viking
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june 2011 issue 4 thevikingnews.com
a e akf f f br o % 0 11. f or 2 h, 20 t ad i n 7 s i 1 h gt 13– Br i n Ju ne f rom
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Tropical Smoothie Cafe's 5th annual National Flip Flop Day is June 17th, and we're saying thank you to everyone who has helped us reach nearly $1,000,000 in total donations to Camp Sunshine. Be one of the first 500 people to arrive wearing your flip flops, and you'll receive a FREE 24 oz. Jetty Punch smoothie. Buy a Sunrise Sunset smoothie (a portion of proceeds will be donated). Buy a donation flip flop for $1. Donate $5 or more and get a Flip Flop Key Fob good for 10% off purchases in 2011. Choose another donation at NationalFlipFlopDay.com 609 East Main Street, Suite BB Purcellville, VA 20132 (Bloom Shopping Center) (540) 338-6703
Your ad could be here. Contact paige.cox@ lcps.org to advertise.
first look cover
staff
editing team Michelle Delgado Lauren Pichon Dani Psimas
Senior Aislin Kavaldjian performs at an event in Leesburg. cover illustration/Brian Wagner & Michael Carter
online team Michael Carter Torri Hart
inside
copy team Courtney Coombs
2
photography team Jessica Carver Haley Johnston Brian Wagner ad team Mari Kiyota Kamna Talwar staff writers Rachel Boisjolie Charlotte Cooper Tatum Davenport Tierra Dongieux Melissa Fairfax Leigh George Josh Janney Acacia Lawson Maddi Luckman Ben Lutrario Zack Miller Mae Markowski Joe Midolo Courtney Morgan Morgan Screptock Lakshman Ulanowsky Carter Waller Ben Waring Dana Wood adviser Paige Cox
contact
Paige Cox paige.cox@lcps.org 340 N. Maple Avenue Purcellville, VA 20132 540-751-2400
a shrinking school
8 10 lax lingo
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photo/Haley Johnston
Lax is more than a sport; You’ve gotta have swag. -Vic Molchan, senior
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viking view
vegetarianism at valley centerspread
fast ethnic food a&e
the polka dots sports
lax lingo
sports
drag racing
2 news
300 the projected decrease in students for the 2011-2012 school year
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ith the departure of this year’s seniors, Valley will complete its transition into a smaller school. As the student body shrinks, so will the staff, but according to the administration Valley’s activities and traditions will be preserved, and new opportunities will be available. “We don’t change what we do just because we have fewer kids; that would be like changing because we have more kids,” said Principal Susan Ross. “What I have said to teacher is, as we get smaller, I expect the same level of service to students. Teachers will have more prep classes and likely be asked to participate in more extracurricular activities.” 21 teachers are being destaffed, and while the students may lose teachers they liked or hoped to have in the future, Ross said the de-staffing was proportional to the number lost from the student body. Hallways and classrooms will be less crowded, improving the learning environment. “Because the numbers for the senior class are going about half, they just don’t have any room for me. It wasn’t such a big shock to me,” said Alex Bennett, Government teacher transferring to Woodgrove. “Having 30 kids in a class is a pain; it’s difficult as a teacher.
Smaller class, one-on-one with kids, go through material quicker. [There is] more pressure on kids to do work and participate more, nowhere to hide.” The 2010-2011 school year has an approximate 1350 student body population, while the 2011-2012 year is predicted to drop to an estimated 1200. Elective and academic classes expect similar benefits from this fall. “I have always been the same with [my classes] because my classes are always large,” said Fine Arts Department Chair and Bands Director Rick Reaves. “We’ll still be larger than regular classes. As for Art and Drama, it helps to be able to individualize a little more, instill the instruction a little more individually. “ Underclassmen, however, are skeptical of this outlook. “Next year there’s going to be a smaller senior class and it’s not just senior teachers who are leaving, it’s all teachers,” said sophomore Ayca Aramez. Junior Connor Bluhm had a similar opinion. “I don’t think it’s going to affect [student life] a lot,” said Bluhm. “Hopefully, we keep all the great teachers we’ve had here.” Though Valley’s competitive sports and extracurricular activities, like the
marching band, must move from AAA to AA districts because of the population reduction, administrators expect to remain competitive despite the smaller talent pool. “Obviously, when you don’t have as many students in your school, your sports teams become smaller, but I think we will still be very competitive,” said Athletic Director Kris Kelican. “Dynamics going to change a little bit, lot of kids going to be able to participate that maybe couldn’t in the past.” Reaves agrees from the arts side. “It’s just growing pains- or what’s the opposite of growingshrinking pains,” said Reaves. “But the kids are still doing very well, still working hard. [They] still make it happen on a successful level.” While the administration says it will not cut extracurricular activities or clubs, the responsibility of continuing them is left to interested students and their teacher sponsors. The Student Council Association, for example, will elect the same number of members, even though there will be fewer class panel students. “I expect [Valley traditions] to stay strong as long as students and teachers are willing to support them,” said Ross. “My experience with
Valley is that student leadership is charged with maintaining them and also having flexibility to be creative with them.” “We’re trying to maintain the same level of stuff we did this year, same level of energy and same commitment to making Valley an exciting place to come to school,” said Eileen Lowry, SCA sponsor. There is a great group of juniors coming in next year who will be stepping up their leadership and who know how to motivate people and get them excited.” ■
article/Dana Wood
4 news
TRIVIAL even as students play the AP game, the rules are constantly changing
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earning a foreign language in school is not easy. Many students hear a jumble of sounds, cringe at the onslaught of unknown words, and hesitantly answer in a slow voice with choppy grammar. CollegeBoard believes that the answer is to add more levels of foreign language. In 2006, CollegeBoard changed its foreign language structure by offering high school credit to students entering seventh grade. For the 2011-2012 school year, they completed the shift by adding another change: a level V class, which will count as an honors class and focus on the nuances of conversation. The resulting dilemma
PURSUIT
is that rising juniors will have to take an additional year of foreign language to reach the AP, and any student who was not enrolled in a foreign language in seventh grade will be unable to enroll in AP at all. “A lot of my friends are quitting their language just because they don’t want this extra year before AP,” said sophomore Danielle Norfleet, who is currently taking Spanish IV. “AP tests are more demanding and students need to practice skills,” said Foreign Language Department Chairman Michael Krepich. “It’ll give students an opportunity to improve AP scores.” While the level V class
is intended to improve AP performance, the class offers only frustration to those students who are now ineligible to take AP. One such student is Noah Holt, a freshman in Spanish II. He moved from Fairfax County this year, where his only option was to begin foreign language in eighth grade. “It’s sad and frustrating because I had no control over the matter and wasn’t eligible to take any higher level,” said Holt. The change may prove to be frustrating for the administration as well. Scheduling is already a difficult process, as counselors attempt to balance the competing interests of student choices and
teacher availability. Charles Smith, the rising sophomore guidance counselor, said that the administration will try to combat this difficulty by creating combination classes. “For instance, there will be French IV/V, Latin IV/V, German IV/V, etc. The combo classes will be at higher levels.” However, combination classes could require teachers to focus on level IV skill building, potentially keeping the level V students from learning anything new. “It’s not fair; if we are going to be learning the same material as the juniors, then why can’t we all just be in AP?” said Norfleet. Competitive colleges dictate students’ scramble
news 5
New Foreign Language Progression By offering Foreign Language and high school credit beginning in the 7th grade, College Board radically changed the dynamic of scheduling.
7th grade Begin taking language
8th grade Begin second year of language
9th grade to pack their schedules with as many AP courses as possible. Many students decide whether or not to continue based on their target college’s requirements. However, the belief that the amount of foreign language will be pivotal in a college decision may be a myth. The level of foreign language often comes into play after acceptance, when students are scheduling classes. At University of Virginia, students are placed in foreign language classes according to proficiency rather than the level reached in high school. Clearly, U. Va.’s policy is that foreign language “is not a deal breaker,” said Jeannine
Lalonde, the assistant dean at the U. Va.’s admission office. “Someone who gets to the fifth level is great, but not necessary. We don’t have a hard and fast policy.” Without the college issue in play, the decision to take an extra level of a foreign language come down to individual preference. While continuation in the foreign language program is recommended, Krepich recognizes both sides of the situation. “As with any change, there are pluses and minuses.” ■
article/Rachel Boisjolie
Start your 3rd year of a language. Colleges like to see a minimum of 3 years of a language.
10th grade Take level 4 of a language which will count as an honors class.
11th grade Begin level 5. Rising juniors for the11-12 year will not be able to reach the AP level if they started in 8th grade.
12th grade Take the AP course. Hope to obtain college credit.
6 news
thou
food f
I
n the lunchline, students are confronted with choices every day. These dietary decisions can make a statement, especially when driven by compelling personal convictions. According to a Harris poll, the number of teen vegetarians has tripled in the last decade. In a society where food culture is hip, where a meatless diet goes against the norm, and where one of high school’s biggest concerns is fitting in, even this growing trend comes with an added level of responsibility and commitment. “I saw a video about slaughterhouses in November and I’ve been vegetarian since then. I’ve always loved animals and wanted to be vegetarian, but the video was basically the last straw,” said freshman Laine Brummel. “For me, it’s like ‘go hard or go home.’ Vegetarianism
is a commitment, and you shouldn’t commit to something that you can’t follow through with.” With the publication of popular books like Michael Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, many vegetarians are outraged by the inhumane treatment of animals raised for slaughter or are disgusted by the thought of eating what was once a live creature. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is an organization that advocates for animal rights. Some consider it a radical group that goes to extremes and stretches the truth, while others believe it exposes the truths of industries such as slaughterhouses. ““The biggest reason I’m a vegetarian is for the animals. PETA gives you the truth of the atrocities of animal abuse. It makes people upset and guilty, [but] they
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don’t do anything about it, so they blame PETA for being too radical,” said Chharia. “Though PETA is not the only animal rights organization and they may have their flaws, they have come so far. From a few people sitting in a basement in England in 1980, they have [become] a widespread, even celebrity involved, global community. To me, PETA is an inspiration.” While some vegetarians support PETA, many do not, and reasons for becoming a vegetarian vary greatly from case to case. Some simply dislike the taste of meat, and others are prohibited from eating meat for religious reasons. For example, Hinduism excludes beef and Islam forbids pork. Becoming a vegetarian can also positively impact the environment. According to Dr. David Brubaker, at Johns Hopkins University’s Center
for a Livable Future, raising animals for food consumes great amounts of resources such as water, grain, and land, and uses harmful pesticides and drugs. Thus, removing meat from a diet reduces these negative environmental consequences. Though non-vegetarians may not identify with reasons for becoming vegetarian, most don’t mind others giving up meat. “I think that being a vegetarian is fine, as long as you keep it to yourself,” said sophomore Jacques Deaver. “People like PETA, who try to guilt you with outlandish facts that aren’t even true, are the ones that bother me.” Vegetarianism also comes with non-social challenges. A meatless diet can create health problems, such as lack of protein or iron; however, many vegetarians can take supplements or
simply get their nutrients through other foods. In addition, meat is a staple in most people’s diets, which can cause people to be unable to change. Since cooking an extra vegetarian meal can be a burden on the family cook, and since parents control most aspects of their kids’ lives, becoming a teen vegetarian can be difficult. “I have not already become vegetarian because my parents don’t think it would be healthy for me, and I need the protein from meat,” said freshman Tamasen Blaylock. “I don’t think I will become a vegetarian because my parents force me to eat meat now and so I’m always going to be around it.” “At first my parents thought it would be just a phase, but I was a really stubborn kid and stuck with it. I’m the only vegetarian in my family, but they’re supportive,”
said senior Amy Fernandez. “Once a week I make a healthy, vegetarian meal for everyone to try.” No matter why they became a vegetarian, their opinion on PETA, or their particular diet, vegetarianism tends to be mostly a personal decision. “I don’t care at all if other people eat meat,” said Gottfried. “I only get annoyed when people judge me for not eating meat.” ■
article/Melissa Fairfax illustration/Haley Johnston
Senior Olivia Milam keeps in touch with her brother, Nathan, though militar service has sent him abroad.
MILITARY LIFE
welcome to a
a new generation acclimates to everyday life with loved ones away at war
viking view 9
T
o previous generations, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue,” was overly nationalistic. Enlisting in the military was seemingly unnecessary. There was no war to fight. Today, war invades every aspect of American life. Reports on the War on Terror are unavoidable. Patriotic crowds gather to commemorate 9/11. Soldiers in uniform fill every train station and airport. Welcome to a military world. Hollywood has reinterpreted our military world to create award-winning motion pictures and television series, including “Hurt Locker,” a winner of six Academy Awards, and “Army Wives,” a popular Lifetime series. Approximately four million Americans are enlisted in the military today. Each of these four million and their loved ones can relate to the challenges of
military life, which range from frequent moves to the fear of losing a loved one. Senior Olivia Milam and physical education teacher Joyce Phillips can speak to these challenges. Olivia Milam has two brothers enlisted in the military. Though she is supportive of her brothers’ decisions, their time away does take a toll on her emotions. “I get really upset sometimes thinking about them and I realize I’m going to miss them a lot.” Frequently, military families don’t know exactly where their loved ones will be serving. Milam’s brothers are based in Korea and Alaska. The time differences between Virginia and Korea, 13 hours, and Virginia and Alaska, four hours, make it difficult to talk on a regular basis. “My brother in Korea calls me in the morning while I’m getting ready and I’m late for
school!” One phone call can delay Milam’s routine. Her light-hearted conversations can last for hours when Nathan’s number flashes on her cell phone screen. During a soldier’s deployment, which lasts an average of 12-15 months, a phone call is the family’s lifeline. Some families believe that the first time a loved one deploys is most difficult; others feel that each departure is equally painful. Phillips believes “it is harder the first time, because you have to adjust to everything.” Phillips’ son, Jimmy, enlisted in the Coast Guard after graduating from Loudoun Valley in 2005. He attended the naval academy preparatory school for one year and then attended the Coast Guard Academy for four years. Enrollment in the academy was not an easy feat for Jimmy.
“There were a couple times we weren’t sure he’d stick it out,” said Phillips of her son’s time in the various academies, “but he now knows it was the right decision for him.” Phillips believes it was the right choice too. “[I was] very, very proud that he wanted to serve his country and very, very scared.” She knows the emotions of a military parent. “He can get hurt anywhere, so that was temperate with the pride we had in his decision,” said Phillips. She and Milam anxiously anticipate their loved ones’ return. A soldier walks off the plane and through the large gate to the family awaiting his arrival. Posters scrawled with “Welcome Home,” are everywhere. This is the moment he’s been waiting for. This is the part of a military life that he loves. This is a military world. ■
article/Torri Hart photo/Olivia Milam
illustration/Michael Carter
ETHNIC
FAST
FOOD
If you’re tired of eating at the same generic fast food restaurants, try these ethnic options for a spiced up take on good food fast. Clockwise: A savory Greek gyro (flatbread stuffed with rotisserie-roasted lamb and yogurt) from My Deli and Cafe in Purcellville ■ Lamb kabob served with lemony rice from Red Kabob in Leesburg ■ Tuna and avocado sushi from Jasmine’s in Leesburg ■ Sicilian canoli filled with lemon riccotta and garnished with crushed pistacchios and tiny chocolate chips from Palio in Leesburg ■
photo/Haley Johnston
12 arts & entertainment
F
or The Polka Dots, what started as a whim blossomed into unexpected success. Composed of senior Aislin Kavaldjian on fiddle and vocals, sophomore Nora Kavaldjian on mandolin and vocals, and senior Olivia Zook on stand-up bass, the band has come a long way from its humble beginnings. Playing covers of everything from a folk song about William Howard Taft to “Let it Be” by the Beatles, The Polka Dots are both quirky and relatable. The Viking: What made you pick folk? It’s not really a particularly well-known style of music. Aislin: It’s less picking and more figuring out what you enjoy. I think it’s a crowd pleaser. A lot of people don’t think of folk as something they want to listen to, but when they actually listen to it they enjoy themselves. Nora: It’s also that we have a variety of people in the area who can teach us folk. The Viking: Were you expecting to get this much of a response? Olivia: Not really. Aislin: It’s mostly just fun. We started out at Beans in the Belfry in Brunswick. Olivia: Scared out of our wits. Aislin: But it was really fun. And they liked us, so we just kept going.
seeing spots
Valley band rises from Beans in the Belfry to National Public Radio Nora: We made, like, $90 in tips on our first actual gig.
V: How often do you practice? A: Generally we try to do once a week, but there are definitely months where we end up only having one or two practices. O: And then in summer we’ll have three gigs in a weekend. A: So we might as well throw in one in the week and then the weekend is as much practicing as you need for the next week, so it does depend on if we’re learning something new. We tend to just add things as they occur to us. ‘Oh yeah, that song that we like, let’s do that.’ O: Like “The Monster Mash” A: We were playing the song otherwise known as “Forget You” by Cee Lo Green the other night on the piano. We’re just jamming. You start jamming and then you say, ‘We should actually play this!’ I think it’s made everybody better musicians. I know for one thing everybody’s better at improvising. It’s kind of a requirement.
V: How do you get your gigs? O: It’s really cool. Her mom’s our manager. A: She’s actually very good at it. We totally love her because otherwise we wouldn’t have gigs, because I’d just sit there going, ‘I’m too busy!’ Generally we are actually contacted by clients. We generally don’t go out looking for gigs. Right now we’re getting into prime gig season, so we’ve got at least one thing going on every weekend from now until early June, sometimes two or three, so it does depend. We’ve got a couple people who ask us to do things every year. V: How do you think that being in a band has influence you as a person? N: It’s certainly honed my musical skills, and I think it’s helped me a bit with my performance skills. Early on, sometimes I would just throw a tantrum during the middle of a performance and refuse to play because I was upset. But now I know the importance of going
through it…once upon a time, I kept on breaking all the strings on my mandolin, and I learned to deal with it, and I also learned how to get a string onto a mandolin really fast. O: Definitely it improved my musical ability. I was in orchestra three years before, so I was [learning] some technical things. About a year after the Polka Dots I got really more fluid with the bass and got to explore some more diversity. I think as a person it was cool to [experience] a lot of group dynamics. You know how the Beatles felt after a while. You learn how to work through the differences and make compromises, and eventually it’s all about the music. And [you] remember that it doesn’t suck anymore. V: What do you think that music can give you that high school can’t? O: A lot of self-satisfaction in what you do. The best gigs are the ones where people are dancing and having a good time. It’s really nice to know that you can be a part of your community and you can give back, just for fun. I don’t think you get a lot of self-satisfaction—I mean, you’re happy that you got an A, but you don’t really feel like you’ve given anything back to anyone. A: You also get a good community. Obviously you know everyone in your high school. You may not like them all, but you know who they are, whereas with the bluegrass community in particular, everyone is so tight. You walk up to somebody you’ve never met
and they’re like, “Yeah! I was married to Dave!” It’s weird stuff like that. O: It’s kind of a bluegrass family. A: We’ve gone to festivals a couple of years in a row, and they remember us: “You’re the unicycling girl! You’re the girl with the bass!” It’s really great, because you see these people, you may not even know their names, but they’re like, “I love you, man!” A: It’s very retro, in a way, you know, like hippie love, but with banjos and a couple confederate flags. O: Kind of weird. V: How did NPR notice you? Did they approach you? A: We were at Tacoma Park Festival, which is in September of every year. [NPR] sends their interns out to all of the music festivals, and so [our
intern] was there, and she was like, “I’m gonna contact these kids.” So, it was pretty cool to think that we were just at a gig, the first time we were selling our CDs in public other than the release party, and we sold, like 10 CDs and got a gig with NPR! O: It was a good gig, too, because we don’t get to see a lot of our peers in this kind of music, so this was actually designed for peers. We got to meet a lot of our peers who were playing this same sort of music. It was just very exciting to be in that atmosphere. V: What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened? A: We got to meet Pink Martini. O: Oh my gosh! A: And Ari Shapiro, all of the NPR people, we got to watch Melissa Black recording the evening newscast. It was really cool. We played the thing and our intern, who’s just fantastic, you know, she’s talking, and Nora sees this CD on the desk, it’s the new Pink Martini Christmas album, “Oh, I love this, this comes out today!” And she’s like, “Actually, they come out tomorrow, they’re downstairs.” O: Pink Martini, they’re one of our idols, we’ve kind of been
in love with them for the past four years. They’re a big band, brass, really more popular in Europe than they are here. N: They do lots of alternative music. A: They’ve got 12 pieces. They do something between world and jazz. They dabble in a lot of other stuff. O: It was just really strange that they happened to be at NPR the same time we did, so we got to go downstairs and we shook hands and stuff. N: We met them! We actually met them! V: What do you listen to on your iPod? A: Everything. O: Pretty much. A: I would say no country for me, generally. O: No country, no rap. N:
Pretty much everything except country and rap. My favorite is alternative rock, so I have a bunch of that. O: I really like Bright Eyes, CAKE. I also listen to a lot of jazz.
N: Jazz! O: A lot of local bluegrass that you won’t really find on iTunes. V: What’s the best advice you can give to other kids who want to do something like what you’ve done? O: Have fun. A: Just do it. N: Don’t give up. A: Once you start, you kind of don’t necessarily want to stop. N: It’s good to take breaks, though. A: In the off-season, in winter, it’s good to just chill and not do band stuff. Once you start you gain momentum, so really it’s just the genesis. You have to make it happen. Once it happens it’s smooth sailing. If you’re not having fun, that’s when it’s time to stop. The whole point is to have fun, unless you’re doing it as your job. N: Unless you’re being a sell-out. A: There’s no reason to not have fun. Especially right now. Right now’s the time to do that. Later you can talk about getting a job in the music business. ■ Olivia Zook decided to leave the Polka Dots for personal reasons after this article was written. article/Courtney Coombs photos/Brian Wagner Clockwise from top: Nora Kavaldjian, Aislin Kavaldjian, and Olivia Zook
lax
lacrosse has developed a jargon all its own
LINGO
“Anyone care to lax?” Whether you love it or hate it, this new subculture has taken over our community and proven to be the fastest growing sport. Unabashed and somewhat abrasive, this “laxer” attitude is completely different from any other in a high school setting and has
garnered a dedicated following that’s picked up in recent years. The players foster not only a fierce sense of pride, but also an exclusivity that sets the sport apart. This “laxer” mentality has developed a set of lingo that is making its way into everyday use. ■ article/Haley Johnston photos/Haley Johnston
flow bucket
flow
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spoon wand twig
mid calves
lax bro goggles
life’s a
DRAG
“
If you let fear consume you, you won’t be able to focus on the race itself.
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he smell of gasoline infiltrates your nostrils as the engine revs in your veins. You wait anxiously for the light to change and the race to start. In 10 seconds you’re zooming down a straight track at 180 miles an hour in a dragster, about to cross the finish line. This temptation to race may be a far-fetched fantasy for most high schoolers, but for senior Matt Hopkins, this adrenaline rush is just a typical weekend event as a semi-professional drag racer. Like most sports, drag racing has been a challenge. Hopkins has dedicated hundreds of hours of practice and training to his hobby over the course of 11 years, not only on the track, but in the car going to and from races all over the country. “I probably couldn’t count how many races I’ve done,” he said. “I’ve raced for the last 11 years, almost every weekend from March to November.”
Of these countless hours, Hopkins recalls dedicating extra practice to light training. Unlike a NASCAR race, drag races start with a series of lights instead of a flag. Because of this emphasis on split-second timing and attention to detail, reaction time is key to a driver as it can make or break a race. In order to prepare himself for the starting light, Hopkins trains on a device called the practice tree, a virtual light simulator that is available online. “Before a race, I practice on the practice tree and keep to myself until I go up to make a run,” said Hopkins. Hopkins races for the National Hot Rod Association as well as International Hot Rod Association, a sanctioned association for drag racing, similar to NASCAR. “NASCAR goes in circles, NHRA is straight track wise,” explained Hopkins. “But they both have ranks that go up to professional. They both also
(
Se te at
sports 17
(race)
enior Matt Hopkins ears up the racetrack t 180 mph.
have professionals that go from track to track through the year.” Hopkins’ love for racing developed at a young age. “I started racing when I was eight years old. My mom and dad got me a junior dragster when I was eight years old for Christmas,” he recalled. “I don’t know what my friends got, but they thought it was pretty cool I got a car.” Although Hopkins is the one behind the wheel, he couldn’t do it alone. His family has supported him financially throughout his career, traveling all around the East Coast, and cheering him on at races. Gear is another factor of drag racing that adds to expenses as it can range from a simple fire suit to specialized devices such as the HANS (hand and neck support device). “My parents mostly pay for it, but I help them,” Hopkins said. “There are continuance sponsors [that also aid us], and if you
win rounds and stuff they pay you. There are a lot of things that go into it.” Sponsorship is hard to obtain, yet Hopkins hopes to become a better driver and make a name for himself. “A good driver has excellent concentration, consistency, reaction time, good judgment, and most of all, focus,” he said. “I aspire to become a better driver by moving up the ladders and obtaining sponsorship.” Practice has paid off for Hopkins, as he recently moved up to a higher rank at the end of last year. Bigger ranks bring more intimidation from older racers for 18-year old Hopkins. Another source of intimidation is a crowd as large as 300 people. Additionally, the car goes at 180 miles an hour, as opposed to 80 miles an hour in the smaller rank. Aside from being a fun hobby, drag racing has brought success and some fame for Hopkins. “Before I
started in the bigger ranks, a lot of people knew me in the Junior Dragsters because I did it for so long. When you’ve done something so long, people kind of know you who you are. It’s pretty cool for a while,” Hopkins said. “So then I went down there and I would be talking to people, and people would be like, ‘Is that Matt Hopkins?’ So that’s pretty cool,” he says with a smile. Hopkins has been lucky enough to not be injured during a race. However, races have been compromised in the past due to injuries. Still, it takes more than that to keep him off of the track. “I’ve been injured in a race before. One year, I was in Bristol, Tennessee. The week before, I played basketball and tore a bunch of ligaments and stuff. But after a week and we slipped on a racing shoe on and I made it to a final level of cars out of 300!” Even though Hopkins has a familiarity of driving at high
speeds, he is a cautious driver off the track. “I actually drive slower than [most] people because most people want the feeling of speed and stuff, but I’ve already done that so I just drive around pretty slowly,” Hopkins said. As for his favorite aspect of racing, Hopkins loves how things come together when racing. “The feeling of speed and the racecar, and everything acting at once, and when everything comes together at the end of the day [is my favorite part],” said Hopkins. “So many things go into racing, the car has to act right, and I have to drive right. Everything [has to] come together at the end of the day.” Focus has proved successful in helping him win. “I just pretty much try to relax and zone in on what I’m doing,” he said. “And that usually, hopefully, works.” ■
article/Kamna Talwar photo/Matt Hopkins
sky’s the limit
W
hile most students were taking advantage of spring break as a chance to relax, Kara Kovach was jumping out of a plane flying 13,500 feet above the ground. Kovach had always wanted to skydive and, after turning 18 this year, she was eager to go for her first jump. “I’ve done a lot of crazy stuff like bungee jumping, so I guess I’m kind of an adrenaline junkie,” Kovach said. After taking a brief class with the company Skydive Orange, Kovach was ready to board the plane and freefall
from more than two miles in the air. “The most scared I got was on the edge; that wasn’t even that bad,” said Kovach. “It was surreal.” Kovach said that, in addition to wanting to get licensed in skydiving, she is always seeking new thrills. “I’m going to travel a lot. Different places will have different opportunities,” Kovach said. “You always see people jumping off cliffs. That would be cool.”
article/Michael Carter photo/Kara Kovach