October 2024 - Silver Chips Print

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Montgomery Blair High School

October 16, 2024

UMD remembers Oct. 7

By DORIS

Where only first names appear, names have been changed to protect the identities of the sources.

Following an Oct. 1 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Maryland affirming student groups’ First Amendment rights to express their views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the University of Maryland (UMD) campus witnessed multiple vigils on Oct. 7 held in rememberance of those that have passed away due to the conflict.

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization, co-hosted a vigil to mark the one-year anniversary of the conflict. “October 7th marks a year of the escalated genocide on top of over 76 years of brutal occupation,” Daniela Colombi, a board member of SJP and one of the vigil organizers, said. “It’s a date to remember the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.”

SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

COMEBACK

BLAZER STADIUM The Blair football team trailed Walter Johnson for most of the Oct. 10 game, but a pick six in the last minutes of the

last year.

Shooting for the stars

Inside the renovation of the National Air and Space Museum

By YONGLE XIN

Every day, 23,000 people flow through the doors of the National Air and Space Museum. After scanning their tickets, they are greeted with Star Trek’s USS Enterprise before streaming into the main atrium where the famous Spirit of St. Louis and Bell X-1 aircraft are suspended against the clear blue sky shining through the windows.

Everywhere the visitors look, there is a first: first plane to cross the Atlantic, first plane to break the sound barrier, first heavier-than-air aircraft, and first vessel to reach the moon and return. Guests speak in hushed tones as they revel at the Wright brothers’ first flyer and gaze in awe at Apollo 11’s Command Module, Columbia.

Owned and operated by the Smithsonian Institution, the Na-

tional Air and Space Museum first opened in 1976. It was originally designed to accommodate two million visitors every year, but started to see seven, eight, and nine million at the turn of the millennium. The additional visitors came with additional age and damage to the museum; from poor light management and humidity control to bad disability accommodations and stone literally peeling off the facade, the museum desperately needed a renovation.

The design job fell to architecture firm Quinn Evans, one of the country’s largest women-owned firms, winner of the 2024 American Institute of Architects Firm Award, and a longtime presence on the National Mall.

The first issue was the Tennessee Pink Marble that comprised the exterior facade. “The stone on the outside of the building was literally warped,” Leora Mirvish, principal architect at Quinn Evans, says. “You couldn’t take the stone off to fix [it] without killing the HVAC system,” she says, referencing the unique design of the museum’s HVAC system.

Pop culture shapes political campaigns

By NEHA NARAYAN and CASEY PENDERGAST

In a world where social media trends shape the perspectives of younger generations, the upcoming election may find its influence within the endless scroll of digital feeds. According to Pew Research Center, 59 percent of X users, 36 percent of TikTok users, and 26 percent of Instagram users say keeping up with politics or political issues is a reason they use social media. Online misinformation, however, is also on the rise, with 57 percent of U.S. adults concerned about the influence of AI and misinformation on the 2024 presidential race. The use of social media in politics requires a complex balance to effectively reach voters without unintended consequences. Historically, political campaigns relied heavily on traditional media—television ads, newspaper endorsements, and direct mail. However, the prevalence of social media platforms has transformed how candidates can connect with their constituents. Today, a candidate’s ability to harness social

media and incorporate it into their campaign strategy can be as crucial as their policies. “Especially in a lot of younger generations, we’re not watching the news, we’re not reading physical newspapers,” Chairman of Maryland Young Republicans Jackie Sackstein describes. “So we’re not seeing the traditional methods of advertising that have been used in generations past and elections past.”

Politicians are capturing attention by tapping into trending songs, viral videos, and popular films— reaching audiences in ways that traditional methods have failed to achieve. “[Social media] increases the association between what young people find entertaining and culturally relevant and how political campaigns are mobilizing outreach and using it for their campaign,” Elias Chen, Vice President Kamala Harris campaign communications staff member, shares. “A lot of people say, ‘I don’t want politics in my entertainment or in my media,’ but I think … everything is inherently political.”

see POP CULTURE page E2

game led them to win 21-17, avenging their playoff loss to the Wildcats

PHOTO BY IAN GLEASON see MUSEUM page D4

WANG

see VIGILS page A4

PHOTO BY JONATHAN PETER BELLING

Compiled by AINSLIE CURRAN-NG’ASI

Blair receives online school shooting threat

On Thursday, Oct. 10, Acting Blair Principal Kevin Yates informed staff and parents via email of a school shooting threat posted on social media earlier that day. Police confirmed that the post came from a student, and they deemed the threat to be non-credible. The student who made the threat will face consequences following the MCPS Student Code of Conduct. Yates reminded families that students who make threats are subject to serious consequences. He emphasized that sharing these threats online can put the Blair community in danger and cause unnecessary panic. “Please remind your children that making or sharing threats online is dangerous, causes anxiety, and will have potentially significant consequences,” Yates wrote.

MCPS

to implement blended learning program

Applications opened for the MCPS Blended Learning Program for Long-Term Medically Impacted Students, which begins on Nov. 6. Earlier this year, MCPS cut its virtual learning academy due to budget cuts. MCPS implemented the blended learning program to replace the virtual academy, which similarly was in place as an alternative for students with medical conditions and other reasons that prohibit them from attending school in person. The program will consist of synchronous learning instruction for at least four days a week, as well as asynchronous lessons every day. High school students will have some synchronous instruction that may occur outside of the regular school day. Selection for classes will be limited to high school students, as their main focus will be courses required for graduation. Elementary school synchronous lessons will teach core subjects. Middle school synchronous lessons will teach core classes as well as offering elective courses.

Montgomery County parents petition SCOTUS to re-evaluate the LGBTQ books opt-out policy

On Sept. 12, a group of Montgomery County parents filed a petition to the Supreme Court to re-evaluate the school system’s refusal to opt their kids out of class that use LGBTQ resources, on the basis that their religious rights, protected under the First Amendment, were violated. The petition requested a re-evaluation of the decision made by the federal district judge in August 2023, which upheld a previous ruling stating that the lack of an opt-out policy does not lead to an abandonment of their religious faith. Initially, people who disagreed with the use of the books had the opportunity to opt their children out of lessons including them, but in March 2023, MCPS decided opt-outs would no longer be allowed in the 2023-2024 school year. Many argue that diversity and inclusion should be the priority over the religious rights of students and parents. As of now, parents have advocated for an injunction of the opt-out policy.

Crossing the line

Senate race sees spike in split-ticket voting

By ELORA DERBYSHIRE

Despite presidential candidate Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump by almost 30 percent in Maryland polls, Democratic Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks only has an average nine percent lead over Republican candidate and former Governor Larry Hogan, according to summaries from 538 and RealClear Polling. This occurrence is known as split-ticket voting, the act of voting for candidates of more than one party in a single election, and is expected to rise in November.

Split-ticket voting peaked nationally in 1972, when 190 districts that voted for Richard Nixon also elected Democratic representatives into the House. In the decades since, the phenomenon has become increasingly rare, with only seven percent of voters choosing to vote split-ticket in 2020 and only four percent of congressional districts resulting in split election outcomes. “[Split-ticket voting] used to be something far more prevalent,” Matthew Foster, a professor at American University’s Department of Government, said. “If you look to decades in the past, split-ticket voting tended to happen because Americans liked having a divided government.”

Many researchers credit the decline in split-ticket voting to heightened political polarization throughout the country — according to a 2022 Pew Research Center analysis, Democrats and Republicans are now ideologically further apart than any other time in the past 50 years. “As we’ve seen ideology conform more with par-

tisanship, and partisan identity becoming a stronger factor in terms of vote choice, we’ve seen a drastic decline in split-ticket voting,” Foster said.

If you look to decades in the past, split-ticket voting tended to happen because Americans liked having a divided government.

MATTHEW

Doug Morris, a split-ticket voter from Germantown, stated that polarization is a “recipe for stagnation.” “Let’s negotiate and let’s have an agreement where you don’t get everything you want,” he said. “To my mind, since I am a centrist, [negotiation is] the thing that’s been missing from our political discourse for the last 16-17 years.”

To capitalize on split-ticket voting, Hogan has adopted a campaign strategy unusual for a Republican. By declaring himself “independent leadership,” he has targeted centrist voters on either side of the partisan line. Former Maryland State Delegate Luiz Simmons, co-chair of the Democrats for Hogan coalition, believes that Hogan’s decision to frame himself as a moderate candidate has allowed him to draw a voter base from both parties. “Someone like Governor Hogan, for me at least, meets the requirements of being sensible and moderate and reasonable, able to bring together people

from different points of view and also to try to stake out positions in the center,” Simmons said. Hogan’s platform, including his pro-abortion stance on reproductive rights and his claim to reduce healthcare costs, strays far from what one would expect of a typical Republican. However, Luca Amayo, the communications specialist of the Maryland Democratic Party, believes that these stances are disingenuous. “I’ll call it a sleight of hand, because as much as he says he’s going to be an independent, he has also said he’s a Republican and was a lifelong Republican,” Amayo said.

Responding to the expected rise in split-ticket voting, the Alsobrooks campaign has prompted voters to consider the national implications of the

voting could cause the senate majority to flip.

Though Maryland is unlikely to be the only deciding factor, as several other states with Democratic senators lean toward Republican candidates in this election, the impact of Maryland’s Senate race will have a crucial impact on national policy. “[For] important decisions, you need to go beyond a 50 or 50 plus one,” Foster said. “You have to get two thirds — a super majority. And for whoever wins [the presidential election], having control in the Senate will be a key aspect to how much success they can have in their presidency.”

Maryland Senate election. Currently, Democrats are the majority party in the Senate, however, with 15 percent of Maryland’s Harris voters planning to cast their ballots for Hogan, split-ticket

New wave of administrators

floods MCPS

By CASEY PENDERGAST

With roughly 21 percent of MCPS schools hiring new principals and a national rise in post-pandemic school staff turnover, MCPS has faced challenges in finding its footing at the start of the 2024-2025 school year.

Of the 209 K-12 schools in MCPS, 43 have new principals. Some incoming principals moved to different schools within the county, while others are new to MCPS entirely. Blair’s acting principal, Kevin Yates, retired at the end of last school year following his time as principal of Damascus. However, he was asked to step in following failed attempts to find a permanent replacement for outgoing Blair principal Renay Johnson. “In order to pick a principal, the [Office of School Support and Improvement] needs to have three candidates for the position,” Yates said. “My understanding is that one person dropped out before the interview, and that happened twice, so I was asked to step in since their attempts were unsuccessful.”

The position of Blair principal following the 2024-2025 school year remains unfilled. Currently, MCPS’s Office of School Support and Improvement (OSSI) is conducting a nationwide search for Yates’s replacement. “Typically, [representatives] from OSSI and the Office of Human Resources and Development collaborate on a recommendation [for] two of the candidates [to] move forward to an interview with the superintendent,” Yates said. “Ultimately, the super-

intendent decides which of [those] candidates [will] move forward.”

In the months leading up to the 2024–2025 school year, many MCPS principal positions were vacant due to an especially high number of retirements at the end of the 2023–2024 school year. “Last year, there were a number of principals, myself … and Ms. Johnson [included], who were eligible for retirement,” Yates said. “I think that’s the reason you had a lot of transition in the principals; [it’s] because there were a lot of folks who were eligible to retire.”

The county also received a new

superintendent, Dr. Thomas Taylor, at the beginning of July. His arrival followed the resignation of former Superintendent Monifa McKnight, which was sparked by concerns that she mishandled the sexual harassment allegations against former Farquar Middle School principal Joel Beidleman. By supporting leadership changes, the BOE sought to preserve the trust of MCPS families and staff, even though some degree of consistent leadership was lost. “We must rebuild trust, begin to heal, and ensure that our school system is equipped to serve the students,

staff, and families who make up our great school community,” the BOE’s February statement on McKnight’s resignation said. Parents have raised concerns about the process of vetting individuals for leadership positions in MCPS this school year. Based on their knowledge of other schools’ experiences with these individuals, they feel some MCPS leaders may not have the qualities that families and staff desire for the position. D.C. Public Schools parent Hilary Benson has raised concerns to MCPS administration after it selected a former D.C. principal to lead a school in MCPS this year. Benson wished that MCPS had better communicated with new principals’ former schools prior to hiring them. “I would say people-hiring bodies should reach out into the communities [and] talk to parents, to teachers—people who have been directly affected by the principal—and really try to understand [the principal’s] relationship with the community that they left,” Benson said.

Consistent leadership is critical to how any school operates, and in one of the largest school districts in the nation, rapid, successive changes in authority can alter the relationship between staff, students, and parents. “If MCPS seeks to hire [and retain] high-quality staff … it needs to model responsive leadership at the central office level and cultivate and reward it throughout its schools,” Benson said.

Blair institutes countywide ID policy

By ADANNA AKAMIGBO and CARMELLA BEACH

For the 2024-2025 school year, MCPS implemented a countywide security policy that requires students to wear their IDs to enter school buildings. The policy came in response to increased security concerns throughout the county.

In 2023, Richard Montgomery went into lockdown after students from Gaithersburg entered the school, caused a fight, and were found later in the day with a firearm. Blair Vice Principal Aaron Bernstein previously worked at Richard Montgomery and explained what occurred during the incident. “I was present when an individual came into the school building. [The individual] was not a student there and had a gun on them … they interacted with some of my students in terms of a physical altercation,” Bernstein said.

The incident garnered countywide attention and further emphasized the need for tighter security measures in schools to policymakers and administration. Bernstein explained that students wanted more security measures in place to prevent similar incidents from occurring. “Students at Richard Montgomery felt they didn’t feel safe, and they felt we needed to do something,” he said.

Former Student Member of the Board (SMOB) Sami Saeed attended Richard Montgomery when the incident occurred.

Saeed introduced a school security initiative to the Board of Education that included an ID policy at all MCPS high schools, “We needed to take action. And so I proposed the idea of checking IDs,” he said. Walter Johnson and Richard Montgomery have had the policy implemented for just over a couple of years after instances of unauthorized people coming into the building. Walter Johnson senior Delina Palma described an incident where she encountered people at school who were unauthorized to be there. “I remember in my freshman year, my friend brought her two [Richard Montgomery] friends to our school and [Walter Johnson administration]

“[Administrators] want students to have it on them in the hallways, but no one really does.” Palma noted that keeping your ID on you has become routine, yet students doubt it provides much safety. “I think we understand the point [of] having us wear them, but I don’t really think it makes me feel any safer,” she said.

thought it was unsafe,” said Palma. Similar to Blair, Walter Johnson’s ID policy requires students to wear their ID when entering the building and have it visible to staff. However, Palma stated that over the years, the strictness of the policy has weakened. “What most students do is they have [their ID] on their backpack and they have it to enter the building,” she explained.

Blair senior Mae Stevenson feels that IDs are ineffective since students are not wearing them as intended. “I actually don’t think [IDs] make us safer at all,” Stevenson said. “One, because literally nobody is wearing it.” Stevenson admitted that on many occasions she was able to get into the school building without her ID, and feels that administration is already lacking in their regulation of the policy. “Without an ID, I can get in the building regardless,” Stevenson said.

Kaya Stephens, a Blair junior, explained what she observed students do with their IDs throughout

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the day. “People take off their IDs whenever they want, and throughout the day people don’t really wear it,” Stephens said. She remarked that the only time she saw administrators enforce the policy was during lunchtime.

Bernstein admitted that administration cannot ensure everyone has their ID, especially at a large school like Blair with over 3,200 students. “We do try and check everyone, but I’m realistic. We don’t get every single person,” Bernstein said.

Blair junior Chloe Lett understood why the policy was made, but thought it was useless. “It kind of feels like we’re fighting an invisible problem,” Lett said. Blair administrators understand how students feel but instead of waiting for danger to come, they believe it’s better to prevent it. “I hate to talk about it, but if something happens this school year that gives the school system a scare, you will see

Compiled by TOMAS MONTICELLI

Thousands of U.S. dockworkers strike Hurricane Helene, Milton devastate southern states

On Oct. 9, Hurricane Milton, a category three hurricane made landfall on Florida’s gulf coast near the Tampa Bay area. Hours before Milton struck, it released tornadoes that moved through St. Lucie County, on Florida’s southeastern coast, killing five people. Milton was the largest hurricane to hit the area in over a century and was the fifth-most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. Milton’s arrival came two weeks after Hurricane Helene, a category four hurricane that made landfall on Florida’s northwest coast on Sept. 26. Helene lasted four days and advanced throughout Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. The aftermath left up to $47.5 billion in damages, hundreds of thousands without power for weeks, and a death toll of 232 people, making it the most deadly hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

On Oct. 1, the International Longshoremen’s Association— representing 45,000 U.S. dock

FORGOTTEN AT HOME Blair students without IDs wait to be let into the building.

PHOTO BY RAFFI DIAMOND-BERMAN

Vape detectors to be installed in all county high schools

By KIYA TIRUNEH

On Aug. 20, the MCPS Board of Education approved a plan to install vape detectors in all MCPS high school bathrooms. The plan was funded by a $2 million settlement with e-cigarette company JUUL.

According to MCPS Chief of Security Marcus Jones, the goal of vape detectors was to dissuade students from vaping and reduce its harmful health effects. “Vaping is not healthy. I think that that’s, again, another message that the school system wants to share with our students,” he said.

Along with its negative physical side effects including asthma, cancer, organ damage, lung scarring, and psychosis, vaping can also be harmful to the school environment.

Ashley Torkornoo and Heather Nelson, health teachers at Blair,

noted that vaping has side effects that can negatively impact a student’s education. “It can definitely be a distraction. [It] takes them out of class a lot of times. They get with the wrong friends, [and] they can end up skipping,” Torkonoo said. Nelson agreed that vaping is not conducive to an academic setting.

“I do think that it’s setting a bad example …. I don’t think it’s great for the climate of the school,” she said.

I do think that it’s setting a bad example …. I don’t think it’s great for the climate of the school.

MCPS planned to fund vape

detectors with the settlement from JUUL, a leading e-cigarette company in the U.S. The MCPS class action lawsuit against JUUL began on December 6, 2022, in response to JUUL’s marketing strategy targeted toward kids and teens. As part of a multistate agreement, JUUL was fined $434.5 million. Maryland received $13 million, $2 million of which went toward MCPS. To promote a school environment with reduced e-cigarette usage, MCPS chose to allocate the money received from the settlement toward preventative measures in the form of vape detectors.

On Oct. 8, the County Council voted to officially approve the funds allocated toward this project. Installation will begin once the county receives final approval on funding from the Montgomery County Council. Jones explained the timeline for implementation. “I’m anticipating that [they] will probably begin installation sometime in October, and I will look [forward to] full implementation for all of our high schools, probably by the end of the school year,” he said.

The current plan described buying vape detectors costing roughly $1,000 each and placing them in areas where vaping occurs most frequently during school. “Primarily the focus will be the bathroom or any other locations where it may be highly probable that someone would maybe try to utilize a vape product,” Jones said. “Each school could be treated differently based upon the layout of the school.”

Wherever vaping or any other type of smoke is detected, an alarm will go off, allowing security to be able to pinpoint the location of any activity. Currently, MCPS has not decided what vape detector manufacturer they will employ, though they have considered a range of products, with varying levels of sensitivity. Some even pick up on

words like “help” and alert administration.

MCPS launched a pilot program for the vape detector ini tiative last spring at six high schools includ ing Kennedy, North wood, Paint Branch, Walt Whitman, Quince Orchard, Mont gomery. Accord ing to Jones, the ini tiative was suc cessful in re ducing vaping in these schools.

“We knew that [when] the vape de tectors were installed, we had fewer instances of vape usage in those schools,” he said.

We knew that [when] the vape detectors were installed, we had fewer instances of vape usage in those schools.

Still, there remained concerns that vape detectors were disruptive and that there was a possibility for false alarms. “We had issues with loud alarms that would go off,” Jones said. “We do want to be notified, but we also don’t want to be disturbing other parts of the school environment.”

Furthermore, Ebewak Tolessa, a senior at Northwood, insisted that substance use continued at her school despite the presence of

vape detectors.

“I see kids smoking in our hallways so they’re able to gettectors,” Tolessa said. “They’ll smoke, and then they’ll put it into their sleeves, and wipe away the smoke.”

Uncertainty remains surrounding the efficacy of vape detectors, as they have yet to be installed in all MCPS high schools. “I think we’ll have to evaluate the impact of the vape detectors once we get them,” Jones said. “Are we seeing a decrease in the usage of vapes and those being caught vaping? We’ll go from there.”

Despite their shortcomings, vape detectors have the intention of improving student learning and health outcomes as MCPS moves forward with their installation countywide. “I don’t think anything is 100 percent foolproof, no matter what product there may be,” Jones said. Torkornoo believes that vape detectors will be advantageous in the long term. “The fact is, [the vape detectors are] for the better. It’s for [students] to come to school ready to work, ready to learn.”

Campus groups hold vigils following First Amendment ruling

On the same day, Jewish students and local community members held a separate vigil for the Jewish community at the Rosenbloom Hillel Jewish Center. They gathered to reflect on their experiences over the past year, sharing stories and commemorating lives lost.

At McKeldin Mall, SJP organized a series of activities including speeches, art demonstrations, film screenings, and bake sales. “I was here a little bit earlier [and] there were teachings from [JVP],” vigil attendee Alex said. “They talked about the history of Jewish people being prosecuted … and their solidarity with the Palestinian cause.”

The planning of these events

was not without challenges. Initially, SJP had received university approv al early on to co-host the vigil with JVP. However, after complaints and safety concerns were raised, the university reversed its decision. In response, the Council on Amer ican-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a lawsuit on behalf of SJP, arguing that the cancellation infringed upon SJP’s right to free speech. “We had to take the university, our presi dent, to court—a federal court—to be able to just exist,” Colombi said.

We had to take the university, our president, to court—a federal court—to be able to just exist.

UMD justified the cancellation, citing threats from pro-Israel individuals who had threatened to bring arms to campus if the vigil went forward. However, the court ruled in favor of SJP, stating that the university cannot allow threats to suppress free speech. After the court ruled in favor of SJP, both vigils proceeded with UMD administration approval. “I was glad that the First Amendment was upheld,”

UMD student Ashley said. “I think this is good for campuses everywhere … You can’t be stopped from saying something just because somebody else doesn’t like it.”

In preparation for potential unrest after the court’s decision, UMD requested additional officers from Maryland State Police. Colombi criticized this decision to bring in more security. “If they wanted to keep people safe, they

would actually go out and condemn genocide,” Colombi said. “They would cut ties with all the companies that are helping to perpetrate the genocide.” Although the lawsuit was resolved, it delayed the planning process. “This [took] a lot of time that we should have been able to use to actually plan the whole event, but we managed to pull it off in the end,” Colombi said.

COMMEMORATING UMD students share their perspectives and reflect on the losses from the past year of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

from VIGILS page A1

GRAPHIC BY KIYA TIRUNEH AND MAXWELL ERLEBACHER | DATA COURTESY OF THE FDA

LUCIAWANG

DANIELA COLOMBI

MARCUS JONES

HEATHER NELSON

Silver Chips 2024 Election Guide

By SATCHEL JELEN and JESSICA ZHANG

Upcoming Elections

On Nov. 5, registered voters across the nation will head to the ballot box and vote in a variety of state and local elections, including the consequential Maryland Senate election. These elections will serve as a referendum for voters to express their approval or displeasure about the policies of the past two and four years.

Top Issues

Voters will also get a chance to voice support for issues important to them. According to a poll from Goucher College in March 2024, the top three issues that were most important to registered Maryland voters were crime, the economy, and taxes. With these topics in mind, Silver Chips spoke with state and local candidates running this November and asked them the top three issues they plan to address when in office.

Senate Election

Maryland residents will vote for one of three U.S. Senate candidates: Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, Republican Larry Hogan, and Libertarian Mike Scott. Michael Hanmer, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, pointed out the unusual nature of a strong Republican candidate in a typically blue state. “I think this particular example really is interesting, because Larry Hogan won [the governorship] twice because he was able

to convince a significant number of Democrats to vote for him,” Hanmer said. He also stressed the national importance of Maryland’s Senate seat. “It’s likely that whoever wins the Senate is going to do it just barely, so every race matters,” he said.

Congressional District Eight

There are three candidates running for Congressional District Eight in Maryland: Democrat Jamie Raskin, Republican Cheryl Riley, and Green Party candidate Nancy Wallace. Incumbent Jamie

50 U.S. states in 2022.

Wallace, a lifelong resident of District Eight, is running to challenge the political status quo of what she sees as disproportionate corporate influence in the legislative branch. She highlighted climate change, the minimum wage, and tax rates as her three main priorities, but above all else, she believes in transparency. “I will be running a blog about what I do every day,” Wallace said. “I want people essentially to have a camera on my shoulder, full time.”

promises to defend electoral free dom and protect the environment. “I want to see us continue to make dramatic progress on addressing climate change, which is now destabilizing the environment and social life in many parts of our country and lots of countries around the world,” Raskin said. For Riley, public safety and inflation are her main priority. “To me, safety is really the utmost important aspect, and I think we start by being tougher on crime,” she said. As such, Riley wants to end the legal shielding of undocumented immigrants that exists in many cities in District Eight, as well as reduce Maryland’s tax burden, which was the fifteenth highest out of all

Montgomery County constituents will also have the opportunity to vote for a candidate for the MCPS BOE at-large, who will represent all five county districts. The candidates are incumbent Lynne Harris and her opponent, Rita Montoya. Harris, running for her second term on the BOE, believes that it is important to create an environment where the MCPS superintendent can succeed. “I think we

MCPS Board of Education at-Large OCTOBER 24 - OCTOBER 31

have chosen an excellent superintendent, and so ensuring that he has what he needs … is job one to me,” Harris said. She also wants to focus on sustainability, ensuring equal access to the Fine Arts, and improving the MCPS human resources system. On the other hand, Montoya, a mother of two elementary school students who attend MCPS, believes that school safety, academic vigor, and financial oversight are her top three priorities. “If [staff and teachers are] not feeling safe, they can’t provide … our students what they need, so that’s something that definitely needs to really be focused on,” Montoya said.

MCPS Board of Education District Four

There are two candidates run ning for the District Four—where many Blair families reside—BOE seat: incumbent Shebra Evans and her opponent, Laura Stewart. Evans, who served on the BOE for the past eight years, previously

served two terms as the BOE president.

Evans supports pre-K expansion as well as recruiting and retaining quality teachers. Additionally, she prioritizes equal access and opportunity for all students. “[It’s about] creating more access and opportunity for our students so that it doesn’t matter where you live or your socioeconomic status,” Evans said.

Stewart has been an education and children’s advocate for over 10 years. Her top three issues include accountability, collaboration, and transparency. She also stresses the importance of direct community engagement through town halls and student focus groups. “I would love to see more town halls with students specifically, and also maybe even … having a few Board of Ed members meet with student focus Stewart said. “We a lot better with the direct engagement and dialogue.”

15 OCTOBER 29 NOVEMBER 5

Online and Mail Voter Registration Deadline

You can still register in-person during early voting and on election day.

How to register

A resident must be at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen to vote in the upcoming general election.

Voters can register online or request a mail-in ballot on the Maryland Board of Elections website. Alternatively, they may submit an application in person at any of the locations listed on the website. The deadline for online voter registration in Maryland passed on Oct. 15, three weeks before election day. Voters may still register in person during early voting or on election day with a proof of address, which can be any government document with the voters’ name and address.

How to vote

Residents can vote in person either during early voting or on election day. Early voting starts on Oct. 24 and ends on Oct. 31, and all voting centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. On elec-

Vote by Mail Application Deadline

The ballot must be requested by this date.

tion day, voters are only allowed to vote at their assigned polling location, which will also be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. If voters are unable to vote at their assigned location, they will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot at a different location. Voters can also cast their ballots by mail. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot by mail is Oct. 29, the deadline by internet is Nov. 1, and the deadline in-person is Nov. 5. For more information on how to vote, request a ballot, and learn more about election volunteering, voters can text keywords to 77788.

Abortion on the ballot

In November, Maryland voters will vote on only one ballot measure: the right to an abortion. The measure, outlined in House Bill (HB) 705, would establish an individual’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom. Measures similar

Early Voting

to HB 705 have also appeared on the ballot in nine other states, making 2024 a record year for abortion ballot initiatives. In Maryland, the ballot measure is proposed as an amendment to the state constitution. To be put on the ballot, the measure must receive a 60 percent majority in both the Maryland State Senate and House. To be added to the state constitution, the measure must be approved by a majority of Maryland voters.

When asked what he would say to anyone considering not voting this election cycle, Hanmer was clear. “Voting is one of our fundamental rights,” he said. “It’s really crucial to let your voice be heard. [Voters are the ones] who the politicians are going to pay attention to.”

Election Day

Return ballot by mail (postmarked by Nov 5), return ballot in person, or vote in-person.

Rita Montoya

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Local businesses respond to rise in shoplifting

By LUCY HOLLAND and SAHANA PARIKH

Where only first names appear, names have been changed to protect the identities of the sources.

Shelves are empty, items are all locked up, and purchasing items in stores is becoming increasingly difficult. This can be accredited to the sharp increase of shoplifting locally and across the country. In response, stores in Four Corners and Downtown Silver Spring are tightening security measures and instituting more security technology.

In Montgomery County, the surge is noticeable. “Countywide, we’re up 13 percent [for shoplifting],” Lieutenant Alfred Dzenkowski, a deputy commander at the District Three station in Silver Spring, said.

This uptick in shoplifting has been financially harmful to businesses. “I would say [we lose] about … five to six thousand dollars every three months [due to shoplifting],” Four Corners 7-Eleven Owner Ash Brar said. The Downtown Silver Spring CVS also loses a lot of money because of their location. “[We lose] a lot—this store, specifically,” store manager Gora Seck said.

Financial hardship caused by inflation is a common motivator for stealing. According to CBS News, “Of those who admitted to recent retail theft, roughly 90 percent of them said they did so because of inflation and the current economy.”

But for middle and high schoolers, shoplifting often stems from peer pressure. “I think at first, peo-

ple start to shoplift because people around you are doing it, but then, it just turns into a habit of your own,” Blair junior Jean, who has previously shoplifted, said.

Other times, people will try to profit off of resold items stolen from stores. “People come to steal these. When I was in the other store, [people would steal] detergent, paper towels, and go resell it,” Seck said.

Consequently, stores are responding with tightened security measures. The Downtown Silver Spring CVS, along with most other CVS’ in the area, has most of its shelves in the cosmetics and personal care sections locked. To access these items, customers must press a button which calls an employee to the aisle to unlock it. Seck explains that this extra step makes his job a lot more complex. “It’s hard … [there are] two of us; you have to put [merchandise] on the shelf [and] go open [shelves] for customers. So it’s gonna give us … more work,” Seck said.

We used to get hit every day, but now since we started confronting them, I think it has gone down.

Aside from locked shelves, security cameras are another commonly used tactic for reducing shoplifting. At 7-Eleven, Brar has contracted

24/7 security guards in India who constantly watch the store’s cameras and report any instances of shoplifting. “They’ll send us a video right away and we confront people right on the spot,” Brar said. “We used to get hit every day, but now since we started confronting them, I think it has gone down.”

Similarly, the retail chain Michaels has managed theft rates with the assistance of surveillance technology. Metal detectors and monitors are some of these visible anti-shoplifting technologies. “[Shoplifting has] gotten better just because … we’re more vigilant. But yeah, it’s pretty bad,” Felipe Rivas, manager of the Silver Spring Michaels, said.

Police involvement is decided on a store-to-store basis. The police team stationed in Downtown

Silver Spring helps stores manage shoplifters and catch them in the act. “[The police] run non-stop dealing with shoplifters. [Store owners] have very good relationships with the law [enforcement] officers,” Dzenkowski said. “They know the repeat offenders and recognize them on site walking down the street.”

Each time a CVS customer shoplifts, employees immediately call the police. “I always call the cops, but sometimes before they get here, [the shoplifters are] already gone,” Seck said.

Other times, police are able to catch shoplifters in time and impose consequences. Jean explained how they and their friends tried stealing clothes from H&M and were caught by police. “The police actually came because they

had recognized us, and they were watching us, and then they took pictures of us … they called our parents, and then, actually, one of them gave me a court date,” Jean said.

However, some of the preventative measures are also harmful to paying customers. The side doors of the CVS are completely blocked off to discourage shoplifting. The only remaining entrance requires customers to climb stairs, which limits store accessibility. “I originally tried to come in here with a stroller, [but] the entrance is not accessible. They have an accessible entrance, but it’s been blocked off,” Esther French, a Downtown Silver Spring CVS customer, said. “That was a big inconvenience, because then I had to go leave my stroller with my husband and come back.”

At the Four Corners CVS, Blair junior Chloe Rodriguez was once indecisive while making a purchase and was forced to exit by a CVS employee. “He ended up not letting me check out,” Rodriguez said. “And it was just so humiliating.”

For now, stores will continue trying to prevent shoplifting as best they can to ultimately help their paying customers and their business. Seck explained that if measures are not taken to hinder shoplifting, regular paying customers will not be able to access items they are looking for. “We’re gonna keep locking stuff because they’re stealing everything,” Seck said. “If you don’t lock it, customers [are] not going to find the items they need, so we have to do that to keep our customers getting [the] items they need.”

PHOTO BY MAZ OLSON

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES Popular products are locked up to discourage shoplifting.

October 16, 2024

‘Bursting at

the seams’ Blair’s

overpopulation leads to student and staff discontent

By CARMELLA BEACH AN OPINION

Navigating Blair’s hallways can only be comparable to a young duckling being swept up by a stampede of lions. Whether it feels like you’re Katniss Everdeen sprinting towards the cornucopia for a weapon (the lunch line), or feeling like you are going to contract a new branch of covid sardined next to five people, in your two-seater bus seat; the overcrowding of Blair negatively impacts student and staff productivity alike.

As the most populated school in Maryland with over 3,513 students, Blair heavily exceeds its original capacity of 2,866. “We’re overwhelmed,” Kirk Simms, a counselor at Blair responsible for almost three hundred students, said. “It’s difficult to make schedule changes because all the classes are full, we’re bursting at the seams.”

We are lucky, we are blessed … that we haven’t had anything major go wrong.

Given Blair’s vast student body, it is easy for many students to go unnoticed and miss out on resources. “In such big classes, not every student is getting the support they need,” Blair senior Arianna Banks said.

AP Statistics teacher Tino Pham expressed similar sentiments. With 34 students per period, most of his classes are at capacity. “I try to do my best to make sure that all students are being addressed, but it’s just easier to make a connection when the class sizes are much smaller,” Pham said. Being able to talk with his students, both about math and their lives, is important to him.

user—or if you have any limitations—[is difficult].”

BURNELL

In order to compensate for the crowding inside, Blair has built 19 portables, which are temporary outdoor classrooms. Technically, the portables can hold almost 650 students, reducing the amount of students in the building at one time. However, this cannot be a long-term solution. Social studies and English teacher Laura Contreras enjoys teaching in a portable classroom; however, they recognize that portables are not rational in the long term, as they are far from the school building and often inaccessible. “Students [are] late to class because they just couldn’t get through the hallway to my class,” Contreras said. “[Additionally], to get to a portable as a wheelchair

Emily Callaghan, the only social worker at Blair, provides mental health services to students. She expresses that while she loves her job and the students, overcrowding at Blair means many get left behind. “It’s just hard when a student’s really struggling and they’re just waiting to have someone to see them,” Callaghan said. “I feel bad that I can’t get to those students as fast as they probably need the help and support.” She explains that since COVID-19, mental health support for students has only become more urgently needed. With the high demand for support, along with the disproportionate ratio between staff resources and students, MCPS must figure out a way to provide aid to those in need.

A lack of attentiveness regarding overall building maintenance has been exacerbated by overcrowding. MCPS gives each school the same amount of security and building services, regardless of size. Contreras believes that with so many more students than staff and resources, issues often slip through the cracks. “There are other building malfunctions … that really lead to a lack of safety for students,” they said. Contreras relayed stories from the beginning of the school year, of problems with the HVAC system, where they had to move

to put fifteen portables in [other schools’] parking lots and tell them they have to consistently keep tak

Central Office must work to resolve disconnect

By ERIC YANG AN OPINION

As a student walks into school in the dark, early, midwinter morning, cold frosty wind scrapes their face. Then, entering their first class, a front of hot humid air greets them, challenging their concentration on the teacher’s lesson. Later in the year, another student enjoys lunch with their friends outside under the shining sun. At the sound of the bell, the student enters their sixth period, where their arms and legs suddenly begin to shiver in the arctic-like air. The solution to both scenarios seems simple: turning down the heat or air conditioning. However, MCPS Central Office controls heating and cooling, leaving schools unable to control it individually. “[Students are] trying to find a way to warm up [or cool down] and [do] not focus on class,” Whitman junior Rodrigo Bravo said. Because of this and similar situations, stemming from general disconnectedness, students’ learning ability is stunted.

Additionally, from 2008 to 2013, MCPS invested significant money and resources into 4,600 Promethean systems, only to replace the still-working systems with Boxlights. With evidence like this, students believe MCPS does not always spend money in a way

that benefits students and teachers. “I think there’s an unfortunate amount of influence from money … the decisions they’re making are not necessarily the best possible decisions,” Blair senior Adam Bregman said.

History teacher Marcel Jones believes MCPS decision makers need to make a greater effort to communicate with the people they are supposed to serve: students and teachers. “[Students’ and teachers’ roles] should … be astronomical,” Jones said. “Nobody understands what’s needed in a school on a yearly basis, on [an] everyday basis like teachers and students.”

A big portion of what MCPS is looking to do this year is to [do] better on

this communication.

MCPS provides options for students and teachers to reach out to decision makers to have their voices heard. “[Students and teachers] can always write letters to the board. They can always come and speak at a board meeting,” MCPS Supervisor of Policy and Regula-

tions Sally Davis said.

However, these methods take time and energy out of packed schedules, placing even more responsibilities on already overworked students and teachers. “It’s not always obvious here on the front lines as a teacher how we can get involved or what initiatives they’re working on, unless we reach out and, frankly, my everyday job is pretty all-consuming,” Jones said. For students, broadcasting one’s voice can also be challenging, especially for those who have never done so before. “A lot of the kids don’t really feel that they can go to the Board of Education to state what’s wrong or what they want. I don’t feel like they’re comfortable enough with that for that to happen,” Blair sophomore Imani Mwamba said.

MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor believes that student voices are critical in decision making. He advocates for student access, bringing a hopeful look to future connection. “In any partnership, it should be a two-way street. So it would be crazy for me to expect students to just reach out to administration and to make their opinions known,” Taylor said. “It’s also the responsibility of administration to reach out to students on a regular basis, so making regular connections, going to schools, seeing

Simms said that the cause of overcrowding at Blair is the unbalanced zoning across the Downcounty Consortium (DCC). The DCC includes five high schools: Northwood with 1,796 students; Kennedy with 1,827; Einstein with 2,012; Wheaton with 2,599; and Blair with 3,513. While other DCC schools are also over capacity, no school’s student population comes close to Blair’s. “I just think it’s unfair that the counselors and the staff here have to deal with the larger population as opposed to the other [DCC] schools … that don’t have to work as hard because they don’t have as many students.

experiencing, and listening to what they have to say first-hand makes a huge difference.”

While MCPS has reached out for student input in a few ways, including surveys near the end of the year, these methods are largely limited in use. “What I tend to notice is people just kind of quickly fill [the end of school surveys] out and don’t really put their opinions,” Blair junior Joy Thomas said.

MCPS Director for Student Leadership and Extracurricular Activities Shella Cherry explained that the BOE considers survey data, comments, and testimonies. “It is our responsibility as Montgomery County Public Schools to pull every single submission provided and to provide it to the members of the Board of Education,” Cherry said.

Still, students feel they are overlooked. “I don’t think that the Board of Education is connected

With a new superintendent and a recent exposure of cover-up culture in former Superintendent Monifa McKnight’s scandal, MCPS is emphasizing a shift to a communication-centered system this year. “A big portion of what MCPS is looking to do this year is to [do] better on this communication,” Student Member of the Board Praneel Suvarna said. “It’s really about creating a culture where people feel they can speak up.”

Hopefully, MCPS will follow through with these promises, making a bigger effort to be present in schools and listening to student and teacher voices to improve the education experience. “It’s extremely important to have first-hand knowledge of the everyday comings and goings at schools; being able to see issues and see the student body firsthand gives you a different perspective,” Bregman said.

MICHAEL

A SEA OF PEOPLE Blair students navigate a crowded hallway between classes.

LUCIA WANG

PRANEEL SUVARNA

PHOTO BY IAN GLEASON

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Carina Nicodemus

Auden Seigel

DESIGN EDITORS

Naomi Andelman

Eloise Carter

Keelin Pegg

NEWS EDITORS

Rabira Dosho

Max Erlebacher

OPINIONS EDITORS

Evelyn Goldin

Doris Wang

FEATURES EDITORS

Laila Andelman

Chloe Pegg

CULTURE EDITORS

Greta Andelman

Tharaa Izuagie

SPORTS EDITORS

Abigail Greenberg

Norah Wilson

OMBUDSMAN

Ethan De Brauw

COLUMNIST

Emily Kretschmer

SENIOR WRITERS

Jay Clouse

Zachary Karp

Diego Santoro-Velez

STAFF WRITERS

Adanna Akamigbo

Senaya Asfaw

Carmella Beach

Ainslie Curran-Ng’asi

Rae Foster

Lila Grosko

Lucy Holland

Satchel Jelen

Mackenzie Lyons

Tomas Monticelli

Neha Narayan

Sahana Parikh

Casey Pendergast

Priya Tapia-Pereira

Justin Rosentover

Kiya Tiruneh

Clare Walsh

Ruth Wajda-Gotwals

Yongle Xin

Eric Yang

Jessica Zhang

BUSINESS DIRECTORS

Rowan Boyce

Edith Yang

BUSINESS STAFF

Ava Falcone

Sophia Li

Eva Schwartz

ART EDITORS

Allison Lin

Lucia Wang

ARTISTS

Eva Dammann

Luca Esser

Rosalyn Fang

Jessica Hsieh

Josephine Brunn Lake

Charlotte Li

Allison Lin

Kate McDonough

Victoria Angeli M. Regachuelo

Lucia Wang

Jason Yu

PHOTO EDITOR

Ian Gleason

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Jonathan Peter Belling

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Raffi Diamond-Berman

Kaylee Hopkins

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Maz Olson

SCPSPORTS EDITOR

Diego Santoro-Velez

MEDIA EDITORS

Eloise Carter

Keelin Pegg

PUZZLE EDITORS

Ethan De Brauw

Jonah Chopra Khan

OUTREACH COORDINATORS

Evelyn Goldin

Chloe Pegg

Doris Wang

COPY EDITORS

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ADVISER

Jeremy Stelzner

HEADER ART

Lucia Wang

Early Decision: colleges profit, students lose

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

With college application deadlines fast approaching, high school seniors across the country have been bombarded with an array of fees: $80 to submit an application, additional charges for ordering transcripts, and even more for sending test scores. The truth is, most students started spending on college long before the fall of their senior year. From AP exams to extracurricular costs to college tutors, families are desperate to craft the perfect application. As wallets empty, stress builds. Add in the personal statement, supplemental essays, endless reflection questions, and more, and more, and more. Applying to college is a miserable and anxiety-inducing experience— but don’t worry, colleges have just the thing to alleviate all the pressure. ‘Apply Early Decision,’ they say. ‘Early Decision makes your life easier and takes the stress out of the process,’ they say. They lie. The Early Decision application is not the silver bullet that colleges make it out to be.

Early Decision (ED) is a binding contract in which a student must agree to attend a university if they are admitted before receiving any information about potential merit- or need-based aid. Other application plans such as Early Action (EA) and Regular Decision (RD) are non-binding, but less advantageous. Not only do ED applicants have a higher chance of acceptance, but the results are also released well before Regular Decision (RD),

which colleges claim lowers stress levels. Unfortunately, like Ponzi schemes and any financial opportunity that seems too good to be true, the purported benefits of ED are all smoke and mirrors, trapping hopeful applicants into an exploitative system.

Sure, applying ED raises chances of admissions; at Cornell, the RD acceptance rate for the class of 2028 was five percent, while ED was 19 percent; at Barnard, RD was six percent, while ED was 29 percent; at Tulane, RD was three percent, while ED was a whopping 68 percent. But while these numbers make ED enticing, the process is only feasible for the families who know they can afford it. Others literally cannot afford the risk of a binding financial commitment. Colleges disguise ED as an opportunity for students to gain leverage over the application pool, but like legacy admissions and alumni do-

nations, it is only meant to profit off of the wealthiest applicants and leave the rest behind. Consequently, low-income students are much less likely to apply to ED. In 2022, 60 percent of students in the U.S. that applied ED came from the wealthiest 20 percent of ZIP codes. Only five percent came from the bottom 20 percent of ZIP codes. Of course, colleges do not care. Offering students the option of a binding commitment in the form of ED gives institutions greater marketability by increasing yield rates—or the percentage of admitted students who enroll—to make their school look more desirable. Like the removal of affirmative action and the offering of application fee waivers and targeted scholarships, ED is made to seem like a beneficial method to make higher education more accessible for all students. But institutions actually use ED to trap

MCPS owes its teachers

Educators deserve freedom of speech too

By ETHAN DE BRAUW Ombudsman AN OPINION

After the Oct. 7 attack, and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza, people from all over the world took to social media to voice their support for Israel and Palestine, including MCPS students and teachers. In Dec. 2023, four MCPS teachers were placed on administrative leave for alleged anti-semitic comments and then subsequently reinstated and reassigned after an investigation.

Middle school teachers Anike Robinson and Angela Wolf were placed on administrative leave by MCPS for anti-Israeli social media posts; teacher Hajur El-Haggan was placed on administrative leave for

using the work email tagline, “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free;” and Sabrina Khan-Williams was placed on administrative leave for promoting conspiracies that the Israeli government was harvesting Palestinian organs.

Blair English teacher Peter Lynch responded to MCPS’s actions in Silver Chips’ June 2024 issue. Lynch argued that MCPS’s suspensions were “violations of teacher First Amendment rights” and that “fear of repercussions for protected speech won’t help students.”

distinction must be made between a teacher’s actions as an employee of MCPS and as an individual. The Supreme Court agrees; in the case Pickering vs. Board of Education (1968), the court established that “the interest of the school administration in limiting teachers’ opportunities to contribute to public debate is not significantly greater than its interest in limiting a similar contribution by any member of the general public.”

students in a way that favors the wealthy while shutting out those who cannot afford to gamble on their future, inflating their admittance statistics while perpetuating inequality.

It is important to note that besides the three main admission plans—ED, EA, and RD—a fourth exists: Restrictive Early Action (REA). Similar to ED, students may only apply REA to one school. Generally, REA prohibits students from applying ED elsewhere and limits them from applying EA to private universities, although they can still apply EA to public universities. The important distinction is that REA is non-binding. REA allows students to demonstrate their commitment to a certain college without trapping them financially. In fact, some REA policies allow students to apply EA at private universities that only offer merit-based aid through EA. Out of the U.S. News & World Report top 10 best national universities, five employ REA. Colleges should do the right thing and eliminate ED. Such an action would not eliminate privilege, but it would eliminate extra obstacles set for students.

Given this context, MCPS’s actions seem exaggerated and unwarranted. Robinson, Wolf, and El-Haggan should not have been placed on leave. Editorial Cartoon

America’s higher education institutions have shown that they do not have students’ best interests in mind. Time and time again they have shown favor for profit over academic accessibility. It is glaringly obvious that systemic change is needed. Schools must be pressured to move away from ED and toward fairer processes like REA so that everyone—regardless of financial status—has the opportunity to succeed.

and caution that El-Haggan filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint on Dec. 6, 2023, alleging she “was the victim of a bias attack that took place on school grounds as a result of her expression.”

Jonah Chopra-Khan

Jason Yu 2024 NSPA Pacemaker

To contact Ethan email

While protecting the classroom environment is important, a teacher’s freedom of speech as an individual takes precedence.

On B4 of this issue, Blair Social Studies teacher Marc Grossman responds to Lynch’s claims. Grossman agrees with Lynch’s opinion that teachers are entitled to First Amendment rights but only until it “impede[s] their ability to create a safe, welcoming, and productive environment for all students that models respect for differing perspectives.”

While protecting the classroom environment is important, a teacher’s freedom of speech as an individual takes precedence. A

MCPS follows the guidelines laid out by the Supreme Court in their contract with MCEA; as in Article 12, Personal and Academic Freedoms, they say, “The personal life of a unit member shall be the concern of, and warrant the attention of, the Board only as it may directly prevent the unit member from properly performing their assigned functions during duty hours; or violate applicable laws; or be prejudicial to their effectiveness in their teaching position.”

Given this context, MCPS’s actions seem exaggerated and unwarranted. Robinson, Wolf, and El-Haggan should not have been placed on leave. Their actions did not “prevent [them] from properly performing their assigned functions during duty hours,” nor were they “prejudicial to their effectiveness in their teaching position.” They did not violate their contract. Perhaps the previous administration was too distracted with their scandal regarding their handling of Joel Beidelman’s alleged sexual harassment to have taken the appropriate care in handling this matter. Their actions were so bereft of attention

So, what can MCPS and the new superintendent, Dr. Thomas Taylor, learn from the previous administration’s mistakes? MCPS needs to be more considerate of teachers’ worldviews and offer more leniency for teachers to speak their minds outside of the classroom when it comes to sensitive topics like tensions in the middle east and political conflict here at home. Once teachers leave their classroom they are entitled to the same First Amendment rights that every American is entitled to, and MCPS should be held legally accountable if they do not respect that fact. Furthermore, if the heads of our school district continue to violate the First Amendment rights of teachers, what sort of example are they setting for their students?

Should social media companies be held accountable for criminal activity on their platforms?

Yes

“Social Media platforms’ negligence leads to countless people being harmed.

By KIYA TIRUNEH AN OPINION

27.6 million people are trafficked globally, 27 percent of whom are children. In the United States alone, 40 percent of human trafficking victim recruitment takes place online. Virtual sex trafficking rings remain highly secretive due to constant suppression efforts. All messaging and social media platforms have terms of service, privacy agreements, or codes of conduct aimed at prioritizing user rights. However, how can a company truly protect its users when its platform has become a breeding ground for crime?

On Aug. 25, Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, was arrested in Paris after the platform was implicated in facilitating crimes including drug trafficking and distribution of child sexual abuse images, according to Reuters. Telegram is one of the largest messaging platforms worldwide and has hundreds of millions of users.

“Telegram is spreading like a forest fire. Two-and-a-half million users sign up every day,” Durov said in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson. With a quickly spreading fire, people are bound to get burned.

Like many other social media and messaging platforms, Telegram implements a privacy policy and other long-winded agreements to ensure the privacy of its users. However, what sets Telegram apart is its reputation for encryption and secure messaging. According to Forbes, “Telegram is among the most secure instant messaging apps in the world.” Features particularly unique to this platform include chat rooms or channels that can house an unlimited number of users and “secret chats” that offer end-to-end encryption. This allows users to send messages without anyone, besides the people in correspondence, seeing what is sent. This includes the developers behind Telegram, meaning even they have no access to what is shared. While these features support mass communication and user privacy, they also allow malicious activity to go unnoticed. Criminals and traffickers take advantage of this privacy and transgress the law completely under the radar. “Telegram has become a global sewer of criminal activity, disinformation, child sexual abuse material, terrorism and racist incitement,” The New York Times wrote. A notorious example is the ‘Nth Rooms,’ a Telegram channel that consisted of defamatory and sexually explicit images of thousands of women in Korea. These pictures were uploaded not by the channel itself, but by the thousands of members within them. Thousands of women were exploited, few men were punished, and Telegram slipped

by without a scratch.

Such crimes are not limited to Telegram, but are dispersed across a diaspora of online networks including Facebook and Snapchat. Due to a focus on confidentiality, countless people are endangered. This endangerment is preventable. With the correct measures taken, these platforms can continue to prioritize the privacy and confidentiality of their users without putting the safety of others at risk.

Cybersecurity and chat room surveillance are crucial to curbing such crimes. Although the protection of user privacy should not be ignored, there should be safeguards—such as buzzword flaggers—implemented to prevent criminal activity.

No

Punishing social media companies for the illegal actions of their users is reckless and unreasonable.

By JUSTIN ROSENTOVER AN OPINION

Imagine that you are the owner of a nightclub, and just before midnight, a man breaks in and opens fire on your customers. Fear and panic ensue, and tragically, three people are killed before the shooter is subdued. In such a scenario, it would be absurd to convict you of murder simply because the crime took place in your establishment. Being present and responsible for the place where a crime occurs is not analogous to committing it. The same is true in the modern entertainment hubs: social media. While these platforms have an obligation to report and respond to criminal activity that occurs on their services, holding them responsible for the actions of their users is completely unreasonable.

Vickie Hallisey, who has taught the cybersecurity course at Blair for seven years, emphasizes the urge for investment in cybersecurity measures to prevent internet crime because now more than ever, criminals have quick and easy access to their victims. “These very ‘bad actors’ are using these platforms to reach more of their victims than ever before. It’s cheaper, it’s easier for them … all it takes is an internet connection and phishing,” Hallisey said.

Teens are commonly the subject of online crime. “Teenagers are susceptible to deceptive ploys in the search for acceptance, attention, or friendship and are often ‘courted’ by traffickers on social media platforms,” the United Nations wrote in an article about child and youth safety. This includes teens at Blair, teens in the county, and teens in the state. To protect them, regulated systems within social media platforms are a necessity. If communicative platforms fail to incorporate those systems appropriately, they should be held accountable.

Indeed, social media companies should be punished if they fail to respond to reports and take down serious illicit content such as child abuse material. But that is different than punishing social media companies for the existence of such content in the first place, or for failing to take down every minor infraction. In the U.S., Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 protects social media companies from being sued over content posted to their platform.

The people who everyone agrees should be punished, the criminals, are hard to prosecute, but getting their content removed is much simpler. “The law right now … [is] not so good at catching people and putting them in jail for things … but it can be pretty effective about taking [content] down,” Mary Anne Franks, a law professor at George Washington University, said. “It’s pretty easy to get [illegal internet materials] taken down because all social media platforms and internet services have obliga-

tions to report it if they detect it.”

However, there are different rules in Europe. “What we’re now seeing in this more aggressive approach that Europe is taking, is they’re now saying … ‘We’re going to start holding you accountable for what you haven’t done in terms of preserving safety,’” Franks said.

In Europe, the focus has shifted towards holding companies accountable for their users’ activities so that they are incentivized to remove the content quickly. While that may seem practical, it also leads platforms to stop controversial activity. “[Companies] would definitely stop a lot more crimes. They would also definitely stop anyone planning a protest, they would stop the #MeToo movement, they would stop anything [that] users are doing that looks like it could create legal trouble,” Daphne Keller, director of Program on Platform Regulation at the Cyber Policy Center at Stanford University, said. Such action against free speech and political movements is antithetical to the American system of government. That danger is far too real and too important to be ignored—the current system in which social media companies have immunities for certain crimes is more reasonable. “Things like fentanyl sales, or material support of terrorism or child abuse content, they don’t have any special immunities for those. The exact same laws apply to platforms as to anyone else,” Keller said.

In addition, requiring social media companies to weed through the vast amounts of content published on their platform is a tremendous task. “Nobody’s manually reviewing stuff … I could log on right now and post something illegal … and suddenly absent [Section 230, startups would] be liable and have to spend half a million dollars in court fighting it,” Kate Tummarello, executive director of Engine, a non-profit that helps small technology startups, said.

Opening up social media companies to litigation is also a step in the direction of infringing on privacy, Rebeakah Brown, a senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, which focuses on communication technologies and human rights, explained. “Anytime a government is trying to interfere with what we call end-to-end encrypted communications, even if they say it is for a noble cause, it does open the door for government who doesn’t have a noble cause in mind,” she said. This is symptomatic of any attempt to crack down on internet activity by going after the companies that facilitate it; the nightclub’s owners and customers are punished instead of the criminals.

“[Companies] shouldn’t be held accountable because they ... cannot control everything that everyone posts.”

“If they don’t take it down... they should be held accountable.”

CASSY

“I think that there should be a flagging system in place. So as soon as it comes up, it’ll be taken down.”

LUCIA WANG

PHOTO BY KENEAN BIZUWORK

PHOTO BY MICAHYAS YOSEFE GESSESSE

The responsibility teachers carry

By MARC GROSSMAN Guest Writer AN OPINION

In the June 7th, 2024 edition of Silver Chips, Peter Lynch, a well respected English teacher and friend, argued that MCPS’s decision to place teachers on administrative leave for sharing their passionate and legitimate concern for the fate of Palestinians in Gaza through a provocative speech, represented a threat to the first amendment rights of all MCPS teachers.

Mr. Lynch specifically referenced one teacher who included the phrase “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free” in her email tagline and two others who put out provocative statements on their public Facebook accounts accusing Israel of committing genocide and deliberately killing babies.

Omitted from the list of teachers put on leave was the middle school DEI coordinator, who was the first to be put on leave for claiming that Oct. 7 was a hoax and Israelis were responsible for selling Palestinian

organs. Also omitted was the high school social studies teacher put on leave for writing a letter to his school’s paper in defense of Israel’s actions, as well as 17 additional teachers placed on administrative leave for alleged workplace bullying. All which were ruled to be unsubstantiated with the exception of one, according to a WTOP article by Kate Ryan published on June 20. The 22 cases represented above fall within the purview of the first amendment in some way or another.

Mr. Lynch quoted William Butler Yeats- “education is not the filling of the pail but the lighting of a fire in rationalizing the provocative speech put forth by teachers.”

It’s worth noting that Yeats also said, “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

Mr. Lynch and I both agree that public school teachers have first amendment rights, but the matter remains—at what point does a teacher’s right to express themselves impede their ability to create

a safe, welcoming, and productive environment for all students that models respect for differing perspectives? Over and over again, the Supreme Court has established that First Amendment rights in school stop when the “protected” speech causes “substantial disruption” to the learning environment.

Entering a public school classroom is an honor that allows teachers significant freedom and power and with that honor comes serious responsibility to ensure that all students know that their teachers have their best interest at heart. Engaging in fiery political rhetoric and “truth-telling” in the name of morality in the classroom or in other public forums risks threatening an environment where all students who speak from a place of sincerity and in the spirit of kindness should be heard. Teachers can express strong political opinions in the classroom and in other public forums, but such gestures require attention to word selection, tone, and audience if the goal is to ensure a classroom in which all students

A long term investment MCPS must require financial literacy

By SENAYA ASFAW and MACKENZIE LYONS AN OPINION

High school students are expected to memorize the unit circle and take a year of health, but are left in the dark when it comes to essential money-making and saving habits. MCPS students lack important knowledge regarding personal finances, which only creates more issues for them in the future.

Currently, 17 high schools in MCPS offer a personal finance elective, with MCPS planning to offer personal finance classes at all schools by 2025. The personal finance elective is a course dedicat ed to preparing students for their future by providing them with the financial knowledge necessary to advance. However, most students lack this knowledge by graduation because the elective is not required.

As young adults begin navigat ing potential life paths after high school—whether it is college or the workforce—one constant remains: the need for financial skills. A ba sic understanding of budgeting, saving, paying taxes, and managing unavoidable expenses is critical to success.

I took [the financial literacy portion of AP Government], and then immediately that summer, I opened my first bank account, and I got my first job.

Because students are not re quired to take a financial literacy class to graduate, far fewer students take a course that would teach them about these valuable life skills. De spite the small portion of students taking a personal finance class, there is still a need for schoolwide

financial education, Blair junior Teagan Ferguson emphasized. “I think a financial literacy course would be really important for students to take at some point in high school,” Ferguson said. “I think I would benefit from it, and it is important stuff to know for adult life.”

However, the majority of students would much rather fill the credits they need in order to graduate, rather than adding on a personal finance elective.

I think a financial literacy course would be really important for students to take at some point in high school.

tion requirement. Instead of financial literacy courses becoming required, MCPS added mandatory units into the curriculums of all U.S. Government and Politics classes in the county. These units briefly discuss topics that are included, and expanded upon, in a financial literacy course. Peter Cirincione, who teaches U.S. Government and Politics at Blair, stated that these units do not provide students with ade-

know that their best interests come first and foremost.

Exposure to differing viewpoints in an environment where civility reigns creates some of the most effective learning opportunities, but when those viewpoints are by design meant to inflame, troll, defame, or insult the space for open dialogue withers as does students’ willingness to carefully listen to viewpoints different from their own.

Did MCPS impede the free speech of the teachers during the 2023-2024 school year? Yes, they did. Could they have been more nuanced in addressing the speech found to be harmful to the school environment? Yes, they could have. Were those actions taken with the intent of maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for all students in MCPS and upholding the employee code of conduct? I think they were.

Ask yourself: would you feel comfortable in a classroom where your teacher was zealously advocating a policy or perspective you disagree with and offering no room for that perspective to be challenged? Teachers and schools have the power to create an environment where the tyranny of the majority rules, but must resist what Mr. Lynch is understandably concerned about, the preservation of free speech.

as other electives that are offered. Cirincione described the difficult thought process behind the issue. “The big question is about the opportunity cost—what students would miss out on by taking another course,” Cirincione said.

Right now, financial literacy isn’t the primary focus in [Government] teachers’ preparations, and because [the units come] at the end of the year, it can get less attention from both teachers and students.

extensive as money management cannot be fully covered in just one month.

Although the goal of the units is not necessarily to teach students everything they need to know about personal finance, some students feel that they didn’t learn enough during these short units. “Yes, there were things on there that I

PHOTO BY RAFFI DIAMOND-BERMAN

ZADIE BROWN

TEAGAN FERGUSON

PETER CIRINCIONE

CHARLOTTELI

De juguetes a espadas

El viaje a los Juegos Olímpicos de

esgrimista Hadley

Husisian

Por KYARA ROMERO LIRA y JASON YOUM

Para cientos de millones de adolescentes alrededor del mundo, los Juegos Olímpicos son nada más que un espectáculo, un evento deportivo lleno de emoción cada cuatro años. Sin embargo, para millones de atletas jóvenes más, las Olimpiadas son la última meta de sus jóvenes carreras, pero para la abrumadora mayoría de ellos, es nada más que un sueño. La esgrimista estadounidense Hadley Husisian ha luchado contra todos los desafíos para competir en los 2024 Olímpicos en París y hacer su sueño realidad.

Su heróica aventura empezó cuando tenía diez años, con un golpe de suerte. La familia Husisian no se conoce como una familia atlética, pero los padres de Hadley aconsejaron que ella jugara un deporte. Sorprendemente, su primera opción era el tiro al arco, porque participó en un juego de carnaval cuando era niña y su puntería fue bastante buena. Sin embargo, todos los programas de tiro al arco en la área DMV estaban llenos, así que Husisian tuvo que buscar otro deporte. Su inspiración para perseguir la esgrima se originó de cuando ella era una niña y, “veía el show de Nickelodeon, iCarly… Recuerdo que vi [un episodio] con esgrimistas con mi hermano en la tele de casa. Y no sabía mucho sobre el deporte, pero se quedó en el fondo de mi mente hasta unos años después”. Es increíble pensar que si Husisian no hubiera visto este episodio aleatorio de un programa para niños, ella probablemente nunca habría practicado esgrima ni competido en las Olimpiadas.

Husisian empezó las lecciones de esgrima con entusiasmo, entrenando varios días cada semana con el DC Fencers Club. Este

Club es el grupo organizado de esgrimistas más grande de toda la región del DMV, con personas de “todos los niveles, todas las edades… Hay niños desde los seis o siete años hasta esgrimistas mayores [que] tienen más de ochenta años”, según Byron Neslund, un entrenador de esgrima que ha trabajado a tiempo completo con el Club durante los últimos diez años.

Husisian cree que la atmósfera receptiva del Club y de sus padres motivó su ilusión por el deporte. “Me encantó de inmediato. Era absolutamente horrible en eso [al principio]... Iba a las competiciones y quedaba último, pero seguía trabajando en ello”. Finalmente, con su práctica consistente y mucho trabajo, Husisian “vio un gran salto en los resultados cuando volvimos de la cuarentena. Fue entonces cuando empecé a obtener resultados a nivel senior, y gané dos campeonatos mundiales juveniles”.

Me encantó de inmediato. Era absolutamente horrible en eso [al principio]... Iba a las competiciones y quedaba último, pero seguía trabajando en ello.

HADLEY HUSISIAN

Durante sus años en la escuela secundaria, Husisian tenía que equilibrar su estricto horario de entrenamiento de “unas cuatro horas de lunes a jueves y seis horas de viernes a domingo” con el resto de sus estudios. Además, ella estaba interesada en ayudar a la comunidad y organizó una colec-

ta de alimentos en la que recaudó 20.000 libras de alimentos. Reflexionando sobre su vida cotidiana, muy ocupada durante sus años en el grado once y doce, Husisian dijo que “aproveché al máximo cada momento que tuve. Entre clases o cuando estaba en el tren o en el autobús, intentaba terminar un par de frases más de mi ensayo o lo que fuera”. Añadió que, “creaba horarios con mucha anticipación con el tiempo, con lo que quiero hacer en la práctica y lo que quiero hacer fuera de la práctica, [porque] me da la tranquilidad de que tengo un plan y estoy apegado a él”.

Con su diligencia y cultura de trabajo, Husisian se encontró en los Juegos Olímpicos París 2024, pero a un alto costo. Tomó un año sabático durante su segundo año en Princeton para entrenarse para los Juegos Olímpicos, una decisión que le dio mucha ansiedad. “La idea de que tomaría un riesgo tan grande al tomarme un año libre de la escuela para dedicarme [a la esgrima]... Al principio fue bastante desalentador”, dijo Husisian. Finalmente, ella decidió comprometerse a un año de entrenamiento, y su arduo trabajo valió la pena. “Mucha gente se quejó de las viviendas, [pero] yo pensaba que estaban bien... el Comité Olímpico y Paralímpico de los EE. UU. nos dio una unidad de aire acondicionado y cubrecolchones”, dijo Husisian. Su experiencia en la Villa Olímpica estuvo llena de visitas a las salas de videojuegos, estaciones de bebida, tatuadores temporales y tiendas de libros. Además, los intercambios de broches fueron otra gran parte de la creación del sentido de comunidad en la Villa. “Se creaba un ambiente muy agradable porque tenías una excusa para acercarte a la gente e iniciar una conversación”, dijo Husisian. En las áreas comunes, ella pudo encontrar a deportistas

famosos como Simone Biles y Katie Ledecky. Husisian describió que estas experiencias fueron “de humildad”, porque no se sintió tan reconocida ni consumada como atleta comparado con los otros jugadores de los Juegos Olímpicos.

Ser olímpico es increíble. Pero cuando estoy con otros, realmente no quiero hablar de esgrima, porque quiero ser un ser humano normal y vivir feliz con mis amigos.

HADLEY HUSISIAN

Antes de su primera competencia, Husisian pasó tiempo con su oponente suiza. “Estábamos en el mismo campamento e íbamos a las salas de láser y escape y cenábamos juntas, pero también sabíamos que íbamos a batallar en esgrima la próxima semana en los Juegos Olímpicos”. Cuando estaba en la sala de descanso inmediatamente antes de la competencia, se sintió “abrumada, [con el] público fuera y las gradas subiendo hasta el techo. Pero cuando finalmente salimos a la franja [de esgrima], estábamos haciendo lo que hemos hecho un millón de veces antes y simplemente esgrimiendo”. Durante la competencia, Husisian utilizó sus fuertes métodos de esgrima. “Ella es muy paciente y es muy metódica… y la gran parte de su mejor esgrima es cuando atrae al otro esgrimista demasiado cerca o hace que el otro esgrimista se impaciente un poco”, dijo Neslund. Después de una emocionante victoria en tiempo extra, Husisian le dio un abrazo a su entrenador. Su siguiente partido fue una

EZRA LEWIS

dura derrota ante la esgrimista hongkonesa, que finalmente ganó todo el evento. “Definitivamente estaba feliz de haber llegado tan lejos... Pero fue un poco extraño porque has estado construyendo hasta este momento durante toda tu vida, y luego son 20 minutos de esgrima real y luego terminas. Así que fue una liberación emocional”. En general, Husisian considera su experiencia como algo positivo porque “tuve las dos modalidades: la esgrima súper regulada [y] las actividades muy flexibles y agradables”.

De miras al futuro, Husisian tomará un descanso de la esgrima para centrarse en sus estudios de la universidad. “Todavía no he decidido mi carrera, así que quiero explorar la historia, la política y el inglés, para declarar mi especialización en la primavera”, ella planeó. Especialmente, quiere volver al aspecto social de la universidad que perdió durante un año, incluido el “ambiente universitario y que mis amigos pasen por la calle y cenen con ellos”. Por encima de todo lo demás, algo aún más admirable que su éxito olímpico es su humildad. Siempre ha estado motivada en su carrera de esgrima, pero al mismo tiempo ha dejado tiempo para otras actividades también. Por ejemplo, Husisian admitió que le encanta leer. “Leer novelas era algo por lo que estaba agradecida en mi tiempo libre. Desde enero, he leído casi 115 libros”. Ahora que ha llegado a uno de los logros más preciados de todo el mundo, ser una deportista olímpica, Husisian quiere concentrarse en los aspectos académicos y sociales de la vida. “Ser olímpico es increíble. Pero cuando estoy con otros, realmente no quiero hablar de esgrima, porque quiero ser un ser humano normal y vivir feliz con mis amigos”.

Integrándose al EML

Las frustraciones y experiencias de los estudiantes de este programa en Blair

Por JASSARY RUIZ y NATE VIECHNICKI

Al principio de 2025, habrá un 25 porciento de estudiantes en el condado Montgomery que son nativohablantes de un lenguaje distinto al inglés, de los cuales la mayoría son hispanohablantes de origen latinoamericano. Para estudiantes multilingües de inglés emergente (EML), tener éxito en una clase regular presenta dificultades que se deben a la barrera de lenguaje, la necesidad de faltar las clases para trabajar para su familia y el aislamiento de los otros estudiantes, entre otras cosas.

La barrera de lenguaje es una razón de gran importancia, ya que muchos estudiantes en el programa del Desarrollo del idioma inglés (ELD por sus siglas en inglés) se sienten confundidos e incómodos en sus clases, particularmente las que comparten con estudiantes que prefieren hablar en inglés. La mayoría de estudiantes de EML tienen todas sus clases en inglés, aunque su nivel de inglés no sea muy alto o que sean inmigrantes recientes.

Josías Gómez es un estudiante hondureño de Blair del grado 12 y hablante nativo de español. Josías ha estado en el programa de ELD durante toda la escuela secundaria y habló de su experiencia en clases bilingües y en inglés de los últimos tres años. Dice que la asignatura más difícil fue la clase de gobierno estadounidense en inglés, porque se enseñaba en un nivel de inglés demasiado alto.

“Tenía seis clases regulares y una de [ELD]”, dijo Gómez. “La

experiencia fue bastante difícil porque en las clases regulares los maestros no sabían casi nada de español”.

Para Gómez, lo que más le hubiera ayudado en sus clases en inglés habría sido que el maestro hablara español y que le pudiera entender y además, que se hubiera entrenado para conocer las dificultades comunes para estudiantes de EML. Las clases bilingües y co-enseñadas sí existen en MCPS, pero muchos estudiantes de Blair tienen la mayoría clases completamente regulares, es decir, que la enseñanza es solo en inglés.

“Un entrenamiento para los maestros regulares ayudaría muchísimo…para que sepan las experiencias de los estudiantes y que hablen el español que necesitan los estudiantes”, dijo Gómez.

Carlos Landau es maestro de ELD de Blair y ha trabajado aquí por seis años. Enseña historia estadounidense en clases específicamente compuestas por estudiantes hispanohablantes. Él dice que los entrenamientos para apoyar a los estudiantes de EML ya existen, pero estos deberían de ser obligatorios y que sería mejor que MCPS los condujera con más frecuencia.

Según Landau, otra dificultad es la necesidad común entre estudiantes de EML de trabajar durante horas de escuela. Un gran número de inmigrantes recientes de Blair trabajan para apoyar a sus familias con el pago de alquiler, la compra de comestibles, y el cuidado de hermanos menores.

“En mi experiencia, sí, hay estudiantes que faltan a las clases para trabajar”, dijo Landau. “La escuela simplemente no es la cosa más importante para ellos. Además, hay instancias en las que los estudiantes han faltado años de escuela en su país para trabajar”.

Un entrenamiento para los maestros regulares ayudaría muchísimo…para que sepan las experiencias de los estudiantes y que hablen el español que necesitan los estudiantes.

Doona Kim es la directora de ELD de la escuela secundaria James Hubert Blake y también es un miembro de la Junta de ELD de todas las escuelas de MCPS. Ella también cree que debería de haber una formación para los profesores para ayudarles a apoyar a los estudiantes de EML. Sin embargo, comenta que no hay consenso total en cuál es la mejor manera de enseñar a los estudiantes de EML. “Si entiendes los beneficios del

Venezuela Persevera Explora brevemente la historia y cultura venezolana

Por CAMILA CHI y MARIA ESPINAL

En un mundo lleno de caos, lo que nos conecta es nuestra cultura. El tricolor de la bandera Venezolana es lo que une a una nación llena de vida. Para muchos, la cultura se carga para siempre y forma parte de su persona. A pesar de toda la inestabilidad civil en Venezuela, los venezolanos continúan representando a su país. La crisis en Venezuela no es nada sencilla y proviene de muchos años de desacuerdos en el ambiente político. Empezando en 1973, este país latinoamericano se volvió el mayor exportador de petróleo del mundo. En la actualidad, Venezuela es el país con recursos petroleros vendidos al más bajo precio; esto se debe al descuido de sus manejos económicos, guerras entre los grupos políticos y mucho más.

El 2 de febrero del 1999, Hugo Chávez llegó al poder con el partido político PSUV (Partido Socialista de Venezuela) y terminó su segundo término como presidente el 5 de marzo de 2013. Desde entonces, Venezuela ha continuado siendo gobernada por el PSUV. Su sucesor, Nicolás Maduro, continuó como el nuevo líder del país, resultando en una democracia débil. Como resultado, las necesidades básicas se volvieron inalcanzables para la mayoría de los venezolanos. Según estadísticas de BBC, 7,7 millones de venezolanos han abandonado el país en busca de mejores vidas.

Según el Dr. Juan Ortiz, un miembro de la comunidad venezolana en Maryland, dice que,

“Los venezolanos han visto una oportunidad de venir a esta área…y del último año y medio hasta ahora, se ha acumulado muchísimo venezolanos en esta zona, yo no veía tanto venezolanos como veo ahora”.

[Si] estás buscando un buen amigo, busca un venezolano, porque lo tendrás para siempre.

Venezuela es un crisol de culturas. Cada región en Venezuela tiene sus propios bailes, el más popular es el baile folklórico, el Joropo. Este baile energético, acompañado por el cuatro, maracas, y el arpa, se baila durante celebraciones o festivales..

La gastronomía venezolana tiene una extensa lista de comidas, incluyendo la arepa, hallaca, pabellón y el pulpo. Estas comidas han sido influenciadas por la cultura de inmigrantes que llegaron a Venezuela desde sus comienzos. Este país se ha convertido en un lugar con muchas influencias de muchas partes del mundo, como Europa, Asia, y el Caribe. A pesar de la distancia, los venezolanos siguen practicando su cultura en varias partes del mundo,

tal como en Silver Spring, Maryland. Esta es una área muy diversa donde reside Brenda Linda Guerrero. Actualmente es maestra para una escuela en MCPS. Su historia ha tenido muchos altibajos, pero se puede resumir con una palabra, resiliencia. A pesar de las muchas barreras que como inmigrante ha enfrentado al llegar a un país desconocido, ella continúa llevando un pedacito de Venezuela en todo lo que hace.

Keren Contreras, una estudiante de Blair, cuenta sobre la cultura de su país natal, Venezuela. Proveniente del municipio Guanarito, del estado Portuguesa, ella vivía viajando y estudiando, a pesar de que el gobierno cortó muchos recursos para la educación mientras ella vivía ahí. Sobre la situación política, Contreras cuenta que Venezuela tiene mucho más de qué hablar, por ejemplo, los biomas y la biodiversidad. Con extensas regiones montañosas, tropicales y océanos, también, es un lugar lleno de comunidades di-

programa, ponemos a [los estudiantes de EML] en un grupo, para que reciban el apoyo en el lenguaje que necesitan”, dijo Kim. “Pero algunos dicen que si los separan, nunca podrán entender el inglés real que usan sus compañeros y maestros, que le va a limitar sus habilidades en inglés”. Kim también siente que hay demasiado aislamiento entre los estudiantes de EML de los demás. Ella dice que esta es otra causa común de frustración en el departamento de ELD.

“Hay este sentimiento de que ‘estos estudiantes son míos y los de EML son tuyos’ entre profesores que enseñan en inglés”, dijo Kim. “Sin embargo, lo que yo digo es que todos son mis estudiantes, y creo que el programa de ELD sería mejor si todos los maestros pensaran así”.

Los estudiantes de EML de Blair enfrentan dificultades debido a su idioma, su trabajo y el aislamiento de otros estudiantes. Aun así, los hispanohablantes en esta escuela logran tener éxito en sus esfuerzos. Tess Hiller, la maestra de recursos de ELD de Blair, comentó que sus estudiantes siguen sobrepasando las expectativas del programa.

“La meta más importante para mi y para todo el departamento es que [los estudiantes de EML] sean felices y exitosos y con la cantidad adecuada de ‘lucha productiva’”, dijo Hiller. “Que no sientan como si los hubieran lanzado en una clase completamente confusa, pero que tengan los desafíos suficientes, pero con el apoyo que necesitan”.

versas donde incluso existe una colonia llamada Tovar con influencia alemana.

Contreras explica, “A pesar de que no se vive bien, mientras que tú tengas un buen ingreso puedes viajar a cualquier parte [de Venezuela] y eres muy libre, si tu quieres, un fin de semana puedes viajar a otra parte del país. Todo es diverso”. Con toda la distancia, el caos y la incertidumbre hay algo que se debe recordar, “[si] estás buscando un buen amigo, busca un venezolano, porque lo tendrás para siempre”, dice Brenda Linda Guerrero. ¡Y tampoco te olvides de probar una arepa calientita!

MARIA ESPINAL

MANOOYEEFEDHAA

Cuáles son los límites de una pluma y un papel

La libertad de prensa en países latinoamericanos

Por TOM SPARSHOTT y MANOOYEE FEDHAA

La libertad de prensa en Latinoamérica ha enfrentado varios desafíos, tanto en el pasado como hasta la actualidad. La influencia de gobiernos, dictaduras y carteles interfiere con la habilidad de los periodistas para escribir con libertad. La situación en muchos países latinoamericanos cambia con frecuencia debido al panorama político.

En varios países, los periodistas sufren de violencia de parte de gobiernos y grupos criminales. En México, el grupo Artículo 19, una organización internacional que lucha por los derechos humanos, ha documentado 167 asesinatos de periodistas desde el año 2.000. Creada en 2.012 por el gobierno de México, la Ley para la Protección de Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas, es un programa que intenta mantener seguridad para periodistas. Sin embargo, según una investigación por Amnistía Internacional y el Comité para la Protección de los Periodistas, no puede protegerlos suficientemente.

“En México es sumamente peligroso ser periodista,” Anne Manuel, quien trabajaba como defensora de derechos humanos en América Latina, explica, “hay decenas de personas asesinadas cada año en México solamente por hacer su trabajo como periodista.”

Algunos países, como México, han creado leyes para la protección

de periodistas, y hay países como Chile y la República Dominicana, aseguran la libertad de prensa en sus constituciones, pero eso no garantiza que los periodistas gocen de verdadera libertad. En Guatemala, los periodistas sufren de amenazas y violencia que supuestamente provienen de miembros del gobierno y grupos criminales, aunque la libertad de prensa también está incluida en la constitución del país. Según la Sra. Manuel, en algunos casos, los gobiernos también acusan a periodistas de defender a las maras, a pesar del peligro que viene de estos grupos.

Hay decenas de personas asesinadas cada año en México solamente para hacer su trabajo como periodista.

El Salvador, que ha sufrido de violencia de los carteles, el gobierno de Nayib Bukele ha implementado varios esfuerzos para deshacerse de ellos. Pero, a raíz del estado de emergencia implementado por el gobierno de Nayib Bukele, se ha creado una situación más difícil para los periodistas, quienes han sufrido de amenazas y violencia frente a las reglas del gobierno.

Un crucigrama

La situación de la libertad de prensa en El Salvador ha experimentado un deterioro significativo en los últimos años.Esto está provocando que los periodistas se autocensuran lo que escriben debido al ambiente tóxico. La falta de transparencia en temas clave, como las condiciones en las cárceles y las estadísticas del crimen, ha generado una atmósfera de represión dentro de los medios de comunicación. Además, el gobierno intenta crear un sentimiento de desconfianza de la prensa.

Según un informe de Reuters en 2022, el gobierno de Bukele tenía empleados para promover al presidente en las redes sociales. Los empleados también usaban cuentas en las redes para criticar a cualquier persona que no aceptara la política del gobierno. Además, artículos que critican al presidente han sido reportados y el gobierno intenta eliminar las cuentas de la oposición.

“El público no tiene confianza en la prensa,” dice Douglas A. Jiménez, un maestro de psicología e historia latinoamericana en Blair, sobre su país, El Salvador.

De acuerdo con Reporteros Sin Fronteras, los periodistas que critican al gobierno están siendo intimidados y atacados. Esta situación causa que los periodistas se auto silencien para protegerse, limitando el acceso del público a la información.

“Las personas, el público, el pueblo necesita una persona que

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2 Las bailarinas unen largas y coloridas que se mueven al son de la música

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vaya a chequear al gobierno porque no queremos que el gobierno haga las cosas sin que pueda ser criticado,” explicó el Sr. Jiménez.

Las personas, el público, el pueblo necesita una persona que vaya a chequear al gobierno porque no queremos que el gobierno haga las cosas sin que pueda ser criticado

La prensa debería ser un contrapeso al gobierno. Es importante que el público tenga acceso a información veraz y que los periodistas puedan criticar sin miedo. En El Salvador, el control del gobierno y las amenazas a los medios han hecho que esto sea casi imposible.

“En muchos casos, los gobiernos buscan controlar o censurar los medios de comunicación para mantener el poder, lo que limita la capacidad de los periodistas para informar de manera objetiva y libre,” decía la Sra. Chacón. Países alrededor de Latinoamérica continúan la lucha por la libertad de prensa. Aunque las situaciones políticas en esta región cambian con frecuencia, es importante que los peligros que enfrentan los periodistas cada día estén presentes en las sociedades que ya han conseguido libertad de “Como periodista, seguiré abogando por la verdad y la transparencia,” dice la Sra. Chacón, “porque cada voz cuenta y cada historia merece

a Estados Uni dos en 2.016, Raquel Chacón traba jaba en Venezuela como periodista, editora y tam bién trabajó en televisión y radio donde escribía so bre la política , la cultura, y más. Ahora trabaja en los programas de inmersión en el condado de Montgomery. El gobierno de Venezuela tiene varias restricciones contra la libertad de prensa en su país. Desde el control de Hugo Chavez, varios periódicos y canales de televisión y radio han cerrado y muchos periodistas han salido del país. De acuerdo a estadísticas del Instituto de Prensa y Sociedad Venezuela, en 2.024, había 49 casos documentados del impedimento de periodistas.

2 Las bailarinas unen largas y coloridas que se mueven al son de la música

3 Afortunadamente Voces Unidas ocurre cada año porque es un evento

4 Hay que mucho para tener un buen espectáculo

7 Después de todo el evento, todo el mundo tomará una de grupo

9 El de la Herencia Hispana se celebra del 15 de septiembre al 15 de octubre

13 Los estudiantes pueden interpretarindividualmente o en

15 ¡Recuerde traer su de estudiante!

LA ESQUINA LATINA

EDITORES-EN-JEFE

Kyara Romero Lira

Jason Youm

ESCRITORES

Camila Chi

Manooyee Fedhaa

Emmy Nicole Henriquez

Cindis Hernandez

Ezra Lewis

Jonatan Loayes

Emanuel Morales

Sheily Raymundo

17 A través de los los estudiantes se expresan y celebran sus tradiciones moviéndose al ritmo de la música

Jassary Ruiz

Tom Sparshott

18 Durante las reuniones familiares siempre corro a la cocina para ver a la gente preparando toda

la sabrosa

19 El acto se ubicará en el de Blair

Nate Viechnicki

EDITORES DE ARTE

20 Hay que agradecer a los alumnos pero también a los por hacer posible Voces Unidas

Vertical

2 Las bailarinas unen largas y coloridas que se mueven al son de la música

3 Afortunadamente Voces Unidas ocurre cada año porque es un evento

3 Afortunadamente, Voces Unidas ocurre cada año porque es un evento

4 Hay que mucho para tener un buen espectáculo

7 Después de todo el evento, todo el mundo tomará una de grupo

4 Hay que mucho para tener un buen espectáculo

9 El de la Herencia Hispana se celebra del 15 de septiembre al 15 de octubre

1 El tango, la siesta, y el ceviche son elementos de varias hispanas

5 Voces Unidas es una de la cultura latina

6 Voces Unidas crea una sensación de y disfrute compartidos

7. Después de todo el evento, todo el mundo tomará una de grupo

13 Los estudiantes pueden interpretarindividualmente o en

9 El de la Herencia Hispana se celebra del 15 de septiembre

15 ¡Recuerde traer su de estudiante!

13 Los estudiantes pueden interpretarindividualmente o en

15 ¡Recuerde traer su de estudiante!

17 A través de los los estudiantes se expresan y celebran sus tradiciones moviéndose al ritmo de la música

18 Durante las reuniones familiares, siempre corro a la cocina para ver a la gente preparando toda

la sabrosa

17 A través de los los estudiantes se expresan y celebran su ritmo de la música

19 El acto se ubicará en el de Blair

20 Hay que agradecer a los alumnos pero también a los por hacer posible Voces Unidas

18 Durante las reuniones familiares, siempre corro a la cocina para la sabrosa

19 El acto se ubicará en el de Blair

Vertical

20. Hay que agradecer a los alumnos pero también a los por hacer

1 El tango, la siesta, y el ceviche son elementos de varias hispanas

5 Voces Unidas es una de la cultura latina

Vertical

6 Voces Unidas crea una sensación de y disfrute compartidos

1. El tango, la siesta, y el ceviche son elementos de varias hispanas

5 Voces Unidas es una de la cultura latina

¡Para ver las respuestas, escanee el código QR aquí!

6 Voces Unidas crea una sensación de y disfrute compartidos

Maria Espinal

Kim Solis

ARTISTAS

Christin Enoch

Manooyee Fedhaa

Cindis Hernandez

Ezra Lewis

Angela Martinez-Gonzalez

ASESORA

Maria Eugenia Tanos

MANOOYEE FEDHAA

NOTICIAS BREVES

Compilado por CAMILA CHI, TOM SPARSHOTT, y NATE VIECHNICKI

Pupusa de 20 pies

Decenas de cocineros salvadoreños se reunieron en Washington, DC el 28 de septiembre y lograron cocinar la pupusa más grande del mundo. Esto rompería el récord anterior de 18 pies hecho en San Salvador. Se cocinó en una plancha especializada durante el festival Fiesta DC, y fue creada solamente para el uso de este reto. La parte de abajo era una plancha tradicional conectada a una fuente de gas. La parte de arriba se calentó durante muchas horas al carbón y con el sol caliente de ese día. Después de muchas horas pudieron lograr este récord. Para muchos significó mucho más que ganar un título Guinness, fue un orgullo poder levantar su bandera y representar la gastronomía de su país con personas que llegaron a este país como los fundadores de la cultura salvadoreña. Este evento marcó un avance de la cocina y la influencia salvadoreña en nuestra región, destacando en las festividades de la herencia hispana de 2024 y elevando su cultura alrededor del mundo.

La nueva mandataria de México

Un nuevo logro cumplido para las mujeres de México y alrededor del mundo. El primero de octubre de 2024, Claudia Sheinbaum fue confirmada como la nueva presidenta de México. Sheinbaum, quien fue Jefa de Gobierno de la Ciudad de México de 2018 a 2023, es la primera presidenta mujer del país. Su plataforma política parece similar a las policías de su antecesor, Andrés Manuel Lopéz Obrador. Alrededor del mundo, muchos mexicanos celebran esta victoria y sienten mucho orgullo de haber votado por la primera presidenta mexicana. Sheinbaum anunció su campaña el 12 de Junio de 2023 y enfrentó mucho antisemitismo, ya que Sheinbaum es también la primera presidenta judía de México, uno de los países con más influencia cristiana del mundo. Había mucha especulación sobre su nacionalidad e incluso el anterior presidente, Vicente Fox, se refirió a ella llamándola una “judía búlgara”. Aunque Sheinbaum no observa el judaísmo, ha dicho que se identifica con la cultura. Sheinbaum trae a la presidencia gran experiencia en el campo de las ciencias, con un doctorado en ingeniería de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Muchos mexicanos y testigos de esta victoria están ansiosos por ver cómo se va desarrollar el panorama político del país.

Salud para todos

Un nuevo paso hacia adelante para el acceso a la salud en la comunidad de Maryland ha entrado en efecto, la nueva orden gubernamental “Acceso a la salud”. La orden entró en efecto el 1 de octubre de 2024, aunque fue aprobada en abril de este año. Esta ley quitaría un requisito para la aplicación que ayuda a muchas personas de bajos recursos que necesitan apoyo económico para gastos de salud. Antes de este cambio, más de un millón de personas dentro del estado eran excluidas de los beneficios. De ahora en adelante, muchas más personas podrán solicitar beneficios de salud, como chequeos médicos, prescripciones, salud maternal, pediatría, y más. Aunque muchas organizaciones están emocionadas por estos cambios, todavía es muy temprano para saber cómo funciona y cuál será su impacto. Mientras tanto, el sitio web de “HealthCare Access Maryland” tiene información sobre cómo puedes calificar y aplicar para el programa. CASA Maryland tiene recursos adicionales sobre este tema.

Un reinado político controversial en El Salvador

El presidente Nayib Bukele divida el mundo en medidas drásticas

Por NATE VIECHNICKI

Las opiniones del recién reelecto presidente salvadoreño Nayib Bukele han estado divididas entre la diáspora estadounidense desde su inauguración este febrero. La mayoría de los salvadoreños-estadounidenses apoyan a Bukele en su lucha contra las pandillas, alabándolo por su éxito para establecer seguridad nacional. Sin embargo, existe una minoría creciente que desaprueba sus métodos, diciendo que son crueles y solo una solución temporal.

La gran mayoría de los salvadoreños-estadounidenses apoyan a Bukele, según la Prensa Asociada. El elemento más grande de su plataforma que ganó el apoyo de la gente es la reducción de la violencia.

“El cambio ha sido muy grande, y no ha sido fácil, pero [Bukele] lo ha hecho”, dijo Claudia Granados Hernández, una residente de Washington DC e inmigrante salvadoreña. Hernández ha apoyado la lucha de Bukele contra las pandillas desde su primera elección en 2019. “Mano dura, como dice”, explica.

Además de sus acciones contra las pandillas, otra razón por la que la comunidad salvadoreña apoya a Bukele es por sus políticas económicas y su inversión en el turismo. En 2019, el gasto total en el turismo aumentó un 21 porciento desde el año anterior. Menos violencia es un incentivo

para turistas de otros países. Este cambio se atribuye al decrecimiento del crimen relacionado con las pandillas.

“Hoy en día, El Salvador está más seguro que [antes de Bukele]... Llega más gente a El Salvador, llegan más turistas, que gastan más y dejan más dinero en el país que antes”, dijo el residente de Washington DC Jose Granados Góchez. Gochez ve un aumento en turismo desde su niñez en El Salvador en 1970 como resultado del desarrollo económico que trajo Bukele.

El cambio ha sido muy grande, y no ha sido fácil, pero [Bukele] lo ha hecho.

A pesar de la popularidad de Bukele, algunos salvadoreños-estadounidenses desaprueban algunos aspectos de su presidencia. A partir de enero de 2024, El Salvador ha tenido la mayor población encarcelada del mundo, según Statista, y muchos salvador-

eños-estadounidenses con conciencia social están preocupados por las condiciones enfrentadas por las 105.000 personas encarceladas en el país. A pesar de que también se benefician de la nueva seguridad del país, estas personas también creen que hay bastantes áreas en que Bukele puede mejorar su política. Francisco Rodríguez es un estudiante salvadoreño de la Universidad Americana en Washington, DC. Sus parientes viven todavía en El Salvador, y Rodríguez ha oído de sus experiencias con las pandillas antes de la campaña de Bukele.

“Las veces que visité a El Salvador antes de la presidencia de Bukele, nunca tuve ninguna experiencia con las pandillas…Pero era porque teníamos que ir con tanta precaución”, dijo Rodríguez. La familia de Rodríguez le ha contado cómo era el país antes de Bukele. “Mi tío al lado de mi mamá, [los miembros de la pandilla] lo tomaron como rehén en su casa por tres días. Claro que era muy peligroso allí antes”.

POLICY PRIORITIES:

KNOWELDGE & EXPERIENCE:

More Housing including affordable housing Poverty and Food Insecurity Reduction. Climate Action Education including reducing MPCS class sizes

Lucy is a parent, an architect, an 11-year resident of Ward 3, a LEED professional, and a Takoma Soccer coach

Lucy has served on City committees for 9 years Lucy is a community organizer with Reparations Roundtable, a direct giving mutual aid group that supports Black individuals of marginalized genders move from crisis to sustainability. She is running a low-budget, self-funded campaign so that she can continue to fundraise for Reparations Roundtable Help her meet her goal: $5,000!

SKILLS:

Lucy uses her communication and collaboration skills to bring people together to achieve shared goals She manages large public and private building projects, and she organized with neighbors to successfully advocate for a City Ceasefire Resolution.

VOTE: If you’re 16+ make sure you’re registered to vote! Learn more about youth voting at Lucy’s website

Al respecto de la disminución de violencia en El Salvador, Rodríguez está preocupado con la posibilidad de un gran número de personas inocentes encarceladas en El Salvador. También dice que las maneras de encontrar personas afiliadas con las pandillas no son muy exactas.

“Objetivamente [Bukele] lo ha hecho más seguro, pero también sé que hay tanta gente que se queda atrapada con MS-13 u otras, y no tiene manera de escapar su influencia”, dijo Rodríguez. “También hay mucha gente que es detenida por ninguna razón, mi familia me estaba diciendo, si te haces un tatuaje, aunque sea una fecha o algo, si tiene un 18 o 13 te van a detener e interrogar”.

Las condiciones en las nuevas cárceles construidas por la administración de Bukele también han generado controversia. No hay ningún contacto con las familias de los presidiarios, y además, el gobierno ha pasado por alto el juicio. Personas sospechadas de ser miembros de una pandilla se detienen inmediatamente sin juicio, según PBS.

“Desde la capital a la casa de mi abuela, pasas por el pueblo donde hay la nueva cárcel supermax…Luego por 10 minutos, tu señal celular se apaga”, dijo Rodriguez. “No quieren que nadie tenga contacto allí”.

El Presidente Bukele ha hecho grandes cambios en muchos aspectos de la vida en El Salvador. La comunidad salvadoreña estadounidense no siente estos cambios directamente, pero esta comunidad tiene opiniones fuertes y diversas. Todavía queda por ver cuáles de las políticas de Bukele funcionarán en el futuro, pero ya se puede ver que sus políticas tienen un impacto significativo y que no hay consenso total entre la diáspora sobre el futuro del país bajo el mandato de Bukele.

Nuestro mes, nuestra cultura

Los festejos alrededor del mundo hispanohablante

Por CINDIS HERNANDEZ y SHEILY RAYMUNDO

El Mes de la Herencia Hispana es una celebración anual que se lleva a cabo del 15 de septiembre al 15 de octubre en los Estados Unidos. Este mes está dedicado a honrar las contribuciones y la rica diversidad cultural de las comunidades hispanas y latinas. A lo largo de estos 30 días, se realizan numerosos eventos y actividades que resaltan la importancia de esta cultura en la sociedad estadounidense y en el mundo entero.

El Mes de la Herencia Hispana comenzó como una semana de celebración en 1968 bajo la presidencia de Lyndon B. Johnson y fue ampliado a un mes completo por el presidente Ronald Reagan en 1988. La fecha de inicio, el 15 de septiembre, es significativa porque coincide con el aniversario de la independencia de varios países latinoamericanos: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua. Además, México celebra su independencia el 16 de septiembre y Chile el 18 de septiembre.

En los Estados Unidos, el Mes de la Herencia Hispana se celebra con una variedad de eventos culturales, educativos y comunitarios. Las escuelas organizan programas

Fútbol

especiales para enseñar a los estudiantes sobre la historia y las contribuciones de los hispanos. Las bibliotecas y museos presentan exposiciones dedicadas a la cultura hispana, mientras que las ciudades albergan festivales con música, danza, comida y arte tradicional.

Así como trabajamos día a día para mantener nuestra familia aquí y en nuestro país hay que sentirnos orgullosos, ya que también somos parte de Estados Unidos.

Este año, hubo un festival el 15 de septiembre en University Hills Park en donde Wanika B., la organizadora del festival, llevó a cabo una celebración exitosa de la herencia en nuestra comunidad. Wanika trabajó muy persistentemente para organizar la mejor celebración, con la ayuda de los asistentes y voluntarios. Mencionó en una entrevista los detalles y desafíos de organizar un evento tan significativo, que no sólo honra las tradiciones, sino que

bandera en Blair

Diversidad deportiva en la comunidad

Por JONATAN LOAYES y EMANUEL MORALES

El deporte del fútbol bandera ha expandido su alcance a los deportes femeninos con la creación de nuevos equipos del fútbol bandera femenino a través de todas las escuelas secundarias en el condado de Montgomery. El deporte promueve la aptitud física, fomenta el trabajo en equipo y las habilidades de liderazgo y desafía los estereotipos de género.

Según Morgan Patel, una de las entrenadoras del equipo de fútbol bandera femenino en Blair que también enseña la clase de AP geografía humana, el equipo fue establecido en MCPS debido a los Ravens, el equipo de fútbol americano profesional en Baltimore. “Ellos establecieron un programa de fútbol bandera femenino en el condado de Frederick el año pasado… y [se expandieron] al condado de Montgomery afortunadamente”, dijo Patel.

Sin embargo, con los fondos de un equipo deportivo profesional, el programa ha visto desafíos desde su inicio. Durante las pruebas del equipo, “todos estaban aprendiendo las reglas [del fútbol bandera]... [entonces] fue muy difícil decidir: ¿nos quedamos con todos? Fue difícil ver una caída clara en las habilidades porque, durante los cinco días de pruebas, todos mejoraron”. Después de cuando las entrenadoras escogieron los miembros del equipo, las jugadoras memorizaron jugadas y aprendieron las reglas en la práctica y en casa.

Las reglas del fútbol bandera pueden ser complicadas para principiantes. Los juegos son de siete

también fomenta un sentido de unidad y orgullo. “Así como trabajamos día a día para mantener nuestra familia aquí y en nuestro país hay que sentirnos orgullosos, ya que también somos parte de Estados Unidos”, dijo Wanika a toda la multitud dirigiéndose a las comunidades hispanas.

Un ejemplo notable es el Festival En Montgomery Blair, los estudiantes latinos celebran la Herencia Hispana con Voces Unidas, en un esfuerzo por extender las celebraciones del Mes de la Herencia Hispana. Estudiantes de diversas culturas se han preparado para participar en un evento cultural bien preciado en la comunidad de Blair el 23 de octubre. El evento, organizado por María Eugenia Tanos, Coordinadora de logros latinos y profesora de Blair, cuenta con la participación activa de estudiantes de la escuela. Ellos presentan con entusiasmo una variedad de actividades culturales, como presentaciones de danza folclórica, canto, desfiles y recitales de poesía en español. Este evento promete ser una experiencia enriquecedora tanto para los participantes como para los asistentes. La entrada será gratuita para menores de 8 años y abierta al público, invitando a toda la comunidad a unirse a esta celebración de la herencia hispana. Los países hispanohablantes

también celebran sus propias tradiciones y festividades durante este período. En México, el Día de la Independencia, el 16 de septiembre, es una de las celebraciones más importantes del año. Las festividades incluyen desfiles, fuegos artificiales, música de mariachi y la tradicional ceremonia del “Grito de Dolores”.

En España, aunque no se celebra el Mes de la Herencia Hispana como tal, el 12 de octubre se conmemora el Día de la Hispanidad, que marca el aniversario del descubrimiento de América por Cristóbal Colón. Este día es festivo nacional y se celebra con desfiles militares y eventos culturales en todo el país.

En Centroamérica, los países que celebran su independencia el 15 de septiembre lo hacen con

identidad y el orgullo nacional. En Guatemala, por ejemplo, las antorchas de independencia son llevadas por corredores desde diferentes puntos del país hasta la capital, simbolizando la unidad y la libertad. El Mes de la Herencia Hispana no solo es una oportunidad para celebrar, sino también para reflexionar sobre los desafíos que enfrentan las comunidades hispanas y latinas. Es un momento para reconocer las contribuciones de los inmigrantes y sus descendientes, así como para abordar temas como la igualdad, la justicia social y los derechos civiles.

Como dijo el activista César Chávez, “Preservar nuestra cultura no requiere despreciar o menospreciar otras culturas”. Esta cita resuena profundamente durante el Mes de la Herencia Hispana, recordándonos la importancia de la diversidad.

Aunque el Mes de la Herencia Hispana concluye el 15 de octubre, las celebraciones y el reconocimiento de la cultura hispana continúan durante todo el año. La comunidad en Blair y alrededor del mundo ya están anticipando mostrar sus coloridas culturas y costumbres vívidas durante el próximo Mes de la Herencia Hispana, asegurando que esta rica herencia siga siendo una parte integral del tejido social global.

contra siete, con una mariscal de campo que lanza la pelota, receptores que corren para conseguir yardas, y bloqueadores para la defensa. Los defensores pueden lanzarse para sacar los banderines, pero no puede placar, sujetar ni atravesar al portador del balón cuando lo hagan.

Todos estaban aprendiendo las reglas [del fútbol bandera]... [entonces] fue muy difícil decidir: ¿nos quedamos con todos? Fue difícil ver una caída clara en las habilidades porque, durante los cinco días de pruebas, todos mejoraron.

La entrenadora Patel mencionó que “había un área de protección donde obtienes dos puntos cuando el otro equipo pierde el balón en la zona final. Y todas las chicas decían, ‘¿por qué obtuvimos dos puntos?” Aunque hay dificultades, lo más importante es que las jugadoras siempre están aprendiendo y es claro que el fútbol bandera femenino en Blair ha proveído nuevas oportunidades para todas las jugadoras.

MORGAN PATEL

EZRA LEWIS

Overemphasizing college leaves other pathways unnoticed less traveled

Blair senior Yimmy Rivera, a member of the Army National Guard, remembers when his English teacher tried to dissuade him from his chosen career path while speaking to other students. “The teacher [said], ‘How about you guys join colleges [instead]?’” Rivera recounts.

Rivera recalls thinking, “You know there’s more than just college, right?” His question is topical; an August poll by Gallup reported that while 68 percent of high schoolers had heard “a lot” about college, only 23 percent had heard “a lot” about other post-secondary pathways like apprenticeships, trade schools, and certificates. Only 19 percent had heard the same amount about jobs that do not require a college education.

These data are reflective of a growing trend among American public high schools: as education systems promote college education as the road to success for graduating seniors, they fail to give the same attention to trade schools, high school vocational programs, or jobs that do not require a bachelor’s degree.

College or

career?

Shnydine Honore, an admissions officer at Lincoln Colege of Technology, a trade school with a campus in Columbia, Maryland, observes that public schools can underrepresent non-college pathways when promoting the way forward for seniors. “I have worked in high schools where I noticed there isn’t much talk [about technical schools],” Honore says. “We passed a bill recently for Maryland schools that spoke about introducing students to multiple career paths, including trade schools … I do feel like there’s a need for it.”

Honore refers to the More Opportunities for Career-Focused Students Act of 2024 (MOCFSA), which Governor Wes Moore approved in July. The act requires public high schools in Maryland to inform students of employment and skills training opportunities “in the same manner the school informs students of postsecondary educational options,” according to the act’s text.

The MOCFSA’s passage is informed by a growing number of advocates who wish to shed light on other ways forward for seniors. Sixteen organizations—representing hundreds of thousands of Maryland citizens—including the Maryland State Education Association and the Maryland Association of Counties testified in support of the act.

The MOCFSA is especially relevant as college enrollment across the United States continues to trend downward. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that undergraduate college enrollment has decreased by 1.5 percent each year since 2011. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, the college enrollment rate for recent U.S. high school graduates fell to 61.4 percent in 2023, the lowest level in at least three decades. A variety of reasons motivate Blair students to follow this trend of forgoing college after high school. Blair College & Career Information Coordinator Jazmine Delos Reyes believes that one reason might be the time it takes to complete a bachelor’s degree. “Students don’t want the long-term educational path anymore,” she says. “A

career-focused plan is more like one to two years compared to four or six years if you do a master’s degree, or eight if you do medical school.”

I think something MCPS could do better is reaching out [about] these programs earlier ... A lot of people miss out on opportunities because they realize it’s too late.

Delos Reyes highlights students’ desire for physical, practical lessons rather than collegiate lectures and paper-and-pencil activities as another reason why students might not want to go to college. “Not many students want to sit down in class anymore. They want more hands-on skills

as they progress through their adulthood,” she says. Rivera is one such student. “Hands-on is a better approach [for me],” he says. “If you show me what to do and I see it, I can catch on—A-plus. If you tell me to read and write, that ain’t for me.”

The time commitment and medium of learning are not the only factors that might persuade a student to pursue a non-college pathway. Leonardo Lopez Ocampo, a Blair senior who plans to go to Lincoln Tech to study heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), made his decision because HVAC offered easy employment prospects. “There is a demand for HVAC workers,” Lopez Ocampo says. “I’ve heard about a lot of people who do go to college for other careers, a lot of the jobs they apply for, they don’t get … that’s something I thought about.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers is projected to grow nine percent from 2023 to 2033—far outpacing the four percent average growth for all jobs nationwide. This statistic is in stark contrast to the job prospects of many bachelor’s degree seekers, the majority of whom are underemployed, or are unable to find work that meaningfully utilizes the skills they learned in college,

according to a 2024 study by the Burning Glass Institute and Strada Institute for the Future of Work.

For students who are concerned about future job prospects like Lopez Ocampo, a school like Lincoln Tech is an ideal institution. “We have companies that … come in to do training [and] recruiting. They also hire our students,” Honore says. “We have a career service department that partners with our students to help prepare them for employers, including resume building, mock interviewing, [and] portfolio development, and then we have opportunities where we’ll invite companies in to do career fairs, things of that nature.”

In fact, some trade school alumni like Lincoln Tech graduate Alan Gonzalez are hired directly after receiving their credentials. “When it comes to college … you know the minute you hit the floor, no matter what university, you’ve got to start pushing yourself to do the [most] that you can. If you don’t manage to do anything—you don’t make any connections, don’t put your name out there—you’re gonna struggle throughout the rest of your life,” Gonzalez says. “As for [Lincoln Tech], the connections are already here … almost every teacher here knows someone that’s hiring.”

Our students can leave and join a plumber’s union, and within another three or four years, they can be earning more than $100,000 a year by working as a plumber.

Yet many graduating seniors never hear about the possible advantages of attending a technical school. “[For] a lot of students that do come [to Lincoln Tech], it’s as a result of seeing it on Instagram after graduating, or if they have a coach or a teacher that spoke to them specifically,” Honore says. This lack of knowledge can in turn cause high school graduates to choose alternatives to technical schools. “That’s still a lot of students that are taking gap years, not going to school, [or] going straight into the workforce that didn’t have that opportunity [to attend technical school].”

MCPS ’ s non-college pathway options

In Montgomery County, a new initiative to promote non-college pathways as early as ninth grade has emerged. The Montgomery County Career Advising Program (MoCo CAP) sends career counselors to high schools countywide. MoCo CAP’s career counselor at Blair, Natalie Perez, finds the push for college to be excessive. “I don’t think [students]

know enough because the conversation is always, ‘go to college,’ … we [MoCo CAP] want to make sure that there’s opportunities for all students, and that includes those who can go to [college] and don’t go to [college],” Perez says. Rivera also attends Thomas Edison, a Montgomery County high school which students can attend part time to learn trades including electrical installation, automotive technology, and architecture. He sees Edison as another alternative to a college path, but believes his peers do not hear enough about it. “At least [students who cannot afford college could learn a] trade at Edison. If they can promote Edison a little bit more, that would be fantastic,” Rivera says.

Even students who are aware of Edison might not know about the programs they offer outside of blue-collar work like construction and HVAC. “Most people don’t know about [Edison’s] culinary [program] or our hospitality, network operations, cybersecurity, law … programs,” Blair senior and Edison student Katherine Somoza says. “It’s just a missed opportunity for a lot of people … a lot of [Edison] teachers are really giving … you these job opportunities or internships that will help you in the future.”

Like technical schools, attending Edison can help alleviate students’ post-secondary financial concerns. “We do [have] business partners that will come in and meet with our students directly, and they sometimes hire them right on the spot,” Edison Supervisor Heather

Carias says. “Our students can leave and join a plumber’s union, and within another three or four years, they can be earning more than $100,000 a year by working as a plumber.”

Unfortunately, many students do not receive enough information about Edison to understand the incentives of going to such a school. “I think something MCPS could do better is reaching out [about] these programs earlier,” Blair senior Joselyn Benitez, who attends Edison’s automotive program, says. “A lot of people miss out on opportunities because they realize it’s too late.”

The scarcity of promotion that Benitez observes is rooted in an enduring stigma around non-college pathways. Honore notices this aversion to non-college pathways as well. “Folks never dug deep enough, or they never had exposure [to] someone that worked in a [technical] field and had a good experience,” Honore says. “I think that’s the only reason that stigma still exists. But as educational institutions, it’s important for us to look into all different aspects [of post-secondary pathways].”

HEATHER CARIAS

Story by Zachary Karp and Priya Tapia-Pereira

Art by Allison Lin

Design by Naomi Andelman, Eloise Carter, and Keelin Pegg

JOSELYN BENITEZ

October 16, 2024

Chips chats with Principal Yates

By JAY CLOUSE and LUCY HOLLAND

Blair has definitely noticed its new principal making waves—from biking to cross-country meets to providing every student with a $5 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card. This year, Kevin Yates assumed his position as Acting Principal after agreeing to postpone his retirement. He replaces Renay Johnson, the previous principal of 13 years. Yates has 30 years of experience in MCPS, and worked the last five as the Damascus principal.

What do you hope to accomplish at Blair? Do you have any goals for this year and the school in general?

I would say my goals are the same as always, and that is for every student to have the experience of having a great education, and that means excellent classroom instruction every day, all day. That’s been my goal as an administrator since I became an administrator in 2012. Specifically [at] Blair, I want to make sure I continue the excellent history and success that Blair has had for so many years and [is] so well known for. I want to make sure that I do my part to continue that incredible success.

There seems to be a disconnect between teachers and students and the central office of MCPS. Do you think you have a strong connection with teachers and can you bridge the gap?

I work very hard [on] that. I think it’s extremely important to break down barriers and make sure an accessible door is always open and visible. I’ve worked in buildings before where that’s not always the case, and that leads to staff morale being down. And if staff morale is down, then learning is impacted, and that’s bad. So it’s very import ant for me and my team that we are visible and we’re listening to stu dents and staff. That’s the only way we’re gonna make anything better or keep things going.

How did the school get the Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards that were distributed to every student wearing their IDs?

I got an email from my union president, and she said, ‘If you’re interested in Dunkin’ Donuts cards for your staff and students, please let me know immediately.’ This lady from highschoolnation. org sent Dunkin’ gift cards to the principals who responded. So I got 3,800 Dunkin’ cards. It’s funny, when I got them, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I gonna do with these?’ And I was like, ‘IDs’, and it just came to me, ‘Oh my gosh, this is easy. I’m trying to get students to wear the IDs. Let’s do IDs!’ And that’s where I came up with the surprise.

Are you planning to retire after this year?

I’ve been asked to be here for the full year, and then July 1, I’ll be out. Then, obviously, MCPS is advertising for the Blair principal position, and they’re going to get the candidates that they want. They’re going to get them to the table and have interviews with stakeholders— students, parents, staff—and then

pick a real principal. I mean, I’m a real principal too, but pick the permanent principal and then that person, the idea is, would take over [on] July 1.

Were you at all intim idated by the size of Blair?

No, I think I was familiar enough with Blair. I came out and met with Ms. Johnson and walked around the school the last week [of] June, and just got a feel for the school, and, you know, school is school, right? We have more kids than anyone else, but we’re still doing the same things. We’re learning, we’re here to learn, we’re keeping kids safe, right? It’s just scaling [it] up.

How do you plan to ele- vate student voices?

I went and visited the SGA, and I told them that they are the voice of the student body as the student government. Their job is to elevate student voices, and then I plan on having an ongoing dialogue with the SGA. [Blair SGA advisor] Mr. Shindel made it very clear to

You are a very active principal. Do you think that that’s because you’re new to Blair?

If you would interview anybody who was a student or a staff member at Damascus, they’d say, “Yep, that’s what he does.” I like to be out and about. I like to move around, walk around, and bike around. And I think that that’s essential, because if you’re stuck in your office, you don’t really know what’s going

Why do you bike to cross country meets and around the school?

I love being out there. I love biking, anytime that I can, and I like supporting our students. So if I can combine those, that’s a huge win. I saw the cross country team in the lobby, and I was like, “Where are you running?” And they were like, “Wheaton Regional.” I looked at my calendar, and I had my bike in the car, of course, and I was like, I can make this happen. I can get in a little ride and cheer on cross country and it worked perfectly and it was awesome. I bike around here. Tonight, there’s a superintendent’s forum, and there’s a mountain bike trail down Route 29. So I’ll go do that, and then come back, change, and then go to meetings. I also use the weight room, so, doing a workout real quick, just because fitness is so important, and we all need to be healthy and well, and being a principal is a full job day-wise. For me, I can’t work out before I get here, because I get here at 6:40 and then sometimes when I get home, it’s too late, so I have to fit in the workout during the day. I’m here 100 percent. I’m super excited about the opportunity, and every day I wake up and I’m like, “Yay, I’m excited, I get to go to work at Blair!” I tell people all the time, I think I’m really fortunate to

Is there anything else that you want Blair students, staff, parents, or PTA members to know about you?

New design modernizes exhibits, visitor experience

The museum needed a complete replacement redesign of the exterior of the building. “We looked at 150 [to] 200 different kinds of stone. They picked a [type of] granite,” Mirvish says. The team also decided to make it thicker. “[The original stone] was only an inch and a quarter, and they’re

pretty darn sure it’s not going to [warp],” she explains. At first, this redesign of the stone was all the renovation was going to be, but given the repairs’ extensiveness, the Smithsonian staff decided to go full throttle. “That would be a huge amount of work to end up with the same product. So what we said to ourselves is,

reimagine what the museum is,’” Amy Stamm, digital content strategist for the museum, says.

In addition to the building changes, the museum greenlit a near-total redesign of the exhibit spaces. Some returning exhibits were reimagined to better tell their stories, such as the new “Destination Moon” exhibit which presents a more complete picture of Ameri

ca’s path to the Moon than the previous “Apollo to the Moon.”

Other exhibits, like “Futures in Space,” are completely new. “Futures in Space” was inspired by many elements of old exhibits, and focuses on how the future of space might look, including science fiction interpretations. “[‘Futures in Space’ looks] at the way we imagine what might be next in space, including from a sci-fi perspective,” Stamm says.

Other changes include measures to protect artifacts from their biggest threats: heat, humidity, and light. Heat and direct sunlight can embrittle some planes and fade their paint. The museum installed sun-tracking shades on the atrium skylights to block direct sunlight while allowing diffused atmospheric light to brighten the room. They applied frit—small black dots—to the glass walls, cutting off light while not neutralizing the color. The museum also redesigned the HVAC system using computational fluid dynamics to prevent hotspots in the air and added thin heaters to the glass walls to prevent condensation. These changes helped earn the new National Air and Space Museum building a LEED Gold certification in green-building.

More than a meal

... what we said to ourselves is,

‘Let’s take this as an opportunity to reimagine what the museum is.’

The project is set to cost around $1 billion and has not had any major cost overruns since it began. Part of that one billion came from the federal government and part from private donations. The public $285 million fundraising goal for exhibit redesign stands at 97 percent complete. The first phase of the renovation opened to the public on Oct. 14, 2022, and the second phase is set to be completed by July 1, 2026, just in time for the museum’s fiftieth anniversary. Blair senior Shyna Kashi experienced phase one firsthand in June 2024. “It was a lot nicer than before,” Kashi says. “Everything seemed very modern, very new, [and] very clean ... it was a lot more interesting to be there than before.”

The project also improved the building’s accessibility. From quiet rooms for people suffering from PTSD to the first adult changing tables for the elderly or wheelchair bound on the National Mall, to family care suites for families with small children, to additional elevators and seating areas, the museum has become much more welcoming and accommodating to all visitors.

Shepherd’s Table nourishes the community with more than just food

By ADANNA AKAMIGBO and NEHA NARAYAN

In the heart of downtown Silver Spring, Shepherd’s Table, a meal and social support organization, relies on a network of community volunteers to serve people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. Initially founded in 1983 as a soup kitchen run by local, church-going volunteers, the nonprofit addresses the pressing issues of hunger and limited access to healthcare among the area’s most vulnerable population. Each week, individuals ranging from students to retirees unite to help prepare and serve meals, provide medical services, and connect with patrons on an individual level.

Over time, Shepherd’s Table has grown from a modest meal service into a multifaceted support system that offers fresh food, clothing, and vital medical check-ups to those in need. “We’re satisfying individual members of the community. We may not be solving their other problems, but we’re helping them with their immediate needs,” Marcy Merti, volunteer coordinator at Shepherd’s Table, explains.

We’re satisfying individual members of the community. We may not be solving their other problems, but we’re helping them with their immediate needs.

Each volunteer at Shepherd’s Table serves as front-line support, greeting visitors with kindness and respect as they enter. This welcoming atmosphere is crucial, especially for members of the community who may be seeking support or feel stigmatized by their needs. For many, the interaction with volunteers offers a sense of connection that goes beyond a meal. “We have volunteers working in our resource center day in and day out, doing what they can to be a friendly, smiling face to the clients. I mean, [the volunteers] are the backbone of us,” Merti says.

Blair Soup Kitchen Club co-president Mia Brown shares why she loves volunteering as a student. “I really get something out of it. Whether it’s a job, or a conversation with someone, or just answering questions, it’s something to do with your time that’s actually supporting people and interacting with people that really do need your help,” she says.

Shepherd’s Table’s volunteers have allowed the organization to maximize its resources for the past four decades. With minimal personnel costs, more funds can be channeled directly into the programs that serve the community.

This efficiency is crucial, especially as the demand for services continues to grow. According to data from the 2024 Silver Spring Population Review, the Silver Spring area has a poverty rate of 19.91 percent among unemployed individuals, 15.44 percent among those who work part-time, and 1.81 percent among those who are employed. Shepherd’s Table is in the city’s center, so impoverished residents can receive the care they need.

Manny Hidalgo, the executive director of Shepherd’s Table believes that seeing a different perspective of people in your commu nity saves you from ignorance.“It’s one thing to study [poverty] in class, and it’s quite another thing to see [it] upfront and personal,” he says.

In addition to the food provided to the community, which includes fresh and healthy hot meals every day available to all guests, Shep herd’s Table also has a “beyond the table” plan, which aims to serve more vulnerable communities in the area, such as people experienc ing homelessness, by connecting with other non-profit organizations.

The “beyond the table” plan provides eye care, a clothing closet, fresh produce from the urban gar den, and a resource center. These services help their clients with their health care, prepare for future job opportunities, secure resources to support their families, and find healthy food options. “In a nut shell, it’s helping people become self-sufficient,” Debbie Boger, ur ban garden manager at Shepherd’s Table, explains.

In a nutshell, it’s helping people become self-sufficient.

The clothing closet helps pa trons look presentable for job in terviews and everyday wear by pro viding clean clothes for all seasons, jewelry, shoes, and other accesso ries. The resource center aims to

improve the daily life of its clients by preparing them for careers and jobs. They also provide personal mail and telephone use, assistance

culinary skills program comes from Shepherd’s Table’s urban garden. The garden focuses on producing food palatable to the diverse cul

AMY STAMM

NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM Through the renovation, the museum modified its exhibits.

PHOTO BY IAN GLEASON

Lights, camera, community

Docs in Progress illuminates local stories

By ELORA DERBYSHIRE

On a Thursday evening in September, chatter and quiet anticipation fill a small room. Warm overhead lighting matches the welcoming atmosphere as an audience of just over 30 waits for a film screening to start. Some are the friends and family of the filmmaker, while others are regulars who frequently provide feedback on locally produced documentaries. All are sitting in the Downtown Silver Spring studio of D.C. area non-profit Docs In Progress, ready to take part in the filmmaking process.

With a vision to create community through documentary film, Docs In Progress works with local filmmakers through a variety of programs designed to assist, celebrate, and share their work. At the center of these programs is a hope to amplify the voices of local residents. “We believe that everybody has a story to tell,” Docs In Progress CEO Barbara Valentino says. “Many of the stories are hiding in plain sight, especially in Montgomery County.”

Docs In Progress’ flagship program, Work In Progress Screenings, lets participating artists receive feedback from small audiences on their documentary rough cuts. Anyone can submit a film to the screening and anyone can attend, allowing for a wide spectrum of ideas and a diverse display of storytelling. “Some people want to dig deep, [while] others who are in the community may really want to know how to do a short video about their

family on their smartphone,” Valentino says.

The films shown are all-encompassing, ranging from the story of four women on the frontlines of the Black maternal healthcare struggle to the search for the timber rattlesnake of Maryland’s Catoctin Mountain Park. “Maryland is very, very rich with stories,” Schmidt says. “You have activism; you have environmental films; you have music films, and we help people to bring these stories out.”

Blair alumnus Tom Clements, a Takoma Park-based photojournalist and filmmaker, shared the latest draft of his 22-minute documentary “Projecting Protest” at a Work In Progress screening in September.

“It’s really helpful to do some community outreach and get feedback in this kind of setting, in a screening environment,” Clements says.

We believe that everybody has a story to tell. Many of the stories are hiding in plain sight, especially in Montgomery County.

Docs In Progress hosted its first Work in Progress screening in 2004, long before the organization moved to its current Downtown Silver Spring studio. The idea was conceived by filmmakers Erica

Ginsberg and Adele Schmidt, who understood local filmmakers’ constant need for input. “We saw … that a lot of filmmakers were struggling with finishing their films,” Schmidt, now Docs In Progress artistic director, says. “[They] were working in their basements, isolated, and then we started bringing the community together.”

Over the past 20 years, Docs In Progress has grown, now offering two additional screening programs, a fiscal sponsorship program, and an annual Community Stories Film Festival. As well as giving voices to filmmakers, Docs In Progress works to uncover the unheard stories of residents in the area. Through Village Reels, an intergenerational filmmaking program, Docs In Progress works with students from Blair, Wheaton, and Northwood to recount the life stories of residents over the age of 55. Piloted with Blair in 2022, the program allows students to travel to residents’ homes and conduct interviews. Often, the stories highlighted by the finished short documentaries connect back to larger community narratives including segregation, immigration, and the role of the arts in bringing people together. “Village Reels is my passion project,” Valentino says. “It

Recipe for success

really is a wonderful way to link the generations. The older generations are so happy to be able to tell their stories to energize the young people.”

Blair junior Bruno Resetarits directed and worked on several Village Reels last year through a Blair after-school club run by Docs In Progress. “The opportunity to interview elderly people in Takoma Park and actually go to their house to do the whole interview set-up in person was really a major factor [for] me deciding to join,” Resetarits says. Offering its services to everyone from experienced filmmakers to first-time documentarians, Docs In Progress regularly hosts workshops teaching different parts of the pro-

How San Pancho became a Takoma Park favorite

By TOMAS MONTICELLI and SAHANA PARIKH

“¡Burritos, tortas, y más!” Since their opening on July 13, San Pancho Burritos, the new fast-casual restaurant in the heart of Takoma Park, has been a huge hit with the locals. The restaurant has a cozy and welcoming atmosphere, with Spanish music playing in the background and a blend of San Francisco and Mexican art detailing the walls, bar, and tables.

General manager of San Pancho Juan Carlos Ramos says since opening the restaurant, the flow of customers has been constant.

“Busy, busy all the time, especially weekends, nighttime, when it’s dinner time. So it’s crazy busy,” Ramos says.

San Pancho is part of La Rosa Hospitality, a restaurant group owned by wife and husband Carolina McCandless and David Perez. In addition, the couple also owns Cielo Rojo, which opened in 2019 in San Pancho’s current location.

Laura Barclay, the executive director of the Old Takoma Business Association, an organization that helps small businesses in Takoma Park, says Cielo Rojo was an instant hit. “It was immediately popular. It caught the attention of the food writer in the Washington Post, who wrote them up pretty early on when they first opened,” Barclay explains. “They just received a lot of recognition from outside of Takoma Park, in addition to the residents, and they’ve been running strong since.”

Barclay accredits both restaurants’ success to the owners’ hard work. “I think the businesses are very well run. The owners have an eye for detail. David Perez, the executive chef’s… eye for detail is seen in his food. Carolina McCand-

less … you can see her eye for detail in the dining room and the decor … [with] all of those between the two of them, they cover everything.”

McCandless and Perez decided to expand Cielo Rojo to a new location down the street and open San Pancho in its original space. Ramos, who has been working with La Rosa Hospitality for four years and is one of the longest-serving employees with the company, says that the transition between Cielo Rojo and San Pancho wasn’t drastic. “We didn’t change that many things … We got new chairs, we got a new title,” Ramos says.

The fast-casual restaurant allows customers to both dine in and take out with ease. With indoor and outdoor seating and a pleasant atmosphere, both locals and non-locals are drawn to San Pan

cho. McCandless has a taste for design, decorating the restaurant with themed art, photos taken in San Francisco, Mexican-inspired tile detailing, and bright colors throughout.

San Pancho’s design is inspired by the La Mission district in San Francisco, the city where McCandless lived for fifteen years and where she first met Perez. “San Pancho … [is] a nickname for Francisco … and the owner decided to call it San Pancho to bring something from California. And they got the ideas for the burritos from the ideas for the burritos from California,” Ramos explains.

San Pancho’s menu offers a variety of Mexican-inspired drinks, including agua frescas, horchata, and margaritas. They also have quesa-

burritos, both of which are made with Sonoran-style flour tortillas directly from Mexico. These burritos are filled with variations of rice, meat of choice, pico-de-gallo, veggies, beans, and cheese. Although the prices are higher, the customers love the flavor and quality of the food. “It’s really nice, the food’s great, everybody’s very nice,” Will Thanhouser, a local returning customer, says.

San Pancho customers enjoy the restaurant’s atmosphere as well. “I just really like the vibe of the restaurant: it’s super lively, and all the people who work there are really nice, and the whole theme of the restaurant is super cool,” Blair sophomore and San Pancho customer Elena Kleiner says.

duction process. For Schmidt, the most important part of this process is the storytelling. “You go out to look for some answers you don’t have,” she says. “I’m going to find out, and while I’m doing that, I’m telling the audience what they might not know either.”

This audience is not just those present at Docs In Progress’ studio on Apple Avenue during a screening day, but also everyone who may see the films in the future. As Valentino describes, a story that is shared through documentary film will be preserved for years to come. “That’s what’s important: not only the here and now, but remembering tomorrow,” she says.

employees. “It’s not only about the management; it’s about the teamwork that we have. Everybody’s working together, nobody’s just doing one thing, everybody’s focusing on everything,” Ramos says.

I think what makes San Pancho a popular restaurant is [McCandless’] connection with the neighborhood and the people that work here.

Ramos attributes the restaurant’s success to the owners and

San Pancho employee and nighttime manager Danieli Wilkinson agrees with Ramos. “I think what makes San Pancho a popular restaurant is [McCandless’] connection with the neighborhood and the people that work here … She’s very hands-on in the community, very hands-on with San Pancho,” Wilkinson adds.

Wilkinson also mentions how McCandless’ use of social media to promote the restaurants has played a key role in their rise in popularity. “We actually had a lot of food critics come through … We get a lot of influencers, because she is so interactive with the internet,” Wilkinson says.

Barclay also praises the owners’ ability to connect with the community. “They make delicious food, but they also do a really great job letting the community … know about them,” Barclay says. “They post great pictures of their food, they engage with the neighborhood. They’ve just done a great job establishing themselves.”

ALLISON LIN

BARBARA VALENTINO

PHOTO BY KAYLEE HOPKINS

OPEN FOR BUSINESS San Pancho brings La Mission to the East Coast.

DANIELI WILKINSON

E C U L T R U

October 16, 2024

Chips tries local Hispanic restaurants Places to taco-bout

By LILA GROSKO and ERIC YANG

Silver Spring has no shortage of delicious Hispanic restaurants, from the tiny tacos at Lime and Cilantro to the sizzling fajitas at El Golfo. We visited four local restaurants and sampled their most popular dishes to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.

Lime and Cilantro

Entering this small modern Latin restaurant, appealing aromas and soft crackling sounds from the kitchen drift through the open space. Lime and Cilantro, which opened only four months before our visit, is the newest addition to a long list of Latin restaurants in the Silver Spring area. Manager William Rodriguez explained that chef Danny Chavez’s mother’s cooking inspired him to create dishes from many different cultures. The menu did not disappoint, displaying a variety of unique dishes like the pastrami-spiced chicken torta and the more classic corn and chicken tamales. The popular tacos al pastor are perfectly balanced with a soft corn tortilla, flavorful adobo marinated pork, and sweet pineapple that combines beautifully with the savory aioli. Likewise, the fish tacos have a satisfying crisp and are topped with pickled onions and red cabbage. The atmosphere is relaxed and simplistic, with plants near the windowsill and wicker bowls arranged across a wall in a naturalistic wave-like pattern. Most items on the menu range from $10 to $28, making this a great restaurant for a dinner out with friends or family!

El Golfo

Between arch-shaped pathways, the walls of this Salvadorian family-owned restaurant are decorated with beautiful flowers, tropical birds, and paintings of marvelous landscapes. Tropical bird ornaments from El Salvador decorate the bar area. The tamarindo beverage is a unique, yet perfect blend of sweet and sour, and the horchata was spiced but not too strong. Rich with cheese and pork, the pupusas have a slight crisp from frying. They are paired with coleslaw and sauce that balance this dish with a tang. The sopa disperses sweet plantain, pillowy soft yucca, and cabbage in its rich beef broth. A colorful platter of guacamole, tortillas, yellow rice, sour cream, and salsa fresca accompanies the fajitas. They

are delivered sizzling hot, with a plume of smoke accompanying the crackling beef. There is a stage for live music in the corner, and the restaurant regularly hosts fundraisers and other events. The casual atmosphere—with prices of around $30 or less—makes this restaurant great for relaxing with others in the afternoon.

Mi Rancho

The warm chips arrive at our table in a large basket, with several bowls of salsa. The homemade chips do not disappoint, yielding a pleasant crunch. The guacamole is fresh, with larger pieces of onion, tomato, and cilantro that give each bite a satisfying texture and flavor. The atmosphere remains lively, even late into the night. The TexMex influence shines through in the restaurant’s decor and cuisine, with brightly colored sombreros and posters in Spanish adorning the walls. The renowned fajitas arrive on a steaming hot skillet, generously portioned, featuring grilled chicken topped with green pepper and onion slices. The homemade flour tortillas pair nicely with the protein and other toppings like Mexican-style rice, pico de gallo, pinto beans, and guacamole. The portions of dishes like the chimichangas and tacos are generous; however, the cuts of meat are chewy and slightly underwhelming. Overall, Mi Rancho—with entrées around $25—is a great option for a Tex-Mex place nearby. With expansive outdoor and indoor seating and stellar service, this restaurant is ideal for large groups seeking a fun night out.

El Patio

This small restaurant is ornamented with paintings, murals, and flags that all pay homage to Argentina. Large TVs broadcast soccer matches, and art on the wall features Argentinian soccer player Lionel Messi walking through a city. The dimmed lighting, chatter, sound of cooking food, enticing smells, and soft music amplify the restaurant’s cozy atmosphere. The fried empanada, a top seller, is satisfyingly crispy and pairs nicely with the savory slow-cooked beef and olive. The red and yellow peppers add a subtle, smoky aftertaste to each bite. Cutting through the empanada, the aroma of warm spices diffuses into the air. The Pique-alo-Macho—a dish featuring yucca fries topped with sautéed steak, onions, garlic, and jalapeños—arrives next. The fries are crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, with some absorbing the dish’s rich spiciness. The panqueque de dulce de leche is the star of the show. This sweet crepe is filled with melted chocolate and creamy dulce de leche, with a hardened sugar topping—a delightful contrast in texture. Entrées are around $30, and double entrées—around $70—are a great choice for two. Overall, El Patio is a great choice for those who enjoy high-quality Argentine food.

The Latin food in the Silver Spring area is amazing, with a diverse selection of dishes of many cultures and cuisines. Take a trip to any of these four restaurants—you will not regret it!

By EMILY KRETSCHMER

The crowd erupts as a figure covered in thick red fur dances energetically in the bleachers, hyping up players and fans alike. The massive head grins at onlookers, who squint in hopes of catching a glimpse of the mystery behind the mask.

Whether on the first day of school, at pep rallies, or during sports games, the blazer mascot is a Blair staple. Yet, there is always an air of curiosity around the identity of the person inside the Blazer suit, and how Blair came to adopt the Blazer as its mascot.

During a deep dive into the archives of Silver Chips Print, I found an article titled “So you wanna be blazer” dating back to October 2003.

What intrigued me most in the article was the reference to the Blazer mascot as “Devlin.” The photos showed a different costume from today’s version—a fuzzy, onesie-like suit with horns poking out of a blackfur covered head, and furrowed eyebrows exhibiting a menacing expression.

THE SECRET BLAZER

griddy,” B says.

This audition proved successful, and B was selected as one of the students to be the Blazer. B’s first event in the costume was the homecoming game, which turned out to be their favorite event of all. “When you do something for the first time, kind of like the magic of it … it was pretty nice and very fun,” they said, adding that the anonymity of the role was a huge part of the thrill. “Back then, literally no one knew who I was, so I could really just be as corny as I wanted to.”

However, the night took a dark turn as B tried to leave the game. “These bad a-- kids were at the game and they pulled my head right off and I was like, ‘What?’ And I yelled at her, I was like ‘Stop!’ I was trying to go home and they just ripped my head right off.”

The author of the 2003 article, who had taken on the mascot role at a football game, detailed the cardinal rules of being Devlin—rules that have survived in spirit even today. Among them is “No one ever sees Devlin half-dressed.” This tradition remains widely recognized as part of the Blazer mascot’s responsibilities.

But to truly understand what has changed and what hasn’t since the Blazer mascot was known as Devlin, I interviewed a Blair student who was selected to don the Blazer costume at school events this year and last year. I will refer to this Blazer as “B” to protect their identity.

Naturally, my first question was how did you come to be the Blazer? B described the process as far more rigorous than I expected. After filling out an interest form, B received an email to audition. Yes, audition. “I get there and the audition is basically they put you in the old costume, hype up a crowd, and just run around and be funny for 10 minutes. I put [the costume] on and I was jumping and scaring people and hitting the

This story reminded me of something the writer of the 2003 article mentioned: “In the bleachers, fans seem to forget that there is a person inside the costume, and [they] try to hit my ‘head’ off,” they wrote.

These bad a-- kids were at the game and they pulled my head right off and I was like, ‘What?’ And I yelled at her, I was like ‘Stop!’ I was trying to go home and they just ripped my head right off.

Though the costume may have changed since 2003, the desperation of Blair students to uncover the face inside the mask has not. And neither has the temperature inside the costume: “It doesn’t smell but it gets really hot in there,” B said. Though “Devlin” has become the Blazer, the inferno is still raging.

LATIN CUISINE WITH A MODERN TWIST The newly opened restaurant puts its spin on traditional dishes.

PHOTOS BY RAE FOSTER

CRISPY AND SAVORY A rainbow of sauces accompany Lime and Cilantro’s chicken empanada.

LUCIAWANG

LUCIA WANG

Voting is ‘brat’

The power of social media in upcoming elections

My siblings are talking about internet trends, like the Kamala Harris coconut tree thing. So hearing all these things through social media or the presence of social media in the presidential election definitely raises awareness and [the] popularity of voting.

We have an influencer outreach associate who works on the digital team. That [Kamala] HQ digital team is also [who makes] a lot of these tiktoks.

Some of Harris’s more popular videos incorporate the “brat” trend, based around British artist Charlotte Emma Aitchison, better known by her stage name, Charli XCX, and her latest June album. This followed the singer-songwriter’s support of Harris via X in late July, in which she wrote, “Kamala IS brat.” The trending term is meant to evoke a sense of confidence and independence, and was quickly adopted by the Harris campaign over the summer in their posts. Kamala HQ even temporarily created a new X banner with the same color and style of Aitchison’s album cover. This trend heightened in significance after music from the album was used in videos of Harris’s famed “coconut tree” expression, recorded during a May 2023 White House Ceremony. The viral clip of the vice president quoting her mother, “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” became a trending audio for countless videos, drawing increased at-

You’re seeing Gen Z voters and younger voters who are active in social media taking it into their own hands and getting the message out by organic means, since the traditional paid methods aren’t necessarily the best option.

Trump’s campaign has also had its share of support from popular figures, which has gained a notable amount of attention from voters on various media platforms. Trump appeared on a Kick livestream with controversial twitch streamer Adin Ross, in which they discussed Trump’s policies, and Ross gifted Trump a Rolex watch and a Tesla Cybertruck. Trump has also been publicly endorsed by celebrities including Elon Musk, Kid Rock, and

Sponsored

By

claim their trust in information on social media has declined in the past 12 months, according to re-

Social media algorithms can perpetuate a cycle of confirmation bias, presenting viewers with content matching posts they have already sought on the platform.

“I think the people who control the algorithm can very much control the narrative and what does and doesn’t get through,” Sackstein

As political information becomes more accessible to the public through various forms of media, campaign teams and social media companies must ensure that voters receive accurate information and that new forms of political advertising include diverse perspectives.

“We want to see both sides,” Sackstein says. “We want everyone to get a fair shake at our First Amendment, which is our ability to speak up and what our

EMMA BERGFALK

ELIAS CHEN

JACKIE SACKSTEIN

ROSALYN FANG

Craving connection

How fandom culture creates warped realities

By LYDIA PASS

As social media continues expanding into an endless cycle of mesmerizing and mercilessly interactive content, fandom culture has surged into the spotlight. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have made celebrities more accessible than ever, distorting fans’ perception of genuine relationships and eroding privacy and boundaries.

While in no way a new phenomenon, parasocial relationships have rapidly increased with the growing world of social media—a medium that facilitates more frequent and instantaneous communication. Erin McCleary, a clinical psychotherapist and social worker, explains what these one-sided connections are and where they manifest. “[Parasocial relationships] are one-sided relationships where, usually in the context of someone who is famous, fans or people who follow them on social media act as if they ... know them in some personal or intimate way, ” she says.

[Parasocial relationships] are one-sided relationships where, usually in the context of someone who is famous, fans or people who follow them on social media act as if they ... know them in some personal or intimate way.

The term was originally coined in 1956 by psychologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl when they noticed peculiar acts of in-

timacy between viewers and the actors on television. Now, almost 70 years later, parasocial relationships have taken to the internet as fame becomes more interactive. Last month, singer Chappell Roan made the news for her controversial take on fan relationships, highlighting the constant overstepping of boundaries and harassment by her fans. This is not the first time that a celebrity has spoken out about their struggle with navigating obsessive fans, begging the question: what is too far when it comes to connecting with idols?

The internet today encourages constant inspection of celebrities. Social media is built around the inherent desire to view and follow influencers throughout their stardom, while also being a vital way for celebrities to market themselves to their audiences and appear more personable. “On Tiktok, [creators are] speaking to your face,” remarks Blair senior Hana Asfaw, who has been on social media for multiple years. “On Instagram, you can get daily stories from artists, where you can see into their life, and it feels like, ‘Oh, wow, I’m really a part of their life,’” she says.

This new strategy of celebrities interacting directly with fans, usually on a daily basis, has intensified the perceived connection with the people following them. “You get updates, sometimes on very intimate details in someone’s life,” McCleary reiterates, citing ways in which this process may cause daily, hourly, or constant fixation. “Neurobiologically, the impact of getting a dopamine hit from seeing something that interests you becomes a little physiologically addictive. You want to keep that hit … it becomes hard to break,” she says.

This intense longing for unattainable connections, McClearly explains, cascades into an obsession to the extent of genuinely feeling a human connection that is simply not there. This level of perceived intimacy may lead to a projection

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Platinum

Anonymous - Kate Stewart

of emotion onto a relationship that doesn’t actually exist. “There’s a psychological term called projection, in which you kind of project whatever you want in a relationship onto something or somebody, especially if you don’t know them,” she says.

Scott Heim, a renowned American novelist best known for his 1995 book “Mysterious Skins,” has maintained a substantial social media presence throughout his career. However, complicated interactions with his fans began even before the internet became readily accessible. “I remember this one guy who would send me packages of paintings that he said my characters had painted,” Heim recalls. “In one sense, it’s really flattering that someone takes your book so seriously that they could do something like that. But then it started to seem like he was making my book into some sort of warped reality, so

it is tough to know when to draw a line.”

On Instagram, you can get daily stories from artists, where you can see into their life, and it feels like, ‘Oh, wow, I’m really a part of their life.

With social media becoming increasingly personalized to viewers, obsessions and one-sided relationships easily have the potential to become strongly, and falsely, formed. This leads to interactions between pursuer and personale that are uncomfortable or dangerous for the celebrity being approached. Trends like these are the reason

Chappell Roan spoke out about feeling unsafe with fans who take it upon themselves to follow her in real life, not just on the internet. Looking forward, it is vital to acknowledge the problem while in the midst of it. Social media is blurring the lines between who people truly know and who they merely observe. While it is not inherently harmful to feel connected with someone who speaks to audiences on a personal level, the issue arises when observation gets mistaken for true connection. Blair senior Nebula Myers-Copp has dabbled in fandom culture and remarks how easy it is to get caught up in the surplus of content. Their advice is simple: “Just setting down your phone and remembering who you are, where you are. You do not know those people at all.”

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Fall film favorites

By RUTH WAJDA-GOTWALS

As the weather chills and autumn settles in, a regular movie night has the potential to be so much more. When you’re curled under piles of blankets, with a warm drink or baked goods nearby, watching a movie becomes a seasonal experience. After some trial and research, we’ve cemented our top three movie recommendations for a cozy fall night.

JUNO 8/10

“Juno” is a quirky 2000s romcom that follows quick-witted high schooler Juno as she faces an unexpected pregnancy. At first glance, Juno’s sharp tongue and sarcastic demeanor might come off as immature, while her potential adoptive parents appear to be typical, one-dimensional characters. However, as the story unfolds, the layers of each character begin to reveal

themselves in unexpected ways, offering moments of warmth and insight into the complexities of family dynamics. For one, the adoptive parents, initially portrayed as a cliché couple, offer moments of warmth and emotional complexity that break their stereotype of boring heterosexual domesticity. Where “Juno” truly shines is in its ability to blend humor with genu ine emotion creating a heartfelt exploration of adolescence, family, and growing up. The film tackles complex subjects—teen pregnancy, adoption, and family dynamics— without ever becoming preachy or overly sentimental. Juno’s bold ness, while occasionally abrasive, feels authentic and relatable, making it a refreshing break from the typical rom-com protagonist. The character’s unexpected growth adds depth to what could have been a one-dimensional plot, while the film’s unique folk-centric indie soundtrack and the quirky charm of the characters set it apart from other rom-coms. Overall, Juno is the coziest pick for a cool fall night.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD 8/10

Fall adventures

By RAE FOSTER

Spooky season is here and now is the best time to look out for upcoming festivities! Here are eight fall-themed activities to add to your perfect autumn bucket list.

1

Butler’s Orchard Pumpkin Festival

Located in Germantown, Maryland, Butler’s Orchard is hosting its forty-fourth Pumpkin Festival throughout the month of October and early November. Some of the best attractions include the twisted corn maze, hayrides, pumpkin picking, and the zoo. Children will love the pony rides, face painting, hayloft jumping, and the giant slide. Adults can relax with live music, cornhole games, and season

3

Magnolia Meadow Farms

2

With one of the biggest corn mazes in Maryland and open dates throughout October, Magnolia Meadow Farms is the perfect spot to hang out this fall. Weekly special events include the moonlit maze, live music from local bands, butterfly releases, and “U-pick” fields where visitors can bring home pumpkins, sunflowers, and wildflowers. Visitors can also reserve private campfires or schedule a photo shoot amidst the seasonal festivities. Be sure to pick up some food and beverages, and stop by the on-farm market to purchase local or home-grown goods. Families can enjoy vibrant fall colors while riding mini zip lines and hayrides, driving pedal karts, gem mining, pumpkin bowling, apple launching, and farm animal petting.

5

Six Flags Fright Fest

A 30-minute drive from Blair, Six Flags Fright Fest runs on weekends until Oct. 27th. After 6 p.m., the park transforms into a haunted playground. For those seeking a mix of fall and thrills, Six Flags Fright Fest intensifies the fun with Haunted House tours, nighttime roller coaster rides, and eerie scare zones where you can encounter a spooky zombie or witch.

7

Zoo Boo

If you were looking for a scarier pick, “Shaun of the Dead” supplies the cliché zombie apocalypse plot wanted from a horror-esque film with a humorously unserious spirit. Shaun, stuck in the monotony of his life and struggling to connect with his girlfriend and friends, is forced to step up and take control when a zombie apocalypse starts. One of the best aspects of the movie is how it balances spooky moments with light-hearted humor. As the situation escalates, the characters’ obliviousness to the surrounding chaos combined with their hilariously awkward attempts at survival, create moments that are both suspenseful and laugh-outloud funny. Rather than being a straight-up parody, the film brings its flair to the genre, with filmmaker Edgar Wright’s sharp direction adding punchy editing and cleverly timed gags. It’s a zombie film that knows how to have fun while still providing enough tension to keep you on edge. The absurdity of it all turns the film into a delightfully funny take on traditional zombie horror. Overall, this ‘zom-com’ is a super fun pick to get into the Halloween spirit!

THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX 9/10

This Wes Anderson stop-motion animation is an eccentric dive into themes of self-identity and alternative methods of filmmaking. The autumnal palette—rich oranges, browns, and yellows—makes the film visually synonymous with fall. The jerky, doll-like movements of the characters give the film a handmade quality that feels both fresh and familiar. The movie follows Mr. Fox as he struggles to leave behind his wild, rebellious past and adapt to the responsibilities of middle age and family life. His son, Ash, also grapples with self-acceptance and the expectations of those around him. This exploration into the importance of personal growth and individuality is a familiar human experience, creating a tender sentiment in the film that can be felt by many. Every frame is packed with detail, and the whimsical animation draws you into a world that feels timeless. It’s an ideal pick for anyone seeking a reflective yet fun film for fall.

The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore hosts the Zoo Boo every year, a Halloween themed event that is great for all ages. Activities include hayrides, scarecrow making, a pumpkin patch, moon bounces, crafts, special performances, and a maze, all of which are open on weekends throughout October. Don’t miss out on the Halloween-themed activities including spooky face painting, trick-or-treating throughout the zoo, and costume contests. Be sure to stop by the many food trucks for some snacks and drinks. Zoo Boo is a perfect family-friend ly event combining Halloween-themed activities, with the chance to visit the zoo’s beloved animals.

Fall Fun at Rock Hill Orchard

Enjoy a festive day at Rock Hill Orchard filled with apple picking, fresh ice cream, baby calves, and a 14-acre corn maze that is redesigned every year. Located in Rockville, this venue opens its fall festivities every weekend from late August to early November. Rock Hill Orchard has a pumpkin launching event where visitors can choose their favorite pumpkin, and load it into the “punkin chunkin” which is a large tank attached to a trunk that sends the pumpkin flying using compressed air. The goal is to hit a target on the other side of the field, and the record for the longest shot was recorded in 2013 at 4,382.96 feet!

4

National Harbor Festivities

Just south of D.C., the National Harbor offers fall activities through November. Early events feature food-themed weeks including burger week and sweets week. On Harbor Halloween, Oct. 31st, children can trick-or-treat at locations nearby, and those in costume could be eligible for a free ride on the Capitol Ferris Wheel. Families can get cozy at the plaza to watch Hocus Pocus, which will play later in the afternoon. Visitors can finish off Harbor Halloween with a pumpkin carving contest Pawrade on the plaza stage. Later, on Nov. 2, the National Harbor will host the Hot Cider Hustle, which is a 5k or 10k run/walk for participants in support of children’s health and hot ci der. Finishers can look forward to hot cider, caramel apples, and event merchandise.

6

Bennett’s Curse Haunted House

Located in Dundalk, Maryland, Bennett’s Curse is a family-owned Halloween event, operating since 2001. This fright-filled event is open on weekend evenings until late October. They offer horror monster movie nights, special events for Friday the 13th, scavenger hunts, and Black Out Night—a one-night event on Nov. 2—where the whole park goes dark and visitors navigate the grounds using LED lights.

Maryland Renaissance Festival

The second largest renaissance festival in the U.S., located in Crownsville, Maryland. Spread out across 25 acres, the festival is open from late August to Oct. 20th. Arrive at 10 a.m. for an entrance without wait lines, and check out some of the costume rentals to get into character. Grab unique bites from the numerous food stands, offering treats like macaroni on a stick, cookies in a cone, chocolate strawberries, and their famous turkey legs. Next, watch a glassblowing tutorial, or head over to any of the knife throwing or acrobatics shows. Be sure to catch the mesmerizing bird exhibits and the crowd-favorite jousting events, where spectators can watch four knights on horseback compete for who can catch the most hoops on a pole while riding full speed. Before leaving, check out the souvenir shops where you can find handmade pottery, jewelry, or other crafts by local artisans.

EVA DAMMANN

RENAISSANCE FAIR On Oct. 12, attendees from across the state dressed up for RenFest.

Chips Clips

Sudoku

Happy Fall, Y’all!

Across: 1: Skeletal

5: Winter warmer

6: Quarterback Favre

7: Trap for animals

8: Nintendo console

Down: 1: ___yesterday (gullible)

2: Open expanse of blue 3: ___ Dame

4: ???

5: “60 Minutes”

Logic Puzzles

There are 20 bags with 100 identical coins in each bag. For every bag but one, each coin weighs 10 grams. However all the coins in the counterfeit bag weigh either 9 or 11 grams. Can you find the counterfeit bag in only one measurement, using a scale that tells you the exact weight?

There are 12 identical balls. One of the balls is heavier OR lighter than the rest. Using just a balance that can only show you which side is heavier, how can you determine which of the 12 balls is defective and whether or not it is heavier or lighter in 3 measurements?

You are blind-folded in a room and are told that there are 1000 coins on the floor. 980 of the coins have tails up and the other 20 have heads up. Can you separate the coins into two piles to guarantee that both piles have an equal number of coins that read heads? Assume you cannot tell the coin’s side by touching it, but you can turn over any number of coins.

Contact Puzzle Editor Ethan de Brauw at silverchipsclips@gmail.com with the subject “Chips Clips October” with questions, comments, concerns, or any other feedback.

Across:

1: Hawaiian greeting

6: Cow exclamation

9: Expression of praise

14: Cul-___-___

15: Unit of electrical resistance

16: Walked through water

17: Protector of fields

19: ____ out a living

20: Malayan boat

21: Zephyr

22: Type of tree

25: Living large, spending lavishly

28: Maritime: Abbr.

30: Shows appreciation, in a way

36: Son of Ham in Genesis

37: Method to teach a subject or concept

38: Take ____ of faith

40: Long term relationship

41: First appearance

42: New USMNT manager Pochettino

44: Ark builder

45: The best type of pie

48: Up ___ good

49: ____ Fables

51: Catch some rays

52: Cave, cavern

57: Shallow antonym

59: Broadcast component

60: Crunchy and autumnal

65: Ecological community

66: Help

67: Garlicky mayonnaise

68: No turn _____

69: A female deer

70: Egg containers

Down: 1: Commercials

2: Regulatory term in telecommunications: abbr.

3: Spanish she-bear

4: Heavenly instrument

5: Bitter

6: Esprit de corps

7: Cry of discovery

8: “Be there soon,” in a text

9: Water pitcher

10: Erie or Huron

11: Garfield’s punching bag

12: Cohort after millenials, for short

13: On the cusp

18: Fossil fuel

21: Born and ___

22: Pitch tents

23: Meat and fish wrapped in leaves and baked or steamed

24: Urban tourist attractor

26: Day to day computers

27: At any time

29: Twyla of dance

31: Melancholy

32: Operative

33: In addition

34: Large lizard

35: Type of boa

39: Water ___ (dental agent)

40: Queue

43: “Later!”

46: A compound of iodine

47: Fencing blade

50: Type of car

52: “Romance” star, 1930

53: Broken down constructs

54: Smell

55: Fourth dimension

56: Pigeon-____

58: Ballet bend

60: Paternal figure

61: ___ de Janeiro

62: Dawn goddess

63: PC key

64: “___ for Fugitive” (Grafton novel)

ETHAN DE BRAUW

JONAH CHOPRA-KHAN

ETHAN DE BRAUW

ETHAN DE BRAUW

JOSEPHINE BRUNN LAKE

October 16, 2024

The Blair turf war

Blair, Northwood, Club teams battle for limited field time

By RAE FOSTER and LYDIA PASS

Blair has a plethora of sports for students to choose from. However, this results in limited space on the athletic fields. Recently, a new level of competition has made it more challenging for Blair sports to share their facilities.

Although Blair offers sports year-round, the fall season features the most teams out of any time in the year. Given the majority of fall teams require fields for both practice and competition, lack of space has been a consistent issue at Blair. However, this year the dilemma has been amplified by the introduction of new fall sports such as flag football, outside organizations who rent out the county-owned fields, and the scheduling of Northwood games at Blair because of the campus’ long-term construction plans.

The turf is nice because we can connect with the team and actually work on the things we need to work on—really use our time.

For Meron Koro, girls’

varsity soccer captain, the lack of field time available to her team has been a struggle. “We haven’t had a lot of turf time, which a lot of people on our team have been very hurt by that … we would have to compromise and go to the track or to the practice field,” she said.

According to Blair Athletic Director Rita Boule, schedules are not unique to a school, but are part of a process that involves schools around the county. “The scheduling process is done centrally in the county. What happens is, there’s 25 high schools, and there are certain athletic directors that are assigned to certain sports, and that group of athletic directors and someone from central athletics creates a county schedule for all 25 high schools in that sport,” she explained. “So you have field space, you have constraints, you have play dates, you have divisions; you have a lot that goes into creating an entire schedule.”

up, you get on. It’s smoother; it’s nicer,” Koro remarked.

Even though Blair athletics has priority over the fields for the most part, Montgomery Parks—a government agency in Montgomery County—owns the stadium, practice, and track fields, which is an additional complication. “I know most other MCPS schools control their own facilities, and so not having full control and authority over decisions when it

football this fall, one solution to having limited field space was to hold morning practices twice a week, starting at 6 AM. “In order to accommodate others [and ourselves] and take one for the team, we said, ‘You know what, we can do some early morning practices,’” Morgan Patel, head coach of flag football, said.

Blair has three fields on its campus: the stadium field, the track field, and the practice field. Scheduling for the stadium is the most difficult, given that most outdoor teams favor it because of its artificial turf. “The turf is nice because we can connect with the team and actually work on the things we need to work on—really use our time. It’s more efficient: you warm

comes to that is very unique,” Blair Varsity Baseball Coach Kyle Wannen said. “While there are some benefits of sharing [the athletic fields], especially [with] Parks [who do] a really good job maintaining those fields and keeping them up, the scheduling can sometimes become an issue when it feels like [we] as the school team don’t have full access to our own facilities,” he added.

With the introduction of flag

For many sports, the stadium field offers attributes that are necessary for players. Patel sees it as a crucial aspect of learning flag football—and many other sports—correctly. “Our biggest thing is, these girls are new to the sport. They need to visualize things like the lines. When I say 10 yards, that means nothing to them … so it really is helpful to have that space. You can’t simulate that anywhere else but the stadium,” Patel said. While Patel and the team have found a way to access the field more re - liably, the early practices have taken more than a physical toll on many of the players. “It becomes a mental health issue too, because it’s tiring to do all that every morning and also have a lack of sleep,” senior flag football captain Chloe Ciabotti explained.

“I’ll get in trouble with my teachers at school for sleeping … It’s really hard to maintain all that and still get sleep and do your homework.”

Another factor in sharing field

The scheduling can sometimes become an issue when it feels like, [we] as the school team don’t have full access to our own facilities.

space is the involvement of outside organizations using Blair fields. “Blair has the field until 7 PM every weekday during the fall season and until noon on Saturdays,” Boule said, explaining that the fields are designated by the county the rest of the time. Therefore, Blair has to factor in this time constraint when making the fall athletics schedule and accommodate for Northwood teams as well, which have had multiple home games scheduled at Blair. At the end of the day, the arrangement process of Blair athletic fields is complicated. Blair Boys’ Varsity Soccer Coach Allie Coyle— who helps create the complicated fall field schedule—concluded that not every team can get the field time they think they deserve. “Making everyone happy just isn’t possible … so it’s a massive puzzle, and you just try to make it as even as you can,” she said.

Moneyball: the spending behind Blair Athletics

By MACKENZIE LYONS and JUSTIN ROSENTOVER

Across the nation, athletics have become ingrained into school identity and are viewed as a path for student achievement outside of academics. Because of this, MCPS collects and spends more than $100,000 per school on athletics every year. $100,000 that can be controversial because spending is often unequal across teams—a distribution not easily understood by the athletes who receive it. With Blair’s 45 teams across 27 official sports and several other club teams and activities that all require funding in order to operate, getting enough money can be a challenge. In MCPS, funding comes from a variety of sources. Much of the money comes through booster clubs—nonprofits made up of parent volunteers that fundraise for teams to get the necessary equipment and uniforms. Nonprofits like booster clubs are not required to report data if they raise under $50,000. The Blair Booster Club raised under that threshold last year. However, the rest of the funding comes from the county and school. For the 2024-2025 school year, Blair Athletics raised $69,000 from previous ticket sales and concessions, and is slated to receive $33,989 of funding from the county central office, which goes into the total athletics budget. Blair’s allotment has decreased

in the last 4-5 years, as a result of the county taking over more costs, Blair Athletics Director Rita Boule explained. “In the past, we’d order a bus and [Blair would] pay for the bus … that switched a few years ago, where the county pays for the buses centrally, so we no longer get billed for buses,” Boule said. “And then, this year, we no longer pay for officials school-by-school.”

I tend to see a

lot

of

other boys’ sports getting spoiled with whatever they want, while we still don’t have good nets, which is the bare minimum.

Non-official Blair sports have to raise money on their own. Blair Crew is a club independent from Blair Athletics, with their own nonprofit to operate the team and raise money. The nonprofit organizes fundraisers and collects dues from team members, which costs each member $1,250 per season. In total, their spending amounted to over $140,000 for the 2022-2023 school year, more than the combined funds allocated to all other Blair teams from the Booster Club and the county.

School districts have justified

spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on athletics—when it could be spent on other issues—using data similar to a study done by the University of Chicago, which found that, “school sports participation was significantly associated with academic achievement, positive body-image perceptions, and self-esteem.” Similarly, a report about the importance of athletics from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition Science Board found that playing sports is associated with increased cognitive performance, lower amounts of stress, and increased life satisfaction.

Blair athletes have mixed feelings about the funding that their teams receive. Blair bocce player Ben Kirby was pleased with the money his team was allocated. “I would say the amount of money we get is relatively proportional to the other teams at Blair. Other sports need more money than we do because our equipment faces less wear and tear than sports like football,” Kirby said.

Other sports have significant complaints about the funding that their teams receive. Asanatou Kanta, a junior on the Blair girls’ varsity volleyball team, feels that her team doesn’t receive the amount of money they should. “I think we’ve been neglected when it comes to proper equipment for our sport for a long time. I tend to see a lot of other boys’ sports getting spoiled

with whatever they want, while we still don’t have good nets, which is the bare minimum,” Kanta said. Football receives the most money out of all Blair teams because of the new equipment they need every year. “Football always looks like it’s the most expensive sport, and it is. It’s explained by what they have to do every year… reconditioning of football helmets is almost $7,000 a year, and you have to recondition them every year,” Boule said. In addition to the $3,600 spent on new football helmets, the football team also requires new and expensive shoulder pads with regularity. All of the equipment is provided by Blair, unlike at some other schools Boule explained. “They might have half their kids come with their own stuff,” she

said. All of the equipment has to be replaced frequently in order to remain effective and ensure that players are as safe as they can be. Although Boule feels that there is clear reasoning for the increased funding for football, many Blair athletes remain unhappy with these disparities in funding. Kanta believes that because football brings in the most revenue through ticket sales and concessions, their funding is proportionately increased. She thinks if girls’ sports were promoted equally, they could have the same results. “Take a chance on these girls’ sports, and I think they could do the same thing that football does,” Kanta said.

JASON YU

ASANATOU KANTA

KLYE WANNEN

MERON KORO

GRAPHIC BY JUSTIN ROSENTOVER | DATA COURTESY OF BLAIR ATHLETICS AND MARYLAND PUBLIC INFORMATION REQUEST

The price of going the extra mile

Students, county combat injuries differently

By SENAYA ASFAW and SATCHEL JELEN

Senior runner Emma Bergfalk never meant to get injured. But that nagging pain in her legs just wouldn’t go away. “I remember that day it happened,” she said. “One day, I was able to run fine. The next day, I was limping.”

Unfortunately for her, Bergfalk had a stress fracture—an overuse injury caused by repeated impacts or pressure—which ended her sophomore track season.“I could feel it coming,” she said sheepishly. “But I wanted to run at states, so I pushed it off to the side.”

Bergfalk is not alone. In Montgomery County, 23,000 students participate in athletics each year across 25 high schools, contributing to a high volume of injuries. Many athletes, like Bergfalk, specialize in a specific sport or discipline year-

round. “I am on the cross country team at Blair, the indoor track team, and the outdoor track team,” she said. “And I’ve been injured quite a few times.” According to a 2019 study by the National Institutes of Health, such athletes have a heightened risk of overuse injuries, like stress fractures, as a result of their repetitive training.

The Montgomery County Student-Parent Athletic Participation Contract requires students and parents to acknowledge that participation in athletics has the potential for “serious, catastrophic, or life-threatening injuries.” For Bergfalk, the risk is worth it. “I just wanted to be a part of something in high school,” she said. “My friend convinced me to join indoor track, and since then, I’ve really enjoyed being able to compete.”

Blair Athletic Trainer Jennifer Perrine understands the dedication many high school athletes give to

their sport. “My job isn’t to take athletes off the field,” she said. “My job is to keep them in their sport, safely.” At Blair, this task falls primarily to Perrine. She works with coaches and Blair Athletic Director Rita Boule to implement county athletics protocols.

One recent policy is the use of guardian caps in football practices. These caps are soft shells that are placed over a football player’s helmet, offering additional protection and padding. “It basically just forms on the helmet itself,” Blair senior and varsity football captain Dylan Rinaldi said. “It adds that extra layer of cushion to your head.”

Another MCPS policy, the MCPS Heat Index, is a graph that uses a range of colors to signal the safety of outdoor practices on a given day. Codes green and gold signal moderate to warm temperatures, while code orange requires mandatory 10-minute water breaks every 30 minutes. During a code red, all outdoor activities are canceled. Rinaldi felt these procedures are largely followed. “Normally, we just moved inside,” Rinaldi explained. “[We] either practiced indoors or just did a lift.”

While such MCPS policies are a basic protocol for dealing with situations or emergencies, it is important to note that all athletes are different. Differences in mindset, injury severity, and team culture all impact how athletes react to injury.

With 20 years of coaching experience, Boule understands this dynamic. “It was really important for me to know my kids,” she said. Boule believes all coaches should follow this example. But such highly personalized care can be difficult, especially with only one athletic trainer available for

B L AIR STUDENTS,

the approximately 44 sports teams at most high schools. “It’s a lot of moving pieces, for sure, and it is a chaotic environment,” Perrine remarked, cracking a smile. “As athletic trainers, we tend to embrace that chaos.”

It’s pretty challenging to work so hard to get somewhere, and then have it all collapse with an injury.

However, Bergfalk feels Blair could improve on helping all of its athletes equally. “Blair could be … more consistent with the resources they have for their athletes,” Bergfalk said. She is particularly passionate about this issue, having suffered repeated stress fractures

in her sophomore and junior year. Having a support system of coaches and trainers, she made clear, is essential for athletes to be able to move on from injuries. “It’s pretty challenging to work so hard to get somewhere, and then have it all collapse with an injury,” she said.

High school athletics remains a controversial topic for everyone involved. Parents, administrators, and coaches all have opposing ideas as to how training, competitions, and injuries should be managed. But one thing is clear: student athletes should have more of a say, especially when it comes to their own injuries.

Although both Rinaldi and Bergfalk have suffered injuries competing in their respective sports, neither is ready to quit. “I play for my family [and] my co-players,” Rinaldi said. “You have the best group possible of ride-or-die guys by your side. I would take the risk-to-reward ratio any day.”

PRIORITIZING PROTECTION The Blair football team wearing guardian caps.

INJURED IN ACTION Blair varsity soccer player Jayden Dasilva Turcios limps off the field.

PHOTOS BY DANEEL KUTSENKO

a captain of the Blair girls’ varsity volleyball team.

Neal picked up the sport during the COVID-19 pandemic; she began playing for Blair as soon as her freshman year began. “I started really liking the sport after playing in high school,” she said. “Then I really wanted to get better at it.”

Eventually, her efforts paid off; Neal committed to the U.S. Naval Academy this year. “Once the coach reached out to me and I went on a tour and saw everything, I was really convinced,” she said. “But if I graduate, I’m employed immediately because there’s five years of service. And it’s just really good pay and good like coverage for everything.”

During her time playing for Blair, Neal has found motivation from watching former senior Blazers play. “Watching varsity play when I was on JV as a freshman was really inspiring,” she said. “I thought hitting the ball hard was really cool, and the game seemed really fast, [so] I wanted to get into it more.”

To climb to a high level of play, Neal put the work in. “I got into heavy lifting a lot,

my sophomore year and their freshman year,” she said. “That’s really important. We do have really good chemistry and I think we all have the same sense of humor so that’s what really gets us close together.”

Neal added that volleyball stands out in terms of its team dynamics. “It’s really nice to have a big group of people you are with all the time, because they are going to be lifelong friends. Volleyball is what brings everyone together since that’s what everyone likes,” she said. “It’s a very unified team sport compared to others.”

When it came to her favorite part of volleyball, Neal said it was the sport’s psychological aspect. “Volleyball is probably one of the most mental sports … you need the whole team to be in a good mindset to win,” Neal said. “If you don’t want to go for the ball, then you won’t. That’s probably my favorite thing [about the sport] in the sense that it’s helping me outside of volleyball [to] deal with failure … and [to] learn from that.”

By LILA GROSKO

hundreds of times before. Rosenberg felt confident in her abilities as she took several deep breaths and stepped up to the bars.

Rosenberg, a Blair senior who recently committed to Yale Gymnastics, began the sport at age three. This is a typical starting age for the sport, which requires great commitment and time. “There’s a little recreational class progression, and then you can get put on the gymnastics team, which is something I started when I was five or six years old,” Rosenberg explained. “And that’s when you start going to competitions.”

Competing at such a high level in gymnastics while balancing high school activities does not allow for free time. In addition to gymnastics, Rosenberg is in the Magnet at Blair. On a typical day, she wakes at 6:30 a.m. and has classes until 3:20 p.m. From 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., she has gymnastics practice at Hill’s Gymnastics Training Center, where she has competed her whole life. Around 8:45 p.m., Rosenberg returns home and begins her homework for the night.

Rosenberg stays organized by managing her time and being punctual. “Communicating with teachers is important because sometimes I’ll miss class for competitions or, recently, [college] visits,” Rosenberg said. “I think my teachers are understanding, which is really nice … they’ve been accommodating

At age seven, Rosenberg knew she wanted to continue her gymnastics career into college. “All of the older girls—when I was a younger gymnast—were an inspiration. They were all going off to international meets and achieving really impressive scholarships at really big schools,” Rosenberg said. “So it was a moment where I was like, ‘Oh, that could be me if I work hard enough.’”

For her senior year, Rosenberg plans to continue competing for her club team. She will have a signing day in November as well as a party at her club to celebrate her accomplishments.

Rosenberg shared some advice for high school athletes struggling to balance school and sports. She explained that perseverance is the key to success. “Sometimes, school will be going well and gymnastics won’t be, or sometimes school won’t be going well and gymnastics will be,” Rosenberg said. “You just have to ride it out because eventually, if you work hard in both and you’re persistent and consistent in your work efforts, you will succeed in both.”

Blair Fall Varsity Sport Records as of Oct. 11:

Football: 5-1

Flag Football: 1-5

Boys’ Soccer: 7-2-2

Girls’ Soccer: 7-4

Golf: 7-11

Volleyball: 8-2

Field Hockey: 7-2

Pickleball: 3-0

Boys’ Cross Country: 3-1

Girls’ Cross Country: 2-2

PHOTOS COURTESY OF EVA ROSENBERG

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NICOLE NEAL

Q&A with Washington Spirit goalie

Nicole Barnhart

By ABIGAIL GREENBERG and NORAH WILSON

As the oldest goalkeeper to play in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a competitor for the USWNT during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and again in the 2012 London Olympics, Ni - cole Barnhart has seen it all. Barnhart is currently a goalkeeper on the Washington Spirit, the local professional women’s soccer team that plays in the NWSL. Barnhart shared her soccer career story growing up in the Mid-Atlantic region via email with Silver Chips Print.

At what age did you start playing soccer?

I started playing when I was about five or six years old. I was a very competitive child and wanted to try out for the local team, so my parents let me. Before I knew it, I was asked to play on the boys’ travel team.

When did you realize that you wanted to play at the professional level?

I can remember from a pretty early age wanting to play at the professional level. I loved sports and especially soccer and wanted any opportunity to keep playing. I wanted to be a professional before there were even opportunities for women to play professionally. I was also very inspired by the 99ers [the 1999 USWNT], and knew that

influence your soccer career?

Well, growing up, there were not really girls’ soccer opportu nities, so I played for many years on boys’ teams, including in high school. I think this helped my game in so many ways and also helped me grow as a person. As I got a little older, I also started play ing on some girls’ teams outside of my hometown, and that is where a lot of my later opportunities re ally came from. I think playing in this region and having access to so many ‘local’ tournaments and be ing exposed to different styles at an early age helped a lot as well.

What’s it like playing for a local professional team?

Playing professionally is a dream come true. And having the oppor tunity to play the game for so long, being a part of helping to grow the game, and helping to mentor the next generation of players has been remarkable. Being able to play in DC, close to family and friends means a lot, because they still get to come out and support me and my team. Playing for a team like the Spirit, with an owner like Michele who is so passionate about growing the game and has such a remarkable vision to do so, has been such an honor and privilege.

How would you de- scribe the team dynam- ic of the Washington Spirit? How does it compare to other teams that you have been on?

How do you handle the pressure of important matches?

Luckily, I have never really been one to get nervous or feel the pressure too much. I’ve always been a firm believer that if you work hard

The team dynamic and culture of the Spirit is so incredible. I’ve been on many teams and what we have here really is something special. Every person and player in this organization contributes so much to the success of the team and is valued and that really helps a team be successful.

How does playing at Audi and in the DMV area compare to other places you’ve played at?

I love playing at Audi. The support from fans here is incredible, and it is always fun to have friends and family close by to be able to support us at games. The stadium cre

port and culture around the team, but I really do love the fans here.

How do playoff games differ from the regular season games?

Playoff games are what you really play for. The goal is to win the championship, and to get to the playoffs is the first step in achieving that goal. The biggest difference between playoff games and regular season games is that in the regular season you can learn from one game and take those lessons into the next game, no matter the result. In playoff games, it’s win or go home, and there is no room for anything other than your best game.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time when you’re not on the pitch?

I love spending time at my cabin in the mountains in Pennsylvania. I love doing crossword puzzles and playing games. I love coaching and helping grow the game however I

I love to cook! Spending time with teammates, teaching them to cook and hanging out together while enjoying the meal is a great joy of mine. I also love art; I was an art major in college. I recently designed a collection for our Disability Awareness Game, which was such an honor and so much fun. Lastly, I love spending time with my family.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

I’m not sure if it’s actually advice, but I think it was just knowing that someone believed in me and saw a lot of potential in me. To have a coach pull you aside and tell you that you can really go somewhere if you want means a lot and adds that extra bit of drive and desire to do so. As far as advice, my dad also told us to ‘give 110% or don’t bother doing it at all’ and I like to think that I really took that advice to heart in everything I do, not just sports.

What advice would you give young players in the Mid-Atlantic region who want to continue their soccer careers throughout college and maybe even the profes- sional level?

Dream Big. Don’t let someone else tell you that you can’t do something—I had people tell me that I may want to reconsider wanting to be a professional athlete, and had I listened to them, I would not have this amazing story to share. And don’t let setbacks deter you from chasing your dream. The journey may not always be easy or smooth or exactly as you predicted, but that is all part of the journey, and such an important part of creating the person and athlete you will become. You will get cut from teams or rosters, you will sit on the bench at some point, you will not start every game, but how you react and handle those situations will go a long way. I’ve experienced all of these and so many other setbacks and tough situations throughout my career, and even though they are hard in those exact moments, they were so powerful and important. And always be a great teammate! Do whatever you can to make every person around you better because that is also how you grow.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT Students Barnhart poses for media day for the 2024-25 season. Young Barnhart at the beginning of her soccer career.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WASHINGTON SPIRIT AND NICOLE BARNART

Flag football touches down in Maryland

The innaugrual season of girls’ flag football

By DIEGO SANTORO-VELEZ and RUTH WAJDA-GOTWALS

Fiona Muir scans the defense as three Rockville Rams race toward her. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots receiver Emma Acquoi racing to the end zone. Seconds later, Muir finds Acquoi for Blair’s first home flag football score, and the crowd erupts.

Last spring, all MCPS high schools were informed that girls’ flag football would be offered as a varsity sport for the first time in the fall. This initiative occurred in counties statewide through the support of Under Armour and the Baltimore Ravens, who paid for custom uniforms, coaching stipends, transportation, awards, and other expenses.

MCPS is only a small part of the broader history being made regarding the sport. In 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved flag football’s addition to the Olympic program for the 2028 games. CEO of USA Football, Scott Hallenbeck said in an interview with the NFL Network that the decision spoke to the strength of the sport. “The decision to add flag football to the 2028 Summer Olympic program in Los Angeles is an acknowledgment of the sport’s tremendous international growth and appeal as a fast, exciting, and competitive sport,” Hallenbeck said.

Blair Athletic Director Rita Boule was posed with the challenge of squeezing another sport into the fall season—which she knew would be difficult. But with other programs’ flexibility, it was accomplished. “It was a little tricky, but we managed to do it,” Boule said. “Everybody chipped in with figuring out a schedule that worked for everyone.”

The team is coached by Blair teachers Morgan Patel and Rebecca Hughes, both avid tackle football fans who have played and coached in the past. When Patel first learned of the coaching position, she was unsure whether she could balance coaching with other responsibilities. However, Hughes convinced her that together they would be able to juggle the commitment. “I was deciding if I thought I could do that with everything else in my life,” Patel said. “[Hughes and I] talked and realized that if we did it together, it would [be] less stressful for both of us.”

Boule was delighted by the two teachers’ interest because of her prior knowledge of their abilities.

“I knew [Patel’s] level of competitiveness. She’s super organized, super talented, smart, [and an] excellent teacher. And I knew that Hughes was a good teacher; she’s in charge of a department, so I

knew her leadership style as well,” Boule said. “So, I knew they were going to bring [a level] of efficiency, competency, and drive [as coaches], and they were going to attract a lot of our student-athletes.”

Building from the ground up, the two coaches established a team with 31 athletes centered around an uplifting and positive community. Senior captain Chloe Ciabotti has enjoyed this environment. “It’s very exciting to be on a team [with] these super nice girls and people who care about the sport and who care about each other,” Ciabotti said.

It’s very exciting to be on a team [with] these super nice girls and people who care about the sport and who care about each other.

Ciabotti explained that the competitiveness of play in the county is intense, even though the sport only debuted this fall. “People come to win and that’s good, I think it should be that way. And Blair does too; we come to win and I think we need to,” she said.

However, flag football’s introduction hasn’t been without its obstacles. Ciabotti’s co-captain, senior Emma Acqoui noted that with a new sport comes new challenges. “[There’s] confusion, especially with refs … and not everyone knows the rules,” Acquoi said.

Flag football is similar to tackle football, but has some key differences. In flag football, teams are composed of seven players instead of tackle football’s 11. Games are also shorter, composed of two 20-minute halves with a running clock. For scoring, all touchdowns are worth six points. After a score, teams can elect to either go for one point from the three yard line or two points from the ten. There is no punting, field goals, or kicks for extra points.

The addition of the new sport provided another opportunity for girls all across the county to compete in the fall season, showing the ongoing attention and effort directed toward developing female sports. Blair junior Gelila Lakew always wanted to play a sport for Blair, and was excited to try out for flag football. “Even though I’ve never had an experience with any kind of football, it was a new sport so I feel like you have more [of an opportunity] to make [the team.] [With] other sports, players are already experienced and stuff like that,” Lakew said.

Lakew appreciates what the team has brought to her life. “It’s a really fun way to meet new friends, get out of your comfort zone, and expand your friend group,” Lakew said. She also noted that her athleticism has improved, and that she’s matured in some important life skills, like communication, since being on the team.

Boule believes that when girls compete they become better versions of themselves. “Being able to participate in athletics makes women better leaders, better parents, better daughters, better sisters, [and] better friends,” Boule said. “All those things happen because female student-athletes are just allowed to compete … on the fields [and on] the courts.”

Boule remarked that the meaning of being a female athlete has changed from years past and the position has now become a very desirable one. “I think that the female student-athlete is now a position that a lot of females want to be in,” Boule said. “It’s no longer that girls aren’t sure [or are] worried about being athletes.”

This social change has also been reflected in the Blair community’s reaction to the addition of the sport. Blair junior Zara Villones is one of the many students who support the inaugural team. “I think that it’s great that they’re developing the sport to have both genders. And I think that it’s good that it’s being promoted,” Villones said.

Natalia Suarez, a Blair senior, feels similarly. “I am really happy about it. I know a lot of people [who] like football and wanted something [to come to Blair],” Suarez said.

Ciabotti noticed that students were excited to support the sport because most had never seen it played before. “People love to come see the games because [women’s flag football] is such a novel thing,” she said.

Despite its short existence, Ciabotti has already found a passion for the sport, and hopes to make a lasting impact on the program. “I want to get closer as a team, and start this really good positive community for flag football for [the] future generations; leave a legacy,” she said.

Patel, who played flag football throughout her life, knows she made the right choice when she signed up to coach because of its revolutionary nature. “I played in high school, college, after college, and there were never leagues like this. This is so cool that they get to do this in high school as a varsity sport,” Patel said. “I would have killed for that, so I couldn’t pass up [being] a part of it.”

PHOTOS BY JONATHAN PETER BELLING