countless Christmas ornaments and a luminescent sleigh perched over the yard: It’s no wonder children and adults alike glow with excitement in anticipation of strolling through the Outer Banks’ beloved “Christmas House.” The charming home in Kill Devil Hills, owned by Jim Poulos, has attracted families from near and far for years. And the home remains a bright spot this year despite a dark time for the Poulos family. Christmas has always been a special time for Poulos. As a child, he grew up with a father in the military, in a family that didn’t have a lot of money. Christmas was the season when Poulos and his siblings would receive necessities, such as school supplies and clothing, making the holiday incredibly important to their family. “Each year, come Christmastime, they provided us with what we needed,” Poulos said. “Christmas was for the children.” As Poulos grew older, a unique experience allowed him to display his deep love for the holiday in the form of decorations. Poulos was an employee for a 7-Eleven convenience store during the 1970s’ energy crisis when there was a gas shortage. Due to the crisis, Poulos’ 7-Eleven and many other places stopped selling Christmas lights due to extremely low demand. One day, Poulos was directed by his supervisor to write off all of the lights and dispose of them in the dumpster. “I asked (the supervisor), ‘Once I go to the dumpster, can I get them out?’ ” Poulos recalled. Poulos obtained about 50 boxes of Christmas lights, sparking the idea to cover his house with them for the holiday season. In 1979, Poulos and his wife moved onto Chowan Street in Kill Devil Hills and initiated the decorating process. “We lit the house on Chowan, and you could see the glow from the Wright Memorial,” Poulos said. In 1980, Poulos and his wife moved to Ocean Acres Drive in Kill Devil Hills, where he continued to display his festive decor year after year. As the number of decorations on the house increased, so did the turnout of visitors. Many people would come by and gaze at the house with their families, getting enlightened by the Christmas joy surrounding them. The reaction the Pouloses received from their visitors truly brought them happiness. “When you take a 95-year-old man that has tears in his eyes because he’s
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never seen anything like it, that means you’re doing something,” Poulos said. The family continued to decorate every year and continued to draw in smiling faces. Every year the lights were put out, new reactions were reeled in. “The smiles on children’s faces and the joy in their eyes is amazing,” said Poulos’ son-in-law, Dennis Mueller. “That’s why we light it up.” Despite all of the joy, a wave of sorrow arrived in recent years at the Christmas House. Poulos lost his wife, Ann, to cancer this past August after a lengthy battle with the disease. Ever since the tragic loss, the once fun and lively decorating process has turned into a team effort from Poulos’ family. “Normally we start decorating in August, but we got a late start because of the passing,” said Poulos’ daughter, Caitlin Liebno. “We still have stuff that needs to be put up.” Although the task of living up to Ann Poulos’ decorating skills seemed daunting for Liebno, she knew the tradition must continue. “We’re doing this in her memory,” Liebno said. “We know it’s making her happy.” Since Ann’s death, questions about the future of the Christmas House were raised by students and others in the community. But volunteers have put forth an effort to continue the tradition by coming together to help with the process. “I know the Christmas season was always really special for him and his wife,” sophomore Skyler Scheel said. “Next year after the Halloween season I would like to get some different sponsors and volunteers to come help him.” Poulos wants to do everything he can to keep the house up each year. With the help of his family, friends and the community, the decorations will continue to go up in memory of Ann. “My wife would’ve wanted the lights up, so I’ll keep them up,” Poulos said. With the house having played such a special part in so many people’s Christmas traditions, the thought of losing the chance for that quick driveby viewing or pleasant stroll through the yard is a dark one. “It’s something that all of the locals can look forward to,” junior Perry Ellis said. “It’s good to see all of the hard work the Pouloses have put into the house. If it wasn’t there, it would be a sad loss.” Instead, those who come together to help decorate the Christmas House are displaying what the spirit of Christmas can really be. Let the holiday cheer commence. Sophomore Peyton Dickerson can be reached at 21dickersonpe28@daretolearn.org.
Photos by Buzzy Staten/Nighthawk News
In a room displaying Christmas figurines stuffed animals, a table holds photos of mother and wife, Ann Poulos. The Poulos family lost Ann this August to cancer. With the help of family and the support of the community, the Poulos house is lit up again this holiday season. Below, the front yard of the Poulos house is the center of the light display.
Nighthawk News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
NHS project plans to help teachers purchase supplies
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By Izzy Requa Sports Editor
any students enjoy the labs and projects done in class, but many may not realize the materials they use sometimes are being paid for by their teacher. Every year, the National Honor Society does a service project for the school, and this year, the club has decided to give back to those teachers. “Since the teachers are providing something for the students, the fund is so that the teachers aren’t providing for it out of pocket, because a lot of teachers would probably buy it anyway,” NHS faculty sponsor Angela Gard said. “I buy a lot of things for my classes because I want to do those things and have those things, and there may not be money in the budget to get that.” Each year, the club raises money for a different project to benefit the FFHS community. Last year, NHS awarded two scholarships to students in the
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This new focus will allow NHS to help the teachers who have provided so much for the seniors these past four years. After deciding on the project, the next step is to find ways to raise the money for their goal to have the supplies to the teachers in the new year. “We were thinking about doing a couple fundraisers, selling some things after school in the rotunda, possibly doing some movie nights. We’ve been working on a few things,” NHS president Abby Smith said. Once the students in NHS have raised enough money, they are planning to let teachers apply to be reimbursed for things they want to purchase to use in their classrooms. “We’re going to have all the teachers apply to get money or make a wish list so we can kind of see what they want, and then with the funds distribute it evenly between the teachers,” Smith said. Junior Izzy Requa can be reached at requais0227@daretolearn.org.
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(Clockwise from left) Ingris Jimenez, Madison Murry, Gabi McClary and Macey Haynes kick it on the dance floor at last years ‘80s dance-a-thon, the National Honor Society’s fundraiser. This year, NHS plans to raise funds to help teachers buy classroom supplies.
NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / news
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‘Nevertheless, she persisted’ – all the way to Congress
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By Chloe Futrell Editor-in-Chief
n Nov. 6, people all over the nation sat in front of the TV, eagerly waiting and watching as the results came in for elected officials. Among these Americans were the women who ran, watching as their chances of holding a seat in Congress increased by the minute. As of Nov. 7, history was made for women everywhere – 131 women will hold seats in the 116th U.S. Congress, with 28 in the Senate and 103 in the House of Representatives. In 2000, only 65 women served in Congress. The first woman to break the status quo was Jeannette Rankin in 1917. “She (Rankin) plays an important role because she helped create the legislation that was going to become the 19th Amendment,” history teacher Erin Basilone said of women earning the right to vote in 1920. “It’s incredibly important that you have women in positions of power to make decisions, not just for their communities but for the country. It’s also about other minority candidates that have been elected to Congress as well.” The 2018 election signified major progress for females in the U.S. According to Vox News, dozens of countries have passed America in the number of
women in government. “We’ve got more women in (Congress) than ever before,” Basilone said. “The visibility for those women working at that level of government to represent their communities, they inspire other women in this country to maybe do the same.” League of Women Voters board member Colleen Oaksmith feels passionately about the power of the recently elected congresswomen and the impact they can have. “I think that women need to see role models, and I think the more women that run the more will be elected and more young people will think, ‘Hey, I can run, too,’ ” Oaksmith said. “It’s not a special club you have to be a member of.” According to SeeJane.org, girls are outnumbered three to one on TV. When girls watch TV, play with a toy, or even read a book, many want to see a character that resembles them. “Something has to be modeled before you can believe in it for yourself,” Basilone said. “I think they (congresswomen) are absolutely going to be an important inspiration to young women growing up who are just gonna shrug and say, ‘Well, of course I can run for Congress if I want to.’ ” Senior Chloe Futrell can be reached at futrellch1114@daretolearn.org.
The history of women in Congress 1917
Jeannette Rankin becomes first ever woman in Congress.
1928
Seven women are elected into the 71st Congress.
1962
A record breaking 18 women served in the U.S. Congress.
1970s
Prominent figures such as Barbara Jones, Elizabeth Holtzman and Bella Abzug serve in Congress.
1981
Number of women in the House of Representatives exceeds 20 members.
1992
“Year of the Women,” four women senators and 24 new congresswomen were elected.
2018
A record breaking 131 women were electeed into the 116th Congress this past November. There are 28 women senators, and 103 women will hold seats in the House of Representatives.
Graphic by Chloe Futrell/ Nighthawk News
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NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
Legalization could end the local war on marijuana By Dair McNinch Community Editor Editor’s note: The student referred to as Steve in this story requested anonymity to protect his identity. Steve was 17 when he spent his first night at the Dare County Detention Center. He wasn’t in there for rape, dodging a court date or stealing a car. He was there for a different reason. “The first time I went to jail I was in two fights in my time there, suffered a concussion during one of them and was Tased so bad I still have the scars,” Steve described. “All in one night.” After his friend’s car was pulled over for having a taillight out, Steve was the only person in the car selected to be searched. He claims this was done without probable cause. Nevertheless, he was found to be in possession of a misdemeanor amount of marijuana (about four grams) and some drug paraphernalia. On his court date, he was held for one night in the pre-trial holding tank at the Dare County Detention Center. Because the charges were the first Steve had received, he was ordered to serve a one year period of supervised probation. Violations of this probation would send him in and out of jail the next year. He’s now out and off probation, but still maintains a strong feeling of trepidation toward the criminal justice system from his experiences. “I felt like I was still in the system even when I was out and trying to do better,” Steve said. “The cops still went after all my friends and I relentlessly. It made me still feel kind of incarcerated.” The recent midterm elections saw several small victories for marijuana legalization for adults. Michigan voted to allow recreational use, and Missouri and Utah both earned medical marijuana rights. For many other regions of the country, like the Southeast, the war on drugs still rages against marijuana. Dare County is a place tucked into one of the farthest corners of these regions. Here, the efforts against the
drug are particularly evident, and change seems far from reality. “I’d say that about 60 percent of the charges the department issues are related to marijuana,” Kitty Hawk Police Chief Joel Johnson said. Dare County has seven fully functioning police stations with interworking divisions, Kitty Hawk being just one of the main departments. Since local law enforcement is fully equipped to protect the 300,000 or so people vacationing on the Outer Banks each week in the summer, the presence of the police can be heavily felt by the 30,000 who stick around for the other nine months of the year. With that ratio of police officers to citizens, there’s a perception that marijuana gets more attention on the beach than in other more populated areas. North Carolina, being a consistently “red” state, has seen groups propose marijuana legalization in the past but with little hope of change. NC District Court Judge Robert Trivette, however, mentioned one idea he believes is starting to sink in locally. “People are realizing it’s not as dangerous as so many of these other drugs,” Trivette said. Kevin Duprey, Captain of the Dare County Sheriff Office’s Narcotics Task Force, agreed. “There’s a lot of other stuff that goes on, and I can only talk about it from our perspective with the drug unit,” Duprey said. “If you’re looking at someone distributing heroin or crack cocaine compared to someone distributing marijuana, our primary goal is to go after the person with the heroin or crack cocaine.” Dare County Sheriff Doug Doughtie shared similar thoughts on the subject. “We’re looking for harder drugs that are causing problems and killing people, whether by making them overdose or do stuff you shouldn’t do,” Doughtie said. “Marijuana isn’t where we’re going. It’s not where our effort is. We’ll take it if we can get it, but it’s not something we’re all out to get someone in trouble for.” What becomes a topic of debate between Dare
County law enforcement, though, is the amount of effort put forth into the fight against marijuana. “I don’t think anyone discounts the fact that marijuana is still out there,” Duprey said. “We still target it, we definitely had arrests over this year and last year that were some pretty good seizures. Traffic stops are always furthering finding people smoking marijuana and finding various amounts of it.” While the degree to which the law is enforced might have room for interpretation, penalties for those caught using marijuana in the NC court system don’t. Felonious possession of the drug is considered only 1.5 ounces in the state. Few minor marijuana charges lead to active time – something like a 45day jail sentence – but some offenders still face the prospect of some time in the Dare County Detention Center. “The majority of our folks are pre-trial,” Captain Allen Moran of DCDC said. “Very rarely do you see people do time for just a marijuana charge.” Still, that’s little consolation for someone like Steve. Like most other issues in the process of changing in the country, the debate over marijuana includes a lot of different people. There are those on either side of the law, those exploring business and scientific opportunities with the drug, and those in government digging their feet in the ground and fighting for the outcome they think is best. Each group has an equal chance to change the situation in this state. Change is simply waiting for a choice. Trivette explained one way for this to occur: “What it’s going to take to change is just the public’s attitude towards it. If they’re going to eventually elect their representative and tell them what they want, then there’s a chance. That’s what it’ll take, for the public to say that it needs to be legalized and that we need to stop spending tax dollars prosecuting people who are recreationally using marijuana and not harming anybody.” Senior Dair McNinch can be reached at mcninchle1121@daretolearn.org.
Graphic by Hunter Haskett/ Nighthawk News
This map of the U.S. showcases which states have legalized marijuana, both medically and recreationally. The legal buying age in these states is 21, the same for alcohol.
NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / news
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Room in the Inn offers warm hospitality for the homeless
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By Hannah Ellington Editor-in-Chief
riving down the beach road, it’s impossible to miss the endless array of fancy hotels, motels, cottages and inns. However, even though more are being built each year, there are still countless people without a warm place to sleep at night in Dare County. Room in the Inn is a non-profit organization which provides a place to stay for people who are homeless during the cold months. Since its startup in 2009, Room in the Inn has served 365 people from November to April because no other organization in Dare County helps supply shelter and care for the homeless. Wayne Barry, First Flight’s school psychologist, is part of the nine-person board responsible for Room in the Inn. Barry has been on the board for three years. “About 10 years ago, a woman named Gale Leonard and another person or two felt there were people living not in warm, dry conditions and so they began to organize some churches to help meet these people’s needs for housing during the wet, cold season,” Barry said. For the last nine years, 17 to 20 churches have signed up for a certain week, from Sunday evening to the following Sunday morning, to host those in need. The host churches provide mattress pads, linens, food and social services. Once the week is over, those staying at the Room in the Inn are transported to the next church. However, this year is the “pilot year” for something a bit different. “This year it came to our attention that there was a house very near St. Andrews Church on the bypass…(and) that there was a property manager who had space for 14 people to spend the night and they could stay there the whole winter – they wouldn’t have to do any moving to churches,” Barry said. “The church leaders saw the wisdom of not having people move every week.” For the last few years, Duck United Methodist Church’s youth group would provide the meal for the first day the homeless were at their church. With the guests now staying at the Nags Head Center during the church’s designated week, the youth group decided to bring their meal to them. “We cooked them chili and cornbread and a bunch of desserts and salad and stuff and ate with them and talked with them about their life,” freshman Cooper Daniels said. “I like hearing the people’s stories about their lives and what they’ve gone through and why they’re homeless. They always have something really good to tell you.” Freshman Reagan Minnich also recalls times that she would help with Room in the Inn when she was younger. “I’ve been going to Duck United Methodist for a long time,” Minnich said. “I remember being 6 years old and helping make cards and little care packages and going and leaving them on the mattresses.” Even though the homeless will, for the most part, be staying at the Nags Head Center, Mount Olivet Methodist Church and Manteo First Assembly will continue to house people in their churches. The guests are firstly picked up from an intake spot in Manteo and then screened to make sure none of the volunteers would be a danger to themselves or others. “Part of this is making sure that people don’t have medical needs that we can’t be responsible for or aren’t intoxicated,” Barry said. Once they make it to the place they are staying
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Photo by Hannah Ellington/Nighthawk News
Case manager Susan Picataggi (left) and Room in the Inn Board Chairwoman Nancy Griffin laugh together at Sugar Creek Restaurant on Nov. 30 during a fundraising event for RITI. Room in the Inn began its mission of helping the homeless in Dare County in 2009 and has served 365 people.
the night at, dinner is provided as well as a clean bed, necessary clothing, a place to bathe and case managers and counseling. “The case manager tries to help people follow through with medical appointments, appointments with social services to get food stamps or whatever they might need to see them through the winter,” Barry said. “There’s a social work part of this that we try to get people job interviews, have people come in and do presentations on going for a job interview, how you should dress, that type of thing. It’s more than just housing people – the intent is to help people regain confidence.” By 9 a.m., the guests are expected to depart from the center and go be engaged in the community. “It might be that they are going to work, or various appointments or to the library to do some research or stay warm or to the Dare Center to help with volunteer work,” said Nancy Griffin, chair of the board for Room in the Inn. Last year, Room in the Inn supported 30 guests throughout the winter for a combined 1,081 bed nights and three meals a day. Best of all, by the end of the season, every guest had either left the area or found jobs and housing through the help and care of those involved with the nonprofit. While the churches provide a lot of the meals and care for the homeless, Barry stressed that Room in the Inn has no religious affiliation and that anyone can help, whether it be by making a pot of chili for those in need, giving donations or simply spreading the word. “It has evolved wonderfully as people have worked collaboratively to meet the needs of people who for whatever reasons (have become displaced),” Barry said.
Interested in learning more or donating to the cause? Visit www.facebook.com/ outerbanksroomintheinn or contact Nancy Griffin at nancygriffin@gmail.com. The reasons are many, with Barry stressing that “we’re not housing vagabonds. We are looking at people whose life circumstances have caused them, in this point in time, to be in extreme need.” Added Griffin: “They may have family breakups and have lost their connections to family that may otherwise support them during tough times. Sometimes it’s just due to storms, for example, or loss of jobs that have dried up, so there’s lots of different reasons that people may find themselves in a homeless situation.” The important thing, Griffin explained, is not to make judgments about why the person is homeless, but to think about what can be done to help each individual. And that can be challenging whether in an urban environment like Chicago or a place like the Outer Banks that lacks affordable housing and features a seasonal economy with paychecks that come and go. “We have a mental health system that is not meeting the needs of living in our society,” Griffin said. “And so without adequate treatment, without adequate support and affordable care, then people end up not being able to get care or pay their basic bills – you know, meet what people would think of as typical kinds of adult responsibilities – so it’s a vicious cycle that is really a social problem.” Senior Hannah Ellington can be reached at ellingtonha1214@daretolearn.org. NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
By Maggie McNinch Special to Nighthawk News
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t’s another Monday morning and you begrudgingly carry a Harris Teeter bag filled to the brim with cans of green beans that your mom forced you to bring in. You begin unloading can after can – and remind yourself to stop skipping arm day – until you finally finish piling them into the colorful food drive bin for your class, happy to be rid of it. What you don’t realize, however, is that in addition to earning your class a few spirit points, you just helped bring food to one of the 4,370 people who are food insecure in Dare County. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life,” and estimates that one in eight Americans were food insecure in 2017. Those green beans you brought in will go to help food insecure neighbors right here in Dare County by way of the Beach Food Pantry, a local non-profit organization whose mission is to provide direct nutritional assistance to Dare County residents experiencing a temporary crisis or emergency. Located in Kitty Hawk, the Beach Food Pantry rescued 151,360 pounds of food – items from grocery stores that would have otherwise been thrown away – and helped 4,110 people in 2017 with those items as well as donations from the community. The organization provides two weeks of groceries at a time to eligible clients as well as summer food for kids and holiday meal bags. None of that would be possible without the help
Photo by Maggie McNinch/Special to Nighthawk News
Cans, boxes and jars alike wait to be bagged at the local Beach Food Pantry. Volunteering at the Beach Food Pantry helps to change the lives of local residents who struggle with food insecurity.
of volunteers who put in 6,140 hours of work last year. “We have over 300 volunteers total in the course of a year,” said Elisabeth Silverthorne, Executive Director of the Beach Food Pantry. “It requires many, many hands, but it’s amazing how many people are invested in the Pantry.” Freshman Kate Hamilton is one of those people. “I think just getting the feeling of knowing you’re
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helping people really made me want to do it more,” Hamilton said. And that feeling is not the only thing Hamilton took away from her time helping there. “They have the building organized in sections, like fruits and vegetables and all that stuff, so I became good at organizing food,” Hamilton said with a laugh. She also said that more people should be aware of the opportunity to
help and encouraged others to volunteer. While people volunteer for all sorts of reasons, for Hamilton it was her mom who had given her the idea, as she had grown up volunteering at pantries where she used to live. But for sophomore Levi Hawkins, it was Boy Scouts that brought him to the Pantry. “My favorite part about volunteering there was prob-
ably the people,” Hawkins said. “They were so nice and it wasn’t like they were forcing you to do stuff; they made volunteering fun there.” Hawkins also said the experience made him feel more a part of the community. He advised others to “be open-minded” and “help any way you can” because it made an impact on not only those lives he helped, but on his as well. Sophomore Maggie Beacham has volunteered in the past for her youth group at Kitty Hawk United Methodist Church. “It definitely makes you feel good knowing that you get to help people. Even if you don’t know who it’s going to, you still get a good feeling knowing you helped someone,” Beacham said. And for Silverthorne, that’s what she likes best about it. “I get to see people being helped every single day,” Silverthorne said. Whether it’s dropping off cans of food for the FFHS food drive, actually volunteering at the Beach Food Pantry, or even just telling a friend about the experience, you can make a difference in someone’s life. It may seem small to you, but it might mean the world to someone else. When asked what the food meant to them, one of the Beach Food Pantry’s clients said, “Everything. It’s one thing to go without the ‘wants’ in life, but it’s a whole other pain to go without essentials, No. 1 being food. Survival is everything, and this blessing of much-needed food, for some, is an answered prayer.” Freshman Maggie McNinch wrote this story for her Introduction to Publications project. She can be reached at 22McNinchma07@daretolearn.org.
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My lips are sealed... By Hunter Haskett Editor-in-Chief
little dry-erase board and I would write what I was thinking. That was definitely a switch because I normally just enior Jacy Copeland is craving say what I am thinking, so it took a lot something savory. A Big Mac to longer to write it,” Copeland said. be specific. After the first week, Copeland had The blender whirls as she her bands removed slowly, a week at eagerly awaits the greasy goodness. a time, until the sixth and final week, Her mom adds a little milk – to make when almost all the bands were taken it blend more smoothly, of course. out. Until then, she perfected the art of Voila! Copeland’s long-awaited slush talking through closed teeth. of beef, pickles, special sauce and a bun “I started talking with my mouth is ready. closed like a ventriloquist, so that Just how everyone wants to conwasn’t too bad,” Copeland said. “My sume their McDonald’s favorite, right? mom’s always saying now that she “It was a bad day, and when I have wants a refund because they told her days like that I normally go out and six weeks of quiet and she didn’t get it treat myself to a Big Mac,” Copeland – she got like a week and a half.” said. “I begged my mom and she Copeland may have found a way brought home a Big Mac and we pureed to bypass the no-talking element of it and I drank it.” her recovery, but Here’s hoping, wasn’t so lucky however, that with eating. My mom’s always Copeland’s bad “Your mouth days due to Temis so swollen and saying now that she poromandibular you can’t open Joint Disorder are your mouth so the wants a refund bebehind her. TMJ only way to do it causes problems (eat) is through cause they told her with the joint that liquids,” Copeland connects the jaw said. “So you take a six weeks of quiet to the temporal syringe and put the bones of the face. tip of the syringe and she didn’t get With TMJ, eating between your cheek it – she got like a some foods made and your teeth and her jaw hurt, and you just squeeze it week and a half. the disorder even(food) out.” tually would have In addition – Jacy Copeland caused breathing to the physical problems later in challenges of her life. recovery, Copeland “The top and struggled with the bottom jaw, they didn’t line up and one isolation that came with it. was bigger than the other, so it was “I prepared myself for it, so it was pretty much like the top jaw belonged about what I expected,” Copeland to a different person than the bottom explained. “But getting over not being jaw did,” Copeland said. able to talk, not being able to eat, and Copeland, her family and her docnot getting to go to school and just a tors decided that undergoing mandiblot of the stuff I missed out on, that ular osteotomy – lower jaw surgery was the hard part. I missed all of my – was the best option to relieve her friends.” of the painful jaw issues. The surgery Weekly visits from fellow senior Cetook place Oct. 11. cilia Cortez helped keep Copeland feel“They broke my bottom jaw in two ing involved in the FFHS community places and put a plate and screws in during her recovery. They either caught there,” Copeland said. “They also broke up on online classwork or just chatted my top jaw, like the front-center area, about everything that had happened and put a plate and screws in.” since they’d last seen each other. After surgery, Copeland was left “We would always go on walks bewith an extremely swollen face and cause she doesn’t like to stay inside for a wider nose than she originally had. that long,” Cortez said. “I’d be telling With so much swelling, she was dizzy her something and she’d already know for the first week and spent most of it the story – it’s like she never even left resting in bed. school. It was funny because I was “The first week is just painful and more in the know for Jacy’s sake than miserable, and you don’t really do my own.” anything, you just try and keep living,” Copeland’s calculus teacher, Sam Copeland said. DeWitt, also came to her house twice a Such an extensive operation led week and gave a condensed version of Copeland to a six-week recovery time the daily lessons to keep her on track that involved a completely liquid diet with the rest of the class. because of a mouth that was shut tight “We only do some of the examples with rubber bands. and then I explain what we did. We can Which meant no talking – no easy usually cover two, three days within feat for her extroverted personality. one sitting,” DeWitt said. “I did not do good at that. I got a Having the help of DeWitt and
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Photos submitted by Jacy Copeland
Senior Jacy Copeland smiles for a quick photo before her mandible osteotomy. Her jaw was broken in two places on the bottom and once on the top. Then, plates and screws were put in. Below, Copeland rests after her five-hour surgery.
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her other homebound teacher, Chris Mascio, made it easier for Copeland to stay caught up with her work, but she still missed the structure of a regular school day. “I just had to have the motivation to do it. It’s so easy to get distracted because I’m not in a school environment,” Copeland said. Copeland returned to school on Nov. 26, almost six weeks after she left. Her swelling decreased tremendously and she was excited to be back after a long break – unlike most people on the Monday morning after Thanksgiving. “Yeah, I was definitely excited to see everybody and everyone has been so welcoming. It’s nice to be back,” Copeland said. “Charlotte Tyson got me
a ‘women in science’ 500-piece puzzle and I’m very excited.” The feeling is mutual. Copeland’s teachers and friends have dearly missed her enthusiastic personality and bright smile. “I’m really happy she’s back,” Cortez said. “She’s in my lunch group and it was incomplete without her.” And after her long first day back at school was done, Copeland walked into McDonald’s and ordered herself a Big Mac. She went to the table, the warm, juicy burger sitting in front of her, and took a big bite. It took her awhile to finish, but she chewed the whole thing. It was a good day. Senior Hunter Haskett can be reached at hasketthu0318@daretolearn.org.
Nighthawk News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
Gomez gives the gift of life
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By Cassidy O’Neil Staff Writer
or sophomore Seve Gomez, protecting wildlife has always been second nature. Since a young age, Gomez felt a connection to animals and an urge to help. This urge would turn into action as Gomez began to help small wounded animals he found in his back yard. After these experiences, Gomez’s interest turned into a lifelong passion. “When I was little, I would take tadpoles and lizards who were injured and nurse them back to health in a small aquarium,” Gomez said. With an obvious interest in wildlife, and multiple minor rescues in the past, Gomez was called into action by his neighbors earlier this year for his first real rescue. After arriving at his neighbor’s house, Gomez found a young fox frantically trapped in a crawl space. “When I saw the fox I knew it was not injured, but I could tell it was definitely weak and dealing with some sort of sickness,” Gomez said. First, he began with apprehending the fox, followed by nourishing the animal with food and water. This along with the guidance of family and friends helped Gomez’s first rescue to be successful. Shortly after regaining its proper health, the fox was released back into
the wild in the early months of 2018. Gomez’s first rescue gave him a taste of his lifelong dream to become a veterinary physician. “I have a passion for helping both animals and people. Whenever I find someone that is upset I always try my hardest to help,” Gomez said. After a successful first rescue, Gomez began to take notice of the wildlife around him, eagerly anticipating his next chance to make a difference. That next opportunity came in the form of a opossum. “I noticed that it was limping, so I found a box and placed it inside. Once I got it home, I found that its leg had been completely destroyed,” Gomez said. Gomez transported the wounded opossum to a family friend, a local veterinarian who helped by rigging a splint for the animal’s leg. After remaining in Gomez’s care for over a month, the opossum was sent to be cleared for a final checkup and released back into the wild shortly after. While others might feel helpless after finding an injured animal, Gomez believes it’s important to assist in any way possible. “Even something simple like helping out at the local wildlife reserves or conservation agencies would help out in the effort to protect wildlife and their habitats,” Gomez said. Gomez’s family has played an
Photo submitted by Seve Gomez
Sophomore Seve Gomez holds up his first rescue: a baby fox that he rescued from being trapped in a crawl space. After this rescue, he went on to help many more injured animals.
important part in the process, supporting his passion for wildlife since the beginning. “Seve is kind and caring. I’ve seen him go way beyond the norm to protect and preserve nature and wildlife,” said Leigh Gomez, Seve’s mother. With two successful recoveries under his belt, it seemed that Gomez was prepared for whatever nature threw at him. But that’s when he stumbled upon his next patient by a local pond, which was definitely his most “exotic” to date. “I was biking to my friend’s house and I saw a blue heron. But it was struggling and fell into the water. When I tried to get closer, I realized that he couldn’t fly,” Gomez said.
After eventually capturing the wounded bird, Gomez and his family safely transported the animal to a family friend on Hatteras Island who dealt specifically with bird rescue. The blue heron is currently still in the process of rehabilitation, but thanks to Gomez’s actions, the bird is on its way to a smooth recovery and should be taking to the skies once again. “I feel like more people on the beach need to be aware of our local wildlife, and responsible for the protection of our animals. Every animal has a purpose. They help keep the earth alive,” Gomez said. Senior Cassidy O’Neil can be reached at o’neilca1210@daretolearn.org.
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Winter concert Thursday, Dec. 13, at 6 p.m. Heidi Sabatini
Sofia Dick
What grade are you in? I’m a senior. What Ensemble are you in? First Alto in Honors Treble Choir. What do you do in the winter concert? We perform a variety of arrangements of holiday music. What are you most looking forward to this year at the concert? So every year we sing a song called “Peace on Earth,” and we invite alumni to come up and sing it with us, and the seniors and all choirs get to sing the solo parts, and I’m super excited. We’re all going to cry and it’s going to be really good. What are some of your best concert memories from past years? I want to say it was two years ago in Honors Choir, at the Christmas concert we sang the song called “Twas In The Moon” and it was really good, and it was an a cappella, and it was super fun, and complicated and good.
What grade are you in? I’m a senior. What ensemble are you in? Orchestra. What do you do in the winter concert? I play the violin. What are you most looking forward to this year at the concert? It’s my last winter concert because I am a senior, so I’m pretty sad and excited at the same time. There have been a lot of new students who have joined orchestra and that is going to be exciting to see how they do. What are some of your best concert memories from past years? I had a solo in the concert when I was a sophomore. It was a three-part solo and that was really fun.
Alexis Martello
Ethan Duck What grade are you in? I’m in ninth grade. What ensemble are you in? Jazz band. What do you do in the winter concert? I play the saxophone. What are you most looking forward this year at the concert? Being able to play in the jazz band.
Ava O’Neill What ensemble are you in? I’m in Second Soprano in the Treble Choir. What do you do in the winter concert? We usually all get together for the concert. Usually, go into the auditorium and perform Christmas songs and it’s a lot of fun. And also we do caroling around the halls during Christmas time, so it’s pretty busy and awesome. What are you most looking forward to this year at the concert? I’m really excited about the song choices this year. There are a lot of new ones that sound really beautiful, but also some classics like “Santa Baby.” What are some of your best concert memories from past years? I remember my first concert in sixth grade. My best friend, Skylar, and I were performing and the whole time we held hands close together because we were so nervous. I just remember that. It was one of my favorite memories.
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What grade are you in? I’m in ninth grade. What ensemble are you in? First Soprano in the Mixed Choir. What do you do in the winter concert? We just have a lot of fun singing different pop songs. What are you most looking forward to this year at the concert? Some of the songs are really upbeat and we just have a lot of fun with them.
Scot Brown What grade are you in? I’m in 11th grade. What ensemble are you in? Bass in Honors Mixed Choir. What do you do in the winter concert? This is my first winter concert, but I heard it is really fun. What are you most looking forward this year at the concert? We have a couple of older songs that we do. Photos by Chloe Futrell, Buzzy Staten and Ben Tran
Reporting by Maddy Wagner
NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
Sister act meets ‘Nutcracker’ for the fifth time
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By Izzy Requa Sports Editor
he audience stills when the dancers walk out onto the stage. Months of training have led up to this moment. The Outer Banks Centre for Dance has been performing “The Nutcracker” ballet during Christmas every other year, and for both the dancers and the audience, watching “The Nutcracker” has become a favorite Christmas tradition. Junior Elizabeth Montgomery and freshman Hannah Montgomery have been doing “The Nutcracker” since they were in elementary school. They enjoy participating in it despite the challenging number of practices. “We’ve practiced every Saturday since August. And this past month we’ve been doing every Monday and Tuesday,” Hannah said. Like so many others, the sisters believe that Christmas isn’t the same without the show. “ ‘The Nutcracker’ gets you into the Christmas spirit,” Elizabeth said. “And you get all the fun costumes and pretty backgrounds. There is this one scene where they have snowflakes falling from the ceiling and that’s my favorite part. It’s so magical, and very professional.” The dance teacher for the Outer Banks Centre for Dance, Marjorie Knapp, has been dancing since she was 5. The performance of the ballet at FFHS earlier this month was her eighth “Nutcracker.” “My favorite part is when the choreography is over and I can just sit back and look at it,” Knapp said. “After the dances are over and I look at them, everybody’s trying their best. Even if it’s not perfect, they still dance with their heart and soul, and it really looks good.” Knapp has always loved dance, and she considers
it an art. She loves looking back at the final product and seeing what she has created. “I call it canvas in motion. The videos are very important because that’s my art right there. The dancers are the music – they are dancing the music, interpreting the music through their bodies,” Knapp said. Knapp appreciates both the dances and the music in “The Nutcracker.” The multiple elements in the dance make it a perfect thing for families to watch at Christmastime. “The music is incredible: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. What’s really amazing is that he did ‘Swan Lake,’ he did ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ all those beautiful ballets, and ‘The Nutcracker’ was his least favorite, and it’s his most famous,” Knapp said. “The music is just enchanting. The music will just capture you.” Even for those who might not have a passion for dance, there are lots of things to love about “The Nutcracker,” including the beautiful costumes. “And little kids, even if they don’t understand it, they just see all the beautiful colors and hear the enchanting music, so that’s what I think that the audience really likes about ‘The Nutcracker.’ We have something for everyone there,” Knapp said. Knapp believes “The Nutcracker” is a Christmas tradition worth repeating and looks forward to her dancers performing in various roles as they grow older. “It’s become an Outer Banks tradition. I do it almost every two years and a lot of my dancers that I have, they go on to make a dance career,” she said. “Even if they don’t, they become leaders. It just makes them all really confident, and with poise they can accomplish anything, because of the discipline that dance gives them.” Junior Izzy Requa can be reached at requais0227@daretolearn.org.
Illustration by Hannah Ellington/Nighthawk News
(Left) Photo submitted by Elizabeth Montgomery (Right) Photo by Tom Gartman/Shooters at the Beach
(Left) Sisters Hannah and Elizabeth Montgomery pose together backstage of the ‘Nutcracker,’ with Elizabeth as a mouse and Hannah as a gingerbread woman. As they’ve grown older, their parts have become more center stage. The sisters have most recently enjoyed roles as a toy soldier (Hannah) and Clara.
NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / features
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Living a world away, coming back again
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By Emmy Trivette News Editor
year and a half ago, sophomore Kat and senior Adam Livingston were eating a regular family meal, in a regular seafood restaurant, when they were asked a very regular but slightly random question by their parents: “If you could move anywhere, where would you go?” So Adam, just for the heck of it, said “South Korea.” A moment after, their parents quickly – and not discreetly – share a shocked look. They would’ve never guessed that in three months their new home would most likely be Seoul, South Korea “They didn’t tell us until five months after they’d been interviewing,” Adam said with a laugh. But for these siblings, sudden and drastic moves like this are old news. For 20 years, before either was born, their father has acted as head of customer service for multiple corporations. Because of this travel-heavy job, the family has lived in places from Russia to California, with Luxembourg and Ireland in between. Since a mobile lifestyle is all they’ve ever known, these two new members of FFHS and their younger brother, Alex, are more than comfortable receiving what most would see as life-changing news. “(Living overseas) is eye-opening,” Adam said. “For a lot of people who live in the States, (America) is their whole world since the media shows that everything revolves around us. But it’s a completely different world wherever you go.” Living in South Korea only made that more apparent. Having never been to Asia, Kat and Adam found that the social customs, dress and food really contrasted to Western culture. “It feels like in America the way you make friends is more about what sports you do, or what art – in Korea, it’s more about what academics you do that make you popular,” Kat said. Even though the siblings eventually grew excited about the big move, their first feeling was nervousness, for several reasons – the first obviously being the ongoing conflict between South and North Korea and what might happen if the tensions came to a climax. But mostly, Kat and Adam were concerned with assimilating to a completely new culture. “There aren’t a lot of English speakers and everyone was so scared we were going to get trouble from North Korea,” Kat said of the reaction friends and family had when learning about the move. The international school in Seoul the siblings attended was paid for by their dad’s employer, web corporation Coupang. The school was initially for international students only, but housed a surplus of Korean kids who had spent only a year or so in America. While neither Kat or Adam expected this new high school or its culture it to be even remotely similar to their others,
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some of its differences caught them by surprise. The two entered their first day of school in their casual Oklahoma dress, while other students were donning Gucci and Coach. Their new grading system went from 1-7, and their little brother received his grades in colors. They were accustomed to the new and different, but all the same – it was extremely new and different. “I didn’t understand what it was like to be the minority until I moved to South Korea,” Kat said. “Mostly everyone is Korean, and then there would just be my family. We’re super tall, we’re very white and loud.” Still, the Livingstons had been there, done that, as Adam could attest from his middle school years in Ireland. “We were the only Mormon kids in the Catholic school, so the nuns didn’t like me very much,” Adam said. Nonetheless, the siblings both agree that for a year, Korea – like Ireland before – was their home. And they, like any kid missing their home, still have the fresh feeling of homesickness as they settle into new lives on the OBX. Adam will admit to missing the popular Korean cabbage dish, kimchi and Kat reminisces over little Korean quirks she finds around her new home on the beach. This is their first time living at the beach despite seeming to have been to the four corners of the globe. To be more specific, the Livingstons have lived in California, Utah, Virginia, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Texas, Luxembourg, Ireland and South Korea. The siblings have been moving around with their family since they were born – if they’ve calculated it right, 10 times exactly – so by now, they’re pros. Each time they’ve been sprung with the news of their next home, they buckle down and begin their classic travel routine. “Either mom or dad will go out and house hunt, and then me and my dad will do the more physical stuff, like packing,” Adam said. “My dad will get a poster board and sticky notes and we’d design our new home from that. We’d draw out the whole house.” Kat and Adam both agree they’re incredibly lucky to have been able to grow up in countries as amazing as Ireland, Luxembourg, South Korea and America. And while they don’t want to stop experiencing the many cultures around the globe, they will always miss and cherish each life they made for themselves in each new home: from Kat’s favorite pancakes in Luxembourg, to childhood games they played at their hilltop home in Ireland and the spiciest ramen bowl Adam conquered in South Korea. Even after they move on, ties to each country remain. “Now we have friends from all over. There’s been a lot of connections,” Kat said. “Some people think it’s super scary, but somehow it’s always worked out for us.” Junior Emmy Trivette can be reached at trivetteem0626@daretolearn.org.
(From top) Sophomore Kat Livingston takes a bite of some unusually tall custard. Senior Adam Livingston stands in front of a Korean pagoda with his ‘clout goggles.’ (From left) Eighth-grader Alex Livingston, Kat Livingston, Adam Livingston and their father pose for a goofy picture in front of the wellknown Gang Nam Style hands from their time in Seoul, South Korea.
Photos submitted by Kat and Adam Livingston
NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
Davis dares to dream big both downstage and up By Kristen Applebaum Staff Writer
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he Mad Hatter, Noodler, Scar, Mr. Wickham, Roger the greaser and Mozart – what could all these bizarre characters possibly have in common? They all came to life thanks to the stage presence of sophomore Jonathon Davis. “I had friends that were into some of the same stuff as me and we would hang out and play video games together,” Davis said. “But there was always a little bit missing, that I felt like I had so much more energy than a lot of them all the time.” The artistic side in Davis began to shine through in third grade when he would illustrate his own characters, drawing inspiration from his favorite books at the time. Over the years, Davis was encouraged by friends he met through art to expand his creative abilities. “Having other art friends and being around other artists who I honestly think were more into it than me was cool because I saw myself improving, so I started to branch out and draw different stuff,” Davis said. Davis’ love for theater and acting began in seventh grade with his first role as Noodler the pirate in a Dockside production of “Peter Pan.” He was dedicated to playing the part to the best of his ability, so he decided to learn from his favorite YouTube comedians. “They would do a lot of improv exercises and stuff because they wanted to be better comedians,” Davis said. “I would kind of learn from that and eventually benefit from it because I just understood how to inflect more and basically how to play as a character.” He went on to play leading roles in later Dockside productions such as The Mad Hatter in “Alice in Wonderland” and Scar in “The Lion King.” After a great run in the community productions, he took a break his eighth-grade year but jumped right back in upon starting high school. “It was about a year without theater, which was pretty drab, but then finally my freshman year I auditioned for ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ Davis said. Transitioning from cheery and lighthearted musicals at Dockside to bigger and more serious StageKraft plays was difficult for Davis. As a newcomer, he didn’t feel as connected to the upperclassmen and wasn’t sure how to find his place. Once rehearsals for “Pride and Prejudice” started to run later at night and become more in-depth, Davis finally felt more comfortable both on the stage and around the rest of the cast. Director Lauren Deal was impressed by Davis’ first high school performance.
Photo by Caitlin Nicholson/Special to Nighthawk News
Sophomore Jonathon Davis belts out a final note in his duet ‘Mooning,’ from StageKraft’s last musical production of ‘Grease.’ Davis first began his theater career at Dockside but has become an integral part of First Flight’s StageKraft Productions. the middle school, but he’s tried new roles and is always open to finding ways to make his performance better,” Deal explained.
After his performance in this fall’s “Still Life with Iris” as a quirky Mozart, Deal has high hopes for what Davis will bring to the plays and musicals in the coming years. She believes his eye-catching personality will help him exceed on the stage. “I’m so excited that Jonathon is only a sophomore because there are so many musicals I want to hear him sing and so many parts that I want to see him play, so I’m super excited for his future with StageKraft,” Deal said. In the second semester of Davis’ freshman year, it was time for the spring musical, “Grease.” Performing in a musical seemed out of his comfort zone, but Davis was inspired to try it by his older sister, Grace, who performed for Manteo High School’s drama department. Dancing is not one of Davis’ strongest areas, which made choreography days a little stressful. Still, he sees “Grease” as an almost life-changing period in his life. “ ‘Grease’ was pretty much the best experience of my life,” Davis recalled. “What inspired me to keep doing theater was the people I was around and the experience of making something really cool that I’m proud of.” Along with getting to be in the spotlight, Davis is simply thankful for all the friends he’s made through theater. It’s one of his favorite perks to spending hours after school rehearsing. “There are so many moments in between that are really fun, and once
you’re done the satisfaction is incredible,” Davis said. “Just making a product with all these people that you love so much and that you’ve bonded
with is super awesome.” Senior Kristen Applebaum can be reached at applebaumkr0910@daretolearn.org.
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Roberts twins star on guitar with music in their DNA
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By Kejsi Zyka Business Manager
wo small children sit in their grandfather’s lap as he strums the guitar. The toddlers look at the instrument with amusement in their eyes, awestruck at the sound. “Have at it,” their grandfather says, unaware he’s unleashing a passion for music the twins both hold. Tyler and Conner Roberts play for the First Flight Honors Jazz band, and while they’ve always loved music, it wasn’t until seventh grade that they fell in love with jazz. “We both did jazz because we’re both musically inclined,” Conner said. “We both picked up the guitar around the same time, back when our grandfather started playing bass.” Allen Paschall enjoys reminiscing on the days he witnessed his grandsons’ first interactions with music – days that transformed their lives forever. “Tyler and Conner both showed a great interest at a very young age, I would say around 18 months to two years,” Paschall said. “They would come into my music room and strum my guitars or sit in my lap while I played. I would do the chord changes and they would help strum.” Paschall’s lifetime of musical experience has made it a joy for him to watch the twins flourish in their own musical careers. “I have talked to them about what they have and how it’s a gift that needs to be shared with others. Truly, music is a joy to be shared with everyone,” Paschall said. “I started playing at the age of 12. I am 62 now, and I have to say, they play circles around me.” While their grandfather’s influence led the brothers on a path that has them letting loose at jazz band performances on classics like ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man,” he wasn’t the only musician they looked up to. “Our father played bass back in the ‘80s in a cover band called The Grateful Men, so music was always around,” Tyler said. “It was just a matter of time before one of us picked it up.” Jazz has created an unbreakable bond between the two brothers. Their enjoyment of music has caused the twins to become inseparable. “The whole experience has been quite a ride. It’s also been a lot of learning,” Tyler said. “You really learn more about your instrument when you get into this kind of stuff, and we’ve also made a lot of new friends.” While music has and always will be in their lives, the twins aren’t looking to become professional musicians anytime soon. “I would love to do it, but there’s no money. There are a lot of things you can do with music, but unless you’re one of the greats, you’re not going to make any money,” Conner said. Added Tyler: “It’s more of a hobby, and I’ve lost way too many competitions to think I’m one of the greats.” Considering they’re just sophomores, their jazz journey is far from over, with plenty of gigs still to come at FFHS and beyond. Music will always be a part of their lives. “It’s in Tyler and Conner’s DNA,” Paschall said. Junior Kejsi Zyka can be reached at zykake0914@ daretolearn.org.
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Photo submitted Conner Roberts
Tyler and Conner Roberts play along on the guitar with their grandfather and father. Music has become a huge part of the twins’ lives since they were first introduced to the guitar when they were toddlers.
Photo by Buzzy Staten/Nighthawk News
The Roberts brothers – Conner (left) and Tyler – play the guitar in their Honors Jazz class.
Nighthawk News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
the Spotlight Cowan’s canvases complement colorful personality
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By Sophie Johnson Social Media Editor
he fresh smell of a new box of crayons, wax under your nails and the terrifying feeling of the crayon breaking in your grip. You ask your preschool teacher for a new pink crayon so you can finish the flower you’ve drawn on your construction paper. Junior Eliza Cowan has been painting and drawing ever since she was in preschool and continued to take art through school and in her free time. “I have to say she’s naturally gifted to start with,” art teacher Alice Baldwin said. “But she’s learned to hone her skill and take her time and really make her already pleasant composition shine with her technique.” Cowan’s love for art sprouted at a young age, but ninth grade is when her passion for art took off. “Since freshman year I’ve gotten way better at art and I’ve learned new techniques through the classes and just how to fix my mistakes,” Cowan said. She is currently taking Baldwin’s Art III class and has to put a lot of effort into her artwork, preparing her for AP Art next year. “If I create something it probably has a good meaning behind it,” Cowan said. “I want people to try and figure out what I’m saying.” Cowan’s art is mainly based on plants and animals because it’s so unpredictable and can be manipulated in drawings. Sometimes there can be multiple meanings to an art piece, but only the artist knows the true meaning. This is especially so when working with watercolors – the meaning behind the artwork doesn’t always stand out. “I mostly use watercolor because you don’t have to be as detailed with it, or you can be detailed with it,” Cowan said. “Whereas acrylic you have to be really skilled or put a lot of time into it.” Watercolor is her favored medium, but she also enjoys photography, acrylics and sculpture. She hopes to learn more about graphic design as well. One of Cowan’s favorite pieces of art she created was a sculpture that won an award at the Dare County art show. “My freshman year we did a sculpture project with cardboard and it had to relate to a famous artist’s artwork,” Cowan said. “I did it based on ballerina painting and I liked it a lot. I knew what I wanted it to look like.” Hard work definitely pays off in the end for something that you worked diligently on and put your time into. Cowan has had a piece in every art show since she was a freshman. “She’s always so cute in the art shows. Her and her friends come and they support her and they take their time and look through,” Baldwin said with a smile. “I can always count on Eliza to come to an art show and hang out. It’s always fun.” The most rewarding part to Cowan isn’t about winning the awards. It’s more of a personal accomplishment. “My favorite part is when I put a lot of time into it and then it’s finished and I’m done and it looks really good,” Cowan said. Senior Sophie Johnson can be reached at johnsonso0628@daretolearn.org. Artwork by Eliza Cowan/Photo by Madison Murry/Shorelines Yearbook
Junior Eliza Cowan shows off one of her favorite paintings.
NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / features
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Christmas throwbacks: Elves, Barbies, and scary Santas
Clockwise (from top left) The Johnson family – Sophie, Austin and Mason with little brother Blake – poses for a quirky Christmas card picture. Senior Buzzy Staten (far right) smiles with family adorned in elf and Santa hats. Junior Gavyn DeBerry cries on the lap of Santa. Senior Megan Miller carries a stuffed lamb as she sits in front of Christmas trees. Junior Simone Midgett sits inside of a gift bag after opening presents. Freshman Joey Krieg stands dressed as Santa next to his dog. Senior Kristen Applebaum munches on a candy cane. Freshman Susie Hala and senior Will Hala smile for the camera in their Christmas outfits. Senior Trent Powell shows off his gingerbread house, an annual family tradition. (Center) Senior Hannah Ellington smiles wide with her Barbie dolls.
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Nighthawk News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
Student workers enjoy selling Christmas cheer one tree at a time
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By Hannah Ellington Editor-in-Chief
he little girl’s eyes lit up as she dashed between the forest of Fraser firs, the smell of familiar pine wafting through the air. Strung up lights shone down on her as she admired each tree, gawking at the tallest, fullest ones and imagining the presents sitting beneath them come Christmas day. “It’s like Christmas tree land!” she exclaimed as she zoomed off again, this time her eyes set on an even taller one. And for anyone stuck deciding between two trees, unsure which looks best, the workers are happy to offer their opinion. One such person, senior Sam Robinson, works at Cold Creek Wreath and Tree next to Longboard’s in Kitty Hawk. Growing up, Robinson always went to the Cold Creek stand to get his Christmas tree. When it was time to find a job his freshman year, Robinson decided he would stray from the normal and work at the place that had brought his family joy for many years. “I thought it would be cool to give back. I love it, honestly,” Robinson said. Robinson spends his shift cutting the an quarter inch or so off the stumps and low-hanging branches off the Christmas trees, netting them, slinging them on top of cars and securing them to the roof. A shift typically lasts from 9 a.m. to 8 or 9 at night. One downside, though, is the weather. Since this month-long job only happens in November and December, the temperature is downright frigid at times. However, one can always find Robinson wrapped up in his grandfather’s Army jacket. “You get used to it real quick,” he said. In addition to dealing with the brisk
Fraser firs are lined up in rows at Reynolds’ Christmas Tree Lot in Nags Head with Christmas lights strung above them. Locals from all along the beach often visit this lot to buy a tree and fill their homes with Christmas cheer and the smell of pine.
Photo by Buzzy Staten/ Nighthawk News
weather, the trees can sometimes be heavy and sticky with sap. “My hands will be black (from sap). It’s hard to get off your skin, no doubt, but clothes, you just throw them through the wash,” Robinson said. Once a family has picked out their tree and it has gone through the baler to be netted, Robinson must tie it on top of the family’s car. That final job must be done correctly or else the tree could fall off – a Christmas catastrophe. “It took me about a week to learn how to tie a knot. (The knot is) nothing special, it was just learning how to tie it around the car,” Robinson said. And of course, Robinson enjoys giving advice to the Christmas tree shoppers. “Let the lady do the work because she is going to anyway,” Robinson said with a laugh. Junior Gabe Long also sells Christmas trees, working at Reynolds’ Christmas Tree Lot in Nags Head next to the OBBC Surf Shop. While he only
started working there in November, he also has plenty of experience carrying Christmas trees, putting replacement trees out to fill empty spots, and helping families find their perfect tree. “I have some friends that work there, too, so it’s kind of cool to get to hang out with them. I (also) get coffee,” Long said, laughing. Long also enjoys pointing the families in the right direction for the kind of tree they like. The secret to a good tree is “by its height and how full it is,”
Long explained. Working with an abundance of Christmas trees, wreaths and candy canes may get a little repetitive at times but Robinson and Long agree that it’s not all that bad. “It’s awesome because no one ever comes to pick out a Christmas tree in a bad mood, so there’s definitely a part of the Christmas spirit there,” Robinson said. Senior Hannah Ellington can be reached at ellingtonha1214@daretolearn.org.
Photo by Hannah Ellington/Nighthawk News
Junior Gabe Long carries a Christmas tree while working at Reynolds’ Christmas Tree Lot next to the OBBC Surf Shop in Nags Head. Ironically, while he holds one of the smallest trees on the lot, he says, ‘I don’t like moving the trees because there are some really big ones.’
Nighthawk News Magazine / / features
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Our View: Time to give back
B Editors-in-Chief – Hannah Ellington, Chloe Futrell, Hunter Haskett Business Manager – Kejsi Zyka News Editor – Emmy Trivette Features Editor – Simone Midgett Online Editors-in-Chief – Trinity Harrison, Grace Sullivan Opinions Editor – Caroline Jenkins Photo Editor – Buzzy Staten Assistant Photo Editor – Ben Tran Sports Editor – Izzy Requa Social Media Editor– Sophie Johnson Community Editor – Dair McNinch Staff Writers – Kristen Applebaum, Peyton Dickerson, Abby Hite, Cassie Honeycutt, Katie MacBride, Will McFarlane, Cassidy O’Neil, Jack Voight, Maddy Wagner Adviser – Steve Hanf
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ighthawk News Magazine is published four times a year by the journalism classes at First Flight High School. The publication is distributed free to the FFHS student body, faculty and staff and to First Flight Middle School. Approximately 4,000 copies are inserted in the Outer Banks Sentinel, while another 1,200 are distributed in various retail outlets on the Outer Banks. The Nighthawk News staff strives to provide informative and accurate coverage of individuals and events within the school and the Dare County community. The opinion pages serve as a forum for the publications staff and community. Views expressed in Nighthawk News do not represent the opinions of the faculty or administration, the Dare County School Board or its administration. Editorials represent the views of the staff; bylined columns are the opinion of the authors. Readers are encouraged to write letters to the editor on matters of concern. Letters may be mailed to FFHS or delivered to Room B-214. They must be signed. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, grammatical errors or libelous content. Reach us by mail at 100 Veterans Drive, Kill Devil Hills, N.C. 27948, by phone at (252) 449-7000 or by e-mail at hanfst@daretolearn.org. Advertising inquiries can be made by phone or email. Nighthawk News is a member of the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association and the National Scholastic and Southern Interscholastic press associations. Our stories also are published online at NighthawkNews.com. Follow us on Twitter @FFNighthawkNews, Facebook.com/NighthawkNews, Instagram @FFHSNighthawkNews and Snapchat at Nighthawk.News. Target Printing and Distribution of Fayetteville prints our paper.
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eing in this world for 17 years – guided you through a rough patch, give or take for all of you readasked how you were. ing – means we have learned People seem to think teenagers a lot as humans, teenagers, have no sense of appreciation for anyhigh schoolers, boys, girls, classmates, thing. They believe we are so incredsisters, brothers, friends. We have ibly transfixed with our phones that learned so much, in fact, that we feel we have no real sense of the outside we couldn’t possibly learn another world. Well, we’re sorry to say – this is thing, yet there is always more knowlinvalid. We teenagers probably have edge to gain. Among the abundance of the most to be grateful for, and we can things we learn every day, within every be thankful for the little things, too, classroom, within every like walking out the school subject, is the importance doors at 3:15, a shower of giving thanks. after a long day, seeing that We know that being you do indeed have your thankful for what we have parking pass up, knowing is immensely important. that it’s chicken and waffles This idea has been drilled for lunch, finding out you STAFF into us for as long as we don’t have math homework, EDITORIAL can remember. And yes, waking up knowing that it’s we all agree giving thanks a Saturday morning, picking is necessary and we all promise to be out a Christmas tree and picturing how grateful for what we have and never funny it would be if it flew off your car, rot with the Veruca Salt complex. But or driving past the Poulos house and really, what does it truly mean to be seeing every meticulously placed bulb, thankful? Why is this idea so ingrained blowup and baby’s flushed face as they in our heads around the holiday times? catch Santa in the window. How do I know if I’m really being Being thankful can mean so many thankful? things and lead to an equally great Thanksgiving: meant to promote number of actions. We believe it means the great joy of offering just like the making the most of every moment. Bepilgrims and Native Americans in 1621. gin by telling the ones you are spendSharing food, laughs, memories and ing those moments with that you apthe comfort of knowing you are around preciate them and cherish them. Make those who love you. You may get it a habit to give more and complain sidetracked with the thrill of snatchless. Never settle for a lesser version ing the last TV at Walmart or getting of yourself during a holiday consumed another amazingly awesome sale you with consumerism. absolutely could not live without on Nighthawk News staff members are Black Friday. The material items – what thankful for so much, but especially clouds the meaning of the holidays, each and every one of you who takes allowing you to deviate from the path the time to read our hard work. No to give and be grateful. matter the reason or circumstance, Gratitude should come not only thank you. We hope during the holiduring the holiday season; it should be days all of your hearts will grow three folded and intermeshed into the fabric sizes and the true meaning of this time of our lives. You should give thanks will become apparent. In writing each every day for the people in your life: and every story, we hope to give back someone who held the door for you, to all of you – students and teachers helped you with your homework, let – whose unique lives gift us with the you have the bigger half of the cookie, opportunity to tell another story.
IN OUR OPINION
Hawk Talk: What is a New Year’s resolution from
“I always say, eat less fried food, but my favorite thing in the entire world is chicken tenders.” - junior Darci Kenny
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“To eat healthier or exercise more.” - senior Sammie Lilliston
“Eat less junk food, it’s unhealthy; play fewer video games.” - senior Tommy Mahler
“Trying new food.” - sophomore McRae Walker
winter / / 2018
Dealing with the empty chair during the holidays
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t’s Christmas 2015 and I wake up after another sleepless night of panic attacks, tears and disbelief. Walking into our living room, it’s the picture-perfect scene: the stockings hung precisely over the fireplace, tree glistening in the early-morning light, presents lined up. What is missing from the room is the hospice bed and oxygen tank that had taken over the heart of our home for months. Two weeks prior, they were taken out, along with bottles of medicine and most importantly, the woman who raised me. This is the first holiday after the death of my mom. Though I am constantly reminded my mom is no longer with me, the holidays are different. November and December are months filled with family and gratefulness since Thanksgiving, Christmas and my birthday all fall in these two months. During this time, I try my hardest to maintain the joy and constant happiness others have. I don’t want to ever dampen the mood with my own personal problems, but eventually I crack. Little things such as singing “Silent Night” together at Christmas Eve mass, the box of ornaments she would hang and the Happy Birthday note she would put in my lunch are the memories that hurt the most. They’re irreplaceable, similar in some ways to what others experience, yet still special for me personally. The biggest hurdle was accepting it was over. I was 15 and realized I would never have another Christmas card with my mom. Her stocking would collect dust above the fireplace. Her chair at the table where she would sit next to my dad and my aunt would forever be empty. Her laughing at her childhood memories with her sisters while the tree lights blinked and snow coated the Pennsylvania woods would be a scene I would never see again. Dealing with the grief is like walking through fog, as you never know when you’re going to fall through the haze of
guilt and sorrow. It’s complicated. I don’t want to have too much fun, but I don’t want to be negative, either. I’ll feel bad that even though I don’t have one of the main people in my life anymore, I’m still having fun without her. In the midst of me moving on, I can’t help but constantly remember the first “lasts” I had with her – the last interactions I would ever have with my mom for the rest of my life. She would never get me college gear when I committed to a school, see me bring home a boy for the holidays, watch my kids open presents. For every single individual going through the holidays without a loved one, it’s a different experience. Some completely engulf themselves in new activities, not wanting to face the old traditions they would do in the past. For others it’s the opposite, as they can’t bear to leave that aspect of their life behind them. Making new traditions, new memories and going one more year without her is a love-hate experience. It’s proof I’m growing up and moving on – but I don’t want to move on completely. I want to hold onto the old activities, but I can’t without feeling empty and lost. It’s been three years and I’m proud of myself and my family. We’ve kept old traditions we just couldn’t live without, but integrated some new ones. And these new traditions are what I value most, because it’s a sign that as a family we’ve overcome, accepted and made the best of the situation. So as my fourth Christmas without my mom comes closer, my anxiety builds and so does my hope. I know I’ll have my moments, questioning why this had to happen, but things are starting to look up. And when we put the tree up in our house, I know the angel on top will be looking down on all of us, smiling, wishing she could be there, but proud of us for moving on with our lives. Senior Grace Sullivan can be reached at sullivangr1129@daretolearn.org.
Photo submitted by Grace Sullivan
The Sullivan family gathers for a holiday picture in 2005 (above) and again in 2015. Grace will cherish the memories spent with her family and all the precious moments with her mom, Amy, as she continues to move through life.
the past that you were unable to keep up with?
“Don’t tell a lie.” - freshman Aiden Stone
Nighthawk News Magazine / / opinions
“Probably to eat less candy.” - senior Alex Nicholas
“Become better at lacrosse.” - junior Logan McLemore
“Trying to eat healthier because I eat a lot of snacks and I try to restrict my snacking but that never works. ” - junior Emily Beacham
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Gender roles are ingrained in our brains
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hen you think back on your childhood, what stands out the most? Is it your Barbie doll? Reading Junie B. Jones? Or did you have a monster truck that you took everywhere? Now, read that again. Which ones could you relate to? Why does the monster truck or the Barbie doll fit with only one specific gender? For a long time, we have put specifications on what each gender should wear, play with or look like, and we continue the cycle by pushing children to fit in with these guidelines. Throughout history, the clothes we deem “socially acceptable” have changed. Before the 1940s, it was accepted that pink, being a daintier color, was better suited for girls and blue for boys. The women’s liberation movement in the 1960s pushed unisex clothes that wouldn’t hint or focus on gender, and 15 years later it shifted again. This time boys’ clothes weren’t just blue; they were blue with a football or a truck. Things that are used by everyone are given labels, just look at amazon or Walmart’s “for her” and “for him” sections. Girls need makeup and jewelry. Boys need car care kits or a new set of tools. As girls, we are given dolls and cooking sets and told we are princesses. Boys are given Hot Wheels and toy drills so they can be just like dad. Girls grow up being told they need to be pretty to be successful or to be ladylike and motherly. Boys grow into men who are pressured to protect and provide. It is no secret that men and women are viewed differently. What we don’t realize is that it is drilled into us our entire lives, creating subconscious biases on what we wear, play with or even pursue as a career. In a study conducted by sociologists from the University of California, women who wore makeup and did their hair were deemed “attractive” and were more likely to be hired than women who didn’t. This isn’t the only study to prove that women are often judged by their appearances instead of experience: a study done by Fairygodboss, a company run by women to help other women find information about jobs and companies, shows hiring managers look at race, age, weight and demeanor when hiring women. Those who don’t smile are least likely to be hired and women who
Graphic by Jackie Kuhn/Special to Nighthawk News
Advertisers have assigned specific genders to inanimate objects for years, such as milk cartons displaying ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ traits that inspired this graphic. Despite great strides made in American society, gender stereotypes remain.
are overweight are seen as lazy, unprofessional and lacking in leadership skills. I’m not denying that we have made progress: we have. Parents like Angelina Jolie, who are accepting of their children, are paving the way for others. Jolie has a daughter, Shiloh, who wants to be a boy. Instead of forcing her to do girly things, she has changed her wardrobe, given her a haircut to match her brothers, and even started calling her John. Rapper and actor Jaden Smith has also stirred controversy with many by wearing dresses and creating his own gender-neutral clothing line, even appearing in Louis Vuitton’s 2016 women’s wear ad campaign. Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist and parenting expert, has helped parents understand what their children go through while they are developing and
has given her expert opinion on children who are exploring their gender roles. “The problem is we have suppressed it for so many generations that people are still uncomfortable with it. You can’t become what you are until you know what you’re not,” Blair said in an interview with The Telegraph. In no way am I saying we should let all kids who don’t like who they are get a gender reassignment. I’m saying we should be accepting of our children, of our peers, of those we see on social media. If an 8-year-old boy wants to wear dresses, then let him, make him feel safe and supported as he finds himself. Parents can do more harm when they push their own opinions on their kids than if they let them make choices for themselves. Our youth is a time of learning, experimenting, finding out who we are. Why shouldn’t we support that? Junior Abby Hite can be reached at hiteab0304@ daretolearn.org.
Letter to the Editors: Fine arts coverage is lacking
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am increasingly concerned with the lack of fine arts representation in our school newspaper. Fine arts is not just band and choir, but (in this letter, is used as a representation of) orchestra, photography, pottery/ceramics, and the art classes themselves. Over my time as a student of First Flight High School, there have been many, many politically charged and athletically focused articles. The amount of fine arts coverage is minimal and suppressed, even with an “Artists in the Spotlight” section -- the only section focusing on fine arts individuals -- and their work in that field. In the last issue, two pages of the 31-page newspaper were used to promote fine arts, a mere 6 percent of the last award-winning Nighthawk News. I am not disrespecting our athletics and I am not against political opinions, but instead am pleading for equality among coverage of our school’s activities.
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For instance, spotlighting 10 individuals in the fine arts programs would provide equity amongst the athletic and arts programs. At first, this suggestion might seem to cause problems with ad coverage as funding for the newspaper, and I offer a solution. Continue the spotlight on the last two pages of the news section, but instead of seven individuals from the athletic grouping of our high school, insert five individuals from fine arts and five from athletics. This would increase the amount of fine arts coverage without sacrificing pages for the News, avoiding any conflicts. For many, more fine arts coverage would increase interest in Nighthawk News. When we include fine arts, it benefits all, as fine arts is often a unification point for multiple groups of people, rather than dividing the school based on political opinion. The fine arts department holds several events per year for FFHS, including concerts for choir, band
and orchestra; plays and musicals for theater; and galleries for art/photography. This is a small portion of events that take place, with many more occurring throughout the year. The amount of representation in the Nighthawk News for these events is, again, minimal and often non-existent. For instance, our Honors Choir earned a Superior Ranking for our East Carolina University performance, and nothing was written or typed about the performance or the weeks dedicated to learning and perfecting the song chosen. I don’t wish any ill will on the athletic or political segments of Nighthawk News, but I do ask for change. The fine arts department achieves great things with the small amount of advertisement and recognition we receive now. With the help of Nighthawk News, however, both online and offline, we could reach monumental heights. Kindest Regards, Joseph Ciccotti Lewis (junior) Nighthawk News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
It’s time to accept the time change
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eople complain about the same things every winter. Mostly it’s just about the weather, but this year I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about the time change, which I really don’t understand. For starters, the time change in November gives us an extra hour of sleep. There’s almost nothing better than an extra hour of sleep for a high schooler. Plus, we could all use it. I mean, what’s better than waking up at six in the morning and realizing that you still have another hour to sleep? That’s one of the best feelings in the world, one that we all cherish. According to a study done by Nationwide Children, the average high schooler gets between seven to seven and a half hours of sleep at night, when we really need about nine hours to be fully rested. So even after that first day of the time change when we actually get an extra hour, the time change makes it easier to fall asleep earlier throughout the winter months so we can get closer to that nine hours without even trying. My other reason for liking the time change so much is the same thing that most people hate: I love when it gets dark at 6 in the evening. I get why people would hate it. I understand that people want to be outside all the time because we live at the beach. But it’s winter, meaning that it is cold outside pretty much all the time. People need to understand that summer is over. The warm
Illustration by Anna Davies/Special to Nighthawk News
weather is gone and so is the beautiful, beating sun. The time change also means colder weather, and I love the cold weather. It’s finally cold enough to bundle up at night without waking up in the morning drenched in sweat. Also, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with sitting next to a fireplace watching movies all night, so what’s there to
complain about? Instead of complaining about the time changing and when the sun sets, just accept the fact that it’s OK to stay inside after six. Nobody has to be outside all the time. I love sleeping in a completely dark room, and with the time change I can do that at almost any time after school. To me, there’s nothing better than climbing into bed in my blacked-out room and just sleeping for hours. Another plus with the time change and cold weather is bonfires. I’ve never met a person who doesn’t like a good
bonfire, but a bonfire during summer can be pretty unpleasant. However, toasting marshmallows on an open fire during winter is ideal. Wrapping up in big blankets and sitting around a fire, talking and laughing with all your friends, is an experience that can’t be achieved any other time. So contrary to popular opinion, the time change is the best part of winter, and that’s why I look forward to it every year. Senior Will McFarlane can be reached at mcfarlanewi0712@daretolearn.org.
Letter to the Editors: Stop looking in the mirror
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very day when you wake up to get ready, you look in a mirror. When you go into the bathroom, you look in a mirror. Going out with friends? Bet you look in the mirror. Looking in the mirror isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can have an effect on your self-esteem. Most of the time you look into a mirror, you are used to criticizing yourself, so it doesn’t even register anymore. Why is this, might you ask? Well, it’s because in today’s society we are expected to look a certain way. When I say “we,” I don’t just mean one gender. This goes for females, males and transgenders as well. There are girls out there who are told they are too “flat” or too “fat.” You may be joking or think it’s funny to make remarks like this, but it really gets Nighthawk News Magazine / / opinions
to a person. That girl goes home, looks in a mirror and now sees – and believes – what’s said about her. The same goes for the guy you call “scrawny” in gym class, who goes home and works out to the brink of passing out, or the transgender male who gets stared and laughed at every day walking down the hall. All of these people look in a mirror and everything that people say now starts to look real to them. I know what you’re probably thinking: “People shouldn’t care about what other people think of them.” Everyone does, and once you hear it, you see it for yourself. You go and look to see if all these things people are saying about you are true. After you hear something negative about yourself, most of the time you start to believe it. All anyone wants is to look perfect and beautiful. People will go to any measure
to fit into today’s idea of being “perfect and beautiful,” even if that means doing extreme things. Like Beyonce once said, “Pretty hurts, perfection is a disease of a nation, it’s the soul that needs the surgery.” We care so much about how we want to be seen, and that’s not always a bad thing, until it turns into a negative about how you see yourself. You should be looking at yourself in the mirror every morning and saying, “I am amazing and strong.” It’s proven that if you say or hear something so many times, you will eventually start to believe it. We have the power to change how we see ourselves in the mirror. Let’s use it to our advantage and tell ourselves that we are more than enough. Just start with yourself. Sincerely, Lydia Surprenant (sophomore)
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Cheer up, you scrooges!
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he sweet sound of carolers singing Christmas songs fills the air while golden-brown Christmas cookies come out of the oven and a sugary aroma makes the cold winter months that much easier to bear. The Christmas spirit is here, and it is time to embrace it. For some people, the holiday season commences before Dec. 1. For others, this may be aggravating and a bit too soon, but to the Christmas lovers out there, it is the most joyous feeling. I am all for Christmas starting early. Singing my heart out to Christmas carols or baking holiday goodies with my family are some of the things I look forward to most when the holiday season comes around. Being in the spirit for Christmas lifts my mood greatly. When I hear “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” I can’t help but sing the words until my throat hurts. Nearly everyone is so happy, so why don’t we start celebrating earlier? If people are in such a cheerful mood because of a holiday, celebrating earlier is a no-brainer to me. In addition, with the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays being so close together, the time to celebrate is short. The sooner you get into the holiday spirit, the more time you have to enjoy
it. Think about it, if you start celebrating Christmas on Dec. 1, you would only have 25 days to celebrate. That may be enough time for you, but for me it isn’t. Think about when you go shopping in the middle of November – most of the stores are either decorated for Christmas or finishing up their decorating. Being in that atmosphere only makes me want to fully immerse myself in the holiday spirit even more and make this time of the year last longer. On top of the shops already being decorated, I get to buy gifts for the people who mean the most to me. It makes me realize how well I know the person and how much they do for me. But the best part of it all? The smiling faces and the big hugs after they open their presents. Don’t even get me started on the decorations outside. The classy white lights and the inflatables always make me smile. By making this time of the year longer, you now have more time to get the decorations up, giving Christmas enthusiasts more time to enjoy your hard work. Later in the month, you have the wonderful “25 Days of Christmas” offered by the Hallmark Channel to keep you in the holiday spirit instead of
Illustration by Lauren Law/Special to Nighthawk News
becoming gloomy Christmas is ending. Yes, the movies are all the same, but they are all so heartwarming. Even if you’re a Christmas Scrooge or a Christmas enthusiast, Hallmark has the best of both worlds. Let’s face it, the day after Christmas is one of the saddest days of the year, and everyone expects you to have your decorations down by Jan. 1. There goes that holiday spirit. Starting early gives you more time to enjoy the season and prepare for that
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Staff Holiday Playlist
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48:00
Mistletoe Justin Bieber
Baby, It’s Cold Outside (Feat. Meghan Trainor)Brett Eldredge
Graphic by Trinity Harrison
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All I Want for Christmas Is You Mariah Carey
I’ll Be Home For Christmas Bing Crosby
Silver Bells Anne Murray
White Christmas Bing Crosby
My Only Wish (This Year) Britney Spears
dreaded day after Christmas. Scrooges, I hope I have taken your negative feelings toward Christmas away and have inspired you to get into the holiday spirit. You can’t tell me that singing Christmas carols and making your friends smile a little bit earlier each year ever hurt anybody. Enjoy the holidays and appreciate the Christmas spirit. Sophomore Cassie Honeycutt can be reached at 21honeycuttca35@daretolearn.org.
Holiday Road National Lampoon’s Vacation Lindsey Buckingham
Please Come Home For Drummer Christmas Boy Charles Justin Bieber Brown Jingle Bell Rock Bobby Helms
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town Jackson 5
You’re A Mean One Mr. Grinch Tyler, The Creator
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Michael Bublé
NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
Why care about politics that only care about bias?
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olitics tend to bore me. Policies and arguments that seem to go in endless circles, without real progress in either direction. I’m fine with the concept, but there is an element of politics that my government is lacking, something I’m looking for but I am not quite sure. But is this just me? Maybe there is a reason I feel this way, and maybe it’s not just because I don’t like listening to old people on the news. Maybe it’s deeper than that… Maybe it starts with political extremism, which seems to be everywhere nowadays. When one person has an opinion on a matter up for discussion, the political opponent seems to have a completely adverse opinion. What makes matters worse is that most of the time, the polarized left and right wings are unable to come to a compromise, causing even more turmoil. Compromise should be simple and smooth, but our government seems to drag it out and – if it does happen for a particular issue – make it take longer than anyone needs it to. The reign of partisan media is among us. TV ratings are all about stirring up the most drama and interesting storylines you can, and unfortunately, unbiased, moderate media is not what gets this done. If you watch a popular TV show, what do you call the viewers who watch it all the time? A fanbase. The news is looking to create a fanbase, and to do this, channels have to appeal to a certain group of people. And this is how the Fox News and MSNBCs are created. Isn’t it rather hypocritical that these news industries are often warning the public about fake news, when some elements of the media are controlling and manipulating the way their viewers understand the news themselves? But why is this a bad thing, you say? Because it is feeding an already-biased fanbase the news it WANTS to hear, and in this fashion can create an almost false sense of reality in a voter’s mind. The want to seek out information that will support your own hypothesis, and ignore the information that could disprove it, is a basic human function. This is extremely dangerous and is the cause of a larger political gap than ever before. I personally have no strong political views or opinions at the moment. Maybe this will change in
the future due to a personal experience, a large issue I’m behind, or maybe I will just change my mind as I get older. But I don’t want my youth to be a reason to discount my opinion on our political system. I think it could even be a reason to listen to me, since I essentially have no say in our government at the moment, yet I’m still writing this. I would like to show just how easy our government can be taken control of if you position yourself with the right people. Conforming to the system essentially gives you a chance, no matter what your real ideology is. The person I want to use as an example is someone many of you know of – our President, Donald Trump. I’m not here to bash or promote Trump, just to show some information to further solidify my case. Trump, the face of the Republican Party, has changed his political affiliation five times. He was listed as a Democrat as recently as 2008. A man who is now the subject of immense controversy, at times even within his own party, and disliked by most liberals was categorized with the same beliefs as Democrats in recent years. Trump also had experience running for president, unbeknownst to some voters – two other times, actually, and the first time he did not run for a Republican bid. In 2000, Trump ran for a bid in the Reform Party after being persuaded by fellow member, Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, to run for office. His campaign didn’t gain much ground and was treated somewhat as a joke by the public, viewed as a publicity stunt. But fast forward to 2018, and look where Trump is now. What did he change about his campaign? He ran for a Republican spot. The only way a political figure can become influential in our country is if they associate themselves with one party or the other and generalize their opinions and thought processes to fit themselves in this group. It is nearly impossible to have your own ideology or policy to win elections nowadays. Independents in office are a rarity that only occur when the political opinion is split too much between the major party candidates. And even when independent/third-party politicians win a seat, they often have ties to one of the major parties. It is increasingly difficult to have
Graphic by Jack Voight/Nighthawk News
influence and a stance on our country’s politics without an “in” with a party. Politics nowadays are all about association, and association means conforming ideas into a similar zone, with no radicalistic ideals allowed. I believe our country could use some strong change. What significant changes can any party make before the other tears it down? Not much. This is a catastrophe and shows our rather backwards thinking as a nation that is very innovative on some fronts, but lacks a better revolutionary idea for government. But is “revolutionary” the right term for a non-partisan government style? Because the first president of America, George Washington himself, was critical of the two party style. In his farewell address he states that the growth of political parties will lead to more corruption, and could even endanger the democracy at some point. Now that I have someone somewhat important to back my opinion, I think I have a reasonable claim. Our first president was fearful on the effects that this squabbling and argumentative nature of a dual party system would lead to the downgrade of popular sovereignty. But did we listen to him? No. Now some odd 200 years later, this partisanship is more extreme than ever, with no clear path to a better system. A dramatic change to this easily exploitable, biased and argumentative style government is needed. There is other countries that have slightly different democratic systems, and I think we should look into these a little bit. But one thing is certain, we need to come up with the answer together. Until this change is made, I have no interest in participating in our government. Sophomore Jack Voight can be reached at 21voightja99@daretolearn.org. Reminders about polling place rules and etiquette greet voters at the entrance to vote at the Herbert Young Community Center polling place in Cary. Turnout increases and decreases with seemingly every election, especially when it comes to younger voters.
Photo by Shawn Rocco/Raleigh News & Observer/ TNS
NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / opinions
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Winter sports offer a change of pace for beach kids
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By Trinity Harrison Online Editor-in-Chief
ypically, things like surfing, skim boarding and bodyboarding are what you hear kids on the Outer Banks doing for fun. But for some people, the transition from scorching sand under their feet to frigid snow under their boots is what they look forward to most as the winter months approach. For beach kids like senior Taylor Farmer, family has helped influence her passion for skiing. “I started skiing when I was really young and it’s because my mom was a pretty avid skier growing up,” Farmer said. “She made Nationals when she was about my age and she got to go to Colorado to compete.” Farmer has developed her skills as a skier to the point she got the opportunity to ski competitively at Bryce Ski Resort in Virginia. “I am a really competitive person and I thought, ‘I might as well give it a shot and if I don’t like it, no harm no foul,’ but once I started, I fell in love with it,” Farmer said. Compared to skiing just for fun, competitive skiing requires a lot of training and practice. Taylor travels to Virginia several times throughout the winter months to enhance her skill level. “Skiing competitively is more of a challenge and some people are just slower skiers, and I’m just not,” Farmer said. “I can hit 53 mph pretty easily and it’s just something about the structure of racing that I really enjoy.” Skiing has not only brought her the thrill of competition, but also lifelong friendships with those she has met at Bryce. “It’s almost like I have a whole different life when I’m there. I have friends from all over because of skiing and one of my best friends I met last season, now we are really close,” Farmer said. With winter sports being an avid aspect of her family life, her younger brother, freshman Ryan Farmer, has developed a love for snowboarding. “I started out skiing about 10 years ago. My friends were better than me and it helped me work harder,” Ryan said. Sports like snowboarding are physically demanding and without balance and control, it can lead to major injuries. “One time my friend cut me off and I face-planted and at first I felt like I really hurt my arm but now it’s just something we find funny,” Ryan said. Unlike his sister, Ryan snowboards for fun, similar to senior Cole Kelly, who has been snowboarding for 12 years. “Basically, my family always went and I used to ski when I was young.
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Photos submitted by Taylor Farmer and Cole Kelly
Senior Cole Kelly (above) catches some air during a snowboard session in Snowshoe, West Virginia. (Right) Seniors Cecilia Cortez and Taylor Farmer pose for a photo before hitting the slopes. Farmer has been skiing at the Bryce Ski Resort in Virginia (top) ever since she was little and now skis competitively there.
Then my brothers really got me into it (snowboarding),” Kelly said. “They started going more and more without my parents, then I started going with them and I realized that I loved it.” To pursue this passion for snowboarding, Kelly has traveled to ski resorts across the country. “I have been out West a few times, to Colorado and Utah, and I’m actually going back out there again this year, but my main spot is Snowshoe, which is in West Virginia,” Kelly said.
“I get to go there about two or three times a year.” For Kelly, snowboarding provides a feeling of independence that is hard for him to find in other sports. “It’s kind of like a sport and I play football, which has a lot of rules, and with snowboarding there are just no rules to it,” Kelly said. “There are no boundaries, you just get to go out there and have fun.” From the freedom of the slopes to the high-speed adrenaline rush
of racing down a mountain, it’s hard to find what winter sports provide anywhere else. “I enjoy skiing so much because when I am going down that mountain at such a high speed, nothing else really matters,“ Taylor said. “And it’s just a really nice way for me not to think about school or anything else stressful.” Senior Trinity Harrison can be reached at harrisontr0314@daretolearn. org.
Nighthawk News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
Freshman wrestles with a big decision By Katie MacBride Staff Writer
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ake up, work out, complete online courses, drive to Virginia to work out and wrestle, go home, sleep, repeat. That was the daily routine for freshman Jack Hawbaker after formally making the decision to retake several eighth-grade classes in order to dedicate the majority of his time to wrestling. Hawbaker was one of the youngest students in the Class of 2021. In an effort to become a student-athlete with people his own age, he made the decision to become homeschooled for a year and enter high school with the Class of 2022. His decision was supported by his parents, who thought it’d be more beneficial for Hawbaker academically and athletically. “I was a year younger than everybody else, so my parents and I decided that it would be better for me to stay back a year and be with people at my own (wrestling) level and grade level,” Hawbaker said. The transition was not hard for Hawbaker. The idea of leaving classmates he had grown up with didn’t have much of an effect on him. “It wasn’t really that bad because I did have a lot of friends in the (Class of 2022),” Hawbaker said. Hawbaker’s love for wrestling was a major influence in his decision. The intensity of the sport made him quit baseball to become more involved in wrestling. By having more time on his hands, Hawbaker’s drive to progress in the sport only skyrocketed. “I was playing other sports too, but baseball just seemed to get really boring to me because it just didn’t have the same intensity,” Hawbaker said. “I just liked how I could push my body every single day. I always felt like I was getting better and better, and I like being good at things, so I kept at it.” Hawbaker’s days turned into a series of gym visits, practices and homeschool assignments. He would train at least twice a day and complete his online tasks when he wasn’t working out. Hawbaker participated in an online homeschool program called Acellus Academy. This course would set a weekly goal of completing a certain number of lessons and would progress as time went on. “I would wake up in the morning, go to the gym, probably work out for an hour or two, go home, do some school work, then chill out until I had to go to Virginia for practice,” Hawbaker said. To improve his skills as much as he could, Hawbaker did a number of things to strengthen his body. He made changes in his diet and did several different types of workouts. “In the mornings it was a lot of lifting and then I would go up to Virginia for the wrestling workouts, which were a lot of drilling, keeping my body moving and sweating a lot,” Hawbaker said. “There was a lot of junk food being NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / sports
Photo by Ben Tran/Nighthawk News
Freshman Jack Hawbaker (right) tangles with alumnus Carlos Martinez during a recent practice. Hawbaker retook eighth-grade classes to dedicate training time to wrestling and enter high school with the Class of 2022 in the hopes of becoming the school’s next standout wrestler.
eaten that I had to cut out, including a lot of carbs and sugars.” As the high school season begins, Hawbaker has been given the opportunity to put what he has learned in motion. Wrestling coach Russell Kepler is also ready for Hawbaker to contribute to the team and see his hard work pay off. “Jack has really done well just plugging into the sport, finding out where the tournaments are and getting a lot of experience,” Kepler said. “I am looking forward to being his coach and helping him prepare for hopefully the next level.” Kepler has seen the improvement Hawbaker has made on his year dedicated to wrestling and hopes for Hawbaker to put that to use on the school team. “I hope that he continues to be a good example for anyone who is interested in getting to the next level in wrestling and that he can continue to grow,” Kepler said. “More importantly, I want to see him grow as a person, grow as a student-athlete and just be a good teammate.” Hawbaker is looking forward to the season and being able to contribute to the team. He’s ready to show up, block out everything around him and show out on the mat. “This wrestling season I’m looking forward to learning, getting better at what I do and hopefully going to states and winning a title,” Hawbaker said. Sophomore Katie MacBride can be reached at 21macbrideka62@daretolearn.org.
Your Wrangler Headquarters! 252-441-1146 | www.OuterBanksChryslerJeepDodgeRam.com
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Good Guys vs. Cancer Basketball Showcase
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here were 3-pointers (what else is new in the FFHS gym?) and lots of dunks – now that was fun! – last weekend as boys basketball head coach Chad Williams and the Nighthawks played host to the first annual Good Guys vs. Cancer Basketball Showcase. Ten games were played Friday night and all day Saturday in an event established in honor of Williams’ father, who is currently battling cancer. “Knowing this is going for my dad, Guy, that it’s something that will leave a legacy, something that will be in place for him for years to come – that’s special,” Williams said. Stars from North Carolina and Virginia put on a show for fans and college coaches, too, all in the name of a good cause. The Nighthawks dropped a heartbreaking 79-76 double-overtime decision Friday night against Myers Park of Charlotte, then fell 73-53 to phenom Dontrez Styles and his Kinston team on SatSSR'18night. First Flight Newspaper Ad_Layout 1 12/1/17presented 11:09 AM aPage 1 for $4,000 to urday Before the finale, though, Williams check the American Cancer Society – a sight that was bigger than any dunk or 3-pointer.
Photo by Steve Hanf/Nighthawk News
Sales • Rentals • Property Management 252-261-2000 SouthernShores.com
Boys basketball coach Chad Williams chats with Tracey Smith, senior manager with the American Cancer Society, during the check presentation from the Good Guys vs. Cancer Basketball Showcase. Smith made the drive from Raleigh on Saturday to accept the $4,000 donation. ‘Anyone that’s raising money, it’s worth the drive, and I get to come see some young kids raising money for a great cause, too,’ Smith said.
A vocal cheering section showed up to support the Nighthawks in Friday night’s game. The tournament featured two contests Friday night and eight more on Saturday, with more than 20 NCAA Division I recruits hitting the court. Junior point guard Tyler Witt (left) helped run the offense against the talented Myers Park and Kinston teams FFHS faced.
Photos by Buzzy Staten/Nighthawk News
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NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / winter / / 2018
Good things come in 3s for Blake By Simone Midgett Features Editor
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olding a starting position on the varsity basketball team as a freshman, reaching 1,000 career points as a sophomore and managing to sink 107 3-pointers in just one season – all three of these things have been achieved by junior Dylan Blake. When spectators see Blake playing, they are in awe at his ability to make it from nearly anywhere on the court. They even turn to Twitter to rave about his striking shooting range. “In range even when he (is) laying on his bed,” a person that goes by the Twitter handle @ianesthesia1914 tweeted about Blake’s shooting. In a tweet by Elon basketball player Kris Wooten, he responded to a video of Blake playing: “3 threes in 30 seconds, I’m impressed.” Blake began playing basketball for the Parks and Rec league when he was 4 years old and as he got older and his passion grew for the sport he began playing for a local
travel basketball team, the First Flight Ballerz, in third grade. “Basketball is my favorite thing to do, even in my free time, so I practice just about every day, including weekends,” Blake said. As Blake’s love for the game increased, so did his skills. Last year, he made a big change to help further his basketball career. He joined the Flight 22 17-U Elite basketball team and made the commute of 4 hours and 45 minutes to Wilmington for practices and tournaments. “The tournaments we went to were bigger, which meant more opporNIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / sports
tunities to get recruited (by college coaches),” Blake explained. One of the tournaments the Flight 22 team attended over this summer’s season that helped with the recruiting process was the Under Armour Finals in Atlanta. “Just about every Division I and Division II coach was there, because there were a lot of big-time players there, so the other kids playing really helped get the coaches there to see me and other kids play,” Blake said. Junior Zion Nobles, who has played with Blake since he was in kindergarten, has seen him improve as a player while their friendship has grown through basketball. “We have been going to practices together since we were little and going to all of the games together,” Nobles said. “I describe (Blake) as an all around player because he does everything and helps the team out in every way.” A mutual goal First Flight’s team has going into this season is making it further in the NCHSAA 2A playoffs after losing in the second round last year. “This season we are working harder and trying to get to know each other’s strengths, so we can help each other get better,” Blake said. The majority of the players attend tournaments and continue practicing in the offseason to maintain their skills so they are prepared for the new season. “We practice every day after school and over all of the breaks and during practice we do a lot of shooting and running to prepare us for the games,” Nobles said. This year in particular, the team has a rigorous schedule and is facing many highly competitive teams across the state. “We have been playing harder teams to get ready for this season so that we can already be prepared for when we get to playoffs,” Blake said. “We play some 4A teams and we also play the No. 1 seed from the 2A playoffs (Farmville Central) last year.” Added Nobles: “You have to beat the best to be the best.” Striving for success is nothing new for Blake. When he was in eighth grade, his team went undefeated and won the conference tournament for the first time in First Flight Middle School’s history. When Blake and his teammates, who had been playing together since third grade, entered high school, coach Chad Williams decided to place seven freshmen on the varsity team so the clique wouldn’t be separated. “They were the best players – they were better than the kids who were older than them,” Williams said. “Knowing they would get better going against the best players instead of the kids at the junior varsity level, we would not be at the level we are today
Photo by Buzzy Staten/Nighthawk News
Junior Dylan Blake attacks the basket against Myers Park during the Nighthawks’ opening game in the Good Guys vs. Cancer Showcase last Friday.
if I didn’t make that decision.” Starting on the varsity team as an underclassman allowed Blake to polish his playing strategies by playing with more experienced players. “I used to not be that good at shooting, but I just kept practicing,” Blake said. People have noticed. In another tweet, “Scout Clark” said, “Best shooter in the state… no debate needed… but also heck of an all-around player!!!” He and his teammates have come a long way since those Parks and Rec
days, and there’s plenty of fun ahead on this basketball journey together. “I have met a lot of new people (through basketball) and it is helping me further my education after high school, which is probably the biggest impact it has had,” Blake said. “I hope to go Division I, but as of right now I only have Division II offers and some coaches from Division I schools have shown interest.” Junior Simone Midgett can be reached at midgettsa0827@daretolearn. org.
Home of the Nighthawks! 3-pointers
Total points 583
107 Free throws
136
2-pointers
63
Showcasing junior Dylan Blake’s stats from his sophomore year. Graphic by Simone Midgett/Nighthawk News
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First Flight Winter Spotlight: A Q&A
Emma Hartnett Sophomore What is your favorite part about your sport? The feeling when you cross the finish line. Where is your favorite place to eat before/after a meet? The Spot. What player (teammate, college or pro) do you look up to the most and why? Zach Hughes, just because he is so encouraging. He tells me stories about how when he first started he was discouraged, like I was feeling. But now he is so good and that gives me hope.
Aidan May Junior
How long have you been running? This is my third year. What’s your favorite part about running? Finishing, because I absolutely hate running and I wish I never did it to begin with. What’s your favorite thing to do before a race? Think about doing something else, because it’s not fun. What is your favorite part about your sport? Getting faster. It’s pretty cool.
What’s your favorite memory playing your sport? When we finished states and we were all dying. That was a good memory.
Where is your favorite place to eat before or after a race? Definitely Chick-fil-A and Panera. I love the green goddess cobb with chicken salad.
What song do you listen to before a game? “Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton.
What player (teammate, college or pro) do you look up to the most and why? Katelyn Tuohy because she never loses.
What is your dream job and why? A veterinarian because I love animals. If you became a millionaire by age 20, what would you do with it? Save the world. If you could be any animal, what would it be? A river otter. If you could have dinner with any three people (living or dead), who would it be, and why? Jesus, my mom and my dad, because I love God and my parents. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas. What is your biggest pet peeve? When people chew really loudly with their mouth open. It’s just disgusting. What’s a fun fact about yourself? I’ve been bit by a squirrel.
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What’s your favorite memory of running? Freshman year, because we weren’t expected to be very good, and it was my first year, and I actually liked it then. What is your dream job and why? Become a meteorologist, because ever since science in fifth grade I’ve just loved the study of weather. If you became a millionaire by age 20, what would you do with it? Definitely get some batting cages and stuff down on the Outer Banks, and give a lot of money to charities to help find cures for science. If you could have dinner with any three people (living or dead), who would it be, and why? Mike Trout, because he’s just an absolute animal in baseball, Jennifer Aniston, because she is my idol in life, and Bob Marley.
Kamrin Grissom Senior
How long have you been playing basketball? About seven or eight years. What are you going to miss the most? Probably just being with the team and traveling. What’s your favorite part about playing? The chemistry that we have and that we are all just team players. We don’t argue at all. What is your favorite thing to do before a game? Listen to music. Where is your favorite place to eat before/after a game? Jersey Mike’s. What player (teammate, college or pro) do you look up to the most and why? Probably Giannis Antetokounmpo. He plays for the Milwaukee Bucks and he is my favorite NBA player. What’s your favorite memory playing your sport? When Elijah Whitfield hit the 3-pointer in the corner last year against Hertford. What song do you listen to before a game? “Grab The Wheel” by Lil Uzi Vert. What is your dream job and why? Marine biology. It’s just something I have always wanted to do. If you became a millionaire by age 20, what would you do with it? Build a school for underprivileged kids who don’t have much. If you could be any animal, what would it be? Probably a sloth because I’m lazy, fat and don’t really like to do anything.
Olivia Gena Junior
How long have you been doing cheer? This is my first year doing school cheer and before I did it for about five years. What’s your favorite part about cheer? I like being around the girls and forming a relationship with the team. It’s a lot more than just doing cheer. Where is your favorite place to eat before a game? We usually go to a girl’s house and eat together, but if not, I like to go to Plaza Azteca. Who do you look up to most on the team? Shelby Miller. I feel like she has a lot of personality, is a great cheerleader and can help you a lot when you need it. If you became a millionaire, what would you do with the money? I would help my whole family, and then I would definitely help the community. What’s your favorite holiday? Christmas, for sure. What’s your biggest pet peeve? I cant stand when things aren’t in place or are messy. Everything has to be organized. What’s your dream job? To be an anesthesiologist. They make a lot of money and I think it would be really cool to work in the medical field. If you could have dinner with any three people, who would it be? Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber and Beyonce – some of my favorite singers. What’s your favorite beach access? Fifth Street. That’s usually where my friends go and it’s usually calm. What is your favorite TV show? “Criminal Minds.” I always want to watch another episode. winter / / 2018
with Nighthawk student-athletes
Ashby King Junior
How long have you been swimming? Since I was 8, so about eight years. What’s your favorite part about swimming? It challenges your body physically. What’s your favorite thing to do before a meet? Listen to music. What is your favorite part about your sport? The team is very close. It’s like a family. Where is your favorite place to eat before/after a meet? Chick-fil-A and Panera. What’s your favorite memory playing your sport? Freshman year when I found out my relay made regionals. What song do you listen to before a meet? “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” What is your dream job and why? To be a pharmacist because I like medicine but I also want to interact with people on a daily basis. If you became a millionaire by age 20, what would you do with it? Probably something with the environment. If you could be any animal, what would it be? A manatee. What is your biggest pet peeve? People chewing with their mouth open.
Emma Richards Freshman
How long have you been playing basketball? Seven years. What’s your favorite part about playing? Being part of a team. Playing with people I like. What is your favorite thing to do before a game? Zone out and listen to music. What is your favorite part about your sport? If you mess up, it’s your fault. It’s on you, there is no one else to blame. If you lost, you know why. Where is your favorite place to eat before/after a game? Subway, because it’s good. What’s your favorite memory playing your sport? Travel Ball, AAU. What is your dream job and why? An athletic trainer, because I want to help people. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween, because I like scary stuff. What is your biggest pet peeve? People who chew their gum loudly. I hate that. What is a lifelong dream of yours? To play softball in college. What’s your favorite beach access? Why do you like it? Carlton because it is close to Stop N Shop but without too many people there.
Payton Savage Sophomore
How long have you been swimming? I have been swimming for five years. What is your favorite part about it? Everything about it: when you jump in in the morning and it wakes you up and it feels like you’re flying. What do you do before meets? I try to warm up and mentally prepare to do well in my events. Who do you look up to the most in swimming? Cecilia Cortez. She’s the G.O.A.T. What’s your biggest pet peeve? When people jump in or swim right after me, and they’re constantly touching my feet like, “All right, you just jumped in on top of me.” Favorite holiday? I’d have to say Christmas because it’s just fun. What is one fun fact about yourself? I go to Viva three times a week. Lifelong dream? To be a rescue swimmer in the Coast Guard. If you could have dinner with any three people (living or dead), who would they be? Bob Ross, Eugene Savage – he’s still alive – and Napoleon Dynamite.
Jonathan Pharr Senior
How long have you been wrestling? Five years. What are you going to miss the most as a senior? The team. What’s your favorite part about wrestling? Getting your hand raised, there’s nothing like it. What’s your favorite thing to do before a match? Listen to hype music. Who do you look up to most in wrestling? Coach Kepler since he’s been there all the way and kept me going. What’s your favorite memory from the sport? Getting third in conference junior year. What song do you listen to before a match? “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC. If you became a millionaire what would you do with the money? Help my mom and dad and others. If you could be any animal what would it be? Grizzly bear. If you could have dinner with any three people who would they be? My dad, my dad’s dad and my dad’s twin brother.
If you become a millionaire by the age 20, what would you do with the money? Invest in real estate.
What’s your biggest pet peeve? When people drag out a conversation or beat around the bush.
Favorite TV show? “Bob’s Burgers.”
What’s a lifelong dream of yours? Make a good chunk of money and become a motivational speaker.
Photos by Aaron Jennings, Hayley Miller, Buzzy Staten and Ben Tran. Reporting by Kristen Applebaum, Cassie Honeycutt, Katie MacBride, Grace Sullivan, Jack Voight and Maddy Wagner. NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / sports
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NIGHTHAWK News Magazine / / winter / / 2018