October 2014 -- Silver Chips Print

Montgomery Blair High School SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

A public forum for student expression since 1937

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ZEKE WAPNER

Mr.Roth C2

October 8, 2014

Winner of the 2013 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Silver Crown Award

SGA prepares to create Congress

VOL 77 NO 1

Blazerball

are in SGA by being in the student leadership class, or you are Blair’s Student Government As- not involved at all,” he said. “And sociation (SGA) is currently formu- the problem with that is there are lating a plan to create a Congress a lot of students that want to be that will be implemented second involved in the SGA, but can’t besemester, in order to allow more cause they need to fulfill their academic requirements.”

The idea to implement a Blair congress was originally thought of and discussed by Klein and his student leadership class. In the 50’s and 60’s at Blair, the SGA was a large organization, consisting of a President and Vice President, a Congress and House of Representatives, and even a Supreme Court.

“Over time, these bodies dwindled away as there was increased interest in the student leadership class, and decreased interest in doing SGA KYRA SEIGER after-school,” Klein

BY THE PEOPLE The SGA organizes said. The student leadership class then many events throughout the year and went through the rewants to include more of the student body. cords to find out what the purpose of each students an opportunity to be in- branch was. “The student leadervolved in Blair’s decision-making ship class and I went back through processes. the records, all the way back to the Christopher Klein, Blair’s SGA 50’s...We did a bunch of fact findcoordinator, said the purpose of the ing, and we decided that we were expanded SGA is to give a voice to going to relaunch the congress as the students who are unable to be an opportunity for students to get in the Student Leadership class, involved in SGA again.” which is now what makes up the SGA. “As it currently stands, you see SGA page A2

By Sam Butler

PETER BERGER

BLAIR FOOTBALL After a grueling game, Blair lost 7-14 to Sherwood. Both sides played solid defense but Sherwood secured an early lead and emerged victorious. For more coverage, see F3.

County launches YOLO campaign New initiative promotes pedestrian safety

By Daliah Barg The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (DoT) announced their partnership with MCPS in the YOLO campaign for teenage pedestrian safety at Seneca Valley last month. The campaign promotes safe pedestrian behavior via social media, posters and school sponsored events to decrease vehicular accidents in-

Flat lines turn into bright futures

By Camille Kirsch Britanya Clarke was having a good day. It was summer, she was at the pool—what wasn’t to like?

At least, that was how the Blair sophomore felt until the tube slide she was riding dumped her into 10 feet of water, and she realized she didn’t know how to swim.

Panicking, Clarke struggled for the surface, but only managed to sink deeper and deeper. Her vision started to go dark. Her limbs went loose. And then she saw the bright white light.

According to the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), four to 15 percent of the population has had a near-death experience (NDE).

Clarke is among that percentage,

feeling a sense of deep peace or seeingreligious figures, of people among other things. Many who report NDE survivors an NDE say that their experience has say they now made them less believe in life afraid of death after death and has had a profound impact on their worldview.

The first thing Clarke saw upon reLEILA HABIB AND BEN SAFFORD gaining conand the light she saw is a com- sciousness was the face of the lifemonly reported experience. Other guard who rescued her. “I was on people who have had NDEs report the side of the pool and she was feeling immersed in darkness, see NDEs page C3 having out-of-body experiences,

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Free breakfast

Girls in STEM

The county launches an initiative to provide free breakfast to as many kids as possible

Society discourages girls from pursuing STEM but schools can change that

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FEATURES C1

to spread awareness, according to the campaign guidebook, which suggests using #yolowalksafe to tweet about the campaign.

The DoT is providing $70,000 to fund this campaign, which covers the costs for the creation and development of the campaign, the photo shoot for the campaign’s posters, and a toolkit which was sent to each MCPS high school.

The toolkits include 10 posters featuring MCPS students with tire tracks on their faces, static clings to stick on bathroom mirrors, a pledge banner, markers, a guide-

see YOLO page A4

Refugees from Central America admitted to MCPS

By Luisa McGarvey This year Montgomery County Public Schools accepted 816 undocumented immigrants from Central America that need assistance from teachers and counselors to adjust to their new lives.

With 37,000 children being released from the Mexican border since January 2014, a 59 percent increase from the year before, Montgomery County has received of one the largest groups of immigrants. Out of the 816 new immigrant children in Montgomery

County, most have come to stay with relatives in the surrounding area, while around 107 unaccompanied minors are put into the care of foster families.

Montgomery County is used to having a majority of minority students and to having newly immigrated students, but is having problems adjusting because there have never been so many. “We’ve always had immigrant students, it is just the sheer number of students that is making it harder,” Principal

see IMMIGRANTS page A3

Blazer suit

Teachers with other jobs

Students experience life at Blair from a different perspective inside the Blair mascot

Many teachers find other ways to support themselves

B1 CHIMEY SONAM

COURTESY OF EMILY GUERRERA

NEWS A2

volving high school students.

The campaign aims to include students in creating solutions for teenage pedestrian safety, according to Lucille Baur, the public information office at the DoT. “The purpose of the campaign is to engage our high school students and make them part of the solution to the problem that we have seen for pedestrian safety amongst teenagers,” she said. According to Baur, the campaign will be more effective if students learn from other students about pedestrian safety, rather than from the police department or other adults. Teenagers are encouraged to use social media

COURTESY OF MARK GROSSMAN

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ENTERTAINMENT D1

COURTESY OF JULIA SINT

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LA ESQUINA LATINA E1

SPORTS F1

A2 News

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October 8, 2014

State requires math all four years of high school Part of Maryland’s new educational mandate to promote college readiness

By Winne Luo

cording to a USM press release, Math and Multivariable Calculus. many Blazers’ incentives to keep “an important feature of any Many other students agree that taking math, and many believe the Students in Maryland, becourse is that it utilizes alfour years of math is excessive. requirement is positive. Sophoginning with the class of 2018, gebra in a substantive Senior Kenny Orellana more Yuchabel Sano said math, like are required to enroll in math way so the student is planning to play English, is an important skill. “It classes all four years of high does not lose football at UMCP. gives you a head start in college,” school in order to prevent loss the algebraic “I feel like four he said. Orellana feels that four of information retention as a reand numeryears isn’t re- years of the subject may not be necsult of a new state mandate. ical skills ally neces- essary, but still takes math in order of Maryland to challenge himself. Sophomore Originally, Montgomery achieved sary...when high school graduates County Public Schools (MCPS) in earlier do you re- Oreena Monrose plans to take four when entering Maryland required only four high school coursally use cal- years of math. “I feel like that’s level math credits to graduate. es.” Exculus in real something good to do,” she said. community colleges and Blair offers unconventional This meant that students who amples life? Unless public universities relied took a high school math credit in of such you want math classes such as Quantitaon catch-up courses to middle school had the option to courses to do as- tive Literacy, a course that teaches exempt from math in senior year. include tronomy or ‘math life skills’ such as balancing prepare for college classes.

The University System of MaryAlgebra 2, something,” checkbooks for those whose career land (USM) colleges, including Calculus, said Orellana. choices do not necessarily utilize the University of Maryland Coland Statistics.

Freshman Jenni- math, as well as statistics courslege Park (UMCP), already impleMagnet Math fer Canales agreed, es like Sports Statistics. “I think GRACE WOODWARD mented this rule as an admissions Teacher William saying that math is good we have some creative classes... requirement for this year’s seniors, Rose asserted that math to learn, but, “...four years is if you’re not a person who wants forcing many applicants to take classes are so different from each too much...maybe they feel like to do anything really rigorous, higher math classes in order to stay other that taking one would not we’re not getting enough math.” there are still classes which you eligible. Maryland lawmakers and necessarily fortify the other. “If The mandate does not affect can get value out of,” Davis said.

USM rationalized that students you take AP Statistics as a senior, who do not take math senior year that’s not really helping you reforget material by college. Tracey tain your calculus skills,” he said.

Jamison, Director of Articulation Although MCPS Director of and Enrollment Services at USM, Math Edward Nolan said the said, “Statistically, students that do school system has not seen an intance to help [schools] grow their crease in students who enroll in By Aditi Subramaniam breakfast programs,” Brown said. math, Blair has seen a slight influx No Kid Hungry also suggests On September 19th, Montof students taking statistics and modeling courses, according to gomery County inaugurated the serving breakfast at varying times Davis and Rose. Rose believes that Maryland Breakfast Challenge, to increase students’ awareness of increase may not be due to which aims to encourage schools breakfast. Usually school cafeteShould there be a four year math requirement? this genuine interest. “Perhaps, there to ensure that all students receive rias serve breakfast before school are some students taking those a nutritious breakfast. The kickoff starts, but schools participating in classes because they need to, not was hosted at Francis Scott Key the challenge are encouraged to “No, because if the career you choose doesn’t inbecause they want to,” he said. Middle School, where Superinten- also try serving breakfast during or volve math, then there should be more opportunity Senior Rosa Choe would rather dent Joshua Starr and other county immediately after the first period. to take classes that reflect your career path.” have the extra room in her sched- officials attended a breakfast party. “It’s important to inform students No Kid Hungry, nonprofit about when breakfast happens in ule for classes such as AP Music - Ruby Lopez, sophomore Theory. “If you’ve taken calculus Share Our Strength’s campaign schools. Serving breakfast in the before senior year, you shouldn’t to end child hunger in America, classroom can be a great solution “Yes, in today’s increasingly STEM society, math is be punished by having to take sponsors the Breakfast Challenge. in some schools,” Brown said.

The Breakfast Challenge is more important than ever. Just like English, math even harder [classes],” she said. “The challenge is a friendly comAfter calculus, electives for math petition among Maryland public voluntary, but No Kid Hungry is a vital skill that needs to be fostered throughout become more difficult, encom- schools to see who can connect the is awarding prizes for winning high school.” - Ankit Bhargava, sophomore passing courses such as Discrete most students to breakfast,” Mat- schools as incentives for their parthew Brown, Communications As- ticipation. Winners are determined sociate for No Kid Hungry, said. by the largest increase in average Along with the Breakfast Chal- daily participation (ADP) from Nolenge, the campaign has also vember 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015 sponsored efforts to educate low- compared to the same time period in the previincome families ous school on how to crehowever, the plan is to split into ally all you [have to] do is just from SGA page A1 year. The ADP two houses. “The [Senate] would come to the meetings,” Jiang said. ate food budis calculated students to get involved in SGA be composed...of representatives The two houses will also have gets and shop by measuring again. from each of the advisories, and different responsibilities, accord- strategically for the number of The long term plan for the ing to Klein. “We will have healthy meals. students that Congress will take a while to accertain responsibilities del- Although, participate in fully plan and create, which is egated to each house, and cording to the breakfast over why the implementation will both of these houses would Breakfast Chalthe number be a gradual one. According be presided over by the dif- lenge website, that particito SGA President Blossom Jienferent class officers, so fresh- Maryland pate in lunch. ang, “We [have the first step man class president and compasses three The school in the implementation] pretty vice president, sophomore of the nation’s that wins first much planned out, the only class, [and so on],” he said. wealthiest counplace in the enthing that is left is decid“Eventually,” Klein said, ties – Calvert, tire state will ing the meeting date.” The and “we would hope that we can Howard receive a surSGA hopes to have the first have a big structure that is Montgomery – prise celebrity trial of the Congress start States very understandable and rec- United visit and party second semester. According ognizable by the student body, Department of COURTESY OF EMILY GUERRERA as its grand to Klein, they want “to have and very accessible to the stu- Agriculture Ecoprize. Accorda rollout of Blair Congress, dent body, as well as account- nomic Research BREAKFAST Eighth grader ing to the camand then to see how that able to the student body.” Service reports Kristina Wilder enjoys the propaign’s webgoes, and to [expand] every Jiang also said that expand- that 12.5 per- gram at Key Middle School. site, schools semester thereafter based ing the SGA by adding a con- cent of housecan also comon the [student] response.” gress will generate more in- holds in MaryAlthough Klein hopes for volvement throughout Blair. land struggle with hunger. pete for a visit from a professional an increase in participation For students in this demo- football player, a getaway weekKlein decided to make from Blair students, he rethe congress open to ev- graphic, breakfast is often the end in Washington, D.C., espresso mains realistic about how the eryone because being open first meal to get cut, which machines for the teachers’ lounge, SGA will grow. “I don’t think to any student helps allow Brown said is detrimental due to cooking classes and other prizes.

The registration period is curthat, overnight, you’re going input from Blair’s commu- the connection between breakto get a majority of students nity. “We have an amaz- fast and academic success. rently open and the goal is for who want to be involved in “[Breakfast] is the most im- 75 percent of Maryland schools ing, diverse, passionate KYRA SEIGER the SGA, but I know that there group of students,” he said. portant meal of the day. It leads to join. “Right now we want at are more students that want Montgomery County to increased class participa- least 750 schools [in the state] to be involved than are cur- STUDENT GOVERNMENT Sophomore Schools other than Blair have tion and attendance rates, and to sign up before October 31st, rently involved,” Klein said. Fatu Kposowa (left) and sohpmore class different formats for their ultimately a higher chance of because that’s when the ChalThere are very high ex- Vice President Hana Bekele (right) discuss SGA. “Most schools do not graduating,” Brown explained. lenge begins,” Brown said.

Blair will not be participating in pectations for the expan- an idea in the student leadership class.

The campaign hopes that at have an SGA Congress,” Jision of the SGA, according ang said. Northwood, for least 10,000 more students will re- the challenge because the logistics to Klein and Jiang. The plan instance, does not even have ceive breakfast by the end of the are too difficult for a school of nearfor second semester of the 2014- then the House of Representa- a student leadership class like Breakfast Challenge. To achieve ly 3,000 students. “We’re the larg2015 school year is to develop one tives would be, basically, popular, Blair does. Northwood’s student this, No Kid Hungry is provid- est school in the county. We have to house of Congress, and have them so if you wanted to be involved government consists of meeting ing schools with the resources to think about how building services take care of all the responsibilities in it by choice, you show up and through homerooms, and having make breakfast more accessible. will be able to clean up breakfast that the Student Leadership class you are involved,” Klein said. “It representatives from each class “We provide resources in the form served during class,” cafeteria does not. By the next school year, will be open to the public and re- who meet with their class councils. of grants and technological assis- manager Christine Blanton said. not have a continuation of mathematics prior to entering a...collegiate environment are not as successful.” USM found that students who took a math hiatus senior year would take the college math placement tests and place much lower than expected. “Mathematics is a strong indicator of success in college...you cannot have that break senior year,” Jamison said.

According to Jamison, the rigorous environment of college makes getting back on track more difficult.

Celita Davis, the head of the Blair Math Department, acknowledged this phenomenon. “One thing that people don’t know is that after a year, your brain has shifted to other courses,” she said.

Currently, classes must be categorically recognized as math—i.e., no computer science or physics—in order to fulfill the requirement, but according to Davis, the state of Maryland is looking to include computer science as well as math courses taken through dual enrollment at community colleges.

However, USM requires that courses explicitly teach math and utilize “non-trivial algebra.” Ac-

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SGA to increase student involvement

Breakfast challenge

October 8, 2014

News A3

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Blair updates heating and cooling systems

Students and teachers complain about temperature extremes

By Anna O’Driscoll

Contractors began updating Montgomery Blair’s heating and cooling system this summer but were unable to finish by the start of the school year, resulting in wildly varying temperatures throughout the building.

The contractors, Pritchard Controls, were hired by the Facilities Group at MCPS to update the system that monitors Blair’s heating and cooling. James Funk, the school’s business administrator, said that the monitoring system keeps tabs on the hardware used in heating and cooling the school, and on the resulting temperatures.

“There is a system that basically tells us what’s going on with all the different physical pieces of equipment, and the conditions in all the areas in the school,” Funk said. He believes that the previous system had been in place since the school was built, and believes that the school has been asking for the updates as long as he can remember.

The new monitoring system is controlled in two locations: one on Blair’s campus, and one with the MCPS group Energy Management, who can view the same data as the Blair system. “They basically have a back window to go in and look at what we’re looking at,” Funk said.

If there is a problem in a spe-

cific room, teachers are told to email Blair’s Building Services department. Building Services will then open a work order on the issue, and assign someone to assess the situation. “They’ll send out a maintenance mechanic to look at the system and try and diagnose what’s wrong with it,” Funk said.

The temperature extremes experienced in many Blair classrooms at the beginning of this year were caused by problems in the updates. When the contractors began the updates during the summer, they found problems dating back to the installation of the initial system. “They were scheduled to be here in the summer, but they

encountered issues relating to the original construction of the building that they’re still working on,” Funk said. He noted that the prob-

lems that remain are not the fault of the contractors. “They’ve done a great job, they’re fully accountable, they want it to be one hundred percent perfect,” Funk said. The contractors will stay in the building until they fix the system, which they estimate will be by the end of October.

Funk understands the difficulties of the temperature variations.

“My own office was exactly that way,” said Funk. “You know, cold one day, hot the next, and that all has to do with them balancing the system, which is a big part of what they’re doing.”

Despite the ongoing efforts to balance the system, temperature

problems continue, leaving a noticeable effect on some classes. Social Studies teacher Kevin Shindel had to move classrooms because

the heat in his original room was affecting his students’ energy and concentration in class. “You’re asking a class of students to do something that’s really demanding, you’re going to end up being in trouble because the heat is going to zap some of that demand already, or it will zap some of what they can supply,” Shindel said.

“You’ve got to try to put it out of mind, but it’s going to zap some energy, attention and effort.”

Junior Kelly Mayo agrees that the heat makes concentrating in class much more difficult. “If I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, the heat made me really tired,” she said. Mayo prefers the cold over the heat because it is easier to manage. “I’d rather it be cold than warm because you can just wear a sweater,” she said.

The school, rather than the county, initiated the updates, but the county worked on the logistics of the improvements. Funk suggested that though the school requested the updates, the county was responsible for the implementation. “We [at Blair] will always take updatCANDIA GU ing because we assume that’s better,” said Funk.

“The county is the one that goes out there and negotiates the contracts and has the schedule of performing the work.”

Central American immigrants enroll in MCPS

Schools provide resources to help the minors transition from IMMIGRANTS page A1

Renay Johnson said. Blair’s English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teachers have a lot of experience and are equipped to help these new students out.

“We are constantly meeting everyday and coming up with new strategies to help these students adjust,” ESOL teacher Karen Shilling said. According to Johnson, immigrant students are put in appropriate classes to increase likelihood of academic success.

“We place them in classes based on the amount of schooling they have had, but what we are finding is that there is interrupted education which makes it more difficult to meet their needs and assist them,” Johnson said.

To cope with the amount of newly immigrated students, Blair just received an allocation for one new ESOL teacher, according to Johnson.

Along with their regular counselor assigned by alphabet, these new students receive more one on one attention from ESOL counselor Vilma Nadal.

Nadal’s goal is to see each student, whether it be in a group or individual setting, at least once every two weeks, unless they have other needs that can range from document requests to more pressing emotional issues. The sensitive topic of documentation is out of the realm of teachers’ and counselors’ duties and is not questioned in school because it does not change their educational or emotional needs.

The Mary’s Center that primar-

ily works with Latino Americans has had over 500 school referrals in the last two months alone.

The center is a nonprofit health group that either provides physical, mental and social services or refers patients to other resources when theirs are not suitable.

Many of the minors are from impoverished families. “They come and we see if they qualify for any health benefits such as Care for Kids, which gives uninsured kids access to health ser-

vices,” Lyda Vanegas, the Mary’s Center’s Director of Advocacy and Communications, said.

Vanega said newly arrived immigrants could have decided to attempt to cross the border for

many reasons. They usually immigrate to the US because there is a lot of violence in their home country: it could be gang members trying to recruit them, domestic violence or drug trafficking.

In certain circumstances, kidnappers take advantage of the unaccompanied minors according to Vanegas. “[The kidnappers] know they have relatives in the U.S., so they think they are rich and start asking for money and if

not given they will kill them, and believe me they will kill them,” she said. As a result, most of the newly immigrated kids come with a lot of trauma and need a lot of support in mental health, so

the Mary’s Center provides them with therapy. The Mary’s Center also connects the undocumented and unaccompanied minors with lawyers for immigration status court hearings. “One of the main issues lately with all the kids coming is that there is not many lawyers that want to work for free, but families do not have enough money to pay because it was all spent on crossing the border,” Vanegas said.

The majority of undocumented minors who cross the border are sent to live with relatives, but others live with foster families. Katie Sebastian, a Blair parent awaiting the arrival of the immigrant her family is fostering, decided to get involved after hearing about the four percent of kids who cross the border without relatives in the United States.

According to Sebastian, where minors attend school is dependent on their age and previous schooling. “If they are young enough and have had some level of schooling they will enter the Montgomery County Public School system or enroll in a GED class at Montgomery College,” Sebastian said. Different than traditional fosterMARIS MEDINA ing, the minor stays with the family until they are 21. This is because the goal of this program is to establish permanency in the United States, and to help the unaccompanied minor receive and education and get a job.

Newsbriefs Springbrook players receive burns from disinfectant

Fifteen Springbrook football players suffered from first and second degree chemical burns Sept.

16. Originally, a player developed an infection that coaches suspected was staph. In order to stop the infection from spreading, Virex II 256, a corrosive cleaning agent normally used on wall and floors, was sprayed on players’ pads. During practice, players complained of a burning sensation along their chests and backs, but did not stop playing. The next day, players had to seek medical attention to deal with their burns. One junior spent three days in the hospital due to an infected burn. According to Coach Adam Bahr, six or seven players could not play in the proceeding game and five junior varsity players were substituted as a result.

Coaches and administrators did not inform parents about the possible staph infection or equipment treatment until after the disinfectant was used. Parents have hired lawyers and said they will attempt to find solutions and information relating to unanswered questions.

Whooping cough cases in MCPS reaches 26

Twenty six cases of whooping cough have been confirmed in Montgomery County schools, as of Sept. 25, according to county health officials. Twelve MCPS schools have reported this illness.

County health officials said that they believe fourteen of the students were exposed to whooping cough at Capital Camps in Pennsylvania. College Gardens Elementary School in Rockville and Briggs Chaney Middle School in Silver Spring recently sent letters home to parents concerning the illness.

According to the Mayo Clinic, whooping cough is characterized by a severe cough that sounds like a “whoop” sound. It’s treated with five days of antibiotics before returning to school. Maryland immunization requirements now mandate that seventh graders receive a whooping cough vaccine before the school year begins.

MCPS school board sued for fraud

Brandon Hall, 18-year-old Montgomery County resident, is suing the MCPS school board for fraud, negligence, and emotional distress. Hall alleged that Duane Flemmer, the school psychologist who counseled him and his mother during his parents’ divorce, used an expired license, falsified credentials, and a fake name. In 2006, the psychologist testified in court and led the judge to take Hall out of the custody of his mother, and transferred him to his father. In 2012, when Flemmer applied for a job out of state, the new employer contacted the Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists to check his credentials. The Maryland Board of Professional Counselors concluded that Flemmer had created a fake psychology license using expired license numbers and forged signatures. Flemmer was found dead in his North Carolina home in an apparent suicide in 2013.

Newsbriefs compiled by Anna O’Driscoll and Emma Soler Edited by William Zhu

A4 News Newsbriefs Secret Service director replaced after security Julia Pierson resigned as Director of Secret Service on October 1 after testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee regarding the Sept.19 break-in. Former Secret Service official Joseph Clancy will replace her to head the organization on an interim basis. Army veteran Omar J. Gonzalez broke into the White House and managed to reach the Green Room by surpassing Secret Service officers on Sept.19. Gonzalez ran past security on the first floor and past the staircase that led up to the first family’s residential quarters. Gonzalez carried a knife in his pocket.

The intrusion recently brought up questions about the White House’s security team. Further investigation revealed that the alarm box had been muted after individuals from the usher’s office complained that it was being too loud. Gonzalez is the only intruder to have jumped the fence and made it into the executive mansion.

Local math teacher wins $1 million on game show Takoma Park Middle School Math teacher, Sarah Manchester, won the grand prize of 1 million dollars on the show Wheel of Fortune on Sept. 18. Prior to winning her 1 million dollars on the show’s bonus round, she also acquired a trip to the Dominican Republic from the prize puzzle round. Manchester said that when she was growing up, she would watch Wheel of Fortune with her parents and now she challenges her own kids with money prizes if they beat a puzzle before she does. According to Good Morning America, Manchester’s family is still deciding what to spend her winnings on. She is only the third person in the show’s history to have won the grand prize by solving the final puzzle, “Loud laughter.” Manchester will continue to teach mathematics at Takoma Park Middle School.

Plans revealed to add expansion at Whitman MCPS recently released three early design options for an expansion at Walt Whitman due to overcrowding. There has been a large increase in students, specifically at the elementary and middle school level, in the Whitman cluster, which prompted funding for a feasibility study. Whitman, with 1,921 students in the 2013-2014 school year, is already over the maximum capacity of 1,882 students, and expects to have over 2,000 by the end of the 2015-2016 school year. Under earliest estimates, the county will have enough funding to begin the project by the 2019-2020 school year. All three expansion plans would use land that is currently part of the Whittier Woods Center. The addition would include new science and engineering labs, classrooms, and an auxiliary gym.

Newsbriefs compiled by Maris Medina and Anna O’Driscoll

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October 8, 2014

MCPS creates pedestrian safety campaign

High schools receive toolkit with campaign resources

old Christina Morris-Ward was killed on her way to school in October 2012, according to Blair Prinbook and a USB drive with adcipal Renay Johnson. “It’s a camditional digital resources, accordpaign that was started at Seneca ing to Nadji Kirby of the DoT. Valley High School, two years ago At Blair, the campaign effort they had a student that was killed will be led by William Currence, in the morning, walking to school,” the 11th grade administrator, and she said. Gwendolyn Ward, the ¬¬¬-Kathleen Greene, the Secugirl’s mother, spoke at the press rity Team Leader. Blair recently conference about her daughter’s received the toolkit with banners death: “I don’t want another child, and posters which will be hung or another family, to have to go by the exits to remind students through what I’ve gone through.” to walk safely as they leave the According to the Montgomery building, according to Greene.

County Police Department, more The campaign guidebook prothan 400 crashes occur yearly in vides different ideas for events Montgomery County. Teenagers and projects. Some ideas specific aged 15 to 16 comprise more than to Blair include creating pep ral50 percent of pedestrian fatalities, lies, showing the campaign video according to Safe Kids Worldvia morning announcements, wide. After some research and working with a club that wants to the occurrence at Seneca Valley, take on the responsibility or partthe Montgomery County Counnering with Student Government cil and the DoT decided to create Association to spread the word a campaign to spread the message about teenage pedestrian safety, Kirby said.

The campaign adopted the popular teen slang term “YOLO,” which stands for “you only live once,” for its own use in the campaign and posters. In the context of this campaign, the phrase reminds students to practice safe pedestrian behavior, according to the campaign guidebook. “When this tongue-in-cheek KYRA SEIGER phrase is paired with visuals of DANGEROUS CROSSING Blair students often practice risky pedestrian habits such as deadly reperchecking their phones or jaywalking while crossing the street heading to Four Corners.

from YOLO page A1

about the campaign’s messages, according to Currence. Students at Blair could also form groups and create projects related to teenage pedestrian safety to receive the $2,000 grant. “A lot of students are very motivated to do something like this, and it’s just a matter of pairing up the right students with the right projects,” Currence said.

Concerns about pedestrian safety are one of the main reasons why Blair has a closed campus lunch policy, according to Currence. Many drivers by Four Corners regularly exceed the speed limit, yet students still jaywalk across the street, according to Greene. “A lot of students don’t even use the crosswalks, and they just bolt across in the middle of University Boulevard, which is very unsafe,” she said.

The campaign arose from a pedestrian accident where 15-year-

KYRA SEIGER

PERSUASION YOLO campaign posters hang in Blair hallways to discourage jaywalkers. cussions, it becomes an ominous warning of dangers on the road,” the guidebook says. The messages from the posters include phrases such as “make eye contact, not body contact,” “if you text, you’re next,” and “smart phones can make you do stupid things,” according to the campaign’s website.

Last year, the Walk Your Way project was implemented by the DoT. The project provided $2,000 grants to students who created pedestrian safety projects or events at their school, according to Baur.

Students from Bethesda ChevyChase, Northwood, Richard Montgomery and Wheaton all participated in this project during the past school year, according to the Walk Your Way Project Website.

This project is being merged with the YOLO campaign this year, Kirby said, to place more emphasis on teens being a part of the campaign.

New policy will allow use of drones in Moco

Drones to be used as a safety precaution for firefighters

By Camille Estrin The Montgomery County Council plans to permit the use of drones as long as the usage complies with the council’s regulations.

The County Department of Fire and Rescue service purchased three drones and planned to test them out to see if they would be effective and worth using for safety reasons. The service said they tested the drones to check the emergency response time for fire rescues. However, County Council members and County Executive officer Ike Leggett said the usage of the three drones could only occur if the council wrote a specific policy. “[I] could foresee a time where we could use them, but [we] need a policy,” Neil H. Greenberger, spokesperson for the County Council said.

The drones would also be used to take quick aerial snapshots of a building that is on fire, to determine whether or not anyone is inside and whether sending in a firefighter is necessary and safe.

This would be safer than sending a firefighter in to see if anyone is trapped, while potentially risking their life, according to fire officials.

“There are times when the drones could be a great advantage and make the job safer for firefighters,” Greenberger said.

The County Council definitively said that the drones would not be able to be used until there is a

policy in place at a Council Meeting on Sept. 11. “The County Executive will develop a set of criteria and a program for anyone using drones in the county,” Greenberger said.

The County Council is now waiting for Leggett to propose the policy that would allow these drones to be used. Although there is no exact date for when this is going to happen, Greenberger believes it should be in the near future. “[The process] is all moving very quickly, so it should be sometime soon,” he said. Without having these guidelines, there would not be enough supervision by the County Council as to who is controlling the drones and what they can and are being used for. The policy would completely regulate all of the usage of the drones, according to Greenberger.

On Sept. 26, County Executive Ike Leggett decided to suspend any more study or action of the drones by the Executive branch of the County Council. The Executive branch will now no longer be a part of the upcoming Public Safety Committee discussion on Oct. 2.

The public and county councilmen have expressed concern at council meetings about how the drones would affect privacy, but councilmen believe that having guidelines and a clear policy will prevent any misuse of the drones.

Councilman Craig Rice is aware of the privacy issues with these

ELIZABETH PHAM

drones, and plans to address all these concerns. “There are cameras everywhere, and with any new technology people worry about privacy,” Greenberg said.

Within the Blair community, students have split opinions on the topic. “I think it’s beneficial, because it could potentially protect people if there was an emergency,”

sophomore Jayna John said. Junior Kaleab Ribbiso disagreed. “The drones could, not just be for putting out fires. You never know,” he said.

For more coverage of this story go to silverchips.mbhs.edu

silverchips

October 8, 2014

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B1 Opinions

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Montgomery Blair High School 51 University Boulevard East Silver Spring, MD 20901 Phone: (301) 649-2864 2014 National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Finalist Winner of the 2013 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Silver Crown Editors-in-Chief: Alex Frandsen and Kelsey Gross Managing News Editors: Emily Daly and Leila Habib Managing Op/Eds Editor: Landon Harris Managing Features Editors: Alexis Redford-Muang Muang and Grace Woodward Managing Entertainment Editor: Naomi Weintraub Managing Sports Editor: Jesse Broad-Cavanagh Managing Design Editor: Grace Woodward Ombudsman: Naomi Weintraub Fact Checks Supervisors: Leslie Chen and Emily Daly Extras Editor: Luisa McGarvey Newsbriefs Editor: William Zhu Public Relations Director: Kalanzi Kajubi Executive Business Directors: Liza Curcio and Jackeline Portillo Business Staff: Alexandre Alia Maddie Boyer Joe Estrin Nobel Girmay Anna Hukill Dana Hunter Ian Kiefhaber Javier Lopez Adina Rombro Sebastian Rubinstein Ben Segal Page Editors: Daliah Barg Julian Bregstone Sam Butler Leslie Chen Camille Estrin Eleanor Harris Sarah Hutter Mariam Jiffar Camille Kirsch Reva Kreeger Winne Luo Luisa McGarvey Maris Medina Anna O’Driscoll Teague Sauter Emma Soler Aditi Subramaniam Amanda Wessel William Zhu Spanish Page Editor-in-Chief: Milena Castillo Spanish Page Editors: Joseline Ayala Sarah Canchaya Milena Castillo Camila Fernandez Alisson Fortis Carlos Fuentes Ilcia Hernandez Odalis Llerena Mario Menendez Ruth Portillo Itencia Quezada Andrés Romero Managing Photo Editors: Kyra Seiger and Zeke Wapner Photographers: Peter Berger Nola Chen Chimey Sonam Phuong Vo Managing Arts Editors: Elizabeth Pham Ben Safford Artists: Andrea Brown Amanda Gross Candia Gu Nazea Khan Shivani Mattikalli Nino Migineishvili Victoria Tsai Angel Wen Puzzle Editor: Julian Bregstone Copy Editor: Katherine Murtha Professional Technical Advisor: Peter Hammond Spanish Page 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.

silverchips

October 8, 2014

Let’s put the femme in STEM programs Schools need to respond to the lack of girls in math and science

By Amanda Wessel An opinion Magnet coordinator Peter Ostrander is excited to see that 42 percent of the freshman Magnet students are female, making up the largest female class in his time at Blair. The number of female students has steadily climbed from a mere 20 in Ostrander’s first year to 47 this year.

If only the national statistics showed the same trend. In the U.S., women make up only 24 percent of people working in science, math and technology, according to U.S. Department of Commerce data from 2009.

The alarming underrepresentation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) is an issue we all should be concerned about. A lack of diversity in any field is a disservice to innovation, but in STEM this disparity also moves beyond the productivity of the field into the realm of gender inequality.

A combination of factors may explain why girls do not actively pursue careers in STEM. For one, there is an absence of female role models in STEM fields. “There is a connection between students having strong [female] teachers they identify with and keeping engaged in the field,” Ostrander says.

Most detrimental is the stereotype surrounding STEM fields.

“Somehow girls are still getting the message that science is for nerdy boys,” Natalie Angier, a

science journalist for The New has no gender boundaries, and York Times, says. “It doesn’t help we need to encourage the best that TV shows like ‘The Big Bang scientific minds wherever we find Theory’ or ‘Silicon Valley’ conthem to carry this grand human tinue to feature coteries of almost enterprise forward,” Angier says. exclusively male scientists who Changes must be made startsalivate over ‘hot’ girls — giving a ing in elementary school to boost double whammy message that sci- young girls in math and science. ence is a guy thing and that According to a study by the a girl’s primary duty in life National Center for Educais to look ‘hot.’” Breaktion Statistics, boys and ing barriers in STEM will girls have similar math help change these sexist and science proficiencies at attitudes. age nine, but by age 13, Increasing the a gender gap in profinumber of women ciency scores appears. in STEM fields is Even at an early age, also crucial from society tells girls that Women an economic science is a boys’ make up only equality standdiscipline. Research point. The is divided about Department the exact cause of of professionals of Commerce this discrepancy, working in investigation but it is clear that STEM fields. of 2009 found we need to remedy that Women in the effect.

STEM jobs earn Schools have the 33 percent more power and responsibilthan women working in ity to recognize the imbalother fields, and experiance and make a difference ence a smaller wage early on in girls’ educagap relative to men. tion. They can empower Making jobs in science girls to stay with STEM by AMANDA WESSEL more available to women having strong female teachwould help close the wage gap ers, improving science curricula and lead to economic equality in in elementary and middle school, other fields. actively recruiting female students But it is not just about symfor male dominated classes and bolizing a movement; women taking female students into the are needed to bring diversity field or lab to get hands on experiboth gender-wise and intellectuence. ally, from which innovation and At Blair, Ostrander has set a discovery can grow. “The distribu- precedent of actively working to tion of scientific talent and genius encourage girls in their pursuits

24%

of science – an example that other schools should follow.

Teachers and staff need to communicate positive feedback, like Ostrander, who encourages teachers to identify and commend student’s strengths.

He also emphasizes the importance of girls collaborating in math and science classes. “It is nice to have a cohort of [female] students that can work with each other and support each other and see that it is okay to be a female in these fields,” he says. High schools nationwide should follow this model to support girls who are intimidated by the overwhelming male composition of many STEM classes.

In addition, Ostrander hosts the annual Females in Science and Technology Conference, in which 7th grade girls are invited to learn about the county’s high schools science options. He also promoted the addition of two new science electives designed and taught by female teachers. If more schools reach out to students and provide strong role models, more budding female scientists will succeed.

“Our job as a school is to make sure we don’t send the wrong message -- that we don’t close off doors because we are not welcoming to students in our classes,” Ostrander says. “It is okay for girls to be good at science.”

It is more than okay for girls to be good at science. In fact, it is great. Schools need to support girls in science in order to truly bring STEM into the 21st century.

A concious look at our subconcious racism Self-segregation threatens the unique diversity of the Blair community

By Maris Medina

An opinion

Blair Boulevard at lunchtime is the throbbing, pulsing heart of the school. At first glance, it is a dynamic snapshot of what makes Blair, Blair--the collection of different ethnicities and races together in one gathering place.

One could walk along the giant hallway and come to terms with a sensory experience—breathe in the wafting aromas of injera, catch a few phrases of Spanish. At first, everything seems perfect, but a closer look is all it takes to see this isn’t so. As diverse as our dynamic Blair Boulevard appears, it only takes a second to realize that friend groups are racially divided.

It doesn’t make us racist, but it definitely makes us a little oblivious. We are not taking advantage of the incredible diversity Blair has to offer, and rather we make it a daily habit to shrink into our comfortable race-based friend groups.

The biggest turning point in the war to combat racism was enacted in the 60’s during the Civil Rights Movement, an era in which

black people defended their rights as not only American citizens, but human beings. 50 years later, conscious prejudice at Blair is almost unheard of, but our subconscious continues to tempt us to remain in our racial comfort zones. There is still a hint of discomfort when we are faced with talking to others of a different race.

We can see this manifest at lunchtime especially. Like Cady Heron’s infamous introduction to her cafeteria’s social groups in Mean Girls, there are identifiable friend groups easily seen in our very own Student Activity Center.

For example, the white Communication Arts Program kids tend to sit out in large groups on the outside lawn. A throng of Latino boys crowd around the courtyard doors. A small group of Ethiopian boys amble up and down the Boulevard.

This phenomena is not limited to social hour, but even occurs during academic learning time.

Pilar Romero, an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) paraeducator, observes that in the beginning of the year, her students tend to seek other

soapbox Is self-segregation a problem at Blair?

“You can walk by places in the halls and feel out of place because you are not of a certain race.” - Ariel Fromm, sophomore “People are friends with who they like, and who have similar interests as them. It’s not like they are limited to their racial group.” - Caitlin Little, sophomore

students from their own country.

This is completely understandable; they’ve just been exposed to a whole different country and a whole different culture. Of course they want to seek out the familiar. However, later on the year, Romero will try to intentionally mix study groups up to help the students learn English better. If they remained with their friends of the same race, learning English would be a much difficult task.

The English language, in this scenario, is the ultimate thing that breaks down the comfort zone barrier. Because they are forced to integrate, Romero’s students are constantly stepping out of their comfort zone to learn new things. They expose themselves to new and often beneficial experiences.

The small steps that Romero’s students undergo to further their exposure to their diverse community is one that all students must take. In the future, we’re going to encounter people of every background imaginable, especially in Montgomery County, where the racial makeup becomes increasingly more diverse each year. The diversity at Blair alone represents how diverse our communities really are. We’re fortunate enough to be exposed to this sense of community and diversity at Blair prior to experiencing it out in our future collegiate and workplace environments.

There are many ways to appreciate Blair’s diversity aside from blatantly seeking out friends of another race. Joining clubs, joining

sports teams, finding platforms that promote the beauty of other people’s cultures--that’s what us Blazers have the capability of doing. We have all the resources needed to do it. There are over 10 culture-based clubs and organizations, Diversity Workshops and electives like African-American and Latin American Studies to help us appreciate the melting pot that is Blair. These are all things that can ease someone out of their racial comfort zone and introduce

SHIVANI MATTIKALLI

them to an entirely different, new and fascinating culture.

We’re lucky to be in a school that hosts such a multitude of cultures. We shouldn’t take it for granted by always slipping into our racial comfort zones. Next time you’re stuck in the middle of the infamous lunch-is-over crowd that surges out of Blair Boulevard, look around and feel the rhythm of 3,000 individual stories thundering down the hallway. Say “hi” to the person next to you. Chances are they won’t be of the same race That’s okay. That’s what makes Blair, Blair. This year, let’s appreciate it more.

October 8, 2014

Opinions B2

silverchips

Should military recruitment be allowed in high school?

ANGEL WEN

VICTORIA TSAI AND BEN SAFFORD

YES:

ZEKE WAPNER

Mariam Maya Habash Jiffar

NO:

Recruiters only arm students with information.

Blair alumni Jon Thompson went from working on high school essays and textbook problems in Silver Spring to working for the United States Marine Corps in California. He is now one of the few and proud who serves the nation and loves doing it.

Thompson is an active duty marine, and he, “appreciate[s] all the opportunities [the Marines have] given [him].” However, despite their integral role in protecting our nation’s security and freedom, jobs in the military are often overlooked. Many students feel that they have to go college to get a good job and don’t consider the prospect of joining the military. Military recruitment in high school provides students with information about a less common, but viable and important career option.

The major concern with recruitment in high school is that recruiters are targeting naïve underclassmen. However, recruiters aren’t allowed to talk to students about enlisting until they’re 17. Military recruiter Tom Brooks says recruiters, “tell any...senior ‘we need to talk to your parents as well’... [and] don’t do interviews at school.” When junior Robbie Fitzpatrick approached a recruiter as a freshman, the recruiter said, “‘I can’t talk to you, here’s a pamphlet, have fun.’” As far as students who are old enough, they have the right to be informed of opportunities in the military that specifically benefit them. Reserved Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), for example, offers students merit-based scholarships if they take an ROTC class and serving in the military for eight years after college. This is a great program for students graduating from high school who want to pursue higher education and go into the military.

And, contrary to popular belief, there are many other roles for young adults in the military besides shooting and getting shot at. Of course an important part of the military revolves around combat-oriented positions, but there are other safer options available: jobs in engineering and science, medicine, administration, journalism, transportation services - even musicians are needed to perform in ceremonies and festivals. The U.S. military is a three-dimensional, complex arm of the government which must be full and formidable in all respects.

Recruitment in high schools is also simply a necessity to keep the United States strong and safe. The military has been proud of its all-volunteer force ever since 1973, but the strength of that force

Recruiters offer a one-sided perspective.

depends upon new recruits. In 2013, the Pentagon estimated that 71 percent of people between 17 and 24 years old were unqualified to enlist. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Major General Allen Batschelet, commanding general of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, said that a shocking one percent of youths are both “eligible and inclined to have a conversation with us.” High schools are the best places to find capable young people who could be open to the idea of a military career, and are also well on their way to qualifying for military service with a high school diploma.

Beyond that, banning military recruiters from schools is simply against the law according to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. Section 9258 of NCLB says schools must allow recruiters to access students’ contact information but also notify students and parents that they can opt out of having that information shared - and it should stay that way. Information about all options for future careers should be easily accessible to high schoolers, and that’s all recruiters are doing - providing information.

Brooks’ colleague Victor Diaz enjoys “being able to expose [his] experience” and believes it “is better than having a virtual reality image speaking to [students].” He acknowledges, “you can go on the website and do the research...but I like to speak to somebody in person.”

Brooks agrees that he enjoys interacting with students, too, and tries to offer guidance in any way he can. He talks to students about “the positivity of doing well in high school,” and likes to be “positive influence in the community.”

As both Brooks and Diaz can attest to, being a military recruiter is far from an easy job, but it is a rewarding one.

Diaz says recruiting is “a privilege [and] a challenge,” but it’s an important position, indeed. “We want to be available,” Diaz says. He stresses that he and his colleagues are, “always available for parents or maybe a student who has an activity...sometimes on weekends.” With recruiters so ready to offer information, it just makes sense to let eligible students inquire freely about working in the military. Graduates must be able to handle the ‘real world’ of careers and tough decisions, including that of whether to enlist in the armed forces.

6,190 dead. 50,540 wounded. 103,792 diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. 253,330 left with a traumatic brain injury. Each of these statistics describes the startling casualties of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, yet none of this information is shared with students by high school military recruiters. In order to protect teenagers’ lives and well-being, military recruiters should not be permitted to talk to students on public high school campuses, such as Blair.

We all know a little about recruiters in high schools because chances are we’ve each seen them at Blair at some point. Let me paint you a familiar picture. You’re walking down Blair Boulevard as you suddenly spot something new in the lunch area. There are a few men and women wearing camouflage, standing around a poster and talking to a few students. Harmless, right? Wrong.

These supposedly innocuous military recruiters use a one-sided approach to convince students to enlist without hearing all of the facts. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandates that all schools give military recruiters access to high school students, but most schools give recruiters much more access to students than is required. Although the NCLB and the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) require parents to be informed of their right to opt out of schools giving out their children’s information and to keep recruiters away from their children, many parents are unaware of this option and don’t realize the dangers when their children speak with recruiters.

Schools also have responsibility here.

When parents put their children on a bus on the first day of kindergarten, they are reasonably assuming that the school will protect their children from harm. This assumption does not go away in high school, even though students are more independent and can make more decisions for themselves.

Because of this, schools have a duty to do everything in their power to keep their students safe. In the case of military recruitment, schools should ensure that parents are aware of their right to keep recruiters away from their children, in addition to ensuring that students have the option to talk to anti-military advocates as well as recruiters.

Let me be clear: we need soldiers, and

ZEKE WAPNER

Emma Soler young, high school aged soldiers at that.

Young people should join the military, but only after they hear both sides of the argument: the side that supports fearlessness and fortitude, and the side that describes the mother that cries at night over her lost son. We need soldiers that will do a good job, and it’s preposterous to assume that young adults will be good soldiers if they go into battle oblivious of what they’ve gotten themselves into.

While it may seem like recruiters are working towards a greater good, the truth is that they are merely marketers, akin to, say, a car salesman. When a Toyota employee sells you a car, they aren’t going to describe all of the negative aspects of that car. Instead, they will glorify the best things about the car and purposefully leave out the facts that might dissuade you from purchasing their product.

Military recruiters are similar. They emphasize the positive features of joining the military, such as leadership, bravery, patriotism and heroism, while deemphasizing or leaving out altogether important, unfavorable possibilities. On one hand, it seems like that’s okay. The first amendment ensures that advertisers should be able to make their product look favorable. However, when it’s an issue that can result in life or death, it’s our duty as a community to ensure that teens get both sides of the picture.

The reason why it’s not okay to have recruiters in our halls is because there is generally no ‘other side’. As a junior at Blair, I’ve never seen any anti-military or anti-recruitment advocates talking to students on Blair Boulevard. We can’t have military recruiters in Blair without the other side, and because no one is on Blair Boulevard advocating for safety and other options, it’s thoughtless and immoral to let recruiters stay in our halls.

As Americans, it is our unspoken ethical duty to protect people that cannot protect themselves. We’ve seen it time and time again internationally: a world power sweeps in and saves the needy from corruption, oppression or violence.

We must employ the same value system on our own soil by arming our students with the knowledge necessary to avoid making life-altering decisions without all the facts. We need soldiers. But we shouldn’t want them through a system that misleads our youth.

voicebox “No, you’re just robbing people of their education.”

Mahlet Siltan Junior

“It’ll be good for kids to learn their options for the future.”

“No, we’re against war.”

“Sure. They don’t have to go up to the table.”

“I think it’s okay. If there are people who want to join, they can get information face to face.”

NOLA CHEN

Matt Siff Freshman

Camille Franks Junior

Desmond Workman Freshman

Kelsey Walker Senior

B3 Opinions

silverchips

October 8, 2014

Exposing the naked truth about celebrity privacy

Those in the spotlight shouldn’t be held to unattainable standards

By Anna O’Driscoll An opinion When Kaley Cuoco found out that her nude photos had been leaked onto the Internet over the summer, she decided to respond with humor. The “Big Bang Theory” star posted a picture on Instagram of herself and her husband fully clothed yet censored, along with a funny caption. Other celebrities targeted in the leak, however, didn’t find the situation to be a laughing matter. Actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton responded that the leaked photos violated their privacy, and

Everyone needs time to recharge, and live real, personal lives.

It is wrong to hold celebrities to unattainable standards by expecting them to behave as if they were in public all the time.

said they would take legal action against anyone involved.

The hackers involved in the celebrity photo leak scandal targeted the private iCloud accounts of more than 100 celebrities, and released over 200 pictures —many containing nudity— onto the online image board 4chan. In comment sections and message boards across the Internet, people condemned the victims of the photo leak, arguing that the celebrities’ fame precludes their right to privacy.

This sentiment, however, holds the celebrities to an unattainable standard of conduct when they are outside of the public eye. Everyone, no matter how well-known, deserves to have their privacy rights respected.

Just like doctors and teachers, actors are people who do a job and then kick back in the privacy of their homes.

Granted, celebrities’ occupations do place them in the public eye. However, their choice of how they make money shouldn’t be a factor in how much privacy they have, especially in matters not related to their work.

Neither celebrities nor everyday people should have to worry that their personal property or photos may become available to the public.

Even without the privacy invasions of the photo leaks, celebrities already experience lots of

intrusion in their lives due to the prying nature of the paparazzi.

The constant pressure to put up a facade when outside of their homes must cause a great deal of stress for actors and

watching a movie in their pajamas. Everyone needs time to recharge, and live real, personal lives. It is wrong to hold celebrities to unattainable standards by ex-

On Aug. 31, over two hundred celebrity nudes, including those of Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton, were released.

ANDREA BROWN

other performers.

They shouldn’t have to have to maintain this image when they are making dinner or

pecting them to behave as if they were in public all the time. Because of all their glamour, people too often forget that celebrities are, in fact, people too.

Despite the widespread perception that they lose privacy rights when they decide to go into the spotlight, celebrities are entitled to

the same protections as everyday citizens when it comes to nude photos. Danielle Citron, a Professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, affirms this right.

“Nude images and sex videos taken with an understanding of confidentiality are amongst the most private affairs,” Citron says.

The law agrees that the public has no interest in nude photos released without the approval of the subject.

Whether for everyday citizens or celebrities, the courts have agreed that the public should not have access to nude photos distributed without permission.

This remains true even if the photographs were shared privately with another person. Citron cites an example of a specific court decision concerning celebrities’ privacy rights. “Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee had a sex tape stolen and put online,” she says. “The court not only provided damages, it also enjoined its release.”

Both everyday citizens and celebrities are not interested in sharing their private photographs with the entire world. Since we recognize this privacy right for everyday people, we should also recognize this right for those in the public eye. It turns out that maybe the tabloids were right about some things after all: as far as their privacy rights, celebrities are just like us.

Promethean boards: Smothering the fire of education The interactive hardware does not live up to its price and expectations

By William Zhu An opinion The late bell rings and students grudgingly shuffle back to their seats. The teacher boots up the Promethean and pulls up the lesson on it...slanted with a 45 degree inward tilt. The students all laugh as the teacher struggles to fix the glitch. While this all too familiar experience may seem funny at first, it shows a deeper underlying issue with the technology in the classroom, in this case the Promethean boards. The use of Promethean boards and their associated hardware is overly expensive and not conducive to learning at school, and therefore we should look for other technological alternatives.

Before purchasing the flashy Promethean boards, MCPS placed several different brands of smart boards in classrooms across the county. The Prometheans were ranked the highest among a variety of other interactive boards tested, and thus MCPS made the leap. It was a costly one. According to Bryan Nance, the media services technician, a promethean board costs $7,000, compared to another brand. The egg-shaped Activote devices that accompany the boards cost $1,000 per box and new versions are $2,569, yet teachers pull them out maybe once a year. It’s good that MCPS is listening to teacher input and spending a lot on education, but it needs to look at technology in the classroom in a broader scope and spend responsibly.

With all these exorbitant prices, why would a normally stingy MCPS buy these boards? That would be because the company that manufactures the boards, Promethean Planet, sells in bulk to school districts, which makes buying them and distributing them far easier. Granted, this is an understandable reason for buying one brand over the other. Shipping, distribution and tracking can all be difficult and costprohibitive, and other companies simply cannot sell that many boards at once. What this means is that MCPS purchased the

Prometheans boards not because they were superior, but because they saved money in the short-term. As many students in school realize themselves, prioritizing short-term benefits over long-term goals is often disastrous.

While the need to have interactive technology is important, we must realize the difference between something that we need because the current trend demands it, and something that we want because it looks nicer.

The Prometheans were installed six years ago.

Their aim was to create an interactive classroom environment in which the students could play an active role in learning. In some ways they have succeeded at that goal, students can give multimedia presentations to the class with ease.

However, one shouldn’t go as far to say that students have been “interacting” more in the classroom due to these boards. Do we see students actively using the Promethean boards to interact in the classroom? No. What the Promethean boards have done is simply project a whiteboard onto a computer screen. For being a so-called smart board, these boards aren’t very bright.

Promethean boards are also limited in

their uses. Most math classes do not have the need for a Promethean board because the teachers need large amounts of space on the whiteboard to explain concepts to

ble. Only bulb replacements, which can cost $249, are needed as maintenance for the boards. Overall, they have fared well over the six years since their installation and are no worse than normal computers when it comes to glitches.

However, with the boards lasting so long, they have run into a problem that was difficult to foresee—tablets and laptops.

With the advent of these new technologies, the classroom environment will be completely revolutionized.

Google Chromebooks are already on their way to social studies classrooms and students are starting to divert their attention from the boards to their WILLIAM ZHU computers. The Promethean board, which was intended to bring classroom learning into the 21st century, is ironically becoming outdated. The intentions of purchasing the Promethean boards were certainly good; however, it is reckless to spend such a large amount of money on technology that doesn’t exactly fulfill our standards of an interactive classroom environment. Although hindsight is always 20/20, it doesn’t hurt for MCPS to avoid buying expensive technology until they fully understand what they are paying for.

In 2008, the county purchased 3,000 Promethean Boards for use in elementary, middle and high schools students. It simply isn’t helpful, and takes up space which could be used to present classroom material. The fact that one cannot write on the Promethean board with dry erase marker extremely limits its capabilities in the classroom, and actually can make it less useful than a whiteboard in some circumstances. Other smart boards, such as the SB689i4 (which is 50 percent cheaper than the Promethean board), doubles as both a whiteboard and an interactive screen for the projector.

The Promethean boards do have some strengths. They are fairly reliable and dura-

silverchips

October 8, 2014

My Blair: Personal Column

Mixed messages

Opinions B4

THEN:1954

By Tea Jackson Guest writer Throughout my whole life I have been asked “what are you?” because I have a lighter skin tone and “good hair”.

Over the summer I went to a restaurant with my mother and I was paying for my food when the young black girl behind the counter asked me, “What are you?”

“I’m black” I said, because that’s what I identify with.

She said “oh,” as if it was a disappointment to her that I said I was black.

“Why did you say ‘oh’” I asked her.

She answered, “I thought you was mixed with something. ” “I am mixed, ” I said and her eyes lit up with excitement.

“I’m Jamaican and Cuban,” I told her.

“Oh my god, that’s so cool, I wish I was mixed with something” she said as she smiled and handed me my food.

Over the next couple of days all I could think about was what the girl behind the counter had said and why she got so disappointed when I told her I was black. As if being fully black is bad and being mixed is better. It’s a problem that in today’s society many black people are ashamed to say that they are fully black and not mixed with anything because they don’t want to be looked down upon based off the color of their skin and the texture of their hair.

My generation of young black girls is too wrapped up in what the media thinks is beautiful. Internet and television have played a large role in causing the problems black girls have with themselves because they split the black community in half. You have the light skin girls with curly hair who are considered more beautiful than the darker skinned girls with “nappy hair”.

Back In 1903 W.E.B Dubois predicted that in the twentieth century there would no longer be black vs. white conflict, but black vs. black because of colorism. Colorism is the idea that where you fall on the color line determines how beautiful you are and how you are going to be accepted in the world. This is wrong because you shouldn’t be judge based on your skin tone, but based on what you can offer to the world.

Instead of black people trying to build each other up, we bring each other down by primarily putting the light skinned girl with curly hair in our music videos, movies, and magazines. And when we do put a dark skinned girl in our video or movies, she tends to be overly sexual, loud, ghetto, and have 5 kids by 5 different men. This puts a bad image of dark skinned girls in people’s heads and it leaves a large population of girls who don’t act like that misrepresented.

CHIMEY SONAM

COURTESY OF SILVER CHIPS ARCHIVES, CHARLES PETERSON

By only putting light skinned black girls on TV, we make dark skinned girls feel as if they aren’t pretty enough. As a result, many dark skinned girls grow up with a complex and think that they will never amount to anything other than what is already expected of them.

It seems that society has brainwashed people, especially black people, to think that if you are not lighter than a brown paper bag then you’re not beautiful, if you don’t have curly hair then you’re not beautiful, and if you’re not mixed then you’re not as good as other people. We need to teach people, especially young black girls, that they are just as beautiful as the mixed girl sitting to their right and the white girl sitting to their left.

POSING FOR THE FANS Members of Blair’s marching band, the Majorettes, strike a pose in front of the old building. The marching band has recently added 53 new members.

& NOW:2014

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.

The winner will be awarded a prize.

PHOUNG VO

STEALING THE SHOW The marching band and color guard perform at the Blair versus BCC football match, where Blair varsity football emerged victorious in a close 7-0 game.

Up and Coming 80th Aniversary Weekend

October 15 College Readiness Day

October 17 No school for students and teachers

October 25 Homecoming Dance

October 10-12

Student & Teacher Awards & Honors Seniors Meriel Capriogolio-Chase, Landon Harris, and Braeden Rose are National Acheivement Scholarship semifinalists.

Blair class of 1996 alumni Jacob Lurie was named a 2014 MacArthur Fellow for his work in algebraic topography.

Blair’s Girls’ Tennis Team are MCPS Division II Champions for the 2014 season.

32 Blair students were named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists.

Junior Amy Li won the U.S. Gold Medal in Women’s Daosho/Gunshu at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympics Wushu Tournament.

Junior Leah McLean was crowned princess of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair in August, she will be representing Silver Spring in the 2014 Montgomery County Royal Court.

B5 Editorials

silverchips

October 8, 2014

Disciplinary discretion plagues forgotten code of conduct New ambiguous sliding scale allows too much room for bias Two weeks ago, students were delivered MCPS’ new code of conduct. Two weeks ago, recycling bins looked a little bit fuller.

Students are typically inundated at the beginning of each school year with the same slew of papers, packets, and permission slips, including the two MCPS publications outlining our rights and expectations as students.

MCPS usually republishes what is essentially the same two packets with new dates each year, and they continued that trend this year with the Rights and Responsibilities handbook.

However, the Code of Conduct, which outlines student behavior rules and appropriate disciplinary actions, saw a complete revamp for the 2014-2015 school year. Yet instead of being read and understood by students, the new guides were either not emphasized or ended up in the school’s blue plastic recycling bins.

But that seemingly useless packet is more impactful than you might think. The new Code of Conduct is based on new legal regulations issued by the Maryland State Board of Education (MBSE) and an unpublished draft of the MBSE’s State Model Code of Conduct. It categorizes disciplinary responses into five levels, and provides guidelines as to the level of response a specific infraction would warrant.

Under the new Code, school administrators no longer have to refer to a set punishment. Instead, most offenses are to be punished

by “administrative response”, an ambiguous phrase that’s supposedly put in place to lessen the number of suspensions and expulsions handed out.

In theory, this would mean that students who frequently get in trouble would be disciplined in more effective ways. Instead of just being handed suspension after suspension, they would be given punishments personally tailored for them.

But that’s only one possible outcome. Because the new sliding scale means that administrators use their own discretion, they could allow racial biases and personal biases into their decisionmaking.

The Board’s goal is to keep students in school by reducing out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, and to tackle disproportionate discipline across races.

Black students compose only 21 percent of the student population, but represent over half of students suspended, while white students compose less than 15 percent of suspensions but are 32 percent of the student body. “This is not acceptable,” Superintendent Joshua Starr wrote in a forward in the Code.

The fact that the Board is acknowledging problems with our old disciplinary policies is undoubtedly a positive. The new Code aims to eliminate cookiecutter policies that unfairly bias certain demographics. But this revamp isn’t quite the answer.

While the intent of the new

Code is to customize punishment to fit the individual and the specific situation, the considerable discretion given to school administration in disciplining students gives way to a stronger influence of bias.

Because of preconceived notions and prejudices that can be found even (or especially) amongst the administration, the increased subjectivity in deciding punishment for different students will naturally lead to favoritism of certain students over others.

In most instances, the captain of the debate team whose mother is an active member in the PTA is going to receive more leeway than the 16 year-old who has to work after school to support his family and whose parents never attend school-sponsored events.

While the old Code was far from perfect, it did establish universal standards of discipline that applied to everyone, placing all students on equal footing with the rules.

This is unquestionably a fundamental change to the way MCPS disciplines its students. But no one knows it happened. They were passed out without any explana-

BEN SAFFORD

tion as to what they were and what they meant. This new set of rules is only effective if students are aware of them. New conduct rules are only as productive as their publicity.

The blame is split between the students and administration.

Some kind of concerted effort should have been made to tell students what was different about the Code this year. After all, we get the exact same mundane and dense handbook every year. It’s no wonder students are throw-

ing it away. But at the same time, we as students need to be more conscious of our personal freedoms, rights, and responsibilities if we want to take ownership for our school.

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

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

It’s not a political statement, it’s just an advertisement

By Naomi Weintraub It takes roughly $1,900 each cycle to print, receive, and distribute Silver Chips to every Blair student and outside readers. We are a fully student-run newspaper, receiving no financial support from the school administration. This allows us full control of what is said, printed and pictured in our paper.

Silver Chips is for the students, by the students, 100 percent. Now, you may be asking, “What?

Where do you get your money from, then?”

Well, that’s where our business staff comes in.

As you flip through the paper, glancing over catchy feature photographs and compelling local news, you may find yourself on our advertisements page. Here you may be drawn in by an endorsement for a nearby tutoring organization or a local restaurant looking for student customers. You may think that Silver Chips includes these advertisements so we have some extra dough to pocket. But ads are essential to the paper because without them, there wouldn’t be a paper at all.

At Silver Chips we pride ourselves covering the truth from the student’s point of view. This is possible because our administration is not granted prior review before the paper is sent to print.

As editors, we often discuss stories that may cause issues with our administration, but we ulti-

mately have full disclosure over what is printed and distributed to our students. That is why we are able to write compelling stories such as features on Blair drug dealers or students complaining about school sponsored functions.

Stories like these are why we have a paper in the first place: to bring accurate and relevant information to our readers, that they aren’t hearing from parents or teachers.

ZEKE WAPNER

Ombudsman Naomi Weintraub Readers have recently been speaking up about the role and impact our advertisements have in the paper. While most depict agreeable, harmless announcements about fundraisers or summer camp opportunities, we have been selling advertisement space to a local organization, BirthRight.

Located in Silver Spring, Birth-

Right is a “crisis pregnancy center” that provides free pregnancy testing, medical information and consultations for possible options for unwanted pregnancies.

Abortion rights are extremely controversial and Blair students have typically been passionate about. We do not mean to condemn or support any one side of this debate by printing this advertisement; we simply need the money in order to survive as a paper.

Some Blair parents and alumni have been shocked by this advertisement, viewing it as an official statement of our support for the organization’s personal stance on sexual education and abortion rights. “School newspapers are no place to spread misinformation, especially when health is part of the discussion,” wrote 2013 alum Adam Maisto in a recent letter to the editor.

We can’t help but agree with the masses. Unfortunately, last year Planned Parenthood declined to advertise with the paper. Due to our financial situation, we were not in a position to turn down advertising from most organizations, even BirthRight. As Maisto explained, adolescence is an integral time for establishing opinions on controversial issues and many Blair students are still developing their personal ideology. Manipulative advertisements are the last thing we want our readers to be focusing on. Our first and foremost goal is to provide the truth to students.

We have decided to reach out to a local Planned Parenthood clinic for advertising in the paper.

Planned Parenthood is a clinic that provides abortion, sexual education and medical advice

for the public. It’s important for Silver Chips to provide both sides of this story. If we choose to accept money from one of these organizations, we want to make absolutely sure that we give the other side an equal chance to advertise. Hopefully Planned Parenthood will recognize the opportunity they have to provide students with options and accept an advertising contract. Until then we will continue to receive money from any reasonable organizations willing because we first and foremost want the paper run. Student journalism benefits the entire Blair community and we want

to do everything in our power to ensure this can be possible in the purest possible form. If you wish to donate to or support Silver Chips, contact our business staff at silverchips.business@gmail.com.

Never shy away from emailing me about inquiries or issues you have with paper, our door is always open at ombudsmansilverchips@ gmail.com.

Comments or concerns?

Email the Ombudsman at ombudsmansilverchips@gmail.com

Corrections Inside Chips should have said that Chips Clips was on D3, not D6.

The headline for the lead editorial on B4 should have read, “Pledging allegiance to political skepticism” with a second deck of “At Blair, patriotism is the courage to ask questions.”

The jump from the A1 story “SGA conducts second election” on A3 was incorrect.

The art for “Taking a trip down memory...hallways?” on C2 should have been credited to Elizabeth Pham, not Victoria Pham.

The graphic for “Play-offs bring a bittersweet end to spring sports” on F3 should have been credited to Leigh Cook.

Specials B6

silverchips

October 8, 2014

Morgan Wootten: Shaping players on and off the court

One of three high school coaches in the Basketball Hall of Fame The first basketball coach on any level to attain 1,200 wins did not do it for the money. He did it for the game.

Morgan Wootten, a Blair alumnus, is the epitome of this principle. Although Wootten received coaching offers from North Carolina State, Georgetown and American, he instead chose to coach at DeMatha High School for 48 years.

He continued to coach at the high school level because he believed that he would have a greater influence on students’ lives during their formative years. This year, Blair is inducting Wootten into our own alumni Hall of Fame.

Blair had a lasting impact on Morgan Wootten. His experience as a student during the late 1940’s convinced him that his heart was in coaching. Despite playing on both the football and basketball teams, Wootten was drawn to the challenge of coaching rather than to the action of playing. What inspired him to start coaching were the coaches and the role models he had at Blair. He recalls having

“tremendous coaches” at Blair who gave him all the tools he needed to be ready to go in life.

He took methods he learned from his coaches at Blair and used them at DeMatha. Wootten remembers the classroom as a very productive place and loved the environ-

“Do not let basketball use you, you must use basketball.”

-Morgan Wootten ment in which he grew up. “Being in Blair and Silver Spring was incredible, the memories were really fabulous,” he says, “Blair then as I am sure now, prepared us for life.”

Wootten was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Throughout his coaching career he maintained a spectacular win percentage of 87 percent.

ball. He always said, “Do not let basketball use you, you must use basketball.” The reason he stayed with DeMatha after receiving college coaching offers is that he could have a greater impact on high schoolers than on older players. His coaching philosophy is successful not only because of his 1,274-192 record but also because 24 of his students went on to play basketball at a professional level.

Wootten believed that high school was the place for him. “I found all the mountains I wanted to climb were right there at the high school level,” COURTESY OF USA TODAY he says. His pathway says. Priorities were the center of to success started at Blair, and he Wootten’s coaching philosophy. has never forgotten the wonderHe had an understanding of the ful times he had here. “If you are game that went beyond how most really happy in what you do you people see basketball. He believed should stick with it; money should it instilled values in students that not turn your head,” he says. could be used in the journey of life, Wo o t - t e n stood by his consuch as hard work and discipline. victions and his He sought to impact the lives commitof his players through basketments.

PAST

By William Zhu

. Silver Chi

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20 14

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ful in basketball or in the game of life, you have to have your priorities in the proper order,” Wootten

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BLAST

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In 1965, Wootten coached the most memorable game of his career. DeMatha played against Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul Jabbar) whose team from Power Memorial Academy in Manhattan had been undefeated throughout high school. Wootten’s team managed to defeat them by 3 points. Lew Alcindor went on to become the NBA’s highest scoring player of all time. While reminiscing about his years coaching at DeMatha Wootten says, “That was the first sellout in the history of Cole Field House. To this day, that is the game that launched high school basketball onto a national level.”

Despite all of his achievements as a coach, when asked what he believed to be his greatest accomplishment, Wootten mentioned his wife and his children. This affirms the priorities he sought to teach while at DeMatha which were: first God, second family, third academics and fourth basketball.

“If one really wants to be success-

19 3 7

By Julian Bregstone

COURTESY OF 1969 SILVER CHIPS

1930’s Blair only had about 550 “blairites” (the term used to refer to ourselves when Blair was at the Wayne Avenue campus) in attendance at the old campus on Wayne Avenue. That number slowly climbed over the 20th century and the school had to rely on portable classrooms to accommodate everyone. With the addition of the Science, Math and Computer Science Magnet Program in 1985 and the Communications and Arts Program in 1993, Blair’s population reached a breaking point and in 1998 the school moved to the current University Boulevard Campus, where it once again reached maximum capacity and portable buildings had to be built to accommodate the extra students. With the opening of Northwood High School, Blair’s population eased back below 3,000 students.

NOLA CHEN

2014 Every day, Blair Boulevard is jam packed with hundreds and maybe even thousands of students. Blair is like a town in many ways, complete with its very own police officer. It‘s hard to imagine any other Blair, but the upcoming 80th anniversary of Blair is sure to bring back images and memories of Blair that makes today’s school seem like an entirely different universe. Today, Blair has about 2,700 students. Combined with the staff, the population of Blair is greater than some small liberal arts colleges.

PHUONG VO

COURTESY OF 1958 SILVER CHIPS

1958 Blair had a rifle team that placed first in states, but it slowly fell out of popularity over the years and eventually disbanded in the 1990’s. Blazers play an active role in the societal issues of today and more than 70 years ago in the 1930’s, the students at Blair were no different. Back at the Wayne Avenue campus in the midst of World War II, war bond sales were common and Silver Chips even had advertisements for war bonds that were $5 each.

2014 Today, Blair has a variety of school activities to choose from. Activities range from a diverse selection of clubs to numerous theater productions to over 20 varsity sports. Be it science or social activism, there is something for every type of student to do. Despite having a closed campus during lunch, students find many ways to socialize with friends. Out in the hallway one can see the SGA putting up posters and selling tickets to the school dance and groups of friends engaging in a passionate discussion while sitting near some lockers. Outside the sound of students playing football and basketball fill the air with laughter and the sound of rubber smacking the pavement. Blair is not defined by its location or environment, but it is defined by the creativity and energy students bring to class every day.

B7 Special

October 8, 2014

silverchips

Alumni Weekend Schedule Alumni Association Golf Tournament Hampshire Greens Golf Course | 616 Firestone Drive, Silver Spring, MD

Friday,

Oct10

All proceeds go to the Alumni Association Scholarship Program

8:00am-3:00pm All-time, All-star Alumni Basketball Game Blair Gymnasium | 51 University Blvd. East, Silver Spring A $5.00 voluntary contribution to the booster club will be collected.

5:30pm-7:00pm Wayne Ave. Campus Nostalgia Tours 9:00am-11:00am Open House at Blair 51 University Blvd. East, Silver Spring

Saturday,

Oct11

A small entrance fee of $5.00 will be collected at the gate

11:00am – 2:00pm Saturday Night Class and Multi-Class Parties 1964 50th Anniversary Party Tommy Joe's in Bethesda Art Gonzales 1969 45th Anniversary Party Austin Grill Silver Spring Susan McQuay

1960's Multi-class McGinty's Pub in Silver Spring Mark Levin Class of 1963 Clydes Tower Oaks Chris Reichel

1970s Multi-Class Four Corner's Pub Joe Pavlock 1970s, 80s & 90s Multi-class Fire Station 1 on Georgia Ave Ron Carter

A Celebration of Life for Jim Wendt DoubleTree Inn | 8727 Colesville Road Silver Spring, Maryland No charge, the event is open to all who wish to join us.

4:00pm-7:00pm

Sunday,

Oct12

80th Anniversary Celebration | Hall of Fame Induction All-Class Reunion

Music Center at Strathmore | 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD This event WILL be a sellout. Don’t wait to get your tickets!

12:30pm-5:00pm

silverchips

October 8, 2014

Features C1

Fresh faces navigate fear and Blair Boulevard

Class of 2018 edges into Blazer life with schoolwork and new friends

By Leslie Chen

With schedules gripped in their hands, freshmen wander through the maze of hallways, trying to find their way to one of the 162 classrooms at Blair. Meanwhile, unending waves of bodies push up against them as they navigate through the chaos.

Blair is the biggest high school in all of Montgomery County, so it can be pretty shocking to see the masses of people, especially during the 5th/6th lunch switch. “It was terrifying. I thought that was the moment I was going to die,” says freshman Maya Hammond.

Freshmen like Sami Mallon, who travels from the TV studio to room 315, have schedules that force them to push through the crowded halls. “The main hallway is always really crowded and I end up being really late,” she states.

However, others have found that it is not terribly difficult to maneuver around the building. “I expected Blair to have extremely packed hallways in between classes, but to be honest, it isn’t as bad as I thought,” freshman Abby Landesman explains.

nervous,” she recounts.

Others heard rumors about a “Freshmen Hell Week” and the same stories spread to different groups of people. “I heard that some girl got her hair cut off. And I also heard that someone got dumped into a trash can. I was sort of scared because my friend Jeremy got me paranoid,” admits freshmen Aran Mazariegos.

Can I sit here?

Beck, who came to Blair from St. Bernadette School.

Not in middle school anymore

Forming new friendships can be fascinating, but high school is a time that is vital to each student’s future. Whether students are planning to attend college or find a career after they graduate from high school, everything that is done in their four years at Blair

Coming from middle schools all over the county, many freshmen discover that it is difficult to locate the same group of friends they have had for the past three years. “The first day was a little hard with finding old friends and where to sit [at lunch],” freshman Olivia Amitay says.Looking for your friends in a new place is already intimidating enough—imagine having to make completely new ones. Some freshmen are coming to Blair not knowing anyone and thus, they have found that the cafeteria provides a palette of individuals to form new friendships with.

This year is freshman Dondi Gancayco’s first year in a public school. Coming from Mater Dei School, an all-boys Catholic school in Bethesda, he has found that Blair is very different from his previous educational experience. “[Blair] is a lot bigger than private school was and there is also huge diversity here. At Mater Dei, it was just like a bunch of guys that play lacrosse,” says Gancayco.

Even in classes, not knowing anyone else can make for an uncomfortable situation. “I just don’t really talk to anyone,” freshman Clara Kershow recalls. Other times, some have found that even if they do try to talk to people, it may end up becoming even more awkward.

But, you may also end up making some new friends. “You say things like ‘I like your toenails’ and try to make conversation… that’s how I met Mina [Tzoukermann],” freshman Maddie Kershow explains.

Although this may be the case for some, most tend to find the social aspect of their classes rather enjoyable. “So far, my classes are interesting and I am fortunate enough to have classes with my friends,” freshman Valerie Ho exclaims.

Even if they have no friends in the class, freshmen like Amitay have taken advantage

the semester exams. “It is a lot more fastpaced. We always spent a lot of time on each topic in middle school,” says freshman Serena Debesai.

The amount of class time in high school also differs from that of middle school, which can also make a difference in speed that material is covered. “I went to Takoma [Park Middle School] and we had math every day, but now we only have it every other day so I thought it would be more fast-paced,” says freshman Cate Chisholm.

Blazer life

With so many creative minds at Blair, there are a multitude of activities to participate in. Whether someone wants to join a club for social change, such as Women’s Advocacy Club, or one that allows you time to indulge in personal interests, like Photography Club, there are many to choose from.

The Activities Fair, which took place on September 26 this year, allows students to learn about all of the clubs offered at Blair. AdditionStart of something new ally, there are 38 varsity or JV athletic teams that students can try out for.

It is possible to see a new face every day Unlike in middle school, stuat Blair, and this year on the first day of dents have the flexibility to join as school, there were 749 new faces from the many clubs as they please. “I was freshmen class. This year, Blair eliminated worried that I wouldn’t be able to the “Freshmen Day”, a tradition that only join clubs since I am already on the Blair had, where only freshman reported to soccer team. Being on soccer in middle school meant I couldn’t join the activities I wanted to,” Debesai says.

However, many Blair athletes SHIVANI MATTIKALLI also participate in numerous clubs at can determine their next step. “Colleges re- school. Ojha, for example, is on the varsity ally look at your involvement in school as boys’ soccer team and is also a member of well as your grades,” says senior Swetha Model UN and Biology Club.

From the homecoming pep rally to basThomas.

Seniors who are busy working on college ketball games, there are many social events applications often realize that what they that Blazers have the opportunity to particihave been doing from the moment they step pate in. At the football games in the fall, red into Blair will be factored into their applica- waves fill the student section of Blazer stadition. “You have to keep up your grades and um that is brimming with spirit. “I went to run for leadership positions in and out of the Blair versus Sherwood game and there school. Also, it is important to start in freshman year because it’s better than procrasti- Jason Amboo nating,” suggests senior Ashwin Ojha.

Therefore, the academic aspect of high school is indeed a significant part. From coloring in elementary school to worksheets in middle school, schoolwork gets more school on the first day. “It didn’t make sense difficult as students get older—and it only any more to have the [Freshmen Day] and continues to become more difficult. “I had we were the only school in MCPS that was to prepare myself for the bigger workload of doing this,” says freshmen Vice Principal high school, and Dirk CauI knew I would ley. Without have to manage a “Freshmy time better,” man Day”, says Ho. Teachthe first day ers also tend of school to expect more on Aug. 25 out of their stuwas hec-Abby Landesman dents. “They are tic. “There much stricter was a lot of with deadlines. confusion Freshmen Teachers don’t on the first Total Student Population cut you much were lots of Blazer fans and there was so day. Just a slack anymore,” much energy,” says Amboo. lot of runComing up on October 24 is the annual says Gretschel. ning back Even if there homecoming game, which is against Einand forth,” may not be work stein this year, and the homecoming dance freshman to complete, will take place the next day. The Student Jason Amstudying be- Government Association (SGA) is improvboo says. comes a part of ing homecoming from how it has been in “I only got a daily routine. years past. “SGA is changing the DJ that we lost once “I expected to usually have every year. This [new] compathough!” have a lot more ny is called Tommy Gatz Production. They chimes in homework, but I not only offer music, but take videos, phoAmboo’s think that so far, tos, set up a red carpet, have lights and pass f r i e n d , it is pretty con- out prizes,” explains senior class president freshman, Montgomery Blair Northwood Wheaton sistent with the Tigist Tadesse.

Grace GretCAMILLE ESTRIN Now into the second month of school, work I had in schel. middle school. freshmen have begun to settle into the Freshmen like Sofia Muñoz spent the days lead- of the diverse Blair population and allowed Except for the tests! On Friday I have a test groove of high school and ditched any anxiety that they had. In fact, many are begining up to the start of high school, worrying themselves to meet new people, rather than in every class,” Landesman exclaims.

The schoolwork in high school is at a ning to enjoy their new lives in high school. about all of the new changes the first day of stick to the comfort of those from middle school would bring. “My first day of school school. “I met [Natalie Daly] and [Abby higher difficulty than in middle school and “There is such a positive environment at was pretty overwhelming and I was very Willis] in my CAP classes,” says Carly teachers have to cover all the material before Blair,” says Gretschel.

“There was a lot of confusion on the first day.

Just a lo midnight then t of running back and forth.”

3500 3000

3024

2500

Comparing High School Student Populations

2000 1500

1593

1487

1000 500

0

749

547

525

“I expected Blair to have extremely packed hallways in between classes, but to be honest, it isn’t as bad as I thought,”

C2 Features

silverchips

October 8, 2014

Teenage runaways embark on a difficult path

Family conflict leads students to search elsewhere for a fresh start

By Eleanor Harris

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

Daniela’s cell phone would not stop ringing. She sat on her boyfriend’s couch, nervously trying to decide what to do. Had her mother really filed a police report? Was her boyfriend going to be arrested? And should she answer her mom’s phone call and agree to go back home?

Daniela, a junior at Blair, is one of the 1.6 million teenagers that run away each year, according to the National Runaway Safeline (NRS). Caitlin Buckley, director of community relations at Montgomery County youth shelter Hearts and Homes, reports that approximately 65 percent of the teenagers served by the shelter are runaways.

For most teens, running away is a last resort. “It is hard to imagine that a teenager would take as drastic and potentially dangerous an action as running away if they felt safe, understood, and supported at home,” says Dr. Robert Chase, a family psychologist.

Away from home, however, runaway youth experience an increased likelihood of highrisk behaviors, mental health problems and low school attendance, according to the NRS. At Blair and across the country, runaways face problems at home and on the street.

‘We didn’t belong’ As Jennifer grew up, household conflict was not uncommon. “When [my older sister] was a teenager, my mom and she would get

into arguments, and it’d get pretty physical,” Jennifer says. “I figured, that’s normal.”

Her sister ran away multiple times, and when Jennifer began fighting with her mothe r, s h e l e f t h o m e , t o o .

Family issues like Jennifer’s often cause youth to run away. “Teenagers leave home or are told to leave for a number of reasons, but family conflict underlies most of these,” University of California family researcher D r. N o r weeta Milburn says.

J e n n i f e r bounced between staying with her mother and living in foster and group homes. “I really just went from placement to placement to placement,” she says.

O f t e n times, when she lived with h e r m o t h e r, c o n f l i c t e nsued. “[My sister and I] ran away because we felt like we didn’t belong,” Jennifer remembers. “ We f e l t like [our mother] didn’t love us and we were a mistake.”

VICTORIA TSAI L i k e J e n n i f e r, Daniela ran away from home after a heated argument with her mother. After their fight, Daniela retreated to her room,

called her boyfriend to pick her up, and left for two days. “She started screaming that I was lying to her,” Daniela says. “She was like, ‘Go to your room!’ I went to my room, put on my shoes, and ran out.” Daniela ran away for the second time after her mother discovered that she had a boyfriend.

‘A dangerous way to live’ Jennifer soon began regularly leaving home. “I started running away for longer times, like, a couple of days,” she says.

“And from there it was a week, two weeks.”

She stayed with her sister’s friends. “I [was] hanging out with her friends who were a lot older, in their twenties, 21, 22, and I was 13,” Jennifer recalls. Soon, she began adopting the habits of those around her. “I started smoking a little bit, drinking a little bit,” she says.

Dr. Ruby Martinez, professor at the University of Colorado’s School of Nursing, says that Jennifer’s experience is common.

Many runaway teens experiment with drugs.

Teens living on the street, unlike Jennifer, experience an even higher rate of drug use.

The challenges faced by teen runaways can lead to other high-risk situations. “Living on the street means being at the mercy of anyone who offers you shelter or food, a dangerous way to live,” Dr. Martinez says.

After leaving one foster home, Jennifer moved in with her boyfriend. “We lived together for a good four months and stuff got ugly,” Jennifer recalls. “He started being abusive and stuff, and so I asked my mom if I could come back [home]. And she said no.”

‘I have to come back’ Twice, Daniela returned home after her mother filed a police report. Her boyfriend, worried that he would get in trouble, encouraged her to contact her mother. “I called

her that same day,” Daniela says about the first time she ran away. “Her voice, when she knew it was me, it was so happy that I was okay. That’s what made me feel bad and I was like, I have to come back.”

Daniela and her mother are working to strengthen and improve their relationship. Her mother has agreed to meet Daniela’s boyfriend, and Daniela does not believe she will run away again.

Jennifer also returned home after her mother conceded. However, their relationship is tenuous. “It’s still the same,” she says.

Jennifer is enrolling at Blair to finish her senior year. In the future, she wants to be a foster mom to help children who struggled like she did, she says. “I really want to help kids that were also in my situation,” she explains. “Whatever their problems are, I want to reach out to them and tell them that it’s going to be okay.”

Not the first option

Daniela hopes that Blazers do not see running away as their first option. “At the moment, it may seem like a good idea,” she admits. However, as someone who knows the realities of leaving home, she disagrees.

“Your parents could be really worried; they could think that something really bad happened to you and you’re gone,” she says.

Jennifer agrees, and advises teens to establish a support system. “Surround yourself with positive people, friends that you can trust,” she says.

Counselor Emily Putney concurs. “We don’t ever want people to feel like they’re alone or have nobody to talk to,” she says.

If you are thinking of running away or know someone who is, contact the National Runaway Hotline at 1-800-RUNAWAY (calls), 66008 (texts), or www.1800RUNAWAY.com.

The limit does not exist: Mr. Roth’s dedication to teaching During his 46 year career, one teacher has always focused on what matters most

By Sarah Hutter

social, and even in his health, as he has dealt with several medical challenges, including cancer. No matter what may be happening in his personal life, however, Roth has always strived to put his students first.

riding the bus with students to ensure their safety, and police would guard the school on 12-hour shifts.

A student quietly walks into Milton Roth’s office during fifth period, Teaching at Blair and is immediately and cheerfully addressed by the teacher. “Do you When he have a premoved to calc textbook Montgomery I can use?” the County to student asks, teach at Blair and Roth two years latquickly and er, Roth did eagerly gets not experiup to look for ence the same one. He’s very amount of ralaid-back and cial tension. approachAlthough the able, making school was him a favorpredomiite among nantly white students, but in the sixties, he takes his he liked that job seriously.

Blair was a “He’s very very acceptthorough,” ing school for says Margo people of difHarvey, a juferent races. nior in Roth’s “There were sixth-period ZEKE WAPNER cliques,” Pre-calculus he admits. c l a s s . “ H e ALWAYS AROUND Roth makes himself accessible to students in math help.

“What made always goes through and explains everything.

Roth’s first teaching posi- me feel like this was a good place He’s very methodical.” Sophomore tion was at Bok Technical High was that there was a mixture, Sylvie Weissman agrees, adding School in South Philadelphia. The black and white kids hanging out.”

Throughout his time at Blair, that Roth seems to care about his school was located in a predomistudents’ performance and under- nantly white Italian neighbor- Roth has watched the makeup of the standing. “Mr. Roth is a really per- hood, and one of the first things student body change. “The biggest sonal teacher,” she says. “He gets Roth experienced while he was change, I guess, is the demographinvolved with every student during there was the controversial busing ics,” says Roth. When he first came class, making sure that everyone is of black students to the school. to Blair, the student body was prekeeping up and understanding.”

The busing upset some residents dominantly white, with a minority While various students look up of the school district, who claimed of black students. Now, the school to Roth as a terrific math teacher, that the black students were creating is much more diverse, and stumany of them don’t know his disturbances in the neighborhood, dents from all different ethnic and rich personal history, both in and but Roth saw past their complaints. cultural backgrounds attend Blair. outside of Blair. This is his forty- “They’d knock over trash cans,” Medical Struggles sixth year teaching at Blair, but his explains Roth. “It was a ‘kids will teaching career actually began in be kids’ kind of thing.” After the Recently, Roth has faced a new 1967. Since then, he has witnessed school received threats, teachers, all sorts of changes—educational, including Roth, would take turns challenge: his faltering health. Five

years ago, he was diagnosed with it’s just a question of how much Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, time should there be between two a type of cancer that affects white major surgeries,” says Roth, addblood cells. While cancer is a serious ing that he would like to put it diagnosis, Chronic Lymphocytic off as much as possible. “One of Leukemia progresses more slowly the reasons I’d like to put it off is than most other cancers, and can I have an AP class this year,” he be controlled. When he was first says. “I’d feel bad for the kids.” diagnosed, Roth did nothing for three years. “There is no treatment, Putting his students first no cure. The protocol is just to monitor cell counts,” explains Roth. After Roth has continuously tried to three years, his white blood cell ensure his medical difficulties do count doubled, and he underwent not affect his teaching. He rarely chemotherapy for four months in mentioned his chemotherapy to 2011. Since finishing chemotherapy, students while it was happening, Roth has gone back to simply moni- and tried not to take more than a toring his white blood cell count, week off at a time. Although he kept and maintaining a positive attitude his cancer relatively quiet, students about his health. “As I tell people, and staff made sure to show their if you have leukemia, mine is the compassion to one of their favorite way to go,” says Roth. teachers. “They were really supRoth’s medical portive and would ask how struggles didn’t end I was feeling,” says Roth. t h e re . H i s d o c Throughout his career tors discovered at Blair, Roth has benefitthat the numted from the sense of comber of platelets munity among the staff. in his body had “Years ago, not only did dropped due to an I know everybody, there autoimmune probwas a group of us who lem. Without sufwould get together ficient platelets, every other Friday which are and play cards,” blood cells says Roth. “We whose called it the function math study group.” is to stop bleeding, This aspect of Blair’s Roth had to have a culture is one of the platelet transfusion. Durmany reasons why Roth BEN SAFFORD ing this process he learned never left Blair. “Part of the that he had diverticulitis, reason is I really did enjoy it, a disease that affects the colon. almost all the time,” he explains.

In May, Roth had major surgery “I never dreaded getting up in to treat his diverticulitis, but this the morning and going to work.” did not fix the low platelet count. Although he’s been working at Currently, Roth has to have Blair for so long, Roth isn’t ready weekly injections to keep his plate- to leave. “I’m not sure I’m ready let count up, and his doctor is to retire just yet,” he says. “I feel recommending surgery, which will so great, I still enjoy teaching.” have a longer-term effect. “Now

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October 8, 2014

When the dearly departed turn around and come back

Blair students recount stories of near-death experiences and their aftereffects from NDEs page A1 asking me if I was okay,” Clarke says. The sophomore was fine, if a bit shaken. However, Clarke says her experience didn’t really change her life. “Yeah, I stay in the shallow water now,” she says with a laugh. “But I still don’t know how to swim.”

‘It felt like sleeping’ Junior Melinda Tran’s NDE had a more significant impact on her everyday life.

When she was in middle school, Tran had an unexpected emergency. “One day, I just collapsed at school,” Tran says. It was an asthma attack. Unfortunately, because Tran was unaware of her asthma, she didn’t carry an inhaler or know what to do when the attack started. Instead, Tran says, “They had to rush me to the hospital in a wheelchair.”

At the hospital, nurses attempted to combat the attack with an oxygen mask. However, Tran’s lungs had closed off too tightly, and she was unable to inhale enough oxygen to stay alive, no matter how desperately she tried. Breath by breath, Tran suffocated, eventually passing out. To this day, she remembers the beep of the heart monitor as it flat-lined. And amazingly, she remembers what happened next, in the minute or so she was clinically dead. “All I saw was dark, and then I heard the shock thing, and I was back,” she says. The junior pauses, then looks up. “It felt like I was sleeping.”

Today, Tran is careful to avoid situations that might trigger her asthma. She carries an inhaler, and she doesn’t play sports. She’s cautious. But she’s not really afraid of dying any more. Tran knows that death feels like peace.

This kind of realization is a common aftereffect of NDEs. According to Dr. Jan Holden, former president of the International Association for Near Death Studies and NDE researcher, “The great majority of survivors of NDEs lose their fear of death, because they know from experience that their consciousness isn’t going to die alongside their body.”

For Holden, that particular facet of NDEs, the idea that they can reveal fundamental truths about human consciousness, is one of the main reasons to study the phenomenon.

“They’re not like hallucinations. They’re not like dreams. They’re a different state of consciousness, in which people observe things they cannot have physically experienced,” she says.

Defining a phenomenon Currently, there is no real scientific consensus on how to define NDEs, much less what causes them. One proposed definition, from the IANDS, is “an experience of ongoing consciousness and altered co ns ciousness during a period near death.” But some people claim that they have had NDEs without actually coming close to death, and others object to the perceived vagueness of -Melinda Tran that definition.

However you define ‘neardeath experience,’ though, one thing is clear: they’re not just a result of wishful projection.

There is no apparent correlation between religious beliefs and NDEs, and age, gender, race, education, and culture likewise have no impact on the likelihood of having an NDE. Even the very young can have neardeath experiences, as freshman Raquel Revelo knows. Three weeks after her parents brought newborn Revelo home from the hospital, she suddenly turned blue and stopped breathing. They rushed her to the hospital, where the doctors pronounced it hypothermia and put comatose Revelo on life support. She was brain dead for about an hour to an hour and a half before the head doctor sat her parents down and gently

SIMONE PEREZ-GARCIA

CONCIOUSNESS AFTER DEATH Junior Simone Perez-Garcia created this image to reflect her understanding of near-death experiences. It depicts a skull with brain intact, juxtaposing the seat of conciousness with a potent symbol of death to evoke the duality of a near death experience-- the way in which experiencers feel a sense of conciousness even after physical death. broke it to them that he might have to take her off life support. Luckily for Revelo, her heart monitor soon began to beep. She woke up shortly after, and her parents were able to take her home.

Revelo is careful to explain that she can’t be certain of her near-death memories. “I was a newborn, so I don’t remember much,” she says. But she does remember that she could hear things during her coma—her parents, footsteps, the doctors talking quietly—even though she was legally dead and couldn’t move any part of her body.

At age 13, freshman Junior Valdez had a similar experience. He was at a party with his friends, drinking and dancing and having a good time. At one point, he was sitting on a chair and realized that he couldn’t get up. Somehow, he’d drunk far too much. Valdez’s muscles gave out, and he collapsed on the floor. He hazily remembers his friend trying to get him to stand up or somehow react. The friend was saying something, he remembers, but Valdez had no idea what it was.

And then he was at the hospital.

“It was flashing.

The doctors were everywhere. They were trying to hold me down, because I was struggling,” he recalls. Valdez says his heart stopped beating, but that, like Revelo, he saw the doctors anyway.

According to Holden, this is “very characteris- Junior tic of a NDE.” She says that people often retain a sense of consciousness even after their bodies have stopped functioning. And as more and more people are brought back from cardiac arrest due to medical advancements,

“All I saw was dark, and then I heard the shock thing and I was back.

It felt like sleeping.”

Holden says, stories like Revelo’s and Valdez’s are on the rise.

The religious experience Even though atheists and true believers are equally likely to be have NDEs, according to the International Association for Near-Death Studies 98 percent of those who report an NDE say they now believe in life after death. Many of those who have had NDEs believe they saw religious figures, deceased loved ones, or a higher power made out of light.

Some scientists argue that NDEs may have contributed to the origin of religious mythology.

Others believe that the experiences prove the existence of a higher spiritual plane. Either way, it’s certain that the religious aspect of the NDE holds a powerful allure for the American public. For example, the 2010 book Heaven is For Real recounts the story of 4-year-old Colton Burpo’s NDE and its repercussions on his family’s faith; the little boy says that, while being operated on, he saw Heaven and met his grandfather, now young again, as well as the baby sister his mother miscarried. He also claims to have met Jesus and various other figures from the traditions of Christianity. The book reached number one on the New Valdez York Times Bestsellers list and was made in to a 2014 film, which brought in millions in the box office.

But can NDEs really prove that, well, “heaven is for real?” Holden doesn’t think so. “From a purely scientific perspective,”

“It was flashing. The doctors were everywhere. They were trying to hold me down, because I was struggling.”

she says, “NDEs can never support the idea of ongoing consciousness after death.” After all, everyone who has had a NDE came back. Clarke, Tran, Revelo and Valdez may well have experienced something beyond life, but they may just as easily not have.

NDEs might be the product of endorphins, lack of oxygen to the brain, temporal lobe stimulation, the brain attempting to resolve trauma or any other number of things.

But if asked for her personal, non-scientific opinion, Holden will hesitate a little, and then tell you: “Yes. I believe in the survival of consciousness after death.”

“They’re not like hallucinations. They’re not like dreams. They’re a different state of conciousness.”

-Dr. Jan Holden

Near-death uncertainty

NDEs are confusing, messy things. They’re hard to define, hard to study, and easily get mixed up with all kinds of religious views.

But they may also hold the key to secrets about the human consciousness and the human experience.

Dr. Holden says that she studies NDEs “to understand more what our consciousness is capable of.” After all, NDEs raise a huge number of questions. Current scientific knowledge cannot explain the light Britanya Clarke saw as her vision was going black, or confirm that death really feels like sleeping, as Melinda Tran experienced it. Nor can it reveal how Raquel Revelo and Junior Valdez were able to perceive events around them, even while legally dead. At the end of the day, what happens near death is still a mystery.

October 8, 2014

Features C4/C5

silverchips

Do you feel that drug use is prevalent among Blazers?

the

dime bag

The inner workings of Blair’s illegal drug market

"Yes, there is a lot of drug use at Blair. People sell, use, and hide drugs on the premises.

Security isn't everywhere so they can’t find it. I hear people in the hallways talking about where they get their drugs from." - Sherry Rollins, sophomore "Drug use is very prevalent among Blazers. I have seen many people smoking outside during lunch. Drug use is so prevalent that many schools refer to Blair as the Blair Blaze-its." - Sandeep David, sophomore

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

“G

et the strap, get the f**king strap!” shouts Patrick’s friend as he tries to force the door shut. He and two other boys are pushing as hard as they can on the door while three adult men push the other way, trying to break into his basement. The high schoolers defending the property are starting to lose ground, giving way to the much larger burglars. Just before these men break through, Patrick’s friend opens a window and points a gun at the intruders. “Get the f**k out!” he shouts, and the men run down the street empty handed, ducking for cover.

“I knew something was wrong,” says Patrick, recalling a close encounter over the summer, “They only used to ask me for [grams] and [1/8th ounces] and this time they hit me up for two [full ounces].” He pauses briefly, shaking his head and smiling regretfully. “I don’t know why I did it.”

Patrick, a Blair senior, is sitting on an unmade bed with Dan and Allen, two close friends, on a Friday afternoon.

Lying on the bed between them is a bag of marijuana bigger than a basketball, along with a digital scale and a scattered pile of sandwich-sized plastic bags. The trio is working together to break down the enormous clump of weed into sellable amounts. “We’ve got a lot of swerves coming through today, so we gotta break this tree down,” explains Patrick.

The “swerves” show up about every 15 minutes. Some as young as 14 or 15, others as old as 30 saunter into Dan’s Silver Spring residence. Usually in and out in less than two minutes, the typical customer enters the room, greets everyone within reach with a slap of the palm, hands over a wad of bills, and leaves with his “zip.” Some will stay a few extra minutes to inhale from Patrick’s two foot-tall bong, which is always rotating around the circle as the dealers work. “Fridays are the best money days,” says Patrick. “We just sell weed and smoke.” Before each buyer leaves, they salute one another with a ritualistic “be safe.”

Terry, a Blair junior, is a mid-level dealer. He buys an ounce, which he’ll sell most of and then smoke the rest. “A lot of people deal for that reason, they just like smoking weed and dealing is an easy way to smoke yourself up on free weed.” Another middle-man, Allen, saw a largely desired, yet unaddressed opportunity in his neighborhood to sell some marijuana. “It was the end of the school year, so I just decided I’d start pushing because no one in Takoma sold,” explains Allen. “Takoma was just dry.” The people that show up to Dan’s house are not just buying their weekend’s personal supply, but rather are the next rung down in the supply ladder.

Patrick and Dan rely on dealers like these, choosing not to involve themselves with risky small-quantity sales, instead supplying others to do those deals for them. “I’m not selling dubs and sh*t,” says Patrick. “For the first six months, I was just doing it to smoke for free, but then, I decided that I’m good at it, so I might as well make some

23.4%

money, and sh*t flew, it went crazy.”

Even prior to distributing it among their peers, each dealer has his own way of purchasing his stash. “The hardest part of drug dealing is getting started,” Terry explains, “You always need a supplier, no one actually grows their own weed. That doesn’t happen, at least not around here.”

After making the initial purchases, Patrick and Dan use the system of “fronting” to distribute their product.

“Fronted weed is basically when the drug dealer loans you weed and you pay them back money,” explains Allen.

The suspicious handing-off of baggies within darkened street corners isn’t as glamorous as Hollywood portrays, but fronting may be as close as it gets.

If Terry, or another mid-level dealer, doesn’t have the money to pay their suppliers back, consequences will unfold. “It’s kind of sketchy because if I don’t get the money to him, I owe him like $600,” Allen says.

This owed money is not taken lightly either. For Patrick, a close friendship is perhaps all that can excuse a debt. “It’s happened before. Victor got robbed a few months ago and lost me 1400 dollars,” Patrick says, gesturing over to his frowning friend. “But I had to take the “L” because those guys had guns.”

Others who failed to pay Patrick back have not been so lucky. A group of boys who had owed him money for an

“I decided that I’m good at it so I might as well make some money” ounce of weed, managing to get away without paying.

Furious, Patrick loaded up his car (for which he has no license to drive) with his friends and his weapons, asked around his networks for the boys’ addresses, and started

of high school students said they recently

smoked marijuana

SOURCES: CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, NATIONAL CENTER ON ADDICTION AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

40%

knocking on doors. Not only did he get back the money he was owed, but he actually threatened each boy into paying an amount decided by Patrick, thus finishing the job with double the amount that he lost. “We don’t give a f**k, when you rob us, you’re gonna be paying,” chuckles Patrick. “I made their a**es broke.”

Unfortunately, robberies and disputes like these are not uncommon in the dog-eat-dog game of drug dealing.

Each dealer has their own strategies to avoid these confrontations, or to protect themselves and their product once one starts. Patrick has a secure in-wall hiding place for his day-to-day goods, behind the door he’s had reinforced since his incident this summer. He’s also taken a shovel to the dirt and buried most of his earnings in a location not even his closest friends could pinpoint.

Similarly, Dan says he makes sure to always hide the bulk of his product when buyers enter his room, trying to seem like he has nothing worth stealing. Since Terry’s last robbery, he now carries a knife with him. And as for the guns that saved Patrick’s supply in the break-in story?

“Don’t worry about that,” he says with a straight face, revealing nothing.

In addition to the dangers of thieves and untrustworthy dealers, anyone involved in the drug game is in constant and intense danger from legal forms of justice.

Schools are especially careful about drug dealing taking place on campus. Principal Renay Johnson reiterates that getting caught on school campus is very much like getting caught in the real world. “Montgomery County Police has the right to be in our schools and police our schools. I often have to remind parents that SRO’s are police officers, they’re not like security officers,” she asserts. “So if the SRO sees a crime being committed or a child is in possession of something illegal, they will make an arrest.”

As soon as the security team receives an anonymous tip on a student, they then have reasonable belief to call a student down to self-search his or her backpack. Even though Johnson explains that the new Code of Conduct has been changed to alleviate the severity of the consequences for some infractions, including drug use on campus, the Student Resource Officer will take immediate action. “Unfortunately, sometimes they arrest students and charge them on paper,” Johnson remarks, “and other times they arrest them and take them to the police station.” Johnson adds that schools this year will try to withhold excessive expulsions by basing the consequences on the severity of the crime. However, distribution on campus is one that warrants the most significant punishment--expulsion.

Since Dan started dealing in 7th grade, he has been suspended from school, arrested multiple times, put through several rehabilitation clinics, sent to a Juvenile detention center, and is currently on legal probation for “hitting a lick” (breaking and entering) last summer. “I used [rehab] to my advantage because it changed me

of high school students said they could buy

marijuana within a day

greatly, a lot of people don’t see it because I don’t express myself very well, but my mental process changed a lot after that,” Dan confesses, “Drugs [do]not matter as much as they used to.”

Patrick has been luckier. He’s never been arrested or apprehended by anyone other than his mother for his drug-related activities. But it could come at any time. He once ordered a half pound online, but a bad vendor made

“It’s a money addiction” it easy for the package to be identified and intercepted by police. Although police can’t arrest anyone for what is sent to their house, they can at least take note of it. “That’s how my house got red flagged,” he says.

This constant awareness of the risk influences Blair’s marijuana dealers to only extend their careers so far. Terry explains that he will only continue “until the end of high school, as long as everything goes well with the dealing.”

He is aware of an important cut-off for the forgiving nature of marijuana-related crimes. “Once you’re 18, if you get caught by the police, it’s a lot harder,” he says.

Patrick and Dan are also aware of this impending change, although Dan has to remind Patrick of its severity.

“I think you should stop before something bad happens” he warns, gesturing at the mass of marijuana between them. “If you get caught with this, you’re going to jail.

You’ll be tried as an adult, and you’re f**ked. You’re going to jail for most likely over a year, you’ll be a felon for the rest of your life, and you’re going to regret it.” Patrick acknowledges this, nodding with a worried look.

“Honestly, I’ve been telling myself ever since I started trapping, that on my 18th birthday I would quit, but it would be way too easy to make a lot

of money,” Patrick says. “It’s money addiction.”

Both Patrick and Dan also have some personal factors encouraging them to quit. Dan lives with his mother, who just recently kicked him out after a fight involving marijuana. “It’s ridiculous, my mom is the only person I’d put my life on the line for,” he vents.

“Yeah,” Patrick agrees. “I love my mom, and my sister is everything to me.” “They’ve never been in the house while something dangerous has happened, but I’ve been successfully robbed one time, and then other times people have tried and that’s what would put my family in danger.”

The lavish wardrobes and lifestyles teen dealers can maintain through their profits is part of the rewards. “I have enough money saved up to be chilling after college for a little bit,” says Patrick. “I’ll go until I’m 18, we’ll see how much I have.”

How much exactly does he have saved? Once again, “don’t worry about it.”

For now, most Blair dealers are doing ok. Dan and Patrick are both earning GPAs well above 3.0, did well on their SATs, are working on college application essays, and have high hopes for their futures. Dan remains optimistic even as he recalls a time when his body had experienced such extreme withdrawal from Xanax that when he ceased his consumption after about 10 days, he abruptly lost his ability to move. “I should have died, I should be dead,” Dan asserts, shuddering, “But I’m here today and there’s a reason for it, I don’t know why, but sh*t, I’m living. And that’s that.” In contrast, Johnson issues a warning, “It may seem glamorous, it may seem tough. But in 10 years from now, let’s see who’s where. At the high school reunion, who’s not going to be there?”

$

Story by Wesley Hopkins and Maris Medina Design by Grace Woodward Art by Elizabeth Pham

October 8, 2014

Features C4/C5

silverchips

Do you feel that drug use is prevalent among Blazers?

the

dime bag

The inner workings of Blair’s illegal drug market

"Yes, there is a lot of drug use at Blair. People sell, use, and hide drugs on the premises.

Security isn't everywhere so they can’t find it. I hear people in the hallways talking about where they get their drugs from." - Sherry Rollins, sophomore "Drug use is very prevalent among Blazers. I have seen many people smoking outside during lunch. Drug use is so prevalent that many schools refer to Blair as the Blair Blaze-its." - Sandeep David, sophomore

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

“G

et the strap, get the f**king strap!” shouts Patrick’s friend as he tries to force the door shut. He and two other boys are pushing as hard as they can on the door while three adult men push the other way, trying to break into his basement. The high schoolers defending the property are starting to lose ground, giving way to the much larger burglars. Just before these men break through, Patrick’s friend opens a window and points a gun at the intruders. “Get the f**k out!” he shouts, and the men run down the street empty handed, ducking for cover.

“I knew something was wrong,” says Patrick, recalling a close encounter over the summer, “They only used to ask me for [grams] and [1/8th ounces] and this time they hit me up for two [full ounces].” He pauses briefly, shaking his head and smiling regretfully. “I don’t know why I did it.”

Patrick, a Blair senior, is sitting on an unmade bed with Dan and Allen, two close friends, on a Friday afternoon.

Lying on the bed between them is a bag of marijuana bigger than a basketball, along with a digital scale and a scattered pile of sandwich-sized plastic bags. The trio is working together to break down the enormous clump of weed into sellable amounts. “We’ve got a lot of swerves coming through today, so we gotta break this tree down,” explains Patrick.

The “swerves” show up about every 15 minutes. Some as young as 14 or 15, others as old as 30 saunter into Dan’s Silver Spring residence. Usually in and out in less than two minutes, the typical customer enters the room, greets everyone within reach with a slap of the palm, hands over a wad of bills, and leaves with his “zip.” Some will stay a few extra minutes to inhale from Patrick’s two foot-tall bong, which is always rotating around the circle as the dealers work. “Fridays are the best money days,” says Patrick. “We just sell weed and smoke.” Before each buyer leaves, they salute one another with a ritualistic “be safe.”

Terry, a Blair junior, is a mid-level dealer. He buys an ounce, which he’ll sell most of and then smoke the rest. “A lot of people deal for that reason, they just like smoking weed and dealing is an easy way to smoke yourself up on free weed.” Another middle-man, Allen, saw a largely desired, yet unaddressed opportunity in his neighborhood to sell some marijuana. “It was the end of the school year, so I just decided I’d start pushing because no one in Takoma sold,” explains Allen. “Takoma was just dry.” The people that show up to Dan’s house are not just buying their weekend’s personal supply, but rather are the next rung down in the supply ladder.

Patrick and Dan rely on dealers like these, choosing not to involve themselves with risky small-quantity sales, instead supplying others to do those deals for them. “I’m not selling dubs and sh*t,” says Patrick. “For the first six months, I was just doing it to smoke for free, but then, I decided that I’m good at it, so I might as well make some

23.4%

money, and sh*t flew, it went crazy.”

Even prior to distributing it among their peers, each dealer has his own way of purchasing his stash. “The hardest part of drug dealing is getting started,” Terry explains, “You always need a supplier, no one actually grows their own weed. That doesn’t happen, at least not around here.”

After making the initial purchases, Patrick and Dan use the system of “fronting” to distribute their product.

“Fronted weed is basically when the drug dealer loans you weed and you pay them back money,” explains Allen.

The suspicious handing-off of baggies within darkened street corners isn’t as glamorous as Hollywood portrays, but fronting may be as close as it gets.

If Terry, or another mid-level dealer, doesn’t have the money to pay their suppliers back, consequences will unfold. “It’s kind of sketchy because if I don’t get the money to him, I owe him like $600,” Allen says.

This owed money is not taken lightly either. For Patrick, a close friendship is perhaps all that can excuse a debt. “It’s happened before. Victor got robbed a few months ago and lost me 1400 dollars,” Patrick says, gesturing over to his frowning friend. “But I had to take the “L” because those guys had guns.”

Others who failed to pay Patrick back have not been so lucky. A group of boys who had owed him money for an

“I decided that I’m good at it so I might as well make some money” ounce of weed, managing to get away without paying.

Furious, Patrick loaded up his car (for which he has no license to drive) with his friends and his weapons, asked around his networks for the boys’ addresses, and started

of high school students said they recently

smoked marijuana

SOURCES: CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, NATIONAL CENTER ON ADDICTION AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

40%

knocking on doors. Not only did he get back the money he was owed, but he actually threatened each boy into paying an amount decided by Patrick, thus finishing the job with double the amount that he lost. “We don’t give a f**k, when you rob us, you’re gonna be paying,” chuckles Patrick. “I made their a**es broke.”

Unfortunately, robberies and disputes like these are not uncommon in the dog-eat-dog game of drug dealing.

Each dealer has their own strategies to avoid these confrontations, or to protect themselves and their product once one starts. Patrick has a secure in-wall hiding place for his day-to-day goods, behind the door he’s had reinforced since his incident this summer. He’s also taken a shovel to the dirt and buried most of his earnings in a location not even his closest friends could pinpoint.

Similarly, Dan says he makes sure to always hide the bulk of his product when buyers enter his room, trying to seem like he has nothing worth stealing. Since Terry’s last robbery, he now carries a knife with him. And as for the guns that saved Patrick’s supply in the break-in story?

“Don’t worry about that,” he says with a straight face, revealing nothing.

In addition to the dangers of thieves and untrustworthy dealers, anyone involved in the drug game is in constant and intense danger from legal forms of justice.

Schools are especially careful about drug dealing taking place on campus. Principal Renay Johnson reiterates that getting caught on school campus is very much like getting caught in the real world. “Montgomery County Police has the right to be in our schools and police our schools. I often have to remind parents that SRO’s are police officers, they’re not like security officers,” she asserts. “So if the SRO sees a crime being committed or a child is in possession of something illegal, they will make an arrest.”

As soon as the security team receives an anonymous tip on a student, they then have reasonable belief to call a student down to self-search his or her backpack. Even though Johnson explains that the new Code of Conduct has been changed to alleviate the severity of the consequences for some infractions, including drug use on campus, the Student Resource Officer will take immediate action. “Unfortunately, sometimes they arrest students and charge them on paper,” Johnson remarks, “and other times they arrest them and take them to the police station.” Johnson adds that schools this year will try to withhold excessive expulsions by basing the consequences on the severity of the crime. However, distribution on campus is one that warrants the most significant punishment--expulsion.

Since Dan started dealing in 7th grade, he has been suspended from school, arrested multiple times, put through several rehabilitation clinics, sent to a Juvenile detention center, and is currently on legal probation for “hitting a lick” (breaking and entering) last summer. “I used [rehab] to my advantage because it changed me

of high school students said they could buy

marijuana within a day

greatly, a lot of people don’t see it because I don’t express myself very well, but my mental process changed a lot after that,” Dan confesses, “Drugs [do]not matter as much as they used to.”

Patrick has been luckier. He’s never been arrested or apprehended by anyone other than his mother for his drug-related activities. But it could come at any time. He once ordered a half pound online, but a bad vendor made

“It’s a money addiction” it easy for the package to be identified and intercepted by police. Although police can’t arrest anyone for what is sent to their house, they can at least take note of it. “That’s how my house got red flagged,” he says.

This constant awareness of the risk influences Blair’s marijuana dealers to only extend their careers so far. Terry explains that he will only continue “until the end of high school, as long as everything goes well with the dealing.”

He is aware of an important cut-off for the forgiving nature of marijuana-related crimes. “Once you’re 18, if you get caught by the police, it’s a lot harder,” he says.

Patrick and Dan are also aware of this impending change, although Dan has to remind Patrick of its severity.

“I think you should stop before something bad happens” he warns, gesturing at the mass of marijuana between them. “If you get caught with this, you’re going to jail.

You’ll be tried as an adult, and you’re f**ked. You’re going to jail for most likely over a year, you’ll be a felon for the rest of your life, and you’re going to regret it.” Patrick acknowledges this, nodding with a worried look.

“Honestly, I’ve been telling myself ever since I started trapping, that on my 18th birthday I would quit, but it would be way too easy to make a lot

of money,” Patrick says. “It’s money addiction.”

Both Patrick and Dan also have some personal factors encouraging them to quit. Dan lives with his mother, who just recently kicked him out after a fight involving marijuana. “It’s ridiculous, my mom is the only person I’d put my life on the line for,” he vents.

“Yeah,” Patrick agrees. “I love my mom, and my sister is everything to me.” “They’ve never been in the house while something dangerous has happened, but I’ve been successfully robbed one time, and then other times people have tried and that’s what would put my family in danger.”

The lavish wardrobes and lifestyles teen dealers can maintain through their profits is part of the rewards. “I have enough money saved up to be chilling after college for a little bit,” says Patrick. “I’ll go until I’m 18, we’ll see how much I have.”

How much exactly does he have saved? Once again, “don’t worry about it.”

For now, most Blair dealers are doing ok. Dan and Patrick are both earning GPAs well above 3.0, did well on their SATs, are working on college application essays, and have high hopes for their futures. Dan remains optimistic even as he recalls a time when his body had experienced such extreme withdrawal from Xanax that when he ceased his consumption after about 10 days, he abruptly lost his ability to move. “I should have died, I should be dead,” Dan asserts, shuddering, “But I’m here today and there’s a reason for it, I don’t know why, but sh*t, I’m living. And that’s that.” In contrast, Johnson issues a warning, “It may seem glamorous, it may seem tough. But in 10 years from now, let’s see who’s where. At the high school reunion, who’s not going to be there?”

$

Story by Wesley Hopkins and Maris Medina Design by Grace Woodward Art by Elizabeth Pham

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October 8, 2014

At the end of the day, the work is just beginning

Education isn’t the only job for some Blair teachers

By Sam Butler When Katherine Fliakas leaves school for the day, no doubt tired from a day of dealing with rowdy teenagers, she begins to transition into her peaceful lesson planning and paper grading mode. She grades essays and tests, she plans projects and lessons. And at the point when she’s done, when the day for most teachers would come to an end, Fliakas goes to a restaurant. She doesn’t eat there, though. She works there, as a server.

Many teachers at Blair, like Fliakas, also find reason to hold a

for having their second job. Some do it because they need the financial help, some because they want to follow their passion. Teacher’s reasons for working an additional job may vary, but each teacher’s story is unique and interesting.

Getting started Fliakas started working at restaurants when she was a teenager in high school, as many people do.

She is now a soon-to-be grad student at UMD, and she still does it.

Fliakas says that waitressing is“fast, easy, money” that will help put her

be able to follow his passions and get paid for it.“I just had the feeling that the opportunities I had within the school system to do things I was interested in, and to make money doing it, were somewhat limited.

And it pushed me to try something else,” he says.

Teachers take second jobs for many reasons, both financial and personal, but when they do take a second job, it is sure to be one about which they are passionate, and one which they enjoy doing.

on the farm. “In the summers I’m more or less full time [on the farm], except even in the summer time, like this past summer I took a course for professional development for teaching.” He also schedules his time on the farm around his lesson planning and grading, because, Grossman says,“My first priority is teaching.”

Second jobs have advantages and disadvantages for teachers, but second jobs lend a big advantage in that they allow teachers to follow

Fliakas has a more clear-cut plan of how her future will play out. As soon as she no longer needs extra money for grad school, she will transition from her teaching intern position to a full time teaching job.

Are second jobs common?

Plenty of teachers around the country have multiple jobs. In fact, teachers have second jobs at higher rates than adults of other profes-

Does it help or hurt?

While both teachers agree that having a second job limits their time to focus on teaching, they also both believe that their second jobs benefit them by providing experience for the classroom.

Fliakas says that the main way her second job impacts her teaching is by helping her learn about human interaction. She learns how people function, how to talk to them, how to ask them for things. She says “it definitely makes [my job] easier in the sense that over the years I’ve come to understand how to interact with different types of people, and as a teacher that is very valuable, to know how to interact with different types of students.”

Fliakas, who has a lighter teaching workload than most teachers, struggles with finding time for both COURTESY OF WWW.THEFARMATOURHOUSE.COM jobs. Grossman, who teaches mulSAYING CHEESE Marc Grossman and the rest of the employees at tiple classes each day, has even less time for himself, but still believes his The Farm at Our House pose for a picture at their farm. From the left: job makes his life better.

Chris, Michelle, Caryn, Davonye, Freddie, Marc, Johanna, and Cait Grossman says that his work on the farm not only helps him be a job other than teaching. Sarah Fillbetter teacher, but also gives him an through grad school. man, when she’s not being an EngBut it’s more than just about the advantage over others. Dealing with lish teacher, is working as a phomoney for Fliakas, who loves work- the government can be complicated tographer. Erin Conley, like Fliakas, ing in restaurants for many of the and difficult sometimes, but it prois both an English teacher and a same reasons she loves teaching. vides Grossman with the experience waitress. Antonios Ekatomatis, a sciShe gets to meet a diverse group of to relate his stories to what he’s ence teacher, also pursues his dream people, and she gets to spend time teaching his students. “I deal with working at the National Institutes of helping people. “It’s a great experi- the IRS,” he says. “I run a business I Health (NIH). Marc Grossman, a soence,”she says.“I love working with have to deal with the county, I have cial studies teacher, owns and overpeople, and I love interacting with to deal with all sorts of local laws and sees The Farm at Our House, a farm regulations. If I teach a government customers.” that employs at-risk youth from all Grossman started his job be- class, I can bring in a real world peracross Maryland. cause it was his passion. In 2007, spective that another teacher might It isn’t just a trend a Blair, either. the county cut the funding to the not have unless they are integrally Many teachers across the country summer field trips where he took involved in dealing with all sorts of have second jobs. A survey by Sam English for Speakers of Other Lan- very specific regulations.”

Houston State showed that 4 in 10 There’s also a negative side to guages (ESOL) students to see how Texas teachers work multiple jobs. government works.

Grossman having two jobs, which is, of course, Every teacher has their own reason worried that he would no longer to the time constraints. Most teachers need to spend a lot of time both inside of school and outside in order to plan lessons, grade assignments, and attend teaching seminars to improve their abilities. But when teachers have two jobs, they have to manage the familiar balancing act of school and work.

Both teachers work around twenty hours a week in their second jobs, not to mention their teaching hours. And for both teachers, teaching comes first.

Fliakas says that she tries to put in most of her hours as a server on weekends, so she can focus her weekday time on teaching.

Grossman also has to deal with a hectic schedule, which means he tries to get most things done in the summer, ZEKE WAPNER like taking teaching MEETING PEOPLE AT EVERY JOB Katherine Fliakas, a waitress and English classes, as well as teacher at Blair, enjoys getting to know people no matter where she’s working. getting work done

ZEKE WAPNER

PRIORITY NUMBER ONE According to Marc Grossman, though he loves his farm, teaching at Blair has always been his main focus. their passions outside of teaching, not to mention that it allows them to support their families. For some teachers, sacrificing free time for pursuing a passion is a trade worth making.

Planning for the future Having one job means that, at some point, one has to begin planning for their retirement. That means they have to ask themselves: When do I want to stop working?

Having two jobs means one has to decide which job you want to retire from first.

For a teacher with a second job, the choice is sometimes easy. A lot of teachers with second jobs only have their second job for financial reasons, so they hope to have enough money to live off of just teaching by retirement age. But it’s not that easy a decision for every teacher.

Grossman loves both of his jobs.

“I do it because I love it,” he said of his farming job. “I care about it. It’s a big puzzle that I’m interested in learning about.” However, Grossman also loves teaching, and at this point in his life, he does not see ever giving up either job, although he does allow that his job situation may change. “I plan on continuing to teach, and continuing, I hope, to run this farm,” he says. “This is my career. Teaching and farming. Maybe that changes down the road, but right now, that’s my career.”

sions. According to a 2009 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, 22 percent of elementary school teachers and 24 percent of secondary school teachers have second jobs, compared to only 14.5 percent of non-teachers.

Since this percentage is so high, one has to wonder whether there’s a problem with teachers’ salaries.

Teachers provide a very important public service, which is preparing children for their futures. With few exceptions, everyone in America has gone to school, and been taught by teachers.

But their vital service may not be properly rewarded. Starting elementary, middle, and high school teachers make, on average, $35,672 a year.

According to census.gov, the median household income for a family of four is $67,019. So if a teacher is the breadwinner for his or her family, they won’t be earning as much as the average family has.

When teachers need second jobs in order to make a living, it takes away from their ability to teach.

Teachers like Fliakas have to spend some time each week on something else when they could be thinking about teaching.

Fliakas’ second job has its negatives, and of course, it has its positives. It takes time from her week, but provides her with the resources to go to grad school. As Fliakas puts it, “it’s fun to be able to experience both worlds.”

October 8, 2014

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October 8, 2014

Silver Spring celebrates Folk, Funk, and Flying Machines Reviewing a slew of end-of-summer festivals in the Blair community

By Amanda Wessel INTERACTIVE The Maker Faire included robots that launched bouncy balls and threw frisbees to children.

Different strokes for different folks It was only September yet the sound of tinkling jingle bells filled the air. Soft and muddled at first, a rhythm of chiming percussion soon emerged as the Takoma Park Morris Dancers marched into place to begin their traditional folk dance, adorned with rows of tiny bells on each calf.

The Morris Dancers were one of many diverse performances at this year’s 37th annual Takoma Park Folk Festival, which took place on the grounds of Takoma Park Middle School on Sunday, Sept. 7. The festival featured over 50 performances of music and dance on seven stages, as well as international food, a variety of crafts, and numerous community tables.

While festival goers jammed out to practically every genre of music (funk, pop, country, blues, bluegrass, reggae, jazz, celtic, rock, americana, and more), Blazers showed off their talent at the secluded Grassy Nook Stage.

Blair freshman Lyla Dipaul joined her friend Ruby Kules to sing duets accompanied by Lyla’s guitar and Ruby’s ukulele. The duo, known as Ruby & Lyla, played covers of artists including Ingrid Michaelson and Ed Sheeran, and are working on writing some of their own songs. Lyla, who has performed the last three years, said her favorite part of the festival is watching young people perform. Blair seniors Ben Katz-Miller and Zeke Wapner also performed with their band Ladle Fight.

Many blazers enjoyed the festival and enjoyed seeing their peers perform. “It’s really well put together and there are a lot of good bands,” said freshman Nikita Kodjak, who attended the festival for the first time. Freshman Pierre Moglen valued the community aspect of the festival. “All of Takoma Park and Silver Spring is here, enjoying themselves,” he said.

The Blair Robotics Team served as the main workforce of volunteers as a fundraiser for the club. “We all donate a certain number of ‘man hours’, like 50, and we get $500 for the team. The more people we ‘donate’, the more money we get,” explained senior Meriel Caprioglio. The team members sold t-shirts, manned doors, and helped with performer hospitality.

Kevin Adler, Chair of the Folk Festival Committee and Blair parent, put together an amazing event this year. Adler, who has been involved in the Folk festival since 1993, was inspired to settle down in Takoma Park after attending the festival and loving it.

“Whether it’s the Community Tables, or the high-schoolers performing at the Grassy Nook Stage, or seeing friends from the neighborhood, the entire Festival is a big celebration to me,” said Adler.

KYRA SEIGER

BOUNCE Children try to keep the ball from touching the ground in one of the interactive games at the Maker Faire.

KYRA SEIGER

Jammin’ at the Jazz Fest As if one festival was not enough for one weekend, the 11th annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival took place on Sept. 6. The stage, set up in Veteran’s Plaza at the Civic Center, saw performances from five different groups and featured the Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans, Louisiana.

A number of blazers got the crowd cheering as they performed with the Jazz Academy of Music (JAM), a DC based youth jazz band. Senior Peter Merlo-Coyne, who has been playing with JAM for two years, was proud of the group’s performance. “I think we killed it. It was really hot but it was also really fun and we kind of played our butts off,” he said.

Other Blair JAM members include juniors Julian Bregstone, Arjun Blum, Noah Buchholz, and senior Austin Yuan. JAM was already invited back to play at the festival next year.

Blazer seniors Camila Guerrero, Kaylan Hutchinson, and Joel Weisberger enjoyed the jazzy tunes. Guerrero liked the solos the best and enjoyed seeing the abilities of fellow teens. “The people who are playing are really talented and they are all around our age right now,” she said.

Hands on science The following weekend on Sept.

14, Veteran’s Plaza and the Civic Center were the scene of a very different sort of festival: the second annual Maker Faire Silver Spring.

Sponsored by KID Museum, the exposition featured myriad hands-on activities for young kids to explore the wonders of art, science, engineering, and technology.

Hundreds of kids enjoyed racing Lego cars, controlling robots, watching 3D printers in action, building marble runs, coding games, and flying model planes. Especially popular was the robot that launched a big blue bouncy ball into a mass of screaming 6-year-olds, and for the slightly more dexterous kids, a robot that could throw a frisbee.

The Cardboard Playground, dedicated to making cardboard creations, was sure to leave the young festival goers happy and the streets of downtown Silver Spring littered with scraps of brown paper.

COURTESY OF KRISTIN HOPPER

CROWDS The crowd observes the stands around the Takoma Park Middle School parking lot at the Folk Festival.

Ooh ahh, you wish you were the Blazer: Life inside the suit Spirit, sweat, and sprinting down the hallways are part of life as the mascot

By Camille Estrin As I walk down the hall, this is what I see: everybody stops and they’re staring at me. I got Blazer passion and I ain’t afraid to show it; I’m the Blazer and I know it.

One might think that being the mascot is an easy job, but I’m here to tell you that it is very tough. Not only is it extremely hot, almost sauna-like, but the smell coming from the suit can be nauseating at times.

Many other Blazers have been in the suit and have left their distinct scent in it. Although there are two suits, but both smell equally of B.O., and the combination of all of the different smells is not pleasant whatsoever. While the Blazer suit does protect you from the sun, potential mascots beware: it definitely does not prevent sweat.

The red fur from the inside of the Blazer suit will get stuck on your street clothes, and leaves evidence as to who was in the suit. Warning: While in the blazer suit, taking breaks from wearing the headgear at least once every 15 minutes is highly recommended. One can become very overheated in the suit.

When I’m in the suit none of this matters. All I’m thinking about is how being the blazer is an exhilarating opportunity to pump up

Blair students and keep the blazer As long as you are the Blazer, you also known as the selfie takers. I’m can do just about anything to liven the Kim Kardashian of the Blair spirit alive.

The best part of my job is that up the Blair community. hallways, just without all of the While on the job, I lead a very family drama. I’m marketing my no one knows who I am, but at times it can also be the worst part. exciting life. I get to run through newest perfume collection: the Almost everyone tries to figure the hallways promoting your Blair Kim Kardashian Blazer Stench. Evit out, which can lead to me be- Blazers, selling dance tickets, do- ery time I am in the hallways, I am ing beheaded, guaranteed to be in punched, several selfies. Who grabbed by wouldn’t want to my tail, hurt, take a picture with or just in genthe one and only eral disturbed Blair Blazer? by any violent I have been the or nonviolent proud mascot of way to reveal the Blazers since my identity. I it’s opening in 1925, was once atand since Blair is tacked by a the largest school fellow Blazer, in the DCC, there a and got mildly lot of people I need hurt, and I now to make sure are have an escort being pumped-up. by my side to I am supposed to ensure that I mirror if not top, stay safe and the excitement and out of the way energy provided by of the crowd of the 2,800 students.

BEN SAFFORD AND PHUONG VO Blazers waiting Sometimes it’s very to attack. There difficult to captivate IN COSTUME The Blazer keeps students spirited in the SAC. was a time the attention of all when security students, but most had to step in to prevent some- ing my own dancing, and of course of the time my dance moves do the thing big from happening. On the promoting Blair’s spirit. As I make trick. bright side, being the Blazer allows my way down Blair Boulevard, I Senior Surdiv Vijayakumar one to go all out with Blazer spirit. am often ambushed by paparazzi, describes the Blazer as a way to

“get people excited about being a Blair Blazer”. I’m a living and breathing visual model of Blair’s school spirit. It is my job to make sure that the Blazer spirit is kept high at all times. SGA adviser Christopher Klein, says that the Blazer is, “a physical manifestation of Blair’s spirit.” As you can see, I embody Blair’s ‘work hard play hard’ mentality. It’s a hard job to have after all.

SPIRIT Montgomery Blair High School’s mascot, the Blazer, represents the spirit of the 2,800 blazer students. Principal Renay Johnson is all about Blazer pride and spirit, and it is the Blazers job to keep the Blair community pumped up and excited for any upcoming events at Blair.

The Blazer suit is worn by anyone willing to fulfill the tasks of running through Blair Boulevard during lunch and promoting any event going on at Blair. This could range from selling homecoming tickets, to getting students excited for an upcoming football game.

October 8, 2014

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Meat and Greet: One of Silver Spring’s latest

Urban Butcher dishes out new tastes and options to the local area

By Jesse Broad-Cavanagh

The building on the corner of Georgia Avenue and Ripley Street may seem like no more than an old auto-repair shop to someone walking by. The front entrance is simple enough, but it’s the side that will really catch your attention. Three large garage doors are spread out along the bottom of an otherwise plain white wall. Normally, one wouldn’t bat an eye, but when the doors open, there’s no turning away. Bright colors, loud voices, and the thick smell of smoking meats come pouring out to create an almost irresistible beckoning. A beautiful calling to Urban Butcher.

Since coming to Silver Spring in the winter of 2013, Urban Butcher has added a fresh dynamic to the area, offering more than just a simple dine in experience. There’s a sit-in restaurant section, and there’s a takeout market section. But there’s more to it.

Simple wooden tables, some short and some tall, line up along the front of the restaurant, and lead back to a bustling bar area. The garage doors open to the street along the right side, giving more life to an already bustling ambiance. Directly across from the bar is the heart of the restaurant, a bustling meat cellar, ready to cater to a customers every wish.

Here, a glass enclosed case holds a wide variety of cures, salamis, and pates available ZEKE WAPNER for the restaurant-goers who want to make their own meals at home. However, it’s not DINNERTIME The tender 48-hour ox brisket is cooked in a honey-ginger jus and accompanied with a creamy potato puree. just the meats that are on display. The entire fordable way to go about enjoying what Urproduction of the food is there, right in plain ing at tiny pieces of mussel won’t exactly be covers the arugula as well. sight. The meat is cut, smoked, and prepared helped by the fact that your mouth will be The one downside to this insanely varied ban Butcher has to offer is to eat off of the all in that same little strip of the restaurant, on fire for the entire duration of the dish. menu is the prices. Appetizers can go up- happy hour menu. Smaller plates and sandfresh for the customer to see. House-made Hot chilies cover the entire dish, and end wards of $15 and main dishes are more in wiches are the bulk of the options, and prosausages, meatballs, and salamis are a few of up completely overwhelming any taste that the low $20s range. One with a lower budget vide plenty to snack off of. The thick cut pastype of meal in mind will for- trami sandwich is definitely one of the better the staples to tunately still be pleased with selections at only $10, but a varied meat and leave with, the burger options. Topped cheese cellar board is also a fun choice at but a selecwith your choice of crispy $15. Available until 7:30 in the evening, you tion of rich house bacon, cheddar, a fried won’t even have to arrive that much earlier and tender egg or avocado, the burger for this menu to be available. choice pigs’ certainly keeps up with the After everything, Urban Butcher is more and lamb’s large assortment that the than just a simple ‘meat place’. It has a cerbacon add menu offers. Stacked high and tain energy to it, one that allows for a meat a bit of unserved with the usual mound cellar, bar, and restaurant to work together usual variety of french fries, the burger will seamlessly. The variety that they offer is to the assortabsolutely fill you up for a something that’s hard to find elsewhere, and ment. Whatprice closer to $15. whether it be cheese, seafood, or sausage, ever you If by some miracle you’re you’ll be sure to have a flavor filled time. leave with still hungry will be more after all of than enough that, Urban for a base to Butcher has an amazing some powmeal, but erful deswhile you’re sert options there, you to offer. The might just be bacon matempted to ple gelato take a seat. is perfect The menu after a hot takes what day and hot ZEKE WAPNER the meat meal, and cellar offers, STREET VIEW The view from Urban Butcher Restaurant looks out to Georgia Ave. is, for whatand dives ever reason, even further very relaxin. This begins with an appetizer selection that boasts meat, seafood and vegetarian could be found from the lime, cilantro, and ing to eat. Another option options. Working off of the meat theme, the meat itself. But don’t fear, the main dishes is the plate of churros. prosciutto cotto and mozzarella fior di latte quickly get your experience, and your taste- Even the sight of these cinnamon covered treats with is the way to go. Topped with basil oil and buds, back on track. pesto, the thin slices of prosciutto leave a The menu isn’t too deep, but strong op- steaming chocolate sauce blend of juices to savor long after the food tions such as the 48-hour ox brisket will on the side is enough to is gone. But be warned, calabrese chili pep- have you coming back for more. For this, create a bit more room in pers on the side add an intense spice that the a thick block of tender brisket is cooked in your stomach. The warm less adventurous type might want to avoid. honey-ginger juices and plated on a serving crunch mixed with the Thick pieces of Italian bread accompany the of creamy potato puree. It looks like a lot rich chocolate sauce will dish, and are grilled to absolute perfection. to handle, but the meat tears right off into have you inhaling down But honestly, the bread might be what keeps strips, and fills your mouth with an unreal every last bite. you coming back. Those who want to save sweet and tangy flavor. The meat theme con- The bill at the end of their meat quota for the main dish won’t be tinues with a solid plate of steak frites. Hon- this wonderful adventure disappointed with the large variety that the estly, it doesn’t look that great; the chunks acts as an unfortunate rest of the starter menu offers. A popular of steak seem to be just thrown on the small blow to the stomach. But choice is the Maryland blue crab and avo- black pan, and the dense cut of smoked but- the high quality of the cado salad. The look of this isn’t what most ter is a bit unappealing. But the juice-filled food, and the large repwould expect. The presentation is beautiful, steak, paired with the seemingly endless ertoire of flavors is well as a cylinder of lump crab meat is placed supply of perfectly crispy french fries, help worth the cost. Another money-saving option is carefully on a layer made up of pieces of you get over the initial uncertainty. avocado. Mixed in with only a bit of cilan- Non-meat options are definitely available, to go for an earlier dinner tro, the dish is a bit bland, but the generous and fish can be found all over the entrees. A during happy hour. Dishelping of soft, sweet pieces of crab are still trout milanese, topped with shredded par- counted small dishes and mesan and served with a simple arugula sal- cheeses at the taller comworth your while.

Another seafood starter, the mussels, are, ad, adds an interesting component that’s dif- munal tables still pack the unfortunately, a dish that you’ll quickly ferent from almost everything else at hand. same punch that the reguwant to forget. The deep bowl may seem Breaded and fried to perfection, the sharp lar timed meals do, and at like a rather generous portion, but the space taste of the melted cheese works well with a much more affordable ZEKE WAPNER inside of the shells is taken up by a disap- the lemon juice of the fish. Just be sure that price.

APPETIZERS Prosciutto cotto and mozarrella fior di latte. pointing amount of air. Your sorrow at pick- you’re alright with the parmesan, because it Perhaps the most af-

D3 Entertainment Blazer Book Club

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October 8, 2014

All dressed up but just wanting to go home An examination of homecoming’s many shortcomings

By Emma Soler

COURTESY OF MARISSA MEYER

Cinder, Marissa Meyer’s debut novel about a cyborg in New Beijing, is a twist on the classic fairytale Cinderella that has freshman Suad Mahamud turning the pages for more. Cinder has classic Cinderella elements such as the antagonizing stepmother and handsome prince, but its complex storyline is far from trite. “It is a mix of a fairytale and sci-fi, but it’s not…your typical ‘Cinderella goes to the ball,’” says Mahamud. Mahamud thinks that the darker aspects of the book make it much more legitimate and akin to the intentions of the original authors. “It gives more credit to the Grimm brothers...it shows how there are a lot of complications in life,” says Mahamud.

The book immerses the reader in a futuristic world ridden by plague, threatened by a species of lunar humans seeking world-domination. This may seem far-fetched, but each new aspect of Meyer’s world makes it all the more enthralling. Mahamud was gripped by the combination of “science fiction, steampunk, and thriller”, and strongly recommends it to those who like those genres, or who simply “have always loved fairy tales.”

Freshman Abby Landesman stands up straight, toes tapping, arms waving, genuinely excited. Of course, she’s talking about homecoming. “I expect the setting to be sparkly, and pretty, and there will be lights,” she says. Other Blair freshmen described homecoming as a night with “dancing, food, games, and such,” one that will be better than middle school dances, and a place where good music will play. Contrary to popular freshmen opinion, however, our more experienced Blazers know the truth about Blair’s homecoming dance: the sweat, the location dilemma and the questionable dancing.

is a 99.9% chance that you will leave the dance with a shirt that isn’t just damp, but dripping with sweat. According to senior Matt Kickenson, sometimes the heat is too much to handle. He said that homecoming was just “too sweaty and too hot” for his tastes. Well, Blazers, you know what they say: if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

The “walk of shame”

Homecoming dancing is, to put it simply, cramped, according to senior Troy Sanchez. Sanchez said, “Once the dancing starts it gets kinda close, gets interactive, gets physical.” Many homecoming attendees partake in sexual dancing that assistant principal William Currence described as “silly dance stuff.” Similarly, many parents see the dancing style as vulgar and disgusting. Additionally, what many Blazers also experience, but avoid thinking about, is what is informally referred to as the “Monday after homecoming walk of shame.” This supposed stroll of remorse occurs on the first school day following the homecoming dance. Let’s imagine that it’s Homecoming or the jungle?

October 27, 2014. It’s 7:05 a.m., and you emerge through the fateful SAC It’s a cool, comfortable October into Blair Boulevard, keeping friends evening. Pumpkin spice lattes are close by in case of an emergency. Such in the air and last night Blair footemergencies include seeing a certain ball conquered the other team in someone that you may or may not an impressive homecoming game. have danced with less than 48 hours Since it’s a little chilly out, your before. You look up, and accidentally NAZEA KHAN mom told you to bring a light jacket to make eye contact with the person you the dance, and you obliged. You get through The SAC versus Gym conundrum were so desperately trying to avoid. the extensive queue and finally, oh finally, Crisis mode activates. You shove your friend you can enter the gym and start to have It’s the ultimate debate: homecoming lo- in front of you, sidestep to the left, and duck fun...except as soon as you take your first cation. Blair juniors and seniors are familiar into the 160s hallway. Phew, potential unstep though those fateful doors you’re hit with both the student activity center (SAC) comfortable moment avoided. For now. with a wall. And not just any wall, this is a homecoming, circa 2012 and 2013, as well According to SGA members, the SGA is big, bad, sweltering wall of heat. Through- as homecoming in the gym that took place working hard to eliminate problems such out the night, you must take frequent breaks last year. According to Blair students, gym as sweatiness and bad music. According to from the hot, sweaty jungle, better known homecoming is characterized by an awk- Vijayakumar, satisfying the plurality of stuas the dancing area, to get a gasp of fresh ward mass of Blazers congregating centrally dents is SGA’s ultimate and most challengair. Any Blazer that has attended homecom- while being surrounded by emptiness out- ing goal. “The biggest problem is getting the ing can attest to one thing: that always, no side of the main dance area. Senior Erin No- majority happy. Making sure that the admatter what, homecoming is a heat-filled lan said that homecoming in the SAC better ministration agrees with what we’re doing, sweat-fest. Boys, be prepared, because there accommodates different homecoming pref- and the kids also, and that the students are erences. According to Nolan, “There also engaged with it [are all factors.]” Senior were different levels, like the tiers, and SGA member Sammy Wichansky said that people could chill on the top level but if this year there will be a new DJ, a new flooryou really wanted to dance you could, ing system and hopefully, air conditioning.

Describe homecoming in a few you know, scoop into that bottom levBlazers, don’t let these musings discourwords. el.” Student Government Association age you from attending the dance this Oc“Turnt up. The best night of your life. The (SGA) member Surdiv Vijayakumar tober. Instead, let them serve as a guide sweatiest night of your life.” - Ethan Amitay, said that there is a continuing debate to help you through the difficult, wondersenior within the SGA about which location is ful, disgusting, awesome night that is Blair superior, but that this year homecom- homecoming. Good luck Blazers, and happy “Homecoming is sweaty, crowded, dark, and ing will be held in the gym. homecoming. kind of trashy: twerk fest.” - Jessica Fang, sophomore

soapbox

Identity crisis: senior ID photos gone wrong

By Daliah Barg

COURTESY OF JMPLAWYER.COM

Freshman Andrés Romero does not cry.

But even he almost shed a tear reading Finding Jack, Gareth Crocker’s heart-wrenching tale about a despondent soldier and a homeless yellow Labrador amidst the carnage of the Vietnam War. Crocker’s debut novel focuses on Fletcher Carson, a disillusioned 29-year-old grieving the loss of his family from a plane crash.

Without any will left to live, Carson impulsively enlists in the Vietnam War as a form of suicide.

Romero, however, was drawn to the book for its focus on the Labrador, Jack. “It has a dog as one of its main characters, and that makes it interesting...you never know what he might be thinking or feeling,” says Romero. The book is a tribute to the actual canine units employed in the Vietnam War, who operated nobly alongside soldiers. “[Jack] has to go through a lot…[he] is braver than me,” says Romero. For him, the book invoked reminiscences of his own dog, who passed away, and Romero found himself superimposing his dog onto Jack’s actions. “My dog was like the dog in this story,” he says.

Romero recommends the novel to anyone who had or has a dog. “It will make them love their dogs even more.”

Written By Winne Luo

Sometimes seniors like to act up, and after three years of the same-old routine they like to see how far they can go with their pranks.

In this age-old tradition, seniors goof up their ID photos on purpose while the rest of us strive to look our best, truly a scoff at the underclassmen that worry about the quality of their photos on picture day. While underclassmen overanalyze the quality of their photos, seniors push each other to make a silly face for their photo.

Seniors’ ID photos don’t go in the yearbook, presenting a perfect chance to liven up the start of senior year. Many students take their photo outcomes very seriously, but senior year is the time to have fun and loosen up, according to some who participated in this tradition.

Lowerclassmen fear that their parents might be upset with a silly photo appearing in the yearbook, but seniors have nothing to lose since the only place where these photos will end up is in their wallet. Then again, they have nothing to gain either – except for a few laughs from their friends.

The school photographers attempt to stop students from making funny faces, so these seniors had to act inconspicuous when planning out their photo. In many cases, the photographers refused to take a photo of students who tried to pull this trick, so the students were forced to smile normally. Stories of these attempted feats plague the gym on picture day as students discuss their photographs. Many don’t succeed, and they lose the battle with the photographers. Some, however, managed to change their facial expression at the last second, and these are the results – here are some seniors who managed to brave the wrath of the cameramen.

Senioritis?

More like SeniorIDis BEN SAFFORD

Shailee Bruck Bruck tried her best to outsmart the photographers. “I tried to do a stupid face but they said it had to be serious.”

Cherie Carter

Ivray Tchoutang

“It turned out hilarious – I think I look like an insane person or a serial killer.”

“I look like a duck.”

Molly Beckett

Camilla Arias

Becket’s secret to achieving the funkiest photos around: “If you walk up acting weird they don’t try to stop you.”

The tradition has “comedic value,” according to Arias, who said she looks like a “merp” in her ID photo.

Entertainment D4

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October 8, 2014

Follow your dreams and don’t forget to subscribe Blazers who have made it big over the internet

By Mariam Jiffar ©

©

After school on Sept. 16th, freshman Elia Griffin takes out her phone and tweets, “lmao the difference between my accounts.”

It’s accompanied by screenshots of the followers on her two pages on Twitter. Her personal account has around 100 followers. The other one? Over 10,000. Blazers all across the board of social media have amassed respectable followings. Most of them have just made their interests slightly more public - or seriously viral.

Sharing musical passions Griffin posts about her favorite bands.

“It’s mostly All Time Low and 5 Seconds of Summer,” she says. It’s a simple focus, but it has earned her a Twitter ratio (followers vs. people she follows) that some teens woulddie for: nearly two to one. If twice as many

©

er stars they now are. Senior Paul Lathrop is famous on Tumblr (pau1y.tumblr.com), with a following of nearly 9,000 people, but a couple of his friends made his account for him two years ago. “[They said,] ‘here, use it,’ and then I used it,” he says. “Now I have like 50,000 posts.” He mainly ‘reblogs’ funny pictures or jokes on his page. “I cover a wide range of humor,” he says. But what really gets 9,000 people to hit that ever-important ‘Follow’ button? “There’s a lot of satire,” Lathrop reveals. “[And] humor derived from things that happened in the world.”

Sophomore Rudy Elien also joined Tumblr after a friend encouraged her, but was opposed to it initially. “My friend was like ‘hey, you should check out Tumblr,’ and I was like ‘nah, that’s boring,’” she explains.

But, as her several thousands of followers can attest to, she definitely changed her mind. Elien has 3 accounts: one blog about nature, one personal blog, and one for ‘luxury and quality’ (high definition pictures of cars, shoes, people, etc.) with around 8,000 followers for the first one (regrows.tumblr. com) and around 3,000 followers for the other two (pityed.tumblr.com and uckinq. tumblr.com).

Senior Natty Suwannawong (@Julseynatty) has over 2,000 followers on Twitter, and has gotten 3,000 retweets on her most popular picture and yet can’t think of any theme or goals behind her account. She describes her posts as ordinary. “I just post pictures of myself,” she says with a shrug. “I just post random stuff and... they just retweet me.” So the secret to Suwannawong’s online success remains an enigma for now; if you don’t get it, you don’t get it.

Junior Ben Massinga (@benzzo__) has stacked close to 3,000 followers on Instagram using the same tactics: posting pictures of ordinary occurrences. “[The pictures are] just of me and my friends - my everyday activities,” he says. Massinga thinks his Instagram account gained popularity as his looks got better. “Around 10th grade, when I started glowing,” he says.

“Everyone just wants to get ‘Tumblr-famous’” CHIMEY SONAM

PREPARATION Junior Eva Bogino sets up her camera getting ready to film an episode for her YouTube channel, Eva Saves The Internet. people want to see what you have to say as the number of people whose posts you want to see, you must be tweeting a pretty sweet song. Junior Clara Kapiamba also has a page dedicated to musicians, but it’s on Tumblr and for one band: The Front Bottoms. Kapiamba has about 4,000 followers who are presumably as unfettered by confusing noun combinations as she seems to be herself.

In addition to using social media to appreciate creative content, some Blair students use it to spread their own. Freshman Diane Dao (channel: “Sushi Time”) is getting recognition on YouTube for her ‘dance covers,’ in which she dances to the music of her favorite musicians. “[I do] freestyle dance [and] original dance,” she says.

Dao also does some videos about Korean celebrities and what is going on in her life.

She usually gets anywhere from 100 to 200 views on her videos, but her highest number was nearly 2,000 views on a video about Korean Pop music, also known as ‘K-Pop,’ and she has over 200,000 total views on her channel.

Accidental fame Despite their popularity, almost none of these Blazers started off with or have ever had the intention of becoming the comput-

According to some Blazers, success on the Internet should not depend upon appearance. Blair junior and YouTuber Eva Bogino (channel: “EvaSavesTheInternet”) firmly believes in the quality of one’s content taking precedence over looks.

“I don’t really like the way Vine is just a bunch of attractive guys,” she says. “I watched a lot of YouTube [videos]...back in the old days, when it was just you, a camera, and whatever you came up with.” Bogino gets from 200 to 300 views on her average video. “I have 139 subscribers and almost 10,000 views!” she says after checking. “I didn’t know that.”

It’s not so much that Bogino is uninterested in how many views or ‘likes’ she’s gotten, but she is nostalgic for a time when videos were made with a simpler goal in mind: entertainment. “I feel like the way YouTube is now, [numbers] seem to be the main focus... [before] it wasn’t for the fame... It should be for your own enjoyment and to make people happy.”

Elien has noticed the same trend that Bogino mentioned but with Tumblr: it seems more people are joining with the intention of getting famous. “It’s changed,” Elien says.

“Everyone just wants to get ‘Tumblr-famous.’ Being on Tumblr for so long, [I know] it’s not about how many followers you have but appreciating [the ones you have.]”

‘We met on the Internet’ Gaining popularity in the cyberworld has led to some exciting real-life experiences for Blazers. Kapiamba’s innocent fan page has only been defined as such for a short while her followers used to thinkthat she was the band. “I impersonated [The Front Bottoms]... but I didn’t mean to,” she admits. However, this led to some interactions with the band itself. “They messaged me and they were

“I kinda liked that I was able to [say] whatever [I] want.

People can judge you but... you have a voice, and when you have a large following, people will pay attention to what you are saying.”

-Elia Griffin

like, ‘stop,’” she says. At a later date, Kapiamba got to watch them perform live and talk with the band. “I went to their concert and then I met them afterwards,” she says.

She told them that she was the one impersonating them on Tumblr, and of course they all had a good laugh about it. “They said they weren’t mad, they just wanted to make sure [their fans] knew [that she wasn’t the band],” she says.

Sushi Time

Eva Saves The Internet

pau1y.tumblr.com

The Soccer Pitch

©

While Kapiamba’s experience had to do with the subjects of her blog, other Blazers have had interesting experiences with the fans of their content. Lathrop is often contacted by his followers, but does not have time to get back to all of them. “I have a lot of messages,” he says, “[There are] 2,500 that I haven’t replied to...[but] I read them all.” Elien also notices people following her worldwide and has talked to them and bonded. “I’ve met so many new friends,” she says, “in Australia, London...[real friends,] not like catfish friends.” Junior Jimmy McMillian also takes great enjoyment in the diversity of his fan base. He posts YouTube videos of his friends and himself doing soccer free kicks and regularly gets 800 to 900 views. “I have people that have seen it from like Israel, Turkey, [and] Brazil,” he says. “It’s cool to see people from different places [watching his videos.]”

Handling their fame

It’s clear that these students’ social media know-how has gotten them quite a bit of virtual spotlight. However, each of these Blazers interprets and reacts to the attention they are receiving in a different way. Some, like Suwannawong, don’t even think it is noteworthy - it does not much affect her life. Others, like Lathrop, own their Internet fame and take pride in it.

Griffin says she enjoys the power from her Twitter platform. “I kinda liked that I was able to [say] whatever [I] want,” she says. “People can judge you but... you have a voice, and when you have a large following, people will pay attention to what you’re saying.” Dao agrees that you shouldn’t sweat the haters. “There are some people that can be negative, but that’s an inspiration to me,” she says. With all these trailblazers right in our own halls who have already found Internet success, there is undoubtedly more untapped potential in the Blair student body, just waiting to get people LOL-ing all over the worldwide web.

@Julseynatty

wearethefront bottoms .tumblr.com

regrows.tumblr.com

@benzzo__

REVA KREEGER

D5 Chips Clips The Best Month In Sports

by Julian Bregstone

October 8, 2014

silverchips Across

49. Old word for “suffer a punishment”

1. ____ and chain 5. Jazz vocal improvisation; plural

12. Master of ceremonies

50. Chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart

10. Sacremento news source

21. Tommy Tomcat’s college

13. Plant that sooths sun burns

23. ____red

14. Unit of mass equal to 200 mg

55. Circles made of metal

25. mapped in the past

15. Super Bowl XXXIV champs

56. Look intensely

26. Triangle sail for boats

17. Portuguese word for cup

59. Hard Rock song released in 1989

27. Used to get around NY

18. Court surrounded with seats

60. LeBron James official title

28. American Liberty Association

19. Sea World star

61. Rookie TE for the Lions

29. Abbreviation for Dallas

20. Noisy beach bird

62. Center for NY Liberty (WNBA)

30. Put clothes on someone

22. Horizontal support beam

63. Reddit Enhancement Suite

33. Funny-looking bird

24. It’s no ___

64. AKA El Presidente (Italian Rap-

34. Be mistaken

per)

36. Norwegian Playwright

65. Body of a small plant or shrub

before it is thrown

Down

30. Cha Cha ___

39. ___ Spectacular

31. A shallow depression or hole

1. Wooden stick that hits baseballs

42. A wrecked ship

32. Used to express grief, sorrow

2. Edge of a nematode

43. French impressionist

33. Cell that changes shape

3. Livin’ la Vida _____

44. What makes a car go

35. Football’s purple birds

4. MLB chart of wins and losses

46. Racial slur for Aborigines

40. Single piece of churned cream

5. Stops at 300 lbs

48. Expressed anger

41. Aggressive catch

6. Brooklyn Dodger nicknamed “The

49. Funny-looking football league

Perfect Storm”

42. Fluffy little bird in the family

51. Leave it to the ____

7. Plural of is

52. Make changes

45. Female chicken

8. MLB players after training camp

53. Motion Picture

46. Strong feeling of annoyance

9. Old bread

54. Group of people who do stuff

47. Past tense of provide or give

10. Week 6 Mile High Matchup

Troglodytidea; plural

together

Sudoku: Hard

Sudoku: Easy

COURTESY OF WWW.WEBSUDOKU.COM

COURTESY OF WWW.WEBSUDOKU.COM

FLEEK

Swift Justice

Joe the straight faced extremest

37. Abbreviation for energy 38. Yea or ___

27. Savior of the A&M dog

ANGEL WEN

16. Victor Cruz TD dance

51. Extend outwards

25. What a pitcher does to a ball

IPhablet 6

11. If there were two of our planet

AMANDA GROSS

SIMONE PEREZ-GARCIA

NAZEA KHAN

October 8, 2014

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D6 ADs

La Esquina Latina

Silver Chips 8 de octubre del 2014

Becas ayudan a estudiantes latinos a lograr sus sueños

Es mejor recibir ayuda financiera que préstamos estudiantiles

Por Sarah Canchaya y Odalis Llerena Aunque hay estudiantes latinos interesados en asistir a la universidad, muchos no están bien informados de las oportunidades para financiar su educación a través de las becas. La realidad es que quien investiga puede encontrar una variedad de becas disponibles, ya sea por necesidad económica o por mérito escolar. El buscar estas becas es una buena opción en vez de recurrir a préstamos de estudiante que luego toman años en poder pagarse.

Hay becas disponibles para los Soñadores, también conocidos como los “DREAMers.”

Al presente, hay alrededor de 300 becas disponibles para los Soñadores que pueden llegar hasta unos 25,000 mil dólares. Los estudiantes que se van a graduar, o que se graduaron pero no están en la universidad, y los que se graduaron de un “community college” pueden solicitar para estas becas.

Esta beca fue una iniciativa de Donald E. Graham, el ex director General de Washington Post, junto con Carlos Gutiérrez y Henry Muñoz III, presidente de finanzas del Comité Nacional Demócrata (DNC). Graham cree que todo joven debe ir a la universidad sin importar su clase social ni su situación económica. La beca cuenta con 25 millones de dólares fundados por Mark Zuckerberg, Sandra Fernández, Bill y Melinda Gates y Diego Luna.

Un estudiante que tiene un promedio de 2.5 o mejor y que ha cumplido con todos sus créditos requeridos de graduación puede solicitar para una de estas becas. Para solicitarla, no es necesario que seas ciudadano/a de Estados Unidos, pero es necesario cumplir con los siguientes requisitos: haber nacido en o antes del 16 de junio de 1981, haber llegado a Estados Unidos antes de los 16 años, y haber presentado la solicitud

I-821D. Si el estudiante cumple con estos requisitos, la beca podría ser suya. La beca para los Soñadores puede cubrir hasta un 100% de la matrícula y del costo los libros.

Las becas disponibles toman en consideración la situación financiera de cada familia.

Hay becas desde 1,000 hasta 2,000 dólares por solo mantener buenas calificaciones.

Para poder obtener una beca de más de 12,500 dolares, el estudiante deberá mostrar que puede triunfar en en la universidad. Un total de doce universidades entre los estados de la nación están apoyando esta beca. Entre estas universidades se encuentran la Universidad de Trinity de Washington D.C, la Universidad del Estado de California y la Universidad George Mason.

La beca para los Soñadores es perfecta para jóvenes indocumentados que se les hace difícil cumplir con su sueño de obtener una educación más allá de la escuela superior. La verdad es que muchos de estos estudiantes no sienten la necesidad de poner mucho esfuerzo en la escuela secundaria ya que les preocupa el poder sufragar los gastos para asistir a un colegio comunitario o a una universidad. Esta beca fue diseñada para aquellos estudiantes que persiguen el sueño americano. “Yo sé que estos estudiantes merecen mejores oportunidades para completar sus estudios superiores” comenta Bill Graham sobre la beca para los Soñadores.

Los jóvenes tendrán ayuda financiera y la beca cubrirá cuatro años de estudio. Con esto se elimina la barrera económica que

le impide a tantos jóvenes cumplir con su sueño de continuar sus estudios aquí en los Estados Unidos. Este otoño se van a añadir 300 más becas disponibles para los Soñadores.

Si no cualificas con los requisitos para solicitar esta beca, el programa UTPA (Universidad de Texas-Pan American) ofrece ayuda financiera.

La beca para los Soñadores se ofrece en Washington D.C., California, Nueva York, Texas y Florida.

En el 2013, doscientos estudiantes recibieron la beca Soñadores y han continuado sus TheDreamUS estudios. En este momento se están aceptando solicitudes hasta el 26 de octubre del 2014. De tener curiosidad si califica o no, busque más información en el Internet. ¿Por qué una beca y no prestamos estudiantiles? Hay un número de familias latinas, donde los padres son indocumentados y como consecuencia no pueden ayudar económicamente a sus hijos a cumplir con su sueño de estudiar para tener una buena carrera en este país. Según el censo de los estados unidos, solo un 43.1% de las familias hispanas tienen padres empleados.

En el 2012, el ingreso promedio de un hogar hispano era de unos 39 mil dólares anuales.

Sólo el 64% de la población hispana mayor de 25 años ha terminado la educación secundaria y solamente el 13.8% obtiene su

bachillerato universitario o maestría. El factor económico tiene mucho que ver con esta situación. El Sr. Medrano dice, “Aun teniendo la motivación para seguir adelante, van a aparecer obstáculos en la vida, en el trabajo y en la escuela, pero es importante enfocarse en los aspectos positivos de la vida y seguir luchando.”

Por otro lado, obtener una beca evitara caer en deudas que toman tiempo poder pagarse. Aproximadamente cuarenta millones de estadounidenses están endeudados debido a préstamos universitarios. El 61% de los latinos que se gradúan lo hacen con deudas. Desafortunadamente, con el pasar del tiempo los intereses se acumulan y con ello la cantidad que se termina pagando.

Esto puede representar un reto económico en el futuro. El coordinador de ACES, el Sr. Medrano, recomienda visitar diferentes páginas web para encontrar becas. Algunas de ellas son: The Hispanic Scholarship Fund y la Gates Millennium que ofrecen 1,000 becas al año. La fecha límite para solicitar estas becas es el 14 de enero de 2015. También hay becas locales, como la Maryland Hispanic Achievement Scholar, que ofrecen dos mil dólares. El Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund también ofrecen becas a estudiantes hispanos. Para más información, se puede tomar prestado el “Scholarship Handbook” de la biblioteca pública de Montgomery County.

En fin, es importante cumplir con los requisitos de un buen promedio y hay que escribir ensayos que reflejan la determinación y esfuerzo del estudiante. No se pierde nada por solicitar varias becas ya que no se sabe donde se puede encontrar la suerte de obtenerlas. Mientras más becas se pueden adquirir, hay más oportunidades de lograr una buena educación sin la preocupación financiera.

Presentes pero no representados: latinos en la escuela

Aunque la población ha crecido, hay poco envolvimiento en la vida escolar

Por Alisson Fortis y Carlos Fuentes

County, la población estudiantil llegó a pasar los tres mil estudiantes. La escuela volvió a trasladarse a su ubicación actual en la intersección de la calle Colesville y la University Boulevard para pod-

un promedio de casi el treinta porciento de los alumnos; un cambio drástico si se compara con el porEste año la Escuela Supericentaje casi inexistente de estudior Montgomery Blair celebra su antes latinos en los años iniciales ochenta aniversario. La escuela fue de la escuela. Incluso en el 1990, fundada en el 1925 y abrió con sólo el número de estudi86 estudiantes y 5 maeantes latinos represtros. Tres años después sentaba solamente un en el 1928, la Junta de EdTwo or More (Multiple) siete porciento de poucación decidió ampliar American Indian or Native Hawaiian or blación total en el conRaces: la escuela para incluir a dado de Montgomery, estudiantes de secundar- Alaskan Native: Other Pacific Islander: un porcentaje que solia. A mediados de 1930, amente llegó a aumenBlair finalmente tenía sutar un cinco porciento ficiente estudiantes para en los siguientes diez separar a los estudiantes Asian: años. En este mismo de grados 6-8 y 9-12. La Hispanic/Latino: periodo, el porcentaje Escuela Superior Montde estudiantes hisgomery Blair fue nompanos matriculados brada en honor del direcen Montgomery Blair tor general de correos del incrementó de 17% en decimosexto presidente 1990 a 23.5% en el año de los Estados Unidos, White: 2000.

Abraham Lincoln.

Black or African Alguien que ha visDespués de la segunda to mucho cambio a la guerra mundial, la poAmerican: población de estudiblación de Silver Spring antes es la profesora se expandió mucho, y Sra. Gonzalez quien como resultado la canha estado trabajantidad de estudiantes en do en el condado de Blair creció de 714 alumMontgomery por 19 nos a 1,323 alumnos en el Racial/Ethnic Composition of años y en Blair por 16 transcurso de cinco años.

Blair Alumni 2013-2014 años. La Sra.González Debido al aumento del ha sido testigo de un cuerpo estudiantil, la esGRACE WOODWARD incremento en la pocuela se trasladó al área blación hispana en de la avenida Wayne, donde permaneció hasta el 1998. er albergar a la creciente población gadas, permitiendo el ingreso de Blair, pero no considera que ha estudiantes de distintos grupos ét- visto un cambio significativo en el Luego, en la década de los noven- estudiantil.

En sus ochenta años de exis- nicos a las escuelas publicas. En la envolvimiento de esta en la vida ta, cuando Takoma Park se hizo parte del condado de Montgomery tencia, Blair ha registrado muchos actualidad, los latinos representan estudiantil. Ella dice, “Antes solo

<5.0%

29.6%

cambios, pero quizás el más notable sea la configuración y el tamaño de su población. Gracias al caso de Brown v. Board of Education en el 1954, las escuelas del condado de Montgomery fueron desegre-

<5.0

15.9%

23.3%

27.2%

<5.0%

enseñe clases para los que querían aprender español como segunda idioma, pero ahora tengo tres clases para hispanohablantes que están llenas y dos clases de AP lenguaje con un 50% de los estudiantes siendo hispanohablantes.”

Muchos estudiantes hispanos son recién llegados de sus países nativos. El asimilarse a una nueva escuela y a una cultura diferente es muchas veces difícil para ellos. La Sra.González dice que esta diferencia es evidente en las actividades escolares. “Todavía se necesita un programa para cerrar la brecha académica entre estudiantes de distintos países de habla hispana,” dice la Sra. Gonzalez.

No importa la diferencia entre la educación que reciben dos razas porque, de acuerdo con la Sra. González, tienen la misma oportunidad. “Todos tienen la misma oportunidad pero ellos necesitan aprovecharla porque si ellos estudian y salen bien en sus clases pueden ir a cualquiera universidad que escojan,” indica la González.

A pesar del aumento evidente en la población estudiantil latina, nuestra participación en la vida escolar y en las actividades extra-curriculares es aún minúscula en comparación con otros grupos étnicos. Como latinos, es importante mostrar más iniciativa en nuestra comunidad escolar para que se reconozcan nuestras necesidades y se escuchen nuestras voces.

Golaso: la tradición del fútbol en Latinoamérica Blazers discuten el impacto del fútbol en sus vidas diarias

Por Ilcia Hernandez y Itcenia Quezada Cuando pensamos en fútbol se nos viene a la mente Leo Messi entre muchos jugadores famosos.

Ellos representan el deporte más importante en Latinoamérica y uno de los deportes más reconocidos en todo el mundo. El fútbol es una gran parte de las vida diaria de latinoamericanos y eso incluye a muchos de los estudiante latinos aquí en Blair. La mayoría de los latinos crecieron en la cultura de futbol y aprendieron a patear una pelota desde la niñez, lo que hace que este deporte forme parte importante de su identidad personal.

El fútbol se originó de Inglaterra como deporte, los países latinoamericanos lo adoptaron y lo volvieron propio. El primer país en adoptarlo fue Brasil, y de allí se extendió a todo Sudamérica hasta eventualmente llegar a Centroamérica. La FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) fue establecida en 1904, con la primera Copa Mundial celebrada en Uruguay. En la actualidad, la Copa Mundial trae un mes de festividades y alegría para los aficionados del fútbol. Los momentos más emocionantes son compartidos en todas las redes sociales, como Facebook y Twitter, y la alegria del futbol ya se ha propagado por el mundo entero, incluso aquí en los Estados Unidos.

En nuestros países, a los jóvenes no les importa jugar en cancha de tierra o en un deportivo, en zapatillas o descalzos; lo importante es

divertirse y sentirse bien. El fútbol puede ser una manera de pasar un buen rato y descargar tensiones.

men. Jorge Sorto, un estudiante del décimo grado, juega fútbol para un club y afirma

videojuegos, o malgastando mi tiempo sin hacer nada,” dice Sorto.

NINO MIGNEISHVILI

Uno de los artículos escrito por Robert Valls para El País indica que según expertos, el fútbol puede enseñar disciplina y prevenir que los jóvenes se involucren en el cri-

que el fútbol tiene un gran impacto en su vida. “El fútbol me enseña a trabajar duro y me da ánimo para mejorar en la escuela; si no jugara al futbol, creo que estaría jugando

Es evidente que el fútbol no solo ayuda a nivel físico, sino también a nivel mental. Francisco Morales explica que el fútbol inclusive le sirve como una forma de med-

itación. “El fútbol me quita el estrés y me ayuda manejar mi tiempo mejor.” Al decir esto, Morales ha comprobado el hecho científico que dice que practicar deportes, y hacer ejercicios ayuda a quitar el estrés con solo sudar un poco.

Según Sofía Breene de Huffington Post, el cuerpo humano deja escapar un químico llamado endorfina, que mejora la forma en que su cuerpo reacciona al estrés. Por eso, es importante que los miembros de la comunidad latina nos mantengamos activos, y el practicar fútbol es una manera facil y divertida de hacerlo.

El fútbol también sirve para reunir a la familia, añade Morales.

“Sale mucho en la televisión y vemos torneos y el mundial todos juntos,” Morales cuenta de su familia. Otras cosas que se hacen con la familia de uno es salir a apoyar al uno y al otro cuando alguien tiene un partido. Cosas así son las que hacen que una familia o un grupo de amigos se agrupe para disfrutar de algo que les gusta a todos. Es decir, el fútbol une.

El fútbol no solo es importante a nivel deportivo, sino también a nivel social, mental, y físico. Al mismo tiempo, este deporte nos une como comunidad y nos ayuda a relacionarnos de mejor colectivamente e individualmente. El impacto positivo del fútbol se puede ver entre nuestros compañeros de Blair que lo practican y lo disfrutan. Como dice Sorto, “Es muy fácil de jugar y creo que todos lo pueden practicar.”

Choque de culturas: jóvenes latinos en los Estados Unidos Al llegar a un nuevo país muchos estudiantes reevaluan su identidad Por Camila Fernández y Andrés Romero Los latinos somos la minoría más grande en los Estados Unidos, representando aproximadamente un 17.1% de la población total según el censo national.

Así como los latinos tenemos una gran influencia en la sociedad estadounidense, esta también tiene una gran influencia en nosotros. Diego Fernández, del onceavo, explica que al llegar a los Estados Unidos de Nicaragua, se dio cuenta inmediatamente de las diferencias culturales entre ambos países. “Es como estar en otro mundo,” dice Fernández.

La experiencia de Fernández no es un caso aislado. La mayoría de los jóvenes latinos se enfrentan ante la barrera de las diferencias culturales y creen que mantener sus propios valores y costumbres les impedirá vivir normalmente en los Estados Unidos. La estudiante del doceavo, Gyanda Guerrero de la República Dominicana, explica que a ella le costó mucho la transición. “Fue un proceso difícil, pero después de unos cuantos años logré adaptarme un poco,” indica Guerrero.

M u c h o s jóvenes se ven atascados en esa barrera y deciden dejar atrás su cultura e identidad para poder encajar mejor en la sociedad estadounidense. La estudiante colombiana Camila Rodríguez, del grado once, dice que intentó esta estrategia pero al final se dio cuenta que su cultura era demasiado valiosa para abandonarla. “Tuve que madurar

para darme cuenta que no necesitaba cambiar ni mi cultura ni mi identidad para encajar. Yo soy colombiana y estoy orgullosa de serlo,” afirma Rodríguez.

Es evidente que el proceso de adaptación es muy difícil y a veces incluso traumático para los jóvenes latinos. A pesar de que este proceso es diferente para todos, hay algo que tiene en común para la gran mayoría, esto es el tener que aprender el inglés.

La estudiante salvadoreña, Raquel Pineda, relata su experiencia sobre sus dificultades iniciales cuando estaba aprendiendo el inglés en la escuela.

“Yo vine hace cuatro años y lo que más me costó fue tener que aprender inglés. Estuve en el programa de ESOL y a pesar de que me costó trabajo, hice muchos amigos allí y me sentía cómoda porque la mayoría eran latinos,” nos cuenta Pineda, “En cambio cuando tenía que ir a otra clase con personas estadounidenses, me sentía totalmente fuera de lugar.”

Es muy triste darse cuenta que la mayoría de jóvenes latinos se avergüenzan de su país o de su cultura. Natalia Fuentes, del noveno grado, admite que ella prefiere no decirle a la gente de donde es. “No me gusta que la gente sepa que soy salvadoreña, ya que no me gusta mi país,” dice Fuentes. Roxana Fuentes, también de El Salvador, concuerda con Natalia he incluso se siente avergonzada de su propio idioma.

“No me gusta hablar español porque me da vergüenza,” dice Fuentes.

Algunos jóvenes latinos resienten su cultura porque creen que es inferior o que al venir a Estados Unidos deja de ser valiosa.

Este es un punto de vista que es importante reconocer para poder entender mejor sus experiencias personales durante su proceso de adaptación y asimilación en los Estados Unidos.

Una de las cosas más difíciles para la mayoría de los estudiantes latinos aquí en Blair, fue dejar a sus familias y amigos atrás. La salvadoreña, Dinora Ramírez del onceavo, dice que el cariño y las muestras de afecto son una de las cosas que más extraña al estar lejos. “La persona que Tory Tsai

más extraño es mi abuela. Yo crecí con ella y éramos muy cercanas. Me hace mucha falta,” cuenta Ramírez. Juan Manuel, de la República Dominicana, comparte este mismo sentimiento. “Lo más difícil de todo fue dejar a mi mamá en mi país,” dice Manuel.

Otros jóvenes dicen extrañar cosas más sencillas, como sus costumbres y tradiciones culinarias. “Extraño la comida típica y la playa,” comenta Gustavo Ramírez, estudiante del décimo grado que vino de la República Dominicana. La estudiante hondureña del doceavo, Martha Hernández por su lado, añora las celebraciones típicas de su país. “Extraño las fiestas patronales y la horchata,”dice Hernández. Otros estudiantes extrañan hasta el clima. “He vivido aquí cuatro años y lo más difícil ha sido adaptarme al clima y al horario,” confiesa la estudiante guatemalteca, Andrea Aguirre.

Todas estas cosas son ejemplos de cambios a que se tienen que adaptar muchos latinos al venir a un nuevo país.

A pesar de todas las dificultades y obstáculos, la mayoría de los estudiantes latinos que inmigraron a los Estados Unidos actualmente tienen una vida tranquila, normal y han logrado adaptarse. “Ahora me siento seguro de hablar con las personas ya sea en inglés o en español,” afirma Gustavo Ramírez, quien es de la República Dominicana, “Ahora no es como antes que me daba pena.” Natasha Peralta del noveno grado, es de Costa Rica y les aconseja a los estudiantes latinos que no se den por vencidos. “A pesar de todo, vos te acostumbras a la vida aquí.

Al final lo único que necesitás en confianza en vos mismo para salir adelante,” afirma Peralta.

Finalmente, a pesar de que adaptarse no es fácil ni igual para todos, la mayoría de los jóvenes latinos pierden un poco de su identidad al pasar por este proceso, sea de manera consciente o inconsciente. Con el tiempo las costumbres que se practicaban en sus países y que ya no practican aquí van tomando un segundo plano en sus memorias mientras que las costumbres estadounidenses que practican a diario toman un lugar más prominente en sus vidas.

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Nationals and Orioles headed back to postseason The DMV’s two teams are playing October baseball again after a one year hiatus

By Teague Sauter October is quickly approaching and for baseball fans that can only mean one thing: playoffs. And for the second time in the last three years both the Nationals and Orioles will be front and center. After years of countless disappointments for DC sports fans from the RG III injuries to early exits in the playoffs for the Nationals and O’s, things are finally looking up. The Wizards started it off with a deep playoff run this spring and now the area’s baseball teams will try to generate more excitement for the region.

Back in March the Nationals were picked by many to be a title contender, but when the numbers for young stars Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper began to drop many counted them out. Nobody could have predicted that players like Anthony Rendon would step up on a team lacking a true MVP and lead them to the best record in the National League.

Many people saw the Orioles as an above average team that would narrowly miss out on the playoffs in a tough AL East. However a team without a clear star found a way to

win their first division title since 1997.

In 2013 the Nationals and Orioles finished second and third in their divisions respectively, but both were well out of the playoff picture by seasons end. It was a disappointing end for two teams coming off their best seasons in recent history. Over the offseason the 2012 NL manager of the year, Davey Johnson, retired leaving the Nationals with big shoes to fill. They hired Matt Williams, a former player and 3rd base coach of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Some of his decisions were questioned at first but he was able to lead the Nationals back to the division title in his first year managing a Major League team.

The Orioles went through their fair share of struggles throughout the season. Star catcher Matt Wieters went down for the season with a right elbow injury in June and third baseman Manny Machado went out for the season after a knee injury in August.

However, players like Nelson Cruz, who hit a league leading 40 home runs, emerged to replace their offensive production.

Both teams clinched their division titles on the night of September 16th exactly 21 minutes apart. The match-ups are set and neither team has an easy road to travel, but if all goes well then we will be seeing a beltway series in late October. Neither team has won a playoff series in over a decade and as we saw in 2012 regular season success doesn’t necessarily equate to postseason victories.

However, these teams are more experienced than they were two years ago. The Nationals still have a bitter taste in their mouth after blowing a 6-0 lead in an elimination game against the Cardinals.

The Orioles also tasted early defeat in 2012 at the hands of the Yankees and you can be sure neither team will be eager for

ANDREA BROWN

an early exit this time around.

The Orioles finished with a respectable 17-10 record in September but slowed down somewhat after clinching the division title, preferring to save their strength for the postseason. On the other hand, The Nationals are arguably the hottest team going into the playoffs finishing with an MLB best 19-8 record in the month of September sending Washington into the playoffs with an unbelievable amount of momentum. Then Jordan Zimmerman threw a no hitter on the last day of the season further cementing the Nationals as favorites to reach the World Series. However, the playoffs are a whole different ballgame. If these teams want to have a successful postseason they will have to play their best baseball of the year.

The Nationals have the best record in the National League, meaning they will face the winner of the wild-card game, the San Francisco Giants. The Nationals went 5-2 against the Giants on the season but San Francisco is a battle-tested team who knows how to win in the playoffs. They haven’t lost in the postseason with Bruce Bochy as manager. The Nationals will have to be able to produce runs efficiently if they hope to be successful in this series.

The Orioles finished behind the Los Angeles Angels to grab the number two seed in the regular season, which means they will face the winner of the AL Central, the Detroit Tigers. Detroit is a very dangerous team and although Miguel Cabrera has taken a step back this year he is still one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball who could prove to be very problematic for an inexperienced Baltimore pitching staff. The first round appears to be a tough one for Baltimore but if they play their best baseball of the season they should

ANDREA BROWN

be able to get it done.

No matter how both teams do in this year’s playoffs fans can look forward to seeing new banners hanging on the walls of Nationals Park and Camden Yards next spring.

Side by Side Nationals Orioles 1st in ERA

7th in ERA

9th in runs

8th in Runs

12th in Batting Avg. 9th in Batting Avg. 3rd in Run Differ- 4th in Run Differential

ential ALEX FRANDSEN

Blair’s first athletic trainer increases safety on the field As part of a new program, Julie Tucker is helping student-athletes protect themselves from injury

By Luisa McGarvey Julie Tucker, Blair’s first athletic trainer, can be seen riding around on her golf cart from the turf to the track and back again. Tucker is part of a county wide pilot program that gives every high school an athletic trainer to protect student athletes from injury. Here, from 2 p.m. until the conclusion of the last sporting event of the evening, Tucker has a variety of duties ranging from helping teams come up with an effective conditioning program to being the first to handle a serious injury such as a broken bone.

Tucker commented, “On any given day I can see around 50 people between 3 and 4 o’clock.”

The large number of students who have warmly welcomed her and the lack of serious injuries so far have contributed to Tucker’s smooth adjustment period. Although she is prepared for the year that could result in worse injuries Tucker said, “ The most serious injury this year was a kid getting a concussion during a soccer game, so nothing too crazy but that’s only so far.”

Positive Response Out of the multitude of student athletes Tucker has dealt with this school year, most seem to have a positive attitude on her addition to Blair’s athletic staff. Junior cross

country captain Susanna Maisto remarked that, “She was extremely helpful and advised me on what measure to take when I had overhydrated myself.” With only favorable things to say about Tucker, Maisto added that ,“ Without her

Millian commented, ” It helps a lot, actually to have her on the sidelines ready to assist players when the injury actually happens.”

Blair’s staff shared similar optimistic views regarding Tucker’s first few weeks. With 38 different

ZEKE WAPNER

HEAL ON WHEELS Athletic trainer Julie Tucker, hired for the year as part of an experimental program across the county, helps student-athletes recover from their injuries through rehabilitation. help I would have continued to over hydrate myself which potentially could have been very dangerous.” Like many other athletes, Junior soccer player Jimmy McMillian has had to pay multiple visits to the training room this season.

Afflicted by a strained muscle Mc-

Blair sports teams, Principal Renay Johnson stated, “Thank goodness we have someone on site who is knowledgeable of injuries to look over practices and games.” In previous years the coaches tended to be the first ones to respond to an injury with only their limited

knowledge from a required safety course on general injury care to help them. Now, with her expert knowledge, Tucker will be the one to make the critical decisions on the best treatment for students. A main concern of the Blair athletic department is the safety of all of the student athletes, which only increases with the help of an athletic trainer. Blair’s Athletic Director Rita Boule remarked, ” She has helped many student athletes that have gotten injured during games or practices.”

evaluated at the end of the year and will be used to help Superintendent Joshua Starr decided whether or not to include athletic trainers in the already tight budget for the 2015 to 2016 school year.

Tucker is employed by ATI Physical Therapy, one of the multiple private companies that provides Montgomery County Public Schools with athletic trainers.

Pilot Program

The recent focus on the safety of student athletes has lead to the increase in school systems helping pay for athletic trainers. Howard, Prince William, and St. Mary’s counties also provide each of their high schools with athletic trainers. However, Prince George’s, Calvert and Charles counties have no athletic trainers. As an alternative some of these other counties try to have EMTs at games when they are available, but there is no one there to oversee injuries that may occur at practices on any given day. Although D.C. public schools have had financial troubles they have still kept athletic trainers in their tight budget for over 10 years to ensure the safety of all student -athletes.

Blair is now among the 42 percent of high schools that have access to an athletic trainer. With an increased focus on the safety of the 22,000 student athletes in the county, Blair and the 24 other Montgomery County Public High School all received athletic trainers as a result of a brand new program. The pilot program came partially as a result of ”many parents pressuring the county after they realized some of the wealthier schools were paying for trainers,” according to Principal Renay Johnson.

Last year the county reached out to local companies, many of whom were already providing the concussion baseline testing, who agreed to provide athletic trainers for one year free of cost. The success of this pilot program will be

CUTTING OFF

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Checking out the fall sports teams

2014 season launches off into a strong start

By Reva Kreeger

Girls’ Volleyball Girls’ Volleyball brings in three freshman starters, and the team is excited with their competitive start to the season. Volleyball has managed to maintain an excellent season with few losses, and they hope to continue that trend.

Senior and captain Angela Zhou suggested the main reason that the team is doing so well this year is because of the three freshmen, Tiffany Mao, Maggie Wang, and Arial Zhang. “They just make our team so much stronger,” said Zhou.

It is evident that the team’s closeness translates in their performance on the court.

“The chemistry that you make between those people basically defines your team,” said Zhou.

Already, the volleyball team has had two close wins against Walter Johnson and Paint Branch. Coach Christopher Klein said that the team is doing so well is because they are serious about every game.

Girls’ Tennis

PHOUNG VO

SPIKE Freshman Maggie Wang approaches the net to hit the ball.

Girls’ Soccer

Boys’ Soccer

COURTESY OF HANNAH RAPP

DEFENSE Senior Ashe Durban prepares to clear the ball against Whitman.

PHOUNG VO

EYE ON THE BALL Sophomore Lauren Frost lofts a shot back to the opposition.

Although the Girls’ tennis team is made up of mostly younger players this year, they have had a strong start the season thus far.

The team recently clinched their division, putting them in a good position for playoffs.

Throughout the season the team has been focused on winning all of their divisional matches and moving up to Division I. From the start, Coach David Ngbea has said, “The big goal, obviously, is to win the division.”

Now that the team has achieved this goal, they can look toward finishing the rest of their season strongly.

Two freshmen start at number one and two singles, and a majority of the starting doubles players are underclassmen and have never played competitive tennis before. According to Coach David Ngbea, “The strength is that we are young, and the weakness is that we are young. They learn very quickly.”

Boys’ Varsity Soccer hopes to continue their momentum from last season (9-2) by improving throughout the fall and excelling during the playoffs. Last year, the team glided through the regular season only to be disappointed when they were eliminated early on in the postseason. Senior captain Ashely Durban thinks the team has a chance of going farther this year. “We want to do better than last season, and it’s going to be hard because we had a good team last season,” said Durban.

Durban, Coach John Haigh III, and captain Armel Nguimfack, agree that the team’s major strength is the depth of the players. “Everyone is very close in ability so we can play very deep on our bench and play different styles,” said Haigh.

This defensive strength was shown in one of their closest games against Whitman which they tied 1-1. Whitman had a hard time getting a shot at the goal, and their only score was due to a penalty kick.

The Girls’ Varsity Soccer team sees their early season performance as a great success after essentially rebuilding their team with the graduation of ten starters. Coach Robert Gibb explained that the team is mainly a work in progress and in some ways, it’s an entirely new team. “I wasn’t sure how the team was going to gel,” said Gibb, but after the first game he commented that the team put in a great effort.

Senior captain Elyse Salpekar believes the team’s strength is their defense. “We came out with strong intensity,” said Salpekar of their game against top ranked school, B-CC. Gibb also said he was impressed by their defense, which has zero returning starters.

“Every good team starts with defense,” said Gibb, and he noted all they need to do is put their offense together.

The team is optimistic overall. “Hopefully we’ll have a good season,” said senior Amanda Flores. “We can totally improve.”

COURTESY OF HANNAH RAPP

DRIBBLING Junior Amalia Chiapperino dodges a defender at Blazer Stadium.

Field Hockey

Cross Country

Blair varsity field hockey graduated ten seniors last year, so the team has spent the beginning of their season adjusting to the many new players on the field. According to Coach Candace Thurman, the young team is quick at learning, but some of the junior players sometimes get overwhelmed during games. “In big games when there’s a lot of chaos and a lot of excitement, they aren’t quite there yet,” said Thurman.

An issue the team has had to deal with is limited turf time, because they have to share with all the other fall sports. Because of this, they have been spending a lot of time practicing on the outdoor basketball courts and tennis courts.

This has allowed the team to get good at making short passes and perfecting their small game, but during games they are not doing as well with their longer passes. “We need to be able to convert from small game to big game so other teams don’t slam us,” said Thurman.

The Blair cross country team is excited this year with its unusually large team of 93 runners, compared to last year’s team of about 60 people. Players and coaches both agree that the influx of runners brings many advantages to the team this year.

Coach Angelique Bosse thinks the team is so strong because, “almost everyone has someone else at their level who they can run with.” The team utilizes pack running which “helps people run faster and intimidates other teams,” Bosse said.

Senior and captain Jack Murphy said another advantage to the large number of people is the depth of the team. “We have a lot of runners who can fill the spot of someone if they have an off day,” Murphy said.

Junior captain Susanna Maisto said the team is focusing on helping all their runners improve this year. She said since the team is so big, they are trying to push everyone to do their best, not just the most skilled runners.

PHOUNG VO

PASSING IT ALONG Junior Anna Reichmack prepares to hit it to a teammate.

Golf Graduating nearly a third of their team, the Blair Golf Team is down to only six members. Since the team is small, senior captian Cherie Carter said their main focus this year is helping each individual golfer get better throughout the season. “We want to get everyone playing better so we can beat more schools than we did in the past,” Carter said.

Getting better at golf, Coach Paul Craft cautioned, takes hard work and practice.

He said the team needs to improve skills and fundamentals. “Golf is a tricky game, and there’s a lot to do and remember to be an excellent player,” said Craft.

COURTESY OF TUNG PHAM

A SOLID DRIVE Sophomore Steven Dunne watches his ball down the green.

PHOUNG VO

ON THE MOVE Freshman Maggie Wang approaches the net to hit the ball.

Handball Team handball is starting its third season this year after losing in the division championship last year. The team of 25 members has games every weekend against other schools in the division.

According to Coach Louis Hoelman III, “The goals are for everyone to learn about the sport of team handball, to improve throughout the season and to become one of the best teams in the county.”

Hoelman explained that although the ideal number is 16 players, he is going to make a practice squad so everyone can be on the team. “Everyone who is interested in playing deserves to play,” said Hoelman.

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SURVEYING Team handball hopes to replicate their success from last year.

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October 8, 2014

Blazers defeat Barons for fourth win of season Blair wins despite an underwhelming offensive performance

By Sasha Tidwell and Reva Kreeger On Thursday night, Blair (4-1) played its fifth game of the season against the Bethesda Chevy-Chase Barons (0-5), winning by a score of 7-0 in an unexpectedly tight game.

The Blair fans came out on Thursday ready to witness a complete blowout. B-CC had yet to win a game and one of the teams they lost to was Northwood—a team that Blair beat 56-0.

The Barons received the opening kick but couldn’t capitalize as they went a quick three and out. Blair couldn’t get anything done on their opening drive as well, as they quickly turned it over on four downs.

The only action of the quarter came with four minutes left, as Blair drove down field to B-CC’s 40 yard line. The drive quickly came to a stop as the ball was fumbled on a sack and recovered by B-CC. However, B-CC still couldn’t produce, and the first quarter ended with no score.

The rest of the half continued to fall short of the lofty offensive expectations as both teams continued to turn the ball over without scoring. Blair’s defense, however, was dominating as they continued to shut down the Barons.

“Hustle and determination led to our success,” said senior linebacker Aaron Clingman. “We all got hyped up and once we got going we knew they weren’t scoring.”

Senior running back Yonis Blanco began the second half by barreling through the BCC defense with a ten yard first down run.

The ball went right back to Blanco for the next two plays as he delivered with another first down carry and a touchdown to put Blair up 7-0.

“I feel like in the beginning we just weren’t prepared and we weren’t playing

as a team. The defense was missing tackles but that’s just because some guys are new to and the offensive line wasn’t blocking,” said the game,” Dayhoff said.

Blanco. “When the second half came, everyAfter the game, Coach Fields expressed thing turned around and we just stepped it his feelings on the slow start and unlikely up.” score.

This momentum only lasted for a mo“We just weren’t prepared. Both us ment however, as the offense didn’t score coaches and the players took this matchup again for the rest of the half. Even though too lightly,” said Fields. “But I think it’s a Blair had countless opportunities, they good thing that the fans expected more out couldn’t find ways to capitalize and add to of us. We won and they were almost disapthe lead. pointed that we didn’t do better. That just In the pressure of fourth and three, with shows how far this organization has come.”

5 minutes left in the fourth, the Blazers had a crucial opportunity to score. Senior running back DJ Anderson found a clear path to the end zone and ran it in. The ball was immediately brought back, however, as there was a foul on the Blazers’ offensive line. This was their last real chance to score, but the defense backed them up and continued to shutout the Barons for the rest of the game, leaving the final score at 7-0 Blazers.

The team’s assets, senior captain Nick Dayhoff noted, are their strong defensive line and some of their stand out players. “D.J. Anderson, he’s great with the ball; when he gets the ball in his hands, he’s going out,” said Dayhoff. Dayhoff believes the main thing the team lacks is experience, but once the younger players become used to playing on varsity, the team will see huge growth. “Some guys, under pressure are inexperienced, SLOW START Quarterback Desmond Colby helped the

Fields pointed out that the team’s strongest points are their motivation and perseverance. “These kids are fighters,” said Fields. According to Fields, the main thing the football team is focusing on for the rest of the season is working hard. “The work in which we have instilled in these guys from day one, through that, all the wins and all the fun will take care of itself,” said Fields.

For more coverage of this story, go to silverchips. mbhs.edu.

PETER BERGER

Blazers scratch out a win against B-CC.

Foul play: the NFL needs to start playing by the rules 200 pounds and hit people for a living. Because of the nature of football, NFL players are bound to be more aggressive than the average individual. But that just makes the league even more culpable for keeping its players from being violent off the field.

Instead, we’ve seen the NFL play a shockingly minimalist role in attempting to prevent its players from beating women. The purpose behind the idea of a suspension is

in receiving yards last season, was suspended for the entire year in May for marijuana possession. The lesson being: hit the blunt Ray Rice is not special. The footage of and you’re gone for months, but hit your the 212 pound National Football League girlfriend and you’ll be back in a whirlwind.

(NFL) running back walloping his fiancée The Ray Rice suspension was only inunconscious with a wild haymaker is uncreased once TMZ released the footage doubtedly morally reprehensible, but the of Rice’s infamous punch, as if the league situation is not unique. It’s not any worse couldn’t already have imagined the graphic than the actions of 49ers defensive end Ray series of events that must have led to Rice McDonald, who was arrested for domestic carrying his violence on August 31st, when knocked out police found his 10 weeks fiancée alone pregnant fiancée with bruises out of the elon her neck and arms. And it’s 55.4% evator. Worst definitely no less defensible of all, NFL than the actions of Panthers’ commissioner defensive end Greg Hardy, Roger Goodell who was convicted of domesdenies having tic violence this summer after seen the video allegedly slamming his girlprior, despite friend into a bathtub, dragging it having been her across the floor by her hair sent to NFL ofand throwing her onto a couch (Relative to national average fices way back covered with assault rifles. for men ages 25 to 29) in April. This The biggest discernible either indicates difference between these alan astounding tercations is simply that there level of incomis public video footage of the petence for a Ray Rice incident, but not of billion dollar those of McDonald and Hardy. business, or a Perhaps that is why while Rice deceitful covhas been suspended indefi13% er-up by the nitely, McDonald and Hardy 11.4% NFL’s higher have yet draw any punishup officials. ment from the NFL. It’s clear After the that the league has no true Ray Rice deinterest in confronting its dobacle, the NFL mestic violence issue head on, introduced a and would rather attempt to new domestic save face one scandal at a time.

Domestic Violence Drug Related All Offenses violence policy, But at what point will there no LANDON HARRIS in which a first longer be any reputation to for it to act as a deterrent to similar actions in offense would draw a six game suspension save?

Domestic violence is overwhelmingly the future. It’s the grown up version of the and a second offense would result in banthe greatest legal issue among NFL players. ‘time-out’, a punishment that forces players ishment from the league. This tough new Overall, NFL players’ arrest rates are just 13 to sit out and reflect on what they did wrong stance on the issue seems to be just anothpercent of the national average for men aged and why they won’t do it again. So the NFL’s er façade, however, as the aforementioned from 25-29. That figure spikes up to 55.4 leniency in dealing out suspensions related Hardy and McDonald still have not faced percent in instances of domestic violence to domestic violence is baffling. When Ray any sort of league action. The Panthers have however, more than four times the overall Rice was first charged with domestic vio- appropriately placed Hardy on the exempt rate of 13 percent, and over 10 percent more lence after he was discovered dragging his list, preventing him from playing while the than the NFL player rate for any other ar- unconscious fiancée out of a hotel elevator, NFL takes its sweet time in making a decirest category. This is especially frightening he was only suspended for two games. To sion on his situation. McDonald, however, to think about when you consider most NFL put that in perspective, Cleveland Browns continues to suit up for the 49ers, despite the players stand over six feet tall, weigh over wide receiver Josh Gordon, the NFL’s leader fact that his arrest came just three days after

By Landon Harris

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NFL Arrest Rates

the NFL’s new domestic violence policy was instituted.

Although the NFL has thankfully reversed the Rice suspension, when it comes to Hardy and McDonald it seems Commissioner Goodell is still waiting for the video evidence. For a league that is at the forefront of American culture, the NFL cannot continue to lag behind public opinion on social issues.

insideSPORTS Local teams in playoffs see page F1

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See how Blair’s sports teams are doing this fall.

SIMONE PEREZ-GARCIA