Vol. 57 Issue 2

La DĂŠcima page 45

page 45

The

B&W

Print Editor-in-Chief Eva Herscowitz

Print Managing Editor Jessica Buxbaum

theblackandwhite.net Online Editor-in-Chief Thomas Mande Online Managing Editors Hannah Feuer, Rebecca Hirsh Online Copy Editors Matthew van Bastelaer, Ivy Xun Multimedia Editors Anjali Jha, Maeve Trainor Multimedia Team Luka Byrne, Sam White Online Production Head Selina Ding Communications Director Cami Corcoran Social Media Director Naren Roy Head Webmasters Anthony Breder, Caleb Hering Print Copy Editors Mira Dwyer, Jessie Solomon News Editors Zoë Kaufmann, Sydney Miller, Matthew Proestel Sports Editors Chris Atkinson, Max Gersch, Elyse Lowet Feature Editors Camerynn Hawke, Julia McGowan, Yiyang Zhang Columnist Editors Maddy Frank, Jenny Lu Opinion Editors Ella Atsavapranee, Katherine Sylvester Graphics Manager Landon Hatcher Business Managers Matthew Boyer, Lexie Johnson, Azraf Khan The Black & White is an open forum for student views from Walt Whitman High School, 7100 Whittier Blvd., Bethesda, MD, 20817. The Black & White’s website is www. theblackandwhite.net.

The newspaper is published five times a year, and the B&W magazine is published biannually. Signed opinion pieces reflect the positions of individual staff members and not necessarily the opinion of Walt Whitman High School or Montgomery County Public Schools. Unsigned editorial pieces reflect the opinion of the newspaper.

All content in the paper is reviewed to ensure that it meets the highest level of legal and ethical standards with respect to the material as libelous, obscene or invasive of

Print Managing Editor Eric Neugeboren

Print Production Head Julia Rubin

Buisiness Assistants Khanya Dalton, Min Yeung Photo Director Lukas Gates Photo Assistants Annabel Redisch, Kurumi Sato Senior Columnists Shehrez Chaudhri, Ariana Faghani, Brooke McLeod , Rebecca Mills, Elyssa Seltzer, Jeremy Wenick Puzzles Editors Cam Jones, Eva Liles Editorial Board Ella Atsavapranee, Cami Corcoran, Meera Dahiya, Joseph Ferrari, Lukas Gates, Max Gersch, Clara Koritz Hawkes, Jack Middleton, Ally Navarrete, Hirari Sato, Jessie Solomon, Katherine Sylvester, Ivy Xun Print Production Managers Sophie deBettencourt, Jana Warner Production Assistants Zoe Chyatte, Noah Grill, Alex Silber, Joey Sola-Sole News Writers Zara Ali, Meera Dahiya, Joseph Ferrari, Katie Hanson, Blake Layman, Max London, Lukas Troost, Anna Yuan Feature Writers Danny Donoso, Jack Gonzalez, Aditi Gujaran, Isabel Hoffman, Clara Koritz Hawkes, Anna Labarca, Jack Middleton, Alex Robinson, Emma Shaffer Opinion Writers Will Brown, Dana Herrnstadt, Emma Iturregui, Ted Rock, Hirari Sato, David Villani Sports Writers Sara Azimi, Mateo Gutierrez, Harry Kaplan, Ally Navarrete, Bennett Solomon, Isabel van Nieuwkoop, José Wray Adviser Louise Reynolds privacy. All corrections are posted on the website.

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ON THE COVER: seniors Natan Rosen, Cam Jones, Chris Atkinson and Thomas Mande celebrate after winning the boys soccer 4A MD State Championship. This was boys soccer’s 10th State title in school history. Photo by ADAM HIRSH and artwork by JULIA RUBIN

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS A

fter a heated exchange between President Donald Trump and CNN’s Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta at a Nov. 7 press conference, the administration suspended Acosta’s White House press credentials.

Following a tweet announcing the suspension, the White House published conspiracy website Infowars’ doctored video portraying Acosta “placing his hands” on a White House aide.

Trump’s disrespect toward Acosta shocked absolutely no one who has kept tabs on the president’s frequent affronts to the freedom of the press. The president’s cries of “fake news” and personal attacks toward reporters have become exceedingly difficult to overlook. And to us as student journalists, his scathing treatment of the media is especially frightening.

We have seen Trump’s America unfold from our newsroom: we watched the Trump-Acosta exchange on our phones as we edited stories in this magazine; in

September, we saw Christine Blasey Ford testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Promethean Board in The Black & White classroom. When we were sophomores taking Intro to Journalism, we watched Trump’s victory speech the day after the election, naive then that his treatment of Acosta would be just one of his unceasing assaults on journalism.

Acosta put it eloquently and concisely in a tweet hours after the clash.

“Don’t believe the lies coming from the WH. Believe in our freedoms. Thank you all for your support,” he wrote. “We won’t back down.”

And neither will we. Like Acosta did, the stories in this magazine ask difficult but necessary questions. Unlike Trump’s clipped and accusatory responses, these stories present complex answers. A think piece chronicles the complicated relationship teenagers have with consent, while another story asks how Montgomery County can reduce economic disparities among

schools. A story on dab pen use at school highlights the increasing number of students coming to school high and a feature story details students’ anger with Trump’s proposal to remove transgender from existence.

We watched. We processed. We wrote.

This magazine wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated staff. Thank you to our writers and editors, who worked tirelessly on their stories, and to our production staff. Without them, this magazine literally wouldn’t exist. Thank you to our sources, who provided us with their professional insights and personal stories. Finally, to our adviser, Louise Reynolds, who not only allows us to write freely, but also ensures we don’t get sued.

Her unceasing committment to student journalism and the countless hours she spends at flat nights inspire us to make our publication the best that it can be.

We hope that after reading this magazine, you too will value student journalism as much as we do.

Jessica Buxbaum Managing Editor

Eric Neugeboren Managing Editor

Eva Herscowitz Photo by LUKAS GATES

Editor-in-Chief

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26

No Means No

How hook-up culture is clouding the meaning of consent.

31 Two Weeks Vegan

A reporter ditches meat and dairy and learns that going vegan is harder than it seems

36 The Invisible Illness Students deal with dysautonomia after years of misdiagnoses.

TABLE of CONTENTS Issue 2, December 2018 6 Students ditch retail for thrifting 8 Film makes a comeback 10 First-time voters flock to polls 12 Students reflect on affirmative action lawsuit 14 Cadets train at military schools 16 Government’s transgender memo shocks LGBTQ+ community 18 Mom creates apt. for people with disabilities 19 Senior finds passion for activism

Joe Wiedemann (front) is a midshipman at the Naval Academy. See page 14 for full story.

Photo courtesy LIZ SWISHER WIEDEMANN

30

Freshman dances at Washington Ballet

31 One writer’s experience going vegan 32 Dab pens hook students 36 Students struggle with POTS 38 Review: best pies in Bethesda 40 Sophomore shines in triathlons 42 Exploring the country music conundrum 43 How one writer regained her playfulness

22 Hanna Freund excels at four sports

44 Why the transferring process needs changes

23 MCPS grapples with opportunity gap

45 Boys soccer captures state title

26 A writer evaluates the meaning of consent

46 Mega Motion Pictures Puzzle

28 Alumni band scores record deal 5

Thrift stores: not just for your granddad’s clothes

by ZARA ALI The jacket was perfect: black, puffy on the bottom rim and striped around the front. Senior Maya Valencia said she instantly fell in love with the “super 80s” vintage bomber jacket when she saw it on the rack at Unique, a Rockville thrift store. And the best part of the find? It only cost $12.

Instead of opting for the usual mall trip to buy Urban Outfitters tank-tops or Nordstrom distressed jeans, teens are turning to thrift stores, spending hours digging through racks and shelves to score used apparel for low prices.

The resale industry, which includes thrifting and consignment shopping, is growing 24 times faster than the retail industry, and is projected to reach a net value of $41 billion by 2022, according to The GlobalData Market.

This national trend is especially prevalent at Whitman: of 45 girls across all grades, 28 said they thrift shop frequently, according to an informal Black & White survey. Many of these students said they shop second-hand for the deals and the exciting experience.

“It feels really great when you have a good purchase,” senior Sydney Maggin said. “It’s the way you would feel if you found the perfect dress, but it’s a lot more affordable.”

Unique is especially popular among students; clothing at Unique is sometimes offered as low as 75 percent off retail prices, manager Peggy Mason said. Purchasing expensive items for low prices draws many shoppers, she said.

Senior Obi Onwuamaegbu visited a thrift store in London where he bought gray Under Armour sweatpants originally priced at $60 for only $8.

For students who thrift, hunting for the perfect items among a wide selection is part of the charm, but shoppers have to be mindful of what they buy.

“You have to go in with an open mindset and have an idea of what types of clothes you want,” Maggin said. “It’s really easy to see things and want to buy them all because they’re not as expensive. You have to keep in mind: ‘will I actually wear this’?”

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Serena Appiah, a frequent thrifter with her own blog called “Thrift Diving,” always picks up whatever catches her eye. She decides at the end of her trip if she really wants to make the purchase.

“Thrift store vultures—as I have called them—lurk around every rack of clothing, just waiting for you to walk away from something fabulous that you just spotted,” Appiah said.“The moment you walk away undecided, someone else will swoop in to buy it.”

Senior Grace Fisher thrifts to find items no one else has and to bring older clothes, like caddy hats, back in style, she said. Onwuamaegbu thrifts for the same reason. He once found a pink 1988 Metropolitan Opera sweatshirt for only $4.

Some thrifters reinvent secondhand clothes, updating them to match current trends.

“I took a pair of jeans, cut out the side seam, sewed together a bunch of different fabrics and resewed that in,” Maggin said. “That fits into the trend of color blocking on pants.”

For shoppers like senior Theo Andonyadis, thrifting makes it possible to wear clothing with a past; the best buys are old T-shirts from obscure events, he said.

“When nobody knows what the shirt is from, somebody will ask you. It’s a cool conversation starter,” Andonyadis said. “Shirts from big events like the Boston Marathon are great finds.

They have some sort of significance more than just looking cool.”

Some students thrift because of its light environmental impact. Thrift shopping is an environmentally conscious alternative to fast fashion retail stores, which often produce clothing using environmentally harmful methods and child labor. In less than 20 years, the volume of clothing Americans toss each year has doubled from 7 million to 14 million tons, or 80 pounds per person, Newsweek reported in 2016.

Although often viewed as a fad, thrifting will never go out of style because it has unique benefits retail stores could never offer, customers say.

“Thrift shopping isn’t going anywhere anytime soon,” Appiah said. “It’s good for the environment and your wallet, and it’s a hobby to see what the best deals are.”

Eleanor wARTELL: MENS WAFFLE SHIRT $3

HARLEY-DAVIDSON JEAN JACKET $18

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Vintage Flame Skirt $50

nIKE DAD SHOES $12

Nathan Nemeroff: nEMEROFF: under armor usf football long sleeve t-shirt $3

espn nike quarter zip $4.50

nIKE free rn $12 Senior Sydney Maggin (left) and Xandra Chen (right) pose in thrifted clothing

Photos by JULIA RUBIN

Blast from the PasT: f

by ADITI GUJARAN

W

ith his vintage Minolta x7000 film camera in hand, senior Matei Fawzy walks toward the skaters at the Washington Harbour Ice Rink. As he nears a group of kids, a young girl stops to stare at Fawzy through the thick glass; he snaps a picture. A week later in the Whitman darkroom, Fawzy drops the photo into a pool of clear chemicals, and the girl’s glossy, DARK eyes slowly appear on the page—staring back at Fawzy once again.

Despite the long-standing popularity of digital cameras, more students are turning to film photography. Fawzy took Photography 1 with teacher Mike Seymour, who prepares students to shoot with film cameras. This year, administrators added another section of Photo 1 due to high demand.

Unlike digital cameras, which can automatically adjust settings like exposure and shutter speed, film cameras put the photographer in complete control. With digital cameras, users can take hundreds of photos; with film, most rolls contain only 24 shots. The limited number of shots means every photo matters. Fawzy appreciates how film photography, unlike digital, has an aspect of uncertainty, he said; at times, it’s like the “camera pre-edits the negatives” themselves.

“If I’m shooting color film, it’s always a mystery of what I’m getting,” he said. “When you shoot film, it’s so obvious that it’s on film: the grain, the color, the warmth.”

Increased interest reflects a nationwide movement to bring back film. On Instagram, users have posted photos with the hashtag #keepfilmalive over 1.4 million times.

Companies have embraced the trend, too. In 2017, Kodak announced it was bringing

Photos by CHARLIE SAGNER

back the Ektachrome camera, one of the company’s most popular film cameras that was discontinued in 2013.

The introduction of the digital camera caused film to decrease in popularity in the early 2000s. In the fourth quarter of 2006, Kodak’s digital sales overtook its film sales by four percent, signalling the historic move toward digital, commercial and fashion photographer Kurt Lindner said.

Junior Renz Johnson believes people are rejecting digital because they’re nostalgic of a time that emphasized composition over quality, he said.

“There was an era when digital was the only thing people shot because it was new and exciting. Now, digital is mainstream,” Johnson said. “It’s interesting to go back to film. As phone cameras get better, it’s demanded that you have high quality pictures. But with film, it’s exciting to have risk.”

Senior Felix Xu likes shooting film because the limited number of photos forces him to act decisively with his subjects and composition, he said. Xu shoots with a Nikon D5.

When he went to New York in 2016, Xu thought he brought two rolls of film. When he realized he only brought one, it was frustrating, he said, so he made sure to make every shot count. He spent at least three minutes on the composition of each photo, perfecting the angle and adjusting the light.

Sophomore Charlie Sagner shoots with a Holga—a film camera that takes square or medium format film photos. With only 12 shots a roll, he said the camera requires him to consider every shot. Sagner often finds his street-life and portrait photos time-consuming when he shoots in film.

Developing film photos also takes patience, junior Natalie Lewis said. The process

: fILM COMES BACK IN A DIGITAL AGE can take up to three days. Lewis appreciates how darkroom techniques, like increasing the time she exposes the photo to light or adjusting the aperture of the enlarger, can create originality in photos, she said.

People often excessively edit film photos, Lewis said. With film, she doesn’t feel the need to overlay her photos with filters.

Lewis’ first Holga allowed her to shoot two pictures burned onto one negative, a technique known as a double exposure. Her first double exposure was of Junior Olivia Dekker;

she shot the same pose of Dekker from the left and right so two Dekkers appeared in the photo. Lewis said she feels editing the photo would take away from its uniqueness.

Seymour said the trend toward film won’t hurt digital in the long term.

“The comeback of film won’t affect digital at all,” Seymour said.

“Yes, they are both coming back. But digital keeps growing exponentially, technology wise. My phone is better than the camera that I used to shoot wedding photos with. But what’s

interesting is that film is out of control right now; it’s through the roof.

There are places popping up all over.

There are new film camera dealers.

Film is being brought back to life.”

In a largely digital world, Fawzy is grateful film lets him consider the small details, he said.

“Today, it’s so easy to access the photos we want. We take it for granted,” Fawzy said. “But with film, it’s there forever. Film is forever. That’s what’s drawing people in: having that photo in your hand is so much more satisfying than on your phone.”

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2 Financing is available with 3% down of your home’s appraised value. Expected monthly principal and interest payment for a 30-year fixed conventional mortgage of $200,000 at an interest rate of 4.375% with one point (which is an equivalent APR of 4.904%) and a payment of $1,085.24. Total payment is $375,588.16. APR as low as 4.904% for a 30-year fixed conventional mortgage. Rates are subject to change without notice.

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9

What you need to know about the 2018 midterm results

by MADDY FRANK

The Big Blue Ripple: Dems don’t dominate as expected On Nov. 6, democratic voters were faced with an especially tense election. And with a democratic population of over 75 percent, Montgomery County was a hub of this nervous energy. The democrats were trying to gain a majority in Congress, and the results of the election would determine if the party has a say in policymaking over the next two years.

Heading into the 2018 midterms, the Democratic Party launched a “get out the vote” movement in hopes of

winning back the House of Representatives and the Senate after the party lost both chambers in 2014 and 2016. But the party didn’t achieve as much representation as it had hoped for. Democrats hoped for a “blue wave”; what they got was more of a ripple. For the next two years, they will have a 34 seat majority in the House, with a republican majority in the Senate.

The country’s move to the left was smaller than in 2006, when the democrats last flipped the House,

and it was only half the size of the republican wave in 2010, according to The New York Times.

Montgomery County executiveelect Marc Elrich said instead of advancing their own legislation, democrats will have to settle for attempting to slow down republican policies.

“Maybe it puts a break on all the bad stuff that’s coming out of Washington,” Elrich said. “But you still have to overcome any vetoes from Trump.”

Breaking barriers: election firsts First Muslim Congresswomen

Former Michigan lawmaker Rashida Tlaib and former Minnesota State Representative Ilhan Omar became the first Muslim women elected to Congress.

The two democrats campaigned on opposing Trump’s policies.

Muslim Student Association co-president Iman Illias said she hopes their victories are a positive step for minority candidates.

“I hope that going forth in the future, now that precedent has been set, we’re going to see more minorities and more Muslim candidates rise up,” Ilias said. “It’s a really big deal for us, especially me, as a Muslim girl.”

First Openly Gay Governor

After winning the Colorado gubernatorial race, democrat Jared Polis became the country’s first openly gay governor.

Even though the former congressman’s win was an exciting step forward for the LGBTQ+ community, senior Ben Harris said Polis should be celebrated regardless of his sexuality—not for it.

“We should focus on what he says and does, not who he is, be10

cause that’s not what matters,” Harris said.

Polis made expanding gay rights a priority during his five terms in congress, helping to launch the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and the Congressional Transgender Equality Task Force.

First Native American Congresswomen

This election cycle saw a record breaking number of Native American women running.

Two of the five candidates, Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids, won, making them the first Native American women elected to Congress.

In her campaign video, Davis said she felt she had to run because she believes the Trump administration isn’t diverse and lacks empathy.

“It’s 2018, and women, Native Americans, gay people, the unemployed and underemployed have to fight just to survive,” she said in the video. “Trump and the republicans in Washington don’t give a damn about anyone like me or anyone that doesn’t think like them.”

Ilhan Omar

Jared Polis

Photos courtesy WIKIMEDIA

1 Undecided

234 seats

200 seats

47 seats

House

53 seats

Senate Democrats

Republicans Graphic by SOPHIE DEBETTENCOURT

How the election results will influence our lives, community

Locally, the election has important consequences for education, environmental policy and gun control.

could see a significant decrease in education funding.”

County Executive hopes for improved school conditions

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who was re-elected with 58 percent of the vote, made the environment a priority in his first four-year term. Earlier this year, he became the Chair of the Chesapeake Executive Council after allocating $4 billion into Chesapeake Bay restoration, and in 2016, he passed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act. By supporting environmental policy, Hogan established himself as a republican willing to lean across the aisle.

Dan Neese, the Director of the University of Maryland’s Environmental Finance Center, said he’s optimistic Hogan will continue to support the environment.

“For the next four years, we’ll have a governor that has been very supportive of efforts to address climate change and the Chesapeake Bay,” Neese said. “I think we’ll continue to see the environment, especially at the state level, continue to receive the attention it needs.”

As county executive, Elrich said he hopes to better manage funding for school construction.

“We’ve allowed the backlog for school construction and renovations to grow beyond the billion and a half dollars,” he said “We need to figure out how we’re going to pay for that and how we’re going to build it.”

In the 2019 fiscal year, MCPS’ requested capital budget was $363.5 million. Whitman’s upcoming renovation costs $27 million alone.

Ryan Gniadek, the chairman of the Montgomery County Teenage Republicans, the youth branch of the Montgomery County Republican Party, said he worries additional funding could be redistributed to other places in Maryland, so paying for these renovations could be even more difficult.

“There’s going to be a huge target on the backs of Montgomery County because it has a reputation as, ‘they can afford to get less funding from the state for education,’” Gniadek said. “We

Environmental policy still a priority

Bipartisan gun control possible in MD

that involve four or more victims. A handful of these have occurred in Maryland, one even happening this September in Harford County.

In Maryland, gun laws are already restrictive, partly due to support from the governor. Among other measures, Hogan has banned bump stocks and prohibited domestic abusers from getting guns. Hogan’s National Rifle Association rating fell from an A- to a C this September.

“Larry Hogan recently has become more open to certain gun control measures,” said Devin Entrikin, a graduate fellow at the UMD’s Center for International and Security Studies. “So there is some room for progress.”

But nationally, Entrikin said he believes republican lobbyists will continue to stifle national gun control legislation, even if the democrats have a House majority.

“There’s clearly quite a bit of resistance in terms of the interest groups like the National Rifle Association, who act at federal levels as well as at the state level to thwart new gun control measures,” he said.

Since 2016, there have been more than 1,000 mass shootings, or shootings

Young, first-time voters take to the polls in historic numbers Early exit polls found that 3.3 million 18 to 29 year olds voted early, a 188 percent increase from the 2014 midterms. Young people represented 13 percent of the voting population, a two percent increase from 2014. Sixty-seven percent of these voters were registered democrats.

Many first-time voters were part of the “massacre generation,” a term popularized by William & Mary freshman Julia Savoca Gibson in a Washington

Post article. This term refers to people born after 9/11 whose lives have been shaped by school shootings, terrorist attacks and other violent acts.

“Finding a solution to the violence should really be bipartisan” senior Bo Rider.

Some voters, like senior Lucy Faust, also voted in response to the Trump administration.

“It was making sure that there were still democratic ideas out there in order

to curb Trump’s policies that might drastically change the nation,” Faust said.

Harris hopes that young people continue voting and taking advantage of their opportunity to change the political status quo.

“It just makes sense that we’re active in our communities,” he said. “We have voices too, and we’re the people that actually are affected by these policies.

Why shouldn’t we be the people at the table?”

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Nov. 14, 2014 Students for Fair Admissions files lawsuit

June 15, 2018 SFFA finds that Harvard discriminated against AsianAmerican applicants

Aug. 30, 2018 Several universities file amicus curiae briefs in support of

Harvard

Students, lawyers split over Harvard

by ANNA YUAN

S

enior Katherine Luo has played piano for over 10 years, has been a committed member of her Chinese school since she was three and has participated extensively in various other Chinese community service organizations. Despite the time and dedication she has put into these extracurriculars, most of them didn’t make it in her college application. She worried that looking too much like a “stereotypical Asian” could hurt her chances of admission, so she left out many of the activities she cares about the most.

“I feel like I lost a little part of me in my college application,” Luo said.

“Most of what I do is Chinese-related because it’s a big part of who I am. But if you look on my college app, it doesn’t look like that.”

Many other Asian-Americans now share similar worries after a 2013 Harvard University internal investigation found the school had shown bias against Asian-American applicants in the admissions process. The school never released or acted upon the findings. In 2014, Students for Fair Admissions, an anti-affirmative action group, filed a lawsuit against Harvard, alleging that admissions officers discriminate against Asian-American applicants to create a more racially diverse student body. The case reached the Boston Federal District Court in October.

SFFA claims that Harvard’s admis-

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sions policies violate Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin for programs receiving money from the government.

President John F. Kennedy implemented affirmative action in the U.S. in 1961 to provide minorities with equal opportunities in college admissions.

Since then, the white population at Ivy League Universities has plummeted, while the minority population has begun to increase.

In the past, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges may not set racial quotas, but admissions officers can consider race as a minor factor in the admissions process. The court case is the first time a group of Asian-Americans is challenging the role of affirmative action in college admissions.

Every Ivy League school, several other elite universities, the American Civil Liberties Union and over 500 professionals have filed amicus curiae briefs—where a group not involved in the case submits a brief to sway the court’s decision—in support of Harvard’s right to consider race in the process.

The ACLU argued that Harvard’s intention to create a diverse student body is a worthy goal.

“The ACLU argues a whole-person, race-conscious admissions process furthers a university’s academic freedom to assemble a diverse student body,” the brief said. “Should any admission prac-

tices unfairly disadvantage any group, the solution is to amend the practice but not to discard wholesale a diversity program that benefits all students.”

Minority Scholars President Breanna McDonald believes the case is pitting different minority groups against each other, she said.

“I hate that SFFA is using Asian students to take away something that can help students of color,” McDonald said.

“That’s just trying to get that divide between people. That’s something that we, as minority students, need to realize. In order for us to help each other, we need to understand each other’s differences and focus on who is doing this to us and how can we all collectively work together to fix that issue.”

Although SFFA submitted the case over four years ago, motions and court hearings have only revealed select parts of Harvard’s admissions process.

Duke University freshman Aaron Zhao (‘18) said his college experience made him appreciate the diversity that affirmative action promotes, despite feeling worried when he was in high school that affirmative action was working against him.

“Once I got to college, I realized how much everyone has to bring,” Zhao said. “I know a lot of people here who wouldn’t have made it to Duke without affirmative action based on their socioeconomic status. Without them, I feel like my experience would be really different.”

Graphic by SOPHIE DEBETTENCOURT

Oct. 15, 2018

Nov. 2, 2018

District court trial begins

Spring 2019

Trial ends

Decision likely announced

v. SFFA affirmative action court case In response to the case, Harvard has outlined when and how admissions officers may consider an applicant’s race during the admissions process.

Judge Allison Burroughs will hear the case, but neither side believes she will have the final say; regardless of the verdict, the other side is almost guaranteed to appeal. Burroughs is expected to

reach a decision in the spring of 2019, the Harvard Crimson reported.

No matter what the courts decide, Zhao said he believes college is an important time for students to meet people from different backgrounds and challenge their own perspectives.

“Coming here, I’ve met people from all over the world, in different financial

situations, who bring so much to the classroom,” he said. “In my biomedical class, there’s this guy from Togo, and he himself said that he wouldn’t be here if affirmative action had not been in play.

He adds so much to the conversation that none of us can, just because he’s from a different side of the world. ”

go to yearbookforever.com to buy one today! indicate your cover color choice --teal, yellow, or red-- in the “homeroom teacher” spot on yearbookforever.com

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13

camaraderie and crew cuts: grads find challenge at military schools

by LUKAS TROOST When Joe Wiedemann (‘16) first arrived at the United States Naval Academy, he brought little more than a few pieces of paper.

The day was a “whirlwind,” he said: among other activities, he gave up his phone, had his head shaved and changed into the traditional Navy uniform.

Wiedemann is one of a handful of Whitman graduates attending a military academy, trading seminars and 9 a.m. lectures for cyber security classes and grueling physical training. At these academies, cadets place personal sacrifice and national defense above all.

Alec Gould (‘15), a senior at Navy, and Andrew 14

Constable (‘17), a secondyear at West Point Military Academy, both said their families encouraged them to apply. Constable’s father served in the Army and has been a civilian employee at the Pentagon since 2005, and Gould’s dad was in the Navy for 26 years.

Constable’s father was stationed in Vicenza, Italy, for three years until the family moved to Bethesda in 2015.

Constable said his time in Vicenza introduced him to “military culture.” Meeting West Point cadets and recruiting officers sold him on the idea of joining the military, and he later decided the Army was the best fit.

“I knew I wanted a good four-year degree out of col-

lege,” Constable said. “If you’re in the Army, you deal with people. And in all fairness, I didn’t want to be on a boat.”

For Wiedemann, choosing to apply to a military academy was less concrete: he knew he didn’t want a traditional desk job, but he wasn’t sure how to avoid one aftre earning a college degree.

In high school, Wiedemann worked at Bethesda Bagels, where he met a man who enlisted in the Navy and inspired him to apply.

“It was my conversations with him that highlighted the opportunity to travel the world and make a positive humanitarian impact,” Wiedemann said.

Plebes—freshman cadets

at military academies—are often unprepared for the intensity they face, Aries Wong (‘14), said. A recent Naval Academy graduate, he’s currently stationed at the Marine Corp Base Quantico. Wong’s first-day experience was chaotic and nerve-wracking, he said.

“There were things we were supposed to have memorized. I had them memorized pretty much perfectly, and this guy came up really close to my face and asked me one of the things. I couldn’t for the love of God answer,” Wong said. “You know your stuff, but under pressure, in situations where there is chaos, that’s where it really counts.”

Despite the intensity, Constable said, the tight

bonds among cadets serves as a motivation to continue.

“This is one of the most diverse places ever,” he said. “There are people from all around the world. We have foreign national cadets from Poland, Brazil, Pakistan. But the one thing we all have in common is this set of certain shared values that brought us here.”

When addressing officers of a higher rank, cadets and midshipmen have to speak in “‘sir’ sandwiches,” where they have to start and end every sentence with “sir.”

“At one point, I just completely forgot to say ‘sir’ in general,” Wong said.

“They were asking me, ‘Midshipmen Wong, are you OK?’ and I just said, ‘yeah.’ They kept on waiting for me to correct myself, so they put me on triple sir sandwiches. I had to say ‘sir sir sir, yes sir sir sir’ every time I responded to something.”

Military academies are competitive.

Applicants have to request a nomination letter from a congressman or senator, as well as maintain high grades and test scores. They also have to complete a fitness assessment, consisting of pullups, crunches, a one mile run and other activities.

Wiedemann received a “foundation acceptance,” meaning his acceptance was deferred a year. He took a gap year to study at the Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, where he fulfilled many of his freshman requirements.

Post-graduation life is often just as extreme as academic life. At Quantico, Wong goes on long hikes in full mili-

tary gear that weighs up to 100 pounds.

“It doesn’t cease because of bad weather,” Wong said. “This past week, we got dumped on by rain for three hours during land navigation/ During one of our field exercises, it got down to 35 degrees.”

Also, the Quantico drills are more dangerous than those at the academy, Wong said.

“One bad mistake, and you can actually shoot your buddy,” Wong said. “It was a pretty intense moment knowing they trusted us to fire live rounds down range while people next to us were running towards the objective.”

Constable is considering joining the rotary wing of the Army, attending flight school and eventually becoming a helicopter pilot, he said. He’s also considering joining the branch detail, which involves working with field artillery and military intelligence. He said the experience in intelligence could set him up for a post-Army career.

Wong is pursuing a career in Marine Corp Aviation and will begin flight school in Pensacola, Florida, next year.

Wiedemann and Gould, are pursuing different career tracks in the Navy. Wiedemann hopes to work on a submarine after graduation, so he can work with top sailors, while Gould is preparing for Basic Underwater Demolition Training, the first step in becoming a Navy SEAL. “It has been incredibly rewarding.

It’s challenging for sure, but the constant pressure fosters a lot of growth in every

facet of life,” Wiedmann said. “There is an incredible bond with everyone who attends the academy and the common thread of service keeps us encouraged through stressful times.”

“There’s a common saying that the reason you came is irrelevant,” he said.

“It only matters why you stay. Almost everyone stays because of the people. ”

Clockwise from top left: Joe Widemann (‘16) goes to class in a uniform; Wiedemann runs in an obstacle course during midshipman training; Alec Gould (‘15) poses in his Navy uniform; Wiedemann with his company. Photos courtesy LIZ SWISHER WIEDEMANN and ALEC GOULD

15

‘This is outright erasure’: Backlash ensues after Trump admin proposes removing ‘transgender’ from existence

by MAX LONDON

M

oving to Maryland from Brazil made a world of a difference for senior Ana Sampaio, who is genderqueer and uses the they/them pronoun. For 16 years, they lived in Brazil—a country where a federal judge ruled that homosexuality is a disease.

There, Sampaio said they felt unsafe and unwelcome coming out. But after moving to the United States, a country that is arguably more accepting of LGBTQ+ individuals than Brazil, and coming out, Sampaio now fears they could be discriminated against again.

The New York Times reported Oct. 21 that the Department of Health and Human Services was considering removing “transgender” from existence under federal civil rights law. To the federal government, non-binary and transgender individuals would no longer be represented in federal documents and potentially wouldn’t be defended in federal civil rights lawsuits. Since the proposal defines gender by a person’s biological genitalia at birth, with the department only considering “male” and “female” as categories, transgender and non-binary individuals around the country worry that the plan will erase their gender identities.

Across the country, members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community are protesting the proposal with the hashtag, #wontbeerased, and are preparing to challenge the federal government if the proposal is implemented. At Whitman, members of the Pride Alliance Club are promising to raise their voices if the plan goes through.

“It’s very disturbing,” club president Aubrey Lay said. “This administration

16

has not been entirely accepting of the transgender community, but this is outright erasure. I know for me and a lot of other members of the LGBT community, it’s a scary development.”

The proposal isn’t the first time the president has targeted the LGBTQ+ community. The Trump administration prohibited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using “transgender” as a term in official documents and rolled back federal Obamaera protections that allowed transgender students to choose the bathroom and locker room that matches their gender identity. Trump also signed a proposal that banned transgender people from military service if they “have undergone gender transition,” but several court orders blocked the ban.

al agency in their statement,” Rice said.

“It reasonably could incentivize more employers to discriminate against their employees or potential employees.”

Transgender people are already twice as likely to be unemployed as cisgender people, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality. Sampaio wants to be a public school teacher when they grow up and thinks the memo would impede their goals.

“The change could influence my ability to get a job or how students and faculty treat me,” Sampaio said. “I wouldn’t want to be refused a job or discriminated against just because I want to give education to kids.

More employment discrimination likely

”Doctors could deny care to transgender patients, and medical providers could choose to misgender, or identify their patients as the wrong gender, Georgetown University healthcare analyst Katie Keith said. In 27 states—excluding Maryland—there are no clear, state-level anti-discrimination protections for transgender individuals. If the memo is implemented, doctors and providers potentially wouldn’t face repercussions in these states, Keith said.

“It could be far more than refusing to deliver gender surgery,” Keith said.

“It can be as critical as refusing to see a patient for a flu because they’re outed as being transgender. That could be really harmful for all transgender individuals, and it could set a dangerous precedent about treating members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

Plastic surgeons in the U.S. conducted over 3,250 operations to help trans-

Under the memo, those who discriminate against transgender people wouldn’t be punished because Title IX—which outlaws workplace discrimination on the basis of sex—wouldn’t include “transgender” as an identity. The Department of Justice told the Supreme Court Oct. 24 that it’s lawful to discriminate against transgender employees based on their identity.

Though the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argues that Title VII protects transgender employees, the memo refers to Title IX, so it could still lead to workplace discrimination, Lambda Legal attorney Ethan Rice said.

“It’s completely unprecedented that the DOJ would go against another feder-

Denial of healthcare for non-binary people

gender people transition in 2016.

Seventy percent of transgender and non-binary individuals have faced “serious discrimination” when seeking healthcare, according to a Lambda Legal survey.

“When providers, hospitals and doctors see a potential change in the federal government’s wording of gender, it could embolden them to discriminate more against transgender and non-binary individuals without fear of consequence,” Rice said.

Increase in misgendering

The Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Labor and Justice could classify health, school and other records under an individual’s birth identity. As a result, schools and employers would know if a person is transgender, Keith said.

“For people like me and for some of my trans friends who change their name at school, it’s scary that there’s a chance we could be outed when we apply for a job or even go to school,” said senior Urban Seiberg, who uses the they/them pronoun. “Already, there’s a lot of unintentional or intentional misgenderment at Whitman and it could get worse if the plan was to go through.”

Community reacts to memo

Navy Lieutenant Kris Moore is a member of SPART*A Pride, an organization of LGBTQ+ people who have served or currently serve in the military. Moore is a transgender man and said he thinks the military ban and memo don’t represent the feelings of most people in the military.

“As far as the military goes—those of us not dealing with the politics and bureaucracy—we see good change,” Moore said. “We are observing our brothers and sisters coming together to support transgender service members. On the ground level, we need to continue to set the example and to do our jobs to the best of our ability. If people stop making such a big deal about why we shouldn’t be here, they may have a chance to see why we should be here.”

At the University of Maryland, the LGBT Equity Center sent a letter to LGBTQ+ students on campus, assuring them that the organization would take all necessary actions to change the policy if the proposal is implemented.

“We have already seen folks driven away from military jobs and scholarships for being trans. We know more people are having to sue

to access their rights instead of being able to access their rights through administrative processes,” Associate Director Shige Sakurai wrote in the letter. “The fact that I’m having to write this letter shows how much fear and misinformation even the prospect of policy change creates for our communities.”

Lexie Bean is a non-binary trans author and a domestic violence and sexual assault victim. Bean said that they’ve heard derogatory terms directed toward them and worries the government wouldn’t check this hatred against non-binary individuals if the memo is implemented.

“People have called me a failed boy or a failed girl,” Bean said. “The memo, even if it never sees the light of day, still shows that the government doesn’t care about me and that the government doesn’t have my best interests at heart.”

For the Pride Alliance, the memo is another reason to rally for more protections for transgender students, Lay said.

“If the proposal goes through, we would raise our voices,” Lay said.

“It’s unclear where we’ll be a week or a year from now, but we’re going to make sure that people know that transgender people exist, regardless of what the government says.”

Perspective: A transgender student fears losing rights after Trump proposal

by LUKAS GATES

I

n all honesty, President Donald Trump’s proposal to no longer accept transgender as an identity terrified me. I have been out as transgender for two years. And in five months, I’ll turn 18: the age I’m certain I can legally transition. If the proposal—the erasure of transgender as a legal identity—goes through, I’ll never have the option to legally transition. Instead, for the rest of my life, I’ll be forced to live as the woman I’m not.

Times like these—when the collective voice of the transgender community is ignored—are times when

we need our allies the most. Your voices next to ours will make it more difficult for those fighting for our erasure to ignore us. Shout. Protest.

Scream. But more importantly, offer support to any trans* friends you may have. Listen to them and their thoughts on the situation. If given permission to do so, correct people when they misgender your trans* friend. Be a shoulder for them to lean on; become the space space they may need but not have.

For me, dealing with gender dysphoria, in school especially, has always been difficult. I will skip classes to avoid the feeling, and when it becomes bad enough, I will refuse to

leave my house. The thought of transitioning is an escape for me. The possibility of having a deep voice, reducing the fat around my hips, and flattening my chest is what I cling to when I feel suicidal.

If the proposal goes through, my chance of medically or legally transitioning is crushed.

I have come very close commiting suicide. One reason I have stayed alive is for the hope that at 18 I will be able to live my life freely.

But in today’s political climate, I often ask myself: should I have?

Lukas Gates is the photo director for The Black & White 17

Local mom creates disability-inclusive complex

by CLARA KORITZ HAWKES

F

or six years, Westin Beveridge has been waiting for a Montgomery County housing voucher so he can find a place to live independently. Beveridge, who has autism, lives at home and works in D.C. part time. Now 24, he wants to move out like his sister did when she was 23; but he isn’t likely to move out soon. Beveridge expects to be on the housing waitlist for quite some time, and without the voucher, he can’t live independently.

But this all might change next winter.

Bethesda mother Jillian Copeland and her family have spent 18 months designing, gathering support for and developing Mainstreet: an affordable and accessible living community for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Beveridge hopes to move into one of Mainstreet’s 18 units designated solely for people with disabilities when the complex opens in winter 2019.

Copeland decided to create Mainstreet after struggling to find a suitable community for her son, Nicol, who has epilepsy.

“I looked around the country at many places for months, but none of them were exactly what I was looking for,” Copeland said. “None of them were a place where everyone could really belong.”

Financial assistance from the state, Montgomery County and personal fundraisers will fund Mainstreet. The intention is to create an integrated community, since the project is geared toward housing people with and without IDDs, Copeland said.

Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 19. Congressman Jamie Raskin, State Secretary of Disabilities Carol Beatty, State Secretary of Housing Ken Holt and County Executive Ike Leggett attended the ceremony.

Mainstreet is one of the first communities of its kind nationally, Copeland said.

Of the few facilities that do exist, most offer short-term support, said Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo, who oversees admissions and marketing at the Chapel Haven Schleifer Center in Connecticut. Chapel Haven offers several programs to empower individuals with developmental and social disabilities to live independently.

The construction of Mainstreet is more relevant now than ever because the number of people who need affordable and inclusive housing is likely to increase, Sullivan-DeCarlo said.

“There’s going to be lot of families looking for help that they might not have the means to achieve right now,” she said.

A digital rendering illustrates what Mainstreet’s common room will look like when it opens in winter 2019. The complex will provide housing for people with disabilities.

Photo courtesy JILLIAN COPELAND

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Many people with IDDs live in nursing homes or with their parents, Patricia Sylvester said. Sylvester directs housing programs for the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Administration. Mainstreet solves this: at the complex, people with IDDs will live in a building specifically designed for them.

For parents of adults with IDDs, finding appropriate accommodations is challenging.

Since few opportunities exist, parents are usually left to figure out their child’s living situation on their own, Whitman Learning for Independence teacher Ryan Mullin said.

Although Maryland is a national leader in housing for people with IDDs, programs still lack funding, so existing housing is often very expensive, the DDA’s Sylvester said.

This is where Mainstreet comes in: units cost as little as $300 a month. The complex is near the Rockville Metro Station, several bus stops, and is just a few blocks from Rockville Town Center shops and other services.

The apartment’s community center gives people with IDDs a place to socialize, Takoma parent Matt Hurson said. His son Edward has autism and lives in a house in Gaithersburg that’s supported by the Maryland DDA. “People with IDDs need spontaneity.

My son doesn’t do anything that isn’t on a written agenda,” Hurson said. “Every hour of every day is planned out. He’s missing that social component which would make a big difference.”

Creating a living space for people with and without IDDs benefits both groups, Sylvester said.

“It’s crucial that these individuals have the opportunity to interact with and learn from people who are like them and people who aren’t,” she said. “The community seeing that engagement and taking part in it is really important.”

For Copeland, this is more than just a personal project; it’s her contribution to ensuring equality for people with disabilities, she said.

“At the end of the day, this is an equal rights issue,” Copeland said. “People need accessibility, transportation, meaningful employment and opportunities to live independently, which isn’t happening for the disabilities community yet.

People are rising up though, and it really is a movement of inclusion and respect.”

P

BY KATIE HANSON

ZEIDENBERG...

Photo courtesy TIME

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W

...is fighting for change

...eeks before what ...s o m e e x p e r t s ...called the most important midterms in American history, senior Rachel Zeidenberg was frantic. It was the day before the election, and she was incessantly posting reminders to vote on her Instagram story, preparing for an all-night election watch party and wearing a March for Our Lives T-shirt.

The design resembled an American flag—if an American flag was reinvented by a 17-year-old social activist: the white stars were in the shape of a QR code that linked to a voter registration website.

The shirt, she said, was just something she threw on that morning. For Zeidenberg, social activism is just that: “innate” and instinctual.

Now, after planning several protests and organizing a Whitman branch of the National Association of Students Against Gun Violence, activism has morphed into her identity.

“I find it very fulfilling,” Zeidenberg said. “When you do something or plan a protest, and people are telling you that this inspired them to do something, that makes it worth it.”

Zeidenberg became ...interested in social ...activism in middle school after watching Emma Watson’s 2014 United Nations speech on gender equality. Looking back, she calls her seventh grade self a “radical feminist.” After Trump was elected, she started attending immigration rallies by herself.

But it wasn’t until the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas that she decided to make gun control her top priority.

“It’s a non-partisan issue,” she said. “96 people are killed by gun violence a day.

We need to do something.”

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On April 18, Zeidenberg, along with nine other protesters, lay down in front of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office to symbolize the effects of the government’s inaction on gun control. This protest was part of several nationwide “Die-in” demonstrations. She and three other protesters were arrested after refusing to move and had to wait in a holding cell in D.C.’s juvenile detention center for hours.

Although she was nervous at the time, she said she would make the same decision today. Her tweet about the arrest was retweeted 9,500 times, and Teen Vogue published an article about the arrests April 24.

“It got a lot of media attention. Since then, there have been so many other young people who have gotten arrested outside his office,” Zeidenberg said “I wanted him to feel the pressure of ‘this is what the people want.’”

Naomi Caplan, a freshman at Guilford College and one of the students who was arrested, said Zeidenberg inspires her.

“It was something we were all really nervous about,” Caplan said. “I was proud of her in the moment when she didn’t leave when she heard the warnings. I thought it was incredibly brave of her.”

After tweeting about the experience, Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg, two vocal survivors of the Parkland shooting, tweeted a video of the arrest and asked if anyone knew who the activists were.

Zeidenberg direct messaged Gonzalez and Hogg on Twitter and they congratulated her on her activism.

In the past, creating social m o v e m e n t s w i t h o u t technology was difficult, Zeidenberg said. Now, she stays updated on upcoming events through group chats

with other activists, some of whom are school shooting survivors. Zeidenberg and other young activists are determined to launch a new wave of activism—one where a message can begin from a single phone screen and spread to the entire country in a matter of minutes.

This idea inspired the hashtag #IfIDieInASchoolShooting, which originated in a group chat with Parkland, Great Mills and the Pulse Shooting survivors.

Members decided they would all simultaneously tweet the hashtag and their personal reactions to school shootings.

In a little less than a day, the hashtag went viral and tens of thousands of people retweeted it.

“You can’t say you believe in something if you’re not willing to fight for it, willing to actually step up and do something about it,” Zeidenberg said. “You have to fight for what you believe in. Fighting for real change and real solutions.”

She hopes Congress passes a bill requiring universal background checks.

During the year, Zeidenberg interns at Rep. Jamie Raskin’s office a few times a week and misses school one to two times a month for rallies and protests.

Although Angie Zeidenberg, her mom, is proud of her daughter’s efforts, she said it can be hard for her daughter to find a balance between school and activism.

“She thinks that activism will continue and high school is short-lived,” Angie said.

“It’s something we’re working on: to value school and get through this.”

Last month, Zeidenberg was one of 245 Americans who appeared in a TIME Magazine front cover collage on gun control. The subjects ranged from a Baltimore school principal who has at-

tended her students’ funerals to a woman who created her own clothing line for carrying weapons.

TIME contacted Michael Nevett, a student protestor who’s a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, about the cover and asked him to find student activists to appear in the photo.

Nevett invited Zeidenberg to the photo shoot after he sent a text in one of her student activist group chats.

Even though she had to miss the first day of her senior year for the photoshoot, she said the shoot was important because it provided a multi-dimensional perspective on gun control.

“I thought it was really cool how they got all these different perspectives,” Zeidenberg said. “It changes the way Americans think about guns.”

Still, she said, she doesn’t want to be the center of attention. When asked what activism meant to her, she didn’t talk about herself. Instead, she brought up the Kavanaugh hearings; the alleged lynching of Danye Jones, the son of a prominent AfricanAmerican activist in Missouri who was found hanging from a tree in his backyard; and the need for increased gun control.

At the March for Our Lives, Zeidenberg ...started talking to the woman who was marching next to her, something she said she often does to learn about issues from a personal standpoint. Impressed with the work Zeidenberg had done, the woman introduced her to her son, University of Virginia freshman Adin Segal, who founded Students Against Gun Violence. After she spent hours on Face Time with him every day for a few weeks to discuss expanding the organization, he appointed her president of the DMV

Senior Rachel Zeidenberg stands at the March for Racial Justice (left) in September 2017. Zeidenberg and 20 activists sit in Senator Ted Cruz’s office in a call for gun control (right). Zeidenberg has attended around 15 demonstrations in the past year. Photos courtesy RACHEL ZEIDENBERG

branch. As president, she is responsible for creating new chapters of the club throughout the D.C. area. In April, she established the Whitman branch of NASAGV, now called Whitman Students for Change, a branch of MoCo Students for Change. Last year, around 40 students joined the club.

“It’s definitely challenging to start an organization, and I remember times where she was getting on the phone with me at 11:30 or 12 at night, even though we had just met,” Segal said. “She’s really awesome to work with.”

Whitman Student for Change vice president Becca Mills said Zeidenberg genuinely cares about the issues she marches for.

“She’s a firecracker,” Mills said. “She’s one of those rare people who cares about things, takes the time to really learn about them and talks to other people about their experiences with them.”

At their first meeting this year, Zeidenberg casually sat on a stool in front of ten students. With her feet propped on a seat, she beamed as she talked about the club’s transition from Students Against Gun Violence to Whitman Students for Change. The group will focus on a variety of social justice issues,

not just gun control. With the whole group nodding along, she expressed her frustration with the lack of Whitman students going to rallies and protests.

“Whitman has always seemed very isolated from the rest of Montgomery County, and I hate that,” Zeidenberg said. “Montgomery County is so diverse. It’s such an amazing community, but Whitman is in its own little bubble.”

The club plans to hold fundraisers for groups like Chicago Strong, a gun violence coalition, and Change the Ref, an organization focused on registering voters and encouraging people to vote for politicians who don’t accept money from the National Rifle Association. Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver’s parents, Manuel and Patricia, created Change the Ref. “They are obviously devastated, but they turn their pain into action,” Zeidenberg said. “They don’t just stay at home, and I just think that’s so incredible.”

ily held a phone bank at her house for Texas Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke. She said her daughter’s activism has caused a flip in the normal parent-child relationship: she often looks to her daughter for direction.

“She inspires me to do more,” Angie said. If anything, we did the phone bank and we do the rallies and protests because of her. She influenced us more than we influenced her.”

The last time Rachel and I spoke, she was preparing for a Rockville memorial in honor of Danye Jones. Although she had to commute from a North American Federation of Temple Youth event in Baltimore to attend the memorial and wasn’t sure if she would make it in time, she was intent on going.

“It’s important that everytime one of these things happens, we show up in full force and make it clear that we are not stepping down,” she said. “This is not something that we’re just going to let keep happening.”

W.hen asked how ...they would.describe Zeidenberg, the other activists, her mom and Zeidenberg herself said “passionate.”

For Zeidenberg’s mom, that passion is inspiring.

Earlier this month, the fam-

But the young social ...activist.is still a high ...schooler. Zeidenberg said she has met some of her best friends through social activism.

When she woke up on March 24, she knew she would march in a national

gun control protest alongside thousands of students, including the Parkland survivors. But as she began getting ready for the day, she had no idea she would meet them herself. It was 7:30 a.m., hours before the March for Our Lives protest, and Zeidenberg was busy snapping photos in a crowd of over 2,000 at a pre-protest event.

With a camera around her neck, she took a shot of a few kids her age and started talking to them. When the group told her they were from Stoneman Douglas, Zeidenberg was taken aback. That day, she grew close with them: they gave her a Stoneman Douglas sweatshirt so she could join them in the march, and she went to their cookout on a hotel rooftop that night.

In the spring, she plans to fly to Florida to attend Stoneman Douglas’ Prom with a friend she met that day.

Activism encompasses almost every aspect of her life, she said.

“I care about what I do a lot. I put all of my energy into these things,” she said. “We can’t just wait for changes to be made and hope for the best, because the future does affect us.”

Becca Mills is a podcaster for The Black & White.

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Q& A

Photo courtesy ADAM HIRSH

Tennis, track, lacrosse and field hockey?

Four-sport athlete Hanna Freund does it all

by SARA AZIMI Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Senior Hanna Freund doesn’t have an offseason—and that’s just how she likes it. She’s played tennis in the fall for the past two years, and spent every winter since freshman year running indoor track. For the past three spring seasons, Freund has played varsity lacrosse.

This year, after tennis was moved to the spring, Freund was left with an empty fall season, so she added yet another varsity sport to her impressive athletic career: field hockey.

Just a month before field hockey tryouts, Freund didn’t know the rules of the game or even how to properly hit the ball, but that didn’t stop her from making the varsity team in August.

For Freund, athletics has been the most important part of her high school experience, she said. Her teammates say her natural athleticism has allowed her to pick up any sport with ease.

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The Black & White: What was it like playing field hockey for the first time?

Hanna Freund: It’s pretty similar to a bunch of sports, so it’s not that hard to pick up. I only practiced for an hour with my friend before tryouts. The rules are kind of difficult at first, but eventually you get the hang of it.

There are three different types of hits in field hockey, and my friends taught me those; that’s really all you need to know as a beginner. I have enough athleticism to just pick it up.

I also don’t get intimidated with people who are better. I knew there were people better than me, so I used them as a motivation. When I would get past one of the really good players, I would think, ‘nice.’ I was really happy. My goal was to beat a really good player and score on the goalie.

B&W: Do you ever want a break from sports?

HF: I can honestly say that I like always having a sport—that’s why I decided to do field hockey. I like always being active, and even when we have a rainy day and practice is canceled, I’ll still go to

the gym or run. I look forward to all the games and hanging out at all the team events with my teammates. Especially for lacrosse and tennis, that was a huge part.

B&W: What made you decide to pick up another sport in the fall of your senior year instead of focusing on college applications?

HF: Personally, I didn’t really think that much about college applications—it’s just not that stressful for me. I feel like I couldn’t sit down and do homework for hours as soon as I get home, so I definitely like the break to do some physical activity in between.

B&W: How has playing sports your entire life has impacted you?

HF: It’s definitely made me a better team player, taught me a lot of time management and taught me to stay active. Not being active is weird for me. I always want to be doing something. When I’m sitting on the sidelines for field hockey, I just want to run. I play every second in lacrosse, and tennis was the same, so it’s weird not playing something.

leveling the scale how mcps is narrowing the opportunity gap

By Meera Dahiya aRTWORK BY JOEY SOLA-SOLE

I

n 1970, almost 92 percent of MCPS students were white, according to a University of Denver graduate student project. But by the 2016-2017 school year, that number had dropped to around 28 percent, according to the MCPS At-A-Glance report. The county is a microcosm of the nation as a whole: by 2045, the nation is projected to become “minority white.”

Immigration has made Montgomery County, the 16th largest county in the nation, more diverse. Among D.C. suburbs, Montgomery County has the highest percent of residents who are foreign born, according to analysis from the Maryland Office of Policy. The largest wave of immigration occurred between 1990 and 2010, the Brookings Institute found. Latin American immigrants accounted for the largest portion, according to the Montgomery County League of Women Voters.

As MCPS has become more diverse, it has also become more racially segregated. Although MCPS is diverse overall, a 2014 Office of Legislative Oversight report revealed that few schools reflect that diversity. ProPublica, a national investigative media outlet, reported that the segregation index in Montgomery County is “high.” From 2011 to 2015, just over 30 percent of students in

the Takoma Park and Silver Spring area were white and just over 70 percent of students in the Bethesda and Potomac area were white, according to the Urban Institute.

This de facto segregation occurs because students with similar socioeconomic status are clustered together in the same schools. House prices and average income vary significantly within the county. In 2018, Bethesda has a median family income of $146,664, while Silver Spring’s is nearly half that at $72,790. The Stanford Education Data Archive concluded that socioeconomic status is directly tied with academic achievement.

NAACP Parents’ Council co-chair Angela Jones said minorities face economic obstacles that have been perpetuated throughout history. The schools in lower-income areas—John F. Kennedy, Wheaton, Watkins Mill—have a majority of minority students. MCPS’ five top ranked schools, according to US News and World Report (Whitman wasn’t ranked), are all in higher income neighborhoods; they have a plurality of white students.

De facto segregation contributes to the opportunity gap, Montgomery County senior legislative analyst Elaine Bonner-Tompkins said. The opportunity gap

is the way race and socioeconomic status create disparities in student achievement. Schools with the highest minority enrollment are in the lowest income areas, and as a result, lack funding for an enriched education. Black students are, on average, three grades behind white students, and Hispanic students are 3.2 grades behind, according to ProPublica.

“Schools at a Glance” reports from the 2017-2018 found Kennedy has the largest minority population percentage—over 95 percent—while Whitman is the least diverse school in the county, with a 66.8 percent white population.

Kennedy’s average SAT scores are 300 points lower than Whitman’s, and their graduation rate is 14 percent less.

The opportunity gap extends beyond high school and affects students in college and in their careers, principal Robert Dodd said.

“If schools or communities don’t provide opportunities, then kids will naturally lack certain experiences that will potentially help them later in life,” he said. “If kids don’t get access to higher level courses, they could be less college or career ready.”

As the divide grows, students, parents and educators continue to ask themselves: how can we close the gap?

In 2017, Whitman’s PTSA raised $74,000 In 2017, Kennedy’s PTSA raised $6,000

what the opportunity gap looks like Although MCPS gives more dollars per student for enrichment programs to lower income schools, private funding though PTSAs, education foundations and parent booster organizations contributes to the gap.

Whitman’s PTSA raised around $74,000 in 2017, excluding its post prom funds.

The Kennedy PTSA, though, raised about $6,000.

Kennedy’s PTSA spent 24

around $5,000 of that money on post prom, PTSA secretary Kelley Eiskant said, adding that this didn’t leave a lot of money for discretionary spending on additional school resources or staff development.

“We’re sorely underfunded,” Eiskant said. “The major thing that we really do every year is post prom, and ideally we would like to be able to support our staff mem-

bers and students in other ways.”

The Whitman Education Foundation raises funds from parent and community member donations. During the 2016-2017 school year, the Foundation raised $132,883, which it used to fund 44 new grants for programs, including purchasing 100 new Chromebooks, 3D printers for engineering programs, new furniture in the media

center and new lighting consoles in the auditorium.

Some of the money is also used for professional development, which helps teachers enhance their skills to teach AP and other higher level courses.

In contrast, some MCPS high schools, including Wheaton, Springbrook and Albert Einstein, don’t have an education foundation at all.

Many downcounty schools

don’t receive a lot of private donations since parents are often trying to make ends meet, English teacher Cody Therrien, who taught at Kennedy, said.

“There’s a lot more active engagement from the parents, and I think that’s due to economic factors generally speaking,” Therrien said. “A lot of my students at Kennedy—their parents were working several jobs. They didn’t have the money to donate, and they didn’t have the time to donate.”

When Therrien worked at Kennedy, he taught a student who easily earned a hundred percent on all of her progress checks. He was shocked to

learn she lives in a basement with three other families. She was talented, he said, but he worried she wouldn’t reach her full potential.

The Black & White has a staff of 86 students in three class periods, with a budget that runs around $19,000 year. Ninety percent of its income comes from subscriptions, many of which are purchased by journalism parents who support the publication.

This magazine, for example, costs upwards of $2250 to print; The Black & White will spend about $10,000 on printing costs for the five tabloid and two magazine issues it will produce this year.

Because this publication has

the resources to produce high quality journalism, it wins national awards and increases recognition for student journalists, adding prestige to resumes before college applications and perpetuating the cycle of inequity. This opportunity is not an economic possibility for schools in low income areas.

Many downcounty students lack financial support to spend on extracurriculars, multiple SATs—the county funds the first one if taken during a school day—and school trips, but their family incomes make them ineligible for fee waivers, Eiskant said.

Montgomery Blair senior Kayla Malone is a member

Looking Forward

T

here’s no clear or easy solution to the opportunity gap. The MCPS Equity Initiatives Unit, which aims to eliminate racial predictability in student achievement, is working to narrow that gap by focusing on culturally responsive training for teachers. This practice emphasizes individual student needs, especially those of minority and immigrant students.

The Board of Education is working to prevent further segregation and provide more support to level the playing field in early education.

This year, the Board passed Policy FAA, which specifies that if boundaries are redrawn, they cannot further segregate students. But it’s unlikely county officials will redraw boundaries to reduce de facto segregation, Board member Patricia O’Neill said. While the Board is considering redrawing adjacent boundary lines to fix issues with overcrowding, any future adjustments would keep students of similar socioeconomic status and race together.

As an initial strategy, MCPS is trying to close the gap early on by lengthening the school year from 180 to 210 days for two downcounty elementary schools.

Students in lower-income areas often return to school at a disadvantage because they don’t have the opportunity to continue their learning during summer camps or travel, MCPS Public Information Director Derek Turner said.

Board member-elect Karla Silvestre

believes increasing access to preschool is key. MCPS is already working on expanding the Head Start program, which helps low-income children prepare for kindergarten, from half a day to a full day, she said.

“I feel like when you have a big problem, it’s really important to figure out where you can make the biggest difference and really focus relentlessly in that particular area,” Silvestre said.

“More than half of MCPS kids are not ready for kindergarten, and that means the gap begins before kindergarten.”

Board member Jeanette Dixon wants quarterly reports to hold the Board accountable on closing the gap, she said.

“It should be something on the Board’s agenda to show that we are not just giving lip service to this, and it’s something that we really want to work on,” Dixon said.

Diversity in the classroom means teachers need to recognize students’ cultural norms. Equity Unit director Troy Boddy said adapting to students’ individual needs can help them feel more comfortable in that classroom. To that end, The Equity Unit has promoted culturally responsive training. This training helps teachers learn differences in cultural norms so they don’t punish a student for misunderstanding social and academic behaviors, Whitman staff development teacher Anne Chiasson said.

In schools in lower income areas, special programs enrich student learn-

of the minority scholars program. She says this gap extends to academics as well.

“In my classes, I know a lot of other minority students that don’t want to take AP Calc because they don’t have the opportunity to get the tutor that a more privileged student can get,” she said.

“They just don’t want to take the class because they feel threatened and don’t have the same opportunities,” she said Many Kennedy students have learned to make the most of their circumstances, senior Kiera Hall said.

“We all try our hardest to succeed,” Hall said. “We make lemonade out of the sourest lemons that we are given.”

ing or provide an alternative to college education. In 2004 the county created a downcounty consortium to promote school choice. In the consortia, each school has unique programs.

At Kennedy, students can choose from the International Baccalaureate program, the Leadership Training Institute, the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, Broadcast Journalism Academy and Business Administration and Management Academy. These programs provide alternatives to typical classroom learning.

The opportunity gap isn’t confined to low-income areas. An opportunity gap also exists within Whitman, Dodd said. To address the gap Dodd said he wants to ensure all students have access to higher level classes, including AP classes, regardless of their background.

He also wants to look in to a two-day college trip for students who don’t have the financial resources to visit colleges on their own.

“Education is very slow to change,” the Equity Unit’s Boddy said. “It’s a lot of heavy lifting, but it’s something that we are chipping away at. We want everyone to have the same opportunities and best curriculum, no matter who they are.

Aditi Gujaran and Alex Robinson also contributed to this story

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Consent isn’t a textbook issue.

We shouldn’t treat it that way.

UNLESS CONSENT IS IMPLIED, UNDERSTOOD OR SUGGESTED

Artwork by EVA HERSCOWITZ

by ALEX ROBINSON Students’ names have been changed to protect privacy.

I

n addition to learning multiplication and cursive, Liz Kleinrock’s third grade students at the Citizens of The World Charter School in Los Angeles, California, are learning about a more abstract concept: consent.

Kleinrock’s class defines consent as “saying yes to allowing someone to do something.” In a series of lessons, Kleinrock and her students establish situations when consent is necessary and review examples of what consent does and doesn’t sound like.

“If we’re lining up outside and somebody is putting their hands on you— whether that’s hugging, or pushing or grabbing something that belongs to you—learning how to say really firmly

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‘stop’ or ‘I don’t like that,’ and for you to feel empowered and confident, is crucial,” she said.

Consent isn’t a new concept. But with the current national spotlight on sexual misconduct, highlighted by the 2017 #MeToo movement and Christine Blasey Ford’s recent sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, there’s a national push for consent education.

But for our generation, when we were as young as Kleinrock’s third graders—the time in our lives when we were beginning to formulate our perceptions of the world and ourselves—nobody thought to teach us these lessons.

Today’s teenagers are caught between two worldviews: the one we as a country are striving for, where consent is common, and the one we live with, where the voices of sexual assault victims are silenced and “consent” isn’t

mentioned in any common core curricula.

I hope that our understanding of consent evolves alongside the former movement—that we learn how to say “no” to people and respect others’ boundaries.

But this important lesson isn’t something we can learn through a few lessons in health class. Until society recognizes the complexity of consent, we can’t begin to change the toxic behavior surrounding consent.

Students’ relationship with consent

We engage in more casual relationships than our parents did, and while this isn’t necessarily harmful, more than a few consent “gray zones” accompany these relationships. Often, these casual relationships involve less communication, so feeling empowered enough to say “no” to uncomfortable situations is difficult.

During February of her freshman year, now-junior Sarah couldn’t wait to go to the annual Whitman dance marathon, Vike-a-Thon. But her expectations were shattered when she spent most of the four-hour event avoiding a boy who liked her.

Instead of making memories with friends, she spent the night feeling paranoid and hiding among groups of people or in the bathroom, not wanting to uncomfortably reject the boy but not wanting to hook up with him either.

“Concert culture” implies that anyone can hook up with anyone and that girls should anticipate this behavior.

Saying no is an option, but that’s not always easy: Sarah herself couldn’t muster the courage to just tell the boy, “I don’t want to hook up with you.” Maybe she thought it would be easier to avoid him.

Maybe she thought he might not listen.

“Anyone can go up to anyone and grope them or start making out with them,” Sarah said. “People can push them off and say no, but being a girl at these events, you kind of have to be on guard because there’s no regard for consent.”

Confidently saying no and expecting others to respect these boundaries is especially hard for teenage girls. In a Black & White article published last December about sexual harassment, reporters found that young people often misinterpret inappropriate sexual behavior as harmless. They may even think it’s desirable, researcher Jennifer Livingston said, because it’s the first time in their lives they’re receiving sexual attention.

This, combined with the fact that adolescence is a time when girls’ selfesteem is at an all-time low—clinical psychologist Robin Goodman found that girls’ self-confidence peaks when they’re nine years old—makes sexual attention exciting, even if that attention isn’t healthy.

Often, we don’t know a partner well enough to say “no” without it being awkward. A month ago, junior Anna hung out with a boy she liked. She said both of them basically knew they were going to hook up before she got to his house. But when they did, he immediately asked her to do something she wasn’t comfortable with. She stood up for herself and said no—but it was awkward. She felt guilty, so she agreed to do something else he wanted instead.

Trends like #MyBodyIsMine, a hashtag that circulated through social media on International Women’s Day last spring, assert that everyone has control over their body. That doesn’t mean

it’s always easy to assert that right; even Anna’s confidence faltered in asserting her right to say no. But it’s not her fault.

I blame our relationship with consent— and we can’t change it overnight.

Consent education: a movement?

Like many teens, Montgomery County teenager Maeve Kelly was appalled by the 2016 election, especially by then-candidate Donald Trump’s sexist remarks and sexual assault allegations. So her mom, Maryland delegate Ariana Kelly, proposed a bill in 2016 that would bolster consent education in MCPS. The bill, which the Maryland State Senate passed last May, will add age-appropriate lessons on the meaning of consent to all public middle and high schools.

Some Republicans and conservative Democrats in the State Senate opposed the bill, which frustrated Kelly, she said “To me, it’s common sense,” she said. “We are already teaching pregnancy prevention and STI prevention.

That’s the more controversial stuff. This is just, ‘don’t do it if they’re not interested.’ It’s basic dignity and respect.”

Basic it is—so basic that Kleinrock’s third graders can grasp it. I like to think students understand the concept of “don’t do it if they’re not interested,” but understanding doesn’t necessarily translate to actions. After all, one in five women are victims of sexual assault while in college, according to a 2007 Department of Justice study, and I don’t think 20-year-old Stanford swimmer Brock Turner raped Emily Doe in 2015 because he didn’t know the definition of consent—he just chose to ignore it.

What’s more important than learning definitions is a moral education: teaching young people to respect their partners and giving them the tools they need to feel comfortable saying “no”.

At Whitman, the health course includes lessons on personal boundaries, healthy communication in relationships and how to define consent, health teacher Nikki Marafatsos said. Along with these lessons, Marafatsos brings in guest speakers to talk to students during the Family Life and Human Sexuality unit.

Junior Gabby Kisslinger took Health last year. But she doesn’t think students learned enough about consent, she said.

“We mostly just talked about condoms and ways to not get pregnant,” Kisslinger said. “They touched on consent but not enough.”

But what would have been enough?

A few more examples of what consent

doesn’t look like? A larger emphasis on the importance of personal boundaries?

I’m not saying these lessons aren’t important—they’re definitely a step in the right direction. But people will still ignore consent. If everyone had perfect morals, the #MeToo movement wouldn’t exist.

The way we’re thinking and talking about these issues as a whole has changed; me writing this story is proof of that. When Kelly was growing up, the common perception was that girls never want to have sex and that it’s up to boys to convince girls to, she said.

Now, she thinks and hopes this culture has changed.

“I’m the parent of a teenage daughter and an elementary school son, and I want both of them to know the importance of consent,” Kelly said. “The way we think about these issues has changed so much.”

But the crescendo of consent awareness also makes the issue more confusing, with mixed messages coming from an onslaught of campaigns, “Yes Means Yes” to “Time’s Up.” Consent should be simple, and Kleinrock’s lessons show that. Her third graders probably couldn’t tell you the textbook definition of consent. But they know to ask their teacher for permission before they give her a hug. They know that they always have the power to say “no” if they aren’t comfortable with someone touching them or taking their things without asking. And they know that if someone says “stop” or “I don’t like that,” they always have to respect that without second thought.

They have years to practice those skills before they have to apply them to sexual consent. Hopefully, by the time they get there, they won’t feel like they have to spend the night of a school dance avoiding a boy or go along with their partners’ wants because they would feel guilty otherwise and hopefully, their partners will accept and respect a “no” in any situation.

“You can’t go back in time to change things that have happened,” Kleinrock said. “But students can learn social and emotional skills now to prevent them from getting in those situations later on.”

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Photos courtesy ARLIE and CARSON LYSTAD

AD

Arlie scores record deal Carson Lystad (‘14) and Ryan Savage (‘14) make it big with Indie band

by DANNY DONOSO

C

...arson Lystad (‘14) and ...Ryan Savage (‘14) have ...played at the New York Bowery Ballroom, performed at the music festival Bonnaroo and recently signed with Atlantic Records.

But only ten years ago, they were performing at the Pyle talent show, with their cover band, Conspiracy.

Lystad and Savage have been performing together for over half their lives. Now, at 22, they’re on tour with their indie-rock band, Arlie.

Arlie recently signed with Atlantic Records and released an EP titled “Wait.” They also have two singles on Spotify and Apple Music. The band has around 135,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and three million plays on its most popular song, “big fat mouth.” The band is planning to release a full-length album in the future.

“We just want to put out a project we believe in and something that’s going to mean something to people,” Lystad said.

Initially, lead singer Nathaniel Banks recorded the music himself.

Layering different instruments over one another in Logic Pro, a music editing program, he then added his own vocals. After refining his songwriting abilities, he decided to start a band his senior year.

“I knew from the time I started writing music that it would need a full band arrangement,” Banks said.

“Everyone could see that I believed in the music and that helped get everyone else inspired to the point where we all believed in the music.”

Banks assembled a group of

Vanderbilt University students, including Lystad, to start playing his compositions.

Despite line-up changes, Lystad has been Arlie’s lead guitarist from the start.

Before Arlie, Savage played music at Northwestern University.

Lystad asked him to play bass in the band. Savage said Arlie is an exciting way to keep playing music and reconnect with his childhood friend.

“I’ve definitely been using a lot of the skills now that I cultivated with Carson throughout middle and high school,” Savage said. “We both have a lot of comfort on stage and have been doing this forever.”

Carson’s father, Jim Lystad, witnessed his son progress from fifth grade at Wood Acres to directing the Whitman Talent Show to joining Arlie. By the time Lystad got to Vanderbilt, he already had strong performance skills.

“He was good at being a member of a band. He worked very hard at it,” Jim said. “Talent Show is a good microcosm of it because it requires a lot of hard work and the ability to create a very tight, finished product.”

Music teacher Terry Alvey had both Lystad and Savage as students.

“The memorable thing about them is what they did around the school,” Alvey said. “They were all around music kids—it’s not like they were just in one band—all of their extracurriculars were music.”

Lystad said his most surreal moment in Arlie was playing Bonnaroo in June, where there were over 50,000 in attendance.

“There’s so much history. It’s such a big festival,” Lystad said.

“I’m pretty vigilant about staying humble, but there definitely are exciting moments, like when we finished performing and T-Pain is starting on the other stage, or suddenly you’re playing a venue where a Nashville legend has played.”

Savage said his most memorable performance with the band was their Sept. 18 tour stop at New York’s Bowery Ballroom.

“We were opening for Mt. Joy, and it was a Friday, so the listeners were coming to see us on their night out. It was a great cycle of giving energy and receiving energy,” Savage said. “I’ve seen some amazing shows at the Bowery Ballroom, and to be playing there was completely electric.”

Savage spent much of his college career immersed in music; he directed a large scale comedy cover band at Northwestern. Savage said it’s exciting to focus on music more seriously, which Arlie provides with full time touring and recording.

The band has been touring for the past few months, which requires big lifestyle changes, Lystad said.

“The whole day revolves around a 45-minute show,” he said. “Instead of going to school or having a day job, you have to build your whole day around one moment.”

The nine-stop tour began Nov. 27, and Lystad said he looks forward to headlining shows.

“We’ve been doing a lot of opening slots for people,” Lystad said.

“But it’s gonna be really cool to play shows where the crowd is there to see us, rather than the headliners.”

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Freshman leaps into competitive ballet school

by ALLY NAVARRETE

F

or freshman Amanda Sartori, life is best lived in a tutu. When she was only two years old, she would eagerly grab her pink tutu and dance around the house for her parents whenever she heard music playing. After years of dancing in her living room, she has found a new stage: The District’s Warner Theatre. She performed in the Washington Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker in front of over a thousand people—tutu in tow.

“From the moment she started walking, she was dancing,” Amanda’s dad, Jason, said. “Even at that young age, the rhythm, movement, balance and grace all came naturally to her.”

Sartori began taking ballet classes at Ballet Petite when she was three. At the studio she learned ballet basics: first and second position, pliés, jumps and turns.

When she was in fifth grade, she starred as Clara in Ballet Petite’s The Nutcracker.

But by fifth grade, Ballet Petite classes became too easy for her, she said. So she auditioned for The Washington Ballet, where she has trained ever since.

She has world-renowned dancers as teachers and practices up to six days and 15 hours a week.

“It’s a very hard school because the teachers expect so much from you,” Sartori said. “They have so much experience that they share, and they know so much.”

Sartori played one of Clara’s friends in TWB’s 2017 production of The Nutcracker. Pre-professional dancers, who are normally at least 17 years old, usually play the role, but Sartori was only 13 when she got the part.

She performs 12 to 13 shows in December, often with several shows in one weekend. She sometimes has to leave school early or miss full days to attend rehearsal.

“It’s so overwhelming and so much,” she said. “But the only thing that I really like about dancing is performing, which I now get to do a lot, which is really nice.”

Sartori said her dance schedule is hard to manage during the school year, and finishing her homework is often difficult. Dancing can also be physically

Photo courtesy AMANDA SARTORI

challenging, and she has had tendinitis in her hip and achilles times throughout her career.

“I’m dancing so much that when I come back, it’s already nine,” she said.

“My feet hurt so much—especially my heels—because my pointe shoes rub up against them.”

While Sartori has considered quitting, she said she could never give up performing. She loves stage make-up, the intricate braids and the costumes she wears for shows. Her favorite costume is a blue dress with a bow that she wears in The Nutcracker.

Performing in big productions from a young age has taught Sartori how to stay calm under pressure.

“It makes me more comfortable when I know that there are people around me doing the same thing I’m doing. I like to watch the other people to make sure I’m doing it correctly,” she said.

Over the summer, Sartori attended a five-week, audition-based intensive at the School of American Ballet in New York City,. She was in the level six group, where she trained with ballerinas who were mostly 17 or 18 years old.

“It was intimidating at first. I didn’t think I could do it,” Sartori said. “I was the only 14-year-old in the entire class.

They could all do steps that I hadn’t heard of before, but it definitely pushed me.”

The intense time commitment often causes her to miss out on normal high school activities and events, she said, but she’s always found ways to maintain her social life. Other TWB dancers admire her ability to balance her schedule.

“Amanda has an incredibly strong work ethic, and it shows in her dancing,” dancer Lily Harburg said. “Sometimes I have no clue how she makes balancing school, ballet and a social life look so easy.”

Sartori said she’s unsure of what she wants to do in the future, but becoming a professional dancer isn’t out of the question.

Even if she doesn’t make dance into her career, ballet has taught her valuable lessons, she said.

“You’re really nervous, but you’re also like, ‘whatever happens, happens,’” she said. “If I fall, then I have to get back up.”

W

Why I’ll Never Go Vegan again

by JACK MIDDLETON I was sitting in a Damascus parking lot when I realized how tough this was going to be. The golf team had just won our match, and we decided to get ice cream on the way home. There was only one problem: I couldn’t eat ice cream. I was vegan.

I say ‘was’ because for two weeks, I ate no meat, eggs or dairy products.

Friends often asked me why I would subject myself to something so torturous.

There were many times during the two weeks when I asked myself the same question. Really, I wanted to see if I could do it. I eat meat and dairy products daily without a second thought, so I was

curious if I could handle such an abrupt dietary shift. The potential health benefits of a vegan diet were also intriguing: would eating only plantbased foods improve my mental and physical health?

Only one day in, it became clear I was under prepared. I started on a Saturday without having the chance to go to the grocery store, so all I ate that day until the late afternoon was apples and peanut butter.

When I finally did go to the grocery store, I bought any vegan frozen meal that attempted to emulate the taste of meat. This was my first crucial mistake, since most of these foods, in fact, were disgusting.

I quickly fell into a sad and unhealthy rhythm. I

skipped breakfast, ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, and a frozen meal for dinner. The only food I somewhat enjoyed was Chipotle and Cava, but the vegan options weren’t nearly as flavorful as my usual order. Instead of chicken and cheese, I was stuck with tofu and veggies.

After a week of this, I’d had enough. I was constantly tired throughout the day, had trouble staying alert in class and frequently needed a nap after school. Maybe the health gurus are wrong, I thought.

After scouring the internet for vegan recipes that sounded appealing, I made a second trip to the store. From here on out, I found the challenge

much easier. I ate homemade vegan chili, granola and vegetable stir-fry. Admittedly, the second week was a better representation of a true vegan diet. Still, I hated it—just not nearly as much.

This is the part where most people write about how the experience changed their life for the better—how they have resolved to become a lifelong vegan and now carry around a pocketful of spinach and a butternut squash at all times in case of emergency.

I would be lying if I wrote that. Going vegan was hard: I constantly had to pay attention to everything I ate. Long story short, going vegan for two weeks wasn’t fun. Do I regret doing it? No. Would I do it again? Absolutely not.

Photo illustration

by LUKAS GATES Artwork by ZOE CHYATTE

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An ‘on-the-go high’ dab pens make getting high easier than ever

by Jessica buxbaum, eva herscowitz and eric neugeboren Photo illustration by JULIA RUBIN

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Students’ names have been changed to protect privacy. am, a sophomore, didn’t used to honey or butter, and inhale the vapor smoke marijuana regularly, he through a tapered mouthpiece. said. Before this summer, he had Some batteries are made to resmoked no more than five times; but semble car keys; others look like eever since his friends introduced him cigarettes, and they’re almost all small to dab pens, he has been high nearly enough to inconspicuously hide in a every weekend and some weeknights. pocket.

If he and his friends didn’t own dab pens, Sam said they wouldn’t smoke ‘It’s horrible and it’s terrifying, but it’s as often, but the easily-concealable so much fun’: students dab at school device makes getting high easier than ever.

Some students are high during the Dab pens are visually and techno- school day, hitting the pen multiple logically similar to e-cigarettes like times before school, during lunch in Juuls, but they vaporize hash oil in- their cars or between classes in the stead of nicotine. Hash oil is a highly bathroom. concentrated form of cannabis that can When senior Jake had to give a contain up to 90 percent THC—mari- presentation while high, he had an juana’s primary psychoactive chemi- anxiety attack. Now, he only gets high cal—so users get high quickly with before class if he knows he won’t have very few hits. Traditional cannabis is to participate. only about 15 percent THC, according “You have to constantly be thinkto the Alcohol and Drug Foundation. ing about what you’re saying and make In a Black & White survey of 75 sure you never do it before a class sophomores, juniors and seniors, 56 where you know you’re going to have said they know someone who owns a to try,” he said. “Everyone in the class dab pen, and 16 own a dab pen them- knew I was so high, but I had to finish selves. the presentation. It was horrible.”

Senior Amanda called dabbing an Amanda said she isn’t usually high “on-the-go high.” at school, but her close friends usually “If you’re on your way to work or are once or twice a week. A few weeks an appointment or school, to pull over ago, she went out to lunch, excited to and have a joint and smoke the whole try her new carts. But when lunch was thing is a timely activity,” she said. over, she felt nervous about being high “But a dab pen, you can just literally at school. do it while you’re driving to wherever “I was convinced everyone walkyou’re going, and it’s so easy. There’s ing out of their classes was staring at no smell, so you can’t really get caught. me. Even though I had nothing on me, You can hit it in your room. You can it’s that feeling of uncertainty,” she hit it in the school bathroom. You can said. “Even though my teachers probhit it in the car and no one knows.” ably don’t know, it makes me uncomUsing a dab pen, which users of- fortable that people I respect who are ten refer to as “ripping” or “hitting the writing my recs see me under an influpen,” involves inserting small, pre- ence. It’s that feeling of paranoia: like filled, flavored hash oil cartridges, or you’re going to somehow get busted.” “carts,” into a cylindrical vaporizer But junior Clark said even though called a battery. Users press a button to he feels “foggy” when he’s high at heat up the oil, which often resembles school, he still finds it “relaxing.”

S

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students use Snapchat to sell, publicize their products

Anyone over 18 can purchase a battery, and dab carts have become just as easy to buy as they are to use.

Even though owning and selling any form of recreational marijuana, including carts, is illegal in Maryland, most student dealers have started advertising their product on their Snapchat stories, which anyone they’re friends with on Snapchat can view.

Harry, a senior dealer, said he was initially nervous to post about carts on Snapchat because it’s so public, but he realized it was the easiest way to get customers and make a profit, he said.

Student dealers often buy carts in bulk from college-age dealers in the area or directly from sources in other states like California or Colorado. If all goes as planned, dealers can flip a single $20 one-gram cart for up to $70, Clark said. Clark said he has made up to $1,000 in one week when working with another dealer. Harry usually makes $300 a week on his own, he said.

Many dealers agree that selling carts is easier than selling weed because the carts don’t smell and are easier to conceal. But there’s still a risk of getting caught.

“The threat is always there. You can get caught anytime with a traffic stop, and I could get my car searched.

I’ll probably stop selling once I turn 18 because it could be really bad to get caught,” Harry said. “You try to be inconspicuous and not get pulled over. You always have to follow the speed limit and traffic laws so you’re not drawing any attention to yourself.”

dab pens dominate daily lives

Jake bought his first battery and cart in March. His friends even bought him carts for his birthday.

Since then, nearly all of his friends have bought their own batteries from vape shops or online and have started buying carts regularly. For the friend group, dabbing is a casual, daily occurrence: they hit the pen before they eat, in the car and almost every time they hang out, he said. Sam said it has also taken over his friend group’s social life.

“A lot of people are not soaking in what they’re doing, myself included,” Sam said. “I think that it’s awful. They’re really ruining true social events. Now, you just go hang out with your friends and get high.

There’s no real social interaction.”

Users agreed that routinely using dab pens desensitizes them to feeling high. When Jake started using a dab pen, one to three hits would make him feel “so high.” Now, he and his friends take up to 12 hits to experience the same sensation.

Many users hit the pen several times throughout the day to make tasks like doing homework or playing video games more enjoyable, senior John said. Some even use it to help them sleep.

“I only hit it once or twice—unless I’m going to sleep. Then, I hit it as many times as I can,” Clark said.

“I don’t really keep track. My thinking is just, ‘Oh, I can’t go to sleep without it.’ I probably could, but I don’t know.”

Researchers find marijuana vaporizers deliver toxins

Vaporizing marijuana can cause the same health effects—coughing, wheezing, paranoia or memory loss—as smoking a joint or taking hits from a bong, said Igor Grant, a cannabis Research Director at the University of California, San Diego.

But with dab pens, users inhale toxic degradation products because the heat applied to vaporize the oil is so intense.

Analytical chemistry researcher Jiries MeehanAtrash works at Portland State University and researches cannabis vaporizing. Meehan-Atrash and two other PSU researchers conducted a 2017 study, finding that vaporizing hash oil may deliver “significant amounts” of toxic byproducts like formaldehyde, a carcinogen found in gasoline and car exhaust, and another compound that has been found to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

It’s unclear if the toxins found in hash oil directly increase users’ risk of developing cancer, MeehanAtrash said.

Meehan-Atrash said dabbing desensitizes users to the effects of e-cigarette smoking. Using both a dab pen and a nicotine vaporizer amplifies the respiratory damage both devices cause, he said.

Dabbing before bed can also be problematic, said Kevin Hill, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Hill said marijuana can limit the amount of time a person spends in the restorative phase. Less time spent in this phase can lead to decreased ability to store memories, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Teens are more likely to get addicted to marijuana than adults, said Linda Richter, the Director of Policy Research and Analysis at the Center on Addiction.

Marijuana can impede adolescent brain development, Richter said. Once the brain becomes more reliant on marijuana, it begins to adapt to the for-

eign substance, affecting how “you think and how you feel.”

While the long-term health effects of dabbing are unclear, frequent use could be dangerous, Grant said.

“Anytime you have an organ that is developing, and you introduce something there that you’re not sure what it’ll do, there’s certainly the potential of harm,” he said.

Admins struggle to detect vaporizer use

Principal Robert Dodd said he’s disappointed students are high at school, though he hadn’t heard of dab pens. Cracking down on dab pen and e-cigarette use in school is difficult, he said.

“Back in the day when kids smoked cigarettes in schools, it was a totally different reality. It was an interruption. You could smell it,” Dodd said. “This is a harder thing to detect.

That’s why it’s been harder for us to figure out what the trends are.”

The number of vaporizers security guards have confiscated this year is in the “single digits,” Dodd said. Dodd is considering having a device that could detect vapor installed in the school bathrooms, he said, but he wants input from MCPS officials, parents and staff before making any decisions.

If teachers believe a student is high in class, they can alert an administrator, counselor or parent directly, but doing so falls within a “gray area” because it’s hard to know definitively if a student is under the influence, he

said. Penalties for possession and use of marijuana in school can result in an in-school suspension and referral to mentoring programs, according to the MCPS Code of Conduct.

A student found selling drugs on school property can face long-term suspension or even possible expulsion. Administrators would also refer students to the county’s Screening and Assessment Services for Children and Adolescents.

“I am clearly concerned for those kids,” Dodd said. “If we knew it, we would be taking an approach that would include consequences and prevention for them to get help.”

But some administrators and security guards aren’t aware that students are high at school—let alone that dab pens vaporize cannabis concentrates.

Last month, Amanda said a security guard told her that he had confiscated a student’s vape—an e-cigarette like a Juul—earlier that day. But the ‘vape’ he showed her was actually a dab pen, she said. When she pointed out the difference, he said he believed the two were the “same thing.”

“It kind of amazed me that they had no awareness there was a difference between a dab pen and a vape because they’re in two completely different categories,” Amanda said.

“I really don’t think they know when students are high, and that’s why the students like to do it. They think it’s funny—kind of like a game—because the teachers don’t know. It’s this little secret.”

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The Invisible Illness: POTS takes a toll on students’ academic, social lives

by DANA HERRNSTADT

I

n seventh grade, junior Caroline Muir said she began feeling a “constant, dull ache” in her stomach.

Doctor after doctor told her the symptoms were nothing to worry about. Some even accused her of having “middle child syndrome,” suggesting she was making up her pain to get attention. But the pain, she said, kept getting worse.

“I went from being a straight ‘A’ student who played soccer and volleyball to someone who was completely debilitated— who couldn’t even stand up on her own,” Muir said. “Going from a healthy person to someone who had their health completely robbed from them out of the blue was heartbreaking.”

So when Muir was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome—a relatively

common disorder of the autonomic nervous system estimated to impact one in every 100 teenagers—halfway through seventh grade, she said she was nervous for the future but also relieved to finally receive a diagnosis. For many POTS patients, like Ellie Trainor (‘18) and junior Jackie Aronie, Muir’s experience is familiar: a protracted search for a diagnosis, a sigh of relief when diagnosed and grueling lifestyle adjustments to manage symptoms.

POTS symptoms include an abnormally fast heart rate, dizziness, shortness of breath and digestive issues. The syndrome affects mostly females ages 15 to 50. Eighty percent of patients diagnosed in their teens grow out of their symptoms by their mid-20s.

Despite affecting about 1 to 3 million Americans, POTS often takes years to diagnose—if it’s

Junior Caroline Muir smiles before an endoscopy and a liver biopsy at Georgetown University Hospital this summer. Muir has POTS, and has had several procedures to manage her symptoms. Photo courtesy CAROLINE MUIR

36

correctly diagnosed at all. Since symptoms are non-specific, patients and physicians often attribute common indicators of POTS to stress or dehydration, or dismiss them altogether.

Trainor was diagnosed with POTS 10 years after she first started experiencing stomach pain. Doctors had previously blamed her symptoms on anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, lactose intolerance and celiac disease.

“It was a huge relief to me, even to just be able to put a name on it,” Trainor said. “Once I started doing the treatment and feeling better, it felt like a miracle.”

Aronie was diagnosed with a mild case of POTS at the end of eighth grade. Though she said her symptoms aren’t severe, she still notices dizziness and spotty vision, as well as blood rushing to her legs when she stands up.

“If you press on your leg— your legs are red obviously, because all the blood goes down— the spot just turns white,” Aronie said. “It’s weird to look at your legs and be like, ‘oh my god, I’m polka-dotted.’”

POTS has no definitive cure, so patients who don’t grow out of the syndrome manage symptoms their entire lives. For patients with severe cases, dealing with POTS requires major lifestyle adjustments, like extensive dietary restrictions or, in Muir’s case, taking few honors and AP classes. And sometimes, adjustments simply don’t work.

“We require more energy than a healthy person when performing the easiest tasks,” said POTS patient Irina Balan, who is also on the Dysautonomia International patient advisory board. “People have a hard time understanding how we can be okay one minute and completely miserable the next.”

For Muir, POTS isn’t just physically draining; it’s also emotionally taxing. When she

was first diagnosed, she wasn’t used to missing out on “all the normal things teenagers do,” and adjusting to her new lifestyle was difficult.

“I felt like I was letting people down by not being healthy, by not being able to go to school or go out with my friends,” Muir said. “I felt like I wasn’t allowed to take care of myself.”

In high school, Trainor would often cancel plans and instead lie on her bedroom floor, nauseated. Now a freshman at New York University, walking to class can make her lightheaded, but the chaos of college life means her suffering often goes unnoticed. Even though POTS patients usually appear healthy, there are days when Trainor can barely get out of bed without fainting.

“It’s like an invisible disability,” Trainor said. “It’s sort of a crapshoot every day how bad it’s going to be.”

Patients can also experience blurred vision, sleep deprivation and headaches. As Trainor has gotten older, she’s often experienced concentration issues and memory loss.

“It’s sort of like you have a word on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t think of it—but with everything,” Trainor said.

One of the underlying causes of POTS is overactivity of nerves that signal the heart to beat fast. In POTS patients, blood vessels are too relaxed, so blood flows downward quickly, and the heart can’t compensate. Because blood can’t properly circulate, patients faint or feel dizzy.

Cardiologists used a tilt-table test to diagnose Muir. Hooked to blood pressure monitors and an electrocardiogram, Muir seatbelted herself into a tilt-bed. Doctors and nurses monitored her resting heart rate, heart rhythm and blood pressure while she lay down, and then again while she stood up. If heart rate increases by at least 30 bpm in adults, or 40 bpm in adolescents, they meet criteria for a POTS diagnosis. Muir’s heart rate increased by 40 bpm, she said.

But a single test doesn’t establish a definitive diagnosis for POTS,

said Robin Fabian, a nurse in the cardiology department at Children’s National Medical Center.

Many patients struggle silently, often missing school because of the exhausting symptoms and frequent cardiologist appointments.

I went from being a straight A student who played soccer and volleyball to someone who was completely debilitated—who couldn’t even stand up on her own.

- junior Caroline Muir “Some medical professionals don’t consider it to be a debilitating illness, but rather something that patients can overcome using a mind over matter approach, which is far from the truth,” Balan said. “It’s the lack of education and awareness that makes diagnosing POTS a difficult process.”

Recently, though, more patients have started asking to get tested for POTS, Fabian said. She isn’t sure why, but she said the increase in testing is likely due to more public attention and education.

Treatment varies for every patient, but most doctors recommend exercise—when POTS symptoms allow it—along with extreme hydration and salt consumption, which allows blood to better circulate throughout the body, reducing the risk of fainting and dizziness.

Treatment is usually “a multifocused approach,” meaning it takes more than one medication to reduce symptoms, Fabian said.

Every morning, Muir takes Ben-

tyl for her stomach pain, Dramamine for her nausea, beta blocker Propranolol to lower her heart rate and 800 milligrams of a probiotic.

She’s on a paleo diet for the most part and drinks a recommended two liters of water every day.

POTS also takes a toll on patients’ families and friends. Some nights, Muir spends hours vomiting and wakes up constantly from stomachaches. During the day, if symptoms are unbearable, her siblings make sure she has enough water and watch movies with her.

“It’s hard to watch someone you love be in pain for so long without any diagnosis, especially when it’s your little sister,” Caroline’s older sister, Avery (‘17), said. “We’d watch movies and SNL reruns and just hang out. It was the only thing I could really do for her—be there and make her laugh and kind of normalize things.”

For POTS patients, the future is uncertain. Muir is planning on going to college but has to consider nearby hospitals and clinics during her search. Trainor has gotten somewhat used to the disease, and though it stops her from taking part in the occasional strenuous activity, she said it won’t stop her from participating in college or professional life.

“I can’t be an astronaut or anything,” Trainor said. “But I am definitely not trying to do that.”

Still, living with POTS is often a battle. Some patients—diagnosed or not—are forced to cope with symptoms their entire lives, and current treatments are only so effective.

“A lot of people take their health for granted, and they expect to be healthy because they’re young,” Muir said. “But things can change for anybody in a second. I always tell people to be thankful for the health they have because it allows you to be the person you are.”

For more information about POTS, visit dysautonomiainternational.org

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4

Need to fin d the best dessert in Bethesda?

Easy as pie.

by BROOKE MCLEOD, SYDNEY MILLER, MATT PROESTEL and IVY XUN

1

3

Photo by SOPHIE DEBETTENCOURT and JULIA RUBIN

2

I

n this world, there is one fundamental choice: team crust or team filling. Either the crust is what makes a pie lover tick, or a pie without filling is just another flaky pastry. With lots of options in the DMV, The Black & White set out to find the very best pie—the crème de la crème if you will. Not that we reviewed cream pies; those are gross.

At each of the four locations—Henry’s Sweet Retreat, Tastee Diner, Whole Foods and Pie Sisters—we tasted their best-selling pie. We judged each pie based on four factors: crust, flavor, texture and cost, giving an overall rating on a 10 point scale. While we didn’t successfully settle the age-old dispute between crust and filling, we did try lots of pies—and have lots of opinions.

1. Pie Sisters—Jumbleberry Pie, 9.25/10

Nothing’s perfect, but this pie comes pretty darn close. The buttery, flaky crust had a tough outer shell but was soft and gooey on the inside. The filling was sweet but didn’t taste artificial, and the crumble topping balanced out the filling and made each bite a multi-textured delight. Served in a snazzy glass dish, this pie was arguably worth the $40 price tag. There’s always room for improvement. But if this pie was on sale, it easily would’ve been a 10/10.

What this pie would be best for: If your favorite sister is coming home from college, and the whole family is getting together. You want something that’s delicious and wholesome at the same time—and a treat that reminds her why she should come home more often.

2. Henry’s Sweet Retreat—Apple Pie, 7.5/10

This pie tasted like fall. Objectively delicious, it had a flaky, crumbly crust and spiced apple filling with a strong cinnamon kick. The crust was hard enough to absorb the fruit juice filling, yet soft enough to slice through with ease. But its high price—a whopping $40—lowered our overall rating to a 7.5/10. It was a good pie, but not worth the high price.

What this pie would be best for: If your significant other’s grandma invites you over for Thanksgiving, and she tells you two hours before dinner to whip up an artisan pie. Henry’s Sweet Retreat Pie is aesthetically imperfect enough to convince her it’s homemade, but delicious enough to impress her with your five-star baking skills.

3. Whole Foods—Apple Pie, 7.25/10

A pleasant surprise. This small, slightly cinnamon-y pie has a moderately thick crust and medium-sized apple pieces in the filling. It isn’t taking any risks, but sometimes, that’s just how apple pie should be. And at just $10, we simply can’t ignore the cost-benefit analysis of this pie. This pie wasn’t making any bold statements, but it earned a 7.25/10 for keeping it simple.

What this pie would be best for: A low-key class party to celebrate the end of the semester. If you want to bring something uncontroversial, this pie does the trick.

4. Tastee Diner—Blueberry Pie, 4/10

We were initially excited about the quintessential Bethesda diner’s pie because the $17 price tag didn’t break the bank, but this pie fell short of expectations. The first bite was sweet and scrumptious, but a couple bites later, we’d had enough. We have to commend this pie for one thing: unlike most blueberry pies, it wasn’t soggy. But overall, we this pie was a 4/10; we didn’t want to finish it, and we don’t think a good pie should ever make you lose your appetite.

What this pie would be best for: If your dad asks to share a slice of pie because he’s trying not to eat too much, but you know he’s going to eat it all. This pie is insanely sweet and filling, and you won’t mind giving your dad the whole slice.

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Artwork by JOEY SOLA-SOLE

Sophomore Triathlete takes father-daughter bonding to new level

by ISABELLE VAN NIEUWKOOP

40

T

wo hours after starting the annual Fort Ritchie Triathlon, sophomore Zoe White didn’t know if she would finish. Her knees were bruised and bleeding, and nearly all the other athletes and spectators had left. But as Zoe pushed to the finish line, she spotted the familiar face that made the grueling race worth it: her dad.

Zoe started competing in beginner triathlons—swimming almost a half mile, biking 12 miles and running a 5K—when she was six years old. When she got older, she began competing in Olympic triathlons, swimming .93 miles, biking 25 miles and running 6.2 miles.

Zoe’s dad, Chris, had competed in Olympic triathlons but quit after having kids. Zoe also stopped com-

home from school and going straight on a run or going to the gym,” Zoe said. “It would make me happy if I could find a better balance between school and competing, but it’s just a sacrifice that I have to make.”

The week before a race, Zoe and her dad spend hours preparing their gear. Zoe said she always wears her lucky bike shorts, Brooks sneakers and a woven string necklace, and she always brings the same towel.

“I’m a superstitious person,” Zoe said. “If I forget one thing, I will think something terrible is going to happen when I race, and then I can’t focus.”

But training and competing can be intense. At the Fort Ritchie race, she tore her knee, and it felt numb the rest of the race. Determined to

“Before every race, I tell the same lame three jokes and Zoe just rolls her eyes at me. After races, we wear the finisher medals and always stop for a celebratory lunch on the way home.”

- Chris White peting in triathlons when she was eight because they became too intense, but she started training again when she was 12 to encourage her dad to compete again. Now, Zoe and her dad have done 15 triathlons together, and they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

“Competing with my dad brings us together. We wake up those early mornings, talk about our races and cheer each other on when we see or pass each other,” Zoe said.

Chris also enjoys how close the triathlons have brought them and loves the traditions they’ve developed over the years, he said.

“Before every race, I tell the same lame three jokes and Zoe just rolls her eyes at me,” Chris said.

“After races, we wear the finisher medals and always stop for a celebratory lunch on the way home.”

Zoe and her dad train year-round for triathlons but don’t start preparing intensively until three months before a race. To train, they run after school, go on bike rides and go to the gym and pool. Zoe said her busy schedule makes training during the school year difficult.

“What works for me is coming

keep going, Zoe finished, stumbling and falling.

“When I feel like I just want to quit and sit down, I know I have to keep going,” Zoe said. “I would disappoint myself if I stopped.”

Since finishing her first triathlon, Zoe knows she can finish any race she enters, she said. For every race, she has two goals: run through muscle cramps and always pass seven people. Seven is her lucky number.

The energy from competing in triathlons stays with her after she finishes a race, Zoe said.

“Every time I do a Sunday race and come to school the next day, even though the sharpie numbers on my arms and legs might be fading, the racing attitude hasn’t,” she said.

Her favorite part of competing in triathlons is the people she meets because they motivate her to keep competing, Zoe said.

“I don’t know any other sport that has a really big age gap like triathlons have,” Zoe said. “Anybody can compete if they are motivated enough. You just have to drive yourself to the finish. You have to want to cross that line so bad.”

Sophomore Zoe White has competed in 15 triathlons with her dad, Chris. She began competing when she was six years old. Photos courtesy ZOE WHITE

41

Cracking the country conundrum

by JULIA MCGOWAN

The question that divides couples, intimidates in-laws and frustrates friendships: ‘are you a country music person?’ When country music comes up in a conversation, people either instantly light up or immediately scoff. Country lovers find joy in blasting the music as they drive home from school; country

haters loathe the stereotypical twangy banjos, rusty pickup trucks and cowboy hats.

A 2012 University of Notre Dame Department of Sociology study asked 2,250 Americans their opinions of 15 different genres of music over a 20-year span. The study found that listeners’ in-

hATING hATING THE THE ‘YEE-HAW’ ‘YEE-HAW’ Senior Emilio Cano RenterÍa

“In life, we want energy, right? When I listen to music, I listen to it because I want to get energized. I want to sing along. I want to feel the beat.

But with country, it’s just not the right energy to get energized. It sounds old. It sounds outdated.

To me, it’s just too American.”

Senior Eleanor Wartell

“It’s just never the vibe. It never hits me in the feels and gets me groovin’. When I’m driving, I don’t want country music; I want something I can jam to. But I guess some people are into bland music.”

Sophomore Serena Moscarella

“It’s so boring. It all sounds the same. They all talk about the same three things: trucks, beer and girls. It never switches up.”

Artwork by JULIA RUBIN

terest in country music had decreased over time.

With a nationwide decline in country music interest, I attempted to answer the most divisive question of our generation: how do Whitman students feel about the controversial genre?

cool cool with with country country Senior Jack Ryan

“The ability of these country singers to tell stories and share the lessons they’ve learned with their listeners is what makes it such an honest genre of music. These artists don’t try to be someone they’re not.”

Sophomore Mary-Austin Tutt

“It really speaks to my soul. Most country lyrics are super real and relatable. The soothing sound of a twangy guitar can really calm my nerves when I’m stressed.”

Senior Aryana Ravery

“With every country song, if you really listen to the lyrics there’s a story behind each song, and it’s really interesting to listen to.”

playfulness is an asset by dana herrnstadt n preschool, I paraded around the jungle gym in light-up velcro sneakers, flaunting scraped elbows and bruised knees like badges. I ran for no reason other than to feel my feet slap against the chalkcovered blacktop. I was playful, and I was spontaneous, and I didn’t care who was watching.

Now, I haven’t set foot on a jungle gym in years, and I would never even consider buying a pair of light-up shoes. And running for running’s sake is just about the last thing on my mind.

As I’ve grown older, my playfulness has dwindled. But what’s far worse is the fact that it took me so long to notice. It began slipping away in middle school, when people started separating into friend groups, viewing differences as negative and shying away from individuality. I was so caught up in the pressure to grow up that my goofy, velcro-wearing self faded.

But playfulness—clowning around without caring what others think—has its merits. University of Illinois researchers found that playful people are more likely to succeed academically, lead more active lifestyles and cope better with stress than those who lack a playful side.

With the pressure to get good grades and get into college, not to mention typical social pressure, it’s understandable that we’re afraid of what others—peers, teachers, ad-

missions officers—might think of us. And as teenagers, overcoming our fear of standing out is difficult.

But we need to start recognizing that playfulness is an asset rather than something to hide. Our seemingly childish ideas are the ones that make us who we are.

This October, I went to a family gathering in Ames, Iowa, for my grandfather’s memorial service.

Stepping into my aunt and uncle’s house, I spotted a shelf full of old photographs and relics from my grandpa’s life; one sheet of paper immediately caught my eye. Looking closer, I realized it was a handmade map, carefully drawn with magic markers and black pen. It was dated January 1988 and titled “Map of the Perilous Midwinter Expedition to Explore the Dreary Northern Climes.”

It turns out, when my cousins were little, my grandpa took them to play in their backyard, but instead of sticking to mundane, typical play, he made it into an expedition. On the map, he labeled the hammock “Den of the Wooly Hammocker,” the fence was “The Escapement” and the entrance gate was “West Pass.” My grandpa’s playfulness, even in his old age, turned an Iowa backyard into a magical, thrilling adventure.

A few weeks ago, I visited my elementary school to see my old teachers. Halfway through their class, an eight-year-old boy reminded me that playfulness can make anything exciting.

“Look, I wore water shoes to

school,” he smugly announced.

When I asked him why, he simply shrugged, as if to say, “why not?”

This “why not” attitude is why early childhood is so enjoyable. No one was offbeat, because there was no beat to begin with.

But as we grow up, we shove aside our quirks to avoid judgement. We start asking “why” instead of “why not,” worrying about others’ perception of us rather than our own happiness.

My friends and I used to drink Capri Sun juice pouches upside down, cherishing the fact that, even in this small way, we were different from everyone else. Once we reached middle school, though, our escapades seemed immature, so we stopped. We relinquished our playfulness in favor of the status quo.

When we lose our playfulness, we don’t just lose a personality trait. In 2013, psychology researchers found that playful people are more satisfied with their lives.

Play allows us to reject rigid societal norms in favor of vulnerability. Simply put, it lets us live in the moment.

Not everything needs to have purpose; sometimes, happiness is reason enough. So let’s wear water shoes to school. Let’s drink Capri Sun juice pouches upside down.

Let’s sprint for the sake of sprinting. Because with a little playfulness, even an Iowa backyard can transform into an unforgettable adventure.

43

Transferring to Whitman Shouldn’t be DIFFICULT, but it is

by CAMERYNN HAWKE Let’s be honest: I had one of the easiest moving experiences possible.

My family moved from Philadelphia to Bethesda—a cool 150 miles—the week before I started high school. So even though I was new, at least everyone else was, too.

But, looking back, that transition was much more difficult than it should have been. In Philadelphia, I went to public school, lived in an area similar to Bethesda and would have taken the same freshman year classes I had signed up for at Whitman. Still, moving to Whitman was challenging.

After moving, I was often met with confusing instructions at school.

For a new student, reading a prompt that asked me to “complete a Required Quarterly Assessment by using three specific methods of development to write a five-paragraph essay” was daunting.

This MCPS jargon is a fancy way of asking students to analyze how an author achieves their purpose.

But for new students, that isn’t clear. There were many times when teachers gave instructions like this without explaining what the terms meant. I often earned poor grades and was embarrassed for not knowing what an MOD was and for never learning the quadratic formula song— two things that lifelong MCPS students learn early on.

Teachers and administrators should realize that students new to MCPS won’t understand some concepts MCPS students are already well-versed in. They should accommodate for this knowledge gap by individually meeting with new students to clarify these topics.

Many other students new to MCPS had the same difficulties that I did. Senior Julia Kempster said she found that it was difficult to catch up on “MCPS words,” like RQAs and BCRs, after she moved from New 44

How to Ease the transition to whitman

1.

Inform teachers who new students are

2.

Explain new MCPS concepts like “mod”

3.

Counselors can arrange lunch sessions

4.

Be patient and welcoming Graphic by NOAH GRILL

Zealand at the beginning of her sophomore year.

Senior Julia Curran came to Whitman from private school at the beginning of freshman year. She said she also found it difficult to learn new terms in English classes, like MODs. Since her dad is a Whitman teacher, he helped her when she was confused, Curran said.

Even though their transitions, along with mine, were difficult at first, we all agree that it became much easier after we had time to learn the quirks of the school and county.

Currently, teachers know they have a new student if that student comes in the middle of the year or if counselors take the time to inform individual teachers, but there isn’t a standard system for notifying teachers. To make the transition easier, administrators and counselors should

inform teachers if they have any new students. Counselors could even arrange lunch sessions for new students to meet with teachers from different departments to have “how-to” sessions.

Once teachers know who their new students are, they should ask them how many of the standard MCPS practices they already know, and teachers should take extra time to explain any confusing topics.

While MCPS has its quirks, I’ve learned to love it: I’ve finally mastered the art of voting for SMOB, and I can write a five paragraph essay in no time. If teachers explain confusing MCPS-specific topics to new students, then, hopefully, new students will begin to love MCPS even sooner than I did.

Photos by ADAM HIRSH

Boys Soccer captures 1oth state Title Girls team falls to Perry Hall 4-2 in finals

by MATEO GUTIERREZ

The boys soccer team (17–1) prevailed in the Maryland 4A state championship over the Urbana Hawks (17–3) Nov. 10. The girls team (15–2) lost 4-2 to the Perry Hall Gators (17–3) in the state finals the same day.

The Vikes had a sluggish start to the game with solid possession but few shots taken. With 12 minutes left in the first half, an Urbana header escaped goalie Sam Nordheimer’s hands to give Urbana a 1–0 lead.

The Vikes didn’t waste any time to respond, with forward Natan Rosen blasting a shot to the bottom right corner

and tying the game 1–1.

In the deciding second half, the Vikes dominated offensively, pinning Urbana inside their own half. The Vikes’ defense stayed firm against the Hawks, with few shots reaching Nordheimer.

Students roared in the stands, supporting the team as its play ramped up.

With 14 minutes left in the game, a scrummage near the goal resulted in the ball falling to forward Ben Wilson who chipped it into the net to give the Vikes a 2–1 lead.

“I saw the ball bouncing, and the moment I kicked it, I didn’t even see it go in,” Wilson said. “I turned around and saw the crowd go crazy. It was insane.”

Students counted down the last 20 seconds with a state championship in their sights. As the clock hit zero, the players and fans went berserk.

“It’s the perfect ending,” captain Thomas Mande said. “It’s everything we worked for and talked about. When you hear the countdown, you feel incredible.”

The team accomplished “La Décima,” the players campaign for the school’s 10th state title. When asked what he thought when the clock hit zero, Coach Dave Greene responded, “Finally.”

Thomas Mande is Online Editor-inChief of The Black & White.

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Mega motion pictures puzzle

Visit theblackandwhite.net Dec. 12 for the answer key

by CAM JONES and EVA LILES ACROSS: 1. Having lived outdoors in a tent for a period of time 7. Popular character from “The Office” 10. Style of Southern hip hop developed in the late 90s 14. Lava below the earth’s crust 19. 1984 Best Picture winner about a famous composer 21. An individual unit 23. Common slang for homeless person 24. 1987 Best Picture winner starring Charlie Sheen and Johnny Depp in ‘60s Vietnam 26. Sank into its place as 1998’s Best Picture winner 27. Melvin’s son, Latin for “Nobody” 28. Direction from which the sun rises 29. 1984 World War movie with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, remade in 2012 30. Far-right, islamaphobic organization founded in 2009, abbr.

31. If you’re confused, don’t hesitate to do this 33. Extremely long periods of time 35. Digital platform used for purchasing and playing games 37. Old-fashioned insult for a habitual drunkard 39. Mean of runs allowed by a pitcher over nine innings, abbr.

40. Patrick Harris or Armstrong 42. School that Gould and Wiedemann attend on page 14, abbr.

43. Psychology, Calculus and European History are all these 46. 2014 Best Picture winner, story of Solomon Northup’s journey to freedom 53. Element, Xe 55. The US fed. gov’t’s modern day Big Brother 56. “Year,” in Santiago 57. Cedric’s father in the Harry Potter books 58. Foot and mouth disease that occurs in domestic cloven hoofed animals 59. Second letter in the Greek alphabet 61. World War II general, 1970 Best Picture Winner 64. Acronym used digitally to express laughter 65. Someone that is excessively beautiful 66. These are placed at an auction 67. Mouse look alikes 68. Money, slangily 70. Following exter, infer, or sen 71. What you need 75 hours of to graduate in MCPS 72. Infection in the urinary system, abbr.

73. ___ and Hers 74. NFL division containing the Saints and Panthers 75. Pleasantly warm 77. MLB team in Queens 79. Star Trek: ____ Darkness 81. Time zone of country with capital at Tashkent, abbr.

82. “Laugh” in San Salvador 83. Slang for parents 88. A darker shade of your normal skin tone 90. A white New Zealander, not a Maori 93. Exclamation expressing frustration, often used interchangeably with “damn” 94. Known for his star-studded belt 95. Most popular type of American Whiskey, surname of France’s Henry IV 99. Frodo’s final movie and winner of 11 Os-

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cars, first two words 101. Someone who betrays his or her party of allegiance 103. Starred as a donkey in “Shrek” alongside Mike and Cameron 104. Universities in England, slangily 106. Approved, colloquial 107. University in the District of Colombia, abbr.

108. Bay that hosts the Buccaneers and Lightning 109. Principle that emphasizes the values of yin and yang 110. Technologies that provide information through telecommunications, abbr.

111. Starred as Ned Stark in Game of Thrones alongside Emilia and Lena 114. Basic use for a needle and thread, past participle form 118. To remove qualities associated with men 120. English International, abbr.

122. Associated with CTRL and DELETE 123. ___ Tzu, Father of Daoism and author of Tao Te Ching 124. Gorillaz Feel Good, Pixar’s Monsters 127. Therapeutic Use Exemption, abbr.

128. Of or relating to fungi 130. Super Mario, Einstein, Warner, abbr.

131. To produce or discharge something 132. How’s business?

134. Granular snow that has not been compressed into ice, often found at the top of glaciers 135. Usually a Caribbean person of European and African descent 137. The sequence of events in a movie or book 138. 2018 maritime movie starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Clafin 139. Can be placed in front of loved, mused, and knownst to form negating words 140. College in North Texas, abbr.

141. Other surname of Cassius Clay 142. Language spoken by peoples who migrated from Western Africa to Southern and East Africa 143. 1999 Best Picture winner starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes 151. Hillary Clinton, Gerald Ford, and Clarence Thomas attended this legal school, abbr.

152. Limbs on which we stand 155. Dog-headed ape of Ancient Egyptian religion 156. A group of whales 157. Baum’s man without a heart is made of this 158. Used to wish someone a positive Christmas 160. Tonnage, abbr.

162. 37th President Richard’s wife 163. American Translators Association, abbr.

165. Anne’s best supporting actress Oscar character, Cosette’s mother in Les Mis 169. Author of Night, first name only 172. College whose home stadium is the Rose Bowl 174. Type of respiration performed by humans 178. Leading actor in Ocean’s Eleven alongside Pitt and Damon 179. Hebrew male given name meaning “I have light” or “light unto me” 180. Animals feet with pads or claws 181. Tactic used to avoid raising suspicion 182. Uninteresting due to a lack of strong features or aspects 183. A small horse 184. Ice bucket challenge raised awareness for

this disease 185. A flight overnight DOWN: 1. Australian Actress who won Oscars for roles in Aviator and Blue Jasmine, first name 2. Among or around 3. Candy manufacturer based in the UK, Swizzels ______ 4. When couples do this it is often frowned upon 5. Enterprise Europe Network, abbr.

6. Cause of more than 1 million arrests yearly in the US, abbr.

7. Alecia Moore’s stage name 8. Can follow F, L, D, and R to form words 9. Humorous internet trending image 10. A long essay or dissertation involving personal research for a college degree 11. Financial ratio that shows a company’s profit relative to its resources 12. Crunches and sit-ups exercise these 13. Subject of story on page 36 14. Movie starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in post-apocalyptic Australia, won 6 Oscars in 2016 15. The world’s largest Talent Development Association, abbr.

16. India’s smallest state in area 17. To cut grass with a vehicular mechanism 18. American group of specialty apparel stores for women, followed by 124 across 20. What many do to others on Halloween 22. Europa, Io, and Triton are all these 24. Head of the US Executive branch, abbr.

25. Abused substance made of prescription cough medicine, soft drinks, and hard candy 32. Vocalize 34. Largest labor union in the United States, represents public school faculty, abbr.

36. The second day of the school week, abbr.

38. These are often used for shelter when camping 39. Actress Mendes or Green 41. Animals that wear Red Pajamas in bedtime story by Anna Dewdney 43. People who want to keep their identities secret, abbr.

44. During a photo shoot, models ought to strike many of these 45. A threatening noise often made by canine animals 47. Literature, Science, and the Arts, abbr.

48. Food, slangily 49. Small insect often found in your home 50. 2016 Best Picture nominee starring Best Actress Winner Brie Larson 51. The largest association of physicians and medical students in the US, abbr.

52. ___Doo doll 54. New British cryptocurrency, abbr.

58. Made up of protons, electrons, and neutrons 59. All bark no ____ 60. Correct, Improve, Polish 61. Physical discomfort 62. Walker used by Galactic Empire in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi 63. Having a positive or negative value 64. US-specific form of a private limited company, abbr.

65. Extremely quiet 66. Term for behind 67. Endangered animal whose horns are commonly sawed off, nickname

1

2

3

4

5

6

19

7 20

31 37

38

46

22

32

59

48

61

66

67

72

73 78

96

104 109 118

132

152

153

166

167

101

168

169

145

113

179

182

183

171

87

114

115

116

117

123 131

136

137 141

146

147

148

149

156 160

170

86

102

130

155

178

69. Final three words of 99 Across 75. Nike, American Eagle, Patagonia 76. What’s missing from Water, Fire, and Earth 78. A thin piece of something 80. B, for example, on a multiple choice test 81. A small guitar, nickname 84. Dickerson and Stonestreet 85. The egg or young form of lice 86. Homonym of the second number 87. ___ Szn 89. 2001 Best Picture winner starring Russell Crowe as an unstable mathematical genius 91. TV show containing seasons titled Murder House, Coven, and Apocalypse, abbr.

92. In chemistry, a polymer structure with no regular stereochemical configuration 93. Beats Dr. 95. It is customary to shake on this 96. Official Development Assistance abbr.

97. Roman Catholic co-educational university in Detroit 98. Pushing of the ball between an opponent’s legs 100. Time zone in Montevideo, abbr.

102. Candy in the shape, color, and flavor of fruits 105. Non-profit trade association of apartment communities, abbr.

112. Warren or Thomas 113. Gel commonly used on sunburn 115. Character who lives on Sesame Street

112

140

159

85

122 129

144

84

94

121

135

154

158

83

107

134

143

45

76

93

111

128

142

44

71

82

110

139

151

75

106

127

43 54

70

92

120

18

65

100

119

17

58

81

105

138

53

69

99

133

52

64

91

16

25

42 51

63

90

108

126

41

15

36

57

80

103

125

35

74

98

14

29

34

68

89

13

28

50

62

79

97

12

24

56

60

88

49

11

23

40

47

77

33

39

55

165

10

27

30

124

9

21

26

95

8

161 172

157

162 173

180

150

163 174

175

176

164

177

181 184

116. To delay an action 117. Used to express negation or refusal 119. Pastry predominantly served at the Jewish celebration of Purim 120. Shouted by Archimedes after he stepped into a bath 121. An establishment for travelers 124. Popular brand of video baby monitors 125. The part of a plant where leaves emerge 126. Hardened layers of dead skin frequently found on feet and toes 128. The International Basketball Federation, abbr.

129. Heavy metal band, Motley ____ 130. Wild Pig 131. Last name shared by the author of Wasteland and Mary Anne Evan’s pseudonym 133. School where Matt Damon’s and Stellan Skarsgård’s characters meet in Good Will Hunting 134. Leading firearms manufacturer in Belgium, abbr.

136. Abbr. commonly found in airports and train stations 137. Marlene King’s hit Freeform show, abbr.

139. AKA the Soviet Union 141. With, also, as well as 144. A place where one can be served food 145. Website-creating software used by The Black & White 146. A mass-produced type of model image that

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had wide appeal across pop culture, notably in the ‘50s 147. Established by Nixon in response to American outrage after environmental disasters 148. Extremely small amounts 149. When something can be considered for use 150. Something with distinct, strong existence 153. American-Canadian animated kids show about three boys trying to survive adolescence, abbr.

154. Mix of white and black in England 159. Website used to review locations 161. Non-profit that regulates major college athletics, abbr.

162. An action completed in Hockey, Soccer, Basketball, and Football 164. Continuous dull pain 165. One of the worlds best soccer clubs, abbr.

166. ___ of the above 167. One of Zelophehad’s five daughters 168. 2,000 pounds 170. This actor finally won his Oscar for his performance in “The Revenant,”nickname 171. Atom or molecule with a net electric charge 173. Length of a boat at the point where it sits in the water, abbr.

175. Average taxation rate for a corporation, abbr.

176. Author of blog “The Pioneer Woman,” ___ Drummond 177. Obstructive Airway Disease, abbr.

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