November 2014

tjTODAY

THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 6560 Braddock Rd., Alexandria, VA 22312

NOVEMBER 19 , 2014

Veterans Day Nov. 11, 2014

Veterans Day P16

VOLUME 30, ISSUE 3

GO BIG OR GO DOME

Jefferson renovation forges ahead with additional facilties

by Stav Nachum cupying was designed ing of the new research News Editor for a different purpose in wing, with high-tech faIt seems that every- 1964 – for a regular high cilities for each of the where you go within the school. I think the com- senior technology labs. school, whether it is the mon areas, new class- This area also included new research and science rooms and new labs will commons areas on both wings or the timeworn better suit the learning stories of the wing and hallways that lack floor styles that we use.” two new staircases with and ceiling tiles, there One of the most recent floor-to-ceiling windows. is ample evidence of the openings is the new bus On the opposite end of renovations that are well depot and parking lot, the school, the chemistry underway. While a few which opened outside of and geosystems wing has more years remain be- Door 8. Buses can now also opened up with simifore the lar commons renovation areas on both is comlevels of that plete, the new wing. next few “It’s wonmonths derful to see promise a plan come both new together afopenings ter five years and deof planning molitions the research of old seclabs,” Oceantions of the ography and building.

Geophysical RenoSystems Revation besearch Lab gan in the Director Lisa photo by Stav Nachum spring of The new chemistry wing, located in the back of the building, in- Wu said. “In 2013 with cludes new facilities and old science projects from former students. addition to a target my research compleabout what tion date in the fall is necessary to put of 2016. The school together a marine lab, has not undergone we had meetings with a full-scale renovaarchitects and profestion since 1964, 21 sionals who work in years before it was laboratories around established as a the country. It was magnet school for wonderful that we science and techhad people to encournology. As a result, age our input and inthere are many corporate our wishes. drop students off in a dated areas of the build- more orderly fashion at It was fin-tastic.” ing that needed modern- the current front entrance Over the next few ization as well as several of the school. months, many new openaspects of the school that In terms of office ings and changes will did not correspond to spaces, the new adminis- occur throughout the how studies function at tration wing on the sec- building. Before the end Jefferson. ond floor opened at the of winter break, and per“The conceptual idea beginning of the second haps during Thanksgivof this renovation is to quarter. This wing is com- ing break, the center of redesign the school so prised of the transcript, the building will be vathat it realigns with the student services and ad- cated to allow demolitype of learning that oc- ministrator offices. tion to occur. By the end curs here,” Principal Evan The most celebrated of winter break, the cenGlazer said. “The school opening by students, ter of the building will we were previously oc- however, was the opencontinued on p. 2

“The conceptual idea of the renovation is to redesign the school so that it realigns with the type of learning that occurs here.”

- Principal Evan Glazer

P6

Athletes get back in shape for winter

P8-9

Video games engage student body

P12

Jariwala aspires to join racecar team

P14

Museum explores historical cuisine

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news

november 19, 2014

Kudos & Accomplishments

Orchestra students selected for Senior Regional Orchestra with three chosen as principal chairs

 On Nov. 13-15, seniors Charlene Franke, Noemi Glaeser, Arthur He, Ethan Lowman and Anna Tsutsui, juniors Aaron Geldert, Andrew Jiao, Doyle Lee and Michael You, sophomore Jennifer Steele and freshmen Sarah Slate and Katherine Yang performed with the Senior Regional Orchestra at Herndon High School, for the most competitive region in the state. He, Lowman and Tsutsui were also principal chairs for clarinet, oboe and violin, respectively.

Junior Kritika Singh wins Good Samaritan award for her work to combat malaria

 The Nysmith School nominated Kritika Singh, the founder of Malaria For Free World for the WJLA 7/NewsChannel 8 initiative to help recognize people in the Washington, D.C. area who are doing good deeds as part of their "Pay It Forward" program.

Students selected for All-Virginia Jazz Ensemble

 Senior Justin Bui and junior Aaron Geldert were selected to the All-Virginia Jazz Ensemble, which rehearses and performs at the Virginia Music Educators Association conference.

tjTODAY receives top ranking and highest award at JEA/NSPA fall 2014 journalism convention

 On Nov. 16, at the annual Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association (JEA/NSPA) fall convention, tjTODAY was awarded its sixth Pacemaker award, the highest honor that a high school newspaper can receive. The October issue of tjTODAY also won first place in Best of Show.

Techniques yearbook receives high ranking at JEA/NSPA fall 2014 journalism convention  On Nov. 16, at the annual JEA/NSPA fall convention, Techniques was awarded sixth place in the Best of Show contest. Yearbook Pacemaker finalists will be announced in the spring.

Threshold literary magazine receives high ranking at JEA/NSPA fall 2014 journalism convention  On Nov. 16, at the annual JEA/NSPA fall convention, Threshold was ranked eighth place in Best of Show.

tjTODAY staff members bring home individual awards

 On Nov. 17, senior Stav Nachum and junior Esther Kim received outstanding ratings in the review and sports writing write-off contests, respectively, at the JEA/NSPA fall convention. Senior Ellen Kan was awarded an honorable mention in editorial writing.

tjTODAY Online

To see visitvisit our website at tjhsst.

To seemore morenews, news, our website at edu/studentlife/publications/tjTODAY tjtoday.org

CORRECTIONS • In the September issue, we stated that "Brave New World" was written by George Orwell , when it was actually written by Aldous Huxley.

• In the October issue, we incorrectly said in a headline that Anwar Omesh is spending her gap year in Kuwait, when she is actually in Jordan.

Jefferson renovation RENOVATION forges ahead with CORNER additional facilities continued from p. 1 be gone.

Similarly, by the end of winter break, the front dome will be open and will serve as the front entrance. Before that occurs, however, tunnels will need to be created to allow access to other parts of the building, such as the administrator offices and the research wing.

“It’s exciting to be in an environment that is changing so much and to see it all coming together,” senior Sam Veroneau said.

“I can’t wait to see more areas of the school open up to the students.”

This process, however, has not been without glitches. Five years have passed since the building was first designed, and more specifications have been added to how the new spaces are to be used.

As a result, meetings with the contractors, plumbers and other professionals must be arranged to modify the designs. For example, modifications were necessary to support the Mobile and Web Application Development Laboratory's curriculum.

Fortunately, student reactions to the new spaces seemed to make up for these glitches and costly changes. When the research wing first opened for student use at the end of October, the shiny classrooms and high-tech equipment were greeted with much awe and enthusiasm. Students raced down the pristine tiled corridors, chattering excitedly as they poked their heads into every new room.

The addition of the cloud chamber has also generated keen interest.

• The GEOSYSTEMS and the CHEMISTRY WINGS are now available for student use.

• The NEW RESEARCH WING, including the commons areas and classrooms, is now available for student use.

• The NEW FRONT DOME will open for the public and student use by WINTER BREAK. • Also during winter break, the CENTER OF THE BUILDING will be evacuated and demolished entirely to allow for new construction to begin.

• TUNNELS will be constructed to connect the

dome and the front of the building to the adminstrative offices and new research wing.

• NEW FURNITURE for common spaces will have INTERLOCKING and VERSATILE

capabilities.

photo illustration by Stav Nachum

“While I heard of many problems that occurred throughout the renovations over the past few months, the parts of the completed building are a

definite step up from the old building,” junior Jordan Ganley said. “I am definitely excited to see how the rest of the renovations will turn out.”

National Honor Society changes application process for junior class

by Lindsay Williams Online Editor-in-Chief The mission statement on the National Honor Society (NHS) website states that the organization aims “to create enthusiasm for scholarship; to stimulate a desire to render service; to promote leadership; and to develop character in the students of secondary schools.” For the next school year, the leadership of Jefferson’s NHS is aiming to change the admissions process to do just that.

One of the problems with the NHS procedure until this point was that it was very general. NHS sponsor Rob Culbertson believes that the automation of the process led to a lack of understanding of the true foundations of NHS. “Last year’s leadership was really interested in getting to the point where NHS membership was more meaningful than just a rubber stamp process,” Culbertson said. “If you turned an application in then basically you got accepted.

We wanted to lean as heavily on the other three pillars of the NHS ideals – not just scholarship but also character, leadership and service.”

The changes being made to the procedure have the goal of making sure that applicants will fulfill all of the characteristics that the NHS promotes, as opposed to just scholarship and service, which are

indicated by the minimum GPA requirement and the required service hours. The essays will be made more specific and action-based to see what students have done and what they plan to do.

“We changed the essay questions mostly because we thought the essays we had before were too general, and we thought that people could just blow them off and write about whatever they wanted,” NHS president senior Maddie Meyers said. “We wanted them to be more specific to how each applicant could bring their own community service and how they could benefit NHS more specifically, as opposed to before it was just general questions such as ‘What do you like about service?’”

The new essay questions for the upcoming year are much more specific to each applicant and, according to Culbertson, less about passive membership. The first focuses on each applicant’s experience.

“There are two essays called the personal statements,” Culbertson said. “The first is basically who has inspired you, why you find them inspirational and what things you have done as a result of that inspiration – what they have inspired you to do. It’s one thing to say ‘I’m inspired; it fills me with something,’ but real inspiration involves action.”

The second question ties in the applicant’s relationship to the Jefferson community.

“The other one is about how TJ is a great place, but just like any other place it’s not perfect,” Culbertson said. “So if you consider it in terms of the pillars of NHS, character, leadership, service and scholarship, where do you see that we could make improvements in our school culture, and what steps you could take? So it’s again about action.”

One other small change is in the method of submission.

“This year, we’re doing it all electronically,” Culbertson said.

“So the form you fill out addresses and asks questions about each of the different NHS pillars: involvement in the community, service hours and leadership positions, as well as the two essays.”

Despite the changes to ensure applicant commitment, Meyers assures potential applicants that there is still no quota, and the society will take all qualified applicants.

“We never have a quota on anything, so it’s not like we’re accepting a certain number of people and we’re rejecting everyone else,” Meyers said. “But we’re definitely going to try and make sure that the people we’re going to admit into NHS this year are people that are qualified and dedicated to service and scholarship in their community.”

Ribbon cutting ceremony officially opens renovated areas

by Alexis Williams Design Editor On Friday, Nov. 14, donors, local dignitaries and students alike gathered for the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Although many areas of the renovated building have been open since mid-October, this event served to officially commemorate the opening of the new wing to the Jefferson senior research laboratories. Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) superintendent Karen Garza was one of the many distinguished figures present at the ceremony.

The event began at 1:30 p.m. when donors were welcomed into the new downstairs senior research commons for refreshments. They were able to learn about some of the new equipment in the labs, including the cloud chamber, which was on display. Members of Jefferson Society

also took visitors on tours of the new building. Later, in the auditorium, Jefferson administrators and TJ Partnership Fund leaders gave speeches, as did Garza.

“We’re very proud of this school. Even without the renovation, it is one of the top high schools in the world,” Garza said in her speech.

“These new innovative learning spaces will be conducive to allowing some of the brightest minds in the world to be innovative and creative and to really allow for their ideas."

Senior Anant Das, president of Jefferson's Student Government Association (SGA) was also given an opportunity to speak at the ceremony.

“Regardless of the amount of time students have left at TJ, they should take advantage of every inch and every resource the new spaces provide because the opportunities are truly endless at this school,” Das said.

photo by Alexis Williams

On Nov. 14, administrators, student leaders and donors joined superintendent Karen Garza for the senior research wing's ribbon cutting ceremony.

news

november 19, 2014

“The Front Page” entertains

NEWSMAKERS

MUN attends first conference Cross country places at States

photo by Andy Zhao

The News

The drama department put on their fall show, “The Front Page,” on Nov. 14-15. Junior Jake Gonzalez played Sheriff Hartman.

Backstory On Nov. 14-15, Jefferson’s drama department (TJ Drama) performed “The Front Page,” a Broadway play written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. The show starred sophomore Zara Batalvi and senior Misha Ryjik and was directed by program director Vincent Pollet and senior Kira Becker.

“The Front Page” details the story of several newspapermen, most notably Hildy Johnson (Batalvi) and Walter Burns (Ryjik) of The Examiner during the late 1920s in Chicago. A total of 24 students acted in the play, and many also served in production roles.

Jefferson and TJ Drama alumna Yena Seo, who graduated last year, came back from college for these two nights to support the program and the people she had performed with as a part of TJ Drama.

“I came back to see the show all the way from Ithaca, New York and I didn’t know how it was going to be, but it was really interesting,” Seo said. “I have an invested passion in newspaper so it was really interesting to see a show about the newspaper and about politics. It was also really nice to see everyone and see how the program has changed since I left.”

Although there were some problems leading up to the show with copyright issues, everything worked out in time for the cast to put on the play as scheduled.

“My favorite part of the show was the sense of community,” sophomore Natasha Shukla, who played Kruger, a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, said.

“There are not a lot of people in drama because TJ is a science school, but seeing all of us come together and do what we love after a long day is really cool.”

- Lindsay Williams

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photo courtesy of Will Ryu

The News

Jefferson’s Model United Nations Team attended the William and Mary High School Model United Nations (WMHSMUN) Conference on Nov. 14-16.

Backstory The Thomas Jefferson Model United Nations (TJMUN) team just returned from WMHSMUN, its first conference of the year. This intense, national competition allows students to participate in committees such as the World Health Organization, United Nations Security Council and the Gore Election Committee of 2000. This year, TJMUN sent a mix of novices and experienced members to WMHSMUN and brought home a total of 31 awards.

“This year went really well for us because we prepared incredibly hard—we trained our novices, had intense training sessions and fostered hard work to make sure everybody was on their A-game when we competed,” junior Shohini Gupta, the TJMUN arbitrator, said. “The results clearly show in the number of awards we got this year.”

As an entire school, TJMUN won the Undersecretary’s Award for Best Delegation, which is the second best award for a large delegation. Individuals won seven Best Delegate, nine Outstanding Delegates, seven Honorable Delegate and eight Verbal Delegates awards.

TJMUN’s victory demonstrates the strength of the new team.

“I am beyond thrilled by the performance of TJMUN. It’s been years since we won a school award at WMHSMUN, and I truly think that the combination of everyone who tried so hard and gave it their all really allowed us to be recognized this way,” senior Sreya Atluri, the Secretary General of TJMUN said. “I am incredibly proud of everyone, and I am excited for the conference schedule that we have for the season ahead.”

- Stav Nachum

The News

photo courtesy of Sally Stumvoll

Sophomore Saurav Velleleth placed ninth in the Nov. 15 state cross country meet, leading the boys’ team to a second-place finish.

Backstory On Nov. 15, the boys’ cross country team competed at the Virginia High School League (VHSL) 5A State Cross Country Championships, held at the Great Meadows state course in The Plains, Va. Despite the frigid temperatures and hilly 5K course, the boys pulled off an impressive second-place finish, coming in behind Douglas Freeman High School.

Velleleth placed first for Jefferson, followed closely by senior Chris Blagg and junior Nate Foss.

“Coming into States, we were ranked eighth and knew we could beat that ranking,” Blagg, a team captain, said. ”We’ve been running well all season, and States was the culmination of all the hard work we put in.”

At States, the boys finished ahead of both Stone Bridge High School and Albermarle High School, the two teams that cost Jefferson a win at Regionals. The team also improved from their seventh-place States finish one year ago, and the strong showing from the sophomore and junior runners promise another successful cross country season in 2015.

“Every guy on our team got their personal best timesyesterday, which is an uncommon feat to achieve,” Velleleth said. “My ninth place finish boosted my confidence and assured me that I’m able to keep up with many of the best runners in the state.”

Although the girls’ team was not able to advance from the regional meet, senior Haley Stumvoll’s seventh place finish at Regionals allowed her to compete as an individual runner at States. Like Velleleth, Stumvoll placed ninth with a new personal best, earning All-State honors.

- Ellen Kan

We accept: poetry, prose, music and art.

Submission forms availble in all English classrooms.

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opinion

tjTODAY Volume 30 Issue 3

2014 Pacemaker - NSPA 2014 Trophy Class - VHSL 2013 All-American - NSPA 2013 Gold Medalist - CSPA

Editorial Board Print Editor-in-Chief Ellen Kan

Online Editors-in-Chief Sandy Cho Lindsay Williams

Design Editor Alexis Williams

News Editor Stav Nachum

Opinion Editor Esther Kim

Features Editor Anjali Khanna

Entertainment Editor Kate Deng

Sports Editor Akhil Waghmare

november 19, 2014

In Jefferson admissions, poverty does not undermine applicants

Lead Editorial

tj TODAY’s unsigned majority opinion “The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, the nation’s most selective public school, is a wonderful place to learn, but its admissions system has problems. Just ask Reston resident Benjamin Moore and his son Robbie.”

So begins Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews’s latest article, published on Nov. 9. He alleges that Robbie Moore, an applicant to the Jefferson Class of 2015, was placed at a significant disadvantage in the admissions process due to his family’s low-income status.

Robbie Moore had an impressive resume for a middle school student. However, he was rejected when the admissions committee overlooked his high test scores and grades in favor of other students’ personal essays and extracurriculars – or so his parents claim. They assert the latter items are easier for those who can afford to hire tutors and attend after-school clubs, neither of which Robbie Moore could do due to financial burdens and familial responsibilities.

While we acknowledge Robbie Moore’s situation was unfortunate, we don’t believe his financial status contributed to his rejection.

Moreover, we take issue with how Mathews uses Robbie Moore’s experience to make some sweeping assumptions about the admissions process and the Jefferson community.

Esther Kim

Staff Reporters Mei Baek Uzma Rentia

Annie Abraham Sruthi Jayaraman

Adviser Erinn Harris

Printer Silver Communications TjTODAY is the official newspaper of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology published monthly by the journalism staff.

It serves as a vehicle for student expression and is an open forum of issues of interest and concern to the school community.

A full-year subscription can be purchased through the Thomas Jefferson Publications Package or by sending a check or money order for $20 to tjTODAY. 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. Signed editorials and letters to the editor reflect the views of the authors. tjTODAY solicits advertising but reserves the right to reject any material deemed libelous, disruptive, obscene or otherwise inappropriate.

ALEXIS WILLIAMS

When it comes to college applications, it seems like there are unlimited options.

Should I go Early Action (EA) or Early Decision (ED)? What does that mean, anyway?

Where do I go? What do I do? How do I prepare?

As juniors begin to navigate the college process and seniors move from early applica-

tions to regular decision applications, there is an option that only a few colleges offer, one that is often overlooked: ED II. Second-round Early Decision, or ED II, is an option that is pretty rare to find in colleges, although a few elite schools, including Vanderbilt University and Emory University, do offer it. ED II allows students to apply ED to more than one school by offering a deadline that comes out after the first ED results come out, the same deadline as that of regular decision applications. The differences between ED II and the regular decision processes are that the decision is guaranteed

by Feb. 15, although it is still binding. This means that if students get into the school to which they apply ED II, they must attend the accepted university.

This offers some clear advantages for colleges. Many schools’ rankings are based on admissions rates. ED students are far more

likely to accept admissions offers than Regular Decision applicants, as the only way to break an ED binding contract is if the student still cannot afford tuition costs after the school has finalized a financial aid offer. As a result, having two pools of ED applicants means that a much higher percentage of the student body is admitted through ED. So, what advantage does this offer to students? If students do not make it into their first choice school, they can apply to their second choice with the statistical advantage offered by applying ED. Additionally, students can know by February if they have been accepted into their second choice, rather than being forced to wait until April.

If students have a clear second choice that offers ED II, it offers advantages for both students and colleges. Although an unpopular option currently, ED II could have great potential for the admissions process as a whole.

Research stastistics aids future math courses

by Mei Baek and Uzma Rentia Staff Reporters The Class of 2018 is reacting to the alteration of the Jefferson math curriculum with widespread discontent. New students are now required to start their school year with Research Statistics, while Algebra II has been condensed and renamed Math 3. The changed course covers systems of equations and inequalities, the different families of functions and basic functions, while also introducing linear algebra such as matrices and determinants. The rationale for the reformation was that a semester of Research Statistics would save Biology teachers from having to review concepts now covered in the new math classes and to provide freshmen a foundation in statis-

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math are essential qualities in candidates for a school intent on fostering scientific leaders.

That being said, financial burdens should not prevent students from demonstrating an interest in science and math. If Robbie Moore had time to teach himself Latin, he could have easily learned a computer language. The Internet also provides a wealth of free resources; today, it is possible to watch instructional videos, take online courses and read scientific journals at no cost.

Finally, we’d like to add that Mathews’s inductive reasoning is based on his observations of only one student. Any Jefferson Geosystems student knows a rule based on one instance is weak, and any of our statistics students can inform Mathews that anecdotal evidence is thrown out in statistical studies. As a result, we cannot use Robbie Moore’s case to make generalizations for all low-income applicants.

There will never be a perfect admissions system, and we do recognize this at Jefferson.

The admissions process continues to undergo changes as the committee seeks the optimal balance between objective and subjective components. Our school also actively tries to correct for errors by admitting sophomores who may have fallen through the cracks the first time around – something Mathews fails to mention.

In the end, there are certainly inadequacies in the Jefferson admissions process, but we strongly believe there is no correlation between financial status and creating a competitive application.

More schools should offer ED II as an option

Business Manager

Guest Writers

Students from lowincome families will be at a disadvantage at many stages in their education – this is an unfortunate truth.

However, we maintain that financial status does not affect an eighth grader’s ability to apply successfully to Jefferson. Hiring tutors to critique personal essays will not guarantee admission, and neither will taking prep classes for the admissions test. In fact, many of Jefferson’s high-achieving students never spent a penny on preparation.

Mathews also argues that test scores and GPA should be deciding factors in the Jefferson admissions process – more so than “passion for and creativity in science and math.” If the admissions committee were interested in building a class of infallible test-taking robots, then by all means, we should ignore students who demonstrate a talent in science and math if they don’t have impressive test scores.

Fortunately, Jefferson understands that students are more than numbers. Just as colleges look for more in their prospective students than the ability to sit through a three-hour standardized test, the Jefferson admissions committee also employs a holistic selection process. Jefferson would not have the vibrant, diverse student body it does today if students were chosen based solely on their performance on the admissions test. In fact, passion for and creativity in science and

photo by Esther Kim

tics, something the majority of students would not have experienced had they not taken Algebra II in middle school.

Administrators also hoped a statistics class would help acclimate students to the pacing and rigor of the Jefferson curriculum. Although freshman have much to say in protest, many of their complaints are unfounded.

Some students complain about unfair quizzes or the lack of a curve, while others feel that the material is mostly for review or that the concepts covered do not require a whole semester to master.

Grievances are varied and numerous, but they all trace back to a disinterest in the subject and dissatisfactory grades.

While unpleasant, low grades alone cannot judge the value of a class. The challenges students face in Statistics 1 will only become more severe as students take on higher-level courses.

This introduction to high school mathematics can also serve as an introduction to the typical workload after ninth grade so that students will not be overwhelmed in the future. The course will also help drive home the fact that freshman are no longer in middle school, where lessons were spoon-fed, tests were solely multiple choice and more importantly,

A’s were earned with minimal effort.

While Algebra 1 students may have covered the material before, the actual course delves deeper into the subject than when it was previously taught.

What many freshmen do not recognize is the importance of statistics in future classes and beyond. While statistics were taught during the previous Algebra II courses, the new and revised math curriculum allows students to get a better grip on a challenging but essential subject, something that they will need if they plan on pursuing any science, mathematical or engineering career. Rather than providing additional suffering and extra workload, the Research Statistics class provides a solid foundation in mathematics that current freshmen will be grateful for in later years, when they’re faced by classes even more challenging.

Though many are unhappy with the school’s decision, a semester off of Algebra seems like a minor price to pay for a chance to revisit and deepen knowledge on a subject with so much potential to be important in the future. Those who are still not convinced of statistics’ value must only bear another month before they can move on to their second semester math course, as determined by the diagnostic.

opinion

november 19, 2014

5

Schools should consider health benefits of student sleep hours

by Esther Kim

tempted to relieve the problem by delaying high school start times, but this change does not affect the Jefferson community. In addition, because numerous students live far away Every once in a while, I read an article or watch a news from the school, many will wake up at almost the same time segment that emphasizes the significance of sufficient sleep as their base school peers, but return home much later with a hours for student health. They bring in reputable scholars tremendous amount of homework to finish. who advise students to get “eight to nine hours of sleep It is possible to finish all homework and study for tests if every day,” and I realize how unrealistic their advice is. one manages time wisely. Especially in the beginning of the At Jefferson, the problem of sleep deprivation only worsweek, the aspiration to stay on task and have a “productive” ens every day. Especially during junior year, when students week motivates students to keep track of their time. Howtake multiple Advanced Placement (AP) courses, it is comever, this pattern does not last for the entire nine months mon to see half-asleep students stumbling around the school students spend in school. building. As a current junior, even if I attempt to keep an When adolescents do not get the recommended amount organized schedule for the day, it is often difficult to finish of sleep, – eight to nine hours everyday – serious psychoall my homework and study for exams before midnight. logical effects, the worst being depression, sudden mood As academic competition intensifies in the school changes and suicidal thoughts, may occur. In a study concommunity, administrators and teachers should seriously ducted in 2010 by Mahmood Saddique, a sleep researcher consider the mental and physical consequences of sleep at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, students who deprivation while structuring academic curricula, and they displayed signs of sleepiness during the day were more should also offer possible adjustments in student schedules depressed than those who weren’t. to resolve the problem.

With students already pressured about grades, Fairfax County Public Schools sleep deprivation only worsens their anxiety. Stu(FCPS) has atdents are experiencing one of the worst vicious cycles – in order to score higher, they sleep less, but the increased anxiety and stress only lead to lower grades. And in order to improve on their grades, they sleep less than before to study more.

In an age where efficiency and results are the predominant factors in evaluation, we sometimes overlook the problems that arise in the process of producing these results.

Even in the case of sleep deprivation, students may simply regard it as a necessary evil that goes along with their rigorous academic schedule. However, sleep deprivation should not and cannot be neglected.

According to a 2004 study conducted by Xianchen Liu of the Shandong University School of Public Health in China, teenagers sleeping less than eight hours per day reported experiencing significantly higher rates of sleep distractions and possibilities of suicide attempts.

Considering that Liu studied the direct efillustration by Esther Kim Opinion Editor

fects of sleep deprivation on adolescents, the results should be taken account with more seriousness, especially in a community where most students don’t get adequate rest.

This year, Jefferson’s Student Advocacy Guidelines were publicized to reduce students’ academic stress by suggesting effective alternatives to piling too much on one’s plate. The guidelines are the essential first steps of creating a school community that promotes student health and increased sleep hours. However, teachers should be the ones to emphasize to students the utility of these recommendations.

Many students do not consider the guideliens as their first choice for dealing with stressful academic scheduling and overload of tests.

As students assimilate to the intense academic environment, sleep deprivation only becomes a measurement of the difficulty of their academic workload. However, sleep hours should be weighed in the students’ and the school’s perspective with more significance. Sleep hours should not an indicator of how much work we have, but of how much our health is worsening from the lack of it.

cartoon by Monique Mezher

Renovation process should focus more on students

STAV NACHUM

The renovations have taken over the school.

Every hallway is overrun with some kind of construction equipment or other evidence of renovations. Whenever students sit down for that test that they studied incredibly hard for, the sounds of the construction are deafening in the background and distract them from the

exam.

These instances have become a norm in the average school day and beg the question: Is the renovation really worth it?

During a time when counties are low on money, the entire renovation is incredibly costly. While it is necessary to update the classrooms, especially evident through the presence of asbestos found within the building, certain elements of the renovation seem unnecessary.

The order of renovations should have been switched so that the classrooms for the humanities and mathematics courses, which are still in trailers, could be complete at the same time as the science and research classrooms.

The renovation process should also consider the difficulties that students face while running in and out of the school to go to their next classes. Especially in winter, it might be more dangerous for students to walk long distances in a short period of time due to inclement weather and chilly temperatures.

Furthermore, the sounds of construction are dis-

ruptive for the students taking tests or listening to a lecture from a teacher. In fact, when I took the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) as a junior, the sounds of renovation outside the window were much too distracting for a test that could potentially have a major impact on my future college scholarships.

Similarly, in my Advanced Placement Biology class, the construction outside our door frequently disrupted my attention during lectures and assessments.

Overall, while the renovation is definitely a necessary project to update the dated building and provide better services for students, some of the side effects are too inconvenient for students.

Whether it is in the lack of floors and ceilings in the school building or the numerous classes that are situated in trailers, the renovation seems to be costing a lot more than simply the funds necessary to complete it.

Joint HUM classes distract students from deeper learning I walk into my Advanced Placement U.S. History (APUSH) classroom, frantically cramming last minute information in my head.

When the morning announcements begin, I have to start putting everything away in prepaANNIE ABRAHAM ration for my APUSH test. I glance through the open door, which connects us to our opposite Humanities (HUM) rotation. I see some of my classmates studying for the same test, but they won’t have it until next period, when we switch classes.

At first, I figured it isn’t fair that my classmates get an entire hour and a half to review their notes and reread material while we, the first period students, have to take the test right away. For every other class, such as physics or math, we take the test during the allotted time period, and

we prepare for the test knowing that the time of the test is immovable. If other classes don’t get special treatment, why should HUM? Don’t get me wrong; joint HUM can be useful. Teachers can administer a test to all students in the HUM, which would eliminate the prevalence of students who spend one period studying for a test in the upcoming period, rather than paying attention to the current material.

In addition, when one of the HUM teachers is absent, instead of doing busy work handed out by a substitute teacher, the entire HUM can have class with the other present teacher. This time could also be used for in-class work for HUM projects that are worth points in both classes. But despite these perks, there are also drawbacks to the concept of joint HUM. Because there are twice as many students, joint HUM can provide twice as many distractions. With more friends and usually only one teacher to supervise approximately 50 students, it’s easier to relax and not focus on the assigned work. It’s certainly possible to miss a lot of important material when the environment isn’t conducive to concentration.

The larger class size also prevents teachers from answering all of the specific questions students ask on the material. In addition, more reserved students may have a harder time participating in class discussions, as conversation can often be dominated by a few outspoken peers. Additionally, regular HUM allows teachers to connect with the individual student and lets the students have a tight, small group of friends that they become really close to throughout the year.

My experience with joint HUM last year was mainly for project work time, but I didn’t really see its effectiveness.

Opening up the door between the classes led to louder conversation and noticeably less productivity. More often than not, on block days, these bigger classes led to a half hour of working and an hour of socializing with people from the other class. When I needed to get work done, separate classes were much more preferable, as they allowed me to focus on the task on hand.

Joint HUM is a concept that should be implemented sparingly and only used when one of the teachers is absent.

After all, class sizes are already getting bigger with the construction going on, so why double them?

6

sports

november 19, 2014

WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW

TJSD looks to continue past Basketball program gets success in upcoming season excited about new challenges

by Akhil Waghmare Sports Editor Coming into the season as the defending Conference 13 and North Region Champions, the Thomas Jefferson Swim and Dive (TJSD) program is looking to continue its success this season. With a very strong senior class, led by Washington Post All-Met Swimmer of the Year senior Andrew Seliskar and fellow All-Met senior Luke Thorsell, the boys’ team is aiming to take a crack at the state title after being runner-ups last year. The team will also be looking to other swimmers who placed high in competition last year, including seniors Gerry Wan (breaststroke) and Joe Doran (breaststroke) and junior Emilio Sison (medley).

Sison hopes to continue to build on his success last year. “I’m hoping to swim as hard as I can for the team and try to strive for an AllAmerican time,” he said.

Coach Ian Handerhan is also looking forward to the addition of freshman Jonathan Pollock, who looks to have an immediate impact on the freestyle events.

The girls’ TJSD team is similarly strong, relying more on depth than star power. Led by seniors Sophie Bennett and Carrie Heilbrun, the team are looking to build on their Conference 13 championship and runner-up status at the regional and state meets last year. The dive team will be led by senior captain Callan Monette, along with junior Valentina Lohr and sophomore Gloria Chen, who all placed in the top 10 at States last year.

Going into his fourth year of coaching at Jefferson, Handerhan has always been proud to be part of this program. “I am always impressed by their work and their ability to step up when they need to. The pride I have in these teams as a whole, and in each swimmer individually, is immense,” he said.

by Akhil Waghmare Sports Editor The Jefferson boys’ varsity basketball program is hoping to build off of their previous season, which included some close games against solid team such as Wakefield High School. With nine seniors on the roster, the team will be relying on experience and leadership to be very competitive this season.

“We are strong enough to beat every team in our schedule, and I expect us to make it into the regional tournament,” senior Seth Jaffe said.

The athletes also personal goals they want to reach in the process of playing a competitive season.

“One of my biggest goals is to get a dunk in every game we play, but in the end, it all comes down to what my team needs me to do to help us win,” senior Sharan Arkalgud said.

The girls varsity basketball program will have one of the youngest rosters in the district, with only three seniors on the team.

This year, they will be led by senior Rebecca Clark-Callender, who has already committed to play for the Washington University in St. Louis. Clark-Callender acknowledges that it will take some time before the team reaches its peak success.

“Being a young team means that the beginning of the season is going to be a learning period; the returning players and coaches will be trying to figure out what our team’s goals are, and the new players will be getting adjusted to varsity-level play,” she said.

Nevertheless, returning players see significant promise in the newcomers.

“I think that all of our underclassmen have so much potential so we could see anyone step up and fill a big role for our team,” senior Julia Dunbar said.

Colonial athletes commit early to prestigious universities

by Sandy Cho Online Editor-in-Chief As the majority of the senior class prepared to submit early applications for colleges throughout October, athletes are in the midst of completing their own recruiting processes. In fact, many senior athletes already began the process early in high school.

“I have known since freshman year that I wanted to play volleyball in college,” senior Maria Velicu said. “It has been a sport that I have fallen in love with, and not playing after high school would be beyond devastating for me.”

Velicu, who has recently committed to continue volleyball at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, began her process throughout her sophomore and junior years by playing in a regional club team after the regular season. “Using videos and my stats from games, I started emailing out a profile to coaches of colleges that I wanted to play for,” Velicu said. “It wasn’t until my junior year that colleges started emailing back.”

Similarly, senior Julie Luo, who will play golf for Yale University, began contacting coaches early before they started visiting her at tournaments. “I started looking at what colleges I really liked, visited schools during freshman and sophomore year and always tried to get in touch with the coach if they were in town at the time,” Luo said.

For others, the decision to commit came later. Senior Lily Wittle, who will be a coxswain for the University of Miami’s crew team, got into contact with coaches and athletes before visiting campuses during her junior year. “I emailed coaches before I visited their schools and asked if I could stop by their boathouse and meet the team,” Wittle said. “I also asked a lot of older rowers and coxswains who had been recruited as to what to do.”

Just like Wittle, senior Peter Zablocki, who will row for Yale University in the fall, began seeking coaches during junior year. “I really started communicating with coaches October of junior year by answering emails, making phone calls and visiting colleges,” Zablocki said. “In September, they brought me up for recruiting visits, where I stayed with the team for a weekend

and met with coaches.”

However, for senior Luke Thorsell, who will swim for Columbia University, the process was much more formal. During his junior year, he filled out questionnaires and maintained his profile on collegeswimming.com in order to gain the interest of coaches for various colleges. After July 1, coaches were formally allowed to seek prospective athletes.

“Coaches offered an official visit to about 30 swimmers per college, which, for Division 1 schools, entails spending a weekend at the college, staying in a dorm with a swim team member, doing a bunch of activities with the team and learning all about the college,” Thorsell said.

After these official visits, the coach will offer to recruit about eight male swimmers. Accepting this offer establishes the commitment to a school.

Despite the importance of maintaining a relationship with coaches, athletes also needed to maintain their grades at school. “I practiced really hard while also trying to keep my grades up because Yale had been my top choice for a long time,” Luo said. “I knew that to commit to an Ivy League school, I would not only have to improve my golf game, but I would have to keep my grades up, too. I worked extremely hard sophomore and junior year to improve both.”

For students like Thorsell, academics also played a big role in making a decision. “Columbia has the perfect academics for me, as I was looking for a school that could provide biomedical engineering and neuroscience, and Columbia offers a neural engineering track within biomedical engineering,” Thorsell said.

For student athletes, being recruited into college offers them the opportunity to enhance their skills in their high school sport while also continuing their academic studies. Athletes hope that they will be able to engage in academics while continuing the sports they love.

“My goal for college is to have a starting position my freshman year and sustain it through hard work, passion and dedication to the sport I have dedicated my life to throughout my next four years,” Velicu said. “They don’t say ‘army strong’ for no reason, and I look forward to living up to that expectation every day when I wear my West Point gear.”

infographic by Sandy Cho

7 How do athletes get ready for the season? sports

november 19, 2014

OFFSEASON CONDITIONING: Spring sports start preparing early

Athletes offer tips on getting in shape Indoor Track:

Monique Mezher, 12 - Intervals - Hard-core sprints - Circuit training - Indian runs

Without any offseason training, it is easy to lose physical shape and technique on the water, both of which are vital components to being successful in crew. During the summer and fall, some athletes participate in “head races,” which are nearly three times as long as the typical crew race. During the winter, when it is too cold to go on the water, athletes will row on ergometers, participate in core circuits and run to stay fit.

BOYS’ SOCCER The Jefferson soccer program has weekly practices throughout the offseason, coordinated by the varsity senior captains. These practices consist of dynamic and static stretches, passing drills and possession play. The extra time on the field will allow more inexperienced players to get more touches with the ball, and for the captains to get an idea of who will make the team in the spring.

Captains: seniors Claire Mur- Captains: seniors Jackson phy, Lily Wittle, Stefan Young, DuBro and Eric McCordPeter Zablocki, Edith Zhang and Snook Nick Zugris graphics and reporting by Akhil Waghmare

Calvin Chen, 11 -Weight room (upper body, legs, body) -1 mile runs -Gut wrenchers (100 m sprint and 10 squat jumps x16-20)

Dance:

Gymnastics:

- Strength workouts (abs, legs, arms) - Zumba to strengthen the core - Short cardio workouts

- 1-2 min cardio workout - 10 minute strength workouts (burpees, lunges, push-ups, v-ups, upper boddy, abs)

Swim/Dive:

Wrestling:

Cece Xiao, 11

CREW

Basketball:

Han Gu and Valentina Lohr, 11 - Start eating healthier - Mental exercises for dive - Laps at the pool outside of practice - Dry land workouts (upperbody, legs, body)

Revu Pillai, 11

Vikram Gupta, 11 - Eating healthy but high nutrition and quantity - Sprint training - Weight room (lifting)

graphics and reporting by Kate Deng

8

spread

november 19, 2014

Glued to t

by Anjali Khanna Features Editor This past August, one seemingly insignificant course of events occurring in a small corner of the Internet started a controversy which continues to receive extensive media coverage: Gamergate.

Although the scandal involving videogame designer Zoe Quinn’s private relationships may seem trivial to anyone outside of the videogaming community, the subsequent events have managed to hold the world’s attention as they bring topics such as feminism and the ethics of gaming journalism into question.

What exactly is Gamergate? Why does it pertain to everyone, not just videogame junkies or professional developers? Gamergate is an Internet conflict between those who support women gamers, game developers or critics, versus those who believe that videogaming should be a male-oriented industry entirely.

The latter group argues that increased female involvement in the videogaming community will lead to a skewed view of what a traditional gamer should look like. Whether misogynists or simply traditionalists, perpetrators of the scandal have made it clear that they believe female game designers can and should be harassed with threats over the Internet based on their work.

The controversy officially began when Quinn’s ex-boyfriend, angry over their relationship, accused her of having sexual relations with a videogame critic at review site Kotaku in exchange for coverage of her latest creation, “Depression Quest.” Quinn

was immediately harassed through sites like Twitter and 4Chan; called “doxing,” users searched her files to release any and all information about her life, location and whereabouts, which were posted along with threats of violence and rape towards the designer.

Even at Jefferson, the threats made to Quinn raise questions about how the videogame industry represents women, and how women and girls are becoming more and more involved in videogame culture.

“I started first playing video games when I was in elementary school, because Pokemon was really popular with everyone,” sophomore Joyce Tian said. “I really liked the game because of the variety of Pokemon available, and how they were all so cute.”

Now that girls are taking affinity to games like Pokemon from increasingly young ages, the marketing of games to specific genders is being brought into question.

“I never personally felt like gaming was entirely male-dominated,” senior Aria Kim said. “When it comes down to ‘let’s plays’ and other forms of public playing, guys do seem to dominate, but I know plenty of girls who enjoy games of all genres.”

Adding fuel to the fire of the Gamergate scandal, on Oct. 15, videogame critic Anita Sarkeesian was forced to cancel her guest appearance at Utah State University after receiving anonymous threats of a mass shooting that would take place if she continued with the presentation.

Sarkeesian explicitly stated that she cancelled not because of

the threat itself, but because she felt the securit by the university were not adequate. Since th awareness of treatment of women in the vid through her web series and account on Twitt quency, only adding to the conversation of Ga dia sexism.

“Gamergate is really just representative of a society, and how extreme people are in their v drew Huang said. “Since nothing is ever really we can’t just apply generalizations over the community with a broad brush about the contr Like Quinn, Sarkeesian was doxxed by Gamergate community, and received death threats from several videogamers over the Int also forced to flee her home in fear.

The Gamergate community has also expre the request of women to be included in the gen will lead to alterations to some of their favorite Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and Assassin’s less graphic imagery of scantily clad women. M even proposed the idea that a separate genre should be created for women.

“Gamergate was mostly fueled by a group o tremists, like the Ku Klux Klan was for Christia premacy or ISIS for Islam,” Huang said. “I don videogame community was behind it.”

Jefferson Talks Gamergate

photo by Anjali Khanna

“I’m honestly not that surprised about Gamergate, considering how a lot of gamer culture is. I suppose you can say that it was because I’m so jaded by that culture that I ignore the issue for the most part.”

-senior Aria Kim

““From what I’ve seen, it seems like Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn used unethical tactics to promote themselves and their games, and the gaming community responded in an immature way.”

-junior Karl Keat

spread

november 19, 2014

9

the screen graphics and reporting by Anjali Khanna and Alexis Williams

ty measures taken hen, she has raised deogame industry tter, Feminist Freamergate and me-

Jefferson students engage in gaming

a larger problem in views,” junior Any black and white, entire videogame roversy.” members of the and violent rape nternet, which also

popular games at Jefferson Computer

essed concern that nre of video games e games, including s Creed, to include Many gamers have of games entirely

Most popular games: League of Legends, Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Half-Life 2

of radicals and exanity and white sun’t think the whole

“I really feel as if computer games are the most superior because you have a really high level of customization in terms of screen resolution.”

-junior Jagan Doodala

Console

Most popular games: Call of Duty, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, FIFA, Battlefield “My favorite game is Call of Duty 2 because my favorite character is Soap and he doesn’t die in that one.”

-senior Zoe Wang

Smartphone

Most popular games: FIFA, Candy Crush, Flappy Bird, Kim Kardashian Hollywood, Clash of Clans “I think Flappy Bird was addicting bc every time i got a higher score i would keep playing to beat that score so i just kept playing on and on.

-sophomore Jamie Do photo courtesy of Karl Keat

Popular game rankings are based on an anonymous survey sent out on social media, to which 161 students responded.

10

entertainment

“Game of Thrones” author writes history of fictional world

photo courtesy of georgerrmartin.com

by Alexis Williams Design Editor The HBO television series “Game of Thrones” is becoming a cultural phenomenon. From naming babies “Khaleesi” to a meme based on the quote “winter is coming,” “Game of Thrones” – as well as “The Song of Ice and Fire,” the books it is based on – seems to be everywhere.

Of all the fan-based forums for “Game of Thrones,” A Wiki of Ice and Fire is the largest and most popular. As fans wait with bated breath for the sixth book in the series, author George R. R. Martin, along with fans from A Wiki of Ice and Fire, Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson, collaborated to make “The World of Ice and Fire: The Untold Story of Westeros,” a book filled with all things related to “Game of Thrones,” from history to culture to geography.

“The World of Ice and Fire” is not for the faint of heart, but only for the ultimate fans. Essentially, “The World of Ice and Fire” is the “Game of Thrones” version of the “Lord of the Rings” encyclopedia, “Silmarillion.” The book includes the pre-history of Westeros, as well as the entire history of the Targaryen dynasty.

For those interested in the histories of Jaehaerys and Alysanne, Aegon the Conqueror and the mythical Children of the Forest, there is no better resource.

The book also includes a reference source about all of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Detailing the rulers, people and cultures of each of these lands is no small feat, and the book can answer any questions readers or viewers may have. This part of the book is also much clearer than the historical part and far less confusing.

In fact, the biggest problem with the book is that it can be very confusing to read and comprehend. In addition to the fact that the Targaryen family tree is complex at best, especially with the notes of incest, many Targaryens have very similar names, which can further confuse the reader.

However, if you look past the confusing elements, the book does provide an element of magic which the “Song of Ice and Fire” series lacks. The book begins by telling the stories of the giants and the Children of the Forest, who are both mentioned in the series but not fully featured. It also tells the story of High Valyria and the dragons. These origin stories make it even clearer that the world of Westeros is not the magic-free world it appears to be in the first book of the series.

Although it is not an easy read for anyone except the true fans of Westeros, “The World of Ice and Fire” is able to bring Martin’s famed world to life like no other book in the series has been able to. For the curious devotees of “Game of Thrones,” it is perfect.

Coming Attractions photos courtesy of studio websites infographic by Kate Deng

november 19, 2014

News of “Harry Potter” movies and mini stories excites fans

by Stav Nachum News Editor On Halloween, one of the most common costumes for both children and adults is the traditional Hogwarts robe, magic wand and signature Harry Potter glasses. After three Halloweens without any new “Harry Potter” movies or books, fans can now rejoice in the announcement of several new spinoff movies and six new stories written by J. K. Rowling herself.

In the midst of Warner Bros.

Entertainment’s announcement of 10 new superhero movies, they also announced that Rowling’s “Harry Potter” spinoff “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” will also be adapted into a movie trilogy. News of the first installment was released earlier this year in a statement saying that the release date would b e Nov. 18, 2016. Now, however, the Warner Brothers has confirmed that there will be at least t w o m o r e followu p

films in 2018 and 2020, and perhaps even more in the future.

“I found out about the new Harry Potter projects through the riddle that J. K. Rowling sent out over Twitter,” freshman Sadhana Suri said. “Some fan solved it and figured out that it meant that there was going to be a continuation of Harry Potter. I was really excited at first, but I’m also a little worried that the new series won’t be as good as the original.”

The first film is to be based on the first-ever screenplay by Rowling and directed by David Yates, the director of the last four “Harry Potter” installments.

It is said to focus on magizoologist Newt Scamander, the fictional author of the “Fantastic Beasts” textbook in the Harry Potter universe.

“At first I got really nostalgic and excited about this new film, especially because it is written by J. K. Rowling herself,” senior Pegah Moradi said.

“But then it hit me that the films

wouldn’t be revolving around the characters that I really enjoyed reading about, which is kind of a bummer. I think they’re kind of milking as much as they can out of the franchise, to be honest.”

In addition to the exciting news about the three new spinoff movies, fans were also gifted with six new stories on Pottermore, Rowling’s interactive, Harry Potter universe website.

“I was anxiously awaiting Halloween this year after I heard about the new stories that J. K. Rowling had written for the Pottermore website,” senior Shirley Burt said. “I only expected there to be one since that was all I heard about, so when I saw that there were six I was thrilled and read them all in one sitting.”

With shocking new facts about the characters – including how half-blood prosecutor Dolores Umbridge is actually a half-blood herself, and how Professor Trelawney was in Ravenclaw during her time at Hogwarts – fans have stormed social media websites since these stories were released to discuss the new information and insight that they learned about the beloved series.

With six new stories worth of information to add to their collection of Harry Potter trivia and at least three new movies in the Harry Potter universe, fans of the series have a lot to look forward to over the next few years.

“This is an incredible time to be a Harry Potter fan,” junior Jordan Ganley said.

“With new stories and movies to come just in the next few years, I can’t even begin to imagine what they will throw at us after that. I sincerely hope that Harry Potter stories and movies continue for as long as they possibly can.”

photo courtesy of guessmovies.net

Music apps make the music listening experience easier and more enjoyable

by Kate Deng Entertainment Editor In this day and age, music is becoming more and more accessbile in our daily lives. We listen to music while we do our homework, drive, fall asleep and even take a shower.

Instead of the tedious process we have had to use in the past to download music to our laptops and mobile devices, there are now apps of all designs to maximize music listening enjoyment.

One extremely popular app is Spotify. The best feature of Spotify is its freedom and wide range of songs. Spotify is constantly updating its music list and Playlists.

Shortly after the release of an album on iTunes, that same album will probably be available. For example, Taylor Swift’s “1989” was added to Spotify shortly after its Oct. 27 release, even though it was soon after deleted

by Swift herself. Along with this luxurious feature, playlists can be made on a computer with any song in Spotify’s large database.

Spotify also provides a radio that you can create using any song, artist or playlist. The downside to making a radio is that the song choices are very limited and run out quickly.

Unlike Spotify, Songza does not allow you to choose exactly what song you want to listen to. Instead, Songza has premade playlists according to moods and activities. Although Songza is nice when you have no particular song or artist in mind, it does not give listeners many choices apart from genre because all its playlists are premade, and there are no options for searching for specifics.

Even so, Songza has enough playlists to satisfy everyone’s musical desires. A convenient feature that is unique to Songza is the ability to pick songs by decades, in case modern music

‘Mockingjay Part 1’

Nov. 21: Theaters everywhere

47%

1%

‘Listen’

Nov. 21: iTunes

‘Hope to Die’

isn’t appealing at the time or a good throwback is needed.

Pandora has been an old favorite of mine, but it arguably became out of date when Spotify became popular. Pandora is very easy to use due to its limited but convenient features. Custom-made playlists can be created by typing in a song, artist or album of your choice.

For the most part, Pandora stations have songs that are extremely similar to the keyword and will not leave you disappointed in its song choices.

Pandora, along with Spotify, is nice for being introduced to songs you may not have heard before. Unfortunately, both Pandora and Spotify also have monotonous advertisements in between songs and a limited amount of skips, making it difficult to fully enjoy the music listening experience.

8tracks, uniquely, still requires the tedious downloading of songs. Every playlist in the 8tracks databse is made by a user, and you can only listen to the playlists through randomly shuffle.

Even so, the popular page of 8tracks has a wide range of Playlists to fit any musical interests, sorted by genres as well as moods and activities. Of course, listening without advertisements is an added bonus.

Regardless of your musical tastes or preferences, everyone can find their dream music listening app through any of these four convenient and easy-to-use apps. All of them can be downloaded on a laptop or mobile device, creating a flexible music listening experience for all consumers.

Statistics are based on an anonymous survey

Nov. 24: Bookstores everywhere

22%

1%

29%

sent out on social media to which 144 students responded.

‘Reclassified’ Nov. 24: iTunes

‘Horrible Bosses 2’

Nov. 25: Theaters everywhere

entertainment

november 19, 2014

Vegetarian and vegan students find new Thanksgiving cuisine

by Sruthi Jayaraman Guest Writer Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Whether they are preparing to go out of town to visit loved ones or host them at their homes, many people celebrate by spending time with family and having a large, traditional meal.

While turkey is normally the central dish of a Thanksgiving dinner, the modern day variations of the main dish include a wide range of meat dishes, such as roast beef, prime rib of beef, pork tenderloin, Cornish hens, whale meat, waterfowl such as goose or duck and roast chicken. However, what do you do when meat is not on your menu?

Most vegetarians and vegans still celebrate Thanksgiving, just with very different dishes than the stereotypical heavy meats. Several of Jefferson’s students and teachers think that Thanksgiving dinner with vegetarian options can be delicious.

Although tofu substitutes, such as tofu turkey (tofurkey), tofu beef and tofu chicken come to mind as possible alternatives, Jefferson’s vegetarians and vegans celebrate Thanksgiving with dinner menus that range from simple variations of traditional Western meat dishes to festive, ethnic cuisine to exotic variations of main dish recipes from around the world.

“I’ve done tofurkey before, but my family’s Thanksgiving dinners are mainly about the sides,” history teacher Amanda Hurowitz said. “This year I’m going to Candle 79 in New York with my family for a vegetarian Thanksgiving.”

Candle 79, one of New York City’s premier vegan restaurants, has Thanksgiving menu that includes main dishes such as Rosemary-Walnut Crusted Seitan, made of wheat gluten, the protein portion of wheat, and traditionally served for Buddhist monks; Porcini-Rosemary Crusted Tofu, made of soy milk and also of Asian origin; Tempeh Tamale, a vegan adaptation of a traditional, Mexican pie dish); and House-Made Gnocchi, a variation of Italian

dumplings.

Instead of going with classic vegetarian or vegan variations of Thanksgiving recipes, some students prefer to create their own dishes.

“My mom and I make a vegetarian Thanksgiving meal with croissants stuffed with vegetables and seasoning instead of turkey,” junior Bhavana Channavajala said.

Some even think that being vegetarian or vegan gives them more opportunities to be creative with what they make for Thanksgiving; dietary restrictions can sometimes present a welcome challenge.

Junior Syona Satwah’s family Thanksgiving dinner menu includes a quinoa avocado vegetable salad and zucchini and squash rolls with cottage cheese.

“I never feel like I’m missing out on anything,” Satwah said. “Last year, we had a lot of fun looking up a bunch of vegetarian Thanksgiving dishes and spending a week making them.”

As much fun as it is to find and make these creative vegetarian and vegan recipes, many students like to stick with the classic pumpkin pie recipe as their holiday favorite.

“We don’t really make a lot of food for Thanksgiving, but we always buy or make pumpkin pie since it is the best part of every Thanksgiving meal,” freshman Srinidhi Krishnan said.

Vegetarians and vegans can enjoy the other institutions that come with the Thanksgiving weekend as well. One of the most popular Thanksgiving activities is watching football on TV with family and friends.

“I watch every football game,” Channavajala said.

“That’s why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday; it combines both food and football.”

Another favorite pastime that many students enjoy is the Black Friday holiday shopping.

“I like Thanksgiving mainly because there is no school, and there are deep discounts in all the stores I like,” junior Dhruv Gupta said.

Recipe: Quinoa and Avocado Vegetable Salad From the kitchen of: Syona Satwah, 11

Recipe: Carmelized Onion Mashed Potatoes From the kitchen of: Sonia Gupta, 11

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. 4 small onions 2. Kosher salt 3. 7 medium potatoes 4. Earth Balance (vegan butter) 5. 1/2 cup of almond milk

1. Dice onions and add them to a pot for 30 minutes.

2. Set heat to medium low.

3. Add a pinch of salt.

4. Remove potato peels, cut them into quarters and put them into a pot of boiling water until tender.

5. Add almond milk, Earth Balance and salt to the potatoes.

6. Mix in the caramelized onions.

1. 1/2 cup of quinoa 2. 1 cup of water 3. 2 chopped tomatoes 4. 1/2 cup of spinach 5. 1/3 cup of red onion 6. 2 tbsp of lemon juice 7. 2 tbsp of olive oil 8. A pinch of salt 9. 2 sliced avocados 10. 1/3 cup of feta cheese

Directions:

1. Combine quinoa and water.

2. Boil and then let simmer for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

3. Add tomato, spinach, and onion to 4. a bowl; stir to combine.

5. Whisk lemon juice, oil, and salt.

6. Add to quinoa mixture.

7. Place spinach leaves and avocados on plates and sprinkle some feta Makes 4 servings

11

Nick Jonas breaks out of his Disney Channel image with new solo album

photo courtesy of nickjonas.com

by Kate Deng Entertainment Editor Former Disney Channel boy band member Nick Jonas has completely revamped his childish image into a blossoming new artist. Even though he debuted his first solo album, “Who I Am,” in 2010, the Jonas Brothers did not officially split until 2013. As the youngest member of the Jonas Brothers, Nick Jonas hasn’t always been taken seriously as an artist. His latest, self-titled album, “Nick Jonas” that hit iTunes stores on Nov. 10 attempts to change his innocent Disney Channel image.

“Nick Jonas” mainly consists of a heavily R&B-based side of Jonas that fans may not have seen much of before.

In the days of the Jonas Brothers, Jonas sang pop songs, with just the slightest a hint of R&B. Slowing down his tune and adding mellow background music has been an effective method to change up his style. Even so, Jonas has not changed his sound so much that you can’t tell he is singing it. His unique, soothing voice comes out through his lyrics and melody and provides a nice environment for activities such as reading a good book or finishing up homework.

Along with his hit single “Jealous” that debuted earlier this year, Jonas has added 10 new songs and 13 for the deluxe version. His first track, “Chains” has a very mellow mood with barely any background music, which really shows off his beautiful voice. Similarly, “Push” and “Nothing Would Be Better” possess the same lovely qualities and although are much softer and slower than Jonas fans are used to, worked well with his voice.

Some of his more upbeat songs, such as “Teacher,” “Wilderness,” “Take Over” and “I Want You,” were much faster but still possessed some of Jonas’s signature qualities that helped his unique voice stand out. Even so, I found that this style, which was more similar to his Jonas Brothers days, was not as enjoyable as the mellower songs.

Jonas’s two collaborative songs, “Numb” featuring rapper Angel Haze and “Avalanche” featuring Demi Lovato, were both crowd-pleasers, and the featured artists definitely added to my enjoyment of the entire album.

The underlying theme is every song of “Nick Jonas” was love and lust. He claims that “Jealous” was based off of his real-life relationship with Miss Universe 2012, Olivia Culpo, and other songs have similar inspirations. Jonas got many musical influences from his favorite artists, including Stevie Wonder, Prince, Lionel Richie and the Bees Gees.

Although his new style is generally softer and focuses on the purity and trueness of the lyrics rather than the beat, I feel that this transition actually worked in Jonas’s favor and made him a more reputable professional artist.

National Geographic offers exciting food exhibit to fuel the minds and expand the global culinary knowledge of food lovers in the D.C. area

by Lindsay Williams Online Editor-in-Chief Food is an important part of our daily lives, and has been called into focus by the recent national SmartSnacks guidelines. But few Jefferson students in their daily lives think about the history of food and utensils. The National Geographic Museum attempts to answer all questions you didn’t know you had about food in “FOOD: Our Global Kitchen,” sponsored by Whole Foods.

The National Geographic exhibit consists of a walkthrough presenting the different topics. The exhibit opened with genetic modification and how it has affected food throughout the ages, from maize and corn to the cloning of apples. Oddities featured include cube-shaped watermelons, the sacred cod in the Massachusetts and the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper, which has 2,000,000 Scorville Heat Units.

Other features of the exhibit were very interactive.

There were scent stations where you could press a button and experience the smell of garlic, popcorn and other common food odors. There was a recipe video table, where you could select a dish and watch

it be made right before your eyes. In the center of is “Spinosaurus: Lost Giant of the Cretaceous,” which the exhibit, Whole Foods sponsored a tasting station, is included in the purchase of one ticket. where visitors could taste treats in the theme of the exhibit, which changes every two weeks.

National Geographic Museum exhibits are always well-made, and this one was no exception. The layout of the exhibit was straightforward, allowing guests to leisurely stroll in the path made by the colorful walls covered in facts. Most of the exhibit had uncommon facts, which created an interest to a topic that would otherwise have been somewhat boring. The exhibit also touched on some political topics, such as world food scarcity and waste in America, without taking away from the fun aura of the display.

The food was not bad, but nothing special.

Although it was an interesting idea to have in an exhibit, it definitely wasn’t the highlight.

The National Geographic museum is very cheap and accessible for students. It is fairly close to the metro station at Dupont Circle, and there are several photo by Lindsay Williams parking garages close to the museum. Normal adult prices are 11 dollars, but students get a price The National Geographic Museum’s “FOOD: Our Global Kitchreduction to 9 dollars. The other exhibit currently up en” exhibit will be open until Feb. 22, with rotating themed foods.

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features

november 19, 2014

Freshman attempts nuclear fusion at home

by Anjali Khanna Features Editor Most freshmen at Jefferson occupy themselves with their Integrated Biology, English and Technology (IBET) papers and the soldering of Kilroy boards for Design and Technology class.

Liam David is not like most freshmen. By the age of 14, he’s already done something most of us will probably never get to: building a nuclear reactor.

David was first inspired to construct his own nuclear reactor after reading an article about Taylor Wilson, another teen who built his own fusion reactor when he was just 14 and who once held the title as the youngest person to ever fuse an atom.

David, like Wilson, first set off to create a plasma star in the garage of his own home.

“Over a summer camping trip in 2013, I designed a redesigned the reactor on paper,” Liam said. “When I returned home, I started buying parts, and two months and $300 later I had completed my first nuclear reactor.”

Since David’s first reactor only produced plasma stars without the capability of fusing atoms, David has set a goal to once again follow in the footsteps of Wilson for his next reactor. Through the use of open internet forums like fusor.net/board, by which many others have tried to build home reactors, David has started a new reactor project but is still in the process of working out some kinks before he attempts nuclear fusion.

In order to create his next reactor, David knows he must find a way to acquire deuterium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is essential to the nuclear fusion process. The radioactive material is typically only sold to major corporations and can range in price up to $500 for a 25-liter sample.

In addition, David must purchase neutron detection equipment for testing the reactor once it is completed. When deuterium atoms are fused successfully, barely detectable neutrons are released by the fusion process, and David must use the equipment to tell if nuclear fusion has actually occurred. The equipment will be able to detect the rate at which the fusion in his reactor is occurring, a highly valuable tool for learning more about how nuclear energy works. He expects that the total cost of equipment for the reactor will fall around $1,500.

“The fusion reactor is a variation on multiple fusion reactor designs that have already been constructed by others,” David said. “When completed, hopefully by 2015, I plan to use it to conduct experiments on multiple topics and to learn more about plasma and physics.”

Many nuclear fusion reactors are used by power plants to produce harnessable energy when the heat caused by fusion causes water vapor to push a large turbine.

David’s reactor, however, was not designed to harness power from the fusion itself, but to observe the reactions taking place as the deuterium decomposes. “This reactor design will never produce over one-millionth of its input power, so attaching anything like a turbine is completely pointless,” David said.

While the nuclear fusor is running, David has acknowledged the risks of working

with nuclear energy in a home setting. The outer grid of the reactor is grounded, technically making the reactor safe to touch. “I never touch the chamber during operation anyways,” David said. “I know that in the event of a ground fault, I would be instantly killed.”

Since David began his work with nuclear reactors before deciding to attend Jefferson, he had more time to work on his project in the summer as well as in middle school.

“Attending TJ has definitely hindered my progress on the reactor, as I have very little free time for research and assembly,” David said. “I have not yet contacted any teachers for help on construction, mostly due to time constraints.”

photos courtesy of Liam David

David plans to use his nuclear reactor to explore concepts of physics and nuclear energy on a deeper level. So far, he has already created plasma around a tungsten wire, as shown above.

Students explore their love of unusual hobbies

Nick “Mario” Hougland: Vexillology

by Esther Kim Opinion Editor The central red dot in the Japanese national flag or the colors of red, white and blue in the French national flag might be a simple triviality for some, but for senior Nicholas “Mario” Hougland, they are reservoirs of knowledge about the nation’s long-lasting history.

“I had generally been interested in geography for about ten years since I saw a poster labeled ‘Flags of the World’ and I knew I had to have it,” Hougland said. “I hung the poster in my room and immediately started researching the flags.”

Each of the 195 nations that exist today boast a unique design on its national flag, incorporating colors and images that symbolize the cultural and social identity of the nation. With the enormous variety of symbols and colors in the design of flags, the field of vexillology studies and analyzes the deeper representations of the images depicted in the flags and their connection to the country’s identity.

“I usually study about the origin of designs of flags, especially national flags,” Hougland said. “I have the privilege of having a flag store located across the street from my house, so I am able to pursue flags in my free time. I do occasionally discuss my interest with other flag enthusiasts.”

Hougland believes that flags encapsulate a nation’s history, culture and society, deepening his understanding of a nation’s characteristic identity. In fact, Hougland’s interest in vexillology aided his interaction with foreigners during his six-week stay in Japan during the summer of 2012, in which he stayed at a local high school and helped prepare for its summer festival as a member of the school’s International Club.

“I introduced my interest in vexillology to the International Club, and they thought it would be a great idea as a theme of the club’s display,” Hougland said. “I helped organize a display of world flags as well as some activities for guests.”

Hougland’s pursuit of the study of flags is not restricted only to national flags. With the suggestion from his grandfather, a former Navy officer, Hougland has also been researching international code flags, which are specialized flags used in ships for communication and spread of information.

“I was fascinated by the fact that something as simple as a set of flags could be used for something like communication at sea, and that flags were not only symbols of a nation, but could have other purposes,” Hougland said.

Continuing his study of vexillology as a special interest, Hougland hopes to deepen his knowledge in the practical application of flags in the world and better appreciate countries’ unique cultural and societal personalities.

“I would encourage everyone to learn some of the history behind the flags they see everyday,” Hougland said. “Studying flags can provide a new perspective on a foreign country or even on world history.”

by Sandy Cho Online Editor-In-Chief For many, Formula One racing conjures the image of fast-paced sleek cars curving around a racetrack at dangerous speeds, the high-pitched whine of the engines filling the air. However, for senior Harshal Jariwala, Formula One races are much more than the thrill.

“I was amazed at the pure speed of these machines,” Jariwala said. “They were cornering so fast that I thought I was watching on fast-forward.”

Ever since he watched his first Formula One race, he grew passionate about the science behind the cars.

“I read more into how these machines worked and learned that they are heavily dependent on aerodynamics,” Jariwala said. “I liked the fact that every small detail matters and once small step off line can have a significant drop-off in performance.”

Through an internship at Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel at the University of Maryland the summer before his senior year, Jariwala had the opportunity to gain extensive knowledge on aerodynamics, which is fundamental for racetrack driving.

“I got to learn about how wind tunnels, the most important tool for an aerodynamicist, work and what tunnel engineers do,” Jariwala said. “Also, aerodynamicists from General Motors came with a model and they made changes to it, so I got to experience how aerodynamicists work and design cars.”

Despite dreams to work for a Formula One team, all are currently located in Europe, making it difficult for Jariwala to pursue his goal from America. However, he is keeping an eye out on any potential openings in the U.S. “A new American team, Haas F1, is being formed, so I’m going to try to get an internship there over the summer,” Jariwala said.

However, Jariwala hopes to major in aerospace engineering at a college in the United Kingdom, close enough to more opportunities.

“You don’t have to take classes outside your major in the U.K. and this allows me to solidify my understanding of concepts in my field,” Jariwala. “Also, most of the Formula One teams are based in the U.K., so I have a better chance of landing an internship or job with them.”

Jariwala’s ultimate goal is to become the Technical Director of any Formula One team.

“This is the highest technical position on the team, meaning that I would get to work with the overall design and aerodynamics of the car while still dealing with the mechanical components,” Jariwala said.

Harshal Jariwala: Formula One Racing

graphics by Anjali Khanna

features

november 19, 2014

Everyone should know

Tell me abou t community your service.

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ni Fi s

What did you do this summer?

What do you like about our college?

Describe yourself in five words.

Preparing for college can be a difficult task, especially when it comes to college interviews. In order to best prepare yourself for anything your interviewer might throw at you, look to these questions to sound impressive, put-together and as college-ready as possible.

W m hat yo otto by u li do ? ve W ar hat st e yo an reng ur ne d w ths sse ea s? k-

infographic and reporting by Esther Kim and Lindsay Williams

What are your favorite books?

Wha t you p do do ou lan to of the tside room class?

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How have you displayed leadership?

Wh car at ma you eer wo jor/ pur like uld sue to ?

What would make you fit in here?

Wh you at do you do in tim r free e?

If you could Do you go back in have any time, who questions would you for us? meet?

W m ho i od s a el for role yo u?

How would you contribu te W to our comm u- yo ha nity? ou u s t m t? ta ak nd es

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m e ad o ac ct d ost t ha je m g?

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What high school experience was most important to you?

“Well, back when I was a freshman...”

Teachers reminisce about the fads of their high school years with current freshmen Graduated: 2004 Favorite song: “My Heart Will Go On” Popular clothing fad: Capri pants Favorite show: “Gilmore Girls Favorite subject: Biology Favorite book: “Jane Eyre”

Graduated: Early 90s Favorite band: Red Hot Chili Peppers Popular clothing fad: Peg-rolled jeans Favorite show: “MacGyver” Favorite subject: Electronics

Michael Piccione

Aubrie Holman Popular clothing fad: Yoga pants Favorite show: “Love It Or List It” Celebrity crush: Channing Tatum Favorite subject: Technology

freshman Hyunjeong Cho

Favorite movie: “Interstellar” Favorite pastime: Playing video games Favorite subject: Biology

Favorite book: Any sci-fi novel

freshman Aditya Sarkar infographic and reporting by Ankit Agrawal, Rijul Amin, Hannah Belayachi, Masha Goykhberg, Juhi Gudavalli, Anjali Khanna, Ashley Lin and Lydia You

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SENIOR CHECKLIST: Have you bought your YEARBOOK? Get a free name plate if you order by 12/31.

Have you had your SENIOR PORTRAIT taken? You have until 12/6.

Have you bought your SENIOR AD? Sales prices extended to 11/25.

Choose photos and start working on your message of congratulations, pride and love.

Group ads are also available for purchase. Consider joining with other parents and/or booster parents to create ads that honor your senior’s involvement in activities like band or tennis or to commemorate a special group of senior friends.

See http://www.tjtoday.org/yearbook-senior-ads/ for more information.

Questions? Email Ms. Harris (EHarris1@fcps.edu)

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features

november 19, 2014

Ottowa attacks reveal main difference between Canadian and American media

by Anjali Khanna Features Editor In the hours following the Oct. 22 terrorist attack on Canadian parliament, news and media outlets from around the world worked the best they could to pull together the best story given the short notice and overall lack of information.

As usual, rumors bounced from news site to news site, quickly reported on television without corroboration from officials or witnesses of any kind.

One station in particular however, did just the opposite, reporting the story as it actually unfolded.

Rather than quickly jumping to conclusions or making up fine details to fabricate a story that would appeal to viewers and listeners, as most American news agencies are accustomed to doing, the reporters of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) maintained a placid mentality while handling the story. Peter Mansbridge, a news anchor for CBC, stated on air that often “a story takes a number of different pathways, a number of changes occur and often rumors start in a situation like this.”

He then relayed to the viewers the set of ethics that CBC carries while handling such news stories, reminding them that the agency tries to keep rumors out of coverage. However, when such rumors are reported by parliament and government officials, they are most often regarded to be true.

As soon as the media learned of the death of a Canadian soldier on parliament hill, American broadcasting agencies like Fox, Cable News Network (CNN) and MSNBC news began to speculate on the background of shooter Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, releasing speculated facts before confirming it with Canadian police.

“I think I would prefer to see speculated information if it is released quickly, but there should be a strong emphasis on the unofficial nature of the facts -- if they were connected to a person, they might graphics and photos by Anjali Khanna be at risk of

harming reputation, but quick updates are beneficial to our society as a whole,” junior Will Ryu said.

The case of the terrorism in Canada is one that is not uncommon in reporting the news today. Often, agencies will circulate tidbits of information without proper evidence or reporting to authenticate them, and later find out that they may not have gotten all of the facts right on the first try.

Around mid-April in 2013, two brothers set off bombs during the Boston Marathon. CNN immediately linked the suspect of the bombings to a middle-aged black male at the scene and did a segment on his possible motives without stopping to verify the rumors originally started on Reddit.

In addition, many American news agencies also accused a missing student from Brown University, Sunil Tripathy, whose body was later found and confirmed innocent of the crime committed by brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerian Tsarnaev.

“I was really confused and upset when I heard about the Boston bombing; I felt it was a really delicate topic and the media wasn’t treating it with enough sensitivity when they misreported some of the facts,” freshman Artemis Veizi said. “It was difficult to tell who to trust when there were so many media outlets reporting the same thing.”

The way American news outlets have the ability to alter and fabricate news as they please gives rise to an issue pertaining to the ethics of journalism and the validity of news. Many have already expressed concerns that if news stations like Fox have the power to spin a story in whichever direction they desire, can they really be trusted?

News today is often reported for the purpose of garnering viewers and making profits, and reporters will do anything to keep the audience captivated and willing to stick with the particular station to hear the entire story, as if they were reading a suspense-filled page-turner.

The CBC handled the situation of the Canadian shootings differently than previously seen by news consumers around the world. The overwhelmingly positive response from both Canadians and Americans alike to the CBC suggests that perhaps news should always be reported in a purely factual manner, but isn’t that how consumers thought the media should theoretically acting all the time? The terrorist attacks raise questions about drawing a line between fact and fiction, indicating that showy graphics and “speculation sessions” may actually be driving away audiences that news industries work so hard to maintain.

Siemens Regional Finalists continue work on projects for upcoming competition

by Ellen Kan Print Editor-In-Chief As a high school that hopes to foster talent and innovation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Jefferson frequently sends students to compete in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. The competition’s goal is to “promote excellence by encouraging students to undertake individual or team research projects,” to foster “intensive research that improves students’ understanding of the value of science study and informs their consideration of future careers in their disciplines.”

On Oct. 16, 18 Jefferson students – out of the 21 total for the state of Virginia – moved on to the next level of the competition after they were announced as Regional Semifinalists. Four days later, the Siemens Foundation released the names of the Regional Finalists. Among them were juniors Jesse Cai, Andy Charbonneau and Michael You. Charbonneau and You were partners. Their project analyzes the oscillation of small gas bubbles in whale blood vessels due to SONAR wave exposure. Charbonneau and You derived a non-linear, mathematical model to find a correlation between SONAR waves, bubble oscillation and whale tissue damage. In the process of completing their project, the pair was able to improve key skills, such as communication.

“I believe that learning how to effectively communicate was an important lesson I learned while working in a team,” Charbonneau said.

“Knowing how to exactly express what I didn’t understand helped me gain a better understanding of the project through research. Being able to concisely state a large amount of information is critical if Michael and I want to progress to the next round.”

Charbonneau and You also worked out a specific division of labor that maximized use of their individual talents.

“The Siemens competition gave me an opportunity to pursue research that I found interesting and to apply my cumulative STEM studies,” You said.

“Since we each have our own strengths – Andy is a skilled writer and well-read in STEM, and I have extensive experience in mathematics – I thought we would make a good group for the project.”

Cai worked with Matthew Yu, his cousin from Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland. Cai’s project involved research in spintronics, a new field of electronics that focuses on incorporating the intrinsic spin of an electron into electronics.

Like Charbonneau and You, Cai also faced some challenges along the way and mastered some important concepts.

“I learned that especially for research, the amount of time you put in is directly related to the quality of results that you get,” he said. “There isn’t a substitute for time; in order to have our project be successful, my partner and I had to put in a lot of time.”

Virginia is in Region 6; Jefferson’s Regional Finalists will compete against students from other southeastern states at the Georgia Institute of Technology on Nov. 21-22. They will be judged on their research report, poster display, oral presentation and a private Q-and-A session. Six individual and six team regional winners will advance to the national competition, which will be held on Dec. 5-8 at The George Washington University.

“We need to prepare a poster and a presentation, and a lot of other information for the questioning portion,” Cai said.

“We’re already extremely pleased with how far we’ve gone, so we just want to do our best at Georgia Tech.”

“The amount of time you put in is directly related to the quality of results that you get. There isn’t a substitute for time.”

- junior Jesse Cai

photos by Anjali Khanna and courtesy of Aly Luckett and Michael You

Clockwise from top: Juniors Michael You, Jesse Cai and Andy Charbonneau will compete at the Siemens Regional Competition in Atlanta on Nov. 21-22. They will present their projects before a panel of judges.

november 19, 2014

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Jefferson community celebrates veterans

by Sandy Cho and Lindsay Williams