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A3: Forensics team update

B3: Where can you find amazing subs?

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B8: Coaches in high gear for winter season

where every person has a story

Harrisonburg High School • 1001 Garbers Church Road • Harrisonburg, VA 22801 • 540.433.2651 • Volume XIIC • Issue 4• December 19, 2014

Author discusses novel publishing process Mia Karr Editor-in-chief

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN

CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH? Freshman Constance Komara gets a bookmark signed by author Jodi Meadows after Meadows’ presentation about the publishing process.

SSB gives back during holidays

Faith Runnells Managing Editor Eight hundred local families, including 1500 children, will flow into the Rockingham County Fairgrounds this year on Dec. 19 for the annual Rockingham County Toy and Food Drive. Together, these families will receive nearly 5,000 toys, 850 chickens or turkeys, 850 boxes of food, and nearly 100 bikes donated through the Salvation Army for the holidays.

Every year since 2005, the HHS club, Streaks Serve the ‘Burg (SSB), has been actively volunteering in this Rockingham County Toy and Food Drive.

In this event, the club members go to the food and toy drive, working from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a lunch break around noon.

The packages, filled with

either toys or food, are pre-prepared and numerically ordered.

HHS nurse Angela Knupp has been a sponsor of this club for three years now, although she’s been a parent of students involved for eight.

“I think it gives our kids a different picture [of those in need]. A lot of kids... think of homeless people as the dirty, grubby man alongside of the street holding up a sign saying ‘Will Work For Food’, when that’s really not the picture of homeless or needy in our area. So it gives our kids, who typically aren’t homeless or needy, a different perspective.

Sometimes you fall on hard times… sometimes everybody needs help every now and then,” Knupp said.

Senior president of the the club, Abby Strickler, en

See SSB page A2

Sixteen. That’s the number of manuscripts author Jodi Meadows completed before she wrote one that was published. The Virginia writer visited on Nov. 21 to talk about the publishing process and her impressive pile of rejection letters.

“I like to be able to interact with actual teenagers.

A lot of times when I do bookstore visits and signings, a lot of my audience there is adults,” Meadows said. “I really love seeing the enthusiasm of teen readers. Nobody is enthusiastic like a teenage girl is enthusiastic.”

Meadows’ debut nov-

el, Incarnate, was written with a teenage audience in mind. The plot revolves around Ana, a girl in a futuristic society where everyone is constantly reincarnated - except for her. The book, which was published in 2012, was followed by two sequels, Asunder and Infinite. Meadows never predicted that this story would be the one to catapult her into a career as a professional writer.

“I had been writing various manuscripts for a long time...and I had had so many rejections. So many people telling me I was close, but not ready yet,” Meadows said. “I was very

See AUTHOR page A2

Band marches in Christmas parade Austin Swift Sports Editor

PHOTO BY AUStiN SWIFT

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS. Freshman Lizet Munez decorates her sax in preparation for the Christmas parade.

The band room was overflowing with Christmas music, Santa hats and multicolored lights on the evening of Dec. 5 in preparation for their performance in the Christmas parade that took place later that night.

Junior Drum Major Ava Reynolds isn’t in her usual conducting role for the parade, instead heading up the band in their march.

“For the parade, I don’t conduct at all, the music is purely from the band. I haven’t had to conduct the piece, which is different and new.

Instead, I march at the beginning of the band, so I lead the band behind the HHS Band banner. Some drum majors use a mace to signal when the band would do something, but we just walk down Main Street in a straight line, so we don’t need to do any sort of commands or turning left or turning right. That’s pretty simple,” Reynolds said.

The marching band will participate in events such as competition marching, halftime shows and parades, each involving different

preparation processes with different goals.

“They’re super different, parade versus competition band. In competition, we definitely don’t work any less, but it’s a different sort of work. We’re more focused and we’re working for a personal goal whereas [in] the parades we’re serving the community so we have to make sure we look professional rather than super clean with our visual, on the field work,” Reynolds said.

“So it’s more preparing to serve the community and a really good experience for everyone to have, so they’re different, but I enjoy both of them.”

The energy among the band members tends to be different depending on the situation.

“I definitely see a sort of intensity and drive when it comes to working on the competition show just because they know that we’ll get to compete with that, which is really fun. For the parade, although their hard work is a little bit differently focused, they still work really hard to memorize the music, it’s

See PARADE page B4

History teacher’s hobby ELT Boot Camp helps prepare kids for SOLs Cowardin becoming renowned Brenna Editor-in-Chief Ava Reynolds Style Editor Since college, world history teacher Cara Walton has seen the world through a different lens; her camera. For her, Dec. 5 photography show at the Artful Dodger, her inspiration was sparked from a Facebook friend.

“Derrick at the Dodger was a Facebook friend of mine and enjoyed looking at my photos. He asked me if I had ever thought of doing a show there and so I applied to several places and didn’t really expect to get any, but then I got several,” Walton said.

There is no particu-

lar theme for her current show; however, it will include a lot of different photos in different styles.

Walton’s photography career began while attending Bridgewater College, when she worked as photo editor for the school’s paper, The Talon. After college, Walton laid her days of photography to rest for a few years, but picked the hobby back up in between 2007 and 2008.

Since then, Walton has participated in a few shows at Larkin Arts and the Spitzer Art Center, as well as a solo show, Decay, at Ten Thousand Villages this past June. She has also had

See PHOTO page A2

On the Web Updated sports scores and schedules for all seasonal sports Feature package stories and extended coverage of print packages Advertising forms and information Breaking news from school and the community Video footage of sports Variety of reviews and blogs Up-to-date gas prices in the area

Extended Learning Time Boot Camp was exactly what it sounded like- a week long push through ELT for students to prepare for SOL tests and retakes.

Guidance Counselor Rachel Linden helped spearhead the effort.

“What we’ve found over the years is that it’s difficult to find time or a convenient way to help those students get review of remediation, particularly outside of the school day is tough because so many of our students have to work and have families, and can’t stay after school to get that SOL remediation,” Linden said. “Not everyone is able to do it in the summer, so

for during the school year, using the resources that we have, the focus of the boot camp is to help those students in particular to get the remediation that they need, and there’s several hundred students in that boat.”

The week of Dec. 8 began with four days of ELT, and culminated with a day and a half of SOL retakes.

This week focused on only half of the students who needed SOL remediation.

The second half will be tested after a similar week in the spring.

However, remediation wasn’t the only focus of the week. Students who needed extra review for SOL tests they have yet to take will also be directed to SOL

See BOOT CAMP pg A2

At your fingertips

Scan this with your cell phone to go to www.hhsmedia.com

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN

INTENSIVE REVIEW. Freshman Amber Peake studies physics with the help of science teacher Andy Jackson during the first day of the ELT boot camp.

Coming Up Musical rehearsals Exam preparation ideas First semester wrap-up Winter sports updates Beating the Winter blues Things to do when you get stir crazy Debate and Forensics Columns and editorials Movie reviews Humans of HHS feature

The Newsstreak

December 19, 2014

News Briefs State Champions The competition One-Act play, “A Beggar’s Opera”, is now the 4A state champion.

Success at District Band On Dec. 6, 27 band students auditioned for All-District Band. Twenty four of those students placed in honors ensembles or as alternates. See more details online.

AVID Mentorship English teacher Peter Norment and senior Kelli Showalter are looking for students who have excelled in academic areas and are interested in one-on-one peer tutoring. If this describes you see Norment or Showalter for an application.

Summer Residential Governor’s School Applications for the STEM, Humanities and Visual Performing Arts among others are available in the counseling office.

Art Vision exhibit Ten HHS students have artwork displayed in the Art Vision exhibit downtown. The opening reception was Friday Dec. 5, and the show will run until Jan. 30. Stop by and see the talents we host here at HHS! Virginia Commonwealth University Acceleration Program Seniors on the pre-health and sciences track for college can take advantage of a summer program at VCU for a jump start to their math and sciences. Applications found online at http://www.dhsd.vcu.edu/ apply.

Free Speech Essay Contest Why are you passionate about free speech on college and high school campuses? Let FIRE know for scholarship money. Juniors and seniors can apply at thefire.org/contest.

Gates Millenium Scholarship The scholarship provides access to higher education for underrespresented students.

Applications available at http://www.gmsp.org/.

DECA and Key Club Collecting Coats The DECA and Key clubs have joined forces to organize operation warm to collect winter coats, hats, scarves, mittens and other items to be distributed to students at HHS and in area Harrisonburg schools.

Send in your gently used or outgrown items. Boxes are in every room.

SEE MORE ON THE WEB! HHSMEDIA.COM H See more Christmas parade pictures taken by staff photographers and in depth coverage of the band district competition by going to our website, hhsmedia.com. While you’re there, don’t forget to vote on our poll, watch videos made by WSBC and read other pieces written by staff reporters.

NEWS-A2

Boot camp faces, overcomes challenges BOOT CAMP from A1 sort and re-sort.” review sessions. Their tests began Monday Dec. 15. These students were identified by their teachers.

“For the rest of the [student body], we’ll run [ELT] similarly to the way we’ve done it in the past,” Linden said. “Those who have low grades in a course will be directed. The rest of the students will technically be choice students, but because it’s an academically focused week, we’ll just be providing study halls for those students. We’re not going to provide all the other bells and whistles.”

As with any initiative, ELT Boot Camp did also have logistical challenges to deal with. Assistant Principal Eric Miller helped Linden with the process of organizing the Boot Camp.

“This whole thing is running in Excel. We have literally 1500 lines of an Excel spreadsheet with all these different columns trying to get kids placed and prioritized correctly with locations and teacher,” Miller said. “There’s a lot of sorting going on and multiple different sorts, and you have to re-

Student placement also poses difficulty.

“Some [students] multiple teachers requested, so we have to look at what is going to be best for that student. Is it to go to math? Or is it to go to English? Are we going to split that up with two days of math and two days of English?” Miller said.

“The hardest part is trying to decide what staff will cover the remediation versus the review sessions,” Linden said. “It’s very difficult to find a staff member who is not already working with a group of students who needs to review for the SOL.” ELT Boot Camp was met with some disagreement as well.

“There are some teachers who believe it is a very effective way to run a remediation. There are some teachers who are concerned it’s not enough time to give students the review that they need, and there’s also concern about how serious students will take the time,” Linden said.

Miller sees room for improvement next semester.

“What needs to happen between now and second semester is we need 100 per-

cent teacher participation in claiming kids [for SOL review]. That’s how it’s going to get easier. That’s what’s going to make it better,” Miller said.

However, students in need of SOL remediation have approached Linden asking for more details about boot camp.

“They know that’s going to be their time to really work hard and review because they want that SOL,” Linden said. Linden believes in an approach that focuses on that student excitement.

“We’re never going to get 100 percent of staff on board with any initiative that we do. We have to do what’s best for students... using the resources that we have,” Linden said.

For now, ELT is as good a time as any for SOL review.

“ELT provides a good opportunity [for SOL review and remediation]. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s the best that we have to offer,” Linden said. “We’re always open to ideas from students or teachers about how to make these kinds of experiences better.”

Meadows teaches audience about publishing process AUTHOR from A1 upset about it, and kind of down, so I decided that I would not try to get published anymore and I would pick up this old idea that I had previously thought was too challenging and go ahead and write it, because nobody was ever going to read it so I was just going to write it for myself.”

To her surprise, the manuscript that would become Incarnate was a hit. In her presentation to classes, Meadows described the process of going from the beginning manuscript to an actual book. It began with finding an agent to represent her book, who then found an editor for the book. Next, Meadows had to implement a round of edits suggested by the editor and then send her final draft to a copy editor to correct errors in things such as grammar and continuity. Finally, she received her “first pass pages”, a copy of the manuscript formatted like it would be in the book, which was her last chance to make any changes.

Throughout this process, a design team created a cover for her book. According to Meadows, it typically takes 18 months from when a publisher buys your book to when it’s actually published, a vast increase from the two months it took Meadows to write Incarnate.

Senior Sarah Secrist found Meadows’ description of publishing process eye-opening.

“It is so much harder to publish a book than I thought it was,” Secrist said. Overall, she enjoyed the presentation.

“I thought she was really helpful to people who wanted to write...I thought she was really relatable. I could tell she was really nervous up there, and I know I would

don’t get it, then I feel like a failure, but I’ll keep writing until I get it,” Meadows said.

As someone who knows what it takes to find success as a professional writer, Meadows suggests that others aspiring to do the same write and read voraciously, prepare for rejection and find trusted people to critique their work, as well as critiquing the works of others.

“You can learn a lot from critiquing other people’s works...It’s easier for most people to see what needs improvement in other people’s work than it is to see what needs improvement in theirs,” Meadows said. “So if you train yourself to see that stuff in other people’s work, then you’ll have an easier time seeing it in your own.”

Currently, Meadows is working on edits for the secPHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN ond book in The Orphan Queen CAPTIVE AUDIENCE. Seniors Katherine Komara (left) Series. She plans to keep writand Miranda Stoner (right) listen to Meadows’ presen- ing science fiction/fantasy for tation. English classes attended throughout the day. young adults, and wants to keep her career goals realisbe too,” Secrist said. tic.

Meadows’ job looks very different from “I try to make goals that I can’t control. most occupations. She works from home If I say I want to be a New York Times bestand must be self-disciplined to make prog- seller, well I don’t have any control over ress on her books. that, so I can’t make that a goal,” Meadows “I usually have a goal in mind for how said. “I would like to continue being pubmuch I want to get done. It might be a chap- lished, and I feel like that is under my conter, it might be 1000 words, depending on trol and I’d like to continue writing the very whether I’m revising or writing something best work that I possibly can.” new. If I get my goal, then I’m happy. If I

Walton’s Artful Dodger show just the beginning PHOTOGRAPHY from A1 a few pieces in juried shows at the Artful Dodger; however, this will be a first for her: her first solo show at the Dodger.

When putting together a photography show, Walton has no shortage of options to choose from, given how long she has been doing photography, but the challenge comes when thinking about what others will think of her work, compared to what she likes.

“What I like is not always the most commercial and art is very subjective. I may love something, and everyone else may hate it,” Walton said.

Another challenge faced when putting together a show is the cost.

“Cost, prints and frames are very expensive. I have also been shooting some film, and the film and processing are very expensive as well, because it all has to be mailed away for black and white,” Walton said.

Luckily for Walton’s Dec. 5 show at the Artful Dodger, she had monetary aid that was able to make the show happen.

“I was recently awarded an Advancing the Arts grant from The Arts Council of the Valley. This was my primary source of funds for the December show,” Walton said.

Walton’s current Artful Dodger show is one in many of her recent achievements in photography. She won an audience choice award at a juried show at Larkin Arts in

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CARA WALTON

AMATEUR GONE PROFESSIONAL. If you didn’t catch Walton’s show, Caught in the Camera’s Eye at the Artful Dodger, be sure to go check out Analog in January.

April of 2013, and was a runner-up at a juried show at The Artful Dodger in winter of last year. Her career is everything but over; Walton has many shows coming up.

“I am collaborating on a show themed around Women in History and how they reflected current issues facing women with Angela Carter, a local poet and art-

ist. In August, I have a show at the Darrin-McHone Gallery at the Arts Council of the Valley. This show will be themed around images from Mount Solon and Augusta County where I grew up, but I don’t have a solid idea of complete theme as of yet,” Walton said.

time. So we loaded her car up with turkeys, along with her toys, and she just kind of broke down and cried… It was really special,” Wise said.

Strickler also has had many moments to turn into satisfying memories.

“I always think that the toy drive is really rewarding because you do get to see the reactions on people’s faces when you’re walking out to them with a shopping cart full of toys. Sometimes they have kids with them and the kids get really excited,“ Strickler said.

The food and toy drive is one of the many activities the club participates in throughout the year to give back, including

bell-ringing for the Salvation Army in the month of December as well.

“Bell ringing is really fun because you get to go, a lot of times you’re standing in the cold, but you just ring the bells and sometimes people give money and sometimes they don’t... We try to sing Christmas carols and that kind of stuff to make it fun,” Strickler said.

The club also works on a fundraiser for the American Heart Association in the winter, in which a percentage of the profits from the ticket sales of a specific basketball game go to donations for the association, in addition to community service over the week of spring break.

SSB helps with Rockingham County toy drive each year SSB from A1 joys the act of helping out in this event.

“This is just a way to kind of help people who can’t afford to get stuff for their kids for Christmas and the holidays. The families also get a turkey or a chicken depending on what they want, so they get food for the holidays [as well],” Strickler said.

The families receiving toys and food have had their needs predetermined and the families are assigned a number parallel to their needs. When the families arrive the day of the drive, they display their ticket with their number and their corresponding toys, bikes, and food are carted out to them.

“What SSB gets to do is we get to distribute those toys to the families. And so, we’ll go out to the fairgrounds, and they’ll start calling numbers as families come in and we’ll pack up all their toys and things into shopping carts and help them take them out to their cars for them,” Strickler said.

Senior Scott Wise has been a part of SSB since his freshman year, and will participate in his third toy and food drive this year.

There have been many touching moments for him throughout his involvement with the food drive, however one in particular stands out for him.

“Last year, this one lady, she didn’t have any food for her family come Christmas

December 19, 2014

The Newsstreak

NEWS-A3

Seussical the Musical makes its way back to HHS stage Eddie Mestre Opinion Editor Auditions have concluded and rehearsals have begun for the 2015 Harrisonburg High School Musical. This year the StageStreaks are producing Seussical the Musical which is a conglomeration of several famous Dr. Seuss stories, though the most prominent is Horton Hears a Who. Director Stan Swartz decided on the musical for many reasons, including its vast array of interpretations and lack of gendered roles in the production. This allows for greater versatility among cast members whom Swartz works so closely with during the process.

And this process is a very complicated one.

“Oscar Hammerstein said that ‘producing a musical is like sending an army to war.’ That is how much coordination it takes. There are so many things that have to function together,” Swartz said.

Swartz has to ensure that everything is paid for, ordered and that committees are organized. On top of that, he has to be at every rehearsal and oversee the vocal and dance aspects as well.

Swartz also has to tell the story effectively which adds to the complexity of sets, costumes, songs and choreography.

“The show is somewhat similar to [Les Miserables] in that a lot of it is sung through. So a lot of the storyline is in the songs, not in the lines. So it is critical that we have people that can sing well and tell the story well,” Swartz said.

Swartz tries to add variety to the musicals he selects over the years.

“This show is extremely upbeat and energetic. Its got a lot of dancing… so one of my goals is to not do it the same as I did it eight or nine years ago,” Swartz said.

The story is being told by roughly 60 cast members. There are also hundreds of parents and members of the community that are involved in telling this story.

“Because we try to make it a whole community event, we try to open it up to

as many people as we possibly can. We want it to be a positive experience for the whole community,” Swartz said.

The organization is much larger than it was when Swartz produced the show last time which means it will be an overall bigger production.

“This year it will be much more complex, much larger and a lot more fun,” Swartz said.

As sets are built and tickets are being sold, the cast is beginning to work after school. Swartz uses the strengths of his actors and actresses to further accentuate the story he is trying to tell.

“I deliberately try not to create 60 little Swartz’s running around the stage doing exactly what I want them to do. I want them to be who they are and be involved in the process. I want their creativity involved,” Swartz said. His approach is very similar to the musical films of the 40s and 50s where they created things around the strengths of the actors.

“I enjoy the creative process and I try and teach the kids that as well, because those skills not only make the whole rehearsal process better, but also life skills they can use beyond the theater,” Swartz said.

But being a part of the HHS production isn’t just about acting and singing. A strict schedule is in place that everyone must follow to make the production work.

“Being at all rehearsals for the scenes that they are in, memorizing music and lines and choreography. Being willing to give it their all, being willing to help the whole process be better,” Swartz said. And many cast members take this very seriously.

Senior Caroline Shank knows this commitment well, having been in three of Swartz’s most recent productions.

“The time commitment for musical is pretty big, especially as it gets closer to show week. I’d say that the two weeks before the show opens are the most time consuming and draining, but it’s all worth it in the end,” Shank said.

PHOTO BY AVA REYNOLDS

MUSICAL MADNESS. Choral teacher Bethany Houff instructs members of “Whoville” during a musical rehearsal.

Though the cast has a daunting rehearsal schedule, it is not comparable to Swartz’s.

“I spend months looking for the show.

Once it’s chosen, I spend every available moment of every available day thinking of something that needs to be done because there are a million and one little details that need to be taken care of. I have to research the time period, how it has been done in the past, what has been successful, what hasn’t...costumes, sets. I then have to keep my finger in the pie to keep it all coordinated,” Swartz said. The pressure builds for Swartz, the students and the people involved as the production gets closer and closer to performance week. If everything isn’t perfect, then the impact of the show isn’t good and the production is bad, which means extensive preparation is required for that not to occur.

“Swartz and Houff [choir director at HHS] do an incredible job with bringing everything together. They work very hard,

and put in so many afternoons and weekends to make sure that not only each piece is perfect, but that they all fit together. All of their time and effort is what makes the shows as amazing as they are,” Senior Graham Rebhun said. Rebhun has been part of the musical cast for all four years he has been at Harrisonburg High School and will be playing the lead, Horton, in the musical.

The cast will begin extended rehearsals after the holiday break and work until the show dates. This year the production will be held from Feb. 18 through Feb. 22.

Tickets for the Wednesday premier are five dollars for general admission, but after that tickets must be ordered online at hhsmusical.org, which can be accessed from the HHS homepage. Tickets are on sale now.

“The show is one of those shows that is fun on multiple levels. It is a show both kids and adults are going to enjoy. I make that happen wherever and however I can so that everyone is having a good time,” Swartz said.

School board sees potential blueprints for new buildings

Ali Price Staff Reporter

School board chairman Nick Swayne says that much of the school board’s recent plans for a new school are “very conceptual”.

On Dec. 2, the school board and the city council held a joint meeting to discuss the school board’s proposal to have VMDO, an architecture firm based in Charlottesville, build a new elementary school as well as renovate existing schools in Harrisonburg.

The new elementary school, which will be built on a plot of land on Garber’s Church Road, will have a capacity of 750 elementary school students and as many as 250 pre-school students.

“The school could open in 2017 with nearly 700 elementary students,” Swayne said.

A portion of these students will be fifth graders, who will be returning to elemen-

tary school after being part of local middle schools for the past six years.

“The goal is to provide space as soon as possible so that the fifth grade can move back to the elementary schools and accommodate growth and freeing up space in the middle schools,” Bob Moje, VMDO’s lead designer on the project, said.

VMDO was one of several architecture firms competing for the opportunity to design the new school.

“There was a competitive proposal process that is required by the state for such matters. We published a request for proposals, reviewed the proposals and selected the finalists,”Swayne said, of the process. Finalists were then chosen from this pool, and each gave the school board a presentation detailing their work experience.

“The board… selected VMDO unanimously,” Swayne said.

VMDO also presented the school board

with a study showing growing trends in Harrisonburg’s K-12 population.

“A review of all building capacities was done along with an assessment of the various factors that affect growth of the student population. That analysis shows a clear and significant need for more school capacity,” Moje said.

THMS was slated for renovation as many of its classrooms fall well below the state’s standards; the plumbing and air conditioning systems are also “at the end of their service,” according to Swayne.

However, Swayne does not believe this is an economically feasible idea.

“It turns out fixing these problems may cost as much as it would to build a new school,” Swayne said. “This is something we’re going to have to sort out in the near future.”

One issue of contention at the joint meeting was the $95 million price tag on the project, which had some city council

GRAPHIC COURTESY OF VMDO

GROWING. This blueprint for a new elementary school is part of the architectural plans submitted by VMDO. members rethinking the idea. Despite this, Swayne believes that the city will do the right thing by students. “[We] have legal and moral obligation to provide outstanding educational resources to our future adults. We will act like adults, make hard choices, compromise when needed, and come up with a solution that will do just that,” Swayne said.

Forensics team gearing up for later competitions Josh Byrd Advertising Manager

PHOTO BY MIA KARR

SAVVY SPEAKER. Freshman Nicole Raab practices her storytelling piece with forensics coach Cara Walton.

The forensic team’s season has started with competition in the fall Shenandoah Valley Forensics League tournaments. The team is coached by librarian Bradley and history teacher Cara Walton.

“The league that we participate in the fall is the Shenandoah Valley Forensics League,” Bradley Walton said. “Most of the schools involved look at it as a practice league to give the students some experience for the VHSL’s tournaments in the second half of the year so when they walk into a conference meet it’s not the first time they competed in a forensics competition.”

At their first tournament, junior Lauren McKenzie was the only competitor to place.

“I just want to continue to get better,” McKenzie said. “I always want to beat my previous score.”

There are seven of the 10 members who are new to the team.

“Most of our team is new this year, so it is largely a building year,” Bradley Walton said.

Right now the team is working to improve and they see these fall tournaments as practice for states.

“I don’t really look at the fall tournaments as high stakes, I just want the team to learn and to be getting better,” Bradley Walton said. “My goal is did you give a better performance at your second competition than you gave at your first competition? Did you do better at your third competition than you did at your second competition?”

Student growth is very important to both of the coaches.

“The goal of individual student growth is to teach students to be comfortable speaking in front of an audience to work on their diction, articulation, volume and just working on their public speaking skills in general,” Cara Walton said.

“We always hope to take some students to the state competition,” Cara Walton said.

Newly-elected school board members already working on plans Evan Dotas Feature editor Now that the elections are finished, the local political scene has become calm once again. Yet for the new members of the School Board, everything is just beginning.

Brent Holsinger won the highest amount of votes for the Harrisonburg City School Board’s East District, coming in with 38 percent of the total vote.

“We’ll take the oath in this month, and we officially begin in January,” Holsinger said.

Even though the new members have not actually been sworn in yet, they have been incredibly active.

“All the new school board members had an opportunity to attend the Virginia State Board Association Conference two weeks ago. We were able to go to that.

[There’s] obviously a whole lot of reading, making sure we’re on top of the plans for the new buildings. We’re doing tours of all the schools next week, so we’re doing unofficial things like that so that we’re ready come January first,” Holsinger said.

Holsinger already has specific goals for the next year, including achieving his main campaign promise of equal opportunities for all students.

“My biggest thing with the campaigning and the big reason why I was running is really equity and making sure that all kids have the opportunities and resources they need to be ready for college, go on to get a good job, anything it is that they want to do, that they’re prepared for that come high school graduation,” Holsinger said. He also is eager to expand the possibility of learning to more than just different classes.

“One specific thing I talked a lot about in the campaign was just making sure we’re

having conversations about preschool, after-school, summer learning programs. I think lots of those things help and to make sure kids have equal opportunities, and are on track to go on to college, get a good job, whatever they want to do,” Holsinger said.

His involvement in the school thus far is reflected in his service as a board member of the Harrisonburg Education Foundation.

This organization sponsors charity events, helps raise money for scholarships, and pays tribute to teachers and students every year in their Breakfast of Champions celebratory gathering.

On the board of the Harrisonburg Education Foundation, Holsinger worked with Kelly Rooney, who won the second chair of the School Board’s East District.

“I’m excited that [Rooney] got elected.

I think she’s bringing a lot to the school board. She comes prepared, she’s very cooperative, she really focuses on being able to have people work together. Those are

all things that are appreciated about her.

I think one of the biggest things is for the school board to be able to work well together so we can address challenges that we have moving forward with our schools,” Holsinger said.

Through this cooperation with Rooney, along with the rest of the school board, Holsinger hopes to hit the ground running on specific issues in our school system.

“The biggest issue over the six months is to get on top of the building projects,” Holsinger said. “We’ve got an elementary school to build and the architects had a recommendation to build a new middle school shortly thereafter. Some big decisions on that front. But outside of that, half the school board is new, so really getting to know each other and figuring out how we can work together so we can get things done. I think those are a couple big things that we’ve got to really focus on the first six months.”

December 19, 2014

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December 19, 2014 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.

It is the policy of the Harrisonburg City Public School Board to comply with all applicable state and federal laws regarding non-discrimination in employment and educational programs and services.

The Harrisonburg High School City Public Schools will not discriminate illegally on the basis of sex, race, religion, national origin, disability or age as to employment or educational programs and activities.

Editorials appearing without a byline represent the majority opinion of the staff, but not necessarily the opinion of the adviser, school administration, or the school system.

Signed editorials are accepted from people on the staff, but are subject to editing according to published guidelines and policies. Editorials may be edited for special reasons.

Letters to the editor are encouraged and must be signed and a telephone number must be given.

Names may be withheld if the editorial board feels there is a just cause.

The Newsstreak reserves the right to edit and may refuse to publish ads or letters deemed inappropriate, libelous, or obscene. Please drop your letter by room 444 or give them to any staff member.

Letters may also be sent to the high school.

The Editors and Staff Editors-in-Chief: Print: Mia Karr, Brenna Cowardin Online: Isabelle Burden, Julexus Cappell Managing Editors: Faith Runnells (print) and Ellie Plass (online) Advertising Managers: Joshua Byrd, Savannah McNeal Online Staff: Joshua Byrd, Sam Imeson, Jessica Nguyen Photographers: Savannah McNeal, Ava Reynolds, Maria Snell-Feikema Page Editors: Marley Adamek, Yogesh Aradhey, Danny Dombrowski, Evan Dotas, Naomi Gelberg-Hagmaier, Victoria Giron, Hunter Manzano, Ella Marian, Eddie Mestre, Ava Reynolds, Faith Runnells, Austin Swift, Ariel Vogel, Harmony Wilson Staff Reporters: Brian Alvarado, Atticus Bolyard, Martin Beck, Juleian Cappell, Garrett Cash, Ben Coffey, Phoebe Copeland, Olivia Corner, Gabrielle DelBiondo, John Earle IV, David Gamboa-Pena, Matthew Good, Sydney Harper, Julie Hedrick, Aarash Heydari, Abigail Hissong, Randee-Rose Joven, Isaiah King, Abby Lachance, Alanna Macadam, Jennifer Marquez, Maxwell McDaniel, Alex Osinkosky, Christian Ramirez, Briana Rodriguez, Lucie Rutherford, Ethan Scribano, Maria Snell-Feikema, Joshua Stratford, Corin Vogel, KiYosia Wallace, Jeremiah Williams, Theodore 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 understand that the school newspaper, newsstreak. com, now has an online version of the publication.

I DO NOT want my son/ daughter (place student’s name here) to have his or her name or image published on this online venue.

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ELT choice main events, field trips add to education ment and discounts the merits of things that can’t be taught in a traditional classroom setting, such as In an interview the Newsstreak getting to ask questions to someconducted with HHS alumnus, au- one who holds the job you aspire thor, paralympian and motivational to or going on a field trip that fospeaker Josh Sundquist for our No- cuses on experiential learning. vember issue, Sundquist revealed Schools are supposed to prepare that he was first inspired to go into students for adult life and whet motivational speaking after seeing their intellectual curiosity, not just a motivational speaker at an HHS prepare them to fill in bubbles. assembly.

Going to the same school for This provides powerful support four years and living in a town for the notion that education is such as Harrisonburg that is relaenhanced and improved by oppor- tively small and doesn’t have the tunities beyond the classroom set- vast array of cultural and academting. The Newsstreak would like to ic resources of a big city affords applaud HHS for providing students students a limited perspective. It’s with these opportunities, such as important for us to be exposed to attending an assembly by author new things and people, as those Jodi Meadows, and encourage things could set us on a career path them to continue to do so. or help us discover a passion.

There’s obvious pressure to For example, before Jodi Meadmake the most out of every school ows’ assembly, many students day, when time is limited and might have been unaware of the there’s a deluge of SOL’s, AP tests vast array of jobs in the publishing and other exams to be taken in the industry, from agents, to editors, to spring, whether all the material on graphic designers. the test is covered or not. HowevELT offers a great venue for er, an emphasis on testing alone bringing in people like Meadows, makes for a poor learning environ- and we’re glad that the administration has sponsored several “main events” in the auditorium. We’d like to see more, and we also The unsigned staff editorial appears in each issue and think that the students reflects the majority opinion of the Newsstreak Staff who can’t attend these Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is comprised of all events because they are editors-in-chief, page editors, advertising managers, directed shouldn’t be photographers and selected freshman journalism stuleft out, which is why dents. In no way does our opinion reflect that of the we believe it’s okay to school system or the administration.

NEWSSTREAK STAFF EDITORIAL

WHAT IS THE STAFF EDITORIAL?

occasionally cut into class time for an enriching experience students would otherwise not have.

Similar to educational assemblies, field trips can also be highly beneficial, and we’re glad that many students have gotten the chance to step off of school grounds this year, whether it was for a STEM trip, a journalism conference, a theater competition or a trip to the American Shakespeare Center.

We feel it’s important for the school to value these extracurricular learning experiences that enhance a student’s education and provide them with opportunities they might not have otherwise.

In English class, we are frequently told to “show, not tell.” By showing us the world rather than telling us about it, the school has the opportunity to truly make a positive impact on our education.

Want to know what’s up? Sometimes it’s better not to ask Mia Karr Editor-in-Chief It’s pretty remarkable that I’ve made it to adulthood while still lacking a fundamental skill. No, I’m not talking about the ability to cook or pay taxes (although I 100 percent can not do those things). I’m talking about the ability to answer a simple question, entirely critical to our vernacular- “What’s up?”

Let me illustrate with an anecdote. I recently attended a journalism conference with students from all over the country. On my way to a session, I ran into a friend from camp this summer. We smiled and waved at each other enthusiastically and everything was going so well, until she said those fateful two words- “What’s up?” Panicked, I made some sounds like that of a kitten being smothered with a blanket and finally choked out “...

Good.” herent speech flips out If you’re astute, and I flounder about you can pick up on for a bit like a beached the fact that this whale until I mumble makes no sense. out a “nothing” or some “Good” is not up. equally lame answer.

“Good” is not any I’m sure there are direction.

“Good” people out there who, is not the activity when posed with this The Mia that I’m currently difficult inquiry, can Perspective smile ever so casualengaged in. There are no circumstancly and say something es where you can answer “what’s normal like “Oh, I’m just walking up?” with “good”, or worse “... to class”, but I’m not those people, good”, and maintain the illusion and I am in awe of their mystical that you are a socially competent powers. human being. To try and remedy I’m not sure why I have such a the situation, I went in for a hug, hard time with this. Maybe it’s bewhich she was totally unprepared cause it throws me into a philosophfor and only served to make mat- ical whirlwind where I must consider ters worse. what, in truth, is up, what my curI have a hard time speaking to rent state of being is, and what role I people in general, so when I’m assume in this mysterious universe? blindsided by a “what’s up?” the What is someone doing at any givpart of my brain that produces co- en time? They’re breathing, blinking

every so often, thinking about what they’re about to do next; basically a lot of things. So, what, in fact, is up?

It’s a pretty weird greeting when you think about it. It’s like, “We’ve begun an interaction and I must immediately know what you’re doing.” Geesh, personal much? It’s basically a nightmare for an overthinker like me, who obsesses over everything that they said wrong and the implications of every conversation.

There are a few times when asking me “what’s up?” would be entirely appropriate. For example, if I was standing on a ladder hanging something from the ceiling.

“Mia,” you might ask, “what’s up?”

To which I would reply, “decorative streamers.” Other than that, please don’t ask me this question. A simple “hello” will suffice, and then I won’t have to turn into a deer in the headlights.

Wilson’s lack of punishment causes uproar Evan Dotas Feature Editor After shooting and killing Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson said that he did his job right. I cannot agree. The problems in this case lie with the justice system, Wilson’s testimony and the reactions from the civilian population.

A few months ago, Wilson ordered Brown, walking in the street with his friend, to move to the sidewalk. After that, witness reports get fuzzy. Many have said that Brown reached for Wilson’s gun, that he slammed Wilson’s door and that he attacked him. This leads to the first fault with this murder case.

We simply cannot rely on eyewitness accounts to deliver effective trials. Our memories are incredibly faulty. I could ask you questions about any time span of your day yesterday and you would, without a doubt, miss many details. Then, add a few months into the mix. You’ll remember even fewer details. The media will shout different opinions to muddle your memories. Lawyers in court will try to persuade you one way or another. After all this time, and all these experiences, no one can be held responsible for remembering crucial details.

Social experiments had one injury from have proven that the incident: a bruise these accounts are seon his cheek). Add riously unreliable. In a a bit of color to his study of 130 wrongful skin and I’m probably prison sentences, The found innocent in the Innocence Project, eyes of the Missouri a group that reevalcourt.

Evan Knows uates controversial But since these court cases, found laws aren’t going anythat eyewitness testimonies were where, we surely can reform them.

78 percent responsible for the con- Wilson said that he did his job. But victions. what part of his job said that, if a However, these opinions have teenager makes any approach on massive weight in putting people you, you are justified in firing 12 in jail. Personally, I believe that we shots at him, hitting him with six, should have security cameras in ev- with some of those fatal blows ery public place to monitor these striking his scalp and his forehead things, but, given how much we and coming out of his jaw? What tend to value our privacy, coupled kind of “justice” system allows that with many people’s fear of an over- kind of brutality in any situation? reaching government, that would Part of what disgusts me about likely never happen in the United Wilson and his murder is how exStates. cessive it was. Even though this is These laws of self-defense can unclear, let’s assume Brown did be very dangerous. If an officer attack Wilson. Why are we training feels threatened, he is justified in police to shoot people as a go-to using lethal force under these laws. response?

Even if he does not feel threatened, All of this being said, the people but has some vendetta against the of Ferguson are not acting ratioother person, he can get away with nally. I, of course, cannot imagine murder by citing self-defense. what it is like to be in their position, A campaigner could come to my where the racial tension is so high door, where I could stab him, bruise it can turn into the L.A. riots in one myself and say he attacked me (it’s night. However, even the family of worth noting that Wilson, who Michael Brown was able to plead claimed to be attacked by Brown, for no violence. If the actual family

of the victim can find solace without revolting, it’s ridiculous to say that the citizens of Ferguson cannot.

We have two wrongs going on now. Wilson should have been jailed on account of his actions (which the National Bar Association has stated), but because of a bad judicial system and very dangerous laws, he was found not guilty.

Then, the citizens rioted. They do have the right to feel angry-the town history includes the fact that a black man was found guilty of defacing public property after bleeding on the policeman who beat him. Brown’s body was left in the street for hours after his death.

The judge that oversaw the trial is also publicly regarded as being in the police’s pocket.

However, this anger should not turn into violence. All that happens now is more civilians are harmed and the people who feel oppressed turn into thugs in the public eye. That means that those racists who think that all blacks are criminals have further evidence to look at.

These protests are not going to lead to anything useful. More cases like this will happen, and more lives will be lost. The only hope we have of ever turning that tide is right now.

It’s not what you say but rather how you say it Julexus Cappell Online Editor-in-Chief Remember when you were younger, back in your elementary school days? Your parents and family, teachers, mentors, etc would always tell you little quotes like “Always use the Golden Rule [treat others the way you want to be treated, for those of you who don’t know]?” Yes, well my mom would always tell me this one: “It isn’t always what you’re saying Julexus, it’s how you’re saying it.”

I totally have a problem with

this, but, hey. I’m ally nice when needed. I working on it. If I didn’t really have much to do say so myself, work on this past one, so I’ve certainly gotI was wasting time lookten better with ing at college websites. I it over the years. see a person who has the But, what better same AP Literature block way to truly grasp as I [this class is brought a concept than to up so much on my page Just Julexus I realize, so thank you experience it first hand? all for the inspiration you It’s story time. all have given me thus far], and I At my high school we have this decided I would tell this person thing called ‘Extended Learning about a neat thing I found on Spark Time,’ where once a week after Notes. We are currently reading first block we have an hour to do the Shakespeare play Othello, and work on school work, which is re- I don’t know about my readers,

but “Shakespearean language” is hard for me to get through. With all the “thous,” “thees,” and “dosts” I don’t know what is going on 80 percent of the time. Conveniently, Spark Notes has this program called “No Fear Shakespeare” where the original text is put beside a more modern day translation.

I go up to said classmate and said “Hey! Did you know there’s this thing on Spark Notes that translates all the text from the book into like modern text?”

I don’t even remember the last

See WORDS page B4

The Newsstreak

December 19, 2014

HOT Winter Break Two weeks to relax and spend time with the family. Enjoy and safe travels!

Christmas Movies There are so many to choose from! And with the films being released during the holidays, the options are limitless.

Food Many stores are selling special foods that coincide with the holiday season. On top of that there is always mom’s baked goods!

Chap Stick As the coldness encapsulates us all, we have a handy dandy friend that can save our lips from the chilliness.

Snow Day The surprise snow day was certainly a wonderful introduction into the season!

District Band Of the 27 students who auditioned for district band, 24 made the cut! Yay band!

One Act wins States The one act finished strong as it received three of four acting awards and first place at the state competition.

Winter Sports Winter sports have begun with Track, Basketball, Wrestling and several others. Get out and support the Blue Streaks!

ELT Boot camp ELT provided a great opportunity to get students ready for SOLs!

New Year 2015 is coming! Enjoy watching the ball drop and Happy New Year!

NOT Cold Weather... No snow It is freezing outside, but so dry!

Where is all the snow! West Virginia stop hogging it all!

Eric Garner The death of Eric Garner has stirred massive protests and accusations of police brutality.

Ferguson Following the grand-jury decision, more protests erupted all around America in defense of Michael Brown.

Peter Pan Live!

Just your average group of dancing 30-year old “boys” and an elderly pirate.

Letterman’s last show announced Mark your calenders, David Letterman’s last show will be on May 20.

South Sudan South Sudan split from Sudan in 2011, but the country isn’t holding up very well.

Finals After break we have a week and a half to prepare for finals...

Oh boy...

Tortures by the CIA It has been revealed that the CIA used various interrogation methods on al-Qaeda suspects.

Bill Cosby The comedian/actor has been accused of sexual assault by many victims.

Syria crisis worsening daily The country has been suffering from massive food shortages recently and it appears that the situation is only continuing to get worse.

OP/ED-A6

Recommended movies to watch during break Eddie Mestre Opinion Editor

ble-making kid who is accidentally left behind as his family goes on Christmas Vacation. He has to fight his loneliness and a robbing Tis the season to watch lots of duo known as the Wet Bandits movies. Now that break is here during this hilarious tale. Memand your family is cozy by the fire, orable dialogue, preposterous it is time to have bonding time Eddie the Yeti slapstick and excellent music, by watching Christmas classics! there is really nothing wrong Which ones should you watch? Well, I have with this one. a thing or six (seven?) to say about that!

Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street. ProbaHow the Grinch Stole Christmas. Of bly my personal favorite, or very high up on course I am referring to the animated ver- my list. The film deals with a department sion, not the horrendous live action. The store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Grinch hates Christmas and is willing to go deal. With its ensemble cast and touching to extremes to stop it from coming to Who- story it is no wonder that this flick is the ville. This is one of the most famous Christ- highest rated Christmas movie of all time. mas flicks of all time and a perfect (and White Christmas. Bing Crosby and Danshort) film to watch with the family. Laughs, ny Kaye prove to be an excellent duo in this cries, and a good moral lesson, this needs to fun Christmas adventure. The film follows be watched at least twice. two World War Two veterans as they occuRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. This py their time with show business, Vermont film depicts the story of Rudolph and his and love. The film really gives you a sense of fight to save Christmas. A timeless Christ- what Christmas is all about and the wondermas movie, Rudolph has something differ- ful cast sings beautiful renditions of Christent for every member of the family to en- mas tunes. joy. Songs, humor, suspense, it is definitely Die Hard. Is it a Christmas movie? Of worth some watches this season. Speaking course it’s a Christmas movie. As terrorists of stop-motion photography, I strongly rec- take hostages during a Christmas party, ommend Santa Claus is Coming to Town, a Bruce Willis must save his wife and the rest film about the origins of Santa Claus and his of the captives… but he is 20 floors above conflict with Winter Warlock! them. This is an action-packed thriller that Home Alone. The first and second films everyone (viewer discretion is advised) will only please. Kevin McAllister is a trou- enjoy.

Insight makes gift buying easier this particular mystifying man’s mind better than the woman that has had to deal with him for half her life? She’ll know Presents. The word simulwhatever small, random necestaneously brings a smile to my sity that your father presently face while striking fear in my desires and you can pick it up at heart. Sure, getting presents is The Aerial View a thrift store for a couple bucks. great. Anything from the imperIf your parents aren’t together sonal gift card to the hilarious inside jokes and you don’t have that female eye into even to the cheap-and-easy pack of gum. the mind of your patriarch, something What are the rules for giving, though? manly is probably safe. Try amazon.com.

What do you get for your parents, your sib- Or (this just in from a resident male) a pack lings, your closest friends and your signifi- of razors. cant other? More importantly, even, how Little siblings are easy; candy, snacks, do you do it on a budget? games, books, clothes--anything that Mothers are a real trick. Sure, they’ll would entertain them for a few hours love you no matter what and would even available at your local Target. I’d advise the be okay if you gave the gift of a big hug on $1 section directly inside the door. Older Christmas morning. But this is your moth- siblings are a little more complicated, but er! You want to stay on her good side for gag gifts, money, and (always) clothes are a the duration of the holidays, so you might pretty safe bet. as well go a little crazy for the woman Female friends, close or otherwise, are who carried you in her body for nine long the best area to break out your DIY skills. months.

Homemade scarves, baked goods and That’s the key. Your mother? She’s a handmade jewelry are perfect for your woman. And what is true of almost every equally broke peers who love you and unwoman’s desires out there? Chocolate. So derstand your position exactly. In fact, you if you’re somewhat strapped for cash, buy may be getting these same things. a fancy chocolate bar, maybe a pretty neckMale friends are even easier; nothing lace you picked up at a consignment shop is what they expect from their friends and and you’ve achieved class and sweetness in nothing is pretty much what they’ll get. one under-$10 swoop.

However, if you’re strongly affected by the This dear woman is also the key to your season of love, food is a safe bet for any father’s Christmas joy. Who understands teenage guy.

Ariel Vogel Feature Editor

Guest columnist

Consider fedoras

Atticus Bolyard Staff Reporter

I see so many guys on the streets of Harrisonburg trying, and failing miserably, to make a fashion statement. As a man who reads at least three fashion blogs a day, I have a pretty good idea of what kind of clothes make someone look good. Today, I will share a piece of advice that will help men look better and show that they understand the world of style.

Wear a fedora.

Fedoras are for real men. In the 1930s, both mobsters and law officers wore these stylish accessories because they represented fearlessness. But fedoras also represented class. You wouldn’t see many low-level people on either side of the law wearing fedoras.

To wear one was to say that you are both daring and sophisticated: the kind of person who would sip cognac in a speakeasy for the first half of the night and race through the streets evading cops the second half, all without changing outfits.

The versatile men of the thirties didn’t have time to switch clothes in between their various functions. They needed a hat that could both add flair to a dressy speakeasy outfit and be used to shadow their faces from potential enemies on the street. The fedora could do both of these things, and thus came to embody the beautiful intersection of elegance and anonymity.

Fedoras are still classy in 2014. They complement a suit and tie nicely, but can also be paired with something casual, like khaki shorts and a My Little Pony T-shirt, to make any outfit stand out.

Wearing a fedora shows that you understand the history of fashion. It shows maturity, that you’ve moved beyond a childish obsession with modernity to instead embody old-school ideals like grandiosity and chivalry.

Although today the National Security Agency makes clothing disguises irrelevant, fedoras still represent dark mystery. When I see someone in a fedora, I immediately wonder about what complex thoughts that person has to hide. Did he win a million dollars in a high-stakes poker game last night? Is he a famous actor that needs to keep a low-profile? Wearing a fedora creates this kind of mystery that attracts people.

Fedoras are timeless. Cast aside the snapbacks and beanies and put on something that combines reverence for the past with the self-awareness that the modern age loves so much.

Black Friday means just that, not Thursday Black Friday is taking over Thanksgiving. Last year was cutting it close, but this year, many stores opened at 6 p.m.

Thanksgiving. on Thursday night. Thanksgiving It has a positive connotation night. Remember, people are to it, right? The sweet aroma of still planning to get in line ahead Have Faith a baked turkey, the reunion of a of time to be the first to obtain a family, the exciting anticipation particular item, so some people for the upcoming Christmas holwere in line at 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving. iday. All aspects combined, Thanksgiving is Although my family partakes in the one of the sweetest holidays, topped off by Thanksgiving lunch at 1 p.m., the more one of the year’s best meals. common way to go about the holiday is However, this beautiful holiday is quick- to refrain all day and have a hearty dinner ly becoming shortchanged. around 6 or 7 p.m. With stores opening Black Friday, the beginning of the Christ- on Thanksgiving evening, and with peomas shopping season, is the Friday direct- ple so captivated with finding a good deal, ly following Thanksgiving Thursday, filled some families are going to sacrifice their with phenomenal sales of a myriad of family-driven Thanksgiving day, filled with items that could potentially be Christmas thanks and happiness, for a cold, lonely gifts. In years past, many stores opened spot in line outside of Walmart. early to allow customers maximum shopMany stores are participating in this ping time throughout the day of sales, be- atrocious idea, including three of the bigginning around 4 a.m. Keep in mind people gest Black Friday participants; Walmart, are racing to receive these good sales, and Target, and Best Buy, all of which opened therefore get into line early, sometimes their doors at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving day. even beginning at 1:00 a.m.

This not only takes away the multitude of The tables have turned this year.

people who will unfortunately hop in line around 4 p.m. to attain the valuable deals, but also nearly every Walmart, Target and Best Buy employee, for the fact that they must be fully stocked by the time those doors open.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a faithful Black Friday shopper. I don’t believe I have missed a year since the sixth grade. But, key part right here, I have never gotten into line before 4 a.m., after thoroughly enjoying my family’s Thanksgiving for the full day, taking full advantage of the family, food-filled day. For me, most of the thrill anyway is getting up so early at 4 a.m., seeing the darkness still encompassing the outside world, bundling up, and driving down to Target to be in line for about 30 minutes before the grand opening at 5 a.m.

Unfortunately, the Target opening time changed this year to 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving night which just stinks.

I still participated in the fun of Black Friday solely due to keeping tradition, however, you can bet a large sum of money I was nowhere but my family filled, thankful house for all 24 hours of Thanksgiving.

Abby Hissong Staff Reporter

ery surface of my body, so it does leave me with a rather unique farmer’s tan, or rather farmer’s burn of burnt knees and cheeks.

Then comes summer, the most dreaded time of all for us of porcelain complexion.

As school ends, most people designate their summer to a life outdoors and achieving that perfect tan that I can only dream of.

For me, it means living a life of sunscreen by day and aloe vera by night. Oh yes, and the dreaded first burn of the season. Summer means relaxing by pools and beaches with your friends, something that I, as a teenage girl, refuse to give up. Shorts and tank tops are a necessary evil of summer, but they do not come without consequences. You see, you can only avoid the burn for so long. Even 100 SPF sunscreen can only do so much to protect from the harsh UV rays that will undoubtedly penetrate my skin and leave me in a very painful state for a few days. Once the burn heals, you might be a slightly darker cream color, but more than likely, you won’t be.

Faith Runnells Managing Editor

Being pale causes problems all year long

While some people can venture out into the bright outdoors without a care in the world, others are not so lucky. There are some who can’t face the hot and unforgiving sun without one very important accessory- sunscreen. I am one of these people, fated to an existence of being a shade slightly darker than straight up white. This leads to a life of freckles, frustration, and more aloe vera than you would believe.

Fall is probably the most forgiving time for your average pale person. Shorts are officially out, so jeans and leggings make their entrance. Scarves and boots hide the telltale signs of losing whatever ounce of color you might have obtained over the summer and autumn colors really do accent every skin tone. This is just one of the reasons fall is my favorite season.

From fall, winter emerges with its cold weather and gloomy skies. You would think

that this would be the easiest time to be pale and go unnoticed, but you would be wrong. You see, by this time my skin has turned so white that I have to change foundation colors from medium pale to that of your average albino. This makes simple things such as going to the gym in shorts or taking pictures with flash quite embarrassing tasks. Also, certain colors cease to be a part of my wardrobe when December hits, including yellows and whites and anything too dark that will just leave me looking malnourished.

Spring means outdoor sports, which means my skin is in trouble. So, when soccer season rolls around, I can already see the burns that I am sure to endure in the coming season. Lucky for me, our team has long sleeve jerseys and since I’m an underclassmen relegated to cast-off uniforms, my shorts and socks are much too large.

While this may not be the most flattering of ensembles, it certainly does serve it’s purpose as a protector from the sun. Unfortunately, the uniform doesn’t cover ev-

December 19, 2014

The Newsstreak

OUTDOORS-A7

CHRISTMAS TREE TRADITIONS

Finding perfect tree in natural environment can be tough Yogesh Aradhey and Hunter Manzano Outdoors Editors In a day and age where it is customary for families to come together in the Christmas season with either an artificial tree, or a live one brought from a store or a Christmas tree farm, we decided to take the unbeaten path and decorate a tree that we found in the wild.

This adds a challenge to the process because typically all trees that are for sale are a specific type of tree that looks the best, whereas when you just go out looking for a tree, you will have to search for one.

Also we had to haul all the ornaments out there and bring them back, too. They had to be lightweight and not fragile, and being outdoors, we could not have lights which are a given for most trees.

We started our adventure by selecting ornaments that fit our criteria and packed them up. We chose a simple combination of ribbons and candy canes and decided

to top our tree with a red bow. We then set out to find our tree.

Finding a tree in its natural setting is way harder than anywhere else because most of the trees you are looking at are deciduous and even if you find a Christmas tree, most of them are a weird shape when they grow naturally.

After searching for a while in the bitter cold, we came across a decent Christmas-looking- tree that had somewhat the right shape. It was on the bushy side but had a good height and the outdoors is all about compromise.

We put up the decorations (unhelped by the piercing wind) and bent the tree to one side in order to attach the bow to the top. The result was primitive, yet satisfying.

Through our experience of finding a tree ourselves, we discovered that decorating a tree isn’t about how nice the result looks or how many ornaments you can fit on it, but rather the idea of coming together for the holiday season and making do with what you have. And having fun.

PHOTO BY YOGESH ARADHEY

CHRISTMAS TREES. Finding a good looking tree in its natural environment proves to be challenging, but well worth it at the end of the day.

Decorating for Christmas creates memories Isaiah King Staff Reporter The cold weather, in its misery and frostbite, always does us a good turn to bring each family closer in the warmth of their homes with the decorations of christmas trees. Whether you hoisted the box of your fake tree up flights of stairs or spent two hours in the cold deciding on the perfect tree, the journey and memory is being made this whole time.

Just last year, Natalie Pittington, a freshman, made a memory herself up north in Maryland. “This was the first time I got to be with my aunt at Christmas time and [we helped] decorate her tree,” Pittington said.

Pretty much everything you could think of was decorated on this Christmas tree. Though this tree was fake, with the expertise of her uncle, the tree was assembled with ease. With the assistance of her family, Christmas music in the background, and scrumptious smell of baking cookies, a memory had been made.

Earth science teacher Brittany Wolchak has dealt with some unsettling incidents with previous Christmas trees.

“We have a tendency to have our christmas trees fall over every year and sometimes on people, but not that time,” Wolchak said.

About 10 years ago in her parents’ home, Wolchak, with the help of her family hoisted a gigantic Christmas tree into the living room.

“My parent’s living room already had high ceilings, 10, 11 feet, and the tree was taller than the ceiling was and kind of bend over so we had to cut off a lot of the bottom. It took up a lot of space,” Wolchak said.

It took a family effort with gloves and determination. Pine needles were everywhere, but Wolchak, her parents, and younger siblings successfully went all out on decorations.

“We don’t have a specific theme, but it’s multi-colored lights, and all the ornaments we have made and been passed down by the family.

Kevin Tysinger, a physical education teacher, had a complete opposite experience. Tysinger was living in a townhouse at the time with his wife and dog, who was a pup at the time, named Cookie.

She would always jump up onto their large windowsill, which was wide enough for her.

“We would get a small tree and put it in there, but my dog always wanted to jump up there and sit. One day we were looking over there and didn’t see her. She had curled up behind the tree and right above her head was a Cookie Monster ornament,” Tysinger said.

Ironic as this was, Cookie had squeezed herself onto the windowsill with the tree and situated herself so that an ornament representing her was dangling above. Worried that the tree would be knocked over, this tree stayed decorated with its white lights and ornaments from his childhood.

PHOTO BY YOGESH ARADHEY

DECORATIONS. Hunter Manzano and Yogesh Aradhey took tons of ornaments into the wild to decorate the tree.

OH CHRISTMAS TREE, OH CHRISTMAS TREE. Assistant principal Eric Miller stands next to the Harrisonburg Valley Mall tree that stood out to him as his most memorable Christmas tree at the Valley Mall last Thursday, Dec. 4. “I took the picture at the mall because it was tall and full of ornaments.

And it was next to Santa,” Miller said. He was there bell ringing. “We bell ring as a family a couple times to give back to the community,” Miller said. This is a family tradition that the miller family has been taking part in for the past four years.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIC MILLER

Hunting for tree is tradition Austin Swift Sports editor

INFOGRAPHIC BY BEN COFFEY

REAL VERSUS FAKE. While families across the U.S. choose between real and artificial trees for the holiday season, students here at HHS state their own preferences on how to decorate their trees. Freshman Johana Ramierz tops her tree off with a star every year, and freshman Ross Kirkdorffer piles ornaments on his until no more will fit.

Tall or short, fat or skinny, bushy or trimmed. The combinations are endless when selecting a Christmas tree. It’s not uncommon to find the annual Christmas tree hunt a family tradition. If that is indeed the case, then the inevitable conflicts over which tree to choose will arise and the eventual compromises will come about, eliminating all but the absolute perfect tree there to chop down and take home.

Freshman Deidrah Velker is no exception, as she and her family often face a similar situation.

“My family is very opinionated, so it has to be the right height and it can’t be too fat and it can’t be too skinny. It has to smell good and it can’t be prickly, although we broke that this year, because it is very prickly. We have a list of [requirements], it’s very funny,” Velker said.

From Walmart to gas stations to tree farms to the backyard, a Christmas tree can be found practically anywhere. The location from which it is obtained is the real question.

“We go to a Christmas tree farm, the one in Keezletown, and we always walk really far back because people take up the front trees, so we go to the back and usually the better trees are there,” Velker said.

The broad selection of tree species and the even larger selection of actual trees within those categories will lead to the eventual conflict; however, public opinion tends to come out on top.

“Personally, I like the [trees] that haven’t been cut into the Christmas tree shape yet and they’re all crazy, but [my family] never gets that one, they always get the standard Christmas tree,” Velker said.

Sophomore Zach Benevento and his

family took the cheap and easy route in finding their tree this year.

“This year, there’s this abandoned lot behind our house that they’re tearing apart and there are some Christmas-y trees over there, so we went out one day and we went and saw this Christmas tree [looking] thing, it was the top of one of the big trees, so we cut down the whole tree and it was probably like 20 feet tall. Then we cut of the top and we trimmed it down and dragged it back into our house, put it up and it’s really pretty,” Benevento said.

As it tends to be a fun, annual event, Christmas tree retrieval is likely to generate fond memories.

“My grandparents live in California and we were out there and it was just really nice to see them, because I don’t get to see them that often, so it was fun to see them and get a tree with them,” Benevento said.

I, too, have participated in such proceedings with my family, and for a number of years now we have looked to the same Keezletown farm for our tree.

When picking our tree, we tend to decide between either a concolor fir or a white pine: two trees that are basically polar opposites. Why is there such contrast?

Well, because of the contrasting preferences within our family.

There are positives and negatives to all trees. The white pine, for example, is thicker and taller than most, with needles that are too flimsy to ever cause harm, but at the same time are too flimsy to hold some of the heavier tree ornaments. As for the concolor fir, they’re usually a bit smaller and thinner with pointier needles, but are a blue color with needles smelling of citrus.

This year we chose a white pine, which, although it wasn’t as thick as preferred, had a nice classic Christmas tree shape and was a perfect height for our house.

The Newsstreak

December 19, 2014

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December 19, 2014

The Newsstreak

STYLE-A9

WINTER FASHION

As the seasons change and the winter holidays approach , students stay fashionable by shopping at local thrift stores and boutiques, such as Gift and Thrift, in addition to well know stores such as American Eagle and PacSun. Layering warm accessories is a major component of winter fashion, and students use this technique so they can be prepared to dress in a winter wonderland.

Cold temps bring warm trends Naomi Gelberg-Hagmaier Opinion Editor Fashion is always changing. People have different wardrobes for each season.

As winter rolls in, flannel, scarves, leggings, boots and layers dominate outfits.

People create outfits that are combinations of these aspects.

Freshman Helen Joya’s outfit consists of a green army jacket with festive patterned sleeves over a simple shirt, leggings, and boots.

“I try to make my outfit comfortable, but at the same time cute,” Joya said.

Junior Rachel Rohrer wears an outfit that has a more of spring touch by incorporating a floral print dress. Her outfit is still heavy influenced by winter trends.

She wears light gray tights paired with black combat boots. Her outfit also includes a gray knitted infinity scarf.

Sophomore Ana Hart’s outfit is a medley of many popular winter trends. She wears a flannel under a jacket, an infinity scarf, leggings, and boots.

“The shirt really tired it all together, and it was new and exciting,” Hart said.

Senior Neal Perrine demonstrates how you can stay warm, but still be fashion-

able, with layering “I usually wear a normal tee shirt, and then a lighter jacket, and then a heavier coat over that,”Perrine said.

Many outfits may incorporate similar aspects but the inspirations for these outfits come from many different places. ”I have a lot [of inspirations]. Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift. Lots of models,” Joya said.

Many people find inspiration in the slew of fashion magazines being published but others find it in less glamorous places then the glossy pages of a magazine.

“Maybe it’s slightly Bohemian, ya know homeless people dress in layers,” Perrine said with a laugh.

Other are inspected by friends and people around them.

“I have a friend who’s really fashionable,” said Rohrer.

Cozy Socks

Jahsiah Jackson, 9 “Socks are life.”

Hollyn Slykhuis, 11 “Well I get cold really easily, so now that we’re in the cold weather season I like to wear stuff that keeps me warm.”

Neal Perrine, 12

Ana Hart, 10

Eyecatching Styles Helen Joya, 9 “I try to make my outfit comfortable, but at the same time cute.”

Rachel Rohrer, 11

Fabulous Flannel Rachel Cavoto, 12 “I got my boots on Black Friday for super cheap at Macy’s,”

Giovanni DelBiondo, 11 “I like the color combination. It makes me look rugged.”

Anthony Gomez, 10 “It’s all I own.”

Sydney Harper, 9 “Socks are awesome.”

Kickin’ Boots

Lily Caricofe, 11 “I like socks. They’re comfortable.”

Geneva Vanwyk, 9 “Most of the time they are easy to get on and off.”

Ella Shulgan, 10 “It’s warm and cozy.”

Andrew Rath, 10 “It’s comfortable.”

David Mitngo, 10 “It’s a nice texture.”

Lettie Rose, 11 “They are warm and you can wear them in any kind of weather.”

Douglas Ritcher, 11 “Because it’s Flannel Friday.”

Ashlyn Shoemaker, 10 “I matched with my friend.”

Michael Gatsutsin, 12 “I like the colors.”

Left: Suzanne Smith, Teacher “They’re the newest fashion trend, and they’re also really nice to wear.

They keep your feet warm.”

Estefania Godoy-Gonzalez, 12 “They’re comfortable.”

Right: Tazhan Jaf “They’re the newest fashion trend, and they’re also really nice to wear.

They keep your feet warm.”

The Newsstreak

December 19, 2014

‘Tis the Season... to live in the

STYLE-A10

Presents

Stocking Stuffer Guide for Dummies Candy Canes

Gift Cards

These are so relevant to the season there’s no good reason they shouldn’t be in your stocking. Cheap, yummy and festive, candy canes are School supplies--especially the original stocking stuffer. adorable monster erasers--are perfect for bringing a smile to the receiver’s face with something they can use!

This is what you get if you’re naughty, not nice, and don’t deserve any of the other cute things on the list.

(These are chocolate coals, but still.)

Especially to Target or other general department stores, gift cards are something anyone can enjoy and find something for themselves.

Supplies

Coal

Beauty/ Care

Crucial toiletries are

perfect for stockings because everyone wants them but no one wants to open a box under the tree to find deodorant.

Tech

New headphones are always something a person can use, especially if they’re cute with polka-dots.

Socks

Always a crucial stocking stuffer, this classic winter item is perfect for cuddling during the holidays.

Gifts for days in Hanukkah

Marley Adamek News Editor

Snacks

Be it sour Airhead strips or classy Pirouline chocolate wafers, sweet snacks are always perfect to fill that stocking with delicious goodness.

Ornaments

If you have stockings, you probably have a tree to go with it.

What better way to show your holiday spirit than with decorations to liven up the end of the season?

Sophomore Hannah Daniel celebrates Hanukkah, as well as Christmas.

Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that lasts for eight days and eight nights. This year, it starts on Dec. 16 and ends on Dec. 24.

There are many traditions, young and old, that are involved with Hanukkah.

“Usually, because my mom is not Jewish, we’ll have a Christmas tree, but we still light the menorah, and put it in our w i n d o w, and have all the traditions of Hanukkah, like latkes, and jelly donuts and eight nights of presents,” Daniel said. A menorah is a candelabrum that has nine branches. Each night, one of the candles is lit.

“I like to see my family and watching the candles is like really pretty, and it makes me feel connected to my religion.

But, then there’s also the eight nights of presents, and that’s a lot of presents [which is my favorite part of Hanukkah],” Daniel said.

The gift-giving process is different than that of the Christian holiday, Christmas. Daniel and her brother often get a big gift on one night during the holiday.

For the other seven nights, they receive more practical gifts such as socks, pajamas, books and small gift cards. Her mother wraps all of the gifts ahead of time and sets them out on a table. “[The presents are] not all at once...A lot of people get new phones and stuff and really big things for Christmas, but [for Hanukkah] we get kind of the same value, except you get it over kind of a continuous eight days and every night you have something to look forward to,” Daniel said. “It’s just fun to go home to something.”

Daniel explained that the kids get presents regularly throughout the eightday celebration while the parents just get presents one night.

“Hanukkah is more than the gifts, but it has become very secularized, and I do not mind that,” Daniel said.

Waltons reminisce about Christmas presents from each other Maria Snell-Feikema Staff Reporter As the air chills, the snow begins to fall and colored lights begin to collect around town, many may be considering what to buy for their significant other for the holidays this year. World history teacher Cara Walton says that when it comes to gifts, it’s the thought that counts.

“Don’t just buy a gift to have a physical thing to open,” she said, “A gift should be something meaningful to the person you’re giving it to.” She and her husband, library secretary Bradley Walton, both claim to have never given each other bad gifts since they’ve known each other.

That being said, the Waltons usually plan out their gifts for each other in ad-

Teachers Talk: What is the best Christmas present you’ve ever received?

vance, even checking with each other before buying a gift.

“We usually talk ahead of time and that way we know that the things that we’re getting will be things that we like,” Cara Walton said, “Mr. Walton and I have been together for 23 years, so we know each other pretty well.” She recalls her favorite gift from him being the one given to her during the first year they were married.

“Mr. Walton got me a kitten that year,” Cara Walton said, “I constantly told [him] that I wanted a small furry companion because we worked in different schedules, so I spent a lot of time home alone.” The kitten, named after a lead character from a comic book they were working on at the time, still lives with them today at 18 years old.

“I just let her discover the kitten on her own,” Bradley Walton said, “She came home and I didn’t say a word about it.

[When she] found the kitten [she] scooped her up in her arms and immediately, right there on the spot, first thing out of her mouth, named her ‘Meriem’.”

As for Bradley Walton, he says his absolute favorite gift he’s gotten from his wife was a silver Boba Fett bust-up. Bust-ups are essentially miniature plastic busts of Star Wars characters, which are made by the company Gentle Giant.

“It was pretty freaking cool,” Bradley Walton said, “[It] was an incredibly dynamic and well-sculpted piece of plastic.” This single gift began what is now an entire collection of bust-ups.

“I now have probably somewhere north

of 60 of the darned things,” Bradley Walton said.

And according to Bradley Walton, sometimes the simplest gifts make the best gifts.

“A couple of years ago for my birthday she gave me a t-shirt of an AT-AT at a railroad crossing,” Bradley Walton said, “I liked it, but it wasn’t until later that I realized just how much I was wearing it. The reason being was because it was white. Black shirts are very hot in the summer, especially in the car. White shirts are much more practical. So that was a huge score.”

But when thinking about what to give his wife, Bradley Walton says he always has a backup plan.

“When in doubt, give your wife money to put towards her next tattoo,” Bradley Walton said, “It will last a lifetime.”

“A miniature snow mobile that my brother and I got in middle school.”

-Patricia Newcomb, Cafeteria

“A TI-85 calculator”

“Roller skates”

“My son. He was born around Christmas time. ” -Melody Wilson, English Department

“My first bicycle. It was called Sea Princess and it was hot pink.”

-Suzanne Smith, Science Department

“My first guitar when I was eight.”

-Seth Berkeley, Science Department

-Geoffray Estes, Math Department

-Veronica Ortiz, Counseling Center

The Newsstreak

December 19, 2014

FEATURE-B1

FIRST GENERATION to ever attend

COLLEGE

Shifflett wants to major in social work at college Brenna Cowardin Editor-In-Chief Senior Delshana Shifflett has wanted to go to college since early in middle school. Being a first generation student, however, leads to a lot riding on her shoulders as she gets ready for the next stage of her life. “[Being a first generation college student] puts a lot of pressure on me. My mom and dad didn’t go to college, and I know that my sister may or may not, so I have to do right and go and really succeed in order for her to want to follow my footsteps,” Shifflett said. Her sister is 15 years old and just starting high school.

Luckily, Shifflett is a veteran of navigating college life already. She’s been a part of the Blue Ridge Scholars Program at HHS for the past two years. She spends three quarters of every school day at Blue Ridge Community College

studying anything from government to family dynamics.

“I took sociology of the family and interpersonal communications. [The Blue Ridge Scholars have] taken English [at BRCC]. I took math there. We took government there,” Shifflett said. “We’re out there more this year, we only have a first block here.”

Like most college students, Shifflett struggles to find a balance between homework and sleep. “[The hardest part about being in the Blue Ridge scholars program] is the workload. It’s not too ridiculous, but you can’t stay up all night to do work because you have to turn around and get up in the morning,” Shifflett said.

Because of the work that comes with the program, Shifflett chose to focus on academics for the last two years of high school.

“I really don’t have time for much. I am involved with Key Club, and my

sophomore year I was involved with this program called Sister to Sister with the Rise program. I used to go to the Boys and Girls Club, but there’s been stuff within school,” Shifflett said. “My junior year I kind of stopped some of the stuff I’m in because...I’m just focusing on school.”

Shifflett’s academic focus continued with the college application process.

She applied early decision to Radford University.

“I want to go to Radford, but not to party. That’s just where I can get my master’s in social work within four years because they have a five year program, and I’ve already got enough credits for one year,” Shifflett said.

Besides Radford, Shifflett applied to five other schools because of her mother’s wishes. “[I haven’t been accepted anywhere yet], but I will hear back in a week from Radford,” Shifflett said. Update: Shifflet was at waitlisted Radford due to her SAT scores.

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN

FOCUS ON THE FUTURE. Senior Delshana Shifflett spends three quarters of her day at Blue Ridge Community College. She is in the Blue Ridge Scholars Program and will recieve an associates degree before she graduates high school.

“I plan on taking the ACT soon,” Shifflet said.

Throughout the application process, Shifflett came across unexpected hurdles.

“My dad is not really involved, and so there’s stuff that I need his infor-

mation for. He’s currently unemployed, and he won’t work at all, so that’s been challenging,” Shifflett said. “With scholarships, I would have to use my stepdad’s information, and then I wouldn’t qualify because he makes too much

[money], and [colleges and scholarship committees] wouldn’t necessarily help me in college. That’s a struggle.”

Shifflett plans on helping children through a degree in social work after college.

Figueroa wants education so she can help mother pay for surgery Faith Runnells Managing Editor There are a variety of student incentives to attend college: success, money, pride, feeling of accomplishment or continuation of knowledge. For senior Charlyne Figueroa, all of these are part of her motivation; however, caring for her mother and family is her top priority. “[My mom] has a bad disc [in her back]. It’s pinching her nerves and the surgery is $20,000,” Figueroa said.

Figueroa plans to attend Blue Ridge Community College [BRCC] to study veterinary assisting.

“I’ve always loved animals deeply, and I don’t want to see them suffering. So the first thing I do [in terms of thinking about a career] is think about animals, because I can’t be a nurse; I’m not really good with people. So animals are my better approach,” Figueroa said.

Many aspects of BRCC interest Figueroa, however the one that stands out for

her the most is the handson programs the school offers.

“In the vet-assisting and the vet-technology program, they have this big barn where you can do hands-on experience with cows and horses. And then they have a lab [where you can perform] surgeries; you get to look at open animals. And it’s really good, because I’m a hands-on learner. I love it, I’ve heard so much about it,” Figueroa said.

Figueroa is a student at Massanutten Technical Center [MTC], where she is able to take part in a veterinary assisting class, along with clinicals twice a week at the local Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals [SPCA] building. “[MTC] really gives me a lot of experience. Plus we get clinicals two times a week… I go [to the SPCA] and I take care of the dogs or the isolation cats. I clean, and I also help with drawing blood,” Figueroa said.

Although Figueroa is a first generation college student, meaning she will be the first from her family to

attend college, she finds a large amount of support from her family at home to continue her studies. “[My parents] help me a lot. I didn’t really know if I wanted to go to college in the first place, but hearing that they never went to college and that they felt bad that they couldn’t do better made me want to do better, so I could help them when I’m older,” Figueroa said.

Figueroa’s plans to be successful revolve mainly around helping her mother be able to receive the surgery she needs to reduce her back pain.

“A couple years ago, [my mom] used to work in the hospital morgue, and there was this 300 pound dead cadaver. It was going to fall off the table so she picked him up, and the doctors told her to let him go, but she didn’t want to because a human is a human, dead or not. So she tried to pick him up, but she pulled something in her back. Ever since, she’s been hurt,” Figueroa said.

The surgery is not accepted by Medicaid, Figueroa’s health care, so

Flores anticipates earning degree Abby Hissong Staff Reporter First. An exciting word. Many people strive to be first, whether that means being first in your class, finishing first in an athletic competition, or simply being first in line to the newest movie. In some cases, however, being first comes with some difficulties, as it involves navigating through uncharted territory.

Many first generation college students face hurdles unknown to peers whose parents have attended college.

First generation students have to navigate the admissions process on their own, and enter the world of college without knowing much of what to expect.

Senior Mark Flores will be the first member of his family to ever attend college.

“I can’t wait to get to

PHOTO BY ABBY HISSONG

college and experience so many new things. My friends and family are really supportive of me, but I like knowing that I am where I am because of all the hard work that I put in,” Flores said.

Flores is a part of multiple volunteer organizations inside the HHS community, including Key Club and Youth Council. This includes participating in several community services ranging from mentoring students through the boys and girls club and

planting trees at parks.

“I’m not really sure what I want to be after college, but I’m thinking about getting my BSW, which is a bachelors degree in social work.

Maybe minoring in psychology, something that works with people,” Flores said.

Flores plans to take advantage of the Blue Ridge Community College’s transfer program.

This means that he will take his first two years of classes at BRCC, earn an associates degree in the subject of his choosing, then transfer to a four year school to work on a bachelor’s degree.

“Hopefully after two years at BRCC I’ll be able to transfer to Texas A&M. I’ve worked really hard to keep my grades up by staying after school and staying focused on my future, so it’s going to be really awesome seeing my hard work pay off soon,” Flores said.

the family must come up with the money for the surgery on their own. Figueroa plans to do this as soon as she can to get her mother out of pain.

“She is very sensitive to the cold. She’s in constant pain. She takes painkillers, but they don’t even work that much. She’s always crying and stuff,” Figueroa said.

Although Figueroa finds benefits in being a first generation student, including bringing pride to her family and becoming closer to success, there are also a variety of burdens that come with it.

“I feel like it puts a lot of pressure on me because if I fail at it somehow I feel like I let [my parents] down…

They’re giving me the opportunity and if I don’t do it or if I don’t do it right, I feel like all the money they put into it and all the time they spent doing it is just going to make them really sad,” Figueroa said.

Figueroa’s continuous education is not only benefiting her, but also her family, who she wants to make proud of her.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHARLYNE FIGUEROA

OPEN WIDE. Charlyne Figueroa tends to a rabbit as a part of her veterinary assistant class at MTC. Figueroa hopes to attend Blue Ridge to study veterinary assisting. “[A further education allows me to] get to tell them what I learn and we can all

share that happiness.. [My mom] is my best friend,” Figueroa said.

Garcia encouraged to attend college Martin Beck Staff Reporter Alberto Garcia is a first generation college student–that is, he is the first person in his family to attend college. “There’s not really a word for it, other than… pressure,” Garcia said. He originally planned on going to Blue Ridge Community College, but had a change of heart when he set his sights elsewhere.

He intends to pursue “something business related.” Garcia is primarily arts oriented, but decided to focus on business; he realized that the arts wouldn’t grant him much financial stability.

“I do all types of things. I draw… I write a lot of music, actually–produce music. I work with glass and customize game consoles, but all those things are minor to big-picture stuff,” Garcia said. “What it comes down to is this: I need something to back me up in [the real world].” After assessing his monetary future, he set his mind on college.

“I could walk into Mc-

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN

Donalds without a degree and work for $7.25 [an hour]. Or, I could walk in as a business manager and work for 40 grand a year,” Garcia said. His primary motivators for ensuring a post-secondary education are his parents.

“I’ve watched [them] struggle. There are a lot of things that need to be payed for. They’ve been making it work, but I’m not sure I can do the same thing.” His friends encourage him to have high aspirations.

“True friends… and my girlfriend,” Garcia clarified.

“It’s all about who’s there with you and who’s been there from the start, you know?”

When it comes to his subjects of choice, Garcia prefers science. Elective-wise, he enjoys cooking, like his father, who has a profession in cooking.

“I’ve spent a couple years with Mrs. Amend.”

Garcia appreciates the diversity of classes and people offered by HHS. “There’s a little bit of everything,” Garcia said. “[If you don’t plan on college,] you need to reevaluate yourself. There are thousands of possibilities– hundreds of thousands.

You can’t limit yourself. Everyone’s going to tell you: there’s not enough money for [college.]” Garcia said. He continues after a pause. “That may be true, but there’s always a way to make it work. If you’re not going to go to college, or you’re not going to try, then you need to find a job as soon as possible.

The world is all about how much money you have. The only thing that’s going to be with you when you have nothing else is money. It opens more doors for you than anyone else could.”

The Newsstreak

December 19, 2014

STYLE-B2

Argument is our specialty Debaters take on fierce competition at JMU Evan Dotas Feature Editor On Friday, Dec. 5, 13 HHS students fled the building during fourth block to compete in the James Madison University debate tournament. The invitational, which lasts two days and has six rounds, is considered a much more competitive tournament than most of the local tournaments.

Junior Karan Chalishajar, who does policy debate, was surprised by the difficulty of the competition.

“We faced five Oakton teams and TA and they were all pretty good,” Chalishajar said. He and his partner, junior Peter Kim, went 0-6 at the tournament, but found reasons to stay positive.

“Despite the fact that we lost, it was a good learning experience and we realized that we were only a couple sentences from winning and that’s really good for our first varsity tournament,” Chalishajar said.

HHS had two teams entered in varsity policy and one in JV. There were also three varsity Lincoln-Douglas debaters and two public-forum teams. Among each of these styles, eight competitors broke to the quarterfinal rounds, where they competed with the best debaters that the tournament had to offer.

The first-time team of sophomores Ar-

ies Ametsreiter and Zach Benevento were the only HHS students to qualify for the public-forum quarterfinals.

“I was really excited. I was a little bit nervous. I was really looking forward to it. Mr. Norment said he couldn’t think of a team specifically from Harrisonburg that was first year and broke to quarter finals,” Ametsreiter said. However, despite winning five of their six preliminary rounds, they lost the quarterfinal round.

“That round was good. I was actually really shocked, and so was everyone else, that we lost. A lot of people were expecting us to win, but I guess the judges didn’t think so,” Ametsreiter said.

One other difference between this tournament and others is that JMU is flighted, which means that half of the teams go at one point and the other half go later.

“I didn’t like all the down time in between rounds. It definitely sucked the life out, because you get this rush when you’re in a round but it’s only 40 minutes and then you have to wait almost an hour to get into another round and it slows down your momentum. That was the only bad part,” Ametsreiter said.

In Lincoln-Douglas, junior Ellie Plass and senior Evan Dotas both lost in the quarterfinal rounds, while seniors Aarash Heydari and Atticus Bolyard lost in the semi-final policy round.

PHOTO BY EVAN DOTAS

FUN ON THE JOB. Junior Ellie Plass smiles during a speech at the James Madison University debate invitational. Plass is a Lincoln-Douglas debater, and qualified for the quarter finals because of her performance throughout the tournament.

If you were on the debate team...

What would you debate?

Debate coaches look forward to coming season Mia Karr Editor-in-Chief

teacher roles are very similar.

“I treat every kid in the class as though they’re full-fledged members of the team,” NorDebate coach Peter Norment said. However, students in ment is now well-versed in the class are often less committraining student debaters, but ted than other debaters, which when he first began in the posican be a challenge for Norment.

PETER NORMENT tion seven years ago, he had no For the debaters that are comdebate experience whatsoever. mitted, Norment cherishes the A student approached Norment relationships he can build. about starting a debate team at “When I look back on my the school, he agreed, and the career so far, all of my realrest is history. ly awesome relationships I’ve “I’m still learning how to run developed have usually been a debate team,” Norment said. through debate.You get to work “You make it up as you go along AARON COSNER with a student more than just that and you see what works and one year that they’re in your class,” what doesn’t work.”

Norment said.

Although Norment is on hand to assist For Norment, the most memorable mohis debaters as they prepare to compete, ment of his debate experience was when he asserts that his job isn’t to come up with one such student, alumnus Jack Adamek, a strategy for them. Rather, he brainstorms came in first place at the state tournament. ideas with them and offers feedback for “The year before [Adamek] had a realwhat the students come up with. He plays ly bad experience....and was on the verge the role of “the ultimate devil’s advocate.” of quitting completely and we just talkThis year, Norment is sharing his coach- ed about it, and he just went all-in and ing duties with fellow English teacher Aar- worked so hard the entire year, and to see on Cosner. it pay off at the end was awesome,” Nor“I have a background in philosophy and ment said. studied logic and argumentation at BridgeAlthough Norment is excited for the water [College],” Cosner said. “Debate’s success of his debaters, winning isn’t his something I was generally involved in since ultimate goal. college, and Mr. Norment asked me to get “I just want to feel like students learned involved.” something...I just want kids, when it’s all Cosner sees many benefits to doing de- over, to feel like they had a really valuable bate. experience,” Norment said.

“Overall, it’s a great way to enhance Cosner has a different goal in mind. students’ communication skills. It boosts “I want us to win, a lot,” Cosner said. students’ confidence in speaking and writ- “I want our current debaters to develop ing,” Cosner said. “And it’s fun to be able into leaders for the next classes...I hope to form an opinion, to form a position on a in coming years that I can help strengthen case and defend it.” our team and take it to state or even naIn addition to meeting with debate tional levels of recognition. I want people students after school, Norment teaches a to be afraid of HHS’s debate team.” debate class. His debate coach and debate

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9 INFOGRAPHIC BY DANNY DOMBROWSKI

Policy debate practice is unique experience Victoria Giron Feature Editor Having never entered the world of debate, I honestly didn’t know what to expect during a routine debate practice, and I happened to choose the realm of debate strange to even most members of the debate team- policy debate.

When I asked senior Aarash Heydari, one of the policy debate team members what exactly policy debate was, he said that it is about speaking fast and being argumentative. In addition to making arguments about policies in the government, the team also tries to find fallacies in the arguments of their competitors.

The beginning of practice featured the members of the team trying to find long difficult documents to read aloud. The longer the words and the harder to pronounce the better. They then set the timer for eight minutes and began reading the passages out loud as fast as they could. The result, was what to me sounded like gibberish, but that might have been because all four of the policy debaters were reading out loud

at the same time. They then had a period of eight minutes when they read backwards.

According to senior policy debater Atticus Bolyard reading backwards is an exercise to help the debaters speak faster.

“Reading backwards helps you say individual words faster instead of just reading sentences,” Bolyard said.

Reading sentences is just too time consuming because you get caught up in what you’re reading and you pause for punctuation marks.

Another pro-tip for policy debate is to not think about what you’re reading, it can slow you down. After the forwards and backwards reading, the debaters start reading while saying chicken in between every other word. Saying chicken in between every other word is harder than it looks and helps with enunciation.

The team then took the rest of the time allotted for practice to discuss possible arguments that other schools would have and how they could tear holes in them.

They also discussed their own arguments and their “cards,” which are scholarly articles that they read as pieces of evidence.

Veteran debaters share stories, tips SENIOR EVAN DOTAS Q: What is debate?

A: Basically debate is a class where a person could learn how to speak better and view both sides of an argument.

Q: What are the categories in debate?

A: Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, Student Congress, and Policy. I participate in Lincoln Douglas which is basically like a one-on-one category in which you talk theoretically and morally.

Q: What is the so called, “Ultimate Prize” in debate?

A: You can win a lot of different tournaments, but the state championship is probably the best.

JUNIOR MALCOLM McGEHEE Q: What is the best part about debate?

A: Winning a round with a side to an argument that you really did not agree with but you were still able to convince someone of it.

Q: Why is debate important to you?

A: Gives me something to do which is really important. Also it helps me discuss new, interesting current events and view each side.

Q: Does it interfere with your social life much?

A: Not really, it is just as much as a commitment as a sport.

INFOGRAPHIC BY JULEIAN CAPPELL

PHOTO BY VICTORIA GIRON

THE FASTER, THE BETTER. Juniors Peter Kim (front) and Karan Chalishajar practice simultaneously. Reporter Victoria Giron observed the practice and was surprised by the multitude of different things the policy debaters did to speak quickly.

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December 19, 2014

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Firehouse Subs live up to reputation Julexus Cappell Social Media Editor

I’m a picky eater and I am not easy to please, so when I pulled into the Firehouse Subs parking lot I was expecting your typical sandwich joint. Prior to my dine-in experience, I asked around to see if the food would live up to the hype that I’ve heard. Most responses I got were “it’s expensive, but good” or “it’s better than Subway,” but it was time for me to give it a go.

I walked in and was pleased by the atmosphere immediately-- fire station decorum, red chairs and tables, and even replica plastic firemen hats for little kids, which I will admit with no shame that I wanted.

As I got in line, I noticed a rack lined with an assortment of different potato chips. There were barbeque, dill pickle, sour cream, and my personal favorite, oven baked and plain. I ap-

preciated that they had not only your typical brands, but a healthy option as well.

When I placed my order, I got the Italian sub which consists of genoa salami, pepperoni, Virginia ham, and some usual sandwich fixings like lettuce, mayo, tomato, and a spear pickle on the side.

I got a combo and that comes with a drink, and when the cashier asked for my name for the order and handed me a cup, I stared at it for a moment… it was huge. Too big for my liking. I was ecstatic to see that Firehouse had a Coke Freestyle machine though, aka the soda machine that gives you an option of over 120 different drinks. I gladly pushed for vanilla Coca-Cola and went to sit.

When one of the employees brought me my food after no more than seven minutes, I noticed that it was not what I asked for. Wheat bread, I ordered white. Olives, definitely

didn’t want those. Not the same kind of meat I wanted. It took me a minute to realize they hadn’t messed up my order, but that they gave me the wrong sandwich… whoops. I went to the front and they apologetically took the sandwich back and brought mine out a few moments later. Finally, I thought. Let’s get to business.

This is definitely an upgrade from Subway. My sandwich was at least twice as thick than their Italian sub. Firehouse clearly wasn’t as stingy, which was a definite plus.

I took off the top piece of bread to make sure everything was correct, and I guess I didn’t pay attention to the menu because my sandwich was adorned with peppers, which it came with. YUCK, I thought as I scraped them off-- not their fault though, I should have spoken up.

After I got all of that off, the sandwich was delicious. All of the flavors

PHOTO BY JULEXUS CAPPELL BETTER CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. The Italian Sub at Firehouse Subs can be found at 1820 Evelyn Bird Ave. your next paycheck (just of the meats blended fab- fectly crunchy. ulously, and I could actuMy meal cost around being honest, it’s a strugally differentiate betwixt $10, so it didn’t break the gle out there). You get your the three. It was toasted, bank, but this wouldn’t be money’s worth at this place cheesy, and filling, and the the place to go if you have though. Overall I give it 8 pickle on the side was per- $27 in your account until out of 10 stars.

Man on the street: What makes a sandwich?

Freshman Shenah Kabachy “[Sandwiches are] something with bread and stuff.”

Sophomore Alan Sanchez “[Sandwiches are] something that’s good with two pieces of bread on the outside with ham, cheese, lettuce, mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise. That stuff’s good.”

Colonel Roy McCutcheon “A sandwich must involve bread. Just no flatbread. A roll isn’t a sandwich.”

Secretary Veronica Ortiz “I think cheese makes a sandwich really good because it adds flavor.”

Junior Karla Gonzalez “[Sandwiches are] life fulfilling. It’s a healthy, quick snack.”

Senior Alex Posada “[Sandwiches are] two pieces of bread and things in the middle.”

Infographic by Hunter Manzano

Anthony’s is more than just good pizza Ali Price Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY PHOEBE COPELAND THE MEAL DEAL. The special at Subway includes a 6-inch sub, chips and a drink.

Subway has recognizable aroma of freshly-baked bread Phoebe Copeland Staff Reporter Everyone knows that instant feeling of comfort that surrounds you when you walk into a Subway, as the delicious aromas of meat, cheese, and freshly baked bread waft about your nostrils. This trip to Subway was no different.

As soon as I escaped the frigid outdoors, I was embraced by the warm, tasty aromas of the store.

I spent a few moments deliberating about what to get, then approached the counter to order my sand-

wich.

The employee who took my order had been patiently waiting for my to make up my mind and by the time I had decided, was waiting to serve me. I told her the type of sandwich and the toppings I wanted and within moments I was paying for my meal, sandwich in hand.

I decided to purchase their meal deal which, for $8.09, got me a 6-inch sub, barbeque chips, and a large bottle of sweet tea.

The sandwich was delicious. The bacon, chicken, and ranch, perfectly melding together to make each

bite full of flavor. These delicious toppings were complimented nicely by the Italian Herbs and Cheese bread upon which they rested.

The chips were a little below average but that might have had to do more with my choice than the chips themselves.

The sweetness of the tea was a nice addition to the rest of my savory meal.

Overall, the experience was quick, pleasant, and cheap, the perfect meal option when you’re strapped for time but don’t want to sacrifice quality for speed.

Quality made-to-order food found at Sheetz John Earle Staff Reporter Gas station food really has never been that appealing and usually it’s just a stop where you grab a bag of chips and a Coca Cola and you’re gone.

Sheetz provides customers with a quality menu of subs, salads, and pizza that will be made while you find a drink and a bag of chips.

At Sheetz, I ordered the Cali Turkey Flatbread, which was a good choice.

The sub had bacon, turkey, swiss cheese, tomatoes, mayo, lettuce, and guacamole. I never really liked guacamole, but it isn’t as bad as it sounds.

The sub could’ve had more cheese. I found near the last bites that there was more lettuce, bacon, and turkey than anything else.

The bacon, turkey combo helped add to the flavor of the sub. The sub did have too many tomatoes which led to me picking a few off to avoid the mess later on.

Sheetz offers a great made-to-order menu, but the one problem that I faced when I timed on my phone from the moment I sent in my order to when I picked it up and I got 11:25.

This is a little long for a typical grab-and-go at a gas station, but it was well worth the wait.

Despite the wait, the staff did provide good customer service by always having a smile and keeping calm as they could tell that I waited a while.

For struggling college (or high school) students, Anthony’s Campus Pizza couldn’t offer a better deal on food.

Though I’ve been familiar with Anthony’s for awhile, I’ve never really strayed outside my tried and true tradition of getting a stromboli or calzone whenever I order from there. This time, however, I picked a sub. After perusing the menu online, I ordered a chicken parmesan sub, using Anthony’s dinner deal. This deal includes a ten-inch sub, fries, and a canned drink for $6.99.

The sub was delicious. It wasn’t so hot that it burned my tongue when I first bit into it, but it wasn’t cold, either. The chicken was breaded, and, instead of contrasting with the goo-

ey mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce, it worked with them to create a cohesive flavor.

The fries that came with the sub were different from ordinary fast food fries. Instead of being shoestring cut fries doused in salt, they were crinkle cut fries with seasoning sprinkled liberally on them.

One thing that should be noted about Anthony’s is that it’s not your typical restaurant, or even your typical pizza place. Located on South Main Street across from Wells Fargo, it’s a little storefront nestled in between other similarly sized stores, all of which share one tiny parking lot along the front that gets a little bigger towards the side of the strip.

That said, parking can be difficult, and maneuvering out of the parking lot after getting your food can be

dangerous.

As Anthony’s has such a small interior, you will likely want to get your food to go.

The inside gives you a clear view into the kitchen, and the cooks will often joke with you as they prepare your meal.

To the right of this is a small dining area, consisting of one table and two benches that face each other. On the wall right beside them is a piece of graffiti bearing the word “Anthony’s” with a pizza underneath. All of this lends to Anthony’s relaxed atmosphere, which sets it apart from other sub or pizza places that attempt to give you the feeling of semi-fine dining. Anthony’s has no such illusions about itself.

All in all, Anthony’s is an enjoyable place to turn to when you’re strapped for cash and just feel like hanging out at your house.

Jimmy Johns serves right-size subs Victoria Giron Online Editor

The Jimmy Johns atmosphere makes you feel like you are at a trendy local sandwich shop, not a well advertised commercial chain. The biggest part of the store is the menu, which features cleverly named sandwiches and their descriptions. Although, this isn’t a sandwich shop where you can create your own sandwich, the subs are still good enough to order.

The only problem with the menu is that it seems very small and you have very limited options.

I decided to get a Vito. The Vito is a sub that comes with salami, provolone, capicola, onions, lettuce, and tomato. It also comes with a vinaigrette, but I decided against it because I’ve always disliked sauces and their tastes.

The staff at Jimmy Johns pride themselves on being quick, and they were. They gave me my sandwich within three minutes of ordering it. They were also very pleasant and just generally nice people.

PHOTO BY VICTORIA GIRON FASTER THAN FAST. The Vito can be found at either of the two Jimmy Johns in the ‘Burg.

The sandwich was eight inches. Not too big, not too little, the perfect size. The sub was pretty delicious, this was mostly due to the blend of zesty italian meats.

The meat is complemented nicely by crisp onions and tomatoes. I liked the lettuce too, however I think there was enough lettuce on my sandwich to make a

side salad if I wanted to.

Although Jimmy Johns isn’t somewhere that I’d instinctively go to on a day out (but that might just be because I’m not a sandwich person), it does have delicious sandwiches. If one day, I’m craving a sub that’ll be served to me quickly, I’ll make sure to hit up Jimmy Johns.

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December 19, 2014

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Many applying for summer governor’s school programs Ellie Plass Online managing editor Getting to spend your summer doing something that you love is a dream come true for many passionate high schoolers.

If you add living away from home, training from well-respected professionals and the company of other people who enjoy what you do just as much, you get the Summer Residential Governor’s School program.

The program includes strands in the arts such as dance, instrumental music, voice, and theatre and strands concerning academics such as agriculture, humanities and math.

The school is allowed to send four nominees for each of the academic branches

of the school, except for agriculture which permits only two. Those people are scored, and their scores determine who gains access. Just because someone is one of the nominees from HHS doesn’t mean he or she will gain admission. Many of the areas are extremely competitive, marine science in particular only allows entry to six students in the state of Virginia.

For those auditioning in a type of the arts, a live audition is required. HHS has many students hoping to gain access to the competitive school.

Among these students is junior Laura Ruple, who plans to audition on the Oboe. She has already participated in Senior Regional Orchestra and has made City/County Honor band as the first chair player.

“My dad used to be a part of the staff, so I’ve known about the course load forever. I also had a friend go this past summer and she really enjoyed it,” Ruple said. “Since I’m always looking for places to play and grow as a musician, it seemed like the perfect place.”

Junior Jaymie Inouye, who is no stranger to the HHS stage, will be trying to gain admission to the theatre strand of the program. She has acted in three one-act productions, including two that won the state competition, and will have been in three musicals by the end of this year.

“I’m always looking to be able to improve and hone my skills to the best of my ability,” Inouye said. “I feel like taking advantage of every opportunity.”

Gail Collins has been working with HHS when it comes to the program since 2005.

She helps students with their applications, and ensures the competitive process goes smoothly.

“Students come back every year who have done it and have just been so impressed with the quality of the instructors who are teaching, the quality of students and the extra time, since it’s residential with what’s offered during their free time,” Collins said. “They’re living in dorms so they’re with other students from around the state, and I think that’s a big part of their enjoyment [in the program].”

The applicants will find out about their acceptance, alternate acceptance, or denial towards the end of the school year.

Band members love decorating instruments to march in Christmas parade AUTHOR from A1

just a different sort of reward, because we get to go have fun with it rather than compete with it, which is a different sort of fun,” Reynolds said.

Although they’re similar being the only two parades the band performs in, head band director Daniel Upton believes the Veteran’s Day parade and Christmas parade serve different purposes.

“The Veteran’s Day parade is about us recognizing those who served for our country and made sacrifices for us, so it’s a very emotional type of performance, whereas this one is more of celebrating the holiday season with the community. The [students] have a great time, they get to decorate their instruments, they get to wear holiday hats and things like that, so it’s a little more light-hearted for them. It’s just more of a fun type of event versus the serious and recognition type that some of our other ones are,” Upton said.

As for rehearsals, the band met in November and then again the week leading up to the parade, going into the Friday event with a total of three rehearsals under their belt. Although it may sound like a short amount of rehearsal time at first, this music was nothing new to the majority of them.

“It’s the same tune that we do every year, so our upperclassmen are familiar with it and then the day of the event, we prepare with decorations and uniforms, but we hadn’t rehearsed since Wednesday,” Upton said.

The rehearsal process goes in stages, starting with individual music and eventually combining it all with the march.

“Back in November, when we had our musical rehearsal where we did mostly sectionals, the trumpets would rehearse together to learn their parts, the clarinets together, the drum line etc. At the beginning of each rehearsal this week, we did some sectionals, just so we could reassure those individual parts. Then we did a full

band ensemble rehearsal and then we’d go into marching out in the parking lot,” Upton said.

Unlike competition band or their performances at halftime of football games, Reynolds is not conducting the band, therefore the drum line is tasked with keeping the band in time.

“The drum line has a little bit more responsibility, they have actually two tunes that they have to do. They do the tune that the band does and then their drum cadence, so they play non stop while the wind players get a little bit of a break every other time,” Upton said.

Although there may be more pressure on them, Upton believes they have handled it well. “[The drum line] gets excited about having that little feature in front of the crowd, so that’s a little motivation for them to get a little more excited. It’s a younger group and they worked really hard to come together, prepare and make sure that everyone is on the same page with what’s going on,” Upton said.

Instrument decorations were a major focus leading up to the parade.

“The guidelines to the parade say that every entrance needs to have lights and be decorated and bands don’t usually do that, but we decided ‘yes, we’re going to go for that’, so it’s fun for the section to do little themes with their instruments. It’s another way to get excited, besides the performing aspect of it,” Upton said.

Along with the band’s general attitude towards it, Upton enjoys the more mellow process. “[My teaching approach] is a little more relaxed, just because it’s a more light-hearted performance. The nice part is sophomores, juniors and seniors have done the music before, so it’s not a matter of teaching the whole band the music, just the freshmen class,” Upton said.

Senior Selena Lovo is part of the drum line, so she has the extra responsibility of

Think before your speak WORDS from A5 time, prior to this, that I got a stare as blank as the one I received. “… So does the book?”

“I mean I guess, but the book just defines some words, this is more in depth.”

“Can’t you just read the book?”

OH. Remind me to never try to help you again, was my immediate thought. I was heated, but I composed myself. I told the person “Sheesh. I’m just trying to help, but alright.”

Suppose I took the person completely wrong, which I’m sure I’ll eventually write a blog on that some time in life, because it happens. Sometimes we don’t always have it right, but readers… it was one of those ‘you had to be there’ moments. The tone and look dished out screamed “WHY ARE YOU EVEN IN AN AP CLASS? YOU CAN’T EVEN READ SHAKESPEARE!”

The day kept going and it was still on my mind. Was I dumb? Really, was I just not as decent in English as I thought?

No, but they sure made me feel that way for a moment.

I’m glad that conversation happened.

Yet again, I was reminded of something that I need to hold onto. Imagine how different it would have been if the person would have just said “Maybe just try reading the book?” I wouldn’t have written this column, that’s for sure. But they didn’t, and here I am. This column has become a learning journey for me. When I share my anecdotes for the internet [like this one] it’s not to say “People need to stop doing this” or “I’m glad I don’t do that” but more of a “Geez, I’ve been there. I know how it is and I’m trying to get past it, maybe I can help someone else along the way.”

It isn’t what you say, it’s how you say it.

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keeping the band in time. “[Leading the band] is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but as the season goes on, it gets easier because you get to know everybody and know how they work, so you know different ways to lead,” Lovo said.

Entering her final Christmas parade with the band, Lovo reflected on the good experiences she’s had in previous ones.

“My freshman year, we were marching through and nobody knew about the horse poop in the road, so everybody was step-

ping in the horse poop,” Lovo said.

The 2013 Christmas parade was canceled because of bad weather, which meant the freshman (now sophomores) didn’t experience it until this year. One such sophomore is Cecily Lawton. “[Missing the parade] was kind of a bummer because we practiced all of last year for this parade and then it didn’t happen, so I think everybody is pretty excited to do it this year, because it’s been a while,” Lawton said.

Have a safe and happy holiday break!

Get caught up on your sleep, your studies and your preparation for your SOLs and end-of-semester exams.

Townhouses: Apartments:

December 19, 2014

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December 19, 2014

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Although young, gymnastics team improving quickly Lucie Rutherford Staff Reporter Compared to last year, the HHS gymnastics team has grown in size, adding many new freshman faces

to the team, many more than previous years. With a bigger team and new faces comes new challenges. An increase in discipline and conditioning are a couple of the implementations Coach

Michael King has added to practices.

“We have a pretty young team,” King said. “We still have three seniors on the team, but everyone else is underclassmen.”

PHOTO BY FAITH RUNNELLS

REMEMBER; POINT YOUR TOES Senior Meagan Roberts performs a back walkover warming up for a gymnastics practice on Dec. 8. The team practices every day from 5-7 p.m. in the auxiliary gym.

Michael King has been coaching gymnastics for as long as anyone can remember. 34 years to be exact.

“I got involved in gymnastics in my college, I had to help teach gymnastics classes for my major,” King said.

With all 34 years being at HHS, gymnasts respect him as one of the most experienced coaches out there. King is currently teaching physical education at Stone Spring Elementary School, though he has taught at Keister, Thomas Harrison, and Spotswood Elementary. King has also coached track and field and football throughout the years during the gymnastics off season. Many girls on the HHS team have gotten involved in gymnastics through King, by being coached or taught by him during previous years.

Sophomore Jadah Kilby-Woodward is one of these gymnasts.

“I started in seventh grade when I had King as a track coach and he introduced me to it,” Kilby-Woodward said, “and I’ve been doing it since.”

Woodward specializes in vault, where she runs down the padded runway, vaults off the springboard onto the platform with her hands, and lands in a standing position.

Being on the team last year, Kilby-Woodward explains the new addition of young gymnasts this year.

With all of these gymnasts

High expectations drive track team Sam Imeson Online Editor For the HHS track team, coming off of a productive 2013-2014 season that saw the girls team win a conference championship and had both the guys and girls team send individual runners to the state meet, expectations are high for not only returning runners, but rookies as well.

Senior Tim Zepp competes in the 300 meter sprint, 55 meter hurdles, and the high jump.

“Our 4x400 meter relay team went to states last year, so getting back there is definitely a goal we have for this year,” Zepp said.

Brooke Cobb, a senior sprinter who competes in the 55 meter hurdles, relays, and the long jump, also shares the same expectations as Zepp.

“Last year we obviously had a lot of success with being conference championships and this year we have a really strong group of girls. Our talent is really spread out throughout the team this year,” Cobb said.

The boys team, unlike the girls who have returning experience, will have to make up for talent lost to graduation. However, Zepp believes with hard work, the team can perform up to expectations.

“We had a lot of good distance runners and a couple sprinters that really helped last year graduate, so we are going to have to work extra hard to get back to where we were,” Zepp said.

Helping the boys and girls teams meet their expectations is a mix of young and old coaches. After losing three coaches from last season, long time track

starting as freshmen, many of them will need to be shown the ropes on being a high school gymnast. Veterans on the team such as Woodward are expected to show the freshman how meets work, how to act in practice, and how to get through the season as a team.

“We have a lot of freshman, so I think that we are going to do a lot of teaching new skills and working towards more self-improvement,” Kilby-Woodward said.

Even though King has been with this team for such a long time, some disciplinary changes are still being made to the practices this season.

“We condition a lot more, that’s for sure,” senior Krishna Goradia said, “and we don’t talk as much.”

Goradia began her gymnastics career in fourth grade, when she had Coach King as a teacher. Knowing that he was involved in gymnastics, she gave it a try and fell in love with it.

As a senior this year, Goradia has had lots of experience, trying all the different events, her favorite being beam and bars.

“My favorite part about beam is the variety of things you can do on it and how challenging it is. The best part about bars is that it’s so pretty to watch and it’s fast paced,” Goradia said.

Beam is an event for fe-

male gymnasts only where the gymnast stands on a small, thin beam that is raised from the floor. From there the gymnast does tricks and balancing acts to impress the judges. Unlike beam, bar is an event performed by both male and female. Gymnasts perform spins and tricks holding on to a horizontal bar that is raised at different heights above the floor, held by a system of cables and supports.

In a meet, gymnasts are introduced to the audience and judges one by one. They make their way around to each event to warm-up and eventually come back around to their main event(s) to compete.

Being judged from a scale of one to ten, gymnasts are determined to do their best. With their first meet held on Dec. 3, the team had to quickly get ready for the new season.

“We are doing a lot of conditioning, a lot of routines, and just trying to get everything together before the first meet,” Goradia said.

The team’s first meet was on Dec. 17, where the team competed against the team of Turner Ashby High School. The team plans perform well throughout the season.

“This season we hope to do our best,” Goradia said. “We have a lot of new gymnasts so the goal is to be comfortable with them competing.”

What’s your favorite winter sport?

coach Gary Bugg is returning to help coach the boys along with newly added coach, biology teacher Jerry Hertzler. Another new addition to the girls coaching staff is HHS alumna Tricia Comfort.

Senior Tori Armentrout has been a sprinter since her freshman year. She competes in the 55 meter sprint, the 500 meter sprint, and both the 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays.

“It’s definitely different than last year because we lost coaches, but the coaches we have this year are great and I’m looking forward to working with them,” Armentrout said.

Armentrout has confidence in her team.

“If we can all work as hard as we did last year, I don’t see why the teams we have couldn’t get back to where we were last season,” Armentrout said.

12% Wrestling 8% Gymnastics

23% Indoor Track

46% Basketball

11% Swim/Dive INFOGRAPHIC BY BRIANA RODRIGUEZ AND FAITH RUNNELLS

Kababchy believes wrestling team has potential Aarash Heydari Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY FAITH RUNNELLS

STARTING OFF THE POINT. Junior Anthony Cruz (right) and junior Jesus Carcamo (left) wrestle each other at a practice on Dec. 10. The wrestling team practices every day in the multipurpose room along with many trips to the weight room. The team works on strength, agility and stability.

Pairs of brawny, fierce-looking participants rolling around a mat may not be the prettiest thing to watch, but wrestling is far more than meets the eye. In fact, it’s not just ‘rolling around at all: It’s a sport of control -control of momentum, muscles, and center of gravity.

Physical strength will give a combatant the edge in these duels, but as senior Yad Kababchy notes, “It will take a lot more than strength to beat a good wrestler.”

This year marks Kababchy’s fourth on the HHS wrestling team, and he’s optimistic about this year’s prospects.

“We have a lot of young wrestlers,” Kababchy said. “But we

showed that we could win some matches at our last meet. Once the younger guys get a bit more experience, I think we will do great.”

Although the team had gained multiple new young wrestlers, not much else has varied from last year.

“The team isn’t much different from last year,” Kababchy said. “We only lost three seniors, so the main difference is the number of new wrestlers.”

The team has already been practicing for several weeks.

Wrestling practices are all about getting physically and mentally ready for competitions.

“You practice hard, you compete hard,” says Kababchy. “It helps a lot, but getting on the mat and competing is the best way for someone to know how it’s going to be. You can try new

things at practices but at a meet is when you find out whether or not it works in the heat of the moment.”

What makes a great wrestler?

Kababchy says it’s in the heart.

“A wrestler with heart has the will to win and will work through pain to beat the odds. Strength and speed are important, but if you’re devoted to wrestling then you pick those up along the way.

But devotion isn’t something you can learn.”

In Kababchy’s opinion, wrestling is often overlooked in terms of difficulty.

“Most people don’t realize how hard of a sport wrestling is,” says Kababchy. “Most people think it is just a bunch of sweaty guys going at each other, but there’s a big element of strategy that no one ever sees. It tests every part of your body and mind.”

Underclassmen contribute to swim team’s large size Atticus Bolyard Staff Reporter

The HHS swim and dive team is gearing up for another season. This year, the goals are even loftier.

Senior Merrill Harmison thinks this year’s team has a lot of potential.

“We lost some of our top scoring seniors, but the juniors and seniors this year are a force to be reckoned with. Add in a promising underclass, and I think we’ve got a recipe for success,” Harmison said.

Although the team faces a shortage of older swimmers, fielding only three seniors, it has almost doubled in size since last year. Most of the growth can be attributed to underclassmen, as well as 8th-graders from HCPS middle schools.

Senior Austin Bell explained that although the middle schoolers aren’t allowed to score points at meets, they can still compete and practice with the team, which can benefit the team as well.

“They are getting a great workout and improving their swimming from an earlier age, which is awesome,” Bell said.

Harmison was even more optimistic, predicting that this year’s class of eighth-graders practicing with the team will be “great” if they stick with practicing and being with the team.

The seniors emphasized the importance of leadership for the young team.

Bell and senior Abby Strickler said they have

taken on a much larger role this year as captains.

“A big part of my role is helping [the younger kids] learn the ropes,” Strickler said. She said that the seniors are partly responsible for running the team smoothly, along with Coach Richard Morrell. Morrell is assisted by Ashley Riley, a former HHS swimmer returning to help out her old team.

According to Harmison, a lot of little things are crucial to the success of the team, like showing new

people what to bring to the meet, giving rides, and maintaining an inclusive team atmosphere.

Both Strickler and Bell described the team as close, and said that their relationships with teammates, as well as the coaches, is one of their favorite parts of being on the team.

The swim team kicked off the year at TA on Dec. 4. The team has been practicing for two hours a day since Nov. 10, working on both dry land strength ex-

ercises and water drills.

Although suffering from setbacks, such as not having enough lane space to practice in or up-to-date equipment, the seniors are ready to make the most out of the year.

Bell hopes to go to states and thinks he could be joined by many teammates.

“We have all made improvements from last year’s season,” Bell said.

“We all seem to be faster and motivated to push ourselves harder.”

The Newsstreak

December 19, 2014

SPORTS-B7

Color guarders build experience through winter guard Ariel Vogel Style Editor During the halftime show at home football games, the marching band takes the field to perform for the public. The musicians walk in tight lines, weaving in and out of each other to create different images, shapes and effects.

Their tight, regulated style is offset, however, by a group of girls in sparkly eye makeup who throw massive flags twice their size into the air like the banners are weightless, all while spinning and threading themselves between the structured musicians.

Color guard, a part of the marching band, takes place every year during football--and marching band--season as they dance their way through competitions. The season doesn’t end there for the ladies of the guard, though.

“Winter guard is basically color guard inside without the marching band. [There are still] flags, rifles, dance, sabers,” junior Felicia Tran said. She’s been on the color guard team since her freshman year and joined the winter guard team last year. Junior Hannah Tyler, the captain of the team, has been on color guard for all three years and is also on the winter guard team open to high school students at JMU.

“My coach from JMU talked to me about it because I really love guard,” Tyler said. “High school students from anywhere [in the area] can do it and college students do it.” The group open to high schoolers is known as the purple group while the college-student-only team is gold.

Sophomore Emma Nouri, also involved in color guard since her freshman year, was recruited for the JMU team around the same time.

“My color guard instructor, Caitlin, knows the people who run winter guard so she kind of talked me into it. Some people on the team wanted to do it so I thought it would be a good experience,” Nouri said.

The part of winter guard she most enjoys is not necessarily the guard aspect so much as the guard-ians themselves.

“I got to meet a lot of new people which was really cool. High school students and college students [were] in the one I was in so I got a new variety of people to hang out with,” Nouri said. Tyler connected with the winter guard team as well, but on a different level.

“You get to go be with guard people.

[Guard] is what they really like to do so you’re around people that have the same passion as you,” Tyler said.

Winter guard is, similarly to marching band, a competitive event. The team travels to various places in Virginia to oppose

other teams, some competitions taking place hours away, to perform their pieces.

“We were divided into classes, so it was more of a fair chance,” Nouri said. The drives, even to practices, were too long for Nouri.

“The practices were at Fort Defiance so that was a commute and it was really time consuming,” Nouri said. It wasn’t all bad in the end, though.

“Practices were long and it took up a lot of my time, but I still liked it,” she said. She does still prefer color guard to its indoor counterpart.

“It’s the more traditional [form] and we got to do things for the school which was nice.

PHOTO BY EMMA NOURI [Winter guard] was a bunch of WINTER TWIRLERS. HHS sophomore Emma Nouri different high schools combined into one and I’m closer with peo- (left) and JMU student Madison Pappano (right) perple on color guard here,” Nouri form for the purple team. said. Tran agreed, even though of color guard. Tran added that this general she liked getting to know people at JMU. passion for the sport led to increased focus “I probably prefer marching band, [be- at practices and competitions. cause] I like the interesting shows we get “The atmosphere is different because to do,” Tran said. it’s more serious [and] more focused on Tyler, on the other hand, appreciates color guard and not just how you fit in one the closeness she has with the other win- big band,” Tran said. ter guard members from their mutual love

Adult players teach teens in pick-up hockey games

Evan Dotas Feature Editor In the bitter winter months, many people run from one place to another to avoid the harsh weather.

But on Saturday afternoons, a group of people, including some HHS students, go to the armory to brace the brisk winds to play a traditional sport: hockey.

Given the lack of an ice hockey rink within a close proximity of the city, fans of the sport have resorted to street hockey in a parking lot. Most of these fans are middle-aged men who love the game, but a group of HHS students started playing with them about two years ago. One such student is sophomore Jon Aigner.

“My friends and I were going over to the armory

to play hockey for [sophomore Aries Ametsreiter]’s birthday, and we realized that there were still people playing,” Aigner said. “We played with them and then they told us that they actually came out three times a week.”

Sophomore Seth Bontrager admitted that the change in player competition was really a shock at first.

“Originally, we just started out playing amongst our friend group, so it was a big step up in difficulty when we started playing with older people. They amazed us with how good they were,” Bontrager said. Likewise, sophomore Zach Benevento was surprised at first, but notes the obvious change in his own ability.

“It was a whole new level. We started out with these really bad hockey

sticks with this plastic part at the end and then we’ve slowly gotten better and now we play on skates, which adds a whole other level. We’ve improved so much,” Benevento said.

Sophomore Mark Shindyapin, who started playing last year, still feels that playing with older people is difficult.

“They’ve been playing since they were 12 and now they’re 45 and that’s all they do. They’ll run circles around you and you won’t even know what’s going on,” Shindyapin said.

However, he still thinks that the experience is very entertaining.

“It’s a really fun sport.

It’s something that I’m good at. It’s fun, you can go do it every Saturday, it doesn’t take that much time, it’s a hobby where you don’t need a lot of skill to start,”

Shindyapin said.

Some students praised the older players for being helpful rather than condescending.

“They give you tips and stuff on what to do. Everybody’s nice there, they’re all friends. It’s not like you’re singled out. It’s just fun when you’re playing with people older than you and when you do well, it’s actually satisfying. It’s not just like gym hockey,” Aigner said.

Bontrager appreciates the memories that are made, even when they are scary.

“One time, we usually just warm up and shoot on the goalies to warm them up before we start playing a game. One time I shot it, went over the goal, over the net behind the goal, and into the road and a car happened to be coming by

right as that happened so it hit the hood of the car.

It was pretty terrifying but the guy came in and he just checked the spot and he was fine with it. He wasn’t mad,” Bontrager said.

Of course, hockey is not without its fair share of injuries. The same holds true in amateur street hockey.

“I turned to talk to one of my friends who was sitting out. I was like ‘Oh hey, did you do that homework?’ or something along those lines, and one of the older guys, Gary, backhanded [the ball] and it hit me right in the chest, right in the sternum. I looked like Iron Man for a few days,” Aigner said. Though Shindyapin has not played as long as Aigner, he has also felt the pain of the game.

“One time I came in cargo shorts, and I fell and so they split open. And

then this kid that came, he wasn’t really experienced and he tried to shoot and the ball went right through the hole in my shorts and hit me [where it hurts],” Shindyapin said. These experiences aren’t just a thing of the past, either.

“Just this past Saturday, I was going hard into the boards to get the ball, and this other guy was on skates and he wears a helmet so I came in there and just nailed him and I hit my head really bad against his head. It still hurts right now,” Benevento said. But despite the potential danger involved, the students still greatly enjoy the whole experience.

“The whole memory of doing it is super awesome.

It’s not super competitive but it’s still really fun and everyone gets along,” Benevento said.

Recreational athletes enjoy snowboarding, skiing outside of school Randee Rose-Joven Staff Reporter Snowboarding and skiing function as both recreational activities and competitive winter sports.

With a large amount of snow already blanketing many of the states, there are now resorts open to go and enjoy these sports.

Junior Aaron Gusler snowboards with his friends at Massanutten. “[I go] after swim practice. Usually from 6-9 on school nights, and all day on Saturdays and Sundays,” Gusler said. “It’s a release from everything else, you don’t have to worry about school and just snowboard.”

Although, he doesn’t like how cold and wet he gets afterwards.

Gusler recalls a fall that

he took one time. through Friday and every Saturdays, this pass will be “I went off a jump that night, although from Dec. valid only during the night was way too big, then I 26 through Jan. 2 and on session, which begins at 5 just, like, face plantp.m. and lasts uned pretty much. That til closing. was pretty rough.

From March And I think I got a 1, 2015 through concussion, but I the end of the didn’t get it treated,” season, the pass Gusler said. “For the will be valid day rest of the day, I was and/or night. A out of it, and it was student or adult kind of crappy.” full season pass He mentions that both allow for it’s quite expensive. unlimited skiing A season pass could or snowboardcost more than $200, ing, but rates are “plus a snowboard higher with $375 and boots.” Gusler for students and said his approximate $450 for adults. budget for all his Senior Hannah gear was $500, with Durden started the boots about $50 skiing in the sixth and the snowboard grade and says around $100. it’s a fun sport.

At MassanutHer skis were PHOTO COURTESY OF AARON GUSLER given to her as ten, a Special Value SHRED POWDER. Junior Aaron Gusler is a Pass costs $219 and a birthday prescommitted snowboarder during the winis valid on Sunday ent. She goes on ter months.

weekend nights with her brother or friends.

Durden said she has snapped a pair of skis before.

“It got stuck in a jump, and I sprained my ankle really bad,” Durden said. “I wasn’t able to ski for three weeks, so I got really cautious after that.”

When going downhill she said that she doesn’t think about it at the time.

“After, your legs start hurting, but you don’t realize it when you’re actually going down because you’re having [an] adrenaline [rush],” Durden said. “My least favorite thing: falling. It sucks.”

Both Durden and Gusler have gone down the black diamond slope [the most advanced in the resort] before.

“It feels like you’re floating on a cloud if the snow

is nice,” Gusler said. “But it’s also really scary because you’re going really fast.”

Trying different tricks when snowboarding is one of the ways junior Abner Johnson said he gets better at it. He started in middle school as well and this is his favorite sport. He and his friends like to go on the weekends or after school.

“I try what I can,” Johnson said. “It’s an individual sport, so I just do whatever I want. No one really tells me to do anything.”

Get ready and get your gear. Other skiing/snowboarding resorts include Wintergreen Resort which is located adjacent to Blue Ridge Parkway in Central Virginia. Another spot would be at Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort in Snowshoe, West Virginia.

Futsal league underway for season Taekwondo is serious, Jessica Nguyen Online Editor The FIFA World Cup may be celebrated worldwide but to the HHS Spanish Club, the annual futsal tournament trumps everything.

With eight teams of HHS students-Guerreros, Black Wolves, Profesores, Catacamas, Hot Shots, Dortmund, El Salvador, Centroaméricaand one team with Turner Ashby students, the T.A. Strikers, teams play nine friendly matches before the championship tournament begins in January.

There are no actual tryouts. Students who are already on teams invite their friends to fill any empty spots or groups of friends come together to start a brand new team-which is what senior Luis Vargas did.

“I started playing in the

tournament my freshman year,” Vargas said, “I had some friends that invited me to play with them and we just made a team. Our team name is Catacamasit’s a city in Honduras.”

Senior Bayron Lobo plays goalie for the same team.

“When I was a freshman, Henry Gote asked me to be on his team, and I kept playing because it was fun,” Lobo said.

Spanish teacher Philip Yutzy may oversee the tournament, but in the end it all comes down to the students.

“In 2006, a group of students in Spanish Club came up with the idea. The tournament has grown since then,” Yutzy said. “Two years ago, some of the officers voted on whether or not to allow students from other schools to participate. They decided that

they could, so since that time, we have allowed it.”

Finding a location for futsal, the indoor version of soccer, was difficult for Yutzy.

“We tried originally to get the tournament in our gym, but it’s so busy because of basketball and all the other winter sports-we weren’t able to do that,” Yutzy said.

Luckily the Boys and Girls Club opened their doors and even took responsibility for contracting referees.

Lobo remembers being the reigning champions two years ago only to come in third place last year.

“The T.A. Strikers won last year, which was really embarrassing,” Lobo said.

Coincidently, senior Willy V. became the captain of the T.A. Strikers last year, after playing for many different other teams.

“Last year, the team we played against in the finalsHonduras- I actually started with them my freshman year, and then I changed teams because I wanted to play with my brother. Velasco said. “Then in junior year we had decided to let students from other schools participate, but the captain of the team has to be from HHS. I was friends with the T.A. students that wanted to play, so I said, “Let me be the captain.”

With the medals and bragging rights in mind, teams continue to prepare for the upcoming championship by practicing at Eastern Mennonite University and participating in friendly matches.

“I hope everyone plays well,” Vargas said. “Hopefully we win the tournament this year.”

fun experience for Lake Yogesh Aradhey Outdoors Editor At our school, many students choose to involve themselves in school sports such as basketball or volleyball, while all others participate in other clubs or just go home. But there are a few among us who choose alternative sports that are not offered through the school. One such person is Rosanni Lake.

For the past seven years, six times a week, she has been practicing taekwondo and competing in tournaments of varying size and importance. So far the biggest tournament she has fought in is the junior

olympics in which she placed first.

“I am looking forward to competing in Orlando,” Rosanni said, she hopes to place first in this international competition.

Rosanni has had surprisingly few injuries, the worst of which affected her knee last year. This injury did put her out of for a while and she had to go to rehab.

Doing so much for your sport and committing so much time and energy is not easy. She gives up most of her Saturdays for small competitions and runs and trains every other day.

Rosanni’s motivation lies in success. “I want to go to the Olympics in 2020,” Rosanni said.

The Newsstreak

December 19, 2014

SPORTS-B8

Best coaches share some identical traits Maria Snell-Feikema Staff Reporter For any team, a coach is the leader of the pack. A coach may be thought of as a teacher, a leader, or an idol. But for some, such as freshman Jane Wyatt, a coach is someone one can talk to. Her current swim coach, Steve Phillips, provides just that role she said.

“He cares about swimming, but he also cares about what else is going on in your life,” Wyatt said, “I’m not afraid to talk about anything with him.” Phillips has been coaching her for seven years, and out of all the coaches she’s had, Wyatt says Phillips is the best yet. Throughout those seven years, Wyatt says Phillips is still persistent when it comes to fixing her habitual flaws.

“In my backstroke, I can’t rotate my hips at all, so instead of rotating, I kind of bounce up and down in the water,” Wyatt said, “And all my other coaches have tried to fix it, but they’ve kind of given up on me, and he still reminds me about it every single practice.” Wyatt says she loves a coach who is strict when it comes to your improvement.

“I don’t like it when a coach [says] ‘If you do this, it could make you a better swimmer’,” Wyatt said, “I like someone who [says] ‘you need to do this because it’s going to make your swimming better’.”

Wyatt isn’t the only one who likes a strict coach.

Sophomore David Mitongo says the best coach he ever had, English teacher David Loughran, taught him how to be self-disciplined and to never give up on yourself.

“I sprint, and the only thing about sprinting is that you don’t stop and just have to keep going no matter what you

do,” Mitongo said, “He really showed me that whatever happens in life, you can always overcome it. Just don’t quit.”

For others, such as creative writing teacher and Coach Richard Morrell, the best coaches are the ones who don’t simply criticize you, but encourage you to be the best you can be. Morrell says the best coach he ever had, John Epperly, the wrestling coach at his high school, displayed this type of philosophy.

“He didn’t criticize, he encouraged. He was demanding, but he didn’t criticize,” Morrell said, “I hope I instill the same passion for the sports that I coach and that I encourage people to make the most of their opportunities [so] they can be the best that they can be.” Morrell said this passion for the sport was what made Epperly so special.

“He wanted people to love his sport,” Morrell said, “It was something that he was passionate about and he wanted other people to be passionate about.” Morrell says Epperly’s encouragement has helped him in life and in his own coaching.

“A lot of times in athletics, coaches just let individuals’ natural talent develop their skill,” Morrell said, “But he trained you how to master your skill. He gave me a work ethic that I have embraced and also a philosophy of coaching that I try to apply as well.”

And sometimes, according to senior Laurie Serrell, the best kind of coaches are the ones that have been with you all of your life. She says that out of all the coaches she’s had, her mother has always been the best, and that she has valued her mother’s words throughout her life.

“She knows the right way to teach me the right thing,” Serrell said, “She doesn’t hover over me and she doesn’t give me complete freedom. She gives me limited

PHOTO COUTESY OF LAURIE SERRELL

MOTHER KNOWS BEST. Senior Laurie Serrell takes inspiration from her mother who has been the best coach throughout Serrell’s life. freedom.” According to Serrell, this type of balance is essential in a coach.

“If they’re telling you everything you have to do, you’re not going to like that,” Serrell said, “And if they’re not telling you what to do, you’re not going to work hard.”

Indoor track team welcomes new coaches my students outside of the classroom. I am a very competitive person and typically am able to relate to most The indoor track season of my athletes by establishstarted out with almost all ing a solid relationship, and new coaches- only one of the letting them know I care four coaches that made up about them. From there, we the indoor track staff in prework together to reach their vious years is returning. goals,” Hertzler said.

New coaches, Jerry HertIndoor track’s other new Tricia Comfort zler and Tricia Comfort coach, Comfort, also already stepped up to help coach the knows some of the kids that team, having had previous she will be working with this coaching experience. season.

Hertzler, an 18-year veterComfort has coached an of coaching cross country cross country and track at and outdoor track, is no newThomas Harrison Middle bie to coaching. However, he School for the past three ended his coaching career years, as well as helped out when his children became in both programs at the high old enough to play sports. school.

“The athletic director, Mr. “I was really excited to Jerry Hertzler Wilson, contacted me to see get the opportunity to be inif I was interested in helping volved in the coaching side out the track program by coming back to of the indoor track team after running on it coach the indoor season, so I thought why for four years. However, I am most looking not?” Hertzler said. forward to getting to know this awesome Because Hertzler teaches Biology at group of kids,” Comfort said.

HHS, he already knows a majority of the Junior Alexis Eberly has been a member athletes he is coaching. of the indoor track team for the past three “What I have missed the most about years. coaching is the opportunity to relate to “The coaches this year are a lot more

Abigail Hissong Staff Reporter

easy going than in past years. We do a lot more team building stuff that I think will really help us.”

Though the coaching staff has changed dramatically this year, leaving the new coaches to take the reins, Comfort is up for the challenge.

“I think that this season will be very different, but not necessarily in a bad way.

I plan on motivating the indoor track athletes this season by showing up everyday and giving them my all. I have a lot in common with them, being a full time student at JMU, and being involved in tons of other activities after school. I think it will be motivating for them to see how much energy and passion I have for this sport,” Comfort said.

Both Hertzler and Comfort plan on making sure their team works hard for the upcoming season individually and as a whole.

“A conference championship is always a good place to start and then move on to the regional meet with several state competitors. Individually, I want the athletes to improve and have fun while working hard,” Hertzler said.

“I know our returners have a lot of potential and skill and I have faith in our new athletes that they will be successful as well,” Comfort said.

Thwaits takes over as head wrestling coach Harmony Wilson Staff Reporter Wrestling coach Kim Thwaits has been coaching for 27 years, but his expertise began long before that. He wrestled from age five through college, and that accounts for most of his team experience. This year, Thwaits is hoping to have a successful season for his wrestlers and is mostly looking forward to seeing general improvements in a few areas from his athleletes: mental toughness, discipline and basic technique.

“More than anything, I just want to see small progressions from our team, day by day,” Thwaits said.

Scrimmages and practice matches that usually occur in the beginning of the season really help both the wrestlers and the coach to get a better understanding of the team’s strengths and weaknesses. Everything that the wrestlers demonstrate during practice matches is evaluated by Thwaits and then tweaked so the moves are perfect for real competition.

Despite the fact that wrestling is a male dominated sport, females don’t shy away from tryouts.

“We actually had a girl that came out at the beginning of the season who unfortu-

nately left...but wrestling is definitely more of a male sport,” Thwaits said.

Even though wrestling is mainly known for most guys proving a test of strength, girls are still able to show their strength on the mats if they want because there are no separate teams, only different weight classes.

Because Thwaits also trained to be a wrestler during his college years, his experiences on the mats often make for good advice while coaching his athletes.

“A piece of advice that I know now about wrestling that I’d wish I’d known while I was younger and just starting out, is to have perseverance, but more than that, you have to be willing to make sacrifices,” Thwaits said.

All in all, whether it be your mom or your coach, coaches display a sense of wisdom and leadership that one envies and aspires to have, according to Wyatt.

“They’re pretty awesome,” Wyatt said, “They just know everything, and you just think, ‘Wow, I wish I could be like that’.”

Players react to new coaches WRESTLING Sophomore Josh Soto: “I think he’s a great coach and he’ll show us more discipline.”

VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL Senior Kara Simmons: “I think it’ll be better than last year. We like each other more.”

JV BOYS BASKETBALL Freshman Steven Gilbert: “He’s nice and he doesn’t make us run a lot.”

JV GIRLS BASKETBALL Sophomore Krishon Scott: “I like the way she never gives up on the team, even when we frustrate her.”

Perry leading varsity girls basketball team Ella Marian Food Editor

PHOTO BY ELLA MARIAN

COMMUNICATE. Basketball coach Durmount Perry coaches his team from the sideline

Both the girls varsity basketball team is starting this season fresh with their new coach.

Durmount Perry is the girl’s new head coach. Perry has had six years of experience coaching basketball for the boys at HHS and played himself in high school.

“I played basketball for Spotswood High School from 1990-1994. We won a state championship in 1993,” Perry said. Perry has also had experience coaching football for eight years; one of the eight at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.

Before Perry took the coaching job, he made sure he had his family’s full support.

“I spoke with my family because being a Head Coach of a varsity sport means more responsible, and more time away from my

family. I also have a son that plays basketball here at HHS. I would have been his coach again this year. I wanted to make sure it was ok with him that I was not going to be his coach. My family comes first,” Perry said.

Perry switched from coaching the boys to coaching the girl’s because a few on the girl’s varsity asked him. Compared to their previous coaches the girl’s knew that Perry would push them harder. Senior Natalia Alcantara was one of the seniors who asked Perry to switch.

“I’ve known him for a long time, since the Boys and Girl’s Club, and I knew that he would be good for us and not just like a dad, but as a coach,” Alcantara said. Alcantara has also seen great improvement in their practices.

“They are really good. They are actual basketball practices and not just talking around and not getting things done. They have been making us better and we actual-

ly have a chance of getting farther this year,” Alcantara said. Junior Teyah Good also sees the practices going along better than the previous years. “[The practices are] a lot better. We are working harder because he knows we can do better,” Good said. Good identifies a significant difference between their previous coaches and Perry.

“Our previous coaches were more sit backish, they wouldn’t try and push us to our best. DP [Perry] is much more motivating and can see the little things so we can improve on what we are doing good and perform our best,” Good said.

Perry’s goal for the girls this season is to win every game they compete in.

“I would love to win every game we play.

But for now a goal of mine is to get our girls basketball team to compete, play hard every minute of the game. The rest will fall into place if we do that,” Perry said.

December 19, 2014

2014-2015

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HUMANS OF The Newsstreak

December 19, 2014

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

N O I T I D E Y A D I L O H

Faculty Member Sandra Lane

Sophomore Anna Derrick “What’s your favorite holiday memory?”

“Probably decorating the Christmas tree.”

“Why is that your favorite?”

“Because all of my family’s together and it’s just fun.”

HUMANS OF HHS-B10

Sophomore Edwin Bonilla “If you could receive any gift what would it be?”

“It would be a high school diploma.”

“What was your favorite holiday memory?”

“When I got my engagement ring.”

Junior Giovanni DelBiondo

“What’s your favorite holiday memory?”

“Probably New Year’s, eating with my grandma and my whole family; it’s really nice. She cooks Italian food.”

Sophomore Caprice Madden “If you could receive any gift what would it be?”

“I would like a shirt from my favorite band.”

“What’s your favorite band?”

“La Dispute.”

“Why do you like them?”

“Their music, like, I can connect to it and it touches me more than any other band ever does.”

Sophomore May Denar

“If you could receive any gift what would it be?”

“Black nail polish.”

“Why?” “Because the color black is interesting to me; I’ve never had it.”

Freshman Guillermo Torres “What is your favorite holiday memory?”

“When I found out Santa doesn’t exist.”

“Why?” “I finally had proof.”

Sophomore Junior Hicho

Senior Amna Khan

Junior Karla Vazquez

“Who makes the holidays special for you?”

“My family. Since I don’t celebrate Christmas, what we do is my whole family gets together and we do some sort of get-together with the whole family, with my dad’s side of the family, and that’s how we do our winter break.”

“If you could give any gift to somebody, what would it be?”

“Happiness. Yeah, I’ll be corny, I’ll say happiness, because it’s pretty much everything a person needs.

Like it doesn’t matter how much you have or what, as long as you’re happy.”

HH S

“Who makes the holidays special for you?”

“My mom. She brings all the spirit.”

“If you could receive any gift, what would it be?”

“A PS4” “Why?” “Because they’re awesome- I’ve got a PS3 and I think I’d like a PS4.”

SEE MORE ON THE WEB! HHSMEDIA.COM

Sophomore Shelby Rios-Jones

Sophomore Phillip Wilcox Junior Isela Ramirez

“What are you most looking forward to about winter break?”

“To be out of school, to be honest, but to be with my family.”

“If you could receive any gift, what would it be?”

“Probably some shoes.”

“What type of shoes?”

“Like Nike shoes, just like Lebrons or something.”

Photos and interviews by Mia Karr and Ava Reynolds

Sophomore Kevin Sanchez

“What are you most looking forward to about winter break?”

“Vacation time. Staying away from school, I guess.”

“What are you going to do with your vacation time?”

“I’m going back to California.”

Freshman Joey Sun “What are you most looking forward to about winter break?”

“Traveling.”

“Where are you travel-

ing?”

“Richmond, Virginia.”

“Why?” “To visit friends.”