Pitch Jan. 27 Issue

The Pitch

Walter Johnson High School

January 27, 2012

Volume 57 Issue 4

6400 Rock Spring Drive, Bethesda, MD 20814

MCPS’s CounterStrike to Halo

LEADing the Way: WJ Starts New Language Program

Halo, Counter-Strike Blocked from School Computers

By Claudia Nguyen

By Girard Bucello Call it an early Christmas present to students – or a nuisance to administration. From early to mid-December, two students added Halo and Counter-Strike to school computers. In the short time that students had access to the games, they became wildly popular, especially during classes that frequently used computers.

These Local Area Network (LAN) games, which allowed students to play with each other via a local connection, quickly ate away at class time. Now, WJ administrators and MCPS officials are cracking down. MCPS administrators wrote a script (a list of commands for a computer program) that shuts off a user’s computer if the user tries to access Halo or Counter-Strike. The folder containing the files has also been removed numerous times by the school’s Information Technology Support Specialist, Sue Reber.

“I was notified about the programs by a teacher a couple of weeks ago,” said Reber. “Having unauthorized files on the school’s network is against county policy. This is a mild example of adding unauthorized files, but it’s still against Counter-Strike continued on pg. 4

This artwork was hand-painted by French teacher Ryan Martinez and can be seen on ceiling tiles throughout WJ. See High Art, pg. 4.

Photos courtesy of Ryan Martinez

This school year witnessed the debut of a new foreign language program, called Linguistic Excellence and Discovery, or LEAD!. The program was designed to recognize and support students who are interested in pursuing a rigorous foreign language course schedule.

“Several years ago, our colleagues in [the] science [department] had a good idea, which was to create ACES,” said Steve Dubrow, foreign language teacher and LEAD! program advisor. “I said to myself, ‘Why don’t I take that good idea, which seemed to be coming along nicely for our high school students, and apply many of those principles to foreign languages?’”

The LEAD! program has several course requirements, including taking at least two foreign languages, one of which the student must pursue up through the AP level, and completing a major project senior year.

Dubrow has been working with his colleagues to finalize the LEAD! program concept. The department also worked closely with Assistant Principal Christopher Merrill, who was responsible for naming the program with the acronym LEAD!.

LEAD continued on pg. 3

WJ After Hours: An Inside Look at Building Services

By Julia Cinquegrani

I

f access is a sign of power, then Bill Powell is one of the most powerful people at WJ. As the evening building services manager, Powell holds keys to every door in the building and uses them while overseeing a crew of 13 building services workers who clean and maintain the school every evening so that it is ready for use again the next day.

As students are leaving WJ at the end of the school day, Powell and his crew are getting ready to start their shifts. A crew of six building services workers works from 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Powell works from 2:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., and has been working at WJ since 1985. After the administration leaves, he is in charge of the school.

“This school is my school—from 2:30 on, it’s my

school,” Powell said with a smile.

The first thing Powell does each day is ensures that every door in the school that opens to the outside is locked properly. Along the way, Powell talks with business manager Kathy Cosgrove about changes that occurred in the building during the school day and discusses the activities that will be held at WJ that night.

Powell oversees the cleaning of the building done by the other building services workers. He has divided the school into different sections so that each worker cleans the same section each day. One person cleans every bathroom, one person cleans the media center and the main office and other workers clean approximately 20 classrooms each.

WJ After Hours continued on pg. 3

rial, o t i d E 5-8 pgs.

Inside, Check Out:

Feature, pgs. 9-12

Photo by Julia Cinquegrani

Bill Powell checks on WJ’s boiler while making his daily rounds.

Ar Sports, pgsts & En . 13- t., pgs. 17-20 16

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The Political Side of WJ

Top 5 most influential people of 2011

By Girard Bucello

By Megun Chun Although the mandatory government class may be most high school students’ only exposure to politics, certain politically active students choose to go above and beyond, both in their views and their extra-curricular activities.

In fall of 2011, senior Ben Esenstad interned for a candidate running for mayor of Rockville. Though the candidate, Piotr “Peter” Gajewski, lost the election, Esenstad said the internship exposed him to many city issues, including local education and traffic reduction. He said that his favorite part was going doorto-door, trying to persuade people in the community to vote for his candidate.

Esenstad, a self-declared moderate and a registered Democrat, said that he tends to “lean to the left” on many issues. Some of the largest issues that government is facing today, he explained, are the economy and the lack of jobs. Esenstad said that he feels addressing military spending would help deal with these governmental downfalls......

To see the full article and much more, visit wjpitch.com

Photo Credit: Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT

Video of the Week:

ByWahid Ishrar

Carl Warner’s Landscapes Made of Foodstuffs

JANUARY 27, 2012

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Dear Pitch Readers,

First, we want to say congratulations on completing the first semester of the 2012 school year.

For seniors, your remaining time in high school is all smooth sailing and for freshmen, we hope you were able to grasp what high school is all about.

With final exams all wrapped up, and with second semester providing a fresh start, we hope you will take the time to read and participate in all that The Pitch has to offer.

As you may or may not know, we will be selling roses between Feb. 1 and Feb. 10 at the entrance to the senior hallway to be delivered to students on Valentine’s Day. We encourage you to make that “special someone” happy this Valentine’s Day with the purchase of a rose.

This issue, we also have included detailed coverage of the health issues surrounding high school and professional sports. Concussions have become an increasing problem while athletes and coaches must also maintain high levels of fitness and health.

Sincerely, Rosie Hammack, Hannah Flesch, print editorsin-chief and Ali Jawetz, online editor-in chief

Photo by Steven Groobert

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JANUARY 27, 2012

NEWS

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LEADing the Way: WJ Starts Language Program LEAD continued from pg. 1 “Our [foreign language] department as ish Literature, AP Italian Language and a whole [had] submitted several drafts,” also Introductory Arabic and Russian at said Dubrow. “Through our meetings Montgomery College. Additionally, she we were able to submit a final to the does French independent study for part department chair, our resource teacher, of her school day as a follow-up to the Karen Generose, who presented it to AP French Language class she took last the Instructional Council.” year.

The WJ Instructional Council (IC) is “I’m super excited about [the LEAD! a leadership group comprised of admin- program],” said Gilligan. “ACES and istrators, departmental resource teach- APEX encourage the learning of sciers and chairs and student and parent ence... English [and history], and now representatives. Last summer, the IC they have the same thing for foreign approved the program and Dubrow has languages. There are kids that work rePhotos by Julia Cinquegrani already been successful in starting it up ally, really hard at foreign languages, and this school year. they deserve the same recognition as a With the help of webmaster of the student who is working hard at science.

WJ website, Maria Limarzi, Dubrow There is no subject that is better than has already gotten the LEAD! program’s the other; they all have their merits.” information onto the school site. AddiGilligan also expressed how she sees tionally, in early January, Dubrow spoke the expansion of foreign languages not WJ After Hours continued from pg. 1 to incoming freshmen about the pro- only at the high school level, but in midgram at an informational meeting. dle schools as well.

Powell said that he does not get Dubrow added that he is currently in “Even the middle school language lonely by being in the school when it is the process of reviewing student appli- programs are already changing,” said mostly empty, because he has grown accations. In considering the applications, Gilligan. “I know they started offercustomed to it after having worked the he must take into account the students’ ing Italian classes at North Bethesda evening shift at various schools in MCPS capabilities in fulfilling the program’s [Middle School] and just [this] year they for the past 41 years. requirements. started offering Chinese.”

“I’ve been working the night shift so “We thought that in order for students The county only requires students to long, I have gotten used to it,” said Powto be recognized for their achievements, take two years of foreign language, and ell. we would have to make some serious generally, colleges like to see four. GilliAs Powell makes his rounds, he demands,” said Dubrow. gan expressed that she felt the program checks in with the other building serRight now, the program is still in its would be effective in encouraging forvices workers while they begin to clean. beginning stages, but Dubrow hopes the eign language learning.

A naturally friendly and outgoing perprogram will grow over the next few “[LEAD!] could get students thinking son, Powell also goes out of his way to years and become a larger community ‘Okay, maybe I could start another forsay hello to the teachers and other staff at WJ for the students interested in ac- eign language,’ or even AP Art History members as he makes his rounds.

Top: The inside of WJ’s boiler room, which tively pursuing foreign languages. or AP [Human Geography], something “[When I see] the teachers every day, I controls the school’s heating system and is One student, senior Maggie Gilligan, related to foreign language,” said Gillipeek in their doors and holler at them,” regulated by Bill Powell. Above: Powell in the was partly the inspiration for LEAD!. gan. “It can encourage starting foreign building services office. said Powell.

Gilligan has taken a wide variety of for- languages earlier, or taking multiple Powell enjoys his daily interactions problems that occur during the night, eign language classes during her middle foreign languages in middle school. I with teachers, but he does not have as which means he could have to return to and high school years, and has pursued know that I did, but that was definitely much direct interaction with students WJ if a problem arises. Since the new many of them to advanced levels. This an anomaly.” because he works in the evening. school building opened, however, he has year, she is taking Chinese 3, AP Span“There is not too much interaction not had to make as many late-night trips with students, but during S*T*A*G*E back to WJ to deal with problems. and extra-curriculars I see them,” said “[Before the modernization] we used Powell. to have problems with the heating sysPowell often stays as late as 11:30 tem or pipes bursting, but not now in p.m. during play seasons so he can close the new building. . .it’s a lot easier,” said WJ’s new Linguistic Excellence and Discovery Program requires the building after S*T*A*G*E ends its Powell. students to meet certain demands to become a LEAD! scholar. late-night rehearsals.

Powell and the other building services During the course of the evening, workers have to go into work on snow Powell checks on the heating system, days. They use snow days to catch up on •Study either Chinese, French, Italian, Latin or Spanish up the boiler room and his workers and work that they do not have time to do through the AP course makes sure the school’s doors are se- on normal school days. cured. He is the last person to leave the There are no substitutes to fill in if one •Study a second foreign language through the second school at night. worker misses a day of work, so the re- year “It keeps me in shape. I walk around maining building services workers have •Complete at least three additional full-year language the entire building every night five or to redistribute the work to get it done. six times,” said Powell.

“If too many people are absent and courses* Powell said that overall, students are there is so much work to do. . .every•Take AP exams for all AP courses and earn a semester well-behaved and create fewer messes body has to pitch in,” said Powell. than they did a few years ago. HowDespite all his responsibilities, Powell grade of at least a B in all LEAD! courses ever, he said that the open lunch sys- is content with his job and his crew. tem spreads more trash throughout the “Everything is pretty good around •Complete a Major Project during senior year* school for his crew to clean up than here,” said Powell. “It’s a good crew. . . there would be if students ate in the I love my job. I love being around the •It is preferred that students declare their participation in cafeteria. Once in a while, students also kids, teachers and administration.”

LEAD! by the end of ninth grade trash school bathrooms.

Powell’s enthusiasm about his job “Sometimes kids mess bathrooms up,” seems well-received. * Lists of possible courses or options to complete these requirements can be found on said Powell. “I don’t see why they do it, “I’m not going to let him retire,” joked www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/wjhs/depts/lead but they do.”

Cosgrove. “We’re like the parents of a Powell is responsible for fixing any big family; we keep track of everyone.”

WJ After Hours: An Inside Look at Building Services

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LEAD! Requirements:

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NEWS

JANUARY 27, 2012

Halo, Counter-Strike Blocked from School Computers

Counter-Strike continued from pg. 1 policy.”

The files were initially added almost by accident. Brian Morgan* added Counter-Strike to the school’s “Student Shared” folder on Dec. 9 with the intention of deleting it immediately afterward.

“I mostly added the files as a joke,” said Morgan. “I was planning on deleting it – since it was just a joke – but students can’t delete anything from ‘Student Shared.’ They can only add files.”

Both Counter-Strike and Halo

Photos by Julia Cinquegrani

quickly became popular, with many students taking advantage of the school’s LAN connections to play online multi-player games.

“We even had teachers and other staff members playing online with us,” said Morgan. “I’m glad that people had those few days to enjoy the games, but it was never my intention to have them played during class. School isn’t all fun and games.”

Jason Hunt,* who added Halo to the “Student Shared” folder, is less sympathetic to the teachers who had their classes disrupted.

“I can’t say that it wasn’t my intention [to have Halo played] in class,” said Hunt. “I don’t care that it took away from class time.”

Both Morgan and Hunt were questioned by WJ administration, but weren’t severely punished. Even so, neither of them intends to try a similar stunt on school computers in the future, since the school may be less sympathetic if they are found to have put the files on school computers numerous times.

“I encouraged people to play Halo,” said Hunt. “I set up servers for them to use.

It amused me at the time, [and] it still does, but I’m not doing that anymore.”

Administrators, both at WJ and at MCPS, stress that unauthorized files

are not allowed on school computers under any circumstances, as even a seemingly harmless program could disrupt the school’s network. According to Larry Wong, who is in charge of the MCPS Office of Information Assurance and Risk Management, all files on school computers must be tested by the county in order for them to be deemed compatible with other programs on the school’s network. Reber says, however, that it isn’t wrong for students to use computers to play games during lunch.

“It’s not an instructional part of the day, so – theoretically – students can play during lunch,” said Reber. “In practice, though, the school’s restrictions on student computer use apply throughout the day.”

Wong disagrees, citing county policy: “Anything without an educational purpose shouldn’t be on school computers, regardless of any compatibility,” said Wong. “When you l o g on to a computer, you agree to the county’s computer use regulations.

Everything you do can be archived and monitored. Wherever we see a program that shouldn’t be running, we reserve the right to shut it down.”

It isn’t the first time that the county has dealt with misuse of its computers – most notably, students at Churchill High

School used an illegal program to edit their grades. However, this is the most widespread violation of the school’s computer use policy. The school and county responded decisively, albeit somewhat late, and after a brief stint on school computers, Halo and CounterStrike have been rendered inaccessible at school. If only for the time being, computer use has returned to normal. * Name changed to protect identity

High Art: Pops of Color Paint the Ceiling at WJ

By Anders Norberg A year ago, the ceilings in all WJ classrooms looked the same. They held nothing but blank, white tiles. Now, the monotony of WJ’s ceiling is broken up by colorfully painted ceiling tiles, thanks to a project that was started by French teacher Ryan Martinez.

The idea to paint ceiling tiles came to Martinez last year while he was teaching at B-CC High School, and a teacher had a painted ceiling tile in his classroom.

Martinez followed his colleague’s example and made one for his own classroom. Afterward, he noticed that he had an extra white ceiling tile, and he continued painting from there. He had no idea how big the project would grow

at WJ. Initially, Martinez didn’t get permission from administration to paint the ceiling tiles, but he still gave some decorated tiles to his fellow foreign language teachers and put some in the hallways. Once word spread of Martinez’s project, many teachers from other departments wanted a decorated tile in their classrooms. At that point, Martinez talked to and got approval from the school’s administration for his project.

Martinez did not originally have a specified purpose for painting the ceiling tiles. He started it because he loves creating art and enjoys the freedom and imagination the tiles allow. Along the way, Martinez has learned that the tiles

have a purpose beyond being pretty: they create a break from the monotony of the school day.

“They are there to be pretty, not [to] teach,” said Martinez. “[This is] something needed where you work or study.”

Throughout Martinez’s life, he has looked for ways to express his imagination. Martinez’s art career started while he attended Montgomery Blair High School. He frequently doodled on his classwork, and eventually he decided to put this pastime to use. Martinez was the cartoonist for his high school and college newspapers, and he worked as a graphic designer for two years after college.

The inspiration for the tile designs

Photos by Steven Groobert

At left: Martinez poses with two of the ceiling tiles he painted.

Above: The ceiling of room G33 is decorated with more than 10 painted ceiling tiles.

At right: Martinez places a painted tile in a foreign language classroom’s ceiling.

rarely comes from anywhere specific.

Martinez just paints to his heart’s content and sees what he comes up with. If he isn’t happy with a tile that he paints, he doesn’t put it up in the school.

Martinez is still unsure of the future of his project. He wants to bring the project to other schools, but currently doesn’t have any plans to do so. Martinez also hopes that the art will live on in the minds of students as they remember the artwork.

“I hope that when students think back on their time at [WJ], they will remember these images,” said Martinez. “I also hope that the people who see these tiles will be inspired to find new ways to express themselves creatively.”

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JANUARY 27, 2012

EDITORIAL

Primary Problems

Weak Republican field lacks credible frontrunner to go up against Obama

By Cameron Keyani While President Obama sits on high, trying to consolidate his base of support, GOP candidates vie for the nomination as their party’s representative tries to dethrone him.

But it’s been a race of disappointment and unintentional hilarity, with crazy and woefully incompetent people taking center stage while viable candidates are getting ignored by the media.

For many people in this area, the Republican primary is a mildly interesting curiosity to pad the time while they wait to vote for Obama again. But for Republican voters, this is a crucial moment in time to select the correct person for the presidency, and it isn’t going very well.

Herman Cain? Rick Perry? Michelle Bachmann? All three are candidates with recorded gaffes that would even make Dukakis cringe. All three are out of the race, but the damage has been done.

Major news outlets like CNN, MSNBC, FOX and NPR meticulously covered these candidates, focusing on their hilarious screw ups rather than the rational, intelligent soundbites of Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and, though it pains me to say so, Mitt Romney.

Which brings me to the impasse of the RomneyBot-4000. I assume “Mitt” wakes up in the morning, unplugs the charger out of his back, sprays some Dust Off into his circuit board, and reminds himself that if he wants the humans to vote for him, he has to pretend to have emotions about controversial issues.

Romney might not be such a bad per-

son/android, but with several examples of his emphatically contradictory political views, like his support of abortion as Governor of Massachusetts that was strangely supplanted with his strong Mormon Pro-Life stance for the 2008 election, he has zero credibility.

Rick Santorum might be a bit of a gaffe man himself, completely denying Evolution in a debate without integrating it into Intelligent Design, and holding steadfast that the world was literally 6000 years old. But he isn’t a right wing nut by the common liberal definition, and he at least has opinions.

And then there’s Ron Paul.

He has been panned by the media for not being “electable,” yet he won third place in Iowa over Rick Perry, who was once considered a frontrunner.

While detractors, including FOX News, have accused Paul of being too radical, he voted against going to war in Iraq, supports the legalization of many controlled substances and wants to lower government oversight in social issues, which takes up too much of Congress’ time.

It speaks volumes about the primary process in which the important people, issues and information are completely ignored and every idiotic statement or misfit candidate gets a front page report. A miracle notwithstanding, the 2012 Republican primary will likely

Ask Ali

Cartoon by Michael Matthes

end with Mitt Romney being sent off to certain doom in a battle with Obama.

But the general consensus from both sides of the political spectrum seems to be that Romney is an unlikable flip flopping pseudo-Republican, so why on Earth is he the front runner?

Looking into the future, it seems the party that figures out a way to block out the peripheral garbage plaguing the primary process will nominate a winning man.

Online Editor-in-Chief Ali Jawetz eagerly answers questions submitted to eics.wjpitch@gmail.com. To see more of Ali’s answers to students’ questions visit wjpitch.com

Dear Ali, I know it’s difficult to get into college. My parents repeatedly told me that there was no guarantee of getting accepted, and life’s unfair, so we’ll just see what happens, sweet pea.

But now that I’ve gotten rejected from my Early Decision school, I have to say: it really sucks. Behind those smiles and nods in response to my parents’ warnings, I really thought I would be the one to get in. I don’t mean to complain, but I was wondering if you had any advice for feeling crappy about my own self-worth.

Dear Rejected,

Sincerely, Rejected

I’m sorry you didn’t get in to your top choice – that is a really unfortunate situation, and I totally understand your frustration. Since I won’t hear from any of my schools until March, I cannot entirely empathize. However, I can attest to the fact that getting rejected from anything (a job, an election, a relationship, etc.) sucks.

It’s hard to think that the decision isn’t personal. But the thing is, a lot of times it isn’t.

College acceptances are sort of random nowadays. If the school needs an oboe player that year, because the last one graduated, then it will probably accept a new oboe player over a trombone player or a violinist. If the school feels that it doesn’t have enough geographic diversity, and it has an applicant from Tulsa, Oklahoma, then it might accept her over a New Yorker or a Maryland resident......

To see the full response and much more, visit wjpitch. com

Sincerely, Ali

Ryan’s Rant

5

My Best Friends’ Girlfriends

By Ryan Lynch Print Editorial Editor My name is Ryan “Lightsout” Lynch and my relationship status on Facebook does indeed indicate that yes, I am single. I do not have a “girlfriend,” much less a significant other at this early point in 2012, but I am not opposed to change. Without delving further into my personal life and all of the who, what and why questions, let us regain focus.

This article is undeniably not about me, but some of my friends so-called “girlfriends.” Chicas, make sure to pay close attention to this one.

Some of the most memorable experiences in life stem from unplanned and seemingly random decisions. You guys know what I’m talking about! Those Friday nights when you call your friends at 10:00 p.m. because you’re hungry, but you somehow end up flipping over Porta-Potties at the local construction site and riding around on shopping carts in a supermarket parking lot, we’ve all done it!

As of late, I haven’t had too many of those experiences and I am bitter about it. Have I even tried to hang out with my friends, the same people that I have shared so many wonderful life-long memories with? Yes, but their girlfriends got in the way.

I feel very fortunate to say that I have lots of friends both in and outside of school. People I consider to be in this undiscriminating group straddle a variety of social cliques, constantly offering me variety and a tad of unpredictability regarding how each day is going to go.

That being said, I do have a core group of friends that I hang out with more than others just like everybody else.

Being a player on the varsity basketball team, for example, I naturally spend more time with my teammates between practices, games and moments spent simply messing around.

The bond between close friends should be unbreakable. Unfortunately, girls hold a disproportionate amount of power in relationships. If they suddenly want to go out for dinner one evening, chances are that the guy, meaning my friend, will be going out with her. If they feel like staying at home, guess who will most likely be called to come over and wallow in misery with them?

That’d be my friend again.

What I’m really getting at here is that my friends’ girlfriends are the reason why I haven’t been spending the same amount of time with them. These unforgiving, difficult females turn their noses up at the possibility of a deviation from the plan. If and when the idea of “going over to Ryan’s house while you go hang out with the girls” comes up, crying, hysteria and screams of “You don’t love me anymore!” ensue. It wouldn’t be fair to expect my friends to handle the situation any differently than they already do; by blowing me off.

By no means am I trying to break up any relationships here, but space is essential. Besides, these guys really want to hang out with me. At least I think they do.

Up Bat

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EDITORIAL

JANUARY 27, 2012

Everett Wells Junior

at

“I want to have 1,000 followers on Twitter.”

Dec. 21, 2012. Save the date. According to the Mayan calendar, this is when the apocalypse, and the end of the world as we know it, will begin.

Photo by Ben Resnick.

Diego Rubey

Freshman

Q: Assuming that the world is indeed going to end in 2012, what is one thing that you would absolutely have to do before it’s all over?

“I want to rip out someone’s soul, use it to power a time machine, go back in time, reverse the Mayan calendar and save the world.”

Kate Howie

Carly Chase

Freshman

Sophomore

“I want to go skydiving.”

“I want to travel the world.”

Photo by Ben Resnick.

Omar El Hamti

Haley Weinischke

Senior

Junior

“I want to visit Abu Dhabi.”

“I want to ask Luke Philbin to homecoming.”

Annie Kastler

Luke Philbin

Senior

Junior

“I want to leave the country because I have never traveled outside of the U.S. before.”

“I want to ask Haley Weinischke to homecoming.”

All photos by Steven Groobert unless otherwise noted.

THE

STAFF

Editors-in-Chief Hannah Flesch Rosie Hammack Ali Jawetz*

Arts & Entertainment Editor The Pitch is published eight times a year by the students of Walter Johnson High School, 6400 Taliah Dommerholt Rock Spring Drive, Bethesda, Md. 20814. Advertising and subscription rates are available by Cameron Keyani* calling 301-803-7302. Editorial opinions represent those of The Pitch staff and do not neces-

News Editors Julia Cinquegrani Girard Bucello*

Assistant Arts & Ent. Editor Emily Cosentino

Feature Editors Jenny Deutsch Sari Amiel Megan Chun*

sarily reflect the opinions of the staff, faculty, or student body. We welcome letters, articles, photographs and artwork, to be submitted to room 193 or e-mailed to thepitch@walter- Staff Writer johnson.com. The Pitch is an award-winning paper that works towards providing the student Anders Norberg body with accurate, as well as credible, information.

Assistant News Editor Editorial Editors Claudia Nguyen Ryan Lynch Danielle Markowitz* Sports Editors Phillip Resnick Assistant Editorial Editor Daniel Fanaroff Assistant Sports Editor Nathaniel Rees Daniel Thaler *Online Editors

Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medalist 2009

Maryland HS Journalism Award Best Newspaper Overall Third Place 2009-2010

American Scholastic Press Association First Place 2010-2011

Photo Editors Emily Cosentino Steven Groobert Photographers Anders Norberg Girard Bucello Cartoonist Michael Matthes

Copy Chief Sari Amiel Copy Editors Megan Chun Nathaniel Rees Claudia Nguyen Artists Anders Norberg Emily Cosentino Business/PR Manager Claudia Nguyen Advisor Sylvie Ellen

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Pitch

JANUARY 27, 2012

Curveball Two Negatives Do Not Make A Positive

By Rosie Hammack Print Editor-in-Chief “There are starving children in Africa.

Life could always be worse.”

I don’t know about you, but when a good friend moves away, or when a family member dies, or even when I’ve just failed a test, these are the last two sentences in the world I’d like to hear.

Without fail, this piece of well-meaning advice is presented (in its preaching and self-congratulatory way) when I am in my least receptive state. And, without fail, it makes me feel a little worse about my own situation, because it piles guilt and pessimism and a whole slew of other negative emotions on top of an already heavy load.

If I’ve learned anything at all in my narrow 17 years of experience, this is one of those little pearls. I hope to impart it now to those who find it their blind duty to play the role of the consoling friend: the double-negative (your situation might seem bad, but it could be worse; therefore it must somehow be the opposite of bad) does not work.

It does not work because it makes no sense, and it makes no sense because it does not work.

So, in the course of searching for methods that do work, I stumbled across this one: the positive.

There are a few things in life that are rock solid, steady and undeniably good.

They are not the same for everybody, but they carry with them the same feelings of well- being and hope, and though I know that some of the examples that are to follow may not resonate with every individual life experience, I hope a few of them do. I also hope they spark a positive chain reaction of gratefulness in others’ lives, as they have in mine.

I, for example, can be grateful that I am a human being. I have legs that can walk and run and kick and dance. I have arms that can hug and swing and hands that can hold a cup and a pen and flip through the pages of a book. I have eyes that can see and a brain that can properly process those images and other information. I have ears that can hear.

I have food to eat and a roof over my head, and I have a bed to sleep in every night. I have a group of friends who are funny and interesting and supportive, I have a family that is weird and entertaining and I have acquaintances and strangers to fill all the other roles that a life could possibly need. At any given time, I might be going through something rough, but I always have these things to fall back on. These positive threads weave a positive background to even the most negative situation. They support me, and they make me who I am.

They are not double-negatives pretending to be positives. They are positives, simple and unforced.

EDITORIAL

Continuing Decline in Quality of Cartoons

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By Anders Norberg

Recently, I came upon Nickelodeon, which was airing “Kung Fu Panda: Legend of Awesomeness”.

I was disgusted at the lack of good cartoons these days, and began to take a trip down memory lane.

The cartoons when I was young were amazing. Some of these shows were “The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy,” “Hey Arnold,” “Codename: Kids Next Door,” “Ed, Edd and Eddy,” “Dexter’s Laboratory,” “The Powerpuff Girls,” “CatDog,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “Invader Zim.” Whatever happened to shows that weren’t movie spinoffs?

Currently Nickelodeon has seven cartoon shows, four of which are made in 3D. Along with these horrible abominations, they have seven live-action series. In 2000, Nickelodeon had 11 animated shows, none of which were spinoffs or made in 3D, and they had about six live-action series.

Cartoon Network, a network previously known for only showing cartoons currently has 16, nine of which are acquired programming. The network had received serious criticism from viewers when they added several live-action shows, such as “Dude, What Would Happen?” and “Destroy Build Destroy”. All of these

shows were canned or put on hiatus.

This year, though, they plan on adding a new live-action show called “Level Up”.

Cartoon by Michael Matthes

As we grow older, the shows little kids watch seem to worsen. I’ve watched some of Cartoon Network’s

new cartoons, and they are terrible for little kids. Shows like “Regular Show” and “Adventure Time” have characters who curse, make sexual innuendos and kick each other in the nuts. These are the things we, as teenagers, would enjoy, not 10-year-olds who don’t understand how babies are born.

The networks have changed more than just the programming.

In 2009, Nickelodeon rebranded several networks to reflect they were part of Nickelodeon; The N became TeenNick, Noggin became Nick Jr. and Nicktoons Network became Nicktoons. Nickelodeon also changed it’s logo for the first time in over 20 years.

In late 2008, Toonami, Cartoon Network’s Saturday action program block, was ended and replaced soon after by a far less entertaining Friday action block schedule. Cartoon Network also changed its logo to just a “CN”.

Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network were some of the greatest things of my childhood, and since around 2007 and 2008 they have become progressively worse. The reason is that the best shows all ended during that time, leading the networks to essentially change their entire programming schedule and change the networks themselves.

Facebook Losing Battle vs. Twitter in

By Nathaniel Rees Social Networking Twelve years into the modern age, vides a forum for debate over issues, Twitter and Facebook remain the two whether trite, but fun comments about greatest social networking sites. Wide- Death Match tribulations of one’s favorite, or least ly popular and heavily used, they have sparked the ultimate social media showdown, Facebook versus Twitter.

Photos Courtesy of flickr.com

Shown above is a bird, now commonly recognized as the logo for Twitter. Each tiny pixel shows the ever expanding profile pictures of Twitter users and the place they hold in the social networking world.

Now, I’ve been a Facebook fan for a number of years and it is a brilliant innovation. Undoubtedly one of the most useful tools of the modern age, Facebook enables users to stay in touch with friends’ on the other side of the world, to stay up to date with the latest events, to keep note of friends birthdays

and to post photos, all with a minimal amount of effort. Facebook also allows users to join and make groups, making it easier for clubs, teams and other groups to pick meeting times and collaborate ideas. However, the forever-changing format of Facebook is annoying, and the new timeline format is at once confusing and a stalker’s paradise. Facebook is also becoming too commercialized, with a new Farmville request around every corner, and random spam that causes users to unwittingly post the same ad or video on basically every single one of their Facebook friends’ walls.

Therefore, I have begun to focus my attention on Twitter. Previously believing that Twitter was stupid, a completely unfounded idea, seeing as how I had never even used the site before, I have now come to the realization that Twitter is better than Facebook. Notwithstanding the useless tweets about a person’s eating habits (no, I do not care about what you ate for breakfast, or lunch for that matter), Twitter pro-

favorite, celebrity, or for debate over current political agendas of presidential candidates. Twitter also lets users stay up to date with all sorts of news, without having to peruse the Internet for factual information regarding current issues and topics. If one so desires, he or she can find as many corny jokes as he or she wants on Twitter, without having to spend time looking. The hashtag also serves as a boon of Twitter, connecting thousands or even millions of people to the same phrase or idea. And the best part about Twitter? Not one single Farmville request in sight…

However, Twitter and Facebook are both very distinct social media sites and therefore reach different audiences and provide different experiences. So whether you are a Zuckerbergite or a Biz Stoner, everyone should get on board with both sites and understand the real benefits of each.

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JANUARY 27, 2012

Incompetence Pervades Telephone Operators

By Nathaniel Rees

Telephone operators are the bane of my existence. No matter what the question is, calling customer service means a long ordeal, full of useless comments, robotic voice machines, and the worst, waiting on hold. As someone with family members who are the complete opposite of technologically savvy, there are many times we must call customer service.

Whether for TV or phone issues, appliance dilemmas, or just a quick question about the new furnace my parents bought, I can expect the customer service personnel to view the question as a huge imposition on their time, or as a kindergartner would feel if told to read the novel The Scarlet Letter.

Why is the issue of customer service incompetence fresh in my mind? Well, let us go back to Monday Jan. 2, the day before we went back to school. On this night, my brother and I were faced with the task of cooking our own dinner. Lazy as usual, we decided to heat up some leftovers and when the meal was heated sufficiently, I tried to open the oven. “Tried” is the appropriate word, because the oven flashed the words “oven lockout”, and the oven door would not budge.Though I turned the oven off, the oven, and the meal inside, began to get hotter and hotter.

Countless pushing of useless buttons

who had absolutely no idea what he was doing. “I’ll connect you to my assistant manager.”

Long story short, I was connected and put on hold three times, as smoke began to fill the room, and the smoke alarm went off. Finally, the manager of Kenmore told me to hold the “stop” button for three seconds, which would enable me to open the oven.

What did I learn from this scare, besides the fact that oven lockout is the world’s most useless accessory button? That telephone operators are completely clueless. Why is it that, every time I, or anyone else, calls for service, it takes five or more people to answer a simple question? And why is it that a simple question always turns into an hour-long fiasco when dealing with telephone operators?

There seems to be no point in having many customer service personnel Photo by Steven Groobert who answer the phone because only Some operators seem clueless enough to attempt to read the dictionary upside down. the manager ever seems to be able to later, we decided to call my mom. We started to explain my predicament, but answer any question. Maybe the job of a have owned the oven for 13 years. Sure- was interrupted by a cool, calm, utterly customer service receptionist is an honly my mom knew how to fix this disas- disengaged and boring voice- “Would orary position, one in which the worker ter! However, she responded with a “no you like to receive coupons for new is expected to do absolutely nothing but infuriate the caller with long “holds” and idea.” And that’s when the dinner burst Kenmore items?”

“A coupon? My friggen oven is on unrelated coupon offers. into flames.

Whatever the case, count me in to Frantically, I called the company that fire”! I wanted to scream. Instead, I exnever call customer service again. I made the oven, Kenmore and was met plained calmly once again that my meal with a voice recording. Desperation was engulfed in flames and the oven was guess now I’ll actually have to read the manual. took over, and I began to punch random on “lockout”.

“Uhh, let me think,” the man said buttons on the phone, and luckily, I ended up with a real person on the line. I with the unmistakable air of someone

Pitch Opinion: Moco Bag Tax The New Year brought some resolutions, renewed expectations and a longawaited beginning. It also brought a five cent tax on all plastic bags at Montgomery County retail stores, effective once the year began.

If the government is going to tax anything, it should be things that destroy the environment, such as plastic bags.

People shouldn’t be angry about this tax because they should have been using reusable bags in the first place.

The plastic bag tax represents more than just another way for the government to raise money. It is an important and vital step in the struggle between a bustling human population and the fragile planet. The tax, with original roots in Washington, D.C., indicates the conscious attempt to protect the Chesapeake and Anacostia watersheds.

Because of the non-degradable nature of the bags, especially plastic bags, when they are carelessly tossed into the environment they end up in waterways and other important environmental areas, causing problems for a very long time.

It is estimated that the fee will generate $1 million this year, money that will be used for water and liter cleanup in the area.

The program in D.C. has “already re-

duced plastic bag litter that clogs the rivers and streams in Washington, D.C. by an estimated 65 percent” according to a Montgomery County announcement promoting the use of reusable bags. That number is astounding. The mere fact that in just 18 months this reduction has taken place is encouraging.

One can only imagine what the effects would be after say, five years.

The only true complaint revolves around pets. Of course we must oblige by the communal law that their waste must be picked up and disposed. So, for that reason, plastic bags are useful. However, newspaper plastic bags (which are delivered on a daily basis) can be used effectively. If picking up solid waste from your pet is a legitimate problem, there are also things called pooper scoopers.

The problems of pollution, overpopulation and even climate change have been largely ignored by lawmakers around the world. The Montgomery County Carryout Bag Law is a monumental step that assures and promises commitment at least on the local level for environmental action. It’s absolutely necessary and it’s time the nation responds as well.

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FEATURE

The Environmental Effort at WJ

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By Sari Amiel

Although our individual school’s ecological footprint is only a fraction of the nation’s, WJ staff and students are contributing to environmental health by making efforts to save energy and mitigate pollution.

Perhaps there are inefficient aspects of WJ’s energy use, such as the hundreds of papers printed each day and the Styrofoam dishware in the cafeteria, but our artificial turf, motion sensitive lights, and recycling bins help reduce the school’s carbon footprint. The environmental club, the SERT committee and other groups in the WJ community are working to further reduce the school’s environmental impact and to increase ecological consciousness.

“One of the factors that slowed us down [in] making changes was the renovation,” said Patricia Tierney, AP Environmental Science teacher and sponsor of the environmental club.

Regardless of this, the construction led to energy efficiency in the form of lights that turn off automatically, new heating and cooling systems and toilets that waste less water.

“There could always be an increase in awareness,” said environmental club president and senior Iliana Lang.

Under the direction of environmental club presidents, seniors Iliana Lang and Maya Jordan, the club has ensured that the school has enough recycling bins and is now working on an energy efficiency pledge which they will hand out to teachers. Also, the club participated in the Keystone Pipeline rally in D.C. on Sunday, Nov. 6 and went to the student-run Powershift Conference last April.

Last year, the club sold T-shirts illustrated with the word “recycle” and distributed reusable bags, with the aim of reducing the number of plastic bags that many students haul back from Giant each day. With Maryland’s new 5-cent tax on plastic bags, enacted Jan. 1, Lang hopes students will use fewer

Photos courtesy of Iliana Lang

The environmental club designed these bags and T-shirts to spread awareness about environmentalism.

plastic grocery bags.

“I think we’re doing a pretty good job… both in recycling and conserv-

Photo courtesy of Tamar Chukrun

Members of the environmental club attended the Keystone Pipeline Rally in D.C. in November of this year.

Photo courtesy of Tamar Chukrun

ing our energy,” said Business Manager Kathy Cosgrove.

Cosgrove helped the environmental club distribute recycling bins and create flyers. She serves on SERT, which inspects schools and outlines improvements they can make. As of October this year, WJ earned an A from SERT on its environmentalism. All schools in the Montgomery County area have SERTs, and other members on this school’s team are Micah Wiggins, John Brooks and Patricia Tierney.

In addition to the efforts currently being made, Cosgrove suggests keeping

er things we don’t always pay attention to it.”

Overall, though, Lang has observed many environmentally conscious students within the WJ community, and her club has ample members for the time being. Cosgrove also noticed this improvement, which she attributes to efforts to publicize environmentally friendly behaviors.

“It helps to have everything out there and easily accessible,” she said.

As with much of this country’s population, high school students often hear of environmental issues without learning nearly as much about what they can

“In this technological age, the health of the environment is decreasing, but at the same time we’re having new innovations to repair the damage we’ve done.” doors to the outside closed and shutting down all computers and monitors when leaving a computer lab.

For students, Tierney recommends recycling more often and walking, carpooling or riding the bus to school. Lang added that leaving Promethean boards on all day is also inefficient.

As for the heavy printing of paper that is commonplace, it can partially be remedied by printing papers back-to-back, recycling the extra papers that are printed or using online hand-in and hand-out trays.

“Little things like that add up,” said Cosgrove.

Unlike it is for teachers, Lang and Tierney observed that being environmentally friendly is not always a priority for students.

“Sometimes [the environment] can become overlooked,” said Lang. “If we’re so busy with schoolwork and oth-

vating the greenhouse effect and fossil fuels are not only a source of pollution, but a nonrenewable energy source.

With population growth, food and water are growing scarcer.

Still, Lang’s own viewpoint is both hopeful and realistic.

“In this technological age, [the health of the environment] is decreasing, but at the same time we’re having new innovations to repair the damage we’ve done,” she said.

There are also significant improvements being made by some of the same technology that has contributed to pollution. According to livescience.com, experts are researching ways to create oil from any carbon-based wastes, to filter the salt out of ocean water so it can be drinkable, to replace fossil fuels with hydrogen fuel cells, to generate energy from the ocean’s tides, to use microbes and plants to clean up pollution, and to use electronic sheets of paper. These sheets of paper resemble current sheets, but they are made of electronic particles that can form new arrangements and words, like computer screens.

“I’m actually pretty optimistic,” said Tierney. “This [recession] is a great opportunity for people to… engage in more environmentally friendly economic activities.”

However, Lang is concerned that being environmentally friendly is only a current fad, like buying organic food.

“You don’t want it to just be a phase that goes away,” she said.

do to remedy these problems. Students can then lose interest in being environmentally friendly, because they think the problems are so extreme that they alone cannot make a difference in resolving them.

Overall, for this reason, developing environmentally friendly behaviors and an understanding of the environment can be a challenge for students.

The environmental crisis is pronounced.

Greenhouse gases, such as carbon, are trapping heat in the atmosphere, causing global temperatures to rise. Overgrazing and overharvesting of food can destroy soil and decrease agricultural lands. Invasive species and an increase in land Photo courtesy of Iliana Lang development can drive native species extinct. The environmental club gave this to teachers who signed it to sigDeforestation is aggra- nify their efforts at keeping their classrooms greener.

Gender

Women’s Plight in Politics

By Ali Jawetz

WJ has never had a female SGA president in the past eight years. In addition, out of the three females who have been on the SGA in the past eight years, all three have held the position of secretary. Still, WJ at least has had female presidents of individual grades, and certainly has had female presidents of many clubs.

As for the disparities within the SGA at WJ, the facts may not be surprising, given that disparities between female and male leaders are rampant in this country as a whole.Though women make up 51 percent of the population of the United States, the percentage of women in Congress – the legislative body that is supposed to represent the entire country – is only 17 percent.

You may think this is “just the way things are,” since women only received the right to vote less than a century ago. However, in the midterm election of 2010, the number of women elected to political positions actually decreased for the first time since 1979. Also, in the ranking of countries by the World Economic Forum, based on how well the country reduced gender disparities from 2010 to 2011, the United States just entered the top 20 at rank 17, behind several European countries.

However, Delegate Anne Kaiser of the 13th district of Maryland is one woman who never doubted her path to political leadership.

“I wanted to run for office since I was five years old,” she said. “[There was just] something [that attracted me] about

public service and trying to make the world a better place.”

Kaiser ran for the first time when she was 34, a young age by political standards. She is a member of the Ways and Means Committee and the chair of the Education Committee in Maryland’s Congress.

She is now entering her tenth year of office.

“I would prefer [for] there to be more [women],” said Kaiser. “[But as one of my colleagues put it,] you cannot be what you cannot see.”

Kaiser believes that the key to getting women involved in politics is providing mentors, so women believe they can achieve that level of leadership.

A documentary called “Miss Representation,” directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, was released in 2011 about this very concept – that the way girls are portrayed in the media affects their perceptions of themselves and their interest in being leaders.

“To see [female] leadership in reality and on the screen in television is huge for women,” said Marie Wilson, the founding president of the White House Project, in the documentary.

Encouragement from role models is significant because, as it turns out, when women actually run, they succeed just as often as men.

“The important message to get out is that women, relative to the numbers that they run and relative to the number of open seats, do just as well as men,” said Kaiser. “The problem is that women don’t even try.”

JANUARY 27, 2012

JANUARY 27, 2012

Equity

This fall, the Gender Equity Unit was founded to discuss and face gender-based prejudices in the WJ community.

“Many people consider the women’s rights movement to be obsolete,” said club founder senior Sasha Gzirian. “We’re trying to preserve the sentiments of that movement.”

She feels that the women’s rights movement is often

Photos courtesy of flickr.com

FEATURE

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G-Equity Unit: WJ’s Gender Equity Club

By Sari Amiel

At WJ, though, the inequities in the SGA may stem from a different issue.

“Boys write funnier speeches and they get more votes,” said senior Ben Esenstad.

Since the SGA officers are valued mostly for their humor in pep rallies and homecoming video, girls may choose not to run because they think they are too serious or too intelligent to get elected.

“The jokes made by male SGA candidates that people find so funny wouldn’t be socially acc e p t a bl e coming from a girl candi-

date,” said Sasha Gzirian, founder of WJ’s Gender Equity Club.

This is a difficult cycle to break at WJ, given that there are few role models to get inspiration from when it comes to SGA positions. However, there is support arising from many different areas of the school.

“Women in leadership positions think a lot more like I do than men do, so I like women leaders,” said history teacher Nathan Schwartz. “I’m all for it.”

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viewed as a thing of the past.

In 1920, with the 19th Amendment, women received the right to vote. Since then, contraception and abortion were legalized, and the Equal Pay Act was passed. This provides men and women of certain professions with identical salaries. In other professions, though, the disparity between men’s and women’s salaries increased.

Feminists are still working to increase the number of powerful women in office and to maintain the progress women have already made. “[I hope] women finally get the same wage for the same job as men, because there is still that disparity,” said Gzirian.

The club was partially in-

spired by a class discussion last spring that ended with male students stereotyping women.

“We were learning about how horribly women were treated [in medieval times],” said medieval history teacher Jeremy Butler. “I tried to have a discussion about why throughout history men tried to keep them powerless… but the guys ended up saying things that the women found offensive.”

Senior Sarah Collins was the first to leave the class. Since then, Butler formally apologized and the issue was resolved. Butler thinks a lack of awareness may have contributed to this conflict.

“The men didn’t realize that it’s still a sensitive topic,” he said.

This caused the club officers to realize that gender inequality still exists in our society, even at WJ, and that prejudices are more strongly ingrained in many people than might be thought.

“I think that there is a gender gap in our society and there are problems with gender [inequality] that teenagers have to face,” said club member senior Abby Adler.

Gzirian thought that girls and boys are taught different behaviors and standards from an early age, by society at large and at the micro level. Adler agrees, stating that teenagers’ gender divide is centered on a double standard. For example, guys who date many girls can be admired, whereas girls who do the same are often regarded as “sluts.” However, the gender divide is more pronounced in third-world countries, where

women’s rights can be seriously restricted.

According to Equality Now, an organization founded to protect women’s rights globally, women have been flogged for driving in Saudi Arabia. In Kyrgyzstan, brides are often kidnapped and raped. Some other issues in developing nations include child marriage and the lack of voting and property rights for women. Also, in many third-world countries, women are denied access to education, which leads to further prejudice and contributes to higher birth rates and higher levels of poverty. There are many organizations, such as World Education, Inc., that work to provide stable education for girls. Despite the fact that female students at WJ are already getting an education, the Gender Equity Unit wants to make this environment prejudice-free.

“If someone feels that they’ve been violated…we can discuss why that happened, [and] what we can do about it,” said Gzirian.

However, she acknowledged that change is not always sudden, especially in the school environment, where competing concerns often exist.

“Change comes organically,” she said. “You can’t force it.”

Adler agreed that fostering awareness is the first step in bringing about change.

“My hope [for resolving gender inequities] as of right now would be to raise awareness,” she said. “It’s tough to change what people think, but when you’re aware of something, it gets change moving.”

By Megan Chun

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JANUARY 27, 2012

A Day in the Life of Principal Jennifer Baker

It is 7 a.m. on a weekday and Principal Jennifer Baker arrives at school. After checking her email and responding to urgent matters (such as malfunctioning equipment) in the building, she goes into the halls and greets students. For most of her day, Baker Principal Jennifer Baker supports the conducts meetings basketball team. with staff, members of her administrative team, students and parents.

However, she also occasionally leaves the school to attend meetings elsewhere, sometimes with other MCPS high school principals or various committees.

From day to day, Baker’s schedule varies.

“The thing I like about this job is that it’s different almost every single day,” she said. “It’s almost easier to look at my job in a week, as opposed to in a day.”

Each week, Baker has a few pre-planned meetings.

These are often with her leadership team, composed of all the department chairs in addition to the administration. In these meetings, many of which occur

after school hours, Baker and the team work to plan upcoming events. Issues such as the need for police or security for a school event will be discussed.

Around 5 p.m., Baker goes home and eats dinner before heading off to some sort of WJ event or sports game.

“Anytime I’m out at an event, I interact with parents or students, and I love that,” she said. “That’s one of my favorite things to do.”

Baker notes that going to school events and games may be one aspect of her job that many students overlook.

“Sometimes people seem very surprised [when they see me at events],” she said. “I’ll have students say, ‘You’re at everything!’”

Apart from organizing and attending school events, Baker also feels a strong responsibility to protect WJ’s academic standing, particularly among colleges and universities. She regularly observes WJ classes and provides feedback to teachers.

“You want colleges to look at a student coming out of WJ, and say, ‘Hey, that school has a great reputation,’ so preserving and protecting the reputation of the school [is important to me],” she said. “I want people to view our school as a school that can educate a bunch of different types of students, can offer a lot to students, and has really high academic standards.”

Baker feels that, although some days may be full of conflict resolution and disciplining students who make “bad decisions,” she still enjoys her work.

Principal Jennifer Baker combines interactions with the student body with administrative responsibilities.

Photo by Steven Groobert

“I still look forward to coming to work the next day because I know that a lot of amazing things can happen [at WJ],” she said.

WJ Students Lend a Helping Hand in Haiti

By Jenny Deutsch

While some WJ students were tanning on faraway beaches or lounging at home, Emily and Charlotte Fallick spent winter break in Haiti, helping rebuild houses and offering support to displaced victims after the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12, 2010.

“The devastation is very prominent,” said Emily.

“Refugee camps, piles of burning trash and ruins were everywhere.”

The Fallick family travelled to Haiti with their synagogue, Adat Shalom, and spent the majority of the trip working in Leogane, the epicenter of the earthquake, where they were building earthquake-proof duplexes for people currently living in the “tent cities.” Over 500 people were killed in Leogane during the earthquake, many of whom were priests and nuns working at the Sainte Rose de Lima School there, according to the Washington Post.

“I personally spent most of the time making trusses, the triangular foundations for the roof,” said Emily.

However, because of the lack of proper equipment, such as power tools and metal gussets, they were able to make about eight trusses in four days, which would have taken only one day in the United States.

Living conditions in Haiti remain less than optimal.

Last year’s earthquake left many in Haiti without proper homes.

“Obviously it felt good to help, but I felt like I wasn’t doing very much,” said Fallick. “For the same price I paid for the trip we could have hired 49 Haitians from the village.”

The earthquake took place Tuesday Jan. 12, 2010 and caused extreme destruction. An estimated 316,000 people died and millions more were left in-

Messages of inspiration were found even in the seemingly hopeless situation.

jured and homeless. Haiti, a country with a long history of social and economic problems, is having a hard time recovering from such a disaster. According to the CIA World Factbook, Haiti is the poorest country in its hemisphere. Eighty percent of the people in Haiti are below the poverty line. The earthquake it experienced in 2010 damaged Haiti’s already weak economic system, since Port-au-Prince, its capital, was ruined in the natural disaster. Due to this, its Gross Domestic Product contracted about 5.1 percent in the year following the earthquake.

After the earthquake, relief efforts poured in from all over the world. The United States alone sent thousands of troops. Private nonprofit agencies sent in volunteers and doctors and donated money to the reconstruction effort.

Since the horrific natural disaster, the Haitian government has also launched many programs in the hope of assisting the millions of people still living in poverty. One of these programs, called “Aba Grangou,” is a national food effort designed to feed 2.2 million school children. “Aba Grangou,” in Haitian, means “Down with Hunger.”

Senior Emily Fallick formed connections with members of the Haitian community.

Photos Courtesy of Emily Fallick

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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The Future of Literature

Electronic reader devices like the Kindle and the Nook are increasing in popularity but books are still a classic for the current generation.

WJ students talk about their opinions on the evolution of literature.

By Emily Cosentino Books are the standard form of literature for today’s youth, but the Kindle seems to be slowly taking over. Since its debut in 2007, the Kindle has become increasingly popular.

Though its advantages over books are considerable, altough the drawbacks do not go unnoticed.

A Kindle owner can has access to a library of books on a device that weighs only 10-20 ounces. The Kindle can download a book in 60 seconds, saving a trip to and from the bookstore. Built-in Wi-Fi also makes online review searches quick and convenient. “[Kindles] are better because they have many books in one place,” said junior Steven Gondre-Lewis. “Not having to leave the house to get a book can help motivate people to read in my opinion.”

Although the first payment of the Kindle can be a bit pricey, the books are significantly cheaper and there are deals as low as 99 cents a book.

Though it may be aggravating for some to have to charge a Kindle in order to read a book that in print form requires no power at all, its charge lasts up to one month. There

are also many different models of the Kindle and other reading devices like the Nook and more.

The Kindle will connect to your Amazon account and bill your credit card or home just as if you bought a pair of shoes from the same website.

Despite these advantages, some students still prefer books over electronic readers.

“I don’t know why I prefer books,” said sophomore Emma Teal. “I feel the Kindle is pushing technology where it is not necessary.”

Teal explained the Kindle cannot replicate the smell of a brand new book and the feel of turning the pages.

Photo By Emily Cosentino

The price of books on the Kindle might be cheaper, but the price of the Kindle itself is high. Students can pay 15-20 dollars for a book every once in a while but 79-199 dollars may seem a little steep.

Along with other electronic devices, the Kindle can be easily damaged. Except in a few circumstances, a book will remain intact.

The main advantage of the book is its classic appeal. Generations grew up reading books. Being able to hold a book is a different feeling then holding an electronic device. Books can be donated, shared and passed down while the Kindle most likely will have one user.

If the modern luxuries of a Kindle increase its popularity, what will the future of reading become for the next generations? Will bulky textbook be replaced with electronic versions?

Even versions of biblical text are now available on the Kindle.

Although the evolution of literature is in play, it seems that for now it only involves casual, not academic, reading.

According to an article by USA Today, 90 percent of college students

Photo By Emily Cosentino

Sophmore Moriah Austin-Brantly takes some time from school to read on her Kindle.

would recommend the Kindle for casual reading but not as a study tool.

Electronic readers may be increasing in popularity but are not being used for academic purposes.

Whether people are for screen or paper, the future of our reading is evolving.

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Exploring the Smithsonian Washington D.C.’s Prime Museum and Research Complex and a Place to Explore

By Taliah Dommerholt Though WJ’s proximity to D.C. is often taken for granted, the school is located near one of the prime destinations for art seeking, history-absorbing and science crazed museum-goers of the world. Just a 20 minute metro ride away, the Smithsonian holds a multitude of exhibits open to the public. Such exhibits cover the broad interests of the tourists and intellectuals and sixth graders on their annual field trips alike, opening even the most critical eyes to information that will keep them engaged for hours. And the best part is—the museums are free.

Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian is the largest museum and research institution in the world, comprising of 19 museums and galleries along with the National Zoo. The entire complex is far too large for a person to cover in one day, but living in the D.C. Metropolitan area, easy access is guaranteed.

It’s a given that most people living in the area are wellaccustomed to dragging relatives and family friends to the National Mall for some ogling of T. Rex bones and then a quick picture with the Washington Monument balanced in someone’s palm. However, there is much more to explore than the usual sites, with new exhibits almost every month and a variety of museums that may not have been appealing at younger ages, but can now be surprisingly interesting.

Begin at the American Art Museum, at the Gallery Place/ Chinatown stop on the Red line of the metro. First be sure

to check out photographer Annie Leibovitz’s new exhibit “Pilgrimage,” which includes photographs of American landscapes and shots of iconic individuals’ homes, including those of Georgia O’Keeffe and Thomas Jefferson. Each subject has a distinct personal meaning for Leibovitz and the collection forms a narrative of the history her photographs have told throughout her 40 year career.

Then move to the Renwick Gallery, where you can find the collection “Something of Splendor: Decorative Arts from the White House,” featuring over 95 objects, including furniture and textiles from the White House’s private collection. The collection not only gives an inside peak at life in the home of the presidents, but also displays a history of interior design trends.

Conveniently situated in the same building, the Portrait Gallery runs adjacent to the American Art Museum. Its name speaks for itself, but a current temporary exhibit that should not be missed is “The Black List: Photographs by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders,” featuring images of prominent African American figures of a variety of backgrounds, depicting their successes and contributions to a society in which they were historically marginalized.

Approximately a 20-minute walk away is the acclaimed National Museum of American History. One exhibit to see is titled “Bon Appetit! Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian.” In fact, on site is her actual kitchen, reassembled. In 2001 Child donated the kitchen, well known for its appearance on her television cooking programs, to the museum.

Next door on the National Mall sits the ever-popular Natural History Museum. As a popular fieldtrip destination, most are very familiar with its permanent exhibits (although the mammals exhibit never seems to get old), but in a few months the museum will hold a new exhibit titled “Against All Odds: Rescue at the Chilean Mine,” including video footage, rock samples and mementos from the 33 miners who were trapped for almost two months.

For a break from the indoors, the Sculpture Garden next to the National Gallery of Art has an ice skating rink open to the public that lets visitors enjoy the winter atmosphere while skating amongst larger-than-

Cartoons by Michael Matthes life sculptures.

One should never pass over a trip to the United States Botanical Garden. The garden was established in 1820 by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and it is situated right next to the Capitol. The indoor gardens and galleries of the conservatory emphasize the diversity of plants from around the world and their cultural, scientific and economic functions. The conservatory holds a desert, a jungle, an orchid room and multiple other ecosystems that high light sustainability and biodiversity. A walk through the different exhibits takes you to all different parts of the world, allowing the museum-goer to experience foreign ecosystems without ever having to leave D.C. Having grown up in Bethesda, it is often that one develops an indifference toward Washington D.C. and how much it has to offer. It’s easy to overlook the many benefits of living in a metropolitan suburb, but it’s never too late to open take a look around and begin exploring the nation’s capital and its many cultural sources.

Map Courtesy of the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program

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15 Consequences of College Consumerism

JANUARY 27, 2011

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

what to do with obsolete college wear

By Danielle Markowitz At the end of every college tour, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll hear something along the lines of: “The college store is just around the corner.”

College t-shirts, sweatpants, lanyards, notebooks, bumper sticks, yoga pants and even magnets are all conveniently located 10 feet away from the end of the tour. Some students like to show support for schools to which they’re applying by buying clothes emblazoned with college spirit, while some buy such paraphernalia because the colors are pretty.

Maybe they just really like spending

money on overpriced clothing.

But what to do with the college apparel once you decide on a specific school and have nixed the others?

There are a few options.You can give it away to a sibling or friend, burn it, leave it at the bottom of your closet or be that person wearing a Harvard sweatshirt at the University of Maryland.

Senior Robyn Bernstein has a long family history at University of Michigan and has plenty of t-shirts, bumper stickers and even earrings with the Michigan logo.

“If I hadn’t gotten in [to University of Michigan], I still would have kept them to wear at my family’s Michigan parties and football games,” she said.

Having clothes from parents’, siblings’, or friends’ alma maters is not an unusual phenomenon.

“The only college clothes I own are from University of Illinois and Northwestern, because that’s where my parents went” said senior Emily Katz.

It’s the same story for senior Sophie Mindes, who has college apparel from Kenyon College, Boston College and New York University.

“For Kenyon College, I have a tshirt because I’m applying and my dad went there,” she said. “I also have

Courtesy of Gnome Sudoku

Sudoku

multiple things from BC since my brother goes there, and I just really love NYU.” Some seniors simply avoid buying college apparel out of superstition and instead opt for smaller things like notebooks or lanyards. Some seniors see college apparel as a promise for the future, though. I remember that last year, a senior wore an NYU sweatshirt on an almost weekly basis. One day I asked him if he got in. He said, “No, but I’m hoping.”

Whether it’s based on superstition or hope, college apparel can represent the future. Deciding on a college is one of the biggest decisions we teenagers make in our early lives. So maybe you own a myriad of University of North Carolina Chapel Hill clothes because it’s the school of your dreams, or maybe you own a small key chain from University of Maryland that a sibling bought as a holiday present. One way or another, just remember that the t-shirt you own may not be your future, and wherever you end up, make the best out of those next four years.

This Week in Albums Releases Theaters Feb. 3

Jan. 31 -Lana del Rey: Born to Die -Ringo Starr: Ringo 2012

Feb. 10

Feb. 7 -Dr. Dog: Be theVoid -Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks -Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom -The Fray: Scars and Stories -Van Halen: A Different Kind of Truth

- Big Miracle - Chronicle - TheWoman in Black - Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - Safe House -StarWars Episode One 3D -TheVow

See answers online at www.wjpitch.com!

Cartoons drawn by Michael Matthes

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16

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

JANUARY 27, 2012

Third Base Wintery Recipes The Humor Column

By Taliah Dommerholt

This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

By Cameron Keyani and Michael Matthes Halo is gone. What do we do with our lives now?

For weeks, students played it covertly on a server in the school computers with little repercussions. Then every Jim Madcow and Suzie Wildcat caught wind of it, and the game was shut down instantly.

People abused the awesome power they had, playing Halo instead of doing assignments and listening in class. It was not an uncommon sight to walk into a computer lab with a teacher lecturing while every single monitor was lit up with scenes of intergalactic slaughter.

We learned a lot from this experience. It was not that people shouldn’t tamper with school property, or play video games on school time. What we learned was that too many people can’t be involved in something cool, or else it gets ruined.

Take the Occupy Wall Street movement.The 99 percent is complaining that the one percent has too much power and wealth. Well guess what, if everyone had wealth, wealth would suck. Forbes would tout owners of horses and one bedroom shacks rather than billionaire philanthropists.

Cool things by nature are exclusive. The hottest nightclub is the one that is the hardest to get into, cool music is usually not getting air play on 99.5 FM, and cool kids are usually the ones who don’t search for the approval of others because they are happy with themselves.

Whenever something cool pops up, people flock to it like a bunch of slavering dogs and ruin it for the small group of people who are actually passionate about it. Halo on the Student Shared folder is just one example in a laundry list of cool, perhaps illicit, things that have been ruined by too many clingers being reckless and stupid.

It should be noted that “popular” used to be a disparaging word, describing something vulgar and stupid that the unwashed masses liked, such as gladiator fighting and public theater.

No one likes a dirty hipster who hates everything popular, but when things are ruined by mass popularity, it’s hard not to connect the two.

Photo by Julia Cinquegrani

“Man, I’m so glad we can share some quality time, just the two of us.”

After a day in the snow, these homemade family recipes will simultaneously warm and fill you up.

Spicy Hot Chocolate 2 cups 1% or Skim Milk 3 ounces Semisweet chocolate, chopped 1 ounce Milk Chocolate, chopped 1 teaspoon Granulated Sugar 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract ½ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper ½ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon Heat the milk in a saucepan and remove from heat once simmering. Stir in the chocoloate until melted and then add the sugar, vanilla and ceyenne. Reheat and serve. Serve with whipped cream and chocolate nibs.

Mom’s Turkey Chili 2 tablespoons Olive Oil 1 Red Pepper, chopped 1 Yellow Pepper, chopped 1 Large Onion, chopped ¼ pound Carrots, chopped 2 cans Diced Tomatoes 1 pound Ground Turkey 1 jar Salsa (of your choosing) 2 cans drained and rinsed Dark Red Kidney Beans 1 tablespoon Cumin ½ tablespoon Chili Powder ½ tablespoon Paprika Salt and Pepper to taste In a Dutch oven or a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil to sauté the peppers, onions and carrots. In a separate skillet, begin to brown the ground turkey.When the vegetables are soft, add the diced tomatoes and use a blender to grind up the vegetables into a sauce or leave them whole if preferred.

Drain the fat out of the browned turkey and add it to the vegetables in the Dutch oven. Add the salsa, kidney beans and spices, simmering on low heat until ready to be served.

Eat over rice or pasta with grated Mexican cheese on top.

Artwork by Michael Matthes

Tomatillo Salsa 1 pound Tomatillos 1 Small Red Onion, chopped Juice of one lime 2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped 2 tablespoons Cilantro chopped 1 Jalapeno Pepper, finely chopped Peel the husks off of the tomatillos and rinse them until they are no longer sticky. Put them in a pan and roast them in the oven at 350 degrees until they are slightly brown and begin to fall apart. Place them in a bowl and blend them slightly with an immersion blender. Let the tomatillos cool before adding the onion, lime juice, garlic, cilantro, and pepper. Serve with tortilla chips.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies 2 sticks Unsalted Butter 1 cup Granulated Sugar 1 cup Light Brown Sugar 2 large Eggs 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon Baking Soda 3 cups All-Purpose Flour 1 teaspoon Salt 2 cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and grease two cookie sheets with cooking spray or butter. In a large bowl, blend together the butter and sugars until creamed and fluffy. Whip the eggs and vanilla until mixed and beat into the butter and sugar mix. In a separate bowl, combine the bakind soda, flour and salt. Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Once completely combined, stir in the chocolate chips. Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the cookie sheets and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

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JANUARY 27, 2012

SPORTS

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SPORTS

Garrett Powell

Recruiting Spotlight

For three of the past four years, senior Garrett Powell has been a consistent force for the WJ Swim & Dive team (Powell spent his sophomore season at Georgetown Preparatory School). As one of the team’s most experienced swimmers, he has put together a string of outstanding seasons.

Powell has established himself as one of the metropolitan area’s elite freestyle swimmers, winning the Metros 500m freestyle title as a junior and garnering All-Met first team recognition in the process.

After extensive training and solid performances at national meets, Powell has qualified for the Olympic trials in the mile (freestyle), and hopes to make the cut for the 400m freestyle and the 200m backstroke.

Powell has been swimming since he was about two years old, starting out in his backyard, and he hasn’t stopped since. Throughout his high school career, he was able to catch the eye of prestigious NCAA Division I programs. But, due to NCAA restrictions, he was only able to communicate with coaches as early as his junior year. It did not take very long for Powell to decide. Earlier in the school year, Powell put pen to paper on his letter of intent to the University of Georgia.

“Georgia was just the best pick for me, it had the academics I wanted along with the level of swimming,” said Powell. “Also, I fell in love with how pretty the school was.”

Georgia is currently ranked ninth nationally, according to the NCAA official website, and second overall in the SEC, falling only behind Auburn.

Powell currently holds four swimming records at WJ. He has the fastest individual time in the 500-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard backstroke. He is also part of the four-man relay teams that boast the fastest times in the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays.

In the team’s most recent meet against B-CC, Powell won the 500-yard freestyle, finishing a whopping 18 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

By Daniel Fanaroff

Photo courtesy of Andrew Ship

Seniors Annie Kastler (above) and Garrett Powell (below) have both committed to Divison I schools. Powell earned First Team All-Met honors last season and Kastler was named an All-American.

Thaler’s Theorem

By Daniel Thaler

Assistant Sports Editor Daniel Thaler gives his opinion on the sloppy play of NFL quarterbacks this past season On NFL teams, the quarterback is traditionally the main leader on and off the field. Offenses usually revolve around him and teammates acknowledge his high relevancy.This past season all this has changed. With the exception of a few superior players, quarterbacks have become about as respectable as kickers.

First off, it’s important to recognize the select few quarterbacks who earned their paychecks this year. Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, New Orleans’ Drew Brees and New England’s Tom Brady once again had remarkable seasons and continued their legacies as alltime elite quarterbacks. Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford proved he’s on the rise and the Giant’s Eli Manning had his best season to date. After them a clear line is drawn.

The difference between the top tier and bottom tier of quarterbacks is quite dramatic. I think everyone can agree that Indianapolis’ own Curtis Painter is the worst of the worst. After three years of playing the backup role, it was finally Painter’s turn to be the signal

caller when Peyton Manning suffered a neck injury and Kerry Collins failed miserably. Chaos ensued. I personally have never seen somebody struggle so much to pass a ball in my life and I’ve watched a lot of Redskin games. Over a span of nine games, Painter accumulated a total of just six touchdowns. It took Packers’ backup quarterback Matt Flynn just one game to reach the same total. Indianapolis was well aware of the ineptitude of their quarterback. They finally replaced Painter with Dan Orlovsky, who is best known for leading the 2008 Detroit Lions to an impressive 0-16 record.

As bad as Painter was, it’s still not fair to single him out in a season chock-full of lousy quarterbacks. In Washington, we were blessed with the opportunity to watch Rex Grossman heave up balls like he was in the pass portion of the Punt, Pass and Kick competition. Then there was John Skelton of the Arizona Cardinals, whose quarterback rating hovers slightly above his completion percentage. Houston’s T.J. Yates is still trying to figure out how to read a college defense and Chicago’s Caleb Hanie averaged only 102 pass yards per game.

We even got the special privilege of seeing Kyle Boller pull out a 31.1 passer rating over the course of a couple games in Oakland. In Kansas City, the Chiefs were left with no choice but to play Tyler Palko. I’m willing to bet at least half their coaching staff still has no clue how

Photo courtesy of Jan Dommerholt

January 27, 2012

Annie Kastler

Leading the pack for the other half of the Swim & Dive program is senior captain Annie Kastler. Kastler has been diving since she was about 10 years old, and has been a member of the WJ team since her freshman year.

Kastler has put together a stellar senior season thus far. In every meet this season, she has finished in first place in the 1-meter dive, beating other competitors by an average score of 37.96. Last month on Dec. 10, in a meet against WJ rival,Churchill, Kastler set the WJ record for four dives, with a final tally of 200.35 points.

Kastler’s consistent, high-scoring performances also earned the recognition of plenty of coaches at the college level. For Kastler, what separated others from the pack, was a team dynamic similar to that of the one at WJ. “I like the team aspect of WJ Swim & Dive, and how supportive everyone is,” said Kastler. “I looked for a college team that has the same energy.”

This past summer, Kastler was invited by coaches to take recruiting trips to schools, where she hoped to find her perfect match in terms of both academics and athletics. That search ended in September, when during National Signing Week, Kastler penned her letterof-intent to the University of California-Berkeley.

“I [felt] that the dive coach at Cal is a good fit for me, and I know that he will help me improve so that I can reach my goals,” said Kastler.

Since coming to WJ, Kastler has been an absolute stalwart. But, as every elite athlete will tell you, there is always more work to be done, especially during the transition from the high school level to the college level.

“I will need to work on a lot of basics to improve my form and perfect the more difficult dives that I learned this year,” said Kastler. “I also hope to get more experience at meets and learn how to stay calm and focused.”

The team will next compete against Whitman on Jan. 28, at the Martin Luther King Swim Center in Silver Spring.

he got on the team.

Even the quarterbacks with some legitimacy heading into the season couldn’t manage to do any good. Viking fans hoped Donovan McNabb could revive his career in Minnesota but lost all hope when he scraped out a grand total of 39 passing yards in his first game. After showing a lot of promise last year, Josh Freeman and Sam Bradford had ratings under 75 and led their teams to losing seasons.

The Arizona Cardinals are suffering from buyer’s remorse after investing quite a bit in a trade for the former Philadelphia Eagle Kevin Kolb. Even worse, in New York, fellow Jet players are publicly questioning the supposed franchise quarterback Mark Sanchez’s work ethic and seem to have lost all confidence in him.

Finally, this wouldn’t be a quarterback conversation without mentioning Tim Tebow. As much as one may want to argue that he won a bunch of games, it is clear Tebow is not a good quarterback.

His inaccuracy and poor mechanics simply won’t ever give him the consistency a team needs from their starter. Granted, he brings a lot of positive energy and leadership, but that will begin to grow old on teammates, and eventually he’ll suffer from not having an adequate skill set to fall back on. Either way, all can agree there will never again be as much buzz over a quarterback with a 46.5 completion percentage.

Every season has its share of laughable quarterbacks, but this year it was hard to ignore the abundance of them. More times than not, a team endures poor quarterback play due to the process of grooming a rookie or an injury but this year there were plenty avoidable situations. For example, why would Seattle go into the season with Tavaris Jackson as their starter even after his subpar performances in Minnesota? Why would Washington be content with two guys who had both not been a starter for years? It seems as if some teams are starting to prioritize other positions over quarterbacks.

Also, an unusually high number of quarterbacks saw their performances dip compared to recent years (i.e. Bradford, Freeman, Sanchez, and Rivers).

Maybe quarterbacks are being coddled too much by their coaches and therefore don’t feel as much pressure to live up to expectations. Then again, the lack of success could be attributed to the lockout shortened off-season, but I tend to write off that excuse since defenses were at the same disadvantage.

We’ll see if the bad quarterback play becomes a trend this decade or if it is simply a one-year fluke. I just hope next time I turn on the NFL Redzone channel I can see more touchdowns than interceptions.

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January 27, 2012

SPORTS

Sacrifice for Success

19

Student athletes alter diets and lifestyles to manage grueling seasons

By Daniel Thaler

S

everal student athletes have taken on the task of strengthening their performances through giving up junk food and using extra time to get in game shape. On a daily basis, the school weight room and track are filled with athletes from various different sports. Although each sport differs in intensity, all kinds of athletes self-impose diets and workouts.

“If not for my eating habits and conditioning, my body wouldn’t be able to keep up with the vigorous workouts at practice, which would lead to me losing a lot more matches than I should,” said junior Tommy Branthover who currently weighs 130 pounds and is in the 126 pound weight class.

Branthover is on the varsity wrestling team, one of the most physically demanding sports at WJ. In addition to practices every weekday until 5 p.m., the team has to show up to school at 9 a.m. every Saturday and practice for two and a half hours. At practice, the team runs several sets of stairs just to warm up, do numerous pushups and core work, and then spend a lot of time wrestling, a grueling task in itself.

“Our practices are sufficient for getting [the wrestlers] in shape but you can never do too much,” said wrestling coach Robert Yi. “Sometimes someone may need to get in extra running to make weight.”

In addition, the commitment outside of school is trying. Each wrestler places in a certain weight class and it’s important for them to control their weight in order to be eligible for their next match. This means wrestlers must focus on their diets to make sure they don’t put on weight, but at the same time have enough energy to get through their schedule.

“We encourage [the wrestlers] to eat enough, but not too much, where the food sits like a brick in their stomachs,” said Yi. “On days when the wrestlers are on weight, we suggest they eat foods such as power bars, fruit and turkey slices.”

Sometimes though, situations will occur where wrestlers end up falling into an unhealthy eating cycle. If they ease up on their diet for too long at any point, then they desperately find ways to make up for it.

Photo courtesy of Adam Strochak

Bryan England pays extra attention to his diet during football season to allow him to reach his physical peak.

Photo by Steven Groobert

Numerous high school sports require student athletes to constantly monitor their body weight. Sometimes the student athletes take drastic measures such as extreme dieting and working out to reach their target weight.

“On match days, I eat a minimal amount of food to make weight,” said senior varsity wrestler Max McCleskey.

On the opposite end of the spectrum,

“

comes important as ever. According to CNN, 39 football players fell victim to heat-related deaths between the years of 1995 and 2009. A little over a year ago

”

If not for my eating habits and conditioning, my body wouldn’t be able to keep up with the vigorous workouts.

the football team is always trying to get bigger. They have workouts year around whether it’s weight lifting or conditioning.

“Before the season we do heavy weights.

During the season we run more sprints and [do] lots of pushups, up downs and core work,” said senior quarterback Bryan England.

Players say the coaches don’t pressure them as much about what they eat unless they begin to fall out of shape. Most of the football players are aware that they are responsible for eating right.

“I eat a lot of meat and carbs as well as vegetables and fruits. I try to eat healthy and stay away from sweets,” said England.

Every August the season starts with a week of two-a-days, where the team has two practices a day made up of mostly conditioning. With temperatures usually in the 90s, a player’s nutrition be-

in Bowie, MD, a junior on the football team, Jonathan Nolan, collapsed and died while running laps. “[Once the season starts] I definitely eat more protein, less fattening foods, [drink] more water and sleep more,” said England.

Football is not the only sport with two-a-days, though. Every team has its share of tough early season practices.

That combined with the endurance it takes to make it through a couple months’ worth of games and practices really test high school athletes.

For senior swimmer Fletcher Tollefson, a majority of his free time is dedicated to swimming and conditioning. “[Throughout the season] I swim an average of 19 hours a week with additional dry land conditioning,” said Tollefson.

In order to sustain energy for the entirety of the season, according to Livstrong.com, athletes should eat

more calories than those who don’t play sports. Fats from processed junk foods and sugars are detrimental to the body and should be avoided. A healthy diet consists mainly of carbohydrates along with some protein and healthy fats. A common misconception among high school athletes is that they should eat large amounts of protein in order to increase strength and endurance. Although protein is important for athletes to have, excessive amounts can cause dehydration, intestinal irritation, risk of heart disease and kidney problems.

As high school athletes proceed through their daily grind, eating and working out continues to be a main portion of their off-field time. Players consistently see the parallel between success on the field and taking proper care of their bodies.

Photo by Steven Groobert

Tommy Branthover must strain himself to make weight before every tournament.

Sports 20

e 18 h T Two WJ athletes h commit t to major L a He ue Divison I colleges.

Iss

19

Dieting effects athletes performance on the field.

JANUARY 27, 2012

Concussions Hinder Student Athletes’ Performance On, Off the Field

70.5

Percent of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) occur in adolecents ages 10-19

60

Percent increase of reported TBI’s over the last decade

170,000 The average number of TBI’s reported each year in America

*All statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

By Phillip Resnick

Concussions have become a prominent issue in sports today, ranging from the high school level all the way to the pros. Star athletes such as the NHL’s Sidney Crosby,the NFL’s Michael Vick and the MLB’s Justin Morneau have missed time from their respective sports due to concussions and post-concussion symptoms. Because of the recent uptick in reported head injuries lately, leagues ranging from high school to the pros have taken measures to prevent head injuries as well as try to improve identifying and treating them.

Whenever an athlete steps on the field, the court or the ice, he or she knows they are risking injury. Although injuries rarely occur, each time athlete participate in a sport there is a slim chance that they could get hurt. For junior field hockey player Kelsey Hickey, the game hadn’t even started when she was hurt.

“It was before the game, and my teammates were passing to warm up,” said Hickey. “The ball hit the edge of the track and popped up and hit me in the head.”

Hickey missed three weeks of practice due to postconcussion syndrome. Hickey is one of over 170,000 young adults who suffered a concussion in the past year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Freshman Jake Weinischke is another Wildcat athlete who suffered a concussion. Weinischke was hit from behind during his first JV hockey game of the year and hasn’t played since. He has now missed over two months of hockey and isn’t close to returning.

“I feel pretty sad about it,” said Weinischke. “I love hockey and the WJ team has been a great experience.”

Although the two experienced their injuries in different ways, there is one common theme in their stories: neither of the two realized that they had been concussed until much later.

Photo courtesy of Adam Strochak

Football has the highest rate of concussions in high school sports, with over .47 ouit of every 1000 athletes suffering some form of head injury.

“I thought I was fine,” said Hickey. “[My head] just kind of hurt. My friends asked me if I was okay and I said ‘Yes,’ but [Sophomore Anna Rowthorn] told me that I already had a bump the size of a golf ball on my head.”

Hickey was still having problems focusing a few days later and became ill at practice before she went to a concussion specialist who informed her of the severity of her injury.

Weinischke was so caught up in the moment that he didn’t realize he had been concussed either.

“I was so [angry] at the kid who hit me that I didn’t really consider that I might have a concussion until I got back to the bench where [my coach] performed the basic concussion test on me,” said Weinischke. “I went to the pediatrician the next day to figure out how bad the case was and what I needed to do to get better.”

The basic concussion test that was performed on Weinischke has become more commonly used after blows to the head. At the Rockville Ice Arena, the steps of the test are posted on all benches and locker room doors and many leagues now require coaches to take classes on recognizing and treating concussions.

Because of this effort, identification of concussions has risen in the past few years. According to the CDC, the number of reported concussions among children and adolescents has increased by 60 percent in the last decade. ”It’s hard to prevent a concussion because you don’t know when you’re going to get one,” said WJ’s head athletic trainer Karina Bond. “Everyone should have an awareness of signs and symptoms for a concussion and that seems to have increased over the last few years especially in the sports world.”

Even though concussions kept these two, just like thousands of other high school athletes around the country, out of their respective sports, it also affected their school work, a fact often overlooked by many.

According to the CDC, symptoms of a concussion include difficulty paying attention, confusion and memory problems, all of which have a detrimental effect on a student’s ability to complete their work at school.

“I missed three full days of school and then I went part- time for like, three or four days,” said Hickey. “I ended up dropping Spanish 5 because there was too much for me to make up.”

Hickey said that even now, months after her original injury, she still struggles to read for long periods of time without getting headaches.

Weinischke was relatively fortunate in that his injury occurred just before winter break so he didn’t miss as much school, though he was still affected academically as well.

“I only missed two or three days of school,” said Weinischke.

The state has established clear protocols on how to assess head injuries which has made it easier for trainers to help athletes who have experienced head

Photo courtesy of Billy Glover

Although contact sports like hockey and football have high concussion rates, sports like soccer and girls’ lacrosse also post a suprisingly high number of concussions too.

trauma.

“When an athlete gets injured due to head trauma, I automatically treat it as a possible concussion,” said Bond. “I check for all the signs and symptoms going through a list of questions, memory tests, and balance tests. We have a form that is to be filled out by myself or their coach and then taken to the doctor in order for them to be cleared and allowed back into participation.”

Due to the rising number of reported head injuries, leagues all over the country have implemented greater punishments for hits to the head; the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League, the governing body for all youth hockey in Maryland, has updated a checking rule so that any contact to the head, incidental or otherwise, shall draw a penalty.

The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA), which runs all high school sports in the state of Maryland has a list of recommended courses for coaches to take on concussions, suggested workouts to prevent concussions and a form to give to parents describing a head injury to their child so that the parent can get proper care for their studentathlete.

However, despite all of the precautions and work to improve concussion awareness, there are still student-athletes who are concussed every day. Hopefully, future technology can increase protection against concussions even more or prevent them entirely, but for now it is vital to athletes’ health that concussion awareness continues to rise among coaches and parents.

“I’m a lot more careful [when I play sports],” said Hickey.

That’s an attitude that every athlete should take.