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Harrisonburg High School • 1001 Garbers Church Road • Harrisonburg, VA 22801 • 540.433.2651 • Volume XIC • Issue 8 • April 29, 2016

JROTC members experience intense training Ellie Plass Online Editor-in-Chief For the past eight years, JROTC has been eating worms. They’ve been setting up shelters in the woods and learning how to survive with only a piece of rope and what they find on the forest floor.

They’ve been learning survival training. The program is a two-day event that starts with an informational session led by someone from the JROTC guard unit or the active component. This year, the person leading the course was Srgt. Fisher, who is still a member of the military and works as a recruiter.

Srgt. Major Wilder, one of the leaders of JROTC, accompanied the group on their day.

“Once they go through the whole class we’ve taught them how to build a shelter, how to make fire, how to prepare a trap or PHOTO BY BRIAN ALVARADO different things that you would do in a survival en- BON APPETIT. Senior Hector Carcamo watches as freshman Saud “Cookie” Al Hasan, on the verge of vironment. They learn all throwing up, slurps down a worm in the annual worm-eating competition as a part of JROTC’s Survival those [skills] in the class- Training. Members of JROTC participate in a role play for the day in which they are stranded in the room. [They] are taught the forest, trying to survive. techniques that are used is about 30 minutes away from the high had to be able to fit all seven of the team when [they’re] out there,” Wilder said.

The students in JROTC that had good school and is surrounded by farmland. members inside and be complete with a enough grades to go traveled to Paul State As soon as their feet touched the ground roof, walls, latrine, fire pit and trap. Within Park on Tuesday, April 12. The location from the bus, the teams were running to complete their structures. The buildings See SURVIVAL page A2

Social media activity follows you for long time Abby Hissong Print Managing Editor Social media is everyone’s go-to communication tool. From Facebook, to Twitter, to Snapchat, to Instagram, people have more freedom than ever to express themselves online with little restriction. People aren’t tethered to physical hangouts anymore. They can gather, communicate, and share their lives from the comfort of wherever they choose.

For someone who wants to go to college and secure employment afterwards, social media can be a double-edged sword.

HHS principal, Cynthia Prieto, has had to deal with the growing problem of inappropriate social media usage both in and out of school. “[Social media] has changed a lot in the past five years. In the past, administration very rarely checked unless the police indicated a problem and they needed to look, then we would let them know student names and information. Nowadays, it is so very much of how we function, that if there is conflict in the school, it usually comes from some basis of social media,” Prieto said.

Online, there is often illegal activity that is broadcast so that anyone can see it.

While the school can’t do anything about the activities that occur on the weekend, they can contact a parent to go through the student’s account if they find concern-

See PRIVACY page A2

Concussion safety Freshmen use ASL interpreter for school day increasing with law Faith Runnells Print Editor-in-Chief

Austin Swift Print Editor-in-Chief

Over the last few years, there has been an increased focus on the safety of high school, college and professional athletes concerning brain injuries, particularly concussions. Additional laws and guidelines are being implemented in the process of diagnosing concussions, and a growing number of schools and sports organizations have come under investigation for the handling of potential brain injuries to their athletes.

Athletic Trainer Jen Glazer is certified in diagnosing and treating concussions.

“A concussion is an injury to the brain, [and] they’ve done the research now where it’s not just an electrical issue, but all the way down to a chemical abnormality in the brain. Until it heals and goes back to normal, it’s considered a concussion,” Glazer said.

At HHS, when an athlete is suspected of suffering a concussion during a game or at practice, Glazer will perform a sideline evaluation, which lasts between five and 10 minutes, in which they determine if the athlete needs a full evaluation.

“Pretty much with the way the Virginia state law is now, if anyone’s even suspected of having a concussion, so if an athlete comes in and says ‘I hit my head and I have a headache, I’m dizzy and I’ve had an upset stomach all day,’ that’s automatic ‘you can’t participate [in the sport] for that day.’ And that’s by Virginia law,” Glazer said. “[The full evaluation] helps me determine ‘do we need to go to the doctor right now or do we not. Can they even be in school, can it just be half days’ and what other accommodations they need, along with not doing any physical activity, until they’re healed from it.”

There is no federal law for concus-

See CONCUSSIONS page A2

Julie Foster’s first experience working with deaf students was an unexpected one, when she signed up to lead the 4-H club as a junior in high school. Now, she has committed her career to the deaf community, and works every day with HHS’ two deaf students.

“I walked in on a Saturday, and all the kids’ hands were flying in the air, and it happened to be the Frederick School for the Deaf... I had no idea,” Foster said. This sparked Foster’s interest, and she is now the Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing for Harrisonburg City Public Schools.

This is the first time that HHS has had two students together who communicate the most by using American Sign Language: freshman Sajjad Hassan and freshman Camron Turner.

See SIGNING page A2

PHOTO BY FAITH RUNNELLS

USING MY LANGUAGE. Freshman Sajjad Hassan works with Julie Foster, Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students, signing the vocabulary words and definitions in an English class warm-up on April 20.

Marching band performs at Disney World Angel Hendrix Feature Editor The band traveled to Orlando, Florida to partake in two performances in Disney World from April 13 to 17. One of those performances included playing “Shout it Out Loud” by KISS while marching through Magic Kingdom on Main Street, U.S.A, leading the Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade.

Freshman Alexis Fitzgerald was one of the many students who went on the trip.

“The parade stood out to me the most because it’s Disney, that’s one thing and it felt a lot shorter than all the

Coming up Pop culture of 2015-16 Senior wills Post-graduation plans of seniors Senior baby pictures Top 10 of senior class Senior trivia Through the years: then and now Athletes moving on to college Humans of HHS

parades we had done. I heard people thought we did really well and our band director was proud of us,” Fitzgerald said.

The trip was offered to every aspect of band: colorguard, competition, Friday night, concert, and symphonic. It was one of the biggest band trips yet, with a total of 119 travelers.

Ninety nine were band members and 20 were chaperones.

They stayed on Disney property at the newest resort, Pop Century.

Along with the parade, the band also attended a instrumental workshop in Epcot.

Everyone who plays an instru-

See BAND page A2

Social Media www.hhsmedia.com @_HHSMedia @StreaksSports @hhsmedia15

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBIN SPITZER

KEEP IN LINE. Ninety-nine members of the band march down Main Street, U.S.A. in Disney World.

On the Web Extended coverage of print packages SCA election week Fine Arts Showcase photo gallery Spirit week and pep rally coverage Track photo gallery Girls tennis photo gallery Variety of reviews and blogs Breaking news from school and the community

April 29, 2016

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JROTC members build shelters, create fire, eat worms SURVIVAL from A1 the first 10 minutes of arriving, one of the teams had killed a toad to use as their theoretical food source.

“Each person might have a different obstacle to overcome. There’s a lot of different things that each person will go through out there, but they’re there with their buddies, so their buddies help them through it. A group gives individuals confidence,” Wilder said.

Most teams started out by building their houses, or “hootches” as Wilder calls them. Many teams went with the “teepee” route, while others went with a more triangle shaped structure. The winning teams came down to those led by senior Dylan Grogg and junior Hunter Manzano. Freshman Brenda Ayala was out in the woods for her second time this year, and was a member or Manzano’s team.

“I think we did pretty good. We had no holes anywhere so that was good, no rain is getting in. We had a place to do the fire.

We had ways to collect water and we had a place to go do our business,” Ayala said.

She was happy to be a part of Manzano’s team. “[Manzano is] an outdoorsman. If he could live outside, he’d live outside, so he has lots of experience doing things with nature, unlike me,” Ayala said. “It’s fun because it’s a new experience every time.

You don’t know what the weather is going to be like or if there’s going to be animals out here or what you’re going to do.” Despite the team’s confidence, the challenge was won by Grogg’s team. The judgement came down to the trap, something that Manzano’s team fell short on.

Srgt. Fisher was the outside pair of eyes who judged the competition. Fisher is still a part of the military, and currently works as a recruiter.

“I was going along in my career and de-

PHOTO BY BRIAN ALVARADO

NEED A DRINK? Sophomore Kevin Aguilar participates in the JROTC cracker-eating contest, in which participates see how many crackers they can down in one sitting with no water. cided it was time to find a desk because I was hitting the 15-year mark. [I would] try to avoid deployments. I was deployed back-to-back-to-back, constantly over seas, and so I became a recruiter,” Fisher said. He spent between five and six years overseas in his time in the service. He brought prizes with him for the winning team: a backpack for Grogg and lunch boxes filled with survival equipment such as compasses, flashlights, emergency blankets and Slim Jims for the other members of the team.

After the teams were finished with the shelter competition, they sat down for lunch. To further their survival experience, the students ate Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), the typical food of the Army.

Once lunch was finished, Srgt. Major Wilder pulled out the worms. The earthworm eating competition is an 8-year tradition of the JROTC Survival Training, and is completed by volunteers only. The record number eaten in one sitting is 27, according to Wilder’s memory. This year, the prize was taken by senior Hector Carcamo, who ate 12 worms.

“I feel good right now. [The worms] filled me up. I mean I’ve done it before so I’m used to it,” Carcamo said. Despite participating in the competition before this year, this was his first win.

“It’s always been a competition with me and [Dylan] Grogg, because we always get neck to neck and I always give up,” Carcamo

Even private accounts not guaranteed to be safe PRIVACY from A1 when they are 26. So that picture larly, we will google them in some ing material. If the material is offensive and/or concerns school matters, then the administration can become involved in the situation.

“Every situation is case by case, but on social media, the bottom line is students have a voice and it is their opinion. When a negative post becomes a threat or something that is going to reflect on the student who posted it badly, that is when I act on it. In that situation I remind the student that language they use reflects on their level of couth, intelligence, filters, and maturity. And if they don’t choose the words you use carefully, it could be damning. I would always caution students that in the moment they may be feeling this way, but what they put online never really disappears,” Prieto said.

Prieto not only looks at social media sites in regard to students, but also looks when hiring a prospective teacher or coach when they apply for a job at the school.

Human relations offices have software that make private accounts public, and allows people who are hiring full entry to all social media sites.

“Anything you’ve ever posted online is fair game when you are being considered for a job. What students post when they are 16 can come back and affect them

of you drinking or smoking that you thought was funny when you were a teenager will lead to you not getting hired in the future. Personally, I will not hire anyone with a Facebook that is all about partying,” Prieto said.

Though making your account private doesn’t allow the average social media user to see someone’s profile without their consent, there are always ways that their posts can be seen. Prieto highly suggests students not be fooled into thinking that their sites are ever truly private.

“Because of the ability to share, because of the ability to copy and paste, what you post can be seen by people you’ve never even heard of. If it is in print, you no longer have any control over who sees your post and how they interpret it. Make sure that you are okay with the people who matter to you reading what you post, and potentially judging you for it,” Prieto said.

This advice not only goes for those who are in the job market, but also for students applying to college. James Madison University admissions counselor, Laika Tammy, strongly suggests high school students to think twice about what they post on their personal accounts.

“While we don’t monitor our applicant’s social media sites regu-

cases. Usually this is if we are considering them for a special scholarship or award, and want to get a better sense of their personality.

However, students need to keep in mind that as their use of social media is growing, there’s a whole variety of ways that college admissions officers can use it,” Tammy said.

In January 2016, Kaplan Test Prep conducted a survey including nearly 400 college admissions officers across the United States, and found that the percentage of admissions officers who visit applicants’ social media pages to learn more about them has hit a record high of 40%. This only goes to further prove that using social media haphazardly can result in consequences that affect the rest of your life, such as rejection notices from colleges and employers.

“Admissions chances are still overwhelmingly decided by the traditional factors of high school GPA, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, personal essays and extracurricular activities,” Tammy said. “Applicants’ online personas are really a wild card in the admissions process. That said, one wrong tweet can go viral in seconds and you can never ever be too careful, especially when it comes to college and the rest of your life.”

said. “It’s good for you. It’s healthy. When there’s nothing around, when you have nothing to eat, eating worms is the best choice because it has the most protein and it’s just healthy for you in general. It’ll keep you alive.”

In his time in JROTC, Carcamo estimates he has eaten around 26 worms. Those brave enough to eat the worms are cheered on by the other members of JROTC and both Wilder and Fisher. Wilder keeps the eaters honest, making them open their mouths to prove they’ve actually swallowed the worm.

Wilder hopes that the experience gives his students confidence.

“A kid is always looking for someone to hold them [to] the right standard. [That’s] the reason children respond to discipline.

Kids really, in their heart, they wanna do it right,” Wilder said. He has worked at other school districts, but says that nothing has compared to how he feels about the students in the program at HHS. “These kids are so much more. They not only want to do it right, they want to do it better than everybody else. And they’ve been told they can’t for so long. When you tell them they can is when you see the light come on and the smile on their face. It’s that glow they have, that ‘somebody actually gives a crap about me and somebody cares about me’,” Wilder said.

Throughout the entire day, the JROTC students cheer each other on and joke around with each other. They pretend to knock down each other’s structures and encourage each other in their plans.

“These are just like my own children. I’ve learned to love them like they are my own kids. [I’ve] never had that before and the reason I learned to love them like they are my own children, they learned to love me like I’m their real parent. That’s actual family. They really are family. That’s why I love them so much. They bought into the fact that my program is family,” Wilder said.

Marching band celebrates year with Disney performance BAND from A1 they heard the details from strument participated in the workshop and others who were just in colorguard or chaperoning had extra time in the park.

They had the opportunity to work behind the scenes with one of the Disney conductors and sight read cartoons. After reading, they “became” the music for their cartoon while it was playing.

Freshman Katherine Botticelli’s favorite part about the trip was seeing the behind the scenes.

“I think it’s [interesting] how professional people (Disney performers) have to cite read their music and learn it and then only have one practice to do it and then it gets put to something so you have to be understanding,” Botticelli said.

A few unexpected events occurred including a rain storm which resulted in a hour wait on the bus and a death at the entrance of Epcot. Band members were on their way out of the park when they were told to step aside because close by a man had fallen after suffering from a heart attack.

Freshman Precious Carper and Fitzgerald didn’t know exactly what was going on until

friends after returning to the bus.

“We were meeting up to exit and get to the buses on time and Mrs. Leeper was like ‘okay guys let's move over that way’ and it was really weird because I didn’t really put the pieces together and I was like ‘is someone trying to steal something?’” Fitzgerald said.

“There were police everywhere, it was crazy. We were really close. [Some were] close enough to witness it,” Carper said.

Even though there were some mishaps, the trip was still enjoyable.

“It was a really good experience and the best way that I could describe it is it was really cheesy, [like] a rollercoaster, it was full of ups and downs, but I felt like I made a lot of connections with people. I found out who was a Star Wars fan, who knew more about Star Wars than this person, I found [out] about somebody’s life story.

You’re [also] in rooms where you have to share beds and there was this girl in my room who I didn’t know at first, but now I’m best friends with so I would say it was connecting,” Fitzgerald said.

Rest key in preventing long term brain injury CONCUSSIONS from A1 but most states have created their own laws and guidelines for treating concussions. At the local level, schools may have additional precautions to the state’s guidelines.

“Once you get down to it locally, we try to do as much education [on concussions] as possible, and our law also requires education to our student athletes and the parents, so that’s one reason why we have the parent safety meetings at the beginning of each season,” Glazer said. “Here, especially during the football season, I check the fit of the football helmets every week, and of course educate the players on ‘this is how it should feel when it fits correctly’ and if they notice it’s changed they come see me and we fix it.”

Following deaths and serious brain injuries to high school football players in recent years, there has been an increased concern in the safety of student athletes and the health impact that concussions and the generally high amount of head-first collisions in the sport has.

Glazer believes there has always been this amount of concussions in football, but they’ve recently become easier to detect.

“The main reason there’s an increase in concussions in football currently is because of all this education people are

getting now. It used to be ‘oh, you got your bell rung.’ Now they’re realizing ‘oh wait, those are concussions,’” Glazer said. “So there’s going to be at least a little bit of an increase in how many are reported and diagnosed, [because] now that people are being educated, they now know ‘okay, this is something serious.’ Making sure the equipment fits correctly and, when they go to tackle and all that, they’re using the correct technique, that’s the best way to try to prevent it.”

The frequency of concussions at school vary, but are more common in sports such as soccer, football and wrestling.

“Seeing that I’ve already had to deal with one just in the first three days of being back [from maternity leave], it really varies. There are times I can go weeks without seeing one, and then there are weeks where I see seven in one day, so it just all depends,” Glazer said.

A student has to be out of school and their sport for at least five days, starting when they’ve been symptom-free for 24 hours, and cleared by Glazer or a licensed doctor. Until then, rest is vital. “[When a student gets a concussion] it means they need to rest. They need to actually rest. And I know at the high school level with the cell phones and then always wanting to be around your friends and not wanting to miss anything

with your team [that it’s hard], but you have to. The only way the brain heals itself is with rest and sleep,” Glazer said.

Senior Maddie Penrod is a goalie on the girls varsity soccer team and has had two concussions.

“Long term, it means I have to be a lot more careful when I’m playing indoor sports and to just watch my head in general. Short term, you have to ease yourself back into the sport, you can’t just throw yourself back out there,” Penrod said.

Penrod echos the difficulty Glazer noted that high schoolers have in the recovery process.

“The absolute worst part of [having a concussion] was sitting out the whole season. That was worse than losing some of my hearing,” Penrod said. “[The doctors] told me no more indoor soccer and they want me to wear head gear, but I strongly oppose that.”

While there are technically no different levels of severity, Glazer is able to tell whether or not it’s a very serious concussion or not.

“When I’m talking to a coach or talking to a parent, we may use the terms ‘mild, moderate, severe,’ but in all reality the research [says] a concussion is a concussion, and they all need to be treated the same way,” Glazer said. “So there’s really no range of severity anymore, it’s still just a concussion.”

Improper recovery can set up a concussion victim for another, which can lead to more serious long term effects.

“The research does still support that if you get one [concussion] it can then be easier to get another one. But the factors in that can be [if the student] let the first one heal all the way, which is why we are so strict with the way we handle them. It also depends on how recently you’ve gotten it,” Glazer said. “So for instance if it’s been five years since you got your last one, it’s not necessarily just because [you had] your first one that [you got] another one. But if [the student] had one three months ago and you’ve only been cleared for a month, we have to think the first one set you up for the second one.”

Penrod’s second concussion saw a lengthier recovery stage and more serious effects.

“The second [concussion] was definitely a lot worse. It lasted eight months and [might have caused] my hearing to get worse, we aren’t sure if there’s a direct correlation [between them], but around the same time my hearing dropped significantly,” Penrod said.

“Emotionally we think I’m a lot more irritable than I used to be, but we don’t know if that’s from the concussion or not. I was really out of shape and I couldn’t do anything; no TV, no soccer, no sports. Not fun.”

April 29, 2016

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DECA members preparing for national competition Sam Heie Feature Editor Twenty-one HHS DECA competitors went to Virginia Beach to participate in the state competition. Seniors A.K. Koyee and Chase Berkshire and junior Duncan Rutherford will advance to compete at the national competition that will take place in Nashville, Tennessee April 23-26.

Koyee will be competing in automotive service marketing.

“My specialty is [competing] in individual role play events. There is a bunch of different events like team events and presentation events. This is my second year in DECA. My first year was last year.

Last year I didn’t make it to nationals, but this year is my first year in nationals, so I’m excited for that,” Koyee said.

Koyee achieved first in role play and second in automotive services in DECA states.

“I’m preparing by doing case studies. We just study them as much as we can and as many as we can. Also there is a test that goes into consideration, so I have been practicing for the test. There is this app that we can get on our phone that has all of the marketing questions on it that are going to be on the exam, so I’ve been really practicing on that. If I don’t get a 90

percent, I am disqualified,” Koyee said.

Rutherford is presenting a project on 509 college savings plans.

Like Koyee, Rutherford has to take a test to participate in nationals.

“I’m mostly preparing for the test. I’m also going over my presentation to make sure it’s bulletproof. My presentation is about future higher education and investing in your kids’ education past their high school years, like college, university, training programs and general education. This is my first year in DECA and my first time in nationals. My brother and my sister both did DECA last year, so that’s why I did it,” Rutherford said.

Mallory Cromer is the district DECA adviser. She will be attending the national competition as the competitors’ coach. Cromer teaches sports marketing and advanced marketing at HHS. “We are also bringing Danny Dombrowski because he will most likely be the DECA President next year, so he is going to take the chapter management academy, so he will attend the conference in that capacity. I expected [Berkshire, Koyee and Rutherford] to make it as long as they kept it together and didn’t have a chip on their shoulder. I expected them to perform very well and they did,” Cromer said.

PHOTO BY FAITH RUNNELLS

ROLEPLAY RANKING. Senior Chase Berkshire steps onstage to receive his awards for Top Test Score and Top Role Play in Full Service Management.

Musicians perform in All-State band concert Ava Reynolds HHS Media Coord.

The HHS band program had five students make it into the All-Virginia Band and Orchestra. All-state, which takes place in a different school each year, was held at George Mason University on April 7-9.

In order to be eligible to audition for these ensembles, students had to make it into District Band or Senior Regional Orchestra

and place in the top two or three chairs, depending on the instrument.

All-Virginia Band and Orchestra consists of different levels of ensembles. Sophomore Katya Kirilyuk placed 23 overall on violin and was the only one from HHS to participate in the All-Virginia Orchestra.

Senior Laura Ruple placed fifth overall on the oboe, which made her second chair in the All-Virginia Symphonic Band.

The other three HHS students played on the All-Virginia Concert Band. Senior Kieran McClay was the 18th percussionist overall, junior Josh Jordan was the 16th percussionist overall and Hollyn Slykhuis placed 22nd overall, but was 8th chair in the Concert Band.

All of the students were experiencing All-Virginia Band and Orchestra for the first time besides Slykhuis, who went for her third year in a row.

“This was a very different year because since it was my third year going I knew a lot more people there and recognized a lot more people. That was a very different experience since last year I was the only person from my school. I really had to just make friends. This year not only did we have other people from our school, I had those friendships from previous years [as well],” Slykhuis said.

PHOTO BY AVA REYNOLDS

ALL IN FOR ALL-STATE. Students Katya Kirilyuk, Laura Ruple, Josh Jordan, Kieran McClay and Hollyn Slykhuis perform in the HHS Band and Orchestra.

Even though this wasn’t Slykhuis’ first year, she actually had her best chair, 6th trumpet overall, in her sophomore year. Her junior year she auditioned and made it as last chair trumpet, 26th chair, and this year she bumped up a bit to 22nd chair. For Slykhuis, she still knows she improved as a player despite the drop in chairs.

“This year in particular I knew my audition wasn’t as strong because I was a lot more focused on my college auditions than my All-State audition, and last year I just had a really rough audition because I was so nervous. I was really feeling the pressure from my high chair my sophomore year. I just had a really good day my sophomore year. I know that I’ve improved as a player and I know that a lot of other people have improved as well. Once you’re in at that point everyone there is really talented and it’s just kind of wherever you end up wherever the audition

takes you,” Slykhuis said.

Slykhuis’ experience was marked with particular achievement at this year’s All-Virginia Band. Slykhuis was the recipient of the VBODA [Virginia Band and Orchestra Association] Sidney Berg Scholarship, a $2000 renewable scholarship for a senior who is planning on majoring in music education.

“It’s on a basis of getting into All-State and other like VBODA things like District Band, SRO, things like that. And outside ensembles, your academic performance, and repertoire you’ve performed like concertos and stuff like that,” Slykhuis said.

McClay, who had auditioned previously but hadn’t made it until this year, really valued playing with talented students.

“It’s fun to play with people that all know exactly what they’re doing for the most part,” McClay said.

Gingras, Sorber awarded mid-year HEF grants Carrie Yoder Op-Ed Editor Tenth grade English teacher Sara Gingras and special education teacher Chris Sorber were both awarded the mid-year annual HEF grant this year.

“It’s a grant given to a teacher every year to come up with great ideas for projects within your classrooms used to help students learn better,” Sorber said.

Sorber won a grant to

pay for a set of 10 calculators for his special education class.

“My students are practicing on old black calculators down in the special ed department, so it’s not the same because the procedures are different on the new calculators than the old ones, so we just want to be more consistent,” Sorber said.

Gingras won money to pay for audiobooks for her class. “​I was awarded $500 to purchase audio books for

the whole class novels that we read. I primarily teach honors classes; however, within those classes, there are numerous levels. I felt there was a strong need for additional support for students who are possibly taking their first honors course, or the class is a bit of a stretch for them.

Listening to and reading along with a text will hopefully increase comprehension for students needing a little extra help,” Gingras said.

To apply for an HEF

Grant, teachers must submit an application describing how they plant to use the money, what their project is going to include and how much it is going to cost.

“I received an email telling the staff about it. I had an idea of what I wanted, so I went for it,” Gingras said.

Both teachers picked out an idea based on how much it would benefit their students.

“I just wanted some consistency for my kids

because the SOL is coming up, so I want the calculators now so we can start practicing on the calculators like the ones we will use for the test,” Sorber said.

Sorber has ordered his calculators and is waiting for them to arrive. Gingras and Sorber are grateful to have won the grant and are excited to start and use the new calculators and audio books.

“I feel so grateful that I received this grant. I want to support my students in

every way that I can, and this adds another option for me to present to my students. I also love that more kids are trying honors who maybe traditionally would not have in the past. Making some of the intimidating texts more accessible, allows these students an option for increased understanding of the book, and this will lead to a deeper level of confidence and participation in classroom activities,” Gingras said.

April 29, 2016 The Harrisonburg High School Newsstreak The Policy The Newsstreak is published by the students of Harrisonburg High School every month. Reproduction of any material from the newspaper is prohibited without the written permission from the editorial board. Advertising rates are available upon request.

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The Editors and Staff Editors-in-Chief: Print: Faith Runnells, Austin Swift Online: Ellie Plass Managing Editors: Abby Hissong (print), Garrett Cash (online) and Olivia Comer (online) HHS Media Coordinator: Ava Reynolds Advertising Manager: Joshua Byrd Photographers: Ava Reynolds, Maria Snell-Feikema, David Gamboa-Pena, Brian Alvarado Page Editors: Ava Reynolds, Faith Runnells, Austin Swift, Maria Snell-Feikema, Samantha Little, Hannah Miller, Audrey Knupp, Jackson Hook, Theo Yoder, Lucie Rutherford, Abigail Hissong, Sabrina Gerald, Christa Cole, Noah Siderhurst, Angel Hendrix, Sam Heie, Alexia Munoz-Moctezuma, Irene Liu, Owen Stewart Staff Reporters: Yusuf Aboutabl, Brian Alvarado, Yogesh Aradhey, Alissa Burnette, Kyle Brown, Joshua Byrd, Garrett Cash, Christa Cole, Olivia Comer, Danny Dombrowski, Sarah Earle, David Gamboa, Sabrina Gerald, Sako Haji, Sam Heie, Angel Hendrix, Abigail Hissong, Jackson Hook, Tazhan Jaf, Audrey Knupp, Joshua Lichti, Samantha Little, Irene Liu, Bryan Luna, Owen Marshall, Hannah Miller, Alexia Munoz, Richie Pannell, Nyah Phengsitthy, Ellie Plass, Anna Rath, Doug Ritcher, Keyla Rivera, Christian Rodriguez, Faith Runnells, Lucie Rutherford, Noah Siderhurst, Maria Snell-Feikema, Becky Staton, Owen Stewart, Austin Swift, Emily Thurman, Madison Varner, Theo Yoder, Carrie Yoder Professional Affiliations The Newsstreak participates as a member of several journalistic evaluation services including the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA-2010 Gold Evaluation and 2005 & 2009 Silver Crown Winner), Quill&Scroll Journalism Honor Society (2012 Gallup Award), National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) All-American, the Virginia High School League, Inc. Trophy Class Award, and the Southern Interscholastic Press Association All Southern Ranking and 2010 Scroggins Award winner. hhsmedia.com opt out notice: If you do not want to allow your student’s full name or image to appear on the school newspaper site, please send an email to vkibler@harrisonburg. k12.va.us stating: I DO NOT want my son/daughter (place student’s name here) to have his or her name or image published on the new online version of the newspaper, www. hhsmedia.com.

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JROTC trip breaks stereotypes, promotes open mind Ellie Plass Online Editor-in-Chief Recently, I was given the opportunity to go along with the JROTC on their Survival Training trip. As a journalist, I was excited about the opportunity to make my story better. As a human, I wasn’t nearly as excited. For the sake of the quality of this column, I’m going to be brutally honest. I was dreading it.

I expected to feel incredibly out of place, lonely and maybe even unimpressed. I could not have been more wrong.

I was met with something I didn’t see coming. The day was one of the best I have experienced all year- both as a person and a journalist. When we got to Paul State Park, where the JROTC would be doing their training, I was shocked at the excitement and joy that everyone there was feeling. They ran to every single event and worked hard together to build their shelters.

The team leaders, who led their teams in the construction of their “hootches”, or shelters, never said a negative word. Even when one team’s building had their roof cave completely in, the team leader simply said “I know. But it’s okay!”

There was an overwhelming feeling of togetherness and carefree fun.

They were all laughing and encouraging each other, an attitude that

I have seen in only a few other instances throughout my four years at HHS. Even though I don’t have The Plass a very loud Perspective p e r s o n a l i t y when I’m with people I don’t know, they all were incredibly kind and funny. Even the work they did was impressive. One group used a plastic bag they found to create a condensation-collecting water source, something I would have never thought of myself.

The lesson here is a simple one, although it isn’t easy to realize or accept. Everyone judges books by their cover. There will always be stereotypes and assumptions made both about individuals and about clubs, teams, sports and activities. I come away from this experience incredibly humbled.

I was wrong to dread the day or to be concerned that I would feel like I was on the outside because JROTC wasn’t necessarily my “thing”. Instead, I was welcomed with open arms. Sergeant Major Wilder made both myself and the photographer that came with me feel like part of the family. He talked to us about our futures and about his obvious love for the students in his program. At the end of

Photo by Brian Alvarado

In the woods. Plass attends JROTC survival training in Paul State Park. the trip, two of the members from the winning team gave their prizes to my photographer and me.

I now understand, maybe more than I ever have before, that you cannot truly understand something if you don’t experience it.

You won’t be able to read a program or a person without first tak-

ing a few steps in their shoes. Stereotypes are not always there for a reason, so don’t let them be the reason you misjudge someone.

They might surprise you. If you have an open mind and heart, I can almost guarantee that incredible experiences will find you.

Harrisonburg offers community, scenery, college atmosphere Abby Hissong Managing Editor As I’ve begun to look at colleges both in state and out of state, the reality that in one short year I will be moving out and exploring brand new territory has really begun to set in. With the excitement to experience new things also comes a sense of nostalgia for the town I will be leaving. I won’t lie, I have always been the first to say that I can’t wait to leave Harrisonburg.

Yet, now some of the things that have always annoyed me about living in such a small town are starting to become endearing.

For one, we are a tight knit community. While this can be irritating at times, (like when your neighbåor sees you texting at a stoplight and calls your parents), it also means that we are there for each other

when it really counts. For example, following the recent tragedy at Turner Ashby High School, a Dear Abby 2.0 moment of silence was held in honor of the student who had passed away at all local schools, and a GoFundMe account was immediately set up to help the family with funeral expenses. While this seems normal to us, the solidarity of our community is something that should be appreciated more. Whether it be to grieve or celebrate, Harrisonburg is unique in that when needed, we band together and put on a united front.

Another thing that people often complain about is that we are located basically in the middle of

School lunch better than most believe NEWSSTREAK STAFF EDITORIAL If I had a nickel for every time somebody said something negative about our school lunch, I’d be able to pay Chipotle to cater us.

Not only because a lunch costs a mere $2.05 (in comparison to eating anywhere else) but also because we, as a school, don’t give our school lunches nearly as much credit as they deserve.

Every single day, we have five or more options for our lunch: salad, pizza, PHOTO BY BRIAN ALVARADO sandwich/yogurt, and two main entrees that change Hard at work. Kitchen staff in the cafetewith the day. Every single ria work to prepare lunch for the growing day, the lunch ladies pre- population. pare lunch for over 1,000 can provide, especially considering students. Every single day, there are vegetarian options, how many people they feed so fast. no-pork options, sometimes glu- Lots of our food is grown locally, ten-free options. And every single and the food that’s not is still fully day, we still complain about the qualified and healthy. Some of the toppings in the salad line are even lunch.

Our lunch is incredibly under- grown 100 meters away in our rated. If you go through the salad school’s greenhouse. Even as we line, you’re able to get a drink, a continue to overcrowd, our school full salad with 12 toppings of your is still able to get students through choice, dressing, a roll, a sandwich the line at a relatively quick speed, and a soup. Elsewhere, you get a and it’s rare that the third lunch fresh fruit, fruit cup/juice, main runs out of food, even though meal, cooked or fresh veggies and the school can only estimate how milk, all for $2.05, just $0.40 for much of each lunch will get eaten any student eligible for the re- every day.

In 2013, Turner Ashby duced lunch program. According to the School Nutrition Association, High School, which is right down the average cost for school lunch the road, ranked in the top 15 in 2014 was $2.42, a $0.37 increase out of 7,000 schools for the worst from our price. And for breakfast, school lunch. Our neighborhood the average was $1.36 compared school is actually being ranked as to our $0.75 ($0.30 reduced), a one of the worst in the country $0.61 difference. While $0.37 and and yet, we still have the nerve to $0.61 may not seem like a lot, it will complain that our lunch is still not save you $176.40 buying lunch and meeting our standards.

If you’re grossed out by a breakfast all 180 days. Where else can someone find a full meal of the formerly-frozen hamburger patty same quality for only $2.05? That’s (have you eaten fast food?) or black spec on a sandwich, just pack your right, nowhere.

No school lunch is going to be a lunch. We are lucky to have the 5-star restaurant’s most-qualified quality and options that we do, and meal. But our school lunch is indeed it’s past time to start showing more some of the best food that a school appreciation for it.

WHAT IS THE STAFF EDITORIAL? The unsigned staff editorial appears in each issue and reflects the majority opinion of the Newsstreak Staff Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is comprised of all editors-in-chief, page editors, advertising managers, photographers and selected freshman journalism students. In no way does our opinion reflect that of the school system or the administration.

nowhere. While that may be (kind of) true, you can’t beat Harrisonburg’s scenery. Surrounded by the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains, the Shenandoah Valley is known for being pretty amazing. No matter what season it may be, there is always something nature related to do, whether it be skiing up at Massanutten or hiking up at Shenandoah National Park. If you aren’t that big of a nature person, you can still enjoy the views by driving up to Reddish Knob to get a bangin’ Instagram pic. No matter who you are or what you like to do, Harrisonburg has something to offer.

Lastly, we are a college town.

And although it may be true that JMU’s presence brings traffic and tons of noise, it is also true that they are responsible for our town’s growth. A prime case in point being Harrisonburg’s downtown scene

that has expanded to include multiple affordable restaurants and boutiques geared towards college students, but are also perfect for high school students. Through JMU, we also get to experience things like ESPN’s College Gameday, local camps, and access to a top notch university.

When it comes down to it, I am glad to have grown up here. Yes, Harrisonburg has it’s undeniable flaws. It smells like manure in the spring, and it isn’t uncommon to wear the same thing as three other people to school, since everyone shops at the same five stores in town. But I love that all of my friends live within 15 minutes of each other, that I’ve known my pediatrician since I was born, and that I can name all of my classmates. No matter where I end up next year, my heart will always be in the ‘burg.

Procrastination, perfectionism go hand in hand Maria Snell-Feikema Staff Reporter

fear plays a part in procrastination. One could be afraid of what other’s think, afraid of becoming bored, maybe even afraid of accomplishment.

I am an avid proWhat usually stops crastinator. I spend us from working isn’t hours not doing what the work itself, but I’m supposed to, just those uncomfortable to avoid doing the uncertainties that it inevitable. There’s a could possibly lead to sense of irony in all something unfavorMaria’s of this, however, that able.

Musing comes from the fact And maybe that’s that the main reason what holds us back I procrastinate is because I am also an avid perfec- in life. We don’t simply protionist. I appear to be unable to crastinate on homework, on accept the fact that some of the those typical topics that we talk things I may create have flaws about casually with friends. We or may be judged in a poor way procrastinate on things that we by someone else. By not accept- care about. We procrastinate ing the flaws that naturally arise on relationships. We procraswhen learning and making deci- tinate on dreams. We procrassions, one ends up not learning tinate on happiness, and it’s it anything and counter-produc- all simply based on fear. We’re tively ends up making something afraid of being happy, afraid of worse when forced to hastily the discomfort of the unknown turn in something after wasting and unfamiliar. We float in limbo between utter failure and time procrastinating.

Now, not all procrastination our so-called hopeless dreams, is bad. I’m not promoting some yet we fret at the thought of acinsanity whereas all one does is tually obtaining our goals. We do homework and cry. Procras- procrastinate because that’s the tination can promote the most easy thing to do, even if it makes prolific displays of intellect and us miserable in the long run, and thought. Often times procrasti- isn’t that completely miserable nation has led to epiphanies and in itself?

The real question is-- why clarities that I would have never thought otherwise, had I not try to achieve this falsity that been subconsciously restraining is perfection? Are our egos so myself from doing what I’m sup- bloated that we must strive for posed to. That being said, think- the impossible? We perfectioning the day away usually never ists need to come back down to leads to much. Most often it suc- Earth and realize that life isn’t all cumbs to simply over-thinking, about our own achievements. which unfortunately envelopes Life is about learning to love the most of my time spent avoid- unknown, that of which may be ing productive work. Ironically, I less than perfect. We must fight over-think most times because I the urge to prove ourselves worthy, and realize that no one is find my life less than perfect.

Perfection, however, is a better than another. The world mental fallacy that one convinc- is more than internal competies themselves they can obtain, tion. Nature does not strive on but realistically cannot. Perfec- unattainable perfection, and tionism is far less simple than it doesn’t worry if it is ever to creating a perfect work, rather it achieve such a thing. It grows is based off of fear. Simply put, through self-transcendence, and fear is completely detrimental that is what we all should try to to productivity and motivation. achieve. A sense of self without There is an entire combination ego, one in which we do things of elements that factor into why because we love it, not because we’re trying to prove anything.

April 29, 2016

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HOT or NOT

Op-Ed-A5

Villanova takes the NCAA title over UNC The Villanova Wildcats beat UNC in a buzzer beater to win the basketball game on April 5. The final score of the game was 77-74. Villanova has not won a title since 1985. This is the Wildcats second title.

Brussel terrorist attacks On March 22 over 20 people were killed and 271 left wounded after a terrorist attack at a metro station and airport in Brussel Belgium.

Obama visits Cuba On March 20, Obama became the first American president to visit the island since Calvin Coolidge, 88 years ago.

Obama met with Cuban President Raul Castro. Obama gave a speech and attended a baseball game with the president.

Actor Erik Bauersfeld dies at 93 Bauersfeld is best known for voicing Adm. Ackbar in Star Wars “Return of the Jedi” in 1983 and “The Force Awakens” in 2015. He died on Sunday, April 3.

HP introduces world’s lightest laptop The new laptop is four-tenths of an inch thick, and weighs less than two and a half pounds. It’s thinner and lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air. Pre-orders are being taken for the new Spectre.

Unarmed man shot by police officer Unarmed Daniel Shaver was shot and killed by a police officer in Arizona on Sunday, April 3.

Everyone at HHS receives red sea shirt Every student at HHS has received a free red sea t-shirt, to increase school spirit.

All students were encouraged to wear their shirts for the winter pep rally.

Trump leads his competitors Donald Trump is leading the Republicans with the support of 743 delegates. His competitor Ted Cruz is behind him with the support of 517 delegates. John Kasich is in last with 143 delegates supporting him.

Fine arts academy performs for future Blue Streaks On April 6 the HHS fine arts academy performed at Skyline Middle School to show the upcoming students the differents options and opportunities at the high school.

Teachers evacuate the building on workday Students had the day off on Friday, April 8 for a teacher workday. Many teachers worked on grading for the end of the third nine weeks. Teachers were evacuated from the building after a threatening call was made to the school.

Sanders poses threat to Clinton Joshua Byrd Advertising Manager Bernie Sanders is still winning states. He has won the last six democratic contests. At this time last year, People were predicting that Hillary Clinton would have already had the nomination locked up. They believed that the primary season would really just be a formality for her ‘coronation.’

No one thought a 76-year-old, Vermont socialist, would pose a real threat to her, and yet, he does. So, what does it say about Hillary Clinton? It all goes back to her and her history. She is the reason she is struggling. She is not her husband. She

Approaching end of the school year Students only have eight weeks of school left. SOLs and finals are coming up around the corner.

NBA legend retires The Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant retires after 20 seasons. Bryant holds nine NBA records and 19 Lakers records.

Prom right around the corner The prom will be held in Linville, Virginia for the first time at the Barn at Klines Mill on May 21. Tickets are $25 for students.

Earthquake in Ecuador In an 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck along the coast of Ecuador, 272 people died and 2,527 were injured.

Turner Ashby student passes away Fifteen-year-old Gabe Chester was riding his skateboard and went into cardiac arrest.

Fireworks in India explode An Indian fireworks display at a Hindu temple for the celebration of a religious festival went horribly wrong. A separate batch stored in the temple was sparked, causing an accident that killed over 100 people and injured hundreds more.

Band ventures to Disney HHS marching band traveled to Disney to march in the parade and participate in a clinic that involved learning Disney songs and performing a soundtrack from a small cartoon.

Microsoft sues government Microsoft filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice, disagreeing with the way federal agents were searching its customers’ personal information.

Democratic debate The Democratic Debate occurred on April 15 in New York. Time was spent discussing big topics like big banks, gun violence, climate change and others.

made her unpopular.

According to the Real Clear Politics Average, 54 percent of Americans hold an unfavorable view of her, even though 49 percent of Americans think she is qualified to be president, according to a YouGov poll.

It gets even worse. Fifty-seven percent of Americans do not believe she is trustworthy and honest -but what would you expect from her long career in politics that has been plagued by scandals? The laundry list just goes on, and on and on. Whitewater, Sniper-gate, Benghazi, Blumenthal and the email server are just a few examples.

So it comes as no surprise to me that she is not doing well.

Marine Corps crossword

All questions and answers related to Brian Alvarado’s column about the Marine Corps.

Women’s NCAA basketball tournament UConn women’s basketball is the first team in the history of NCAA to win four back to back National Championships.

They also have gone undefeated this season with a record of 38-0.

Former NFL football player shot and killed Former New Orleans Saints defensive end, Will Smith, was shot and killed on April 9. The former football player got into an altercation with another driver that resulted in Smith’s death.

is not charismatic.

She has even said that she is not a good campaigner.

That is a big issue when you are campaigning to be Right-Winged president.

Candidates Byrd have to excite voters, and she does not. Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon hit it right on the dot when she was singing why voters don’t like her.

She is the establishment in the eyes of many because of her vast career in the political realm. It’s that exact career that has

Across 4. Incentive training for a large group of recruits, named for the sandy pits set aside for such events.

10. On base housing for marines, basically military dormitory rooms 11. Parade ground or deck used primarily for drill and/or formations.

13. Lanyard or tether used to secure a piece of equipment to an anchor to prevent losing it.

15. Boots; refers to all leather combat boots Down 1. A web belt used to carry canteens in pouches and other miscellaneous equipment.

2. A drill instructor who specializes in discipline.

3. Career service member, as opposed to one who serves for a single enlistment.

5. Ship's passageway; particularly used when going up and down ladders.

6. A marine who rarely sees combat; a term for marines stuck inside a forward operating base.

7. A defensive position dug into the ground, can be dug for one marine or a weapon crew.

8. Late night rations provided for service members who work late hours.

9. The watertight cover over an opening between compartments if that leads to to ladder wells between decks of a ship.

12. To cancel an order; to stop 14. Standard issue web gear, combat gear, or field equipment.

Why I joined Marine Corps after high school Brian Alvarado Staff Photographer If you had asked me at the beginning of the year if I would rather attend college or join the military, I would have, without a doubt, said I'd rather attend college. You get to make a better future for yourself, get to enjoy college parties, and you become an all around more educated person. Sure you might end up in debt for the rest of your life, but it would be worth it right? My mind started to dwell on that question quite a bit as the time came to start filling out applications and apply for scholarships.

I saw how everyone was panicking, getting nervous, stressing about writing essays and how they’re going to pay for it all. Everyone’s lives seemed to be getting a whole lot worse. I heard stories about how college life is full of stress and long night staying up studying for exams that are 99% of your grade. All of it, frankly, started to scare the hell out of me. I have a relaxed personality. I don’t like stress. I don’t like having to worry about how the rest of my life will turn out, and I hate the idea of having to owe someone money for the rest of my life. All of these things started to make me consider other options.

I was pretty scared at first.

Deciding not to go to college is a pretty frightening choice. Just about everyone out there was telling me that you have to go

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to college or your life will turn him my phone number. After out far worse than it has to be. about three days, he came to Because of this, I knew that if I visit me at school and started to wasn’t going to college right of talk with me about everything the bat, I had to do something that the Marines has to offer.

Honestly, I had no idea that the to help better myself.

As a kid, I had always looked military could offer so much. I up to the Marines. My cousin couldn’t believe that so many and I grew up together on call people would just walk by this of duty and have a big interest amazing opportunity every day.

People have this misconcepin war history. We watched war documentaries and YouTube tion that if you join the military, videos of combat all the time. especially The Marines, that The Marines was the branch you join to die. And although when you enlist, esthat really always pecially in The Macaught my eye. “The rines, you always Badasses of The have to be prepared U.S. Armed Forces” to put your life on the is what everyone line, nobody wants seems to call them. to die. Honestly, we They train harder are so lucky to have and longer than any the most advanced, other branch in orGuest well-funded military der to be prepared Columnist in the world. Every for combat. Looking Marine, even and at them and the way especially those sent they’re willing to put their lives on the line almost out to fight, is set up for sucfearlessly made chills go down cess and not failure, on and off my spine. I always thought of the battlefield. But contrary to popular belief, not every perthem as heroes, and they are.

Walking down to the lob- son in the Military, and even by area of HHS, often times I in the Marines, is sent out on would see Marine Corps Re- the “front lines”. A lot of peocruiters with their table, ready ple join the Marines and don’t to offer people the opportunity even participate in combat to enlist. I never really noticed even once. However, I wouldn’t how easily I would just walk by take this as an “If I join the milwithout even looking at what itary, I won’t have to fight” kind they have to offer. Even though of deal. You should expect it, I was always interested, I just especially as a Marine. That is never considered actually en- your job. However, there are listing. But after finally building different jobs in the military up the consideration, since I and Infantry is most known for was looking for options other being the ground troops sent than college, I decided to walk to fight. I, however, am either up to Sergeant Powers and give entering into the intelligence or

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avionics sector, which are not typically sent out to combat, but still always prepared. There are even mechanics, cooks, engineers, doctors, and even cameramen that enlist in the military.

I noticed that a lot of these jobs offered by the marines really prepared you for a good life after the military. For example, Sergeant Santellan, my recruiter, who works for avionics sector of the Marine Corps, has talked to me about how he gets job offers daily to work high paying jobs for their companies because of his military experience.

I know most people would rather go to college, but enlisting is a great option for anyone who is willing to serve their country, wants to travel, learn a language and learn an incredible job skill, not to mention that the military will pay for your college after or even during your service. In no way do I try to convince myself that this is somehow “an easy way out”, because it’s not. It’s just a different route that I decided to take. And unless you are willing to face the hard work and dedication before you, do not consider joining the military, especially The Marines. But if you are willing to take on the challenge of becoming a U.S. Marine, call your local recruitment office at (540) 433-2627 to see everything the Marines has to offer, and to see if joining the Marines is the right choice for you.

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April 29, 2016

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April 29, 2016

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Fahrenheit 451 is complex, futuristic Sabrina Gerald Staff Reporter The novel Fahrenheit 451 is complex, and at times very philosophical, when talking about, yet again, another futuristic novel.

It follows a firefighter named Montag who has a job that is terribly ironic. He is a firefighter that starts fires using books owned by citizens. This allegorical government has made reading novels illegal, essentially pulling the plug on the human ability to think independently, create opinions, and convey self expression.

Montag’s wife, Mildred, is an example of what citizens in this society do and think. The first time we meet Mildred,

she is passed out and has a near death experience due to a medication overdose. Mildred often sits in a room of three or more televisions in their living room, referred to throughout the novel as “The Parlor”, and frequently listens to the Seashell Radio pieces she puts in her ears to go to sleep. She, like her friends and the community as a whole, continue to watch and listen to mindless programming to distract from what occurs daily in their society: for example, a war that is the background of the novel that nobody knows what, how, or why it began.

Is this not also similar to our daily programming as well, where we encourage people to watch YouTube videos, reality television, and how we con-

Sophomore Kristal Soto

stantly insist on having earbuds in our ears? The parallels do not stop here. What about the wars that the U.S. is involved in? In 2013, 17% of young Americans could correctly identify where Iraq and Afghanistan are located.

Montag’s interest in books is sparked when the firefighters are sent to an elderly woman’s home to burn her large amount of books and she requests to leave with her books.

This event changes Montag as well as his new neighbor, Clarisse McClellan.

One of the many questions she asks Montag, “are you happy?”, becomes the premise of the entire novel.

Clarisse was different from other teenagers in Montag’s community because as she

says she “doesn’t want anything from” Montag. Her final question during their first encounter leaves Montag asking the same thing. What makes him happy? Can he remember the day he even met his wife?

Who makes him happy? Most importantly, why must firemen burn books?

Fahrenheit 451 is a story of self discovery and development as well as a novel that shows that the unique will stand out, but are somebody, not a part of a group. It shows that books are needed to found our beliefs, our ingenuity, and our overall personalities. Montag teaches readers not to follow the crowd, but to seek what others fail to notice and discover one’s own genius, without fear.

Junior Juleian Cappell

“I really liked it because it explains how the world could come to be if books were no longer allowed. It relates to how life is evolving and becoming.”

Senior Henry Villeda read the book as a freshman. “The message the book portrays is really deep. The government rules over them and nobody really stops to think what they could actually be doing with their lives,” Villeda said.

Sophomore KiYosia Wallace

“It was a very weird book. I never really [understood] it because the storyline was really confusing, but in the end at the same time it gave an overall powerful message.”

“It was a good book. When I first started reading it I thought it was confusing. It starts off small, but has a much bigger meaning once you get to think about it and see what happens.”

Animal Farm teaches life lessons Bryan Luna Staff Reporter Many people don’t like reading the books assigned in English class, myself included. They can be boring, hard to understand, or simply not your cup of tea. Admittedly, I have sometimes avoided reading those novels by only using plot summaries online to ace the tests. But if there’s any book you actually should read in class, read Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Wait, don’t go anywhere. I know what you’re thinking, “Animal Farm? I hated that book!” Hear me out though. This book gets a bad reputation from students not because the novel is bad, but because it’s an assigned novel. We attach a negative stigma to it because we weren’t reading it for fun at our own pace, we were forced to read it for a grade. If you eliminate any bias you have towards it, and look at it purely subjectively, you’ll realize the beauty of its allegory. Who knows, you may even come to enjoy the book.

To give a quick synopsis, Animal Farm is about the revolution of animals over their corrupt farmer, and the new system of government they install. The revolution, ignited by the wise old pig named Old Major, is a success, and the animals rename the land to, you guessed it, “Animal Farm.” Old Major

dies early on, leaving two young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, to become the leaders.

At first, everything runs smoothly. The animals have adopted a national anthem, and issued seven commandments to live by. Everyone is happy and life is good. Soon enough, the animals get their first test in the form of an attack by the humans. With the leadership of Snowball, the animals emerge victorious, making Snowball the popular leader.

Napoleon, jealous of his co-leader, secretly uses the dogs to banish Snowball from the farm, and takes full control with the other pigs. As time goes on, the farm slowly takes a turn for the worst. Napoleon uses propaganda to take all of Snowball’s credit and slander his name.

The commandments are altered or dropped to benefit Napoleon. Animals that display even an ounce of doubt are killed.

The animals are worked to death. The anthem is changed to praise Napoleon. Any concepts of equality and ideology conceived

by Old Major and Snowball are forgotten.

By the end, the pigs have become the very thing they sought to destroy.

If this sounds familiar to something else, that’s because it’s an allegory for the Russian Revolution. Old Major is Vladimir Lenin, Snowball is Leon Trotsky, and Napoleon is Joseph Stalin. When Lenin died, and power was transferred down to Trotsky, Stalin and

several others. Russia wasn’t perfect, but it worked. With improvement, Russia could have been a great place to live in.

A power struggle follows suit, and Stalin eventually becomes a tyrant. Trotsky is exiled (and killed), and all positive momentum of the revolution halts.

Stalin propaganda is spread everywhere. The rights of the people are decreased. The death count is higher than the Holocaust. That entire revolution was for naught.

The brilliance of this novel is the way the author simplifies such important events in history in an understandable manner. The ideas of communism, socialism, fascism, and democracy are all brought up, and the reader learns the essence of these concepts without even realizing it.

The moral of the story is that power corrupts. The government and its leaders aren’t always what they seem. Living in a time of terrorism, imperialism, and colonialism, Animal Farm has never been so relevant since the time of its publication. Do yourself a favor and read

this book. Don’t go to Wikipedia, skim the summary, and take the test. There’s a lot of real life lessons to grasp here. Go and expand your mind.

Night remembers Holocaust Tazhan Jaf Staff Reporter The first time I read the novel “Night”

by Elie Wiesel, Mr. Norment told the class it was a story that will change how you look at the world. I had my doubts. How can a book have such an impact on a person that it will make them question their surroundings? They’re just words on a page, nothing more. “Night” is a hard book to read, and I'm not talking about “big words” hard.

Who wants to hear about a teenage boy being ripped from his home and thrown into concentration camp? A boy who struggles to keep his faith during a war that seems to never end; it’s depressing. The content is something that we would not want to talk about, but it is something we need to hear and remember.

Although there will be times where your mind wanders to depression mode, “Night” is not a book that's intended solely

on making the reader sad. It’s about documenting the memories. Elie Wiesel created this memoir so he could show what civilized humans are capable of when someone like Hitler ignites the fire of hatred.

Dehumanization is one of the worst acts that Hitler committed in the Holocaust.

Treating people like property, an animal, not caring about what it might do to this person, or race, leaves you, the reader, in silence. Wiesel uses visualization to show what he and his father had to go through.

He writes about watching Nazi leaders mentally abuse the prisoners, stripping them from their hopes of escaping. Without faith Wiesel and the others had no motivation to escape, and that was what the Nazis wanted. To be able to do this kind of inhuman behavior is a nightmare come true. The Jews had no chance to defend themselves; knowing this, the Nazis exterminated their beliefs until there was nothing there but a bunch of corpses with glossy, dim eyes. The Germans abused this

power they had among the Jewish race and controlled it until the dehumanization process occurred in a disrespectful act, that makes you wonder if it would ever happen again.

What’s really disturbing is the fact that Wiesel doesn’t go back to his faith or finds hope even after escaping. Questions are raised about humanity and suffering, but the novel doesn’t have a solid answer. Redemption gives light to a dark matter, without it your left in the night and that’s what happens in the book. Wiesel didn’t experience a happy ending, escaping wasn’t happy for him, yes he was free physically but mentally, he relives those moments over and over again.

We may not want to remember, but we should. We need to remember because the lessons of the Holocaust need to be learned, and not just from the textbooks.

The best advice I can give is read a novel that will challenge you, not just entertain and pass the time.

Senior Maria Cordoso reads Night by Eli Wiesel. Traditionally this novel is taught during freshman year. “I felt sadness the most because it’s such a tragic book and thinking about how the people were affected, that just got to me,” Cordoso said.

“If you can’t handle sadness, don’t read [this] book.”

To Kill A Mockingbird is still relevant to our society Olivia Comer Online Editor On the Monday of July 11, 1960 a timeless book that would soon become a national treasure was published. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story of a young girl, Scout Finch, who witnesses a

Freshman Anne Penrod

I liked that the main character was a little girl you saw stuff from her point of view even though the concepts are for older people which I found interesting.

struggle for human rights in her seemingly idyllic hometown. You may ask, “Why read this old book we just had to study for English class?” The story of Tom Robinson and Maycomb County is one that should never skip a generation of readers, no matter how much time between the current year and initial publish date.

This “old book” does not convey an old message, quite the contrary. To Kill a Mockingbird is as relevant to our society today as it was in 1960. Harper Lee paints a picture of Maycomb County, a typical rural town in the 1930s south. It is the story of a black man accused of a crime that isn’t his, without a jury capable of seeing past the color of his skin.

Scout’s father Atticus Finch is assigned to defend the (falsely) accused Tom Robinson for raping a white woman. Despite Maycomb’s view of the case, Atticus is on his client’s side without hesitation, yet it was evident as soon as they entered the courtroom that whatever arguments were made for Tom Robinson were irrelevant to the eventual outcome.

It’s tragic how throughout American history we have trouble accepting people. For example, those individuals marginalized by society due to skin color, gender, economics or sexual orientation.

It is 2016 and Eddie Gray may as well be Tom Robinson or anyone who has recently been attacked by the very people who are supposed to defend them.

Maycomb County is not the only offender of this cruel prejudice. Our court system now is becoming very questionable, Atticus said, “In this country our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system. That’s no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality!”

The purpose of Harper Lee writing this book was not to feed her readers a happily ever after. The tone she sets for the court scenes made it clear that Tom Robinson’s fate had already been decided before he stepped through the door.

I strongly believe this is a story with a

message important enough that everyone should be familiar with it.

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Kirkdorffer used heartbeat as inspiration for performance Samantha Little Feature Editor

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE

ROCK AND ROLL. “[With the theme Anatomy], I was thinking of a heart beat because that was part of the backing track,” Kirkdorffer said. He chose to use Garageband to record a backing track for his performance.

On March 22, the Fine Arts Academy held its second showcase this year. For every showcase, the Fine Arts students are given a theme to follow that they have to approach artistically and create a piece, either visually, dramatically or musically, to present at the showcase.

The theme for this showcase was “Anatomy” and according to J.R. Snow, head of the Fine Arts Academy, the themes are picked and voted on by the students in the academy. The students then go through an eight-week process, guided by teachers and peers, to prepare for the showcase.

“Much of what we do in the academy is about process and so we take that process and turn it into a project. Another thing is the opportunity for collaboration across disciplines. Students can produce things as individuals, as duets, trios, quartets or whatever that might be, leaning on each other for their own strengths,” Snow said. “It’s just wherever their inspiration leads them.”

Sophomore Bradley Kirkdorffer, a student in the instrumental strand of the academy, took the “Anatomy” theme in the form of a heartbeat and used

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE

HEllO? Junior Genevieve Cowardin prefromed a dramatic piece in the showcase. She portaryed a character that was upset over the failing of a friendship. Cowardin used her current knowlage of DNA, to compare to a relationship.

Garageband tracks to record a backing track and played a lead over it live with a bass guitar. “[With the theme Anatomy], I was thinking of a heart beat because that was part of the backing track. It was a bassline that had the same tempo as a heart beat so that was the way I went with it,” Kirkdorffer said.

Originally, Kirkdorffer was planning on collaborating with another student by doing a duet in the form of a guitar duel. “[In dueling], two guitars will play something simultaneously and then they’ll break away from each other and start harmonizing, which creates an effect that sounds really cool,” Kirkdorffer said. “That’s what I wanted it to start doing but it never ended up happening.”

Because of conflicts between Kirkdorffer and his duetting prospect, the plan didn’t work out, but he then took the plan in his own direction to finish the project before the showcase.

“Along the way there were a lot of kinks to be worked out. After the collaboration didn’t work out, getting some tracks to play through the loudspeakers in the auditorium proved to be more difficult than I ever would’ve imagined,” Kirkdorffer said. “I think that the song I ended up with at the very end of it all was one of my better works. It was really good, I would definitely play it again. My favorite part was all of it coming together and the creative process it took to get there.”

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE

1-2-3-4. Freshman Sam Schaeffer plays the drums in the Anatomy showcase. His group consisted of all freshman band members, they played a song called “Take The A Train.”

Cowardin incorporates biology in her art Jackson Hook Sports Editor

The spring showcase in March offered performances from all strands of the fine arts academy.

Junior Genevieve Cowardin is a member of the drama strand of fine arts and performed her version of a monologue she adapted for the “anatomy” themed show. Cowardin used her knowledge of biology and her skills in acting to combine the two.

“For my performance, I took a monologue and I decided to write it and incorporate bits of information that I learned from my biology class,” Cowardin said.

Her interpretation of the “anatomy” theme inspired her to use various biological topics, such as DNA mutations, and incorporate them into her character’s thought process.

Check out more photo galleries from the Fine Arts Academy Showcase on our website www.hhsmedia.com

“My character was a woman who was a bit of a nerd, and she tried to think about relationships and things like that and tried to put it into terms that she understood, and she understood biology. So she was comparing an interaction that she had with DNA mutations,” Cowardin said.

Junior Noelle Warne also performed at the showcase in the form of dance, representing her interpretation of anatomy.

“The dance was me as a progression in my life and being asked the same questions at three different ages in my life, and you couldn’t hear the questions but you could hear my answers and I was dancing through the whole thing,” Warne said.

Warne spent time in class as well as time at home preparing for her performance. Her performance was perfected over an eight week period spending

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close to 20 hours on the project.

“There is just so much that goes into it, not only producing it, but thinking of the ideas and getting all of your materials together,” Warne said. “Just cutting the music itself took like 10 hours, because it was an eight-minute song and I had to cut it down into three minutes and then make it fit musically. I guess thinking of the idea, choreographing everything, getting the lighting together, it took a really long time, but it went really well, and I got good feedback.”

The fine arts academy will have one more showcase before the end of the year. Fine arts classes have begun planning and rehearsing performances for the showcase.

“We have our final showcase coming up in late May, so we’re prepping for that,” Cowardin said.

A RAINBOW OF COLORS. Junior Nolloe Warne [right] preformed a dance that showed the progression of her life to the modern day. The background of the stage ranged from a bright pink to a deep blue to a dark red.

The colors reflected her personality in each phase of her life, as she narrated her past experiences.

Choral students struggle to find Anatomy showcase music Josh Lichti Staff Reporter

On Tuesday, March 22, the Fine Arts Academy students participated in a student showcase to show off projects they had been working on all quarter. Students in all strands of the Fine Arts Academy participated.

One of those strands is the choral strand. Freshmen Parker Rising and Nina Andrews are in the the choral strand.

“The showcase is a time where we artists can showcase our talent,” Rising said. The topic for the showcase was anatomy. Because of that, the choral strand students had difficulty coming up with an idea in their strand.

“I couldn’t really find any pieces inside my strand. I decided to go with visual [art] because it spoke out to me, finding a way to incorporate the body in a visual art piece,” Rising said. Rising’s project used photography as a form of art.

“I took different pictures of different parts of the body and put it to-

gether to create the body, so it kind of had a scrapbook look,” Rising said.

Rising’s project used only certain parts of the body.

“I used the more dominant parts of the body like the arms, the legs, chest and head,” Rising said. Students choosing a visual art piece was not uncommon for the showcase.

“Most people did art, because when you think about how things work, you think about creating a brain or body,” Andrews said. Andrews’ project highlighted a different part of our body from Rising.

“For my project I did the side of a face, and I did two faces facing each other and they were the same face.

If you flipped them, the brains fit together and the different colors of the brain equaled the functions of the brain,” Andrews said. Both of them didn’t think their projects were perfect.

“I wish I had put more time into it. I put in a good amount of time, but I wish I could’ve had more time,” Rising said. Andrews would have changed her idea if they could do the

showcase over.

“I would have done a dance or I would have done a song if I could have found a song about anatomy,” Andrews said. Rising went through different stages for creating his project.

“I had drawn out what I wanted and had found the models I wanted.

Then I took the pictures, and put the pictures together,” Rising said. The students participate in one showcase a quarter. It takes most of the quarter to finish their projects.

“It usually takes us eight weeks to think about our projects, start working on it and improve on everything,” Andrews said. Rising wasn’t nervous before presenting his project.

“Every time I’m about to go on stage for something, I get this weird calm. It’s kind of like the calm before the storm,” Rising said. Andrews thought the showcase was a big success.

“I think the showcase went amazing. There were a lot of dances that I really liked. Everyone did fabulous,” Andrews said.

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE

SCRAPBOOK LOOK. Freshman Parker Rising describes his body. He designed it to highlight the main body parts.

Off to college!

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Bonga prepares for potential college struggles Jackson Hook Sports Editor For senior Marjorie Bonga, college is a must. She has always wanted to go to college, and being a part of the first generation of college students in her family to go to college, she finds pride, but also pressure.

“I have always wanted to go to college because it will just help me be better in life. I have seen how much my parents struggle and I love them, but I don’t want to end up like that. I want to have a lot of money and be successful, so that’s why I want to go to college,” Bonga said.

Bonga finds it hard to find the motivation needed to make it to college, but her parents help to motivate her to help her reach her goal. According to her parents, not attending college is not an option. “[It is hard to find motivation] because I have lost it already. Senior year sucks, but hopefully being in a new environment that college brings me I will get that motivation back. It can be hard. [My parents] really want me to go to college, and it is not an option not to go, and I want to go,” Bonga said.

Bonga plans to attend James Madison University

next year and already has what she hopes to be her plan for the future.

“I think I want to go into Business Management or Marketing, so hopefully I can get a job [in that field].

I think I want to minor in Computer Science, so maybe I’ll move to D.C. and become an [Internet Technology] person. I don’t really know yet,” Bonga said.

“Senioritis” is term used by many high school seniors who tend to take senior year not as seriously and fall behind in classes because they have already sent in college applications. Bonga found herself within that group of students.

“Senioritis is definitely a real thing. I thought it hit me my first day of senior year, but now that it is second semester and I am into college and I now where I am going, I just don’t want to do anything anymore. All of my friends are the same way,” Bonga said.

Bonga is a part of the first generation of people in her family to go to college, but she is not the first person. Her brother, Emerson Bonga, is already attending college, which puts a financial burden on their family. “[There is a struggle] because [my brother and

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE

COMPUTERS FOR COLLEGE. Bonga intends to minor in Computer Science. “My brother does computer science in college, so that’s what sparked my interest,” Bonga said.

I] didn’t really know how much it would cost and it is so much money and we aren’t used to paying that amount. It is just really hard to figure out how we are going to get that mon-

Ghaemmaghami headed to Alabama to study physical therapy David Gamboa Photography Editor Emma Ghaemmaghami is a senior headed to Alabama on a scholarship, or $103,800, over four years. She is a recipient of Alabama’s Presidential Scholarship that is intended for out of state students.

The scholarship is for those who received a 32-36 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT score on their critical reading and math scores, have at least a cumulative GPA of 3.5 and meet the registration deadline.

“The reason I looked at Alabama was because I knew that I could get a full tuition scholarship with the GPA and SAT scores I have. I visited in January and really liked it, and they have the program I want, which is athletic training. It’s a really nice campus and that’s where I want to go,” Ghaemmaghami said.

In her freshman year, Ghaemmaghami injured her back while swimming for the school.

Because of the injury Ghaemmaghami spent a lot of time in the athletic training room, where she found out that was what she wanted to do after high school. Now in her senior year, she has had a mentorship at the Bridgewater College athletic training department and

has gotten to see more about what they do. “[After college] I think I might go physical therapy school and focus on sports medicine and then work in a sports medicine clinic. The top goal would be to work for a professional sports team,” Ghaemmaghami said.

The scholarship is automatically awarded to the applicants who meet the requirements and apply to the school. They give out the scholarships until they run out of money.

“I know that a lot of people get them. It’s specifically for out-of-state students. Like for me, it’s cheaper than going to a state school because I wouldn’t have gotten as much of a scholarship from UVA, JMU or any [other in-state school],” Ghaemmaghami said.

At the end of her senior year, Ghaemmaghami will have taken 11 AP classes. Ghaemmaghami says her junior year was very difficult regarding time management. Now in her senior year, she is able to relax a little more.

“Since I got told that I got into Alabama and got the scholarship in early November, it’s now like, I got into college, I can’t screw my grades up enough that they revoke my scholarship, so now it’s pretty chill. I don’t do much,” Ghaemmaghami said.

ey and how we are going to pay for it. Especially because my brother is in college now,” Bonga said.

Despite all of the struggles and the pressure that is brought upon Bonga, she

finds a way to stay eager to go to college.

“I kind of just deal with [the pressure], because I can’t change it. There is always going to be pressure so I just go with it,” Bonga

said. “I’m so excited [to go to college]. I’m so excited to meet new people and to be in a new environment. I know it’s going to be harder work, but I am still very excited.”

Eckstein will attend UVA nursing school Yusuf Aboutabl Staff Reporter Senior Michelle Eckstein has wanted to be a nurse for half a decade, so getting accepted into UVA’s prestigious School of Nursing was a big deal to her.

“Primarily I want to end up being a traveling nurse, where you travel to different hospitals and clinics around the U.S. when they need workers, so if someone goes on maternity leave or if they have a gap in hiring people,” Eckstein said. “The stints are usually 2-3 months and you go wherever they place you. I wanted to do that because it’s super cool to travel around the country.”

Eckstein was into more than just traveling the country. She chose the profession to have an impact in the world around her.

“I want to be a nurse because I want to come home every day knowing I helped someone, so even if I had a terrible day I can come home saying at least I did this for this person,” Eckstein said. “I like being able to make a difference in someone’s life.”

UVA’s School of Nursing is one of the most competitive nursing schools in the country, with only 60 first year students being accepted. The application was similar to a normal college application, but Eckstein was able to set herself apart from the rest.

“They have a supplemental essay asking why you want to get in and how you would fit in the nursing program.

There wasn’t anything more specific [to the nursing school] other than the essay,” Eckstein said. “I think that plays a really big role in getting in because they want to see how dedicated you are to getting into the nursing program and the reasons behind that.

Eckstein attributes her acceptance to the mentorship program that she took at HHS. The mentorship program allows students to go off campus and shadow a professional in a field they are interested in.

“I think that my mentorship experience helped me differentiate myself from the other applicants just because I had the experience

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE ECKSTEIN

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Every fourth block on B days, Eckstein goes to the RMH Emergency Room to receive mentorship from Dana Landacre. of working at a family practice shadowing a doctor for the first semester of this year,” Eckstein said. “For the second semester I’m at RMH’s emergency room shadowing a physician assistant. I think that was something that the committee saw in my application.”

Eckstein’s placement from mentorship program helped her realize that working in the medical field is not

what the general public thinks it is.

“I think society has a really distorted view of medicine from shows like Grey’s Anatomy but actually being in the clinic is a lot different.

[The doctors’] mindset itself is a lot different.

So I think that just being able to be in the environment gives me the affirmation that yes, I want to be in this career,” Eckstein said.

What Virginia college is made for you?

Pick a color: A.) red B.) green C.) purple D.) black E.) blue

What kind of grades are you pulling?

A.) Mostly Bs B.) All As C.) A combination, mostly good though D.) Mostly Bs and Cs How important is the food E.) Mostly As, a few Bs scene to your college experiWhat is your definition of a ence? good time?

A.) VERY!!

B.) I have more important prior- A.) A concert with all of your friends ities.

C.) Yes, good food makes for a B.) Staying in and relaxing C.) A huge lawn party good life.

D.) Kind of, but I’m sure I’ll find D.) An art show something I like wherever I go. E.) Frat party E.) Not really, I’ll probably just eat out a lot.

What do you plan to major in?

A.) Engineering/Agriculture B.) English/Liberal arts C.) Education/Nursing D.) Art/Pre-Med E.) Law/Business

Your friends would describe you as…

A.) easygoing B.) serious C.) outgoing D.) artsy E.) determined

Results: Mostly As- Virginia Tech Mostly Bs- William and Mary Mostly Cs- James Madison University Mostly Ds- Virginia Commonwealth University Mostly Es- University of Virginia

Describe your ideal college campus: A.) A small rural town, big cities aren’t my thing.

B.) An old town with historic significance.

C.) I don’t really want to go far from home, the closer the better!

D.) A big city with lots of diverse people and culture.

E.) An artsy, college town with southern charm.

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The anatomy of art

Fine Arts dancers perform at showcase

Faith Runnells Print Editor-in-Chief

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE LIGHTS, CAMERA, PLIE. Junior Noelle Warne presents anatomy through a theatrical performance paired with choreography. Her solo used a dramatic representation to lead the audience through the anatomy of her life, starting at kindergarten.

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE BREAKING THE RULES. Instead of focusing on the anatomy of a person, Sophomore Jane Wyatt choreographs her dance to represent the anatomy of a dance. Wyatt tried to break the traditional rules of a dance solo.

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE AN EYE FOR AN EYE. Sophomore Alice Perrine explains her art piece at the Fine Arts Anatomy Showcase. Perrine created a piece she thought showed anatomy through a visual piece.

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE IN THE JUNGLE. Junior Ana Hart choreographed a dance that exhibited the anatomy of different animals. Throughout her performance, Hart took on the impetus of different animals and tried to imagine how they would act and move.

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE TIMELESS. Displayed by another visual work of art, junior Zoey Fox shows her piece at the showcase. Fox showed her grandma as though looking into the refraction of a glass of water.

Although the theme for the Fine Arts Academy Showcase was “Anatomy”, no dancer based their solo around the structure of a body. Sophomore Jane Wyatt, who has been dancing since she was three years old, focused her solo on the structure of a dance solo itself.

“When I first thought of anatomy, I first thought of the shape or structure of something, and so I started researching what the shape and structure of what a traditional [dance] solo would be like,” Wyatt said. “After I had learned all about it, I decided that I wanted to break as many of those rules as I could.”

Her solo began with the curtains closed and her reaching through the curtains. After she broke through them and danced on stage, she proceeded to dance in the crowd and on a wall, as a spotlight was following her.

“I wanted to make it not traditional at all, and I wanted to show people what they hopefully had never seen before,” Wyatt said.

Junior Ana Hart focused her piece for the showcase on the anatomy of different animals, as she embodied various animals throughout her dance performance. Hart has been dancing for almost 13 years. She dances not only for the Fine Arts Academy, but also for Dance & Company, a downtown dance studio in Harrisonburg, where she is currently taking ballet classes and is planning to branch into jazz and other types of dance in the future.

“Since my piece was a little different… I had to get into character for [the different animals by] thinking about animals’ motives and how they feel and how they move, using isolations,” Hart said. “It’s a different way of moving, so it required some extra thinking.”

Fine Arts Academy Dance Specialist Amber Corriston noticed Hart’s dance as a huge

PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE OUT OF MY MIND. Freshman Angelee Rios explains her visual art piece. Rios went through a series of pictures in which she moved puzzle pieces around to display the anonymous silhouetted girl losing pieces of herself.

Fine Arts’ visual strand creates anatomy

Kyle Brown Staff Reporter The visual arts strand of HHS fine arts presented to the public on March 22 through an artwork showcase.

The students in the visual strand got together and collectively choose the theme “Anatomy” to base their artwork on. It took an eight week period of brainstorming and various checkpoints to produce the final piece going into the showcase.

Genevieve Kennedy, a freshman in the visual art strand, explains what the showcase is for the fine arts students.

“The showcase for fine arts people is what we work on. On the night of the showcase everyone will present with performing and visual arts on the stage and in the lobby and stuff, so it’s basically us showing off what we have put effort into based around a theme we’re given,” Kennedy said.

The showcase is different and larger than normal class projects.

“For our normal project, we only show them to our teachers and our class. For the showcase, they last longer, and the whole general public can see them, so who wants to come can come,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy also believes that, for the visual artists, not much about the process of creating the piece is simple for them.

“It depends on how inspired you are. I mean, I guess when you start to like your piece a lot it can be kind of easy. You’re constantly pushing yourself to be the best artist you can. As an artist, you’re never really satisfied with what you do, so you’ll always be happy [with your work], but it’s never easy, Kennedy said. For her piece, Kennedy created a painting to depict the good and bad sides of anxiety.

“I created a piece that is supposed to be the anatomy of anxiety, and it’s supposed to show the good and bad sides on the two sides of the painting,” Kennedy said.

When presenting, the artists all

leap of progress in particular.

“Watching Ana dance last night, seeing where she has come from freshman year, never having choreographed a solo to what she choreographed last night and performed it on stage. It just gives me shivers talking about it now,” Corriston said.

Corriston works with all of the dancers in time outside of school for months leading up to each showcase. Although the dancers are the main coordinators for their performances, Corriston watches over their process.

“I’m just amazed by our students - seeing their progress from the beginning to the end,” Corriston said. “There’s nothing better than hearing kids come off stage or seeing their progression. Just seeing them grow as people is very rewarding.”

The showcase features work from all five strands of the Fine Arts Academy, and the entire show is 90 minutes.

“I think that the hardest part is really trying to make your piece stand out from the rest of the showcase because ultimately, you want people to remember your piece,” Wyatt said. “To not fall into the norm of what you would expect to see at a high school showcase.”

Corriston attributes this aspect of the showcase to be very beneficial for the dancers, as they have to work especially hard to branch out and be new. “[The showcase] really pushes them to dive deep into their art and to really explore a topic and then to see what is produced,” Corriston said.

“It’s so cool to see where they go and what they dive into and how they gain confidence.”

In addition to Wyatt and Hart’s solos, freshman Sophia Thomas and Anne Penrod danced to a TED talk and junior Noelle Warne performed a dance solo that also had a theater aspect to it.

“Everybody worked really hard. I think it was one of our best showcases and I really liked all of the dance pieces,” Wyatt said.

have displays to show off their artwork outside of the auditorium.

Friends, family and a few members of the general public usually attend the showcase presentations. The artists then present 30-second speeches about their artwork to the public, then following, the performing arts strands will take the stage.

Junior Piper Sattva always feels the same when presenting her speech. “[I am] nervous, none of the visual artists really like public speaking. I’d prepare my speech better [next time], so I would be more comfortable talking in front of people,” Sattva said.

Sattva did a painting with skulls and flowers for her piece, and explains how difficult the process of getting it started was.

“It was difficult in the beginning, if you don’t have an idea you have to force yourself to be creative and that’s a hard process, but once you get the groove, it’s really easy to just paint what you want to, or draw what you want to,” Sattva said.

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PHOTO BY CHRISTA COLE PICKING UP THE PIECES . Meant to display the brokenness of anatomy, sophomore Naomi Gelberg- Hagmaier used different pieces strung onto a hanger.

April 29, 2016

Feature-B1

The Newsstreak

Teens find guns easily accessible As more and more schools and communities find themselves impacted by mass shootings and guns in schools, it’s important to explore just how easy it is for kids to get their hands on weapons.

Maria Snell-Feikema Feature Editor In the state of Virginia, a citizen must be 18 years or older to purchase a rifle or shotgun, and at least 21 years old to purchase a handgun. After the Virginia Tech Shooting in 2007, a citizen must be at least 21 years of age (presumably out of college) to carry a concealed weapon.

However, it is common in Virginia to simply use a gun bought in the name of an adult, often one’s parents. As a minor, junior Hunter Manzano says that when hunting or going to a shooting range, the only guns he can use are the ones his parents own.

“I don’t personally own any guns, my dad owns them, and I use them. I target shoot a lot. We have a range at our house and we shoot and make sure that there’s no way that the bullets could go anywhere, so it isn’t dangerous. I shoot competitively. I go out to Monere in Virginia, and they have competitions out there for speed and accuracy, and obviously hunting.

We do that in the fall.”

Manzano says that obtaining a gun is a little more complicated than simply just walking into a shop and buying one; however, it doesn’t require much ef-

fort.

“It’s not totally simple, but I don’t think it’s as restrictive as it should be.

There are specific classes of weapons. You can get a class 3 weapon, which is what you see in the movies, a fully automatic. It’s much easier to get a simple shotgun,” Manzano said, “The more tactical the gun is, the harder it is to get, so you have to get tax stamps, and you have to get permission from the local police, but simple shotguns and rifles are easier.”

However, Manzano says the background checks tend to not be too complicated.

“They usually just make sure you don’t have any felonies,” Manzano said, “But really, if you’re a good, upstanding citizen and don’t look too crazy or drunk, you can walk into a gun shop and walk out with a gun.

They just want to make sure you’re not some sort of serial killer.”

Junior John Niland says that sometimes obtaining a gun is as easy as winning a raffle.

“The first one that I ‘had’ was sort of my brother’s originally, but he won it in a raffle on his 18th birthday,” Niland said, “It was like a family gun, we could all use it. My brother and my dad have the pin for the safe that it’s in, so I would have

to talk to them in order to use it.”

Over the years, Niland has obtained more guns in his family’s collection.

“I own guns unofficially.

They’re in my room, and I know the password to the safe, but I don’t have them officially under my name.

No one under 18 has them under their name. They have to be under the parent’s name, but the kids can basically still own it.

That’s how it’s done in my family anyway. If you want to go hunting, you can go hunting at any age, but you can’t own it personally,” Niland said.

Resource Officer Jamie Kwiecinski, who deals with the safety of the school, says that concealed guns aren’t typically a problem at HHS. His only experience with a concealed weapon at school was when he found a BB gun in the possession of a middle schooler at Thomas Harrison.

“A few years ago when I was SRO at Thomas Harrison Middle School. I came across a person who had some information about drugs, so we went to search the locker, and we didn’t find any guns, but we did find a BB gun. It was styled like a pistol, and it was an exact replica of a real gun,” Kwiecinski said. “It actually took me a second, even after picking it up, to real-

PHOTO BY MARIA SNELL-FEIKEMA STRAPPED UP. Resource Officer Jamie Kwiecinski believes that having a gun is absolutely necessary when working in the school. “Protecting people is my career. If a situation arises that requires me to use a gun, I don’t see any problem with that,” Kwiecinski said. ize it was a BB gun. It had the same weight. It had the name of the company on the side of it. It looked extremely real, and if that gun was ever pulled out, there would have been no way to tell that it was a BB gun. We confiscated it, and the student was expelled from the school,” Kwiecinski said.

Kwiecinski says that if the BB gun would have been drawn at any point by the student, he would have to take certain measures to protect the school.

“Ultimately, if I was present, and I felt that lives

were in danger, I would have to draw my fire on them and shoot to protect everybody,” Kwiecinski said. “Ultimately it would have been a deadly force situation, because I would have no way of knowing that it wasn’t a real gun.”

Though there haven’t been any known occurrences of concealed firearms at HHS during his year and a half at the school. Kwiecinski says that in terms of gun restrictions and laws, most would not be effective in keeping guns away from criminals anyway.

“In my opinion, gun

laws only affect the people that follow the law. If somebody that has criminal intent wants to get a hold of a firearm, it’s not hard to do, whether it’s finding one on the street, breaking into somebody’s house and finding one, or knowing someone who keeps one in their car and stealing it,” Kwiecinski said. “It’s not hard to get a firearm for criminal purposes, so I don’t really think the gun laws pertain to anybody in that aspect. I just think it hurts the law abiding citizen who wants to legally own firearms.”

Anatomy of pump-action shotgun and semi-automatic pistol

INFOGRAPHIC BY BRYAN LUNA

Second Amendment trumps all Regular citizens don’t need guns Sarah Earle Staff Reporter

Austin Swift Print Editor in Chief

One of the most controversial topics in the United States is whether or not the ownership of guns should be outlawed.

Guns have been used in mass-shootings and killed numerous innocent people, but for sophomore Tristan Shifflett, guns play a huge role in her life by supplying meals and giving her a sense of protection. “[I support the possession of guns] because that’s the way that we get protected. The military protects us with guns, so if they took them away, how would we be protected?” Shifflett said. “[I am pro-gun for] everybody, honestly. As long as they are not someone that’s bad, like a terrorist.”

In Shifflett’s eyes, guns are effectively used in self-defense. As well as the use of protection, Shifflett uses guns for hunting and providing meals for her family. “[Hunting with guns] is one of the main ways my family eats. It gives us meat in the freezer. My entire family hunts and that’s how we eat,” Shifflett said. “[In my opinion, a gun means] to be able to eat and have protection.”

Shifflett regularly uses guns for hunting, targeting, and shooting, and believes citizens have the right to bear arms.

“People are given the right to have guns because it’s in the Second Amendment. It’s in the Constitution, so people should be able to do that. It’s a right given to us. They shouldn’t be able to change the Constitution at all,” Shifflett said.

For freshman Austin Van Fossen, being able to possess guns means protection and being given his right to bear arms in the Constitution. Having hunted before, Van Fossen believes there is more behind the violence that guns can cause. “[Not all guns should be able to be obtained] because certain guns are just unnecessary. If you have a hunting rifle and hunting is a hobby of yours, it makes sense, but nobody needs a big LMG [Light Machine Gun],” Van Fossen said.

Van Fossen believes the person behind the gun is the one to blame, rather than the gun itself.

“I understand that people might shoot

As the debate over gun rights gains momentum in American society, the anti-gun stance has grown into smaller, issue-specific views, such as deeper and more efficient background checks, the banning of certain types of guns or the complete removal of guns from civilian hands. Junior Ben Hollenbeck sides with the latter, believing that unless the owner has a legitimate and constant reason to carry and use one, guns should be outlawed.

“I don’t think there should be any firearms within possession of citizens in the United States. I think that if it’s a firearm, it should not be owned by a civilian that isn’t going to use it, so if they are not a military officer or police officer,” Hollenbeck said.

Hollenbeck’s biggest issue is the availability of guns and how they are portrayed in society.

“It’s really how they’re advertised, and also how they’re just readily available to people at supermarkets, you know in those magazines sections they have just a huge assortment of home protection, straight up shotgun-based and machine-gun based magazines that are just catalogues of hundreds of different ones that you can buy readily, and with very little background check. They can just be mailed to your door essentially. Also how there are things like gun shows and people will be showing off their collections of guns and it’s almost become a hobby. Societally, we’ve seen these things and violence so often [on TV] that we tend to forget that a gun specifically is designed as a weapon of death to kill people, that’s all it’s for.”

In response to the high number of school shootings, there has been a call to arm teachers so they can better defend themselves and their students in the case of an intruder, but Hollenbeck believes there are more effective methods.

“I think we shouldn’t have to worry about getting shot up in our schools, we shouldn’t have to think about arming

PHOTO COURTESY OF AARON GUSLER

BAM. Senior Aaron Gusler practices his aim shooting clay disks on a friend’s farm in Gloucester, VA. up a certain place, but that’s unnecessary of them and you expect them to do the right thing,” Van Fossen said. “There’s always going to be people who take the power they have and use it in bad ways.”

Van Fossen does not expect gun control to be very effective. “[Gun control] violates people’s Second Amendment Rights] in a way, yes. People should still have their rights to bear arms. If you take guns away, people will want them even more. When [the government] takes guns away, the people who will go through enough work to obtain them [guns], will probably use them for bad reasons,” Van Fossen said.

Van Fossen believes that people can value their security through guns.

“I know there are a lot of people who keep a gun under their bed in case an intruder breaks in, and I think that’s fine as long as they keep it locked up if they have children,” Van Fossen said. “If a thief is coming in [a house or building] with nothing or maybe a knife, then you don’t need a gun to protect yourself, but if they’re coming in with a gun, you need a better [weapon]. People who are trying to hurt [or] harm you will use something effective, [like] a gun, so you’ll need a gun in return.”

VS

our teachers, because they’re teachers.

They shouldn’t be protectors, they should teach,” Hollenbeck said. “I think everyone’s talking about removing a certain part of the issue, [but] if you just cut off the problem at the head [it will be fixed].”

Hollenbeck finds multiple parties responsible for shootings.

“Since [the government] isn’t doing enough to prevent these [shootings], I’d say it has a large role now [in gun-related regulations], but it’s not enough. While the government has a certain responsibility to prevent attacks such as these, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s their fault that the attacks happened,” Hollenbeck said. “A certain amount of fault does belong to the shooter, but it’s also that [the government] is not doing anything about it, so that makes it start to become their fault if these things continue to happen. You can’t blame the manufacturer of a car for the car that hits someone, but if it’s because of a defect in the car or the system and the way the car works, then something needs to change.”

In terms of possible gun legislation, Hollenbeck is doubtful any changes will occur.

“I don’t see [new gun regulations] as a possibility. We’re too stuck to our second amendment rights, which were actually developed in order for white men to create militias to hunt down escaped slaves,” Hollenbeck said. “We are so focused on keeping that right word for word, sticking with the Constitution. If the Forefathers saw what weaponry we have now, even the handguns we have now, they’d have changed their stance on this completely.”

As a compromise, however, he hopes to see certain types of guns banned.

“I would wish for no guns at all, but I don’t see that as a realistic possibility in the country, so I guess just more strict regulations on gun control [would be what I want],” Hollenbeck said. “Certain guns outlawed, such as the heavy assault firearms, like you don’t need a machine gun to defend your house against a robber, you’d need it to defend your house against 50 of them. Heavier ordinance weapons should not be in the hands of Americans.”

With an end to this debate relatively out of sight, positions concerning gun rights and availability will continue to develop.

April 29, 2016

Feature-B2

The Newsstreak

Estes’ teaching style earns him popularity

Owen Stewart Page Editor Students are taught by plenty of teachers during their time in high school, but for most, one really stands out. For sophomore Justus Sneary, Algebra 2 instructor Geoffray Estes is his preferred teacher.

Sneary lists Estes’ fairness to the students as one of the reasons for this.

“He’s very fair if you’re busy. If you want extra credit, he always has extra credit available. If you’re really busy and miss a couple assignments, he’ll give you some credit, and if you miss a day, he actually explains what the class learned,” Sneary said.

According to Sneary, another aspect of Estes’ fairness is the way he treats students in class.

“He’s always really friendly, even to the kids that don’t always listen to him. [I’ve also noticed that] some kids who don’t really listen to teachers in other classes pay attention in his class,” Sneary said. For a way for other teachers to be more like Estes in the way they teach, Sneary suggests trying to be a little more understanding.

“I would tell a teacher to not get mad quite as easily, and to be more understanding of the students. [Also], just listen to the students and what they have to say, and not be so strict about everything,” Sneary said.

For Estes himself, being named a student’s favorite teacher helps him know that he’s

getting his message through.

“It’s an honor to be recognized, number one. I’m glad that I can make connections with students so that they can see success in the things they’re doing. I’m glad that Justus feels that he’s learned a lot in the class, and that the connection we have enables him to succeed,” Estes said. Estes understands that many students don’t have confidence in their ability to learn math, and tries to help them out throughout class.

“I really think that mathematics comes with a stigma to it. People tend to say ‘I can’t do math,’ and you hear that a lot more than ‘I can’t do English,’ [for example]. So what I try to do is I try to make sure that when I’m teaching and developing my lessons, that there’s always something for the students to grasp onto, and also to understand why what they’re learning can be important in their lives and in their future,” Estes said. In terms of the way he runs a class, Estes says it really depends on the class, not his style.

“I don’t have a particular way I go about a class, each class is different. I really look at the makeup of the class, and try to understand what the students’ needs are before I put my lessons together,” Estes said.

As a way for him to further his teaching skills, Estes attempts to combine the traits of his peers into one.

“I observe the teachers I work with, and I learn from them. I think over the years

I’ve taken the best traits of all the people I work with and I try to weave it into how I do the things that I do,” Estes said.

“Sometimes [in doing that], I fall flat on my face, but other times it works out great.”

Over Estes’ 21 years in teaching, he has learned many things, but confidence in his teaching ability is one of the keys to his still-changing teachPHOTO BY OWEN STEWART ing approach.

“When I first start- LEARNING FROM THE BEST. Senior AK Koyee (right) and seed teaching, I was just nior Robert Heistch (left) get help from Mr. Estes during STEM like most first-year class. teachers. You don’t really know what to expect, because you ciency, but he hopes to plant a new opinion walk in and you’re in charge of 100 students of math in the students’ minds.

“I want them to leave with an appreciaduring your day. It’s a big responsibility. Over tion of mathematics. Not that they have to time to become more with that, and more be mathematicians by the time they leave, comfortable with the material you’re teachbut [I want them to] understand that it’s ing. You gain more confidence. I would say more than just formulas and solving equathe difference between where I am now and tions,” Estes said.

“There’s a lot of purpose where I was my first year is just that I have behind why we study mathematics, and it’s a lot of confidence,” Estes said. As for the the driving force in many applications and students taking his class, when they leave, many areas.”

Estes doesn’t expect immediate math profi-

Bair works hard to keep class interesting Danny Dombrowski Staff Reporter Honors and AP Biology teacher Gehrie Bair is in his sixteenth year as a teacher. The Bridgewater graduate has always been around teaching since a young age.

“I probably decided officially to be a teacher when I was a sophomore in college. I had always been involved in informal types of teaching like working at camps ever since I had been in middle school,” Bair said.

Although Bair left the Valley after college for a teaching job in Maryland, he found his way back when a job opened up.

“I went to Bridgewater and I actually student taught with Mr. Glick back in 2000 and then went to Maryland to teach for two years up there. When he decided to leave to be the principal at Skyline, I decided to apply for the job down here,” Bair said.

Bair enjoys his job, but his main highlight is his students. “[My favorite part is] the students. The content is fun but just having something differ-

ent every day and interactions with the students and just the good times we have in the classroom,” Bair said.

What is his least favorite part of his job? Simple, grading.

“My least favorite aspect of the job is grading, no question about it,” Bair said.

Although he knows content is important, Bair thinks there are other lessons to be learned from school outside of the curriculum.

“The content is important, that the students understand it, but also that they just learn to be good people. Understand that learning can be fun and be an enjoyable experience that is something they want to do the rest of their lives to some degree. Just small lessons like what we do in leadership class. Being respectful and learning how to interact socially is just as important as the material that we learn,” Bair said.

Bair tries to have good memories with his students and teach them life skills, so one day they can reflect back on their high school education from a new perspective. He enjoys when past students reach out to

him via email.

“One of the highlights for me is when I am checking my email and I get an email from a previous student that says, ‘I am so glad you taught us to do this’ or most of the time it isn’t I learned the info but that I encouraged them to work hard and study.

I think a lot of the time when you are in high school you don’t have that perspective, but once you go to college or out of college you see what you learned from all your teachers. The person you become, you start to reflect on it. Everyday I have something occur that is fun or makes me laugh. I hope to have good memories with all my students,” Bair said.

Bair attributes his success in teaching to trying to know each student on a personal level.

“I try to have a good relationship with my students, I don’t fake that. I really want to know my students, interact with them and have a good time. I think if they can buy into me as a person then I think it makes them want to learn more, and it makes teaching them easier. Kind of like a little family in class,” Bair said.

PHOTO BY ALISSA BURNETTE

HANDS ON TEACHING. Students in AP Biology start a lab with the help of Mr. Bair.

He wants all of his students to leave his class better than when they came in. “ Just leave a better student.

The content in important but just being able to walk out of the class feeling successful. Even if the class has been hard, that they can leave a better person, Bair said.

Bair is happy with his career and doesn’t see himself do-

ing anything different anytime soon.

“Stay at the high school, I don’t have any desire to do anything else. That is the honest truth. I like doing what I am doing, I wouldn’t have done it this long if I didn’t enjoy it. It is something new every day. I love what I do, Bair said.

Turner, Hassan aiming to advance education despite being deaf SIGNING from A1 “Because [their hearing] is a hearing loss, it’s not like they can listen to and acquire another language. Their language is ASL, and so it’s very different because most other languages are based on a sound system. Since they don’t have the access to hear that, it’s very difficult to learn a spoken language for them, so it’s all based on the visual,” Foster said.

Hassan was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and began learning the English language eight years ago when he came to the United States. He is hard of hearing, and therefore is able to understand and speak English.

“I’m reading in books and learning. It’s easy, but sometimes really hard [to learn],” Hassan said. Hassan uses an FM system in his classes, which cuts out all other distracting noises in a room and allows him to focus in on the teacher’s voice. He also puts on his hearing aids before school every morning.

Turner cannot benefit from a FM system because he has absolutely no hearing. He relies completely on his interpreter. Because he has not learned to speak English yet, he communicated during this interview by signing to his interpreter, and his interpreter verbalized his signed words.

“The hardest is trying to learn English itself in English class. I am really good at math. Sometimes it’s just hard with the English barrier,” Turner said. “[Right now, I’m] working over the vocabulary and learning the expressive part of the language, and reading, of course.”

Turner’s interpreter, Nicole VanArsdale, grew up with two deaf parents, and ASL is her first language.

hearing child who is picking up the language auditorily. I picked it up with signs,” VanArsdale said. “‘Milk’ and ‘food’ and all those basic signs that you learn when you’re little. As you’re learning them verbally, I was just learning them in sign.”

She then began to learn English around three years old, when a teacher was able to come and work with her one-on-one.

She began interpreting professionally when she was 18 years old.

“My student goes to regular classes, and I will, as the teacher is teaching, put out the language in ASL so that the student can learn what the teacher is saying,” VanArsdale said. “I have to take what I’m listening to in English and change it to ASL so that the student can understand completely what’s being said.”

VanArsdale does take a break from interpreting during Turner’s lunchtime, when she splits off and allows Turner to mingle by himself.

“He’s talking with his friends and learning different ways to communicate with his friends: through technology, or writing on a piece of paper, or using a cellphone and just texting back and forth,” VanArsdale said.

Turner attended Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind (VSDB) when he first began his schooling career. However, after an altercation involving the school’s transportation, Turner’s parents decided it was best for him to go to Harrisonburg City schools, as they were more comfortable with the safety. Turner does miss the amount of deaf and hard of hearing students at VSDB. “[At HHS], I kind of feel alone sometimes because there’s only two of us here that are deaf or hard of hearing, because it’s kind

PHOTO BY FAITH RUNNELLS

A DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLE. Freshman Sajjad Hassan learns the directions for an assignment in his English class from his teacher Julie Foster. of hard to communicate with the hearing students. You have to write back and forth,” Turner said. However, Turner would still rather come to HHS over VSDB, because of the sports, clubs and other opportunities offered at HHS. Turner especially enjoys the football team, as VSDB doesn’t have one, and he played on the JV team this fall.

“I wanted to be a running back, or I don’t know, maybe defensive line,” Turner said. “I love all the sports that we have here, and the clubs that we have. I have really great teachers. I’ve got some friends that are students, too.” However, Turner still wants to be able to communicate with more of the student body, and is willing to make that happen through a club.

“I would actually like to teach a club here, just about ASL, so people can learn about my language.

I would love for people to join it, and have students, so that we can all learn together,” Turner said. “It

hasn’t formally started, but it’s something [I’m] looking for next year.” With a sufficient amount of interested students and a club sponsor, both Turner and Hassan could be able to have a basic conversation with much more of the student body.

“Everyone has been very welcoming and open in accepting me and the students and the interpreter. The problem is it would be like you going to Africa and never learning the African language. And you’re the only English-speaking person there. So would you feel isolated or would you feel included?” Foster said.

“The isolation isn’t intended, but it happens just because they have a difficult time communicating.”

More isolation comes from a lack of understand about the deaf culture, according to Foster.

As she told me this, she turned her head around, and I hardly noticed, as people do this all the time. But as she went to explain, that would majorly impede on a

conversation with someone who is deaf.

“They’ve missed that whole conversation. If you’re communicating with somebody and you’re looking down, or you’re on your phone, and you’re still talking, that’s considered rude. You’re kind of unconnected, but we do it all the time, because we multitask,” Foster said. This concept becomes a reality when teachers lecture while turned around writing on the board, or expect students to take notes while they are talking.

“I need more directions. I don’t understand [many] directions,” Hassan said. However, Foster still acknowledges the many things staff and students in the school system are doing to help them feel included.

“There are people who are doing all kinds of things to help them feel included, so we do the best we can. In my opinion, one thing that would really help was if we had an ASL class here at the high school. A lot of colleges and universities are accepting ASL as a world language,” Foster said.

Both Turner and Hassam want to attend college after high school. Hassam wants to eventually repair cars, while Turner wants to play on his college’s football team.

Both students are aiming for that large goal of graduation, but also hit small victories every single day.

“When I look at my students and we’ve talked and talked and talked about something, and I see in their faces that they understand it - whether it’s a joke, or it’s some academic content information, or it’s a friend relationship - when I see in the expression on their face that they got it, that’s cool,” Foster said. “That means that we are all being successful.”

ON THE ROAD

April 29, 2016

Feature-B3

The Newsstreak

Newly licensed tell their experiences with Driver’s Ed Christa Cole News Editor The longing for the age of 16 and three months, the road before you and the wind in your hair is finally over for sophomore Gabby Delbiondo, junior Jonathan Aigner and sophomore Tristin Shifflet. The three students became eligible to drive without a guardian this past March.

The behind the wheel test required to be eligible for a license lasts over the course of a seven days. The test includes performances of driving in a parking lot, on both city and country roads, on the interstate and parallel parking.

“It was just one big test at the end, the rest of the days we were going over basics and techniques.

The test was a course that took out into the county and then cut back into the city where we got on the interstate. It probably took 10 minutes, and even though I was nervous about messing up, the course reflected what we had practiced during the first six days of behind the wheel so it was at least familiar,” Aigner said.

“According to Mr. [Jay] Supko, I ‘passed with flying colors’. My one thing I always had trouble

with was constantly checking my mirrors and accelerating at the right time through turns.”

One of the things that troubled both DelBiondo and Shifflet in the course itself was parallel parking.

“Parallel parking was horrible. That was definitely the worst thing but once you get it it’s so easy,” Shifflet said.

Not only did DelBiondo struggle with parallel parking, but also with speed.

“Parallel parking is definitely hard and also trying to keep up to speed, going really fast made me really nervous, but I learned how to do it, especially on [Interstate 81],” DelBiondo said. “In the drivPHOTO COURTESY OF JONATHAN AIGNER ing test, driving on 81 helped BEHIND THE WHEEL. Junior Jonathan Aigner drives in the HHS parking build a lot of confidence for lot after receiving his license. me driving and also we drove to Broadway and there’s not a along with to and from practices. of her familiarity with the wheel. lot of traffic on that road so that “Make sure you get a lot of “The behind the wheel was also really helped.” hours before you go into the test natural and I was comfortable The anxiety of the course was because they know if you don’t with the way I drove, so I knew quickly diminished for DelBiondo. drive [beforehand]. It’s really I was going to pass behind the “The first day I was really ner- clear to them, and I mean, it’s re- wheel,” Shifflet said. vous, but after you get really used ally not that hard driving, so don’t Aigner describes driving in the to it there’s not a lot of pressure freak out. If you freak out it will same way. when you do [course],” DelBion- be a lot more difficult...Stay in “I feel comfortable driving. do said. control while you’re driving,” Del- When in doubt, I try to just play it She highly suggests practicing Biondo said. safe and wait a few extra seconds very much before the test, which Shifflet did not experience any to change lanes or try not to pass she did through driving to school anxiety in the first place because people,” Aigner said.

He learned safety from his father.

“My dad, being a firefighter and seeing plenty of crashes first hand, gave me the best piece of advice,” Aigner said. “He said that, even if I have the right of way, slowing down a bit and making sure the other cars are yielding can prevent a potential accident most of the time.”

Shifflet was also frequently guided by her mother.

“My mom helped me the most because if I were to do something wrong, she made sure I knew that I did it wrong. She just pointed it out, every little thing. If I didn’t stop close enough to the white line, she pointed it out,” Shifflet said.

Despite her mother’s pickiness, Shifflet understood the fuss was out of love.

“Just stay calm [when driving] and pay attention to what people tell you because sometimes they’re not trying to criticize you, it’s more like trying to help you,” Shifflet said.

Aigner’s advice is not to wait. “[Getting your license on time] lets you be more social and make better use of your free time...

Don’t put it off...Behind the wheel isn’t as scary as it seems,” Aigner said.

Gonzalez personalizes Honda into race car-style ride Alexia Muñoz Feature Editor Most juniors and seniors save up for their car and want nothing more than a regular, working one that will drive them to their destinations. This isn’t the case for senior Johnny Gonzalez, who drives his bright blue Honda to school every day with his friends. This two year project resulted in a race car-inspired automobile he drives around town.

“I got it for $6,200,” Gonzalez said. “[The car is] lower so I got suspension for that. I have wheels, I got the seats, I got the straps, but it’s just really what you’re into.”

Gonzalez began to work

at the age of 16 to earn a sufficient amount of money so he could create his unique ride. In addition to the $6,200, it cost another $5,000 to make it original and to Gonzalez’s liking.

“It’s just really what you’re up to. If you want to make the engine, if you want to build it all, or [if you want] the looks. I’m more into the looks and engine,” Gonzalez said.

Ever since he was young, Gonzalez became interested in cars and was influenced by his father and friends. This passion resulted into a creative car that would generate many compliments from students.

“I known [about cars] since I was young. My dad [influenced me]; I would al-

ways work with him.” Gonzalez said. “I just like cars, they interest me, so I just had to make it look better.”

Despite working four different jobs for his current car, Gonzalez admits that it wasn’t his first choice. Still, he doesn’t regret getting the vehicle because of its looks and price.

“I honestly didn’t want this car. I wanted an Accord, but I got it for cheap so I said okay,” Gonzalez said.

He’s currently planning on getting a new car and will mainly focus on the looks and engine.

“I want something new, but not yet,” Gonzalez said.

“I want to get a Haval 10.

Probably in two years [I’ll get my new car].”

INFOGRAPHIC BY TAZHAN JAF

Match the teacher with their car

PHOTOS BY ALEXIA MUNOZ

START YOUR ENGINES. Senior Johnny Gonzalez’s race car-converted Honda parked in the school parking lot. Overall, the transformation cost $11,200, but Gonzalez began working as soon as he could to fund the project. “[I started working] right when I turned 16. I started at Wendy’s, then just went to Chipotle, construction and now [I work at] Dunkin Donuts,” Gonzalez said.

April 29, 2016

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When teacher is out, sub is in Blackwell manages substitutes for teachers Faith Runnells Editor-In-Chief The school division has an automated eSolution Substitute System, in which teachers automatically request substitutes electronically, which is designed to make easier the process of finding substitutes for classes every day. However, about 85% of teachers bypass this system, and go directly to Administrative Assistant Lynda Blackwell instead, who is also responsible for managing substitutes.

“Many times a lot of employees are uncomfortable putting it into that system, because you’ll get whichever substitute picks the job and a lot of times they have certain substitutes they want to have cover certain jobs, so they’ll come through me and ask if I can get in contact with certain people,” Blackwell said. Additionally, by going through Blackwell instead of the system, Blackwell is able to take advantage of some situations that the system is not able to pick up.

“I also try to save the school system money by trying to piece different jobs together. If one teacher is only going to be out for two blocks in the morning and another one [will be gone for] an afternoon, I’ll combine the subs so it will be one substitute versus paying for two people for the day,” Blackwell said. The system in the computer does not allow this. A substitute is also not permitted from the school division to be hired for less than two 90-minute blocks, so when a teacher is only missing one block, this system of a substitute covering two different classes can be used.

“We try not to [ask other teachers to cover a class], because then the teachers lose their planning, which makes it hard on them,” Blackwell said. However, teachers undergo spontaneous illnesses or emergencies, and in these cases, Blackwell must jump into action with the resources she al-

PHOTO BY FAITH RUNNELLS

BLACKWELL HANDLES SUBSTITUTES. Administrative Assistant Lynda Blackwell spends time every day looking for substitutes to teach an absent teacher’s class. “[I] try to fit the best person for the jobs because everybody, just like all of us, have different personalities and different people work better in different situations and types of classes,” Blackwell said. ready has available to her.

“That’s a split second of ‘okay, we need to get coverage in place.’ So timing gets a little hectic sometimes but there’s really great people in this building. Even if we don’t have substitutes to cover, most [teachers] don’t complain [if we ask them to cover],” Blackwell said. “If I call and say ‘hey, there’s an

King’s flying career makes way for teaching career Austin Swift Editor In Chief After working eight years in a steel mill and 25 as a pilot, substitute teacher John King now finds himself drifting from classroom to classroom. He worked in a mill in Indiana as a supervisor and labor realtor before moving to the Shenandoah Valley to start his own business.

“I taught people to fly airplanes and flew people around for 12 years.

I went to the airlines and was a captain of Piedmont, now American, flying commuter airlines for 13 years,” King said. “[Then I] retired, raised two children who went to HHS, and now one’s an engineer and one is soon to be; they’re about to graduate from Virginia Tech.”

Flying has a been a part of King’s life since he was young, and he still teaches people to fly when he’s not substituting.

“I’ve loved flying since I was a kid, but never thought I’d do it. When I got out of college I was getting paid a lot of money working for the steel industry, so I learned to fly for fun,” King said.

“Then, I decided to go ahead and make it a career [since] I had my own plane.

I decided to get all my ratings before I moved here, and my wife and I moved from Indiana to here. I started flying for a living, teaching people, and that’s where [my flying career] started.”

After getting his fill of teaching, King reached new heights.

“I got kind of tired of teaching peo-

ple that were going off and flying for United [Airlines] and making five times as much money and working half as hard, so I decided I’d try that after 13 years. I stayed there until I got a retirement [deal], which means I can fly and visit my daughter in California any time I want,” King said.

King flew around the Eastern U.S., in addition to the occasional international flight, before landing back in Harrisonburg.

“It’s fun to fly airplanes, and they pay you to do it rather than you [having to] pay to do it. I was a commuter pilot so I serviced the hubs,” King said.

“I flew in and out of the main airports [like] LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Miami when I was flying in Florida. The only international [flights were] Toronto, Ontario and Ottawa, and the Bahamas.”

King hopes he can have a long term influence on students when he substitutes.

“I like kids, I like our country. I’d like to see them contribute to [our country], because our country’s changing so much nowadays that it worries the heck out of me,” King said.

After making a living with his previous careers, King finds substituting to be less of a financial occupation and more of a personally beneficial job. “[Subbing] keeps me from spending money. I’m not really making money, but it keeps me from spending it. I’m at home at night and I get to work with young people, and that’s fun. It really is.”

emergency. I need coverage for this’ most [faculty] would step up and do it.”

All substitutes must have a minimum of two years of college, go through a training procedure downtown, a background check, and be approved by the school board. Longterm substitutes must also be certified in the area in which they will be substituting.

“Since it’s a longer period of time [that a long-term substitute is working for], they want to make sure the content is being taught. If it’s a non-core class, they aren’t as strict about it,” Blackwell said.

Because Blackwell manually does so much of the substitution assigning, she is able to accommodate each classroom’s unique needs. “[I] try to fit the best person for the jobs because everybody, just like all of us, have different personalities and different people work better in different situations and types of classes,” Blackwell said. “[If I know] someone [has a really] strict personality and doesn’t tolerate well... I’ll put them in the classes that I know aren’t really going to have those [behavior] issues so much as the other ones.”

Blackwell usually gets up in the morning around 4:15 a.m. to begin her daily substitute assigning. She typically works for an hour in the morning before school, and then for an additional hour in the evening after she gets home.

“I start checking emails from teachers [right when I wake up], because if somebody has gotten sick in the night, sometimes people forget their numbers that they have to enter into the system so they send me an email, or they’ll text me or they’ll send me a Facebook message, and say ‘please help.

This is what’s going on, help me,’” Blackwell said.

The average school day calls for seven or eight substitutes in the building. However, in times of dire need, the school has hosted up to 26 substitutes in one day.

“I used to get really stressed out about it but I’ve learned over the years of doing it that it always works out, so even if I’ve got to cover a class, it gets done,” Blackwell said. “It makes it interesting because no day is exactly the same as the other. I like that aspect that things are always different and moving.”

Wright teaches, makes movies on side Samantha Little Feature Editor

things over my eyes,” Wright said. “Also, I don’t have a relationship with these kids like the teacher does so I could establish certain things better with the kids if I had a relationship with them like their teacher does, but all of those are small things considering the benefits that I have.”

One of Wright’s favorite parts of being

Though Janet Wright just graduated from film school and makes movies on the side, she doubles as a substitute teacher to fulfill her love of teaching and teenagers.

“I totally love [being a substitute teacher]. I love teaching and I love learning. I also love learning subjects I don’t know very well, so sometimes I’ll have to teach classes I don’t know very well and every assignment I give the students I try to do myself, so I’m actually learning more too,” Wright said.

Freshman Sophia Thomas was a student in Aaron Cosner’s English class with Wright as the substitute, and enjoys her style of teaching.

“She seems like she understands us, and she indulges us by letting us talk but she also keeps us in control,” Thomas said.

From the culture and diversity to the interaction she gets to have with all of the students, Wright thoroughly enjoys working at the high school.

“I love the culture, I love the diversity and I [enjoy] especially the classes PHOTO BY SAMANTHA LITTLE where people will apply themselves and really just try to learn,” Wright THE WRIGHT ANSWER. Substitute Janet Wright said. “Sometimes kids actually apply is a film school graduate who fulfills her love of themselves much more fully to the teaching when she isn’t making films. curriculum in times I thought they wouldn’t. I see a spark of learning much greater than what I ever anticipated a substitute is the active teaching she’s allowed to do in the classroom as opposed to for that particular class or level of learning.” just managing the class or giving busy work, Although Wright finds some difficulties and is always looking for opportunities to be in the job, the benefits end up outweighing able to do this. any of them for her.

“This is a job that a lot of people run “One [hardship] is trying to figure out scared from, but whatever it is, the chalwhat the teacher actually wants us to do. lenges and the joys are exactly what I love,” Sometimes the plans are not very clear. AnWright said. other thing is that kids sometimes try to pull

Calderon wants to inspire students through substituting Yogesh Aradhey Staff Reporter The average high school substitute spends about two to three days a week at school, but substitute Tracey Calderon is going on seven years in a row of being at school almost every day. Her commitment to the school and the students in it comes from her unique background and skill set.

“I taught at an education department at a correctional center for an internship when I was in college,” Calderon said. “It was a men’s correctional facility, and I taught anger management classes and more like how to be in a successful place in society. It was people who were non-violent criminals and I loved it. I loved working with them, and showing them what the world was like and how to handle it.”

Even after her internship was complete, Calderon still

opted to continue job.” volunteering at Motivation for the center for andedication comes to other three years, Calderon from the teaching a course students. that she created “I love the stuon the subject of dents here; I love perception and seeing them here. how to perceive The ninth graders, others. It was not they’re not really until after the sure that they want three year period to finish school, and that her course if I can just be a tiny would change piece of ‘yay! I gradpaths to one at uated!’ That makes the high school. me feel like I’ve done While working something right,” towards a degree Calderon said. in nursing, CalIn fact, the feeling deron was injured has even led her to PHOTO BY YOGESH ARADHEY on the job.

GETTING THEM TO GRADUATE. Substitute teacher Tracey Calderon has turn down what she “A friend of spent seven years in a row in school almost every day and wants to make thought was her pasmine had just a difference in the lives of students when it comes to their education. sion at one point. started to teach “I saw myself [at HHS], and she there, in the educamost every day.” her as their substitute. said maybe I should try it tion department [at the corAlong with having good “I don’t know what I do because I wouldn’t have to rectional center],” Calderon class management skills, differently, but I have been work full time and if I wasn’t said. “And the lady there making it a point to leave told that teachers will refeeling good, I could take a who was running it did regood notes, and following quest me [because of the day off,” Calderon said. “But tire, about four years, and I lesson plans, this has led to way I work],” Calderon said. that only lasted about a year was asked if I wanted that many teachers requesting “To me, that’s just doing the or so, and now I am here aljob. And I said ‘no’. My heart

is here with these students.”

“There is one reason right there,” Calderon said as a student passing through the hall ducked in to say “hi”.

Calderon’s decision to keep working at HHS was ironic to her given her past experiences.

“I never saw myself here [at a high school]. As a student, I had all the problems.

I never thought I’d work at a high school. I never thought I’d graduate high school. Never. But it all went through and I just love being a part of this, and that right there is what I tell them when they ask why I come back,” Calderon said.

After graduating, Calderon’s feelings have changed tremendously.

Helping others is now her main goal.

“It’s a great feeling you know? It’s a great feeling to know that you have made a difference,” Calderon said.

April 29, 2016

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The Newsstreak

Inexperienced womens soccer team looks for right fit Christa Cole News Editor

PHOTO BY DAVID GAMBOA-PENA

FOOTWORK. Senior midfielder Michelle Eckstein dribbles the ball upfield in the varsity womens soccer game against Millbrook High School.

The girls soccer team was experiencing a losing streak, the first one in five years, as they struggled to rebuild their team. That streak was broken during the home game over spring break as the girls beat their crosstown rival Turner Ashby 5-0. The team, including junior stopper Kendall Thompson, senior center-back Olivia Yutzy and senior goalie Madelyn Penrod, is working hard to bring the team together and play better as a whole, fueled by the breaking of this streak.

“Everyone handled [losing] differently. Some people got pissed off, some people pushed themselves...we were tired of losing and definitely decided we need to win,” Penrod said.

Even with the recent win, the past games are still driving the team to succeed even more.

“I think [the past losses] just makes everybody more anxious to beat all of these other teams, [the other games] kind of fuel the fire,” Thompson said.

The game at Turner Ashby is seen as a turning point in the team’s record.

“We had a setback in the beginning of the season, but the last game we won 5-0, so I feel like we definitely found ourselves and how we should be playing together,” Penrod said. “We found a new formation, we got everyone set into their position,

we did something differently in that game...with our first district win, I feel like this one really set the bar for us.”

The challenge that the team had been facing, and still is dealing with, is the loss of five seniors from the last year and two more players who would have been seniors this year, but cannot play. The newest varsity players are often playing in positions they have not been in before because of the team’s need to fill the spots lost from the previous year.

“We’re playing well, but the challenge is just people being inexperienced on varsity, not used to playing on the varsity level,” Yutzy said.

The young players are facing many new things as they rise to this level of the sport.

“They’re playing against older people and also they’re just trying to get a feel for a new position, which is always scary and tough when you’re not sure what you’re supposed to do,” Penrod said.

This placement process requires experimenting on behalf of the coaches.

“We just haven’t really figured out who’s better playing where, so our coach is just playing everybody everywhere,” Thompson said.

The coaches are putting effort into finding the right fit in positioning for both the team and individual.

“I think our coaches definitely understand that we’re not the same team we have been in the past and

they’re really working with everyone to figure out who’s best in what position and what’s going to be best for the team,” Penrod said. All players must work with and survey the players in new positions as well to better network through the game.

“You have to work with the new players and watch to figure out what their playing style is and how you can help them the best,” Penrod said. “Younger players might feel like they’re not as confident or as strong as [the upperclassmen], but that shouldn’t be a setback. We’re all a team. We all work together.”

This point in a soccer career requires perseverance according to Yutzy. “[Our team needs to remember] just whatever position you get put in, do your best at it even if you may not know what you’re doing, you just need to work hard and give it your all,” Yutzy said.

Despite the quantity of young players, Penrod has faith in the team.

“We still have the potential to become a really great team and we’re on the verge of rebuilding our team,” Penrod said.

As the team is overcoming this trial, they are connecting more easily as well as gaining strength.

“We’re playing really good right now. We’re finally starting to get used to playing together and moving up and down field as a team,” Thompson said.

Varsity boys soccer successful despite loss of players Brian Alvarado Staff Photographer HHS boys varsity soccer has seen some changes in its playing style because of a different lineup of players.

Without dominant striking forwards like last year’s Luis Vargas and Jackson Taylor who scored a total of 46 goals, HHS has not been a high scoring team this year.

However, head coach Paul Rath, along with the team, have been taking a different approach to the way they play the game.

“We play more of a possession style. We don’t try to outgun the other team.

We try to hold the ball and be patient and try to develop chances. It’s a little bit more Spanish La Liga kind of possession play rather than more of a direct style where you find a little bit more in the English premier league.

We’re not looking to win games by four or five goals this year... We’re looking to win games by one maybe two goals. I think the highest scoring game we’ve had this year is three, and that’s it.

That’s what we have to do.

We focus on defense and we focus on getting those scoring opportunities,” Rath said.

Other than the lack of true strikers, the soccer team has also seen difficulty in keeping their roster up in the right numbers. Since the beginning of the season, the team has seen a number of players quit or have to leave because of a violation of team rules. This feels like a lack of commitment toplayers like junior Roberto Gonzalez.

“As a team, we’ve struggled a lot with people quitting and not being on the team. They’re just not committed enough. When things don’t work out the way they want to, they just quit. But we’ve been working really hard at practice so we still get the results that we want and that people expect from us,” Gonzalez said.

Along with the number of players being dropped from the roster, came some difficulty for Rath as well.

Attempting to create a starting lineup and substitutions

that works for conference soccer has become a challenge.

“We’ve had a lot of team changes in personnel.

We’ve had seven players, who were taken on to the varsity team, leave the team either through breaking team contract or just quitting. That changed the complexity of our team. We’ve only been using the current roster for about four games.

It’s almost like we’ve started a new season within the season. The guys have had to get used to new positions and playing next to new people on the field. We’re trying to improve with the guys that we have now, not from the beginning of the year,” Rath said.

Despite these challenges, the team keeps up a winning record and their new approach to playing soccer is working for them as they have compiled a record of 7-3-1, as of April 20. For junior defender and team captain Juan Perez Cardoza, the team plays well, but finishing in the net is where the team falls off. Despite

this, he is content with the way with the team is playing.

“We play very well.

We’re a team that likes to have the ball but when we get to the goal, the opponent’s goal, we just have to finish more. That’s what we really have to work on.

We’re a really good team offensively and defensively as well but we just have to finish…I’m really content I’m happy with what we’ve done so far. We’ve barely started the season, so I think we have a lot of time to improve, but so far from what I’ve seen from the team. I think we can get really far. And I’m really

content with that. We play really well and that comes from going hard during practice. As long as we put in a lot of effort during practice, that’s what will give us good results in the game,” Cardoza said.

The boys varsity team has only recently started its season. There are still a number of games to go. To Rath now, preparing for conference is what’s important and despite the different challenges, the players who have stuck with the team have shown growth and will continue to improve. Rath appreciates those players who have stuck with the team through the wins and

losses and HHS support. “ The guys have improved in understanding what I want from them. We’re getting better… What we’re trying to do now is find a good first team and substitutions to go into conference play.

We’re going to trying to get together a really good conference team before we get to the tournament… I’d like to say to the guys who have stuck with the team both on JV and varsity, the coaches and I thank you so much for doing that. We appreciate your efforts and all your hard training this season and to the school, come on out and support the soccer team,” Rath said.

* Personal Loans * Auto Loans

PHOTO BY BRIAN ALVARADO

* Debt Consolidation

OFFENSE. Junior Carlos Pacheco dribbles the ball around a Spotswood defender.

Softball team works through midseason struggle Doug Ritcher Staff Reporter The softball team has had its fair share of struggles so far this season.They started the season with a 12-8 victory at Handley High School and a slaughter-rule-shortened 25-14 victory at Millbrook High School. However, they have recently fallen into a bit of a funk with six straight losses.

In their losses, the team has struggled to score and had a few games end early without putting up any runs. Sophomore catcher Maddie Cooper had six runs batted in during the victory at Millbrook but has seen some of the offense dry up.

“Defense has come more naturally to us,” Cooper said. The Streaks started putting some runs on the board again despite

losing 14-4 to R.E. Lee. Despite the team’s offensive struggles, morale and team bonding have been high.

“We’ve done a good job getting along on the field,” Cooper said.

The team has employed different strategies and lineups throughout the season.

“I catch but sometimes my knees get tired. Sometimes it depends on who we play. We may need strong outfielders for some games and strong infielders for others,” Cooper said.

Facilitating these changes has been Coach Susie Bocock who has been described as “like a grandma” and someone who “gets along with everybody.” The team has aspirations to keep the defensive strategy up and return to strong hitting in order to get back in the playoff picture.

(540) 908-3179 1866-B East Market St. Harrisonburg, VA 22801

April 29, 2016

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Junior leads team as ace pitcher Nothing is tougher for a pitcher than filling the shoes of a strong arm who has graduated.

Cade Templeton has done just that.

Owen Marshall Staff Reporter Varsity baseball graduated ace pitcher Sam Imeson last year, and the team had to adapt to the loss of a key player. This year the Blue Streaks pitching staff is led by a junior left-handed pitcher, Cade Templeton. Templeton finished the 2015 season with a better than average ERA. Templeton has led the team to a reasonable number of wins. Templeton believes as an ace you need to be ready for the hard situations.

“It pretty much means you’re pitching in all the big games. You have to be prepared for that and step up and try to get your team the win as much as you can,” Templeton said.

Third year coach Kevin Tysinger believes Templeton is a threat on the mound because of his aggressiveness towards hitters.

“He hates to lose, so he does everything he possibly can to get a batter out, win an inning, and to try to win a ball game,” Tysinger said.

One of the ways Templeton does this is by keeping his mindset simple before pitching.

“I just treat it like I’m going out to throw a bullpen, hit all my spots and not worry about the batter. If they hit it, they hit it.

I just have to beat them out,” Templeton said.

Tysinger believes Templeton can thrive in all situations as a pitcher. Templeton is normally a starting pitcher, but has had to come in as a relief and closer throughout his career.

“It’s hard to say because he’s thrived getting ahead and really just mowing down hitters but at the same time he’s battled through tough spots, he’s just really hardnosed out there,” Tysinger said.

Tysinger thinks Templeton is strong on

PHOTO BY BRIAN ALVERADO

STRIKE THREE, YOU’RE OUT! Junior Cade Templeton throws a pitch on the varsity baseball team against the Trail Blazers of Spotswood. Templeton leads the pitching staff after filling in for graduated starter, Sam Imeson. His left hand has led him to the top pitching spot on the varsity team. The varsity boys baseball team went on to lose against the Blazers 7-3. the mound because he is versatile with his pitches and is able to throw for strikes in all situations. “[He throws] a lot of different pitches, and [is] willing to throw in strike zone and throw to contact,” Tysinger said.

Sophomore catcher Ignacio Paz believes Templeton is more accurate than other pitchers which leads to his success.

“It’s good and exciting because every time he’s on the mound you know he’s going to do good and hit his spots. He’s more consistent than the other guys as well. If you call a pitch it’s going to be exactly where you called it,” Paz said.

Templeton hasn’t gotten any official offers from colleges but some have shown

interest in his pitching abilities. Tysinger believes he has what it takes to move on to the next level of baseball.

“It’s almost up to him because he has the stuff people look for [as far as] after high school goes, but it’s really just how hard he is willing to work to get there,” Tysinger said.

Templeton believes he has grown as a pitcher and is able to bounce back from mistakes better than before.

“I’d just say mentally, like if someone gets a hit off me I can just recover and not worry about it, and just get the next guy out,” Templeton said.

Tysinger believes Templeton’s best qualities as a pitcher are getting early jumps on

hitters and being aggressive towards base runners. “[He’s good at] staying ahead of the hitters and not falling behind also being aggressive towards baserunners since he’s left-handed I thinks he’s got a really good pick-off move and it would be really effective if he would execute if more often,” Tysinger said.

Paz thinks Templeton enthusiasm during the game helps him self and the team get ready for the game and stay ahead throughout the game.

“He brings a lot of energy to the team.

He’s always helping guys out and trying to get them pumped up for the game and during the game too,” Paz said.

DECA hosts boys volleyball tournament Theo Yoder Sports Editor Every year, DECA hosts a boys volleyball tournament in the fall for for all boys in the school. This year, the first spring boys volleyball tournament took place and also included neighboring high schools Turner Ashby High School and Spotswood High School.

Unlike the fall tournament, the spring tournament only included junior and senior teams from each school. This roundrobin-style competition took place at HHS on April 14.

The doors opened at 5:00 p.m. Each junior team played best of three sets to 21 against the other junior teams and likewise for the seniors.

The final was between the winner of the juniors and the winner of the seniors and was best of five sets. DECA supervisor Mallory Cromer administered this event along with her DECA students.

“The county schools usually have a “King of the Court” tournament and they get all the county schools involved. We want to be a part of that, but we always host our tournament too early for the county to be involved,” Cromer said.

Students involved with DECA ran a concession stand where all proceeds will go towards DECA to fund a trip to nationals.

To enhance the fundraising aspect, each team entered into the tournament had to pay an admission fee of $24.00.

Along with the concession stand, the admission ticket cost of $2.00 is also helping to fund the trip.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a student, child, [or an] adult. All tickets cost $2.00 and this will help send our kids to nationals,” Cromer said.

Senior Parker Strickland is one of many students who played on the senior volleyball team. Strickland was looking forward to defeating the junior team after the loss a couple months back.

“I always look forward to the volleyball tournament. It will be fun to play other schools for a change,” Strickland said.

The concessions at the event served Dominoes, Chick-fil-a, chips and soda.

Students also helped sell tickets and create banPHOTO BY THEO YODER ners as well as posters to FRIENDLY RIVALRY. Junior Malachi Simmons along with other members of the junior HHS volhang up around the school. leyball team shake hands with the Knights of Turner Ashby High School. The juniors beat the DECA also has parents who Knights 2 sets to 0 but went on to lose later in the tournament. helped with crowd control during the game and were Spotswood volleyball coaches to volun- seniors was the Spotswood Junior team. able to find teachers to convert into line teer as well,” Cromer said. DECA members Each individual on the winning team of judges and refs. who are also volleyball players showed up the junior and senior final was given a “I was hoping to get staff involved for early to help set up the court and the nets. small trophy reading “King of the Court referees and line judges. We asked TA and The winning team of the juniors and 2016.”

Spotswood juniors win DECA volleyball tournament Noah Siderhurst Op/Ed Editor As a sequel to the volleyball tournament earlier this year, DECA recently hosted Turner Ashby and Spotswood High Schools for a second volleyball tournament.

A junior and senior team from each school competed against the other schools in the first round. After that, the junior team with the best record and the senior team with the best record faced off in the championship.

Neither the junior or senior team from HHS was in the championship. Senior Chase Berkshire was disappointed that they did not win.

“I was kind of pissed when I lost,” Berkshire said.

Berkshire felt that this time the competition was more intense than earlier this year when the stakes were lower.

“I liked how we competed against other schools rather than just competing against other grades of this school. I felt I got a lot more competitive that way and everybody else did as well,” Berkshire said.

On the junior team, Cade Templeton felt the same way, although he wasn’t as angry when the juniors lost.

“I wasn’t too mad that we lost. I would’ve liked to have won. I’d say in the games it was pretty competitive playing against each other, but no one was taking it too seriously,” Templeton said.

Both Templeton and Berkshire thought that this tournament was bet-

ter than the one earlier in the year, partially because of incorporating other schools, but also because it was better organized. The only thing that Templeton would have changed was how the rounds were structured.

“For each grade level, we should’ve played a championship game instead of the record [determining who moves on to the championship],” Templeton said.

Despite the fact that the tournament was primarily for fundraising purposes, Templeton and Berkshire both thought that the bigger goal was winning. One of the reasons for this, Berkshire thinks, is the enjoyability of the tournament. When the fundraiser is not just about money, there is more room for competition.

“Creative things like this, where you can have fun while still making money, that’s really cool,” Berkshire said.

Another aspect of the tournament that Templeton thought made it more competitive and enjoyable was the game being played. Volleyball, in his view, is a good sport for something like this because it is easy enough that most people can play it, and it is a team sport, so it is good for large groups of people.

Templeton and Berkshire said that they would both participate in another tournament like this one if they could. Berkshire only had one regret about the tournament. “[I would] make sure I win next time,” Berkshire said.

PHOTO BY NOAH SIDERHURST

A-C-E WHAAT. Junior Kajuan Madden jumps for a ball during the boys volleyball tournament. Madden and the junior team won their first comp;etition against the Knights of Turner Ashby but were unable to capitalize later on in the tournament. Neither the seniors or juniors were able to advance to the finals for the Streaks.

April 29, 2016

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Fitbit continues to rise in popularity Hannah Miller Feature Editor Because of their sudden increase in popularity, Fitbits can now be found on the wrists of not just people in Harrisonburg, but also several people in HHS. Made to track your steps, this bracelet is also used by people for other reasons such as heart rate and calories burned. But more than causing users to be aware of their activity throughout the day, this product incorporates a competitive aspect to draw in customers. Sophomore Alanna MacAdam enjoys most of the aspects of this tracking bracelet.

“I think it's cool to be able to see how many steps you’ve gone, and once you get into it, you can join competitions with your other Fitbit friends. Being a competitive person, it’s fun to win,” MacAdam said. “I think everybody's like ‘oh new year, new me.

I’m gonna get fit and stuff’, [but getting a Fitbit is] just an excuse to get something really cool.”

The Fitbit bracelet allows customers to track their own steps, as well as others with the product, on a free app that you can download.

The app keeps track of not only your daily activity, but also the past week’s. Several staff members, such as Peter Norment, Eric Miller,

Kirk Moyers, Thomas Butler and Rachel Linden, use the app for day to day competition. Unlike some other users in our school, World History teacher Kirk Moyers focuses more on the calorie feature than the steps.

“I got a Fitbit for Christmas because I had an app on my phone, and I have a tendency to eat a lot, because food is my friend.

I wanted to make sure that I was actually burning enough calories to eat what I wanted to,” Moyers said.

Moyers uses his Fitbit with MyFitnessPal to keep up with overall health.

“I have it synced with my food app. I put in what I eat every day, and then it takes a look at my steps and how many calories [I’ve burned] and tells me how many I have left. So right now I have 2,100 calories [left] that I can eat today,” Moyers said.

No matter what the reasons it’s used for, both MacAdam and Moyers had the same problem with their Fitbits. “[The worst part is that] you have to charge it. You’ll be out and about and then you’ll get the low battery message. It’s almost like ‘what’s the point in taking steps if your Fitbit’s not tracking it?’” MacAdam said. Though it can say your battery is dead sooner than expected, Moyers’ issue comes when his Fitbit says it’s dying when his bracelet

PHOTO BY HANNAH MILLER

READY TO GO. Sophomore Alanna MacAdam, sporting a Fitbit on her left wrist, laces up her cleats before a soccer game against Robert E. Lee. is actually still working.

“Charging it is a pain in the butt, because it always says your level is low, and it always does it first thing in the morning. When I was in [Philadelphia], it said it was dead for the last two days in a row,” Moyers said.

Several other brands have come out with bracelets similar to the Fitbit,

some of which offer extra features. For Moyers and Miller, other brands weren’t even an option, and they looked straight to the Fitbit.

“The initial craze of the Fitbit was that some of our friends had gotten them and, being the competitive person that I am, I wanted to compete with

Urbanski, Johnson condition using crossfit Anna Rath Staff Reporter

“Rich Froning is a pretty amazing dude. He puts in hard work year after year and he’s at a very high level with the very best athletes in the world and he comes out on top,” Urbanski said. Rich Froning was the first person to win the title “Fittest Man on Earth,” and he has finished first in the 201115 Crossfit Games winning him the Affiliate Cup. Senior Abner Johnson also participates in crossfit training.

“Right now I’m injured but, I was trying to do [crossfit] about four times a week, sometimes I did it in the morning at the 5:45 a.m. class which is fun. If I didn’t make it to that class, I would go to the 4:15 p.m. class after school,” Johnson said.

Abner Johnson trains at Rocktown Crossfit.

“My dad’s friend owns Harrison-

burg Crossfit downtown, but we also know some of the people at Rocktown Crossfit, so my parents decided to go to Rocktown Crossfit instead of Harrisonburg Crossfit and then they got the rest of my family members into doing [crossfit],” Johnson said.

Johnson plans to continue his crossfit training and compete in crossfit competitions once his injury subsides.

“I’ve always done physical activities, and I’m not in a sport right now so it’s a way for me to release a lot of stress, and it always puts me in a better mood and makes my whole day go by better,” Johnson said, “I look up to my brothers because they do [crossfit] and they inspire me to keep working harder, and I think that’s what pushes me the most.”

Crossfit is a high-intensity strength and conditioning program that helps train and work the entire body rather than an isolated specific area. Crossfit is supposed to increase the body’s fitness level by training in strength, core and cardiovascular endurance.

There are two different crossfit gyms in Harrisonburg: Harrisonburg Crossfit and Rocktown Crossfit. Junior Jake Urbanski does crossfit training at Harrisonburg Crossfit in downtown Harrisonburg.

“I like crossfit because it’s a different way of exercising. It helps to build lean muscle, which I’m trying to get, and there are so many different diverse movements that you do and it really helps with more applicable strength,” Urbanski said.

Urbanski participates in five to six crossfit classes per week either in the morning before school or in the afternoon.

“I started doing crossfit because I did poorly in the regional wrestling tournament and needed to get better if I wanted to make it to states also because my dad got into crossfit to help strengthen his back and core, then he brought me along and that’s how I got into crossfit,” Urbanski said, “I haven’t participated in any [crossfit competitions] because I am too busy and I’m not quite strong enough yet to really compete, but I mostly do crossfit just to help me for wrestling season.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF JAKE URBANSKI Urbanski looks up to POWER IT UP. Junior Jake Urbanski deadlifts during crossfit, while working out at Harprofessional crossfit athlete risonburg Crossfit downtown. Harrisonburg Crossfit is one of two crossfit centers in Rich Froning. town.

them. When I first got it, only a couple people had gotten one, so I got a fitbit because people that I knew had [that brand].

Since then, Fitbit’s kind of just taken off,” Miller said.

“They back their product.

I’ve had a couple of them break for whatever reason, and I just call them up and they send a new one.”

Miller and MacAdam have the Charge HR, which is a step up from the original one.

“It does a lot. It shows time, steps, heart rate, your distance in miles, calories burned and stairs climbed,” MacAdam said. “I use the steps [feature the] most.”

Fitbit’s have caused their users to do activities they might not normally, just to get those extra few steps before it resets or push their way to the top of the leaderboard.

“I still live for the competitiveness of all the weekly challenges, and being at the top of the leaderboard. But I guess the main thing is that it helps me keep a conscious count of how active I am on a weekly basis [and] daily basis,” Miller said. “There’s been numerous times that I’ve gone to run outside close to midnight to get steps before the day ended.”

A Fitbit keeps track of your physical activities from the previous week. On your app, you are able to check the leaderboards based on

who’s taken the most steps over the past seven days combined. After midnight, the Fitbit resets and the seventh day drops, giving opportunity for people to gain advantages the next day.

Moyers has tried to make some of his competitors do a desperate last minute workout for the false hope of getting more steps than him.

“I had gotten home at around 10 p.m. I was going to sit there and do nothing from 10:30 p.m. until 11 p.m. and then go to the gym at about 11:15 p.m. to run, but I fell asleep. So I did the next best thing, I texted [Mr. Miller] and said that I was at the gym, just to see if he would go back out and run,” Moyers said.

Overall, there’s no denying that this tracking bracelet has caused some users to be more conscious of their daily routine of exercise.

“The thing I like about it the most is that I’m constantly aware of how active I am day-to-day, and will, because I’m in challenges, work extra hard just to win.

You know about how many steps you’re going to have during the day, but it might make you work out more.

You might go run again,” Miller said. “The product is simple, and they have fun little ways for groups of friends to compete, and I think that’s the main thing that my friends and I use it for.”

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Monthly Fee: Varies by age and plan INFOGRAPH BY EMILY THURMAN

Goble continues workout routine he began in college Irene Liu Feature Editor Since age 20, Adam Goble has been working out weekly at the Harrisonburg 24/7 Fitness gym.

The science teacher started going to the gym in college when a roommate invited him and kept it up when he got back to Harrisonburg.

“Over the summer, there isn’t much to do in Harrisonburg, so between my sophomore and junior years of college when I was back, I went down and started working out in the gym when they were still on Wolfe Street where the Friendly City Food CoOp was. I started working out in that facility just for something to do for a couple of hours every day, and I’ve kept with it for the most part since then,” Goble said.

Goble has seen improvements since he began working out.

“Compared to when I first started, I’ve gained a lot of muscle mass. I’ve built more lean body mass, which is converting fat to muscle. When I came back to the V-alley about seven years ago, I started back at the gym and lost around 55 pounds,” Goble said.

At the gym, Goble figures out a routine before starting based on how he is feeling that day.

“Pretty much [at the gym] I go in, figure out if I’m going to do cardio, I keep a Fitbit as well so I try to figure out how much time I need to do on the treadmill, then I kind of feel out how my knees, hips, and legs are doing that day and I’ll decide if I’m going to run, do a fast walk, or use a stairmill.

Then I’ll do a little bit of light stretching, mostly lower body and stretching my legs or whatever I

was working there. I’ll do a half an hour or 25 minutes of lifting, and then I’ll go do 10 to 15 minutes of yoga style stretching,” Goble said.

Yoga is one of Goble’s favorite things to do, and he enjoys the spinal twist stretches the most.

“Usually after you get done doing a lot of heavy lifting, your joints will feel a little bit tight and your muscles will tighten up and you may even have some spinal compression, so when you do just a little bit of stretching focusing on those areas, it just feels good and releases [your muscles],” Goble said.

Losing weight after being in the gym for three months was one of Goble’s accomplishments. “[A chronic event was] knowing how much I weighed the first time I got on the scale at the gym, and then I didn’t actually get on the scale for about three months

when I started to watch what I was eating and I was running a lot. When I finally got on there, I had realized I had lost close to 30 pounds at that point in time over the course of three months. I felt really good about that,” Goble said.

Goble has had several injuries in the past that still affect him today. He played rugby and fenced for Virginia Tech, so his lower body and shoulders have taken a lot of abuse.

“Every once in awhile, I’ll aggravate old injuries. Those can slow you down. As you get older, you heal a little bit slower and you start to feel things more,” Goble said.

Sometimes Goble will have to take his time whenever the old injuries are irritated. His workout might change depending on how he feels.

“If your shoulder’s bothering you, you can’t just dive back in trying to do as much on bench press as you did in the first place.

You need to ease your way back in. It’s pretty much just a ‘Hey, relax’ you feel from your body,” Goble said.

The advice Goble would give to students would be to understand that building up lean body mass, working out, and doing exercise has a lot of health benefits.

“So, my [last words] would be to encourage anybody that’s in high school or starting to move into college to find some time to even just do 30 minutes [of exercise] three times a week and you’ll feel a lot better and you’ll boost your metabolism because muscle does burn a lot more energy than fat does,” Goble said.

April 29, 2016

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April 29, 2016

Girls, boys tennis teams start off successfully Lucie Rutherford Sports Editor Both girls and boys tennis teams are in full swing this spring. Unlike last year, where players had to shovel snow for their workouts the first couple of weeks, the teams got to spend the majority of the start of their season outside on the courts. For senior co-captain Mary-Hallet Culbreth, the change from last year to this year has been greater than merely shoveling snow.

“This is my first year [having] a leadership position on the team, and after three years of looking up to someone, it’s definitely a change of having everyone look up to me and Lettie [Rose], who is the other co-captain,” Culbreth said.

“That was definitely a transition, but it’s been really fun.”

With the new leadership position, Culbreth has noticed a change in her overall persona.

“I’ve been growing with the team. I’ve definitely been growing as a player and as a leader, too, so that was a change, but it was a good one,” Culbreth said.

The girls roster has nearly doubled this year compared to previous years, and more than half the

team is underclassmen.

This is freshman Valeri Krasheninnikov’s first year on the team, as well as her first year ever playing the sport. Even without playing in matches, this season’s experience has been enjoyable for her.

“I love tennis. I always loved it. I just haven’t had the opportunity to play until this year,” Krasheninnikov said. “It’s really fun being a part of the team, playing tennis and just supporting all the other girls.”

Younger players like Krasheninnikov give the captains such a big leadership role, an even bigger one than captains in the past.

“We’ve always had a team around 12 or 13 or 14, and this year we have about 23,” Culbreth said.

“The majority of the team are freshmen and it’s been really good working with them because they have a lot of potential, so it’s just exciting to see them collaborating with each other and seeing upperclassmen getting to work with them.

It’s really exciting to know, as a senior, that the team is in good hands.”

When it comes to underclassmen vs. upperclassmen on the boys team, along with the overall size, it is a much different story. Out of the

Who is your favorite pro?

Maddie Cooper (10) - softball “Jenny Finch. I went to one of her softball camps when I first started playing softball, and I learned a lot.”

Christian Whitelow (11) - baseball “Cookie Crisp.

He’s just different from everybody else. He likes to be different...he’s old school.”

Jason Muan (11) - tennis “Roger Federer. He was the best player when I was growing up. He’s the man.”

Mario Murillo (12) - soccer “Lionel Messi. He’s always helping the team. He’s the best.”

INFOGRAPHIC BY LUCIE RUTHERFORD

PHOTO BY LUCIE RUTHERFORD

BREAK DOWN. The boys tennis team huddles up before their match against R.E.Lee on April 12. HHS went 8-1 against the Leemen.

11-person squad, there are only three seniors and two juniors. Weston Hatfield is one of the six underclassmen on the team. Hatfield was on the team last year as well, though it has seen a big change from his role from eighth grade year to

this season.

“I definitely feel like I am more part of the team because I’m playing more with the rest of the seeds rather than just the other eighth graders last year,” Hatfield said. “I feel like I’m getting more instruction

from the coach as well.”

Though Hatfield was able to play in matches last year, they were exhibition matches, meaning they didn’t actually count towards the score of the match. This year, Hatfield is able to contribute towards

the score, having played in one singles match and several doubles matches so far this season.

Both teams are off to a good start this season.

Girls with a record of 5-3 and boys with a record of 8-2.

Distance runners continue to train Yusuf Aboutabl News Editor With the indoor track season in the rearview mirror, track athletes are in the midst of the outdoor season. After starting in early March, there are already new additions to the team.

Senior Diego Avila recalls the first time he started running.

“I wasn’t doing any activities my freshman year and all of my friends were running track. They invited me to run one day,” Avila said. “I joined the long distance squad. The athletes on the team were very welcoming and made you feel included.”

Avila has been running ever since and he’s learned a lot from being on the team.

“People think track is an individual sport, but there are relay teams.

People rely on you to perform well in order for the whole team to do well,” Avila said. “Not only that, but you learn a lot from your teammates during practice. They always give you helpful tips and support you.”

As a senior, Avila has inadvertently become a role model for the underclassmen on the team.

“The freshman and sophomores look up to the older kids when they need help. They don’t necessarily come out and ask for help,” Avila said.

“You just have to be doing the right thing all the time. Be an example to the younger kids.”

With this being his last season of track in his high school career, Avila has set some high goals for himself.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to go the the postseason, which is something I’ve never been able to accomplish for the outdoor season,” Avila said.

“Ever since my sophomore year, I’ve dreamed of going to states for the 3200m.”

Avila isn’t the only one on the team

who has found a passion for running.

Senior Soma Barzanji, a transfer from short distance to long distance, decided that soccer wasn’t the sport for her and started running track.

“I’ve always loved running. At first, I wasn’t the very best at it. I started off as a sprinter but then I realized that I wasn’t the best at running short distances,” Barzanji said. “Since I’ve been doing JROTC for four years and all we do is long distance, I said why not do it [in track]. What made me stay with it was my past [in JROTC]. I fell in love with it.”

The workouts for long distance appealed to Barzanji more than the sprinter workouts. The satisfaction of finishing the former was more gratifying to her.

“Running short distance has never been enough for me,” Barzanji said.

“With distance, it’s more running and you feel better afterwards. It’s more of a challenge to yourself as well, and that’s what I love doing.”

Barzanji has high hopes for this season after being set back by a knee injury last year. She aspires to make it to states this year.

Sophomore and first time long distance runner Joey Sun is enjoying this season after switching from short distance.

“For distance, our workouts are very simple yet really effective. You feel really good after running it,” Sun said. “There’s not too many steps to [the workout] so you don’t have to do some complicated task. There’s not much I dislike about long distance; it’s really fun.”

Sun’s history in short distance didn’t hinder him from trying new things. His decision to go out of his comfort zone is what led him to joining the long distance team.

“I ran cross country for the 201516 school year, which was something

PHOTO BY YUSUF ABOUTABL

HAND OFF. Senior Diego Avila takes the baton in the Co-Ed distance medley relay. The co-ed meet was held on March 23 at HHS.

I haven’t done before,” Sun said. “I realized that I really enjoyed it so I decided to give long distance a shot as well.”

Sun’s achilles injury has kept him out of the first few meets of the season, but he remains optimistic and has faith in his ability to recover. To keep his body healthy, Sun makes sure that track practice isn’t his only source of physical activity.

“I usually run every weekend, about 20 minutes a day, and I stretch afterwards,” Sun said. “If I need to, I’ll ice my legs if I have a soreness going on or anything.”

With the season in mid-stride, athletes are peaking and preparing for the postseason that is just around the corner.

Field athletes jump their way through mid-season Faith Runnells Editor-In-Chief The track team made their first field events debut on March 23 in the Gary Bugg CoEd Classic, named in honor of long-time coach Gary Bugg, who retired after this winter’s indoor season.

In this meet, these field athletes were able to showcase their hours of hard work of staying at practice even longer than others, after the running workout has been completed.

Sophomore Hashaam Ahmed has been a track runner since the seventh grade, but became a high jumper and pole vaulter his freshman year. At the 2015 Conference Meet, Ahmed got a personal pole vault record where he vaulted over eight feet.

“When I first started pole vaulting, I just kind of

jumped into a pit. Now I can actually drive into it and plant my feet,” Ahmed said.

He received sixth place at the Gary Bugg CoEd Classic, with a jump of seven feet.

He first high jumped three weeks ago, at the beginning of this springs’ track season.

“We just work on a certain drive or a certain form and try to jump into a certain pit as much as we can for pole vault, and the same with high jump, we work on our form,” Ahmed said. “We do pop-ups and we just take a pole and jump into a pit.”

Ahmed claims being a field-event athlete to come with both positives and negatives.

“Field events are usually smaller, so you don’t have to wait in long lines and you don’t have to wait for a certain heat. You just come in, finish, and then leave and I think that’s a lot better than

having to wait for everybody to get done and then for you to leave,” Ahmed said. “[But] falling on the bar in both [high jump and pole vault] bruises your back pretty bad.”

Sophomore Johan Roqueta Pelaez runs the 400m, 100m and long jumps for the track team.

He first began to long jump when he was in the seventh grade.

“When I first started long jumping, I had no idea what I was doing. I was jumping below 10 feet and after I got more practice, I got up [to jumping 17 feet],” Roqueta Pelaez said.

Roqueta Pelaez jumped 16 feet and four inches in the first meet of the year, and is hoping to improve even more. Roqueta Pelaez jumped one of his bests at the Conference Meet in the indoor season of this year, in which he jumped 17 feet 5

inches.

“I like how we get multiple opportunities to do your best jump. In a race you only get one chance but in long jump you get three or four chances,” Roqueta Pelaez said. “But sometimes starting [and] getting out there [is hard] because you’ll see all the bigger guys from bigger schools jumping, and you just have to get up there and jump.”

Sophomore Carissa Roberts is also working on triple jumping right now, but is looking to long jump later in the season. Coach Gary Bugg was her jumping coach until this spring season, because he retired at the end of this winter’s indoor season, and Student Safety Liaison Jamie Williams has now taken over as the new jumping coach.

“I started [triple jumping] in eighth grade and in the eighth grade it was

pretty bad... I didn’t do it in ninth grade because I didn’t do outdoor and then last season in indoor, [Coach Gary] Bugg was like, ‘you should do triple jump’, and so I started off pretty sketchy and by the end of the season I had improved two feet,” Roberts said.

She works on her jump step-by-step, as the triple jump is composed of three different aspects: a step, a hop and a jump.

“The coach will just call us over and we’ll do warm ups and work on form and they’ll talk us through it, and also we’ll do these weird, awkward stork jumpy things and bounds,” Roberts said. “I think it’s fun going through the motions like going through and getting a run and knowing you’re doing it all right and thinking ‘that felt good.’”

The extra practice spent

outside of the running workouts is necessary to excel in your specific field event, according to Roberts. “[Jumping is] using your legs instead of your arms, like shot put [would require]. You aren’t jumping over a bar, you have to hit a mark… Also, I feel like that takes more practice to get used to… It’s complicated and you have to think about it the whole way through,” Roberts said.

Sophomore Isaiah King also scored points in the first meet of the year’s field events, placing sixth in the long jump, with a distance of 17 feet and four inches, along with ninth in the triple jump, with a jump of 35 feet. Sophomore Coltin Aleshire also placed ninth in the shot put with a distance of 36 feet, and fifteenth in the discus, with a distance of 79 feet.

April 29, 2016

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Ads-B11 Patrons are members of the Harrisonburg community and others who support the pursuit of excellence in the journalistic publications of Harrisonburg High School. Money generated from the patron program is used to offset costs of attending journalism conferences, to print our paper, and to purchase up-to-date technological equipment for our journalism lab. To become a patron, see any member of the Newsstreak Staff or stop by room 444. You can also visit www.hhsmedia.com to download a patron ad contract. Patron level is determined by the following scale: HHS Patrons, $5; Blue Patrons, $10; Bronze Patrons, $15; Silver Patrons, $25; Gold Patrons, $50; and Newsstreak Super Sponsor, $100+.

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April 29, 2016

Humans of HHS-B12

The Newsstreak

HUMANS OF In keeping with our motto “Every person has a story,” the Newsstreak interviews students every month in the style of Humans of New York creator, Brandon Stanton. The idea is to tell the story of as many of our students as possible. Check out a similar project at www.hhsmedia.com.

HHS

Sophomore Liwam Haile “What was the happiest moment of your life?”

“Probably when I came to America. It was difficult for my parents back where I used to live, in Ethiopia. They couldn’t find any jobs. So when we first came here they found a job, and they found a house.

“How is America different than Ethiopia?”

The houses... the houses in Ethiopia are more beautiful. Mainly there are more jobs here. That’s what’s different about it. The people are different, too. I moved here in 2009. When I first came here, it was kind of stressful, because I wasn’t used to it and I didn’t know anyone. I cried the first time we came here, because I still wasn’t used to it. I got used to it, but now I kind of want to go back to Ethiopia and visit family. I like it here though.

Sophomores Briana Rodriguez & KiYosia Wallace “How did you two meet?”

Rodriguez: “It was in eighth grade. We were both new to the school. I’m from Tennesee, she moved from Newport News. It was the first day of school, and the teacher introduced us.”

Wallace: “She was like, ‘You both are new! Meet this girl!’ and I was like, ‘Oh!’”

“What’s your favorite thing about each other?”

Wallace: “She’s crazy! And I love her because she understands me.”

Rodriguez: “She’s outgoing, and she helps me through anything. She just lights up my day.”

Freshman Abbie Menard

“He’s basically my motivation to just get up in the morning. I know that sounds very cliché. I don’t know what it is about him. All I can say is that it’s him. He knows how to just bring a smile on my face by just walking in the room. I guess you could say that me explaining why I love him is kind of like explaining what Sophomore Mona Lisa water tastes like. It’s just one of those things that you can’t really explain, you Gebretsadik just know it.”

“My parents didn’t have the job they want.

I want to have the job I want. A career.

That’s what keeps me going. I want to be what I want to be, not because I have to do it, but because I want to do it.”

Freshman Onry Guyfarro

“I make friends, and I’m nice to other people, but I don’t think people think that. Sometimes I look mad when I’m not mad. I’m not the kind of person they think I am.”

Sophomore Michael McClellan

“If I had a million dollars, I would help my family out, because some of my family is in financial trouble.

Then I would secure myself for the future to make a family and everything. I would save some and be set for the rest of my life. I would go to college first, pay off my debt for college immediately, get a good job, and I would have a nice financial barrier so I don’t have to be down in the gutters.”

Junior Carolyn Montalvo-Martinez

“I want to be more responsible than I am already. I want to be someone that helps the world, not be the problem or be a bystander.”

Junior Ben Blake Senior Matt Dove II

“To be honest, I visit a lot of places. I visit the world of Star Wars. I visit home. I visit Tennessee, the forest, just a lot of places. I guess my happiest place is working with food and figuring out what flavors make the food better.”

“You look around and you see more girls with short hair and then more guys with long hair. I think it’s good to start breaking those pre-established thoughts about how people’s hair should be.”

Senior Tewaldemedhine “Teddy-G” Gebrejesus

“What’s a common misconception people have of you?”

“My family is from Africa, so people might say ‘Oh you’re black, you’re African-American.” When I was younger, in middle school, kids would say, “Oh you lived in an African hut. You lived in a hole.” Yeah it was pretty bad. It hurt, but I was just like whatever. When you’re in middle school you’re kind of crazy. They might have thought that Africa was just this other place… they have cities there! It’s not just huts and villages.”

Junior Hunter Manzano

“I do a summer camp every year. It’s a Christian-based summer camp at a high school, and we sleep on the floor. We go out during the day and do service projects for the community, and Senior Jesus Mercado we come back and worship and play games with “The happiest moment of my life was when “Do you think racism is a problem at HHS?” “I think we have a problem with guys sexualizing girls. I was sitting down each other. After that, we just go back to sleeping I got my first game system, because I was during my Streaks Leadership class, and some girls were saying, ‘Oh yeah, like on the floor. We do that for a week, and that’s defi- hyped, you know, I wanted to play it. It was guys catcall us. Guys look down our shirts,” and I thought, “What? They do that? nitely the happiest time of my year. It’s a lot of fun.” an Xbox 360.”

Wow, I’m sorry on behalf of men.” I think that’s a big problem at our school that Photos & Interviews by needs to be addressed. Racism kind of died down… hopefully! I’m usually with a set group of people that doesn’t really deal with that kind of stuff, like my Brian Alvarado, Austin Swift & Maria Snell-Feikema church group or Governor’s School. You’re kind of in your own world sphere, so you don’t really know what exactly is going on outside of that.”