May 2015 -- Silver Chips Print

Montgomery Blair High School SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

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May 29, 2015

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VOL 77 NO 7

Remembering Mr. Roth Teacher of 46 years passes away

By Sarah Hutter and Maris Medina

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MOMENT OF SILENCE The baseball community honors Blair alum Lowell Ensel who passed away earlier this month. To read more about the game, see page F3.

Interim superintendent’s term extended

By Mariam Jiffar After being selected as the preferred candidate for the new MCPS superintendent by the Board of Education, Houston school administrator Dr. Andrew Houlihan withdrew himself from consideration for the position, according to an email the Board sent out on May 17. The Board unanimously voted three days later for current Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers to continue in his position through the end of the 2016 school year. The search for a new superin-

tendent will resume soon with the expectation of a new superintendent starting as of July 1, 2016.

Board President Patricia O’Neill sent an email update to MCPS community members informing them of the Board’s selection on May 14. “The Board of Education is continuing the search process and has identified a preferred candidate for the position—Dr. Andrew Houlihan, who is currently serving as chief academic officer of the Houston Independent School District,” O’Neill wrote. According to a Washington Post article pub-

lished the same day, O’Neill said the Board chose Houlihan for his experience and energy.

According to Montgomery County Educational Association President Doug Prouty, who served on the community panel that advised the Board in the superintendent search, the selection of only one preferred candidate indicated a lack of qualified applicants.

Three days after her first email, O’Neill sent an update saying that

see SUPERINTENDENT page A3

Still Blazers, almost 70 years after graduation Each Tuesday, alumni remember high school days

By Maris Medina It is almost 4:00 p.m. on a warm spring day. Just off the busy corner of Layhill Road and Georgia Avenue sits a small bar adorned in panels of colorful stained glass

windows. Noise levels gradually increase as diners slowly trickle in.

Like many of its fellow restaurants in the Glenmont area, Stained Glass Pub is ready to usher in the rush of regular patrons looking for a quick meal and convenient stein

of beer.

Seated at the very back of the room, one could easily overlook the “Blair Pizza Group,” as its members so cheerfully dub it.

The small group of Montgomery Blair alumni convenes regularly to dine on—you guessed it—pizza and beer. Each of them graduated in the late 1940s and is at least 80 years of age. For the past 20 years, they have been coming to the pub every Tuesday afternoon to reminisce about their Blair days and their seven decades of friendship.

The beginnings of a forever friendship For years, the Pizza Group has

CHIMEY SONAM

POPEY Graduates from 1946 gather at Stained Glass Pub.

NEWS A2

CHIMEY SONAM

see ALUMNI page C1

insidechips

On May 8, the Blair community was shocked to learn of the death of a cherished long-time teacher, Milton Roth. Roth, known to family and friends as Mickey, died after a six-year battle with leukemia.

Roth passed away on May 7 while in South Carolina for his son’s graduation. His wife and his son were by his side when he died, according to his son, Zachary Roth.

Roth taught at Blair for 46 years, beginning in 1969. According to Zachary Roth, he was first inspired to become a teacher by one of his own teachers at Midwood High School in Brooklyn. Blair was only the second school he taught at, after a two-year stint at a technical school in Philadelphia, but he never left. In fact, he even held a part-time job at a law firm for ten years, but left to go back to teaching full-time. “He obviously had a lot of different career paths he could have taken, but he closed up his law practice for the Blair students. There aren’t a lot of people that pass the BAR in Maryland, DC, and Virginia and still wanted to be a math teacher,” Roth’s son said.

When he was first diagnosed with leukemia six years ago, he

tried to not to let it affect his teaching. “His doctor said, ‘you are healthy enough to keep teaching.

It’s really up to you depending on how you feel.’ He always just felt great enough,” Zachary Roth said. “He just loved the kids. I think and my mom thinks that’s what kept him going years longer.” Blair principal Renay Johnson witnessed Roth’s dedication to teaching when she visited his class as principal of Takoma Park Middle School. “When I arrived to Mr. Roth’s Calculus class, he was solving an equation that seemed to never end,” Johnson said. “He was so enthusiastic about the problem, that he was singing the mathematical strategy to his students. When he finished the problem, he turned around, smiled and asked for a volunteer to explain the answer. Several hands went up and he beamed with pride. It was then that I knew the power of Mr. Roth.”

According to junior Lauren Queen, Roth had tremendous persistence in the classroom. “He wouldn’t let anyone in class fall behind. Even if that meant going over the same problem for 30 minutes,” Queen said. “Mr. Roth would get really upset with me if I fell asleep.

see ROTH page A2

Driver’s license test changed

By Camille Kirsch

Perez said she thought that the abrupt change may have been unfair to some drivers. “ I feel like if I had failed, I would have felt cheated,” she said. “The girl who went right before me, she failed on the parallel parking. I’d be pretty mad if I were her.”

According to the Baltimore Sun, in 2014, 47 percent of those who took the Maryland driver’s test

People applying for a driver’s license in Maryland will no longer have to prove they know how to parallel park as of May 19. Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) officials cited overlap with the twopoint turn assessment as the reason for the change.

“We constantly evaluate our testing, and in doing an assessment of the test it was 13 states do not require parallel parking determined that several of the mafor the driving neuvers looked at test: the same skills,” Buel Young, an MVA spokesperAL, AZ, CO, MD, ME, NC, NE, OR, son said.

SD, TN, VA, WY Young said that parallel parking and the two-point turn were evalu- SOURCE: USATODAY.COM WINNE LUO ated on many of the same criteria, including back- failed. The test change may ining, steering, braking, visual skills crease passing rates. and proper use of space.

Parallel parking will continue Blair junior Susana Perez passed to be taught in Maryland driver’s her driving test on May 16, three education classes. “This is just days before the change in require- another procedural change,” said ments. In her experience, the two Young. “We’re still licensing indimaneuvers are not equivalent. viduals who have the skills to op“They’re pretty different,” Perez erate a motor vehicle in the state of said.

Maryland.”

Banned books

Adderall

Summer

Softball

MCPS sets an example in providing academic freedoms.

Prescription drugs offer boosts for students who want to make the grade.

Silver Chips looks into the best ways to enjoy the time off school.

Team reaches regional championship after a winning season, but falls short against Northwest.

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A2 News Newsbriefs County adds $8 million to Montgomery College budget Montgomery College received an $8 million boost to its fiscal 2016 operating budget in April from the Montgomery County Council, allowing the college to follow through with plans to increase employee compensation and benefits for the upcoming school year.

About $6.8 million will go to these benefits, according to Montgomery College’s chief governmental relations officer Susan Madden.

The remaining roughly $1.1 million will go to other initiatives such as ones aiming to decrease the college’s achievement gap, which was less than the $3 million that Montgomery College had hoped to receive. Although tuition is expected to increase slightly for the next school year, Madden said the council’s action helped to keep costs affordable. College officials said tuition could increase significantly if the county did not provide more money to help the school pay for the increases in employee compensation and benefits.

Costco fights buffer increase

silverchips

May 29, 2015

Celebrating a beloved teacher: Mr. Roth

Blair community looks back on the legacy of his fifty years from ROTH page A1 And after a semester of nudging, I finally stopped during third quarter because I didn’t want to disappoint him.” Junior Nahom Tedla said that Roth exuded his positivity through his students. “There was no kid that walked out of the classroom without a smile on his or her face,” Tedla said.

Roth’s positive energy was also noticed and appreciated by fellow Blair teacher John Haigh III. “Mr. Roth had a great influence on my career in recent years,” said Haigh.

“He was the one person I could always count on to have unwavering support of our academy objectives and our students. The positivity that he brought to meetings and his advisees encouraged students to take on challenges they wouldn’t otherwise and he inspired me to be more positive in my interactions with students and faculty.”

In a September interview with Silver Chips, Roth said that he tried not to take too much time off for chemotherapy, one time coming in for “Back to School Night” after two hours of chemotherapy that day and three hours the day before. According to Zachary Roth, his tenacity could be attributed to how much he loved his students.

“It meant so much to him, having impact on students even though there were some typical ones who would sleep in class or get up and leave,” Zachary Roth said. “He tried to make a point of being more than just a math teacher.”

On the day of his funeral, many of his college classmates, colleagues and students came to pay

A Montgomery County zoning ordinance amendment proposed

by Montgomery County councilmember Marc Elrich would increase the distance that large gas stations have to be from schools and public facilities such as streams, from 300 to 500 feet. Gas stations must be pumping at least 3.6 million gallons annually in order to be affected by the buffer zone. Costco Wholesale Corp. appealed to the Montgomery County Board of Appeals on April 30 after its request to build a 16-pump gas station outside its Westfield Wheaton store was denied. According to Patricia Harris, an attorney for Costco, there was “no evidence” justifying the need for either the 300-foot or 500-foot buffer. Residents living near the mall were By Camille Kirsch supportive of the buffer, maintaining that fumes from cars waiting Parents and neighborhood asat the gas station would present sociations in Montgomery County a source of dangerous pollution. are pushing back against the erection of cell towers on school properties, citing concerns about health, property values and discrimination. The latest flashpoint in the Community calls for Purple ongoing conflict is the proposal to place towers on the campus Line construction of Neelsville Middle School. The school would become the twelfth After Governor Larry Hogan MCPS school to host towers. stalled on making the decision to Despite the county’s assurances build the Purple Line metro con- that the towers are in compliance necting Bethesda to New Carroll- with all federal, state and local ton, supporters of the purple line regulations and that multiple studhave organized various protests. ies have shown cell phone towers Hogan, who declared an indefinite to be safe, activists have especially delay on a decision on May 15, is focused on potential health danwary of the high cost of construc- gers when protesting the towers. tion. According to state officials, “The health and safety issues are the line is estimated to cost up paramount,” Theodora Scarato, an to $2.4 billion dollars, with $900 activist with the Maryland Coalimillion paid for in grants by the tion Against Cell Phone Towers on federal government and the rest School Grounds, said. “Cancer is a coming from state and local gov- concern of mine, since the towers ernments as well as private bid- emit radio-frequency radiation.” ders. Proponents for the Purple Proponents argue that the towLine say it will reduce congestion, ers are safe for students. Accordhelp the environment and promote ing to the American Cancer Sociinvestment in economically dis- ety (ACA), there is no evidence tressed communities along the rail. that towers harm human health.

Organizations such as the Action “Some people have expressed conTransmit Committee have pub- cern that living, working, or going licly advocated for the Purple Line to school near a cell phone tower by protesting in front of the Silver might increase the risk of cancer Spring Library. Hogan is expected or other health problems. At this to give a definitive answer in June. time, there is very little evidence to support this idea,” the ACA’s website states.

Additionally, all towers on Newsbriefs compiled by school grounds are required to Winne Luo comply with FCC guidelines, which specify a safe amount of raEdited by Daliah Barg diation established by research.

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BUDDING CAREER A 1971 yearbook photo of 25-year-old Mr. Roth. their respects. In his eulogy, Zachary Roth talked about how much his father loved teaching at Blair.

“As much as he talked to us about [his students], I’m sure he talked to [his students] about us,” he said. Junior Nguyen Phan and her fellow classmates felt especially touched by Zachary Roth’s speech.

“There were times where he almost cried and so we all cried. It was so hard, I don’t know how he did it. I couldn’t have,” she said.

In addition to attending his

funeral, some students traveled to his house to pay respects and meet his family. Students, including juniors Madeline Burke and Amanda Feinberg, created a poster signed by many of Roth’s students to bring to his home. Many signatures were addressed directly to Roth, thanking him for his time at Blair. One student referred to Roth’s use of animals to help explain functions. “Thank you, Mr. Roth for all the things you have done for your students,” senior

Ethiopia Demisse wrote. “I hope you’ve found the animal you’re looking for.” Other students alluded to one of Roth’s frequently said terms, “smart cookie,” in addressing his students. Junior Yonatan Mengesha wrote, “Words can’t describe how much you’ve provided to this school. You will be missed, Mr. Smart Cookie.”

Roth was a big presence in the staffroom as well as the classroom, and teachers are mourning as much, if not more than, students.

According to Johnson, Roth took time to recognize fellow staff members. “When I became the principal of Blair, Mr. Roth would often send me a kind note of appreciation or thanks,” she said. “Every holiday season, he would bring me a sweet treat made by his wife with a nice holiday note. He was a very positive teacher and I will greatly miss him.”

Roth was also a great connection to Blair’s past. Social studies teacher Kevin Moose remembers Roth being a teacher when he attended Blair in the seventies. “A couple of my siblings had Mr. Roth for a teacher, but I wasn’t so lucky,” said Moose. “Mr. Roth was the last teacher on staff here who was also at Blair when I graduated in 1975.

Knowing him was a great connection to my Blazer past, and I will miss him very much.”

Throughout the decades, Roth remained enthusiastic about his teaching career and never wanted to leave Blair. “I really did enjoy it, almost all the time,” said Roth in the September interview, when asked why he never left. “I never dreaded getting up in the morning and going to work,” he said.

Cell towers in MD schools call up controversy Officials and activists clash on safety, financial matters, fairness Still, parents worry. “You just don’t take a risk like that with your kids,” Scarato said.

Members of the Coalition also cite the concentration of cell phone towers at low-income schools as evidence that the county may be taking advantage of poor families. According to MCPS data published by the Maryland Gazette, over 80% of the towers are at schools where 30% or more of students get free or reduced lunch.

Others are concerned that cell phone towers will decrease their property values. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development categorizes towers as “hazards and nuisances,” and the Maryland Coalition Against Cell Phone Towers on School Grounds claims that the construction of a tower can lower property values by 5 to 20 percent, on average, although the Coalition’s website does not provide a source.

Proponents of the towers counter that they raise large amounts of much-needed money for the school system and individual schools. According to MCPS, last year the county’s towers, currently located at 12 schools, raised nearly $1 million. Typically, each tower site brings in about $24,000 in annual revenue, according to the Maryland Gazette. That money is then split into thirds: the first goes to the school at which the tower is placed, the second to the school’s cluster (for example, the DownCounty Consortium), and the last to the county school system.

The Maryland Coalition Against Cell Phone Towers on School Grounds, the Montgomery County Parents’ Coalition, and several

school PTAs oppose the towers.

In Anne Arundel county, residents attempted to ban all towers in and around their county’s schools; the legislation gained the support of the full county delegation but was voted down by the larger

towers and then pay a negotiated monthly sum in return for use of the land. Then, the request enters a comment period. Finally, the Board of Education either approves or denies the tower placement.

“If the community doesn’t want

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thousand dollars is the county’s average per-tower revenue.

12

Today, there are MCPS schools with cellphone towers.

CAMILLE KIRSCH

Maryland legislature. There is also a statewide petition to ban cell phone towers at Prince George’s County schools which has garnered nearly 1,500 signatures.

Montgomery County places cell phone towers on school grounds on a case by case basis. First, providers approach the school system with a request to place up to three towers at a school. Generally, providers want to fill a hole in coverage near an MCPS campus; they pay for the installation of the

a tower at the school, it isn’t built there, plain and simple,” MCPS spokesperson Dana Tofig told news outlet ABC 7 in April.

Sacrato disagrees. “In many communities, people don’t even know that towers are going up.

Maybe [the county] had a community meeting there once and one person showed up,” she said.

Blair is among the schools which currently have towers and faced little to no controversy when implementing them.

May 29, 2015

News A3

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Superintendent search on hold Hogan reduces education budget from SUPERINTENDENT page A1 Houlihan rescinded his application. Dana Tofig, the MCPS Public Information Office Director, said that Houlihan did so after meeting with local leaders and a community panel. “Dr. Andrew Houlihan decided to withdraw, saying he did not believe the job was a good fit for him, his family, or the district,” Tofig said.

On May 20, the Board voted for a temporary solution. “The Board decided to pause the search and reappoint interim Superintendent Larry Bowers to serve in that role for another year,” Tofig said. “The Board will restart the search for a new superintendent in the coming months, with the expectation that a new superintendent will begin serving on July 1, 2016.”

It is unclear whether Houlihan was ever officially offered the job or notified that he was the frontrunner before the announcement was made public. In O’Neill’s email informing the public that Houlihan was the preferred candidate, it did not say the search had been completed. According to O’Neill’s first email, there were still plans to review more community input and for a contingent of the Board to visit Houlihan in Houston.

The Board started the selection process in early March. “All Montgomery County citizens were invited to a series of public forums as part of the Superintendent search process,” read the MCPS website. After this

point, the search only involved a select few advisors to the Board from different administrative and educational organizations in the county. “I assembled this panel to provide feedback and insight to Board members as we approach a final decision,” wrote O’Neill in an email update.

On April 1, O’Neill posted an update on the MCPS website regarding some of the details of the search. “[C]ommunity input was captured by our search firm—Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA)—and has been included in a Leadership Profile Report,” O’Neill wrote. After receiving applications for the position and with assistance from HYA, the Board narrowed them down to a list of finalists to choose from and settled on Houlihan after he met with the panel assembled by O’Neill.

The Board’s lack of transparency in choosing a new superintendent has spurred criticism and confusion from many, including Washington Post writer Valerie Strauss who wondered why the Board selected someone who had no past experience being a Superintendent. “Couldn’t it attract someone who had led a major district? Didn’t it want someone who was a proven leader? As usual, the [B]oard hasn’t explained,” Strauss wrote.

These queries are exacerbated by the Board’s unceremonious falling-out with former Superintendent Joshua Starr; some felt that country officials and Board members,

By Camille Estrin

Governor Larry Hogan Jr. decided to not fully fund the Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI) for the 2015-2016 school year, leaving MCPS with a $17 million gap in the GCEI fund.

MCPS was expecting to receive $34 million in GCEI funding, but is instead now only receiving $17 million.

These cuts will have impacts on teachers’ contracts, and staffing for next year.

“If the Board of Education does not get

MONTGOMERYSCHOOLSMD.ORG

SAM BUTLER AND CAMILLE ESTRIN

through anonymous, critical interviews, used the media to push Starr out of office. As a result, when he lacked the votes to get his contract renewed, it was surprising that the Board had no one in line as Starr’s replacement. Blair teacher union representative David Stein said that the search to find Starr

[enough] funding, they have the right to renegotiate contracts,” Tom Israel, executive director of Montgomery County Education Association, said. “Class sizes will increase throughout MCPS, and staffing will be cut back.”

This decision is leaving Montgomery County with significantly less than they need, which will lead to several consequences regarding class size and teacher contacts, according to Israel.

In a statement to the rest of the board, Board of Education President Patricia O’Neill said, “His decision leaves a $17 million hole in our budget that will require us to take very difficult actions that will impact every school in our district,” The Montgomery County Council is allowing for a much smaller increase for spending in MCPS, which is significantly less than what the council requested.

“Montgomery County Council tentatively approved a 1.4 percent increase in spending for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), which is $53 million less than what we had requested,” O’Neill said in her statement.

was kept secret in the same way this search has been. Prouty confirmed that this is standard. “The search was conducted using the same protocols as the previous one. Confidentiality is necessary in order to assure that candidates can apply without placing their current employment at risk,” he said.

First year of PARCC exams warrant adjustments for the future Maryland Governing Board decides to reduce length of the tests

By Luisa McGarvey On May 20, the PARCC Governing Board the first administration of PARCC, composed of superintendent and state education commissioners, voted to reduce the total testing time by 90 minutes. The change came in response to feedback from school districts. During this years testing, students and teachers adjusted to scheduling and technological problems which negatively affected their classes and left them weeks behind schedule. Many teachers are unsure of how the assessments will affect their classes and graduation requirements in years to come.

According to AP Spanish Literature teacher Dianette Coombs, it was challenging for her students to make up all the material missed during the PARCC testing weeks.

“We just finished the week before the AP but I had to meet with students at lunch, during ninth period, and even once on a Saturday in order to get them prepared,” Coombs said.

Depending on the PARCC schedule, certain classes were unable to meet regularly for weeks,. “My Algebra 2 class which was required to take the PARCC test did not get to meet very often during those few weeks, and we had a lot of work to make up after that,” Math teacher Caroline Lesho said.

With class periods on different schedules, it was difficult for teachers to keep their classes together.

Sophomore Madison Waechter said,

“Since our Chemistry class was able to meet everyday during ninth period, we were way ahead of other classes which meant we ended up having to wait weeks to take the unit test while we waited for other classes to catch up.” Some teachers wanted to have their students come in early on the PARCC half days to review for AP tests and complete missed work but were not granted permission. “There are 1140 students enrolled in AP classes, and we couldn’t allow some teachers to have review sessions and not others,” assistant principal William Currence said.

According to Currence, most students were prepared for the English test while students who took the math test felt like they were unprepared due to the changing curriculum. “The county was aware that this might happen because the new English curriculum was already in use so they were

teaching the Common Core curriculum. But the new math curriculum hadn’t completely been implemented yet,” Currence explained.

Another issue students faced was the administration of the test on Chromebooks.

The tests involved listening to passages on the laptops instead of reading them which according to sophomore, Elizabeth Cove, made it harder to annotate important details from the text. “There was this one essay that required you to listen to the sonnet, write down what you thought certain quotes meant, and then go back to the sonnet and find those quotes which took forever and I eventually just gave up,” Cove said.

Since the PARCC tests did not impact students grades and were not a graduation requirement some students expressed a lot of disregard for the tests. Some students even took the PARCC test as a way to express their contempt for the whole process.

“On the essay section of PARCC I completely ignored the question and instead wrote about how much I hated the tests,” sophomore, Talia Stern expressed.

With no penalty in place for failing the tests many students did not put DALIAH BARG

in the effort required to do well. “I tried at first and then realized it didn’t matter so I stopped trying and only wrote like two sentences for each essay,” sophomore, Abeselom Gebreyesus said.

As a result of the PARCC testing taking place on chromebooks, technological malfunctions made it hard to get everyone’s tests to work. “It took a while to get the computers set up because the wifi wasn’t working for a lot of people so we had to wait. It was all very frustrating for both the teachers and the students,” Cove said. With an already limited capacity, Blair’s wifi often became overloaded during PARCC testing because there were hundreds of chromebooks and cell phones in use at the same time. “The wifi system can only support so many devices. We found that when all the students were in the building during the long testing blocks we had a lot more wifi issues than we did during the half day schedule,” Currence said.

Although they are still in the trial period, PARCC tests are already changing current testing and graduation requirements. This year is the last year the Math and English HSA tests will be offered, as they will be replaced by PARCC tests. Before PARCC took the place of the Math and English HSA tests, the students who did not pass the HSA could complete a bridge project in order to graduate. Those projects will also be abolished next year. “The issue with the bridge project is that there will be no money to pay people to score them next year, and we have no idea what will take their place,” English teacher Vickie Adamson said.

A4 Specials Karla Corvera-Portillo, 11 I feel bad for the law enforcement officers who have been attacked in Baltimore. I understands that some police officers have been unfair to other people but that does not mean that all of them should be blamed.

If people want to be heard, then running around the streets, smashing cars, yelling and throwing tantrums doesn’t help with that. I don’t like seeing people getting hurt.

Hearing about the incidents in Baltimore saddens me, knowing that there are some innocent people being abused and mistreated by police officers and others. Disrupting the peace of others creates other issues for people who were not involved in the first place.

Take this to court, not to the streets. Let’s be rational about this and be civilized humans about solving our issues.

Isabel Lott, 10 Before I knew about the riots, a friend of mine from Baltimore posted a picture of a mob with the caption: “I have a bad feeling I’ll lose some friends tonight.” We’re collapsing into a bad habit when it comes to law enforcement -- a community needs change, everyone agrees, and no one speaks up once the riots are over and the news crews leave.

I’m afraid that once Baltimore dies down, this momentum dies with it.

Abeselom Gebreyesus, 10 As a black young man living in Maryland, I have heard quite a lot about the recent protests in Baltimore. The death of Freddie Grey at the hands of law enforcement has triggered a wave of anger across America.

Personally, I believe that law enforcement should be trained to be “color blind” and not use race as a factor in deciding whether to use force. Many of my close friends and family have been outspoken and angry on social media and in person. With all the support for the cause, I believe that the media should not focus their attention on the looting and crime, but foster and work towards a positive relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve. I believe that the Baltimore riots are a chance for actual change to happen in regards to racism and police brutality.

David Powers, 11 The events in Baltimore seem like something out of a movie. Police’s abuse of power, riots and looting, cops armed in riot gear, curfews in place... The list goes on and on.

But this isn’t a movie. This is a real city not too far away from our town. Some of us may even have family there, suffering through this chaos. What was it that ignited this fire that burned down Baltimore? Decades of poor race relations between the community and police was the fuel, but one man’s death was the spark that set the city ablaze.

While the fire may be dying out, smoke is gathering. Smoke is drifting from cities like Baltimore, Ferguson, and New York, and is spreading out across the country. Soon the smoke will be so thick that no one will be able to ignore it. We are waking up to the abuses the police get away with every day in this country, and the citizens of Baltimore are finally doing something about it.

Zachary Williams, 11 No one wants a riot. But when a riot does break out, it is too easy to blame the rioters.

Many are tempted to defer to Martin Luther King Jr. quotes affirming non-violence or to stand with the police for “doing their job.”

The real problem is our cultural system in which people are told that blacks are scary and less than. Blacks that stray from white culture are perceived as “ghetto” or “thugs,” two words that are quickly becoming substitutes for n**ger. The riots, in which the only things destroyed were windows and a CVS, were caused by blacks being fed up with their lives not being valued. So let’s reference a good ol’ MLK quote: “I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots.” The riots are brought on by deeper issues and ignoring these only makes the situation worse.

We have to remember that black lives matter—more than broken windows.

Thank you to everyone that sent in their thoughts on this issue. Submissions have been edited for clarity and style.

silverchips

May 29, 2015

Tension in Baltimore

Students and teachers share their thoughts

The language of protest and the hope for social justice, White people take to the street in protest; meanwhile, black thugs and criminals riot.

Why does race define our right to seek social justice? Right off the bat, the language of protest raises serious concerns.

The unrest in Baltimore has people thinking. Finally, the police are being held accountable for their role in potentially causing the death of an unarmed African American man. But this time, some of the officers are also African American. If all of the officers were white, would we still be waiting for an arrest? If Baltimore were run by white politicians, viewing the city through a lens that marginalizes and criminalizes black people, who knows? But Baltimore is not Ferguson. The prosecutor in Baltimore is African American. She pursued the wrong doers, not allowing them to hide behind a badge that was never meant to disguise breaking the law. Baltimore is not Ferguson. Baltimore has a large percentage of elected officials who are African American. In addition

Vickie Adamson

to civic leaders who rose to make sure the citizens were heard, the prosecutor sought justice for the people she represents. There was a problem, and the community sent a message that they would no longer tolerate injustice that has been building across the nation for years. Baltimore is not Ferguson.

Black people have been reminded again and again of their invisibility in America. Baltimore was just one more time, one more father, brother, friend person; and it was enough. It was time for an eruption.

When officers are allowed to take on the roles of judge, jury, and executioner — due process reserved for courts of law that all citizens are guaranteed — is anyone safe?

When white officers kill black men without penalty or punishment, does everyone care enough? When the situation broadens and any officer of any race robs any citizen, regardless of race, of due process, what then?

Is anyone safe?

Officers are important...good officers who

uphold and follow the law. While officers are authorized to use deadly force, they cannot kill with impunity. When officers do defend themselves and kill people, they also have to follow the law. They are not granted, carte blanche, executioner’s rights. It is not the role of the officers to carry out the death penalty. Black lives matter, as all lives matter.

I lived in L.A. during the Rodney King riots. When that verdict came down, and the officers were acquitted, people were stunned...and they erupted. I still see the fires as part of the city burned. It was hard to understand as it was happening, and that was more than 20 years ago. So what now in Baltimore? There is great risk to arrest and indict officers when a conviction is unlikely.

It is important now that justice be done. The potential for an even greater display of social unrest and frustration could grow tenfold if these arrests are a temporary patch.

People want to hope. They hope for justice.

adding, “What white Americans have never fully understood – but what the Negro can never forget – is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”

Forty-seven years ago, the Kerner Commission issued detailed recommendations to address the racial divide. Yet ever since the

report came out, American have engaged in collective amnesia about the role of federal, state, and local government in establishing segregation and the its long-lasting consequences. Yes, we need to deal with abusive police practices. But unless we address the crippling legacy of segregation in our cities, we can hardly be surprised by the next Baltimore or the next Ferguson.

Reflections on Baltimore, Anne Manuel I don’t envy police officers their jobs. The pay is low, the danger high. Their deaths do not always grab headlines. They are often assigned to protect and serve communities in crisis, whose needs are overwhelming and constantly unmet.

Still, the deaths of Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Jr., Walter Scott, John Crawford, Rumain Brisbon, Akai Gurley and many others reveal an undeniable crisis in American policing. Reforms are urgently needed: body cameras, accurate data collection on police killings, independent prosecutors when police kill unarmed civilians, a return to community policing.

These are necessary steps.

But the crisis in Baltimore is about much more than policing. U.S. history teachers this spring are overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu: Many of us just finished teaching about the 1968 Kerner Commission report ordered

by Lyndon Baines Johnson after riots shook 159 cities in 1967. The report reads like it was written yesterday, not 47 years ago. “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal,” it warns. “Segregation and poverty have created in the racial ghetto a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans,” the commission concludes,

CANDIA GU

My Hometown, Kevin Shindel As someone who was born and raised in Baltimore, the events of the past couple weeks have hit me just like everyone else who has a deep love and attachment to the city. Baltimoreans are fiercely loyal not only to their city, but to their neighborhood. That’s both a blessing and a curse. It provokes great dedication and community among those on your street, but often triggers violence directed at those a few blocks away. And more problematic, the neighborhood loyalty allows the city’s and suburb’s most privileged inhabitants to turn a blind eye to the plight of the city’s young black kids, who by some recent research and indicators have a tougher road to survival and existence than poor teens in Nigeria.

I don’t think most of the events of the past few weeks surprised anyone familiar with Baltimore. In a city devastated by the loss of industrial jobs, challenged by white flight and erosion of tax revenue, ravaged by decades of housing and employment discrimination and overwhelmed by a school system mostly in shambles, what happened

in Baltimore may well represent what is to come for big cities across the nation. If anything at all was a surprise to me, it was that more of the city didn’t burn, that more of the destitution didn’t manifest itself in uncontrollable violence. The limited property destruction and lack of violent retaliation is due mostly to the tireless actions of community organizations and local officials that have never given up the good fight. It’s also due much to the power of Baltimore’s most marginal citizens-- poor black youth who have the power (and dare I say justification) to torch large swaths of city real estate. And while they freely and benevolently chose not to, they are forcing us to act on their behalf.

How many more warnings will they offer us before we hear them?

It’s true that Baltimore’s challenges were built and developed over decades. But don’t believe anyone who tells you it will take just as long to solve them. That’s a con man talking. We could completely rebuild and reinvigorate communities almost overnight.

It requires one or a combination of the fol-

lowing two things. First-- white people of means need to decide that black lives, justice and fair opportunity matter more than protecting privilege and unearned social status. And second--a massive mobilization of financial, philanthropic, educational, community, development, media and health organizations to pull their economic and human resources and rebuild entire communities from the ground up. The money is there, it’s just a matter of priority and will.

And you can’t convince me that this can’t be done. Ever seen Extreme Home Makeover?

See what a crew of guys can do to a house in a week or two? Now multiply that by 1000’s of Baltimoreans looking for honest work and honest pay. How much do you think a TV network could make off of Extreme Community Makeover? I’m not naïve enough to think that this will actually happen overnight. But you shouldn’t be naïve enough to think that Baltimore’s insurgent youth will continue to tolerate the conditions and brutality that they face every hour of every day for much longer.

silverchips Montgomery Blair High School 51 University Boulevard East Silver Spring, MD 20901 Phone: (301) 649-2864 2014 National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Finalist Winner of the 2014 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Silver Crown

Editors-in-Chief: Eleanor Harris and Amanda Wessel Managing News Editors: Reva Kreeger and Anna O’Driscoll Managing Op/Ed Editors: Winne Luo and Maris Medina Managing Features Editors: Camille Kirsch and Emma Soler Managing Entertainment Editors: Mariam Jiffar and Luisa McGarvey Managing Sports Editors: Sam Butler and Camille Estrin Managing Design Editors: Maris Medina and Emma Soler Ombudsman: Camille Kirsch Fact Checking Supervisor: Sarah Hutter Extras Editor: Luisa McGarvey Newsbriefs Editor: Daliah Barg Executive Business Director: Maddie Boyer Business Staff: Joe Estrin Anna Hukill Adina Rombro Outreach Coordinators: Camille Estrin Joe Estrin Teague Sauter Page Editors: Daliah Barg Julian Bregstone Sam Butler Camille Estrin Sarah Hutter Mariam Jiffar Camille Kirsch Reva Kreeger Winne Luo Luisa McGarvey Maris Medina Anna O’Driscoll Teague Sauter Emma Soler Spanish Page Editors-in-Chief: Camilla Fernandez Mario Menendez Gisell Ramirez Spanish Page Editors: Sarah Canchaya Jennifer Diaz Alisson Fortis Carlos Fuentes Ilcia Hernandez Odalis Llerena Ruth Portillo Yessie Portillo Itcenia Quezada Andrès Romero Managing Photo Editor: Chimey Sonam Photographers: Peter Berger Cadence Pearson Chimey Sonam Managing Art Editors: Candia Gu Victoria Tsai Artists: Candia Gu Odalis Llerena Nazea Khan Shivani Mattikalli Alexandra Mendivil Meghna Sam Rosemary Solomon Victoria Tsai Angel Wen Puzzle Editor: Julian Bregstone Spanish Page Advisor: Dianette Coombs Advisor: Jeremy Stelzner

Silver Chips is a public forum for student expression. Student editors make all content decisions.

Unsigned editorials represent the views of the editorial board and are not necessarily those of the school. Signed letters to the editor are encouraged. Submit your letter to Jeremy Stelzner’s mailbox in the main office, to room 158 or to silver. chips.print@gmail.com. Concerns about Silver Chips’ content should be directed to the Ombudsman, the public’s representative to the paper, at silver.chips.ombudsman@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.

Opinions B1

silverchips

May 29, 2015

Don’t burn our books, just face your fears

Banning books takes away chances for students to grow

By Reva Kreeger An opinion Throughout our country’s history, the government and our schools have been treading on their stance of censorship. From student newspapers to public television, the courts have unfortunately ruled on the side of censorship throughout history, but books are where we must draw the line. In an academic setting, students should be able to access any literary piece they choose in their school libraries without interference from educational boards. Banning books in schools is an unnecessary step in regulating the lives of the students.

Schools should not serve as institutions that limit information available to students. The modern education theory supports the discussion of complex and sensitive topics, and banning books only counteracts that message. One major role of education is to introduce students to new concepts and ways of thinking, and in order to achieve this goal, schools must be open to all types of literature. Banning books will only set both the schools and the students back.

Books get students thinking in different ways and show students new perspectives that are crucial to their learning. According to the American Library Association, frequently banned books, like Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, have been banned because of their violence and offensive lan-

very progressive when it comes guage. However, by blindly banto banned books. There is an ning these books for these more Evaluation and Selection branch superficial reasons rather than of the MCPS administration which looking at how they use these determines the course material techniques to convey a deeper and library books that are allowed meaning, schools fail to see the value in exposing students to Hos- in schools. Its guidelines are fairly straightforward and its main goals seini’s descriptions of life in Afare to provide the best curricughanistan or Alexie’s astonishing experiences of the mistreatment of lum and books to the students.

Ultimately, students at Blair have American Indians. Schools often access to a wide variety argue that these controof literature, and versial books cause the media center disturbances, has most of the but often the books on the environAmerican ment Library of the Associaschool es tion’s freor the tur n e v Ad quently way of chalthe inn lenged books F y rr ebe books were ckl Hu list such taught as Perks is at of Being a fault, not Wallflower, the books Persepolis, themselves. and Kite RunFor example, ner. The only schools may books the media fail to teach the SARAH HUTTER center purposefully does historical context of not hold are extremely sexually a book which leads to a lack in explicit books such as Fifty Shades understanding its message, but of Grey or the Zane books. Howthe poor reception of the book ever, this is reasonable because at the schools should not fall on these books do not provide any the book being taught. Banning literary value, and the school is books unnecessarily shelters not censoring these books from students from these more complithe classrooms. Instead, Blair cated and less-discussed topics. is making a choice not to teach Ultimately, this is a disservice to these books for its own reasons teenagers around the country and rather than being forced to ban should not be allowed to continue it. However, most school districts in our schools. are more conservative than MCPS, Fortunately, MCPS is generally

and they have a strong hold on what students are not allowed to read. MCPS serves as a model for what schools should strive to achieve in terms of banning books.

The reasons for banning books are changing as our views as a nation have progressed to being more open with our children, but the fact that censorship is still accepted means we have a long way to go. In the early 20th century, books were banned because they depicted children with bad manners using colloquial language, but as time has progressed, the rationale has become more troubling. Books have been banned for reasons such as “antifamily”, “sex education”, and “homosexuality” according to the American Library Association. As an example of rather ludicrous accusations, the Harry Potter series has been under scrutiny by religious groups for its displays of witchcraft.

It is horrifying that a school would justify banning a book due to its “homosexuality” or “witchcraft”, and this really shows all that is wrong with regulating what students read. It is not acceptable to ban a book because a group of parents think it is inappropriate, and in return, shut the door on student exposure to other cultures, other beliefs, and other worlds that will intellectually challenge and expand their ideas. Banning books is a narrowminded way to deal with complex issues, and only promotes tunnel vision among the students it affects.

Do black lives matter enough to keep on trending?

Apathy is strong, but we can make conscious compassion stronger

By Mariam Jiffar An opinion As Baltimore erupted into protests over the death of Freddie Gray in late April, social media didn’t miss a beat. Citizen journalists captured and posted nearly every moment of protests online.

Shots of cop cars ablaze and suspenseful standoffs between protesters and lines of police made #Baltimore trend on Twitter for the world to see.

However, after so many videos and pictures came in and blew up, it’s worth considering how many of them still struck a chord with the rest of us at home.

The online overexposure of social justice issues has the potential to make disturbing images and events just business as usual.

Injustice in the media definitely doesn’t seem to be mobilizing people like it used to.

Back in 1965, the televised violence in the marches from Selma to Montgomery shocked and horrified white America into supporting the voting rights movement.

A picture of a beaten and unconscious Amelia Boynton, civil rights organizer and marcher, even circulated around the world. President Lyndon B. Johnson made a public statement condemning the police force’s abusive behavior and sent

a voting rights bill to Congress only eight days later.

Nowadays we have no shortage of brutality on record, and it has no trouble making its rounds on the web, but we sure do have a shortage of results like that.

If President Obama sent a bill cracking down on police brutality to Congress eight days after the video of Eric Garner came out, I definitely missed it. After all these years of overexposure to violence,

from news of wars overseas to televised acts of terrorism to police brutality, our behavioral patterns may be beginning to reflect it. This was investigated with two experiments in a 2008 study by Brad Bushman of VU University Amsterdam and Craig Anderson of Iowa State University. They tested the hypothesis that “expo-

sure to violent media reduces aid offered to people in pain.”

First, participants played a nonviolent or violent video game and then heard a fight outside while completing a questionnaire. People who had played the violent video game didn’t think the fight was as serious as those who played the nonviolent game. In the second experiment, subjects watched either violent or nonviolent movies and saw an injured woman either before or after the movie.

Those who saw the woman after watching a violent movie were less likely to help her than participants who saw her under any other conditions.

It’s not hard to imagine that this reluctance to help people after exposure to violence extends to social justice movements. But social media isn’t going away—and for social justice, that could still be a good thing.

White Americans ANGEL WEN were polled by the Huffington Post and YouGov this past January about whether or not the shooting of Michael Brown was an isolated incident or part of a broader pattern in how police treat black men; the same poll was repeated in April in regards to Freddie Gray’s death. In April, 56% said the shooting was an isolated incident while 31% said

it was part of a broad pattern.

However, the April poll showed that only 36% of white Americans said Freddie Gray’s death was an isolated incident, a 20 point drop, and 38% said it was part of a broader pattern. Not only did lots of white Americans change their mind—more of them see a pattern now than those who don’t.

This is an inspiring finding, especially since so much of the national dialogue about both Michael Brown and Freddie Gray was online. If social justice activity online has this kind of potential to change the way people think in such an efficient yet meaningful way, it doesn’t make sense to log off. Instead, we can and must consciously counteract the natural tendency to shrug issues off when we hear about them more often. It’s unacceptable for us to see recurring, growing problems and then accept them as the new normal.

Also, once activists have done all the work to get their message in the national spotlight, there are more obstacles to be overcome before actual change can take effect.

There are policies to be reformed, laws to be made, officials to reelect—there’s no time for activists to stress to people, “Yes, this picture of a beaten man actually, truly is a big deal,” because it’s the public’s responsibility to know and remember that.

So, instead of numbly scrolling past the next sadly inevitable pictures of gruesome injustice, take a moment to actively register what they are and what they mean for society. Make a conscious effort to recognize the importance of what you’ve seen, and maybe then you can find it within you to take action.

B2 Opinions

May 29, 2015

silverchips

Should public school teachers be eligible for tenure?

YES:

ZEKE WAPNER

Sam Butler

It gives teachers the job security to teach beyond the test.

A recent scandal over faked test scores in Atlanta Public Schools has highlighted how our education system is becoming more reliant on standardized tests. Teacher evaluations are now based heavily on standardized test scores, which can sometimes cause trouble, as it did in Atlanta. The test forging, for which 11 Atlanta teachers were convicted of racketeering, started in 2009, when an analysis of state test scores showed an unlikely jump from the previous year. The teachers are now felons, all because they tried changing scores to save their jobs. The ever-increasing prominence of standardized testing has inflated the importance of teacher tenure, a policy that prevents school districts from firing educators for inadequate reasons, like low test scores or teaching controversial topics. Some people say the policy just allows low-performing teachers to keep their jobs and that it has no value to the educational system. But in reality, tenure is of vital importance to our schools because as curriculums start to be based more on standardized tests, teachers who don’t teach to the test are becoming even more rare. Experienced teachers should be able to work without fear of being replaced or a few low scores costing them their jobs.

Tenure is crucial for numerous reasons, the most important of which is protecting teachers from being replaced by cheaper, less-experienced educators who would simply teach their students how to pass standardized tests. The whole goal of teacher evaluations is to weed out bad instructors and make sure only those who can truly help their students learn remain in our schools. Test scores are often used as a the main evaluator for teacher performance, but they can be misleading. In fact, standardized test scores correlate strongly with family income, and often the quality of teaching can’t counteract that. According to a study done in the Kent Intermediate School District in Grand Rapids Michigan, there’s a “statistically strong correlation between income and test scores” on the Michigan Merit Exam, a test similar to Maryland’s MSA. Since teacher evaluations based on standardized test data can be ineffective at actually measuring performance, tenure is important in ensuring that a few low scores don’t get an instructor who doesn’t teach to the test fired.

Aside from the fact that teachers could be replaced for financial reasons (hiring cheap, young ones to replace older, expensive ones), tenure is also important because it prevents school districts from replacing educators for ideological or political reasons. Tenure allows teachers to be safe from administrators or parents dictating the lesson plans. If tenure didn’t exist, educators would have to bend over backward to appease over-protective or critical parents,

Tenure keeps poorly performing teachers in the classroom.

and would be unable to teach topics that may make some people uncomfortable, like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, or evolution. In the past, parents have sued school districts over topics they don’t approve of, and this is where tenure comes in. The fact that parents can’t get teachers fired just because they don’t agree with the lesson is crucial because it allows students to learn important topics. It allows teachers to teach what they believe is important for students.

It makes sure that teachers will enjoy their job because they can teach the way they want to.

It’s crucial that educators enjoy their jobs because only then will they care about their students’ learning.

Tenure has clear benefits for the educational system, and it is very valuable in protecting teachers and allowing them to teach what they deem to be most beneficial to students’ learning.

Tenure also has value because it makes teaching an attractive field for students to go into. Teaching, despite what average salaries would indicate, is one of the nation’s most important professions. Teachers play the main role in the education of children and young adults. Without quality instructors, the educational system would suffer, students transitioning into their careers wouldn’t have a strong foundation, and as a result the future would be in jeopardy. If tenure leads more people to see teaching as a secure career, it is automatically a benefit to our educational system because there will be better candidates for school districts to hire.

Without tenure, teachers could be fired based off of one evaluation, which wouldn’t be representative of their skill as an educator. Without tenure, teachers wouldn’t be able to teach students anything that could be construed as controversial. Without tenure, school would transform into a series of test-prep courses. Tenure provides a vital service for our educators and education system as a whole, and without it school would lose a significant amount of its value.

“I love all my teachers and I don’t want them to get fired.”

Nathanial Marshall Junior

NO:

voicebox

“They should, so they aren’t punished for students’ performance.”

Liza Hazelwood Sophomore

Teaching is one of the most important careers in our society today. Not only do teachers support students during some of their most formative years, but they also give them the tools they need to be successful and to continue learning for the rest of their lives. However, just because teachers are instrumental to our futures doesn’t mean that all should be granted unreasonable protection from losing their jobs in any situation.

Teacher tenure is a policy that makes it more difficult to fire teachers who have been at the school for a certain amount of time and have passed certain qualifications. This policy, however, does not take into account the effect a poor teacher could have on the students. Teachers for students in primary and secondary schools should not be given tenure because of the negative repercussions for the students.

In its inception, teacher tenure was a great idea.

When it was created in the late 1800s, teachers in some states could be fired for exVICTORIA TSAI tremely trivial issues, like their political ideology, race, pregnancy, or simply because an administrator wanted to put friends in those positions.

But as time passed, numerous state and federal laws have been enacted to protect all employees from being fired for unfair reasons. Collective bargaining and court rulings have offered much protection to employees. Members of the public in other jobs wonder why teachers are getting added protections when they do not get the same benefits.

With these laws came a massive decrease in public support for teacher tenure. A survey conducted in 2011 by the Education Next Magazine found that 49 percent of Americans oppose teacher tenure while only 20 percent support it. And there are plenty of reasons for the lack of public support.

Tenure makes it extremely difficult to fire bad teachers who have been at the school for a long time. According to tenure policies such as “last hired, first fired,” the person who was hired the most recently would be fired first at the time of a budget cut. This system is based solely on seniority and doesn’t take teacher competency into account. Any policy of this kind would have no benefit to the students because the teachers who are staying in the classroom aren’t necessar-

“I don’t think so because sometimes teachers can’t teach.”

REP. BY PERMISSION OF DONALD DE ALWIS

Anna O’Driscoll

ily the good ones, but the ones who have been there longest. A teacher who has only been at the school for a mere two years but performs better than one who has been there for many years would still be the first one fired.

Tenure makes it difficult to fire poorly performing teachers who have been at the school for a long time. After being granted tenure, it becomes much more difficult and much more expensive to fire a teacher who is not performing up to standard. Administrators often will not remove teachers who are performing poorly because it would cost too much money, take too much time, and involve too many people.

In most states, tenure can be granted after three years of teaching. In MCPS, teachers are eligible for tenure on the first day of their third year of teaching. A 2008 University of Washington study found that the first two or three years of teaching does not predict the teacher’s performance after tenure has been granted. Clearly, three years is not enough time to be able to fully judge a teacher’s strengths and weaknesses to the extent that keeps them in the classroom in most situations.

Proponents of teacher tenure argue that it ensures freedom in the classroom. Without tenure, they argue, some teachers may feel pressured to teach to the test. The fact that we have so many standardized tests in the first place means that the majority of classrooms are already teaching toward some curriculum that is geared toward a test. It is important that we look at more than just teachers test scores; tenure isn’t going to protect creativity.

Tenure is beneficial to one group and one group only: the teachers. And while it is important that we protect the people who are shaping the next generation, what we really need to focus on are the actual students.

Because good teachers are so important to our future, we must try to hire and employ teachers based on quality, and not look at whether they joined two months ago or fifteen years ago. Tenure does not provide any benefit to student learning, especially if they are in an environment where the teachers are not performing up to standard, yet cannot be removed from the class. Decisions need to be made for the benefit of the students, and in the case of teacher tenure, it is clear that this is not the case.

There are very few other professions that offer tenure. It is understood that people should be evaluated consistently for their competency in performing the tasks that their jobs entail, not judged once and then put on the back burner. No matter how important the profession, teachers should not be given more protections than every other job sector. Instead, they need to be held accountable to the same level as everyone else.

“It seems like job security is good but sometimes it’s too good.”

“No because it could let bad teachers continue teaching.”

CADENCE PEARSON

Bethel Tadele Junior

John Lathrop Sophomore

Mia Rothberg Freshman

Opinion B3

silverchips

May 29, 2015

My Blair: Personal Column

By Peter Engelmann I had the privilege of having Mickey as my mentor teacher when I was a student teacher here at Blair in 1999. Mickey shared with me what he learned from his years of experience in teaching. He also shared his love of teaching. He taught me the ins and outs of teaching mathematics to high school students. He advised me on interactions with administration, teachers, and support staff. He also helped me understand the dynamic relationship between teacher, parent, and student. He always was encouraging and helpful. He was a great mentor teacher.

Mickey had a passion for many things in life. He loved his family and talked about his son, Zachary, often. They traveled frequently and referred to themselves as

“Team Roth.” Mickey also loved sports. He loved baseball the most of any sport and knew a lot about the game. His recitation of facts and statistics would amaze the average fan. One would have thought that Mickey was a baseball scout at some time in his past based on his knowledge. Mickey loved music, too. His favorite music was Doo Wop and Golden Oldies. He knew most of the bands and songs from the 1950’s. He would, at times, sing or dance to the music in the math office or in class.

He was a fun guy. He easily could make you laugh. And, if you were feeling down, Mickey had a way to lift up your spirits.

Mickey was most passionate about teaching mathematics. Over the years he taught every math course that was offered at Blair and excelled in teaching each of them. He had a special gift for teaching at

1984

Teaching alongside Mr. Roth any level. He helped pre-algebra students learn the number line and he helped Calculus students pass the AP Exam. He worked on developing positive relationships with his students and encouraged them to love mathematics the way he did. He was well respected and loved by his students. He loved to pose math problems in and out of the classroom. Often, Mickey would offer a math teaser to solve. He would give a hint if you needed one and would always explain the answer. One could see the passion for teaching mathematics in his eyes. One could hear the excitement in his voice. He loved teaching mathematics, he loved his students, and he loved coming to work at Blair every day.

Mickey didn’t take life too seriously.

He always kept calm and approached life with a positive attitude. He never yelled

or raised his voice in anger. If something went wrong he simply said “Ay-Yi-Yi.” When he was diagnosed with Leukemia a couple of years ago, Mickey fought the disease without audible complaint. He was stoic. He saw his doctors, completed treatments, and did his schoolwork without any fuss. Unfortunately, he lost his battle to this terrible disease too early in life. He passed at age 69. He was a great husband, father, teacher, and co-worker. I am a better person from having known Mickey. In fact, all of our lives were greatly benefitted by his presence and, while his spirit will live on, Mickey Roth will be greatly missed here at Montgomery Blair High School.

Want to submit a personal column? Email it to silver.chips.print@gmail.com

2015

REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF SILVERLOGUE ARCHIVES

REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF TUYET NGUYEN

PASSION IN THE CLASSROOM Milton “Mickey” Roth, who began teaching at Blair in 1969, instructs an algebra class at Blair’s old Wayne Avenue campus in 1984.

“AY-YI-YI” Roth, pictured here with math teacher Phyllis Wheatley, is remembered by Peter Engelmann as not taking life “too seriously.”

Up and Coming June 3, Graduation

June 9-12, Final Exams

June 15, Last Day of School

August 25, First Day of School

Student & Teacher Awards & Honors The Muslim Student’s Association won third place at the D.C. Muslim Interscholastic Tournament.

English teacher Kelly Newman O’Connor won a Takoma Association Azalea Award for Arts Leader for her work with the Blair theater department.

Blair’s Slam Poetry team won third place in the 2015 Louder Than a Bomb slam competition.

Math teacher David Stein also won a Takoma Association Azalea Award in the category of Educator.

Softball coach Louis Hoelman reached his 200th win of his Blair coaching career.

The allied softball team won the 2015 Montgomery County Championships.

Girls’ lacrosse coach Michael Horne reached his 100th win of his Blair coaching career.

Senior Martha Morganstein won a 2015 Dorothy Marvil Memorial Scholarship.

Blair’s team won third place at the American Computer Science League competition in Orlando, Florida.

Senior Sarah Wagner is a 2015 U.S. Presidential Scholar semifinalist.

B4 Editorials

silverchips

May 29, 2015

From our pages to your phone, videos bring print to life QR code videos introduce a new type of multimedia visuals In school, we know you hear one thing: “Put your phones away!” According to your teachers, their classes aren’t the time for texting under the table, Snapchatting secretly or surfing social media. But now we are asking you: take out your phone. Flip to page D1. Do you see that square containing what looks like a glitch from an 8-bit video game? Well, tech-literate readers, you know what to do.

And if you don’t, it’s easy.

Download a free QR reader application on your smartphone and scan that mysterious black and white checkerboard. It will link you to original content on the Internet, like a video or photo slideshow. Each square is a barcode of sorts that links the physical print media to the online world.

These QR codes are the result of a collaboration between Silver Chips and Blair Network Communications (BNC) to create new video elements in the paper. From now on, there will be a story or two each cycle that has an accompanying QR code. Simply point a QR reader on your phone to the square by a story and you will be redirected to the corresponding video on Silver Chips’ Vimeo page.

Our hope is that each video

will add another dimension to our stories. For instance, in addition to reading a recap of the football playoffs, you’ll be able to see the game played through an actual player’s eyes, using GoPro video cameras. In addition to reading a Q & A with a notable community member, you’ll be able to see footage of the cool moments that didn’t make it to print. In addition to reading a style roundup, you’ll be able to see the people we interviewed show off their clothes.

Got any more great ideas? Let our ombudsman know!

For our rollout this cycle, we decided to provide a video for prom fashion in hopes that seeing the suits and dresses up close and in the moment will add a fun visual aspect that demonstrates the vibrancy of Blair students. We hope you’ll love it and see how transformative the multimedia experience can be.

One thing bears saying: At Silver Chips, it is our firm belief that video and photos cannot replace the written word. There is an art to the well-crafted feature, news piece or op-ed that does not transfer onto a screen. As a loyal reader of this paper, you’ve experienced that art firsthand.

We do not in any way mean for these new videos to take the place

of our reporting and written content. We hope, instead, that the two can enhance one another. We also look forward to working closely with BNC to serve Blair. We’ve written a good deal in these pages about the proper use of technology and the importance of inter-group cooperation; now, it’s time to practice what we preach.

We still love print media, and are working everyday to keep it alive, but in this age of the internet, we find it necessary—and exciting—to branch out and create transformative content which will engage our savvy readership. Initiatives like these allow us to celebrate our principles while staying on the cutting edge of media.

Do you have any feedback or see any mistakes? Let us know.

E-mail the editors at silver.chips.print@gmail.com

Reaching out for students’ responses All we ask is that students reach back

By Camille Kirsch Picture yourself walking down the vast, echoing halls of Blair.

You’re alone, completely anonymous. No one knows your name.

Then, all of a sudden, a student walks up to you, holding the latest Silver Chips. They open it to the editorial page and point excitedly at a picture near the top of the page. “Excuse me,” they say, “but is this you? I love this article!”

Sound farfetched?

It shouldn’t. Any Blair student can submit a personal column, op-ed, or letter to the editor to Silver Chips for every other Blazer to read. This cycle alone, over 40 students and teachers submitted responses to our request for reflections on the Baltimore riots. Each and every one was read and carefully considered by the Silver Chips staff.

We were fortunate enough to be able to print eight of those pieces in this month’s paper.

Turn to page four, if you haven’t already, and take a moment to appreciate the talent and diversity of opinions of the Blazers around you. At the top of every issue of our paper, there’s a brief line of text which names Chips “a public forum for student expression since 1937.”

Silver Chips is proud to be a forum for community discussions like these.

As we move into the new school year, Chips will continue to provide a platform for Blair writers to reach the rest of the school. We have run a personal column from a Blazer in every issue since that of Febru-

ary 2014. In then-ombudsman Langston Cotman’s words, “If you have a personal quibble, a witty piece of observational humor or just a really entertaining story about your life, Silver Chips urges you to Write it Loud and Write it Proud.” Past students have writ-

Ombudsman Camille Kirsch ten about such weighty subjects as choosing a college or being gay at Blair and such humorous subjects as getting into the wrong car in a Costco parking lot. Got a great

idea for the next column? Write it in 500 to 700 hundred words and then email it to me or drop it by Room 158. We can’t wait to read your masterpiece, and neither can the rest of the school.

That’s not the only way to get your voice in the paper, of course.

Got a query, a quibble or a quotation that relates to something published in Silver Chips? Write all about it in a Letter to the Editor! This year, we’ve run a defense of BNC and an explanation of alternative treatments for scoliosis as responses to stories about understaffed clubs and chronic illnesses respectively.

In an ideal world, we’d have enough reader feedback to publish a Letter to the Editor every cycle, and I wouldn’t have enough space to name every piece of feedback or thoughtful suggestion we’ve received. You can make that happen-just send in your thoughts.

If none of these options for interacting with the paper seem right for you, there’s still the near-mythical sticky-note-on-door strategy. Nothing warms the hearts of harried Chips writers like a Post-It on the door of 165 with a simple “Good Job!” or “Liked the story on C2” or even “You misspelled the A5 headline” scrawled on it. Unfortunately, for the past year, nothing has been warming our hearts. Bring back

CANDIA GU

Retraction Immediately after publication of our April issue, it came to our attention that a comic by student guest artist Ricardo Smith published on page D6, “Super Hero, Super Struggles,” was not original material. We learned that it was copied nearly exactly from the Cyanide and Happiness YouTube animated short “Robbery.”

We apologize to the authors and artists of Cyanide and Happiness and are officially retracting the cartoon. As a large student-produced paper, content by numerous branches of our staff comes together to create the final product; and though we do our best to diligently screen each element, unfortunately things can fall through the cracks.

We take full responsibility for the error and will work diligently to prevent the publication of

any plagiarized material in the future.

Particularly with our new initiative to include more student-produced artwork in the “Blazer Box” (see page D3), we will scrutinize every submission to ensure that all material is original work.

We would like to thank Mrs. Adamson’s Journalism class for their careful screenings of every issue in search of mistakes that warrant corrections. We strongly believe in the transparency of our mistakes and actively work to publish the corrections for any flaws we may made.

We do not wish to promote plagiarism of any kind. Silver Chips prides ourselves in our original material, from writing to photos to art, so we sincerely apologize for this oversight.

We would like to say thank you and goodbye to our senior Silver Chips staff members as well as Blair’s graduating class of 2015.

For more about our seniors, see our 2015 Senior Edition.

Corrections In the B5 “Then & Now” photos, junior J’Den Seals’s name was misspelled and he was mistakenly identified as a senior instead of a junior.

In the C6 article “Accepting reality: When college plans don’t work out” by Emma Soler and Reva Kreeger, the window quote in the bottom right of the page was attributed to Nathanial Rought. It should have been attributed to Phalia West.

In the D6 crossword “Earth Day” by Julian Bregstone, there were multiple errors in the puzzle clues. Clues 66 down, 68 across and 69 across were not printed.

the sticky note! It’s a tradition worth reviving.

Silver Chips is a paper for every Blazer, and we want every Blazer to have a hand in what we do.

Whether that means publishing your personal column, getting a letter detailing your concerns, or

reading a sticky note you slapped on our door, we will make it work.

All you have to do is reach out-we’ll meet you more than halfway.

Comments or concerns?

Email the Ombudsman at ombudsmansilverchips@gmail.com

May 29, 2015

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C1 Features

silverchips

May 29, 2015

Goodbye, How I Met Your Mother. Hello, Pizza Group!

Blair alumni meet at local pub every Tuesday to laugh and reminisce from ALUMNI page A1 had a casual attendance policy. “We never know who we’re going to get,” Blair alumna Lois Hessler points out, gesturing to her friends seated around the long, oaken dinner table. Some weeks, there may only be four people, but Hessler remembers that one week there were upwards of 20.

The alumni befriended one another while still students at Blair--some even earlier on in their childhoods, like alumnae Betty Patshak and Popey Xander, who have known each other since elementary school. Long past their Blair years, the gang has gotten together for milestone birthdays, anniversaries

“You can see that we’ve grown up together, we’re stuck together.”

- Bernice Fones and now--regular meetings at the pub.

It was Xander who initially decided to move their previously held weekly dinners to a more laid-back setting. “We had a dinner club and we said we didn’t want to have dinner club anymore, so [Popey and her husband] said let’s go get pizza because it’s half price here,” Hessler laughs.

And now, each week, a routine of sorts ensues. The alumni trickle in at around 4 p.m., sit at their usual spots and wait for the pub manager to place their usual drinks--that she has memorized by heart--on the table.

Soon following, the group members chatter with one another until they decide to order pizza around 5 p.m.

After hours In many ways, Blair culture has remained the same over the years. The lives of those in the Pizza Group revolved around many of the same things as the Blazers of today-school spirit, sports, academics and fun. In 1946, the first football team was established.

“Oh, it was exciting because we’d never had a football team before,” Hessler recalls. Al Schrider, another pub regular, was on that very first football team during his senior year. Like today’s rivalry with Northwood, Schrider recalls the intense competition between Blair and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. Pranks among the two schools were common. “They came and painted [‘BCC’] on the roof of our school,” he chuckles.

“We were hoodlum kids,” Joyce Schrider, his wife, jokes.

Like numerous Blair students today, many of the Pizza Group members were avid athletes. Al Schrider played all the three sports offered for boys at the time: baseball, football, and basketball. Joyce Schrider enjoyed playing the still-popular sports of basketball and field hockey. Hessler and alumnae Jo Crichton were on the cheerleading team that participated during Blair’s first football games.

The alumni often frequented the local grocery store, much like how athletes now find themselves at Four Corners for a quick burrito or Starbucks drink. “We were always so starved,” Joyce Schrider recalls. Where Ellsworth and Fenton now host a line of fastfood restaurants, stood the Silver Spring Armory—the training and meeting ground for the National Guard. It was later converted

into a teen club, where Hessler used to visit during her free time. “[My friends] and I and several others used to go to the Armory and they used to have record dances up there,” Hessler remembers.

Unlike sports, Blair academics have changed tremendously over the years. In the 1940s, the school offered three different kinds of courses. “When we were there, we had the commercial, the academic, and the general [classes,]” Xander explains. Commercial classes were tailored to those who wanted to learn practical skills like typing. “[It was] stuff that could get us a job,” Patshak adds. When she took courses at Strayer College (now Strayer University) after graduation, the instructors marveled at the skills she acquired at Blair. “They said, ‘You don’t need this, you’re wasting your money,’” she remembers. “The training I had at Blair was so good that I didn’t need to go to Strayer.”

Al Schrider fondly remembers his Home Economics class. “[My class] was mostly the boys who did sports,” he says. “We had to miss the class a lot [because of games] but it didn’t matter. It was fun when we had it.

The boy’s class was all cooking.”

Crichton and Xander took the academic route, most similar to the education Blazers receive nowadays. “The requirement to go on to college at that time, I think you had to have an academic diploma,” Xander recalls. These classes included Spanish and Chemistry. After discovering her interest in Chemistry during her Blair years, Crichton went on to pursue Chemistry at the University of Maryland.

Many of those in the Blair Pizza Group juggled part-time jobs along with academics and sports. Joyce Schrider was part of a work program in her senior year, a program similar to the half-day internships Blair students have today. “I wanted to be a teacher, so I worked at the elementary school,” Schrider explains.

Others, like Patshak, participated in extracurricular activities like Silver Chips. In the 40s, it was developed through English class,

REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF SILVERLOGUE ARCHIVES

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Al Schrider was a part of Blair’s first football team in 1946. diately go on a first date when they met in their senior and junior years. “I didn’t know who he was,” Joyce recalls, chuckling. “I had an older sister who was in school with him and I had to ask her [what] kind of guy he was.”

Since there wasn’t much to do in the Silver Spring area, Blazers would go on the typical 40s date. They would attend a drivein movie, catch a football game, and grab dinner afterwards. Al and Joyce Schrider had their first date at a University of Maryland football game. The Schriders also went on dates that were similar to outings that Blair couples often go on now. “If we had a school dance, we’d go to that,” Al adds.

“We’d probably go to a movie or a football game.” Another common custom was dinner at the Hot Shoppe, a drive-in restaurant much like Checkers or Sonic in which diners could order food and have it delivered right inside their cars.

to the Hot Shoppe, were many teenagers were hanging out that night. “We got in the car and they took us and dropped us off,” she says. “They didn’t even buy us a hot fudge sundae!”

Dating back then, as Xander recalls, was more casual. “But then the next week [Bob] called me up and asked for a date. I mean we didn’t go steady-steady, we dated others.

It was a different way then,” she observes.

Life in the 1940s Growing up in the 1940s, the Pizza Group was exposed to an era that influenced much of America’s history.

Not everything at Blair in the 1940s was the same; for one, the school was far less diverse than it is today. Hessler remembers the student body as homogenous. “It was a small school,” he says. “We didn’t have any black students in our school.”

A major aspect of the 40s that did affect Blair at the time was the conclusion of the second World War. It was common for students to join the war efforts. Some joined clubs that paid homage to war veterans, others joined the war. “Everyone was very patriotic,” Joyce Schrider remarks. For Al Schrider, the war hit close to home. “Two of my brothers [left during the school year] and came back and graduated after the war,” he says. “The county facilitated their return.”

Their class, however, only felt the end of the war. “We were the first class who graduated from Blair that was not in wartime,” Crichton states.

Once a Blazer, always a Blazer

CHIMEY SONAM

REFLECTING Jo Crichton and Popey Xander gaze at old photographs from Blair years. the teacher being the sponsor at that time.

Back then, the newspaper still had many of the components it has today: features, news, and opinions. It also had a sports section, of which Patshak was the editor. “I loved [Silver Chips] especially with the sports,” she notes. “I’ve always been sports inclined.”

Blazers or lovebirds Since the 1940s, Blair students have skirted around the idea of a first date. For instance, Al and Joyce Schrider didn’t imme-

After graduating high school, some couples decided to stay together. Many were in it for the long run, like Al and Joyce. They were married immediately after Joyce’s graduation. “Last week was our 68th anniversary,” Al remarks.

Xander met her husband when he and a friend were out “trolling” or as Xander defines it, looking for women to pick up one night. “Lois and I were coming out of the Silver Theatre on a Sunday evening in October of 1946,” Xander recalls. Xander’s husband, Bob and his friend Stan offered them a ride

When asked if they ever feel nostalgic about not being at Montgomery Blair anymore, the table goes silent. Hessler looks about at her friends and chuckles. “We always talk about Blair. Always. Wherever you go and say ‘Oh I went to Blair,’ somebody will say ‘Oh, I went to Blair too,’” she notes. For the Blair Pizza Group, nostalgia is a happier feeling. It is one shared among lifelong friends with a common tie: the powerful bond of being a Blazer.

At the back of the room, the gang sits, talks, and laughs; 60 years of Blair memories survives between them. A crescendo of voices overlaps those of Lois, Al, Joyce, Bernice, Popey, Joanne and the rest of the gang. Ultimately, the Blair Pizza Group does not foresee their weekly meetings for pizza and beer ending anytime soon. “You can see that we’ve grown up together, we’re stuck together,” Fones says.

ALL SMILES Class of 1946 and 1947 Blazers pose for their senior portraits. From left to right: Al Schrider, Joyce Schrider, Bernice Fones, Jo Crichton, Popey Xander, and Lois Hessler.

REP. BY PERM. OF SILVERLOGUE ARCHIVES

Features C2

silverchips

May 29, 2015

A labor of love: Bringing passion to government Silver Chips sits down with Secretary of Labor Tom Perez

By Anna O’Driscoll Not every high school can boast of having a member of President Barack Obama’s cabinet in the school community. At Montgomery Blair, the greater school community includes Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, father of one Blair graduate and one current student.

Secretary Perez was born in Buffalo, New York to parents who immigrated to the United from the Dominican Republic. After graduating from Brown University and Harvard Law School, Secretary Perez moved to the Silver Spring area. He served as the Maryland Secretary of Labor and the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. In 2013, after Perez was nominated by President Obama, the United States Senate confirmed him to the office of the Secretary of Labor.

In this position, Perez said, “Our goal is to help people in need.” This includes helping workers who need to find a job, people who were not paid, or those who want to learn a new skill to get a better job.

On Monday, April 20, Secretary Perez delivered a speech to Blair students in the auditorium. After hearing him talk, Silver Chips had the opportunity to speak with Perez about his experiences and his time in office.

Q: What are some of the experiences and things you’ve done throughout your life that have led you to this career?

A: I’ve had a series of lucky breaks, I guess I would call it, opportunities to do internships in college, opportunities to work jobs where I felt like I could help people who were in need, especially folks who were marginalized: victims of human trafficking, victims of police misconduct or hate crimes, people who needed a job. There’s nothing worse in

life than not being able to feed your family, and helping people to get the skills to get a good job is very fulfilling. So I’ve had a series of remarkable opportunities that have really helped me be able to fulfill what my parents said, which is, you know, make sure you help others. Make sure you make the world a little bit better than when you found it.

out. Our goal is to help people in need. We’ve been able to help people in need in different ways, whether it’s retirees who need protec-

tion, whether it’s workers who didn’t get paid, whether it’s workers who lost their job and need to upscale, you know, it’s workers who need a raise. It’s hard for me to say that one is more fulfilling than the other. What it really is about is being able to wake up every day and help people in meaningful ways, who need help.

Q: What do you still hope to do in your time as Secretary of Labor?

Q: How has having parents who immigrated to the United States from another country influenced your beliefs and values?

A: We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’ve got a lot of regulations to put out to help lift wages, to help protect the hard earned money of people.

We’ve got a lot of work to do to help people get trained for the jobs of tomorrow. So I wake up every day with kind of a hop in my step.

A: The American story is in so many respects the story of immigrants, not just from Latin countries but from all over the world. Blair High School is the story of America. People from every corner of the world coming together to build a diverse student environment and a diverse learning environment, and because people here at Blair, and same with me growing up, because we’ve had opportunities to thrive in a diverse environment, we demand it, we embrace it, we thrive in it.

Q: What advice would you give to a student who hopes to follow in a similar career path?

Q: What has been your proudest accomplishment so far as Secretary of Labor?

A: It’s hard to single one

REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

A: Don’t be afraid to take risks.

Don’t be afraid to fail. There is no such thing as failure. The only failure in my mind is the failure to try. And get out of your comfort zone. Try things that are different. The older I get, the more willing I am to take risks because every time I’ve taken a leap of faith, it’s been very rewarding.

In the hallways, a mixed bag of acceptance and ignorance

LGBTQ students try to “iron out the edges” of a supportive environment

By Sarah Hutter When senior Diana Garcia walks down the hallway holding hands with her girlfriend, other students sometimes greet her with double takes or lingering stares. “You get looks from guys, mostly,” she says. “A lot of people just stare and don’t say anything.”

But for the most part, people don’t notice. At Blair, it’s not uncommon for students to openly identify as LGBTQ and pursue same-sex relationships. However, the lack of education about LGBTQ identities and issues means that some students are hit with comments that really hurt.

High school is a period when many people start forming an individual identity, whether it be through pursuing extracurricular interests, dating, making new friends, changing their looks, or questioning their beliefs. For some Blazers, this means figuring out that their sexuality lies beyond the norms of heterosexuality—and Blair is a place where some people feel safe enough to come out to their friends and community as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ).

The acronym LGBTQ is also used as an umbrella term to describe other people who don’t identify as straight, such as asexual or pansexual people, or who don’t fit within the gender binary. As Blair has a rich and diverse popu-

lation, many students identify as LGBTQ and choose to share this with their peers.

Out of the closet For Garcia, coming out as a lesbian to her

deal,” she says, noting that a large portion of her group of friends identify as LGBTQ. “Half are basically straight and half are basically gay,” she says. However, Garcia’s conservative mother wasn’t as accepting. Garcia came out to her mother when she was thirteen. “I grew up in a Mexican Roman Catholic household, and I didn’t really know what was going on,” says Garcia. “I thought she could help.” As it turned out, her mother didn’t respond as she had hoped. “She’s Roman Catholic, so it didn’t go well,” Garcia recalls. Rather than accepting her daughter’s sexuality, Garcia’s mother “called me crazy and sent me to this psychiatrist,” says Garcia, who only saw the psychiatrist for a few months. While her mother still hasn’t changed her mind, at school Garcia can be open about her sexuality and date her girlfriend without much notice. “It’s freeing,” she says.

Homophobia in the hallways

or whispered in classrooms.” Peel believes that Blair students need to be more educated about LGBTQ issues. While Peel, who identifies as bisexual, hasn’t experienced homophobia specifically directed at her, she has heard ignorant and troubling remarks made about a transgender friend. “The kid I was talking to kept referring to [my friend] as ‘he’ because she has a male body,” she says, “but really what it comes down to is that people are homophobic or transphobic because they haven’t been educated about the topics and maybe don’t even realize… that transgender is even a thing.”

Ironing out the edges The Blair community is making efforts to change minds by educating people. The GSA, or Gay-Straight Alliance, is a club at Blair for LGBTQ students and straight allies to meet and be part of a larger community.

However, sophomore Reilly Grant, the vice president of the club, says that only a portion of Blair’s LGBTQ population attend the club, with many people being able to find a sense of community elsewhere. Grant, who identifies as bisexual, says while he hasn’t encountered a problem with homophobia at Blair, the rest of the school needs to be more aware of its significant LGBTQ population.

“Really, the problem isn’t homophobia, but lack of visibility,” he says. “There’s already a pretty good community at Blair,” he says. “I just want to iron out the edges.”

Senior Patty Pablo and Garcia agree that there is a significant LGBTQ community at Blair, which makes it easier for students to come out publicly. “I have many queer friends and I attend the GSA [Gay-Straight Alliance] club,” says Pablo. “Compared to a lot of other high schools, I think the community is definitely much more open-minded and accepting.” While students view Blair as more accepting than other schools, it is not without flaws. Students like Pablo and junior Rowyn Peel have experienced isolated incidents of homophobia.

“I’ve definitely Do you think the Blair community is acbeen called a few cepting of LGBTQ students? things by peers when I first came “The Blair community is very accepting because I see out [as bisexual], some incredjust as many gay couples holding hands and ibly hurtful and stuff and they never get bullied for it.” homophobic,” - Edward Hunter, sophomore says Pablo. “And every now and “Blair still has a long way to go but we are definitely again, I’ll hear more accepting than most schools.” slurs being called - Lulaa Yohannes, sophomore out in hallways

soapbox

CANDIA GU

friends and classmates at Blair was easier than coming out at home. At Blair, “people asked and I just told them. It was no big

Features C3/C4

silverchips

May 29, 2015

Focusing on in

Do you think taking a non-prescribed ADHD drug before studying or taking a test is cheating?

ADDERALL ABUSE Students turn to prescription study aids

prescription drugs If taking steroids is consid““Alldothat “ is help you perform to ered cheating in sports, then your best ability, or at least enable you to...they don’t give you the answers.

Sophomore Oreena Monrose

W

hen Owen, a Blair junior, walked into his SAT testing room on an early Saturday morning, he wasn’t worried. He hadn’t done much studying, except attending an SAT preparation class, in which he hadn’t paid much attention. Even so, Owen felt ready.

Excited, even. He sat down in his seat, unperturbed by the anxiety-stricken students around him. The reason for Owen’s composure? A small, orange and white capsule.

And after he tunneled through the test with complete focus, scoring 1830 out of 2400, he found out that many others had taken the same drug.

Owen was on unprescribed Adderall, a stimulant medication used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

It contains amphetamine, which is known colloquially as speed, and is characterized by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Class 2 controlled substance, which places it in the same category as cocaine and meth. This means it has a “high potential for abuse” and “may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.”

Misuse of any medication in this category, such as deviating from the doctor’s orders or selling one’s medication, can lead to a felony charge.

The prevalence of Adderall abuse on college campuses is no secret. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, one in five college students admit to using Adderall without an ADHD diagnosis; however, misuse of the medication doesn’t only exist on the collegiate level. In a high school student’s quest for success, the promise of a magic pill that ensures an A is a tempting one.

Intense workloads, standardized tests and exhausting nights have prompted some Blair students to rely on Adderall in order to grind through.

An easy transaction According to a 2011 University of Michigan study, 47 percent of 12th graders reported that obtaining Adderall or Ritalin (another drug used to treat ADHD) was “very easy” or “fairly easy”. Hannah, a sophomore, agrees. Hannah was diagnosed with ADHD in third grade, and has taken various stimulants since then to aid her ability to focus. “How easy is it [to get]? You can talk to the person next to you,” she says with a chuckle. Currently, she takes and sells Metadate, a medication that she says is “basically Adderall times two.”

The drug is not only accessible, but relatively cheap. According to Owen, the standard price for a 20 mg pill of Adderall, easily enough to last the day for the typical user, is about four to five dollars.

“There was one kid who practically gave it away to anyone who asked,” Owen says. And Owen did ask, which resulted in his first experience with the stimulant on the day of his freshman AP U.S. History exam at his former school. Since then, Owen has used Adderall for most of his important exams, comforted by what he sees as the drug’s prevalence. “I probably wouldn’t have tried it unless I knew other people were doing it and it was safe, ‘cause everyone else who had told me about it was like ‘Oh, it’s great, it makes tests so much better,’” he says.

According to child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Paul Prunier, Adderall will help almost everyone concentrate better for a brief period of time. However, he maintains that it should not be taken by anyone that has not specifically been given the drug by a medical professional.

Rather than getting Adderall from a friend,

“You’ll forget about eating, you’ll forget about anything else that you’re stressed about, and you’ll just worry about getting whatever you need to get done, done.”

According to Dr. Amelia Arria, Director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development at the University of Maryland, many people do not understand what ADHD truly is. “ADHD is a real disorder, but it’s not lack of attention. Everyone with lack of attention does not have ADHD,” she says. This misconception leads to more unnecessary prescriptions and less examination of the underlying cause of attention problems, she continues.

And that underlying cause may be other drug usage, Arria says.

According to a study authored by Arria on substance abuse at universities, 95% of students using Adderall non-medically also smoke marijuana. “If you’re drinking and using drugs, including marijuana, your attention is not going to be good and your ability to focus and concentrate is not going to be very good. But it’s not because you have ADHD, it’s because of those other things,” she says. Thus, Arria adds, patients must be completely abstinent of all substances before doctors can make a diagnosis.

Hannah says that she smokes weed every day, as does Scott, a junior. Scott also says he has used a variety of drugs in the past. “I used to be using pills...every day but now I just smoke one to two times a day,” he says.

“You’ll forget about anything else” Sue says that when she takes Adderall she is able to concentrate deeply on one thing. “You’ll forget about eating, you’ll forget about anything else that you’re stressed about, and you’ll just worry about getting whatever you need to get done, done,” she says.

Even if she finishes her homework, the unwavering concentration and motivation that the drug causes continues. “It just makes you want to do something all the time,” Sue says.

Similarly, Owen finds that, when using Adderall, he becomes captivated by one object or thought – but that deep concentration isn’t always academic. “You can get focused on the wrong thing, like if you try to do homework you can get focused on your mouse next to your computer,” he says.

When Owen used Adderall during a test, however, he says it was transformative. The drug also aided his memory and helped him to focus on the task at hand. “If you studied a little beforehand, then it makes it like really easy, ‘cause I would recall things that I’d studied so much quicker, and things would just pop into my mind,” he says. Owen says he now uses it for all his major tests, including finals and AP exams.

According to Dr. Prunier, Adderall users can develop state-dependency learning. “If you study under the condition of being on Adderall, you need to take Adderall when you’re at your test because you learned the material under the condition of having Adderall on board. And, if you’re not taking the test under those same conditions, you can’t reproduce the learning that occurred,” he explains.

“I stayed up for two days straight” I have because my mom doesn’t count them,” Hannah explains.

As a result, dealing and using Adderall can involve much less of a feeling it is a serious crime.

According to a study done by Alan D. DeSantis of the University of Kentucky and Audrey Curtis of Newman University, a sense of security also arises because the drug comes from doctors. Since it is produced by the medical establishment and is FDA approved, some users say Adderall “must be safe.” According to the study, many students think taking Adderall is better than doing ‘party drugs’ because it is done ‘for the right reasons.’” One student quoted in the study went as far as to say that Adderall isn’t a drug at all, explaining, “It is a study tool. You don’t get high or anything like that. I take it to do good in school. How can that be bad?”

photos by Cadence Pearson story by Winne Luo & Emma Soler design by Maris Medina & Emma Soler

ADHD medication is supposed to be taken strictly according to doctor’s orders. Some users, however, do not take their full prescribed amount, in order to sell more or simply because they feel that they do not need to take the whole dosage. According to Arria, 60% of people who are prescribed ADHD medication share that medication with others.

For Scott, the headaches and shakiness he experienced using Adderall for his ADHD were enough to make him curb his usage. As he took a smaller and smaller amount, the pills started to accumulate, and he began selling them cheaply in order to help people out.

Adderall aids focus by helping to replenish neurotransmitters

”

Freshman Margaret McCarthy

soapbox

Where only first names appear, names have been changed to protect the identities of the sources.

Sue, a junior, simply stole a few pills from her sister, who is prescribed the medication for ADHD. When asked about her motivation, Sue replies, “Homework, stress, junior year.”

ADHD runs in Sue’s family, so she says she thinks it’s likely that she has some form of the disorder – but even without an official diagnosis, the drug wasn’t hard to get. When stealing pills from her sister became too risky, Sue says she decided to attempt to get a prescription for the drug. “It was easy to tell the doctor how I was stressed out, and they were like, ‘Oh yeah, well, since your sister and your brother and possibly your parents have it, here’s some,’” she says.

This experience is actually more common than one would think.

Because the test for diagnosing ADHD is often based on a self-report, students say the prescriptions are relatively easy to obtain under fraudulent circumstances.

“As long as you say you have problems focusing, I think you can get it,” Owen says. A quick web search for the symptoms of ADHD can be all the preparation needed to obtain the drug from a doctor.

“I think it is possible to fake this diagnosis...if a teen came in and... provided certain kinds of information or filled out this form and said, ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ about all these different things, it’s possible that we could come up with that diagnosis [of ADHD],” explains Dr. Prunier.

Once the prescription is filled, a regular supply of the drug is much more likely; shady dealings with middlemen can be replaced by trips to the local drugstore. Trusted dispensers, combined with little parental regulation, makes dealing Adderall almost as easy as obtaining it. “I just open up my cabinet and take out the pills that

”

taking unneeded ADHD drugs should be considered cheating in school.

such as dopamine that are lacking in the brains of people with ADHD, which means they can create surplus of those same chemicals for users without ADHD. According to Dr. Prunier, the three most common side effects of taking Adderall are having decreased appetite, feeling “wired, nervous, [and] jittery,” and having difficulty sleeping.

“If you take more than...like 40[mg] you probably won’t be sleeping. You’re not wired but you’re awake, and you just close

“I probably wouldn’t have tried it unless I knew other people were doing it and it was safe, ‘cause everyone else who had told me about it was like ‘Oh, it’s great, it makes tests so much better.’” your eyes and you can’t sleep, your heart’s pounding,” Owen explains. Hannah, who takes 40 mg of her medication daily, says she goes to sleep between 12 p.m. and 1 a.m. each night.

However, real mishaps can occur when users take more than the prescribed dosage. Sue says that she once took too much of the drug as a result of panic from a heavy workload. “I had two essays due for AP Lang, a ton of math homework...everything was due on Friday,” she remembers. “Then it was eight o’clock Thursday night and I was so screwed. I was like, ‘I’m not gonna finish this, I’ll need all day to do it, the eight hour [pill] is going to wear off sometime so maybe I’ll just take two. That was a stupid idea.”

She ended up staying awake for two days straight.

An experience like this – taking too much medication and suffering the consequences – isn’t uncommon. Owen says his friends who took 300 mg stayed up for three days, while Scott cites a time when taking too much made him throw up profusely and kept him from sleeping for 36 hours.

According to Prunier, an ‘overdose’ can lead to increased heart rate and blood pressure, among other things.

However, due to the non-fatal nature of an overdose, some believe Adderall is a drug with no serious consequenc-

es. “The thing is you can’t overdose or anything, so you just take as much and it gets you high,” says Owen.

However, there is a general consensus among users that Adderall is not as severe as ‘party drugs’ like LSD. Owen and Hannah place it on the same level as marijuana. “You can function fairly normally on it,” Owen explains.

A moral dilemma Because using Adderall non-medically helps students to complete their work by artificial means, a constant debate ensues regarding whether academic Adderall use for those without ADHD is cheating.

In a survey conducted by the Pediatric Academic Societies of America, 33 percent of students at an undisclosed Ivy League college said they did not see a problem with using stimulants to aid academic performance. 41 percent found it unethical. Hannah can see reasons for justifying Adderall use by anyone, especially on large tests. “A normal teenage brain doesn’t have the capacity to sit in a room for three hours to take a test,” she says. Scott does not mind selling his pills to people taking big tests like SATs or APs; he says he is “personally opposed to standardized testing”.

Others say that Adderall is meant to level the playing field for students with ADHD and not to artificially boost the performance of others. Sue equates it to a testing accommodation, in that it should only be used for those who require it in order to function at a normal level: “It’s just one of those things where you need extended time,” she says.

Hannah says that a heavy workload next year, rather than ethical guilt, will likely force her to stop selling the drug. “I’m taking four-and-a-half APs...and I think that as soon as that happens I’m just going to stop because I’m going to need the medication myself,” she says. On the other hand, Owen plans to keep taking Adderall through college, or until it would “not be helpful anymore.”

When users take Adderall consistently in an attempt to succeed, however, Hannah says its effects eventually supersede one’s natural behavior. “That’s not the chemistry that you were born with.

You’re not really yourself if you take medicine every day that you don’t need.”

Features C3/C4

silverchips

May 29, 2015

Focusing on in

Do you think taking a non-prescribed ADHD drug before studying or taking a test is cheating?

ADDERALL ABUSE Students turn to prescription study aids

prescription drugs If taking steroids is consid““Alldothat “ is help you perform to ered cheating in sports, then your best ability, or at least enable you to...they don’t give you the answers.

Sophomore Oreena Monrose

W

hen Owen, a Blair junior, walked into his SAT testing room on an early Saturday morning, he wasn’t worried. He hadn’t done much studying, except attending an SAT preparation class, in which he hadn’t paid much attention. Even so, Owen felt ready.

Excited, even. He sat down in his seat, unperturbed by the anxiety-stricken students around him. The reason for Owen’s composure? A small, orange and white capsule.

And after he tunneled through the test with complete focus, scoring 1830 out of 2400, he found out that many others had taken the same drug.

Owen was on unprescribed Adderall, a stimulant medication used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

It contains amphetamine, which is known colloquially as speed, and is characterized by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Class 2 controlled substance, which places it in the same category as cocaine and meth. This means it has a “high potential for abuse” and “may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.”

Misuse of any medication in this category, such as deviating from the doctor’s orders or selling one’s medication, can lead to a felony charge.

The prevalence of Adderall abuse on college campuses is no secret. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, one in five college students admit to using Adderall without an ADHD diagnosis; however, misuse of the medication doesn’t only exist on the collegiate level. In a high school student’s quest for success, the promise of a magic pill that ensures an A is a tempting one.

Intense workloads, standardized tests and exhausting nights have prompted some Blair students to rely on Adderall in order to grind through.

An easy transaction According to a 2011 University of Michigan study, 47 percent of 12th graders reported that obtaining Adderall or Ritalin (another drug used to treat ADHD) was “very easy” or “fairly easy”. Hannah, a sophomore, agrees. Hannah was diagnosed with ADHD in third grade, and has taken various stimulants since then to aid her ability to focus. “How easy is it [to get]? You can talk to the person next to you,” she says with a chuckle. Currently, she takes and sells Metadate, a medication that she says is “basically Adderall times two.”

The drug is not only accessible, but relatively cheap. According to Owen, the standard price for a 20 mg pill of Adderall, easily enough to last the day for the typical user, is about four to five dollars.

“There was one kid who practically gave it away to anyone who asked,” Owen says. And Owen did ask, which resulted in his first experience with the stimulant on the day of his freshman AP U.S. History exam at his former school. Since then, Owen has used Adderall for most of his important exams, comforted by what he sees as the drug’s prevalence. “I probably wouldn’t have tried it unless I knew other people were doing it and it was safe, ‘cause everyone else who had told me about it was like ‘Oh, it’s great, it makes tests so much better,’” he says.

According to child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Paul Prunier, Adderall will help almost everyone concentrate better for a brief period of time. However, he maintains that it should not be taken by anyone that has not specifically been given the drug by a medical professional.

Rather than getting Adderall from a friend,

“You’ll forget about eating, you’ll forget about anything else that you’re stressed about, and you’ll just worry about getting whatever you need to get done, done.”

According to Dr. Amelia Arria, Director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development at the University of Maryland, many people do not understand what ADHD truly is. “ADHD is a real disorder, but it’s not lack of attention. Everyone with lack of attention does not have ADHD,” she says. This misconception leads to more unnecessary prescriptions and less examination of the underlying cause of attention problems, she continues.

And that underlying cause may be other drug usage, Arria says.

According to a study authored by Arria on substance abuse at universities, 95% of students using Adderall non-medically also smoke marijuana. “If you’re drinking and using drugs, including marijuana, your attention is not going to be good and your ability to focus and concentrate is not going to be very good. But it’s not because you have ADHD, it’s because of those other things,” she says. Thus, Arria adds, patients must be completely abstinent of all substances before doctors can make a diagnosis.

Hannah says that she smokes weed every day, as does Scott, a junior. Scott also says he has used a variety of drugs in the past. “I used to be using pills...every day but now I just smoke one to two times a day,” he says.

“You’ll forget about anything else” Sue says that when she takes Adderall she is able to concentrate deeply on one thing. “You’ll forget about eating, you’ll forget about anything else that you’re stressed about, and you’ll just worry about getting whatever you need to get done, done,” she says.

Even if she finishes her homework, the unwavering concentration and motivation that the drug causes continues. “It just makes you want to do something all the time,” Sue says.

Similarly, Owen finds that, when using Adderall, he becomes captivated by one object or thought – but that deep concentration isn’t always academic. “You can get focused on the wrong thing, like if you try to do homework you can get focused on your mouse next to your computer,” he says.

When Owen used Adderall during a test, however, he says it was transformative. The drug also aided his memory and helped him to focus on the task at hand. “If you studied a little beforehand, then it makes it like really easy, ‘cause I would recall things that I’d studied so much quicker, and things would just pop into my mind,” he says. Owen says he now uses it for all his major tests, including finals and AP exams.

According to Dr. Prunier, Adderall users can develop state-dependency learning. “If you study under the condition of being on Adderall, you need to take Adderall when you’re at your test because you learned the material under the condition of having Adderall on board. And, if you’re not taking the test under those same conditions, you can’t reproduce the learning that occurred,” he explains.

“I stayed up for two days straight” I have because my mom doesn’t count them,” Hannah explains.

As a result, dealing and using Adderall can involve much less of a feeling it is a serious crime.

According to a study done by Alan D. DeSantis of the University of Kentucky and Audrey Curtis of Newman University, a sense of security also arises because the drug comes from doctors. Since it is produced by the medical establishment and is FDA approved, some users say Adderall “must be safe.” According to the study, many students think taking Adderall is better than doing ‘party drugs’ because it is done ‘for the right reasons.’” One student quoted in the study went as far as to say that Adderall isn’t a drug at all, explaining, “It is a study tool. You don’t get high or anything like that. I take it to do good in school. How can that be bad?”

photos by Cadence Pearson story by Winne Luo & Emma Soler design by Maris Medina & Emma Soler

ADHD medication is supposed to be taken strictly according to doctor’s orders. Some users, however, do not take their full prescribed amount, in order to sell more or simply because they feel that they do not need to take the whole dosage. According to Arria, 60% of people who are prescribed ADHD medication share that medication with others.

For Scott, the headaches and shakiness he experienced using Adderall for his ADHD were enough to make him curb his usage. As he took a smaller and smaller amount, the pills started to accumulate, and he began selling them cheaply in order to help people out.

Adderall aids focus by helping to replenish neurotransmitters

”

Freshman Margaret McCarthy

soapbox

Where only first names appear, names have been changed to protect the identities of the sources.

Sue, a junior, simply stole a few pills from her sister, who is prescribed the medication for ADHD. When asked about her motivation, Sue replies, “Homework, stress, junior year.”

ADHD runs in Sue’s family, so she says she thinks it’s likely that she has some form of the disorder – but even without an official diagnosis, the drug wasn’t hard to get. When stealing pills from her sister became too risky, Sue says she decided to attempt to get a prescription for the drug. “It was easy to tell the doctor how I was stressed out, and they were like, ‘Oh yeah, well, since your sister and your brother and possibly your parents have it, here’s some,’” she says.

This experience is actually more common than one would think.

Because the test for diagnosing ADHD is often based on a self-report, students say the prescriptions are relatively easy to obtain under fraudulent circumstances.

“As long as you say you have problems focusing, I think you can get it,” Owen says. A quick web search for the symptoms of ADHD can be all the preparation needed to obtain the drug from a doctor.

“I think it is possible to fake this diagnosis...if a teen came in and... provided certain kinds of information or filled out this form and said, ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ about all these different things, it’s possible that we could come up with that diagnosis [of ADHD],” explains Dr. Prunier.

Once the prescription is filled, a regular supply of the drug is much more likely; shady dealings with middlemen can be replaced by trips to the local drugstore. Trusted dispensers, combined with little parental regulation, makes dealing Adderall almost as easy as obtaining it. “I just open up my cabinet and take out the pills that

”

taking unneeded ADHD drugs should be considered cheating in school.

such as dopamine that are lacking in the brains of people with ADHD, which means they can create surplus of those same chemicals for users without ADHD. According to Dr. Prunier, the three most common side effects of taking Adderall are having decreased appetite, feeling “wired, nervous, [and] jittery,” and having difficulty sleeping.

“If you take more than...like 40[mg] you probably won’t be sleeping. You’re not wired but you’re awake, and you just close

“I probably wouldn’t have tried it unless I knew other people were doing it and it was safe, ‘cause everyone else who had told me about it was like ‘Oh, it’s great, it makes tests so much better.’” your eyes and you can’t sleep, your heart’s pounding,” Owen explains. Hannah, who takes 40 mg of her medication daily, says she goes to sleep between 12 p.m. and 1 a.m. each night.

However, real mishaps can occur when users take more than the prescribed dosage. Sue says that she once took too much of the drug as a result of panic from a heavy workload. “I had two essays due for AP Lang, a ton of math homework...everything was due on Friday,” she remembers. “Then it was eight o’clock Thursday night and I was so screwed. I was like, ‘I’m not gonna finish this, I’ll need all day to do it, the eight hour [pill] is going to wear off sometime so maybe I’ll just take two. That was a stupid idea.”

She ended up staying awake for two days straight.

An experience like this – taking too much medication and suffering the consequences – isn’t uncommon. Owen says his friends who took 300 mg stayed up for three days, while Scott cites a time when taking too much made him throw up profusely and kept him from sleeping for 36 hours.

According to Prunier, an ‘overdose’ can lead to increased heart rate and blood pressure, among other things.

However, due to the non-fatal nature of an overdose, some believe Adderall is a drug with no serious consequenc-

es. “The thing is you can’t overdose or anything, so you just take as much and it gets you high,” says Owen.

However, there is a general consensus among users that Adderall is not as severe as ‘party drugs’ like LSD. Owen and Hannah place it on the same level as marijuana. “You can function fairly normally on it,” Owen explains.

A moral dilemma Because using Adderall non-medically helps students to complete their work by artificial means, a constant debate ensues regarding whether academic Adderall use for those without ADHD is cheating.

In a survey conducted by the Pediatric Academic Societies of America, 33 percent of students at an undisclosed Ivy League college said they did not see a problem with using stimulants to aid academic performance. 41 percent found it unethical. Hannah can see reasons for justifying Adderall use by anyone, especially on large tests. “A normal teenage brain doesn’t have the capacity to sit in a room for three hours to take a test,” she says. Scott does not mind selling his pills to people taking big tests like SATs or APs; he says he is “personally opposed to standardized testing”.

Others say that Adderall is meant to level the playing field for students with ADHD and not to artificially boost the performance of others. Sue equates it to a testing accommodation, in that it should only be used for those who require it in order to function at a normal level: “It’s just one of those things where you need extended time,” she says.

Hannah says that a heavy workload next year, rather than ethical guilt, will likely force her to stop selling the drug. “I’m taking four-and-a-half APs...and I think that as soon as that happens I’m just going to stop because I’m going to need the medication myself,” she says. On the other hand, Owen plans to keep taking Adderall through college, or until it would “not be helpful anymore.”

When users take Adderall consistently in an attempt to succeed, however, Hannah says its effects eventually supersede one’s natural behavior. “That’s not the chemistry that you were born with.

You’re not really yourself if you take medicine every day that you don’t need.”

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May 29, 2015

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May 29, 2015

Entertainment D1

Say yes to the (prom) dress: The road to the perfect outfit

Blazers shed blood, sweat, and tears on their quest for the best dress

By Camille Kirsch

Despite the boutique’s accessibility, few Blazers take advantage of the free formalOn April 30, junior Victoria Assowear. “There’s usually about 10 or 15 girls a kom-Siakam found the perfect prom dress. year,” West says. And in the past few years, It was short and black, with a plunging she’s only had four or five guys total take neckline and a cut that hugged her waist. tuxedos.

The prom boutique Wearing it made her feel like a queen. Best However, some of the few students who of all, she’d found it at the Career Center’s The Career Center’s Prom Boutique is a have used the boutique have run into trouProm Boutique, so it was completely free.

Blair institution. It’s meant to help Blazers ble; Assokom-Siakam isn’t the only one There was only one problem: the Bou- with financial constraints afford prom by who’s had issues. Others have been unable tique staffers wouldn’t let her take it home. giving away free outfits. The boutique, run to get dresses because they refused to let She was showing too much cleavage. Asso- by Career Center coordinator Phalia West, Career Center staffers take pictures of them kom-Siakam’s perfect dress wasn’t allowed stocks dresses, suits, shoes, and accessories. with the dresses on, violating the boutique’s by the dress code.

Most of the items are brand-new; many are policy. “My requirement is that people try The search for the perfect prom outfit can donated by a store called Becca’s Closet, and it on and take a picture,” says West. “That’s be long, hard—and expensive. Some stu- the rest are mostly dropped off by individ- because some of the donors want to see it.” dents spend hundreds of dollars and buy an uals with spare clothes on hand, although Still others don’t take outfits from the assortment of dresses in their quest to find sometimes other stores donate. “To the girls boutique because they simply can’t find ‘the one.’ Others, like Assokom-Siakam, here, they’re totally free,” West explains. anything to their taste. After all, there are take a cheaper route, but as her experience “All they have to do is say yes to the dress.” only five racks of dresses and a few suits.

Instead, most Blair students buy their dresses and tuxes, which often gets pricey. Senior Fabienne Cajou commissioned a $500 dress from the woman who made her mother’s wedding dress. “It’s very important to me,” she says.

“No one can see it before prom; it’s kind of like a wedding dress that way.”

Similarly, senior Leigh Cook bought seven dresses (three of which she returned) before settling on the floor-length turquoise one that she wore to Blair’s prom. Cook admits that she doesn’t know anyone else who bought as many dresses as she did, but says many people spend more than the approximately $400 she shelled out. “It’s kind of crazy,” she says.

Prom costs have sparked national controversy, with some students spending thousands of dollars total on outfits, tickets, limo CHIMEY SONAM rides and dinners. At Blair, 27 DRESSES Some Blazers rummaged through the dresses provided for free by the career center, prom tickets cost $55, a while other students spent much more time and money in an attempt to find their perfect dress for prom. sizable sum to many high shows, they can still encounter roadblocks.

Dress codes, indecision, social norms and price all make choosing an outfit for that special night a daunting decision.

school students. Suits and dresses further drain Blazers’ wallets.

Still, many find their outfits worth the price. Cook is among those happy purchasers. “It’s worth it to me,” she says. “I think of prom as a very big deal.”

Prom rules

Of course, there’s more to worry about when picking a prom dress than whether it looks good. Conventional wisdom lays out many rules, mostly for girls. Juniors should wear short dresses, seniors long. White is too bridal. Too much cleavage is suspect and too little unsexy. Most of all, though, two people can’t show up in the same dress.

That’s why there’s the MBHS Prom Dress Registry—a Facebook page started by a group of senior girls on which Blazers going to prom share photos of their outfits. The hope is that no one will end up running into someone wearing their dress at the door.

As of prom night, more than 70 Blair girls, mostly seniors, had posted their outfits.

Each outfit is unique, and each is a dress.

But not every girl wears a dress, and not every guy wears a suit. For that matter, some juniors’ hemlines scrape the floors and some seniors keep their calves bare.

Senior Samantha Chyatte wore a teal jumpsuit from Etsy. “I was looking at a lot of prom dresses, and I realized I didn’t really want any of them,” she says. Then, she found the jumpsuit. Immediately, she knew it was the outfit for her. “I saw it, and I was like, that’s so awesome! But convincing my mom to let me get it was a hard thing.”

Ultimately, prom isn’t about rules or about bills—prom is a night for every girl and guy to feel gorgeous.

As Chyatte says, “I’m just gonna rock it.”

This story is accompanied by a video by Remzi Hazboun. To see the video, scan the code to the left with a QR reader app.

A popular way to tune into your interests on your own terms Podcasts offer opportunities for students to delve into favorite topics

By Julian Bregstone During the iPod era, circa 2008, podcasts – audio episodes released online – had a meteoric rise. The early iPods only had a few features: playing music, displaying the time and holding podcasts. The ability to explore a select interest on the go via audio material was a new idea, and since there was no on the go Internet, it was easiest with podcasts. Everyone was talking about and sharing their favorite podcasts, which explored a range of different topics. With the rise of smartphones, it became easier to find entertainment and information without podcasts.

In a few years the podcast phase had swiftly ended.

After the fall of the podcast there was a slow rise and now, in 2015, podcasts have found their home: a niche market of inquisitive individuals looking for analysis, humor or other intellectually stimulating entertainment at the touch a finger.

Junior Jesse Webber described podcasts as, “Just a fun way to kill time. There is a familiarity one gets with the creator that is not achieved in many other forms of media.” Podcasts are perfect for long car, plane or bus rides because they are widely free, do not require Internet connection, unobtrusive and entertaining. Webber listens to them on long car rides instead of music. He states, “It is what I do when a lot of other people would listen to music.” He got into podcast because a teacher recommended he listen to “Harmontown,” a popular podcast created

by Dan Harmon. “I had an MP3 player and Mr. Lodal recommended “Harmontown”. I was vaguely aware of some other podcasts but I had not downloaded any,” said Webber.

“How Did This Get Made” is a podcast in which comedic actors deconstruct terrible movies, looking into how and why they were made. The lead podcaster is Paul Scheer, backed up

by Jason Mantzoukas and June Diane Raphael. The team tries to figure out what was going through the producer’s, director’s, actor’s and scriptwriter’s head as the movie was in being made.

Scheer and Mantzoukas both play lead roles on the TV show “The League” and their absurd style of humor carries over. Mantzoukas gets really excited about every movie while Scheer bashes every facet of them.

At the end of each show there is a section called Second Opinions. For this part, Scheer reads 5-star reviews of the

CANDIA GU

movies from Amazon. The crew also brings in great co-stars who add to the hilarity, including Nick Kroll, from “The League,” stand-up comedian Chelsea Peretti and “Parks and Recreation” star Adam Scott.

Staying up to date in pop culture and sports can be extremely time-consuming, but with “Jalen & Jacoby,” it only takes one hour each week.

Jalen Rose, a retired NBA player and now analyst, is assisted

by David Jacoby, a writer and editor for Grantland.

Grantland is an ESPN spin-off that produces in-depth articles, videos and podcasts about sports and pop culture. “Jalen & Jacoby” is a nice alternative to reading long articles about sports. The podcasters crack jokes and poke fun at each other.

They have a good time and address pertinent topics with a great understanding of sports and culture.

Podcasts do not have to be strictly analysis; “Welcome To Night Vale” is an engrossing story about a small desert

community, which now has 67 bimonthly episodes. The podcast is often satirical but can be spooky at points. Each 20-minute episode is not a narrative but is more like an informal news report from an alternate universe that tells a story through separate events. The podcaster plays the part of a radio news anchor often covering abnormal happenings in the town. In a completely monotone voice the radio broadcaster describes a possible reason for a mysterious plane appearing in the school’s gym. He has a notion that a rival school may be responsible. He says, “Desert Bluffs is always trying to show us up through fancier uniforms, better pregame snacks, and possibly, by transporting a commercial jet into our gymnasium, delaying practice for several minutes at least.” “Welcome to Night Vale” is a unique take on how to convey a fictional story, and it is constantly engaging and addicting to listen to because of its never ending absurdity.

“The Hollywood Prospectus Podcast” is one of the most popular podcasts for people who enjoy watching and analyzing television. Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald break down the happenings on new shows and add a personal touch. Lifelong friends, Ryan and Greenwald always let the listener in on their inside jokes. It is entertaining and extremely helpful to understand shows. The two entertainment geeks on the show are hilarious and some of the most perceptive people in the industry. They often talk about and recap well-made dramas like “Game of Thrones” and “Mad Men,” or poke fun at struggling new shows like “The Slap.” “The Hollywood Prospectus Podcast” is a good companion to weekly TV dramas and is constantly fun to listen to.

D2 Entertainment

May 29, 2015

silverchips

Fun in the sun: Summer activities around the D.C. area From ice cream to movies to music, Silver Chips brings you the best

By Reva Kreeger Summer brings the excitement of no school and no commitments, but after a week of sitting at home watching Netflix all day, this excitement usually turns into monotonous boredom. Luckily we live in an area where there is always something going on and always a way to get out of the house! Take a look at the hottest movies, coolest ice cream and best festivals for the summer of 2015.

We all scream for ice cream

Movie magic

PETER BERGER

Jazz, films, art, oh my!

20TH CENTURY FOX

REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF SARAH BILODEAU

Moorenko’s Ice Cream

“Paper Towns”

AFI Docs

Recently reopened from its break during the winter, Moorenko’s Ice Cream on Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring provides a nice taste of homemade ice cream and sorbet. Customers are greeted with the pastel blues, purples and whites of Moorenko’s walls. The array of art creates a refreshing vibe. The business prides itself on its hormonefree ice cream, and clearly they are doing something right.

There is a wide array of flavors to choose from, and each is creamy and smooth. The options include nontraditional flavors such as honey lavender, orange chocolate chip, and cotton candy gummy bear in addition to the usual chocolate and vanilla. A scoop is $4.50, and though Moorenko’s used to only open on the weekends, they are now back fulltime. The owners would like to go into the wholesale business and are looking to sell the storefront, but have not yet made progress. Sophomore Maya Pramuck is friends with the owner and explains, “[The owner] is very ambitious and she just cares a lot about it.” For the sake of good ice cream during the summer of 2015, we can only hope that they will stay in business.

The movie adaptation “Paper Towns,” originally a bestselling book by John Green, is set to premiere on July 24.

The story follows the relationship between teens Quenton “Q” Jacobsen (Nat Wolff) and Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevingne). According to sophomore Danie Stewart, “[Delevingne] used to be a model, so I’m interested to see how she acts.” Q and Margo have lived next door to each other for their entire lives, but drifted apart as they got older. Meanwhile Q’s crush on Margo has grown as well, and when she climbs in his window in the middle of the night to take him on an adventure for revenge on her exboyfriend, he feels like his dreams have come true. The next day at school, when a search reveals that Margo is missing, Q begins to find clues related to her disappearance and is determined to find out what happened. Green’s books have a big following, so there is a lot of anticipation surrounding this movie. The Fault in Our Stars, another one of Green’s books adapted into a movie, experienced huge success and popularity around the world. “Paper Towns,” on the other hand, may not see as much success due to its generic storyline aimed at tweens.

From June 17-21, the American Film Institute (AFI) and other film venues around D.C. will be holding their twelfth annual documentary film festival. The film selections are not yet finalized for this summer, but each year they are separated into feature films and short films. The films are submitted from across the country and are shown here in Silver Spring as well as smaller D.C. theaters. One unique aspect of AFI Docs is the intimacy; the theaters are small and the audience has the opportunity to meet with the filmmakers and ask them questions. According to AFI Docs, the festival is special because it is the “only one of its kind to connect audiences and documentary filmmakers to policy leaders in the seat of our nation’s government.” Film subjects from last year’s festival ranged from human rights to Mark Twain, so there is a wide variety that can appeal to vast audiences. Ticket sales for AFI Docs began May 26.

Located at 8030-B Georgia Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20910

Dolci Gelati

“Jurassic World”

Dolci Gelati brings classic, rich Italian gelato to the streets of Takoma Park. With its outdoor seating and colorful interior, Dolci Gelati is a quaint cafe. It sells traditional flavors of gelato and sorbetti such as cookies and cream, mango and mint chocolate chip, but with gelato, it is common to mix flavors. Combinations such as coconut caramel and mango passionfruit can be created to fit the tastes of the customer.

The price of the gelato is a bit high, around $4.50 for a small cup, but on a hot summer day, it will be well worth it.

“Jurassic World,” an elaborate and anticipated addition to Stephen Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” series, will be released on June 12. The movie is set 20 years after the Jurassic Park events on an island off the coast of Costa Rica. The island serves as an enormous dinosaur theme park where the managers have forced geneticists to create a hybrid dinosaur created from the DNA of multiple dinosaurs to attract more visitors. Of course, the hybrid escapes, wreaking havoc on the island, and it is up to park operations manager Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to save the people and contain the dinosaur. Fans of Parks and Recreation may recognize Pratt as Andy Dwyer. It seems Jurassic World is trying to distinguish itself from its predecessors, using a modern setting and advanced graphics. The elaborate, exotic terrain of the island and the lifelike dinosaurs leaves fans feeling hopeful that “Jurassic World” will live up to the standard of the beloved “Jurassic Park” series.

Located at 7000 Carroll Ave, Takoma Park, MD 20912

D.C. Fringe Fest

“Poltergeist”

PETER BERGER

York Castle Ice Cream

One of this summer’s must-see horror movies is “Poltergeist,” which portrays a family’s home that has been taken over by evil spirits. Filmmaker Sam Raimi and director Gil Kenan are remaking the 1982 movie of the same title into a modernized version that was released May 22. The suburban family notices some strange activity in their new house, but the real drama starts when their young daughter is abducted by evil spirits. The family must work together to rescue the girl from the poltergeist. While the plot may look a bit unoriginal, “Poltergeist” definitely has scare potential.

Raimi made his debut with the film “The Evil Dead,” a lowbudget horror movie that did surprisingly well. “Poltergeist” might provide a good scare, though fans of The Evil Dead might be a bit disappointed.

From passion fruit to soursop, York Castle Ice Cream in Rockville gives ice cream lovers a taste of the Caribbean with its variety of tropical ice cream flavors. Named after two Jamaican cities, Yorktown and Newcastle, York Castle tries to bring a bit of the island to Maryland. When Silver Chips staff visited the store, the owner and server, Cal Headley, was very amiable and talkative, discussing his life in Jamaica while generously handing out as many tastes and samples of the exotic flavors. The island flavors include guava, lychee, mamey sapote, ginger and pina colada, as well as the classic flavors like chocolate and vanilla. Fortunately for the less familiar customers, there is a binder by the register that explains all of the Caribbean flavors and, of course, the server will give you a sample. The ice cream costs $4.66 for a small cup and is light, smooth, and refreshing. While the service can be slow, its laid back feel is comforting, and York Castle Ice Cream is worth the trek out to Rockville.

Located at Hungerford Rd, 827 MD-355, Rockville, MD 20850

REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF LAURA GROSS

The Capital Fringe Festival offers a unique range of performances from puppetry to poetry throughout July at venues around D.C. From July 9 to August 2, performing arts will take over the city, and over 129 groups will display their works. According to the Fringe Fest, its mission is “connecting exploratory artists with adventurous audiences by creating outlets and spaces for creative, cutting-edge, and contemporary performance.” The categories for the Fringe Fest performances include dance, comedy, drama, music, musical theater, ballet, and puppetry. The Fringe Fest’s central location is at the Logan Arts Center on Florida Avenue, but events will also be held in the Brookland and H Street NE neighborhoods. There is no excuse for missing out on this eclectic celebration of the performing arts, as tickets only cost $5 before July 10 and $7 after.

Jazz Festival

20TH CENTURY FOX

Jazz artists from around the country will congregate in the nation’s capital during the week of June 10 to perform at the 11th annual DC Jazz Festival. The DC JazzFest is broken into four main stages which include performances by very notable artists such Grammy Award winners and nominees Common, Sparky Puppy, and Esperanza Spalding. According to junior Katie Sims, who went to the festival last year, “It was a good time, and there was a lot of good music. You become more cultured [at the Jazz Fest].” The “Hamilton Live” event will show seven nights of performances at The Hamilton Live in Penn Quarter, and the “Jazz in the ‘Hoods” event is a series of shows spread throughout 21 neighborhoods in the D.C. area. There’s also “DC Jazz Fest Jazz at The Yards” from June 12-13 on the Capitol Riverfront on the Anacostia, and the “Jazz ‘n Family Fun Days” with free family oriented programs. The DC Jazz Festival is something you won’t want to miss this summer.

Chips Clips D3

silverchips

May 29, 2015

Graduation

by Julian Bregstone

Blazer Box

Across 1. Lost clownfish 5. Relax 10. Maryland’s favorite animal 14. Smooth word for colors 15. Relating to ears 16. Abbreviation for automatic 17. A curved structure supporting what is above it 18. Eighth letter of the greek alphabet 19. A quick look 20. Native American hairstyle 22. Ancestor of the Emu 24. Male possessive pronoun 26. The slaughter of a large number of people 30. Immediate attention needed 33. A pre-owned vehicle 34. Show one’s teeth as a threat 35. Hip Hop music 37. A big elegant party 38. “_ ____ of poison, such soonspeeding gear.”

39. Acronym for Annual Percentage Rate 40. Multiple raw places on one’s body 41. Did not tell the truth 42. New 43. A string made from twisting fibers together 44. To have insurance

Down 1. Abbreviation for North Hampton 2. European currency 3. Large war machine 4. Acronym for Occupational Safety and Health Administration 5. Cylindrical flower structure arranged along a stem 6. Expression of surprise 7. Extreme wrath 8. The coin used in Latvia before 2 down was adopted 9. Furry South-American camelid that spits 10. Proper graduation attire

ANGEL WEN

MVA’s Actual Effect

11. Parisian road 12. To eat in the past 13. A little hit or punch 21. To completely engulf something 23. Rock full of minerals 25. A few _____ of thread 26. Copper(1) 27. A mite from the family Acaridae 28. A sulfide mineral, often called lead glance.

29. Remove 30. A female water spirit 31. The most scarce 32. 2007 Kanye West studio album 34. To leave in Spanish 36. Like monkeys but without a tail 40. Place to perform 45. River in Spanish 46. To bury in a tomb 48. Rain boot 53. Persons who have already graduated 54. Glass flower holder 55. Giant Swedish store 56. A studious person who lacks social skills 57. The only prime even number 58. Rum ___ 59. Trump card 61. Compete viciously 62. Cultivated Peruvian plant 63. Used to make varnish and shellac

Sudoku Hard

Sudoku Easy

Have you ever wanted to have artwork published in Silver Nail Polish Chips? Now you can!

All you need to do is submit a drawing, comic or other doodle to the marked folder outside of room 165. All art should be in black and white and done in pen.

Hunchpacks

47. African nation with Kampala as its capital 49. Third person present to posses 50. Sink downward under weight 51. A young child 52. ______’ on a jet plane 57. Relating to Thailand 60. A quarter circle shaped block 64. A large landlocked body of water 65. Dr. Pepper’s homeland 66. Shiny layered minerals 67. The person who uses 68. A sign foreshadowing an event 69. _____ week 70. A drink made from fermenting honey

COURTESY OF WEBSUDOKU

COURTESY OF WEBSUDOKU

SHIVANI MATTIKALLI

NAZEA KHAN

D4 ADs

silverchips

May 29, 2015

Spanish E1

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May 29, 2015

La Esquina Latina

Silver Chips 29 de mayo del 2015

¿Está bien usar violencia para pedir justicia?

SI:

ANGEL WEN

Andrés Pérez y Ruth Portillo A todos nos enseñan desde pequeños que la violencia no se resuelve con más violencia, pero hay momentos en que si la paz no trae resultados, es porque se necesita algo más.

El incidente del joven de origen afroamericano que fue arrestado en Baltimore, Freddie Gray, quien falleció a raíz de sus heridas, sirvió de ejemplo para iniciar una reflexión sobre el tratamiento de minorías sospechosas y sus derechos civiles al ser arrestados.

Dichas protestas llamaron la atención del país entero a evaluar el status de la situación.

Ninguna acción fue llevada a cabo para resolver este conflicto cuando solo se realizaron protestas pacíficas. A consecuencia del uso de la violencia, finalmente se llamó la atención a la situación vivida por un sector en Baltimore y se consiguió el apoyo del público a tal punto que también tuvieron lugar protestas pacíficas en Nueva York y el Distrito de Columbia. Los ciudadanos de Baltimore y otras regiones como Furguson, Missouri vieron justificado este método de llamar la atención, ya que esto creó presión sobre los agentes policiacos a obedecer las leyes, no abusar su autoridad y respetar los derechos civiles de la ciudadanía. La presión

NO:

Se necesitan usar medidas drasticas.

La violencia nunca es la solución.

también cayó sobre los líderes políticos para que intervenieran en dicha situación de inmediato. Hay que reconocer la necesidad de programas y medidas económicas que ayuden reducir el nivel de pobreza y falta de oportunidades para un mejor futuro en las comunidades afectadas.

Durante los últimos meses se han repetido una serie de incidentes en los que un agente caucásico ha hecho uso excesivo de la violencia contra un sospechoso hispano o afroamericano. Podemos inferir de que todo deja de ser puras coincidencias para convertirse en un problema que puede verse como una serie de eventos interpretados como racistas.

Puede que esta no haya sido la mejor manera de darle una solución a este asunto, pero sí fue el único medio por la cual las personas con verdadero poder para hacer algo al respecto tomaron acción. También, sirve como medio para demostrarle a las autoridades que ningún tipo de abuso de este u otro índole va a seguir siendo tolerado, ya que si estos sucesos se siguen manteniendo en secreto, motivará a los ciudadanos a seguir actuando con violencia.

Ha sido noticia a nivel nacional que Baltimore estuvo en protesta por la muerte del joven afroamericano, Freddie Gray, quien misteriosamente apareció con la columna vertebral severamente dañada. Esto cautivó la atención de miles de personas proclamando justicia contra la policía que tenían en custodia a Gray durante el incidente. Según los manifestantes, sus voces solamente serán escuchadas si usan violencia contra la ciudad para que las autoridades y el gobierno decidan actuar contra las acciones racistas de la policía de Baltimore. Pero ¿Cómo podría la violencia proclamar justicia? Se entiende que es correcto protestar para reclamar justicia y derechos humanos para la comunidad. Desafortunadamente estas manifestaciones dañaron la ciudad en muchas formas como incendiando tiendas, propiedades e hiriendo físicamente a miembros de las autoridades policiacas.

Los actos de violencia que los residentes de la comunidad causaron fue algo que estuvo fuera de control. Este fue un conflicto entre ellos y la policía.

Según las noticias en la televisión y las

ANGEL WEN

Jennifer Díaz e Itcenia Quezada

redes sociales, sectores de la comunidad resultaron destruidos por la ira que tuvieron los manifestantes a causa de la muerte de Freddie Gray. Los manifestantes querian que sus voces fueran reconocidas pero de la manera en que lo hicieron fue inaceptable. Estos saquearon las tiendas, quebraron ventanas e incendiaron negocios. Todos sabemos que si hubiera habido alguna lógica, no hubieran reaccionado de tal manera.

La violencia necesita parar, no solamente por el caso de Gray pero también en general, porque actos violentos no devuelven la vida de un ser humano; al contrario crean más violencia entre la comunidad. Así que si estuvieras en la posición de esos manifestantes ¿Qué harías? ¿Estás de acuerdo con lo que está pasando en Baltimore o crees que lo que hicieron los habitantes está complicó más la situación? Con todo lo que está pasando en nuestra sociedad no vemos la gravedad de la situación y no nos damos cuenta del daño que causamos a nuestra reputación como sociedad. Estas acciones están fuera de lugar, todos deben de tranquilizarse y buscar otra manera de manejar la situacion porque la violencia no va a resolver nada.

Verano: tiempo para trabajar, relajarse y ser productivos

Cosas para tener en cuenta durante y después del verano

Por Carlos Fuentes El año escolar está por llegar a su fin y todos están listos para disfrutar las vacaciones de verano. La cuenta regresiva de cuantos días de escuela quedan tuvo su comienzo a principios de mayo. Con el verano, no solo viene la diversión, sino también oportunidades para los estudiantes. Al no tener obligaciones de hacer tareas y estresarse por las calificaciones, los estudiantes pueden buscar trabajo o ser voluntarios en su comunidad. Aunque las vacaciones de verano parecen ser el tiempo ideal para que los estudiantes sean lo más perezosos posible, en realidad algunos estudiantes serán tan productivos como cuando estaban en la escuela. El punto es que las vacaciones de verano no solamente son diversión y juegos, sino también una oportunidad excelente para aprovecharlo en muchas maneras.

Trabajar durante el año escolar puede ser muy estresante porque no todos los estudiantes tienen la capacidad o el tiempo para tener un trabajo y mantener buenas notas.

Entonces, las vacaciones de verano son el tiempo ideal para ganar dinero, ahorrar, gastar o para recibir experiencia en un trabajo. La estudiante salvadoreña, Johanna Padilla, del décimo grado explica sus planes para este verano, “Yo planeo trabajar en una piscina pública como una salvavida para tener un poco de dinero en mi bolsillo.

También, quiero trabajar porque si no estoy haciendo algo productivo y me quedo en la

una universidad en el futuro. Si uno obtiene por lo menos 260 horas de servicio comunitario, recibe una borla morada en su birrete de graduación. Hay muchas oportunidades de becas que varían entre universidades. El ser voluntario no solo le beneficia a uno con horas de servicio comunitario, pero a la vez le da la oportunidad de ayudar en la comunidad. Al estar haciendo cualquier trabajo de voluntario, otra gente que tal vez sea un extraño se beneficia de las acciones. Estre buenas oportunidades de servicio comunitario se encuentran el trabajar en una cocina de alimentos para las personas más necesitadas que no tienen comida o ser un consejero de campamento para hacer mejor el verano de los demás jóvenes y mucho más. Es importante mantener constancia del número de horas servidas. Es importante llenarlo y conseguir la firma de quien pueda corroborar el servicio hecho.

Al regresar a la escuela hay un tiempo límite de dos o tres semanas para entregar el formulario y de esa manera recibir crédito por las horas servidas.

Es indispensable no olvidar que el verano no dura para siemSHIVANI MATTIKALLI pre, pues a finales de agosto el ciclo servicio comunitario que son indispensables escolar empezará otra vez y todos estarán para poder graduarse de la escuela secund- en la escuela de nuevo. La búsqueda de un aria. El verano también es un excelente tiem- nuevo superintendente de escuelas continupo para actuar como voluntario, aunque uno ará y el Sr. Larry Bowers, continuará en su ya tenga las 75 horas requeridas. Nunca se posición como superintendente interino. puede tener demasiadas horas de servicio Otro cambio que tomará efecto es el comiencomunitario ya que esto puede ayudar a re- zo del día escolar por veinte minutos más cibir becas cuando alguien esté solicitando a tarde del que se está acostumbrado. Este casa con tanto tiempo libre, siento que estoy perdiendo mis vacaciones y recomiendo que todos piensen lo mismo.” Si uno quiere ser productivo en el verano, se debe levantar del sofá e ir en busca de oportunidades de trabajo, lugares en donde se podria ser voluntario o tal vez empezar a hacer ejercicio para tener un buen estado físico para el próximo año escolar.

Ser un voluntario es semejante a trabajar pero en vez de ganar dinero se gana horas de

cambio fue anunciado el año pasado y finalmente será realidad. Por último, el examen de PARCC reemplazará los exámenes de HSA de matemáticas y de inglés. Es importante comenzar el próximo año escolar listos y con estos nuevos cambios.

Por supuesto las vacaciones de verano se llaman vacaciones por una razón y no se tiene que siempre tomar todo en serio. Kelton González, un estudiante mexicano del décimo grado comenta, “Todos los años alterno de tomar unas vacaciones en México y visitar la familia de mi madre en el estado de Michigan”. Viajar es lo típico cuando se piensa en qué hacer en el verano. Probablemente a causa de que en el verano uno no está limitado por el tiempo al opuesto de las vacaciones de primavera y de invierno en donde si se tiene que regresar a la escuela después de dos semanas. Kelton continua, “Pero si yo tuviera la decisión de escoger, me gustaría pasar el verano practicando y jugando con mi equipo de fútbol pero tengo que ir a la escuela de verano...” Entonces, si uno no tiene que hacer algo aburrido como ir a la escuela durante el verano, se debe empezar a pensar ahora en lo que se quiere hacer en el verano para hacer pleno uso de las vacaciones desde el principio.

Las vacaciones de verano se pueden aprovechar en muchas formas. Las opciones son muy variadas ya sea que uno quiere relajarse y pasar tiempo con amigos o quiere trabajar y ganar dinero es aceptable. Si uno quiere ser voluntario y recibir horas, también está bien. Si uno quiere ser más aventuroso y viajar, hágalo. Lo más importante es que se disfrute el verano desde el principio hasta el último día.

E2 Spanish

silverchips

May 29, 2015

ACES logrando la excelencia y el éxito estudiantil

Este programa ayuda a estudiantes a prepararse para la universidad

Por Alisson Fortis e Ilcia Hernandez El 13 de septiembre del 2012, el pasado superintendente de las Escuelas de Montgomery County, Joshua Starr, anunció un nuevo programa llamado ACES, Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success. Este programa ha sido diseñado para jóvenes del onceavo y doceavo grado. El objetivo del programa ACES es ayudar a estudiantes que tienen como meta el ir a la universidad.

El programa está dirigido a los estudiantes que son los primeros de su familia en ir a la universidad, inmigrantes, familias de bajos recursos o familias con solo un padre. En total hay diez escuelas que participan en el programa y entre ellas están Montgomery Blair, Kennedy, Northwood y más.

Jose Medrano, el mentor académico de ACES en Blair comenta, “¡Mis metas son ayudar a los estudiantes con el proceso universitario, que mis estudiantes se esfuercen y que asistan a la universidad gratis! Hay becas para los estudiantes nacidos en EEUU o en otro país, pero es importante tener y mantener un buen promedio de calificaciones y obtener una buena puntuación en el SAT.” El Sr. Medrano cree que es muy importante ayudar estudiantes quienes tal vez no tengan suficientes recursos.

En el programa, los estudiantes participan en varias actividades como visitas universitarias y clases de preparación para el SAT. Medrano dice, “Colaboramos con La Academia de Aprendizaje George B. Thomas porque proveen tutoría y preparación para los exámenes como el SAT y ACT.” Daniela Zelaya, estudiante del onceavo grado indica, “Es un programa muy bueno para los estudiantes”. Zelaya no ha pasa-

do por todo el proceso aún pero comenta, “ACES me ha expuesto a buenas oportunidades que pueden ayudarme a hacer mi lista de posibles universidades. Por ejemplo, hubo una reunión informativa para las personas que estaban interesados en ir a universidades o colegios como Brown, Georgetown y la Universidad de Pennsylvania. Yo tuve la oportunidad de ir a ver lo que tienen que ofrecerme.”

El programa de ACES ayuda a estudiantes solicitar a cualquier universidad pero también

les abre la opción de ir a Montgomery College. Aunque es un colegio comunitario, igual puede ofrecer las mismas oportunidades que una universidad regular, pero a un costo mínimo. Por ejemplo, el poder recibir el grado asociado. El Sr. Medrano pone en énfasis que Montgomery College es una buena opción para estudiantes que no saben que hacer en el futuro y los que quieren explorar diferentes cursos.

El programa de ACES es una buena experiencia no solo por que ayuda a los estudiantes en el proceso de elegir universidades y encontrar becas.

Zelaya dice “Mi mentor me ha ayudado a pensar en lo que quiero y estoy buscando en un colegio.” Ella cuenta que “el Sr. Medrano está pensando en los próximos 15 años de mi futuro, mientras yo sólo piFOTO enso en los próximos 4 años.

Es bueno ver su perspectiva de ciertas cosas.” La meta de los mentores de ACES es ayudar a los estudiantes del programa lo más que puedan para encontrar la mejor opción para lograr las metas del futuro.

Mientras estudiantes participan en el programa de ACES, tienen la buena oportunidad de atender muchos eventos y actividades con el grupo. Cuando le preguntamos a Zelaya en que tipo de eventos los estudiantes participan, nos dijo “ha habido una cantidad de actividades.” Zelaya dice, “durante el verano, vamos a Montgomery College a participar en talleres.” Elabora contando, “básicamente revisan nuestras habilidades básicas en inglés y matemáticas que nos ayudarán en el SAT.” El programa de dos semanas es un requisito pero hay muchos actividades que no son, cómo ir a excursiones a los museos de Washington DC, visitar a universidades y también ir a Maryland Day en la Universidad de Maryland en College Park.

ACES es un programa diseñado para ayudar a los estudiantes determinados a tratar lo mejor que puedan para tener éxito y lograr algo en la vida. Pero lo más importante es poner esfuerzo en la escuela, porque sin trabajo puede ser muy difícil sobresalir en la vida. Medrano sugiere, “Los estudiantes tienen que recordar que estan invirtiendo en si mismos. Entre más educación, más puertas se les abrirá. Esto es de mayor impacto e importancia para los estudiantes que son bilingües. El que quiera hacer de sus sueños una realidad, tiene que poner de su parte y trabajar fuerte.”

Un estereotipo que hay de los estudiantes de bajos recursos es que no pueden ir a la universidad porque no tienen los recursos económicos para sufragar los gastos. En realidad, hay muchas oportunidades en la cual un estudiante puede ganar una beca o un préstamo estudiantil. Aunque puede ser más difícil alcanzar metas, siempre hay que recordar que hay programas, como ACES, la cual pueden ayudar con el proceso de solicitar a la universidad. Está presente el apoyo de maestros y familia. No deben haber excusas para no ir a la universidad. La pregunta es, ¿A cual universidad quieres ir?

VICTORIA TSAI

Becas universitarias disponibles para estudiantes latinos

¡Cumplir tus metas es más facil de lo que crees! Todo es perseverancia

Por Odalis Llerena y Yessie Portillo Muchos Latinos vienen a los Estados Unidos con la esperanza de un mejor futuro y para tener la oportunidad de una mejor educación y la carrera que deseen. No obstante, hay muchos obstáculos en el camino, desde la lucha financiera, hasta el desaliento recibido de otros grupos étnicos.

Segun U.S News, solo el 16% de estudiantes latinos asisten la universidad, pero se debe reconocer que muchos estudiantes tienen el sueño de ir a la universidad pero simplemente no pueden debido a problemas financieros. Hay muchas becas que se ofrecen específicamente a estudiantes hispanos.

Karla Ramirez, una estudiante en el décimo grado quien va a ser la primera en su familia en graduarse, expresa que “Los latinos, específicamente los inmigrantes, vienen a los Estados Unidos por una mejor educación.

Por lo tanto ponen más esfuerzo que quizás otras personas que son de este país, porque valoran su oportunidad.” También hay otros obstáculos posibles como no tener un trabajo, un problema que podría resultar debido a la indocumentación y al no saber cómo hablar Inglés, ya que la mayoría de los trabajos requieren ambas cosas.

Es evidente que los Latinos son uno de los grupos étnicos más grandes de Blair y muchos han demostrado que sin importar los obstáculos, todo es posible cuando ponen su esfuerzo completo. Martin Campos, un senior en Blair, es un ejemplo de alguien que ha seguido sus estudios con pleno esfuerzo y ha sobrepasado obstáculos establecidos. Él explica que está “un poco preocupado por las finanzas, pero está realmente esperando que le den las becas a las cual a aplicado.”

Martín ha aplicado a tres diferentes universidades y para dos becas diferentes, incluyendo la beca de MD CAPS, cual requiere tener un GPA de 2.5 y atender una

universidad en el estado de Maryland. Esta beca ofrece premios de hasta $1,000. El también aplicó a la beca de Hispanic Scholarship Fund, cual requiere tener un GPA de 3.0 a 4.0, planear atender una universidad de 4 años y deber ser un estudiante de tiempo completo. Los premios de esta beca pueden ser desde $500 a $5,000. La mayoría de los hispanos en parte, si no totalmente, dependen de becas con el fin de poder asistir a la universidad. Aunque es un obstáculo, también sirve como un motivador a esforzarse aún más en la escuela para recibir las becas y no apoyarse en préstamos estudiantiles que a lo largo del tiempo se convierten en deudas que deben luchar por pagar.

Aparte de los problemas financieros, también hay el desaliento que reciben los Latinos por otros grupos étnicos. Daisy Benitez, un estudiante en el décimo grado, expresa como “Otros grupos étnicos a veces piensan o nos hacen sentir que nosotros no tenemos el derecho de atender la universidad y muchos piensan que lo unica que hacemos es robarles los trabajos que ellos creen que pertenecen a ellos.” Benítez por supuesto no está de acuerdo y cree que “Nosotros los Latinos tenemos la responsabilidad de demostrar que ellos estan equivocados, porque embargo, nosotros tenemos varias ventajas como el ser bilingües.”

Muchos seniors o estudiantes que serán seniors no saben cómo empezar a aplicar ni cómo buscar becas.

Por fortuna, en nuestra escuela está el Career Center (Centro de Carreras) donde hay información y se ayuda con la búsqueda e aplicacion de becas, hasta cómo aplicar a la universidad. Las becas existen, solo hay que

buscarles y aplicar.

La fundación Hispanic Heritage se enfoca en ayudar no solo a un estudiante si no a millones de latinos para que cumplan las prioridades de Estados Unidos. Están localizados en Washington D.C, Los Ángeles, Nueva york y Miami. Aparte de dar becas, también ayudan con talleres y charlas para todo tipo de carreras. También está La Unidad Latina Fundación (LULF), que se dedi-

ca a fundar educación, logros y trabajo en la comunidad latina. El premio de becas varía de $500 hasta $1,000 a estudiantes que persiguen la excelencia académica en la educación superior.

Aunque en total hay muchos obstáculos establecidos para los Latinos, nosotros tenemos el poder de superarnos al poner todo nuestro esfuerzo. Así que ahora que estás listo, ¡Ve aplicar a unas becas!

VICTORIA TSAI

May 29, 2015

silverchips

Spanish E3

La importancia de celebrar el dia de las madres y padres

Diferentes celebraciones culturales y tradiciones en latinoamerica

Por Sarah Canchaya

El día de las madres se celebra para reconocer y apreciar todo lo que las madres han hecho para su familia. En la comunidad latina, no solo se celebra a las mamás sino también a las abuelas, tías, madrinas y amigas que son mamás. Igualmente se celebra el día de los padres, para honrar la influencia de algún hombre en la familia. Cada país tiene su propia fecha y costumbres para celebrar estos días especiales. La mayoría de las madres son el centro de la familia, pero esto no es siempre el caso.

Hay familias menos tradicionales donde la familia funciona con solo un padre o una madre. En algunos casos no hay madres o padres y los encargados son un abuelo o abuela, un tío o una tía y hasta hermanos mayores. Estas variedades de familias pueden tener un impacto en el desarrollo de un adolescente.

En los Estados Unidos, el día de las madres cae en el segundo domingo de mayo al igual que en Colombia, Chile, Perú, Uruguay y Venezuela. En otros países latinoamericanos como México, El Salvador y Guatemala, estas fiestas se celebran el 10 de mayo. Algunas tradiciones de aquí son regalarle a las madres una tarjeta, flores, llevarla a comer y dejarla descansar de responsabilidades como la cocina y la limpieza. Ademas de esto, en las familias hispanas hay una tradición muy importante de ir a la iglesia con la familia. No obstante, cada entidad familiar tiene sus propias tradiciones. El tipo de familia que uno tenga afecta cómo se celebran estos días especiales.

Jasmine Trejo, del décimo grado, cuenta que sus padres están divorciados y de que trata de hacer que su madre se sienta bien especial ese día. “Para mi, el día de las madres es más importante que el día de los padres. Talvez

porque siento que estoy más allegada con mi mamá porque ella me conoce más.”

La madre de Jasmine es de Nicaragua y es pues que ce- lebran ambas dias de las madres. Su hermano y ella le re-

porque tratan de darnos el doble de amor como que si tuviéramos a ambos padres.”

Las madres tratan de asegurarse que su familia no le falte nada.

Otra tradición al celebrar día de las madres o pa-

galan flores, joyas, una torta de tres leches, van a misa y tratan que su madre no haga los quehaceres para que pueda descansar. Jaime Flores de Argentina dice que su mamá es una madre soltera entonces el respeto hacia ella es mucho más.

“Creo que el respeto para un padre es bien importante especialmente si son solteros

dres es el de ir a visitar en familia la tumba de familiares que ya han fallecido con quien se ha tenido una relación cercana y se acostumbra dejar flores en la tumba. Jaime comenta que en su caso, “mi abuela ha sido una gran influencia en mi vida además de mi mamá.”

En algunos países como E.E.U.U, Bolivia, ODALIS LLERENA

Argentina y México la fecha en que se celebra día de los padres es el tercer domingo de junio. Esto puede variar entre países latinoamericanos. Entre las actividades para celebrar las padres se hacen una parrillada en unión familiar. Es común que las familias hispanas hagan carne asada, pollo asado, salchicha y platos de su país de orig e n . Jennifer Figueroa, salvadoreña, dice que “Le regalamos un reloj y tenemos una parrillada. En realidad se siente como un día como otro, pero por ser el dia de los padres hacemos el punto de enfatizar el aprecio hacia la figura paternal.” Por una razón no se celebra día de los padres como día de las madres. Eliana López comenta “tengo suerte que mis padres están juntos pero las fiestas para día de los madres tienden a celebrarse de manera más grande.” Esto no le quita importancia a demostrar el cariño que se le tiene a la figura del padre. Ella aprecia a sus padres y cree que tenerlos juntos le da estabilidad. Aunque alguien no tenga un padre, siempre estan los padrinos, tíos y hasta los hermanos en donde uno puede sentir lo que sería la influencia de una figura paternal.

Hay varias maneras en cómo demostrar a personas especiales, como los padres, cuánto se les quiere y se les respeta, sin importar de que país o familia vienen. La madre tiende a ser la figura que une a una familia y provee un amor incondicional para todos.

Los padres estan allí para nosotros emocionalmente y físicamente. Sus gestos pueden que sean obvios o menos obvios, pequeños o grandes, pero esto no significa que su importancia sea menos que de una madre o figura maternal. Nunca esta demas decirle a nuestro padres o figuras maternales y paternales en nuestras vidas cuántos son queridos y apreciados.

F1 Sports

silverchips

May 29, 2015

Girls’ varsity softball steps up to the plate this season Team finishes in the fourth round of playoffs as division champion

By Daliah Barg and Luisa McGarvey

our record is 15-3 and and juniors Reva Kreeger and Reachmack. two of our losses we Heading into the third round of playoffs fought really hard against Richard Montgomery, Blair softball Three months, 15 players, 18 games, 213 for,” agrees Houli- was slightly more apprehensive. “I was still runs and countless practices - but the 2015 han. girls’ varsity Softball season is more than nervous because they have a good pitcher, Two of the losses good hitters, and good fielders. Yes, I was just numbers. Over the past six weeks, the resulted from small nervous, but then again I knew our defense close-knit players have perfected their skills errors that the team and offense would come out strong. And through drills and teamwork and have risen had to fix going into that’s what happened,” explains Cruz. After to the top of their division, ending 17-4 in the playoffs. “They a slow start where Blair was down 2-1, Blair the playoffs. were really competi- picked it up with a 5-2 lead in the bottom of tive games where the third inning with the help of Cruz, Arias, Dedicated to success little errors that we and senior Andrea Brown. However, Richmake in other games ard Montgomery did not back down and The team’s winning 15-3 record is not that aren’t so close quickly scored seven more times to match a surprise given the dedication that team don’t really cost us... Blair’s score. Tied 9-9 in the bottom of the members have exemplified this season, acit’s just little errors seventh inning, Blair and Richard Montcording to head varsity coach Louis Hoellike backing up a gomery went head to head for a spot in the man. “It’s because they take it seriously, they throw or just tak- region final. With Kreeger on third base, sework really hard, they take a lot of pride in ing an extra step off nior captain Brown stepped up to the plate. the program, they’re committed, they praca base when you’re Brown hit a perfect bunt and gave Kreeger tice out-of-season, they go to the weight taking your lead, just enough time to reach home plate and room, they do all things you’re supposed these things can come finish up the game 10-9. to do to be good and that’s why we’ve been REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF DONALD DE ALWIS back to bite you,” exsuccessful over the last few years,” he says.

After their hard-won game against RichMental training has been an important UP AT BAT Senior Maria Cruz takes a swing at home plate. plains Arias. “Obvi- ard Montgomery, Blair softball prepared ously our goal was to to face Northwest in the regional final. Afpart of the team’s preparation, allowing the team to persevere in difficult games where been left, but overall we’ve been able to fill be undefeated, but we tried our best and it ter losing to Northwest 3-4 in their second didn’t come out that way, which is fine be- game of the season, the Blazers were deterother teams might have given up, accord- in their places,” Houlihan. ing to senior captain Camilla Arias. “We’ve As a result of their strong mentality and cause now we have a chance to do that dur- mined to clinch a win. “I think that we were seen it in a bunch of our games where we’ve their commitment, the team was able to ing the playoffs.” excited to play, we had prepared our whole had situations that can be really tough and complete their regular season as division season for it and it was a playoff game so Powering into playoffs a lot of teams would just give up, and we champion. “Our season’s been going really we had an all-or-nothing mentality,” Reachjust believe that we can win every game and well. I feel like the team has been growing mack says. With Blair and Northwest evenly Coming into the playoffs, the team was matched, the game remained 0-0 for the we believe that we’re in it to win it,” Arias each game both mentally and physically. explains. Junior Karylena Cruz, one of the They’ve done a great job of learning from encouraged to focus solely on the upcoming first three innings. In the fourth inning the team’s starting pitchers, agrees, explaining their experiences and getting better every game. “[Our goal was to] play one game at a Northwest Jaguars finally secured the first that the team this year has integrated mental game,” says Werdann. Despite many inju- time and just enjoy and live in every moment run. The game was far from over and the training much more into their practices and ries throughout the season, the team con- that happens, only worry about the next Blazers pulled ahead in the seventh inning, games so as to not become nervous. tinued their winning record. According to pitch or the next play and not Gaining a calm and confident mindset Houlihan, the team experienced an uncom- try to think down the road,” is the goal of mental training, according to monly high number of injuries, but has been says Werdann. Team strategies included communicaKristen Werdann, the assistant varsity coach. able to fight through them.

The team practices goal setting and mental Despite three losses to Northwest, Sher- tion and a positive mentality, exercises so as to gain a relaxed and confi- wood and Blake, the team still gave ev- according to Arias. “Just [to be] mentally smart, I think we’re all physically able to do everything that we need to do to win – just playing at the plate and communicating well with each other when we’re in the field, and communicating with our coaches for base running,” she says.

After receiving a bye, excusing them from the first round of playoffs, Blair won their first playoff game against Churchill at home on May 11th. According to Cruz, Blair had already defeated Churchill 8-0 earlier in the season, so they were not overly worried coming REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF TUNG PHAM in. “In the regular season we didn’t mercy rule them OUTFIELD PLAY Shortstop and pitcher sophomore Lily so that means that they are Montgomery prepares to throw the ball to her teammate. a solid team, but we felt prepared going into the game and it showed,” scoring three runs with the help of Kreeger says junior Anna Reachmack. After taking and Reachmack. a break because a Churchill player was in“I was very confident we were going to REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF DONALD DE ALWIS jured and had to be escorted off the field in beat them, and I was looking forward to goON THE MOUND Starting pitcher junior Karylena Cruz winds up for a throw. a stretcher, Blair finished up the game with ing up there and playing against them at their a mercy ruling in the 5th inning. With a total own field, and hopefully beating them there dent mindset, preventing worrying which ery game their all, according to Hoelman. of 18 runs on 21 hits, Blair effectively held to win the region and go on to the states. We can lead to tense muscles during a game.

“We’ve been playing very well all year, Churchill and only allowed them to score played great and they played great, and it even in our losses we’ve been playing well, once in the final inning. With a final score just didn’t quite work out the way I wanted A close-knit team so we’re having a nice year,” he says. “This of 18-1, multiple Blair players were able to it to,” explains Hoelman. With less than year we’ve had a very mentally strong team, secure runs, including Arias and Houlihan, an inning left and Blair up by two, NorthThe team’s close bond has developed west quickly changed the gradually over the season, and the relationscoreboard to 4-3, winning ships formed between team members transthe region title and unforlate into success on the field. “It’s a smaller tunately preventing Blair team and because of that we’re all really from reaching their goal of good friends...and we get along really well state champions. on the field because of that,” says senior capAfter an impressive 17-4 tain Megan Houlihan. In addition to being season, Blair softball isn’t hard working players, the team’s closeness too concerned about how also makes them easier to coach, explains the seven leaving seniors Hoelman. “The kids get along really well, will affect the lineup. “It’ll the parents get along really well, they’re rebe hard without them but ally easy to coach, there’s no drama. I think we’re expecting some of that’s really important in our success,” he the sophomores to step up says. to the plate,” says Cruz.

Although this year’s new season came The team will be able to rewith position changes for many players, the build and regroup, accordteam has adjusted to the new makeup. “Last ing to Werdann. “We have year when we were 19-3 we ended up lossuch a good program that ing four really good players, but the other new kids come in every people have just stepped up and done well year and just fill in,” she this year,” says Hoelman. After losing four says. starting players, the team has had to adapt REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF TUNG PHAM to their new positions. “We’ve had to shuffle Reva Kreeger is a staff people around the field to fill holes that have SMOOTH SLIDING Senior Megan Houlihan slides onto a base during a playoff game against Churchill. writer for Silver Chips.

Sports F2

silverchips

May 29, 2015

D.C. sports recap: Capitals and Wizards fall in round two After a rocky start, Nationals hit their stride and hope to advance

By Julian Bregstone Although the seasons for the Wizards and Capitals are over, the Nationals season is in full swing. The Wizards and the Capitals both made it to the second round for the first time ever. Although both teams faced disappointing ends to their seasons, they showed great growth through the season. The National are on a hot streak winning eight of their last nine games.

Nationals Baseball The Washington Nationals (27-18) are first in the National League Eastern Division. The Nationals started off the season with a 2-6 record, but have won 12 of their last 15 games.

In the beginning of the season the Nats were without the first four players on last year’s batting order, three lost to injury and one to free agency. However, right fielder Bryce Harper has been living up to his potential and has already hit 16 home runs this season. He hit three home runs against the Miami Marlins on May 6.

Before that game, Harper got one hit in his first 17 at bats in May but since the Marlins game he has hit eight home runs and now has a .333 batting average. Pitcher Max Scherzer, a January free agent signing, leads the team in strikeouts with 72. The Nationals have also benefited from a deep pitching staff, as they have six

pitchers averaging more than ten strikeouts per nine innings. The Nationals are looking strong because of Harper’s batting and their pitching capabilities.

Capitals Hockey The Washington Capitals (45-26) lost in the second round of the playoffs after narrowly missing them last year. The Capitals played the New York Islanders (4728) in the first round of the playoffs. The series started out with an Islanders victory 4-1. The Capitals came back in the second game to win 4-3. The series went on to be tied 2-2. With the fifth game, the Capitals took the series lead 3-2 but the Islanders forced a g a m e seven. In game seven Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the winning goal in the third period.

The Capitals moved on to play the New York Rangers (53-22).

The Capitals took a 3-1 series lead ALEXANDRA MENDIVIL

but the momentum shifted as the Rangers won two games in a row. Game seven went to overtime tied 1-1. In overtime Derek Stepan scored the game winning goal for the Rangers to retire the Capitals. The goalkeepers played at a high level throughout the series. Capitals goalkeeper Braden Holtby, recorded 37 saves in game seven alone.

During the playoffs Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin had five goals and four assists after an 81 point season.

Wizards Basketball The Washington Wizards (46-36) made it to the second round of the playoffs for the second year in a row under head coach Randy Wittman. In the first round, the Wizards took on the fourth seed Toronto Raptors (49-33). Despite losing all three regular season games against the Raptors, the Wizards managed to sweep the Raptors without home court advantage. Paul Pierce played lead boy, never shying away from the high pressure shots. The Wizards three point percentage jumped from 36% in the regular season to an impressive 44% in the playoffs.

After defeating the Raptors, the Wizards started the series with the Atlanta Hawks (60-22) with a solid road win.

Otto Porter, Jr. and Bradley Beal, with a combined age of just 42, have played very well in the playoffs despite limited experience. Together

they averaged 32.3 points per game. Point guard John Wall, who had led the way for the Wizards all season, was unable to play the second half of the Raptors series due to five non-displacement fractures in his wrist and hand. Wall played his first game since the injury in Game One against the Hawks and still had 18 points, 13 assists and three blocks.

Wall’s injury came at the worst time possible for the Wizards, who had a real shot at the Eastern Conference Finals, which they have not made since 1979. Wall was averaging a league high 12.5 assists in the playoffs. After the series was tied 2-2, Wall was able to play again. Even with his leadership the Wizards fell to Hawks 4-2 after two very close defeats.

The Hawks advance to the Eastern Conference Finals to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers.

CANDIA GU

With bees and bus troubles, foreign turfs bring out the worst Unexpected challenges bring new meaning to “home field advantage”

By Winne Luo “Buddy up, you don’t want to get shaked!” cautions JV lacrosse coach Adrian Kelly, after a winning game against Kennedy. The opposing teams were about to complete the traditional post-game handshake, normally a gesture of goodwill.

However, junior Hunter Jones remembers, this time, Blair’s players were confronted with a line of outstretched Kennedy hands, each covered in a shiny layer of spit.

Away from Blair, games can get messy.

Whether it’s through the hectic scramble to get all the equipment on the bus and still leave space to sit, or the frightening fans of the opposing teams, sports games away from Blair can often result in harrowing experiences.

Busing bumps No matter what, every away game requires transportation. Blair athletes board school buses, often before the school day is over, in order to get to their destinations. However, when there are players cramped on every bus along with an overwhelming amount of equipment, things can go awry.

Before one game at Wootton, the varsity boys’ baseball and girls’ softball teams were boarding a bus, equipment bags in hand. The bags, complete with bats poking out, had to go on the seats.

What senior Camilla Arias did not anticipate, however, was the force of dropping a heavy bag of gear. “It just slammed against the window,” she recalls.

The window cracked.

“It was so bad,” Arias admits. “I got out of the bus and I was like ‘So, the windows cracked and it may or may not have been my fault.’”

Fortunately, after lots of phone calls to confirm that the

athletes could still ride the bus, the softball team arrived at Wootton unharmed, and won the game. “But it was really stressful,” Arias notes.

The varsity football team usually doesn’t have windows to b re a k

since they don’t carry bats around. But one particular game, they didn’t have buses, either.

Before a game against

Another time, only one bus

showed up for the sixty football players.

“We had to get on one bus, and we were all crammed in,” Fields explains. However, the Blazers came back from their initial setback; the game was a landslide in Blair’s favor.

“We actually won the one-bus game 56 to 0,” says Fields.

A strange crowd

Although the atmosphere may not be one of camaraderie, most times fans from both teams help to create good-natured rivalry.

Perhaps one of the most bizarre encounters for junior Alexis Moses took place at a varsity girls’ basketball game at Churchill.

Fans of Churchill blew up photos of the heads of two Blair players, junior Camille Estrin and senior Liza Curcio, and pasted the pictures of the heads on the bodies of Churchill girls.

At first, the Blazer girls were confused about the photos’ origins. “We were like, ‘Where did they even get MEGHNA SAM these pictures?’” Moses says.

A p - parently, one of the boys was friends Paint Branch, the players were with Estrin’s older brother on Facebook, and lined up head-to-toe in football gear: was able to obtain the pictures from there.

What’s more, the Churchill fans pulled up helmets, shoulder pads, the works; the team roster for the girls’ basketball team but the buses never showed up.

“So all the kids got dressed, they from Blair’s website, which contains the had their helmets on, their shoul- name, jersey number, and height of its playder pads, they were all waiting for ers. Matching up the jersey numbers with the bus, and then four o’clock came, the actual athletes, Churchill would call out four-fifteen, four-thirty…”, Coach the full names of Blair players.

“They were like cheering for us at certain Andrew Fields remembers. Finally, times, and at certain times just talking trash they had to call the bus depot.

“They said ‘Buses? Buses, for Blair? about us, and yelling at us when we came O-oh, okay, we’ll send them right back on the floor, at the time-outs or when out!’” Fields states. The football play- we got subbed in or out,” Moses recalls.“I ers ended up arriving late, resulting took a shot one time and missed it and I’m in a delayed start for the game. “It pretty sure they were like, ‘Oh, next time Alexis!’” was a big mess.”

After the game was over, a group of guys walked over to Curcio and asked her how to pronounce her name. Apparently, they had been debating whether it was “Leeza” or “Laiza”.

Moses is still baffled by the whole episode. “It was all very, very strange...It’s a lot of work just to creep some girls out,” she says with a laugh.

Not always painless Most times, complications at away games are relatively harmless. Games might be slightly compromised and the players a bit rattled, but everyone generally walks away in decent spirits. Although rare, instances where actual harm could have been inflicted have occurred.

Freshman Jeffrey Salpekar on the JV soccer team recounts a game against Churchill, who hadn’t cleaned out the trash bins from playoffs the night before. In and around the trash cans were bees. The players had to move the garbage cans away from the field in order to keep the bees away.

Although none of the players were stung, spectators were harmed. “Definitely, people in the audience [were],” says Salpekar.

Cheerleader Edvin España remembers tumbling headfirst into the cement one rainy day against Sherwood. As he and senior Shailee Bruck, the flier he was supporting, did a stunt, something went dangerously wrong.

“We threw her up, she twisted, she was starting to twist… and she came towards me…she like, fell to the ground and barely anyone caught her, and my head like bounced on the cement,” he remembers.

Bruck ended up bruising a rib and her back, and España got a concussion.

There are no assurances that strange events won’t happen to Blazers on their home turfs. But something about the chaos and unfamiliarity of away games seems to make them prime for unfavorable situations–whether they are accidental or not.

Camille Estrin is a staff writer for Silver Chips.

F3 Sports

silverchips

May 29, 2015

Baseball beats Whitman before losing to Gaithersburg The team honors the life of former player Lowell Ensel with blowout win

By Sam Butler and Camille Estrin After the passing of former Blair baseball player and class of 2013 graduate Lowell Ensel, the varsity baseball team beat Walt Whitman 15-4 on May 13, delivering payback to the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year. After a brutal fourth inning for Whitman, the mercy rule was called, ending the game and sealing a dominant win for the Blazers.

The game was meaningful for many cur-

rent and former Blazers, as well as many parents, considering the recent loss in the Blair community. A pre-game ceremony was held in memory of Ensel. Gordon Pavy, Ensel’s coach of nine years, shared some of his fond memories of Ensel in a note read by David Buchholz, followed by a moment of silence before the game in his honor. “Words alone cannot express the loss we all feel here tonight, so I won’t try, except to say that you might search for a more remarkable young man, but you will never find a more indom-

REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF BEN LICKERMAN

SAFE! Sophomore Christian Mussenden scores during Blair’s May 13 win over Whitman.

itable spirit than Lowell Ensel,” Buchholz read.

Ensel’s parents, Ellen Ensel and Fenwick Anderson, along with hundreds of students, graduates, parents and teachers came out to Montgomery Blair Stadium to support the Blazers and pay tribute to the alum. Number five, Ensel’s number, was painted onto the field and all of the baseball players wore black armbands for Ensel.

Blair got off to a good start in the game, scoring two runs in the first inning off of a double by senior Jorge Noda and a groundout by senior John Ramsey. The action really picked up in the fourth inning. The Blazers were up 3-2 at the beginning of the fourth, before Whitman doubled their score. With runners on the corners, a Whitman sacrifice bunt brought in their third run of the game.

The bases were walked full before a passed ball brought in another run for the Vikings, putting them out in front of Blair 4-3.

In the bottom of the fourth, however, the Blazers’ offense took over. After a quick strikeout, Whitman’s pitcher walked the bases loaded before walking in the tying run. As the inning progressed and Whitman struggled to find an answer from their pitching staff, Blair continued to score runs, scoring 12 in the inning to earn a 15-4 lead.

After a quick three up, three down half inning in the top of the fifth, the game ended for Blair, who advanced to their next game against Gaithersburg. The win over Whitman was very special for many Blair players, especially in the wake of Ensel’s passing. “I think we had more determination to go out there and do what we needed to do... and do it for Lowell,” explained senior Cullen Morris.

Unfortunately, the Blazers lost their next

playoff game at Gaithersburg, 6-3. According to Morris, the Blazers performed well, but were simply outplayed. “They were a very good team, their pitcher was throwing strikes...we didn’t take the opportunities we needed to to score,” said Morris.

Although the Blazer season is over, the team can still be proud of its achievements throughout the season: a division championship, a berth into the third round of the playoffs, and a dominant win over Whitman, despite the difficult loss of a former teammate.

insideSPORTS D.C. sports check in see page F2

VICTORIA TSAI

Catching up with softball see page F1

When colleges apply to you: Blazers’ college recruiting stories Students share collegiate sport experiences from Division I to Division III tion at University of California-Berkeley.

He was first contacted about swimming in Choosing a college is already difficult, March of his junior year when he was invitbut throw in the added pressure of recruit- ed to “junior days” at University of Virginia ment and it’s a whole different ball game. and Princeton University. “I was contacted For graduating student athletes, the past by coaches from almost 20 different schools, year has been one filled with excitement and through email, mail, and phone,” says Tsau. stress.

Of the schools that actively pursued him, The National Collegiate Athletic Asso- Tsau seriously considered schools including ciation has three levels of collegiate sports: California-Berkeley, Stanford, Virginia, and Divisions I, II and III. DI is the most compet- Princeton; however, the Columbia Univeritive, while DII and III are less so. This year sity coaches ultimately won his favor. “The Blair has two athletes heading to DI schools coaches there were very passionate and I felt and several others at the Division II and III I had the opportunity to make the program levels. special,” he says. With times that qualify him for next year’s Olympic Trials, Tsau cerDivision I tainly has the skills to do so.

Amitay vividly remembers his first reBoth of Blair’s Division I athletes, seniors cruiting letter. “In sophomore year photo Brian Tsau and Ethan Amitay, are swim- class I remember getting a letter from Grinmers. A two-time state champion in the 500 nell College, and it was the coach just askyard freestyle and one of the top distance ing me to contact him if I had any questions swimmers in the nation, Tsau was a very and if I was interested in his program,” says highly sought after recruit. Tsau decided Amitay. “It was sort of exciting but it wasn’t that he wanted to swim collegiately at the anything really eye-popping because I knew beginning of his sophomore year when his I could swim at faster schools.” A three-time club team’s coach accepted a coaching posi- top eight finisher at States in the 100 yard breaststroke and a holder of multiple junior national cuts, Amitay was sought out by multiple schools from the Division I, II and III levels.

Amitay knew that he wanted to swim in college when he moved into the National Training Group of his club team. “A lot of my Only in every high school athletes close friends who I had been training with who were will play a Division I sport in college. older than me also had the same goals of swimming in college and achieved them so I knew I could in terms of my potential.”

Although he was contacted by a number of good schools, Amitay decided to aim higher and began to reach out to better schools.

Amitay says that he contacted coaches at Florida Atlantic University over email and that they were quick to NCAA SAM BUTLER

By Teague Sauter

1

47

respond. Midway through the fall of his senior year, Amitay faced an issue that most recruits do not foresee; College of Charleston, one of his top choices, cut its program due to budget issues. “I do still think today if I could have had the choice of College of Charleston, I would’ve picked FAU still,” he says. Academics, marine biology in particular, played a big role in his choice to attend FAU. At the end of the DI recruiting process, athletes have to sign a National Letter of Intent, a written commitment to the school they will play for and a symbolic end to a long journey.

“While the recruiting period was extremely stressful, I enjoyed visiting different colleges and interacting with the coaches and teams there,” says Tsau.

Division III Senior Danny Canary’s college decision was not based only on sports. Canary, who will play basketball at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, received some attention from Division I and II schools like Shepherd University and Cornell University. However, he chose to pursue Division III universities instead, preferring the small school feel.

The first time a college contacted Canary was the summer of his sophomore year. “It’s always been a dream of mine to play in college and I’ve always known that I wanted to.” From his junior year onward, there were 20 to 30 schools trying to make that dream a reality. Canary says that he was contact-

ed almost every day through some combination of calls, texts and letters. St. Mary’s coaches sponsored two overnight visits and watched many of Canary’s games and workout sessions. “All of the coaches were extremely supportive throughout and even after I made my decision. I had a blast,” says Canary. “I chose St. Mary’s because the team seemed like a great fit and they are one of the top tier teams in DIII, giving us a chance to make the NCAA tournament for DIII every year.”

For senior Katie Billings, the recruitment process was far more self-directed, since colleges did not actively seek her out. She knew she wanted to run in college after being cut from the soccer team in the fall of her junior year. “I was disappointed so I looked at my times and realized running was a possibility,” she says. “I really enjoyed running track so I realized that was probably something I wanted to ALEX MENDIVIL continue doing in college.”

From then on, Billings met with track coaches at every college she visited. “I would email the coach and be like ‘Hi, my name’s Katie Billings. These are my times. I would love to talk to you to hear about your program,’” she says.

For Billings, running was more of an added bonus than a deciding factor. The coaches at Bryn Mawr told Billings that they would endorse her application, giving her a greater chance of getting accepted.

With her experience behind her, Billings has advice for any juniors who are trying to get recruited. “If you’re visiting the campus, talk to the coach and fill out recruiting forms. Early in the process you want to talk to coaches about what it would be like to do sports in college; try to get your foot in the door,” she says.

Montgomery Blair High School

SILVER SPRING, CHIP GALAXY, STELZNER NEBULA

A galactic forum for astronomic expression since 3005

rocketchips

SAM HOWELLS

May 29, 3451

Favorite rocket ship C3

Winner of the 3450 Universal Intergalactic Journalism Award

US sends dinosaurs to space

By Nomi$aurus Weintraub

President of NASA Charles Bolden announced on Monday that the organization is going to begin running trials in sending dinosaurs to space. It was reported that a rare species of triceratops was discovered in the deep woods of Northwest Branch park, in Silver Spring, MD. These triceratops were found by Blair principal, Renay Johnson.

Johnson came across the dinosaurs after leading a group of seniors on a nature walk.

“I thought it would be a good idea to take them on a beautiful,

project began when they started seeing outcomes of dinosaurs creating living habitats all over the globe.

The dinosaurs are now being tested, and prepped for a five-year space mission to the planet Mars.

“We are extremely excited to accept the triceratops, and get them ready for our mission. they have a long way to go but we are confident that they will be a great addition to our team” reported Bolden in his speech at the NASA headquarters.

serene hike through a local park. I never expected we would discover dinosaurs!” explains Johnson. The dinosaurs were immediately handled and brought to a free range dinosaur park by Animal Protective Services.

There was fear that the dinosaurs were dangerous, but luckily they were particularly tame and friendly. “We noticed the unique personality of these dinosaurs and were shocked at their motor skills” said Animal Protective Services.

Because of the extraordinary ability of the dinosaurs, they were given to NASA’s new project of sending dinosaurs to space. This

see SPACE DINO page A12

Spaceosaurus Rex

AD-E.T. “E.T. phone... Aditi?” The alien says he is looking forward to fraternizing with the Chips staff on Winer’s star.

Magnets travel to Starr

By Space Ca Det The Blair Magnet is using one of their secret high powered telescopes to search the night skies for their latest acquisition: senior Michael Winer’s new Starrr. The Starr was given to him after winning the Intel Science Talent Search competition, and appears to be a part of a constellation spelling out the word “trello.”

Due to unpaid taxes and misfiled physics stuff, the Intergalactic Regulation Services (IRS) have seized the Winer Starr. The IRS noted that ET and his family had apparently colonized the Starr, but the aliens have been forced to find shelter elsewhere. According to recent reports have moved to Uranus, where they will pursue their passion for phoning home.

In order to migrate, the aliens are considering bending the laws of at-

traction between Winer’s Starr and Uranus.

Winer, a coffee lover and physics specialist, has expressed an extreme interest in getting his Starr back. He started a GoFundMe account, “Give me my Star b(u) ck(s).” Gofundme has been a popular donation service this year, from Silver Chips trying desperately to save their dying medium to senior Sam Popper, who is trying to raise $6 to “Become a Dogg.” Winer and Popper are competing to see who can collect the most money: in six months they’ve each raised zero dollars.

The Magnet is looking into traveling to Winer’s Starr next year in replace of their annual Wollops Island trip. In order to make the trek, they are contemplating contacting

see WINER page Z6

New rover lands on Pluto

By Jeff Frandsen

RARE PHOTO Crudely yet beautifully photoshopped image of pure artistry, or an exclusive glimpse of a T. Rex on the moon just for you? Nobody knows!

A Rover robot landed on Pluto yesterday, 37 years after it regained its planet classification. The exploring device has not yet sent back any images or video, but NASA is hopeful that the planet will be home to a new building for Blair.

“Now see, the idea here is that we use the planet as a new Blair

Blair welcomes hundreds of alien exchange students

By Marvin the Martian

Principal Renay Johnson welcomed 650 alien exchange students at an assembly in the auditorium yesterday morning. The Martians, who arrived in a hot pink intergalactic cargo carrier at Baltimore Washington Airport yesterday, each walked across the stage and introduced themselves to their new classmates. At the assembly, Johnson explained that the Martians are staying with Blazers’ families and will attend school through the end of the school year.

According to Registrar Margeurite Berardi, the influx of Martians

was necessary for ordinary operation in the counseling department.

“I’m normally overloaded with work…after the seniors left last my workload merely rivaled that of other area registrars,” she said.

The increased paperwork necessary for registering the aliens for classes returned her work load to its abnormally absurd levels.

Teachers and students alike were surprised by the new foreign students, only some of whom are fluent in English. “I only made lesson plans in English, so I’ll have to do some last minute scrambling to find translations to the Martian tongues,” an anonymous English

teacher explained. “But I am still thrilled to have them in my class.”

A number of students were surprised when they suddenly found alien exchange students in their house. “I found a green object in my bed,” freshman [name] said. “It was an alien.” However, aliens and students alike are looking forward to making friends and learning about each other. “I’m so excited to introduce my American friends to traditional Martian cuisine,” a Martian explained.

see NEW FRIENDS page Q2

insideships

EXCHANGE ALIEN Jan Fahrenborg flies to Blair.

of sorts,” new MCPS superintendent, Stosh Jarr said. The school is now hundreds of years old, and is unable to fit its 32,000 students.

“We’ve had to build dozens of new portables, and the traffic on Blair Boulevard has already caused three trampling incidents,” Jarr said.

Principal Renay Johnson, was ecstatic about the possibility of a new building. “We certainly need it!” she said. “Homecoming has become even more of a disaster with over 30,000 kids in the gym.”

Scientists, however, are wary of planning too far ahead. “Look, Pluto is barely a planet, the thing is like 30 feet wide. If we want to build a new high school there, the Rover better send back some great images. The planet will have to be perfect to sustain a population the size of Blair,” head scientist Ron Jamsey said.

Senior Landon Harris is very optmistic, however, and can’t wait for the new building. “I love planets! Woohoo! SPACE!! I LOVE SPACE!” Harris said.

see PLUTO page C6

Haki on the range

G.O.A.T.

What the duck?

Hump day!

Johnson gives a tell-all about his life as a horse

Just another goat? Or the Greatest of All Time?

Don’t feed this guy: He bites!

One man and his voyage through the desert

C3

D4

C4

F3

NEWS 1 OP/ED 2 SENIOR WILLS 3 SENIOR DESTINATIONS 4/5 MORE DESTINATIONS 6 SOMETHING HERE????????????????? 7

2

silverships

May 29, 3451

Are humans real?

A pro/con written by two very special extra-terrestrial guests

YES: ZEKE WAPNER

Wes Lightyear

NO:

Get rid of your ego and realize there are other worlds.

How could we be the only ones in this galaxy? Are you really so self-centered that you could think that? To think that our little race of purple four-legged Sabels are the only intelligent species in existence is not only ignorant but just sad. Where has your imagination gone?

Have you just completely forgotten your childhood, staying late up into the night watching human movies?

You grew up and forgot how to dream. Shame on you.

Sorry, I know the word “human” is a little taboo ever since they started using the word for all those blue Sabels crossing our border and taking all our jobs. But, I’m gonna go ahead and use it anyway.

It’s easy to say that the myths are just unrealistic. We can put our minds at ease and say that there’s no way a species that constantly wages war against each other could survive this long. That a planet where 98.8% of the water is undrinkable could not possibly allow a species to live.

Or even that hairless skin could never stand up to a star as strong as theirs.

But, again, where is your imagination?

Picture a beautiful green world where younglings play and oldlings sit, where quadruped canines howl maniacally, where they have a creamy, flavored ice, and they eat it! They’re only myths of course, but how could we just ignore the possibility when it would be so cool?

And I haven’t even mentioned the more concrete evidence. My uncle’s friend, for example, swears to science that his dad got probed once. Apparently all the humans really want from us is to study us and the only way they can effectively do that is through the standard use of anal probing. It’s a little weird, but you can’t deny hard facts like that.

Doesn’t it just seem like our government is hiding something? I know I’m not the only one that wonders whether President Fetter is a human himself. I

saw a picture online on Trutherbot of him standing up on two legs in his office. A little fishy to say the least. And it said it wasn’t photoshopped so don’t even try that argument.

Really, the question isn’t whether they exist or not, it’s about whether they’ll come visit us or we’ll go visit them. Of course it’s harder for them in their phallic vertical spaceships compared to our sleek and efficient flying saucers, but if they made it here to put a probe inside my uncle’s friend’s dad then I’m sure they can make it here to form diplomatic intergalactic relations.

In terms of probability, it just wouldn’t make sense for us to be the only species in the universe. Have you ever looked into the sky? All those stars and all those planets, and those are only the ones we can see!

You’re a self-centered little twerp, frankly. You’re meaningless and smaller than you can even conceive. If you feel inferior to other Sabels that’s only the beginning. Purely from a logical standpoint there are probably planets and civilizations full of millions of beings that are better than you. Humans are probably the least of your fragile ego’s concern.

Bellybuttons can’t be real, so neither can humans.

Humans will always have a place in our lives. Games such as “Sabels vs Humans” and movies like the famous sci-fi/horror film “Human” are big staples around Fetterium, and almost everyone goes through a stage in their life where all they want to do is play with their human toy “cars” or dolls. Humans are fun to talk about, and the eternal question of “are we alone?” never seems to grow stale.

The hard facts, however, turn fantasy into a very clear truth. There are no such thing as humans. Not only has there never been clear proof of a human sighting, but the concept of them and their world is just so ridiculous that there’s no point even considering that they might be out there.

It’s no secret, our civilization is advanced. Our spaceships have built in cup holders, and Chipotle delivers anywhere.

In fact, we’re so advanced that we’ve successfully explored basically every galaxy ever. The idea that we haven’t seen the one planet with a bunch of soft skinned people with hair in a few a places on their body is absurd.

Our ability isn’t only defined by our technological genius in creating easy space travel, but also by the fact that we can speak with our minds. If humans existed, wouldn’t we have heard them attempting to communicate with us in our heads already? Hold on, listen. Do you hear that?

No, you don’t. Because humans don’t exist.

The media tends to depict humans in a roughly similar way. Like us, they vary slightly in height and weight. One bizarre difference, however, is that they more or less all seem to have four limbs. They walk on two of them, and the other two swing by their sides to be used only for holding or grabbing things. What’s the point of that? Why can’t they use all four to walk and grab? Utterly useless.

It even gets weirder from there. Leading human “experts” claim that they have something on their lower torso called a “bellybutton”. Cartoon depictions of

Jesse Green Man

EMILY DALY

humans include this as a dot right above the waist, but the claim is that it’s supposed to be a hole that has no purpose whatsoever. That simply can’t be real. The physical makeup of these portrayed humans seems too strange to be anything but made up. There would never be a species that evolved to look anything like that.

Even if there ever was a planet filled with these humans, it surely would have died out by now. “Experts” are under the impression that the human race is largely filled with terrible people. According to legend, not only do they have severe environmental issues, but they also have intense conflict between their own people.

While we’ve been spending our last thousands of years perfecting every aspect of our lives, they would’ve been stuck on creating peace within small communities.

Even if there had been humans at one point, they obviously wouldn’t have survived up to this point.

The idea of humans is fun, and certainly marketable, but the truth is that it’s basically impossible for them to exist. Biologically they don’t make much sense (apparently roughly half of them also can’t pee standing up), and what they lack physically isn’t exactly boosted by their painful social skills.

It seems to be Sabel nature to have this urge to believe that there’s something else out there, something of much lesser intelligence. This feeling is nothing but fallacy, and fortunately for all of us there is nothing remotely close to a human anywhere in space.

voicebox “Yes, I come to play when the human baby in the sun rises to say okay.”

“Yes, Ripley tried to kill me once.”

“Yes, and don’t forget my North Carolina shorts!”

“Yes, but I can’t go back there.

TERRIBLE is me going back der. ”

“No, why explore?

Everything’s fine up here on Mars.”

ZEKE WAPNER

Po Teletubbies

Leilien Alien

Alex “MJ” Space Jam

Grace-Grace Binks Star Wars

Kyra the Martian Looney Tunes

May 29, 3451 We, ALEX FRANDSEN and KELSEY GROSS, do hereby bequeath: To Amanda and Eleanor: the torch!

This paper is our baby, and it’s super hard to give it up, but we could not be more confident that y’all will do a great job. We can’t wait to open our mail in college next year and see the beatiful writing, art, & photos (still on our toes with anticipation about that Jean Ralphio Q&A!) P.S.: Living your entire life in the lab kinda sucks but is totally worth it.

KG’s P.P.S.: Chipotle is great but it makes 158 smell like it was just hit by a Mexican tornado. Choose your grub wisely my friends I, KELSEY GROSS, bequeath: To Silver Chips: perfectly lined picas, a functioning spirit committee, all of the sass, and my love To all of poms: Makeyda (aka Yoncé), swag walks, and the ability to whip out 8 fouettés ending in a double withot a sweat To Eleanor: at least one lifechanging typo that forever rebrands you a la Jeff To Amanda: a copy editor and a pretty dang hot prom

3

silverrush

SENIOR WILLS dress To Audge: To Maris and Niki: Dancing in the lab, sprinting from 165 to the gym, and the incredible honor of being a Silver Pom. Check for typos, point your toes, and wear your bows with pride To Maris and Emma: FREAKING BEAUTIFUL DESIGN AND TONS OF SPIRIT To Winnie: Canada. And Germany To Niki: My academic career.

Jk my entire life path. And all of the uglet To Talia: The drumline LOVE YOU ALL! I, ALEX FRANDSEN, bequeath: To Amanda and Eleanor: Many days and nights in room 165, complete with unending page drafts and hours of headline sessions.

To Eleanor: At least 12 Puli dogs.

To Amanda: At least 6 different kinds of hummus.

To Christian: The label of that skinny, fast, white guy in the outfield. And all my baseball stuff.

To Ian Donaldson: The privilege of cutting in line in the batting cage.

I, LESLIE CHEN, bequeath: To Divya and Schuyler: Mixers and Sloe’s room lnchs I, EMILY GUTHRIE, leave: To Zachary: All my college luck. Kick butt next year and hit me up if you need anything. It’s been a great six years.

I, COLMAN WELLES, leave Miles Royce (Yodi) a whole bunch of nothing. Have fun lil dood.

I, KATIE BILLINGS, hereby leave: To Paul Bass and Albert Wang: Control of Y&G. Good luck guys! Make us a premier delegation!

To my 4x100m relay team, I hereby leave the baton. Run fast, I expect to see you all rn at states one day!

I, TREMIL CAIN, hereby bestow upon you, Evan Gresso, the title of gump. Remember, get swole get girls and get that $$$ I, MAMA KAYLAN, grant you, Blair poms, all of the enthusiasm, teamwork, improvement, and fierceness that I know you all can have.

I believe in you! Next step is first plac e!

ALIA HELSING: To Nguyen Phan: I leave you my family and my life. Don’t screw up my room while I’m gone.

To Spencer: I leave Nate, good luck with him.

To Niketchup: I leave poms and my late night procrastination tears.

To Sludge: I leave you my forehead and all of the chicquens.

To poms: Just kick ass next year (it’ll be hard to do without me though) NATE BLECK: Y’all need to know one secret, that secret is I don’t know what to say. So y’all can have

fun and stuff.

I, ANNE-OLIVE NONO, leave: To Susanna MAisto and Ty Cao: my heart - and of course the rest of track squad, especially Yamai To Schuyler, Alexis, and Karylena: The role of Queen B to fight over :) To Yamal/my daughter: The role of mini me. Hold it zownnn (“and go to track lol) To Tzion Biz: All my facial expressions (or lack thereof) I, DANA HUNTER, would like to thank all my friends and family for supporting me through the years. I’d like to leave my parents to Sandy and my birthday to Maddie Boyer.

I, DANNY CANARY, leave Blair’s basketball legacy in the hands of my fav junior, Camille Estrin.

I, GRACE WOODWARD, of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath: To Emma and Maris: All things on design and layout related. Never ending questions about indesign, even the ones you know you’ve already answered and are still answering halfway through the year. Centerspread. The creativity, curiosity, patience, and collaboration of design.

To Emma and Camille: The best section ever. Impossible stories and the courage it takes to write them. Anonymous sources. Last minute, over the phone, major story edits. Explaining what features even are to all the juniors who have no idea what they are let alone how to write them.

To Reva: Graphics, graphics, and more graphics.

To Emma: Twizzlers and the role of Silver Chips mom.

I, EMILY DALY, of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath: To Reva and Anna: Everything news. Don’t forget past tense, attributions, and always, always “blank said!!”

Good luck next year, and have fun harassing the juniors for CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

May 29, 3451

Naomi Abayou Abenezer Abebe Dylan Ahunhodjaev Rowan Afflerbach Joe Agger Niko Ainsfield Sarah Aitken Naeem Alam Danayt Alem Sophie Alemi Birhan Alemayehu Luz Alarcon Alexandre Alia Jimmy Alvarez Fredy Alvarez Klara Ambaye Ethan Amitay Cerf Amouzougan DJ Anderson Camilla Arias Kalabe Arefeayne Hermela Asfaw Julia Audet Aklilu Awayehu Mona Baguira Nicholas Barbiero Annaleigh Baremore Jenny Bates Molly Beckett Yonathan Bedu Natalie Behrends Abelezer Bekele Wastina Belayneh Peter Berger Cecilia Bergman Hakan Berk Rahul Bhale Chandra Bhandari Katie Billings Ariel Blakey Yonis Blanco Nathanial Bleck Tonle Bloomer.

Alex Boris Taylor Bosse Brendan Brady Jesse Broad-Cavanagh Finian Brecher Andrea Brown Shailee Bruck Adam Busis Mari-Therese Burton Tremil Cain MaryClare Callahan Breanna Camp Martin Campos Bryan Canales Danny Canary Meriel Caprioglio Marvin Cardon Brittany Cardoso Naysha Carrasquillo Cherie Carter Milena Castillo-Grynberg Karen Cerna Ruth Chapman Shubham Chattopadhyay Dallas Chavez Luis Chavez Marta Chavez Antares Chen Jenny Chen Leslie Chen Nola Chen Eric Cheung.

rocketchips

CLASS OF 2015 DESTINATIONS Montgomery College, University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Gap Year University of Maryland College Park University of Colorado Boulder Montgomery College Clemson University University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland Baltimore County Mount St. Mary’s University Cosmetology Drexel University Montgomery College Notre Dame of Maryland University University of Maryland College Park Florida Atlantic University Salisbury University Fairmont State University University of Maryland College Park US Marine Corps Mount Saint Mary’s University University of Maryland College Park Towson University University of Maryland Baltimore Campus Florida State University Juniata College Agnes Scott College Columbia College Chicago Frostburg State New York University Montgomery College University of Maryland Baltimore City University of California Los Angeles Grinnell College University of Maryland College Park Boston University Montgomery College Bryn mawr College Spelman College Randolph-Macon College United States Marine Corps University of Maryland College Park Montana State University West Virginia University Towson University Wesleyan University American University Harvard University University of Maryland College Park Harvey Mudd Carnegie Mellon University Howard University Washington College Towson University University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College St. Mary’s College Drexel University Montgomery College Military (Air Force) Trinity University University of Southern California University of Southern California Montgomery College University of Maryland Baltimore Campus University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College Montgomery College University of California Berkeley Montgomery College Carnegie Mellon University Northeastern University University of Maryland

Rosa Choe Navid Chowdhury.

Samantha Chyatte Aaron Clingman Ross Cohen-Kristiansen Frank Condori Leigh Cook Elsy Cordova Theodore Corrales Azalea Coste Laura Cross Margaret Crosson Luis Cruz Brandon Cubas Liza Curcio-Rudy Emily Daly Maddie Daly Leah Damo Delaila Daniel Isha Darbari Matthew Das Sarma Nicholas Dayhoff Gudeta Deme Hachisan Djiake Zachary Dolores Troy Dominic Sanchez Calvin Dong Ashe Durban Ana Duron Vivian Duarte Karina Duenas Dirk Dupre Rachel Ederer Brynne Edwards Eyasu Eshetu James Fair Alexander Fairhall Michael Fan Benjamin Fineran Amanda Flores Fredis Flores Katherine Flores Marcus Forrester Alex Frandsen Agustin Fragale Atalie Fischer Manuel Fuentes Marvin Fuentes Alani Fuji Tristan Gabay Matiyas Ganoro Pedro Garay Jacquelin Gaspard Jane Gerard Jamie Gilkeson Idis Giron Natalie Gradwohl Amanda Gross Kelsey Gross Sasha Grossman Dylan Goldvale Roselyn Gomez Ivonne Gonzalez Naomi Gonzalez Ryan Gonzalez Robinson Gossin Jessica Grover Camila Guerrero Gyandra Guerrero Jennifer Guevara Danny Guillen Akshay Guthal Mark Girguis Nobel Girmay Anatoly Gunning

University of California Berkeley University of Maryland College Park Mount Holyoke College Fairleigh Dickinson University University of Maryland College Park Salisbury University George Washington University Stevenson University University of Maryland College Park George Mason University University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Work University of Maryland Baltimore Campus University of Maryland College Park College of William and Mary Villanova University McGill University Mount Saint Mary’s University University of Maryland College Park Stanford University Montgomery College Salisbury University Toledo University Montgomery College Montgomery College University of California, Berkeley University of Vermont University of Georgia Undecided Washington Adventist University St.Mary’s College Towson University Digipen Institute of Technology College University of Puget Sound Kalamazoo College University of California Berkeley University of Pennsylvania Towson University Montgomery College Montgomery College Stevenson University Northeastern University University of Maryland College Park University of Toronto Salisbury University Montgomery College Barnard College of Columbia University Montgomery College Ferrum College College Garret College University of Maryland College Park Drexell University Montgomery College Occidental College Vanderbilt University University of Pennsylvania Eckerd College University of Utah Montgomery College Trade School (Med Tech) Montgomery College University of Maryland Baltimore County Undecided Lynchburg University University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College Montgomery College Work/College University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland Baltimore County Salisbury University The College of Wooster

Akshay Guthal Emily Guthrie Christopher Gutierrez-Olla Brian Guzman Leila Habib Redietu Haile Robel Haile Kjell Hansen Amyra Hason Landon Harris Terri Harris Eli Hartman Emani Hears Sarah Heilig Alia Helsing Esther Herbers Brian Hernandez Diego Hernandez Eddy Hernandez Genesis Herrera Kevin Ho Ben Holland Wesley Hopkins Megan Houlihan Samuel Howells Danielle Hunter Kaylan Hutchinson Eyamba Ituka Ibrahim Shanay Jackson Beau Jacquette Conor James Blossom Jiang Haki Johnson Jordan Johnson Kenny Johnson Zoe Johnson Yashar Joseph Kelsey Joyce Kalanzi Kajubi Garrett Kapstein-O’Brien Jeremy Kardon Noah Karn Pamela Katali Helen Kebede Anna Keleher Maeve Kelley-Portillo Aidan Keys Landon Keys Matthew Kickenson Simon Kideanemariam Ian Kiefhaber Kyle Kirwan Brianna Kitts Laura Klett Kiyoon Ko Adrian Kombe Molly Kowalski Max Kronstadt Atharv Kumar De’Marco Ky Hakim Lachnani Puriwat Lahpong Paul Lathrop Christopher Lazo Duc Le Michael Le Jimmy Lei Alan Li Eyal Li James Liao Wilson Lin Mary Lindsay Marcus Lindsey Graham Lindsley

University of Maryland College Park Gap year (City Year) then Stanford University Work and Montgomery College Salisbury University Northeastern University University of Rochester Montgomery College University of Maryland Baltimore County Montgomery College University of Southern California Robert Morris University Cornell College The New School University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland Indiana University, Bloomington Montgomery College University of Toronto University of British Columbia University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Case Western Reserve University University of California Berkeley University of Michigan DePaul University University of Michigan McDaniel College Pennsylvania State University Eastern Florida State College Virginia State University Montgomery College Lewis and Clark College Lafayette College Earlham College Eastern University Montgomery College Northwestern University Mount St. Mary’s University Saint Mary’s College Pitzer College Fairmont State University University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland Baltimore County University of Maryland College Park Towson University University of Maryland College Park University of New Hampshire Howard University Montgomery College Montgomery College University of Maryland College Park University of Montana Washington College University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Duke University Northeastern University Towson University Colorado College University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College University of Southern California Virginia Tech University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of Michigan University of California Los Angeles University of California, Berkeley University of Maryland College Park American University Virginia Polytechnic Institute University of Miami

Jakob Little Aaron Liu Jade Liu Ziyu Liu Andrew Lopez Javier Lopez William Lu Nicolas Koch-Gallup Elisabeth Machielse Kerry Ellen Madden Jennifer Madera Jahi Madzimoyo Rishabh Mahajani Monica Mai Ravyn Malatesta Douglas Martinez Jen Martinez Jennifer Martinez Marjorie Martinez Maud Martins-Lamptey Jared Marx-Kuo Noelle Mason Christina McCann Shannon McCaw Mikaela McCleery Bennet McGlade Meg McPherson Jordan McShan Dennys Mendez Liam Mendizabal Samantha Menegas Leyla Merlo Peter Merlo-Coyne Sam Merrill Nino Migineishvili Ben Miller Agam Mittal Lul Mohamud Perla Molina Victor Molina Maya Montenegro Marca Morganstein Itzel Moreno Cullen Morris Imani Morris Alanni Moses Evelyn Moses Meriam Mossad Eunice Muchemi Abir Muhuri Mariam Mujiri Pablo Murga Jack Murphy Malik Murray Katherine Murtha Sanghol Myung Sean Nair Jose Luis Neves Eric Neyman Song-Binh Ngo Monalisa Nimely Jorge Noda Valdez Erin Nolan Anne-Olive Nono Sam Norwood Maria Novitskaya Robert Oakley Emily O’Brien Bendeguz Offertaler Masongo Ogura?

Ashwin Ojha Frankii Olivares Gary Omeir Rohan Oprisko Brian Orellana

4/5

Towson University Montgomery College Boston College Michigan University College Pitzer College Brandeis University Macalester College University of Pennsylvania Endicott College Montgomery College Montgomery College Georgia Institute of Technology University of Maryland Baltimore County Lewis & Clark College Washington Adventist University Montgomery College Montgomery College Montgomery College Frostburg State University The University of Chicago Gap year (Morocco) then DePaul University Catholic University Mississippi State University Berry College University of Michigan Syracuse University Gettysburg College Virginia Tech Temple University Georgetown University University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of California Los Angeles Pitzer College The George Washington University Boston University Cumberland College College Towson University University of Wisconsin Montgomery College University of Colorado Boulder Work Virginia Union University University of Maryland Eastern Shore Towson University Sewannee: University of the South University of Maryland College Park Georgia State University Catholic University University of Maryland College Park The Art Institute of Washington -- VA Wesleyan University Brown University Singapore Military then College Park Montgomery College Princeton University Villanova University University of Maryland Eastern Shore CCBC Gainesville University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Salisbury University University of Maryland College Park Malta Boston University Princeton University Montgomery College University of Michigan Montgomery College Montgomery College University of California San Diego University of Maryland College Park

May 29, 3451

Naomi Abayou Abenezer Abebe Dylan Ahunhodjaev Rowan Afflerbach Joe Agger Niko Ainsfield Sarah Aitken Naeem Alam Danayt Alem Sophie Alemi Birhan Alemayehu Luz Alarcon Alexandre Alia Jimmy Alvarez Fredy Alvarez Klara Ambaye Ethan Amitay Cerf Amouzougan DJ Anderson Camilla Arias Kalabe Arefeayne Hermela Asfaw Julia Audet Aklilu Awayehu Mona Baguira Nicholas Barbiero Annaleigh Baremore Jenny Bates Molly Beckett Yonathan Bedu Natalie Behrends Abelezer Bekele Wastina Belayneh Peter Berger Cecilia Bergman Hakan Berk Rahul Bhale Chandra Bhandari Katie Billings Ariel Blakey Yonis Blanco Nathanial Bleck Tonle Bloomer.

Alex Boris Taylor Bosse Brendan Brady Jesse Broad-Cavanagh Finian Brecher Andrea Brown Shailee Bruck Adam Busis Mari-Therese Burton Tremil Cain MaryClare Callahan Breanna Camp Martin Campos Bryan Canales Danny Canary Meriel Caprioglio Marvin Cardon Brittany Cardoso Naysha Carrasquillo Cherie Carter Milena Castillo-Grynberg Karen Cerna Ruth Chapman Shubham Chattopadhyay Dallas Chavez Luis Chavez Marta Chavez Antares Chen Jenny Chen Leslie Chen Nola Chen Eric Cheung.

rocketchips

CLASS OF 2015 DESTINATIONS Montgomery College, University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Gap Year University of Maryland College Park University of Colorado Boulder Montgomery College Clemson University University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland Baltimore County Mount St. Mary’s University Cosmetology Drexel University Montgomery College Notre Dame of Maryland University University of Maryland College Park Florida Atlantic University Salisbury University Fairmont State University University of Maryland College Park US Marine Corps Mount Saint Mary’s University University of Maryland College Park Towson University University of Maryland Baltimore Campus Florida State University Juniata College Agnes Scott College Columbia College Chicago Frostburg State New York University Montgomery College University of Maryland Baltimore City University of California Los Angeles Grinnell College University of Maryland College Park Boston University Montgomery College Bryn mawr College Spelman College Randolph-Macon College United States Marine Corps University of Maryland College Park Montana State University West Virginia University Towson University Wesleyan University American University Harvard University University of Maryland College Park Harvey Mudd Carnegie Mellon University Howard University Washington College Towson University University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College St. Mary’s College Drexel University Montgomery College Military (Air Force) Trinity University University of Southern California University of Southern California Montgomery College University of Maryland Baltimore Campus University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College Montgomery College University of California Berkeley Montgomery College Carnegie Mellon University Northeastern University University of Maryland

Rosa Choe Navid Chowdhury.

Samantha Chyatte Aaron Clingman Ross Cohen-Kristiansen Frank Condori Leigh Cook Elsy Cordova Theodore Corrales Azalea Coste Laura Cross Margaret Crosson Luis Cruz Brandon Cubas Liza Curcio-Rudy Emily Daly Maddie Daly Leah Damo Delaila Daniel Isha Darbari Matthew Das Sarma Nicholas Dayhoff Gudeta Deme Hachisan Djiake Zachary Dolores Troy Dominic Sanchez Calvin Dong Ashe Durban Ana Duron Vivian Duarte Karina Duenas Dirk Dupre Rachel Ederer Brynne Edwards Eyasu Eshetu James Fair Alexander Fairhall Michael Fan Benjamin Fineran Amanda Flores Fredis Flores Katherine Flores Marcus Forrester Alex Frandsen Agustin Fragale Atalie Fischer Manuel Fuentes Marvin Fuentes Alani Fuji Tristan Gabay Matiyas Ganoro Pedro Garay Jacquelin Gaspard Jane Gerard Jamie Gilkeson Idis Giron Natalie Gradwohl Amanda Gross Kelsey Gross Sasha Grossman Dylan Goldvale Roselyn Gomez Ivonne Gonzalez Naomi Gonzalez Ryan Gonzalez Robinson Gossin Jessica Grover Camila Guerrero Gyandra Guerrero Jennifer Guevara Danny Guillen Akshay Guthal Mark Girguis Nobel Girmay Anatoly Gunning

University of California Berkeley University of Maryland College Park Mount Holyoke College Fairleigh Dickinson University University of Maryland College Park Salisbury University George Washington University Stevenson University University of Maryland College Park George Mason University University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Work University of Maryland Baltimore Campus University of Maryland College Park College of William and Mary Villanova University McGill University Mount Saint Mary’s University University of Maryland College Park Stanford University Montgomery College Salisbury University Toledo University Montgomery College Montgomery College University of California, Berkeley University of Vermont University of Georgia Undecided Washington Adventist University St.Mary’s College Towson University Digipen Institute of Technology College University of Puget Sound Kalamazoo College University of California Berkeley University of Pennsylvania Towson University Montgomery College Montgomery College Stevenson University Northeastern University University of Maryland College Park University of Toronto Salisbury University Montgomery College Barnard College of Columbia University Montgomery College Ferrum College College Garret College University of Maryland College Park Drexell University Montgomery College Occidental College Vanderbilt University University of Pennsylvania Eckerd College University of Utah Montgomery College Trade School (Med Tech) Montgomery College University of Maryland Baltimore County Undecided Lynchburg University University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College Montgomery College Work/College University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland Baltimore County Salisbury University The College of Wooster

Akshay Guthal Emily Guthrie Christopher Gutierrez-Olla Brian Guzman Leila Habib Redietu Haile Robel Haile Kjell Hansen Amyra Hason Landon Harris Terri Harris Eli Hartman Emani Hears Sarah Heilig Alia Helsing Esther Herbers Brian Hernandez Diego Hernandez Eddy Hernandez Genesis Herrera Kevin Ho Ben Holland Wesley Hopkins Megan Houlihan Samuel Howells Danielle Hunter Kaylan Hutchinson Eyamba Ituka Ibrahim Shanay Jackson Beau Jacquette Conor James Blossom Jiang Haki Johnson Jordan Johnson Kenny Johnson Zoe Johnson Yashar Joseph Kelsey Joyce Kalanzi Kajubi Garrett Kapstein-O’Brien Jeremy Kardon Noah Karn Pamela Katali Helen Kebede Anna Keleher Maeve Kelley-Portillo Aidan Keys Landon Keys Matthew Kickenson Simon Kideanemariam Ian Kiefhaber Kyle Kirwan Brianna Kitts Laura Klett Kiyoon Ko Adrian Kombe Molly Kowalski Max Kronstadt Atharv Kumar De’Marco Ky Hakim Lachnani Puriwat Lahpong Paul Lathrop Christopher Lazo Duc Le Michael Le Jimmy Lei Alan Li Eyal Li James Liao Wilson Lin Mary Lindsay Marcus Lindsey Graham Lindsley

University of Maryland College Park Gap year (City Year) then Stanford University Work and Montgomery College Salisbury University Northeastern University University of Rochester Montgomery College University of Maryland Baltimore County Montgomery College University of Southern California Robert Morris University Cornell College The New School University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland Indiana University, Bloomington Montgomery College University of Toronto University of British Columbia University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Case Western Reserve University University of California Berkeley University of Michigan DePaul University University of Michigan McDaniel College Pennsylvania State University Eastern Florida State College Virginia State University Montgomery College Lewis and Clark College Lafayette College Earlham College Eastern University Montgomery College Northwestern University Mount St. Mary’s University Saint Mary’s College Pitzer College Fairmont State University University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland Baltimore County University of Maryland College Park Towson University University of Maryland College Park University of New Hampshire Howard University Montgomery College Montgomery College University of Maryland College Park University of Montana Washington College University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Duke University Northeastern University Towson University Colorado College University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College University of Southern California Virginia Tech University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of Michigan University of California Los Angeles University of California, Berkeley University of Maryland College Park American University Virginia Polytechnic Institute University of Miami

Jakob Little Aaron Liu Jade Liu Ziyu Liu Andrew Lopez Javier Lopez William Lu Nicolas Koch-Gallup Elisabeth Machielse Kerry Ellen Madden Jennifer Madera Jahi Madzimoyo Rishabh Mahajani Monica Mai Ravyn Malatesta Douglas Martinez Jen Martinez Jennifer Martinez Marjorie Martinez Maud Martins-Lamptey Jared Marx-Kuo Noelle Mason Christina McCann Shannon McCaw Mikaela McCleery Bennet McGlade Meg McPherson Jordan McShan Dennys Mendez Liam Mendizabal Samantha Menegas Leyla Merlo Peter Merlo-Coyne Sam Merrill Nino Migineishvili Ben Miller Agam Mittal Lul Mohamud Perla Molina Victor Molina Maya Montenegro Marca Morganstein Itzel Moreno Cullen Morris Imani Morris Alanni Moses Evelyn Moses Meriam Mossad Eunice Muchemi Abir Muhuri Mariam Mujiri Pablo Murga Jack Murphy Malik Murray Katherine Murtha Sanghol Myung Sean Nair Jose Luis Neves Eric Neyman Song-Binh Ngo Monalisa Nimely Jorge Noda Valdez Erin Nolan Anne-Olive Nono Sam Norwood Maria Novitskaya Robert Oakley Emily O’Brien Bendeguz Offertaler Masongo Ogura?

Ashwin Ojha Frankii Olivares Gary Omeir Rohan Oprisko Brian Orellana

4/5

Towson University Montgomery College Boston College Michigan University College Pitzer College Brandeis University Macalester College University of Pennsylvania Endicott College Montgomery College Montgomery College Georgia Institute of Technology University of Maryland Baltimore County Lewis & Clark College Washington Adventist University Montgomery College Montgomery College Montgomery College Frostburg State University The University of Chicago Gap year (Morocco) then DePaul University Catholic University Mississippi State University Berry College University of Michigan Syracuse University Gettysburg College Virginia Tech Temple University Georgetown University University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of California Los Angeles Pitzer College The George Washington University Boston University Cumberland College College Towson University University of Wisconsin Montgomery College University of Colorado Boulder Work Virginia Union University University of Maryland Eastern Shore Towson University Sewannee: University of the South University of Maryland College Park Georgia State University Catholic University University of Maryland College Park The Art Institute of Washington -- VA Wesleyan University Brown University Singapore Military then College Park Montgomery College Princeton University Villanova University University of Maryland Eastern Shore CCBC Gainesville University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Salisbury University University of Maryland College Park Malta Boston University Princeton University Montgomery College University of Michigan Montgomery College Montgomery College University of California San Diego University of Maryland College Park

6

rocketchips

May 29, 3451

Destinations, continued Kenny Orellana Matthew Orellana Patty Pablo Maddie Palmieri Ishaan Parikh Eli Parry-Giles Mukund Patanik Maria Pena Yichao Peng Christian Perez Simone Perez-Garcia Vadim Petrov Elizabeth Pham Vu Pham Jacob Popper Alexi Portillo Jackie Portillo Juliette Provost Juan Puesan Roy Purnell Mba Jirah Mae Querubin Stephanie Rager Arun Ramamurthy Walter Ramos John Ramsey Alexis Redford-Maung Maung Elijah Reid-Klein Josiah Rapp Stephanie Renich Vinny Reyes Bridget Rittman-Tune Franklin Rice Andreas Robertson Liliana Rodriguez Jack Romeo Maitte Romero Daniel Rong Kadian Roofe Braeden Rose Robert Rose Zoe Rothberg Nate Rought Sebastian Rubinstein Anne Rumain Jasper Saah Ben Safford Harini Salgado Elyse Salpekar Max Salzman Ismael Sangare Maroinette Sankoh Gabriela Sarri-Tobar Jordan Schneider Max Scribner Ben Segal Kyra Seiger Chelsey Sharp Ivray Sharp Justin Shen Alea Shipp Becca Shofar Anne Simmons Isaiah Silvers Connor Smith Ricardo Smith Haein Son

University of Michigan University of Maryland Baltimore Campus Montgomery College New York University University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park Work at a bank University of Maryland College Park Home remodeling University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park McGill University Salisbury University Montgomery College University of Iowa Montgomery College Montgomery College Savannah College of Art and Design Columbia University University of California Berkeley Gap year Oberlin College Kenyon College Gap year (NY, LA) University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland Baltimore County Montgomery College University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College Georgia Institute of Technology Montgomery College Montgomery College Frostburg State University University of Maryland College Park College Vanderbilt University University of Maryland Baltimore County Lewis and Clark College Montgomery College/Gap year University of Michigan Culinary School Temple University Maryland Institute College of Art Pomona College Grinnell College West Virginia University Camden University University of Maryland Eastern Shore Oberlin College University of Maryland College Park University of Maryland College Park University of Wisconsin Mount Holyoke College University of Maryland Eastern Shore University of Maryland Eastern Shore University of Maryland College Park Morgan State University Mount Holyoke College Trinity Washington University Reed College Cornell University Montgomery College and Study abroad in Japan Rochester Institute of Technology

Douglas Speaks Matthew Strauder Aditi Subramaniam Arjuna Subramanian Natty Suwannawong Jamey Sultan Quinn Tai Adriana Terceros Swetha Thomas Ian Thorne Peter Thuronyi Sasha Tidwell Daniela Toni Noumkouba Toure Tommy Tran Sidi Traore Sarah Trunk Elia Tzoukermann Michelle Tu Vijay Upadhya Barbara Vasilchenko Jose Vasquez James Veliz Surdiv Vijayakumar Andrea Vo Phuong Vo Sarah Wagner Kelsey Walker D’marco Warren Shawna Warren Zeke Wapner Kara Watkins-Chow Jevane Watson Naomi Weintraub Joel Weisburger Colman Welles Sammy Wichansky Alexander Wiebe Malcom Williams Grace Wilson Jasmine Wilson Yakedia Wilson Mike Winston Josef Woldu Laura Woods Grace Woodward Brenda Wu Annie Xu Connie Xu Victor Xu Cathy Xue Jake Yamada Dennis Yang Junior Ulrich Yanga Diana Yares Yosef Yishak Max Yu Austin Yuan Bemnet Zewdie Kevin Zhang Amy Zhao Dennis Zhao Amy Zhou Angela Zhou Harrison Zheng Andrea Zou

Hampton University Montgomery College Washington University in St. Louis Princeton University Montgomery College University of Maryland Baltimore County University of Maryland, College Park Montgomery College Albright College Frostburg State University Towson University College of Wooster Roger Williams University Virginia State University University of Maryland College Park American University University of Maryland Gap year then Oberlin University of Maryland College Park Georgia Institute of Technology University of Maryland College Park Montgomery College, Rockville College US Marine Corps University of Maryland College Park City University of New York, Hunter College Yale University Montgomery College University of Maryland College Park West Virginia Wesleyan College Pitzer College University of Southern California Montgomery College Clark University University of Maryland Baltimore County Winter fishery (Alaska) University of Pittsburgh Cornell University Montgomery College University of Pittsburgh College College Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Rome American University Northeastern University California Institute of Technology Carnegie Melon University University of Chicago Carnegie Mellon University Yale University University of Maryland College Park University of California Berkeley University of Wyoming Hood College University of Miami University of Maryland College Park New York University Boston College Princeton University Eckerd College Yale University UC Berkeley New York University University of California Berkeley University of Maryland

JUNIOR SUPERLATIVES Most likely to actually be Hannah Montana: Teague Most likely to have twins: Winne Most likely to become a YouTube star: Sam Most likely to chug two liters of Coke: Daliah Most likely to make friends with a meerkat: Camille K Most likely to grow a man bun: Julian Most likely to live in Atlantis: Sarah Most likely to discover the cure to cold sores: Eleanor Most likely to repopulate an abandoned island: Maris

Most likely to overthrow Kim Jung Il: Anna Most likely to keep a carrot in their mouth for two hours and then feed it to their friend: Reva Most likely to accidentally proclaim love over the phone to a stranger: Emma Most likely to grow a singular grape: Amanda Most likely to go to high school: Mariam Most likely to become a monk: Camille E Most likely to ask someone why they’re white: Luisa

7

rocketchips

May 29, 3451

MORE SENIOR WILLS!

late news.

To Anna Reachmack: The perfect throwing ball. I hope you never overthrow another ball in warmups and you will continue to do you - “get ‘er done son!”

To Womens’ Advocacy: successful meeting and actual members! Continue to discuss femenism and fight the patriarchy.

To Sarah and unknown fact checker #2: It may not always be fun, and it may not always feel worth it, but remember our “polo-playing” friend.

I, MARGARET CROSSON, of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath: To Maddie Boyer: My loaf legacy in hopes that it inspires her to not stress over the college process, becasue obviously the future ahead of her seems very bright since it is already!

I, ADITI SUBRAMANIAM, of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath: To Schuyler: My magnet

legacy, do me proud ;) To Mazda: My place in Jeff’s heart - hope you won’t be too bored without me on the bus.

to spread love and joy every day and to give hugs to friends in need. I also leave you tie dye. Not any physical tie dye but the love and skill I, LEIGH COOK, of sound of it. mind and body, do hereby To Dio Cramer: I, as selfbequeath: appointed stage crew co-presTo Elizabeth Cove: The ambi- ident, leave you stage crew. tion, love, and enthusiasm Remember that it means a lot that I always possessed but to me so keep it pretty and never fully utilized in the way maybe just a little color every I know she will. once in a while. I also leave you, every day for the rest of I, LIZA CURCIO, of sound your life, a reminder that I mind and body, do hereby love you. bequeath: To Olivia Lindsley and Claire To Anna Hukill, Maddie Maske: The pit and the reBoyer, Adina Rombro, and Joe sponsibility to make sure Estrin: Business Staff. Make Emmett actually comes to the that $$$. group field trips. And mostly To Camille Estrin and Alexis jsut to Olivia I leave you my Moses: Dealing with Conley. sense of humor becasue I Good luck. know you and appreciate it To field hockey underclassand I don’t want it anymore. men: Fock on.

To Emmett Adler: I leave you the responsibility of explainI, MAEVE KELLEY-PORing the pit.

TILLO, of sound mind and To Max Kittner: I leave you body, do hereby bequeath: the official title of forever To Eva Bongino: The role of freshman. I also leave you the den mother. Not only because responsibility to pass on the you wanted it, but I trust you title to the person most de-

serving of it when you leave.

To Claudia Allou: I leave you the responsibility to remind people to smile every day.

To Tommy Norris: I leave you the greatest metaphor of all.

The metaphor of our friendship as well as an extra life because I’m sure you need it.

To Ellie Struewing: The props closet. I also leave you all the cacti you could think of as well as the responsibility to become the cacti expert I wish I was.

I, THE SENIOR CLASS of ‘15, of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath: To the Class of ‘16: Luck and hopefully not senioritis!

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May 29, 2015

SILVER CHIPS SPACE SHIP

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