December 2018 -- Silver Chips Print

silverchips A public forum for student expression since 1937 Montgomery Blair High School

December 5, 2018

SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

VOL. 81 NO. 2

A DIWALI CELEBRATION

Special services drawn for door monitoring duties

By Itamar Fiorino and Louis Rosenberg STAFF WRITERS

YEKATERINA VAKHROMEEVA

A CELEBRATION OF celebration of Diwali,

LIGHTS Dancers from the Maryland Hindu Milan Mandir organization participate in a a widely celebrated holiday in Indian culture, held in Clarksburg, Maryland on Nov. 7.

In an Oct. 26 email sent by Principal Renay Johnson to resource teachers and administrators, English composition assistants and paraeducators from various departments were assigned doormonitoring duties for the foreseeable future. The decision came one week after a security breach in mid-October during which two Northwood students trespassed on school grounds.

The security measure places about fifteen support staff members—six of whom are in the special education department—at side entrances, instructed not to let anyone in.

Assigned among four lunch blocks—both fifth and sixth period on even and odd days—support staff were told that “students can exit out of [back] doors” in an internal memo sent to the staff. In the same email, the staff were informed “students should not use the [art and gym] doors to enter or leave the building.” According to Johnson, the implementation of

see SECURITY page A3

Tiptoeing into the Washington Ballet

MCPS pushes for teacher diversity

By Victoria Xin

By Prayag Gordy and Uma Gupta

“There’s this debate… amongst the dance communities. Are you an athletic artist or an artistic athlete? I think … a little bit of both.”

Ballet glides in with strict techniques and elegant silhouettes.

At first glance, it is pure artistry; but when company dancer Kateryna Derechyna leaps into the air, her lilac tulle skirt following her like feathers, it becomes clear — her movements are every bit as athletic as they are artistic.

Derechyna lands with a soft tap on the floor of the Washington Ballet’s Lois and Richard England Studio in the District of Columbia. Her every gesture is reflected in the music: a wave of Derechyna’s fingertips for soft

In an Oct. 29 press release, MCPS published teacher hiring data for the 2019 Fiscal Year, showing a steady decrease in white

STAFF WRITER

STAFF WRITERS

see BALLET page E4

Skincare in selfimage

Reflexión Personal

MCPS

NEWS A2

Asians in film

PRAYAG GORDY

AVERY BROOKS

LA ESQUINA LATINA B1

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ELAINE CHENG

OP/ED C2

Fall sports roundup

Netflix promotes more racial diversity in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Skincare takes self- care culture by storm

Estudiante latina sale adelante junto a su hijo

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see DIVERSITY page A2

YEKATERINA VAKHROMEEVA

STRETCHING THEIR BOUNDARIES Dancers rehearse for their annual production of the Nutcracker at their studio in D.C.

insidechips

COURTESÍA DE KATT ALCÁNTARA

hires since 2015. Of the 903 newly hired teachers for the 2018–19 school year, 61.2 percent, or 553, are white. As of the 2017-18 MCPS “At A Glance” report, 73 percent of all teachers were white, while 28.3 percent of students were white.

Since the 2003-04 school year, the county’s student population has been diversifying faster than the teacher workforce. Between 2003-04 and 2017-18, the percentage of white teachers decreased

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FEATURES D1

Full coverage of all Blazers’ fall sports athletics and teams YEKATERINA VAKHROMEEVA

CULTURE E1

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Silver Chips Print @silver_chips @silver.chips Silver Chips Print

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SPORTS F1

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A2 News silverchips Montgomery Blair High School 51 University Boulevard East Silver Spring, MD 20901 Phone: (301) 649-2864 Winner of the 2015 National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Winner of the 2018 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Crown

Editors-in-Chief: William Donaldson Adenike Falade Managing News Editors: Mindy Burton Miranda Rose Daly Managing Op/Ed Editor: Lucy Gavin Managing Features Editors: Elise Cauton Marlena Tyldesley Managing Entertainment Editor: Arshiya Dutta Managing Sports Editor: Camden Roberts Ombudsman: Hannah Lee Page Editors: George Ashford Teddy Beamer Elias Chen Mira Diamond-Berman Kie Donovan Itamar Fiorino Prayag Gordy Uma Gupta Amanda Liu Ethan Park Khushboo Rathore Louis Rosenberg Sarah Schiffgens Paloma Williams Victoria Xin La Esquina Latina Editors-in-Chief: Amanda Hernández Jasmine Méndez-Paredes La Esquina Latina Editor: Lourdes Reyes Valenzuela La Esquina Latina Writers: Yesenia Cruz Jenny Granados-Villatoro Executive Business Directors: Siena Butters Olena Zelinsky Business Staff: Preston Beatty Liang Lin Alyssa Ma Ray Mizui Merete Oakes Jennifer Ren Suveena Sreenilayam Managing Photo Editor: Avery Brooks Photographers: Emory Brooks Dede Greenfield Maggie Lin Lucy Martin Elenora Rue Yekaterina Vakhromeeva Managing Media Coordinator: Aidan Lambiotte Managing Art Editors: Seoyoung Joo Sally Zhao Artists: Shashi Arnold Elaine Cheng Niamh Ducey Amy Krimm Kelley Li Kennedy Salamat Katrina Warren Gabe Winston-Bailey Ivvone Zhou Managing Design Editor: Hannah Lee Puzzle Editor: Bennett Coukos-Wiley Copy Editors: Sara Kleine Ollie-Angel Nono Catherine Rodriguez Ruby Santana Luna Warren La Esquina Latina Advisors: Dianette Coombs Maria Eugenia Tanos Advisor: Jeremy Stelzner Silver Chips is a public forum for student expression. Student editors make all content decisions. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the editorial board and are not necessarily those of the school. Signed letters to the editor are encouraged. Submit your letter to Jeremy Stelzner’s mailbox in the main office or to silver.chips.print@gmail.com. Concerns about Silver Chips’ content should be directed to the Ombudsman, the public’s representative to the paper, at ombudsman.silverchips@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.

December 5, 2018

MCPS seeks to change teacher demographics County continues to see decrease in percentage of white teachers, new report shows from DIVERSITY page A1

5.8 percentage points from 78.8 percent to 73 percent, while the percentage of white students decreased almost three times as much, falling 15 percentage points from 43.3 percent to 28.3 percent.

The discrepancy between the percentages of white staff and students motivated MCPS to adopt the Teacher Workforce Diversity Strategic Plan in 2014, according to Stacey Kopnitsky, acting Assistant Director in the Department of Certification and Staffing. When former MCPS superintendent Dr. Joshua P. Starr wrote the plan, 75.2 percent of teachers were white, while just 31 percent of students were white, according to the “At A Glance” reports. “We began to have conversations as a system on the need to have a workforce that was more diverse and reflective of our student population and of our community as a whole,” Kopnitsky said.

Strategies for increasing teacher diversity The diversity plan laid out four main strategies to increase teacher diversity: an innovative recruitment program targeting teachers of color, a redesign of the hiring process to ensure MCPS’ competitiveness in the job market, the creation of teacher retention programs, and the development of teachers from existing support staff and current students.

The recruitment program included initiatives focused on encouraging MCPS alumni to return and teach with MCPS. It also asked current MCPS teachers and principals to find and bring more high-quality teachers of color, in effect asking “everyone [to] consider themselves a recruiter in MCPS,” Starr wrote in the plan.

Kopnitsky felt that recruiting from minority serving colleges, another aspect of the recruitment plan, was also key to increasing diversity. “In our recruiting efforts, we are definitely focusing on going to different historical black colleges

views.

In addition, Starr emphasized the importance of keeping teachers of color in the system by minimizing inherent biases within the workforce. “We must be intentional in cultivating the cultural proficiency of our workforce to ensure that teachers of all backgrounds experience a positive place of work and a shared understanding of each other and our students,” he wrote.

Other retention strategies include fostering partnerships with local government to increase affordable housing opportunities for teachers and surveying departing teachers on their reasons for leaving.

The fourth major component of the diversity plan was an initiative to develop new teachers from minority MCPS employees and students, including alumni and MCPS support staff. In the 2017–18 school year, 41.5 percent of all MCPS support staff were white, according to the most recent “At a Glance” report. “We can expand… opportunities for students who grow up in

“I think... the strategies are paying off, but I think there is absolutely more that we can still do.”

- Jill Ortman-Fouse, Board of Education member

neighborhoods that are underrepresented among our MCPS alumni teachers, as well as for promising talent among the ranks of MCPS paraeducators and support services staff,” Starr wrote.

Jeanette Dixon, an at-large mem-

MCPS

Following Starr’s departure from MCPS in 2015, the county made minor changes to the procedures listed in the plan, according to MCPS spokesman Derek Turner, including an increase in outreach to Puerto Rico, a tactic that Kopnitsky credited with improving foreign language immersion programs. “We also took on a large initiative last year to recruit bilingual candidates from Puerto Rico who are working in our system… to [expand] the Spanish immersion programs at the elementary level,” Kopnitsky said.

Though the approach focuses on increasing diversity, Kopnitsky repeatedly noted that white applicants were not placed at a disadvantage by any of the strategies from the diversity plan. “We continue to look for the most qualified and best prepared teachers for our classrooms,” she said.

The reason the number of highly-qualified minority applicants is increasing, according to Kopnitsky, is that cultural and racial changes in the area over the past few decades

soapbox How important is it to take courses from a diverse set of teachers?

“It depends on how loose the curriculum is because if the teacher has no reign to make changes, then it really doesn’t matter who is teaching it.”

— Elisa Bell, senior

“Having a diverse set of teachers is transformative. Teachers provide different perspectives, and encouragement and representation can shape the future of minority students.”

— Abby Aitken, senior

“It is essential that students have the opportunity to take classes from a diverse set of teachers, so we can be exposed to a variety of opinions and cultures. Everyone has biases, so diversity is always important.”

— Alexander Kreidler, freshman and universities to recruit,” she said.

To increase MCPS’ status in the job market, Starr suggested making the hiring process more efficient to avoid losing teachers to other school systems. This initiative also increased the role current teachers and principals play in job inter-

ber of the Board of Education, said that training support staff to teach, as the diversity plan suggested, would be beneficial to students.

“They’ve worked in our schools and know our kids, and [this can help] them become teachers,” she said.

have led to more diverse college graduates ready to teach. “The population in our area is diverse, and as… children grow and graduate from college, they represent a more diverse college graduate grouping than we had access to in the past,” she said.

PRAYAG GORDY

The benefits of a diverse teacher workforce

According to BOE member Jill Ortman-Fouse, the benefits of staff diversity reinforce the need to hire more teachers of color. “Research clearly shows that diverse teachers positively impact the outcomes for all students, not just students of color,” she said.

Sophomore Bobby Padmore said that he has seen a disconnect between white teachers and their students of color in the past.

“There have been instances in which I have had teachers who did not know how to handle situations in the classroom that concerned minorities, especially AfricanAmerican students like myself,” he said. “I do think it would be beneficial to have more diversity in certain classes like world history and English where we have to study certain pieces of literature and events that happened in history.”

Kopnitsky said that one of these benefits arises from diverse teachers’ ability to better represent their students. “We believe that when students have role models in their building that represent a wide range of culture and diversity, students feel more connected to the learning environment and to the learning and the goals,” she said.

Junior Mariko Yatsuhashi said that in addition to serving as role models, teachers of color can teach about race itself more effectively.

“Although it is possible for a white teacher to have an effective dialogue about race and racial issues, I feel like students can gain a lot more from having someone lead the discussion who is a minority and can provide more insight on the issue,” Yatsuhashi said.

Though happy with the initiative’s progress thus far, OrtmanFouse and Dixon felt that there was room to grow. Ortman-Fouse called increasing diversity “an important priority for all of us,” hoping that at some point the “workforce [will] reflect the diversity of our students.”

Kopnitsky related the importance of hiring diverse teachers to the necessity of selecting qualified ones. “I think that our pride continues to hold steady on attracting the most qualified and highest performing teachers possible, and anytime that we can balance the need of hiring the most qualified with also being a diversified group of new hires, we consider that a winwin,” she said.

News A3

silverchips

December 5, 2018

Blair implements system of ‘door monitors’ for side entrances Security placed on the shoulders of support staff

front of a door and [not] open it.”

Robert McMahon, the Physical Education department’s resource teacher, said he was relieved that there is a check on these areas.

“I’m very happy that there are people monitoring [at] the doors, because the doorways... students let other students in and out,” he said.

“Sometimes they let other adults in and out of the building without anyone knowing who is going in and who’s going out.”

from SECURITY page A1

paraeducators as door monitors is “a long term plan” subject to corrections.

The measure intends to halt attempts at trespassing, which security faces at least once a week, according to head of security Darryl Cooper. As Johnson explained, putting monitors at doors will prevent future security breaches.

“It’s to ensure that Blazers do not let in strangers. It’s a safety and security issue,” Johnson said. “Generally, security and the SRO [(Student Resource Officer)] will take the trespasser to the security office, ask for identification… they call the neighboring high school, send a picture, and we issue ‘no trespassing’ letters. Every time they’ve gotten in through a side door.”

Peter Ostrander, co-head of the Blair Innovation Team over School Logistics, which is tasked with impementing the plan, raised additional concerns regarding classroom distractions.

“Some of our teachers had concerns about students coming in and out of [the hallways] because it was causing disruptions. And so we had to figure out how to minimize those,” Ostrander said.

“It’s a combination of both [reasons],” Ostrander said. “One is to minimize the ability for people to come inside unnoticed, and two is the ability to maintain more control in the back hallways simply by limiting the number of people coming in and out.”

Instigation of relocation

According to the involved parties, the movement of paraeducators resulted from several Blair students opening doors in the art hallway for other students. After the students were questioned, security discovered the students did not go to Montgomery Blair.

According to Cooper, trespassing incidents like these are commonplace within Blair’s approximately 3,200 student population; the incidents are claimed to have minimal impact on students.

“We ruffle with trespassing, maybe at least one individual a week,” Cooper said. “It’s not a real threat, it’s just the thought of the unknown. You may not possibly know who’s going to open these doors and who’s coming in.”

Cooper’s comment comes three years after an incident where four students from other schools entered side entrances, leading to altercations with Blair students. The incident left several students and faculty members injured.

Three years ago, the trespassing students claimed they were “purchasing homecoming tickets.”

Similarly, in Blair’s most recent instance of unlawful entry, trespassers asserted they “wanted to visit.”

“It’s all about safety and security. Kids can’t learn if they don’t feel safe. Staff can’t teach if they don’t feel safe,” Johnson said.

In responding to the threat, the school was forced to face ramifications in response to pulled educators.

Special education

Special Education, one of Blair’s smallest departments, is forced to take the largest load of monitoring duties; almost half of the program’s 15 monitors work for Special Education.

“I would’ve liked to see it be more of a shared responsibility school-wide,” Terel Reid, the Special Education department’s resource teacher said.

Union involvement

YEKATERINA VAKHROMEEVA

MONITORING THE DOORS English composition assistant Edward Meyer reads a book during his fifth period post. Meyer normally finds himself making copies for classrooms with “sporadic” classroom entrances.

Reid later explained that paraeducators were pulled from classes made up of only students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) in order to prevent impacts on General Education classes that

“It’s all about safety and security. Kids can’t learn if they don’t feel safe. Staff can’t teach if they don’t feel safe.”

- Renay Johnson, Principal

contain a mix of the school’s population. According to Reid, students with IEPs are those that require the most assistance.

“The students have an IEP because there’s a [learning] deficit,” Reid said. “Any type of skills that could have a direct impact on their performance in the general ed classroom, we work on those in a resource class.”

Reid also emphasized the negative impact on general instruction.

“Right now, is [instruction] being impacted? Absolutely it is because the staff is not there,” Reid said.

Reid faced several direct complaints from some paraeducators within the department. “How could you treat me like this?” one paraeducator said, after what she described was an abrupt change. “They were so inconsiderate.”

Paraeducators also faced difficulties in scheduling, according to Reid. “Right now, they do not have a consistent lunch period for five days. Every other day, they would have a different lunch period,” Reid said.

English department The English department faced

similar challenges after time slots were taken from lunch-block instruction and shifted contractuallyobligated lunch sessions. Academic support was reduced and composition assistants were pulled from other supporting duties such as teacher aid within classrooms.

Following the implementation of the door monitoring policy that led to academic support being limited to just one lunch period every other day, several composition assistants came together in drafting a formal complaint letter addressed to Renée Singleton, the English department’s resource teacher.

Within the letter, composition assistants expressed their issues with the reductions of student support.

“We recognize that the initiative is for the benefit of the students and school security, and that we are all ultimately here to support students. As composition assistants, though, we feel that we best achieve our goal to support students by assisting them with writing tasks in the classroom,” the letter said.

Various door monitors expressed feelings of uselessness in the face of possible confrontations, feeling like their placement would be better used within the department.

“I would not know how to handle any sort of altercation or incident that could potentially happen while guarding this door,” Carly Moore, an English composition assistant, said during her forty-five minute post. “I feel my background is specifically for the English department and I should be used for the English department.”

After the complaints, intradepartmental schedule changes were made. Academic support for the English department now covers all lunch blocks with the exception of fifth period on even days. However, composition assistants are still being pulled from classes.

Johnson, speaking to Singleton, expressed a need for teachers, rather than paras, to pick-up the slack that had developed.

“We talked in person and I said ‘have your teachers support kids.’ If I was a student, and maybe, I’m not

like most students, I would prefer to have help from one of my teachers,” Johnson said.

Balancing resources and security When deciding to move human resources, the administration was forced to decide on the most pressing issue.

“We’re saying, okay, we might not provide that support to this

“I would not know how to handle any sort of altercation or incident that could potentially happen while guarding this door.”

- Carly Moore,

English Composition Assistant class, but what’s more important, that we have safe, quiet hallways for classes that are currently going on—which might affect a couple of hundred students—or these paraeducators in class that might support ten to fifteen students?” Ostrander, who created the door monitors’ schedules, said.

With recent threats to security and school shootings dominating the national news cycle, Johnson felt as though this were the only solution to a rising problem.

“Removing resources from one area to protect the safety and security of the entire population of 3,500 people every day is what I have to do to ensure safety and security of our students and staff,” Johnson said. “They’re not guarding the doors, they are not security, they are door monitors… I wouldn’t see a lot of training needed to sit in

All paraeducators and composition assistants, who are the door monitors, are part of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a union that represents support staff and has different rules than the Montgomery County Education Association which represents teachers.

The SEIU’s agreement with the Board of Education lays out procedure for the addition of assignments not relevant to an employee’s work, such as door monitoring.

According to the agreement, “to the extent feasible, employees’ regularly assigned work will not be interrupted by assignments that are not germane to such work.

However, supervisors retain the right to assign work. A principal or appropriate supervisor may determine that it is necessary in a particular circumstance to interrupt an employee’s work for duties not germane to the employee’s regular assignment.”

The door monitors, however, retain the right to raise complaints to administrators and take appropriate action.

According to the most recent agreement, “if the matter is not addressed in a manner that resolves the concern, the union may refer the matter to the appropriate deputy superintendent’s office for further consideration.” This course of action is available for all door monitors and means that if the assigned duty is found to have a strong impact on their work, a level of oversight is still available.

Ensuring security despite open doors

With a growing population of over 3,200 students and a SAC rated for a capacity of 766 people, the school is forced to distribute students throughout different areas, including outdoors. The need for a flow of students requires entrances like the SAC to be open during lunch without active student verification. “Imagine fifteen to thirty seconds per ID, 1,600 kids coming in—that’s 800 minutes of checking IDs. That’s just not going to happen,” Ostrander said.

Johnson, Ostrander, and Cooper all recognized that for the monitor system to be effective, students redirected to the SAC entrance would need to face more rigorous measures of security than those of regular side entrances.

“At least we have school personnel here,” Ostrander said. “And that’s kind of the point, to have school personnel at all points of entry.”

According to Johnson, security guards can typically determine which students are potential intruders and question them, without checking for IDs. Corroborating Johnson’s claim, Cooper said, “When we’re looking around, I can look at somebody and say ‘I’ve never seen you before’… there have been several times where, again, we can just see that those kids don’t belong here, and we’re able to get them out of the door as soon as possible.”

A4 News Newsbriefs MCPS hazing On Oct. 31, Damascus JV football team players Jean Abedi, Kristian Lee, Will Smith, and Caleb Thorpe committed an act that lead them to be charged as adults with first-degree rape charges after an investigation of hazing at the school. As of Nov. 30, each have been charged with one count of first-degree rape, three counts of attempted first-degree rape, and four counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree rape. The eight charges accumulate to a minimum of 97 years to life in prison. The hazing ritual involved these students attempting to sodomize four new teammates with a broom handle after turning the lights off in the school following practice.

On Sept. 18, the Seneca Valley football team became part of an investigation involving hazing. One team member claimed to have been assaulted by several other members of the football team. These allegations led to a full-length investigation into the case, but because the victim did not wish to file charges or continue the investigation, all efforts into finding the culprits were stopped. Several suspects on the football team received disciplinary action from the school and “two coaches have been disciplined,” ABC 7 said. This disciplinary action came from the county and the superintendent.

These events across MCPS have brought attention to sports team-related hazing in schools, and anti-bullying campaigns have begun county-wide. At Blair, all fall student athletes were required to attend an informational meeting about hazing on Nov. 16.

December 5, 2018

silverchips

OneBlair hosts interracial dialogue

Students gather to promote social justice at Blair

ney Acuff said. “You have so many similarities to these people and you don’t really think about the issues that they go through every day.”

Others noticed the spread of students across the gymnasium.

“There were definitely a lot more minority students that were in the back than there were white people,” senior Carlos Barba-Ruiz said. Ultimately, the participants believed the privilege walk was an informative experience. “We could literally look back and see how other people, regardless of what you can see on the outside, how they are not as privileged as you are,” Barba-Ruiz said.

After ninth period dismissal, a smaller group stayed behind to converse in the media center. “It turned into a discussion about how history is taught in schools, and how sometimes you don’t learn the full history of your people or you learn a different history,” junior Ro-

shawyna Chambers said.

On Oct. 31, Blair alumnus Sebastian Johnson spoke to attendees in the media center during ninth period. Johnson was student body president, Student Member of the Board, and a Communication Arts Program (CAP) student while at Blair. After graduation, he was a candidate for the Board of Education and now works for the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, which focuses on criminal justice reform.

Johnson’s speech included mentions of his career in social reform and a coincidental meet-up with a Trump supporter. He revealed that “human-to-human connection” is his most useful tool in bringing about change. “When you have people in your focus and you’re centered on humanity, it makes it easier to see the competition not as your enemy, but as people who are engaging with you in good faith and

have a different set of values, principles, or ideas,” he said.

On Nov. 1, a group discussion was held in the media center on the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

Juniors Amelia Frey and Mira Diamond-Berman led the discussion, which focused on the attack’s impact on the Jewish community and the attention of the media.

Frey suggested the idea in order to extend discussion beyond the basics. “I just wanted to talk about it a little bit more because it definitely blew over in the media super fast and that’s kind of been happening even more nowadays,” she said.

Senior Rafeal Girma, a discussion leader for OneBlair, reiterated the importance of spreading the news and compassion for the Jewish community. “Us not talking about it and shadowing it is the reason why these types of things keep happening,” he said.

Ultimately, OneBlair sponsor Kevin Shindel stressed the importance of allowing all students the freedom to participate in a diverse discussion. “As OneBlair, we are interested in bringing all interests to the table in a dialogue,” he said.

“We are still very academically segregated, socially segregated, economically segregated, and there are consequences for that.”

Despite efforts to include all students, some still remained unaware of the week’s occurrence. “I honestly didn’t know [Interracial Dialogue week] was happening,” junior Leah Kannan said. Those with ninth periods were also unable to join the larger group discussions, as the dialogues were hosted during ninth period. Junior Caroline Danielski said, “If they could get it so that our teachers could take us down during ninth period, that would probably be better.”

Post forecast predicted a total 18 to 24 inches of snowfall inside of the Beltway and a potential 30 inches in areas farther north and west.

Maryland’s first snowstorm fell just a week before Thanksgiving this year. On Nov. 15, the greater D.C. region was hit with a mixture of light rain, snow, and sleet. The amount of snowfall in the Silver Spring area totaled roughly 1.5 inches. The last time snow fell in the area this early was in 1996, when it received 0.2 inches of snow on Nov. 14.

Because of these conditions, MCPS announced a two hour delay as the final decision for school openings at 6:50 a.m. A little over an hour after the original announcement, MCPS modified their decision, changing the two-hour delay into a full snow day. This announcement was made at 8:35 a.m., after some students had started their commutes or arrived on campus.

Junior Sky Bloomer, along with the rest of the swim and dive team,

was up and out of the house far before any announcement regarding a delay or closure of schools.

“I woke up at 4:00 a.m. that day because I was supposed to have swim team tryouts that morning, and they didn’t [cancel] it because MCPS hadn’t called [the snow day] yet,” Bloomer said. “The whole team was on the pool deck at like 5:10, right before practice starts and then that’s when they called it… we weren’t [even] allowed to get in the water [due to the delay].” After leaving practice and returning home, Bloomer proceeded to get ready for school as news of a cancellation had yet to be announced by MCPS. “It was still a two-hour delay like ten minutes before I needed to go catch the bus, and then I get ready for school and it’s like ‘Oh. There’s no school,’” she said. “I already had friends that were already out at the bus stop; some had already gone to school and it was just a mess.”

MCPS’ short notice cancellation of school was a nuisance to Bloomer. “Them calling it super late both times was incredibly inconvenient,” she said.

The cancellation was due to unpredictable forecasts. “Roughly at 7:45 or 8:00, all the forecast projections changed from every outlet. The precipitation was sticking to the ground and causing some ice in some parts of the county,” Derek Turner of the MCPS Public Information Office said. “We realized that it was completely unsafe for students to be on the road… so we made the emergency decision to close schools.”

Safety is an important consideration when MCPS makes its decisions to close schools with respect for neighboring counties’ policies.

“MCPS has to consider the condi-

tion of neighborhood sidewalks, roads, and other walking surfaces for students who walk to school,” Peter Park, leader of MCPS system wide safety programs, said. “MCPS must also evaluate the condition of sidewalks and parking lots at our schools.”

MCPS is aware of the inconvenience the late call caused. “We know that it had an impact on families,” Turner said. “Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don’t, but at the end of the day we have to make the decision with the best interest of our students.”

As the temperatures fall this winter, safety will certainly be a prominent concern for the school system.

“Low temperatures can present a frostbite and hypothermia risk for students, especially those who walk to school since they are spending more time exposed to the weather,” Park said. “Heavy snow can cause branches, and even trees, to fall over. People have been struck by chunks of ice sliding off school roofs.”

On Nov. 12, three days prior to the first snowfall, Montgomery County saw an excessive amount of crashes due to an extended period of rainfall, according to WTOP. First responders reported 400 accidents throughout Maryland on that Monday alone, and two people died in these accidents. That day, within a three hour period from 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., first responder crews responded to a dozen collisions and six different incidents of struck pedestrians.

For students like Bloomer, these safety problems have already begun to appear. “My brother that goes to UMD, he still had classes, went outside, and he fell. He slipped on the ice and he fell twice,” she said.

By Victoria Xin STAFF WRITER

Student empowerment group OneBlair hosted its fourth annual Interracial Dialogue week from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1. From professional talks to privilege walks, the event centered on human connection and included multiple discussion topics and activities on issues typically not touched upon in the classroom.

The privilege walk, the most popular activity, was conducted in the Nelson H. Kobren Memorial Gymnasium during ninth period on Oct. 30. OneBlair members, the Minority Scholars Program, and the general student population were asked to participate.

During the walk, Adiba Chowdhury, co-president of OneBlair, read aloud statements that indicated privilege and directed students to step either forward or backward depending on the contents of the statement.

Examples included “If you have been called names because of your race, class, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, take one step backward,” and “If you were taken to art galleries, museums, or plays by your parents, take one step forward.”

After the list of statements came to an end, students could observe themselves in a position of relative privilege in comparison to other attendees. Following the walk, students were arranged into diverse groups in the media center and discussed their insights from the activity.

Some students took a deeper Spring break extended for look at their own privilege. “Really good friends of mine were really next school year far behind me in the walk, and it MCPS has released the dates for really shocked me,” junior Sydthe 2019-2020 school year spring break. The calendar will return to a ten-day break next year, with schools closing from April 4 to April 13. Spring break this year is only six days as a result of Gov. Ho- By Paloma Williams gan’s requirement that Maryland STAFF WRITER schools start after Labor Day but This winter, temperatures are still complete 180 days of instruction. To expand next year’s spring inching towards record-breaking break, full professional days for numbers. Maryland is only 2.76 teachers were removed from the inches away from surpassing the record of 61.33 inches of rainfall, calendar. set in 1889, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Ledbetter. As the year eases D.C. schools add non-binary Cody from fall to winter, area sources anticipate the coming winter will bring option for gender an interesting mix of temperatures D.C. Public Schools announced and weather events. that students in the 2019-2020 According to a Fox 5 weather school year will be able to register forecast, the D.C. area should extheir gender as “non-binary.” This pect a colder than average winter step was taken to provide comfort along with above average snowfall. and security for all students in the The forecast also predicted that classroom, according to school of- December will be riddled with freficials. Gender-neutral bathrooms quent alternations between warm and a third “other” option for gen- and cold periods. They expect at der on forms will be included for least one storm of more than ten all students. Enrollment forms will inches, with February being the provide an option for parents and most likely candidate for when the students to specify a third or “oth- storm will occur. The Washington er” gender.

These changes were not easy to make for administration, according to Joel Baum, senior director for student advocacy group Gender Spectrum. Many computer configurations only recognize two gender options, male and female, so major changes in the computer programming needed to be made, which was particularly hard for certain jurisdictions to do, Baum said.

These changes come in the midst of statements from the Trump administration to redefine gender to biological sex at birth, according to the Washington Post.

AVERY BROOKS

PRIVILEGE WALK Blair students participate in Interracial Dialogue week by attending a privilege recognition activity.

Rough winter forecasted for D.C. region

Newsbriefs compiled by Teddy Beamer

GABE WINSTON-BAILEY

December 5, 2018

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Montgomery County responds to climate change study A summary of the bills and initiatives passed to reduce global warming

By Teddy Beamer STAFF WRITER

On Oct. 16, the Montgomery County Council passed a bill to create the position of Director of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to oversee the success of all green actions in the county.

This bill was passed two weeks after a new study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was released on Oct. 1 that found that a 1.5 degree Celsius temperature rise is the most that the Earth can sustain before changes are unable to be reversed and communities are exposed to unprecedented and uncontrollable heatwaves. As of the 2015 Paris Agreements, it was thought that a 2 degree increase was the maximum.

According to an official press release from the IPCC, the effects a 1.5 degree rise in temperature will have on the planet can be irreversible and life-threatening.

Montgomery County also outlined a plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2027 and 100 percent by 2035, according to Senior Legislative Analyst Keith Levchenko. These goals were set by the Montgomery County Climate Mobilization Work Group, who believe a “‘massive cultural shift” and “dramatic changes’” are necessary for the accomplishment of these goals.

Changes to lower emissions will come largely from the Montgomery County Office of Energy and Sustainability (OES) in the Department of General Services. The OES works to improve the government’s internal operations, analyzing how to “[make] our buildings more environmentally friendly, [install] so-

In the spring of 2018, hundreds of students from all across the DMV gathered in the Silver Spring Civics Center to listen to speakers and participate in workshops made to educate about the looming presence of climate change and its impacts both physically and socially. The event was run by the Green Club and pioneered by Levien.

Levien originally started the summit as a way for students to become more environmentally involved. “[Levien saw] a climate change documentary and she was like ‘I want to find a way for students to be as inspired and incensed by this as I am, so I’m going to start a field trip!’” Green Club co-president and senior Anna Brookes said.

The Green Club has taken over the responsibilities of planning and running the event since the success of the first summit two years ago.

Brookes and the rest of the Green Club were inspired to make a change and give young people a voice in the environmental movement. “I think people aren’t quite as switched on or aware of climate change as we are of a lot of other issues just because nobody’s done COURTESY OF LEO BLAIN a good enough job explaining how CLIMATE SUMMIT Blair students listen to a speaker at the climate sum- climate change is going to affect evmit hosted by the Green Club in the Silver Spring Civic Building at Veteran’s Plaza. ery other issue were already facing,” Brookes said.

The movement is largely dedilar panels on buildings, [and buy] Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md. 8) and main stress was ‘this is an issue electric vehicles... to improve our Montgomery County Council- that affects everybody: young, old, cated to finding substantive changes internal county government opera- member Marc Elrich. Leaders in politicians, whether you’re Hindu, not only by raising awareness but tions in terms of climate change,” the Hindu and Jewish community Jewish, Christian, whatever. This also through legislation. “It’s really Levchenko said. also lead the audience in interfaith is really an issue that affects every- good to spread awareness and get Around the DMV, people prayers. one.’” Medina-Tayac also spoke at people our age and in the county thinking about climate change,” are raising awareness for climate The event stressed how human the event. change. Outside of the government, impacts on the earth have affected At Blair, the Green Club and Brookes said. “It’s most important 350 MoCo and 350 D.C. climate us all. “They were basically com- Composting Club are dedicated to to get our policy makers and the activist groups organized the MoCo ing together saying it doesn’t matter helping the environment, started people in charge to think about cliRise Event on Sept. 9th to bring lo- what religion you’re from, this is an and influenced heavily by AP En- mate change and they’re the ones cal attention to global issues. issue that affects all of us,” junior vironmental Science teacher Eliza- who are really not doing anything about it.”

Speakers at this event included Jansi Medina-Tayac said. “The beth Levien.

Up and Coming December 14 Senior graduation order form due

December 24 - December 31 Winter Break

January 1 New Year’s Day

January 21 Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Student and Teacher Awards & Honors Isabella Tang, Cole McElhany, Emily Liu and Jocelyn Hao were accepted into the Maryland All State Jr. Band.

Seniors Maddy Merill and Sneha Ojha won 2-0 on their soccer County All Stars “white team.”

Lotttie Doughty, Alena Hu, Hawon Lee, Grace Mha, Claire Zhang, Sumin Choi, Amy Tang, John Kim and Chris Lee were accepted into the Maryland All State Jr. Orchestra.

Coach Shafer, Juniors Sophia Wang, and Seniors Haydn Gwen and Ian Rackow won the first round on It’s Academic. They advanced to to the playoffs which will air Feb. 9.

Seniors Steven Qu, Ryan Cho, Zach Zhao, Ambrose Yang, Chad Yu, Claire Hu, Mark Jung, Charles Shi, Bryan Li, Maxwell Zhang and Hannah Lee were accepted into the Maryland All State Sr. Orchestra.

Leoluca Cannuscio placed 13th at the Maryland State 4A Cross Country Championships.

Liang, Daniel Wang win andinKoheler wasn accepted eniorIvy Ryan Holland wonMonroe, his 100thPatrick career varsity wrestling. into the Maryland All State Sr. Band.

Morgan Casey earns new school indoor record for the 800m run.

Senior Ryan Cho was selected for the 2019 NafME All-Eastern Orchestra and will perform Apr. 7.

A6 News

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Maryland and MCPS respond to gun violence ‘Red flag’ gun law and active shooter drills implemented

fend, and deny. Lieutenant Brian Dillman, Allen Goodwin, and Andy Zuckerman … trained us this summer,” Johnson said. “We looked at the three ways to be saved during an active assailant attack by avoid, deny, defend.” Goodwin is a retired MCPS principal and Zuckerman is a MCPS Chief Operating Officer.

Currently, the drill has only been implemented in MCPS high schools, but the active assailant drill will also be to added middle and elementary schools. “They will be doing a version of this, but we haven’t gotten to the training for those schools yet,” Turner said.

Orders under the 'red flag' gun by county as of October 2018

20 15 10 5

Talbot

Queen Anne's

Kent

Caroline

Cecil

Calvert

Worchester

Wicomico

Washington

Somerset

St. Mary's

Prince George's

Howard

cases filed

Montgomery

Garrett

Harford

Frederick

Dorchestrer

Charles

Carroll

Baltimore City

0 Anne Arudel

Maryland’s legislature and MCPS took legal action against gun violence, in response to the rise of shootings across the country. Maryland’s ‘red flag’ gun law went into effect on Oct. 1 and allowed people to petition a judge to remove firearms from anyone who is a threat to either themselves or others. Since the law was enacted, 144 petitions in the state, as of October, have been filed to remove firearms from individuals who pose a danger, according to the Baltimore Sun. Blair also participated in its new mandatory annual active assailant drill on Nov. 13 to prepare staff and students in the case of an active shooter, said Principal Renay Johnson.

Maryland’s ‘red flag’ gun law was passed in April to prevent more school shootings like the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida in February and Great Mills High School shooting in St. Mary’s County in March, according to WTOP. Nate Tinbite, a founding member of MoCo Students for Change and a leader at the March for Our Lives, supported the ‘red flag’ gun law’s passage. “This [law] was the right step for … guns to be removed… [as] people that are not mentally fit at the moment should not be able to have a weapon,” he said.

According to WUSA9 News, only certain people can file a petition against someone under the ‘red flag’ gun law: law enforcement, health professionals, a spouse or family member of the person presenting danger, someone the person is dating or has children with, or a current

of questions answered and we did some threat brainstorming. Like, if our room was vulnerable, … which rooms were more vulnerable in the school,” junior Lintaro Donovan said.

The active assailant drill is similar to the lock down drill but with more choices for student safety. “A Lockdown with Options says, ‘if it’s safer for you to run out of the building and run to the border of the property or run to McDonald’s, then do so,” Johnson said. “That’s why … teachers went over scenarios with students.”

All MCPS high school principals were trained over the summer for the active assailant drill and they learned the three key techniques: avoid, de-

Baltimore County

STAFF WRITER

or former legal guardian of the person presenting danger.

Forty-four of the 144 requests in October came from law enforcement, but even more came from family members and spouses, according to The Baltimore Sun. The intent of the law is to save lives with each request. “Already over a hundred removals of weapons from households,” Tinbite said. “That could be a hundred plus lives saved.”

Most requests filed under the ‘red flag’ gun law result in weapons being temporarily removed from the person deemed to be danger. In some cases, the guns are permanently taken and the individual cannot buy or possess guns for up to one year, according to The Baltimore Sun. The Maryland Safe to Learn Act of 2018 revised and required active assailant training for all Maryland schools. MCPS now mandates that this drill is held at least once per year. “Governor Hogan put a new law saying, in effect, that more money would be allocated to safety and security, but also students would be doing these active assailant drills,” Johnson said.

The drill was ordered in response to the rise in school shootings. “It was implemented this year after [what] we’ve seen at Clarksburg High School where someone had a weapon on them. After we’ve seen, obviously, the public outcry and people in schools just like ours getting shot down,” Tinbite said.

In fourth period on Nov. 13, teachers presented six different active shooter scenarios to their class and the students brainstormed what the best course of action would be in that specific scenario. “We went over the various scenarios that the school came up with and we just got a lot

Allegany

By Mira Diamond-Berman

orders granted MIRA DIAMOND-BERMAN

5 de diciembre, 2018

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El condado implementa simulacro de un asalto activo Blair toma medidas para crear conciencia sobre este tema

tor de operaciones de las escuelas del condado de Montgomery, dijo que “Cada escuela tendrá a lo menos un simulacro cada año...

EDITORAS EN JEFE directores de las escuelas fueron entrenados en agosto.”

13 DE NOVIEMBRE—Hace aproximaEl sistema escolar del condado de Montdamente tres semanas que Blair hizo un ejer- gomery recurrió a requerir la discusión de cicio de asalto activo ordenado por el condado de Montgomery. El condado comenzó esta iniciativa debido a los tiroteos en escuelas y lugares públicos más recientes en los Estados Unidos. Ese día todos los maestros con clases durante el cuarto período presentaron una una serie de diapositivas proporcionadas por el condado de Montgomery a los estudiantes. La presentación, que estuvo disponible en inglés y en español, brindó instrucciones detalladas a los estudiantes y profesores sobre posibles escenarios de posibles tiroteos en la escuela.

Es importante tener en cuenta que el objetivo de este ejercicio fue evaluar y discutir cómo debemos reaccionar en distintas situaciones no es para provocarle ansiedad o miedo a los estudiantes. El propósito primordial fue iniciar una conversación que promueva SIMULACRO DE EMERGENCIA Estudiantes una reacción donde todos se protejan.

Las diapositivas ofrecieron seis posibles estos posibles escenarios de un “Lockdown situaciones con recomendaciones de cómo with options” (un encierre con opciones) en reaccionar a cada una. Si usted estuvo au- respuesta a los tiroteos ocurridos en escuelas. sente ese día usted podrá accesar las diapo- A principios de este año, los estudiantes de la sitivas escaneando el código de respuesta escuela superior Marjory Stoneman Douglas rápida al final de este artículo. enfrentaron uno de los tiroteos escolares más De acuerdo con un artículo publicado horribles en los Estados Unidos. Poco despor WTOP, Andrew Zuckerman, el direc- pués, activistas estudiantiles comenzaron a Por Amanda Hernández y Jasmine Méndez-Paredes

hablar sobre legislación de control de armas más estricta y mejores medios de protección las escuelas estadounidenses. El activismo y la valentía de los estudiantes de Parkland inspiraron a estudiantes de todo el país a tomar el asunto en sus propias manos y protestar junto a ellos.

AMANDA HERNÁNDEZ

latinos participan en un nuevo ejercicio.

El tema del control de armas y tiroteos escolares tocó nuestra comunidad profundamente cuando dos personas murieron en un tiroteo en la escuela superior Great Mills en el condado de St. Mary’s.

Fue después de este tiroteo que los sistemas escolares del estado de Maryland comenzaron a trabajar en la implementación

de simulacros de asalto activo para educar y ayudar a proteger a los estudiantes, maestros y otros empleados.

Este tema y asunto se ha tomado seriamente y se le ha enfatizado a los estudiantes las consecuencias disciplinarias y los peligros de permitir que los intrusos ingresen a las facilidades y edificio de la escuela.

Desde el tiroteo catastrófico en Parkland, Florida y en el condado de St. Mary’s, nuestra directora, la Sra. Johnson ha hablado sobre la importancia de ser vigilante de cualquier comportamiento sospechoso. Además, es necesario que estudiantes entiendan que no pueden abrir puertas a otros estudiantes o personas extrañas. Según la administración de Blair, aquellos que no cumplan con estas reglas serán suspendidos. No tenga temor de informar a un maestro, un agente de seguridad o a la administración de Blair porque esto puede salvar la vida de muchos.

Para reportar comportamiento sospechoso de alguna persona puede enviar mensajes de texto de manera anónimo o llamar a la línea directa de emergencia de Blair al 240-688-7940.

Para ver la presentación de diapositivas proporcionado por el condado de Montgomery, escanee este código.

Caravana llega a la frontera del sur para pedir asilo

Trump moviliza la milicia para establecer orden en la frontera

Por Amanda Hernández

EDITORA EN JEFE

El sábado pasado, el gobierno de la ciudad de Tijuana cerró un refugio para migrantes cerca de la frontera de los Estados Unidos.

Aproximadamente 6,000 centroamericanos estaban abarrotados en el refugio. Condiciones insalubres causó la propagación del “infestaciones de piojos e infecciones respiratorias,” de acuerdo con un artículo del Washington Times. Oficiales del gobierno también han anunciado que los migrantes que deseen seguir las instrucciones serán transportados a lo que antes era una sala de conciertos. El nuevo lugar se encuentra más lejos de la frontera pero cerca donde personas solicitan asilo a los Estados Unidos.

El gobierno de los Estados Unidos está dispuesto a aceptar solamente las solicitudes de asilo de las personas que vienen a la frontera legalmente.

Esta caravana de migrantes originalmente se formó en San Pedro Sula, una ciudad en el norte de Honduras conocida por sus altos niveles de violencia. Aunque la mayor parte de la caravana está formada por hondureños, también se han unido migrantes de Guatemala y El Salvador. Con la esperanza de buscar una vida mejor o al menos poder mantener a sus familias, miles de padres y niños pequeños se unieron al viaje con recursos escasos.

Además de las familias, la caravana consiste de jóvenes independientes que buscan

empleo y prosperidad económica. De acuerdo con un informe publicado por CBS, “Muchos dicen que han visto reducidos en salarios, el empleo y los servicios públicos en Honduras, [Guatemala y El Salvador]... otros dicen que temen por sus vidas y tienen la intención de solicitar asilo en México o los Estados Unidos.”

No está claro cuántos de los migrantes esperan ingresar finalmente a los Estados Unidos o qué sucederá exactamente cuando lleguen. Pero las políticas severas de la administración sobre inmigración, junto con las amenazas del presidente Trump, dan una idea de que los migrantes van a esperar por un largo periodo de tiempo.

Trump ha amenazado públicamente a detener y deportar a los participantes de esta caravana. Además, el presidente dijo que rechazaría a cualquier migrante quien no ha solicitado asilo en México. Sin embargo, México y los Estados Unidos no tienen un acuerdo que le otorgue al presidente la autoridad para rechazar a los migrantes que no solicitan. Además, el derecho internacional establece que los Estados Unidos deben permitir que un inmigrante presente una solicitud de asilo si la persona demuestra evidencia de temor a la persecución en su país de origen.

Además de todas estas advertencias, Trump también amenazó con a cortar la ayuda externa a Honduras, Guatemala y El Salvador severamente. Para cumplir con sus deseos, Trump necesitaría la aprobación del Congreso. Trump también movilizó a los militares de Estados Unidos para cerrar la

frontera sur.

Algunos periodistas opinan que cualquier acción que tome la administración de Trump con respecto a la posible entrada de la caravana podría ser contraproducente. Según un artículo publicado por CBS, los recortes de ayuda externa y de asilo podría, “Conducir un incremento de migración [porque] solo se agregaría a los problemas políticos y económicos lo cual saca la gente de [Honduras, Guatemala y El Salvador].”

Trump también ha declarado públicamente por su Twitter que la cravan está llena de criminales que representan una gran amenaza para los Estados Unidos.

Está claro que Trump hará cualquier cosa en su poder para culpar a las familias e individuos inocentes de ser criminales con el fin de obtener apoyo para la iniciativa de su administración sobre inmigración.

Es patente que las decisiones tomadas por la administración de Trump podrían damnificar las vidas de una porción de la población inmigrante latina.

Las acciones futuras de Trump no solo afectarán a los que están en la caravana, sino que también afectarán a

los que esperan juicio en los tribunales de inmigración. A medida que continúa la presidencia de Trump, es probable que el tema de la inmigración causará más división política. Es crucial entender las ramificaciones que tiene la ley de inmigración en las relaciones de los Estados Unidos con otros países. Es críticamente importante reconocer la crisis humanitaria que ha surgido a raíz de la desesperación de mucho centroamericanos que buscan mejores oportunidades en la vida.

IVVONE ZHOU

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Un voto vale más que mil gritos

¿Por qué las elecciones son muy importante? ficios de la seguridad social o la jubilación son importante para este grupo demográfico. Por eso instamos a que los jóvenes que EDITORAS EN JEFE cumplen con los requisitos para votar, que Una Opinión participen en las elecciones del año 2020 y de esa manera hacer que político los inclu6 DE NOVIEMBRE—Imagínese, estar yan en sus agendas. sentado en su sala, cambiando los numerosos canales de su televisión. De repente, radiantes y vibrantes tonos de rojo y azul revisten la pantalla del televisor en todos los canales noticieros. Son las elecciones de medio término — uno de los eventos más importantes en los Estados Unidos y cada corporación de noticias lo está cubriendo.

Algunos jóvenes se preguntarían, ¿Qué nos importan las elecciones de medio término o la política en general? Tal vez la razón por lo cual piensan así es porque algunos no llenan los requisitos para votar o sienten que no pueden causar un impacto político en su localidad, estatal o nacional. Ahí es donde algunos jóvenes están equivocados porque cada voto cuenta. En realidad, la política siempre ha afectado nuestra vida diaria.

En los últimos dos años, minorías, especialmente la comunidad latina, ha sido ataca- CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIÓN PEW Algunos latinos participan más en las da debido a la agenda política del administración de Trump. Es por esta razón que las elecciones presidenciales que en las elecvotaciones son increíblemente importantes, ciones de medio término. Sin embargo, las especialmente para los jóvenes. La mayo- elecciones de medio término tienen igual ría de los congresistas tienden a enfocar sus importancia porque es cuando algunos agendas políticas hacia votantes de mayor estados tienen elecciones para determinar edad dado a que existe un nivel de apatía con quién es elegido para el Congreso. Asimisrespecto al voto de parte de los jóvenes. Por mo, algunos estados tienen elecciones para ejemplo, los ciudadanos entre 40-50 años otros cargos políticos estatales o locales tienden a tener un mayor porcentaje de par- como los gobernadores estatales.

De acuerdo con un informe publicado ticipación en las elecciones y es por eso que muchos congresistas promueven agendas de por el Centro de Investigación Pew, más interés a este grupo. En este caso los bene- votantes registrados latinos “dicen que han Por Amanda Hernández y Jasmine Méndez-Paredes

Noticias breves La constitución está en riesgo: ¿Sobrevivirá la decimocuarta enmienda?

La noticia breve fue escrita por Amanda Hernández

AMANDA HERNÁNDEZ

vidas y las de otras personas.

Además de registrarse para votar, es igual vital a discutir y definir sus ideologías antes de decidir cuál partido quieres soportar.

“Antes de la elección presidencial en 2016, 83 por ciento respondentes latinos categorizaron educación como unas de las temas más importantes,” dijo un articulo de CNN. Para muchos latinos perseverando en su educación es crucial para adelantar sus vidas y crear una manera de mantener sus futuros familias.

Aunque la mayoría de los jóvenes latinos que van a poder votar en la elección presidencial

en 2020 no están activamente pensando en sus futuras familias, tener una educación universitaria está en el primer plano de sus mentes.

Aunque ha habido un aumento en las tasas de participación de los latinos en los últimos ciclos electorales, votantes latinos “son menos propensos que todos votantes en los Estados Unidos a decir que conocen los candidatos al Congreso en su distrito,” de acuerdo con otro informe publicado por el Centro de Investigación Pew. Adicionalmente, 33 por ciento de votantes latinos piensan que sus votos no afectan cómo el gobierno funciona. Al contrario de lo que cree este 33 por ciento de gente, si un grupo demográfico muestra un alto tasa de participación durante las elecciones presidenciales y las elecciones de medio término, es más probable que los congresistas y otros funcionarios gubernamentales atiendan a sus necesidades y escuchan sus voces.

A medida que nosotros, los latinos, continuamos enfrentando la incertidumbre política en todos los aspectos de la vida estadounidense, es crucial mantenernos informados sobre los acontecimientos políticos que nos afectan. Aquellos que van a estar elegible para votar en 2020 deben mantenerse alertas e informados con respecto al trabajo de políticos a nível local, estatal y nacional. Las generaciones más jóvenes y las minorías necesitan mantenerse alerta y darse cuenta de la importancia que tiene elección a nivel local, estatal y nacional. Aunque la edad requerida para votar es dieciocho, los jóvenes pueden comenzar a registrarse a la edad de dieciséis años. Cada vota cuenta y el cambio nunca se producirá si nosotros no tomamos iniciativas.

Clubes nuevos para los latinos

Actividades enfocadas hacia los estudiantes latinos Por Yesenia Cruz ESCRITORA Una Opinión

Al final del mes de octubre, el presidente Trump se sentó con el periodista, Jonathan Swan, en una entrevista, en la cual donde habló de eliminar la decimocuarta enmienda mediante una orden ejecutiva. La decimocuarta enmienda garantiza la ciudadanía estadounidense a personas nacidas en territorio estadounidense independientemente del estado migratorio de sus padres.

Como un faro de esperanza y virtud, los Estados Unidos es un símbolo de prosperidad económica y oportunidad. Es esta noción la que lleva a los extranjeros a cruzar la barrera burocrática para recibir visas o ciudadanía. Sin embargo, algunos se ven obligados a ingresar ilegalmente a los Estados Unidos a través de medios peligrosos. Esta misma cláusula en la constitución estadounidense no solamente ha otorgado la ciudadanía a los hijos de inmigrantes, sino que también los ha protegido de la deportación injusta o la eliminación de sus derechos.

Eliminar esta enmienda podría poner en peligro la ciudadanía de miles personas.

Además, podría convertirse en un problema de derechos humanos ya que la Corte Suprema de Justicia tendría que intervenir. Si se promulga, es posible que el anuncio se redacte o intérprete de una manera diferente, lo que provocaría más controversia a través de las líneas de los partidos.

Aunque Trump aún no ha establecido un plazo para esta orden ejecutiva, él le dijo a Swan que es algo que quiere hacer durante su administración. Además, no está claro si esta propuesta ha salido de la Casa Blanca para revisión adicional.

pensado mucho en las elecciones y están más entusiasmados de votar este año que en elecciones legislativas anteriores.” Es aparente que muchos latinos han dado cuenta la importancia de votar y las elecciones. Sin embargo, es crucial que jóvenes también reconocen como la política puede afectar sus

Los clubes forman una parte importante de la vida de los estudiantes en Blair, incluyendo a la comunidad latina. Blair ofrece una gran variedad de clubes extracurriculares, tal como clubes de culturas, ciencia, lenguaje, atletismo, y muchos más. Aunque Blair tiene muchos clubes, hay algo que no tiene que quizás sería importante considerar: clubes dirijidos a los intereses de los alumnos latinos.

Hay más de 70 clubes extracurriculares en Blair y todos están llenos de diversión y ofrecen un aprendizaje increíble. Los clubes se reúnen por lo menos una vez a la semana después de la escuela, lo cual sería muy conveniente para los estudiantes latinos porque les daría algo que hacer en un espacio libre.

Blair es una escuela que recibe a cualquier estudiante con los brazos abiertos, pero aún no tiene, por ejemplo, un club de baile latino.

Varias escuelas en el condado de Montgomery tienen un club de baile latino y es hora que Blair también lo tenga.

Los clubes les proveen una oportunidad para socializar con otros, lo cual es muy importante para el desarrollo de un adolescente. También es muy importante que los adolescentes tengan un ambiente donde no están demasiados estresados. Si participan en un club extracurricular, podría ser algo que les quite el estrés y les permita olvidar los problemas que afectan sus vidas.

De acuerdo a la Clínica de Cleveland, “Los ambientes de alto estrés pueden llevar a la depresión.” Como la mayoría de los estudiantes se han dado cuenta, la escuela puede ser difícil o estresante a veces. Los clubes alivian el estrés y permiten a los estudiantes respirar y tomarse un descanso del estudio académico.

Otra razón por la cual los clubes extracurriculares son importantes en las vidas de los estudiantes es porque afectan sus vidas académicas positivamente. Les ayuda con sus notas y también con su presentación escolar. Estudios muestran que cuando los estudiantes

participan en un club o actividad extracurricular, sus notas y presentación en la escuela mejoran.

Ricardo Rivas, un estudiante del grado noveno piensa que “Clubes para los estudiantes latinos dará la oportunidad de conocer otros

SHASHI ARNOLD

latinos con intereses similares.” Si los estudiantes tuvieran un club donde se sintieran incluidos y cómodos no solo les brindaría la oportunidad de conocer a nuevas amistades, si no también les podría ayudar a encontrar nuevos intereses. Además, pueden empezar a definir lo que quieren hacer en la vida, y una vez que sepan, será más fácil postularse a las universidades y tener éxito.

De acuerdo a Centro Nacional para Estadísticas Educativas, “Está claro que la participación y el éxito son fuertemente asociado como lo demuestra la mejor asistencia de los participantes y aspiraciones a niveles más altos de educación.” Es evidente que la par-

ticipación en un club extracurricular puede ayudar a los estudiantes en gran medida.

Estos clubes podrían ayudar inmensamente a los estudiantes latinos porque como grupo minoritario, ellos tienen que trabajar más duro en comparación a las personas de mayoría. La población latina de Blair aumenta cada año, actualmente se encuentra en el 34%. Como uno de los grupos minoritarios más grandes, es importante que los estudiantes latinos se sientan incluidos en todos los aspectos de la vida estudiantil y reciban los recursos que necesitan.

Otro alumno en el grado doce, Kenneth Feyjoo, dice lo siguiente, “No creo que las escuelas públicas, como Blair, hacen mucho para integrar a los latinos en los clubes.”

Feyjoo expandió su opinión llamando a la atención a que “Algunos estudiantes latinos no saben mucho sobre sus propias culturas y ciertos clubes pueden ayudar a los latinos a comprender quiénes son realmente.”

Nayely Bonilla, una estudiante de décimo grado opina, “Muchos de los programas en Blair no intentan involucrar a los estudiantes latinos.” Desde estadísticas a opiniones de estudiantes latinos en Blair, se puede observar la importancia de los clubes en las vidas de los estudiantes latinos. Blair es una escuela que intenta involucrar a todos sus estudiantes, sin embargo debería de esforzarse más para integrar y unir a la comunidad latina.

Cuando se trata de clubes para los estudiantes latinos, hay varias posibilidades que les brindara una oportunidad de hacer lo que les gusta. Desde un club de baile latino para que los estudiantes se expresen, hasta clubes de arte latino, y clubes de lenguaje y cultura.

Si tuviéramos estas oportunidades, podríamos ver todo el talento que tienen nuestros estudiantes latinos y también la enorme capacidad que ellos tiene para prosperar en la vida. Está claro que los estudiantes latinos de Blair están buscando más oportunidades para liderar, participar y, sobre todo, integrarse en el cuerpo estudiantil mayoritario de Blair.

Dicho esto, es hora de que los estudiantes latinos tomen una posición y comienzan el proceso de formación de clubes.

español B3

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5 de diciembre, 2018

Luces, cámara, acción

Latinos saliendo adelante:

Todo sobre los Grammy Latinos 2018 Equilibrando la escuela y ser madre Por Jenny Granados-Villatoro ESCRITORA

Brillo y glamour iluminaba la franja de la famosa ciudad de Las Vegas mientras se preparaba para la celebración de los Grammy Latinos 2018, que se emitieron el 15 de noviembre por el canal Univisión.

Transmitiendo por su decimonoveno año, los Grammy Latinos es un evento único, que cumple el propósito de celebrar el arte y la cultura latina. La Academia de Grabación Latina, la organización que presenta los Grammy Latinos, premia a los artistas en 49 categorías diferentes que incluye trabajos musicales en español y portugués.

Varios artistas se reúnen para celebrar mutuamente sus cumplidos de ese año. Ellos son calurosamente bienvenidos en la alfombra roja por muchos fotógrafos y periodistas sensacionalistas, buscando drama entre artistas o una conversación acerca de los trajes y vestidos de moda de los creadores. Inclusive, los periodistas buscan y escriben quién es el mejor vestido o el peor vestido basado en las modas del año actual.

Este año, los Grammy Latinos contaron la participación de diversos artistas diferentes. Uno de ellos fue Steve Aoki, un productor musical y DJ japonés americano que fue puesto en una lista de peores vestidos por la horrible combinación de colores en lo que parecía un disfraz de Halloween y también por la moda de su traje, que no parecía apropiado para este evento tan formal. Por otra parte, Evelyn Sicairos, una personalidad del aire, fue incluida en la lista de mejores vestidas por mantener su apariencia simple y elegante. Sin embargo, algunas publicaciones contradijeron esto, diciendo que el vestido no favorecía la figura de Sicairos.

Durante el espectáculo, los artistas reciben sus premios por ciertas categorías como el mejor “Álbum del Año”, la “Persona del Año”, y la “Canción del Año.” Las nominacion e s y los ganadores se escogen en base a la cantidad de vistas a los videos de música del artista o cuántas veces se ha escuchado una canción en programas como Música Apple, Spotify y otros medios de transmisión músical.

Uno de los ganadores más conocidos fue el grupo de rock llamado Maná. Esta banda, oriunda de Jalisco, México, empezó a producir música en el año 1986. Ellos fueron nominados y ganadores del premio de “Persona del Año.” Ellos también fueron reconocidos por su apoyo a la preservación de nuestro medio ambiente y de los derechos humanos.

No fue sorpresa ver a artistas más conocidos y actuales en su música como Maluma, Laura Pausini, J. Balvin y Luis Miguel recibir un premio grammy. Alejandra Vides-Austin, una estudiante de Blair quien está en el onceavo grado dice, “Personalmente, yo pienso que todos sí se merecen sus premios porque todos los artistas trabajan duramente y también son muy populares. Pienso que basado en su popularidad eso tiene que ver mucho con su chance de ganar.” Vides-Aus-

tin añade, “Si muchas personas han escuchado su música, eso se significa que es música buena y pegadiza, que se repetirá varias veces en su mente, por mucho tiempo.” Con dicho esto, es importante reconocer que muchas personas tienen diferentes gustos en música.

Aunque muchos de los artistas mencionad o s son conocidos y respetados por s u s contribuciones a la industria de la música latina y en nuestras comunidades, otros piensan lo contrario. Jefre Salvador, un alumno en el doceavo grado compartió su opinión, “Pienso que no se deberían de haber ganado estos premios porque hay muchos otros artistas quienes son menos conocidos y menos populares pero que se merecen el reconocimiento porque también trabajan arduamente.”

Algunas personas en la audiencia no estaban de acuerdo con que Luis Miguel ganase el álbum del año con su trabajo “México por siempre.” Personas como Nathalie Molina, una estudiante de onceavo grado, piensan que no se lo merecía, porque Luis Miguel no es tan popular, ya que no canta música moderna y hace música ranchera. Luis Miguel también ganó otro Grammy por tener el álbum mejor para la categoría de mariachi.

Muchas personas de la audiencia expresaron su disgusto con abucheos.

Sin embargo, es imposible saber si el disgusto del público se debió a que ganó primer lugar en la categoría de mariachi, o a que obtuvo el premio al mejor álbum, en lugar de J Balvin.

Muchos artistas criticaron que este no ha sido el meELAINE CHENG jor álbum de toda su carrera, aunque los votos contradicen esto. A pesar de las críticas, Luis Miguel está preparándose para un año lleno de éxito, empezando con la serie de Telemundo y Netflix basada en su vida fructosa.

Otros artistas estadounidenses muy reconocidos como Halsey, una cantante de música alternativa, y Will Smith, un galardonado actor, asistieron a este gran evento para acompañar a otros artistas en sus actuaciones. Will Smith cantó junto a Bad Bunny y Marc Anthony en su canción “Está Rico”.

Halsey y Sebastian Yatra hicieron una actuación mezclada que fue basada en las canciones de “Without Me” por Halsey y “No hay nadie más” por Yatra.

Además de los vibrantes y excéntricos espectáculos, muchas mujeres también recibieron premios Grammy por su trabajo.

Linda Briceño ganó el premio de “Productora del año,” en lugar de sus contrapartes masculinos más conocidos. Los presentadores, Carlos Rivera y Ana de la Reguera, también usaron su plataforma para hacer un pedido a favor del control de armas y una sociedad más inclusiva.

La banda de rock, Maná, instó a la gente a votar y hacer oír sus voces.

El evento estuvo lleno de diverso talento musical, apoyo, risas y momentos dramáticos. Son eventos como los Grammy Latinos que reúnen a los latinos de todo el mundo para celebrar el talento artístico en todo tipo de disciplinas musicales. Como latinos, la música forma una parte vital en nuestras culturas. Estos eventos son cruciales para celebrar nuestras culturas y tradiciones, ya que nos recuerda cual es uno de nuestros valores más apreciados: la celebración en grande.

COURTESÍA DE KATT ALCÁNTARA

Por Katt Alcántara

ESCRITORA INVITADA

¡Hola! Mi nombre es Katt Alcántara estoy en el onceavo grado, vengo de una familia mexicana y me pidieron que escribiera sobre cómo yo vivo mi doble vida como mamá y estudiante. Para aquellos que no lo saben, soy la madre de un niño de dos años llamado David, aparte de estar en el equipo de poms en el otoño, y presidenta del club de Jóvenes Republicanos. Además de esto, fuera de la escuela, bailo para el estudio de danza de Wheaton.

La gente siempre me preguntan cómo tengo tanto tiempo para participar en actividades extracurriculares y mi respuesta siempre es, “Nunca me he dado por vencido.” Cuando estuve embarazada, la que me rodeaban siempre decían que no tendría tiempo para nada más que cuidar a mi hijo.

Rápidamente después que di a luz, encontré que eso era una mentira. Comencé a llevar a mi hijo a las reuniones del club y permití que mis maestros y amigos le conocieran.

No hace falta decir que todos lo amaban y él demostraba su amor hacia ellos de regreso.

Sin embargo, las cosas no siempre han sido fáciles. Hay momentos en donde ha sido demasiado difícil manejar el tiempo para la escuela y necesito un descanso. La mayoría de los estudiantes no les gusta entregar dos ensayos para el mismo día, ahora imagínese trabajando en dos ensayos que tienen que ser entregados para el mismo día con un niño de 2 años, que ya aprendió a saltar y gritar al mismo tiempo. Además de esto, soy una madre soltera, y mi hijo siempre será mi prioridad y responsabilidad.

Tengo un pasado con la depresión y la ansiedad, entonces cuando la vida se pone aún más complicada, es difícil regresar al cien. Han habido días en donde no quería hacer nada—no quería comer, no quería levantarme de la cama. Creame ser madre es difícil porque uno tiene que poner las necesidades de su hijo antes que sus propias. A

veces pienso en mis aspiraciones y en lo que quiero hacer con mi vida, sabiendo que también quiero que mi hijo tenga la vida que él merece.

Pero sigo tratando de hacer todo lo posible para seguir adelante. No tengo la opción de dejarme ir por vencida porque sé que mi hijo siempre me está mirando y necesito ser un ejemplo para él. Soy la única persona que él tiene. Así que no importa lo cansada que esté o lo tarde que sea, esos ensayos se realizarán a tiempo y siempre entregaré mis tareas.

Además de ser mamá y participar en actividades extracurriculares en la escuela, también he llevado mi pasión de bailar al estudio de danza de Wheaton. Es aquí donde he compartido mi amor por bailar el jazz y participar en recitales. El baile me da una salida que no pude encontrar en ningún otro lugar y también me ha ayudado crear una energía positiva en mi.

Es por esta razón que también me uní al equipo de poms en Blair. En ese equipo hice nuevas amistades con otras bailarinas increíbles que me inspiran a continuar con el baile.

Me encanta compartir mi historia porque sé que este va animar a otros padres jóvenes latinos a seguir luchando. La gente puede ver las lindas fotos de Instagram de nuestros bebés y escuchar bonitas historias que nos calientan y reconfortan el corazón, pero nadie nos ven llorando al dormir porque nos sentimos como padres malos o cuando nos levantamos a las tres en la mañana preparando la pacha del bebé y terminando las tareas.

Pero las cosas no siempre serán tan difíciles, llegará un día en que todo estará bien y podremos relajarnos. Me gusta vivir bajo el lema “Sin dolor, no hay ganancia”, este no solamente aplica para los padres jóvenes, este aplica a todos, no importando la situación en que usted se encuentre.

Porque es necesario superar de las situaciones difíciles de la vida antes de alcanzar antes de atravesar la felicidad y el éxito.

¿Quiéres que su voz sea escuchada? ¡Envie un correo electrónico a esquinalatina.mbhs@gmail.com si estas intersado en escribir para La Esquina Latina o si quieres enviar una reflexión personal!

Check out the translated Esquina Latina articles for yourself with this code! Scan the QR code to read in English.

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December 5, 2018

Op/Ed C2

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December 5, 2018

Do CAP and Magnet benefit the student body?

NO:

YES:

They provide important opportunities The fundamental purpose of the public education system is to educate. Schools serve the long term interests of students by giving them knowledge that they can use to be successful as adults.

The CAP and STEM magnet programs at Blair fulfill this purpose by bringing more educational opportunities to the student body.

The magnet programs access more feeder schools than the rest of Blair, leading to greater diversity that benefits all of Blair’s students.

The magnet programs also teach students skills that, when applied to after school clubs, lead to more successful AVERY BROOKS therefore attractive

By George Ashford and flourishing extracurriculars at STAFF WRITER Blair.

Finally, and most importantly, the magnet programs bring the options of a 9th period and several generally accessible electives, which contribute to the range and quality of educational options that Blair is known for.

Arguments against magnet programs center entirely on the way that they affects the school culture, citing feelings of superiority that become entrenched in magnet programs, and the divide between magnet and non-magnet students.

It is imperative that we keep in mind what will actually affect the lives of students in the long term, and that is not issues of social separation, but tangible educational opportunities such as those brought by magnet programs.

A lot of students struggle to find challenge in the standard MCPS model of education.

“These are students who typically would finish AP level courses early on in their high school career, and then still need a couple of years of instruction past that,” explained Peter Ostrander, Blair’s STEM Magnet program coordinator, talking about why students need magnet programs..

But the impact of these programs on Blair goes far beyond the students in them.

Magnet programs bring in students from all over the county, contributing to the diversity of the school and ensuring that students are exposed to a wider spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds.

The magnet programs have 11 feeder schools and, according to Ostrander, more than twice as many as Blair would have otherwise.

CAP and Magnet students also contribute to Blair’s impressive network of extracurriculars.

Like many other Blair students, CAP and Magnet kids participate in a variety of clubs and sports, and by bringing the skills they acquire in their programs, they can help make these activities successful. “[With] things like

Maya Kirch Freshman

AVERY BROOKS

“[No]...I don’t know if [they do] anything. I don’t think [they change] anything for anyone.”

They divide the student population

programming, definitely being in the magnet The STEM Magnet and the Communihelped me,” said Noah Gleason, President cation Arts Program (CAP) are synonymous of Blair’s Robotics club. with Blair. Droves of these “gifted” students Blair Robotics has consistently qualified attain National Merit honors and other acfor regional semifinals and quarter finals, colades. and according to Gleason has attended the They make Blair look good, but within world championships. the greater student body they only create a By helping Blair clubs to be successful, rift between the “gifted” students and the the magnet programs encourage wider par- general population. They encourage an ticipation in extracurriculars. atmosphere of cliques, elitism, and superiThis, in turn, helps the students who parority complexes, ticipate in those extracurriculars experience and falsely inflate all the value that participating in a thriving the overall average club can bring. of test scores and Another way that the magnet program GPAs. benefits Blair across the board is the extra This creates funding that it brings to the school. “We do a bubble around get additional funding in terms of staffing so the students in the we can run a ninth period, we can run some programs, allowing special electives,” them to disregard Electives which, he adds, are open to all and disrespect all students. other students.

If the magnets were not present at Blair, The Magnet AVERY BROOKS and CAP schedules the option of taking a ninth period class and several electives, such as marine biology or

By Camden Roberts force their underquantum physics, would not be available to classmen to mostly SPORTS EDITOR Blair students. interact with each As students at Blair, it’s easy for us to other. “We have get caught up in the way our interactions at specific classes that we have to take, so we school feel. all get packed together in the same blocks,” Although the magnet programs may ap- Magnet senior James McGhee said. In CAP, pear to have a negative impact on the social freshmen do not even follow the set bell dynamics of the school, to focus on this schedule, instead switching in the middle would be extremely short-sighted. of established periods. For the beginning of What happens at Blair, or any school, is high school, they are separated from the genmuch bigger than the school itself: students eral population and, do not are being taught the skills they need to tend to branch out later create their futures. because they have So instead of focusalready established ing on perceived their cliques. “It’s like elitism or segtwo different schools in regation the same building,” McGhee caused e x plained. by magThe net prot w o grams, separate w e “schools” should also have a look at stark racial divide. their impact Blair is majority-mion what really nority, so the addition matters: educaof the disproportionately NIAMH DUCEY white and Asian students in the tion.

When a Blair student, CAP and Magnet programs should technimagnet or not, looks back at how high school cally increase diversity. However, they are affected them, they’re not going to think so segregated that this is not represented in about the way that the magnet programs sep- most classrooms. This keeps all students arated the student body. from experiencing the full benefits of diverInstead, they’re going to remember that sity. they were able to take a specialized AP Another side effect of this segregation course that helped them in their career. is the inflated egos of those in the magnets.

They’re going to remember that they Their classes are more advanced, so many were able to take an extra class at the end of students act as though they are superior to the day so they could make more room for the general population. electives they loved.

This creates a toxic culture, encouraged They’re going to remember the huge va- by their isolation. riety of thriving clubs that they were able to “The entitlement and the ‘I’m better participate in. These legitimately impactful than you because I tested into this’ [mentaleducational opportunities would not be at ity] is real and it’s very present,” said acadBlair without the magnet programs, and for emy senior Zakariya Gordon. that reason, if CAP and the STEM Magnet Classes made up of students from both were to move somewhere else, their pres- programs and the academies tend to fall ence would be sorely missed. into a similar pattern. If an academy student

Eliza Van Camp Sophomore

“[Yes]...They bring diversity in mindsets...to the whole student body.”

voicebox Maya Guise Sophomore

“[No]...it doesn’t academically... or even socially benefit anyone else.”

makes a point in class, it is often criticized and belittled by the non-academy students.

Some academy students cite this as a reason they are uncomfortable speaking in class. “It made me shyer to say something or answer a question … because I felt like it was going to be [considered] wrong compared to what [Magnet and CAP students] were going to say,” Gordon said.

While a focus on social interaction can seem superficial, this treatment in an academic setting impacts a student’s education. Gordon pointed to her junior year AP Chemistry class as an example. “[It] was a mostly Magnet class … and it felt like I didn’t belong, like I was intruding on their space,” she said.

Another popular support of the programs is that they allow Blair to offer more classes.

However, these classes are rarely advertised effectively to the general student body. That, combined with the derision, either subconscious or intentional, from the students in the magnets makes these classes unwelcoming or inaccessible to the general population. “[People say] ‘You can take CAP electives [and] you can take Magnet electives,’ so it’s the students’ fault for not [taking advantage], but if the student feels like they will be ... looked at differently … why would you want to take the class?” Gordon explained.

The idea that purely social issues have no impact on an educational setting comes from a naive, privileged point of view. For students to fully capitalize on the offered Magnet and CAP classes, they must feel that they are allowed to, and deserve to be there, something that the culture within the programs does not encourage.

The caliber of academics in the magnet programs is virtually inaccessible to the general population. If a student is not in a magnet program but is still interested in the subject, they must learn it at a lower level, in a worse environment.

This is especially true for underclassmen, who have limited access to AP classes. Junior Ruby Farber, who left CAP after freshman year, feels that the quality of learning declined when she moved to non-CAP English classes.

“English has pretty consistently been my favorite class, and [the non-CAP classes were] able to suck all the life out of that,” she explains. “There was no learning, just basic comprehension over and over.”

CAP and Magnet benefit the students within the programs. They offer them priceless opportunities to pursue their fields of interest. That is not a question.

The question is if they benefit the majority of the school.

The Magnet and CAP students are a small percentage of every grade, whose isolation leads them to believe that they are better than students outside their programs, and are somehow inherently superior.

At best, the programs have no real impact on the general population.

At worst, they teach the students within them that they can speak over the rest of the school, and that their education simply matters more.

Rafael Girma Senior

“Yeah...the magnet programs open the school to create classes...[that] wouldn’t be offered at other schools.”

Will Osborne Junior

“[No, magnet programs] really encourage a divide among students.”

C3 Op/Ed

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December 5, 2018

Advocating for student activism

Local student advocacy groups deserve increased support

By Amanda Liu STAFF WRITER

AN OPINION

Too young, too uneducated, too inexperienced.

These labels are often hurled at student activists who take action regarding current social issues, hindering the progress of studentrun movements.

From the Greensboro sit-ins to March for Our Lives, student activists throughout history have highlighted oppression, mobilized their peers, and helped to bring about societal change. Student advocacy groups are an essential component of American democracy and deserve increased attention and support.

The Pittsburgh and Kroger shootings in October were displays of anti-Semitism and anti-black violence that left many shocked and confused. This fall, in the wake of the shootings, student advocacy group OneBlair held an interracial dialogue centered around youth activism in relation to hate crimes and political polarization.

Like many student advocacy groups, OneBlair facilitates conversations that are not often held in a classroom setting. Junior Jansikwe Medina-Tayac, co-president of OneBlair, said that the interracial dialogues are a “safe space to talk about how [students] feel about controversial topics to do with race.” The event allows students to reflect on current events and issues; Medina-Tayac recalled that the interracial dialogues were particularly packed after the 2016 presidential election.

Participants leave such discussions with both a heightened understanding of differing perspectives and a sense that their voices matter. This feeling of political efficacy encourages students to remain politically involved in the future, whether through voting, protesting, or campaigning.

Teenage activists also get to speak out about the issues that are most important to them. Blair’s Girl Up club is one of 1,800 chapters of an international organization that advocates for equal education-

al, healthcare, and employment opportunities for girls around the world. The group’s goals hit close to home for junior Jawahira Baig, an event chair for the club.

“Growing up, boys always came first… in my culture,” Baig said. “I wanted to be involved in something that puts girls first.”

Acting with a marked passion and energy, local teens have made significant impact in their respective movements. According to co-president and senior Mahnaz Habib, Blair’s Girl Up chapter

raised almost $1,500 during the 2017-2018 school year. The club has donated to SchoolCycle, a program that donates bikes to help Malawi girls commute to and from school, and My Sister’s Place, a local emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence.

MoCo Students for Change, formerly known as MoCo Students for Gun Control, rallied over 2,500 Montgomery County students to march on D.C. on Mar. 14, exactly a month after the Parkland shooting, to advocate for stricter gun regulation. MoCo Students for Change co-president Brenna Levitan, who graduated from Blair in 2018, said that the coalition takes advantage of the high levels of political efficacy in Montgomery County students.

“We could make a pretty big difference in our community because everyone… seems to really care about politics,” Levitan said, “Because we’re so close to D.C…. everything is kind of in our face more.”

Levitan’s group serves as proof of the far-reaching impact of student advocacy groups. In April, MoCo Students for Change was recognized by the United States Student Association as the Education Justice Movement Builders of the Year. MoCo Students for Change has also been covered by major news outlets such as Buzzfeed, ABC, and CNN, as well as international documentaries.

Despite their efforts and achievements, student activists ofAVERY BROOKS ten face pushback and adult apathy SPEAKING OUT Blair interracial dialogue participants consider that deter their movements, even new perspectives following the annual OneBlair privilege walk. in a location known to be largely

supportive of student activism.

Baig has noticed that “some adults… don’t contribute and [are] not okay with their kids being a part of [Girl Up].”

Similarly, though Levitan and her fellow student leaders have spent countless hours researching gun control legislation and forming their platform, their ideas are often dismissed and trivialized by adults.

“A lot of people talk about how teenagers… [are] too young to talk about this type of thing,” Levitan said. “They would tell me that… if I hadn’t graduated high school yet, I didn’t know what I was talking about.”

A high school diploma is not a prerequisite to thinking about how to make the world a better place.

Rather, early political involvement teaches students what kind of a world they want to create for themselves. Like adults, teenagers have a civic duty to stand up for what they believe in. Adults, then, have a responsibility to elevate these voices, or at the very least, allow them to be heard. Support can be shown by attending marches, helping to host town halls, donating to causes, or simply listening.

As Levitan believes, progress cannot be achieved if “older generations just sit back and watch.”

It certainly will not be achieved if adults trivialize the voices of student activists.

The formation of politically engaged, informed leaders of tomorrow starts today. Support the future of America; or, if you can’t stand behind them, just don’t stand in their way.

TechNOlogy: no longer an option

Examining the drawbacks of technology in the classroom

By Uma Gupta STAFF WRITER

AN OPINION

It used to be just for the small things: creating an online quiz that could be instantly graded, playing the occasional “BrainPop” video, or reshuffling multiple choice questions to prevent cheating. Now, it is a completely different story.

Where technology once provided teachers and students with solutions to small everyday issues, it has morphed into a problem itself.

In 2008, MCPS began the process of installing Promethean boards in every classroom countywide. In 2017 Chromebook carts became commonplace in middle and high schools.

Today, the county is ready to slap laptops onto the desks of every second grade student in the system. What does this mean? The short answer: digital learning is not a choice anymore. Technology is now an essential part of the classroom, regardless of whether or not it is desired or beneficial.

Under the 2014 Strategic Technology Plan, MCPS sought to roll out 40,000 new Chromebooks and distribute them across the county.

According to Peter Cevenini, Chief Technology Officer of MCPS, the initiative was not based on demand, but rather on providing the option of Chromebook use to anyone who wanted it.

“There has not been a consideration on whether or not teachers or students want them. Really it’s been more of a plan that has been going on for five years [to get] more and more devices in the hands of students,” Cevenini said.

“If specific teachers do not want

them that is a school based decision... and that is perfectly acceptable to us.”

Though Cevenini stresses that the use of these devices is optional, Peter Hammond, Information Technology Support Specialist at Blair, says the proliferation of Chromebooks came in anticipation of curriculum changes.

“The first idea was that we have to put [Chromebooks] in all social studies rooms and the reason behind that was the curriculum that was being developed for social studies was written depending on the idea that there was a [Chromebook] cart,” Hammond said. “That was sort of the idea—that we’re now going to start writing curriculums for the major core departments assuming Chromebooks are in the room.”

When its usage is written into the curriculum, technology becomes less of an option and more of a requirement. Eric Prange, who has been teaching chemistry since 2001, says that where technology once provided him with valuable opportunities to improve his teaching, it now limits his ability to make decisions in the classroom.

“When I legitimately have a choice I think that there is a lot of flexibility for teachers to do what they think is right... But there are certain decisions that have been made where there isn’t much of an option anymore. In some of the science classrooms when the Promethean board went up there is no dry erase board that can be effectively used anymore” Prange said. “I’m losing that choice because it is the direction the county is going in and the choices they are making.”

Unfortunately, whether or not to use a whiteboard is probably not the last decision that will be made for Prange or other teachers like him. According to the Strategic Technology Plan Update, “interactive technologies are… encouraging student-driven learning rather than teacher-directed instruction.” In order to encourage student-driven learning, the county proposes the integration of “self-service portals and automated paper processes; [as] the beginning transition to digital text.”

Though the county aims to improve education through an increasingly digitized curriculum, evi-

“I’m losing that choice because it is the direction the county is going in.”

- Eric Prange, Chemistry Teacher

dence indicates that this may make things worse. According to a study published by researchers at UCLA, taking notes online prevents the processing of information, while taking notes on paper forces students to filter through details in their heads, allowing them to retain handwritten information better.

Additionally, according to a study conducted by MIT, students who

took exams with access to technology did worse than their peers who were prohibited from using those same tools, indicating that not only does technology fail to improve the quality of education, but actually reduces it.

It is hard to understand why something that becomes an impediment to teachers and a threat to students continues to act as a central aspect of modern day education. Regardless, with the introduction of Chromebooks the spread of technology in MCPS is inevitable. One day, classrooms

KELLEY LI

will no longer be filled with the chatter of hardworking students, but instead with the robotic tapping of keyboards and muted hum emanating from thousands of earbuds playing the same video. With this in mind, Prange wonders why technology has become a staple in schools countywide.

“I’m not sure if the implication is by using the technology, we will be better at teaching and our students will learn more,” Prange said. “If that’s what the philosophy is, I roundly reject that philosophy.”

December 5, 2018

silverchips

Op/Ed C4

A firm stance on affirmative action A look at the importance of diversity through the Harvard case

By Mira Diamond-Berman AN OPINION

STAFF WRITER

Affirmative action was first coined in 1961 to promote diversity, and its fairness in the college admissions process is still contested today as it is disadvantageous to certain races. The Students for Fair Admissions coalition is currently suing Harvard University on the claim that Harvard’s affirmative action policy has an unfair bias against Asians.

Despite the claims, Harvard should keep its affirmative action policy as it allows the college to see the complexities of their applicants which benefits the education of the entire student body.

Affirmative action allows colleges to look at their applicants as a whole person by seeing the background and struggles of an applicant that go beyond the numbers of test scores, GPA and class rank.

The College of William & Mary looks at many components, including the applicant’s background, in their application process.

“When we’re reviewing student’s applications we’re thoroughly looking, obviously, at the academic information, the classes, the grades, the test score, but also essays, recommendations, extracurricular activities, student’s personal experiences, [and] background,” said Tim Wolfe, the Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Admission at William & Mary.

These elements in this process give colleges a greater understanding of their applicants. “That helps provide an overall picture of the student to get an idea of what their bigger story is and how they would be able to contribute back to the community,” Wolfe said.

Colleges can then shape a diverse student body that benefits all students as they learn from different perspectives. “Learning with people from a variety of backgrounds encourages collaboration and fosters innovation,” according to the Center for American Progress.

Wolfe strives for creating a diverse class when deciding to accept students. “We’re hoping to bring together students of different past experiences, different backgrounds, and that is going to contribute to a better learning environment,” he said. Diversity and the quality of education would falter without affirmative action because racial minorities would have little representation.

According to the Center for American Progress, a study at UCLA found that after using an admission system where race is a not a factor, the enrollment of African Americans and American Indians fell by more than 70 percent.

The racial makeup of Harvard would be entirely different without affirmative action.

The large majority of student population would be Asian, and blacks and Latinos would barely be visible within the student population. Harvard is currently about 22 percent Asian American, and an internal study from Harvard University found that the Asian American percentage would almost double to 43 percent in an “academics only” admissions process without affirmative action.

Even for some Asian students, going to a college that is majority Asian is not appealing. “The magnet here has discouraged me from going to colleges that are majority …

Asian-American just because I think that people of Asian-American descent are like super pressured to do education and academics, and I’m not into that,” said se-

nior Abigail Lo, an Asian student in Blair’s STEM magnet program.

Blair’s Magnet and CAP programs exemplify this detrimental effect of a lack of affirmative action. The racial makeup of Magnet is not diverse. “For my year I think like 70 percent Asian-American, 15 to 20 percent white,” Lo said.

Due to this lack of diversity, minorities often feel out of place. “Especially being a student of color [the lack of diversity is] actually kind of sad and it makes me kind of feel displaced sometimes because there is nobody like me or there is not a lot of people who are like me in the program,” said Camille Wilson, a junior in the CAP program.

Liliane Blaise, a junior in the STEM magnet program, sees how being a racial minority may cause discomfort. “It is difficult coming into a program and having classes

with people that all look different than you and it is harder to make friends when you don’t see people that share the same culture as you,” said Blaise.

The lack of diversity is not only harmful to racial minorities but also to Asians and whites in the magnets. Students have limited potential to learn about different perspectives and ideas. Lo sees this effect in the STEM magnet. “There is just a culture in the magnet that is cultivated because we are all Asian or white, that we’re not as openminded to other perspectives and other views,” she said.

Affirmative action allows colleges to cultivate diversity, which encourages a welcoming learning environment where students can learn from each other and enhance their education. Although Harvard’s affirmative action system is not perfect, it is necessary in the admissions process for creating diversity.

Harvard's racial demographics with and without affirmative action 45% 30% 15% 0%

Harvard's racial demographics under an "academics only" admissions proc ess Harvard's actual rac ial demographics with affirmative ac tion

HARVARD OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

MIRA DIAMOND-BERMAN

Christmas is not in the summer Stop listening to Christmas music before December

By Khushboo Rathore STAFF WRITER

AN OPINION

For at least the last three years, 97.1 FM has switched their radio station to purely Christmas music in the middle of November, playing through Thanksgiving all the way to Christmas.

They cycle through the same songs for over a month, creating more misery than joy. Who wants to listen to the same songs on repeat for over a month?

The songs that 97.1 and other radio stations around the country play during the holiday season get extremely repetitive by the time Christmas actually rolls around.

In fact, they are played so much that Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas” reached ninth place on Billboard’s Top 100 during late Dec. 2017, even though it was released in 1994, long before any Blair student was born.

Wham!’s “Last Christmas” is 12th on the UK’s best-selling songs of all times chart, having been released in 1986. These songs are great to listen to, but they are Christmas songs for a reason. They show a certain type of spirit, one that is not well represented during November. “[Christmas music is] that warm feeling of being under a cozy blanket with the fireplace on and the pine scented candles all around you,” sophomore Richard High said.

November is about the leaves changing color and finally falling, the end of autumn.

Winter is about the bare trees and the ice that everyone will inevitably slip on.

Astronomically speaking, winter does not start until Dec. 21. Playing Christmas music right after Thanksgiving is giving it about a month more than it deserves.

Somehow, there are people in the U.S. who start even earlier than 97.1 does.

Some start all the way back in October,

soapbox When is it okay to start listening to Christmas music?

“People should listen to Christmas music whenever they want to. Sometimes I even listen to it in the summer.”

— Michael Damtew, senior

“People should start listening to Christmas music right after Halloween.”— Lisbeth Avilla, junior “Why should we care about when people listen to music? In my opinion, anyone can listen to anything they want, whenever they want.”— Clarence Lam, freshman

before Halloween and the spooky season have passed. There is no reason why Santa should be allowed to cast his shadow over Halloween icons like Dracula and Frankenstein.

Halloween songs like “Monster Mash”

by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the CryptKickers and “Thriller” by Michael Jackson set the mood, give everyone the shivers, and get people ready for Halloween.

When Christmas music is played in October, the winter mood is brought into the world way too early. Christmas music does not provide the spookiness that October

needs—it provides almost the opposite.

On top of that, there is a serious lack of Diwali and Chanukah songs in November and December.

All of those other holidays are overshadowed by Christmas and can lead to a separation of cultures in relation to the music.

“As a Muslim, never…as an American, I’m pretty sure I’m required to promote Christmas music,” junior Adiba Chowdhury said.

The separation of identities is not a direct effect of Christmas music, but it seems to contribute to that struggle.

Even so, Christmas songs represent

American culture to some. “Christmas music just embodies the perfection and beauty of the American spirit,” freshman Booyya Berhane said.

However, Christmas is not only American; its music does not only showcase the American spirit. Over one hundred countries worldwide celebrate Christmas, some of which would most certainly not appreciate any association with the U.S. Many of the Christmas songs that are played in the U.S. may be different, but they still hold the same message on an international level.

Take José Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad,” which is extremely popular in the U.S., but also around the world, especially in Spain and Denmark.

It showcases the same message of sharing joy and being kind, something that Christmas is meant to be about, but is not solely a message of the U.S.’s spirit. The idea that Christmas music embodies that American spirit, with the eagle and the flags and all that goes with patriotism, is selfish.

Playing Christmas songs before the right season takes away from the joy that it creates. It becomes monotonous, a buzzing that will not go away until it becomes as annoying as tangled earbuds.

Playing the music before December detracts from the unique aspects of the holiday season. “December is the good time where you listen to Christmas music ‘cause you can hype that up like crazy,” senior Dawn McGinty said.

When people start playing that music before December, it causes the excitement to drain early, and lessens the joy of Christmas season.

No one should want to be the Grinch of Blair—stealing the joy of Christmas from all the children—so wait to play Christmas music, and the season will be much, much more joyful.

silverchips

C5 Opinion

December 5, 2018

My Blair: Personal Column What Michelle Obama means to me Editor’s Note: On Nov. 25 a handful of Blair students and students from high schools around the county, had the opportunity to attend Michelle Obama’s I Am Becoming book tour event in Washington, D.C. as part of Obama’s Reach Higher initiative. The county was generous enough to offer a seat to one of our staffers. The column below is the reaction to the event from Silver Chips’ very

By Marc Grossman own Adenike Falade.

SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER

Letter to the Editor

Editor’s Note: This letter is in response to an opinion in our October 2018 issue entitled “Trash the phrase ‘white trash’” by Amanda Liu.

AVERY BROOKS

By Adenike Falade EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

It was difficult, at first, to rectify the image of the tall, privileged, well-educated former First Lady that I had in my head with who I saw on stage that night. She spoke confidently, in the videos played before the event, to famous personalities like Jimmy Fallon, Oprah Winfrey, and Ellen DeGeneres, but once she hit the stage and began to tell her story I realized that everything that I thought I understood about Michelle Obama was proved wrong.

Though writing a book is what is traditionally expected of First Ladies after leaving the White House, Obama mentioned that she was more motivated to write her book because she had the rare opportunity to tell a black woman’s story from a black woman’s perspective.

The stories she told of the struggles her family faced and the drive to get ahead that she exhibited as a high schooler reminded me so much of myself that I was shocked.

That her Grandfather Dandy moved north to Chicago from the South, just as my parents had moved to the United States seeking better opportunities. That she herself decided to go to a magnet high school rather than her home high school to push herself, just as I did. Hearing Obama list all of these similarities we shared made me realize how tangible a dream can really be no matter what your background is.

To hear a former First Lady of the United States, a black woman, talk about her relationship with her family and her history emphasized how significant her upbringing is to her story. Obama’s story rings true for so many people of color and middle class families in this country. Most Americans who come from humble beginnings find it difficult, oftentimes impossible, to move up in society because of the systemic barriers in place that favor the privileged. But she did it. A little girl from Chicago went to Princeton University and then Harvard Law School and became a global leader in her own right.

I am so grateful that she decided to write this book as more than just the former First Lady, but as a woman with her own accomplishments and goals that she worked very hard to make real. I think it is important for young people of color and underprivileged students to see that a brighter future is possible because, as Obama puts it, “we all deserve and are worthy of an amazing, extraordinary life.”

Joshua Crawford was the ginger-haired, lanky white kid who wore hand-me-down plaid shirts, acid-washed jeans, and a denim jacket with tassles and emblems of Guns and Roses and Metallica to school on a daily basis. He was typically quiet, but when he did speak his voice resonated with a hint of rural elocution one might pick up in Southeastern Ohio. The last time I saw him was in October of 1989 during biology class in 10th grade—he sat a few seats from me and we rarely spoke to one another, not out of animosity, but because our social circles rarely mingled.

At the conclusion of that day he went home, cocked his father’s shotgun, and attempted to kill himself. He failed, but according to my peers at the time, he permanently blinded himself and suffered brain damage. In the following weeks, more than one student could be heard among their peers saying something akin to the following—“that piece of white trash couldn’t even kill himself properly.” Our school leaders never acknowledged the attempted suicide or the awful circumstances that led to and followed the attempt.

I’m not sure why Josh put a gun to his head, but I’m sure he was aware of other students mimicking his dialect, targeting him with ‘you-might-be-a-redneck-if’ jokes and, in one or two particularly cruel instances, letting him know that he was indeed “white trash.”

What do you think?

Feel free to access our feedback survey to tell us what you think about Silver Chips!

Scan the code below with a QR reader app, or use the URL: http://www.chipssurvey.com/

Corrections: October 2018 The story “Taking the World by Storm“ on page E3 was incorrectly credited to Victoria Xin. The article was written by George Ashford.

The second deck for the story “Spending dollars, making change” on page E1 should have read “How thrift shopping can improve the environment and combat climate change.”

The second deck for the story “Gov. Larry Hogan planning to replace PARCC Testing” on page A3 should have “Maryland set to transition to new standardized testing next school year.”

Want to submit a letter to the editor?

Email it to silver.chips.print@gmail.com.

My Blair: Personal Column

Want to submit a personal column? Email it to silver.chips.print@gmail.com!

The Editorial Board will read through all submissions and determine all published selections.

I hadn’t thought of Josh until I read the “Trash the phrase ‘white trash” op-ed— thank you Silver Chips for initiating this discussion. However, one important voice was strangely omitted from the article—the voice of people on the receiving end of the slur, or even people who contemptuously refer to themselves as “white trash.”

In contrast to what Wray contends in the article, social norms suggest that casually using the phrase “white trash,” can be a noble act if the person making the claim is white themselves. By referring to other white people as “white trash,” the speaker quickly and conveniently disassociates themselves from the racism often, if not always accurately, associated with those deemed to be “white trash.” For whites, by calling others “white trash” you conveniently proclaim your “in” status and by way of association, your opposition to racism, guns, and bornagain Christianity.

Within the academic world of semantics, the phrase “white trash” may be part of a larger lexicon influenced by historic notions of white supremacy; however, to the person of which the insult is hurled, the phrase is a profoundly hurtful, derisive, and hateful expression, and the reason people should avoid it, first and foremost, is very straightforward—it’s mean, just like every other epithet used to dehumanize people based on their immutable characteristics.

After reading the article, I wrote to my former classmates trying to determine if anyone knew what became of Josh—no one did. Perhaps that absence of memory speaks to the pain and intention those two words convey.

EMORY BROOKS

By Nieve Barry SOPHOMORE

On Wednesday, July 18, 2018, my grandmother Rose passed away. I came home from practice and realized my Dads car was in front of the house—I was confused as to why he was home from work so early. I walked through my front door and he was just standing there, as if he had been waiting for me to come home. His face had a sad look to it. I closed the door and just looked at him; he immediately asked me how my day was. I didn’t answer the question and asked what was wrong because he was acting unusual. He said, “Nieve, nana Rosie passed away today.”

I stood there in shock.

My grandmother was the sweetest, most loving, and bright person I had known.

Everytime my brothers and I would walk through her door she would always give us these unforgettable big warm hugs and a big kiss on our cheeks. Although I didn’t get to see her that often, with her living in England, she was still a very special person to me. My family and I would visit my grandmother and family in England every two years for only about two weeks. My mom called my grandmother “Mam,” of course, because that’s her mother. All her grandchildren called her “Nana Rosie” or “Nan.” Every time before leaving my Nan’s house for the last time before traveling back to America, I’d always cherish that last big warm hug that she’d give me, because I knew I wouldn’t get to see her again for at least another two years. It’s crazy, I never

knew the last hug I gave her would be the very last hug I would ever get from her.

After standing in shock for a good minute, my brother walked through the door. He had his work uniform on and a devastated look on his face. He had been released from work early because of what happened. He walked right over to the table that my dad and I were sitting at. He never said a word, he just had that same sad look on his face. We all sat there quietly. After a moment, my brother broke the silence and said “I feel really bad for Mom.” I replied “I feel terrible.”

My Mom was in Barcelona for a soccer trip that my little brother had gotten selected for. She was planning to go on the soccer trip with him, then from Barcelona travel to England to spend time with my Nan. My Mom knew my Nan was more sick than ever at the time. My Nan had been suffering from Alzheimer’s for about six months before her death. My brother and I felt so terrible for my Mom because my Nan had passed the day before my Mom’s flight was scheduled to leave Barcelona and arrive in England. This was hard to digest because I knew my Mom was going to be devastated and I knew this is something that she’ll always think about. I knew it was going to be hard to talk to my Mom after my Nan passed because I couldn’t even think about what I would say. I took some time to think about what I was going to say. It took some courage but I eventually called my Mom. The phone rang. My Mom picked up.

“Hey kid,” she sniffled.

I replied, “Hey Mom, I miss and love you. I heard what happened and I’m really sorry, Mom.” “It’s okay Nieve, things happen,” she said. She broke out into tears. It was really hard for me to hear my Mom cry, so I began to cry. My Mom told me she had to leave. I think she needed to take time, so I told her I loved her and said goodbye.

July 18, 2018, was the day my Nana Rosie passed away. It was a day I’ll never forget and she is somebody I will never ever forget.

December 5, 2018

silverchips

Editorials C6

‘Snow big deal

Students already at school? It’s still the right call SATIRE EMERGENCY MESSAGE 12/05/2018 at 12:26 P.M. — URGENT UPDATE: (12:26 p.m.) Based on an updated forecast with worsening weather conditions, MCPS schools are now closed. All school and community activities in school buildings also are cancelled. Yes, we know the school day is half over and most of you are already at school, but come on now: we are MCPS. You probably should have known that we would go back on two earlier announcements emphasizing that schools would be opening on a two hour delay.

Because of this inclement weather, all afternoon bus service is cancelled. We would never endanger students by transporting them in icy conditions, so make sure that you and your children can find your own way home. But do not worry, we are not leaving students to their own devices.

Snowshoes can be fastened out of tennis rackets and duct tape.

If you are too weak to brave the cold, we have options for you too (cowards). Physical education teachers will be laying out the P.E. mats for the night, so claim yours fast!

Space is limited.

If you had the foresight to predict that we would end up, inevitably, cancelling schools just in the nick of time, we commend you.

But unfortunately your absences from today’s classes, which took place before the cancellation announcement, are unexcused.

We have recently been informed that one insurgent MCPS employee, known on the dark web as “MoCoSnow (@MCPSsnow),” has been inciting a riotous mob of students who now believe they have the right to question our authority and prowess in the

area of school delays and cancellations. We demand that you disregard all propaganda coming from this rogue agent. His forecasts and predictions are completely fabricated.

If any parents are concerned about leaving their children in classrooms after school

hours and all through the night, we encourage you to voice those concerns when you pick your children up tomorrow. Any student who chooses to remain on school property will be supervised by a responsible smattering of teachers, administration, mice,

Editorial Cartoon

and cockroaches. And now that we are on the subject, ensure that your child returns the MCPS Pesticide Notification List Enrollment Form if you would like to receive any notice before pesticide applications occur at your child’s school. Your children should not have any problems with the chemicals that we use—unless they are pests, of course.

We know that many of you are upset that we have, once again, broken our weather decision process by cancelling schools after our buses have run their routes and students have arrived on their campuses. We ask that you temper your animus toward us and direct it instead to our area’s collection of weathermen and weatherwomen, who let MCPS down with their surprisingly accurate forecasts. We anticipated, rightly, that the forecasts would be wrong and that the snow and sleet would turn to rain shortly after sunrise. But it never did, and we were forced to make a tough call that, in the long run, will benefit everyone in the Montgomery County community.

We want to thank you all for remaining glued to our website and app from the wee hours of the morning into early this afternoon. Winter is still young and we anticipate having to make more tough decisions this academic year. Your support and faith is always appreciated.

Comments?

Questions?

Email silver.chips. print@gmail.com!

The fight is not yet over Our government has an alarming record of press censorship

AVERY BROOKS

By Hannah Lee OMBUDSMAN

With its unofficial role as the fourth branch of government in democracies across the world, the press being scrutinized and diminished by authoritative powers is not new. However, an aspect we need to recognize is that presidents with significantly higher approval ratings than President Trump have also used their power to limit the power of the press. We saw this in the Obama era when his Justice Department accessed a Fox News reporter’s personal email and serveilled the reporter’s parents and colleagues. The Obama administration also posted the worst record in history for fulfilling requests for public records under

the Freedom of Information Act to this day.

The concept of limiting press has been present throughout several presidential administrations, but the press has made promising efforts to fight back against violations of the First Amendment by filing lawsuits in order to seek a resolution. More importantly, press outlets often in conflict with each other used their powers to protect the press as a whole, regardless of political ideologies.

Fox News filed an amicus curiae brief in support of CNN as a means to use their organization’s goals to “support the fundamental constitutional right to question this President, or any President,” despite its reputation as President Trump’s go-to news network. As we continue to question whether our nation holds a politically tolerant environment in a time of political tension, it is necessary for the press to make a commitment to provide information for the all people, putting aside political ideologies and focus on the much more pressing issue: continuing the fight for our fundamental rights presented to us by the Constitution.

President Trump uses a large portion of his pulpit to relentlessly criticize reporters and journalists for spewing out “fake, disgusting news,” a common phrase he has stated at his rallies throughout his presidency.

Members of liberal news outlets, such as The Washington Post, CNN, and CBS have experienced a staggering decrease in passes

to access briefings, and are consistently cut off while asking questions. Specifically, the recent exchange between CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta and a White House intern led to a widely covered constitutional lawsuit after Acosta’s press credentials were confiscated.

The perseverance and progress since the Trump administration took office in 2017 has been very evident and successful to say the least; the overwhelming support of press outlets backing CNN throughout the lawsuit majorly contributed to Acosta’s regaining of his press credentials.

However, let us not take away from the fact that there are unresolved issues to this day. Acosta, one of the many reporters who attend press conferences for the sole purpose of garnering answers to unanswered questions, still has remaining questions that he was barred from asking.

Acosta is not the only victim of being silenced. President Trump’s immigration policy continues to deny immigrants of not only basic access to benefits, but also reunification with their families. Efforts to remove LGBTQ+ friendly policies from national organizations have not ceased, which consistently goes against the guaranteed equal protections from the Constitution.

On an international scale, journalists find themselves risking more than their own press freedoms: their own lives. This depravity of safety and protection was shown through Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s

death. Though the extent to which the limitation of press freedoms, globally, is becoming more and more clear, it is important to acknowledge that the death of journalists has never been an uncommon occurrence.

As we move forward, we must recognize that despite the press’ increased resilience against attempts to be silenced, the freedoms of the press and the people are still not fully achieved. Until we reach the point of being able to fulfill all aspects of the First Amendment, the fight for our freedom is not over. Let us strengthen the connection between the press and the people to ensure a world with uncensored, unadulterated, and uncompromising self-expression.

To connect with Hannah, email her at ombudsmansilverchips@ gmail.com, message her on Twitter @chipsombudsman, or fill out the Silver Chips reader survey at http://www. chipssurvey.com/

Features D1/D2

silverchips

December 5, 2018

Barking up the right tree

The stories of Blazer pets and the change adoption can bring about

Escape from a ruff life

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), tens of thousands of people participate in dogfighting in the U.S. Cherry was one of the bait dogs used in these dogfights. When Alcantara-Ibanez adopted Cherry, she had burn scars and other injuries all over her body. “You could tell that someone used to put out cigarettes on her skin ... patches of her skin were missing,” Alcantara-Ibanez says. Cherry has since healed; her skin has grown back, and her scars have faded, but none of that changes the pain she went through before adoption.

Shelters like the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County (AWLMC) work to save animals from high-risk areas on the east coast, especially from shelters overcrowded with animals following natural disasters.

Many of those shelters, which are forced to euthanize for space, are known as high-kill shelters. “We have been res-

cuing kittens and pregnant cats from high-kill shelters in North Carolina and Florida because of the hurricanes,” Cyndi McHugh, a foster parent with the AWLMC, says.

The AWLMC also trains foster pets and finds out what they are like, making sure that they are comfortable in various situations. “Our cats, our personalities, they’re really well-vetted. Our kittens are literally bulletproof... they’re used to all kinds of different environments,” McHugh says.

Freshman Jabir Al-Adel Chowdhury’s neighbor found Hannah, a two-month-old kitten in a trash can, and brought her into their family. “She was thrown into a garbage can, and if she was in there long enough, she could have died,” Chowdhury says.

Chowdhury’s family took her to the vet and adopted her, believing they could give her a better life than the one she would have had in a shelter. But even in her new family, it was difficult for Hannah to adjust to the family’s lifestyle. “She wanted to fight with our other cat cause she wants to be more dominant,” Chowdhury says. “She’s very timid and she’s very scared to do things. She’s very afraid to go outside.”

Not all adopted pets, however, have such grim backstories. Junior Sydney Acuff’s dog, Lola, was well taken care of. “She was born into a loving family that was fostering a dog that gave birth to a litter of puppies,” Acuff says.

“She was born into a good household that just happened to have a bunch of puppies who needed a home.”

Lola was not easily separated from her litter, however.

“She does have some separation anxiety tendencies because she was separated from her litter at a pretty young age,” Acuff says. “We think that she might have been separated almost too soon because of the urgency to get all the puppies adopted.”

System Purr-cessing

Although many animals are waiting to be adopted, the process of taking a pet home can be long and complicated. Alcantara-Ibanez adopted Cherry at a free adoption event and already knew the adoption counselors, so the

process was faster for her. “They [the adoption counselors] set up a day for us to actually meet her outside of her kennel, and we walked her,” Alcantara-Ibanez says. “We waited a little bit for the adoption to go through and then when that was done, we were able to take her home.” For other shelters and families, however, the process is not as straightforward.

Science teacher Elizabeth Duval volunteers at two organizations, City Dogs and Kitties Rescue and Capitol Canines Animal Rescue, for which she visits homes

so long. “People will apply for a dog, and they’ll have a phone interview … but the last step before they can officially adopt is someone needs to visit their home,” Duval says. The Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA) and AWLMC work to make sure that adopted pets can stay in their new homes. They provide various services to help with the costs of raising a pet and supply other resources to new owners. “We give them a two week vet voucher that waives the initial exam fee,” Maris Schneeman, an adoption counselor with the HRA, says. “We try to set our adopters up for success.”

A paw-sitive life

MCASAC

For the first few weeks of every school year, junior Katt Alcantara-Ibanez and her family had been looking to adopt a dog for a while but had never really gotten around to doing it. After hearing about the Humane Rescue Alliance’s free adoption day, the family went to the first adoption location but found no dog there that they wanted to take home. When they got to the second location, though, they found Cherry. “All the way in the back, there was Cherry with her back turned against everyone and she was sleeping and that was our dog,” Alcantara-Ibanez says.

Her mom was a little scared of the 127-pound beige South African Mastiff with a black snout and floppy ears at first, but after one look at Cherry’s eyes, her family knew it was meant to be. Cherry was coming home with them.

In 2016, 93 percent of animals taken in by the Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center were later adopted. Alcantara-Ibanez, like many others, help to raise this percentage and give these animals better lives.

93 percent of animals taken in by the Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center were later adopted.

to approve adoptions for prospective owners. Both are non-profit organizations that rescue animals from undersupplied shelters all throughout the Southeast, moving them to foster homes until they can be adopted. At these shelters, it can take almost two months for an adoption to go through.

The process for adoption applications at both shelters includes multiple steps which make the process take

It is not always smooth sailing for pets once they are adopted, and owners have to work hard in order to help them adjust to their new surroundings. Alcantara-Ibanez’s mother sat with Cherry when she was first adopted in order to make her more comfortable. “My mom put her in a room, didn’t close the door, but it was half open… she [my mom] ate, and she talked to [Cherry], and slowly we began to open the door a little bit more, and then she became a lot more comfortable with my mom and me,” Alcantara-Ibanez says.

As Cherry continues to live with their family, she has become less reserved. “I’m on Poms, so I practice in my living room … I’ll start to dance, and she’ll get really excited,” Alcantara-Ibanez says. Plus, Cherry is not scared of other people anymore. “She’ll go up to anyone and just [do a] “you’re my friend now” type of thing. She really loves everyone.” Alcantara-Ibanez says.

A Fur-tastic Impact

Adoption not only improves the animals’ lives, but also the lives of their owners. It can motivate the owners to help other people adopt. “I like the idea of giving back to an organization that has given me two awesome dogs,” Duval says. Then, those pets go on to improve the lives of their owners, making them happier and giving them another source of love.

Acuff believes that adopting a pet has made her more

mature.

“It teaches you about responsibility, and empathy, and caring for something that can’t really give you anything in return,” Acuff says.

Alcantara-Ibanez believes that Cherry can sense when she feels upset and will try to support her. “[Cherry] just knows when people are sad, and she comes up to us, and she lays down.

[It] is like [saying] ‘I love you’,” Alcantara-Ibanez says. Cherry also motivates her to exercise and become healthier.

“I was kind of really lazy. I was never doing anything and now that I have her ... we go running every day, we run a mile every day,” Alcantara-Ibanez says.

Other students find that their pets are a source of happiness and love for them, a companion that makes their days brighter. “[Hannah] just makes everything more happy, cause I think about saving a cat’s life,” Chowdhury says. Pets and their humans have an unbreakable bond that is special, that has love no matter what, and those relationships are important to the humans. “Dogs are the best … it’s someone that’s always home and always happy to see you; it’s unconditional love between both of you,” Acuff says. “I would do anything for [Lola]...it’s a really important relationship in my life.”

Story by Khushboo Rathore Design by Hannah Lee Art by Seoyoung Joo Photos by Dede Greenfield

Features D1/D2

silverchips

December 5, 2018

Barking up the right tree

The stories of Blazer pets and the change adoption can bring about

Escape from a ruff life

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), tens of thousands of people participate in dogfighting in the U.S. Cherry was one of the bait dogs used in these dogfights. When Alcantara-Ibanez adopted Cherry, she had burn scars and other injuries all over her body. “You could tell that someone used to put out cigarettes on her skin ... patches of her skin were missing,” Alcantara-Ibanez says. Cherry has since healed; her skin has grown back, and her scars have faded, but none of that changes the pain she went through before adoption.

Shelters like the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County (AWLMC) work to save animals from high-risk areas on the east coast, especially from shelters overcrowded with animals following natural disasters.

Many of those shelters, which are forced to euthanize for space, are known as high-kill shelters. “We have been res-

cuing kittens and pregnant cats from high-kill shelters in North Carolina and Florida because of the hurricanes,” Cyndi McHugh, a foster parent with the AWLMC, says.

The AWLMC also trains foster pets and finds out what they are like, making sure that they are comfortable in various situations. “Our cats, our personalities, they’re really well-vetted. Our kittens are literally bulletproof... they’re used to all kinds of different environments,” McHugh says.

Freshman Jabir Al-Adel Chowdhury’s neighbor found Hannah, a two-month-old kitten in a trash can, and brought her into their family. “She was thrown into a garbage can, and if she was in there long enough, she could have died,” Chowdhury says.

Chowdhury’s family took her to the vet and adopted her, believing they could give her a better life than the one she would have had in a shelter. But even in her new family, it was difficult for Hannah to adjust to the family’s lifestyle. “She wanted to fight with our other cat cause she wants to be more dominant,” Chowdhury says. “She’s very timid and she’s very scared to do things. She’s very afraid to go outside.”

Not all adopted pets, however, have such grim backstories. Junior Sydney Acuff’s dog, Lola, was well taken care of. “She was born into a loving family that was fostering a dog that gave birth to a litter of puppies,” Acuff says.

“She was born into a good household that just happened to have a bunch of puppies who needed a home.”

Lola was not easily separated from her litter, however.

“She does have some separation anxiety tendencies because she was separated from her litter at a pretty young age,” Acuff says. “We think that she might have been separated almost too soon because of the urgency to get all the puppies adopted.”

System Purr-cessing

Although many animals are waiting to be adopted, the process of taking a pet home can be long and complicated. Alcantara-Ibanez adopted Cherry at a free adoption event and already knew the adoption counselors, so the

process was faster for her. “They [the adoption counselors] set up a day for us to actually meet her outside of her kennel, and we walked her,” Alcantara-Ibanez says. “We waited a little bit for the adoption to go through and then when that was done, we were able to take her home.” For other shelters and families, however, the process is not as straightforward.

Science teacher Elizabeth Duval volunteers at two organizations, City Dogs and Kitties Rescue and Capitol Canines Animal Rescue, for which she visits homes

so long. “People will apply for a dog, and they’ll have a phone interview … but the last step before they can officially adopt is someone needs to visit their home,” Duval says. The Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA) and AWLMC work to make sure that adopted pets can stay in their new homes. They provide various services to help with the costs of raising a pet and supply other resources to new owners. “We give them a two week vet voucher that waives the initial exam fee,” Maris Schneeman, an adoption counselor with the HRA, says. “We try to set our adopters up for success.”

A paw-sitive life

MCASAC

For the first few weeks of every school year, junior Katt Alcantara-Ibanez and her family had been looking to adopt a dog for a while but had never really gotten around to doing it. After hearing about the Humane Rescue Alliance’s free adoption day, the family went to the first adoption location but found no dog there that they wanted to take home. When they got to the second location, though, they found Cherry. “All the way in the back, there was Cherry with her back turned against everyone and she was sleeping and that was our dog,” Alcantara-Ibanez says.

Her mom was a little scared of the 127-pound beige South African Mastiff with a black snout and floppy ears at first, but after one look at Cherry’s eyes, her family knew it was meant to be. Cherry was coming home with them.

In 2016, 93 percent of animals taken in by the Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center were later adopted. Alcantara-Ibanez, like many others, help to raise this percentage and give these animals better lives.

93 percent of animals taken in by the Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center were later adopted.

to approve adoptions for prospective owners. Both are non-profit organizations that rescue animals from undersupplied shelters all throughout the Southeast, moving them to foster homes until they can be adopted. At these shelters, it can take almost two months for an adoption to go through.

The process for adoption applications at both shelters includes multiple steps which make the process take

It is not always smooth sailing for pets once they are adopted, and owners have to work hard in order to help them adjust to their new surroundings. Alcantara-Ibanez’s mother sat with Cherry when she was first adopted in order to make her more comfortable. “My mom put her in a room, didn’t close the door, but it was half open… she [my mom] ate, and she talked to [Cherry], and slowly we began to open the door a little bit more, and then she became a lot more comfortable with my mom and me,” Alcantara-Ibanez says.

As Cherry continues to live with their family, she has become less reserved. “I’m on Poms, so I practice in my living room … I’ll start to dance, and she’ll get really excited,” Alcantara-Ibanez says. Plus, Cherry is not scared of other people anymore. “She’ll go up to anyone and just [do a] “you’re my friend now” type of thing. She really loves everyone.” Alcantara-Ibanez says.

A Fur-tastic Impact

Adoption not only improves the animals’ lives, but also the lives of their owners. It can motivate the owners to help other people adopt. “I like the idea of giving back to an organization that has given me two awesome dogs,” Duval says. Then, those pets go on to improve the lives of their owners, making them happier and giving them another source of love.

Acuff believes that adopting a pet has made her more

mature.

“It teaches you about responsibility, and empathy, and caring for something that can’t really give you anything in return,” Acuff says.

Alcantara-Ibanez believes that Cherry can sense when she feels upset and will try to support her. “[Cherry] just knows when people are sad, and she comes up to us, and she lays down.

[It] is like [saying] ‘I love you’,” Alcantara-Ibanez says. Cherry also motivates her to exercise and become healthier.

“I was kind of really lazy. I was never doing anything and now that I have her ... we go running every day, we run a mile every day,” Alcantara-Ibanez says.

Other students find that their pets are a source of happiness and love for them, a companion that makes their days brighter. “[Hannah] just makes everything more happy, cause I think about saving a cat’s life,” Chowdhury says. Pets and their humans have an unbreakable bond that is special, that has love no matter what, and those relationships are important to the humans. “Dogs are the best … it’s someone that’s always home and always happy to see you; it’s unconditional love between both of you,” Acuff says. “I would do anything for [Lola]...it’s a really important relationship in my life.”

Story by Khushboo Rathore Design by Hannah Lee Art by Seoyoung Joo Photos by Dede Greenfield

D3 Features

December 5, 2018

silverchips

A new APProach to coding

Blazers who create and design smartphone apps

By Paloma Williams

STAFF WRITER

Whether it be through phones, computers, or television, the communication, work, and entertainment of millions occurs within an intricate network of screens. This system weaves together the fabric of modern society. As technology continues to develop, a growing number of people, including students, are designing the mechanisms behind the applications, websites, and systems that complete the everyday lives of many Americans.

The field of computer science is quickly becoming a gold mine for prospective careers. The average computer science major in college goes on to make 40 percent more money in their lifetime than the average college graduate with a non-computer-related degree. In addition to being profitable, there is a surplus of available computer programming jobs; the rate of available computer-related jobs is growing at two times the national rate. By 2020, it is projected that there will be a million more computer-related jobs than there are computer science students.

Juniors Simon Chervenak and Matthew Shu have taken a particular liking to computer programming. Both young coders plan to eventually pursue a career in the computer science field. “I think in the future, most of the world will based on computers, and knowing how to use a computer is going to become increasingly more valuable, and also they’re just really useful tools,” Chervenak says. “Once you become computer literate ,you are opened up to a much wider world of what you can do in your life,” Shu says.

Creating an app is a multifaceted pro-

cess. “For an iOS app, there’s two main parts which is what the app looks like, which is called the storyboard, and what the app does, which is the code,” Chervenak says. “Generally you start with what you want the storyboard to look like and then you give all of the buttons on the storyboard actions on the code and then you continue the code from there to make it all work.”

When Chervenak and Shu created Quiz DB Mobile, they completed this entire process with none other than a group of high school students. “ W e had one person working on the interface

using interface builder and we

also h a d another person who was AMY KRIMM working on how to search for questions and how to retrieve the questions,” Shu says.

Zachary Zhou, a junior at Blair, along with three other Blair students, created an app for the Congressional App Challenge that analyzes speeches. “You submit a text version of a speech and it determines the sentiment, ... if its positive, negative, or just neutral, and it also determines the complexity of the speech, based on the vocabulary,” Zhou says. “We created a little utility so you can change the complexity of the speech; you can make it simpler or you can make it more complicated,” he says.

Most recently, various initiatives have been put in place that aim towards giving women and minorities access to learning in computer science fields. Often, there are barriers to women and minorities in computer science education. In Maryland alone, as of 2015, only 20 percent of the 2,923 computer science graduates were women. Consequently, as of

2017, only 21 percent of computer science related AP exams are taken by underrepresented minorities. Maryland BILL 281 states that “access to computer science education is not available equitably, resulting in a lack of gender, ethnic, and geographic diversity in computer science fields.”

One initiative at Blair was the Paid to Program club in which a group of girls were paid to learn coding, teaching them valuable skills and incentivizing their learning. Abby Aitken, a senior at Blair, valued the experience of this club. “It’s important for girls to have specialized education in fields that they’ve been traditionally left behind in and for them to have those spaces where they can learn,” Aitken says. A benefit of these learning opportunities is that they allow women in STEM to “feel encouraged and supported rather than feeling inferior to other people who know more than them or claim to know more than them.”

The logical and analytical skills that arise from computer-science education are becoming more and more valuable in today’s day and age. “Having basic computer skills and basic coding skills and understanding how computers, coding, and systems work is important as technology is increasing and as we are becoming a more tech-driven society,” says Aitken. “Those skills are only going to become more important as AI increases and as labor becomes more analytical, mathematical, and code based,” she says.

Not only does computer programming open up a world of possibility for innovation, but it also teaches students fundamental principles of problem solving, processing skills and logical thinking. Technology has created a new frontier for America’s modern society, and the possibilities are endless.

Features D4

silverchips

December 5, 2018

Chips goes to yoga? That’s a bit of a stretch The Silver Chips staff tries to find their inner zen in a 100-degree room

By Ethan Park STAFF WRITER

IN FIRST PERSON

Inner zen is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about a school newspaper. Here at Silver Chips, we like to think that we are “too busy” for such foolish activities. We have too many articles to write, too many deadlines to meet. There are no yoga mats, essential oil diffusers, or soundscape speakers to be found in Room 165. Instead, one can find upwards of 25 kids hunched over computers, working on their articles or playing the unblocked version of “Run 3” on Cool Math Games.

Despite our busy schedules and our essential duty of protecting the student voice at Blair, we decided that some of us needed a little break. As the stress of deadlines loomed closer and closer, we thought it would be a great idea to go to a relaxing session of hot yoga to clear our heads and cleanse our bodies. Little did we know that the struggle of completing our page drafts would be minimal compared to the struggle of merely getting out of bed and putting on pants the day after. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Before the Class

To provide a little context, a group of 12 staffers and editors agreed to go on this yoga excursion, ready to center ourselves and test the limits of our flexibility at Bikram Yoga in Takoma Park. As a hodgepodge group of students with varying athletic abilities and levels of physical fitness, most of us expected to learn something about ourselves, each other, and the most popular activity among Lululemon-wearing Takoma Park soccer moms. We expected a soothing, calm atmosphere, maybe some zen music and breathing exercises. It was pretty clear what we were getting ourselves into—or so we thought.

Most of the staff was ready for this experience, maybe even a little excited. None of us knew exactly what to expect with this hot yoga experience, but some staffers had dabbled in the world of yoga previously. Junior Mira Diamond-Berman, a staff writer, used to do yoga before deciding that it just was not her thing. “I’ve gone to a few yoga classes,” she said. “My mom forced me to do yoga, because she thought it would be good for my soul. That didn’t work out.”

The general attitude was one of optimism, but this could not be said for everyone. Junior staff writer Elias Chen exemplified some of this outright negativity. “It’s going to suck,” he said. “People are going to cry.” Some staffers, like junior staff writer Uma Gupta, were critical of the concept of hot yoga as a whole. “Saunas scare me,” she said. “Why are you going in a room to sweat with other people? I’m sure you’re going to get some type of foot fungus from the sweat that’s dripped onto the floor in previous yoga experiences.” For most of our staff, this experience would definitely be some-

thing new, and it seemed like a good chance to come together as one cohort of sweaty teenagers struggling to do a series of basic stretches.

The Class

Walking into the room was an experience, to say the least. It was one thing to imagine the concept of hot yoga, but feeling that 103-degree air really put meaning into the word “hot.”

After some time, our instructor walked into the room. After introducing herself as Ty Powell, she broke some bad news. She told us that the yoga instructor had an emergency, so she couldn’t teach the class. Instead of doing yoga, Powell said, we were going to do pilates. Reactions throughout the room were mixed, as most people were still processing what that entailed. Senior Camden Roberts, sports editor, was uncertain of what pilates was in general. “In my head, it’s just something that the mom from Mean Girls does,” she said. The atmosphere in the room was one of uncertainty, but there was no turning back now.

The class started off with us laying back on our mats, relaxing our spines and muscles in order to engage our cores. “Breathe in through your nose, and breathe out through your mouth,” Powell said. “Set a goal for yourself. What do you want to accomplish?” Personally, my primary goal was to not die or gravely injure myself.

LUCY MARTIN

CRUNCHTIME Silver Chips staffers participate in core workouts to start off class. while lying flat on our backs.

Looking over at my fellow staffers, I could tell that the fatigue was already starting to set in. The heat of the room did not help, as we circled our legs in the air and thrusted our hips to the beat of various dance hits

if this was the end. “We’re not done yet,” Powell said. “We’re going to finish up with burpees.” After a collective groan and a few shouts of “Woo!” and “Yeah!” by the most insane staffers on Chips, we were off to the races. “Look at yourself in the mirror!” yelled Powell as we struggled through the burpees.

Without my glasses on, looking in the mirror was a bit more than underwhelming. Instead of seeing a valiant warrior of fitness and a champion of students’ free speech, I saw a blurry image of an out-of-breath tomato struggling to do a single squat.

After five minutes of exercise, during which I probably phased into the fourth dimension due to fatigue, Powell yelled “Change!” for the final time. With a cheer that sounded more like a group of seagulls gasping for air, we went into a cool-down exercise to wind down the class.

As we lay on our backs, the heat of the room decreased, and the fans turned on.

We ended the same way we started—with a breathing exercise. As we breathed in and out, Powell gave us affirmations that reminded us of the significance of self-care. As the soothing music faded into the background and Powell finished off the class, one thing came to mind: the desire for a cold shower.

After the Class

“That was not yoga,” Chen said after the class. “We all came in, we were like, ‘Alright, A SHORT BREAK Silver Chips staffers catch a breather and wait for the next exercise. we’re going to chill, we’re going to meditate, we’re going to relax, we’re going to let out We were abruptly awoken from this from the past five years. I was already sweat- some steam.’ We let out a little bit more peaceful, meditative breathing exercise by ing, ready to take a water break and dash than steam.” Although the class was not what the sound of dance music and the familiar out into the 30-degree weather. “Change!” any of us necessarily expected, it was a bondvoice of Mr. Worldwide himself, Pitbull. yelled Powell, signaling for us to stop our ing experience nonetheless.

Shouting over the thumping bass of the mu- exercise. All 12 of us lay there, panting, redThis pain of the class continued into the sic, Powell exclaimed, “You’re not even go- faced already. “That was just the warm-up!” days after, as staffers struggled to complete ing to want to laugh tomorrow!” We started Powell said, eliciting a collective groan from daily activities due to soreness. “I can’t tell off with hip thrusts, calf-raises, and more, everyone in the room. you how hard it was to put my pants on,” 15 minutes into the actual workout, Tyldesley said the day after. “I couldn’t do Powell yelled “Change!” and allowed us to one leg at a time, because that involved lifting get some water. At this point in the class, my leg way too high… I can get my foot about some people ran out of the room to catch six inches off the ground and then I’m like, a breather, or in Gupta’s case, to throw up. ‘Nope, that’s it.’”

“Oh yeah, so, I threw up,” she said after the After the class, I was able to sit down with class. “Yeah, it was pretty fun! I was not ex- Powell and ask about how well or horribly pecting 92-degree [heat], nor was I expecting we did as a group. “You guys did a great job,” 92-degree liquid to come out of my body.” she said. “Y’all pushed each other. I love Despite the physical ailments of many that about you guys, I can’t even get adults of the staffers, we were only about half- to do that.” Powell talked about the benefits way through the class. All throughout this of pilates compared to yoga, and its benefits intense workout, words of positivity were in building mental strength that is valuable to shouted into the hot air as people tried to people, especially teens. “It’s still a mental push through. I looked around to see my work out, less of the quiet meditation, but I peers, some shirtless, cranking out the exer- think sometimes teens need that extra push,” cises or hunching over, trying to catch their she said. breath.

Although the pain of soreness in un I asked Diamond-Berman how she was known muscle groups may persist for a week doing during a break in the action, and all or so, the confidence in ourselves and the she could give me was a half-hearted smile trust in each other that we gained in those and a thumbs up. Chen, on the other hand, 60 minutes of 103-degree pain will last for a replied with a cry of, “We’re getting less fat!” lot longer. We did not get what we expected, Senior feature editor Marlena Tyldesley but we got what we needed: an opportunity echoed this enthusiasm, sarcastically shout- to sweat out all of the stress, anger, and teening “I’m doing great!” and continuing to age angst that we edgy students have way too work through the pain. In that moment, my much of. respect for my peers and editors increased We have bonded through pain, both jusubstantially. niors and seniors alike. If we did not know

LUCY MARTIN “Change!” yelled Powell after 20 minutes before, we definitely know now: Chips is a SWEAT N’ SMILES Staffers pack up after a rejuvenating session of hot pilates. of leg workouts. We sat there, wondering family after all.

LUCY MARTIN

D5 Features

silverchips

December 5, 2018

Cans and collections: feeding the needy The Blair community gets into the spirit of giving

By Kie Donovan STAFF WRITER

As the holiday season rolls around, a wave of sensationalism and shopping comes with it. But for some, the holidays are not just a time to go on carefree shopping sprees or an opportunity to stuff their bellies. Rather, to many Americans, they represent dangerously cold weather and empty bellies. Knowing this, students and organizations in the Blair community have taken it upon themselves to combat hunger this holiday season.

A prevailing necessity

According to a report on Montgomery County’s 2017 Holiday Giving Project, a program sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services, there were over 11,000 requests for Thanksgiving food charity assistance, which is not unusual. The holiday season is when some families are faced with important bills that can leave them unable to afford their next meal, according to the South Hills Interfaith Movement. The Takoma Park-Silver Spring area alone represents a substantial 42 percent of the project’s Thanksgiving food charity referrals, according to the Holiday Giving Project.

Jilna Kothary, Senior Development and Communications Associate at local food charity organization Shepherd’s Table, agrees that unstable living arrangements and winter weather increase the need for food charity. “The number of people that come to us for meals always goes up [in the winter].

Every single year for 35 years, that is what we have experienced, and I think that’s because people are less transient…” she says. In the winter, more people move to shelters and Shepherd’s Table is then tasked with providing food for them.

who need them throughout the county. SGA senior Kayla Malone is confident that the SGA Food Drive makes a significant difference in combating hunger in the local community around the holidays. “We’ve been doing [the food drive] constantly every single year and we always hear back from Manna after we give the food, and they’re always thankful for whatever we can provide them with,” she says.

The joy that Malone feels from engaging in community service is a large part of her motivation for getting involved with the food drive.

Malone believes that that joy makes participating in the food drive worthwhile for other students as well. “I feel like, just by donating a can, the person should feel good that they’re helping out a potential family or a person in need,” she says.

SGA Chief of Operations, senior Karen Nguy, believes that other students have something to gain from donating too. “[Students] should consider donating because they prob-

ably have food just laying around in their cabinets, collecting dust, and they’re probably never going to eat it,” she says. “And if they’re not going to eat it, then it’s just going to go bad and go to waste, so if they donate it, they’ll know it’s going somewhere, and it’s not just a waste of money that they’re going to have to throw away.”

The SGA is setting up several different locations where students can drop off donations. “We’re going to have a table during lunch on Blair Boulevard and so people can either drop [the food] off there, or they can drop it off at the SGA office which is Room 161,” Malone says.

In the community

Kothary believes that the giving spirit of the season plays a major role in influencing people to donate during the holidays. “[The holidays] tend to be when people are feeling more generous, are feeling that sense of gratitude, especially around Thanksgiving, and are thinking about giving to people that

are less fortunate than them,” Kothary says.

During the holiday season, food donations are at their peak, so Shepherd’s Table tries to collect as many donations as possible in order to restock their food stores. “So, when [Shepherd’s Table] get[s] food donations around the holidays, often we… use what we need to use and then always save it to use later, you know, thinking about January, February, when donations do tend to drop off a little bit,” Kothary says.

The donations are invaluable to Shepherd’s Table’s annual Thanksgiving feast, an open-community Thanksgiving meal, as well.

“Really, the reason we are able to do that is because we get so much of [the food] donated... we rely on that,” Kothary says.

The holiday season is a time when many individuals reflect on people other than themselves and Malone feels that this is something to be happy about. “I feel like, just by donating a can, the person should feel good that they’re helping out a potential family or a person in need,” she says.

The SGA Food Drive

Recognizing this predicament, Blair’s Student Government Association (SGA) organizes an annual food drive to donate to Manna Food Center. The goal of the drive is to be able to distribute the non-perishable food items and canned goods collected to those

EMORY BROOKS

CANNED FOOD The SGA collects canned food, like corn and beans, to give to the Manna Food Center. Once the canned food is collected, the Manna Food Center distributes it throughout the community.

Silver Spring-ing into the holidays

The themes and the artists behind the DTSS Christmas tree

By George Ashford STAFF WRITER

On the night of Nov. 12, the holiday tree was presented for the first time this year, complete with musical accompaniment. Despite its basic shape and general holiday setting, it quickly becomes clear that the tree is in fact a large, painted metal sculpture. It has no branches or leaves. Instead, according to the tree’s creator’s website, it is a 35-foot-high conical sculpture, commissioned by the real estate company that runs the Downtown Silver Spring area.

The artist

The artist responsible is Karl Unnasch.

He has been leading the project since 2013, while being a self-employed public artist based in Minnesota for the last fifteen years.

“At this point, I feel pretty comfortable taking up jobs from coast to coast doing … stained glass work or other that fall close to the message and material I’m typically working with,” he says. In 2012, a public notice was sent out for artists to submit a design for a Christmas tree, and Unnasch created the proposal for what would become the first tree he worked on for Downtown: the toy tree. Made out of sleds and other outdoor toys, the bright and bold sculpture caught the attention of The Daily Show and helped established Unnasch as Downtown Silver Spring’s go-to tree designer.

The themes

This year’s theme is ‘Unity through Community.’ Unnasch chose this subject because he believes that it is important to bring people together, given the political and cultural divisiveness he sees around the country. “I think everybody could use a good, positive, way of coming together instead of driving us apart,

given how the political atmosphere seems to be rife with a lot of [divisiveness] going on right now,” he says. To reflect this, the tree is painted with human silhouettes in different shapes, sizes and colors, all overlapping and blending into each other, and the breezeway nearby is decorated with colorful mobiles in a similar style. Since the toy tree in 2013, Unnasch has designed the ‘Silver Symphony,’ an interactive structure decorated with musical instruments, where passersbys could play a series of sounds to compose their own songs, ‘Well Seasoned Greetings,’ a tree covered in cooking utensils, and ‘Positivi-Tree’ made entirely of umbrellas. Unnasch’s latest creation was ‘Good Energy’ in 2017, which was decorated with solar panels, a wind turbine, and bicycles.

to create the unity theme this year, I wanted to bring on some local artists.”

Unnasch and Cimino both hail from small towns in Minnesota. To them, coming to Silver Spring and building the tree is about more than just the tree itself. Particularly with this year’s theme, they want to show their appreciation for the Silver Spring community. “All the years participating in this project...dealing with all the community and the diverse culture here, eventually I got to the point where I was just like: ‘You know what, I’m way from the Midwest, and they source me to come and do this every year…” Unnasch explains. He felt that this year more than ever, local artists

should get the chance to contribute. “I’d really like to source it so that more of the voice of the community is involved in this,’” he says.

When visiting, he and Cimino enjoy the cultural diversity of Silver Spring. “You guys have the most incredible food selection,” Cimino says. “You have Columbian, Italian, Ethiopian, everything within a three-block radius.” In celebration of Silver Spring’s vibrant mix of cultures, Unnasch summarizes the ultimate goal of his latest masterpiece: “... just bring everybody together, you know, in a unified effort, in a good community effort, in really like [a] group hug tree, and this is what resulted.”

The inspiration

Along with being unique and whimsical holiday attractions, the trees are often connected with a charitable cause. The toys from the 2013 tree were donated to the children’s charity ‘A Wider Circle’, the ‘Silver Symphony’ tree was linked with a musical instrument drive, and the ‘Well Seasoned Greetings’ tree with a food drive. Others, like the ‘Positivi-Tree’ embody a broader message such as acceptance. “The first [concept] to develop... is a positive message that somehow reaches out to the general populace of the area,” Unnasch says. “Something that can uplift and make merry to the season.”

To celebrate the diversity of Silver Spring and honor the theme of community, Unnasch brought on a team of Silver Spring talent, Michelle Izquierdo, Vanessa Smith, and Eric Satchell III, as well as his former apprentice and muralist, Michael Cimino, to work on the tree this year. “I noticed how the diversity of Silver Spring’s culture...is reflected in the faces of everybody I’ve seen at every tree lighting ceremony,” he says. “And

OUT IN THE stands out in

LUCY MARTIN

OPEN The Downtown Silver Spring Christmas Tree the open for Silver Spring residents to admire.

silverchips

December 5, 2018

The new face of self-care

Features D6

The role of skincare routines in students’ self-image

By Sarah Schiffgens STAFF WRITER

Skin is a beautiful thing. It removes impurities, regulates body temperature, and when treated properly, can bolster one’s self-esteem. Social media has given way to an onslaught of glamorous skincare posts and tips that teens may find inescapable. And while the relatively newfound focus on clear, glowing skin has promoted self-love to some, many students have been left feeling insecure about their skin.

According to Kids Health, eight out of ten preteens and teenagers experience acne, and a study by Cutanea Life Sciences revealed that 71 percent of teens with acne have felt that their skin had a negative effect on their body image. These sentiments are commonplace, but many students at Blair believe instead that skincare plays an essential role in embracing one’s skin and appearance.

Junior Amelia Frey’s skincare journey began when she was living in Malawi during middle school. “My skin started getting pretty bad, obviously that’s what happens when people start growing up,” she says. “When I had really bad skin, I always used to use my hair to cover my face, and I feel like [skin] is sort of a symbol of my self-confidence.”

After two tumultuous years of prescribed acne treatments, Frey now has the freedom to choose her own skincare regimen.

Junior Vincent Baker also had acne upon entering high school and found that by investing his time and money into creating a heavily personalized skincare routine, he could clear his skin while also having fun. “[My routine] kind of just plays into that selfcare,” he says. “It’s just my time to treat myself and relax, and it just feels good.”

For Frey, skincare is not only a matter of hygiene, but also a vehicle to express self-love

and find joy. “I’m definitely guilty of doing an overly complicated regimen, but it brings me

AMY KRIMM

happiness,” she states. “Skin care for me has always been kind of connotated with value...[and] how I see myself.”

While intensive skincare routines have benefitted some students, it is also important to note that because skincare

is subjective to individuals, the effectiveness of treatments varies based on one’s skin-type among other characteristics. “Some products will work for [some] people and not work for other people … but once you found the products that really work, you are pretty much set,” Frey says.

Keila Velasquez, a skin esthetician at Blush Med Skincare, recommends that teenagers generally wash their face morning and night and apply a physical sunscreen daily.

“I feel like giving teenagers less is more until they get older and understand what a whole regimen is,” she says. “I truly believe in natural skincare...but it also once again depends on the skin type. So if one has acne-prone skin and it’s really severe, then I would give them more medical graded [products]”.

Both Baker and Frey carefully consider any product they put on their faces and place emphasis on customer reviews. Baker notes that he pays close attention to the ingredients in the products he chooses. “I make sure every single ingredient I like, or am okay with, before I purchase anything,” he said.

Sulfates, chemical silicones, and chemical sunscreens are big red flags in any skincare product, according to Velasquez.

Baker notes that while skincare can play a definitive role in self-image, one must recognize that physical appearance does not define a person, and skincare should really just be enjoyed for the sake of cleanliness and self-satisfaction.

Baker does not believe that skincare should necessarily be a priority. “You have to have [a] balance. It can’t be everything to you, but it should be something as [a reward] for getting through the day,” Baker says.

Physical appearance is only one dimension of a person, and while practicing skincare may bring more confidence, many students can agree that a sense of self value should never be placed solely in the clearness of

E1 Culture International Newsbriefs Yemeni government to engage in peace talks NOVEMBER 19 — The Yemeni government has agreed to participate in UN-facilitated peace talks that could potentially end war between the Saudi Arabianbacked government and the Iranian-backed Houthi revolutionaries.

The talks will be held in Sweden, under the guidance of UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths. After more than three years of fighting, major powers such as the United Kingdom, have called for a resolution to the war in Yemen. Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, leader of the Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee in Yemen, expressed his willingness to stop fighting “if [the government] really want[s] peace for the Yemeni people.” The United States has previously supported the Saudi coalition in the conflict, supplying fuel to planes used in the coalition’s bombing operations, which are allegedly responsible for thousands of Yemeni civilian deaths. The Trump administration decided earlier this month to cease those refueling operations.

Bridal magazine refuses to show gay couples, closes NOVEMBER 17 — The Australian bridal magazine, White, announced that it would close, as it had lost too much sponsorship to remain viable due to the backlash it faced from its refusal to show same-sex couples in the publication. This refusal was in spite of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia in 2017, and caused the magazine to lose much of its funding. The magazine’s founders, Luke and Carla Burrell, who are Christian, maintained that White was a secular magazine and cited their unwillingness to “‘create a social, political, or legal war’” as to why gay couples were not featured in the magazine. In response, over 100 Australian wedding professionals boycotted White magazine and called for a more transparent approach to business, arguing that many of them would not have done business with the magazine if they had known of its views on gay marriage beforehand.

Former Peruvian president seeks asylum in Uruguay NOVEMBER 18 — Peruvian ex-president Alan Garcia, who is under investigation for corruption, applied for asylum at the Uruguayan embassy almost immediately after a judge confined him to Peru for 18 months. Garcia was accused of accepting bribes while a metro system was being constructed in Lima, Peru. The prosecution claims that the money came from the Odebrecht Fund, named for the Brazilian construction company, which has been used to bribe several other Latin American politicians in exchange for infrastructure contracts. Garcia asserted that the accusations leveled against him are only attempts to keep people distracted from the unemployment situation in Peru. This marked the second time that Garcia sought international asylum, having applied for asylum in Colombia in 1992, two years after his first presidency ended.

International Newsbriefs compiled by Kie Donovan

December 5, 2018

silverchips

Showcasing Asian talent in ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’

By Kie Donovan STAFF WRITER

Released as part of a series of Netflix original romantic comedies the company has dubbed the “Summer of Love,” “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” has been a smash hit among viewers.

Although many critics have attributed the film’s success to standout characters and a relatable premise, the key ingredient might be its star, up-and-coming Asian-American actress Lana Condor. The success of “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and Condor’s role in the film bring to light the idea of whether diverse casts will become the norm in the film industry.

“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” is based on the novel series

by Korean-American author Jenny Han. The film was directed by Susan Johnson, who has directed and produced several other novel adaptations, like “Nearing Grace” (2005) and “Carrie Pilby” (2016). The film was particularly well-received, with a 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.4/10 on IMDb, standing out among the other “Summer of Love” romantic comedies. Like Han, main character Lara Jean Covey is Korean-American. Historically, representation of Asians and Asian-Americans in the media has been few and far between; what little representation they have received has largely portrayed them in a negative or stereotypical light.

Thus, Han’s realistic portrayal of an average Asian-American family earned her much praise from viewers and critics alike. But in spite of the general positive reception of

the film, there are those who claim that it is not without its flaws.

These critics’ primary concern with both the film and Han’s original novel is that Lara Jean’s primary love interests in the story, Josh and Peter, are both white. To many, the film seemed like the perfect opportunity to provide AsianAmerican males with much-needed media representation. “I understand the frustration and I share that frustration of wanting to see more AsianAmerican men in media,” Han said on this point in an interview with IndieWire.

“For this, all I can say is this is the story that I wrote.” The controversy has highlighted the conflict that often arises between a creator and their responsibility to accommodate the consumers’ desire in that vision.

Regardless of the disputes surrounding “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” Netflix is taking steps to diversify its content. For example, the company recently gave inclusion strategist Verna Myers the role of Vice President for Inclusion Strategy. It is clear that

Netflix sees diversity as the future of entertainment media. Hollywood, on the other hand, has struggled significantly to diversify its films. According to a University of California, Los Angeles study, this is perhaps due to tentativeness towards inclusionary measures in the industry, which it fears might cut into profits. Netflix, as an independent streaming service, is not bound by the same fears, as it maintains a subscriber base that pays to use the entire platform, not to see specific films. The smaller production values on Netflix originals play a large role in their ability to be ELAINE CHENG diversified, as well, according to Karen Kuo, an associate professor at Arizona State University who frequently writes on the representations of Asian-Americans in the media.

“The streaming business is actually really going to change the way we see representations… Because there are so many independent streaming [groups] now, they’re willing to take bigger risks,” she said. “I think that [independent streaming] could really change how Asian-Americans are represented

in the next ten to twenty years.”

Kuo also attributes this dearth of minority actors in Hollywood to demographics of its behind-thescenes hiring. “I think the industry is dominated by white men still. I mean, we still see very few white women in the [film] industry as directors, in really major roles, as producers, so I think that’s part of the problem. I think that [Hollywood] need[s] to do a better job of understanding that our demographics are changing,” she said.

Contrary to Hollywood’s perception of diversity, it actually pays well. “Crazy Rich Asians,” which released in August around the same time as “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” became the highest grossing romantic comedy in a decade, according to Quartz— a major milestone for Asians in the media. “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’s” popularity attests to the ability of films with diverse casts to captivate audiences, as well.

If films that feature Asian and Asian-American actors continue to gain such popularity, then diversifying casts will not only ensure that American media is more representative of our nation’s varied demographics, but incentivized in the film industry as a sensible business move. “[Filmmakers] need to understand that diversity is very important, just like how all other corporations in this country are realizing that, too,” said Professor Kuo. “Fair and good representation will actually benefit everyone.”

Netflix is currently discussing the possibility of a sequel to “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” with the film company, Paramount Pictures.

The gift of growing

No-Shave November is about more than just facial hair

By Louis Rosenberg STAFF WRITER

One may have seen it when walking down Blair Boulevard: more and more facial hair. NoShave November is the perfect time of year to grow the beard one always dreamed of having. For many people, the No-Shave November is simply done for fun. It is a nationwide challenge where participants abstain from shaving during the entire month of November. The challenge has been been around for years and is now used to support charitable causes.

The idea of No-Shave November has been around since the 1990s, but one of the first groups of people to decide to use the

GROWING lis

and

his

BONDS

friends

challenge for charity was the Hill family, eight siblings from Chicago who lost their father to colon cancer in 2007. In 2009, the Hill family started an online charity that raises funds and awareness for cancer, which they called No-Shave November. During the challenge, participants take the money they would have used to buy razors and other shaving equipment and instead donate it to foundations dedicated to fighting cancer. Since its inception, No-Shave November has raised over two million dollars in online donations for cancer awareness.

Blazers participate in No-Shave November for a variety of reasons.

Senior Ethan Ellis and his friends grow out their facial hair every year, but they do so now for more

Seniors grow out

James their

Madden, facial hair

Noah every

reasons than in previous years. “I had friends older than me doing it and [I thought] it would be [good] just [to] do it for fun. But slowly I learned more and more that it was like for a good cause, so of course I did it,” Ellis says.

No-Shave November is often confused with Movember, a separate nonprofit with a more specific goal. Movember involves men’s health issues, mainly prostate and testicular cancer, but also male suicide rates. Thousands of participants grow mustaches and beards as part of the challenge each year.

According to their website, by 2030 Movember hopes to reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25 percent, the rate of male suicides by 25 percent, and the number of men dying from prostate and

Levin, year for

ELENORA RUE and Ethan ElNo-Shave November.

testicular cancer by 50 percent. In 2017 alone, Movember raised 17.1 million dollars for men’s health. A little over 72 percent of that money was allocated to funding men’s health programs, which include Prostate Cancer Outcomes and the Ironman Registry, an international registry for men with advanced cancer. According to their website, Movember currently funds over 1,200 different projects and is active in 20 countries. Movember CEO Owen Sharp wrote that the foundation works to “ensure collaboration, transparency and accountability for every project we fund.”

Many of the people who work with Movember have been affected by the issues they are trying to fight.

University Development Manager Robert Huffman got involved with Movember after losing his grandfather Sonny to suicide. “Sonny is why I grow a mustache and my motivation to start the conversation about men’s health,” wrote Huffman on Movember’s website.

That does not mean you have to know somebody with cancer or depression to participate. “It doesn’t touch extremely close to home, but it touches enough where it’s an important issue and needs to be addressed properly,” says Ellis.

In an informal Silver Chips poll, when asked about No-Shave November and Movember, 90 percent of Blazers knew about the challenge. Of these, only 25 percent knew that it had to do with cancer awareness. Despite this lack of awareness, trends such as NoShave November and Movember have already had an impact on popular culture, helping raise millions of dollars and awareness for cancer.

December 5, 2018

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Culture E2

Six stories for Four Corners

The bond between Blair students and Woodmoor

cause the people really appreciate the fact that it’s family owned, and family run, and it’s been around for so long.”

By Elias Chen STAFF WRITER

They serve Blazers after school days, athletic events, and performances. They are an integral part of the Blair and greater Woodmoor community. They are right across the street. They are the workers of Four Corners and they provide meals, desserts, and a sense of community to Blair.

Community on both sides of the counter

A Student Clientele

Students are an undeniable point of business for many Woodmoor attractions.

“Once 2:30 hits, half of the freshmen are here,” Woodmoor Pastry Shop employee Baza Nunya says.

An after-school rush is just one instance of the frequent interactions between Woodmoor employees and Blair students, along with major sporting events, and at the start and end of the school day. “Usually around after games, sometimes they’ll come in here with their equipment and stuff” says Justin Notlan, a cashier at Sweetfrog. “Even early when we’re opening up, you’ll see a line of [students], just a bunch of them trying to get in.”

For these businesses, students comprise a significant portion of the clientele. Santucci’s employee Eric Claros estimates “about 90 percent” of their business is derived from Blair students.

Lower on the spectrum, Natlon approximates that only “a majority” of SweetFrog customers are students, with Nunya putting the percentage at “[around] 30 percent,” due to the Pastry Shop’s emphasis on family and quality above easy delivery.

A Four Corners Tradition

Blair students not only make up an integral financial aspect of Woodmoor business, but they also serve as a cultural foundation for the community traditions surrounding shops like Santucci’s Deli. “Blair makes

EMORY BROOKS

A COMMUNITY SPECIAL Four Corners shopping center is home to various locally owned shops and restaurants which welcome Blair students daily Santucci’s,” says Alexa Ford, an employee at Santucci’s and Blair graduate, “When I think of Santucci’s, I think of Blair.”

Serving students is a multigenerational staple of Woodmoor shops, with each successive class joining in the tradition of soliciting Four Corners. “Every year, every new class of freshman that come in they always come here,” Ford says, “and it’s more and more and more customers for us.”

Woodmoor’s history within the community often invites nostalgia and tradition into establishments, heralded by the community brought by Woodmoor Pastry Shop.

“I cannot tell you how many customers have come in, old people, and tell me how

they’ve come to this Pastry Shop since they were like nine and such, and they’re so happy to come back,” says Pastry Shop employee Karen Depenynu.

The Pastry Shop has been family operated for over 65 years and is currently on the third generation of the family owners who acquired the store from a previous family running the business.

The family tradition of time-weathered establishments serve as major appeal to many customers. “Not a lot of businesses in our areas are mom-and-pop shops anymore,” says Depenynu, “so one of the reasons Woodmoor Pastry Shop has managed to thrive so well in these circumstances is be-

Other businesses in Four Corners utilize this established community to appeal to the newest generation of students looking for a hangout. “Santucci’s is like the spot. Even when I was in high school it was the spot,” Ford says, “even though I worked here I still came here and sat outside. It’s the spot.”

Students at Blair can trust that they’ve found a reprieve in Woodmoor. “This is their place. They come here,” Claros says.

These locales function as hubs for fostering wider community, especially for the students who both attend Blair and work behind the counters at Woodmoor. “Since Blair is so big you don’t really see everyone you’d see at the school. But working [at Santucci’s] made me meet new people and have new relationships with new people,” Ford says, “When I went to school, I would see my customers and they would be like ‘oh you work at Santucci’s,’ and we would make conversation, and I still talk to those people today.”

Even for non-Blair students like Northwood freshman Davis Gaalswyk, Four Corners provides the perfect balance between convenience and leisure. “[I come] just to be with the boys, you know. Plus, I live right next to it” says Gaalswyk.

Regardless of which school they’re from, Woodmoor provides a sense of community and acceptance for all students. “It’s pretty welcoming,” says Gaalswyk, “businesses are mainly open for students… Even [for students] from other schools.”

Whether it’s after sporting events or the end of eighth period, Four Corners businesses together with the surrounding student body, past and present, comprise the beating heart of the Woodmoor community.

Culture E3

December 5, 2018

silverchips

The holiday season

Blazers of Note

It’s not just Christmas

By Teddy Beamer STAFF WRITER

EMORY BROOKS

Haili Bruckner Junior While most of us head to stores to buy new clothes, junior Haili Bruckner has a different approach to getting new clothes. Bruckner finds joy in sewing and designing her own. “It’s been many years now that I’ve been sewing my own clothes,” Brucker says.

With little guidance, Bruckner has cultivated her passion for fashion. “I started just using sewing patterns but now….I just make my own patterns based on my own designs.” One project that never fails to excite Bruckner is the designing and sewing of her homecoming dress. “One thing I do every year or I have done for the past three years is make my homecoming dress before homecoming,” she says.

Over the years, a unique bond has developed between Bruckner and her sewing machine, one that allows her to channel creativity into projects that mean something to her. “I can spend a whole day sewing and I’ll be happy,” says Bruckner.

AVERY BROOKS

Michelle Tang Junior As her passion for classical piano grew, junior Michelle Tang decided to bring her talent for playing classical piano to competitions. “In the beginning it just really small local competitions and since then I’ve gone to international ones and national competitions,” she says. Currently, Tang is creating recorded auditions for various competitions.

“I actually just completed three videos, three recordings, and I just submitted them to two different competitions… we’re just waiting on the results now,” she says. Tang drives herself to practice piano every day. “If I want to actually achieve something then I know I need to practice on a daily basis,” she says. Classical piano is both a skill and a learning experience.

“It’s definitely taught me to appreciate music to a much deeper and comprehensive extent,” says Tang. “It’s also given a deeper understanding for musical theory and also musical history.” The vast amount of time spent listening to and reflecting on the sounds classical piano have helped Tang develop a profound appreciation for all music. “I pretty much listen to and like all types of music; I love musical theater, I love hip hop... just everything really.”

By Paloma Williams

The moment Halloween ends, Christmas commercials hit the air and Target fills with decorations of Santa Claus and reindeer. November and December are instinctively tied to Christmas and the holiday spirit. But Christmas and Thanksgiving are not the only holidays that take place within the last two months of the year, even if they are the only ones that are focused on by mainstream media.

Chanukah

Perhaps one of the more famous non-Christian holidays this time of year is the Jewish celebration of Chanukah. Historically, Chanukah is rooted around the 2nd century B.C.E., during which a Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy lead to reacquisition of a temple that needed to be cleansed. To cleanse the temple, the main lamp needed its light to burn throughout the day and night, yet only enough oil for one night was found. Miraculously, the lamp burned for eight nights, and the Jewish people rejoiced. Essentially, this is a celebration of a war victory that lasts eight days and nights due to how long the lamp burned in the temple.

The traditional celebration of Chanukah is lighting an additional candle every night on the menorah, a Jewish worship item containing 8 candlesticks, and saying prayers to Adonai. But this is where Chanukah in the 21st century U.S. is different. “It’s just Jewish Christmas,” says senior and member of Jewish Culture Club Ariana Brenig. After prayers and candle lighting, Jewish families eat foods rich in oil such as potato pancakes called latkes and jelly donuts. These foods are symbolic of the Chanukah story, particularly “lots of stuff with oil,” says Brenig, “like fried things because of the lamp oil.” Traditional games like dreidel are also played for gold-wrapped chocolate gold coins called gelt. Gift giving is also common, most likely inspired from the Christmas tradition.

Diwali

The Hindu festival of lights took place this year on Nov. 7. In India,

By Arshiya Dutta CULTURE EDITOR

Arshiya’s Aesthetic is a monthly column where Culture editor Arshiya Dutta expresses her opinions on anything and everything culture and entertainment.

Imagine it is Saturday night, and instead of enjoying your weekend you are stuck writing an essay with an approaching deadline.

This feeling of being stressed and being crunched for time is fairly common. For video game creators, this stress is an everyday occurance.

Without a doubt one of the most highly coveted video games currently taking the gaming world by storm is Red Dead Redemption 2. Created by Rockstar games, the same creators of Red

KHUSHBOO RATHORE

SPREADING HOLIDAY CHEER Traditional Diwali spread of candles, money, five fruits, lamps of gods and goddesses, and homemade or storebought sweets as offerings to the gods.

Diwali traditions differ regionally, north from south. The more common northern celebrations tell the story of Prince Rama who was exiled from his kingdom for 14 years

by King Ravana. Rama returns to the kingdom and defeats Ravana, which represents good and light overcoming evil and darkness, thus the celebration of light.

Junior Sarthak Bhatnagar celebrates Diwali annually with his family. “We get together on the weekend, we do some small prayer services for a little bit,” says Bhatnagar. “Then what usually happens is that we’ll celebrate with fire crackers or sparklers ... then we’ll cook a bunch of Indian food and eat it.” This is a more standard, familial observance of Diwali.

Junior Nekkeisha Low celebrates in a much different way. This year, she is entering in the Miss Diwali Pageant at the Maryland Hindu Milan Mandir Diwali show and dinner. “This pageant is for all girls and women empowerment,” explains Low. “It’s not a beauty contest; ev-

Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto, 15 million copies of Red Dead Redemption 2 were sold within 8 days of its release.

After the game’s smashing success, RDR 2’s creators were interviewed by Vulture about the development of the game, including its 60 hour campaign mode.

Out of the whole interview, there was one part that drew a lot of attention from press.

Dan Houser, one of the two creators of the game, mentioned in an offhand comment that the crew worked 100 hour weeks several times in 2018.

Soon, other people on the team came out about their own stories working on RDR2, one of them saying “My sleep schedule didn’t recover for 5 years,” and “One of our teammates who pushed himself further went on 6 months medical leave.”

Kwanzaa is different from other traditional holidays because it is not based in religion. Kwanzaa is a celebration of African-American heritage started in the late 1960s by Dr. Maulana Karenga as a time to appreciate African-American values and history.

“He founded the holiday because he wanted to have an observation that specifically helped African-Americans examine their culture,” says Blair counselor Dr. Daryl Howard.

Similar to Chanukah, Kwanzaa lasts several days. From Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, people focus on a different principle each day in order

to reflect on their life and culture.

The days chosen for celebration are very purposeful as they do not coincide with other major holidays of the season. “[Dr. Karenga] started intentionally the day after Christmas because he didn’t want it to be perceived as trying to over step Christmas,” says Dr. Howard.

This placement of the holiday is also significant because it ends on New Year’s Day. This works as a reminder to “kind of recommit to some principles that they could take into the New Year,” says Dr. Howard, “which would, of course, help to improve their lives and their communities.”

In recent years, each of these celebrations have grown in importance in popular culture in the United States and deserve recognition. These holidays emphasize important moral values, unity, and family. No matter what religion or race one is, there is a meaningful holiday that can be celebrated during this holiday season. Happy Holidays from Silver Chips!

This idea of video game creators working long hours and pushing their physical limits to make their games is called “crunch.” This problem is not new to the industry-- before RDR2, workers from games such as Elders Scrolls V, Legends of Heroes, and Call of Duty all reported similar complaints of crunch.

Many times, companies even have their employees sleep at work and even restrict bathroom breaks during crunch. After numerous reports of video game designers being sent to the emergency room with health problems, it is impossible to deny the glaring problem of overworked game designers.

It is time for video game companies to stop overworking their employees.

People are generally under the impression that because many developers enjoy their work, they are not being forced to work long hours.

Although it is a true that many video game developers love their work, their deadlines should never come at the stake of their health and basic human functions, like sleeping. Although these crunches are usually to meet

short-term deadlines, many times they can result in long term health repercussions. Crunches can cause long-term stress, and disruptions in sleeping patterns that can take years to recover from.

Along with preventing these designers from actually having a life outside of their work, they are almost never paid for the extra hours they work.

So, why are crunches still allowed in the United States?

There are several answers to this.

There is still a demand for bigger, better, and longer video games. Sometimes, it is impossible for video game companies to compete with each other without incorporating these crunches. This problem is usually shoved under the rug because people do not classify video game design as strenuous work. The misconception is stalling this whole issue from being brought to the national forefront.

Video game creation is a creative process. There is no way to expedite game design while expecting high quality games.

There must be a stronger energy and conversation around the video game industry’s inclination to overwork their employees.

ery girl is equal. And basically it’s mainly focused on the questions they’re going to ask because in our culture women are just looked over and their opinions don’t really matter. So this is a chance for us to express our voice and what we think politically and what we think that women should be.”

Kwanzaa

silverchips

December 5, 2018

Cracking the Nutcracker

Culture E4

Raising the barre with the Washington Ballet from BALLET page A1

jingles, a pirouette for crescendos.

Derechyna is accompanied by Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Its rhythmic chimes imitate clockwork and its bells give the impression of magic slowly creeping into our world.

In this grand pas de deux, a dance of two, she is joined by Tamas Krizsa, another company dancer. He leaps powerfully in the air, suspended in a split, and draws a circle around Derechyna with a series of steps and twirls.

They finish in a picture-perfect pose. The music stops. Derechyna’s palms find the floor for a stretch, and her chest heaves from her efforts. Her surroundings, the floor-to-ceiling mirrors, the walls lined with barres, and the life-size horse props, come back into focus.

Artistry

Ballet Master Elaine Kudo approaches from her position at the front of the room. She has been watching the rehearsal from start to finish. As a Ballet Master, Kudo’s job is to interpret the ballet company Artistic Director’s - Julie Kent’s - vision. She is the conductor to Kent’s compositions. Kudo fixes Derechyna’s arm position and gives advice. “Be more creative with your arabesque,” she says.

In leading roles, such as Derechyna’s

recounts the days as both a ballerina at the Washington Ballet, and a student. She had an abbreviated schedule and would take an hour and a half long commute to attend her ballet classes in D.C. almost every day.

Kharatian’s schedule was strikingly similar to ballerina and senior Jennifer Brummett’s current schedule. With an abbreviated day at Blair and dancing with Maryland Youth Ballet (MYB) afterwards, Brummett mirrors Kharatian.

Brummett may also follow Kharatian’s steps and dance for a ballet company in the future. “Over the summer I went to train with Oregon Ballet Theatre, and they offered me a spot in their studio company… I said I would think about it for this year,” Brummett says.

While Kharatian’s shoes tap the studio floor, Artistic Director Kent glides through the hallways. A titan in the ballet world, Kent is the longest serving ballerina in American Ballet Theatre’s 75 year history and is responsible for the vision and focus of the Washington Ballet.

Kent has her roots in Maryland, where she danced for MYB. “My specific dance studio [MYB] is impacted a lot by what Julie Kent does because she’s an alumni,” ballerina and junior Lila Chafe says.

Athleticism

After Kharatian’s session draws to a clo-

YEKATERINA VAKHROMEEVA

GRAND PAS DE DEUX Dancers Kateryna Derechyna and Tamas Krizsa perform the Nutcracker’s iconic partnered dance as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.

On pointe

On the sidelines during the Spanish dance rehearsal, ballerinas stitch ribbons and elastic into the sides of their dusty pink pointe shoes. These special shoes have a solid block at the tip that supports and protects the ballerina’s toes when she goes en pointe.

Pointe is a technique wherein ballerinas travel on the very tips of their toes.

It can be dangerous. “I actually got tendonitis in both my ankles, and that actually happened because we have these pointe shoes,” senior Elena Nee says.

Pointe requires the ballerina to balance all of her weight on the tips of her toes, which can cause tremendous strain on the tendons and muscles of her ankles.

“I was put on pointe at a really young age, when my ankles were not fully developed.

That really messed them up,” Nee says.

Pointe may appear delicate and simple, but it requires the muscle contraction across the dancer’s entire body to maintain the position. En pointe, the ballerina can drift like an ethereal spirit across the stage.

Behind the curtain

YEKATERINA VAKHROMEEVA

A LEAP DURING THE SPANISH DANCE A dancer lifts his partner into the air during her travelling jump while her skirt twirls around them.

Sugar Plum Fairy or company dancer Alex Kramer’s Snow King, dancers have a greater opportunity for creative expression. “Some people have their strengths in turning, and somebody else is better at jumping, so in that type of role you can act on what you’re better at,” Kramer says.

However, the group of accompanying dancers in the backdrop, the corps de ballet, must still tap into their artistic side while sticking to their steps. “In the corps your job is to stay in line, match,” company dancer Stephanie Sorota says. “[But] when I’m in the corps, you embody snow corps—how you would represent a snowflake—different than a flower [corps].”

Blair and ballet

As Derechyna and Krizsa’s rehearsal winds down, company dancer Sona Kharatian steps into the studio. Kharatian was an early member of the Washington Ballet and helped establish key roles in their Nutcracker, such as the Snow Queen and Clara’s mother.

“I went to Blair!” Kharatian says as she

To see rehearsal footage, scan the QR code!

se, dozens of dancers stream into the studio.

On the sidelines, they stretch out into splits.

On the studio floor, they mark their steps to a silent beat, running through the routines.

Ballet Masters Kudo and Ruben Martin Cintas organize the commotion and call for the first set of three pairs of dancers to come to the center. The sounds of sharp brass and clear woodwinds begin the Spanish dance, where the Spanish chocolates from the Sugar Plum Fairy’s court entertain and thank her guest.

Dancers hoist their partners up into the air and mirror each other’s movements in synchrony. Their muscles strain, and gestures pour from their every limb for the entire scene. Soon the studio heats up from exertion.

For their rehearsals, a ballet dancer must have enough stamina to keep up with the choreography. “It’s a lot of strength that’s involved, and you’re also using that strength and the muscle that you develop to tell a story when you dance,” dancer and freshman Molly Waldman says.

But the dancers power through without showing an ounce of pain. “The sensation I get when I jump as high as I do, to turn as much as I do, it’s just so much fun to depict a character and learn new things,” studio dancer Rafael Bejarano says.

This rehearsal is a part of the six hours a day dancers spend on the studio floors.

“Continuous movement for six hours,” apprentice company dancer Stephen Nakagawa says. “We have to continue to stay in shape and train and keep our bodies the way they’re supposed to be.”

The music from the Spanish dance rehearsal drifts from the main floor into the underbelly of the Washington Ballet’s studio. Here, Wardrobe Supervisor Monica Leland and Wardrobe Assistant Noelle Greata repair, alter, and organize the hundreds of costumes needed for all the productions throughout the season.

A huge, decorated rat head lies on their large work-table and measuring tapes hang like vines. A tall window lets in soft afternoon light.

In a storage room deeper than their office, where the music no longer penetrates, lie the numerous costumes and accessories. The prince’s soldiers, Dewdrop Fairy, Spanish dancers, bees, cardinals, and Sugar Plum Fairy are all present.

Glimmering in the corner, the Su-

gar Plum Fairy tutu has three versions, all different sizes. “We know what to expect, but if something goes wrong, at least we’re equipped,” Leland says.

Meanwhile above ground, Blair alumnus Karen Storms pulls out two enormous panels of cerulean silk for a rehearsal. The smooth blue material mimics waves when the dancers oscillate it slowly under the light.

As the Stage Manager, Storms is responsible for providing props for the dancers, running the show backstage, calling the cues, and preparing the venue. “[I] figure out what I think the choreographer’s and the lighting designer’s and any other designers’ vision was … and make sure that my calls are helping to create that vision,” Storms says.

The Nutcracker

The Washington Ballet will be performing the Nutcracker by Septime Webre throughout December and invites the Blair community to join them for a festive display of artistry and athleticism in the Warner and Thearc Theaters.

Their Nutcracker has a unique element: D.C. history. “It’s actually created to reflect Washington D.C. The scenery is based on a Georgetown townhouse. Our Nutcracker is made to look like George Washington.

The Rat King is … King George of England.

The mice are pilgrims,” Storms says.

But, like every Nutcracker, it holds the Christmas spirit. “[People] just relate that to a Christmas tree and hot chocolate, you know? … That’s what brings people to the Nutcracker, that feeling that they get,” studio dancer Alexa Torres says.

Of course, the crown jewel is ballet itself.

“I think [ballet] gives you something else to grow as a human, because you start seeing things in a new perspective,” says Bejarano.

“The things that we do, a normal person wouldn’t be able to do it - that’s why we trained our whole life, all of the rest of our lives.”

YEKATERINA VAKHROMEEVA

TRAVELING ACROSS THE STUDIO FOR THE SPANISH DANCE Dancers glide across the studio floor during rehearsal while others mark the routine’s steps on the sides.

E5 Culture

silverchips

Archives

December 5, 2018

Edited by Camden Roberts, Avery Brooks, and Miranda Rose Daly

SOAPBOX: WOULD YOU SUPPORT A U.S.-LED WAR IN IRAQ? Oct. 4 2002

In Silver Chips’ 81st year, we will be continuing the tradition of our dear predecessors by going through our archives and finding the best, most timely, and most local stories.

We, however, will be presenting them by section, not by year. Without further ado, our favorite op/eds, many of which are still relevant in some form today:

If we go to war with Iraq, we will be going to war with innocent Iraqi people, not their leader. I feel that killing is terrorism no matter how, where or who. I always pray there

SHOULD CLINTON BE IMPEACHED? YES! Nov. 12, 1998

CHURCHILL AT FAULT Feb. 14 1985 On Tuesday, January 29, Blair played Churchill in an away game, which resulted in a crushing 69-52 Blazer victory. Frustrated by a losing season and aroused by a pushing match on the court in the second half, angry Churchill fans called Blair’s cheerleaders “whores” in a degrading chant and after the game vandalized Blairites cars and started fights in the parking lot.

County officials and Churchill administrators are recommending that the upcoming game against Churchill on February 19 be played at a neutral site to avoid violence.

This possible cancellation of Blair’s home game would be unfairly punishing Blair for an incident which was largely Churchill’s fault.

The only thing that Blair seems to be guilty of in this affair is having a spirited, loyal cheerleading squad and an excellent basketball team. Several Churchill fans confronted Blair’s cheerleaders with the charge of making too much noise, but raising crowd excitement and participation are what cheerleaders are supposed to do. Instead of cancelling Blair’s home game, Churchill should be asked to issue an apology to Blair’s cheerleaders for calling them whores.

FIELD TRIP DECISION UNMINDFUL OF NEED Nov. 6, 1974 Field trips involve students in the learning experience, break the humdrum of classroom routine, and relate learning to practical observation.

We understand that the energy crisis forces all of us to make sacrifices. But unless it can be shown that field trips are a waste of time or are presently being abused, this ruling is unjustifiable.

Instead of limiting field trips, energy consumption could be reduced in the schools by reorganizing bus schedules to reduce waste, lowering wattage in hall lighting, lowering thermostats, or requesting students and teachers to turn off lights in unused rooms.

Limiting school provided transportation for field trips would produce another basic inequity. Richer schools in the county such as Whitman and Churchill High Schools will still be able to have many field trips because of available private transportation while Montgomery Blair and schools with a lower income per parent will have more trouble finding transportation of their own. This will also be true within the individual schools, where, as is often the case, wealthier students will be able to benefit from special activities more easily.

This ruling is both unwise and unjust.

It is actions of this type that demonstrate the need for county school administrators to become more aware of students’ needs and concerns.

May 22, 2003

Editor’s Note: The following articles were run beside each other as Pro/Con on Nov. 18, 1993.

BLACK LAWYER STANDS UP FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT Last month the state of Texas demanded seizure of membership lists of the Texas Realm of the of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. A black lawyer, Anthony Griffin took the case in defense of the KKK. The state of Texas’ demand violates their right of freedom of assembly in private organizations, the right that protects individuals from the government’s prying attempts to find out what organizations they are members of. After refusing to turn over the Klan’s membership lists, Michael Lowe, Grand Dragon of the Texas KKK, appealed to the American Civil Liberties Union for a lawyer. The ACLU agreed and assigned a black man to the case.

Griffin should be applauded for his willingness to defend the First Amendment despite his disapproval for what his client represents. Griffin is trying to prove that the First Amendment applies to everyone.

If we deny constitutional rights to some but not others, the government will have the power to decide who to support and who not to. In the end, nobody will have these rights and the government will use its power against individuals.

The justifiable public hatred of the KKK should not alter the group’s constitutional right to keep their membership private. The NAACP, of all organizations, should be aware of that. Griffin is proud that he has the opportunity to defend he rights of the American people.

By putting aside his own emotions, Griffin has made a mature, responsible decision, and it is lawyers like him that will protect the fundamental rights of Americans.

KKK DEFENSE IS A STEP BACK FOR BLACK AMERICANS I don’t care what kind of line you try to feed me about constitutional rights, anyone’s right to be represented, or upholding the laws of this great nation. Anthony Griffin has no place defending the Ku Klux Klan.

Since the Civil War, black people have struggled day by day to try and gain a place in American society. Grandmothers and grandchildren did grueling work from sunup to sundown in cotton fields just to scrape by.

Families sharecropped and were cheated daily out of hopes and dreams.

But above all there lived a constant fear that a band of hooded thugs known as the Klan would hang a black man from a tree over a misplaced look, or a mere thought of rebellion.

Save your justifications and your patriotic homilies, glorifying the American Way was burning crosses in the name of a blasphemed God. You can tell me about rights, but I know there was a time when black people had no rights except the right to remain silent- forever silent in a world where oppression was so commonplace that the world was seldom used.

Black people have come a long way, but it has only been by treading a path through the blood of the slaughtered.

A people will never come so far that they can defend, with a clear conscience, the murderous mob which lynched their ancestors for the beauty of their dreams.

Don’t tell me what the Constitution of our great nation says.

Some things bleed truer, stronger, and deeper than pen and ink.

Through words and actions, President Bill Clinton has proved that he cannot be trusted in this nation’s most esteemed office.

Clinton’s dishonesty and disregard for the law warrant impeachment and removal from office.

As a nation, we must hold our leaders to the same standards as every other citizen, and in order to preside effectively over our government, politicians must command respect and trust. Allowing President Clinton to lie under oath would effectively make politicians above the law. The U.S Justice system relies on witnesses to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth while under oath.

There are no exceptions to this rule, and if perjurers are allowed to go unpunished, then America’s system of justice will face serious problems. Clinton not only lied to the court, which holds him accountable under the law, but he has lied to the American public.

The President of the United States should be someone whom citizens trust with the great responsibility of running the country. If we cannot trust a president, action should be taken to replace him with somebody who can be truthful with the American people.

Having a relationship with Lewinsky was Clinton’s personal decision and though his affair does not speak well for his moral character, it does not warrant impeachment.

However, lying about this relationship under oath and to the American public does.

Because we cannot let our political leaders make a mockery of the judicial system in America, and because of Clinton’s crimes and his apparent willingness to be dishonest under oath and before the American public, Clinton should be impeached and removed from office.

OPEN LUNCH ISN’T TO BLAME FOR RECENT DEATH April 21, 1994 In recent letters to the editors of “The Washington Post” and “Silver Spring Gazette,” Mr. Jack Goldberg of Rockville blamed Blair’s open lunch policy for contributing to the car crash that killed junior Justin McCarthy last month.

Apparently, Blair students carry out daily “insane practice of...leaving school for lunch at places that are so far away that [they] must violate speed limits or fail to drive consistent with weather conditions to accomplish their purpose.”The truth is, Mr. Goldberg, you probably never went to school crammed in stuffy rooms with 29 other people for seven hours, savoring your 47 minute lunch period as the only shot you had at some elbow space and fresh air.

One of Justin’s closest friends looked at Mr. Goldberg’s letter the other day. He read it, frowned, and said simply, “That’s just wrong.” He voices the opinion of the majority of Blair students, along with the opinions of those teachers who also go out to lunch.

Mr. Goldberg, don’t blame the county school system for Justin’s death.

Chips Clips E6

silverchips

December 5, 2018

Make Some Noise!

by Bennett Coukos-Wiley

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SEOYOUNG JOO

silverchips

F1 Sports

December 5, 2018

The NBA says ‘think before you ink’

Tattoo censorships raise questions regarding player sponsorship

By Itamar Fiorino STAFF WRITER

AN OPINION

It is almost impossible to watch a second of professional sports without bright logos and slogans covering every item in sight.

From shoes to shot clocks, customers are bombarded by constant advertisements, each fighting for a piece of prime real estate on the TV screen.

While competition for viewership is natural, recently it appears advertisers may be fighting for the one place that would not be expected. Tattoos of logos depicting commercial symbols are now flooding players’ bodies, from Kyrie Irving’s Friends tattoo to LeBron James’s Mario tattoo.

Sometimes, brand sponsorships collide with these symbols.

Recently, J.R. Smith of the Cleveland Cavaliers was told by the NBA to cover a Supreme logo on his leg; with the NBA threatening to fine Smith for every game the large emblem is visible. After facing massive public scrutiny, the NBA is forced to face three questions: Are body tattoos a form of free speech? What rights do players have as employees? Should the NBA be allowed to censor space on a player’s body?

When it comes to the First Amendment, tattoos are only sometimes considered a form of free speech. While the First Amendment covers artistic expressions, the creative merits of tattoos are often denied in lower courts.

Fortunately, these arguments are most often used for the rezoning of tattoo parlors, not necessarily the act of inkage in itself.

Most notably, Buehrle v. City of Key West held that “the act of tattooing is sheltered by the First Amendment, in large part because we find tattooing to be virtually indistinguishable from other protected forms of artistic expression.”

Since tattooing is a protected act of

art, the censoring of it must be scrutinized to the largest extent. Although the NBA may not be restricting Smith from having the tattoo altogether, even the covering of the tattoo, raises concerns for some; is the NBA suppressing a form of speech?

The answer lies in the relationship between the NBA and its players—or more specifically—the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

SEOY The CBA is a contract OUNG JOO made between the NBA, representing the management of the teams and commissioner, and the NBA

Players Association, a union that represents the players themselves.

Topics in the CBA include salaries, trading, and licensing. The CBA, and the exact language within it, is quintessential to the analysis of Smith’s situation. Article XXXVII is the portion that deals with player appearances and uniform, and specifically enumerates the censorship of corporate logos.

“A player may not, during any NBA game, display any commercial, promotional, or charitable name, mark, logo or other

soapbox Should the NBA dictate what a player can display on their body, like a tattooed logo?

“Absolutely not. It’s pretty horrifying to think that the NBA would have, essentially, control over their players’ bodies.

Legally, they almost certainly can, but ethically, it’s icky.”

— Leela Mehta-Harwitz, freshman

“The NBA should be allowed to blur the image or ask them to cover up parts of their body for broadcasting reasons if it is something they do not want endorsed by their organization ” — Sky Bloomer, junior

identification, including but not limited to on his body, in his hair, or otherwise,” the Collective Bargaining Agreement says. The rule has exceptions on areas of sponsorship “incorporated into his Uniform and the manufacturer’s identification incorporated into his Sneakers.”

Since the CBA is an agreement between the players and the association, both parties were involved in its creation, and both parties agreed to the terms set forth under it.

“They are unionized,” Damon Pigrom, Blair’s varsity basketball coach says. “They might feel like it’s unfair that they have to adhere to the rules of the CBA, but nonetheless, those are the rules and those were the terms that were negotiated.”

Smith’s tattoo was only one among several CBA-imposed censorships. In 2013, guard Iman Shumpert, now playing for the Sacramento Kings, was forced to shave an Adidas logo out of his hair. After Smith’s censorship this season, Lonzo Ball of the Los Angeles Lakers was also forced to cover a tattoo of the logo of the Big Baller Brand, his father’s clothing company, on his forearm.

It is completely within the jurisdiction and responsibility of the NBA to cover these emblems. To a company with a reported $1 billion deal with Nike, the screening of the symbols of rival companies, such as Supreme and Adidas, which previously held a $400 million deal, threaten partnerships.

The NBA likely has no interest in the censorship of art; it simply seeks to protect relationships, and assuming that this case could be blown up to massive proportions is unfair to the state of brand politics and the NBA itself. The NBA assumedly anticipated such problems arising and brought about negotiators to defend this right.

If the players have such large complaints, these complaints may be expressed in future iterations of the CBA. As Pigrom explained, “that’s what negotiators are for.”

silverchips

December 5, 2018

The reality of fantasy sports

F2 Sports

Exploring the presence of the phenomenon at Blair

By Prayag Gordy & Sarah Schiffgens STAFF WRITERS

Professional sports have become a staple of American culture, and as hordes of fans tune into Sunday Night Football and Big Ten Basketball Tournaments, a growing number of these viewers begin to edit their fantasy teams, too. Through the rise of fantasy sports, it has become easier than ever to connect with one’s favorite teams and players, inspiring friendly competition amongst sports fans.

As fantasy sports have grown in popularity, so has their teenage fanbase, with over one third of fantasy sports play in their teens, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

Students at Blair are no exception, and as the football and basketball seasons begin, Blazers are now competing in their own fantasy sports leagues.

as senior Sam Newman experienced. “This year [in my league] we decided to lower the stakes, because there was frustration from last year [when] everyone put in $20,” he said. According to a 2016 CNBC report, more than $26 billion is exchanged through fantasy sports.

Fantasy sports leagues begin with a draft, through which users would choose the players they want on their team. After the draft, team owners can trade players or switch players from their roster with undrafted ones.

In fantasy football, scores are

fantasy sports scene: it has become commonplace for one to either find themselves involved in a multitude of fantasy leagues, or to at least know of someone who is. Fantasy sports are a booming industry, with fantasy football reigning as the most widely played fantasy sport.

Because of its wide reception and manageability, it has made its mark as a popular pastime among friends and family alike.

Freshman Max Schaeffer first became interested in fantasy football when he was ten years old.

“It’s just a fun way to have a reason to watch some games other than [liking] your favorite team, which is a fun way to compete with your friends,” said Schaeffer.

Will Osborne, a junior on varsity football, expressed sim-

may actually prefer fantasy basketball to football. “I’ve gotten a lot more into basketball.

I think it’s really interesting and I’ve always wanted to do a fantasy sport, but I don’t know anything about football. I loved sports statistics, and it seemed like something I would enjoy, and I have so far,” said Carrillo.

Osborne, however, who is in both a fantasy basketball and football league, expressed that he found basketball to be more difficult, noting that “fantasy football is a lot more scheduled...whereas with basketball, games are whenever, so it’s a lot harder to determine when your players are going to be good to put in, because they’re playing so many different games it’s hard to keep track of it.”

Not all students have found as much appeal in fantasy basketball as they had in football, with students like Torontow stating, “I don’t really follow it, but I have a team.”

An even greater concern surrounding fantasy basketball lies in whether players are going to hold interest in the sport over the seven month season.

Junior Eli Geist acknowledges this possibility with his fantasy basketball league, as he worries that because “there are so many games in the year that... it’ll eventually die out.”

On the other hand, fantasy football has shown much more promise in its consistency of student engagement, with the many players sharing that because of the season’s brevity, it is much easier to follow than basketball.

IVVONE ZHOU

History of fantasy sports Fantasy football began in 1963 through the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League (GOPPPL), which was founded by Bill “Wink” Winkenback, a businessman and, at one point, a part-owner of the Oakland Raiders, according to the blog Sports on Earth.

There were eight teams in the GOPPPL, the owners of which were prominent figures in the Oakland business and sports world.

Fifty-five years later, along with the 34 percent of teenagers playing fantasy sports, 18 percent of adults also play, totaling an estimated 59.3 million people. 29 percent of players are female, and industry experts expect the number of female players to grow, according to USA Today.

Though fantasy sports began primarily with football, Yahoo—a common platform for fantasy sports, along with ESPN and CBS—hosts fantasy leagues for professional football, college football, baseball, basketball, and hockey, along with game modes like “Daily Fantasy”—where the options expand to include soccer and golf—and “Tourney Pick’em.” There are a wide variety of settings to edit while forming a league, such as the draft type, including classic drafts, snake drafts, autopicks, and auctions. One can also edit the roster format, where the league commissioner can edit the number of players at each position, and the scoring settings, which change the point values for different occurrences. The league commissioner can choose a classic draft, where users choose players in a set order; a snake draft, where the draft order flips after every round to allow the last team in the order a better chance at picking good players; autopicks, where players are assigned by a computer algorithm; and auctions, where users have a set amount of money to “spend” on players throughout the draft.

Some Blazers play with an informal pool of money, while others play without any stakes. Playing with money can get heated,

ilar sentiments, stating that he finds fantasy football “a good way to connect with [his] friends” after jumping on the fantasy bandwagon freshman year.

Despite the findings of a study conducted by The School of Journalism and Mass Communication IVVONE ZHOU at the University of Iowa, which claimed that social interaction was not a very important factor in the inIVVONE ZHOU volvement of players in fantasy sports, some Blazers would disagree. comSenior Newman feels that fantasy piled weekly after the sports haveSam allowed him to stay better connectculmination of Monday Night Foot- ed with his friends from camp. “They’re kids ball. Players must balance for weeks without in Philadelphia, in Portland, just all over the games and for injuries by shifting their roster

or

gether,

country, and we went on this trip to Israel toand now we play

by picking up new players.

Fantasy

IVVONE ZHOU

fantasy every year,” he basket- ball scores are shared. also compiled week“A lot of our friendly, but lineups have ship is, you know—we to be set daily, play different games since players often with each other and get have games only really competitive, and four times per week. it’s nice having some way Freshman Muller Toto keep that going over the rontow keeps up to date year.” Many fantasy players, on his fantasy basketball including Newman, said that they team, opting to change his lineplay in leagues with their families in adup daily to get the best results. “For dition to playing against their friends. basketball, [I] set [my lineup] every night Fantasy basketball has established itself based on who’s playing,” he said. as popular fantasy sport among students at Blair as well, and for many of the same reaStudent Leagues sons as football.

Students like junior Massimo Carrillo Students at Blair are familiar with the

Breaking down strategy The degree to which one strategizes in fantasy sports varies with an individual’s interest, time, and knowledge of the sport; however, the key to fantasy success often lies in a great investment of concentrated effortCarrillo, who currently has teams in the top three for both his basketball and football fantasy leagues and devotes around 15 minutes to fantasy sports daily, shared his fantasy basketball strategy. “I also looked at 2019 projected points. I also figured out who would be on a team where they would be getting the ball more, so I would draft somebody like Aaron Gordon [of the Orlando Magic]...

Aaron Gordon is going to be the number one option on his team,” he said.

Newman, who solely plays fantasy football, emphasized the importance of researching players and sports statistics in pursuit of fantasy sport success. “You have to do research. Yeah, you can’t win fantasy if you think that your own knowledge is good enough,” he shared. “There are so many resources out there that are free, that you gotta take advantage of this.” Schaeffer also relies heavily on research for his football league.

“Football [has] a lot of [statistics] around it I guess, so like I’ll look at some of those,” he said.

The drafting process also requires one to be strategic in their picks; Osborne has found that placing less focus on drafting great quarterbacks leads way to a stronger fantasy team. “ A lot of the time you pick running backs and receivers first because they have the greatest variation in-between who’s good, so one team might have a really good running back, who scored a lot of points, and the other teams don’t.

But every team pretty much has a decent quarterback that’ll score points, so it doesn’t really matter where you draft them, you’ll get a decent one,” he shared.

Actively following a wide variety of teams and players is critical for success in any fantasy league, and while it is a time consuming process, Newman points to it as an opportunity to get the most out of a sports season.

“I’m an Eagles fan… it’s nice being able to pick up players and see great plays and feel that same sort of gratification you would if they were an Eagles player,” he said, reflecting on his fantasy football team. Fantasy sports, particularly football, have won over the hearts of many fantasy players, and Torontow expressed high regards for the game.

“People who don’t play fantasy football should, because it’s fun,” he said.

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Out for the count How athletes and their teams deal with injuries

By Elias Chen STAFF WRITER

A fractured nose. A dislocated wrist. A broken leg.

Injuries demand that an athlete suffer a long and often arduous healing process as their coaches and teammates rally to maintain focus and strategies for success.

Athletes must learn to better their craft as they adapt and overcome physical and mental obstacles in addition to the team adjustments that come with their injuries.

Missing games and sitting out of practices is often the most challenging physical aspect for injured athletes. “I [wasn’t] able to play for four weeks, which [for] high school soccer is missing a lot of games,” says junior Bianca Martinez-Penn, a midfielder for the girls’ varsity soccer team who severely dislocated her wrist early in the season. “Sitting on the sidelines [and] not being able to play when you want to kind of sucks.”

Being benched from injury can take an even heavier toll on team leaders who now find themselves struggling to focus on healing and pushing their teams forward. “I haven’t been able to be there as much as I’d like to,” varsity football captain Chris Watkins says, “but I tend to think the guys still rally around me.”

Watkins, who suffered a spiral fracture in his leg in the first game of the season, says leading from the sidelines means adapting to a different mindset in order to keep fellow teammates focused and cohesive.

“Usually as a captain you don’t have to be a starter, but it helps a lot because you’re on the field, you get to talk to them, see what’s going through their mind. But when you’re on the sideline, you don’t get to really see what they’re seeing or go through what they’re going through.”

This kind of adjustment is crucial for team captains as well as for the remainder of the team, who must adapt to functioning with an athlete down.

Often times the most crucial of adjustments comes from coaches who must utilize

strategies to maintain functioning teams and move past the burdens of major injuries.

“We have a next man up mentality, we don’t just train eleven guys for one side of the ball,” varsity football head coach Andrew Fields says. “There’s twenty two to thirty three guys trained, three people per position.”

This kind of mentality can become invaluable as seasons reach their deepest points and lineups are drastically altered to accommodate injured players. “If you come to our games you’ll see that our offense has changed completely from week one, because of injuries,” Coach Fields says. “We try and put on the field, offensively, the best talent.”

The benching of any player on any team often requires reorganizing of entire rosters and rethinking of strategies in order to respond to an injured athlete. “They took a player from a different position to fill the outside position that I had been in,” says senior Kathryn Wang, an outside and captain on the girls’ varsity volleyball who suffered from a fractured nose earlier this year. “They had to shuffle the rest of the players around to fill her position.”

Injuries can often be even more difficult to athletes who filled in key skill positions and now watch their teams adapt to losses in those critical areas. “It’s definitely harder because being in the center is an important position and it’s not something everybody can fill in if you don’t know how to play it,” MartinezPenn says. “People have had to adapt for sure.”

Past the physical challenges and necessary team adjustments, one of the most lingering aspects of injury is the shift in attitude it can leave on an athlete.

After being injured, Martinez-Penn says she’s found greater respect for her own limits and ability to perform, as well as a strong pull to being back on the field. “I’m going to be a lot more cautious,” she says, “I’m not going to take it for granted to be able to play. I’m excited to go back and play.”

On the opposite end, Wang says that her injury has instilled a newfound sense of healthy trepidation in approaching her sport.

“Sometimes I still duck away from the ball

December 5, 2018

COURTESY OF JENNY GRANADOS-VILLATORO

BENCHED Junior football captain Chris Watkins was out for the season with a torn ACL when I shouldn’t be, just as instincts when it comes to my face,” she says, “this could’ve been a lot worse and I’m really worried about making it worse to the point where it might not heal.”

Nonetheless, being injured has granted new perspective on personal performance, says Watkins, whose hopes to pass on his newfound insight to the team. “[Being in-

jured] has made me a better football player mentally because now I see things from a coaching standpoint. As a player, sometimes your coaches say something to you and you think ‘oh whatever,’ but now that I can take a step back and see from a different angle-it has helped me a lot mentally,” Watkins says, “I want to try to spread that to the rest of the team.”

A swim-pressive start Swim and dive’s season kicks off with a resounding win

By George Ashford STAFF WRITER

KENNEDY SHRIVER AQUATICS CENTER, Dec. 1— At 11:15 a.m. last Saturday, Blair’s Swim and Dive Team filed into the Kennedy Shriver Aquatics Center in North Bethesda for their first scrimmage of the year.

They were set to face off against Quince Orchard.

At 11:30, junior captain Max Casey-Bolanos roused the students from their seats to the side of the pool, heralding the beginning of the meet.

The dive team was first to compete, with four Blair students performing a series of dives alongside three Quince Orchard students.

Despite a few mistakes, the majority of the students from both teams successfully completed their dives, earning scores between two and six, ranked out of ten.

Around noon, the swimmers took to the pool to warm up, practicing their starts and swimming a series of different strokes in preparation for the races ahead of them.

The first event was a 200 Medley Relay, a race in which teams of four different swimmers swim 50 yards of each stroke: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle.

This was the first of 24 races, encompassing a variety of distances and strokes.

Blair swim and dive coach Kelly Labriola believes the scrimmage was an overall success. “I think [the team] did very well,” she said. The Blair team won with a total of 211 points, nearly doubling Quince Orchard’s 119.

Points are allocated based on a swimmer’s placement in their races. The most points are allocated to first place winners, the second most to second place, etc.

Blair swimmers took first place in 15 of the

24 events.

Despite the hard work of the swim and dive team, Saturday’s successes won’t be going on the team’s long-term record. “This meet is our first scrimmage, so the points don’t really matter…[but] it’s a good way to see how the team works as a whole, what relays work together well, or what events maybe I should shy away from putting some people in,” Labriola said, “It gives me...that outlook on where should we go from here, who should swim what.”

Because of the informational nature of the scrimmage, many students weren’t swimming the strokes and distances they were best at. “A lot of [swimmers] swam events they wouldn’t normally swim or won’t normally swim the rest of the year, but our goal was just to get everyone into the pool and swimming and have that first meet experience, so they did great,” said Labriola.

Senior captain Jordan Wallace is optimistic about the upcoming season. “On the girl’s side, we lost two of our big scorers, but we also gained a lot of new freshmen, so I feel like we’re going to do well” she said.

The boys too, she believes, have a large amount of new talent.

Wallace also thinks that the team’s promotion to Division I will help encourage Blair swimmers to bring their times down. “We... moved up to Division I this year, so the meets are going to be more competitive than last season, which I think will be better for everyone because they’ll be more motivated to get faster times…” she said.

After a favorable first scrimmage against Quince Orchard, the Blair swim and dive team appears to be on its way to a successful season. “I’m excited. We’re ready,” Labriola said.

Their first in-division meet will be against Walt Whitman this Saturday, December 8th, LUCY MARTIN at 2:30 p.m. at the Gaithersburg Aquatic CenMAKING A SPLASH Blair came away champions in their first scrimmage of the season. ter.

December 5, 2018

Sports F4

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Cheers to POMping it up

The hard work and time commitment behind the spirit at Blair Tougher than it seems

By Ethan Park STAFF WRITER

When most people think of a football or basketball game, they think of the energy in the air. Under the Friday night lights, students get fired up to support their teams with chants both supportive and occasionally profane. One might remember the chatter of socializing, the smell of hot dogs and hamburgers, or the triumphant melody of the marching band’s victory song.

These memories are not complete, however, without the leaders of Blazer spirit at the school: the Blair cheer and poms teams.

By now, any committed Blazer fan can recall the cheer team’s most popular cheers like “Hot to Go” and “Pump it Up,” or remember the poms team’s electric performances during halftime. However, while the boisterous Blazer student section chants and shouts, many people do not see the hard work that brings the spirit to Blair sports culture. Behind the makeup and the red, black, and silver outfits, the cheer and poms teams are focused on perfecting their routines to bring energy to the buzzing atmosphere of football games, basketball games, and competitions throughout the year.

The nerves of performing at these events are routine by now for poms captain and senior Shauna Terhune-Cotter, who has been on the team since her freshman year.

“A lot of people don’t expect us to be so nervous, but, I mean, you’re performing in front of your peers… there’s that whole stress of not messing up, and not forgetting the routine that you’ve been practicing for a month or even more,” she says.

For many performance-based sports such as poms and cheer, making a performance look effortless is part of the gig. “It’s kind of our job to make it look simple and easy, you know,” she says. “We’re not supposed to be out there throwing up or fainting or showing how much we’re sweating.” Because of how “easy” these sports may look on the outside, many people do not recognize the hard work that poms and cheer put into perfecting their crafts. Cheer and poms are two-season sports, as they perform at games during both football and basketball season. On top of that, cheer participates in one competition during the fall, while poms competes in the winter. With so many games, events, and competitions, one might wonder how the teams prepare themselves. There is one straightforward answer to that question: hours of practice.

Along with the sheer volume of practices throughout the year, the intensity of the exercise is comparable to other sports, if not harder.

Senior cheer captain Berkit Getachew has practiced under different coaches during her four years

these new routines is one of the most challenging parts for newer members like sophomore and firstyear Pom, Eden Mengesha. “[The hardest part is] probably learning choreography, and learning new techniques because, since this is my first year, I haven’t done much of it before,” she says.

“Camden’s Yard” is a monthly column where sports editor Camden Roberts expresses an opinion on current events in sports.

YEKATERINA VAKHROMEEVA

STANDING TALL The cheer team dazzles the crowd during a Pep Rally on cheer, but the difficulty of the exercise has remained constant.

“It is very rigorous… instead of lifting weights, we’re lifting people,” she says. “Before…we would run miles.” In addition to conditioning, they must memorize all of their cheers for the school year before football season even begins. This is one of the hardest aspects of the sport, especially for newcomers like sophomore cheerleader Reid Duran. “Last year, there were 47 cheers that we were supposed to memorize,” she says. “That’s probably the hardest part.”

Terhune-Cotter’s description of conditioning during poms practice is similar. The intensity of practice increases once competition season comes around to build endurance for their competition performances. “When we’re in competition season, it’s definitely pushing the point to get our… stamina up, so we can push through and not have something happen during the six minutes of our performance,” Terhune-Cotter says. “[Practice] involves a lot of running, and we lift weights, and we practice our routine for kicks and stuff to make sure our legs are high, and we definitely do a lot of abs.”

For the football and basketball seasons, the poms team must memorize and practice two-minute routines to perform during halftime. Much like cheer, learning

Scheduling for success

The students on the Blair cheer and Blazer poms teams have some of the most rigorous schedules at Blair.

Cheerleaders like junior Margaret Shen spend most of their time after school on the mats practicing or on the sidelines of sporting events. “It’s two-hour practices every day and then games are threeish hours,” she says. “It’s a lot.”

Junior Nathalie Molina, who joined the poms team her freshman year, has a similar workload. “You have two hours of practice after school on Mondays, Tuesdays, not Wednesdays, Thursdays, and then games on Fridays,” she says. “I get home around 6:30 to 7:00.”

With an athletic commitment this time-consuming, members of the teams must work to manage their time effectively. Team members juggle cheer and poms with academics and other extracurricular activities such as clubs or work.

Shen, a second-year cheerleader, is in the middle of her junior year, so it is crucial that she balances her commitments.

In order to do this, she makes it a point to use her time effectively.

“You just have to not procrastinate,” she says. “If you do work at school and as soon as you get home, it’s not that bad.”

Mengesha also echoes the importance of time management.

“I’m in [the] Minority Scholars Program and poms, and you just have to know how to manage your time and how to manage your grades,” she says. “You should always take advantage of the small amounts of time that you’re given, like the one hour that we don’t have school or practice from 2:30 to 3:30.”

Teamwork makes the dream work

COURTESY OF SYDNEY HASTINGS-WILKINS

TIME TO SHINE Junior Nathalie Molina and her fellow poms teammates perform their routine during a pep rally

Along with the commitments to time in the gym or dance room practicing, members of the cheer and poms teams must be committed to each other.

The aspect of teamwork is incredibly crucial to both sports, as the members must support each other, both figuratively and literally, in order to create a cohesive and exciting performance.

Getachew stresses the importance of having good team dynamics, especially during practice.

On Nov. 1 of this year, the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association (WNBPA) announced that they were opting out of their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the league.

The greatest issue cited behind the decision was their pay. While this is a frequent issue in women’s sports, the WNBA’s pay disparity is particularly awful. Relative to what NBA players earn, it becomes egregious.

For the most recent season, annual salary was capped at $115,500 per player. The current CBA states that only “veterans,” players who have played for six or more years, qualify for that amount. For context, Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors was the highest paid player in the 2017-18 NBA season.

He made $34.7 million.

Now, the WNBA does not bring in the same revenue as the NBA, but they are not even being paid the same proportion of their league’s revenue. “NBA players receive around 50 percent of shared revenue within their league, whereas [WNBA players] receive around 20 percent,” tweeted Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces.

This year, the NBA announced that they would offer “select contracts” to prospects who aren’t eligible for the draft, worth around $125,000 each. These are contracts to the G league, not even the NBA. For their second-tier league, prospects are being paid $10,000 more per year than some of the most elite basketball players in the world.

Many WNBA players are forced to play overseas in European, Asian, or Australian leagues if they want to make even a small part of what players of their caliber make in the NBA. According to SBNation, by playing in these leagues they can make three to fifteen times as much money in a season as they do in the WNBA. Outside of the salary itself are the other opportunities most professional athletes have for income.

Because so many of them travel outside the U.S. for other leagues, WNBA players do not have as many opportunities for endorsements and advertising. “We disappear for [eight months]. We can’t be here in the offseason because we go to make our money somewhere else. I should be turning on the TV seeing more marketing for

“If we’re missing one person [at practice], you can’t do the whole pyramid, or you can’t practice one side,” she says. “You also need to have a good chemistry, because if not, then… it just creates this really annoying, unnecessary tension, and then things are just not hitting.”

Despite all of the elements of athleticism, time commitment, and teamwork that are mixed into cheer and poms, critics often delegitimize the sports. “A lot of people don’t consider cheer a sport, but we do a lot,” says Getachew. “We run, and then we also lift, and we perform, so I think it’s a combination of a lot of

these girls. More ads. But we don’t have time to commit because we aren’t here,” Liz Cambage of the Dallas Wings explained to SBNation.

The money is not the only issue.

Their current CBA states that teams must fly coach to all away games.

Players that are well over six feet tall are forced to cram themselves into seats not built for them and are then expected to play a game at full effort. In the most extreme example, on August 4 of this year, the Aces were forced to forfeit a game against the Washington Mystics because of travel conditions that kept them on the move for more than 25 hours.

This was counted as a loss, pushing them from the verge of a playoff spot with only five games left in the season.

For the players in the league who came from Division I schools, this is a step down. NCAA schools are regulated by Title IX, which requires that if a men’s team travels by a charter plane, the women’s must as well. There is no such requirement in professional leagues.

According to ESPN, the players have also cited “[finding] out about too many things -- including advertising campaigns and charitable initiatives -- at the last minute, or after they’ve already been decided on,” as a problem with the league/player interactions.

Nneka Ogwumike of the LA Sparks, the president of the WNBPA, explained the players’ motivation for opting out in a powerful Players’ Tribune article. “I want young female athletes to dream about playing in a vibrant and thriving WNBA. I want them to dream of having it all,” she wrote. “We don’t want any handouts. If you believe that we do, then you must have never watched a minute of our league. We just want what we’re worth. We just want what’s right.

We just want to leave this game a little better than we found it for the next generation.”

Whatever side you’re on, whether you watch the WNBA or not, there is no denying that the stand that the players have taken is going to be a turning point for the league.

The players are world class and deserve to be treated as such. Ogwumike wrote in her article that we should “bet on women.” I know I will.

sports.”

Terhune-Cotter voices the same sentiments for poms. “I think people discredit it a lot because it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s nice, and the routine is two minutes,’” she says. “They don’t see what we do behind the scenes and how hard we are - as dancers - on ourselves.”

These two teams work extremely hard to bring the spirit to Blair, putting in the same hours and sweat as many other student athletes.

Cheer and poms are not only sports, but they are extremely significant parts of the Blazer spirit students all know and love.

F5 Sports

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December 5, 2018

Falling into fall sports

By Amanda Liu STAFF WRITER

Cross Country

The cross country team ended a successful season, placing third at the DCC Championships.

Despite difficult course conditions at the county championships, the team saw several stellar performances. Senior captain Leoluca Cannuscio placed seventh at Counties, the first Blair boy in 27 years to finish top-ten.

At Regionals, Cannuscio placed fourth and junior Leah Kannan placed fourteenth, while the girls’ team qualified for States. At States, Cannuscio finished thirteenth.

Cannuscio attributes the team’s success to their increased effort in practices.

“We were working really hard last year, but we’re cranking that up a notch even this year,” Cannuscio said. “We’ve been putting [in] a lot more energy than [in] past years, which just means we’re working before and after practice.”

However, the team also suffered some setbacks: The boys’ team missed the cutoff for the state championships by only six points at Regionals. Nonetheless, Cannuscio remains optimistic about the team’s future performance.

“We’ll still have the opportunity to do really well during outdoor and indoor track and have the season that we know we’re capable of,” Cannuscio said. “We’re going to have to refocus for next year and not only qualify for States but be one of the top three teams in the county.”

Key players: seniors Leoluca Cannuscio, Rebecca Wessel, juniors Leah Kannan, Gabe Worthington, Melina Worthington

AVERY BROOKS

ON THE DEFENSIVE Blair soccer players face off against their opponents in a match.

Boys’ Soccer

The boys’ soccer team ranked first in division 4A North with six wins, four losses, and three ties. In the playoffs, the team won against Paint Branch 1-0, but fell to Urbana 0-1 in their second game. Nonetheless, senior captain Gilberto Ramirez believes that the team saw significant improvement from last season. He attributes this success to an increased focus on team bonding, leading to a greater overall feeling of cohesiveness.

“I think this season we played more as a team,” Ramirez said. “We played as a family this season, we were close to each other… so I think that’s the most important thing.”

During practices, the team primarily focused on basic skills such as shooting and passing.

Ramirez also noted that the team’s strong sense of spirit contributed to overall positive gameday experiences. “We have people from different countries… for the games… people bring different food from their culture[s],” Ramirez said. “We [do] themes before every game.”

Moving forward, Ramirez hopes to expand the diversity of team members. “I want to invite more Hispanic people to be on the team because we only have four players that are Hispanic,” Ramirez said.

Key Players: seniors Henok Azene, James Madden, James McGhee, Gilberto Ramirez, Htoo-eh Redford-Maung Maung, juniors Silas Ritsma, Walter Sosa

Girls’ Soccer EMORY BROOKS

RISING TO THE OCCASION Blair volleyball players scramble to score a point on Sherwood.

Girls’ Volleyball

The girls’ volleyball team battled through a tough season of injuries for a record of 11 wins, eight losses, and one tie. According to senior captain Katheryn Wang, many players suffered injuries throughout the season. As a result, the team lost a lot of time shifting players around and adapting to the resulting changes.

“A lot of our practices have been [spent] adjusting to fill the spaces… people have had to play a lot of positions that they aren’t used to,” Wang said.

The team also spent the earlier part of the season adjusting to their new coach, Chris Liang. Nonetheless, the players soon “picked up speed,” according to Wang.

Another significant change for the team this season was the addition of taller players, which has affected their playing strategy.

“Historically we’ve been a really short team… we never really focused on blocking because we were not tall enough to block,” Wang said. “But now we actually have blockers, so we’ve had to adjust, and the defense… now they [have] to account for the blocking that’s actually happening.”

Key players: seniors Megan Burke, Catherine Rodriguez, juniors Olivia Freer, Lucy Martin, freshman Samantha Rodriguez

inside SPORTS

The girls’ soccer team won the 4A North division title, ending their season with nine wins, six losses, and two ties. Junior Noa Dorah said that the team played less competitive schools at the beginning of the season, boosting their record, before playing more challenging teams later on. The team won their playoff game against Sherwood 2-1, but lost to Urbana 0-4 in the second round.

Dorah said that the team worked on specific skills in practice to improve game performance. “We do a lot of shooting… and corner drills,” Dorah said.

Leading up to games, the team discussed the opposing team’s strengths and weaknesses to work around accordingly.

Although the season went well, Dorah believes that the team still has room for improvement. “We’ve lost some games that we definitely should have won… but we’re definitely better than last year,” Dorah said.

She believes improvement can come from increased focus and effort during both practices and games.

One challenge that the team will face next year is adjusting to the loss of players who currently hold leadership positions. “We need to figure out who’s going to be the voice on the field,” Dorah said.

Key Players: seniors Sneha Ojha, Rachel Shereikis, juniors Zoe Abramson, Nieve Barry, Rachel Dey, freshman Marlee Ginyard

out with injuries. Senior captain Brandon Ntankeu attributes the team’s rough start to the season in part to these injuries.

“In comparison to last season and previous seasons, it could have been way better,” Ntankeu said. “We didn’t really have a running back… until the Einstein game.”

Nevertheless, the team did its best to battle through difficult games, improving as the season progressed. Ntankeu said that the team worked hard in practice to improve upon its performance.

“Since last year all we really did was learn our plays better, understand everything better, and work out more, get stronger,” Ntankeu said. When their season resumed this year, the team placed increased emphasis on individual player performance in practice, as well as figuring out how to time their plays correctly, according to Ntankeu.

In terms of future performance, Ntankeu believes there is still room for improvement.

“Moving forward for next season, our team could probably improve by getting stronger, faster, and overall just knowing what to do on the field,” he said.

Key Players: seniors Caleb Francois, Maada Kposowa, Xavier Moses, Olyfride Okombi, Pablo Perez, Kyle Smith, junior Samuel Johnson IV

Field Hockey

The field hockey team finished the season second in their conference with a record of seven wins, four losses, and one tie. Senior YEKATERINA VAKHROMEEVA captain Adelaine McDonough said that the team worked on both mentality and condi- HITTING ‘EM HARD Blair handball playtioning to improve their performance, de- ers manuever to gain possesion of the ball. fying negativity and low expectations from Handball other teams.

The handball team achieved a second “I think people like to think that we’re not as strong [of a program] as some of the up- place ranking in Division II, with a season per county schools, to which I would say we record of four wins and two losses. The team are and we’ve proven that multiple times,” won their first playoff game against Magruder, McDonough said. “Our record this year and senior captain Martin Nuvaga attributed has shown that we’re really competitive… this win to the team’s strong defense. Though [so we’re] just working on maintaining that the players put up a good fight against Whit[mindset], that we can beat anybody in the man in the county championships, they ultimately lost by one point. county.”

Nuvaga said that the team saw lots of imAs for physical endurance, McDonough said, “We’ve done a lot of conditioning, provement from last season. “Last season we [we’re] running every day.” They have also didn’t make playoffs, so… to even make the spent time on simple mechanics. “We’re championship game is a really massive [improvement],” Nuvaga said. working on stick work every day,” she said.

The team started off the season with two McDonough believes that the team’s success is partly due to their well-rounded roster consecutive losses but built up momentum and ability to play cohesively. “Overall, I think leading into playoffs. Nuvaga believes the we work really well as a team,” McDonough team’s later success was due to increased said. “We like to say the team is only as good team spirit and cohesiveness.

“Early on in the season we didn’t really as the weakest player, and I think we don’t know each other… we didn’t really trust each have any weakest players.”

Key Players: seniors Adelaine McDonough, Zoe other,” Nuvaga said. “After that, we started Roberts, junior Merete Oakes, sophomore Emma bonding… before games, even after practice.”

Nuvaga also credits the team’s success to Smith, freshmen Amelia Lettre, Margaret Spire its new players and increased effort in practices.

“We had more turnouts for tryouts this year, and I believe… the chemistry of the team was much better. We definitely worked more on our defense,” Nuvaga said.

Key Players: seniors Alya Hall, Martin Nuvaga, Ary Strauss, junior Zane Shafer, sophomore Adam Noyes

Golf

Football

The football team ended the season with YEKATERINA VAKHROMEEVA six wins and four losses. Though this is the same record they ended with last year, they DOWN THE FIELD Freshman Margaret Spire managed it with key members of their team pulls around a rival player in a field hockey game.

The golf team ended the season with a record of 11 wins and four losses to place second in Division II, an improvement from last year’s third place. Senior captain Ryan Cho said that though this season was more challenging that last year, the team still managed to have a successful record.

Cho said that in practice, the team worked on both technique and strategy. “There’s range practice, where we just go to a driving range and we practice our swing,” Cho said.

“But for the most part… we just play nineholes and… try to improve our score.”

Cho said that consistency is especially important to a sport like golf and believes that the team could still improve in that area. “If you make a single mistake, it’s really easy to just snowball into a really bad score,” Cho said. “Most of the reason why we got second to [Richard Montgomery] would be consistency and just not playing as smart as them.”

Nonetheless, Cho said that the team has been improving consistently for the past four years. He believes this improvement is largely due to the fact that “the players themselves have stuck with the team and [have] been practicing every single year.”

Key Players: seniors Ryan Cho, Max Edminster, Pattara Kijlertkittikul, junior Jack Woodward

Blazer swim and dive’s clash with QO

A look at Blair Poms and Cheer

Blazer fantasy sports

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SEOYOUNG JOO