The Blade Volume 114, Issue 3

the

PLAYING THE FIELD Exploring young student athletes commiting to college pg. 10

CULTURE pg. 6

TRUMPING ALL ODDS pg. 16

SPOTLIGHT pg. 21

EDITORS’ WORD

Every time we attend a journalism conference or program, with or without our fellow staffers, the question always comes up: how many people do you have on your staff? And every time, editors from average staffs, ranging from 50 to 100 people, audibly gasp when we say, “Seven.”

“You made that with seven people?” one girl asked, gesturing to our 2016 Spring issue.

The same issue that received the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Gold Medalist Critique in all categories: visual, verbal and content.

And the answer is yes, because we are “tiny but mighty.” What we lack in numbers of people, we make up for in tireless effort and love. We have always embraced this creed, especially at the beginning of this school year when we lost six staffers and gained two new ones, Tanvi Reddy ‘18 and Lizzy Levine ‘18. In two weeks, we put together a special edition election issue that placed fourth in the National Scholastic Press Association’s Best of Show Awards in addition to winning individual National Write-Off Contest awards.

Despite these accomplishments, we have always dreamed about all the things we could do with less effort and exhaustion if we had more people. This semester, we got closer to our longterm goal.

Jayden Khatib ‘19, Linda Shi ‘19, Kyndall Dunn ‘19 and Kendall Heggie ‘18 joined the Blade family after taking Ms. Goode-Peoples’ Journalism 1 semester course in the fall, where they all individually excelled. From writing articles for our new bimonthly newsletter, The

How to send a

LETTER to THE EDITOR

Butterknife, to assisting weathered staffers with their layouts, the newbies have already exceeded our wildest expectations. Linda even wrote an article for the Culture section entitled “Pick Your Escape,” discussing how books can be therapeutic for teenagers and giving her best recommendations.

Tanvi and Lizzy also wrote their first feature articles for this issue. “Making the Play” delves into the process and controversy of student athletes committing to colleges early, and “Trumping the Odds” reflects on students’ evolving opinions of President Donald Trump, from his election win to his inauguration.

Second semester always brings the transition of leadership in student publications, and from what we have seen thus far, we could not be more confident in the future of The Blade. But we’re still here and kicking for the next four months, so please sit back, relax and enjoy the beginning of the end with our first 2017 issue.

Sincerely,

Erin Edwards and Aly Shakoor P.S. On the next page we have printed our first letter to the editor. Mr. Brian Keith Jackson and Mr. Bill Batterman respond to Aly’s opinion piece “Summer Dreading” from our first issue last semester. We want to thank both Mr. Jackson and Mr. Batterman for extending the dialogue we had hoped Aly’s piece would create, and we strongly encourage others to create their own dialogue by submitting letters using the guidelines to the right.

Tiny but MIGHTY 2

One of the missions of The Blade is to cover pressing issues confronting our community. We try our best to include a diverse array of perspectives in our coverage. However, we realize that as a staff of only seven people, it is impossible for us to represent the voice of every student and faculty member.

We have decided to introduce a Letter to the Editor section in each of our issues. A Letter to the Editor is a letter that a student or faculty member sends in stating any additions, issues or concerns they have with an article or general opinions about a school-related issue.

If the letter follows the established guidelines, it may be published in the next issue of the magazine. Letters will not be rejected based on editorial preference, only if guidelines are not met or too many letters are received.

Guidelines: Limit to 200 words If applicable, state the article of concern, and keep the focus on your concern/issue/addition with the article End the letter with your name and grade level. Note: Anonymous letters cannot and will not be published.

If relevant, introduce any background information about you or your issue in the letter.

Check your school email for a verification email. If you would like, leave a phone number for verification instead.

Methods: Google Form (tinyurl.com/BladeLetter) Drop off in Room W113 Email to wastpress@gmail.com

Letter to the Editor

In a letter to the editior, Mr. Brian Keith Jackson and Mr. Bill Batterman respond to “Summer Dreading,” an opinion article written by Aly Shakoor in our first fall issue detailing students’ attitudes toward the summer reading program.

The latest issue of The Blade includes a thought-provoking and well-reported assessment of Woodward’s summer reading program (“Summer Dreading”). While we do not disagree with the article’s conclusions, we were troubled by some of the assumptions about the value of reading and learning underlying many of the student perspectives shared in the article. Of particular concern is a quotation from Andy Sun ’17: “No one reads anyways. We Sparknote to get As because we value grades more than learning. I always put the least amount of effort possible to get an A. The cost of wasting time reading, which I could be using to do whatever I want, does not come close to the benefit of useless knowledge.”

We commend Andy for having the courage to voice this provocative opinion so publicly; it is clearly shared by a significant percentage of Woodward’s student body, and it has implications far beyond the summer reading program. While our initial reactions to this realization about our students’ perspective on reading ranged from disbelief to anger to depression, our conversations about what it means for Woodward pushed us beyond despair and toward hope. Hope that this perspective isn’t universal. Hope that if it is, it doesn’t have to be. Hope that this generation of students won’t be deprived of the powerful benefits of reading. And hope that we can do a better job as educators and caretakers of our democracy to nurture a culture in which students are committed to reading and learning for its own sake.

Our position is simple: knowledge is never useless. Knowledge is power. The best way to gain knowledge is by reading. To say that knowledge is useless is to expose oneself to a greater probability of exploitation. For generations, restrictions on reading were used by the powerful to keep the powerless in their place. When Frederick Douglass famously declared that “once you learn to read, you will be forever free,” he was right. It is better to have the power that reading and learning provides and never use it than to have never had that power in the first place.

Why is reading so important? It is admittedly difficult to make this case without adopting a “get off my lawn” disposition.

“Making the case that serious reading is one

of life’s great boons—that screen-bound kids are in danger of missing something tremendous—has become awkward, squareheaded, emotionally difficult,” explains The New Yorker’s David Denby, who overheard a student say that “books smell like old people.” But at the risk of being perceived by teenagers as uncool, we have done our best to make the case for reading — briefly here and in a companion longform article available on The Blade’s website.

Most obviously, reading offers profound academic benefits. Deep reading is the most important skill a student can develop in order to succeed in college and the workplace because it requires “reflection, curiosity, humility, sustained attention, a commitment to rereading, consideration of multiple possibilities, and … ‘intellectual generosity’” (Sullivan). Reading is also vital to effective leadership because it can “catalyze insight, innovation, empathy, and personal effectiveness” (Coleman). It can also foster empathy and emotional growth — something that President Obama has testified to directly.

“The most important stuff I’ve learned I think I’ve learned from novels,” he explains.

“It has to do with empathy. It has to do with being comfortable with the notion that the world is complicated and full of greys, but there’s still truth there to be found, and that you have to strive for that and work for that.

And the notion that it’s possible to connect with some[one] else even though they’re very different from you.” None of these benefits are accrued by students who rely on Sparknotes and skimming; they require discipline and practice in deep reading.

“People don’t realize how a man’s whole life can be changed by one book,” Malcolm X argued. For Kendrick Lamar, that book was Malcolm X’s autobiography. For Jay-Z, it was Homer’s The Odyssey. For President Obama, it was “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson and “Song of Solomon” by Toni Morrison. And they are not alone among the nation’s voracious readers: they’re joined by everyone from Lebron James and Taylor Swift to Bill Gates and Emma Watson. But a book can’t change your life if you never read it. And that’s why we are so concerned about the opinions voiced by students in “Summer Dreading.”

Summer reading assignments challenge students to read books they otherwise wouldn’t — books that are difficult, but books that are important and that leave readers with a bit more wisdom, goodness, and sanity. After taking up this challenge, some students will come to love these books. They might change their lives. But even if the process of reading and grappling with and writing about them is boring and students never come to appreciate the books they’ve read, the process of reading is valuable in and of itself because it helps students hone the skills and mindset they’ll need to become lifelong learners.

Ultimately, it will be this metric that determines whether Woodward has successfully fulfilled its mission: do its graduates leave the Academy with a love of reading and learning that will last a lifetime? A school where students care only about grades is a college placement school, not a college preparatory school. More importantly, it is a school that is neglecting its critical role in cultivating informed and empathetic students capable of participating thoughtfully in public life. Developing and sustaining a learning mindset is hard, but no school that fails to do so can rightly call itself a “national model.” While some students might dread their summer reading assignments, Woodward should dread the existence of a school culture in which reading and learning aren’t cherished as pillars of Academy life. It is our hope that the faculty, administration, and student body will unite to rejuvenate our shared commitment to lifelong learning as the telos of Woodward Academy’s mission.

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The Blade is the student news publication of Woodward Academy.

Volume 114 Issue 3 Woodward Academy 1662 Rugby Ave College Park, GA 30337

Cover photos by Warren Bond Photography

staff ∆ Editors Aly Shakoor ‘17 – Editor in Chief Erin Edwards ‘17 – Editor in Chief Maddie Ledet ‘18 – Design Editor Nija Packer ‘18 – Culture Editor ∆ Staff Members Kyndall Dunn ‘19 Erin Harris ‘17 Kendall Heggie ‘18 Jayden Khatib ‘19 Lizzy Levine ‘18 Tanvi Reddy ‘18 Linda Shi ‘19 ∆ Staff Artist Julia Du ‘19

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CONTENTS Culture Pick Your Escape

Pg. 6

Learn about books that could get you through the hard times.

February Horoscope

Pg. 8

What’s in store for you in February based on your Zodiac sign.

The Cut Playing the Field

Pg. 10

Gaining insight into the pros and cons of early commitment athletes.

Trumping All Odds

Pg. 16

President Trump’s impact on the nation and the student body.

S

Student Spotlight

Student Spotlight The Helping Hand

Pg. 21

Morgan Brinson helps distribute femine products to homeless teens.

The Artist

Pg. 22

The Musician

Pg. 23

The art career of Ms. Dyan Green.

A look inside of Cole King’s band, Raven and Red.

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Pick Your Escape

by Linda Shi Drawings by Linda Shi

“I miss the time when we actually read,” said the mom, whose son’s eyes have glued themselves to an iPhone 7. Then she takes a picture of him and uploads it to her Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat with several “crying” Emojis.

There are ongoing warnings about the domination of technology. Nowadays, the age of the internet and social media has seemingly taken the generation by storm. Many consider reading part of the uncool past, along with cassette tapes and iPods.

But try switching up your perspective: think of a book that you liked when you were young, the warm-hearted “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” or the witty Judy Moody books. Even the most stubborn anti-book advocate will pause for a second. One remembers the comfort connected to these stories because they created a safe bubble from reality.

Fast forward, adolescence is one of the most muddled periods of life. Complex problems involving emerging sexuality, gender identity and mental health, among other things, begin to emerge, resulting in ocean waves of confusion and loathing. As reported in the School Library Journal, Karen Jensen, the Young Adult Services Coordinator at the Public Library of Mount Vernon Knox County, Ohio, said she has noticed how books can help teens get through some of their hardships.

“I have often found that young people take refuge in our sacred walls and that stacks of books can be a fortress of solitude for those who need a place to rest,” Jensen said.

Easy relief can come from sharing an experience with a character or story that gets it. In the end, everyone can fall back on the cushion of reading, knowing that all humans ache from time to time.

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“My Heart and Other Black Holes” Depression/Suicide

Summary: Seventeen-year-old physics nerd Aysel first meets the appropriately named “FrozenBot” on an online forum for suicide partners, a community of people who need company as they plan to leave this world behind. Weighed down with a depression eating away at her insides and the remaining smudges of her family’s dark past, Aysel has never been doubtful about ending her own life. But as “FrozenBot” enters her life as a sadder, real, breathing boy, the decision to do it seems to waver more and more as their dead-line approaches.

Author: Jasmine Warga Excerpt: “Does a dead body still have potential energy or does it get transferred into something else? Can potential energy just evaporate into nothingness? That’s the question I don’t know the answer to. That’s the question that haunts me.”

Bonus info: Warga began the novel after losing one of her closest friends to suicide. Perhaps that is what contributes to the haunting descriptions of Aysel’s depression. Throughout the book, Warga symbolizes sadness like a black slug eating away at the happiness resting inside Aysel’s stomach.

“The Spectacular Now”

Alcoholism/Addiction/Sexual Assault Summary: To senior Sutter Keely, it is just another night to get wasted and black-out drunk. Various incidents lead him to wake up the next day in the yard of introvert Aimee. Though he’s a jerk whose future is a complete blank slate, Sutter becomes determined to help Aimee climb her way up the confidence latter. Sutter, despite his happy-golucky exterior, finds that Aimee is slowly converting the nothingness of his life into a more meaningful existence, little by little.

Author: Tim Tharp Excerpt: “Life is spectacular. Forget the dark things. Take a drink and let time wash them away to where ever time washes away to.

Bonus info: The abuse of alcohol boosts Sutter with a temporary joy and lifts him out of the world, but the author points out the problem with the bigger picture.

According to Eve Tushnet of The Fix, “[The book suggests that] you miss out. You end up living less than the people around you.”

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“All the Bright Places”

Bipolar Disorder/Depression/Suicide

“Skin & Bones” Eating Disorders

Summary: A boy nicknamed Bones feels awfully cheated that the majority of his summer is destined to be spent in an eating disorder ward. Entrapped within his own mind, he finds himself spinning out of control through cycles of not-eating and exercising that leaves him only 103 pounds before joining the facility. Alongside his overweight roommate Lard and the rule-breaker ballerina Alice, Bones takes risks, faces challenges and handles life to the best of his teenage abilities.

Author: Sherry Shahan Excerpt: “Jack’s got nothing to lose, and that’s the problem.”

Bonus info: Shahan deserves a tip of the hat for including a male protagonist in a YA novel that deals with eating disorders. It’s also extremely refreshing that Bones has a funny narrative that includes the periodic philosophic musing about love of a nerdy, clueless teenage boy. The message is clear: eating disorders do not have an overnight cure – recovery comes from conscious decisions to tread down the hard path by the person affected.

Summary: Theodore Finch and Violet Markey are off to a rough start when they first meet each other on the ledge of their school’s bell tower, both ready to jump. After somehow convincing each other not to die, they become partners on a quest to discover the natural wonders of the Indiana they’ve both grown to dread. Recovering from her sister’s death after a car accident, Violet finds herself slowly healing next to a boy she cannot figure out.

However, with his worsening illness, Finch’s recovery might collapse as he gets Violet out of the whirlpool.

Author: Jennifer Niven Excerpt: “It’s my experience that people are a lot more sympathetic if they can see you hurting, and for the millionth time in my life I wish for measles or smallpox or some other easily understood disease just to make it easier on me and also on them.”

Bonus info: The most devastating portions of the book are the glimpses of Finch’s breakdown as the plot progresses. Niven breaks a common trope that exists in fiction dealing with mental illness where love is a phenomenon that can solve even the biggest problems in life.

“Jennifer Niven takes a girl meets boy story, sets it in the dull landscape of Indiana and turns it into a Seussical wonderworld with these extraordinarily conflicted characters,” wrote Goodreads reviewer Brian Yahn.

“Saying their journey is a rollercoaster would be a understatement.”

“If You Could be Mine” Gender Identity/LGBTQ+/ Homophobia

Summary: Iran is a violent and dark place for Sahar and Nasrin, two girls who have been lying to the world that they are just best friends. When an impending arranged marriage threatens their hidden relationship, Sahar considers the monumental decision of a sex change, for Iran recognizes the idea of a man trapped in a woman’s body to be a legitimate problem that requires assistance. A new identity could give her a life of happiness with Nasrin as a heterosexual couple, but does the balance of true love tip over the price of being your true self ?

Author: Sara Farizan Excerpt: “No. I’m not going to give up. Even if it’s wrong, there is still a chance, and that’s more than I have as a woman. A chance.”

Bonus info: Set in Iran, this novel digs into the heart of a society that punishes homosexuality as sin worth the death penalty. Under the constraints of the vicious traditions around her, protagonist Sahar fights for her first love like a desert flower that blooms amidst the cracked ground.

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ARIES (MAR. 21 - APR. 19) Most Compatible: Sagittarius, Aquarius Least compatible: Virgo, Scorpio

Most Compatible: Virgo, Capricorn Least compatible: Sagittarius, Gemini

Perhaps the time has come to sit down, unwind, and think about why winter is treating you harshly, Cancer. Don’t wander; you’ll be a goner.

With no planets to guide you, be your own guide.

With Venus near Pisces, the time has come for a change in appearance, be it rainbow hair or a new pair of Nikes.

Most Compatible: Aries, Cancer Least compatible: Scorpio, Capricorn

Most Compatibl e: Least compatibl e:

Most Compatible: Gemini, Libra Least compatible: Capricorn, Pisces

The holidays and the new year are slowing you down! Take a chill pill, Leo, and think. Get a planner, real or online, and get your life figure out. You won’t even have time to worry about no planets in your orbit; Saturn and Uranus will get your creativity running wild.

Don’t feel too surprised if a teacher suddenly pushes back that dreaded project; the Sun and Pluto are working together to get you favor with the higher ups.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 - SEP. 22) Most Compatible: Pisces, Cancer Least compatible: Aquarius, Libra

Are you content, Gemini? No planets are near you right now, so you must feel pretty content.

But January is the month for those grades to soar (if even possible, you genius). Don’t ruin it for yourself; put that phone on airplane mode and save binge-watching Netflix for later! With Lunar New Year approaching at the end of the month, you might be rewarded with a trip (perhaps for those shining grades!)

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SCORPIO (OCT

LEO (JULY 23 - AUG. 22)

Stable as a rock, as always. With no planets near you, the future stretches before you with few surprises.

(Ok, did your stress over that math test next week ease a bit…?) Stay grounded and awesome, Taurus.

Talk with your parents to establish a healthy relationship, even if you just desperately need some bucks for that snack bar.

GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUNE 20)

Most Compatible: G Least compatible:

Most Compatible: Pisces, Taurus Least compatible: Aquarius, Sagittarius

With Uranus’ continuous guardiance (since 2011), Aries will continue having a quickpaced life. Think “Fast and Furious,” literally.

Unfortunately, you’re going to need to pull the brakes and wait for the crowd to catch up.

Yep, cooperation is key. In the meantime, why don’t you take up that new hobby you’ve been contemplating?

TAURUS (APR. 20 - MAY 20)

LIBRA (SE P.

CANCER (JUNE 21 - JULY 22)

SAGITTARIUS (NO Most Compatible: Least compatible:

Venus will make you all googly-eyes with something...or someone. Just in time for the loveydovey February. For now, treat yourself. Brew some tea or go climb a tree; do your best to feel zen and to be interconnected. There are no planets to strike you out of your way during this time. You might also feel some urges to socialize and to express - so let it all out; colorize your life with your words and emotions.

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tible: Gemini, Leo tible: Cancer, Capricorn

Most Compatible: Taurus, Virgo Least compatible: Aries, Libra

You got to enjoy more self-confidence than the rest of us in January since Jupiter was in your sign, but that’s coming to an end. Take advantage of your boldness and charm before Jupiter exits in mid February – talk to your crush, try out for something, do anything you’ve had cold feet about. The time is now Libra.

OCT. 23 - NOV 21)

tibl e: Cancer, Pisces tibl e: Leo, Aquarius

Capricorn, you work too hard. February is the perfect month for you to spend more time on yourself and take much needed breaks from the growing pile of assignments on your desk. Sure it’s feels nice to add yet another checkmark to your long to-do list, but you have to stop and smell the roses at some point.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 - FEB. 18) Most Compatible: Aries, Gemini Least compatible: Taurus, Scorpio

It’s your lucky month, Scorpio. “Go big or go home” has never more perfectly applied to you than in this moment. Risky decisions will have more favorable outcomes for you as Jupiter moves into your sign in February, so don’t be afraid to risk it all. That’s right – bet everything on a iMessage game of 8 Ball. You were totally thinking it.

S (NOV. 22 - DEC. 21)

tible: Aries, Leo tible: Virgo, Pisces

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 - JAN. 19)

The sun is shining on your sign this month, Aquarius. The good news: everything people love about Aquarians (liveliness, intelligence, fun-loving nature) is more prominent this month. The bad news: so is everything people hate, specifically your emotional-unavailability.

Try not to be so distant towards the people you really care about, or risk losing them.

PISCES (FEB. 19 - MAR. 20) Most Compatible: Taurus, Scorpio Least compatible: Gemini, Sagittarius

Saturn is moving out of your sign this month along with your sense of work ethic and responsibility, so it’s going to be very tempting to skip out on your duties in order to turn up with your friends. Don’t do it Sagittarius. You’re above the run of the mill Friday-night function by now, right? Focus on what matters. There will be time to get lit later on.

A lot of signs are moving in and out of your sign this month, and it feels like you’re getting pulled in a million different directions. As the drama queens of the Zodiac, your instinct will be to overreact to difficult situations, but keep your cool. It’s hard not to go off on someone who is severely irritating, but you’ll thank yourself later.

What’s Your Sign? – your Februrary horoscope brought to you by Nija Packer and Linda Shi. Drawings by Nija Packer.

E P. 23 - OCT. 22)

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6’1

Outside Hitter Varsity Totals: .345 % Hits 12.3% Aces 49.4% Kills 83.6% Serves #17 in GA

Centerback #7 in South Atlantic Varsity MVP as Freshman

Lauren harrison Midfield In 2015-16 Season: 178 points 82 goals 40 assists

US Youth Soccer National Bronze Medalist Tophat State Champion 2012-2014

KAYLA BRUSTER

128 points 2016 on Club Team

Eric Malever 10

Photos by Warren Bond Photography

Playing the Field What’s it like having your future set at a young age? We interviewed atheletes, coaches and counselors to understand the unique path of early college commitment for student athletes.

by Tanvi Reddy

Julia Du’19

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t’s 6 p.m. on a Thursday night in Paget Gym. The student section, bigger than usual, sits in anticipation of the volleyball team’s game against Buford High School. A good portion of the football team is here, ready to watch the volleyball team avenge the boys’ loss to Buford last year in the state semifinals.

The low rumble of the crowd turns into a collective scream as Kennedy Crittenden ‘18 takes the first serve.

The uneasiness of the players is evident in their expressions as Buford leads on the scoreboard. However, this energy changes when Lauren Harrison ’18 steps up to the net. She sharply eyes the ball moving around her. Seeing her shot, she jumps and slams it down on the other side with a force so strong the crowd goes wild. And then she does it again and again, to the point where as soon as she touches the ball, the fans know it’s going to be good.

Fans have come to expect this level of athletic greatness from Harrison, who committed to play collegiate volleyball at UNC as a sophomore.

“After committing, I have imposed a standard upon myself that I think is what I believe UNC would expect from me as a recruit to their program,” Harrison said.

Harrison is just one of the few gifted athletes who have committed as underclassmen to play at the collegiate level. Continuing athletics after high school is not especially common, but committing before senior year is even more rare. Many students say an early verbal commitment to a college alleviates pressure on a student athlete. Certainty in knowing where one’s future is headed can alleviate the pressure college coaches place on recruits to accept their offer. However, committing too early can affect a student’s athletic and academic focus for the rest of his or her high school

career. The high-pressure environment of collegiate recruiting makes it more difficult for recruits to thoroughly assess important factors, making early commitment a very controversial decision.

Although there is no consensus on the best time to commit, Director of Athletics Dr. Jose Fernandez recommends athletes commit only when they have done enough research on the factors they deem important in a college.

“Each individual has a right reason to commit early or a right reason to commit later,” Fernandez said. “Each case is very independent from the other. Going to college is not just a four year decision. It’s a 40 year decision. If you go to a place just so you can play, and they don’t have quality academics, that’s going to affect you.”

The age of commitment primarily depends on the sport an athlete plays and the institution recruiting them. There are 11

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“Going to college is not just a four year decision.

It’s a 40 year decision.

If you just go to a place just so you can play, and they don’t have quality academics, that’s going to affect you.”

process, the entire visiting and touring process leading up to his decision in mid-July took less than two months.

“I have been working ever since I was nine years old because I knew I wanted to commit when I was a freshman,” Malever said. “All it took was dedication and hard work.”

Soccer player Bruster verbally committed to playing at the University of Georgia her sophomore year. She began working towards playing collegiate soccer in middle school, training and competing with the Tophat club team in addition to fitness conditioning with a personal trainer. Committing to play collegiate soccer is a very fast process, as recruiters want to have an idea of how their future athletic classes will look early on to keep track of how much money they can give to the next classes.

Most players on Bruster’s club team committed before the start of junior year.

Bruster started to receive offers at the end of her freshman year, eventually narrowing down her options to Vanderbilt University and the University of Georgia. After a couple visits, she picked UGA because the soccer program made her feel the most comfortable, the factor she found most important.

“They didn’t rush me like a lot of the other colleges,” Bruster said. “I never really wanted to go there before, but I went up there and just loved the campus…the coach, the staff and

Tanvi Reddy’18

a lot of variables a student must consider, such as college size, major choice and location. To ensure they make the best decision possible, most athletes wait to commit until their senior year. However, in some sports, early decisions are normal and sometimes suggested. This is true for Harrison in volleyball, Eric Malever ‘19 in lacrosse and Kayla Bruster ’17 in soccer.

Harrison started receiving offers from schools such as Florida State University, Georgia Tech and the University of North Carolina during the second semester of her freshman year. She researched and attended volleyball camps at several schools for two to three months. In the early fall of her sophomore year, she decided to commit to UNC. Harrison always trained towards playing volleyball in college, enduring countless early morning and late night practices, personal training sessions and tournaments, while still finding time for academic tutorials.

The majority of volleyball players commit to play in college around their sophomore or junior years, which are considered the prime of their athletic careers in high school. According to her coach of four years Tad Sahara, the average time of commitment is getting earlier and earlier.

Colleges collect more commits at younger ages because they do not want to see talent escape to other schools. Fully confident in her decision, Harrison said she did not see a gain in waiting to commit. She found UNC a good fit for her athletically, academically and socially.

“UNC is large enough to offer a wide variety of academic and social interests, yet small enough that I don’t believe I will feel lost,” Harrison said. “I found the volleyball program and the coaching to be of a style I believe I will thrive under. Additionally, I have family in the Raleigh area.”

As a freshman, lacrosse player Malever recently committed to play at the University of Maryland. This may seem unusual, but it is actually very frequent in the lacrosse world.

Because lacrosse is not as widely played outside the northeast, players have begun to commit younger and younger across the nation to the mere 296 colleges which have teams. Each college team only has a certain amount of spots available, and there is a large number of potential collegiate lacrosse players. If an athlete waits too long to accept an offer, they risk losing the spot on the team and scholarship money to another athlete.

Malever started looking into schools like UNC and Syracuse University last June.

Similar to Harrison’s short decision-making

The Breakdown of Young Commits people there.”

Although she said it was difficult to make such an important decision so early in her high school career, Bruster said she is happy with her decision. Some parents find it impractical to start the decisionmaking process as underclassmen, but since Bruster started the process at the same time as most women soccer players, Bruster’s father, Sherman Bruster, did not see it as a disadvantage.

“We did make several unofficial visits to colleges around the country, which were more relaxed since they were seeking Kayla out,” Sherman Bruster said. “It felt good being sought out rather going through the more traditional route. It was a lot less stressful making a verbal commitment knowing that was not legally binding since we didn’t have to sign anything.”

Already juggling school and soccer, Bruster said she found it stressful to already be thinking about college in the 10th grade, but the benefits were worth it.

“Once you finally know where you’re going to go after going through that long process, you just feel so much better,” Kayla Bruster said.

While most students begin to take on the stress of college applications and decisions during their senior year, Bruster only had to apply to one school, where the school almost guarantees her acceptance because admission is easier for athletic commits.

“I could go with a 3.4 to UGA, but regular people have to go with a 4.0,” Bruster said.

Despite their easier athletic acceptances, commits still need to continue to improve their skills and maintain their grades to be officially accepted. Recruiters are unable to accept student athletes who do not meet their school’s academic requirements, regardless of how much they want an athlete on their team. This constant determination to balance a strong academic career with an athletic one is one of the distinctive

characteristics of college athletes, according to junior counselor Ms. Mackenzie Lawson.

In Lawson’s experience, committing early has pushed students to work harder to meet NCAA’s extensive, nonnegotiable requirements and remain strong academically. College athletic programs generally provide a lot of accountability for students to maintain both their athletics and academics. Lawson has to continuously send academic progress reports to update coaches on students’ eligibility statuses to the colleges.

“They do put that pressure on students academically, because if they don’t have the grades, they can’t offer them [scholarships],” Lawson said. “It’s been cool for me to see how the coaches motivate some of my students to do better academically.”

Malever said his commitment makes him work harder in the classroom and on the field, knowing that his dream of playing collegiate lacrosse is now feasible.

“My academics were always important, but once I committed, it gave me a boost because I realized I can’t play unless I make the grades,” Malever said. “It made me even more motivated to work as hard as I could in the classroom.”

By committing young, an athlete can eliminate the distractions of the recruiting process and the stress of the college search process, giving a student the opportunity and incentive to focus more on academics and athletics. However, some students may take this opportunity as a reason to slack off academically, failing to understand that athletic commitment does not guarantee acceptance into a college, but merely a scholarship once that student is accepted.

With this in mind, college counselor Mr. Jesse Bowen said committing early can be dangerous academically and result in suffering grades and uncomfortable conversations with the collegiate coach.

Collegiate sports teams work closely with

At WA...

Earliest Recruiting Sport :LACROSSE prospective underclassmen:

DAWSON ELLINGTON Cornerback/Wide receiver

ARIK GILBERT Tight/Defensive End

ACROSS THE US...

Earliest recruiting Sport:LACROSSE Women’s Early Recruiting:

Men’s early recruiting:

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Jun ior

or e ph om So

hm an Fre s

Gr ad e Eig hth

Training to earn a college offer, Bruster worked hard in soccer througout her whole career. Warren Bond Photography

admissions to ensure that the athletes they recruit satisfy their school’s academic demands.

“There’s a balancing act the athletic program does to find students that meet the criteria for the sports program and have the academic intelligence to be successful at the university,” Bowen said. “No university wants to admit students into a college who aren’t ultimately going to be successful there.”

Sahara said focused student athletes, like Harrison, are cautious not to fall into the trap of post-commitment laziness.

“She has this quiet drive,” Sahara said. “She doesn’t express herself through words, but you can certainly tell on her face that she has that drive.”

Harrison said she is still motivated to improve her skills and dedicates herself to school as much as volleyball.

“I am continuing to improve my volleyball game in hopes of earning playing time my freshman year,” she said. “I’m also working hard academically, so I will be prepared to succeed academically at UNC as a studentathlete.”

However, Bowen said verbal commitments benefit a college and its coaches rather than the student because there is no binding contract between the student and the school.

“I don’t think a verbal commitment is much of a commitment at all,” Bowen said. “The coach doesn’t even have to offer a scholarship to that student just

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because they’ve given that verbal commitment. There’s no hard and fast commitment to the student.”

Bowen said he considers verbal commitment the first step in this “dating process” between an athlete and a college. A coach can give athletes a general idea about how likely they are to offer scholarships or a spot on the team prior to admission. But only when the student gains admission into the institution can a student receive an athletic scholarship from the college, and thus, a “marriage” can form between both parties.

Even on National Signing Day, when a student officially commits to an athletic program, if they have not already gotten their acceptance letter from a college, there is still no guarantee of admission from the academics standpoint. When weighing these risks, Bowen finds early commitment to be especially limiting.

“I don’t know if there is a lot of benefit other than the student doesn’t have to worry about it senior year,” Bowen said.

Regardless of conflicting beliefs about early commitment, Bowen and other professionals who work with young commits fully agree that the type of effect committing can have on an athlete’s academic career depends on the student and his or her level of focus.

While Bowen said committing young limits the number of opportunities a student-athlete has, athletes like Bruster said they do not feel their decisions limited them in any way.

Bruster said she worries she rushed her decision and wishes she had taken more time to decide, but she is now happy with her decision and the

After years of hard work, Malever signs his commitment to play lacrosee at the University of Maryland. Tanvi Reddy’18

motivation that comes along with it.

“At the moment when you are going through it, things are not as clear, but it hasn’t really affected anything,” Bruster said. “I have to stay as good as I am since that’s what they want me for. It makes you work even harder, because if you don’t, then you know they may not be as interested.”

The few athletes who have worked especially hard and committed as underclassmen have dedicated most of their time to achieve this decision, making a lot of sacrifices on the way. While they walk amongst their peers as equals, these athletes miss out on typical high school experiences,

such as applying to colleges and stressing out over college applications.

“I don’t feel like a regular student because I had to go through a different process than everyone else,” Bruster said.

Malever sacrificed hanging out with friends and free time on the weekends for a rigorous training schedule, including a personal trainer, coach and three season teams. He said this persistent determination in between tournaments has allowed student athletes like him to be so sought after.

“The difference [between me and other athletes] is what I do when people aren’t

watching—what I do when I’m not in a game,” Malever said.

Despite the pressure received from various colleges and recruiters, professionals and student athletes alike said it is essential that athletes make a decision solely based on their needs and after having done all the proper research. They need to love the college itself, not just the sports program.

“My advice would be to make sure the school you commit to is a school you would attend even if you were not playing sports,” Harrison said. “You never know what could happen during your athletic career while in college.”

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Trumping All Odds

by Lizzy Levine Drawings by Julia Du

AP

Pho

to/A

lex B

rand o

n

An array of opinions manifest in the country and world about Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States.

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A

n outspoken real estate mogul backed by a multi-million dollar franchise versus a career politician empowered by decades in Washington.

Although people hold differing beliefs about President Donald Trump, his election has certainly upturned Americans’ standards of eligibility for public office and sparked controversy throughout the country. In some senses, Woodward is a microcosm representative of the nation, and the election has had a very strong effect on supporters and opponents of Trump throughout the community.

Although a decent amount of Trump and Clinton supporters alike exist in the community, only a handful of students felt comfortable expressing their views to The Blade. The divisiveness apparent throughout the nation can be seen in the school environment.

“Separation is so big,” Brian Smith ‘18 said. “You don’t want to lose who your friends are just because of what you think politically. Even though we’re mature, we don’t know how to handle everything yet, so our best way to cope with it is to just not bring it up. If you bring it up, only arguments start, and we don’t want to have arguments.”

Many fear sharing their political affiliation for concern of causing strife between peers and being staunchly labelled with a certain party. Students also hesitate to openly support their views for fear of judgement.

“A lot of people don’t want to be known as one side or the other, or they don’t want to seem drastically liberal or drastically conservative,” Marcus Lin ‘17 said.

“They’re worried they wouldn’t sound as intelligent as they thought they were.”

Even in a safe environment where diversity in nearly every aspect is embraced, students still feel apprehension about associating themselves with such controversial candidates.

“Everything’s so politically correct today,” Lawton Bird ‘19 said. “You

can’t say what you really want to say, which is why I really didn’t want to do this interview because you’re afraid and ashamed to speak up.”

Trump’s refrain from political correctness, a notion America’s political culture has possessed for decades, propelled him into the spotlight during the presidential race. “[Trump] says whatever comes to his mind,” Brian Smith said. “He’s not afraid to hold back. I think that’s what stuck hard with a lot of people, because the world is so politically correct right now. A lot of people who are really fed up with that were really

happy to see that somebody was actually speaking what a lot of people were thinking but wouldn’t go out and say.”

Many Americans were attracted to Trump’s straight talk, despite some notorious phrases such as “Build the Wall,” which some deemed racist and insensitive.

Many Trump supporters, some of whom Secretary Hillary Clinton labelled as “deplorables,” kept their opinions to themselves during the race.

“I understand people that are more quiet about [supporting Trump] because he’s been called a racist, and he’s been called a misogynist,” Payton Scott ‘17 said.

“Supporting him almost automatically labels you as a misogynist or a racist.”

Throughout Trump’s loud discourse

and upturn of 2016’s presidential race and nomination process, his past and present jargon incited many universally condemned followers, such as David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, whom Trump has been hesitant to acknowledge. During his candidacy, Trump’s proposals, such as imposing a temporary ban on Muslim immigration into the U.S. to deporting millions of illegal Mexican immigrants –– whom he at one point called “rapists” –– drew outrage from many Americans.

What some now refer to as “Trump Country” has made many Americans, particularly minorities, worrisome about the repercussions of a Trump presidency.

“There’s been such an outbreak of bullying against people that Donald Trump has made fun of: fat people, gay people, trans people, anyone that’s just different,” Carly Pilger ‘19 said.

Although Trump disavowed these outbreaks of harassment, many fear that little will be done to stop what could become a new era of discriminatory social norms and an inspiration for radical groups.

“Whether he means to or not, he definitely has inspired people who are misogynist, racist and xenophobic,” Scott said. “It’s scary that these people have gotten inspired by his message. That’s worrisome they feel empowered by that, and I don’t think that anybody like the Klan or neo-nazis should ever feel empowered in the U.S.” Trump aimed controversial remarks at women as far back as 2005, when he was recorded bragging about sexualizations of women to Access Hollywood anchor Billy Bush. After a Republican presidential debate in 2015, Trump tweeted a jab at journalist Megyn Kelly, suggesting she asked him a supposedly unfair question due to her menstrual cycle.

Despite some of his ribald rhetoric towards women, Trump won 42 percent of the female vote.

“Trump is just so disgusting,” Pilger said. “Not only does he have no political experience, but he’s just so disgustingly

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sexual with women.”

In the wake of President Trump’s inauguration, women across the globe demonstrated the importance of having equal rights. On January 21, 2017, one day after the 45th president’s inauguration, women held marches from Los Angeles to Berlin, in addition to a national march in Washington D.C., to promote feminism and unity among women. Lexi Bortnick ‘20 and Kathryn Demorest ‘20 attended the march in Washington.

“With all this political stuff going on, it’s a way for women to unite and not change anything because of the new president,” Bortnick said.

While the overall goal of the marches was to shine light upon equality for women and the importance of women sticking together, some protesters used the march to voice their disdain for Trump’s stances on female-related issues. “[The march] is to lash out and say that we don’t agree with him and to show that right when he gets elected, we’re going to start fighting,” Demorest said.

Regardless of the negative interpretations of Trump’s discourse, his disregard of political correctness left an impact on many of the 63 million people who voted for him.

Millions of voters fed up with the current administration and the national focus on political correctness craved something new in the form of Trump.

“He capitalized on a lot of people that are unhappy with the political system as a whole and feel that particularly those in Washington are not really doing anything, and they’re not addressing the nation’s problems,” said Mr. Hunter Smith, head of the Social Studies department and AP Government teacher.

Many people attribute Trump’s win to the less vocal “silent majority,” comprised of the nearly 50 percent of American voters who voted for Trump when given the privacy of a voting booth.

“There’s big swaths of this country that have sort of been left behind,” Mr. Hunter Smith said. “A lot of those tensions are economic, but they’re being expressed through the political system.”

The U.S. is nearly $20 trillion dollars in debt, and current students will ultimately be the generation financially responsible for this deficit. Trump has spent the majority of his career cultivating his various enterprises, and Americans value his background in business and economics. Despite Trump’s little experience in politics, his supporters 18

trust that his knowledge in monetary matters will benefit the country.

“He has a better understanding of the economic side of the government than he does for the policies and foreign affairs side,” Wilson Wolfe ‘17 said. “He’s a businessman, not a politician. He has a better understanding of how the market fluctuates, and I think that’s something we haven’t had in a long time.”

Though President Trump has little to no experience in politics, other ex-presidents, such as Ronald Reagan, have had successful presidencies with little history in Washington prior to their elections. Still, some Americans remain skeptical of a

“The one thing about Trump that stands out from everybody else is that he’s not in anybody’s pocket.”

president who has zero background in the government.

“He has no idea what he’s doing,” Marco Moreno ‘17 said. “Even if you look at his face when he’s being interviewed and having a conference with Obama, he looks scared. He looked like, ‘what have I gotten myself into.’”

Trump, who Forbes estimates to have a net worth of $3.7 billion, paid for the majority of his candidacy with his own fortune, which furthers his message of non-conformity to the traditional regimen of Washington politicians. Trump distinguished himself from his opposers due to his ability to use his personal wealth and resources to fund his campaign as opposed to securing money in other ways.

“The one thing about Trump that stands out from everybody else is that he’s not in anybody’s pocket,” Jackson Baker ‘18 said.

“He paid his way to the presidency himself, so he doesn’t owe anyone any favors.

A big reason for a lot of corruptness in Washington is people owe people favors, and people collect on those favors. It can screw over the American people.”

By paying for his candidacy primarily himself, some Americans appreciate Trump’s freedom from possibly having political obligations in return for economic favors.

“He doesn’t have to answer to anybody,” Bird said. “America’s his boss, not special interest lobbyists or career politicians.”

Trump’s campaign was unique not only in his anti-establishment position, but because he won many battleground states, such as Florida and Ohio. He also converted the traditionally blue states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to red.

Through his unconventional style of gaining political momentum with controversial, yet straightforward catchphrases and Twitter updates, President Trump captivated the American people both negatively and positively.

For better or for worse, he created his own rules and changed the standards by which future candidates and voters alike will regard the election process.

Students experienced emotions ranging from utter relief to sheer horror after the election. Many people struggled to accept the political reality that Trump would become Obama’s successor.

“We’ve only really known a Barack Obama presidency, so to have such a different one, we don’t really know how to handle it,” Brian Smith said.

Some even blamed the current Electoral College system, which has been in place since 1789, for electing Trump into office despite his loss among the popular vote.

Others placed faith in the process.

“I would hope that, as a community, we would embrace the idea that regardless of who you support, there is a democratic system and institutions,” Mr. Hunter Smith said. “Those institutions are designed to go forward regardless of who holds these offices.”

Both candidates carried major baggage from the past. People disapproved of Clinton’s perceived negligence in her handling of the 2012 Benghazi attacks and her illegal, private email server scandal.

People disliked Trump’s recorded and

.

The diverisities of the world are represented in the Academy’s community. What transpires in Washington has a very genuine affect on the lives of students.

AP Photo/Ron Edmonds Lizzy Levine ‘18

resurfaced remarks, which some labelled as misogynistic and racist. Numerous Americans voted not for the better candidate, but the lesser of two evils.

Many argue that the media influenced the majority of Americans’ opinions on political issues. They are the ultimate deciders of what information is pertinent for viewers to learn about each candidate.

Much like past presidential elections, the media played an important role throughout the course of this election season. “[The media] shouldn’t be telling us who to vote for,” Brian Smith said. “They should be telling us what’s been going on.

They focused a lot about each candidate’s

past this year instead of focusing on what they wanted for the future.”

The media can control Americans’ perceptions of reality, proving to be problematic when many media polls showed a wide, inaccurate margin between the two candidates.

“They showed that Hillary had a lot more support,” Lin said. “Technically, she did have the popular vote, but they didn’t show all the people who were actually supporting Trump. The media made it seem like Hillary was going win with a landslide.”

Major news outlets often showed bias in their coverage of the election. The media’s

depictions of both candidates and their stances resulted in a further divide between conservative and liberal voters.

“You were either with him or you were totally against him,” Brian Smith said. “Most of the stuff they would report on didn’t involve every part of the story.

You could go look on other sources, and it was all different. That was just weird how everything could be different depending on where you were.”

When what many Americans, even Trump’s supporters, deemed impossible occurred, a new era of divisiveness erupted.

“If [the media] would’ve told people what [the candidates] wanted for the future, 19

AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool

the gap wouldn’t have gotten as big,” Brian Smith said. “It ended up becoming where just because you’re a Trump-supporter, you’re automatically racist. Then when he won, people were crying at school the day after and pausing their lives just because of the results of the election.”

As Trump’s historic win fades into the past, students reflect on the divisions the election caused.

“The hype has died down, and it’s a little bit more divided, but not as drastically as it was right after,” Lin said. “It was such a big moment, and everyone was either one way or the other, and not many people were in between.”

However, feelings provoked by the election and disillusion about the future state of the country continue for many. “[Trump] becoming president-elect and being the future president has made a really big statement about the ideals of our country,” Pilger said. “Even though Hillary did win the popular vote, the electoral college actually voted him into office. The fact that basically half of our country was for Donald Trump is so scary.”

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Others who once opposed the current president of the United States now feel the importance of supporting the man who now is the leader of the country.

“Even though I’m not a fan of Trump, I hope he succeeds,” Scott said. “He’s the president of the U.S. He’s my president.

He’s everybody’s president. Whether you like it or not, there’s really not much we can do about it. I was not a supporter of him, but I support him right now, and I hope that he does a good job.”

The election season tested the strength of the nation to understand and accept one another, and we have yet to overcome this period of disunity.

“His new job is to unite people that are against him,” Bird said. “He had to blow everything up in the elections to become relevant and to get attention. Now that he’s president, he’s calming down and becoming more presidential and proving that he can carry out his job.”

Students affirm that despite the many promises Trump made on the campaign trail, his true agenda as president is yet to be determined.

“A lot of people have said, ‘I’m so worried he’s going to end this and that,’” Brian Smith said. “The only thing that I want to say to them is that we aren’t completely sure what he’s actually going to be able to do. Try to give him a chance to show what he wants, and if you don’t like it [after] four years, then he definitely wouldn’t be reelected.”

Whatever their opinions of the president, many Americans hope to overcome the divisiveness of the election, which most would agree requires an open dialogue between all Americans regardless of ideology.

“Understanding that there are other people who are not going to agree with your point of view doesn’t mean they’re wrong or bad,” Mr. Hunter Smith said.

“They just disagree, and you can have a discussion with someone from that point of view and agree, ‘Well, we just see that one differently.’”

S

Student Spotlight

Morgan Brinson

The Helping Hand

by Erin Harris

7

Erin Har ris ‘1

All girls know about the complications of “that time of the month.” However, they don’t know how much worse it is for girls who don’t have the resources to manage their periods. To help mollify some of the difficulty underprivileged girls face while dealing with mentrustration, Morgan Brinson ‘17 held a drive to collect feminine products for homeless teenage girls in the Norcross area.

Brinson took part in the Swag Bag Project, a program through a non-profit organization, Nothing But the Truth, that provides bags of pads, tampons, panty liners and underwear to homeless teenage girls who would otherwise not have access to them. From July 30 to Sept. 10, Brinson collected these products from donors in and outside of school.

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year in the United States. 1.35 million of them are children. In an email she sent to prospective donors, Brinson noted how homeless shelters across the country, which are generally under-resourced, report a consistent shortage of period products. Homeless girls who lack these products cannot even attend school while on their periods, said Suzy Bus of the Gwinnett Coalition in an interview.

Brinson’s little sister, Taylor Brinson ‘21, helped with the drive, passing out informative handouts to their neighbors. Finding donors proved to be difficult, so the sisters had to extend the drive. Together, they collected over 4,000 individual feminine care items to make about 266 Swag Bags.

When Brinson turned in the goods she collected from the drive, she felt an overwhelming sense of pride.

“It was really heart-warming because I didn’t know exactly what the Swag Bags did,” Brinson said. “It was like ‘Wow, I can’t believe I helped this many people.’”

Brinson says her motivation for the drive was simply the joy of giving, and she would love to participate in the drive again in the future.

“I’m always looking for people to help,” Brinson said.

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Dyan Green The Artist

by Aly Shakoor Teaching ceramics is just the latest gig for Ms. Dyan Green.

Her career boasts several exhibitions and a teaching job in Cairo, Egypt.

Green works with a variety of materials to make her latest sculptures. Aly Shakoor ‘17

Although her work now features complex designs and a variety of materials, Green started her art career with simple pottery.

“I first fell in love with ceramics, like wheel throwing pottery, and I gradually became more and more sculptural,” said Green. “My work now is a lot with fabric and pins and plaster, and I use a lot of different materials with some mixed media stuff.”

Green got her bachelor’s degree in ceramics from Kansas State University and her master’s degree in sculpture from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

From there she exhibited art in a variety of shows in Texas and around the Midwest, where she grew up.

Green goes through a process she made up herself for her latest line of sculptures.

Working off the wall, she begins with a support structure made of wire, which she covers in tape or more wire before wrapping it in plaster. Then, she adds fabric and wax before finally adding beads.

Between teaching and other obligations, the entire process of creating a piece often takes Green a whole month to complete at her home.

“It’s a very long process from start to finish,” Green said. “I’ve always worked out of my living room. It’s kind of like my main studio because I like it to be part of my life.

I’m watching T.V. and pushing beads into what I’m working on at the same time.”

Several publications, such as “Other 22

Peoples Pixels” and “Fare Thee Well” of the University of Texas at San Antonio, have featured Green’s art, which includes fabric and jewelry works in addition to her mixed media pieces. Her art is also in the permanent collection of Emprise Bank in Kansas and famous jeweler Bob Ebendorf.

Green’s teaching career began at a community arts center and later at Southern Illinois University. After receiving her Master of Education, she started teaching high school.

“I found that I had a lot more flexibility teaching high school,” Green said. “When you teach college, you kind of have to go where the job is, and I ended up in Timbuktu. I wanted to be in a bigger city.”

While studying art history in Europe one summer, Green met her future husband.

After a few years, they married and found jobs in Cairo, Egypt, where Green began teaching art to students in sixth grade up through high school. Teaching abroad proved to be a much different experience compared to her other jobs.

“There are a lot of adjustments, and you’re away from your support system and people you know,” Green said. “But the best thing that came out of it was that I made such close friends there because we were all in that situation. We were all teachers in a foreign country and didn’t know anyone else.”

Green’s experiences out of the country have had a clear impact on her career and

her life as a whole.

“Travel is the most valuable thing I have done in my life,” said Green. “It was a really challenging experience, but I’m really glad that I did it because I learned a lot more about the world. It has shaped who I am, and it is the driving force behind my artwork now.”

Indeed, now back in the States, Green has noticed influences from her time abroad creeping into her artwork.

“One of the things I did on the weekends in Cairo is drive to El Guno, a resort town on the Red Sea. We’d go scuba diving a lot,” said Green. “I found that I’ve been inspired a lot by the coral reefs and the things that I saw under the water.”

Green also picked up some Arabic, the language spoken by her husband and many in Egypt.

“I feel like some of the forms coming out of my sculptures are connected somehow to Arabesque writing,” Green said. “There’s a continuous kind of loopy form that’s happening. And I think that is connected to language somehow.”

Green hopes to exhibit her art in another show this year. For now, she’s focused on making enough pieces for a solo show, which requires anywhere from 12 to 20 pieces.

“I’ve been in that phase of just making at home,” Green said. “I haven’t really actively starting looking for a gallery just yet, but I will.”

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Student Spotlight

Cole King The Musician

by Maddie Ledet

During a cold night in North Georgia, the loud twang of Cole King’s ‘19 mandolin enchanted the crowd as they swayed to the bluegrass tones at Anderson Music Hall. King and his band Raven and Red opened for Grammy award-winning group Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out during the Georgia Mountain Festival in Hiawasse, Georgia.

Maddie Ledet ‘18

King has played music his whole life. His brother, Mitchell Lane, who also loves music, highlighted that their motivation to pursue music stems from their family’s musical history.

“My grandpa would play guitar, and my mom would always be singing anywhere in the car. So we had a lot of inspiration in the family,” Lane said. “My uncle is a professional drummer. He likes rock and roll drums and plays in country bands. All of them were a huge influence on us.”

King’s band is made up of himself, Lane, and Lane’s girlfriend Brittany Jones. Raven and Red started when Lane met Jones at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

“We had some similar interests, and we put them together and started performing together,” Lane said. “King started playing with us when we were rehearsing and playing [without performances] for a few years.”

King started mainly singing harmonies.

However, in recent years, the band desired the sound of the mandolin, causing King to pick up the instrument.

“My brother really needed a mandolin player,” King said. “It is the same thing as the violin. Since his girlfriend already played violin, I played the mandolin and play chords for whatever we do.”

His band mates agree that King’s mandolin playing has improved significantly. His playing matured along

with his taste and ear for music.

“Over the years, his ear has gotten so good that he can just hear something and play it back right away,” Jones said. “The styles that he plays has really grown too. He plays bluegrass with us, Celtic music and sometimes the fiddle with us.”

King’s confidence in playing the mandolin and singing harmonies translates into his stage presence.

“Over the years, his ear has gotten so good that he can just hear something and play it back right away.”

“I don’t feel scared or anything,” King said. “I just want to make [the audience] happy and do my best.”

Even opening for a Grammy award winning band did not phase him. The band had previously performed in this festival since he has a family friend who works at the venue, Anderson Music Hall.

“Our family friend has big bands come [to Anderson Music Hall] for a fall festival and was friends with Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out,” King said. “She asked us to

open for them.”

Their performance at Anderson Music Hall featured songs from their EP Studio, released in 2014. The band based their EP off of traditional Celtic songs and remastered them. Their new album, which will dropping in March, will feature original songs.

Everyone in the band participates in writing lyrics and music. They collaborate and create the lyrics first. Then, the lyrics inspire the tune. “[Lyrics] all come together differently, so whoever has the first idea, we all kind of bring it together to the table then fill it from there,” Jones said. “It’s almost like working with pieces of a puzzle.”

Raven and Red’s song lyrics and writing process display King’s maturity because the songs fixate on more mature, complex topics such as love and heartbreak.

“Cole has always had one of those old souls,” Lane said. “He is able to think beyond his age and put himself in the position [as if] he has been in love.”

In the future, King wants to continue with the band, and his dream is to attend Belmont University, where he wants to play the violin. King hopes his passion for music will never die.

“My favorite part of the band is just having fun with my brother and just playing where [we] can,” King said. “I just feel really good when I am playing music.”

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