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Harrisonburg High School • 1001 Garbers Church Road • Harrisonburg, VA 22801 • 540.433.2651 • Volume XC • Issue 2• November 22, 2013

Students fill new roles as AVID tutors

Mia Karr Editor-in-Chief

The school is full of helpful instructors ready to answer questions- and some of them are students themselves. Mu Alpha Theta, the National Math Honor Society, currently offers tutoring after school. Mu Alpha Theta president, senior Michelle Waligora, is working to turn the small program into a larger mentorship program working with AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) students.

“I thought that we could start a math tutoring program. I started scouting around and asking the members if they would be interested and almost all of them were...

We started having people go after school to the library and anyone who wanted math help could go,” Waligora said.

The tutors found that many of the people coming to their sessions were AVID students who wanted help with geometry.

See TUTOR on Page A2

Brent Berry Food Drive off to a good start Sydney Little Online Editor-in-Chief Five years ago, elementary student Brent Berry, now a freshman at HHS, and his father decided to organize a food drive to help out the Salvation Army.

“Basically we wanted to help the community out. People were going hungry in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, so we just wanted to help get them food to eat,” Brent Berry said.

After the first year the Salvation Army formally named the event after its creator.

“It was really cool because I like doing food drives, but it was also weird because my dad is the one who helped me come up with the idea,” Berry said.

When the drive started the first year, all of the city schools jumped in on the opportunity to participate in the drive. This is now HHS’s fifth year participating, along with all of the other Harrisonburg public schools. The transportation of these goods is taken care of by Eagle Carpets, who transfers the donations from the schools to the Salvation Army pantry. Although the drive is organized by the Salvation Army, DECA is in charge of the overall efforts at HHS. Not only is the school collecting canned fruits and vegetables, but they are also accepting items such as canned meats, soups, boxed pastas and other grains. As an incentive, DECA is awarding a pizza party to the 1st block classroom with the most cans gathered

PHOTO BY AUBTIN HEYDARI

WORKING HARD. Sophomore AVID student Ayanna Shine and senior tutor Sarah Scribano take a closer look at Shine’s math homework. The AVID tutor program assigns upperclassmen to AVID students in need of a little extra help in a subject.

Jostens visits seniors for graduation apparel Luke Gibson Online Editor-in-Chief

The cap and gown in many ways is the first tangible item that marks the finishing of high school. For so many seniors, the realities of graduation solidified after a visit from Josten’s on Monday Oct. 21. Josten’s is a company that provides yearbooks, class rings and other graduation materials.

Holly Sidwell is the Jostens representative who visits HHS as part of 65 total high schools in central Virginia from August to December. The school year may still be young at this point, but the early visits are necessary for the benefit of the students.

“A lot of the items are personalized, we need to have time to make the items, but more so for students to be able to get their sweatshirts, t-shirts and memory books and be able to enjoy them all year long,” Sidwell said.

Items that are offered in the catalog

See JOSTENS on Page A2

Debate, forensics prepare for tournament Ariel Vogel Feature Editor

See DRIVE on Page A2

Musical auditions generate excitement

Sarah Scribano News Editor

As soon as drama teacher Stan Swartz announced the new musical Oklahoma!, several students began preparation for the upcoming auditions, that will take place on Nov. 12-14. This event causes a great mix of emotions for those interested in musical. This is a major and very important event for many of them and they want to perform to the best of their ability.

See MUSICAL on Page A2

PHOTO BY AUBTIN HEYDARI

RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER. Holly Sidwell talks to the senior class on Oct. 21, about graduation. Seniors are already purchasing their caps and gowns for the big day.

PHOTO BY MIA KARR

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Policy debate team members senior Miles Donehue and senior Neil Mehta practice afterschool.

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

On Nov. 7, the debate and forensics teams competed in a Shenandoah Valley Forensics League (ShenVaFL) tournament. Debate captain senior Daniel Roth prepared for the competition through organized practices with Lincoln Douglas, his specific area of debate.

“We’ve been having practice debate rounds, drafting cases, finding evidence, really finding all the information we can to make sure we know the topic,” Roth said.

Forensics captain senior Tyler Edwards spends time working on his own pieces and then helps the younger students develop theirs.

“We require that all team members practice at least once a week for whatever they’re doing,” Edwards said. “Before a competition, if we have time, we do a group practice.”

Forensics coach Cara Walton has similar practice schedules with the students. “[Bradley Walton and I] try to practice with each student about once a week, to practice their piece and work on articulation, memorization, gestures, all the things that make a good forensics piece a good forensics piece,” Walton said.

Peter Norment, the debate

coach, has a more straightforward preparation system. “[The students] write cases and practice, practice, practice their debates. We learn by doing, so that’s it,” Norment said.

The forensics coaches look at ShenVaFl as a warm-up in preparation for the VHSL conference, which will happen in the spring.

“We view [ShenVaFL] as a practice league, and in the spring we compete in VHSL. We use ShenVaFL to get our competitors ready for the real competition in the spring, so they know what it’s like to compete against other people,” said Walton.

Norment uses ShenVaFL to focus less on his experienced debaters and help the new debaters understand the process.

“Basically my goal is for my new debaters to have positive experiences and hopefully win at least one round,” Norment said.

The judging for forensics comes from basic public speaking criteria.

“The things that they’re judged on that are pretty universal: are you articulate, do you speak clearly, are you loud enough, and are you able to communicate the meaning of the piece to the audience,” Walton said.

Similarly, debate has basic criteria throughout the different areas.

“They judge you on argument,

See TEACHER on Page A2

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November 22, 2013

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NEWS- A2

News Briefs Thanksgiving Break Schools closed through Nov. 27 and ends Dec. 1.

Jostens Senior Order Make-up Seniors who have not yet ordered their cap and gown can do so on Dec. 9.

SAT Administered SAT’s will be administered on Dec. 7.

Christmas Parade The Christmas parade will be held downtown on Dec. 6.

Winter Band Concert The winter band concert will start at 7PM on Dec. 12.

VHSL Theatre Competition The VHSL state theatre competition will be held at Monticello High School on Dec. 3.

Mandelbrot Math Competition The Mandelbrot math competition will be on Dec. 3.

JROTC Holiday Parade The JROTC holiday parade will occur on Dec. 5.

Virginia DAR Scholarship Applicants must be a senior at a Virginia high school planning to continue their education at a Virginia college or university. Applications can be found online at www.vadar.org.

All parts must be turned into Rachel Linden in the guidance office.

PHOTO BY MIA KARR

CONCENTRATE. Senior Dylan Bontrager and juniors Michael Walton, Kelli Showalter, and Ayushi Patel try to answer a question.

Academic team starts off season Jessica Nguyen Feature editor If she was given the choice in high school, Coach Jere Borg would have joined the Academic Team. Unfortunately her school didn’t have it at that time.

“I love trivia, I love fast paced games,” said Borg, who has been coaching Academic Team for four years.

If you walk by room 101 after school on Thursdays, you will hear periodic buzzing as the Academic Team practices for their upcoming competitions. Nine students split into two teams to replicate what it would feel like in a tournament.

Juniors Kelli Showalter, Ayushi Patel, and Michael Walton are all seasoned participants of

the Academic Team.

“Academic Team is like a small scale Jeopardy. They ask random questions and we have buzzers that we can buzz and answer,” said Patel.

The questions are pyramid style; the questions are a paragraph with clues that start with the more difficult ones and get easier as you go. These types of questions just recently replaced the traditional, short trivia questions.

“Every question you answer right is ten points. If you interrupt them and get it wrong, you lose five points,” said Walton.

Every match consists of three rounds: the first and third round are the toss-up questions, and the second round is a collaborative round where the team

comes together and gets a chance to talk about the questions before answering.

“Academic Team is for students who are academically motivated to compete against other schools,” said Showalter.

With over twenty years of experience underneath his belt, Coach Robert Edmunds thinks everyone should join Academic Team. Last year the majority of the team were seniors that have now graduated.

“We are particularly interested in younger members. They won’t know as much as the seniors, but they will learn.” said Edmunds, “You get recognized for doing this; it’s great for college transcripts. We get to celebrate academic accomplishment. It’s not too late to join.”

Jostens provides Robotics team hopes to continue with success year.

The FRQ team at the parent graduation goods Josh Byrd “The biggest problem was it teacher conferences showcased JOSTENS from A1

range from the necessities such as the cap and gown, to optional additions such as shirts and tankards. Apart from the cap and gown, the second most commonly bought item is are the graduation announcements: commemorative cards that are sent to family and friends.

“I hope that [the students] understand how important graduation is, what a celebration it is, and how hard they’ve worked.

They really deserve to celebrate their senior year,” Sidwell said.

While there were specific order days during the same week of the presentation, there will also be make up days in November and December, with specific days yet to be announced. The ordering process can also be completed online at jostens.com.

“Ordering from Jostens was much easier online than in school, because it can be done at any time,” Senior Larkin O’Hara said.

If a student needs support covering costs of the cap and gown, they should contact guidance or Jostens directly.

Drive helps community DRIVE from A1 by the time the drive ends, on November 29th.

“Our goal is to get 45,000 cans donated. I’m not sure exactly how many cans we have now, but we’re also going to get food from JMU on November 21st,” Berry said.

Op/Ed editor

“My biggest hope for the robotics team is that they see the same success as we had last year” team sponsor Geoffery Estes said about his hopes for this year ‘s FTC robotics team.

Last year the FTC robotics team placed 2nd in the region. The FTC team last year was made up by only middle schoolers. This year it is made up of new freshman and anyone who wants to join. Last year the FTC team ran into problems, it being its first

was our first year doing this so we were all trying to figure it out,” Estes said. Another problem was time.

“This year we opened up the shop twice a week instead of once a week…. and then as we get closer to competition time we’ll probably meet for a couple of Saturdays for about 12 hours,” Estes said. There is another robotics team. It is the FRQ team.

This year FRQ is made up by senior, juniors and sophomores as well as anyone who would liken to come out.

their robot from last year. The robot is able to shot a foam basketball. Both teams seasons don’t start until January, that is when they will get their challenges for the year. Members of both team are looking forward to more involvement and changes. “[I look forward to] Getting my hands on more than I did last year Sophomore Kayla Leaman said. “I want to be able to help design the main component [this year].”

Q + A with Kayla Leaman Why did you join Robotics?

I though it sounded fun but challenging, and my brother [Jordan Lehman] had a good time in it.

What is your favorite part?

The competition. The whole team gets to hang out for a long time and it’s a team effort. It’s just so much fun!

What does the team do?

We build a robot in six weeks that’s around 120 lbs and can complete a task.

What are the team’s goals for the year?

I think we’re going to try to be more organized, teach the newcomers how to build and build a robot that works for the competition in March.

Why should people join Robotics?

It can be challenging but it doesn’t have to be. It’s a good group of people and it’s a way to get your hands on engineering. It also looks good on college apps and there are lots of scholarships, especially for females.

Infographic by Ariel Vogel

Prospective cast members prepare for auditions MUSICAL from A1

Junior Rachel Cavoto has already begun her preparations by watching YouTube videos of Oklahoma! and has picked out her monologue. Cavoto would be happy with any role because she just wants to be a part of the show, but she thinks it would be a great experience if she received the role of Laurey; the main character of the musical. Cavoto finds auditions to be stressful because of the small audience that she will be performing for.

“I don’t like performing for small groups, so having just the directors and music teachers in there is very nerve racking,” Cavoto said.

Despite the fears of auditioning, Cavoto feels that it is all worth it. Musical is one of her favorite times of the year.

“I am very excited. I love all the people and I have the greatest experiences [in musical]. I think it’ll be fun and that we will put

on a great show,” Cavoto said.

Senior Jason Tran is excited for this year’s musical and is just looking forward to being able to be on stage. There isn’t a specific role he is hoping to get, but rather, he is just happy with wherever he is placed.

“Musical is always fun no matter what role I get. It would be great to get a bigger role, but I’m happy with whatever they give me,” Tran said.

Tran is nervous about the audition, but says that it is more of an excited nervous to see what will happen. Tran feels that the musical will be a lot of fun and that the music and dancing should be really enjoyable.

Tran loves the thrill of the show and everything that comes with it.

“It’s a great experience because of all the talented people that you are working with. It’s also nice to be apart of something that is bigger than yourself,” Tran said.

Freshman Aries Ametsreiter is just beginning his musical career and is really

looking forward to being apart of it. He has been practicing with some other students to make sure that they understand all the roles. Ametsreiter wants to have a background character so he can get used to being on stage. He is pretty nervous about the audition but is eager to be apart of Oklahoma!

“I think it’s fun and that it’ll take a lot of energy, but it’ll be worth,” Ametsreiter said.

Senior Breanna Hostetter has been a part of musical all through high school and is looking forward to another year. She is planning on going to all the rehearsals to practice the music and watching videos on how other people perform the music.

She really likes the musical Oklahoma! and feels that it’ll be a lot of fun.

“It’s really high energy and easy to follow, so I think the audience will enjoy it.

I love being able to see the final product come together,” Hostetter said.

Tutors hope to bridge gap between students TUTOR from A1

After Waligora was asked for help by a student for a subject other than math, she realized the program had the potential to be expanded.

“I realized that a lot of these kids who are in AVID need not just math help, but maybe help in other areas; they might just need a little bit of extra information or a little bit of one-on-one attention, which is really easy to supply,” Waligora said. “I never really knew about the AVID program, but I realized that there was a really easy solution to this.”

Mu Alpha Theta, in conjunction with other honor societies, is in the process of setting up a tutoring mentorship program that would pair an upperclassman with an underclassman AVID student. The mentor will help with anything from homework to test prep to advice.

“What’s great about the system I have in mind, is that if you don’t feel comfortable tutoring a student in one subject,

that doesn’t mean you can’t be a mentor,” Waligora said.”You could say, I don’t feel comfortable in this, but I know there are plenty of other tutors who are.”

Junior Michael Walton tutors Wednesdays after school in the library and Thursdays during ELT (Extended Learning Time) with math teachers Bill Turner and Geoff Estes. His tutoring duties have included helping students figure out why they missed problems and come up with ways to remember things. “[My favorite part is] seeing their faces when they realize that they have it figured out,” Walton said. However, tutoring can be difficult.

“It’s difficult to see how hard it is for them to figure it out when to me it looks obvious, because I’ve already learned it, but for them it’s not as logical a conclusion,” Walton said. Although Walton does after school tutoring through Mu Alpha Theta, he tutors during ELT on his own, by choice. He plans to most likely continue

with tutoring in the future.

Junior Morgan Heckman tutors after school on Thursdays. “[The students are] really good. They’re really invested in their education and they really want to work hard,” Heckman said. “I like being able to help fellow students who are so invested in their learning and their futures.”

Waligora has high hopes for the fledgeling program.

“Another goal of this program is to bridge together two ends of the school.

A lot of the upperclassman who are going to be mentors are very driven, focused, so they are there to set a good example.. I see the same 25 kids everyday, and I think this is a really great way to bridge two sides of our school community,” Waligora said. “My dream, personally, is that one day the kids who are AVID students will become the tutors, because they will have come so far.”

Students place in multiple categories at tournament DEBATE from A1 had two top three recipients: junior Mia

speaking ability and your capability to defend your position, but ultimately it depends on whether you win the debate or not,” Roth said.

At the tournament, the forensics team

Karr, who placed third in Impromptu, and junior Anna Dick, received second place in Storytelling.

The debate team also had some standout performances. The varsity policy team of sophomores Peter Kim and Karan Chal-

ishajar placed third, and student congress members senior Madeline Leach and junior Morgan Heckman placed third in their respective chambers. Roth placed second in Lincoln Douglas, his area of expertise, and freshman John Niland placed first in JV Lincoln Douglas.

November 22, 2013

The

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NEWS A3

Band Competition Results Millbrook High School Pre-Festival Showcase: 2nd Overall 1st in AA Midlothian Marching Invitational: 2nd in AA 2nd Place Marching AA 2nd in AA Drum Major 2nd Music Class AA

PHOTO BY MICHELLE SCRIBANO

March! The Marching Band performs the third part of their show at SVMI. The band practiced for weeks for their competitions.

Marching Band ends season on strong note Austin Swift Staff Reporter

Hanover High School Marching Invitational: 1st Band AAA 1st General Effort AAA 1st Visual AAA 2nd Music Class AAA 1st Drum Major AAA 2nd Percussion AAA 2nd Auxiliary AAA

JMU Parade of Champions: 6th Place Band AAAA

we’ve ever been in,” Upton said.

Each competition consists of multiple bands from different schools. With most competitions containing local marching bands, POC attracts high school bands from around Virginia, and two special performance from the JMU’s marching band, the Marching Royal Dukes.

“There’s usually ten to fifteen schools competing at a time, depending on where you are. POC had about 30 some bands that came, maybe even more.” Upton said.

“We were in too big of a class in POC, the teams we competed against were way bigger than us. We had two more people than was required (maximum) for the class below us, so we weren’t with our normal sized group,” Sophomore Drum Linesman Kieren McClay said.

With each band eligible to place in multiple categories, there are different points of focus that will be judged within each one.

“We’re judged on our visual, which is basically how our straight leg technique looks or how high our toes are. We’re judged on music, which is how well we play. We’re judged on percussion and color guard.

We get judged on GE, General Effect, basically how well the show fits together. So this year the show was Beethoven and we

were judged on how well we portrayed Beethoven’s life,” Upton said.

In addition to their weekend competitions, the band also plays throughout home football games and puts on a performance at halftime.

“Last year was the first year we started doing different things, so we have a Friday night show, which is a funk show that Abe Nouri, one of our band members, wrote.

It’s basically just to get the crowd pumped up. On Saturdays when we go out and compete at our competition shows, that is what we practice most of the week, we only practice Friday night shows once a week,” Upton said.

“POC is pretty much our biggest competition that we strive for, but the last competition is the Assessment, which is basically to see if we are an honor band, so we have to get One’s or Superior rankings to get that honor band status. Our concert band will go and compete later on in a festival to see if we get that status again. It is a big deal, it’s just not as competitive,” Upton said.

The band will conclude their season marching down Main Street in the Veterans Day Parade in November and the Christmas Parade in December.

As the month of October came to a close, Harrisonburg High School’s (HHS) Student Council Association (SCA) hosted the Virginia Blood Services, who provided the opportunity for students to donate blood during the course of a school day.

“SCA helps set up and run the [blood] drive. We also bring extra sweets like cookies to help replace kids sugars after donating,” SCA president Jacob Byrd said.

Beginning by checking in, students verify their appointment made, prior to donation day, with a Virginia Blood Service’s staff member. They are then directed to a station where a mini eligibility exam is taken to ensure that the student meets all of the requirements of the state. From here the actual donation takes place. A quick cleansing

of the arm and 30 minutes to an hour later, your donation is complete, and a staff member will direct you to the treats provided by SCA members.

This process allows students who were 16 years and older, with a parents consent, to contribute to a good cause without leaving the convenience of the high school.

“I think its important that they come to HHS because many people, especially young people, wouldn’t take the time to go donate. Also, people often forget how important it is to donate blood. And if you donate while you’re young you are more likely to keep donating,” Lisandra Artiles said, who is a current senior and recent donor, agrees with the decision to bring the Virginia Blood Services to HHS. Donating for the first time this school year, Artiles realizes not only the severity but the importance of giving blood in the

state of Virginia.

“Well I did it this year because I was old enough to do it without permission, and I really wanted to know my blood type. It is important because you never know when your blood will save a life,” Artiles said.

According to vablood.org, about one in seven people entering the hospital need blood, and only 37 percent of the United State population is eligible to actually donate blood. This making blood one of the most in demand medical items.

“I think it went pretty well, as always a few people were ineligible for a few different reasons to donate, and a few people who signed up didn’t show up. But overall I think the student body at HHS really made a difference by donating their time and blood,” Byrd said.

lated to the medical field,” Norment said.

“The goal is for students to gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to do any sort of career.”

The project itself is still a work in progress. The students begin by taking online assessments to see if they can match up a career with their personal interests. However, the assessments are only guidelines.

“If [the results don’t] say that they want to be a dental hygienist, but that’s what they want to do, then we’ll find a dental hygienist,” Norment said.

Career coach Cheryl Logan has been helping Norment set up the interviews. He set up the project so that the professionals will come to the school, instead of the kids going to them.

“Ms. Logan is helping me set up after school, Nov. 4 through 8, bringing in different people in different careers to meet with kids in the library,” Norment said.

The following week, the project will be completed. However, that deadline is flexible.

“For AVID, I don’t stick so much to deadlines for projects. If it takes more time to find someone to interview, it takes more time,” Norment said.

Logan has a working list of professionals in the medical field, and Norment is asking people he knows to come talk to the stu-

dents too. “[Finding professionals in] education is really easy, same thing with entrepreneurs, or counselors or people in psychology because of my wife’s connections. [Logan] has connections in the medical field,” Norment said.

As of Oct. 21, the students were introduced to the project, but were not yet aware about the interview aspect.

“They don’t even know they’re interviewing [professionals] yet,” Norment said.

“They’ve been researching a career to see what they’re interested in.”

However, he does have a reason for leaving the students out of the loop.

“They’d freak out if they knew they had to interview someone,” Norment said. “I’ll let them relax a little bit, but I’ll probably tell them at the end of the week.”

Norment wants the AVID students to learn how to speak and interact with a professional since much more of that will be in their futures.

“They tend to be very nervous about it, which is another reason I want them to do it. I think it’s a good skill to get used to,” Norment said. “How to talk to a professional, how to ask questions and present yourself well, how to shake someone’s hand. All these things are important life skills.”

Students will most likely have group in-

terviews, a few of them interested in the same field will talk with one person. If only one student is interested in a certain field, the interviews can also be one on one.

However, Norment is concerned about finding professionals in every field the students have interests in.

“The biggest thing is if I’m going to be able to find enough professionals for students to talk to. If I can’t find someone in the job, I want to be able to find someone in a similar field,” Norment said.

Norment is excited about opening new doors for students. During this projects students learn about careers they didn’t know existed. For instance, a dental hygienist goes to school for two years, and gets paid $75,000 dollars a year, which is more than the median income of a two income family in Harrisonburg.

“I like seeing students get introduced to jobs they weren’t even aware of. So many student by tenth grade are like, ‘I’m going to be a doctor.’ And they aren’t really aware of what goes into that,” Norment said.

All together however, Norment wants kids to be able to focus on the future with a goal so that school itself is a better experience.

“I think if kids have some kind of purpose, it makes school much more meaningful,” Norment said.

Four days a week, two and a half hours a day, and two weeks in August before school was in session; this is what it took to get the marching band ready for its competition season. Placing first and second place on multiple occasions, The Marching Blue Streak Band has had a successful season so far.

“We won second place in our class and second place in music at our first competition. At another competition we scored first place in our class, first place in music, first place visual and second place auxiliary (color guard). We also ranked sixth in POC (Parade Of Champions, held at JMU) which was our biggest competition,” Senior Drum Major Ellen Upton said.

In order to make competitions fair, schools are grouped into classes, based on size, as judges don’t want to compare a band of fifty to another band made up of one hundred.

“We’ve actually been in three different classes this year. We’ve been in AA which is the second smallest class, AAA for two competitions and in the last competition we were AAAA which is the biggest class

VBODA State Marching Assessment: Superior Rating Infographic by Austin Engle

SCA hosts annual VBS blood drive Austin Coffey Advertising Manager

PHOTO BY LUCY ROSE

Donate. Senior Dylan Bontrager waits to give blood. Students must be at least 16 years old to donate blood to the Virginia Blood Services.

AVID students interview community professionals Brenna Cowardin Managing Editor

Every year AVID students have a career research project in late October. Last year, English teacher Peter Norment changed it up a bit for a few students that he knew by having them interview professionals in their field of choice.

“I had [a] student who met a real lawyer, and that really cemented to her what she wanted to do, and gave her a very clear idea of what she had to do to get there,” Norment said.

This year, Norment plans on expanding this to make interviews available for all students. “[The original AVID research paper] was very dry and not very personal,” Norment said. “Last year I had a couple kids pair up with professionals...and it made it much more real to them. They were able to have a conversation instead of reading something on a website.”

Norment would like students to become more aware of the options they have in the future.

“If a student wants to do something in the medical field, they choose doctor or nurse, but they don’t know that there are 70 other options at RMH alone that are re-

One Act advances to state competition for third year Victoria Giron Page Editor The One Act play performed at regionals on Nov. 9 and are advancing to States. The show, entitled Pieces, took second place out of eight shows and are going to compete in Charlottesville for the state championship on Dec. 3.

“I thought that the performance today was the best we had ever done, we were in a time crunch at the end, so I was kind of stressed about it, but I thought it was good,” Sophomore Jaymie Inouye said.

There were some new changes added to the show a couple of days before regionals which added some stress to the performers.

“I think that our performance was the best we’ve ever done, but there were some parts were it was new and it was kind of stressful,” freshman Noelle Warne said.

The cast and crew are taking the critiques they received from the judges to strengthen the overall show. The audience reacted well, but the judges critiqued on minute details, such as the props. The judges felt that the character developments were weak and could be strengthened.

Because of the mixed reactions, the cast and the directors were especially working hard to make the show perfect.

“I was not happy about the judge reactions, but everyone has their own opinion and that’s the hard thing about theater,” Warne said.

The cast and crew, although not totally agreeing with the VTA judges took the reaction with a grain of salt and are going to work hard to improve the show in time for regionals.

“I will separate what the judges said from what could actually help us and

to what was just unnecessary and I’ll take it to heart and change what I’m doing or keep doing what I’m doing,” Warne said of the judges’ critiques.

Inouye didn’t agree with the judges’ critiques, as did most of the cast and crew, but she knows the show has room for improvement.

“I think that we know what our strengths and weaknesses are now and we can strengthen our weaknesses and strengthen our strengths,” Inouye said.

The whole VTA experience, although different, was enjoyed by the cast and crew and helpful with moving on with the show.

“I did not like the judges, but I liked the overall experience of VTA,” Inouye said. “The level of dedication among the cast was high leading up to regionals.”

PHOTO BY AUBTIN HEYDARI The Arts. Jamie Inouye and Ariel Vogel begin to get ready for the upcoming performance at the Regional competition. The One Act cast received second place rating at the competition and will be advancing to the state competition on December 3.

November 22, 2013

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November 2013 August 21, 22, 2012

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The Editors and Staff Editors-in-Chief: Print: Celia Ehrenpreis, Mia Karr Online: Luke Gibson, Sydney Little, Rafael Snell-Feikema, Fernando Gamboa Managing Editors: Brenna Cowardin (print) and Isabelle Burden (online) Advertising Managers: Austin Coffey and Joshua Byrd Photographers: Ava Reynolds, Luke Gibson Videographers: Jake McDaniel and Aubtin Heydari Staff Reporters: John Earle, Julexus Cappell, Victoria Giron, Joshua Byrd, Austin Swift, Ellie Plass, Brenna Cowardin, Luke Gibson, Alexis Dickerson, Nishat Jamil, Faith Runnells, Maria Delgado, Pablo Pacheco, Sarah Scribano, Ali Baapir, Danny Dombowski, Hunter Manzano, Jacob McDaniel, Cathryn Hall, Claudio Hernandez, Bulberto Torres-Cruz, Austin Engle, Aubtin Heydari, Ella Marian, Ben Willis, Ariel Vogel, Garrett Thompson, Jessica Nguyen and Ava Reynolds.

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The The

Newsstreak Newsstreak

Op/Ed--A5 A5 NEWS

Movember is good way to raise cancer awareness NEWSSTREAK STAFF EDITORIAL Testicular cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in men but it often gets overshadowed by other illnesses like prostate and lung cancer. For males aged 20-49 the chance of getting testicular cancer is 1 in 200. Testicular cancer awareness is something that definitely needs to be more prevalent in society.

There is a movement how-

ever growing in popularity. Every November, girls around the country participate in No Shave November, a month long event where girls don’t shave their legs. Recently an increasing number of men around the country have spun off this idea and created Movember, a charity to raise money and awareness for testicular cancer.

Movember is a mash up of mustache and November which is suitable because the goal for the

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

THE ACTUAL VOTE The board voted 15-0 to support raising awareness about testicular and prostrate cancer. We are behind the efforts of our faculty members to do the same thing by participating in Movember.

men who participate is to shave all facial hair at the beginning of the month and only grow out a mustache. Each man that participates is sponsored, and earns money for the cancer fund by simply growing out a mustache.

November seems like the perfect time to create a month long cancer awareness month and because testicular cancer is so common among males, yet so understated, Movember helps all involved. The movement has become such a national phenomenon that it is almost getting the same amount of participation as Breast cancer awareness. The gentlemen who embark on this task are simply called Mo Bros.

They each must follow a set of rules and guidelines.

Movember is different than most cancer awareness funds or movements in a sense that it is exciting. The 5K thing has been done and will be done time and

time again. Not to say that those do not work but the men of Movember wanted to do something different. It creates a sense of brotherhood among members.

Perhaps its because men have not historically had something like this to bring them together. Women have Breast cancer awareness which gets year round attention and it is a cause backed by millions of women and men alike.

Any and all cancer awareness is important but its about time that the guys can join together and get behind something.

There are women getting behind the cause as well. Although they can’t grow moustaches themselves, Mo Sistas are helping by enlisting Mo Bros to the cause.

Each year the Mo community grows a little which means there is a bigger emphasis on testicular cancer in men which is really what being a Mo Bro is all about.

CARTOON BY NISHAT JAMIL

Media distorts public’s perception of teenagers It the end of this was seeing a picture November, I greatly of the 23 year-old look forward to watchactress when she ing Catching Fire. For was 15- the age of the three people that the character she don’t know, this is the plays. The differsequel to the bestsellence is remarkable. ing book turned highImagining seeing grossing movie, The her fight to the The Mia Hunger Games. I love death at that age Perspective Jennifer Lawrence, is pretty chilling. the actress who plays Lawrence clearly the main character, I really do. I doesn’t look fifteen- in fact, she especially love the fact that she very convincingly played an adult allows me to watch a movie fea- character in the recent film Silver turing the slaughtering of children Linings Playbook. So why does no without being horrified, because one seem to notice? she is not, in fact, a child.

I have this theory that we don’t What prompted this column actually know what a teenager

looks like. The people that we see on TV portraying teenagers are not actually teenagers. The examples are numerous, but to name one, the four stars of Pretty Little Liars are 23, 24, 26 and 27. When I pointed this out to my younger sister she didn’t believe me. Then I asked her to consider if they looked my age, and the difference was clear.

Now, it makes perfect sense to use older actors to play high schoolers, and it may seem that there’s no real drawback. However, it can be negative when teenagers start comparing themselves to the teenagers they see on TV. The teenage years are famously

full of awkward growths spurts, bad skin, and hair styles to be regretted in the future. Hollywood conveniently bypasses this phase by using polished, fully-formed adults instead.

Just google photos of celebrities in their teens, and you’ll see many of them weren’t always this gorgeous. The next time you feel depressed because you don’t look like Jennifer Lawrence, just remember Jennifer Lawrence didn’t look like Jennifer Lawrence when she was 15. Of course, you still won’t look like Jennifer Lawrence when you’re 23, but maybe you felt better for a small second before you read this sentence.

Labels do not communicate full story If you’ve ever everyone else. seen me in school, Let me give you the place you are a prime example. most likely to find A few weeks me is in the library. ago, my teacher I’m a bookworm, and passed out progthere’s no shame in ress reports in this for all of you out US History so we there like me. could have a good Just Julexus idea on what we’re This triggered an interesting topic for me. Labels. In missing, our grade etc. Someone high school, I feel there’s no way in my class looked over to me to escape them. Even in life it can and asked me what I got. I told be hard to avoid. In my opinion, them I had an A. They said, “No, a label is something you’re char- no. What’s your percent?”, and I acterized as something solely answered with 101 percent (I like based on something you do. Like, history, don’t judge me). Their rea “band geek” if you’re in march- sponse is something I won’t foring band, or a “freak” if you’re get. into things out of the norm from “Of course you do.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Are labels always a bad thing?

YES: 93

NO: 7

Poll of 100 people done by Julexus Cappell on Nov. 4

Naturally, I asked what does that mean. They told me because, “You’re Julexus.”

Now, I wasn’t offended at all.

I’m sort of used to this. But, it had me thinking. The first thing this kid thinks of when he hears my name is that I’m smart. I can’t complain, that’s actually really

nice. But what about all the other things I do with my life? Just because I had a pretty solid grade in US History, I’m labelled a “nerd”, right?

I’m not saying all labels are bad. The one I received in class that day wasn’t rude or anything, but they’re not all like that. It’s sad to think that a person can have so many cool attributes about them, but they’ll be put in a category and that’s what sums them up to their peers. I don’t know, maybe it’s me, but I’d like to be known for more than one thing, not shoved in a generic group that’s supposedly “defines” me. Just a thought.

The power of the name brand lures buyers At one point or animportant element other in the lives of in the marketing many Americans, we world as long as the have all been given a word Aeropostale choice. Name brand continues to be or generic? When the dominant feait comes to luxuries ture on a plethora like clothing or food of pastel t-shirts we were more often and zip-front hoodto choose the name ies. Walking down brand item over the the grocery aisle is Gabbin’ With another generic item. Howperfect exGarrett ever with harder ample of competing economic times brand names. Cheez many people in the last few years Its or Cheese Nips? Coke or Pepsi? would be more likely to choose This raises the question, are the generic item. name brand items better than The labelling war has been generic items? I feel too often around since marketers started people are too willing to spend to understand consumer brand the extra money on an item that recognition and it will remain an could just as well cost them may-

be half the price and have equal if not greater quality. We always need to have the best product out there even if it does cost people an arm and a leg. I am always surprised that people would spend the amount of money on a North Face when a Columbia Jacket is just as good for a fraction of the price.

It’s the whole keeping up with the Joneses concept; if Mrs. Jones has those jeans then I must too.

I’m not going to lie, I too am guilty of name brand preferencing. When faced with the option over two products I would be more likely to choose Starbucks over Greenberry’s. Not to say that Greenberry’s does not offer a good selection of coffee

and pastries but society has created a cultural atmosphere that leads consumers to believe that if something comes from Starbucks than it will probably be better than something from a less significant brand.

It’s free enterprise, it’s the capitalist economic competition that keeps this country going. If we didn’t have three different stores in proximity with each other that sold the same product only distinguishable by their logo then America wouldn’t be what it is today. If I couldn’t walk into American Eagle and purchase a pair of jeans that I could find at Old Navy for a third of the price then all my faith in this free market economy would be lost.

Let your voice be heard!

Send your letter to the editor to the Newsstreak.

November 22, 2013

HOT

The

British-Irish boy band One Direction released Midnight Memories Nov 25.

The day after Thanksgiving, or even the night, means shopping! Black Friday deals are back and so is the craziness.

Boston trip A group of newspaper, yearbook, and broadcasting students were in Boston, Massachuetts for a national convention Nov 13-17.

iPad Air Apple debuted the newest iPad, the iPad Air. It only weighs one pound.

Early decison applications Early decision applications deadlines are now over, usually ending around Nov 10.

Good luck to all apllicants!

Catching Fire The second book in the hit series of Hunger Games book, Catching Fire came out November 22.

Sweater weather The time of year wear you can’t go jacketless, but you don’t need a bulky coat. Perfect. Hello sweater weather!

Start of winter sports

Basketball, swimming, indoor track, wrestling, sideline cheer etc. Winter sports are starting back up again! Most sports will begin after Thanksgiving break.

Bill Clinton in the ‘Burg Former president Bill Clinton came to JMU with governor candidate Terry McAuliffe.

Thor 2 Thor 2 came out on November 8, featuring the all-star cast of Chirs Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and others.

NOT Julianne Hough’s “face” Former Dancing with the Stars contestant Julianne Hough stirs controversy by having a “black face” for Halloween.

Lou Reed dead American musician and songwriter Lou Reed dies at the age of 71 from liver disease.

Justin Bieber’s extreme fans A 33 year old Los Angeles man spent 100,000 dollars in plastic surgery to look more like pop star Justin Bieber. This procedure included botox injections and a hair transplant.

ELT lunch schedule With extended learning time comes a different lunch schedule for 1st and 2nd lunch, which swap times.

Kim & Kanye engaged Kanye West proposed to now fiancee Kim Kardashian on her birthday, October 21, at AT&T park in San Francisco.

Cold/Flu season Make sure to bundle up in the approaching cold weather because this is the infamous cold season.

NSA’s spying scandal The United States’s National Security got busted spying and wiretapping on Germany’s chancellor.

School shooting in Nevada A student at Sparks Middle School in Nevada injuries two students and kills a teacher in a school shooting.

Early Christmas decor After Halloween stores bring out the early Christmas decor, and the play the Christmas music. Can we get through Thanksgiving first?

Obamacare website The official Obamacare website has had some glitches and technological problems.

Pumpkin spice The common fall flavor pumpkin spice is getting extremely played out.

OP/ED A6

Electoral reform would repair democracy

Midnight Memories

Black Friday

Newsstreak

Left of Main

Dylan Bontrager Guest Reporter A great man once said, “A house divided cannot stand.” But Lincoln would shudder at the state of the House of Representatives today, even compared to the division he found there during his own presidency.

The majority party is unable to unite itself, and so the chamber’s biggest achievement is its willingness to risk potential economic collapse over the funding for a law that won’t be defunded as long as Democrats control the Senate, the White House, or both.

On the other hand, it is difficult to fault any representative for making an irrational decision.

Because many House Republicans represent constituencies made up of massive Republican supermajorities, any successful challenge by Democrats is impossible.

Instead, these incumbents must worry about primary challenges from the far right. Because pri-

mary voters tend to hold more extreme points of view, incumbents must pander to this segment of their base, which is typically much smaller than a majority of their constituents. This means that risking government shutdown or debt default is within the interest of many representatives, leading to a high-stakes game of chicken.

In 2010, fueled by the Tea Party movement’s anti-Obama backlash, conservatives took control of both the House and many state legislatures, giving them the power to redraw House districts based on the new census data that year. They did what was logical for them, too: they created districts that favored their ideological counterparts in Congress.

Of course, all of this is true of both sides. Many Democrats are as gerrymandered into their districts as Republicans are, pushing them to the left.

This polarization can be removed through electoral reforms. Partisan redrawing of districts is the first thing that needs to go. We need a constitutional amendment requiring states to create nonpartisan commissions to draw their district boundaries. A federal statute is not enough, because

any single party that gains control of multiple branches of the federal government could force through a repeal before a census, allowing their state-level cronies to gerrymander them into place.

No party should hold a majority of seats in any elected body when they are not supported by a majority of voters, yet this happens all too often in the US. The plurality voting system itself has never guaranteed the majority rule that is so revered in high school government courses. It, too, has long failed to serve its purpose.

It is time to replace it with a different voting system, and the best candidate is Instant-Runoff Voting (IRV). Under IRV, voters rank candidates in order of their preference. Votes are tallied by first choices. In the absence of a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates based on their next choices. This process is repeated until one candidate has a majority.

IRV allows voters to give their first choice vote to their true first choice, showing the amount of support that each candidate truly has, and bringing more

voices into the political arena. Because candidates will rarely win majorities in the first round of counting, they must collaborate, endorsing each other to build a winning coalition instead of tearing each other down with negative campaigning. This will bring into US politics a culture of cooperation very different from our present condition, increasing citizen engagement in the political process that many now avoid for fear of getting splattered with a bit of flying mud. It will allow more accurate representation of the views of the American people.

Despite the widespread disillusionment with the rifting Republican Party after the shutdown and near-default of this past October, without electoral reform they will probably hold their divided majority in the House with a minority of the national vote in 2014, while Democrats remain in control of the Senate by virtue of their widespread support.

Change can come from wars, as in Lincoln’s day, but in this case no blood need be shed to ensure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Social issues deserve more attention from Republicans Aubtin Heydari Staff Reporter

comes to these issues.

GOP leaders stepping away from addressing Are social issues important? social issues and inSocial issues are stead stressing issues not a secondary isthat are purely fissue. Unfortunately, Poll of 100 people done by Aubtin Heydari on Nov. 8 cal or diplomatic. The in the contemposocial conservatism conservative liberrary American mainbecomes heavily implied.

This is The Haitch tarianism; a parastream, social issues not acceptable and is absolute are taking the backseat to other digm that opts government out complicity with injustices. While more ‘political’ issues. This points of nearly all social and otherwise some people have the privilege to a dangerous trend in American political issues.

The problem is that the gov- of simply ‘not talking’ about sopolitics that has been emerging cial justice, people of color, LGBT over a span of decades; political ernment’s role in freedom is not individuals, and those living in parties and candidates are no lon- passive. Libertarians’ error is poverty cannot sit back and let ger rectifying offensive beliefs or equating the government to the the discussion take its course. We even hiding them, rather ‘moder- only institution of power that can have seen what happens when ates’ are overlooking them as ir- infringe on freedoms when often we let society work itself out on society, the market, and religious relevant baggage. these issues, and it didn’t go well.

This is especially true of the institutions can exert an equal The government’s primary modern Republican Party. As so- amount of influence. purpose is to protect the freeThe conservative movement cial justice becomes the norm, doms of its people and ensure evthe dark side of the conservative takes a different approach how- eryone has the right to life, liberideology hasn’t reformed, but is ever. While the Tea Party extreme ty, and the pursuit of happiness. simply being swept under the rug. remains as flamboyant as ever, This can only happen in a nation Social issues relate to personal the Conservative mainstream where the government is involved lives that are affected by society has begun trying to adapt to an in protecting rights. and its perceptions. ‘Political is- increasingly progressive society.

There need to be barriers put sues’ are an amalgam of fiscal Social issues are an inherent rift up to ensure lines are not crossed and diplomatic issues. I use this between the extreme and the and certain rights are intact. The phrase hesitantly because social moderate/independent groups.

I would love to have seen the Republican Party is realizing that issues are necessarily political isthe left is right about these issues, sues. Part of this illusory dichot- Republican Party reform its anti- and it is time they changed, not omy is the subtle emergence of quated views, they instead abdi- lie about them. cate their responsibility when it

WHAT DO YOU THINK? YES: 85

NO: 15

Is Cuccinelli’s rejection cause for hope?

Rafael Snell-Feikema Online Editor-in-chief The first Tuesday of this month was election day -- that special day each year that we all sit in line and pretend to believe in our democracy. This year, if you haven’t been paying attention, was a gubernatorial election, in which the citizens of Virginia chose their newest leader.

It was a strange campaign. The contest was between Republican Ken Cuccinelli, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, and Libertarian Robert Sarvis, and to a large extent the arguments of the two major party candidates were similar: Ken Cuccinelli tended to say “I am a horrible person” and Terry McAuliffe tended to say “Ken Cuccinelli is a horrible person”, the difference of course lying in that Cuccinelli thought his horribleness to be a desirable attribute.

I tend to think it was a good strategy -- the lesser of two evils argument works pretty well here.

While McAuliffe may be perceived corrupt lobbyist with a tendency to use massive quantities of money to gain political influence, he is not a horrifyingly regressive social conservative with plans to reaffirm anti-sodomy laws, remove as many rights as possible from women, and disallow any opportunity for illegal immigrants to gain rights. McAuliffe may be somewhat overly moderate, but Cuccinelli was actually terrifying.

teered on the fourth and fifth.

Many of the people I talked to Delay Tactics while calling and canvassing expressed their vote in terms of “I need to keep Cuccinelli out” instead of “I want to put McAuliffe in”. And really, many of the positive aspects of McAuliffe’s social platform were just a contrast to Cuccinelli’s social regressivism. Typically, someone will vote Democratic because the candidate espoused support for marriage equality, but in this election the reason was more apt to be because Cuccinelli was actually campaigning as anti-gay.

This doesn’t really speak as to whether McAuliffe holds good policies or not, and in reality, he does.

He has spoken in favor of marriage equality, he supports stronger environmental regulation, he has spoken favorably towards amnesty programs, and he certainly won’t allow our legislature to pass another bill that requires women to receive transvaginal ultrasounds before receiving the abortions, as McAuliffe believes that women actually have the capability to decide things about their own bodies.

The result, then, of the November election, was a rejection of the Republican party’s continuing downward slide towards the realm of Tea Partiers, and a rejection of their abandonment of the actual American mainstream. November

5th told the Tea Party loud and clear that they should stay away from even trying to grasp hold of a large portion of the electorate in the coming years. They will lose.

The United States, much to their chagrin, is not the homophobic, sexist, and racist place that they wish it to be.

A post-script note: Please let the Republicans realize that having an African American candidate does not increase the likelihood of receiving minority votes -- every time they do this I cringe with the power of a thousand suns. As I was volunteering passing out Democratic sample ballots at the polls on election night, I observed this horrifyingly condescending and misguided tactic first hand several times as African American voters were reminded by our lovely Republican counterparts as to the presence of E. W. Jackson on the ticket, once going so far as to bring out a picture, only mentioning the Lieutenant Governor and none of the other candidates. Yes, Republican party, I am sure that African American voters will chose the man who uttered the ludicrously offensive words “Planned Parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Will the rejection of the GOP’s far-right candidates result in a movement back towards center?

YES: 86 NO: 14

Poll of 100 people done by Rafael Snell-Feikema on Nov. 8

Joshua Byrd Op/Ed Editor

Trusting in our president tends to backfire As an American I have lost complete trust in the President of the United States.

President Obama has time after time contradicted himself, or has said something that turns out to be completely false. His health care promises are just a few examples.

“If you like you health care plan, you can keep your health care plan,” President Obama said on June 15th, 2009. This has been proven untrue with many Americans.

Even the Washington Post fact checker gave it four pinocchios, the highest rating.

Four pinocchios is also known as a lie. There are examples of American losing their coverage. Florida Woman Dianne Barrette under Obamacare will be able to keep her insurance, but just has to pay 10 times the amount. She can keep her plan, but the cost for her to do so is insane. This she told Greta Van Susteren on On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren.

UPS announced that it will drop 15,000 spouses if they are eligible to get insurance elsewhere. That isn’t my problem though. My problem is that the President said that you will be able to keep your current plan. But why trust the President when he said that the penalty was a fine and not a tax.

“It is not a tax,” President Obama said when talking to Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos about the penalty. This was proven wrong. In July 2012, the supreme court ruled that the penalty is a tax period.

But my distrust in the President began before this website fiasco. My distrust in our President began on September 11, 2012, Benghazi, when four Americans died in a terrorist attack on a Libyan consulate. We still have no idea who the terrorists are or who made the call to STOP the military from going in. Also, having the then secretary of state Hillary Clinton say “What difference does it make,” about the incident doesn’t help.

Also, a story that has been pushed in the background is the IRS targeting conservative groups. This targeting happened before and during the 2012 election. Maybe to sway the election or not, but we don’t know because of the lack of testifiers. This is because the former head of the Cinittante office plead the 5th (right to remain silent).

Now emails are out showing that the former head, Louis Learner, was part of the targeting.

So yes, I have lost all my trust for the president. Two scandals, and him lying to the American people has made me lost trust like many Americans. Where does this spying end.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Do you trust President Obama?

YES: 40 NO: 49 I Don’t Care: 9 I’m Not Sure: 2 Poll of 100 people done by Joshua Byrd on Nov. 7

November 22, 2013

The

Newsstreak

STYLE A7

OUT OF THE DARK AGES... INTO TV

Teachers Halpern “wasn’t missing out” growing up without a TV remember TV from childhood Garrett Thompson “When I was younger, I would watch TV every day, for probably two or three hours a day. We watched cartoons when we got home from school, Peter Norment, the news with my English teacher parents, and usually something like the Cosby Show. We were a big Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network family. We weren’t allowed to watch MTV and the show You Can’t Do That on Television.”

“As a child we watched very little TV. We had no cable TV and used an antenna located on top of the mountain above our house.

There was TV cable Diana Kern, wire that ran from Home Econom- the antenna through ics teacher the woods and down the mountainside to our garage where it connected to a booster that strengthened the signal to our TV in the house. We also had two neighbors who were connected to our antenna and booster as well. They paid my Dad part of the cost of the equipment and upkeep. My dad had paying customers for his cable long before cable TV as we know it today was invented. If a tree fell on the line or a snowstorm broke it, we had no TV until we hiked up the side of the mountain and made repairs. I remember doing this many times as a child.”

“As a young child, I sat on the floor in front of a big box with a black and white TV screen, it was probably equivalent to 15 inches. I watched Rob Edmunds, cartoons on Saturday Science teacher morning, Romper Room (a locally hosted educational program), The Pick Temple Show (locally produced western show, I appeared on it once). When I was eight years old, PBS came on the air, and we watched French lessons one morning a week at the elementary school. A few years later color started up, and the family would watch Bonanza, Disney, and Death Valley Days (hosted by Ronald Reagan) on Sunday nights. The black and white moved down to the basement.”

Style Editor

Televisions have become a staple in every American household. On average Americans spend about 34 hours a week watching our favorite TV shows. This is a luxury some Americans have taken for granted with the average number of televisions per household at three.

Some students, however, like HHS senior Deb Halpern, have had to live without this luxury.

“Not having a television wasn’t really a problem growing up because no one really talked about TV so I wasn’t missing out,” said Halpern. When asked how she coped with the lack of television she said she read often.

For some students, television is the primary source of entertainment and a way to stay up-to-date on popular culture and news. With new technology and new ways to stream live feeds on nearly any device, Halpern doesn’t feel like not having Television has left her in the dark.

“Hulu and Netflix are awesome because now I have a little pop culture in my life,” said Halpern. Products like Hulu and Netflix allow users to download and stream pre-recorded television shows, movies, podcasts and documentaries after they have broadcasted. Such companies have seen a rise in usage during the past couple of years providing full seasons of television series including those that have gone off the air. Some people are arguing that providing vast availability of shows under one location may soon be a more attractive option than conventional television.

When asked if she would make the same decision as her parents did for her children Halpern said her children will definitely be allowed to watch TV although she has no hard feelings about her parents decision.

Netflix allows viewers to watch whole seasons at once Faith Runnels Sports Editor The new advancements of Netflix and other TV watching programs have given an all new easy access to television. Unlike ten years ago, people can now have access to an entire TV series without even leaving their house. Many people have taken advantage of this, and even watch entire seasons of shows at one time.

Senior Simara Allen watches Netflix everyday.

“I watched the whole season of “Laguna Beach” at one time. They’re short episodes, so it only took about three hours, but I still watch my Netflix everyday,” Allen said. “Right now I’m hooked on “Friday Night Lights”.”

Senior Sal Saravia also watches “Friday Night Lights”.

“I’ve watched probably an entire season of “Friday Night Lights” at one time.

I’ve also watched the entire first season of “The Walking Dead”. That season was pretty short so it only took me like five or six hours,” Saravia said.

Although TV shows can be entertaining and for the most part grasp your attention, one would think that the same plot and characters would become tiring throughout an entire season in only one sitting.

“You just have to get a comfortable setting, and I personally get plenty of Mountain Dew to keep me good,” Saravia said.

“I just get really into the shows, especially “Laguna Beach” and “Friday Night Lights”, and I don’t want to stop watching.

If I had time I could watch even more than

Television can unite or separate families Ella Marian Sports Editor It is rare to find a teenager that watches TV with their family. A reason this happens is because teenagers generally watch their own shows on the computer, on programs such as Hulu or the channel’s website, or they may take control of the remote. Another reason is that not everyone likes watching the same thing, so family members tend to stick to their own shows. Therefore, if teens do decide to watch TV with their family, the decision process can be very long or very short.

Senior Amber Jamieson and her family have a method to overcome the long process.

“We usually all give our input in what we should watch and whoever has the best idea is what we end up watching,” Jamieson said.

Junior Laurie Serrell doesn’t have this problem with her family.

“Who ever is watching the TV first, we all just join in and sometimes when my dad comes home we end up watching the news,” Serrell said.

In making this decision families may have to think about what is appropriate for the younger family members. Chemistry teacher Kasey Hovermale has a two year old son and so she makes sure that what they watch is age appropriate.

“When my son is awake and in the same room as my husband and I, we make sure that nothing bad is on the TV, like I wouldn’t play The Walking Dead when he is around. Especially since he is at that age where he repeats everything he hears,” Hovermale said.

Some parents have an age limit for when their children can start watching TV. Freshmen Ella Shulgan has a baby brother, and this rule applies to him.

“My mom has a theory that kids under two shouldn’t watch TV so we generally just put him to bed before we watch TV,” Shulgan said. There can be a number of plausible reasons for this rule.

“I think she has this theory so the babies can grow up to be smarter and doesn’t get into the habit of wanting to watch TV everyday,” Shulgan said.

Watching TV with your family has some benefits.

Junior Hannah Purcell watches TV with her family once a week.

“I like watching TV with my family because it’s a time that we all get to be together,” Purcell said. Most students like watching TV with their family because everyone isn’t running around and it is a chance to be together.

“As a young child, I don’t remember watching much TV beyond Saturday cartoons.

Once I hit middle school, I would come home Richard Morand watch an old rell, English movie (usually a black teacher and white film) on the local channel, 5, broadcast out of DC. Beyond that, I would watch a nightly sitcom after dinner, something along the lines of The Partridge Family, Happy Days, Welcome Back, Kotter, M*A*S*H, or All in the Family. My dad was almost always in the room watching with me. I also remember watching Charlie’s Angels, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Bionic Woman. Again, all of these were with my dad watching right along. We had two televisions in the house, one in the family room and one in my parent’s bedroom. We weren’t allowed to stay up late to watch stuff. I don’t remember any hard and fast rules about how much time we spent in front of the TV, but we were often chased out of the house and told to “go do something” when we got on my parent’s nerves. I can recall only once not being allowed to watch a show, and that was when they were showing a documentary of the Holocaust with actual footage from the camps being liberated.”

“As a child my brother and I watched very little television. We had one TV in the family room. The shows I remember watching were the Waltons, Lynda BlackLawrence Welk, Muwell, office tual of Omaha’s Wild secretary Kingdom, Liberace. If I stayed home from school and was sick, I might be allowed to watch a couple of game shows like The Price is Right, Name that Tune, Merv Griffin Show, Dinah Shore.

I was not allowed to be watching TV unless I had my parents permission and usually it was a family activity and for no more than an hour,” “We had one TV in my house as a kid and we didn’t have cable. There were seven people living in my house. I was not allowed to watch anyHannah Bowthing but PBS, and I man, English couldn’t watch TV for teacher more than an hour a day. We couldn’t watch anything else because my parents did not want us to see advertisements,”

I do now but I just don’t have the time,” Allen said.

The accessibility and convenience of the program just appeal to those who watch TV even more. Sophomore Lettie Rose has watched an entire season of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” just on her phone. “[One of my favorites things about Netflix] is you can watch it on your phone if you get the app. You have to have a lot of data on your phone but it’s still really convenient. That’s what I watched my entire season on, with wifi,” Rose said.

According to slate.com, Netflix is the main program people use to watch their TV if they’re not using the actual television itself. Lots of people enjoy Netflix and use it to their biggest advantage, such as watching an entire season at one time.

Infographics by Luke Gibson

Computers provide new easy way to watch television Alexis Dickerson News Editor

The computer is becoming an increasingly popular way to watch TV. It’s faster, easier, and more convenient than watching television on an actual device.

Debate coach and English teacher Peter Norment watches TV on Amazon Prime and Netflix with his family.

“My four-year old and my two-year old, they’re really big on Magic School Bus, Blues Clues, and Kipper. They’re not too big on Sesame Street,” Norment said.

TV on the computer allows you to have more options for the whole family- instead of having to choose one show over the other you can watch many over a longer span of time.

“I like that I don’t have to wait for the next episode to come out,” Norment said. Norment prefers Netflix to Amazon Prime.

“It’s just what I’m used to.

There are shows not on Netflix but they’re on Amazon,” Norment said. The internet allows for many options and websites to be used, depending on which ones you like the best.

Watching TV on the com-

puter has it’s disadvantages like everything else. For one, it isn’t as big. You also have to wait a little longer to watch shows than you would on the TV. But as a whole, it’s an effective and enjoyable way to watch television.

“I would like it more if my computer was larger. You can get Apple TV and when we get a million dollars we’re getting it,” Norment said.

November 22, 2013

The

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STYLE - A8

The Internet is for You(Tube) Top five most watched YouTube channels Julexus Cappell Op/Ed Editor

Entertainment. Students’ reaction to YouTube video. from left to right (Tyler Edwards, Harmony Wilson, Antoine Timbers, Jessica Nguyen)

1. PewDiePie Subscribers: 13,961,141 Views: 2.54 billion Description: A Sweden-born man named Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg commentates on popular video games, but his specialty is in horror and action video games. Kjellberg has had his channel since April 2009. He lives in the United Kingdom and is currently the number one most subscribed Youtube channel.

Everything you need to know about starting a YouTube account 2. YouTube Subscribers: 13,189,797 Views: 263 million Description: This Youtube channel shows the most popular videos on Youtube at any moment, and is frequently updated. The channel also features VeVo videos. Youtube, as a site and as a channel on its own site has been running since February 14, 2005.

Fernando Gamboa Pena Online Editor-in-Chief Joining the ever popular website YouTube has become that much easier thanks to Google’s ubiquitous integration. There are two kinds of people who can sign up for YouTube, those who have a Google account, yes that doesn’t mean Gmail, and those without a Google account. For those who don’t have a Google account, YouTube and it’s parent company Google has made it impossibly simple to sign up.

For those who have a Google account, head over to YouTube.

com and click on “Sign in” at the top right hand side of the screen. You will be prompted to enter your email and password associate with your Google account. Now that’s it, you are signed up for YouTube.

Now those that have yet to join the rest of the world on Google, go to YouTube.com and click on “Sign in” in the top right hand of the screen. Instead of putting in the email and password, click on the red box with white text “CREATE AN ACCOUNT”. Fill in each field and click submit. If you don’t have a Gmail address but would like one you can click on “I would like a new Gmail address” if not

YouTube walk of fame 3. Smosh Subscribers: 12,692,454 Views: 2.66 billion Description: The Smosh channel on Youtube is a duo of two American men named Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla. The natives of Sacramento, California channel features comic videos, and more recently animation and video gaming content videos.

In October 2013, they were the most subscribed Youtube channel.

4. Movies Subscribers: 12,517,167 Views: 0

Isabelle Burden Online Editor

YouTube, one of the largest companies in the world, has the ability to make dreams come true. Take Justin Bieber for example. Bieber started making YouTube videos under the username of “Kidrauhl” to connect with his friends and family who lived in different parts of the world. Scooter Braun stumbled upon a couple of Bieber’s videos while aimlessly browsing YouTube and one thing led to another and BAM! Instant mega-star, all thanks to YouTube. While Bieber may have been the most well-known success story involving YouTube’s masterful ways of making things happen, there are many YouTube personalities out there.

Tyler Oakley, a flamboyantly gay YouTube sensation, has taken the internet world by storm.

He not only vlogs and worships the YouTube franchise and all it does for videographers like himself, but he has also gained so many opportunities through being a YouTuber. He has been an interviewer at the VMAs, taken part in the Pepsi super bowl campaign, and interviewed none other than the massively famous boyband, One Direction.

Annually, YouTube hosts conventions for YouTubers known as Playlist Live and VidCon. These conventions are for all sorts of videographers both up and coming and established globally. This is where YouTubers can collaborate and establish their channels further. People who become YouTube famous are usually not very popular outside of the internet world. YouTube is a way that they can express themselves and feel like they belong somewhere. In some ways YouTube is a club and everyone gets to be president.

want your name to appear and click “OK”. Click back on your picture and back on settings, now you will want to click on “Advanced”, from here next to “Current URL” there is your current URL and a link to “Create custom URL”, click there. Make sure what you pick is something good; this will be the URL you have forever, so choose wisely. Type what you want it to be and click “Create Channel URL” and you are done.

Joining YouTube is quick and easy. Now you can favorite videos you like, subscribe to your favorite Vloggers, share your opinion with other users and create playlists of cats being silly.

Do you use YouTube daily?

Yes: 47

No: 54 Students react to “hilarious “ Youtube videos

The history of YouTube 2005: YouTube founded by three PayPal employees

5. HOLASOYGERMAN Subscribers: 11,298,029 Views: 772.9 million Description: German Garmendia is a Chilean vlogger [video blogger] who lives in Chile, South America. His channel is comic and directed towards a Spanish speaking audience.

He currently has over nine million Youtube subscribers and is the eighth most subscribed channel on Youtube.

use the email you have. Go to your email and click the link to confirm.

Go on back to YouTube, you are now free to subscribe to any channel, comment, like, favorite and share. But, if you want to upload videos there is one last thing you want to do, create a custom URL. This is the part that comes after “http://www.youtube. com/” It sends people to your videos, your channel, your content.

To do this click on your picture in the top right hand of the screen. Click on “YouTube settings” or “settings”. Here you will see a link next to your name and email that says “Create a channel” click there. Confirm how you

2013: Number of unique users visiting the site reaches 1 billion

2005: First video “Me at the Zoo,” uploaded

2012: “Gangnam Style,” becomes first video to reach 1 billion views

2006: YouTube becomes fastest growing website

2010: YouTube becomes the most visited website

2010: YouTube offers online movie rental service

2006: YouTube purchased by Google for 1.65 billion dollars

Source: Wikipedia/HistoryofYoutube

First YouTube Music Awards broadcast Ellie Plass Style Editor

Youtube is the third most popular website on the internet, trailing behind only Facebook and Google. The website has more than 800 million users per week, and in 2011 had a total number of views that surpassed a trillion. The website is this insanely popular for a reason- it’s the easiest way people can watch videos on the internet. Whether it’s comedy, tutorials, music, or just random, the website has it all.

And now, they have their own awards. The Youtube Music Awards where held for the first time on Sunday, November 3rd.

Artists who won included Eminem, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, as well as a performance from Lady Gaga. The awards were said to be chaotic and dysfunctional, but loveable in that Youtube way, according to the New York Times.

Now that they’ve established an actual goal for members of the Youtube music community- an award at the show- the website is shown to be taking a turn. It’s

becoming something legitimate instead of a site for random people’s cat videos and off-key interpretations of pop songs. Youtube is the go-to place for established artists to show off their work.

Vevo is a channel on Youtube that provides videos from three of the four top music production labels. It is an easy way for artists to get the word out about their music.

Artists have even gotten a professional start from the website. Everyone knows the story of Justin Bieber- a childhood

Source: Venusbuzz.com Youtube sensation turned international pop star. One-hit wonders are also prevalent, in artists

such as Psy and Rebecca Black.

As with Rebecca Black, the legitimacy of the stars is sometimes questionable. Youtube, being a website that is open to everyone, is not always taken at the highest value. But lately, that’s been changing. More and more professional artists are using the website, only increasing it’s legitimacy.

Youtube is no longer a playground of the internet. The website has established its legitimacy and is becoming more and more popular by the very hour.

November 22, 2013

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Textbooks and backpacks and homework, oh my! use paperless Weight of the workload Teachers alternatives in classroom Science: 13 Lbs Includes Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry and Anatomy textbooks.

Math: 24.5 Lbs

Includes Geometry, Algebra I, Algebra II, Advanced Mathematics, and Calculus textbooks.

English: 22 Lbs Includes Language of Literature 10, Language of Literature 12, Language of Composition, Reading Critically, Writing Well and Warriner’s Handbook textbooks.

History: 28 Lbs Includes World History, Western Civilizations, United States History, Government of the People and Economics textbooks.

INFOGRAPHIC BY BRENNA COWARDIN

Alums find new expense in college Celia Ehrenpreis Editor-in-Chief College is a huge transition for graduating seniors. There is more freedom, harder classes and a completely new environment. This change comes at a price. An incredibly large price.

According to the New York Times, students often spend upwards of $1,000 on textbooks per year. This cost is an unfamiliar wake up call for high school students who are used to receiving all their books for free.

HHS alum, Maria Rose is a junior at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

“I spend anywhere between $120 to $200 on textbooks each semester, but it’s usually on the lower end. Cost always depends on the classes you take. I’ve taken writing classes that only have one book, or no books at all, and then history classes that have twelve,” Rose said.

Rose avoids the high prices of college textbooks by using websites like collegebookrenter.com.

“It’s cheaper [to use a website], I usually do not keep all of the books. And if I want to keep one, I can choose to buy it at the end of the semester, and it’s still cheaper.

I also always try to get my books used. It’s important to reuse all that stuff,” Rose said.

The most expensive book Rose has had to buy so far in college, was $70.

Another HHS alum, Ellie Pruett-Fiederlein is a freshman at Brown University. She is used to shelling out big dough for her

needed supplies.

“I’m in two reading-intensive seminar classes each with five required books, so the textbooks were crazy expensive. I think I spent a total of $350 on books from the Brown bookstore, plus $40 to rent an Econ textbook. [Textbooks] tend to be ridiculously overpriced, often just because they are categorized as ‘textbooks’ or ‘academic books’,” Pruett-Fiederlein said.

Pruett-Fiederlein agrees that students should rent books whenever possible to cut down on costs.

HHS alum, Erin Goodstein is a freshman at the College of William and Mary. Goodstein’s most expensive textbook that she purchased this semester was her General Chemistry book, which cost her $170. “[Textbook prices] are unfairly high because the publishers are exploiting the captive market of desperate college students.

I tried to reduce my cost by buying them in loose leaf form. The website, Ratemyprofessor.com is helpful for figuring out if the book is worth buying or not. If you have friends in your classes, you can also arrange to share textbooks with each other,” Goodstein said.

Unfortunately most college freshman register for classes after all other grades, so they are often stuck buying their books because all the other textbooks have been scooped up by other students.

When thinking about saving for college, students should keep in mind the everrising price of textbooks, and consider options other than buying their books, such as renting or sharing.

Ariel Vogel Feature Editor Although pollution and the wasting of our natural resources are major problems in today’s society, people everywhere are taking small steps to make life more environmentally sound.

History teacher Jay Blair taught at a school a couple years ago that had gone almost completely paperless.

“Every student and every teacher were given laptops, and students would do work electronically, and teachers would have a dropbox that students would submit their work into. Teachers would comment and return graded work with comments into a dropbox that the students were given,” Blair said.

He explained that because the system was relatively new, the school didn’t end up going entirely without paper and still occasionally used textbooks.

“There was some resistance to the idea of not using physical textbooks, in part because of the unreliability of technology and in part because people were nostalgic about the feel of holding a book,” Blair said.

Other resistance to going entirely paperless came from teachers who felt uncomfortable doing all grading online because of detrimental effects to their eyesight.

“It’s also easier to stay on top of piles of paper because you have that physical reminder of the work. In some ways, it’s also easier to write comments on work that is on paper,” Blair said.

English teacher Peter Norment has been moving his own classroom towards paperless but is hesitant about relying completely on technology.

“Benefits [of going paperless] are it’s a little more realistic of what kids will have to face in college and it’s better for the environment, but when technology fails, you can’t do what you planned for class,” Norment said.

Similarly to Blair’s previous school, Nor-

ment requires all of his major papers to be submitted on google docs and does all grading and revisions online.

“Students don’t need printed copies for group revisions because they can do all comments on the computer. Some students take notes on the computer during class. However, I do still print out quizzes and Articles of the Week,” Norment said.

Although Blair does most of his grading on physical paper and teaching through textbooks now, he did enjoy using the paperless method of instruction.

“I started teaching in 2001 [the year his previous school went paperless], so there was never a time when I didn’t have that technology in the room. There were programs to manage all kinds of systems from attendance to teacher-parent contact. I can imagine it was difficult for teachers to adapt from one teaching system to another, but for me, I started right in there and it made everything easier,” Blair said.

Norment explained that while he doesn’t want to go completely paperless right now, he feels it’s where schooling is heading.

“Ultimately, I thought it would make grading easier. Also, it seems like the world is moving more and more onto computers, so students should [start going paperless] in class,” Norment said.

YOUR OPINION

Do you have back pain from your backpack?

YES

NO

49 51 100 people polled in all grades by Cathryn Hall

What’s the one thing you always have with you?

Sophomore Hollyn Slykuis:

“I always have my chapstick.”

Senior Selina Martinez:

“I carry nail polish.”

Sopohmore Jessica Barranco:

“I always have my iPod with me.”

Sophmore Lettie Rose:

“I always have my phone, it is only thing I have at all times.”

INFOGRAPHIC BY JOSH BYRD

Freshman: Earth Science, Algebra I, World History.

Weight: 12 Lbs

Sophomore: Biology, Geometry, Language of Literature 10, Western Civilizations

Weight: 17.5 Lbs

Junior: Chemistry, Algebra II, Language of Composition, United States History

Weight: 20.5 Lbs

Senior Deb Halpern

Junior Natnael T-Medhin

Sophomore Chase Berkshire

Freshman Ana Hart

The average load of students at HHS

Senior: Anatomy, Advanced Mathematics, Language of Literature 12, Government of the People

Weight: 20 Lbs

November 22, 2013

Male faculty members shave for good cause

Movember Madness The

Newsstreak

FEATURE- B1

Norment encourages teachers to participate in Movember Victoria Giron Feature Editor

MARK TUETING

PHOTO BY VICTORIA GIRON

GO TEAM! With captain Peter Norment, the HHS team of 35 members have raised over $1500 for . The team ranks 750 in the nation.

JAY BLAIR

Loughran appreciates the Movember cause

Austin Engle Staff Reporter

JOEY BEPPLER

Movember is something most don’t know about, however the entire male part of the English Department is participating. Movember is Like No Shave November, but the purpose is to raise awareness for Prostate and Testicular cancers.

Dave Loughran, an English teacher, found out about Movember from Peter Norment, a fellow English teacher.

“Mr. Norment made me do [Movember],” Loughran said, “he said, ‘If we all agree to do it, it could be a

powerful thing.’” The main thing that Movember will do is raise awareness for the cancers. When people ask why a person is growing their moustaches they can respond with Movember and then proceed with more information about it.

“It would also be great if we were able to raise money,” Loughran said. The biggest thing that Loughran thinks Movember will do is help to start conversations and use that start to raise awareness.

Overall Loughran thinks that this will help raise awareness for Movember, and will help people understand why he is doing it.

Peter Norment is choosing to participate in Movember for the good cause, not because he enjoys growing out his moustache.

“I’m not doing it for facial hair purposes. I can’t grow facial hair,” said Norment Norment doesn’t shave daily, so it’s not going to be too much of an adjustment for him.

“I shave once a week,

because that’s all I need to do. I don’t grow facial hair very well,” Norment said.

“I’m going to grow as much of a moustache as I can, but I’m going to have a terrible looking moustache,” said Norment.

Norment has received support from around the school and at home.

“My wife’s not very happy about it, but she’s supportive; her first reaction was ‘No you’re not doing that’,” said Norment.

Norment first learned about Movember from on-

line.

“I watched a TED talk on it by one of the founders of Movember. So, my first time hearing about Movember was under the context of prostate and testicular cancer,”said Norment.

Norment plans on shaving at the end of the month as soon as he can. Norment was also one of the teachers that started the Movember initiative at the school by sending out a mass e-mail urging everyone to participate in the charity event.

Dean shaves off four inch beard Ava Reynolds Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY JESSICA NGUYEN

CLEAN SLATE! English teacher Julian Dean shaved off his beard that closely resembled one of the Duck Dynasty cast members. He had the longest beard of all the participants in the Movember celebration.

Despite the fact that Julian Dean’s mother threatened to shave off his beard for his wedding coming up on November 16th, Dean decided to go stache and beardless for Movember.

When Dean’s fiance saw his bald face for the first time ever since she’d know him, her reaction was very interesting.

“She just giggled a lot,” said Dean.

Movember is a month long event that raises

awareness for men’s health. Men shave their mustaches on October 31st, and grow them out till the end of November. For Dean, it was more than just a mustache though, it was who he was.

“I have been missing my beard; it’s very alien feeling, and the other day my face got cold. It is for a good cause though so I won’t complain about it, and at the end of the month, after shaving my mustache again for my wedding, it will still be longer than Peter Norment’s,” said Dean.

Entire Science Department gets on board with Movember

ERIK BROWN

MIKE FORNECKER

NATHAN HISSONG

RICHARD MORRELL

Sarah Scribano News Feature

In order to raise awareness for testicular cancer the men in the science department have decided to participate in the “Movember” month. Once the school sent out an email suggesting that the faculty participate in this, the science department quickly chose to participate in the event.

Biology teacher Gehrie Bair choose to join the “Movember” experience to show support for cancer that affects males. He feels that it demonstrates a camaraderie between members of the science department.

“It’s an easy way to do something together. My father had testicular cancer, so I would support anything like that,” Bair said.

Bair doesn’t feel that it’ll be too difficult considering that he always grows out a beard around December; it’ll just be a month earlier this year. Bair believes that people will begin to ask a lot of questions, which is of course the whole point because it gives the opportunity to explain. The only time it’ll be a problem is if the mustache grows beyond its limit.

Bair believes that this is a great way to raise awareness for male cancer since

mustaches are only found on men. Since there is so much in October that supports breast cancer, he feels that this is a way to continue that support but now for cancer that affects the male gender.

“A lot of times guys are more reserved about this type of cancer, so if it gets them talking, then it’s a great idea,” Bair said.

Earth Science teacher Nathan Hissong decided to participate for a few reasons. He would like to have some fun at work, but more importantly it will raise money for a good cause through a website that Peter Norment set up. Hissong doesn’t believe that it is going to be difficult psychologically, but that it may be difficult to physically grow a mustache.

Hissong feels that his daughter will probably be embarrassed considering that she’s a freshman here and his wife will probably be annoyed but he’s hoping she will let up about cutting his hair. He believes it has the potential to join the staff together.

“I think it’ll be fun and raise camaraderie around here with the staff, especially with people I don’t know. If I see them, there will be an instant connection. I think it’ll have a positive affect with the work place,” Hissong said.

Physics teacher Seth

Berkeley decided to do this because it is a fun way to support a good cause.

“It’s hard to beat a combination like that,” said Berkeley.

The hardest part for Berkeley is going to be his first shave. As many have seen, he has a full beard for the past three years, so this is going to be quite the change for him.

“I’ll miss my facial hair, It is going to be a sad day on Friday. I have never had just a mustache before, so it’ll be an adventure.”

STEM teacher Andrew Jackson has heard about “No Shave November” for a long period of time, but once he heard that it was supporting a cause and raising money for male cancers, he decided to join in on raising awareness. If he was going to shave his facial hair off, which he hasn’t done in 33 years, then he was going to go all out. After his daughter showed him a picture of a batman symbol mustache, he figured he’d try it out. It was done by West Side Barber Shop and it took about an hour and a half.

“I’ve everything from questions, to weird looks to high fives from people,” Jackson said.

This was just a preparation for the full shave, for the rules of Movember are growing a mustache from a clean slate.

HOLY BAT BEARD! Science teacher Andy Jackson sports his new look created by Jeff Fisher at West Side Barbershop. Jackson had not shaved off his beard for over 30 years.

finally made one, and within a week, discovered that her colon was perforated. She went into emergency surgery followed by a year of weekly chemotherapy treatments and tests to make sure the cancer hadn’t spread to her liver or lymph nodes.

“Don’t ignore symptoms,” Soenksen said.

Soenksen was teaching at a different school at the time, but was allowed to take every Friday off as the chemotherapy process progressed and caused her to grow weaker. She discovered more sources of support along the way.

“I came here to RMH for treatment and they have

an image recovery center which helps offer skin care, even wardrobe consultations for those who had colostomy bags, and they really tried to treat the whole person...I was very impressed with the RMH cancer center’s holistic approach to treatment,” Soenksen said.

Over the course of her treatment, Soenksen found that there were little things those who cared about her could do to help. She would often arrive home from work to multiple messages on her phone, and students would bring her small things such as a flower or a muffin.

“There were several

times when I thought, thank goodness I’m the one with the cancer and not the one watching,” Soenksen said. “I think that would be much harder because you feel so helpless.”

According to the American Cancer Society, there are about 102,408 new cases of colon cancer diagnosed in the United States each year. Unlike Soenksen, about 90% of people diagnosed with colon cancer are over the age of 50. Mortality rates have gone down over the past 20 years because of better screening.

“A cancer diagnosis is not an automatic death sentence,” Soenksen said.

“You can be in treatment

BEFORE AND AFTER. “For the first little while, I will certainly have a baby face,” said Seth Berkeley.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDY JACKSON

Soenksen beats colon cancer while teaching Mia Karr Editor-in-chief

DAVID DOYLE

TRACY SHAVER

Many students and staff have contributed to the cancer awareness effort this fall, but for one teacher, this issue is especially personal. Reading specialist Cathryn Soenksen was diagnosed with colon cancer in July of 1995. Although the cancer is now in remission, the experience has left a lasting impression.

When Soenksen first noticed symptoms, she chalked them up to stress from the pressures of juggling family, job, and graduate school or change in diet. She cancelled three

for cancer and still be living a very healthy, otherwise normal, productive life.

There is more to you than the cancer cells you’re trying to fight off.”

Soenksen still reflects on her battle with cancer.

“Many fellow survivors have said, and I agree, that while it’s an experience you never want to go through again, it’s also one you wouldn’t trade,” Soenksen said. “You find out how tough you are. You find out how much support you have. You find out how many other people around you have experienced the same struggles. You look death in the face and say ‘ha!’”

CC November 22, 2013

The

Newsstreak

oping with ancer

FEATURE - B2

Dotas deals with chemotherapy through humor Evan’s Story Celia Ehrenpreis Editor-in-Chief

Throughout the months of September and October it was not unusual to see junior Evan Dotas walking around school sporting a wide array of bizarre wigs. One day he had a black curly Afro, the next a powdered 17th century ponytail. This funny, lighthearted activity contrasts starkly with his reasons for the differing hairstyles “After the chemotherapy I lost all my hair, so I decided to make the most of it. I went down to Glen’s Fair Price and bought about five wigs. I just wanted to have fun with [being bald],” Dotas said. At age 16, Dotas was diagnosed with testicular cancer, a somewhat rare occurrence for someone so young.

After finding a lump, Dotas went to Rockingham Memorial Hospital where they verified that he did in fact have a tumor, although he did not stay there for long.

“RMH decided to move me to the Uni-

versity of Virginia Hospital because they have a much more specialized program for cancer treatment. The surgeon who performed the operation was nationally recognized,” Dotas said.

After Dotas received an orchiectomy, which removed the tumor, tests were run which revealed that not all of the cancerous cells had been removed. The doctors at UVA then collaborated to come up with the next step. Chemotherapy was suggested and the Dotas family agreed to start the treatment.

“I went through three sessions of chemo, each one with a three week break in between. The whole process depressed my immune system, so I had to wait and rebuild my strength before I could go back,” Dotas said.

A typical session would go something like this: Dotas checks into the hospital in the late afternoon, and at about 5:00 p.m. a nurse starts him on a chemical drip. Over the next two or three days more drugs were administered through an IV that

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stayed in Dotas’ arm.

“The last session of chemo was the hardest part of the entire process. [The sessions] got progressively worse. The first one was manageable, the second one was painful, but the third was terrible. I was constantly tired and nauseous, there were even some mental effects. I just felt defeated,” Dotas said.

The chemo also affected Dotas’ diet.

During the second treatment, Dotas did not eat for six straight days. He just wasn’t hungry.

After two long months, Dotas finished his chemotherapy. “[The experience] taught me that we have it pretty lucky. School and social problems aren’t as bad as they seem. I gained a newfound appreciation for the little things,” Dotas said. “The process hasn’t had too much of an effect on my schoolwork. My teachers have been really flexible with things like due dates. Some people have started looking up to me, which has been really humbling.”

Symptoms

Testicular cancer is a cancer that affects one or both of a - A lump or enlargement in either testicle man’s testicles.

- A feeling of heaviness in the scrotum There are two main types of testicular cancer, seminomas - Dull ache in the abdomen or groin and nonseminomas.

Testicular cancer is rare compared to other cancers, but is the - Sudden collection of fluid in the scrotum - Enlargement or tenderness of the breasts most common in American males aged 15-34.

It makes up for 0.5 of all new cancer cases in the United States, and 0.1 of all cancer deaths.

American Cancer Society uses C-A-U-T-I-O-N: It is extremely treatable even if the cancer has spread from Change in bladder/bowel habits testicles.

A sore that doesn’t heal The survival rate if it is caught in stage one is over 99%.

The estimation for new cases in 2013 is 7,920 and estimated Unusual bleeding deaths is 370.

Thickening or lump in breast, testicals, etc.

The highest number of deaths from testicular cancer occur in Indigestion or trouble swallowing men aged 20-34.

Obvious change in size, etc. for a mole, wart The lowest number of deaths from testicular cancer occur in Nagging cough or hoarseness males under the age of 20.

Sources: Cancer.org, Mayoclinic.com, Seer.Cancer.gov, webmd.com

Oncologist discusses cancer treatment, importance of examinations Brenna Cowardin Managing editor Radiation oncologist Dr. Robert Kyler has been practicing for a little over 24 years.

“I work at both the RMH cancer center and the Augusta Health cancer center, and what I do is I treat patients with various adult cancers, usually in combination with surgeons and medical oncologists, physicians who treat cancer with chemotherapy,” Dr. Kyler said.

Cancer comes in five stages, zero to four, with four being the most aggressive, and most often classified as incurable.

However, testicular cancer is an exception.

“Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with stage four disease, and almost any other adult cancer diagnosed at stage four is by definition incurable, but there’s something unique about testicular cancer that makes it much more sensitive to the chemotherapy and radiation than almost any other adult malignancy,” Kyler said.

Testicular cancer is therefore not nearly as important as one would expect to diagnose early. Another factor that makes testicular cancer different from other cancers is the lack of necessity of individualized treatment in stages zero to four.

“That’s the paradox. Early detection is in general always a good thing, but for testicular cancer it’s probably not as critical as it is for many other cancers,” Kyler said.

“For instance breast cancer, for women, once they start getting into their forties, early detection really makes a difference because there is a big difference between someone that is treated for stage one and someone that is treated for stage four in breast cancer.”

Breast cancer, on the other hand, is very specific to a single patient because of the knowledge [doctors] have gained of its biology over the last 30 years.

“In breast cancer, [treatment] is much more individualized than it used to be.

We’re learning more and more about the behavior of breast cancer and we’re be-

coming a lot better at customizing treatments than we can currently do with a lot of other cancers,” Kyler said.

Although breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, mammograms and screenings have led to most diagnoses in the early stages-stage zero or one.

“I can’t tell you the exact percentages, but the vast majority of women are diagnosed in the early stages,” Kyler said.

“Compared to say, 30 years ago when it was a much lower percentage because few women were doing screening, or mammographies. Most tumors were being picked up because a woman felt a mass in her breast, and now most cancers are being diagnosed because of an abnormal mammogram showing a very small lesion.”

The amount of screening for individual cancers does have some correlation with the stage it is diagnosed in. Lung cancer rarely gets screened for and most patients don’t get diagnosed until they have symptoms, which is always a very late stage. Different cancers are very different, however, and are treated as completely different entities by doctors. “[How cancer is detected] depends on the type of cancer and the biology of the individual cancer, and whether or not that cancer has a tendency to cause symptoms early or late,” Kyler said. He cites the examples of lung cancer and ovarian cancer as both very difficult to screen for, and therefore hard to detect until late stages.

Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer, but is very easily detected in a mole if you see it change over time.

Breast cancer may be the most common cancer in women, but it is very rare for a women under 30 to be diagnosed with it.

Kyler has been practicing oncology for almost 24 years, and in those years he’s seen over 3000 women with breast cancer. Only one of these women was under 30.

“I would say that for a girl in her teen years, the value of breast self exam is probably negligible to nonexistent,” Kyler said.

“It is good to know about it because once you get to the age when it is worth study-

ing, it’s a good idea to know how [to self examine], but it’s honestly not something women in their teen years or even in their twenties need to worry about.”

Testicular cancer can, however, be diagnosed in the late teenage years. Kyler suggests for young men to start getting used to self exams because of this.

“Testicular cancer is somewhat different. We can see testicular cancer in younger men. Again, it is a rare cancer in men in their teens, but it is more common than breast cancer at that age. I think starting in the late teens it’s probably not a bad idea for young men to start doing testicular self exams so they get used to it,” Kyler said.

Kyler highly suggest self-examination to all teens.

“A lot of people are worried that they may not be able to detect [cancer], but if you start examining yourself when you’re younger and everything’s normal, you’ll know when there’s a change,” Kyler said.

“That’s why it’s good to get in the habit so you’ll notice it if there’s any change at all.”

If you do notice a change, Kyler advises an a immediate visit to the doctor.

Kyler cautions teens not to smoke as well.

“The tragedy of smoking associated with cancer is that [the cancers] almost all preventable, and it’s not just lung cancer,” Kyler said. “People think that lung cancer is the only cancer you can get from smoking, but in fact there is a whole host of cancers that you increase your risk of developing by smoking. You can have cancer of the mouth and of the throat, of the esophagus, of the pancreas, of the bladder. The possibility of breast cancer goes up.”

Smoking doesn’t only cause cancer. Risk of heart disease, strokes and emphysema all increase dramatically when you smoke.

Plus, it’s more addicting than many illegal substances. “[Teens] think they can always quit, but if you ask any adult smoker why they smoke, it’s not because they enjoy it, it’s because they feel crappy when they don’t smoke,” Kyler said.

A first person account by Evan Dotas It was the second day of school.

My typical schedule read: 7:45-Math.

9:22-English. 11:00-Lunch. 11:32-Chemistry. 1:05-History. But on this day, mine was slightly different: 9:00-Insert PICC line (a large IV that extended from my arm to my heart). 10:30-IV fluids start.

12:30-What the hospital passes off as lunch. 5:00-Chemotherapy.

My first class was in an operating room. I was still as the doctors set up to begin the insertion.

“We’re going to give you a numbing drug and it may burn a little bit.” I later learned that this doctor won the prestigious medical award for understatement of the year for this sentence.

Searing pain filled my left arm, and in an effort to control myself I spelled out “Brenna DeLancey Stahl-Cowardin”. My girlfriend’s name gave me comfort, and since it was so long, the pain subsided before I was done.

Following two easy courses, I went to my room where I would be staying for the next three days. I passed the time watching television until my last course started.

Nurse after nurse came in telling me how nauseous I would feel, how little I would eat attempting to unsettle me.

And they said it with a smile on their faces every time. The nerve.

However, I couldn’t feel any of those side effects. In fact, I wanted to eat more that night than I had before. These doctors were crazy. This was fantastic! Stay in a comfortable bed all day? If you insist. Get a wall-sized window overlooking seven stories of Charlottesville? I think I can manage. I should’ve done this years ago!

Then, I met the downside to chemotherapy. I went about my usual routine of pill taking and doing homework. But I did so with a pit in my stomach; an empty pit. When was the last time I had food? Surely, it was last night. They had brought me some sad substitute of a dinner, and I tried to choke it down, but I became oddly full within five bites.

“That’s okay,” I thought to myself. I just didn’t like the food. Breakfast was the same. The effects were setting in.

I was a prisoner on a lone island in the Pacific during a tsunami of nausea and indigestion. I had buckets, but they went unused. I wanted to eat something, but if I did, I knew I would only meet it again the next minute. My stomach caved in on itself, slowly eating it’s own lining. I never realized how high and mighty I felt until I took this fall into my pain. It would ebb, allowing me to smile long enough for it to come back, harder than before.

This was worse than the initial cancer.

At five, my body recoiled; it knew what would happen now. Sure enough, the cruelly happy nurse walked in, seeing nothing wrong with the blatant child-abuse-in-a-bag she carried in her right hand. Stronger men would have easily given up now. Yet why should I do that? I knew for a fact that the man in the next room was younger than I am.

He was vacationing in West Virginia from the United Kingdom when leukemia caused him to stay here. On a foreign continent. For a month. And I had seen him smiling. Laughing. If I was going to let this pathetic 3-day cycle beat me, I would never forgive myself.

I woke up at eight in the morning, and I didn’t allow the nurses the satisfaction of delivering their disgusting food to my room (I had my mother do it instead; shame was not an issue of mine). After hours of waiting, the doctors came around to dispatch me. They unhooked me from my IV pole for the first time in days, and already I felt a burden lifted from my shoulders (or my left arm, where it was actually connected).

I strutted down that hallway, ignoring the pain in my stomach. I looked down at the nurses who had gone out of their way to make it rain pills and sadness on me, and they looked up with admiration.

I took my blanket that I had brought for the trip, tied it like a cape on my back and glided to the elevators.

As I leapt in the car to take a nice drive to my home, I felt my entire body protest my movement. I knew that the next few days would be absolutely miserable. I also knew that I would be smiling the entire time. Because I had beaten the evil chemotherapy; nothing could possibly stop me now.

November 22, 2013

The

Newsstreak

FEATURE- B3

Bowl of Good offers warm interior with warm soup Rafael Snell-Feikema Online Editor-In-Chief A Bowl of Good sells your quintessential hippie fare: beans, vegan foods, large amounts of vegetables, and ethically-produced produce. As such, it was a with high hopes that I set out for their restaurant near my house to go and try a nice warm bowl of ethnically-inspired soup.

I ordered the current special through the conveniently short line, -- pumpkin curry, a bowl of which cost me a very reasonable $4.50 after their student discount -- and asked for an ice water, and then took my seat. Within minutes, the soup was to me, comfortably hot and served with attractively seedy whole wheat bread and butter.

After performing my journalistic duty of documenting the presentation, I set about it with my spoon. I was entirely unsure what to expect from such a crossover soup: half from India and half from the Americas, and altogether very orange, but upon tasting my first bite I was greeted by the fresh tasting texture of softly cooked pumpkin flesh, accented by Indian spices (predominantly turmeric and red pepper, by my tongue). The contrast was interesting, and

ultimately well-devised: the heat (a mild kick, but not enduring by any means) was countered elegantly by the already-included vegetable crispness, as is typically done in Indian food by side dishes such as yogurt and cucumber.

The rest of the flavor of the soup comprised of a good quantity of onion and olive oil -- not overmuch for me, but for those with tongues less acquainted with such food, it could make it less accessible.

The bread served with the soup went well with it, although I wish that it had been somewhat crustier -- soft crusted bread seems an odd thing to serve with soup, although maybe that’s just my Spanish and French bread bias shining out. My only real complaint was the slightly odd flavor presented by the mint garnish they placed into the middle of the soup, which although an aid to presentation was largely contrary to the soup’s flavor -- not in a major way, but slightly -- in any case, it was no major problem. The soup to me was a surprisingly simple, but interesting blend between traditional American vegetables and warming Indian curry -- a perfect dish for a chilly autumn day. The restaurant, too, was warm and calmly atmospheric, and altogether I had a very pleasant dinner.

PHOTO BY RAFAEL SNELL-FEIKEMA

INTERNATIONAL CUISINE Snell-Feikema got the pumpkin curry soup served warm with bread. A Bowl of Good sells healthy, internationally inspired cuisine. They use local, fresh, and all natural ingredients when making their food. They sell twelve different types of soup. They also offer 25 meals to choose from and serve breakfast. There are two locations, one on Port Republic and one on Mount Clinton Pike.

Favorite soups at HHS Vogel enjoys Panera soup Chicken Noodle Soup: 39 students Vegetable Soup: 12 students Ramen: 20 students Any Soup: 17 students: 12 students: None

POLL BY REMIEL MARRERO

Ariel Vogel Feature Editor

My favorite fall delicacy has always been and always will be Panera’s Broccoli Cheddar soup. The thick broth with the occasional crunch from the broccoli provides a delicious meal that only leaves me wanting more.

The soup is usually too hot right after I get it, although every time, I attempt to eat it immediately, so it sits there tauntingly while I distract myself with Panera’s potato chips (surprisingly delicious). The warm building and cluttered furniture just make the feel of the experience comfortable and cozy. The booths have tall backs,

making the mood more intimate, and the central tables surround an actual fireplace and couches. Ten points for ambiance!

When the soup I’ve been craving has finally cooled down to the point where I won’t lose my tongue, I start shoveling it in. Every time I get this dinner, I try eating the soup slowly, rationing out the delicious cheesy flavor. Every time, however, it’s gone before I’m even close to satisfied.

The only complaint I could ever conceive about this soup is that there isn’t enough; the rations are way too small. They have effectively caused me to buy two meals multiple times in my life because the one bowl of deliciousness hasn’t been enough to fulfill my desire for Broccoli Cheddar soup.

Thompson enticed by Thai soup Garrett Thompson Style Editor When you think of Thai foods, things that come to mind are intense flavor, savory meats and spicy curries. Taste of Thai located on South Main Street offers all of the above and more. The restaurant also offers a selection of soups of traditional southeast asian origin.

I find Thai soups to be much more enticing than soups from western cultures. The pairing of ingredients with such unique individual flavors in one cohesive dish works fantastically together. The Tom Kha Gai soup is a concoction of tender chicken breasts cooked with coconut milk and lemongrass. The recipe I’m sure was simple

enough that it could easily be duplicated at home but it was done with such precise execution that one could only hope for a dish half as tasteful should they try to replicate it in their own kitchen.

With the first spoonful I was hooked. I barely came up for air for as soon as I swallowed, my tastebuds yearned for more. I don’t normally ask for a box as I don’t care much for leftovers but I felt that with a soup this good, it deserved to be enjoyed more than once.

I don’t know if it was the intoxicating aroma or the stimulating taste but I think when I tasted that soup I was taken on a journey travelling down the streets of Bangkok, shedding brand new light on once familiar flavors.

PHOTO BY GARRETT THOMPSON

TASTY SOUP Taste of Thai sells five diferent kinds of soup, including the Tom Kha Gai soup pictured above. Taste of Thai is located on South High St.

Lukewarm lentil soup leaves Plass unimpressed with meal Ellie Plass Style Editor

PHOTO BY ELLIE PLASS

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR. Other soup options include the creamy sweet potato and chicken soup and brazilian chicken and coconut soup. The café also offers sandwiches, tapas, salads, and above all, tea.

After a long day of school, and then marching band in the freezing cold weather, I was definitely ready to sit down to a bowl of soup. I walked into the Earth and Tea Café and was greeted with the smell of (what else) tea and incense. The general ambiance of the place was trying a little too hard for my taste, but I sat down on one of the cushions and waited. And waited. And waited some more. For a place that was filled barely with ten people, the waiter took an insane amount of time to actually get to me.

But, eventually he did, and he was gracious and friendly as a waiter should be. I chose the lentil soup out of three optionsthe other two which I didn’t think I could stomach (the names were way way way

too fancy for soup).

Then, predictably, I waited some more.

That would have to be my greatest complaint about the restaurant. It took completely too long.

When he brought over the steaming bowl of lentils, I was more than ready to dig in and be warmed up. I was insanely disappointed. It was a lukewarm bowl of something that kind of resembled lentils, but I wasn’t completely sure. The “multigrain bread” served with it was just half of a sad looking piece of loaf bread, not at all what I’d expected from the earthy restaurant.

I tried my very best, but I couldn’t bring myself to finish the soggy mess. I would definitely not recommend this restaurant for soup, unless you’re in the mood for disappointment from something that should be easy for a restaurant.

November 22, 2013

The

Newsstreak

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November 22, 2013

The

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November 22, 2013

The

Newsstreak

SPORTS B6

HHS competition cheer team goes to regionals Fall Sports VARSITY FOOTBALL The varsity boys football team finished out their regular season with a total of two wins and eight losses. The team’s wins included their first game against E.C. Glass on Aug. 29th with a score of 2724, and the team’s game against Broadway with a total score of 36-24.

CROSS COUNTRY The varsity girls cross country team ran at a total of eleven meets this season and junior Laurie Serrell will compete for the girl’s team at the state tournament. The girls finished eleventh out of sixteen teams at the region meet and the boys finished thirteenth out of 16 at the region meet.

ALL PHOTOS BY ELLA MARIAN

WORK IT. The HHS competition cheer team performs their routine at the conference 23 cheer tournament held at HHS on Oct. 26.

VARSITY VOLLEYBALL The girls varsity volleyball team finished their season with a total of four wins and eight losses.

Their wins including their matches against the teams of Broadway, Eastern Mennonite, and Robert E. Lee. Sophomore Kendyl Brooks was happy with the season. “We worked really hard as a team to have a fairly good season and we even improved as the season went on,” Brooks said. The team graduated seniors Skyler Johnson and Vickii Hurtado this year.

Ella Marian Sports Editor The HHS competition cheer team competed in their Conference Tournament at HHS on Saturday, Oct. 26 against other schools in conference 23, including Fluvanna, Charlottesville, John Handley, Amherst County, and Louisa County. Overall, they placed second in the tournament out of the six teams.

There were two rounds in the tournament. The first round determined if a team went onto the regional tournament and the second round determined which team won the conference overall. In order to advance to regionals, the teams had make in into to the top four. The HHS cheer team placed first in the first round, which will al-

low them to compete in the regional tournament on Nov. 2. After the first round, each team’s scores were cleared for the start of the second round.

Junior Brooke Cobb and senior Simara Allen were happy with the team’s first round’s performance and score.

“If we, and the other teams, would have performed the way we did the first round then we would have definitely placed first [overall] since we were off by only one and a half points behind,” Cobb said.

Overall, Cobb finds that their performance was well done.

“It was the best performance of the season so I am very proud of how we performed. We don’t have much stuff it improve on for regionals, which is good,” Cobb said.

Junior Halia McAfee shares her thoughts

“Cheer Moms” support the team Julexus Cappell Op/Ed Editor

A group of mothers of girls on the HHS cheer team, labelled as “Cheer Moms” assist the competition cheerleading team during the season in more ways than one. The mothers are present at most all the girl’s competitions, and help the girls in every way possible.

“They take a lot of stress from competition days because they help us out with a lot,” competition cheer coach Bridgett Smith said.

Junior Brooke Cobb’s mother, Michelle Cobb, explains that Cheer Moms do not just bring food.

Cheer Moms prepare meals for competition days, help make signs for competitions, and wear their HHS Cheerleaders shirt-- along with chanting the cheers with the team.

“They always get us food, like breakfast or lunch when we compete,” junior Staci Helyer said.

Cheer Moms are also responsible for the newest signs at competitions. The signs have each team member’s name on it, along with sparkling lights and a streak. Each member carries their own individual sign out for introductions of each competition.

“The cheer moms coming helps us out a lot because we get more, especially with our new signs.

We are privileged because some schools can’t even have that,” Helyer said.

Along with meals, hair, makeup, and outfit preparations, the Cheer Mom’ even provide a

goody-bag for each team member before each competition.

“We love everything they do for us. They really help out the team out every way they can and we’re lucky to have [them],” junior Simara Allen said.

The cheer moms are also a support system for the team. This year, the group of moms surprised the girls after losing at a competition a week prior with positive vibes.

“Since we kind of lost last Saturday [Oct. 12], they planned on getting us together for a surprise in our practice room to write like ‘You can do it’, and inspiring stuff,” junior Christa Stader said.

Fundraising is another way the cheer moms help out the competition team. This year, the team got new uniforms- something the cheerleaders felt might not be an option because of the expensive cost. The team also works concessions at many of the HHS run sports organizations.

“Without [the cheer moms], we wouldn’t be able to fundraise as much for our new uniforms,” Helyer said.

The Cheer Moms, overall, do all this for the competition because they care and want their kids to know it.

“We feel like it helps our kids know they’re supported,” Michelle Cobb said.

Their kids are aware.

“They’re just really supportive. They really make us look forward to stuff and make our season easier and more exciting,” Stader said.

New uniforms surprise team Danny Dombrowski Staff reporter The varsity cheer team placed second at districts after moving to a new conference this season. The team’s sole defeat was to the squad of Louisa County High School, which was only a second place final. Either placing, first or second, still qualifies them for regionals on Nov. 2 in Sterling Virginia, close to D.C. Sophomore Abner Johnson looks for a strong finish at regionals.

“I think we have a good chance at winning [regionals],” Johnson said.

Midway through the season, the varsity competition cheer team received new uniforms.

“It was a surprise, we didn’t know we were getting them,” junior Christa Stader said.

The uniforms were paid for with money from numerous fundraisers done by the team. The team received lots of the money from one of their

about how they performed at the Conference.

“We did really good both rounds, we scored really well the first round and the second round we scored even higher,” McAfee said.

In the first round of the tournament HHS placed first, Louisa placed second, Amherst placed third and John Handley placed fourth. These results will take those teams to compete in the regional competition on Nov. 2. In the second round of the conference tournament, Louisa placed first, HHS placed second, and Amherst placed third, which makes Louisa the overall winner of the conference tournament and the Blue Streaks runner up.

“We did our best at the conference, and I’m looking forward to regionals. I think we’ll put out our best,” Allen said.

home competitions, which included entrance fees and concessions. They also sold cookie dough and made food for the glow in the dark golf tournament earlier this year.

The old uniforms, shared between the JV and Varsity cheer squads, and they were getting holes in them. The new uniforms are mostly white, with blue and red accents on them, and a streak across the shoulder.

“I love them. It was a nice surprise to have for the season,” Stader said.

Junior cheerleader Tori Armentrout was also excited by the uniforms.

“They’re definitely a lot nicer than the uniforms we had before this. And they were pretty expensive, so we’re lucky to have had the money for them,” Armentrout said.

The girls on the team were excited by the surprise from their coach and athletic secretary.

“The whole team was really excited by them, and it got us excited for the rest of the season coming,” Armentrout said.

STRETCH. Junior Aspen Hoak pulls a scorpion while being held by her teammates during the conference cheer tournament at HHS.

CHEER. The competition team performs at the conference cheer tournament. The team received second place out of the six teams competing and will be advancing further.

November 22, 2013

The

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November 22, 2013

The

Sports Briefs GIRLS VARSITY BASKETBALL

The girls will play games on Nov. 26 against East Rock at home, Dec. 2 against Charlottesville, and on Dec. 4 against Wilson Memorial at home.

BOYS VARSITY BASKETBALL

The boys will play games on Nov. 26 against East Rock at East Rock, Dec. 2 against William Memorial at William Memorial, and will be having their first Invitational at Western Albemarle.

WRESTLING

The wrestling team will have their first Invitational on Dec. 7 at Orange County, a District Mini on Dec. 11 at Broadway, and their second Invitational on Dec. 13 at HHS.

VARSITY SIDELINE CHEER

Varsity sideline cheer will be having their Regional Tournament on Nov. 30 at home, a State Tournament on Dec. 7 at home, and another State Tournament on Dec. 14.

Newsstreak

SPORTS - B8

Hill does more than clerical work Faith Runnells Sports editor Athletic teams require much more than just the typical coach and players. Behind the scenes, an excessive amount of background work is required to have the team and sport run smoothly. Much of this work is done by our athletic secretary, Kim Hill.

Hill has been a part of the Blue Streak family for two years now, and enjoys what she does.

“Before I came here, I worked at Smithland Elementary School as a bookkeeper. [I took this job] because I wanted to take the opportunity to change a little, but still kind of stay within bookkeeping and things like that,” Hill said. “I also thought it would be nice to work with athletics.”

Hill mostly works with the money keeping and organization of the athletics, but she can cover really any of the clerical things that need to be done involving athletics.

“I set up all the money boxes

and collect ticket money, I do the ordering and checking in of all athletic gear and equipment, and I am responsible for checking student’s grades and making sure everyone is eligible to play,” Hill said.

Senior Blake Long has a teacher assistant class first block on B days and spends much of that free time in Hill’s office.

“She’s always charismatic and joyful. I can always go to her for advice,” Long said.

Freshman Chandler Hill likes his mom working at HHS. “I think it’s cool that my mom works here. It’s nice to be able to go in there at any time and get help with anything I need. Or she can always get me food or whatever. I like her working here,” Hill said.

Many students and athletes come through Hill’s office every day just to see her and talk to her, even those without her teacher assistant classes. “[The best part of my job is] probably all the interaction with students and athletes especially. They make my job a lot

PHOTO BY ELLA MARIAN

AT WORK. Hill works Monday through Friday in the athletic director’s office coordinating the inner workings of our sports. of fun,” Hill said.

Although Hill seems to very much so enjoy her job, every job has its downfalls.

“The only bad aspect of my job is having to check an ath-

lete’s grades and realizing they cannot play, when I know how bad they want to. But then I can just help them, and I still love my job,” Hill said.

Glazer finds dream job as HHS athletic trainer Alexis Dickerson News editor

PHOTO BY ALEXIS DICKERSON

APPLYING HER KNOWLEDGE. Glazer uses her training to help this student’s leg pain.

Ever since Jen Glazer, the athletic trainer at HHS, was a sophomore in high school, she has wanted to be an athletic trainer.

When Glazer was in high school, her basketball career was cut short when an injury occurred winter of freshman year. Glazer was diving on the floor after a ball when she hyperextended her backside and ruptured the disk. In 2001, she got back surgery.

“Due to a career ending injury, athletic training seemed to be the perfect field because it allowed me to be close to sports,” Glazer said.

Due to the fact that she knows how it feels, Glazer has difficulty telling an athlete they’re done for the season.

“The hardest part about my job is telling someone they’re done for the season or their career,” Glazer said.

When it came time for Glazer to decide where she wanted to work, she found high schools.

“It wasn’t until I got my first job at a high school that I realized that I really liked it,” Glazer said.

Before HHS, Glazer was the athletic trainer for Rockwood Summit High School in Missouri. In the morning at RSHS, she worked at the clinic, and the afternoons she worked at the high school. RSHS has 20 sports consisting of three levels to each sport (Varsity, JV, and Freshmen).

Glazer likes the adventure of the process to rehabilitating young athletes.

“The best part about my job is that it’s spontaneous.

You never know what’s going to happen next,” Glazer said.

New wrestling coach has numerous goals for success this coming season Austin Swift Staff reporter With the HHS wrestling season having officially begun on Nov. 11th with its tryouts and its first practice, new coach Donald Cash comes in with excitement, fresh ideas, and plenty of experience.

“I don’t have a lot of expectations, as far as the success of our actual team, I just want to get the numbers up. I want to have a lot of young guys, freshmen and sophomores, and hopefully we could start building this program up,” Cash said.

Youth is often viewed as a key part of any sports team as they could be considered to be the future of the team as they will be with the program long term.

“For the freshmen, I just want them to work hard, learn, show up every day, have a good attitude and be coachable. Again, as far as winning and losing, I’m not really concerned. It’s a process, if they go with the process they’ll eventually win matches. And I just hope I get a bunch of them too.” Cash said.

A massive amount of preparation goes in to the wrestling team, and adding on to this work is the team’s voluntary children’s program at Skyline.

“We’ve been lifting weights a couple days a week and we’re running a kids club out at Skyline (Middle School) a couple days a week. It’s been good, we haven’t had a lot of guys come but the guys that have come have been working pretty hard, we’ve been out to some tournaments and to some clinics, so the guys that are here are getting better,” Cash said.

The real basis of a wrestling team, of course, is working out, and lots of it -- particularly to reach the team’s goals for this year against our opponents.

“Every Wednesday we do the same workouts but Mondays and Fridays we do something different, sometimes we’ll do a little bit of running, sometimes we’ll do some P90X. We do different things every Monday and Friday, no matter what its different.”

Cash has high hopes for the year, and he looks forward to adding to his experience.

“My last job was at Osceola High School in Kissimmee, Florida where I coached for four years and then a year in Richmond. I fell into a really good situation in Florida, there were two guys on that staff who were national hall of fame coaches, and we cranked out about 26 state place winners in four years there. I was able to learn from them how they fundraise, [and] how they run practice, so I learned how it’s done.” Cash said.

PHOTO BY ALEXIS DICKERSON

THE JOY OF WORK. Glazer has fun aiding a student in stretching out his injured leg.

Who’s Running What?

Indoor Track lineup:

Short SprintsGirls: Sophomore Mikaila Williams, Junior Tori Armentrout Boys: Sophomore Devin Medley

Long SprintsGirls: Senior Jessica Jolicoeur, Sophomore Lexi Eberly Boys: Weiss Brothers (Senior John Weiss, Sophomore Paul Weiss), Senior Chris Macadam

Middle DistanceGirls: Junior Brenna Cowardin, Junior Laurie Serrell Boys: Senior Jake McDaniel, Macadam

Long DistanceGirls: Freshman Molly Campillo, Freshman Lydia Liguori Boys: Sophomore Abrham Amine, Junior Nathan Wood

Long and Triple JumpGirls: Williams, Eberly Boys: Junior Isaiah Hartzler

Shot PutGirls: Senior Rebekah Good INFOGRAPHIC BY BRENNA COWARDIN

Q&A with Winter Sport Coaches

Swim and Dive Coach Richard Morrell Ali Baapir Staff reporter 1. What are your expectations for this season?

I don’t really have any expectations, at least nothing to say as a team. I’m hoping the season will go farther towards regionals passing the states, and hopefully past conference.

2. Who are you looking forward to coming back?

I’m looking forward to everyone coming back. It is a team sport. I’m hoping everyone will find enjoyment in swimming.

3. What do you plan on improving?

Each season we’ve been growing in size, hopefully to keep our numbers increasing for more events.

4. What are your strong points?

Our dive team is actually quite phenom-

Indoor Track Coach Dave Loughran

Rafael Snell-Feikema Online Editor-in-Chief enal, we have three returning diving competitors and more joining.

5. How are off season practices going?

The team has actually been working off season for the year. Round valley area swim team called VAST to train.

6. What are your expectations for freshmen?

I don’t have any expectations for them, although I was told that there are some pretty good freshmen coming.

7. Who is your toughest competition?

Our toughest competition will always be TA and Spotswood because they’re our rivals and because they have the two strongest programs in Old District, but neither are in our new conference.

1.What are your expectations for this season?

Success.

2. Who are you looking forward to coming back?

I am excited for all of our returning athletes to see their improvement.

3.Do you think this will be better than last year? Why? Every year is better than the one before because we always build on what we’ve done previously.

4.How are offseason practices going?

On both sides we’ve had our distance runners working out since the summer, so they’re ready to go. Beyond that the only out-of-season practices we’ve had are whatever athletes have done on their own

or with other sports.

5.What are your expectations for the freshmen?

Learn how to do everything and do it correctly.

6.Who is your toughest competition?

We don’t know our new competition yet because we’re in the new classification.

7.What do you plan on improving?

Hard to say. Again, we’re competing in new championship meets all the way through. We can’t improve on what we’ve done last year because this is just a baseline for the new setup.

8. What is your strong point as a team?

It’s our ability to score in all 17 events.

We can do that, and not every team can.

November 22, 2013

2013-2014

HHS

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THIS IS JROTC

JROTC bonds through after school practice

Mia Karr Editor-in-chief

STEP TEAM SMILE. Junior Perla Moreno changes formation in the Unarmed Exhibition’s step routine.

AND TOSS! Junior Trequon Burrill, senior Eric Colon and junior Nick Dean practice for the upcoming showcase. Burrill is the Bravo Company Commander, Colon is the Honor Guard Commander, and Battalion Supply and Logistics Officer.

ATTENTION. Senior Eric Colon and juniors Trequon Burill and Nick Dean are perform a maneuver in their Armed Exhibition routine.

TIME FOR A TRIM. Sergreant Major Wilder gives one of his cadets a haircut. “I wouldn’t consider [Wilder and McCutcheon] teachers...they’re like role models,” Valdez said.

JROTC practice is one thing I had never expected to attend in my lifetime. So, it was timidly and with a good bit of apprehension that I made my way to the JROTC classroom tucked in the corner of the school. When I got there, a fair number of students were already in the classroom or hanging out in the hallway outside the door. Colonel Roy McCutcheon was teasing and joking with the kids as they congregated. It was immediately clear that this was a very close-knit group of people.

After the cadets had gathered, they split off into groups; the raider team went to the cafeteria to practice and I followed the remaining cadets outside. The all-male Armed Exhibition team (meaning they carry rifles) went to practice right outside the school, while the allfemale Unarmed Exhibition team (meaning they don’t) went to the tennis courts. I was warned by Sergeant Major Wilder that the Unarmed Exhibition team would get more done, so I followed him and the girls.

The girls formed a line and began to practice an intricate step routine made up of precise movements (clapping, stomping) and formation shifts. Rather than adhering to strict militancy, the girls laughed and joked with each other.

When things got too out of hand, Wilder would bring the group back into focus. I later learned that the group had only been practicing this particularly routine since the beginning of the week and that it was choreographed by the Cadet Colonel, senior Cecilia Valdez.

“I’ve been doing this for four years now, so I use old routines and mix them all together,” Valdez said.

As the highest ranking JROTC officer, Valdez has many other duties as well.

“I’m in charge of everything,” Valdez said. “I have to make sure that everybody does what they are supposed to do. Basically if we fail, it’s a reflection of me.”

After watching the team practice their routine a few times, I went to watch the Armed Exhibition Team. Three boys were prac-

ticing a rifle routine that involved complex twirling and passing maneuvers. They would occasionally argue about which step to do next and how the routine was to be performed at the upcoming showcase.

After becoming satisfied with the routine, they played around with the rifles, practicing different tricks.

A short while later, both teams headed back inside and dispersed. I wandered into the cafeteria to find the Raider team getting harnessed up. After finding that not much was happening at the moment, I returned to the classroom where I found Wilder giving a buzz cut to one of the cadets. A group of about ten boys and girls were laughing and teasing the haircut-recipient, or giving instructions as to how the cut should be done. When Wilder was finished, he ordered the group to get cleaned up and they once again dispersed.

Some came to watch the Raider team, who had hooked up ropes between two pillars in the cafeteria and was performing a complicated maneuver that involved sliding down the rope on a carabiner. I apparently had caught the tail end of the drill, as the team soon moved to pack up the equipment. The practice was over- shorter, more relaxed, and less intimidating than I had expected. JROTC practices every day after school, all year round.

“You have to be there all the time if you want to be good,” Valdez said.

Command Sergeant Major junior Maria Medeiros is second in rank only to Valdez and is in her second year of participation with the JROTC program.

“I like everything about [JROTC] because you get to meet new people, it’s a family. We get to do a lot of activities like leave for the weekend sometime...It’s really fun,” Medeiros said. “We’re really close. We spend all the time together.”

The familial atmosphere she described was clear to me from the start- I came in not knowing what to expect, but the friendship this group of people share is what made the greatest impression.

MILITARY PRECISION. Senior Isis Gutierrez, senior Cecilia Valdez, junior Maria Medeiros, freshman Makayla Morris, and senior Perla Moreno drill their step routine.

GETTING READY. Junior Trequon Burrill and senior Eric Colon hang out in the JROTC classroom before going outside to practice. During JROTC class, cadets do physical training and leadership exercises.

GIGGLE BREAK. Sophomore Isis Gutierrez, senior Cecilia Valdez and junior Maria Mederios laugh during their drill. Valdez and Medeiros are the two highest-ranking students in the JROTC. All Photos by Mia Karr.