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the Conestoga High School, Berwyn PA
Volume 69 No. 6
April 30, 2019
Spoke.news
Guidance counselor publishes new book ‘Middle Schooled’ has always been positive, and many parents suggested I write a book,� News Editor Mullen said. “My motivation in writT/E Middle School guidance ing ‘Middle Schooled’ was to create counselor Andrew Mullen recently something that was both entertainself-published his first book, “Mid- ing and helpful for parents.� dle Schooled: Parenting Tips and Covering subjects ranging from Reminders to Keep You Smiling,� a lying and standing up to bullies, to compilation of firstdating and cell hand observations, phones, “Middle insights and advice Schooled� feafor parents of middle I hope parents re- tures advice and school students. parenting tips alize that having a through a series “I have worked with middle school middle school age of personal aneckids for a long time,� dotes. child is a gift. Mullen said. “As a “I hope parcounselor, I can take ents realize that an objective look at having a middle their behavior and school aged child Andrew Mullen take the time to unTEMS Counselor is a gift. A chalderstand it.� lenging, annoying Mullen has and at times frusworked as a guidance trating gift, but a counselor within the district for 16 gift nonetheless,� Mullen said. years. For the past five years, he has “Middle Schooled� is available sent out weekly emails to the par- on Amazon. Reviewers have called ents of his students, detailing both it “laugh out loud funny� Overall, it parenting advice and personal anec- has a perfect 5-star rating based on dotes. These emails became the basis 22 Amazon reviewers. of “Middle Schooled.� The book’s “The feedback has been extremechapters are organized by month ly positive,� Mullen said. “Parents and topic based on the weekly e-mail have told me they find it very funny messages he has shared with parents and extremely helpful.� over the years. Mullen hopes to continue writ“The feedback (from the emails) ing about parenting in the future.
Maddie Lamonica
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Olivia Thompson/The SPOKE
Rally in the courtyard: AASU member and junior Nymir Robinson (left) supports AASU President and senior Tajsha Gray-Vause (right) before giving the last speech at the Black Out Against Racism Rally on April 9.
African-American Student Union organizes anti-racism rally By Richard Li, Staff Reporter
Olivia Thompson/The SPOKE
Shoulder-to-shoulder: Students fill the large courtyard at 9:15 a.m. on April 9 for the Black Out Against Racism Rally. Students listened to eight speeches.
Chants of “U-N-I-T-Y� rang throughout the large courtyard as Conestoga students and staff stood together to support the African-American Student Union’s (AASU) Black Out Against Racism Rally. “I stand up here today to start at one small school in America in hopes of spreading a message: racism may never end but we will never stop fighting it,� junior Alex Caristan said in his speech at the rally. Caristan was one of eight AASU members who presented speeches or poems at the rally during 3rd period on April 9. The rally was a part of the AASU’s ongoing campaign to promote anti-racism at Conestoga. The campaign also involved presentations with CURE, Conestoga United in Reaching Equity, in 9th grade World Literature classes in April as well as the Black Out Against Racism spirit day on March 20. These events came after Conestoga students posted a video containing racial slurs in March, which came a year after students were involved in a similar video in 2018.
“In reaction to the racist videos that were posted on social media, the African-American Student Union felt that there should be anti-racism messaging throughout the year, whether it’s in the classroom, or in our clubs and activities, or in these larger events like the rally,� AASU club adviser Leashia Lewis said. After obtaining approval from Conestoga’s administration, the AASU promoted their rally through social media, t-shirt sales, word of mouth and Good Morning Stoga. As a result, hundreds of students and faculty leaving their third period classes to listen to speeches in the courtyard. Students wore the AASU’s anti-racism wristband or t-shirt to express their support for the event, and AASU members held signs advocating unity and change. Throughout the 30-minute walkout, members of the AASU spoke to the crowd addressing the effects of racism and goals for the future.
continued on Page 3
Olivia Thompson/The SPOKE
Self-published: Valley Forge Middle School guidance counselor Andrew Mullen shows his first book “Middle Schooled.� Mullen has worked in TESD for 16 years.
Students Against Gun Violence hosts Gun Violence Awareness Week Melinda Xu
Managing Web Editor
Students file into the room, taking their seats and turning their attention to the speaker at the front of the room. The speaker is Pa. State Rep. Melissa Shusterman, here to talk about gun violence, current legislation and how students can get involved in politics. Shusterman was one of a series of guest speakers for Students Against Gun Violence’s (SAGV) Gun Violence Awareness Week, which ran from April 8 to 12. The goal was to educate students on the topic of gun violence and to facilitate conversations on guns and gun safety through multiple educational activities, including the speaker series. “What we aim to do with the awareness week is to teach the student body about what’s going on right now, about the laws that are in place, bills that might be happening and just generally separating fact from fiction about what causes shootings,� senior and SAGV co-president Anna Donahue said. In addition to Shusterman, speakers included Ann Col-
by-Cummings of GunSenseUs, a Chester County based group interested in developing common-sense solutions to reduce gun violence, Shira Goodman of CeaseFirePA, a Pennsylvanian group working
for gun reform, and Marybeth Christiansen and Erin Buchner of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement fighting for safety measures against gun violence. Their presentations were on cur-
rent gun legislation, the work of the various groups they are from and how students can influence change through being politically involved. “I think it’s important for students to talk about any of
the hot button issues that affect their lives and see that we can have disagreements and (still) talk civilly,� Goodman said. “I think there were three young men in the back who don’t agree with everything I
Melinda Xu/The SPOKE
A push for change: Senior Ryan Casciato runs the Gun Violence Awareness Week table. The Students Aganist Gun Violence club hosted events from April 8 to 12., including guest speakers such as Pa. State Rep. Melissa Shusterman and GunSenseUs member Ann Colby-Cummings.
said, but we all engaged civilly and they came up and thanked me afterwards.� Junior Lily Bielinski appreciated the opportunity to hear Shusterman’s thoughts. “I thought everything she talked about was very important based on what’s going around the world,� Bielinski said. “I’m happy that she’s fighting for stricter gun laws and I think what she said about reaching out to your local representatives is really important and something that can go a long way.� The club also held multiple activities each day for the week in the main lobby, including selling T-shirts and pins to raise money for gun violence awareness. Previously, they have donated to Sandy Hook Promise and the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia. “We’ve chosen those because they’re nonpartisan groups that work proactively against gun violence rather than reactively,� junior Percy Kaylor, treasurer of SAGV, said. Throughout the week, SAGV also encouraged students to express their opinions. “We (had) a large board
from the art department where students (could) write opinions on a post-it note and put it on there,� Donahue said. Through these activities, the club wished to help students see the importance of having conversations about gun violence. “This isn’t just an issue at the inner city or New Zealand, it’s an issue that can affect us here and it’s important to talk about and see what we can do to make a difference,� Kaylor said. This is not the first time SAGV has held a schoolwide event to promote gun violence awareness. Last year the club hosted a teach-in day where they had similar activities. These included a poster for students to sign their names in solidarity against gun violence and hosting speakers to promote discussion. They chose to expand the event to a week this year. “We wanted to be able to address lots of different facets of the topic because there are lots of things that factor into gun violence,� Donahue said. SAGV plans to have a similar event next year.
News
2 A BRIEF LOOK
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
The latest developments in T/E news. new mural approved
A new mural was approved by administration and will be located in the cafeteria. Students will begin working over the summer on the mural. new school start times approved by school board
School board members voted in favor of later school start times for next year at the April 22 board meeting. Conestoga will now start at 7:50 a.m. and end at 2:50 p.m., both middle schools will start at 8:27 a.m. and end at 3:10 p.m. and the elementary schools will start at 9:10 a.m. and end at 3:45 p.m. t/e dentistry moving
septa to expand paolithorndale line
Chester County gave SEPTA a $1 million dollar grant to expand the Paoli/Thorndale line with a train station and parking garage at the new final stop in Coatesville. robotics team places at world championships
Sophia Pan/The SPOKE
Civic engagement: Social Studies teacher Deb Ciamacca discussing campaign strategy with her student interns. Ciamacca will run for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 168th district against incumbent Chris Quinn in 2020.
Teacher Deb Ciamacca to run for PA state representative Sophia Pan
Staff Reporter
Social studies teacher Deb Ciamacca will run for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 168th district in Delaware County against in-
cumbent Chris Quinn in 2020. Ciamacca has taught at Conestoga for 19 years and plans to retire in June. Her background as an educator, manufacturing manager and former U.S. Marine Corps captain has given her a unique perspective that she thinks will help her win.
“In the three jobs that I’ve had, I’ve met a lot of different types of people, which I think makes me good at talking to almost anybody,” Ciamacca said. “The number one thing you have to be as a state legislator is sensitive to the needs of the people in your district, and I
The Robotics Club sent two teams to the Vex Robotics World Championships from April 24 to 27. The team captained by junior Neil Muglurmath and freshman Arjun Arasappan finished 16th while the team captained by junior Yash Raj won second. middle schooler excels in math contest
Ethan Liu, an 8th-grader at Valley Forge placed 2nd at the State Mathcounts Competition in March and will participate in the national contest in May as a part of the Pennsylvania team. new events come to the devon horse show
The annual Devon Horse Show will take place from May 24 to June 2 this year. New events this year will include the the Halo Awards, honoring dogs who provide service, and a children’s tea party. conestoga students selected for honor ensembles
Several Conestoga students were selected to participate in the All-State Band, Choir, Orchestra, and All-Eastern Orchestra festivals in Pittsburgh. Read more at
T/E LIFE
Annual Comedy Night hosted
Aimee Buttenbaum/The SPOKE
From classroom to campaign: Social studies teacher Deb Ciamacca talks to an AP Government student. Ciamacca has taught at Conestoga for 18 years and will retire in June to run for PA State Representative in 2020.
was, so that shooting really got me involved.” Additionally, Ciamacca has been politically active in the Conestoga community. She is the faculty adviser of the Young Democrats and Civic Engagement clubs. Senior Dylan Ward, president of the Young Democrats Club and board member for the
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I think we have to start at the grassroots level here and give America back to the people. Deb Ciamacca Teacher
Civic Engagement Club, who had Ciamacca her junior and senior years, will intern on the campaign this summer. “Mrs. Ciamacca has helped me to find my voice during my time at Conestoga. I owe her a lot for the type of person I am today,” Ward said. “I think she has lived an incredible life of public service and she is hopefully going to continue to do so in the Pennsylvania state legislature.”
A few issues Ciamacca plans to address are gun control, gerrymandering, the Sunoco pipeline, education funding and healthcare. She wants her campaign to be about the voice of the people. “I will be spending a significant time in my own district talking to people because, to me, the whole idea behind this job is that you have to be a conduit and a representative of the things that the people in your district want,” Ciamacca said. “I want to do a really good job representing those people who feel like they’ve been left out of the governmental process.” She began her goal to knock on at least 20,000 doors to hear about the issues of the people from the people the week of April 8. “I think we have to start at the grassroots level here and give America back to the people,” Ciamacca said. Ciamacca hopes to inspire her students to go into government and care about the country. “I hope that students will see me as a role model. You cannot sit back and wait for somebody else to care about your government because that’s how you lose your government,” Ciamacca said. “I think we should give back to the country because if we don’t, we’re not going to have a country.”
ARCH comes to Devon Elementary School to discuss substance abuse Ananya Kulkarni Web Editor The TESD parent-run organization, ARCH (Area Residents Helping and Caring, Inc.) held an event entitled “Have you had the Conversation?” on April 2. The event took place at Devon Elementary School and was used as a forum to educate parents on how to discuss issues such as substance abuse with their children before they reach adolescence. “We wanted parents to get more comfortable with the idea of talking to their younger children about substance use and to share with them why it’s important to start the conversation with younger kids,”
said TESD liaison for ARCH, Jeanne Braun. The organization typically holds two events a year for parents within the community in order to spread their message of preventing substance use in children. “Parents are such important models for their children. We encourage adults to be mindful about the language we use to describe someone who is struggling with a substance use disorder, or who is clearly under the influence,” executive director of ARCH Kim Porter said. The language a parent uses is vital in ensuring children are able to voice their struggles or concerns. “When parents express em-
pathy and support, rather than judgement or disgust, children are much more likely to ask questions, share concerns about a loved one, or even self-disclose their own challenges,” Porter said. “We can lay the foundation for open conversations at a very early age and begin having those conversations long before there is a ‘crisis,’ or the potential for heightened emotions.” According to Braun, statistics clearly indicate that age plays a large factor in how likely someone is to become addicted to the substance they begin using. One in four people will battle addiction if they use alcohol and drugs regularly before the age of 18, whereas only one in 18 will become addict-
Senior starts fashion blog OP/ED
Life of a night owl SPORTS
Senior shines on basketball court
Courtesy Jeanne Braun
’Stoga takes on Downingtown East
think, based on what I’ve done in the past, I would be very good at doing that.” She was recently endorsed by the organization New Politics, which promotes candidates throughout the country with a military background. “In the military, we have to work with everyone. It doesn’t matter whether they’re a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent,” Ciamacca said. “I think my military background gives me the ability, in this very polarized society, to work with people that maybe wouldn’t want to work with someone else.” Ciamacca has long been vocal about politics. After the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018, she wrote an article opposing arming teachers with guns for TIME Magazine and appeared on Comedy Central. She also appeared on the BBC, CBS, Canadian Broadcasting and Sky News voicing her opinion on guns. “The Parkland shooting really made me consider, what’s the most effective way to effect change in the government?” Ciamacca said. “And I’ve always talked to my students about government not being a spectator sport—it’s a participant sport— and so I knew I needed to put my money where my mouth
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The T/E Children’s Dental Clinic is moving from its location at TEMS to a new location which is to be determined. The clinic provides dental care for free or very low costs to students.
Having the Conversation: A panel of speakers from ARCH presents to parents about substance abuse prevention. Among the speakers were Mental Health Specialist Ellen Turk and Sean Smith, a licensed professional counselor.
ed if they start using addictive substances after the age of 21. Furthermore, genetic predisposition is an extremely highrisk factor, meaning a family member battling addiction is something children need to be aware of before making their own decisions regarding addictive substances. “Very few adolescents are immune to peer pressure– which is why many young people start using alcohol and drugs–so we hope that parents can prepare their children for that kind of pressure and give them accurate information about the effects of alcohol and drugs,” Braun said. Braun also believes that while approaching a young child, such as an elementary student about such serious topics might be difficult, children are much more likely to listen to their parents if an existing foundation of trust is in place. “The reasons to ‘not use’ have so much to do with being healthy both physically and emotionally, so it’s natural for parents to address drugs and alcohol while they are also talking about nutrition, sleep, screen time and all the important things parents want to teach our children,” Braun said. ARCH hopes that through these events, they will be able to help parents help their children make good decisions through their teenage years. “It is not easy being a teenager and a young adult today; there is a lot of stress and pressure and often that can lead to substance use,” Braun said. “We want to reduce the stigma of addiction and mental health issues. We need to be able to talk about these things in our families, in our school and in our community and ARCH wants to provide parents with important resources to help.”
College Essay Help Marylyn E. Calabrese
Ph.D., writing coach, teacher A.B. from Bryn Mawr College, a MAT from Wesleyan University and a Ph.D in Teaching Writing from the University of Pennsylvania Former chairperson of Conestoga High School English Department Students can meet her at a mutually convenient location, online or by telephone
She can be reached at writedrmec@aol.com
News
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
2
“U-N-I-T-Y” (left): Freshman Ray Walker leads a chant from the song “U.N.I.T.Y.” by Queen Latifah. In between every speech, Walker started this chant to unite the rally attendees. Posting thoughts (below): Members of the student body hold anti-racism posters. The rally took place during third period on April 9.
Claire Guo/The SPOKE
African-American Student Union organizes anti-racism rally From page 1 “The purpose of the rally was to give students whose voices are not always heard a voice to express their experiences here at Conestoga High School,” Lewis said “The goal was to say to everyone in the community that this is how we feel, this is what we experience, and this is how we feel we could do better, just so all voices are heard, feelings are expressed, and we can come together in unity.” Unity was a common theme throughout the rally. Between each speech, the students and faculty in the courtyard clapped in unison and chanted “U-N-I-T-Y.” Speakers were introduced by freshman Ray Walker, who also presented the opening and closing remarks. Caristan believes that although all of the speakers have similar views on racism, they expressed their sentiments in unique ways. “We have the same general consensus, but these got into the nit and grit. Some people shared personal stories or personal poems they’d written, and some people just shared a broader message about racism,” Caristan said. “I went more for the broader picture because I don’t have that many specific examples in my life. The point I was trying to get across was essentially ‘educate yourself so you don’t have an excuse to be racist.’” Senior AJ Riley attended the rally and said that he felt moved by the speakers’ stories. “I felt like the speakers did a really good job and I feel like I was pretty moved by their stories. A lot of people showed up and I think it was a really good showing of the school’s unity,” Riley said.
Senior and club president Tajsha GrayVause spoke towards the end of the walkout, discussing the issue of racial slurs in the school community. Gray-Vause felt like the rally allowed students to better understand the speakers and the individuals they represented. “The amount of people who showed up and just came out to show their support really moved me because I wasn’t expecting that many students to come out and want to hear us speak. I also wasn’t expecting it to be that quiet — you could sense the intensity in the courtyard. It meant a lot that now they’re listening and have a better outlook on how we feel,” Gray-Vause said. Lewis believes that the rally helped reassure individuals who have felt marginalized in the past and hopes that it will serve as a precursor to more positive discussion in the future. “It seems like these efforts, with the school participating and being a part of their efforts, has been well-attended. This was really reaffirming for anybody in this building who has felt marginalized — the idea that, actually the people who are racist and not open to hearing somebody else’s views are the marginalized ones,” Lewis said. Continuing with their efforts to eliminate racism at Conestoga, the AASU hopes to hold a teach-in discussing racism later this school year and work together with the upcoming Students Organizing Against Racism (SOAR) group, which will be composed of students of different backgrounds and focus on spreading anti-racism messages.
Ananya Kulkarni/The SPOKE
Mic-ing a difference (left): Sophomore Jeremiah Miller gives a speech at the Black Out Against Racism Rally on April 9. Eight students spoke at the rally.
Ananya Kulkarni/The SPOKE
A full court (below): Students gather in the large courtyard to attend the anti-racism rally. The AASU handed out wristbands and ribbons, and sold t-shirts.
Spreading the message (right): AASU President and senior Tajsha Gray-Vause (right) and junior Nymir Robinson (left) stand at the mic to deliver the last speech. GrayVause wrote a Letter to the Editor in this issue of The Spoke, that appears on page 8.
Olivia Thompson/The SPOKE
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Tuesday, April 30, 2019
T/E LIFE Tiffany He
T/E Life Editor
It’s not every day that you see Santa Claus dancing to “The Best Day Ever” from SpongeBob in the auditorium. On April 11, the Conestoga Best Buddies Club hosted their annual talent show, inviting six other schools in the area to shine the spotlight on their Buddies. Joined by Great Valley, Haverford, Henderson, Plymouth Whitemarsh, Radnor and Unionville High Schools, more than 250 students performed in the event, the largest number ever. After their performances, Best Buddies celebrated with a pizza party provided by Conestoga. Club adviser Caron Wirth has helped organize the show for the past eight years. She said the club members dedicated hours after school choreographing and since after winter break, practicing. “I would not have gotten up on stage in high school to perform like them. These kids have been practicing and they don’t even think about getting up on stage. They just love it and they work really hard,” Wirth said. Best Buddies is an international organization that provides peers to children who have different abilities. At the beginning of each year, club officers pair Buddies with club members, forming long-lasting friendships. Co-club president Katie Martin has been a part of the club since her freshman year. “Best Buddies has been the best part of my high school journey,” Martin said. “When you are creating a one-on-one
’Stogas Got Talent: The ’Stoga Best Buddies gather at the edge of the stage after their performance. Co-club president Olivia Cepelik (middle) choreographed the entire routine to popular TV show themes.
Tiffany He/The SPOKE
Buddied up: Conestoga hosts annual talent show
friendship with someone, it becomes something you want to do versus something you have to do. I have met my best friends through Best Buddies,
and I have learned how to look through different perspectives and how to be acceptive and inclusive of others.” To showcase this year’s
theme, TV shows, the Best BudAfter the first performance dies danced to the theme songs during second period, Trainer of popular shows. Last year, shared a sweet moment with the Best Buddies the audience. waltzed to DisSenior Buddy ney tunes and the Best Buddies has Johnathan Stanyear before that ton, called to the they grooved been the best part of stage by Trainer, to the music of my high school jour- returned with a the ’90s. Conesof beauney. When you are bouquet toga’s perfortiful hydrangeas a one-on- in hand. With mance featured creating a mashup of one friendship with all eyes on him, “Hannah Monhe asked fellow tana,” “Friends,” someone, it becomes Buddy Lauren “Drake and Josh” something you want to Kilgore to seand “Little Ein- do versus something nior prom. This steins.” heartwarming “Every school you have to do. promposal was is doing a difKatie Martin met with a standferent TV show Club President ing ovation. theme song. It’s “No one knew meant to get the that he (Stanton) crowd excited about the dance was going to do it, but he did and the songs that the people and it was really nice of him,” will know,” Martin said. junior club member Manasseh The emcee for the program, Teshome said. English teacher Michael TrainMartin hopes that the club er, spoke between each act from will continue this tradition even first period to fifth. after she graduates. “He’s awesome. Mr.Train“We want people to see how er gets the audience really in- talented they (the Best Buddies) volved. He’ll go out and have are and how hard they work. It’s them sing or he’ll put them on a good way for people in school the spot. He makes the Buddies to see kids they don’t see in the feel very special. It’s a very in- hallways or in their classes very clusive day,” Wirth said. often,” Martin said.
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Tiffany He/The SPOKE
Thumbs up: Senior Lauren Kilgore gives a confident thumbs up after fellow senior John Stanton asked her to prom. The audience gave a standing ovation congratulating the pair.
Tiffany He/The SPOKE
Bursting with pride: Best Buddies adviser Caron Wirth proudly watches her students from the audience. Wirth has helped organize the event for the past eight years.
e-NABLE club lends a helping hand Staff Reporter
Whether it be 3D printing prosthetic hands or assembling prosthetics for a national organization, the e-NABLE club at Conestoga is hard at work trying to make a positive difference in their community and nation. Started two years ago by junior club president Aashna Rana, the e-NABLE club is a chapter of the national e-NABLE organization, “a global network of passionate volunteers using 3D printing to give the world a helping hand,” ac-
cording to their website. “I wanted to help people, and this was the perfect chance for me to do so and help students with a similar interest become involved as well,” Rana said. Using the special 3D printers at ’Stoga, the club focuses on printing and assembling prosthetic hands. After the prosthetic hands are assembled, the finished product is sent in to the national e-NABLE organization in order to be distributed to the patients who need them. The e-NABLE club at Conestoga is “just going to keep with the plan that we have right now, which is making hands, because there’s such a need,” faculty ad-
viser Malia Gordon said. “The students here at the club are really good at doing it.” This year, however, marked a significant step forward for the club. In March, the club met its first recipient, 8-year-old Savannah Waldron-Kim from New Jersey. “Savannah was born with a thumb and pinky that never fully developed,” Rana said. “She can do most things that other kids can do though and (she enjoys) learning about e-NABLE’s mission and (the prosthetics).” A conference held by the Helping Hands Foundation for individuals with upper limb differences first introduced Wal-
dron-Kim’s parents to the idea of 3D printed hand prosthetics.
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I wanted to help people, and this was the perfect chance for me to do so and help students with a similar interest become involved as well.
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Renato Distefano
Aashna Rana Club President
They then received information about the Conestoga chapter
of e-NABLE through Shriner’s Hospital in Philadelphia. “Since connecting with the Conestoga chapter of e-NABLE, we’ve been excited about the process of developing the hand for (my daughter),” Jennifer Waldron said. “Recently, I brought (her) to Conestoga High School to meet with the e-NABLE club. (She) had the opportunity to work with the members of the club to build part of her 3D hand, which was also a great experience for her.” Waldron is content with the way the club has handled printing the 3D hand for her daughter.
“The plan is for Savannah’s hand to be complete by the end of this school year,” Waldron said. “She is also very excited to share the finished hand with her second grade class, who have been following the progress of the hand through (her) updates.” Through bake sales and a GoFundMe page, Conestoga’s e-NABLE has been raising money in order to print more hands and help more recipients. However, Gordon is concerned that lack of money may hinder the clubs goal to print more 3D prosthetics. “I think the biggest issue that we’ve had is just real-
ly having enough money to buy the materials, because they can be pretty expensive,” Gordon said. “And since the number of bake sales we can have is limited, it just really depends on how much money we have.” Rana, Gordon and the other club members are hopeful that Shriner’s will send more patient referrals to the club, but for now are focused on assembling as many hands as possible. “It’s just really a matter of finding someone who needs a hand and then being able to provide it to them,” Gordon said.
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Engineering with empathy: Treasurer Elisa Ponte and club president Aashna Rana sit down with e-NABLE prosthetic recipient Savannah Waldron-Kim. Waldron-Kim’s parents got in touch with Conestoga’s chapter of e-NABLE through Shriner’s Hospital in Philly.
T/E Life
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
5
Capturing the court: Sophomore shoots local sports Alex Gurski
Staff Reporter
The shutter of sophomore Colin White’s Nikon D3500 clicks constantly as he glides up and down the sidelines, gathering pictures and videos of Conestoga’s varsity basketball team. Many of White’s posts wind up on his Instagram account, bycolinwhite, where his 600+ followers ambush each post with likes, comments, and views. White was conf licted when he realized he would be out of town for the second portion of school basketball tryouts and would not be able to attend them. Looking for a way to get a gym credit, he suggested to the varsity basketball coach his ideas of traveling with the team and taking photos and videos of the players. “It was kind of weird getting into it at first, but a lot of the players supported it, especially since they got free pictures. I didn’t really mean for it to happen,” White said. After going to games and gaining experience, White began to take his craft more seriously. With the camera he purchased with the money he had saved up from working at a pizza shop, and the quality of his work improved, as did his passion. “It wasn’t until recently that I felt like my photography got somewhat decent. I was just doing it for the money for a while because I didn’t really care
about it that much, and it wasn’t until recently that I really started to care about it,” White said. To showcase his work, White created the Instagram account called bycolinwhite. He uploads the photos
COlin’s PIcks
He is “a player from Downingtown East named Andrew King. They were the first people to hire me outside of ’Stoga, that was kind of big for me. (This) was my favorite photo of that game.”
Reese Wang/The SPOKE
Cracking the code: Physics and computer science teacher Edward Sharick tests his code. Sharick started teaching computer science three years ago, a year after stepping in for a physics teacher on leave.
Teacher Feature: Edward Sharick
Reese Wang
Staff Reporter
and videos he has edited in Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Lightroom, and Adobe Photoshop for over 600 followers, mostly students and basketball players from our area, to view. To expand his efforts, White decided to take some photos and videos for other schools as well. He filmed a boys basketball game for Downingtown East High School, and has begun to do some filming for the Conestoga junior varsity and freshman teams, as well as more club basketball teams in the area. White hopes to start filming some other Conestoga sports besides basketball in the future. “I’m trying to branch out and (do lacrosse) and football too, but I mostly focus on basketball,” White said. Sophomore and varsity basketball player Jack Liedtka reflected on the past season with White, and how his photography and videography benefitted the team, stating that “(White) really helped our team gain exposure.”
In Edward Sharick’s computer science classes, one can find students working on coding projects both individually and in small groups. However, there isn’t a lecturer present in the room, only a facilitator to give advice. “I put a lot of responsibility in the hands of the student, and let them make the decisions, whether they be good or bad decisions,” Sharick said. Sharick arrived at Conestoga in January 2015 to replace a physics teacher on leave. The following year, he began teaching computer science classes. Currently, he teaches physics, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Computer Science A and Alice and Java. Growing up in Pittsburgh as the sixth of ten children, Sharick said his parents didn’t have the time to check in on everything he was doing. He said this gave him a lot of responsibility, but also independence to explore his interests. He first encountered coding in a QBasic language course offered by his high school in Lower Burrell. “One of my final projects for that class was a baseball simulation game where you could choose to swing or take a pitch, and based on probabilities, you would either get a strike or you would get a hit. And you would have runners and you could try and steal bases and things like that,” Sharick said. He continued to pursue his interest by taking additional coding courses in high school. He later studied computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. However, after taking a physics course to satisfy a college science requirement, he switched his major to computational physics, which he teaches at Conestoga today. Outside of school, Sharick splits his time between a variety of activities, from Ultimate
“Evan (Medley) always laid down when he was checking in and I lked how he was illluminated by the backlights and it brought out the picture. I just wanted to get a picture of it and he hapened to have his tongue out. This is probably my favorite photo of the basketball season.”
“Zay Wong is the number two player in the state of Pennsylvania and he was wearning the hoodie of this very famous photographer from the NBA and she reposted the picutre on her Instagram. She has around 200,000 followers and it was pretty surreal.”
Life through a lens: Sophomore Colin White lines up a shot on his camera and prepares to take a photo. White started out by taking photos of basketball photos and then posted them to his Instagram account, where he now has more than 600 followers.
Frisbee to reading. He enjoys cheering on the Pittsburgh Penguins and playing on the ice himself in a local instructional league at the Oaks center. He also likes watching TV with his wife and walking his Labrabull dog, Lucy. In addition, he is an avid gamer, devoting several hours a week to playing video games such as World of Warcraft, DOTA 2 and PUBG. “Growing up, I played a lot of video games with my brothers back in my console,” Sharick said. “I like the unique challenges that the games bring about and I like the social aspect of games.”
Courtesy Edward Sharick
Slip and score: Teacher Edward Sharick skates across the ice, sporting his team’s jersey. Although he plays for his local instructional league, Sharick enjoys cheering on his favorite team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Seeking dedicated staff to support students and teachers in the classroom and administrative offices.
Andreviews: Tiramisu Andrew Bucko T/E Life Editor
Tiramisu’s cuisine is a great substitute for a Roman holiday. No, seriously. The flavors that this quaint Roman-Jewish fusion restaurant whips up will transport one from Berwyn to the famed Jewish Ghetto in Italy’s capital, no plane ticket, Fiat, or moped needed. After 10 minutes of digging through the bread basket, it was time for some greens. A glowingly vibrant arugula salad greeted me. Piled high with Roma tomatoes, blueberry feta, and lemon vinaigrette, this was a salad with soul. The salad had a clean flavor profile and all ingredients worked together seamlessly. If the bread and salad aren’t quite satisfying enough, the gnocchi will stop even the hungriest diner dead in their tracks. Tiramisu’s version of the rich, dumpling-shaped potato pasta comes in an intimidatingly large bowl. The pasta is drowned (in the best way) with parmesan sauce. Flavors of fresh peppercorn, thyme, and basil shine through the sauce. To reemphasize, the gnocchi is FILLING. The gnocchi al pomodoro showcases a tomato blush sauce. If you get this as an entrée, don’t expect much room for dessert. On to the crown jewel of the menu, the namesake and high-
ly-coveted tiramisu. Layers of ladyfinger cookies doused in espresso are blockaded by whipped mascarpone, eggs, sugar and cocoa. The first bite might start a lifelong addiction, be warned . . . However, a dinner at Tiramisu will set one back a good deal. The price is fair for the quality of the food, but the ambiance leaves something to be desired. $18 for gnocchi isn’t cheap. My mom and I heard the same Italian song played four times, and we had the pleasure of listening to the Frank Sinatra cover of the same song lat-
Sharick also enjoys coding at home, spending three to five hours a week on coding projects. He has coded arcade games such as Space Invaders, Snake and PAC-MAN. “I’ve always enjoyed playing them growing up and it’s fun to relive the childhood experience in a way,” Sharick said. He loves coding due to the amount of creative freedom he has. “When you’re coding, you’re not bound by as many roles as like some other things,” Sharick said. “Anything that you can imagine, you can put on the screen. And that, to me, is really empowering.”
er in our meal. Perhaps a new Spotify playlist would make the price 100% worth it. If you’re looking for a swanky dinner but don’t want to hop the train to Center City, Tiramisu has you covered. Tiramisu 720 Lancaster Ave, Berwyn *** Phone: 610) 906-3299 Hours: Lunch Tue-Fri: 12p.m.- 3p.m. Dinner: Sun-Thurs: 4p.m. 9p.m.
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T/E Life
6
Tuesday, April 30, 2019 Looking forward: Computer Science Club members meet to discuss plans for the future in the teachers’ lounge. The club hosted Codefest as an opportunity to promote programming.
Audrey Kim/The SPOKE
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Codefest From March 18 to April 8, Computer Science Club hosted CodeFest, a 3-week-long competition where all Conestoga students have the opportunity to code a project of their own making. Students worked in groups of up to four students, creating projects such as websites, apps, and games, for a chance to win cash prizes up to $100
and Raspberry Pis, the mini programming computer. According to senior Ben Chiu, co-president of Computer Science Club, the club designed CodeFest to encourage more people to code within the community. The event was based on the club’s own outside competitions, where participants are tasked with cod-
written and designed by audrey kim, copy editor
ing a project with a specific function. “We wanted the club to engage with the community and to give students who take coding classes in school a chance to apply their knowledge,” Chiu said. “People can get interested and pursue coding, but (CodeFest) is also a way to code in not such an intimidating manner (such as competitions).”
For this reason, the leaders in the Computer Science Club decided to emphasize creativity as the main criteria when judging, more so than technique. “We prioritized originality first since that’s what benefits the world when coding, and we also wanted CodeFest to be a driver for those not as interested in computer science,” senior and co-presi-
project
My Stocks
gpassist
aapl 5 x $198.65 googl 2 x $243.60
created by mihir dhamankar and rohit chatterjee Juniors Mihir Dhamankar and Rohit Chatterjee created the project GPAssist, which works with Schoology to produce a single page where students can view all their grades for the year. The browser extension also helps students estimate their GPA for the year and see how adding a certain grade for a test or assignment would affect their final grade.
Before coding GPAssist, Dhamankar had never made a browser extension or used the coding languages Javascript or JQuery. Within a week, however, both he and Chatterjee submitted a finished product, alongside a report and a video demonstrating how to use the product. “I had to learn all the basics of
these coding languages to do this project,” Dhamankar said. “But I also think that’s the best way to learn coding — you just pick up a project and then you try to figure out the best way to execute it.” Dhamankar said that they were inspired by Pinnacle, the online grade system which the school district originally used before replacing
amzn 3 x $301.27
it with Schoology. With CodeFest, Dhamankar and Chatterjee said they appreciated what the experience gave them. “I think a lot of people don’t think about the creativity that goes into coding,” Dhamankar said. “There are a million different ways to code one thing, but you’re trying to find the most elegant solution for it.”
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spanish marking period 1 grade: 93
marking period 2 grade: 87
marking period 3
grade: 81
marking period 4 grade: 92
literature
Chemistry
government
spanish
new assignment grade: points / total
aapl
created by arvan kaushik, patrick marquet, jeff leonata and peter novak project
statistics
dent Eugene Mak said. “It’s a gatekeeping subject and not a lot of people who aren’t already interested join, so that’s why we’re valuing originality.” By the end of the competition, six teams submitted finished work for judging, with winners to be announced on April 30. The Spoke interviewed three teams on their respective projects.
add
stock up
Seniors Arnav Kaushik, Patrick Marquet, Jeff Leonata and Peter Novak didn’t initially know what project they wanted to do for CodeFest. In the weeks leading up to the competition, they toyed with ideas like an AI music generator or a bot that recognized feeling and tone when spoken to. Eventually, they created StockUp, an iOS app that allows users to manage their stocks on one platform. StockUp features specific stocks’ past performance and also uses news articles to determine public opinion of them. “We created StockUp to help
minimize the amount of work necessary to manage stocks,” Kaushik said. “Currently, stocks are difficult to manage if you have multiple account on various platforms, and the options available were not as simple as we wanted.” StockUp also predicts stock prices for the next day, which Kaushik says was one of the major milestones of the process. One of their tests had the app predicting the next day’s Apple stock price within 80 cents. In the future, the team said that they are considering submitting the app to the App Store to be used by the public.
project
wikichan created by eric zhao
Before joining the Computer Science Club as a freshman, sophomore Eric Zhao originally started dabbling in coding with the encouragement of his parents, who are both involved in the computer science field. “I always thought that we didn’t really do enough in the club,” Zhao said. “So when (the leadership) proposed CodeFest, I thought it was a good way to promote more activity and get more people in-
volved in coding.” His foray into Codefest led him to create Wikichan, a Firefox plugin where users can hover over a piece of text and a popup box showing the Wikipedia entry for the selected text will be shown. For the project, Zhao was inspired by the Chrome plugin Yomichan, which shows a popup box translating any Japanese text to English. Although Zhao had started previous coding projects, Wi-
kichan was his first “real” finished product. “I’ve tried doing other projects, but I scrapped them at the end, because I couldn’t figure it out or something like that,” Zhao said. “CodeFest gave me motivation to really get a project out there.” In the future, Zhao said that he hopes to code more projects and gain more experience with coding. Zhao also plans to major in computer science.
Star Wars
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result of: Star Wars Epic science fantasy space opera franchise
Star Wars is an American epic space-opera media franchise created by George Lucas. The franchise began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The first film, later subtitled Episode IV – A New Hope, was followed by two sequels, Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983), collectively referred to as the original trilogy. A subsequent prequel trilogy, consisting of Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Codefest</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="css/frame.css"> </head> <body> <div id="disambiguations"> <input type="checkbox" id="list-control"> <label for="list-control"> <p id="disambiguations-count"></p></label> <div id="disambiguations-list"> <hr> <div id="filters"> </div> <div id="results"> <p id="end-message">no more results</p> </body> </html> <body> <div id="disambiguations"> <input type="checkbox" id="list-control"> <label for="list-control"><p id="disambiguations-count"></p></label> <div id="disambiguations-list"> <hr> <div id="filters"> <div id="re-
Better Scores, Better Schools Last year, Crimson Review helped Conestoga students raise their SAT scores by an average of 150 points and ACT scores by 5 points. Take the next step to a better college at crimsonreview.com or call 610.688.6441.
T/E Life
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
7
Blacklight: Jaden on drums
The Fairfield Project: Eric on vocals and guitar Last Minute: T on bass
Bands At ’Stoga
After school, some students write songs, rehearse sets and play gigs. Meet student bands Blacklight, Last Minute, and The Fairfield Project. Story, Photos and Design by Claire Guo, Opinion Editor -
Blacklight
Nick: None of us are crazy insane musicians, so we really do have to work at it. Which kind of comes with the territory.
Scott Hennessy—vocals, guitar Nick Arbes—guitar, keyboards John Vadner—bass Jaden Douglas—drums JOHN
nick
JAden SCOTT
Q & A: How’d the band get together? Nick: In seventh grade, we kind of wanted to do something cool for the Variety Show. We ended up playing “Don’t Stop Believing” and we got huge applause afterwards. It was really cool. And we just kept playing.
Earlier this year Blacklight started cranking out original music. What’s your songwriting process like? Scott: I usually start with the guitar and I’ll fiddle around with it. I’ll just sit in my room and just like bash my head into the guitar to try to get lyrics out, ideas out.
What’s the hardest part of being band? Jaden: Time is insane. We are all very, very busy people when it comes to sports and extracurriculars. So actually finding the time to perform and to productively practice.
Sidney White—vocals, guitar Sean Naimoli—guitar Timothy (T) Chiles—bass Jake Hunter—drums Finn Thompson—keyboard
T
SEAN
JAKE SIDNEY
FINN
The Fairfield Project Q & A: How’d the band get together? Mark: Me and Eric, we go to an after-school program called the School of Rock. And I met him there about what, six years ago? Eric: No, longer. Mark: Seven years ago? Eric: Nine years ago. A long time ago. Mark: And then I was like, “Yo let’s make some music.” That started about two years ago— Eric: Three years ago. Mark: Three years ago? Three years ago, and then about a year into it we
got Brad on the squad and we got Dom too. And now we are who we are today. I grew up on North Fairfield Road, and that's kind of where it all started. I finally sent Eric that text, like let’s do it. We started writing our first song that day. The kind of sad thing is I'm moving soon but yeah, the house that it all started in is on North Fairfield Road. That's our project, The Fairfield Project. What role does music play in your lives? Mark: It's kind of short and simple: music’s just everything. Because every moment of the day you’re listening to some sort of music. Nothing in the world has no music. Brad: Everything's better with music. Eric: I agree with what Mark said. Music is everything. Music is a healer. Music is a communicator. And for me personally, music gives me direction. If I didn't have music, I don't know what else I would do. Life without music is like life without color.
ERIC
How’d the band get together? Sean: Well, Sidney and I talked about playing Junior Cabaret in the fall. In November, the drummer stopped responding to us. That one. (points to friend nearby, laughing) He just went radio silence on us. Sidney: The bassist, too. They just never responded. Sean: So that’s also where we got the band name from, because they weren’t responding and we had rehearsal and I was like, “Well we need a bassist.” So I text T. T: I stepped up to the plate, baby. Sidney: So the week before Junior Cabaret, we got T. And then we practiced, what, two days before, one day before, and the night of?
Dominic: I began music when I was in a down part of my life, and it really brought me up. Music’s something that I'm always going to stick with. And I'm starting to drop things for music. I'm not playing soccer next year so I can focus on music more. What’s the best part about being a band? Eric: Mark and I have been playing for a really long time. He knows what I’m about to do, I know what he’s about to do. Brad: You really learn a person. Eric: And when you learn a person as a musician, you kind of learn the person. Brad: The emotions, it comes through. Do you have any good stories? Mark: (Writing) one of our newest songs called, “Can’t Take No More.”
Fairfield originals
DOMinic
BRAD
Blacklight originals
Q & A:
Last Minute
Eric Perez—vocals, guitar Mark Sarkissian—drums Brad MacKenzie—bass Dominic DiAddezio—keyboard, vocals
How about the best part? Jaden: School fame. It’s really nice doing something you love and getting recognized for it. That’s just what continues to drive us to continue performing and pushing ourselves to go even deeper and deeper into this. Nick: I guess the turning point for me is when we were playing in seventh grade and everyone cheered. I rememberthe rush that you get from performance. I guess I’m cheesy, but it’s a natural high. Jaden: The natural high is real.
MARK Genre: Hard rock, classic rock,
What are your hopes for Blacklight in the future? Scott: So number one priority is something that I want to do so badly is get that EP/album by 2020. I want that so bad. It’s gonna be awesome. But aside from that, we’re planning on having a party at some point towards the end of the year where we can play with our 1. Ugly Kids friends 2. Cold Asphalt 3. Time of My Life and show all of our 4. Braindead original 5. Carbon music and covers. Jaden: Open house! Nick: Where is that? Now whose house is that? John: Open house at Nick’s, guys!
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Sean: Two days before, we didn’t have Jake. The day before, we didn’t have T. And the day of, we finally had everyone. Jake: Yeah, so we kind of just threw it together Last Minute. What’s the hardest part of being a band? T: Finding time to practice! We practiced one time for this gig. Sean: Hence, Last Minute. But I feel like because we’re all pretty competent musicians, we can figure it out. Like right before this show (the music club owner) told us we needed one more song. Sidney: I was like, “Oh let me look up the lyrics on my phone.”
Eric: It was our first practice with Dom. Brad: Wow, it was that long ago. Mark: The real special moment is when we all learned our parts and we played it for the first time all the way through. And I remember just kind of looking around and everybody had this little smile on their face. Dominic: It all poured together. Mark: It was honestly this feeling of pure joy. I didn’t know what to do with it. Eric: And I never felt happiness that pure before. Dominic: It's like all the ingredients for the cake just all came together at one time and then there was like that cake! Eric: And then we ate it! 1. Road Song 2. 45 (Home) 3. I Don’t Know Why 4. Brown 4 5. Alone
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Sean: We all pulled the guitar tab from our phone, like, “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” T is like listening to it in the corner.
Jake: It felt really good when the entire crowd called us back up for one more song. Sidney: That might’ve been our high point, right there. Jake: We just peaked. T: It’s all downhill from here, baby!
What are your hopes for the band in the future? Sean: So I’ve got two months And the best part? left of school, one of which I’m Sean: The camaraderie is a lot on internship. I think it’d be fun of fun. to just stack as many gigs as we Sidney: Pulling a song out of can in here. nowhere and playing it. Sidney: Sounds like a plan.
florry of success Story by Sanjana Sanghani, Staff Reporter Leaning back in her chair, senior Sheridan Medosch reflects on why she started making music. “I just really wanted some friends,” Medosch said. In eighth grade, Medosch said she was constantly bullied. The novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith inspired her to start the band “Florry,” whose name is derived from the book’s titular character. “Florry is named after my favorite character whom I relate to the most because she is able to gain independence and ultimately pull herself together,” Medosch said. Florry includes bassist Peter Gill and drummer Theo Woodward, both in their late twenties. Woodward was a member of Medosch’s old band and Gill met Medosch through a mutual friend. “Even though Theo and Peter are older than me, they still respect and trust me,” Medosch said. “We all get along well together probably because we’re all wise.” The band members practice once or twice a month as Woodward lives in Manhattan and Gill in Philadelphia. “But for the many shows we do, we meet each other at the venue and play without practicing but that’s OK because we’re all very adaptive.” Medosch said. Having toured in cities like Austin, Memphis and Richmond, Florry signed onto the Washington D.C. based record label, Sister Polygon Records. Florry played in the label’s official showcase at the South by South-
west music festival in Austin, Texas. “It was super overwhelming at first to play at this huge festival, but it ended up being a good time and I got to talk to bands that I look up to like Smashing Pumpkins and I got to meet Ethan
Sheridan
Hawke,” Medosch said. Medosch, the lead singer, acts as the manager, booking venues and writing songs for the band. To her, songwriting is something that she “is able to flush out all at once.” “I write about hard times with mental health and being scared and fearful, and when people come up to me and say how my music has helped them during times in their life when they’ve been too scared to come outside, it feels rewarding,” Medosch said. Despite a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, Medosch said she has never been nervous before performing. “It’s kind of cool that I don’t get stage fright,” Medosch said. “I feel so comfortable dancing and singing on stage because I’m feeding off my own energy and it’s an awesome time.
8
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
OPINION Senior farewell: A few words of wisdom After four years at Conestoga, our senior Spokies are signing off. But before passing the torch to the new editorial board, they’d like to share some final advice: k Find something you love doing and make the time for it. But don’t forget about classwork either. Listen to others but make decisions for yourself. Spend time with friends. Go outside once in a while. Go to bed. On time. For a reasonable amount. You’ll thank yourself later. —Kaitlyn Chen
Kaitlyn Chen/The SPOKE
k Don’t measure your accomplishments against others. No matter how many APs you take, awards you receive, or hours you spend studying, there is always someone who does it better — who makes it look so easy. As hard as it sounds, at the end of the day, the only person you should compare yourself to is you. —Maddie Lamonica
Broken mirrors: Grades don’t reflect mastery
k High school in itself is something that we take for granted. Find new friends, make amends with old ones. Don’t be afraid to talk to people. Reach out and find opportunities on your own. Be independent but also seek out help from others. Make beauty out of mundane. —Olivia Thompson k Don’t sacrifice your sleep. Ever. If you’re averaging four hours a night like sophomore-year me to “get into a good college”: Don’t! Those who have gone through the process will tell you that college is a game no matter what. Seven hours of precious slumber are always worth it. —Brooke Deasy k Despite what your parents may say, suffering in the present for the sake of your future isn’t healthy. Don’t sacrifice sleep for schoolwork. Don’t sacrifice time with friends for intensive,
k From failing a test to making one of my favorite art projects, you really go through a lot at Conestoga. Take advantage of what is offered to you, but also find balance. I never took any APs except for Studio Art and I did perfectly fine getting accepted into all my colleges. Study hard while you’re here, but most importantly, take care of yourself! —Paige Sredenschek k It’s very easy to overthink and overreact. In just four short years, high school will be gone. Your friends will change. Your relationships will break. Your AP Calculus AB grade will disappear into oblivion. Spend less time worrying about whether or not they like you and less time wishing you could raise
your 89.4%, and live life in the present, being genuinely happy. —Avery Maslowsky k Now is the time, little ones. Seize the day, carpe freaking diem. Join a club, play a sport, don’t fake your extended experience, always go for the pizza dippers, get a job, shoot for the stars. Actually use the bathroom for its intended purpose. Don’t overwork yourself. Take a deep breath and enjoy the good times. —Renato DiStefano k There is always and will always be pressure to excel academically at Conestoga. But when we are out in the real world, that C on your physics test won’t matter. The work ethic and skills you developed by taking your tests on time and not cutting corners will set you apart from the rest. It’s okay to be honestly average. —Reagan Gerrity
From the Editors: Goodbye
based on total points does not an open-note quiz (which allows with the option of allowing stuproperly represent a student’s students to only use notes writ- dents to use hand-written notes. comprehension. ten by themselves), you would Projects should not be worth that This limited comprehension see some students searching up many points because it is more presents a problem because stu- answers on the Internet or sifting important that they help the students are not adequately prepared through a PDF of the textbook. dent understand rather than simfor college. In fact, the National In this case, quiz grades, which ply give a grade boost. Center for Education Statistics, a are weighted in this class, are not There is no easy way to make subset of the U.S. Department of representative of mastery. grades reflect mastery. Yes, we Education, reported that 40 perBut why, then, are open-note could completely switch to the cent of students starting at pub- quizzes still given out when weighted grading system, and Matthew Fan lic four-year institutions took at cheating is extremely likely? Like- teachers could stop giving extra Staff Reporter Justin Huang and Avery least one remedial course during wise, why do projects, which do credit, but the school would nevMaslowsky Grades are percentages—100, their enrollment between 2003 not necessarily require mastery er implement this for every class. Co-Editors-in-Chief The average 90, 80—so it would make sense and 2009. Remedial courses are and can be academic seen as “easy grades in it’s a Dear that they represent the percent designed to strengthen“I “I think greatreaders, think it’s a great idea that no one all classof the class material that a stu- skills, so remediation is concen- p o i n t s , ” idea that no one should believe because such and es would dent has mastered, but that’s not trated among students who lack nonetheless Another year goes by, and anshould such isn’t always considered a p l u m m e t ,believe the case, especially at Conestoga academic preparation, which have high other set of editors leave. But even level of point andbecause that such High School, where grades are can stem from a highfundamental as theand names on our staff change, right valto all activists.” would reoften inflated. What’s the point leniency—in other words, grad- ues? Quizour appreciation for our readers such isn’t always -John Hancock, order to celebrate their zesinare usuflect poor- stays constant. We’d like of having a grade if it doesn’t ing based on effort, not masteryschool of a subject. While Overall, the rigor ofholiday. ally Itused tofair how we have wanted to take this intolymyconsidered on isn’tsenior properly reflect how much of the extend our gratitude ownthe toa fundaon Muslim holidays. A new convert, eh?inside Been getmental to of all Conestoga’s help pre- test whether material you have learned? It’s to all you, both hands because there is school. a lack of right Muslim studentsclasses who does celebrate pare students for college courses, a student I believe not that I’m disappointed thatEid I al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha Muslim or Middle Easternactivists. rep- ” and outside of school, that -John Hancock, from grading effort understands the and only Iway AirPods have a better chance of ending pick up The Christmas. Spoke. With-O lost holidays. Every year, resentation in my school, shouldn’t havestudents to miss on school in canfor Muslim lamb, we welcome to the fold senior leave students unpreparedMuslim one students part of have to miss feel obligated to do something for people to out you, there you with an A in difficult AP classwouldn’t orderstill to celebrate their holiday. of Appleism. I’ll be your spiritual because college grades are mostly a larger unit, see whether es, but if you want to evaluate be a paper. Thank you for It is not equitable, and we all celebrating their holiday so they about this issue. during yoursupport. religious cononmake tests and papers. as in class. Many a student guide a student’s understanding of should a based your continued don’tserving fall behind try to a change. Some may argue that switch-teachers checkpoints mas- version. subject, don’t look at grades. As co-editors-in-chief, assign tests on MusI am a proud Middlehas Eastern Coco Kambayashi/The SPOKE tered a subAs youspent may or not know, to a weighted grading sysbefore the There’s one fundamental flaw Toing we’ve themay majority make it understandable, lim holidays as well, so missing American, and I want to have Jobs and our assigns catego- test to identify what a studentequal jectopportunities is to look at aasstandalone in the grading system that domour timeSteve in high school my otherex- we ofworship they tem—which are basically the each Islamic popefor is Tim Cook. While ry, of such as tests and homework, needsissue to study, so they are influ-students. amination, such as an AP Exam, current inates most Conestoga classes— working the newspaa major for many Musversion Christmas. Eid al-Fitr I have always Inbeen taking “I total thinkpoints it’s a great idea that no total one grade— should believe “I think it’s a great idea that no a percentage of the ential in helping total points. the lim-Americans in our students country. com- but adapt it for all course levels. per. Our friends put their tests or just studying on my holty and innovative mind, praise for all classes resolves this grade prehend the material. Similarly, Alternatively, midterms and fibecause such and such isn’t always considered a one should believe because method, each assignment has time into sports, academNo one wants to miss the of Ramadan. Ramadan is where idays;equal Eid al-Fitr inflation problem. Though projects serve to reinforce nals could beand used, but currently, be, icCook takes thatpeer message value,and withEid theal-Adgrade calcompetitions, me- and fundamental right to activists. ”“I think a suchto such isn’t always shouldn’t have tocon-opportunity learn. Because Muslims fastallfrom sunrise to it it’sMuslims ha. Imagine not even being able will help, it is not enough. Most cepts, which in turn helps prepare they are not “standalone, ” as they culated by this equation: [(total mangles it so badly that it’s undiation or student counmake a choice between school of this, Iconsidered have attended school sunsetnofor a whole month. Eid idea that one should because a report fundamental right to focus while taking agreat test beclasses that usebelieve this system students for exams. To addressmeetings, do not appear on the card points earned)/(total points poscil. We chose to spend our time at recognizable—but you didn’t hear clubs and given cause sible)]*100%. all you can think about is total such and such isn’t always considered a fundato all activists. ” class-they give extra credit toand students onshould thisbe conundrum of costs and ben-speeches as a separate grades. Rather, If a class uses in 280A, laying out pages, that’Stoga from me. -John Hancock, equality towards all to some of my pilgrimage to Mecca, it is how you’re your or there arereligions. efits, it would be easiest to makees toareraise factored into theabout overallthis grade editing points,not youcelebrating can have an average articles, designing graphmental right totests all activists. ” Also, awareness done once in quizzes. a lifetime. During seniorRemember, all Appleists must Hancock, many incidences of -John cheating quizzes closed-note or strictlyissue. for When the class. Therefore, until score of a B in tests yet still have ics and editing more follow the three tenets to articles. reach en-The I was getting sigEid, Muslims spend time with of grades Recently, enforce all quizzes to be taken on there’s a standalone examination lightenment. an A in the class by earning full that crack the mirror senior time commitment manifested in I have been getting natures for the petition, I gave their families and celebrate. Typis on June 3 and June 4, andand this proj- even more. For example, if you Lockdown Browser (a program for every class, grades should not late points on homework our desks littered with One:nights, spend a ridiculous speeches to my classes on why ically, parents give presents to one of that keeps students from leaving used to see if a student has mas- amount ects, which require more effort were to walk into emptyof coffee cups and papers money for technology. their kids and younger relatives. the Muslim holidays. Personally, studying during the window with the assessment), tery of a subject. thaninstead mastery.ofAscelebrating a result, a grade my classes bleeding red pen.buying $1,200 I’m talking about Eid is an extremely important I received 92 signatures. In total the majority of students agreed. with my family. phones, $160 headphones, $2,300 time for Muslim families, and laptops. Any Appleist who hasn’t Many schools, including schools are not recognizing that. shows how the majority of the contributed more than $5,000 to student body supports this issue. Conestoga High School, do not I hear my classmates say how it their holiday, and for years peo recognize Muslim holidays. In the past month, I have been Conestoga who have to miss isn’t fair that Muslims don’t have
STUDENTS SPEAK OUT
Q: Should students have their driver licenses before college?
Letter to the Editor
unnecessary academic competitions. There will be no future for you to enjoy if you burn out. —Justin Huang
ists, we’ve worked with the Student Press Law Center and different high school journalism programs on Pennsylvania New Voices, a campaign for protecting the rights of student journalists. We spoke with Senator Andrew Dinniman to sponsor our bill and worked with his office to create a draft for our ideas, which includes protections for our advisers and limits on prior review for all schools in Pennsition and Although assert your sylvania. wesuperiority. are grateful to Conestoga for its fair treatment nails their 95 many thesesschools on ourlack doors, of reporters, the we’ll there to tear samebeprotections we them enjoy.down. When Inthe fact, I’vecomes, seen Appleists faithtime we hopeso that our ful that they think Samsung’s readers will support New Voicesthe so only thatother otherphone schoolsbrand. can create publications likewe our own. But hey, still believe in a free But enough about us. market. It’s time a newsome genYou may haveforheard of end editors to lead harbingerseration of the spouting Theabout Spokethe intoimpending the future. blasphemies We hope you’ll join us in wishing Audrey Kim Cook’s decision to stop releasing and maybe you’ll go to heaven. “Ithe think andasClaire Guo, new it’s a gre a sign that their Two: become one with your Apple sales the no one deteriorating.idea But look AirPods. When you buy them, business isco-editors-in-chief, that best of luck as they asaround—hallways are full of Airand I do mean when, wear them should mantle after an webelieve andour iPhones take everywhere. Wear them during Pod userssume leave this week. Youmarcan such an chunk of because the your morning drives, in class, in overwhelming expect great things from such isn’t the shower, in bed. No matter ket share in school. Our zealous, always them: improvements in will make sure what, you have to remind the Air- faithful followers considered a fun our content, social media Appleism will never die. mental right to a presence, presence — Coco Kambayashi/TheIf SPOKE you’re still web skeptical and gone so far as to have my AirPods the goals all student jouractivists. wonder why the stock price has ” -John glued to my ears. nalistsbystrive to accomplish. skills, makes journalism in high fallen senio as much as it has, it’ll Once again, thank you for school as valuable as ever, despite and heathens. If you ever spot make sense if you don’t think your it. time and the opportunity to mediadevice, literacy.don’t hesi- about a falling non-Apple Even though the adjective write for something greater than tate to remind the user just how “student” is attached to our jour- just the two of us. worthless they, and their poor tion. Welcome to the ranks of the nalistic title, our work doesn’t stop decisions, are. If the Physics group enlightened. Sincerely, at the school gate. To protect the Wait a minute. Have you seen chat is invaded by green, abanJustin and Avery freedoms of all student journaldon ship and start anew. If some my AirPods case? poor, misguided soul even tries to justify why Android is better, you have the right to launch an inquiYou’d hope that we’d learn something from all of that time, and you’d be right. Our brief administration has suffered a handful of tough situations, starting from last June. We’ve repeatedly been tested with the danger of a single story — the requirement to look at a story from multiple perspectives to get the full picture. In an era of “instant gratification” from digital thesources, faith isn’t truea Appleist. we ahave responsibility to A common misconception is look at each story and each social that you post needwith to bea loaded buyof media healthyto dose from Apple, which All skepticism, all the isn’t whiletrue. commitit means is that worthit. ting to seek theyour truthyear’s and report of part-time Target paychecks is The experience of making going a noble cause. Our develtrilthosetodecisions, along with oping writing lion-dollar marketand capinterpersonal does need a little support now and then from these modern-day indulgences. In return, you’ll ascend to a higher social status, free from the brim-
Dear Editors,
Letter to the Editor policy: What are you agitated about? Do you have an opinion about something we’ve published? The Spoke prints letters on topics of interest to the student body and to the community. Signed letters under 250 words can be submitted to the opinion editor Claire Guo at cguo@spoke.news. Editors will verify for identity and decide which letters are published based on space and accuracy. Letters will be edited for length and grammar with the writer’s final approval.
The Spoke is published seven times per year at Bartash printing. It consistently receives a Gold rating from PSPA and CSPA, and is a National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker award-winning publication. The Spoke serves as a public forum for student expression.
To use the “N word” to me is to completely disrespect the black race as a whole. When a white person uses this word, everything in my being tells me to say or do something I know I will regret. Members of the black community are told to relax or chill out, but the worst of them all is “it’s not that big of a deal.” While I cannot only bash the ones who have been ignorant to my race, I also have to thank anyone from any other race who has supported me along the way of this cause. While I appreciate and need that support, if you are not of the African American race you couldn’t fully grasp our anger towards the word. If you are not black, you don’t understand the history behind the word or why we want to act out of our character in a negative way when we hear the hateful word in our own school community. I am aware of many stories from people in the black community being discriminated against while some just idly watch and do nothing. Within the past, anyone who has said the word in a joking fashion have been inaccurately punished which is unacceptable in a place we are supposed to call safe grounds for anyone who attends. Most teens walk around this school as if they are invincible, because there is no precedent set with appropriate consequences for racist behavior. There is a time and place for everything, and school is not it to be using such heinous and oppressive language. We are told to hold “Stoga Pride,” but I simply cannot when the people I am supporting refuse to support my belief in a cause this important. Change is needed within the walls of this school and I hope before I graduate, I can make it happen.
Staff
Editors-in-Chief: Justin Huang, Avery Maslowsky Managing Editor: Brooke Deasy News Editor: Maddie Lamonica T/E Life Editors: Andrew Bucko, Tiffany He Opinion Editor: Claire Guo Sports Editor: Aimee Buttenbaum Design Editor: Reagan Gerrity Copy Editor: Audrey Kim Photography Editor: Olivia Thompson Business Manager: Emma Clarke
SORRY, WE MISSPOKE In the March issue, on page 5 in the Teacher Feature on Alexandra Solove, we said that her room is 270, when it is actually 252. We also apologize that the ending of the story was cut off. On page 6 in “’Pippin‘ pioneers new technology,”we said that senior Jack Thomas is head of the lighting crew and that junior Amelia Thibault is a stage crew member. Thomas is actually head of the audio crew, and Thibault is also a stage crew head. On page 11 in the highlight reel, we said that the boys’ varsity basketball team won the District Championship after a 58-56 overtime win against Plymouth Whitemarsh High School on Feb. 22. Though the team did win that game by 80-72, the team did not win the District Championship.
Sincerely, Tajsha Gray-Vause, African American Student Union President
The
Kaitlyn Chen/The SPOKE
Cartoonists: Kaitlyn Chen, Coco Kambayashi, Paige Sredenschek Staff Reporters: Renato DiStefano, Matthew Fan, Alex Gurski, Christina Lee, Katherine Lee, Richard Li, Sophia Pan, Sanjana Sanghani, Reese Wang Managing Web Editor: Melinda Xu Web Editors: Dhivya Arasappan, Ananya Kulkarni Faculty Advisers: Cyndi Crothers-Hyatt, Susan Gregory
Letters to the editor: Letters to the editor may be submitted to the editorial board at submissions@spoke.news or to advisers Cyndi Crothers-Hyatt and Susan Gregory.
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Op/Ed
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
9
Helicopter, snowplow parenting hurt kids’ independence
Christina Lee Staff Reporter
Roughly a month ago, a group of 50 wealthy parents were charged in a college admission scandal, re-emphasizing a popular type of parenting—snowplow parenting. A snowplow parent is someone who tries to do anything, regardless of legality, to push obstacles from their kids’ paths to success. This is different from helicopter parenting, first coined by child development researchers in the ’90s—the practice of keeping a stifling watch over all of their children’s activities. Nevertheless, both types of parenting prevent kids from truly living and eventually throw them into the real world unprepared.
Although America was founded on the ideal of an “American Dream,” the competitive atmosphere of the world today makes it increasingly difficult to obtain that “dream,” and no longer is it the case where hard work definitively returns success. Parents, frightened by the prospect that their children may never reach their dreams, feel it is their duty to make sure that dream is achieved. Whether it be a dream college or a dream career, parents take it upon themselves to ensure their kids get there. According to economists Matthias Doepke and Fabrizio Zilibotti, co-authors of the book “Love, Money, and Parenting: How Economics Explains the Way We Raise Our Kids,” unequal societies like the U.S. lead parents to perceive the world with a “winner takes all” mindset. For example, many parents believe that if their child went to, say, Penn State University rather than the University of Pennsylvania, they will not be successful in life. It is this belief that serves
as the main motivator to problematic snowplow parenting. In the recent high-profile case of several celebrity parents, American actress and model Lori Loughlin paid hundreds of thousands to ensure that her daughters’ road to acceptance at the University of Southern California would be literally free of obstacles. Not only was this unethical, but the scandal tainted her daughters’ names, handicapping them rather than helping them for the beginnings of their adult lives. Even for ordinary parents, less extreme forms of snowplowing serve as a critical part of their parenting philosophy. For example, writing their kids’ application essays, making appointments and calling their kids’ teachers to argue about grades. A recent poll conducted on American parents by the Morning Consult, a global technology and medial company providing data service tools, revealed that 22% of parents helped college kids study for a test. Rather than allowing their children to advocate for themselves, parents take the lead, clearing every diffi-
culty out of the way so their kids can have the biggest advantages. While parents may believe snowplowing is only for their kids’ best interest, scientific research and surveys state otherwise. A 2016 study conducted by the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences found that children who experienced high levels of parental control and protection were prone to unhappiness and unfulfilling relationships in the future. What parents fail to realize is that, by depriving their kids of a sense of independence and self-advocacy growing up, their children are completely unprepared when they enter college, and later, the adult world. In The Daily Herald, behavioral health expert Cecilia Horan said the parents “really are not helping, because the child never learns how to fail.” Even at Conestoga, it is often parents rather than students who contact teachers about problems. When those students finally leave home and go to college, they will suddenly be hit with the reality
Report Card Late Spring Break
C+
+ Seniors be coasting - Freshmen, sophomores, juniors be studying
Notre Dame fire
F
+ International redesign competition and aid post-fire Paige Sredenschek/The SPOKE
that their parents are no longer there to be their advocates. Students end up needing to return home from top universities not because of class difficulties but because they cannot cope with basic adult skills. For example, the lack of experience in making life decisions, contacting profes-
sors, or remembering to wake up and complete an assignment can all shock a college student whose parents have always done everything for them. While parental help is necessary at times, parents must step back or risk raising kids to be dependent and helpless adults.
- French icon burned almost beyond repair. Almost.
B+
Start times
+ 30 more minutes with my pillow
- Guess I’m getting home from basketball practice at 8 p.m.
“They should always support their students’ decisions in a way that their children feel comfortable with the future that is coming, but I think you should never put any pressure or try to hint at any specific course. They should give freedom to their children to choose what they believe to be the best for their lives.”
“They should influence you just to make sure that you’re actually focusing on what you like and doing what’s good for you. They should know your goal and help you work towards it.”
- Nikkita Pandey, freshman
- Lucas Hohmann,
STUDENTS SPEAK OUT
sophomore
- Mason Thorne, junior
Beauty isn’t cookie-cutter
“Parents should be more highly involved when the child is younger in order to maybe get them on the right track, foster in them that sense of self-motivation. But once you get to the point of being in late middle school, high school, kids should have that motivation by themselves. If their only motivation to work and succeed is their parents, then I feel like there’s a problem.
- Angelina Ziarno, senior
caught red-handed include Miranda Kerr, Lindsay Lohan, Jordyn Woods, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, lingerie company Victoria’s Secret and every single female Kardashian (no surprise there!). The reality is that reality no longer exists on social media. Brooke Deasy Any image you encounter may Managing Editor Claire Guo have been toyed with, any phoOpinion Editor to or body manipulated. What is Deep in the age of social memost unsettling is that teenagers They’re coming. dia, with children as young as have been sucked into the habits Aladdin, Pokemon, Kim Pos5 or 6 navigating sites such as of compliment-driven celebriSnapchat and Instagram with ties who rely on likes and com- sible, Dora, Mulan, The Lion age to Robin Williams’ legendary The 2015 “Cinderella” remake great ease, it is evident that such ments for self-confirmation. We King, Akira— The live-action remakes are performance. met this criterion beautifully by multimedia services are both a have to realize that real is often a coming. Respecting the original also adding a few plot points. In the blessing and a curse. While sure, myth these days. We must be prepared. Hold means respecting a movie’s cultur- original, Cinderella first meets having an instant distracter at In order to promote realistic end laterasand onto(would) your popcorn produc- al origins. The 2017 “Ghost in the Prince Charming in the palace, hand is useful to color a dull mobeauty standards and expose“School ersit remake animations Shell” remake rightfully received where he finds himself drawn to harder tobeloved have more time ment—sorry Mom, an Instagram the irony of fake ones, socialmake with Ifreal people and school modern heated criticism for casting white her at first sight. Why? Her radiant scroll provides the perfect means media users should follow ac-at night. we were to start Scarlett Johansson as protagonist inner beauty, of course. Contrast to blur out your spiel on the hiscounts such as celebface. Thislater,CGI. thenWithhold we shouldyour have judgment no as producers decide to *gasp* Major Motoko Kusanagi. this with the remake, in which tory of airplanes during a lengthy Instagram account tracks downhomework or something, because See the problem? Cinderella first meets Prince road trip, or anytime really—the original photos of famous peo- not make “Mulan” a musical and then it would be harder to have The original manga “The Charming in the woods, charmcountless, mindless hours ple taken by pho- *gasp* get rid of heartthrob Li William Huang, at night to finish it.” to make a Ghost in the Shell” and the anime ing him with her authenticity and (Who’s going perusing images of “pertographers, friendstimeShang. freshman man out of us, now?) Olivia Bové, adaptation both came from Japa- outlook on life. “We must simply fectionism” are certainly and photo agencies, No, no, we mustsophomore save our pop- nese writers and centered on Jap- have courage and be kind,” she having a negative impact and compares them on social media users, parto the ones posted corn and judgment for the movies anese characters in Japan. Casting tells him. Later, when he sees her at ticularly teenage girls. by the individuals when they arrive in theaters. After Johansson as the starring role and the palace, he finds himself drawn It should come as no themselves. The dif- all, we know these remakes will scattering a few Asians in second- to her because he has been looking surprise that our technoference between the exploit our nostalgia and take our ary roles certainly disrespected forward to getting to know her. logical pursuits are still two is often uncanny, money, but the real question is the originals. An American re- This admirably shifts the narrative make of Akira, a Japanese manga from one commending looks to on the rise. The British and most definitely whether or not they will be good. To answer that, consider and anime that also follows Japa- one commending character. newspaper The Telegraph telling. reported that Ofcom (the In addition, more the following criteria. A good nese characters, has now entered British equivalent of our companies should live-action remake does these production. Hopefully producers 3. Does something that the origlearned from “Ghost in the Shell” inal couldn’t. Federal Communications tackle body positiv- three things: and other whitewashed box office Commission) found that ity campaigns such bombs — *cough cough* “The The first “Pokemon” episode the average person spends as the one launched 1. Respects the original. Last Airbender” *cough* — and aired in 1997. “Aladdin” came out more than a day online by Aerie, which has A remake doesn’t have to fol- will pursue an authentic remake in theaters in 1992. “Lady and the each week, twice as long Paige Sredenschek/The SPOKE been a forerunner in Tramp” was released in 1955. as 10 years ago. The rise is partly to spot instances of body distor- promoting women of a variety low the same plot with the same of this story. Decades after the original anidue to the increase in use of those tion on social media (look at the of shapes and sizes, encourag- characters. It does have to mainmations were released, producers aged 16 to 24—averaging 34.3 background, for starters. Certain ing flaws. Their mission stands tain the essence and fundamen- 2. Adds something new. should recognize that the remakes hours a week—who are now the corrections disrupt the normal in stark contrast to other lin- tals of the story. Mulan’s motivaYou can’t remake a movie just can now do things that the origilargest social media generation. features of cars, trees, the sky, gerie brands that showcase the tions should not be changed from The study also found that for the etc.) I soon learned that a friend flawless model. As cheesy as it selfless love for her father and for the profit. Well, you can. But nal couldn’t. “Pokemon: Detective first time, women are online lon- of mine did the same, shrinking sounds, it comes down to under- country to teenage rebellion. Sim- you shouldn’t. Instead, produc- Pikachu” and “Dora and the Lost ger than men. No doubt a result her stomach in a bikini pic at the standing that beauty isn’t cook- ba must struggle to accept his re- ers should incorporate a new el- City of Gold” now have broader, of the social media appeal, and no beach for one. Who else does ie-cutter, and that today’s beau- sponsibilities as king of the jungle. ement to the new movie: expand more mature audiences than the doubt providing more time to de- this? Many of the picture-perfect ty-standards are largely built on And if possible, please have Will the world, refine a plot point, tie originals did, meaning the diSmith’s Genie pay a subtle hom- up a loose end. rector can explore more mature velop unhealthy standards. beauties adored online. Those fantasy rather than reality. “No matter when school starts, it’s going to feel like it’s too early, so I’m “Yeah, because it’s a lot of pressure to do all the homework always going to be tired in the morning. I’d rather have time at the end that Conestoga gives us and sleep early, and then wake up of the day, so I don’t think we should push it back.” earlier. I feel like it’s not healthy at our age.”
-
-
Q: Should school start times be pushed back?
- Branden Veale, junior
+ Blood. Sex. Gore.
1st picture of black hole
A
+ Finally. A scientifically accurate picture of how I feel inside. - It does not... well it kind of... okay, it looks like a smudge.
The essentials of a good live-action remake
On Instagram especially, users are force-fed images of women with “good bodies”: long legs, thin waists, sizable chests; the unfortunate norm for measuring feminine beauty. Whether it’s a photo of Kylie Jenner in a form-fitting bodycon dress, Alexis Ren sporting a skimpy bikini or a stick-thin model (often too thin) that pops up in the form of an advertisement, the message is the same: stereotypical beauty sells. This message is internalized by young females who carry it around in their back-pocket whether they want to or not, and use it to measure against their own appearance. And, worsening the prob“It’s always it’s lem tenfold: body dark editorout, apps. I discovered this phenomenon very tiring. I sleep at a last summer when 15-yearset time, butmy I always old cousin hertoo photofeel asked like it’sifway shopped legs looked “believable,” early when I wake up.” and it became easier and easier
STUDENTS SPEAK OUT
A
- Guys, I’m still on the first season
Q: How involved should parents be in their kids’ academics and activities? “I feel that parents in this district are too hands-on, that we shelter their kids, and when they fail, we automatically think it’s not their fault, that it must be the system’s fault. Parents, you should raise your children to be the best people they can be, but when they come to school, you take a step back. Being too hands-on is detrimental.”
GOT final season
Kaitlyn Chen/The SPOKE
storylines. The incredible CGI of today means that we can see what “The Lion King” looks like with realistic animals and what “Pokemon” looks like with realistic Pokemon. For “Aladdin,” doing something the original couldn’t — or in this case, didn’t — means addressing the cultural stereotypes and inaccuracies perpetuated in the 1992 original. The film followed lighter-skinned, Westernized Aladdin and Jasmine as they fought greedy street merchants and main villain Jafar, whose physical features and accents were exaggeratedly Arabian. The remake is already drawing controversy for casting half-English half-Indian Naomi Scott as Jasmine. Hopefully they will accurately portray Arabian culture and avoid vilifying the darker-skinned characters. When “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu,” the first of these remakes, arrives in theaters May 10, I will have my popcorn and judgment at the ready. Does it respect the original?, I’ll ask. Does it add something new? Does it do something the original couldn’t? I have high, high hopes for these reincarnations of my childhood. If they fall short, why I’ll… well I’ll watch them anyway. But I would enjoy the upcoming remakes that much more if they do deliver.
- Kiran Rebholz, senior
Coco Kambayashi/The SPOKE Paige Sredenschek/The SPOKE
Sports
10
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
“I have to eat the same dinner every night before a swim meet. I like to eat chicken and pasta.”
alyssa totoro, freshman
Cameron marcus, senior “Last year, I started getting a sandwich game day. It just depends what goes on during the season. Like I think I had one good game where I ate a sandwich and I was like, ‘I got to do this every day.’ It’s different every time, but it’s always got to be from the deli line.”
sport Superstitions By Design editor Reagan Gerrity
“I grow out my beard the week before the race and then I shave it on race day. It’s good luck. It makes me feel like I’ll go faster. I just started doing it and then I started winning races, so it worked out and I kept doing it ’cause if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Sofia Ries and Abby Galrao, sophomores “Me and Abby started to “plug walk” before our first away game of the season at Harriton. We put it on Instagram and started a highlight reel. We started to do it before every away game and we never lost so we considered it our good luck charm. The song really gets us excited to play and brings us together when we all do it,” Ries said.
Cole Fogarty, senior
sponsored by The College Process
sophia poeta LEHIGH UNIVERSITY SPORT: SWIMMING GRADE: 12 Why Lehigh: “I chose Lehigh because I felt an immediate connection to the team and the coaches. They also had the major I was looking for so it was the perfect mix of academics and athletics! ”
Student referees pass on knowledge to future generations of players Avery Maslowsky Co-Editor-in-Chief
Junior Alex Aufiero is normally seen sprinting down the field, soccer ball a foot’s tap away or lacrosse stick tightly gripped, but attend a local youth soccer game and Aufiero can be spotted blowing a shrieking whistle, calling fouls left and right. Aufiero began her career as a referee in sixth grade, refereeing boys’ and girls’ soccer, grades kindergarten through sixth grade in the Tredyf-
frin-Easttown Youth Soccer Association (TEYSA). “The best part of reffing is getting to work with other athletes my age and helping the younger kids play a fun and safe game,” Aufiero said. Student referees like Aufiero apply their athletic knowledge to the field in order to maintain a safe playing environment. According to the TEYSA website, “Our youth referees serve as mentors for our younger players, and they are encouraged to take time to explain the rules and allow play-
ers to correct mistakes.” small things that really matter,” In the spring, Aufiero ref- Klinger said. “It is honestly all erees for the Philadelphia Area worth it because you get to see Girls Lacrosse Association all sides of the game. Reffing (PAGLA). The PAGLA is a is not as easy as people think youth lacrosse league for third (because) many do not realize through eighth how demanding graders, and your judgment is they compete until you are in at Valley Forge that situation.” My favorite asMiddle School It isn’t just pect about reffing blowing a whisand Wilson Farm Park. tle and waving is by far helping A u f i e r o a flag either, the girls become heard about refaccording to ereeing from Klinger. A good better players. upperclassmen referee also gives soccer players, advice to the who encouraged Hailey Klinger players. Senior her to try it as a “My favorweekend job. ite aspect about “I like (referreffing is by far eeing) because helping the girls I already know all the rules, become better players,” Klinger so it’s really easy. I can also said. “As a ref, it’s our job to choose my schedule, and I get make sure the girls play a safe to be outside,” Aufiero said. “I game, and I always make sure like working with the younger to give tidbits of information athletes and the other referee to the girls on what they can on the field.” improve on. It always makes Senior Hailey Klinger also my day when a parent or coach referees local youth lacrosse comes up to me and says that for the Pioneer Quix Stix and I taught their girls something.” PAGLA leagues. Though she Although she won’t be able started as an assistant coach to ref in this area after she for a youth league during her leaves for college, Klinger will freshman year, Klinger decided take lifelong lessons from her to take up refereeing after see- experiences as a youth official. ing upperclassmen doing so in “To be a ref, it is all about her league. safety, fairness and fun,” “Reffing is a great way to Klinger said. “As a youth ofstay involved in the area— ficial, it is our responsibility these kids look up to us, and it’s to teach the younger girls the important that we set an exam- game we love so they can grow ple and help kids learn. It is the as players and people.”
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Aimee Buttenbaum/The SPOKE
Making a call: Junior Alex Aufiero blows her whistle to signify that the game must come to a pause so she can make a call. Aufiero began refereeing in sixth grade.
Sports
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
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Cross-country coach crosses the finish line at Boston Marathon
Courtesy Megan Robinson
Smiling wide: Cross-country coach Megan Robinson crosses the finish line at the Boston Marathon. Robinson began running in the sixth grade and started coaching to spread her love for the sport.
Emma Clarke Business Editor
Megan Robinson, an assistant cross-country coach and registered dietician at CHOP, promised her-
self that she would run her first marathon by age 40. At 39 years old, she accomplished this goal. Now, Robinson, 48, has run one New York marathon, two Philadelphia marathons, one Steamtown
marathon and completed her sixth Boston Marathon on April 15. She began running competitively in sixth grade, but was also active in other sports such as swimming until her freshman
year of high school. “I probably didn’t see my potential in running until about freshman year when I started competing with the top athletes at my high school. I was in the
varsity team and then I had met up with a coach who kind of got me to that next level in training,” Robinson said. Robinson wanted to begin coaching cross-country at the high
school level in order to have young athletes share her experience and love for running. Junior Shana Chung, a cross-country runner, says that Robinson’s love for the sport has helped her stay motivated in her own races. “Coach Robinson is our team’s best motivator. You can’t help but push yourself a little harder when you see her cheering on the sidelines for you,” Chung said. Robinson’s experience as a runner also allows her to weave her personal training and nutrition advice into her coaching. “It’s very similar, just shorter distances. They do tempo runs, they do sprint workouts, they do a long run, it’s just for racing a 5K so it’s for much shorter distances and faster. Also, all of the cross training that’s involved with core training and glute and hip training,” Robinson said. Robinson’s personal training for her marathons takes about four months and is an intensified version of her cross-country practices, complete with tempo runs, track sprints and weekly long runs that could be anywhere from 16 to 20 miles long. Her training is supplemented by chiropractors, physical therapy, yoga and spinning in order to cross-train prevent injury. Robinson revels in the challenge. She particularly enjoys the atmosphere of the Boston marathon and believes it helped her run a 3:31 marathon on April 15. “I’d definitely say the spectators at Boston are amazing. They cheer you on every mile until the finish. The history of that race, and then the athletic caliber. I mean, you have to qualify, so everyone there to me are top athletes, so that’s very encouraging and motivating to go back to that race every year,” Robinson said.
HIGHLIGHT REEL The latest developments in Sports. sculls
The crew team won the Kate Godwin Trophy for women’s sculling and the Horvat Trophy for men’s sculling by accumulating the most points after a series of five regattas. This was the first time in ’Stoga history the team was able to win both the men’s and women’s points trophies. serves
The boys’ tennis team is in 2nd place within the Central league with a record of (7-1). scoops
The girls’ and boys’ lacrosse teams are tied for first place in the Central League with a record of (5-1) and (6-0). scores
Junior Cameron Evitts, just accomplished another personal record of 100 goals for the 2019 girls varsity lacrosse season after making a personal record of 100 draw wins in 2018 during a victory against La Salle. trains
While in Florida over spring break, the varsity girls’ lacrosse team trained with Earnst Wiggins, an Olympic sprinter who owns a company called Atlas Speed Training. pitches
Brooks Rush drove in a run during a baseball game against Unionville, finishing out the game with a score of (7-4).
A new kind of season for the Phillies Ethan Shew
Guest Columnist
Opening Day is always exciting, but this year it was different. This not only felt like a new season for the Phillies, but a new era in Philly baseball. This new era is led by one of the most intimidating offensive lineups in recent MLB history with the likes of Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins and JT Realmuto. The Phils sit at 7-2 on top of the NL East and are making waves throughout Major League Baseball with incredible moments like Bryce’s bat flip against the Nationals, Maikel Franco’s emergence, Hoskins’ power hitting and more importantly, the
level of excitement from the fans. Every time Harper steps up to the plate, Citizens Bank Park explodes. It’s not just Bryce Harper that is exciting these fans, it’s the sense of hope. For the last few years the Phillies have been notoriously terrible, excluding last year, but this year it’s different. With all the moves the front office made, it feels like we are on the brink of greatness and championship glory, but a lot still has to come together for us to be serious World Series contenders. Namely the pitching staff, finding a closer and consistency from everyone on the offensive side. The Harper hype has begun to die down as he is starting to feel like just another player on
the team, and the decline of the Harper hype seems to have simultaneously triggered the rise of Rhys, who is hitting out of his mind with a .367 batting average, five home runs and 15 runs batted in. Last year wasn’t a great year for Rhys but he seems to have found his groove with being moved to first base and batting behind Harper in the lineup. Hoskins and Harper have the potential to be the most dangerous hitting duo in the league, and if you watch the games, you can see just how well those two get along together. It’s refreshing to see the players be just as excited about this season as the fans are. This season might not result in a World Series, but as long as
this team reaches October and wins at least one series, I would consider it a success. The roster was shaken up so much it is hard to imagine them reaching the level of chemistry and consistency needed to win it all. In my mind, this season needs to give a lot of young guys playoff experience, namely Aaron Nola, and to make this team gel together. I think this team has all the potential in the world, and a World Series is definitely realistic, but it shouldn’t be World Series or bust in the eyes of the fans. Regardless, the Phillies have ignited this city and made it exciting to watch baseball again. We have the players and we have the fans, now all we need is a ring. Coco Kambayashi/The SPOKE
Senior Ryan Duffy wins national award for athleticism and character Olivia Thompson Photo Editor
We don’t just teaCh the tests.
Senior Ryan Duffy beamed as he rose to accept his Scholar-Athlete award from Villanova University football coach Mark Ferrante. His journey to At Main Line Test Prep receive the award, which is FLEXIBLE formally called the Philadeland Tutoring, we have Group Discounts phia Chapter Scholar-Athlete been tutoring students Open 7 days a week Award, began when he was in in various subjects and third grade. “I had only ever dreamed, standardized test prep HELPING when I was little, (of ) playing for over 20 years. Our CONESTOGA WITH: football, playing for the vartutors are patient and SAT/ACT/AP Exams sity program, and then even being able to start and being make learning fun. Study Habits able to get varsity time my Most importantly, we sophomore year was amazAcademics instill confidence in our ing,” Duffy said. “Going into College Counseling my junior year and getting students by making that starting spot automaticaland application tough concepts easy to ly and then senior year getting essays. understand and apply. (the spot) felt not like I deserved it, but I earned it.” This past season, Duffy became one of four captains on Ask about one of our upcoming all-day the varsity football team. He SAT prep seminars. credits his successes on the football team to the work he has put in. We don't just teach the tests. We take them too! “I think years of hard work and dedication to the ConesOur founder, Steve Odabashian, believes in toga football program helped staying ahead of the changes. In May 2018, he me earn this award. And just scored 1560 on the SAT and a 35 on a 2017 ACT. respect to my coaches and doing my best to lead the team and try to bring success to the team while contributing evwww.mainlinetestprep.com erything I can,” Duffy said. Coach Matt Diamond nomsteve@mainlinetestprep.com inated Duffy, who received the award from the National 484-424-9893
We take them too!
Football Foundation. Around 40 people nationally are honored with the award every year, chosen for outstanding performance in football, academic achievement, school leadership and citizenship. Duffy learned that he had won the award through a letter in the mail. “My first reaction was, ‘this is really cool.’ I was honestly amazed. It looked serious because of the Villanova letter, but I didn’t know exactly what it was because I had never heard of it before. Once I called Coach and he explained to me what an honor it was, how many people get awarded with it and where the banquet was being held, I was very humbled,” Duffy said. Looking forward, Duffy is excited to see how the football program at Conestoga will prosper. “This next year, there are a lot of really hard-working athletes that train in the off-season that play multiple sports and that are breaking ground as young athletes in the weight room. I feel like with these kids coming up, the community is going to have something to be proud of. I really believe that these young athletes can bring more success to the football team,” Duffy said. Reflecting upon his high school career and his overall involvement in the football team, Duffy is grateful for all that he has learned on and off the field. He will continue his
career at University of Florida next school year. Football “has taught me how to fight past adversity and work hard and earn a
spot after years,” Duffy said. “Through off-season training, I felt that I had worked tirelessly for the opportunity to play varsity. If you are given
talent to be able to play a sport like that, it does show you how dedication can really pay off in the end.”
Olivia Thompson/The SPOKE
Gleaming with pride: Senior Ryan Duffy stands with his football helmet after winning the Philadelphia Chapter Scholar-Athlete Award. This award was presented to him by the Villanova University football coach Mark Ferrante.
SPORTS
The SPOKE Commitment Corner Page 10
Cross-country coach competes in Boston Marathon Page 11
Students’ pregame superstitions Page 10
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Senior Ryan Duffy wins football award Page 11
Guest columnist Ethan Shew on the Phillies Page 10
Aimee Buttenbaum/The SPOKE
Winding up: Freshman Libby Winters pitches the ball as the girls’ team faces off against Lower Merion on April 3. Winters began playing softball when she was five years old, and recently made the varsity squad for the 2019 season.
Freshman makes varsity softball: a whole new ball game Sports Editor
During the girls’ varsity softball game against Unionville, Libby Winters doubled and drove in two runs, sending a thrill through the crowd and aiding the team to victory with a 6-3 win. Not only is Winters a key player on the team, but she is the only freshman who made varsity for the 2019 season. After four days of tryouts in early March, coach Pete Ricci split up the girls during practice as if they were about to complete a drill.. To Winters’ surprise, it was in that moment that they were announcing who would be on what team, and she was placed on varsity. Months before tryouts even began, Winters began bonding with
the upperclassmen during the team’s group workouts which took place once a week from September to March. “They actually put time into (the underclassmen). Before I even showed up, some of them knew all of the freshmen’s names,” Winters said. While all of the varsity members were welcoming, Winters noted that it was a lot different going from middle-school softball to playing against girls who are 18 years old. “Facing better pitching, even hitting, from the other team forces you to work harder. You have to work harder, because if not, (teams like) Haverford and Ridley are just going to come out and they’re going to work harder than you,” Winters said.
Winters started with tee-ball at age five, and she hasn’t left the field since. She began to take the sport more seriously the summer before fifth grade, and in the fol-
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Facing better pitching, even hitting, from other teams forces you to work harder. Libby Winters
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Aimee Buttenbaum
Freshman
lowing years, she played on travel teams Paoli Express, Sting and the Delco Diamonds.
Currently, she is playing for a team called PA Chaos, a travel and tournament softball team in southeast Pennsylvania. Arlyn Landow, one of her coaches, admires Winters’ determination. “Libby’s work ethic is unmatched. She works on her skills about five to six days a week, 52 weeks a year,” Landow said. “As her club coach, I personally had zero doubt in my mind that she’d make her school’s varsity team.” After working with different coaches, Libby is now being influenced by varsity head coach Pete Ricci. “He jokes around, but in a good way, and when we are actually playing, he’s really into it and serious which everyone likes,” Winters said. “He has a bond with each person specifically, and he
cares about every single person on the team.” She finds it interesting how softball is just as much a physical game as it is a mental game, requiring 100 percent focus all of the time. “I like (softball) because pretty much everyone plays offense and defense, unlike other sports where it’s one-sided,” Winters said. “I think playing defense helps you on your offense too. By hitting you learn different pitches, and if you’re a pitcher you can use that against batters.” Throughout the season, Winters said she is excited to learn as much as possible from the seniors before they leave in hopes that she can fill their shoes one day and be as supportive to the underclassman as they were to her.
Varisty lacrosse girls scoop up the opportunity to help younger players Staff Reporter
Olivia Thompson/The SPOKE
Practice makes perfect: The Quix Stix team practices on the fields at Valley Forge Middle School on Monday, April 22. The younger girls’ worked with the ’Stoga players to improve their cradling and shooting skills.
The girls on the varsity lacrosse team, decked out in neon yellow shirts, scatter across the field, but this time they’re not facing off against another team. Instead, they are helping to instruct the young members of the Pioneer Quix Stix, a girls’ lacrosse program created in the mid-1990s to develop the skills of players in grades one through eight in the Tredyffrin and Easttown Townships. At the start of each season, the players on the girls’ lacrosse team are split up and paired with one of the 22 Quix Stix teams. They help to run clinics and referee games, coach the girls, and attend their practices and games. “I think it’s really good to get involved with the girls in the Quix Stix program because that’s the future of what our team is going to be, and it gets them excited for the team,” said Megan Marengo, a sophomore on the varsity team. Marengo spends Monday and
Wednesday evenings working on the Quix Stix teams have with the girls on the fifth- and games against other teams in sixth- grade team. She teaches the program. The players on the them skills such as scooping and lacrosse team, including Marencradling, making sure that the girls go and Nikolic, help out at the have a proper grip on their sticks. games as referees and by showVarsity player and junior ing support. They cheer on the Annie Nikolic was a member of younger players and give them the Quix Stix protips to help gram herself. them score. “I remember “This is defilooking up to all of This is definitely a nitely a great exthe lacrosse players perience for both great experience and just being like, us and the little ‘wow, I can’t wait kids. For them, for both us and to be like them one they look up to the little kids. day,’ and so it was us all the time, a great experience. and it warms our It’s so special,” Nihearts because kolic said. Annie Nikolic we’re making Now, in high Junior them smile. We school, Nikolic want to have fun serves as a role with them, and model for the younger players. it’s just great that we get to meet all She teaches them what she knows these new girls that love lacrosse,” about lacrosse, including skills Nikolic said. that have helped her in the past. The season begins in March Along with the other players on with games starting in April, and the ’Stoga team, she enjoys playing ends roughly around Memorigames with them. al Day. This year, the Quix Stix On most weekends, the girls program kicked off on March 4
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Katherine Lee
SCORELINE Baseball
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with various clinics run by the girls’ lacrosse team. Depending on the team, which is based primarily on age, practices are held on five different fields in the district, including the one at Valley Forge Middle School, where the ’Stoga players attend Quix Stix practices to help the younger girls. The program has grown significantly since it was founded in the 1990s, expanding from just 15 participants to over 430 girls. Especially for current eighthgrade girls in the program, it is a great chance for them to meet the girls on the Conestoga team since they will play together when the younger lacrosse players enter high school, according to Marengo. “I think it’s really cool to see younger athletes and see how inspired they are,” Marengo said. “It makes me excited to see how talented they are already and how much better they’re going to be when they’re in high school.”
scores as of 4/21
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2
8
9
1
1
0
0
9
10
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7
3
1
3
2
7
7
0
1
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0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0