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Orchestra students compete in regional auditions michelle.chu@oaktonmedia.net
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michelle chu
ension dominates the atmosphere as students file into the audition room. A thin screen conceals them from the critical glares of the judges. They prepare their instruments and begin to play. 283 auditions later, the competition is finished, their fates resting in the hands of their evaluators. In Oct. members of Sophomore Andrew Lankenau plays his cello the orchestra competed as he prepares for All-State competitions. Like freshman Mikey Lankenau, eight other in a regional competition students qualified for Senior Regionals, a consisting of prerequisite for competing in All-State. 283 students, 82 of whom were selected to perform in an exclusive orchestra representing the elite performers of Fairfax County. “I felt confident the whole time I was practicing my music, but the minute I went in front of the judges I got nervous and my fingers just couldn’t stop shaking,” said viola player Wendy Xue, sophomore. “It’s not the best feeling
performance and whether I messed up or not.” The audition process was consistent for all students competing in the Senior Regionals. They were given similar pieces to perform and were evaluated by the same judges. “A bunch of students from different schools met up at [Jeb] Stuart high school to audition,” said junior Evan Cannon, who plays the string base. “We were given three excerpts and some scales to practice in advance. It was a ‘blind audition,’ and a screen separated us from the judges so they wouldn’t be able to differentiate between gender or race. After that we were ranked based on our performance, and the best got chosen.” Members who made the cut to the Senior Regionals include Xue, Cannon, seniors Adam Celli and Sarah Toy, juniors Danny Song and Jungwook Jin, sophomore Andrew Lankenau and freshmen Stacy Ham and Mikey Lankenau. In addition to performing with an elite group of artists, they will have the opportunity to compete in an All-State competition between qualifying members in VA. “It’s definitely an honor to be able to compete because it feels like the state is almost acknowledging our accomplishments in the musical field, but at the same time, it’s a lot of pressure,” Xue said. “The pressure from the All-State is a lot more than Regionals because everyone competing now has already proved themselves to be talented musicians. From this point on, every single person competing is gifted.” There are several benefits that accompany winning Regionals and participating with a group of elite musicians. “The best part of competing is being able to perform alongside other talented musicians [as well as] being able to learn music that is more challenging than we’re accustomed to at school,” Jin said. Despite the positive aspects of being accepted into a privileged group of musicians, members of the Regional
Health students view open-heart surgery daniel chait staff writer daniel.chait@oaktonmedia.net
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atching a heart beat right in front of you was really exciting,” said sophomore Mackenzie Lynn enthusiastically. On Oct. 10, tenth grade health students went to see an open-heart surgery performed at Inova Fairfax Hospital’s surgical dome. The trip to the dome educated students on the human body by allowing them to see the procedure live. “Every time I see [the procedure], it’s always incredible to witness an actual heart beating in the chest,” said tenth grade health teacher Jeanne Samuel, who organizes the trip and has seen the procedure four times. Although the trip is popular with students, only 25 are allowed into the dome. Students who are more interested usually sign up to go. “More always want to go than can go,” Samuel said. During the procedure, a trained nurse walks around and answers any questions students may have. The nurse also goes over the procedure in-depth and gives the students a pre-test before the surgery. “We knew exactly what was happening, and she answered all our questions,” said sophomore Mackenzie Lynn. Besides expanding their knowledge of the heart, the experience benefited students in more lasting ways. “It hits home in a visual and graphic
way that makes [the students] realize that they’re responsible for their body,” Samuel said. During the procedure, the nurse passed around vials filled with the amount of fat contained in certain fast food items. “It showed you the risks of bad behavior like smoking, drinking and having a bad diet,” Lynn said. The students saw a quadruple bypass surgery on the patient, which is even more comprehensive than other bypass surgeries. “I had only seen a triple bypass before,” Samuel said. The patient being operated on always has their identity protected and gives consent to be viewed. “The patient being operated on smoked one to two packs a day for 23 years and had a 100 percent blockage in three of of his arteries,” said sophomore Jeffrey Abed. Abed, who attended the trip, had surgery on his cancerous eye when he was young. “It was interesting to see what it was like since I had surgery when I was six,” Abed said. Watching the TV screens, which had a live-feed of the operation, Abed drew diagrams of what the heart looked like. The cameras showed the heart in detail, which helped Abed make the pictures look realistic. These cameras were so tiny they were able to fit inside the body. “Cameras were on the ends of operating tools and on the surgeon’s head looking down,” said Abed.
Orchestra seem to agree on one negative aspect. “There aren’t many negative aspects to getting accepted into Regionals,” Cannon said. “The one major one I can think of is time. The amount of time and effort that you have to put into music is consuming, and you don’t always get to practice as much as you’d like to.” The Senior Regional Competition has not only given students the opportunity to demonstrate their talent, but has also provided them with chance to bond with classmates outFreshman Mikey Lankenau rehearses side of school. a piece given to him during orchestra “When you practice. Lankenau performed for a series perform in the of judges in a competition held in October, Regional Orches- and qualified to compete in All-State. tra you get to meet a side of people you don’t normally see in school,” Cannon said. “We are consistently improving our abilities as musicians by being around each other.”
Senior Class Update n t-shirts on sale for $10, go to www.fcps.edu/OaktonHS for order form n bring your student IDs for free food on Halloween n email any graduation gift ideas to matt.johnson@oaktonoutlook.com matt johnson | senior class president
michelle chu
in the world. I couldn’t sleep that night because all I
michelle chu staff writer could think about was what [the judges] thought of my