The Spoke May 2018

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THE Conestoga High School, Berwyn PA

Volume 68 No. 6

May 1, 2018

Spoke.news

CHEATING WITH A BIG C Student integrity under question at Conestoga and beyond

By Betty Ben Dor, Neil Goldenthal and Justin Huang Co-Editor-in-Chief, Multimedia Editor & Co-Student Life Editor

C

heating and academic dishonesty are age-old problems that have plagued educational institutions since their inception. Even though Conestoga has a strong emphasis on academic performance and high standards for achievement, students are no exception.

And with the increased use of technology both in and out of the classroom, cheating has evolved to become far more sophisticated than writing on a hand or glancing at another test.

The Spoke conducted a voluntary, anonymous survey of the student body to learn about the types of cheating that occur at Conestoga. Of the almost 400 students who participated, 79 percent said that they had copied work from another student for a graded assignment. Slightly less than half of students said that they had received help from another student for an in-class test at least once.

“I think that, at Conestoga in particular, there can be so much pressure to be a well-rounded, high-achieving individual that students become willing to sacrifice their academic integrity for a score,” one anonymous junior survey respondent said.

According to the Conestoga Code of Conduct, “aca-

Neil Goldenthal/The SPOKE

Caught in the act: While old-school methods of cheating such as writing useful formulas on a hand or looking at someone else's paper are still widely used, technological advancements have led to different methods for academic fraud such as purchasing essays online or choosing to use SparkNotes online instead of reading a book. demic integrity is central to our mission as an institution of learning. The students, staff, and families will share responsibility for maintaining an environment of honest scholarship.” The punishment for cheating or plagiarism includes a zero for the assignment and disciplinary action ranging from Evening Super-

vised Study to Saturday detention or external suspension.

“Honest scholarship is the foundation of education,” Principal Dr. Amy Meisinger said. “If you go through a system that’s meant to educate you but you're not being honest with your own education and misrepresenting yourself and not allowing yourself to

receive that because of choices that you make, then you're not truly being educated."

However, most of the survey respondents blame high expectations for why they feel like they are forced to cheat.

“Teachers forget that we have other classes, a life outside of school, and that we are human beings,” one freshman

that someone feels like they can do.”

The National Education Association said that students “cheat because everybody else is doing it, they cheat because they have too much work to do and not enough time to do it.” continued On Page 3

April teach-in initiates gun discussion

Bill Cosby found guilty in local case Betty Ben Dor

Co-Editor-in-Chief

80-year-old Emmy Awardwinning TV icon Bill Cosby was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault on Thursday, April 26 in a Montgomery County court, according to court documents obtained by The Spoke. Once known as “America’s Dad,” Cosby has been court-ordered to undergo a Sexually Violent Predator Assessment and once sentenced could face up to 10 years in prison on each count.

After last year’s trial ended in a mistrial, the new set of jurors found Cosby guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his home near Philadelphia in 2004. Until he is officially sentenced, Cosby is required to stay in his Elkins Park home and wear a GPS tracking device.

“What was revealed through this investigation was a man who had spent decades preying on women that he drugged and sexually assaulted, and a man who evaded this moment right here far too long,” said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele to reporters after the verdict was given. “He used his celebrity, he used his wealth, he used his network of supporters to help him conceal his crimes.”

CNN reported that when Constand first told police about the assault in 2005, Montgomery County prosecutors did not press charges, and she and Cosby settled a civil lawsuit for $3.38 million.

Cosby’s attorney Tom Mesereau told reporters that “we are very disappointed by the verdict. We don't think Mr. Cosby's guilty of anything and the fight is not over.”

student wrote in the anonymous survey. “There is so much pressure to do sports, clubs, music, volunteering, jobs, have a social life, and be incredible in school all at the same. I feel as if what is expected is so unfair and that someone who cheats shouldn't be shamed automatically, because many times that's all

Brooke Deasy News Editor

Courtesy Noah Austin

Technological triumph: Robotics Club members Yash Raj (left) and Neil Muglurmath (right) stand with the robot they competed with at the Vex Robotics World Championship. The competition was held April 24 to April 28.

Robotics club competes at Worlds Reagan Gerrity Staff Reporter

After a victory at the Pennsylvania State Championship, Conestoga Robotics Club members Neil Muglurmath and Yash Raj advanced to the Vex Robotics World Championship, a competition that no Conestoga student has reached before.

The World Championship was held in Louisville, Ky. from April 24 to April 28 and featured teams from China, New Zealand, Vietnam and other countries. There were 350 teams composed of both national and international students. Sophomores Muglurmath and Raj

placed within the top five percent of all competitors.

Participants had to create a robot that could stack cones on moving bases. To prepare for the competition, the team put in hours of time fine-tuning the robot they used in the Pennsylvania State Championship. Muglurmath and Raj worked from seven weeks prior to the Vex Robotics World Championship to the night of the competition.

“This year’s journey has been very long and countless hours have been put into the making and programming of the robot,” Muglurmath said.

“It’s nice to know that we were able to bring the endeavors to the world championship.”

Robotics Club sponsor, Noah Austin, helped his students at the competition, finding new ways to improve the team’s robot and becoming stronger competitors.

“The big thing is we’ve been studying videos of other competitions that have been done statewide to see what our competition will be and from watching these videos we’ve made minor adjustments to the robot,” Austin said. “We’ve been scoping the competition to see what we need to do to be better than them.”

In the future, the team hopes to improve their consistency and efficiency building robots, as well as best their own scores in later competitions.

The Students Against Gun Violence (SAGV) Club organized an all day teach-in at Conestoga in accordance with the national school walkout on Friday, April 20th. The walkout was one of two national movements scheduled to respond to the barrage of shootings from coast to coast over the last decade. The April walkout fell on the 19th anniversary of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in which 12 students and one teacher were killed. The purpose of the teach-in was to promote education, awareness, discussion and advocacy on the issues of gun laws and school safety. Students were encouraged to wear orange, the color of the anti-gun violence movement.

“We wanted to unify people together across party lines,” junior and SAGV member Claire Conway said. “This is an issue that affects us all and it doesn’t matter how you would like to address it because we can all unite under the common base of trying to get something done.”

The characteristics of the protest differed from school to school, with that at Conestoga featuring numerous activities throughout the school day. The organizers originally pushed for a true walkout, but the administration only agreed to participation during students’ free periods and lunch periods. No class-cuts were tolerated.

Tables were set up in the lobby where students could sign a banner that said “Enough,” create posters advocating against gun violence and for school safety, write letters to legislators and purchase pins with donations given to Sandy Hook Promise, a national non-profit organization founded and led by those whose loved ones were killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The voter’s registration club also participated, registering around 20 eligible seniors by the end of the day. In addition, open discussions were offered during 4th, 5th and 6th periods, as well as presentations during 7th and 8th. The last two speeches were given by Representative Warren Kampf and Senator Andy Dinniman, who advocated for the importance of school safety and strengthening current gun laws.

“I think it was the most effective to bring our local representatives because it caused many more people to come and many more teachers to bring their classes,” SAGV President Laila Norford said. “It helped students to put a face on their government officials and how the process of increasing school safety and decreasing gun violence works.”

Junior Fiona Duffy, one of roughly 100 students to hear the speeches, was particularly motivated by Kampf ’s speech. continued on page 2

2

News

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

April teach-in initiates gun discussion continued from page 1

Brooke Deasy/The SPOKE

Unity in orange: Representative Warren Kampf speaks with members of the Students Against Gun Violence (SAGV) Club after his speech. SAGV members organized an all-day teach-in on Friday, April 20, to promote discussion on the issues of gun violence and school safety.

Conestoga launches recycling campaign Staff Reporter

The Greening Stoga Task force recently launched a campaign to raise awareness on the importance of recycling among the student body. Over the last year, recycling has been a heavily debated issue at Conestoga. The campaign originally stemmed from concern from the students that the janitorial staff was not recycling materials found in the marked green bins. However, after some investigation by the club this was found to be untrue.

“There’s a big myth that the janitors don’t really recycle, and the truth of the matter is they do,” said Jackson Dusinberre, President of the Greening ’Stoga Task Force.

On average, Conestoga recycles 1,248 cubic yards of waste per year and recycling is collected from the school three times per week. Currently the aim of the campaign is simply to inform people of what can and cannot be recycled. However, according to Kevin Strogen, advisor of the Greening ‘Stoga Task force, recycling may not always be the best option.

“I think it’s absolutely better to recycle than to throw the same stuff in the trash because it most likely goes to a landfill, so recycling is important,” Strogen said. “I think collectively it would be actually better if we reduce our waste to begin with.”

“

I think we could do a lot better job of (recycling).

Jackson Dusinberre

“

Ananya Kulkarni

Greening ‘Stoga Task Force President

Despite the fact that the Greening Stoga Task force kicked off this campaign, they are only one of the many environmental clubs at Conestoga who are trying to make the school more environmentally friendly.

“Through our club (The Climate Change Awareness Club)

we try to have activities that get the students involved and spread awareness about the issue,” said Everly Case, Secretary of the Climate Change Awareness Club.

Though Conestoga is making an effort to do its part, there is still much progress to be made.

“We definitely are recycling, but I constantly still see people throwing things in the recycling bins or throwing things in the trash cans that should not be there and I think we could do a lot better job of it,” Dusinberre said.

Changing the mindset associated with recycling as a whole is not something that may happen overnight but hopefully is something that can be improved with the right amount of effort.

“I think it comes down to education and in some way incentivising people to recycle more and throw less stuff in the trash and there’s not an easy answer,” Strogen said. It’s a slow and steady thing where we keep marching in that direction and eventually I think we’ll get better but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”

“I think (the speeches) were equally effective but Kampf ’s speech really broke a barrier, even at a local level because even though he is a Republican, he was courageous enough to acknowledge the problem and provide a sensible solution,” Duffy said.

Norford recalls one particularly memorable moment of the day that she will long remember.

This moment is a speech given by a female student of the African American Student Union, who shared her personal experiences with gun violence. Fighting back tears, the student said that her cousin was murdered with a gun when trying to protect his friend, who was also murdered a few months later.

The story “was something that everyone in the room was moved by,” Norford said. “She had an incredible amount of courage to tell that to a room of people, many of whom she barely knew, and I think it helped to drive the message home. It made everyone think, What can I do to stop this?”

The purpose of the teachin was designed precisely to address that question. For junior and SAGV member Claire Conway, solutions are rooted in stricter gun laws.

“If something is not being used properly, over a course of about 20 years since Columbine, why hasn’t anything been done?

If someone’s using something (negatively) you don’t keep on giving it back to them,” Conway

said. “(Gun misuse) is an unfortunate cycle that has not been broken because of the Second Amendment. I think that’s one of the things that needs to change.”

SAGV club adviser Debra Ciamacca commends the students on their month-long work preparing for the event. She believes that SAGV members are representations of how everyone should use the power of their voice to take action.

“Most Americans believe that they can’t change things,” Ciamacca said. “They believe that the system’s rigged, something’s going to happen, they’re not part of it, and I want people and students to realize that if you speak out you have a voice.

Even if it’s one small thing that you do, you can change things.”

Police crack down on aggressive drivers Maddie Lamonica Business Manager

The Pennsylvania state police and a number of local police departments, including both Tredyffrin and Easttown, are conducting targeted aggressive driving enforcement from March 19 to April 29.

“The goal is to inform motorists to discourage the act first and foremost,” Superintendent of Police at Tredyffrin Township Police Department, Michael Beaty, said. “In a perfect world there would be zero crashes, injuries or fatalities taking place.

Unfortunately, that is not the case and enforcement actions are a necessary tool to address aggressive driving behavior exhibited by some motorists” This initiative is funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), and is a part of the Aggressive Driving Enforcement and Education Project, a program whose goal is to deter aggressive drivers and make Pennsylvania’s highways safer for all who use them. PennDOT partners with state and local police departments to conduct aggressive driving enforcement.

During this Aggressive Driving Wave, police agencies are

placing a stronger emphasis on aggressive driving behaviors such as speeding, running red lights, and distracted driving.

During the month-long wave, traffic violations that may usually go unticketed can result in a citation, as police officers are incentivized by PennDOT to be strict when monitoring roadways. Additionally, officers must report all crashes and citations to PennDOT who looks at which areas are in the greatest need of enforcement funding and, when necessary, engineering roadway enhancements.

“Officers in Tredyffrin Township will focus on areas that we have identified as higher than normal for the types of aggressive driving established

by PennDOT for the wave,” Beaty said. “We use crash data and citizen complaints to identify targeted enforcement locations, as well as our experience to focus efforts.”

One of the areas that are being focused during the initiative on are school zones.

“School zones are important to monitor due to the amount of pedestrian activity, higher than normal trips during peak arrival and release times and distracted driving,” Beaty said.

Bob Schaeffer, the Aggressive Driving Enforcement and Edu-

cation Project Director, believes that through this project, police departments will be able to allocate more time to monitoring these driving behaviors.

“The additional funding allows law enforcement agencies to dedicate officers specifically to aggressive driving enforcement,” Schaeffer said. “Many agencies can’t specifically dedicate regular duty time to traffic enforcement due to call volumes and other duties. NHTSA has determined that high-visibility enforcement is the number one countermeasure to reduce traffic fatalities.”

During the 2017 wave, PennDOT helped police departments statewide write over 44,000 aggressive-driving related citations. This month-long initiative began to continue that effort and also reduce the number of crashes, injuries and deaths related to unsafe driving practices on Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth roadways.

“Aggressive driving and distracted driving can injure our friends and families; potentially changing someone’s life forever,” Beaty said. “Patience and attention to the task of driving safely is what we hope the citizens of Tredyffrin Township and all those that travel within Tredyffrin Township can exhibit.”

Branching out: Sto-gals step into STEM Sanjana Sanghani and Melinda Xu Staff Reporters

Every year, the University of Pennsylvania hosts Women in Computer Science and Engineering Day to celebrate and promote girls in computer science and engineering. On Friday, April 20, 39 students attended the event for the first time in ‘Stoga history, which was organized by Chemistry teacher Derick Wood and Computer Science teacher Kim Stegner.

“This is the first time we’ve done a big interdepartmental organization for the trip,” Wood said. “It’s usually meant for individuals to go, not whole schools, so we were more than 20% of the attendance down there which was neat and exciting to see.”

There, UPenn professors

and students spoke on their experiences in the STEM—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—field. Students then visited a lab studying topics in engineering and computer science.

Freshman Jessica Rientjes had been thinking about pursuing a career in engineering before participating in the event.

She was assigned the ADD Lab, where she was shown 3D printers and their mechanisms before attending a class taught by a UPenn professor on Math for Computer Science.

“The professor was very interesting to listen to and it was a great class experience,” Rientjes said.

Overall, Rientjes felt that the event helped to guide her in pursuing her interests.

“This helped put me on the right path. It’s really important to have events like this so that

students in general can learn about a field that they might be interested in but don’t know too much about,” Rientjes said.

Sophomore Allison Cho attended a simulation of a college course on the computer language Logic and Electric Circuits. Professor Norman Badler explained to the students about the career options open to students majoring in computer graphics and animation projects.

“I think it was a pretty good experience to have because I got a broader sense of what computer science actually is. I think now I have a better idea on what college majors there are in engineering and computer science and if I want to do this or not,” Cho said.

According to Cho, the professors and students spoke of the importance of representing the minority. Cho believes that it is necessary to have field trips

Courtesy Allison Cho

The future is female: Thirty-nine ’Stoga students listen to a University of Pennsylvania professor speak about their experiences in the STEM field. They participated in the Women in Computer Science and Engineering Day at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday, April 20. like this one because it allowed her to understand the different majors in computer science and engineering.

Rientjes agrees with Cho, emphasizing the lack of women in STEM. “This event was especially important because there aren’t a

lot of women in stem and there should be more,” Rientjes said.

“I think that when it comes to careers like engineering most people don’t think about women and they’re not always treated with the most respect for choosing and trying these types of career paths.”

Wood believes that the field trip was a valuable experience for students and hopes to schedule similar ones for next year.

“It was exciting to go see (UPenn’s) facilities in computer engineering,” Wood said. “I hope it’s something we keep doing in the future.”

3

News

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Student integrity under question at Conestoga and beyond In a 2012 New York Times article, now-retired Rutgers University Business School professor Donald McCabe, who has done significant work in researching high school and college students’ cheating habits, said that while struggling students have always cheated, increasing pressures and competition amongst students at the top have led high-achieving individuals to cheat.

Conestoga students rank among those high-achieving individuals. Among those surveyed

by The Spoke, 88 percent of students with a weighted GPA less than or equal to a 3.5 said they have copied work from another student for a graded assignment at least once. Those with a weighted GPA of 4.7 or more came close at 77 percent.

Besides high GPAs, Conestoga students generally score roughly 80 points higher than the national average on the SAT. Out of the 7 percent who said they have cheated on a standardized test, 67 percent said they did it on the SAT. Cheating has moved beyond the bread-and-butter equations hidden behind student palms.

With the technological advances over the years, different methods for academic fraud have also appeared. Websites like Slader, Shmoop and Sparknotes provide homework answers to students — 82 percent of survey respondents said they had used Sparknotes or Shmoop at least once instead of reading a book.

“Now with technology I think you’re seeing just more sophisticated avenues of (cheating),” Meisinger said. “I think how students have access to information has changed certainly.”

Online sources like APNotes. net even simplify notetaking, which usually takes hours of reading and writing. Senior Janette Pierce* admits that during her AP Psychology course in junior year, she used purchased notes from a similar website instead of doing them herself.

“I started doing (notes) a little bit in the beginning of the year, but by the end of the year it was too much,” Pierce said. “I actually bought a membership for this website called Study Blue, which had all the notes for the class.”

The Spoke talked to a 2017 alumnus who agreed to be interviewed only under the condition that his name would not be used.

This former student told The Spoke that he wrote essays for students on the Main Line for a price.

“I had customers from Conestoga, Lower Merion, Upper Merion, Downingtown and Episcopal,” the alumnus said. “From 500 words for $10, to 2,000 for $80, to $100+ college apps I’ve made probably close to $3,000 writing essays now.”

The former student said that in his senior year, he had 14 customers from one Conestoga AP Language and Composition class alone.

One of the more controversial sources of cheating are essay mills — websites that employ writers to complete school assignments in

exchange for money. Dave Tomar, author of “The Shadow Scholar” and former essay mill writer, assures that although they may sound far-fetched, essay mills exist and even succeed.

“Not only are essay mills legitimate, but many of them are thriving businesses that sell papers to students at schools all over the world,” Tomar said. “But make no mistake, online cheating is a viable business model and the companies that you see when you Google stuff like ‘write my paper’ are definitely real.”

For example, say a Conestoga student needed to have a research paper done for a Social Studies class in a week. Here’s how they could go about doing it. They could go on to Writemyessay4me. org and fill out all the essay requirements, such as perhaps five pages, MLA format, double spaced, 6 sources and the subject should be political science. They then can put in a title for their paper, perhaps something along the lines of “How Can Governments Control the Inflation Rate?” and add a description of how the paper should be structured. They even have the option to upload additional files like a rubric or the teacher’s handout on exactly what the essay should consist of. And how much would this cost them?

Just about $65 for a deadline a week out and if they’re willing to spend just a bit more, they can have the paper completed by a “Premium Writer” for just $97.50.

But these kinds of sites don’t just serve to help out high schoolers. There’s also the option to have your Master’s or PhD papers completed by someone else. A 15 page, 12 source, double spaced PhD paper on International Relations, something that grad students devote weeks of their lives to working on, can be purchased online for just over $400.

Need an essay edited or a presentation made? No problem, you can now buy that online too.

“

If you can get ahead by paying money to somebody to write an essay for you, you’re not doing the work and you’re not learning anything.

Trevor Drake

“

continued from page 1

English teacher

In fact, seven of the respondents to The Spoke’s survey said that they have bought an essay from an online source and 35 percent said that they have heard of people buying work online.

English teacher Trevor Drake said that custom essay order websites are a disgrace and pose a real problem to English classes.

“I think they’re a blot on the landscape, absolutely terrible for

WriteMyEssay4Me.org

Pricey Project: The Spoke investigated the process of buying an essay online from WriteMyEssay4Me.org. An essay for the Honors US Literature culminating project, the American Authors paper, can be bought several weeks in advance for $180. academic integrity and for scholars,” Drake said. “If you can get ahead by paying money to somebody to write an essay for you, you’re not doing the work and you’re not learning anything.”

The implementation of Schoology as a platform for online quizzes and tests has also raised its own set of problems.

Students commonly open separate tabs to search for answers, then quickly alt-tab back to the assessment to avoid being caught.

“It bothers me that teachers don’t think kids cheat when there are Schoology quizzes,” one sophomore survey respondent wrote. “At this point it’s barely cheating because it is practically handed to us.”

Recently, the administration has taken steps to make online assessments more secure. Last week the Tech Deck posted a notification on Schoology regarding the implementation of LockDown Browser during online quizzes or tests. LockDown Browser essentially shuts down all computer functions — such as screenshotting, opening other browsers, and messaging — for the duration of the assessment.

The implementation of methods deter students from cheating isn’t just found at the high school level. Dr. Rebecca Jaroff, Associate Professor and Chair of the English Department at Ursinus College, adapted her curriculum to easily identify whether a student did the proper work or handed in a hastily purchased assignment.

“At Ursinus, we have small classes and we get to know our students quite well,” Jaroff said.

“In most cases, students are work-

How often do you exchange information about tests or quizzes with another student when one of you has taken it and the other hasn’t?

Betty Ben Dor/The SPOKE

ing on multiple drafts of papers, which are collected in stages, so the professors see the papers develop over time. We rarely collect a paper that is just ‘finished.’”

These techniques translate into the Conestoga curriculum

A Tradition of “Excellence”

7.4%

A

B

C

D

E

A

B

C

D

E

A

B

C

D

E

A

B

C

D

E

18 have cheated on the SAT 10 have cheated on the Keystone 8 have cheated on the PSAT

assignments in favor of work that reflects student effort and research into their assigned topics.

“Over the last several years, I’ve been using annotated bibliographies in place of fully formed essays,” Pokalo said. “I’ve also

have copied homework before

20.2% of survey respondents

7 have cheated on the ACT 5 have cheated on an AP Exam 5 have cheated on an SAT Subject Test 3 have cheated on the TOEFL

have cheated in the testing center

Number of respondents

Key:

153

146

120

Strongly disagree

90

76 60

60 30

78

18

82

76

Disagree

57

No opinion

10

0

“Cheating is unethical.”

* denotes students who wish to remain anonymous

Information was gathered from a pool of 378 respondents across all Conestoga grade levels.

The survey was administered via online form and was completed on a voluntary basis.

Students’ opinions on...

150

been relying more on some digital-based assignments–iMovie, WeVideo, GarageBand–for some unit-culminating tasks in place of essays. I found recently, though, that this is no guarantee against academic dishonesty.”

Plagiarism checkers like Turnitin.com, used frequently by the ’Stoga English and Social Studies departments, are also working on their own solutions to more accurately detect academic subterfuge.

“We’ve always been aware of the problem and the possibility of students misattributing their work. Our current efforts aren’t directed at the essay mills themselves, but to help institutions investigate suspicions of academic misconduct. To address contract cheating, one form of academic misconduct, we’re partnering with a number of high profile institutions to build new capabilities,” said Turnitin Senior Product Marketing Manager Leslie Briggs.

Turnitin did not provide any further comment and what these new capabilities might look like.

Drake said that he remains hopeful that students will be pioneers of their own education.

“I think if students take a reasonable schedule and manage their time wisely, they should be able to do their work without resorting to unethical means to do it,” Drake said.

78.8% of survey respondents

of survey respondents (27 out of 378 responses) have cheated on standardized tests Of these 27 respondents...

as well, although they are never a perfect defense against copied work. English teacher Katheryn Pokalo phased out a few essay

“It is okay to cheat on a graded assignment for school.”

Agree Strongly agree

Rm. 294

Popular sites for copying work: wikipedia.org slader.com quizlet.com sparknotes.com shmoop.com apnotes.net reverso.net Ian Ong/The SPOKE

4

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Student Life

Music with a mission: quartet plays classics in Ecuador Matthew Fan Staff Reporter

Sophomore Isaac Kim flew to Ecuador over spring break to visit his grandparents for the second time in three years, but this time, he didn’t just bring gifts — he also brought music.

In January, Kim formed the music group Amazonas Sonrísa, meaning Amazon smiles. The classical music group includes Kim, who plays cello, as well as pianist Chris Jung, violist Sejin Park and violinist Grace Lee. Jung is a sophomore at Conestoga while Park is a sophomore at Episcopal Academy and Lee studies at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador.

“The point of the trip was to help kids there learn more about music and instruments and spread (classical) music to other people,” Jung said.

Kim decided on Ecuador because his grandparents live there as missionaries. His first goal was to raise money for the trip.

He started a GoFundMe and raised $1,000, which he used for instruments and food.

“We needed to buy a cello there because I can’t ship my cello overseas because it wouldn’t be too safe for the cello,” Kim said.

“So we bought a cello there for $500 and then with the rest of the money, we mostly bought food to donate to some of the kids.”

Kim, Jung and Park — each paying for their own travel fees — flew nonstop from New York to the capital city of Quito, Ecuador and met up with Lee, who was living there with her missionary parents. They stayed in Quito for the first two days of their seven-day trip and performed concerts for the AIEP (Asociacion de Iglesia Evangelica de Pichincha) — an association of various churches — and a school called the Alliance Academy International.

They then traveled to the jungle village of Pena and performed at Yutzpino Church, which Kim’s

Courtesy Isaac Kim

Saving the world with strings: Sophomores Isaac Kim and Chris Jung play with Episcopal Academy sophomore Sejin Park and university student Grace Lee, the other members of their quartet Amazonas Sonrísa. The quartet traveled to Ecuador over spring break to spread classical music to kids there, holding seven concerts and performing for about 1,500 people. grandparents helped develop.

The first thing Kim noticed after the concert was the difference in standard of living between the United States and Ecuador.

“Some of the kids there only eat once a day,” Kim said. “We bought bread and $100 worth of Chaolapang (fried rice) for the kids and we fed around 100 (of them).”

But besides that, Jung noticed the children who were listening to their concerts enjoyed the music and were fascinated with their instruments.

“A lot of people were really enthusiastic about our playing,” Jung said. “Some of the little kids came up to our instruments and tried to play them.”

Kim and Jung enjoyed themselves as well. After a little bit of practice, they were able to play with ease and without a sense of pressure.

“The people there didn’t know about what types of instruments we played, which meant we didn’t have to perform super professionally,” Kim said.

Instead of playing classical string instruments, people in Ecuador mostly play the guitar and ukulele, which they use for church music rather than classical music.

Because it was spring break, Kim and Jung took advantage of their opportunity to explore Ecuador. Jung thought “the view was really nice” while Kim enjoyed rafting on the river and seeing the jungle animals.

Over seven days, Amazonas Sonrísa held seven concerts

and performed for about 1,500 people. Given the success of the trip, Kim plans to return to Ecuador.

“We’re thinking about having this trip again next year as sort of a follow up,” Kim said.

“We might make this a yearly thing until college.”

Jung thinks they will be able to accomplish more next year now that they have one trip under their belt.

“We’re more organized and since we performed in a lot of

different places, we’re more familiar and it might be easier to get more connections,” Jung said. “When we go back next year, things will probably go more smoothly. We could probably go around to more places.”

Although they will perform in different places, they will still have the same purpose.

“We’re just a small ensemble meant to help the people (in Ecuador) get to know a little bit more about music,” Kim said.

’Stoga alumna seeks office in state House of Representatives Renato DiStefano Staff Reporter

Conestoga alumna Melissa Shusterman is building a campaign for Pennsylvania state representative in the 157th district based on her slogan, “common sense before politics.”

A single mother for 10 years, Shusterman started her own digital video business before entering politics as a Democrat after the tumultuous 2016 presidential election.

“After the election, I was pretty disappointed,” Shusterman said. “My son turned to me (and said that) ‘America doesn’t want a well-qualified, smart woman in office.’ By Friday, I was running.”

Shusterman has solicited the help of Conestoga students for her campaign. Junior Georgia Steigerwald is one of them.

“I try to help out as much as I can. I volunteer at weekend events and occasionally do work after school. I’ve been very busy lately, so I haven’t been able to help out as much as I’d like to, but I’m hoping to do

more over the summer and next fall,” Steigerwald said. ’Stoga students working with Shusterman research various policies and issues, convey their message through social media and make buttons. However, they work together most often to canvass, where students and Shusterman go door-to-door to inform people about her campaign and the policies that are most important to her.

“I’m a believer in making sure all voices of the community are heard, so my issues include making sure our public education — public schools — are funded correctly,” Shusterman said. “I’m also just very passionate about our youth, and very passionate about our seniors. Those are two communities that really need to be heard, and we have to make sure our districts are livable for both of those communities.”

Shusterman was voted Most Radical of her class in 1985 and has remained politically active.

“I guess being most radical was someone who was socially aware,” Shusterman said. “I was trying to raise money for the

famine in Africa and for AIDS. I used to be in the cafeteria always with a jar and a sign.”

Shusterman also did work with a service club during her time at Conestoga, working with the homeless and trying to inspire more outreach within her community.

“Back then, it was at the beginning of people incorporating (community outreach) into their high schools more. Maybe it was something they did with their church, their synagogue or their mosque, but they didn’t necessarily always do it within their high school,” Shusterman said.

This activism, as well as Shusterman’s campaign issues, have inspired Steigerwald.

“I was upset about the outcome (of the 2016 presidential election), but I was inspired by all the women who rose in the aftermath to run,” Steigerwald said. “I got involved with Melissa’s campaign to help one of the most incredible women running for office. She’s inspired me to pursue my dreams of holding political office and I can’t thank her enough for that.”

Renato DiStefano/The SPOKE

Behind the Campaign: Juniors Priya Aravindhan and Georgia Steigerwald assist 'Stoga alumna Melissa Shusterman in her campaign for Pennsylvania House of Representatives. During her time at Conestoga, Shusterman was an activist, fundraising to combat aids and hunger. Moving forward, she hopes to represent all the demographics of her district.

Staff Reporter

It’s admittedly rare to see a room full of smiling people on a Monday. Yet meetings for Body Posi, Conestoga’s newest club, are an exception. Body Posi members take a reprieve from the stresses of daily life to discuss how they’re feeling about themselves. The club, founded by junior Julianna Schiano, seeks to promote body positivity within the school community. Schiano herself hasn’t always been so comfortable in her own skin.

“I’ve dealt with body image issues and body shaming in the past,” Schiano said. “I personally believe a lot of problems we have come from our own insecurities, which can lead us to project negativity on to other people. That’s why helping people feel good about themselves can have a very large impact.”

Her interest in body positivity sprang from an online community, which inspired her TEDx Talk in school last spring.

“All of these bloggers were putting themselves out there and saying, ‘this is what I look like, this is who I am, and I’m happy and proud of it,’” Schiano said.

“That exposure to self-confident, uplifting people made me want to accept myself more and spread that message of self-acceptance.”

Despite being in its infancy, the club is establishing several initiatives.

“We are currently planning some ‘take what you need’ posters to put around the building,” Schiano said. “They all have positive comments and messages to boost people’s mood and self-worth. We’re also making buttons and we’ll have a stall at this year’s Unity Fair.”

The bulk of Body Posi’s mission takes place at their meet-

ings. The discussion-style layout allows members to comfortably share their experiences and have a support network.

“The atmosphere is a place where everyone’s insecurities are on the table,” member Hailey Dufour said. “While that seems scary, (Body Posi) has such a strong foundation of understanding that there’s no fear in opening up.”

Despite today’s relatively accepting climate, Body Posi knows that more must be done to prevent the judging of body types.

“Sure, there are plus-size female models, but you still don’t see plus-size male models,” Schiano said. “There are so many people that still need mainstream representation, so it’s crucial that we help kids see themselves projected in what’s considered normal at a high school level.”

Body Posi’s adviser, Spanish teacher Krista Sanelli, says she is excited to be involved with a program that she never had in her high school career.

“I don’t remember any programs like this when I was growing up,” Sanelli said. “It’s rewarding to support a group of kids who seek to address serious issues like this.”

Body Posi wants their efforts to be accessible to all Conestoga students.

“Body image issues are not just a girl thing,” Schiano said. “Everyone has issues with their appearance at some point, so our club is open and accepting of everyone.”

Looking forward, they would like to expand their impact in the school community.

“It’s a newer club, so students are still figuring out what we do and why we exist,” Sanelli said. “However, I would love to see (Body Posi) evolve into something that plays a big part in Conestoga.”

Andrew Bucko/The SPOKE

Junior Activism: Junior Juliana Schiano holds posters made by her new club, “Bodi Posi.” Schiano created the club to increase the prevalence of body positive thinking.

Teacher Feature: Mark Tirone Health and Physical Education teacher Mark Tirone talks about his entrance into the world of teaching and managing a music venue over the summer.

Neil Goldenthal

Multimedia Editor

Where are you from? Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Connecticut.

I went to Francis T. Maloney High School, which is in the center of the state. (For college), I stayed at Wellesley College part-time when I was in military, and then I went to Northeastern. I transferred to West Chester and that’s where I graduated from.

staff to work with, and obviously very knowledgeable. I feel like everybody grows with one another here. Just the camaraderie with the staff from maintenance, secretarial staff, all the way to teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, everybody. It’s just a great community that we have here at Conestoga.

What do you do in your free time?

In the summertime, I manage a music venue down in Dewey beach, so we’re only open when we have live music.

(We) get a lot of bands traveling through and a lot of variety there.

How did you get into teaching?

I’ve always been coaching, working with kids and coaching, and I’ve just always been interested in the science end What responsibilities do you have at the muand the acasic venue? demic side. I I just run the just thought show for the (teaching, venue, health and I’ve always been coach- music phys ed) would ing, working with kids and get the bands when they get me working with kids coaching and I’ve just al- come in, get and continue ways been interested in them set up. So that, with the coaching, seeing how they’ve the science end and the whole operation from openprogressed reing the building gardless of the academic side. to closing the level in school and as well as Mark Tirone building. in activities Health and Physical Education Teacher If you weren’t and sports. a teacher, what would you be Why health and doing? sports?

Probably in the live music It’s unique trying to get the point of a healthy lifestyle, venue industry to some dewhich is not always appreciat- gree. I’ve gotten very interested by teenagers. And I was the ed in live music. It’s a tough same way when I was a teen- business and you see what ager about a healthy lifestyles, they go through and you get not quite understanding the a full understanding when concept between junk food they’re on tour. It’s not all rosy and the importance of exer- for them. It’s a tough life travcise. I grew up a swimmer, and eling in buses for weeks at a I enjoy coaching swimming time and basically living with as well. I started out coaching your band members, so you track when I first got started got to learn to get along. here. I got involved with cross country and now I’m also in- Have you had any big name bands come through the place volved in tennis. you manage?

Yes, we’ve had several. The How has teaching made you one concert that sticks out the the person you are today?

Here at Conestoga, there most was Dropkick Murphys is a very supportive and great because it was 100-degree

“

“

Junior creates club for body positivity Andrew Bucko

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Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Neil Goldenthal/The SPOKE

Weight on his shoulders: Health and Physical Education teacher Mark Tirone stands in the weight-lifting room. Tirone has taught students about the importance of health for 22 years. weather, humidity skyrocketing. And there was a power failure at 3 p.m. that we were scrambling to get to generators, and within about a fouror five- mile radius we were the only business opened. So,

our building was all lit up and everything else was dark. But as a result, the scurrying all over, we had no choice. That’s the only way we were going to have the concert. And, it was a sold-out concert. It went great.

‘Brain Wash’ game show helps fund Easttown library Olivia Thompson Staff Reporter

“S.M.A.S.H! The Brady Bunch! The Jetsons!”

The “Brain Wash Gameshow” fundraising night began with TV show soundtracks playing as contestants tried to guess the TV show. If they answered correctly, candy was thrown their way.

The event was sponsored by the Friends of the Easttown Library, a group organized to help raise funds for the library. It was held on April 19 at the Hilltop House in Devon, featuring the traveling game show “Brain Wash.” Organized by Eric Dasher in 2001, the company is family-run and has gone as far as Mexico to play at resorts.

“The Friends have allocated a fund of $31,000 for the library’s budget this year and they’re supporting children’s programming, e-books, teen books and large print books.

They have a variety of things that they fund with their donations. They are sponsors of the summer reading program.

Every year they make an allocation and designate to parts of the budget,” director of the Easttown Library Alan Silverman said.

During the evening, the host asked four people to come up and play a series of mini games.

The games themselves took competitors around 15 seconds to complete and were mostly trivia questions, such as what movie actor the picture showed or if an actor was alive or dead.

The person who earned 30 points first won the round.

The Friends committee has a fundraiser each spring for the library. Anne Vandeweghe-Kinsella is member of the board.

“I am a supporter of our library because it is such a great library and community center for Easttown and Berwyn. The Friends do such a great job with their events and I love to sup-

Olivia Thompson/The SPOKE

Brainstorm: Host Eric Dasher questions “Brain Wash” contestants at the Hilltop House sponsored by the Friends of the Easttown Library. The show raised about $1,500 for the Easttown Library, which went to their budget for e-books, print books and children’s programming courses. port them, it’s all around fun for me!” Vandeweghe-Kinsella said.

The age limit for the event was 21+, so the questions asked focused on pop culture from the 70s and 80s. “‘Brain Wash’ had actually come to Easttown Library a few years ago and they did a show for the kids. It was very well-received, we heard really great things about it, and we thought it would really lend itself to a fun adult night out,” President of the Friends Board Jane Martin said.

In total, the library raised about $1,500. Although the

event was successful, it will not be an annual fundraiser.

“It’s just a one time thing. As

the Friends, we try to mix it up a little bit as to what fundraisers (we do) just to make it interest-

10% w/ C OFF on Stud estoga ent I D

ing and keep it interesting for people. So we may have them back, but we would probably

wait a couple of years before we include them again,” Martin said.

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Student Life

Cri

tic

Des

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Tuesday, May 1, 2018

: Thrillers w e i v e r e i v Mo

Cla

ire

Guo Cla ire Lyv ia Guo, Yan

A Quiet Place

In our day-to-day lives, and especially now, in May, we know what’s coming next (more work). That’s why this is the perfect time of the year to watch a few thrillers on the big screen. A good thriller keeps us on our toes, glues our eyes to the screen and sends thrills up our spines that momentarily make us forget about the AP tests, SATs, and final exams ahead.

The horror thriller “A Quiet Place,” the political thriller “Chappaquiddick” and the sci-fi thriller “Ready Player One” are now in theatres. Co-Student Life Editor Claire Guo saw them and tells you what to expect:

Courtesy Paramount

Silence is golden: John Krasinski stars in his directorial triumph “A Quiet Place” as a father who will do anything to protect his kids in a post-apocalyptic world.

Nine seasons of “The Office” never prepared us for Jim Halpe—sorry, John Krasinski’s directorial triumph in “A Quiet Place.” Sure, we know him for his humor, but forget about that.

He sure has. After directing two unsuccessful comedies, Krasinski has somehow offered the public an exemplar of the suspense thriller.

In “A Quiet Place,” creatures with hypersensitive hearing have killed most of the human population. To survive, the family

must live life in silence, complete with sign language and paint smears on the wood floors to show where it’s safe to step without creaking.

In a storm of horror films about psychos, paranormal activity and teenage madness, “A Quiet Place” stands far, far out.

It strikes a note with viewers because it reaches for a purpose beyond that of petrification. At the core of this thriller is family, and a burning question: what would you do for family?

Notably, the audience doesn’t learn the family members’ names until the credits. And that’s a good thing. Regardless of what Krasinski intended, that anonymity strengthens the audience’s relationship with the characters. He and real-life wife Emily Blunt are more than the characters—they represent every dad and mom trying to protect their children. In fact, “A Quiet Place” isn’t really about the family at the center of it.

To me, it felt like a movie ded-

the scandal surrounding Ted Kennedy, younger brother to JFK. If you’re like me, you’ve never heard of the Chappaquiddick incident, but the movie assumes you have. In short, Ted Kennedy drove a car off a bridge into a pond. He survived, but Mary Jo Kopechne, the young campaign strategist in the passenger seat, did not. “Chappaquiddick” details the political fall-out that followed. More poignantly, it details the decisions, both political and moral, Kennedy then faced.

“Chappaquiddick” has confirmed my long-standing suspicions that I should never consider a future career in politics. While watching, I think I understood for the first time how a politician can find themselves so far removed from the truth. On a more universal level, “Chappaquiddick” explains how a good person can make such stupid decisions. Each stupid decision Kennedy makes— and there are a lot—feels real and relatable, which is the true success of the movie. Only good cinema can make the bizarre history we find on Wikipedia pages feel so human.

Chappaquiddick For most teenagers, “Chappaquiddick” is too slow, too subtle, and inextricably linked to a time long before ours. For history buffs, political junkies, old souls and older persons, it’s a quality film.

For Kennedy mystique aficionados, it’s a must-see.

“Chappaquiddick” claims to tell “the untold true story” of

Ready Player One

Sometimes we don’t want to live in the real world. Sometimes we’d rather create a different life—in novels, movies, videogames. In fantasies.

In Spielberg’s newest hit, virtual reality is advanced enough to make people’s fantasies feel like, well, reality. Have you ever wanted to hang out with Batman? Or look like a “League of Legends” character? Well, you can in the Oasis, a VR program creicated to families everywhere. ated by 2045’s Steve Jobs It reminded me to appreciate equivalent James Halliday. my own parents, who I have When Halliday dies no doubt would have done the and leaves the top compasame for me and my brother in ny in the world to whoever such a world. can find his “Easter Egg”, Yet despite its strengths, the audience will watch Courtesy Warner Bros. know that “A Quiet Place” does dirt-poor teenager Wade not live up to the hype. With a Watts and friends turn a Escape from reality: Director Steven 95% rating on Rotten Toma- personal quest into a pop- Spielberg brings his most relevant film yet toes and gold stars everywhere ulist revolution against the to the screen with “Ready Player One,” a I turned, I expected “A Qui- evil second-best company sci-fi thriller enhanced with breathtaking et Place” to blow my mind. It in the world. didn’t. Instead, it was almost exeggs are slightly distracting, it’s The visual effects in actly what I expected. Do your- “Ready Player One” will be the impossible to mind when you’re self a favor and avoid the trailers best you’ve ever seen. While the so delighted with your own oband advertising. Watching a sin- mechanics of Oasis aren’t per- session’s 0.5 seconds of screengle trailer makes almost every fectly logical, that’s easy to ignore time. key point of the movie predict- when the world Spielberg dangles Where Spielberg drops the able, and it’s predictable enough in front of us is so enticing. The ball is in character development. already. You’ll know when the entire movie is one tricked-out Unlike in “Chappaquiddick” jump-scares are coming; the fanboy fantasy on steroids. What and “A Quiet Place,” I don’t care movie relies on you knowing. about the characters because they kind of fanboy, you ask?

That’s why “A Quiet Place” is don’t feel real. They don’t develAll of them. really much more of a thriller “Ready Player One” is so op values and beliefs so much than a horror movie—anxiety crammed with pop culture refer- as have the opportunity to show plays a much larger role in this ences, I’m pretty sure it’s impos- pre-existing ones. And (spoiler film than fear. sible for any one person to find alert) when Wade finally meets So slouch down progressive- all of them. “The Breakfast Club” his Oasis crush in the real world, ly further in your seat, curse makes more than one appear- who’s scared he’ll be disappointoccasionally to relieve tension, ance, as do superheroes, decade ed in her appearance, she ends munch quietly—very quietly— music, video games and refer- up being just as gorgeous as her on your popcorn, and thank ences to Spielberg’s own movies. virtual reality counterpart. RealGod you’re not there with them. Though the everlasting Easter ly, Spielberg? She thinks she’s not gorgeous because of a birthmark?

We actually not gorgeous people are groaning in our seats (spoiler over).

Yet again, it’s easy for viewers to ignore “Ready Player One’s” mistakes. The real joy lies not in the characters, but in the sense of adventure. Somehow Spielberg has created yet another new world, one arguably more ambitious than any he’s previously pursued. The gray-haired director has directed over 60 movies and now has over 70 years of age on him. With “Ready Player One,” Spielberg shows he won’t be left behind. His vision clearly Courtesy Entertainment Studios changes with the times, and here to prove it is one of his most relePlaying politics: Leading man Jason Clarke makes Ted Kennedy—and vant films to date. all his terrible decisions—feel real and relatable in “Chappaquiddick.”

Writing on the wall: Pen quirks grow in popularity Justin Huang

Co-Student Life Editor

Opening one of his cabinets, Social Studies teacher John Koenig examines one of his $50 fountain pens and shamelessly admits to his “pen problem.”

Koenig’s not alone. Since writing plays a big part in school life, a handful of students and faculty have moved past the wooden Ticonderoga and cheap 50-pack pens, choosing more expensive and solidly-built utensils instead.

Fountain pens, for example, have a special nib and internal mechanism that feeds in the user’s choice of ink, while metal-body pencils have greater weight and special features, like a retractable tip, depending on the pencil. Instead of treating pencils and pens as mere scholastic tools, they respect and play around with them more.

“In the last four years, it seems as though an interest in pens and paper and stationery has exploded,” Koenig said. “I think that’s a response to technology, and the cold, impersonal nature of the laptop keyboard, which I use all the time.”

Koenig’s interest started three years ago from his father’s passion for fountain pens.

We “went to the Philadelphia Pen Show, which is an annual event held in January,” Koenig said. “My primary interest was to see what this was all about, because (my father) was so in-

terested in it. I was amazed at how much passion people have for pens and writing and stationery. It was almost like a father taking a son to a baseball game, exposing all the intricacies and the wonders of being a baseball fan.”

Koenig regularly handwrites to give student feedback and create ideas, like lesson plans, and using different fountain pens allows him to capitalize on the relationship between tool and user. The way each stroke of the pen looks can influence the way he treats his thoughts.

“With the variety of options that you can find if you’re a pen addict, it makes it all the more enjoyable to recognize the different ways that a person can write based on the tool they’re using, and how the tool affects the way a person writes and thinks through an idea,” Koenig said.

Before Koenig started exNeil Goldenthal/The SPOKE ploring fountain pens, senior Take note: Social studies teacher John Koenig holds up one of his many fountain pens. Koenig’s interest in fountain pens started three years ago, Kyle Kennedy jumped in during when he went to his first pen show with his father. the beginning of his freshman year. As a former student of write with.”

Like Koenig and Kennedy, a (metal-body) pencil, and said, Zhang said. “They have a nice Koenig’s, he helped give advice Although the use of foun- junior Jojo Zhang enjoys writ- ‘This is the kind of pencil that weight to them, and they feel and bantered about their bene- tain pens can sometimes seem ing with fountain pens, but you should be getting from now like a premium pencil that is fits. daunting with some of their also appreciates special pencils. on.’ I guess that clicked ever valuable.”

“They’re more customizable, high price tags, Kennedy as- Similar to Koenig, Zhang had since,” Zhang said.

The world of writing utenbecause you can use any variety sures that there’s something for another family member introAlthough they’re sometimes sils only exists because of the of inks in them. One pen you everyone and recommends giv- duce a larger world of writing, harder to find, Zhang prefers amount of writing that students could use for countless years ing them a try. but with pencils instead of pens. heavier metal-body pencils as and teachers have to do every without mistakes,” Kennedy “There was this one time her instrument of choice, given day.

“You don’t have to get the said. “Some of the nice ones es- $100 ones. There are cheap- that I bought this really nice how nice the extra weight feels “If you spend a lot of time pecially flow very nicely across er great ones — Pilot Varsity plastic pencil, and my sister in the hand. walking or standing or running, the paper. You don’t need to put is $3. They’re nice to have, and just laughed at me and said, ‘I’ll “I usually use metal-body you probably pay attention to any pressure when you write. they’re fun to write with,” Ken- show you an actual nice pencil.’ pencils, so a Rotring or a Pen- your shoes, and you should get It’s easier and more enjoyable to nedy said.

She went online and bought me tel Kerry is what I usually have,” a pair of shoes that you’re ex-

said inical

ect is from erican d that owed umed ugary likely than essed n their

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Student Life

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Vegan 1% Vegetarian 2% Vegetarian Pescatarian 1%

Food for Thought

Other 5%

Story by Dhivya Arasappan and Tiffany He Design by Dhivya Arasappan, Claire Guo, Tiffany He, Justin Huang and Lyvia Yan

To the dedicated meat-lover, a vegan or vegetarian diet may seem like an impossible task and unrewarding lifestyle. However, some Conestoga students are proving the opposite, along with over 6.3 million vegetarians and over one million vegans across the United States.

In the past few years, the movement towards plant-based eating has skyrocketed.

According to the research firm Global Data, within the last three years, veganism alone has increased by 600% in the United States.

From the likes of Bill Clinton and Ellen DeGeneres to your next-door neighbor, these human herbivores are becoming more common.

According to a 2016 study from the Pew Research Center, 12% of adults from 18 to 29 years of age report that they are strictly or mostly vegan or vegetarian compared to only 5% in the 65 and older age group. Although the numbers varies from study to study, there are more vegans and vegetarians in younger age groups and the number is continuing to increase. Here’s a look at the alternative dietary habits of Conestoga.

Dietary Restrictions At Stoga

The Spoke surveyed 168 Conestoga students about their eating habits.

No restrictions

91%

This superfood is high in monounsaturated fats and low in sugars. Avocados can make for a healthy snack on toast or with tortilla chips.

Smoothies are a popular snack or a pre-workout drink. Just throw in some leafy dark greens, bananas and maybe some dates and yogurt.

Quinoa, rice and other grains are a staple of a daily meal plan.

Daily Menu

Vegan-style

Don’t settle for your basic black bean burger. Maybe try a bite of portobello or chickpea patties.

Believe it or not, milk’s favorite cookie is vegan! Enjoy them with fortified almond or soy milk.

Why or Why not?

Why? Health

Reasons Reasons for for

Eating Eating Differently Differently

Why? Ethical “Going vegetarian or vegan makes you take a closer look at what you are eating and often by taking a closer look you become a more conscious consumer.”

— freshman Gordon Hu

Health reasons (weight loss, etc.) 41% Health reasons (weight loss, etc.) 41%

Vegetarian(allergies, etc.) 15% Medical reasons (Of the students surVegetarian(allergies, etc.) 15% Medical reasons veyed with dietary Ethical reasons regarding animals 18% Ethical reasons reasons regarding regarding people animals4% 18% restrictions) Ethical

Ethical reasons regarding people 4% Religious 18% Religious 18% 4% Other 4% Other

“I would get really bad stomach aches.

Switching to a plant-based diet really helped my digestive system.”

— sophomore Valerie Duffy

Why not? Health

“Obviously not all vegans are malnourished, but it is easier to get a full set of vitamins from a meat and vegetables diet than just vegetables.”

— sophomore Jarod Rejonis

We spoke with Paoli dietician Julie Zimmerman and CHOP dietician Megan Robinson about some of the misconceptions surrounding veganism and vegetarianism.

Myth Vegans and vegetarians are often deficient in essential nutrients like calcium, iron, and protein.

All vegan food is healthy.

Eating vegan food is expensive.

Vegan and vegetarian diets extremely limit food options.

What the Experts Say “If you do it correctly, you can eat a vegan or vegetarian diet and get those nutrients.

Whether you do it from supplements or from balancing the right types of proteins through plants and soy products, there are definitely ways to do it,” Robinson said.

“Cheese pizza or pepper and onion pizza would technically fit into a vegetarian diet, but it’s not going to provide you with all the nutrition that you need. Same thing with french fries. Not saying that you can’t have those things in moderation, but it does need to be more complex than that,” Zimmerman said.

“Unfortunately, eating healthier can be a little more expensive than some of the processed foods. It is more expensive, but really and truly you’re doing yourself a great service because co-pays and medicine and medical insurance are not cheap either,” Zimmerman said.

“Actually it’s pretty easy because usually menus have a couple of vegan options. And second if you tell your waiter that you’re vegan the chef can make something special for you.

They can usually make a very nice vegetable platter. If you go somewhere that is a little more accepting you can get a nice mushroom burger and you don’t just have to eat salads,” Duffy said.

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Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Op/ed

From the Editor: Letter to our readers

Kaitlyn Chen/The SPOKE

Senior farewell: A few words of wisdom

Be your own person. Do what is best for you and make the most of your high school experience. Take the classes that will help you succeed, and don’t slack off in your earlier years.

That being said, just because your friends are all taking AP classes doesn’t mean you have to. You need to find a balance of challenge and happiness. High school is what you make of it.

- Elizabeth

High school isn’t just about creating the perfect transcript for college. Join clubs and organizations where you can truly explore your passions and find a group where you fit in. Be bold and try something new; you never know where the road might take you. But whatever you decide to become a part of, stay true to yourself. Don’t let anyone else ever tell you what to believe or what standards to hold yourself to. The legacy you create during your four years here is yours to design so do something that will leave you reminiscing about Conestoga even twenty or fourty years down the road.

- Betty

High school is a compilation of everything: the fruity smells in the bathroom, the sports domination in Hershey, the music that blasts on Fridays and the simple hello’s exchanged in the hallways. Conestoga is a place where you can laugh, cry and talk with any of the people in this building. It’s Miss Jane talking about her pet squirrels. It’s clapping for Dr. Boyle every time he says anything. It’s even the five girls who sit in the handicap stall.

While you’re at it, go on and grab a second (or third) portion of those coveted pizza dippers.

- Lyvia

Put down your phone once in a while, and take some time to appreciate the wonder that is the Big C. The sights and smells that make this place truly unique — the buttery scent of the Culinary Arts classes’ latest creations, the sea of Krispy Kreme boxes drifting through the hallways, or the delightful screeching we now know as the Young Democrats - Young Republicans debate. But whatever you encounter, stay true to yourself. Stoga’s a tough place, so stay strong and soon enough you’ll be right where

After four years at Conestoga, our senior Spoke editors are signing off. Before passing the torch to the new editorial board, here are a few words of wisdom they’d like to share:

we are now. In the midst of all the schoolwork, it doesn’t ever seem like you’ll miss ’Stoga, but trust me, there’ll come a point where you wish you could be a Pioneer again — even if it means one more pep rally. After four years, you might hate this place. But you’ll love it too.

- Jordan

ungrateful and bitter in attitude.

But it’s the natural cycle. During your senior year, you’ll probably also start to feel frustrated and happy to leave. But do your best to enjoy it. For many, senior year is when you get to reap the benefits of all the work you’ve put into classes, clubs, extracurriculars.

- Neil

You, young underclassman, are still young and fresh. There is still hope left for you.

Join a club. Take an AP course which interests you. Play a sport, even if just for fun. I know at this point it sounds cheesy and uninspired, but the old adage rings true nonetheless: you are only a high schooler once. Seize any opportunity you can get because in the world outside the Big C, people aren’t nearly as kind or forgiving.

So chat it up with your classmates. Study hard, and party harder. And, by God, remember to get some sleep.

- Ian

I’ll be honest with you: throughout my four years here at Conestoga, I put academics before my own health, and I paid the price. It took me until now to realize that even though we’re young, we’re not entirely invincible. It’s easy to brush off all the things that make up a healthy lifestyle — sleep, exercise, eating healthy — when you have mountains of work piled up, but make sure to take the time and get the proper rest you need. All those times your teachers and administrators stressed the importance of time management, they were right! If you manage your time properly, Conestoga — for all its reputation of being highly competitive — won’t be as bad as some say it is. You’re only in high school, and you have so many years ahead of you. Don’t let unhealthy habits catch up to you.

- Eric

I have a lot of positive memories of Conestoga from the last few years, but going off to college will be a nice change of pace. I remember watching the seniors before us leave without looking back and thinking that they were

Dear Reader, After four wonderfully long years with The Spoke, the time has come for the two of us to step down from our position as co-editors-inchief. With the release of this May issue, our tenure as high school journalists has come to a close.

Serving as your co-editors-in-chief this year has been an experience both of us would not trade for anything.

We live in an era where journalism is more controversial and divisive than ever before.

From the widespread dissemination of “fake news” to the diminishing faith in the media as a truthful watchdog of democracy, it is becoming increasingly difficult for journalists to find the real truth and portray it as such.

As we strove to adapt to the changing roles and responsibilities of the news media, we were lucky to have so many unique experiences to tell the stories of this community. Whether reporting on teacher union contract negotiations or how national politics have shaped the local elections or even how vaping has risen in popularity among students, we have been fortunate enough to talk to people we otherwise would never have had the chance to meet— government officials and big-time CEOs and famous alumni and even just other students from our school, with their own stories to share.

However, our underclassmen peers face an uphill battle as they get ready to take our places at the head of this paper. The truth is harder to find than ever before, and because of this, accurate and honest reporting is crucial.

As the youth voice becomes ever more prominent in national discourse, the importance of not only a free press and a strong adherence to the

First Amendment, but also of vibrant student journalism, is paramount.

We have enjoyed the opportunity to continue The Spoke’s legacy as one of the community’s leading news sources. And that will go on without us. With each passing year, The Spoke continues to evolve based on the decisions made by each new editorial board. Under our leadership this year, The Spoke broke tradition to become a broadsheet newspaper for the first time in almost 40 years. We won awards at the national and state level for everything from our reporting and writing to our photos and designs.

We have confidence that next year’s publication will take what we have accomplished this year and reach even greater heights.

It’s unbelievable how quickly these four years have gone by, and there are so many people we have to thank for making our experience at The Spoke so amazing. To our readers, thank you for giving us the opportunity to explore our passion for journalism. Without you, there wouldn’t be a purpose to what we do here. To our advisers, Mrs. Hyatt and Mrs. Gregory, thank you for teaching us all not only how to be better journalists, but how to be better people as well. And to our fellow Spokies, who have stuck with us through thick and thin, thank you for being why we come to room 280A every day.

We are excited for the future of scholastic journalism and look forward to what the new staff of The Spoke will bring. To Avery and Justin, the incoming co-editors-inchief, good luck. We are confident that you will succeed.

Sincerely, Betty Ben Dor and Eric Xue Co-Editors-in-Chief

ZUCK 2020: Let’s Make America Use Facebook Again

Ian Ong

Managing Editor

As any hijacked webcam or security drone footage could tell you, it was a dreary day in Washington.

Dismal figures roam the streets, eyes glued to their phones glued to their hands.

Despite the cold, the pedestrians shuffle from building to building, stopping only to smirk at the occasional meme or to deliver the standard greeting while in another’s presence, “Praise Zuck.”

Overlooking the herds is a gigantic, neon-blue letter “f,” its glorious light piercing the clouds from its vantage point atop the Washington Monument. Not only does its hallowed light serve to guide planes, but it is a beacon for the peasants which ruminate below. It is something that they can look up to. It is something which brings them hope.

Through the crystal-clear windows of the Oval Office, the creatures outside have the ever-so-precious opportunity to sneak a glance at the god-emperor himself.

Dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, President Zuck gazes back at

The Spoke is published seven times per year at Bartash Printing. It consistently receives a Gold rating from PSPA and CSPA, and it is a National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker award-winning publication.

The Spoke serves as a public forum for student expression.

his subjects, his eyes meeting that of a lesser being for an accidental split-second.

In the moment, the sleep-deprived being does not give it much thought. But little did he know, that one time he saw The Zuck in the flesh would be the happiest moment of his short life.

And if Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is elected president in 2020 for real, the American people will be able to experience this same ecstasy.

All signs seem to point to his potential presidential plans. Last year, Zuck’s resolution was to meet “people in every state in the US” (swing states included). In a proxy statement, Facebook articulates that Zuckerberg is able to take voluntary leave from his post in order to serve “in a government position or office.” And finally, the minimum age for a presidential candidate is 35. Guess how old Zuck is turning in 2020?

Not only do I say we give him a shot, but I am here to tell you why The Zuck would make the best president (read: emperor) America has ever witnessed.

As proven by recent history, everybody knows that great entrepreneurs make great commanders-in-chief.

Forget political prowess, my boy Zuck over here has over 62.1 billion dollars in his name. With all of that money, just think about what he will

be able to do for our economy! And when it comes to public speaking and acting naturally on camera, Zuck is nothing but a natural-born showsman. Even when he is under fire from senators in congressional hearing sessions, Zuck manages to keep his cool and his face, utterly expressionless.

Secondly, I support Zuck 2020 because he truly wants to connect people and use their personal information to suit the greater good. With the simple press of a button, not only would Zuck be able to send out birthday messages to each and every citizen, but he would be able to erase the data of criminals and political dissenters from databases nationwide, essentially rendering them unpersons. With advertisements tailored to each citizen’s most personal and private tastes, we will be more connected to our beloved brands than ever before.

Remember, corporations are people, and they deserve the human ideals of connection and love just as much as the next guy.

Finally, data-suck Zuck is the only living individual with the power to usher in a new era of political efficacy. Using terabytes of scraped private data from Facebook and Instagram accounts, Zuckerberg will be able to make the most informed and down-to-earth decisions for our nation’s fu-

The SPOKE Staff Editors-in-Chief: Betty Ben Dor, Eric Xue Managing Editor: Ian Ong News Editor: Brooke Deasy Student Life Editors: Claire Guo, Justin Huang Opinion Editor: Audrey Kim Sports Editor: Avery Maslowsky Design Editor: Lyvia Yan Co-Web Editors: Elizabeth Billman, Jordan Liu

Kaitlyn Chen/The SPOKE

ture. Unhappy with a new tax or regulation? Express your distaste by listing your grievances out loud within earshot of your mobile device. Do not worry, Mark is there to listen to you. He is always listening.

Sure, he’s had his fair share of detractors (I like to call them “Zuckrakers”) who

Multimedia Editor: Neil Goldenthal Business Manager: Maddie Lamonica Staff Reporters: Dhivya Arasappan, Andrew Bucko, Aimee Buttenbaum, Emma Clarke, Henry Danon, Renato DiStefano, Matthew Fan, Reagan Gerrity, Tiffany He, Scott Hennessy, James P. Infortuna, Ananya Kulkarni, Jahnavi Rao, Sanjana Sanghani, Olivia Thompson, Melinda Xu,Warren Zhao Cartoonists: Kaitlyn Chen, Jennifer Lee Faculty Advisers: Susan Gregory, Cyndi Crothers-Hyatt

quarrel over little things such as privacy, consumer protections and how Facebook serves only to distract and polarize the American populous. But when all’s said and done, Mark Zuckerberg is by far the most qualified candidate that could run for United States president.

Submissions: Letters to the editor may be submitted to Betty Ben Dor or Eric Xue, or advisers Susan Gregory or Cyndi Crothers-Hyatt. Unsigned editorials represent the views of The Spoke editorial board, not necessarily those of the administration, student body, community or advertisers. The opinions expressed in signed columns are those of the writer and not necessarily the opinion of The Spoke.

The Spoke accepts paid advertisements.

So the next time you stop by the ballot box to vote, make sure you drop a fat “like” for the Big Z himself.

After all, there’s nobody more representative of the common American than a nerdy, all-powerful billionaire.

Poor Yeezy doesn’t stand a chance.

/thespoke @thespoke @thespoke the_spoke www.spoke.news hello@spoke.news

op/ed

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

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The Pioneer manifesto: Making ’Stoga great again

Jordan Liu

Co-Web Editor

What’s the key to success at the Big C? How do we maintain the coveted “Tradition of Excellence”, lest we disappoint Dr. Meisinger — or even worse yet, Dr. Boyle? As a parting senior and proud soon-to-be Stoga alum, I’m deeply concerned for the state of my alma mater, and I’m here to impart all of my impenetrable wisdom on how we can make Conestoga great again. From the hazy bathrooms to the floods of freshmen, there’s certainly a lot we could im-

prove. Maybe — just maybe — we could even boost our Niche ranking while we’re at it. So let’s do this, ’Stoga.

Too many students: They say the tsunami in the aftermath of the 2011 Japanese earthquake was one of the deadliest in history. But have you tried walking through the Caf during B lunch? Really, it’s not much different. Trying to navigate and stay afloat in a flood of confused underclassmen, bobbing up and down.

Oh look, there’s Japan! Ah, nevermind. Just Anime Club.

There’s no doubt that ’Stoga is overcrowded. My solution?

Use the basement. While sophomores, juniors, and seniors are above ground, all freshmen can stay in the basement for their first year, where they’ll take classes, eat lunch, and become true and weathered (albeit

pale) Pioneers, well-equipped to take on the rest of their career.

They’ll literally work their way up, the good ol’ fashioned way — no skipping grades, no special treatment, nada. Maybe a few exceptions for the board members’ kids, but they’ll still be pulling themselves up by daddy’s bootstraps.

The Parking Extravaganza: It’s a widely known fact amongst seniors that parking at Conestoga is disastrous, and it’s certainly not going to get better. With each class getting progressively larger and larger, the administration has no choice but to seek alternatives. The safe route? They could sell parking permits alongside tickets to Comedy Night — that way, we can guarantee they wouldn’t sell out. Another choice is to expand into the woods — a hefty project valued in the millions! But that’s nonsense. There’s

loads of open space available, especially if we plowed Teamer Field. It’s not like the football team needs the space anyways.

Vaping: Why vape in the bathrooms when you can vape in the classrooms? Introducing THC (H*), an exclusive new course replacing CCT that teaches students the fundamentals of vaping — a core part of student life here at the Big C. Students will learn key skills, like blowing smoke rings and avoiding fire alarms. Classes will be held every ten minutes in you-know-which bathroom, taught by a select faculty of prepubescent teens. Prerequisites: at least 20 hours of juuling, as well as stealthy juul-hiding skills.

Students that took this class also took: AP Physics: Joules and Juuls and CHEM 420.

Library: The TE School District has a bit of a money

spending problem. With millions of dollars in budget deficits, administrators are scrambling to find the quickest ways to eliminate the debt gap. So let’s be real here. Quite frankly, much of the library could be put to better use — especially the books. Who needs all 22 volumes of the World Encyclopedia? How many students crack open “The Confessions of Nat Turner” for a casual read each year?

Instead, we should be using the plethora of unread books in a more efficient manner: heating up our classrooms.

Toss a couple Dickens novels, and maybe a Bronte for good measure, and you’ve got yourself a cozy hearth to read your Sparknotes beside. This way, we’d save energy and put these books to good use. I’m sure Machiavelli would approve.

Report Card Weather + Snow days in March.

- Snow in March.

Senior Internships + Senioritis takes its leave.

- We miss them! (Sort of)

April Teach-in + School unity.

Q: If you could change one thing about Conestoga, what would it be?

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- Didn’t generate much discussion.

Facebook Hearings

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+ Zuckerberg memes.

- Fake news.

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We can make classes start a little bit later than usual. I think it would probably increase performance, and everyone would be happier because we wouldn’t have to wake up so early.

Andrew Huang

““

If there was one thing I could change about ’Stoga, I would change the favoritism in academics, sports, and music. I think it’s in friend groups and even teachers in a regular classroom, it’s all controlled by favoritism.

Elizabeth Holton

“

I would change the library into a more social zone. Right now it seems like the librarians don’t want you there with your friends, and I think that’s what a lot of people want to do there.

Thomas King

“

I would change the time school starts because I see a lot of kids sleeping in my first and second period classes. If it started an hour later, every student would be more attentive in class and get better grades.

Baasim Kazi

Gender equality or a gender war?

Matt McDermott Guest Columnist

From the start, my life has been filled with the most supportive women. My mom taught me to be independent and always has been supportive of what I do. My sister taught me to be kind to others. My three cousins Amanda, Katie and Laura taught me creativity and the power of the right side of the brain. My best friend, Nicole, who is trans, taught me to always be open to all people. I never once in my life felt anyone was not my equal.

The women in my life can be described as feminist due to their strong free will and inspirement they give. Growing up in a very liberal family, feminism is often discussed among the women in my family.

Today, feminism addresses a debatable gender wage gap, the #MeToo movement, and a push against a worldwide patriarchy.

However, the fight for equality often now feels more like a disparaging movement toward men than a fight for the rights of women or of both sexes.

According to Merriam-Webster, feminism is defined as “the belief that women and men should have equal rights and opportunities.” If someone had asked me if I was a feminist before high school, I would have said yes. That answer isn’t so simple to me anymore.

As I began high school, I noticed that the topic of feminism was increasingly appearing in my life with the political rise of Donald Trump and subsequent women’s marches. New words like “mansplaining” , “manspreading”, and “male privilege” showed up in many articles and became prevalent terms that I was not used to.

Even feminists have broken into specific branches, causing divisions within feminism with many men and women now dismissing feminism, preferring to be called egalitarian, a term I also prefer.

At the recent Philadelphia Women’s March, there were signs calling to “grab them by the patriarchy” or “grab patriarchy by the balls” when we are trying to protest grabbing anyone anywhere.

We have moved away from human rights towards a trend of blaming “privileged males” for our broken system and inventing demeaning words that generalize all men like “toxic masculinity”. Sometimes the movement towards gender equality seems more like a gender war against men, often making the same men who support the cause feel at a loss.

We don’t want to end out where injustices toward women are turned into a war on men.

Why do we brand our biggest march against our president as a Women’s March when it’s so much more than just that?

And there are also many issues that disproportionately face men as well. It is reported that women have 2000 domestic abuse shelters in the U.S., yet there is only one shelter dedicated to men, despite studies from the CDC showing men suffer from significant domestic abuse. Other gender issues that affect men are that they

Multicultural Week + Churros!

- Couldn’t sell food during lunch periods.

Spring Break + A week off!

- Didn’t get that Monday.

Jennifer Lee/The SPOKE

are mandated for Selected Service in the military, may face prison sentencing disparity, difficult child custody battles, false rape or sexual misconduct allegations, as well as a common fear of admitting to be sexually assaulted due to being seen as “weak.”

I do not hold the answers about gender inequality. However, to achieve true gender equality, it is important for us to look ahead with open minds and open hearts. We need to listen to individual perspectives and avoid group-thinking.

As the upcoming generation, we have the power to bring to light people’s individual struggles and create a world with equality for all. We need to stand together strong to help one another, not alienate one another, listen, and not expect to be offended.

AP Common Sense: Memorizing real-life skills

Neil Goldenthal

Multimedia Editor

Greetings from the College Board! It is with excitement that we are announcing a new AP course for the 2018-19 school

year: AP Common Sense. We, the mighty College Board, have put our best minds on the development of this unique class.

After years of cranking out course after course for high school students, we decided that it was time to find a way to teach real life skills.

Generally, we release courses to high schools and enjoy the show, like a raw steak thrown to a pack of wolves.

Nothing makes us happier than watching hardworking and determined students slave

over a college curriculum only to receive a grade between one and five, giving no detail on how they performed.

However, it has come to our attention that we may have gotten a little carried away. Our classes have transformed the life of the average American high school student. We may or may not have created some mutants, like the academic masochists who feel an overwhelming pressure to take unnecessarily hard classes and compromise their so-

cial life, personal health and sanity. Then there is the severe overachiever, who can handle far more of our ordeals than we ever thought possible, and loves to tell everyone about it. What’s that? You got 5’s on all your exams and have a 5.2 GPA? Fantastic! No one cares!

As long as we get our $93 (and $141 for you poor souls in Capstone), we couldn’t care less what happens afterwards.

After all, we have to make sure our CEO maintains his $700,000 yearly salary.

Colleges like to see this course on students’ transcripts because it shows that they can function outside the pages of a College Board approved textbook. The AP Common Sense curriculum will focus less on your ability to read an atrocious amount of information, regurgitate it for a few months and then forget all of it. Instead, we want to teach students important life skills. Class activities will include; learning how to genuinely interact with other hu-

man beings, paying bills and taxes, caring for your mental well-being, and how to have goals in life that aren’t a 5.

To this day, we are proud of the strides our non-profit organization have achieved: connecting students to anxiety and low self-esteem, creating greater opportunity at $93 a test, and achieving a success that only goes as far as that Common Application form.

Sincerely, The College Board

Kaitlyn Chen/The SPOKE

Sports

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Two countries, one sport: Twin brothers’ stability is rugby Aimee Buttenbaum Staff Reporter

The sidelines to an athlete are equivalent to isolation; being told to stay out of a game pulls an athlete from the excitement and heat left on the field. But for sophomores Joe and Ray Robinson, the sideline means opportunity, as they are now supporting and leading, with their rugby knowledge gained in Japan, the boys’ team from the bench.

During football season after acquiring an injury, Joe visited the doctor after a game and heard heartbreaking news: he would not be able to play contact sports for the rest of his life.

“I damaged my nerve while playing football,” Joe said.

But amidst the bad news, Joe dedicates his life to the sport of rugby, alongside his brother, Ray. During this year’s rugby season, Ray played in two games before he suffered a fracture to his collarbone after being tackled to the ground, sending him to the bench alongside Joe. Acknowledging the love each twin has for the sport of rugby before their injuries occurred, head coach Alex Johnson kept a watchful eye on the twins as they missed registration for the team last year.

“We were really excited to see them and get them to play for us,” Johnson said.

While Joe never got the opportunity to wear a ’Stoga uniform, Johnson said that Ray was playing exceptionally well

Aimee Buttenbaum/The SPOKE

Standing proud: Sophomore twins Ray and Joe Robinson attend a game at Valley Forge Middle School to support their teammates. Ray was injured during his second game, as he was tackled to the ground, breaking his collarbone. He hopes to recover in time for next season.

for the short time he ran out on the field.

Ray “quickly made his way to the starting fifteen, even as a tenth grader his skill level was just so high that we had to get him on the field,” Johnson said.

Although the brothers are currently not physically playing the sport, they aren’t stagnant on the sidelines.

“Joe and Ray have the highest rugby IQ in the area and they show us tricks to bring our game to the next level,” sophomore Matt Hamilton said.

“They show us how to drop kick, organize on the field and how to be more effective with our passes.”

And according to Johnson, the boys bring their knowledge in order to develop the rest of the the rugby program.

“Joe’s been helping out with passing and a lot of the basic concepts for some of the newer players because Joe and Ray were so familiar with the sport from Japan,” Johnson said.

The Robinson twins began playing at the age of five for the Hyogo Rugby Club in Japan.

They first arrived in the U.S. for their father’s job last spring.

Joe believes that the members of the team helped create a smooth transition to the United States, aside from the language barrier.

“When we first joined, the whole team welcomed us,” Joe said. “Everybody always tries really hard to understand what I am saying.”

Despite the language barrier, Johnson appreciates the twins’ knowledge of rugby, as the sport provides a unique form of communication that does not involve talking at all.

Tracking the changes: Track and field gets not so new coach Emma Clarke

coach other Olympic athletes in Nigeria. Returning to the states after her Olympic experience, “On your mark. BOOM!” The Williams became a track coach runners explode out of the blocks at West Virginia University, an at the sound of the starter pistol.

NCAA Divsion 1 school, before Even louder are the cheers of she ended up in Berwyn.

Coach Pat Williams, urging on “Everything that I learned over her runners. As a former Olymthe years I can pass along to my pian from Nigeria, Williams, or athletes. If I told you (my experiCoach Pat to her runners, has ence as a runner) hasn’t helped me, brought a high caliber of coachI would be lying,” Williams said. ing to the track team.

According to senior Lex After privately coaching senior Forge, the dedication Williams Grace Lanouette, a team captain, applied to her own career transWilliams was asked by Leasha Lewlates to her coaching. is, a former coach who was going “We trained harder, got sigon maternity leave, to step in. nificantly faster and if you ever “I used to coach college and I planned to miss practice or a had never coached high school bemeet you needed a good excuse,” Forge said.

While the runners previously showed dedication regardless, Williams took the expected commitment to the next level. According to Lanouette, home meets that previously had been optional are now a requirement. Williams also organized training for each type of runner. On the varsity team, Williams focuses mainly on the sprinters, but she brought a new coach along with her to specifically train the distance runners.

Through such methodology and her expertise in coaching, sophomore sprinter Vidya Patel believes Williams teaches runners that they won’t be able to find success without intrinsic motivation.

“The number one lesson that I Emma Clarke/The SPOKE have learned from Coach Pat is that A new take on coaching: Coach and former olympian Pat Williams you must always believe in yourself, watches carefully over her athletes during a meet at Great Valley High and if you do not push yourself then School. She rose to position of head coach this past season, having previ- no one else will,” Patel said.

Staff Reporter

fore, so I was like ‘No! I don’t want to do that!’ But then Grace said to me ‘please, it would be nice,’ and I made a deal with her. She had never run the 400 before, so I said to her ‘if I come here, you’re going to run the 400.’ She is part of the reason why I’m here,” Williams said.

Williams has been able to make a variety of changes to the track program through her experience as a successful professional athlete. Coming from Nigeria, she ran with a track scholarship at the collegiate level for four years at West Virginia University. After college, Williams represented Nigeria in the Olympics and world championships in the long jump event. She later went on to

COMMITMENT CORNER School: University of Georgia

Aimee Buttenbaum/The SPOKE

Supporting the weight of their teammates: The ‘Stoga rugby club competes against Malvern Prep on a rainy Sunday afternoon. From the sidelines, the Robinson boys gave tips to lead their team to victory.

“The one thing that I love languages, in which even if cause they understand the rules about rugby, and sports in gen- they couldn’t speak any En- and how the game is played,” eral, is that they are universal glish, they could still play be- Johnson said.

Baseball seniors swing into last season Warren Zhao Staff Reporter

Dressed in maroon and white, the player steps out onto the field. He taps the bat to the plate, holding onto it with one hand, and takes a few practice swings. He looks down the field at the opposing pitcher and breathes heavily. ’Stoga baseball is soon to be one hit closer to another victory.

With a record of 4-4-0 so far, the Conestoga varsity baseball team has Central League title hopes for the 2018 season. The team is very senior-heavy— 15 of the 23 players on the team are seniors.

“We talked about it all (during) the off-season, how this was going to be the year for us. This was (the seniors’) last year, and we really wanted to make this one count, to go out and leave no doubt on the field,” senior pitcher Tucker Conlan said.

Since the team did not elect captains until two weeks prior to their training, all seniors took on a leadership role within the team.

“We’re all leaders individually, but as a unit, we really found our way, especially with the younger kids. They look up to us, being two-year varsity starters,” senior pitcher Michael Della Polla said. “It really helps to bring the team together, and having a class like this is one of the reasons we’re so successful.”

According to senior captain Max Anastasio, the baseball team finds itself existing as a single, unified social unit, unlike other sports where players sometimes group themselves into cliques based on grade level.

plays the game— we know our strengths, we know our weaknesses,” Della Polla said.

The seniors look at each other as “brothers,” according to senior captain Jacob Marcus.

And as brothers do, they celebrate together when good news comes to one of their own.

“Everyone’s so supportive of each other. There’s not one kid on the team that really brings We are all leaders down anyone else. It really is a good group of guys. Everyone individually, but as a is supportive of each other, evunit, we really found our eryone is happy for each other,” Marcus said. way. of the players from the Michael Della Polla classFive of 2018 have committed Senior to play baseball in college for the next four years. Anastasio is playing for Oberlin ColHowever, many team ac- lege, captain Luke Czepiel tivities are tinged with bitter- will play for Washington & sweetness this year for the se- Lee University, Della Polla niors. Most will not go on to is playing for Jefferson Uniplay baseball in college— thus, versity, Marcus signed to the the 2018 season effectively University of Richmond and marks the end of their com- Conlan has committed to petitive careers. In addition, playing for the US Merchant the teammates that they play Marine Academy.

“It’s going to be really tough alongside will be scattered to to leave (my teammates). The the four winds.

And for most, both the chemistry that we’ve put tosport of baseball and the team- gether in the past four or five mates they share it with have years is going to be really hard been staples in their lives from to leave— hard to disband,” Anastasio said. an early age.

However, moving forward, “I specifically played the senior players will look for Devon-Strafford (Little back on ’Stoga baseball with League), and some of the other guys played for Berwyn-Paoli, fond memories.

“Conestoga baseball means a but we came together at the heck of a lot. I’ve got to say that high school level. We’re really familiar with how each if I wasn’t a part of this school, if I wasn’t a part of this program, player I don’t think I would’ve turned out the same,” Conlan said.

“These guys really pushed me day in and day out to be the best player I can be, the best person I can be, and that’s something that I’ll always be grateful for.”

“I’ve never been on a team that’s as good of friends as we are.

We’ll go team bowling, and everyone is super excited about it, and everyone’s really just excited to hang out as a team. We’ve almost turned into our own friend group,” Anastasio said.

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Katie Ray

Grade: 12 Sport: Horseback riding

Why UGA? “I chose Georgia for their great academics, amazing town and of course, the riding team.”

Favorite Horseback Riding Memory?

“My favorite memory is definitely all of the friends that I have made from around the country at horse shows.”

Neil Goldenthal/The SPOKE

Brotherly love: Senior, Jacob Marcus, dumps water on his brother junior Cameron Marcus after he scored a home run. The baseball team committed five seniors this year out of the fifteen on the team. The team will next plays Ridley on May 2.

Henry tuna tuna

Causing a racquet: Boys tennis serves up a season of wins Lyvia Yan

Design Editor

Although the boys’ tennis team reaches the quarterfinals of states almost every year, last year it suffered a different defeat.

“We weren’t trying to cheat, but if we had known (switching players out) wasn’t legal, we wouldn’t have done it from the start. We were told that it was okay, but this year we’re definitely going to be extra careful about substitutions and making sure everyone can stay all the way through states this year,” senior, co-captain Carson Lortz said.

The team suffered miscommunication with the officials regarding a player substitution and eventually forfeited. This year, the team is planning to use its new talent to come back stronger than before.

“We went out in terms that we didn’t want to, but this is a new season, new players and different

talent. So we’ll just let our talent speak for itself because we don’t have anything to prove,” senior co-captain Arshad Shaik said.

Team coach Brittany Aimone recognizes the devotion the boys put into the sport and the inconvenience of last year’s disqualification.

“Arrgh! How did that make me feel? Angry. I was definitely a little triggered by that. I think there was definitely a lot of miscommunication going on and I think that we’re ready to come back and show them what we’ve got this year for sure. We’re coming back with vengeance this year. No substitutions at all this year,” Aimone said.

And according to Aimone, the group is so close-knit, that she jokes that her only wish of the boys would be a little more quiet.

“Other than that, I wouldn’t change anything else about these guys. Their chemistry is awesome and I think

that’s what helps with their success is how they are able to be as a team and a brotherhood and a family. I mean, that’s what we are. We’re all a family,” Aimone said.

“

We’re behind each other and I think that gives us the extra motivation.

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POKE

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Sports

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Arshad Shaik Senior

Teamwork and collaboration is the team’s main goal of this season.

“Your spot is more about how it benefits the team rather than yourself. A lot of these kids on the team are really good players, but it’s about being a

teammate because most of it is doubles. So learning to play with your partner and learning to be cooperative is really important,” Lortz said.

But despite the brutal weather the team has dealt with this spring season, Aimone found creative ways to get team training in, teasing that the team is “in really good shape now.”

“She would put us literally in the hallways of school and we would have to run up the staircases and down the staircases. It got creative,” senior co-captain Matt Caraher said.

Aside from fitness, Shaik attributes the team record of 5-0 to unity.

“Coach has always made that a priority of working as a unit, win and lose as a group.

We’re all as one and we’re behind each other, and I think that gives us the extra motivation to go out there and play really well,” Shaik said.

Neil Goldenthal/The SPOKE

Swinging to victory: Freshman Jack Ginter swings to hit the ball in his match against Upper Darby. Ginter played with his doubles partner sophomore Sam Weintraub. The varsity tennis team would go on to win the entire meet with an overall score of 6-1.

The Trioneer Pioneer: James P. Infortuna runs down a dream James P. Infortuna Staff Reporter

Running; it’s the cornerstone of nearly every sport (except curling). This, in my experience, contributes to an attitude that it is not particularly difficult because every athlete does it. For this issue of the Spoke, I set out to determine just how hard running can be.

Track is the most popular sport at Conestoga with 258 students taking part in its events, including throwing, hurdling and jumping, but running remains the undisputed king of track and field.

Running manifests itself in many different track events. There is distance, where you run for as much as three miles, focusing mainly on endurance, and not so much speed. Relays are another option. They test not only individual talent, but the ability of the whole team to work as a unit.

And if running does not seem like enough, there is hurdling, where you sprint toward a 42-inch-high bar and try to jump over it, land and continue to run without los-

Elizabeth Billman/The SPOKE

Going the distance: Sophomore James P. Infortuna practices for his race against the four fastest male sprinters at Conestoga, senior Lex Forge, junior Dorkan Chang, sophomore Noah Lanouette and freshman Henry Miller.

He faced off against the track stars in the 100-meter sprint, and lost with a time of 17 seconds. ing a step. Finally, there are sprints, where the athletes run at top speed for a relatively short distance.

So, being the well-rounded champion of athletics I am, the lean mean fighting machine I

have been since birth, the man who is faster than the wind and stronger than an ox, I took on

four of the fastest men in the school for the 100-meter sprint.

My competitors, senior Lex Forge, junior Dorkhan Chang, sophomore Noah Lanouette and freshman Henry Miller, had no idea what to expect.

On April 17, we met for what would become the greatest matchup in sports since Ali vs. Frasier. We all got down in our respective starting stance.

My opponents assumed a good track starting position with all fours on the ground, while I reverted to my trusty ex-football ways and got down into a threepoint stance. Then the count down came, three…two… one…GO! And we were off.

Immediately I was trailing.

For about the first five meters I could have touched the closest person to me, but soon the distance widened and I was playing an intense game of catch up.

The first to finish was Forge who rocketed to the finish line.

Then Chang and Miller crossed neck and neck. Lanouette would have finished far sooner than he did, but about halfway through the race he turned around to see the spectacle of me barreling

towards the finish line. He backpedaled for the rest of the race.

17 seconds after launching from the start line, I finally lumbered over the finish.

So what was gained from all of this tomfoolery? Well, for one thing, I believe the other four men I was racing against had an unfair advantage: speed. But in all actuality, this exercise gave me a taste of the competitive feel of track and its signature event, and it was fun and a great test.

“A lot of times you’ll see people showing up to do track thinking it will be a lot easier than it is,” Lanouette said. “If you’re planning on doing group one (the most competitive part of the team, equivalent to starting varsity), you should make sure you’re ready to get tired often and be in a lot of pain, but it’ll pay off in the end.”

So, am I joining the track team any time soon? No. There is not enough brain damage in it for me. But it looks to me like it has a great culture and a lot to offer. If you are thinking about trying track, give it a run. You cannot possibly be worse than a 17-second 100 meter.

Sophomore bends over backwards for gymnastics Avery Maslowsky Sports Editor

When sophomore Emily Simard decided to start competitive gymnastics at age five, she traded the chance of sporting eye black for eyeshadow, jerseys for leotards and game faces for sharp smiles.

After 14 years of gymnastics, Simard can execute a flyaway from the uneven bars with a 360-degree twist, a back handspring followed by a back layout step out and an aerial, but she is still working towards the highest level skill set and has been doing so the past two years.

Simard is a level nine gymnast at the Upper Merion Dance and Gymnastics Center, work-

ing toward achieving the level ten status by her senior year.

“Getting new skills and being so excited really grabbed me in (when I was young),” Simard said.

USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Program competitions sponsor a leveling system where each level requires a distinct skill set for the gymnasts to differentiate from the level above or below.

Simard first hit the mat when she was two, mastering the summersault and eventually the cartwheel. But after she entered the competition phase of gymnastics at age five, forward rolling turned into flips which then turned into full acrobatic routines.

Gymnastics “is a skill-based sport that takes years and years

Elizabeth Billmani/The SPOKE

Life upside down: Sophomore Emily Simard practices her gymnastic abilities, showing off a backflip. Simard started her gymnastics career when she was two, but began competing since when was five. to develop,” Simard said.

Simard spends four hours

each weekday training. She competes in about six competitions

per year from November to March in various gyms across the Philadelphia area.

Simard is limited to the other sports she can play because of gymnastic scheduling, but she can partake in Conestoga’s cheerleading team and has been doing so since her freshman year. As a football cheerleader, Simard bases stunts and even executes her gymnastic skill set throughout games and spirit events. During the 2017 fall Pep Rally, Simard finished the tumbling set of the cheerleading performance with a back-handspring layout.

“My strength from gymnastics comes in handy to lift girls up and whenever we do tumbling, I have the gymnastics background,” Simard said.

Aside from practices and competitions, she spends her free time mentally preparing for the pressure of executing routines.

“It’s really hard to not let the nerves get to you during competition because everyone is watching you,” Simard said. “I spend an insane amount of time visualizing my routine and corrections in my head.”

Simard is unsure how much longer her gymnastics career will last because of the limit of collegiate gymnastic teams, but she is determined to fulfill her childhood dream before the end of high school.

“Ever since I was little, I said ‘I’m gonna be a level ten one day’,” Simard said. “I don’t want to quit the sport until I’ve gone all the way.”

SPORTS

The SPOKE

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

The Cats claw their way to win second NCAA in three years

Elizabeth Billman Co-Web Editor

With two championship titles, two parades and thousands of fans celebrating in the streets, Philadelphia came alive once again.

The most recent champions are the Villanova Wildcats, winning the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. ’Nova, seeded number one this season, beat the University of Michigan in San Antonio, Texas for the championship title in the final round of playoffs with a score of 79-62.The team now holds three championship titles.

Junior Katie Blezinski, whose grandparents both attended Villanova, is an avid fan. Having attended the 2016 championship in Houston, Blezinski and her family went to all efforts to support the team this year, including a drive to Baltimore, a flight to Houston and then a drive to San Antonio for the final game.

“When they won (the semi-finals) we just kind of like planned it in two hours to try to make sure it was still cheap-ish. It was a very hectic trip with crazy traveling, but it was really fun,” Blezinski said.

While Blezinski was in the midst of the excitement in San Antonio, other ’Nova fans watched history in the making at home. Biology and Environmental Science teacher and Villanova alumna, Valerie Cunningham, watched the championship game with her father for the first time.

“In 2016 I went to the Pavillion to watch that one and I watched it with my friends and it was super exciting to be a part of that atmosphere. But, I was a little sad because I didn’t get to watch it with my dad. My dad graduated from Villanova, and

he graduated in ’82 so they won the ’85 championship just a few years after he graduated. I had said in 2016, ‘if there’s ever a championship again, I’m watching that game with my dad’ and so I did,” Cunningham said.

Villanova’s campus was full of celebration that Monday night, and freshman Jessica Mullins noted the similarity of fan antics to those she witnessed in 2016 on the night of the win against the Tar Heels.

“It was the same. There were kids in trees, they lit something on fire. Everyone was running around, everyone was so happy and screaming,” Mullins said.

Three days after the win, the team gathered with thousands of fans in Philadelphia to celebrate. Senior Cat Esbenshade was one of those fans. She attended both the parade hosted this year and the one in 2016.

“The parade this year was shorter than last time. I think they

upon Philadelphia as the country awaits to see what the Sixers and Phillies do with the rest of their seasons.

scaled down a couple of the piec- nity so when we have a chance to es they had from two years ago. channel all of that, that’s pretty Everyone was still super excited rad,” Cunningham said.

It is now that eyes descend to be there and participate in the team spirit,” Esbenshade said.

While the win was monumental for the team itself, Cunningham promotes the positive impact the win has on alumni and current ’Nova students as well.

“I would say people are proud to be from Villanova. I find that after, the alum are really tight knit. We are just a proud commuGlorifying the gold (above): Matt Kennedy holds the NCAA championship trophy for the fans gathered in front of City Hall on April 5.

Holding hands high (right): Villanova fans hold up signs as they watch players pass by on buses. The Villanova Basketball team brought home a second NCAA championship trophy in five years.

Bringing the peace (left): The Villanova firefighters ride on a fire truck down the parade route on April 5. The parade route ran five blocks and ended with a ceremony at Independence Hall.

Photos by Elizabeth Billman/The SPOKE

A hull of an addition : Crew christens new boats Jordan Liu

Co-Web Editor

Amid choruses of chanting, spilled champagne and a crowd of excited students and parents, two glossy new boats drifted into the Schuylkill river—the latest vessels in a long line of ’Stoga crew boats.

On March 17, Conestoga’s crew team added two new Italian double boats to its collection. In an annual ceremony at the start of the crew season, the team launched the boats into the Schuylkill, marking the beginning of their tenure.

The boat christening is an annual tradition for the crew club, which buys European-made boats each year. Keeping with a tradition of naming the new vessels, the boats were named “Andy and Patti Simpson,” for club president Andy Simpson and his wife Patti, and “The Lambert,” for crew coach Chris Lambert.

“This year’s ceremony is special for me, my wife and my family to gain that recognition,” Andy said. “But to be honest, every year is special, particularly for the seniors and their parents.”

And yet, no one could have

foreseen what would happen just weeks after that joyous ceremony.

In an unfortunate accident, one of the new boats was damaged in the club’s boathouse when an unsecured, overhanging boat fell on the “Andy and Patti Simpson”. A gust of wind started a chain affect that damaged three boats in total. According to head coach John Hayburn, the boats were immediately repaired following the incident, and are now back in the game.

The new boats, which were made by Italian manufacturer Fillipi were chosen for their light weight, stiffness and flexibility — critical factors in rowing as the boat glides over the water. Each year’s boat selection , which ranges from about $20,000 to $25,000, is carried out by Hayburn, who chooses the boats according to the team’s needs. The previous season’s doubles, or boats for two rowers, began to wear from use, so this year’s selection focused on replacing the older boats. Beyond these, crew currently owns 16 different boats, all housed at Bachelors Barge Club on Philadelphia’s Boat House Row. In preparation for competition, the boats will be used to train rowers racing in pairs. Looking forward to his final season, senior

and crew captain Zach Simpson believes the new vessels will be a game-changing factor in the team’s success.

“I’m excited to get out on the water again as we have been inside on rowing machines for two months, and the two new boats are always exciting,” Zach said. “I can’t wait to hopefully row in the new double at least once!”

From a coaching perspective, the boats will be used in strategic

training for the team, giving more opportunities to rowers wishing to practice in pairs. One of the new Italian doubles is being used exclusively to train the varsity girls’ team, which has held the national championship title for the past six years. Hayburn credits the crew program’s success on its ability to acquire new boats every year.

“Brand new boats are very stiff, and so like a racecar, they’re

very responsive. And that’s exactly what we want — we want this stiff, fast boat to race in,” Hayburn said. “When you give some of the best athletes some of the best equipment, they perform exceptionally well.”

To raise money to buy the boats, the crew club held community events, ranging from a mulch sale to a beer-and-beef buffet, complete with a silent auction and raffles. Andy

Ananya Kulkarni/The SPOKE

Racking up wins: The “Andy and Patti Simpson,” one of the newest racing boats in ’Stoga’s fleet, sits alongside other boats held at Bachelor’s Barge on Boat House Row. The boat suffered damage in early April after strong winds, but fortunately the boat was repaired immediately.

credits the club’s annual boat christening to the athletes’ and parents’ dedication.

“We ensure that our rowers are very active, not only in the sport, but as a group and community,” Andy said. “The sport itself inspires that in these kids. It is a sport where, even though you need individual strength, you are always relying on other people in the boat.”

Hayburn agreed.

“We’re one of the best programs for a reason, one of which is because of our equipment. We have great parents and great students that fundraise each year to make sure we can purchase new boats. They’re expensive, but it certainly gives us an advantage,” Hayburn said.

This year’s boat christening marks Andy’s last, as he prepares to step down from the club presidency, a role he’s held for four years. Andy feels that he’s left his legacy on the team.

“I love the club, I love the rowers, I love our coaches. It’s one of those sports that doesn’t get a lot of attention, but it develops tremendous character and discipline,” Andy said.

SCORELINE Baseball

W L T

• • •

4 2 0

B Lax

• • •

6 4 0

Scores as of 4/23

G Lax

• • •

6 3 0

B Rugby

• • •

1 2 0

G Rugby

• • •

1 2 0

B Track

• • •

1 6 0

G Track

• • •

2 5 0

Softball

• • •

6 2 0

B Tennis

• • •

7 0 0