Senior Kathleen Zhang works on her amigurumi, a crocheted stuffed animal, in Craft Makerspace. Zhang first tried crocheting when her friend invited her to the eighth period and has been a regular attendee since. “It’s very calming and it’s a very repetitive movement,” Zhang said. “It’s fun being able to make something and you can be like, ‘I made that, that’s cool.’”
PHOTO// A. Coats
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.
EDITORIAL BOARD Print and Online Editors-in-Chief
Christina Lu Robert Stotz
Eric Feng
Aarya Kumar Grace Sharna
Chris Yoo
Team Leaders Anya Raval Lucas Ribero Keertana Senthilkumar Xixi Song Laura Zhang
Senior Gabriel Ascoli, playing Nick Bottom, jumps in the air enthusiastically during a final rehearsal of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Within the play, Nick Bottom is a confident actor preparing to take on the lead role in a performance at Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding.“I loved being able to have creative freedom in the show, even though it was a weird time because of the new direction,” sophomore Zoe Viterbo, who designed Nick Bottom’s costume, said.
PHOTO // S. Hanumansetty
by Grace Sharma and Keertana Senthilkumar
TJ Theater Arts rehearses for their fall play, Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Junior Olivia Nayak, a stage manager, works in the booth during rehearsal. During tech week, the week prior to a show, the cast and technicians make sure they are ready for opening night. “We’ll do full run-throughs,” sophomore Charles Bucher said. “After soundcheck and after warmups, it is running the show from beginning to end.”
PHOTO // S. Hanumansetty
A sound designer performs a sound check on the actors before starting rehearsal. At the soundboard, sound designers ensure that actors are heard at the correct level and also control sound effects and music. “Essentially, our job during the show is to not be noticed by the audience and make sure that everyone in the 700-seat auditorium can hear the exact same thing,” sophomore Charles Bucher, main sound designer, said.
PHOTO // S. Hanumansetty
[Middle right] Sophomore Ella Tysse played Titania, a fairy, in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “Titania was probably the biggest role I’ve ever had,” Tysse said. “I feel like I gained a deeper understanding of Shakespearean language, and a deeper appreciation for it, which I hadn’t had before. It was really just amazing to see Shakespeare come to life on the stage with the lights, the costumes, everything.” PHOTO // G. Sharma
Senior Elliott Lee performs a monologue at the end of the play as Thisbe. “This is my first year doing theater,” Lee said. “I liked that I had a monologue at the end, which gave me a lot of opportunities to explore the character. It also came with a costume change, which I think the costume designers did amazingly with.”
Demonstrating her control, junior Yushu Zhang performs a leg extension while practicing TJDT’s lyrical dance. This style of dance emphasizes strong emotions related to the song’s lyrics, which Zhang resonates with. “Lyrical is my favorite style. I have a ballet background, which I think lyrical matches best with,” Zhang said. “It’s fun to express your emotions through dance.”
Sophomore Rita Yu incorporates a back walkover to the end of her stretching routine. Yu previously participated in rhythmic gymnastics but transitioned to dance after coming to Jefferson. “I didn’t actually do dance before, so it was a little rough in the beginning,” Yu said. “In dance, you have to really know what the music is trying to express so you can match your movements. But in gymnastics, you don’t really get that much freedom to interpret the music.”
PHOTO // L.
PHOTO // L. Zhang
Freshmen Claire Liao and Sophia Guo extend their arms toward each other while facing the audience. Similar to Zhang, Liao also sees dance as a medium to express herself. “I feel amazing when I dance. It’s a sport, so it definitely works my body in a very artsy way,” Liao said. “I feel like dance really helps me express my emotions. Since I’m not good at writing, I can’t write out my emotions, so I use dance to show what I’m feeling deep down.”
PHOTO // L. Zhang
Sophomore Jude Caldwell braces as he falls towards the water at the end of his first dive routine. Caldwell, who is beginning his second year on the Jefferson dive team, says that he enjoys participating in the sport. “There are a lot of factors that are important when doing dive, but the most important thing is to enjoy it,” Caldwell says. “If you’re willing to do more dives and to learn more dives, then it’s definitely a lot smoother going.”
Sophomore Ryan Wells performs a back dive during his second trial at a dive meet. In his first meet of the season with the Jefferson swim and dive team, Wells was a member of the four-person mens diving team that helped Jefferson pull off a victory against Thomas Edison.
Caldwell is in the middle of a flip during his dive routine at a swim and dive meet versus Thomas Edison High School. “My favorite part about doing dive is definitely getting to interact with the other people because they’re all really supportive and fun to talk to,” Caldwell said.
Senior Victoria Wang performs a skill as she descends towards the pool during the first swim and dive meet of the season. Wang helped the Jefferson come out victorious 202-107 against Thomas Edison.
“At first, I wouldn’t
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by Lucas Ribeiro
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Kolos Bundics enjoys photographing buses and trains throughout Northern Virginia, “If I went on the internet and found a picture of a bus I just really want to see, that picture would really make my day,” Bundics said. “I wanted to make that experience for others; for bus fans to be able to see my pictures and be inspired.”
PHOTO// L. Ribeiro
Max Wang solves the Fermi question “how many pennies can you fit in a bedroom”, “A Fermi problem is a problem where it’s difficult to get a precise answer, so you have to do a bunch of estimations to get to an answer,” Wang said. “Generally, you’re looking for an answer within a magnitude of ten in terms of precision.” PHOTO// L.
Ribeiro
Sophomore Kolos Bundics engages in public transit photography
Junior Max Wang solves Fermi Questions
Jessica Chung knits a sweater at the knitting circle during Wednesday 8B block, “It’s very gratifying to make things by yourself and use them. With knitting, I could learn to make decorations and gifts for my family, and I thought that that was pretty fun.” PHOTO// L. Ribeiro
“My brother’s favorite Pokémon is Mudkip, so I made him one,” Chung said. “It was really awesome.”
PHOTO// J. Chung
PHOTO// J. Chung
“It’s gratifying when you finish something and show it to someone for the first time,” Chung said, “You can ask, ‘guess where I got this?’ and they’ll never guess.”
A snapping turtle is seen swimming in its tank in the Oceanography lab. “They were originally brought there a long time ago, and since then FCPS has made rules where we can’t keep the turtles,” senior Aidan Ludwig said.
Oh snap! That turtles’ got tea
The lab consists of the American snapping turtle, named Snaps, and three red-eared sliders, pictured in the photograph, which are suited to the environment of the lab. “If we put them [the red-eared sliders] back out, it would be damaging to the native ecosystem. We’re one of the best people able to take care of them in parts of the sanctuary and they offer educational benefits,” senior Aidan Ludwig said. “If we moved [Snaps] anywhere else, he would die on his own. I think this is the best place for him.”
PHOTO// M. Antony
Writing his snapshot essay, senior Chance McDonald drew inspiration for his English project from his Grandfather who was in the special forces, and wrote about his connection to the military family community. “It’s really the ultimate exercise of showing, not telling because we’re not supposed to have a whole narrative, we’re supposed to say what’s actually happening in these snapshot moments,” McDonald said.
PHOTO // Tao Huang
PHOTO// A. Raval
Even though the turtle should not be in the lab according to FCPS policy, he is still important to the Oceanography students. “One of the rules that FCPS made along with the one that we can’t have the turtles, was that we can’t do projects on it. So they’re just kind of there, we like to take care of them. We feed them. They’re fun to watch. They’re just nice to have in the lab. Pretty animals,” senior Aidan Ludwig said.
PHOTO// A. Raval
Mr. Pollet pours his favorite drink, peach-flavored diet Snapple tea, into a green yeti bottle during eighth period. “I drink [Snapple] more than water,” Mr. Pollet said. “It helps lubricate my throat. But at home I don’t drink Snapple, I drink cranberry juice. I think that if you drink one thing for too long you get tired of the taste.”
PHOTO// X. Song
After Neymar Jr., star Brazilian player, put his team up 1-0 in extra time, junior Philip Margulies celebrates with a fist. A surprising reaction considering Margulies is an Argentina fan, who are long-time rivals with Brazil. He can be seen wearing the Argentina National Team Jersey as they played later in the afternoon. “I’m half-Peruvian as well and so being from different countries in South America, I generally root for teams from the continent, including Brazil,” Margulies said.
Brazil’s first goal brought much celebration to the fans in the commons. After a tension-filled 90 minute game and just one minute into extra time, star player Neymar Jr. finally scored what seemed to be a deciding goal. “I’m Brazilian and have been playing soccer all my life so seeing my team take the lead was very exciting. It’s too bad they didn’t end up winning the match,” junior Felix Howton said.
After Brazil’s 105-minute score in extra time, the balance has shifted in their favor. They only have to hold on for a little while longer before the game is theirs.
After Croatia scores a goal on the 117-minute mark, Junior Aiden Cheung holds his head in amazement as the team manages to score against one of the most famous teams in the world cup, meaning that the game will go onto penalties if neither team scores another goal.
During a period of constant change, it’s important to identify the direction we’re headed
Jefferson is known fondly for its quirks and traditions, from Homecoming, to our 8th period structure, to our single-block
lunch eaten throughout the school. At face value, we’re a community of learners, with academic opportunities such as our IBEST program, senior research labs, and expansive course catalog undebatably acting as cornerstones to what makes TJ, TJ. But jumping up cheering at Homecoming pep rallies, performing iNite acts, and stuffing our faces while simultaneously emptying our wallets at J-Day booths also serve as integral parts of the Jefferson experience.
At our core, we are a conglomerate of the two; a balance of working hard, and playing harder. This unique dichotomy has been, and will ideally remain, defining factors of Jefferson’s culture.
It is important, however, to acknowledge that Jefferson has an uglier side — students bragging about how little sleep they’ve gotten, comparing class ranks, a dependence on our GPA’s and college acceptances to judge us, and assign us value as human beings.
Change is more than welcome to that side of Jefferson.
And recently, we’ve experienced change, both big and small. While an obvious answer lies in our new admissions system, it’s worth taking a deeper look into the subtler changes alongside those that make headlines to evaluate the direction Jefferson and its students are headed in
the coming years.
First and foremost, it is important to identify the possible effects these changes will have on the aspect of Jefferson’s identity originally mentioned, our unique habits of study and celebration.
Many of the events engrained in Jefferson’s culture will likely see no substantial change. Waltzers at the Viennese Ball will continue to be waltzing, dancers at MEX and iNite will continue to be dancing, and participants of the Canned Food Sculpture will continue canned-foodsculpting. While we may see changes in the makeup of our student body, the activities they enjoy throughout their time at Jefferson will remain the same.
As for our academics, seniors may be quick to point out the changes already made to the esteemed, wretched, iconic, freshman year Robot Project. And while yes, there is merit to this point of contention, it is worth noting its existence as a thing to complain about is a step up from our pandemic days wherein the Class of 2024 knew it only as a myth. Identifying the long term impact of certain modifications must be evaluated against the short term stunts offered up by over a year of virtual learning in order to more fully grasp present conditions.
The far more substantial change to freshman year takes hold in the addition of Research Statistics into the IBET curriculum, creating the more functional yet worse sounding acronym of “IBEST.”
This change by no means alters the fundamentals of the program that make it worth pursuing, that being the shared group of classmates, final research paper, and interwoven curriculum. As a result, while it may be too close for a definitive answer, Jefferson’s work culture will presumably suffer no substantial effects in the long term.
But what about the new admissions system? Assuming the appropriate curricular measures are taken to bring everyone up to speed, and that incoming students are willing to conform to the rigor associated with Jefferson’s name, the two should reach common ground in time for the many academic challenges that define our school.
As for the negative side of this culture, the changes to the admissions system may actually result in progress in these areas. With larger, more diverse incoming classes, certain niche clubs and courses may see increased interest, while the powerhouse computer science track still maintains a steady flow of students. Such deviations in what is considered the “conventional path” at Jefferson may break down the constant and frankly unreasonable standards of comparison that plague our community today.
As Jefferson continues to return to normal from COVID and adjust to these changes, we look forward to seeing the new Jefferson unveil itself — a more collaborative environment, but still displaying the same quirks that make us unique.
“I do kendo, which is a martial art. it’s very stress relieving because what kendo is is you wear armor and you whack people and you scream.”
“I like things that I can make or things I can measure — things that are real. I think that’s why I like engineering and robotics. A lot of my projects that I did for the science fair revolve around making human life a little better, for even a small population. I’m not gonna fix Alzheimer’s or get rid of diabetes. So just little tiny things that make people happy.”
“I was born in Korea and then my dad came to America so growing up I wasn’t the kid that lives in a nice house going to Disney World every winter break. At one point we lived in a government related apartment.”
“My dad got his PhD in America. he’d go out to competitions to get money for his lab. For me, I started going out to competitions in eighth grade. And so with the money I made there, I started working on my science fair projects. I just keep going on and spending the grand prize money on future projects.”
“Having the background of not having everything kind of pushes me forward a little more. Looking at my parents and seeing how far they are motivates me to do better.”