October 2011 - Silver Chips Print

Council reviews curfew

Library funds slashed

Senior spirit

By Srividya Murthy The proposal to enact a teen curfew in Montgomery County is being revised by the County Council’s Public Safety Committee and will be submitted for a vote this November.

The fiercely contested bill would establish a curfew for youth under 18 from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Mondays through Fridays, and from midnight to 5 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

The bill has undergone several modifications since its original proposal in July, said Neil Greenberger, legislative information officer for the County Council.

In the latest provisions to the bill, parents are no longer held accountable if their children are caught violating the curfew, and curfew violations would be considered civil, not criminal offenses. The adapted bill also accounts for situations in which minors are out after hours, but engaged in lawful activities, such as watching a movie.

According to Greenberger, police officers will not immediately report individuals without determining if a report is completely necessary. “This is not something where if they see someone they will immediately give a citation,” said Greenberger. “Everyone might be on the streets for different reasons.”

Greenberger says that council members are trying to give police officers more discretion in protecting youth in local conflicts and are modifying the bill accordingly. “Council members are looking at alternatives in order to protect rights of residents under 18,” he said.

see related PRO/CON page 3

By Zoërose Waldrop

PHOTOS BY LEAH HAMMOND

Principal Renay Johnson initiated Senior Unity Day, which was held Sept. 22 at Smokey Glen Farm. At left, Kindra Nicol concentrates on mini-golf. Above right, the seniors celebrate on the stadium bleachers after returning. Below, friends bond during lunch.

‘Beautiful Blair’ brightens campus PTSA partners with Johnson to beautify campus

By Emma Bergman

umbrellas to the senior courtyard and groomed the garden areas surrounding the building. According to Wynn Whitthans, a Blair parent and the chairperson of the Blair Beautification Committee, this effort is still in its beginning phases.

“The campus has got to look better,” she said. “There’s just not enough money to do the kind of maintenance that a large campus like Blair requires, so we need to fill in the gaps.”

Through the PTA’s newest project, “Beautiful Blair,” student, parent, and teacher volunteers have been working for the past few weeks to make the campus’s courtyards, gardens, and interior spaces greener and more attractive.

Since the project began during the summer, volunteers have put in the nine new potted plants by the front entrances, brought new

The committee plans to address the lack of volunteers by involving students in beautification projects.

Whitthans stated that she is especially seeking to gain student support for a part of the project called “micro-maintenance”, in which students would volunteer to take care of a portion of the campus.

She explained that with the help of volunteers, students could decide

see BEAUTIFICATION page 11

This year, the media center budget decreased from $44,101 to $31,412: a 30 percent cut to the budget. At the same, another 30 percent budget cut took place in the MCPS Central Office. In years past, the Central Office paid for many of the online databases with which the media center is equipped and which students use as resources for assignENOCH HSIAO ments.

Due to the cuts at both levels, the amount the media center needed to spend to keep its previous online databases increased. “We got squeezed from both ends,” said Media Specialist Andrea Lamphier.

After the cuts, nearly 50 percent of the new budget was spent on online databases for student research, reducing allocations for books and staff.

The media center is now open until 3:15 PM after school instead of 4:00, and students with ninth periods can no longer stay after school to use the media center’s resources.

Media assistant Sherri Bailey was reduced to half of her previous hours from last year. According to Lamphier, the rest of the staff had a hard time adapting to the loss of Bailey “She was the one who dealt with technology and who assumed a lot of responsibilities,” she said. With less time to complete her usual workload Bailey had to prioritize, “Updating the website had to be put on the backburner,” said Bailey. Other assistance such as computer lab scheduling and shelving books had to be put on hold

see LIBRARY page 9

A permanent record of student expression Despite the risks involed, Blazers get tattoos with profound messages

By Eliza Wapner The needle pushed down on senior Helinda Delgado’s hip. She cringed. At first it tickled, but throbbing pain followed for twenty minutes. Then it was over; she looked down at her hip and admired the lotus flower carved on her hip. Delgado, like many other Blazers, got her first tattoo.

According to Michigan State University graduate student Katherine Krcmarik, tattoos have long been permanent forms of self-expression. Ink has long adorned kings, slaves and now Blazers. Despite the pain

and risks associated with getting tattoos underage, Blazers believe that the meaning behind their body art will make the permanent investment worth it.

The message Delgado decided to get a tattoo because her aunt recently passed away. Her lotus tattoo is a constant reminder of her aunt’s support because she loved flowers. “It shows that no matter what she’s with me,” Delgado says. Her aunt had always been a big part of her life and helped her through

a lot of tough times when her mom wasn’t there for her. She says she thinks that if her aunt knew about her tattoo, she would appreciate it.

For junior Beza Anteneh, her two tattoos serve as a reminders for important places and ambitions in her

see TATTOOS page 15

LEAH MUSKIN-PIERRET

Junior Beza Anteneh got her palm tree tattoo on her right hip to remind her of life in Isreal, her birthplace.

insideCHIPS LC 2.0: Columnist Claire Koenig compares the ‘new’ attendance policy to the LC policy. see page 5

OP/ED 4

SOAPBOX 7

NEWS 8

New Principal on the block: An inside look at the changes Johnson is making to Blair. see page 9

FEATURES 15

Growing connections: Teacher Mark Grossman employs both Blazers and juvenile offenders on his organic farm. see page 20

Saved by the bell: How Blair drama stacks up to Glee, Secret Life, and other high school TV shows. see page 27

ENTERTAINMENT 23 CHIPS CLIPS 26 LA ESQUINA LATINA 29 SPORTS 30

2 EDITORIALS

silverCHIPS

October 7, 2011

Revolution, not reform In 2001, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) with overwhelming bipartisan support. The law set elevated standards for American schools, aiming to reform the educational system, close the ever-widening achievement gap and revolutionize the way schools measure success. It was to be the white knight of American education, leading the way towards a brighter future for students and schools.

Fast-forward a decade, and it is abundantly clear that NCLB has fallen far short of Congress’ high hopes, hurting schools more than helping them. Schools continue to struggle in the face of the debilitated education system, and despite the time and resources spent analyzing huge amounts of data and making additions to NCLB’s initial groundwork, progress has been slow at best. So when President Obama announced last week that he would merely instate a waiver process allowing schools to postpone and alter the unreasonable deadlines and policies of the original act, sighs of frustration could be heard from students and educators across the country. The new system will spare schools the immediate consequences of the most odious provisions in NCLB, but it is still grounded in the same principles, and therefore will eventually create the same problems.

For a state to successfully receive a waiver, it will need to submit a proposal to the president and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who will review the request and accept or deny it on the basis of a set of national guidelines. What Obama calls further flexibility for states is in effect nothing more than a carrot on a stick — to receive a waiver, states will need to adhere to Obama’s own brand of educational reform that they have been subjected to since his election in 2008.

States will develop plans that match the Obama administration’s educational philosophy instead of branching out to untried methods of reform, effectively restarting the merry-go-round of standardized testing and teacher evaluations that have been tried endlessly by the previous two presidential administrations.

After several consecutive years of reaching benchmarks outlined

by NCLB, Blair failed to demonstrate Adequately Yearly Progress in 2011 because of just two students’ scores. The idea that every single student at Blair, much less in the entire country, will achieve the proficiency level required by NCLB by 2014 is completely ridiculous. A major problem in President Obama’s new plan is that state plans approved by Duncan will simply push back the unreasonable deadlines set in place by the original act. But the problem can’t be fixed simply by moving the deadline, because the 100 percent proficiency rate attached to the deadlines are borderline impossible to meet. Setting an arbitrary deadline, whether it is 2014 or 2020, changes little.

Another issue associated with the new waiver process is the mere time it takes for states to successfully implement new educational standards. Once states have received an NCLB waiver, following through with their promises of change can represent a complicated dance between politicians, unions, teachers and administrators. By the time states finalize these negotiations and come up with concrete plans for reform, years can lapse, allowing whole classes of students to stumble through an education system that isn’t working and can’t change.

NCLB is not the answer to the United States’ educational woes, but neither is Obama’s new waiver plan. Federal education laws that continue to enforce arbitrary deadlines, promote the ideologies of a transient presidential administration and take years for states to meet will not provide the meaningful change that every generation hopes to achieve. Making change in education will take more than mere tweaks to existing standards — it will take an educational revolution.

silverCHIPS Montgomery Blair High School 51 University Boulevard East Silver Spring, MD 20901 Phone: (301) 649-2864 http://silverchips.mbhs.edu Winner of the 2009 National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Award Winner of the 2009 and 2010 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Crown 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 Joseph Fanning’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 clairesleigh94@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.

Editors-in-Chief.........................................................................................Claire Boston, Sebastian Medina-Tayac Managing News Editors...........................................................................................Maureen Lei, Srividya Murthy Managing Features Editors...................................................Stella Bartholet, NoahGrace Bauman, Eliza Wapner Managing Opinions and Editorials Editors................................................................Claire Koenig, Maggie Shi Managing Entertainment Editors.............................................................................Helen Bowers, Simrin Gupta Managing Sports Editor........................................................................................................................Claire Sleigh Production Manager............................................................................................................NoahGrace Bauman Managing Design Editor....................................................................................................................Stella Bartholet Design Team.................................NoahGrace Bauman, Maureen Lei, Maggie Shi, Claire Sleigh, Eliza Wapner Managing Photo Editor................................................................................................................Tolu Omokehinde Public Relations Director...................................................................................................................... Simrin Gupta Outreach Coordinator...........................................................................................................................Eliza Wapner Distribution Supervisor.......................................................................................................................Claire Koenig Newsbriefs Editor...................................................................................................................................Maureen Lei Fact-Check Supervisor....................................................................................................................Srividya Murthy Extras Editor.........................................................................................................................................Helen Bowers Executive Business Director.................................................................................................Ann Marie Huisentruit Executive Communications Director...........................................................................................................Jane Lee Executive Advertising Director.......................................................................................................Sarah Marsteler Business Staff.................................................Adrian Craig, Chunwoo Baik, Nova Getz, Nicholas Seidell Page Editors.................................................................................Ruth Aitken, Jonah Bregstone, Peter McNally, ...................................................................................Katelin Montgomery, Katherine Pohlman,Joshua Schmidt, ..............................................................................................Zoërose Waldrop, Hannah Weintraub, Sarah Wilson Copy Editor...............................................................................................................................................Paul B. Ellis Spanish Page Advisers..........................................................Mariángeles Cuadrado-Corrales, Dora González Spanish Page Writers.......................................Michelle Chavez, Janett Encinas, Diana Ferreira, Anilu Martinez, ........................................Yessica Somoza, Claudia Quinonez, Heydi Urbina, Kelly Ventura Editorial Board......................Claire Boston, Claire Koenig, Sebastian Medina-Tayac, Maggie Shi, Claire Sleigh Editorial Cartoonist.......................................................................................................................Matthew Morris Photographers........... Leah Hammond, Enoch Hsiao, Clare Lefebure, Leah Muskin-Pierret, Tolu Omokehinde Artists.........................................................Julia Bates, Xixi Chen, Nathan Gamson, Doyung Lee, Matthew Morris Sports Writers......................................................Rachel Auerbach, Eli Schwadron, Joshua Schmidt, Claire Sleigh Professional Technical Advisers....................................................................................................Peter Hammond Adviser.............................................................................................................................................Joseph Fanning

Keeping autonomy and reputation Blair should continue to recognize importance of free press

By Claire Sleigh Silver Chips’ autonomy could be in question because of recent leadership changes at Blair. The new administration will has the power to take the school in a new direction, and with this they also have the power to take Silver Chips in a new direction.

As a high school newspaper, it is our privilege but not our explicitly-guaranteed right to be free from school control. As our new principal, Ms. Renay Johnson has the ability to request or interfere with Silver Chips prior to publication. Darryl Williams (Principal ’08-’11), and Phillip Gainous before him, whose tenure spanned 25 years, chose to operate by the more long-standing, liberal standard that high school publications can operate by because of a precedent established 52 years ago in the Tinker v. Des Moines case.

Our rights as a legitimate newspaper in our school are protected by this precedent only because we operate as an open forum for students expression.

Silver Chips is considered a public forum because it accepts no money from the school, has a formal class and has student editors make all content and layout decisions. It is more difficult for administrators to meddle with papers that are public forums, but it is not impossible.

Silver Chips is lucky to have gone 25 years under Gainous’s hands-off policy toward the paper, under which Williams also operated. This period of time allowed Silver Chips to develop as a loud mouthpiece for the Blair community.

Hopefully, Johnson will see the benefits of having an independent newspaper. Not only has Silver Chips been nationally recognized

Corrections In “Communicating through creation” (p.19, June 3) the top photo was incorectly credited to Tolu Omokehinde. The photo was a courtesy of Talia Mason.

as a leading high school newspaper, the publication also provides invaluable services to the school community. Students can keep

Ombudsman Claire Sleigh up-to-date on anything from sports games to county education policies, with a Blair focus can’t be found in any other publication. The opportunity to receive and read Silver Chips is available to every student at Blair.

Our status as an independent newspaper allows us to better

represent, defend, inform and entertain the Blair community. Our freedom allows us to run stories about illegal or controversial activities — stories about drugs, teenage pregnancy, or partying — that are relevant or of interest to students.

We also do not have to hesitate when writing stories that critique Blair, county and state administrations. These stories range from critical editorials to courageous news coverage, from meaningful and representative features to individual columns.

One of the purposes of media in a democracy is to act as government and institutional watchdog, and while Silver Chips doesn’t uncover daily scandals at Blair, we still act as a liaison between students and the faculty, and as an outlet for student opinions.

Especially this year, we have been receptive and encouraging of letters to the editor, in which students, staff and parents can make issues and their opinions known to this extensive community of people. Our unique position in this school is important to maintain, both for us and for the community.

Hopefully the administration for years to come will continue to see the benefits of having an independent and uncensored student newspaper and will continue to support us in our endeavors.

Injustice in the student parking lot A letter to the editors: I leave my house in Takoma Park every morning at 6:55. I then go to pick up two friends who I carpool to school with, and then go straight to school. I am usually in the student parking lot on University Boulevard by 7:15. However, I have already been late to class three times this year, despite consistantly arriving on time.

There is one simple reason for my frequent tardiness to school: parents who drop off their students in the student parking lot congest it. Blair’s parking lot system was designed with two parking lots.

The Colesville Rd lot gives parents a designated spot to

drop off their kids, and allows student drivers to park easily in their lot. Unfortunately, many parents disregard this rule, and decide to drop off their kids in the student parking lot. It literally takes 15 minutes for me to drive 150 yards from the parking lot entrance to my space.

This is extremely unfair to the students. The parents who drop their students off in our lot are breaking the rules, and we shouldn’t have to suffer.

I am passing around a petition in the hope of showing the administration how many students are against this injustice.

Mrs. Johnson and the administration need to take action.

Michael Gelfeld, senior

silverCHIPS

PRO/CON 3

October 7, 2011

Should Montgomery County enact a night time curfew for youth under 18?

Ruth Aitken It was approaching midnight on November 1, 2008 when a gunman outside a Ride-On bus fired into the vehicle, wounding two teenagers and killing the third. The incident resulted in the tragic death of Tai Lam, who was a freshman at Blair at the time of his death.

The Blair community was grief-stricken by the loss of a classmate and friend. Unfortunately, Lam’s story grazes he threshold of a more pressing problem: youth safety in Montgomery County after hours.

After a disturbing series of instances where youths were victims of or participants in late-night criminal activity, the Montgomery County Council proposed a juvenile curfew for minors. Although teens may be adverse to the idea of being told when to go home, the curfew is designed to permit socializing but not dangerous activity on the streets of Montgomery County.

Although most teens who are likely to be out in the night hours are merely looking for innocent fun, there has recently been a disturbing increase in rates of nighttime gang-related violence in the area, making the curfew a necessary measure. Lam’s killer was affiliated with a gang, as are many of the perpetrators who target and recruit youths in Montgomery County.

In a recent testimony before the Council, Chief of Police Thomas Manger referenced a massive, decentralized gang fight that took place over the Fourth of July weekend in downtown Silver Spring. Two rival gangs arrived in the popular commercial center by public transportation, and split into scattered groups in order to best evade police. The fight concluded in the stabbing of a 17-year-old girl.

The gang members, many of whom were minors, were from gangs based in Prince George’s County and Washington, D.C. In a police report, the perpetrators admitted that the fight had been staged in Montgomery County in order for the gang members to evade the curfew laws of their respective municipalities.

The July 2 gang fight is not an isolated incident; Manger noted dozens of similar instances of late-night juvenile crime, including robberies, stabbings and drug deals too.

In August, a mob of over 20 teenagers simultaneously stormed upon a 7-Eleven store in Gaithersburg after two in the morning, robbing several hundred dollars’ worth of merchandise in under a minute. This increasingly popular criminal trend among teenagers has come to be known as “flash

YES:

NO:

The curfew would keep kids safe without hindering their social lives.

A youth curfew would distract from the issues it tries to solve.

mobbing,” in which an organized group commits a frenzied robbery at a designated time. Although the teens were merely seeking free snacks and late-night adventure, several of the participants have been charged with criminal conspiracy. Had a curfew been implemented at the time, the occurrence could have been prevented even before it happened.

Ike Leggett and the Council are proposing the curfew not to hinder teenagers’ social lives, but to prevent such adverse and mindless acts.

After D.C. implemented its juvenile curfew in 1995, youth crime plummeted, according to a ten-year study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. In the event that a similar curfew was to be implemented in Montgomery County, it is likely that juvenile crime rates would experience a similar decline.

Currently, juvenile crime in Montgomery County is up. From 2009 to 2010, youth crime spiked from 16% of total arrests to 25% of all arrests, according to Manger in The Gazette. Even Though adversaries of the bill may testify to the fact that the overall crime rate has abated in the area, the rates of juvenile crime have trended in the opposite direction.

The majority of youths are entirely capable of governing themselves in an admirable and peaceable fashion. But because Montgomery County is facing threateningly high juvenile crime rates, some preventative measure is necessary in protecting innocent passerby. Lam’s story should remind us to value our safety, and implement boundaries according to what will ultimately best protect youth.

After 11p.m. tonight, every teenager on the streets of Montgomery County will become a violent criminal or defenseless victim - or at least so goes the logic. A youth curfew has been proposed as a tool in a police officer’s toolbox, a get out of high crime rates free card for the police department.

While their intentions are good, their argument has neglected one crucial fact: a curfew may be more than just an ineffective tool, it could also be a harmful one.

Valerie Ervin, President of the County Council and a chief spokesperson for the curfew, rallied a sense of urgency at a July hearing by declaring that, “The experiment that is downtown Silver Spring is on the preciNOAHGRACE BAUMAN pice now of failing.” It’s ironic then, to note that the day after the curfew was proposed, a press release from the Montgomery County police department demonstrated a 4.6% drop in crime in the past year. Restriction of core rights in a disaster situation may be justified, but fabricating a disaster situation and then calling for the dismissal of such rights is condemnable. The bill originates not from fact or positive examples, but from an irrational criminal or victim logic. Such a vast oversimplification of youth crime and victimization has been a fantastic selling point, but it unfortunately rejects the realities of our nation’s Bill of Rights and modern crime research.

Constitutional rights have quite obviously been overlooked. Youth can have their freedoms curtailed, but when a bill hijacks a parent’s right to judge their child’s specific case and installs a blanket rule, aren’t parent’s rights being disrespected?

Leah Muskin-Pierret

For a bill that claims to be cracking down on “negligent and careless parents,” it has the potential to irk thousands of dedicated ones.

The logic of the bill also pales to the facts. A Study by the US Department of Justice demonstrated that five times as many youth crimes occur after school relative to the late night, and consequently police would do better to crack down on after school crime than install a curfew. The assertion that curfews don’t work is backed up by seven studies, from a DC specific study by the American Journal of Criminal Justice to a large-scale synthesis of research from Indiana University. Case in point, an Urban Institute study of the curfew in neighboring Price George’s county demonstrated neither a decrease in youth crime nor youth victimization and commented that crime hotspots remained unchanged by the curfew.

A recent shift in the debate takes an even more flawed angle on a curfew: selective enforcement. Lt. Robert Carter, chief of the Silver Spring police, asserted in a Washington Post editorial that cops are endowed with the ability to tell the innocent from the guilty before the crime is perpetrated. He even went so far as to declare that these judgments will be fair because Montgomery County police are, “blind to all bias.” The potential for racial profiling is very real; the Frederick Country curfew was even struck down because of it. Even if police are truly colorblind, there is still the inborn bias of financial discrimination. An amended version of the curfew includes exceptions for teens who are patrons of businesses.

As for teens who can’t afford that lifestyle, their version of hanging out has now been deemed illegal.

Lastly, there is the issue of impracticality. Laws exist which prevent the police from demanding ID, so they rely on the teenagers themselves to confess that they are underage and violating curfew. Teenagers already frustrated at such disregard to their First Amendment rights may learn the awful habit of lying to the police.

The prevailing logic that has kept the curfew proposal afloat rejects tenants of fact, rights and reason. Our community deserves and should demand a functional solution to youth crime, instead of settling for a broken one.

Leah Muskin-Pierret is the co-founder of the youth group Stand Up to the Montgomery County Curfew.

voiceBOX “There should be more limitations to where people shouold be after dark but not an actual curfew.”

-sophomore Alex Michell

“No, during Saturdays people want to hang out more, they don’t want to go home.”

-senior Arsieine Tekele

“It should just be parents giving curfews.

Parents should have responsibility over their kids.”

“No, people will break curfew anyways so more kids will get in trouble. It won’t stop kids from going out.”

-sophomore Paul Munger

-junior Christian Maduro

“I think there should be a curfew but at a late time. Being out later than like 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, it’s just not safe.”

- freshman Elia Tzoukermann

4 OP/ED

silverCHIPS

October 7, 2011

For larger schools, one size does not fit all Schools should be given support staff allocations proportional to their sizes

By Maggie Shi In architecture and engineering, support isn’t an afterthought.

Without proper support, even the most elaborate skyscraper would be reduced to a pile of broken glass. In this regard, there is no denying that support is essential.

Conversely, in regard to school staffing, support is considered by some to be quite the opposite.

The term “Support” has become synonymous with “trivial” or “secondary.” But support positions are anything but trivial — without them, a school, like a building, can crumble.

In recent years, MCPS has slowly been whittling support staff numbers in response to the budget crunch. Positions like media specialist, IT systems specialist, registrar, business manager, administrative secretary and financial assistant have all been cut down. The numbers are now down to one per school, across the board. According to Magnet Coordinator Peter Ostrander, the county justifies these cuts by saying that these positions are not affected by a school’s size, and that each school should have the same number of positions because it is “equitable.”

But individually these cuts actually promote inequality between the schools. These positions are,

in fact, affected by the school’s person. To imply that an IT spesize. And because of that, the cuts cialist’s job, or that of any other hurt Blair, the biggest school in the support staff, is not affected by system, the most. To Ostrander the number of students at a school and many others at Blair, the prob- is beyond unreasonable; it is lem is simple: “We have more downright false. “Blair has more students, so we have more computers, more requests to the registrar and more classes requesting help from the Media Center.

“These days, the support staff has to do more with less. “I think volume is the single biggest difference,” media specialist Andrea Lamphier says. She says that she used to help students individually, INFORMATION COURTESY OF MCPS but now her focus is on the library as a whole. computers than some schools For IT systems specialist Peter have people,” he says. He adds Hammond, juggling Blair’s 1,200 that the county assigns an IT specomputers as well as keeping the cialist to schools when they hit 600 school’s network up and running to 700 students, but Blair has over is a daunting task for just one three times that number. When

Hammond is unable to get resolve an issue, it has to be turned over an IT specialist from the county.

Then, Ostrander says, “we will have to rely more on Central Service, which would result in longer turnaround time.

Things that could be resolved in minutes could take days.” Blair is also unique in that it houses the magnet and CAP programs, which impose their own burdens on the support staff.

For example, Blair has a ninth period to accommodate for these programs.

This means that many students expect the media center to be open during and after ninth period. But according to Lamphier, “I contractually get off at MAGGIE SHI 2:30, so ninth period is on my own time.” She says that although she is willing to stay after school and assist students, it was much less of a burden in the past when there were more media specialists.

The magnet poses a particular burden. Because of its focus on computer science, so Blair inherently has more computers.

“My to-do list is getting longer every day,” he says. “I can’t keep up, and things are going to fall through the cracks.”

There are very few instances where injustices are made so starkly obvious in the numbers.

No one can deny that Blair is big, that it has a ninth period or that it has higher computer usage. The county can try to pretend Blair is just like any other school, and it can pretend not to notice that the workload in support positions is correlated to the school’s size.

But while the county has the privilege of being able to ignore these numbers, Blair staff has to face the facts every day. The amount of work support staff has is proportional to the number of students they serve, so logically the number of staff should be proportional as well.

For now, Blair staff has to keep plowing through as the situation becomes direr. They can try to adapt by compromising or relegating tasks to others, but this won’t solve the issue. As Hammond says darkly, “It’s clear to us it’s not sustainable, but not clear to people with power. I hope someone realizes it before things come crumbling down.”

Charter schools send educational reform off-course MCPS’s proposed path toward charter schools reflects poor planning and offers few results

By Puck Bregstone An opinion MCPS is headed off the map, into, for lack of a better phrase, uncharted and dangerous waters.

The United States education system is in turmoil. Other industrialized countries are outstripping the U.S. in almost every aspect of education. In a desperate move, the U.S. Department of Education has poured $4.35 billion into an unexplored, costly and unnecessary alternative: the charter school.

A charter school is a hybrid between a public and private school.

It is funded by the state, but run independently. More and more states around the nation are turning to charters to fix their ailing public school systems. Now Montgomery County is jumping on the bandwagon. Over the summer, a panel made up of multiple MCPS stakeholders approved an application for a Montessori charter school that will begin operation at the end of August 2012.

Charter schools have been given the benefit of the doubt regarding education improvements simply because they offer a different approach to our current system. However, a recent study

by The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University challenges this assumption by comparing

half of the nation’s charter schools to nearby public schools. Factors the CREDO study kept constant included racial demographics and the number of students that qualify for free or reduced lunch.

The results indicate that charter schools do not improve the education of their students: in some cases, misled students experience a worse education. According to the study, 83 percent of students in

charter schools are doing the same or worse compared to their public school counterparts. The study also shows that charter schools in urban areas significantly outperform those in suburban communities, like Montgomery County. In a video recording of press conference this August, Superintendent Joshua Starr explained, “Charter schools are not a panacea for all that ails public education.” Yet MCPS continues to stumble forward in their misguided path to support charter schools.

The point of charter schools is to reform the education system

by treating the schools as massive education laboratories and experimenting with new methods for student success. Charters schools are intended to add an element of competition and capitalism to education. Under performing public schools either have to adopt new policies or be shut down.

MCPS has over 140,000 students in 200 schools. This year MCPS is experiencing record-breaking enrollment in schools and the upswing anticipated to keep on growing. The MCPS panel only approved one application for a charter school in the county.

If it were to mirror the national average charter school size, the charter would only accomodate about 200 students. A single charter school would not create enough comSTELLA BARTHOLET petition with public schools because the waiting list would be so long that local schools would never see a drop in student population or feel pressured to improve. Lori-Christiana Webb, the MCPS charter school liaison, explains, “There is no official plan for the charter schools in MCPS. If the applicant has an innovative educational approach and the capacity to actually create their idea then they become a serious option.” In the hope of reforming the entire MCPS system, one charter school will have very little effect.

Even if one chose to overlook

the negative research stacked against charter schools, we need to take into consideration not only their ability to function more effectively in other counties but also their cost. MCPS is one of the top tier schools systems in the U.S. and as far as our graduation rates and test scores go, a major overhaul is not what we need.

Additionally, the county will pay up to 98 percent of the funds for each student at the charter school, according to the 2003 state law.

Phil Kaufman, the chair of the Fiscal Management Committee on the Board of Education explains that the county would end up paying up to $14,000 per student.

Charter schools create jobs, but

employees would not belong to a union and would not receive tenure thus creating an unstable learning environment. It would be a better idea for MCPS to invest in a much more immediate need in Montgomery County.

Research indicates that charter schools are not the right road for education reform particularly in Montgomery County. The county’s attempt to rush towards an inconclusive, unnecessary attempt at reform is foolhardy.

For a failing urban school district charter schools may be a lifeline but for a thriving suburban school district like Montgomery County, charter schools actually pose an unnecessary complication.

Art Corner Welcome to the Art Corner — a space where Silver Chips artists share their perspective on the issues of the day, or simply entertain with a little bit of good-natured humor.

MATTHEW MORRIS

silverCHIPS

OP/ED 5

October 7, 2011

New attendance policy: recycled and unimproved

The ‘new’ MCPS attendance policy veils a feeble attempt to reinstate the despised LC system

By Claire Koenig An opinion False names, masked intention, danger disdained – the circular sweeping of a school system remembering the steps to a waltz they left behind.

MCPS is adamant that the new strategy to encourage attendance is not the same as the loss of credit (LC) policy students remember from 2010. But although the concepts have been revisited and the effort re-christened, there is little difference between today’s approach to keeping students in class and the one eliminated for academic and ethical reasons in the 20102011 school year.

One of the primary arguments against the original attendance policy was the disproportionate consequences losing credit had on certain racial groups within the county. According to the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County, in the spring of 2008, 19.2% of Hispanic students and 16.4% of African American students lost credit for one or more classes. Only 4.1% of white students were similarly affected.

The most common speculation to explain this inequality is that white and Asian students and their parents were more capable of “playing the system” — or sucking up to their teachers. According to Student Member of the Board of Education (SMOB) Alan Xie, “Some people are taking

advantage of the system because they have better knowledge of what to do about the attendance practice.”

But regardless of the cause, the unintended prejudice is clear, and the revisitation of the LC policy provided an opportunity to find a solution. Unfortunately, the answer the MCPS Board of Education (BOE) has settled upon doesn’t seem to resolve much of anything.

In response to the racial divide in the attendance policy, the BOE decided to put in place a computerized method of recording attendance that requires teachers to submit absences and tardies promptly to avoid potential bias. Sound familiar? Blair has been using a similar program for years now, and teachers report that the only apparent change is in choice of software.

Perhaps the most successful attempt to revamp the LC policy is in the edited system of appeals that prevents students from losing credit. This policy allows students who are in line for loss of credit to the right to an appeal in which they set up an attendance plan with their counselor that they must hold to for the rest of the year. If the student adheres to the plan, the LC will be rescinded.

However this too is nothing new to MCPS. The appeals system has been around as long as the LC policy has; the question is in why so many students have never heard of it before.

Previously the burden of appeals, that is the task of initiating the appeal process, was placed on the student. According to Xie, the BOE has reformed this arrangement so that when the updated computerized attendance system records that a student has earned three unexcused absences, it sends automatic emails to the student’s parents and school administrators who are expected to take action on the student’s behalf. This way the school is responsible for saving students in danger of losing credit from retaking classes or even postponing their graduation.

The fault here is not in the changes made to the appeals system, but the lack of information available to student regarding these modifications. Despite the drastic change made to the policy, Blair has made few general announcements regarding attendance and many Blazers still know little or nothing about student rights in terms of attendance.

Schools must convey this information to students efficiently and thoroughly through widespread announcements and frequent reminders, not scattered information that circulates through only part of the student body. It is imperative that students fully understand their rights and responsibilities with regard to their education; because that is the only way they can begin to take it into their own hands.

It is not only the lack of progress and

communication within the policy that is disheartening, but the fact that the policy exists at all. In 2009, Xie called the original LC policy a direct violation of the MCPS Grading and Reporting guidelines and the Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook. It encouraged the use of grades as a disciplinary measure by allowing attendance, and therefore behavior, to hold more sway over academic achievement than ability. But have things really changed?

Certainly there is a new name, a new face to an old policy, but fundamentally it includes the same questionable procedures as the old did. The fundamental discrimination that administrators criticized LC for will be meagerly affected at best. Grades will continue to be unfairly influenced by tardiness and unexcused absences. Students will still have to retake classes, attend summer school, graduate late.

By attending class, students show they are making an effort to learn, which is an important step towards a better education.

But we must not sacrifice learning and success for the sake of punishing students who do not want to apply the appropriate amount of effort.

The false pretenses with which MCPS has adorned its new attendance policy need to be unmasked. We should look at it for what it is: an embellished replica of the system that wasn’t good enough for us a year ago.

MAUREEN LEI

Downtown on the mend Time for new stores in Silver Spring

By Helen Bowers An opinion Flu season is coming to Blair with a bang and Blazers are eating cough drops like candy and tissues are now considered a rare commodity in classrooms.

But it seems that Blazers aren’t the only ones getting sick. Empty storefronts and clearance banners are Downtown Silver Spring’s versions of sneezes and cold sores.

While Blazers chew vitamins and slurp tea, Silver Spring needs to build up its immunity to dreariness by continuing to replace outdated, if beloved, stores with updated stores that appeal to all ages and genders.

This past summer both Borders and Pier 1 Imports closed due to economic problems.

Now that shoppers have had a chance to recover from the loss, many begin to wonder what will replace the shops.

They turn to blogs and forums to speculate on what stores are to come, but there seems to be no definite word on the matter. Their wonderings makes sense because replacing stores seems to be the name of the game in Downtown Silver Spring. Recently, the Fillmore replaced a few obsolete

storefronts on Colesville Road; a pivotal move in Downtown Silver Spring’s social health. Now Blazers finally have something to do in Silver Spring other than eat at the dozens of restaurants.

But in order for Silver Spring to draw Blazers away from their chicken soup and vitamin C tablets, Silver Spring must keep the storefronts filled

most Silver Spring shoppers, these stores simply do not appeal.

City Place Mall houses 48 businesses, including eateries, pretzel carts and hair salons. But it is impossible for a shopper to pass through City Place without experiencing deja vu. Instead of a mix of big brand stores like Target or Macy’s, City Place offers nothing but cheap stores selling only mediocre clothes.

We’re all fans of good deals, but not at the expense of good quality. “The stores at City Place Mall are so sparse compared to other places.

There are

TATYANA GUBIN

with appealing businesses.

Preferably, businesses that don’t sell cheap clothes that rip after three days. The Iack of stores is not to blame for Silver Spring’s lackluster shopping. For

TATYANA GUBIN

no decent stores besides T.J Max, and even that is pretty crappy.”

Says senior James Audet. But the lack of variety isn’t all that’s concerning Audet, it’s the quality of clothes too. “The clothes I got from Burlington Coat factory were

the worst I’ve ever had; poor quality beyond anything I have ever had in my life.”

The offerings in Downtown Silver Spring for Blazers who don’t want low quality clothes are slim, but they are present. Blazers can go to American Apparel for trendy hipster clothes, and can find very decent shoes at DSW. But one can only own so many pairs of neon leggings and Tommy Hilfiger sneakers. It about time to get some more quality stores in Silver Spring.

But putting in trendier stores isn’t a panacea for Silver Spring’s ailments. It’s merely the first step of the recovery process. The other

key ingredient in the antidote is hustle. By now, Silver Spring shoppers are used to the Metro’s parking lot that has been under renovation for years and the empty part of City place where two movie theaters once stood. What’s keeping Silver Spring sick are the many empty

spaces that have no rental prospects from stores either appealing or appalling.

There is going to be some serious decline in economic activity for Silver Spring if some new stores don’t open soon, especially if they are not of a higher quality than the current offerings.

The Business Innovation Network, part of the Montgomery County Department of Economics, acts as a “Business incubator,” according to their executive director John Korpela.

The Innovation Network helps small businesses make it in Silver Spring, so if there’s anyone to go to with proposals, it would be them.

The process for deciding which businesses to “incubate” is simple.

“We first require the business in question to present a business plan, then we have a board meeting, made up of myself [director of Innovation Network], people who represent Silver Spring and the business’s CEO.” says Korpela.

The Innovation Network works alongside the Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce to consider public opinion, so any Blazers who have suggestions should start talking to the Chamber as well as the business incubator.

Hopefully in the future Blazers won’t have to drive to Wheaton to get to Forever 21, or trek all the way to Montgomery Mall for an Apple store.

It would be nice if Blazers could one day head downtown on a Friday afternoon and do more than see a movie or stuff their faces, because after a while that same old weekend routine grows dull. A few nice stores would add to Silver Spring weekend revels.

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SOAPBOX

October 7, 2011

SOAPBOX: Blazers speak out Do you notice Ms. Johnson’s presence at Blair?

7

Do you think the LC policy will help or hinder students? Why?

see story, page 9 see story, page 5

“I don’t notice Ms. Johnson at all. Whatever she is doing or not doing she has no impact on me whatsoever. For me, the position of principal is just a stepping stone to a higher-paying job. They care about money, not the students.”

-sophomore Jerry Chen

“I think the LC policy is good and bad at the same time. I think it is good because more people are attending class on time. It is bad because some people aren’t late on purpose and they are getting marked as late.”

-sophomore Lisseth Mora Urbina

“Yes, she is the best, Ms. Johnson is a beast.”

-freshman Matthew Kickenson

“I think it helps students because they will show up on time to classes. Even though their is a penalty, it still forces them to go.”

-junior Elan Stern

“No, I don’t know who she is.”

-junior Destiny Curtis “I do notice Ms. Johnson. She is the best principal ever. There will never be anybody greater.”

-freshman Ian Jackson

ART BY JULIA BATES

“I do not like the LC policy because I think it is unfair! I think the LC policy should be renewed each quarter because it would be better for the kids.”

-sophomore Sarah Del Rosario “I understand the necessity behind it, but as a student, I don’t like it because it puts more stress on coming on time.”

-senior Becky Vanarsdall

Would you ever get a tattoo? Why? see story, page 15 “I would never get a permanent tattoo because I am constantly changing how I feel about decisions I make.”

-sophomore Deborah Olawuni

“I think the LC policy is okay. I guess it keeps me on track, and makes me get to class faster, but I don’t like to loose credit for just being late.”

-sophomore Bianca Hernandez

No, because it would be destroying your body and when body and when you get old, it will become a big blotch of gray and black stuff on your skin.'

-freshman Lul Mohamud “I would never get a tattoo because you cannot get it fully removed and when you grow up, it does not look good.

-sophomore David Pilsk “Personally, I don’t mind tattoos. I am planning on getting a tattoo of my family name across my chest.”

-senior Joshua Reckson

If you attend football games, why do you go?

Do you think that TV shows accurately portray high school? see story, page 29 “TV shows make high school seem worse than it actually is.

They create the idea of cliques and lead students to believe that they are limited to a specific group of friends.”

-sophomore Amie Idriss

see story, page 30 “I go to football games because I like being spirited, I like supporting the team and going with my friends.”

-senior Becca Ederer a “Yes, I go to JV games because they win.”

-freshman Joanne St. Hilaire

“No, if they did, TV wouldn’t be interesting, and a lot of non-hot

people would be on TV.” -junior Momodu Seilenga

“I don’t attend football games, because I don’t have time and I don’t want to spend twelve hours at school.”

-junior Aaron Weckstein

“Not at all, they don’t portray Blair because we don’t have extremes like that.”

-senior Rachel Smith

“Yes, because they are good social gatherings and you can see lots of friends.”

-freshman Molly Beckett

chipsINDEX 10 18 4.8

Millions of acres of organic farmland in the United States

750

Hundred thousand teens in the United States get pregnant annually

Percentage of teens nationwide who have tattoos

Average number of hours teens play video games per week

Chips Index compiled by Helen Bowers.

3 1965 3,174

0

Number of IT systems specialists Blair had before budget cuts The most recent year that Blair football when undefeated Monthly cost of raising a baby

Charter schools currently exist in the Montgomery County Public Schools system

Quote of the Issue

“ ” We’re not in 1987; kids aren’t just locked up in their basements anymore playing Pac Man. organizer of MAGFest Nick Marinelli

see GAMERS, page 19

8 NEWS

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October 7, 2011

Administration launches Cell phone policy modified Blair adopts new policy a year early new security hotline

By Maureen Lei Blair Principal Renay Johnson announced the Blazer Hotline, a phone number which Blazers and surrounding community members can call and text to anonymously report negative student activity, on Sept. 13. The Hotline is monitored by Johnson and security team leader Cedric Boatman.

According to Johnson, the Blazer Hotline was created when she met with Boatman to address concerns expressed by Woodmoor residents.

“Their main concern was that there was so much teenage nuisance during the school day. So, I talked to Mr. Boatman, and he said ‘We have an extra cell phone, so why don’t we set up a tip line?’,” she said.

According to Boatman, the goal of the Hotline is to maximize safety at Blair.

“If students see something going on that shouldn’t be going on and they want to talk to an adult about it without breaching their identity, they can contact the Hotline. It’s not a snitching line,” he said.

So far, the Hotline has not generated traffic. “There’s nothing right now. I don’t think enough kids know about it,” said Boatman. Johnson echoed this sentiment, and revealed her plan to work with the Student Government Association (SGA) to further publicize the Hotline. Specifically, she plans for the SGA to create refrigerator

magnets, stickers and posters.

English Resource Teacher Vickie Adamson and junior Patrice Morgan-Ongoly, the Student Government Association (SGA) President, expressed positive sentiments regarding the Blazer Hotline. Adamson stressed the necessity of the Hotline as a means of communication. “Since I’m a parent at Blair, it’s interesting when my kids say things at home that I would never hear as a teacher, and if the school really has an interest in what students are thinking, there should be a safe vehicle to do that,“ she said. Morgan-Ongoly saw merit in the power of the hotline to create a sense of security. ”SGA hopes that by raising awareness, it will create a safer school environment,” he said.

Senior Austin Liou and junior Natalia Campos did not agree with Adamson and Morgan-Ongoly.

Liou doubted the effectiveness of the Hotline.

“I don’t think anyone is acutally going to call it,” he said. Campos viewed the hotline as a violation of privacy. “I think people need to mind their business,” she said.

Johnson will review messages recorded by the Blazer Hotline to observe DOYUNG LEE trends in student behavior. “What I’m going to do is monitor on a monthly basis to see if some things are happening more,” she said. She plans on performing her first check at the end of October.

If you have information, call or text the Blazer Hotline at (240) 688-7940. Prank calls are monitored.

By Puck Bregstone Beginning August 29, Blair adjusted its cellphone policy to allow students to use their phones during 5th and 6th period lunch, as well as before and after school.

This year’s cell phone policy stipulates that the first time a student’s phone is confiscated, he or she must wait until the end of the school day to collect back the device from Blair’s security office.

The second time the phone is confiscated, the student’s parents must retrieve the phone from Blair.

On the third confiscation, the administration schedules a conference with the student and his or her parents.

According to Suzanne Harvey, teachers in previous years were not always required to confiscate phones that went off in class, and were allowed to leave the decision up to personal discretion.

This year’s policy creates a consistent disciplining process with clearly defined rules and repercussions.

The rationale behind the new policy is that if students are allowed to use their phones before school, during lunch and after school, they will have less need for their phones during school hours. “With freedom comes responsibility. This is no different than a business place. Your business is to get an education and in a business place you would never use your cellphone,” said Suzanne Harvey.

There is soon to be a new standard policy for all Montgomery County high schools,

but the Blair administration made the decision over the summer to enforce the policy a year ahead of time. “Next school year all of Montgomery County will follow this policy so we decided, to adopt the policy a

CLAIRE SLEIGH

year early,” explained assistant principal, Suzanne Harvey.

Magnet math teacher David Stein expressed the belief that modern cellphones have more than one use and felt that the MCPS policy demonstrates a lack of understanding. Stein said, “We need to realize that phones are not just for calling anymore. The graphing calculators on iPhones are better than actual graphing calculators.

Why make a student pay an extra $100 dollars for a graphing calculator that is no better than what they already have in their pocket?”

Senior Roy Banwell saw the policy as ineffective, pointing to its lack of influence on student behavior. “It’s a hopeless case; the new policy will honestly not change much cellphone use,” he said.

MCPS Superintendent holds series of Listen and Learn events Joshua Starr plans to increase communication between school district and community

By Elizabeth Lakew Over the next two months, Superintendent Dr. Joshua P. Starr will host 10 “Listen and Learn” events to meet students, parents, staff and community leaders throughout Montgomery County.

Courtesy of Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr talking to a student at a Listen and Learn event.

Starr, who was superintendent of the Stamford school system prior to joining Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), said the

MCPS superintendent Joshua

“Listen and Learn” program will allow him to address the County’s prominent concerns and communicate his intentions for the MCPS system. “This is a way for me to listen to folks about what’s going on,” he said to the crowd of parents and students. “I’m forming opinions [at this stage].”

The first “Listen and Learn” event was held on Sept. 19 at Albert Einstein High School. Here Starr revealed MCPS’s new curriculum for elementary schools, which will be implemented countywide, called Curriculum 2.0, and addressed

other concerns.

According to the MCPS website, the upgraded curriculum will blend elective subjects with the core content areas. “Curriculum 2.0 will provide more instructional focus on the arts, information literacy, science, social studies and physical education. By blending these subjects with the core content areas of reading, writing and mathematics, students will receive instruction across all subjects in early grades,” Starr said.

There has been a lot of positive feedback from members of Montgomery County since the curriculum was introduced. Barbara Henderson, President of the Montgomery County Young Democrats, believed that it will give students a more well rounded education.

“Grade school is meant to prepare kids for life after the classroom, and MCPS’s Curriculum 2.0 does just that. It is heartening to see states move away from teaching for tests, and teaching for life,” Henderson said.

Legislative Aide Dave Kunes also commended Starr on his work as superintendent.

“I tend to fall more in line with Starr’s educational philosophies… I like that he didn’t come COURTESY OF MCPS in and knock the teachStarr hosts a Listen and Learn event. ers’ union and supports

more partnership between teachers and administrators,” Kunes said.

During the “Listen and Learn,” Starr October 10 Northwest High School recognized how the county met October 18 Long Branch Community Center its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

October 19 B-CC High School “We’re the first county to get to the moon,” he November 1 Wootton High School said, referencing MCPS’s AYP and November 7 Wheaton High School graduation rate successes. According November 21 Sherwood High School to Education Week, MCPS has the highest graduation rate in the country.

Throughout the event, parents Eighty-five percent of students in and students raised questions Montgomery County graduate about the safety and availability of with a diploma, while the national public transportation and the counaverage is seventy-one percent. ty’s emphasis on taking high-level But the “Listen and Learn” did courses. Though MCPS is known not just highlight Montgomery for its rigorous curriculum, many County’s successful graduation parents stressed that the current rate, it also addressed the No Child system is excessively difficult for Left Behind Act. Starr expressed students. Starr expressed his dishis dissatisfaction with No Child satisfaction towards the amount of Left Behind and its effect on MCPS. stress being put on students under “[I can’t express] my enormous the current curriculum. “We are frustration with No Child Left Be- in this dangerous place [because] hind,” he said. “I very much hope kids could be doing so much more, that Congress will not reissue it.” and they should be,” he said.

Listen and Learn Community events

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NEWS 9

October 7, 2011

Library lacks funds New assistant principals from LIBRARY page 1 to continue to provide the main services. “Kids suffer from the lack of staffing,” said Ms. Lamphier.

The media center had experienced smaller cuts for a few years before this most recent cut at the beginning of the school year. Before Bailey’s hours had been cut in half, Ms. Hack, the other Media specialist besides Lamphier, was let go as a part of budgeting.

When this happened the staff was forced to adjust to the changes in workload and the new responsibilities they were forced to absorb.

This “adjustment” as Ms. Lamphier referred to it, is a process that the media center has dealt

with off and on since the economic downturn in 2008.

In spite of the cuts, the media center continues to open at 6:30 in the morning. “We’re doing it because the kids need help, and they know that they can come for help here,” said Lamphier.

The media center’s staff felt the change at the beginning of the year, but students have yet to notice the consequences, many Blazers such as junior Lisha Ruan use the library on a daily basis, yet have not felt any changes. “It’s nice in here. I come in the morning to relax before school,” said Ruan.

Lamphier foresees a difficult year ahead “It’s going to be a hard year. Period,” she said.

NOAH GRACE BAUMAN

join Blair administration

Cauley and Deeny to provide leadership in grade teams

By Ruth Aitken

years ago, she received her teaching certifications. She then taught Spanish at Bethesda Chevy Chase High School and Takoma Park Middle School.

Deeny said that her prior leadership experience as an eighth grade team leader at Takoma Park prepared her for her responsibilities as assistant principal.

As administrator of the class of

class. Cauley emphasized that his role is to ease the transition from Dirk Cauley and Alicia Deeny middle school to high school for were appointed this summer to incoming freshmen. “My goal is serve as assistant principals after to be able to demystify how comthe departure of former assistant plicated high school is from the principals Edith Verdejo-Johnson beginning,” he said. and Tamitha Campbell.

Cauley said that conditions Cauley said that he applied for are most favorable for freshmen and accepted the job in order to to succeed if they have a caring work as a part of Johnson’s team. adult or administrator that be“I had heard a lot of lieves in them. Cauley said good things about that he wants to inspire that Ms. Johnson and her conviction in ninth graders innovative leaderwho may still be intimidatship style,” Cauley ed by the prospect of high said. Cauley also school. commended Blair At the same time, he for its sense of combelieves that ninth gradmunity and parental ers should be prepared for involvement, and what the next four years said Blair has the will encompass. “Ninth strongest support grade is the most important system of any school year. [Freshmen] need to he has worked at. start with the end in mind, Before he became and to know what their TOLU OMOKEHINDE CLARE LEFEBURE an assistant princigoals are from day one,” pal, Cauley worked Dirk Cauley (left) and Alicia Deeny (right) Cauley added. Throughin MCPS as a math are Blair’s new assistant principals. out the school year, Cauley teacher. Cauley also plans to familiarize freshtaught night school and Saturday 2014, Deeny said that her respon- men with the High School Assessschool with the George B. Thomas sibility is to ensure professional- ments, the Career Center and the Learning Academy. ism and efficacy in the sopho- Student Service Learning process.

Cauley, who has worked at more class. “It’s my job to address Deeny said she and Cauley Kennedy and Walter Johnson student behavior and discipline aim to gradually create improve high schools as well as area mid- of tenth grade students, and also Blair. dle schools, said he hopes that to work with strategizing at a “At the moment, [Cauley and his background in education will whole-school level on how to ad- I] are trying to look at the school translate to success at Blair and dress student achievement,” she and see how we can take positive allow him to better relate to stu- said. roles… but we have a certain level dents.

After Verdejo-Johnson’s depar- of respect for the system that’s alDeeny began her career in ture, Cauley inherited the respon- ready here. Our impact would be MCPS as a media assistant. Nine sibility of overseeing the freshman more in the long-term,” she said.

Principal Johnson takes a hands-on approach with Blair New principal outlines plans to be involved with student and staff community

By Katie Pohlman Those new flowerpots by Blair’s front door are not just there to mark a new school year; they are there to announce the coming of a new principal and the changes that she is bringing with her. Principal Renay Johnson has big plans in mind and is putting some in action as she begins to leave her mark on Blair.

Currently, Johnson is implementing a new service at Blair that she believes will improve student safety and stop bullying.

She calls it the Blazer Hotline, a number that students can either call or text if they see “something happening in school or [with] our Blazers out in the community.” The hotline is completely anonymous and the texts are sent to security team leader Cedric Boatman. Once Boatman receives the text, he and Johnson will read it together and decide what to do next.

Johnson is also working with the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) on grant writing. These grants would guarantee every student at Blair access to a TI-83 graphing calculator. They are also working on having the computer labs available after school for parents to use. To encourage reading, Johnson is looking into buying Kindles for students. Johnson and the PTSA are also seeking a technology grant to get smaller and more efficient radios for the Blair security team.

Johnson is going to buy as much for the school as she can with the budget that she is given. “If we have it, I’m going to spend it,” she said. She added that the county has allocated a certain amount of money for the students and she plans to spend it to their benefit.

Along with everything else she plans to do, Johnson has already made some big

changes. She has implemented a new cell phone policy, allowing students to use their phones at lunch and before and after school.

Johnson said that once she came to high school and found out that it had the same cell phone policy as her previous middle school, she had to change it. She believes that phones are now more than just phones: they have calendars and access to the Internet and other resources that are beneficial to learning, and high school-aged students are old enough to use them responsibly. Johnson has also introduced Senior Unity Day, a grade-bonding event full of games and food for seniors to enjoy, which she had when she was a student in high school. Johnson hopes that Senior Unity Day will allow students “to do senior class business and to kind of bond and have fun and to get to know each other.” Senior Richard Zhang said that he believed Senior Unity Day fulfilled its purpose. “It was so fun. It was a great experience,” he said.

Several Blazers already know Johnson from Takoma Park Middle School, where she was principal for five years. Johnson has worked in Montgomery County Public Schools for over 20 years. Some Blazers, like sophomore Ryan O’Connor, are confident that Johnson will be more involved with the student community than was former principal Darryl Williams. O’Connor said that he has seen Johnson many times, unlike Williams, who “was just never around.”

Many teachers, such as social studies teacher Anne Manuel, agree that Johnson is building a stronger connection with the school than Williams did: “She’s really hit the ground running,” said Manuel. But for other Blazers, like freshman Cecilia Bergman, Johnson has yet to make an appearance. “I don’t really know her, like, at all,” said Bergman.

Johnson plans to make a point of being out between classes and visiting some as well. “At times I can be a little bit disruptive [to classes] because I say ‘Hey Blazers!’”

Johnson said. Many students and teachers agree that the new principal is bridging the gap between administration and the student body. Johnson is involved with the community and attends as many sports games as she can. O’Connor, a member of the Green Club, which has worked closely with Johnson to make Blair a green school, believes that she will continue to be prominent in the community.

Johnson says that high school is her favorite stage of education. She contrasted it to middle school, where she only got to see the students go off to high school, but not to finish their education. “I like to know that they finish,” Johnson said. “It’s really watching young people mature into young adults, and I really like that.” Johnson says she is very happy to be back in a high school and does not plan on leaving anytime soon.

She is willing to work at Blair until retirement if county officials allow her to do so. “I want to stay here as long as Blair will have me,” she says.

ELIZA WAPNER

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NEWS

October 7, 2011

11

Silver Quill adds musical portion Blair gets a new look Literary magazine uses music to reach out

wanted to make the connection between music and Silver Quill,” Silver Quill will integrate a mu- she said. “It makes sense – music sic section with its present art and is a form of art.”

Rodwin hopes that the music literature categories to encourage submissions from musically tal- element will help Silver Quill conented Blazers and to expand their nect to more students and expand readership to a broader subset of the magazine’s readership. “We think it will open the magazine the student body.

According to co-Editors-in- up to a new sector of the school,” Chiefs Talia Rodwin and Danny she said. Rodwin and Rosenberg Rosenberg, the inspiration for expect submissions and sales for adding this category came from the magazine to increase with the watching numerous Blazers per- new component.

Although the idea is fresh, form musical acts at Silver Quill’s Open-Mic events. “We were look- Rosenberg says that the staff has ing to spice up the magazine,” said a variety of ideas on how to blend Rodwin. “A lot of people perform music with a visual magazine. at Open-Mic; it’s probably the “It’s such a new idea…but we’re thinking of having a CD included most public event we have.”

Silver Quill adviser Miriam with magazine and sheet music Plotinsky describes music as the included in the magazine,” he perfect addition to the magazine’s said.

According to Rodwin and representation of Blair’s artistic work. “We’ve been doing Open- Rosenberg, the staff will judge Mic for quite a while now, and we music submissions with the same standards as the other sect i o n s . “ We ’ r e hoping to keep it similar to the other sections – art and literature,” said Rosenb u r g .

Rather t h a n judging live performances, the staff will accept tracks from students so LEAH MUSKIN-PIERRET that the Silver Quill editors-in-chief juniors Talia Rodwin and j u d g i n g process Danny Rosenberg show past issues of the magazine.

By Srividya Murthy

can remain anonymous.

The SilverQuill staff will also accept tracks from all musical genres, as long as the songs are original pieces. “We don’t want to limit to one type of music. We want to get as much difference as we can,” said Rodwin.

Plotinsky says that this will give Silver Quill an opportunity to see what Blair students have to offer. “We’re open to whatever people send us. We don’t know what’s out there, we want variety,” said Plotinsky.

Submissions to Silver Quill will close at the end of the first semester, and Silver Quill staff will compile all the chosen pieces and send the final magazine to the publisher during Spring Break.

The staff predicts that the price of the magazine will increase, but emphasizes that financial gain is not their objective.

Silver Quill is advertising and communicating to students about their new component through their student-run website and blog. “We want to include more of the school…more chance for people who know other people to submit,” said Rodwin.

In addition, several representatives from the Silver Quill staff will visit music and art classes to spread the word about the magazine’s new musical component.

“We will be sending staff members to art and music classes to encourage students to submit,” said Plotinsky. Rosenberg says that idea for the music component is set in stone, but the staff is working on ironing out the specifics of the music section.

According to Plotinsky, the Silver Quill staff is also considering possible changes to the appearance of the magazine.

“We’re thinking of maybe trying to change design,” she said. “We want to be ahead to the curve… but there’s still some development going on,” she said.

through beautification

nior courtyard and start improving the faculty courtyard as well. what changes could be made to “We want students to be comfortthat specific area, raise money able inside and outside the buildand make the change themselves. ing,” she said.

Whitthans expressed confidence Vice Principal Andrew Colethat students will be enthusiastic man said that he welcomes the about being in charge of their cam- new developments. “I think it’s pus and will want to take on more a great idea and I think most responsibilities. “Eventually we’d students will agree with me,” he said.

A c cording to Charlie Garlow, a current volunteer and the former chairperson of the Blair Beautification Committee, there are benefits to campus improvement that go beyond aesENOCH HSIAO thetics.

More flowers currently surround Blair’s campus “ W h e n as a result of the Blair beautification project. students are proud like to have all of it turned over to of their school they do better acathe students to take on their cam- demically and stay in school lonpus,” she said. ger,” he said. “So appearance is Another long-term goal is the some of it but it is also an opporcreation of a rain garden for the tunity to teach people about the school in order to make a smaller environment, and if we can help impact the environment. “Instead educate people about the earth of putting water in the storm and taking better care of it, that’s drains that goes out and pollutes a good step.” the bay, we want to keep rain Junior Jordana Rubensteinand runoff water on site, and we Edberg agrees. “I really appreciate would use rain gardens to do it,” what they’re doing,” she said. “It she said. creates a more encouraging learnThe program is not limited to ing environment.” gardening. Parent volunteer Dianne Hunt, who works with WhitTo volunteer, call Wynn Whitthans, said volunteers would like thans at 301-257-1396 or email her at to continue renovations on the se- wynn.liveoak@gmail.com.

from BEAUTIFICATION page 1

Vigeant and Shaffer join Blair community as resource teachers Sophie Vigeant and Vicky Shaffer bring new leadership to their respective departments A few hallways over, Shaffer oversees the entire special education department and This year, Sophie Vigeant and Vicky says that one of her most important jobs in Shaffer have replaced Arlette Loomis and taking this position is making sure that stuTenaeya Rankin as heads of the foreign lan- dents get appropriate accommodations.

According to Margery Scanlan, an NSL guage and special education departments teacher who works respectively. in the special eduAs Vigeant and Shafcation department, fer assume their new poShaffer’s addisitions, they will inherit tion to the group several duties in their dewill help the departments. Vigeant’s main partment make responsibility is to make progress.

“She’s sure the department funcbringing new life, tions as a whole, so that accountability and foreign language teachconstructive change ers can encourage student that has been needsuccess. “I have very high ed in our departexpectations for everyone, ment,” she said. including myself. The top As both Vigeant priority is student achieveand Shaffer move ment,” she said. into the Blair comIn addition to leading munity, they are her department, Vigeant taking two different teaches upper-level French approaches to leadcourses, including Honership. ors French 4, AP French Vigeant aims Language and Culture LEAH HAMMOND to expand the deand French 7. She teachpartment and is es a total of 120 students. Vingeant teaches French 4, AP considering the Shannon Brady, one of Vi- French and French 7 in addition to possibility of addgeant’s French 7 students, being the head of the department. ing Chinese to the is excited about learning more from the class. “I think she’s going to list of languages taught at Blair. “We will be teach us a lot of French this year because she conducting a survey very soon to students and parents to see if there is any interest in is strict about the language,” she said.

By Katelin Montgomery

Chinese,” she said. “Socioeconomically, it is a very important language in today’s world.”

On the other hand, Shaffer plans to spend her first year observing how things work.

After becoming accustomed to the new system, she plans to prioritize and decide what needs to be changed in the special education department.

While Vigeant and Shaffer are new to Blair, they are not new to teaching. This is Vigeant’s eighth year in public education.

Before coming to Blair, she taught French at Bethesda-Chevy Chase.

Vigeant felt a smooth transition to her new environment at Blair. “I love it. Everyone has been very supportive and the members of the world languages department have been very welcoming,” she said.

The only thing that surprised her was the large size of the school and how long it can take to get from one place to another. “I may have to increase my caloric intake,” she ENOCH HSIAO joked.

Vicky Shaffer has replaced Tenaeya Rankin Shaffer has worked in public education for 31 years. Teaching was her first and only as head of the special ed department. career and she has progressed through all levels, from elementary, to middle, and now er students. “I do like it here. I love young adults,” she said. However, she admits that to high school.

Most recently, she worked at Takoma learning the ins and outs of a new system Park Middle School, which she described as can be difficult at times.

She often finds it challenging to get her a very different experience from working at Blair. “The middle school environment was message across to a larger population. “I so much smaller and there was much less was surprised at how hard it is to communicate a message and make sure that everyone freedom for everyone,” she said.

Shaffer is excited about working with old- gets it,” she said.

12 ADS

October 7, 2011

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F

October 7, 2011

SPECIALS

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By Peter McNally Photos By Emma Howells

our crystal chandeliers glimmer in the smooth violet light of Silver Spring’s new 2,000-person venue, The Fillmore. An army of fans, armed with glow sticks, glitter and neon clothing, restlessly wait to see DeadMau5, a famous composer and DJ. Just in time, the opening acts begin. Excision, one of the opening DJs of the night, comes out and sets the mood for the evening, shouting, “Are you ready to rage or what?” This proves to be the mantra for the three-hour festival of sonic mayhem that follows.

In 2001, when the idea for the Fillmore was presented to the Montgomery County Council, the Fillmore’s current building housed another set of fading businesses on Colesville Road. $13.2 million and a decade later, the Fillmore opened its giant doors, and in its first week brought headliners like Mary J. Blige, Blondie and DeadMau5 to Downtown Silver Spring.

Blair students who attended the Dead- Mau5’s set up drops, the crowd loses it, movAlong with these financial commitments came substantial logistical challenges. Lee explains some of the legal requirements that had to be met. “When a developer builds a big project in a downtown area, they are typically required by law to provide public amenity,” says Lee. This means that the developer company must provide something that is of value to the public.

For this project, the amenity was the land used to build the Fillmore, which was donated

by LDG to the county. This put the county in a position ELIZA WAPNER o f o v e rsight “The county is now the landlord, the Fillmore is a tenant,” says Lee. Another obstacle in building the Fillmore was opposition from competing The Fillmore opened last month after more than ten years of music promoter company I.M.P, which owns and operates the 9:30 Club and Mer- controversy over the project’s funding and development. riweather Post Pavilion.

The company filed an unsuccessful anti- Mau5 concert express high hopes for the ing in unison to the low electronic beats.

As the night progresses, the crowd betrust suit against Live Nation and the county Fillmore. Sophomore Liam Lewter considers in 2010. The legal objection was largely based the Fillmore an asset. “I think its definitely comes even more entranced with the light Second spring on the premise that Live Nation’s 30-year going to improve Downtown Silver Spring,” display, which is complimented by the flashAccording to Dan Cohen, director of contract with Montgomery County, which he says. Senior Hillel Slott acknowledges ing lights on DeadMau5’s mouse helmet. The Silver Spring Forward, a citizens group includes significant tax breaks, was unfair Silver Spring’s recent upward trend. “[Silver venue’s four fully stocked bars are clearly that advocates for economic development towards smaller independent promoters like Spring] is definitely improving, I’m sure its well used. One woman is asking people if in Silver Spring, the Fillmore is a huge step I.M.P. Despite this objection, Lee says that not the most happening town on the planet, they would like her to blow handfuls of glitter in their faces. Most say yes. in an effort to bring economic growth to the support was otherwise widespread. “We’ve but I’m impressed.”

For the most part, the staff seems to Downtown Silver Spring area. “Its a piece had such good community support,” says maintain control over the rowdy crowd, but Lee, “everyof the overall DeadMau5 in 5ilver 5pring despite the seemingly heavy presence of secubody has bepuzzle of delieved in a velopment,” An hour before the doors open, a line be- rity staff, they appear nonchalant about their music venue gins to wrap around the corner of Colesville, duties. People begin to pass joints around he says. Sili n D o w n - and snakes down Fenton for almost a block. the crowd and go unnoticed. At comparable ver Spring t o w n S i l - The crowd is diverse in every way. The col- venues like the 9:30 Club, these illicit activities Forward ver Spring lege and high school students wildly dressed are strictly prohibited. has supThe crowd grows wilder with every song, b e c a u s e or wearing barely any clothes at all, contrast ported the i t m a k e s sharply with the more conservatively clothed and when DeadMau5 leaves the stage and the Fillmore’s sense.” construction adults. Although the energy in the line is lights come up, the fans stands in defiance, Despite palpable, it barely registers in comparison demanding an encore, which DeadMau5 on the bases some con- to the scantily clad hordes of techno lovers gladly supplies for another half hour. that it will t r o v e r s y who would grow in numbers as the night bring welover the Fill- goes on. come ecoAs time goes by more’s connomic stimThe glamorous chandeliers of the venue s t r u c t i o n , pay homage to those of the original Fillmore ulus to the The slumping City Place Mall, marked b o t h L e e in San Fransisco, the famous concert hall that with bleak signs for Burlington Coat Facarea. “The and Cohen hosted greats like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Jop- tory, and a discolored shadow of where once Fillmore b e l i e v e lin. A spacious dance floor is over looked by was a sign for the now non-existent Gold’s re p re s e n t s that it will two large balconies and a small VIP lounge Gym, juxtapose the Fillmore’s giant sign and a economic The Fillmore is expected to draw large crowds bring posi- area. Around the stairwells, large murals marquee. Dan Goldman, a 34-year-old from shot in the and bring additional business to Silver Spring. tive change commemorating the Fillmore and its opening Alexandria, has never been to Silver Spring arm for to the area. “All that it can do is stimulate decorate the walls. The walls in the hallways before, but is impressed by what the Fillmore Down Town Silver Spring,” says Cohen.

Cohen believes that the Fillmore will growth and stimulate the economy, says are hung with posters of famous tours that has to offer. “The acts have been absolutely become a major attraction. “It will draw Cohen. “You really have to look at it as have gone through Fillmore establishments amazing,” he says. Despite the strong lineup, people from around the region to Downtown there are some exciting things happening in around the country.

Goldman cannot say with certainty whether Silver Spring,” he says. Bruce Lee, President Downtown Silver Spring.” In addition, the Although the Fillmore is bringing in or not the Fillmore is sustainable. “Time will of Lee Development Group (LDG) big names from the music tell…,” he says. who owned the property where the mainstream, Live Nation is This reflects the sentiment of many memFillmore was built agrees with Coalso making a point to cater bers of the community who have hopes, but hen. “It will draw a lot of people to to all tastes. “We’re partner- will wait to see whether the Fillmore will live the Downtown business district,” ing with local promoters as up to community expectations. he explains, “Silver Spring is on well as headliners” says Rob the map now.”

Muller, a marketing manger for Live Nation. “This club is going to range from high Start to finish schools to college to adults...

J. Cole, October 19th, tickets $27.50 we’re here for everyone,” Although it only took two years says Muller. to build the Fillmore, the logistics Never Shout Never, October 20th, Tonight though, it is all that lead up to its construction tickets $22.95 about the big names. Just were complex, and included a seas DeadMau5 is about to ries of financial transactions from Wale “Ambition Tour”, October 22nd, take his place on the stage, multiple parties. tickets $23 a charge of energy builds According to county spokesamong the crowd. Even man Patrick Lacefield, Maryland Ziggy Marley, October 30th, tickets though the music has been put forward its first $2 million $30. loud all night, the first notes toward the project in 2008, and of DeadMou5’s set are bone followed up with a second $2 mil- Since the Fillmore opened, concertgoers have praised Childish Gambino, November 1st, shaking, sending tremors lion in 2009. In addition, the county the venue as a positive addition to Silver Spring nightlife. tickets $25 through what feels like the invested $4 million in the project.

Another $2.7 million used for construction county projects that the Fillmore will generate entire building. Bright strobes and flood LMFAO, November 17th, tickets $32 and interior furnishing came from Live $1.8 million annually for the state and county, lights flash across 2,000 fans, all squeezing in Nation, the entertainment giant that now not including the potential benefit to the busi- at once in an effort to get closer to the stage.

Mac Miller, December 1st, tickets $25 nesses surrounding the Fillmore.

When the massive black curtain covering manages the Fillmore.

UPCOMING

14 NEWSBRIEFS

NEWSBRIEFS

silverCHIPS

October 7, 2011

Allied activities

Montgomery County updates earthquake policy After the 5.9 magnitude earthquake on August 23, the Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security revamped its policy concerning earthquake safety and distributed the new policy to all schools in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).

The new policy highlights a few key emergency techniques. It suggests huddling next to large furniture, and it discourages trying to leave buildings. According to the new policy, research has shown that a majority of earthquake related injuries occur when someone is attempting to leave the building.

Assistant Principal Andrew Coleman, who is in charge of safety procedures at Blair, said he was unaware of the existence of an MCPS earthquake policy until this year, when he was instructed to pass a copy of the policy out to all Blair staff.

Blair does not meet Adequate Yearly Progress Blair failed to meet 2011 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), a measurement based on High School Assessment (HSA) scores and mandated by the No Child Left Behind, according to data released by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) on Sept.

30. According to the MSDE report, 11 other high schools in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) also fell short of AYP standards: Albert Einstein, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Clarksburg, Colonel Zadok Magruder, Gaithersburg, John F. Kennedy, Northwood, Sherwood, Springbrook, Wheaton and Richard Montgomery. Six of the 12 schools were assigned “school improvement” status, meaning they did not meet AYP for either two consecutive years or three out of the last four years. In order to exit “school improvement” status, schools must meet AYP for two consecutive years.

The schools in “school improvement” were: Clarksburg, Colonel Zadok Magruder, Gaithersburg, John F. Kennedy, Northwood and Sherwood. According to to MCPS Public Information Office Director Dana Tofig, HSA and AYP results are of secondary concern to MCPS. Tofig placed greater emphasis on college and career readiness and preparation.

TOLU OMOKEHINDE

Junior Allison Goodman and senior Alex Rittman (from left), Gay Straight Alliance members, explain the club to another student at the Blair Activity Fair on Sept. 30.

State Board denies appeal for local charter school The Maryland State Board of Education (MSBE) denied an appeal from supporters of a proposed Montgomery County charter school in a 10-1 decision on Sept. 27. Last year, the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Board of Education (BOE) denied the group’s proposal to start a charter school in Montgomery County. After the supporters appealed the BOE decision in January, the MSBE mandated that the BOE reconsider its decision. In March, the BOE maintained its intial ruling and rejected the application again, arguing that the proposed charter school was too dependent on rote memorization. The supporters appealed the second decision, stating that the BOE had unfairly considered their application. However, the MSBE backed the BOE on Sept. 27, pointing out vague and unclear areas in the school’s curriculum plans.

Blair Crew team grows in size, hires new coach The Crew team added 30 new members to its program this season, more than doubling its enrollment. To cope with a growing roster, the team has hired assistant coaches James Kiel and Jakub Bialas, both students at the University of Maryland, to coach water practices. They also added Jay Andrews, the Einstein Lacrosse Coach and Assistant Athletic Director, as a workout coach. The team bought its first boat this year, and plan on buying two more this season. The team will be fielding two varsity boats and three novice boats this season. In the first regatta of the year, the 2.8 mile Head of the Potomac, the girls’ varsity boat placed tenth out of 16, and the boys placed sixth out of six.

The team graduated 13 varsity rowers last year and is looking to rebuild the team during the fall season in preparation for a competitive spring season. Rowers recruited heavily in preparation for the new season, and more novices joined the team than ever before. Most new recruits were freshman, but there were a significant number of sophomores and a handful of juniors. The Blair Crew team was founded in 2008, and had 22 rowers the first fall season.

They were the fourth high school in Montgomery County Public Schools to create a crew team and joined the ranks of B-CC, Walter Johnson and Whitman upon creation.

Blair’s in-school peer tutoring program grows The peer tutoring program has grown over the past year, according to coordinator Sabrina McMillian. Starting this year, all players on both the varsity and junior varsity football teams are required to attend peer tutoring four days a week. In previous years, the football team had to come in after school for academic support.

McMillian said that team members in the Magnet and Communication Arts Programs, or past tutors tutor the players. Captain (senior) Jonathan Shaw spoke favorably about the tutoring program.

“It’s definitely helped a lot. It gets my homework done before I get home. The program, now in its fourth year, had at its peak 100 tutors. Fewer students have been coming this year to tutor, though the demand for tutoring has increased. McMillian said she plans to recruit more tutors by advertising at activity fairs, magnet classrooms and parent list serves. She added that the program will expand its tutoring pool. “We will be reaching out to honors societies,” she said. McMillian also mentioned that the program needs support beyond tutors. “We need parents as well as students,” she said. Many tutees are in or freshly out of ESOL, and some tutors work only with the ESOL or foreign language department.

Newsbriefs compiled by Maureen Lei, with additional reporting by Puck Bregstone, Adam Kadir, Claire Sleigh and The Gazette.

NATHAN GAMSON, DOYUNG LEE AND MAUREEN LEI

HONORS s &ORTY FOUR SENIORS WERE NAMED SEMIl NALISTS in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship (NMS) Program, and four were named semifinalists in the National Achievement Scholarship Program (NAS), on Sept. 14. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) will announce NMS finalists in February 2012 and NAS finalists in January 2012. Finalists will be entered into consideration for scholarships from the NMSC, universities and corporations. s 3ENIORS $AVID +AUFMAN AND *EROME 'LICK AND juniors Charlie Pasternak and Devin Luce received MAKE Magazine’s Editor’s Choice Award at the World Maker Faire New York for their Segway clone on Sept. 17 and 18. The Segway clone was entirely student-made. Magnet Robotics teacher

John Kaluta accompanied the four students to the World Maker Faire. s 3OCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS !NNE -ANUEL AND $AVID Swaney attended Deliberating in a Democracy, a program created by Silver Spring based non-profit organization Street Law, from Aug. 1 to Aug. 5 in Peru. The program focused on the teaching of Democratic principles in Latin America. s #LASS OF GRADUATES ,AURA !NTHONY 2OBERT Durban, Janet Henkai, Sarah McMillian, Eli Okun, Nicole Turchi and Ava Wallace were featured “How 8 Applicants Got to College”, a US News and World Report story published on Sept. 22. The article described the résumés, application processes and ultimate decisions of the eight alumni.

silverCHIPS

FEATURES

October 7, 2011

Blair Ink

from TATTOOS page 1

life. Her first tattoo, which she got in freshman year, a small palm tree on her hip, reminds her of Israel, her birthplace. Though this part of her life is still important to her culturally, she doesn’t know much about it. Anteneh says she often remembers her cousin who was killed by a suicide bomber in Israel through this tattoo.

Her second tattoo, which she got on the inside of her lip in her sophomore year, is the acronym “M.O.E.,” standing for “Money Over Everything.” She says this tattoo doesn’t represent a longing for wealth, but rather symbolizes her desire for a good life. To her, having this written expression on her body helps her focus on her ambitions.

“It motivates me every time I look at it,” she says.

Parental control To get h e r t a t toos, Anteneh not only had to decide what message she wanted to display, but because of her age, she had to find a different way to obtain it.

Anteneh is a minor and as a result is not allowed to get a tattoo under Maryland law. Thus Blazers who want tattoos either need parental permission or must avoid the law and go

By Eliza Wapner Art by Nathan Gamson Photos by Leah Muskin-Pierret

to an illegal tattoo parlor. Even if a minor gets and the tattoo came to have a second meanpermission, some tattoo parlors, like Capital ing: honoring her mother. However, her Tattoos located on Georgia Avenue, still won’t mother still does not know about the palm ink minors. An employee at Capital Tattoos, tree on her hip and Anteneh says she does a man who identifies solely as Doc, explains not plan to tell her. that they used to tattoo minors with parenAnteneh believes that it is her right to get tal permission, but after the police arrested tattoos and that no one can tell her what to one of Doc’s workers for tattooing a minor do with her own body. As a result of this with only one parent’s signature, Capital Tattoo stopped tattooing minors altogether. “It’s not worth the hassle,” says Doc. In order to get around the law, some Blazers turn to illegal sources.

Instead of finding a shop that would do her tattoo legally, senior Jessie Agus left it up to a friend who knew a professional tattoo artist.

The artist worked in a tattoo parlor during the day, but also did underthe-table tattoos for minors in his house. Agus says she was initially nervous about the skill-level and cleanliness of the artist. However, she says when she arrived, she saw the needle in a sterile packet, which relieved her anxiety. As her worries disappeared, the needle began carefully inscribing Agus’s birthday in roman numerals on the back of her neck.

The tattoo experience was a very different one for senior Robert Clingman, who was able to get his two tattoos completely legally.

His father supported him getting tattoos, and agreed to take him to a legal parlor., unlike many of his peers. Clingman got a tattoo on each of his forearms that spell out his grandmothers’ names, he says the tattoos represent both the African-American and Korean sides of Junior Beza Anteneh recently got a tattoo of his family. His grandmothers also M.O.E, standing for Money Over Everything. supported the tattoos because they believe they showcase his close relationship belief, Anteneh does not support the law to his grandmothers. banning minors from getting tattoos. “Your body is your temple, if you want to draw all over it, draw all over it; it is yours,” she says.

Hiding in plain sight Delgado has similar views. She believes the One thing Clingman doesn’t have to worry laws have little effect because teens will find about is hiding his tattoo from his parents. different and sometimes more dangerous Agus, however, has to remember to hide her ways to get around them. Doc on the other tattoo from her parents at all times. “It’s a hand disagrees with Delgado and Anteneh. scary thing to live with everyday,” she says. “[Teens] don’t know what they want,” he Agus must always wear her hair down. This says. secret, however, is exciting and fulfilling to Agus. “This is something just for me to enNo pain, no gain joy,” says Agus. “If [my friends and family] don’t know, they don’t have to know.”

“If anybody tells you it doesn’t hurt, they Like Agus, Anteneh tried to keep her are lying,” Agus says. According to Agus, at tattoos a secret from her parents. However, first getting her tattoo tickled, but the sensaonce when she bent down to grab a drink, her tion gave way to twenty minutes of pain. mother saw the tattoo on the inside of her lip. For Clingman, his pain did not subside after Her mother was horrified and demanded to twenty minutes, the needle kept buzzing know what the “M.O.E.” stood for. Anteneh painfully for a full two hours. panicked and told her mother that the letters Even though Delgado says she experistood for “Mommy Over Everything.” Even enced pain as well, she has plans for more though she thought of the new phrase to tattoos in the future. She wants to continue cover up the real meaning of her tattoo, she to add to her lotus tattoo, with a path that said her mom does play a big role in her life extends up to her rib. This path would me-

Senior Robert Clingman’s tattoos of his grandmother’s names represent his families cultures.

morialize her many friends who have passed away.

Anteneh also plans to get a tattoo on her forearm that either has the initials of her parents or the phrase “Only God can judge me,” from the Bible. This tattoo will remind her that it doesn’t matter what others think of her and that she should only care about her own opinion of herself and God’s judgment.

Anteneh, like many other Blazers, picked words and symbols that mean a lot to her to tattoo on her body. She believes that her own tattoos will withstand the test of time because of their significance to her.

However, she believes that not all teenagers’ tattoos will last forever.

Delgado agrees; she believes picking out a tattoo is a very important process. She advises people pondering getting a tattoo to make sure the tattoo has a deep and true meaning.

T o her, a tattoo having those qualities will certainly maintain its’ meaning throughout one’s entire lifetime. Now when Delgado looks at her tattoo, she forgets about the pain she felt when the needle pushed down on her skin. Today she only remembers how much her aunt means to her.

Senior Jessie Agus got a tattoo of her birthdate and hides the tattoo from her parents at all times.

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silverCHIPS

CENTERSPREAD October 7, 2011

Nursery rhymes at unexpected times First dads, then grads

Closer in age and more engaged

By Stella Bartholet

By NoahGrace Bauman

Sophomore Jonathan Mao found out that his girlfriend, senior Jennifer Chavez, was pregnant in November of his freshman year. Many of Mao’s friends expected him to break up with her, but he moved in with Chavez and prepared to father the child. “A lot of people doubted me,” he says.

Many of these doubts stem from stereotypes about teen fathers. Therapist Marie Choppin says the media shows many teen fathers leaving their girlfriends and children. But young dads at Blair who decide to raise their children feel that they are living up to their responsibilities and making sacrifices to provide for their families.

Stinging stereotypes Mao says he has proven his commitment to his new family on many occasions. He was there for Chavez when she had morning sickness, he was there for her when she had contractions and he was there to see his son on June 13, 2011, the day Jonathan Aiden Mao was born.

Now Mao and Chavez live together at Chavez’s mother’s house and take care of Aiden in rotations.

One does homework, while the other watches the baby.

However, not all of Blair’s teen fathers live with their children. 2010 graduate Jairo Fuentes has a twoyear-old girl named Ariana Flores-Fuentes. He does not live with his daughter, like Mao lives with Aiden, because Fuentes is not in a relationship with the mother of his child, 2010 graduate Leslie Flores.

Flores lives with her daughter full-time and Fuentes only visits Ariana a few times a week. He thinks that Flores is overprotective. “I don’t know why she doesn’t think I’m responsible enough to take care of [Ariana],” says Fuentes.

According to Choppin, it is common for teen parents to raise their children outside of a relationship.

“Teenager relationships aren’t long-term, so the likelihood is that at some point they might split off,” says Choppin.

Fuentes found out that Flores was pregnant during his junior year. He says his family was upset with him, but also ready to support him. “They said, ‘We are going to help you because that’s what families do,’“ says Fuentes.

He explains that his family has been a huge help by encouraging him to graduate from high school.

However, Fuentes remembers experiencing discrimination from his own cousin for being a teen father. About a week after his family found out about the pregS ENTE IRO FU Y OF JA nancy, he was OURTES C TO O PH at a relative’s house when his cousin ran up to him. “He said, ‘Man you’re so dumb. Man you’re a dumb boy,’“ recalls Fuentes.

Taking one for the team Mao says his family, like Fuentes’s family, has been helpful and supportive, but especially financially. His father is giving Mao money for the baby.

Though Mao does not have a job yet to help pay, he is making other sacrifices for his child and girlfriend.

He could not try out for football this year in order to be at home with his new family. He has also given up much of his sleep and social life. “I can’t really go out with my friends that much, and when I do I have to take Aiden with me,” he says.

Fuentes has also made sacrifices for his child.

Since he is a student at Montgomery College, he had planned to live on the campus. But because of Ariana, he decided against it. “I wanted to be near her and

watch her grow up,” he explains.

According to Choppin, the extra responsibility of being teen fathers forces Mao and Fuentes to mature faster. “You have to think outside of yourself,” says Choppin.

Making sacrifices in order to be a teen father may be difficult at times, but Mao believes that it is important to give up many of the perks in his life to spend more time with his son. His father was always working when Mao was growing up, limiting the time they were able to spend together. Mao says he would like a relationship with Aiden that is closer than his relationship with his father.

Mao would also like to move with Chavez to give Aiden a better life. Mao grew up in a rough neighborhood with gangs and drugs. “I don’t want that for [Aiden],” he says.

Fuentes plans on making changes in his relationship with Flores for Ariana’s well-being. He and Flores have had disputes and Fuentes worries that these disagreements could affect Ariana.

The conflicts started with an argument during Flores’s pregnancy. Fuentes wanted to be in the delivery room with her, but she wanted her mother to be there. He now understands why Flores did not want him there. “I was young and I wasn’t thinking clearly,” he says. “I didn’t take into consideration that it might have been uncomfortable.”

This disagreement has left tension between her family and his family. According to Fuentes, Flores’s family would not let him see the baby at times. Many of their issues have been resolved, but Fuentes believes that there is still room for improvement in their relationship. “They recognize their mistakes and I recognize mine,” he says.

Chavez feels fortunate that she and Mao are in a relationship and that he is willing to stay with his child.

Her own father left when she was six months old, and she does not want Aiden to go through the same emotional and financial stress that she went through. “I feel better and feel like we can move forward with the baby and I won’t be on my own with [Aiden],” says Chavez.

Mao plans on parenting Aiden for the rest of his life. “It’s a long time,” he says, “but I don’t really want him to ever grow up.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JENNIFER CHAVEZ AND JAIRO FUENTES

2010 graduate Jairo Fuentes (left) found out he would be Ariana’s father when he was a junior. He visits her several times a week (above).

Sophomore Jonathan Mao’s girlfriend delivered their son, Aiden (center), in June. Mao (right) lives with his son and girlfriend.

Like many teenagers, freshman Daisha Hammel talks to her best friend for at least three hours every night. They tell each other everything and love going to the mall together. Hammel’s best friend just happens to be 17 years older, and her mother.

According to UNICEF, the United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the developed world. In 2009, 409,840 babies were born to women ages 15-19. Stories of teen pregnancies, both fact and fiction, dominate the media, yet what is not often shown are the effects of teen pregnancy on the child.

Research from the Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy shows that children of teen parents are often less healthy and less educated than children of older parents. Despite such challenges, these Blazers with teen mothers recognize some of the often overlooked benefits of being closer in age to their parents.

Unforseen advantages Sophomore Kenyetta Whitfield’s mother immigrated to America at age two from the Central African Republic. At eighteen, she became pregnant with Whitfield. Whitfield says that because her mother got pregnant at such a young age she received help from her extended family, which in turn brought her family closer. “I was around them a lot because I grew up with them. [My mom] would go out and my older cousins would babysit, and we would all be together,” she says. Whitfield lives in a house with her mother, grandparents, two aunts and a cousin.

Charles Ohlaver, a marriage and family therapist in Ellicott City, Maryland, believes it is this strong familial presence that is most important when raising a child with teen parents. Another factor that Ohlaver says has a large impact on the outcome of the baby is the presence of the child’s father.

Though Whitfield says her parents were never together during her childhood, up until last year she was able to see her father every other weekend.

Hammel, on the other hand, grew up with the man she thought was her father. At age twelve she found out otherwise. “I didn’t know my dad for twelve years. I figured out my step-dad wasn’t my dad after looking through my baby book,” says Hammel.

Instead of causing tension in Hammel and her ally made them more cautious because they have first mother’s relationship, the discovery of her real father hand experience with the consequences of teen pregcaused their bond to grow. “It made our relationship nancy. Whitfield says, with her “being a teen mother stronger because I got to see how things happened makes me not want to be one. I’m really for waiting and why they were the way they were. I know she and learning as much as you can until you have sex.

Having a baby as a teen is crippling.” was looking out for my best interest,” she says.

Hammel and Whitfield say that not only has havHammel believes that she was able to ing teen parents shaped their views on the topic of react so well to the situteen pregnancy, but also their views on eduation because of her and cation. Despite research from the her mother’s close relaNational Campaign to Prevent tionship. “Because of Teen Pregnancy, which says that the age difference its children of teen mothers generally easier for us to bond,” tend to do worse in school, Whitshe says. field believes her determination in Whitfield also beschool can actually be attributed lieves that the age to her mother’s age. “I want to be difference between more career focused, and she has her and her mothpushed me because she didn’t have er has fostered a the chance to do what she wanted to tighter connection. do,” says Whitfield.

“She was my age Though both Whitfield and Hamless time ago. I mel’s mothers were able to graduate tell her basically high school, having a child at a young everything beage did cause some financial hardships cause I know for the families. Whitfield says that as a she won’t react result of her financial situation she has as crazily. She learned to save her money and never take can say ‘I’ve anything for granted. been there Ohlaver also says that money can be one done that.’” of the most important factors in the outDespite PHOTO come of a teen pregnancy. “It’s really variher close bond COURT ESY OF DAISH A HAM able, a lot depends on economic status. It’s with her mother, Whitfield says MEL harder to pay attention to the basic needs of a that they still maintain a parent-child relationship.

“She respects that I’m a kid and she’s the adult,” says baby without money,” he says.

Rather than complaining about or resenting her fiWhitfield. nancial problems, Whitfield, says she has been able to shape her own perspective and find the good in her Against the odds situation. “[Having a teen mom] has affected my life As a result of these respectful relationships Ham- because my other friends have financially more than mel and Whitfield believe their mothers are teaching me which gives me a different perspective on certain from their mistakes, rather than living as an example. topics,” she says.

Hammel and Whitfield say that having a teen parAccording to Saul D.Hoffman, Ph.D. one third of daughters of teens mothers have their first child as a ent can be hard at times, but they believe it’s all about teenager as well. Whitfield and Hammel, however, say how one chooses to interpret the situation. “Don’t be that growing up as the child of a teen mother has actu- ashamed, use it to your advantage,” says Whitfield.

ENOCH HSIAO

TOLU OMOKEHINDE

Freshman Daisha Hammel (left) says that she is closer to her mother because of their smaller age difference. Hammel’s mother (far above) had Hammel at age 17. Support from extended family was a huge factor in sophomore Kenyetta Whitfield’s (right) upbringing.

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CENTERSPREAD October 7, 2011

Nursery rhymes at unexpected times First dads, then grads

Closer in age and more engaged

By Stella Bartholet

By NoahGrace Bauman

Sophomore Jonathan Mao found out that his girlfriend, senior Jennifer Chavez, was pregnant in November of his freshman year. Many of Mao’s friends expected him to break up with her, but he moved in with Chavez and prepared to father the child. “A lot of people doubted me,” he says.

Many of these doubts stem from stereotypes about teen fathers. Therapist Marie Choppin says the media shows many teen fathers leaving their girlfriends and children. But young dads at Blair who decide to raise their children feel that they are living up to their responsibilities and making sacrifices to provide for their families.

Stinging stereotypes Mao says he has proven his commitment to his new family on many occasions. He was there for Chavez when she had morning sickness, he was there for her when she had contractions and he was there to see his son on June 13, 2011, the day Jonathan Aiden Mao was born.

Now Mao and Chavez live together at Chavez’s mother’s house and take care of Aiden in rotations.

One does homework, while the other watches the baby.

However, not all of Blair’s teen fathers live with their children. 2010 graduate Jairo Fuentes has a twoyear-old girl named Ariana Flores-Fuentes. He does not live with his daughter, like Mao lives with Aiden, because Fuentes is not in a relationship with the mother of his child, 2010 graduate Leslie Flores.

Flores lives with her daughter full-time and Fuentes only visits Ariana a few times a week. He thinks that Flores is overprotective. “I don’t know why she doesn’t think I’m responsible enough to take care of [Ariana],” says Fuentes.

According to Choppin, it is common for teen parents to raise their children outside of a relationship.

“Teenager relationships aren’t long-term, so the likelihood is that at some point they might split off,” says Choppin.

Fuentes found out that Flores was pregnant during his junior year. He says his family was upset with him, but also ready to support him. “They said, ‘We are going to help you because that’s what families do,’“ says Fuentes.

He explains that his family has been a huge help by encouraging him to graduate from high school.

However, Fuentes remembers experiencing discrimination from his own cousin for being a teen father. About a week after his family found out about the pregS ENTE IRO FU Y OF JA nancy, he was OURTES C TO O PH at a relative’s house when his cousin ran up to him. “He said, ‘Man you’re so dumb. Man you’re a dumb boy,’“ recalls Fuentes.

Taking one for the team Mao says his family, like Fuentes’s family, has been helpful and supportive, but especially financially. His father is giving Mao money for the baby.

Though Mao does not have a job yet to help pay, he is making other sacrifices for his child and girlfriend.

He could not try out for football this year in order to be at home with his new family. He has also given up much of his sleep and social life. “I can’t really go out with my friends that much, and when I do I have to take Aiden with me,” he says.

Fuentes has also made sacrifices for his child.

Since he is a student at Montgomery College, he had planned to live on the campus. But because of Ariana, he decided against it. “I wanted to be near her and

watch her grow up,” he explains.

According to Choppin, the extra responsibility of being teen fathers forces Mao and Fuentes to mature faster. “You have to think outside of yourself,” says Choppin.

Making sacrifices in order to be a teen father may be difficult at times, but Mao believes that it is important to give up many of the perks in his life to spend more time with his son. His father was always working when Mao was growing up, limiting the time they were able to spend together. Mao says he would like a relationship with Aiden that is closer than his relationship with his father.

Mao would also like to move with Chavez to give Aiden a better life. Mao grew up in a rough neighborhood with gangs and drugs. “I don’t want that for [Aiden],” he says.

Fuentes plans on making changes in his relationship with Flores for Ariana’s well-being. He and Flores have had disputes and Fuentes worries that these disagreements could affect Ariana.

The conflicts started with an argument during Flores’s pregnancy. Fuentes wanted to be in the delivery room with her, but she wanted her mother to be there. He now understands why Flores did not want him there. “I was young and I wasn’t thinking clearly,” he says. “I didn’t take into consideration that it might have been uncomfortable.”

This disagreement has left tension between her family and his family. According to Fuentes, Flores’s family would not let him see the baby at times. Many of their issues have been resolved, but Fuentes believes that there is still room for improvement in their relationship. “They recognize their mistakes and I recognize mine,” he says.

Chavez feels fortunate that she and Mao are in a relationship and that he is willing to stay with his child.

Her own father left when she was six months old, and she does not want Aiden to go through the same emotional and financial stress that she went through. “I feel better and feel like we can move forward with the baby and I won’t be on my own with [Aiden],” says Chavez.

Mao plans on parenting Aiden for the rest of his life. “It’s a long time,” he says, “but I don’t really want him to ever grow up.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JENNIFER CHAVEZ AND JAIRO FUENTES

2010 graduate Jairo Fuentes (left) found out he would be Ariana’s father when he was a junior. He visits her several times a week (above).

Sophomore Jonathan Mao’s girlfriend delivered their son, Aiden (center), in June. Mao (right) lives with his son and girlfriend.

Like many teenagers, freshman Daisha Hammel talks to her best friend for at least three hours every night. They tell each other everything and love going to the mall together. Hammel’s best friend just happens to be 17 years older, and her mother.

According to UNICEF, the United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the developed world. In 2009, 409,840 babies were born to women ages 15-19. Stories of teen pregnancies, both fact and fiction, dominate the media, yet what is not often shown are the effects of teen pregnancy on the child.

Research from the Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy shows that children of teen parents are often less healthy and less educated than children of older parents. Despite such challenges, these Blazers with teen mothers recognize some of the often overlooked benefits of being closer in age to their parents.

Unforseen advantages Sophomore Kenyetta Whitfield’s mother immigrated to America at age two from the Central African Republic. At eighteen, she became pregnant with Whitfield. Whitfield says that because her mother got pregnant at such a young age she received help from her extended family, which in turn brought her family closer. “I was around them a lot because I grew up with them. [My mom] would go out and my older cousins would babysit, and we would all be together,” she says. Whitfield lives in a house with her mother, grandparents, two aunts and a cousin.

Charles Ohlaver, a marriage and family therapist in Ellicott City, Maryland, believes it is this strong familial presence that is most important when raising a child with teen parents. Another factor that Ohlaver says has a large impact on the outcome of the baby is the presence of the child’s father.

Though Whitfield says her parents were never together during her childhood, up until last year she was able to see her father every other weekend.

Hammel, on the other hand, grew up with the man she thought was her father. At age twelve she found out otherwise. “I didn’t know my dad for twelve years. I figured out my step-dad wasn’t my dad after looking through my baby book,” says Hammel.

Instead of causing tension in Hammel and her ally made them more cautious because they have first mother’s relationship, the discovery of her real father hand experience with the consequences of teen pregcaused their bond to grow. “It made our relationship nancy. Whitfield says, with her “being a teen mother stronger because I got to see how things happened makes me not want to be one. I’m really for waiting and why they were the way they were. I know she and learning as much as you can until you have sex.

Having a baby as a teen is crippling.” was looking out for my best interest,” she says.

Hammel and Whitfield say that not only has havHammel believes that she was able to ing teen parents shaped their views on the topic of react so well to the situteen pregnancy, but also their views on eduation because of her and cation. Despite research from the her mother’s close relaNational Campaign to Prevent tionship. “Because of Teen Pregnancy, which says that the age difference its children of teen mothers generally easier for us to bond,” tend to do worse in school, Whitshe says. field believes her determination in Whitfield also beschool can actually be attributed lieves that the age to her mother’s age. “I want to be difference between more career focused, and she has her and her mothpushed me because she didn’t have er has fostered a the chance to do what she wanted to tighter connection. do,” says Whitfield.

“She was my age Though both Whitfield and Hamless time ago. I mel’s mothers were able to graduate tell her basically high school, having a child at a young everything beage did cause some financial hardships cause I know for the families. Whitfield says that as a she won’t react result of her financial situation she has as crazily. She learned to save her money and never take can say ‘I’ve anything for granted. been there Ohlaver also says that money can be one done that.’” of the most important factors in the outDespite PHOTO come of a teen pregnancy. “It’s really variher close bond COURT ESY OF DAISH A HAM able, a lot depends on economic status. It’s with her mother, Whitfield says MEL harder to pay attention to the basic needs of a that they still maintain a parent-child relationship.

“She respects that I’m a kid and she’s the adult,” says baby without money,” he says.

Rather than complaining about or resenting her fiWhitfield. nancial problems, Whitfield, says she has been able to shape her own perspective and find the good in her Against the odds situation. “[Having a teen mom] has affected my life As a result of these respectful relationships Ham- because my other friends have financially more than mel and Whitfield believe their mothers are teaching me which gives me a different perspective on certain from their mistakes, rather than living as an example. topics,” she says.

Hammel and Whitfield say that having a teen parAccording to Saul D.Hoffman, Ph.D. one third of daughters of teens mothers have their first child as a ent can be hard at times, but they believe it’s all about teenager as well. Whitfield and Hammel, however, say how one chooses to interpret the situation. “Don’t be that growing up as the child of a teen mother has actu- ashamed, use it to your advantage,” says Whitfield.

ENOCH HSIAO

TOLU OMOKEHINDE

Freshman Daisha Hammel (left) says that she is closer to her mother because of their smaller age difference. Hammel’s mother (far above) had Hammel at age 17. Support from extended family was a huge factor in sophomore Kenyetta Whitfield’s (right) upbringing.

18

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October 7, 2011

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FEATURES 19

October 7, 2011

Red dead addiction fosters worldwide friendship For serious gamers, virtual adventures form close-knit communities

By Sarah Wilson Link began his quests at Death Mountain in 1986 when he first rescued Princess Zelda from Ganon, the Prince of Darkness, and saved the Kingdom with a Silver Arrow, but most video-gaming blazers began their quests in a basement with a Game Cube ten years ago. It’s more or less the same story for junior Fen Kemp and senior Jack Vaughan as they discuss their experiences playing “The Legend of Zelda” over lunch.

No! The best is ‘Marjora’s Mask’, you can go backward in time!” asserts Kemp.

Vaughan defends, “yeah but you have to go back in time.” It’s an argument likely to consume the entire lunch period, however, Kemp and Vaughan agree on one thing: “Legend of Zelda” is one of the best series in video-gaming.

This conversation is reflects the omnipresent intense gamer culture that, in the past decade, was blamed for adolescent social anxiety and violence by various psychologists, including those that attempted unsuccessfully to add it to the list of addictions supported by the American Medical Association in 2007. The gaming industry was defended this summer as the Supreme Court struck down a California law that banned the sale of violent video games. This law was proposed despite recent a 2008 study by the Harvard School Of Medicine that found that intense gaming is unlikely to cause dangerous side effects.

Intense gamers at Blair may play anywhere from 10 to over 20 hours in a week-as much time as a part time job- without suffering the antisocial or violent side effects of what some

psychologists call an addiction. Instead they believe that video gaming can have positive consequences, creating communities and an environment unperturbed from the daily pressures of school and home life.

Friends don’t let friends game alone Vaughan, who spends around three hours playing either Halo or Minecraft every day, has made friends through playing “live,” which connects gamers in multiplayer games through the Internet. “I’ve gotten friends from all over the world, like a friend from Boston I used to play with regularly, and I’ve played with a really crazy kid from Denmark,” recalls Vaughan.

Video game festival organizer Nick Marinelli agrees that gaming is a social experience, joking, “we’re not in 1987; kids aren’t just locked up in their basements anymore playing Pac Man.

Gaming is a way to get together and enjoy friends.” Marinelli is a publicist for the DC video-gaming festival MAGfest, an event run by and for fans and gamers.

Entering its tenth year, the four day festival, scheduled for this January, will have all necessary gaming amenities. This includes a play room with game systems ranging from Atari to PS3, people playing, circles of PC players hooked together for online games, a bazaar that sells crocheted Mega Man hats and video game cover bands including a chamber orchestra playing all of your favorite Nintendo hits.

For Marinelli, video gaming conferences like MAGfest highlight the social nature of the gaming community.

“Everyone has come because another friend has told them, and so it’s become this massive 3000 person social event where all my gamer friends locally and from the internet will come to spend four days together,” he says.

Getting your head in the game

TATYANA

Vaughan plays “Minecraft”, a game in which players attempt to survive through building and using a player’s available resources. Players cannot win “Minecraft” but the game continues to grow with the player’s developments. It is the freedom of this world GUBIN that appeals to Vaughan.

Vaughan is attracted to gaming because he says he sees it as “an immersive experience.” Vaughan explains that, “you get to make decisions in the plot that influence the world. It engages you in a way a lot of things can’t.” Senior James Syverson agrees that video gaming offers experiences that can’t be attained elsewhere. “It’s a way to do things you can’t do in real life,” Syverson says.

Vaughan gets a feeling of satisfaction from progressing through games. “On days [when] I don’t have a lot of time I’ll play Minecraft a little and still feel accomplished.”

The art of the addiction

The graphics of games have been significant since even before a flat, pixelated Mario jumped over barrels in the arcade game Donkey Kong in 1981. For junior Kelly Smith, this aspect of gaming is one of its main draws. Smith games for a couple of hours every day, which also inspires her art.

“I make video game armor after school, it’s like large scale origami,” says Smith, as she reveals pictures on her phone of carefully crafted white paper models of the armor from the Halo series.

Syverson likewise appreciates the artistic qualities of his favorite video games. During lunch, he pulls out his iPod at the mention of video game cover bands. He doesn’t just appreciate the game soundtracks; he downloads the music, particularly from his favorite group, “Shadow of the Colossus.”

The conversation always leads back to a disagreement. Kemp and Syverson discuss whether it’s fair to hover over jumps in Cave Story to avoid dying. Others urge Smith to use this article as a platform to rail against the Xbox. Vaughan and Kemp disagree over Zelda. The conversation never turns violent and its participants never turn away anti-socially. As they enjoy their conversation, they don’t regret where the first quest, alongside Link and Zelda, has led them.

20 FEATURES

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October 7, 2011

Farming is a different kind of juvenile detention Working on Grossman’s farm is an alternative to traditonal juvenile correction facilities

By Katelin Montgomery Our House Organic Farm has twelve acres of fertile land and is surrounded by lush green trees. At this farm, typical paid workers do not harvest the tomatoes, lettuce and squash. Instead, teenage boys ages 16 to 21 do a lot of the work. This is a juvenile detention center.

Marc Grossman, a social studies teacher at Blair, is the co-owner of Our House Organic Farm, in Brookeville, MD. He says that operating an organic farm requires a lot of work, and consequently, he needs a lot of labor. He uses at-risk youth and student volunteers from Blair to help maintain the farm.

The Our House program, started by Richard Bienvenue, is an alternative residential juvenile justice facility for boys that gives the young men, also known as trainees, a safe place to prepare to reenter society.

them to manage alone. They started farming on land owned by Our House and now manage twelve acres.

Our House program Grossman explains that the 16 boys, who live at Our House, come from challenging childhoods. “[The program] gives them an opportunity to work a job, and earn their GED at night,” says Grossman.

He says that to allow the trainees to take ownership, the farm gives each trainee a separate plot of land and then buys back the crops they grow. The trainees are not able to access the money that they earn until they are released from the program.

Bienvenue originally came up with the idea for his program while he was working

live alongside Bienvenue and his staff.

He started the program in 1993, and originally only offered carpentry and construction training. However, when Our House acquired land of its own, it gave the trainees an option to learn another trade, farming.

The Blair connection

Although Grossman does receive help on his farm from the trainees, it is not enough to maintain his crops and he needs extra help from student volunteers in the summer. Grossman runs a semimechanized operation, thus many jobs such as planting, weeding and harvesting all must be done by hand.

Senior Shayna Solomon worked on the farm for 98 hours this sumA beautiful partnership mer. She found that farm work is not the easiest job in the world.

Grossman has always had “[Working on a farm is] not like sita love for gardening. Eventing in class taking notes,” she says. tually his own garden at his It involves being out in the hot sun home got so big that he defor hours on end. After working cided to start a farm. He said with the trainees, she gained a new that because he is a teacher, he appreciation for the simple things could not depend on the counin her own life. “They can’t just go ty for money in the summer, home and watch TV,” she said. so a farm would help raise his Junior Hanan Guzman worked a income during the summer total of 206 hours on the farm. He months. realized that the trainees have hard John Brill, Grossman’s partlives compared to his own. He ner and co-owner of the farm, says, “They have such realistic exwas drawn to organic farming periences compared to some of the because of his interest in the COURTESY OF MARC GROSSMAN stuff I have been through.” Some environment.

Grossman and student volunteers work on the farm of the trainees came from alcoholic Before Brill started the farm, with the trainees from the Our House program. families, others were orphaned and originally named Sligo Creek Farm, he was in charge of a community gar- as a carpentry teacher. Many of the students one is a father of three children.

A few trainees worked with the student den in D.C. for several years. He says that he in his class had difficult home lives and even decided to start the farm because he needed though the kids did well during class time, volunteers, and some became friends. Howa change from his work at non-profits. family issues would get in the way. Bien- ever, working was the only time they could The two met at a farmer’s market and venue thought he could recreate the same socialize and they were not allowed to eat decided to partner up because operating an learning situation, but instead of returning lunch together.

Guzman and other volunteers were disentire farm was too much work for either of to the tumult at home, the trainees would

appointed with that aspect of the program and suggested that the volunteers and trainees be allowed to spend more time together.

Junior Russel Malayao, worked for 160 hours and during his time at the farm he found that different trainees had different attitudes about working. “Some want to change, [and] others are more reluctant to work.” He believes that the trainees who put the most effort in will get the most benefit out of XIXI CHEN the program.

Bienvenue lit up while explaining the success of his program. Three to four kids out of the 16 are successful, meaning that they do not re-offend.

“A regular detention facility [has] much less,” he said. He believes that part of the reason his program is successful is because he teaches the trainees the value of hard work.

GROWING PERSPECTIVE

Although farming may seem like a leisurely lifestyle, it is just the opposite. It requires a great deal of planning and physical labor. Organic farming is particularly challenging because one cannot rely on pesticides weed killers, or anti fungal treatments. Brill explains that the farmers have to come up with more inventive solutions such as physical barriers and spacing of the crops.

Guzman used to think organic produce was excessively expensive but after growing it himself, he realizes how much labor actually goes into the product. “They need to sell it at that price, otherwise they wouldn’t make a profit,” he says.

Athletic director brings new workout to Blair Sports Blair’s new athletic director brings department a change of perspective and parents at Blair as a kick off to the year,” she says.

This year the 90-minute program featured It’s the first inning and Blair’s new athletic director, Rita Boule, has proven to be a two presentations by a physical trainer and a real all star as she finds new ideas for change motivational speaker, and many Blair teams attended. in Blair sports.

Boule has established a captains comBeing the athletic director is no easy job.

In her new position, Boule holds a signifi- mittee, another initiative to further unify cant responsibility. “The athletic director Blair’s sports teams. “All captains from all teams will be oversees the entire athletworking toic program, so everything gether to imfrom scheduling to financprove Blair es to eligibility to promoathletics and tion of athletics, anything leadership to do with student athskills,” she letes,” she says. But besays. hind all the paperwork B o u l e and scheduling, there is a has already greater purpose. made her Athletics teaches valushare of fans. able life lessons, and to Her efforts Boule those lessons are Athletic director to transform far more important than Rita Boule Blair athletanything broadcast on the ics have been scoreboard. “It teaches well received leadership and the ability to loose with dignity and grace. Those are by students and staff alike.

Christopher Brown, JV boys soccer and skills that make you a better person, and it’s a natural part of athletics to get those skills,” varsity boys lacrosse coach, appreciates Boule’s emphasis on academics and safety. she says.

As the athletic director, she must coach “She is in the same line as Dale Miller, that her own team of sorts: varsity and JV coach- student athletes are students first and that is es, gym teachers, health teachers and student really important,” he says. “There is a little athletes. She’s been here for only a matter of more responsibility which is a good thing weeks, but already she has plans to improve because it makes everything safer.”

Junior soccer player Allison Whitney apher team and its plays.

In an effort to build community and in- proves of the new changes as well. At the crease communication, she has instituted an beginning of the season, Boule allowed all annual parent-athlete meeting. “Every fall fall athletes to attend a soccer game for free. we’ll have a program for all student athletes “That was really nice, and the practice fields

By Emma Bergman

I don’t think there is any greater reward than watching someone be successful.

look much better,” Whitney says.

B o u l e has seen her share of practice fields.

Before switching to Blair, Boule spent seventeen years at Kennedy High School. She coached 45 seasons and many different sports and was the assistant athletic director for the last five years. She has been ELLIE MUSGRAVE involved in sports Boule proceeded Dale Miller as athletic director and has creher entire ated changes for the athletic department. life, playing softball, basketball and soccer at her high same level of support,” she says. She thinks school and continuing with soccer through that through sports, students can grow and her college years. connect with mentor figures in a way that is Boule wants to provide student athletes harder to do in a classroom. with the encouragement she’s had. “I’ve Her motivation and excitement to be had people in my life other than my fam- working with Blair athletics is clear. “I don’t ily that were positive influences on me, that think there is any greater reward than watchsupported me and guided me through all ing someone be successful—especially when of my years. I want all kids to have that they worked very hard,” she says.

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FEATURES 21

October 7, 2011

Country in profile: Eritrea Exchange student compares his time in Eritrea, Germany and the United States

By Adam Kadir

the U.S.,” says Hdru. He estimates that 150,000 Eritreans now live in Europe. Hdru explains that Eritreans like his family came to Europe by boat in the Mediterranean Sea. Life wasn’t as hard in Germany for the Hdrus as for the typical immigrant.

Junior Abraham Hdru’s family was driving to the beach one weekend when they felt a strange bump in the road. They got out of the car and saw a dead man lying on the road. Hdru’s family was driving in Eritrea, the war-torn country of both of his parents.

Leading a double life His family had no choice but to keep “Germany’s the driving, for this was bureaucrat state, but not an unusual octhe people there are currence in Eritrea really nice to me,” he seven years ago. says.

Hdru thinks Hdru, an exthat Americans are change student, very nice to him too grew up in Germany, because they sympabut fondly rememthize with his immibers his visits to his grant origins. “Every family in Eritrea.

American has an imHdru loves his Erimigrant background,” LEAH MUSKIN-PIERRET trean background, he says.

Abraham Hdru but he believes that Even though he is Eritrea has a long way to go to welcome wherever he goes, Hdru reach its full potential. The coun- has to manage two different lives try’s development was halted for at the same time: his Eritrean life years because of its civil war with at home and his German life at Ethiopia. school. There are 10 families of Eritrea and Ethiopia’s thirty- Eritrean immigrants in his neighyear-long civil war ended almost borhood in Germany, so Hdru still twenty years ago, and Eritrea split feels a strong sense of community from Ethiopia as a result. The two in Germany. countries remain bitter enemies, “I have my own life, but I also and they had a border dispute have my own life in the commuthat led to another war thirteen nity,” he says. “Eritreans outside years ago. of Eritrea are always really close.

After the wars, massive They help each other, but they amounts of people emigrated from don’t close off from Germans.” both countries, including Hdru’s Eritreans in Germany make an parents. “After the war, Eritreans effort to integrate into their new live in Europe and Ethiopians in communities. In fact, Hdru says

that whenever he goes back to Eritrea, he has to reintegrate himself.

Despite the lack of brotherhood between Eritrea and Ethiopia in Africa, immigrants from the two countries get along well.

“Outside of Ethiopia and Eritrea, they don’t hate each o t h e r, ” Hdru says.

“It’s like a family.” He even has some roots in Ethiopia; his mother, although Eritrean, grew up in Ethiopia before she returned to her native country.

A low-grade education In addition to giving him a wider perspective on culture, Hdru thinks that living in Germany instead of Eritrea has been better for his educational opportunities. He says that although every student in Eritrea must go to school until the fourth grade, “seventy to eighty percent of young people don’t go to school.”

After the fourth grade, all classes are in English, and it is “really

hard to make graduation. People graduate only in big cities.”

Instead, they work to help support their families. The Bureau

for Africa estimates that eighty percent of Eritrea’s economy is based on farming, and many children are unable to attend school and work on the farms at the same time.

Hope for change Still, there are efforts to develop the country’s educational system.

Hdru’s aunt built a school in her village to improve the education of the children in her area. Hdru sees this as an example of how much one person can move things in his country.

Hdru himself also wants to one day go back and help his country. He says this is a common dream among the others in his generation.

He believes it is time for “the young generation to change something.” After an Eritrean student finishes school, he or she must work for the state for up to seven years.

Hdru says, “Eritrean youth want to change that system.

We saw the revolutions MAGGIE SHI in Egypt and Libya and Tunisia.”

Still, Hdru is proud of the progress Eritrea has made in its time as an independent nation. “For a while,” he says, “Eritrea was the youngest state in Africa.”

His fellow immigrants like what they see on their trips back to their homeland. “It’s growing up,” Hdru says. “In Asmara, the capital, there are new buildings.

We are happy to see it.” Hdru is eager to get an opportunity to go back and do work like his Aunt.

“Maybe now,” he hopes, “the first foreign generation can go back to Eritrea and change it.”

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October 7, 2011

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ENTERTAINMENT 23

October 7, 2011

RESTAURANT OLYMPICS

By Hannah Weintraub Photos by Clare Lefebure

When walking along Georgia Avenue in Downtown Silver Spring, it’s easy to do a double take. Camouflaged in the patchwork of restaurants and shops are two nearly identical Greek restaurants. The two popular restaurants, The Greek Place and The Big Greek Café, share a complicated history that begins at the Greek Place.

The owners of local restaurants partnered together and founded The Big Greek Café in March of 2008. In 2009, according to Daniel Centeno the chef at the current Big Greek Café, the partners split and the original Big Greek Café closed down briefly. When it reopened a few weeks later, it was renamed as The Greek Place. One partner moved right down the street and opened his own Greek restaurant. The new restaurant opened in July of 2009 as The (Original) Big Greek Café. Confused yet?

Jose Garcia, the manager of The Greek Place, has a different take on the story. “We came first, then they opened down the street when they saw a lot of business here,” he says. Despite the proximity and confusing history, Centeno and Garcia both attest that there is no competition between the two restaurants; there are enough Greek-food lovers to go around.

For any Blazer, the choice between the two Greek eateries can be tricky. As a homage to the restaurants’ Greek roots, Silver Chips is pitting these two restaurants against each other in the Olympic Games of Greek Restaurants. In order to win, the restaurant must impress in three categories: appetizers, main dishes and desserts. Ultimately, only one restaurant will go home with the gold.

THE GREEK PLACE

THE BIG GREEK CAFE

Spanakopita is a traditional Greek snack consisting of layers of crispy

When I took a bite of The Big Greek Café’s spinach and feta appetizer I was blown away. I was so unused to a good-tasting spanakopita I wasn’t even sure if I was eating the right dish. The pastry was filled with dark green, creamy spinach that seep out from the flaky phyllo dough that surrounded it, so unlike the dish I was used to. A generous amount of feta cheese was heaped on top of the tantalizing appetizer, adding the perfect combination of saltiness and tanginess. It will be impossible for me to go back to my sad box of frozen spanakopita after having tasted this incredible dish.

The gyro, a staple of Greek cuisine, is characterized by soft, flat bread filled with slices of thin lamb, mounds of vegetables and spoonfuls of yogurt sauce. Initially, I was worried that The Greek Place’s gyro would disappoint my high expectations.

But gyros at The Greek Place are the best-selling item on the menu for good reason. The sandwich’s soft and buttery bread is stuffed with perfectly seasoned slices of lamb along with mouth-watering toppings, such as refreshing yogurt sauce, diced red tomatoes and purple onions, leaves of green lettuce and chunks of feta. Each bite was packed with herbal flavors, creating a dish fit for gods.

Zeus might have been less thrilled with the gyros at The Big Greek Café.

The pita was overflowing with fresh meat and vegetables, in line with the restaurant’s focus on fresh ingredients. But the pieces of lamb were doused in an unappetizing mixture of herbs as if drawing inspiration from the brackish Mediterranean Sea. Since the tomatoes and onions were not well distributed throughout the sandwich, I was eventually left chewing on overly salted meat and slightly warm bread without a vegetable in sight, so I gladly put the sandwich down and moved on to desserts.

Both the Lebanese and the Romans have claimed baklava as their own creation. No matter who conceived the idea of this deliciously flakey dish, the Greeks sure know how to do it right.

The Greek Place offered a stunningly flavorful baklava cooked to perfection. The flakey square pastry was stuffed with a nutty inside that managed to achieve the perfect balance between salty and sweet.

The crust shone with a light coat of sweet honey that soaked through each layer of the dense treat. I almost expected an old Greek grandmother to be pulling this freshly-baked dessert out of her oven because it had such a homey and comforting taste.

The Big Greek Café’s baklava sat in a silver tin on the counter, tempting every customer like the song of the sirens.

A pool of golden honey surrounded the long log of nutfilled dough. The honey was the ambrosia of this fantastic dish, as the silky syrup had a rich and complex flavor that was equally zesty and sugary. The filling was the perfect blend of crunchy and sweet and had the most satisfying hint of cinnamon.

Every bite of the dessert was drenched in the gooey honey, so I inevitably went through a mountain of napkins. But the taste was definitely worth the sticky mess.

dough and a feta and spinach filling. I came into this Olympic event with low expectations for spanakopita because the version I’m used to comes from the frozen food aisle at Giant. This microwavable variety usually consists of anemic-looking spinach wrapped in layers of soggy pastry. Unfortunately, The Greek Place’s spanakopita brought me right back to those frozen lumps of phyllo dough. The spinach filling was bitter and dry, matching the phyllo dough in its lack of flavor and edibility. After each bite, I was left with a disappointing mouthful of spinach mush.

AND THE WINNER IS...

The Greek Place! Both restaurants had a good showing, but only one can win the gold. Despite the slip-up in the appetizer event, The Greek Place was able to make a skillful recovery by delivering a superior gyro routine and a phenomenal baklava run. With serious competition from the Big Greek Café, this win is one for the books. When faced with the difficult decision between Georgia Avenue’s Greek restaurants, I’ve learned to go with the original — The Greek Place.

Telephone: 301-496-2912 www.thegreekplace.net The Greek Place, 8417 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring MD 20910

Telephone: 301-587-4733 www.biggreekcafe.com The Big Greek Cafe, 8223 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910

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October 7, 2011

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ENTERTAINMENT 25

October 7, 2011

Chips Trips: Teach me how to Zumba Akon, sisterhood and tennis shoes make for a good workout

By Helen Bowers and Sarah Wilson The last time I danced, I performed a solo interpretation of The Ugly Duckling at age seven.

I admit now, that my smug selfsatisfaction over my feathered boa and ambitious decision to portray a bird, may have hurt my ability to gauge the audience’s reaction. I can now only imagine the parents’ shocked horror in what surely appeared to be a disappointing plot twist: I transitioned from awkward duckling to graceful swan but the terrible dancing continued without change. I quit shortly after that.

I was sure my dancing days were done, when recently a wom-

years of stranger danger training, I looked her straight in the eyes and said, “Oh, uh, okay.” It was the message from this mysterious prophet coupled with Helen’s invitation to try a zumba dance class that convinced me it was worth a try. Taking our places in the class we were welcomed with shouts of, “Keep smiling!” and “Don’t try this if you’re diabetic!” I knew that the ugly duckling was ready to Zumba.

Bollywood and Akon

Zumba is a dance set to Latin rhythm and beats, but there are many variations to the workout norm, especially at the LA Fitness gym in Silver Spring. There were some classic and inspiring Latin songs that were interrupted with stomping feet and jiving hands.

But about halfway through the funky Latin tunes we were interrupted by a song made famous by Slumdog Millionaire, JaiHo. Not too long after that dance we experienced yet another break from tradition, this time with African beats. The last little twist that our instructor Donna had in store for us was cool LEAH HAMMOND down dance called, “The Sarah and Helen try to keep up as Sexy Dance.” This last dance full of thrusting and the class squats, lifts and bends. shaking is set to no other an approached me at a store and song than “I Wanna Love You.” told me she could tell I was a danc- Needless to say that Zumba caters er just looking at me. Recalling to a variety of musical tastes, what

with selection from Akon to African tribal beats.

Sisterhood and carnival cruises The regular Zumba crowd seemed familiar with our instructor Donna’s eccentric catchphrases and could seamlessly transition as we went from “Feel the sisterhood!” to “You need to look real sexy now!” Us new kids were left looking somewhere between hot and confused. As things Donna began to step it up, she called out, “We’re all in this together!” over the music from Slumdog Millionaire. I was left wondering what exactly we were “in” together, as I imagined our class as a gang of Indian children stealing shoes from the Taj Majal.

Later we kicked our feet back and ran forward, waving our arms above our head the instructor called out “Carnival!, ” which was perhaps a reference to the fact that we looked like the carefree vacationers featured on Carnival Cruise commercials. Donna continued to yell about how glad she was to see us smiling, leaving us all wondering, as we punched and stretched with dumbbells in hand, “Who exactly is smiling right now?” Regardless, we were pumped up by the high-energy music and dancing that, like Donna had promised, left us ready to do anything.

What to expect So Blazers, now that you’re prepared from the ultimate Zumba

LEAH HAMMOND

Donna Rashad leads an active strength-building exercise. experience, it’s about time you get yourself to a class and give it a try.

Zumba classes aren’t so hard to come by, if you don’t belong to a gym, don’t worry about it, check out Zumba.com and you’ll find listings for over a thousand different class locations within 25 miles of Blair, and they aren’t too painful either! But once you get there follow these useful tips: The first thing any seasoned Zumba dancer will tell you is to bring a water bottle, work out clothes and some dancing shoes. But even if the right gear can’t keep you from being an ugly dancing duckling, don’t worry too much. With a class full of such a diverse group, there’s always a few new people in the crowd and always a few ugly ducklings who you can commiserate with or chuckle at. So, whether you’re currently an ugly duckling or already a sexy swan, you are ready to jump right into the wonderful, rhythmic workout world of zumba dancing!

YOU CAN DO IT Donna Maria Rashad, our encouraging and enthusiastic instructor, began Zumba dancing after sustaining a major injury from teaching kickboxing classes. Rashad didn’t want get out of shape, and decided to try Zumba instead. She describes class as “high energy dance” and hopes that her students can work hard, reach their personal goals for fitness and leave the class “feeling like they can do anything.” Rashad says she likes to choose music from many different areas to try to appeal to as many students in her class as possible. Rashad’s classes are offered at the Silver Spring LA Fitness on Sundays at 9:45 a.m., and Thursdays at 5:45 p.m.

A hidden D.C. treasure is unearthed The little known National Aquarium offers a sea of excitement

By Zoërose Waldrop

around the Amazon tank nervously.

Passing by the White House and the granThough the piranhas deur of Washington D.C.’s public buildings are one of the aquariand monuments sets up many expectations. um’s main attractions, But when entering the back door of the there is no need to Department of Commerce building, these worry about the pesky expectations are immediately replaced by crowds. For all of the a set of plastic hammerhead shark models main exhibits there is hanging above a security check. The brown, still plenty of room to six-foot long sharks are there to guard one of get a good look at the D.C.’s best-kept secrets- the oldest aquarium fish without pushing ELLIE MUSGRAVE in the United States. past other visitors, a The National Aquarium in D.C. is advertised by two The U.S. Bureau of Fisheries first opened convenience not ofsmall signs behind the Commerce building. the National Aquarium in 1873 in Woods fered at many aquariHole, Massachusetts. It moved to D.C. in ums or zoos. That way the 1880s to a location near the Washingvisitors are able to get close enough to eye tage as one of Washington, D.C.’s less wellknown attractions -- no crowds.

Most ton monument, then relocated to a building the alligators back. near the Air and The aquarium also benefits trips to aquariums and zoos are filled with Space Museum. from its small size because it is pushing to the front to see the exhibits, and In 1932, after able to establish a strong sense of sometimes you have to skip some altogether the Department friendship among the staff and the because the sheer mass of people is too inof Commerce animals, “Our staff loves the ani- timidating. Too many little children have building was mals in their care, and it definitely gone without seeing their favorite sea creatures because of those dreaded lines. This is completed, the shows,” says Conor. aquarium moved This special relationships be- not the case at the D.C. Aquarium; there are once again to its tween man and beast is revealed usually no more than twenty to thirty people current home. by the fun names that the staff circulating the museum at a time. Another Despite frequent chooses, “Our Giant Pacific Octo- benefit of the aquarium is its location, the location changpus is named Pearl, after Janis Jop- museum is easily accessible by Metro and es, the aquarium lin. We are keeping with a musical is bordered by the White House as well as has been in contheme for our GPOs [Giant Pacific other famous tourist locations. Ticket hours tinuous operaOctopi], as our two prior female are flexible in that visitors can come and go tion, “For a time, octopi were named Beyonce and throughout the day, which allows them to go it was feared that Shania,” explains Conor. There out for lunch and come back in time for the this national treaare other naming traditions at the daily 2 p.m. feedings, which cycle between sure would be aquarium — the loggerhead sea the alligators, piranhas, and psharks.

Though it may be the oldest aquarium in lost and closed turtles are named Jimmy and Tedfor good. ” says dy after Jimmy Carter and Theo- the U.S, there is always room for improvethe Marketing dore Roosevelt, presidents known ment. The aquarium is currently making ELLIE MUSGRAVE plans for a 2014 renovation that will expand Director, Emma for their conservation efforts.

Conor.

How- This leopard shark calls the tucked-away National Aquarium home.

The aquarium recently got Pearl the space to create a main entrance on the ever, a group of as a baby, “It’s been fun to watch front side of the commerce building. With concerned patrons of the aquarium founded Most choose the Amazon exhibit, not her learn and grow. Octopi are very smart these new changes, perhaps the U.S.’s oldthe National Aquarium Society, a private surprising considering that flesh-eating pi- and very curious, and our current octopus is est aquarium will finally gain the fame it non-profit organization that found alterna- ranhas are part of the package. The impres- even very ticklish, as I found out when play- deserves. It may be small for now, but the aquarium makes up for its compact size in tive financing. sively large tank houses a detailed habitat ing with her,” shares Conor.

The stairs lead down to the basement including an array of smaller fish that swim The aquarium gains a definite advan- charm and is worth checking out! where natural light and marble trim disappear. The aquarium is a mass of black wallto-wall carpeting, and the lighting remains dim while a long corridor opens up to large, interconnected rooms full of different sized fish tanks. The bright lighting within the tanks make them stand out as the main sources of light.

The first tank, also the largest, contains two American alligators, both about three feet long. They smile and remain very still, slyly eyeing the toddlers running around nearby. After the alligator exhibit, visitors must choose which corridor of tanks to explore out of the two circular galleries: patrons can turn left into the National Parks Gallery, or right to the Amazon River Basin Gallery.

26 CHIPS CLIPS

“Belly of the Beast”

by Erik Agard and Cy Neita

Weeknights

By Tatyana Gubin

silverCHIPS

October 7, 2011

ACROSS 1. Greatest school in the universe 6. Suffix meaning ‘lover’ 11. Room at the heart of 1-across... and of this puzzle’s three longest entries 14. Boat similar to a kayak 15. Dragged (into) 16. Lacto-____ vegetarian 17. Origami bird, or mechanical lifter 18. Red ape, familiarly 19. Limb for a shark 20. House M.D.’s flame 22. Sam ___ (Dr. Seuss character) 23. Pierce and Garnett, for short 24. Pay up front, in a poker game 25. That man 28. ___-mo replay 29. Neighbour of the pancreas 31. “Brave New World” drug 33. Screw up 35. Highest-ranking corporate employee 36. It’s often done to appease the gods 42. Some high-level classes: Abbr.

43. Prefix meaning ‘three’ 44. Class with sin and cos 45. You can eat it or put it in your hair 48. L-shaped building extensions 50. Succumb to gravity 51. 1-across’s baseball team scores a lot of these

Contagion

52. Speck of land surrounded by water 54. Herpes or syphilis 55. Large suit?

61. 40-down ally 62. Garlicky mayonnaise 63. Activist and singer Lena 64. Where to find Abu Dhabi: Abbr.

65. An organ that produces gametes 66. French fencing swords 67. They may intersect rds.

68. Cleansing medical procedure 69. Sound from an angry snake

DOWN 1. Secretly forwarded, as an email 2. Mo-___ (Skeletor’s dentist on Robot Chicken) 3. ___ retentive (strict) 4. Type of chemical bond or Greek column 5. ___ Pieces (ET’s favourite candy) 6. Test givers 7. Son of Isis and Osiris 8. 2010 Apple release 9. Loan 10. Risqué 11. “He’s ___” (Chiffons song which ignited a plagiarism lawsuit) 12. Fly, as a plane 13. Scam artists

By Doyung Lee

S U D O K U Like riding a bike...

Sick

21. It might fail 24. In the air 25. May test 26. TV network with the slogan “Positively Entertaining” 27. 2001 in Roman numerals 29. Green, in slang?

30. Designer of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 32. Swing and ___ 34. Vermin similar to a mouse 37. The Situation’s prized muscles 38. Shakespeare’s “Troilus and _____” 39. Gov’t agency that collects taxes 40. Gov’t agency featured on “Chuck” 41. No-no for any one who is a vegan 45. Beloved secretary of 1-across 46. Score more 51-across than, perhaps 47. Superman wore them over his pants 49. Tres ___ cake (milk-soaked Spanish pastry) 52. Religion with five pillars of faith 53. Removable car roofs 55. “National Treasure” actor Nicolas 56. Zodiac animal with a mane 57. Acclaimed steak sauce 58. Angers 59. They make snake eyes 60. Loch ___ Monster

COURTESY OF WWW.WEBSUDOKU.COM

by Julia Bates

by Tatyana Gubin

silverCHIPS

ENTERTAINMENT 27

October 7, 2011

90210

The 2008 remake of the classic series Beverly Hills, 90210 is now in its fourth season. Siblings Annie and Dixon relocate from Kansas to Cali and start attending the infamous ‘West Bev’ high school. Four seasons later, they’re still sophomores. Alright, maybe I’m embellishing a little but it’s an alarming trend (See: Gossip Girl, Degrassi or Drake and Josh).

Why are all the kids on these shows secretly five-year seniors? Maybe it’s just me, but I’m 99 percent sure that there is life after high school.

I can cut the show some slack because it does take place in ‘the zip’ with it’s palm tree-lined streets and million dollar manicured houses while most high schools are in an average suburban setting. But the amount of trouble these kids get into is completely unreal. How many friends of yours gotten into a car accident with a famous pop star, stolen their songs and produced their own album only to face a major court case as a result?

Even if that fit into the realm of possibility, the show’s fictional class schedules would definitely not. During every passing period at Blair, students literally claw their way through the halls among throngs of students just to make it to class on time. Even in a high school with less than three thousand students, kids still have trouble getting to class in the five minute period they’re allotted. How is it possible that kids who go to West Bev and McKinley actually just chill with their friends in the hallway between classes?

Secret life...

Everyone knows that Juno was the blockbuster responsible for kicking off the teen pregnancy trend, now it’s officially almost as overplayed as forbidden vampire romance stories. And as Secret Life enters its fourth season this Fall, it’s getting more and more crazy.

When producers throw every curveball they have at a show, they bypass fast-paced and go straight to there’s-no-way-in-a-million-yearsthis-could-ever-happen-to-anybody. Example: the shenanigans that go on at band camp. How is it possible that nearly everyone gets pregnant there? Clearly there is no instrument-playing going on.

On the subject of music, or lack thereof, can someone please explain to me the reason why high school dating is portrayed as a giant game of musical chairs? I will grant the show this: yes, in some circles, girlfriends can end up falling for their significant other’s best friend. Or vice versa. That’s reasonable. What takes it to a whole new level is when characters literally start randomly hooking up with each other. Ben proposed to Amy. He talks to Adrian for five minutes and now they’re together? And Adrian was originally with Ricky before he knocked up Amy while secretly hooking up with her little sister. But now he and Amy are married. I understand there are only a handful of cast members but is it asking too much to see a little commitment from…anybody?

By Simrin Gupta Art By Mathew Morris Teen pregnancy, coming out stories, fashionistas, relationship drama, crazy parents and bullying. Though it may not seem like they have much in common, they’re part of the secret formula writers use when they pitch the average high school TV show. Now there’s no denying that every high school has its fair share of drama so in a school as diverse as Blair, one would think that we would be able to relate to all of this, right? I think we can all agree that Blair may get a little crazy at times, but we can consider ourselves lucky that it’s not as crazy as some shows make it out to be.

awkward.

Overall, it’s hard to find fault with MTV’s new series Awkward. In case you missed it, the show is about Jenna Hamilton, an average high school girl going through the awkward, painful and just plain weird experiences that we face in high school. MTV, who was also responsible for the recently-released Teen Wolf series (Twilight anyone?) actually managed to script a decent portrayal of the high school day-to-day. But don’t rush home to TiVo it just yet. Obviously no one would watch the show if it wasn’t just a little outrageous, but there’s a fine line between glamorization and just plan crazy. We’re exposed to DMV slang like ‘bet’, ‘swag’ and #anything on a daily basis. But can we really relate to, “My carefrontation was a big fail mary and I can’t save her from this karmageddon.” The show has an official ‘slangtionary’.

And I know we have some, uh, eccentric teachers at Blair, but I’m pretty sure that none of them have ever cornered one of us in the cafeteria and performed a birthday rap on a megaphone. Or come to our houses unannounced. Or dressed up as the grim reaper.

Movies

Real Steel (PG-13) - Hugh Jackman plays a struggling promoter in the year 2020 future where boxing is done by robots. He finds a chance in a special robot and tries to connect with his withdrawn 11-year-old son, played

by Dakota Goyo. The trailer couldn’t look cheesier and typical of a sports film, but the story is actually based off a dystopian short story criticizing state fairs. The writers of this film decided to focus instead on the relationship between Jackman and Gojo’s characters.

It does look to be done as realistically and seriously as possible for a movie about robot boxing. According to the producer, a sequel is already in the works, even though the first film hasn’t been released yet. (Oct. 7)

The Ides of March (R) - Big names collide as Ryan Gosling plays Stephen Meyers, a staffer

G

It seems pretty normal that teenagers would run around the hallways of their school singing soulful ballads about how angst-y they are. Wait. Just kidding. It’s really not. First of all, there is not a single high school in Montgomery County that actually has a glee club. We have legitimate a cappella groups like Blair’s own InToneNation, but there definitely aren’t groups of teenage misfits who meet a couple times a week to sing songs together. Weird. But even if we did, somehow I find it hard to believe that we would have a problem with the group members being ‘slushied’. In case you need clarification, It would take some serious commitment to walk down to the 7-11 (especially when we have a closed-campus policy) and waste almost $2 on a drink only to throw it in someone’s face.

BEYOND the Boulevard

for Mike Morris’ (George Clooney) presidential campaign. The hopeful youth gets more than he asked for as he learns about what’s really behind politics. Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) the manager for the opposing campaign tries to recruit Gosling’s character and promises a powerful position in return. Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the veteran campaign manager for Morris and Meyers’ mentor, fights to keep Meyers on his side. The movie features some of the best and diverse actors of the past decade. The casting was perfect, and Hoffman is made for his role, and it shouldn’t have taken this long for Clooney to play a politician. (Oct. 7)

Music Coldplay Mylo Xyloto - Fans already got a taste of this album with the saddening single, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.” The album is sure to be well-produced by the famous Brian

ee

Eno and lead Chris Martin’s creative mind.

But production can’t make an album great if the band isn’t, which seems to be Coldplay’s main dilemma. Perhaps Martin thinks the album’s title will keep listeners distracted so they don’t notice the quality of the music. It’s a good thing Martin, 34, said he doesn’t think bands should keep going after age 33, so we shouldn’t see too much more by the thinking man’s band. (Oct. 24) Drake Take Care - It’s hard to believe Drake’s so popular with only one full album out. His first, Thank Me Later, was a grand affair in which every popular song featured other artists. Drake has a long list of producers helping him out. For his second, Drake said he wants to turn down the “glitz and glamour.”

Two songs from this album, “Headlines” and “Marvins Room” have already charted. As usual for artists on their sophomore album,

Drake is focusing more on himself and his story, one reason why it drops on the Canadian singer’s 25th birthday. (October 24th)

Concerts Duran Duran at DAR Constitution Hall, Sunday Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m., Tickets $58.00 Moby at The Fillmore, Wednesday Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. Tickets $38.00 Tune-Yards at Black Cat, Saturday Oct. 8 at 9 p.m. Tickets $13.00 James Blake at 9:30 Club, Sunday Oct. 9 at 9 p.m. Tickets $25.00 Beyond the Boulevard compiled

by Adam Kadir

28 ADS

October 7, 2011

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LA ESQUINA LATINA

7 de octubre de 2011

Venciendo los obstáculos Por Michelle Chavez y Heydi Mora Urbina Con un marcador en la mano y un libro en la mesa, una joven está sentada en la oficina de lenguajes, escudriñando el texto en el que se concentra.

Al ver el libro más de cerca, se puede ver el resultado de horas de esfuerzo dedicado al estudio de esta joven. En los pasillos, muchos la confunden por ser otra estudiante, quizás una alumna nueva en su último año.

Durante las horas de clase, se puede escuchar su voz hasta en los pasillos mientras que enseña a un grupo de alumnos a decir “Uno,” y “¿Cómo está?”

Para sus familiares y amistades, es conocida como Brenda, pero para los estudiantes de Blair, es mejor conocida como Señorita Barrera.

La Srta. Barrera es una maestra practicante de español que viene de la Universidad de Maryland. Está acá para poner en práctica lo que está aprendiendo en la universidad y además, para ayudar a los estudiantes de los primeros niveles de español de Blair.

Al igual que Barrera, muchos maestros practicantes vienen a Blair para desarrollar sus habilidades como maestros. Pero en este caso, hay algo significativo que distingue a esta maestra practicante de los demás. Barrera ha tenido que enfrentar muchos obstáculos, al igual que muchos estudiantes latinos de Blair, para sobresalir en este país. De la misma forma que Barrera, hay muchas personas extranjeras que vienen a este país sin saber qué esperar pero deseando encontrar mejores oportunidades.

En la comunidad de Blair, los estudiantes y sus familias recurren a las ayudas locales como Casa de Maryland. Esta organización ofrece servicios como clases de inglés, ayuda para encontrar empleo, consultas con abogados, y servicios sociales. Según el coordinador del centro en Silver Spring, Néstor Alvarenga, Casa de Maryland tiene el “motivo de mejorar la situación de [la] comunidad,” para que los inmigrantes “tengan un mejor estatus en su vida y en la sociedad.” Alva-

renga agrega que el centro de Silver Spring recibe un promedio de 150 visitas al día. Al año, vienen hasta 25,000 personas entre el centro de Silver Spring y “La Mansión” en Langley Park. Gracias a las organizaciones como Casa de Maryland hay personas como Barrera que han podido empezar una vida mejor de lo que tenían en su país.

Niñez Barrera creció con una educación interrumpida en El Salvador. Empezó a asistir a

sus padres se tuvieron que venir a los Estados Unidos, dejándola con sus abuelos en El Salvador. Aun con una relación estrecha con sus abuelos, Barrera sentía que le faltaba algo más. “No es lo mismo vivir con los abuelos que tener a tus padres junto contigo,” recuerda Barrera.

Como cualquier buen estudiante, perseveró en sus estudios a pesar de los obstáculos que tuvo que enfrentar desde tan temprana edad. De niña aspiraba ser doctora, abogada o cualquier otra profesión socialmente muy respetada. Ella afirma “ser una perfeccionista maniática” y haber tenido una “obsesión” por sacar buenas calificaciones.

Desafíos Al venir a los Estados Unidos a los quince años, se encontró con el desafío más grande de su vida: aprender inglés. Ella confiesa no haber sabido lo mínimo, “ni como decir ‘Hi’”. Esta dificultad la impidió mantener la posición de primera en la clase y participar de la manera que lo hacía antes. A los que nunca han estado en una situación parecida, ella pregunta, “¿Pueden imaginarse ser una niña de querer solo ser la primera en la escuela y venir TOLU OMOKEHINDE aquí, y estar en la clase sin Srta. Barrera enseña su clase de Español 1. entender nada?”

Aunque ella tuvo probla escuela cuando vivía en el campo con sus lemas con el inglés, ella decidió esforzarse padres y abuelos. En contraste a los Estados más para aprender y con el tiempo, obtener Unidos, en su país ella tenía que caminar su título. Lo que la motivó a ella siempre, una distancia larga para llegar a su escuela al igual que a su familia, fue el no darse por primaria. Sin embargo, eso no la detuvo de vencida. Ahora que está en el proceso de asistir a la escuela y ser la mejor estudiante sacar su maestría, revive los sentimientos de de su clase. su adolescencia diciendo, “recuerdo volver Su situación se puso más difícil cuando a casa llorando, diciéndole a mi mamá que

29

quería volver a El Salvador.” Sin embargo, no saber el inglés no fue algo que le impidió salir adelante en sus estudios. Al contrario, gracias a los maestros y a su dedicación, pudo alcanzar sus metas que en cierto momento pensaba no ser posible.

Ayuda

Una de las maestras que la ayudo fue la Sra. Ruopp del Departamento de ESOL. Ruopp la conoció por primera vez en la escuela secundaria Kennedy en septiembre del 2001. Cuando Barrera recién llego a la clase de historia (ESOL), Ruopp notó que “era muy estudiosa y muy lista,” agregando que “obviamente estaba ansiosa por aprender.” Cuando la ve enseñar español aquí en Blair, Ruopp se siente segura de que como maestra practicante, Barrera proyecta a sus alumnos una seguridad que no ha cambiado desde la escuela secundaria. Ruopp recuerda que Barrera “siempre ha mostrado sosiego determinación y calma” y que ahora trata de infundir a sus estudiantes.

La ayuda de sus profesores, como Ruopp, la motivó a ser una ayudante de maestro durante su ultimo año de la secundaria porque quería ayudar a sus compañeros que sentían la misma frustración que ella sintió en una etapa de su vida. Ser ayudante de maestro la enseñó lo que ella quería ser en el futuro: maestra. “Me nacía del corazón,” dice Barrera, al recordar el gran sentimiento de satisfacción que experimentó al ver a sus compañeros lograr sacar buenas notas como ella.

Los estudiantes de hoy pueden acudir a diferentes fuentes de ayuda para emular el éxito de Barrera. Casa de Maryland ya ha ayudado a muchos latinoamericanos por medio de servicios voluntarios y están en el proceso de mejorar los beneficios que recibe la comunidad. Según Alvarenga, la organización está intentando desarrollar un programa que da becas a los estudiantes latinos. Barrera afirma que “solo basta preguntar, solo basta dar el primer paso y siempre va ver personas que te quieren ayudar.”

Vuelve el reglamento de la pérdida de créditos a las escuelas secundarias Tres ausencias significan advertencia y cinco resultan en pérdida de créditos Por Anilu Martinez y Diana Ferreira Una opinión El reglamento de pérdida de créditos fue abolido el pasado año escolar por MCPS, ya que muchos estudiantes se veían afectados por faltar a clases y perder créditos si no tenían excusas aceptables. Pero para este año escolar nuevo, el reglamento regresa con nuevas regulaciones y oportunidades para los profesores tanto como para los estudiantes.

MCPS propuso restablecer el reglamento de créditos, ya que muchos estudiantes abusaron de la libertad y la responsabilidad que se les dio. Esto no quiere decir que los estudiantes no pueden faltar a clases, sino que tendrán que traer sus excusas por las ausencias además de tener que ponerse al día en los trabajos asignados en las clases.

El nuevo reglamento consiste en que si un estudiante tiene tres ausencias sin excusas, la Oficina Central del MCPS enviará automáticamente una carta al padre, madre o guardián del estudiante informándoles de

las ausencias. Si el estudiante llegara a tener cinco ausencias sin excusas estará en grave peligro de perder los créditos de sus clases.

Con este reglamento, los estudiantes tienen la oportunidad de recuperar esos créditos perdidos. Tendrían que trabajar con sus consejeros y profesores con el fin de cumplir con el nuevo reglamento para así poder recuperar los créditos. Los estudiantes deben llenar una solicitud de apelación que estará disponible en las oficinas de los consejeros, administradores e incluso en la página web de la escuela.

Muchos de los estudiantes se ven afectados por este reglamento, en especial los latinos, el grupo con mayores ausencias en la escuela. Ellos necesariamente no tienen la información correcta de qué es lo que deben de hacer en estos casos. Los estudiantes latinos serán la prioridad para este año, y a los cuales se le dará el apoyo necesario para que no pierdan los créditos.

El trabajar con todos los estudiantes será el objetivo principal. La nueva directora Renay Johnson aclaró que este reglamento de

pérdida de créditos vuelve para combatir las ausencias y lograr que los estudiantes puedan graduarse con todos sus créditos. También quiere que los estudiantes de último año tengan en cuenta que tienen el apoyo tanto de ella como el de sus profesores y consejeros para lograr que estos se gradúen.

Este año escolar 2011-12 será un ejemplo de cómo se implementará este nuevo reglamento y cómo los estudiantes tendrán la responsabilidad de no perder créditos por sus ausencias.

CLARE LEFEBURE

El nuevo reglamento de pérdida de créditos ofrece oportunidades para que estudiantes, como estos en la clase de Sra. Cuadrado, se salven de consequencias.

¿Y tú, qué PIENSAS? ¿Estás de acuerdo con el reglamento de pérdida de crédito?

“No me importa, porque como nunca llego tarde a mis clases, no me afecta.”

Gerardo Lopez, onceavo grado

“Sí, estoy de acuerdo con el reglamento, porque los estudiantes deben ser responsables.”

“Sí, estoy de acuerdo, porque asi los estudiantes asistirán a sus clases con más consistencia.”

Marisela Miranda, onceavo grado

Edwin Alvarez, doceavo grado

“Estoy de acuerdo porque, ahora los estudiantes no descuidarán tanto sus estudios.“ Adonis Andrade onceavo grado

30 SPORTS

October 7, 2011

The Glory Days

silverCHIPS

By Claire Sleigh Art by Julia Bates

I

n 1965, the war in Vietnam was raging, hippie fashion was in, and the price of a gallon of gas was 31 cents.

1965 also happens to be the most recent year that Blair football won a title. Fast forward to 2011, and Blair’s football glory days seem to be fading from memory, as years of losing records put a damper on the football season.

Blair football has become a regional joke in some senses, but it hasn’t always been this way. It’s important for Blair students to

Windsor scored a total of four touchdowns during the game, and had seven interceptions.

1958 graduate Tommy Brown is considered by many to be one of the best athletes to graduate from Blair — he played baseball for the Washington Senators in the early 60s, and then switched over in 1964 to play football for the Green Bay Packers.

During high school, Brown played football, basketball and baseball, which was not uncommon at the time. And while he says that he preferred baseball over the other two sports, Brown still has fond memories of the football team and continues to keep in touch with teammates.

Golden age According t o B ro w n , t h e athletic culture was more visible back then than it is today.

Brown recollects playing neighborhood pickup games frequently when he was a kid. Starting anything from a young age has its advantages, and Brown believes SILVER CHIPS ARCHIVES that the informal games when he After beginning his football career at Blair in the 1950s, was younger alBob Windsor (center) went on to play in the NFL. lowed him to get look back to all that our predecessors accom- better at a variety of sports. “It was the thing plished, and take a look forward to see what we did,” he said. “We played every day when new crops of Blair athletes can bring. we were growing up in the summertime.”

Brown thinks that this crucial part of The powerhouse his childhood is missing in today’s world of speeding technology. He believes that In the 1950s and 60s, Blair was an absolute distractions that keep kids inside, like comfootball force in the region. During a fifteen puters, game systems, and high-tech TVs, year period, the team amassed six county produce less motivated players. And even wins and had two undefeated seasons. The though the start of the technology wave was team was a popular discussion topic among present in the 70s, current security guard and students, and sports were king in the school.

It was not uncommon for the old Blair stands to be completely filled during home football games, with attendances of over ten thousand people; not just students, but also parents, members of the community and media personnel. Football wasn’t only a high school sport; it was a community event.

Mark Levine, president of the Blair Alumni Association, recalls seeing the class of 1958 graduate Bob Windsor play in football games. Windsor later went on to play in the NFL. Levine remembers Windsor as a formidable player. “He’d just slaughter people, Levine said. Windsor had a successful career as an NFL player, playing for the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots. He started playing football as a sophomore at Blair, but quickly rose through the ranks to take on leadership positions. His In previous decades, fans packed the best memories of playing at Blair involved a game in which the Blazers class of 1975 graduate Cedric Boatman still d e s t r o y e d says that he went outside way more than W a l t e r kids do nowadays. “Back then it was fun,” J o h n - he said. “We didn’t have Nintendos and son. cellphones; we had TV and radio and that’s it.” He stressed that because nothing was portable, people would leave to go hang out with their friends not with a cell-phone, but with a ball. “People went out…the socializing was through some kind of sport,” he said.

In addition to added distractions and a change in social norms, the shift in regional demographics has made Blair football less successful over the years. Back in the day, the Silver Spring and Bethesda areas were the buzz of the county and the wealth was concentrated in those areas. Over the years, a lot of the money has moved up- county, and along with it have moved competitive boys and girls clubs and other athletic teams.

In competitive sports like soccer, football and basketball, there is a huge advantage in starting play from a young age, and many of these advantages are available upcounty rather than downcounty.

Health teacher and class of 1980 Blair alum John MacDonald has been able to personally witness some of this change. “The dynamics of the county have changed,” he said. “If you are an athlete, you have to go upcounty for leagues.” He also stressed that many of these athletes also go upcounty for high school in order to take advantage of more competitive programs.

For example, some up county schools like Quince Orchard even have recruiting programs and feeder schools, which allow them to develop their athletes from a young age. According to senior and varsity football co-captain Peter Gondor Quince Orchard is consistently one of the toughest teams in the area, and part of this due to the volume of talent and resources that they have available.

Shiancoe stressed t h a t he still had fun playing for Blair.

“I just liked football itself,” he said. “It wasn’t about winning at that point.”

Even though he came from a weak high school team, Shiancoe still made it big. He is a well known player among football fans, and he did not allow the Blair standings to get in the way of his becoming a professional football player.

One of Shiancoe’s best moments of playing football at Blair could not have happened if the Blair football team consistently won games.

After a streak of losses, the Blair team finally won a game, and Shiancoe and his teammates entered school the following day to find the walls covered in posters congratulating the team and speculating that “Blair is finally going to start winning”.

Shiancoe said, “It felt great. We had the school behind us.”

According to senior captain David Chow, the team could benefit Present problems from more school-wide support. Chow believes Blair is the largest school that people shouldn’t in the Montgomery County just focus on the team’s SILVER CHIPS ARCHIVES Public School System at 2,790 record, but should apstudents, and yet the number 1958 grad Tommy Brown preciate instead the of people who show up for went on to play professional amount of work and football tryouts is the same football and baseball. commitment that goes at schools a third of our size. into training. “It’s reAccording to senior captain Peter Gondor, ally annoying because I put so work in and it’s hard to work with the number of people people don’t seem to care,” he said. “There’s who actually show up to practice. Gondor this negative image of Blair football that we re g re t s t h a t suck, but maybe we suck because we don’t more people get enough support.” don’t try out for the team, A new day “ P e o p l e a re just lazy,” he Much has changed since the 1960s. We said. “Or they aren’t called the Blairites anymore, and our don’t want to mascot is no longer Pokey the Teddy Bear play because (look it up, it’s real). And, while we aren’t they think the the big football school of the 50s anymore, team sucks.”

Blair excels at plenty of other athletics — in Despite not addition to academics of course. This past h a v i n g t h e spring, three of our sports teams made it i d e a l m a n - into high levels of playoff competition. Boys’ power, Head volleyball won counties and was uncontested Football Coach at States, the Gymnastics team won the State and class of Championship and the girls’ softball team 1977 graduate made it into the state semifinals. So far this Jeffery Seals fall, girls’ soccer is looking promising, espeCOURTESY OF SILVERLOGUE t h i n k s t h a t cially after they tied their biggest competitor stands at every game.

Blair has some B-CC. strong athletes Be on the lookwho could make it big. “They have poten- out for that perfect tial,” he said. “But a lot of it is luck of the football record (it draw.” did happen in 1955 Seals doesn’t believe that the current and 1964) but until standing of Blair football will get in the way then, let’s support of a prospective NFL bid, and in the past, it our football team hasn’t. Visanthe Shiancoe, the current Min- — and other sports nesota Vikings tight-end, played at Blair in the teams — through late 90s and saw few victories as a Blazer. One the thick and thin. year, they lost every game except for one — but

silverCHIPS

October 7, 2011

FALL SPORTS UPDATE

Girls’ Soccer

BY JOSH SCHMIDT

High expectations and a decorated history follow varsity girls’ soccer.

Blair has averaged 12 wins per season over the past four years and has consistently been a top contender in the county. The team had a tough starting schedule and are 4-2-2. They are hoping to improve their record by capitalizing on games to come. Coach Robert Gibb is optimistic about the rest of the season. “We could have a playoff breakthrough this year,” he said.

Blair’s defense is looking promising, especially after they held rival B-CC scoreless in the Record: first game 4-2-2 of the season.

The Players to watch: Blazers folLEAH MUSKIN-PIERRET Jamie Kator Lisa Bianchini lowed up Senior Jamie Kator races to get a shot Julia Lewando the B-CC during this competitive season. game with Upcoming home games: a tough loss to Quince Orchard, but then bounced back by Oct. 10 — vs. Sherwoodtrouncing Northwood with a ten point lead.

Oct. 19 — vs. Blake In some key games, however, the team has had trouble getting the offense up and kicking. The Blazers have two scoreless games under their belt and the forwards need to start connecting if they want to make it far in the competitive playoffs. The offense is led by senior Jamie Kator, the team’s starting forward and long time veteran. Junior Lisa Bianchini, who scored a hat trick in the game against Gaithersburg, provides offensive fire power.

Gibb is hopeful that the team will succeed because they have a force of talented players. “We have a lot of depth on this team which help us stay fresh on the field,” he says.

Girls’ Tennis Hoping to build off of last year’s successful 8-4 season, Coach David Ngbea believes the team will have a strong showing this year. “We have been successful in the past,” Ngbea said,”but we will still be able to improve this year.”

While the team’s current record of 6-4 may not suggest a high level of play, Ngbea says that the teams they have encountered Record: so far are 6-4 some of the best in Players to watch: the county Allison Whitney Camilla Arias and alVictoria Pai ways hover around Upcoming games: the top of ENOCH HSIAO Oct. 11— vs.Walter the standJohnson Oct. 13- vs. Blake ings. Time Freshman Camilla Arias brings new is running strength to a veteran squad. out for the team to gain ground in the standings, but they are hoping to catch some breaks against lower level teams.

The team will be led by the senior co-captains Stella Bartholet, Jane Lee, Anna Lu, Olivia Nono and Victoria Pai. Freshman Leslie Chen and Camilla Arias, both singles players, will support the team and bring fresh talent. Ngbea was forced to skip some veterans over in the lineup because they had not improved as much as he had hopped.

SPORTS 31

Boys’ Soccer

With the success of two straight eightwin seasons in their past, the boys’ varsity soccer team must attempt to recreate that success with a new set of players. The team wants to go further in the playoffs than they have in the past. Two years ago, the team was knocked out in the second round, and last year they were eliminated in the first round.

The team has done well so far, although their losing record of 3-4 doesn’t adequately showcase their Record: performance.

3-4 Three of their Players to watch: four losses Kevin Fallet were against Donald Benamna some of the Simon Amato strongest and best ranked Upcoming home games: LEAH HAMMOND Oct. 10 — vs. Sherwoodteams in the Senior Dominic Ventimiglia is a key Oct. 12 — vs. Paint region.

The part of the competitive Blazer defense.

Branch first of those losses was against DeMatha, a team that recruits some of the best players from around the region and annually tops the Washington Post’s rankings. However, the boys have been playing outstanding against opposition on their level which forecasts a more positive playoff performance than their record shows. The team has already had three shut outs this season.

The captains of the team this year are seniors Kevin Fallet, Sebastian Soto and George Hernandez. The team will look to this leadership as a new cast of younger players take on key roles at the varsity level for the first time. Coach John Haige doesn’t feel the lack of experience though. “I don’t feel like there’s any inexperience. Our younger players play on high level club teams which eases the transition.“

Field Hockey Blair field hockey will have a different experience this season because they will be facing a new set of teams. The Montgomery County divisions were been shuffled this season, and the Lady Blazers will play different teams than previous years.

In the past two years, the team has had a solid 7-6 performance, but these records may not be an indicator of how the team will perform this coming season.

The team is off to a rocky 1-7 start: the new county divisions seem Record: to be hurting 1-7 not benefitting them. AccordPlayers to watch: ing to Coach Molly Flannagan Christine DenZoe McCarthy ny, many of Edie Hopkins the challenging CLARE LEFEBURE Upcoming home games: teams that they Oct. 11— vs. Whitman Junior Jenny Beech and teamates played in years Oct. 18- vs. Kennedy show some hope during a grim season. past will follow Oct. 22- vs. Northwood them to the new division. Added to this list are other highly competitive regional teams which have been challenging Blazer skill and morale.

Denny says that the team should be better this year after turning their focus to fundamentals. “We’ve been working on implementing basics during practice,” says Denny. The team is going to have to move beyond the basics soon if they are to rebound this season and make a competitive bid for a winning record.

Football With very little to build off due to poor records in the past, the Blair football team has tried to remain confident, but nonetheless are off to a rough start. The Blazer community has been disappointed in recent years, with the team finishing with an embarrassing record of 3-7 last year. The Blazers are off to a heartbreaking 0-5 start, and have been outscored 159 to 30.

They will need their captains, seniors Robert Clingman, Jonathan Shaw, Kevin Dupalis, Peter Gondor and David Chow to motivate the team and get them to win some games. The team has lost two games that they were expected to win this season, one to Wheaton and the other to rival Northwood. The team has was shut out the past two games and was outscored 77 to 0 during the course of the two blowouts. Starting quarterback ClingTOLU OMOKEHINDE man believes that what the Blazers need to do in the future isn’t too complicated. “We gotta win. The football team has tried to stay positive Nothing else to say,” Clingman said. despite being in the middle of a rough season.

But winning isn’t so simple when Record: the team hasn’t been very good for a 0-5 long time. There is hope for the team though, Clingman believes. “I expect to win actually. I’m not just saying that,” Clingman said. Clingman even knows how the team can win. “Everyone’s Players to watch: Robert Clingman got to step up and do what they’re supposed to do. It’s that simple.”

Peter Gondor Coach Jeff Seals agrees with Clingman’s assessment, especially with all the injuries of late.

Kenyon Bundy “Kids are falling by the wayside,” Seals said. In the game against Sherwood, Clingman and Gondor, both captains, went down with concussions. While both are okay, they are only two of the Upcoming home games: many players that have been injured thus far this season. Seals also believes he knows how the Oct. 6 — vs. Springbrook team can improve. “Kids need to do the little things better,” Seals said. “Holding on to the ball, Homecoming: playing hard,” were two examples he gave. The team will need to heed Seals’ and Clingman’s Oct. 14 — vs. Whitman advice if they are going to turn around the season and work towards their first win — or, for that matter, stop the trend of being rolled over every game.

Northwood embarrasses varsity football This year’s “Battle of the Boulevard” wasn’t much of a battle. Coming off a 35-0 loss to Sherwood, the varsity football team (0-5) was hoping to rebound against rival Northwood (3-2). From the start, it was clear that the Gladiators had other plans — Al Bangura returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown. Northwood never looked back, dominating all four quarters and cruising to a 42-0 victory.

On their first drive, the Gladiators scored on a 9-yard pass from Charles Hennessey to wideout Malcolm Brent. Moments later, Northwood struck again on a 16-yard touchdown run from Nick Shelton.

Midway through the second quarter, Brent beat the Blazer secondary to snag his second TD of the game — a 7-yarder that gave Northwood a 29-0 advantage heading into halftime. The Gladiators would score twice more in the second half.

Offensively, the Blazers simply couldn’t get anything going. Poor pass protection allowed Northwood defensive linemen to get to senior quarterback Robert Clingman time and time again. Blair running backs were stuffed at the line of scrimmage, and receivers had a tough time getting open against tight coverage.

Injuries hurt Blair as well. Starting running back Peter Gondor went down with a head injury in the first quarter. Coaches sat him the rest of the game as a precaution.

— Eli Schwadron

sportsCHIPS

October 7, 2011 silverchips.mbhs.edu/section/sports.php

Blue devils blast Blazers

Battering on the Boulevard

Blazers can’t compete with Springbrook

By Rachel Auerbach BLAZER STADIUM, OCT. 4— The Springbrook varsity field hockey team (7-1) defeated the Blazers (1-7) by a score of 9-0 in a game that was, despite the score, an excellent showing for Blair.

The Blazers knew going into the game that it would be a tough fight. Springbrook has an impressive record as well as a competitive shot at being the 2011 division champions.

The Blue Devils jumped out to an early lead, scoring its first goal less than a minute into the game. Most of the first half was spent in Blazer territory, with Springbrook scoring two more goals, ending the half with a 3-0 lead for Springbrook.

Despite a better offensive showing for Blair in the second half, the Blue Devils went on to score six more goals in the final two quarters and completed their shut-out.

As the offense improved, the Blazer defense started to fall behind. Senior co-captain Molly Flannagan thinks that the defense could have benefited from better communication during key moments. “Whenever it came to our end the defense wasn’t talking,” she said.

The Springbrook field hockey team is one of the most dominant teams in the county, with only one loss so far this season. Their overall readiness and stick skills were key to their success. “Springbrook has exceptionally good stick handlers,” Denny said.

The Blazers are taking the game’s score with a grain of salt because Sherwood is such a strong team. They believe that despite the score, they played the best they have all season. “I know that it was 9-0 but I think that it was a great game. Regardless of the score it was a great team effort,” head coach Christine Denny said.

Flannagan agreed that the score did not rep-

resent the game well and is proud of her team.

“We played really well, no matter what the score was,” she said.

Sophomore Temi Ibirogba, who recently moved up from JV, showed extreme potential in Tuesday’s game. She had several near goals against one of the toughest teams in the league, two of them on breakaways. “She’s going to be a real asset to the team,” Denny said.

Although the scores don’t show it, the Blazers have come a long way since the beginning of the season. “As a team, we’ve really improved our communication,” said junior defender Alayna Abel. “We are able to work together really effectively now.”

However, there is still much work to be done if the team hopes to recover this season.

“We’re going to work on scoring and getting scoring opportunities,” Flannagan said. It is important that the offense steps up their game because doing so will take pressure off the defense and the goalie.

Flannagan, the team’s primary goalie, has done a good job rising to the challenge — in the Sherwood game she broke her personal record of most saves in a game, blocking an impressive 33 shots on goal.

However, if the team wants to win again they have to focus on the offense. Denny agreed that finding ways to score will be crucial in the next few games. “We didn’t score and we needed to,” she said. “We have to score.”

With four games left in the season, the Blazers have high expectations. “We’d like to win three of the four or four of the four games, and we’d like to shock Whitman, which is our next game,” Denny said. It’s too late in the season for a winning record, but a solid rebound is all these Blazers ask for.

The varsity field hockey team will play its next home game on Tuesday, Oct. 11 against Whitman.

TOLU OMOKEHINDE

Varsity football fell to Northwood on Friday night, 42-0. Blair failed to succeed offensively against the rival Gladiators. This is the team’s fifth loss in a season that has been marred by injury and lack of energy. See recap page 31.

insideSPORTS

Bengals gnarl girls’ varsity volleyball

Fall Sports Update

Despite expectations, Lady Blazers fall to Blake in three close sets

See page 31 Check out how the football, tennis, field hockey and soccer teams are performing this season.

Back in the day See page 30 A reflection on football days of yore, including a streak in the 1950s when the team dominated the county.

By Brittany Cheng NELSON H. SEPT. 30—

KOBREN

GYMNASIUM,

points ahead, it seemed like we lost focus.”

In the first set, the teams were neck and neck until about ten myinutes in. The score of 9-9 became 9-12 after Blake capitalized on several errors and open spots in the Blazer defense to help them win the first set.

Fans were abnormally excited during the heavily competitive volleyball match between Blair and Blake on Friday afternoon. Screaming and cheering filled the stands each time a side won a hard-fought point that would once again allow the team to regain the lead. Even though the two teams were neck and neck throughout the game, the Blake Bengals (6-1) eventually defeated the girls’ varsity volleyball team (2-4) by final scores of 13-25, 21-25 and 23-25.

Prior to the game the Blazers were optimistic about their chances, even though they knew it would be a difficult game. “From what I heard before the game, Blake is a team that’s kind of like us, so I expected it to be pretty competitive,” junior co-captain Lizzy Liu said. Her teammate, junior defender Angela Wu, echoed her statement. “I expected it to be a pretty close match,” Wu said.

The Lady Blazers kept the game competitive by staying close to the Bengals in points. For the majority of the time, no team was ahead by more than two points. Whenever ENOCH HSIAO Blair scored a few points over their opponents, Blake would quickly Sophomore Amy Yan’s solid hits were not catch up. enough to hold off a strong Blake squad.

Lizzy Liu, who led the team with In the second and third sets, the score was 30 assists, said that the Blazers played inconsistency throughout the match. “We had much closer. When the Blazers fell behind some pretty good runs, but we weren’t very in the third set by seven points, the team ralconsistent,” she said. “Once we pulled a few lied together and made a few kills to even

out the score.

The highlight of the game came in the second set when the score was tied at 19 points. Each team refused to let the other take the lead and fought hard for that single point. Blair’s defense was led by freshman libero Jade Liu who had three consecutive digs. The ball soared over the net eight times before Blair tipped it over and won the hard-earned point.

According to head coach Christopher Klein, that moment revitalized the team in the process. “When you win a point like that, it gives the whole team energy,” Klein said.

Not all of the game ran as smoothly as that play. Senior co-captain Libby Wei, who finished the game with 18 complete serves, had just scored an ace when a penalty was called and ended the first set.

However, the team excelled in digs and passing. Junior Linda Kang had 15 digs, followed by senior Nika Lilley with 13 and Jade Liu with 11.

According to Klein, the team has a lot to improve on, especially offensively. “Those 11 missed serves [made] the difference,” he said. Lizzy Liu echoed her coach’s statement. “We could definitely work on communication. Some balls that dropped could have been saved if everyone just talked,” she said. “But skill wise, we need to work on serving; a good serve is the easiest and fastest way to get points.”

According to Klein, the largest obstacle is nerves. “We need to work out our nervousness issues,” he said. “If we can forget them and breathe, we can win.”

The girls’ varsity volleyball team will play its next home game on Tuesday, Oct. 11 against Northwood.