November 2017 -- Silver Chips by Silver Chips Print Online Edition

Montgomery Blair High School SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

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November 15, 2017 VOL 80 NO 2

National alt-right movement places ﬂyers at Blair

By Elise Cauton

At 5:45 a.m. on November 1, Blair staff discovered flyers with the words “It’s okay to be white” on the exterior doors of the school. The flyers were part of a campaign launched by an alt-right group that promotes white supremacy, according to a Washington Post article. Principal Renay Johnson said that the flyers were placed on school property at 2:35 a.m. When staff arrived at school, they removed the flyers from the doors and contacted security. Johnson explained that the flyers were taken down because they were

not approved by administration. “In order to put signs on the building, you have to have my permission, and of course, no one had my permission,” Johnson said. “So they took the signs down, and security called police.” According to The Washington Post, the ﬂyers were part of a campaign organized on 4chan, an online forum. “[These are] eﬀorts white-nationalist groups have made to recruit in and around the nation’s college campuses and other mainstream settings with claims of growing white maltreatment and expanding anti-white discrimination,” the article said. Johnson stressed that the phrase

“It’s okay to be white” is not inappropriate in and of itself, but the circumstances in which it was used are. “It’s okay to be anything you want to be,” she said. “But it’s not okay to post signs without permission, it’s not okay to post signs in a direction of a hate group.” Johnson was disappointed by the incident, as she said that Montgomery County tends to be a very tolerant community. “I’ve been to so many parts of Montgomery County, and I always think that every school welcomes all students and all families,” Johnson said. “It’s unfortunate, especially at a place like Blair, [with] how diverse we are … that

we would even deal with this.” She also stressed that if students have any further questions about the incident, they are welcome to talk to her. “I just want my Blazers to know […] that if you have any questions or concerns, or you want more answers, feel free to come see me,” Johnson said. “I’m your principal, and I can explain why the signs were inappropriate, and I can also explain why people are not allowed to post [just] anything on the school.” Since the event gained national media attention, some staﬀ members have since received hateful emails criticizing the removal of the ﬂyers from school

By Miranda Rose Daly

By Marlena Tyldesley

Creating the best college application is hard, and there are many different factors that play into the admission process: grades, GPA, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, essays, and much more. As college application season begins, three admission officers from different schools share their knowledge to help students navigate the application process. Finn Vigeland, a former Columbia University admissions officer, Jennifer Ziegenfus, an admissions officer at Towson University, and Joe Shields, an admissions officer at Goucher College, answer questions about their process of accepting applicants below. Q: What makes a student stand out? What are you looking for when you look over an application? Vigeland: We are looking for students who stand out within the context of their own school. They have challenged themselves and taken some of the most rigorous coursework available. They are attending various cultural events and institutions that are available in their area because they are genuinely curious about how the world works. We certainly want to see students who are academic superstars, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a student has gotten straight A+’s in all AP classes. We understand that if a student is academically capable and they have been challenging themselves, then they will be ready for the challenge of a Columbia education. Ziegenfus: I think it depends on what a student has done in high school. For example, you could have somebody who is really talented in the performing arts and shows a lot of strength in something like theater who is

see ADMISSIONS page SP2

NEWS A2

Across the country, seniors will spend this fall ﬁlling out college applications. When considering schools, students look at courses, housing and cost, among other factors. But what about a school’s entertainment options? Which guests come to lecture? Who plays at concerts? It may never occur to a student to consider these things, but they will aﬀect his or her life for the next four years. Below is a short look into the entertainment scene of the University of Maryland, College Park, Temple University and Towson University. According to Naviance, these three colleges are among the top six Blair alums have attended since 2000. SAMI MALLON

GAME DAY The University of Maryland’s marching band pumps up the students before a game against the University of Michigan, while Sigma Alpha Mu hangs out at the tailgate.

By Camden Roberts

Over the past few decades, fraternities and sororities across the nation have increasingly become known as a hotspot for dangerous and reckless behavior. According to Hank Nuwer, a professor at Franklin College and the author of “Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing,” at least 41 hazing-related deaths have been reported in the last ten years. Deaths like these often come at the hand of coercion and illegal behaviors such as binge drinking and assault, activities often covered by popular media and associated with Greek life.

OP/ED B1

Delta Lambda Phi (DLP) is a social fraternity that prides itself on acceptance. Founded in 1986 by Vernon L. Strickland, the fraternity was originally designed as a social group for

see FRAT CULTURE page SP6

see CAMPUSES page SP8

insidechips

service (one that’s main purpose is community service), honor (one that is focused on academics and accepts people based on GPA), and professional (when members belong to or want to belong to the same occupation). Beyond that, some organizations are designed to attract groups of people who share a common interest or trait.

Delta Lambda Phi

Latina exitosa

ELIA GRIFFIN

LA ESQUINA LATINA C1

A spotlight on the Blair sports team members who stay oﬀ the ﬁeld

Stage crew shines with their brilliant set designs CHAMINDA HANGLIPOLA

FEATURES D1

Team managers

Behind the scenes

Una entrevista con Ada Villatoro, la propietaria de El Golfo

Why schools should provide free menstrual products

This culture harms not only fraternity brothers, but outsiders as well. Fraternities have famously had issues with sexual assault, racism and homophobia. According to a 2007 study by Oklahoma State University professor John Foubert, freshmen involved in fraternities at an unspeciﬁed mid-sized public school were almost three times more likely to commit sexual assault. This statistic doesn’t account for the diﬀerences in Greek letter organizations. Not all fraternities are created for the same reason. There are a few categories for Greek letter organizations, social (one that is not created for a purpose beyond camaraderie),

University of Maryland, College Park

Every semester, Sammi Sibler donates a pack of Swedish Fish to Testudo, the mascot of the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). In her time at UMD, Sibler, a junior, acts as the lectures director for Student Entertainment Events (SEE), the group on campus that organizes events and visits. SEE is a group of 23 student directors and three advisors who get together and coordinate the events for the year. SEE puts on everything from the Dining Hall Homecoming Tailgate to a comedy night with Hasan Minhaj. Sibler values the entertainment at her school and its impact on her college experience. “College life can get hard,” she says. “Between studying and ﬁnals and all of that… sometimes you … just need a comedy show or you need a concert or you need a lecture that speaks on an issue that’s important to you.”

Greek life with a twist

Menstrual products

MARISSA HE

see FLIERS page A2

Concerts on campus

They got the beat

Asking about admissions

property. Johnson explained that she is open to discussing the issue with community members, but has told staﬀ to ignore any of these emails. “If any Blair parent is upset or angry, I want to have the conversation with them,” Johnson said. “I’ve sent a message to all staﬀ to ignore any messages of hate, and do not answer them, but continue to discuss any concerns our students have and our parent community has about this topic.” Leslie Blaha, the academies administrator and a science teacher at Blair, was one teacher who received these emails.

ENTERTAINMENT E1

ELIA GRIFFIN

CHIPS CLIPS E5

SPORTS F1

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

Editors-in-Chief: Alexander Dacy and Olivia Gonzalez Managing News Editors: Gilda Geist and Leila Jackson Managing Op/Ed Editors: Serena Debesai and Erin Namovicz Managing Features Editors: Cole Greenberg and Isabella Tilley Managing Entertainment Editors: Emma Cross and Hermela Mengesha Managing Sports Editor: Henry Wiebe Ombudsman: Laura Espinoza Newsbriefs Editors: Gilda Geist and Leila Jackson Page Editors: Anson Berns Mindy Burton Elise Cauton Noah Chopra-Khan Miranda Rose Daly William Donaldson Arshiya Dutta Adenike Falade Lucy Gavin Hannah Lee Elias Monastersky Camden Roberts Marlena Tyldesley Telon Yan La Esquina Latina Editors-in-Chief: Michael Hernández and Sofía Muñoz La Esquina Latina Writers: Amanda Hernández Jasmine Méndez-Paredes Laura Méndez-Pinto Lourdes Reyes Yesenia Sorto Executive Business Directors: Karen Depenyou and Ariel Zhang Business Staff: Siena Butters Julia Henderson Honor Kalala Simran Krishna-Rogers Brenna Levitan-Garr Matt Morris Olena Zelinsky Managing Photo Editor: Chaminda Hangilipola and Sami Mallon Photographers: Avery Brooks Jedediah Grady Elia Griffin Amarins Laanstra-Corn Hannah Schwartz Maggie Lin Managing Media Coordinator: Ben Miller Managing Art Editors: Carly Tagen-Dye and Marissa He Artists: Jenny Cueva-Diaz Niamh Duecy Seoyoung Joo Amy Krimm Avery Liou Tiffany Mao Aritra Roy Sally Zhao Managing Design Editors: Hermela Mengesha and Isabella Tilley Puzzle Editors: Addie McDonough and Lucy Solomon Copy Editors: Ben Abramson Ben Auslin Will Ederer Divya John Brennan Winer La Esquina Latina Advisor: Dianette Coombs Advisor: Jeremy Stelzner Silver Chips is a public forum for student expression. Student editors make all content decisions. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the editorial board and are not necessarily those of the school. Signed letters to the editor are encouraged. Submit your letter to Jeremy Stelzner’s mailbox in the main office, to room 158 or to silver.chips.print@gmail.com. Concerns about Silver Chips’ content should be directed to the Ombudsman, the public’s representative to the paper, at ombudsman. silverchips@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.

silverchips

November 15, 2017

White nationalist flyers found at Blair

Flyers labeled “It’s okay to be white” posted on exterior doors of the school from FLIERS page A1 said. “It’s surprising that people choose to be ignorant about history because they’re racist.” She detailed that the writer of the email tried to assert that white privilege, the concept that white people have inherent societal advantages, does not exist. “[The email] said that white people are not privileged, that minorities are privileged,” Blaha said. Blaha elaborated that the sender used historical black colleges as an example of privilege that minorities have over whites. “He talked about all black colleges,” Blaha said. “The only reason that there were any colleges that were all black is because they weren’t allowed to go to white colleges. It’s not like they were made specially to make black people feel better.” This incident is not unique to Blair. Many other universities and schools around the country received these flyers, including the University of Maryland College Park (UMD). Unlike Blair, however, the university recently dealt with other acts of intolerance. Over the past four months, UMD and its sister school, the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), were confronted with anti-Semitic hate crimes in the form

COURTESY OF JENNIFER OMEKAM

SURPRISED STUDENTS University of Maryland College Park students found “It’s okay to be white” signs posted outside McKeldin Library. of vandalism. At UMBC, multiple swastikas were drawn in black marker in various locations, including bathroom stalls, classrooms, and residence halls. Similarly, at College Park, a black marker was used to draw swastikas in the bathrooms. Paul Dillon, the Deputy Police Chief who has been working at UMBC for seven years, said that although there have been incidents similar to this in the past, the university experienced an increase of hate crimes this year. “We had an

uptick this year, [although] we always have a handful of acts of intolerance,” Dillon said. “[But] I’ve been working on a college campus for thirty years, and this stuff is not new.” According to an audit conducted by the Anti-Defamation League, hate crimes against Jews have increased by 86 percent in the country during the first quarter of 2017. Dillon assumed that this increase was brought on by the current political climate and the grow-

ing awareness of intolerance. “I would say these things are receiving more attention across the nation because of the political climate,” Dillon said. “... I think that at times, somebody [will walk] into a classroom, and see a swastika on the chalkboard … and they don’t call anybody [about it]. So I think that people are more sensitive to it now, and they call us to report it, and that’s exactly what we want.” Dillon emphasized that the issue should be directly addressed through discussion with the students. “You want to educate the community,” Dillon explained. “[And] have a campus that’s inclusive, that understands that [minority groups] need be respected, [and] have dialogue as opposed to messages of hate.” Similarly, Johnson encourages students to attend OneBlair, a discussion group that addresses racial and social issues on Wednesdays in the Media Center during lunch. Johnson has received praise for the way she handled the situation. “Overwhelmingly you get a lot of great messages from parents, community members, politicians, school officials, students who come up and talk to me about it,” Johnson said. “When you get that many positive messages, you always know you’ve done the right thing.”

Local hospitals receive poor health ratings

Holy Cross and Washington Adventist rated “C” by health watchdog By Mindy Burton

Two local hospitals, Holy Cross in Silver Spring and Washington Adventist in Takoma Park, received C ratings in health watchdog Leapfrog’s biannual Hospital Safety Grades on October 31. Only one hospital in Maryland—Howard County General in Columbia— received an A. On a state-level basis, Maryland ranked fourth-worst in the country, having mostly C grades. According to the Leapfrog website, their goal is to inform patients when making healthcare decisions by rating hospital performance on “quality, safety, and resource use, using national performance measures to evaluate individual facilities.” Leapfrog is an independent, national non-profit advocate that aims to improve reporting of health risks in hospitals. “Errors and infections in hospitals are the third leading cause of death in America, and people deserve to know which of their hospitals are best at preventing them,” Leah

Binder, the president and CEO of Leapfrog, said in a Leapfrog press release. According to Leapfrog Director of Communications and Development Erica Mobley, public data reported by the federal government, responses from the yearly Leapfrog Hospital Survey, and data from the American Hospital Association’s annual survey are combined to produce a letter grade that represents a hospital’s overall performance. More than 2,600 hospitals were evaluated this fall. The grade is determined by two groups of measurements: process measures and outcome measures. Process measures represent the responsiveness of the hospital in best medical practices. Outcome measures are determined by harm experienced by patients while receiving care, including any mishaps, such as leaving an object in a patient’s body during surgery. A numerical score is calculated and a letter grade (A, B, C, D, or F) is assigned based on the deviation from the national average score.

On the Hospital Safety Grade website, each hospital’s individual rating is further broken down into individual criteria assessed by a red, yellow, or green marker, where red is the worst and green is the best. Holy Cross received red marks in blood infections in the ICU, doctors’ abilities to order medications through the computer, communication about medicines and patient discharge, and responsiveness of hospital staff. Washington Adventist received red marks in blood and urinary infections, surgical wounds splitting open, communication about medicines and patient discharge, and responsiveness of hospital staff. Despite its low rankings by Leapfrog, Washington Adventist has received high ratings in providing cardiac and stroke care. According to Lydia Parris, a spokesperson for Washington Adventist, Leapfrog’s results may be misleading, especially because this was the first year Maryland was included in the survey. “It’s important to note that Leapfrog is one of many

ERIN NAMOVICZ

organizations that use different quality measures, surveys and other methods to calculate a hospital’s performances,” she said in an email. “The challenge in health care is that information lags and is measured over different time periods, leading to confusion in public reports.” Binder noted that hospitals can become so preoccupied in addressing other needs that they may lose sight of patient safety. “What we see with hospitals that sometimes lose their way on patient safety is that they aren’t putting patients first every minute of the day and they haven’t put patient safety as the priority,” Binder said in a WTOP article. “It’s not the first item on the board’s list, it’s not the first item on the CEO’s list, it’s not the first item on the physician’s list. When that happens patients slip through the cracks.” Leapfrog also offers a hospital comparison tool on their website. The survey evaluates the ratings that hospitals may choose to submit on their their inpatient care management, medication safety, maternity care, and procedures of infection and injuries. Results are reviewed each year to rank hospitals on their improvement. Both Holy Cross Hospital and Adventist HealthCare Washington Adventist Hospital declined to respond to this survey, according to the Leapfrog website. Mobley recommended that patients research the hospitals in their area so they are well-informed when an emergency arises. “Before a hospital is needed, we advise all patients to review the Safety Grades of hospitals in their community so that they know which is the safest when the need for care arises,” Mobley said in an email. “Particularly in cases where it’s possible to plan in advance, such as having a baby or a scheduled knee surgery, choosing a hospital with a higher Safety Grade can greatly increase the likelihood of a hospital visit free from harm and error.”

News A3

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November 15, 2017

County-PTA treasurer ofﬁcially charged with embezzlement

Lisa Betts will likely have to repay $39,000 stolen from the organization By Anson Berns Lisa Betts, former treasurer for the Montgomery County Council of PTAs (MCCPTA), was charged on Oct. 24 with embezzlement of over $39,000 from the organization. Her plea hearing will be on Nov. 17, where she is expected to plead guilty and pay restitution to MCCPTA, according to Bethesda Beat. The Maryland Code dictates between one and ﬁve years in prison for embezzlement, but Betts’ deal recommends zero to six months per current MCCPTA president

Lynne Harris. According to Harris, Betts began embezzling money in the summer of 2016 by inappropriately writing checks to cash to herself. “The first fraudulent disbursement she made … was I believe on July 31, 2016,” Harris said. “She stopped [embezzling] … pretty quickly after the board of directors started to ask questions in early Feb. of 2017.” The crime was discovered because of discrepancies between budget limitations claimed by former MCCPTA president Paul Geller and the organization’s official financial reports. “The

then-president of the organization [Geller] started to make some allegations that … he had inherited financial problems from the prior leadership,” Harris said. “So, knowing that was not true, a group of several people on the board of directors of MCCPTA started to ask questions particularly in light of the fact that … financial reports seemed to show that the organization was doing fine financially.” The ensuing internal audit discovered that Betts was able to hide her crimes by falsifying bank statements. “She covered [the embezzlement] up by retrieving the paper

bank statements, which were supposed to be retrieved by somebody else. The treasurer was never supposed to be the person who received and opened the bank statements,” Harris said. In April 2017, the organization’s leadership changed, with Harris replacing Geller and Cheryl Peirce replacing Betts. The violation of MCCPTA’s practices likely implies negligence on the part of the previous MCCPTA oﬃcers in monitoring Betts, according to Harris. “The president at that time must not have been monthly meeting [sic] with the treasurer to go

over the books, because [Betts] was not being sophisticated,” she said of her predecessor. “She wrote checks to cash, which is absolutely forbidden in our organization.” Harris and her colleagues have changed the way the MCCPTA handles money in order to prevent any similar crimes in the future. “We are completely paperless now, so we don’t get a paper statement from the bank, so nobody can adulterate anything,” Harris said. In addition to Betts’ restitution, Harris said that the MCCPTA is also attempting to recover the missing money through an insurance claim.

ANSON BERNS

A4 News Newsbriefs Superintendent plan to address overcrowding Superintendent Jack Smith submitted his recommendation for the 2019 budget and the six year Capital Improvements Program (CIP) on Oct. 23. The proposal totals $1.818 billion, $74 million more than the approved CIP. In an attempt to alleviate overcrowding in schools, the proposal includes plans to reopen Woodward High School in Rockville, and to build a new high school in Gaithersburg. Smith explains in his proposal that MCPS “needs to be both fiscally prudent within affordability guidelines that the County Council has established and attentive to the significant capacity and infrastructure needs that MCPS is experiencing.” Per Bethesda Magazine, “includes 30 projects to expand, reopen or build schools to address enrollment expansion.” According to the proposal, which can be found on the MCPS website, the county currently has 161,936 students and is projected to have 169,012 students by the 2023-2024 school year.

silverchips

November 15, 2017

County Council votes to raise minimum wage Montgomer y County to implement $15 per-hour minimum wage By Hannah Lee Montgomery County Council unanimously voted to raise the hourly minimum wage to $15 from the previous wage of $11.50, on Nov. 7. Large businesses with 51 or more employees have to implement the $15 per-hour wage by July 1, 2021; mid-sized businesses with between 11 and 50 employees by July 1, 2023; and small businesses with 10 or fewer employees by July 1, 2024. Montgomery County is the ﬁrst jurisdiction in Maryland to approve a $15 minimum wage. According to the bill, nonproﬁts, tax-exempt organizations, 501(c)(3) organizations, home health care companies, and services based in the community that

receive at least 75 percent of their revenue from state and federal Medicaid programs will be affected by the bill starting July 1, 2023, regardless of whether they have more than 51 employees. Spacing out the timing of the effects gives the County Executive time to revise or remove the bill if it impacts the economy negatively. Businesses using the minimum wage are required to go under incremental increases before reaching the final wage of $15 per hour by the deadlines, all beginning on July 1, 2018. The Council has been fighting for the implementation of the bill for more than a year, with repeated vetoes from Ike Leggett, the County Executive. County Councilmember Marc Elrich has advocated for the mini-

mum wage increase for nearly two years. During spring of 2016, Elrich proposed a $15 minimum wage bill that would have gone into eﬀect starting in 2020, which was passed by the Council with a 5-4 vote in Jan. of this year. Leggett vetoed Elrich’s bill because he argued that raising the minimum wage would put businesses at a disadvantage compared with those of other counties in Maryland. Leggett also believed that owners would have a hard time properly paying their employees. Many working Blazers are in favor of the newly passed bill, as they would earn more money if they work minimum wage jobs. Senior Will Speaks, a part time employee of Santucci’s Deli, said he supports raising the minimum

wage because earning more money is an incentive to work harder. “I work in the back making steaks. However, if I was paid $15 an hour, [my boss] would most likely try to train me to do multiple jobs so he doesn’t have to hire more people,” Speaks said. “It’s smart because more money means you should work harder.” However, Mary Fendrick, owner of Rock Hill Orchard and Woodbourne Creamery in Mount Airy, pointed out that higher wages could lead to increased prices. “If people want to live in a county where the minimum wage is a living wage, they should also be willing to pay the price for it at local businesses,” Fendrick explained. “If they won’t pay a higher price, we can’t aﬀord to pay a higher wage.”

Security guard at Richard Montgomery sentenced to 18 months in prison A former security guard at Richard Montgomery was sentenced to 18 months in prison on October 30 for sex abuse charges involving a 17-year-old female student, according to Fox 5. In March, Mark Yantsos picked the student up from her home, drove to a hotel room he had rented, and they engaged in intercourse. He was arrested on April 6 after the student’s mother notiﬁed school oﬃcials who contacted police. On April 10, he posted a $75,000 bond, which was later revoked after he met with the student again and was arrested again shortly after, according to a Washington Post article. Police say Yantsos had given the student money and bought her gifts before the sex abuse started, according to the Washington Post. During their investigation, police found evidence that Yantsos “wrote love letters to the student and was photographed hanging out with the teenager at school during the school day while he wore his work uniform,” according to the Washington Post.

Dockless bikes begin to populate Silver Spring

LimeBike, a dockless bike company, has made Montgomery County their ﬁrst suburban region in the United States to have a dockless bike sharing system, according to WTOP. LimeBike users can locate the nearest bicycle on their app and usually ﬁnd it parked on a street or sidewalk. Riders then use LimeBike’s app to scan a QR code on the bike, which unlocks the wheels and starts their trip, according to the company’s website. A thirty minute individual ride is one dollar. Soon, Mobike, another dockless bike service, will add bikes to Montgomery County. Unlike other jurisdictions, Montgomery County has chosen not to limit the number of bikes companies want to put out during its testing period, said a Montgomery Transportation department spokeswoman to The Washington Post. Newsbriefs compiled by Noah Chopra-Khan

HANNAH LEE

BETHESDA BEAT

MCPS reviews calendar options for next year Parts of spring break or professional days could be eliminated

By Mindy Burton Four MCPS calendar options are under review for the 201819 school year. Superintendent Jack Smith proposed his plan at the Policy Management Committee (PMC) meeting on October 24. The committee, consisting of parents, teachers, principals, community members, and activist groups, has also developed three other options which will be presented for review at the Board’s November 14 business meeting. All versions of the calendar include starting school on September 4 and ending on June 13. The time that students previously had off school for spring break has been reduced to a long weekend in three of the plans, while one proposal eliminates planning days at the end of marking periods. MCPS is requesting feedback on the proposed calendars from MCPS staff, external groups, employee associations, and focus groups around the county, according to an MCPS Bulletin written by MCPS Chief Operating Officer Andrew Zuckerman. Calendar options can be viewed on the MCPS website. The plan will be finalized upon approval of the Board. The Board must eliminate days that MCPS will have off due to increased state requirements and regulations. On August 31, 2016, Gov. Larry Hogan signed an executive order that required Maryland public schools to start classes after Labor Day and end before June 15. In addition, the executive order said that there must be 180 days of instruction, 15 state-mandated days off, and three snow make-up days throughout the year. According to Derek Turner, the Director of Communications for MCPS, Montgomery County typically has 184

MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

instructional days, but it has been reduced to 182 this year and may be reduced to 180 days by next year. “The end day is June 15. That puts a hard stop at the end, which means if June 15 is a Saturday or a Sunday, then we have to stop school on June 13, which restricts the length of the school year,” Turner said. “This has forced us to trim the number of instructional days oﬀered to our students.” Three of the four proposed calendars reduce the typical spring break week to a long weekend. Currently, spring break in the superintendent’s proposed calendar and PMC Proposal B is from Wednesday, April 17, 2019 through Monday, April 22, 2019. On the other hand, PMC Proposal A eliminates non-instructional grading and planning days at the end of the quarters, exchanging them for early release days in order to have a six-day spring break. These planning days pre-

LAURA ESPINOZA

viously existed between quarters as a day for teachers to grade or attend education conferences. According to Turner, the only oﬀ-days that MCPS is allowed to decide independently from the state are non-mandated religious holidays, professional days, and spring break. “With those options, it could be that we have to cut spring break short or are open for the Jewish holidays or some combination of all those things,” Turner said. “We have professional days for teachers to expand their skillset to become better teachers, so at the end of the day, we are going to have to make a compromise to meet these restrictions.” The shortened calendar also has an eﬀect on teachers’ plans because they have fewer days to teach the same amount of material. Some teachers, including Government teacher Sean Gabaree, have to reorganize their schedules because Advanced Placement

(AP) exams are still scheduled at the same time as previous years in early May. “We’re teaching certain things that we normally teach second semester [during] first semester,” Gabaree said. Gabaree also hopes that whatever calendar is selected, the breaks are spread out across the year. “It should be equitable,” he said. “People need breaks occasionally. We don’t want to have breaks favorable to certain times of year. We want them to be spread out.” The calendars were developed through Chief Operating Officer Andrew Zuckerman’s office and assisted by the PMC. Zuckerman encourage MCPS staff members to send him any comments or questions about the proposals in an October 25 email to staff. Community members can also submit feedback to Zuckerman through the comments section on the MCPS calendar page.

silverchips

November 15, 2017

News A5

Students celebrate the Day of the Dead

Smithsonian brings Latin American cultural teachings to Blair students By Adenike Falade The Smithsonian Latino Center hosted a Day of the Dead educational presentation on October 27 in the media center. The Smithsonian Latino Center and its collaborators gave brief demonstrations about South American traditions, cultural teaching practices, and new technologies being used to understand Latin culture. Students from Spanish and ESOL classes in attendance also created personal oﬀerings to add to an ofrenda and shared cultural stories important to them. The Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday observed on Nov. 1 and 2 to celebrate and remember the lives of ancestors and deceased family members. Observers decorate alters called ofrendas with candies, marigolds, photos, papel picado, and other oﬀerings. Papel picado are colored pieces of paper cut with designs. Students created photo contri-

butions to make ofrendas in the media center. Maria Cuadrado Corrales’s Spanish 5 students were tasked with finding a photo of significance to them and describing the importance, according to sophomore Leoul Berhanu. In the process, Berhanu learned how different the Day of the Dead and Halloween celebrations are. “A common misconception is Día de los Muertos and Halloween are two very similar things … [but] they have two completely different meanings,” Berhanu said, “Día de los Muertos is about … honoring our passed away ancestors.” The Smithsonian Latino Center presented their “Ofrenda on Wheels” outside on the sidewalk. The ofrenda sat in the trunk of a Jeep with pictures of La Catrina, a popular Day of the Dead figure, Celia Cruz, and rows of marigolds. The truck was covered with marigold stickers linked to an app called Zappar that allows the user to scan the stickers in order

to reveal animations and videos. The inside of the truck included sound and video equipment to record the stories that students had to share about their cultures. Frida Larios, a representative for the Indigenous Design Collective, talked about Mayan art and practices rediscovered in her native El Salvador. Larios’s job with the Indigenous Design Collective is to gather and share information about indigenous art. “We are a projectbased collective and we come together to consult with the indigenous [people’s] knowledge of the graphic representation or the artistic visuals from the past to bring them into the present,” she said. She talked about traditional embroideries and textile art that has been hidden for thousands of years in her presentation. Larios also discussed her book “The Village that was Buried by an EruptCHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA ing Volcano,” which focuses on ancient Mayan practices and reli- TEACHING CULTURE The Smithsonian Latino Center showcases culgions that have been rediscovered. tural teaching manual and Latin American art in the media center

Graduation date announced On Friday, November 10, Principal Renay Johnson announced that graduation will be held on June 5, 2018. The ceremony will be at 9:00 a.m. at the Xﬁnity Center. Students are allowed 12 tickets each. Cap and gown order forms are due December 15. School ends for seniors on May 25.

Up and Coming November 22 Early Release Day & Report Card Distribution

November 23-24 Thanksgiving Break

December 4 Silver Chips Silent Auction @ Lincoln’s BBQ, 5:00 PM

December 7 Jazz and Band Concert, 6:30 PM

December 12 Choral and Guitar Concert, 7:00 PM

December 14 Orchestra Concert, 6:30 PM

Student & Teacher Awards & Honors Senior Andrew Komo was named a national finalist in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology and senior Robert Yang was named a regional finalist. Additionally, seniors Mengming Luo, Anish Senapati, Yuang Shen, Shriyash Upadhyay, David Wu, and Zan Xu were named semifinalists in the competition. \

Senior Morgan Casey placed 12th at the Maryland 4A State Meet for cross country. The boys’ and girls’ teams placed eleventh and ninth, respectively.

Blair was awarded with the School Spirit Award by the Safeway grocery store on University Boulevard.

Senior Ben Miller, juniors Ian Rackow and Anson Berns, and sophomore Katherine Lei of Blair’s A team won the Centennial Quizbowl Tournament on November 5. Blair’s B team won third place.

Blair’s Computer Science teams won ﬁrst and third place at the CSAW HSF Competition.

OneBlair was awarded the Princeton Prize for Race Relations for their work in promoting unity.

B1 Opinion

silverchips

November 15, 2017

Time to go with the flow

Period products should be added to school bathrooms By Mindy Burton An opinion

SAMI MALLON

A SOBERING LECTURE Students take notes while listening to a class lesson on drug and alcohol consumption during John MacDonald’s health class.

Not to be blunt, but drug education needs a spark By Hannah Lee An opinion “Just say no.” Students hear it from adults all the time with regard to drugs and alcohol, yet usage by teens remains prevalent. According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 60 percent of teens have had at least one drink by age 18, while the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that 44.5 percent of twelfth graders have used marijuana in their lifetime.

“44.5 percent of twelfth-graders have used marijuana in their lifetime.” -National Institute on Drug Abuse It is important that students receive education about the effects of drugs and alcohol, but the methods with which the curriculum is currently delivered are not compelling enough to make an effective impact. This ineffectiveness resides in how teens are educated about substance abuse in the first place. Whether students take health class online or in school, the mere PowerPoints, videos, and worksheets used are not enough to inform students of such a complex and prevalent issue. According to the National Academy of Sciences, “students in classes with traditional lecturing are 1.5 times more likely to fail than students in classes with active learning.” Senior Matt Siff agrees that the methods used in his sophomore health class to teach about illicit substances were ineffective. “It was just a PowerPoint about different drugs and alcohol and they assigned us a drug and we had to make a presentation about it,” Siff explained. Two years later, Siff believes that the presentations had no effect on his knowledge of drugs and alcohol. “I don’t remember anything from it at all,” he said. While the teaching methods are inadequate, the MCPS health curriculum’s lack of relevancy to the current advancing drug and alcohol culture leaves it outdated. The MCPS Secondary Comprehensive Health Education Curriculum Framework Overview indicates that the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs (ATOD) unit focuses on media influences, psychoactive drugs, alcohol, tobacco, community resources, and legal consequences of ATOD use. However, the current curriculum does not mention the ongoing evolution of drugs and alcohol, such as vape pens. Different

types of drugs have expanded immensely, with stronger doses of modified drugs easily available online. Without an updated curriculum, students are left with knowledge that is not entirely applicable to their lives and could be introduced to a new substance without being informed of it. Along with the outdated curriculum, the teachers themselves do not have enough of a personal connection with their students to make a legitimate impact. John MacDonald, one of Blair’s health teachers, brings in guest speakers from a nonprofit called Arise Flourish to inform students about the impacts of drugs. “They are ex-addicts who have been clean for a couple of years and they talk about addiction and drug use,” MacDonald said. Although using guest speakers instead of PowerPoints and videos is a step in the right direction, MCPS needs to implement more activities such as simulations in which students can actually participate. Based on the results of an experiment conducted by Chris Silvia of the Romney Institute of Public Management at Brigham Young University, role-playing and handson simulations have been proven to keep students immersed in what they are learning. Currently, some college students have the opportunity to experience interactive activities on alcohol use. Cameran Burt, a physiology and neurobiology major at University of Maryland, organized a drunk goggle simulation for students to understand the effects of alcohol abuse. The goggles accurately mimic the sensory effects of drunkenness. “Your perception and special awareness is off, so that allows someone to have an idea of what it truly feels like being drunk,” Burt said. “We wanted to make sure that [the students] were educated so that way, they could be responsible about their behaviors.” High school students should have access to resources such the simulation conducted by Burt since alcohol and drugs are used by more than just college students. There has been a 15.9 percent decrease in alcohol usage since 2001, but marijuana use has remained stable, with six percent of teens using it daily, according to the 2016 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey. These numbers have been used defend the effectiveness of the health curriculum, but there are other factors that play into this decline. Lloyd Johnston, the designer of the MTF survey, believes that a decrease in marijuana smoking rates largely contributed to this decline since the adolescents are more likely to use alcohol and drugs if they smoke. Overall, the decrease of drug and alcohol usage cannot be attributed to high school health education. Those who design the health curriculum need to realize that more effort needs to be put into educating high school students on drugs and alcohol. MCPS’s curriculum needs to be changed to properly educate teens about substances through simulations and an updated curriculum.

Our bathrooms are stocked daily with toilet paper, soap, and paper towels for student use. However, bathrooms lack a basic hygiene product: menstrual supplies. Schools should provide pads and tampons in bathrooms to aid female students in paying the high cost of these products, protect their health, and help students feel more comfortable and prepared to learn in school. Women already face higher living expenses simply for being female. In many states, period products are taxed as “luxury products” and women must pay the high cost of pads and tampons each month. Typically, a woman’s period comes once every 28 days, and according to New York University School of Medicine microbiologist Philip Tierno, the average woman uses 11,000 tampons in her lifetime. At the Four Corners CVS, a box of pads can cost up to $11.99 and a box of tampons can cost up to $8.99, and these products will generally last for only one menstrual cycle. Women might also purchase pain relievers, heating pads, and new underwear due to their periods. The heavy cost of feminine hygiene products is especially significant in Silver Spring, where 11.7 percent of the population lives in poverty according to a U.S. Census Bureau report, and 36 percent of our student body is registered for FARMS. Providing free menstrual products in the bathrooms is just as necessary as the free toilet paper and soap already in place because it will lessen the financial burden placed on students and their families.

“There’s a large systemic effect that . . . eventually leads to a possible serious course of TSS.” -Philip Tierno, New York School of Medicine Professor Additionally, many tampons contain synthetic materials which require them to be changed every four to eight hours before they begin to pose a health risk. If a tampon is left in too long, viscose rayon, a material found in many tampons that is made from woodchips and sawdust, will produce toxins that may be absorbed and spread through the body. According to Tierno — one of the first people to link Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) with the synthetic materials in tampons — TSS can cause low blood pressure, fever, a peeling rash, kidney dysfunction, and death. “There’s a large systematic effect that is possible if you get that toxin in your

body that starts a cascade of reactions that eventually leads to a possible serious course of TSS and even death,” Tierno said. If a girl does not have a new tampon available, she may leave one in for longer than necessary and risk her health. Providing menstrual products in school bathrooms would significantly dampen this risk. Students’ role in school is to learn, not to worry about their periods. Even in high school, girls can still get their first period, and they may not have the necessary supplies. Furthermore, some teachers will only allow students to use the bathroom once during class. If a girl discovers that she has gotten her period while in the bathroom and does not have any supplies, she may be forced to use toilet paper in place of a pad or tampon, which is less effective, or allow herself to bleed through her underwear and pants.

“Periods are stigmatized, which means they are kept out of view.” -Chris Bobel, University of Massachusetts Professor By placing pads and tampons in the bathrooms, they will be readily available for student use and provide a more period-friendly environment. Chris Bobel, the president of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research and Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, said that social stigma surrounding periods can cause a low understanding of menstruation. “Periods are stigmatized which means they are kept out of view and largely silent,” she said. “This hurts all menstruators because silence and secrecy suppresses inquiry, help-seeking and self-confidence.” Pads and tampons are viewed as more of a hidden necessity that each student must carry to the bathroom, when in reality, they are critical for female health and should be readily available. Although pads and tampons are quietly offered in the health room, they should be moved into bathrooms for more accessible use. When a student asks to go to the health room, the teacher often asks for the reason, which poses an issue when some students are not comfortable discussing their period. Moreover, the long walk to the nurse’s office followed by a procedural sign-in wastes time that could more effectively be spent in class or taking care of the issue directly. Period products are as fundamental as toilet paper, water, soap, and paper towels. It is time that the school acknowledges female students’ health and breaks the stigma surrounding menstruation by placing pads and tampons in the bathrooms.

AMY KRIMM

Opinion B2

silverchips

November 15, 2017

As DC debates a bill to decriminalize sex work, should Maryland follow suit?

YES:

Decriminalization is the only way to ensure the safety of sex workers During prohibition, when America criminalized alcohol consumption, the bootlegging of alcohol, skyrocketed. The war on drugs, which aggressively penalized drug use, did little to curb substance abuse in the United States. Another item on the list of failed criminalCHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA ization is prostitution. ProstituLucy Gavin tion is allegedly criminalized to combat the violence associated with sex work, yet such violence persists. Trying to rid the earth of sex work through criminalization has not and will never work. Instead, Maryland, like DC, should focus on the safety of sex workers through decriminalization. Sex workers are often victims of violent crimes, but are hesitant to report these incidents to police because of the legal consequences associated with their line of work. A San Francisco study conducted by Women’s Health magazine found that 82 percent of sex workers had been assaulted and 68 percent had been raped while working as prostitutes. According to a separate study by the Sex Workers Outreach Program-USA (SWOPUSA), however, 96 percent of San Francisco rape victims who were engaged in streetbased sex work did not report the rape to the police. Decriminalization would provide a way to stop this violence while also giving sex workers the protection they need to come forward to authorities. From 2004 to 2009, indoor prostitution, that which takes place in brothels rather than on the streets, was decriminalized in Rhode Island. Although prostitution was eventually recriminalized after 2009, general rape offenses in Rhode Island dropped by 31 percent between 2004 and 2009, according to a paper examining decriminalization by Scott Cunningham of Baylor University and Manisha Shah of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The authors attributed this drop to the decriminalization of prostitution, because it helped to normalize sex work. “The decline in rapes may be due to men substituting away from violent sexual behavior toward prostitution since decriminalization increases the supply of sex workers and decreases prices,” they stated. It is important to note that prostitution involving minors or human trafficking

Ramatha Sesay Junior

remains illegal under any sort of decriminalization. If sex workers are not afraid of possible arrest, they would be more likely to report minors or human trafficking victims to authorities. Christa Daring, president of Sex Workers Outreach Project-USA, confirms this in an email. “Arrest is frequently cited as the most prevalent reason that sex workers do not report crimes that are either against them or that they witness,” she said. Daring also says that adult sex workers who come forward to report underage sex workers are often charged with human trafficking of the minor themselves. Another big issue affecting sex workers is the contraction of sexually transmitted infections. Safe sex, or that performed using protection, is rarely practiced since prostitution is criminalized. It was discovered that in 2008 to 2009, New York City cops used condoms found on sex workers as evidence against them in criminal cases, according to the Urban

Justice Center. Sex workers trying to prevent infection may end up incriminating themselves. Cunningham and Shah also found that female gonorrhea in Rhode Island dropped by 39 percent during the period of decriminalization. They claimed the reason for the decreased cases of gonorrhea was because prostitution transactions became less risky after decriminalization. Along with violence and health concerns, discrimination is also a serious problem facing prostitutes. Daring believes this discrimination affects many aspects of life. “Access to housing, professional development, healthcare, education, and increased equity are already greatly limited for vulnerable communities engaging in sex work, and decriminalization can help to offset that,” according to Daring. Decriminalization could help stop this discrimination by reducing the stigma associated with sex work. This question of decriminalizing prostitution is about more than just the moral questions that surround it. It is a human rights issue that criminalization has not solved. It is time to instate a new strategy of decriminalization. This is the only way to prioritize the security of sex workers.

Htoo Eh Redford Maung Junior

NO:

Decriminalized prostitution inevitably leads to an increased violation of human rights To think that the decriminalization of sex work would be beneficial to prostitutes would be legislating through rosecolored glasses. For every Pretty Woman whose work takes place in the bourgeois apartments of rich old men, there are dozens more prostitutes selling themselves on dirty street corners CHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA in constant fear of violence from Anson Berns clients. Advocates of decriminalizing prostitution focus on high-end sex workers that have opted into their lifestyle, and in doing so, neglect to consider the multitudes of women forced into prostitution. Protecting those who prostitute themselves willingly equally protects degrading, violent pimps, as well as human traffickers and their exploitation of women. Prostitution and sex trafficking are so intertwined that laws like the one proposed in D.C. effectively condone sex crimes under the façade of a legal institution. While these efforts nominally are for the benefit of prostitutes, in actuality, they do little to benefit the harsh conditions prostitutes face. Decriminalizing prostitution in Maryland would open the state’s borders to those same human rights violations. Support for decriminalized prostitution relies heavily on the ideal of prostitutes A ROY ARITR expressing their sexual freedom through sex work. The dirty truth of prostitution, however, lies with the sex trafficking industry. According to Melissa Farley, director of the San Francisco-based organization Prostitution Research and Education, sex traffickers will flock to areas with decriminalized prostitution. “If you lay out a welcome mat for pimps, which is what this kind of decriminalized proposal would do, they will come,” Farley said. “They will bring their business to the District. They will bring their business to Maryland.” The link between trafficking and decriminalized prostitution is grounded in data. A study coordinated by Eric Neumayer of the London School of Economics modelled the effects of decriminalization on sex trafficking. The study, using data

voicebox Simrin Tucker Freshman

from 150 countries with a form of legalized prostitution, predicted that the market for prostitution—both the domestic variety and the illegal international sex trade—is greatly increased by the removal of laws against prostitution. An analysis of data performed by the Swedish University of Gothenburg bears the same result: levels of sex trafficking in four of seven analyzed countries with legal prostitution were deemed “Very High,” whereas none of the 12 examined countries where prostitution is not legal were given that rating. Prostitution and human trafficking are inseparable; leniency towards one is leniency towards the other. Legal prostitution would not just have effects at the large scale; plans to decriminalize the practice would also make working conditions for individual prostitutes more dangerous. Farley’s research confirms that legal protection of prostitution does not translate to physical protection of prostitutes. “Most of the violence comes from men who buy sex or pimps and traffickers and … that does not decrease under decriminalization,” she explained. The government of New Zealand’s report on the state of legal prostitution in the nation said that “The majority of sex workers interviewed felt that [the law decriminalizing prostitution] could do little about violence that occurred.” Prostitution has deep ties not only to violence, but also organized crime. Gangs often run prostitution rings or help smuggle sex slaves across international lines. With decriminalized prostitution, police do not pursue an activity that is fundamentally conducive to crime and violence. However, just because it is imprudent to protect prostitution as a practice does not mean it is unnecessary to protect prostitutes as people, and it certainly does not mean that the current legal framework is the only reasonable option. An alternative solution championed by Farley and other human rights activists is the Nordic Model of abolition of prostitution—so named because of its usage in countries such as Sweden and Iceland. Under said model, buying sex is still illegal, but selling sex is legal, meaning that being a prostitute conforms to the law but being a prostitute’s client does not. The model legally protects sex workers, while still cracking down on sex solicitors as well as the sex trade as a whole. The hope with the Nordic Model is that prostitutes would feel safe to report crimes just as they would under decriminalization, but that human trafficking and other prostitution-related crime would still not be governmentsanctioned. Regardless of whether prostitutes themselves receive legal benefits under a Nordic Model, the act of prostitution must remain illegal. Decriminalizing prostitution in Maryland would come at the risk of greatly expanded sex trafficking, violence, and sex crimes in the state and is thus deeply misguided.

Adelaide Harris Junior

Emma Creekmore Senior

“Yes, there’s a lot of issues with the prostitution industry and the level of abuse and children involved, and I think a way to help that would be if it were legalized.”

“Yes, if prostitution was legalized, there would be laws surrounding the safety of both prostitutes and the people seeking it.”

AMARINS LAANSTRA CORN

“No, prostitution shouldn’t be decriminalized because women shouldn’t be selling their bodies for money.”

“Yes, it should be decriminalized because the bodies of women or men should not be in the hands of the government.”

“No, prostitution is one of the worst things in the world because people are paid to use somebody’s body.”

Opinion B3

silverchips

November 15, 2017

Google should not be stuck in the classroom

With so many assignments online, students wihtout home access get left behind By Miranda Rose Daly An opinion Walk into any MCPS classroom today and you are more likely than not to see students with Chromebooks at their desk. Over the last four years, MCPS has implemented new technology policies in an attempt to modernize learning. Today, most assignments, including homework, are done online. However, the influx of technology into classrooms neglects students who lack access to Internet and computers at home. MCPS needs to provide more support to students who cannot rely on technology at home, to ensure that all students have equal opportunity to complete their online homework. Some students do not have access to computers or the internet at home. Although this exact statistic is not tracked by MCPS, 257 students took advantage of a Blair program to purchase discounted computers and internet access in 2016. More could have likely benefitted from it as well, since 2016 was the first year this program was offered. In any classroom, it is probable that some students do not have adequate access to technology at home. Junior Jordan Jesse Bondo was one of these students; before he got a computer in the spring of his freshman year, he would use his phone or his younger sister’s tablet to complete assignments. If he could not use his phone for an assignment, Bondo did not have a solution. “I guess I’d be taking a Z,” he said. Even when students have a computer or internet in their

MARISSA HE

homes, many often have to compete with multiple siblings and parents for time to use the computer. Further, not all apartment buildings have internet access, or if they do, it may be spotty or confined to only common areas. Students who do not have access to technology at home are forced to complete assignments, like essays or research papers in the media center, or at the public library, but these locations are not always open. “One student that I talked to said she goes to this rec center, but they kick you out after an hour,” English teacher Adam Clay explained. This puts students without access to that homework several

“Those of us who have [working computers or internet access] just assume that everyone does, and it’s just not the fact.” -George Mayo, Media Teacher

steps behind their classmates. According to media teacher George Mayo, this issue often goes undetected. “Those of us who have [working computers or internet access] just assume that everyone does, and it’s just not the fact,” he said. Clay has seen the detrimental effects the transition to online classrooms has had on some students in his classes who do not have access to technology or reliable internet at home. “While it was a handful of kids, it’s still for those kids, it’s pretty hard to deal with,” he said. There have been efforts to provide students with technology at home. Mayo has reached out to the

community to help students like Bondo get computers, but individual teachers can only do so much without increased county support. At Blair, students who qualify for FARMS are also eligible to buy a computer at a discounted price and receive Internet access for as low as $10 a month. This program has helped hundreds of Blair students thus far, and MCPS needs to adopt a similar program county-wide to help close the technology gap for all. However, these computers are still not free. Students should also be able to check out chromebooks from school, as they do the TI-84 calculators for math class, without charge. Some teachers, such as Clay, support this initiative.“I would totally be in favor of [allowing students to check out chromebooks],” Clay said. MCPS has the responsibility to provide all students with the opportunity to complete their assignments. No student should be forced to give up and fail because a library is closed or their smartphone cannot access a website. As MCPS gets caught up in the whirlwind of technological advancement, they need to take a step back and make sure that every student can keep up with the trend. The rollout of chromebooks across MCPS cost the county $15 million dollars, and they would be much more useful if they could be borrowed by students, instead of locked up in a classroom overnight. They have already spent the money, so now it is time to give it to the students who need it most.

silverchips

November 15, 2017

Opinion B4

My Blair: Personal Column

The big boss behind our education: Pearson CHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA

By Leul Abate In first person

CHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA

By Victoria Xin Guest writer Take a look at the spine of your history textbook. “PEARSON” is etched there in a little blue rectangle. And what about your biology textbook? Math? Chemistry? That little rectangle appears on the spines of them all. The PARCC displays Pearson’s name on the home page, loud and proud. Pearson helped MCPS develop Curriculum 2.0, the one we are currently experiencing on a day-to-day basis. Pearson scores our SATs, both bubble sheets and written responses. In many states, Pearson even decides teacher qualifications. Just what is Pearson? We know little about them, yet they are constantly present in our education. Pearson, a private company, is a superpower in the education and publishing business. They are based in Britain, but conduct around 60% of their sales in North America. Before becoming the world’s largest education company, Pearson was the world’s largest book publisher. At the turn of the century, their CEO made a smart choice and invested in the assessment and school management markets of America. Pearson got the push they needed to be such a powerful influence when Common Core was implemented. Announced in 2009, Common Core’s goal was to set the standard of what every student should know after each grade. As the education system was revamped, Pearson had the perfect chance to create new standardized tests, teaching material, and curriculum guidelines. Business boomed. Testing has become one of Pearson’s most lucrative subjects. The high school high stakes exam industry is estimated to be worth $2.5 billion dollars, and Pearson indulges in a large piece of that pie. When the PARCC was implemented in MCPS, I remember it being a slow and arduous piece of technology. The tools were nifty

to play with, but ultimately useless during the test. The questions were convoluted, with no clear answers. The teachers were frustrated when the system crashed after half had the class logged on. The students were bored and annoyed. Pearson, on the other hand, had made yet another profit off of MCPS from Common Core testing. Technology played another huge factor in Pearson’s success. As the textbook industry lost its steam, Pearson turned to the development of classroom apps and online textbooks to continue their profits. Pearson was the owner of PowerSchool Group LLC, the creator of myMCPS Portal (where we check our grades), until recently. In my history class, I was given an access code to Pearson’s online textbook. Pearson even has their own version of Google Classroom called Revel. Pearson’s technological kingdom is slowly conquering the educational industry as well, following us as we shift from pen to keyboard. With their nation-wide tests, textbooks for every subject, countless online “innovations”, and collaborations with our very own county, Pearson is in a perfect position to control our education. Being a private company, it is not internally regulated by the people. The governments pay for their finished products, and are rarely involved in the product’s development. In the end, it’s unnerving to think how the big decisions Pearson makes will directly affect us. And it’s frightening to know that we have no say in the matter. Want to submit a personal column? Email it to silver.chips.print@gmail.com! The Editorial Board will read through all submissions and determine a selection.

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Email a correction to silverchipsprint@gmail.com!

Corrections: October 2017 The article on B2, “The Return of ‘Separate but Equal,’” was not a final draft and had not been fact checked. The final, fact-checked version of the story is included in the QR code link, along with a list of the corrections that were made.

B5 Editorials

silverchips

Black Colleges Matter

November 15, 2017

Historically black institutions deserve equitable opportunities Public colleges and universities are the cornerstone of higher education in the United States. Today, they are a relatively affordable and accessible vehicle to economic opportunity for many. In the past, however, these public institutions were walled off to certain populations, particularly students of color. As a result, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were the only pathway to a college degree for black students throughout most of history. The state of Maryland has neglected their HBCUs, despite their continued dedication toward opening the doors of higher education to all students. We are in full support of a recent court ruling which will help to reverse years of mistreatment. In 2006, Maryland’s four HBCUs—Morgan State University, Coppin State University, Bowie State University, and the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore— claimed that the state’s other public institutions unnecessarily duplicated programs unique to HBCUs, drawing applicants away from these institutions. According to the Washington Post, these “unique, high-demand programs” were created to diversify the student body at HBCUs. Allowing other schools to offer the same program increases competition among the universities and draws non-black students away from HBCUs, perpetuating a system of segregation. Additionally, the plaintiffs argued that Maryland has significantly underfunded HBCUs and their programs in relation to other state institutions. For far too long, these policies kept Maryland behind in achieving equality in higher education. But, eleven years later, justice has finally been

served. On Nov. 8, 2017, Catherine Blake, the Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court in Maryland, ruled in favor of the universities, calling out the state for “maintaining vestiges of the prior … system of segregation.” Judge Blake mandated that “the state must establish a set of new, unique and high-demand programs at each historically black institution,” according to the Washington Post. Thanks to Judge Blake, HBCUs can further their legacy of serving the black community. Albeit no longer the only collegiate option for black students, HBCUs continue to serve an integral role because they provide a comfortable educational environment for black students who are vastly underrepresented in higher education; a 2017 New York Times analysis reported six percent black freshman enrollment at public universities, despite the fact that 15 percent of college-age Americans are black. When the majority of students on a college campus are white or Asian, black students can often feel isolated or, in some cases, face racial hostility. HBCUs, whose student bodies are roughly 78 percent black, according to the Department of Education, provide these students with a safe learning environment and less racial tension. Moreover, HBCUs are incredibly successful in educating black students. According to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, “HBCUs represent three percent of colleges and universities, yet graduate 20 percent of AfricanAmericans [with] undergraduate degrees. In [STEM], HBCUs turn out 25 percent of African-American undergraduates.” The history of Maryland’s

Editorial Cartoon

CARLY TAGEN-DYE

public education system is stained by racism and segregation, the effects of which are still felt today; HBCUs have only worked to dismantle the pervasive impact of discrimination. Maryland has an obligation to recognize the positive impact HBCUs have had, and continue to make, on its students of color. It is absolutely unacceptable for any state university system to undermine historicallyblack schools and attempt to strip them of value.

Comments? Questions? Email silver.chips.print@gmail.com!

Try not to cringe: “It’s okay to be white” edition By Laura Espinoza The Game Plan. Organize online. Print out uniform posters. Put on silly costumes for anonymity; nobody will think twice because it is Halloween. Put up the posters on campuses and elsewhere around the world on Halloween night. The next morning, the media goes completely berserk. Normies tune in, see the posters, and see the media and leftists frothing at the mouth. Normies realize that leftists and journalists hate white people, so they turn on them. Credibility of far left campuses and media gets nuked. Massive victory for the right in the culture war. This was the plan, almost word for word, of 4chan users on the night of Halloween. The posters being discussed? The “It’s okay to be white” signs found across the country, including on Blair’s front door. Just as predicted, the media and “leftists” went crazy. A storm of tweets from affected neighborhoods and campuses rocked social media. This was the first wrong move. The University of Alberta and Tulane University, among others, responded to media requests for comment and reassured their students that this threat would be taken seriously. Another wrong move. White “normies,” a term used to describe people who use social

CHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA

Ombudsman Laura Espinoza media and believe popular opinion, were the target demographic for the campaign. This interest group, often unaware or disinterested in major political or social movements, can be a powerful voice when called upon - whether at the polls or in the news. Angering this group by “threatening” them, like reacting negatively to the posters, can push them to find sympathy in alt-right groups. Thousands of tweets poured out from people who were outraged by the posters, and thousands more responded with calls for white solidarity and

pride. Threats, name-calling, and pointed attacks were not strange sights during the days after the event. So did the campaign work? It is a little bit too early to tell. But the original purpose, to create political tension between the left and the disengaged middle, did succeed. A new weapon, more powerful than guns in certain circumstances, is the media. News outlets looking for the next scoop to increase readership or viewership are the perfect target not just for fake news but carefully crafted

stories. This tactic may be familiar if you pay attention to the scandals surrounding state-controlled media in Russia. It seems like a scary comparison, but the parallels are uncanny. Before the Russian invasion of the Crimea region, the Russian government published stories on Russian channels of news stories, albeit fake, designed to scare those living in Ukraine, according to NPR’s Planet Money. They heard stories of “neoNazi fascists roaming the streets” and a Ukrainian ban of the Russian language. Ukrainians in

Crimea feared their very government and voted to secede from the country in hopes of rejoining the Russian Federation. Then, the stories the Russian government pushed across the television screens became real. Media outlets reported that thousands of people in eastern Ukraine fled their homes for Russia, and after months of scare tactics and once war broke out in Ukraine, people really did leave the country. And the scary part? Russia had been preparing their immigration centers to handle a massive wave of refugees from Ukraine for months beforehand. The U.S. is a long way from Russia. We still have a free press, but this freedom makes it easier for any stories to be published by news organizations without extensive research or any form of approval. Spotting these media plots is now even harder than uncovering fake news. Now, it is time to think before tweeting. Learn what is happening around you before providing a comment to the media. Next time, you could be the weapon. Next time, the game plan could work.

Comments? Questions? Email ombudsman.silverchips@ gmail.com!

15 de noviembre, 2017

español C1

silverchips

La Esquina Latina

Silver Chips el 15 de noviembre 2017

Latina alcanza el éxito como propietaria de El Golfo

Ada Villatoro comparte su experiencia de como logró su meta Por Laura Méndez-Pinto Encontrar latinos inﬂuyentes en programas de televisión o en películas puede ser difícil. De acuerdo con un estudio hecho por la Universidad del Sur de California, sólo el 28.3 por ciento de los personajes en la televisión que tienen un rol con diálogo pertenecen a grupos raciales o étnicos no

ELIA GRIFFIN

EL GOLFO Ada Villatoro, la propietaria

blancos. Esto no es representativo de dichos grupos porque ellos forman parte de casi el 40 por ciento de la población de los EE.UU. Algunas veces es mejor buscar personas que puedan dar inspiración localmente en nuestra comunidad. Ada Villatoro, la propietaria de El Golfo, es un excelente ejemplo de una latina exitosa en el área de D.C, Maryland y Virginia, más conocido como

el D.M.V. Ella es solo un ejemplo de lo que jóvenes latinos pueden ver como un modelo a seguir. Desde su infancia, Villatoro recuerda haber tenido que trabajar duro. Ella nació en El Salvador, donde fue criada en una familia con once hijos. Esta menciona que su niñez estuvo llena de quehaceres por el tamaño de su familia. Además de trabajar en casa, ella dijo que, “También me gustaba mucho ir a la escuela.” El ir a la escuela le cambió sus pensamientos de solo querer ser mamá a también aspirar a ser una maestra. Sobre todo, el estudiar hizo que Villatoro tuviera metas. El haber empezado a trabajar a una edad temprana y querer estudiar ayudó mucho cuando su familia emigró a los Estados Unidos en 1987. Al mudarse, Villatoro estudió inglés en la escuela Sagrado Corazón en Washington D.C. Luego fue a la Universidad del Distrito de Columbia por un año, donde inicialmente pensaba estudiar ciencias de la computación, pero nunca lo estudió a fondo. Recordando su plan original, ella dijo, “Pero mira donde terminé, trabajando en un restaurante.” Al empezar sus estudios universitarios, ella cambió su carrera completamente y hasta ahora está muy feliz con su decisión. Villatoro es un ejemplo vivo de que aunque no se tiene una carrera tradicional, perseguir lo que quieres es una de las mejores cosas que puedes hacer. En una historia no muy común, Villatoro cuenta que todo comenzó cuando su hermano mayor, José, decidió abrir su primer

restaurante, El Mariachi, en 1991. Al ver a su hermano incursionar en este ámbito, ella empezó a interesarse en los negocios. El restaurante todavía está abierto hasta este día. Ella comentó, “Otro hermano mío y yo fuimos los que ayudamos hacer ese restaurante un éxito.” Después del éxito de El Mariachi, su hermano decidió expandir y abrir otro restaurante, El Golfo. Este es un restaurante aquí en Silver Spring, la mayoría de la comida es mexicana pero también hay de otros países latinoamericanos. Después de haber trabajado 12 años en El Mariachi, Villatoro empezó a trabajar en El Golfo bajo el cargo su hermano en el 2004 como una mesera. Fue en este tiempo que ella empezó a ahorrar dinero para comprar parte de El Golfo. Ella recuerda que, “Yo llamé a José un día y le dije, ‘mira si tu vas a seguir invirtiendo y abriendo otros negocios, yo quiero invertir contigo y entonces me dio la oportunidad.” Después de un año de ser dueña de El Golfo con su hermano, en el 2005, José ofreció venderle todo el negocio porque estaba abriendo otros proyectos. Esto fue lo que hizo que ella se convirtiera en la propietaria oﬁcial de El Golfo. Villatoro comentó que sus intenciones en ser propietaria eran económicas, “Como no estudié y no tenía un título ni profesión, yo dije que siendo propietaria de un restaurante signiﬁcaba que iba a tener trabajo siempre.” Ahora ella ama su trabajo y puede verse siendo propietaria toda su vida. A ella le importa mucho su restaurante y to-

das las personas que lo apoyan. Villatoro dijo que le encantaría expandir el restaurante por todas partes del estado de Maryland pero es de extremada importancia que el negocio sea expandido por miembros de su familia. El legado de El Golfo continuará con sus hijos. Ella dijo que cuando ellos eran jóvenes, trabajaban como meseros. Hoy en día ella tiene un hijo de 21 años que mantiene el bar del restaurante. La involucración de la familia en el restaurante ayuda a mantener la autenticidad del restaurante, lo cual Villatoro valora mucho. En los últimos 12 años que Villatoro ha sido la propietaria, ella ha empezado a tener muchas relaciones favorables en la comunidad de Silver Spring como la que El Golfo tiene con Blair. De todos los lugares que Blair escoge para hacer recaudación de fondos, El Golfo es el más prominente. Ella mencionó que, “Blair ha sido uno de los apoyos más grande que El Golfo ha recibido y solo ha mejorado desde que la señora Johnson empezó como directora de la escuela.” El poder de tener buenas relaciones con otros negocios es un factor muy importante para mantener un buen negocio. Ada Villatoro le aconseja a los estudiantes latinos que quieren ser exitosos en sus carreras y vidas que el “ser honestos, tener ganas de trabajar y ayudar en su comunidad porque el apoyo del público es necesario para que un negocio sea exitoso.” Ella es solo un ejemplo de las muchas ﬁguras Latinas en el D.M.V que han tenido carreras exitosas.

Estudiantes latinos de Blair celebran el Día de Acción de Gracias Fusión de una tradición americana con un toque de paises latinoamericanos

Por Yesenia Sorto El Día de Acción de Gracias se celebra cada año el cuarto jueves del mes de noviembre. Es una tradición prominente en los Estados Unidos por su signiﬁcado histórico. Muchas personas lo celebran con sus seres queridos y una variedad de comida que representan los eventos históricos. Esta tradición empezó en el año 1621 cuando unos colonos de Plymouth invitaron a los indígenas Wampanoag a una cena para celebrar los cultivos que habían cosechado en la temporada del otoño. Los colonos le dieron las gracias a los indígenas por las técnicas de cultivar y casar que ellos les habían enseñado. Esta cena fue establecida oﬁcialmente como un día festivo en el año 1863 por Abraham Lincoln. Hoy en día es típico celebrarlo con un pavo relleno y otros platos como el puré de papas. Los estudiantes latinos de Blair comentaron como sus familias celebran el Día de Acción de Gracias con el toque de distintas culturas. Karina Sánchez, una estudiante de noveno grado, comentó que las comidas que su familia normalmente cocina ese día son el pavo, el arroz, las papas y el pollo. Ellos acompañan sus exquisitos platos con soda y también hacen fresco de horchata. La hermana de Sánchez fue la quien introdujo este día al resto de su familia, “Hace dos años celebramos el Día de Acción de Gracias, ya que mi hermana trajo el pavo, nos gustó y también lo hicimos el siguiente año.” En este día la mayoría de la familia de Sánchez se hacen presentes en su casa para que todos puedan compartir y comer juntos. Sánchez comentó que su familia cocina pollo pero no el pavo típico, porque algunos miembros de la familia no les gusta el pavo. Al igual que

Sánchez, Brandon Romero, un estudiante del décimo grado, dijo que, “Mi madre para ese día cocina pavo, pollo y pupusas,” las cuales son un plato típico de El Salvador. En la casa de la familia de Sánchez un miembro de la familia hace la oración. Sánchez explicó, “Agradecemos a Dios por permitirnos estar todos juntos en familia y por los alimentos que nos ha brindado el Señor.” Cuando Sánchez y su familia han terminado su comida, ellos se sientan en el sofá y hablan sobre anécdotas del pasado. Eunice Larios, una estudiante de noveno, tiene una tradición similar a la de Sánchez en donde ella y su familia cuentan las buenas cosas que han pasado a lo largo del año. Larios comentó que normalmente ella y su familia cocinan pavo y lo acompañan con una ensalada. De bebida ellos hacen un refresco de Jamaica, la cual es una bebida que se toma en Latinoamérica y el Caribe. Larios empezó a celebrar el Día de Acción de Gracias hace un año con una cena especial con su familia. Darien Price, estudiante del grado doce, comentó que él y su familia suelen hacer arroz con habichuelas, pavo y carne de res con salsa de tomate. Price también dijo que, “Por la mayoría comemos lo usual pero añadimos platos dominicanos como el arroz.” Todos los años, su familia y él se juntan para pasar el día juntos. La tradición de ellos es siempre hacer comidas típicas de la República Dominicana como la arepa y los buñuelos. Romero y su familia han adoptado la

tradición americana ya que siempre han celebrado el Día de Acción de Gracias. El padre de Romero invita a amigos y familia a su casa. Romero dijo que, ¨Es muy bonito pasar tiempo en familia y con amigos.¨ Lo más importante que ellos buscan ese día es que todos la pasen bien y que estén felices. Romero explicó que la tradición en los Estados Unidos es diferente a la de El Salvador, ya que en vez de cocinar pavo se cocina pollo para el Día de Acción de

lo primero que ellos hacen es orar por la comida. La familia de Gonzales viaja para estar juntos en su casa, compartiendo la comida y agradeciendo el poder estar juntos un año más. Esta dice que esa unión es muy importante y comentó que, “Debemos de estar juntos compartiendo porque la ﬁesta del Día de Acción de Gracias es todo sobre la familia compartiendo tiempo juntos.”

Gracias. Aunque esa comida es similar, ellos cocinan tanto pavo como pollo, uniendo la tradición de su país con la tradición de los Estados Unidos. La familia de Marilyn Gonzales, de noveno grado, también incorporan la comida típica de su país, Guatemala para compartirla en su mesa. Gonzales y su familia normalmente cocinan pavo, pollo horneado, puré de papa, tamales de papa y pan de maíz. De bebidas ellos preparan un ponche de frutas o vino fermentando. Cuando ella y su familia están en la mesa con la comida servida,

La tradición americana no es muy diferente, ya que ellos también lo celebran en familia. Según la página web Perú.com, una encuesta que se realizó en el 2013 demostró que 51 por ciento de latinos celebraron el Día De Acción de Gracias. El Día de Acción de Gracias no se celebra en Latinoamérica, pero los estudiantes de Blair lo celebran como muestra de una adaptación a la cultura americana y el pasar un buen tiempo compartiendo en familia. AO Y ZH SALL

C2 español Noticias breves Cataluña lucha por su independencia

El futuro de Cataluña se vuelve más incierto con el paso del tiempo. Las tensiones políticas han aumentado drásticamente a raíz de la posibilidad que una de las comunidades autónomas españolas gane su independencia. Esto es algo que nunca ha pasado. El 11 de septiembre, miles de ciudadanos apoyando la independencia tomaron a las calles de Barcelona para protestar. El primero de octubre, el parlamento catalán aprobó leyes de referéndum sobre la secesión de España. De acuerdo al noticiero BCC, los resultados sugieren que 90% de los 2.3 millones votantes apoyaron la independencia. Aunque los números muestran altos niveles de apoyo, el gobierno español trabajó para disminuir los esfuerzos de los separatistas. El gobierno central llevó las leyes de Cataluña al Tribunal Constitucional de España, el cual pidió una suspensión inmediata. Madrid argumenta que los separatistas están violando la constitución española. Los separatistas reclaman que fueron negados el derecho democrático de votar. Con una cultura e idioma diferente de los españoles, muchos catalanes ven la región como un país diferente. Un juez español emitió órdenes de arrestos contra el presidente de la Generalitat de Cataluña, Carles Puigdemont, y cuatro aliados. Ellos enfrentan cargos de rebelión, sedición y uso indebido de fondos públicos por perseguir la independencia catalana. Puigdemont huyó a Bruselas y ha declarado que no volverá a España a menos de que se garantice un juicio justo. La noticia breve fue escrita por Amanda Hernández

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15 de noviembre de 2017

No hay presencia latina en actividades extracurriculares Una exhortación para participar en la vida escolar de Blair Por Lourdes Reyes Valenzuela Blair es la escuela secundaria más grande del condado de Montgomery y también es la que más estudiantes latinos tiene, según indica la página oficial de las escuelas públicas del condado de Montgomery. ¿Pero estos estudiantes se dan a notar en las actividades escolares? Esta pregunta puede ser muy polémica para la mayoría de los estudiantes latinos en Blair y se ha notado una escasez de ellos en actividades escolares. El estudiante Juan Estrada Vargas del décimo grado dijo, “Como no sé inglés, se me haría difícil comunicarme con las personas que están en los programas de la escuela y el no conocer a nadie también se me hace difícil porque soy tímido; se me hace un problema hacer amigos.” Al escuchar lo que dijo Estrada Vargas, se puede ver que la primera causa para él no querer estar en un programa de la escuela es el no hablar inglés. El miedo de hablar inglés es una cuestión que la mayoría de los estudiantes de ESOL tienen. Esto se debe a que no dominan el idioma a un nivel donde se sienten cómodos comunicándose con estudiantes cuya lengua materna es el inglés. Blair provee varios programas y actividades después de la escuela y también durante ambos periodos de los almuerzos, en los cuales los estudiantes pueden desarrollar destrezas. Hay clubes de estudio, recreación y deportes en diferentes temporadas del año escolar. Unos ejemplos de los deportes más populares son el fútbol que se juega durante el otoño, el baloncesto que se juega durante el invierno, el béisbol y el softball que se juegan durante la primavera. Se puede encontrar más información hablando

con un consejero o preguntándole a la señora Carrillo en el salón 120. La escuela también provee oportunidades artísticas como los coros y la actuación para los que tienen esa pasión. Estar en uno de estos programas siendo estudiante de ESOL no es un problema, sino todo lo contrario. Esto puede ser de mucha ayuda para la solicitud a la universidad además de que puede ayudar a prepararse para conocer qué es lo que le apasiona y así poder encontrar la carrera universitaria perfecta. Un estudiante de ESOL que está en una actividad escolar haciendo lo que le gusta es Salvador Álvarez, un estudiante latino del undécimo grado que es baterista en la banda de la escuela. Él dijo, “Me gusta lo que hago porque son cosas como que te despejan de tu ambiente actual y te llevan a otro lugar. El estar en esta actividad me ayuda a desarrollar nuevas cualidades como aprender más el inglés.” Al hablar de esa manera él se inspira al ver como el idioma no es un problema para cumplir como estudiante e integrarse a las actividades escolares. Blair está haciendo todo lo posible para poder ser de ayuda para todos los estudiantes. La escuela ha tratado de crear programas para que los estudiantes se inspiren y vean que pueden recibir ayuda de parte de todo el plantel escolar. Si te atrae la idea de participar en un deporte, es importante estar al tanto de los anuncios mediante InfoFlow para saber cuando son las audiciones. Un requisito primordial para las audiciones es un certificado de un examen físico de un médico y la aprobación de los padres para entrar al deporte deseado. Además de esto, es de gran importancia enfatizar que para participar y ser elegibles en

JEDEDIAH GRADY

REC-ZONE El programa atrae una variedad de estudiantes. los deportes escolares, hay que tener un promedio general de 2.0 o mejor. El estar en una de estas actividades es de mucho agrado para las universidades porque demuestra que el estudiante ha tenido experiencias aparte de sus estudios, ya sea en las artes como en los deportes. Participar en estas actividades no es un requisito y si a uno no le agrada lo que está haciendo, puede encontrar otra pasión. Después de la escuela también hay un programa gratis para todos los estudiantes que se llama Rec-Zone. Ahí se baila, canta y juega deportes tanto en inglés como en español. Este programa se ubica en la cafetería de lunes a jueves después de la escuela, empezando a las 2:30 pm. Esta actividad también ofrece la oportunidad de hacer nuevos amigos y compartir los gustos similares. Este artículo es una invitación

e insistencia para los latinos de la escuela se animen a estar en uno de los grupos después de la escuela ya sea clubes, deportes, artes o el Rec-Zone. Lo que se está buscando es que todos los estudiantes se integren la comunidad de Blair y también que la escuela sea vista como un lugar donde se encuentre y se pueda hacer una actividad donde sienta una pasión por participar. Para los que aún no saben lo que les apasiona, estos programas le pueden ayudar a encontrarlo. Para los que están interesados en estos programas y no tienen la suficiente información pueden entrar a la página oficial de la escuela en www.mbhs.edu o preguntarle a la señora Carrillo, señora Adler o señora Young, quienes con mucho gusto podrán ayudarle a encontrar una actividad donde uno se sienta ser parte de un grupo que represente la escuela o por el cual se tiene un interés.

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15 de noviembre, 2017

¿Ir a una universidad de cuatro años es el mejor camino después de graduarse?

NO:

SÍ:

La universidad puede ser muy costosa

Ofrecen más oportunidades especializadas La universidad es como una inversión. Lo que desalienta a muchos estudiantes de secundaria al llegar el momento de solicitar a la universidad es la etiqueta de precio. A pesar de que los estudiantes no quieran pagar para estudiar, el invertir dinero en los estudios universitarios puede generar mucho más dinero en el fuJEDEDIAH GRADY turo. De acuerLaura Méndez-Pinto do a la página web de ayuda estudiantil del Departamento de Educación de los Estados Unidos, se estima que los estudiantes que solo terminan la escuela secundaria ganan un promedio de $43,056 al año comparado con $88,036 de personas con maestrías. Ir a la universidad dobla el posible ingreso anual. En el futuro, el tener un diploma de la universidad es lo que puede decidir el poder tener un buen estilo de vida. Obtener un trabajo es más fácil si uno tiene un título universitario porque esto les demuestra a los empleadores que uno se ha especializado en dicha carrera. La tasa de desempleo también incluye un análisis del estado educativo de las personas. De acuerdo a la página web de ayuda estudiantil del Departamento de Educación de los Estados Unidos, en el 2014 un seis por ciento de personas que solo se graduaron de la escuela secundaria estaban desempleados. En comparación, sólo el 2.8 por ciento de las personas con maestrías estaban sin empleo. Ir a una universidad de cuatro años es la mejor opción para prevenir el desempleo. El asistir a estas instituciones puede abrir las puertas a trabajos más sofisticados que generan un salario más grande. Por otro lado, también hay opciones menos costosas como ir a una universidad en el estado de residencia. Hacer esto baja la matrícula que se paga cada año. Obtener ayuda para pagar la universidad tampoco es imposible. Las becas y subsidios del gobierno federal hacen posible asistir una universidad sin terminar con una deuda enorme. No se debe de dejar de solicitar a una universidad por razones de dinero porque hay muchas oportunidades para conseguir ayuda. Los beneficios de asistir una universidad no solo son financieros y desde que se empieza a estudiar ahí se puede ver que hay muchas ventajas. Las universidades dan más opciones en lo que se puede estudiar y las clases que se pueden tomar. Hay más variedad en las asignaturas que ayudan a especializarse en la carrera deseada. Expandir la educación con cursos más personalizados es beneficioso. Sin embargo, las oportunidades educativas de una universidad tradicional de cuatro años no paran en el campus. Muchas veces, las universidades tienen programas especiales designados para me-

español SP1

jorar la experiencia mientras uno estudia ahí. Estos programas incluyen el estudio en el extranjero, viajes de estudios de investigación y oportunidades para hacer pasantías de alto nivel en compañías y organizaciones que son relacionadas a la carrera que uno está estudiando. En general, las universidades son hechas para adaptar a las necesidades de estudiantes en cada carrera. Las universidades tradicionales también ofrecen más opciones para decidir en dónde vivir. Esta es una experiencia que contribuye a poder alejarse de su familia para ser independiente por primera vez. Uno puede vivir en el campus de la universidad, alquilar su propio apartamento o posiblemente unirse a fraternidades o hermandades. Grupos como estos también pueden ayudar a conseguir horas de servicio comunitario o trabajos en el campo de estudio. Además esto ayuda para poder tener un grupo de amigos. Las nuevas responsabilidades ayudan a jóvenes a madurar y a tener más privacidad que normalmente tendrían en el hogar de sus padres. La universidad también enseña lecciones de la vida. Si uno tiene pasión y talento en deportes o otros tipos de grupos como la de banda de marcha o el equipo de baile, las universidades de cuatro años también tienen muchas más oportunidades y hasta ofrecen becas por participar en estos grupos. En ins-

Los estudiantes no necesariamente necesitan ir directamente a una universidad de cuatro años después de graduarse de la escuela secundaria para alcanzar sus metas. A veces se ignora el beneficio que hay cuando uno elige asistir a una universidad comunitaria, una escuela técnica o hasta tomar un año JEDEDIAH GRADY sabático. Hay Jasmine Méndez-Paredes que tener en cuenta que hay muchos estudiantes que no están preparados emocionalmente para ir directamente a la universidad. Muchos estudiantes, aunque recibieron ayuda financiera por medio de becas y de ayuda del gobierno, aún tienen una gran deuda años después de graduarse de la universidad. Otro posible problema es el estar indeciso sobre qué carrera estudiar y no quiere apresurarse. En los Estados Unidos hay varias oportunidades de superación para los estudiantes latinos aparte de ir a la universidad de cuatro años.

CENTRO NACIONAL PARA ESTADÍSTICAS EDUCATIVAS

LAURA MÉNDEZ-PINTO

tituciones de cuatro años, uno puede participar en un deporte, unirse a una compañía teatral y ser parte de la estación de radio de la universidad. En otras escuelas que no son de cuatro años, los programas fuera de lo académico son limitados. La educación de nivel más alto es alcanzable para todos y es la mejor opción. Uno no debe de limitarse a sí mismo y decidir no solicitar. Ir a una institución de cuatro años expone a los estudiantes a recuerdos inolvidables, experiencias especiales y en el futuro, un salario más alto.

Después de graduarse, una de las mejores opciones es asistir una universidad comunitaria del área, las cuales traen muchos beneficios. Tienen costos bajos, mejor flexibilidad y comodidad para los que quieren quedarse cerca a casa. Según el College Board, el promedio de la tarifa de las universidades comunitarias que proveen programas de dos años es un tercio del costo de un año en la universidad tradicional de cuatro años. Otro incentivo es que si uno no está decidido en la carrera educativa que quiere tomar, la universidad comunitaria

puede ser una buena opción para explorar diferentes campos de carreras profesionales y elegir una especialidad. Ellas también ofrecen flexibilidad para los estudiantes que desean trabajar y estudiar al mismo tiempo. Esta opción puede ayudar a muchas familias de bajos recursos. La universidad comunitaria es una de las mejores opciones para continuar las metas educativas a un nivel más allá. A veces los créditos que se consiguen en la universidad comunitaria pueden ser transferibles a universidades de cuatro años como pre-requisitos sin haber gastado mucho dinero. Para los estudiantes de ESOL que quieran continuar sus estudios postsecundarios, la universidad comunitaria ofrece clases de ESOL que muchas universidades grandes no ofrecen. Muchos desean obtener una licenciatura y las universidades comunitarias ofrecen muchas oportunidades a un bajo costo. Otra opción que hay para los estudiantes que quieren trabajar pronto es el asistir a una escuela técnica que ofrece entrenamiento para conseguir un diploma y posiblemente hasta una licencia laboral. La escuela secundaria de tecnología, Thomas Edison, ofrece programas de formación laboral para los estudiantes del condado de Montgomery. El Montgomery College es la universidad comunitaria local donde hay un programa que se llama Workforce que también ofrece entrenamiento en carreras y licenciaturas. El beneficio de ir a una escuela técnica es que al terminar los estudios, los estudiantes pueden progresar en el campo profesional antes que los demás. La ventaja más grande con Workforce es la garantía de conseguir un trabajo después de terminar el programa. Algunos estudiantes sienten que necesitan un descanso después de graduarse de la escuela secundaria y a veces no están listos para estudiar ni trabajar inmediatamente. Aunque el año sabático atrasa al estudiante un año de estudios, muchos lo toman en forma de preparación mental y emocional para comenzar los estudios el siguiente año. La Asociación Nacional de Gap entrevistó a más de 700 participantes que tomaron un año sabático. Según la encuesta, el 98 por ciento de participantes dijeron que tomar el año sabático les ayudó a desarrollarse como persona, y el 96 por ciento dijeron que les ayudó a aumentar su nivel de confianza. A veces el año sabático provee más tiempo para decidir qué carrera tomar. Otra ventaja es que uno puede prepararse financieramente antes de ir a una universidad. Uno puede trabajar, ahorrar y no tener deudas al graduarse. En los Estados Unidos hay diferentes opciones que pueden ayudar a los estudiantes y no es necesario que ellos vayan directamente a una universidad de cuatro años. El enfoque, la responsabilidad, la perseverancia y el hacer lo mejor en todas las cosas que hacen trae éxito a los estudiantes latinos. Lo más importante en sus metas educativas no es cómo uno comienza ni cuánto tiempo tome sino cómo termina.

La voz latina Jefre Salvador onceavo grado

Aldo Martínez-Nieto décimo grado

Heidi Reyes noveno grado

Mauricio Lozano onceavo grado

“No, para mi es mejor estudiar menos para conseguir un trabajo mas temprano.”

“No necesitas ir a la universidad después de la escuela... si no sabes que hacer en la vida.”

“Sí, es una manera para salir bien en la vida economicamente.”

Leslie Romero décimo grado

JEDEDIAH GRADY

“Sí, porque da más oportunidades para encontrar carreras.”

“Si, es mejor ir a la universidad ... se prepara uno mas para el futuro si uno quiere una carrera grande.”

SP2 College

Getting the in on getting in

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November 15, 2017

Q & A with admission ofﬁcers from ADMISSIONS page A1 really talented in the performing arts and shows a lot of strength in something like theater who is then also a good time manager and has good grades. Or you have somebody who is not really involved outside of school, but is completely dedicated to their education; I think that a balance of a little bit of everything is what makes a great applicant. Probably the most important piece of the application initially is going to be all of the diﬀerent aspects of a high school transcript, to make sure the student has mastered the skills on a high school level, so that shows it can then translate to the college classroom.

Q: What are some red ﬂags that students can have?

Vigeland: I would say perhaps the biggest eyebrow raiser would be an instance of academic dishonesty. We value academic integrity, across all colleges. Any sort of disciplinary incident that you may have gotten involved in and students who are struggling in their classes also raise questions as to whether that student would be successful on campus and in classes. Additionally, it is obvious when students haven’t taken the time to really answer the questions we ask in the supplements. They give very short answers to the reasons why they want to come to Columbia. That is a red ﬂag that the student might not want to be here, or they would have put in more eﬀort. Ziegenfus: Students who say that they are great test takers and have a really low GPA. When somebody’s test scores are high, that typically means you have the ability to perform at a high level, but if your GPA is not consistent with that, there is something not clicking in the classroom, and a lot of times, that comes from being lazy, or not understanding the importance of high school grades, and how it can impact your future.

CARLY TAGEN-DYE

Q: How do you consider grades and GPA? How do you evaluate a transcript?

Vigeland: We look at grades from all four years. But we recognize that students evolve and grow, and the lessons you may have learned in your ﬁrst year will pay dividends in those later years. We understand that the best example of a student’s work will come in the more recent years. Ziegenfus: For Montgomery County, we take the weighted GPA at the end of your junior year. In addition, we will look at the types of courses you’ve been enrolled in, and the improvement that we will hopefully see from ninth grade, tenth grade, eleventh grade, and then of course what courses students are enrolled in for their senior year. Shields: Generally, we take every single

class and every single semester you have ever had, pick out the classes we count, add them up, and give you our own calculated GPA. For Goucher, it is not weighted, but for other colleges it might be. If your GPA is on the fence, and a student had lower grades freshman year but straight A’s junior year, the trend is in the right direction, they have improved and that is not a concern. If you are consistently low, or you get lower as the years go on that is more of a problem. First semester senior year grades are very important and can absolutely make or break an application.

Q: How much do letters of recommendation matter?

Shields: If a student has decent grades, a decent level of extracurricular involvement, a normal essay, and their letters of rec say the normal, then the letters of rec won’t change a whole lot. They are very important if we are ever on the fence with a student’s grades or if they have a weaker essay; then letters of rec can save them from any concerns that we have. We take them seriously, but they help more with blind spots.

COURTESY OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS

CONGRATULATING ADMITTED STUDENTS Admissions ofﬁcers celebrate and prepare to send out acceptance letters to students from Columbia University. just to add them to that activities list, it is obvious that those activities are not all that meaningful to you. There are students that are super involved with one thing, and that’s great. They pour their hearts into it and that shows in their applications, but at the same time students love the diversity of their involvements they are able to partake in, especially at Blair, and we appreciate students who want to spread themselves across a lot of diﬀerent options. If students are too involved into one thing and it is taking a toll on their grade, it is not good.

Q: Can you explain the process behind essays? Are there certain topics to talk about or avoid? What do Q: How do you consider you look for stylistically? Vigeland: The point of the essay is not to race and socioeconomic stafill in the gaps of your life story but to share tus in an application? a little more information as to how you view the world. Don’t stress too much about the topic, but think more about the words you pick and what aspect of your worldview you are trying to get across to the admissions officer. Ziegenfus: Generally speaking, most students should be concentrating on something they are passionate about as opposed to something they think the admission counselor wants to read. When the Common Application asks you one of the questions about discussing a challenging situation and how you overcame that, some students like to talk about an academic situation because they think the admission counselors want to read about that, but in reality, it could be about anything. What we want is for the student’s passion to come through. Shields: The first thing to be aware of is that it is a final draft of something. There should be no reason for any grammar mistakes or issues because it is only 650 words and the student had months to do it. Any mistakes show that they don’t really care or their abilities are not so good. Making the essay clear and concise for a reader should be priority number one.

Ziegenfus: A student’s gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status is not visible to Towson when we are reviewing the application. We don’t even access the student’s major that they want to be in so that everybody is reviewed the same. All we can see is a student’s birthdate, where they go to high school, and their physical mailing address. All those other pieces are not factored into the decision at all.

Q: Would you say that your school’s policy of aﬃrmative action is more about creating a diverse class or taking into account the background of a student?

Ziegenfus: I can’t really say one or the other is more important because we are really looking for students who have shown strength in the classroom. There are some schools that will absolutely shape their class to have a certain makeup of people who have done a lot of community service, who have been really strong in test-taking, and those who are going to be in an honors college. But for Towson, everyone is reviewed the same.

Q: When do you advise students to start applying?

CARLY TAGEN-DYE

Q: What do you look for when looking at a list of extracurricular activities?

Vigeland: If you are joining a lot of clubs

Vigeland: You should start a draft of your college essay over the summer before senior year when your mind is fresh and you have the time to do it. I highly advise students to ask their teachers for letters of rec before you break for the summer after junior year. You will do yourself a favor by giving them more time to think and write about you. If you are applying to a college early you should have all the application materials done by the beginning of October, so you can spend the next few weeks editing.

Q: Does applying for early action or Early Decision give a student an advantage to get in?

Shields: It does at some schools, but not at Goucher. Some schools are open about it, but I think the biggest thing to tell students is that Early Decision is binding. A student should really be in contact with a school if they are considering Early Decision. Early Action will only help you because it gives you more time in the process. At a school like Goucher, Regular Decision is just ﬁne.

CARLY TAGEN-DYE

Q: Do you think there are any misconceptions students have about the application process and how their application is considered?

Vigeland: Students are surprised to the extent that admission officers really get to know and understand them. It shouldn’t surprise people; we spend a lot of time on your applications. We have to go in front of our colleges and argue on your behalf. It is very much a process of advocacy. Some of my favorite moments as an admission officer is that process, trying to convince my colleges why I think that a student really belongs at Columbia. It is absolutely a personal process. Ziegenfus: I think that students believe that we have a certain minimum GPA that we are looking for. This isn’t something that any student should ask an admissions counselor about because getting into college isn’t just based on a GPA. Ask them what criteria they you look for in acceptance, as opposed to saying, “What do I need to get in?” It’s okay if students ask the wrong questions or don’t know what to ask; we appreciate those kind of efforts. These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

November 15, 2017

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Coalition fails in its mission

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Why schools should go back to the Common Application By Marlena Tyldesley An opinon The first snow flurries have yet to come down, but many seniors are already immersed in the flurry of college application season. This year, the process is different. For the first time, the University of Maryland, College Park will only be accepting applications through the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success, commonly referred to as the Coalition Application. The Coalition Application is a two-year-old alternative to the widely-used Common Application. This switch impacts a large swath of Blair seniors. Last school year, 309 Blazers applied to Maryland, almost half of the senior class. This year, seniors will have to switch over to the Coalition Application if they wish to apply. The Coalition Application supposedly strives to increase

student “access, affordability, and success,” but in reality, it only complicates the admissions process. Schools like Maryland should return to the Common Application in order to make the application process simpler. The Coalition Application has branded itself as a tool to make the college application process easier for students, which would imply less stress. However, with only around 130 schools using the Coalition Application, versus over 700 using the Common Application, it is hardly accessible. As a result, many seniors have been forced to complete not one, but two, “universal” applications along with each college’s supplemental writings. Senior Perry Beamer is using the Coalition Application to apply to Maryland and finds it not only difficult to use, but repetitive. “It is a big pain because you basically have to put in a lot of information

soapbox

Seniors, what has been the hardest part for you about filling out college applications? “The hardest part was going back and putting in all of the classes I ever took.”

— Angelo Tydings-Lynch, senior

“Making sure my recomendations and transcripts were received by my schools on time.”

— Lewam Siltan, senior

and it takes a really long time,” he said. The Coalition Application requires students to enter their grades for every high school course they have taken. Entering this information is redundant, as colleges receive official copies of each student’s transcript. The creators of the Common Application, on the other hand, appear to have grasped this, as they do not require this information. Further, the Coalition Application is confusing because of is its lack of transparency. Larry Blumenstyk, the director of the College Admissions Program at the independent counseling program Learning Associates, found that “the ability to envision the entire application at once is very limited in the Coalition Application.” It was not until late October that any preview function was even available, and once it was available, students could only preview the entire application, not specific sections. Counselor Susanne Bray has spent the fall working with seniors as they go through the application process with the Coalition Application. Because the Common Application has been around longer, Bray thinks that it is more usable for students than the Coalition Application. “They have tweaked and perfected the Common App,” she said. Supposed innovations in the Coalition Application fail to improve upon the comfortable Common Appli-

cation. Proponents of the Coalition Application tout the Digital Locker, a feature that allows students to share multimedia content with colleges; however, students can use Slideroom to submit

portfolios through the Common Application. Having to complete an additional application is not only time consuming, but also hurts students lacking resources, who the Coalition Application claims to help. First generation students whose parents did not attend college, like senior Luis Zelaya, struggled to complete the applications without the parental guidance. “They’re both difficult and I wasn’t really taught [how to fill them out],” he said. The Coalition

Application does not increase access for under-resourced students. Instead, it makes the application process twice as difficult for any student lacking parental guidance. An aspect of the Coalition Application that differentiates it from the Common Application is the fact that students can begin developing their application as freshmen. However, freshmen are not ready to reflect on their high school experience, something that is necessary for completing a college application. Freshmen are not prepared to write essays, discuss their high school extracurriculars, or even fill out their address on their profile, because high school is a time of change and growth. The only feature that a freshman could conceivably begin on the Coalition Application is entering their class grades, which, again, is unnecessary since transcripts are separately sent to the schools. Freshmen CARLY TAGEN-DYE should focus on being college ready, as opposed to the logistics of the application. The Common Application and Coalition Application differ in little more than their interface and efficiency. As there are no tangible advantages to the Coalition Application, all that it has done is add to seniors’ already heavy workload. Whatever the intention of the Coalition Application, their adoption as a mainstream application platform has simply been a disservice to this year’s graduating class.

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November 15, 2017

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

t is a scene familiar to anyone who has seen a war movie. American soldiers jump from planes in parachutes. They land on the battlefield, and are immediately met with heavy gunfire. The soldiers launch themselves onto the muddy ground, and begin to fire their weapons at the enemy. They are said to live through the fighting, pain, and possibility of death in order to serve and defend the United States of America. Designed by Army advertisements and Hollywood films, this painstakingly constructed image of the young, patriotic GI is what most of the public believes to be true. However, many teenage enlistees, such as Annie, class of 2017, decide to join the military not for honor or pride, but for opportunity. Since the passage of the first GI Bill in 1944, the United States military has provided economic and educational opportunities to thousands of high school students in need. According to Amy Lutz, associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University, a major reason why students decide to enter the military is because it provides them with opportunities that would not have been available to them otherwise.

Presenting the idea

Theresa Guirand, class of 2017, had a problem. She was in her senior year of high school and her original plan to attend

college was not working out. Guirand ran into problems enrolling at Montgomery College, due to the lack of communication in their administration. “I was trying to go to [Montgomery College], and transfer from there, because I thought that was the most cost efficient way,” Guirand says. “But ... every step forward was two steps back.” One of her friends who enlisted in the Marines introduced Guirand to the idea of serving, explaining that the military would pay for her college tuition. “She gave me these flashcards that [the Marines] gave her,” Guirand says. “They all consisted of what you would get out of joining, and one of them was leadership and management skills … educational opportunity, physical fitness, etc.” Considering the trouble that enrolling into Montgomery College had caused her,

SAMI MALLON

Theresa Guirand, 2017 graduate, plans to enlist in the Marine Corps. and the option of a free college education, Guirand decided to enlist in the Marines. Similarly, 2016 graduate Matthew Guerrera was introduced to the idea of enlisting by colleagues when volunteer-

ing at a fire department in Prince George’s County. “A lot of my mentors [at the fire department] were ex-military guys, or current military guys,” Guerrera says. “So being inspired by some of the guys, especially one guy who was off in the Marine Corps … I applied for the Army, the Marine Corps, West Point, [and] the Naval Academy.” Unlike Guirand, instead of choosing to directly enlist in the military, Guerrera chose to first attend a university with a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program. He received a scholarship from the Marine Corps, being chosen out of hundreds due to his exceptional GPA and physical fitness evaluation. Guerrera was then accepted by the University of North Carolina. Annie, class of 2017, enlisted into the Air Force Reserves upon graduation, and now plans to work in intelligence. Annie grew up around the military culture—her dad is in active duty with the Air Force— so she has always considered enlistment as an option. “My father has been in the Air Force since he turned 18. He introduced me to it, so I’m pretty much following his footsteps,” Annie says. “I’ve been around military people my entire life, because I’m a military brat … It’s been a culture that I’ve really adapted to and I really enjoy it.” Lutz notes in her research that growing up with a parent serving in the military increases the chance of joining. “[One thing] I have found in our study is that students that have parents in the military are more likely to aspire to join the military, and ultimately serve in the military,” she explains. “Having a parent in the military is a factor in terms of wanting to join the military, and ultimately joining the military.” According to Lutz, a large part of deciding to enlist is also socioeconomic status, since those with lower socioeconomic statuses are more likely to utilize the benefits the military provides. “What I find is that people of all racial and ethnic groups

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join the military … The one thing I find that reduces your likelihood to join the military is socioeconomic background,” Lutz says. “Higher status people have other opportunities, and other connections to opportunities through [their socioeconomic status] … people with a higher socioeconomic status don’t necessarily need those types of opportunities because they already have the means to pay for college.” Guirand sees the military as an opportunity for financial stability. “I live in a single parent home, so I don’t have all the financial means. [Generally] I’m fine, but it could be better,” Guirand says. “I think a lot about the future, and one my greatest fears is not being able to provide for my family … Knowing that I will be financially stable, that gives me peace of mind.” Annie shares Guirand’s desire for monetary security. “I actually moved out when I was still in high school, so I’ve been living on my own longer than most people,” Annie says. “[The military is] going to help me pay for school, which is great, because I don’t really have an easy way to do that, and I’m not going to have to take any loans.”

A gateway to opportunity

Military recruiters in the local area play a large role in informing potential recruits about military opportunities. Sargent Seabrook, a U.S. Army recruiter assigned to Blair, uses ﬁnancial aid as a way to attract students to the military. “A lot of high school kids, their parents can’t aﬀord for them to go to college, so we advertise money for college,” Seabrook says. “[The recruiters] are here to say, ‘Hey, if you give me a little bit of your time, I’ll pay for you to go to college.’” The military assists soldiers to pursue higher education, while they serve or after they are discharged. Through the post9/11 G.I. Bill, Congress gives each branch of the military the ability to pay one hundred percent of the tuition costs for their soldiers. The military also provides addi-

tional benefits, such as medical and housing coverage, that stay with enlistees after they are discharged. According to Guerrera, his benefits include more than just his scholarship money. “I also get paid an active duty salary when I go on active duty training in the summers,” Guerrera says. “When you graduate, you get housing allowances … you get your salary, you get medical pay. That extends to family, like if you have wife or kids, you get a GI Bill … you get taken care of money wise and healthcare wise for sure.” Annie also recognizes how much the military can provide to enlistees. “No matter what you’re doing, [the military] offers you amazing, incredible experi-

Happily ever after?

Although the military comes with enormous benefits, it also comes with equally immense dangers, the ultimate being death. Annie expresses the tradeoff that enlisted personnel have to make. “There’s a reason that you get so many benefits … and it’s because there’s always a chance that you could lose your life,” Annie says. “So it’s a decision you have to make whether or not you’re willing to lose your life for your country.” Guirand has also thought about the dangers that she might have to face, and has processed the consequences of serving in the military. “There’s no way that anybody should not be scared. It’s not

COURTESY OF MATTHEW GUERRERA

Matthew Guerrera patrols the woods during a simulated field exercise. ence training … you’re not only getting free training for a specific job or title, but you’re also getting paid to do it,” Annie says. “For me, specifically the job that I’m going into … it’s intel work with a specific squadron that really needs people right now, so they’re giving me a lot of extra benefits, and along with the educational benefits, all together, it’s pretty much going to cover my tuition.”

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just something that you’re doing, it’s like a lifestyle,” Guirand says. “I’m going to be going through a lot of changes, mentally, physically and emotionally, I’m prepared for that.” To Guirand, the sacriﬁce she will be making is worth the beneﬁts that she will earn from serving. “These are things that I don’t just want in life,” Guirand says. “But things that I need in life.”

Elise Cauton Marissa He and Aritra Roy Hermela Mengesha and Isabella Tilley

SP6 College

November 15, 2017

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Greek organizations that do it differently A letter organization’s history impacts their interaction with the community From FRAT CULTURE page A1 the LBGT community in D.C. DLP has 27 chapters and three colonies throughout North America. While DLP was founded in D.C., they did not have a collegiate chapter in the area until recently. In January 2017, George Washington University (GW) junior David Lange decided to change that. After a friend told him about the fraternity, he decided it was something he wanted to see represented at GW. “I [realized] that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for, and I [needed] to bring that here,’” Lange says. According to Lange, DLP provides gay, bisexual, and transgender men with a brother-

Lange points out that there may be some differences in culture. “[DLP is] probably a bit less overtly masculine … Other fraternities may … feel that they need to project a sort of image of being sort of masculine, hardcore … [and] very traditionally fratty,” he says. According to Lange, this overtly masculine culture can sometimes intimidate members of the LGBT community, which is why he thinks a fraternity like DLP is so important. “I think oftentimes, gay, bisexual, transgender men are a bit intimidated by traditional Greek life … it’s a very particular experience to be a brother in Delta Lambda Phi,” he says. “If that’s what you’re looking for, you will find it here, you will feel at home … to come

COURTESY OF DELTA LAMBDA PHI

BROTHERHOOD The brothers of Delta Lambda Phi pose together hood that can be hard to find in other spaces. “There are usually two main avenues for socializing [in the LGBT community], one of which is the political activism sphere, which people might feel alienated in, and then there’s also the bar and club scene, which can also feel a bit alienating,” Lange says. “We’re trying to form a community of like-minded people seeking brotherhood, not necessarily hook ups, not necessarily colleagues, or anything else besides pure, platonic brotherhood.” To achieve this goal, the founders of DLP modeled the organization after a typical Greek organization. “Delta Lambda Phi is a traditional collegiate fraternity,” Lange says. “We’re a member of the NIC, the North American Interfraternity Conference, we’re up there with everyone else, every other big name fraternity.” DLP is fully integrated into Greek life at GW. Lange, as president, sits on the Greek presidents’ council and says that the other presidents have been warm and welcoming. “[The other presidents are] wonderful guys, I’ve become friendly with many of them, we hang out, it’s really wonderful.” Lange says. DLP also participates in other fraternities’ philanthropic events, as well as celebrations of Greek life on campus, like the traditional “Greek Week.” Their recruitment, or rush, process is the same as other organizations on campus as well, though their recruitment activities are personalized to the fraternity. Despite these similarities,

to college and find this community of likeminded brothers, who will be with you through thick and thin, as you come into your own, here at college, that’s really powerful.” DLP’s identity as a fraternity for LGBT men has also led to implementation of a strict nohazing policy across all chapters and colonies. The national fraternity’s website has a place to report hazing anonymously, with the promise of an immediate investigation. “As a fraternity for gay men, and bisexual men … we are often held to a higher standard; people look to us, and if we mess up, it reflects poorly on the [LGBT] community as a whole,” Lange explains. Although DLP assists with the philanthropic work of other fraternities, they also try to raise money for organizations specifically benefiting the LGBTQ community. Last semester, they raised money for the Trevor Project, a nonprofit that works with LGBTQ teens who are at risk of self-harm or suicide. This October, they visited a local community center for LGBTQ youth to help set up their Halloween party. “We, as a fraternity, try to focus on us...on our own community, because if we don’t, who else will?” Lange says.

Alpha Omega Epsilon

Alpha Omega Epsilon (AOE) is a professional sorority for engineers and technical scientists. Founded in 1983, the sorority was started by female members

of engineering fraternities who hoped that they could create an environment to encourage more women to go into engineering. It has since expanded to over 40 active chapters in the United States and Canada, including three in the D.C. area. The University of Maryland has been home to a chapter of the sorority, called Upsilon, since 2006. Because AOE is a professional sorority, they do not consider themselves to be a part of Greek life on campus. They are a member of the Professional Greek Council, the community of fraternities and sororities on the Maryland campus that are not purely social. Due to the large number of active chapters, AOE has a large alumni network that they often pull from to help their female members get started in the world of professional engineering. The sorority hosts a yearly convention that gives different chapters the chance to interact with alumni from all over the country. Outside of this, the Maryland chapter uses social media to remain in close contact with their alumni. “We have a Facebook group together where we post if there’s job opportunities, or if we have life questions … and alumni…respond to our posts [all the time], they’re always down to chat over the phone,” says Alix La Fonta, current president of the Upsilon chapter. The Upsilon chapter are involved in Maryland’s fundraising events, including the Terp Thon and Relay for Life. On a national level, the sorority offers scholarships to women interested in engineering through the Alpha Omega Epsilon Foundation. The sorority’s professional appeal is not only evident in the alumni connections that members have, but also in the culture within the sorority. The members of AOE are surrounded by women who hope to go into the same field as them. “It’s just really encouraging to see that you’re not alone, there’s always going to be women that are similar to you in the field that you choose, even if it’s a male-dominated field,” La Fonta says.

Johnson says. He points to stepping, a form of dance common to black Greek letter organizations and historically black colleges. “The origin of stepping comes from African warrior dances and communication … they would step to prepare for war, so that’s why there’s always so much aggression in the stepping that we do. It’s used to organize fellowship with brothers and other fraternities and sororities,” he explains. The way that the Alpha chapter structures their meetings also stems from African tradition. The members sit in a circle to show that each brother has a say in the discussion. “Everyone’s opinion is valued equally. Despite your position in the organization, you’re still a brother in the organization, and I respect your opinion. I value it equally as I value mine,” Johnson says. The frequency of hazing-related injuries and deaths in BGLOs led the NPHC to ban the practice in 1990. Because of the idea that a prospective member of a fraternity or sorority must go through hazing to be a real member of the group, there have been underground hazing incidents since the ban. In an effort to combat that, Phi Beta Sigma launched an antihazing campaign in 2012. The campaign included a mandatory anti-hazing workshop for all chapters of the fraternity, which still continues today. The Alpha chapter has not had any publicized hazing incidents in recent history, according to Johnson. “We haven’t had a report of hazing to our national headquarters in the past … ten years,” he says.

Gallaudet University

Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. is home to eight Greek letter organizations, four fraternities and four sororities. Of those, two sororities, Delta Epsilon and Phi Kappa Zeta, and

one fraternity, Kappa Gamma, were founded at Gallaudet. The organizations founded at Gallaudet do not have other collegiate chapters, but the other five are part of larger organizations. Kappa Sigma was founded at the University of Virginia, but Gallaudet is home to the Mu Iota chapter, which is the organization’s only signing chapter. Mu Iota is very involved with the other chapters of their organization, including attending rush events at other campuses. Of the organizations at Gallaudet, Kappa Gamma is the most historic. Founded in 1901, it was the first Deaf fraternity in the world. Because of this history, they are very involved in the Deaf community. While Kappa Gamma is very visible in the community, that also means that some of their actions that may be seen as negative are very clear. According to the Washington Post, in 1993, Kappa Gamma was suspended for four years after a hazing incident, in which a pledge was hospitalized. In contrast to this, in a 2016 video posted to their YouTube channel, Kappa Gamma’s president appears along with the presidents of all other Greek organizations on campus to announce that they will comply fully with Gallaudet’s hazing policy. Kappa Sigma’s alumni remain very involved with the Mu Iota chapter, and are invited to the events the chapter holds. Current Grand Master, (the fraternity’s equivalent of a president), DT Bruno believes that the largest portion of their alumni remain in the D.C. area. The alumni of Mu Iota are also very involved in the deaf community. “There are the times where our brothers realized that they’ve already met some of our alumni earlier in [their] lives through deaf schools, social events, or... from a friend of a friend,” Bruno says.

Black Greek Letter Organizations

Howard University in Washington, D.C. is home to nine Greek letter organizations, all members of the National PanHellenic Council (NPHC), an organization composed of nine historically black fraternities and sororities. Of the nine, five were founded at Howard University. Among them is Phi Beta Sigma, founded in 1914, which now has chapters across the world. Today, Howard University’s Alpha chapter remains active. According to Tariq Johnson, the president of Phi Beta Sigma at Howard, the black Greek letter organizations were created to give black students opportunities that were unavailable to them at the time. “There was disparities among the opportunities that black people had to join Greek Letter Organizations, and establish themselves as academic scholars and actual competitive business people in the world,” Johnson says. History is intrinsically linked to the culture of Greek letter organizations like Phi Beta Sigma. “The culture of Black Greek Letter Organizations—there’s a lot of origin, especially within Phi Beta Sigma, to African traditions,”

ELIA GRIFFIN

DEDICATED Alpha chaper president Tariq Johnson poses with Phi Beta Sigma’s monument on the lower quad of Howard University

Many Blair teachers participated in Greek Life when they were in college. To learn about their stories, check out this accompanying video, produced by Ben Miller, by scanning the QR code or visiting tinyurl.com/blairgreeklife.

November 15, 2017

SP7 College

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Affirmative action 101

Examining the impact of race in the college admissions process By Arshiya Dutta In Aug 2017, the Trump administration announced that it was redirecting money to the Justice Department’s civil rights division. The purpose of this was to investigate and potentially sue universities for “race-based discrimination,” referring to affirmative action programs in the admissions process. Affirmative action, a policy through which colleges give preferential treatment to students of color in the application process, is practiced by many American universities. The purpose of the policy is to “ensure fairness in admission to public colleges and universities,” according to Jack Fruchtman, a political science and constitutional law professor at Towson University. Said fairness has been a subject of debate for the past few decades and continues to be a point of contention every college application season. According to James Roberts, a professor of political science at Towson University, affirmative action seeks to reverse decades of discrimination in higher education. “For two centuries, the families of Caucasian students have benefitted from educational and economic opportunities that are only now beginning to be open to non-Caucasian students,” Roberts says. Affirmative action originated in 1961 under President John Kennedy’s Executive Order 10925, which called for all government-funded establishments to employ and accept minorities into college and the workplace. Affirmative ac-

tion was brought up again in 1978 during the Supreme Court case Regents v. Bakke. The case ruled that using a quota system, or setting aside a fixed number of seats in an admission pool for students of color, was unconstitutional because it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. While universities can no longer set of fixed number of minority acceptances, programs like the University of Texas (UT)’s “Top 10% Plan” offer another method of affirmative action. This plan automatically grants admission to students in the top 10% of their high school graduating class, regardless of whether applicants at other schools not in the top 10% are more qualified. According to the Chronicle for Higher Education, the plan allows for people from all backgrounds to be given a fair chance, without explicitly using race and ethnicity as a deciding factor in the admissions process. Despite the lack of specification about race and ethnicity, some applicants still

found the plan unfair; Abigail Fisher sued UT in 2013 for violating the Equal Protection Clause. The case worked its way up to the Supreme Court, which, in 2016, declared the Texas plan a constitutional practice. However, while this practice is used at UT, most universities choose to approach the application process holistically, factoring in race along with other application facets, such as GPA, test scores, and extracurriculars. Affirmative action has received a fair amount of criticism, according to Frucht-

NIAMH DUCEY

m a n . “From a political perspective, Republicans typically oppose affirmative action more than Democrats,” he says. “From a racial and sex one, white males are usually the ones who oppose it most.” Some opponents of affirmative action believe the policy is racist, because it promotes preference based on racial identity, and thus leads to “reverse discrimination” against white students.

Roberts says, “Reverse discrimination is where qualified Caucasian students are denied access to education and employment due to affirmative action.” According to Fruchtman, another complaint against affirmative action focuses on how this generation must compensate for the faults of their forefathers. “Many people who are not members of a minority—by the way, usually defined by race, ethnicity, and sex—argue that they are the ones who suffer for practices that they themselves never participated in,” he says. “For example, white Americans years ago created the barriers to bar African Americans, Latinos, and women.” Although affirmative action is highly criticized, universities have become more diverse because of affirmative action. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the policy has resulted in “doubling or tripling the number of minority applications to colleges or universities, [which has] made colleges and universities more representative of their surrounding community.” After Californian schools UCLA and UC Berkeley eliminated their affirmative action program in 1998, minority student admission rates dropped by 36 percent and 61 percent respectively. While affirmative action of diversifies traditionally white establishments, its ethical implications are still debated upon. As for now, it is being implemented in universities across the country and will likely continue in the future.

SP8 College

silverchips

November 15, 2017

Entertainment on college campuses How students bring events to their colleges

on a trip to Broadway to see School of Rock, with the whole trip at a discount of $45. However, activities like this require significant funding. Upon enrollment at Temple, students pay an activities fee, a good chunk of which goes to MCPB. This year, MCPB is operating this year on a budget of $750,000.

from CAMPUSES page A1 According to Sibler, these activities add variety to the otherwise formulaic campus life. “If they didn’t [have entertainment], college would just be studying and going out,” she says. Junior Kevin Li, SEE’s funding director, gives financial assistance to groups on-campus who have organized events. According to Li, most of SEE’s funding comes from the student activities fee that all students pay in their enrollment at UMD. With that money, SEE makes sure that its entertainment represents its entire population. “UMD has a wide array of events that are built to attract all kinds of diverse interests to serve our diverse campus,” he says.Li’s favorite event this year was the recent Hassan Minhaj comedy show, which he thought well-represented what he thinks SEE’s goal should be with the events they organize. “It brought up important discussion on diversity in America with a comical twist,” he says. “I think it accomplished exactly what UMD should be doing with both diverse and entertaining events.” Max Foley-Keene, UMD sophomore and Blair alum, thinks colleges invest in on-campus entertainment for a different reason. Foley-Keene believes college entertainment is a “subtle way of policing an unstable studentry,” essentially a way for schools to monitor student activities. He suspects the history between colleges and student drinking as a possible motivation to provide alternatives to alcohol as entertainment. According to Li, SEE has connections with many agents who act as middlemen to get talent to the school. “We do lots of primary and secondary research to determine what kind of talent would fit the campus and then go to our connections to see more logistical details for bringing them to campus,” he says. To kick off this year, UMD hosted the Mowgli’s at its Back to School Concert. Recently, the school also hosted “Fallapalooza,” a concert which featured the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) group Snakehips.

Controversial guests

COURTESY OF TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHY

CASUAL CONVERSATION Speaker Terrence Seales at Temple University engages students in discussion. Visiting guests are popular on campus. tant to learn how to talk to different people, to get along with people with different beliefs or have different socioeconomic backgrounds.” He emphasizes that entertainment at Towson must represent the diversity of the student body. “I [can’t] only have events where we play rock music and serve hamburgers ... at 7 pm at night,” he says. “[In that case,] I am excluding all students that don’t

comes from the students in their fees, the school has a responsibility to represent the variety of students it houses. Judd acknowledges that every single event cannot be allinclusive, but believes that as a whole, school must hold a diverse array of events.

Temple University

The “greatest time” of 2017 Blair graduate Thomas Norris’ life was when Temple Uni-

In choosing guests to appear on their campuses, colleges have to decide where they draw the line on who is too controversial. Schools have systems for who they will and will not allow, and who gets to make the final call. Towson alum Matthew Heimbach left his mark on the school when he attempted to create the White Student Union on Towson’s campus, according to the Washington Post. The school would not acknowledge the group’s existence, but Heimbach met with his group off-campus and continued to spread his message, according to ABC 2 News. Heimbach invited white nationalist Jared Taylor to speak at the University, an event which attracted more than 200 students in audience. PJ Eason, a senior at Towson, says that he has not seen any controversial figures

Towson University

Towson University, a Maryland college of around 22,000 students, prepares extensively for Halloween. The week leading up to the night at Towson, dubbed “Halloweek” is an event complete with creepy clowns chasing students around campus. Each night features a different event— Friday Night’s “Survive Town,” for instance, was a campus-wide scavenger hunt, where students follow clues and try to escape the campus’ clowns. Across the board, Tom Judd, a professor at Towson and the coordinator of campus programming for the Campus Activities Board (CAB), says Towson likes to “stretch the boundaries” of campus life. Judd values campus entertainment for its ability to make college about more than just getting a diploma. “Yes, it’s important to get good grades,” he says, in an email, “but it’s equally impor-

COURTESY OF JOHN T. CONSOLI/UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

TERPS SOCIETIES The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers stands behind a table at Maryland Day 2017 to speak to current and prospective students about their organization at the University of Maryland, College Park. like rock music, or can’t eat meat or American food overall or are commuters and are not on campus after 3 or 4 p.m.” Because the budget for entertainment

COURTESY OF KANJI TAKENO/TOWSON UNIVERSITY

WILD CROWD A large crowd of students at Towson University cheers on their football team at a home game underneath the bright sun.

versity brought therapy dogs to the student center. Like Sibler, Norris sees entertainment on campus as a way to help students. He says “Students need some form of entertainment as a break from academics.” Senior Katie Calderone, president of Temple’s Main Campus Program Board (MCPB), works with a team of ten students and an advisor to plan campus events. Calderone finds value in campus entertainment because students are typically stuck on campus. “Unless you have a car, or you take public transportation, [you] are on campus 24/7,” she says, in an email. “[Events make students] more likely to stay at this university and not transfer, and more likely to have school spirit.” Many events are also free or discounted, which, according to Calderone, increases student interest. “Let’s face it, college kids enjoy anything free and anything fun,” she says. “We have had events such as Winter Wonderland, where we had free photo phone cases, photo snow globes, picture booths, ice skating rink, and a hot chocolate bar.” In addition to school events, Temple offers 3 discounted trips off-campus per semester. This month, a group will be going

visiting the campus in his time at the school. “The school is very much concerned about its public perception.” At UMCP, Foley-Keene recounts an incident last year when the group Terps for Trump tried to invite Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart—a conservative news website—to speak on the campus. Concerned that someone would try to harm the guest, UMCP boosted the insurance rate for the event, forcing Terps for Trump to cancel the visit. “Milo made a very dramatic video about how he was ‘coming for UMCP,’” FoleyKeene says. “He then got caught up in a scandal after approvingly discussing pedophilia, so he never did come.” At Temple University, administration has banned EDM. “According to administration, EDM supports a drug culture, and EDM shows produce a higher hospital transport rate than any other genre,” Calderone says. “We try to bring [guests that] the students want to see, but if administration does not approve, we cannot bring them.” While challenges do arise as schools try to coordinate it, entertainment can have a huge impact on student life. After all, entertainment can be an exciting and fulfilling part of a student’s time in school.

November 15, 2017

Community reacts to staff member’s arrest How Blair has been affected by Cory Boatman’s arrest

By Adenike Falade As the rest of the school got ready for the long-awaited Sherwood football game, junior and track athlete Aboubacar Sow sat on his phone, waiting at Gentle East Taekwondo for his martial arts class to start. He scrolled through Snapchat until he saw an image he could not believe. Then he saw it again on another person’s Snapchat story. He checked online to see whether it was

arrest had been at Northwood, where he worked as a biology substitute for one day. Boatman held various coaching positions, including varsity girls’ basketball (20132015), track and ﬁeld (2015-2017), and defensive coordinator for the varsity football team (2013-2017). Boatman was put on administrative leave on September 25 by the MCPS Oﬃce of Human Resources, for an inappropriate relationship with a minor. While on leave,

the school day. Teachers were given copies of the letter to share with students if they asked, and copies were also available in the main oﬃce.

A professional opinion

Cory Boatman has been aﬃliated with Blair since his father worked here. His father, Cedric Boatman, was a security team leader and an assistant boys’ varsity basketball coach at Blair and was here when Johnson assumed her position in 2011. It was during his father’s tenure here that Johnson met Cory Boatman. Given their connection, she was more than eager to oﬀer him a teaching job. “He introduced his son to me when his son was still at college,” she says. “When he was able to substitute, I hired him … as a long-term sub.” Athletic Director Rita Boule also met Cory Boatman when his father coached basketball. Boule hired him as a coach because she was impressed with his successful football career, both playing and coaching. “I had probably seen him coach a number of times and knew that… [he] had played at Syracuse and had a strong resume,” Boule says. Boatman was known as an excellent coach by his superiors and the students he coached at Blair. In all his years working on Blair teams, Boule never received a single complaint about his behavior. She describes him as having been a strong and valuable assistant coach. “He does a very good job with coaching… he knows how to coach kids in the sport,” she says. “He gave a ton of his time to the kids and teaching them the sport.”

The coach

HANNAH LEE

DISTRICT COURT The Maryland District Court House in Rockville where Cory Boatman is scheduled to appear for his felony dismissal trial on December 1. some kind of joke, but FOX News conﬁrmed it. His beloved track coach, Cory Boatman, had been arrested on charges of sexual abuse of a minor. Boatman worked at Blair as a long-term math and science substitute teacher beginning in 2014. His most recent job before the

Features D1

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Boatman was banned from MCPS property. Eleven days later, on Oct. 6, he was arrested and charged with one count of sexual abuse of a minor. Johnson sent out an email to parents and staﬀ outlining the charges and Boatman’s job at the school shortly after the end of

To his athletes, Boatman was a humorous authority ﬁgure. Sow had Boatman as a coach during the outdoor track seasons of 2016 and 2017, and found his tough-love coaching to be eﬀective. He remembers Boatman for being funny, chill, and for offering him a ride home when he needed one. “[Boatman] makes you work hard. He pushes you all the time, and he sees potential in you, and he never quits on you,” Sow says, “I loved him. He was nice. I didn’t see anything wrong with him.” Although Boatman’s personality was easy going, Lauren Frost, class of 2017, remembers that he used to get mad easily during practices and had strict expectations of

NewsBrief

Boatman’s preliminary trial occurs By Hannah Lee On Nov. 3, former substitute teacher and assistant football coach Cory Boatman’s preliminary hearing occurred. After being released on bail for $50,000 on Oct. 11, Boatman, charged with sexual abuse of a minor, as well as his defense attorney, Dave Martella, are expected to appear on Dec. 1 for the felony dismissal date at the Rockville District Court. Prosecutors at the district court will then determine the proceedings of the case, either directed to the circuit court or staying within the district court.

them. “Sometimes he would yell and he’d like kind of [get] angry pretty easily,” Frost says, “He didn’t like it when people made mistakes.” She had Boatman as her assistant basketball coach during her freshman and sophomore years. Though she liked him, Frost noticed that a lot of the older girls on the team had a closer relationship with him.

Unbelievable turn of events

Boatman’s arrest came suddenly and shockingly to many of those who knew him. Sow is still in disbelief of the charges brought against Boatman. “I can’t imagine him doing [something like] that right now because of all he did for me,” Sow says. “I don’t know how to feel right now.” Frost, too, did not expect Boatman to have a sexual relationship with a student. “I was really surprised honestly. It was not something I would have suspected at all,” she says. “I know he had relationships with students, but not in that way.” For Johnson, the news was surprising because of the intensive training employees go through to stop this kind of behavior; she feels it should have been enough to prevent Boatman’s actions. “[The] County does a great job of making us go through training, we [have] to attend seminars,” she says. “We go through so many levels of training, it’s almost shocking when someone who goes through that much training still commits these terrible acts.” At the beginning of the year, all MCPS employees are required to complete eleven training modules outlining the expected behavior of employees. The largest of the modules is about child abuse and neglect, so sexual abuse in school is not the most prevalent subject covered. The training sequence teaches about identifying neglect, physical abuse, and mental abuse happening in the home.

A New Look At Blair

Johnson believes the county is effective at teaching employees about proper behavior, but could do to educate students. “I would say we need to do more work about notifying students what’s appropriate and not appropriate,” she says. “We have students here believe it or not who are 21, and they’re adults.” For freshmen, the news was especially shocking. Maddie Martin, freshman, did not expect something like this to happen at her new school. “We were in drama class, and our English teacher came in and told us. She didn’t give us specifics, but she told us not to spread rumors about it,” she says. “You hear about that stuff in the news, and it kinda painted a bad image [of Blair].” Once the letter was sent out, Johnson immediately began receiving questions and requests from parents for additional information on the Boatman case. “[One parent] wanted to make sure I talked to [the football staff] about what’s appropriate and not appropriate,” Johnson says. “I assured them that volunteers go through the online child abuse neglect training; they’re fingerprinted.” Freshman Ash Herner-Betts believes increased education on the topic is the solution. “I think generally there should be more knowledge of what boundaries are,” she says. “There should be more easily accessible resources if something like that becomes a problem.”

D2 Features

silverchips

November 15, 2017

The road not taken

The factors that discourage teens from getting licensed

BEN MILLER

WORD CLOUD The top 100 words most frequently used in Principal Renay Johnson’s tweets from June 2011 to October 2017.

Staff takes Twitter: a thread Social media helps educators stay engaged

SALLY ZHAO

By Telon Yan Last fall, junior Layla Broderick and her family moved from urban St. Louis, deserted apart from the downtown, to Silver Spring where she sometimes felt overwhelmed. With a reliable bus to school and so much within walking distance, Broderick rarely needs to get a ride in a car. However, her mom, who grew up in St. Louis, got her license as soon as possible, like most other teens back then. Across the country, fewer teens are getting their driver’s licenses. A study conducted by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute shows that while 46.2 percent of 16-year-olds in 1983 had licenses, only 24.5 percent of 16-year-olds in 2014 had them. According to David Willard, an MVA certified driving instructor trainer and the Executive Vice President at Greg’s Driving School, there has been a noticeable shift in the ages of their driver’s education students. “Before, almost all the students would be teenagers, but now it’s more of a mixed bag. We’re seeing more and more young people waiting [to get their licenses],” Willard says. In Missouri, Broderick had thought about getting a license, but now does not think she needs it since she makes use of Maryland’s easily accessible public transportation system. “If I want to go from one place to another I can just take the bus whenever I want,” she says. “It was harder to get around

places [in Missouri].” Some students simply do not have time to go through the licensing steps in high school anymore. Broderick says that her mother had taken driver’s education as a high school class, which is not offered in Montgomery County anymore. On top of that, Willard notes that the younger generation must deal with new issues that were not as present in previous generations. “Now, it’s a lot of people being occupied with social media, work, and other observable stuff that other generations didn’t have to worry about,” he says. Hanna Addis, a junior, had a job over the summer and did not want to simultaneously learn to drive. “I could’ve gotten [my learner’s permit] in the summer but I was working over the summer … I guess I kinda got lazy and then we traveled,” she says. Scheduling an MVA visit during weekends is also difficult for Addis because of her familial obligations. “No one’s home to watch my little brothers [when the MVA’s open], so I don’t want to be that one family that brings their loud little brothers with them.” Past the step of getting a permit, it can also be challenging to find time to practice driving. Senior Emmett Adler got his permit quickly and completed the driver’s education curriculum before junior year, but then did not practice driving until around six months later. “[I] never really got around to actually driving, with classes

and extracurriculars and whatever else,” he says. Now, he has completed most of the requirements and is planning to get his provisional soon. One reason that teens often want to get their licenses is so that they can drive themselves, especially if their parents do not want to continue sending them to activities, like in Adler’s case. “My dad is just like ‘Can you start to drive yourself?’ because he’s just sick of driving me to places,” Adler says. Finding time to practice is also an issue for junior Rafi Pedersen, which is underscored by the fact that they have only one car. “There’s no real point to me getting my permit, since I won’t really be able to drive much since there is only one car in the family. If I want to use the car, I’d have to make sure neither of my parents need it for the whole time,” he says. Buying a car is not cheap, and gaining trust to use someone else’s car is not always easy either. Willard writes in a separate email that many adults learning to drive are self-financing their driver’s education, which is quite costly. “It is not uncommon for lower income people to wait until they can afford the car, the insurance, the tag, the title, the gas, the maintenance, and even the tolls,” he explains. With the urbanization in this area, having a license may be unnecessary for many. Time, finances, and convenience all seem to be compelling reasons to leave the wheel behind.

soapbox How did your parents feel about you learning how to drive? “My mom was really excited to teach me, right until I drove the car into a tree and flipped it, totalling the car. It’s almost two years later, and I don’t have my license yet...” — Charles Gryder, senior “They feel great ‘cause I’m going to be their own Uber Eats for free.” — Angel Ochoa, freshman “I understand that they are scared since I am the first child to learn how to drive. I wonder how they will react when my younger siblings start to learn how to drive.” — Kimberlie Phung, senior

By William Donaldson Principal Renay Johnson tilts her phone sideways to capture a photo of Open Mic performers. She then opens up Twitter, types up a short message, attaches the picture, and whoosh—the tweet is broadcast to all of her followers. Johnson is one of the many leaders who uses Twitter as a platform to communicate news, ideas, and opinions with a large online community. To take advantage of this receptive audience, administrators and teachers employ the social media site to announce plans, field students’ questions, and applaud achievement. Johnson, an avid Twitter user, primarily utilizes her account to promote and highlight her beloved Blazers. A 2015 Pew Research Center poll found that 92 percent of teens go online daily, and a subsequent poll from 2016 found that 60 percent of Americans on social media networks are likely to get their news on Twitter. Johnson’s Twitter presence is widespread and well-followed. Since creating her account in 2011, Johnson has tweeted over 25,000 times and garnered a following of almost 3,500 accounts. “It is a great way for the community—not just families—or the entire Silver Spring, Montgomery County community, to know what’s happening at Montgomery Blair,” she says. “Social media is a great way for principals to strengthen … the brand of the school.” Through her account, Johnson not only tweets, but keeps track of the news from other school communities. “I follow the cluster principals, so I know what’s happening at TPMS [Takoma Park Middle School] and Eastern and the elementaries,” she explains. “I follow the county PTA, so I know what is happening there. I also follow my teachers and staff and my student clubs so I know what’s happening there.” Johnson endorses the use of Twitter in classrooms and believes that it helps teachers better understand their students. “Our students really are connected and if you’re going to ignore that, you’re going to have problems,” Johnson says. “You’ve got to let them be connected, and you have to understand what they’re connected to.” Alison Russell, a women’s studies and AP government teacher at Blair, is one teacher who began to use Twitter when she started teaching high school students to emphasize her classroom content’s connections to the real world. “There were all these ways that we would be bringing content from the wide world of the Internet into the classroom,” she says. “It does allow for conversations outside of Silver Spring, outside of Montgomery Blair, into larger national conversations.” Russell believes her students’

use of Twitter also helps them improve their communication skills; students are forced to express their thoughts in 280 characters. “The character limit has the potential to make you think about what you’re saying,” Russell says. “As a teacher of not just content but communication skills, I think that’s really important.” Russell does find, however, that interacting with others through Twitter and other social media platforms has its drawbacks, especially in a classroom setting. One of the biggest challenges she faces is allowing students to access the information on Twitter without them encountering dangerous content. “You have to learn how to handle people who are not rational,” she says. “The main challenge is navigating how do you teach that type of interaction in a positive way while not exposing students to anything that makes them feel unsafe or threatened.” Policy dictates that teachers cannot force students to create a social media account for a class, so Russell ensures that students always have an alternative to tweeting. “For the presidential debates [project] last year, live-tweeting was an option, but there was also a paper assignment to have students watch it and interact with it,” she says. For Johnson, social media platforms are a necessary means for staying in touch with students and the community. “When principals do not tweet, and again it is not mandatory, it is their choice, but I think, ‘Why not highlight all of the positive things in your school, and why not be connected to other educators and other school leaders across the nation, across the world?’” she says. “Why not?”

To learn more about Principal Johnson’s use of Twitter, check out this interactive graphic! You can scan the QR code or visit tinyurl.com/rjtweets to view it.

November 15, 2017

silverchips

The build-up to the fall play

Entertainment E1

How stage crew puts together its sets

By William Donaldson Students form a rough rectangle on the stage in Blair’s auditorium around a mass of wood, legs grasping at the sky, screwed together over the previous couple of weeks. The tallest students stand opposite the shortest, and with a signal they begin to lift the balcony right-side up. With a muffled koomp, the efforts of every stage crew member are rewarded. The balcony now stands tall, legs firmly grounded on the stage. “I sent a few people up on top to jump around and make sure it was usable,” says senior Will Ederer, stage crew president. “It was a team effort.” Blair stage crew is entirely responsible for designing and building the elaborate sets used in each Blair theatre production, a process which takes hours upon hours every week, for three months, to complete. “We start out meeting three times a week, but as the show gets closer we meet five days a week, and on Saturdays,” says junior Emma Morganstein, stage crew’s house manager. On any given day, after school lets out, small clumps of stage crew students gather on the sidewalk outside of the arts hallway, buzzing over pieces of wood, buckets of paint, and an assortment of power tools. Silence is hard to come by, with whirrrs, clopps, and gnahs filling the air with noise. Wood dust and shavings mingle with the fallen leaves and grass, the pieces of set from which they fell nearly perfected. Sophomore Annie Hicks, stage crew’s head of carpentry, admits that not everything goes as planned. “The first bench we made [for this show] was pretty bad,” she says, surveying the construction of a newer, better bench. The previous bench had been measured incorrectly, and turned out wobbly. Beside her, Morganstein nods. “Stage crew is a lot of trial and error,” she laughs. Stage crew’s responsibilities go beyond merely constructing the sets. Director Kelly

O’Connor explains that stage crew is an integral part of the production as a whole. “The crew runs the sound, runs the lights, they design the lights, they design the sound, so there’s a lot,” she says. The students working on sound gather music and sound effects before the show and then execute those cues during the show. Another group of students work on carrying out the directors’ vision when it comes to ambience, designing and executing intimate lighting for the show. This year’s production of The Three Musketeers could not have been complete without the elements incorporated by stage crew. The set itself is simple yet flexible; it is a small farmhouse in the French countryside, an inn in a Parisian suburb, and the palace of King Louis, all at once. Simple changes in decor, as well as the incorporation of moving set pieces, transport the audience to each unique locale. The lighting, too, adds flavor to the scenery. It dims and changes color to compliment the mood and time of day of each scene. Nighttime scenes glow and shimmer under pale blue, while sunny days are lit with yellow and orange. Music and sounds play the biggest role of all; cued in to provide extra excitement during sword fights and emotion during dialogue. Chirping crickets and hooting owls give context to each different environment. Stage crew worked together to execute a nearly flawless performance, and this spirit of teamwork is ever-present in the days leading to the play. Members dabble in each aspect of the production, and the addition of more skilled students at the beginning of this year helped keep stage crew on track for the show. “We got a lot of new people this year who are really good, who have prior experience, and sometimes it takes less time to get them involved,” says Ederer. The involvement of students who have little experience, however, presents risks of

CHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA

DRAMA ON SET Put together over the course of three months, the set for The Three Musketeers channels 17th century France in its design. breaking equipment and either causing or receiving injury. Junior Willow Edge is just one of many in stage crew history who have suffered through injuries. Her impressive repertoire includes being drilled in the leg, getting a screw in the eye, and recovering from several concussions. “Stage crew is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears,” she says. The literal blood that stage crew sheds in order to create the sets for The Three Musketeers paid off, and O’Connor emphasizes that stage crew must receive credit for their hard work on an original design. “We love this set … because it’s nice and flexible, we don’t have to change much” she says. “I really like that kind of setup.”

Experience Blair’s production of The Three Musketeers for yourself with this trailer produced by Ben Miller and Chaminda Hangilipola. To watch, scan the QR code or visit tinyurl.com/blair3m.

silverchips

E2 Entertainment

November 15, 2017

What’s at the bottom of your bowl?

Silver Chips reviews America’s leading breakfast cereals Cocoa Krispies

By Ben Miller and Laura Espinoza Every day, millions of Americans wake up with an energizing bowl of cereal. Decades of enjoyment and advertising have made this “part of a balanced breakfast” a fixture of daily life, but finding the brand that is right for you can be difficult. According to a 2015 Mintel study, over 1,000 varieties of cereal are commercially available in the United States – enough to try a different brand every morning for three years without repetition. Luckily, Silver Chips has decided to step in and offer insight into the best and worst cereal options gracing supermarket shelves today. We examined 13 different types of cereal, covering the bestselling brands of the nation’s two largest cereal manufacturers: Kellogg’s and General Mills. To successfully and honestly review so many different types of cereal, we had to make some difficult decisions. We carefully balanced the order we sampled cereals to vary flavors and ensure we could evaluate each brand objectively. Most controversially, we chose to try each cereal without milk. This choice allowed us to analyze every piece of cereal on its standalone merit, an important angle since the same Mintel study showed over 40 percent of American cereal consumers eat cereal as a snack, often without milk. Over the course of 60 minutes, we tried and evaluated each of these 13 cereals. It was a difficult task both physically and emotionally, leaving in its wake broken, bloated, and sugar-crazed teenagers who may be too scarred to ever touch a bowl of cereal again. Regardless of the human cost, we persevered. Here is what we found:

Lucky Charms

“Magically delicious” may not be one of the catchiest slogans in the cereal industry, but it counts among the most accurate. Lucky Charms offers a silky, satisfying taste that far exceeds those of its individual parts. The cereal’s trademark marshmallows

It is hard to resist gobbling handfuls of Cocoa Krispies after just smelling the bag, with its chocolatey aroma reminiscent of a warm cup of Swiss Miss on a winter morning. The actual sensation of biting into the small grains of puffed rice is quite distinct; each piece crackles with expressiveness far removed from its smoother smell. The sheer level of crispiness can be overwhelming; Cocoa Krispies is not a cereal for the faint of crunch. While a mouthful of puffs offers a fun, Pop Rocks-style experience, the tiny pieces get stuck in your teeth and do not leave an eager eater with the energy for a day of action. Still, Cocoa Krispies makes for a solid snacking option. Three Bowls

CHAMINDA HANGILIPOLA

13 CEREALS, WHY? Bags and boxes of cereal dauntingly await to be eaten. smells like a new Yankee candle. Unfortunately, Trix’s presentation far surpasses its actual taste. The fruity balls are aggressively sweet, and their rough and chemical aftertaste undercuts every bite. Though the flavor of the pieces themselves are interesting, the grainy aftermath is not. One and a Half Bowls

SEOYOUNG JOO

Froot Loops

A pile of Froot Loops presents a rainbow of promises; the cereal’s vivid colors and sugary smell hinting at frooty adventures to come. But these dense pieces do not deliver on their potential. Each bite seems more underwhelming than the last and does not offer much beyond the flavor of granulated sugar. The varying colors of Froot Loops are also distracting, since all of the pieces taste the exact same regardless of their appearance. If you are looking for a fruit-flavored start to your morning, you are better off with Trix. One Bowl

Frosted Cheerios

Frosted Cheerios is the sugar-coated counterpart to the classic oat cereal. Pale and white, these small loops look like Cheerios’s Nordic relative, but not in an off-putting way. Frosted Cheerios adds a delectably sweet element to traditional Cheerios but at the cost of crispiness. If you are craving sugar but need something to get you through the day, Frosted Cheerios is far from a bad option, but we would recommend you stick with the original when possible. One and a Half Bowls

Frosted Flakes

SEOYOUNG JOO

look and taste like styrofoam emojis, while its sugar-coated cereal puffs are enjoyable, but lack a memorable crunch. However, the combination of these two elements somehow creates a tasty energy powered by their different textures and crispiness. The airy and wholesome flavor of Lucky Charms makes it a reasonable breakfast choice but an even better afternoon snack. Three Bowls

Golden Grahams

If at any point in life you hear the dull clink of Golden Grahams dribbling out of a cereal box, run and do not look back. These dense, brown squares pack a nauseating punch, an acrid taste reminiscent of a burnt marshmallow but without any campfire charm. If you can stomach more than one gulp, each successive bite will coat your tongue in a bitter residue that lingers for hours. Golden Grahams may look like cardboard, but if you have a choice between the two, go with cardboard every time. No Bowls

Frosted Flakes! They’re grrrrrrrr-okay. Not to offend Tony the Tiger, but his corn flakes are hardly worth writing home about. Sure, they boast a pleasing enough crunch and erupt with sugar at the first bite, but everything after that grows quickly tiring. Once crunched, the flakes are tasteless and dull. Still, Frosted Flakes’s simplicity makes it a great breakfast option for those days when you are not feeling too ambitious. Two Bowls

Honey Nut Cheerios

Like its Frosted cousin, Honey Nut Cheerios tries to build off the heart and heft of original Cheerios with a sweetened twist. Fortunately, Honey Nut Cheerios does a much better job than Frosted Cheerios of accomplishing that goal, adding a welcoming flavor without sacrificing the brand’s warmth or depth. We were divided on whether Honey Nut Cheerios or Pops offered the best blend of sweet and savory, but both are worthy options. Three Bowls

Cocoa Puffs

After spending the last hour of our lives consuming ungodly amounts of cereal, it was hard to imagine that any brand could offer anything new or exciting. Then came Cocoa Puffs. The little puffs of grain explode with chocolatey flavor matched with an equally enjoyable crunch. They do not overwhelm but instead present a smooth and filling spirit that refuses to get old. Even after eating so much cereal, we still found ourselves grabbing Cocoa Puffs by the handfuls. Four Bowls

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

No other cereal we tried does as much with sugar as Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Each mini-slice teems with sweet crystals that gently linger at the bottom of the box. Combined with a well-executed crisp, Cinnamon Toast Crunch creates an enchanting experience with flavors similar to an Auntie Anne’s cinnamon pretzel or a heavily westernized churro. It is a respectable choice for casual snacking or a sweet breakfast, and though we stand by our decision to try all cereals dry, the thought of all that extra sugar seeping into a bowl of cool milk is mouth-watering. Three and a Half Bowls

Trix

The best parts of Trix are its look and smell. The fall tones of these corn pieces are warm and enticing, while its sweet scent

Apple Jacks

SEOYOUNG JOO

Our third fruit-flavored cereal failed to meet even the low bar set by Froot Loops and Trix. Apple Jacks, boxy circles of apple and cinnamon, simply does not have much to say. The loops appear rough and unappetizing, filled with small red shavings that make it look like someone dumped a bottle of red pepper flakes into the box. While the pieces waft a low-key Cinnabon scent, Apple Jacks tastes like nothing and clings to the back of your throat like a strep test. There is not enough happening with these frootless loops to justify the calories. Half Bowl

SEOYOUNG JOO

Baseball statistician Bill James once asked, “Do we need to have 280 brands of breakfast cereal? No, probably not. But we have them for a reason - because some people like them.” The world may not need even the 13 different types of cereal we sampled, but they exist to gratify the many different tastes of groggy, irritated children and avid late-night snackers. Finding a cereal that is right for you counts among life’s most important decisions. Choose carefully.

silverchips

November 15, 2017

Entertainment E3

Tbh, you can’t follow my ﬁnsta The rules and implications of having a “fake instagram” By Adenike Falade Freshman Lilia Wong posted a rant about Donald Trump and his disagreeable comments. Freshman Yamarie Sarr posted an informative rant about the lack of discussion of mental illness in African households. Sophomore Grace Dievler posted a video of her and her friends zooming around on their

By Elias Monastersky I like movies. And like most people, I have opinions about those movies and the movie industry as a whole. Now that I have a forum to express my opinions, expect to hear me complain about every little thing that bothers me. Enjoy! Shakespeare once wrote, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” There is nothing more important in film than entertaining the audience, but convolution and extreme complexity do not make for good cinema. While keeping things focused and simple should not be paramount to everything else in a film, it is an easy way to make a more polished product that contains more depth and substance. Making a film takes a lot of work. Thousands of shots make up the 1 to 3-hour experience, each planned by the director and cinematographer with purpose. If done well, most of the filming will not be seen in the final product. Legendary director Stanley Kubrick is known for running through a simple scene numerous times to achieve the perfect take. Picking which shot to use is not the only difficult editing choice. Filming becomes difficult when multiple scenes that were planned and shot need to be cut entirely from the movie to meet time constraints. Cutting for clarity is a difficult job that, in the end, is necessary. Movies are ambitious projects, but should aim to tell compelling and complete stories without losing the attention of the audience. The problem arises when movies attempt to say too much or take on a story that is not meant to be condensed or elongated into a three to four-hour movie. This issue is almost always caused by the way the source material is adapted. The most heinous example of this overindulgence is the film adaptation of The Hobbit, originally written by J. R. R. Tolkien. The book follows Bilbo Baggins on an epic quest that preludes the events of The Lord of the Rings. When making The Hobbit, director Peter Jackson stretched what was originally a simple, self-contained tale into a three-part saga, ultimately

telling a loose recreation of the original story. Without the support of the source material, the convoluted plot and uninteresting characters made the movie a chore to watch. It is to be noted that each of the three movies based on the single, relatively short Tolkien book of around 300 pages were all over three hours in length, save for the last one which was two hours and 44 minutes — an astounding length considering what actually happens in the movies, which is to say not much. The issue was the lack of substance and the refusal to keep it simple. A single movie with few deviations from the source material would have been infinitely better than the three drawn-out, unfocused movies that far outstay their welcome. This is especially frustrating when the same director did a brilliant job making The Lord of the Rings movies about a decade earlier. The movies stuck to the source material and, despite their long runtimes, kept their focus and did not waste time. All of the books were over 300 pages yet were still able to be adapted effectively: one book to one movie. Even the exposition and world building, often seen as a chore to watch by movie-goers, were integral to the plot. There was never a moment wasted. In The Hobbit, a world that felt alive and multifaceted was turned into a bland plane on which Jackson projected his uninspired vision. Whereas the beginning of The Lord of the Rings is an important portion of the movie that builds the characters and their relationships with each other, the thirty-minute chunk at the start of The Hobbit does little for the overall story and fails to develop the characters of the dwarves at all. In an industry that needs to keep the audience entertained, the time wasted is astounding. While movies are a relatively new medium, telling stories is not. In a market dominated by blockbuster movies being released every day, directors should be doing whatever they can to stand out. Understanding how to effectively use movie length is a step towards a better and more focused art form.

MARISSA HE

to perfect their social media proﬁles. “People choose to display the positive aspects of themselves on social media because they want to represent the best of themselves,” says Paul Booth, a professor of media and communications at DePaul University in Chicago. While teens attempt to tailor their pictures to please their audience, they can’t please everybody. Some people choose to leave rude

to post things where people could also feel accepted,” Dievler says. Wong uses her ﬁnsta to help deal with schoolwork when it is too overwhelming. She posts about trouble with homework on her ﬁnsta to get help and support from her friends. “Sometimes I’ll be … really stressed about this one assignment coming up … and I’ll post [about] it,” Wong says, “People will comment, and they’ll reply

JENNY CUEVA DIAZ

skateboards while screaming at the top of their lungs. The connection between these? They were all posted on a finsta. Finstas, a combination of the words “fake” and “Instagram,” are second Instagram accounts created to share more private pictures, videos, and stories with friends. Students post material ranging from pointless memes to deeply personal revelations. Finsta accounts tend to be private, requiring others to request in order to follow the page. As a result, these accounts often have more posts and fewer followers. Having two active accounts on the same social media platform allows teenagers to exhibit different facades and personalities, similar to the way someone acts differently depending on who they are talking to. Sarr acts strange and “weird” on her finsta compared to her more serious “rinsta,” or “real Instagram”. Like Sarr, Wong has a much more colorful personality on her finsta. “On my finsta, I’d say I’m really sarcastic, and on my rinsta… [I have] more of a normal, classic personality,” Wong says. Many teens like Wong go the extra mile to tailor their social media to their followers. A 2015 study by the UCLA Brain Mapping Center examined teenagers’ brain activity and found that kids’ brains respond positively when they see that their post receives a lot of likes. Wong admits to making extra efforts to beautify her rinsta pictures. “On my rinsta, for example, if I go and take a picture, I’ll … put filters on it,” she says. “But then on my finsta I’ll be like, ‘Oh whatever it’s only my finsta.’” It is common for people to try

and mean comments instead of likes. This past summer, Dievler posted a picture of her and a friend in bathing suits at the beach, a classic rinsta post. Someone then commented that they should “learn to workout more.” Cyberbullying like this is prevalent online. According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, 27.9 percent of middle school and high school students have been cyberbullied. On a private ﬁnsta, where followers are vetted, young people limit the risk of being harassed by a stranger. Dievler sees her ﬁnsta as a place where she and her followers can feel comfortable. “I just wanted

with like ‘Oh my god! Same! Like, I’m feeling, like, the same exact thing.’ Or they’ll be like, ‘Oh if you need help, text me.” Finstas can be places to feel supported and protected from hateful speech. As the pen and paper diary fizzles out of use, the finsta is stepping in to replace its long-standing role. The often personal and sometimes serious content posted on finstas indicates that they are not “fake” at all. Teens reflect, discuss, and share their private thoughts. Finstas are much more than another social media account; they are forums for people to post about what they really feel, unedited and unfiltered.

soapbox What is the craziest thing you have seen on someone’s finsta? “A girl drinking a jug of molded milk.” — Fibi Fon Koh, freshman “Someone getting hit in the face with a raw egg.” — Isabel Aliaga, freshman “Kids getting their ankles broken and people jumping off buildings.” — Kidduse Kebede, freshman

E4 Entertainment

silverchips

November 15, 2017

A sharp look into what Blazers listen to

Blazers of Note

A survey of students’ musical preferences

By Telon Yan

AVERY BROOKS

Teddy Beamer Sophomore With almost 900 followers on Instagram, the teenage run clothing brand Melancholy Skate is making a name for itself. Sophomore Teddy Beamer, a coowner of the brand, started skating in sixth grade. When he got to high school he became friends with some other skaters who coined the name for the brand. They created an Instagram account that attracted a steady following, but they had not yet decided what to do with the line. Beamer had a suggestion. “I decided it would be cool if we made clothes,” he says. The brand works with diﬀerent artists here at Blair to create designs for the clothing. “We’re all skaters so we all really wanted it to be oriented around that,” he says. So far they have released a few shirts, a sweatshirt, and some hats, but they plan to come out with more merchandise this winter. The brand is often inspired by other skating lines. “We look up to other companies and we put our own spin on it,” he says. Melancholy Skate has one rule for every piece of clothing they make. “We wouldn’t make anything that we wouldn’t wear ourselves,” Beamer says.

SAMI MALLON

Deeya Garg Junior Junior Deeya Garg is the only pole vaulter at Blair. She started the sport three years ago after a suggestion from her gymnastics coach. “A lot of people transition from gymnastics to pole vault because it has a similar body movement,” she says. “You need a lot of strength, speed, core strength, and ﬂexibility.” She pole vaults for the Blair track and ﬁeld team in the spring, but yearround, she competes with DC Vault. “We practice at various sites like Georgetown [Preparatory School], our own site in DC, Catholic University of America, and sometimes at Loyola University in Baltimore,” she says. Since there are no other pole vaulters on the Blair track team, Garg is planning to search for someone to take over for her after she graduates. “I am going to try to recruit more people,” she says. “I want to get more people into it because it’s an awesome sport.”

By Lucy Gavin

A-boom, ba-dum, a-boom, ba-dum, another song gone in a month. The saturation, growth, and stylistic diversity in music has been increasing over the years, making it increasingly diﬃcult for new songs to stay relevant. Nonetheless, being able to look back at a moment in time can be a touching thing, so Silver Chips took a snapshot of what music Blazers are currently listening to. Students were asked questions about their favorite song, artist, and genre, how their tastes have changed over time, what their favorite song was six months ago, and what they feel most inﬂuences their musical preferences. Among the 290 responses, few songs were much more popular than others; only 14 songs received two or more votes. The most popular song was “Rockstar” by Post Malone and 21 Savage, with eight votes total. Tied for second and third were “Dark Queen” by Lil Uzi Vert and “Silence” by Khalid with three votes each. Among these three, none were around six months ago and 41 respondents could not even remember their favorite song six months ago. The most popular song then

TELON YAN

POP-ular Many students enjoy Pop, Hip-Hop, and Rap music. Other music genres are

TELON YAN

HOT OFF THE CHARTS Students listen to many of the same artists, including BTS, Eminem, and Kanye West. Lesser-known artists include Russ and Kehlani. was, unsurprisingly, “Despacito,” but it did not receive many votes either (seven), beating BTS’s “Blood Sweat and Tears” with three votes. The most popular musicians were widely-spread as well: The most popular band, BTS, had only seven votes, compared to six votes for Eminem, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and Kanye West; five votes for Bruno Mars, Lorde, and The Weekend; and four votes for Drake, Frank Ocean, Halsey, Khalid, and Post Malone. Pop, at 23 percent of the vote, narrowly beat out rap and hip-hop/R&B, at 21 percent each, for favorite genre. However, trap and indie/alternative both received around two percent of writein votes as students’ favorite genre. Had these genres been included in the original list, they would likely have received some of the votes that went to pop, rap, and hip/ hop R&B. The largest influence on musical preferences was mood, with 36 percent of the vote. Following that, 25 percent of students ranked friends as the largest influence on their music taste and many students also wrote in their siblings as being their primary influence. Some developmental research has been done about the factors that shape an indi-

Rhythm and Blues, less widely-enjoyed.

vidual’s preferences. Jeanne Bamberger, a Professor Emerita of Music and Urban Education at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Adjunct Professor of Music at the University of California, Berkeley, and a researcher on early musical development agrees that parents and siblings are the major players in shaping preferences. “I think it does have to do with the music that’s around you…at home and with your friends, and I think you implicitly learn to like what the people that you like are listening to,” she says. “I don’t think it has very much to do with the music itself.” Some genres were also notably more popular in diﬀerent demographics. Rap received 24 percent of the vote among students in academies, but only 19 percent among CAP students and nine percent in the Magnet. Electronic music received a total of 22 percent in the Magnet, three percent in CAP, and one percent in academies. Rock, Classical, and K-pop were also more popular in the Magnet and academies than in CAP, but more CAP students wrote in their own favorite genres as well. Preference was relatively consistent across grades, although techno and pop received more votes among freshmen. Altogether, we enjoy the songs we do for similar reasons, but develop our own tastes. Although it was not asked, many people enjoy listening to a wide range of music, since many students wrote in multiple favorite genres and mixed genres. When the musical landscape is mutable and when the people in that landscape change, who knows what the future holds.

TELON YAN

“TOP TEN” TUNES Polled students overwhelmingly chose Rockstar by Post Malone, with other songs receiving three or fewer votes.

November 15, 2017 Quantity Squared by Bennett Coukos-Wiley Guest submission

Sudoku (medium)

Chips Clips E5

silverchips Across

54. Towards the stern 1. A type of Middle Eastern 57. Invalidate frame drum 59. Ideas 4. Earl grey and 63. Members of the feudal chamomile, e.g. Japanese warrior class 8. Afflicts 67. One forcibly 12. Duchess of Venden conscripted 14. Hooray! 68. Miles 17. A three-person 1172. Prefix for mid-altitude down clouds 18. Years ago 73. Beardless 22. The Washington 74. Baba ____, the first Monument, e.g. piece of music from a 23. evitceted rof gnalS video game to win a 24. SNES competitor Grammy 25. A brownish-yellow 75. See 27-across colour 76. Muses 27. With 75-across, certain 77. Social studies class flies about the USA’s govt 28. HM, in Greek letters Down 30. Swedish band known for “Dancing Queen” 1. Remove condensation 34. Frodo, Lothlorien, 2. A building material for Gandalf: Arthur, _______ primitive houses 37. Fathers with the same 3. Able to speak accurately name as their son (abbr.) 4. Years since 0 (contrived) 40. Fancy women’s shoes 5. Tertiary recovery of oil 41. LEGO’s birthplace (abbr.) 42. Was successful in a 6. Shorthand for attacks competition that hit multiple nearby 43. Abbreviation for enemies multiple American 7. MD’s freeway organizations maintenance org. 44. Pirate exclamations 8. Goddess of reckless 45. Denotation of an ambition arbitrary member of an 9. A device for seeing enumerated series behind you 46. Bar of gold, to a inside a car (abbr.) chemist (2 words) 10. Stead/place 48. Bohemian 11. See 17-across 49. Govt. organization that 13. The city where Van oversees anti-terrorism and Gogh did most of his work border control 15. Dalmatians 50. A possible winning 16. Scent Clue phrase (name abbr.) 19. Archaic term for five 52. Annoyance plus one 53. ____ Gay, the plane that 20. Popular forensics TV carried Little Boy show

BAKING SODA

COURTESY OF WEBSUDOKU SNOCKERS

ODYSSEY

21. Female pronoun 25. The elements in aluminum sulfate, in order of atomic number 26. Head of advertisement for a company 29. Softest mineral on the Mohs scale 30. Supply with weapons 31. Dull 32. Bring into the world 33. Ancient Egyptian symbols of life 34. Writer of fables 35. Forgiveness or pity 36. Musical artist Milenko Vujosevic 37. Where Shrek lives 38. Awaken 39. Cuts 40. Actor Weaving 44. Verde menos amarillo 47. PV= 48. An aircraft dissimilar to an Osprey 51. A prestigious college located in 62-down (abbr.) 54. One way to write the inverse of sine over cosine 55. States 56. Red Line fort 57. Anything from painting to music 58. Against votes 60. Companion of Dori and Nori 61. Hogwarts 7th year exams 62. Capital of South Korea 63. Quickly! 64. Poking tools 65. Dispense 66. Titular penultimate plays of a certain card game 69. Author Fleming 70. IV + XII 71. Ink writing utensil

TIFFANY MAO

AVERY LIOU

DENNY TSITSIWU

E6 Entertainment

silverchips

November 15, 2017

Archives Edited by Ben Miller and Laura Espinoza

To continue our 80th anniversary retrospective, we take a look back at Silver Chips in the 1960s. This decade marked a period of tumultuous change for both the paper and the United States as a whole, as the challenges of civil rights, social change, and the Vietnam War propelled Silver Chips into the modern era. While Silver Chips from the early 1960s remained nearly unchanged from the relatively short, insular editions of the 1950s, the trials of the mid-sixties soon sparked change. The paper nearly doubled in length, featuring more and longer articles that were far more willing to challenge Blair administration and figures of authority. In the paper’s first ever centerspreads, Chips writers investigated club corruption, drug use, dropouts, and teachers who felt stifled by the school’s conservative administration. Other key features of Silver Chips, like soapboxes and news briefs, also made their first appearances. The following articles are some of the most compelling stories Silver Chips wrote in the 1960s. Some have been edited for length and clarity. For the first two parts of this retrospective series, check out our June 2017 and October 2017 editions. ‘HELPLESS FEMALES’ BRANDISH WICKED STICKS FOR HOCKEY Oct. 27, 1961 “Ground, sticks, ground, sticks, ground, sticks, hit!” This cry rings out every fall in the junior-senior girls’ field hockey intramurals. Every Monday from September to November about 50 girls change from sweet, helpless beauties to screaming, powerful athletes. Blair girls play on Nolte Field about three blocks from Blair. Here the teams battle it out on a 60 by 100 yard field to see who can get that three-inch, wooden ball through the goal without being mortally injured by flying 36-inch sticks. Here is a description of part of an actual game: First, the center forwards “bully” to begin the game. The red team won the bully and is now dribbling towards the goal. Carefully the center forward passes the ball to her wing; the wing moves up to receive it and with a deliberate whack misses the ball and cracks the shin of the opposing halfback. As the game progresses, there seems to be mass confusion on the field as the red team is pushing for a goal. The blue goalie, weighted down with chest protector, leg protectors, and blocked toes for kicking the ball, can hardly move to defend her goal. Penalties are passed out and the red team has the ball again. Soon, a goal is scored and the teams return to the 50-yard line to begin the game again. ‘WHAT CAN I DO?’ PLEADS GIRL ON LSD EXCURSION Jan. 16, 1968 A girl on an LSD “trip” wrote this poem, reproduced here by permission. Description: a charlie chapman (sic) type of atmosphere where i breathe in waves and see in flutters when i hold out my hand it is as if it is met with great resistance, like placing it out Of the window of a speeding car, my whole body is in a compression chamber, suddenly eight segments, half black and half purple, alternatively. now i am purple, now black, purple, black, purple, black in the black of my reality i am terrified. in a split second all the realization of what insanity is and its terrors are flung at me. i speed head-on into a purple unreality. i like it, i want it. i can use it to torture and punish myself. and then, because i desire to be insane, i am flung back into reality.

i cannot complete a thought that doesn’t contradict itself. i cannot talk at all. i know exactly what i am doing, but nor for long enough to do anything about it. i fear that some day i will not return. but what can i do? MD U. CRACKS DOWN March 17, 1961 If you’re planning to attend the University of Maryland next fall or in 1962, you better take a look at your grades. Because of increasing enrollment, Maryland has raised its entrance requirements. Students who do not have at least a “C” average will be required to attend a special summer session before they will be permitted to enroll for the regular fall term. For the past few years many of these “on trial” students, who have entered Maryland with low averages, have only stayed there one or two years. While attending the University, they took valuable time of the professors away from more deserving students. They also spent a great deal of their parents’ money. Other colleges in the area also have upped their entrance requirements, notably Wilson Teachers’ College, American, and George Washington. Now, not during graduation week―is the time to be sure your entrance into college is unencumbered.

DRUGS--A Blair student illustrates drawing smoke from a hallucinatory drug through a waterpipe. Student use of drugs, Silver Chips learned, is on the increase. Jan. 16, 1968 of how they hoped it would not have to be. “I thought it was entirely uncalled for,” senior Yvonne Marr said of the week-long rioting in downtown Washington which followed King’s death. Junior Joe Parks cited the suburban Negro’s difficulty in feeling the same way about the riots as those in the ghetto, and cast some doubt on the practice effectiveness of nonviolence. When asked if he considered the riots justified, Parks asked “if you can call the system which keeps them (ghetto Negroes) down justified.” He suggested that in many cases, such poverty-stricken people may have nothing to lose for themselves by reacting with violence. “Anything that will make people think,” Parks felt, is the key to action. “If just a peaceful demonstration will work, then a peaceful demonstration is where it’s at.” BLAIR PROTESTERS DISCIPLINED Mar. 13, 1967

“Dusting Time!” Dec. 22, 1966 SILVER CHIPS CLASSIFIEDS Jan. 16, 1968 Teething ring. Slightly used but in excellent condition. Call Bob: 589-0915 Underground newspaper to show Chips where it’s at! Want to help? See projects coordinator in SG office-- surface agent for the underground. Bob Silverman is offering free rides to Intercourse--Pennsylvania. 589-0915. ABCDLFN? MRNLFN! SAR,CMPN? ---stein

One Blair student was arrested Friday and another reinstated yesterday after two days of suspension as a result of anti-war activity on campus last week. Blair Principal Dr. William F. Brennan said rumors began to circulate last Tuesday that a dog would be napalmed at a rally against the war in Vietnam scheduled for Friday morning. “Animosity” began to build up among some students over these reports, Brennan said, and the school received numerous calls expressing concern over the rumor, including a call from the County Humane Society. Thursday, Brennan said, he was able to identify six students who were involved in distributing a flyer that day entitled “Napalm A Dog?” which called for students to assemble the next morning for an anti-war rally as part of the International

Students’ Strike Against the Vietnam War. No one had ever intended to napalm a dog, according to one of the students, who added that the point was to make students aware that the United States is presently using napalm on people in Vietnam. One of the six students--who was later to be arrested--left school without permission at 10 a.m. on Thursday. For that reason, Brennan said, the student was suspended. At 7:30 Friday morning the student arrived on the sidewalk in front of “A” building with three signs expressing opposition to the war and urging students to boycott classes. Dr. Brennan approached the student and informed him that he was under suspension and therefore should not be on school property. The student refused to leave, and Brennan called the police, who were standing by. He was taken to the police station and was petitioned for breach of the peace. A second student failed to “reach an agreement” with assistant principal John Freeman and was suspended for distribution of unauthorized literature. Four other students were let off with a warning. BLAZERS CAPTURE STATE BASKETBALL TITLE March 13, 1969

“It’s the greatest moment in my life,” was Jim Schofield’s comment after Blair topped Duval 58-51 to win the state championship. The Blazers’ strategy for the game was to “make them play our kind of basketball,” said coach Ed Clements. Duval, normally a fast breaking team, slowed down to Blair’s speed against Blair’s tough man-to-man defence. The Blazers demonstrated great balance with four players scoring in double digits. The loss was only Duval’s second of the season, however, both losses came at the hands of so-called “weaker” Montgomery County teams. The victory capped the best basketball season for Blair since 1962 and, according to Rick Deming, “The Blazers are going to take it again next year.” SILVER CHIPS POLL: STUDENTS PREFER SOUL Dec. 5, 1967 Type of Music Soul Folk-Rock Psychdelic Folk

Single Performers Otis Redding 22% Dionne Warwick 20% Bob Dylan 11% Bobbie Gentry 10% Aretha Franklin 9% Joan Baez 7% Groups The Righteous Brothers The Association Jefferson Airplane Simon and Garfunkel Peter, Paul, and Mary The Animals

HARE KRISHNA You white middle-class know-nothing suburbanites are living in voluntary isolation from the real world, and you don’t even realize it. VIOLENCE VIEWED: BLACK STUDENTS REACT April 30, 1968 A handful of black students gathered with several whites outside Blair Friday morning, April 5. They did not want to attend class. They wanted to mourn peacefully the previous night’s slaying of a black leader, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. They felt that schools should have been closed in his honor. Some of those same black students came to the Silver Chips office last week to reflect upon the month’s events. They came to discuss what is, for them, an all too familiar problem--racial injustice. They came unsure of how it could be solved, but sure

50% 17% 11% 7%

SLAK SHAK Oct. 12, 1966

30% 20% 9% 8% 7% 5%

November 15, 2017

By Henry Wiebe Dear Lonzo Ball, Grow the hell up. I get it, your dad compared you to Russell Westbrook and LeBron, and even bragged that you could beat Steph Curry one-on-one. Yes, there are many factors that have influenced the Lonzo Ball Hype Train, but you are culpable for most (if not all) of the attention that surrounds you. Even though there is all this hype around you, you have managed to maintain a relatively quiet public persona. I don’t buy it. You live for all of the drama and attention that has been directed at you over the course of your young career. If your modest image was actually authentic, you would tell your dad to shut up. You would distance yourself from the noise and you could actually put 100 percent of your energy toward doing your job. When Nike offered you a $10 million shoe deal, you should not have declined in dramatic fashion in order to sign with your dad’s company, proving to the world that you think that you are better than everyone else. You should have been honored to have been given the offer in the first place, and you should have accepted it with grace. An atmosphere of arrogance has always accompanied the world of professional sports, and more often than not, the athlete can’t live up to the heat. In all

silverchips

Sports F1

honesty, you probably would have been drafted in the third round if your dad wasn’t absolutely crazy. You’re a pretty good basketball player, but you aren’t going to be a hall-of-famer. Even the thought of you as an all-star seems unlikely. I even think that the only reason that your dad cares about you and your brothers is because you are the only reason that the Big Baller Brand hasn’t declared bankruptcy. But I digress. From the moment that you ﬁrst set foot on a basketball court, your dad has braggadociously exalted you and your brothers. Once you hit the college circuit, ESPN caught on to the hype train, making the buzz even louder. This is all ﬁne, as long as you can live up to it. And you haven’t.

“Wiebe’s World” is a monthly column where sports editor Henry Wiebe expresses on current events in the world of sports.

Full eyes, clear hearts, no coverage The underrepresentation of women in sports media

By Arshiya Dutta Whether it be soccer, basketball, or any other sport, women’s coverage takes a backseat to men’s. Although the creation of Title IX mandates that women and men get equal playing time and funding, female athletes continue to be forgotten in the media. Women’s and men’s sports must be covered equally in sports media for our society to be more equitous toward both genders, on and oﬀ the ﬁeld. The coverage of women’s sports has been lacking for decades, as women do not get nearly enough air time as men. However, according to a study done by the University of Southern California, televised women’s sports coverage has actually decreased in recent years. In 1989, women’s sports made up 5 percent of television network news, while in 2014, only about 3.2 percent of news network coverage was dedicated to women’s sports. In fact, in 2014, only 2 percent of ESPN’s SportsCenter broadcasting was dedicated to women’s sports. This lacking female presence in sports media has existed for far too long and must be addressed before women’s sports are forgotten altogether. Sports broadcasting is not the only culprit; print journalism also casts a shadow over women’s sports. For instance, when Corey Cogdell-Unrein won a bronze medal in trap shooting at the 2016 Olympic games, the Chicago Tribune reported instead on details about her marriage with a Chicago Bears lineman. The article discussed a date that the two went on the day before Super Bowl XLV in 2011, completely ignoring her Olympic success. Moreover, the headline of the article read, “Corey Cogdell, wife of Bears lineman Mitch Unrein, wins bronze in Rio.” Women are also constantly compared

to men for their athletic feats. After Katie Ledecky won her fifth medal in Rio, many people compared her stroke to a man’s stroke. Olympian Connor Jaeger told the Washington Post, “Her stroke is like a man’s stroke. I mean that in a positive way, she swims like a man.” The message behind these words is loud and clear: it is unwomanly to be athletic, and men are the automatic standard for swimming. With headlines and coverage that fixate on women’s relationships and “manliness,” the sexism in sports media is undeniable. As for unequal coverage, it does not just happen on a national scale, it even happens here at Blair. According to varsity soccer player Maddy Merrill, girls’ sports receive less coverage than boys’ in student media. “Last year, the boys’ team got a segment on Infoflow about their team, and the girls’ team—even though we made it to the regional finals and the boys’ team didn’t even make it that far into the playoffs—didn’t get any coverage,” she says. Similarly, poms senior Lewam Siltan feels that the coverage gap is more obvious for all-girls sports, like poms and field hockey. “Poms doesn’t get credit for pretty much anything. We work just as hard as other sports ... However no one seems to care for us like other sports,” she says. “I would like to see more people at the female games and not just assume that female teams are less official or even not as good as the boys’ teams.” Downplaying and even ignoring women’s athletics can have extreme negative effects on young girls and can even discourage them from playing sports. A study done by the Journal of Communication says that “media messages, such as the ones present in the framing of female athletes and women’s sports, can shape how children develop their ideas about gender roles.”

Without the same recognition that boys receive, girls may think their athletic abilities will always be second to those of boys. Stacey Nicely from Georgia State University says, “Women who participate in a male appropriate sport may suﬀer from decreased self-esteem due to the challenges (i.e. stereotypes, discrimination) that may arise from the masculine connotations associated with these sports.” This reinforces stereotypes that women are weak and are naturally unathletic, and should not be playing sports. To female athletes, it can be demoralizing to always come second to men. “It makes me

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

feel frustrated because both teams are working really hard and should get equal coverage,” Merrill says. “I feel like a lot of times girls’ sports are forgotten.” By ignoring a group of people, the media sends harmful messages that they are unworthy of the limelight. The media must represent all types of people equally to work towards a more equal and inclusive society. Title IX may have granted women equal opportunity to participate in athletics, but by not shedding equal light on women’s sports, the sports media is doing a severe injustice to female athletes.

ARSHIYA DUTTA

F2 Sports

silverchips

November 15, 2017

Slamming our heads against a wall

Concussions make football too violent for school sponsorship By Anson Berns An opinion It’s Friday night. Lights shine brightly over a young man, who runs at the ﬁeld’s 21 other young men at full speed as an animated mass of students cheers them on. The man staggers back as helmets collide. It gives no one pause that the young man’s vision is a little blurrier after the play, that his memory is just a little fuzzier, and that he feels a slight twinge of pain in his head. The cheers continue. In a county that prohibits dodgeball at recess because it is too violent, it is a curiosity that crowds still ﬂock to watch student athletes engage in a sport that actively involves full contact and a high rate of brain injury. The dangers of football have been clearly established; repeated medical trials have shown a link between professional football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a ruinous brain disease that led to the suicides of former NFL players Junior Seau, Jovan Belcher, and Aaron Hernandez—along with grisly homicides perpetrated by Belcher and Hernandez. It is imprudent for the school system to continue to risk the brains of teenagers by endorsing their participation in the inherently dangerous sport of football. A 2007 National Institute of Health (NIH) study on concussions revealed that football caused far more concussions than any other

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH

high school sport, estimating that around 55,000 concussions occur nationwide each year as a result of high school football alone. The same study also showed that more than 70 percent of concussed high school football players get fewer than four days of rest before returning to action. This pattern is incredibly dangerous. The CDC speciﬁcally warns against multiple concussions in a short period of time, describing the eﬀects as potentially “catastrophic or fatal.” Football is rife with dangerous injuries to the developing brains of student athletes. Along with the clear link between high school football and head traumas, a link has also begun to appear between high school football and CTE, the horrific brain disease long tied to professional football. Since CTE can only be diagnosed postmortem, data about the disease are relatively sparse. However, a 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association examined the brains of former football players and found that 21 percent of the 14 examined patients who stopped playing football at the high school level had CTE. Of those who also played in college, that number rose to 91 percent. A 2007 Boston University study also found cases of CTE in the brains of people whose primary exposure to head injury was high school football. The neurodegenerative disease leads to severe dementia, speech impairment, and other major cognitive issues

later in life. When looming over the heads of our children, the risk of CTE is major. Of course, football is the most popular sport in America. Part of the allure of high school football is how ingrained it is into our culture. However, football would not be the first sport to be removed from MCPS because of its violence. In the 1970s, students would enter the ring and punch each other silly in a sport now banished from the county’s schools because of its danger and violence: boxing. There is no reason we could not do the same thing to football. This is not the first conflict between culture and safety in sport. The deeply Spanish sport of bullfighting is losing favor more and more in Spain, having even been banned for a time in the Catalonia region. No matter how cultural a sport may be, if it is fundamentally dangerous, it cannot be continued. Just because the thought of removing football from high school is contrary to popular ideas about the sport does not mean it is impossible or outlandish for it to go the way of boxing or bullfighting. Pressing on with football despite the obvious ties it has to serious damage to players is immoral and irresponsible. It is selfish to think about the sport before the students who play it. Keeping football in high schools requires constantly avoiding a long, true consideration of the dangers and detriments of the sport.

ANSON BERNS

JENNIFER CUEVA DIAZ

Time for pro sports to play by the rules

Why professional sports leagues need to crack down on damaging behaviors

By Camden Roberts An opinion Professional sports leagues need to start taking the idea of punishing their players seriously. With the amount of attention focused on major league sports at any given time, each player and each team has the inherent duty to be a figure in their community. At this point, it is irresponsible of any league to not take a stand on player misconduct that demonstrates a larger problem within society. It is time for stricter punishments, larger fines, and longer suspensions. Almost no case involving a professional athlete is simple. The case that started the most recent storm of discussion around this issue occurred in the NFL. Ezekiel Elliot, a running back for the Dallas Cowboys, was accused of domestic assault by his then-girlfriend in July of 2016. In August of 2017, the NFL suspended him for six games, citing a violation of their personal conduct policy. He appealed, and during the appeal process, the NFL Player’s Association (NFLPA) filed a restraining order to block the suspension if it was upheld. The suspension was upheld, but the timing was close enough to the beginning of the regular season that the NFL let Elliot play in the Cowboy’s season opener anyway. After that, he continued playing due to the NFLPA’s efforts to block any suspension through the legal system. Elliot’s suspension eventually began on Nov. 12. Elliot’s case is not the main problem here. If he did what he was accused of, it’s awful, and he deserves to be punished for it, but his case is not really an outlier in the history of the NFL. The main problem demonstrated by this case is the reaction from the NFL and the NFLPA. Six games is not a significant number. Brian Cushing of the Houston Texans is currently serving a ten game suspension for the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Darren Waller of the Baltimore Ravens is serving a year long suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. When Ray Rice assaulted his thenfiancée in an Atlantic City elevator, his initial suspension was two games long, a ridiculously short amount of time for someone who committed such an egregious crime. The NFL needs to treat domestic violence charges more seriously. This isn’t saying that violation of the substance abuse policy deserves less of a punishment. That deserves to be punished, but not

to a comically larger degree than things like domestic violence. Taking drugs has no place in professional sports, but for that to be punished more severely than a crime that actively injures another person shows a systematic problem in the NFL. Domestic violence is not the only offense that is overlooked; racism needs to be addressed too, especially in baseball. In game three of the most recent World Series, Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel hit a home run off of Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish, returned to the Houston dugout, and made a racist comment and gesture, both directed at Darvish. Gurriel was suspended five games, but the suspension is not set to begin until next season. One of the reasons given by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for Gurriel’s suspension was an unwillingness to punish Gurriel’s teammates for his actions. Gurriel was the Astros’ starting first baseman, had a .304 batting average in the 2017 postseason, and regularly hit in the middle of the order. From his statistics, Gurriel had the potential to be a pivotal player in the remaining games of the series. Because of this, taking him out of the Astros lineup for even one game in the World Series would have sent a much stronger message about the league no longer tolerating this behavior. Similarly, Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar and Oakland Athletics outfielder Matt Joyce were each suspended two games for yelling homophobic slurs during games. MLB has set a clear precedent for what they intend to do after offensive language is used on the field. Not following this example because a team is in the playoffs shows that MLB really only cares about the games. They punished Gurriel, but not until the next season, because they didn’t want to take him out of the World Series. Where’s the line? Whether they intend to be or not, audiences will be influenced by how leagues treat players who have done something wrong. A professional league suspending a player for very little time sends a message that the player’s misconduct is either not relevant to the game at all, or unimportant. If a player who does something wrong is not punished at all, or barely punished, there is no denouncing of their behavior, and it may be seen as acceptable. It’s time for professional sports organizations to have stricter punishments that are consistent throughout the season and will actually deter harmful behavior.

Sports F3

silverchips

November 15, 2017

Keeping up with the team managers

Sports managers support their teams on and off the playing field By Hannah Lee The crowd erupts in a loud, booming cheer after yet another triumph. Helmets, towels, and water bottles are carelessly thrown to the side of the field in a hurry. Photographers rush over to capture the team and coach’s winning moment with blinding flashes outshining the stadium lights. Out of the victory madness, the sports team managers celebrate as well. From organizing equipment to setting up practice schedules for the season, team managers are the backbones our sports teams.

Varsity field hockey

SAMI MALLON

A DARING DIVE Senior Olivia Amitay does a pike dive into the water during a meet.

Taking the plunge

Operating without a c o a c h ’s g u i d a n c e By Lucy Gavin Olivia Amitay rounds up her team to lead them in a dynamic warm-up at 5:15 a.m. She starts them off on some simpler dives, like front dive tucks or pencil dives, and then has them work on more complex ones, so she has the chance to critique them. But Amitay is not a trained professional—rather, she is just the senior dive captain.

A coachless team

These responsibilities fall on Amitay because the team lacks a coach. While many sports teams rely on their coach to hold the team together, the divers have to take that role on themselves. Though the dive team is part of the varsity swim and dive team, they do not share a coach and the teams practice separately. Athletic director Rita Boule explains how the team functions without their own personal coach. “The county provides dive coaches,” she writes in an email. “The divers have a separate diving practice schedule where they work with the county dive coaches.” Senior Eli Cohen enjoys the freedom that comes with not having a formal coach. “It’s great not having a coach because we’re motivated by our teammates,” he says. “We can do pretty much whatever we want while also still getting what we need to get done done.”

Parental guidance

Last year, [for the first time], the team was assisted by parent volunteer Dave Greenleaf, who is now moving up to a county coaching position. “So the role of the captain changed a little bit. Before it was very captain heavy. They ran practices, they filled out dive sheets,” Amitay explains. “But then Dave came and he helped out a lot in leading practices and doing the formalities of diving.” Amitay points out that though the role of the captain decreased last season, it will likely revert back to how it was now that Greenleaf will be less involved with the team. “Now that [Greenleaf is] coaching county practices, he won’t be around to [help us] so it’ll return to a captain heavy practice,” she says.

One family

For Amitay, there is a clear difference between the swim and dive teams. “What can swimmers say about diving?” she says. “They’re two completely different sports.” Although the two sports are dissimilar, they still compete in meets together and share a big team atmosphere. “We kind of do our own thing and we let them do their thing, and it works out pretty well,” she says. “But we still have one team dynamic, and for all of the social events and meets we support each other.” Boule agrees, saying, “The divers are a part of the swim team, one hundred percent.”

Building on backgrounds

To improve her diving skills, Amitay draws on her experiences in other sports. “I came from a gymnastics background and diving has some of the same mechanics,” she says. “It’s also a lot easier on your body and you don’t get injured as much.” Cohen, on the other hand, comes from a swimming background, which led him to dive. “I had been swimming my whole life, so I knew I was going to be on the swim team, [but] then they said they needed people for the dive team,” he says. “The school had no male divers and it looked like it was gonna be fun.” Though Amitay and Cohen both started on the team their freshman year, they differ on whether or not they consider dive to be their main sport. For Cohen, dive takes a backseat to swimming. “I swam in the summer for a private club team and I’ve been swimming for a lot longer,” Cohen explains. “So [the dive team is] more of a fun thing.” Amitay, on the other hand, is more focused on dive, and may even pursue it in college. “I’m being recruited by Skidmore, UMass, Amherst, University of Vermont, Tufts, and Tulane,” she says. “I was also being recruited by Boston University but their roster got filled.” Whether or not Amitay decides to further pursue dive in college, she will always be proud of her work on the dive team. “Nothing will compare to the environment I’ve been welcomed into at Blair,” she says. Cohen seconds the sentiment, saying, “We have a lot of fun.”

The buzzer and shouts of spectators signify the start of another game. On the sidelines, senior Isabel Fenton sets up the brightly lit scoreboard as her friends hit, pass, dribble, and drive across the length of the field. Every game, Fenton works with fellow manager Karen Depenyou to help keep things organized. “We keep track of stats during the games,” Fenton says. “[We] control the scoreboard, the timing, the points, and everything.” Fenton’s position of team manager allows her to spend time with her friends while watching them in action. “I thought it would be really fun,” Fenton says. “I have a lot of friends who are on the field hockey team.” Although Fenton watches the players closely during games, being team manager allows her to gain new outlooks on who to acknowledge in the sports community, especially the people in her own position. “Managing is really fun,” Fenton explains. “It gives you an appreciation for people you don’t always think about when you think of sports games.”

Varsity football

Directly after school, varsity football players head over to the Nelson H. Kobren Memorial Gymnasium in preparation for the game on Friday. Karen Nguy, a junior, tags along with them to every practice and game. While the players prepare for the upcoming games, Nguy makes sure to keep them in optimal condition all throughout practice and even plans out practices for the season. “We get water for them, make sure they stay

hydrated,” Nguy says. “[We] keep practices on schedule and tell them all they have to do.” As the bleachers get packed full with excited Blazers and parents, Nguy stands on the side of the football field, assisting players with whatever they need. After games, the managers wash and clean the grass and mud-stained uniforms. Nguy enjoys not only being charge of the overall management of the team, but also participating in a school activity. “It’s just really fun,” Nguy says. “It’s another way to get involved with school activities and be on top of team practices and games.”

Varsity poms

It is Friday night before game time at Blazer Stadium as the Poms put their arms around each other, chanting “Ooh it’s hot in here, there must be Blair Poms in the atmosphere!” As they get in formation, Erica Callejas and the other four managers swiftly pass out the poms before their performance. Other than organizing supplies, Poms team managers are not only responsible for helping dancers improve their technique, but also choosing the music they dance to at games. “We do their music, we record them,” Callejas says. “We give them tips on how to improve their performance.” Callejas was inspired to take the position based on her interest of becoming a Poms team member in the future and improving her own technique. “I wanted to be manager to… see what I can improve myself on for the following year,” she says. “I feel like it’s a good way to learn and improve on your skills and your technique if you want to be a member.” Aside from polishing up her cheer skills, Callejas and the other managers help the Poms team be well organized and balanced.

A vital role

Blair athletes value their team managers for their constant efforts to ensure a successful sports season. Junior Ricky Morri, varsity football player, views them equally as essential as the players to the team and respects their position. “We [the football team] all appreciate their hard work,” Morri explains. “They are as vital to the program as the players themselves.”

MARGARET LIN

A HELPING HAND Karen Nguy, manager for the varsity football team, gives out water bottles to the players during their final game of the season.

F4 Sports

silverchips

November 15, 2017

A recap of the fall sports’ seasons

By Noah Chopra-Khan

cess of a season.” For Siff, momentum is a huge aspect of football, and the team was able to maintain a strong mentality throughout every game. “During the Wheaton game, for example, we were up 13-0, and then they had this long drive that switched the momentum to make it 13-7. When we got the ball back, it was big that we scored before half to get that momentum and we ended up winning that game,” he says. “A similar situation happened with Einstein; we were tied 7-7, the refs were totally against us, but we played well as a team and got the win.”

Boys’ soccer

The boys’ soccer team battled tough competition this season to achieve a record of six wins, six losses, and two ties. Considering they had a new coach and lost a lot of talent from last year’s seniors, senior captain John Carter thinks their season went well. “I think everyone struggled at first with having a new coach and losing some really good seniors from last year,” he says. “But the fact that we won our first playoff game and we went further than we did last year, obviously that was a very happy moment.” Carter believes that the team’s attitude helped them get farther in the postseason. “Our coach had this saying and I think it was pretty telling, it embodied our entire season: ‘Our success is the outcome of our work,’” Carter says. “For all of the playoff games, after the huddle, instead of shouting ‘Blazers,’ we shouted ‘Hard Work!’ And so even though we may have not had the talent we had last year we more than made up for it with our work ethic.” Key Players: senior Franck Djoumessi Djoumessi, senior Kevin Amaya, and senior John Carter

Key Players: senior Matthew Siff, senior Nashton Datis, and sophomore Christopher Watkins

Field hockey COURTESEY OF TINO PHAM

STAYING AGGRESSIVE Junior midfielder Adeline McDonough dribbles downfield toward Walter Johnson’s goal.

Girls’ soccer

The girls’ soccer team finished their season with a winning record, collecting seven wins, three losses, and five ties. Senior captain Nina Jeffries believes that this season was a success considering they lost most of their varsity line up. “This year was supposed to be really hard because we lost nine seniors who were starters; we only had three seniors this year,” she says. “Considering that, we had a pretty great season. The underclassmen really stepped up.” This was definitely a transition year for the team. “Looking forward, they’re only losing three seniors so this year was a year to build up and get the underclassmen comfortable with playing on the varsity level,” Jeffries explains. Overall, she is proud of their season. “Our season ended a little shorter than we expected. However, we were still pretty happy with it. And the team came together in a way it hadn’t in years previous, we had a lot of friendships and bonding and that was really great,” she says. Key Players: senior Elaine Suh, senior Nina Jeffries, junior Madeline Merrill, and sophomore Zoe Abramson

Key players: senior Lea Watkins-Chow, senior Marike Pinsonneault, senior Maya Hammond, and junior Adeline McDonough

Girls’ tennis

COURTESEY OF TINO PHAM

LOOKING DOWNFIELD Maddy Merrill, a junior captain and team leader in scoring, sprints past defenders.

Cross country

The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams are on the rise this year, as both teams placed in the state competition. “On both the boys and girls side, team-wise, we’ve done better than any other year while I’ve been here and any other recent year before that, which is insane,” senior captain Morgan Casey says. “Last year the girls were on the come-up, and the boys were still good, but not spectacular, [and] this year they’ve really improved.” Casey attributes their success in races to having strong packs. “What’s important in cross country is less that your top runners are really fast, that’s a nice thing, but what’s really really important is to have a really good average,” she explains. “So to have both boys and girls to have a central pack that’s fast—it’s what has allowed girls to get second in the region and boys to get third.”

Golf

COURTESEY OF TINO PHAM

After crushing Springbrook in the first round of the playoffs, girls’ volleyball slipped up against Sherwood in the second round, ending their season with twelve wins and nine losses. According to senior captain Jaya Hinton, their season got off to a rocky start. “We moved up a conference so our competition got a lot harder and it is more intense, and at the beginning of the season, we had a lot of sickness and injuries,” she says. “We were generally just scrambling to get things together.” Considering the adversity the team has faced, Hinton believes they have been very successful. “The coaches adapted to it very well, and they were able to put things together very last minute, which was great,” she says. “More than that, our players were able to learn how to play in multiple positions, so if they had to move around they could.”

The girls’ tennis team finished with a winning season, with seven wins and five losses, including a win over rival Churchill for the first time in 19 years. Still, senior captain Christine Cho believes they could have done better. “I think most of our losses were because we made mistakes that we could have probably practiced and fixed,” she says. Returning volleys was the team’s main issue, though Cho remarks that they developed those skills as the season progressed. “We did a lot of drills working with volleys, and they did improve, and we won a bunch of matches because our volleys improved,” she says. On and off the court, the girls’ tennis team maintained a strong camaraderie. “We definitely have a good bond,” Cho says. “In one of our cheers, we’re like ‘1-2-3 Blazers! 1-2-3 family!’ We have really good friendships. We also celebrate a lot after winning; we don’t just brush it off, we compliment each other a lot, and after losses we talk about how we can improve and we work on it.” Key Players: senior Caitlin Lee, senior Gillian Lee, senior Christine Cho, and senior Priscah Rodenhuis

Key Runners: senior Morgan Casey, senior Ryan Holland, and junior Sam Rose Davidoff

Girls’ volleyball

The field hockey team finished their season with four wins and nine losses, an improvement from last year’s season of two wins and ten losses. Senior captain Maya Hammond attributes the team’s improvement to their increased fitness. “We did a lot of conditioning, [abdomen], and thigh workouts because in field hockey you have to be in a squat the whole time,” she says. “We also did strength and conditioning workouts for at least 30 minutes every day because in field hockey you have to run three to five miles per game.” The team played many close games, going into double overtime five times. Hammond added that this was also the first time many players were competing on the varsity level. “We had a lot of new juniors and seniors that hadn’t played varsity before, so that was a tough transition,” she explains.

BLAZING AHEAD Cross country runners outpace the competition in a race against Einstein and Blake.

The golf team putted their way to a winning season, finishing third in their division with ten wins and seven losses. Junior captain Ryan Cho credits their ability to adapt and stay cool under pressure for their success at many competitions, including a particularly challenging one at Argyle Country Club. “We were completely unfamiliar with the course because none of us had played there before, so it was an especially difficult day,” Cho says. They ended up placing second overall. Cho appreciates the bond they have developed as a team. “Because our team is very small compared to any of the other sports—we only have 9 players—there’s a greater camaraderie within the team,” he says. Cho also attributes their bond to the slow nature of the sport. “The fact that golf is a slower-paced and more social sport, it helps because during practice we can talk to one another more … we’re just a chill group of dudes,” Cho says. Key Players: junior Ryan Cho, junior Pattara Kijlertkittikul, and junior Max Edminster

Key Players: senior Jaya Hinton, senior Margaret Wang, senior Grace Hildebrandt, and junior Catherine Rodriguez

Football

The football team had a winning season, with six wins and four losses. Senior captain and quarterback Matthew Siff is pleased with his team’s effort and record. “We exceeded expectations from around the county, especially since we lost a lot of players from last year,” he says. “It’s still disappointing we couldn’t make the playoffs, but it’s still overall a suc-

inside SPORTS

COURTESEY OF TINO PHAM

HITTING ‘EM HARD Several defenders finish tackling a Wheaton player in the Sep. 15 varsity game.

Take a dip with the dive team

The future of high school football

see page F3

see page F2

MARISSA HE

Experience a Blair football game from a cheerleader’s perspective in this Silver Chips video! To watch, scan the QR code or visit tinyurl.com/blaircheer.