Issue 3

A

ANNANDALE HIGH SCHOOL

the VOLUME #61 ISSUE 3

4700 Medford Dr. Annandale, VA 22003 470

Informinng the Atoms siince 1954 4

Mostly Sunny

73 51 WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21, 2015

(703) 642-4229

Interior cameras to be installed AHS soon to recieve in school cameras to enhance safety

DHSFLIPSIDE

BY SUMMAR AYOUB Editor in Chief The FCPS Department of Facilities and Transportation Services lately approved the new surveillance addition to the AHS security policy. This approval will lead to the installation of interior security cameras in the AHS hallways.

The proposal of the surveillance cameras was brought up when students decided to have a major county-wide food fight. The proposal of the cameras was looked into deeply after this incident. The installation of these cameras will be a positive step in security enhancement.

"I see the use and installation of interior cameras as a preventative measure in helping to minimize, even eliminate negative/ destructive behavior. They are not meant to create a "gotcha" type of environment," Principal Tim Thomas said.

Some people may be against the idea of interior cameras because it's considered an invasion of privacy, but the cameras will not be used to that extent. "[The cameras are] Used to the measure to protect the safety of students and identify the report of allegedly inappropriate behavior. It does allow us in those cases the opportunity to identify individuals in a more exact way," Thomas said.

The highly populated places in the school will be monitored by these cameras due to

The new survelliance cameras that will soon be installed. recent problems with students in the main High School," Thomas said.

The idea of interior cameras has been hallway and jock lobby. This will keep the students and teachers under supervision at all created five to six years ago and has just been times during the school day. It will be a good approved by the school board. This addition source of safety and security for the school's to the schools will help security staff in the schools, giving them a better understanding learning environment.

"Preventative measure, another part of of what goes on in the school hallways. Many our toolkit in work used to maintain a positive teachers and PTSA members are in favor of and safe and secure environment in Annandale this school decision while the students are

somewhat against the situation. "The students I have spoken with so far, in smaller group settings, some have been opposed and some have been in favor," Thomas said.

Students should not be worried about the installation, they should feel much safer in school. These cameras are meant to keep a barrier between the students and danger.

Almost every student has some type of camera on them at all times, which means the newly installed cameras should have the same effect on the students. "Not made to create a climate of paranoia, insecurity or distrust. Just about everyone has a camera and students often take it upon themselves to videotape something on their cellphones," Thomas said.

The school's community and learning can be highly affected by disruption of some students and teachers which means the enhancement of technology in the schools will have a positive effect on the school members.

Although some student may think of this as a trust issue, this is more of a safety issue, to prevent something wrong from happening before it actually happen. "Of course I trust the students, but the problem is we never really have enough of adult eyes in the building kind of monitoring the behavior of the students because students make mistakes and adults make mistakes," Thomas said.

Since the approval of the interior cameras took almost six years, the installation process will take a good amount of time. Besides the installation of the cameras, the cameras will not be funded by the county rather it will be funded by the school. The school will be in charge of coming up with the money on their own. see CAMERAS pg. 5

New beginnings to old traditions SYMONE JENKINS

Seniors Symone Jenkins(left) & Janan Gokturk(right) dress up for Lions, Tigers, Beas, O'Monday.

TARA EL-ACHI

With Homecoming just around the corner, the AHS Leadership class prepares to finalize preparations for this seasons events. Around this time last school year, preparations were being made for the annual bonfire and Homecoming parade.

Events will be a little different due to the new turf field. New traditions are being introduced in place of these two events.

Instead of the bonfire, leadership students are introducing "Flick on the Field" which is a movie being played on the baseball field. This year's Homecoming theme is The Wizard of Oz and the movie-in is a perfect way to kick off Homecoming week and the movie will be shown. Students will be given the opportunity to bring blankets and get comfy while watching the movie.

"I think the movie night will be an awesome way to kick off Homecoming Week and get students excited about the theme and also give them a free event to come to. I think it will be something different, fun, and something a lot of students can attend," Bartley said.

The week of Homecoming consists of various activities and events that lead up to the dance which will take place on October 24th from 8pm-11pm.

involved. "I'm most excited about Which Witch Wednesday (Twin Day) because I'll be twinning with my teammates." junior Mollie Valorose said.

Another new and exciting event taking place during Homecoming week will be the Tailgate taking place right before the game from 4pm-6pm on the track field. In previous years, the parade would usually take place and it would involve the Homecoming court, cheerleaders, dance team, class floats, and the Annandale community.

This year, leadership students wanted to go for something new that includes everyone and a way to bring the school and community together right before the Homecoming game. "The Tailgate I'm also really excited about because we're hoping to get more students involved that aren't typically involved in the parade," Bartley said. "Some clubs participated in the parade, but typically some students and clubs don't come to watch or attend the parade. We're hoping to get students excited about the game that will take place right after the Tailgate and give clubs and sports the opportunity to advertise. There will be fun activities, face painting, and food!" said Bartley.

The tailgate is a new event at AHS and see HOMECOMING pg. 5

Senior Marem Atef(left) & Tara El-Achi(right) dressed up as monkeys for spirit day.

DUY NGUYEN

Staff Writer

Leadership students have been planning for the Homecoming dance since the first day of school and with the dance drawing near, the last minute preparations are coming into effect.

"For this year's Homecoming Dance, we're trying to be more organized and we're also preparing all the decorations so that the day of Homecoming, we're just putting up decorations," junior Tara El-Achi says.

Since there will be a lot of walls to be decorated, Tara El-Achi, head of dance committee, assigned two leadership students per wall to decorate the halls, jock lobby, and the gym. "The theme for this year's dance is The Wizard of Oz and it will be much more different than previous years because we are having much more details and aspects from the movie to incorporate into decorations." El-Achi said.

The spirit days are Lions, Tigers, Bears O'Monday, Twisted Twister Tuesday (Wacky Tacky Day), Which Witch Wednesday (Twin Day), Tired Toto Thursday (PJ Day), and lastly There's a storm-a-coming Friday: Freshmen wear Red, Sophomores wear White, Juniors wear Black, and Seniors wear togas.

Spirit days help get students excited about the Homecoming dance and it is a great way to get the whole school

Freshman parent night AHS holds annual info night

BY SUMMAR AYOUB Editor in chief Ninth grade parents are invited to come to the freshman parent information night held tonight at 7 P.M. Parents are welcome to attend this event to learn more about high school and how to manage their students academic life for the next four years.

This night will benefit not only the parents but the freshman students as well. Students are also welcome to come and join their parents during the information night .

Since there are changes to the SAT and new graduation requirements, parents are highly reccomended to attend and learn more about the changes.

AVID Field Trip Students visit GMU

Leadership students prepare for new Homecoming events

BY KADIJAH SESAY

Today’s Weather

Sophomore Grace Hatch (right) dressed as a ladybug & Latin teacher Mrs. Ash dressed as a cat.

BY AMANI MUNTU & KAVI SHAMDIN Staff Writers 31 AVID students attended a field trip to George Mason University for the Alcanza college fair. The AVID program prepares students for college and the fair allowed them to explore the horizon of schools.

It is an annual event and the AVID students spent their time there from 10:00am to about 1:00pm.

Surprisingly, the trip didn't take much planning at all according to Ms. Bellamy one of the AVID instructors "surprisingly it didn't take much planning it was well planned, the hardest part was getting all of the students documentations turned in."

The AVID students went to the Alcanza college fair on invitation and enjoyed it even though not all of the students could attend. "The trip was absolutely educational, AVID gives students many opportunities," "As a matter of fact the AVID program will be going on their annual major field trip in the spring, the instructors would like to travel farther down south, but the location is still to be determined. and it did not go well," Bellamy said.

Holocaust survivor visits AHS Alumni memorial service Students and teachers influenced by survivor's story

BY RUTH MEKONNEN & SHARON SANCHEZ Staff Writers On Tuesday, October 13, Henry Greenbaum visited Annandale High School and shared his overwhelming story to English 10 honor classes.

Greenbaum was born April 1, 1928 in Starachowice Poland. He was the youngest of 9 children (6 boys and 3 girls). Before the Holocaust started, Henry recalls having a normal childhood.

Henry's father passed away unexpectedly before the Germans invaded Poland in 1939. There were rumors going around town that the Germans prefered people who worked in factories,so before he died, Henry's father gathered some

Homecoming Check out the Homecoming proposals Photo 8

of his children (including Henry) and arranged for them to work at one of their clients factory.

Once the Germans invaded Poland, Henry's mother, along with Henry, his older brother and his three sisters, went to their neighbour's farm for three days to avoid bombings and shootings that were happening in their neighbourhood.

It was during this time that Henry's brother David ran away with a Polish soldier.

A few days later, Henry's family returned to their old neighborhood, only to find that things had changed.

He wasn't allowed to go to school, as well as other jewish kids. They had to display the star of David as a way to separate them from the non-jewish

Afterwards, their family was deported to the Starachowice ghetto. They stayed there for 2 years.

Despite their lack of food, soap or hot water, Henry and the rest of his family remained together.

In 1942, extra soldiers and dogs came to the Ghetto and chased everyone out of the Ghetto to a field and separated Henry's family.

Henry's mother and his two sisters, along with their children, were put in one row, while Henry and his three sisters were put in another row. Henry and his sisters were sent to another labour camp while his mother, sisters, and their children were sent to Treblinka, and were later on killed. His older sister Dina immigrated to America in 1937.

Thousands gathered to honor Mark Slough

BY ALEXANDRA ZERNIK Managing Editor The gymnasium was packed with hundreds of people on Oct. 17 to honor alumnus Mark Slough. On each side of the room, the bleachers were filled, and down the center were rows upon rows of family, friends, peers and members of the congregation and community.

Slough was passed away in Blacksburg, Virginia on Oct. 8 when he was hit by a car while making a turn on campus.

The voices of current and past Annandale Choir students rang throughout the room while they sang a hymn to open the event. A slideshow provided by the Slough

family was then shown and included photos of Mark throughout the years paired with commentary on his life.

There was a combination of tears and laughter as all the attention was turned towards the two large screens in the front of the room.

After it was finished, Pastor Leigh Butterbrodt took the stage and read scripture. A video was then shown of Mark himself reading another passage.

The Slough family then took the stage and each of them shared their memories of Mark. Journalism teacher Alan Weintraut then said a few words before the pace was changed to a song recited by everyone listening.

Student sportss

Fall festivitiess

Student talks about their sports pre-game

Read all about the fun fall themed places to go have some fun

Sport X-Tra 15

Weekend 20

This was followed by prayers, a message from Reverend Bishop and Holy Communion. During the communion, two videos played in the background of Mark singing during his high school years.

Everyone eventually took their seats to watch another video produced by AHS alumni Andy and Jessica Riddle.

The video really reflected Mark's humor and personality. All the people watching, whether they knew him or not, couldn't help but be touched by his natural wit and quirkiness.

The service concluded with another performance by the AHS see SERVICE pg. 5

2 EDITORIALS Shootings raise issue of gun control

Oct. 21, 2015

BY SADIE MODICA AND JULIE NGUYEN Editorials Editors Earlier this month, Barack Obama once again stood on the podium in the White House conference room to give a familiar speech.

His cause was to address the school shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon where 10 students were killed (including the gunman) and nine wounded. His exasperation and anger were easy to perceive.

"I hope and pray that I don't have to come out again during my tenure as president," Obama said, "To offer condolences to families in these circumstances."

These circumstances, unfortunately, are not uncommon. Less than one month prior, a shooting occurred at Sacramento City College, with one dead and two wounded. Shootings, especially school shootings, occur with an alarming frequency in America. The laws that control the purchase of guns are far too relaxed and a change needs to be made.

"As I said just a few months ago, and I said a few months before that, and I said each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough," Obama said.

Each month, it's almost expected that some sort of shooting somewhere will occcur. It is clear that a solution to these shootings is needed and the only way for these tragic events to stop is for there to be stricter gun control laws.

Obama prompted America to make gun legislation, denouncing all who doubted its urgency.

For years, Obama and his administration have been pushing for these laws that the United States most definitely needs.

At this point in history, it should not matter whether

MASS SHOOTINGS ·

Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA (2007) - 33 deaths, 25 injuries

·

Movie Theater Shooting in Aurora, CO (2012) - 12 deaths, 58 injuries

·

Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT (2012) - 28 deaths, two injuries

·

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church Shooting in Charleston, SC (2015) - nine deaths, one injury

·

Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR (2015) - 10 deaths, nine injuries

a person is Democratic or Republican because in the end we are all Americans.

Instead, we should be focused on preventing our own people from being killed as a result of our failure to properly screen gun purchasers.

With a tone of disappointment, Obama pointed out that earlier this year, while being interviewed he had said "America is is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense gun-safety laws -- even in the face of repeated mass killings."

Later that day, a mass shooting occurred in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana killing three and wounding nine. "Somehow this has become routine," he said, referring to the speech, the press, all that follows a shooting such as this one.

Americans responded to Obama's speech in several ways. Conservatives argued that Obama's poignant speech was just him taking advantage of an emotional time for Americans, and that these circumstances shouldn't change America's stance on gun control.

They favor more freedom to buy guns, using the constitutional right to bear arms as reasoning. They wager that if people could have their own gun, they wouldn't have to worry about being vulnerable to attackers, and in circumstances like the public shootings, they could defend themselves.

Liberals believe the opposite. They think that the lack

WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV

Obama is right in his pleas for tighter gun control

Obama standing at the podium where he delivered his Oct. 1 speech.

of gun control means just anyone can purchase a gun, including those who are mentally ill, suicidal or homicidal.

They think that if things like gun shows continue to exist, with virtually no presence of background checks, people are more at risk for attacks.

Without the laissez-faire method of reasoning, they hope to prevent circumstances like these mass shootings from occurring and therefore erasing the need for people to buy guns in the first place.

The concept makes sense, make it extra hard to get guns and it'll be extra hard to have things like mass shootings, but the conservatives have one more point to bring up. Outlawing something doesn't erase it from the country.

An excellent example would be the prohibition era in the 20th century. When alcohol was illegal, the negative adverse effects outweighed the negative effects prior to laws inhibiting people from drinking it.

People didn't stop drinking it, in fact, many made a career out of smuggling and making alcohol. Crime rates affiliated with alcohol went up, and the law was soon repealed.

The argument extends in a modern era to drugs such as marijuana, and to gun control. If guns are much harder to buy, someone will make it easier. That someone will not necessarily be the most moral or lawful person.

The real question is, would a weaponry black market be preferable to the far too easy access we have to guns today?

Most would agree that teenagers, the mentally disabled and criminals should not be able to procure a gun.

However, this is not the case in the United States.

Several of these mass shootings involve suspects that are young and even mentally ill.

"We've become numb to this," Obama said.

Crowded classrooms bring disarray

BY SADIE MODICA AND JULIE NGUYEN Editorials Editors The traditional image of a high school classroom has several key components: a blackboard, a teacher and around 20-25 students among them.

Any AHS student knows that that is not always the case. When a student finds themselves sitting in a room with upwards of 50 students, they begin to rethink the merit of the class, and of the school itself.

A class that big inhibits one of the most significant features of the high school class-one-on-one interaction with the teacher.

The teachers are wary of such classes because they know it will be harder for struggling students to get help.

"For the past two years our class has been really big in Health, Driver's Ed. and P.E.. It has certainly had a huge impact in the classroom because we were trying to jam 50 to 56 kids in the classroom, and it's really hard to give kids any individual attention when the class is that big," P.E. teacher Pat Hughes said.

Students in Driver's Education and Health can hardly find a seat, let alone get the singular attention that they need when they are in a class of 50+ students.

In order for teachers to truly teach, they

also need to have the ability to get to know their students and the way that they learn.

With the increasing class sizes, that becomes nearly impossible.

"There are so many different styles of learning... so it's kind of hard to reach everybody that way," Hughes said.

Without that interaction between teacher and student, the high school classroom devolves into nothing better than a college lecture hall.

There's nothing particularly wrong with that, except that the vast majority of high school students aren't quite prepared for such a big leap.

They need the stepping stone high school offers with more interaction than college, but less interaction than middle school, not to be flung into a college simulation at 15 years old.

Not only do teachers have to worry about issues of interaction, double the students inevitably leads to double the work.

"It's more work for the teachers in terms of preparation, and in terms of grading papers," Physics teacher Carmelo Alba said.

When teachers have to spend days grading papers, they lose extra time that they could be planning interactive lessons for their students.

So if having more student only leads to less learning opportunities for them, and more stress for teachers, why do these large classes exist?

"I think they wanted to keep the class sizes down in other courses," Hughes said.

The school system prioritizes core classes, so it makes sense that they would generally push the extra students to electives, but

COURTESY OF YUKI ZHENG

Class sizes are far too high

This business class is overcrowded, with some students forced to share a computer.

the problem persists in all kinds of classes to varying degrees.

Another and perhaps more significant reason is because of the school's budget.

Fairfax County is looking for a way to cut down the amount they have to allocate to schools in light of a prospective 100 million dollar deficit in coming years, and are trying to adjust to the ever-increasing number of students pouring into the system.

"Fairfax County is undergoing some budget savings," Alba said. "It was actually discussed a year ago that if they put one extra kid in each class they would save a couple million dollars," Well, in some classes, they have definitely

put more than one extra kid.

Sometimes, classes do not even have enough desks and chairs to accommodate all of the students.

Several classes are packed with students to the point where there is no space to simply shift a chair. Even so, when new students arrive, teachers have to request the school for an extra desk and seat.

In classes like Business, Journalism or Photojournalism, a computer is a necessity to complete assignments.

However, some of these classes can get so large that some of the students are forced to share computers and workspaces with other students.

Dos and Don'ts: SATs

Staff CO-EDITORS IN CHIEF Summar Ayoub Hezekiel Yonas MANAGING EDITOR Alexandra Zernik NEWS EDITORS Mohamed Elhag Teagan Foti EDITORIALS EDITORS Sadie Modica Julie Nguyen

Raphael Yu PEOPLE EDITORS Conrad Shartel Julie Swenton WEEKEND EDITORS Cayley Byrne Biruk Negash INTERNATIONAL EDITORS Nancy Evora Timothy Gray

COPY EDITORS Linus Bumbaca Sharon Sanchez

ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS Daniel Yenegeta Ahmad Ayub

IN-DEPTH EDITORS Binqi Chen Aseal Saed

LIFESTYLES EDITORS Thida Pathammavong Tipyan Omer

SPORTS EDITORS Ryan Gammon Andrew Gonzalez Nebeyu Solomon

HEALTH EDITORS Sabrina Hawa Phuong Nguyen

SPORTS XTRA EDITORS Marem Atef

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORS Soulisa Pathammavong Marilyn Rivas

ART EDITORS Alaina Garay Kailyn Garay ACADEMICS EDITORS Marife Baragano Kiara Patino WEB EDITOR/MASTER Christopher Han HEAD VIDEOGRAPHERS Faisel Hassen Bailey Oliver AD MANAGER Hussein Salem CIRCULATION MANAGERS Jeanine Barakat Maria Suarez STAFF WRITERS Almaz Abedje Sheila Aguirre Seham Ahmed Lina Al Taii Laura Clemons Anthony Dinh Serene Ghul

Grace Hogye Nicole Jordan Jennifer Kang Lucie Lefbom Kirk Lindberg Angelo Lopez Crew McCarthy Ruth Mekonnen Julius Miller Nicholas Mortensen Amani Muntu Judy Nanaw Duy Nguyen Andrew Nunez Sergio Pozo Cory Pringle Kadijah Sesay Kavi Shamdin Rachel Shogren Camilia Soruco Halley Thadeus Karungu Thuku Melanie Valencia Firdousa Wasuge PHOTOGRAPHER Tooba Siddique ADVISER Alan Weintraut

In science classes, students have to share resources such as microscopes and scales.

When performing labs, students run a greater risk of dangerous mistakes occurring or some students getting more chances for hands-on learning than others.

Lack of individual student attention is not the only problem arising from large class rosters.

Most likely, classrooms filled with that many students will result in rowdiness and misbehavior.

If all 30-50 students are talking at once, the noise level can get out of hand.

This makes it difficult for teachers to properly gain the attention of students, leading to their frustration.

The process of calming a class wastes time that could be used to further elaborate on a lesson. Because of this, teachers are forced to rush their lessons, leaving students lost and confused in subjects.

The students feel the effects, especially when they look around and realize that the other students are struggling too.

"It makes it more difficult for the teacher to go fully one-on-one with the student," junior Kimberly Romero said. "so the student doesn't really get the attention that they should get in order to learn."

Romero believes that they cram so many students in one class "because they don't have space in other classes."

It's a common theory, and quite curious considering a whole corridor is yet to be used, and AHS has 25 trailers.

Annandale High School Vol. 61 No.3 4700 Medford Dr. Annandale, VA 22003 703.642.4229 September 29, 2015 Adviser: Alan Weintraut ajweintraut@fcps.edu

The A-Blast is an award-winning newspaper that strives to inform, educate and entertain the student body and community.

Published every three weeks, The A-Blast will not print any material that is obscene or libelous; or that which substantially disrupts the school day, or invades an individual's right to privacy. The A-Blast is an independent, open forum for discussion that is printed at the Springfield Plant of The Washington Post.

Signed letters to the editor of 250 words or less may be emailed to theablast15@gmail.com or submitted to room 262 or mailed to the school. The A-Blast reserves the right to refuse advertisements.

All submissions become property of The A-Blast, Copyright, 2015.

Do learn the material-buy some books, take a prep course, whatever works for you!

Don't bring your cell phone-- leave it in your bag or car so that it won't be confiscated.

Do get plenty of sleep the night before-- taking the test drowsy is a bad idea!

Don't spend too much time on one question-you don't want to run out of time, so come back to it!

EDITORIALS 3

Oct. 21, 2015

Cartooonist's corner Outdated calculators Students still using old TI calculators

ILLUSTRATION BY JACOB WEBER

BY JUDY NANAW Staff Writer Every high school student works with a graphing calculator. Typically used for math and science, a student cannot get through school without one of these constantly with them.

A graphing calculator is an essential during a student's journey in school-- it becomes their best friend during their time of learning.

Typically, students who cannot afford to buy their own graphing calculator are given one to loan from the school.

The one they receive is usually a TI-83, which is not a recent device, but one that was created 19 years ago. These calculators do not have specific functions that the newer ones do.

For example, the TI-83 does not have the ability to solve matrices which is a large setback for students.

Those with the the more up to date calculators are finished with their matrices homework way faster than the other students.

So why do students still need to use this outdated device? With many forms of more advanced and modern technology being used today, the continued use of the old TI-83 graphing calculator in schools brings up the question.

Modern phones are becoming more and more advanced each day. They are even able to update by themselves, regularly and on their own. Every day brings a new improvement to technology.

Given this fact, the reason for the continued use of the TI-83, which existed for half a decade before the iPod, becomes questionable.

Texas Instruments TI-83 graphing calculators were released in 1996. This makes the calculator older than the teenagers who attend high school and are using it today!

Compared to other forms of technology, this is a ridiculous statistic.The students of present-day will be the second generation to use this old gadget.

Roughly 20 years later, students are still forced to use this piece of outmoded technology.

This is not because there are not any better tools that are available; there are plenty, and some of them are even free such as the apps that one can download

on their phone.

The reason technology still has not wiped out the reliable and ancient TI-83 is because Texas Instruments, the company that creates them, has an astounding monopoly in the range of high school mathematics.

The American education system is obsessed with Texas Instruments.

The Pearson textbooks almost all students use in their classes include pictures of TI calculators in the margins so that students can use them in the lesson plan.

This device is ingrained in about every page the students use to study and to finish their work.

Switching the students to new technology may be a risky plan because achievement in classes are so connected to the technology currently being used in them.

If the devices were to become more modern, it may affect the student's success in their courses.

Both teachers and students are very accustomed to the use of the TI calculators.

If a decision was made to be daring and begin to use better equipment, teachers would be pushed back in their progress because they would be in charge of introducing the new devices and adapting students to them.

Bringing up newer and higher instruments can also create an issue with standardized testing.

Companies that carry out the country's standardized tests have a list of approved calculators that students can use during it. TI gears are omnipresent in this list while mobile apps are nonexistent.

Although the graphing calculators the students of this modern world are using today are antiquated, the process of advancing the devices might be too much of a hassle for the time being.

However, things may be changing for the future.

Last year, schools in Texas became the first to allow students to use iPads with installed graphing calculators on an assessment called STAAR. This might be serving as the start of advancing technology entering school systems.

With the many changing and progressing technologies in our everyday world, it would be no surprise to have similar advancing machinery come into schools and the education world. It is necessary for the improvement of students' learning.

The only impediment is tradition. It's time for change to be made.

If my parents monitored my phone...

"I wouldn't like it because that's like my phone and my privacy."

"I would feel weird about it because it's weird of them going through your phone."

"I really don't care because I really don't do anything on my phone."

"Well they kind of already do and it's annoying. I don't like it."

KHAYLEB SANTOS

MARIA RIBERA

SAYED SAYED

LENNON WUHRER

freshman

freshman

sophomore

sophomore

"I'd be mad because I need my privacy and I feel like they shouldn't because they wouldn't like if I was touching their stuff."

"I would feel unsafe and I wouldn't like it because I wouldn't have privacy at all."

VICKY LUU

"I would feel violated because my business is my business."

"I wouldn't really care, but I have some texts that are very private."

ISMAIL AHMAD

JENNIFER BOLANOS

senior

senior

junior

DANIEL CHAMUL junior

Teen safety or invasion of privacy?

Cell phone surveillance opens doors to rebellious children

BY JUDY NANAW Staff Writer Teenagers use their cell phones for everything. They are not able to go without it or not have it in their hands because of the people they need to keep in touch with, the work they have on it, their music, and so much more.

As their phones are devices that hold their lives, many teenagers would have a big problem if anyone were to see the things they have on it-- especially if those people were their parents.

A new law in South Korea requires that smartphone users under the age of 18 must have an app on their phone that allows parents to supervise their child's mobile activity.

But is this not an abusive act on someone's privacy and their freedom of speech?

One could surely never feel comfortable using their cell freely when they know there is someone watching their every move on it.

80 percent of teenagers in South Korea who own cell phones have no choice but to allow their parents to monitor their every click.

Many apps have been created by the South Korean government, including one called Smart Sheriff, that grants parents access to check how long their kids are on their phones for, the websites they visit and even their location.

The apps can track things as specific as the words the teens search and type into their phones. This is clearly an obstruction of privacy, which could lead to several bad outcomes.

The government claims that this law is only meant to protect the young South Koreans from harmful content that could be found and discovered with a smartphone.

Allegedly, their reason for creating such a rule is for

When a guardian is at another end, observing the the benefit of the young adults and for the sake of their safety. Even with their positive goal, the law is unneces- exact motion of every move their child makes on their phone, it may affect the minor's sense of their own freesary.

There are plenty of other ways that the government dom which can lead to damage in their relationship with could promote safer browsing among teenagers. Being their parents.

This new law brings up the impression that parents do constantly watched is not one of them.

Perhaps instead, the government could enforce les- not trust their own children.

Knowing one does not have a trustful type of relationsons in schools or parents could even take the time to exship with their own parents could gravely wound a child's plain the consequences and dangers of the online world.

As young adults grow and go through their stages of feelings.

It would be healthier for the families to learn how to development, their privacy becomes something of great speak to each other about value for their being. Once the rights and wrongs of this privacy is broken, a TRACKING APPS FOR PARENTS using a smartphone inteen's mental state could stead of using a monitor be compromised. that restricts what the This overbearing su· Life360 Locator child might want to do on pervision can cause teenit. agers to overthink their · Amber Child Safety The new law is basisocial lives and activity. cally encouraging parents They may begin to · Kids Zone Parental Controls to damage the communiquestion their own behavcation with their kids. iors and will lead them to · TeenSafe This intrusive act may being paranoid. harm the young adults The teens might start more severely than a to believe that their par· StealthGenie threatening government ents do not have trust could imagine. in them and will start to · Find My Kids -- Footprints Whatever the governthink that they are doing ment believes they could something wrong. · FBI Child ID find on a teenager's smartKnowing that they are phone could not nearly be being watched will defi· iEmergency ICE Family PRO as bad as a torn family renitely change teenager's lationship. behaviors. · Family Tracker Experts inform that in Teenagers will begin to effect of this brand-new get antsy, and may even law, it may create a genresort to extreme meaeration that accepts the sures to get around their act of invasive supervising. parents' surveillances.

This can be dangerous to the future of advancing Most teenagers find their time of seclusion when they technology as all new advancements may begin to have are on their phones.

Once their privacy is limited, teens are willing to do some sort of monitoring implement.

One can never think too far ahead when questioning anything to gain it back which can lead to rebellious acthe future of technology. tions, and possibly illegal activities.

It is something that spreads faster than anything else Everyone has seen it. Teens could be surrounded by many, but not have their focus on anything but the screen that is created.

When numerous adolescents have intrusive behavin their hands.

This just shows the important role technology plays ior from their elders before them, it may influence their ideas of what is right and wrong. on today's generation.

As an outcome, these teens may grow up to create new devices that are required to have tracking tools on them.

They will not know any better than to include these features that they believe will secure themselves and the youth because that is the understanding that the government has set out for them.

The regulation to have a teenager's parents monitor their cell phones at all times will become a problem for the household's relationship and the forthcoming technology that will advance with this generation.

The issue of keeping the young safe from the dangers that can come with a smartphone can be solved in better ways than prying conduct from parents.

To have a monitoring device on someone's phone should be a choice. Teenagers should speak with their parents of the decision and this should allow them to make their bond more trustful.

It is their own smartphone after all and they have the right to do as they like on it.

If parents are worried about the things their child could do with the device, it should be a problem they can solve within their own family.

It is possible for the parents to put restrictions on certain things to ensure their safety rather than persistently monitoring their child's activity.

It is rather absurd to make having a tracking gadget on one's phone a law in which someone could get punished for. The thoughts of what a teen might want to do on their phones should not be going through the government.

Why does the the government have to get involved with their lives? There are issues bigger than a teenager's actions on their own cell phone.

Of course, this most definitely ensures the safety of teenagers because parents will always know where there child is, or what they are doing but it is still outrageous.

A problem like this does not seem to be in the right place with an authority like the government.

South Korea's new law will bring issues to many families and the future devices that these teenagers will create.

It would be best for this rule to be thought over again and be altered to give the youth their freedom back seeing as how this can only bring several bad outcomes.

4 NEWS

Oct. 21, 2015

AHS remembers Mark Slough Former Annandale High School student was involved in a violent accident in Blacksburg, VA

BY HEZEKIEL YONAS Editor in Chief AHS graduate and A-Blast Alumnus Mark Slough passed away Oct. 8 in a fatal bicycle accident.

Slough was a part of the 2014 AHS graduating class and was a sophomore at Virginia Tech majoring in aerospace engineering.

According to WSLS 10, Slough was in Blacksburg, Virginia when he was hit by a car while making a turn. A group of seven people had to lift the vehicle off of him.

He was transported from Montgomery Regional Hospital to Roanoke Memorial hospital, but he ultimately succumbed to the injuries and passed away around 12:30 p.m.

Slough was an active member in the AHS community. His extracurricular activities included being a copy editor for The A-Blast, being a member of the National Honors Society, starring in Annandale Theatre plays, being on the Boys Swim & Dive team and he was also a part of the chamber chorale for the Annandale Singers.

Slough also had a large impact on many individuals at AHS. "He was a huge part of my high school career.

Him and I were partners in chorus, tenor buddies," senior Leif Jomuad said. "I loved every minute I spent with him."

Many from AHS are mourning over the loss of such a beloved companion.

"I feel like a part of me has died on the inside," senior Bailey Oliver said.

"We got along so well, and I still feel the pain of knowing he isn't here anymore."

His abrupt death happened at such a young age that it is sad to see him go so soon.

"I won't be able

to see him grow up to be the engineer he wanted to be," Oliver said. "I won't get to see him be as tall as his dad, nor will I get to ever play video games with him anymore."

Slough's humour, friendliness and contagious smile is gone, but will not be forgotten.

Please support and comfort the Slough family as they try to cope with the loss of Mark.

Mark Slough, second from right, poses for 2013-2014 A-Blast staff picture.

FBLA attends conference at Marymount FBLA members meet from around Virginia for the fall conference

BY CREW MCCARTHY News Editor Annandale's Future Business Leaders of America attended the Regional Leadership Conference which was held at Marymount University, last Tuesday, October 13.

"The purpose of the conference is to develop leadership, improve communication skills, team building skills and provide networking opportunities with other regional FBLA organizations," said Adams.

Annandale students and faculty that went

first listened to an opening statement by one of the Northern Virginia FBLA directors. After the speech, students were given the option to attend various sessions about FBLA etiquette and future events and competitions available to FBLA members. These sessions were beneficial to new members because it helped them prepare for what they were going to be doing for the rest of the year.

Once the sessions were finished, the attendees were treated to a buffet styled dinner that was completely paid for by Annandale. While all the students and faculty were finishing their meal, the conference was closed with a statement and a raffle ticket

drawing.

After the meeting was adjourned, students had great feelings about what they had just learned.

"The FBLA fall conference was a good experience for the other students and me,' junior Omar Abuhashish said. I think it really put me on a stepping stone to participate in further activities with our school's FBLA organization."

The FBLA main website states that "[they] bring business and education together through innovative career and leadership development programs," which was clearly shown this past tuesday.

On your smartphone, scan this code using the application "QR Code" to read about FBLA on it's website.

AHS family support group FBLA members meet from around Virginia for the fall conference

BY HEZEKIEL YONAS Editor in Chief The AHS Family Support Group is an organization that meets with parents who have students with disabilities and provides them with emotional support and information.

The Family Support Group was created two years ago by Mrs. Binsley and Dr. Anne Brosnan, the school's physician.

"The idea was to offer parents of students with disabilities an opportunity to get together and talk about their experiences and to learn from each other," Brosnan said. "We thought this would be a great way for parents to offer each other emotional support as well."

They meet up several times throughout the year at AHS to help make life easier for the parents.

"I don't visit with the parents, instead they come to school on one

Saturday morning each quarter and meet with each other for one and a half hours," Brosnan said.

Students, teachers, parents, IA's and Mr. Sweeney, a licensed clinical social worker, come together and volunteer during the meetings to help the families in need."Having Mr. Sweeney moderate the program is beneficial because the parents haven't had trouble with confiding in him.

"That is why we asked Mr. Sweeney instead of someone who works for AHS to be the facilitator," Brosnan said. "That way parents feel comfortable sharing openly and know what they talk about is confidential."

"While the parents meet, AHS students volunteer to help by providing child care, escorting parents, signing families in and helping to set up," Brosnan said. "Teenagers who have a sibling with a disability can come with me and talk about their experiences while their parents are with Mr. Sweeney."

Not only does the group provide support for the family, but they also aid the disabled children as well.

"Bringing up a child with a significant disability has many rewards but can also be very challenging," Brosnan said. "Our hope is that these families know they are not alone and that others are there for them."

Although they are the ones helping the parents, the parents themselves play a large role in the success of the program.

"Parents are the best source of information since they are motivated to learn," Brosnan said. "[They] share information on extracurricular activities, respite care, agencies that work with disabled people, and opportunities for their children after graduation. The best part, though, is that they can talk about their experiences and get strength from each other."

AHS welcomes new staff members this year ANDREW FREEMAN

GLORIA ADAMS

Teaches: IB Geography & Senior Government

Teaches: EPF and IS Years teaching: 31

Years teaching: 15 Education: Virginia State University and a masters degree form Virginia Commonwealth University

Why do you like teaching: I enjoy the process of teaching and learning; not only do I feel a sense of accomplishment watching a student 'get' something, I am able to learn a lot from students, too.

GLORIA ADAMS

MOHAMED ELHAG

Education: University of Colorado-Boulder, GMU, NOVA, and George Washington University

Why do you like teaching: I feel that teaching is an honorable profession; I still enjoy the sense of when a student says I made a positive difference in their life

Hobbies: I used to like skiing, but that was before I spent all my money having children. These days I would seriously consider selling my soul for the Caps to win the Stanley Cup

Hobbies: Reading, family genealogy and zumba

Favorite movie: The Silence of the Lambs

Favorite Movie: Usually adventure, however I've loved West Side Story from the time I was in middle school. I never tire of seeing the movie or play.

Favorite food: Chipotle, or pho, or chicken in black bean sauce, or Bon Chon, or pizza, or a Reuben, or french fries, or pierogi, or red beans & rice with andouille, or fish & chips, or pulled pork bar-b-q... Really anything in which I do not have to clean up afterwards.

Biggest pet peeve: Being the nurturing type, I don't like when people bully others

Biggest pet peeve: Too many to even list Most excited for this year: Having the opportunity to teach IB Geography is a pretty big deal for me; getting to know the students of Annandale is equally high on my list.

Favorite food: Mostly seafood; particularly classic shrimp and jambalaya

Most excited for this year: The opportunity to work with students at Annandale; I find the diverse environment to be professionally stimulating, more importantly, I have the most wonderful students that have ever graced my classroom!

NEWS 5

Oct. 21, 2015

Homecoming Club Fair arrives AHS Annual club fair to display clubs

BY TEAGAN FOTI News Editor There are plenty of clubs and organizations at AHS for students to participate in, which can often make it difficult for students to find the club that is right for them. To help students decide which clubs are right for them Annandale hosts a club fair every year.

This year's fair will be held on Friday Nov. 7 during an extended W4 class period. During this time students can come to the cafeteria and learn about all of the clubs offered at Annandale and how to apply or sign up for them.

"I always enjoy going to the club fair because it's an opportunity for me to see what clubs are offered at the school" junior Omar Abuhashish "it's also a good way to promote clubs that aren't well known or popular at the school."

The club fair is also a great way for clubs to get their name out there, and to publicize to students.

"I didn't even know some clubs existed until I saw them featured at the club fair" Junior Tehya Moss said "I look forward to it every year because it gives me the opportunity to join new clubs, which lets me meet new people and try new things."

Some clubs seen at the fair in the past have been the Spanish leadership club, atoms red cross, gay straight alliance, young republicans club, green atoms, FCCLA and many more.

The tailgate is a new event at AHS and will be a great way to get students hyped for the game and bring the community together.

"I think the tailgate will be a great way to bring more fans to the game and will add a fan friendly atmosphere" senior Beau Hatch said.

AHS students are excited about having a tailgate before the game because it's a better way to get everyone involved rather than a parade.

"I think a tailgate really brings people together it's about having fun before a big event, with a parade, you just clap for the people walking by and there really isn't much to it" senior Vincent Rollins says.

The preparations leading up to the tailgate have been reaching out to clubs so they can attend and advertising so that students and teachers can also attend.

"This year's tailgate will be different than previous events before the game because there will be booths by clubs instead of floats," junior Saad Farooq says.

"We've been reaching out to various clubs and other organizations to get people to come out and participate. This year's tailgate will be more successful because it will have more community involvement and

BECA KIDLING

CONT."HOMECOMING"

Sophomore Beca Kindling (Right) & Josephine O'Hene (left) participating in spirit day.

our opponent school can also attend" Farooq says.

The tailgate will be taking place on the track field from 4pm-6pm and following the tailgate will be the Homecoming Game as the Atoms take on the South County Stallions at 7.

Annual Halloween Costume contest Interior cameras CONT. "CAMERAS" "You cannot use constructional money or allocated funds to acquire the interior cameras so it could be from money generated through building use, vending machine profits, student parking permits, those different types of programs could be monopoly money," Thomas said.

The issuance of these cameras would help better the learning envorinment for the students and the teachers.

Parents wil then be able to send their students to school without worrying whether or not they will be safe. School is a place of education and learning, therefore students should be able to feel safe when attending class and transitioning from classes.

Students and staff are encouraged to dress up for Halloween to participate in the Annual Halloween Costume Contest on Oct. 30. To enter, they come to the cafeteria during any lunch to get their picture taken, and people will then vote on the best dressed. The winner for each grade and best staff member will be mentioned in the next edition of The A-Blast, and a slideshow will be posted online displaying all the costumes entered in the contest.

Mark Slough Memorial Service Family and friends come together to remember AHS alumni

Students learn grammar daily

Cafeteria for food and conversation with all the people who were close to Mark. Everyone present left the service with a blue bracelet with "Time is precious" written on it, which was the last text message Mark ever sent. From this day forward, let us take those words to heart and live everyday as fully as Mark did. and made a conservative effort in these past years to cut in ways that have the least amount of effect on student programs in schools, that's been a conscious effort on our part. Probably the only place that's really effecting at our schools to date is some of our class sizes."

KELLY PRATT

Word of the Week

CONT. "MEMORIAL"

Friends and colleagues of Mark Slough came togehter during his memorial service to celebrate his life. Present and former chorus members sang "I Wish You Well My Friend."

BY HALLEY THADEUS

KELLY PRATT

English teacher Alan Weintraut speaks about Slough during the service.

KELLY PRATT

AHS has started a new segment on the moning announcements, every week a word part is chosen to be inserted into a new sentence.

English teacher, Niki Holmes, proposed the idea that the words go on the broadcast, teleprompter, and Channel 6. The words are chosen at random. The idea is to try to make the words interesting and relevant to students. Additionally, for students to be able to see the words on a regular basis.

"Basic word parts are essential to understand how words are created," said Holmes.

Word parts such as prefixes and suffixes are essential for understanding vocabulary. This helps language learners, as well as high level students, build SAT and academic vocabulary. Understanding word parts will help the school do well in all subjects, not just English.

"Literacies is not just something English teachers should be focusing on but the students should focus on and see their teachers using in all of their subjects" Holmes said.

KELLY PRATT

Staff Writer

A few of many of Mark's achievements during his time at AHS.

To make a donation in Mark's memory, consider the following: * Annandale High School Performing Arts department, 4700 Medford Dr., Annandale, VA 22003 * Calvary United Methodist Church Children's & family Ministry, 2315 S. Grant St., Arlington. VA 22202 * Fieldstone United Methodist Church Project SPY, 3385 North Franklin St., Christiansburg, VA * or...contribute in some way - time, presence, gifts- to a program you know or your family is involved with that brings light, hope & love to children, especially the less-fortunate. and tell the Slough family sometime.

NEWS BRIEFS BLOOD DRIVE

HOMECOMING DANCE

WINTER SPORTS BEGIN

CLUB FAIR

DIVERSITY CONFERENCE

Wednesday, October 21 the Atoms red cross will be holding their annual blood drive.

Annandales annual homecoming dance will be held on Saturday, October 24 at 8pm in the main gym. Tickets will be sold during all lunches.

Monday, Novermber 9 will be the start of the winter sports season. For more information on tryouts and practice times so to www.annandaleatoms.com.

The annual club fair will be held on Friday, November 6 during an extended W4.

The fair willl be held in the cafeteria.

Monday, October 26 the Fairfax County of PTAs is hosting the 5th Annual FCCPTA Diversity Conference.

END OF FIRST QUARTER, TWO HOUR EARLY RELEASE

STUDENT HOLIDAY

All students will be released 2 hours Students will observe a student holiday early on Friday, October 30. This marks the on Monday and Tuesday, November 2 and 3. end of the first grading period.

Offices will be open.

BOYS BASKETBALL CLINIC

BAND SENIOR NIGHT

FALL PEP RALLY

On Sunday, November 1 the booster club will host a boys basketball clinic from 8am to 3pm in the main and upstirs gym.

The Band Seinors will be recognized on Friday, October 30 in Clausen Hall from 5pm7pm.

The fall pep rally will be held on Friday, October 23. It will take place during an extended W4 and will be in the football stadium.

6 ACADEMICS

Oct. 21, 2015

Seniors create their own October break

BY CORY PRINGLE AND MAURICIO REYES Staff Writers Every year the senior class has many traditions. One of them includes the well known senior skip day. Although it's not an actual day where seniors are excused, many still join in on the event.

On Tuesday Oct. 13th many seniors participated in senior skip day. If they decided to skip that Tuesday, it gave them a 6 day break, which included a teacher workday, the weekend, Columbus day, and PSAT day.

Many seniors got their parents to dismiss them from school and some just skipped altogether without an excuse.

"I got my mom to say I was on a college visit," senior Anna Perez said.

Not all seniors participated in the skip day, but many teachers tried to prevent seniors from skipping by making homework and quizzes due the day of the skip day. Some even handed out extra credit to the seniors that were present.

"I always thought senior skip day was a cool tradition, but I never thought it was smart. This year it gave seniors a six day

weekend," said senior Ben Petruzziello.

While most teachers did everything within their power to prevent the skip day, some did not mind, and did not prepare anything for the students. Those that did show up simply watch ed a movie or got a free day in class.

Some teachers were aware of the skip day before the students are.

Senior skip day has been on the same day for the past five years and is always the Tuesday before the PSAT. "I feel that some seniors work hard and deserve a day off. Some students came and some didn't, there isn't much I could do about it," math teacher Jessica Klein said.

Other teachers understand that seniors have had a lot of stress and should have a little bit of fun during their last year of high school.

"I understand because it's senior year and the students want to have fun, but it was a lot of work for attendance," administration director Shirley Altounian said.

Some disapprove of the senior tradition and reward the students that do show up.

"Senior skip day is a poor choice and I rewarded the responsible seniors that showed

up by assigning a quiz that could not be made up. It was a fairly simple quiz, anyone who showed up got a perfect score," biology teacher Caroline Gergel said.

Although many people thought it's wrong to skip, the attendance office could not do anything about senior skip day when the absence is excused.

"Senior skip day was a bad idea, I received tons of phone calls from parents excusing their students even though I knew they were skipping. It was not right and AHS does not honor that," office assistant Marem Moussessian said.

Over 100 students had excused absences on senior skip day, and information on the number of those not excused was not available.

Even though senior skip day was just for seniors, many students can't wait to take part of the tradition.

"Senior skip day is just a day so why not celebrate it? If you want to be responsible you can stay after the next day. I'm looking forward to senior skip day, it's just one day so why not have some fun," sophomore Anna

Underclassmens take the PSAT

BY GRACE HOGYE Staff Writer Sophomore Nicole Solis, like most students at AHS, was required to take the PSAT. The PSAT is a practice or preliminary version of the SAT and it takes around two and a half hours to complete.

"I think it's important because it prepares you for the SAT," Solis said. "It gives you experience before taking it."

The test was given on Oct. 14th, and seniors were the only class excused from taking it.

Some students thought that the PSAT was an important test in their academic career, while others didn't consider it to be very important.

The test mainly covered two subjects: English, which includes grammar and reading comprehension, and Mathematics.

In order to help students prepare for the test, the school handed out booklets in advance. The booklets reviewed material that would be on the test.

"I was kind of nervous for the test," Solis said, "To prepare for it, I skimmed [through] the booklet the school gave me."

Preparation was especially important for juniors because the PSAT could've benefited them greatly this year.

The test was more significant for them because their test scores were entered into the competition for the National Merit Scholarship which can award high scoring students scholarship funds.

The PSAT benefited juniors with funds, but a downside to being a junior is that they had to pay for your test results. Because of this, some students were not interested in getting their scores back.

"I don t think it was worth paying for because I am a junior and haven't taken classes that explain the criteria they ask you on the test," junior Ivan Giron said.

"I already know I wouldn't get a good score, so it not worth paying for."

On the other hand, some students think that their scores are worth the price.

"I am paid for my test scores because I get more than just my PSAT results," Junior Shadi Hamadeh said. "I get to see where I'm at academically, what my strengths and weaknesses are, how I compare to other students and most importantly, what I can work on for

IB Spotlight: Dini Mohamud COURTESY OF DINI MOHAMUD

SAT/ACT Crossword

the actual SAT." While juniors had to pay, underclassmen were happy about free access to their test scores.

"Paying to get a test score that doesn't matter doesn t make sense," sophomore Angela Kim said.

"I am happy that I can use my test scores to help me improve without having to pay."

The SAT is important because it is the main college admissions test and is another way to earn college scholarship funds.

The PSAT is helpful in preparing you for the scholarship competitions and the SAT because it allows you to improve those aspects before the next test.

Therefore, it was important to take the test seriously no matter what grade you are in. Taking it seriously will help prepare you for when it really counts.

Overall, the PSAT can be difficult, but it can help students prepare for tests to come by enabling the students to see their scores and improve them.

"The PSAT is important because it allows you to know where you are at academically," Hamadeh said.

How do you keep up with your academics and social life?

It is very hard to keep up with my academics and social life, but I try my hardest to finish all homework on Friday so that I am free on the weekend.

What are your studying habits?

My study habits are not the best, but when I have a major test or quiz I make sure I make time. I feel it is detrimental to a students success to have good studying habits.

What is your favorite IB subject?

My favorite IB course is Theory of Knowledge. Theory of Knowledge is an exciting course because I like going in-depth on social issues and having extended talks.

What are your plans after high school?

My plans after high school are to be accepted into a four year college/university and studying computer science. I am very excited for college, but I will miss being at Annandale High School.

Across

Down

4. Extremely good; the best 5. Extroverted; sociable; outgoing 7. Grumpy; rude 8. To sharpen 10. Cynical; pessimistic 11. Short pleasure trip 13. War-like; aggressive 14. An event or happening 15. Aggressive; ready to fight 16. Charity; love of mankind 17. Living or happening at the same time 18. Coarse; granular 19. Very thin; withered 20.Formalities; paperwork; official procedure

1.Complete; total; supremely good 2. Getting better after an illness 3. Capricious; changeable 6. Hard to pin down 9. To annoy 12. Miserly; stingy Answers can be found at thea-blast.org.

Search: Crossword #1 answers

What is your extended essay on?

My extended essay topic is comparing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X and their approaches to the Civil Rights Movement. Both men had tremendous influence but in different ways.

Is your only focus academics?

Academics is not my only focus although it is a big one. I have a job at Greensprings village which is a retirement home. I also play basketball and enjoy spending time with my friends.

Do you do any sports? If so, what sports?

I play Varsity basketball and during the season I don't get much sleep trying to balance school and basketball. This upcoming season will probably be the hardest for me to balance, it being my senior year and with college applications due around the same time. It will be very hectic.

How are your IA's coming along?

MY IA's are coming along well, I hope to finish them soon. The IA's I am most worried about are Topics and Buisness.

What clubs are you in?

I am the Vice President of the Muslim student association and I also am in future buisness leaders of America.

What colleges are you applying to?

I do not have a complete list, but I know for sure I am applying to the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and George Mason. I hope to get into an very prestigious university so I can get an exceptional education.

HEALTH 7

Oct. 21, 2015

The hazards of sitting down How a simple everyday task can be life threatening

BY SABRINA HAWA AND PHUONG NGUYEN Sitting down is a simple concept, yet one that is rarely thought about.

Whether it be in a classroom, at a job or at home, people spend most of their day sitting down. However, prolonged sitting carries major health risks.

On average, Americans park themselves for nearly eight hours each day.

Overall, sitting for a long period of time can lead to worsening in mental health, a higher risk of heart diseases and a higher chance of being disabled.

Here at AHS, our school day is about six hours and 45 minutes long and students are stationary for about 80 percent of that time.

"I get back pains from sitting in [a] chair for a long time. I strain my back during practice so it affects me during the day [as well]," senior Autumn Yang said.

Without a physical education class that juniors and seniors no longer have to take, it is harder for some to get in the necessary activity.

PHUONG NGUYEN

Health Editors

Sitting down is a simple everyday procedure that most people seem to take for granted and don't realize the risks.

But even that time frame is minute compared to the time spent slouching behind a desk and staring at the board.

Studies show that when people move around, soft discs between the vertebrae expand and contract like sponges, soaking up fresh blood and nutrients.

However, when people sit down for too long, the discs become compressed unevenly

which leads to back pain.

According to the Wall Street Journal, people should alternate every 20 minutes of sitting with eight minutes of standing and two minutes of movement and stretching. This allows calories to be transferred to muscles for use rather than fat storage cells which reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

However, standing for too long can cause

people to lean which also causes back pain.

"I do not really like sitting in class for too long," junior Areeba Atique said. "My back starts to hurt and I get a little uncomfortable.

It kind of gets in the way of paying attention to what the teacher is talking about."

Some teachers allow students to move around in class and stretch for a minute or two after a long lecture to stimulate thinking. Nevertheless, most of the school day is

consumed by sitting.

Sore shoulders and a strained neck are common symptom that almost every student has endured. This is due to slouching forward at a desk. Slumping forward overextends the shoulder and back muscles, particularly the trapezius, which connects the neck and shoulders.

"Since school is really early in the morning, most of the class is hunched over taking a nap while the teacher is doing something like taking attendance," junior Nora Hasrat said.

Moreover, a common sight in classrooms are when students try cracking their backs and necks in order to relieve tension.

Since sitting is an unavoidable everyday practice, it is important to sit correctly to prevent spinal and joint pain.

According to Mayfield Brain and Spine Clinic, the proper way to sit is to have a straight back with shoulders back and buttocks touching the back of a chair.

When unsure of your posture, try to slouch and draw your back as far as you can and then slightly move forward.

Both feet should be placed flat on the ground in order for the hips to evenly distribute weight.

Following these steps and making sure to get at least two hours of exercise after or before school can help prevent these risks.

Overall, balancing sitting, movement and aerobic activities will alleviate back pain. The next time you are bored in class and start slouching, sit up straight.

Heard in the halls: How active are you daily?

"I'm pretty active, I like to go to the gym daily. When I am not working out, I try to eat really healthy."

"I'm active for five hours a day, just doing homework or doing usual stuff."

CHARLES SMITH

WILSON PARADE

GRACE HATCH

"I am active for about five hours per day, I play multiple sports after school and I am very active at work."

freshman

sophomore

sophomore

BILLAL KAMARA

ANDREA RIVAS

"I am active for five hours, I am either playing soccer or at work."

"I am very active since I do cross country and I run every day."

freshman

junior

"I am very active because I am always dancing and I stay in shape."

"I think I am very active because I have practice every day for volleyball."

BINTO BANGURA

"I am active for maybe an hour or two hours a day, doing sports or something that keeps me going."

junior

JARED POLING

senior

SYMONE JENKINS

senior

Studies show teens text over 100 times a day

BY PHUONG NGUYEN AND SABRINA HAWA Health Editors If the words "sending" and "delivered" are the most common words you see on a screen everyday, you may be a compulsive texter.

Texting is the most popular form of communication among teenagers, 75 percent of people text regularly according to a 2012 Report by the Pew Research Center.

"I probably text my friends for around three hours a day," junior Iris Arrazola said.

"It ends up with me getting no homework done."

Typing short messages on a screen and pressing a send button is easy and convenient, however teenagers that do this numerous times a day develop low attention spans.

According to the New York Times, warning signs of compulsive texting include constant phone checking, distractions during homework time, agitated behavior during interruptions, and sleep deprivation.

Checking messages and texting round the clock leads to lower academic performance.

When teens are preoccupied with sending texts, they are likely to push aside homework assignments and become sleep deprived trying to finish them late at night.

"Sometimes I do get distracted from my homework due to distractions such as my phone," junior Katie Garrish said.

According to a study published science journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture, the average teenager is distracted every six minutes because of texting and social media during study hours.

Girls are more likely to engage in compulsive texting. Older girls send an average of 100 texts a day compared to 50 texts for boys, according to the Pew Research Center.

Once teenagers become college students, texting during lectures correlates to students taking notes with fewer details, thus leading to an inadequate recalling of information on quizzes and exams according to the PPMC. On the other hand, students that do not text in class correlated to taking more

detailed notes and are able to recall information from lessons with greater accuracy.

With this in mind, teachers at AHS continually remind students to stop staring at their crotches and put their phones away during class time.

Teachers want students to be focused and comprehend materials delivered in class. A text message is not going to give a student an A on a test.

"Getting distracted by text messages is something that I deal with a lot," Arrazola said.

Now that smartphones are on the rise and texting has become more appealing to teens through various downloadable applications, compulsive texting will likely replace ordinary person to person communication in the near future.

In order to better focus on assignments and boost attention spans, make sure to power off phones in class and at home during study hours, put phones away before going to bed and engage in more face to face conversations.

When a teacher yells at you for smiling at your crotch, the best way to respond is to put your phone away and pay attention to the lesson.

PHUONG NGUYEN

Problems with compulsive texting

Students text practically everywhere at school, especially during lunch breaks.

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Source: Health.com / zWeb

8 PHOTO

Oct. 21, 2015

Clever ways boys ask girls to

er posters with three clev gifts given. no di An a ar ked junior Ki ong with the hon Portillo as cludes a word that goes al top it off, he got me in Junior Johnat to er d st an r. Each po from Pink and gifts for he s of Starbucks, a sweater ttle no said.

"He got me bo Camera," Andi a Fuji Polaroid

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trick using a t Amir McGet g more clear en ud st TJ nior thin d, "The only ts asked by se e Thadeus ge ettrick's poster displaye ing with you." "He asked ok ro B or ni Se cG om eus said. reference. M go to Homec Breaking Bad l is how much I want to all! It was so sweet," Thad ta at ys than this cr not expect it me and I did before my ga

PHOTO COURTESY OF HASSA KOROMA

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PHOTO COUR TESY

MARILYN RIVAS

OF WALEED

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Junior Conrad Shartel goes the extra mile by dressing up in a goril ask sophomore Lenno la costume to n Wuhrer with a uniqu e poster. "How could to bananas, a cute po I not say yes ster and someone in a costume?!" Wuhrer said.

CONRAD SHARTEL

AMMAVONG SOULISA PATH

Homecoming

Senior Tim Johnson asked his number one fan and long term girlfriend senior Hassa Koroma. "I was beyond flattered and got super siced when I saw the dozen roses. It's an awesome feeling knowing that Tim organized a cute way of asking me. I can't wait to touchdown with him at Homeoming" Koroma said.

ARTS 9

Oct. 21, 2015

Students submit to the Reflections Program

BY CARSON GOETTLICHER Special to The A-Blast AHS will host the annual Reflections Art Show in Clausen Hall, on Oct. 26- 28. This show will showcase the art pieces of many Annandale students, and will be open to any and all students and parents.

All are welcome to view the art showcase that presents the many young artists and dreamers that will be featured in the Clausen Hall. This event, brought to us by the National Parent and Teacher Association, lets students show what makes them unique and special through the many types of arts and literature.

With the motive to increase participation in the arts at schools, the Reflections Art Show is one of many ways to get involved and showcase each students' natural ability.

This year, a piece by senior Daniel Han will be featured in the exhibit and will be one to represent AHS and all of the greatness that

ALAINA GARAY

comes from the art department.

Hans' piece is one of many that have been hand selected to participate in this show, and it is a great honor to be selected through a critically selective and narrow show. Other pieces include those from all around the United States, and highly represented in many ages and different types of art.

Having this much representation makes this art show extremely hard to be selected for. Along with having visual art pieces, there will be a variety of different arts such as Dance Choreography, Film Production,

Reflections Program Flyer.

Literature, Musical Composition and Photography.

At the time of entry, all students were encouraged to participate, though only a few were selected. For each year this contest has been existing the contest has had a main focus/theme that is based off inspiring creativity within each individual.

The theme for the year of 2015-2016 is Let Your Imagination Fly, which was selected by a student who is determined to inspire creativity through imagination. With a theme so broad, students are welcome to interpret the theme as they wish. Not only is this event an art show, but also a featured contest partnered with the National Parent and Teacher Association Reflections program.

This contest is open to students to enter and strive to achieve for their personal best in the arts and literature department.

Though this is a Reflections contest, students are not limited to writing entries but are welcome to submit a variety of different types of arts, like dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography,and visual arts.

All students are encouraged to submit an entry, and have a chance to win the final award that only a selective number of students throughout the country will obtain by the end of the contest. After submitting to the contest each student's submission will be reviewed by experts in the visual, literary and

DANIEL HAN

Let Your Imagination Fly High

An example of an artwork that is getting submitted in to the Reflection Program.

performing arts, and a selective number of students will receive a prestigious award that will recognize their personal achievement in the arts department. Having the contest continue to inspire more students each year, the contest continues to grow and develop.

This also affects the number of art and writing entries every year, helping students show individuality and engage in the arts program.

Though the Reflection Art Show entry deadline has passed, the contest deadline will be open until Wednesday, Oct. 21. The Reflection is open to all students, and strives for each individual's personal success.

Museum spotlight: National Gallery of Art

BY SERENE GHUL In 1937, The National Gallery of Art was privately established for Americans by the United States Congress. Located in Washington D.C. on the National Mall, the National Gallery of Art is a museum that is free of charge and open to the public.

The museum has two parts: an indoor gallery and an outdoor gallery. The indoor gallery is composed of two different buildings: The East Building and The West Building, which are connected by an underground passage.

The museum is comprised of different paintings and sculptures from different time eras. Many of these artworks were funded by patrons during the Renaissance. A lot of the paintings and sculptures the museum has are western art from the Middle Ages to the present.

One sculpture that is very popular in the museum is the water fountain found at the entrance with the Roman God Mercury on the top of the fountain. Another piece of famous artwork in the museum is "The Holy Kinship" made of polychromed wood that represents

SERENE GHUL

Staff Writer

Angels on top of the water fountain in the National Gallery of Art.

many Christians in South Germany in the past.

For limited time, the museum also had painters all around the museum painting works of art. They answered questions about their work and allowed people to take

photos. They also allowed people to get a close look at some of the artwork that will be displayed in the museum soon.

"It was a really cool place," senior Casey Goettlicher said. "There was lots of different types of art I have never seen before."

The museum also has paintings that date back as far as the 1300s. The outdoor gallery, also known as The Sculpture Garden, contains many different types of sculptures.

Similar to an actual garden, the Sculpture Garden contains sculptures which are surrounded by plants and bushes. It is very unique in style, you can find abstract sculptures all the way to fifty foot tall.

One famous sculpture in the Sculpture Garden is the "Thinker on the Rock" sculpted

by British born artist Barry Flanagan. The sculpture is a gigantic creature sitting on a boulder in a thinking position.

"Some of the sculptures were so cool. I don't understand where they got the ideas to create them," freshman Zain Ghul said. "I understood some of the abstract. There was one that was just a giant circle, that I didn't understand."

The National Gallery of Art is a great place for people who appreciate the arts and want an insight on how others express themselves.

National Gallery of Art Address: 4th and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20565 Mailing: 2000B South Club Drive, Landover, MD 20785 Daily: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Sundays: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Extra info: The Gallery is closed on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. The nearest Metrorail stops are Judiciary Square on the Red Line, Archives Penn Quarter Navy Memorial on the Yellow/Green Lines and Smithsonian on the Blue/Orange Lines. Metrobus stops are located on 4th Street and 7th Street NW.

Q & A with artist Antonella Gross Q: What do you create and what got you into doing it?

Q: What materials do you use for your artwork?

A: I use various materials, but my favorite materials to use are a black sharpie pen and colored pencils. I feel like it gives my artwork a nice clean look.

Q: What is it about creating art that you enjoy?

A: I love to draw and create art because it is freeing and no one can tell me what to do. I have no limits!

Q: What do you like most about your artwork?

A: I like that I developed my own personal art style throughout my years as an artist. I am also quite the perfectionist when it comes to my work, and I like that too!

Q: What advice do you have for other young, developing artists?

A: Honestly, always believe in yourself and in your artwork. Be confident and creative! Also, practice as often as you can and experiment with different techniques and materials.

Q: What do you plan to do with creating art in the future?

KAILYN GARAY

A: I draw mainly characters. They are all fictional and from my own imagination. I was blessed with an overactive imagination, so I use it to create unique drawings and my characters.

A: I plan to major in art when I go to college. I've always wanted to be a storyboard or concept artist for cartoons.

Q: What is you favorite piece of artwork?

A: My favorite piece or in my case, character, would be Demoness. I thought her up a while ago, and she's super fun to draw.

Q: What would you say to someone that wants to get into creating art?

A: Go for it and don't let anyone tell you how to do your art. Go ahead and draw or doodle anything you want to.

Antonella Gross's fictional cartoon characters that she enjoys to draws on her free time. The character on the left is named Demoness and the character on the right which is a griffon is named Midas.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SKYLAR FRANZELAS

Featured art of the issue

We choose Junior Skylar Franzelas who is in IB photography. These are pictures of her little sister who she mainly photographs. Want to have your art featured in the next issue of The A-Blast? Each issue, the Arts page will pick a student's art of submitted content and feature their work of art on the Arts page.

All mediums are welcome, whether it be a painting, doodle, poem or song. Videos can be submitted too! Send all submissions and to ablast15@gmail.com, or send it to our dropbox (using the same email as above) for files larger than 2 GB.

10 IN-DEPTH

Oct. 21, 2015

DEFEATING Sophomore faces anxiety Student conquers her demons

BY KHANH NGYUYEN Special to the A-Blast I was eight the day I experienced my first panic attack; the root being the stresses in my family. I was only a third grader who saw the world as harmless and wonderful, until that day.

That day tore away a piece of me, and I do not even know if I have found it again or not.

I felt like I was suffocating, and I really thought I was going to die. At the time, as a clueless child, I did not know what was going on.

I forced myself to believe that everyone went through whatever I was going through, and that it was completely normal.

However, as the school year went on, things started getting worse and worse.

I began experiencing anxiety and panic attacks almost every week.

They came during the school day, when I was in the shower, at dinner time, or when I was in bed.

Little by little, I lost myself and my positive outlook on the world.

My anxiety was all I knew by the second or third year of experiencing it. It took away all my happiness and strength.

It made me feel as though I was drowning, but my eyes were still above the water and I could see everyone else around me being content and safe.

My anxiety became my demon.

Coming from a family that did not believe mental illnesses were real, did not help.

I was terrified of coming to terms with my anxiety, even with myself.

I shut myself out from the rest of the world, including my own parents.

I broke down every day after school for three to four years as a tween.

It was never just about stuttering in front of a crowd or test-taking anxiety; it was about despising my own reflection and letting my mentality be damaged.

I could not come to terms with what was killing me because I felt like I did not deserve to be helped.

That was what my anxiety did to me it made me feel worthless.

With anxiety comes depression. That did not hit me until fifth grade, the year I got called names like "Pimple Face" or ugly, the year when my mom's drug addiction to painkillers got worse, the year when I wanted to take my own life.

I was 10, and I hated the world with every ounce of my being.

I was no longer myself by 2013. I had no piece of me left as I dangerously ruined myself.

I pushed everyone I loved and who loved me, away because I felt unworthy of them.

I could not see myself having a future in just a month or two.

Every source of energy was drained from my being, and for five years, I saw no good reason for me to continue on with

IN-DEPTH 11

Oct. 21, 2015

DEPRESSION

Q&A with school psychologist Dr. Anne Brosnan

BY ASEAL SAED AND BINQI CHEN In Depth Editors

life.

I became extremely ill, both mentally and physically. I would stay in bed for days and I would only leave my room to use the bathroom or get food.

By the sixth year of suffering from constant anxiety and depression, I had enough the day a friend of mine nearly successfully committed suicide.

I knew I could not push myself that far over the edge. I could not hold it together when I tried telling my dad, so I had to write him a letter, asking him for help and explaining the severity of the problem.

I cried as he was reading it.

that I survived.

The real truth is, one's inner demons never fully go away; they will always hold a piece of me in their hands, but I understand now that my life is in my control and my own hands.

I made peace with my demons and befriended them as I taught us to become more positive and to love ourselves.

Maybe it seems like I have my life together to others, and even though I am a very positive and social person now, I still have days when all I want to do is stay in bed for hours on end or completely shut everyone out.

And that is okay.

I know those days will pass, and I want everyone who reads this to know the very " I was terrified same. of coming to Things have greatly improved for me terms with my and they have for my mom as well.

We are both recovering and it feels inanxiety, even credible. with myself. I I now spend my days exploring nature, shut myself out writing in my journal, surrounding myself from the rest of with positivity, and simply loving life.

Seven years of my life were taken the world,." from me, by myself.

Khanh Nguyen awayI refuse to let another year slip by with sophomore negativity and pain.

To anyone who may be reading this, He was not very accepting of it at first, know that it can and it will get better, but but with some time, he began understand- only if you work for it.

Writing as the girl who was a danger ing.

In today's society, mental illnesses are to herself and now, the girl who loves herself, I can honestly say that there is more overlooked on a daily basis.

People either do not believe that they to life than mental illnesses.

If you know someone who is suffering, truly exist or they are not as seriously severe as physical illnesses, such as cancer offer them support and urge them to get help. or liver failure.

Anything and everything will pass, However, as someone whose demons for the past seven years have been anxiety both the bad and the good. Do not let your demons win. and depression.

I can confirm that mental illnesses do indeed exist, and more importantly, they should be treated.

I still do not believe that he fully understands it now, but I know he tries his best to do so.

Not all my friends understood, either, and that was the year I lost most of them because they felt I had too much baggage.

However, I was gaining back tiny parts of myself that were lost for five years.

I began speaking up for myself at school with my teachers and fortunately, they understood, and my middle school counselor helped me find a professional to help me.

I began seeing a psychologist twice a week for six months.

It took every bit of courage in me to speak up for myself, but it was the best thing that could have happened to me.

Slowly, but surely, I became more positive and opened about my anxiety and depression.

It took me two years to recover, and I am still in my recovery stage today.

I am currently on medication for my anxiety, and truthfully, I am very proud of myself.

However, the medication isn't the source of my recovery.

Rather, it was the therapy and my own will to get better.

I lost myself for seven years, and I am still having difficulty finding all the fragments of who I once was, but my journey has taught me so much, and I am grateful

As the sophomore depression presentation comes closer, and mental health being a major problem within teens, we talked to school psychologist Dr. Anne Brosnan.

Q: Do many people often confide to you about their stress and problems? Are these students equally spread through grades/genders or is there a larger trend among a certain group of kids?

A: There are many kids who come to me, our social workers Miss Hall or Mrs. Ferrari, Dr. Wildgoose or their counselors because they are feeling stressed.

There are so many things causing stress for students, and we see kids from every grade. Boys and girls come to talk to us in equal numbers, and we're glad they do.

Q: What's the most common reason kids come in to talk about?

A: For many students high school is a balancing act. In addition to school they might be working, taking care of their siblings, helping their parents, playing sports, involved in clubs, and on and on.

Then on top of that are all the things that can go wrong in a person's life like an illness, someone dying, not getting good grades, parents not getting along, or financial pressures.

Then they are also thinking about what they want to do after high school. Some are trying to get into college and are facing those challenges.

Others are thinking about careers and what sort of work they might want to do. Just one of these things is stressful,

but in combination, it can be overwhelming. In many ways, the pressures kids face in high school are worse than what adults have to face.

Q: What are your thoughts about the high amounts of suicide rates in FCPS in recent years?

A: I think it is really sad. The good news is that the word is getting out to students that they need to reach out to someone they trust when they are feeling depressed.

People do not have to live with sadness.

There are things that can be done to feel better.

It's important that students realize that they might be going through a tough time now, but that is not how it will always be.

They just need to have the courage to ask for help.

Q: Do you think FCPS and the school board is doing enough addressing students' mental health?

A: I think we're fortunate that FCPS and the school board are taking mental health seriously and helping us to get the word out about Depression through programs like SOS. It means a lot to me that the Portrait of a Graduate specifically identifies healthy and positive practices as important in promoting physical and mental wellbeing.

Q: What are your tips in combating school stress?

A: Get some sleep! There is more and more research coming out about the importance of sleep on mental and physical health.

Take advantage of the later start time by

getting to bed a little earlier and having good bedtime routines. Eating well is important too.

Take time to be with friends and family and be with people who have positive outlooks.

There is no reason to hang around people who bring you down. Be grateful for all the good things in life.

It's been shown that people who list just three things a day that make them happy tend to feel better.

And if you are having trouble, don't be afraid to talk with someone. It's amazing how such a simple thing can help.

Q: Have more students begun opening up more over the past few years or have you been receiving a declining number of students coming in through the years?

A: I have been working here for four years, and the number of students coming to see me seems to have remained pretty constant.

Q: What can/should a student do if they think one of their friends may have depression?

A: It's important they talk to a trusted adult immediately if they think their friend might be considering suicide. That is something that just cannot wait.

Go to your teacher, a parent, your counselor or come to the Learning Center and talk with me or our social worker, Miss Hall.

When you are worried about a friend feeling depressed, we recommend you talk with your counselor.

The counselors often know a lot about what is going on with students, and they are great about getting students the help

they need to feel better.

Q: If a student comes to you, what kind of help or resources can you provide?

A: If a person is feeling depressed, they can do things immediately to feel better.

That includes getting better sleep, turning off the negative self-talk, getting out of toxic relationships, or making a plan with their teachers to help with their studies.

If the student needs more support than we can provide at school, we can talk with parents about getting some private counseling.

It is amazing how just going to talking to someone once or twice a month can help someone feel so much better. We have resources for counselors, but if the family has insurance, the best is usually to go through their insurance provider.

Do you think FCPS is doing enough to combat depression in schools?

"No, because some people are still depressed and don't want to be classified as depressed."

"No, I haven't really seen FCPS do anything, maybe they are."

AYMAN ELHAG freshman

"No. They are trying but it's not really effective."

ANGELA KIM sophomore

"No, teenagers hold up everything inside and it's hard for them to express how they feel most of the time."

GABE LEE

JOHANNA RODRIGUEZ

sophomore

freshman

Class of 2018 to be shown depression presentation during W4 Students receive depression awareness training

BY GRACE HOGYE Staff Writer The sophomore class will receive awareness training about depression and depression awareness on Nov. 10.

The school will be training the class as part of the Signs of Suicide Prevention Program (SOS).

"This program teaches students that they need to speak up when they are experiencing feelings of depression or if they are worried about a friend," School Psychologist Dr. Anne Brosnan said.

Depression is definitely a problem nowadays, especially in high school.

There can be a lot of stress packed into a student's everyday life in and out of school. Studying, sports, and work could cause major stress and lead to depression.

"Just one of these things is stressful, but in combination, it can be overwhelming," Dr. Brosnan said.

"In many ways, the pressures kids face in high school are worse than what adults have to face."

"The video keeps others aware of depression and suicide, but there isn't a major difference before and after learning about it," sophomore Erin Lee said.

Fairfax County is hoping that this program and video will help educate students about depression and suicide as well as help prevent either from happening.

Although FCPS thinks this presentation will be successful, some students doubt that it will make a significant difference.

"Just because they [FCPS] show a video, doesn't mean kids will go to a trusted adult, and talk about it," sophomore Gabby White said. "Some people just want to keep everything bottled in."

Even if the presentation isn't completely successful, it is still important to be aware and observant of those around you.

Although the program is mainly focusing on the sophomore class, it is important that the whole school is aware of depression and suicide.

Depression can affect anyone. Therefore, be prepared to support a friend and educate yourself about suicide and depression.

AHS is hoping that the SOS program will help the school and the students in it. It's a step towards making the school a peaceful, safe community.

"I personally know SOS is effective at saving lives." Dr. Brosnan said, "Just the other day, one of our students spoke out because she was worried about a friend, and that literally saved her friend's life. That girl is a true hero."

DEPRESSION

"No, it doesn't seem like the school board does anything to prevent it."

RESOURCES

MICHELLE AKL

SIGNS Feeling (constant): ·

Sadness

·

Worthlessness

·

Irritability

·

Sensitivity to Criticism

·

Hopelessness

·

Irritability

Loss of Interest/Withdrawal: ·

Friends, family, social life

·

Activities

·

Social Crowds

Physically: ·

Fatigue or Loss of Energy

·

Random aches and pains

Thoughts of: ·

Suicide or Death

Samaritans 24 hour Crisis Hotline (212)-673-3000

sophomore

"Kids are so stressed "No, I think they can out with homework, and do more to bring bullying. I think FCPS awareness." should do more to help KIMBERLY ROMERO the kids out. junior

"Yes, so far they have given a lot of information to students to keep them informed."

JORDAN ADAMS

REMY SALINAS

junior

FCPS Depression and Suicide Percentages in 2013- 2014

Falls Church Comunity Services Board (703)- 383 -8500 CrisisLink Suicide Prevention Hotline (703)-527-4077 Suicide Prevention Lifeline Call: 800-273-TALK (8255)

The Fairfax CountyYouth Survey was administered in the fall semester of 2014. National comparisons are from the *Youth Behavior Survey (YRBS) administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to 9-12th grade students in 2013. Data listed fr YRBS are for comparable grades 10 and 12. *Data are from the 2013 results

junior

12 INTERNATIONAL

Oct. 21, 2015

Taliban strikes close to student's family City of Kunduz is attacked, violence increases

BY NANCY EVORA International Editor "Sometimes at night you would hear gunshots," senior Amir Sajanie said. He traveled four years ago to the City of Kunduz where he lived there for an entire mouth. Sajanie got to experience what is like to live in a country where violence is just part of their daily lives.

Sajanie visited his family before the Taliban took over the city in September.

"I have uncles, aunts, cousins, and few of my dad's friends. My family were not injured. a lot of them left the city," Sajanie said.

The assault took place at night, where fighters launched attacks from different locations, according to BBC News. Fighters took over government buildings and the city's central prison. Besides taking over the city, the Taliban emptied banks, seized weapons and gained a propaganda victory according to BBC. Fighters also tried to take over the airport but failed due to American presence in the scene.

The city is important for Afghanistan because is used as a transport hub for the north of the country, and the more importance the city gets, the more corruption it brings.

"The ones that were supposed to implement the law, are doing what they are not supposed to do," Sajanie said.

During his visit, Sajanie did not experience much violence during the day, only at night.

"I did not see much violence but sometimes at night you would hear gunshots and stuff like that," Sajanie said.

Ever since NATO ended its combat mission in Afghanistan, violence has risen. A spokesperson of the Taliban told BBC's news that The Taliban was trying to open fronts that would gain attention of the Afghan military from Kunduz. The U.S. recognized the levels of the problems but they hoped Afghanistan could retake the city.

The province of Kunduz has seen number of attacks from the Taliban since April which were caused by the Taliban and different allies.

Sajanie was not surprised when he heard the Taliban had taken over Kunduz because of what he experienced during his stay.

"I expected [fighting] because there is no law over there and people do whatever they want to do," Sajanie said.

After the Taliban took over the city, the U.S sent troops to fight the Taliban and regain control of the city so Afghanistan could regain control.

According to The Washington Post, more than 100 civilians had been injured during the Taliban's attack, and more than 16,000

Senior Amir Sajanie poses with a group of Afghani friends for a photo in the city of Kunduz during his visist freshmen year back in 2011.

people had fled the city.

Although he thinks the U.S. should not be involved in the fighting, he is glad they are because they are helping the civilians and are trying to give order.

"I really think the U.S. does not have to be involved in the fighting, but I'm glad they are involved because basically the U.S. is not corrupted like everything over there," Sajanie said When the attack took place, Americans troops were in another mission near the city. Later they were called to assist the Kuduz.

Sajanie also think that the U.S might be making things worse because some people do not like them.

"In a way I think they are making things worse because a lot of people do not want them (U.S.) there in the city. But in a way I think they are helping in a way trying to get back the city but a lot of people do not like them over there," Sajanie said.

Amir thinks that the Taliban has gone too far with the corruption, but he also thinks that in some part is the citizens," fault.

"I do not think it's okay what the Taliban does to the people but at the same time is not alright of what the people did. This would not have happened if everyone was not being corrupted like fighting, " Sajanie said.

A decade ago, the state of Afghanistan allied with

Amir Sajanie posing with some little boys while he rides a hor horse.

the U.S. with the main goal to stop terrorism. Afghanistan's current objective is to stop Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

According to The Washington Post, the president of the country, Ashraf Ghani, shared his views to the American people, stating that his goal with this new alliance is to rebuild the country, develop their economy and to stop the spread of terrorism that has destroyed Afghanistan over the years. Also, Ghani hopes to establish a democracy country.

Before the alliance with the U.S., Afghanistan was being controlled by the Taliban. There was a lot of corruption. In 2001, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 attack.

After years of fighting and violence, the Afghani government gained control of Afghanistan and made an alliance pact with the U.S. Ever since the alliance, the U.S. has tried to maintain peace with Afghanistan with the goal that terrorism will not spread any further to neighboring countries and incidents like 9/11 will not happen again.

The Taliban attack lasted weeks, where the U.S. sent 63 airstrikes while the Afghani government fought allies of the Taliban such as Al-Qaeda.

After weeks of fighting, the Taliban troops gave up and they abandoned the city.

Young Sajanie waiting for the horse to finish drinking water while they head back home.

American Stories

Sajanie posing in front of the desert wearing Afghani clothing.

China's economy on global rise

BY NICHOLAS MORTENSEN

BY JUAN HERNANDEZ Special to The A-blast It's not easy to change culture when you go to a new country and you don't know how the system works.

When I came to the USA it was hard for me to adapt to the new culture.

Some of the reasons why is that it was hard to adapt because of all of the differences.

Some differences between my home country and USA were for example, weather, technology and school.

Here in USA the weather is crazy. In my home country which is El Salvador we only have two seasons during the year while in the Unite States we have four seasons summer, fall, winter, and spring.

In USA sometimes is cold sometimes it is hot. In addition, every time the weather changes many people get sick.

In the USA it rains really hard where sometimes you cannot go out to play soccer or walk with your friends and you are bored at home watching television. In conclusion, I prefer the weather in El Salvador.

Technology in United States is very advanced however in

my country technology is terrible. In the United States cars are very advanced. Many have GPS. One major advantage here in USA is that you have more access to internet. In addition, schools have a very advance technology, for example for student is easier to

do homework and projects because you have more access to internet.

For students in the United States they learn more than El Salvador because they do not wasted time bad things that will not help them. We receive good education and students are very smart. They also teach us important concepts that we can use in the future. One of the important things about school here is that it is free; you do not pay any fee to anybody so here you have the opportunity to go to school and be someone in life.

By the way, I like school better here than El Salvador.

In conclusion I think the United States is a better country than El Salvador. Although it's different, United States is a good nation.

The weather, technology and school are all totally different. Between the countries of El Salvador and United States, I prefer the weather from my country, but I prefer

Staff Writer China's economic growth slows amid stock market stumbles, floundering urban developments and an aging workforce, Reuters has reported that China's economic growth in 2016 is expected to slow.

China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to expand by 6.5 percent in 2016, down from 2015's expected rate of 6.8 percent. Reuters reports that this expansion is the slowest it has been in several years.

While China's economic growth is slowing, it is by no means a catastrophic decline.

China's 6.8 percent growth rate in 2015 has continued to win out against The U.S., which, according to the Wall Street Journal, has had a growth rate of three percent through 2015.

While China's slowing economic expansion may not be cause for immediate alarm, it is a reflection of the many issues that burden China's economy.

Of all the problems present in China's economy, its own workforce poses the largest stumbling block.

Both BBC and Reuters report that the average Chinese worker is growing older and older, and because of China's controversial "one child policy," there are not enough young workers to fully replace the aging generation once it finally retires. That said,

an aging workforce is far from the only issue.

As China's economy rapidly expands and modernizes, the level of education the average worker possesses is beginning to pose a problem. According to a Stanford University study, only 24 percent of the Chinese workforce has attended some sort of secondary school. According to Reuters, the Chinese government has begun to address this issue by building massive "education parks," large complexes where young Chinese workers will receive vocational and technological job training.

The goal of these planned education parks are to train Chinese students en masse to help meet China's growing demand for a more specialized workforce.

While the plan seems solid, there could be some possible issues in its execution. Reuters has reported that many of the teachers working in existing technical and vocational schools have little to no experience in the fields they teach.

Additionally, the BBC reports that a good number of Chinese vocational schools have difficulty attracting students.

Continue reading On your smartphone, scan this code using the application "QR Code" to finish reading China's story

PEOPLE 13 Students' memories from Halloween

Oct. 21, 2015

Lennon Wuhrer: Mermaid

Sarah Deible: Cowgirl Do you still trick or treat? I went every year up until freshman year.

Do you have any Halloween traditions? Not really, I usually just go out with a big group of friends.

What is your favorite costume you've worn?

My favorite costume ever was my Supergirl costume in eighth grade. I thought it was pretty cool.

What is the worst thing you've gotten? One time a house had no candy and gave us packs of minute rice.

Have you done any Halloween pranks? No, I don't think I have done any pranks.

Do you go to any Halloween themed locations?

I went to a concert on Halloween my sophomore year. It was pretty crazy, also one of the best concerts of my life. I also have been to Cox Farms and Fields of Fear, which was pretty scary but hilarious.

Do you still trick or treat? No, because my mom said that I am too old.

Do you have any Halloween traditions?

Yes, everyone in my cul de sac meets to eat food on Halloween.

What is yout favorite costume you've worn? Bellatrix Lestrange because I made the costume myself.

What is the worst thing you've gotten?

The homemade taffy people make. That stuff is just gross.

What is the best thing you've gotten? I got a king sized Twix bar one year.

Do you go to any Halloween themed locations? This year I am going to the King's Dominion's Halloween Haunt and I am really scared.

What is your favorite Halloween memory? My favorite memory is definetly getting scared at houses with all of my friends.

Deible is a junior.

Wuhrer is a sophomore.

Matthew Vogus: The Joker

Carmen Bartley: Minnie Mouse

Do you still trick or treat? I do not still trick or treat. The last time I went trick or treating was in the eighth grade.

Do you have any Halloween traditions?

My family does have some Halloween traditions. We always decorate the house with Halloween stuff, and make Halloween cupcakes and cookies.

What is your favorite costume you've worn? My favorite costume I've ever wore was my costume as the Joker. We did my face with his makeup and dyed my hair green so it was pretty awesome.

What is the worst thing you've gotten?

The worst thing I've gotten is an eraser.

Craziest thing you've ever done? The craziest thing that I've done was dressing up as a girl and going around taking pictures with my friends Do you go to any Halloween themed locations? I always go to Cox Farm and I am planning on going to King's Dominion's Halloween Haunt

When was the last time you trick-or-treated?

I embarassingly enough went trick-or-treating in eighth grade.

Do you have any Halloween traditions? Growing up we didn't have too many, but now my husand and I host a pumpkin carving contest and it gets pretty intense.

What is your favorite costume you've worn?

Actually in college one time I went as Twister, the game, and that was fun; I made it myself.

What is the most interesting thing you've gotten? There was a dentist that lived in my neighborhood who would give out apples instead of candy so that was always a bummer, but now as an adult I get why.

Do you go to any Halloween themed locations?

When I was in high school, I grew up in a rural area so there were corn mazes which were fun.

What is your favorite Halloween memory? I used to really like in elementary school when everyone would wear their costumes to school.

Ms. Bartley teaches English.

Vogus is a junior.

Heard In the Hall: What is your favorite part about Halloween?

"I love getting a bunch of candy while trick-or-treating with my family."

"I like sorting and counting the candy that I get."

"I like to go out and egg people's houses."

GRACE HATCH

GREGORY BESS

sophomore

freshman

"I like wearing costumes with my ADRIAN HENAO friends and getting a sophomore lot of candy."

"I like dressing up and wearing cute costumes."

TARA EL-ACHI junior

BRANDON HO junior

"It's my birthday, and "Halloween gives "I like getting a lot me excuses to do of chocolate. It's my it's the only day you can dress up snd goof dumb things with my favorite candy." around." friends."

STAN BOTTCHER senior YOCIAS FEKADE BRIAN ALDENDERFER senior

English teacher

Halloween costume quiz: What costume suits you?

Pet store or book store?

START HERE Are you sweet or spooky?

Do you like the zoo or the movie theatre?

Do you like action or horror movies?

If action go down diagonally, if horror go down.

If pet store go down, if book store go down diagonally.

If zoo go left, if movies go down.

Play with puppies or watch TV?

Would you buy a pet or rent a movie?

Are you flashy or subtle?

Do you like to scare or be scared?

If puppies go down, if watch tv go right.

If pet go left, if movie go down.

If flashy go down, if subtle go right.

If scare go down, if be scared go doen disgonally.

AN ANIMAL! YOU SHOULD DRESS UP AS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL.

If sweet go left, if spooky go right.

A CHARACTER! YOU SHOULD DRESS UP AS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER FROM A BOOK, TV SHOW OR MOVIE.

A SUPERHERO OR VILLAIN!

A MONSTER!

YOU SHOULD DRESS UP AS A CRIME FIGHTER OR CRIME DOER.

YOU SHOULD DRESS UP AS A SPOOKY MONSTER OR WEAR A SCARY MASK.

14 LIFESTYLES

Oct. 21, 2015

CELL PHONE 101 The new addiction taking over our generation

BY TIPYAN OMER Lifestyles Editor People don't realize how much cell phones have an impact on their lives. Parents are beginning to buy them for their children at a younger age and you'll never catch anyone leaving the house without his or her cellphone.

During all lunches at AHS on Oct. 16, a total of 586 students took a survey about cell phones.

"I hate my phone because I feel like I'm in jail, but it's a must have and if you misplace it you start panicking," senior Jocelynne Justiniano said. "It's like your baby."

These days, teens feel as if they cannot go without their phones. They are addicted to it and aren't sure how to stop. They get so frustrated with themselves because the second they get a message they have to view it.

Cell phones are being used every second of the day even when they're not needed. Take a peek inside classrooms during W4 or Pride time and all you will see are students using their phones instead of engaging in conversations with the people around them.

A recent survey showed that most AHS students would not care if they were to leave their phone at home.

People are not only on their phones during school hours, but also while hanging out with their friends, at football and volleyball games.

You can see a variety of people taking pictures, playing games and scrolling through twitter, thus missing out on the touchdowns and goals being made. Half of the time they do not know what is going on because they are too busy on their phones!

Today's most popular phone is Apple's iPhone. Each year they come out with a better version and people are really fond of the product which is why they continue to update it each year. Although iPhones are very popular these days they have a bit of competition with the second most popular brand; Androids.

If you take a break from your phone and look around you'll see your peers also engaged in social media or games on their phones. Individuals are so busy living through a screen that they don't notice their surroundings.

Since just about everyone has an iPhone, iMessage is more commonly used rather than

text messages. On average, at Annandale, people get around 101 or more text and iMessages daily.

Although phones can sometimes be a distraction, they have many useful apps. Phones can be used to get assistance with homework you don't understand, or to create notecards to study for a test.

"If someone needs me and it's important, I have my phone with me," senior Jashon Reams said.

Students are constantly receiving emails from their teachers that go directly to their phones so they never miss an assignment or announcement. This allows them to always be prepared for class!

Remember the digital camera days? We don't have to worry about that anymore! Whenever something happens and you feel you must capture the moment, all you have to do is pull out your phone and snap a picture. The average Annandale student has around 101-500 on their phone.

We also now use our smart phones for GPS so that we never get lost. It's easier to use

rather than having to use a map or a built in navigation system in your car. Cell phones have made our lives much more efficient.

We are able to accomplish tasks much quicker and search the Internet for just about anything.

Cell phones are a great way to stay in contact with your friends and family all over the world. There are many apps that allow people to keep in touch with family overseas in foreign countries, such as WhatsApp. This free app makes it convenient to communicate with relatives on a daily or weekly basis.

"I rely on my cellphone for texting my mom," senior Beau Hatch said.

Some apps exist for people's own entertainment such as Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

These apps are used to share little pieces of your life with your followers, which usually consist of family and friends.

Twitter was the most common app that AHS students had in their phones followed by Instagram and Snapchat.

Students also said that the use of their phone was to communicate and stay in contact with their family, friends and significant other.

"I use my cellphone for communication because when something happens, I have to tell someone," junior Saad Farooq said.

The Atoms are on their phones on average for more than seven hours a day. Although it may seem that they would always have to be charged up, very little people carry around portable chargers.

Cell phones take up most of your time without you even realizing it.

Spirit Week (21st-24th) WEDNESDAY

Which-Witch Wednesday (Twin day) For the day, you and your closest friend can come to school wearing the same outfit. Plan early so that you're ready and your outfit is coordinated for Twin day!

THURSDAY

Tired Toto Thursday (Pajama day) There is no need to wake up early and find an outfit when you can just roll right out of bed in your pjs! Don't fall asleep behind the wheel because of your comfy pjs!

YOUR TOP CHOICES (BASED ON THE SURVEY) 1. TWITTER Twitter is the number one app that is used by the Annandale High School students. It is an app that allows you to tweet just about anything you want.

You can also upload pictures and direct message individuals. Follow us on Twitter @theablast

2. INSTAGRAM Everyone knows what Instagram is and if you don't then you're missing out. You can follow every celebrity. You give your followers a quick view of your life by sharing your personal photos.

3. SNAPCHAT Snapchat allows you to send pictures and videos to your friends. Everyone is using it and it's always getting updated because they're constantly using the ideas of their users which makes the app even better.

4. PINTEREST If you ever need some inspiration, Pinterest is the app for you. Ideas come from the various boards that have crafts for home decor, outfits, or even recipes. You can follow different boards and see the things other people like.

5. VSCO This app is used to edit and post up pictures.

You don't have to worry about likes or how many followers you have. There are a variety of filters that give a nice edited image.

6. SPOTIFY This is an excellent app to use in order to listen to music. It offers varieties of music, you can find just about any artist on this app. Although there are a few ads, you can avoid them by upgrading to spotify premium which is $9.99 a month. Also, with premium, you are allowed to skip as many songs as you'd like.

Homecoming Info.

FRIDAY

There's a storm-a-coming (Atomic Friday) Freshmen wear red, sophomores wear white, juniors wear black and seniors wear togas.

The Hoco game againstSouth County is a white out! (7:30) and the tailgate is from 4-6 p.m.

Location: Annandale High School Gymnasium

SATURDAY The day of homecoming!

Get plenty of rest and prepare for a magical night while you follow the yellow brick road to homecoming! Make this night memorable by eating great food, taking lots of pictures and dancing your heart out!

Date: October 24, 2015 Time: 8 p.m. - 11 p.m.

Ticket Prices: $20 dollars for each ticket *Don't forget your student ID!*

What is the most important item to bring to homecoming?

"The most important "Bring money just in case something item to bring to happens." homecoming is a phone."

BRIAN UGLIETTA ANNA PEREZ senior senior

"My phone so that I can take pictures during homecoming."

MADIE WALSH

"The most important thing for me to bring to hoco would be an extra pair of shoes cause heels start to BRANDON HO hurt after a while."

"Gum, just in case anything happens next and you need good breath."

junior

junior

MIA MOUCHKELLY sophomore

FASHION SPOTLIGHT Adrian Salinas, 12

Q: How did you learn how to dress?

A: I watched a lot of TV and saw my favorite celebrities dress with style and I used their outfits and made it my own.

Q: What is your favorite season to dress for?

A: Fall, because I like to wear sweaters.

Q: How long does it take you to get ready?

A: It usually takes me about 30 minutes to get ready.

Q: Where do you like to shop?

A: I like to shop at the Gucci Store, Hugo Boss, Polo, Nike Store, and H&M.

Q: How much do you usually invest in clothing?

A: I spend a stack a month.

Q: What are your favorite clothing pieces?

A: My favorite piece of clothing is my Retro 6 Jordan Infareds.

Q: What are your favorite pair of shoes?

A: My favorite pair of shoes are my Sauconeys, because they are like mattresses for your feet.

Q: What is your outfit for school or a date?

A: My outfit for school would be lightly faded jeans, casual sneakers, a nice shirt and some white socks.

Q: Do you dress to impress or dress for yourself?

A: I dress for myself, because I have nobody to impress.

Q: On your lazy days what do you prefer to wear?

A: On lazy days I like to wear a comfortable long sleeve, some sweats and Nike slides.

Q: Who is your fashion inspiration?

A: My fashion inspiration is myself.

Q: What's your favorite accessory to add to your outfit?

A: My favorite accessory to add to my outfit is my gold watch.

"Your phone, it's important because you can take pictures with your friends at homecoming."

LESLIE MORIBA sophomore

"Food because I'm going to get hungry throughout the dance."

NINNA ADAMS freshman

"The most important thing to bring to homecoming is yourself and money."

ALPHA KANU freshman

SPORTS X-TRA 15

Oct. 21, 2015

Pre-Game mindset of athletes DAVID PARK: FOOTBALL

LENNON WUHRER: FIELD HOCKEY

Q: Do you eat certain types of foods before a game?

A: I always eat healthy foods that are provided by my mom such as fruits and ham sandwiches. I also drink a lot of water before the game in order to stay hydrated.

Q: Do you listen to certain music before a game?

A: I listen to rap because it gets me hype and mentally prepared for my opponent.

Q: How much time do you usually take to prep for a game?

A: I usually take about 20 minutes to get ready. I have to swag out on the field. As coach Scott would say, "Look good. Feel good.Play good."

Q: What is your pre-game ritual and what happens if you don't do it?

A: We pray in the locker room before a game and do the Nebraska prayer ritual. I always say a small prayer to myself on the field before we're about to play so that everyone stays healthy till the end of the game.

Q: Does the Hypesquad play a part in the teams attitude and performance?

A: Yes, they bring a lot of energy and we'll need it throughout the entire season. We are playing some tough competitors and we will need the hypesquad to help the team push through the tough games.

Q: Do you eat certain types of foods before a game?

A: Most of the time, the night before a game, the team usually has a dinner and we eat pasta and salad.

Q: Do you listen to certain music before a game?

A: Usually rap and the mixtape the team makes that we play during warm-ups.

Q: How much time do you usually take to prep for a game?

A: I don't take time before the game to prepare. I'm usually fine with just the warm-ups the team does, which takes about usually 30-40 minutes.

Q: What is your pre-game ritual and what happens if you don't do it?

A: The team usually does a full lap around the field or else the team has bad luck.

Q: Does the Hypesquad play a part in the teams attitude and performance?

A: they make the team a little more nervous but they definitely cause us to become more motivated, prepared and push harder in the game. They help us stay more focused in the game.

CAMERON FOTI: X-COUNTRY

AUTUMN YANG: CHEER

Q: Do you eat certain types of foods before a game?

A: I normally eat a protien bar or something that will give me a lot of energy before a race.

Q: Do you eat certain types of foods before a game?

A: Right before a game we usually have team dinners but I always eat either KitKats or Reese's.

Q: Do you listen to certain music before a game?

A: I usually listen to whatever my squad puts on, which is usually trap music.

Q: Do you listen to certain music before a game?

A: I don't really listen to music before a meet be sides the music that the team plays on the bus which is rap.

Q: How much time do you usually take to prep for a game?

A: About an hour and a half because we help each other get ready. Hair and make-up can take a while with 20 girls.

Q: How much time do you usually take to prep for a game?

A: I noramlly take about an hour to prep for a race which I use to stretch out, go on a slow 10 minute run and get ready at the start line.

Q: What is your pre-game ritual and what happens if you don't do it?

A: My pregame ritual is to go over snippets (mini dances we do inbetween cheers) in my head with the music the girls are playing in the locker room. If I don't do it, then I feel like I'm going to completely blank out and forget. Dancing and if we don't do it we don't get hyped.

Q: What is your pre-game ritual and what happens if you don't do it?

A: My pre-race ritual is just 3 sprints at the start line and final stretches then we do our team cheer. If I don't do it then nothing will really happen during the race I just wouldn't feel as ready if I didn't do it. For the cheer, we don't embarrass ourselves in front of 70 other teams.

Q: Does the Hypesquad play a part in the teams attitude and performance?

A: They definitely help me. It's one thing to cheer for a team and do your job as a cheerleader to pump up the crowd, but it's another to have a crowd to pump up.

Q: Does the Hypesquad play a part in the teams attitude and performance?

A: The hypesquad doesn't come to our meets but the people that do cheer us on help, but sometimes it's nice running in the quiet.

Heard in the Hall: What is your pre-game ritual?

"Before field hockey games we eat tictacs for energy."

"I usually drink berry "Every week we have juice to activate my a different prayer to inner strengths." get motivated."

KATIE POPE

ADRIEN HENAO

freshman

sophomore

ALLEN KOKILANANDA sophomore

"I have a little bracelet that says strength on it that I wear before every game.

LINA AL TAII sophomore

"The whole cross country team gets together and free styles."

EYOB MENGISTO junior

"I always have a ribbon on my shoe because I think it's lucky."

KELSIE LICATOVICH junior

"My volleyball team does cheers to create energy on the court."

IRIS ARRAZOLA

"The night before a swim meet, I sleep in my speedo."

LUKE DAGGLE senior

junior

COACHES CORNER: BRIAN ALDENDERFER English teacher by day, golf coach by afternoon

Q: How long have you coached golf?

A: I just finished my third year.

Q:Did you play golf in high school and/or college?

A: No, I did not play golf while in high school or college.

Q: How long have you been coaching at AHS? A: I have been coaching here at Annandale for seven years.

Q: What advice do you have for underclassmen who are interested in golf?

A: Come out for the team because you can't get better if you don't try!

Q: What is your favorite part about coaching?

A: I enjoy interacting with the kids and having an influence Q: Did you play golf growing up? on them and who they turn out to be, basically "molding" A: As a kid, my dad and I would go to the golf course to them into young men/women. play together. We would play 18 holes, and thats how I developed a passion for golf.

Q: Besides golf, is there any other sport you would coach?

Q: What was your biggest accomplishment this seaA: I previously coached football, wrestling and track, but I son? feel like I need a little time to myself considering coaching A: Creating a sense of team unity. We had a lot of inexpeis so time consuming and I'm teaching full time. rienced players, so coming together as one team and facing the struggle of getting better together for the future Q: What made you want to coach and is there a story behind why you do it?

Q: What goals did you set for yourself as the golf A: Well I've been playing sports my whole life, therefore coach?

I know the benefits of it and I had a lot of great coaches A: Winning a match and qualifing at least one golfer for who taught me a lot about being a good person and having the regional tournement. good moral character; sports are also a good way for kids to learn about life.

16 ENTERTAINMENT

Oct. 21, 2015

Great TV shows back in action CABLE

NETFLIX

GREY'S ANATOMY

USMAGAZINE.COM

WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

DAREDEVIL The street-level crime fighter is soon to return to Netflix with Charlie Cox playing Matt Murdock once again.

The new season is bringing two huge characters from Daredevil's comics - Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and Elektra (Elodie Yung). The intense action scenes in the show entice many, including senior Gammy Walsh.

"I'm looking forward to seeing him fight in the red suit," Walsh said. "We only saw a little bit of it in the first season."

Grey's Anatomy is still going strong as one of the most popular dramas on TV, and for good reason. The show incorporates realistic medical emergencies while keeping watchers enticed with the personal lives of the characters.

Senior Hassa Koroma is one of the many AHS students excited for the new season.

"I am looking forward to seeing how Meredith and Derek progress with Zola," Koroma said.

ARROW SCREENCRUSH.COM

The deadly, dangerous and dashing family is soon to start filming again. The Peaky Blinders, led by Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy) are soon to start more mischief.

Season three began filming on Oct. 5 Junior Saad Farooq hopes to see Shelby continue to expand his empire.

"I think it's cool what organized crime was like in that time," Farooq said.

FASTCOCREATE.COM

PEAKY BLINDERS

HOUSE OF CARDS

One of the most popular superhero shows on TV, Arrow, is exciting fans around the world. Actor Stephen Amell returns as Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow.

The action scenes are one of the biggest components on the show and they bring in watchers like senior Jashon Reams.

"I want to see new people [in the new season] and Olicity's relationship bloom," Reams said.

TV.COM

FORBES.COM

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE

President Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) is coming back under serious pressure for season four of House of Cards. The next season will explore how he copes with the next presidential election.

Junior Saud Shah is especially excited for the new season, as it is one of his favorite shows on Netflix.

"I can't wait to see how Frank deals with his wife leaving," Shah said. "He might lose the election."

HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER SLASHFILM.COM

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) and her friends are coming back for a fourth season of Orange is the New Black that is coming to Netflix in 2016. Season three ended with inmates escaping, leaving endless possibilities.

Junior Kasey Ritchett loves the realism aspect of the show, and is excited for what is to come.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how the prison changed after everyone escaped," Ritchett said.

Ever since Andy Samberg left the famous skit show Saturday Night Live, he's made a great career for himself, even winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy.

He stars as Detective Jake Peralta, a mischievous cop.

Senior Natalie Jones loves the show for its witty dialogue and humor.

"It's just a unique show and I've really grown to like all the characters," Jones said.

Viola Davis is coming back to ABC with an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her stunning performance in HTGAWM, being the first AfricanAmerican woman to do so.

Senior Yoyo Fekade is excited for the culmination of the plot twists from the end of last season.

"I want them to reveal what they are going to do now that the killer of Lila has been revealed," Fekade said.

What TV show are you most excited for?

"I'm looking forward to American Horror Story because it's suspenseful."

"I'm looking forward to The Walking Dead because I'm in love with Glen and Daryl"

VRIANNA RUIZ

SADAF MARZI

freshman

freshman

"I'm looking forward to The Flash because it's an interesting show about a really fast guy."

"I'm excited to see Pretty Little Liars because they left us off on a cliffhanger in season six."

"Every Wednesday night, I look forward to watch Empire SAUD SHAH because it's such an junior intriguing show."

"I'm looking forward to Arrow because I think it's great."

"The upcoming season of Narcos because it's really interesting and you learn about cartels."

RAYMOND RAMIREZ

JESSICA ROOP

FATMATA KAMARA

NAUN GONZALEZ

freshman

sophomore

junior

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BET's Hip-Hop Awards surprise Students see some of their favorite artists win awards

BY AHMAD AYUB Entertainment Editor The west coast rap legend Snoop Dogg hosted the tenth annual BET Hip-Hop Awards, bringing some of the genre's most prominent, as well as up-and-coming, artists "He brought a new style to the rap game," Park said. together. This was Snoop's third year in a row hosting the "When you hear Fetty rap, you know it's Fetty." show.

Fetty Wap also won Best Track of the Year for "Trap The awards show made the same mistake many Queen," a surprising choice, as he beat songs like "Alright" other big award shows are recently starting to make; by Lamar and "Blessings" by Big Sean. not presenting all of the awards on TV. The BET Hip-Hop Freshman Amar Daad believes that Fetty Wap deserved Awards left out some of the biggest awards, like MVP of the this win over the other rappers.

Year, Album of the Year and Best Lyricist.

"It was right because it's catchy and has a better flow MVP of the Year went to Drake, who had an incredibly than the other songs on the list," Daad said. "I've heard the stunning year. According to senior Dini Mohamud, he other songs too many times already." definitely deserved the award.

Another slightly unexpected win was the Album of "Drake deserved to win MVP because this year he did the Year award going to J. Cole's album 2014 Forest Hills drop a lot of good music," Mohamud said.

Drive. The album beat out big favorites of the year, such as The show started with a performance by rapper Future, Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late and Lamar's To who performed two of his biggest songs from this year, Pimp A Butterfly.

"Where Ya At" and "March Madness." His Senior Ananda Poudel respects performances hyped up the crowd of the "Lamar J. Cole winning, but wishes it was Atlanta Civic Center. someone else. deserved Snoop came out and rebranded "I think that Kendrick deserved himself again, calling himself Uncle Snoop. Album of to win Album of the Year but I am He played small samples of some of the the Year happy for J. Cole," Poudel said. "Cole biggest hits of the year, like Drake's Meek managed to get his album platinum Mill diss track "Back to Back" and Kendrick but I am without any features."

Lamar's powerful single "Alright". happy for J. Puff Daddy and the Family The Best Club Banger award was performed a brand new song of theirs, Cole." announced, and GOOD Music rapper Big the return of Puff Daddy (who Ananda Poudel marking Sean's song "IDFWU" won. The show has also gone by the names P. Diddy senior followed up with the first cypher of the and Sean Combs) to the rap game. night, featuring young artists Charles King Los is the new addition to the Hamilton, Jackie Spade, Joyner Lucas and "family," receiving much attention after his freestyle on the Tink. famous rap radio program "Sway in the Morning."

Fetty Wap won the Who Blew Up Award (given to the Combs also performed his newest song, "Workin.'" best newcomer to the genre), and deserved the win. His At the end, several of his friends from Bad Boy Records, two biggest songs of the year, "Trap Queen" and "My Way" Combs' own record label, came out to perform the song (the latter becoming much more famous after Drake added with him. a verse to it), and self-titled album Fetty Wap, brought him Overall, the show was very entertaining. Other than the a lot of attention. fact that they didn't present the most important awards, Senior David Park believes that Fetty Wap deserves the they did a great job by getting hot artists such as Travis award.

Scott and Rich Homie Quan to perform.

"Grey's Anatomy because it's a really emotional show."

SARAH DIEBLE

DONATE YOUR VEHICLE TO THE AHS AUTO PROGRAM

The Annandale High School Auto Program needs your vehicle. By donating, you may be able to deduct up to the full value of your vehicle.

The process is fast, easy and helps the best automotive program in Fairfax County Public Schools. To schedule your donation, please call: Joe Desio, instructor, 703-642-4212 or email at jfdesio@fcps.edu

senior

ENTERTAINMENT 17 Top Halloween Movie franchises Oct. 21, 2015

These classic franchises have consistently delivered scares over the years

FRIDAY THE 13TH

Staff Writer The Friday the 13th franchise is one of the more popular horror franchises in the world, starring the infamous Jason Voorhees, easily one of the most popular horror characters of all-time.

The franchise started in 1980, the first film directed by Sean S. Cunningham and written by Victor Miller.

Friday the 13th (1980) is considered to be one of the first slasher horror films, and it produced $59.8 million at the box office.

The movie starts off with young Jason Voorhees, a special needs boy with facial disfiguration who attends a camp called Camp Crystal Lake.

He is bullied at the camp because of his deformities to a point where he gets pushed into the lake and ends up drowning.

Jason's mother finds out about his death and seeks revenge on all the camp counselors, blaming them for the death of Jason.

Jason's mother kills all the

Freddy Krueger's burned face and claw glove create a frightening image

counselors but eventually she gets killed by one of them, getting her head cut off by a machete. Jason, presumably dead, is actually alive and witnesses his mother getting beheaded and vows to kill everyone at Camp Crystal Lake.

Jason Voorhees took Manhattan in Friday the 13th Part VIII, and also faced the infamous Freddy Kruger, the main antagonist from The Nightmare On Elm Street franchise, in Freddy vs. Jason.

The Friday the 13th films have been deemed the best horror films of all time by Watch Mojo.

Jason Voorhees is also regarded as one of the leading cultural icons of American pop culture.

The most notable films in the franchise are the original Friday the 13th, Freddy vs. Jason and Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.

If you haven't seen the films and are looking for a scare you may consider looking into them this Halloween.

BY AHMAD AYUB Entertainment Editor No one wants to go to sleep and find him or herself being chased by a guy with a burnt face and claws for hands.

Wes Craven brought just that to the big screen, starting the terrifying franchise with A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. He was most likely unaware of the impact it would have on the horror genre, as well as the following it would gain.

The whole series is composed of nine movies, most of which follow the immortal Freddy Krueger as he terrorizes teenagers in a fictional city named Springwood.

Krueger uses his victims' dreams to attack them, killing them in real life as well. Craven only directed two films in the franchise, but directed all four of the Scream franchise.

The Elm Street franchise is easily one of the most popular horror franchises, as it spawned novels, comic books, video games and even a TV show featuring Robert Englund, the original actor of Krueger.

Krueger also made an appearance as an add-on character in the 2009 Mortal Kombat game.

The film franchise as a whole has made over $445 million, with the most recent film, a remake of the original, making the most money worldwide.

In 2003, Freddy vs. Jason was released, a crossover between the Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises. In every adaptation, however, Krueger always has his burned skin, a fedora, a red and green striped sweater and his easily recognizable claw glove.

This film brought the most revenue domestically for both franchises, and featured Krueger fighting for dominance against Jason Vorhees when he realizes that teenagers are forgetting his existence.

Nevertheless, the franchise isn't done yet, as New Line Cinema is due to remake the original film for a second time. The only challenge remaining for the franchise is to outdo the impact of the first film.

DIMENSION FILMS

NEW LINE CINEMA

WARNER BROTHERS

Jason Voorhees' hockey mask has become a trademark symbol

BY ANGELO LOPEZ

SCREAM

NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST.

The Ghostface mask is very well known and exemplifies the film's influence

BY KARUNGU THUKU Staff Writer On a dark and chilly Halloween night, in any American neighborhood, there are some costumes that one is bound to see kids wearing. A vampire. A witch.

And the immediately recognizable mask from Scream.

Created by Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven, Scream's influence on horror movies and pop culture can not be denied. Its trademark main character, Ghostface, became one of the most popular and identifiable killers in horror movie history, and the movies led to numerous parodies as well, such as the Scary Movie franchise.

The movie still has a lasting influence to this day; the Scream TV series made its debut on MTV in June of this year.

In the first movie, Scream, Ghostface terrorizes a group of high schoolers through killing and threatening phone calls, which were followed by surprise attacks. The whole community grows fearful

as no one knows who is behind the Ghostface mask.

The franchise was especially different from other horror movies because it poked fun at itself and the horror movie genre. The characters in the film are aware of cliches that are in scary movies, and try to survive using their knowledge of the basic horror movie plot.

The movie also makes fun of news anchors, with Courteney Cox playing a journalist who thrives off of finding a story that can boost ratings.

There are four films in the franchise, all directed by Wes Craven. None of the other films in the franchise have quite been able to match the first movie at the box office.

The first film has made over $170,000,000 worldwide since its 1996 release. The franchise as a whole has made over $600,000,000 around the world. According to Box Office Mojo, it is the highest grossing slasher film of all time.

HALLOWEEN MOVIE COUNTDOWN SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

SATURDAY

FRIDAY

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HAVING TROUBLE FINDING WAYS TO GET IN THE HALLOWEEN SPIRIT? WATCH THESE HORROR MOVIES AND FOLLOW THIS HALLOWEEN MOVIE COUNTDOWN CALENDAR TO GET YOURSELF READY FOR THE SCARIEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR

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Fetty Wap's debut album

BY JULIUS MILLER Staff Writer

The good outweighs the bad in Fetty Wap Hip-hop artist Fetty Wap released his long-awaited on Sept. 25, 2015.

His album, Fetty Wap, is 20 tracks long and ranges from slow songs like "Rewind," and "Whateva" to faster paced songs like "Rock My Chain," and "No Days Off." Fetty Wap has won four different awards in 2015 alone, and it wouldn't be surprising if he won more. He has won the MTV Video Music Award for Artist to Watch and the BET Hip Hop award for Best Track of the Year.

The album itself is mostly songs with a sentimental message, and the wide range of styles they use to portray this message definitely contributes to the album's success.

The album lived up to the hype, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It also sold 129,000 copies its first week,

an outstanding amount for a debut album.

One of the main factors behind the success of the album is the release of many hit singles prior to the album's release.

Fetty Wap released songs such as "Again," "RGF Island" and "679" before the album was dropped.

He also would preview songs with small snippets on his Instagram and Twitter like he did with "Jugg."

The biggest hit, and arguably the

reason for his sudden popularity, was "Trap Queen." The single peaked at number two on Billboard Hot 100, and is still number three as of the week of September 28, 2015.

The song turned him into one of the biggest stars in the music industry this year.

Along with his other accomplishments, the album also did very well because of the pure quality of the music. Fetty Wap has an unique style to his music that draws listeners in.

The songs are really determined by the beats because Fetty Wap can at times get lyrically redundant. This isn't a problem though, because the lyrics still fit with the quality beats.

He had already made a name for himself in the hip-hop genre, and the album made sure he lived up to his name.

The only issue with this album was the sometimes repetitive feeling of the songs; it could easily bother many listeners. This album was a perfect way for Fetty Wap to kick off his career, and we can only expect more success from him in the future.

Rating: 8.7/10

Frank Ocean: Lost at sea?

BY HUSSEIN SALEM Ad Manager For devout Frank Ocean fans, today's date is not Oct. 21.

To those who still have hope that a new Frank Ocean project will release this year, today is the 113th day of the longest July ever.

Almost three months have come and gone since the promised July 2015 release date of Frank Ocean's album, Boys Don't Cry. The album was also supposed to include an accompanying magazine.

Fans were excited to hear the follow up album to Channel Orange, but as the days passed, it grew less likely that the album would drop.

The California born artist, Frank Ocean, has been missing in the music world for three years now.

His debut studio album, Channel Orange, released on July 10, 2013.

It earned six Grammy nominations, sold over 100,000 copies, and changed the world of R&B music.

In April of 2015, Ocean announced his long awaited second album, Boys Don't Cry would be finished and released in July.

As July arrived, many fans

became very anxious and broke the internet for his sophomore album.

Three months have gone by, and the album still hasn't been released.

Ocean hasn't commented on any information for the album and fans are almost fed up with waiting, but some still have faith.

"I expect his album to be the best one he's ever made because he kept us waiting so long," senior Ruth Tiguh said on how she expects the album to sound. "I feel like this is his plan, to get as much publicity for the music he'll release in the future."

French artist, Christophe

Chassol, was rumored to collaborate with Ocean for new music.

"Ocean invited me to Abbey Road to record on his album.

He asked me to do some speech harmonization on a song with him," Chassol said.

Frank Ocean hasn't been spotted anywhere in a while, he even cancelled an appearance at FYF Fest on Aug. 22 and was replaced by Kanye West. He also is hiding from the public, which is worrying his fans.

Details on the upcoming project may have leaked. In an interview with Les inRocks, Ed Banger Records owner, Pedro Winter, revealed how him and Ocean are collaborating when he was asked about the future of his label.

"Sebastian has just finished producing a few tracks for Frank Ocean - a truly exciting partnership - and he will finally be able to rest on his second album," Winter revealed.

Even with Ocean's absence, he still remains to be one of the most popular musicians on the planet, as he has over 2,000,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

18 SPORTS

Oct. 21, 2015

Homecoming showdown

The Atoms faceoff against the Stallions in a showdown on Friday night

BY JULIUS MILLER Staff Writer The Atoms play the South County Stallions for the Homecoming game this Friday.

They have the likes of Kevin Allen, a senior weighing in at 220 pounds. He plays middle linebacker for the Stallions, but it's not this that makes him a known name.

He squats 680 pounds and bench presses 495. He is a key factor on their team, just like senior Tucker Mack is on the Atoms squad. Against the Wolverines, Mack completed seven of twelve passes with no interceptions.

He also carried the ball for 131 yards and scored one touchdown. If Mack can perform like this on Friday, the team will have a good chance. Consistency is the key to success, and the Atoms can be consistent. The Atoms lost to the Wolverines 54-30 on Oct. 16 at West Potomac. Prior to this loss, the Atoms were on a four game winning streak.

The 5-2 Wolverines have scored 265 points this season amd conceded 176 points.

"The Wolverines were very talented and physical," Head Coach Mike Scott said.

"They had some real playmakers in the skill units, like Daiimon Cleveland, Carlston Burch, and their quarterback Mark Ellis."

The Atoms lost to the Wolverines 5430, in a very high scoring game. Luckily, this game can help the team instead of hindering them. Learning from their mistakes is essential.

"We played hard and pretty well for three quarters, we had some early mental mistakes but we overcame them, and then made some adjustments at halftime," Scott said.

"We dominated the third quarter, taking the lead. We needed to finish them off and instead let them get back in the game with the playmakers they had." This result can help them prepare for their game this Friday, against the South County Stallions. "We learned we have the ability to play and beat anyone but we have to finish teams off when we have the chance," Scott said.

"We can't let good teams like West Potomac stay in the game." The Stallions have won all seven of their games, scoring 227 points. They've only conceded 118 points, the most being 40 against the West Springfield Spartans. The Atoms have scored 205 points and conceded 201 points in their last seven games.

As of last Friday, the Atoms retained a positive record of four wins and three losses. The team is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the Stallions, and can use this to their advantage. What hurts

them is our reward, and every team has negatives.

"We always want to improve, that is our goal every day," Scott said. "They play fast and physical like we do, so we need to continue to maintain our conditioning."

The Atoms are preparing as well as they can for the undefeated South County side.

The Stallions are a strong side, but it is all about analyzing the key elements in finding victory.

"We will have a great week of practice and implement a few new wrinkles," Scott said. "But we are going to play our game which is to play fast and be the more physical team." A main component in beating the Stallions or beating anyone really, is overcoming obstacles. The week of homecoming can be hectic and the players need to keep their heads in the game for this Friday. "Homecoming week is always tough, a lot of distractions and things going on that could take us out of our focus," Scott said. "They are a very good, confident football team, ranked fourth in the area and undefeated. We cannot make mental mistakes and need to take advantages of our opportunities."

The game will definitely be tough, because South County is truly a skilled team.

Q&A: Quarterback Tucker Mack Q: How do you feel going into your last Homecoming game?

A: I feel excited going into my last homecoming game, its my last chance to play on this stage.

Q: What do you feel are the strengths of your team?

A: The strength of our team is our all around physicality and toughness.

Q: What do you feel are your teams weaknesses?

A: Our weakness is our self-inflicted mistakes and penalties.

Q: How do you feel about Soco's tough defense?

A: Soco's tough defense will be a tough challenge but nothing we haven't seen before.

Q: What type of things do you guys do in practice to help you for the game of the week?

A: In practice we go over countless numbers of times as a unit as well as completing individual position drills.

Q: Do you have any pre-game rituals to get ready before the game?

A: My only pre-game rituals are taking a small amount of time to myself and thinking about what I need to do in the game. I usually sit alone in a corner.

Q: As quarterback do you feel like it is important for you to take control of your

offense?

A: It is 100% important that I take over the offense. When something goes wrong no matter what, I place the blame on myself, people look to me and that's why I love it.

Q: What do you predict the score will be on Friday?

A: The score against Soco? I predict we will shock the state of Virginia against South County with our play, but I can't predict a score.

Cheer looking good

BY RACHEL SHOGREN

PHOTO COURTOSY OF JULIUS MILLER

Staff Writer

The Atoms cheerleading team performing at Lake Braddock Secondary School on Oct. 13th where they placed 5th

Varsity Cheer competed at the Patriot Conference Preliminary Competition held at Lake Braddock Secondary School on Tuesday Oct. 13. They placed fifth in the competition with a score of 166 .

"I think we did amazing [at Conferences], we hit everything," junior Amanda Nguyen said.

Varsity beat T.C. Williams, West Potomac and Mount Vernon but fell to South County, Lake Braddock, Woodson and West Springfield.

"We definitely brought everything to the mat and I am very proud of our team! You could say, we slayed our routine," junior cocaptain Karen Lara said.

Varsity spent many hours a week preparing for the two and a half minute routine that is composed of dance, stunts and a creative cheer.

"We have worked together since the summer to make our cheerleading better," coach Cragin Winkler said.

Each performance is awarded points based on its synchronization, level of difficulty and percentage of

the team with advanced skills.

"I couldn't be more proud of my teammates and the progress and dedication we have shown throughout the season," senior co-captain Shelby Runolfson said.

This first competition had two rounds.

"They looked great during the first round and stepped it up and look awesome for the second round" Winkler said.

"We can clean up our routine to have perfect execution and we want to really get the crowd involved during the cheer," Winkler said.

Each team has a week to take the judges comments and apply them to their final performance.

"Now that we know we can hit, we can work on confidence and making sure everything looks tight and clean! And then maybe we can add little extra difficulty," Lara said.

The top four teams at finals will go on to compete at the Regional Competition.

"Right now, our team is really hungry for regionals and we are not going to stop what we're doing until we to get just that... regionals," senior Varsity Cheer captain Kadija Sesay said.

"I am hoping to only grow from

this point and getting into the top four would be the best," Winkler said about her goals to make it to regionals.

Varsity has come very close to qualifying for regionals for several years, right now they are seeded only nine points behind the fourth place team.

"I love my teammates. We spend more time together than our own families and we learn new things about each other every day," Sesay said. "We are a very diverse team and we're always laughing, motivating each other and having fun."

This team has become very close after the hours of training they put into their sport.

"It's a special bond, when you spend so much time with a group of people, you get to know them and they are my family," Lara said.

"We work together as a family and the team works really well together," Winkler said. "They have motivation to continue to get better and they always work very hard at practice."

Be sure to support Varsity Cheer at District Finals at Lake Braddock Secondary School on Wednesday Oct. 21, at 6 p.m.

What was the highlight of your competition?

"When we were all in the gym after we performed."

ALICIA HOUSE sophomore

MADDIE WALSH

"Being the only school to hit all our stunts the second time."

freshman

TARA EL-ACHI

"The highlight was when the other teams were flabbergasted by our performance."

sophomore

AMANDA NGUYEN

"Hitting all our stunts round 2."

sophomore

"The highlight of my night was when I got asked to homecoming.

Especially since I was pretty upset, it really cheered me up" AUTUMN YANG Senior

"When a Woodson cheerleader said that she was actually impressed with our routine and how they were talking about how we could actually beat them. " VINCENT ROLLINS Senior

"Right after we hit the routine knowing that was the best we've ever performed it."

SHELBY RUNOLFSON senior

"favorite part of competition was knowing that we left that floor with everything we had. we put our hearts and souls into that routine" DANIELLE ROBINSON senior

SPORTS 19 Volleyball prepares for last games Oct. 21, 2015

The volleyball team has had a poor performance over their last three games, hosting a record of zero wins and three losses. Trying to improve for next game against West Springfield the girls have centered their attention on more offensive attack.

"We need to improve on our offense and getting the ball up to the setters so they can set the ball," junior Kasey Ricchit said.

Having these problems in place the girls are trying to improve by doing different drills and techniques to score more points a game.

"Coach Ken will help us improve our hitting and help us hit balls in that are going to hit the out line," Ricchit said.

Trying to beat West Springfield which holds a record of eight wins and three losses, will be a hard task, but the girls are determined to get this win they need to spark up their confidence for the remainder of the game.

"So i'd say we are really trying to work on communication and working together as a team," senior Hannah Shartel said.

The girls have been outscored 21

COURTESY OFBROOKE THADEUS

BY RYAN GAMMON Sports Editor

Senior Brooke Thadeus sets the ball up for junior Maddy McCrossin to spike over the net to score a point

to 11 and having been shut out three sets to zero in six out of their eleven games, which is over half of their games at 54 percent. The girls are hoping to improve these numbers with a little fixing in their offensive performance and try to get those numbers up by the beginning of the playoffs.

"It is important to be consistent together to win tomorrow and to work on individual goals going

into the playoffs soon. We also, as a team, need to stay positive and supportive of one another on and off the court at all times." Shartel said.

Trying to go into the first round of playoffs with a good attitude about the way the girls perform, they have certain skills that the girls are going to put forward during the payoffs.

While the whole team is a big factor in beating West Springfield

tonight, there is one player that has stood out with her performance, junior Katie Garrish and her height advantage will be a big factor in tonight's game.

"By blocking most of the hits that come our way, because of her height.

Since she is taller than us her hitting is a lot harder than most of the team, also her goes straight down because of how far past the net she can raise her arm, and with her height she can

Volleyball standings

Sets won and sets lost

1. Lake Braddock (8-3, 3-0)

1. Sets won : 54 Sets lost: 23

2. West Springfield (8-3, 2-1)

2. Sets won: 35 Sets lost: 15

3. T.C. Williams (8-5, 2-2)

3. Sets won: 26 Sets lost: 19

4. South County (6-5, 2-1)

4. Sets won: 23 Sets lost: 17

5. Woodson (4-7, 1-2)

5. Sets won: 17 Sets lost: 23

6. West Potomac (3-8, 1-2)

6. Sets won: 7 Sets lost: 23

7. Annandale (3-8, 1-3)

7. Sets won: 11 Sets lost: 24

8. Mount Vernon (1-9, 0-2)

8. Sets won: 3 Sets lost: 29

see blind spots on the court that the rest of our team cannot see, she will always know where to hit," junior Ashley Nguyen said.

Having their strengths during the game tomorrow, there is still a weakness they hope can be over come against the Spartans.

"We are all trying to improve our skills whether it hit setting or working on spikes. but we have come a long way from where we were at the beginning of the season, now communicating with each other," senior Symone Jenkins said.

Playing their best is a big deal for

the girls, having no one injured going into these last last few games, the girls will find any way they can to get these last wins.

"These last few games are crucial because they determine who play for districts," Shartel said. We need to focus on playing our game as best as we can because schools like South County, are really strong. But we cannot give up now because it is grind time and we need to go into districts with a good spot.

Heard in the halls: Which game has been your favorite so far?

"Dig Pink because it was a really hyped game and we got to raise money."

DANICA TRAN (FRSH) freshman

"Herndon because we "I liked the Woodson won our first game game because we won and we played as a and it was Dig Pink." team."

ELLIE HOHENSTEIN JESSICA WELLS (FRSH) (JV) freshman

"Woodson because both my parents came.

We acted as a team and had lots of fun."

ANICA LIND (JV)

sophomore

sophomore

"T.C. because I was smart about my hits and tips. My hits were harder than in other games."

KASEY RICHITT (V) junior

"Dig Pink. Even though we lost, it was fun.

We played for a great cause."

KATIE GARRISH (V)

"I'm going to be 100% real, Edison because I remember it the best."

RUTH TIGUH (V) senior

"Falls Church because I know all the players and it was fun getting kills on them."

SYMONE JENKINS (V) senior

Field hockey's rough week We have had a lot of really good rushes," assistant varsity coach and head JV coach Katie Stribling said.

"Against Mount Vernon last week, we allowed 18 penalty corners but they scored on none of them, so I would say that is pretty excellent."

A large part of winning games comes with the goalkeeper and the defense. The Atoms know T.C. Williams is the best team in the conference, so keeping their offense at bay is key.

"I will definitely do a drop step and I will play back a little more to adjust to T.C.'s shot style. They always have two girls at each post so I will have to be as loud and obnoxious as I can be on the field tonight," senior Jenny Kang said.

"We are going to focus on marking specific players and moving up with the offense when we have the ball," senior Rebecca Soulen said.

"We will also be making sure to communicate a lot with our goalie.

As the season comes to a close, coach Cindy Hook had many thoughts regarding the season as a whole.

"I think the season has been very challenging and very rewarding.

We have a great group of dedicated and hard working girls," Hook said.

Boys XC improves significantly Coach Roe expects the boys to support and motivate one another to bring out the best effort from the teammates. She wants them to reach their full potential in practice and meets.

"I'm expecting 100 percent effort

PHOTO COURTESY OF ED LULL

BY TOOBA SIDDIQUE Staff Writer The Varsity boy's cross country team has improved massively. The next conference meet will be on Oct. 28.

The last meet was on Oct. 15 at Burke Lake for the Patriot Conference, which included all teams.

Coach Ivy Roe said it was a good preview for the upcoming Patriot Conference meet.

The team meets again on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at Occoquan Park for the Patriot JV Festival.

All other teams will run along with AHS JV boys at 5:30 p.m. in the Patriot Conference.

The team gets in the top 15 or the top 25 at the meets, which are the top medal finishes.

The top cross country runners on the team are currently, Risky Alvarado, Mahiteme Tigabu, Dagim Tigabu, Abbey Yared and Tyler Westfield.

The AHS Cross Country team has improved massively.

"We have had many new personal record times set at the past meets," Roe said, so the athletes are showing they have improved their fitness as well as racing strategy."

Sophomore Natnal Endalkachew paces himself as he runs to the finish line at one of the races.

from the athletes and working together as a team to continue improving their individual times as well as overall team replacement in meets," Coach Roe said.

"It went very well with every runner improving their time from the last meet at Burke Lake, at the beginning of the season," Coach Roe said. "It shows the athletes have significantly improved their fitness and being competitive in races. We had a couple of athletes in the top 20; Risky Alvarado, Dagim Tigabu, Abbey Yared and Tyler Westfall.

"The athletes are learning they have more speed and can push themselves more during the race if they dig deep and remain mentally tough," Roe said.

"Our team has improved incredibly since the first meet, but I'm waiting for districts for my new and improved record time," junior Dagim Tigabu said.

The Patriot Conference is a difficult conference to advance, and make it to regionals.

The Conference championship meet will be held on Oct. 28 at Burke Lake Park at 1:00 p.m.

"They honestly give their best every day and continue to improve every game. We've all learned a lot and had a lot of fun doing it. It's not over until it's over."

The Atoms play T.C. Williams in the first round of the Patriot Conference 7 tournament tonight at Minnie Howard field in Alexandria at 7:30 p.m.

Field Hockey standings 1. T.C. Williams (15-1, 7-0) 2. Lake Braddock (10-5-1, 6-1) COURTESY OF KARMENA WERKING

The Atoms varsity Field Hockey team had a bumpy end to the regular season. With three games last week, the Atoms played the most games they have played in a week all season. The Atoms went 1-2 through those three games.

On Oct. 12 after having the game postponed due to rain the previous Friday, the Atoms came out to win on their senior night.

Going into halftime with the Wolverines tied at zero, the Atoms and their coaches knew they had to strike first to win the game.

That did not happen, with West Potomac scoring at 16:00 left in the second half on their 10th shot of the game. Although, the Atoms came right back two minutes later with a deflection put in by sophomore Selam Negash, tying the score at one.

The game continued to be tied at the end of regulation and overtime, sending the game into 1v1 shootouts.

Senior goalkeeper Jenny Kang saved four of five Wolverine shot attempts while the Atoms scored on two of five, which lead to the Atoms' 2-1 win. It was their first conference

win and first win since Aug. 27.

The Atoms continued the week with disappointing losses to conference rivals Mount Vernon and W.T. Woodson, losing those games 1-0 and 5-0 respectively.

Now the Atoms look ahead to the first round of conference play, where they will attempt to protect their Patriot Conference championship title against a tough top seeded T.C. Williams team (15-1, 7-0).

"T.C. is very fast. They have quick passes and have a lot of deflections, so we are going to have to work to counter that," head coach Cindy Hook said.

The Atoms know that very well from their 3-0 loss to T.C. earlier in the season at Minnie Howard.

"Scoring goals is really going to start back on the defensive side.

You cannot have an offense without defense," senior Ashley Britton said.

"Once we can shut them out from the back, we will use the speed of our forwards to get the ball up the field and utilize our crust to keep the ball in our circle."

Although scoring goals may come hard for the Atoms, there is one area where they really shine, their defensive penalty corners.

"I think they have been amazing.

3. Woodson (7-7-2, 4-3) 4. West Springfield (8-6-1, 4-3) 5. West Potomac (8-7, 3-4) 6. South County (5-9, 2-5) 7. Mount Vernon (3-12, 1-6) 8. Annandale (5-10, 1-6)

Senior, Karmena Werking is taking the ball away from an oppenent against the Hayfield Hawks.

Girls XC prepares for districts

By RYAN GAMMON Sports Editors The girls cross country season is starting to go into their first conference run on Oct. 28 at Burke Lake.

Having done a really good job at their last meet they are trying to continue that mentality going into the next upcoming race.

"We are trying to get in some more hard workouts so we can be as strong as possible, the workouts are helping by building our endurance and it will make us stronger while running this race," junior Emily Pope said.

While this game will mean so much for the girls running in it they are trying to stay focused to achieve their goal of doing so, by having the mentality of saying that the girls can do even better than the last race.

"The race affects us because it makes not just one but the whole team to do our very best because it is a conference race and we have really tough competition we are going against and it is the last meet of the season,"Pope said.

Not only do the girls stay focused, but having fun and eating the right foods and drinking water

is a big deal when getting ready for the races.

"The team prepares not only physical wise but we also prepare mentally as well.

Having those hard workouts to get ready is a factor, but also we eat pasta and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and get all of our carbs," freshman, Vitalina Fuentes said.

But having six of their runners injured for the next race is not good news for the runners. Being runners down means that the other will Junior Emily Pope paces herself as she runs to the need to work that finish line at one of her meets. much harder to can't do hard workouts then you win.

"Injuries have taken out most can't push past the pains that will of our team at this point." junior come to you when running in the Sasha Silva said. "I mean if you conference meet coming up."

PHOTO COURTESY OF EMILY POPE

BY ANDREW GONZALEZ Sports Editor

20 WEEKEND

Oct. 21, 2015

Fun fall activities

Carve a pumpkin Carving a pumpkin is a great fall activity because it's extremely hands on and unique to you. Pick your design and carve it out of your pumpkin to create a nice fall decoration to put out on your front porch!

"Carvings pumpkins is fun because you get to choose whatever design you want," senior Davian Gonzalez said.

"This year I want to carve the scariest jack-o-lantern ever!"

Add a candle, or a small battery powered light to make your carving glow. It's fun to do with family and friends, and you can even use the pumpkin seeds to make a nice snack if you roast them in the oven.

Use the app "QR Reader" to follow this link to a site with a variety of interesting pumpkin carving patterns.

Cox Farms Fall Festival Sept. 26 - Nov. 3

Pick apples

15621 Braddock Rd Centreville, VA 20120

Spend a day with group of friends at Stribling Orchard picking apples. Apple picking is the perfect way to get into the season and enjoy the nice fall weather.

Stribling Orchards offers a variety of activities to pick from making sure that you're bound to have a good time.

Take a tour, pick some apples or simply hang out at the bakery so that you can pick up some stuff for your home. You can either take a drive or walk through the orchards all while picking your apples.

The orchard offers different types of apples to match your taste buds. Make sure to check it out before it gets cold so that you can enjoy the nice fall weather with your friends.

Cox Farms Market CAYLEY BYRNE

If you don't have time to enjoy all that Cox Farms has to offer, be sure to visit their Festival Market! Admission is free and it's fun to just look around at all the fall decorations they're selling. A small pumpkin patch is available where you can pick through their pumpkins to find the perfect one! They sell cider that is made with the apples from their own farms, and homemade kettle corn that is delicious and always fresh.

Famous hay ride

Stribling Orchard 11587 Poverty Hollow Ln Markham, VA 22643

One of the most well known attractions is the hay ride at Cox Farms! Hay rides are an essential fall activity that really get you in the spirit. An antique tractor will pull you along as you sit on bales of hay. On your 20 minute journey you'll see an old west town, a jungle and the enchanted barn. It's a fun thing to do with friends; it's for people of all ages, so make sure to do this if you visit Cox Farms this season!

Go to a farmer's market Farmer's markets are a great way to get fresh produce and handmade goods from small businesses. In the fall many fruits and vegetables are in season, such as apples, pears, sweet potatoes and winter squash.

"I love going to farmer's markets with my family," senior Brooke Thadeus said. "The fresh fruits are my favorite, but it's cool to see the other things they have for sale too."

At the Mosaic Central Farm Market, open every Sunday from 9:30 am to 2:30 p.m., a variety of vendors open up stands to sell their produce and items.

Some examples are Bee Chic Naturals, which sell beeswax candles, and Dress It Up Dressing, which sells all-natural dressings using a family recipe.

Friendly farm animals At the fall festival Cox Farms even has their own petting zoo, filled with farm animals! While they're known for the many goats that they have, Cox Farms also has chickens, rabbits, sheep, pigs and a llama named Chewie. Come on down to their mini zoo if you have a love for animals, to see the animals listed and many more!

Photos courtesy of the Cox Farms website

Ride a roller coaster

Have a costume party

If you're looking for a rush this month make sure to check out the amusement park at Kings Dominion. You are sure to satisfy your adrenaline cravings all while having a good scare.

"I enjoy roller coasters more, but I actually got scared in one of the haunted houses," senior Ruth Tiguh said. "There were a lot of pop ups, and those aren't really my thing. The monsters were creepy too."

If you want to avoid the long lines make sure to go on a Friday or Sunday. They also Kings Dominion offer a petting zoo, pumpkin painting and a 16000 Theme Park Way foam pit. There is lots to be done and some- Doswell, VA 23047 thing for everybody!

Throwing a party with your friends is always a good time , but adding costumes is a twist that's fun and shows your Halloween spirit! Dress up as your favorite TV character, animal or monster.

You can bob for apples and have a Halloween movie marathon! You could even hold a contest and vote on who had the best costume of the night. ABC Family often plays several Halloween movies in a row on Fridays during the fall, so make sure to check for that!

Annandale alumni Lee Hayes and Kaytlin Hopkins dressed up as convicts in jail for the annual AHS costume contest.

Take a trip to Field of Screams

Walk through a corn maze Grab some friends, get in the car and visit The Corn Maze in The Plains. Get there early so that you can participate in both the day and night activities.

Pick from the many mazes that are offered, and after a long day of running around, set up a private campfire, eat some food and just have a good time.

There are plenty of things to be on the lookout for while at the maze. These include hidden cash prizes up to a $100, petting zoos, giant slides and many more fall festivities.

Mosaic Central Farm Market 2910 District Ave. Fairfax, VA 22031

Corn Maze in The Plains 4501 Old Tavern Rd The Plains, VA 20198

Senior volleyball players Ruth Tiguh and Brooke Thadeus react to a referee's call.

There are plenty of fun and scary activities to do at Field of Screams. If you really like being scared, the Trail of Terror is the best option for you.

"When I went on the Trail of Terror I got chased off of the path by a guy in a mask," senior Sarah Deible said. "I was so scared, and the moms in our group had to come over and push the man away from me so I could get back onto the path with the group."

As you walk through the dark woods you will walk past haunted buildings and be scared by clowns and monsters that will run up to you on the path. If that's too much to handle there are also hay rides and a haunted house.

Field of Screams 4501 Olney Laytonsville Rd Olney, MD 20832

Class of 2016 Bulletin To-do list: October Edition Don't forget to turn in your transcript request form Participate in spirit days this week & learn to tie a toga Enjoy your LAST high school Homecoming this Saturday!

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days until graduation Friday's HOMECOMING game vs. South County HS (H) is a...

WHITE OUT!