December 2018

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

TJTODAY DEC. 21, 2018 || VOL 4 ISSUE 4 || www. tjtoday.org

THE MAGAZINE

WE ARE

HUNGRY

A photo issue on hunger and what it means to us.

CONTENTS EDITORIAL BOARD Editors-in-Chief MiJin Cho Sabria Kazmi Online Managing Editor Shruthi Nyshadham

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Hungy for Food A photo essay on the impact of food

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BROADCAST EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

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Lynn Nguyen

TEAM LEADERS Justin Chang Pratika Katiyar Irina Lee Grace Mak

STAFF WRITERS Anushka Molugu, Tanya Kurnootala, Nehal Chakraborty, Jordan Lee, Forrest Meng, Anuj Khemka, Zia Sun, Rose Du, Chabeli Yumang, Sarah Wang, Vasav Nair, Alice Ji, Vikram Achuthan, Sid Ram, Sonia Kanchan, Antonio Martin

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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.

12 Features 12

Hungry to Learn

Photo essay on the passion for knowledge around the school

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Hungry to Win

The Experts Take a Look

The photography class’s interpreation of “hungry“

Photo essay on the basketball team

Opinion 20

Not so Hungry

Photo essay on what students do during lunch besides eat

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Faking the Photo

Lead editorial on the impact of photo editing

CONTENTS AND ADS || DEC 21 03

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FOOD LOCKERS: YES OR NO?

Submit a Letter to the Editor WHY WRITE A LETTER?

JEFFERSON ADMIN AND ALUMNI MET WITH AMAZON

• You want to speak out.

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Letters should be no more than 300 words, refer to a specific article, and include the writer’s full name and email address.

HOW DO I WRITE A LETTER? • Visit www.tjtoday.org.

• Select “Get in Touch’ on the top menu.

• Select “Submit a Letter to the Editor.”

• Fill out the form and click submit.

Hungry for

Food The role of food in our lives is greater than just a means of satisfying our physical necessities. It defines our experiences, our memories, our culture.

MAKES US

FEEL

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COVER STORY || DEC 21, 2018 07

1. AS PART OF THE CLASSICAL CONDITIONING ACTIVITY in Mrs. Muir’s AP Psychology class, senior Atharv Gupta and his classmates put spoonfuls of lemonade powder in their mouths. The lemonade powder has a bad taste and is difficult to eat. “By the end, I was actually able to feel my mouth respond to the [teacher’s] command even if I wasn’t taking a bite of the powder,” Gupta said. 2. ONE OF THE PARTICIPANTS in AP Psychology’s classical conditioning activity, junior Steven Jia put spoon after spoon of lemonade powder in his mouth.

The sour taste is meant to be associated with a verbal stimulus to incite a response in the student. “At first the sourness was energizing but as I ate more it got kind of nauseating,” Jia said. 3. SHARING DESSERTS is common for seniors Olivia Johannson

and Jenny Pruitt. Johannson brings treats for her friends because she knows others will do the same for her. “It’s like mutually assured dessert, [It’s] something that can brighten my day if I’m feeling down.” 4.

WHILE HOLDING A NUTTER BUTTER CRACKER, junior Angeli Mittal has a conversation with her friend junior Joey Mecherikunnel.

Nutter Butter offers Mittal a tasty snack and the required nutrition for her specific diet.

“Nutter Butter is one of my favorite snacks.

I think it’s the saltiness of the cracker with the peanut butter that makes it taste really good,” Mittal said. 5. LUNCH IS ALL ABOUT HANGING OUT with friends for junior Shri Ramanujam. Her friends often share food with one another. “Food makes me feel generous because my friends always end up taking mine,” Ramanujam said.

PHOTOS // Sid Ram

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1. AT THE TURING COMMONS STAIRCASE on Dec. attend. “I could’ve finished my work the night before 10, freshmen Nora Fareeha, Jonathan Lee, Franco but didn’t and probably went because of food.”

Scartascini and Chiraag Govind eat lunch. For many 3. IN THE TURING COMMONs on Dec. 15, junior students, lunch is a welcome break where they can Hannah Lee prepares food for a work day. eat and socialize. “Foods from all different cultures The work day was an opportunity for students in affect who and what we associate people with and journalism and yearbook to catch up on projects, so in turn food helps you know a little bit about each socialize and eat. “I personally need to snack quite and every person you meet.” Franco said. 2. DURING often to stay focused and on task” Hannah said. “I’d A JOURNALISM AND YEARBOOK WORK DAY on Dec. say having food at work day was a huge motivator 15, in the Turing Commons, Cynthia Wu makes hot for going because otherwise, you could obviously chocolate. A few dozen students came to the work just finish your work at home.” day, and food was a factor in motivating people to

COVER STORY || DEC 21, 2018 09

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4 4. DURING A BAKE SALE on Dec. 7, 2018, Spanish Honor Society (SHS) member Tiffany Parise serves ice cream to students. Dozens of students gathered at the Nobel Commons to purchase brownies and ice cream.

“Continuing a tradition from last year, we sold brownies and ice cream,” Tiffany said. “The officers and I were very grateful that so many students supported the Spanish Honor Society by purchasing something from our bake sale. It’s always nice to share a treat with our friends.”

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BRINGS US

TOGETHER PHOTOS // MiJin Cho and Ananda Kalukin

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GIVES US

PURPOSE PHOTOS // Mijin Cho 1. WHILE POURING VEGETABLE OIL into a measuring cup, senior Anna Thamasett carefully measures out the amount she needs to bake the cake mug. Thamasett enjoys baking and frequently baked with her family in making traditional holiday foods. “I used to always bake with my mom. We have a few holiday recipes we make like stollen bread,” Thamasett said. 2.

USING A MEASURING CUP, Thamasett slowly adds water to the cake mix and prepares to whisk the ingredients together to create a bowl of cake batter.

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COVER STORY || DEC 21, 2018 11

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3. AFTER WHISKING ALL INGREDIENTS, Thamasett prepares to finally bake the cake mug as she pours the batter into the mug she will use in the final bake. 4. READY TO START BAKING, Thamasett cracks open an egg into the bowl where she will mix all the ingredients together to make her cake mug. Though Thamasett never made a cake mug before, she’s baked plenty of other sweets numerous times for various occasions . “I mostly bake cupcakes and cookies.

I actually bake cupcakes whenever someone in my marching band section has a birthday,” Thamasett said. 5. WITH ALL INGREDIENTS IN THE BOWL, Thamasett whisks until the cake batter is ready to bake. For many, including Thamasett, baking is more than just creating something sweet to eat. Food gives us purpose.

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SPORTS

FEATURE || DEC 212018 13

PHOTOS// Nehal Chakraborty, Tanya Kurtoonala, Anushka Molugu

Jefferson students are hungry for knowledge. Whether teaching or learning, the transfer of knowledge spreads through classrooms, art rooms, and commons. This photo essay captures learning beyond classrooms and worksheets and explores the nature of unconventional projects and learning environments.

SPORTS

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1. PAINTING IN ART CLUB, senior Naman as positive as possible, and that the Shah explores more non-traditional little things, like holiday parties and fun ways of learning. “I started painting events, truly do matter,” Kaur said. 5. pretty recently, so everything I’m doing SENIOR BRENNA COURTNEY tutors another is completely new to me. It really pushed student at the writing center. “Tutoring me to experiment with ideas and try at the writing center definitely surprised as many different things as possible to me in that at first I didn’t think it was create something I enjoy. I love exploring something I could do. It really helped me and with painting I get a lot of freedom verbalize positive [and] negative qualities to do that,” Shah said. 2. IN TOMORROW’S of writing, because sometimes we think WOMEN FOR TECHNOLOGY (TWIST), that everything is totally intuitive and you sophomore Alexis Echano experiments can’t break things down into steps, when with colored pencils by poking a Ziploc that’s really not true,” Courtney said. 6. bag filled with water. “Going to TWIST SOPHOMORE RASHAD PHILIZAIRE teaches is one of my favorite parts of the week the BSU step routine to sophomores because we get to explore ideas in a Tiffany Ji, Arjun Aggarwal, and Andy Cao fun, casual setting such as this one during an 8th period practice. They are instead of following exact, monotonous preparing for iNite and are practicing the directions for a lab report,” Echano said. choreographyt. “We were practicing the 3. JUNIOR JON RECTA, and sophomores walkout for Black Student Union iNite. It’s Srikar Gouru and Ronith Reddy work the step where we walk onto the stage on communication with a simulated [and we are] stomping, snapping, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) in the clapping,” Philizaire said. 7. TO PREPARE Automation & Robotics lab during 8th FOR THEIR UPCOMING MATH 4 TEST on period. “We’re bringing our UAV to an vectors, a group of students team up international competition called AUVSI- during an 8th period study hall to go over SUAS,” Recta said. 4. SOPHOMORES practice problems. “It was very interesting GURLEEN KAUR, Anna Chung, and Eban because I had to teach my friends but Ebssa make paper snowflake decorations also learn from them. I was trying to find during an 8th period meeting of TJ Minds answers to my questions while answering Matter. “Being part of Tj Minds Matter has other people’s questions,” sophomore taught us a lot about the importance of Alan Zhang said. trying our best to keep the environment

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Photos courtesy of Nehal Chakraborty, Tanya Kurnootala, Jordan Irina Lee, Forrest Meng, and Anushka Mo

n Lee, olugu.

FEATURE || DEC 21 2018 15

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HUNGRY

FEATURE || DEC 21, 2018 17

TO WIN Basketball at Jefferson reflects a sense of behindthe-scenes unity that can be seen behind-the-scenes, especially through the boys Junior Varsity team. The little things add up, and out comes a team that is hungry to win.

PHOTO// Pratika Katiyar

PHOTO// Sonia Kanchan

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PHOTO// Pratika Katiyar

PHOTO// Antonio Martin

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PHOTO// Antonio Martin

PHOTO// Antonio Martin 1. BEFORE BEGINNING THEIR GAME AGAINST WAKEFIELD, the junior varsity boys gather around Coach Mark Travis, who plays a vital role in shaping the team. Their huddles usually comprise of chanting “Jefferson” before dispersing onto the court, and discussing game time tactics. “Coach Travis constantly pushes us to be better. He constantly helps to improve parts of a our game by giving great criticism, while encouraging on positive plays and areas of our skill sets,” Junior Ben Schuman, one of the captains, said. “Coach Travis is responsible for a large part of the success we encounter as a result of our hard work and determination going into each and

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GRIND

every one of our games,” 2. DURING SHOOTING PRACTICE, multiple players attempt to get their ball in the net, while under the guidance of their coaches. Head Coach, Mark GrayMendes played basketball for Jefferson, as part of the class of 2003, and truly loves being a coach. When asked about the junior varsity team, Gray-Mendes said, “I think my favorite part of that group is how much they enjoy being around each other. They had a tough season last year as freshman, but I have to give them a ton of credit, because a lot of them took the time in the offseason to show up to work outs with our older guys and to use those opportunities to get

better.” 3. DURING A SCRIMMAGE BETWEEN JEFFERSON’S FRESHMAN AND JUNIOR VARSITY TEAM, sophomore Abhirama Rachabattuni attempts to block a shot, with Coach Travis watching in the background. These such scrimmages are an opportunity for coaches to provide constructive criticism for all their players, and is a nice way to allow the teams to intermix. Additionally, it shows the team’s determination and effort, because though they do not win every game, in the end the team comes out strong. “Being at TJ, winning means that people don’t usually expect us to win. Then when we do, it’s a nice feeling, because they’re shocked,” Rachabattuni said.

FEATURE || DEC 21, 2018 19

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PHOTO// Pratika Katiyar

Doesn’t stop 4. IN HOPES OF SCORING AGAINST WAKEFIELD, sophomore Rakesh Pillai drives the ball down the court. During the first quarter of the game against Wakefield High School, Jefferson was playing a tight game, but that didn’t waiver the team’s determination. In fact, it forced the team members to work even harder and collaborate more effectively. “It’s all about the dynamics, [it] is so much fun. We’re all super close; every day before practice, we have two hours to just chill out. So, we learn a lot about each other,” Pillai said. 5. IN EFFORTS TO SCORE AGAINST THE FRESHMAN TEAM, sophomore Jaatani Abdi gets ready to take a shot. In the background are sophomore

players Abhirama Rachabattuni, and Brian Jacob, providing support. “Jaatani is a loud player and has a lot of energy when he plays.

He’s also a lot of fun when he’s on the court,” close friend and teammate, sophomore Rakesh Pillai said. 6. TO START OFF THE GAME AGAINST WAKEFIELD, sophomore Caden Phillips participates in the tip-off. The rest of the team in the background, including junior Alex Song, sophomore Ian Gresenz, and sophomore Kunal Nakka, are awaiting whether or not Jefferson will gain possession of the ball. For Phillips, and several other members of the team, basketball is not just a sport or competition, but it’s about family.

PHOTO // Grace Mak

NOT SO

HUNGRY

Sometimes, lunchtime isn’t all about the food. From cramming for tests to dancing the stress away, there’s plenty to do when hunger hasn’t kicked in yet.

FEATURE || DEC 21, 2018 21

1. SENIOR RHEA NANDRA returns the ball during the SGA-organized ping pong tournament. Nandra views lunch as more than just a chance to eat and uses it to relax, study, and engage in new activities like the tournament. “I was talking to Sasha, my partner, and we both wanted to do something kind of fun. We knew this was our senior year, so this was our last chance,” Nandra said. 2.

IN GALILEO COMMONS, sophomore Nathan Stephenson casually leans back onto his feet as he practices for Urban Dance Movement’s iNite act. Movement allows Stephenson to focus on himself before starting the rest of the school day. “Hip hop is a way to express myself and dive into finding who I am. What better way than through iNite to dance and have fun in school?” Stephenson said. 3. SPINNING A RIFLE, junior Jane Wang practices for color guard in the auditorium. Along with fellow guard members, Wang recently learned a new show for the winter season. “It’s [color guard] definitely hectic, but I think it’s worth it,” Wang said. 4. TEN MINUTES BEFORE A TEST, juniors Robyn Chang, Isabelle Deng, and Lavanya Nawlakhe cram with their phones and computers. The trio always study during lunch. “[We study] everything; physics, math, and DNA science mainly. We help each other with whatever we have homework or a test on,” Nawlakhe said. 5. JASHWANTH PUVVADI, Ethan Reynolds, Amit Krishnaiyer, and Sai Chandra (right to left) play caps, a popular card game at TJ, in Newton commons. For these freshmen, playing caps is a way of relieving stress from school.

“You can’t be thinking about your bio grade if you’re playing caps” Krishnaiyer said. 6. SOPHOMORE ALEX SUH STANDS WITH HIS VIOLIN during a lunch practice for the holiday concert. Suh is often in the orchestra room practicing during lunch. “Lunch is a really great way to practice with other people because some people live so far away that you can’t do that over the weekend or after school,” Suh said. 7. ON HER LAPTOP, senior Vivian Nguyen plans for JNHS during lunch in the Japanese classroom. For her, lunch is a time to work on her clubs. “All the tiny details, from the Japanese calligraphy team choreography to figuring out who’s cooking chicken for yakisoba are worked out in between meals,” Nguyen said.

PHOTOS // Rose Du, Anuj Khemka, Grace Mak, Zia Sun, Chabeli Yumang

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FEATURE || DEC 21, 2018 23

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EXPERTS

THE TAKE A

Students in the photography class capture “hunger“

LOOK

PHOTO // Caitlin Sughrue

“LOVE”

“HUNGER”

“REACHING FOR THE GOLD” PHOTO // Aarushi Tripathy

PHOTO // Rohan Arora

FEATURE || DEC 21, 2018 25

“OUR PROMISE” PHOTO // Anagha Bandaru

“FEED ME! “

PHOTO // Michelle Pham

LEAD EDITORIAL:

FAKING PHOTO THE

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n 1994, both Time and Newsweek published a mugshot of OJ Simpson on the cover of their magazines, only the photos were shockingly different. Time had darkened OJ Simpson’s skin and the surrounding background of the photo. They claimed the artistic interpretation was meant to show the tragedy of the case, but many considered the edited photo racist. Twentyfour years later, photo editing is still widely practiced in popular magazines and the controversy remains heated.

There are different types of photo editing, varying from simply changing the brightness to completely changing the shape of a person’s body. When a photo becomes edited beyond what could have been done through a different setting on a camera, we consider the photo artistic interpretation, and no longer something that can be claimed as a real photo. If a photo in a magazine is edited to this point, it should be stated.

Publications, especially news magazines, should be telling the truth not only with the words they write, but also with the documentation they provide, including all photos.

common chronic disease among youth is anorexia. There are extremely impressionable individuals looking at magazines and comparing themselves to the people in them.

It is unhealthy to have youth, and anyone else for that matter, aiming to look like the heavily edited photos in magazines.

Not only do magazines publish heavily edited photos, some have edited celebrities’ bodies without their permission. Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Bella Thorne, Zendaya, Lady Gaga, and Kate Winslet are just some of the many celebrities who have been edited by magazines and spoken out against it.

We are not demanding that magazines give up photo editing all together, but asking that they are at least open about it. A simple statement acknowledging that the photo is not real (see the note on the photo to the right) can help people understand that the perfect body they see that seems impossible to achieve is not even real.

Sometimes a photo will not be bright enough or will have a color imbalance that doesn’t represent what the subject of the photo looked like in real life. It makes sense A particular type of photo editing has been to edit photos in these cases. Photo editing recognized by many as toxic: editing body someone’s body without their permission, parts. Nowadays people can brighten teeth, however, is unacceptable. Even if a celebrity remove acne, change a jawline, and make a gives permission to have a photo edited, it body skinnier, to name a few, using photo must be stated somewhere near the photo. editing apps. This type of editing is often Publishing an edited photo without stating used in professional magazines. Why is this that it is edited contributes to the self-esteem still practiced? As we see it, editing body issues many youth have today. parts reinforces a standard of beauty which Time just announced “The Guardians,” is unrealistic of the human population. journalists, as Person of the Year because of When people see magazines photoshopping our commitment to reporting the truth; it is an image to a certain body type, they time we are truthful about photos too. internalize it. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, the third most

OPINION || DEC 21, 2018 27

Katherine Hughes, 12

The negative consequences of photo editing and how we can counter them PHOTO // Sabria Kazmi

Note: This half of the photo was edited.

FOCUSING ON

PHOTOGRAPHY “

PHOTO // Lynn Nguyen REPORTING // Lynn Nguyen

I’ve traveled to [and photographed] a lot of different places. THE CULTURE OF EVERY PLACE IS DIFFERENT - between Fairfax and Chantilly there are differences, and the differences are even bigger when you’re going to other countries or other continents. IT’S THE LITTLE DETAILS about what’s different between them THAT MAKE AN INTERESTING [PICTURE] AND [AN] INTERESTING STORY.

PHOTOGRAPHY] IS ALL ABOUT TELLING THE STORY. And you can bring back all the memories from it - you can go back and look like a happy moment and feel happy all over again, but if it’s a sad moment, you can see how much you’ve changed and how much you’ve learned. We want to photograph the beautiful things too, but those aren’t as interesting as the funny things or things that happened that you want to remember. THAT EMOTION PART [IN PHOTOGRAPHY] IS SO IMPORTANT.

EVERYONE HAS THEIR THING, and I didn’t know what that was going to be for me [until] IT JUST ENDED UP BEING PHOTOGRAPHY. My camera feels really comfortable to me now, and that process of practicing [to get better] didn’t feel like practice because I actually enjoyed doing it.

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SENIOR

The photo Jiny Cho is taking of her friends in the larger picture.

JINY CHO || WHAT I VE LEARNED