February Issue 2015

A3: Robotics season comes to a close

The

B6: In-depth look at lifting weights

Newsstreak

B10: Couples of HHS

where every person has a story

Harrisonburg High School • 1001 Garbers Church Road • Harrisonburg, VA 22801 • 540.433.2651 • Volume XIIC • Issue 6• February 26, 2015

Suessical returns nine years after HHS debut Austin Swift Sports Editor Seussical round two.

Nine years after it’s first appearance at HHS, the Dr. Seuss-themed production will again be led by director Stanley Swartz, along with Bethany Houff returning to direct vocals.

Freshman Gabby Wilson was cast as Jojo, one of the larger roles in the musical, and with it came some surprise.

“I wanted this role, but I didn’t think I’d get it because I’m a freshman and had never had a lead or anything, but I was defi-

nitely hoping for it because I like this role,” Wilson said.

Her initial reaction was muted, but she has since come to appreciate the achievement.

“I actually just went and sat down on the couch and kept doing what I was doing, It took me a while to realize that I was a big part.

It was maybe three weeks later when it sunk in,” Wilson said.

There are aspects of her character that she enjoys, but faces a challenge with as well.

“I really like that my

See MUSICAL page A2

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN

WE ARE HERE! Junior Michelle Eckstein, freshman Cary Hardwick, and sophomores Eleanor Alger, Genevieve Cowardin and Ana Hart send up a shout along with the rest of Whoville hoping that the jungle creatures will hear their cry before boiling the clover they call home. Seussical the Musical hit the HHS stage Feb. 18 through 22, despite schools closings for bad weather throughout that time.

STEM day showcases science programs Brenna Cowardin Editor-in-Chief

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN

ASSEMBLE THE TRIANGLES. The junior STEM class built a geodesic dome for STEM day on Feb. 21. The dome was made out of cardboard triangles fit together in a series of five. The juniors used the dome as a planetarium for star shows to be held in for children.

On Feb. 21, the Valley Mall transformed into a science museum. There were stomp-rockets, robots, weather balloons and a miniature planetarium with star shows for over 2,000 people to enjoy. Science, Engineering, Technology and Math (STEM) Day has been a part of the community and the STEM program for the past three years.

STEM director Andy Jackson sees STEM day as a way to spread the excitement of math and science to the next generation.

“It’s a neat opportunity for the community, espe-

cially families in the community. Oftentimes you may take your child to go see a movie...but the opportunities to take your child to experience science and engineering is limited, but maybe even more beneficial since science and engineering is such an integral part of the way the world works and the way the job market will look in the future,” Jackson said.

HCPS STEM Coordinator Amy Sabarre began STEM day at the mall. The space is leased to the STEM program for free.

“It began when I went to see the science and engineering day in D.C. It started me thinking about how it was such a great way to

get people excited about STEM... and I wanted to give our kids the opportunity to showcase what they’re doing here,” Sabarre said. “We just contacted [the mall], saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to do something we’ve never done before, what do you think?’ and they said, ‘Yeah, heck yeah!’”

This year, the junior STEM academy members created geodesic dome kits as well as a planetarium show for children to watchin a geodesic dome they built. “[Geodesic domes] are dome-like structures created by multiple simple geometric shapes like triangles or octagons,” Jackson said.

The sophomore STEM

academy members presented collegiate-style research of chicken feed they completed this fall, and the freshman shared their prototypes of inventions to make the lives of those with disabilities easier.

These prototypes were part of a national competition called eCybermission.

“It’s really rewarding to see people stop by the high school’s booths, which were by design showcasing what the high school is doing, not just the fun and games of science, but the research they’ve been able to do, and the development they’ve been able to do, and have really positive

See STEM page A2

Drone offers new perspective

JROTC ball longstanding tradition

Ava Reynolds Outdoors Editor

Faith Runnells Managing Editor

Students see the school news from the same point of view every day, however soon they will be getting a bird’s eye view on things happening at the school thanks to the broadcasting department’s new purchase.

“We purchased the drone so that we could get shots that we couldn’t get any other way, unless you have either a helicopter or a crane or a lift,” broadcasting teacher Seth Stratford said. “We want to use it for sports games.”

The quadcopter is not the only new addition to broadcasting. They have also purchased a GoPro and helmets to attach them to.

“We have a GoPro to use to get the video to record. We also purchased (through a grant) helmets that you can put the GoPros on. We want to raise money to get another Go-

Pro so we can put a GoPro facing forward, so you get the experience of what the student is doing, and another GoPro looking at the face so you can see their reactions,”Stratford said.

Money for the drone came from Perkins, a federal grant, through the school. However at first, the request for a grant for the drone was denied.

“We applied for a grant through Blue Ridge Tech Prep Consortium. We didn’t get that grant, so that’s when we asked Mr. Aldrich downtown, and he was able to find someone through Perkins,” Stratford said.

The broadcasting department is not the only area of the school that will be benefitting from the new quadcopter; Stratford is planning on collaborating with other media classes.

“The footage we get they can absolutely use, as a part of HHS Media. We’re

See DRONE 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

PHOTOS BY SETH STRATFORD

After hours of preparation, expectation and anticipation, the members of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program danced, toasted and cheered in their annual Valentine’s Day Ball on Feb. 14.

JROTC Senior Army Instructor Colonel McCutcheon and JROTC Command Sergeant Major Russell

Wilder both assisted in preparing for the formality of the event, along with overseeing and chaperoning the ball.

“The ball would be a formal event that’s similar to prom, but it’s much more formal than that. There’s certain things you have to do that come with tradition,” McCutcheon said.

Some of these traditions include a class on etiquette

See BALL page A2

Black History Month more than history Mia Karr Editor-in-Chief

EYE IN THE SKY. Broadcasting teacher Seth Stratford flies the new drone above the school. The Go-Pro camera attached to it captured this aerial view of the facility. The camera will be used by various media classes.

At your fingertips

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

According to English teacher Melody Wilson, the annual celebration of Black History Month and Ray Bradbury’s classic novel Fahrenheit 451 have something in common; an emphasis on the need to memorialize.

“It’s important to remember,” Wilson said. “I’ve

found that the progression over the years is that there’s less and less awareness of Black culture, and I do think it’s important, not just being an African American person, but in general, people need to remember.”

For Wilson, part of that remembrance is an awareness of one’s own culture.

“Yes, there is validity in the whole mixing bowl and

See HISTORY page A2

Coming Up Overlooks in the Shenandoah Valley New Key Club fundraiser Spring Arts coverage Forensics, Debate state competition Spring sports preview Food reviews Schdeuling for next year Spring play coverage Columns and editorials Humans of HHS feature

The Newsstreak

February 26, 2015

“Suessical” opens after snow, cold close schools

News Briefs Forensics regionals.

On March 7, five of the HHS forensicators will travel to Heritage High School in Leesburg for the regional tournament.

Students who place in the top three will move on to states.

MUSICAL from A1

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.

Spring play auditions Librarian Bradley Walton will direct an original play this April. Auditions will be held March 4.

DNR Scholarship This scholarship is available to any senior. The criteria measures character, initiative and leadership. The scholarship is $10,000 and will be awarded to one HHS senior. More information can be found in the guidance office.

JMU Centennial Scholarship This program provides a financial aid package in the form of grants, and covers tuition, room and board. The deadline is March 1 for submission. Visit http://www.jmu. edu/centscholars/ for more information.

Rotary Club of Harrisonburg Scholarship Primary consideration for the scholarship is demonstrated commitment to community service. Applications can be found in the guidance office and are due by March 8.

George E. Allen Academic Scholarship Eligible students must be planning to attend an academic of technical school, demonstrate high ability despite obstacles, and demonstrate academic progress.

Visit the counseling center for more information.

SEE MORE ON H THE WEB! HHSMEDIA.COM See more photo galleries taken by staff photographers and in depth coverage of timely news and features 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. Members of Newsstreak, WSBC and the TAJ yearbook staff all contribute.

NEWS-A2

AMAYZING MAYZIE. Junior Jaymie Inouye plays Mayzie La Bird, and junior Laura Ruple, and seniors Isabelle Burden and Rachel Cavoto, the Bird Girls, act as her back up singers and narrators throughout the show. The four performed for WHSV along with senior Caroline Shank.

character is very creative, like I’m a thinker person and I think of all these cute little things. The hard part is showing the audience the thought process of it, because I know my line, but then I have to act like I’m thinking it up in that second,” Wilson said.

As a freshman entering a high school production in a large role, the environment can be intimidating.

“It’s kind of scary, because it’s just something new, but it’s also really fun because I get to be with Noelle [Warne], who is just an amazing actress who helps me along the way,” Wilson said.

Wilson has found guidance from some of the more experienced cast

JROTC ball different from other high school dances BALL from A1 and table manners, which is part of the JROTC curriculum. Swing dancing and waltzing lessons are also given to the students before the ball in JROTC class.

“We learn how to do formality things, and then we have a dance. And [when the students dance] they use their swing dancing a little bit, but then they go on to their normal dancing… They have a good time,” McCutcheon said.

The ball committee, like the prom committee, prepares the dinner tables, a music track, place cards and inventory for the ball. Senior Maria Medeiros was on the ball committee this year and has been to the past three balls. “[My favorite thing about going to the ball] is how we all get together. We all have fun and all have a good night,” Medeiros said.

Junior Isis Gutierrez enjoys the deco-

rous environment of the ball in particular. “[I like how the ball] is not like prom. It’s so much better. We have a dinner before it, then we talk, then we have a slideshow and remember all our seniors, and then we have a dance. But it’s not like a grind-ongrind dance at the club. It’s formal,” Gutierrez said.

The dancing portion shows a lot of variety with the different dances the students engage in.

“We have bachata. We have merengue.

We have swing, we have the waltz. Then we have our group dances like the cha cha slide or the electric slide,” Gutierrez said.

The JROTC male students are required to attend the ball in uniform, while the female students are required to wear ballgowns.

“Something that I like is that the males go in uniform and the females can’t go in trashy dress.. I think it’s very formal [in that way],” Medeiros said.

feedback,” Jackson said.

STEM day also allows for others to learn about how the HCPS program runs.

“Teachers come from other divisions to see what our kids are doing, to learn from them,” Sabarre said.

Last year, STEM junior Austin Engle presented research for a methane digester.

“Last year I was doing a presentation on methane, [which wasn’t very exciting], like ‘Oh boy, we’re recycling poop to make methane!’ But people were actually very interested in it,” Engle said. “We had someone from the sewage plant come by [to see our presentation].”

Most of the projects that the high school’s STEM program showcases are not things the public would know about otherwise. “[Students are] trying to reach out to the public with some fairly heady stuff sometimes. Again, a methane digester is not what the average Joe mall-walker would understand,” Jackson said.

Engle took charge of STEM this year, and found that STEM day responsibilities came with it.

“Part of the problem was that we didn’t get a STEM day chair that we would’ve gotten otherwise, so everyone on the executive board is fill[ed] in for that,” Engle said.

Engle had high hopes for this year.

Sophomore Shania Earnan’s favorite part is the diversity of not only the music and dance, but also the people in attendance as well.

“It’s kind of cool to see the many different races that are there… It’s pretty cool how diverse it is,” Earnan said.

McCutcheon takes pride in this ball as a fun yet proper experience for the JROTC students.

“I think [the ball] gives them an opportunity to see that you can have a good time and at the same time you can do it while being mannerly and dressing up. They learn how to have a good time but they also learn some manners and that it’s okay to do that,” McCutcheon said. “I like to watch the kids have a good time. I think it’s interesting to see when they get all dressed up and how they act and how much fun they have. And they can’t wait until the next one; that’s what I like about it.”

Students, staff urge celebration of diversity Drone will assist HISTORY from A1 Month. unified identity, but you still need to remember your heritage and I think it gets lost,” Wilson said.

As an English teacher, Wilson has an ability to work a multicultural awareness into her curriculum. The departmental curriculum for tenth grade students is dedicated to multicultural studies. However, Wilson believes that this isn’t enough. “[We need works from Black authors] not just about Black issues, but to have their perspective on relevant world issues,” Wilson said. “I think the tendency is when we choose these authors, it’s always when we can see Black culture from a certain way...and I think it would be helpful to see many different shades of Blackness. Not just the stereotypical ‘We’re going to read this book and see how it is to live in the ‘hood’.”

Wilson is open about sharing her own perspective when her classes read works about and by Black authors. For example, when reading The Color of Water with her tenth grade class, Wilson will talk about the influence Malcolm X had on her community growing up.

In addition to working more awareness of Black culture into students’ academics, Wilson believes the school could do more as a whole to recognize Black History

“I think that we are such a diverse body, which is one of our hallmarks, which is one reason why I love being here, but I find, in general, that there’s more of an emphasis on other cultures...I think we should give an equal voice as we do other things, and I think other cultures should have equal voice too,” Wilson said.

On a more personal level, Wilson has felt her race occasionally makes her stand out from other teachers. When Wilson was a long-term substitute in Rockingham County, she attended a division-wide training and found she was the only person of color at the training.

“In this area, I’m surprised at the lack of diversity I see in the staff to mirror the [student] body,” Wilson said.

However, Wilson is unconcerned with dwelling on obstacles.

“I am so past the point of trying to prove myself,” Wilson said.

Sophomore Jayla Williams agrees with Wilson that recognizing Black history is critical. She would like to see students learn about Black heroes like Mary Seacole, a nurse during the Crimean War. “I think people need to know that not only bad stuff has transpired with Black people,” Williams said. “ All they know is about slavery, and about Martin Luther King, but they should know more.”

STEM day builds connection with community STEM from A1

members.

“They really welcome you, they’ll help you stretch and get warmed up and if you have a question about anything like acting or where you should go, they’ll help you and tell you the ropes and stuff,” Wilson said.

She has found the intensity level to be different from that of her middle school days.

“The set is crazier and you just do so much more, like you run everywhere and you’re exhausted at the end of everything, instead of just dancing a little and doing high kicks and sprinting back and forth across the stage,” Wilson said.

Participating in the musical requires a large time commitment with daily rehearsals sometimes ending in the later hours of the night. Consequently, Wilson has had to find a way to balance the show with other parts of her life.

“Whenever I get a break in rehearsal, I grab my homework and I just start working on it. I make sure I get everything done so I have time to relax and have fun like a normal teenager,” Wilson said.

“[Students are] trying to reach out to the public with some fairly heady stuff sometimes. Again, a methane digester is not what the average Joe mall-walker would understand.”

-Andy Jackson, STEM director and science teacher “[My personal goal for STEM day this year is] to see it run as smoothly as possible, and make it as enjoyable as possible for as many people as possible. It might be a little bit of an aggressive goal,” Engle said. With that smooth sailing comes Engle’s least favorite part- lots of organization. “[My least favorite part] is probably just the organization of getting everything together. I haven’t done a ton of organization, but the little that I have done I haven’t enjoyed that much,” Engle said.

Challenges also arise with the projects themselves.

“The juniors are setting up geodesic dome kits...so that the kids can take them home with them, so that they can sit

down with their parents and make something engineers use,” Engle said. “It’ll be interesting to try and figure out though because we have to do step by step instructions. If we can barely figure it out using google, we’re going to have to put in really good instructions with pictures.”

There’s always the issue of finishing projects as well.

“As a junior, we don’t have the engineering class anymore, which makes it really, really difficult to do stuff because anything we do we’re either staying after school or missing class for,” Engle said.

In the end, it’s all about the connection the STEM program forges with the community.

“My favorite part [of STEM day] is probably the fact that we can get the community together to learn about science stuff because a- science is fun, and b- we get to show off what we do,” Engle said.

Both Jackson and Engle can’t help but imagine the possibilities if they had no financial or time limitations. “[My least favorite] part is limitations of time and money. [Unlimited time and money] would have astronauts to come and talk to [us], flight simulators for the kids to fly-” Jackson said.

“Not like the cheap ones you see in arcades,” Engle said.

“Zero G flights for everyone,” Jackson said.

media classes

DRONE from A1

looking for all kinds of ideas. I was talking to Mrs. Kibler a few weeks ago and asking what kind of ideas she has. The more ideas the better,” Stratford said.

While Stratford was attending a journalism conference in D.C. this past fall, he learned about a school in Colorado that had had a drone crash on their football field during warmups, which ended their drone use. Because of this, the broadcasting department plans on being careful with how they use the quadcopter.

“Especially at the games, we’re not going to be directly overhead. We’ll be a little further back and tilt the camera enough to get the shot. It will still be a really cool shot, so we’ll see what we can do with it,” Stratford said.

There will also be requirements for students to man the drone. As of right now, students will be able to use it once they’re trained, but Stratford wants to be present at all times. They broadcasting department has only had one test run so far, in which they took the drone up above the school.

“It’s harder to fly than you think. We’ve done a test run, and it’s a lot of fun. We did it out here by the parking lot and flew it above the H so we could get a shot of the H and we took it a bit higher so we could see the whole school and around it, and even a little higher to see the Valley,” Stratford said.

Stratford plans to take the drone even beyond using it for just sports games.

“The whole point of getting the GoPro and the quadcopter is to tell the story-every person has a story right? A lot of kids, they do some really cool stuff and to help the viewers experience what they’re experiencing, we have the gopro and quadcopter to get them as close as we can,” Stratford said.

PHOTO BY SETH STRATFORD

AERIAL VIEW. The new drone shoots photographs of HHS from a bird’s eye view.

The drone will be used by students and advisors in all journalism departments.

The Newsstreak

February 26, 2015

NEWS-A3

Robotics team working hard on ‘Recycle Rush’ challenge Ali Price Staff Reporter The First Robotics Challenge team is already focusing on building their robot for competition this year.

The robotics team, also known as the FRC team, holds meetings four times a week after school until five, and often meets on Saturdays to plan out their robot.

“We meet Saturdays from 9 a.m. to whenever we get tired, which sometimes has run until one in the morning,” Geoffray Estes, the team’s coach, said of their practices.

Although many of the team’s challenges in the past have centered around building a robot that can complete tasks associated with sports, this year’s theme is a little different.

“The theme is called Recycle Rush,” Estes said.

Students will have to build a robot that is capable of lifting and stacking recycling bins; the robot will also have to be able to put pool noodles, which serve as “trash”, into a hole cut into the top of a recycling tub.

“While it’s not as active in terms of being a sporting event, the trade-off with this one is that they have to create a robot that’s more

precise,” Estes said.

The competition, which is held at Virginia Commonwealth University in March, will feature 65 teams, 50 of which are from Virginia. The rest, according to Estes, come from a variety of states, although other teams come from even farther. “[The team has] even been paired up with teams from Canada and Mexico,” Estes said.

The FRC team must make do with only six weeks to build their robot.

“We have six weeks to build [the robot],” junior Lauren McKenzie said. “Then you have to put it away for a certain amount of time, and then we get it out at competition.”

The FRC generally uses every last minute they can working on their robot.

“During the team meetings, if they progress through the build season well enough, they can generate practice time,” Estes said, “but many times, they’re building right up to the due date, and that makes for limited practice.”

Despite this press for time, the robotics team members are enjoying themselves.

“We’re pretty much just there to hang out,” McKenzie said of the meetings and competition. “We’re not really focusing on winning; we’re focusing on just being us.”

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIIN

ROBOTICS TEAM RUSHES TO RECYCLE. Robotics team members (starting with bottom left and moving counterclockwise) junior Christian Gehman, freshman Evan Jost, junior Bryan Frank, junior Austin Engle, sophomore Duncan Rutherford, and junior Kayla Leaman crowd around coach Geoffray Estes.

The engineering enthusiasts are tasked with created a robot that can lift and stack recycling bins and put pool noodles into a hole cut into the top of a recycling tub in just six weeks.

CREAM OF THE CHORAL CROP. Specially selected choir students from HHS and other schools rehearse together in preparation for a performance.

PHOTO BY ELLA MARIAN

Singers excel during All-District choir performance Ella Marian Feature Editor The HHS District Choir was prepared for the 2015 concert that was held on Feb. 14 at Fort Defiance High School.

Junior Andy King has been a part of the SATB (Soprano Alto Tenor Bass - the choir consisting of men and women) and reflects over his previous years.

“Freshman year, our choir felt really full [because he was a freshmen] I was just like ‘Oh this is so cool actually with all these people’. Our director freshman year was really laid back and he was an older gentleman.

He was really cool. I really enjoyed that.

Last year, was more of a middle-aged director. He was more strict. I liked my first year of districts better, song wise. Last year the songs were interpretive, they had different harmonies. For year one there were a lot of nice harmonies and year two it was like ‘Oh that’s kind of crunchy’ like a crunchy cord,”

King said. This year, King feels that he is well prepared for the concert.

“I think I feel more prepared this year because in Honors Choir we’ve actually been going over the songs and at least sung through them all at least one time.

Back in Men’s Choir, I don’t think we really touched them at all. I actually know the songs this year, so I feel very prepared,” King said. Sophomore Seth Bontrager hopes that when the District Choir is in the area will be able to have the same energy as his previous year.

“Last year was really fun, we had a really big sound and there are a lot of really strong singers there so that makes a really great concert. I’m hoping to get pretty much the same result this year,” Bontrager said.

Senior Chloe Richard has been doing district choir since her sophomore year. Her first year she placed 14th out of the sopranos, junior year she placed fifth and this year she placed first. Richard was very happy about her win.

“I felt kind of surprised, I didn’t think I would have gotten first. I got fifth the year before so I kind of thought that I would have gotten in the top 10. but I didn’t think that I did that well, so that was really great,” Richard said. Richard was in the SATB choir her first two years. This year she is in the SSAA choir (Soprano 1&2 Alto 1&2 - the all women choir). Despite what she has heard about the all women’s choir, Richard enjoys the SATB choir most.

“I like the combined choir because I like hearing the guys’ voices and you can get a lot more depth with both genders, but I’ve heard that the women’s choir gets more done and there’s different repertoire and it’s a different sound. I probably like singing combined better because I just like the sound of the guys,” Richard said.

For freshmen Bo Boisen, the process to get into district choir was different from her band audition experience.

“I was nervous, especially since I was the first person from our school to audition. I

hadn’t properly warmed up or anything and I was just like ‘Oh my gosh! I’m gonna mess up I am so nervous’ but I was kind of excited as well because in band you don’t get to see the judges, but for choir you do, so when I went in I was like ‘Hi guys’ and I was so excited,” Boisen said. Boisen is hoping that all the students will take the performance seriously. “[I expect] a lot of people who enjoy singing and aren’t just going to goof around and play around but are actually excited to sing,” Boisen said. Boisen is a part of the SATB choir and has a balance in between swimming and learning her music.

“It wasn’t hard because I would do it after choir and we would practice with Ms. Houff and then swimming is after school,” Boisen said.

Boisen’s advice for future freshmen who are auditioning for district choir is to be prepared.“ Don’t leave the music to the last minute, make sure you practice when you get it,” Boisen said.

Calculus students compete in math league competition Isaiah King Staff Reporter

Along with the many complex math problems that AP calculus students answer, they have been recognized and ranked fifth in the state for math competitions.

Founded in 1977, the Math League is a series of six contests that each school takes individually between the students. Their scores are combined and ranked among other participating Virginia schools. With 30 minutes on each test and six questions, Harrisonburg still remains in the high rankings.

Sophomore Seth Bontrager and junior Peter Kim, two AP calculus students, have both assisted in putting Harrisonburg on the map in math.

“We don’t really have any prep time, just 30 minutes to take each test, but we don’t really prepare for it at all,” Bontrager said. He has only taken three tests so far but has scored quite well. Bontrager achieved a perfect score on one of the tests and missed only a few on the others. “[The questions] begin easy and progressively get harder,” Kim said. The questions cover a range of geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and other advanced pre-calculus topics.

“Some of [the questions] are really obscure and you need to know really obscure problem solving skills to answer them, but some of the questions are straightforward,” Bontrager said.

Most of the tests are trial and error

based because there isn’t really a formula or true equation you use though the problems can be answered this way, but there is some sort of trick or efficient method that can be used to approach each one. “[Throughout the test,] I try to go to the ones that I find easiest first so that I can spend the rest of the time working on the harder ones and if time runs out, I usually just write down a random answer,” Bontrager said.

Caculus teacher Geoffray Estes is not surprised by how well his students have done. With the bar raised high, each year the students have continued to achieve his expectations. Starting in October, the six tests will be completed by March.

“We don’t formally prepare the students, but we probably should, but we always tend to do well on them which makes me think we don’t have to spend as much time preparing because we have a bright bunch of students here and have always done well,” Estes said. With plans in the future to possibly start some practices, new calculus students continue to fill the shoes of graduating seniors.

Up through this past December, Harrisonburg was ranked fifth, but after January’s contest, the school dropped a little bit, but still remains in the top ten. Generally, Harrisonburg always ranks high among the many other high schools competing.

“We have students in our AP calculus classes that have been ranked in the top ten in the state and top 20 in the state and they have done very well,” Estes said.

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN

MATH MASTERMIND. Junior Kayla Leaman completes an American Math League contest during her AP Calculus AB class. Each contest consists of six questions, which students have 30 minutes to answer.

The mathematics of these contests are more than just your simple multiplication and division, but the questions aren't your normal algebra. There are twists to each

problem, so you have to understand how to handle the confusion to be successful on the test.

February 26, 2015

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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 Online Staff: Sam Imeson, Jessica Nguyen Photographers: Savannah McNeal, Ava Reynolds, Maria Snell-Feikema, David Gamboa-Pena 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, Carson Rising, John Earle IV, David Gamboa-Pena, Julie Hedrick, Aarash Heydari, Abigail Hissong, Randee-Rose Joven, Isaiah King, Jennifer Marquez, Maxwell McDaniel, Alex Osinkosky, Christian Ramirez, Briana Rodriguez, Lucie Rutherford, Ethan Scribano, Maria Snell-Feikema, Joshua Stratford, Corin Vogel, KiYosia Wallace, 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.

OP/ED-A5

Black History Month deserves more recognition NEWSSTREAK STAFF EDITORIAL We have one of the most diverse high schools in Virginia, a fact that should be celebrated. A prime time for this celebration is Black History Month. Although we applaud the administration’s mention of Black History Month each morning on the announcements, we think this should be just the beginning.

Although it is a standard of learning in U.S. and Virginia history class, as the years have gone by there isn’t as much of an interest in fully discussing Black history because it is assumed students know all they need to know. Martin Luther King. Rosa Parks. The whole “integration” thing.

All of those lessons are great, but there is more to Black History

Month than knowing the notable names and concepts.

Now, more than ever, is it important to discuss African American history because we are in the midst of riots, protests, and a plethora of #BlackLivesMatter social media posts. Peaceful protests have even occurred in downtown Harrisonburg since the non-indictment of officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri.

The Shenandoah Valley is 11 and a half hours away from Ferguson, and yet, what happens there and in New York and countless of other places across the country holds relevance to the Harrisonburg community and the community of the world.

It appears that there is truly an opportunity missed here. This could be a time for HHS to embrace

black culture, just as we embrace about cultural recognition here at many other cultures with open HHS. It’s are a great example of arms. We stress the diversity of what we should be doing for Black this school, but it is slightly more History Month as well. The adminfocused on students from foreign istration does recognize and honor countries.

Black History Month, but student This could be a time to converse involvement with that recognition about the few protests previously needs to be further emphasized. mentioned in Harrisonburg, or the Diversity is what makes HHS what it movements and riots all around the is today, and that’s something that United States. These movements needs to be recognized. based on racial tension and alleged police brutality are history in the making and it is essential that it be discussed.

Black History Month is a The unsigned staff editorial appears in each issue and reflects the majority opinion of the Newsstreak Staff great place to start.

Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is comprised of all Hispanic Heritage editors-in-chief, page editors, advertising managers, Month celebrations are photographers and selected freshman journalism stuvery important, but they dents. In no way does our opinion reflect that of the shouldn’t be where we school system or the administration. stop when we’re talking

WHAT IS THE STAFF EDITORIAL?

Email privileges need to extend to students at school Mia Karr Editor-in-Chief

if we had access to email.

Email is a medium of proThere are some things in fessional comthis world that escape human munication, comprehension. I believe there and occupies will never be a time when we a place of critiare able to understand all the cal importance intricacies of our universe and The Mia at the end of even ourselves. That doesn’t Perspective a student’s mean we shouldn’t try- many academic cagenerations from now, bionireer. College-bound students are cally-enhanced humans may know constantly receiving updates from truths about existence that at this colleges about admissions and fipoint seem unattainable. Howev- nancial aid. They’re emailing their er, I will rise up out of my grave in counselors about transcript and recshock if these future humans figure ommendation details. They’re getout a good reason why email was ting emails about scholarships. And blocked in the Harrisonburg City they’re doing all of this at home, not Public School system in the early during any teacher’s assistant blocks twenty-first century. or other free time they may have, I can’t hyperbolize enough about because they can’t access email. how much my life, and the lives of Having email blocked hurts me as other students, would be improved

a student, but also as a student journalist. There are many times when I have to email sources to set up an interview, but I can’t do this during school hours. I try to conduct myself as a professional journalist would in my dealings, but that’s hard to do when you’re being treated like a toddler by your school.

The school really does have a point, though. As a teenager, I can say that email is definitely the preferred method of inappropriate communication. I regularly do inappropriate things on email like send my guidance counselor a question about my college applications or forward my mother my FAFSA receipt. I’m not sure what sort of tomfoolery one can really get up to on email, other than forwarding a chain email about a girl who was clubbed to death after not forwarding said chain email. (That shouldn’t

be any concern, however, because every student in this school is, by definition, not a fifth grader.)

I understand why social media is blocked at school. Although we do use it for journalistic purposes in Newsstreak, otherwise it doesn’t really have a point in an academic setting and can be a time-waster.

However, email is a very relevant academic tool, especially for seniors.

I realize that if email is unblocked it will be beyond my time, because soon I will leave these hallowed halls and be just another name on the blue plaques in the music hallway. However, I care enough about my fellow students to advocate for this change. Give them the chance to communicate like I never could.

Give them access to a tool they will most likely use in a professional setting for the rest of their lives. Give them email privileges.

We need to make sure our children get vaccinated Evan Dotas Feature Editor In regards to Bill Murray, I think Groundhog Day is great. In regards to the holiday itself, I think it is absolutely ridiculous. For years, our most influential meteorologist has been a rodent. Of course, I get that it’s just a cute custom that we like to celebrate. However, this shouldn’t have any real credence in the 21st century.

What I’m trying to get at is our susceptibility to basic hokum, particularly in the face of science.

While this is evident in the aforementioned holiday, it has deadly ramifications in other contexts. The most prominent example at this moment is certainly the debate over vaccinations.

To paint the basic picture here, we need to understand the current measles outbreak. The Mayo Clinic, one of the most respected medical institutions in the country, has stated that typically, there are around

60 individual measles cases in the United States per year. In the past month, there have been 121, and all but 18 have originated at one Disneyland amusement park.

Evan Thankfully, this outbreak is not deadly in most cases. Rather, it causes fevers, rashes and overall discomfort. But we ought to be concerned that a disease that has been nearly eradicated because of basic medical practice is back.

One of the things we value most in this country is our individual freedom. This has been extended to parents claiming that they should have the right to choose whether their children are vaccinated. However, we need to draw the line of how far that freedom stretches.

Any talk of limiting rights is guaranteed to have a negative response. Thus, saying that parents don’t have the right to control their children seems to be a bad deci-

sion. But we need to swallow our pride and accept the fact that public safety ought to outweigh the individual liberty to jeopardize the lives of others.

Knows Some people have tried to justify their threat to society by claiming that vaccines are somehow dangerous, most notably by saying that they cause autism. This was most famously espoused by Jenny McCarthy, a medically irrelevant celebrity who consistently creates propaganda that centers around her autistic son. Of course, it’s heartbreaking that her child has autism. But anecdotal evidence has absolutely no bearing in any logical debate.

Her two sources for her misguided conclusion are from her son, who is not at all a concrete testimony, and a doctor named Andrew Wakefield. This doctor, like McCarthy, is only famous for

his incorrect conclusion about vaccines. He published a 1998 paper that linked measles and mumps vaccines with autism that has now been completely discredited.

There are no medically accurate reasons to avoid vaccines. Rather, we seem to be uncomfortable blindly accepting the government injecting us with diseases. And that makes sense, it really does.

But vaccines have been proven effective. If they weren’t, diseases like measles would never have been eradicated anyway.

Furthermore, we aren’t just sticking out our arms and waiting for a prick without any real knowledge. Vaccine ingredients are available to the curious citizen.

Numerous studies are online for us to view the successes of vaccinations. Really, if that fear is what is keeping us from preventing diseases, I must admit, I fear much more the possibility of a harmful outbreak that can kill a city than a little prick of a pin.

When one door closes, look for others to open Julexus Cappell Online Editor-in-Chief It was 3:17 in the morning. I’ll probably never forget.

I stood in front of my mirror with my hair matted to my face, makeup beyond atrocious, wearing the clothes I had picked out a little less than 21 hours before for school that morning. I looked at myself and asked a question I had never considered before that moment.

“Are you crying because you’re not going to your top choice or are you crying that you got denied?”

Want to know the very first thing I said to myself?

“Dang.”

After that I couldn’t help but to laugh. I must have looked like Taylor Swift’s black doppelganger in the “Blank Space” music video.

I actually found out I wasn’t accepted into Howard University almost a month ago, I just wasn’t ready to talk about it openly until now. Anyway, back to my mirror at

three in the morning: I had sat back down on my fuI thought about ton, glanced on the the question I had carpet and saw a letasked myself again. I ter outside of its engrabbed my forehead velope. I have terrible and shook my head eyesight so I picked it repeatedly. I was disup to read it. appointed in my own “Virginia State Unianswer. versity” I was crying beI don’t know, mayJust Julexus be it was because cause I got denied. As I look back on that night, I’m a messy teenager, or I genuinely believe I could have maybe it was a sign from God, but gotten rejected from the National when I saw that letter scattered on Clown Academy and still would’ve my floor I just felt so.. right. I rereacted the same. membered going to Petersburg my And that, ladies and gentleman, junior year and absolutely loving Virwas when I really started cracking ginia State University. I felt at home, up laughing. I literally was crying but it was a place I had never been because someone told me “no.” to. I remember getting in the car to I’ve never let a “no” stop me from leave after the tour, thinking to mymuch in my life, so why in the self “I could really see myself here.” world would I let it get the best of I remembered applying and hoping me now? for the best and getting butterflies Then, something really comi- when I submitted it. When I got my cal happened, in an ironic, almost acceptance letter I remembered for creepy, three-in-the-morning type that entire day I had completely forway. gotten about my top choice. Happy

wasn’t even the word.

That was the moment that my bruised ego momentarily healed [yes, momentarily because there are still times where I do kind of get down about it] and was uplifted. I was lucky enough to get accepted to my second choice university. Some people are forced into one of their “safety” schools, but not me. God was really looking out, I can’t say that enough. But I will add this: Let’s say life is like a painting of the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in the summer. There’s a gorgeous farmhouse, animals, flowers, mountains, and a mouth dropping depiction of the skyline. Autumn arrives faster than you know it and the flowers are starting to die, which is a slight bummer. Maybe sometimes we’re so focused on the aesthetics of the flowers that we fail to see they’re just one part of this astonishing view overall.

And might I say, it’s a view I’m grateful to have. See you in August, Petersburg!

We want your opinion! Submit your letters to the editor to room 444

The Newsstreak

February 26, 2015

HOT Oscars The show is always a spectacular display of what the film industry has offered us in the past year, Musical Performances 4 months in the making, Seussical the Musical hit the stage even amidst school-closing temps and weather.

Track & Spring Sports Track and several other spring sports are kicking off their seasons. Athletes will begin competing in late February and early March.

Dark Side of the Moon Earlier this month NASA revealed some neat pictures showing what the “Dark Side” of the moon really looks like.

Justin Bieber Roast Kevin Hart will be hosting the Justin Bieber roast on Comedy Central. The roast isn’t until March, but we can’t wait.

Same-sex Marriage in Alabama After some dispute, Alabama has pretty much solved its gay marriage issue and thousands are celebrating.

Obama Buzzfeed Video President Obama brought his healthcare message to the people through a funny video.

Snow days Students got a chance to catch up on sleep and homework after a blizzard hit the ‘burg and sidelined academics for multiple days.

50 Shades of Grey The controversial film topped box offices worldwide on Valentine’s Day weekend Saturday Night Live The TV show celebrated it’s 40th anniversary with a star-studded special episode

NOT Jenner Crash Earlier this month a car crash involving Bruce Jenner killed one.

Middle East air strikes Jordan bombed ISIS in retaliation for the murder of a Jordanian pilot. Now other world powers want to send aid to Jordan.

Snowstorms in Northeast Boston has been slammed three consecutive Mondays in a row, breaking numerous records and resulting in over 4 feet of snow.

Soccer Riot in Cairo A soccer riot in Cairo has led to the deaths of 19 people.

Measles Measles has made a rather large comeback, striking more people this year than the last five years combined.

Stewart leaving Comedy Central Jon Stewart announced earlier this month that he will be departing from Comedy Central.

Schedule-Making Tis the time of year that students start thinking about their schedules. We hope a good master schedule will result!

Chapel Hill Shootings A man killed three Muslims in an apartment complex near Chapel Hill. Debate over whether this action was a hate crime continues.

Brian Williams Lying Brian Williams, the famous NBC news anchor, has been suspended for the next six months without pay over his fabricated tale about his time in Iraq.

American Sniper The film, starring Bradley Cooper, lead to anti-Muslim sentiment on social media and elsewhere, and has been criticized for vilifying Muslims.

OP/ED-A6

We need to make changes now to secure our future Martin Beck Guest Columnist We live in a country that puts more faith in the weather forecast of a groundhog than actual atmospheric scientists. Data from the Japan Meteorological Society confirms that 2014 was the hottest year in the decade. It was also the hottest year in the last century. It was the hottest year since 1891–when scientists started collecting worldwide temperature data.

Who knows? 2014 could’ve been the hottest year in 200 years… 300 years… 400?

That’s just speculation, of course. Do you know what’s not speculation? Actual atmospheric data. Here’s some more for you: Nine of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since the year 2000. The United States churns out six billion tons of carbon dioxide annually–19% of total worldwide emissions for 4.5% of the worldwide population.

Sea levels have risen 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) over the last century. Those statistics aren’t left-wing fabrications, they’re taken from real, published scientific studies, written by real, objective scientists.

The United States Senate agrees that climate change is happening; however, in a series of votes, they refused to attribute it to human influence. A bill stating “human activity significantly contributes to climate change” was shot down by our current senate, 50-49.

A mere five Republicans supported it. Why is that?

Granted, this is an editorial.

Of course people disagree with me–but these are facts. Cold, hard, (seemingly) irrefutable facts.

If I entertain, for a moment, that warming of the Earth was, somehow, anomalous, such an anomaly could not take place for over nine consecutive years. Face it, legislators, the burning of fossil fuels is damaging the environment with near irrevocable severity.

It’s all too easy to call global warming an Ameri-

can problem, but the truth lies in the problem’s very name: global. Global warming is a global issue. China is the number one emitter in carbon dioxide output, contributing 23% of worldwide emissions. The United States can’t possibly fix climate change on its own.

That being said, the U.S., a world superpower, can do a plethora of good. We can invest in sustainable energy sources, reduce our reliance on resources like coal and natural gas…

President Obama and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) have proposed a plan to slash carbon emissions by 30% by 2030.

Good intentions will only get us so far on the road to environmental repair.

It’s going to take financial investment, and quite a bit of it. It’s a good start, at the very least.

Hold on. What am I saying? Sustainable energy sources? Fossil fuels?

Worldwide emissions? The American public has heard these terms tossed interminably back and forth in the media, and very few give a thought to global warming.

What will make people see what global warming is doing to our planet (the only one we have at the moment, I might add)?

Remember that bill that got shot down? Well, I hesitate to call its defeat saddening. Here’s a better word: scary.

Another fact: the entire current U.S. Senate is going to be dead in 50 years, give or take. How about our generation? With any luck, we are going to be very much alive, living in a world ravaged by global warming, a world that vaguely remembers that day, so many years ago, when a 50-49 vote was brushed off as okay. The year is 2065, and the world is seven degrees (Fahrenheit) warmer than today.

Doesn’t sound like a lot?

Perhaps not; the seven degree increase will be only felt over oceans. A metropolitan area such as New York City will feel an increase of (wait for it) 21.6 degrees

Fahrenheit. Our quaint town of Harrisonburg, chances are, will, likewise, be affected. Those toasty 102-degree H-burg days, which are rare but not unheard of, will no longer be the worst of the summer. Try 123.6 degrees.

To put that number in perspective, that’s hotter than the average temperature of Death Valley… in July.

Those measly “seven degrees” could spell the difference between a worldwide famine and the prosperous agricultural environment we have today. A 40% drop in corn and rice production doesn’t sound at all appealing, does it? How about droughts in America’s now “bread basket?” In this topsy-turvy superheated world, wars over water don’t sound far-fetched either. Sea levels will rise to two feet above what they are currently.

Doesn’t sound like a lot?

People living on coastal cities will be forced to evacuate to avoid, well, drowning.

Congratulations, the world is ruined.

Hey! Don’t fret too much, dear reader. There’s a silver lining to this grisly future: It’s not here yet. We live in 2015, and there’s a lot we can do to rewrite our destiny until then. Renewable energy sources need to be adopted more rapidly than they are now. I don’t dispute that fossil fuels are profitable, but they’re choking our planet and (I hate to break it to you) they’re not infinite. Let’s not plan on a day, sometime in the next few decades, when a coal miner emerges from a mine, only to break the news: “We’re plum out.”

The times they are a-changin’, folks, and not for the better. We need legislative change domestically as well as worldwide. Write your senators and congresspeople. Sure, we can quibble about debt ceilings and somesuch, but, ultimately, a healthy Earth is priority.

Period.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to enjoy my 60’s in an apocalypse.

What gets your goat?

“Hey Patrick are you angry too?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I can’t see my forehead.”

Do some things make you angry? Like so angry you could almost do completely irrational things but somehow you manage to control yourself because you know you’ll be consumed by dragon’s breath/ Eddie the Yeti thrown in the dungeon/eaten by a giant whale/get dumped? I know I do.

But the beautiful thing about journalism and writing in general is that I am able to put my thoughts, fears, desires, and pet peeves down on paper to release all anxiety or anger or whatever emotion I’m feeling without punishment. Also some unlucky people get to read 450 words of me complaining about aspects of my life. It’s a win-win scenario. So what are some of my biggest pet peeves? Prepare the stress ball… things could get ugly.

When motion-sensor sinks turn off before I’m finished using them. This one makes me so mad I was inspired to make a short film out of it. I guess a defining aspect of pet peeves is that there isn’t really a rational explanation over why you hate something so much, but this one is the worst. If I am ever in mid scrub and the sink turns off, I feel like crying.

Literally a bizarre sensation builds in my stomach, climbs my esophagus, and finally is released from my eyes in the form of salty tears. Usually I am able to hold the tears back, but the emotion is just as strong. Grumble Grumble.

When my toaster burns my toast.

This one is always my fault. Obviously I’m the one who needs to be responsible and monitor the toast timer…nonetheless when any part of my bread/bagel/ waffle/cereal comes out of the toaster black, a part of my soul simultaneously matches the burnt color… and smell. I immediately became very unhungry and donated my piece of black wheat to another, less picky member of the family.

When there is one person in the right lane and you are behind them but they aren’t turning right and you are and there isn’t enough room for you to go around them so you have to wait at the light for a whole minute. Nuff said.

When a light bulb breaks. This one is saddening and also extremely frightening at the same time. It’s even worse when you are waking up, you reach over to turn the light on and POP, a flash of light and then darkness. Now you have to stumble out of bed in the darkness, get ready for the day, AND replace the dang light bulb.

Wow. I’m disgustingly privileged.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for senioritis Ariel Vogel Feature Editor

anything.

“Sure, I could turn in this tenpoint page of homework. But who cares? Not VCU/Emerson Symptoms include: paralyzCollege/UVA/JMU/the other ing laziness, depression, lack of obscure college that has already motivation, regular use of the accepted me,” chants the crowd phrase “Why does this matThe Aerial View of sweatpants-clad, well-rested, ter?” It’s a real disease. Students class-skipping seniors. across the nation are afflicted, resulting in And really, who can blame us? angry teachers and bewildered parents.

At this point, our final GPA is going to Known colloquially as Senioritis, this matter not a bit (unless we completely give shift in seniors’ mental mindset tends to up and end up with a 0.0). AP scores could occur around the time that college accep- potentially help us out, but schools are so tance letters arrive in students’ mailboxes. weird with those nowadays that it’s hard to And it happens for a very real reason. fully invest yourself. Social status, at least The knowledge that a school wants you for me, has become irrelevant. After the to spend the next four years of your life on next five months only the people who I actheir campus can quickly send a perfectly tually like will ever see me again, so why productive pupil into a state of perpetual should I care if some random chick in the apathy. Even the students who start the hallway is skeptical of my vaguely whimsiyear off with the intent to remain unaf- cal ensemble? In fact, I don’t. fected by the virus soon find themselves The other problem is that no one is offighting the overwhelming pull to not do fering any reason for us rapidly deteriorat-

ing students to apply ourselves once in a while. If people’s opinions don’t worry us and test scores don’t seem nearly as important as they originally were, what is left to pull some enthusiasm out of the zombie-like mindset into which we’ve slipped?

This is a real question, and one to which I don’t have an answer. So something else must be done.

Is there a vaccine? A magical lake in the middle of nowhere with the ability to send anyone back into their original state of motivated bliss? A rehab center you can ship the youth of today off to for a few weeks and have them return raring to study?

Or is it a lost cause? Should teachers with seniors second semester give up the charade and let us cease to function until graduation?

No one knows. But unless someone can come up with a good reason for seniors to put in any effort, that’s what’s going to end up happening.

Anesthesia: do we honestly need it?

Faith Runnells Managing Editor

environment when the surgery occurs because the patient is unconscious and unaware. And so they suggest it.

As humans, we often ignore When a patient chooses to the negatives and downsides to undergo general anesthesia for a decision. This phenomena of wisdom teeth extraction, they Have Faith apathy ranges from the littlest are placing themselves in line of potential consequences-for potential harm for virtualnot doing your homework for ly no reason. And most of the time, they a night-- to the largest of consequences, don’t even know that. possible permanent memory and attenBut what is this harm exactly? tion damage. Before you think to yourself: According to a study in a Hong Kong “What? I’m not risking my brain.” Odds hospital, 15 percent of patients undergoare, in fact, with a three in four chance at ing general anesthesia experience mental some point in your lifetime, you will un- setbacks for at least three months after the dertake this exact indifference to possible surgery, including short-term memory loss brain damage when you agree to undergo and the lack of attention to detail. general anesthesia for a wisdom tooth exPostoperative delirium, characterized traction. by extreme confusion and memory loss I recently got my four wisdom teeth out after anesthesia, occurs to almost every on Jan. 26. In my pre-surgery appointment, anesthesia patient, but typically resolves my oral surgeon recommended general within 48 hours. This includes the inability anesthesia. But there’s actually no neces- to remember things shortly after you wake sity for the patient to be unconscious in up, mood swings, and sometimes hallucithis surgery (thanks to my mom who is a nations. nurse anesthetist, I know this and didn’t However, this unstable state can stick listen to my surgeon’s recommendation to with the patient for much longer than 48 receive general anesthesia to get my teeth hours; this hanging around of postoperaout). For the surgeon, anesthesia’s benefits tive delirium had been attributed to a painclude more money and a more relaxed tient’s stress of surgery, rather than the

surgery itself, until four years ago.

Now, general anesthesia is the focus of many studies around the world. Although we are able to understand anesthesia and its effects on the brain in greater detail now than before, we still do not completely understand. The greatest evidence now supports that the drug binds to and disables proteins on the outer part of neurons that are fundamental for controlling sleep, attention, learning and memory. This disruption further alters the communication between distant regions of the brain, which “somehow triggers unconsciousness”, according to Scientific American.

Now, do not get me wrong. I am an advocate for anesthesia in surgery, when it is necessary. It is an advanced, scientific way of making surgery an easier process. And it is actually, comparatively, highly successful and beneficial, for more extreme surgeries than a tooth pulling.

It’s just not necessary for wisdom tooth extraction, and if everyone didn’t go through general anesthesia for this relatively simple procedure, a multitude of people wouldn’t have to put themselves at risk for its dangers ever in their lifetime. I didn’t, and here I am, writing this piece, without ever having been through a chance of obtaining brain damage.

The Newsstreak

February 26, 2014

OUTDOORS-A9

How Do You Spend Your

SNOW DAYS?

Blair characterizes snow days as religious experiences Evan Dotas Feature Editor Saturday Night Live recently performed a sketch that “revealed” how teachers celebrate a snow day. Although the teachers of HHS do not come into the school and abuse illegal substances like in the SNL skit, some, like history teacher Jay Blair, still celebrate the break.

“Snow days, for me, are like religious experiences,” Blair said. “I love when it comes by surprise, and you think you’ve got this day of work ahead of you [...] and then all of a sudden you wake up and there’s that blanket of snow on the ground.”

When a snow day comes, students are faced with all kinds of different options for how to spend the new holiday. However, for Blair, there’s no dilemma.

The typical excursion includes a trip to Massanutten for skiing or snowboarding, but before that, Blair enjoys the extra time with his family.

“Sometimes we do a family breakfast thing in the morning and enjoy a little bit of that respite together. It’s a gift for the family as much as for the individual. If it’s a deep snow, neither of my kids will go to the mountain, and so I’ll go with other teachers or with friends,” Blair said.

The responsibility of having children causes some complications for teachers who are parents but who also need to come in to school.

“We don’t really have local family or daycare support, so we basically just have to budget our time [...]. So in that regard, sometimes a snow day will put me in a position where I have to do something extra, in which case I’ll go in and do it, or it will provide me with an opportunity to accomplish something that I was falling behind on, so I’ll have to talk it through with Hannah and figure out who’s going to go where or when. But being that I consider snow days religious experiences, I don’t usually come in and do work,” Blair said.

As a teacher, Blair recognizes that a snow day can bring about problems academically.

“I might not be happy if I had a whole stack of those days that put me in a position where I was going to have a really challenging time getting my kids prepared for standardized testing [...]. There’s a limit at some point where I would feel like the

snow day was a burden. I have never actually experienced that limit, but I’m sure it exists,” Blair said.

Despite his appreciation of Virginia snow, Blair does find that the local storms are not the most impressive in terms of magnitude.

“I’ve lived further north most of my life or in mountains most of my life, places with four real seasons. Virginia has four seasons, but it’s an eclipsed winter. It’s really short. The mountain’s usually open in between two and three months out of the year, where as in most areas where skiing is more common, the season can be four or five months long, so winter for me here, is too short, and not really dramatic enough,” Blair said.

Emilee Hussack, who recently joined the HHS English faculty from Pennsylvania, also recognizes a difference between northern and southern weather, albeit a more subtle one.

“The winter [up north] is a little bit crisper. It lasts a couple weeks more on the front end and the back end. It doesn’t differ a whole lot, it just seems like gusts of frigid air freeze my eyeballs a little bit more solid,” Hussack said. “I actually hate the cold weather a lot, outdoor events, anything where I have to prepare myself that I’m going to be very cold, I don’t like that.”

Even though Hussack dislikes brisk conditions, she still is grateful for snow days.

“Snow days are great, you don’t have to worry about driving places. I’ve worked other jobs, not in the education field, where you’re expected to show up to work in six or eight inches of snow and you’re sort of confused about how to actually get to your place of work, so snow days are a great, sensible option,” Hussack said. At the mere possibility of a cancellation, Hussack prepares for the break ahead.

“I go and restock my food supplies, and that’s about it. I just make sure I have enough ketchup and hot sauce and veggie burgers to survive,” Hussack says. “I might get a movie or two, make sure my

sweatpants and pajamas are clean and fluff the pillows on my couch, prepare them for me to be sitting on them.”

When it comes to outdoor activities, Hussack prefers walking with her dog to snowboarding and skiing.

“Allegedly, he is an Alaskan malamute, so the snow makes him crazy in a good way. He pretends that he’s pulling a sled like his kin-dogs, ancestral dogs. But I previously had a pit bull, and she did not like the snow because she’s like a minimally-haired rat in a way. So she didn’t go outside much in the snow,” Hussack said.

Snow days, whether caused by ice or snow, can cause difficulties, as Hussack notes.

“Ice, I might just ignore until it melts.

Snow, and the shoveling of snow, is an obnoxious responsibility, I’ve discovered.

Snow is pretty, ice is not terribly pretty. Ice is kind of nasty and evil,” Hussack says.

Likewise, Blair recognizes some inconveniences, but still feels that snow days are good overall.

“There’s an added inconvenience, particularly more dangerous driving, not necessarily because of the roads but because of people with less experience driving in bad roads. You can’t help being in front of somebody who loses control when they lose control. I recognize that there are downsides, but as a general observation I’ll take snow anytime it comes,” Blair said.

Decorating your snowman is easy Naomi Gelberg - Hagmaier Opinion Editor

Poll: Favorite Snow Day Activity Staying warm inside Snowball fights Building a snowman

12%

Sledding

Skiing/ Snowboarding

21% 19% 21%

27%

Everyone has his or her own unique spin on snowmen. Some go for the classic snowman.

“It was actually really perfect. It was perfectly proportionate and it had a cute little nose,” freshman Lizet Muniz said about the best snowman she’s ever made.

Some like to try their hand at snowmen of unusual size.

“It was two years ago maybe,a couple of friends from my neighborhood and my brother, went down to Purcell park and we built a nine foot tall snowman,” junior Paul Weiss said Others like to make snowmen in action. Senior Laurie Serrell made a snowman doing a split.

“I elaborated the calf muscle, and the quads and the foot, it had all five toes,” she said.

Even though these snowmen are all very different, they all share common elements, such as the classic carrot nose.

“It was a carrot a real carrot, one of the big ones, not a baby carrot,” Serrell said. Weiss’ snowman was too big to find a carrot for.

“I think just a stone,” Weiss said.

Stones are a very common feature to use on snowmen to create everything from noses to buttons.

“We have little pebbles in our garden, we found two I think brown pebbles, and we used those for his eyes,” Muniz said Branches are also a very a stereotypical feature, without them, we would have many armless snowmen.

“We found perfect branches, and they were like little hands, and it was so cute,” Muniz said.

But branches, twigs and the like can be used for more than just arms.

Some even use them as eyes, which seems odd but is perfectly simple. “[I used] Pine branches from a tree in a circle”, Serrell said.

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February 26, 2015

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February 26, 2015

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High School Sweethearts Norments value time spent together Corin Vogel Staff Reporter

Deans bonded over mummies Mia Karr Editor-in-Chief Mummies may not typically be thought of as romantic subject matter, but for history teacher Emily Dean and English teacher Julian Dean, a visit to the Mummies exhibit at the Franklin Institute marked the start of a romantic relationship that recently turned into a marriage. While the two were both teaching at a school in New Jersey, Emily Dean thought she’d enlist Julian Dean in a little lesson plan help.

“I think that was my ploy to ask [him] out,” Emily Dean said.

“We were going to be taking a field trip there so I wanted to go to the exhibit first to know what to expect for the students, and he and I shared students so I asked him to go.”

“She said she needed help ‘researching’,” Julian Dean said.

After that initial date, the couple dated for a year before deciding to get married.

“We’d been dating for a year when I decided she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of

my life with, so I invited her to go hiking with me,” Julian Dean said.

When the couple reached the top of a mountain with a scenic overlook, he pulled out a ring and proposed.

“I had no idea; I was totally surprised. Especially because I wasn’t feeling well and I wasn’t dressed in a way that I would want to be dressed on the day I was getting proposed to,” Emily Dean said. (She was wearing a t-shirt from the TV show “Arrested Development”.) “But it was wonderful.”

The couple got married in Virginia, their new home following their time in New Jersey. Much like the engagement, the wedding took place on a mountain top.

“It was very foggy in a beautiful way, and we had a piper, so it was just very Scottish Highlands,” Emily Dean said. “We wanted to create a wedding that we would like to go to.”

Being married to one of your co-workers can have its advantages, even if the Deans don’t work in the same department.

“Carpooling and getting to de-

Waltons experience love at first sight Marley Adamek News Editor Cara Walton describes the way she and her husband Bradley Walton met as “one of those sappy, disgusting loveat-first-sight stories.”

Their first date was at the movies, and he proposed to her at the Bridgewater College snack shop. They have been together for 23 and a half years. They were married in 1996 at the ages of 21 and 23.

Cara Walton teaches World History I, while Bradley Walton is a library secretary.

“We met at the swimming pool. Mr. Walton was a lifeguard and he had long hair, and it was beautiful, and purple swim trunks,” Cara Walton said. “And I was 16 and Mr. Walton was 18, and I went to visit a friend of mine who was working at the pool… I was hanging out with my friend and [Mr. Walton and I] ended up being able to hang out in the guardhouse together, and we were talking and kind of interacting a little bit.”

After some pushing, it was easy for Cara Walton to get him to ask her out.

“I kept dropping hints that I might be available that he wasn’t picking up on at all,” Cara Walton said. “So I finally made some comment about ‘Hey! I haven’t been on a date in ages’ or whatever, and so he finally picked up on the hint. He asked me out, and the problem was that my family was going on vacation for two weeks the next morning.” Cara Walton then went away on her family vacation, while Bradley Walton lost weight. He didn’t lose weight for the conventional reason of wanting to impress his

compress the day [is my favorite part of working with my spouse],” Julian Dean said.

The Deans also are able to talk about the students they share.

However, sometimes students are surprised to find out that the couple is married.

“I actually had a student go, ‘I know a Mr. Dean’,” Emily Dean said. “Julian tends to be a favorite teacher once students have him, so it’s usually a positive connection.”

“I had a student one time in surprise say, ‘Your wife is nice!’, as if he didn’t expect her to be,” Julian Dean said.

In addition to getting married recently, the couple had a son six months ago, named Finn.

“I try to read a lot to him, and I don’t lower my vocabulary, just like I do with my students,” Julian Dean said, of how his parenting and teaching styles relate.

Although the couple lives outside of city limits, they foresee taking advantage of the policy that allows their children to attend city schools. Finn might someday traverse the halls where two of his parents work.

Amends reconnect after years apart Victoria Giron Feature Editor

partner.

“I lost weight because I had perpetual butterflies in my stomach and I was not eating as much,” Bradley Walton said. He also reportedly told all of his friends that he had found the girl he was going to marry. “[I decided I was going to marry her] the day I met her,” Bradley Walton said. “I thought that she was one of my co-workers’ girlfriends, which later turned out not to be the case. My initial thought when I saw her was ‘Boy she’s pretty, too bad she’s taken.’”

Now, working together has many advantages for the couple.

“It’s nice! A lot of people wonder if we get tired of seeing each other. No, I do not get tired of seeing my husband. I enjoy being able to pop down to the library and see him and getting a hug in the middle of the day,” Cara Walton said. “We enjoy having basically the same kind of schedule and riding together to work if we need to. It’s very convenient.”

Bradley Walton has similar feelings.

“It’s nice. If I need to talk to her about something or get a quick Ms. Walton-fix, I just have to run upstairs and hope that she’s at a point where it’s not horribly detrimental for me to interrupt her class,” Bradley Walton said. “We don’t get sick of each other, so it’s nice.”

Peter Norment, English teacher, AVID teacher, and debate coach, receives a call.

Checking to see who it is, he realizes it is guidance counselor Christy Norment.

“That’s my wife!” Peter Norment said, delighted to talk to her.

This family is one of the staff couples at this school.

“I really like it… it’s just nice, it’s comforting to know that I have family here,” Christy Norment said, but the two rarely interact.

“We never see each other, and we don’t even drive in together. It’s almost like we’re not in the same building,” Peter Norment said. They look forward to these precious moments of seeing each other and their day brightens when they bump into each other.

“A lot of times when I see him in the middle of the day…

It can be a relief just to see him, or hear a joke he makes when I walk into his class… It just kind of lightens my day,” Christy Norment said . Even though they look forward to these moments, neither feel any need to spend all their time together, and when asked if they wished they could see each other more often, they both answered with a simple “Sure.”

There was a time, though, when the Norments were able to work much

more closely. In their first year of marriage, they taught English in South Korea.

“His classroom was next to mine… and the walls were pretty thin, they were like these plexiglass walls, and so I always tell people that I heard Peter’s voice 24 hours a day,” Christy Norment said.

“In South Korea… there was never a waking moment that we were not within earshot of one another, for a year straight… Now, she could not have an office further from my classroom,” Peter Norment said.

The family also includes their two sons, Elliot, five, and Jonas, three.

“We have some rambunctious boys, so its always a high energy evening,” Christy Norment said “By the time the kids get to bed, we are completely exhausted. Maybe we’ll watch an episode of Peaky Blinders, and then go to bed,” Peter Norment said about what an evening looks like in their house. “The house is dark by 8:30.”

Distance really did make the heart grow fonder in the case of Career and Technical Education teachers Joe and Kathy Amend.

The Amends began seeing each other five years ago, but they had known of each other before then.

“His sister was my college roommate, so we knew each other decades ago and then reconnected,” Kathy said.

Joe and Kathy Amend were able to reconnect because Joe Amend’s sister was having dinner with Kathy Amend.

“I came up in the conversation and I was coming home for Thanksgiving.

We had a date while I was home and one thing led to another,” Joe Amend said, “At first brush, it probably was more of an opposites attract thing but we probably have a lot more in common than anyone would think. There’s a tremendous amount of common ground, but there are some differences too.”.

However, because Joe Amend lived in Georgia at the time while Kathy Amend lived in Virginia, they were unable to get to know more about each other through face to face contact, so they improvised.

“First of all, we started by fairly lengthy email conversations. I would type two or three pages a day and we’d answer each other like that. Then about three or four months after that we started talking on the phone. We got to know each

other very, very well with an extended email conversation,” Joe said.

The plus side to using technology to communicate is that all of their conversations were well recorded.

“For our first anniversary, my wife saved all our conversations and printed them and gave them to me in a binder,” Joe said.

After getting to know each other well, the Amends got engaged.

“Our engagement was long distance because he lived south of Atlanta, Georgia and I lived here, so as we were getting together we wrote every day through facebook and email and then we started talking on the phone. Then we decided that we wanted to do this permanently and we lived apart for the first nine months of our marriage until job opportunity was such that he could

move home,” Kathy Amend said.

Their wedding, which took place in Harrisonburg, was small and intimate.

“It wasn’t the first [wedding] for either one of us.

We had immediate family and very best friends,” Kathy Amend said.

However, their wedding didn’t end up being as small as originally intended.

“The cool thing was that he was in the corp [of cadets as part of the Highty-Tighties band] at Virginia Tech and unbeknownst to us couple of his old friends that we invited, invited everyone and crashed the wedding. Most of the guys that he went to college with ended up at the wedding,” said Kathy Amend.

Joe Amend was surprised that his old college friends were coming to the wedding.

“It was great. The first one walked through the door and I said ‘He wasn’t on the list. What is going on?’ It was unbelievable.

I was the only one who didn’t know,” said Joe Amend.

After their wedding, the Amends embarked on a honeymoon before having to separate for six months.

“We went to the National Harbor for three days.

Saying goodbye to her at the Richmond Airport was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. We saw each other at least once a month after that. We made

a commitment to do that.

Sometimes we would meet half way like in Tennessee.

Sometimes she flew down to Georgia and I’d pick her up at the airport and sometimes I’d fly to Richmond and she’d pick me up. After that, we talked daily in the evening until I got to be able to move home,” said Joe Amend.

Joe Amend was able to move to be with Kathy Amend because he got a job at HHS. Now both Joe and Kathy Amend get to spend extra time together at school.

“It’s really better than I thought it would be. I was really hesitant at first, but we drive together most days and we can share what’s going on. It gives us an extra hour a day to be together because of travel time. He understands the world of public education now a whole lot better than he did before, when he was in the business world or in the military. It’s been really nice,” said Kathy Amend.

Although both Joe and Kathy Amend like their working situation, Kathy, who worked at HHS before Joe, had to make adjustments.

“I was used to quiet time on my way to work and now we ride together so there’s no more quiet time, but that’s the only thing,” Kathy Amend said.

Kathy Amend admires many qualities about her husband.

“Joe is a really incredible man of character. His first love is God and his second love is his family. He’s just a really, really good guy,” said Kathy Amend.

Joe Amend shares Kathy Amend’s satisfaction in their decision to marry.

“Without a doubt, marrying her is the smartest thing I ever did in all my life.

Sometimes it’s not how the story starts, it’s how it ends that counts.”

S

The Newsstreak

February 26, 2015

eussical the

STYLE-A10

M

usical

Choreography on point for performance said come up with something that goes with the line of the song, so they were getting to work together with their peers which is really fun,” Corriston said.

With a week to go before opening night One of Corriston’s jobs is to work with of Seussical the Musical, choreographer students who have all different levels of exand HHS dance teacher Amber Corriston perience in dance. She always wants kids to felt the students come alive in the final try new things, so after something is taught stages. the first time, she sees if there is a better “When you get to this point, the stu- fit somewhere else, moving people around dents are on fire and they want to make until she finds the right combination. it better. It’s not so far out so everybody is “If you come to see the show, you’ll see working super hard to figure things out,” in the opening number that we used differCorriston said. ent people in different levels. If you’re up The choreography for Seussical is not all on a set piece you’re not moving as much

by Corriston or the other choreographers. so you don't have to do some of the hardThe students have some liberty in what er choreography, but a lot of people have they are doing, and are able to work to- tried new things and are learning more gether to create certain sections. dance steps in the process,” Corriston said.

“There are definitely improvisation secCorriston had experience choreographtions where they are definitely more in ing musicals when she lived in Seattle; character while they’re moving more like however, every musical brings it’s own their character and moving to different lev- challenges, such as having such a large els on the stage. Even last night we were cast. throwing together something at rehearsal “I want everyone to have a chance to and I just gave them a line of a song and be seen and feel good about what they’re doing so moving people around through different levels on the stage and different places is always big, and it makes it more fun for the audience to see different people in different characters,” Corriston said.

The set for the show has also been constantly developing throughout the choreographing process and Corriston expressed this being a challenge to work around as well.

“You arrive and there PHOTO BY AVA REYNOLDS is something new that you JUMP. Dance instructor Amber Corriston talks to assistant direcdidn’t know was going tor Elana Stauffer-Swartz. Corriston also choreographed most of to be there before. You the dance numbers in Seussical. Some challenges Corriston faced didn’t quite have that in included making sure everyone in the cast was visible. your mind in getting that

Ava Reynolds Outdoors Editor

characters to use those pieces in the set,” Corriston said.

The props have also been an exciting aspect of working with the show.

“We have one part where there is a river on stage, and we have fish dancing in the river, coming out of the river, going back into the river and so whenever we have props there is something else in your hand and it adds to the excitement and the confuPHOTO BY AVA REYNOLDS sion,” Corriston STRIKE A POSE. Freshman Gabby Wilson (left) and sophomore Noelle said.

As opening Warne (right) sing during the opening number of the show. Wilson plays night approached, Jojo, the “Thinker,” and Warne acts as the Cat in the Hat. Corriston felt ready for the most part.

“There’s one number that we still need to work out some kinks, but you see people talking about it on the sides and there’s just a lot of energy and total focus, so yeah we’ll be ready,” Corriston said.

After hearing about the HHS musical in the community after moving here, Corriston PHOTO BY AVA REYNOLDS claims it has been really fun “HERE ON WHO.” The members of Whoville gesture to “the to be a part of, and thinks everybody should come see the smallest of the small,” Jojo (played by Gabby Wilson, not pictured). show.

“There is so much talent on the stage and so much energy and so ple who work together to make the show much talent behind the scenes, and the happen is amazing. I would love to do it casting is really great. The number of peo- again next year,” Corriston said.

LISTEN UP. The Mayors of Who, junior Andy King and senior Ariel Vogel, stand with their son Jojo, freshman Gabby Wilson, as they grimly listen to the news that their friend Horton the Elephant (below) is being sent to an insane PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN asylum.

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN BIGGEST BLAME FOOL. Junior Ellie Plass, playing the Sour Kangaroo, is carried in by the Wickersham Brothers.

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN WE ARE HERE! The citizens of Whoville listen to the Whoville Mayors in a panic.

Pictured from left to right, freshman Cary Hardwick, junior Michelle Eckstein, senior Kelli Showalter, senior Jessica Nguyen, senior Shannon Richard, freshman Bo Boisen, sophomore Eleanor Alger, sophomore Genevieve Cowardin, senior Victoria Giron and sophomore Ana Hart gasp at the news that their small world is in danger.

AN ELEPHANT BIRD! Senior Graham Rebhun, playing Horton, and senior Caroline Shank look in awe at the elephant bird that has just hatched out of the egg.

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN

Seniors prepare for final musical experience Olivia Comer Staff Reporter For four years our seniors of the HHS drama department have dazzled us with the grandeur of Les Miserables, the sparkle of Thoroughly Modern Millie, the time capsule of Oklahoma and the whimsical characters of the upcoming production Seussical the Musical.

The musical has affected the lives of each senior differently. For Graham Re-

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN LAST SONG. Senior Caroline Shank plays the love interest, Gertrude McFuzz.

bhun, it is not only about acting and singing, it is also about the awesome people you get to know and see every day. “[The people in musical] are an awesome group of people,” Rebhun said.

For Phoebe Copeland, who has been managing musical all by herself for three years, the musical is about the feeling you get when the curtain goes up on opening night. “[My favorite part is] that the hard work and dedication of everyone putting in their piece can come to fruition in such an amazing way. The curtain opening on opening night is the best feeling in the world. It’s just this magical moment where everything you have worked on for three months comes into being and it is just this incredible thing,” Copeland said.

They started their freshman year in theater with Les Miserables. A show of this magnitude made for a very classic freshman year play. Senior Caroline Shank’s favorite show to participate in was Les Miserables.

“I liked them all for different reasons but my favorite was Les Miserables my freshman year because it is such a classic show and it was such a cool opportunity to be part of a show like that which is so world renowned,” Shank said.

Even though Les Miserables is a serious show, the cast still found ways to brighten it up backstage. Whether it was just making jokes or even finding something to do with a discovered phone book.

“Freshman year Stuart Baker and I found a phone book backstage, and we decided that we were going to rip it in half by the end of the musical. We went through the book and ripped pages out, and it took us a long time because we had to take them out one at a time,” Rebhun said. “We finally had it ready to actually rip, and we were on stage so excited because when we got off of the stage we got to rip a phone book in half. Then we heard this sound and we look over and Dylan Norquest (who was a senior at the time) had ripped it in half and we were devastated.”

The memories made in this play range from funny memories, like trying to rip a phone book in half to memories you didn’t know would be special until you were able to look back on them. A memorable moment from Copeland’s freshman year was her initiation into the high school world.

“I have this one memory from freshman year driving with my brother in his convertible the top was down even though it was February. We were all freezing! It was me and Caroline Shank and one other person,” Copeland said. “He had the music blasting and it was like this crazy feeling because I was finally in high school and here I am driving around in the middle of the night. It was super late and really fun.”

Then in their sophomore year they tapped their way into yet another incredible performance, Thoroughly Modern Millie. Most of the performers had no prior tap dance experiences, so they learned

it all within just three months. Shank was able to persevere through and eventually learned to tap.

“One of the mostly involved or advanced shows was Thoroughly Modern Millie. It was a lot of tap. We had [dance] workshops where people would come in and teach, so I basically learned how to tap dance for the show,” Shank said. “[Tap] was not my best showcase of abilities, but I really wanted to work hard for that one because I didn’t really know tap dancing.”

“To all of the people who are thinking about doing musical but are kind of nervous, I say just go for it.

It’s a really cool experience the people are really accepting and it’s a lot of PHOTO BY AVA REYNOLDS fun. So if you’re thinking about SING OUT. Senior Graham it, just go for Rebhun plays Horton from Horton Hears A Who. it,” Shank said.

The Newsstreak

February 26, 2015

FEATURE-B1

Behind the scenes...

PHOTOS BY BRENNA COWARDINI

DESIGN CONCEPTS BY PAUL WARNE

SETTING THE STAGE. Set designer Paul Warne and director Stanley Swartz worked together for months in advance to create the fantastical world of Seussical. The set was built

by Warne and a group of parent volunteers. Warne was a presence on the set in the final days leading up to opening night and throughout the multiple performances.

Warne and Swartz collaborate to create set Ariel Vogel Feature Editor The auditorium is filled with the sounds of men (and women) at work on the stage. Loud music provides a background to the roar of electric tools, shouted questions and the occasional thunk of a large piece of wood being shifted. Paul Warne, the director of this set-building production, runs around perfecting angles and giving notes while theater instructor Stan Swartz watches from the audience.

Warne has been designing sets for Harrisonburg City Public Schools since his daughter Kaelyn’s eighth grade year at Thomas Harrison Middle School in 2009.

He followed her to the high school, and he’s been working with Swartz ever since.

“Since [Paul and I] have worked together for several years, we trust each other,” Swartz said. “He’s a fabulous guy to work with; we trust each other and we respect each other’s abilities and that really helps with our working relationship.”

After six or so years, Warne and Swartz have a system down for designing the sets for each winter musical.

“The way its been working is as soon as the musical is decided upon, I get a script [and] he gets a copy and we discuss general ideas and approach[es],” Swartz said. Following this preliminary meeting, both men read the script and do research on their own.

“Then we get back together again and we continue discussing and hashing out some ideas. Because he’s had experience in theater and art, he has lots of phenomenal ideas of his own,” Swartz said.

The general concept of

the design, when you get down to it, is Dr. Seuss-esque.

“We are not allowed for copyright reasons do do exact duplications, but we can do the general idea,” Swartz said. Instead, the concepts of bright colors and strange shapes are being interpreted from the minds of the designers. “[It] is as if the actors were playing on a page in Dr. Seuss’s books. It’s going to be as if they’re playing in an illustration, this live illustration, so it’s going to be very flat with those black outlines that you would see [in Seuss’s books, with] lots of really bright colors,” Warne said. Another element of the design that stands out from other productions is the seemingly endless levels in the set.

“There are seven stories of stairs in this set. Seven stories worth of stairs,” Warne said. “Everybody should be seen. There are going to be mountains in one part, there’s a jungle in another place where the monkeys go up 18 feet in the air and there’s this beautiful Seuss rock arch that comes off the front.”

That component of the design particularly contrasts with the past few productions at HHS. “Last year in Oklahoma! it had to be dead flat [because] it was [set in] Oklahoma. Iin Thoroughly Modern Millie, [in order] to get height into New York City, we needed [the actors] to be on the ground.

Any time you add height [to the rest of the set] it pulls away from that big building [New York City] concept,” Warne said. “Where here, there’s height everywhere.

Kids are literally seven feet in the air everywhere.”

This element of freedom in designing the show is one of Swartz’s favorite

parts.

“Seussical is a lot of fun to work with because you are so unlimited in the choices you can [make]. You’re not limited by reality, so to speak, and you want the set to be fun and you want the set to draw people in.

You [don’t have] to worry about it looking like it’s super realistic,” Swartz said. For Warne, designing Seussical fulfills a lifelong goal.

“I can’t imagine any designer not wanting to design something related A DREAM BECOMES REALITY. Horton’s nest from the drawing board to reality. Senior Graham to Dr. Seuss,” Rebuhn plays Horton the elephant and spends the large majority of the show sitting in the nest.

Warne said.

“It’s so playOver just a few weeks, “It’s almost Karl Marx-ist funds, we would have lots ful, everything is playful, in the way it’s really work- of wing space so that we Warne and the volunteers so I would say it’s a dream ing out; it’s pretty amazing. could push the set pieces have come in and created come true. I never thought But [Swartz] is the reason [backstage], we would have the bare stage into a Seuss it would happen because it’s all there,” Warne said. a fly space above the stage wonderland. Every year, they did the show less than An additional barrier so to change scenes all you Warne is blown away by a decade ago, but then keeping Warne’s concepts would have to do would be the parental support. when he announced it I from coming to fruition is to drop a piece in place or a “I’ve never met so much thought, ‘okay!’” the monetary restriction backdrop in or out and we talent and I’ve never seen The only drawback pre- set forth for Swartz’s fan- would be able to have all of community work as well sented by designing Seussi- tastical productions each the lighting instruments we as it does here. We’re in a cal is not being able to do year,. would need to do what we school system where there enough.

“Occasionally, [Warne’s] need to do,” Swartz said. are stresses on it, financial “Occasionally, his artis- artistic ideas get involved “We wouldn’t be barely stresses and other stresses tic design gets in the way of beyond what we can do making do all the time.” and yet you have this beauwhat I need to have happen budget-wise so I have to While it’s Warne’s de- tiful vision of community functionally for the show pull him back for budget signs and artistic abilities and all these different skills to go from one scene to reasons. I would say prob- creating the backdrop to coming together,” Warne another. So I like that rela- ably my least favorite part Swartz’s production, Warne said. tionship; he gets to dream of the designing process [is] can’t sing enough praises of Making his way towards and be crazy and give me having to say no, because the director. the back of the auditorium, brand new ideas and I have a lot of time the ideas are “Stan is just--he’s fear- Swartz turned to watch the to be the practical one and clever and the ideas would less. He has a vision where progress of the set workers. say ‘okay, we’ll take this but work if we had a million a lot of other people would As he walked backwards, adapt it this way,’” Swartz dollar budget. But since we be like ‘well, it’s impossi- his face broke out into a said. Warne doesn’t mind don’t have a million dol- ble.’ To Stan, nothing’s im- smile. the “pushes and pulls,” lar budget, we can’t do it,” possible; somehow we can “It’s always amazing because to him, mixing art Swartz said. If he did that make happen, or at least to see what they come up always involves some sacri- that money, however, it make it appear like it’s hap- with.” fice in order to achieve the wouldn’t go to waste. pening. He’s just that kind best possible result.

“If we had unlimited of a person.

Swartz-Stauffer enjoys assistant directing with father Lucie Rutherford Sports Editor When it comes to musicals at HHS, Elana SwartzStauffer is an expert. With her dad, Stanley Swartz, as the director for every HHS musical for the past 29 years, she’s always had her coach near by. SwartzStauffer was in all four musicals during her four years at HHS. In 2006, it was Seussical.

“It was my freshman year,” Swartz-Stauffer said.

“I had no idea what I was doing.”

Her sophomore year, it was Oliver, then Beauty and the Beast where she got to play the role of Belle. And during her graduating year, 2009, Swartz-Stauffer was involved in the production of Hello Dolly.

“That cast was also really special to me because it was my senior year,”

Swartz-Stauffer said.

After graduating in 2009, Swartz-Stauffer went overseas for six months with a program called YWAM (Youth With A Mission). She lived in Thailand for three months and Northern Ireland for three months doing mission work.

Some may think that working with a parent could get irritating, but SwartzStauffer has a different look on her new occupation of assistant director.

“Working with my dad is the best thing ever, I love it,” Swartz-Stauffer said.

“It’s a safe place where I can throw out my ideas and get really good experience.

He understands me and we communicate with barely any words.”

Swartz-Stauffer says that her father has been working with high school productions for forever, since he was a teenager just out of high school in

PHOTO BY EVAN DOTAS

LIKE FATHER LIKE DAUGHTER. Elana Swartz-Stauffer addresses the cast on opening night during warm ups. fact.

“He has so much experience and so much wisdom when it comes to theater in general,” Swartz-Stauffer said.

As assistant director for a high school musical,

Swartz-Stauffer’s job is to simply “fill in the holes”.

“I work with him and I also work with the costuming and all of that,” SwartzStauffer said. “I work with the stage manager. I’m doing blocking for scenes,

helping with concept ideas, choreography.

Basically whatever is needed.”

Whatever is needed also includes make-up, stage combat, coaching, and coming in for rehearsals as an extra set of eyes.

This is not SwartzStauffer’s first time behind the works of a HHS musical.

She did make-up for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2010, make-up and coaching for Les Miserables in 2012, and a few other help-outs between then. Her first official assistant directing job was for Oklahoma just last year, but she is not quite sure if she would want to become a director herself, though she says she would not be opposed to the opportunity.

From working with and performing in so many musicals, Swartz-Stauffer cannot pick a favorite.

“They’re all so different

and it’s the people. You never get those casts back,” Swartz-Stauffer said.

Another thing that comes with being involved in multiple productions is the experience and finding the things to love about theater.

“One of my favorite things about theater is one of my favorite things about working with students,” Swartz-Stauffer said. “It’s that everyone brings something different to it. I can look at a script and they bring something completely different that I never saw, so you get the finished product and it’s something that you can never replicate. It’s always fresh, it’s always a lot of fun, it’s never a dull moment when working with high school kids, I love it. I love the collaboration and that you work together to make the show.”

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Foods and Nutrition class teaches lessons to live by Ariel Vogel Events Coordinator Occasionally, the downstairs hallways of the school are filled with the aroma of baked potatoes or homemade pizza, fresh cinnamon buns or baking cookies. The goal of Diana Kern’s Nutrition and Wellness classes isn’t just to eat delicious food, though. “[I want] students to be able to make good food choices, determine what’s good for them [and] what’s not good for them, what amounts of food they should eat, what to look for when shopping and all of this will lead to a healthier, longer life style,” Kern said.

This intent does entail a good amount of “lab time,” in which students are able to utilize the kitchen setups in the classrooms. For Senior Rudy Lopez, that was why he took the class.

“I needed an elective and it seemed like the best, [because] it involves cooking and eating,” Lopez said. That hands-on element is one of the reasons Kern enjoys teaching the class.

“We get to cook and do things in the

kitchen and [it’s] not just a basic lecture [with] notes,” Kern said. That’s not the only thing she likes, though.

“I like the students, I like the teachers I work with, I like the subject that I teach,” Kern said. “I like getting up in the mornings and coming to work. Also, by teaching nutrition, it makes me keep up with all the newest developments and changes. [Nutrition standards are] changing all the time [so] it keeps me on top of things and makes me eat better and cook better at home.”

For Kern, the purpose of the class is exactly what it’s called: Nutrition and Wellness. She hopes to convey the importance of living and eating healthily to her students.

“I’m finding that, in nutrition, it doesn’t matter what background [a student is] from, who they are, [because] we all live in such a fast-paced world. People don’t take time to cook at home, think about what they eat [or] make good nutritional choices and it’s so important for their health now [and] later on in life,” Kern said. “I want to reach out to all of [my students] and teach them how to be healthy.”

Junior Christy Lovos appreciated studying healthy eating habits and continues to

use what she learned every day.

“Whenever I go shopping, I try to find the most nutritional and cheapest [foods].

[I also learned] how much of something I should eat, like how much fruit, and how much grain, and I use that at home,” Lovos said.

Kern stressed how the class is not only relevant for students now but will continue to be as they grow up and begin feeding themselves. “[Nutrition and Wellness] is something that, when they walk out of this class, they will be able to use every day the rest of their life,” Kern said. Of course, the more popular element of cooking does come into play, especially for Lovos. “[My favorite parts are] the cooking and learning exactly what I’m eating. Almost everything [we cook] is pretty good, [even] things that you thought you wouldn’t like,” Lovos said. Lovos’ class made a whole variety of meals while she was in the class, ranging from smoothies to pizza to cream soup.

“At home, I’ve done the potatoes that we learned to make and the spaghetti recipe she gave us,” Lovos said. Lopez has made pizza at home from the class as well

as a variety of desserts.

“There was a sponge cake that I really liked; it had a sort of glazed frosting,” Lopez said.

In addition to the basic lab and classroom work, Kern and the other hospitality instructors are arranging a field trip for later in the spring.

“We’re planning one for the Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia so the students can see a [hotel’s kitchen] and how a hotel operates, how travel, tourism and recreation areas work,” Kern said. Working in hospitality is a more popular career path than many may realize.

“Hospitality and foods and nutrition is one of the main employers in this country right now. There are more jobs there than just about anywhere, [so the trip would] show students that there’s more to [food service] than working in a fast food restaurant,” she said.

For Kern, watching students get excited is the highlight of teaching.

“I don’t know that I could pick a favorite [memory], but when students make something for the first time and it turns out right and they really like it, that always [makes me] happy,” Kern said.

Childhood development class covers valuable skills ESL classes help The class, which often talked about chilTeresa Rafael Castelan was one of the Giron students learn language Victoria dren, had times when children would come teen parents who opted to take the class.

Feature Editor Evan Dotas Feature Editor In order to reach out to the school’s diverse population, HHS offers English as a Second Language, or ESL, classes to those who need them. Among the students in this program is freshman Kevin Navedo-Claudio.

“In Puerto Rico, I learned basic stuff, but here, I learned more. In two days, my English was too strong [to be in the newcomer ESL classes],” Navedo-Claudio said. He moved from Puerto Rico to Harrisonburg five months ago, where he has been adapting to the new environment, particularly in school.

“There, the classes are the same group in each class, everyone has the same class. Another difference, the school here is inside, Puerto Rico is outside. The teachers are better, the classrooms are better, everything is better.

The food is better,” Navedo-Claudio said.

For Navedo-Claudio, ESL classes have been one helpful outlet to learning English. He also cites his father, who is bilingual, and baseball as prime factors in his successful attempts at learning a second language. In fact, Navedo-Claudio has reached the point of only taking ESL English, whereas his other classes are all regular English-speaking ones.

Sophomore Abby Meca also takes ESL classes, with her entire schedule composed of them. Since her parents speak no English, Meca values the opportunities that she receives here.

“Sometimes [speaking mainly Spanish is] hard. I need to learn to speak more English,” Meca said. However, Meca says that it hasn’t been difficult to adapt.

Since she knows many ESL students, Meca recognizes that many peers face difficulties learning a second language.

However, she believes that they should pursue the goal of being bilingual.

“They should speak both languages because speaking both is important,” Meca said.

Students are not the only people impacted by the program. Mary Inge, who teaches Career and Technical Education, has learned a lot from her ESL class experience.

“If nothing else, when I was teaching the foods, [I learned] cultural things.

I introduced [my students] to some American foods that students who were not new to this country would have absolutely inhaled. For example, I gave them sugar cookies, and truthfully, I have lots of leftovers because they were too sweet,” Inge said.

After teaching a foods class last year, Inge has moved on to teaching computer skills, something that she believes is important to learn in high school.

“I think now they teach [keyboard skills] somewhat in middle school, but some of these students have never been around a computer, and for sure they don’t have keyboarding skills where they would use the right fingers in the right keys and where they would be able to use the keyboard without looking at each key and picking it out,” Inge said.

Even though she teaches ESL classes, Inge doesn’t know any other languages, which sometimes hinders her.

“I use Mr. Arango and Mr. Karim if I really need to make a point, not so much academically but if this is something that we need to work on for classroom management,” Inge said.

A typical family/parenting class is taken once a person has reached adulthood.

However, at HHS you can take Childhood Family Development class from as early as ninth grade. The teacher of this class, Katherine Amend, stresses that this class is open for anyone.

“Generally, girls take it. There was one boy this time and he was such a good sport. They’re all ninth through twelfth grade,” Amend said.

The class covers a large range of topics that typically deal with relationships between loved ones.

“It’s a basic life skills class for making healthy choices, how to handle positive relationships and developing good communication skills. We talked about pregnancy and birth. We talked about self-esteem, personality types, how to set goals, how to achieve your goals, dating, abuse, what are the signs of abuse, that kind of stuff,” Amend said.

in for the class.

“We had several guest speakers bring in kids that we could look at. We talked about ages and stages of development and that sort of thing,” Amend said.

Amend is the only teacher in the school who teaches the class. She enjoys the environment of the class.

“I enjoy the discussion and getting to know the kids and where they’re coming from and I learn a lot about the way you guys think verses the way my generation used to think. We talk about trying to help people think through their decisions and not be impulsive and looking at the right now but looking at the impact of things five or ten years down the road,” Amend said.

The class was originally offered for teen parents to take, however non-parenting teens take the class as well.

“We only had two moms take it and an expectant mom take it. Most of the moms didn’t want to take it because they were taking other stuff and it didn’t fit in their schedule,” Amend said.

“I know how to be a mom, but I needed other head starts. I just wanted to see what is expected and what happens during my daughter’s childhood,” Rafael Castelan said.

Rafael Castelan liked talking about teen pregnancy because she could relate, but she’d still recommend the class to teens without children.

“If you’re not a teen mom, you can expect how a child’s development really is and if you ever are in a situation taking care of a child, you can know some stuff.

We practice exercises and activities to learn with the child. So you’re not really like ‘What do I do?’” Rafael Castelan said.

The students who were parents contributed insights on their life to the class conversation.

“They were sitting there and giving their life experience and if they could go back, they love their kids desperately, but if they could do it over again they’d wait. Nobody thinks it’ll happen to them,” Amend said.

Piano curriculum hits artists from classical to contemporary Josh Stratford Staff Reporter In some classrooms, students take notes. In other classrooms, learners play notes. The piano and keyboarding classes fall into the latter group.

Claire Leeper, who teaches Piano 1, is only starting her second semester of teaching at HHS. She worked at Fort Defiance for six years before beginning at HHS, teaching band and guitar classes. Even though she hasn’t taught piano before, she doesn’t find it difficult. One reason is she took piano classes in college. Another reason is because teaching piano is similar to teaching guitar.

“The language of music is the same,” Leeper said.

The class includes ear training, which is learning to play music from hearing it.

What’s kept in mind is the diversity of this school, so the music in Piano 1 varies from all sorts of artists; Beethoven, Herbie Hancock, and the first Afghan-American to win a Grammy, Omar Akram.

It’s simple to start Piano 1. Leeper begins by teaching simple melodies, note reading, and chord reading. Therefore, there is no experience required.

“It’s fun if you participate and try,” Leep-

er said.

Junior Kelly Lopez enjoyed Piano 1, and loved when she completed her first song in class. She didn’t have any experience in piano before. She has been complemented by the Piano 2 teacher, Bethany Houff, as her ‘success story.’ Houff has observed that Lopez is good at finding her own song. This can expand your thoughts about playing pi-

ano in general.

If students want more experience in piano, like Lopez, Piano 2 is an option. It wasn’t easy to begin teaching Piano classes for Houff. About nine years ago, she had to create her own resources and she had to make her own book to ensure that the students would have success.

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN

KEYS TO HAPPINESS. Freshman Max McDaniel and senior Rozda Askari listen to what they are playing in their keyboarding class.

Online venue has become alternative to traditional classroom Alex Osinkosky Staff Reporter An alternative to the traditional classroom offers many options for students.

The online learning platform has expanded a lot in recent years. Here at HHS, PLATO is one of the platforms offered for online learning.

PLATO offers a range of classes, from Personal Finance to Health and Physical Education. Freshman Sarai Perez is in PLATO Spanish III. Perez takes the class because she needed another language and could not fit anything else in her schedule. She has never taken an online class before this one.

“It’s a lot more videos instead of listening to people talk,” Perez said.

She likes how you can pace yourself and work on things when you would like. However, Perez doesn’t like that you cannot ask a teacher questions without leaving the room.

“I like that if I don’t feel like doing some-

thing that day, I can just wait until the next day to get caught up,” Perez said.

Even though the class may have downsides, she would recommend the class because you can get a class done quickly at your own pace.

“It helps me with managing myself,” Perez said.

Sophomore Kevin Sokolyuk is enrolled in the Personal Finance PLATO class. Sokolyuk also didn’t have room in his schedule for another class, and has also never taken an online class before this one. He says that the class still has tests, quizzes and reading, but is different because the class is more laid back and you can read at your own pace.

“I like how there’s not really homework.

There’s just the quizzes and it’s not as high maintenance,” Sokolyuk said.

He would recommend the class for multiple reasons.

“If you want to get a class out of the way, then you can take the online version and you’ll learn just as much as a regular

class,” Sokolyuk said.

Junior Andy King is also enrolled in the PLATO Personal Finance class.

“I like that once I finish my work, I can have some free time to just take a nap or work on other work,” King said.

King doesn’t like how unstructured the class can be. He would recommend these classes for people who don’t like the strictness of a classroom and who do like a quiet place of work.

Senior Mary Pendleton is in the PLATO Contemporary Economic Issues class. Before her current online class, Pendleton had taken two online classes because she found them easier. She likes online classes because you can get them done quickly.

“I like it because it’s fast paced and I get more out of it than in my other classes,” Pendleton said.

She doesn’t like the class however because she tends to slack off. Pendleton recommends online classes because of her belief that you may learn better in this type of environment.

February 26, 2015

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Living the Vegan & Vegetarian Lifestyle

Cuban Burger’s vegetarian burger on point Phoebe Copeland Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY PHOEBE COPELAND DELICIOSO. This savory and smoky flavored burger can be found at The Cuban Burger in Downtown Harrisonburg.

Although Cuban Burger certainly isn’t directed toward vegetarians, the vegetarian options they offer make the experience positive for meat eaters and non meat eaters alike. The item I sampled was their “El Vegetariano”, a vegetarian burger. All Cuban Burger burgers come with matchstick french fries on top, and the vegetarian burger was no exception. When the burger arrived, it was nearly six inches tall, stuffed with toppings.

The burger itself was a combination of beans and grains formed together into a patty. Although the taste of the burger was on point, savory and slightly smoky, the consistency left something to be desired.

Because the mixture was in fact beans and grain rather than meat, it was a little soft and almost became a paste by the time I was finished with the sandwich. The texture, however, detracted little from the overall effect partly because the crunch of the french fries on the sandwich minimized the lack of substance in the burger. Along with the patty, the sandwich consisted of lettuce, tomato, onion, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup and of course the matchstick fries.

The size of the burger was indeed a bit

intimidating, but when I finally managed to take a bite, the multitude of flavors exploded in my mouth in perfect harmony. The traditional hamburger seasonings combined with the crunchy matchstick french fries spiced up the already tasty burger beautifully. The overall effect gave the impression of eating a hamburger without, of course, the meat. Just $6.50 for the sandwich, my wallet and my stomach were extremely satisfied at the end of my meal.

With excellent service and a cool, chic atmosphere, Cuban Burger is a quality option for vegetarians as long as you’re not looking for too many options. With only a few vegetarian choices, Cuban burger doesn’t focus on vegetarians, but the items it offers make up for the lack of choice. If you’re looking to keep both your vegetarian and meat-eating friends happy, Cuban Burger is a solid option.

SEE MORE ON THE WEB! HHSMEDIA.COM H For more vegan and vegetarian food reviews, visit our website at www.hhsmedia.com. Also check out some of our blogs, opinions, breaking news stories and features.

Carnivore goes herbivore for single meal Brian Alvarado Staff Reporter I love meat so much, I would almost consider myself a carnivore. I have never thought about going vegetarian; the entire idea of never eating meat just seems so excessive and utterly unbearable. Especially at restaurants. I don’t think I have ever even ordered a meal that did not contain some kind of animal in it. The thought of a life without steaks, chicken, ribs, burgers and bacon struck fear into my heart. So, instead of avoiding and running away from my fears, I decided to face them head on.

I wanted to go to a place I was familiar with and didn’t scare me as much. Chipotle is the first restaurant that popped in my mind. It was my first time eating out vegetarian so this seemed like a good option and although it was going to be hard not putting steak in my burrito bowl, I mean it’s Chipotle, how bad could it possibly be?

I walked into the usual scene at Chipotle. The first thing I noticed was the smell of steak and chicken, then the sound of steak and chicken being grilled. The first thing that caught my eye was the steak

and chicken. It looked so beautiful. I I loved it. It was not only the taste, but the vegetarian diet. I actually think that asked myself how does anyone come in the satisfaction of making a health con- it is quite the smart choice for those who here and not eat meat? I had already con- scious decision made it that much better. seek a healthier lifestyle. I would definitevinced myself that this would be an awful I would definitely try this again. Not only ly recommend that everyone at least try experience. as a one time thing but as lifestyle choice. it. Who knows, you might love it.

I got in line and I asked the burrito I no longer have my ill thoughts about magician to work his magic with some lettuce, beans, rice, salsa, guacamole, and some cheese and sour cream since I had the luxury of not having to eat something vegan. I walked to my table, sat down, said a prayer before I met my doom, grabbed the spoon and put some of the food in my mouth. Oh man. It was actually pretty darn good.

The guac and sour cream made for a rich creaminess. The rice and beans was where the starchy, filling part of the meal came from and the lettuce and salsa added a nice freshness to the bowl. Overall, it was a pretty wonderful experience.

I mean it is Chipotle but that didn’t really change the fact that I was no where near the death that I thought awaited me. It was all the same just without the steak. It was like eating ice cream, without the cherry on top of course, but ice cream without the cherry on top is still ice cream. It was PASS THE GUAC. Chipotle is located at the 1615 Reservoir St. Suite #101 In Harrisonprobably a fair amount healthier, too. burg next to the Verizon cell phone wireless store.

Thai Flavor worth return trip Beyond’s sushi didn’t grab me Eddie Mestre Staff Reporter For those of you that don’t know, attached to the back of Little Caesar’s is an equally little Thai restaurant called Thai Flavor. The inside is filled with little decorations and plants which give it a very comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. It also feels very clean, which I appreciate tremendously. The menu is quite diverse and there are several options to satisfy the pickiest of customers. My friend and I decided on the Pad Thai Jae, which is a dish of Thai noodles topped with veggies, tofu, optional egg (which I got) and ground peanuts on the side as a topping.

The presentation of the dish exceeded my expectations. The noodles were very hot and the vegetables looked fresh. The ground peanuts were in a cute bowl on the side next to a piece of lettuce with several shavings of a carrot. The carrot and lettuce added coloration to the dish which made me notice the overall aesthetic of the food. The food itself was decently salty and slightly fishy and the vegetables tasted delicious. The tofu to me didn’t really taste like anything, but my friend greatly enjoyed it. The egg tasted alright, though I had no previous experiences to compare the taste

to. In the future, however, I think I’ll forgo the egg, as it added a … well.. slightly eggy taste that my taste buds did not particularly like. I am not a big fan of peanuts, I actually tend to not enjoy them at all, so when I went in for the peanut topping bite, I wasn’t expecting it to be that spectacular.

Even with the tiny amount of topping I included on my bite, the peanut flavor was very potent and slapped my tongue around for a good five seconds. For those that like peanut flavors, try it out, I personally did not like the combination though.

Overall it was pretty good. When (notice the when not if or anything of the sort) I go back though, I’ll definitely try something different. The menu was huge and everything looked fantastic. I recommend checking the place out!

PHOTO BY EDDIE MESTRE PEANUTS. This dish can be found at Thai Flavor located behind Little Caesar’s in Harrisonburg.

Abby Hissong Style Editor Beyond Restaurant and Lounge is a relatively new addition to the Downtown Harrisonburg food scene. It specializes in “Japanese fusion” cuisine, which basically means it’s Japanese food made for the American palette.

I had never been there before and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, so when I entered the restaurant I immediately regretted wearing sweatpants. The entire layout has a really expensive and modern feel that is atypical to Harrisonburg, with chrome tabletops and dim lighting.

I went on a Wednesday night, so the restaurant was mostly empty except for a few other tables and the people sitting at the bar. We were seated quickly and immediately served complimentary edamame beans which are steamed soybeans that you eat like a snap pea, (they’re actually better than they sound, I promise).

As my friend and I debated what to get, the server was very attentive, filling our glasses often and even went so far as to recommend what vegetarian options he thought would be the best.

I ended up deciding on the California roll sushi, which is cucumber, avocado, and cream cheese wrapped up in rice and sprinkled with sesame seeds and carrot.

It also comes with a side of wasabi and pickled ginger that adds a pop of color to the dish.

Now, maybe it is because I’m not a huge sushi fan, but I wasn’t really impressed with my meal overall. The cream cheese and the avocado were both really creamy, and while the cucumber did offset the overwhelming creamy texture, it didn’t contribute anything to the flavor.

In my opinion, something more should have been done to add some flare to what should be the most basic of sushi.

Don’t get me wrong, it was good, it just wasn’t anything that I would ever crave, or go out of my way to buy. The presentation of my food was very nice, and it was a decent portion of sushi for how much I paid. The prices range from $8 at the cheapest to around $16 at the highest, so not anything that you would blow tons of money on. The service, layout, and overall feel of the restaurant was perfect, but the food quality fell short for me.

The restaurant as a whole definitely has it’s strong suits, however, their cuisine just didn’t suit my taste.

Indian American Cafe has their customers leaving pleased with meals Sam Imeson Online Editor My first trip to Harrisonburg’s Indian American Cafe was a short lived one as I stepped up to the door and realized that I had no cash with me in a restaurant that accepted cash only. I had to run to the 7-11 down the street to get some money.

Upon entering the cafe, I saw a very bland, but nice, interior that included seven or eight tables all covered with a similar red and white tablecloth. Each table sat six people and then there were a few tables on the sides of the cafe that were able to sit two people. I was greeted by a waiter who, after

asking if anyone else would be joining me, sat me at one of the two seater tables. Various artworks covered the walls and I sat beneath one painting that I am guessing was a depiction of an Indian landscape. Having never been to the Indian Cafe before, and knowing very little about Indian cuisine, I asked the waiter what entre customers usually ordered.

“The ponir saag is very popular, but people also enjoy the dall saag or vegetable fried rice,” he continued, “most everything on our menu is pretty good if you ask me, we don’t usually get too many complaints,” said my waiter, Chris. I decided on the ponir saag and a water to go along with it. The ponir saag consists of homemade cheese

cubes and spinach curried with spices and herbs. Once you have ordered, the waiter, or waitress, will ask you, on a scale of 1-4, how spicy you want your food. Not feeling very risky I said I would like mine at a two.

With there not being too many people eating in the cafe, I was surprised at the lengthy wait I had to get my food. When the waiter did finally come back, my excitement was short lived as I saw on my plate an array of bland cheeses lightly covered in spices that appeared to have just been scattered about without any real care. Despite the food lacking presentation, I could not complain about the portion sizes. Although the food itself, in my opinion, would not have been a first round draft pick, there was

more than enough for me to eat. The few spices that were on my food caught me by surprise as I found myself asking for multiple refills for my water.

The cheese was one of the oddest foods I have ever tasted as it seemed to melt in my mouth and release a sort of spoiled milk taste. Surprisingly, the spinach was quite good. It was the perfect texture to go along with the level of spiciness. I left the cafe pleased, but not satisfied. For someone who enjoys vegan food, I think the Indian and American Cafe would be a great place to try, but I doubt I will be returning anytime soon.

February 26, 2015

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February 26, 2015

SPORTS-B6

DelBiondo’s bodybuilding is a lifestyle Austin Swift Sports Editor Continuing in the family business, junior bodybuilder Giovanni DelBiondo owes much of his inspiration to his father, who was a professional bodybuilder before him.

“When I was 10 years old, I’d go to the gym with my dad. He was a bodybuilder in the 80s in New York and he would show me little bicep curls and stuff. There was a movie called Pumping Iron and I was four years old and my dad would show me it, and if anyone knows anything about weightlifting, they’ve probably watched that movie,” DelBiondo said.

Delbiondo is especially proud of where his training is rooted.

“When he was a teenager, 16 years old, he was trained by a bodybuilder named Steve Michalik and he was Mr. Universe, and that’s a really prestigious competition and he won it. So he was training my dad and a bunch of other kids, and my dad trains me like how he was trained by Steve Michalik,” DelBiondo said.

DelBiondo benefits from both his father’s experience as a bodybuilder and position as a dad.

“He does everything for me. I mean, he trains me and he cooks for me, he’s just got my back,” DelBiondo said.

Although his father is retired, he still occasionally lifts with DelBiondo.

“He hurt his knee a long time ago, so he can’t do legs, but I guess he’s like an average bro who just likes doing benches and stuff,” DelBiondo said.

He credits his dad’s influence for part of his recent success when competing.

“I get on stage and I can compete against grown men. I did my first show and competed against 24-year-olds and placed second,” DelBiondo said.

Since he began his bodybuilding career, his weight has varied.

“I really started getting serious when I was 14 or 15. I started putting on real size; when I was 16 I was like 240 pounds and then I cut down to 195, and here I am back at 245,” DelBiondo said.

Commitment is key in the world of bodybuilding, as slip ups can be costly.

“You have to take it home with you, you have to have a good diet, you have to sleep at the right times and you have to keep a good routine, because if you don’t keep a good routine then you’re just going to be that average guy, you’re not going to go anywhere,” DelBiondo said.

DelBiondo’s routine differs from those of normal weightlifters.

“For me [the routine] gets a little crazy because I’m a bodybuilder and every day I’m eating the same thing, crazy amounts of food and a lot of [weightlifters] don’t really do that,” DelBiondo said.

With six gym days and one day off, he has a strict schedule to follow.

“Monday I train chest, Tuesday I train legs, Wednesday I train arms, Thursday I train back, Friday I have off, Saturday I train light back and then Sunday I train arms, which is a weak point for me,” DelBiondo said.

The time commitment is worth it in more ways than one to him. “[I’m there for] two and a half hours, I really enjoy it though, it gets my head really clear,” DelBiondo said.

A bodybuilding season consists largely of preparation for the selected competition, while training and dieting isn’t as intense in the offseason.

“You pick out a show and you say ‘Okay, I have this many weeks, like 16 or 20, to get dieted down to do a show’ so the season is when you want to [do that]. There’s this thing called bulking, and that’s in the off season, so when you’re not picking out a show to do you’re just gaining more mass and fat,” DelBiondo said.

Although there isn’t the intensity of being in season, DelBiondo still needs to be considerate of his health.

“I get heavier and I get fatter, but I’m still eating all my meals and stay on a strict routine,” DelBiondo said.

Dieting is a key yet sometimes overlooked part of bodybuilding.

DelBiondo’s options are limited in terms of food, as they must con-

tain the proper nutrients without any potentially harmful supplements.

“Right now I’m dieting for a show, so I can’t have any sugar at all and only like 60 grams of carbs a day, 80 grams of fat and 300 grams of protein,” DelBiondo said.

He has a strict daily diet to follow leading up to his competition, consisting of some of the few foods that meet his dieting requirements.

“My diet just changed, so in the morning I have six egg whites and two whole eggs and then I have three fourths of a cup of oatmeal. I go to school and I have a shake, that’s two scoops of protein, and then at 12 p.m. I have four cups of broccoli and at 1 p.m.

I have ground turkey and then at 2 p.m. I’ll have more ground turkey, like a pound of meat [total],” Delbiondo said. “Then I go home and I’m going to eat some carbs before I go to the gym, have a scoop of protein. I come back from the gym, I eat a shake and then at dinner I have a lot of lean grilled chicken breast and more broccoli and some oatmeal with dinner, and then I go to sleep.

That’s all I eat in a day.”

The typical protein shake is included in his diet, but isn’t necessarily the most vital part. “[The shake] is just this protein brand. A lot of people think it’s a big deal, protein and stuff, but it doesn’t really do much,” DelBiondo said.

There are different phases of each competition, each being judged on different things.

“They call you out and they have mandatory posing where they judge all the competitors by how symmetrical they are and how much body fat they have and how much size they have and how dark their tan is, which I disagree with; I think tanning is stupid, because people look like Oompa Loompas on stage,” DelBiondo said. “So they judge you and they make you do all these poses and then you come out on stage with your own posing routine, and with the posing routine you can have your own music to pose with, which is pretty cool.”

The feeling of competition is a good one for DelBiondo.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GIOVANNI DELBIONDO

WORK YOUR POSES. Junior Giovanni DelBiondo poses in one of his bodybuilding shows. “This was my first show about a year ago... [I’ve] gotten a lot bigger since [then],” DelBiondo said.

“It’s honestly like complete euphoria. It feels like I’m on a cloud and just can’t believe what’s going on. It doesn’t really hit me until like a week after the competition,” DelBiondo said.

The benefits of bodybuilding stretch beyond just physical health.

“All the hours you put in the gym. You know, I have a lot of people who do bodybuilding [that are] really respected, because you have got to be dedicated and there’s no hanging out with your friends and no other high school stuff, so you just have to stay dedicated. You can apply that to many things in life,” DelBiondo said.

He describes a clear head that he gets when either in the gym, dieting or competing.

“It’s like there’s nothing else on your mind but your goal and it’s like you’re selfish, but at the same time you’re not. Everything is wrapped into this, all of your energy goes into it,” DelBiondo said.

At the start, bodybuilding required many adjustments to his everyday lifestyle, but he enjoys it nonetheless. “[Adjusting] was crazy, but my head was never more clear when I was on a diet. I love it,” DelBiondo said.

Weightlifting class makes for stronger students Savannah McNeal Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY ELLA MARIAN

GET BIG. Senior Tanner Grogg works in the weight room by doing nose breakers. He works in the weight room almost every day. “It’s fun to be in the class with your friends, especially when I have to do [weightlifting] anyway for football,” Grogg said.

Weightlifting is a class offered every other day with TJ Butler or Coach Rath. Some of the things the class consist of are P90X training, which is designed to take 90 days, and a cross-training program.

There are endurance workouts, ab workouts, squats, and pull up exercises. One of the students in Coach Rath’s class is senior Manny Chavez, who has been enrolled in weightlifting for over a year and a half now.

“I’ve been in weightlifting for some time and I just like working out. It’s just a great feeling,” Chavez said. “I think everyone should do weightlifting class, but that’s just my personal opinion.”

Chavez has seen personal improvement in this class.

“I used to be really tiny and now, from this class, I’m much bigger,” Chavez said.

Junior Lexi Eberly has been in weightlifting class since the beginning of the second semester.

“I do weight lifting class so it can help me with track,” Eberly said.

Lexi’s favorite things to do in

weightlifting are squats and deadlift.

“I enjoy weightlifting because it makes me feel better and healthier every day,” Eberly said.

Senior Tanner Grogg is also enrolled in weightlifting and has done it since his junior year.

“I personally am in weightlifting class because I want to be in the Thousand Club, it’s basically bench, squat, and hang cliff,” Grogg said.

The Thousand Club at HHS is a club that members become a part of when they can successfully bench, squat or hang cliff 1,000 pounds.

Grogg has always enjoyed weightlifting because of football.

Eberly and Grogg recommend weightlifting if you are willing to push yourself to the maximum and want to live a healthy lifestyle.

“It helps you stay fit and [I] recommend it for more girls,” Eberly said.

Grogg looks at the class as way to get stronger.

“If you are wanting to sign up for weightlifting class, it will make you stronger and stronger,” Grogg said.

Weightlifting class is for eleventh to twelfth graders and helps with sports and a healthy lifestyle.

Indoor track athletes hit weights Max McDaniel Staff Reporter Three days a week, indoor track athletes are called by coaches to lift weights rather than to run on the track.

Assistant Coach Justin SyLarath oversees track practices in the weight room. “[The weight room] is filled with positive energy and that [energy] comes from everyone having the same goal or mindset of getting better,”SyLarath said.

The athletes all have their own motivations. Freshman Sydney Harper’s is a social one. “[My motivation is] to hang out and have fun with friends,” Harper said.

Senior Brandon Posada lifts because he wants to improve as the Raider team Executive Officer. Raider is a program where cadets in the JROTC program show off their skills in competition with other schools.

“I work hard on weights because I want to get better at Raider,” Posada said. He’s committed on the track and in the weight

room.

“The hard workouts…even though I felt like dying and puking my guts out, they are still fun,” Posada said. “The goal is to make myself sore the next day.”

Other runners, like freshman Joey Sun, aren’t as fond of the weight room compared to the track.

“You get to move around a lot more [if you were running] than you would lifting weights,” Sun said. He still works hard, however. “[I don’t] really [like lifting weights], but if it’s good for when I run, then yes, [I’ll work hard at it],” Sun said.

The girls and guys in track have different patterns in the weight room as well.

“The boys...lift more weights and the girls [are] more focused on endurance and try to tone rather than build muscle,” SyLarath said.

The weight room provides a place for the team to improve. “[The weight room] is necessary. It’s how we get better,” Harper said.

PHOTO BY GARRETT CASH

KEEP YOUR FORM. Freshman track athlete Naomi Gelberg-Hagmaier lifts weights after school with the indoor track team two to three times a week.

The Newsstreak

February 26, 2015

SPORTS-B7

Indoor soccer league provides out of season competition Garrett Cash Staff Reporter Freshman Rawand Ali, an athlete on the indoor soccer team at HHS, has grown up with the game of soccer, and has come to love the game more and more over the years.

“In my perspective, soccer is the beautiful game, and I play it because first of all, I’ve been playing soccer since I was like five, and for some reason, I’ve just adapted to the way the game goes, and I just love the game. I just love playing it,” Ali said.

The purpose of our players’ indoor soccer season is to help prepare them for selective outdoor tryouts, where only a few are chosen to be a part of the team. As Ali has played a number of different sports, he believes that soccer is one of the hardest sports to train for.

“Besides wrestling, soccer is probably one of the hardest training sports,

coaches make you run a lot, especially running, like there’s not a lot of weight lifting or anything, not like football, it’s just a lot of running. They want you to be conditioned, you know.

Soccer is a 90-minute game, and they want you to be able to play 90 minutes without stopping, without getting tired,” Ali said.

Players not only play indoor soccer to train for outdoors, but to compete against other local teams.

Junior Adonis Hernandez believes soccer is a very aggressive sport and there is intense competition because of the close quarters.

“It’s really physical.

Some [teams] are dirty, some are clean, depending on the team. [Some teams are] more aggressive. Some are bigger than us, but size doesn’t matter,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez plays because he has a lot of passion for soccer, and wants to achieve much within the sport.

“As long as you love the sport, it’s easy,” Hernandez said.

Others, like junior Walter Barahona love the sport because it helps them to become a better student, not just a better athlete.

“I love to play soccer, it’s a fun sport and it motivates me to do better in school and stuff like that. I just like to play it… Sometimes I do bad in school as in bad grades and when it’s soccer season, I start doing good so that I can be able to play and get some playing time,” Barahona said.

According to the players, soccer is commonly misconceived as having a hierarchy regarding skill and age. Ali and Hernandez said that within indoor soccer, older or bigger players don’t always have the advantage over younger or smaller players.

“It all depends on what kind of player you are.

Usually teams are looking for sportsmanship. They’re looking for leadership.

PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN

SHOOOOOT. HHS junior Adonis Hernandez watches his Next Level Athletic Department turf team play.

They’re looking for players that want to win. Players that want to achieve something within the team, not just selfish players that just

want to score, just want to break records, or just want to be something big,” Ali said. “You want players that want to reach somewhere

with their team, they want their team to achieve something big.”

Lake wins JOC Taekwondo competition JO volleyball readies Faith Runnells Managing Editor First.

That’s the place senior Rosanni Lake received overall in the Junior Olympics Competition in Orlando, Florida in 2010.

Lake has been practicing Taekwondo for almost half of her lifetime, beginning when she moved to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic seven years ago.

When Lake obtained first place in the Junior Olympics Competition, her already existing goal of someday medaling in the Olympics was intensified. “[When] I got first place [in the Junior Olympics], and I was like ‘Oh man, I can actually go to the Olympics one day. I may have a future in this’... It didn’t hit me that I got first place until everyone started saying ‘Oh, it’s the Junior Olympics’ and then it hit me,

I beat everyone [in the competition]... It made me work harder,” Lake said.

Lake trains every day, excluding Sundays, all seasons of the year, from 7 p.m. until 9 or 10 p.m., or whenever her coach says it is time to be finished.

“I’m always training.

Even during the summer,” Lake said.

While training, Lake works on her cardio along with technique to perfect her moves.

“If we’re about to go to a tournament, we’ll work on technique more [than cardio] so we don’t get sore. We also work on keeping our weight where we’re supposed to keep our weight so we don’t have to fight one of our teammates,” Lake said.

Lake’s father has been her coach since she began training in Taekwondo and has more than 20 years of experience with the sport.

“[Having my dad as my coach] can be really stressful, but it’s good because I understand what he means.

It can be stressful because you go home, and if you didn’t do good in practice you feel that at home…

He’s a dad and a coach in Taekwondo and he’s a dad and a coach at home,” Lake said.

According to Lake, she appreciates all of his training, but really enjoys working on kicking.

“My favorite thing about Taekwondo is kicking people. When you get headshots [a kick to the opponent’s face], it’s three points, so it’s nice. And it feels really good,” Lake said.

One difficulty Lake is overcoming is not consistently fighting with all of her effort. Because along with her own training, Lake teaches and fights with younger children at the Taekwondo school, she has

grown accustomed to not kicking and fighting to her harshest extreme. “[When I’m with the kids I’m teaching,] I don’t fight for real with them. I just fight to move them around and give them techniques, and then I get used to fighting easier people and stopping my kicks, [which isn’t good],” Lake said.

This is an aspect of Lake’s Taekwondo she is working on improving. Along with help from her coach, she’s learning to become more severe.

“My dad is working with me because he knows I have the power to knock people out, but I just don’t.

He’s working on me to be more hard, because he says sometimes I take it easy on my opponents,” Lake said.

Now, at the Taekwondo school, Lake fights with tall men, allowing her to fight her hardest without feeling guilty.

Strickland enjoys time playing SOCA soccer Randee Rose Joven Staff Reporter For some, playing soccer for your school isn’t enough. Others want to continue playing throughout the year, or play schools out of state and get more experience therefore they try out for travel soccer teams. SOCA, which was initially the Soccer Organization of Charlottesville-Albemarle, merged with Augusta FC in 2014 to become one club, the Soccer Organization of the Charlottesville Area, with two distinct regions. They manage a branch in Charlottes-

ville/Albemarle along with Staunton/Waynesboro/ Augusta. SOCA is a travel soccer organization that includes various programs, camps and levels of travel teams.

Junior Parker Strickland started playing soccer at a young age but only joined SOCA this year and is a member of their Elite team.

He formerly played for Shenandoah Valley United (SVU), and said that he found out about SOCA after playing against them.

He also compares playing for the school soccer team versus his travel team.

“This one [SOCA] is more tournament based and a lot

of travelling. I have to go to Charlottesville like five times a week,” Strickland said. “I like my school one cause because I don’t have to do all the traveling. I just get to stay here.”

Although, he also found the benefits in trying out for SOCA. “They’re more professional. It gets me a lot of exposure to colleges. I like traveling to play different teams and have different experiences,” Strickland said. “[Also,] we get to stay in a hotel and play a lot of games. That’s always fun.”

He mentions their coach, Sam Miller, who played soccer for the Uni-

versity of Cincinnati and has been coaching for a long time. Strickland says that he’s good and really experienced. In addition, he describes his schedule for practice and tournaments which is usually really busy.

“Tournaments, I usually have to miss a day Friday because I have a game on Friday, then Saturday and Sunday,” Strickland said.

“Practices are late at night like at 8 or 7. I’ll leave my house at 5:30 and come back at 11.”

Their tournaments are played in and out of state such as Maryland and New Jersey.

players for next year Jackson Hook Staff Reporter

When volleyball sophomores Casey Wilson and Grace Meiser are not in season playing volleyball for the school, they are playing in the Stonewall Jackson Junior Olympic league.

The teams consist of players not only from Harrisonburg, but also players from other high schools in the district that join together to make the JO team. Some players attend East Rockingham High School, Eastern Mennonite High School, and Luray High School, and all play on the same team together.

Varsity outside hitter Casey Wilson feels that JO has less pressure riding on the games.

“I think that definitely for school volleyball there is a lot more riding on whether or not you win or lose, because there’s conference and region and state competition after the season. For JO it’s almost like AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), you just go to tournaments maybe every Saturday, just go play and see how you do,” Wilson said.

Some of the tournaments they attend are located in Richmond, Roanoke, and some are also held in Harrisonburg at James Madison University.

Wilson talked about her favorite memory of JO volleyball.

“It’s actually this season, our first game together as a team.

We were just getting creamed and everybody was just laughing because we knew we were going to be awful since we had never played together before. Even though we were beat, we still laughed a lot and had lots of fun,” Wilson said.

JO volleyball is held in the off season on purpose, so that players can keep their skills and continue to grow for the next VHSL season to come. Junior varsity player Grace Meiser, who plays multiple positions, talked about her experience playing on the under 16 JO team and how it helps her.

“It helps me with different skills I need to work on that I can carry into the next season,” Meiser said.

Meiser also talked about the differences between JO volleyball and school volleyball.

“I feel like with JO volleyball you can have more fun. It doesn’t really matter if you win or lose. I feel like high school volleyball makes you more determined to win because of the rival schools,” Meiser said.

These JO volleyball players have tournaments almost every weekend. Their season lasts three to four months; season length can vary depending on the number of tournaments the teams attend that are further away.

These tournaments are more expensive and contain harder competition.

VAST allows swimmers to improve all year Carson Rising Staff Reporter Different team, different intensity, some of the same swimmers. Valley Area Swim Team (VAST) is a local travel swim team that attracts students from around the area.

Sophomore Andrew Rath is on such student.

“I love being a part of VAST. I have been swimming for VAST for seven years. I started actually swimming at age seven and then started with VAST at

age eight. Our team travels many places along the East coast to compete. There are no tryouts for VAST and our high school team consists of approximately 20 swimmers,” Rath said Like many other club sports outside the realm of the public high school’s VHSL system, students can participate almost yearround.

“We swim and practice year round; however, our actual season for competition is November through February,” Rath said.

Participants who do

HOW FAR DO YOU TRAVEL TO PLAY YOUR SPORT?

swim the year-round schedule set many personal goals for themselves.

“My favorite part of VAST is competing against myself and trying for personal faster times,” Rath said.

Typically, participants enjoy the competitive meets more than the practices.

“The practices are the worst part of VAST. The intensity of our practices are much harder compared to the high school swim practices. At a practice, I start with a warm up 750 yards.

Then a big set or two small sets that consist of sprints or long distance or combination of both. After all of that, I end with a cool down which is 500 yards or 20 laps.”

Freshman Jane Wyatt, who also started swimming at age seven, did VAST for six years.

“The toughest thing for me with VAST is the hard sets at practice. Hard sets can be sprints or long distances laps. It feels like you are going to die before you can finish it,” Wyatt said.

Olivia Yutzy- 11th “I went to North Carolina about 6 hours away”

Casey Wilson- 10th “I went to Richmond for a tournament”

PHOTO COURTESY OF JANE WYATT

UP FOR AIR. HHS freshman Jane Wyatt swims the breast stroke in a VAST swim meet.

Juan Perez Cardoso- 10th “A few years ago my team went to a tournament in

Rosanni Lake- “I just got back from a tournament in Florida”

The Newsstreak

February 26, 2015

SPORTS-B8

Medley sets his sights on pro ball after high school Phoebe Copeland Staff Reporter While many juniors are worrying about summer plans and AP testing, Junior Devin Medley is already immersed in the college search.

Medley plays linebacker and running back for the school football team and if all goes according to plan, next season won’t be his last chance to play football competitively.

Medley has high hopes for his football future. Although only a junior, many col-

leges have already spoken with him about playing for their school. After visiting both University of Richmond and University of North Carolina, Medley cites University of North Carolina as his top choice.

“He’s a really good football player and he has the academics to go with it,” head football coach Chris Thurman said. Thurman said that often players don’t realize that you have to have the academics to go with your skill to be a successful college football candidate.

Medley has always wanted to play football in college.

Yutzy starts exploring colleges to continue soccer Julie Hedrick Staff Reporter

team in Charlottesville called SOCA, and I want to play for the school in the spring,” Yutzy said.

SOCA is the Soccer Organization of the Charlottesville Area which includes Augusta, Staunton, Waynesboro, Albemarle.

“SOCA is really great, you get in shape really fast. I enjoy it a lot and I think other people would too. It’s really competitive, I like it,” Yutzy said.

Yutzy plays the center forward and wing position.

“There’s so much running in soccer, I get tired really fast but it’s still cool,” Yutzy said.

While most juniors and seniors are looking for colleges and universities to apply to, junior Olivia Yutzy has colleges looking for her. She is an avid soccer player, and colleges are recruiting her for her skills.

In college, Yutzy plans to major in Kinesiology, the study of human kinetics and human movement, and minor in Spanish.

Yutzy’s recruitment is in the early stages.

“It’s mostly just a couple of contacts for interest. I’ve gotten one from Roanoke College, Concord University, and a couple of others,” Yutzy said.

Yutzy’s passion began early.

“I started playing soccer when I was seven or eight. My parents wanted me to play soccer, and I saw other people playing and thought it looked fun and so I wanted to play, too,” Yutzy said.

Soccer is the only sport Yutzy is currentPHOTO COURTESY OF OLIVIA YUTZY ly involved in.

BOOM. Olivia Yutzy awaits an assist during SOCA game.

“I play for this Yutzy hopes to play soccer in college.

Baseball players pumping iron David Gamboa Staff Photographer Since the early fall, HHS baseball players can be found in the weight room after school Mondays and Wednesdays pumping iron. Preseason lifting is often times one of the more important parts of the year, and with pre-season baseball, athletes are taking advantage of this opportunity. Preseason can be used for scouting and training, finding the new star athletes or improving the veterans. It is a time for injury recovery, rehabilitation and to get back into the rhythm of athletics. It allows the coaches to have a glimpse of the upcoming season and gets the school and team hyped for what is coming.

Sophomore Cade Templeton wants weightlifting to get everyone on the team bigger and stronger in order to help them on the team.

“We’ll be able to throw harder, hit harder too and just be better overall athletes,” Templeton said.

Junior baseball player Chase Berkshire wishes to start on the varsity team this

upcoming season and believes that weight training in the offseason can help him achieve his goal. “[Working in the weightroom] makes you a lot bigger, stronger and improves how you play,” said Berkshire.

Freshman Tyler Kump knows that weight lifting will help him get stronger and faster once the season comes around.

When asked about his goals, “[My goals are] to provide as much as I can for the team to win,” said Kump. It all starts in the weight room.

According to Templeton, pre-season lifting is getting bigger, stronger, faster and more explosive. It is getting back into the grind and becoming a better athlete as a team.

“As a team, for baseball lifting, we want to get everyone stronger so it helps us on the field,” Templeton said.

For the team, It shows what an athlete is made of and how determined they are to getting better.

“It also tests dedication, to people coming, shows who is really committed and who isn’t,” said Berkshire.

“I grew up knowing a bunch of guys that played college,” Medley said. He wants to go as far as he can with football, potentially even playing pro after college.

Thurman hopes Medley will go far as well.

“I think he will play in college. He definitely has enough skill and ambition to play at the next level,” Thurman said.

Although Thurman didn’t coach any of them, he said that HHS has had several players who are either currently playing pro or have a good chance to in the future.

“I don’t know if you can tell those kids

when they’re in high school or not. I think some you probably could,” Thurman said.

According to Thurman, Medley’s agenda is always to help the team.

“Devin does what I ask of him and to me that’s very important,” Thurman said.

It is this kind of attitude that makes Thurman think Medley can pursue football past high school. For Medley, it is the thrill of the game that keeps him playing football. “[Football’s] just different from all the other sports. You don’t have as much excitement in other sports as you do in football,” Medley said.

Amine will run for cross-town university Harmony Wilson Staff Reporter Junior cross country and track year round runner Abrham Amine has always seen running as a future opportunity to do many things in life. As his college career is quickly approaching, Amine is considering attending a school that will both reflect his desire to run as well as continuing his education.

“I plan on attending Eastern Mennonite University,” Amine said. “[The college] sent me some letters and listed a few reasons why they would be a good choice for me.

I just wanted to be inside of Harrisonburg while I still ran in college, so it is a good possibility I will go there.”

For some athletes fresh out of high school, competing on a team at a college level would seem to be intimidating, but Amine feels just the opposite.

“EMU has seen me run on a few occasions, and to be competing at a college level, I am just excited, never nervous.” Amine said.

Amine had a cousin who competed for the national team which also was an influential factor for him to continue his running career.

“I would always see [my cousin] running and I wanted to be just like him… I started running when I came here,” Amine said.

Whether or not the university includes a full scholarship to run is not yet determined, but high hopes are set for scholarship opportunities as Amine continues his indoor season as a senior athlete. Earlier in the season, Amine had not gotten to practice as much as the rest of his team due to a shin injury, but on average, typical workouts are five days a week. His routines consist of long runs three days a week, with weight and core training every other day.

Apart from running while at college, Amine plans to study physical therapy in EMU. He supposes the Olympics are a possibility in the future; Amine has always liked the idea of competing to be an Olympic athlete but for now, the motive is getting accepted into Eastern Mennonite, where he can show both support and his running ability, locally in the community.

Serrell to keep running next fall Theo Yoder Staff Reporter

Laurie Serrell loves to run. Serrell is a senior and has been running cross country and track since sixth grade.

“It’s in my comfort zone, I’ve been doing it since I was little. [Running] is like a routine now and I like it that way,” Serrell said. Serrell is coached by Gerald Hertzler. Coach Hertzler hasn’t been PHOTO BY BRENNA COWARDIN coaching Serrel for long, but has gotten Senior Laurie Serrell talks with coach Jerry Hertzler at an into know her over the door track meet held at EMU. Serell came in 1st in the 1000. past two months. er works for you and it is close to home,” “She has an incredible work ethic, she is willing to share Serrell said. Serrell feels like college close her opinion and she asks questions about to home is better than college away from her training...She contributes to the team home.

“It makes college not as scary… but it is in so many ways, especially for me,” Hertzler said. Hertzler feels confident that Ser- going away to college and away from home rell will do well in college as she adapts to which is what kids want to do,” Serrell said.

Serrell is ready to graduate and take on this the more serious environment.

“For cross-country, the races will be new obstacle of being an athlete in college.

“I’m ready, I feel prepared for it. I want longer. For track, there will be different events...There is no great step that she a challenge. I want something that is going needs to take, it’s just a natural progres- to push me a little bit,” Serrell said. Serrell feels like other students have a different sion,” Hertzler said.

At the beginning of her senior year view on running than her teammates and Serrell was planning to attend Blue Ridge herself.

“They see us as outcasts, we have Community College but she has recently decided to attend Eastern Mennonite Uni- formed a group of ourselves. It’s not like versity on an academic scholarship. Serrell those few weird kids that run cross counhas been interested in studying nursing for try, instead it’s like, that whole group of kids that run cross country.” Serrell said. college.

Serrell plans to be on the EMU cross “The EMU coach talked to me and said, we want you to run, we have a great country and track team all four years of nursing program, we will set up whatev- college.

Adams set to continue volleyball career at EMU Ella Marian Feature Editor

PHOTO COURTESY OF KAELEN ADAMS

SMACK. Senior Kaelen Adams spikes the ball during a HHS volleyball game.

Senior Kaelen Adams has spiked through the volleyball courts since her eighth grade year at THMS. Ever since her Physical Education teacher, Andy Thompson, initially advised her to try out for the team, Adams has stuck with it and is going on to play on the Eastern Mennonite University team. Adams expects the team to be as nice and peaceful as the school’s overall environment.

“I have talked to the coaches and they’re like ‘Well because of the way the school is, they can’t be mean when they play because that is the type of people that come to the school’. I mean, that would help me because sometimes I get a little too mean when I play,” Adams said. Although Adams qualifies for the height to play middle hitter in high school, she isn’t positive as of now as to what position she will be playing on the EMU team.

“For college, I’m not tall enough [to play middle] so I’ll probably be moved around to play offside [hitter] or outside [hitter],” Adams said.

Being on the high school and Junior Olympic (JO) teams have given Adams some interesting experiences.

“This year wasn’t as big as my junior year [when] we had more experienced players, so I guess the experience for Harrisonburg was interesting,” Adams said. Her JO experiences allow her to meet more people.

“It is good. I get to play a lot of the people from Spotswood and other schools around here so I guess it’s the best of the best. It is a lot of competition and it’s really good for that,” Adams said.

Adams appreciates how the sport isn’t all about how hard you can hit the ball, but it also makes you think.

“I like how it’s like a mind game, it’s not all about force and stuff like that. You have to use your head to think what is the best play,” Adams said.

Adams’ advice for any future athletes wanting or thinking about playing a sport for college is to keep it up.

“Keep working and try to play a travel sport because that’s where most of the travel scouts see you,” Adams said.

February 26, 2015

2014-2015

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COUPLES OF February 26, 2015

The Newsstreak

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

Freshmen Mariam Dames and Stedman Clark Sophomores Kameryn Clark and Alec Hedrick “What’s your favorite thing about the other person?”

Clark: “His smile.”

Hedrick: “Eyes.”

HUMANS OF HHS-B10

“If you could describe your relationship in one word, what would it be?”

“Can you give us an example?”

Sophomores Darla Horne and Josh Soto

“If you could describe your relationship in one word, what would it be?”

Soto: “Amazing” Horne: “Strong”

Sophomores Natalie Proctor and Jeremy Pultz “We met on the bus in middle school.”

“How long have you been together?”

“Two years.”

Junior Ayanna Shine and Senior Elijah Johnson Junior Peyton Hedrick and Sophomore Sophia Opalchenska

“What’s the secret to romantic success?”

“Treat them like your best friend. I tell him everything and I’m honest with him all the time.”

“If you could describe your relationship in one word, what would it be?”

Hedrick: “Steady” Opalchenska: (laughs) “More like unsteady.”

Sophomore Piper Saatva and Senior Austin Bell “How did you start dating?”

“Hanging out from swim team. We would hang out at like meets and team dinners and stuff and we got to know each other better.”

Sophomore Esdras Guzman and Junior Michelle Barrera “What’s your favorite thing to do together?”

“Just being together.”

Freshmen Fernando Ramos and Seomara Figueroa “What’s your favorite thing about the other person?”

Ramos: “Her eyes.”

Figueroa: “His eyes.”

SEE MORE ON THE WEB! HHSMEDIA.COM

HH S

Photos and interviews by Mia Karr, Brenna Cowardin and Abby Hissong

Freshmen Karol Osordo and Douglas Galeano “What’s your favorite memory?”

“When we came here.”

“Where did you come from?”

“Honduras.”

“Did you come together?”

Both nod.

Juniors Aaron Gusler and Allison McGranahan

“What’s your favorite memory with the other person?”

“Well, the first time we ever hung out we went to Dairy Queen and just talked for a really long time. So now it’s kind of our place and the source of a lot of inside jokes.”