Senior Ladan Hashi reads for leisure in the library. Although applying to college has limited her free time, her interest in literature has persisted with the help of her AP Literature class. “It’s important for people to read because you get to see other perspectives and it opens your heart,” Hashi said. “I’d recommend A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab, because I think it’s one of the best books ever written.”
PHOTO// A. Coats
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
Laura Zhang
Advisor:
Erinn Harris
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_official tjTODAY
THE INSIDE OF INTEGRITY
6 Stress due to a high workload and an achievement-focused mindset influences students’ decisions to cheat. However, students and faculty can make changes to continue upholding integrity at Jefferson.
4
HOPPING INTO LUNAR NEW YEAR
With food, friends and festivities, Jefferson students celebrate the Year of the Rabbit.
12
WRESTLING WITH EXPECTATIONS
Despite the sport being mixed, or perhaps because of it, girls’ wrestling has been growing in popularity.
14 Students take steps to combat cell phone addiction.
FLIPPING BACK TO FLIP PHONES
20
IS WHITE DAY A GOOD IDEA?
BRIDGING THE GAP
16 Bridge Club’s volunteers use bridge to connect two generations through their love of the card game.
21
Should we change the Valentine’s Day we love so dearly?
EMPATHY OF A STICKER
The Jefferson bumper stickers tell the story of our struggles, and more.
21
18 From a beloved children’s figure to a bloodthirsty murderer.
BLOOD AND HONEY
BREAKING FREE FROM THE COMPARISON TRAP
The dangers of comparing grades.
by Laura Zhang
The sounds of Chinese zither, Korean drums and K-pop intermingled together during Jefferson’s Lunar New Year celebration on Jan. 25. Lunar New Year marks the beginning of spring and a new year on the lunar calendar. It is celebrated in various Asian countries and Asian communities around the world. In China, the holiday is also known as Chinese New Year.
“Lunar New Year is a time for families to come together, often through a large meal,” junior Taohan Lin said. “A lot of the student body celebrates Lunar New Year, so I think it’s great we can celebrate together at school.”
Organized by the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA), Jefferson’s Lunar New Year celebration was one of the multiple cultural events the PTSA Diversity Committee hosts every year.
“The celebrations we throw are fun, but the point is to build community specifically through the lens of diversity and allow a group at TJ to share their culture,” PTSA Diversity Chair Michele Hyde said.
Students had the opportunity to try out cultural activities such as calligraphy, fan painting, and the Dalgona candy challenge from the popular Korean drama, Squid Game.
Plucking the zither strings, senior Tiffany Lee plays classical Chinese music. “I’ve never learned how to play Chinese zither, but it looks really cool,” Wu said. “When one of my friends heard Tiffany play the first song, they said their mom always sings that, so I thought that was a nice connection.” PHOTO // F. Xin“The calligraphy was really cool since the ink was originally clear, but when it touched the paper it turned black. Over time, the ink on the paper faded away, which I found super interesting,” freshman Olivia
Even though Lin has celebrated Lunar New Year for his entire life, the activities at Jefferson’s celebration helped him delve deeper into the history and meaning behind the holiday’s traditions.
“Around Chinese New Year, I’ll often ask my parents ‘what are these?’ about different foods and celebration items, so it was nice to get a better idea of how to say things in Chinese and Cantonese and how they’re involved in Chinese New Year,” Lin said.
Food was a highlight of Jefferson’s event. Over 500 students sampled various Asian foods, including spring rolls, dumplings, sushi and noodles.
“We need a lot of volume, so we ordered some food using donations. But part of the point of these events is sharing cultures, so I absolutely want parents to bring a special homemade dish they made,” Hyde said.
Another important aspect of Lunar New Year are red envelopes, which symbolize prosperity and luck. During the holiday, families and friends often give each other red envelopes filled with money.
“I usually get red envelopes from my relatives as a gift for Chinese New Year, so I thought it was a nice touch that we got them at TJ’s celebration,” junior Zani Xu said.
The celebration also featured performances by students, including junior Darren Kao and sophomore Jaydon Sun’s diabolo performance. Diabolo, or Chinese yo-yo, involves spinning and balancing an hourglass-shaped object on a string.
“I feel like diabolo is a really cool skill to share. There’s a big spike of nervousness when you see the people there, but in the middle of our performance, I started smiling, so it got better,” Kao said.
Students also enjoyed the opportunity to connect with their peers at the celebration, especially because it’s not always feasible for students to reunite with their families during the Lunar New Year.
“We didn’t really do much at home [for Lunar New Year] because it’s kind of boring when it’s just ourselves,” Wu said. “I jumped at the opportunity to attend a celebration with my friends.”
In
Overwhelming workloads and expectations, induced by mindset or the environment, are factors that cause students to cheat on exams and assignments during high school. “They pile this much work onto you, and then expect you to have all the time in the world to complete it,” sophomore Fertuna Mequennent said. “Cheating is more than just a kid who’s lazy or doesn’t want to study.”
PHOTO// K. Senthilkumar
You may begin.”
The timer projected on the whiteboard begins to tick. An hour and a half. 1:29:59.
1:29:58. 1:29:57. After flipping open the pages in front of you, you realize you don’t know how to do question one.
1:29:30.
You should’ve studied more. But with basketball practice and physics homework and chemistry labs and math packets, how could you have found the time?
1:29:20.
You think of your grades, of college applications, of your future.
1:29:10.
You glance at the classmate beside you. Then down to their scantron.
1:28:59.
It’s wrong. You know it’s wrong.
But you bubble in their answer on your paper.
To collect information about why students commit integrity violations, tjTODAY posted an anonymous Google Form on TJ’s Intranet (Ion), and received
Factors such as stress, high workload, and an achievement-focused mindset contribute to students’ decision to cheat. However, the Jefferson community can make changes to continue upholding integrity.
167 responses. According to the survey, 56.3% of the responses reported that they have cheated on a graded assignment during their time in high school.
“‘I’ll just copy off your answers for the Geosystems lab,’ or, ‘Really quickly, the teachers are about to check our homework, can you just show me what you did so I can just copy it off?’
It’s in cases like that where I feel like the cheating culture has really become normalized,” Honor Council vice president and senior Patrick Bai said. Another 26.9% of respondents to the survey reported that they have cheated on a test or quiz, which can affect all students in the class, not just those who cheated.
“Several years ago, there was an issue with cheating where somebody took pictures of a physics midterm and then every single class lost the curve,” senior Emma Cox said. “There’s definitely a mentality that this whole issue is teachers versus students, but I don’t think that’s true.”
Jefferson students who witness
others cheating are unlikely to report it. Only 7.5% of respondents to the tjTODAY survey reported an integrity violation after witnessing someone cheat on a test or quiz.
“Students who cheat probably don’t think they’ll get caught, because I’m sure a lot of it goes uncaught,” counselor Kerry Hamblin said. “They may not report because they are afraid of retaliation. Nobody wants to rat out a friend.”
Instead of immediately confronting a student that he suspects is cheating, physics teacher Adam Smith begins to photocopy the student’s tests. Through that process, he noticed that students who begin to cheat tend to continue cheating on future assessments.
“Once you open that door and go through it, it is very hard to walk back out and close it again,” Smith said. “You will often think ‘Hey, I’m just gonna do it this once because I’m really stressed this time, but I won’t need to do this again.’ And it never works like that.”
After succeeding academically in middle and elementary school, Jefferson’s rigorous courses can be an adjustment for freshmen, who maintained at least a 3.5 GPA in middle school, a requirement to apply to Jefferson.
“People are afraid of failure,” Cox said. “Especially at the beginning of our high school careers, we’re not used to seeing low grades, and I think that might contribute to people feeling like it’s necessary to cheat.”
Pressure to succeed academically contributes to increased levels of anxiety among Jefferson students, evident in the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) screener all FCPS students took in October.
“Students are indicating in the SEL screener and other climate surveys having anxiety more than depression or stress,” principal Ann Bonitatibus said. “I’m wondering if anxiety would be a trigger for academic dishonesty if you’re anxious about how you will do on the assignment or test.”
The academic pressure amounts to more than a grade or test. Either from self, peer, or parental pressure, students face expectations to achieve high grades to gain admission to topranked colleges.
“It’s about wearing that sweatshirt once you get accepted, and walking around the halls and having everybody admire you,” math teacher Michael Auerbach said. “They want [it] so bad that they’re willing to do anything to get it.”
When a focus on achievement and college pressure come together, students can feel that they have to cheat to avoid failure.
“From going [to Jefferson], I developed this need to be perfect and excel and not fail and just keep going,” Jefferson alumna Adithi Ramakrishnan, who graduated in 2018, said. “I feel like that also might be affecting the cheating culture in the sense that every student feels like
they have to be ‘on’ all the time, and if not, they’re failing.”
Hearing from college graduates about how little college reputation matters in the long run can reduce that pressure on students.
“Maybe we just need to present to you guys the outcomes that you’d be surprised by. The kids that go to James Madison and George Mason end up doing as well as some of the Ivy League kids,” Burke said. “I think sometimes we do a poor job at TJ of showing you what the outcomes are down the road.”
In 2018, Jefferson enrolled in Challenge Success to improve students’ overall wellbeing. The Challenge Success program aims to decrease workload and prioritize mental health in partner schools, among other goals.
“When I first came to TJ, wellness was an issue because of high
pressure and a highly competitive environment, so we needed to attend to the physical and mental wellness of our students,” Bonitatibus said. “I made that my transformational mission and we joined the Challenge Success network of schools.”
One of the main goals of Jefferson’s Challenge Success program was to decouple workload and rigor. The program encouraged teachers to reexamine the work they assign.
“Teachers have become more aware of what their workload does to kids, especially with some of the exercises where kids and teachers would switch for a day and the teachers go through the kids’ schedule. That was a Challenge Success idea, which was brilliant,” Burke said.
According to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) guidelines, high school teachers should assign about two hours of homework per week, another limit on how much work a course can have.
“I personally do less assigned reading than I used to,” biology teacher Aubrie Holman said. “We kept the things that were most meaningful, and we have digital tools that we can use postpandemic.”
Despite the decrease in workload, the amount of time a student puts into a class can depend on the rigor of the course.
“If you still have to learn BC Calculus, you still have to learn BC Calculus, whether the teachers are assigning you ten homework problems a night or 50 homework problems a night,” math teacher Kathleen Juster said.
However, teachers can prioritize certain assignments to reduce workload without changing the difficulty of a course.
“I don’t assign any homework. I think having a few priority items in a class as opposed to a lot of little assignments makes it more likely that the students are going to do their own work,” chemistry teacher Emily Owens said.
To achieve a more manageable workload, the gradebook can weigh effort and assessments equally, rewarding students for hard work.
“I always try, especially with freshmen, to balance a minor quiz grade with another minor grade, ideally something that prepared them for the quiz,” Holman said. “I’m trying to teach them that good preparation is just as important as performance.”
Another method of reducing homework is to increase the class time that students have to complete assignments.
“[Students] have the time to work on this and can ask other people to help. But chances are, because you
both have the designated time to do it, you’re actually going to talk about how you did it, as opposed to just copying it,” Owens said. With the previous approaches, a less-overwhelming workload can decrease cheating. But in the short term, teachers can adjust methods of testing to prevent students from being able to cheat at all.
“This is gonna sound horrible, but teachers need to come up with different assessments. You can’t roll off the same tests period one through seven because everyone shares information,” Burke said. “We have to accept that [students] are social creatures, that you guys want to help each other, and that it’s so hard to tell a friend, ‘I can’t give you help on this.’ It’s nearly impossible. We need to create different ways to assess people’s understanding of the concepts we’re teaching.”
Since Blue Day classes typically take quizzes or tests before Red Day classes, the later periods have the advantage of information being spread within the student body. To combat that difference, teachers can vary the order in which class periods take tests.
“Staggering tests would be helpful, like sometimes having [the first test] be in fifth period and [other times] first period, especially for pop quizzes,” Cox said.
Teachers aren’t the only ones responsible for reducing workload and stress. Students just finished selecting courses for the 2023-2024 school year, and these choices will influence their workload during the school year.
“In one breath, I come from a meeting about how to reduce stress and anxiety, and then two seconds later, I’m signing kids up for AP Chemistry, AP Physics, BC [Calculus], or AI. The choices that students make directly impact their level of stress, and they think they can handle it and then it comes and they can’t,” Hamblin said. “We don’t want to entertain any more conversations about stress because you are choosing these classes. You have the agency to choose courses that aren’t too stressful.”
When deciding courses for the following year, students can benefit from considering whether they are sincerely interested in a class’s content.
“If you enjoy a course, like for me [with] AP Chemistry, that’s fine,” sophomore Ryeen Aghda. “If you have fun while doing it, it’s better than to just take an AP for the sake of taking an AP. I have friends who are taking three or four APs, but are taking a lot
of engineering courses or history courses. I think they’re going to have an overall easier and more fun time.”
Student mindset also impacts ability to handle course load.
Junior Ryan Park is currently taking AP Physics, AP US History, Linear Algebra, AI, and Computer Vision, all of which are AP or post-AP classes.
“Throughout this year, even though I don’t get the grades I want sometimes, just [because of] the effort I put in, I still feel satisfied with my grades,” Park said. “It’s not worth it to violate the honor code, because in the end you’ll only hurt yourself and the results will show later.”
On top of losing an opportunity to learn, students affect teachers by cheating in their classes.
“We need to have the teachers just say out loud to students what it feels like to be cheated on. I’ve had a few teachers who’ve gotten emotional during conferences when they’ve discovered a student cheating,” Burke said. “They feel personally hurt by the student not coming clean, and saying, ‘Hey, I’m not ready for this test,’ ‘I need another day in this paper,’ whatever it may be.”
Understanding the work a teacher puts into running their
courses can also help reduce cheating in a class. During virtual learning, Owens had a list of statements every student had to acknowledge, ranging from, “I’m going to do my own work,” to “I recognize that Ms. Owens put a lot of time into writing this test,” to “I’m respecting her time and energy by giving my best effort on this test.” The most effective statement, Owens found, was making a student acknowledge “I am better than cheating,” before beginning the test.
“I [had] students tell me that it did make them think a little bit more about the human aspect of it,” Owens said. “Like, ‘What am I? What am I saying about myself? What am I saying about my teacher?’ That made them pause more than the Honor Code on its own.”
When a student violates the Honor Code for the first time, the teacher fills out a referral. The student, if they admit wrongdoing, meets with their teacher, their counselor, gradeappropriate assistant principal, and parents. The student then faces additional disciplinary action or, alternatively, they can opt to work with the Honor Council.
“We guide them through [the] restorative justice circle process, in which the aim is not to punish the student, but rather try [and] get the student to understand why what they did was wrong, and for the studentteacher relationship to be repaired,” Bai said.
Restorative justice allows students to learn from their mistakes, rather than facing consequences like detention or suspension.
“It’s a much softer landing spot to come clean with your peers. I think to be able to say ‘I’m sorry,’ and for that teacher, the counselor, and everyone else to also be like, ‘We accept that apology,’ wraps it up much nicer than, ‘Here’s your suspension or here’s your detention,’” Burke said. “I think it’s good, emotionally, to sit down with people [and] see how you’ve hurt them.”
Students are able to learn from their experience if they choose to cheat at Jefferson. But in college, students who cheat on assignments do not get second chances.
“It’d be interesting to have college students talking about it, because I don’t think our students understand how severe the penalty can be in college for this behavior. You can get kicked out of school or put on academic probation,” chemistry
teacher Emily Owens said.
Those consequences are common in many universities, including the University of Virginia, an in-state university to which many Jefferson students apply; among 2022 alumni, at least 49 chose to attend the University of Virginia.
“UVA is single-sanction,” Hamblin said. “You cheat, you’re out. So we try to instill these ethics and standards in our students before they move on to college, where it’s less forgiving.”
Administrators hope to discourage cheating and promote a healthy mindset around learning, which students can carry with them after high school.
“We want to see a TJ which is not cheating,” Burke said, “and embracing the love of learning.”
Despite the sport being mixed, or perhaps because of it, girls’ wrestling has been growing in popularity
Combining moves, takedowns, and grapples, in the ring, wrestling is among the most intensely physical sports offered at any level. In spite of this, wrestling is one of the only sports in which boys and girls compete with each other.
The narrative around girls in wrestling has slowly been shifting, and though some critics will claim that co-ed wrestling isn’t fair, some partici-
pants of the sport beg to differ.
“I believe it’s good that [wrestling is] mixed. Some competitions, like states, are separate. But for us to get good experience, it is good to wrestle together. And if there’s a day where there could be co-ed states that would be amazing because it just gives everyone the experience they deserve. It also keeps people from saying that girls are weaker than the guys. There
are a lot of girls who could easily beat guys in wrestling. Wrestling is more than strength. It’s technique. It’s hard work,” freshman Jayelle Jones said.
Three members of the wrestling team, along with head coach Charles Phillips, were invited to speak on the DMV Download Podcast on WTOP News. They discussed topics ranging from the wrestling community to expectations on girls in the sport.
“[Being on the podcast] was actually really fun. It definitely got a lot more outreach for the girls. Sports for TJ is not really that big of a thing. Even though our motto is we’re here for the sports, we’re not really here. But it just was such a good opportunity to get to have our voices heard. Until other people know that girls wrestling is a thing, they should know that we are here to stay. And we’re here to grow,” Jones said. There are many aspects of competing when it comes to wrestling, and though it is all shown visually through tough battles in the ring, there is more than just that going on.
“I would describe [wrestling] as something that makes you very anxious to start doing. This is probably because it’s just so much work, but so much comes out of the work that you put in. It’s so fun. [We]
do so much when we do conditioning. We do team building exercises and we play wrestling games. And just overall it’s been probably one of the best sports experiences I’ve ever had, even though it’s really scary,” Jones said.
Though the prospect of wrestling can be intimidating, particularly for girls, Jones says that this shouldn’t be a deterrent.
“I would say that girls should join even if they’re scared. Even if you’re nervous that you won’t be able to do it, just try it because it does so much more for you than having a sport on your college application. It teaches you so much,” Jones said. “It builds your competence. It builds your time management. It builds your mental skill, your physical skill. You protect yourself and that’s one of the most important things.”
(Top) Jones stands ready before a wrestling match. “One of the advantages is honestly confidence. [Wrestling] tells you that you’re so much stronger than the institution that you’re in because of how separated it is, and being a part of it now, we get to be a part of how it’s growing. We get to be a part of the growth. Because this community is so small right now, it’s so tight knit,” Jones said.
PHOTO// TJ Media
(Right)
Senior Lauren Fisher, who recently switched to a flip phone, reads a book on a sunny day. tjToday asked Principal Ann Bonitatibus about the movement, “People are now acknowledging that there’s been an addiction. They’re thinking ‘I need to change something in my life’, and they’re taking the steps to do that,” Bonitatibus said. “It sounds like a very natural progression, and maybe a healthy one.”
Isthat a flip phone?” asks an enthusiastic student, as senior Lauren Fisher walks by, her Alcatel SmartFlip in full display. Fisher is one of a few Jefferson students who has recently switched to a flip phone in a bid to combat cell phone addiction.
of their relationship with their mobile devices.
Fisher switched to a flip phone after her iPhone broke last November, and she spent a few days without any phone at all.
“It kind of made me realize how nice it is not to be tethered to a phone,” Fisher said.
Fisher mentioned that many of the services people use from their smartphone can still be accessed from a laptop or other device.
“I can connect to Messenger and Instagram on my laptop. It made me realize that using a smartphone wasn’t essential to my life,” Fisher said.
The absence of a smartphone gives Fisher more control over when and where she uses social media. This has had positive ripple effects on her sleep.
“With the flip phone, I have the ability to check in and check out of Facebook,” Fisher said. “When I’m about to go to bed, I used to scroll on my phone for half an hour, even if it was 2am. I’ve definitely cut that habit which has been really nice.”
Like anything, giving up a smartphone is a tradeoff.
“It is more difficult to communicate,” Fisher said, “Just now, my friend told
me that she volunteered me for something I didn’t know about because I couldn’t get to the group chat”
At the same time, Fisher mentions that the fliphone is not as archaic as one may think.
“I was expecting flip phones to be pulled from 2002, but I’ve been surprised by how modern some of them are,” Fisher said. “It has YouTube. You can search the web. You can listen to music if you drive. It’s difficult enough to use that I don’t want to use it, but it’s there if I need [it].”
PHOTO// L. Ribeiro The movement to drop smartphones for flip phones has reached high schools around the country, as students gain greater awarenessUnlike Fisher, junior Yasmin Kudrati-Plummer has never had a smartphone. This experience has changed her view of the world around her.
“The reason I am the way I am is partially because I don’t have a [smart] phone,” Kudrati-Plummer said. “It’s not necessarily by choice, but it has definitely made me view the world through this lens that I don’t think many people will ever go through, living in a society where [the] entire world is online and where we feel more secure with our devices on.”
One situation where living smartphone-free makes a major impact is during awkward moments, where ‘ escaping into your smartphone’ has become a normalized behavior, despite its inconsiderate nature.
“I’ve noticed when an awkward conversation happens or a tiny awkward silence, the instinct of almost everyone is to pull out their phone immediately,” Kudrati-Plummer said. “I have to deal with awkward silences in ways a lot of other people don’t. I tend to try to continue the conversation, which is
Senior Liam Carey, who like Kudrati-Plummer has never had a smartphone, recognizes the barriers of the lifestyle but mentions that his experience has been very positive.
“[My parents] got me my first phone, a
very much a struggle. People don’t even realize they’re doing it because they do it so often.”
These repeated negative experiences sometimes led to longer-term frustra tions, especially when Kudrati-Plummer was younger.
“I remember being upset in the past when I had close friends go on their phones constantly,” Kudrati-Plummer said. “It became a problem for me be cause there’s nothing I can do to change the fact that people are addicted.”
Kudrati-Plummer mentions that despite the uncomfortable situations, the smart phone-free perspective has turned her into a better person.
“It’s definitely made me more mature,” Kudrati-Plummer said. “I don’t have a duty to my com puer in public settings.”
Kudrati-Plummer urges others to spend a day or two without a smartphone and be more cognizant of the uncomfortable situations smartphone use can create.
“If I had an iPhone and I took it away from myself, I’d notice I’m doing the things that are annoying [to those with-
school in junior year,” Carey said. “I live under a rock. A massive rock. But I’m totally fine with that because it means I’m not chronically online and I spend more time on things I actually enjoy doing, like being outside or playing piano
Outside of screen time differences, Carey mentions that ditching his smartphone provides a more keen sense of the
“I’m usually more concentrated. I like people watching and watching the scenery go by. I notice things about where I am—it makes me more observant,” Carey
Carey’s experience hints to another potential effect of ditching your smartphone: decreased social anxiety.
“It makes me more likely to reach
out to people in person, even though I have social anxiety, but I have to overcome that because I don’t have [constant] access to the internet and I think that’s a good thing,” Carey said.
While there are a few inconveniences from not having a smartphone, Carey, like Fisher, believes the tradeoff is worthwhile.
“There are times when people are trying to make a group chat and I can’t be added to it because my phone doesn’t work that way, so it does make [some situations] a little bit harder. But overall, it hasn’t been a great barrier. It connects me more than isolates me,” Carey said.
Carey believes everyone should experiment with the fliphone lifestyle.
“Absolutely switch. At least try switching because you never know what your life’s gonna be like,” Carey said.
Yasmin Kudrati-Plummer places a call on her Nokia. “If an awkward silence happens, [and] everyone pulls out their phone, my go to response is to try to initiate a further conversation. Occasionally, I’ll pull up my Nokia, just so I don’t feel left out,” Kudrati-Plummer said.
walk past Galileo, see cards spread across the tables, and hear the buzz of elderly volunteers among Jefferson students playing bridge. Jefferson’s Bridge Club hosts these volunteers weekly to teach students how to play bridge and grow as players.
“It’s a game that’s difficult, and you can spend years and years learning if you want to play well,” volunteer Catherine Bardsley said.
Despite its difficulty, bridge serves as a break from school and a fun challenge for Jefferson students during eighth period.
“I have come to Bridge Club since freshman year and it’s a good way to relax. It’s also the way to try and help you get your brain going after a long week of tests or useless classes. It’s nice to just play with friends and practice bridge,” club co-president Christopher Paonessa said.
Bridge’s main two components, bidding and card play, add an element of collaboration to the game. The game is played with two teams of two called “pairs,” where each partner is seated across from the other and works together to bid on and win as many hands as possible.
“It combines the elements of chess, where you play by yourself, and the elements of the partnership, so it’s much more social,” volunteer Stan Schenker said.
Through bridge, members of the club have made close friendships as they play together throughout their time at Jefferson, adding a unique dynamic to games.
by Anya RavalBridge Club’s volunteers use bridge to connect two generations through their love of the card game
“I’ve had the same partner since freshman year and we’ve become so close over the years. I’ll make a subtle gesture with my cards or I’ll bid something and he’ll immediately take it on,” Paonessa said.
Bridge itself only requires a standard deck of 52 cards and four players, making it an easily accessible game. Although it’s played less today, bridge was one of the most prevalent games throughout the 20th century.
“It’s just one of those things, in our culture, that goes through different waves of popularity, and it used to be very popular decades ago but it seems to have languished over the years,” Bardsley said. “Bridge had its heyday decades ago, but it’s such a good game that I would like to help foster enthusiasm in people who are younger than I.”
Through Bridge Club, volunteers hope to share their love and interest in bridge with students.
“This year, we have a lot more beginners, so I’m trying to instill in them the same enjoyment I get out of the game: that’s really important to me,” Schenker said.
Jefferson’s Bridge Club attracts students who are genuinely enthusiastic and interested in learning which adds extra enthusiasm to the volunteers.
“The appeal of TJ is this is obviously a pretty high caliber group of students and there's also a self-selected group. People have signed up for Bridge Club, so there's obviously some degree of interest and seems much more worthwhile than trying to get a group of students who may have a typical and average range of aptitudes,” Bardsley said.
The shared interest between the volunteers and students creates a collaborative environment.
“[The volunteers] also help organize the tournaments and they're just there to help play with other people who don't understand. I feel like they're the life of the club because they've taught everyone at one point or another,” Paonessa said.
Bridge Club gives students and volunteers a chance to connect with each
other, proving that bridge is a game for all age groups. For Jefferson students, the volunteers provide guidance and a chance to play against experienced players.
“They provide all the expertise that we need to actually continue playing. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't know half the tricks that I do about the game,” co-president Neel Sharma said.
During eighth period, volunteer Stan Schenker explains rules and strategy to students as part of Jefferson’s Bridge Club. The volunteers come every week during both blocks on Friday. “I’ve played bridge since my early teen years. I’ve enjoyed the game and I’d like to share it. I was also a substitute teacher for seven years in the Fairfax County system, so it was a good combination,” Schenker said.
When I first heard that this classic tale from my childhood was being turned into a horror movie, I was intrigued yet also amused. I found it funny that a harmless yellow bear could become an unrestrained murderer. And after watching the film, my feelings are the same. I found the movie to be comedic rather than horrifying.
The film poorly imitated other horror movies with none of its own unique, scary moments. For the majority of the movie, the two antagonists tied up, whipped, and choked their victims. While this is typical of a horror movie, viewers have already watched these scenes elsewhere and a good horror movie needs novelty to inflict fear. The only scary scene that could possibly count as unique was when the car ran over the girl’s head, as I have never seen that before. On top of solely imitating other movies, these
unoriginal, scary scenes were executed poorly. There were no jump scares to take the viewer aback or build up to a climactic moment.
Outside of the action, horror could have come from special effects or costumes. However, neither Pooh nor Piglet’s costume left a frightening image in the viewer’s mind. In fact, they looked more funny than scary. In addition, special effects were minimal. There were no creatures popping out like in the movie IT, or scary makeup, seen in movies like The Exorcist.
As for the plot, the plot was unrealistic and disconnected. No connection was established between Christopher Robin and the girls being attacked. If the characters were tied together, a more meaningful story could develop and engage the reader to follow the storyline. The story is also not realistic. The girl claims that Pooh has been following
In this scene, Pooh enters a car to run over a victim’s head. The mask creates a lone facial expression that makes it hard for Pooh to express emotions. The use of CGI in this scene would have allowed viewers to see
PHOTO// Fathom Events
her and a flashback is shown of him even entering her house, but he runs away? This would be very out of character considering that Pooh killed tens of other people and even fights off four guys at once.
There is also nothing suspenseful about the end of the film. It is unclear if the directors are setting the movie up for a sequel, but the movie just ends with Pooh killing the main girl and Christopher Robin running off. There is no game-changing twist in the plot at all.
The movie’s execution of action,effects, and costumes fall short and serve as a poor representation of a horror movie. While the movie is not unique nor scary, the idea is definitely a hit. There has been lots of hype and the movie will bring in plenty of views as people will be intrigued to see what happened to their childhood favorites.
A silhouete of Pooh is seen above. His transformation from a loving, yellow bear to a dark, knife-wielding figure can be seen. ILLUSTRATION// A. Kumar
passes you your test, your eyes immediately dart around the room, searching for your classmates' scores. The pressure to perform and the fear of falling behind is palpable, and it’s at this moment that the negative effects of comparing test results come into play.
You walk into your classroom after a test, eagerly awaiting results, only to find that you have fallen short of your expectations. The moment the teacher
From gas prices to tournament performances, comparison is a natural human tendency. However, when it comes to test and exam results among
students, this practice takes on a more sinister and potentially damaging tone.While some argue that comparing grades is a way to gauge performance and identify areas for improvement, the reality is that constant comparison has a devastating impact on a student's mental health and well-being.
“If you feel that you're in a cutthroat competitive environment, where you might go in every day and feel like you're
not as good as everybody else, that can be debilitating to you as a student,” Principal Dr. Bonitatibus said.
This effect has been observed in studies as well.
According to an American Psychological Association survey, students who regularly compare their grades to those of their friends are more likely to feel stressed, anxious, and have lower self-esteem.
Those who believe comparing test results is beneficial say it provides a way for students to assess their performance and find out where they need to improve. For example, a student who consistently performs better than their peers may feel motivated to maintain their high standards, while a student who consistently performs worse may be motivated to work harder and improve their grades.
Despite this argument, the negative effects of comparing test results are far more damaging and wide-reaching, and outweigh the positive ones. The solution, therefore, is to encourage students to focus on their own progress and development, rather than comparing themselves to others.
One approach to this is to urge students to adopt a growth mindset, which encourages them to view challenges as chances for personal development rather than as threats to their self-worth. By adopting a growth mindset, students are liberated from the burden of constant comparison to their peers and may instead concentrate on their own growth and development.
Ayesha Khan Staff Writer ILLUSTRATION// E. Fengtrack logo can give even more insight on the athletic prowess of the potential student. A bright yellow “student driver” labels the student as an upperclassman, while the addition of the class-specific license plate frame can narrow down the candidate into their respective grade level.
Should we change the Valentines Day we love so dearly?
Seeing the classic TJ bumper sticker anywhere outside of the school parking lot is an exhilarating experience. Knowing that somewhere in the car itself or the shopping center it's parked, a fellow classmate is present: another soul who knows and shares the same struggles of vectors, conics, and rotations.
The TJ bumper sticker is a perfect representation of the Jefferson name. The simplicity of its design highlights the recognition associated with our name; we don’t need flashy designs or eye-catching colors to draw attention. The letters speak for themselves.
Not only do the stickers tell a tale of struggle, but of interest and identity. A Jefferson sticker alongside a crew or
Although the sticker costs money, unless you are a member of the Class of 2024 who received a complementary sticker due to our delayed entry into the building two years ago, it could be worth it to your parents. Of all the merch options available, it definitely covers the most ground in terms of letting people know you go to Jefferson, the primary directive of several parents in the community.
Regardless of whether the decision to display the sticker was made by you, or forced by your parents, take pride in what it represents. Let all of the drivers on Braddock Road know that yes, you are in fact turning left into the school, and will be blocking the middle lane.
Not actually affiliated with the color, White Day, one month after Valentine’s Day, is a tradition in some Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, when people give return gifts to the people who gave them gifts on Valentine’s Day.
Insead of a grim history like Valentine’s Day’s, which was a feast celebrated by slaying and skinning animals before beating people with their pelts, White Day has corporate origins. Declared by Japan’s National Confectionary Industry Association in 1978, created out of a motivation to sell more chocolates.
The holiday in the east has a more antiquated charm to it, as girls tend to give gifts on Valentine’s Day, while boys return gifts in the next month. With Valentine’s Day in the west, however, both genders give gifts on the same day.
White Day extends the
length of the romantic season by a month, as it’s almost a societal expectation for people to return gifts in countries where White Day is celebrated. For certain people with enough rizz (as the youngsters call it), this may be beneficial to their purposes. However, for certain other people, the season for romance should be as short as they want to make it. Another aspect is the freedoms that our current Valentine’s day offers to us. Without obligations of a return gift, we have more freedom to receive gifts without consequences. Valentine's Day would be the preclude to the spring of our youth, a simple holiday not filled with tradition, but the hopes of establishing relationships. Different cultures have different holidays, but in a country that emphasizes freedom as much as America, perhaps introducing too much order would be counterintuitive to the spirit of the holiday. While an old-fashioned tradition of returning gifts would be nice, I prefer the freedom of the Valentine’s day we have now.
ChatGPT can be a useful tool for completing routine tasks, but students should hesitate to use the AI to produce work they call their own
Hello! I am ChatGPT, a language model developed by OpenAI. I was trained on a diverse range of internet text, so I can respond to a wide range of questions and carry out conversations on many topics. I am here to help answer any questions you may have, so feel free to ask me anything!”
Chat GPT is a new AI technology that can spout out code, emails, and five page essays within seconds. When it was first released to the public at the end of November, the AI immediately raised concerns for academic integrity. It can easily become a tool for students to cheat on papers and CS labs.
We acknowledge that Chat GPT can take menial tasks, such as emails, off of our workloads. Automation takes care of time-consuming tasks that we wouldn’t otherwise enjoy or learn from, without harming anyone in the process.
Chat GPT can also be a valuable resource when explaining complex topics. Its quick and concise answers, compared to scouring the web and opening dozens of links, have potential to speed up the learning process.
In that sense, we wish there was a way to separate its features: providing information and producing work. Even then, the knowledge Chat GPT passes on isn’t always accurate, making it easy for users to unknowingly
accept falsehoods as truth. On top of that, the AI doesn’t display the sources it uses to produce answers, so users don’t know where they’re getting their information from.
In response to Chat GPT, teachers are steering away from online assignments and moving towards presentations, oral tests, and in class essays on pen and paper. This far more hands on approach to demonstrating a student’s knowledge on a topic not only subverts the influence of Chat GPT, but also offers a more enriching payoff for the students in the long run.
As with all integrity violations, it’s important we empathize with the reasons why students feel a need to use Chat GPT to cheat. When we can’t seem to catch a breath in Jefferson’s never ending cycle of tests and deadlines, we’ll find any way to maximize sleep and social by doing the minimum amount of work required to receive the grade we’re happy with, even for mentally stimulating assignments.
Despite the short term benefit of creating work that can be turned in immediately, Chat GPT has been shown to produce writing of poor quality. Teachers, including those here at Jefferson, have managed to catch and discipline students who have used the AI due to the disjointed and off topic nature of its verbiage. Even if their work was not
caught, students wouldn’t receive good grades for this fabricated work due to the specificity of certain rubrics, and the AI’s inability to score full marks.
An occasional indulgence in the short term escapes offered by Chat GPT can snowball into a complete neglect of duties in certain classes. While it can be easy to develop tunnel vision toward many of the more rigorous STEM based classes, the fundamentals established from humanities courses are just as vital toward a more well rounded educational experience. One cannot simply delegate an entire portion of their curriculum to an AI without it reflecting on their constitution.
Chat GPT is by no means pointless. When used effectively, it has the potential to drastically improve the efficiency of our everyday lives. As part of this responsible use however, students must have a deep enough understanding of its consequences as to not let it compromise our educational experience, especially given the quality of classes here at Jefferson.
It was always my dream to go to TJ because they offer something that other highschools don’t. The extra rigor really pushes you to become the best you can. Compared to other high schools, you’re almost forced to try a lot harder; it definitely lives up to its name.
I’m really interested in biology. I’m looking to do the Biotechnology or the Neuroscience lab, but it still depends on how these three years go. I’m trying to get my history credit out of the way this year so I have more room for my other classes that I actually have an interest in.
I love planning courses. I made several four year plans for many different scenarios. I have gotten a lot of advice from upperclassmen. A lot of consulting with upperclassmen, asking what courses are which, what senior research labs do what, and about the overall impact or experience of TJ. That ultimately led to biology and chemistry.
I’m also really interested in Biology Olympiad; I study a lot for that. My 8th periods focus on biology and medical related topics like Biology Society, Medical Society, Biotechnology Club, and HOSA.
I’ve always asked upperclassmen what TJ was like, but now I’m here. I’ve always wanted to make a name for myself
