May 2016 - Silver Chips Print

Montgomery Blair High School SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

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May 25, 2016

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VOL 78 NO 7

MCPS changes grading policy

County, unions dispute raises

By Joshua Fernandes

Council to request fund reallocations to reduce class sizes

On May 10, Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers announced via email that he and his staff will eliminate the policy of trend grading in the calculations of semester grades starting in the 2016-17 school year.

Currently, classes without final exams use a trend grading system to determine the semester grade.

This means that if the two quarter grades average in between two letter grades, the semester grade will go up if the second quarter grade is higher and go down if the second quarter grade is lower. For example, a student getting an A in the first quarter and a B in the second quarter would receive a B for the semester, while a student getting a B in the first quarter and an A in the second quarter would receive an A for the semester.

Next year, semester grades will always round up, instead of

following the trend. Under the new system, both students in the previous example would receive A’s as their semester grades. This change will affect five of the 25 possible grade combinations.

Because of the Board of Education’s November decision to replace final exams with quarterly assessments, every course grade will be calculated from the two quarter grades, as there is no longer a final exam on which to base semester grades.

According to MCPS spokesman Derek Turner, Bowers and his staff were responsible for changing the semester grade calculation to align with the modified Board of Education Policy IKA, Grading and Reporting. “The Board decides the policy, and administration decides how to execute it. The grading changes are a form of execution of that bigger

By Alice Park and Alexandra Marquez

see GRADES page A3 MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

DAWSON DO

Bras for change

The Board of Education, the Montgomery County Council, and the MCPS teacher’s union are working toward a deal to reallocate $37 million from previously negotiated staff pay raises to improving classroom instruction.

According to County Council President Nancy Floreen, the Board must renegotiate the employee contracts in order to receive its increased operating budget for fiscal year 2016. In a letter addressed to the council on March 15, County Executive Isiah Leggett recommended that the council increase the school system’s budget this year to $2.5 billion, which is $89 million above the amount required by the state.

Floreen said the Board has agreed to draw funds from salary increases for administrators, teachers, and service workers, which were guaranteed by their contracts, and divert the money to reducing class sizes. “We have the Board’s commitment that they’re going to implement this change,” she said.

According to Floreen and Board President Michael Durso, MCPS’s teacher union, the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), has not yet agreed to the deal. “The [union has] still not of-

ficially agreed,” Durso said.

MCEA Executive Director Tom Israel said the renegotiations will begin once the council approves the Board’s budget. “We [will] have a formal conversation for renegotiations for how we would allocate the available funds,” Israel said. “I think if you talk to anyone on the council or on the board, they will acknowledge that MCEA has been a strong advocate for bringing down class sizes… It’s unfortunate that the way they’re paying for the class size decreases is by trimming the contracts.”

The proposed raises originally included an annual step increase, a two percent cost of living increase, and a makeup step increase that was not included in a previous year.

To achieve its goal of raising $37 million for their achievement gap reduction initiatives, the Board plans to eliminate the makeup step increase and reduced the cost of living raise by one percent, according to Durso. Overall, the pay raises were reduced from eight percent to four-and-a-half percent.

Israel also said that the Board has the authority to impose the contract changes. “If we’re not able to reach an agreement in renegotiations, the board can impose their final offer,” he said.

In addition to the achievement gap reduction initiative, part of the $37 million in the budget proposal will go to renting larger graduation venues for four high schools across the county.

Student parking to switch lots

By Christian Mussenden

HANNAH SCHWARTZ

#GIRLPOWER Sophomore Aaliyah Khan (center) and her supporters display bras over their clothes and unzipped pants to protest the school dress code.

Graduating couples try to make it work

By Joshua Fernandes and Brianna Forté Seniors Eva Bogino and Thomas Schoppert enjoy each other’s company while soaking up the sun on a Puerto Rican beach and listening to the water gently lap the shore. After beginning to date in October of their junior year, the couple has been through rough school days, the final days before summer starts, and everything in between. But just a year after their vacation to Puerto Rico, graduation is approaching and they have a difficult decision to make. After choosing to attend different colleges, the pair will end their relation-

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ship after graduation, and return to just being friends.

For many high-school couples, a relationship remains one of the few constants amidst the blur of stress and confusion that is high school. After graduation, though, couples like Bogino and Schoppert are forced to confront change again, deciding whether to stay together or move on.

High school sweethearts Bogino and Schoppert met through friends and began dating after Schoppert asked Bogino to homecoming. “We didn’t actually

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see RELATIONSHIPS page C1

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CALEB BAUMAN

FEATURES C1

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ENTERTAINMENT D1

CALEB BAUMAN

Playoffs round-up

Las vacaciónes

Check out the tunes that pump through the ears of Blair students.

It is important to analyze what the pledge means to you.

see PARKING page A4

end up going [to homecoming].

We just watched a lot of movies,” Schoppert explains. Since that October, they have grown closer, eventually going to Puerto Rico together after Schoppert invited her to go with his relatives. “My family was going to Puerto Rico, and I was like, ‘Hey, can Eva come?’ and they were like, ‘Yeah!’”

Seniors Yannie Mei and Alex Liu began dating as sophomores after meeting each other through mutual friends. “We started out as friends and we ended up being more than friends,” Liu explains.

Blair music

Pledge of Allegiance

GRIFFIN REILLY

Blair’s Internal Leadership Team (ILT) is currently discussing a proposal to switch the student and staff parking lots next school year that would allow students to park in the lot off of Colesville Road and give staff members the choice to park in either the lot bordering University Boulevard or the Colesville lot. Staff members will vote on these changes for next year at the end of May. This year, Blair sold all of its

136 student parking spaces for the first time. In response principal Renay Johnson and head of security Kathleen Greene proposed changing the entire format of the student parking system by switching the student and staff parking lots. “It’s been almost 15 years, and we’re looking at changing it. I’ve talked to Ms. Greene, who has developed a plan to, possibly, flip it, so that students would enter on the Colesville side, and there’s more

Check in on how Blair athletics is doing in the post-season.

Descubre los destinos exóticos de Hispanoamérica.

CORTESÍA DE MARIA CARTER

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GRIFFIN REILLY

LA ESQUINA LATINA E1

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A2 News

May 25, 2016

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Newsbriefs

Maryland primaries place nominations for various positions

Maryland passes Contraceptive Equity Act

Chris Van Hollen, Jamie Raskin, and Jeanette Dixon amongst nominees

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed the Contraceptive Equity Act into law on May 10. According to a press release from Planned Parenthood, this act ensures that people employed in Maryland have equal access to contraceptives. It prohibits copayments on contraceptives and requires health insurers and Medicaid to cover six months of contraception at a time.

The law also ensures that women can use contraceptives not previously covered by their insurance if those birth control methods work better for them. Insurance companies are still required to cover these off-formulary contraceptives.

“Family planning is essential for women’s rights and cost is a factor in family planning,” state delegate Ariana Kelly told Think Progress.

The act goes into effect in 2018 and is currently the most comprehensive law for insurance coverage of birth control in the United States.

MCR holds Ted Talk at Richard Montgomery The Montgomery County Region of the Maryland Association of Student Council (MCR) organized a TED talk at Richard Montgomery that took place on Friday, May 20. MCR president David Edimo organized the event, and the TED talk highlighted the ideas of six speakers from different high schools across the county, as well as key speaker Linda Diaz, a mental health advocate. “We in MCR have been contemplating doing this event for two years now and it has gone through varying stages of planning, but this year I decided that we were just going to get it done so we did,” Edimo said.

Edimo hoped that people recognized all of the opportunities in MCPS to receive mental health support and appreciated the speakers’ messages. “I think people [learned] that we really are blessed to live in such a culturally and experientially rich place. We can also learn many good lessons about the strength of character that so many of our speakers exemplify,” Edimo said.

Female students protest the dress code On Friday, May 20, female students protested the school dress code by wearing bras over their shirts and leaving their pants unzipped. Sophomore Aaliyah Khan organized the protest after she was placed in in-school suspension for wearing unzipped pants. “I was wearing high waisted pants and I unbuttoned them because my stomach hurt. And so I went to the bathroom and when I came out there was this teacher that I didn’t know, I had never met him before, and he pretty much called me out about it and I felt like this was really disrespectful,” Khan said.

Khan said the teacher interrupted her fourth period class in order to call security for her violation of the dress code. Khan missed that class, as well as her eighth period class. In order to protest the dress code restrictions that forced her to miss instructional time, Khan spread the word on Twitter, using the hashtag #girlpower and encouraging girls to wear their underwear visibly.

Newsbriefs compiled by Brianna Forté

By Grady Jakobsberg On April 26, Maryland primary voters nominated candidates to proceed to the general election on Nov. 8. In the Eighth Congressional District, Democrat Jamie Raskin and Republican Dan Cox won their party nominations. Jeanette Dixon was nominated to compete against incumbent Phil Kauffman for his position on the MCPS Board of Education.

Jeanette Dixon v. Phil Kauffman: Jeanette Dixon and Phil Kauffman placed first and second, respectively, in the primary elections for the MCPS Board of Education at large position, allowing them to move on to the general election after beating three other contenders, Mike Ibañez, Gwendolyn Love Kimbrough, and Blair alum, Sebastian Johnson. Kauffman has held the position for the last eight years, serving two terms. Dixon, a 30-year MCPS veteran and retired Paint Branch principal, challenged Kauffman for the spot along with the three other candidates. According to WTOP, Dixon led the primary with 51,700 votes, Kauffman came in second with 45,800, and Johnson came in third with nearly 30,000.

Both Dixon and Kauffman are pleased with the election results, and Dixon hopes to beat Kauffman in the general election after viewing the outcome of the primaries.

“The larger issue was that 117,000 voted for one of the four challengers, so that tells me that voters are looking for a change,” Dixon said.

Dixon also pointed out that she was the only candidate for any seat on the school board who has been a teacher, parent, and principal in MCPS. Kauffman believes that he is the better candidate for the position simply from the standpoint of experience and effectiveness, particularly with MCPS’s budget.

“Having been on the Board for the last eight years, I know a lot about how the Board functions and operates,” Kauffman said. “I feel like I have gotten things done in terms of modification to the school system’s budget.”

During his campaign, Kauffman focused on getting endorsements from political figures and organizations, and Dixon tried to connect personally with all of the voters.

Dixon disapproved of Kauffman’s collected endorsements because of the position in question.

“I think that it is inappropriate in a nonpartisan election for the school board, for the elected politicians to try and dictate who is on the board. It is up to the voters and I feel that politics has no role in the education of our children,” Dixon said.

If elected, Kauffman said he would focus on reinvigorating

COURTESY OF PHIL KAUFFMAN

COURTESY OF JEANETTE DIXON

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE Phil Kauffman (left) and Jeanette Dixon (right) are both confident they have what it takes to win the MCPS Board of Education at large position in the general election. the Board’s current budget system because he feels the Board gets involved too late in the process. Kauffman would also like the Board to revise its system of evaluating programs. “We need to work more on how we evaluate some of our programs to see how effective they are so that we aren’t spending money on programs that aren’t producing academic results in our students,” Kauffman said.

Dixon, on the other hand, is focused on ensuring that the Board operates with complete transparency to the MCPS community. “We need to share what we are doing to cast a wide net in getting input from students, teachers, staff, and parents and all of those who are interested in the education of our students,” Dixon explained.

Sebastian Johnson, the former Blair student and current policy analyst at the Institution of Taxation and Economic Policy, was disappointed to have lost, but believes that both Kauffman and Dixon are qualified for the position. He hopes to see the policies from his platform pursued by the Board, including the closing of the opportunity gap, which is something that both Dixon and Kauffman have supported. Johnson is still recovering from the defeat, but sees a bright future ahead of him. “I don’t really know what my plans are right now, but whatever they are I do want to make sure I, in some way, further the community. I think that is really important,” he said.

Jamie Raskin v. Dan Cox: In the primary for the represen-

COURTESY OF JAMIE RASKIN

ELECTION FEVER The Democratic nominee for the eight congressional district, Jamie Raskin, will face Dan Cox in November.

tative of the Eighth Congressional District of Maryland to replace Chris Van Hollen, attorney and town councilman Dan Cox won the Republican nomination. Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin defeated Kathleen Matthews, David Trone, and others for the Democratic nomination of the district that includes Blair and parts of Montgomery County.

Raskin said he was “thrilled and elated” to have won the nomination. According to the Washington Post, Raskin won the nomination with 34 percent of the vote, and Trone came in second with 27 percent. Matthews came in third with 24 percent.

Trone was mainly self-funded and put a total of $12.4 million into his campaign, outspending Raskin six to one. Considering his disadvantage in funding, Raskin attributes his victory to an aggressive grassroots campaign.

“We knocked on 30,000 doors, we

had 169 events in people’s living rooms, common rooms, apartment buildings, and backyards, and we just never stopped organizing,” he said.

Raskin’s primary motivation for running is to spread the policies he has accomplished in the Maryland Senate to the rest of the nation. “We have one of the best gun safety laws in the country in Maryland, but we just had the bloodiest summer in Baltimore ever with more than 350 homicides,” Raskin explained. “We need national action on the crisis of gun safety in America.”

Raskin hopes to be a strong advocate for gun safety reform and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the platform on his website, Cox wants to limit government and promote economic growth by reinstituting “Reaganomic” policies to boost small businesses.

Shootings force MCPS to enter a county-wide shelter in place

By Georgina Burros

All MCPS schools were ordered to enter a shelter-in-place on May 6, following fatal shootings in the county. A shelter-inplace allows classes to continue as normal, but requires that no one enters or leaves the school building and that staff members patrol the hallways.

The armed suspect, 62-yearold Eulalio Tordil, was arrested after he shot his estranged wife in the parking lot of High Point High School in Prince George’s County on May 5.

Tordil shot three people at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda and another woman outside of a Giant supermarket in Aspen Hill on May 6.

Douglas Steel, supervisor of the MCPS Department of School Safety and Security, said that MCPS made the countywide shelter-in-place order at the request of the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) and that a shelter-in-place of that magnitude is unusual. “[The MCPD] knew first of all this individual was armed. They initially... didn’t know whether he was in the area, whether he had fled, [and] if he had fled, which direction [he went] in,” said Steel. “I think [the MCPD] had

made the request of us with an overabundance of caution.”

According to NBC Washington, the shelter-in-place was the largest school security order in at least three years in MCPS. Walter Johnson, the school closest in proximity to Montgomery Mall, was the first school ordered to shelter-in-place, according to NBC Washington.

A dozen more schools were instructed to enter a shelter-inplace before a county-wide order was placed at 1 p.m. for all schools to shelter-in-place.

Principal Renay Johnson was out of the building during the incident, and administrator Dirk Cauley assumed Mrs. Johnson’s position of incident commander during the situation.

Cauley alerted students over the announcements of the shelter-in-place and oversaw staff safety procedures, such as monitoring doors. “We got the message that we were to go into a shelter-in-place which means we deploy staff members, security, non-teaching staff, and administrators to man the doors,” said Johnson. “That means school continues as usual.”

The shelter-in-place at Blair was lifted at 2 p.m. and afterschool activities continued as scheduled.

May 25, 2016

News A3

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Students win National Science Bowl Competition

By Julian Brown

Seniors Eric Lu and Arnold Mong, juniors Jamie Vinson and Alex Miao, and sophomore Elliot Kienzle won the US Department of Energy National Science Bowl. The competition took place at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase from April 28 to May 2.

The teams that placed in the top 16 were given $1,000 for their school, but as the winner, the team from Blair was awarded a nineday, all-expense-paid trip to Alaska this summer. Though the details have not yet been fully determined, the team is looking forward to the trip. “I am pretty excited as it should be fun,” Miao said.

According to team sponsor Tran Pham, the five Blazers faced off against 69 other high schools from across the country, each of which won their own regional competitions.

Blair began the national competition with a round robin tournament in which 9 teams all played each other once. The top two teams from each round robin progressed to a 16 team double elimination tournament to determine the final champions.

Each match had 10 minute halves in which contestants had to quickly buzz in to

answer toss-up questions before the other team. The questions included details from all areas of science as well as math and computer science. “There is no conferring on toss-up questions,” Miao said. “A player buzzes in and if he/she gets the question right, the team gets 4 points and will receive a bonus question. A bonus question is of the same subject as the toss-up, and the team is allowed to discuss before the team captain gives an answer.”

Blair went 8-1 in the round robin, losing to Troy, but went undefeated in the knockout round, beating Lexington, BASIS Scottsdale, Thomas Jefferson, and Lynbrook on their way to victory.

The last time Blair won the national competition was in 1999, and the team reached the top five in 2004 (fourth place) and 2011 (second place). Looking ahead, Miao sees next year’s team’s prospects as very promising because only Mong and Lu are graduating. “Two seniors are leaving: Arnold [Mong] who did physics and energy and Eric [Lu] who did math and earth and space science,” Miao said. “The team needs replacements in those subjects.”

The replacements will be chosen through a series of online tryouts that will occur ear-

COURTESY OF RENAY JOHNSON

NATIONAL CHAMPS From left, sponsor Tran Pham, seniors Eric Lu and Arnold Mong, juniors Jamie Vinson and Alex Miao, and sophomore Eliot Kienzle celebrate their win. ly next year. “Top scorers on the online tryout will move on to the buzzer tryout,” Miao says. “There are three teams: A, B, and C. C

team is exclusively for freshmen, and there is a tradition of allowing seniors to try out for only A team, although this may change.”

County releases new grading guidelines to address lack of final exams from GRADES page A1 policy,” Turner said.

According to Turner, administrative staff consulted with community members since the Board chose to eliminate final exams in November. “We really brought in stakeholders from teacher groups, to principals, to administrators, to central office staff, to people representing student groups,” Turner said. “All those folks were sitting at the

table, having the discussion about what they wanted to see in our grading policy moving forward.”

Student support for the changes often stems from the benefit of the doubt that the grading system provides students. “It’s a good thing because if you get an A first quarter and a B second quarter you’ve proven that you have the capability to get an A, so you should get the grade that you’ve proven you can get,” sophomore Charles Gryder

soapbox How do you think the new grading policy will affect students and their motivation in school?

“The new policies screw over students and make them unprepared for their future. In college, many professors grade on the curve and for students whose grades have been artificially inflated, this will be a rude awakening.”

- Noah Friedlander, junior “Their motivation will decrease but I don’t care because I’m still trying to get a 4.00 every quarter and make it rain on those people who ever doubted me.”

- Yonathan Tadesse, sophomore

said.

Many community members, including students and staff, have expressed concerns that the changes will lead to grade inflation which is when grades overvalue student performance. Because the five changes to the policy all improve semester grades, on average, semester grades will be higher if quarter grades stay the same. “If everyone is getting higher grades, then having higher grades means less,” sophomore Ben Miller said.

Turner responded to such concerns by saying that the success of similar models in other schools suggests that grade inflation is a non-issue. “We recognize that there are other counties, including Howard County right next door, that uses this same model.

We’ll continue monitoring but we don’t have any concerns about grade inflation,” Turner said.

Math teacher David Stein believes that the new grading system encourages students to not put effort into their schoolwork. “Making the incentives the way it is are going to encourage certain students to work hard for half the semester and then, because the grading system will ensure them a decent grade, they might stop learning,” Stein said. “If the grades are being disincentives to learning, that’s a really poor grading system.”

English teacher Adam Clay agrees with Stein, citing experience with former students who would put in the least possible effort to

get the grades that they wanted. “Grades are very favorable to students, and unfortunately I’ve seen students play a game with calculating what they need at the end to pass and they do the bare minimum,” Clay said.

Turner stated that these concerns are not shared by the county because of the quality of teachers in MCPS. “I would say we have some of the best teachers here in MCPS and they know how to motivate their students,” Turner said. “We believe that our teachers can get our students engaged and motivated.”

Instead of averaging the two quarters’ letter grades, many community members suggest that averaging the percentages to determine the semester grade better represents student achievement. “If they’re going to get rid of final exams, which they shouldn’t do, but they have, then the best second alternative would be to average two quarter grades,” Stein said.

According to Turner, county administration opted not to use percentages to calculate semester grades as they preferred the letter grade average over the percentage average. “An awful lot of folks are saying percentages are the way to go and adding [the quarter grades] and dividing by two would be the best strategy, but...we want to be cognizant of ways of averaging grades together that push students’ success level, and percentages didn’t seem like the right model for us at this time,” Turner said.

Up and Coming May 26, One-Act Plays

May 27, Graduation

May 30, Memorial Day

June 14-17, Final Exams

Student & Teacher Awards & Honors The Rubik’s Cube team won second place at the D.C. Metro “You CAN do the Rubik’s cube” tournament.

The Science Olympiad team placed fourth at the Maryland Science Olympiad Competition.

Senior Haena Lee won the National Center for Women and Information Technology Aspirations in Computing Award for the Maryland and Delaware Region.

Senior Mario Menendez Muñíz received the 2016 Distinguished Hispanic Scholar award.

Seniors Eleanor Harris, Ethan Holland, Noah Levine, Anthony Li, Raymond Lin, Eric Lu, Victoria Tsai, and Angel Wen won National Merit Scholarships.

Senior Matthew Guerrera won the Navy ROTC Marine Option Scholarship.

Junior Thierry Siewe Yanga won the county and regional titles in the 800 m run.

A4 News

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May 25, 2016

Blair Leadership Team proposes new parking lot swap Students could park in the Colesville Parking Lot as early as next year from PARKING page A1 parking for students, and that staff would enter on the University Side.” Johnson said, “We have more students and less staff that drive, so we were thinking about that. That way we wouldn’t sell out of parking spaces.”

Administrator William Currence said that students’ complaints about traffic in the student lot during the morning and after the 2:30 dismissal also prompted the discussion of switching the lots. “We had concerns about students complaining about where it is they were going to park, and with the bus lanes it causes lot of congestion for students who are trying to park the same time the students are arriving,” Currence said.

ILT member and head of the social studies department Mary Thornton said that part of the reason for the proposal is that Blair’s location causes precarious safety issues for students. “Blair is just so inaccessible anyway that it’s going to be difficult no matter how they do this,” Thornton said. “Every year, we have accidents. Accidents happen but this whole area complicates what’s going on. Every year, we have teachers who are late and students who are late because there are accidents out there. It’s a mess. I applaud trying to fix it, but I think we need to be very thoughtful about it, and be deliberate about it.”

Johnson would also like to incorporate daily parking, where a student would pay a small fee to park their car on a daily basis.

“When I worked at Paint Branch high school years ago, they had six reserved. They were for two dollars per day, and it was a daily thing, because you had to do it daily because there was a reason you needed to drive,” Johnson said. “I think having two spaces open for daily parking would just help kids, who just need to drive for that specific day.

All funds generated from the sale of student parking permits are deposited into a school’s Independent Activity Fund (IAF) which is then credited to the school’s athletic program.

Rita Boule, Blair’s Athletic Director says

that the student parking revenue accounts for approximately ten percent of the athletic program’s budget. “It is a significant amount,” Boule said “But it isn’t enough

for me to call Ms. Franklin (Blair’s Financial Specialist) and ask her ‘where’s my student parking permit money?’” According to Boule and Johnson, the majority of athletics

CALEB BAUMAN

PARKIG PERMITS Student parking permits in MCPS currently cost $37.50 for one semester. This price was raised by the BOE in 2008.

funds is received from ticket sales.

Student parking permits are currently $37.50 per semester. This number was determined by the County’s BOE in 2008, according to MCPS spokesperson Derek Turner “That’s just a number they charge,” Turner said. “It wasn’t calculated based on revenue to support athletic fields.”

Montgomery County Ombudsman Gboyinde Onijala said that MCPS implements a county-wide policy for student parking ensures that fairness and safety for students. “Our schools have a limited number of student parking spaces and the use of a parking permit system helps ensure that the number of cars driven by students is limited to the spaces available for parking,” Onijala said. “Permitting provides a measure of safety and security as schools are able to identify vehicles that are authorized to park on school property.”

Wheaton’s Business Administrator Sandra Spruill believes that the county’s student parking permit puts schools like Wheaton, who doesn’t have any student parking this year due to construction, at a disadvantage. “With the construction, unfortunately we’ve lost a lot of space,” Spruill said. “Will we regain student parking? I don’t know.”

Spruill said that the student’s population relies heavily on public transportation and that they have never sold a large amount of student parking permits. “We don’t have a lot of students that drive to school. We have a large population that uses public transportation, so it’s not unusual for me to only sell maybe four or five parking passes a year,” Spruill said. “It does put some schools at a disadvantage because obviously they cannot raise those funds for athletics.”

Einstein’s Business Administrator Simon Seaforth believes that the student parking permit system is a privilege for students.

“They don’t have to park in a space right?

Driving is not a requirement. It’s a privilege,” Seaforth said. “I don’t tell anyone they have to pay the $37.50. They choose to pay the $37.50. Even when they do, then the athletic program in which students participate, benefit from it.”

Cops, teachers, students participate in basketball tournament

HOOPS tournament seeks to bridge gap between police and local youth

By Cole Sebastian Police officers from the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) joined Blair students and teachers for a basketball tournament in the Nelson H. Kobren Memorial Gymnasium at Blair on May 12.

The event, called Helping Our Outstanding Police and Students (HOOPS), was a joint effort between Blair administration, the MCPD, and an independent organization called Making a New United People (MANUP), aimed to build trust between local police and the Blair community.

The tournament consisted of 12 teams of five. Each team consisted of a mix of police officers, students, and teachers. Live music from a DJ and a concessions stand accompanied the event. The tournament was free to all players and spectators.

Rich Reynolds, police officer and HOOPS organizer from the MCPD, said that the tournament was part of a wider campaign to involve police officers in the community.

“I went to a bunch of community meetings and I would listen to people… people were saying that they didn’t see a real connection with the police,” he said. “That’s where it started, the idea of coming together and doing something to try and rebuild bridges that seemed to be broken down over the years.”

From there, Reynolds solicited the help of Brandon Johns and Anthony Goodson, co-founders and directors of the MANUP organization.

The group later approached Blair administration with the idea of a basketball tournament involving police officers and students. “They have [police officers] that want to play basketball, we’ve got 3,000 students and… a gym so it was a natural thing that came out of it,” said Assistant Principal William Currence, the HOOPS tournament organizer from Blair.

Reynolds said that the purpose of the event was for cops and students to have a great time together. “It was never about anything other than getting people involved and creating bonds and memories with the youth,” he said.

Reynolds said he was amazed by how cooperative and friendly the cops and students were with each other. “Everybody was supporting everybody else and encouraging people and having a good time,” he said.

William Wyle, a Montgomery County special operations officer and HOOPS participant, said that he enjoyed the tournament. “It’s great interacting with everybody here from the school… It needs to happen more often,” he said.

The players were expected to be civil and cooperative despite some intense competition. “We didn’t even have no referees.

The students were able to police their own games, and didn’t even get in any long, drawn-out arguments,” Goodson said. “Everything still went smoothly, that’s the great thing.”

Currence was pleased with how the tournament helped to humanize the police force.

“Our culture today, there’s a lot of animosity with the police. There’s a lot of questions about how they do their jobs. It was just very cool to see everybody doing something that everyone enjoys, playing basketball,” Currence said.

Goodson hopes that HOOPS played a small part in normalizing relations between the police and young people. “Right now, there’s a lot of tension between young people and police officers, because of… the unfair treatment that some officers give to younger kids or to younger adults,” said Goodson. “By having all the officers play in conjunction with the students, it then creates a relationship [where] that gap can start to be bridged.”

The MCPD, MANUP, and Blair administration said they hope to make HOOPS an annual event with some improvements for next year.

Currence said that they plan to connect

the event to March Madness, advertising the tournament more heavily and earlier on, and promoting more female participation by requiring that each team have a female player.

COURTESY OF RENAY JOHNSON

BALLERS The winning team of the HOOPS game consisted of, from left to right, sophomore Zeshan Khan, sophomore Anthony Smith Davis, junior Kendall Douglas, junior Malik Lee, and Officer Christopher Brown.

Opinions B1

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May 25, 2016

Do field trips enhance the learning experience?

NO:

YES: Field trips provide learning experiences beyond the classroom.

Every year, Blair Entomology and Marine Biology teacher Elizabeth Duval brings her students into nature to provide educational applications beyond the classroom. Her Entomology class, which focuses on the scienBRENNAN WINER tific study of bugs, Georgina Burros requires students to compile an insect collection. Instead of having her students just study pictures and diagrams of insects in class, Duval incorporates experiences with nature into her curriculum to expand learning. “A lot of our field trips are [insect] collecting field trips,” Duval said. “[It’s] really important to actually bring the class out into nature where insects would be.”

Students have different learning styles, but without the interactive nature of field trips, they are left to learn in only one way: within the walls of a classroom. Margy Natalie, acting on-site learning manager at the National Air and Space Museum, says that field trips provide an interactive experience that cannot be replicated. “Field trips give students the opportunity to learn in a natural environment and experience things first-hand and from primary resources, rather than texts” Natalie told the National Education Association in their article “How Field Trips Boost Students’ Lifelong Success.”

Trips to science museums, the zoo, art museums, and outdoor nature reserves provide real life experience beyond the classroom and an engaging break from the usual monotonous routine of learning from textbooks and screens.

They offer students an opportunity to apply their knowledge outside of the confines of the classroom. Field trips promote creative and critical thinking and provide interactive learning and in relation to arts and culture that would not ordinarily be accessible for students without the option of school field trips.

The positive effects are long-lasting. A study conducted by the US Travel Association found that 89 percent of the 400 adults surveyed stated that these educational trips had positive long-term impacts on both their education and their later career paths.

They said that the field trips made them more engaged, intellectually focused, and interested in learning inside and out-side of their school environments.

To measure the impacts of art-related field trips on students, researchers from the University of Arkansas evaluated 10,912 students and 489 teachers in a study at 123 different American schools. The participants took a trip to the Crystal Bridges

Field trips can be fun, but they do not help learning.

Museum of American Art in Arkansas and completed a survey after the visit.

A majority of students expressed tolerance and historical empathy in the survey, and researchers measured an improved ability to think critically based on their blindly scored essays after their first time seeing Bo Bartlett’s painting, The Box. This field trip also expanded the arts and culture exposure for many lower-income students, which proved beneficial as researchers found that students from “high-poverty schools experienced an 18 percent effectsize improvement in their critical thinking skills,” according to Julia Ryan of The Atlantic.

At Blair, many students are given the opportunity to engage in field trips that provide extension beyond the classroom.

The Youth Ambassadors Program allowed students to be immersed in the French culture with a two week visit to France. The Blair Science, Math and Computer Science Magnet sophomore class spent four

days on Wallops Island in Virginia. Recently, the Magnet freshman class went to Lake Needwood in Maryland. These trips allowed students to adapt to learning in an environment outside the classroom. “In a classroom the teacher gives you the information for the problem, so you know how you’re going to solve it every time,” said freshman Meili Gupta. “Going out by [Lake Needwood], you have to think, ‘What information do I have to figure it out, [and] how am I going to figure it out?’”

The bottom line is : Every day that students spend in school, they are learning within the confines of the classroom walls. Field trips provide opportunities for students to be exposed to arts, culture, and the sciences that would be otherwise inaccessible. To go out into the world and have hands-on experience engages students and creates a learning opportunity that they will re-member for a long time.

It seems as though every day there is a class on a field trip to a foreign country, a movie theater, an amusement park, or any other place in the world. This year, Blair teachers have introduced a greater number of out-ofBRENNAN WINER school activities, Joshua Fernandes especially toward the end of the school year. Students often enjoy the diversions of field trips and take advantage of a reprise from the monotony of school. But the vast majority of these field trips ultimately prove useless and fail to build understanding of course material or deepen appreciation for subject matter.

Especially in required classes, the major-

MEGHNA SAMBATHKUMAR

ity of students do not plan on pursuing the topics covered in class later in their lives. This can make trips less relevant to students, leading to less focus and little benefit. In April, physics students took a field trip to Six Flags America to learn about the physics of roller coasters and see examples of forces and motion in real life.

Using stopwatches to record data, the students were responsible for completing a set of problems related to the roller coasters.

By going on rides, students likely did not gain a better understanding or appreciation for physics, even if the trip did provide students an enjoyable day. This fun came at the cost of losing a day of instructional time and forced students to make up missed work in other classes.

Often, the limited knowledge that field trips provide can be delivered just as easily

in a classroom. Recently, students in Honors English 12 went to see “Saving Private Ryan” at the AFI Silver Theater to compare the film to two books they had read in the class, Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five”.

While such an assignment is beneficial, it could easily be done in the classroom. To prevent the loss of instructional time from other classes, the film could have been shown over two or three class periods, and students could have completed the same comparison activity. Viewing the movie contiguously and out-of-school resulted in students losing time from their other classes, which, like most field trips, led to missed work.

Some excursions, though, do succeed in helping build student knowledge and appreciation. In very specific elective courses and as part of certain clubs, students can participate in trips directly related to their interests. For example, students in the Youth Ambassadors Program were given the opportunity to visit France for two weeks and engage with the French culture and schools. Even though they had to miss significant class time, students decided that such a trip was important enough to justify the loss of in-school instructional time.

Trips like these are the exceptions to the trend of time-wasting field trips, however, because most field trips are not as important to students’ career choices and take away classroom time that could be used more effectively.

The flaw with most field trips is that participating students miss class work that overshadows any work done on the trips.

No matter how a trip is scheduled, there will always be some lost class time, and learning done on field trips is very inefficient. For example, at Six Flags, students spent time on rides, while no such time would be lost in the classroom.

Organizing teenagers to be productive is already difficult in a classroom, but it is near impossible on field trips. Covering material on field trips typically takes substantially more time than in classrooms, and even more time is lost to logistics like transportation.

In high school, getting work done is already a balancing act for most students, and missing just a single day can lead to hours of work to make up. Coupled with the fact that most of the knowledge gained from field trips can be delivered just as easily in a traditional classroom setting, most field trips are not worth the hassle. Instead of using them in every class, teachers should focus on using final trips primarily in electives, where students can engage with subject matter that truly interests them. In most classes, though, field trips will continue to waste time and prevent students from receiving valuable classroom education.

voicebox Autumn Jones Freshman

BRENNAN WINER

“It depends. If you’re going to Six Flags for math...then that doesn’t make sense.”

Derek Lamb Junior

BRENNAN WINER

“No, because they don’t usually pertain to class material.”

Ethan Lott Senior

BRENNAN WINER

“Yes, kids get really excited about field trips, so they’re excited to come to school.”

Caleb Kracke-Bock Junior

BRENNAN WINER

“Yes, they’re fun, they get people engaged, and they can be educational.”

Mariela Melgar Cruz Sophomore

BRENNAN WINER

“Electives should have field trips because that’s really what you’re interested in.”

B2 Opinions

silverchips

May 25, 2016

Standing up, or sitting down, for what you believe in Each person must find what the pledge of allegiance means to them

By Cole Sebastian An opinion The familiar words flutter above the inattentive heads of my classmates. I stand with my hand over my heart as I pay respect to the flag. Looking around, I realize that not a single student is joining me in my daily display of patriotism. I feel isolated and uncomfortable as I slink back into my chair.

Although no one is paying any attention to me or the pledge, there is a misplaced sense of embarrassment that comes with being the only one to stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance. Every day that I stand for the pledge, I feel that because I am the only one, I must be making a statement with my actions. However, I am just standing up because it is what I have always done and what I

have always believed in. How did that become so abnormal?

When we first learned the pledge, everybody stood up because we were told to, and we never questioned it. We had no reason not to, so it became habit.

By middle school I noticed one or two students per class were brave enough to stay seated. They had begun to question the pledge and realized they had no reason to say it, or a good reason not to. I kept standing. Most kids did. High school was the first time I stood up alone. That was the first time I thought about why I stood up.

This was when I realized that kids were no longer sitting down because they had a reason to sit down. They just did not care about the pledge. It passed through one ear and out the other without a second thought. Slowly,

soapbox Do you think students are making a statement when they do not stand up for the pledge?

“I do not think that [students who stand during the pledge] are sending a message. Some students are just busy.”

— Raphael Mu, junior “Sometimes people are just lazy, but others actively dislike the whole ‘Under God’ part, which is why I do not stand for the pledge.”

— Lydia Wang, sophomore

I stopped standing up for the pledge as well.

The problem is not that students sit down during the pledge.

Every student that does so is well within their rights—that was ensured by the Supreme Court in 1943. That right was later reaffirmed at Blair in 2002 after Elliot Wolf, a 2004 alum, launched a campaign against the punishment of students who sat down during the pledge. The problem is that people are sitting down simply because they are lazy.

I am not asking everyone to stand up for the pledge. I just want each student to evaluate what the pledge means to them and base their actions off their own opinions, not the social norm.

A student’s reaction to the pledge should be deliberate and mindful.

Analysis of the pledge is beneficial in understanding national identity and the meaning of being an American. There are many good and bad reasons for both sitting down and standing up for the pledge. Finding those reasons and weighing the two options can help define one’s relationship with their country.

I have started standing up for the pledge again, but this time for a more legitimate reason. I know that the America described in the pledge is very different from the America we see today. But I am pledging to work to create the America that I want, the “indivisible” America that guarantees “liberty and justice for all.” I no longer stand up mindlessly or be-

GRIFFIN REILLY

SIT OR STAND Students should evaluate what the pledge means to them before choosing to stand up or stay seated. cause of blind patriotism. I stand up because the pledge means something to me.

But standing up for the pledge is not inherently patriotic. No one should stand up without caring about what the pledge means.

True patriotism is when you are willing to question and challenge the pillars of your nation without losing faith in it. Standing up without knowing why is terribly unpatriotic.

Just as bad is sitting down without knowing why. However, there are many good reasons to stay seated during the pledge.

Many people feel that the Pledge of Allegiance violates their freedom of religion by containing the

phrase “under God.” The phrase, which was added to the pledge in 1954 to supposedly combat communism, can be alienating to those who are not religious. There are also many students who feel that their national identity lies elsewhere, or with no nation at all.

Every student has the right to sit down during the pledge, but students should only exercise that right if they feel it is necessary.

Any genuinely thought-out reason to stay seated during the pledge is legitimate, just don’t take advantage of your right to sit just because you are lazy. That is what matters most: not whether you sit or stand, but knowing what you are sitting or standing for.

What the heck is going on with curse words these days!?

Curse words no longer seem to have the shock value that they used to

By Julian Brown An opinion

“DAMN!” Do not be surprised. You have all heard it before. Odds are you have even heard it from a teacher. The times are gone when we would all go quiet and stare. Bad words are simply not so bad anymore.

Many people find swearwords hard to define because their only commonality is the fact that they are offensive, rude, and insulting.

Yet, if I called someone “ugly,” that would certainly be rude and insulting, but no one would ever consider “ugly” to be a swear word. So what sets our classic upper-echelon swear words such as “f*ck,” “damn,” and “sh*t” apart? The answer is we do.

According to a Huffington Post article, “A F*cking Short History of the F-Word”, many English curse words are of harmless origins, with “f*ck” coming from words meaning “to strike” and “to move back and forth.” Over many years, these words evolve and are eventually considered too offensive to say.

Nowadays curse words are everywhere: in TV shows, movies, advertisements, and even school newspapers. In the case of TV shows, a study done by Monika Bednarek, Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney, examined 38 arbitrarily chosen episodes from different, popular American TV shows including those on major networks and premium channels. Bednarek found that there were a total of 437 nonreligious curse words in those episodes.

One may think that these words are simply concentrated in dirty, late night HBO shows, but in fact taking away the top three shows

still sums to a total of 210 curse words.

The decline of curse words’ shock value can be correlated with the development of the Internet. Before the web, children and teens had to go to a theater to see a movie or purchase a DVD or cassette, which are all under the restrictions of the Motion Picture Association of America movie ratings system. TV shows could only be watched on an actual television, which frequently resided in a more “public” area of the household; this made it easier for parents to regulate what their child was watching.

Nowadays, however, any movie or TV show, no matter the rating, can be watched online with a few simple keystrokes. This newfound freedom leads to more exposure to swearing than in the pre-Internet generations, and with more exposure comes more comfort and less shock value.

Cursing in schools has also had a huge hand in the decline of the swear word. Most students at Blair can name at least one teacher who has cursed or does curse in class. When asked how he thinks the students feel when he curses, one anonymous teacher said, “I think my students are all pretty used to it.”

Some teachers have even

thought of ways to try to limit cursing in the classroom.

One such teacher, Tung Pham, has a jar in his class where students caught cursing must put in

one penny. The money is eventually donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. “I think cursing in class is not okay because as a teacher you want to be professional. You can’t tell students ‘Don’t curse in class,’ and you’re cursing in class,” Pham said. “Be consistent as it suits you as a role model.”

Pham does recall one teacher cursing in class when he was in school, but it was not very often and the students themselves would never do it. “The class was very liberal... If we did something silly or said some-

thing funny or made a joke, he might curse,” Pham says.

All in all, Pham seems to be fighting a losing battle: the swear words that we are supposed to fear have become commonplace in our generation.

However, maybe this development is not such a horrible thing; maybe telling ourselves that these words are normal; maybe letting go of our deepest and most ingrained inhibitions about “sh*t” and “d*mn” and “b*tch” means we can get past them and they will not seem so…well… f*cked up.

SABRINA TAN

Winner of the 2015 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Crown

Editors-in-Chief: Alexandra Marquez and Alice Park Managing News Editors: Dawson Do and Joshua Fernandes Managing Op/Ed Editor: Aditi Shetty Managing Features Editors: Julian Brown and Cole Sebastian Managing Entertainment Editors: Georgina Burros and Brianna Forté Managing Sports Editors: Grady Jakobsberg Ombudsman: Cole Sebastian Newsbriefs Editor: Niki Patel Executive Business Director: Elizabeth Cove and Ariel Zhang Business Staff: Gerrit Antonisse Marianne Benyamin Elizabeth Cove Rudi Elien Christine Wan Page Editors: Julian Brown Georgina Burros Dawson Do Josh Fernandes Brianna Forte Grady Jakobsberg Alexandra Marquez Christian Mussenden Alice Park Niki Patel Cole Sebastian Aditi Shetty La Esquina Latina Editor-in-Chief: Camila Fernández La Esquina Latina Writers: Alisson Fortis Carlos Fuentes Ilcia Hernandez Andrés Pérez Managing Photo Editor: Caleb Bauman Griffin Reilly Photographers: Jedediah Grady Chaminda Hangilipola Sami Mallon Hannah Schwartz Brennan Winer Managing Art Editors: Shivani Mattikalli Alexandra Mendivil Artists: Lindsay Harris Marissa He Tiffany Mao Aritra Roy Meghna Sambathkumar Sabrina Tan Puzzle Editor: Neal Sarkar Copy Editors: Sophia Liu and Elia Martin La Esquina Latina Advisor: Dianette Coombs 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, to room 158 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 silver.chips. ombudsman@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.

B3

My Blair: Personal Column Just breathing

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

Opinion

silverchips

May 25, 2016

By Franchezka Mendoza Guest writer I did not understand why all of the sudden I was feeling so empty and blasé with everything that I did. I did not want to go out, talk to people, or even wake up. I could feel myself changing.

I did not laugh the same, smile the same, or even talk the same.

I felt so tired of everything. I felt like there was no purpose for me in life, like I was just breathing.

I did my best to fake how I was really felt.

I have to admit, I fooled many.

But, weeks passed and I was just becoming worse. I spoke with my counselor because she was someone I trusted dearly. I was terrified of what she might think of me, but I had no choice.

I walked in her office as I had done before hundreds of times, but this time was different—I knew that when I walked out I would have a better recognition of who I was becoming. I spoke with her and explained everything that had been occurring the past five months, and she stayed silent. No words, no motions, no anything. She finally spoke and explained that I might be bundling up everything I have been

GRIFFIN REILLY

going through. She recommended I go to a professional, which I did not look forward to, but I knew I needed to attend to be able to mend myself.

I walked into this small office.

The first thing I saw was basic white walls with two antiquated paintings. One said, “Your happiness depends on you,” and the other said, “Sadness shouldn’t have a home in your heart.”

They called my name and my

THEN: 1988

mother and I entered a small room and waited for the man to get his thoughts together. He asked me, “So Franchezka, how are you?”

I knew he was forced to say this, but I remembered that I was doing this to better myself so I responded, “Very well, thank you.” We spoke for about two and a half hours about how I felt, and he asked me questions, took notes as I spoke, and took the test.

Later on, he asked my mother

to step out the room and talked with me alone. Once my mom stepped out the room, he paused and told me why I was performing as I was. This was when I found out that I had a severe case of depression.

We left the office and got in the car.

I started to take depression pills and all they did was remind me that I was just sadder than a usual teen. This occurred a year ago, and since then I have learned how to cope with having depression. Now I am able to feel stunning and will continue to feel that way with everyone I come across.

Yes, at moments I get annoyed and irritated, but that is normal.

I am normal, I am just dealing with a condition that I was able to

Want to submit a personal column? Email it to silver.chips.print@gmail.com The Editorial Board will read through all submissions and determine a selection.

...& NOW: 2016

CHRIS SPANN

GRIFFIN REILLY

BATTER UP Senior Pat Budock swings at a pitch in a losing game against Einstein.

TAKE A SWING Senior Robert Pfefferle steps up to the plate to bat in a winning playoff game against Richard Montgomery on May 14.

B4 Editorials

silverchips

May 25, 2016

MCPS finally gets it right!

New grading policy solves everything Recently, interim superintendent Larry Bowers released a new grading policy that accommodates the lack of final exams in MCPS. The grading policy, which is based off two quarter grades, eliminates downward trend and will likely result in higher semester grades across the board. Awesome! Your GPA will skyrocket, and MCPS will be further revered as one of the top school systems in the country.

We have taken the liberty of compiling a list of the best ways to take advantage of this new grading trend policy.

1. With downward trend out of the picture, feel free to split the effort you exert in your classes between the two quarters. Focus on science, physical education, and English first quarter at the expense of your other subjects.

But do not worry, because you can direct your attention to math, art, and history second quarter! You only have to pass one quarter to pass the course.

2. Earn a 3.0 GPA one quarter, and do not bother showing up for the next! This is perfect for second semester seniors. Quarter grades of a B and an E will still earn you a final grade of a C. Save your energy for creating the perfect promposal rather than coming to class since you will earn a passing

grade anyway.

3. See how high a grade you can get without ever opening your backpack at home! Just show up to class, and you are almost guaranteed to earn a passing grade.

You do not even have an exam to take, so learning the material is really unnecessary.

We hope MCPS is just as open to suggestions as our student body is, so we have also brainstormed some helpful ideas for our friends on Hungerford Drive.

1. Do not stop at final exams; get rid of testing altogether! Imagine all the money and paper that will be saved if there are no more Scantrons. Just like eliminating final exams will help students once they get to college, abolishing all forms of assessment is a surefire way to prepare high schoolers for their first semester of higher education.

2. We have noticed that the new plan for calculating grades is the one currently used in middle school courses without final exams. To add to the blast from the past, you should also reinstate 30 minute recess for high schoolers every day. What better way for over-burdened, test-crazy teenagers to unshoulder some of the stress?

3. Instead of grades, give out

different types of desserts to reward achievement. The top students might get a red velvet cake, but even the poorly performing students would still earn a chocolate chip cookie. After all, we would not want anyone to feel excluded.

All in all, we here at Silver Chips think this new policy is wonderful. When students were failing the Algebra I final exam in droves, what easier solution than to eliminate final exams altogether? Much more intuitive than improving the quality with which the material is taught. When it becomes too hard to get an A, instead of encouraging students or providing extra resources to help, the much simpler answer is to tweak the system itself. We commend MCPS for finally getting to the root of the problem, for digging deep, and for coming up with a solution that truly benefits everyone.

Do you have any feedback or see any mistakes? Let us know.

E-mail the editors at silver.chips.print@gmail.com

SHIVANI MATTIKALLI

Voice your opinion with our new survey We have simplified the process of reader feedback

By Cole Sebastian The most important members of the Silver Chips staff are the readers. It is your job to tell us what you do and do not like about Silver Chips, and to help us on our never ending quest to improve the newspaper. As ombudsman, I strive to gain a sense of what Blair students want out of their newspaper in order to make Silver Chips accessible to the entire Blair population. So I have taken it upon myself to make your job even easier for you. No longer will you have go through the hassle of painstakingly drafting an email to ombudsmansilverchips@gmail. com (although that is still highly recommended and appreciated).

Now I have streamlined the process of expressing acclamations and grievances into one survey.

Simply scan the qr code to left of this article or go to chipssurvey. com to fill out the brand new, official Silver Chips Feedback Survey!

The main component of the survey is a list in which you select every story that you have read or plan on reading in the most recent issue. We hope to use this data to measure what types of stories you love most so we can make our stories more engaging for readers.

We currently can only decide what stories to write based on what we staff members would want to read but we have no idea what you want to read. You will now have a seat in the writers’ room when we are deciding what stories to write.

The next part of the survey is for general feedback. This is where you can write long-winded rants about our many shortcomings (or long-winded rants about how excellent we are). In this section you are asked to specify your favorite stories, give future story ideas, point out mistakes in the most recent cycle, and give any complaints about the paper

in general. You can answer any or none of the questions in this section; all feedback is appreciated but not required. This is the part

take a minute of your time, but it will be hugely helpful for us.

If you believe that using the internet will infest your brain with

We would like to say thank you and goodbye to our senior Silver Chips staff members as well as Blair’s graduating class of 2016.

For more about our seniors, see our 2016 Senior Edition.

Corrections In the F3 article, “Taking sportsmanship to a new level, on and off the field,” junior Demetri Cooper was mistakenly identified as Demetri Jones.

In the F3 photo accompanying the article, “Taking sportsmanship to a new level, on and off the field,” the photo was incorrectly attributed as courtesy of Abby Rowland. It should have been credited as a photo courtesy of Tracy Kaufman.

In the F2 article “New season, new sports: Playing for their squad and their school,” Casia Williams Rogers was incorrectly identified as Casia Williams.

Ombudsman Cole Sebastian of the survey I am most excited about. I will make it my mission to consider and personally respond to every submission. Anything that you write in the feedback survey can and will help us create a better newspaper.

On the same website as the cycle feedback survey is a survey about Silver Chips as a whole.

This is a short survey that consists mostly of multiple choice questions designed to help us collect data on how much of Silver Chips students read, what sections students read, and more. It will only

mind-controlling parasites, we even have a method of feedback for you. Next fall we will be unveiling the official Silver Chips Feedback Box! The box will live outside of the Silver Chips lab (room 165) and anyone can submit story ideas, complaints, letters to the editor, or deeply personal letters about your love-hate relationships with your cat. Anything you want to say to us can go in that box. I guarantee that everything submitted into the box will be carefully considered and have an effect on how we run our paper.

The most valuable part of all the new forms of feedback is that they allow you to give your feedback anonymously. Currently, the only form of feedback is emailing me or the editors (which I still highly recommend) which enables us to trace your comments back to your email address. Now anyone can feel free to say all the mean things they can possibly say to us without disclosing their identity. So bring it on! Tell us everything you hate about Silver Chips. No matter what you have to say, it is important that we hear it. You have an entire newspaper to hear us talk, so let’s make it a conversation.

What are you doing still reading this column? You’ve heard enough from me. Go to the website and let me hear from you.

Comments or concerns?

Email the Ombudsman at ombudsmansilverchips@gmail.com

What do you think?

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

Scan the code above with a QR reader app, or use the URL http://www. chipssurvey.com/ to access the feedback survey!

May 25, 2016

silverchips

ADs B5

C1 Features

silverchips

May 25, 2016

Some high school relationships go the distance What happens after seniors cross the stage and toss their caps from RELATIONSHIPS page A1 “It was a gradual thing.” The couple believes that their relationship has lasted since sophomore year because of their compatibility. “She’s a wonderful person,” Liu says adoringly, “and we get along very well.”

Most couples meet in high school, but seniors Felix Swart and Oscar Carrillo have known each other since eighth grade, when Swart moved to Maryland. Their friendship shifted to a relationship at the beginning of their sophomore year, when Swart was stuck grounded in her house for a month.

“Because she wasn’t doing anything other than just staying at home I’d just text her and message her all day,” Carrillo says. After a month of talking, Carrillo finally asked Swart out one morning at school.

Since then, they have learned a lot from each other and the experiences they have shared. “I am more willing to compromise now,” Swart says. “She’s definitely more flexible now because I’m always late to everything,” Carrillo jokes lovingly. They have very different approaches towards getting things done in terms of school work and other activities, but over the years have

COURTESY OF FELIX SWART

HAPPY COUPLE Seniors Felix Swart and Oscar Carrillo happily smile and pose with their arms around each other as they get ready to dance their night away at senior prom.

“I feel like we’ve worked this hard just to be like, ‘Oh well, we’re done now!’ That’s just kind of stupid and pointless.”

“I think the most important thing for a long-distance relationship, and any relationship, is to be really open and communicate.”

-Felix Swart, senior

-Ravyn Malatesta, Blair alumna

managed to work it out and learned to love each other even more because of it.

After high school For many long-term high school relationships, the hardest part is deciding what to do after graduation. Some couples decide to attend the same school, while others decide that long-distance is the best option.

Some feel they must separate before going off to college. Bogino and Schoppert decided the latter option was the best for their relationship. “After graduation, we’re going to separate colleges. I’m going to Chicago, she’s going outside of Nashville,” Schoppert explains. “Our plan is to split after graduation and to end on really good terms with each other, so if we end up in the same area, we can pick up where we left off.”

They plan on maintaining their relationship until the summer, when they hope to close their romantic interests and return to a friendship.“We’re going to follow through with prom, and graduation, and everything, and we’re still together, but during the summer, we’re going to have to find a natural place where we feel as though we can separate,” Bogino says. “Then we’ll stay friends because we’ve been friends for these two years. We don’t want to lose that.”

Deciding whether to stay together or split up took both time and discussion for Bogino and Schoppert. “It took a while. It took a lot of soul-searching and reconciling,” Schoppert says. One option they refused to choose, though, was going to the same college for the sake of their relationship.

The couple decided that long-distance was not the right choice for them after Schoppert’s previous long-distance relationships. “As a friend, I saw him exit out of that long-distance relationship, and I’ve seen other people go through that sort of thing, and I’ve only seen one that’s ever been successful,” Bogino says. “Knowing that, I think it’s just smarter, instead of

pretending that we’re going to be together forever.”

Swart and Carrillo, on the other hand, knew from the beginning that they were going to enter a long-distance relationship after graduation. Swart will be going to the University of Arizona while Carrillo plans to attend Towson University. “We’re going to be really far apart, but we’re going to try long distance,” Carrillo says. “I feel like we’ve worked this hard just to be like, ‘Oh well, we’re done now!’ That’s just kind of stupid and pointless,” Swart says.

Mei and Liu also originally planned to maintain their relationship after high school. After the college application process, however, they both choose to attend Cornell University. Since his childhood, Liu has had a passion for plants, which led him to apply Early Decision to Cornell’s plant science program. Mei only decided to apply to Cornell after Liu spoke highly of it.

“I tacked on a couple of schools he was applying to,” Mei says. “Cornell was one of [them].”

Mei and Liu are looking forward to maintaining their relationship as they attend Cornell together. Even though it was

COURTESY OF EVA BOGINO

COURTESY OF RAVYN MALTESA

DEBUTANTE BALL Seniors Eva Bogino and Thomas Schoppert dance together at one of her debutante balls.

ALL DRESSED UP Alumni Ravyn Malatesta and Andreas Robertson dress to impress before their prom in 2015.

not planned, their interests coincided for them to go to school together. “She paints it too much like a happy accident. I think it was all planned,” Liu says, smiling, “but it really was a happy accident.”

Advice from an alumni

COURTESY OF YANNIE MEI

LOUNGING AROUND Seniors Yannie Mei and Alex Liu spend quality time together as they help each other with their homework in the hallway. The couple plans on attending Cornell University and staying together in the fall.

Class of 2015 alumni Ravyn Malatesta and Andreas Robertson only began to date in their senior year, after maintaining a close friendship since their freshman year, and have continued their relationship through college.

Even though Malatesta’s long-distance relationship with Robertson worked, she is hesitant to suggest that all senior couples try to maintain their relationships in college.

“For the most part, I’ve seen people who came into college with high school boyfriends and girlfriends all go through really bad breakups,” Malatesta says. “I think the most important thing for a long-distance relationship, and any relationship, is to be really open and communicate.”

Class of 2015 alumni Alex Frandsen and Madeline Daly, like Swart and Carillo, began dating their sophomore year. They were in the same group in the Communications Art Program so they spent two classes per day together. “After being too scared to ask her out for a long time, we finally started officially dating on January 17 of my sophomore year,” says Frandsen.

After pausing their relationship after graduation, Frandsen and Daly began dating again once their summer break started.

However, Frandsen does not regret choosing to separate for the year. “I really think the break we took was a good thing overall. We got to grow individually and realize things about ourselves,” says Frandsen.

May 25, 2016

Features C2

silverchips

Q&A with Kelli Hill, U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach

Sitting down to talk about what it’s like to coach an olympian

By Georgina Burros Kelli Hill, a 1977 Blair alumna, established a successful career as a gymnastics coach by opening Hills Gymnastics Training Center.

Under her guidance, the training gym has coached four gymnasts to the Olympic Games.

Hill attended the University of Maryland, walking onto the school’s gymnastics team.

She did not graduate from Maryland, but instead, at the age of 21, opened her training gym in Wheaton. She relocated her gym to Gaithersburg in 1991, where she currently teaches students of all ages and abilities. Hill was the lifelong coach of three-time Olympian and 1996 women’s gymnastics team gold medalist Dominique Dawes, who also briefly attended Blair.

Hill served as the head coach of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams, as well as the 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2003 World Championship teams for women’s artistic gymnastics.

In 2005, Hill was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Q: Why did you start doing gymnastics and what made you decide to start coaching?

KH: I was a little kid and my older sister was doing it, teaching me some things out in the grass. I just fell in love with the sport. I actually ran into somebody who asked if I had any interest in teaching, and I started teaching through the rec department.

Q: What was it like opening up your own gym, seeing that you were fairly young at the time?

KH: I guess I was very young. When I just started doing gymnastics and coaching, I was in absolute love with the sport and it was my dream to open my own facility. I went to the University of Maryland and majored in Physical Education because that was the closest I could come to gymnastics at the time. Really, I just wanted to teach gymnastics. I really didn’t want to teach physical education. The opportunity came up, I took it, and went into business relatively with very little money, but they financed me and I went from there.”

Q: What do you remember from your time at Blair?

KH: Back then, junior high went through ninth grade, so I only I spent three years there. My older sister was there at the time. I absolutely loved the sports; I ran track, I did hurdles, I did their gymnastics program, and played field hockey. Those were the things that kept me there and kept me in school. It was not my classes that kept me in school; it was more the athletics. And then just basically I did a PSAT test, and the University of Maryland came to the school to find out who was interested in going. I went down to the library to talk to them about Maryland because I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and I basically was trying to get out of class. I got accepted off my PSAT to Maryland and walked onto their gymnastics team. It was all about the athletics for me.

Q: Did you always know you wanted to coach gymnastics, or is it something that just gradually occurred to you?

KH: Well I knew I wanted to do gymnastics and when I could no longer see myself doing more than gymnastics in college, I started coaching. I coached after school classes, I started a little team when I was still in high school with the rec department, and I thoroughly enjoyed that. At Maryland, I was helping spot the kids that were my teammates. I think I was a better spotter and coach than I was a gymnast.

Q: You were Dominique Dawes’ coach throughout her Olympic career. How was the experience of coaching someone from the beginning of her career to the Olympics?

KH: Dominique and I became very close.

I have known her since she came into the gym when she was six at a day camp. She did not get along with her pre-team coach very well, so I put her into my group. She always trained with older athletes, and I grew as a coach as she grew as an athlete through that. We were and still are very close. It was a journey we did together.

COURTESY OF RICK HILL

WORLD CLASS TRAINER Olympic gymnastics trainer Kelli Hill has trained some of the best US gymnasts in recent memory, including Blair alum Dominique Dawes Q: What would you say your best piece of advice is for someone who wants to dedicate most of their life to a sport?

describe your coaching style?

KH: It has to be their passion. They cannot do it for their parents, their coach, or anybody else. It has to be something that they want to pursue, their own passion.

KH: Coaching is a lot more than just teaching a skill. One of the keys is to figure out what is going to motivate an athlete on a given day and know which buttons to push to get the best out of them. Sometimes it is just talking and being understanding, and other times it is coming down a little bit firmer.

Q: What was your favorite gymnastics event to compete in?

Q: What is one of your proudest moments as a coach?

KH: Probably the uneven bars or floor exercise. Those are my two favorite to coach as well.

A: I would say it is the first time that the national anthem was ever played for Dominique. When she won an event at an international competition, they played the anthem, and they raised the American flag. I would say that is my favorite.

Q: You’ve taught and coached hundreds of gymnasts. How would you

A personal look into the life behind the wheel of an Uber

By Dawson Do After a long day out in the bustling city, getting home is the last thing on your mind.

The metro station is too far away and the buses take too long to arrive, so you take out your phone to order an Uber. When a car arrives in the side of the road, you hop in and your driver turns on the radio, driving you back to your house.

Most of the time, Uber rides are filled with silence or forced small talk, but some of these drivers have a lot to say.

Udochukwu, who has been driving for Uber for seven months, learned about the company through his friends who have driven for Uber before. Since he is currently enlisted in the army, Udochukwu says his part time job as an Uber driver is a welcomed change of pace.

Compared to his time in the army, Udochukwu says he enjoys Uber’s relaxed environment. “For Uber, anytime I want to work, I work. Whenever I want to go home, I go home,” he says. “They’ll pay you no matter how much you work. That’s the thing that I like.”

Most of Udochukwu’s customers head to Maryland Live Casino in Laurel because of its close proximity to him, but on the weekends he heads down to D.C. Spending a day in D.C. is an exhausting task for Udochukwu because he has to devote his entire day to driving. “Before you come down to D.C., you have to prepare for the whole day, because you are going to be in your car the whole time,” he says.

Tamirat, a reserved man who has been driving for the company for a year, finds Uber to be more convenient than taking taxis.

“People can just wait for their rides in their homes,” he says. But for the drivers, it can be

frustrating when a request gets canceled. “If you have to wait for people or if they cancel on you, it’s pretty annoying,” he says.

Udochukwu says his favorite part about driving in D.C. is the people he meets on the job. He remembers times when he picked up Anderson Cooper and took him to the CNN offices. “I’ve also taken a lot of House members to Baltimore-Washington International Airport,” he says. “They ask ‘Do you like politics?’ and I always say ‘I don’t like politics’ to them.”

Another popular area for Udochukwu is Baltimore, especially in the hours after sporting events. However, the city has its downfalls due to rough road conditions and rowdy fans. “Every time I go there, somebody will come in my car smelling like weed or smoking weed,” Udochukwu says.

Unlike Udochukwu, Carmelita, a young, cheerful woman who has been driving for about a year, found out about Uber through an advertisement. “I heard about it on the radio. They had a promotion,” she says. “If

SHIVANI MATTIKALLI

you start driving, after the first 50 trips, you get $1000 on top of that.”

After driving for a year, Carmelita finds that she enjoys the work environment of Uber because it allows her the freedom to make extra money when she is not working her primary job at Optum, a health service company.

Carmelita recalls a particularly memorable sporting event at the University of Maryland when her car got ruined after a pickup.

“These kids were getting super drunk,” she says. “[One guy] tried to puke out the window but it just got all over the car.”

Although she ended up having to clean her car on this occasion, Carmelita still enjoys working late nights. Similarly, despite dealing with his fair share of intoxicated customers, Udochukwu has not stopped driving during late hours. He remembers picking up a girl on St. Patrick’s Day who was within walking distance from her house. “This young girl, she was like seventeen, she threw up in my car,” he says. “The thing is, I picked her up from a bar and her house was less than a mile away.

She could have walked.”

Udochukwu learned to be prepared for late night trips after this incident. “Now I have to keep cleaning supplies in my trunk,” he says.

Udochukwu prefers driving at night due to the lack of traffic and finds it relaxing.

“There’s nobody else on the road,” he says.

“When I go to D.C. sometimes, especially during the working hours, every road is blocked with traffic. Sometimes it’s frustrating.”

After driving Uber for several months, Udochukwu finds that he has gotten to know his home state and D.C. better. “Whenever somebody needs me to drive in D.C., I know a lot of inside roads and alternative routes,” he says. ”I get to go in a lot of areas and meet lots of people.”

Features C3/C4

silverchips

May 25, 2016

KIDS these

DAYS

You may have heard of the Baby Boomers, the large generation born after victorious soldiers returned to the home front in the aftermath of World War II. After that came Generation X, shaped by events like Vietnam and Watergate. Around the 1980s came the famous Millennials, probably the most studied generation on record. They have a reputation for being self-obsessed, spoiled, and entitled, epitomized by Hannah Horvath from the TV show, Girls.

The Millennial generation ended around 1995. That means that most students in college now, and all of those in high school and below, are not, in fact, Millennials.

So what are we?

We are the first generation to grow up entirely with the Internet. We are the generation that cannot remember a world before 9/11. We are the generation that has had smartphones since childhood, and can spread our attention across five different screens at once. We are the “next big thing for market researchers, cultural observers and trend forecasters,” according to the New York Times.

Experts call us “iGen,” to denote our intimate relationship with technology, or “Gen Edge” because of our resilience and pragmatism. Other names include “Tweennials,” “@generation,” and “Boomlets,” but we are most commonly referred to as “Generation Z.” According to census data compiled by demographer Susan Weber-Stoger, American-born Gen Z-er’s now outnumber Mil-

lennials, who were previously the largest generation on record.

At a staggering 60 million members, Generation Z has extensive consequences for businesses and for society.

Technology Generation Z, according to advertising firm J. Walter Thompson (JWT), contains people born roughly between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, with the oldest members having just entered college. What unites this generation, according to a JWT Intelligence trend report, is their unique role as the “the first true digital natives.” People born in this range of years cannot remember a time before the Internet, and it has shaped them in unexpected ways.

According to the trend report, 86% of the members of Generation Z use their cell phones multiple times a day. Freshman Sophia Lindsay is one such teen. “I rely a lot on technology,” she says. “A day without a cell phone is… a struggle, and it’s hard.”

However, growing up with the Internet has also opened many teenagers’ eyes to its downfalls, like the lack of privacy.

“As far as privacy, they are aware of their personal brand, and have seen older Gen Y-ers [Millennials] screw up by posting too openly,” Dan Gould, a trend consultant for advertising agency Sparks & Honey, told the New York Times.

Isvari Mohan, a Gen Z-er who wrote a column on her generation for the Boston Globe, agrees with Gould’s assessment.

“Our generation is not as enamored with social media as Millennials are,” she says. “We tolerate it, we’re on there if we know it’s important, but we are pretty measured in what we put out there.” According to the JWT trend report, 82% of Gen Z respondents reported thinking carefully before posting to social media.

Lindsay, who, when it comes to social media, uses “pretty much everything,” says that posting carefully is critical. “I feel like if you don’t think about yourself in the future, and if you flaunt a photo of yourself smoking or something, you don’t want someone to see that and then not get a job because of it,” she says.

Coming of age with a phone in hand means that Generation Z kids know how to use technology to their advantage. Freshman Ammnouel Abebe says that the Internet has affected his life “mostly positively.” “I’m a freshman but I also know some calculus because of the Internet,” he says. “I wanted to study [mathematics], but I didn’t have the books so the Internet was one of the easiest… ways to find information.”

This group also tends to use social media in positive, con-

story by: Aditi Shetty art & design by: Dawson Do

structive ways. According to a 2012 study by Common Sense Media, teenagers who use social media report that, in general, it makes them feel more confident, more outgoing, more popular, and even more sympathetic towards others. However, the largest proportion (49%) still say that they prefer face-to-face contact.

Lindsay says that she dislikes how much Gen Z teens rely on technology. “I wish people talked more, and I wish technology didn’t affect how we communicate with people, but it does,” she says. “Instead of just going and discussing what you’re going to do [that] night with someone that’s across the room from you… you text them. You don’t take the effort to actually go and talk to people.”

World events Dr. Elli Denison, director of research at the Center for Generational Kinetics, defines Generation Z by whether someone can remember a world before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “That’s our cutoff point because we feel like that was such a huge shift that you either remember how it was before or it’s always been history to you,” she says.

As a result, Millennials, who reached adulthood in the early 2000s, and Generation Z, who will begin to do so about 15 years later, have had very different formative experiences. “[Millennials] grew up in the 1990s era… It was a very optimistic period of time when America was doing really well overseas, we were doing strong financially, we were coming relatively high off of the Cold War and World War II,” Mohan says.

Generation Z kids, on the other hand, grew up in a completely different, and at times harsher, world. “We as Gen Z people tend to have more negative views of the world, partially because we grew up in the recession,” Mohan, the Generation Z writer, says. “I don’t remember the world before 9/11 and before there was that fear of terrorism.”

Denison, the generational researcher, reflects that terrorism as a lifelong reality is something unique to Generation Z. “Terrorism has been around for centuries and centuries, but it always happened somewhere else,” she says. “It didn’t happen in New York City. It didn’t happen in Pennsylvania. Gen Z is growing up in a world where it does happen here.”

Mohan says that this climate has had an impact on the overall psyche of today’s teenagers. “[Those issues] make us more conservative, more reserved, less likely to take financial risks, less likely to be optimistic about our future,” she says.

The findings from the JWT Intelligence trend report affirm Generation Z’s tempered outlook. “When we asked 1,000 members of Generation Z what it meant to be successful, the most common response was a good job, a comfortable existence, and a family,” the report reads. “Happiness was mentioned more than money.”

Growing up in a harsh economy also means that the generation tends to be wise about money, according to Denison.

“Gen Z has watched Millennials really, really, really struggle with things like credit card debt and student debt…” she says.

“It’s appearing that Gen Z is a little more cautious.”

Junior Krissia Funes has noticed this tendency in her own financial decisions. “Now we know why we need to save money and the outcomes if [we] don’t,” she says. With her extra money, she says, “I save up because I know the economy’s not good.”

According to the trend report, an important result of being raised in a grave economic and political climate is increased awareness of the outside world. “Generation Z is engaged and globally minded, the result of growing up against a backdrop of terror, war and financial uncertainty,” the report concludes.

Advertising Generational studies are valuable as marketing tools because they allow companies to effectively reach entire swaths of people. “Each generation has unique expectations, experiences, history, lifestyles, values, and demographics that influence their buying behaviors,” write Kaylene Williams and Robert Page in an article in the Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business.

When companies advertise, they must “tap into the values of the generation,” according to Denison. Advertisements which appeal to Gen Z-ers, she says, seem to be much more straightforward than ever before. “Businesses are going to have to find a way to appear very authentic and genuine,” she says. “Being really sales-y and slick and all that doesn’t work.”

According to Mohan, another important takeaway for marketers is Generation Z’s shorter attention spans. “Gen Z should be targeted more with quicker, catchier advertisers than Millennials,” she says. “We don’t care about a lot of facts and being able to analyze them; we want big picture arguments quickly, we want to be able to multitask.”

In the era of instant gratification via cell phones and the Internet, it is no surprise that those who grew up in this connected world are feeling the effects. “Whether it’s ordering a taco on their phone or wanting a new outfit that day, Generation Z isn’t used to waiting,” the JWT report advises.

This reduced attention span will likely have farther reaching impacts than shaping the types of ads that pop up on Facebook feeds, according to Mohan. She says that this obsession with multitasking and only wanting the big picture “is a horrible, horrible thing that is actually going to cost the generation long term.”

However, Generation Z has its share of promise. As the most multicultural generation in American history, and the last to be majority white, the group has grown up during changing times.

Denison has noticed through her research that the generation seems to be very compassionate and accepting of others as a result. “I hope that that trend will continue, starting with diversity of thought, ethnicity and background, and turning into the ability to have compassion for people that are in a different situation than you,” says Denison. “I have high hopes.”

Features C3/C4

silverchips

May 25, 2016

KIDS these

DAYS

You may have heard of the Baby Boomers, the large generation born after victorious soldiers returned to the home front in the aftermath of World War II. After that came Generation X, shaped by events like Vietnam and Watergate. Around the 1980s came the famous Millennials, probably the most studied generation on record. They have a reputation for being self-obsessed, spoiled, and entitled, epitomized by Hannah Horvath from the TV show, Girls.

The Millennial generation ended around 1995. That means that most students in college now, and all of those in high school and below, are not, in fact, Millennials.

So what are we?

We are the first generation to grow up entirely with the Internet. We are the generation that cannot remember a world before 9/11. We are the generation that has had smartphones since childhood, and can spread our attention across five different screens at once. We are the “next big thing for market researchers, cultural observers and trend forecasters,” according to the New York Times.

Experts call us “iGen,” to denote our intimate relationship with technology, or “Gen Edge” because of our resilience and pragmatism. Other names include “Tweennials,” “@generation,” and “Boomlets,” but we are most commonly referred to as “Generation Z.” According to census data compiled by demographer Susan Weber-Stoger, American-born Gen Z-er’s now outnumber Mil-

lennials, who were previously the largest generation on record.

At a staggering 60 million members, Generation Z has extensive consequences for businesses and for society.

Technology Generation Z, according to advertising firm J. Walter Thompson (JWT), contains people born roughly between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, with the oldest members having just entered college. What unites this generation, according to a JWT Intelligence trend report, is their unique role as the “the first true digital natives.” People born in this range of years cannot remember a time before the Internet, and it has shaped them in unexpected ways.

According to the trend report, 86% of the members of Generation Z use their cell phones multiple times a day. Freshman Sophia Lindsay is one such teen. “I rely a lot on technology,” she says. “A day without a cell phone is… a struggle, and it’s hard.”

However, growing up with the Internet has also opened many teenagers’ eyes to its downfalls, like the lack of privacy.

“As far as privacy, they are aware of their personal brand, and have seen older Gen Y-ers [Millennials] screw up by posting too openly,” Dan Gould, a trend consultant for advertising agency Sparks & Honey, told the New York Times.

Isvari Mohan, a Gen Z-er who wrote a column on her generation for the Boston Globe, agrees with Gould’s assessment.

“Our generation is not as enamored with social media as Millennials are,” she says. “We tolerate it, we’re on there if we know it’s important, but we are pretty measured in what we put out there.” According to the JWT trend report, 82% of Gen Z respondents reported thinking carefully before posting to social media.

Lindsay, who, when it comes to social media, uses “pretty much everything,” says that posting carefully is critical. “I feel like if you don’t think about yourself in the future, and if you flaunt a photo of yourself smoking or something, you don’t want someone to see that and then not get a job because of it,” she says.

Coming of age with a phone in hand means that Generation Z kids know how to use technology to their advantage. Freshman Ammnouel Abebe says that the Internet has affected his life “mostly positively.” “I’m a freshman but I also know some calculus because of the Internet,” he says. “I wanted to study [mathematics], but I didn’t have the books so the Internet was one of the easiest… ways to find information.”

This group also tends to use social media in positive, con-

story by: Aditi Shetty art & design by: Dawson Do

structive ways. According to a 2012 study by Common Sense Media, teenagers who use social media report that, in general, it makes them feel more confident, more outgoing, more popular, and even more sympathetic towards others. However, the largest proportion (49%) still say that they prefer face-to-face contact.

Lindsay says that she dislikes how much Gen Z teens rely on technology. “I wish people talked more, and I wish technology didn’t affect how we communicate with people, but it does,” she says. “Instead of just going and discussing what you’re going to do [that] night with someone that’s across the room from you… you text them. You don’t take the effort to actually go and talk to people.”

World events Dr. Elli Denison, director of research at the Center for Generational Kinetics, defines Generation Z by whether someone can remember a world before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “That’s our cutoff point because we feel like that was such a huge shift that you either remember how it was before or it’s always been history to you,” she says.

As a result, Millennials, who reached adulthood in the early 2000s, and Generation Z, who will begin to do so about 15 years later, have had very different formative experiences. “[Millennials] grew up in the 1990s era… It was a very optimistic period of time when America was doing really well overseas, we were doing strong financially, we were coming relatively high off of the Cold War and World War II,” Mohan says.

Generation Z kids, on the other hand, grew up in a completely different, and at times harsher, world. “We as Gen Z people tend to have more negative views of the world, partially because we grew up in the recession,” Mohan, the Generation Z writer, says. “I don’t remember the world before 9/11 and before there was that fear of terrorism.”

Denison, the generational researcher, reflects that terrorism as a lifelong reality is something unique to Generation Z. “Terrorism has been around for centuries and centuries, but it always happened somewhere else,” she says. “It didn’t happen in New York City. It didn’t happen in Pennsylvania. Gen Z is growing up in a world where it does happen here.”

Mohan says that this climate has had an impact on the overall psyche of today’s teenagers. “[Those issues] make us more conservative, more reserved, less likely to take financial risks, less likely to be optimistic about our future,” she says.

The findings from the JWT Intelligence trend report affirm Generation Z’s tempered outlook. “When we asked 1,000 members of Generation Z what it meant to be successful, the most common response was a good job, a comfortable existence, and a family,” the report reads. “Happiness was mentioned more than money.”

Growing up in a harsh economy also means that the generation tends to be wise about money, according to Denison.

“Gen Z has watched Millennials really, really, really struggle with things like credit card debt and student debt…” she says.

“It’s appearing that Gen Z is a little more cautious.”

Junior Krissia Funes has noticed this tendency in her own financial decisions. “Now we know why we need to save money and the outcomes if [we] don’t,” she says. With her extra money, she says, “I save up because I know the economy’s not good.”

According to the trend report, an important result of being raised in a grave economic and political climate is increased awareness of the outside world. “Generation Z is engaged and globally minded, the result of growing up against a backdrop of terror, war and financial uncertainty,” the report concludes.

Advertising Generational studies are valuable as marketing tools because they allow companies to effectively reach entire swaths of people. “Each generation has unique expectations, experiences, history, lifestyles, values, and demographics that influence their buying behaviors,” write Kaylene Williams and Robert Page in an article in the Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business.

When companies advertise, they must “tap into the values of the generation,” according to Denison. Advertisements which appeal to Gen Z-ers, she says, seem to be much more straightforward than ever before. “Businesses are going to have to find a way to appear very authentic and genuine,” she says. “Being really sales-y and slick and all that doesn’t work.”

According to Mohan, another important takeaway for marketers is Generation Z’s shorter attention spans. “Gen Z should be targeted more with quicker, catchier advertisers than Millennials,” she says. “We don’t care about a lot of facts and being able to analyze them; we want big picture arguments quickly, we want to be able to multitask.”

In the era of instant gratification via cell phones and the Internet, it is no surprise that those who grew up in this connected world are feeling the effects. “Whether it’s ordering a taco on their phone or wanting a new outfit that day, Generation Z isn’t used to waiting,” the JWT report advises.

This reduced attention span will likely have farther reaching impacts than shaping the types of ads that pop up on Facebook feeds, according to Mohan. She says that this obsession with multitasking and only wanting the big picture “is a horrible, horrible thing that is actually going to cost the generation long term.”

However, Generation Z has its share of promise. As the most multicultural generation in American history, and the last to be majority white, the group has grown up during changing times.

Denison has noticed through her research that the generation seems to be very compassionate and accepting of others as a result. “I hope that that trend will continue, starting with diversity of thought, ethnicity and background, and turning into the ability to have compassion for people that are in a different situation than you,” says Denison. “I have high hopes.”

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May 25, 2016

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May 25, 2016

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What’s the move: D.C. with $20 and a Metro card

Cheap and fun activities for a day trip around the D.C. metro area

The day also revealed to us that there are plenty of free things to do in DC, so it is best to spend money on food. Food trucks and hot dog carts are always a good bet for cheap but satisfying tummy fillers.

It is best not to schedule a trip to D.C. with strict time limits. In our experience, rushing has you running across highways, which is not fun unless you are an adrenaline junkie who enjoys the sound of angry drivers. It is also nice to take your time and fully enjoy each activity you do.

By Grady Jakobsberg In first person Many people see Washington, D.C. as a large, spiritless wasteland full of government buildings that fulfill god-knows-what bureaucratic tasks; all with a rancid smell that rises off the Potomac and wafts through the capital. But when it comes down to it, D.C. is a vibrant city where one can spend a weekend or even just a couple of hours on a lazy Sunday.

Silver Chips sent out a team of the finest staff members to find some fun, lesser known activities to occupy a day in the city.

The catch, however, was that we had to last the day on a student’s budget, that is, with only $20 and a Metro card.

Activities that did not make the cut

Our experience Accompanied by my traveling companion, Charles Lott, and our personal photographer, Chaminda Hangilipola, I started the day with a long Metro trip to Gravelly Point Park. Gravelly Point is an open area north of Reagan National Airport where people can relax while observing the airplanes take off above. The Mount Vernon walking and biking trail winds through the park as well, connecting it to many other places along the Virginia coast.

Getting to the park was one of the biggest difficulties of the day for us. Starting at the Silver Spring Metro station, we took the 45 minute trip to Reagan National Airport, transferring lines once. Upon arriving, we naively entrusted our navigation to Siri and began our journey going the complete wrong direction. Half an hour later, we were on our way after receiving directions from a cab driver.

At the park, a grassy field leads up to a pair of piers that stretches into a small river, which is the closest people can get to the plane take-off strip. The planes did not come as near as we had anticipated, but if the wind had died down and the sun peeked out from behind the shadowy clouds, it would have been a beautiful spot to spread a picnic blanket and enjoy the view of the airport and the Potomac.

Fierce winds in which we could not toss a Frisbee more than five feet drove us back to the Metro to hop back in a subway car.

Our intended destination was the National Building Museum, where, according to its website, we could try the free activity of “constructing a 7-foot-tall, soft-block arch in the Museum’s Great Hall.” Upon arriving we discovered the entire Great Hall was fenced off for carpeting, forcing us to change our plans and travel a couple of blocks to the Botanical Gardens.

On the walk to the gardens, we passed through the National Law Enforcement Memorial where we bought some large hot dogs for $2 each. The law enforcement veteran running the cart explained to us that most hot dog stands serve more bread than meat, holding out his pinky to indicate the size of their dogs. His stand, he said, offers customers a nice, large hot dog that, covered in ketchup, mustard and relish, hangs off the edge of the bun. We enjoyed the meaty snack and thanked him profusely for the great deal before moving on to the Botanical Gardens.

The nature assortment has both an outdoor garden and an indoor conservatory.

Going through the circuit of different plant environment rooms in the conservatory, we saw vines, flowers and other plants from the tropics, Mediterranean, and Hawaii. It was easy to get lost in the temperate rooms where a floral scent wafted around us and magnificent orchids peeked out at us from under leafy vines. The desert room jerked us back into reality when we moronically touched the spines of a cactus.

Next, we headed down the street to the National Museum of the American Indian where an assortment of food trucks lined the block. Grabbing four dollar soft serve chocolate ice cream, we headed back to the gardens where we basked in the sun on cushioned wicker couches surrounded by the drooping trees of the garden. “Can we stay and take a nap?” Charlie asked. It was incredibly comfortable there in the sun, but with a strict itinerary we had to move on.

Everyone knows that a day in D.C. is not complete without a visit to one of the free Smithsonian Museums along the mall. With

CHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA

A MONUMENTAL TRIP When the sun finally came out, it was a beautiful day in DC. a low budget, any student can find a free museum from the wide collection. We went old school and chose the field trip capital of museums, the Museum of Natural History.

Greeted by the giant elephant statue, we walked through different parts of the museum, marveling at the deep sea creatures in the Ocean Hall, like the jellies and giant squid, and fantasizing about the extremely valuable Hope Diamond. But the promised adventure of the mall and a long line of food trucks lured us away from our educational endeavors.

We grabbed gyros from a Greek themed food truck called “Chef Alex,” which was part of a long line of food trucks on Seventh Street, and moved to an open space on the National Mall to toss a Frisbee. Every D.C. visitor should know that, on a nice day, the mall is the perfect spot to toss around a Frisbee, play pick up football, or fly a kite.

To finish off our day, we headed across town to the Kennedy Center to enjoy one of their free 6:00 shows that are open 365 days of the year. We were told that in order to ensure tickets we would have to arrive by 5:15. We realized a little too late that we had lost track of time playing Frisbee, and with no trust in the Metro system to get us across town in time, we decided to start on the 40 minute walk instead.

This walk was by the far the worst part of our day. With sore feet, we followed Siri’s directions until we could see the glowing beacon of comfort that was the Kennedy Center. Unfortunately, there was a highway separating us from the building. Stressed for time and unwilling to walk back, we took off in a desperate sprint across the Potomac and Rock Creek Parkways, and Charlie cackled in glee as he dodged cars left and right. After hopping the fence on the other side, we walked nonchalantly toward the entrance, contemplating the idiotic thing we had just

done.

The comedy show we attended at the Kennedy Center was surprisingly entertaining, especially the jokes by lead comic Brooks Wheelan about his simple upbringing in Iowa. The audience left with smiles, which is pretty telling of the quality of the show and other free performances at the Kennedy Center.

Takeaways After a day of walking over three miles, it is clear to us that the Metro is not a reliable form of transportation for trying to get anywhere on a schedule. With a Metro system that is spotty at best and stations that never seem to be close to our intended destination, it made more sense to save our money and take the long walks across town. The consequences? Rushed activities and sore feet.

If the Kennedy Center or Gravelly Point Park do not sound like your sort of thing, do not fret: there are plenty of other fun, affordable activities to do in D.C. First, there is the wide variety of museums. Everyone knows the Smithsonian museums, but be sure to check out less known places like Madame Tussauds Wax Museum ($16 and up) or the National Portrait Gallery.

Though Madame Tussauds costs money, it offers a unique and personal experience where you can marvel at the realistic look of the wax sculptures. The National Portrait Gallery is located at a very convenient spot by the Verizon Center and Chinatown, presenting an opportunity to check out some lesser-known art exhibits.

For any beautiful sunny day I would suggest at least spending part of your day outside. The Botanical Gardens and Gravelly Point Park are both places to connect with the outdoors, but there are plenty of other places to go around D.C. as well. The National Arboretum and Rock Creek Park are prime areas for a peaceful walk or bike ride, and the Smithsonian National Zoo is a nice destination for observing your favorite animals from around the globe.

For anyone seeking an overnight trip, I recommend Greenbelt National Park right outside of D.C. in College Park. Just grab some camping equipment and food, take the Metro over there, pay the $16 dollar campsite fee and enjoy all the nature the park has to offer.

CHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA

CHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA

A WALK IN THE PARK Charlie and I walk along the Mount Vernon trail as a plane flies overhead at Gravelly Point Park (above). We walk through Union Station on our way down the mall to the National Museum of Natural History (top).

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May 25, 2016

Getting in tune with all of Blair’s unique music tastes Silver Chips takes a look at what is considered music to Blair’s ears

By Julian Brown On any weekday from 11:07 a.m. to 12:49 p.m., Blair’s Student Activity Center (SAC) is filled with noise. People are talking, eating, laughing, yelling, and even screaming, but as I listen more closely, I begin to hear a new source of noise: music. In fact, there are two rhythms travelling across the room: one is a fast, Latin-sounding beat emanating from one of the booths by the SAC entrance, and the other is a slower, steadier thumping which is no doubt the background for a rap.

The owner of the speaker playing the rap music introduces himself as senior Matthew Tibebe. He is playing “Hello” by Busta Rhymes ft. Chance the Rapper, a song he says is “bright, happy, and just what you need when you are close to the finish line of graduation.”

The ear buds and speakers that fill Blair’s halls do not all play the same tune. From pop and rap to Indie folk and disco, the music playing around the school will pump you up, cool you down, make you laugh, and make you cry. So I decided to take a closer listen at what music Blair’s students have to offer.

After Tibebe, I move on to another table, asking students which songs they had last played on their phones. The first to respond is junior Edgar Blanco, who glances down at his phone to see “Don’t Hurt Yourself”

by Beyoncé playing at the top of the screen.

Blanco says he likes the song and the whole album, “Lemonade,” because it describes the singer’s own experiences. “[The songs] talk about her background as an artist and in general,” he says. “I like how she can make her music personal.”

CALEB BAUMAN

STEREO FEVER Senior Kristian Paulos is all smiles as he listens to his favorite tunes.

CALEB BAUMAN

BLAIR BLARES Senior Sofnyas Gobena listens to music during lunch in the SAC. The table to Blanco’s right looks promising, with two out of the three students wearing headphones. Junior Alyxza Abrams, is, unfortunately, watching a video and not listening to music, but says the last song she listened to was the final song in the Breakfast Club, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds from 1985. Abrams says that this song, and others from that era, are better than modern music. “It’s a classic and a lot better than the crap we have now,” says Abrams. “Rap these days just sounds fake.”

Sophomore Amber Hayes, who is sitting to Abrams’ left, passionately disagrees with this statement, although she, too, has chosen to eschew rap in favor of an American alternative rock band from South Dakota called Spill Canvas.

Hayes does not say which song she is listening to, but instead explains why she appreciates the band so much. “I really feel that I can identify with them on an emotional level,” she says.

Junior Andrew Phillips, the third and final member of this lunch table, shares a long list of his favorite Skrillex songs. However, he adds that the last song he listened to was

actually “Life on Mars?” by David Bowie, a song of a very different genre.

Phillips cites Bowie’s great melodies as his reason for liking the singer. “[Bowie’s] songs are really fun,” Phillips says. “The tunes are great. It’s something you can just rock out to.”

I say farewell to that table and move on to find another ear bud…uh… laden student and approach sophomore Josue Hernandez as he sits down at his table. Hernandez, unlike the members of the last table I visited, has chosen to embrace the music of this millennium, specifically in the form of rap.

The last song Hernandez listened to was “Really Really” by Kevin Gates, whose most recent album, Islah, was released in January.

Hernandez loves how he is able to connect with Gates through the music. “His lyrics are about himself and his life. It understands me,” he says.

And with that profound statement from Hernandez, I say my thanks, turn around, and head straight for the library to listen to the new (and old) music I have discovered.

Thanks, Blair.

From aliens to bunnies, all movies have a message to tell

Uncovering the hidden themes in animated children’s movies

By Niki Patel If you ask a 16 year old what their favorite movie is, they probably will not give you a list of around 32 different animated children’s movies they cannot decide between.

They might say, “Deadpool,” or maybe, “Captain America: Civil War,” but even if they do not list one of those two, they probably will not end up spending 10 minutes telling you about the most recent animated movie released. Nonetheless, here is a review of four widely popular animated films from 2015 and 2016.

First is the worst! “The Good Dinosaur,” released in November, follows an Apatosaurus—which is just a fancy name for a giant plant-eating dinosaur—and his human friend. There were many parallels between this film and “The Lion King,” but “The Good Dinosaur” ended up being nothing more than an attempted spin-off that did not quite live up to the Disney classic. As you watch the movie, you follow the story of the Apatosaurus, Arlo, and his human friend as they try to find their way back to Arlo’s farm after his dad is killed during a flood.

Hmm… sound a bit familiar?

The only original thing that really stood out, and not in a good way, was in the middle of the movie, when Arlo and his human friend decide to eat some berries. Out of context, that sounds perfectly normal. In context, however, it is easy to interpret what happens next as a drug-induced hysteria.

The screen exploded with vibrant colors and animations of Arlo and his friend as they morphed into new beings. The scene was accompanied with laughter so creepy it is a wonder none of the little kids in the theater started crying. The joke was mature enough to go over the children’s heads while providing a good laugh for the adults forced to sit through the movie with their kids. Despite that, the movie was a bit of a disappointment and did not reach its full potential.

Second is… well, not the best, but still pretty good. “Home” was released this March and is the story of a girl named Gratuity Tuchi, nicknamed Tip, who sets out to find her mother after a friendly alien race called the Boov take over Earth. On the way, she meets a fugitive Boov named Oh, and they work together to protect Earth from an evil alien race while still searching for Tip’s mom along the way.

The soundtrack is straight fire. Singer Rihanna voices Tip, which means there are plenty of amazing songs in the movie. The main characters in this movie are a girl of color and her single mother, and it was a nice change of pace to finally watch a movie that is not centered around a white, suburban family of four.

Third is the one with the treasure-chest?

Maybe not monetary treasure, but the concepts promoted in “Zootopia” are worth being treasured mentally. “Zootopia” (which is still in theaters!) follows the story of a bunny named Judy, who dreams of becoming a police officer. Because of her small size, her friends and family do their best to discourage her from following her dream. When she arrives, the captain of the police department does not believe Judy is capable of anything because she is a bunny, and names her a meter maid, a parking meter monitor, in an attempt to lessen the value behind her badge.

Judy goes on to prove herself to be the most valuable officer at the police department and reinforces the notion that not everyone fits their stereotype.

“Inside Out” was released last June, and just a warning, if you cry easily watching movies, (or even if you do not), you will sob watching this. The movie takes viewers into the mind of a happy preteen named Riley, whose life changes when she moves across the country. As her animated emotions of Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust try to guide her through this life-altering experience, we watch as the primary leader of Riley’s emotions switches from Joy to Sadness.

This movie is amazing. It is about time people began talking about mental health and its effects on the way people deal with difficult situations in their lives. The movie effectively portrays the internal struggles people face, and how coping with different emotions can be difficult. It emphasizes

the importance of being in touch with one’s emotions to children, and expresses the value of talking to people instead of letting everything build up inside. The movie serves as a positive and creative reminder of how important being aware of mental health is to happiness.

ALEXANDRA MENDIVIL

Life Lessons

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50. See 20 across 56. Gap sealer 57. Blue in Bolivia 58. Hummus companion 59. _____ Island, former immigration hub 60. Gambling destination 61. Light bike rider 62. Keibler of “Dancing with the Stars” 63. Biblical garden 64. Swine sound Down 1. Basics 2. Star Wars princess 3. “Eat ____ Love” 4. Sledder’s protection 5. Get some air 6. Galoshes 7. Painless class 8. Cancun cat 9. Fast food classic 10. Disorder 11. Thought 12. Javier’s hundred 13. Barbie’s bae 21. What Ghana has that Germany doesn’t

22. Togetherness 25. Equal 26. Bring to mind 27. Shaped like a megaphone 28. Wear out 29. Pull ____ one (hoodwink) 30. Announcer of old 32. French friend 33. Stein, Blair alum 35. “For here ____ go?

37. Not turned up 38. Sacha Baron Cohen fashionista 39. Precede 44. Slanted type 45. English graffiti artist 46. British Sri Lanka 48. Rattled 49. A single Apple music store?

50. Milkshake ingredient 51. Software contract 52. Tortoise rival 53. Apple assistant 54. Lots 55. Pull hard 56. Vegas tech expo

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Chips Clips D3

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May 25, 2016

by Neal Sarkar 4

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Across 1. Like this clue 6. “Rolling in the Deep” singer 7. Heat in San Juan 8. “The Sound of Music” family name 9. Proverbial battlers Down 1. Certanties 2. Challenge opener 3. Chill 4. Rise over run 5. Testudo and Trimble, for example WWW.WEBSUDOKU.COM

Advice to Youth

The Comfiest Spot

MARISSA HE

If Snapchat Filters Were Real LINDSAY HARRIS

TIFFANY MAO

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May 25, 2016

La Esquina Latina

25 de mayo del 2016

E1

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Vacaciones con destinación a países hispanohablantes

El verano es un tiempo de muchas oportunidades, especialmente para viajar Por Carlos Fuentes y personal Los días van pasando y las vacaciones de verano se aproximan, haciendo que los estudiantes de Blair se preparen para disfrutar el verano. No hay que preocuparse al no tener planes finalizados para las vacaciones, si uno no tiene nada que hacer este verano, no hay ningún problema. Es probable que con excepción al país natal de uno, la persona común no conozca a la mayoría de los países de Latinoamérica. Con todo esto dicho, este verano es el tiempo para que uno salga de la casa, compre un boleto de avión y vaya a pasar sus vacaciones en el país o los países de su elección.

Un gran número de los estudiantes hispanos de Blair tienen raíces salvadoreñas, entonces qué mejor país para empezar que con El Salvador. Este país es conocido por sus playas hermosas y paisaje montañosos. El país está localizado en Centroamérica haciéndolo un país tropical, en donde se puede gozar de un clima fenomenal. Su clima hace que El Salvador siempre esté lleno de vida. Los salvadoreños saben ocupar la biodiversidad y el clima a su favor. Es uno de los países más pequeños en Latinoamérica, pero no hay que dejarse engañar por eso porque es un país con una cultura fascinante y con destinaciones extravagantes.

Cindy Vásquez, una estudiante de onceavo grado, vivió en El Salvador hasta los 14 años y conoce el país muy bien. Cindy dice, “a mi me gustaba ir de excursión a las montañas al lado de la ciudad de Perquín porque se sentía agradable caminar y ver la naturaleza de las montañas.” Dejando a un lado la tecnología y estar dentro del corazón del las montañas es la mejor manera de sentirse conectado con la naturaleza al igual que con el país. Si alguien sabe un poco de El Salvador, sabe que la cultura es vibrante y la comida es exquisita. Existe un evento donde se puede conocer todo.

Vásquez dice, el festival Pueblos Vivos es un evento anual donde se puede conocer la cultura inmensa del país, la comida, el arte, las artesanías y en realidad tener una experiencia puramente salvadoreña.” Esta feria normalmente sucede al final del verano y es totalmente gratis.

Entonces si tus padres te preguntan dónde quieres ir para las vacaciones, ten en mente a El Salvador.

Al mirar al otro lado del mundo, nos encontramos con España.

Aunque no es un país latinoamericano, todavía es un país hispanohablante. España tiene una historia de lo más antigua. Al caminar por las calles y ver la arquitectura, uno cuestiona en qué era está viviendo.

María Carter, una estudiante de

onceavo grado, va a España todos los veranos para visitar a su familia. A diferencia de El Salvador, María pasa su viaje en las ciudades de España donde hace varias visitas turísticas. Ella nos cuenta, “a mi familia y a mí nos gusta ir a la ciudad de Burgos donde vamos de turismo y vamos a la catedral Burgos porque mi familia es religiosa.”

Pasar por las calles antiguas da una lección de historia es más entretenido que cualquier clase de historia en Blair. España es muy conocida por la tradición de ir a varias barras y comer tapas. Las tapas son una variedad de comidas pequeñas variando desde pinchos a bocadillos. María también tiene sus tapas preferidas y cuenta, “mis tapas preferidas son las patatas bravas, la tortilla de patata y huevo y jamón serrano.” Las barras de tapas son algo que no se puede dejar sin visitar. Por supuesto tampoco se puede olvidar del fútbol. El fútbol es un elemento tan grande de la cultura española que la gente de-

LINDSAY HARRIS

dica tiempo a su equipo favorito como a sus familias. No importa si uno es madridista o culé, en España es parte de la vida diaria y cualquier fanático de fútbol se sentirá como en el paraíso.

Hablando de paraísos, las islas de Galápagos en Ecuador son lo más cerca a un paraíso de naturaleza. Las islas Galápagos son bien conocidas por ser el hogar de muchos animales exóticos, los cuales solo se encuentran allí. Las islas Galápagos se componen de 13 islas principales y varias islas más pequeñas, pero la mayoría del turismo se concentra en las islas

donde la gente puede observar la fauna exótica. Wayra Cerda, una estudiante de onceavo grado, tiene raíces ecuatorianas y visitó a las islas Galápagos y nunca se olvidó del viaje que se convirtió en una experiencia inolvidable.

Wayra dice “el agua es limpia, todo es bonito y la temperatura es perfecta. Se puede hacer lo que

uno quiere cuando se llega a la isla, como ir en una excursión y ver toda la naturaleza.” Wayra compara las islas Galápagos con los lugares turísticos en los Estados Unidos, “todo en las islas Galápagos es natural comparado con los Estados Unidos donde casi todo es artificial. En las islas Galápagos, las plantas y la fauna han estado allí por mucho tiempo sin ser influenciada por la civilización.”

Si uno quiere explorar la naturaleza que no se puede encontrar en ningún otro lugar, ir a las islas Galápagos es la mejor opción que cualquier otro lugar en el mundo.

Localizado en el Mar Caribe, la República Dominicana siempre ha sido un lugar muy popular para vacacionar por lo mucho que tiene para ofrecer. Uno puede ir a sitios históricos para aprender sobre los comienzos de una isla tan bella y diversa.

Un destino muy popular es el monasterio de San Francisco, que fue construido en 1508 en la ciudad de Santo Domingo, la ciudad más antigua del Nuevo Mundo. También se puede visitar La Puerta del Conde, el lugar donde se alzó la bandera por primera vez y se declaró la independencia en 1844. En la República Dominicana nunca se puede estar aburrido.

Aparte de sus sitios históricos, están los centros turísticos como Punta Cana, donde uno puede hacer actividades como subirse a una tirolesa, conocido como canopi,

montar buggies en la playa, jugar golf o bucear en las aguas claras.

Desde sus conciertos en la playa, restaurantes caribeños, lugares históricos y actividades turísticas, siempre hay algo que hacer en la República Dominicana.

Perú, mejor conocido como el antiguo imperio incaico, ofrece a los turistas no solo una experiencia inigualable, sino también la oportunidad de presenciar una de las 7 maravillas del mundo, Machu Picchu.

Este país tiene costa, sierra y selva lo cual lo hace perfecto para poder gozar de cualquier clase de clima.

La ciudad de Cusco, la que una vez fue el corazón del imperio incaico, es visitada anualmente por cientos de turistas de diferentes partes del mundo, los cuales se ven atraídos a estos paisajes rurales por lo que algunos llaman ARITRA ROY “una energía especial.” Machu Picchu, al igual que los otros templos, son un portal de tiempo los cuales dan una idea de lo que era antes la civilización de los Incas. El festival del Sol y la tierra, conocido como Inti Raymi, ocurre una vez al año el día 24 de junio en el Valle Sagrado. Este festival es para agradecerle al dios del Sol, Inti, por el año pasado. Los pobladores de Cusco se reúnen y coordinan un festival lleno de colores, historia y música típica del Perú. Al igual que Cusco, Arequipa, más conocida como la ciudad blanca, ofrece a los turistas una vista del vuelo del cóndor en el Cañón del C o lc a y a la

arquitectura precolonial. También ofrece la oportunidad de poder observar el Valle de los Volcanes, el cual fue reconocido por el gobierno del Perú como patrimonio nacional. Otras aventuras como kayaking al igual que escalar montañas y observar a volcanes dormidos son unas de las muchas cosas que puedes experimentar en otras partes en Perú. Este país es un destino indispensable, siendo reconocido en el 2014 como, “el mejor destino culinario del mundo.”

Con tantas opciones, puede parecer difícil decidirse por un solo país que visitar. Hay que tomar en cuenta las preferencias personales y las aventuras que se quieren vivir, ya que no todos los países ofrecen las mismas actividades. Es de importancia tener noción del presupuesto con el que se dispone ya que algunos destinos pueden resultar mucho más costosos.

Esto se debe a su popularidad, la distancia y la economía del país en general. Además, también es crucial ir bien preparado, pues muchos países requieren ropa o equipo especial dependiendo del clima y de las actividades que ofrezca. No quieres estar en un país y terminar encerrado en el hotel porque no has traído lo necesario.

Finalmente, sobre todas las cosas, lo más importante es hacer de tu viaje una experiencia inolvidable, ya sea que viajes en familia o solo, intenta sumergirte en la cultura del país que visites e intenta cosas nuevas y divertidas, para poder tener un buen recuerdo que puedas recordar el resto de tu vida.

LINDSAY HARRIS

E2

silverchips

25 de mayo del 2016

Oportunidades para aprovechar el verano a lo máximo

Las vacaciones pueden ser un tiempo para aprender, trabajar o relajarse Por Andrés Pérez El momento más esperado de todo el año por muchos estudiantes ya está muy cerca y muchos ya tienen planificado lo que van a hacer con su tiempo en vacaciones.

Después de un año escolar estresante, la playa, los parques de diversiones y otras actividades al aire libre tienden a ser los primeros puntos en la lista de quehaceres de la mayoría. A pesar de esto, para otros, el verano es una oportunidad más para obtener conocimiento y experiencia para el futuro.

Para los estudiantes de la escuela superior existe un extenso rango de oportunidades durante el verano. La mayoría de tiendas, especialmente las departamentales, contratan a dependientes jóvenes en preparación para una de las temporadas de venta más altas del año. Esto presenta una gran oportunidad para obtener experiencia laboral, ya que generalmente, le dan prioridad a los estudiantes que los necesiten solo durante esa temporada.

La estudiante guatemalteca, Rossy Ramírez de doceavo grado, comparte cómo se prepara para tomar ventaja de esta oportunidad.

“Por medio de una amiga conseguí trabajo en una tienda de ropa solo para la temporada de verano. Mis planes son trabajar las horas que pueda para poder ganar dinero y así poder salir con mis amigas y también para ahorrar un poco.”

Otros estudiantes toman el ve-

rano como un escape turístico.

Jerilyn Sical, una estudiante guatemalteca del décimo grado, ya tiene planificada una ruta de lugares que visitar, “mi intención es ir a conocer nuevos lugares para conocer más sobre la cultura de este país. Mi sueño es ir a Miami Beach y a Disneylandia.”

Las vacaciones no solo son para viajar a conocer lugares distintos, sino para ver a familiares. Jerilyn dice, “espero poder visitar a mis tías en Tampa y Florida para poder ir con ellas a estos lugares y hacer todo juntas.”

Hay que tener en cuenta de que para divertirse no es necesario salir del estado, solo se necesita un poco de creatividad y tiempo para encontrar actividades divertidas. La página web visitmaryland. org tiene un calendario dedicado a eventos categorizados por mes, en el que ofrecen una variedad de actividades que van desde exhibiciones de arte hasta carreras de botes. Otra página web downtownsilverspring.com también ofrece un calendario similar, en el que se puede encontrar fechas de

conciertos, clases de yoga al aire libre y picnics al aire libre con música en vivo en Silver Spring.

Por otro lado, hay estudiantes que toman la decisión de tomar clases de verano para avanzar con sus créditos. A muchos les parece una mala idea, ya que el verano es visto como un muy anhelado descanso después de un año escolar ajetreado, pero muchas veces las clases de verano son una ven-

taja que algunos estudiantes no pueden ignorar. La estudiante guatemalteca, Madeline Tobar de décimo grado, comparte sus razones para tomar clases de verano. “Iré a la escuela de verano para superarme porque necesito salir adelante en algunas clases que no son mi área fuerte.”

El verano es una época esencial para los estudiantes, ya que les permite liberarse de la rutina escolar, tomar un descanso e intentar cosas nuevas. Aby Hernández, una estudiante mexicana del noveno grado, describe el verano así, “es el punto en el que ya las responsabilidades se terminan y nos podemos alejar del estrés y los LINDSAY HARRIS dolores de cabeza.

Podemos convivir con nuestros amigo y si es necesario, podemos ayudar a nuestros bolsillos si decidimos trabajar.”

El verano también ofrece una versatilidad en el horario de la mayoría, porque les permite entrar en prácticas para obtener experiencias en áreas específicas. Las prácticas le permiten a los estu-

diantes aplicar los conocimientos que han adquirido en la escuela en situaciones de la vida diaria.

Esto es muy importante porque ayuda a que los estudiantes empiecen a descubrir sus intereses y talentos. El Sr. Finch, coordinador de prácticas en Blair, da consejos a los estudiantes sobre cómo encontrar la oportunidad que más se adapte a sus intereses. “Hay varias maneras en las que los estudiantes pueden entrar en prácticas. Pueden venir a visitarme al salón 221, hablar con sus amigos, que muchas veces tienen mejores conexiones que yo mismo o que otros maestros, ya que han hecho prácticas anteriormente o simplemente hablar con sus maestros.

Conseguir acceso a prácticas no es difícil, solo es necesario preguntar y lo importante es que le permiten a los estudiantes conectarse con personas que les van a ofrecer oportunidades del mundo real para explorar sus capacidades.”

A pesar de lo que cada quien decida hacer con su verano, hay que tener en mente que lo más importante es disfrutar lo que se hace.

Ya sea que vayas a tomar clases de verano, salir con tus amigos o simplemente quedarte en casa viendo películas, cada actividad tiene sus ventajas y desventajas.

Lo principal es que te mantengas seguro y disfrutes de cada segundo de tu verano a lo máximo ya que el próximo año escolar comenzará antes de lo esperado, que entristeze a todos al pensarlo.

Hispanos reflejan sobre la solicitación a universidades

estudiar y recibir una doble licenciatura en educación y psicología.

La clase graduanda del 2016 ha Zelaya es la primera en su familia terminado su tiempo en Blair y que va ir a la universidad y ella exmuchos estudiantes van a ingrepresa que está agradecida por toda sar a la universidad en el otoño. Es la ayuda que recibió del Sr. Medraun orgullo decir que hay muchos no, entrenador de ACES, Achiehispanos por graduarse este ving Collegiate Excellence and año, quienes han contribuido Success, su consejera y las mucho a la comunidad de Blair. ayudantes en el centro de caMarco Salgado, Patrirreras. Ella dice, “la parte más cia Rosales y Daniela Zedifícil del proceso de solicitud laya son solo tres estudiantes universitario fueron los ensadel doceavo grado quienes yos. Había tanto que hacer y tienen un porvenir muy exiencima de todo eso, también toso. Estas son sus historias. tenía tarea de la escuela. En Marco Salgado reflexiona sobre varias ocasiones me quedaba su tiempo en Blair y dice, “Blair despierta toda la noche trabatiene mucho apoyo para los jando.” Zelaya aconseja que Latinos en términos de clubes ella “comenzaría escribiendo y organizaciones. La escuela olos ensa- yos durante el verafreció un gran apoyo para mi.” no” al comenzar este proceso Desde que Salgado tomó la largo. Zelaya solicitó a todas clase de ciencias ambientales, las becas que pudo, pues por su deseo de tener una profesión ser una estudiante DACA, en el campo del conocimiento sus opciones eran limitadas. ambiental y paisajismo engran“Yo solicité a becas como deció. Él aprendió mucho en TheDream.US, La Esperanza JEDEDIAH GRADY CORTESÍA DE PATRICIA ROSALES GRIFFIN REILLY esa clase e influyó mucho su scholarship fund y dos becas decisión y planes para el futuro. del Hispanic Scholarship fund.

ESTUDIANTES DEL DOCEAVO GRADO Marco Salgado irá a un colegio comunitario, Patricia RoSalgado dice, “quiero estudiar Ella ganó la beca TheDream. sales irá a la Universidad de Trinity y Daniela Zelaya irá a la Universidad de Trinity. (de izquierda a derecha) arquitectura de paisaje porque US la cual le da solicitud grame encanta trabajar afuera y tuita de cuatro años en la Unipoder cuidar del ambiente y taminteresaban. Yo no hice eso y me co no fue fácil para Rosales. Ella idea de lo que ella quería estudiar versidad de Trinity. Ella está muy bién para poder diseñar y crear atrasó un poco cuando comencé cuenta, “yo me dí cuenta cuando con mucho tiempo de anticipación agradecida por todo el apoyo que espacios al aire libre sostenibles. el proceso.” Salgado fue otorgado mi hermano mayor estaba solici- y decidió integrarse a la academia la escuela le ha brindado. Zelaya Al llegar a la universidad, tenla beca Arthur Dorman del Che- tando a la universidad pero nunca de profesiones de servicios hu- termina diciendo, “es una gran go planes de aumentar mi conosapeake Bay Trust por $5,000. La pensé que fuera tan difícil. Es un manos. “Debajo de esa academia bendición para mi familia y estoy cimiento en la área del paisajismo.” beca se trata de la administración, proceso largo y hay una cantidad yo tomé las clases de AP psicología muy emocionada por el futuro.”

Al comenzar el proceso de soliLos estudiantes del doceavo conocimiento ambiental y compro- extrema de hojas por llenar.” En- y desarrollo infantil. Me encantó citud a la universidad, él se sintió miso al mejoramiento de la comu- cima de todo eso, Rosales también aprender sobre la mente y el com- grado se enfrentaron con muchos muy preparado gracias a sus maesnidad local. Salgado tiene planes llenó solicitudes para poder ganar portamiento humano. En la clase obstáculos durante el proceso tros y consejera. Él dice, “gracias a de asistir a un colegio comunita- becas.

Rosales planea estudiar de desarrollo infantil, yo apliqué de solicitud universitario. Con la Sra. Bailey, nunca ignoré una ferio por dos años y después trans- bioquímica en la universidad pero lo que aprendí en la clase de psi- todo el esfuerzo y tiempo que cha límite y ella me guió a lo largo ferirse a la Universidad de Flo- su decisión final no es fija. Ella cología para darle lecciones de dedicaron, el resultado final es del proceso. El proceso de solicitud rida o la Universidad de Cornell. fue aceptada a la Universidad de aprendizaje a un grupo de niños muy gratificante y hace que todo a la universidad puede ser muy aDe todas las clases y cursos que Trinity y va asistir con una beca pequeños.” Después de esta expe- haya valido la pena. ¡Muchas gotador porque hay muchas soliciBlair ofrece, a Patricia Rosales completa que paga sus estudios riencia, Zelaya decidió que quería felicidades a la clase del 2016!

Por Ilcia Hernandez

tudes por llenar e información que proveer. A pesar de todo el arduo trabajo, creo que todo valió la pena al final.” Salgado refleja diciendo, “algo que hubiera hecho diferente antes de comenzar a solicitar a las universidades es conducir mi propia investigación sobre las que me

siempre le ha interesado mucho las clases de ciencia como la biología, química, ciencia ambiental y física. “Todas las clases me gustaron e influyeron mi decisión de lo que quiero estudiar en la universidad.” El proceso de solicitud universitario tampo-

los 4 años. “El proceso definitivamente valió la pena y estoy muy orgullosa porque voy a ser de la primera generación en mi familia quien va asistir a la universidad.”

Daniela Zelaya vino a los Estados Unidos a una temprana edad.

Zelaya comenzó formando una

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May 25, 2016

Spring sports teams wrap up their seasons, playoffs

Track, lacrosse, baseball, softball, and tennis end with strong postseason runs

By Dawson Do

GRIFFIN REILLY

The boys’ team placed second overall in the 4A West regional and the girls’ team placed sixth. Junior Thierry Siewe Yanga won the regional championship for the 800m The boys’ 4x800m relay team consisting of senior Ben Geertsma, senior Alex Mangiafico, junior Dominic Massimino, and Yanga, also won the regional championship. Sophomore Morgan Casey qualified for states in the 800m. The girls’ 4x800m relay, consisting of Casey, senior Audrey Krimm, senior Regina Gretschel, and senior Susanna Maisto placed fifth in the region to qualify for states.

The boys’ 4x100m relay, consisting of junior Christopher Butler, junior Ponce DeLeon, junior Clifford Carter, and junior Eric Zokouri, placed second in the region and also qualified for states. Boys’ 4x200m, consisting of Butler, DeLeon, Gresser, and Carter, also qualified for states. The 4x400m boys’ team, made up of senior Thien Cao, senior Evan Gresser, Mangiafico, and Yanga, placed second. The girls’ 4x400m, consisting of freshman Alexis Stewardson, Maisto, Gretschel, and senior Grace Olawuni, placed third overall and qualified for states. Freshman Deeya Garg qualified for states with a new pole vault personal record. Maisto beat her personal record and placed third in the 400m dash. Olawuni placed second in the 100m dash to qualify for states. Cao placed third in the 300m hurdles and qualified for states.

Key Athletes: Thierry Siewe Yanga, Ben Geertsma, Alex Mangiafico, Susanna Maisto

GRIFFIN REILLY

GRIFFIN REILLY

GRIFFIN REILLY

On May 17, the varsity girls’ lacrosse team faced off against Magruder in the sectional semi- finals. Magruder outscored Blair 16-13 at Blair Stadium, ending the team’s playoffs. Blair had previously defeated Wheaton in the first round on May 13.

Season Record: 7-5 Key Players: Nicole Spiezio, Emma Soler, Madeleine Boyer, Schuyler Cross

The varsity baseball team faced B-CC in the sectional finals on May 18. The game ended with a score of 7-2, stopping the team’s playoff run. This year, the team defeated Richard Montgomery in the first round and Whitman in the sectional semifinals.

Season Record: 11-7 Key Players: Ryan Bratton, Robert Pfefferle, Raphael Kanner, Ian Donaldson

COURTESY OF MARCI MARTIN

GRIFFIN REILLY

In this year’s playoffs, the varsity boys’ volleyball team started off with a win against Magruder three sets to one. After moving on to the next round, Blair fell to Sherwood three sets to zero on May 10 at Sherwood in the quarterfinals.

Season Record: 8-5 Key Players: Albert Wang, Eric Chen, Stephan Loh

Two of Blair’s Tennis doubles teams, consisting of junior Eshan Tewari, sophomore Richard Gancayo, and freshmen Haydn Gwyn and Tyler Huang, advanced to the semifinals. Junior Marc Zolotarev made it to the singles quarterfinals.

Season record: 7-4 Key players: Marc Zolotarev, Eshan Tewari, Richard Gancayo, Desmond Colby

On May 16, the varsity boys’ lacrosse team matched up against Magruder in the sectional championships. The team ultimately fell to the Colonels 8-4.

Although Blair started on the offensive early in the game, Magruder brought the ball back to Blair’s goal and quickly scored.

Junior Paul Moser was then able to gain a quick steal and score. He tied the game 1-1.

After Blair found another opening, freshman Garrett Anderson struck quickly with a shot to the corner of the goal giving Blair the lead at 2-1.

In the second quarter, Magruder scored twice but Blair was able to quickly counter with goals by juniors Paul Moser and Sean Tan. Another exchange of goals occurred in the third quarter including a goal by senior Matthew Guerrera, but, in the fourth quarter, Blair could not stop Magruder’s offense as their opponents found five additional goals by the end of the game. Blair’s playoff run had ended in their third game.

Season Record: 5-7 Key Players: Matthew Guerrera, Joshua Agu, Sean Tan

This story is accompanied by highlights of a game. To see the video, scan the code to the left with a QR reader app, or use the URL below.

VIMEO.COM/167757021

Softball cruises past Clarksburg to advance to state semifinals Timely hitting and dominant pitching keep team’s playoff hopes alive

By Christian Mussenden BLAZER FIELD, MAY 20- On Friday May 20th, Blair softball beat the Clarksburg Coyotes 3-0 to advance to their second playoff semifinal in three years.

Softball head coach Louis Hoelman said that Blair played one of their best games of the season in the win. “It’s the most confident we’ve been in a big game. I think they wanted the game so badly, but it didn’t freak them out,” Hoelman said. “They just put their best game together at the right time.

That was by far our best game mentally and physically.”

Pitching dominated the game early, as both teams were held scoreless through three innings until Blair was able to move a baserunner around and take a 1-0 lead entering the fourth inning. The game continued to go along quickly, with the Blazers failing to generate offense and senior pitcher Karylena Cruz shutting down the Coyote’s bats as well.

Then, in the bottom of the sixth inning, senior Anna Reachmack hit a single up the middle to bring Cruz up to the plate, who hit a two run home run to give the Blazers a 3-0 lead, and effectively put the game out of reach for the Coyotes.

Junior shortstop Isabel Lott attributes the team’s win to the unprecedented emotion they carried throughout the game. “Lots of times, we lose intensity towards the middle, and we’re not cheering as loud, and we’re not talking as much in the field, but we were so on top of it.” Lott said, “We wanted this game so badly, and I think that’s really the only difference. We wanted it.”

Cruz, who pitched a game shut-out, said

that training with her teammates helped her prepare for this moment, “We all do a whole bunch of mental training and that’s definitely helped a lot, and then just bonding on and off the field together.” Cruz said, “We spend all our time together and it’s kind of weird,

but whatever we do, we’re all together. It’s really nice and I think that helps a lot.”

Last year, the Blazers lost by one run in the regional final to the Northwest Jaguars, and Hoelman says that being in the same position again this year helped Cruz pitch

SAMANTHA MALLON

PICTURE-PERFECT The 2016 varsity softball team poses with their coaches for a picture after winning the 4A west regional championship on Friday. The team will play against Chopticon in the state semifinals on May 24.

so well.

“I think that last year we lost by one run in the regional final.” Hoelman said, “I think she’s wanted it so badly this year that she came out and she just put any emotions, any nerves behind her, and just played her tail off. She just did a great job.”

Although they won, Lott believes that they can always improve their performance, especially on the offensive side of the game.

“I think we’ve got to start focusing more on our pitch. Lots of times we get a little nervous on plate and we start swinging at things that are too high, or things that are too low, or outside.” Lott said, “I think really what’s coming up is good pitchers, who know how to hit their spots. We’ve got to get a little better at hitting and staying confident at the plate.”

Moving forward, Hoelman believes that if the players keep playing like they did against Clarksburg, then they will have no problem winning a state championship, “If we win two more games, we’re state champions.” Hoelman said, “We’ll take it one game at a time. I think if we go in with the same mental approach that we had tonight, then we’ll be fine.”

The players hold the same sentiment, and are looking forward to winning a state championship, “We’re definitely looking forward to kicking butt in the next couple games and winning states!” Cruz said.

Softball’s next game is Tuesday, May 24 at 7 p.m. at Bachman Park in Glen Burnie, Maryland. They will face Chopticon for a trip to the state championship game. If they advance, they will compete for a state championship on May 27 or 28 against either Sherwood or Eleanor Roosevelt.

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May 25, 2016

Marathoners push their mind and body to the limit

Long races bring joy, pain, and accomplishment to runners

By Brianna Forté “I‘m just going to walk,” says senior Audrey Krimm as she starts to feel hopeless. But as mile marker 12 comes into view Krimm and her friends make a mad dash for the last mile to the finish line.

With throbbing legs and pounding hearts, they finish the race to complete their first half marathon.

Krimm and her friends are not the only Blazers who live for the challenge of running marathons.

Other dedicated students and teachers train for months for the big race that tests their endurance and determination.

Source of inspiration What is one person’s hell is another person’s heaven. Some students at Blair dream of running marathons, including Krimm, who participated in a half marathon last year and is working her way up to a full one. “It was mostly like a bucket list kinda thing,” she explains.

Krimm encouraged four of her cross country teammates, sophomore Morgan Casey, senior Susanna Maisto, junior Lara Shonkwiler, and sophomore Isabel Present, to join her in the half marathon. “My friend Audrey had been talking about it during the cross country season and was like, ‘We should totally do this,’ and I was like, ‘Awesome!’ It sounded really cool and it’s definitely a goal of mine to run a full marathon,” Casey says.

The five cross country runners decided to run the half marathon as part of the 2015 Annapolis Running Classic in November, right after their cross country season ended. “It was right after Regionals and we were like, ‘No, we are not done with our cross country season. We’re not done running like 6,000 miles all day every day!”

Casey recalls.

Another member of the cross country team, senior Anna Ou, decided to run a full marathon during her freshman year to challenge herself as a new runner. During eighth grade, Ou started looking at races in the D.C. area and signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon.

“During the spring of eighth grade I was like, ‘Oh you know I could probably build up to that’ because [the race] was like eight months later,” Ou says.

Math teacher Jack Giles decided to sign up for half marathons to introduce a fitness routine into his life. While he originally started running to stay healthy, it has be-

just a few symptoms these Blazers describe. As soon as Casey got back from her half marathon she went straight to sleep. “I definitely took a nap despite the fact that I got back at like 1:00 in the afternoon. I was just like yeah I’m done for the rest of the week,” Casey says.

Ou was also exhausted after her marathon, and was thankful that she could rest during the three-day weekend after the race. “We didn’t have school for three days after [the race], so that was good because I could not walk up or down stairs,” she jokes.

come a major part of his life over the years. “[If] I haven’t run that day I just have to get outside and do it. That’s kind of a good thing. It [has] just become like a part of my life,” Giles says.

Practice makes progress For most of the runners, a lot of training went into preparing for the big day. The general training regimen for marathons requires runners to steadily increase the mileage of runs until they eventually reach the distance of the race.

“For average runners you’d try to build up your workout load and go from four miles, to six miles, and gradually build up to thirteen or twenty six miles,” Krimm explains.

Krimm and her crew trained by completing their cross country and track workouts, which Krimm and Casey supplemented with additional Saturday afternoon runs.

“We would go on these long runs together and that was like a big confidence booster and also it got the training done,” Krimm says.

“We pretty much just continued keeping the mentality of cross country [and] kept getting the mileage up,” Casey adds.

Ou also describes her training casually. “During the summer I ran a little bit, but I was also kind of injured during the summer so I didn’t run as much as I wanted.

I just did cross country and then I added a few extra-long runs,” Ou says.

Because Ou ran on her own, she had to find other ways to stay motivated, including Chipotle. “Sometimes I like to run to places like the Rockville Shopping Center, which is about 8 to 10 miles from my house,” she says. “I would just run over there and get Chipotle, which makes it worth it.”

Before the marathon, all the runners made sure to maintain a healthy diet and get lots of sleep.

“The night before we carb loaded and ate a bunch of pasta which was good, and I tried to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated,” Krimm says.

The big day Once the big day arrives and the race begins, excitement kicks in and gives the runners a major boost. “We started off at a decent pace and we just kind of kept picking it up and picking it up as we got more filled with adrenaline,” Casey says.

However, Krimm says that her energy began to dwindle halfway

COURTESY OF AUDREY KRIMM

FLEXIN’ Members of the cross country team show off their medals after completing their first half marathon in November.

The real reward

COURTESY OF ANNA OU

SAY CHEESE Senior Anna Ou and her mother take a picture after a run. through the race. “Physically, when I got to around 8 miles in, I was like okay, I feel fantastic, my body’s in the zone. When I got to around 12 miles in, I was breaking down [and] I was like ‘I can’t do this,’” she recalls.

Ou started out the race strong and coasted along the first half.

“For the middle between like miles 12 and 20-ish it was just really bad,” she says, grimacing. “And then towards the end you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh there’s only 4 miles left!’ and I got really excited and I just felt really good.”

For Giles, the half marathons he has run were no big deal because they were no different from the distances he usually runs. The problem for him is the pace he sets at the beginning of his races.

“Usually I run… too fast at the beginning at a pace that I can’t keep up... It’s more like nervous energy,” explains Giles.

Once the adrenaline and excitement fades, the runners are in for a long and testing period of running.

The pain after a marathon race is unavoidable. Sore legs, dehydration, and overall exhaustion are

Crossing the finish line at the end of the race is the physical reward, but runners also gain mental rewards as well. After finishing her first half marathon, Casey was left with a feeling of strong satisfaction and accomplishment. “Mentally, I felt really great and just super proud of myself and all of us for being able to do that,” Casey says with a smile.

For Krimm, marathons are appealing because they test people’s resilience and strength. “It can prove a feat of human ability. I just really like the idea of pushing your body,” she explains.

Ou learned a lot about herself through her marathon training, as well as during her race, and believes that it impacted her as a person. “I feel like it’s a really personal experience, not even just the event itself but the training for it…” she says. “At the end of the day you realize that you can do more than you think you can.”

Time does not help the appeal of NBA Playoffs

By Christian Mussenden At this point, anybody who watches the entirety of the NBA playoffs can be considered a marathon athlete. The National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs this year started on April 16. By the time this article is published, the date will be May 25 and the NBA playoffs will not even be three quarters of the way finished. The NBA is one of the most popular and profitable leagues in all of professional sports, but the league’s handling of the playoffs is too drawn out and lessens the appeal of the sport.

The most glaring problem is the amount of teams allowed to participate. The NBA’s playoff system, which allows 16 out of 30 teams in the league to play in the postseason, allows an excessive amount of teams to participate. The majority of these teams have no chance contending for an NBA championship.

If you do not agree with me, then consider this. Since the NBA expanded its playoffs to a best of seven series format in 2003, only once has a team with a seed lower than a four reached its conference’s finals, and only twice has an eight seed beat a one seed, and both times those eight seeds lost in the following round. This is not necessarily a problem for the National Hockey Association (NHL) which

also employs a 16 team playoff format and is generally viewed as having one of the best playoff atmospheres in the world of professional sports. The reason this system works for hockey, but not for the NBA, is that the NHL does not have the talent disparity between teams that the NBA has.

Unlike any other league, the NBA has an interesting competitive culture where team success heavily relies on the performance of star players. The best teams in the league are those that have the best players—most teams cannot even come close to the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers simply because they do not have a Stephen Curry or a LeBron James. This has created a league which is at its best when these superstars face each other with a championship on the line.

With the current playoff format, the NBA unnecessarily elongates the amount of time their fans have to wait for these matchups. This may not seem like a problem, an extra round of playoff basketball should not hurt the league’s popularity. However, by doing this the NBA is putting their star players at risk of injury by forcing them to play extra games at playoff-intensity against mediocre teams.

This has already happened this year, when the Los Angeles Clippers lost both their star players,

Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, to injury during a first round game against a porous Portland Trail Blazers team. Not only did this end Griffin and Paul’s years, it ended the rest of the Clipper’s year, who after winning the first two games with Paul and Griffin, lost the remaining four games without them and were then eliminated from the playoffs.

Yes, injuries are a part of the game and they are impossible to predict, but injuries in the first round rob fans of seeing their favorite players face off against other top teams in the playoffs. This has unfortunately become a part of the NBA playoff experience, but this can easily be avoided with the elimination of the first round.

The NBA is one of the most entertaining leagues in professional sports due to its fast action of play and collection of talent unparalleled by any other sport.

However, the league will never be able to transcend its current popularity unless it moves to an eight team playoff format.

“Christian’s Corner” is a new monthly column where staff writer Christian Mussenden expresses his opinion on current events in the world of sports.

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May 25, 2016

Halfway there The community of street vendors that thrives off Nationals Park

By Cole Sebastian and Aditi Shetty Photos by Chaminda Hangilipola “Ice cold water! Two dollars, two dollars!

Water, water, water!”

It is six o’clock on a Tuesday night and Half Street, the short block leading up to Nationals Park, buzzes with activity. Music is pumping as fans flow from the Navy Yard Station at one end to the large blue gates at the other. They pass by arches labeled “Fairgrounds,” where daunting bouncers dressed in orange tie wristbands onto those who choose to enter the Nats’ largest pregame party. Little kids in oversized jerseys yank on their parents’ hands, pulling them towards the excitement of a spring baseball game. Beside this entire huzzah, from the sidewalk come the shouts, “Two dollar water! Iiiiice cold!”

The loudest exclamations come from one particular vendor, a slim man in jeans and a baggy Nats t-shirt, who says his name “is the same as the color of [his] skin.” Black, who has worked on Half Street for two years, says that he loves the excitement of vending at Nationals Park. “You go to other sporting events, they don’t have things like this,” he says. “People go to a sporting event and just go inside a building. Where’s the excitement at?”

At every home game, Black is just one of several vendors on Half Street who peddle their goods, from sunglasses and sweatshirts to peanuts and pretzels. Their carts line the block, stretching from the Metro exit to the center field gates of Nationals Park. Many of them are immigrants from the Middle East who talk to each other in Arabic, while others are D.C. natives.

The vendors’ livelihoods depend on the 26,000 some people who walk through the Nationals’ gates every gameday. The vendors must fight for the attention of each member of the thick stream of fans that pours into the street. However, their job extends beyond the pregame excitement. For Half Street vendors, the Nationals game begins hours before the first pitch, when they begin to set up their stands.

3:30 p.m.

With almost four hours to game time, most of the vendor stands are already ready for business. A middle-aged woman named Kamale, who asked to be referred to only by her first name, sits in a folding chair behind piles of t-shirts and hats. As she peddles her goods to potential buyers, she laments the difficulties of life as a vendor. “We have to fight every single day,” she says.

Kamale thinks that many government officials try to shut down street vending in D.C. but ignore the real crimes. “[The government officials] like drugs, they like prostitution, they like all the corruption in downtown, except for people working honestly to make a living,” she says. Kamale, who has

been a street vendor for 25 years, says that she enjoys the freedom that comes with the job, but at the same time, she has to rely on herself.

Twenty feet up the road from Kamale is Brigitta Nyahn, a Blair alumna who runs a merchandise stand with her husband.

Nyahn says that she has a strong friendship with Kamale and other merchandise vendors despite being in direct competition.

“We all know each other,” Nyahn says. “We might be selling the same things but… we all work together.”

A little further down the street is a wall that reads, “Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too.”

To the left of the mural sits a cart owned by Aminata Phillips.

She describes a similarly friendly environment among the food vendors. “I’m not so competitive,” she says. “I just come, work. Whatever is for me is for me. I’m not somebody who likes to compete.”

and will graduate from Montgomery College in the spring. Afterwards, she plans to attend a four-year university to study economics. Samira says that after graduating, she will “definitely not” keep working as a vendor.

Others, like Phillips, who has been working as a street vendor since 1986, set up shop on Half Street because vending is the only thing they know. “I don’t have a choice. I don’t really like the job, but I have to work,” she says. “I don’t make enough money. I should be retired by now.”

Kamale and Nyahn both work as nurses outside of their jobs on Half Street. Nyahn says that her husband also has a full-time job, but they enjoy vending Nats gear in their free time and the extra money it brings.

5:10 p.m.

By now, a few fans have begun filtering into the stadium. As they pass through the turnstiles at the Center Field Gate, they 4:08 p.m. pick up free Teddy Roosevelt dolls, A few minutes that day’s giveaway after four, a young item.

Egyptian man with Meanwhile on a beard and a twinHalf Street, a scalper kle in his eye yanks dressed in black has cold water bottles started illicitly adfrom their packagvertising his tickets ing and tosses them to those fans who into a cooler outside have not yet mana small food stand. aged to get them.

Ahmed Nabyl immiHe says that he has grated to the United been working in the States two years ago scalping business and has been workfor several years, ing on Half Street and has seen the for a year to save up area around Half for international law Street change a lot school. since the Nationals Trained as a lawarrived in 2008, “in a yer back home in good way.”

Egypt, Nabyl finds As the scalpthat his career opers work to attract tions are limited in game-goers who the U.S. “It’s not exit from the Metro my choice… It’s not TWO DOLLAR WATER! Vendor Ahmed station, Black stands the job I want but outside Samira’s it’s what’s available Nabyl sells water and snacks from a cart just across the right now,” he says. street cart to save up for law school. way, peddling his Although he works peanuts and water. here because he needs the money, Nabyl still Black used to work in the VIP section of enjoys vending. “You should love what you the Nationals’ old stadium, Robert F. Kennedo until you get what you need,” he says dy Memorial, when the team first came to with a grin.

D.C., but he loves vending at Half Street. He Other vendors are also working to get is also an avid Nationals fan. As for his mostthemselves through school, like Samira loved Nationals player, he does not play fawho asked to be referred to only by her first vorites. “I ain’t favoring no one. All of them, name. She owns the cart manned by Black, I love every last one of them,” he gleefully

explains. Black, like many of the other vendors, has another job outside of Half Street.

“After I leave baseball, you’ll see me in the Macy’s in D.C. in the women’s shoes department,” he chuckles. “These are actually my two careers. [But] I really love this job.”

5:57 p.m.

As the crowd of fans grows, a stocky man wearing an oversized Oakland Raiders jersey rolls a suitcase into the middle of the road. He spreads out a tarp and begins laying out Nationals caps to sell to fans.

People like this man, who sell merchandise without an official license, are the most threatening source of competition for the established merchandise vendors, according to Nyahn, the Blair alumna. “We have a license to do this, we pay for this, we pay our taxes every year to do this. You’ll see the people on that street selling hats. It’s not right,” says Nyahn.

Nyahn also identifies a major problem on Half Street that affects merchandise and food vendors alike: stealing. Phillips, the vendor who has been in the business since 1986, says that stealing is something that she deals with on a day-to-day basis. “A lot of times I just cry or call the police,” she says.

Nabyl, the aspiring lawyer, has experienced this challenge firsthand. A twelveyear-old boy once stole a bag of chips from the cart, forcing Nabyl to chase after him. Yet Nabyl sympathizes with those who do not have money to buy food. “If you don’t have money and you want to take anything, you can take it, just tell me,” he says. “I will give it to you free, but don’t just take it. It’s not fair.”

6:22 p.m.

Three flags on the top of a building at one end of Half Street whip back and forth in the strong wind: the U.S. flag, the D.C. flag, and the Nationals flag. The fans are streaming in steadily now from the Metro and nearby parking lots, and the Half Street festivities are in full swing. The music is loud, the vendors are yelling, and the fans are already beginning to have a good time.

The people, the commotion, and the excitement is what all the vendors love most about their jobs. Samira, who begrudgingly works a cart to get through college, says that this time before the game is the only enjoyable part of vending. “It’s just fun. Meeting so many people, the energy. The people out here are funny... It’s just fun,” she says.

Nabyl loves interacting with all the customers. “Every day I meet a lot of people from different cities and different countries,” he says. “For me it’s fun. I love it.”

Phillips would like to retire soon, but until then, there are parts about her job that she loves. “I get to meet a lot of people every day. Make friends,” she says. “I work for myself. That’s all the good in my life.”

NATIONALS KNICK-KNACKS The vendor stands lining Half Street near Nationals Park in Southeast D.C. offer a variety of goods, from hats to Hampton Farms peanuts.

Montgomery Bird High School SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

A public forum for avian expression since 1937

silverchirps

LARRY BYRD

Birds fly high G1 May 25, 2016

Winner of the 2016 Columbia Scholastic Penguin Award

VOL 3.14 NO 2

Varsity birdwatching loses to B-CC

By Joe2 JEREMY STELZNER MEMORIAL AVIARY, May 11—In a match that came down to the final bird, the Blair birdwatching team (6-1) was defeated by a very strong Bethesda Chirpy-Chase team (7-0).

The Blazers got off to a strong start after senior captain Cardi Nal spotted a rare hummingbird, earning the home team two points. He followed up this feat by pointing out a small pigeon flying across the sky, adding another point to their lead. “As captain, I knew I had to bring my A-game, especially in a game like this,” said Nal.

According to Blair coach Jerry Bird, “Our defense was the reason for the strong start, they were able to swallow their pride and play a good game. A few unlucky [bird] calls from the officials clipped our wings. We have to work on execution tomorrow after watching game film.” In his ten-year coaching career at Blair, he has brought home three consecutive championchirps.

All Star exchange student Ki Wi added that the fans played a huge part in the game. “We had a packed crowd, we had to open up a spare row to make room for the families of the players,” said Wi. The faith-

ful Blair Blazers have sold out the Aviary every game this season.

In the upcoming weeks, Blair will finish out the season against a strong Tweeton team (6-2) and the mediocre Demacaw flock (33). Blair is expected to have a great bird seed going into the Maryland playoffs. Blair’s leading scorer, F. L. Amingo, explained that he expects a long playoff run this year because of the way they can score early. “You know what they say.

The early birdwatcher gets the worm.”

see SPORTZ page F2

AMANDA WESSOWL

FOWL PLAY Senior Anna O’Drisgull scores 0.5 points for spotting a predatory bird and a flock of flamingos.

#FeelTheBerd

Birds fail PARCC testing

By Eleanor Hawkis According to data released by the MCPS Office of Shared Accountability (OSA), 100 percent of Blair’s bird population failed the PARCC assessments. In a memo sent on May 12, OSA researchers identified the avian population’s significant barriers to passing, including difficulties using Chromebooks and high absence rates during the winter months.

Some educational advocates allege that Blair has not properly prepared birds for standardized testing. “There really needs to be better understanding of the test

layout,” Ima Byrd, president of the Bird Educational Advocacy Koalition, said. “You can’t expect any segment of the school to do well when they’re just winging it.”

In an interview conducted on the track, sophomore Byrd Brian, a goose, said the 126-minute testing blocks were far too long. “It’s too much to expect us to focus for over two hours,” Brian said.

Despite the failing scores, all Montgomery County birds will graduate with honors and 4.0 grade point averages, thanks to the new grading policy adopted

by Interim Superintendent Canary Bowers.

Geese prepare track for meet

By Camille Cockatoo and Luisa Lovebird

CAMILLE PURRSCH

EAGLE-ITARIAN Presidential candidate Berdie Sanders visited Blair on May 20 to make a speech. “We have to break up the big beaks,” he said.

Spike in avian-on-feline crime reported Local residents start “bird-bell” campaign

By Camille Purrsch All throughout the DMV area, a new scourge is stalking our streets-murderous birds. Birds have been responsible for a 500-fold increase in murder of cats over the past year, DC Mayor Mewriel Meowser announced Monday.

Other urban areas have been experiencing similar rises in feline homicide this year, in what experts say may be an alarming new trend.

In the wake of this announcement, community organizations such as Cat Lovers Against Winged Species (CLAWS) and the Bird Superpredator Society (BS) banded together to announce a

new initiative to fight the flocks of killer birds.

“People think birds are cute, but they kill cats and spread nasty diseases like bird flu,” said Silver Spring resident Miao Miao.

DC Councilmember Phil Catman agreed. “Birds are nasty killing machines,” he said. “The least bird-lovers--if such people exist-can do is bell their birds. And the murderous ones? Let’s give ‘em the death penalty.”

Catman is not the only one calling for harsh measures to deter bird crime. Some residents believe that “tough on crime” stances are the only way to forestall what could become a massive avian ter-

Prom on the cheep Eleanor Hawkis gives advice to budgeting birdies.

ROBIN REDBREAST

NEWS 1 OP/ED 2

B1 SENIOR WILLS 3 & 7

BEBE BRINGER

rorist community.

“They’ve already started experimenting with biological weapons,” said Defense Secretary Ashton B. Catter at a news conference Tuesday. “I’m sure many of youhave been the victims of a fly-by bird dropping bombing. We need to nip this in the bird--uh, bud.”

Crime policy experts at the Catto Institute told Silver Chirps that, if unaddressed, bird terrorism will only increase. “In a few years, we could have a real Hitchcock situation on our hands,” said Michael D. Tailwagger. “Once they’re finished with our cats, they’re coming for us.”

insidechirps

As the track team gets ready for the most important meet of the season, they forgot one part of getting ready: cleaning all of the goose poop off the track! The first heat is up, and already the stench of geese feces overwhelms the athletes. A runner from B-CC faints before even stepping foot on the track. For the brave ones who were able to get past the first whiff, the hard part was yet to come: navigating the maze of poop mounds that clutter the track. Senior cap-

tain and track star Susanna Moasto can attest to the dangers of doing so. “Once I was sprinting to the finish line ahead of my competition when all of a sudden my legs slipped out from under me and I face planted in a pile of poo,” remembered Maisto.

There is so much poop that the track team has created a new event unique to Blair: the poop hurdles.

Maisto has been training hard for this event in the hopes that she will catch the attention of some col-

see EVERYBIRDY POOPS page F2

CHIRPY SONAM

BATHROOM BREAK Geese do their dudy for the track.

Stork market

Blue’s J

Not-so-bald eagles

Economics club is ‘winging it’ when it comes to Wall Street strategy.

Student Blue Jackman says he was wrongly suspended for ‘rolling a J.’

Not only are students taking advantage of the new hat policy, local birds are too!

C2

HIPPOGRIFF REILLY

A2

COURTESY OF MR. BIRD HIMSELF

HOW TO POOP ON CARS 7.5 SENIOR DESTINATIONS 4-6

G3

BIRD WATCHING GUIDE 8

2 Opinions

silverchirps

May 25, 2016

Should birds have open lunch?

Two feathered creatures give their opinions on this controversial issue

YES:

NO:

SHIVANI MATTIKALLI AND VICTORIA TSAI

Let the birds out of their cage.

COURTESY OF TOUCAN SAM

Toucan Sam “A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky.” These words from legendary poet Maya Angelou encapsulate what it means to be a bird, what it means to be free. Being a bird means you have the unalienable right to fly where you want, the right to ‘dip your wings into the orange sun rays,’ but with a closed lunch policy, Montgomery Blair High School is forcing these free birds into a cage.

The birds of Blair High School deserve the right to open lunch for an abundance of reasons, the most pressing of which is the quality of food in the lunchrooms. “I never see birds in the SAC anyway,” you might say. Well why do you think that is? The food quality, in both nutrition and taste, is just way too far below what birds need from their school. An open lunch would allow birds to get high quality food that’s good for them, from local establishments like McDonald’s and Papa John’s.

The major reason opponents to an open lunch use against the policy is that the policy is just providing an opportunity for mischief. They assert that the policy prevents absences in the afternoon periods, prevents drug use, and maintains order at school.

They won’t say it aloud, but the message they are really saying with this argument is clear: Blair’s policies are discriminatory against birds.

Opponents to an open lunch also claim that the policy ‘protects’ the students, because it makes sure they don’t get hurt as pedestrians when crossing the street. But this claim is an insult to bird intelligence.

According to Mother Jones, there are approximately 20 billion birds in the US. And according to USA Today, only 340 million

Safety first. Keep the birds in.

were killed by cars. That’s a kill percentage of just 1.7%, which for a Blair population of approximately 3,000, that’s just 51 birds killed every year. A small price to pay for the ability to go to Subway at lunch.

The closed lunch policy is just too much for today’s birds. The cafeterias are filled to the brim, the food is bad, the policies are discriminatory against birds. This is a life that birds just cannot live. The birds at Blair are not free, they’re caged.

“The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.”

The question is often asked, should the birds of Montgomery Blair be granted the freedom to flutter across University Boulevard and engage in an open lunch. I am here to tell you that the answer is absolutely not. The risks are just far too high for us to make such a brash decision regarding the future of our birds.

First of all, the birds simply are not responsible enough to make it across the dangerous University crossing without getting plastered on a windshield. These teenage birds have some sort of invincibility complex where they feel like nothing in the world can touch them. The unfortunate truth is that birds do not look both ways, and before you know it, one of our bird students has become road kill.

In addition, the business owners of Four Corners are adamantly against flocks of birds frequenting their shops. “It makes it difficult for me to enjoy my lunch because there are lots of teenage birds flying around the store screaming bird obscenities,” said local resident Elmer Fudd.

Now when an entire flock of birds has Chipotle for lunch, there are certain wastes that form and are then dropped back on campus in the form of aerial attacks. “Just last week some delinquent birds came back from lunch shouting ‘Airstrike!’ and repeatedly attacking me from above,” said sophomore Jimmy Neutron.

We can not allow this issue to become more widespread. Our building services workers already have a very difficult job cleaning up after 3,000 bird students so we should be making their jobs easier, not harder.

Now you may ask: How bad can open lunch for birds really be? I mean they’re just getting lunch right? Wrong. There is

CHIRPY SONAM

Teaguey Bird a much more serious side effect of granting bird students the permission to simply leave campus during lunch. That’s right-I’m talking about birds on drugs.

For every good bird who will simply go eat their lunch and then come back to school, there is one who is not so good.

These birds fly off to discrete locations in order to engage in bird drugs before returning back to class. This means that the number of bird students guilty of FUI or Flying Under the Influence increases significantly.

Even worse, this gives birds the opportunity to leave and not come back to school without anyone realizing. If the bird open lunch policy is put into effect, then seventh and eighth period attendance will decrease significantly.

These birds are still in their arrogant teenage years and are not to be trusted, so I beg you, cage the birds.

Reading Mean Tweets Here is an unrelated video

by Miles Albatroyce in the style of the Jimmy Kimmel’s segment. To see the video, scan the code to the left with a QR reader app, or use the URL below.

VIMEO.COM/SILVERCHIPS/MEANTWEETS

voicebox “My street >>>>>>> University OR Colesville.”

Big Byrd Junior

Mallard Moayeri Super senior

“Please don’t put me in the paper.”

“I go here, I swear.”

“I personally believe that, in my opinion, I just think.”

Notorious DOG Sophomore

Mr. Stork-ner ?????

“Yes, it’s fun to hang out at Chirpotle or Sub-(Alpine Warbler)way.”

Pick E. Freshman

May 25, 2016

We, AMANDA WESSEL and ELEANOR HARRIS, of sound minds and hot bods do hereby bequeath: To Alice and Sasha (aka Alisha/Salace): The Silver Chips kingdom. The paper is now in your hands and we couldn’t be more excited and proud of you guys. We know you will do great things and work hard to make the paper even better. May your late nights be lit and your page drafts be error free. Remember that the manifesto is the law of the land, but it will never have the answers you need to the questions you have. Use good judgement. We trust you. <3 I, AMANDA WESSEL, do hereby bequeath: To Rebecca: My shadow. You can keep it to remember me by but don’t bother carrying it around with you. I know you will do great, unique things during your time at Blair. Sorry that teachers will probably mistake your name with mine a few times but don’t hesitate to correct them. I also leave you good health. Keep up the good work on track but don’t hurt yourself!

To Camila: I leave you in charge of La Esquina Latina.

Oh wait, you already were in charge for a year. Keep up the good work. I can’t think of anything else I can leave you that would be of any benefit because you are already so on top of everything with a year to spare. Good luck with college stuff and senior year.

Don’t forget to read some Gabo and Sor Juana every once and a while to keep your AP Literatura skills sharp.

I, ELEANOR HARRIS, do bequeath: To Adelaide: Anything left in my room (and I won’t make you pay for it anymore).

Homework help whenever you text me. Your own bathroom - finally! You have always been so weird and cute and sincere, and I hope you continue to listen to my advice and then ignore about 50 percent of it. Bring your own special talents, and that one talent especially, to Blair. I love ya.

silverchirps

SENIOR WILLS

To Sasha: A love of boy bands and a promise to attend the One Direction Reunion Tour.

See you in 25 years (but also sooner).

To Alice and Aditi: My mission of, as Amanda would say, putting the femme in STEM. I am so excited to see you take over the world, Marco Rubio-style boots and all.

and a date with 22.

To Linnea and Sammie: Krunkos, weird boys, and lots of strange nights.

To Brenna and the Olivias: Bumping, JB, and good swimming/diving vibes!

And to all my little fhockers: lots of pigeon droppings and the best of luck next season!

3

not duplicate my diploma for you, nor adopt you, so in order to provide for your future stability while I’m gone (from Blair), I leave you my personal mental affects, or “techniques,” on how to maintain your accustomed lifestyle, aka admiring & aspiring to become how dope I am. You’re truly the only person I believe I, SUSANNA MAISTO, becapable of handling being queath: passed down my swag & usI, SARAH HUTTER, being of To Eleanor Cook, Akosua ing it respectfully. (It’s quite semi-sound mind and body, Hawkins, and Lexi Stewartlarge and difficult to handle.) do hereby bequeath: son: sub-60 second 400s.

I leave with you… the ability To Aditi and Josh: patience, To Margot Bloch: Taylor Swift to sleep through a class and more patience, and the songs on long runs. bull**** the work last second, strength to muddle through!

To Thierry Siewe: The ability bathroom stalls with quirky Happy fact checking! to choose whatever spirit day conversations to hide in from To Gabriel Field: the official you could want. And blazing teachers (yet keep you entertitle of Reigning Monarch of fast races, of course! tained since the cellular recepCentral Avenue.

To Morgan Casey: Blair runtion within the Montgomery To Arielle Gottlieb: the power ning motherhood.

Blair institution sucks), the to make it through CAP SeTo the rest of Blair XC and importance of walking with nior Presentations. track: Speedy times, bad tans, importance (it can get you To Sylvie WEissman: the walk post race puking, and all of literally anywhere), & the old to 7-Eleven, and Jacob. my love!

“I’m holding my arm up as a Best of luck junior class! battering ram & looking forI, LUISA MCGARVEY, here- ward so I totally don’t see you I, SUSANA PEREZ, leave by bequeath: & if you walk slowly toward the yearbook to Leah Savage, To Elizabeth Cove: Everything me on the wrong side of the Danie Stewart, Ruby Drizinin my life, the “Midwest,” the hallway you will get shoved, Kahn, and Nika Seider. Good love of my life Sally, weird but not really, because that’s luck with DSims. I know the nights in my attic, everything mean, but watch out ‘cause I book will be better than ever!

I do that annoys you, all the totally could, & elbows hurt, food I took from you, and man” technique.

I, JOE MAHER, leave this lunches in the lab.

Amy: You suck, I give you school to H. Everything you To Isabel Fetter: lonely car nothing. Okay fine, I pity you see is your kingdom. You’re rides, coffee that burns your since you’re the youngest; you the captain now. Do your mouth, and camp songs. can stay out of my room & homework.

To Brianna and Georgina: All mail me care packages when the fun in the world AKA the I’m gone. (Also, I love you, I, SAM BUTLER, leave entertainment section, treat & am sad we never got to greedy Grady no money. But my baby well. share a class because you’re you can have my Silver Chips To Madison Waechter: All my my best friend as well as my job and you can have my fris- unfinished tech work and all little sister, but I totally would bee team. my goldfish. have obliterated people who To the field hockey team: the messed with you, so its good I, DALIAH BARG, bequeath: dreaded mile, sweat, and exyou kept your distance at To Lauren Frost: the entirety tra sugary sister presents. school for the sake of the of the MBHS Girls’ Tennis general population.) To the Team. Good luck and treat it I, EMMA SOLER, hereby others I leave behind…Acwell. bequeath, quaintances, peers, all those To Nishka Parikh and Isabella To Talia: the defense. You can who boosted me up with their Hunt: two very big roles to do it. kindness; Mr. Finch, Mr. Hinreplace.

To Lea: the of role of “best sis- kle, Ms. Gibboney, Ms. Lusby, To Madeline Kershow: the job ter” and post-practice beltway Ms. Smrek, Mr. Haigh, and of entertainer and gossiper rides.

Mr. Smith (among others), if during tennis season. Take To Marianne: creative gifts it weren’t for you all, I would care of the team for me. and smiling a lot. not be saying goodbye today, To Cole: features, online pizza I would have let go (aka gotI, ANNA HUKILL, do hereby ordering, stories that toe the ten a GED) long ago. bequeath: line, and all my enthusiasm A special goodbye to Ms. To Elizabeth and Ariel: All the about Chips.

Harvey, she stands apart with money in the world! her honest qualities from the To Elizabeth Cove: Ellie and I, CINDY GILBERT, leave: Elijah’s love, Mr. Cuddles, Maia Premak: Legally I canCONTINUED ON PAGE 7

May 25, 2016

Afnan Abdella Ikram Abdoulwasse Hafsa Abdulkadir Abenet Aberra Linda Acha Jadenia Addison Eyob Aemero Oluwaferanmi Akinpelu Munira Alami Aaron Alem Nathalie Aleman-Aguilar Hawra Al-Jabiri Matthew Allen Claudia Allou Benjamin Alsberg Sandra Alvarez Eduardo Alvarez Reyes Bethel Amanuel Leah Ameha Nanya Amun-El Mike Antoine Takyi Antwi Noela Anwei Damarice Anyam Rachel Arbacher Isabel Argueta Julian Arnouk Musie Asfaha Bemenet Asfaw Dagmawi Assefa Victoria Assokom-Siakam Joseline Ayala Amah Ayivi Koutodjo Jazmin Ayllon Ji Hyuk Bae Shayan Baghi Ray Bailey Parks Adrian Baldwin Nicholas Banks Daliah Barg Emily Barrero Gisselle Barreto Estrella Kaila Baskin Paul Bass Alazare Bati Cameron Bauserman Patricio Beatley Hannah Beck Miskir Belayneh Lydia Berhanu Damian Bess Elshaday Beyene Rediyet Beyene Genet Bezabih Samuel Biaku Samuel Bilsky Tsion Bizuayehu Omolara Blaize Monica Blanchard-Dixon Karla Blanco Juan Blanco Alvarez Arjun Blum Malik Blythers Eva Bogino Jimmy Bonilla Simone Boyd Madeleine Boyer Alexis Brantley Alexander Brassel Isabel Brecher Julian Bregstone Racquelle Bremmer Mia Bristol Omari Brooks Joel Brown Margaret Brown Osaze Brown Jaiana Brunner Beret Bruwelheide Scott Buchan Noah Buchholz Bao Minh Bui Madeline Burke Maxwell Burke Lucas Burtnick Dennis Buruca-Ramos Samuel Butler Abdul Byrd Perla Cabrera Molina Isabella Calingaert Cindy Campos Flores Sarah Canchaya-Elias Hoang-Thien Cao Katie Caro Oscar Carrillo Jazmine Castillo Ruth Castro Franco

silverchirps

Where is the Class Of 2016 Flying Off To? Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park Montgomery College Montgomery College Mississippi State University Unknown Unknown Pennsylvania State University University of Maryland - Eastern Shore University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Johns Hopkins University Gap Year Michigan State University Towson University Unknown Montgomery College Montgomery College Washington Adventist University Unknown Unknown College Unknown College New York University Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park Towson University University of Maryland - Baltimore County University of Maryland - College Park Washington University in St. Louis Unknown Navy Salisbury University University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Morgan State University The College of Charleston Drexel University New York University Gap Year in El Salvador Montgomery College, Salisbury University Medtech Colleges and Institutes Denison University University of Rochester University of Vermont Undecided Mount St. Mary’s University University of Maryland - Baltimore County Marymount University Montgomery College Montgomery College Unknown Unknown Towson University Grinnell College American University Montgomery College George Mason University Montgomery College Montgomery College, United States Marine Corps Pennsylvania State University Unknown Sewanee: The University of the South United States Marine Corps Towson University Davidson College Washington Adventist University University of Maryland - College Park University of Maryland - College Park Oberlin College Unknown University of Pittsburgh Bowie State University Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park Temple University Unknown SUNY ESF University of Maryland - Baltimore County Indiana University University of Maryland - Baltimore County Bradley University University of Maryland - College Park Salisbury University Montgomery College Tulane University Montgomery College Unknown The University of Manchester Montgomery College Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park ANGEL WEN Unknown Towson University Hampton University Working

Alfonso Catacora Unknown Karina Chang University of California - Berkeley Patrick Chao University of California - Berkeley Micah Charles Unknown Karina Chavez Unknown Eric Chen University of Pennsylvania Sage Chen University of Michigan Scheinderson Cherubin Bowie State University Amalia Chiapperino Macalester College Kamin Christmas Unknown Kossi Christmas Unknown Noemi Cintora Vega Unknown Britanya Clarke Montgomery College Karis Clement Temple University Jordan Cobb Camden County College Christian Coello University of Maryland - College Park Emma Cohen West Virginia University Ellis Cohen-Kristiansen Elon University Aldhana Colan Montgomery College Angie Colindres Unknown Alice Conteh Virginia State University Eliya Cook Juniata College William Cook Montgomery College Paulo Coronel Llerena Montgomery College Jerry Cortez Unknown Karla Corvera-Portillo Montgomery College Gabriel Cote Towson University Dio Cramer Macalester College Schuyler Cross Ohio State University Karylena Cruz Towson University Caroline Cruz Cruz Unknown Hector Cruz Gonzales Unknown Sindy Cruz Gonzalez Unknown Paloma Dade Montgomery College Noah Dagne University of Maryland - College Park Aleksandra Dagunts George Washington University Gaurav Dahal University of Maryland - College Park Saloni Dalal Carnegie Mellon University Jordan Davenport Working and Pursuing Music Donald De Alwis University of Maryland - College Park Ruben De Leon Unknown Anadoria Delcid College and Working Kendall Delille Towson University Tsion Demissie Towson University Heather DeMocker University of Maryland - College Park Kennard Dennis Montgomery College Julia Derringer University of Michigan Mildred Devereux DePaul University Suvekshya Dhakal Unknown Vishnu Dharmaraj University of California - Berkeley Fridaous Djobo Radford University Ian Donaldson Grinnell College Jeremy Du Princeton University Spencer DuChene Unknown Cierra Duell University of Maryland - College Park Ramya Durvasula Massachusetts Institute of Technology Isaac Eaton University of Maryland - College Park German Echeverria Working Helen Edge Smith College Joie Edmonds Concordia University Zaafira Elham University of Maryland - College Park Yosefe Eshete University of Maryland - College Park Edvin Espana Berganza Montgomery College, Liberty University Jhonnatan Esquivel Working Kenny Esquivel Nava Unknown Camille Estrin Franklin & Marshall College Joseph Estrin Hobart and William Smith Colleges Madeleine Evangelista University of Colorado - Boulder Christian Everett Unknown Angel Fan University of Pennsylvania Noah Fang Brown University Saajid Farooq University of Maryland - Baltimore County Louis Faye Towson University Amanda Feinberg Bryn Mawr College Benjamin Felber University of Maryland - Baltimore County Stefanny Fernandez Troya Unknown Abismel Ferreira Saldana Unknown Mussie Fitsum Hailu University of Maryland - College Park Robert Fitzpatrick University of Wisconsin - Madison Robert Fleischman University of Maryland - College Park Teofan Fletcher Unknown Christian Flores Pursuing Music and Entrepreneurship Jocelyn Flores Unknown Fredy Flores Membreno Unknown Jennifer Flores-Chavez Montgomery College Maximillian Foley-Keene University of Maryland - College Park Laura Forcha Mount St. Mary’s University Darren Ford Unknown Jesse Foster Unknown Patrick Fox University of Maryland - College Park Julie Francois Morgan State University Camille Franks Guilford College Ryan Frey Unknown Andrew Fuchs University of Vermont Salman Funyas Montgomery College, University of Maryland Margaret Gallishaw University of Vermont Bryan Gamero Renderos Unknown

Miguel Gamez Undecided Christine Gao University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Ayame Garrett-Saunders Temple University Eve Gates Towson University Lela Gaye DePaul University Sidney Geertsema University of Maryland - College Park Sagnii Geleta Unknown Heyaw Gesesew Boston University Betelehem Getahun Unknown Samual Gezahegn Howard University Clarissa Gideos University of Maryland - College Park Cynthia Gilbert College Gallienne Gilmer-Hack Unknown Lucy Glenshaw Gap Year in Silver Spring Sofonyas Gobena Unknown Calvin Godfrey University of Maryland - College Park Ariel Goldbloom-Helzner Brown University Yaelle Goldschlag Gap Year, University of Maryland - College Park Jonathan Gomez University of District of Columbia Selena Gomez Montgomery College Rayner Gomez Santana Unknown Ismael Gonzalez University of Maryland - College Park Mildred Goode Hampton University Christopher Green Fairmont State Evan Gresser University of Maryland - College Park Regina Gretschel Tulane University Jesse Griff-McMahon University of Maryland - College Park Alexa Gross Chowan University Haleluya Gruga Unknown Candia Gu Carnegie Mellon University Ricardo Guadamuz Unknown John Gualdarrama Unknown Andy Guan University of Maryland - College Park Diego Guarniz Layza Montgomery College Katerine Guerra Lopez Unknown Matthew Guerrera University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (ROTC) Devora Guerrero Roque Unknown Jacqueline Guevara Montgomery College Bryan Guevara Garcia Unknown Anthony Guzman Unknown Brian Guzman Unknown Justin Hall Gap Year, College Muhammad Hamza Towson University Michelle Hao University of California - Berkeley Benjamin Hardin Undecided Siddhartha Harmalkar University of Maryland - College Park Eleanor Harris Mount Holyoke College Margo Harvey Allegany College of Maryland Anoa Hawkins Unknown Marcus Hayes Montgomery College Jossue Hernandez Unknown Reyna Hernandez Majano College and Working Erick Hill Montgomery College Kenneth Hill University of Maryland - College Park Connie Ho University of California - Berkeley Ethan Holland Duke University David Holloway Methodist University Eva Houston University of Maryland - College Park David Hsu University of Maryland - College Park Dennis Hua College Carly Hufford James Madison University Anna Hukill University of South Carolina Thomas Humphreys University of Maryland - College Park Tyler Humphreys Montgomery College Lily Hung University of Maryland - Baltimore County Sarah Hutter Mount Holyoke College Angelina Ignato Culinary Institute of America Zewde Ingram University of Maryland - College Park Ian Ishida University of Maryland - College Park Bereket Iyob Montgomery College and Working Yamai Jack American University Jorgia Jackson Montgomery College Zachary Jackson Unknown Marty Jiffar University of Chicago Fatmata John College Ariana Johnson Catholic University Colby Johnson Xavier University Christopher Jones University of Maryland - Baltimore County Hunter Jones University of Maryland - College Park Stevie Jones Marymount University Sarah Joyce University of Maryland - College Park Adonie Juarez Working Haja Kalokoh University of Maryland - Eastern Shore Mohammed Kamal Full Sail University Chloe Kang Unknown Tyler Kang Towson University Muhammad Kanteh Full Sail University Clara Kapiamba Southern Illinois University Nathaniel Kapler Montgomery College Sumukh-Lucas Karandikar University of Maryland - College Park Hannah Kaufman University of Vermont - Burlington Mark Kazlau ITT Technical Institute Dagemawit Kebede Towson University Nico Kemp Green Mountain College Frances Kennedy-Long Trinity University Rediet Keno Unknown Jesse Kenworthy University of Miami

Laura Kernizan Matthew Kessler Larisa Ketcha William Keysar Nazea Khan Ajay Kharkar Ethiopis Kifle Francillia Kimbembe Camille Kirsch Jerusalem Kitila Philip Kloner Ibrahim Kondeh Richard Kong Benjamin Koontz Christopher Koontz Adrienne Kossangba Reva Kreeger Audrey Krimm Jason Kuo Essam LaBoone James Laguerre Michael Lake Charles Laming Randy Layza Ugolini Brian Le Harvard D’Yonni Lebby Erin Lee Haena-Young Lee Annabelle Leete Desiree Lejano Kevin Leon-Matute Chris Leung Diana Leung Noah Levine Olivia Lewis Amy Li Anthony Li Yuqiong Liang Benjamin Lickerman Patrick Lill Raymond Lin Richard Lin Eleanor Linafelt Alexander Liu Cynthia Liu Odalis Llerena-Lopez Stephan Loh Wilder Long De’Jia Long Hillie Manuel Lopez Miguel Lopez Brenda Lorenzana Borja Ethan Lott Victoria Louis Charles Evelyn Lozano Humberto Lopez Cabrera Marvin Lopez Mendez Eric Lu Winne Luo Helen Machuca Nora Machuca Fiona MacNairn Christopher Maduako Joseph Maher Susanna Maisto Alexander Mangiafico Baboucarr Manneh Sokoufeh Marghi Jose Marriaga Giraldo Nathaniel Marshall Aisha Marsono Sabrina Martin Jenneffer Martinez Roni Martinez Veronica Martinez Ghelila Mascio Benjamin Massinga Jacob Mathews Audrey Maynard Kelly Mayo Johan Mazali Mirna Mazariego Kayin Mazyck Neida Mbuia Joao Luisa Ann McGarvey Quinn McKenzie Trishanna Mckenzie Michelle McKinney Flannery McLamb Leah McLean William McMillian Maris Medina Leslie Medina Bonilla Celia Medrano Yannie Mei Diego Melendez-Sosa Alexandra Melinchok

University of Winnipeg SUNY Albany Montgomery College, Working Unknown Temple University University of Maryland - Baltimore County Towson University Washington Adventist University University of Chicago Unknown University of Maryland - College Park Unknown University of Maryland - College Park Montgomery College, UMD- College Park Montgomery College Oakwood University Guilford College University of Maryland - College Park University of Maryland - College Park North Carolina Central University Montgomery College Undecided University of Maryland - College Park Maryland Institute College of Art University and New England Conservatory Military University of Maryland - College Park Cornell University Ohio Northern University University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Johns Hopkins University Georgetown University University of Chicago Wellesley College Princeton University University of Maryland - College Park Unknown The University of British Columbia University of Maryland - College Park Harvard University University of Maryland - College Park College of Wooster Cornell University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park Unknown University of Maryland - Baltimore County Montgomery College University of Seville Working Clark University Unknown Montgomery College, University of Maryland Working and Traveling Unknown Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of California - Berkeley Unknown United States Marine Corps McGill University Montgomery College Union College College of William & Mary Amherst College Hampton University Unknown Unknown University of North Carolina - Asheville Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Unknown Montgomery College University of Pennsylvania Unknown University of California - Berkeley Gettysburg College University of Rhode Island Towson University Unknown Notre Dame of Maryland University Drexel University Oberlin College Montgomery College College and Working Unknown Unknown Towson University Amherst College University of Maryland - College Park Montgomery College Montgomery College Cornell University Unknown University of Maryland - College Park

4/5

Jessenia Mendez Montgomery College Edrainis Mendez Unknown Tracy Jane Mendoza Montgomery College Rosa Mendoza Arias Montgomery College Bryan Mendoza Diaz Unknown Mario Menendez Muniz University of Maryland - College Park Yonatan Mengesha Montgomery College Meseret Mengistie Montgomery College Neal Mesidor Hampton University Leah Messina Washington University in St. Louis Yeabsira Mezgebe Towson University Kidus Michael Towson University Kebron Mihrete City Year - New York City Caitlin Miller Virginia Tech Nickson Minja West Virginia University Karen Miranda Garcia Unknown Mazda Moayeri Harvey Mudd College Richard Moglen University of Maryland - College Park Darian Mohammed Montgomery College Keren Molina Montgomery College Dafany Molina Acosta Unknown Arnold Mong Princeton University Christopher Montano Montgomery College Christine Monyak University of Wisconsin - Madison Emma Moore University of Maryland - College Park John Moore University of Mississippi Christopher Moran Montgomery College Brianna Moreno New York University Kevin Moreno Jimenez Unknown Brian Morris Stanford University Imani Morris Unknown Ra-Sean Morris Montgomery College Alexis Moses University of Maryland - College Park Aaron Mott The University of Manchester Ahrdesheer Mudd Rochester Institute of Technology Sean Munroe Clark University Rachel Myers College of Saint Rose Lee Narvaez Unknown Thanuri Navarathna University of Maryland - College Park Brian Navarro Montgomery College Jasmine Nelson Unknown Alexander Newman Washington University in St. Louis Sascha Newton-Mason Unknown Ingride Ngaku University of Maryland - College Park Ange Ngatchou Montgomery College Henry Nguy Montgomery College Amy Nguyen Unknown Danny Nguyen Montgomery College Hoa Nguyen Montgomery College Jimmy Nguyen Montgomery College Tuyet Nguyen University of Maryland - College Park Whitney Nguyen City Year - Philadelphia Edgardo Nolasco Santos Gap Year, College Tucker Nosal California State Polytechnic University Debissa Nuressa University of Maryland - College Park Anna O’Driscoll McGill University Patrick Okombi Montgomery College Grace Olawuni University of Maryland - College Park Dionel Blaise Ifer Olo DigiPen Institute of Technology Solomon Oloka Montgomery College Anna Olsson University of Massachusettes - Amherst Celeste Orellana Munoz Unknown Daniela Osorio Hernandez Unknown Anna Ou University of California - Berkeley Mark Overton, Jr Morgan State University Amirat Oyolola Unknown Angela Sofia Pablo Montgomery College, Towson University David Paniagua Unknown Julian Parish-Katz Duquesne University Angela Park Cornell University John Park University of Maryland - College Park Carolyn Parker Montgomery College Olivia Parkinson Temple University Joshua Parks Unknown Devya Patel Unknown Hari Patel University of Maryland - College Park Darelle Patotchou U nknown Eric Pattmon Unknown Kristian Paulos Full Sail University Alexa Pavlicek Unknown Imir Payne Montgomery College Luis Paz University of Maryland - College Park Cadence Pearson University of Denver Jonathan Pedersen University of Maryland - College Park Rowyn Peel Oberlin College Genesis Penado Saravia Unknown Jenifer Pena-Galvan Trinity Washington University Dianna Perdomo Montgomery College Diana Perez Montgomery College Rossiely Perez Towson University Susana Perez University of Wisconsin - Madison Jaime Perez Elena Unknown Norma Perez Ortez Unknown Oliver Periz Montgomery College Robert Pfefferle University of Wisconsin - Madison Nguyen Phan Salisbury University Samuel Pinczuk Marymount Manhattan College

May 25, 2016

Afnan Abdella Ikram Abdoulwasse Hafsa Abdulkadir Abenet Aberra Linda Acha Jadenia Addison Eyob Aemero Oluwaferanmi Akinpelu Munira Alami Aaron Alem Nathalie Aleman-Aguilar Hawra Al-Jabiri Matthew Allen Claudia Allou Benjamin Alsberg Sandra Alvarez Eduardo Alvarez Reyes Bethel Amanuel Leah Ameha Nanya Amun-El Mike Antoine Takyi Antwi Noela Anwei Damarice Anyam Rachel Arbacher Isabel Argueta Julian Arnouk Musie Asfaha Bemenet Asfaw Dagmawi Assefa Victoria Assokom-Siakam Joseline Ayala Amah Ayivi Koutodjo Jazmin Ayllon Ji Hyuk Bae Shayan Baghi Ray Bailey Parks Adrian Baldwin Nicholas Banks Daliah Barg Emily Barrero Gisselle Barreto Estrella Kaila Baskin Paul Bass Alazare Bati Cameron Bauserman Patricio Beatley Hannah Beck Miskir Belayneh Lydia Berhanu Damian Bess Elshaday Beyene Rediyet Beyene Genet Bezabih Samuel Biaku Samuel Bilsky Tsion Bizuayehu Omolara Blaize Monica Blanchard-Dixon Karla Blanco Juan Blanco Alvarez Arjun Blum Malik Blythers Eva Bogino Jimmy Bonilla Simone Boyd Madeleine Boyer Alexis Brantley Alexander Brassel Isabel Brecher Julian Bregstone Racquelle Bremmer Mia Bristol Omari Brooks Joel Brown Margaret Brown Osaze Brown Jaiana Brunner Beret Bruwelheide Scott Buchan Noah Buchholz Bao Minh Bui Madeline Burke Maxwell Burke Lucas Burtnick Dennis Buruca-Ramos Samuel Butler Abdul Byrd Perla Cabrera Molina Isabella Calingaert Cindy Campos Flores Sarah Canchaya-Elias Hoang-Thien Cao Katie Caro Oscar Carrillo Jazmine Castillo Ruth Castro Franco

silverchirps

Where is the Class Of 2016 Flying Off To? Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park Montgomery College Montgomery College Mississippi State University Unknown Unknown Pennsylvania State University University of Maryland - Eastern Shore University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Johns Hopkins University Gap Year Michigan State University Towson University Unknown Montgomery College Montgomery College Washington Adventist University Unknown Unknown College Unknown College New York University Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park Towson University University of Maryland - Baltimore County University of Maryland - College Park Washington University in St. Louis Unknown Navy Salisbury University University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Morgan State University The College of Charleston Drexel University New York University Gap Year in El Salvador Montgomery College, Salisbury University Medtech Colleges and Institutes Denison University University of Rochester University of Vermont Undecided Mount St. Mary’s University University of Maryland - Baltimore County Marymount University Montgomery College Montgomery College Unknown Unknown Towson University Grinnell College American University Montgomery College George Mason University Montgomery College Montgomery College, United States Marine Corps Pennsylvania State University Unknown Sewanee: The University of the South United States Marine Corps Towson University Davidson College Washington Adventist University University of Maryland - College Park University of Maryland - College Park Oberlin College Unknown University of Pittsburgh Bowie State University Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park Temple University Unknown SUNY ESF University of Maryland - Baltimore County Indiana University University of Maryland - Baltimore County Bradley University University of Maryland - College Park Salisbury University Montgomery College Tulane University Montgomery College Unknown The University of Manchester Montgomery College Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park ANGEL WEN Unknown Towson University Hampton University Working

Alfonso Catacora Unknown Karina Chang University of California - Berkeley Patrick Chao University of California - Berkeley Micah Charles Unknown Karina Chavez Unknown Eric Chen University of Pennsylvania Sage Chen University of Michigan Scheinderson Cherubin Bowie State University Amalia Chiapperino Macalester College Kamin Christmas Unknown Kossi Christmas Unknown Noemi Cintora Vega Unknown Britanya Clarke Montgomery College Karis Clement Temple University Jordan Cobb Camden County College Christian Coello University of Maryland - College Park Emma Cohen West Virginia University Ellis Cohen-Kristiansen Elon University Aldhana Colan Montgomery College Angie Colindres Unknown Alice Conteh Virginia State University Eliya Cook Juniata College William Cook Montgomery College Paulo Coronel Llerena Montgomery College Jerry Cortez Unknown Karla Corvera-Portillo Montgomery College Gabriel Cote Towson University Dio Cramer Macalester College Schuyler Cross Ohio State University Karylena Cruz Towson University Caroline Cruz Cruz Unknown Hector Cruz Gonzales Unknown Sindy Cruz Gonzalez Unknown Paloma Dade Montgomery College Noah Dagne University of Maryland - College Park Aleksandra Dagunts George Washington University Gaurav Dahal University of Maryland - College Park Saloni Dalal Carnegie Mellon University Jordan Davenport Working and Pursuing Music Donald De Alwis University of Maryland - College Park Ruben De Leon Unknown Anadoria Delcid College and Working Kendall Delille Towson University Tsion Demissie Towson University Heather DeMocker University of Maryland - College Park Kennard Dennis Montgomery College Julia Derringer University of Michigan Mildred Devereux DePaul University Suvekshya Dhakal Unknown Vishnu Dharmaraj University of California - Berkeley Fridaous Djobo Radford University Ian Donaldson Grinnell College Jeremy Du Princeton University Spencer DuChene Unknown Cierra Duell University of Maryland - College Park Ramya Durvasula Massachusetts Institute of Technology Isaac Eaton University of Maryland - College Park German Echeverria Working Helen Edge Smith College Joie Edmonds Concordia University Zaafira Elham University of Maryland - College Park Yosefe Eshete University of Maryland - College Park Edvin Espana Berganza Montgomery College, Liberty University Jhonnatan Esquivel Working Kenny Esquivel Nava Unknown Camille Estrin Franklin & Marshall College Joseph Estrin Hobart and William Smith Colleges Madeleine Evangelista University of Colorado - Boulder Christian Everett Unknown Angel Fan University of Pennsylvania Noah Fang Brown University Saajid Farooq University of Maryland - Baltimore County Louis Faye Towson University Amanda Feinberg Bryn Mawr College Benjamin Felber University of Maryland - Baltimore County Stefanny Fernandez Troya Unknown Abismel Ferreira Saldana Unknown Mussie Fitsum Hailu University of Maryland - College Park Robert Fitzpatrick University of Wisconsin - Madison Robert Fleischman University of Maryland - College Park Teofan Fletcher Unknown Christian Flores Pursuing Music and Entrepreneurship Jocelyn Flores Unknown Fredy Flores Membreno Unknown Jennifer Flores-Chavez Montgomery College Maximillian Foley-Keene University of Maryland - College Park Laura Forcha Mount St. Mary’s University Darren Ford Unknown Jesse Foster Unknown Patrick Fox University of Maryland - College Park Julie Francois Morgan State University Camille Franks Guilford College Ryan Frey Unknown Andrew Fuchs University of Vermont Salman Funyas Montgomery College, University of Maryland Margaret Gallishaw University of Vermont Bryan Gamero Renderos Unknown

Miguel Gamez Undecided Christine Gao University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Ayame Garrett-Saunders Temple University Eve Gates Towson University Lela Gaye DePaul University Sidney Geertsema University of Maryland - College Park Sagnii Geleta Unknown Heyaw Gesesew Boston University Betelehem Getahun Unknown Samual Gezahegn Howard University Clarissa Gideos University of Maryland - College Park Cynthia Gilbert College Gallienne Gilmer-Hack Unknown Lucy Glenshaw Gap Year in Silver Spring Sofonyas Gobena Unknown Calvin Godfrey University of Maryland - College Park Ariel Goldbloom-Helzner Brown University Yaelle Goldschlag Gap Year, University of Maryland - College Park Jonathan Gomez University of District of Columbia Selena Gomez Montgomery College Rayner Gomez Santana Unknown Ismael Gonzalez University of Maryland - College Park Mildred Goode Hampton University Christopher Green Fairmont State Evan Gresser University of Maryland - College Park Regina Gretschel Tulane University Jesse Griff-McMahon University of Maryland - College Park Alexa Gross Chowan University Haleluya Gruga Unknown Candia Gu Carnegie Mellon University Ricardo Guadamuz Unknown John Gualdarrama Unknown Andy Guan University of Maryland - College Park Diego Guarniz Layza Montgomery College Katerine Guerra Lopez Unknown Matthew Guerrera University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (ROTC) Devora Guerrero Roque Unknown Jacqueline Guevara Montgomery College Bryan Guevara Garcia Unknown Anthony Guzman Unknown Brian Guzman Unknown Justin Hall Gap Year, College Muhammad Hamza Towson University Michelle Hao University of California - Berkeley Benjamin Hardin Undecided Siddhartha Harmalkar University of Maryland - College Park Eleanor Harris Mount Holyoke College Margo Harvey Allegany College of Maryland Anoa Hawkins Unknown Marcus Hayes Montgomery College Jossue Hernandez Unknown Reyna Hernandez Majano College and Working Erick Hill Montgomery College Kenneth Hill University of Maryland - College Park Connie Ho University of California - Berkeley Ethan Holland Duke University David Holloway Methodist University Eva Houston University of Maryland - College Park David Hsu University of Maryland - College Park Dennis Hua College Carly Hufford James Madison University Anna Hukill University of South Carolina Thomas Humphreys University of Maryland - College Park Tyler Humphreys Montgomery College Lily Hung University of Maryland - Baltimore County Sarah Hutter Mount Holyoke College Angelina Ignato Culinary Institute of America Zewde Ingram University of Maryland - College Park Ian Ishida University of Maryland - College Park Bereket Iyob Montgomery College and Working Yamai Jack American University Jorgia Jackson Montgomery College Zachary Jackson Unknown Marty Jiffar University of Chicago Fatmata John College Ariana Johnson Catholic University Colby Johnson Xavier University Christopher Jones University of Maryland - Baltimore County Hunter Jones University of Maryland - College Park Stevie Jones Marymount University Sarah Joyce University of Maryland - College Park Adonie Juarez Working Haja Kalokoh University of Maryland - Eastern Shore Mohammed Kamal Full Sail University Chloe Kang Unknown Tyler Kang Towson University Muhammad Kanteh Full Sail University Clara Kapiamba Southern Illinois University Nathaniel Kapler Montgomery College Sumukh-Lucas Karandikar University of Maryland - College Park Hannah Kaufman University of Vermont - Burlington Mark Kazlau ITT Technical Institute Dagemawit Kebede Towson University Nico Kemp Green Mountain College Frances Kennedy-Long Trinity University Rediet Keno Unknown Jesse Kenworthy University of Miami

Laura Kernizan Matthew Kessler Larisa Ketcha William Keysar Nazea Khan Ajay Kharkar Ethiopis Kifle Francillia Kimbembe Camille Kirsch Jerusalem Kitila Philip Kloner Ibrahim Kondeh Richard Kong Benjamin Koontz Christopher Koontz Adrienne Kossangba Reva Kreeger Audrey Krimm Jason Kuo Essam LaBoone James Laguerre Michael Lake Charles Laming Randy Layza Ugolini Brian Le Harvard D’Yonni Lebby Erin Lee Haena-Young Lee Annabelle Leete Desiree Lejano Kevin Leon-Matute Chris Leung Diana Leung Noah Levine Olivia Lewis Amy Li Anthony Li Yuqiong Liang Benjamin Lickerman Patrick Lill Raymond Lin Richard Lin Eleanor Linafelt Alexander Liu Cynthia Liu Odalis Llerena-Lopez Stephan Loh Wilder Long De’Jia Long Hillie Manuel Lopez Miguel Lopez Brenda Lorenzana Borja Ethan Lott Victoria Louis Charles Evelyn Lozano Humberto Lopez Cabrera Marvin Lopez Mendez Eric Lu Winne Luo Helen Machuca Nora Machuca Fiona MacNairn Christopher Maduako Joseph Maher Susanna Maisto Alexander Mangiafico Baboucarr Manneh Sokoufeh Marghi Jose Marriaga Giraldo Nathaniel Marshall Aisha Marsono Sabrina Martin Jenneffer Martinez Roni Martinez Veronica Martinez Ghelila Mascio Benjamin Massinga Jacob Mathews Audrey Maynard Kelly Mayo Johan Mazali Mirna Mazariego Kayin Mazyck Neida Mbuia Joao Luisa Ann McGarvey Quinn McKenzie Trishanna Mckenzie Michelle McKinney Flannery McLamb Leah McLean William McMillian Maris Medina Leslie Medina Bonilla Celia Medrano Yannie Mei Diego Melendez-Sosa Alexandra Melinchok

University of Winnipeg SUNY Albany Montgomery College, Working Unknown Temple University University of Maryland - Baltimore County Towson University Washington Adventist University University of Chicago Unknown University of Maryland - College Park Unknown University of Maryland - College Park Montgomery College, UMD- College Park Montgomery College Oakwood University Guilford College University of Maryland - College Park University of Maryland - College Park North Carolina Central University Montgomery College Undecided University of Maryland - College Park Maryland Institute College of Art University and New England Conservatory Military University of Maryland - College Park Cornell University Ohio Northern University University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Johns Hopkins University Georgetown University University of Chicago Wellesley College Princeton University University of Maryland - College Park Unknown The University of British Columbia University of Maryland - College Park Harvard University University of Maryland - College Park College of Wooster Cornell University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park Unknown University of Maryland - Baltimore County Montgomery College University of Seville Working Clark University Unknown Montgomery College, University of Maryland Working and Traveling Unknown Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of California - Berkeley Unknown United States Marine Corps McGill University Montgomery College Union College College of William & Mary Amherst College Hampton University Unknown Unknown University of North Carolina - Asheville Montgomery College University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Unknown Montgomery College University of Pennsylvania Unknown University of California - Berkeley Gettysburg College University of Rhode Island Towson University Unknown Notre Dame of Maryland University Drexel University Oberlin College Montgomery College College and Working Unknown Unknown Towson University Amherst College University of Maryland - College Park Montgomery College Montgomery College Cornell University Unknown University of Maryland - College Park

4/5

Jessenia Mendez Montgomery College Edrainis Mendez Unknown Tracy Jane Mendoza Montgomery College Rosa Mendoza Arias Montgomery College Bryan Mendoza Diaz Unknown Mario Menendez Muniz University of Maryland - College Park Yonatan Mengesha Montgomery College Meseret Mengistie Montgomery College Neal Mesidor Hampton University Leah Messina Washington University in St. Louis Yeabsira Mezgebe Towson University Kidus Michael Towson University Kebron Mihrete City Year - New York City Caitlin Miller Virginia Tech Nickson Minja West Virginia University Karen Miranda Garcia Unknown Mazda Moayeri Harvey Mudd College Richard Moglen University of Maryland - College Park Darian Mohammed Montgomery College Keren Molina Montgomery College Dafany Molina Acosta Unknown Arnold Mong Princeton University Christopher Montano Montgomery College Christine Monyak University of Wisconsin - Madison Emma Moore University of Maryland - College Park John Moore University of Mississippi Christopher Moran Montgomery College Brianna Moreno New York University Kevin Moreno Jimenez Unknown Brian Morris Stanford University Imani Morris Unknown Ra-Sean Morris Montgomery College Alexis Moses University of Maryland - College Park Aaron Mott The University of Manchester Ahrdesheer Mudd Rochester Institute of Technology Sean Munroe Clark University Rachel Myers College of Saint Rose Lee Narvaez Unknown Thanuri Navarathna University of Maryland - College Park Brian Navarro Montgomery College Jasmine Nelson Unknown Alexander Newman Washington University in St. Louis Sascha Newton-Mason Unknown Ingride Ngaku University of Maryland - College Park Ange Ngatchou Montgomery College Henry Nguy Montgomery College Amy Nguyen Unknown Danny Nguyen Montgomery College Hoa Nguyen Montgomery College Jimmy Nguyen Montgomery College Tuyet Nguyen University of Maryland - College Park Whitney Nguyen City Year - Philadelphia Edgardo Nolasco Santos Gap Year, College Tucker Nosal California State Polytechnic University Debissa Nuressa University of Maryland - College Park Anna O’Driscoll McGill University Patrick Okombi Montgomery College Grace Olawuni University of Maryland - College Park Dionel Blaise Ifer Olo DigiPen Institute of Technology Solomon Oloka Montgomery College Anna Olsson University of Massachusettes - Amherst Celeste Orellana Munoz Unknown Daniela Osorio Hernandez Unknown Anna Ou University of California - Berkeley Mark Overton, Jr Morgan State University Amirat Oyolola Unknown Angela Sofia Pablo Montgomery College, Towson University David Paniagua Unknown Julian Parish-Katz Duquesne University Angela Park Cornell University John Park University of Maryland - College Park Carolyn Parker Montgomery College Olivia Parkinson Temple University Joshua Parks Unknown Devya Patel Unknown Hari Patel University of Maryland - College Park Darelle Patotchou U nknown Eric Pattmon Unknown Kristian Paulos Full Sail University Alexa Pavlicek Unknown Imir Payne Montgomery College Luis Paz University of Maryland - College Park Cadence Pearson University of Denver Jonathan Pedersen University of Maryland - College Park Rowyn Peel Oberlin College Genesis Penado Saravia Unknown Jenifer Pena-Galvan Trinity Washington University Dianna Perdomo Montgomery College Diana Perez Montgomery College Rossiely Perez Towson University Susana Perez University of Wisconsin - Madison Jaime Perez Elena Unknown Norma Perez Ortez Unknown Oliver Periz Montgomery College Robert Pfefferle University of Wisconsin - Madison Nguyen Phan Salisbury University Samuel Pinczuk Marymount Manhattan College

6

May 25, 2016

silverchirps

Senior Destinations, continued Anggel Plasencia Unknown Kayla Poawui Unknown Gloria Portillo Unknown Ruth Portillo-Lopez Montgomery College David Powers Unknown Yarelis Puschendorf Montgomery College Lauren Queen Mount Holyoke College Cynthia Quintanilla Montgomery College Elizabeth Quinteros Montgomery College Milica Radoja Towson University Divya Rajagopal University of Pennsylvania Sangita Ramaswamy University of Maryland - Baltimore County Estrellita Ramirez Unknown Mirian Ramos Working Hannah Rapp University of Maryland - College Park Anna Reachmack University of Maryland - College Park Isias Redman Unknown Jacob Reinke Western Washington University Tania Revelo-Aguilar Unknown Alfredo Revelo-Sanchez Unknown Brian Reyes Montgomery College Douglas Reyes Unknown Irene Reyes Unknown Isell Reyes University of Maryland - Baltimore County Francisco Reyes Jimenez Montgomery College Rosy Reyes Rivera Unknown Hanibal Rezene Towson University Kaleab Ribbiso Georgetown University Anu Rimal Montgomery College Eric Rivas-Hernandez Unknown Daniel Rivera Unknown Jessica Rivera Unknown Selvin Robles Blanco Montgomery College Jefrey Rodas Cetino Montgomery College Johanna Rodriguez Hernandez Unknown Maria Rodriguez Herreno Unknown Willy Rojas Unknown Adina Rombro Gap Year, Oberlin College Jacqueline Romero Zavala Unknown Idris Romodan University of Maryland - College Park Patricia Rosales Trinity Washington University Brandon Royal Unknown Miles Royce Pitzer College Kathleen Ruan Carnegie Mellon University Aaya Rustom University of Maryland - College Park Noah Rutan Unknown Nesha Ruther University of Wisconsin - Madison Sharon Sabi Bennett College Annalore Salemi Salisbury University Marco Salgado Lara Unknown Ajay Samuel Thomas Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology Henry Sanchez College and Working Omayra Sanchez Montgomery College Sofia Sandoval-Ferriss American University Dbnomba Sangare Unknown Arianna Sankar University of Maryland - College Park Siryi Santos University of Maryland - College Park Teague Sauter Washington College Thomas Schoppert DePaul University Jâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Den Seals Coppin State University Jonathan Sebastian Unknown Roy-David Marcel Seri Unknown Edith Servin Nava Montgomery College Della Seworye Montgomery College Nicholas Shereikis College of Wooster Jaylin Shorts Unknown Jyan Shorts Unknown Mahlet Siltan Montgomery College Justine Simeu Bowie State University Katie Sims Eastern University Caitlyn Singam University of Maryland - College Park Julia Sint University of Maryland - Baltimore County James Sleigh University of Vermont Devin Smith Montgomery College

Junior Superlatives Most likely to become a Latin scholar: Cole Sebastian Most likely to become a bestselling romance-novel author: Grady Jakobsberg Best name: Julian Brown Most likely to rock Crocs to prom: Sasha Marquez Most likely to have a creek: Dawson Do Most likely to enter Blair through a side door: Josh Fernandes Next Marco Rubio (but cuter): Aditi Shetty Most likely to get a palm reading to decide where to go to college: Brianna Forte Most likely to be the next mayor of Takoma Park: Alice Park Most likely to be a pro on Dancing With the Stars: Georgina Burros Most likely to square up with a dance battle: Niki Patel Tallest: Christian Mussenden

Arqad Soendoro Cindy Solano Emma Soler Rosemary Solomon Tenzin Sonam Ronaldo Sotelo Stephen Soza Jevaughn Spencer Nicole Spiezio Ramanuja Sreenivasan Daleyan Stevens Eleanor Struewing Kaden Sukachevin Felix Swart Kimberly Symba Aaron Szabo Abel Tabor Bethel Tadele Marlina Tadesse Frances Tagbo Eljoy Tanos Nahom Tedla Jeffrey Tejada Filagot Teklu Yadira Telule Torres Nebeyu Temesgen Nebiat Temesgen Lalibela Temple Barsat Thapa Matthew Tibebe Jessica Ticas Carter Tipton Tsegamariam Tona Gbatoe Torh Larissa Torres Lila Tovar Siebentritt Adam Tran Melinda Tran Carlos Trejos Shane Trimble Victoria Tsai Blanche Tsakam Greer Turner Trevor Turpie Kelvin Umanzor Patrick Vargish Kalin Vassilev Keegan Vernon-Clay Sherri Vester Amilcar Vicente Arthi Vijaykumar Esmeralda Villalobos Saphir Villard Jasmine Villatoro Victor Villatoro Pacheco Daisy Villavicencio Joseph Vuong Kiya Wakene Charles Waltz-Chesnaye Albert Wang Leo Warren Eric Wasserzug Zachary Wathen Jesse Webber Angel Wen Bronte Wen Lucy Wen Amanda Wessel Lena West Geovonie White Jared Williams Reid Williams Zachary Williams Zane Williams Ashlyn Wilson Linden Wilson Juliana Wolde Dylan Wolking Sabrea Woodberry Jeong-Yoon Wu Lytton Xu Michael Xu Chancelle Yatti Mary Yilma Mussie Yohannes Satchel Young Josephine Yu Matthew Yu Rona Yu Wilson Yu Stefany Zaldana Amaya Daniela Zelaya Folane Zeleke Calvin Zhang Sabrina Zhou Timothy Zhou

Unknown Montgomery College Bates College Watkins College of Art, Design & Film Earlham College Unknown Montgomery College Unknown Virginia Tech University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Goucher College Walla Walla University Arizona State University - Tempe University of Maryland - Eastern Shore University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Unknown University of Maryland - College Park Unknown University of Richmond Unknown Unknown Unknown Montgomery College Towson University Trinity Washington University Cosmetology School Montgomery College Salisbury University Unknown Pacific University Unknown Unknown Unknown Montgomery College Unknown Montgomery College Unknown Gap Year in Bolivia Stanford University Montgomery College Goucher College Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Montgomery College Pace University University of Maryland - College Park University of California - Santa Cruz Unknown Unknown University of Maryland - College Park Montgomery College Undecided Unknown Unknown Montgomery College Unknown Unknown Vassar College University of Maryland - College Park York University College of Wooster University of Maryland - College Park Temple University University of Maryland - College Park Johns Hopkins University University of Maryland - College Park Bryn Mawr College Ohio State University Unknown Howard University Asheville, North Carolina University of Chicago Utah State University Penn State University Unknown Unknown Unknown University of Maryland - Eastern Shore University of Maryland - College Park University of Maryland - College Park Unknown Working Gap Year, Boston College Unknown Montgomery College Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Maryland - College Park California Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University Unknown Trinity Washington University University of Maryland - College Park Unknown University of Maryland - College Park University of Maryland - College Park

May 25, 2016

silverchirps

MORE SENIOR WILLS!

politics of the other administrative staff, pushed me towards where I want to go, has a really cool Beatles poster, & without her help I wouldn’t have survived this year.

I give you all my respect, I never thought I’d meet a singular teacher in this school system kind, human, and honest, as well as mentally stable. You all impressed me.

I, SABRINA ZHOU, do hereby bequeath: To Kinjal: my hairline and the key to the 4th floor pool.

I, BOBBY PFEFFERLE, leave varsity baseball in the hands of Ryan Bratton and Zach Dunne. #beatwhitman

against endless paper cuts and shin splints.

To Angie: non-creepy Tinder boys.

To Emily: room 252, all the alliteration and imagery in the world, honest writing, and an-all expenses paid trip to Hutswana when you finally beat Madeira.

To Dawson and Brianna: perfect color schemes, lined up text, and unpixelated images.

To Ben: non-awkward DC dates and Nats season tickets.

To Yessie: clever IG captions.

To Aditi: the power of persuasion.

I, DIO CRAMER, of semi sound mind and body do hereby bequeath the following: I, CAMILLE ESTRIN, hereby To Gabel, my love my light leave the point guard position my life. I leave you the DNA to Allison MacKenzie. we share in the hopes you can make the most of it.

I, MARIS MEDINA, do here- To Grace and Miriam and by bequeath: Ali, I leave you all the power To Niki: never ending Twitter vested in my by the gods of rants, perfect pirouettes, and stage crew. May your screws tall white boys who will come never strip and may your to every single poms invitawood never warp. tional.

To Tommy, I leave you BranTo Silver Poms: protection don. Take care of him, feed

him daily and occasionally take him on walks.

To Amy, I love you. You got this.

To Max, I leave you fonts and good graphic design. Use them wisely.

To Marco, I leave you the magic of the trees. Whisper to them and they will whisper back.

To Will, there is nothing I can give you that you don’t already have. Use your powers for good.

To Braedon, I leave you Gabel. Feed him, shower him with love, take him on walks.

To Oregano Boy, we never talked and I do not know your name, but good luck on your future endeavors. I am rooting for you.

I, NAZEA KHAN, wish the best of luck to my MSA babies and fhockey5 squad <3 Don’t be dry, be live.

WE, THE SENIOR CLASS of ‘16, of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath: To the Class of ‘17: Luck and hopefully not senioritis!

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I, CAMILLE KIRSCH, being of sound body and mind, hereby bequeath: To the Silver Chips junior staff: late nights, junk food, “said is not dead,” and a sincere conviction in the power of journalism. Change the world.

To Cole and Julian: The best section ever. Take care of my baby.

To Cole: My identity. We’re basically the same person you’re just ten inches taller and male.

To Aditi: A love of writing.

You’re going to go far, kid.

To Lily: The above Fallout Boy reference (you’re welcome) and my eternal love.

Proud of you, little sis.

To Camila: The power of the Camil(le)a name. You’re my soul sister.

To Siena and Max: The donkey! Remember your economics -- carrots work better than sticks, and carrot cake works best of all.

To Jemma, Vivi, Shrabonti, Suad, and Christian: A complete and total shortage of labels. Go forth and make Blair accepting!

To all of Blair: My thanks.

MAD DOG MAL

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silverchirps

May 25, 2016