The Spoke June 2016

JUNE 6, 2016 CONESTOGA HIGH SCHOOL BERWYN, PENNSYLVANIA WWW.SPOKE.NEWS VOLUME 66 NO. 7

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ausing to think, co-store manager of Atlantic Vapor Brendan Boyle exhales a thick cloud of vapor, hiding his face from sight.

“We started as a way for people to get off of a really deadly habit,” Boyle says.

He pauses again to take another inhale from the vaporizer.

Glancing around at the cus-

tomers browsing through the various nicotine products in the shop, he continues to tinker with the vaporizer. Boyle has been clean from smoking cigarettes for eight months.

“If having crazy flavors and things like that gets you to not suck down a stick of tar, then I can’t see much harm in that,” Boyle says.

Vaping is the inhalation of

Graduation p. 3

Retirees p. 8

any substance that is superheated into a cloud of vapor.

The liquid comes in different flavors and is commonly composed of a mixture of water, flavoring, often nicotine and two naturally derived chemicals: vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol. Due to the reusable nature of vaporizers, users need to buy “juice” to refill their device once it has

Senior Map p. 14

been depleted. This juice is rated by how much nicotine it contains on a scale of zero to 24 milligrams.

For senior Christopher Bone, his introduction to vaping came about differently from Boyle’s. Having also tried cigarettes, he feels that vaping without nicotine is the much better alternative.

“I wanted to look to ways

Pledge p. 19

that I could utilize (being 18) without being as harmful to myself,” Bone said. “To the kids who want to pick up something like that because they want to seem cool or something, don’t put so much harm on yourself by trying cigarettes.”

See pages 6 and 7.

Photo Illustration by Adam Lockett

Rugby at States p. 20

News 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.

Camille Kurtz, Meagan O’Rourke

Editors-in-Chief Betty Ben Dor

Managing Editor Eric Xue

News Editor Ian Ong, Matt Paolizzi

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Center Spread Editor Matt Soderberg

Opinion Editor Elizabeth Billman, Neil Goldenthal

Sports Editors Cissy Ming

Copy Editor Adam Lockett

Head Designer Pallavi Aakarapu

Cartoonist Avery Maslowsky

Business Manager Caleigh Sturgeon

Managing Editor Spoke.news

Monday, June 6, 2016

‘Guys and Dolls’ rolls big win at Cappies Jordan Liu Co-Convergence Editor After months of rehearsals for “Guys and Dolls,” ’Stoga Theatre won its first Cappie theater award for Best Musical at this year’s gala.

Cappies is a national high school theater organization that sends student critics to review and nominate performances from various schools in their respective areas. Conestoga participates in the Greater Philadelphia branch of Cappies. These reviews and critiques culminate in the annual Cappies Gala, where schools are presented with awards based on the critics’ votes.

This year, Conestoga was nominated in 15 categories, winning in five of them, including Best Pit Orchestra and Best Special Effects, as well as the school’s first ever award for Best Musical for “Guys and Dolls.” According to senior Emmi Dolph, who served as the assistant director of “Guys and Dolls” and Conestoga’s lead critic, the Cappie awards solidify Conestoga’s reputation for show production.

Ashley Greenberg, Kyle Kennedy, Jahnavi Rao, Warren Zhao

Staff Reporters Susan Gregory, Cyndi Crothers-Hyatt

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“The key was our drive. From day one, everyone was pretty focused and high energy, wanting to put on the best show we could,” Hunter said.

While Conestoga won several Cappies, Dolph believes the awards are not the most important aspect in producing a musical.

“Best Musical puts a little pressure on us for next year because it would be nice to win again, but at the same time, it’s most important that we feel we put on a good performance,” Dolph said.

Senior Kathryn Lenker, who won Best Stage Management and Stage Crew, agrees with Dolph in that the awards are not the main focus in ’Stoga Theatre.

“This Cappie doesn’t mean too much for ’Stoga Theatre. Yes, it’s a great honor and all, but we don’t put these shows on to win awards,” Lenker said. “We put these shows on to please the thousands of people who come to see them. We put these shows on to satisfy our love for theat, and getting awards for that only makes it greater.”

Neil Goldenthal/The SPOKE

Luck Be a Cappie Tonight: ’Stoga Theatre celebrates its numerous wins at the Cappies Gala. It won its first Cappie for Best Musical.

Lack of interest pauses CAPCO tradition Meagan O’Rourke Co-Editor-in-Chief

Allan Du, Jordan Liu

Spoke.news Editors

“Winning the Cappie for Best Musical is a huge deal for ’Stoga Theatre because it shows that every aspect of the show was strong,” Dolph said. “It’s one thing to have good sound or a few good performers, but we can say that the show as a whole was great.”

Schools can be nominated in several categories for both plays and musicals, including Best Costume and Best Choreography.

While ’Stoga Theatre was nominated for several awards, there were categories, such as Best Costume, that Conestoga is ineligible for as Conestoga depends primarily on adult volunteers. This year, “Guys and Dolls” merited the school’s first Best Musical award.

However, choral director Suzanne Dickinger was surprised upon hearing this.

“The Cappies critics usually pick something more off-beat, and ‘Guys and Dolls’ is (one of) the most performed shows in high schools across the country,” Dickinger said.

Senior Callum Hunter, who won Conestoga’s first Cappie for Sound, believes that the energy was a key factor towards Conestoga’s success.

From Dave and Buster’s to bowling to silent discos to silence.

For the first time in 17 years, the Conestoga After Prom Celebration Organization (CAPCO) did not host an annual after-prom party. In prior years, CAPCO offered a safe, alcohol-free environment where junior prom goers could continue the fun beyond the last dance.

Although CAPCO event attendance has dwindled in recent years,

the price tag has remained in the tens of thousands. Community and Volunteer Services Coordinator Jeanne Braun worked over the past three years with CAPCO, organizing with parent socials and donations from local businesses in order to cover all costs of the celebration.

“You spend $20,000 on a party and only 100 kids come. That’s kind of frustrating,” Braun said.

In a survey given to 30 percent of the junior class, only 12 percent of respondents certainly wanted to go to CAPCO, possibly foreshadowing another relatively low turnout. Additionally, there was little

CAPCO Survey Results Attendence: 0 (2016) 275 (2015) 100 (2014)

12% would attend 52% maybe would go 36% would not attend *Results taken from 30% of the Class of 2017

Adam Lockett/The SPOKE

interest among parents to serve on the committee and to raise funds to cover the party expenses.

“It was a difficult decision, but given what seemed to be a lack of student interest and no parent to step up and chair, that was the decision they had to come to,” Braun said.

However, this year, CAPCO helped raise over $1,500 to cover safety costs of prom such as hiring bathroom attendants and police officers, thus lowering ticket prices.

Senior Mandy McHale enjoyed CAPCO’s silent disco last year more than her junior prom and she wanted to attend CAPCO’s event this year.

“When I heard CAPCO wasn’t happening, I was super disappointed,” McHale said. “It was a really chill thing — you could dance if you want to, talk to people who you didn’t get to talk to at prom.”

McHale acknowledges that while CAPCO “discouraged” people from drinking after her junior prom, it “didn’t stop them,” as many of her classmates last year went to parties after CAPCO’s party. This year, however, no parties were broken up by law enforcement because of underage drinking without a CAPCO party,

according to the Tredyffrin Township Police Department.

For junior class parent Lorraine Miller, CAPCO’s parties go beyond safety and celebration — they are about inclusivity, inviting all juniors from all friend groups, even if they did not attend prom.

Miller is disappointed CAPCO did not offer “a party for kids who don’t have somewhere to go.”

But for junior Kailyn Woyak, the group aspect of the CAPCO party would be a reason not to go.

The CAPCO party “would be like a second prom. But you want to be with individual friends, not the whole grade,” Woyak said.

Junior Robbie Torpey also says he would not have gone to CAPCO’s event because he would “want to go where the other kids are going,” as his friends would have forgone the parent-sponsored party.

However, CAPCO is not disbanded forever. The Class of 2018 will be surveyed about its interest in a CAPCO party, potentially resurrecting the after-prom tradition.

“I don’t want it to be seen as ‘this is the class that ended CAPCO.’ I don’t think that is fair,” Braun said. “This class just decided we are going to pause CAPCO for a year.”

Monday, June 6, 2016

News

Class act: preparing for the pomp Betty Ben Dor Managing Editor The graduation process involves many different people including the administration, teachers and some district personnel.

The graduation planning committee meets at least twice for formal meetings starting in late April. Part of this also includes organizing the event space at the Villanova University Pavilion.

Next year, the Class of 2017 will not be able to graduate there as students have for many years.

Since the Pavilion will be undergoing construction, commencement will have to take place in a different location, which has yet to be determined.

Senior faculty adviser cochairs Tricia Ebarvia and Karen Gately take care of the student aspect of the event, organizing everything from cap and gown orders to seating arrangements to processional order. Additionally, Family and Consumer Science teacher Dr. Mary Kaye Rhude-Faust is in charge of putting together the reception for the invited teachers, Conestoga faculty and administration before the graduation ceremony.

“I think (the reception) is just one component in the whole celebration process. We’re just part of one big ceremony,” RhudeFaust said.

The planning consists of communication with students and parents, organizing awards and academic distinctions, rehearsing graduation, putting together the program, organizing walking lists and even making sure the flowers from Reflections get transferred to commencement. It also includes sending out invitations to teachers from the elementary and middle schools whom seniors have cho-

Eric Xue/The SPOKE

Cap and Gown: The Class of 2015 sits together for the last time before going separate ways. They threw their caps in the air, celebrating their time at Conestoga. sen to invite. The administrators also spend time practicing the pronunciation of each name.

For co-chair Ebarvia, the planning process begins with the start of the school year, when students can begin to order their cap and gowns. She also has to take care of seating arrangements and the walking list, as not all students who will be receiving a diploma are always able to attend the actual commencement.

According to Ebarvia, despite all the work, graduation is a rewarding experience.

“When Dr. Meisinger comes up and says ‘Congratulations to the Class of 2016’ and everyone throws up their caps and then there’s the fanfare that comes on and we’re exiting out, that’s probably my favorite part,” Ebarvia said. “It’s finished and people have graduated. They’ve commenced. The next stage is starting.”

Another part of the graduation preparation process is selecting the student speakers.

Eric Xue/The SPOKE

Moving on: Conestoga teachers watch their former students take to the Pavillion stage. Teachers from elementary and middle schools also attend graduation if invited by seniors.

eed help with a college application essay?

The potential speakers go through a tryout process in which they present their speeches to a speaker selection committee made up of faculty and some community members. This year, Seyoung Kim and Zachary Kravitz were selected to speak at commencement.

Kim got her inspiration for her speech from a summer camp she attended. After hearing someone’s speech that focused on the question “who do you want to be when you grow up?” she decided to focus her own graduation speech on a similar theme.

“For a lot of us, as we go on to college and the real world, we think about what sorts of things are we going to accomplish and we get caught up in things like majors and careers and all that, but instead I think you really have to think about who you want to be,” Kim said.

For her, the commencement ceremony promises to be especially sentimental, as some of her family members from Korea will be flying in for the event. She also stresses how anyone can be a graduation speaker regardless of whether or not they believe they “fit the mold” of a commencement speaker.

“I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself to be a leader. I’m not really a big leader in the school or anything or someone that you would really consider to try out for a speech, but I think most people who tried out really felt they had something to say,” Kim said. “I think this is just a great time to celebrate all of our years of education, not just in high school, but in elementary and middle school, too.”

Write a WOW Common Application essay

Do you know which Supplement essay is most important?

Marylyn E. Calabrese, Ph.D., writing coach and teacher, has helped thousands of students in preparing successful college application essays.

She is the former chairperson of the Conestoga High School English Department with an A.B. from Bryn Mawr College, an MAT from Wesleyan University, and a Ph.D. in Teaching Writing from the University of Pennsylvania.

Contact Dr. Calabrese: writedrmec@aol.com Works with students in person—at a mutually convenient location—or online and by telephone.

The Spoke 3

Do you know which Supplement essay is most important? Are you ready to write a WOW Common Applica Marylyn E. Calabrese, Ph.D., writing coach and teacher, has helped thousands of students in preparing succ She is the former chairperson of the Conestoga High School English Department. Her educational backgro

News

Monday, June 6, 2016

VFMS hits half century mark with anniversary reunion Cissy Ming Copy Editor A regular Friday evening at Valley Forge Middle School (VFMS) brings much-needed quiet as the students and staff prepare for the weekend. On Friday May 13, the school grounds were filled with people from around the T/E community and from around the country, there not to escape school but to remember it.

“I see a lot of improvements but also a lot of memories.”

-Bill Tickner, Class of 1980 One hundred forty alumni gathered at VFMS to celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary, marking the first ever class reunion held at the school. Thirty former teachers and a former principal also attended. School Board Vice President

Scott Dorsey, Principal Matt Gibson, PTO President Sarah Culbert, PTO member Kristen Mayock and VFMS’s student council president spoke to event attendees in the large gym. Though event organizers only opened their alumni headquarters to alumni, former teachers and their families, members of the public enjoyed refreshments, inflatables and a DJ on the field behind the school.

In VFMS, former eighth grade U.S. History teacher Lee Seybert sees a family, one that has endured throughout the generations.

“I like the way everyone just pitched in and helped each other.

Some people can just go in their rooms and close the door and not have anything to do with others.

That wasn’t the way it was,” Seybert said. “There was plenty of interaction with everybody and that was really special, very special.”

According to Culbert, providing alumni and former teachers with the opportunity to reconnect with their school was a top priority during the planning process.

Student volunteers gave tours around the school while alumni and former teachers had the opportunity to browse memorabilia

from past years at VFMS in the alumni headquarters. At the end of the night, a time capsule was placed in the display case outside the gym for the class of 2066 to open, giving future students an opportunity to experience life from 50 years ago.

“I feel very nostalgic. It’s really neat to be in these same walls that I was in so many years ago,” said Bill Tickner, who graduated in 1980. “I see a lot of improvements, but also a lot of old memories.”

VFMS Vice Principal Jacqueline Hickey approached Culbert with her proposal for 50th anniversary reunion last September, but the PTO nevertheless faced challenges in organizing the event. Memorabilia Committee Head Heidi Kelly, who graduated from VFMS in 1987 and whose children attend the school, described the planning process as “very spontaneous” and “people driven.” Kelly says much of the process took place on social media, which at times made it difficult to coordinate. PTO members and VFMS alumni formed committees to focus on various aspects of the reunion and sought

Cissy Ming/The SPOKE

Flashback Friday: VFMS alumni browse old yearbooks during the May 13 reunion. The event attracted 140 alumni, 30 former teachers and a former principal. sponsors to help offset costs.

Sponsors included local business owners, alumni and other community members.

Though she felt “relieved and exhausted” after the reunion ended, Culbert felt an obligation to serve the school by turning Hickey’s idea into reality.

“I’m a stay at home mom, but I have always believed that parents can do a lot to help their schools and help their children,” Culbert said. “I realized that there was an opportunity here to become part of the PTO and to interact with different people. That made everything worth it.”

Counseling lessons aim to revive ’Stoga unity Eric Xue News Editor From May 24 to 26, guidance counselors met with groups of students in an attempt to rebuild school

4 The Spoke

pride and teach the importance of tolerance in light of the hazing scandal that surfaced in January.

As a result of the controversy, members of the administration and Student Services sensed that there was division among the

student body and felt the need to address it. According to Assistant Principal Misty Whelan, the meetings were meant to acknowledge that the scandal happened and that the community needs time to heal and to open a channel of communication to students.

“I think that we’re responding to a student body that was in some ways divided after all of that went on,” Whelan said. The administration and counselors were “on the same page that it was a good opportunity to pull students together.”

Classrooms were filled with approximately 25 to 35 students.

Guidance counselors were trained

by Thom Stecher, the founder of Thom Stecher and Associates, a network of educators dedicated to enhancing the learning experience of students. Meetings were held first for 11th graders and then with the 10th and ninth graders in the following days. According to guidance counselor Jennifer Kratsa, the order was decided on by design because the counselors have been with the juniors for a longer amount of time.

After the scandal, some students were confused how to respond while others continued to feel the pride of being a Pioneer, according to Whelan. However, through these

counseling lessons, she hopes that students will be able to come together and define what ’Stoga pride means to them.

“I felt I wasn’t going to get anything out of it, especially when they started asking us to define respect, define responsibility.”

-Junior Sophie Schwartz Although the lessons were created to address the division in student body caused by the hazing scandal, there was little discussion on the topic itself. Instead, the lessons focused on respecting others and taking responsibility for one’s actions as well as how each person relates to the people around them.

The counselors used no Powerpoint presentations, and all the activies were active and designed to be entertaining.

The lessons have “been very successful, and our students have

been so open minded and allowed us to have these conversations with them,” Kratsa said. “The counselors loved doing the lessons because we got to work with our own students, so we knew all the students. Walking into the classroom and seeing all the faces that are so familiar, it was a wonderful and fun opportunity for us to connect with our students in a different way.”

While some students found the lessons interesting, others felt they did not address the issue at hand.

“Our counselor made a point to say we’re not here to talk about (the hazing scandal) even though the point of the whole meeting was to address it,” junior Sophie Schwartz said. “I felt I wasn’t going to get anything out of it, especially when they started asking us to define respect, define responsibility.

I thought the meeting was silly. I thought it was condescending.”

Despite all the occurrences throughout the year, Krasta says that the general consensus regarding Conestoga continues to be one of excellence and hopes that in light of future events similar to the hazing scanda, the community will remember what makes Conestoga one of the best schools in the nation.

News

Monday, June 6, 2016

The Spoke 5

News

Monday, June 6, 2016

Head in the cloud: vaping on the rise

Betty Ben Dor and Eric Xue Managing Editor and News Editor Design by Adam Lockett VAPING ON THE RISE

In recent years, the use of electronic cigarettes has gone up while cigarette use has gone down among both adults and youths. Vaporizers are a type of electronic cigarette, but differ in customizability and heating processes. Because of this, many studies often group vaping under electronic cigarette use.

Regular electronic cigarettes, better known as e-cigarettes, are filled with liquid during the manufacturing process while vaporizers allow users to choose the flavor and nicotine level. Vaporizers also gradually heat the liquid inside of them, making them last longer than the liquid in e-cigarettes, which undergoes a combustion process.

Junior Jake Casterline started vaping in order to lessen his cigarette usage. He uses vape juices that contain 6 mg of nicotine.

“I’ve been smoking cigarettes for a long timwe, and I’m trying to reduce the amount I smoke. I realize now that if I keep going on this path of cigarettes, it’ll eventually be harmful,” Casterline said. “As of now, vaping has been out for a long time, and research has shown that vaping is not harmful at all compared to cigarettes but that’s the short term effect. It can easily change.”

Boyle attributes the rising popularity of vaping to the easy customization of flavors and vaporizers.

“Stuff like that really appeals to people,” Boyle said. “I think a lot of

it is that we’re a pretty gadget-driven a really fun experience this year. We vania Commission on Crime and society and stuff like this appeals to started all of this back in September Delinquency Matthew Leonard said our need to tinker around.” as a joke and it’s cool to have people that although the PAYS has included Bone also enjoys the customiz- around the school know you and rec- questions about cigarette alternaability of vaping and uses it as a calm- ognize you and think you’re funny. tives in the past, due to the recent rise ing mechanism.

It’s been good for our friend group of vaping popularity, they decided to “I mainly do it for relaxation be- and I think it’s been good for ’Stoga create questions more specific to vacause it’s kind of stress relieving,” as a whole as kind of a funny thing for ping. Approximately 14 percent of Bone said. “I’m the kind of guy who people to rally around.” sophomores at Conestoga respondis always chewing on a pencil or Recently, another group of ’Sto- ed that they had vaped at least once chewing gum or something like that ga vapers rose to popularity through in the 30 days prior to the survey, while 21 percent of seniors and to me, this is the same said the same. However, kind of thing.” both percentages are lower Currently at Conestoga, than the state averages for vaping on school grounds their respective years. is a punishable offense unAccording to the surder the same disciplinary vey, most students within policy as smoking. Accordthe Tredyffrin/Easttown ing to Principal Dr. Amy School District who vape Meisinger, while the district use only flavorings and is not currently undertaking not nicotine. Nonetheless, changes in school policy to approximately 32 percent address the rising populariof Conestoga sophomores ty of vaping, administrators and 30 percent of seniors are meeting with the district who do vape use nicotine solicitor to decide whether in their vaporizers, which is any further steps need to be higher than state averages. taken.

Betty Ben Dor/The SPOKE Bone uses only nicoDespite official oppoVaping in store: Pennsylvania is one of two states sition to vaping, a group of that allows minors to purchase vape products. How- tine-free vapor products.

Having tried cigarettes seniors at Conestoga, who ever, Atlantic Vapor does not sell to those under 18. previously, he believes that call themselves the “Vape Kingz,” has risen to popularity among their Instagram account. Most of the vaping is a better alternative. their peers, since they formed in the “NicoTeenz” vape and post videos “Cigarettes taste worse, cigarettes fall of 2015. Friends since 2013, the and photos of themselves doing so on are more expensive and cigarettes are group of seven created an Instagram their account titled “nicoteenz69.” Ju- more harmful,” Bone said. “Meanaccount titled “vapekingz2k13.” The nior and “NicoTeenz” member Aidan while, with vaping, you’re buying a majority of the group does not vape Hough vapes for enjoyment. three dollar thing of juice that tastes and instead uses the account to post “There absolutely could be risks, amazing as opposed to a disgusting various humorous photos ridiculing but I guess it is just a chance you take cigarette that makes you smell.” vaping. when you vape,” Hough said.

However, a spokesperson from Senior Jude Quincy*, one of the For the first time this year, the the Centers for Disease Control and starters of the account, stated that Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) Prevention (CDC) believes that vapall of the content they post is purely included vaping in a separate ques- ing is harmful to the development of satirical and that the group is against tion set, asking about how frequently adolescents due to the potential pressubstance abuse. students vape and what substances ence of nicotine.

The account “is just kind of a spoof they use in vaporizers. Director of “For youth, there is scientific evon vaping,” Quincy said. “It has been Communications for the Pennsyl- idence showing that nicotine can ad-

What’s in my vape?

Most popular vape contents in the district, according to the PA Youth Survey:

versely affect the developing brain,” the CDC spokesperson said. “No youth should use any tobacco product, period.”

CLINICAL CONSEQUENCES In 2016, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) conducted a study on the detrimental effects of vaping and found that the long-term health risks of e-cigarettes are significantly less than those associated with smoking. Other recent studies, such as those by Public Health England, have found similar results.

“E-cigarettes carry around five percent of the harm of tobacco products, and are therefore much safer to use,” said Linda Cuthbertson, head of public relations and public affairs at the RCP. The RCP said although they believe vaping is much safer than cigarettes, it is still more harmful than complete abstinence from smoking. Some vapes contain dangerous chemicals such as formaldehyde and diacetyl, which can lead to bronchiolitis obliterans, a fatal lung disease.

“The best thing any smoker can do for their health is give up,” Cuthbertson said.

Vaping presents other issues as well. Recently, cases of vaporizers exploding have surfaced in the media. Over two weeks ago, a man in Albany, NY had his teeth knocked out, a hole ripped into his tongue and his hands burned as a result of the vaporizer’s battery exploding.

Earlier in May, a similar case happened in Alabama when a teen was burned after a vaporizer explosion sent a hot battery flying into his face. These rare occurrences also contribute to the dangers of vaping.

According to the PA Youth Survey:

21%

1. Just flavoring 2. Nicotine of ’Stoga Seniors vaped 3. Marijuana 4. Other substances IN THE PAST 30 DAYS versus the 27.0% state average.

6 The Spoke

News

Monday, June 6, 2016

Head in the cloud: vaping on the rise Continued from p. 6 However, Bone believes that accidents like these can only be blamed on the user.

“That’s people who are using incorrect batteries and using them incorrectly,” Bone said. “They’re making it seem as though this is what all of vaping is like.”

Due to health risks, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on May 5 that it will now regulate all tobacco products, including vape pens, cigars, e-cigarettes and hookah tobacco.

Although manufacturers are still allowed to sell their goods for two years, they will be required to apply for FDA approval within the transition period to continue selling their goods after Aug. 8, 2018.

“We’re very glad that the FDA issued the regulations. The industry has been making a lot of claims about the benefits of vaping and e-cigarettes without having the science behind it,” said Diane Phillips, director of government relations at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. “Vaping and e-cigarettes need to be treated as tobacco products; most of them contain nicotine. I can’t stress how important it is to think about that and know that.”

According to the CDC spokesperson, his agency recognizes that vaping has helped some individuals quit smoking. However, the CDC doubts that it can be effective for the whole population in terms of ending the smoking epidemic.

“We know some people say that e-cigarettes have helped people quit

and we’re happy for those people.

But we go by the science, and right now, the science indicates that most adult smokers that use e-cigarettes continue to use conventional cigarettes,” the spokesperson said.

RESPONSE TO REGULATIONS While laws nationwide ensure that only those 18 and older can purchase cigarettes, Pennsylvania currently allows minors to use and purchase vape products. Forty eight other states and two U.S. territories prohibit those under 18 from purchasing such products. Minors nationwide are legally allowed to possess and use both vape products and cigarettes. However, the passing of the new regulations will definitively set the age of sale at 18 for all nicotine-containing products including vaporizers and e-cigs.

The regulations will also require more labels on all the products containing nicotine, with one that reads, “WARNING: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.”

“We have more to do to help protect Americans from the dangers of tobacco and nicotine, especially our youth. As cigarette smoking among those under 18 has fallen, the use of other nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, has taken a drastic leap. All of this is creating a new generation of Americans who are at risk of addiction,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell in a press release following the announcement of the new regulations.

Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, believes that the regulations will actually have a harmful impact on Americans. Given that many people use vaping as a means of quitting smoking, he sees the regulations, which will be enforced on the day that he is eight years clean of cigarettes, as overly controlling.

The new FDA regulations “will hand nearly the entire industry over to Big Tobacco,” Conley said.

The regulations do not bode well for all companies. They will now have to follow a much stricter set of guidelines for how various tobacco products will be sold and will only be able to sell those which have been formally approved.

According to Conley, if a company does not spend well over a million dollars to put a single product through the vigorous scientific testing required to file a retroactive premarket review application, the product will be banned from the market. He says the applications themselves are incredibly expensive and will hurt small and medium sized businesses, possibly preventing hundreds of thousands or millions of smokers from quitting.

“It’s a serious public health issue when you have all these distinguished, serious groups who do not have conflicts of interest with tobacco industry, coming out and saying almost the polar opposite of what the FDA and CDC are saying,” Conley said. “There’s a real question of why the disconnect and why can’t you discourage usage by teenagers while also telling the truth to adult smokers. Many adults

in America are being deluded into thinking that vaping is just as hazardous as smoking.”

Bone agrees with Conley in that the regulations will benefit only Big Tobacco companies.

“I think that the regulations seem almost unnecessary at some points because they’re making it seem as if vaping is the same as cigarettes,” Bone said. “To me, it seems like the FDA just has influence with the big cigarette com-

19, and obviously, he doesn’t need more government bureaucracy telling him how to run his business,” Hough said.

The CDC spokesperson feels that these types of cigarette alternatives are still not a good solution.

“A lot of advocates for e-cigarette use talk about how it’s safer than cigarettes and that’s a reason why people should use them. Our standard is higher. Safer than cigarettes doesn’t mean safe. We want people to quit smoking altogether,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, there are ongoing efforts to push bills through Congress that will stop the enforcement of the regulations. On April 19, the United States House Appropriations Committee voted in favor of an amendment to the FY 2017 Agriculture Appropriations bill. The amendment aims to change the predicate date for vapor products and halt the proposed ban on the majority of alternatives to cigarettes. However, the FDA hopes that with the institution of the regulations, it will become easier to fight problems of tobacco and nicotine addiction.

“Today’s announcement is an panies because they’re making it important step in the fight for a toalmost easier to get cigarettes as bacco-free generation – it will help opposed to vape products.” us catch up with changes in the Hough also believes that the marketplace, put into place rules new regulations will harm small that protect our kids and give adults business owners, who are the main information they need to make indistributors of vaping products. formed decisions,” Burwell said.

“The new FDA regulations are However, the RCP disagrees. taking away from the experience They believe that vaping could because it’s just gonna put stress be revolutionary. on the small business owners like “They have the potential to save the guy who owns Loyal Vape the lives of millions of people around Company in Malvern. The kid is the world,” Cuthbertson said. * denotes students who wished to remain anonymous

“Many adults in America are being deluded into thinking that vaping is just as hazardous as smoking.”

-Gregory Conley, President of the American Vaping Association

According to the CDC:

Between 2011 and 2015...

Cigarette smoking decreased among teenagers.

15.8% (2011) 9.3% (2015) Electronic cigarette use increased among teenagers.

1.5% (2011) 16.0% (2015) The Spoke 7

Monday, June 6, 2016

STUDENT LIFE Retiring Pioneers Say Goodbye

Story and photos by Jahnavi Rao and Lyvia Yan

As the year comes to a close, Conestoga says goodbye to four staff members. This year, secretaries Earle Osborne and Catherine Lucas, business teacher Robin Holloway and art teacher John Matthews bid their farewells. They will be missed by their fellow staff members and students, and are wished the best in all their endeavors.

Robin Holloway When business teacher Robin Holloway applied to Conestoga, there was no internet, which meant the job hunt was purely her, a highlighter and a newspaper. With business teacher the only position open at Conestoga and Holloway’s experience in the business world, the job was hers.

Holloway then took an eightyear hiatus from Conestoga as founder of American Computer Educators, a business that taught CEOs and secretaries alike how to work computers.

“Everyone was terrified of computers,” Holloway said. “A few years later, the mouse was invented, and I’d say, ‘Pick up the mouse,’ and at least half of the people in class would (pull the mouse off of the table). It was a strange time.”

Holloway finished her business venture and returned to Conestoga, only to be greeted by a different world than the one she left.

“It was difficult coming back to teaching,” Holloway said. “It seemed like a whole generation had passed. When I left, we were doing one thing and when I came back, there were computer labs.”

Luckily, computers posed no threat to Holloway, and she re-

Taking care of business: Robin Holloway wants to teach university courses after retiring.

entered the teaching stratosphere quickly.

After years of working hard, Holloway is ready to “go out, have fun and enjoy life with (her) retired husband.” Post-retirement, Holloway plans to travel and teach a few university courses on the side.

She also warns the reader to keep an eye out for her in the political world, as she “might run for something there.”

Most importantly, Holloway has a goal that she is determined to accomplish.

“One of my main objectives is to learn how to do one pushup,” Holloway said. “I want to start with just one. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but it’s a goal. Just one or two, see how it goes.”

John Matthews Thirty-three years and countless pots later, ceramics and Studio Art teacher John Matthews is moving on from the T/E school district.

Hailing from Lancaster County, Matthews studied at many universities, including but not limited to Millersville, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Wharton and the Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute in China.

Matthews began his teaching career by taking elementary school art positions at Beaumont and Hillside simultaneously. Matthews continued to add more teaching positions to his schedule until finally, the high school position opened up.

“Every day, I had to teach high school in the morning, then kindergarten at Hillside and then go to T/E and teach middle school in the afternoon. After that, I’d come back to Conestoga and coach football,” Matthews said. “I’d walk from school to school, and it gave

Chestnut Village Shoppes 36 Chestnut Rd, Paoli, PA (610) 296-9426 Dine-in or Takeout 8 The Spoke

me time to refresh my mind. If I could, I’d walk now.”

Matthews thoroughly enjoys the company of those in the building and is similarly beloved by other staff members and students.

“I can’t think of anybody in the faculty I don’t know or like,” Matthews said.

Matthews has also made many additions and alterations to the ceramics room. Some changes he made include converting the neighboring math classroom into a storage room, removing window panels to increase light, and adding a door leading out to the small courtyard.

Passion for art: Ceramics teacher John Matthews poses with “an artist’s smile.”

“There’s no other space like this in the school,” Matthews said.

Now, Matthews is off to pursue a design business venture with studios in both Maine and Chester Springs, Pa. “I believe when you start something you have a passion for, things work out,” Matthews said. “I don’t have much of a business plan, but I have instincts I can follow. I ran a small business when I was 22 and got that going. I’m not afraid to go into the arts.”

While Matthews is excited to take on the art world, there are many valuable lessons and discoveries from Conestoga he will carry forever.

“You can’t put all your eggs in one basket, and you can’t just be a teacher. It limits you,” Matthews said. “You bring passions with you to make your teaching more sustainable and interesting. You teach, but you also find your humanity elsewhere.”

Earle Osborne After working 17 years at Conestoga, staff member Earle Osborne is leaving her position.

Osborne worked as a secretary for five years in student services

and 12 years under administrators.

Some of her fondest memories at ’Stoga are spending time with the administrators she worked with, including assistant principal Jamie Bankert.

“We just have a lot of common interests. We play a lot of music— all kinds. We both like to decorate during the times of the holidays, so you’ll see lights and things hanging. It’s a fun atmosphere,” Osborne said.

Aside from working with Bankert and other administrators, Osborne also made wonderful memories in the student services department.

“Guidance was a fun place to work because it’s sort of the hub of everything,” Osborne said. “You got to work with teachers and administrators and students and parents, and there was always a little bit of everything—multitasking and different things coming up.”

Although she has worked with “just wonderful, great people,” Osborne believes that “there comes a time when everybody has to do what’s best for them.” For her, retiring and spending more time with her family felt right.

Multitasking: Earle Osborne hopes to travel, read and experience more post-retirement.

“I would plan to do a lot of traveling, spend time with friends and family. I’m an avid reader, so I’ll have more time for that and of course, enjoying music and listening and going to concerts and shows,” Osborne said.

Despite her plans, Osborne will miss Conestoga.

“I’m going to miss it. I’m going to miss everybody. I know I’m going to have fun and I’m going to do a lot of fun things, but I’m definitely going to miss the people here, and of course the students because that’s what it’s all about,” Osborne said.

Catherine Lucas A little over 20 years ago, Catherine Lucas got sucked into what she calls “the vortex of Conestoga.” Since then, she has volunteered in the activities office, worked as an aide in the main office and most recently, worked as a secretary in student services.

Aside from her work at ’Stoga, Lucas also helped found CAPCO and Tredyffrin-Easttown Care.

“It’s like having a party. There’s a lot of planning involved with all of those things and the counselors are supposed to counsel at the same time,” Lucas said.

Planning parties: Catherine Lucas intends to move to Massachusetts and get involved with the community there.

From organizing events to helping students, student services functions like “the heartbeat of the building” headed by staff members Lucas calls “the other mothers.”

“Most of us had children, or have children who are still here and so part of our function is to just mother other kids,” Lucas said.

To Lucas, Conestoga was like a second home.

“I love Conestoga. It’s a fun place. It’s a city. My house was in Malvern, but I feel like I lived at Conestoga,” Lucas said.

Post-retirement, Lucas plans on moving to Massachusetts where her daughters and their families are.

“Their in-laws and us are all close. We party together, we vacation together, so it didn’t make any sense to stay in Pennsylvania,” Lucas said.

Up in Massachusetts, Lucas plans to pursue her passion for rowing and continue to get involved in the community.

“This is a really great place with a lot of great teachers. I’ll miss it.

If it weren’t for the fact that my entire family is up there, I’d stay here forever,” Lucas said.

Monday, June 6, 2016

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The Spoke 9

Student Life

Monday, June 6, 2016

New club emphasizes mental health openness Warren Zhao Staff Reporter As students increasingly become aware of the detrimental effects of ignoring their mental health, they are opening more and more outlets for the benefit of their mental health.

One such outlet is the Mental Health Awareness club, which was recently founded by juniors Jared Min, Amadea Smith, Jack D’Emillio and Eric Munchorski.

According to Smith, the three juniors started the club because they felt the need to create a student-run space for positivity, mindfulness, discussion and hope.

“While the mental health services at Conestoga are great, there is an apparent lack and need for an outlet run by students,” Smith said.

The three juniors approached guidance counselor Jennifer Kratsa to sponsor the club. Kratsa decided to sponsor the club because the students were very enthusiastic about the idea.

“With such a wonderful

10 The Spoke

group of students leading the charge, I wanted to be a part of that,” Kratsa said.

Min was personally inspired to create an organization to spread mental health awareness after an assembly held earlier this year in which two speakers detailed their personal struggles with mental health issues like self-harm and anxiety.

According to Min, the assembly was very impactful to him because it amazed him to see that seemingly normal people have a variety of invisible health issues in reality. However, the effects of the assembly were not so poignantly felt by some others.

“I owe the creation of this club to the girl who sat in front of me in the assembly, who, as I was shedding tears for the two speakers who were brave enough to detail their own personal struggles for an auditorium full of kids, was browsing her Netflix queue,” Min said.

Because the club has just started, meetings are very small, consisting of mostly brainstorming sessions and

discussions about various topics regarding mental health.

Additionally, club members talk about their days with each other and share their feelings with one another, providing a space for constructive discussion to occur.

Sophomores Hayden Lewis and freshman Anna Componovo first heard about the club through the morning announcements and found its message resounded deeply with them.

“I would like to encourage anyone who may be dealing with their own issues, or just have an interest in helping to end the negative stigma attached to mental health (to) join this club,” Lewis said.

To Componovo, the club means “a lot actually. It means that our school is truly working towards bettering itself and helping our community. It also means that I’m not the only one with these ideas and who wants to spread this type of awareness,” Componovo said.

The club hopes to bring in guest speakers who can share personal stories regarding mental health and how it has

Matt Paolizzi/The SPOKE

Doing their part: Juniors Charlie McCarthy, Eric Munchorski, Jack D’Emillio and Jared Min discuss the agenda for the upcoming meeting of the Mental Health Awareness Club. The club meets on Mondays. affected them. Furthermore, health when compared to physthe club plans to host school- ical health and the tolerance wide discussions in the form of other students should have for TED Talks in order to nurture a students dealing with difficult greater understanding of men- situations. tal health for students, faculty “We need to be constantly and the community. reminded of (health) issues that The club ultimately aspires everyone faces in our school, to remove the stigma surround- despite the fact that they may ing mental health. Min stress- not be as visible as a broken es the importance of mental arm or a broken leg,” Min said.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Student Life

Teacher Feature: Colleen McFadden Ian Ong Co-Student Life Editor What courses do you teach?

This year, I teach AP Calculus AB and Algebra 1X. Tell me about your background.

I grew up in Jenkintown, Pa. and went to Bishop McDevitt High School. I then went to Saint Joseph’s University, where I got my Bachelor of Science in Math, and I did a minor in education and got my secondary education certification. I’ve been teaching for 15 years now, 13 years here at Conestoga.

What was it like growing up?

I had three brothers, and I was involved in everything.

When I was younger, I played intramural sports, and then in high school, I did NHS, and I was in the plays. The big activity I was in was forensics, also known as competitive speech and debate, which I did for four years. I also did student council.

You name it, I was in it.

What was your favorite activity?

I definitely enjoyed forensics and being in the plays the most.

Where did you teach before?

During my first two years, I taught at Springfield High School in Montgomery County.

How is teaching at Conestoga different from teaching at Springfield?

When I taught at Springfield, it was in block schedule, so just the schedule of the day was very different. Here, I feel like no matter what course I teach, I feel like the students have a genuine interest in school, and that students want to be here and are willing to try. They are comfortable working with teachers, and I like that. I like that the students are open in that way, always wanting to ask questions and participate. The previous school I taught at was more rigid with free periods and things like that, but here, it’s definitely a more flexible environment.

Why did you choose to become a math teacher?

I always liked math, and I was always the person in class who the teacher asked to help somebody else in class. I probably started tutoring in elemenIan Ong/The SPOKE

tary school in sixth, seventh and eighth grade, and then in NHS in high school, every year I had two or three kids that I tutored in Algebra or Spanish. I just liked helping other people get it, so I went into Saint Joe’s as a math major, with the intent to teach.

it’s fun, but I just haven’t done it recently.

Did you have any part time jobs?

I worked as a nanny for four summers, I worked at a movie theater and I worked at a clothing store. That was all in the summer, in addition to school.

What is one thing that students should take away from your classes?

I hope students walk out knowing that math can be fun, and that you need to take a risk, give it a shot and not feel uncomfortable when you’re not sure of an answer. You should always give it a try, and when you work together, a lot of the time you figure it out.

Do you have any hobbies?

I like to read and I like to go to the park. I have three boys, and they keep me very busy, so we’re always outside at the park going for walks, or reading. We read a lot.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

During one of my first years of teaching at my first job, I was 23 and I had an SAT prep class, so it was pretty laid back.

There was a girl sitting in the very back of the room messing around with an eraser, she threw the eraser and it didn’t just go anywhere. It went down my shirt. As I was teaching! Everybody saw it, and what do you do at that point? I was just like ‘OK,’ and my face turned red because my face turns red very easily. It was funny, I just kind of lost it at that point.

Do you have any musical inclinations?

I do not play any instruments.

Like I said, I was in the plays at high school, so I did sing, but I wouldn’t say I sing well. I just enjoy it.

What is something most people don’t know about you?

I’m a pretty open book, but I used to tap dance. Not professionally or anything like that, but I used to take tap classes and, having three kids now, I don’t have the time to do that, so that’s just something I used to do.

Who is your role model?

My mom. She’s a role model because she works, she raised kids and she’s just a really caring individual that I hope to be like.

What’s one thing you can’t live without?

I’m not a creature of habit. I don’t drink coffee, or anything like that. I don’t have anything that I use every single day. I do like iced tea, but I could live without it. I don’t have a routine; obviously I get up and come into work and things like that, but some people have something that they do every morning or every night. I try to be a little more laid back.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned over your time teaching at Conestoga?

Always keep the big picture in mind. Every day, there’s things that come up, good things, bad things, but when you keep the big picture in mind and keep the best interest of the students in mind at all times when you’re trying to make decisions, I feel like things always work out better.

Favorites: Book series: “Harry Potter” Board game: Scrabble Sport: Basketball (to watch), volleyball (to play) Fictional character: Tinkerbell Ideal vacation spot: Ocean City, N.J. in the fall TV Show: “Grey’s Anatomy” Actor: Ben Affleck

Why did you take up tap dancing?

I only did it for a couple of years, but I used to go after work and take a class or two for fun. I did it when I was little too. It was one of those things that I enjoyed when I was younger, and it’s good exercise,

The Spoke 11

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Monday, June 6, 2016

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12 The Spoke

Monday, June 6 2015

Student Life

UnSpoken advice: Graduation Camille Kurtz and Meagan O’Rourke Co-Editors in Chief Dear The Spoke, I am so excited to throw my cap in the air but I’m afraid I’ll lose track of mine and end up with a cap with lice. What do I do?

Dear Itchy Situation, Lice can bug you for weeks after graduation, so your concern is completely valid! To avoid a scabby scalp, attach a string to your cap and tie it to your wrist at the beginning of the ceremony. When you throw your hat in the air, use the string to reel it back in. This way, you will always end up with your insect-free cap!

Dear The Spoke, All of my friends want to rent a beach house in New Jersey for senior week, but I had other plans in mind. I really want to rent a Conestoga wagon as a final tribute to our alma mater and go cross country Oregon Trail style. All my friends have concerns considering many of the pioneers died of rattlesnake bites and hypothermia. Honestly, I really think it’s worth the risk.

Dear Trailblazer, This is an amazing idea.

Conestoga wagons are like your own personal U-Haul; you can lug all of your stuff and your friends to whatever destination pleases you. To convince your meek comrades to hop on the bandwagon and join you, we suggest hypnosis. Take your friends out for a relaxing spa day and surprise them with the expertise of one of your hypnotist buddies! They’ll be convinced in no time.

Jennifer Lee for The SPOKE

Dear The Spoke, I never really cry at events like graduation that are supposed to be emotional. I’m afraid I will seem heartless when all of my friends are teary-eyed in the Pavilion and I am stone-faced. Is this normal?

Dear Robot, Not everyone shows their emotions by crying, and that is completely acceptable. However, if you feel very self-concious about it, slip some juicy onions and safety scissors under your graduation gown.

When you see your peers bawling, slice and dice those Vidalias and watch the waterworks overflow. Your crying will be so impressive, people will not even notice the onion smell!

Dear The Spoke, I haven’t been invited to any graduation parties. I think all the invitations got lost in the mail, but no one is answering any of my phone calls.

I also don’t know if this is relevant, but I am a 45-yearold white male who never went to Conestoga. I have a celebrity toenail collection.

Dear Slender Man, We find your query...disturbing. We ask that you don’t contact the Spoke anymore and that you please stop calling those poor seniors. Also, we don’t know if this is relevant, but the police may be showing up at your house in the next few minutes.

Dear The Spoke, I’m not sure what to do with my cap and gown after graduation is over. I’m definitely not the sentimental type (so I know I’m never going to look at it again) and I have no plans of ever joining a gospel choir.

How else can I profit from a useless strip of cheap fabric?

Dear Robot Jr., Are you familiar with the hit TV show “Project Runway”?

You need to have a “make it work” moment and turn that cap and gown into something fabulous and chic. With a few accessories and a chunky belt, a graduation gown can be worn as a flowy and cute summer dress with those billowing sleeves to give off a hip ’70s vibe.

Get Cultured

In the first installment of Co-Student Life editor Matt Paolizzi’s review column, he takes a look at the fifth and penultimate volume of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s excellent “My Struggle” series and the new Radiohead album, “A Moon Shaped Pool.” driven piece, with a haunting Matt Paolizzi yet lovely melody that gets more Co-Student Life Editor beautiful as the tune goes on.

“My Struggle: Book 5” Pay attention to the closing of There’s a movement taking the song; backwards lyrics are place in the literary world. The creepily utilized. When reversed, movement is the autobiographithe words “Half of my life” can cal masterwork penned by Karl be heard, in reference to RaOve Knausgaard, a Norwegian diohead’s 47-year-old frontman author who is, at least in my Thom Yorke’s recent divorce humble opinion, the greatest from his wife of 25 years. living writer. The handsome The krautrock jam “Ful Stop” Norwegian became a bona fide is also a worthy mention, it’s celebrity in his home country, grooving bass line coupled with selling almost 450,000 copies a catchy refrain, “Truth will of “My Struggle” in a country mess you up,” gives listeners a of around 5 million people, later nice break from the depressing exporting and selling his books aura of the record. The standout Archipelago Books “Glass Eyes” provides a look inacross Europe. It’s a six book series, slowly being translated side Yorke’s anxiety-filled psy“A Moon Shaped Pool” from Norwegian by the great Radiohead could very well che, with cringing, gut-wrenchDon Bartlett. It can be hard to be the most consistently great ing vocals. Yorke opens by make the series sound interest- rock band since The Beatles. musing “Hey it’s me/I just got ing right away. Simply put, the Their work has undergone so off the train/A frightening place/ series is just a man writing about many evolutions, each one be- Their faces are concrete grey/ his life. ing well received by critics and And I’m wondering, should I His writing is engaging; there fans alike. However, their last turn around?” and it’s hard not to is a sense of peace one feels release, 2011’s “The King of get choked up, especially if you when reading his work, as if Limbs,” saw the Oxford group relate to what he’s singing about. he’s writing about your own life. take a drop. While it still earned It’s an emotional track no doubt, He’ll spend five pages brewing a solid 80 on Metacritic, many reminiscent of Radiohead’s tea and you’ll never want it to music pundits and fans came soul-crushing “How to Disapstop. Knausgaard’s “struggle” away confused. After their 2007 pear Completely” off of 2001’s is a common struggle we all go masterpiece “In Rainbows,” “Kid A.” through, the struggle meaning “TKOL” felt like a regression.

The closing track, “True Love and purpose in life.

While I’m a fan of the album, it Waits,” is a fan favorite, having As you progress through his took a lot of patience and multi- never been included on an ofstory, you’ll become incredibly ple listens to appreciate, a pro- ficial studio album before and attached. His personal alienation cess more casual Radiohead fans only being played during live from society, his struggle in so- may find tiring. Their newest performances. The once acoustic cial situations and his strained album, “A Moon Shaped Pool,” guitar driven track has been rerelationships with his family has proven to be a return to form. placed by a watery piano ballad members all give moments anyRight off the bat, it’s their with Yorke delivering an impresone could see themselves in. most emotionally charged record “Book 5” is especially relatable, by far, expressed in their now as Knausgaard details his young trademark somber sound. The adulthood and college life in the two singles “Burn the Witch” college town of Bergen, Nor- and “Daydreaming” are hauntway’s second largest city. ing melodies.

We see Karl Ove reach des“Witch” is more of a manperate lows as he struggles to ic swing, driven by a lovely get his work out there, watching strings section orchestrated by as all his friends and colleagues none other than Radiohead’s get their first novels published. resident music theory guru JonHe experiences highs though, as ny Greenwood. The track conwe are treated to an exploration tains extremely political lyrics, of relationships with both a se- something the band has never rious girlfriend and with his first been afraid of exploring. (2003’s wife — both have romantic be- underrated “Hail to the Thief” XL Recordings ginnings, but later turn sour and was a protest against the election rotten. of George W. Bush.) The track sive lyrical barrage of emotion, While I suggest any new deals with such themes as total- belting “I’m not living/I’m just readers start with “Book 1,” itarianism and blind obedience. killing time/Your tiny hands/ “Book 5” is a welcome addition You can’t help but see a little Your crazy kitten smile.” It’s to the series and one that could Trump with a side of Salem in inclusion was a happy surprise be incredibly accessible from lines like “Red crosses on wood- for many, seeing their own “True the start. Be worried though, this en doors/And if you float you Love” for the band pay off, their endeavor will prove incredibly burn/Loose talk around tables/ “waiting” being rewarded with addictive and, as famed essayist Abandon all reason/Avoid all a masterpiece. Closing off this record well, “True Love Waits” Zadie Smith and noted Knaus- eye contact.” gaardian said, you’ll “need the “Daydreaming” on the other proves one thing. This album is new volume like crack.” hand, is a slow, ambient piano something special.

The Spoke 13

West Arizona

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA Claire Guenzer

California

HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY Jacob Hinderer POMONA COLLEGE Daniel Holtzer STANFORD UNIVERSITY Ellie Utter UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Duncan Ellis UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES Spandana Jakka, Kevin Tu UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Jona Siegel

Colorado

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER Drew Clayton, Anna Delaney, Jack Edgarton, Luke Robbins UNIVERSITY OF DENVER Eliza Hacke

Idaho

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY–IDAHO Stefanny Urbina

Midwest ILLINOIS

DEPAUL UNIVERSITY Sedona LaMarre NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Daniel Kim, Paula Miller UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Rohan Gandhi

INDIANA

INDIANA UNIVERSITY Dima Ackerman, Grisha Byers

Iowa

GRINNELL COLLEGE Georgia Young-Dahl

MICHIGAN

HOPE COLLEGE Katie DeVries MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY Lindsay Johnson, Jack Mille, Theo Roberts UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Liz Atwood, Sam Bouhdary, Max Howarth, Micky Kling, Connie Zhang

MInnesota

CARLETON COLLEGE Anna Shipp ST. OLAF COLLEGE Nick Bishopp

MIssouri

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Grace Jalboot, Brian Weiss

nebraska

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - LINCOLN Jasmine Boyer

OHIO

CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY Kitty Latoff, Callie Wang DENISON UNIVERSITY Jack Mitchell, Brant Pittman KENYON COLLEGE Norman Keyes MIAMI UNIVERSITY OF OHIO Jack Loewengart, Brian Rodgers Vargo, Nick Ruth THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY Aaron Lacher, Julia Scribano UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Monica Borzillo

Wisconsin

MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY Jules Horning

abroad

OTHER

SIMMONA COELHO Queen's University (Canada) LEON HAGENLOCHER High School (Germany) GRACE JUMBO McGill University (Canada) ZALA KOROŠEC High School (Slovenia) AMANDA SANTOS University of Campinas (Brazil) SAMANTHA WREN McGill University (Canada)

Armed forces

BRIGHAM DUECKER United States Marine Corps MADDIE OLIVER United States Military

employment

DANNY CUSTER MATTHEW HENCKEN England's Versatile Horsemanship (Texas)

gap year

TODD DEEMER LIVVIE FORBES Santa Fe University Of Art and Design JACK MCPHERSON The Hotchkiss School (Connecticut)

+30 abstain Centerspread designed and compiled by Adam Lockett. regrets that some students did not respond to our requests for their senior destinations.

South ALABAMA

AUBURN UNIVERSITY Cooper Arnott UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA Katy Marotto, Nick Rechtiene, Will Reiss

FLORIDA

EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY James Clowes ROLLINS COLLEGE Hannah Ashton, Emily Booz, Lila Holmes STETSON UNIVERSITY Laura Phelan UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA Kathryn Deuber UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI Leah Palomo, Bonnie Stright UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA Erin Sweeney UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA Jamie Daggett, Alex Gillis, Margaret Gladden, Eileen Olseski, Olivia Smith

GEORGIA

EMORY UNIVERSITY Yinzhi Zhuge GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY Jená Harris SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN Hannah Sullivan

Louisiana

TULANE UNIVERSITY Erin Ozturk

mississippi

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI Mady Herman

NORTH CAROLINA

DAVIDSON COLLEGE Spencer Dickinson DUKE UNIVERSITY Mia Borger, Mason Sellig EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY Sophia Chusid ELON UNIVERSITY Maggie Bolger, Annie Daggett, Allie Martorana, Nate Melchiorre HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY Jason Ellerbeck, Katie Seedor, Michael Stoudt WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY Micaela Bailey, Kevin Buck WINGATE UNIVERSITY Minniya Ingram

south CAROLINA

COASTAL CAROLINA UNIVERSITY Andrew Larkin COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON Field Dougherty, Samantha Hoppe, Alina Macedo, Samantha Rudd UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA Dan Cepielik, Rachel Dixon, Jane Donahue, Tessa Posey, Christopher Smith

TENNESSEE

BELMONT UNIVERSITY Will Chiles SEWANEE: THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH Riley Wingerd UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE Louis Conroy, Spencer Sarmento VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY Dylan Choi

Texas

RICE UNIVERSITY Rose Kantorczyk

Mid-Atlantic DELAWARE

UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE Clare Bondi, Abigail Brundage, Jack Bryan, Lindsay DiGiorgio, Jack Dwyer, Jessica Ivey, Sean Johnson, Maarten Mon Jake Novak, Maggie O'Mara, Jennie Racca, Corinne Twombly WESLEY COLLEGE Corey Manning

MARYLAND

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PJ Murray LOYOLA UNIVERSITY MARYLAND Lizzie Bell, Addy Nagle, Angela Nguyen, Alice Regan, Emma Wydeven SALISBURY UNIVERSITY Harrison Leon UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY Michaela Caldwell UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND Evan Haynos, Valerie Houck-Meloni, Mack Morg Sarah Reitnour, Kennedy Rush, (EASTERN SHORE) Jaelynn Lovett

NEW JERSEY

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Michael Li, Yang Tu

virginia

COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY Emma Purinton, Josh Stead JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY Kaylin Boschi, Gillian Dowson, Matt Heron, Abbey Maynard, Mike Roadcap, Natalie Scilovati, Hannah Tucker ROANOKE COLLEGE Cormac Dalby UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON Ivy Hollander UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND Mac Hamblett, Matthew Izzo, Tim Miller, Ella Ree UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Tommy Brennan, Jillian DeWoody, Alex Lee, Jack VIRGINIA TECH Kate Bailey, Jack Corr, Maddie Wood WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY Kyle Hallman

Washington, DC

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Kevin Jay GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Kwame Bonsu, Caroline Cruickshank, Tanin Ferdosian, Libby Fix, Natalie Gelber, Ethan Stoler, Mischa Subhan, Sara Tohamy GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY Christopher Ferris, Mary Mei, Allison Reagan, Melissa Zheng

age, Jack Bryan, Johnson, Maarten Monster, Twombly

e, Angela Nguyen,

ck-Meloni, Mack Morgan, ynn Lovett

tead owson, Matt Heron, annah Tucker

zo, Tim Miller, Ella Reed Woody, Alex Lee, Jack Reilly

oline Cruickshank, toler,

Mei,

North-east Connecticut

UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN Erica Bilotta YALE UNIVERSITY Michael Hong, Alex Wang

maine

BATES COLLEGE Grace Purinton

MASSACHUSETTS

BOSTON COLLEGE Anders Backstrom, Elizabeth Lawton, Christina Mulholland BOSTON UNIVERSITY Bruna Giampietro, Julia Hess, Jake Milberg, Dahye Yoon CLARK UNIVERSITY Carly Massino EMERSON COLLEGE Deanna Drennen HARVARD UNIVERSITY Casey Allen, Michael Zhang MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Michelle Xu MERRIMACK COLLEGE Kailey Meyer, Dan Shank SIMMONS COLLEGE Manal Khalil UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Caroline Gosnear

NEW HAMPSHIRE

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE Julia Herman

NEW YORK

BARNARD COLLEGE Julia Baran CLARKSON UNIVERSITY John-Paul Kalilec, Adriana Terleckyj COLGATE UNIVERSITY Thor Perrin Hee, Casey Waite COLLEGE OF MOUNT SAINT VINCENT Bridget Livingston CORNELL UNIVERSITY Emmy Chen, Hannah Hyams, Ryan Quinn, Shivani Sanghani, Devante Timms, Sophia Wang, Jerry Zhu ELMIRA COLLEGE Tommy Fogarty FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Daryn Huang FORDHAM UNIVERSITY Pedro Acosta, Maddy Prachar ITHACA COLLEGE Alexandra Nemchenko NEW YORK UNIVERSITY Bonn Allen, Michelle Markert, Mikhail Sajed PACE UNIVERSITY Lulu Daou PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN Anna Koblish RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE David Nice ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Liam Gallagher, Matthew Paseltiner, Dabin Yi STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY Delphine Mossman SUNY COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND FORESTRY Yusuf Romaine-Elkhadri SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY Ben Bierstaker, Nancy Jin, Carly Robins THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA Jakob Morrissey THE NEW SCHOOL Lauren Harris UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY, WEST POINT Rilee Scott UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER Wade Bennett WELLS COLLEGE Greyson Avots

vermont

CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE Zachary Newman UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT Maria Kissel PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY Mitch Adler, Jack Arnold, Kate Billings, Emma Brown, Amanda Camarote, Matthew Chiarello, Rachel Cummins, Julia Danon, Bradley Dessender, Chris Dreyer, Jackie Durst, Jack Frantz, Morgane Gerard, Celeste Leon, Heather MacMillan, Matthew Marcelli, Nick Marchese, Kate Monsell, Carleton Monster, Alex Moon, Ian Mooney, Percy Mottley, Sammy Mulligan, Johanna Näsman, Celine Niami, ALBRIGHT COLLEGE Jack Ansa, Talen Draper Nilesh Pandey, Kyle Pecci, Aidan Piombino-Mattis, Harry Polychronopoulos, Jared Puzo, ALVERNIA UNIVERSITY Anna Comyns ARCADIA UNIVERSITY Joe Rea Sarah Robie, Erfan Shakibaei, Dillon Shi, Bohan Song, Caitlin Stigall, Timothy Yi, BLOOMSBURG UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Quinn McElwee, Gina Stacey Ilana Zipkin (ALTOONA) Omar Dahrouch, Charlotte Duffie-Fritz (BRANDYWINE) Valerie Gallo BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY Jack Baker, Emily Hompe, Sara Hottenstein, (COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY) Zachary Kravitz (SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE) Wes Alexander, Kathryn Lenker, Ellie Mack, Alexandra Woodrow Ritwik Biswas, Madeline Detwiler, Tommy Gupton, Jacob Leibowitz, Melissa Lopez, Gloria Xu CABRINI COLLEGE Tom Holmwood, Connor Hullhorst SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO SEMINARY Gabe Fairorth CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY Emmi Dolph, Will Gradisek, Olivia Schappell SAINT JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY Andrew Bathish, Manon Dolley, Jack Friel, Katie Lord, Sarah Morrison CHESTNUT HILL COLLEGE Gigi Lorine SHIPPENSBURG UNIVERSITY Haley Aigeldinger, Julian Fabius, Shannon Holder-Alleyne DELAWARE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE Ben Brunke, Gaby Calabi, SUSQUEHANNA UNIVERSITY MJ Lezanic, Trey Milby, Madison Niness Michael DeSoto, Adrian Gabrielli SWARTHMORE COLLEGE Tyler Soutendijk DESALES UNIVERSITY Megan Woods TEMPLE UNIVERSITY Morgan Alexander, Nyasha Chikwanha, Lydia Choi, Sean Chou, DICKINSON COLLEGE Zach Brink, Christopher Burrow Tory Dubendorf, Jack Fang, Charlotte Gottlieb, Adrian Gutierrez-Sanchez, Carly Hayden, DREXEL UNIVERSITY Benjamin Arndell, Sudipti Attri, Kyunglok Baik, Owen Hinton, Callum Hunter, Jess King, Shuang Li, Jonathan Locantore, Arun Balaji, Anna Bostwick, Airelle David, RJ DePiano, Evan Gibbs, Jennifer Lojano, Alice MacKenzie, Anna Manton, Michael McGillis, Teddy McGovern, Rahul Godaba, Ben Hayman, Julia Lee, Paige Loose, Vincent Nguyen, Mike McLaughlin, Shannon McQuaid, Lily Medosch, Emily Pancoast, Ryan Peterson, Thomas Renon, Isabel Stolper, Ahmed Syed, Amy Xiang Zack Porrini, Jordan Smith, Lissie Torres, Mary Trinhtran EASTERN UNIVERSITY Mary Cassel THADDEUS STEVENS COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY Mikey Brautigam FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE Julia Bevan, Maggie Hanzsche UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Linda Ashmead, Mark Dong, Nour Elkassabany, GETTYSBURG COLLEGE Morgan McFillin, Jason Kim, Seyoung Kim, Danny Leiser, Callie Maslowsky, Evan Snyder, Jeffrey Xue Tyler Monastero, Evan Tannenbaum UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Sara Ali, Jeremy Alwine, Kelly Baker, Michael Fisher, GROVE CITY COLLEGE Cailyn Chiarello Peter Fisher, Natalie Hirst, Ryan Hollinger, Annie Huang, Daniel Iredale, Marley Kirk, GWYNEDD MERCY UNIVERSITY Brittany Coleman Megan Kundra, Miranda Moody, Claire Mosher, Bridget Murray, Kevin Pealer, HAVERFORD COLLEGE Oishi Bardhan Liam Ruby, Sofia Russo, Laura Stockler, Maria Tian, Jake Watson, Lucas Yonda INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Alina Withers (GREENSBURG) Aashni Sharma (JOHNSTOWN) Chris Bone, Alex Diskin KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY Michael Karas, Jonathan Lent, Dondre Ross LA SALLE UNIVERSITY Emily Conaway, Alex Jobs, UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS Benjamin Terwilliger URSINUS COLLEGE Peter Jean, Christopher Karmilowicz, Emma Motel, Andrew Ritter Michael Langerhans, Alex Seaden VALLEY FORGE MILITARY ACADEMY & COLLEGE Daquan Perry LAFAYETTE COLLEGE Mark Anderson, Tim McCarthy VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY Caroline Coladonato, Celia Dwyer, Grace Eaton, James Goodwin, LEBANON VALLEY COLLEGE Priscilla Orr LEHIGH UNIVERSITY Sondra Dickey, TJ Fogarty, Melanie Haughey, Natasha Iloff, Abby Konopka, Margaret Liedtka, Leah Rogers WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY Emmy Andrews, Darryl Caldwell, Lyndsay Carroll, Mandy McHale, Will Smith MILLERSVILLE UNIVERSITY Melanie Dernoga, Troy Gartner, Grace Henry, Sydney Harris-Erickson, Kevin Helf, Sarah Hinmon, Josh Klaczak, Joe Lynch, Brendan Powell, Amanda Woelfel Nicholas Marcil, Dave Paolisso, Max Peterman, Emily Poll, Alison Roller, MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE Tania Bone, Derrick Momme, Maya Sengha, Tristin Smith, Matt Spencer, Brett Weinstein, Ciara Williams Michael Nguyen, Natalie Rossi WIDENER UNIVERSITY Tommy Luce MUHLENBERG COLLEGE Zach Delecce WILLIAMSON COLLEGE OF THE TRADES Aaron Serious

PENNSYLVANIA

Monday, June 6, 2016

OPINION Balancing act: The Spoke’s objective is objectivity Taped onto the peeling wall of The Spoke production room, among front covers of issues past, is a printed-out comment from a reader in 2012. Lovingly, it reads: “The Spoke is a left-wing rag like most of the newspapers coming out of the educational system and mainstream media…

What The Spoke does give us are examples of liberal bias and indoctrination of our children.”

Although we often joke about this comment (“left-wing rag” is one of the more creative pieces of feedback we have received), The Spoke takes the commentary of its readership seriously.

As a school paper, our mission is to represent the voices of all students and, most importantly, to report information to our community in a truthful, ethical and objective way.

However, criticism of the newspaper did not end with the choice words of our faithful 2012 reader. Consistently, The Spoke has been criticized for appearing to have an ideological slant.

From the voices of our opinion section to the stories we choose to cover for front page, we receive feedback that the paper is liberally-biased.

We acknowledge that, as individuals, many of our reporters possess liberal opinions. In turn, this viewpoint is expressed in our opinion section. These stories solely reflect the stances of the writer and in no way indicate the opinions of The Spoke as a whole.

Outside of these explicitly partial columns, The Spoke strives to report all news, student life and sports stories with respectful neutrality. We hope the newspaper is seen as a platform for perspectives of all kinds, regardless of partisan rivalry. Matters of coverage are at the discretion of the editorial board. In our quest to cover stories that will be relevant to the Conestoga community, we must report a variety of issues, some of which may be controversial. In these cases especially, it is our responsibility to allow the sources and information to speak for themselves and to remain trustworthy, unbiased journalists.

Although it is the aim of The Spoke to provide impartial reporting, the current staff has a right to personal opinion. They have license to express their views in an appropriate and ethi-

cal manner and to make decisions governing the paper. This right is granted to the editorial board as these students have applied to be members of The Spoke staff and have been accepted, regardless of ideology. Their membership gives them the authority to make decisions about the newspaper on behalf of the readers.

This jurisdiction of Spoke reporters does not overshadow the influential powers of our readers.

Letters to the Editor and guest columnists are always welcomed and encouraged. The Spoke is meant to be a newspaper that serves the Tredyffrin-Easttown community and, thus, ought to comprehensively include a variety of content, which will be accessible to all readers. Consequently, if any of our readers should feel that The Spoke has failed to report significant stories or cover new angles, please contact us and share your ideas.

In today’s polarized political climate, especially during a heated election year, it is crucial that the media remain objective, even at a local and school level.

The Spoke is what we make it, whether we are reporters or readers.

From the editor: The only way out is through

Camille Kurtz Co-Editor-in-Chief When the seniors left in my freshman year, I remember sitting in the library during fourth period and wondering how I would ever survive three more years of high school. Yet, at the same time, I was shocked by how suddenly my first year had come to an end.

But no matter how quickly or slowly I perceived it, time continued to pass. Ninth grade ended. Tenth grade ended. And now, at the end of my junior year, I am seemingly both ages and seconds away from the moment I, too, finally say goodbye to Conestoga and leave for internship. While the individual days felt impossibly long, somehow the years have flown by at top speed.

There’s something both remarkably soothing and frustrating about the idea that, eventually, everything ends. Regardless of how we feel about it or how we judge it’s passing, time will

Jennifer Lee for The SPOKE

Pallavi Aakarapu/The SPOKE

16 The Spoke

bring the end of a school year.

The end of a month. A day, a test, a group project, an audition.

Whether we’re prepared or not, whether we succeed or fail, time treks on, with us in tow — a perspective I find empowering.

To (apologetically) use a cliche: the only way out is through.

Whether you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, think: this school year is (almost) over. That tricky AP test is over.

Your least favorite class? Over!

For a minute, let’s forget the path ahead of us. Let’s forget the future and our desired destinations. Let’s close our eyes and remind ourselves that this present moment will end — has ended. The next time Monday seems to last years instead of hours, we can take heart in recalling its finite nature.

Jennifer Lee for The SPOKE

But it can be hard to live in the present moment and put aside our pesky jealousy as we watch friends and siblings end their school years for the summer or graduate. At these times, it’s comforting to remember how each of us must wait and how each of us will get our turn, in time.

Albert Einstein once professed, “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.” As Einstein illustrates much more eloquently, the fun times fly by and the tough times drag on. But fun or tough, “the times” will end. Remember this as the summer approaches all too slowly and as school begins anew all too quickly next fall.

We ought to enjoy the moment and look around every once in awhile, without getting too attached to — or too frustrated with — our surroundings. For, the next thing we know, we’ll be somewhere entirely new.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Opinion

“Safe spaces”: Hiding from the truth

Matthew Soderberg Opinion Editor #BERNIEORBUST— Hey there SHEEP, it’s time to wake up! You have been brainwashed by the ESTABLISHMENT into thinking this primary race is over, and that Hillary will be your nominee. WRONG. Senator, God and not-a-politician Bernie Sanders is going to win, and the REVOLUTION is coming.

If you set aside the delegate math, the popular vote and really anything to do with actual fact, it becomes abundantly clear: Hillary Clinton needs to drop out.

The CORPORATE MEDIA may want you to believe she has the nomination on lock, but if you look closer, you can see past their DECEPTION. Why should she drop out when she’s received more votes than Sen. Sanders, Donald Trump or any other candidate? Just read the Facebook comments by me or any other entitled white millennial who understands the TRUTH.

Jennifer Lee for The SPOKE

That truth is that Hillary Clinton belongs in prison. Did you know she personally orchestrated the Benghazi attacks?

Or that she purposely emailed Edward Snowden every single national secret in an attempt to bring terror to America? When arguing with the brainwashed ESTABLISHMENT, make sure not to know any actual details about either issue, just remember the words BENGHAZI and EMAILS. Do you know what her husband did? Let’s focus on that.

As we REVOLUTIONARIES know, it is these scandals that matter, not policies or substance or anything the president would actually do.

Keeping with that trend, how can we even trust Hillary not to repeat history? When Bill cheated on her, she stood by his side.

When Vladimir Putin starts hosting his family reunions in the White House, is she going to let that one pass too? And she clearly cannot be trusted with technology. What if she snapchats our nuclear codes to Kim Jong Un? With Hillary in office, we’re getting four more years of same old same old. Who even likes Barack Obama? For all that change he promised, where is our liberal revolution? Nothing has happened except slow progress— and slow progress doesn’t CHANGE THE WORLD. Putting someone who calls himself a democratic socialist in office — THAT is the best way to get something accomplished in a conservative Congress.

This REVOLUTION will not be stopped by little old things like congressional approval or checks and balances.

Hillary Clinton does not believe in democracy. She is owned

by WALL STREET and has yet to fulfill our demand of personally setting every SUPERDELEGATE on fire. So why can’t she do one more undemocratic thing — ignore the votes, ignore the people, and drop out.

But if Hillary won’t see the signs and drop out, she still won’t earn my vote. I am #BERNIEORBUST because rather than admit defeat, I’d prefer to contribute to electing a man who wants to ban Muslims from entering the country. If you want to hear me talk more — a lot more — I’m on Facebook.

Mike O’Connor Guest Columnist The United States of America is the greatest civilization to have ever existed, conceived by the greatest political assembly of all time. The Framers understood that the civil and human rights of all citizens are essential to a free society. Intelligent people benefit from a society that allows free speech.

So when free speech is banned, intelligence is also banned. When intelligence is banned, societies become ruled by the most brutish and savage fighters instead of the most intelligent and productive minds. Free speech is the key to paradise because it allows a society to exist without reverting to an ape-like state. Why then do we allow even the slightest infringements on free speech to occur on college campuses? It is because we have lost sight of what true freedom is, and have come to believe that words alone can harm us irreversibly.

Words are words and they cannot harm you, obviously. No matter how loud a Bernie Sanders supporter squeals, the words “you’re a bigot” will never snap a single bone in your body. This seems like a pretty simple idea, yet it remains vastly misunderstood on nearly every college campus in America.

Such self-appointed victimhood is evident in the growing culture of safe spaces on campus. These spaces, created on campuses across the country, claim to serve as a safe haven from intolerance, but instead suppress opposing voices.

As Milo Yiannopoulos, Breitbart News Editor and alt-right activist puts it, “It is a disease. It is profoundly anti-intellectual because it suggests that some people’s voices are worth more than others and it delegitimizes the importance of debate and argument of fact.”

Some may argue that safe spaces are intrinsically good; that they allow students to discuss topics with like minded peers. Or perhaps that safe spaces offer refuge to victims of traumatizing crimes such as rape. However, any psychologist worth his salt will tell us that the best way to cope with trauma is to verbalize our thoughts.

Rape, a topic often avoided in conversation, is a heinous crime whose perpetrators ought to suffer capital punishment. However, that is no reason to resist or prohibit talking about it. This kind of suppression impedes the discussion of important topics. Rape is dangerous. Racism is disgusting.

Yet college students, as Kathleen McCartney, President of Smith College writes, “cannot distinguish between racist speech and speech about racist speech, be-

tween racism and discussion of racism.”

When a cultural movement like this results in the suppression of free speech and the banning of speakers (most of which are conservative) from campuses, something must be done. College is our best opportunity to open ourselves up to new ideas. Now, the gentle snowflakes of our generation who couldn’t possibly tolerate an opinion which contradicts their own have a means to block out all other opposing voices.

In their most extreme form, anti-snowflake activists have suggested that any student who asks for a trigger warning be immediately expelled. While I do not believe that students should be ejected from campus for the fear that they may experience a close encounter with an opinion which contradicts their own, I do strongly support the idea that no censorship of any kind should be applied to the expression of students. There is no time for pretending that the spoken ideals of others can actually harm you, or that it is in any way appropriate to censor others in an intellectual environment. So if you are afraid of the world outside and its terrifying inhabitants who disagree with you, please, stay in your safe space. There is no room for your nonsense out here.

“I think safe spaces are pretty stupid, and I feel people are very offended easily nowadays.”

- Thomas Noone “To some people, (safe spaces) are important, but I don’t think they make too much of a difference.”

- Mark Hengel “Like it says in Tinker v. Des Moines — free speech does not stop at the school gate.”

- Allison Hagar “It’s difficult to balance the need for having both a safe space and an intellectual space.”

- Nathan Shreve The Spoke 17

Opinion

Monday, June 6, 2016

Stop our race to the bottom

Cissy Ming Copy Editor Donald Trump loves the Hispanics, really, he does. Just look at that yuge taco bowl he ordered from the Mexicans at Trump Tower Grill for Cinco de Mayo.

Almost as soon as Trump published his now-infamous Cinco de Mayo tweet, internet users rightly ridiculed his obvious pandering.

Trump’s shameless statements clearly reveal the problems with his approach to race in politics, but how different are his appeals from those many mainstream political players use to squeeze out every last vote?

Like Trump, those involved in politics often view members of minority racial groups like Pokemon.

They gotta catch ‘em all. Though activists in the Civil Rights Era called for their fellow Americans to judge them on personal character rather than skin color, people today judge voters on skin color “for their own good.” Without the Trump name, most instances don’t gather nearly as much coverage as the taco bowl tweet. However, they fall into the same mold, a means of attracting support often known as identity politics. Insisting that anybody vote based on race should not remain common practice. Instead, we should label this behavior as the soft racism that it is.

Party loyalty in the United States follows color lines, and ac-

knowledging reality is one matter.

Emphasizing the patterns to create a bandwagon effect is detrimental to our political environment. Trying to pull voters over to the opposite side by virtue of race, preferably not via insulting tweets, is equally damaging. Dividing the electorate into “our people” and “their people” based on superficial characteristics implies that the few who don’t follow expectations are violating a religious doctrine. As heretics, the non-conformers are subject to racial attacks from devoted believers in identity politics, who accuse them of betraying their people for the white agenda (whatever that is).

Condescending to minorities because they think the wrong things reflects a “we know better” attitude best suited for the 1960s. Though I don’t mean to suggest any correlation between identity politicians and racists of the last century, the outlook shared by both groups assumes that a select group has greater knowledge of how members of each racial group must behave.

White supremacists used discredited science to “prove” the superiority of their race, a belief they claimed justified white control of government and social institutions.

If minorities were allowed to control their own lives, they would make all the wrong decisions.

Everyone needs their ideas scrutinized, but the American brand of identity politics bypasses ideas in favor of pure tribalism.

At its core, politics involves making policies. Politicians who use identity politics might gesture at plans to revive minority neighborhoods or appoint a diverse cabinet, but their divisive appeals to race come with the request that voters put policy considerations second or ignore them altogether. For Lar-

ry Wilmore speaking at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, support for Obama came with “the policy that he’s black” regardless of whether or not he agreed with the president on Iraq. Suggesting that someone is more qualified because of race invites irrational thinking, whether the candidate is black or white. What happened to treating members of all races as individuals capable of speaking for themselves? People of all races are capable of considering the facts without pandering getting in the way.

Trump’s tweet mainly reflects his ignorance. However, his assumption of common priorities for members of a racial group (in this case, electing a president who can appreciate a good taco bowl) is not unique. In South Carolina, the Bernie Sanders supporters who tried to attract support from a black leader with welfare reinforced the idea that all minorities depend on government help. In everyday life, most people would recognize statements that lump members of a racial group under one umbrella as problematic. The seemingly good intentions of people promoting the stereotypes doesn’t make them excusable.

Racial identity politics presents itself as a tool of empowerment for minorities while offering the opposite. Identity politics leaves minorities little meaningful choice of candidate or party within standards set by the political class, implying that only white people have the freedom to vote as they want. This trend discourages critical thinking at a time when we need new solutions. During the pivotal 2016 election season, think about whether or not we want to continue our race to the bottom.

Pallavi Aakarapu/The SPOKE

18 The Spoke

Tell-your-vision

Pallavi Aakarapu/The SPOKE

Adam Lockett Head Designer I was under the impression as a child that “television” was called “tell-a-vision.” That, and other English idiomatic struggles such as, “it’s a dog-eat-dog world,” not “it’s a doggie dog world,” are my biggest Language Arts letdowns of elementary school. The entertainment business is a tough, “doggie dog world,” yet I have always been in love with realm of television.

I cannot casually sit down and squander two hours watching a movie on Netflix. The billion-dollar streaming company has an online monopoly for instant movies streaming that I shy away from. I instead shell out eight bucks a month for a Hulu subscription. Hulu is the Netflix of television, which has turned into the better channel of entertainment.

My craving for great TV shows is pacified with a few taps of my finger, making available a wide range of content just like a Netflix library. Distracted by the long days of school, I let the number of unwatched shows in my queue swell. And unlike college campus pamphlets, my personal Hulu queue is diverse by accident.

Movies sometimes take years to be casted, shot, edited and marketed. I find movies also lack the substance that short-form content can offer. Televised superhero dramas flex their special effect capabilities weekly while other sitcoms spark the conversation about shifts in American society.

Without a doubt, movies and TV are meant for our entertainment.

Characters that are larger-thanlife in situations that test the limits of reality make this a success: they are meant to give us an escape for 30 minutes to a few hours. You will find, though, that television is the real risk-taker.

It can get away with portraying classic characters with different ethnic background or incorporating LGBT characters far more often than movies. Movies miss the cut of trends on their extensive timelines, so they stick with a more timeless appeal whereas television can turn around a relevant script in a matter of weeks.

The number of piloted new series that make it before any audience is narrow. Newly backed shows must have the support of producers and networks to air prospective concepts at all. We have a voice in pulling or keeping such ideas alive as an audience when the time comes for series renewals in a network’s high-value timeslots. The shows that pass these audience response tests with flying colors are able to take more risks with their loyal fans that keep coming back. Television is a curious outlet that way. Just punching in a different numerical series into your remote brings you to one of thousands different viewer experiences: news, comedies, interviews, dramas, superheros, reality, conservative, liberal, re-runs, primetime, sports, paid programming and marketing tricks during commercial breaks. With enough of us acting as an interested audience, we keep the best of the television shows in production.

In the process, you are promoting creative thinking and inspiring the next set of creative minds to keep us entertained in telling their visions.

I’ve found that I like being TV’s biggest critic that way.

We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Opinion

Say the pledge: more than just words

Caleigh Sturgeon Managing Web Editor I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

These 31 words — played at the start of each school day in both public and private schools across America — are meant to unite an “indivisible” nation.

However, students in classrooms in Conestoga and across the country choose not to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, or, if they stand, not to recite the lines.

Yes, we are citizens of the world, not solely allegiants of the United States. But at a time when our country falls to division, and party factions polarize both Congress and the nation, it is time to pledge allegiance to the ideals that unite our country.

It may seem robotic or outright strange for students to all rise at the same time everyday, face the flag, place their hands over their hearts and recite the same words.

Some even claim the Pledge of Allegiance to be propagandistic or Orwellian. But there is no law requiring that anyone stand for the Pledge. The Flag Code simply outlines the written word of the flag and the suggested actions to be taken when the Pledge is recited. The Pledge is played for those who wish to support the ideals of the American Republic, namely “liberty and justice,” by not just showcasing their patriotism but showcasing their support for their home country through calm or stormy seas.

Indeed, not all Americans enjoy the same liberties and the American justice system is not always just. However, as a country, we should ideally be working towards securing greater “liberty and justice for all”: pledging to support a country with such measures is by nature constructive.

We should also acknowledge that, according to the Establishment Clause, there is no state religion in America; America is a nation of different religions, and different gods, and many Americans do not subscribe to any god. The

phrase “under God” was actually added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, largely in response to Communist threats of the era, after support from President Eisenhower pressured Congress to amend the Pledge. Since its addition, “under God” has sparked a debate that forms the reasoning that pushes many nonconforming secularists to abstain from the Pledge.

Nevertheless, no matter what religion you subscribe or do not subscribe to, “under God” should not impede you from standing and reciting the Pledge. The other 29 civilizing words should not be disregarded because of the interjection of two. Simply choose not to interject the two.

Overall, making an informed decision of whether or not to stand for and recite the pledge is most important. Laziness, conformity or purposeful counter-conformity are all insufficient excuses for abstaining from the pledge. It is not only an issue of civic engagement, but an issue of unity and citizenship. When it comes to pledging allegiance, there is a certain obligation owed to fellow citizens, servicemen, governors and humans — whether you morally support all actions of every American device or not.

“Not wanting to stand” doesn’t cut it when it comes to withholding support for our nation’s virtues.

Report Card Harambe the gorilla + The boy who fell into the enclosure is okay.

- Poor Harambe is not so lucky.

Health Fair + Beautiful day, awesome effort by Peer Mediation - Above The Influence Club’s “lemonade” pong.

Pertussis returns + WHOOP! WHOOP! - People coughing themselves to death during finals.

Pallavi Aakarapu/The SPOKE

One month scandal free! + Still ’Stoga proud.

2016: Past, present and future

- Our “Dateline” special has been canceled.

Warriors beat Thunder + Kevin Durant in Philadelphia?

- Bandwagon fans are coming.

‘The Bachelorette’ returns + The drama.

- The script.

Summer is coming + The start of summer is closer.

- The end of summer is closer.

Jordan Bennett for The SPOKE

The Spoke 19

Monday, June 6, 2016

SPORTS

Boys rugby clutches first state championship

Avery Maslowsky Business Manager The Conestoga rugby club is one of the oldest high school rugby programs in the United States, starting out in 1971, and for the first time, the boys’ varsity team took home the state championship trophy.

On May 15, the boys’ team went head-to-head with St. Joseph’s Preparatory School for the state championship title, hungry for the win. But this wasn’t their first time making it to states; in 2013, they lost states by one point.

In 2014, they made it to the semifinals and just last year, they again were in the state championship, all under the leadership of head coach Alex Johnson. From the beginning of the 2016 season to the end, they set their minds on one goal: the final win.

“The best part of the year was seeing the young men set a goal at the beginning of the season and work so hard to better themselves.

We put in the hard work, but we were also able to have good laughs with each other throughout,” Johnson said.

Tell Avery she might need to cut down her story

This is a caption: This is an example of what goes in a caption.

It describes what is going on in the picture to make it clearer.

Courtesy Dondre Ross

Success at States: The boys’ rugby team won the state championship after it defeated St. Joseph’s Preparatory School. The team beat Cumberland Valley for the first time in years on that same weekend.

After coming so close to the through a sense of brotherhood.

Losing only one game in the big win in past years and losing 21 Captains senior Dondre Ross and regular season against Cumberplayers who graduated in 2015, the senior Peter Jean ensured that land Valley, 18-4, the boys’ team boys felt obligated to bring home while the group trained every day still had the chance to win it all. the trophy for their alumni and during the season, they had fun.

And, in the quarterfinals, they Conestoga as a whole. The youth “We are all brothers; it’s awe- went head to head with Cumberteams, fitness workouts, play pat- some. We hang out together out- land once again on their home turf. terns, coaching styles and the de- side of school and we are always Conestoga beat them for the first cades of foundation and structure talking to each other, so there’s a time in many years, making their all came together this year and im- great vibe. Rugby has given me a bond as brothers stronger than pacted the success. trait of character that no other sport ever before.

The seniors led the group could ever provide,” Ross said.

There were no superstar play-

ers in the season, for all 30 players on the team put in the same effort and fed off each other’s work ethic, contributing to this year’s success. There really was no big skill difference between the first 15 out on the field and the second. But the team does have some incredibly fast and strong runners who always seem to dodge the other team, such as senior Daquan Perry and juniors Kade LaMarre and Ronan Carter.

Semifinals were held on the same weekend as states, in which the boys won every game they played. The day of the state championship was filled with ’Stoga supporters including alumni of the rugby program. The final game played against St. Joe’s left the Pioneer fans on their feet and some in tears. A Conestoga record was set, leaving the 2016 boys rugby team to be known for generations.

“The sport is truly unlike any other, especially the rugby culture and camaraderie around the world.

No other sport hangs out with the other team afterwards to talk and share burgers, pizza and Gatorade. It truly shows that it is a sport played by gentlemen,” Johnson said.

Quad abroad: crew team competes in Canada

Ashley Greenberg Staff Reporter

Conestoga’s crew team, after finishing in the top three almost every race this season, traveled to Canada for an international competition this weekend. The team has been training since January and aspired to carry over their success from the United States into Canada.

From Friday June 3 through Sunday June 5, Conestoga’s crew team traveled to Henley Island, Canada, to participate in the 71st annual Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association (CSSRA) Championship Regatta.

Conestoga’s crew program is a club organization that raises its own money through fundraisers and volunteer donations. Part of the program’s funds financed the trip to Canada. Select boats from the varsity, lightweight, junior varsity and freshman teams all competed in the 2000-meter Royal Canadian Henley Regatta Course. Crew boats are either four-person, two-person or single boats and the events corresponded to the level, gender and number of people in the boat. Both the

20 The Spoke

boys’ and girls’ teams practice technique and speed every day after school on the Schuylkill River.

Sophomore Leigh Burgess races in the four-person varsity boat and was excited for her team to come together before the races and expected her team to put out its best effort at the competition.

“We expect to push as hard as possible and beat the competition. Our team is nationally ranked and we expect to maintain that reputation,” Burgess said.

Senior captain Jack Corr races in the four-person varsity boat.

Corr was looking forward to the competition in its entirety, especially the opportunity to race new teams.

As captain, Corr is a key component of the team and he makes sure that working together is one of the things the team does best.

Burgess experiences this attitude among the team.

“Our team works really well together and we support each other. Sometimes it’s a bit chaotic, but we are always able to get it back under control and that never stops us from achieving our goals,” Burgess said.

Courtesy Conestoga Crew

Championship pedigree: Girls’ varsity Quad of seniors Caroline Gosnear and Emily Hompe, and juniors Laura Alcorn and Kate Hudson wins first place at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta. Gosnear and Hompe won for their second and third years in a row, respectively.

Corr was expecting some big not worry about defeat because ward to the opportunity to make a wins for the team after a success- he doesn’t think it will affect such name for Conestoga. ful season, while Burgess was a strong team.

“We want to put Conestoga’s expecting to work and have fun “No matter where we end up, name out there. They’ve never as well. we know that we trained hard, seen us up in Canada before, so The weekend following the did well all season and pushed this is our chance to really push CSSRA competition, the team ourselves to our limits, which is our team up there in the ranks and will compete in Youth Nationals a win within itself for us,” Corr have them see us as this big team back in the United States. Bring- said. who came into their country to ing confidence from some big Aside from spending time show some United States pride. wins would give the team a boost, with the team and the chance to Our team is very grateful for this Corr thinks. However, Corr did race new teams, Corr looked for- opportunity,” Corr said.

Monday , June 6, 2016

Sports

Sportsline: season endings and championship games

Kyle Kennedy Staff Reporter

Boys Lacrosse The boys’ lacrosse team finished the regular season with 14 wins and seven losses, and competed in the district playoffs. Junior Tommy Sopko and Senior Brant Pittman led the team with 42 and 34 goals, respectively. In the playoffs, the Pioneers won against Harrington 13-8 and Central Bucks 14-6. They lost in the quarter-

finals to Avon Grove 9-11 and in the first round of playoffs to Bishop Shanahan 7-9. The team finished in a tie for seventh place in the district.

Girls Lacrosse The girls’ lacrosse team dominated the Central League, finishing the regular season with a 20-0 record. They continued their dominance into the playoffs, where the girls qualified for the state tournament.

The top scorers on the team are senior Monica Borzillo and

Elizabeth Billman/The SPOKE

Ready to score: Junior Henry Berg takes possession of the ball for Conestoga in the varsity game against Downingtown West. The Pioneers beat Downingtown West 14-3.

senior Sandra Dickey. Borzillo has 558 points and 82 assists on the season and Dickey has 59 goals and 19 assists. The last game for the girls was on May 29, when they defeated Central Bucks west by a score of 16-4.

They won their game against Archbishop Caroll on June 1 15-9 in the first game of the championship tournament.

Baseball Under new head coach Kevin Pechin, the varsity baseball team ended the season with a record of 12 wins and seven losses. Their last game on Monday, May 23 against Springfield High School ended in a loss.

The score was 4-3. Though the team did not qualify for states, they had many high scoring games against their opponents.

On May 16, the boys beat Upper Darby 16-1. They played this game at Conestoga. Back on March 31, the boys beat Ridley High School with 11 runs to their one run. The second-tolast game the boys played, they won with 14 runs against Upper Darby, which only had four runs. The team also had two no-hitters against Lower Merion with 10 runs on May 2 and against Ridley on May 5 with six runs.

Neil Goldenthal/The SPOKE

Lucky ball: Senior Percy Mottley (above) slides into second base just as the Ridley second baseman misses the ball with his glove. Conestoga beat Ridley 10-1.

Neil Goldenthal/The SPOKE

Dashing down the line: In the girls’ varsity lacrosse game against Haverford, sophomore Ceara Sweeney looks across the fiield for a pass. The girls beat Havorford 17-4 on Teamer Field.

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The Spoke 21

Sports

Monday, June 6, 2016

The Glory Days Story by Co-Sports Editor Neil Goldenthal Before they became teachers, some of our favorite educators were collegiate athletes. Even though years go by, our teachers still remember their glory days fondly.

Dickinson College

Name: Mr. Koenig Sport: Baseball and Basketball College: Dickinson College (Baseball, ’98-’00) and University of East Anglia (Basketball, ’01-’02) How he started: “Baseball has always been my thing from when I was a young kid, and I played here at Conestoga. Basketball was always a hobby for me. I played recreational with my friends. I saw that they had a club that had open tryouts, and I wanted something that would allow me to meet more people since I was only in England for a year.”

Favorite memory: “Winning my baseball team’s player of the year award and beating Johns Hopkins when they were internationally ranked.”

What it taught him: “I really learned how to pitch because there was a pitching coach that gave me a shot that no one else would have.”

Does he still play: “No, no… I mess around with basketball sometimes and I talk a lot of garbage. I would love to play baseball again, but I haven’t found the time and I have some old injuries. Now, I just play wiffle ball, but perhaps in a more competitive spirit.”

Temple University

Name: Mr. Wilson Sport: Soccer College: University of Delaware (’10-’12) and Temple University (’13-’15) How he started: “I started playing when I was 7-years-old. I played intramural back then. When I was 8 was the first year I played club ball and we started traveling.”

Favorite memory: “When I was at the University of Delaware, we were in the CAA Conference Finals and we went to a penalty kick shootout, and I scored the game winning penalty kick. But in general, my favorite memories were the bus rides, hanging out with the team, swapping stories. It was fun.”

What he gained: “I would say perseverance. Things aren’t always going to go your way. Every year I was at Temple, they tried to replace me with a new recruit. I started preseason on the bench, but by the time the season started, because of hard work and perseverance, I was able to get myself back in the line-up. Nobody is going to give you anything, you have to earn it.”

Does he still play: “I do. I play every weekend and coach. I play for West Chest United, majors.”

Penn State University

Name: Mrs. Ciamacca Sport: Lacrosse (goalie) College: Penn State (’76-’79) How she started: “I played lacrosse in high school and I loved the sports. When I went to Penn State, there were really no scholarships for lacrosse, but I tried out for the team and I made it.”

Favorite memory: “In 1977 and 1978, we were in the national championships. We had a great group of ladies on the team. To win a national championship was just an unbelievable experience.”

What she gained: “I think playing sports gives you a lot of leadership skills, and playing under adversity gives life lessons you can take for the rest of your life.”

Does she still play: “After college, I played a little bit. There was a club team around here for adults and I played for a couple of years. But there comes a time when you realize you’re just too old to do it anymore.”

College of the Holy Cross

Name: Mrs. Viviano Sport: Track and Field College: Holy Cross (’85-’89) How she started: “I never walked as a child, I always ran everywhere. When I got into high school, I was actually on the gymnastics team and the track coach came to me because he needed a hurdler, and he convinced me to join.”

Favorite memory: “I met my husband. He played basketball and we met because I noticed him at dinner when the athletes ate together.”

What she gained: “Persistence. Working out every day. Having to balance schoolwork and athletics. Being physically exhausted and having to then turn around and do your work taught me to just plow through. Do what you have to do.”

Does she still play: “I do, but not sprints. I still do distance. My dog likes the exercise. I don’t time myself or do races, I just enjoy getting out and moving.”

22 The Spoke

Monday, June 6, 2016

Sports

Lehigh University

Name: Mr. Herd Sport: Lacrosse (midfield) School: Lehigh University (’84-’87) How he started: “I started playing lacrosse as a 10-year-old growing up in Radnor. My favorite memory in high school is (when) we beat Conestoga in overtime.”

Favorite memory: “Beating Lafayette College in overtime and being involved with the last goal, getting the assist.”

What he gained: “It added diversity to my college experience. It wasn’t a full time job like it is in some programs today. I could play lacrosse and still stay active in other things around campus. It really increased my network of friends after I graduated, because I met and played with lots of guys from the area and became friends with them.”

Does he still play: “Not anymore.”

Shippensburg University

Name: Mrs. Gately Sport: Field Hockey and Lacrosse College: Shippensburg University (’94-’98) How she started: “I just played both of them, every year since I was probably in fourth or fifth grade, in rec leagues in my community.”

Favorite memory: “There are definitely memories of winning big games, but I think all-in-all, it’s mostly that some of my best friends today, all these years later, are my teammates. It’s a lot of the friendships that were created from those two teams.”

What she gained: “Definitely time management. It saved me because it gave me so much structure and discipline. But I think being an athlete offers a lot of leadership lessons that I use all the time, which helped me when I coached here. But definitely leadership, taking initiative and time management.”

Does she still play: “I don’t coach at Conestoga anymore, but now I coach my daughter in field hockey and lacrosse.”

Villanova University

Name: Mrs. Copperthwaite Sport: Softball College: Villanova (’98-’02) How she started: “I started playing softball when I was about 10, and I started playing because my dad played, so I followed in his footsteps.”

Favorite memory: “Just all the friendships that I made then and still have now. There were about 18 of us that played over two years, and all 18 of us keep in touch and it’s been 15 years. As well as the traveling.”

What she gained: “The hard work. I was a walk-on to the team my freshman year, which is not typical in a Division 1 school. I think it was my persistence and dedication that helped me make the team and play all four years.”

Does she still play: “No, I wish I did. I did coach for a while, but since having kids, I haven’t had a chance to. Although, my oldest is now starting to play baseball and I find myself creeping onto the field even though I’m supposed to be a spectator.”

Bloomsburg University

Name: Ms. McDugall Sport: Lacrosse College: Bloomsburg University (’02-’05) How she started: “I actually started playing really late, relatively speaking; I didn’t start until ninth grade. In middle school, I ran track but all my friends started playing and track got boring. I picked up lacrosse and just loved it.”

Favorite memory: “We made it to the NCAA Final Four for Division 2 my sophomore year. That was really fun. It was up in Boston. I still have shirts and all types of memorabilia from it. And we won our league title that year.”

What she gained: “I’m still good friends with many of my teammates to this day.”

Does she still play: “No, but I’m the assistant varsity girls lacrosse coach here at Conestoga.”

Villanova University

Name: Dr. Meisinger Sport: Softball College: Villanova (’89-’93) How she started: “Oh gosh, I played since I was little. It’s one of those things that your parents sign you up for. I really took to pitching. I played every summer and on travel teams, and ultimately ended up being recruited to play at Villanova.”

Favorite memory: “Being inducted into the Hall of Fame (at Villanova). It didn’t happen while I was there, it happened a couple years ago. That’s probably the best memory that I have.”

What she gained: “How to deal with things when you’re in a tough spot. When I started at Villanova, I wasn’t in the starting rotation, I had to earn my way onto it. As a pitcher, often times you’re called into a game when you have people on base and the pitcher is in a jam and you have to dig in to help get the team out of a tough spot. And in life, when things are tough, it’s that same mentality of that grit and perserverance to get through those tough times.”

Does she still play: “Not anymore. I went back to Villanova as the pitching coach for a few years, and then I coached at Radnor for a little bit. I was recemtly elected to the Varisty Board, which is a board that supports athletics at Villanova.”

The Spoke 23

Sports

Monday, June 6, 2016

Marquee name: Alumnus Marquis Weeks takes over Neil Goldenthal Co-Sports Editor After 15 seasons with the Pioneers football team, beloved head coach John Vogan stepped down in March, leaving his position vacant. That spot now belongs to Marquis Weeks.

Weeks grew up on Walnut Avenue in Berwyn and attended T/E Middle School and Conestoga and played for both football teams. After graduating in 1999, Weeks got a full scholarship to play running back at the University of Virginia.

From there, he was picked up as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks and later spent time with the Denver Broncos and was also in the 2005 NFL combine. After his professional football career ended in 2007, Weeks decided to go back to school and earn a teaching degree. He was hired as a fifth grade social studies teacher at T/E Middle in 2014.

Even though he’s teaching now, Weeks could not stay away from the sport he loves.

“As soon as I found out that (the position) was going to be available, I guess it was a couple months ago maybe, I was already interested, so I started filling out the paperwork for that, and they went through the whole interview process, and I got the call around April.”

The school went through an extensive process to select a new coach. Not only did Vogan leave big shoes to fill, but the district wanted to ensure that the team would be in good

hands after the alleged hazing scandal in the fall.

“Change can sometimes be good and you have to be able to find the positive in every situation. I’m looking for the team just to move forward and focus on Conestoga football,” Weeks said.

Athletic Director Dr. Patrick Boyle described how the district decided to select the new coach.

“There was a pretty extensive group of individuals who were put together, of stakeholders from throughout the community and the school, who were put together to go through the process of hiring the new football coach,” Boyle said.

Principal Dr. Amy Meisinger elaborated on the specific members of the committee.

“This search committee was larger than other head coach search committees, so we could include all the different stakeholders, and mainly because of the nature of how this position became available, and also football being such a community event that so many different people are invested in. Administrators, school board members, booster club members, a representative from the T/E Football Association, general community members and teachers: all stakeholders,” Meisinger said.

Coach Weeks is looking forward to helping the Pioneers have a great season and to bringing his extensive knowledge of the sport to the field.

“A lot of the guys have bright futures and I’m just looking to

Neil Goldenthal/The SPOKE

Experienced: Marquis Weeks brings years of knowledge to Conestoga having played in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos.

24 The Spoke

Neil Goldenthal/The SPOKE

His house: Marquis Weeks takes back Teamer Field, ready to coach the Pioneers. Weeks played football at Conestoga High School in the late ’90s and at the University of Virginia.

“Change can sometimes be good and you have to be able to find the positive in every situation.”

- Marquis Weeks take the team in a positive direction and definitely build off what Vogan did. He did a great job and we were always contenders and just plan on building off of that and getting better.”

On June 2, coach Weeks had his first official meeting with the football team after school. After introducing himself, Weeks emphasized that the team is only looking forward to next season, saying that “every season, a new team is reborn.” The team seemed to be very pleased with the new coach, as junior Clayton Hofstetter noted.

“I’ve talked to the coach a few times before this meeting, and I’ve gotten to know him personally. I believe he’s the best fit for the job right now.

I know that all of our other coaches have complete faith in him, so I know he’s going to great,” Hofstetter said. “Next season, we’re going come out and hit hard and we’re going to be ’Stoga proud.”

Neil Goldenthal/The SPOKE

Far from weak: New head coach Marquis Weeks commands a presence on Teamer Field.

Monday , June 6, 2016

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The Spoke 25

Sports

Monday, June 6, 2016

Ingram needed to save sinking Sixers

Kyle Kennedy Staff Reporter Ben Simmons is wrong for the 76ers.

For the first time since 1996, the Philadelphia 76ers have been awarded the first pick in the NBA draft, and they’ll have their pick of players to choose from.

The draft order is determined by a lottery, in which the worst teams from the previous season have a higher chance of getting high level draft picks. The worst in league Philadelphia 76ers finished with a 10-72 record last season, and were awarded the number one pick in the 2016 draft by the lottery, which occurred on May 17.

The 76ers have received several high draft picks in previous years, selecting Duke’s Jahlil Okafor with the third pick in

the 2015 draft, and Joel Embiid and Dario Šarić with the third and tenth picks, respectively, in 2014. Neither Embiid nor Šarić have played yet; however, due to injuries in the case of Embiid and a restrictive contract with a Croatian basketball team for Šarić.

This has allowed the Sixers to stay horrible, and gain the number one draft pick for 2016.

Next year, Embiid and Šarić will be ready to play, and combined with the talents of Okafor the 76ers will have a competitive team for the first time in years.

So who do they draft?

The answer lies in Brandon Ingram. As the season began, high expectations were placed on the young recruit from Duke University He exceeded them in everyway. Ingram scored 624 points on the season, high for a forward, but not crazy, yet what was truly shocking was watching him shoot. Ingram made 44.2 percent of his three point shots, which is extraordinary for his position.

Although other potential options for the Sixers have more raw strength and speed than Ingram, those traits can easily be

worked on by the trainers for any professional basketball team. In the 2015-2016 season at Duke, Ingram improved greatly in terms of strength and speed, showing that he could continue to improve while on the Sixers, to a level where he could easily match the strength and speed of his peers.

Shooting is not so easy to teach, and that’s where Ingram truly sets himself apart. Ingram’s 44.2 percent three point shooting average is far above any other potential 76ers draft pick, and with his shooting ability he could bring another element to the 76ers’ offense to set them apart from the competition.

Ingram also has shown high adaptability while playing in the NCAA, able to charge for two or step back and play as a third guard on the floor. This adaptability will let him bring more depth to the Sixers’ lineup, something they desperately need.

Superb shooting ability, potential for improvement beyond the elite level he plays at now, and his adaptability in playing style makes Brandon Ingram the optimal draft pick for the 76ers in 2016.

Courtney Kennedy for The Spoke

Women should score fair pay for equal play

Elizabeth Billman Co-Sports Editor In the summer of 2015 the US Women’s National Soccer Team won their third World Cup, adding to their record of past World Cup wins. In addition, they have medaled in several Olympic Games. They are currently the best women’s soccer team in the world.

Even with all of this success they receive a lower payment for their accomplishments than their male counterparts.

On Feb. 3 2016 five members from the team filed a claim against the US Women’s National Team Player’s Association about their collective bargaining agreement that expired in 2012. This event sparked a conversation in the country about equal pay and was even mentioned in the platforms of po-

26 The Spoke

litical candidates like Hillary Clinton. Through the media megaphone this story has warped the women’s intentions, which are simply to negotiate their expired contract.

The United States Soccer Federation is the league that pays both the men and the women and up until recent years the men have brought in more revenue than the women so they are able to earn an increased amount of salary. The revenue is the key here, it is the money the USSF gets from air time, merchandise, sponsors and ticket sales to be able to pay its players. The women have a pay ceiling of only $37,800 while the men have a ceiling of $300,000 so even though the women’s team has a security of pay they still get paid significantly less than men of the same athletic skill. The reason the women cannot hold full equal pay to the men is that they simply are not as popular as the men so they receive less funding. Since the women have raised their funding in recent years they should start to be paid the appropriate amount. The men’s and women’s teams are also both paid differently, the men are paid by the games they play and the women are paid at a constant

Pallavi Aakarapu/The SPOKE

rate with the security of payment.

The women are not arguing for equal pay to the men’s salaries, they just want a fair pay for the recent success they have been having on the playing field and in sales The men’s and women’s teams are also both paid differently, the men are paid by the games they play and the women are paid at a constant rate with the security of payment. The women have a pay ceiling of only $37,800 while the men have a ceiling of $300,000 so even though the women’s team has a security of pay they still get paid significantly less than men of the same athletic skill.

Some argue that players like Alex Morgan have sponsorships with various companies, upping their income to about $1 million.

Although this is true for players in the spotlight of the media, not all of the players on the team are supported by sponsors. These are just the issues of annual games. When the winnings for World Cups and other tournaments are compared it is seen that there is a major difference. The men’s team, who haven’t passed the quarterfinals in the tournament since 1930, have an opportunity to win $390,625 for first place in the World Cup tournament. The women who have won

three aforementioned World Cups, are only eligible for $75,000 for first place.

The main reason for the unequal payments between the men and the women is simply that the men’s league is bigger, nationally and internationally. Comparing the two teams in popularity is like comparing the NBA and the WNBA. Men’s soccer teams are more popular on TV, in merchandise and in the overall opinion of the fans. The women also had a late start. Their first game against Italy in 1985 while the men played their first game in Canada in 1885, giving the men 100 years to win over more fans. The US Women’s team players have chosen to push for a contract with a higher salary because of their recent success in air time and merchandise and because of their accomplishments on the field.

Though the women can play their hearts out on the field, in this media driven world it is ultimately up to the fans of the game to support the team. The women’s success and their case entering into the public are beginnings to increase the awareness of their efforts as players and as a team.

Sports

Monday, June 6, 2016

COMMITMENT CORNER Will Gradisek ‘16

Rilee Scott ‘16

School: Carnegie Mellon Grade: 12 Sport: Football Position: Tight End

School: United States Military Academy Grade: 12 Sport: Lacrosse Position: Midfield

Why Carnegie Mellon?

“They have a great academic tradition and a really good football team too.”

Why USMA? “It offers the most opportunities beyond lacrosse. Besides the great academics and athletics, I will ultimately be able to serve the country as an officer in the US Army.

What did ’Stoga football teach you?

“It definitely taught me to work as a team to achieve a goal. This year, we didn’t win a ton of games. We finished 5-5, but we still had to work together every single game because we didn’t lose any game by more than a touchdown.”

Favorite Memory?

“I really liked the Ridley game because that was our last game as seniors. That was the last time we played together, and we rallied together to win big.”

What did ’Stoga lacrosse teach you?

“Not everyday is going to be your day, but that’s why it’s a team game. Mistakes happen. Use those mistakes as motivators to improve yourself and your team for a better tomorrow.”

Favorite Memory?

“Each and every day is a new memory. I love coming to practices and games everyday to get to play great sport with such great players.”

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27 The Spoke

INSIDE: Crew to Canada p. 20 Teacher’s college sports p. 22-23

Whirlwind Softball ends its season with an overall record of 11-8 but will not make it to the state tournament.

Avery Maslowsky/The SPOKE

S e n i o r G i g i L o r i n e p i t c h e s a g a i n s t U p p e r D a r b y i n t h e t e a m ’s l a s t s c h e d u l e d l e a g u e g a m e .

Conestoga l o s t t o U p p e r D a r b y t w o r u n s t o t e n r u n s b u t t h e t e a m u l t i m a t l e y e n d e d t h e s e a s o n w i t h a w i n n i n g re c o rd .