September 2017

BOUNCING BACK 6560 BRADDOCK RD. ALEXANDRIA, VA 22312

INTO THE

SCHOOL YEAR

A recap of the Back-to-School Bash and more start of school changes

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BOUNCING BACK

The Back-to-School Bash serves as an exciting start to the school year

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FIELDING IN A NEW YEAR

New sports facilities improve practices

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AN EARLY START The benefits and drawbacks of starting school early

SEPT. 14, 2017 || VOL 4 ISSUE 1 || www.tjtoday.org

THE MAGAZINE

IN-DEPTH ||4 A LOOK AT EVENTS FROM THE BACK-TO-SCHOOL BASH

TJTODAY

THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL FOR SCIENCE AND TECH || ALEXANDRIA, VA

CONTENTS 3 Remembering Mr. Cullen

NEWS NEWS

IN-DEPTH

4 Back-to-School Bash

NewsMAKERS

SCI AND TECH 6

Gender diversity

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Rise of the Rocket Girls

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New sports facilities

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Ultimate Frisbee recruitment

SPORTS

OPINION 10

EDITORIAL School before Labor Day

ENTERTAINMENT 11

Summer online article highlights

WHAT I'VE LEARNED 12

Senior Ray Wang

EDITORIAL BOARD Ankit Agrawal Katherine Du Angel Kim Adithi Ramakrishnan

Uzma Rentia Avni Singh Christine Zhao

SECTION EDITORS MiJin Cho

Alex Howe

BROADCAST EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Alexa Nguonly

Lynn Nguyen

STAFF REPORTERS Roja Ayyadurai Rena Cai Ashley Huang Sinha Joisha Photo courtesy of Name Irina Lee

Grace Mak Clay Reppert Sadhana Suri Prerak Thakkar

ADVISER Erinn Harris tjTODAY is the official newsmagazine of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology published by the journalism staff. 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.

Avni Singh and Christine Zhao || PRODUCTION AND INVESTIGATION EDITORS

BACKSTORY Beginning Aug. 28 of the 2017-2018 school year, Jefferson administration no longer allowed students to complete coursework for an online first period class in the dome. The change comes as a stricter enforcement of Jefferson’s online first period policy introduced in 2015 WHAT WERE SOME OF THE REASONS FOR THIS CHANGE IN ENFORCEMENT? Director of Student Services Brandon Kosatka: Student safety is of utmost priority. When a student is on campus, there are legal responsibilities that we have when students are entrusted to our custody. We want to make sure that students are adequately supervised and safe.

Parents entrust us to supervise and monitor students, so if students are here, we have to supervise them. Sitting in the dome is not adequate supervision. That said, students [who are] sitting in the dome to take an online class when there is an equally [or] more enriching opportunity for a classroom in the building, should be in classes with teachers, not sitting somewhere in the school taking an online class.

HOW HAS THE CHANGE AFFECTED YOUR COMMUTE? Senior Sneha Thandra: The commute to school is more difficult because If my parents want to drive me, they have to do it either later or earlier than the time I would usually get to school, and I don’t get time to work on the homework I would normally work on with my friends who also take online during that time.

NEWS || SEPT. 14, 2017

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DESIGN // Uzma Rentia

REMEMBERING MR. CULLEN Students and teachers remember Doug Cullen, who passed away on Sept. 3 PHOTO // Angel Kim Angel Kim || SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

BACKSTORY Junior Korrina Gidwani hosted a booth at the Sully Station II community festival on Aug. 26.

She demonstrated creating lava lamps in bottles to younger community members.

HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED WITH THE FESTIVAL? We found out about the Sully fair through newsletters. I reached out to and I worked with Ms. CeeCee [event coordinator] and the Sully Station II board to get the logistics down.

WHAT WAS YOUR PROCESS IN CHOOSING AN EXPERIMENT? I was thinking about doing lava lamps, slime or dancing gummy worms and I eventually chose lava lamps because it is a really hands on experiment; [participants] got to go through the process step by step, see the lava lamp that they created and see the actual reaction happening.

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT SHOWING SCIENCE TO YOUNGER PEOPLE IN YOUR COMMUNITY? I honestly loved seeing the kids smile and be all excited about the bubbles and the fizz in the bottle that they had created themselves and they seemed really interested with the science behind it. It just made me feel really good because I got to help the community and share my passion for science.

“He was really the epitome of what a teacher and mentor should be. He cared deeply for the success of everyone in his classes and the clubs he sponsored.

He was the kind of teacher who would stay for multiple hours after school to help you figure something out, or just to be the adult in the room when you needed more time to work on a club project the night before the competition.”

-Jasper Barnett ‘17

“It’s tough. I’ve lost one of my best friends, we’ve lost a colleague... Every time we met as a team was a great time. We had a lot of fun as a team. And so it’s rare that it’s just him, it’s usually all of us together. I remember sitting at football games with him. He coached the football team, but then he wasn’t a coach anymore, so I would go to games with him, and we’d sit together.”

-Dr. Shawn Stickler “There were many times in geosystems over the past year where Mr. Cullen did little things to make my life easier. He didn’t have to do any of that, but he did. If I could say one thing to him it would be, ‘Thank you for being so understanding.

It helped.’”

-Max Pabilonia ‘17

“I spent almost every lunch and 8th period in his room in the past few years and his incredible character will stay with me forever. He continuously inspires me and never fails to motivate me to do better. He always reminds me to strive for greatness and that failure is a vital part of learning and success. I’ve had so many memories with him, through the Aerospace Initiative club, and NOVAAR and National launches alike.”

-Joyce Liu, 11

“Mr Cullen really helped our club succeed and get to national finals two years in a row. He was always willing to go the extra mile - staying after school for hours, coming to every launch, and answering questions. Mr Cullen always encouraged each and every one of us to be our best selves, and I will always remember the life and leadership lessons he taught me.”

-Diana Zavela ‘17

For more remembrances, visit tjTODAY.org.

IN DEPTH

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1) Junior Jun Chong uses a Powerflo to cool himself off before the start of the football game against Capital Christian Academy.

2) Junior Ruben Ascoli participates in human foosball in the baseball field.

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NOW’S THE TIME TO 3) The Back-to-School Bash provided students with a variety of activities, including various moonbounces and tabletop games.

4) Attendees had access to food from multiple food trucks, including DC Slices.

5) The football team huddles together before the first kickoff of the game on Sep. 8.

6) From left to right: counselor Alexa Scott, principal Ann Bonitatibus, and counselor Kacey McAleer eat together while talking with other faculty and family members.

BOUNCE BACK Background: Senior Medhini Rachamallu laughs as she exits one of the bouncy houses provided at the Back-to-School Bash

IN-DEPTH || SEPT. 14, 2017

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The Back-to-School Bash brings students together to have fun and celebrate as school starts once again For more photos from the event, check out tjTODAY.org DESIGN AND PHOTOS // Ankit Agrawal

SCI TECH

The Great Divide

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xtrapolating from the 2018 to 2021 class statistics, incoming Jefferson classes consistently tend to be composed of around 60 percent males and 40 percent females. The gender disparity at Jefferson becomes even more apparent when looking at gender distributions in STEM elective courses and research labs. According to senior Katie Richmond, a classroom environment where males dominate the conversation can cause females to gravitate away from sciences such as physics and math towards humanities and biology. ““Starting at a young age, guys naturally have the tendency to be louder, they’re far more of a presence, so then girls kind of get pushed off to the side. In the humanities and biology, it’s more of an inviting environment for girls, because they can share their opinion and whatnot without being spoken over, whereas the hard sciences, it is the confidence that the boys developed earlier that helps them there.,” Richmond said.

Richmond adds that a research lab with a history of being more female-dominated may attract a larger number of girls to its field. ““For TJ, if [the research lab] has the reputation of being girlcentered, it might draw more girls into it anyway,” Richmond said.

“For the engineering labs, it’s the girls that are really into it that stick

with it, whereas for bio, there might be more girls because there are already a lot of girls, so they kind of flock together.”

Junior Eric Sun, however, attributes the gender gap to the volume of each gender that demonstrate interest in those fields.

“There doesn’t seem to be a clear cut reason for why there are so many high number of girls that are pursuing, for example, biology,” Sun said. “It might simply just simply be more interest for people to pursue those fields.”

For Sun, a lower ratio of males in biology is unexpected and doesn’t cause any issues in the classroom or in the lab.

“If there’s only a few guys in biotech and I was one of them and there [are] much more girls in the class, I don’t think that would be a problem,” Sun said. “I just simply think that the biggest problem would be somebody incorrectly choosing to take that class when they don’t really like it.”

Even as statistics show a signifance in the gender ratio within the Jefferson classes and labs, individual students will continue to be supported in their STEM-related endeavors.

Computer Systems

Biotechnology

Boys 60.20%

Girls 39.80% 2018

Neuroscience

Mobile Design and Web Apps

2019

Automation and Robotics

Boys 55.40%

Girls 40.60%

Girls 40.00%

Boys 60.00%

Oceanography and Geophysical Systems

2020 2021 Girls 40.60%

Chemical Analysis

Quantum Physics and Optics Quantum Physics and Optics

Boys 59.40%

Prototyping and Engineering Materials

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Microelectronics Microelectronics

EnergySystems Systems Energy

Engineering Design Lab Data courtesy: Alex Gurung and Neil Thistlethwaite

SCI-TECH || SEPT. 14, 2017

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verall, my experience as the only girl in the Quantum research lab can be summed up in four words: Dudes are pretty chill. My friends can tell you that I tend to have a lot of guy friends anyways, so being in a research lab with only four male counterparts isn’t too far from the norm for me. Aside from good company, the best part about the lab so far is that I really feel no difference between myself and the guys.

Most days, I don’t even notice that I’m the only girl in the room (aside from Dr. Luo, of course). Traditionally, physics

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is widely known as a heavily male-dominated field (exhibit A: the TJ physics department), but at TJ I’ve felt nothing but support and encouragement from both peers and teachers to follow my scientific passions wherever they take me. I can’t imagine a better environment to conduct my first physics-based research project than in a laboratory where men and women can be seen as equal contributors to any scientific discussion

SENIOR

ALYNNE CUTLER

Photo courtesy of Gopika Rajanikanth

The Rise of the Rocket Girls: Book Review Roja Ayyadurai || STAFF WRITER

At the end of eighth grade, I was faced with the dread of summer reading. But “Rise of the Rocket Girls” by Nathalia Holt, an inspirational title about the process of space travel from female computers point of view couldn’t be so bad, right?

Wrong. After completing only the first chapter, I found that the book was confusing and uninteresting.

Rise of the “Rocket Girls” is told in four parts: the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s to present time. The book focused on seven main characters, but also featured many different side characters. Some characters include Barbara Canright, a young woman attempting to balance her home life and long hours of computing at JPL and NASA; Macie Roberts, a naive newcomer trying to follow her passions of math and science; and Helen Ling, an extremely intelligent Chinese immigrant also battling priorities of love and career. These women and more are brought together first at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where they help create the first American ballistic missiles, send probes to the moon and launch ships furthering space exploration. The book focuses on revealing the women in the control room behind several monumental discoveries in space.

The vast amount of characters and intertwining stories made “Rise of the Rocket Girls” rather confusing. It was weirdly difficult coming back to the book after a day of not reading and trying to remember what was happening. The story jumped back and forth from time periods and settings too many times. Because there were

so many characters, I felt as though Holt wasn’t able to build a strong emotional connection between the readers and characters.

Despite the book’s confusion, I did find Nathalia Holt’s story of female scientists finding a way to do what they love no matter what inspiring, to say the least. However, I would not recommend “Rise of the Rocket Girls” because the overall confusion outweighs the inspirational story.

Barbara Paulson, one of the women feautured in the Rise of the Rocket Girls, talks into a microphone during an interview.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr user John Pemble.

SPORTS

FIELDING IN A NEW YEAR New turf field provides benefits to field hockey and marching band Photo courtesy of Suemin Yang

Jefferson’s varsity football team plays its first home game against George Mason High School on a field newly upgraded with turf.

Irina Lee and Grace Mak || STAFF WRITERS

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New teachers. New classes. New friends. The traditional hallmarks of a new school year are now joined by another: new turf field. It might take a backseat to the whirlwind of work and stress stacking up, but the recently-opened turf field represents a long-awaited reprieve from tedious bus rides and unnecessary strain for marching band, football, and field hockey teams.

In previous years, field hockey teams, greatly limited in their training due to a lack of space, were forced to travel to different high schools and parks to train.

With precious minutes lost on the road, the efficiency of each practice took a blow.

The team also suffered from a decrease in access to valuable equipment.

“When you practice on grass all the time, your feet get really tired. [The new fields] feel a lot smoother and softer, as there aren’t just clumps of grass lying around,” sophomore Aarushi Tripathy and color guard member said. “There’s a lesser tendency of tripping and it just feels a lot nicer to the feet.”

Grass fields had put Jefferson at a disadvantage in the past, as many other Fairfax County Public Schools “[The effect of the (FCPS) high schools had turf fields of their turf field] is definitely own.

positive. I think the team now is improving more than last year.”

“Having turf at TJ levels out the playing field as all of our district opponents have turf fields,” Jefferson’s Activities Director, Rusty Hodges, said.

With the advantages of turf over regular grass fields, sports teams believed that their performance would improve from -Sophomore Anne practicing and playing on a superior surface.

Shen Enthusiasm mounted this season as the turf field gave teams increased training opportunities and the chance to play at a higher level.

The introduction of the turf field provided immediate As there have been several upgrades to Jefferson’s sports benefits to fall sports teams. Turf, artificial grass made up of equipment and facilities, students felt that a more positive synthetic fibers and a mixture of sand and rubber fragments, message about Jefferson sports began spreading. requires much less maintenance. In addition, sports teams “[These upgrades] might motivate more people to join, and and extracurricular activities found that the new playing make practices easier overall,” Shen said. “[The effect of surface helped alleviate the strain caused by practicing on the the turf field] is definitely positive. I think the team now is original grass fields, a problem faced by Jefferson’s marching improving more than last year.” band and color guard in previous years.

“Last year, I guess there wasn’t that much available since we were in a different place instead of TJ,” sophomore Anne Shen and Junior Varsity field hockey team member said, speaking of limited access to water jugs, balls and goals.

DESIGN // Rena Cai

SPORTS || SEPT. 14, 2017

GOING FOR A SPIN

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Ultimate Frisbee gears up for a new season Adithi Ramakrishnan and Uzma Rentia || EDITORS

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s the first weeks of school roll by, and recruitment season arrives in full swing, one sports team doesn’t set up booths and print flyers. One team doesn’t contact the finance office for information about jersey purchase.

Instead, one team posts one thrilling picture: an image of a group of students in loose grey jerseys and red shorts, green field just behind them, a frisbee held triumphantly in the hands of a player at the picture’s center. This is Ultimate Frisbee, and one picture is all they need.

Since Ultimate Frisbee is neither a VHSL sport nor a club at Jefferson, the team members contribute funds for jerseys and league registration. The Ultimate Frisbee team held an interest meeting on Aug. 30 and is recruiting members for its 2017-18 season.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Shen

“They’re working on [making it an official sport].

[If we] make it either a club or official sport then there have to be buses and stuff like that and it becomes a little different. We’ll see if it actually comes to fruition.”

-Coach Jared Seyler

Coach Jared Seyler gives advice to team members before they resume gameplay. Seyler has been coaching the team for three years.

Junior Daniel Shen gives an Ultimate Frisbee tournament his all. Shen enjoys playing Ultimate due to the competitive and cooperative atmosphere; he is also interested in pursuing a club team in college.

School rock painted for TJ VOLLEYBALL’S DETERMINATION the volleyball season

Ankit Agrawal || PHOTO EDITOR

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s buses enter the school from Braddock Road, students find the painted rock representing the volleyball team’s enthusiasm for their season. The team spent an hour on Aug. 23 using Colonial colors to share their team spirit, as they hope to have “2017” placed on the volleyball banner in Gym 1 for a “Banner Year” and beat their 5-10 record from

last year. “It is our goal this season to win the conference championship,” volleyball Coach Helen Alexander said. “#banneryear TJVB varsity has a large senior class, with several strong players, and an experienced junior class. We talk everyday about our season goal, and how our daily performance inches us closer and closer to winning that banner.”

From left to right: the front of the rock painted by the TJVB team, standing on the lawn at the entrance of the school; a different side of the painted rock.

Photo courtesy of Ankit Agrawal

OPINION LEAD EDITORIAL

STARTING SCHOOL EARLY Is beginning school before Labor Day truly as bad as it seems?

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n Dec. 1, 2016, all students’, parents’ and teachers’ eyes turned to an article posted on Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) website. Some gasped with thinly-veiled horror. Others sighed with visible relief. Regardless of the reaction, WKH ÀQDO RXWFRPH ZDV WKH VDPH )&36 VWXGHQWV DQG WHDFKHUV ZRXOG EH going back to school before Labor Day for the 2017-2018 school year.

Eight months later and a few weeks into the school year, students and teachers seem to have adjusted to the shorter summer and shifting schedule.

But the essential TXHVWLRQ UHPDLQV ZDV the early start worth it?

DESIGN // Rena Cai

From a practical standpoint, starting school before Labor Day makes sense. FCPS mentioned in its initial Dec. 1 article that the decision was made “to provide more instructional time before winter break.�

Snow days often upset teachers’ schedules in the early months of the year, leaving less time to study for Advanced Placement (AP) exams in May. Ironically, after AP exams, many students are left in classes with their curriculum completely covered, spending the last month and a half of school in limbo when they could have used the time to study had it been available with an early start to school.

Since school has started before Labor Day, teachers have a little extra time to factor into curriculum schedules, and there is slightly less school time after AP exams.

There are downsides Granted, an extra week to FCPS’ decision. A to soak in the last days of start before Labor Day summer would not leave and a late end to the Photo courtesy of Ankit Agrawal. The electronic school sign at the front of the building anyone complaining.

But, previous school year LV WKH ͤUVW WR JUHHW LQFRPLQJ VWXGHQWV DW WKH EHJLQQLQJ RI WKH \HDU all factors considered, the meant a shorter summer EHQHÀWV RI DQ HDUO\ VWDUW WR VFKRRO RXWZHLJK WKH SLWIDOOV ,I WKDW ZDVQ¡W -- less time to unwind and relax after a stressful school year. The convincing enough, shorter summer made it more challenging for families to coordinate keep in mind that an n and schedule vacations, especially with students facing internships earlier start spells out t and summer school during late June and early July. The early start DQ HDUOLHU ÀQLVK WKH DOVR PHDQW WKDW WKH ÀUVW GD\ RI VFKRRO $XJ ZDV DQ DQFKRU GD\ ear instead of a blue day; the end of the day found many students lugging 2017-2018 school year ends on June 15, and da textbooks from all seven of their classes home in their sagging two-week winter break akk backpacks. It was overwhelming to cycle through an entire schedule is steadily approaching. ng g.

RQ WKH ÀUVW GD\ EDFN IURP D WZR PRQWK EUHDN There are plenty By the second week, however, the advantages of starting early of upcoming EHFDPH PRUH HYLGHQW :KLOH WKH ÀUVW GD\ ZDV RYHUZKHOPLQJ WKH opportunities to catch ch 45-minute classes were more manageable to get through as opposed up on that lost week to 90-minute ones from a post-Labor-Day start. Getting through a of sleeping in. ÀYH GD\ VFKRRO ZHHN ULJKW RII WKH EDW ZDV QRW LGHDO EXW WKH UHZDUG RI a three-day weekend served as the light at the end of the tunnel. All in all, the early start was a much-needed ease-in to the new school year.

ENTERTAINMENT ENTERTAINMENT || SEPT. 14, 2017

SUMMER FUN

Entertainment students enjoyed over summer break Angel Kim and Sadhana Suri || ENTERTAINMENT, STAFF WRITER

Riverdale

“It was action-filled and mysterious while still being realistic and relatable to us high school students.”

-Evan Williams, 10

Outliers Malcolm Gladwell

GRAPHIC // Angel Kim

“It focuses on details that nobody really pays attention to but actually have a big impact on your performance.”

-Mounika Chilukuri, 12

Dunkirk

Despacito Luis Fonsi feat. Daddy Yankee

“The different perspectives shown by the film brought the history to life.”

“I enjoyed the fact that I could understand the lyrics since I take Spanish as my foreign language.”

-Benjamin Xu, 11

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DESIGN // Angel Kim

summer superheroes GRAPHIC // Sadhana Suri

Spiderman: Homecoming Wonder Woman Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 Logan

-Alexis Echano, 10

Photo courtesy of graphicriver.net photo courtesy of imdb.com photoillustrations by Sadhana Suri

DESIGN // KATHERINE DU

WHAT’S ON THE LINE? Catching up on summer blog articles at tjtoday.org GRACE MAK, SNEHA JOISHA, IRINA LEE || STAFF WRITERS

Summertime Sadness: Baking with Anxiety

This blog looks at living life with constant sadness and fear in the summertime.

It provides an in depth look at the thoughts running through the writer’s head as she bakes.

Readers will find that this narrative helps them better understand the challenges that come with having anxiety and depression.

Summer travels to Turkey

The writer offers a unique perspective on her travels to Turkey, specifically Istanbul. She includes eleven photographs about different landmarks, such as the Hagia Irene and the Tower of Justice.

Photos detail her living experience, sightseeing, and shopping. Most of these landmarks are accompanied by historical information as well.

Taking those headphones out

One article in this blog tells the story of a man who had initiated an insightful conversation with the writer on a metro ride. It provides a discussion on the unexpected in life and closes with the thought that one should be open to change. Readers will find this an inspiring read that allows them to stop and reflect on their hopes for the future.

PHOTO // Alexa Nguonly REPORTING // Alexa Nguonly DESIGN // Avni Singh

“

Since I’m still pretty young, I am more likely to make bad decisions.

[MY PARENTS] HAVE MUCH MORE EXPERIENCE THAN ME SO THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO GIVE ME ADVICE AND HELP ME. I think eventually the roles are switched, like my mom and dad help my grandma a lot.

My parents taught me that I CAN ALWAYS DO IT IF I TRY. I had a friend that was really good at biology and I told them about him. They told me that I “You can be just as good, so don’t thinkof him as THAT good.”

[Comparing yourself to others] shouldn’t have a major role in your life. It is not okay when you feel like everybody is better than you and there is nothing you can do about it. THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING YOU’RE GOOD AT. Maybe you didn’t find it yet.

”

FRESHMAN

REEVU ADAKROY

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WHAT I' VE LEARNED