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Volume 32, Issue 4 140 Brandeis Road Newton Centre, MA 02459

Newton South High School’s Student Newspaper · Newton, MA · Established 1984 · November 6, 2015

APUSH enrollment on the rise

Since 2012, opioid-related deaths have doubled in Massachusetts. In 2014, five Newton residents died from overdoses. How is the city responding?

Sophia Fisher & Andrea Lirio Managing Editor, Sr. Features Editor

The College Board has apparently found a cash cow in South’s junior class.

This school year, APUSH classes outnumber ACP U.S. History classes seven to six. From 2010 to 2015, APUSH has seen a 63 percent student increase, while in the same time span, South’s total population has increased by only six percent.

The disproportionate growth, teachers said, is due to new initiatives, an increased interest in history and pressure to take high-level courses. Most teachers, though, were happy to see the influx of students.

According to history department head Jennifer Morrill, APUSH teachers have been working to create courses that “pull more students in.”

“I hope, and I think the goal of the teachers is, to make the course more rigorous, but also more accessible to as many students as possible,” she said.

The AP Scholars program, for example, identifies ACP students who have either signed up for an AP class but might struggle in it, or who did not initially sign up for the class but might succeed.

The program, founded in 2010, provides summer work and extra study sessions.

But APUSH teacher Jon Greiner said this program was not responsible for the entire increase.

Both Morrill and APUSH teacher Michael Kozuch acknowledged that peer pressure to take difficult courses could also have contributed.

The first time Jenna* tried Vicodin, it didn’t work.

She was 15 at the time, a freshman at South who was “bored and was trying to find a way to get f*cked up.” Her mom had recently undergone surgery, and the Vicodin painkillers, made from an opioid called hydrocodone, were lying around the house.

She took a couple pills. Nothing happened.

“I told my friend, and she was like ‘Oh, no. You have to take at least three, and then drink a little bit, and then you’ll feel [it],’” she said.

A week later, Jenna

APUSH, 17

got together with her friend and tried again. This time, she felt it.

“I have flashes from the night, but I just remember being completely unable to control my body,” she said.

“I was just kind of lying there, and it felt like I was in and out of the moment, like ‘Whoa.’ And I liked it, in a weird way. It kind of was scary, but I liked it at the same time, and I ended up doing it again because it just kind of took me away, let me escape from reality.”

OPIOIDS, 4

#NSHSPRI ILEGE priv · i · lege (n.): a special right, advantage or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people

a new project from the South publications

See

Centerfold and

nshsdenebola.com/privilege By Nathaniel Bolter and David Li

photo illustration by Veronica Podolny

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

the results are in

Auchincloss in, Johnson out.

Newton decides on aldermen, School Committee and Charter Commission.

3

taking to the stars

Why the United States has a moral imperative to explore the known universe.

9

hey, we’re winning!

The football team beats Haverhill in the latest milestone of its recordbreaking season.

22

NEWS 2 EDITORIALS 6 OPINIONS 8 CENTERFOLd 12 FEATURES 16 Fun Page 20 SPORTS 21

NEWS page 2|november 6, 2015|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM

NEWS@thelionsroar.com|VOLUME 32, ISSUE 4

SOUTH

Board to vote on MCAS, PARCC

SPOTS information on school events compiled by Roar editors

Empty Bowls

This charity event benefiting the Newton Food Pantry will take place on November 12 at 5 p.m. in the student center This collaboration between ceramics and cooking classes costs $10, for which attendees will receive a ceramic bowl and soup. The jazz ensemble will perform at the event

‘Big Dream’ Event

This event, encouraging girls to pursue careers in STEM, will take place in the Druker Auditorium at the Newton Free Library from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. on November 14 Attendees will meet with female scientists and engineers, then watch ‘Big Dream,’ a new film about the challenges women face in the stem professions

Frosh Play

South Stage freshmen will perform ‘Out There’ from November 19 to 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lab Theatre

Directed by Jeff Knoedler, the performance will consist of a collection of short plays

photo by Bailey Kroner

Carina Ramos Sr. News Editor

Since adopting the Common Core educational standards in the fall of 2011, Massachusetts has sought to determine which test — MCAS or PARCC — best assesses these standards. In the coming weeks, Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell Chester will officially reccomend a test, and on Nov. 17, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) will vote on which test to administer.

But recently, Chester introduced a third possibility: a combination of MCAS and PARCC in a new, state-specific test dubbed “MCAS 2.0.”

Massachusetts began developing MCAS as part of its 1993 Education Reform Act and has been administering the test for 17 years. The test is periodically revised to reflect changes to the statewide curriculum, including in 2010, when the the curriculum was realigned to match the Common Core.

According to BESE Media Coordinator Jacqueline Reis, Chester thinks the current MCAS “has reached a point of diminishing return. ... The reason we joined PARCC was because we were interested building a nextgeneration assessment.”

While the computer-based PARCC test may allow for more innovative and interactive questions, some districts have run into logistical problems.

“I do find it problematic that the state continues to ask us to do things that are pretty expensive and not providing resources to offset costs,” Assistant Superintendent of

Teaching and Learning Mary Eich said.

The PARCC test emphasizes critical thinking and explanation of process, more so than the MCAS does. Though students may not be comfortable with these types of questions yet, Reis said, they are designed to gauge readiness for the real world.

“In college, and in the workplace, they’re going to ask you to consider several different viewpoints and come up with a recommendation, or a math problem isn’t going

“I don’t know that accepting an inadequate solution because you already paid for it is the best idea ... I think you could say that we could do better” -Jamie Rinaldi, history teacher to look like a math problem — it’s going to look like a word problem with several steps,” she said. “[PARCC questions are] closer to real life than perhaps we had previously.”

This concept, however, is not suited to standardized tests, according to history teacher and high-stakes standardized testing opponent Jamie Rinaldi. “[PARCC] also has its own internal contradiction in that it talks about expanding critical thinking opportunities, but then says they’ll be measured on a one-size-fits-all standardized test,” he said. “I don’t know that accepting an inadequate solution because you already paid for it is the best idea. I think

that that’s sort of cynical. I think you could say that we could do better.”

The controversy over PARCC and MCAS led Chester to broach MCAS 2.0, a test based off of MCAS that incorporates the work Massachusetts educators have done to develop PARCC questions.

Throughout deliberations, Chester has expressed concerns about maintaing local control over education. A group called End Common Core Massachusetts is petitioning for 100,000 signatures to add a referendum on Massachusetts Common Core standards to the 2016 presidential ballot.

“Even if you’re not necessarily for [Common Core] or against it, we believe in getting the signatures in order to get the question on the ballot because we believe people should be able to have a say in determining what educational standards Massachusetts has,” advocate and member of Newton’s Republican City Committee Joshua Norman said.

Also turning to legislative action, the Massachusetts Teachers Association has proposed a bill that would suspend the high-stakes aspect of standardized testing for three years — eliminating MCAS’ graduation requirement, delaying the implementation of PARCC if applicable and divorcing test results from teacher evaluations.

“We’ve had such an intense conversation in this state and in this country about high-stakes standardized testing,” Rinaldi said. “Let’s pause for a moment and assess what we really believe and then move forward, rather than constantly trying to build on a foundation that sometimes feels faulty to begin with.”

Construction begins on tennis courts Jake Rong

Sr. News Editor As part of Mayor Setti Warren’s Capital Improvement Plan, construction has begun on new Brandeis Rd. tennis courts. Work began on Oct. 20 and the courts will be closed until July 2016.

The state of the courts had been under discussion for many months. Last fall, representatives from South, Newton’s Department

of Parks and Recreation and the mayor’s office reached an agreement for the city to renovate the courts. The plan was approved by the Board of Aldermen in September and will cost $726,975.

The courts last underwent renovations of this scale in 1995. According to Athletic Director Patricia Gonzalez, “they were way overdue for a total repair.” The construction will repair cracks and water damage, as well as adding a walkway, benches, a water foun-

tain and a shade structure. Because of space constraints, however, no new courts will be added to the existing 12.

Although several students said they are excited about the new courts, their temporary closure presents a problem for those who use them in the spring. “There’s a lot of burden on the coaches and the captains to start thinking about finding other courts that we’re going to play on during the season,” girls tennis captain and senior Sasha Badov said.

november 6, 2015|page 3

THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|NEWS

ELECTION 2015 School Committee Charter Commission Ellen P. Gibson Margaret Albright Angela Pitter Wright Diana Fisher Gomberg Steven Siegel Ruth Goldman Matthew Hills Margie Ross Decter

Ward 1 Ward 2 Ward 3 Ward 4 Ward 5 Ward 6 Ward 7 Ward 8

Bryan Barash Jane Frantz Rhanna Kidwell Josh Krintzman Howard Haywood

Anne Larner Brooke Lipsitt Karen Manning Chris Steele

Board of Aldermen President: Scott Lennon Vice President: Cheryl Lappin President Emeritus: R. Lisle Baker Clerk: David Olson Scott F. Lennon Allan L. Ciccone, Jr. Alison Leary Jacob D. Auchincloss Susan Albright Emily Norton Ted Hess-Mahan James R. Cote Barbara Brousal-Glaser Leonard J. Gentile Amy Mah Sangiolo John W. Harney Brian E. Yates Deborah J. Crossley John B. Rice Victoria Danberg Gregory Schwartz Richard B. Blazar Ruthanne Fuller Marc C. Laredo R. Lisle Baker David A. Kalis Richard A. Lipof Cheryl Lipof Lappin

Alderman-at-Large, Ward 1 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 1 Ward Alderman, Ward 1 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 2 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 2 Ward Alderman, Ward 2 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 3 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 3 Ward Alderman, Ward 3 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 4 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 4 Ward Alderman, Ward 4 Alderman-at-large, Ward 5 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 5 Ward Alderman, Ward 5 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 6 Alderman-at-large, Ward 6 Ward Alderman, Ward 6 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 7 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 7 Ward Alderman, Ward 7 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 8 Alderman-at-Large, Ward 8 Ward Alderman, Ward 8

photos by Sophia Fisher and Alexa Rhynd

Top: Sign-bearers outside a polling location on Nov. 3. Bottom, left and center: Ward 2 Alderman-at-Large candidate Jake Auchincloss and School Committee member Margaret Albright speak at a showcase on Oct. 4. Bottom right: Charter Commission candidate Bryan Barash speaks at an open house on Oct. 25.

Auchincloss elected, commission formed Jake Rong

Sr. News Editor On Tuesday, Newton residents went to the polls to decide the city’s leadership.

Unofficial results as of Wednesday night are as follows:

Board of Aldermen Challenger Jake Auchincloss and incumbent Susan Albright emerged triumphant from the first contested Ward 2 Alderman-at-Large race in a decade, which pitted the two against 16-year incumbent Marcia Johnson and challenger Lynne LeBlanc and attracted the most attention of any race this season.

Albright received 5,370 votes, Auchincloss received 4,797 votes, Johnson received 4,328 and LeBlanc received 3,488.

“I’m going to be a data-driven, pragmatic city councilor,” Auchincloss said. “I am not going to come to any of these disputes with an eye toward internal politics or with an eye toward ideology. I’m just going to listen to voters and to experts.”

Incumbent aldermen prevailed in all other contests.

In Ward 3, Ted Hess-Mahan and James Cote were re-elected. Hess-Mahan received 5,455 votes and Cote received 4,503 votes, narrowly defeating challenger Julia Malakie, who received 4,409.

In Ward 5, Aldermen Brian Yates and Deborah Crossley were re-elected with 5,342 votes and 5,503 votes, respectively. Challenger Christopher Pitts received 3,754 votes.

In Ward 8, Aldermen David Kalis and Richard Lipof were re-elected with 5,766 votes and 5,490 votes. Challenger Frank

Wolpe received only 2,299.

School Committee Challengers Cyrus Vaghar and Susan Huffman were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempts to unseat incumbents Margaret Albright and Steve Siegel in Wards 2 and 5, respectively.

In Ward 2, Albright had been widely expected to win. She received 5,821 votes to Vaghar’s 1,570 . Vaghar, a ’15 North graduate, said he would consider running again in 2017.

“Running at 18 years old ... you have to prove yourself a lot more than a lot of the other candidates,” Vaghar said. “I think I never really stood a great chance, but still, to come away with 21 percent is a huge accomplishment, and it sets the stage for two years for a big election.”

In Ward 5, Siegel received 4,889 votes while Huffman received 2,338.

Charter Commission A majority voted to form a nine-member commission to review the city charter.

Of 22 candidates, the nine elected were Bryan Barash, Jane Frantz, Rhanna Kidwell, Josh Krintzman, Howard Haywood, Anne Larner, Brooke Lipsitt, Karen Manning and Chris Steele.

The commission will recommend revisions to Newton’s charter, which voters will then approve or disapprove in 2017. A public hearing about the charter will be held before the end of this year.

Potential areas for review include the size of the Board of Aldermen, its members’ term limits and term lengths and the role of the mayor.

page 4|November 6, 2015

News|THELIONSROAR.COM|THE LION’S ROAR

photo illustration by Shelley Friedland

ing to special proteins in the brain called “opioid receptors,” but in doing so, release the chemical dopamine responsible for “It’s so good to feel nothing, really. You feelings of pleasure. Users associate these kind of just disappear and you’re not really feelings with the drug, making opioids highly worried about anything. You don’t really addictive. Moreover, many users who begin think about all the problems or all the consewith prescription pills eventually transition quences, you’re just in the moment, enjoying to heroin, which is cheaper and more widely the feeling. For the most part — sometimes available. According to the American Society it can get you sick — it’s a really comforting of Addiction Medicine, 75 percent of painfeeling, almost like a warm blanket, I guess.” killer addicts make the switch.

But sometimes Jenna did get sick. She Opioids in any form are especially would take perc 30s, a potent drug derived dangerous because, unlike many other drugs, from the painkiller oxycodone, and spend the the difference between the dosage needed high vomiting uncontrollably. If she binged to get high and the dosage that causes an on pills one weekend, she would feel sick if “We have a crisis with substance overdose is slim.

Any opioid user is walking she didn’t do the same next weekend. What abuse,” state Senator Cynthia Creem said. a fine line between the thrill of the high and had started as experimentation was quickly “It is a public health issue, and as such, we are death by hypoxia.

Between 2001 and 2013, as consuming her life. looking for ways to deal with it to see if we they have become more widely available in Jenna didn’t stick with just Vicodin can intervene, or somehow do something so the United States, yearly deaths from opioid for long; the pill-alcohol combination made that we can help people and bring down the painkillers have increased threefold; from it labor-intensive and inconvenient, a drug cost that we have been spending on dealing heroin, fivefold. that was impossible to use at school. Soon, with this issue.”

In 2014, five people died from opioid Jenna was regularly using a cocktail of difoverdoses in Newferent opioids, includton, and according ing Vicodin, Percocet to Newton Health "So I think a conversation that sort of and OxyContin, her & Human Services drug of choice and shares some facts and asks some questions, Commissioner Debothe most easily accesand opens the door for someone to be able to rah Youngblood, that sible of the three. She say ...

‘Maybe I need help, maybe this is an issue number may be unlooked for “anything derreported. “So if I for me’ — I think that that is valuable." that would get me were someone who high” and found ben- Deborah Youngblood, Health & Human Service Commis sioner wanted to wager a zodiazepines (“benguess, I might say that zos”) — psychoactive there were more than drugs like Xanax.

Yet even as most of the heroin and the those.

But those are the confirmed ones,” she “The mental addiction was beyond my majority of the deaths remain confined to said.

“We know anecdotally from our first control at that point,” she said. more urban areas, the opioid crisis touches responders — police, fire and ambulance — Even in Newton, these drugs were Newton, too. As this bill makes its way that there’s an uptick in opioid related calls.” everywhere. They came from dealers, from through the legislative processes, city officials In response to the regional epidemic, her boyfriend who was also a user, from kids and former users alike have said more must all Newton Public Schools now carry Narcan, who pilfered from a parent’s prescription. be done to combat an epidemic that continues also known as Naloxone, a drug used to treat As Jenna grew more and more depen- to gain momentum. opioid overdoses in the same way an EpiPen dent on these drugs, her family and friends “Opioid” refers to any drug, natural tried to intervene, bringing her to therapy or synthetic, that acts like an opiate, a drug would treat an allergic reaction.

“No school is immune to drug and support groups, but nothing seemed to derived from opium poppy seeds. While help. She was depressed, miserable. She didn’t this classification includes illegal substances issues,” Principal Joel Stembridge said. “It’s feel comfortable with reality. Her thoughts like heroin, it also applies to many popular not a poor issue or a rich issue. It’s an terrified her. painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin that issue for all kids and it’s something In the spring of 2014, Jenna entered are chemically similar to heroin and can be we all need to participate in. We can’t detox. abused in the same way.

“It was just getting so out of hand, These prescription drugs are organized pretend like it doesn’t happen, because in different categories depending on chemi- it does, and we have to talk about it and literally destroying my life.” cal composition. There are hydrocodones, educate and deal with it as it happens.” *** In 2012, 668 people died in Massachu- like Vicodin; oxycodones, like Percocet and *** After detox, Jenna entered a 90-day setts from opioid overdoses. In 2014, that Oxycontin; morphines; and codeines.

These opioids relieve pain by attach- rehab program, and although she was sober, number was 1,256.

OPIOIDS, from 1

In an effort to combat the growing epidemic, the Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed a bill on Oct. 1 that would, among other measures, mandate screenings for drug use in all Massachusetts public school districts. The screenings would be confidential conversations between the student and a school nurse or health official to inform, gauge vulnerability and refer the student to treatment if necessary. The bill has now gone to the the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where it may be combined with a larger package proposed by Governor Charlie Baker’s administration.

256

deaths from opioid ovedoses in massachusetts in 2014

Massachusetts has spent over

2012

2014

Overdoses in MA doubled

$150 million dealing with the opioid epidemic

November 6, 2015|page 5

THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|NEWS

she didn’t feel like anything had changed.

It all seemed surreal to her, the detox, the rehab — like she was living a life that wasn’t her own. She resented the efforts to make her quit and rejected every form of therapy.

“I was just like ‘I don’t care, I don’t care, I hate everything, I hate everyone, I hate this world,’ I was just the most pessimistic person ever. And then when I got sent away to this therapeutic boarding school, it was the hardest thing of my life,” she said.

At the boarding school, Jenna gradually began to care again. Worse than the pains of withdrawal — chills, aches, sickness — was what she called “the lasting pain,” the damage she had inflicted upon her friends, her family and, ultimately, herself.

“Eventually I realized, ‘This is not my parents’ fault. This is my fault. My actions got me here, and I’m going to end up in places like these my whole life, if not jail or more detoxes or anything, you know, if I keep using,’” she said. “And I was just like ‘I don’t want that for myself.’ I thought of all the things I want. Like, I want to have this pet when I grow older — like, little simple things just to get through it.”

Jenna is sober now and out of boarding school. Opioids, she said, have no appeal to her anymore, now that she knows the damage they can do. When she began using OxyContin and other painkillers, she didn’t realize they were chemically similar to heroin.

Yet even if she had, she wouldn’t have cared.

“I don’t know how to explain it.

You don’t have fear. You’re just like ‘I’m f*cked up. That’s all that matters.’ You

don’t want to think about anything bad. You don’t really think at all, to be honest,” she said.

But in some cases, education can be an effective means of prevention. Cecilia,* who left South for a boarding school in 2013, tried OxyContin twice at the beginning of her junior year, and, unlike Jenna, said that more information could have discouraged her from using the drug in the first place.

“Honestly I wasn’t really that knowledgeable about it, which sounds really stupid now that I say that, but I honestly didn’t know that much about it,” she said. “Knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have done it, just because I didn’t know how similar it was to heroin.”

***

The screenings proposed by the bill — formally called Screenings, Brief Intervention, Referral and Treatment (SBIRT) — consist of a questionnaire intended to provide “positive reinforcement for those who aren’t drinking or using other drugs, brief interventions to bring about behavior change for those who have experimented, and more in-depth counseling and referral to treatment for those who exhibit very risky behavior,” according to a summary of the program provided by Senator Creem. The state’s Department of Public Health would determine which grades to screen.

The summary also notes that “9 in 10 adults who meet the medical criteria for addiction began using substances before they were 18.”

“I personally think that any conversation with young people about drug use that’s done in a respectful and thoughtful way is useful. Because I think there’s lots of different things that can go into people making decisions in their lives, and information is one of them,” Youngblood said.

“So I think a conversation that sort of shares some facts and asks some questions, and opens the door for someone to be able to say, perhaps earlier than they might have said otherwise, ‘Maybe I need help, maybe this is an issue for me’ — I think that that is valuable.”

Students or their parents can choose to opt out of SBIRT, which is already offered in health centers across Massachusetts, New York and New Mexico, and students are not required to answer all the questions. The responses to the screenings would never be used to punish students, and the conversation would remain entirely confidential unless there appears to be an “imminent danger,” in which case the student’s parents would be contacted.

According to Cecilia, while students would benefit from more education about the implications of drugs like opioids, the screenings might not be the right format.

“I think informational sessions — so kids know the facts, like what it does, what it can do, ... how it can harm you, and it has harmed people like this — give them the information and let them do what they will with it,” she said. “I feel like that could be kind of intimidating, to have a nurse drill you. I just don’t know if that would work, if a kid would really just open up.”

Stembridge said he too was concerned with how the school would convey that the program intends to help students, not punish them.

“If a student were to say, ‘Yeah, I’d like some help,’ where does that information go?

How do students know that information is not going to go to they don’t want it to go.

How do they know that it’s not going to get them in trouble with the school, how do they know that people are not going to then think of them differently, how do they know that it’s not going to go to college recommendations?” he said. “We would want our student

body to feel like it was a support and not a ‘gotcha.’”

In a May 2015 pilot program of 218 ninth graders in Northampton, 14 students received a “brief intervention,” four were referred to “in-school counseling,” and 195 received “information and/or positive reinforcement” according to materials provided

by Senator Creem.

Even if the screenings fail to identify users, Youngblood said they may succeed in starting a conversation about how to better

9 in 10 DRUG-addicted adults begIn using before age 18

teach students about drugs.

“The way ... the substance abuse curriculum is set up, it comes early in high school,” she said. “By the time there is a more likelihood of drug experimentation, that feels like it was kind of a long time ago, and some of it is lost in the fog,” she said.

“I think public awareness is huge, just to shine a light on the crisis,” Pre-

vention and Intervention Counselor Brian DeLeskey said.

***

But according to both DeLeskey and school nurse Gail Kramer, prevention at the user level avoids the source of the problem: the prescriptions themselves.

Between 1999 and 2010, on the back of an aggressive marketing campaign by pharmaceutical companies, sales of opioid painkillers quadrupled. In 2012, 259 million prescriptions of these drugs were written, amounting to 18 billion pills — enough for a bottle for every adult American.

“Instead of doctors giving you three or four days’ worth, they’ll give you a lot more than you need, and with those extra pills, they are finding that’s one instance where people have been becoming addicted,” Kramer said.

The Baker administration’s omnibus bill includes a provision that would prevent doctors from prescribing more than a 72hour supply of opioids to a first-time user, but the legislation faces opposition from various interest groups, including the American Medical Association.

In Newton, too, the gears of bureaucracy are beginning to turn.

Youngblood is in the process of forming a Newton-based opioid task force that will combine government and school officials, first responders, police and mental health professionals. The group, which Youngblood expects will first meet sometime in November, will seek to assess the extent of the opioid crisis in Newton and explore community models to combat its influence, focusing on education and prevention.

The task force will also draw on ideas from neighboring towns like Gloucester, where the police chief has promised to refrain from charging addicts who turn in their remaining drugs and equipment and instead will refer them to treatment.

But with opioids, reason can disappear once the descent into addiction begins.

“I would set boundaries,” Jenna said.

“I was like, ‘I’m never going to touch this drug, this drug and this drug.’ And before I knew it I was using whatever pills, and then like, ‘Ok, now I’m never going to touch this drug, never going to get high off of it by snorting it,’ and just you set all these lines that you end up crossing because over time, it’s just, you don’t care. You just want it. You don’t care, whatever way you can get high, you’ll get high.” *Names changed to protect students’ identities

75 PERCENT of pREScription opioid addicts switch to heroin as a cheaper alternative

sources of information: American Society of Addiction Medicine, Boston Magazine, Senator Cynthia Creem

EDITORIALS page 6|november 6, 2015|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM

EDITORIALS@thelionsroar.com|VOLUME 32, ISSUE 4

the CAT’S

MEOW All the news that’s fit to print ... and then some!

Hayes to be 1S1B speaker Principal Stole Jembridge announced Friday that former president Rutherford B. Hayes will be next year’s One School One Book speaker.

Jembridge had initially announced that former president William Howard Taft would do the honors; unfortunately, Taft could not fit through the door.

School Committee Chair Matt Mountains explained that “it would not be fiscally responsible to fund the construction of a special entrance. Trade-offs, trade-offs, trade-offs.”

Class Office Scandal Using a private email account, senior class officer Krill Kardigan has been siphoning off prom money to a slush fund, investigators say. Kardigan allegedly had been using the money to fund espionage in the junior class office headquarters.

Kardigan allegedly sold the videos of junior class office meetings to the Iranians in exchange for money to fund contras in Newton North. To prevent prosecution, Kardigan allegedly used his influence to pack the School Committee with six more members who would not challenge his actions.

After protests erupted demanding his resignation, Kardigan allegedly consolidated his power by appealing to a “moral majority” of scabs led by South’s resident conservative.

Kardigan is now allegedly spearheading a campaign to defund Sex Ed. in the school.

“That depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is,” Kardigan said in an email response when asked to comment.

Enemies of the heir, beware A freshman accidentally discovered South’s mythical swimming pool behind the mural in the library.

The student, Tom Puzzles, was practicing his Parseltongue with the Cutler House elf, Bobby, in the quiet study area when he heard a grating sound from above.

The mural swung open, revealing an Olympic-size swimming pool guarded by a basilisk.

“I was really taken aback at first, but I quickly took out my phone and searched ‘basilisk’ on ABC-Clio, just as the librarians taught me,” Puzzles said.“Bobby died, but at least I correctly cited my sources!”

The swimming pool is now being used as a meeting place for Stembridge’s Army.

In with the old and out with the new; keep the MCAS as state exam

On Nov. 17 the Massachusetts Board of Education will vote to adopt a standardized test for spring 2016.

Most expected Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell Chester to endorse the PARCC test over the MCAS, but on Oct. 19 he suggested that the state might instead adopt “MCAS 2.0,” a vague brainchild that would incorporate elements of both PARCC and MCAS. Massachusetts should continue to administer the MCAS as its official state exam for reasons of both practicality and content.

The MCAS, a handwritten exam, is simply more convenient for the school as a whole.

The PARCC exam poses logistical problems, as it would require South to obtain 450 computers on testing days, a procedural and financial nightmare.

Furthermore, PARCC prevents students who are not taking the exam from using school computers during the day, which can make it harder for both students and teachers to work productively.

Computer bugs and other technical difficulties could also cause delays.

The use of computers poses a particular challenge in the math section; students have been frustrated with the difficulty of learning to type out equations and mathematical expressions.

Students do not learn to do

teachers have become accustomed to preparing students for the exam.

PARCC has also drawn widespread criticism for its often counterintuitive test questions as well as its partnerships with large technology companies. Several Roar members who took the PARCC test two years ago reported that the exam

But given that the main purpose of standardized tests is to evaluate schools, PARCC would ultimately fall short of its objective. math on computers, so why should students be expected to succeed at it during a timed high-stakes test?

MCAS avoids all of these issues and has little potential for logistical challenges.

In addition, the transition from the MCAS to PARCC would force both students and teachers to relearn how to prepare for the exam.

Several students who have taken both tests said the MCAS content seemed to correlate more with the school curriculum, and

tested them on their individual critical reasoning skills instead of measuring how well they had been taught. Given that one of the main purposes of standardized testing is to evaluate schools, PARCC would ultimately fall short of its objective.

Massachusetts should not implement PARCC: it simply has too many logistical and technical problems, and does not accurately assess school systems. MCAS has worked fine in our state for the past two decades. Let’s not fix what isn’t broken.

Letter to the Editor I was deeply offended by the editorial piece of Oct. 9, 2015.

This piece attacked my reputation as one of the officers of the Newton Villages Alliance, when it said that “the NVA and its supporters ... never articulate the real reason for their passionate opposition: Affordable housing brings the ‘wrong’ kind of people to Newton.”

The NVA has never said anything against diversity of people: On the contrary, we fight to keep the modest homes that exist in the city. We fight to keep units with lower rents from being replaced by luxury units. To insinuate the contrary in print without a shred of evidence is offensive and malicious.

If your Editors-in-Chiefs had had the courtesy of talking with any of the NVA officers before writing their editorial, they would have been told that the neighborhood “character” we want to protect has nothing to do with the kind of people who live there. It has everything to

do with the architecture and the history of the neighborhood.

If they had been present at any Newton Historical Commission meetings, where demolitions of buildings older than 50 years old are discussed, they would have heard the term “neighborhood character” meaning historical/architectural context.

I understand how someone who is not familiar with the work of the Historical Commission might possibly misinterpret the meaning of the word “character.”

However, a good journalist checks facts and takes the trouble of making a couple of phone calls. A good journalist does not makes accusations that dirty someone’s reputation: accusing us of not wanting “undesirables” is going too far.

- Isabelle Albeck Waban Director, Newton Villages Alliance

Editorial Policy The Lion’s Roar, founded in 1984, is the student newspaper of Newton South High School, acting as a public forum for student views and attitudes.

The Lion’s Roar’s right to freedom of expression is protected by the Massachusetts Student Free Expression Law (Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 71, Section 82). All content decisions are made by student editors, and the content of The Lion’s Roar in no way reflects the official policy of Newton South, its faculty, or its administration. Editorials are the official opinion of The Lion’s Roar, while opinions and letters are the personal viewpoints of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Lion’s Roar. The Lion’s Roar reserves the right to edit all submitted content, to reject advertising copy for resubmission of new copy that is deemed acceptable by student editors, and to make decisions regarding the submission of letters to the editors, which are welcomed.

The Lion’s Roar is printed by Seacoast Newspapers and published every four weeks by Newton South students. All funding comes from advertisers and subscriptions.

In-school distribution of The Lion’s Roar is free, but each copy of the paper shall cost one dollar for each copy more than ten (10) that is taken by any individual or by many individuals on behalf of a single individual. Violation of this policy shall constitute theft.

november 6, 2015|page 7

THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|DESK

How ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ has kept EDITOR’S me sane during the college process DESK from the

Nathaniel Bolter Editor-in-Chief

(Note to the reader: Here we go, the obligatory November issue Editor’s Desk about college. Bear with me.)

As I make my way through this tortured, four-month marathon of masochism we call the first half of senior year, I find myself clinging to my childhood. No, more than that — I’ve been returning to my childhood.

I’ve started watching baseball games again this postseason (even though the Red Sox failed to make the playoffs), finding comfort in the grace and the stillness.

I recently read through each of my “Calvin and Hobbes” collections (i.e. every “Calvin and Hobbes” collection). There are little jokes I must have missed as a kid (unless I somehow knew the words “jejune” and “titillating” at age eight), details in the art I must have overlooked as I scanned the page for the punch line.

I’m not the only one retreating into the past at the very moment I ought to be looking toward the future. My friend and coeditor (mostly just coeditor) Shelley has spent the beginning of senior year rereading “Harry Potter.” She’s 100 pages into book six now and remembering just how much the movies got wrong.

Veronica, with whom I share this space,

has been trying to relearn her Russian, which she realized had fallen into disuse.

Denebola Editor-in-Chief and senior Facebook name connoisseur RZ Ren recently watched an entire episode of “The Fairly OddParents” on YouTube.

This behavior could probably be attributed to the looming change on the horizon. Poised to disconnect from our parents, our hometown, our childhood homes, we cling to it all ever more tightly.

Every college essay moves us closer to leaving behind the people we’ve been and the people we’ve known for the past 17 or 18 years, and that’s scary.

This explanation is probably more true than I’d like to admit. I’ve spent more time reminiscing this year than I’ve spent discussing my top colleges, and family photo albums have more appeal than Fiske’s.

I think my sister is experiencing the same phenomenon as she approaches her senior year of college, unsure where she’ll land next year. We spent the majority of one of her visits home perusing our old schoolwork that had been moldering away in the basement.

(We discovered that in sixth grade, she was made to write a report on “Why Africa is Poor.” Yes, seriously. Middle school was weird.)

But the baseball and the “Calvin and

Hobbes,” the “Harry Potter,” the Russian, the “Fairly OddParents” — I don’t think you can chalk all this up to nostalgia.

I most frequently turn to “Calvin and Hobbes” when I’m frustrated with college essays, and when I do, it’s not to reminisce — it’s to try to feel like myself again.

We all know the college application process is dehumanizing. There’s the accepted depravity of adding up your worth in SAT scores; the activities you labor over become bullet points; hundreds of homework assignments and class periods are reduced to a single letter.

But I didn’t understand until now that the essays are the most dehumanizing of all the hoops you’re forced to jump through. Ostensibly an opportunity to tell the admissions officer about “who you are,” the essays instantly become a test with “you” as the subject.

And so you begin the impossible task of transcribing yourself onto paper, through a single event maybe, perhaps taking something seemingly insignificant (and actually insignificant, too, more likely than not) and finding the earth-shattering meaning of it all.

These essays become an exercise as high-stakes as standardized testing. Each word is a bubble on a Scantron; every sentence is either right or wrong.

This fall, I spent a remarkable chunk

of time thinking about the words “ass” and “crotch.” I had used each word in the first draft of my common app essay — the latter in the first sentence, referring to a rude gesture from former Red Sox player Jonathan Papelbon — but my mom and my aunt, two of my proofreaders, objected.

They thought the reader would typecast me as a vulgar teenage boy; the admissions officer might question my judgment.

Being as stubborn as I am, I struggled with this decision for about a month.

Of course, I knew my mom and my aunt were right — two felicitous words were not worth risking my chances of admission — but deleting them felt like a betrayal. Because that’s who I am. I’m the person who will use the right word regardless because I think decorum is usually bullshit.

But on a college application, where every word counts, I’m not allowed to be that person because unfortunately, there probably are some unnecessarily vulgar people out there, and I’ll bet they swear on their college essays, too. Who’s to say I’m not one of them?

So I revert to the almost-me, the scrubbed-clean, Facebook-profile, Instagram-filtered person who doesn’t really exist at all. And I revisit “Calvin and Hobbes” to remind myself that I’m here, that I’m real and that I’m worth something, too.

Volume XXXII The Lion’s Roar Newton South High School’s Student Newspaper 140 Brandeis Road Newton, MA 02459 srstaff@thelionsroar.com

Editors-in-Chief Nathaniel Bolter

Veronica Podolny

Managing Editors Sophia Fisher

Shelley Friedland

Section Editors Opinions

Features

Maia Fefer Andrea Lirio Karin Alsop

Centerfold

News

David Li Carina Ramos Jake Rong Sophie Lu

Mona Baloch Emily Belt

Business Manager Andrew Fu

Graphics Managers Sophie Galowitz Celine Yung

Aidan Bassett Clare Martin Ben Rabin

Sports

Noah Shelton

Distribution Manager Daniel Morris

Faculty Advisers Ashley Elpern Ryan Normandin

Webmaster Sasha Badov

Photo Managers Alexa Rhynd Bailey Kroner

OPINIONS page 8|november 6, 2015|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM

Opinions@thelionsroar.com|VOLUME 32, ISSUE 4

Perspectives:

Social media: a tool or a trap?

photo illustration by Kiana Lee

it’s a tool

it’s a trap

by risa gelles-watnick

S

ocial media has become such an integral part of our lives that it is hard to imagine a world without it.

How would we make snap judgments about people if not for Facebook?

How would we show off our apple-picking exploits if not through Instagram?

Social media has profoundly affected our culture, sometimes for the worse, but on the whole it has improved everything from personal relationships to entrepreneurship to social activism.

One of social media’s main advantages is that it allows people to easily communicate across long distances. Whether through Skype or Facebook, people can engage in long distance relationships through conversations much more intimate than phone calls. Video chats make communication less formal and more personal than phone calls do.

While some say that social media apps distract from human interaction, a conversation on Skype is no less “human” than one in person.

Older generations have unfairly labeled Facebook messaging and Snapchat as inferior to face-to-face interactions; however, social media in no way ruins a relationship when, for example, it lets me talk to my sister, who’s at college, at 1 a.m. Social media does not undermine all human interaction when it connects me to my friend who moved away in sixth grade.

Although people claim that social media conversations lack the best qualities of “real-life” conversations, the two forms often do not differ. One is simply more

traditional than the other, but both are effective.

Social media also enables artists to share their work with audiences across the world. Aspiring singers can post their songs on YouTube and attract thousands of fans. Painters can display their works on Instagram and gain support to start a business. So many budding stars have social media to thank for their rise to fame.

More importantly, social media can lead to positive change in the world. Many charities use social media to rally online support for a fundraiser or to showcase their work to potential donors. Social media has enabled a larger audience — especially teenagers — to explore new ways of volunteering and contributing to society.

Over the past few years, social media has given social activists a platform to air their grievances. In light of the recent police shootings, social media has become more valuable in holding those in power accountable for their actions.

Videos posted on Facebook and Twitter have prompted discussions on how racism still permeates modern culture, as #blacklivesmatter and #icantbreathe trended on Twitter. These hashtags allowed for the organization of protests that garnered national attention and spread the protesters’ message.

Whether you’re an activist, a startup executive, a college student away from home or just someone with friends, social media has undoubtedly changed your personal life and the society you live in for the better.

by rhea dudani

I

have an account on nearly every social media site out there, so I speak from experience when I say that while social media helps you stay up to date with friends, schoolwork and current events, it is more harmful than helpful.

Many believe that because social media sites like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook facilitate connections with almost anyone, they make our generation the most social generation yet. Social media, however, involves less face-to-face communication, giving us a false sense of connection online.

In real-life conversation, body language, tone, hand gestures and facial expressions convey a person’s thoughts and emotions.

A keyboard, on the other hand, inhibits genuine and sincere communication; stickers and emojis, after all, have their limits. Social media sites impair our ability to differentiate between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world and those we form through technology.

Social media also impairs our social skills. For example, in awkward social situations, people tend to avoid conflict or discomfort by scrolling through their phones and checking social media.

Although these sites deceive us into feeling more informed, social and productive, they are, in fact, evil in their secret addictiveness. Two significant problems arise from social media addiction.

Much of the news that people read comes from social media websites. These

sites routinely publish misinformation, which we readily accept because we believe anything we read online is reliable.

The World Wide Web allows anyone to create a website or blog to share opinions — factual or not.

A recent thread on Facebook spread fear throughout the student body by pressuring users to copy and paste a message that would “ensure” their privacy.

Although this message was fake, many students believed it to be real. In this way, misinformation on social networking sites victimizes unsuspecting people.

While many also use social media for practical purposes, like keeping up with classes, clubs and extracurriculars, the sites distract users from both school work and other activities. Many studies have linked decreased productivity to social media. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter impede daily activities by breaking our concentration.

Today’s nonstop multitasking on social media actually wastes more time than it saves. The average attention span of a human being has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight seconds in 2013.

That’s one second less than the attention span of a goldfish.

While I am not advocating for completely abandoning technology, I do suggest that we check its power in our lives. Social media damages our brains and our lives, but we need not be goldfish.

Let’s tone down our social media use and increase our engagement in the real world.

november 6, 2015|page 9

THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|opinions

Foreign Policy, Part II Aidan Bassett

sr. opinions editor

Political positions

T

A call for increased American involvement in space exploration graphic by Alisa Kuklina

By Mikaeel Yunus

O

n a fine, sunny Florida day in February 2011, I witnessed the most magnificent spectacle I’ve ever seen.

Back then, I was just a lanky 12-year-old on vacation at SeaWorld, standing impatiently in line for a ride.

Suddenly, a great booming sound penetrated the atmosphere.

I looked up to scan the pristine blue sky whose perfection was marred by a thick orange streak and tried to identify the thunderous object which was tearing through the sky.

Though I did not fully understand it then, I was watching what would be the final launch of the space shuttle Discovery. All at once, I felt a surge of emotion — I was stupefied; I was proud; I felt patriotic. But most of all, I felt a surge of hope, that we, the people of the United States, will one day become the masters of the universe, exploring every corner of the galaxy, discovering every crevice of outer space.

Five months later, on July 21, I learned that the Space Shuttle program ended its 30-year history. All the hope I felt at SeaWorld turned into despair. I felt that all our progress — from the Mercury Program that initiated our exploration of space, to the Apollo Program that took us to the moon, tothe Space Shuttle Program that promised to take us beyond — had disappeared as if it had never existed. Thankfully, this despair did not last for long. In March 2013, SpaceX, a private space exploration corporation, became the first private company to dock a spacecraft with the International Space Station. NASA, SpaceX and Boeing have all been collaborating to make next-generation spacecraft such as the CST-100 “space taxi,” which is designed to take astronauts to the International Space Station using completely automated space flight. There is no doubt that these three organizations will also create the spacecraft that will take humankind all the way to Mars.

The path has not yet been paved for us. Ever since these three organizations began their collaboration in September 2014, scientists and engineers have been working assiduously to expedite the process of landing man on Mars. Virtually everyone would agree that there is much work for us to do, and there are many obstacles for us to overcome.

We Americans have set the stage for the mission to Mars.

But we will certainly not get anywhere near our goals unless we support the efforts of our scientists and engineers to make these

next-generation spaceships. We are not in the midst of a Cold War, and although we do face fierce competition from Russia in the race to Mars, we Americans must be inspired from within.

It is imperative for us to rediscover our faustian urge to, in the words of “Star Trek,” explore “strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Only when we reassert our primal drive toward discovery and revelation will we truly achieve our destiny as masters of the universe.

Of course, abstract musings are not the only reasons we should be inspired to explore space. Every planet that we have encountered has mysteries hidden within.

Scientists have expanded their knowledge of the solar system immensely by landing spacecrafts on these planets. They have discovered what kind of atmosphere and soil each planet has.

They have made progress in answering questions about the solar system, like how it formed and whether extraterrestrial life could exist within it. In fact, NASA scientists have recently discovered the presence of water on Mars, an indication that the red planet could sustain life as well.

But this is not all — we should explore space not only to discover new frontiers, but also to access new resources and potentially save humankind from ultimate extinction. If we travel to planets and moons and discover their characteristics, we could possibly use their resources to save humanity in the event of a global crisis.

Exploring Mars would only be the first step in an endless conquest to explore this “final frontier.” There are many more worlds to explore. In the immortal words of Neil Armstrong, the mission to Mars will be “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Although this mission will be only a tiny leap relative to the size of the universe, our goal of exploring and understanding space cannot be achieved without it.

We stand at a critical moment. If we demonstrate our unwavering support for the mission to Mars and space exploration in general, we will soon be able to travel far beyond where our predecessors ever dreamt of going. If we do not seize this moment, we will spend the remainder of the 21st century asking ourselves why we sacrificed the opportunity to become the masters of the universe.

If we do not seize this moment, we will spend the remainder of the 21st century asking ourselves why we sacrificed the opportunity to become the masters of the universe.

he American government has time and again failed at broad initiatives of foreign policy because of its flawed guiding principles, as discussed in last issue’s column. More specifically, however, American foreign policy is failing in a place where extremism, war and chaos seemingly never end: the Middle East.

The current crisis capturing the media’s attention is the appalling Syrian refugee situation that threatens to engulf Europe.

America has been willing to accept many refugees, yet our response speaks yet again of the reactionary role the United States has in international geopolitics.

Having noted the pronounced failure of boots-on-the-ground military interventions, American politicians like President Obama are now more in favor of arming local or regional belligerents, and despite the conservative hawks encouraging renewed engagement in the foreign quagmire, there has been a switch to targeted drone strikes in place of actual combat. This shift, while desirable in most respects, comes as too little too late and fails to address the roots of the conflict.

Regional terrorist organizations have largely stemmed from a toxic combination of desperate poverty and constant instability that left the door open for their extremist religious fanaticism to flourish.

The idea of a universal “American cure” for the world’s problems is wildly self-aggrandizing and does nothing to acknowledge the maddening nuance of many sectarian conflicts in the Middle East, yet America can undoubtedly play a role in prioritizing human rights and justice in a region where tyrants often feel they can disregard such petty concerns with relative impunity.

To those who seek American strength globally, the ultimate key is not to exterminate the terrorist groups wreaking such havoc, but rather to make the region so prosperous, well-governed and stable that religious extremism no longer looks at all appealing to those otherwise caught up in its false promises.

Beyond merely infrastructure, education and stability, America can also prioritize the role coalitions play in any future intervention required of our military.

Drones may be the wave of the future, but we must make multilateral engagement the tsunami. As many politicians have asserted, America will best retain its position atop the global geopolitical hierarchy if we encourage our allies to act with us in our international endeavors. Reliance on coalitions would mean that we would often be forced to incorporate humanitarian considerations into our foreign actions.

Ultimately, America can most effectively expedite efforts toward the cliché yet still desirable concept of world peace by orienting our objectives to address the roots of serious problems before we deal with their results. Furthermore, our success cannot occur alone: We will be at our best when we act in concert with our allies. America must respond to crises like that of the Syrian refugees not with blazing guns but with open hearts, for the secret to every one of our greatest foreign policy decisions in our long American history is remarkably simple: empathy.

page 10|november 6, 2015

opinions|THELIONSROAR.com|THE LION’S ROAR

One Size Fits None

BY Cassandra luca Disclaimer: I have shopped at Brandy Melville only once in my life. I distinctly remember the hordes of girls snatching high-rise mini shorts and thighgrazing dresses. Although I picked up a few T-shirts, I was perplexed by the store’s one-size-fits-all policy. I left dissatisfied and haven’t returned since.

Having grown from one small store near the University of California, Los Angeles to nearly 20 outlets nationwide, Brandy Melville clearly appeals to girls my age. I’ll admit I find the store’s color palette of rose, beige and pale blue inviting and relaxing, a contrast to the unbearable black interior of Abercrombie & Fitch. But Brandy Melville sells more than clothes — it markets an idea, one that is readily accepted but rarely questioned: conformity. The company’s underlying business model follows that of the fashion industry at large.

Unfortunately, Brandy Melville’s policy legitimizes the idea that the worst thing one can do is be different. Despite Brandy Melville’s popularity, the company’s business model inspires a range of feelings from inadequacy to shame. Offering one-size-fits-all garments — which are more realistically size small — makes no sense. Some girls need a large in a garment while others need an extra-small; the policy further wrongly assumes that all girls who wear a certain size look the same — a common misconception.

At this juncture, Brandy Melville’s business practices become more nuanced.

Its success centers on the expectation that all girls wearing the extra-small fit into a tightly prescribed mold — the company’s Instagram suggests that the characteristics of this mold are blond, tall and very

skinny.

So what about the other girls who wear an extra-small but cannot change their black hair, short legs and scrawny frames? The extra-small size comes in multiple forms, some of which do not necessarily fit the “mold.” The issue about different body types is more complex than

extends the concept of conformity to an extreme, while other offenders within the industry focus on churning out large quantities of “fashionable” items nearly identical from brand to brand.

Brandy Melville might be the most obvious offender, but other companies popular among teenagers and young

photo illustration by Alexa Rhynd

small and large sizes. Brandy Melville not only promotes an ideal body image; it sells the notion that fitting in is the best possible thing to do. The one-size-fits-all idea is a microcosm of the fashion industry, which prizes uniformity among its models and customers. Brandy Melville merely

adults, including Forever 21 and H&M, market a specific, repeatable fashion to their consumers. Year after year, a leading fashion company labels an item as that season’s “must-have,” only to force its competitors to blindly copy trends in an effort to compete for sales and loyal customers.

Unfortunately, the lack of variation among brands reduces consumers’ choices; the only things that separate two companies are price points and fabric robbing us of the chance and willingness to buy anything outside the “norm.” The result is a decline in individuality and an increased desire to conform. The social price of individuality is seen as too high when it’s so easy to simply buy the same T-shirt in a different color scheme. The fashion industry no longer celebrates individual style; instead, it glorifies banality and suggests to customers that looking like everyone else is the ultimate goal.

One could say that what teenagers wear simply reflects current trends. But we do have a wide variety of options, be they vintage clothes, American-made clothes or clothes made in small quantities to be sold in independent stores. Why do the “standards” set by fashion conglomerates dictate what is the “right” thing to wear? Conformity is a high price to pay for blending in and appearing trend-conscious.

Granted, the tops at Brandy Melville and H&M are both incredibly soft and decent bargains. The hidden cost of purchasing those garments, however, is letting go of one’s choices. It’s hard to imagine your perfect wardrobe when the marketplace limits the variety of available products.

There are other places to shop, of course, but you have to search hard for them — finding the perfect top is not as simple as dropping by the local mall.

The silver lining to investing the time to find the boutique that matches your style is that you reclaim your power to choose your clothes — your identity — for yourself; preservation of identity, even through clothes, is incredibly worth it

A Hidden Revolution By sophia delaney and annika mcgraw The trite and cliché aside, it is worth starting an article with a proper definition of the topic at hand: Feminism (n.) is the belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. When people hear this definition, the label loses much of its ambiguity and becomes a term with which most people would obviously identify.

Feminist objectives are not truly revolutionary; they’re merely treated to be.

But misinformation is rampant in an age when the Internet is deemed a valid source of information, and the idea that hard facts are actually subjective has become increasingly pervasive, especially with social issues like feminism.

Newton residents are generally thought of as “smart” and “progressive.” Perhaps many or most are; regardless, the issue remains that even in such a liberal enclave, few people do anything to embrace an unequivocally positive label.

Minimal participation in clubs like FEM Club and the Gay Straight Alliance begs the question of whether people here are in fact well-informed about such issues of social justice. Students may think of themselves as open-minded (and may well

be), but they nevertheless allow the stigma surrounding feminism to keep them from making a difference. So long as people stay silent about injustice because they are afraid of being embarrassed, nothing can improve. For example, everyone — not just women — would struggle to get contraception and STD screenings if Congress defunds Planned Parenthood. In previous

them when they can’t. In most places, walking alone at night still poses significant dangers to any woman not armed with pepper spray or keys.

Society teaches women to keep an eye on their drinks rather than teaching men not to drug women. Society teaches men that being emotional and vulnerable is unacceptable, calling this behavior

Feminist objectives are not truly revolutionary; they’re merely treated to be. eras, even the less feminist members of our government would likely have balked at the idea of defunding an organization that singlehandedly reduces the number of abortions and teen pregnancies.

The broader flaw in the world concerns institutional patriarchy: Current dialogue still demands that women solve most of their own suffering and blames

“weak” and “feminine.” In America, as long as women are denied equal pay for equal work, girls are relentlessly sexualized at all ages and PMS and menopause are deemed legitimate reasons to keep a woman from running our country, we will be the worse for it. Neither sex nor gender determine one’s worth in this country, and it is long past time for us to ensure that

gender does not determine the opportunities you are afforded.

At this point, feminism must no longer be considered revolutionary. Feminist issues are everyday problems. Most feminist issues pose serious risks to our society because they are so commonplace: Catcalling, body-shaming and date rape have been rampant for many years. The wage gap has been acknowledged, though not corrected.

Feminism has evolved greatly throughout its history, becoming a movement of more ambitious progressive objectives. The feminist movement is no longer working toward women’s suffrage or women’s right to a college education; it is working to expose the ingrained limitations women experience at every level, especially the top.

Feminism today is quite different from its original interpretation. The feminist movement began as a fight for basic civil liberties, and in today’s society, feminism has evolved to become a fight for equal rights and progressive ideals for all people, something only bigots still fail to accept.

november 6, 2015|page 11

THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|opinions

UPGRADE

9 Frosh Play in two weeks

campus chatter The Lion’s Roar asked...

If your life were a movie, which celebrity would play you?

“Jesse Eisenberg, because he’s good at playing an awkward-ish guy who is really passionate about his own ideals and interests — think ‘The Social Network.’”

- Elijah Lawrence, Class of 2018

One month until new Star Wars Higher attendance at South sports games Adele’s new album

“Jennifer Lawrence, because she is strong and independent and doesn’t let other people get in her way.”

- Amelia Pennell, Class of 2019

Antique cars

“Morgan Freeman, because he would do a good job capturing my essense and my swagger. ... I guess you could also say Tupac, but he’s legally deceased.”

B.good shakes Teachers who update engrade New Italian restaurant in Newton Center

9

DOWNGRADE

Waiting for ED/EA results Hoverboards still not a thing Kylie Jenner on TIME’s “Influential Teens” list Group projects “Jem and the Holograms” People who lie on Facebook surveys Overplayed pop songs

- Robby Fineman, Class of 2016 “Laura Osnes. ... She has an energetic, playful personality that I find I can relate to.”

- Tema Siegel, Class of 2017 photos by Nathaniel Bolter and Alexa Rhynd

“The Intern”

BY Kate pozner While “The Intern” had the potential to be a charming film, the execution felt somewhat hackneyed. Nothing in the film stood out.

The story — which revolves around a senior citizen, played by Robert De Niro, interning at an online shopping corporation — was cliched and banal. This type of plotline, one where a senior citizen interacts with a young person and “rediscovers” his or her vitality, has been featured in many films, most of which did so much better than “The Intern.”

I found the plot uninteresting, and instead spent most of the movie thinking, “There is no way any of this would happen in real life!” or, “Damn, I want those shoes/bags/ coats/sunglasses.”

The individual characters, though, were certainly engaging. The film juxtaposes the appearance and customs of different generations. De Niro’s character is a classy businessman complete with a handkerchief and 1970’s briefcase, whereas his younger counterparts carry laptops and iPhones.

De Niro’s interactions with his coworkers — such as encouraging them to wear ties and tuck in their shirts — were amusing and folksy.

Anne Hathaway plays the company’s

“The Intern”

An elderly intern (Robert De Niro) befriends his 29-year-old boss (Anne Hathaway) in “The Intern”

CEO, who is at first skeptical of De Niro’s intentions, but later develops an intimate friendship with him. Hathaway’s performance, however, is noticeably weaker than De Niro’s.

Indeed, De Niro’s performance is the film’s saving grace. Though he was cast against type — in this film, he is a fatherly, warm figure unlike his more “angry” roles in “Meet the Parents,” and “Limitless” — his

alacrity and onscreen chemistry with Hathaway’ almost makes up for the weak plot.

The supporting cast is filled with fairly well-known actors, which gives viewers a sense of familiarity. The film was also sprinkled liberally with heartbreak, adventure and comedy.

I give this film four stars. While De Niro’s performance was great, it was lost amid the unimaginative plot.

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could be that you all can afford to go a concert, and the students who can’t aren’t a part of that social group,” he said.

“Many of the families who live in Waban are going to be richer. So, you make those friends in elementary school, and you stay with those friends in middle school and high school,” Melanie said. “[You] make friends with people that are near you because you can hang out with them, and your parents make friends, and you’re

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According to Parlin, economic privilege influences academics nearly from birth. “Whether or not you had parents who read to you, whether or not you had access to books at home or educational materials, … that can have a huge impact”, he said. “Then you come into the school system either ahead or behind based on that.”

Financial advantages can carry through high school studies. “If you can’t afford a tutor and you’re falling behind, then that’s a problem,” Miller said.

“A lot of people take supplementary math classes and science classes … like Russian School of Mathematics,” Frankel added.

Parlin said that not having access to technology can add the problem. Even though South has resources like computers and printers available, several students said that these are not solutions.

“One of my friends cannot afford a laptop.

He has one home computer, and he often has to run to the library, either at South or the Newton Public Library,” Alexis said. “It definitely affects how much time he takes to do assignments and the quality of his work.”

Almeida, for one, said that she has had personal experience with this obstacle.

“I haven’t had Internet access before, and it was kind of difficult if teachers didn’t understand as much, because you don’t always have computer access at school,” she said. “Big projects are hard to do. I don’t think teachers are very aware of that.”

However, Alexis said that most of her teachers at South have handed out surveys at the beginning of the year that ask questions about Internet access at home.

The costs of school trips can also prevent students from enhancing their learning outside the classroom.

“They do have financial aid, but some people are so below [the poverty line that] they don’t have enough income at home [to pay for the trip] … even with the maximum financial aid you can get,” Almeida said. “I feel like the school could definitely support students more, give them better opportunities. Especially if you have less money at home.”

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throughout the year where [the captains have] said, ‘Bring in five dollars for senior night, coaches gifts [or] apparel,’” Miller said.

“If you don’t have that, then it feels really hard to be a part of the team.”

But financial aid is not other always sufficient, according factors, as to Melanie. who used to be a member of South’s debate team. challenges for “Debate is pretty expensive to pay the less well-off. for tournaments and to pay for travel, “I have friends who haven’t done activities and I got a lot of help from the school because of the price of a club, or system for that,” she said. “Sometimes it’s only maybe something the school offers, is half of the price for something ... which is still a lot to pay for my family, to go to one debate too expensive,” Almeida said.

There are ways to waive fees, Parlin tournament. So I don’t always think that financial said, but it is not always an option students aid is enough.”

Junior Nikolas Lazar said the club Future take. “Some students might not want to go Business Leaders of America raises money to through that process. So therefore, they might help members pay for trips. “I think having a not want to join a sports team.”

Senior Natalie* agreed with Parlin. “Some priority fund towards those who wouldn’t be able kids might be embarrassed to say that they don’t to otherwise afford your club or activity is very important,” he said have the money. … If people know that their The members of an extracurricular often parents can’t afford it, then they’re probably more reflect its cost, Melanie said. “A lot of the people reluctant to put that stress on their parents,” who do debate were financially well-off, it she said. “I played basketball freshman year, seemed. I think that if you look at certain clubs, and I did do the [fee] waiver, but I wasn’t as you’ll see that the people in those clubs are more embarrassed about it because I just felt like it’s economically privileged. … I think the more something I’m used to.” expensive something is to you, the more you’ll see While confidence may be hard to come that it’s richer people in those things.” by, Parlin said he hopes students are “able and

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COMMUNITY CHEST

In middle school, Melanie wanted to join ski club, but could not due to the expenses.

Many other students cited the costs of South’s extracurricular activities, among

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Senior Alexis’* family moved to the United States from Russia and lived on welfare for a short time before moving to Newton.

“I remember in elementary school … everyone would be talking about having these big birthday parties, or having lots of gifts. I never really had that. … There was no

E G E L I V I R P F SPORTS & CLUBS

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confident enough to come forward and point it out.”

“An ally who knew of the situation could point these things out, and the person wouldn’t be embarrassed,” he said.

According to freshman Shaw Miller, economic privilege can take more subtle forms. “I’m in cross country, and there has been at least five or six times

BILINGUAL NANNY

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SOCIAL EFFECTS

in the same social class.”

This social isolation hinders development, Ledig said. “Students learn from each other, so when students are ... put in a situation where they are only around people like themselves, it is hard to learn,” she said. “What helps students to learn is being exposed to people who ... have different stories, different challenges.”

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extravagance in my life when I was growing up,” she said. “I definitely felt like I didn’t belong, that I wasn’t living my life correctly.”

According to junior Giulia Almeida, situations like these arise in high school, too.

“Let’s say you’re friends with somebody who has more money in their family, and you come from a lower class,” she said. “You might feel a little bit different because you might not have as many clothes or have the same technology that they do, [or] the same opportunities that they do.”

The ability to keep up with social trends is a large part of economic privilege, sophomore Chloe Jonas said. “You can kind of afford more and seem more mainstream, which makes it easier ... for people to assimilate with you.”

One example of this, senior Alex Frankel said, is owning a car. “Some people can’t even afford to have their own car, so they have to either take public transportation or get a ride from someone. That may affect social standings because of the ability to really go anywhere,” he said.

While cars should not buy friends, RCG teacher Robert Parlin said, they can determine a students’ friend group. “If you have access to a car, that changes your ability to go out for lunch, for example.

And so I do think certain economic privileges lead you to one direction. It

$$

RA D E IS

he average price of a home in Newton is $865,300, nearly five times the national average of $182,500.

“I can speak from personal experience [and say] that … it’s very difficult as a single income individual teaching in Newton to, for example, buy a home anywhere within a 45-minute commute of this area,” Spanish teacher Stephanie Pavao said. “If that’s something that’s affecting a teacher here, then I can imagine that it also affects the students here.”

Though often ignorned in Newton, different economic backgrounds can significantly affect students’ social lives, academics, extracurriculars and future plans, according to several members of the South community. Nevertheless, it is hard to shake the stereotype that all South students are wealthy.

“I think a lot of people in Newton take for granted the amount of money they have, and don’t realize the privilege associated with that,” senior Melanie* said. “I didn’t move into Newton until kindergarten, and my family’s not the richest.

I come from a single parent household, and so that’s a single family income. You realize more the privilege other people have when you don’t have those things.”

History teacher Rebecca Ledig, who teaches senior elective Race, Class and Gender (RCG), said that while economic privilege exists everywhere, the preconceived notions about the South community exacerbate the issue.

“One of the things that I think can be a problem is when we categorize South as ‘We all have similar experiences,”’ she said. “Certainly there are things that are similar, but we need to be aware of the fact that there are many people at South who have economic privilege, and there are many people who don’t.”

images from Hasbro

page 14|NOVEMBER 6, 2015 Continued from previous page

Parlin acknowledged that these costs can be prohibitive and added that South is working to make experiences like international trips more affordable.

The Global Education Leadership Fund, for instance, was introduced in the Newton Public Schools in 2008 and can cover up to 70 percent of a student’s expenses on school trips.

But many students said that the most devastating effects of economic hardship are psychological.

“When you have a hard home situation, you kind of feel disempowered, and you feel a bit beaten down,” Jonas said.

“When that happens, you wouldn’t be focusing on something like trying to be educated outside of school because you wouldn’t have that luxury.”

Yet Alexis said that her economic background has had a positive impact on her academic performance.

“Growing up without all that money, my parents always placed an emphasis on education — that an education is what’s going to get you money, and an education is going to get you further in life,” she said. “I can imagine for people who are a bit wealthier, that motivation doesn’t exist, or maybe not to the same magnitude.”

COLLEGE PROCESS Economic privilege also plays a role in the college process, admissions and otherwise.

Preparation for tests like the SAT has a price tag, according to Almeida.

“SAT classes can be really expensive. I have friends who have a lot more money, and they can take all these really good classes and do amazing on SATs,” she said.

Melanie agreed. “My only prep [for the SATs] was a test book,” she said. “It’s worked out fine for me, but I know plenty of people whose parents have gotten tutors for them. ... If you can’t afford the price for that … you’re not going to get the advantage to get ahead.”

For Natalie, the expenses of the test itself prevented her from taking it again.

“I really want to to take it for December, but I don’t have $50 to give. I already took it two times, so it’s definitely a hardship,” she said.

“I don’t have a person that’s going to read my essay, and help me get it to be as good as the other kids’,” she added.

Ledig also said some of her students have paid tutors to edit their essays. “I’m glad that they do … but that’s an advantage,” she said. “I think that’s [something] we try to minimize at South. I know sometimes in English class, teachers work on the college essay with kids. That would be a way of making sure … all kids are getting help.”

Economic circumstances can also determine where students apply, according to Lazar. “I’ve heard from friends of mine who have gone through the experience of applying for college that having to pay the application fees [and] having to pay to travel to tour schools … definitely confines them on where they are applying and how they are applying.”

“Unless you get a fee waiver, [money] might limit the amount of colleges you can apply to. … I really want to

CENTERFOLD|THELIONSROAR.COM|THE LION’S ROAR go to Boston University, … so I wanted to apply Early Decision,” Melanie said. “The issue is that if you apply Early Decision, it’s binding. If you can’t pay that fee, it’s really hard to back out. [This] is yet another barrier in the process, because you might not be able to apply early, and applying early might help your chances of getting in.”

Though most colleges have processes to award fee waivers for applications, this does not always help, according to Alexis.

“The financial aid process itself is … really vigorous, difficult [and] tedious.

Almost to the point where it’s discouraging,” she said.

The costs of the application process are often only the beginning of the problem.

“A lot of students nowadays are forced to take on loads of student debt because they can’t afford their college tuition,” Frankel said. “They even need to come up with the money themselves somehow, or get support from a family member or other places.”

“Colleges cost over $60,000. So, immediately some students who aren’t really aware of how much financial aid there is out there are ... thinking, ‘Oh, I can’t go to a private college. I have to go to a public college, [and] it probably has to be here in Massachusetts,’” Parlin said. “[That] isn’t always true.”

College and Career Counselor Kathleen Sabet said she works to educate students about all their options when choosing a college. Important to this lesson, she said, is the message that college is open to everyone.

“College in its beginning … was only for people who had money and … privilege — [people] whose families had reputations in the community. It was out of touch for a lot of people who didn’t have those resources,” she said. “It’s gotten a lot better from those days because now we have public colleges and … community colleges, which are much more affordable than private universities and colleges. That’s simply to allow everyone from across all socioeconomic areas to access a better life.”

Not everyone may understand the effects of economic privilege in the college process, according to Parlin.

“If you come from an affluent family, you’re not even thinking, ‘Which college can I apply to because of cost?’ You’re just thinking, ‘I can apply anywhere.’ I wish more people were aware of how fortunate they are,” he said. “People who are from low-income families, their decision is just, ‘Which can I afford?’ That’s a much more limiting thing.”

“Just knowing that your opportunities are limited because of your economic background can be somewhat discouraging,” Melanie added. “Sometimes it creates the mentality that you’re not as good as someone else, or that you’re not going to be able to achieve as much.”

At the least, Alexis said all students should try to be aware of the diversity of economic status. “I don’t think there should be people who are oblivious to this situation. At the very least, we should make sure everyone knows what kind of situation they’re in, what kind of situation others are in and to really treat others with respect,” she said. “[Wealth should not] be a determining factor in anything.” *Names changed to protect students’ identities

photo by Sophia Fisher

November 6, 2015|page 15

THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|centerfold

What are the real costs?

The expensive expectations of life as a South student

$$ $1,440 for going out to lunch

$1,500 for a laptop on average

every school day for a year

$35 for an hour of tutoring

$31,231 tuition and fees for a

on average

year of private college

$3,200 to go on an international

$54.50 for one SAT test

$100 for a year’s worth of

$33,560 for a car on average

school trip

school supplies on average

$300 for most athletic user fees per season

graphic by Anjali Shankar infographic by Emily Belt sources of information: New Product Development, Helena Alfonzo, Kelly Blue Book, Dailey Press, USA Today, Coupon Cabin, College Board, Angie’s List and College Data

$400 for sports gear on average

FEATURES page 16|November 6, 2015|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM

FEATURES@thelionsroar.com|VOLUME 32, ISSUE 4

Common Ground

While students of color tend to eat lunch in Goodwin Commons, they aim to make it welcoming for all races

By Shelley Friedland

W

hen senior Angel Senfuma entered the Senior Commons earlier this year, she almost immediately felt uneasy. “A [few] weeks ago, we went in there, and we stayed for maybe like five minutes, and as soon as we walked in we got a glare, like a dirty glare from this girl,” she said. “Then when we were about to leave this other boy walked in and gave us a dirty look, and I was like ... I don’t feel comfortable at all.”

Senior Akira Taylor has had similar experiences.“I didn’t hang out at the L-Bench, and I don’t go to the Senior Commons,” she said. “Whenever I would be there, I would just not be comfortable, and I wouldn’t feel welcomed by the other students.”

Instead of eating in Senior Commons, the auditorum lobby or the cafeteria, Senfuma and Taylor typically choose to hang out in Goodwin Commons, which in addition to containing the office of METCO counselor Katani Sumner, has a couch, tables, chairs, computers and even a TV. They, like many other students, said they enjoy welcoming nature of Goodwin Commons and the chance to spend time with other students of color, but at the same time, many said they hope to eliminate the area’s reputation as reserved for black students.

Freshman Kareahna Randolph described Goodwin Commons as “a really chill environment” and “accepting.”

Juniors Kai Correia and Brian Conlon agreed.

“When you come here, it’s like you feel welcome. [I] feel like I’m supposed to be here,” Correia said. “[The people are] welcoming. They’re kind. And they’re funny, too,” Conlon said.

According to senior Chris Walden, the chance to hang out with other black students is beneficial. “It’s just nice to have a group that you can connect with on a level more than school,” he said. “It’s kind of fun just to hang out with kids that can connect with you because you’re black.”

Taylor added that she likes having a black community at South. “I’ve lived in a black community, so when I come to school, I don’t want to be left out. I don’t want to be the only one, so I sit with people who understand that,” she said.

Still, junior Evan Friedman, who is white, said he sees Goodwin Commons as a place for all students regardless of race. “It’s not

(Above) Students of color enjoy lunch with friends in Goodwin Commons. (Below) Others eat in the auditorum lobby. difficult for me [to be here] because I don’t see it as this place just for black people to come, even though it’s mostly black people who do come here,” he said.

Senior Emily Chang said it is natural for people to relate more to people of the same race. “I think people ... hang out with people who are similar to them,” she said.

“With race, you’re able to find a lot of similarities and relate to other people,” she said.

Senior Alex Christensen said that this tendency is unintentional. “I don’t really think people choose their friends based on [race],” she said. “I think if it happens, it’s definitely not conscious.”

“I think that people choose their cliques in school on a subliminal level based on race,” Walden said. “It shouldn’t be that way, but I think it’s just inevitable.”

Several students said they hope the South community comes to view the commons as a place for all students to hang out and get to know each other.

“I think it gets a bad rep because a lot of people think it’s just for black people,” Walden said.

Sumner said that she hopes to make the commons encourage dialogue among students of different races. “The atmosphere I would like to have is comfortable — comfortable, open, safe — so people can be themselves and have conversations, even courageous conversations that might be uncomfortable, but I want it to be a safe enough environment that we can have them,” she said.

Walden and Christensen agreed.

“I do think it’s important [to have conversations about race]. It’s going to get a little testy at points when you have white kids and black kids talking about stuff,” Walden said.

“There can be miscommunica-

tion, and that can lead to bad things, but it can also lead to really good things, and I think it’s important to talk about stuff that not a lot of people talk about.”

“I think we should talk about [race] more than we do, and discuss issues of race more than we do,” Christensen said.

Senfuma added that she believes it is important that students of all races feel comfortable in all areas of the school.

“I feel like the school ... is kind of separated, and I don’t like that. ... We all should integrate,” she said. “We should all be able to go into a room and not feel uncomfortable, and be able to sit down and not feel like people are staring at us or giving us dirty looks just because we’re in there. I feel like that’s the issue. Anybody should feel comfortable where they’re at.”

photos by Nathaniel Bolter

November 6, 2015|page 17

THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|Features

APUSH, from 1

“When I talk to my friends and I hear that they’re taking all honors classes, I feel the need to compare myself,” junior Siena Small said.

College anxiety could have contributed to the increase as well, junior Malcolm Davis said. “I feel like more people are becoming aware of the college admissions process at an earlier age. …

That affects students’ ideas on taking an AP or not,” he said.

Although some students likely come in with the intention of adding APUSH to their transcripts, Greiner said he has not noticed any of his students lacking interest in the subject.

Greiner added that APUSH might be more attractive than other AP courses because it requires less groundwork. “AP U.S. may not be the easiest, but it is the one that you need the least prerequisites for,” he said. “We don’t expect you to come in knowing U.S. history.”

Small and junior Carol Zhang, who both took ACP World History and are now in APUSH, agreed that taking the ACP level as a sophomore has put them at a disadvantage.

“We didn’t do many debates [and]

THE

DBQs and LEQs. … Last year in the sophomore honors history they were like every month,” Zhang said. “This year, it will probably be harder for me compared to people who took honors last year, but I just have to get used to those things.”

Due to the increase in students moving from ACP to APUSH, Greiner said, history teachers are transitioning to teach AP-level skills as if students have not learned them before.

But this change has not significantly altered the way he approaches the class overall. “I think that the course is just as rigorous as it was,” he said. “The grades are still, in my class at least, a bell-curved distribution. It’s not like there is an uneven distribution. ... That’s what you would expect if you were forcing a lot of unprepared kids into the classroom.”

In fact, Greiner said, further explanation could benefit all students — not just those who took ACP previously.

Davis, who took history at the honors level as a sophomore, agreed.

“Although I was already familiar with the format, we delved deeper into what’s really expected from a DBQ on the AP, and just structurally, the way it should look,” he said. “It’s a level of depth on

_______________

AP U.S. history outnumbers ACP classes SOUTH AVERAGE SCORE IN 2010 ___________________

4.39 SOUTH AVERAGE SCORE IN 2015

3.75* *NATIONAL AVERAGE SCORE DECREASED BY 0.9

O 1 IN 3 JUNIORS TOOK THE APUSH EXAM LAST YEAR

______________________________

63%

APUSH ENROLLMENT INCREASE AT SOUTH FROM 2010 TO 2015 infographic by Andrea Lirio

things that I already understood.”

Both Greiner and Kozuch agreed that while APUSH class size remained manageable, the increase in students dropping APUSH has affected ACP class size. While Greiner said every student who wanted to drop was able to do so, ACP courses are now “full to the brim.”

Most teachers agreed that the push to get more sophomore ACP students into APUSH is, overall, worthwhile. “Just because a kid was in ACP doesn’t mean they can’t be successful,” Kozuch said. “It’s important to help students challenge themselves.”

Additional reporting by Ilana Zeldin

COMMON APPLICATION

The Roar follows four seniors with different interests as they navigate the college application process and will reveal their identities and college plans as they make their decisions

By Andrea Lirio

K

yle* has started building his photography portfolio, filling out applications and editing his essay.

Although he had sufficient time to complete the applications, Kyle said he is is more commited to his job and has spent the majority of his free time working.

“A lot of time I have to work, so I can’t spend [senior days] as wisely as I would like to. I would say it’s a possibility that I concentrate on work more than the college application process,” he said.

As of mid-October, Kyle said he was comfortable with his progress in the college application process although he has more work to do.

“I would say I’m kind of in the middle. Where you are in the process, it is very varied, especially depending on how much effort you put into it,” he said.

S

ydney* has completed her essay and is still applying for scholarships. She said that the process is more challenging than she had originally imagined.

“My junior year, I thought that people were really exaggerating, but they really weren’t,” she said.

Although it is difficult to manage both school and college applications, Sydney said she has learned to budget her time effectively.

“When I do the college stuff, I think of it more as schoolwork, and if I go to school and go to practice, I also have to incorporate the application stuff into the homework so that it is timed out,” she said.

As she is completing edits for her college essay, Sydney believes that she is well positioned to finish her college applications.

N

icholas* is applying Early Action to UMass Boston. Because he is somewhat ahead in the college application process, he has found his free days very relaxing.

“During those times I take a break.

Since I have everything in good shape I am not in a rush,” he said.

After completing his essay, he put it through several rounds of editing with a variety of people.

“Because they know me really well they know if I am the one telling the story,” he said.

For Nicholas, representing himself well in his essay is the most important part of the application.

“It’s probably something that is never done because you can always improve it,” he said.

L

graphics by Celine Yung

ayla* has finished applying to the Virginia Military Institute and Norwich University. She has completed the personal fitness test and she still needs to finish filling out applications for the national academies and writing her essay.

She said that the process is more time-consuming than she first expected during junior year.

“I never really thought of the college process, even as a junior. I just knew that I had to go into it sometime. Now that I am finally into it, I realize that it’s so much more than I expected, and there is so much more that you have to do,” she said.

“Organizing all of your recommendations and your grades just really need to be filed down.” *Names changed to protect students’ identities

page 18|November 6, 2015

Features | THELIONSROAR.COM | THE LION’S ROAR

BEHIND THE Curtain

photos by Bailey Kroner

The life of the immensely important, often unrecognized South Stage technician

By Karin Alsop and Misha Ocheretyanny

A

fter 90 minutes of joy and tragedy, the lights in the auditorium dimmed and seven performers walked to the front of the stage and bowed, receiving generous applause for their performance of “Eurydice.” Behind the curtain, almost 40 more people were putting the finishing touches on the night’s show — adjusting the lights, moving set pieces and hanging the costumes.

According to theater teacher Jeff Knoedler, these South Stage technicians have a very difficult, yet often unrecognized, job.

“I think their lack of visibility keeps them from getting the proper credit they deserve,” he said.

“They’re some of the hardest-working people in school, putting in late nights, doing jobs that no one else will do and not getting applause.”

Although the audience may not directly recognize South Stage technicians’ efforts, many actors said they appreciate their contributions and have great respect for them. And even though they are not the stars, technicians said they enjoy their behind-the-scenes work, finding a supportive community that shares their creative interests.

Technicians are crucial for productions, senior Amanda Stavis, star of “Eurydice,” said.

“I think that techies don’t get enough credit for the awesome stuff that they do because without them, there wouldn’t be any costumes. There wouldn’t be any set,” she said. “It wouldn’t be really a fun show to look at.”

Eurydice’s lighting designer and light board operator junior Merrick Carroll agreed.

“I really think that both parts are absolutely necessary to the whole. Without one another, they would be nothing,” he said. “Actors without techies, techies without actors. It wouldn’t work.”

While the actors are directly in charge of character development, technical director Bryant Cyr said that many times technicians help make the portrayal more realistic.

“The actors are in the limelight at the end of the day, … [but] the heat of the passion, the mo-

ment, was also created through that warm light that was shining over the top of them,” he said.

At South, technicians are in charge of directing, designing, managing, dressing, constructing, lighting and operating the set. Knoedler said the theater community tries to acknowledge this contribution.

“We do small things that are kind of symbolic of our appreciation for them. For example, when the actors take their bows … they often do a hand-gesture toward the light booth, … to the backstage area … and then they do sort of a look-at-our-costumes type gesture,” he said. “Hopefully that helps the

“I love looking at a space and coming up with a way to make it into something else, like how many different worlds can I create? It’s like art just comes to life.”

- Sophia Tepermeister, Class of 2016 audience realize that there’s a ton more people that you’re not seeing working on the show.”

Since both actors and technicians put great effort into theater, Cyr said he and Knoedler have been working to promote cooperation between the two groups.

In fact, sophomore and “Eurydice” stage manager Catarina Martins said, many actors and technicians switch roles each show.

“There are some actors and actresses who just don’t do any tech besides their required tech hours.

I, personally, do a lot of costume work when I’m not

in a show, but it really varies from actor to actor,” Stavis said.

While South Stage members may dabble in both, Carroll said technical work has a distinct appeal.

“Techies make something, whereas actors become something,” he said.

Senior Sophia Tepermeister, scene designer for “Eurydice,” agreed. Tech offers a place to express her creativity.

“I love looking at a space and coming up with a way to make it into something else, like how many different worlds can I create?” she said. “It’s like art just comes to life.”

The tech community is also a good place to try something new, Martins said.

“You do a lot of things that you probably wouldn’t do normally, like work with power tools, and get dirty with paint, and get covered in sawdust, and just get dirty and not be judged for it, because you’re not the only one,” she said.

For Carroll, the best part of technical work is seeing the finished product.

“Seeing the beauty of the mixing of the lights and the set is just wonderful to me. There have been several times where I have gotten goosebumps when the lights and the sound come up,” he said. “My favorite thing is the idea of seeing these things come together, even though they were made separately, it comes together.”

Cyr agreed that it is rewarding to see everybody’s work come together.

“You do all of this work in theater, building up to this final product, busting out all the lights … hanging, focusing them into certain locations to make sure that we light the show evenly with all the perfect color blends,” he said, “Just turning those lights on in the final moment, to see the final product at the end of all that work you just busted out, and to see that, it’s all worth it.”

Additional reporting by Alex Dobin

November 6, 2015|page 19

THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|Features

Textbook Tales

Ever wondered about the people behind the names in your textbook? The Roar’s Andrea Lirio sought them out.

After receiving an old textbook and “Just do your homework and ask for signing my name on the inside cover, I’ve help, because [Petrizzi] is good at that,” he always wondered about the other names said. in that book. For three years, I was curiNext, I spoke with ’14 graduate ous about the people inside the textbooks Nikita Roy, a pre-med biology student at and wanted to ask them if the classes they the University of Connecticut. As a junior, took in high school were useful after they she took AP Biology with Jordan Kraus, graduate. and while she found it challenging, she Although I had never spoken with remembered the class as very rewarding. these people, I felt like we had a connec“Many classes at South had weekly tion because we took the same course and homework assignments meant to guide borrowed the same book. I used my honors you, but AP Bio did not. The class was not biology textbook and my friend’s AP calculus designed to be an easy A, and a lot of the textbook to find past students and contact responsibility was placed on the students them through Facebook. I called the alumni to get the material down, which is someto discuss the classes thing I see in college and how they apply to Although I had never spo- every semester,” she said. their lives now.

Roy said the atken with these people, I My first convermosphere of AP Biology felt like we had a connec- was similar to those of sation was with ‘14 graduate Justin Liao, a tion because we took the her college courses. former AP BC Calcu- same course and borrowed “In college, there is lus student who now a lot of self-studying and the same book. attends Northeastern doing it on your own University and majors in engineering. He and knowing when an exam is coming seemed excited to talk about the class and up. A lot more percentage of your grade his teacher, Charles Petrizzi. is weighted on your exam,” she said. “Dr. Calculus is very important in enKraus structured it so you were in charge gineering, Liao said, but the main differof your grade. ... She did not hold our ence between his college and high school hands when it came to learning the mateclasses is the size. rial.”

“High school is more one-on-one, While South is known for its comand in college, you are in a big lecture hall petitive and stressful atmosphere, Roy said with hundreds of other students,” he said. it teaches students well for the future.

“If you really need help, you actually need “It is a very motivational environto take time and go up to the professor ment. Everyone at South is pushing him during office hours.” or herself and working hard. They offer Liao recommended that current and a lot of honors and AP classes,” she said. future BC Calculus students follow the “I think Newton South prepares students teacher’s examples and guidelines. very well for college.”

Archery Club aims to defy misconceptions Maia Fefer & Tiffany Wong

Sr. Features Editor, Features Contributor “One. Two. Three. Shoot.”

One by one, the archers released their drawn elastics, as founder and senior Brandon Wong watched and offered advice on form. Wong often stopped to demonstrate how to hold the elastic with three fingers or how to stand. Along with Wong, two other second-year members helped instruct.

While the recruits were only working on their form with elastics, they would soon begin training with bows and arrows.

Wong founded Archery Club last year to provide students with an opportunity to learn archery, as well as to dispel misconceptions about the sport. This year, Wong will hand over the club to sophomores Kathleen McVittie and Windsor Yee. “[Meetings] seemed informal, but at the same time, it means business. ... If [the leaders are] trying to tell you something, they’re probably right,” freshman John Stembridge said.

At South, archery is considered a club, yet co-club advisor and ELL teacher John Conte said there are some similarities between archery and soccer, which he coaches.

“Brandon has brought in an instructor that does warm-up activities, looks at a specific technique to improve on and has

the participants implement that into their practice, so in that respect it’s similar to soccer,” he said.

While archery is an individual activity, college archery coach and South instructor E.G. Lebre said it can be a “very social sport” with strong communities.

“I think [archery] is a ... lifelong sport,” he said. “A lot of different sports have a life span for someone to be competitive in.”

Interest in archery often comes from the media, Lebre said.

“We are seeing a continuous growth of the sport due to the movies — ‘Brave,’ ‘The Avengers,’ ‘The Hunger Games,’” he said. “Students who have seen these movies ... [are] realizing that is something they would like to do.”

Yet many remain misinformed about the sport, Wong said.

“People believe it is a very dangerous sport. Archery is in fact one of the safest sports out there,” he said.

Lebre agreed and said the media has only recently begun portraying archery in a positive light.

“The movies of the past have kind of made archery a joke, willing to characterize archery as a funny thing,” he said. “I think those moments have changed with movies … where archery is shown as a serious, competitive sport.”

Despite these inaccuracies, many remain interested.

“It’s a good place to relieve stress from school. It’s kind of like metaphorically, imagine the arrow as any problems you have, and when you release the arrows you’re just releasing all the problems into that target,” Wong said.

Wong has led the club for the past two years and said he is making sure the new co-captains learn from how he runs the club.

“I touched base with them the first month, and they were delighted to take over,” he said.

“I’m going to have them observe how I run the club, and hopefully they’ll mimic how I do it.”

“It’s a huge responsibility. You’re teaching young adults how to fire a weapon. Archery shouldn’t be considered lightly, but it’s major fun,” McVittie said.

Both new leaders said they generally planned to stick with Wong’s method.

McVittie added that having two captains might allow members to learn from multiple perspectives.

Wherever the new leaders take the club, Wong said he hopes its goal remains the same.

“The goal, just like last year. is just to have fun, promote archery within the school and hopefully within the Newton community later on,” he said.

photo by Bailey Kroner

page 20|november 6, 2015

A Block in the Life: A Teacher’s Story COREY SAMUELS sr. fun editor

BFFLS & BAD PUNS 6:58 a.m., Monday morning: Arrives at school (more than) fully caffeinated, skip in step.

6:59 - 7:13: Engages in several conversations regarding the quality of colleagues’ weekends. Theirs were “good.” Mine was “fine.”

7:16: Arrives in classroom, fully prepared to start the day. The sun is shining. Birds singing.

7:17: Realizes copies have not been made. The first student shuffles into the classroom, immediately falls back asleep at desk.

7:20: Hurries over to Goldrick copier, blocked by fellow teacher making approximately 395 (?!) packets of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Happily greets (weekends: “good,” “fine”), irritatedly absconds.

7:21: Gleefully finds Wheeler copier unattended.

7:21:05: Curses the Copier Gods who hath failed to bestow mine copier with toner.

7:23: Surreptitiously uses another department’s copier.

7:25: Colleague arrives with problem sets to copy.

“Good” and “fine” weekends described as sluggish, copying steadily chips away at positive relationship with colleague.

7:28: Finally remembers colleague’s name. Makes mental note to refresh memory on the math teachers’ names. Science, too. And foreign languages, while we’re at it.

7:29: Must use compass and employ sherpa to navigate the horde of students congregating in front of the L-Bench.

7:34: Startles at least five fully asleep students upon returning to the classroom.

7:37: Begins writing homework and agenda on the board; interrupted by student’s urgent inquiry about grade on relatively inconsequential assignment.

7:40: Bell rings. Here we go. Time to mold the minds of America’s youth.

7:40:05: Greets class, receives satisfactory number of responses. Weekends are “good.”

7:41: Student begins to relate semi-inappropriate, fully irrelevant story of weekend antics.

7:47: Desperately searches for convenient spot in story to interrupt. Efforts are in vain.

7:49: Students turn and talk about weekend reading while urgent email is composed to guidance counselor.

7:52: Forced to explain homework thrice for students’ comprehension; pivots to the day’s lesson.

7:53 - 8:15: Prime material for Best Teacher Award 2016.

8:16: Asks question, pauses. No raised hands. Repeats question, simplified. Waits ...

8:20: A hand rises with confidence. Benjamin needs to go to the bathroom.

8:21: Attempts to charge ahead by explaining concept via diagram on board.

8:23: Shocked to discover phallo-similitude of said diagram. Redraws diagram.

8:24: Has to interrupt student’s genuine fascination with Snapchat’s array of new selfie stylizations.

Continues with lesson; begins to cold call students to refocus class.

8:25: Turns out student who “has to doodle to pay attention” is actually not paying attention.

8:26: Calls Yuna by the wrong name, again; waves of shameful racism wash over soul.

8:27 - 8:33: Rebounds with prime material for Best Teacher Award 2016.

8:33:01: Slight pause in sentence — 8:33:02: — students hurriedly pack up bags.

8:33:08 — 8:34: 59: Spends last precious moments of class lecturing about packing up bags early.

8:35: Students display heretofore undisplayed amounts of energy in exodus from classroom. Realizes copied material is math colleague’s problem sets; soul is crushed.

fun page|THELIONSROAR.COM|THE LION’S ROAR

South Crime Watch Editors’ Note: Individuals are presumed guilty until proven innocent.

STALKING Oct. 24, Newton Centre A senior was reportedly seen following his history teacher around Newton to get him to grade the most recent five-point reading quiz.

graphic by Sophie Galowitz

MURDER Oct. 29, Cutler House A student is being investigated for second-degree murder after Dr. Hema Roychowdhury overheard a girl saying, “I just killed that physics test!” as she exited the room. The suspect is still at large.

DEFLATEGATE 2.0 Oct. 31, Haverhill The football team has been accused of systematically deflating footballs following its playoff win against Haverhill on Saturday.

Investigators said there is simply no other explanation for the team’s success.

LARCENY Oct. 31, Waban A distraught Newton resident reported that a trickor-treater stole candy from her two-year-old child. The student reportedly told friends that “it was like taking candy from a baby.”

RECKLESS CONDUCT Nov. 5, Winkler Field Five members of the math team were arrested Thursday after interrupting the girls soccer game during a penalty kick to determine the ball’s acceleration due to gravity.

Overheard at SOUTH Yes, we heard you say that.

Confused history student: “I don’t know when the War of 1812 was.”

Disbelieving girl: “I still don’t understand Wednesdays. They’re just not a thing.”

Frustrated senior: “Suck my ass, Common App!” Vegetable pessimist: “Nobody in America has ever had a yam.”

Christmas lover: “Happy Halloween, everyone! Ho, ho, ho! Oh, wait, that’s the wrong one.”

Embarrassing Roar Staff Photo of the Month:

Lee’s Burger Place 216 Sumner St. Newton, MA 02459 Tel. 617 795 2022 Lirio and Baloch make a bold fashion statement.

SPORTS page 21|November 6, 2015|THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM

Sports@thelionsroar.com|VOLUME 32, ISSUE 4

when gender c0mes into play

By Veronica Podolny and Noah Shelton photo by Sophia Fisher

How the gender of both coaches and players affects team chemistry and training methods

T

he boys volleyball team huddled before their state championship game in June 2014. They had been playing as a united team the whole season, which Coach Todd Elwell credited to offseason bonding. The team had been meeting as a group since January, often going to someone’s house to play games, watch TV and eat. The outcome of their team bonding was an undefeated season and a state championship.

While many people interviewed for this article agreed that team interactions seem to be of more importance to girls sports, the volleyball state championship suggested otherwise.

Many, furthermore, assumed that girls and boys teams differ both in methods of connection and punishment, but several suggested that the differences are more nuanced. The sex of both the coach and the players, they said, also influence the relationships formed.

Senior Noa Leiter, a volleyball and lacrosse player who has worked with both male and female coaches at South, said there are advantages to having a coach of the same sex; according to her, the relationships girls develop with female coaches — talking about relationships and getting advice on school — cannot be replicated with men.

“I think the team’s relationship with the male coach is definitely more … like what you think of as a coach-to-athlete relationship. Whereas, with the girl coaches I’ve had for lacrosse, I’ve always found it more of a friendly relationship,” she said. “They come to team dinners and not only talk about the sport, but talk about their social lives. … They more want to be our friend on top of being our coach.”

Senior Jamyre Soberanis, too, has spent the last three seasons with coaches of the same sex on the varsity football team and feels they have “a tight relationship.” “[Coach Ted Dalicandro] just encourages us to work hard and believe in ourselves, and it makes us believe we can do anything we put our minds to,” Soberanis said.

Todd Elwell, who coaches both boys and girls volleyball, varies his coaching style accordingly. He said he treads carefully when criticizing his female athletes.

“It can set [girls] off if they’re even thinking that you don’t believe in them. … They’ll sometimes give up on you or give up on themselves. Whereas, the boys sometimes, if they misread you, and for some reason they think that you think differently of them in a bad way, they’ll want to prove you wrong,” Elwell said.

Boys and girls teams also differ in how they bond.

“Once you get going and you’ve played for awhile, the girls still need to bond. They need to kind of come together before they can go to war. And the boys, they’ll battle and do the war, and then they’ll become brothers,” Elwell said.

Junior Alana Bojar said that her cross-country coach encourages bonding through dinners and mini golf; however, the team must also bond by itself.

“We have team dinners which [the coach] really enforces, but he doesn’t go to them because he says it’s something that the team should do together,” she said.

Elwell added that the boys rebound from conflict more quickly.

“I think what happens with the girls is it can

become a ripple effect, because as soon as two girls are upset with each other, everybody else knows it, and everybody else tunes into that vibe,” he said. “The guys are harder on each other when they’re not getting along, and guys toughen up and [say] ‘Let’s deal with this, it’s not a big deal, let’s move on.’ Whereas sometimes with the girls, we’ve got to stop and talk about it.”

Coaches may also rely on punish drills to encourage team camraderie. Senior Monica Falls has both played soccer and managed the boys soccer team, and said that while both teams had punitive drills, the coach for the male team tended to speak “harsher in tone.”

“It probably pushes them a little bit harder to have somebody yelling at them and always on their backs, always getting in their head — you can see it kind of ramp up their energy,” she said.

Senior Mark Talvacchia added that the punitive drills and criticism from the coach in fact inspire motivation.

“In one of the games, in the second half, they said that our defense was playing soft. I think it was really true. It wasn’t derogatory, and it wasn’t targeted at one specific person. I didn’t take it any wrong way and neither did the team. It was an accurate description of how we were playing,” he said.

Elwell said that ultimately, the gender of the team he is coaching is not a factor in deciding punishment.

“The punishment piece, it doesn’t really matter if it’s a boy or a girl. Because we do something silly,” he said. “For instance, if we lose this drill, you’re doing five ‘I’m a star.’ It takes, what, 20 seconds? And it’s silly, and it’s over, and you move on.”

page 22|November 6, 2015

Sports|THELIONSROAR.COM|THE LION’S ROAR

photos by Bailey Kroner

November 6, 2015|page 23

THE LION’S ROAR|THELIONSROAR.COM|Sports

For football, a year of milestones Nathaniel Bolter Editor-in-Chief

The past two years have been a whirlwind of milestones for the football team: Last year, they beat Acton-Boxborough for the first time in 25 years and posted a winning record to boot. This year, they improved on the 2014 season, heading into the playoffs with only a single loss.

On Saturday, they won their first playoff game in school history.

It is ime for South students to finally rid themselves of that inferiority complex — the football team is really good this year.

In a rematch of last year’s playoff game, South topped Haverhill 32-27 in a Halloween showdown last Saturday. The team bounced the Hillies with the same formula they have used all season: pass, and pass a lot.

That formula, though, showed signs of faltering at the beginning of the year.

The Lions headed into the 2015 season with high expectations, but managed only to squeak out a 22-21 victory in the season opener against Lexington.

As opposing defenses adjusted to the aerial attack, South was forced to rely heavily on the running game.

“Struggling at the beginning was actually what we needed,” head coach Ted Dalicandro said. “Some of us came in thinking that, ‘This is going to be a good year. We’re going to be good. We’ve got everyone back. This is good.’ Sometimes you don’t work as hard when you think you’re good.”

The Lions broke out in weeks three and four with consecutive blowout wins,

and the team rode the momentum into a come-from-behind victory against ActonBoxborough that ended with a Patriotscirca-2003 goal line stand.

The Lions’ run has been powered by standout performances from junior quarterback Austin Burton and senior wideout Anthony DeNitto. Burton, who is already fielding interest from Division 1 schools, leads Massachusetts quarterbacks with 2,469 passing yards and 27 touchdowns.

DeNitto leads receivers with 1,177 receiving yards and 19 receiving touchdowns.

Yet senior captain Jamyre Soberanis attributes the success to team chemistry.

“The relationship we have together is amazing. We all feel like we’re family, like brothers. I mean, we’re really close with each other. We tell each other anything and everything. Our coaches are like our older brothers. We joke around, but we know when to get serious,” he said. “We love each other.”

Throughout the winter, the captains held weekly 5 a.m. practices and players were expected to lift weights three times a week.

“It’s not a one-man show; every player on the team this year is committed to achieving something bigger than themselves,” senior Mark Talvacchia said.

Despite having two of the best players in the state, the team has assumed the role of scrappy underdog. After the 2014 season, the Lions retained their “skill players” — quarterback, running back, receivers — but graduated most of their starting linemen and linebackers.

While the team has struggled to match up against bigger teams like Westford, who handed the Lions their only

loss of the season on the strength of an overpowering ground game, the defense rose to the occasion against A-B, stuffing two consecutive runs from the 1-yard line as time expired. “Even though we’re small, we’re not afraid of anyone that’s bigger than us,” senior Frankie Barros said.

The offensive line has also outperformed expectations after entering the season with only one returning starter, senior George Morgan. “[Morgan] has done a great job leading that group. Our success really depends on how they do. We have had some great games, where they do a great job,” Dalicandro said. “Those games really reflect George’s abilities, more than they reflect mine as a coach.”

Regardless of how they fare in this year’s state tournament, the team faces the prospect of a depleted offense in 2016.

Though Burton, the centerpiece of the offense, will return alongside juniors Sasha Hoban (tight end) and Dylan Meehan (slot receiver), the Lions will lose the heart of their running game in Soberanis and their receiving corps in DeNitto and Barros.

Should the Lions be eliminated by Billerica tonight, they will have at least succeeded in captivating the attention of a student body that is generally indifferent to their travails.

“I am a big believer that athletics should be a big part of the fabric of a high school,” Dalicandro said. “I know that it’s not always going to be the case here. I have definitely seen an uptick in support ... In general, the students appreciate a winner.”

League Leaders Austin Burton is #1 in the state in

Passing TDs

27 Anthony DeNitto is #1 in the state in

Receiving Tds

19

Additional reporting by Ethan Krop, Noah Shelton and Jack Tumpowsky

Lions beat Haverhill for first-ever playoff win Liam O’Brien

Sports Editor, Denebola Heading into last Saturday afternoon’s playoff matchup against Haverhill, the football team had retribution on its mind. After falling to the Hillies in the first round of the 2014 state tournament, the Lions entered their first postseason contest of 2015 with vengeance, defeating Haverhill 32-27 for their first ever home playoff victory.

“We knew that we had come a long way from where we were last year,” senior captain Anthony DeNitto said. “This was our chance to prove it to [Haverhill], our fans and ourselves.”

South relied on the arm of junior quarterback Austin Burton, who shouldered the load for the Lions, scoring five total touchdowns. Burton hit DeNitto for three of the five, one of which went for 50 yards and sealed the win in the fourth quarter.

Haverhill running back J.C. LaGuerre was as impressive as advertised, racking up over 200 rushing yards while accounting for three touchdowns.

The 4-3 Hillies opened up the scoring in the first quarter with a 51-yard scoring drive on the legs of LaGuerre, who ended the possession with his first touchdown of the afternoon to give his team a 7-0 lead.

The Lions responded quickly, with Burton driving his troops down the field before hitting DeNitto on a 30-yard touch-

down strike. After a missed extra point, the score was 7-6 with a minute remaining in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Haverhill fought back with another lengthy drive, and a two-yard touchdown by LaGuerre gave the Hillies a 14-6 lead.

Unfazed by the deficit, Burton picked apart the opposing defense on an 80-yard march down the field capped off by a 12-yard connection to junior tight end Sasha Hoban. A failed 2-point conversion kept the score at 14-12.

The Lions rode the momentum into the second half, converting on a 4th and 7 on their way to a score on the opening drive. Burton hit DeNitto for his second 30-yard touchdown to give his team an 18-14 lead.

After Burton was intercepted on South’s following possession, Haverhill picked up 56 yards in seven plays and LaGuerre’s third touchdown put Haverhill up 21-18 with 5:39 left in the third quarter.

From then on, South dominated Haverhill. A fourth-down conversion on the following 82-yard drive paved the way for a Burton touchdown run that gave the team a 25-21 lead with two minutes remaining in the third.

After a sack of Hillies quarterback Broghean McGovern on a Haverhill 4th and 7 handed the Lions possession of the football at midfield, Burton hit DeNitto for a 50-yard score on the first play of the possession, putting South up 32-21 with 9:38 remaining.

The Lions’ defense continued its dominance when senior cornerback Frankie Barros jumped a route for an interception with 5:13 left. Junior cornerback Ilan Hascal added another interception with just over two minutes remaining that essentially sealed the victory.

“I think the key to our victory was playing at our pace, working hard on defense and staying positive,” DeNitto said.

Haverhill did not go down quietly, though. McGovern hit wideout Navin

Cole on a deep ball for a 65-yard touchdown with 1:08 left, bringing them within a touchdown of South. But both Haverhill’s 2-point try and onside kick attempt failed, and the Lions advanced to the next round.

South will challenge top-seeded Billerica on the road tonight at 7 p.m. in the semifinal of the Division 2 North state tournament. “They are a tough team, so we need to have a focused week in practice,” DeNitto said.

photo by Bailey Kroner

The Lions wrapped Haverhill’s rushing offense on Saturday, beating the Hillies 32-27.

page 24|November 6, 2015

The Sources NATHAN ELBAUM & NOAH SHELTON

Sports|ThelionsROAR.com|THE LION’S ROAR

Girls XC places second at DCLs

sports columnist, sr. sports editor

B

Stealing Second

ob Kravitz tweeted on Jan. 19 that sources said the New England Patriots were being investigated for using deflated footballs during the previous day’s AFC Championship. This set off a chain of events that we, as loyal Patriot fans, are well-versed on. We are not going to discuss here whether the Patriots cheated, or whether Brady should have been suspended (though we all know the answer to both is no). We are talking about a more pressing issue than the most recent Patriots scandal. We are talking about the early events in the Deflategate timeline that could have minimized the entire ordeal: the sources.

All journalists need to know a source close to the center of events who can be easily reached for a quick synopsis.

But problems arise when reporters act as though everything that comes out of their sources’ mouths is the truth, without a need to verify it. Had Kravitz or Chris Mortenson — who tweeted that 11 of the 12 footballs were extremely underinflated — waited for confirmation on their information, Deflategate would not have become the smear campaign that it did.

These sources, usually unnamed, can pose a risk to the integrity of the reporters and the teams in question. In March 2014, Darren Sproles learned via Twitter that instead of being released as he previously thought, the New Orleans Saints were looking to trade him. That revelation embarrassed the organization and ESPN for reporting the story before asking whether Sproles knew. Earlier this summer, Wilmer Flores of the New York Mets was seen crying on the field after reportedly being traded. Later, it was revealed that the deal had not been finalized, and he was staying with the Mets after all. Without reporters jumping the gun on information from a source, both of these interactions might have gone much smoother.

Jason Pierre-Paul, a premier passrusher for the New York Giants, lost his finger in an accident involving fireworks on July 4; J.P.P., however, was not the first one to disclose this information. ESPN’s Adam Schefter first broke the news via Twitter with photos of Pierre-Paul’s medical records at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Schefter’s reasoning for violating PierrePaul’s privacy was that he “was a public figure and franchise player,” essentially arguing that J.P.P.’s medical history should be open to the public because he is a celebrity.

So, Adam, why can’t we see your medical history? After all, you are quite a celebrity yourself after this Twitter-botchery.

The sports world needs to slow down and allow information to be confirmed before reporting a story. In the digital age, everyone is clamoring to learn news as early as possible. We need to remind ourselves that waiting is not the worst thing in the world.

For a long time, the only way to report information was via the daily newspaper. In those days, reporters had almost the whole day to take the whispers and verify them with multiple people familiar with the situation. Sometimes it feels like a return to those times would not be so bad.

In any case, it is important that “sources” be taken with a grain of salt, especially if they are unnamed.

photo courtesy of John Sangiolo

After a strong start to the season, the girls cross-country team fell to Lincoln-Sudbury at the DCL championships on Friday, Oct. 30.

Jake Epstein Sports Reporter

The second-ranked girls cross country team lost a close race to LincolnSudbury at the 2015 DCL championship meet on Oct. 30, finishing in second place overall. “Everyone had a goal and a race plan going into the meet,” senior Liza Hochberg said. “These goals were mostly met or exceeded.”

Junior Clare Martin and senior captain Rebecca Grusby finished second and third, respectively, in the five-kilometer race. Martin was edged out in the last 200 meters by L-S’ Ariel Keklak.

Sophomores Caroline Barry and Emily Bulczynski finished ninth and 25th, respectively, as four Lions placed in the top 25.

“Our team has progressed tremendously throughout the season,” Hochberg said. “Not only have we improved our running, but we have become closer as a team. The support that the runners give

each other by cheering in races and pushing others in workouts has cultivated an atmosphere of success.”

Hochberg, who has been battling injuries this season, said she was impressed

“Our team has progressed tremendously ... Not only have we improved our running, but we have become closer as a team.

- Liza Hochberg, Class of 2016 by the team’s performance and thinks the team will be able to build off of this momentum.

Senior captain Noosha Aliabadi agreed that the team will be able to replicate its success at DCLs as it looks down the stretch at future meets.

“I think the biggest thing we have

to fear is getting sick, which is always a huge problem on our team, and just being nervous,” Aliabadi said. “Other than that, I have no doubt we can be one of the top teams in the state.”

As of now, Martin holds the second fastest time in Massachusetts, while Grusby holds the sixth.

Both are hoping to improve their rankings in the upcoming state meets, along with the rest of the varsity unit, which seeks to move up from second to first in the state rankings.

Though injuries have plagued the girls team, they remain optimistic. As the team leaves behind the DCLs, the girls look to take down top-ranked LincolnSudbury in hopes of attaining the state title.

“That’s been a goal of ours since the first day the season started,” senior captain Caraline Pham said. “With how everything has been going, we all believe it’s possible and are looking forward to an exciting meet.”

Boys XC looks ahead to All-States Jake Epstein Sports Reporter

Junior Gal Fudim led the South boys cross-country team at DCLs, placing sixth overall in a tight race that saw three Cambridge seniors finish first, second and fourth to give them the boys DCL championship.

“As a team, everyone had good races,” senior captain Matt Shaughnessy said. “Although I didn’t reach the specific goal that I had for this race, the season is still not over.”

South placed in sixth in the overall team rankings, with notable performances from Shaughnessy (24th overall) and junior Bhavik Nagda (42nd overall).

“I know where my time is right now, and I know I need to work harder to get my time where I want it to be,” Shaughnessy said. “We are going to take that attitude for the whole varsity team.”

Fudim, who along with Shaughnessy

has set the pace for the Lions this year, began the season recovering from an injury that had lingered since the end of the 2015 outdoor track season.

“I had a rocky start to the season, but the last few weeks I’ve been picking it up,” Fudim said. “Matt has definitely been a driving force in my racing, and he’s

“It’s been all about developing the younger guys to get them to be where we want them to be.”

- Gal Fudim, Class of 2017 definitely been pushing me.”

Fudim improved upon his 2014 DCL performance, finishing nine spots better.“The race definitely exceeded my expectations. I beat some guys I wanted to beat. It was a tough race but I stuck

through and pushed myself,” Fudim said.

“All the boys went sub-18:30 today, so we are looking at a solid Eastern D1 Meet.”

With a young varsity team that boasts only two seniors, Fudim is hopeful that the team runners will continue to develop.

“As a team, we didn’t really have a defined ‘Varsity’ coming into the season,” Fudim said. “It’s been all about developing the younger guys to get them to be where we want them to be.”

The boys team will look to impress at the invitational and state meets and to place among the Massachusetts powerhouses.

The team is now preparing for the upcoming meets including the MSTCA Coaches Invitational, Eastern Mass D1 State Meet and the All State Championship Meet.

The first of the meets, the MSTCA Coaches Invitational, takes place tomorrow in Wrentham.