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Vol. XXX · Issue II

Newton South High School’s Student Newspaper · Newton, MA · Established 1984 · September 6, 2013

porn The Construction Child charges hit

Summer

Newton allocates unprecedented sums of money for construction and maintenance projects

By Nathaniel Bolter and Sasha Kuznetsov

In an attempt to improve infrastructure, City of Newton officials allocated substantial sums of money for construction and maintenance projects that took place across the city this summer.

Roadwork projects include the construction and subsequent reconstruction of the remodeled Newton Centre intersection, improvements to the intersection of Parker Street and Route 9 and the paving of roads across the city.

Newton Public Schools renovations include the ongoing effort to replace Angier Elementary School, the addition of modular classrooms at Bowen, Burr, Horace Mann and Mason Rice Schools and maintenance projects at F.A. Day Middle School.

According to Chief Operating Officer Bob Rooney, who oversaw many of the ongoing projects, this summer’s spending was unique. “This is the first time the city has really addressed serious capital needs across the city in a long time,” he said. “The most recent one was Newton North but that was one school out of 22.”

The money for the building projects came from a variety of sources. City overrides paid for the Angier School replacement and the Carr School’s renovation. The elementary school modular classrooms and maintenance

projects across the Newton Public Schools were paid for by reserve accounts within the school and building departments.

Because Route 9 is a Massachusetts state road, state money accounted for the intersection of Parker Street and Route 9 upgrade. Likewise, the money for the rebuilding of the Newton Centre intersection came from a state grant.

The Board of Aldermen, however, voted to undo the $1.85 million dollars worth of construction work in Newton Centre on Aug. 16 after realizing the reconfigurations only worsened traffic.

According to some Newton residents, this reversal was not a prudent use of the money. “I think that [the city] should have just thought it out better in the beginning,” junior Pat Mahoney said. “They got this large amount of money; they should have planned more carefully what they were going to do with it because obviously it’s a huge waste.”

Jag Singh, father of junior Ahaana Singh, said he could understand the city’s decision. “They should have anticipated that what they were going to do was not going to make a difference,” he said. “But at the same time, if they made a mistake and they figured out that it was not working, then I think it makes sense to correct it.”

Alderman John Rice also said the administration reacted appropriately to the problems the construction created. “At times the government makes the wrong decisions and tries to stay with it even if it’s not working, and I think what this administration did was they realized there was an issue and they went to correct it as soon as possible,” Rice said.

Rooney said the city’s aggressive spending strategy and willingness to take on large projects are necessary, especially in the context of the elementary school replacements. “Angier is close to 100 years old, Cabot is right behind it in terms of condition,” Rooney said. “It’s just really unacceptable to keep kicking the can down the road, where you just kind of turn your back on it and say, ‘Well we’ll just paint it again’ … it really needs to get brought into the 21st century.”

Senior Anjali Oberoi said that though this summer’s construction drains resources, the outcome would not have been different in the long term. “It would have cost the same even if they had spread it out,” Oberoi said.

According to Rooney, this summer’s spending is not an ephemeral effort, but rather a model for years to come. “We are hoping that we continue this level of improvement to our facilities over the next couple of decades,” he said.

Newton again Kylie Walters Editor-in-Chief

On Thursday, Aug. 29, Newton and State Police arrested F.A. Day Middle School math teacher and Newton resident Steven Chan on two counts of possession and one count of dissemination of child pornography.

According to prosecutors, Chan, a Newton teacher for 23 years and boys gymnastics coach at Newton North, had thousands of images of underage girls on his computers. The investigation does not involve any Newton students, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

Assistant District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said Chan admitted to downloading child pornography images and faces a minimum of 10 years in prison.

Chan’s arrest closely follows two other child pornography cases in Newton, one also involving a Newton Public Schools teacher.

In Jan. 2012, Underwood teacher and South alumnus David Ettlinger was arrested on two counts of possession of child pornography.

Ettlinger later faced numerous state and federal charges, including five counts of aggravated indecent assault and battery of a child under the age of 14. Ettlinger, who worked in the Newton Public Schools system for over a decade, is currently serving a 45year sentence for his role in an international child pornography ring.

A week after Ettlinger’s arrest, Newton Free Library librarian Peter Buchanan was taken into custody and charged with two counts of dissemination of child pornography and possession of material depicting a child in sexual conduct.

In a letter to the Newton community, Superintendent David Fleishman said that such grave charges against a city employee, especially in the wake of the Ettlinger and Buchanan cases, are unsettling.

“The news of a Newton teacher’s arrest and arraignment on such serious charges for the second time in a year and a half has a real impact on the entire Newton community,” Fleishman wrote.

As the Chan investigation continues, Mayor Setti Warren remains confident in the public school system. He said in a press conference last Friday, “I believe strongly that the Newton Public Schools are a safe place to be for all children.”

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Security

Newton Public Schools adopts new security measures.

page

“Outliers”

4

Two students go head-tohead on the One School, One Book selection.

page

Fitness Friends

9

Juniors Sumit Hariawala and Andy Wang share their fitness tips.

page

23

NEWS 2 GLOBAL 5 EDITORIALS 6 OPINIONS 9 CENTERFOLD 12 FEATURES 15 SPORTS 20

news volume 30

issue 2

september 6, 2013

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2

Surplus spent on technology, fee reductions Nathaniel Bolter & Carter Howe

Sr. News Editor, News Reporter

South Spots compiled by Roar editors

Senior Parents Night Parents of the class of 2014 will gather at South in the auditorium to meet their child’s guidance counselor on Tuesday, Sept. 17. to discuss various aspects of the upcoming year.

The event will begin at 8 p.m. and end at 9 p.m.

One School, One Book Students will follow a special schedule on Friday, Sept. 27 to accomodate the discussions and activities surrounding this summer’s One School, One Book, “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell.

As a result of the surplus of just over $1.9 million from the 2013 fiscal year, Newton Public Schools will see new technology and reduced fees this year. The Newton School Committee voted unanimously on June 17 to accept the surplus-spending plan proposed

by Superintendent David Fleishman.

The influx of technology at South will include a new computer lab in Cutler House, a new wireless system for one-to-one access and new computers for the library, Goodwin cart, science labs and Goodwin computer lab.

As part of the fee reductions, South’s parking fee will be reduced from $360 to $310, and the student activity fee has been eliminated.

The nearly $2 million surplus resulted primarily from overestimated special education and health care costs, the latter of which caused an event called a “Health Holiday,” in which the city gets to keep money that would otherwise be paid out in insurance claims.

Of the $1.9 million, $250,000 was allocated to the city reserves and $400,000 to the school reserves, leaving just over $1.3 million for the schools’ discretionary spending. $1 million of that money has been spent on technology; the remaining money has been used to pay for summer maintenance projects and fee reductions.

According to School Committee Vice-

$1.9 million surplus

Back to School Night Parents of South students will spend an evening at South on Wednesday, Oct. 2 visiting their childs’ classes.

Parents will be able to speak with teachers and hear their plans for the 2013-14 school year.

Chair Matt Hills, the high school activity, or club, fee was eliminated because it was adversely affecting the School Committee’s goals. “We decided to [eliminate the activity fee] because it just wasn’t working as well as we wanted it to work … The feedback we were getting, and the surveys that were done seemed to indicate that some of the clubs were seeing a drop in participation because of the fee,” Hills said. “The problem is, if you’re on the sports team and you pay a fee, you’re paying for a substantial extracurricular benefit, [but] some of these clubs met infrequently, some of them were like social service clubs.”

South Senate President senior Jack Lovett agreed with this assessment of the fee’s inequity and said that it contributed to his opposition to the fee. “I personally talked to some of my constituents who said that they were really turned away from creating clubs, or even joining clubs, because of the student activity fee,” Lovett said.

Lovett, who, along with several fellow senators, spoke against the activity fee at a meeting with the School Committee in June, said he believes the Senate impacted the committee’s decision. “I think [the school committee was] really excited … to have students show up and actually comment on their work and at least offer suggestions for improvement,” Lovett said.

According to Hills, the decision to get rid of the fee came from the collective feedback of the community. “I think there were some students who came to speak who

$1.7 million for school spending

$250,000

spoke very credibly, including [Lovett], and we certainly listened. And the school department had already heard some of the same feedback from teachers and advisors, so we investigated,” Hills said. “That’s the way it is supposed to work.”

The majority of the surplus, however, was spent on technology, primarily computers. But some students question the additions’ necessity. “At my house, we don’t have super high-tech computers, and I’m fine with using older models,” junior Louisa Kimmel said.

“I don’t think everyone needs [high-tech computers] to get a good education.”

Junior Daniel Shaar agreed with Kimmel that the $1 million spent on technology is somewhat exorbitant but said that it could not be harmful to the learning process. “For the most part, our computer labs are pretty updated ... So I don’t feel like adding to technology is going to benefit learning in many ways,” Shaar said. “But still … adding to technology never detriments from anything; it always gives teachers more ability to do more things that they wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.”

Fleishman also said new technology helps the learning process. “Our very effective teachers want to do different kinds of projects with students … And if the technology doesn’t work, it’s really frustrating,” Fleishman said. “So I look at it as enhancing the learning we already have.”

In addition, it is impossible to use the surplus money to address other pressing needs, like hiring more teachers to reduce class size, according to Fleishman. “There are two kinds of money: there’s one-time money and then there’s recurring money.

So we can’t spend the [surplus] money on teachers because then the next year, let’s say we have a deficit, then the money is not there,” Fleishman said. “With one-time money it’s either facilities, projects that need to be fixed up or … equipment.”

Nevertheless, there will be new teachers at South this year, Fleishman said. “The override money was permanent, which is why we [can add] teachers at South, which is really important given that the enrollment is going up,” he said.

Hills said he is pleased with the School Committee’s handling of the surplus. “We’re always happy to have a surplus — that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” Hills said. “And what we intend to do with the surplus is use it to meet our highest priority needs, almost all of which are going to center around the student experience and the academic needs of the school.”

to city reserves

$300,000

$1 Million $400,000 to school reserves

to technology

to summer maintenance, fee reductions and other one-time expenditures

news

september 6, 2013

Language Department cuts Latin I Sasha Kuznetsova & David Li

Sr. News Editor, News Editor Due to insufficient enrollment, the World Language Department has discontinued the Latin I course for the 2013-14 school year. The course has seen diminished enrollment as many students opt to take the introductory Latin I course in middle school.

Furthermore, students who do not take Latin throughout middle school are, according to world language teachers, reluctant to start a new language in high school.

As a result of budget limitations, the World Language Department cut courses that received the least enrollment in the class registration period of April 2012; as of April 10, the department had received only 10 requests for the Latin I course — well below the target minimum of 18 for a curriculum 1 course.

“It comes down to needing to make a choice — where do we have the lowest enrollment, where is it likely to grow. That’s how we make the decision [to cancel a course],” World Language Department Head Suzanne DeRobert said. “This year it happened to be that Latin I had received by far the lowest of the enrollment numbers.”

Shortly after the registration period, students who had enrolled in the Latin I course received a letter from the school administration, notifying them of the course’s cancellation and requesting that they to enroll in another course or elective.

According to DeRobert, the decreased enrollment in introductory level language courses is due to students beginning languages in middle school. “We really encourage students to continue in the language they were already studying in middle school … and most of the students will want to continue

in that language ... rather than pick up a new language,” DeRobert said.

Senior Matthew Marcus agreed that the majority of middle school Latin students continue with their studies in high school at a level higher than Latin I. “More than half of freshmen who take Latin are in Latin II. I think middle school Latin really does set you up for high school Latin,” Marcus said. “[Latin teacher Mark] Coughlin is a Latin teacher at the middle school level and ... he’s really engaged in the subject and helped [students] enjoy something that a lot of people associate with being

DeRobert agreed that as students are introduced to new opportunities in high school, many do not have the time to take on a new language. “It’s hard — you’re faced with electives, which is one of the appeals of coming to high school. You [can] have more choice in the courses that you have [or you can] take a language,” DeRobert said.

Sophomore Sasha Badov also said that, in her experience, taking Latin involved making sacrifices. “People don’t have time for [Latin] in their schedules. I know that personally, I had to give up on some things that I wanted to do just to take Latin,” Badov said.

Sophomore Jason Lange, however, willingly repeated Latin I his freshman year after not feeling sufficiently prepared for Latin II. “I think most students go to Latin II, but … I didn’t feel like I was ready to go to Latin II because it would be very challenging,” Lange said.

According to Latin teacher Alice Lanckton, retaking Latin I is one of the many opportunities the course provides. “[Repeating Latin I] is very useful. Your brain is developing all the time, and some people ... can take [Latin] in much better as they get older,” Lanckton said. “By the beginning of high school they become better students — they know more how to be students, and that’s a help.”

Despite the discontinuation of the course, DeRobert said that it is normal for the number of students enrolled in introductory level courses such as Latin I to fluctuate.

“We hate it when we have to cancel any type of a class at all. I am reassured by the fact that [it’s a] cycle ... and I fully expect that it will come back,” DeRobert said. “We did not have Latin I two years ago, but we had it last year. We are not running it this year, but I really hope that we will be running it again next year.”

People don’t have time for [Latin] in their schedules. I know that personally, I had to give up on some things that I wanted to do just to take Latin.

- Sasha Badov, Class of 2016 not very exciting and even boring. I think he instills students with desire to learn the language, which transcends into the high school level.”

Marcus also said that students do not often choose to learn a new language at the introductory level once they are in high school, regardless of their interest. “There’s so much going on at the high school level — high school grades start counting when they don’t really count in middle school,” Marcus said. “I think it’s difficult for kids to want to start taking a new language class that they’ve never taken before when their schedule is busiest.”

New To Newton South The Roar’s Nathaniel Bolter went to new staff orientation on Aug. 27 to ask some of the new staff what they hope to bring to the South community

Emily Farbman Art I hope to bring ... opportunities for students who are interested in getting started in art to really find a connection in it.

Corey Davison History I hope to bring ...

a fresh perspective on material, enthusiasm [and] a creative approach to teaching. That’s a good question. I hope to bring more good questions.

Mickey Lenzi English I hope to bring ... an environment that is well balanced ... you can be passionate about literature ... music, sports — whatever it is.

Jessica Silverman Science I hope to bring ... some relevance and some real world experience to the curriculum and to get kids excited about how they can really use science in their daily lives.

3

PRISM protects, not violates, the rights of U.S. citizens Daniel Ehrlich

Politics and Points of View

The National Security Agency (NSA) stands at the center of media scrutiny, though much of this attention is undeserved. Conspiracy theorists had a field day with the dangerous unveiling of the NSA’s project Planning Tool for Resource Integration, Synchronization and Management (PRISM), and a lack of information about this top-secret government program has brought about much speculation and anger. Despite James Clapper’s, the head of NSA and the Director of National Intelligence, attempts to curb the harmful rumors, many still persist in clouding the minds of Americans.

The average American, however, has nothing to fear; the government isn’t out to get us, despite what people may say.

Congress, the president and the 30,000 NSA workers truly believe that they are doing the right thing — that national security depends upon intelligence. The numbers speak for themselves: over 10 major terrorist attacks were foiled through PRISM’s intelligence gathering alone, and in another 40 plots, intelligence gathering played a crucial role. Information is key when it comes to preventing future terrorist attacks.

There are several popular misconceptions about PRISM and other government surveillance. The first is that PRISM is meant to and can be used on American citizens. In fact, spying on American citizens is directly prohibited under Section 702 of the Federal Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA). The government isn’t listening in on American conversations but instead to conversations of foreign entities; the government is spying abroad. PRISM uses American servers only because most of the world’s data passes through them at one point or another.

Forbes said it best: “like a modern version of ancient Rome’s Appian Way, all digital roads lead to America.” Why spend resources trying to gather data overseas, when you can do it more efficiently and effectively here?

The second big misconception is that the NSA can view the contents of your emails and calls. In practice, however, it can only view the metadata of the messages. That means the time sent, the length of the message and the recipient, but not the substance of the email or phone call.

It doesn’t have unfettered access to your emails and calls.

President Obama has assured the public that multiple safeguards have been put in place to protect American rights.

If an analyst views the information of an American citizen, a second NSA program removes the data from his screen. The potential for misuse may be great, which is why the program faces constant executive, legislative and judicial oversight. Thankfully, a few quick algorithms are all one really needs to keep America’s private information private.

The government exists to protect our rights, and that is exactly what project PRISM aims to do. The foreign information that PRISM procures is vital to stopping terrorism. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t have made the President’s daily intelligence briefing every single day for the past year.

4

news

Intentional or not, PRISM violates privacy

september 6, 2013

Newton schools tighten security

Oliver Xie

Politics and Points of View

Since the Snowden leaks on June 6, the National Security Agency (NSA), originally defined as “no such agency,” has been the center of polemical, politically charged attacks, primarily from Republicans. In an attempt to defame the Obama administration, the attacks have highlighted the infringement of the social contract — specifically how the NSA and Project Planning tool for Resource Integration, Synchronization and Management (PRISM) were tapping into the files of U.S. citizens through well-known agencies such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL and Apple.

Edward Snowden, the CIA computer specialist who leaker of the NSA’s actions in June, was granted political asylum from Russia in early August.

Whether you called Snowden a traitor or hero, you would be right. But the real problem is PRISM — the project Snowden revealed.

PRISM is a violation of our privacy.

PRISM allows the government to conduct surveillance under the following categories: e-mail, chat (voice and video), videos, photos, stored data, voice over IP (VoIP), file transfers, video conferencing and notification of target activity (logins).

That being said, the government has been defending PRISM. The factsheet that the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, released mentioned how the NSA was passed under Congress in section 702 in the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA). Okay, yes it was passed under FISA, but honestly when was the last time a congressperson decided to a read a security act with over 700 sections?

Clapper, however, is in denial, saying that the U.S. government “does not unilaterally obtain information from the servers of U.S. electronic communications providers.” Indeed it does not act unilaterally; it goes through the FISA court, which is supposed to maintain the legitimacy of these violations. The FISA courts rejection rate, however, is .03% of requests (3 in 10,000 requests).

PRISM isn’t supposed target any U.S. citizens. Guantanamo Bay isn’t supposed to deny fair military trials to terrorists.

By signing the Montreal Protocol the US wasn’t supposed to increase reliance on oil.

The U.S. wasn’t supposed lie about the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. If you look at the wording of section 702, it uses the word “intentionally.” Right. And President Ronald Reagan didn’t “intentionally” sell arms during the Iran-Contra Scandal.

And of course, the Director of the NSA, Keith Alexander, said that the project was beneficial. Apparently 50 cases were solved with their contributions; during the congressional hearings, however, the director admitted that the NSA intrusions were actually necessary in preventing terrorist attacks in only 10 of those cases.

I don’t deny that the U.S. is trying to do what’s best for us. But in a system of over 30,000 workers, there is always someone who isn’t.

Please stop being stupid, America.

Congresspeople, our parents pay you.

Please read what you pass.

graphic by David Gorelik

By Sasha Kuznetsov and Amelia Stern In order to increase school safety, the Newton Public Schools have heightened security measures in all schools for the 2013-14 school year; many students, however, question the efficacy of these measures.

Before implementing the measures in all Newton schools, the administration piloted camera monitors and buzzer-lock systems at Bowen Elementary School, Ward Elementary School and Bigelow Middle School last spring. The success of the security measures at the schools prompted their installation at the remaining K through 8 schools in Newton beginning the fall of the 2013-14 school year.

Beginning in September, the front doors of Newton’s elementary and middle schools will be locked throughout the day and will open only during arrival and dismissal.

Teachers at all schools will be required to wear photo ID badges that will act as ways to open doors, and school visitors will be required to buzz in and wear visible name tags.

Due to open campus at Newton’s high schools, however, South and North will not experience significant changes in security and will remain unlocked, though teachers and staff will still be required to wear ID badges.

Principal Joel Stembridge said that although South will not undergo major transformations, the security changes will still prove useful. “South is not going to feel that much different next year. The only real big change is that the teachers will be wearing identification badges,” he said. “That will help people know when an adult is a visitor or when an adult actually works for South.”

According to Superintendent David Fleishman, South’s layout prevented locking the doors and forced the administration to find alternative methods of security.

“Newton South was not designed, even in its renovation, to have just one door open,” Fleishman said. “But we are certainly looking at whatever we can do in terms of security in the building and working with the police communication.”

The security measures came partly as a response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which occurred on Dec. 14 2012, Stembridge said. “[Security is] something we take very seriously and it did not take Newtown for us to start to think about

security,” Stembridge said. “But I think Newtown was one that really hit close to home.

That’s definitely when some of the conversation started up in a more intense fashion.”

Senior Lucrecia Aguilar said that the badges would not keep intruders out of the building. “I don’t see [the photo ID system as] being useful, just because I don’t think that I am going to be looking out for teachers IDs to see if they have them on or not,” she said.

Sophomore Liza Sockwell said photo IDs do not have the capacity to prevent danger. “[I think that the security measures will] not really [be helpful] because people are coming in from the outside, so what are photo IDs going to do?” Sockwell said. “Now you know who you are shooting. Great.”

I think that the new security measures are just forpeople to think that they are doing something.

- Liza Sockwell, Class of 2016 According to Stembridge, no security measure can ensure safety. “Let’s just take the scenario of every door locked and metal detectors and guards on the roof — within five minutes I could probably come up with five or ten scenarios [where] someone [intent] on doing damage ... would be able to circumvent [security],” Stembridge said. “From a door propped open to pulling a fire alarm — it’s just scary to think about.”

Stembridge also said that stricter security would threaten the communal culture that South’s open campus creates.

“It would be really a huge shift to have our high schools locked down like the elementary and middle schools,” he said. “I don’t know how we would do it and maintain our open campus, so I think at this point, a more mild step was taken of asking the adults to wear ID badges so we could help identify who the visitors are more clearly.”

Sockwell agreed that the trade-off between security and atmosphere presents a dilemma.

“School ... should be a place where you feel comfortable, but then I feel like if we took extreme measures to block people

out that [it] could end up being like a really creepy … place where nobody would want to be,” she said. “Then again, it’s more harmful ... if people are getting hurt or feel [threatened] because it’s not as [safe]. It’s hard because then you have to sacrifice the nice, warm environment or atmosphere for more security.”

Sockwell also said that the security measures taken succeed in only creating a false sense of security. “I think that the new security measures are just for people to think that they are doing something — [they’re] not really that helpful. There’s not really any way to stop [a shooter],” Sockwell said.

Stembridge said, however, that the security measures are a step toward raising awareness rather attempting to stop a potential shooter. “The only thing that we’re doing here at the high school is that teachers are wearing their ID badges, and I don’t think that was thought as, ‘Ok now that’s going to prevent Newtown,’ necessarily,” Stembridge said. “But I think it’s going to [help] us ... understand who is a visitor and who is not a visitor, and who needs to have a conversation, and who does not need to have a conversation.”

Junior Miles Welbourn said he suspects the security measures were installed because of public pressure for the administration to act following a tragedy. “[The administration] will have to do something,” Welbourn said. “[A shooting occurs], and whether or not [they are] a common occurrence these terrible things build up a lot of media hype, and [the administration] feels, with all of the sort of helicopter parents they have in Newton, [that] there’s some obligation to take some measure just to keep a good face to the public.”

Despite the upcoming changes, Stembridge said the most effective precaution is a caring community that can prevent the circumstances conducive to a shooting from developing, obliterating the need for increased security.

“One of the big lessons from [the Columbine High School shooting] was that ... it’s important that every single student feels connected to the school,” Stembridge said.

“If we can accomplish that, then we have a safer school than if we had armed guards walking around.”

september 6, 2013

news

5

A Glimpse of the Globe Information compiled by Roar editors from CNN, The Economist, BBC, Al Jazeera, The New York Times, Twitter and the rest of the Internet.

Egypt: what is actually happening?

In January 2011, millions of Egyptian protesters, inspired by protests of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan and Oman, demanded that thenPresident Hosni Mubarak step down from office.

Following the assassination of then-President Anwar El Sadat in 1981, Mubarak, Vice President at the time, was sworn in as president. Surviving two assassination attempts over 30 years, he remained in office until the riots began.

The government sought to crush the unrest with force, using tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges.

After 18 days of protests — mainly centered in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez — Egypt’s Vice President Omar Suleiman announced Mubarak’s resignation on Feb. 11, 2011. As documented by the Human Rights Watch, the

death toll from the 18-day revolution stands at least 300.

After Mubarak was deposed, the Egyptian Armed Forces took power, disbanding parliament and acting as the interim government. New elections for Parliament took place in late 2011.

Mubarak was put on trial for charges of corruption and killing and sentenced to life in prison in 2012. He appealed, and a retrial was scheduled for 2013.

Following health complications, however, he was transported from a prison to a hospital, where he was held in protective custody.

Democratic presidential elections were planned and held, with former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik and Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political party of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Morsi as

MOHAMeD MORSI - First Democratically elected President of Egypt, part of Freedom and Justice Party

Public Domain

the two frontrunners.

On June 24, 2012, it was announced that Morsi had won with 51.7 percent of the vote.

Five months after his election, Morsi announced that he would be exempt from judicial review and that a new constitution would be drafted in a referendum.

Many citizens, fearing that the new constitution would cater only to the wants of the Muslim Brotherhood, took to the streets in protest.

Tension remained high for months, with Egyptian civilians fearing a return to dictatorship.

The army gave Morsi 48 hours to reconcile with the opposition or to resign as President on the oneyear anniversary of his entrance into office.

Clashes between pro-Morsi demonstrators and the Egyptian Armed Forces ensued in what

many described as a military coup d’état, and over 300 have been killed since the clashes began.

The army deposed Morsi and put Adly Mansour as the interim president on July 4.

Many leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, including Morsi, were charged with inciting riots, but no trial date has been set yet. Recently, judiciary officials suggested making the Muslim Brotherhood a non-governmental organization.

Mansour outlined plans for a new constitution and election; he issued a presidential decree to form a constitutional committee of 50 people to draft the constitution.

Mansour also announced that ongoing pro-Morsi protests would be cleared in the following weeks, asking that protesters leave as soon as possible.

Adly Mansour -Served as interim president after Morsi

- Suspended Egypt’s constitution

- Assembled a constitutional committee of 50 people to redraft the constitution

In office: June 2012July 2013

In office: July 2013Now Public Domain

Nonsensical News: Kitties gone wild

New York subways were shut down for over an hour Thursday, Aug. 29 while a massive manhunt ensued for two felines on the loose, according to the CBBC. Subway workers began aggressively searching for the two kitties soon after their owner reported them missing and were shortly joined by the city’s finest. An Associated Press article noted

that officials implemented a bold strategy of trying to coax the missing felines out of hiding with cat food.

The two kittens didn’t take the bait, however, and were found by NYPD nearly an hour and a half later on an above-ground portion of the tracks.

Transit immediately resumed, and the cats have been returned to proper custody.

Public Domain

News this week America said that it will send an envoy to North Korea to request a pardon and amnesty on humanitarian grounds for American missionary Kenneth Bae who is in jail there.

After 18 women accused him of sexual harassment, 70-year-old Bob Filner resigned as mayor of San Diego.

After markets wiped $200 million off the value of Mediaset, Silvio Berlusconi’s company, the former Italian leader withdrew his threat to pull his party out of the governing coalition if he is banned from public office.

On August 28 bombings in Iraq, centered mostly in Shia areas of Baghdad, killed at least 70 people.

Medical scientists are working on developing a universal flu vaccine that protects against various strains of the flu and can be administered less frequently than the annual vaccine.

Fun and informational.

Leonardo Da-Chimpanzee

Brent, a 37-year-old chimpanzee, won $10,000 in an all-chimp art contest held by the Humane Society, according to BBC. Brent brings a unique technique to the ever-growing pool of talented chimp painters, using his tongue.

His gentle blends of violet, blue and yellow, combined with his tongue’s texture gives the masterpiece a unique tone not often found in pieces created with a conventional brush.

The money will go to his sanctuary, Chimp Haven, in Louisiana.

BBC

Brent’s technique led to his win.

Ticket Overload There are fewer worse feelings in the world than coming back to your car and seeing a ticket underneath the windshield wiper. Well, feel lucky that it wasn’t a $105,000 parking ticket

like Jennifer Fitzgerald received, according to BBC. Fitzgerald’s ex-boyfriend left her car in a Chicago airport in 2009, and she could not until recently settle the fine. It wasn’t until after the 678th

ticket that the car was towed.

Fitzgerald claimed that she was unable to gain access to the parking lot. She settled with the state, only having to pay $4,500 and receiving $1,600 from her ex.

editorials volume 30

issue 2

page

september 6, 2013

The Cat’s

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

“Inliers: The Assessment of Averageness” chosen for 2014 An elite group of English teachers at South chose Llewdalg Mloclam’s new book, “Inliers: The Assessment of Averageness” as the 2014 One School, One Book. The book analyzes just how people end up average. The One School, One Book Selection Committee leader, English teacher Hugh Cares, said the book was chosen to prepare South students for a realistic future. “I think we gave many kids high expectations by giving them Outliers, so for next year we wanted to ensure that they didn’t leave this place with unreachable goals. That’s why we chose such a conceptually similar book for next year,” he said.

Freshman Nayvar Reeds said he especially enjoyed the first parts of this summer’s book. “Well, the 10,000 hours was a pretty cool idea, but when he got into that other stuff, like scientists and computers and pilots ... it was way over my head and confusing,” he said.

But, Reeds went on to say that the selection of “Inliers” provides an appropriate balance to this year’s book. “Outliers talked about the people who really went on to success and became great and really reached the top of their respective pyramids. But what about the thousands who really only made it halfway up the corporate ladder, or those that didn’t get into the NBA or NFL? I want to learn about how all of them got to be average. How do accountants become accountants?”

Officials decide new Newton North building causes too much traffic Soon after the reconstruction of the Newton Centre intersection began, Newton Public Schools officials decided to move Newton North High School back to the school’s old building.

Superintendent Maddie Misteak said that the city underestimated the traffic that would be caused by the new building.

“We had an expert help build the school and promise smoother traffic flow. Once we implemented the plan, however, we saw how much worse it actually made everything,” he said.

Since the old building has already been demolished, the city will be allocating $200 million to track down all the debris and parts of the old building and put them back in one piece.

Newton mayor Spence Cassious said although it will require another tax override, the voters should make the a prudent decision for the sake of the children. “These kids are our future. Some people may be angry about us spending all this money on one building and then just going back to the old one, but we need to do this. They’re our future,” he said.

North senior Jay K. Burpstein said he hopes that the city learns from this mistake. “The mornings are horrible. I have to leave my house by 4:00 a.m. if I want to get to school on time. Once I get there, I guess the facilities are decent, but it still sucks,” he said. “Then again, it’s not like we can expect our elected officials to make calculated decisions. I guess I’m torn.”

6

Newton should support local businesses over chain ones As highlighted in our front page story, Newton has been rife with construction this summer. The city’s investments demonstrate a commitment to maintaining and improving the infrastructure of the community.

The Roar, though frustrated by the erroneous assessment of traffic flow in the Newton Centre intersection, recognizes many of the other changes as necessary and positive.

We believe some of the changes, however, such as the traffic lights added at the intersection of Route 9 and Parker Street, to be solutions to nonexistent problems.

Were the traffic changes really designed to benefit Newton residents or simply to make the city more accessible for shoppers coming in from Route 9?

The construction of Wegmans on the south side of Route 9 was delayed for years because of traffic concerns. New England Development eventually had to scale back its plans, but the cost of the infrastructure work to account for an increase in traffic was split between the developer and the state.

The changes relating to the new Route 9 shopping centers include widening approach roads, adding traffic lights and installing a median break on Route 9, so travelers can turn left into the center.

Thus, many of the changes in Newton this summer were designed to directly benefit potential shoppers. When were Newton residents consulted about these changes that will profoundly affect our daily lives?

If we were, there was little to no publicity about it, as no members of The Roar could recall the occurrence of public meetings.

Although push back clearly forced the developers to curtail their ambitions, the changes still negatively affect many residents.

Public money has accounted for many of the construction projects this summer, but the addition of many private, chain businesses represents a growing trend in Newton.

Newton is becoming more and more of a shopping destination for both residents and surrounding towns. This August, Needham Chestnut Realty proposed the demolition of an existing 14,000-square-foot brick building at 170 Needham Street to build a new 7,000-square-foot facility as part of what it sees as a growing trend of business redevelopment.

Just down the road, developers of the Needham Street Village Shops are planning to build a retail and restaurant facility at the site of International Bicycle and the former Skipjack’s restaurant.

Four years ago, when Cold Stone Creamery, which has

hundreds of locations across the country, opened up in Newton Centre, many residents asserted their loyalty to J.P. Licks, a longtime staple of the community.

About a year later, Cold Stone left town.

This mentality of valuing local ventures over corporate ones was a defining feature of our youth. The staff of The Roar does not want the next generation of Newton’s children to grow up in a city that has forgotten what the words “family-owned” mean.

We by no means suggest only shopping and eating at local businesses, but Newton residents must be consciously aware of the choices they are making.

When you support chains over local businesses, you are casting a vote for a city filled with corporations over a city that fosters and supports the endeavors of its own residents and neighbors.

Small local businesses have no chance to improve, thrive and provide quality services if we as consumers value brand name and consistency over entrepreneurship and community.

The various redevelopments across the city are all expected to add millions of dollars to tax revenue annually, but to what extent should we sacrifcie the character of our community?

Newton is having an identity crisis, and it’s up to us to solve it.

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, subscriptions and independent fundraising.

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september 6, 2013

editorials

THE

7

Editor reflects on first year at South, progress made over high school career

EDITOR’S DESK Yonatan Gazit Editor-in-Chief

I know this might be hard to believe, but I wasn’t always such a popular, sexy, smooth young dude. I had a rocky start to South, coming from a tiny private school, but over the course of freshman year things improved. For any of the scared new students out there (or for anyone interested in a funny/embarrassing/mildly sad story), here is the tale of how a shy, fresh-out-of-puberty freshman boy turned into the senior I am today. As bad as being the new kid may seem, with the right outlook it doesn’t last.

Three years ago I walked through the breezeway into my first classes of high school. I had spent nine years at Jewish Community Day School (JCDS) and graduated in the whopping 14 student class of 2010. We had every class together, every day, for nine years straight. Normal social skills, such as being normal, can’t exactly be developed under those circumstances. Since then, I have shed my cocoon and become the magnificent butterfly I am notoriously known as today.

I arrived at the ice cream social with a loaded arsenal of friend-making skills. I knew three people in my grade that day, one from JCDS, one who used to go to JCDS and one from camp. I barely squeaked by, picking a JCDS friend out of the crowd and clinging onto her until the social ended.

A week or two later the first day of high school rolled around, and I strutted in confident and ready to make new friends. That spirit was absolutely, completely, mercilessly crushed even before A block started. As I waited outside the classroom, I realized very quickly that I just wasn’t used to talking to people I didn’t intimately know, and thus I couldn’t really hold a conversation with anyone.

Undaunted I was determined to try again during B, C and D blocks. In each of those classes, the other little froshies seemed to have better luck mingling; I guess they just had some bone or muscle that I was missing. Unlike me, they already knew a bunch of kids in each of their classes. Luckily, another kid in my D block class was in the same boat as me, so that first lunch I was spared the horror of trying to find people with whom I could sit.

Probably the worst part of the day, though, was seeing everyone embrace and eagerly find out about one another’s summer. I felt pretty lonely knowing that there wasn’t anyone in the halls to ask me how my summer was. There was, however, one glimmer of hope that day: I saw a senior walk face first into one of the metal poles dividing the doors in the glass hallway right before the L bench. Thinking back, it still makes me smile. What an idiot.

I came home dejected, but more importantly, I realized High School Musical wasn’t realistic and I had wasted countless hours memorizing the songs and dances in

anticipation of the impromptu lunch musical that never happened. I lied to my parents when I got home and said my day was pretty good. It would be a couple months before I could say that honestly.

The next day I somehow managed to forget the previous day’s fiasco and came in with the same determination to make new friends. Again, that fighting spirit was stopped dead in its tracks. The classes that day were equally as bad.

The low of my day, hands down, came during lunch. I tried sitting with two guys who I had never seen or talked to before. I don’t remember who they were, or even what they looked like. What followed was the most awkward conversation of my life. Having my mom talk to me about safe sex didn’t even compare. The exact details I can’t remember, but what I do know is that after unsuccessful conversation attempts (all on my part), I just jumped ship.

Those 15 minutes started off painfully awkward, but I wasn’t ready to give up and the longer I pushed the worse it got. By the end I think all three of us were relieved that I got up and left.

I honestly don’t remember what exactly happened for the first couple months of freshman year. I think it was so scarring that my subconscious blocked it from my memory — I’ll probably remember it all when I’m 40 sitting in a therapist’s office. But what I do remember was when I made what I consider my first new friend, Jeremy Oshins. In the third or fourth week

of school we quickly bonded over the fact that he too came from a private Jewish day school, Rashi. Bit by bit it went from one, to two, then three, four and five friends.

Pretty soon I had more friends than I could count on my fingers.

This didn’t happen overnight; it didn’t even happen after a couple of weeks.

All I really remember was about halfway through the year I realized I had stopped worrying about where I was going to eat lunch. I felt more comfortable in my own skin walking around the halls. And on day one of sophomore year, there were plenty of kids in the halls that were excited to see me and hear about my summer. South is a big school. Maybe the first, second or even third group of people you get to know aren’t a good fit, but trust me, there’s a niche out there that perfectly fits. All it takes is the courage to try again and again.

My start at South wasn’t pictureperfect or something to happily reminisce about, but at least it makes for a good story. I don’t want to sugarcoat the beginning, it is pretty tough. It took me quite a while to get comfortable because I came in not knowing how to communicate with other members of my species. South hit me hard enough right to knock most of that awkwardness right out of me, but it did take a couple months of senseless beating. Push through it and trust me. By the beginning of your senior year you’ll be able to laugh about it enough to publish it in the newspaper.

Volume 30 The Lion’s Roar

Newton Centre

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

Editors-in-Chief Yonatan Gazit

Welcome Back, Lions!

Managing Editor Dina Busaba

Business and Production Manager

For all Newton South Students

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News

3 oz. FREE

Kylie Walters

Sasha Kuznetsov Nathaniel Bolter David Li

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Centerfold

Faith Bergman Hyunnew Choi

Graphics Managers David Gorelik Olivia Hamilton

Section Editors Features

Carly Meisel Parisa Siddiqui Sophia Fisher Maia Fefer Shelley Friedland

Faculty Advisers Ashley Elpern Brian Baron Paul Estin Thomas Murphy

Sports

Jack McElduff Darren Trementozzi Lizzie Fineman

Opinions

Veronica Podolny Jack Rabinovitch

Photo Managers Katie Asch Dylan Block Sofia Osorio

Aaron Edelstein

8

fun page

september 6, 2013 Columns, rows and squares Each take a digit, falling Between one and nine.

EASY: 5 8

ROSSWORD

bad haiku by Tony Vashevko & Rob Hass puzzles courtesy of sudokuoftheday.com

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S S E S S A L C J Q V D W X

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O O T K K P A P E R B I C I

N U B O V Y A I X Z N A U D

A T O O B S J Q S D P U V X

T H O B D U L F E O C T B D

A J K I G I N R R K R U B H

N P N B P O C M T S L M F E

B A Y W S T W N E E I N D D

G E H L E O J P A R O M R G

F B Y G I P E K C Y N E O K

Y U Q B U N O U H N S K J T

N M B N C T V S E I N Y N Q

S Y W I O Z O I R Z U W L U

S T L D V T M R S R B E A W

T S A P X N E M R X Z S M S

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is here! Take a moment to prep for the Word Search School year and find some back-to-school words.

N L D X N E A L A M B O V Q

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1. A long, long way to run 3. Varieties include butternut and acorn 8. Jessica of “The Fantastic Four” (Actress) 10. A type of fish if repeated 11. Kazakhstan’s most outrageous citizen 13. The lightest stage of sleep or an American rock band 14. Home of the Willis tower

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concerning politics)

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Z D V X O E P P L O S R H S

X J Z I C G S A W U K I N R

B F B L Z Z M K B A S E Y Y

T B W H T L S K S P P V R X

1) Autumn 2) Binder 3) Books 4) Buses 5) Classes 6) Lions 7) Notebook 8) NSHS 9) Paper 10) Pencils 11) Pens 12) South 13) Staples 14) Teachers 15) Textbook

By Joe Joseph

15. The defining quality of America’s national bird 17. Spanish exclamation 18. The entity that 26 across urges his followers not to obey 20. The fruit featured in the name of a popular retail store 21. To mimic in an absurd way 23. Fortified, unbending 24. Leader of the smallest country in the world 26. A car manufacturer based in South Korea 27. Taking a side (usually

1. The hunk gracing the cover of many a romantic novel 2. Might be offered as a reward at a doctor’s office 3. A car manufacturer based in Sweden 4. A pause in conversation 5. Arthur and DW’s true relatives 6. A feminine pronoun 7. An adjective describing pink salt, cats and mountains 9. The abbreviated form of a retail store mentioned in 20 across 12. Signifies the successful completion of a magic trick 16. Dunham, star of “Girls” 19. Home to part of the mountain range mentioned in 7 down 21. The most stylish news agency 22. What keeps our skies smog-free 25. A medical drama that starred George Clooney

Embarrassing Roar Staff Photo of the Month:

#FaithFriday

opinions volume 30

issue 2

september 6, 2013

page

9

Perspectives:

How successful was “The Story of Success?”

SUCCESSFUL

By Charles Zou Teenagers often view the non-fiction genre as unexeciting. We love to be entertained, and non-fiction books often fail to meet the level of amusement needed to hold our attention. Because of this need for excitement, non-fiction books can be ignored or labeled ‘boring.’

Thus, the One School, One Book Selection Committee made a risky choice by selecting a non-fiction book for our required reading. When I first read “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell, I was surprised and pleased to find that reading it was not a boring experience, but an exhilarating one.

Rather than throwing down heaps of statistics, Gladwell uses his clever and enticing writing style to deliver his argument in a series of stories, and he does so without losing the facts. No other non-fiction book I have ever read has made me say, “Oh wow, that’s amazing!” so many times.

The amount of work and research Gladwell put into his book is evident. Some of the topics in “Outliers,” especially those dealing with race, may seem ridiculous and offensive, but when the book delves deeper into these topics, you find that Gladwell is not merely making wild assertions, but is basing his claims on evidence. Like a good journalist, Gladwell didn’t just rely on second-hand sources; he went out and spoke to people to get an accurate understanding of reality.

After reading the book, I can say that “Outliers” was right on the mark. Although last year’s book, “The Fault in Our Stars,” was entertaining, I had trouble figuring out how it was relevant to the average student. I had no such problems with “Outliers.”

“Outliers” investigates something we are all striving for…: success.

Outliers shattered my preconceived notions of what causes success and introduced a clear and concise explanation of it. Gladwell covers many different factors of success: hard work, IQ, social skills, culture and countless others. The variation of these factors also leads to a wide range of discussion topics. Gladwell’s chapter about the Knowledge is Power Program was particularly relevant as it shows how hard work pays off in the end.

It may seem that Gladwell’s work is just re-stating the obvious. Conventional wisdom tells us that hard work and talent are important to achieve success. It is common sense that race and social status are factors as well. Many of us accept statements like these, but “Outliers” helps us understand why these statements are true.

“Outliers” also explains why pure talent or hard work sometimes isn’t enough and why having the knowledge to sieze your opportunities is just as crucial. In his story about Chris Langan, Gladwell shows why intelligence alone isn’t enough. It’s important, however, to take “Outliers” with a grain of salt. The argument Gladwell proposes is his own analysis, not the absolute truth. His arguments are all correct in part, but they do not always explain the grand scheme of things.

I read “Outliers” two years ago, and this book holds a lot of fond memories for me. I had no problem re-reading it, as it was and still is one of the best books I have ever read. While perhaps not the most original, “Outliers” is still an entertaining and informative read.

UNSUcCESSFUL

photo by Katie Asch

By Nathaniel Fleming

“Outliers: The Story of Success” continues Malcolm Gladwell’s line of easy-toread, entertaining sociology books. Like most of Gladwell’s books, “Outliers” consists of a few academic studies that Gladwell carefully inserts into the beginnings and ends of chapters. The sections in between are filled with colorful, well written stories and Malcolm Gladwell’s own extrapolations and conclusions, he presents these ideas with a great deal of certainty despite their going far beyond what can be supported by the academic studies. This is why, when more closely examined, his theories begin to show some flaws.

Gladwell talks about the ten-thousand-hour rule, which argues that to become an expert in almost anything, 10,000 hours of practice are required. This theory makes sense, given that 10,000 hours is around 10 years worth of practice. Cracks in the theory, however, can be seen when Gladwell attempts to use the principle to explain why some people are so incredibly successful.

As an example he uses the Beatles, and their experience in Hamburg where they performed a total of 270 times between 1960 and 1962, sometimes playing for eight hours straight. As an example, Gladwell claims that the “Hamburg crucible is one of the things that set the Beatles apart” and that it was instrumental to their success. In order to test this idea, one would have to look at all the bands that played in Hamburg or had similar experiences and see if they had any measure of success afterwards, and one would also have to look at bands whose success was comparable to the Beatles and check if they had a ‘Hamburg’-like experience.

There were plenty of other bands from Liverpool that went through the Hamburg crucible but never made it big. Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (who were considered better than the Beatles), Derry and the Seniors and Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes, to name just a few. These bands underwent trials very similar to the Beatles, gathering experience and performing just as many times, but were nowhere near as famous.

Then there is Gladwell’s assertion that countries that practice wet-rice agriculture automatically do better in mathematics tests. This is the explanation for why Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Singapore come top in the TIMSS study of mathematical achievement. But, this theory falls apart if you expand the picture to look at rice-producing countries in general. Thailand, Indonesia and India are all major rice growers whose students performed poorly on the math portion of the TIMSS test.

This suggests that whether or not a country farms rice is not nearly as important as the country’s wealth. Thailand, Indonesia and India all have lower GDP per capita than the wet-rice agriculture countries that scored well, and they performed about as well as other countries with similar GDP per capita.

Although research may not disprove a theory, it at least calls the idea into question. Outliers may contain science at its core, but most of the book is constituted by the theories of a journalist.

Gladwell’s stories are easy to read and quite entertaining, but that’s it. A journalist’s conclusions hardly measures up to a scientist’s controlled, carefully executed study.

10

opinions

september 6, 2013

Placement tests encourage cramming over actually learning crucial curriculum Tom Howe

Opinions Contributor Late August of every summer students gather in Cutler house to test the validity of their summer studies. In the spring, ambitious students who hope to advance levels in math approach their teachers and are given textbook names and a somewhat vague packet to guide them.

Students spend the summer hopelessly trying to figure out the units covered by “in-class worksheets” as they attempt to scrape up enough information to score at

I was at a huge disadvantage for the units that were covered by “worksheets” typically handed out by teachers. Although the teacher’s packet provided the number of class days spent on certain units, the amount we had to know from each unit remained ambiguous as the lengths and difficulties of the chapters varied.

I was often unable to fully invest myself in a chapter when confusion overtook my ambition. In said case, I would either drop the book for a couple of days or skip around to other topics until I could seek assistance. Regardless, I could not attack

I could not attack the material in an efficient and orderly manner with just a textbook for a sherpa. least an 80 percent on the placement test, the necessary score for a class change.

When I was a rising junior, I thought challenging myself by testing into a more advanced math class would be an exciting goal worth pursuing. I found the summer material for junior honors math to be extensive and manageable, but the lack of structure in the curriculum between school years was frustrating.

the material in an efficient and orderly manner with just a textbook for a sherpa.

Were there any alternatives? None clear enough to override the traditional “test-in” style we practice at South.

A J block class is unrealistic due to the variety of different math levels to place in and out of and the fact that a huge portion of the students taking these summer placement tests are new to South.

The placement test may leave some students spending hours plowing through the material, but it does provide a well defined standard. More can be done, though.

More assistance from teachers has the potential to completely revamp the test-in program.

Whether help would come in the form of extra notes, video tutorials, recorded lectures or assembled curricular supplements, students need more help to build the same foundation that they would have in a classroom setting. Action must be taken to improve the quality of learning.

Teachers should emphasize that the amount and depth learned is far more valuable than surpassing the 80 percent score on the placement test. A stronger foundation of targeted ideas and concepts will benefit students more in the classroom than carpet bombing information in attempt to surpass the minimum requirement.

Generally, the student skipping entire curricula of math is driven enough to overcome most obstacles with enough time and effort. Although we can mold to South’s class requirements and deal with the testing standards, our struggles do not

end with the placement test.

The placement test is mostly successful in building a strong set of prepared individuals ready to push themselves, but it forces students to learn about topics over three times as fast as a typical student, which is not ideal for the long term.

By the time I found out I had to learn to take derivatives of polar coordinates, I had forgotten that they ever existed.

Given that there is less time to learn the same amount of material with almost no assistance, the placement test encourages students to cram to some degree, which puts them at a disadvantage for cumulative topics in the following year’s class.

I appreciate the privilege to have such a wide variety of math levels and options for class mobility that South offers, but much can be done to improve the system. Adding more classroom material, providing study guides and creating an early start date to begin preparing for the placement test come at no cost.

The purpose of the placement test should not be to weed out students with more dependent learning styles, but rather to encourage further learning of advanced material.

Prague trip encourages hands-on education Ariel Neumann Opinions Contributor

One of the best things — if not the best — about summer is that it is a break from school.

Summer is a time to relax, try new things, meet new people, go new places and generally have experiences that don’t relate to the life you live for the other 10 months of the year.

Surprisingly, what I took away from my non-school related pursuits was a lesson about school.

My summer was not completely unrelated to school; I went on the Prague Summer trip with students from both North and South to Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Despite its academic nature, the trip had a very different atmosphere from school, which is why I was surprised that I learned things closely related to school.

Even though the trip was centered around history — specifically, World War I, World War II and the Golden Age of Communism in the areas we visited — the experience was unlike any class I had ever taken.

It was only two and a half weeks long and we had at most an hour or two of class per day; there were no tests, no textbooks and only one instance of formal grading.

NAMED AFTER CHARLES IV, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR, THE CHARLES BRIDGE IS ONE OF THE LARGEST TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN PRAGUE.

photo courtesy of Mara Ezekiel

photo courtesy of Ariel Neumann

Students on the trip went to many historic cities, including Prague (left), the main attraction of the trip, as well as Dresden, Germany (right).

A large portion of each day was spent exploring the cities on our own, and despite the short period of time, brief lessons and lack of constant testing and evaluation, I learned a lot on the trip.

I know much more about the history of these places than I did before, from sweeping political trends to small details of daily life, art, architecture, culture and even a tiny bit of their languages.

I learned more over those weeks than I would have in three times that long in school. And it wasn’t because I was staying up

all night studying or being tested every day.

I wasn’t being presented with more material and information than usual; I was probably taught fewer facts than I would have been in a regular class in school.

The difference in learning was that I was actively engaged almost the whole time during the experience.

How I got so much out of this time is best summed up by a T-shirt that I saw someone wearing while we were in Prague.

It said something like, “I forget everything I was taught and remember everything I learned.”

I’d never really considered the difference between learning and being taught before, which is the difference between passively absorbing information and actively acquiring it.

I took so much away from my trip because I was actively interested in such a large percent of the material, and so I remembered a much greater portion than I normally would. This realization makes my summer

experience relevant to the regular school year.

It sounds obvious, but this trip taught me that when you put more in, you get more out of school.

Maybe it’s silly to have to go halfway around the world to realize a cliché lesson like “school is what you make of it,” but that’s what I took away from this trip.

It’s important to remember as we transition back into the world of lectures and standardized tests that we have the power to learn rather than just be taught.

opinions

september 6, 2013

reat GExpectations

By Veronica Podolny

graphic by David Gorelik

Sophomore expounds the harm of strictly imposed expectations Most high school students face uncertainties in their lives. We are not sure of where we want to go to college, which job we want to have, which friends are really there for us and we’re not really sure about many aspects of our identity.

This becomes even more complicated when almost everyone around us — teachers, friends and parents — set expectations that they want us to fulfill.

I have a friend who is an extremely talented dancer and has been dancing since she was in preschool. She goes to the studio five days a week for two or three hours a day.

Her dream is to go to the Juilliard School and be on Broadway or open her own studio. My friend knows what she wants to do with her life; she has a distinct plan that she works towards every day of her life. Her only obstacle is her parents.

My friend’s parents don’t believe that she can make it as a dancer, so they try to change her mindset. They don’t want her to go into a profession as risky and unstable as dance, so instead they want her to choose a more reliable career with a steady income.

There is a joke where a mother is at a park with her two kids when a stranger, saying how adorable they are, comes and plays with them. The stranger asks how old the children are and the mother answers, “The lawyer is five and the doctor is three.”

Though this is just a joke, this demonstrates how the expectations that people set for us can drive us away from who we

try to be and into a mold of what others want us to be.

Teachers expect us to spend a majority of our time studying for their classes, friends expect us to like the same things they do and parents expect us to work hard and be good students and respectful children.

Although they do have the best intentions, parents often want us to do everything that didn’t happen in their lives; they want us to succeed even more than they have. What they don’t always remember, though, is that we want to live our own lives and not a continuation of theirs.

Back to my dancing friend, I actually

courage to take the road less traveled. We are ushered onto the worn-out paths that have been tried before us.

As important as it is to keep in mind that not everyone can become a successful actress, singer or major league athlete, in my opinion it is as important to try rather than live a life full of speculations and “what ifs.”

A statstic shows that about 94 percent of Harvard applicants were rejected during the previous admission process, and acceptance rates for most of the Ivy League schools plummeted this year. The heavy competition and numerous obstacles in traditional paths can be intimidating, which causes us to consider our own futures.

The sooner we recognize that not all expectations are reasonable or achievable, the easier it will be for us to properly assess our abilities and focus on our goal.

Especially at South, where there is pressure to be the best academically and to pack on honors and AP classes, most students can relate to the feeling of being stretched too thin.

That is why it is crucial for us to — every once in awhile — take a step back and acknowledge that it is impossible to achieve every expectation that is imposed on us.

Distancing yourself from expectations of others doesn’t have to be a sign of weakness; it is just realistic and shows the world how confident we are in ourselves.

The heavy competition and numerous obstacles in traditional paths can be intimidating, which causes us to consider our own futures. know someone who opened a successful dance studio, in spite of all well-intended advice. Although he sometimes struggles with rent and fees, I consider him to be victorious since he is happy and loves what he does.

As French author André Gide once said, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

I believe that most of us have that courage and we just need to let it prevail through the criticism of others. I wish my friend all the best in her journey, for I would rather see her be a content dancer than a miserable doctor or lawyer.

It is rare for someone to find the

11

Taking the

Jack Rabinovitch Spotlight on China

In English, the quotation above translates to, “A thousand miles begins with a single step.”

With a racing heart and lingering excitement, I sat and listened to a voicemail on my phone. The message told me that I’d been accepted into the NewtonBeijing Jingshan Exchange Program.

Excitedly, I delivered the good news to my friends and relatives. Soon enough, the reality of the situation set in: I would be spending several months in China, but I didn’t speak any Chinese.

The Newton-Beijing Jingshan School Exchange Program is the oldest exchange program of public secondary school students between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Students from South and North host Jingshan peers for four months during the fall, and the Beijing students host Newton students in the spring.

Last summer I befriended some South students who had gone on the 2012 trip. They told me that they had enjoyed the experience but didn’t say much else on the topic.

It was the first time I had ever heard of the program, yet it didn’t spark my interest. Although the exchange sounded fun, I never considered it to be an option for me, as I have such a busy school life.

At the beginning of last year, I met some of the Chinese students and teachers who had come on the exchange. They were all kind, interesting and amiable, so they acted upon my curiosity about China and the program.

Because of their impressive English skills, we managed to have both deep and topical discussions. Soon enough, the exchange students and I became close friends. Seeing their experiences as Chinese exchange students — rather than simply hearing about my friends’ experience going to China — prompted me to consider applying to the program.

I realized that to go on the trip would mean seeing those who I became close to, representing my school and country and having an amazing learning experience, which the rest of high school could not beat. So, I applied.

After being accepted into the Jingshan Program, I began to study Chinese.

When the school year ended I started a Mandarin course at Newton South with the other people who are also going on the exchange.

I began to pick up the language, and though I am nowhere near fluent, I am now confident that I will be able to communicate in Chinese by the time I leave in January.

This Mandarin course, which met for five weeks this summer, has given all those going on the trip a bonding experience which keeps us looking forward to learning the language, the culture and preparing for the experience ahead.

Soon enough, the Jingshan students will be coming to our school and studying with us. Even after I leave for China, I look forward to writing my column about my adventures in the program.

JUDGING JUSTICE

a closer look PROPOSITION 8

B

a closer look ZIMMERMAN CASE

Wikimedia Commons

etween May and November of 2008, some 18,000 same-sex couples married in California after the state supreme court legalized samesex marriages. In the November state election, however, Proposition 8, or the California Marriage Protection Act, passed with a 52 percent vote. The law established that the state would only recognize marriages between a man and a woman and would ban same-sex marriages. District Court Justice Vaughn Walker declared Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional in August 2010 because of its violation of equal protection rights for gay couples.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the District Court’s decision in February 2012. Five months later, protesters of Proposition 8 appealed to the Supreme Court; the Supreme Court accepted the case on Dec. 7, 2012. In late February of 2013, the Obama administration urged the court to overturn Proposition 8. The Supreme Court legalized samesex marriages in California on June 26, 2013.

graphic by Oliivia Hamilton

Recent court cases bring light to students’ hopes and concerns about the U.S. judicial system Faith Bergman & Hyunnew Choi Sr. Centerfold Editors

When the Supreme Court declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional on June 26, senior Emma Feynman and her mom jumped with joy. Feynman had been closely following the case, and it had finally come to a close.

The Proposition 8 case was just one of the few court cases that reached a verdict this past summer, including the trial of George Zimmerman. According to students, these court cases and their verdicts demonstrate some strengths and weaknesses of the judicial system and call for students to learn about and reflect on these issues as future participants of the system.

Senior Lauren Forrow said that the Supreme Court’s ruling on Proposition 8 exemplified the proper functioning of the system, as the case was handled in multiple levels of court.

“People were unhappy with the law and thought it shouldn’t be in place and petitioned,” she said. “It went through the appropriate levels of appeals for people who were unsatisfied with lower court decisions, and it went all the way up to the Supreme Court. I’m happy with … how the system worked and how it went up the ladder of appeals, so I think that’s an example of the judicial system working well.”

Feynman said that the verdict will alter the opinions of many citizens, which will ultimately impact the future of the judicial system and its laws. “[The verdict] allows an opening of mind,” she said. “As people’s opinions change, the laws along with the court’s opinion will also change.”

addressing the protests on the Zimmerman case verdict due to the slow law making process.

“It’s difficult to make laws and change laws these days. So, that’s the problem — it’s difficult to change what the judicial system is operating by,” Cohen said.

While Forrow said that she also does not anticipate immediate changes in the system based on recent court cases, she appreciates citizens’ efforts to make petitions and stage protests based on their opinions on recent rulings, which she believes will have long-standing impact.

“Making it known that you don’t agree with the verdict can be more helpful than people may realize, in terms of if a similar case happens,” she said.

Tower said that the future generation, including the students of South, has the responsibility of formulating opinions on these court cases, which will allow individuals to advocate for - Zander Tower, Class of 2016 changes in the system that will a law that has some type of loophole in According to sophomore Zander lead to more fair decisions. “South students it, then that’s a weakness in the judicial Tower, the most significant outcome of this should learn from these court cases and system because you can’t say someone is case was that it highlighted some of the look into them, and as they become adults, guilty unless the law does.” racial prejudices that pervade the judicial they should remember these cases and do Cohen said that he therefore system. He said that in spite of these biases, what they can to change [the court system] acknowledges the difficulties that the the system is responsible for maintaining for the better,” he said. judicial system faced with the Zimmerman objectivity when interpreting evidence.

Forrow agreed that the most case, for the jury had to determine “The Zimmerman trial puts my pressing responsibility of students is to stay Zimmerman’s fate based on state laws that opinion into perspective that shows that informed about these court cases because some considered to be immoral. there is still a lot of bias and racism,” he students will make up a critical part of the “A large number of people would said. “I think that [the system] should be judicial system in the future. say that [Zimmerman] was guilty, but the less focused on the race and gender of “If you can do your part and make problem was the jury couldn’t declare him people than on the actual evidence against sure you know what’s going on, that can guilty because what he did was technically or for the case.” help a lot,” she said. “A misinformed or not allowed under the law,” he said. “Thinking Cohen said that although public can informed public is dangerous because the from the point of view of the people on advocate for changes as did the supporters American public participates in juries. So the jury, … it makes clear the kinds of of the revocation of Proposition 8, he if you’re not informed, you’re not fulfilling challenges the judicial system faces. All it doubts noteworthy progress will occur your responsibility as a citizen.”

Senior Alex Cohen agreed that there is a close link between the laws and the court system itself. He said that although much criticism surrounding the judicial system has arisen since verdict of the Zimmerman case was anounced, it is important to notice the flaws of the law, rather than the weaknesses of the system.

“Any criticism of the judicial system is really going down to the roots of what the system is using to make its decisions, which is the law,” he said. “That’s what dictates the decision that the court makes, so when you have laws that are universally agreed upon to be right, that’s what’s great about the system. At the same time, you have laws that aren’t so great. If there is

has is the laws that are put into place by the government and politicians, … and it can’t make decisions that aren’t somehow provided for in those laws.”

Sophomore Sam Kopp, however, said that he is hopeful that the court declared the verdict of the Zimmerman case based on the principles of the law, instead of the way the media shaped the trials.

“That the case of Zimmerman had turned out the way it did [was hopeful,]” he said. “That was a good sign that it was a very objective ruling based on the evidence provided for and against, and the jury came to a conclusion in the way they should have based on what our ruling documents say.”

South students should learn from these court cases ... and as they become adults, they should remember these cases and do what they can to change [the court system] for the better.

T

David Skankbone/Wikimedia Commons

rayvon Martin, an African-American 17-yearold, was walking home in Sanford, Florida the night of Feb. 26, 2012, carrying a drink and a bag of skittles. George Zimmerman, a member of the neighborhood watch, believed that Martin looked suspicious and began trailing him. A confrontation followed, when Zimmerman fatally shot Martin.

Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder on April 11, but Zimmerman and his defense maintained that Zimmerman was operating under the purview of the Protection of Persons/ Use of Force law, which allows citizens to use deadly force in response to an attacker or intruder who presents the risk of great physical harm.

Zimmerman claimed that Martin pummeled him in their confrontation and that his actions were thus justified. Zimmerman’s murder trial began on June 24, 2013 and ended July 12, 2013, when the jury returned a not guilty verdict. Many protested the verdict because they believed that Zimmerman’s pursuit of Martin was charged by racial profiling.

14

september 6, 2013

centerfold

IN THE PUBLIC WE TRUST Criticsm of the court decisions is justified only for cases closed to the public

I

By Jasper Primack

n his closing remarks to the jury in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch notes, “there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court.”

In America, courts serve to ensure the equality of all citizens under the law; the Sixth Amendment guarantees a trial and a jury of citizens to the accused, among other benefits.

But in recent months, the judgment of such courts has been questioned over decisions that the American public finds disappointing, from Casey Anthony to the National Security Agency (NSA).

Such criticism is justified, but only in certain circumstances.

The trial of

George Zimmerman for the shooting of Trayvon Martin was arguably the most controversial prosecution in recent memory, unraveling the specter of racial hatred across the country. When the jury concluded in late July that Zimmerman was innocent, a massive public outcry broke out with demonstrations and even violent riots across America.

How could the American people trust the courts after such a blatant case of murder and violence ended in acquittal, millions asked?

Yet, the courts served their purpose, presenting the details of the case to an impartial jury. The details favored Zimmerman. As ‘Maddy’, juror B29, put it in an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, “George Zimmerman got away with murder [...] As much as we were trying to find this man guilty … you can’t put the man in jail, even though in our hearts we felt he was guilty.”

Despite the public outcry against the ruling, the jury unanimously acquitted Zimmerman, and he will never stand trial again because the America’s judicial system trusts the judgment of the six jurors to make the right decision.

Because of the nation’s 24-hour news cycle, with stations like MSNBC and FOX analyzing the cases, Americans usually form opinions months before an investigation closes and the trial begins.

The best example of these notions is the trial of Casey Anthony, the so-called “tot mom” accused of killing her own infant daughter and then hiding the remains. In 2008, as the investigation kicked off, Nancy Grace and other news personalities were already calling for Anthony’s head.

Fast-forward three years, and a large portion of the public was already convinced that Anthony was undeniably, indisputably and unquestionably guilty. It had become a media circus, with nightly shows calling for the jury graphic by Hyunnew Choi and David Gorelik to serve Anthony’s head

on a platter. Cheney Mason, one of Anthony’s defense attorneys, called it a “media assassination.” When the news broke of her acquittal, every single one of those people was shocked at the inability of the jury to listen to the thousands of pundits and ‘legal experts’ that had commented on the show.

This case forces us to ask a rather obvious question: What made lawyers from across the nation get on talk shows to condemn a woman whom they had never met, in a case that they had never handled, as guilty?

It seems to be the drive for ratings and viewers. As a result, a woman who was declared innocent by both evidence and jury is now living in hiding. The justice system did not fail her, but the inability of America to trust the system most definitely did. Instead of being angry about the outcomes of criminal cases in which we can only do harm to the defendant, the American public should focus its anger on courts that do not work — courts that are hidden from the public and those that enable rapists in the military to get away scot-free.

Over the summer, you probably

to the public.

But while the NSA does not have an immediate impact on many Americans, military courts do. Rape is a huge problem in the military. According to Stars and Stripes, the army’s official newspaper, there were 26,000 cases of sexual assault in the military, with only 3,374 reported.

Why so few reported? The Uniform Code of Military Justice, written by Congress, allows a superior officer to overturn any conviction passed by a military court on a soldier under his/her authority (usually “his,” unfortunately).

In November of 2012, Lt. Colonel James Wilkerson, an F-16 pilot, was convicted by a panel of five military officers of sexually assaulting Kim Hanks, a physician’s assistant, and sentenced to a year in jail and expulsion from the military. Yet this February, Lt. General Craig Franklin, his superior officer, dismissed the conviction and scrubbed Wilkerson’s record clean. Because it was a military court, the evidence will never be made public, Hanks will never be able to appeal and Wilkerson will be flying for the rest of his military career.

Because of this absurd and unfair

We can finally trust that the juries of this nation will do their job, but when courts are secret, ... they are broken and must be changed. heard of a man named Edward Snowden, who leaked details of a NSA scheme named PRISM to gather massive quantities of data from the American public without consent. Snowden’s subsequent claim that he was going to be assassinated by the government and his flight to Russia (which has a sparkly and wonderful record on human rights) may be ridiculous, but his claims are not. Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, the NSA, CIA and other intelligence agencies need to get approval from a court before collecting data from Americans.

This sounds great, since it makes those organizations accountable to the judiciary, ensuring that they abide by the law. The downside? Those courts are secret; there is no public or even congressional access to them, meaning that not even our elected representatives can determine whether or not our spies are breaking the law. There is not a jury; rather, there is just a panel of 11 judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Given that the Supreme Court recently mandated that Verizon secretly provide details of its user’s phone records to the NSA and placed a gag order on it, preventing the company from alerting its customers, whether the court is fulfilling its job is questionable. Of course, the court is vetting NSA policies as well as it can.

It is, however, not making its decisions open to the public; so it is impossible for the media to write about said decisions, for citizens to appeal those decisions and for Congress to regulate the NSA. A secret court may have the authority to adjudicate, but it has little accountability

system, many female soldiers are afraid to speak out for fear that they will be ignored or even punished by male officers. The skewed system of military “justice” often forces female soldiers to choose to keep their careers while remaining silent about rape and assault or to work through an often hostile and biased court, knowing that they might be accused of lying.

Nothing is right about military courts. Soldiers should not be afraid to report crimes and should not have to risk dishonorable discharge to bring rapists to justice. And military courts do not keep records; they allow for an officer to intervene, needing no reason to acquit his favorite subordinate of a crime. These courts must be changed, and it is heartening that the Senate recently dragged in a panel of military leaders (only one of whom was a women) and grilled them on their policies.

Action is coming, but not soon enough.

Atticus Finch knew that he was arguing the innocence of a black man to an all-white court during the era of Jim Crow.

But he had a sliver of hope. As he went on to say, “Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.”

Our society has cast off the chains of racial injustice, and we can finally trust that the juries of this nation will do their job. But when courts are secret, when they can be overridden by a single order, they are broken and must be changed. Until then, all women in the military and Internet users can only do what Atticus Finch did: hope.

features volume 30

issue 2

15 THE COMMON APPLICATION page

september 6, 2013

The Roar will follow four seniors with different interests as they navigate their way through the college process over the course of the school year and will reveal their identities and final decisions in June

By Carly Meisel and Parisa Siddiqui

R

yan* is hoping to be recruited by a college for a sport that he has been playing since kindergarten. He is looking at Division III schools and is not planning on trying to play professionally.

In the spring, he visited Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Haverford and Vassar Colleges.

“As of now, I’ve narrowed it down to two: Haverford and Macalester College, which I havent visited yet, but I will,” he said. In addition to good athletic and academic programs, Ryan said that he is looking for a welcoming environment. “I want a place where people are friendly and [have] a good sense of school spirit,” he said.

Ryan was approached by coaches from various schools after they saw him play. “It was sort of the schools came to me to see me play. I had 10 to 12 schools mail and call me, and the ones I was interested in I pursued further,” he said. “The ones I pursued further were 12 liberal arts colleges, highly rated academically.”

According to Ryan, being recruited limits his choice of schools because he must take the quality of the school’s athletic program into consideration. “[Being recruited] really cuts down the number of schools you are looking at, because I’m only looking at small schools that are Division III. I’m not looking at any big state schools or any large schools. I’m also looking at schools with approximately 2,000 to 2,500 kids or less,” he said.“Also, [being recruited] helps you get in. Some of these schools are schools I wouldn’t necessarily be able to get into on based on my academic profile alone, but with [the addition of my sport], it helps a lot with the admissions process.”

A

llison* is planning to major in communications or psychology, but is somewhat unsure of what she will pursue after college. “[I want to do] something in advertising, or maybe I want to be a teacher.

I don’t really know yet,” she said. She is applying early to two schools: Skidmore and UMass Amherst. “[My] top choices are Skidmore, UVM and UMass Amherst,” she said.

Allison said that the hardest parts of the college application process for her will be working on essays and improving her SAT scores. She took the SAT twice in her junior year and plans to take them again in October.

So far, Allison has asked for teacher recommendations and has filled out the majority of the Common Application.

Allison said that she plans on applying to a few schools for scholarships but is still unsure about which schools specifically.

She said that she is looking for a more relaxing atmosphere on campus, but she still wants to be near an urban area.

“When I first started out in the college process, I thought I wanted to go to college in the city, like NYU or BU,” Allison said. “The new criteria I’ve found was I wanted a green lawn close to a city, but not directly in a city.”

She said that University of Vermont fits all of her criteria.

“UVM is the best fit for me, because it’s a very green environment, and I actually like hiking and biking and camping.

It’s a really relaxed evironment, but still in this bustling town.”

G

J

graphics by David Gorelik

eorge* is not yet sure what he will ennifer* is considering majoring in major in, but is leaning toward the sciences but is not certain about engineering, computer science which. “I have no idea if that would be or economics. He is looking for schools engineering or research or something like with an emphasis on the outdoors. He said that,” she said. “I’m still pretty undecided.” that he would like for his college to have So far, Jennifer has started to fill out the a club wrestling team, but it is not a main Common Application, but she said that priority. As of late August, he is planning the most difficult part will be the essay. on applying to Colby, Colorado, Franklin Despite this, she is still looking forward to & Marshall, Hobart and William Smith, writing it. “When I sit down to write the Lewis and Clark and Whitman Colleges as essay, it’ll be a really good opportunity to well as St. Mary’s College of California and really think about who I am as a person,” St. Lawrence University. she said. “It’s kind of like soul searching He is applying Early Decision to St. while you’re writing your essay.” Jennifer is Lawrence University and Early Action to looking at Massachusetts Institute of TechColorado College and Lewis and Clark nology and Yale for “reach schools,” as well College. George said that he is looking for as UMass Amherst and Tufts University. “small liberal arts schools” that are not She has already received an acavery close to home. “I wanted colleges to demic scholarship from the University of be a little further away,” he said. “Most Rochester but is doubtful that she will atof them that are in driving distance are tend. “I was going to, but then I just think around three hours away. I’d like to get that Rochester isn’t a good fit,” she said. “I away from where I’ve spent my whole life visited a lot of the colleges ... I looked at and get some new experiences.” the average SAT scores and their reputaThe most nerve-wracking part of tion and their science programs.” the process is the number of essays he will Although she is not applying Early have to write, George said.

Action or Early Decision to any schools, “Writing all the essays takes a while.

Jennifer said she is hoping to complete all There’s a lot to do ... I have a finished draft. of her college applications by late October The fact that I’ve done so much will be to mid-November. really nice [once school starts],” he said.

“I’m trying to solidify my major George said that his common applicaand really narrow down my college list,” tion essay focuses on a leadership course she said. “I definitely want an atmosphere he participated in, which consisted of where the students are committed to purbackpacking and rock climbing for three suing academics, as well as being able to weeks. have leisure time on the side. I don’t want He said that he looks forward to a college that’s way too into academics, completing the process. “Once you get evwhere they don’t do anything but that, but erything in and wait to get it back, it feels I also don’t want one where they think it’s really good,” he said. a joke.” *Names have been changed to protect students’ identities

16

features

A

september 6, 2013

IN

Senior Sasha Restrepo realized her dream of doing community service in Africa

By Shelley Friedland

photos courtesy of Sasha Restrepo

Senior Sasha Restrepo, who said she is deeply committed to community service, spent a month in Accra, Ghana working in an orphanage and teaching elementary school children.

S

enior Sasha Restrepo had always dreamt of going to Africa. This summer, a service trip to Accra, Ghana made her dream a reality.

“I’ve had this weird obsession with Africa and I’ve always wanted to do some sort of community service work and go there,” she said.

Restrepo traveled to Ghana for the month of July with Projects Abroad, a volunteer program with destinations across four continents.

“I kept on searching online ‘high school student … community service trip abroad,’” she said. “I finally came across Projects Abroad. [It] was reasonably priced and very safe, so I kind of just talked to my mom about it and once she agreed, I just started fundraising.”

Restrepo said her desire to go on the trip stemmed from a longtime passion for community service. “I do a lot of community service work because it’s just something that really makes me happy,” she said.

Marcy Davidson, Restrepo’s guidance counselor, agreed that Restrepo’s trip was planned largely because of her love for volunteering.

“She is deeply committed to community service and has always been her entire life … on weekends, she volunteers,” Davidson said. “It’s always been part of

the fabric of her life, so this [trip] was a Davidson said that Restrepo’s motinatural outgrowth for her.” vation and ability to garner support made According to Restrepo’s mother, Apples to Pies possible.

Consuelo Wilches, her daughter has “It was one of these things that was always enjoyed various types of volunteer an idea that she came up with and she work. was able to get support and find the right “She was helping in Montessori [school] people to help her follow through with this with karate [lessons] because she took karate project … She had some teachers there when she was little. She’s been helping me helping her bake,” Davidson said. “She sometimes; I volunteer helping the home- feels it deeply in her heart, so it drives her less sometimes on passion … She Saturdays, so we does it because go and serve lunch that’s who she is.” for them and cook In order and set the tables,” to pay for the Wilches said. “She trip to Ghana, loves to do that, Restrepo worked too.” at Lee’s Burger In her juPlace, organized nior year, Restrean open mic po expressed her night at the - Sasha Restrepo, Class of 2014 passion for service Bishop Mackenby organizing an zie Center and event called Apples to Pies. fundraised online.

“She organized an event where peo“After working at Lee’s for about a ple deposited their uneaten apples because year, I looked at my bank account and I [the school lunches] were forcing [them] realized I had enough money saved up to take fruit at lunch,” senior Danny Teich where I could actually accomplish one of said. “She said there was a place where these dreams I’ve had,” Restrepo said. people could put their uneaten apples In Ghana, Restrepo visited an and they would later be baked into apple orphanage, taught elementary school pies to be delivered to [the soup kitchen] students and gave clothing and supplies to Bristol Lodge.” the children.

I want to leave ... feeling as though I really did something for someone else and really had a strong impact on their life.

“She spent some of her own money to bring supplies to the community and to bring clothing,” Davidson said. “She was very conscientious about bringing different sized clothing to people and she’s very selfless in that regard. It’s much more important for her to bring things to people than to bring her own things for herself.”

According to Restrepo, her main goal for the trip was to make a noticeable impact. “I want to leave feeling accomplished, feeling as though I really did something for someone else and really had a strong impact on their life,” she said. “[I want to leave] feeling that because of my trip, I was able to ... change [people’s lives] in some way.”

Wilches hopes the trip will make her daughter appreciate what she has more.

“I hope she appreciates really the beauty that we have in so many ways here.

I’m sure she’s going to continue in helping the kids,” Wilches said. “I hope … she continues for the rest of her life like that.

I always want her to be able to help [as] many people as she can.”

Restrepo said she hopes others will do community service work of their own. “At one point of everyone’s life they should do some sort of community service work because ... you’ll get this sort of like enlightenment feeling that you won’t get from anything else,” she said.

september 6, 2013

features

“Spring Awakening” incites controversy Sophia Fisher & Feli Kuperwasser

Relationships:

Looks Aren’t Everything EDITOR’S NOTE: Every issue, The Roar publishes a different anonymous student’s perspective on relationships.

The views expressed in the “Relationships Column” do not reflect the official views of The Lion’s Roar, nor are they intended as a guide or source of advice for others.

Features Editor, Features Reporter In October, South Stage will blend a German play with contemporary themes to put on a production that has caused controversy among some members of the local community. “Spring Awakening,” a play written in 1891 and adapted for Broadway in 2006, is directed by Jeff Knoedler, the former head of the Fine and Performing Arts Department.

“Spring Awakening” uses contemporary rock music as well as traditional dialogue to tell the story of a group of German teenagers growing up, throughout which a number of mature scenes shroud the musical in controversy.

The three main characters, Moritz, Melchior and Wendla, all learn about the world around them despite their parents’ endeavors to keep some topics, such as the details of conception, hidden. The characters’ lack of judgement breeds danger as they engage in a variety of acts, including suicide, masturbation, sex and rape.

Some members of South Stage said that despite the backlash, the play concerns issues that are still relevant to modern teenagers.

According to junior Frances Cooke, who plays Wendla, while some members of the community may have originally had negative reactions, some have also accepted South Stage’s play choice. “[A] few parents kind of had negative reactions, especially to this show, but with their kid being in South Stage, I think they need to understand that we are going to do edgier shows,” she said. “So a lot of the parents, once they talked to their kids, were a lot more lenient to letting their kid be in the show.”

Others involved in the production of “Spring Awakening” agree with Cooke that Knoedler’s proposal, which detailed how the most controversial scenes would be staged differently, helped people understand how South Stage would adapt and perform the play.

“The most provoking parts, [Knoedler] changed ... he described how [South Stage] would do them, and then he handed that out to the people in the theater community, and asked for feedback and whether or not they thought these replacements were ok,” junior Rebecca Williams, who is the stage manager, said.

The characters express certain thoughts and emotions on which some people have disagreed in the past. “I knew that I would have to develop a clear message for the community right off the top that explains why we’re doing it and what it’s going to look like onstage,” Knoedler said, “because I knew that I would have to battle those things, the preconceived notions and the assumptions that people would naturally make.”

The dances in the original show have been deemed too graphic for a high school audience, so dance choreographer Ali Struyk, who has worked with South Stage for four years, worked to make them appropriate. Struyk said that she is trying to create imagery with the choreography.

“We’re going to work on doing things as tastefully as we can, as [an] interpretive dance, so we’ll be trying to work on movements that portray what we want to get across without it being so literal,”

17

photo by Katie Asch

Juniors Frances Cooke and Max Cooper and senior Jeremy Oshins read over their lines.

Struyk said.

Although the staging of the musical will be adapted to fit the high school stage, the script will remain in its original state. “It’s important to point out that we’re not changing the play, we’re not changing any of the dialogue. We are going to stage some things differently from the Broadway production, but that’s true of every play we do,” Knoedler said.

According to Knoedler, the concepts shown in the play are relevant to the South community. “I really felt like the themes and the message of this play are so timely and important to our students that it’s almost as if we can’t not do the play,” he said.

Cooke agreed and said she found many themes relatable to teenage life at South. “I think definitely, at least with our community, there [are] always problems with relationships, love and sex, and one of the things that a lot of the characters struggle with in the show is that the parents aren’t comfortable enough to talk to their kids about the issues that they’re having, and I think sometimes it can feel that way,” she said.

According to junior Jonah Cochin, who plays Ernest, other themes, including coming-of-age, innocence and censorship are important not just to South students but to teenagers everywhere.

“It’s important that kids our age and teenagers get to see [these types of plays] so they can see … what it’s like to go through this and they can see that they’re not alone … and they can also see the consequences of making choices that are not necessarily the choices to make,” Cochin said.

Junior Samuel Fidler, who plays the nine adult male characters in “Spring Awakening,” agreed that informing the community on the dangers of withholding information can prevent such consequences.

“The themes definitely are sort of the emotions that come with being a teenager and discovering about sexuality and shame,” he said, “and how lack of education … can distort a child’s viewpoint and cause him to do terrible things.”

“The kind of topics that are in the show have become more open, and even though there are some things that are still kind of taboo that people don’t like to talk about in the show, I think that ten years ago it would have been a lot harder to present and pull off,” Cooke said.

Williams agreed. “The first public

high school that did it, did it this past spring, just now ... 10 years ago, we would have been the first public high school, and Newton is very progressive, but this is kind of pushing it,” she said. “10 years ago, this would not have gone down well.”

Although there was some concern in the past over graphic content with South Stage’s 2005 performance of “The Laramie Project,” Struyk said she is confident that South Stage can pull this off, and is not stressed about the audience interpretation.

“I’m not worried about anyone’s reaction because I think that … people will go in either with an open mind, or knowing that they’re going to a piece of theatre that is a little different,” she said.

“I’m hoping that we’re going to do such an amazing job that people will just be really excited to have seen something that opens up a dialogue.”

After the show, Knoedler is hoping that the people will want to learn more about the topics the play covers, “I want the audience to leave not only wanting to talk about what they saw, but also becoming educated,” Knoedler said.

Knoedler has called psychologists and organizations that cover certain themes from the play. Representatives from these organizations will be present in booths set up outside in the lobby during the production for audience members who may need somewhere to go to express their reactions toward the musical.

“I’ve already had some interest in different organizations setting up tables in the lobby to provide information about dating safety, teen sexuality information and teen suicide hotline-type stuff, teen mental health issues, so that if the production … brings up something that a student can’t deal with, that somebody will be around to provide support if necessary,” Knoedler said.

Knoedler said he hopes the production of “Spring Awakening” will help students and adults of the South community break down barriers of discomfort to have honest and meaningful adult conversations.

“My goal for the production would be for the audience to leave the theater wanting to have a conversation about what they saw and knowing how to become more educated about the things that they saw [and] about the questions the play raises,” Knoedler said. “If it helps anybody … have that conversation that should be had, that’s why we’re doing it.”

Mark* was unattractive. There was really no way around it, but I liked him, so when he asked me out I said yes. He went to a different school than I did, so most of my friends didn’t know him.

Whenever I told any of my friends that I’d gotten a new boyfriend, the first question they’d ask was always the same: “What does he look like?” I’d always try to get around this question with: “Well, I’m attracted to him.”

But that always lead to a supposedly comforting, “I’m sure he has a great personality?” from my friends. That was code for, “We can tell that you’re settling for someone hideous. Hopefully you’ll do better next time.”

My sister, after seeing pictures of Mark on Facebook said, “I’m sure he looks better in person,” but after she met him, our sisterly conversations about Mark suddenly became awkward since she assumed that he wasn’t good enough for me.

I commonly hear my friends tell each other piously that personality matters most when choosing a partner. They portray dating someone less attractive as a sign of noble character; however, they seemed disappointed when I dated someone who was significantly less attractive than I. According to Beauty and the Beast, there’s no problem with dating someone unattractive as long as the woman is pretty, but apparently even that doesn’t apply.

Belle is celebrated for how she loved the Beast despite all of the appearance based biases that she may have had, but perhaps that is part of what made dating Mark so difficult for me.

Dating someone unattractive can be seen as an act of charity. My friends, maybe just subconsciously, thought that my relationship with Mark was not a happy decision, but a moral obligation.

Even though that interpretation puts me in a good light, it made Mark seem like he wasn’t truly deserving of my affection, and considering how much I liked him, that hurt.

I hated seeing how my friends would judge him, without even knowing him.

Even though it is better for people to think of relationships with mismatched attractiveness as good rather than bad, it would be much easier if they gave no thought to the attractiveness of the partners.

My friends were right to think that it was difficult to be in a relationship with someone less attractive than I am, but without their judgment of my situation, it wouldn’t have been difficult for that reason at all. The way to make people less concerned about the attractiveness of their partners is to treat relationships with mixed attractiveness the same as “cute” couples. *Name has been changed

18

september 6, 2013

features

Students find camp counselor jobs rewarding Maia Fefer Features Editor

A few days per week during the summer, senior Andrew Cheung comes home from his job as a counselor, lies down on his sofa on the sofa and takes a nap. “I come back every day just exhausted,” he said. Despite his tiredness, Cheung, who worked at Newton-run camp Auburndale Station, said the experience of being a counselor as something that “can change someone’s life.”

“It is not just doing a job, but it is a job that affects someone in a positive way,” he said. Though some jobs open to teenagers pay more or have fewer hours, some students choose to work as a camp counselor during the summer months, often working through heat and exhaustion from working with children.

Senior Kimberly Ly, a counselor at Auburndale Station: The Next Stop, a program that caters to older kids, said her love of children and the outdoors pushed her to become a counselor. “I like being outside and being around other people and I like having that leadership role. And kids in general, I just love being around them,” she said.

Newton South Class of 2012 alumni Noah Lerner, the director of the Environmental Science Program of Newton, agreed. “I love being outside,” he said, “[and] if it’s working at Dunkin’ Donuts or getting to play games all summer out in the sun, and go hike mountains, I think that’s not a hard choice.” Past counselors

helped both Ly and sophomore Ilana Zeldin, who worked at Albemarle Acres day camp, decide that she wanted to work as a counselor in training (CIT) this year. “I have had a few counselors that were really energetic and easygoing and really loved kids and I do to,” she said, “so I wanted to do the same thing. I wanted to help kids and make an impact on their lives.”

To be an effective counselor, Ly explained, one has to be patient and put the kids in front of themself. “You have to be patient. Someone who is patient and is able to put their time and put in their effort to making sure the kids have a good day and not focusing as much on their own personal [life],” she said.

According to Ly, enthusiasm is another important trait for counselors. “[Good counselors] want to be there and they show it. You can tell from their personality that they are having the best time and want the kids to have a good time,” she said.

A counselor also must be reliable and, if possible, have a unique specialty, Judy Dore, director of Outdoor Adventure Camp, said. “I want to make sure they’re dependable ... and on time ... Are they creative? Are they good at different things, like a specialty in arts and crafts?”

Perhaps above all else, a counselor must be lively and amusing or else the campers will not have fun, Lerner said.

“We also just want to see outgoing, entertaining people, because what makes our camp run is our counselors; if they’re not interesting, fun people, then the camp is

A poem from...

not going to be very much fun,” he said.

Zeldin agreed that a counselor’s attitude affects the campers’ attitude and a counselor’s enthusiastic mood will propel the campers to enjoy themselves.

“Someone who is really energetic, and has a really positive attitude ... the kids will be motivated to do the activity and will have a lot of fun,” she said.

Perhaps what makes camp jobs so tiring is the amount of responsibility each counselor carries. Some high school students are chosen to be counselors yet are not able to cope with the responsibilities that come with the job. “Some leaders who we thought might be mature enough to take responsibility weren’t, so obviously some high school students are more emotionally mature than others,” Lerner said.

Additionally, parents’ expectations can create extra struggles. “[Counselors] have a lot of responsibility and sometimes I feel like the parents of the kids are just leaving it up to me,” Zeldin said.

Camper retaliation can also present problems for some counselors, Ly said.

“The only thing is that because they are old enough they might talk back at you, so you just have to set down the rules and make sure they listen,” she said. “It is frustrating sometimes, obviously, because you tell someone to do something and you get that opposition from them.”

High school students who work as counselors can nonetheless be particularly effective when relating with campers; the smaller age gap helps them connect with the campers whereas an older counselor

John Lawless

may be harder to relate to, Lerner said.

“It’s great for campers to be able to learn from someone that are not necessarily that much older than them, and we can really relate,” he said.

Cheung said the main benefits of working as a counselor are the face-toface interactions and the energetic pace of camp. “I’d rather not work at Stop and Shop or Shaw’s even though I might get paid more, because you just stand there … it isn’t much interaction,” he said. “Running around makes life look a lot better.

Even with the simplest activities, it is just so nice to see … how things don’t have to be so complicated to have a good time.”

Working as a camp director also provides many perks similar to a counselor’s, Lerner said. “I definitely get to interact with a really broad group of people, and it can be challenging … but it also means that I get to just interact with all these groups of people,” he said. “I think it’s been a good experience.”

Dore feels that counselors should also have their share of fun at camp. “It’s their first job, and I just want the kids to have a good experience,” she said.

For Cheung, working as a counselor transcends giving children a summer of fun; he feels his job can affect many people outside of Newton. “I feel like this is a way of giving to the world,” he said.“The kids are the next generation … They have things, big things, ahead of them and I feel like I have done the best I can to help them be the best person they can be, and that is what I love the most.”

Who Dares...

Who dares to open this old and weathered tome seeking knowledge, seeking to determine which road to take, what thoughts to think, what must be done to build upon the yellowed pages of another’s dog eared life. Are you so prematurely defeated that you seek another’s armor, shield, and buckler not your own, weapons discarded by long past warriors? Have the wizards of wisdom tainted all creativity with fear, have the speakers of the truth lied, has all been taken but faint memory of a once held dream? A dream of naked pages and empty books awaiting the touch of new pens, new ideas, new rebellions. A dream of words bathed in the breath of youth crying to be fed, not old and withered fodder but fresh buds in early stage of ideological bloom, words whose meanings have never changed yet will be the words that change ideas, thoughts, dreams, and destiny. Words imbued by a new passion, a new zest, possessed of simplicity and teased by genius, written on the acts of daily life.

Who dares to open this old and weathered tome!!

Learn, and dare to write your own.

september 6, 2013

features

Deyar Dashti is...

19

Every issue, The Roar randomly selects a student and explores what makes him or her unique.

Dancing Deyar

By Parisa Siddiqui

photo courtesy of Deyar Dashti

Deyar (far left) found a way to remain connected with Iranian culture by joining Iranian Dance Arists, an traditional Iranian group.

Senior Deyar Dashti adjusts to life in the United States after emigrating from Iran in 2010 When senior Deyar Dashti was in grade school, she and her friends wore nail polish as an act of defiance. “When you’re a teenager, you want to rebel.

[My friends and I] used to do so much stuff we [were] told not to do,” she said. “They didn’t let us put nail polish on, so we put clear nail polish on so they wouldn’t see.”

Deyar and her family moved to America from Tehran, Iran in August 2010, before the beginning of her freshman year.

“Back in Iran, we had lots of family members, lots of love,” Dashti’s mother, Roxana Hashemian, said. “We had a very comfortable life back there. When we moved here, Deyar missed all of her friends, all of her family members.”

Although she initially struggled to adjust to life in the U.S., Deyar said she has begun to feel more comfortable with American culture while still celebrating her Iranian heritage through classical Persian dance.

Hashemian said that she and her family enjoyed a high quality of life in Iran. “For us, it was marvelous,” she said. “We lived in an elite society, in an elite group of people in the city.

We personally had a wonderful life. We had everything … but politically and socially, it was not stable … [There was] an unclear future for our kids, so we decided to move to the United States.”

Deyar said that upon her arrival to the U.S., she was struck by the contrast to Iran.

“The religion is a difference because [Iran] is an Islamic republic, and you have to wear the hijab and everything. But I’m fine with it, because it wasn’t that strict in Tehran,” she said. “The school system was very different. At the end of high school [in Iran], you have to take this really, really hard test called the Concours. It’s in [a lot] of the European and [a lot] of the Asian countries … It determines what college you go to. People study for one year in their homes, with their doors locked. They do not come out of that room until they finish studying.”

According to Deyar, the academic intensity of Iranian schools and commitment to studying is fuelled by the teachers rather than the students. “[In America,] the teachers don’t really care [much] if you study [or not]. [In Iran], I didn’t care about studying; my teachers cared for

me. But here, no one cares if you study.” Deyar said the move affected her on both personal and academic level. “My confidence was really low when I moved here, [partly] because of all the Hollywood movies I had watched … I thought that America would be like all the [high school] movies … Then I moved here, and I did not expect this at all. I was surprised it wasn’t like the

All the people here are really nice because of the environment and the way they live.

It’s not like that in Iran.

- Deyar Dashti, Class of 2014

movies,” she said. “All the people here are really nice because of the environment and the way they live. It’s not like that in Iran.”

Deyar’s twin brother, senior Khashayar Dashti, agreed that the move took a toll on his sister.

“It was really hard for us and for her. She left all her friends behind, and everything she knew, basically,” he said. “It was a new start for her. Personally, I feel that she wasn’t asking for this new start.” Even though

she had trouble adapting to her new surroundings, Deyar said she appreciated all of the new opportunities in America.

“It was hard for me to adjust. I’m beginning to adjust now, and I’m starting to enjoy life here and taking the opportunities I have. I’ve had so many opportunities that I didn’t ask for just because I live here,” she said. “For [example], freshman year, when I came here, I was so enthusiastic about everything. I did the freshman play while I was on the cross-country team … I didn’t know that I couldn’t do that. I went to the cross country meet, then [rehearsal], then back to cross country ... in Iran, I think they put too much emphasis on just studying math and science.”

Despite these opportunities, Deyar said still she misses her native country. “Iran is a beautiful country, and I think I want to go back after college. I just feel home when I’m there,” she said.

Deyar has found a little slice of her home country in America, though. Since April, she has been performing in an Iranian traditional dance group, the Iranian Dance Artists (IDA). “At the Museum of Fine Arts, they

had a Persian Day on the Persian New Year. So I went there, and the group was dancing there,” she said. “I asked the leader ... if I could join … and she let me join.”

According to the IDA’s artistic director, Sheila Eghbali, Deyar “brings extreme dedication, hard work, enthusiasm and authenticity” to the group.

“We don’t have a lot of members that are Iranian, and it’s really nice to have more people of the country be represented in the dance group,” Eghbali said. “She’s very positive and very focused.”

Deyar has also been helping Eghbali organize the Second International Iranian Dance Conference.

“She’s very hands-on,very reliable and responsible,” Eghbali said. “If you give her a task, you know it’ll be done.”

For now, Deyar said she is enjoying her time in America, but will always feel connected to Iran.

“After moving here, I got to know a lot more about myself … but I think I want to go back [to Iran] … just to help change what it is now,” she said. “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but whatever I’m going to be, I want to help.”

sports volume 30

issue 2

september 6, 2013

page

20

Freshman Clare Martin competes in Junior Olympics, runs with skill beyond her years

U

By Jack McElduff

nlike many incoming freshmen athletes, Clare Martin doesn’t need to establish a reputation for herself.

This summer, Martin competed in the USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Greensboro, NC. Martin, running the 1500 meter in the 13-14 age group, finished with a sub-5 minute time and qualified for finals. In the final round, Martin finished the 1500 in 4:53.06 to earn AllAmerican status.

Martin rose to this elite level of athleticism in a short amount of time, but she has an extensive history with long-distance running.

Martin said she realized she liked running in elementary school and has participated in the Newton Heartbreak Hill Road Race for years but credits her older brother for initially interesting her in the sport.

“My brother ran crosscountry in middle school, and that’s why I decided to run,” Martin said.

At Brown Middle School, English teacher William Sheppard served as both her crosscountry and track-and-field coach.

Martin said that Sheppard’s enthusiasm and knowledge solidified her commitment to the sport.

“He really put so much time and effort into every single one of his runners. I really thank him so much for carrying out such a great program and having such enthusiasm,” she said.

“He made his runners love the sport so much, and I think he motivated a lot of his runners to continue to the high school program.”

According to Carl Beckmann, Martin’s father, this level of commitment has helped Martin reach such a high level of competition. “She’s been running every season — cross-country in the fall, and then indoor run-

ning programs that they have at Brown ... every season for the last couple of years,” Beckmann said.

“She’s been pretty committed to it.”

Martin said that part of her success as a runner can be attributed to the Waltham Track Club.

The club serves as a place for runners to hone their skills while also running for their school teams. Martin’s decision to join began as an opportunity to expand her skill set but grew into more.

“Initially, I joined Waltham [Track Club] because it was a place to practice hurdles,” she said. “It developed into more of a thing where I could practice my long-distance running.”

Joe Tranchita, one of the main coaches at the club, didn’t take long to notice Martin’s skill.

“She showed great talent on the first day she was with the club,” Tranchita said. “She shows the intensity to want to be the best that she can be.”

Beckmann also said that Martin’s reputation as a gifted runner expanded after she joined the Waltham Track Club.

“I would say in the last year or so, she became the best girl runner in her school,” he said. “In fact, she’s faster than most of the boys.”

Tranchita said he has watched Martin’s skills develop on many fronts. “Her passion and her understanding of the process of becoming a better runner has greatly improved,” he said. “Development has definitely improved, as is evident by her tremendous improvement in times.”

Martin said Tranchita has been instrumental in her improvement as a runner. “[Tranchita] has a lot of good critiques and a lot of good advice. I look up to him a lot. I think it’s great that he’s a high school coach,” she said. “I think it’s important to have the sport well known to younger kids, and encourage them so they have a strong high school team.”

photo courtesy of Unforgettable Moments Photography

Freshman Clare Martin competes in the National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in North Carolina.

According to Beckmann, Martin has had more than one type of hurdle to overcome throughout her career and said that he was impressed with his daughter’s ability to rebound from difficulties.

“She had some problems with her heels,” he said. “I suppose it would have been easy to quit at that point, but she stuck with it.”

According to Martin, the prospect of competing in the Junior Olympics was daunting at first. “It wasn’t as scary as I

thought it would be. I thought Nationals was going to be very stressful and intimidating,” she said. “It wasn’t unlike many races I’ve been to.”

Tranchita added that Martin went into the Junior Olympics with high expectations.

“She had a very specific goal that she wanted to break 5 minutes for the first time in the 1500 meters,” he said.

Tranchita said he was also impressed with Martin’s ability to adapt to unexpected circumstances, as shown after a schedul-

ing mishap in the finals, causing the race to begin 45 minutes earlier than expected.

“She had very little time to prepare,” he said. “She handled the whole situation with tremendous poise ... that spoke volumes about her ability to perform.”

Although she has yet to start her high school running career, Martin already has her own outlook on success.

“Have a specific goal in mind, and keep working at it,” she said. “The best accomplishments are personal records.”

sports

september 6, 2013

21

Captain Catchup The Roar talks to fall captains about their hopes and expectations for the upcoming season

By Sam Detjen

Football

Last season South’s football team took huge strides forward from 2011, when they had a 0-11 record. “We were 3-8 [last year] but we fought in a lot of close games that could have gone either way,” senior captain Ethan Meyer said. Fellow captain and senior Erik Manditch said he sees this season as a chance at true competition. “We expect to be a competitive team in the Dual County League,” Manditch said. Meyer also has high hopes. “We should make a push to be able to compete in the playoffs, which will be great for the program,” he said.

Ethan Meyer

Girls Soccer

Anna Rhatigan

Girls Cross Country

Girls soccer finished last season with an 8-8-1 record.

Senior captain Sophie MacArthur said she hopes to create a strong team bond. “This season we hope to establish a solid team and team chemistry,” she said. Despite several key players graduating, MacArthur still has high hopes for the upcoming season. “One of the main goals is to qualify for and be competitive in the state tournament,” she said.

Sophie MacArthur

Boys Soccer

According to senior captain Sam Walkes, the boys soccer team had a disappointing 2012 season.

This year, Walkes said the team hopes to rediscover the success of 2011, when the team reached the second round of the state tournament. “This season we should continue the improvement we started making a couple of years ago,” Walkes said. He said qualifying for the state tournament and bouncing back from last year’s season are the team’s core goals.

Last season the girls cross country team had a strong 8-1 record. Senior captain Anna Rhatigan said she expects similar results this year. “We’re hoping to maintain or better our record and especially to better [it] in the postseason,” she said. Rhatigan said “placing at DCLs and all state meets” were the main goals for the coming season.

Rhatigan said that with a talented batch of freshman, these goals are achievable.

Sam Walkes

Boys Cross Country

According to senior boys cross country captain Allen Shiu, the 2012 team fell short of his hopes, partly due to the squad’s youth. Shiu said that he expects last year’s season to pay off in the upcoming one. “Most of our varsity runners will be seniors with a lot of experience, so I have high expectations for this season,” he said.

Mel Gundersheim

Field Hockey

Allen Shiu

Girls Volleyball

Despite a 7-10 record, senior captain Emily Tippett said last year’s girls volleyball team never went down without a fight.

“Many of the losses we had last season were five set matches,” she said. Tippett also said the team has devoted offseason time to strength and conditioning. “A huge majority of the South volleyball program has been working really hard this offseason,” she said.

Emily Tippett

The field hockey team has not been strong in years past, according to senior captain Mel Gundersheim, who said the team has “always been a bit of a joke.” This all changed last year, however, when new coaching transformed the team. “[We had] three new amazing coaches that really turned things around for us,” she said. Fellow captain and junior Ashley Heesch said this success should carry over into the new season. “I have high hopes for this team and believe that we can bring home many more wins,” she said.

22

sports

september 6, 2013

With new talent, golf team has high hopes

photos by Aaron Edelstein

South golf team members expect to improve this season and outdo last year with the numerous practices held over the summer and the addition of new talent.

Darren Trementozzi Sr. Sports Editor

The saying “there is no ‘I’ in team” can remind athletes that they are part of a greater whole; their performance directly affects the entire team. Golf, according to players, is mostly an individual sport. A player can only control his or her own score.

Senior and captain Matthew Marcus, a member of South’s golf team, has been playing the sport for almost 12 years.

“It’s only you and the course and in a match, you have control over your own destiny, and teammates can’t impact your results,” he said.

Junior Jack Hooker said that although golf is a highly individual sport, the team still works together to be successful. “[Golf] is an individual sport in regards to everybody just has to perform

on their individual levels, but it’s a team sport because its points for the whole team,” he said. “We play with our teammates so we can help each other and make sure we know what we are doing and our mind is in the right sense to hit our next shot, and to move forward if we don’t hit our next shot.”

In golf, the performance of every player will ultimately add up to either a win or a loss for the team as a whole, because each player’s score is added to the team’s collective.“The team aspect is really important as well,” Marcus said. “We lose as a team, win as a team, and always have each other’s backs.”

According to Hooker, golf doesn’t require the same physical training as most other sports.

“We don’t have to run around and do all that kind of stuff,” he said.

Senior Matt Fallon, who has been playing golf for five years, said that golf ’s lack of physical demand can lead to misconceptions. “I think the stereotypes surrounding golf is that it’s more for the heavier set of people,” he said.

Although golf is not a physically demanding sport, improving golf skills and becoming a successful golfer is not necessarily an easy task. It is a sport that relies heavily on skill. “Golf is a lot about the mental game,” Hooker said, “What makes a successful golfer is to walk up to a shot and know what you’re going to do and have confidence to hit it and then be able to execute the shot.”

Like any other sport, practice and effort lead to a successful player and a successful team. “I enjoy golf because it is a sport where if you put in the effort and practice, you will really improve,”

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Marcus said. He added that he hopes the South Golf team will have a more successful season than last year. “I think all our skill and experience can bring us to the state tournament,” Marcus said.

Hooker said many of the team’s players have taken part in informal summer practices together to ensure the team’s success. “Since a lot of the kids on the team are close, a lot of us have been playing together, and everybody’s been working individually to improve their game,” he said.

These summer practices that players held are a major reason why the team hopes to have a successful season. “We can do a lot better because a lot of the kids on the team worked very hard this summer and improved their game significantly,” Fallon said.

On top of the summer

practices, Senior and captain Max Hooker said that the team will not have both a lot of returning talent and new incoming talented players as well. “We’re going to have a lot of good new additions to the team,” he said.

One of the new additions to the golf team this year is freshman Michael Pasqualini. Pasqualini has been playing golf for more than six years. “My dad previously encouraged me to play golf and I kept resisting, then after a long time I finally gave in saying that I’d pick up the game,” Pasqualini said. “It’s a good way to hang out with people and just kind of block yourself out from the world, so you don’t have to focus on anything else.”

With new talent, old talent and summer practicing, members of the gold team said they hold high hopes going into this season.

sports

september 6, 2013

WORKING

IT

23

OUT: ABS photo by Kylie Walters

Two juniors share their advice for acheiving fit, healthy bodies and perfect abs

O

By Sumit Hariawala and Andy Wang

n any given summer day at the beach, you’re more than likely to see a few gym rats showing off their toned, ripped physiques. Out of all the muscles in the human body, the abdominals (commonly referred to as “abs”) are often the biggest concern among amateur trainers and bodybuilders alike.

1,000 sit-ups and 1,000 crunches are an example of what many people perceive as the method to achieve the trendy “6-pack.” In general, the results are typically minimal, leaving the majority of people disappointed and discouraged. If you take our advice, however, you will feel otherwise.

The old cliché goes: “Abs are made in the kitchen.”

As ridiculous as it may sound, this saying is mostly true.

Everyone has the potential to attain abs through hard work and dedication. Depending on the situation, either fat loss or muscle gain is necessary for one to reach this goal, but don’t expect to kill both birds with one stone in a short amount of time.

Building muscle and burning fat at the same time is nearly impossible, unless your body is completely new to training or you use drugs to enhance natural limits. In most situations, excess fat lies on top to the muscles; therefore, the fat must be lost for the abdominals to be seen.

Although this is a childish comparison, you can imagine your body working as a machine. The machine needs energy to fuel itself to work properly, which is why your body needs food to survive. If one puts excess energy (calories) into the “machine,” then the body will generally store that as fat. Now, by all means, eat. Abstaining from eating might cause weight loss, but it also has endless negative effects.

Fat loss, a goal that many people have in mind, is heavily affected by one’s diet. Many people try to eat “cleaner” and cut calories to lose weight, but this is another misconception. Your body uses food’s potential energy as fuel, which comes in the form of calories.

Cutting calories from your diet will affect you

negatively, including loss in strength, energy and overall health. Especially as teens, it is certainly important to fuel our body. At this time in our lives, we need nutrients to grow and function properly. An alternative is to increase activity level without reducing much of one’s food intake.

Following these guidelines will lead to proper fat loss, but patience is also important when attempting to lose weight.

Mindless sets of sit-ups and crunches are incorrectly percieved as the path toward strength and improved body appearance. This is far from efficient training. You should train abs as often as any other muscle groups; they grow by progressive overload and rest is necessary for proper recovery.

Training abs everyday can be foolish. Muscles do not grow as you workout, but rather as they recover. In that recovery span, the muscle is repairing itself to be stronger than before. Like any other muscle group, abs should be trained one to three times per week.

Instead of doing those endless crunches and sit-ups, variation leg raises and weighted crunch movements prove to be more effective when developing abdominal muscles. Focus on progressive overload, which simply means improving yourself from between workouts. For example, if you could only do eight leg raises in the previous workout, aim for nine the next time. These subtle changes in increments will eventually lead to great progress.

Genetics is another key factor in one’s pursuit of abs. Although the ideal physique consists of six or eightpacks, the placement and shape of your abdominals is completely determined by genetics. No exercise will ever be able to change the way your abs are arranged.

Although genetics can hinder your progression towards your final vision, they should not be seen as an excuse.

If your muscles aren’t popping as a result of pumping the iron five days a week, think about the rest your body is missing. Hard work, dedication and common sense will ultimately bring you to success.

If you could only do eight leg raises in the previous workout, aim for nine the next time.

These subtle changes in increments will eventually lead to great progress.