April 2022 by tjTODAY Online

TJTODAY 7 issue volvol 7 issue 6 4 jan. 2022 april 2022

thomas jefferson high school for science and technology 6560 braddock rd. alexandria, va 22312

THE

SOUND OF

PHOTO // A. Ali

MUSIC From concert tours to orchestra compositions, Jefferson students and alumni make their mark on musical landscapes

ABSTRACT

Hoisting up a sign, junior Elina Liu protests climate inaction at the climate walkout in March of 2022. For students, the climate walkout represented an opportunity to make their voices heard when it comes to climate change measures. “I went to help bring attention to climate justice and get people to the cause,” junior Kritika Kumar said. “We definitely got a lot of attention and a lot of coverage and I think that’s going to help bring change in the future.”

STAFF

EDITORIAL BOARD Print & Online Editors-in-Chief Broadcast Executive Producer Team Leaders Aafreen Ali Annika Duneja Anuj Khemka Rachel Lewis Christina Lu Nathan Mo

Sahishnu Hanumansetty Elaine Li

Social Media Manager Yoo-Bin Kwon

Eric Feng Aarya Kumar Sai Mattapalli Robert Stotz

Advisor: Erinn Harris

Staff Writers Abraham Agbota Alyson Granchi Ivadette Haziri William Henry Ashley Hwang Ayesha Khan Nicole Liu Marcus Nance

Anuska Pandey Tanvi Pedireddi Anya Raval Grace Sharma Xixi Song Eli Tillemann Max Vetter Zoe Viterbo

tjTODAY is the official newsmagazine of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The staff is deeply committed to a code of journalistic ethics that demands the exercise of accuracy, good judgment, and impartiality. The content of tjTODAY is determined by the editorial board. Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the staff of tjTODAY, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.

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tjTODAY

CONTENTS tjTODAY vol. 7 issue 6

apr. 2022

cover story 06

PLEASE DON’T STOP THE MUSIC Jefferson alumna Thao Nguyen rose from STEM student to indie rockstar. Along the way, she’s trailblazed a path for Jefferson’s newest crop of musical artists.

features 04

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

EMERGING IN EMERGENCY

opinion 22

Jefferson clubs give back to their community

Senior Tegan Powers takes on the struggle of being both a high school student and an EMT

sci-tech 18

sports

THE FEUD ON FOOD Though it’s free, Jefferson school lunch still leaves much to be desired

A CALL TO ACTION As elections ramp up, the next generation of Jefferson leaders must step up

entertainment 20

2 WOMEN, 2 FILMS Dee Rees, the director of Pariah, and Claire Denis, the director of Beau Travail, are two of the most famous women directors in modern cinema

PEELS AND PRAYERS The Jefferson men’s lacrosse and baseball teams carry superstitions within their program

25% OF ‘25 In light of the recent court cases involving Jefferson’s new admissions process, the arguments against it have lost sight of a major issue affecting the school

VEXING THE COMPETITION Jefferson’s Exobytes grows as a group over four years of competition

CONNECTING GOOD(S) TO UKRAINE With family members in eastern Europe, freshman Julia Zherdetski started a drive to ship first aid, clothing, and other supplies to people fleeing the Ukraine-Russia conflict

STEM OR GIFTED? Despite what is implied by the “Science and Technology” in Jefferson’s name, Jefferson’s student body goes far beyond the expected doctor and engineer hopefuls. We should pay attention to them.

AMERICANIZED OR AUTHENTIC? Jefferson students attended a taste test on the topic of “Americanized” versus authentic foods during eighth period

A volunteer draws blood in the gym during the annual Jefferson Red Cross blood drive. This is one of the many projects Red Cross members coordinate to help people in need and give back to their community. “There has never been a day where we have not left a club meeting happier than we previously were,” co-president Tanisha Pagadala said. PHOTO// F. Zheng

MAKING A DIFFERENCE How Jefferson clubs help their community by Grace Sharma and Ivadette Haziri

edicating time to volunteering can be rewarding, especially when it comes to supporting important causes. You are able to help out a person in need, whether that be through tutoring, donating blood and books, or creating care packages. No matter what you are passionate about or who you want to help, there is a service club that you can

attend during 8th period. “In general, we strongly believe that everyone should join a service club,” senior Abena Kyereme-Tuah, copresident of Red Cross Youth Task Force said. “It’s a fun and easy way to give back to your community during school hours. TJ has such a large variety of service clubs that there’s definitely a club for everyone.”

FEATURE 5

RED CROSS Answering the call for help Red Cross is a Jefferson service club where members complete many long-term projects throughout the year

such as these are the reasons Pagadala and Kyereme-Tuah enjoy attending Red Cross during 8th periods.

“Every meeting we try to do a different kind of volunteer activity, either something that’s educational, or hands-on volunteer activities,” senior Tanisha Pagadala, co-president of Red Cross said.

“Whenever we see people struggle, we want to do something to help, even if we have never met them before,” Kyereme-Tuah said. “We know that someone needs help and that we have the resources to help them. Simply knowing that someone’s day might get better from our work is a reward in itself.”

They have made sandwiches for children, put together care packages and feed boxes, and hosted a blood drive all Jefferson students were welcome to participate in. Projects

TJ GIVE

GEMS

Giving back to the community

Showing students the future

Another student-founded service club at Jefferson is TJ Give, a club that focuses mainly on providing students with a platform to advocate for service projects they are interested in. “We want to give every student a voice and a chance to do whatever project they care about, and whatever issue they want to pursue,” senior Hasita Nalluri, founder and president of TJ Give, said. “All our service projects are entirely member created and run. This makes our service projects even more rewarding because members know that they played a key role in bringing the project to life.” Many different communities have benefitted from service projects led by members of TJ Give. “In the past, we’ve worked to help kids at Bright Beginnings as well as teachers” secretary and junior Jessica Ye said. “I think Jefferson students should get involved in TJ Give because it is a good way to gain leadership experience if you’re interested.”

Jefferson volunteers assist a Glasgow middle schooler in performing a science experiment. “We find personal gratification for dedicating the time we do for many reasons, but the best is the look of amazement and subsequent smile middle schoolers have when they finally understand a concept,” said co-president Bhaswith Suresh. PHOTO// G. Sharma

Glasgow Engineering Math and Science (GEMS) is a club that allows Jefferson students to work with middle schoolers and give presentations about STEM related activities and topics. “Glasgow Middle School has a lot of disadvantaged students. A lot of them haven’t had any exposure to STEM, so they don’t have a full idea of what they might want to do,” co-president of GEMS, Bhaswith Suresh, said. “Our goal is to give middle schoolers STEM exposure and maybe they’ll pursue it as a career.”

TJ Give is a student organization created with the purpose for Jefferson students to advocate for projects they believe in. “What I think is really unique about TJ Give is that we’re always pursuing different projects,” Hasita Nalluri, founder and president, said. “And even though we’re pursuing a lot of different projects [for] a lot of different causes based on what matters to people, we continue those projects in the future.” PHOTO// G. Sharma

GEMS meets during Wednesday 8th periods, spending a total of about an hour preparing lessons to give students at Glasgow Middle School. “I love the connections we have made with the students who attend our weekly meetings.” Suresh said.

PLEASE

STOP DON’T THE

MUSIC by Anuj Khemka, Aafreen Ali, Annika Duneja & Nathan Mo

Jefferson alumna Thao Nguyen rose from STEM student to indie rockstar. Along the way, she’s trailblazed a path for Jefferson’s newest crop of musical artists.

COVER STORY 7

Strumming her guitar, Jefferson alumna and indie rockstar Thao Ngueyn captivates the audience during her peformance at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. PHOTO// A. Duneja

SHE’S THE

NEW

Class of 2002 alumna Thao Nguyen chronicles her journey from Jefferson to indie-rock stardom

PHENOMENON J

Palming her guitar pick in one outstretched hand, Nguyen belts a quick succession of notes into the microphone while performing her band’s song, “Phenom.” Nguyen started performing onstage in high school, and recommends building performance skills to budding musicians. “Just start and perform in front of people you like and do things before you’re ready to do that. Basically say yes, and then figure it out,” Nguyen said. PHOTO// A. Ali

ust like you, class of 2002 alumna Thao Nguyen woke up every other morning of ninth grade, ready to face freshman biology. Just like you, she spent months of her senior year working away in the video tech senior research lab. Now, 20 years later, she’s headlining concerts at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. — perhaps a little less like you. Nguyen is now a popular indie-rock musician, but before her success, she had humble beginnings. She grew up in Falls Church with her older brother and mother, an immigrant from Vietnam. “My mom worked for the South Vietnamese embassy. Her plan was to be a diplomat, but when Saigon fell, she was running for her life because of her affiliation. She ended up in Virginia where she met my dad. At first [she and Nguyen’s father] were in North Carolina where they had my brother, and then we ended up in Falls Church,” Nguyen said. “When I was a kid, my dad left and my mom just figured it out. She got a laun-

dromat, she had never owned a laundromat. She was going to do anything she needed to do, and she just worked so so hard. Her sacrifices are pretty mind blowing to me still.” From a young age, Nguyen knew that music was an integral part of her life, going so far as to practice Oprah interviews about her craft in front of the mirror. Fueled by certainty, she threw herself into music, pursuing songwriting and guitar. “[Songwriting] feels like answering a calling. It feels like this is how I’m meant to communicate with people and this is the kind of communion I can offer people,” Nguyen said. It’s emblematic and representative of the only thing we have, which is our connection to each other. When people are present and you’re present, that exchange is sacred.” Nguyen’s original songs were inspired by everything from family dynamics to a yearning for freedom. She went on to perform them at local cafe Jammin’ Java on weeknights while a high school student at Jefferson. Despite her reserved presence elsewhere, she was bold and exuberant onstage. “There was this sense of inevitability that I needed to be on stage,” Nguyen said. “I actually am a pretty shy, introverted person off stage. But when I’m out there, I feel the most free that I’ve ever felt, and that’s a dimension of my personality that can’t be realized anywhere else.” Ultra-confident in her compositions, Nguyen sold copies of her music to the Jefferson student body after burning CDs from a session at Jammin’ Java. “Looking back, it would be insincere to say I was nervous or embarrassed. Again, [music] was just the one thing that I had confidence in. I was like, ‘This is me, this is what I can do,’ and so it felt very gratifying and exciting [to distribute my CDs],” Nguyen said.

When not advancing her music career, Nguyen was in classes finding inspiration from the people around her at Jefferson. Nguyen credits humanities instructor Mary O’Brien for molding her into a better global citizen and inspiring one of her songs, The Arc of Possibility. “The environment at TJ was so encouraging that it just seemed like everything was possible. I think it’s a gift that we could go to school in that environment every day. It felt easy to do whatever you wanted in a creative sense and believing you could and I’m very grateful for that,” Nguyen said.” Nguyen went on to study at William & Mary, sending demo tapes to label Kill Rock Stars during her time there. By the time she was out of college, she was featured on a compilation album with artists like Sufjan Stevens and invited to tour the country. “My brother was really worried about my choices, so he [said], ‘you have five years. If in five years it doesn’t work out, you’re going to grad school. You’re not going to go stay with Mom and you’re not staying with me.’ So in a way, that pushed me,” Nguyen said. “I didn’t even entertain another scenario in which I wasn’t doing this. Perhaps that’s foolish, but it worked.”

COVER STORY FEATURE 9

Biting her tongue cheekily, Nguyen plucks out notes on her guitar during an instrumental break in a song. Nguyen first started sharing her music during her time at Jefferson, where she distributed CDs of her recorded music to the student body. “We saved enough money to rent a recording studio in the back of Jammin’ Java. We recorded four songs, burned CDs, and I would sell them in school. That was the beginning,” Nguyen said. PHOTO// A. Khemka

SHARING THE

Following in Nguyen’s footsteps, Jefferson students craft their own musical masterpieces

SPOTLIGHT RYAN LIEN

FRENCH HORN GUITAR PIANO

KING OF MOUNT VERNON PHOTO// A. Khemka

Senior Ryan Lien can write a song about anything. And by anything, we mean everything. To Lien, everything means a lot of things. It can mean an entire album about processing animal death (titled “Animal Death”). It can mean a 40 second track about going to 7/11 just for the sake of going to 7/11 titled “Do you want to go to 18 with me? Oh, it’s what my family calls 7/11”. He doesn’t bother with trying to make his music conform to certain ideas, a philosophy he’s developed after creating 10 albums and counting over the last four years. “Art inherently is going to have the voice of the artist,” Lien said. “So no matter how hard you try to write in someone else’s voice, it’s still always going to be yours.” When Lien does sit down and write, he isn’t focusing on the idea of creating an album or a certain kind of song. “So songwriting, usually it’s an idea for one part of it, whether it be the drum part, or a chord progression, or the idea of I’m going to write a song about eating apples and cheese for lunch, ‘’ he said. “And I put that down on paper or record the melody and then the rest kind of comes with it. “ At the end of the day, he is making his music for himself, to share stories that no one else but him will be able to tell. “Art doesn’t discriminate. A song doesn’t need to be on Spotify. You can write a song and play it just for your dogs. And that is a song which exists and is just as valid as any other,” Lien said. “Nina Simone said we always have a story, and that’s true. And everybody deserves to have a voice in any form that they desire. For it to be heard. Even if only by yourself.”

KAI WANG MIND OF THE VIRTUOSO PIANO CELLO COMPOSITION

PHOTO// A. Khemka

TORO PUNK CROC GUITAR ACOUSTIC GUITAR

PHOTO// A. Khemka

COVER STORY 11 Eyes on the sheet music, the students of Jefferson’s orchestra let their bows slide across the strings. From their instruments emerge the sounds of Chinese folk music, which emanate through Nobel Commons during lunch to mark the Lunar New Year. Behind their performance is sophomore Kai Wang, who composed the piece for the orchestra in just a few weeks. “I was listening to some Chinese music and I was like, ‘I can make music like that.’ I asked Ms. Bailey whether we could play the piece if I composed it, and she said that’s fine,” Wang said. Wang — who had never previously composed a full piece for an orchestra — started with a singular melody in his head. Then, through repeated experimentation on the piano, that melody eventually blossomed into a full-fledged orchestral arrangement. “Every melody or idea has to come to your head. Then I’ll go sit on a piano and see where I can revise it or how I can transition from one idea to the next idea,” Wang said.

In 2012, Lonesome George — the last Galapagos tortoise of his kind — would unexpectedly die. Yet, his story wouldn’t end there. Ten years later, a man would venture back in time to rescue Lonesome George and keep the species alive. Or at least, that was the premise of senior Ignacio Toro’s album Extinction (The One Where He Saves Curious George). Across six whimsical yet tragic songs, Toro tells the story of learning to let go. “I wanted to explore deeper themes through a very silly lens. The point [of the album] was you can’t just stop [death]. If Lonesome George doesn’t die, then the struggle means nothing, right?” Toro said. Over the span of a month, Toro crafted his album using inspiration from storytellers both in and outside of music. “The story comes first and foremost. I don’t want to just do music, I want to do movies as well. The only thing that’s different is you’re putting music to the story while with a movie, you’re putting visuals to the story,” Toro said.

EmeRGing

irens ringing. Rushing the hurt to safety. Making sure that no lives are lost in the ambulance. These are the responsibilities of an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). As a volunteer EMT, senior Tegan Powers has dedicated her high school career to those responsibilities.

Background Powers’ journey began in eighth grade on a trip to Paris. The emergency responders coming to aid a peer of hers who had collapsed sparked an interest in the profession. As soon as she returned to America, Powers pursued training for the role. “I wanted to pursue that because I didn’t like the feeling of helplessness that I had then. I just wanted to grow from that, which led me to become an EMT,” Powers said. EMTs provide care to patients at the scene of the incident and in ambulances on the way to the hospital. The earliest you can become one is at 16. “I joined the Medical Reserve Corps, and I did other medical things till I was 17, where I reapplied, and [my local rescue squad]

finally accepted me into their junior program.” Powers said.

Becoming and Being an EMT The process of becoming an EMT requires the completion of a course that is at least 170 hours long, usually taken at the local fire department. However, Powers faced some complications around the process due to COVID. “I went to my local rescue squad and asked if I could do an application, but I turned 16 in the middle of COVID. So I was ultimately denied the first time; they were no longer taking junior members because of the age and everything that was going on,” Powers said. With Great power, comes great responsibility The workload that comes with going to Jefferson can already be stressful enough on its own. Adding in the responsibilities of being junior captain of the station just piles onto the list. “I run three nights a week so that’s 12 hour shifts. That’s 36 hours a week that I’m at the rescue station, and that’s not including the media that we have on Sundays, which are three to four hours long. So I spend like 40 hours with the rest of the station. But then every time I’m not at the rescue PHOTO//A. Agbota Powers sits, staying focused on her schoolwork. “When I came from my middle school to TJ my freshmen year, it was such a culture shock for me, in regards to the education and level of rigor at the school,” Powers said.

Powers still faces the struggles that any Jefferson student would. Still, she relishes the challenge that comes along with pursuing her interests while also going to school. PHOTO// A. Agbota

IN EMERGENCY FEATURE 13

by Anuska Pandey and Abraham Agbota

Senior Tegan Powers takes on the struggle of being both a high school student and an EMT

Dressed in her EMT gear, running on an ambulance gives Powers the chance to see different areas of her hometown. “I’ve seen so many different levels of privillege in our area. I’ve been to regions of Loudon County and realized that oppurtunities are not equal,” Powers said. PHOTO // A. Young

station I’m actually in firefighter school,” Powers said. Being an EMT is not all that Powers does to pursue her interest in the medical field. In addition to being an EMT, Powers is also treasurer of Jefferson’s Future Health Professionals club and assists in administering COVID-19 vaccinations. “I wouldn’t trade [being an EMT for the world]. I enjoy the struggle and the fact that I can do something that I actually enjoy on top of going to school,” Powers said. Infinity and Beyond Powers is only a volunteer as of now, but her hands-on experience has provided her an advantage when it comes to her future. She hopes to continue her aspirations of being a first responder and saving lives in medical school. “It’s such a key thing to be able to go into college interviews and be like ‘I’m going to be a member of this community,’’’ Powers said.

VEX

ing the

Competition by William Henry and Marcus Nance

TJ’s 80708X - Exobytes win State, National, and World VEX robotics championships

he whirring of robots fills four freshmen’s ears as they enter the competition arena for the VEX Robotics World Championships. Now seniors, these four Jefferson students hope to return to the World Championship. The 80708X - Exobytes VEX robotics team, made up of seniors Christopher Arraya, Terrel Tan, Rushil Sidhu, and Joshua Lim, have been competing together since the formation of the team during their freshman year. Lim brought the team together because of his love of robotics.

“I’ve been doing VEX robotics since middle school. At the end of my eighth grade year, we did really well, in that we were able to qualify for worlds and place third. When freshman year started, I wanted to continue my passion for robotics, [so] I started our private team,” Lim said. Arraya, Tan, and Lim were the original members of the Exobytes, with Sidhu being added later. The team wanted to be from the same school district in order to make meeting in person easier.

“It started off with me, Josh, and Terrel. Josh and I have been friends since elementary school, but we became super close with Terrel through robotics. We made an effort to only add team members from the Prince William County area, so we added Rushil to the team in sophomore year. The friendship between all of us only grew from there,” Arraya said. Over the years, the team has put in countless hours perfecting their robot building, programming skills, and teamwork and chemistry. “The thing with robotics is it’s not something that you can just put a little bit of club time in to. You have to dedicate a lot of hours on the weekend, you have to meet on weekdays for it,” Tan said. “A lot of this has to do with the amount of passion and effort you put into whatever project you are doing.” This year’s competition, Tipping Point, requires robots to be able to move and place rings inside of mobile goals to score points. These actions require precise and consistent movements by the robot.

Exobytes team member Terrel Tan works on the teams robot for the World competition. The competition will take place between May 5-7. PHOTO// W. Henry

“A lot of it comes down to perfecting the mechanical and programming part of the robot and driving as well. That’s really all it is,” Lim said. “We spend a lot of time perfecting and refining things, until they perform consistently well. And those are things that generally contribute to doing well in the competition.”

SCI TECH 15

Exobytes member Joshua Lim works on the team’s robot for Worlds competition. Pictured to the right is the team’s robot that competed in the state competition. PHOTO // W. Henry

However, in these competitions, there is a major twist: Teams are forced to pair up with another team to compete with, forming an alliance. “They’ll [teams] make 16 alliances of two teams. That’s one of the biggest parts of VEX, it’s a two vs. two, not a one vs. one. So making sure you have a good alliance is very crucial to winning the tournament,” Lim said. “One of the things we’ve always struggled on is scouting teams well enough to be able to pick a good and effective alliance.”

The Exobytes team is shown with their robot in the 2022 State competition. The members from left to right are Justin Iber (who does not attend TJ), Terrel Tan, Joshua Lim, Chris Arraya, and Rushil Sidhu. PHOTO // Exobyte Parents

is essentially the best overall team award,” Lim said. “We’ve also been skills champion, which is one of the competition categories. We’ve gotten those awards every year for the past four years. We’ve also consistently been either semi-finalist, or finalist in the tournament category.” These competitions have created strong bonds between the team and friendships that will last a lifetime.

In spite of this challenge, the “I feel like we became much closExobytes have generally done well at er as friends over the years that we VEX. participated in robotics. Although competitions can sometimes be “I guess you could say we’ve intense, we have a really great team been the top team in the state since dynamic and I wouldn’t trade them freshman year. In freshman year, for anyone in the world,” Arraya we got the excellence award, which said.

Peels and Prayers By Ashley Hwang & Anya Raval

The Jefferson boys lacrosse and baseball teams carry superstitions within their program.

he scoreboard shows 5-12 in bright red, with Jefferson baseball down by seven runs. That means it’s time to break out the bag of bananas. Counting bananas each time a run is scored rallies the baseball team together. Jefferson sports teams find ways to bring good luck to their side through unique superstitions, including counting bananas and a holy pilgrimage to the shrine of the boys lacrosse players.

PHOTO// A. Khemka

Counting Bananas A superstition that was started by the class of 2020 alumni Jae Canetti has continued throughout the years for the Jefferson baseball team. Counting bananas serve as a way to rally the team together whenever they’re down by runs during a game. “I just remember we were playing Marshall and we were down by seven runs, and [Jae] breaks out this bag of bananas and he goes, ‘boys, how many bananas I got in my hand?’ and we’d respond with ‘one banana.’ So, every time we scored a run we would yell ‘another banana’ [and] it was pretty cool. Now, it’s a thing where if we’re ever down by a ton of runs but we’re starting to rally, we just bring back the bananas,” senior and captain Gavin Cramer said.

Another superstition, this time started by the coach, has a musical element to it. The coach always plays the same three songs during the infield outfield warm-up, one of which is “Long Haired Country Boy” by Charlie Daniels. While the songs don’t have any particular meaning, playing them every infield outfield warm-up has become a routine superstition. “He always plays the same three songs and it just has to be those three songs. It’s just superstition on the coach’s part,” Cramer said. The Jefferson baseball team has added a novel tradition into the mix with the new season. “One thing we started this year is we have a freshman manager, and he has this tie with a big W on it. The joke is that whenever we win, he’s gonna add a big W to the top,” Cramer said. Individual team members have their own personal superstitions, but their team traditions bring both good luck and opportunities for team bonding. “Superstitions are a more personal thing that helps people get into a groove setting but, more than the superstition side of it, it’s more of a mental thing for the whole team,” senior Jeb Barker said.

SPORTS 17

Team captains of the boys lacrosse team Bryant Park and Will Hancock stand in front of the shrine that contains symbols of good luck from past years. “The way it works is usually a sophomore leads all the new initiates and leads the prayer. At the end of the year, the sophomore chooses a freshman to pass down the traditions to,” Park said. PHOTO// A. Hwang

The Pilgrimage The Jefferson boys lacrosse team participates in a superstition that they refer to as the “pilgrimage,” where team members honor the player from the Jefferson lacrosse team who graduated in order to bring good luck. “Before every game, we make the pilgrimage to the shrine, and the shrine is somewhere in TJ. We go there and we pray to the spirits of the players that came before us. We have a little monument dedicated to their memory,” senior Bryant Park said. This superstition not only gives the team good luck but also serves as a bonding experience and brings the team closer together. “After our prayer, we all take a moment of silence. It’s our firm belief that prayer allows the spirits to fill us with

strength and energy. In a way, it’s a very uniting experience and it’s hard to forget once you experience it,” Park said. As with any superstition, players claim that not doing the pilgrimage brings bad luck to the team. “Last year, we didn’t do the pilgrimage. And we lost the game that day. So this year, we’re not going to make that mistake. We’re going to make our prayers and go there on the pilgrimage every day,” Park said. While the exact origin of this superstition is unknown, it has been passed down each year turning the superstition into a tradition as well. “As far as we know this whole shrine has just been born since the beginning of time”, Park said, “it’s part of our creation.” PHOTO// G. Rubin

by Alyson Granchi and Tanvi Padireddi

CONNECTING GOOD(S) TO

UKRAINE

With family members in eastern Europe, freshman Julia Zherdetski started a drive to ship first aid, clothing, and other supplies to people fleeing the Ukraine-Russia conflict

PHOTO// A. Granchi

hen you turn on the news channel, you see the top news story: an army is invading your home country. Families are fleeing for shelter as bombs fall on their neighborhoods and other nations debate how much aid to provide. This was the reality for freshman Julia Zherdetski after Feb. 24, when Russia first began its invasion into Ukraine. Inspired by the members of her extended family — all of whom live in Russia and Belarus — Zherdetski began a donation drive to aid those at risk in Eastern Europe. “It puts our family and friends at risk, but the entirety of Europe is being affected. The whole reason that I am here — the whole reason why my family immigrated — was to get away from the awful, awful government system,” Zherdetski said. Zherdetski wanted to find a solution to help these families as soon as possible. “I really wanted to do anything that

FEATURE 19

Shaded areas indicate areas that Russia currently occupies. Nuclear symbols show the locations of nuclear reactors. ILLUSTRATION// C. Tran

I could,” Zherdetski said. “My parents [were] talking about sending these packages. Instantly, I started reaching out to as many of my friends as I could,” Zherdetski’s family has been helping her coordinate the drive by setting up a place to put all of the donated items. “We have a donation bin in the Russian classroom, and students can come in at any time throughout the day [and] drop their stuff in this big blue bin. We’re using connections to the area to then be able to ship supplies to refugees. We’re doing this through my godmother, [and] some people I know shipped it directly to her place,” Zherdetski said. When they receive supplies, Zherdetski and her family sort out what will be needed immediately, such as first-aid kits, and prioritize them for

shipping. The first package they made to help Ukranians was delivered in mid-March. “First aid is top priority. After that comes clothing or anything to stay warm, like thermal underwear, blankets, comforters, old clothes like hand me downs. Things like that are really helpful. We’re also looking for [things] like plastic utensils, and non-perishable food items. But those are like the main necessities,” Zherdetski said. Zherdetski and her family try to send packages as frequently as possible, but each shipment requires careful coordination. “Making small shipments doesn’t really make sense, so we’re only doing bulk shipments. We don’t have exact set times [to ship packages]; it’s more

like when we collect enough items and it makes sense to ship it,” Zherdetski said. “Also, we need to correlate with the schedules of the people [whom] we’re doing it through, [and] when planes are available to do that.” Zherdetski hopes that people will contribute to the cause in any way that they can. “Look at what is happening, because it’s terrifying and very difficult to watch,” Zherdetski said. “If you are in a state of mind to [do so], definitely take the time to read about it. Watch it. Spread awareness to those who aren’t aware.”

2 Films 2 Women

Dee Rees, the director of Pariah, and Claire Denis, the director of Beau Travail, are two of the most famous women directors in modern cinema

By Max Vetter

n the long history of cinema, there’s been a startling though not entirely unsurprising bias towards men in the field of directing. While in the earliest days of the medium, you wouldn’t be surprised to see a healthy mix of men and women behind the camera, with pioneers like Lois Weber being the first to make movies that truly look like movies, the mid-1910s caused the perception of film to switch from less of a magic trick and more of an actual art. Sadly, as is the case with most visual mass media, this meant that there was a shift away from egalitarian creative control and more towards men in power, because men were perceived as the only people who could create “serious” art. With this said, throughout the past hundred years and especially more in recent memory, women have been able to sneak in through the margin and manage to tell some of the most compelling and artfully made stories out there, tapping into both the female experience that men wouldn’t be able to adequately represent themselves, and highlighting sides of the male experience that would go unnoticed by the men making movies.

Adike (Adepero Oduye), through a tried and true visual metaphor, reflects on her relationship with her identity in “Pariah”. PHOTO// IndieWire

One of the women directors who garnered critical acclaim before that was attainable for most, Claire Denis has been crafting unique, philosophically rich films for more than 30 years. PHOTO// l’Humanitè

ff in a secluded military base in French-occupied Djibouti, men train for battles they’ll never fight; their undulating bodies toiling away endlessly while the hot sun makes their sweat glisten. This never ending work is the perfect backdrop for one of the most iconic and palpable demonstrations of toxic masculinity put to film. Built from observations of Denis’ childhood in West Africa, the camera captures all the subtle ways homo-eroticism can poke through, even in a world governed by strict reservation. The film’s central struggle, that between Legion Officer Galoup and his simulta

uch like the whirlwind of pent up frustration and hormonal angst that is our main character Alike, the camera of “Pariah” is almost constantly off balance. This is not to say that “Pariah” is not a beautiful film, far from it. The frame is at all times perfectly lit—deep purples, greens, and oranges painting an intimate urban landscape full of discovery and highlighting the emotions of each scene— but the camera moves with a clumsiness that might come off as initially jarring. This choice is brilliant. Dee Rees wanted to create, first and foremost, an emotional reality for her main character.

ENTERTAINMENT 21 neous attraction to and fear of a strikingly built and socially popular recruit, is beautifully rendered in long, patient sequences. The operative word is simmering; while Denis is not a participant in the male experience, she understands intimately the act of viewing it, and her film is shot in such a way that it always seems like the audience is viewing something outside their knowledge, waiting patiently to see when Galoup’s stone exterior will crack. When it does, it amounts to one of the most exhilarating and magnificent musical endings ever put to film. You can watch “Beau Travail” on The Criterion Channel. Alike is a poet, comfortable with her sexuality but not yet out to her parents out of (justified) fear that they wouldn’t accept it, and in the midst of a budding relationship with a girl who she thinks likes her but doesn’t seem comfortable with committing. These are tumultuous times, and the camera captures this perfectly. Whether it be through the frame, the music, or through Adepero Oduye’s pitch-perfect performance, this film perfectly renders the experience of a girl struggling with her sexuality and the social ramifications of it, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. See it on HBO Max or rent it on demand.

Beau Travail (1999) Director: Claire Denis

A military training exercise demonstrates the fine line between male aggression and sensuality in “Beau Travail.” PHOTO // La Sept-Arte

Pariah (2011) Director: Dee Rees

Adike (Adepero Oduye), through a tried and true visual metaphor, reflects on her relationship with her identity in “Pariah.” PHOTO // Focus Features

beyond ILLUSTRATION // M. Lin

d STEM

LEAD-ED 23

Despite what is implied by the “Science and Technology” in Jefferson’s name, Jefferson’s student body goes far beyond the expected doctor and engineer hopefuls. We should pay attention to them. Thomas Jefferson High School. At almost any other high school, the name would stop there. But ours has “for Science and Technology” fixed to the end. So, we have senior research laboratories with instruments that can detect changing brainwaves and the quantum properties of electromagnetic radiation. We have 10 different science and computer science electives, as well as six engineering ones and nine math courses outside of the TJ Math-to-calculus track, most of which cannot be found at any other public high school in the area. The common areas between our classrooms are named after famous scientists like electrical engineer Nikola Tesla and chemist Marie Curie. Our teams regularly place first at national math (American Regional Mathematics League) and science competitions (Science Olympiad). One of the most common questions asked of underclassmen — “CS or bio?” — reveals which of the two most popular STEM fields at Jefferson the answerer plans to pursue through their elective and senior lab selections. Our mission statement explicitly says that “[t]he mission of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technol-

ogy is to provide students with a challenging learning environment focused on math, science, and technology... and to foster a culture of innovation”. By all these measures and more, Jefferson is a school almost singularly focused on science and technology, studying and research, learning and discovery—as the name would imply. That seems to be what FCPS intended when they established Jefferson as a STEM high school in 1985. But there is another side to the story. Many students at Jefferson know a few peers who are decidedly uninterested in STEM, preferring to focus their electives and extracurriculars on music or theater or English. Some students admit that they attended Jefferson to take advantage of the more rigorous education available here compared to their base school. On the other hand, students who hope to one day become an engineer but are not taking advanced courses in middle school might feel out of place among other Jefferson applicants and students and decide that Jefferson is not the place for them. This begs the question: Who is Jefferson for? With Jefferson’s admissions process again under debate, people are wondering: who

belongs here? Should Jefferson be a school just for students who are passionate about STEM and hope to pioneer new innovations in their fields through research? Or should it continue to be a school for the most academically advanced middle schoolers, regardless of where their interests lie? At the moment, Jefferson is undeniably geared toward academically advanced students who do well under pressure from family, fellow students, teachers, and the uncertainty of the future. Usually, high school is a time for teenagers to explore their interests, whether or not those interests will lead to a career. Not everyone who took advanced courses in middle school and decided to attend Jefferson will want to be in STEM in the future. Although Jefferson was likely intended to be a STEM-focused school, the student body today is far more well-rounded, and the resources available to them should reflect that. Barring significant changes to Jefferson’s structure, the school should acknowledge that the dreams of its student body extend far beyond the ‘S’ and ‘T’ in its name, including by supporting and promoting the stories of students who excel in the arts, humanities, and beyond.

25% of ‘25 In light of the recent court cases involving Jefferson’s new admissions process, the arguments against it have lost sight of a major issue affecting the school

Annika Duneja Convergence EIC ILLUSTRATION // E. Li

When it comes to the admissions statistics from the class of 2025 admissions round, there is only one that truly matters. And it has nothing to do with race. The statistic is as follows: 25% of the incoming class of 2025 were categorized as low-income. This is in stark contrast to every other class

currently attending Jefferson, who have an average of 2% of students who come from low income families. Though the current admissions process has many flaws, it succeeded in this one aspect that Jefferson has had a problem with for years. Making

the school more accessible. Because it’s important to remember that Jefferson exists to be an accessible opportunity for all students. It is not meant to be a status symbol. The fact that some parents are more concerned with the prestige and ranking of the school as opposed to its actual function takes away that opportunity. I am not saying that we should absolutely keep the current admissions process. I only ask that we keep the number 25% in mind when pushing for change rather than acting as though the issue is solely about race when it really is more about socioeconomic status. That may lead to more effective changes to the process and even change the school’s outreach strategies to inform people of the free opportunities available here well before they apply. But those changes will only occur after the conversations around the new admissions process changes. For now, it is disappointing that certain groups are going to such lengths to ensure that Jefferson remains elitist, and only available for those who can ‘afford’ it.

OPINION 25

ILLUSTRATION // R. Kwon

A Call to Action As elections ramp up, the next generation of Jefferson leaders must step up

The Feud on Food Though it’s free, Jefferson school lunch still leaves much to be desired

“You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.” These words from Paul Brudhomme Alyson Granchi may be true, Staff Writer but we need good food to eat with a plastic spoon. The Jefferson cafeteria has been providing free lunch and breakfast for the last two years, but the food offered isn’t of a high quality value. Lunch is free to everyone, which has many benefits to the Jefferson student body. The average meal served in the cafeteria adds up to approximately 30% of a 2000 calorie daily recommendation, and the average breakfast adds up to 20% of it. However, caloric value is only one factor of a good lunch. Even though something reaches a certain nutritional value according to a label, it doesn’t ensure the highest quality products.

FCPS charges $4.50 for a faculty/staff member wanting to buy school lunch. According to a FNS Office of Research, Nutrition, and Analysis study, a school lunch should cost approximately $2.00 worth of material goods. The quality of the food is impacted by the price of the food, and it isn’t always the best solution to pick the cheapest ingredients. This case is illustrated by some foods served in the cafeteria. The TruMoo Chocolate Fat-Free Milk has carrageenan which is linked to negatively impact digestive health. This ingredient, carrageenan, is banned by the EU in baby formula and other infant products. There may be some dangers with this ingredient even in small quantities. Nonetheless, further research is yet to be done on these ingredients on humans. As the case illustrated above, not all food served in the Jefferson cafeteria is of the highest quality.

I look around me today and see a school that is lost. Stress. Burnout. A mental health crisis. A rat race. The pandemic made everything worse. Two years of online schooling crippled our academic Leon Jia knowledge, leaving us struggling Guest Contributor to catch up. The leadership of nearly every student organization at TJ was thrust into the hands of those who barely remember what the organization does. All the plans and events that used to be taken for granted had to be reinvented, forged anew. This past year, we have given our best. But I do not know if we have done enough. In these times, TJ needs leadership. It may arise in student government standing up for their peers, making sacrifices for what is right, and having the vision and execution to truly be a force for change. Or from any club or organization that manages to defeat mediocrity, one who ceaselessly pushes onwards to bigger projects and greater goals. Or perhaps, leadership will arise in any odd individual that sees a problem and envisions a solution. An individual that does something about it themselves. One who brings people together, plans out the necessary steps, perseveres - and becomes a champion of change. It is leadership that is needed to uplift our community, bridge divides, defeat complacency, and realize dreams of a better TJ. This year, every election means something. From the smallest clubs to the highest positions in student government, we all have power — the capacity for change — if only we realize it. This year, we must choose leaders with vision, passion, and decisiveness. This year, we must become them. Because someone must step up. Someone must make the sacrifices. Someone must answer the call.

americaniz or

authent

by Nicole Liu, Xixi Song, and Abraham Agbota

t’s lunchtime at Jefferson. Hungry students flock the halls, pulling from lunchboxes a wide assortment of foods from all sorts of cultures—foods likely made by the students’ parents. However, if someone were to eat the same cuisine at the restaurants nearby, the food might taste a bit different from what they were used to. This sparked rising discussions about traditional cultural cuisines being “Americanized.” To explore the authenticity of local restaurant food, tjTODAY held a taste test to try foods such as mapo tofu and paneer. Students were invited to try Chinese food from Duck Chang’s and Indian food from IndAroma, as well as homemade versions of each restaurant dish. This way, they could have a direct comparison between takeout food and home-cooked food. Students seemed to prefer the taste of the latter. “Overall, I think homemade [food] is definitely more interesting. I would say it tastes like someone actually put care and effort into it. I think the restaurant [food] is more consistent,” senior Jack Baisch said. “I think it goes beyond just a taste of the food, especially with homemade dishes. Part of the food is knowing the history behind the food, like a recipe that’s been in the family for a while versus something that a random dude from California made after he had Indian food once.” The differing tastes between homemade and restaurant food is not necessarily due to the food being Americanized. Sometimes, it might simply be different from what people

are used to eating at home. “I wouldn’t say [‘’Americanizing” food] is an issue but I have definitely noticed you will get things that taste different and it could just be because the chef is from a different part of India than whoever’s cooking your food is from and so you’d sometimes just get different variations and taste. For paneer, there are about 100 variations. So it could just be where you’re from, but also restaurants tend to [be like] ‘we’re in America and Americans just can’t handle their spice,’” senior Isha Patel said. Overall, the diversity of Jefferson caused students to have contrasting opinions about the subject of “Americanized” food. While some students seem to not take it as a problem in need of addressing, others think altering authentic recipes is an issue. “So my dad’s actually an immigrant, so there are a lot of foods from my own culture that American restaurants just don’t get it right. I also take Chinese here at TJ, so I’ve gotten to learn a lot about Chinese cuisines and then we go to a Chinese restaurant, and I’m like ‘this is just not it,’” junior Nadia Costescu said. Although opinions about the topic of “Americanized food” contrast from time to time, the general consensus is that traditional food is appreciated over altered versions of dishes. “Overtime, I’ve gotten used to eating Americanized food and I don’t hate it, but I still like traditional foods better,” junior Rachel Huang said.

Chinese foods such as Mapo Tofu and Pork With Chili were purchased from Duc Chang’s. The dishes were chosen to emphasize the diversity of Chinese food. “Th [“Americanized” Chinese food] was just aggressively spicy, so it doesn’t really hav any complex flavor to it,” senior Jack Bais said. PHOTO // E. Harris

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Tofu and ed from Duck osen to emse food. “The d] was just n’t really have or Jack Baisch

ENTERTAINMENT 27

Jefferson students attended a taste test on the topic of “Americanized” versus authentic foods during eighth period.

The Indian foods Naan and Paneer were purchased from Indaroma. Both dishes are commonplace in India and often served in restaurants. “I can’t handle my spice either, but the [“Americanized” foods] tend to be a lot more sweet, and you’d get a lot more of the sweet flavors,” senior Isha Patel said. PHOTO // E. Harris

groove

PHOTO by Anuj Khemka REPORTING by Aafreen Ali

“An open-ended assignment like the robot project may seem a little bit overwhelming. But I personally find that I thrive more in that environment than a structured setup because you get to test out your own ideas and you’re more interested in seeing if what you’re doing works when you come up with it. I think it allows for more creative thinking and [gives you] more to be gained from what you’re doing. “I feel like the student body at TJ is very diverse, and not just by race or gender, I mean even with what people are interested in. There’s definitely a place for you, even your Humanities kids. And your eighth periods allow you to find a lot more communities than you normally could. You can look into new interests more than you would be able to in a normal school.”

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

finding a

“I think that [dance] is a really fun way to express yourself. And especially when a song comes on, if you remember the dance, it’s really fun to just [realize] like, ‘wow, I remember that’ and do it. “I feel like other people, especially my parents, were like, ‘everything’s gonna be more uptight’ and the conversations that you’re gonna have at school are going to be mainly academically focused. And I don’t mean this in a bad way, but TJ isn’t like that. It feels very relaxed. I think it’s nice that TJ hasn’t been that much of a competitive environment so far. I think it’s more that everyone’s trying to help everyone and we’re trying to make friends and enjoy ourselves.”

freshman

Kai Bilal