December 2025 - Silver Chips Print

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Montgomery Blair High School December 10, 2025

VOL. 89 NO. 2

SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

Code Green for MCPS on Dec. 5

By SATCHEL JELEN On the morning of Dec. 5, schools in MCPS opened under a Code Green—Normal Operations, while freezing temperatures and light snowfall continued in the morning and early afternoon. These conditions prompted concerns about safety as parents and students dealt with traffic and icy conditions on their commute to school. “The road conditions were bad. It was pretty intense there for a while,” Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) spokesperson Pete Piringer said in an interview with Bethesda Today. Some students at Blair arrived late to class, and there were multiple incidents involving MCPS buses throughout the county. In a statement released later that day, MCPS wrote that “the decision to open under Code Green (Normal Operations) was made after a thorough review of the latest weather data, road reports, and updates from our transportation and facilities teams.”

Scandals plague MCPS bus contract

By TOMAS MONTICELLI

On Nov. 5, the Maryland State Board of Education (MSBE) released an opinion declaring that MCPS’ $168 million contract with Highland Electric Trucking (HET) was illegal due to procedural violations during the bidding process. “The award to HET was unreasonable, arbitrary, and in violation of the local board’s own Procurement Manual,” the opinion stated.

As a legally binding decision, the ruling nullified the current maintenance agreement and posed problems for MCPS, which relies on the 285 electric buses for roughly 20 percent of its fleet. Unlike diesel buses, MCPS does not own the electric buses; HET owns and maintains them while the district leases them.

Janis Zink Sartucci, a member of the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland—which is an MCPS watchdog group that has been following the bus contract since its beginning—expressed concern about the future of the county’s electric buses. “The electric buses are leased,” she said.

“Let’s say this company went bankrupt or decided not to do business here; however many buses we have right now … can disappear literally tomorrow.”

A major factor in the board’s decision was the involvement of former MCPS Director of Transportation Todd Watkins and former Assistant Director Charles Ewald during

the contract award process. Both Watkins and Ewald were implicated in a theft and misconduct scheme involving the company American Truck & Bus (ATB), a subcontractor to HET. “The participation of these individuals tainted the bus procurement evaluation process, such that no one can know what the outcome of the evaluation process would have been,” the opinion stated.

According to the opinion, Watkins directed ATB to withhold funds that were owed to MCPS, allowing ATB to maintain an off-the-books account. Ewald then used that account to misdirect payments to himself, ultimately stealing over $320,000. Watkins later pleaded guilty to misconduct in office for enabling the scheme, while Ewald pleaded guilty to theft and misconduct in office for directing payments for personal benefit. The opinion also noted that ATB was an important partner of HET. “In its proposal, HET does not name ATB as merely a supplier or subcontractor,” the opinion stated. “Instead, it refers to [the company] as a partner and integral part of its multi-member team.” see ELECTRIC BUSES page A2

Proposed SSIMS closure faces pushback

PHOTO BY IAN GLEASON

By HOPE FAYE DOWD and HANA SOR Community members were taken by surprise on Oct. 13 when MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor proposed the closure of Silver Spring International Middle School (SSIMS). The school’s closure is part of the $2.7 billion capital improvements plan proposed by Taylor to the MCPS Board of Education (BOE), which calls for changes to MCPS populations and infrastructure.

Built in 1934, the Wayne Avenue building originally housed Blair until its renovation in 1999, when the high school was moved to its current University Boulevard location to accommodate rising enrollment.

In his proposal to Julie Yang, president of the Board of Education (BOE), Taylor described goals for the 2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program (CIP), including the completion of Crown High School in Gaithersburg and addressing aging facilities such as Burning Tree Elementary School and Piney Branch Elementary School. The CIP also aimed to modernize schools and resolve unaddressed maintenance issues, including replacing Eastern Middle School with a new, expanded facility and renovating Sligo Middle School.

Across the six-year CIP period, Taylor called for renovations, renewals, and replacements of six or seven elementary schools and three secondary schools per

year for the next 20 years. The plan also recommended the initiation of five elementary school projects and three secondary school projects across that six-year period.

According to SSIMS science teacher Daniela Harvey, the proposal for closure was first announced during a Zoom call with the school’s staff. Harvey recalled that staff originally expected standard renovations and were surprised by the announcement. “Instead of a normal after-school meeting, we were told to join a Zoom with the superintendent,” Harvey said. “Everyone went into that Zoom being like, ‘Oh, [the] school’s finally going to get renovated. This is so exciting,’ and [Taylor] was like, ‘We’re proposing to close your school.’”

SSIMS media specialist Lisa Hack described the meeting as brief and lacking elaboration. “It was a 15-minute meeting … It didn’t even sink in,” Hack said. “It was so just out of the blue.” Hack also noted that while there have been subsequent community meetings in English, accessibility was limited for SSIMS’s large Hispanic population. “Community meetings … have been pretty much exclusively in English, which is not helpful for a community, [as] many of the people speak Spanish,” she said.

insidechips

NEWS

News.......................................... A2 Opinions.................................... B1 La Esquina Latina................... C1 Features..................................... D1 Culture...................................... E1 Sports ....................................... F1

Reporting the MCPS pilot of a Estudiantes de grupos minoritar- Highlighting students worldwide new credit recovery program and ios compartir sus experiencias hosting protests within their home enrichment day schedule, which con el programa de CAP. C1 country in a push for change. D4 took place on Nov. 24 and 25 and Dec. 3, respectively. A2

Credit Recovery

LA ESQUINA LATINA

CAP

FEATURES

see SSIMS page A4 CULTURE

Global Student Protests Holiday Things To Do A compilation of 10 activities and events available during the holiday season in the DMV. E2

silverchips

A2 News December 10, 2025 NEWS BRIEFS Compiled by ADANNA AKAMIGBO

Proposed $3.5 million plan for panic button system at some MCPS schools On Nov. 12, MCPS proposed a “panic button-type” system for schools, which is intended to efficiently and immediately alert authorities whenever there is an emergency on campus. The plan is part of MCPS’ recent efforts to improve safety in schools, and will involve technology such as digital floor mapping for first responders. Recent incidents have heightened safety concerns—including an Oct. 22 incident, when a student at Odessa Shannon Middle School was struck by a metal object thrown by another student and suffered an open skull injury.

The proposed system would notify emergency services of both the emergency and its location.

County Council elects new president, vice president The Montgomery County Council elected Natali FaniGonzález as its new president on Dec. 2, along with Marilyn Balcombe as vice president. Each December, members of the County Council meet to elect a new president and vice president to serve respective one-year terms.

This election marked the first time since 1995 that the council has had all-female leadership. One of Fani-González’s goals for her term is to help people affected by the Trump administration’s policies, including immigrants and federal government workers. She intends to heavily promote economic development and support local businesses. During her time as a councilmember, she helped guide the county Growth and Infrastructure Policy (GIP)—Montgomery County’s framework for ensuring that new development does not outpace schools, roads, and public services. Updated every four years, it evaluates whether infrastructure can support new housing and requires developers to pay fees or add facilities, ensuring growth remains safe and sustainable in Montgomery County. Her term will last until next December, when councilmembers elect new leadership.

from SSIMS page A1 MCPS officials have cited the building’s deterioration and high renovation costs as the primary motivation for the proposed closure. “The ‘Old Blair’ high school facility—which for many years has housed two schools, SSIMS and Sligo Creek Elementary School, increasingly is compromised as a building and as a site,” Taylor wrote in his letter to Yang and the BOE. The SSIMS building has faced numerous infrastructure issues, including deferred maintenance, aging heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and accessibility concerns. Taylor stated in his proposal that while multiple attempts to upgrade and address building renovations have been made over the years, they have ultimately been thwarted by structural issues—made worse by the ongoing Purple Line construction.

Hack noted that while previous renovation requests and demands had been made, they were never fulfilled. “[Suggestions] have not been addressed in the past,” she said. “Although in the last year they took the auditorium and turned it into a gym … other issues have not been addressed.”

Concerns brought up by the SSIMS community regarding the closure included limited access to smaller class sizes and specialized programs for the school’s approximately 1,000 students. The closure of SSIMS would mean distributing these students to nearby middle schools such as Eastern, Takoma Park, and Sligo, leading to an increase in class sizes across those schools.

Harvey explained that even though SSIMS has a large population, having consolidated resources in one building means teachers are able to meet all students. “It’s just this really close-knit commu-

nity,” she said. “Even though it’s a pretty big school, I think teachers have found a way to break it down.”

Hack and Harvey have since organized movements in favor of keeping SSIMS open, facilitating spaces for community members to voice their concerns. “I testified at the Board of Education,” Hack said. “We’ve had parents testify at the Board of Education [and] we’ve had students submit videos for the Board of Education.”

Many community members, such as parents, staff, and students, learned about the proposal through an MCPS press release.

Sylvia Gitter, former SSIMS student and current sophomore at

PHOTO BY RAFFI DIAMOND-BERMAN

SSIMS CLOSURE MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s plan to close the Wayne Avenue school has been challenged by local parents, teachers, and students.

Blair, described her initial shock.

“I had read some article from the Bethesda Beat about people reacting to [the proposal], and it kind of surprised me … I went around, and I told everyone because I was like, ‘How can they do this?

How can they just close down the school?’” Gitter said.

Lora Elinoff, a parent of a current seventh grader at SSIMS and

[and] we were promised [that we were] on the path toward better.”

Given recent communication challenges in the decision-making process, Elinoff also believed that the community’s efforts have regressed. “It felt like we, on several levels, were heading in the right direction and [this] feels like it’s just taking an enormous step back,” she said. “How do you build

community when you know your school’s closing?”

The community has also raised equity concerns. SSIMS is among the most ethnically and economically diverse middle schools in the county, with its student population consisting of 42.3 percent Hispanic or Latino students and 42 percent of all students receiving Free and Reduced-Price Meals System (FARMS) benefits. Hack explained that moving kids to larger schools makes it harder for them to adjust socially and academically during the critical middle school growth period. Gitter shares this view; she reports that in her personal experience, the academics at SSIMS were crucial to her educational growth and preparation for high school. She worries that closing it will take away these crucial experiences from other kids like her. “We were able to learn a lot of academic skills that have really helped me during my time at Blair … closing it right now just seemed like an incredibly ill-advised decision,” Gitter said. “It wasn’t perfect, but it was definitely an important neighborhood school that shaped who I was, and closing it just [makes] no sense.”

County Executive Marc Elrich is scheduled to publish separate CIP recommendations for all county agencies by mid-January 2026, and the Montgomery County Council will hold public hearings regarding the SSIMS closure in early February, with a vote for approval scheduled for late May 2026. In the meantime, community members such as Elinoff and Gitter have vowed to continue their advocacy in favor of preserving the institution. “I don’t think [Taylor] currently sees the potential in SSIMS, the good things that already exist at SSIMS, and how SSIMS can be improved with a little more investment instead of trying to syphon away what makes it so special,” Gitter said.

MCPS offers credit recovery

By LILA SHAW

On Nov. 24 and 25, Blair piloted a course credit recovery program for first-quarter classes, offering students who received lower grades an opportunity to raise them. Around 250 to 300 Blair students were invited to the sessions, which took place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the media center. Later, on Dec. 3, the school held its first Blazer Enrichment Day—a biquarterly all-period day when teachers are not allowed to introduce new content or work.

them—played in this initiative. “It’s much more challenging to earn a passing mark if you fail a grade, compared to last year’s system,” he said. “If you get an E, no matter what percentage [for one quarter] and you get a D [the next quarter]— you would still pass as of last year.

[Now], if a student earns under 20 percent [in one quarter], they can’t pass the class for the semester.”

Assistant Principal Adriana Burgos-Ojeda, who organized the credit recovery days at Blair, explained that offering the opportunity for course recovery after

MCPS high school graduations moved to UMBC In early October, MCPS announced that all high school graduations starting with the class of 2026 will be held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). The district made the change to lower costs for the county and provide a comfortable indoor setting for guests. However, some community members expressed concern about the travel distance—UMBC is about 25 miles from Blair, 33 miles from Walter Johnson, and 50 miles from Poolesville. Blair’s graduation will be held on June 2, 2026, at 6 p.m. at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.

a grade-level vice president of the PTSA, had been advocating for improvements to the building long before the announcement, and has since escalated her efforts. “[Our] response was shock,” Elinoff said.

“No one saw it coming.”

Having spoken with multiple council members and met with Superintendent Taylor to discuss the furthering of his proposal to convert SSIMS into a holding school and eventually demolish it.

Elinoff highlighted the emotional impact the abrupt change had on the community. “It felt upsetting because SSIMS had been in a rough spot around COVID,” she said. “There wasn’t a lot of control. There [were] a lot of needs,

GRAPHIC BY MOLLY BREEN

The new credit recovery program is a countywide initiative that gives students who earned between zero and 20 percent during the first marking period an opportunity to increase their grades by up to 50 percent. These initiatives were introduced in response to MCPS’ new grading policy for the 20252026 school year.

Blair counselor Burke Oleszewski, who managed outreach to students who failed the first quarter, explained the role that MCPS’ new grading policy—which calculates final grades by averaging

DATA COURTESY OF MCPS

marking periods supports students through this change in grading policy. “We want to get them up to at least a 50 percent … so that they have the ability to earn passing credit for their [classes,] instead of being in a position where they don’t see any point in putting in the effort,” Burgos-Ojeda said.

In previous years, MCPS students had been eligible to bring up a failed quarter grade at the end of the semester, as well as retake failed classes through High School Plus and summer school. This is the first time in recent history that

MCPS high schools have offered credit recovery options after the first quarter.

To recover course credit, students complete coursework on Edmentum, an online platform through which MCPS offers both original credit and credit recovery. MCPS purchases Edmentum licenses and distributes them to schools annually. Though Edmentum is digital, Tamara Hewlett, coordinator for the MCPS Division of Teaching and Learning, explained that it is not entirely asynchronous. “A mandatory component of credit recovery through use of Edmentum is to also have the teacher interaction and teacher instruction,” Hewlett said.

At Blair, administrators, teachers, and counselors were present to offer support during the in-person course recovery days. Students were given until Dec. 15 to complete the rest of their required Edmentum assignments on their own, which would then be graded

by Blair administrators.

While Edmentum can help students recover credit, some educators worry about its effectiveness. Michelle Elie, an English teacher at Blair, shared her concerns about the platform’s ability to engage students. “I think a lot of students that struggle do need the one-on-one support [and] I think some of that support is not happening,” Elie said. “I have seen Edmentum [lessons]. They tend to not be as diverse, and the reading levels [for] some of the things on Edmentum are pretty challenging and pretty laborious.”

Oleszewski added that students could end up relying too heavily on these recovery programs. “What I worry about is students knowing

and understanding that we’re providing these enrichment programs, and as a result … what potentially could happen is, in their minds, it’s significantly easier to fail a class, participate in this enrichment program, [and] give [them] a fighting shot at passing the class for the quarter,” Oleszewski said. “It’s a lot less work doing it that way.

I’m fearful that more seniors [will] catch on and do that.”

So far, Hewlett explained that data on failing students did not show a large shift compared to the 2024-2025 academic year. “We actually see a similar amount of students who have scored an E this year as compared to last year,” she said.

Still, MCPS staff stated that these grade recovery efforts are part of a wider attempt to address the root of countywide academic challenges. “It’s important to not only live in the space of how many students passed or didn’t pass, but why students [are] not passing,” Hewlett said.

At Blair, Blazer Enrichment Days—which will provide students with all-period catch-up days—will be held on Jan. 7, Feb. 25, March 25, April 29, and June 23. Blair staff members expressed hope that these days will provide additional support for students. “We’re all really still trying to figure out what works best … for this group of kids,” Elie said. “Every couple years, technology changes and shapes our students, our teaching, our practices, all the things. And we just haven’t figured out what is working yet.”

silverchips

December 10, 2025 News A3

Infrastructure changes proposed for University Boulevard Corridor hood (CRN) and Commercial/ Planning has engaged in outreach, Residential Town (CRT) zones, distributing 10,600 flyers and letwhich would encompass small ters, hosting 40 neighborhood and apartment complexes and neigh- community meetings, and knockMontgomery County’s Univer- borhoods. Montgomery Planning ing on 1,000 doors to inform sity Boulevard Corridor (UBC) claimed that updating zoning laws community members and collect Plan—which aims to expand transit to increase rezoning under the feedback. options, adjust zoning rules, and Resident responses were mixed, improve pedestrian safety along CRN designation would create more affordable and varied housvarying widely across different the corridor—passed a seven-tothree preliminary vote on Dec. 2, ing options along University Bou- communities. “The feedback we with a final vote set for Tuesday, levard. A central aim outlined in got from single-family housing the draft was to expand housing focused a lot on transportation.

Dec. 9.

The proposal, initiated in 2022 options and offer a variety of unit But as soon as we did the door

by Montgomery Planning—the types for residents at different stag- knocking in multifamily housing … we heard a lot about housing county’s branch of the bi-coun- es of life and income levels.

Zubin Adrianvala, planner co- concerns,” Adrianvala said, adding ty Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission ordinator at Montgomery Planning that planners often juggle compet(M-NCPPC)—addresses land de- and the project’s lead, noted that ing community priorities. “We velopment, zoning, transportation, the timing of these zoning changes have to figure out the solutions traffic safety, and sustainability matters for students who will even- in the overall context of serving along the three-mile stretch be- tually become renters themselves. community needs,” he said. “Petween Four Corners and Whea- “By the time these [zoning chang- destrian safety came up as a big es] come online, a lot of the Blair concern, but then there are tradeton.

This plan would be a major step community will probably be in that offs to fixing that pedestrian safety in Montgomery County’s efforts situation where they are consider- issue [since] the community is also to improve University Boulevard, ing either buying or renting their concerned about traffic volume.”

Jessica McVary, a master planone of its busiest east-west routes, own places,” Adrianvala said.

Ariel Bierbaum, associate proner supervisor with Montgomery facilitating accessibility for drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit us- fessor of urban studies and plan- Planning, explained that while ers. If fully adopted by the County ning at the University of Maryland, some voices are louder in public Council and the Planning Board, described a severe chronic housing meetings, planning staff must still it would guide development on the crisis affecting communities along consider those who cannot attend University Boulevard. “We have hearings or feel uncomfortable corridor through 2050.

Overall, the proposal focuses people and businesses that are engaging with the government. on expanding bus rapid transit not locating here because workers “There are folks that, for whatev(BRT) and other transit lanes, re- can’t afford to live in Montgom- er reason … might not [have] the vising land use and zoning rules, ery County,” Bierbaum said. “We same capacity to engage,” McVary and improving pedestrian and bi- need what planners call … middle said. “Our responsibility is to think housing, which is for a slightly about the voices we’re hearing … cycle infrastructure.

In February 2024, the Mary- higher-income bracket, first-time and make sure that their perspective is represented as well.” land Department of Transporta- homeowners.”

The UBC Plan would allow County Executive Marc Elrich tion (MDOT), in conjunction with the county, conducted a bus-only homes along University Boulevard criticized the plan, calling it unneclane pilot program along Universi- to be rezoned under the CRN des- essary in combating the housing ty Boulevard, finding shorter bus ignation, which permits duplexes, crisis. “We have more zoning catravel times without major increas- triplexes, townhouses, and small pacity than we need,” Elrich said es in congestion. By May, MDOT multifamily buildings. The change in a media briefing. “Despite this made the bus-only lanes perma- would give more middle‑income fact, planning officials are pushing nent. Montgomery Planning cited households the chance to buy or forward with cut corridor plans the results as evidence that dedi- rent in neighborhoods that previ- that would upzone existing neighcated transit space can work even ously only allowed single‑family borhoods unnecessarily, creating houses. a false impression that there’s not on busy corridors.

In addition to accessible hous- enough room for future growth.”

The plan also proposed zoning Upzoning, which is the process changes—legal updates to a prop- ing, the plan also calls for expanderty’s land use and development— ed sidewalks, new crosswalks, and of changing local zoning laws to alat major intersections, including separate bike lanes. Alex Rixey, a low for more housing density and Dennis Avenue, Sligo Creek Park- transportation planner at Mont- diverse building types, would allow way, and Amherst Avenue, to al- gomery Planning, explained that taller buildings or more housing low for higher-density, mixed-use the conditions of the sidewalks units on a piece of land, which buildings. The goal was to support near Blair make walking unsafe. Elrich believes is unnecessary in 15-minute communities where res- “The sidewalks are much narrow- existing neighborhoods because idents can walk to shops, schools, er,” Rixey said. “They’re next to the county already has enough and transit within a reasonable relatively high-speed travel lanes, planned capacity without doing so. distance. According to the propos- so the recommendation of the Citizen organizations also exal draft, these visions support the plan is to move these curbs inward pressed concern over the traffic long-term evolution of Montgom- toward the middle of the roadway impact that the proposal could ery County toward more walkable, to provide a buffer for people on have on local neighborhoods. the sidewalk to protect them from “We are deeply concerned that locally-oriented neighborhoods.

The draft includes different the traffic.” new developments along UniversiSince November 2022, when ty Boulevard could have direct aczoning categories such as Commercial/Residential Neighbor- the plan first began, Montgomery cess to our residential streets like

By JAMES YI and ZOE GORBACHEV

Sutherland [Road], Rogart [Road], and Gilmoure [Drive],” Jeff Lesperance, president of the South Four Corners Citizens Association, said during a County Council hearing. “This [plan] would divert significant traffic into our neighborhood.”

Adrianvala explained that the earliest and most visible impacts for the Blair community involve traffic and pedestrian safety—concerns that came up in nearly every round of outreach. “The transportation changes and the sort of pedestrian safety and bike safety recommendations that are currently under review … are some things that [Montgomery Planning] is most excited about,” he said.

Blair students would likely see infrastructure improvements— such as wider sidewalks, protected crossings, and slower traffic at key intersections—before any major land-use changes. Adrianvala noted that student safety is especially important along this corridor because Blair students make up one of the largest daily pedestrian groups crossing University Boulevard.

The Woodmoor Shopping Center was also a point of contention, as Montgomery Planning initially recommended allowing mid-rise mixed-use redevelopment at the site. Planning staff emphasized that the change could help create a more walkable, accessible, and safer corridor while also addressing housing affordability and diversity—all concerns raised by residents in the area, though they also noted that Woodmoor’s lower density would mean fewer opportunities for walkable housing near shops and transit.

Following pushback from the community, Montgomery Planning rescinded this recommendation. Now, the area will remain limited to lower-intensity commercial zoning, keeping the existing shopping center rather than opening it up to taller mixed-use buildings.

If the County Council approves the plan, it will be sent to the Planning Board to codify it into the county’s master plan. However, implementation of the approved proposal will return to the Council for another round of public hearings and work sessions. Smaller changes could begin by late 2026, while larger zoning and development changes may take place over the next two decades.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS Compiled by MOLLY BREEN

Fires in Hong Kong At 2:51 p.m. local time on Nov. 26, a deadly fire broke out in an apartment complex in Hong Kong.

The Wang Fuk Court, located in Tai Po, consisted of eight towers—each 31 stories tall—and was home to around 4,600 residents. As of Dec. 5, over 150 people had been confirmed dead, many of them unidentified, and more remained missing. The fire continued for over 40 hours until it was finally extinguished at 10:18 a.m. local time on Nov. 28. Debris and extreme heat made rescue efforts difficult for first responders. The building’s construction materials are suspected to have increased the fire’s destructiveness, according to Hong Kong authorities. The scaffolding on the side of the building—made of bamboo and netting, along with the flammable polystyrene foam used within elevators—allowed the fire to spread rapidly. The use of these materials in construction has prompted investigations into cost cutting and negligence. Investigations and searches for survivors continue as Hong Kong citizens mourn the victims.

Gaza ceasefire update On Nov. 17, the United Nations (UN) approved a peace plan to end the war in Gaza, outlined by the Trump Administration. The plan gave the U.S. legal authority to oversee aspects of the agreement and authorized the International Stabilization Force to monitor security in the region. The International Stabilization Force is a UN-mandated peacekeeping operation used to establish control on the ground in Gaza. The plan does not specify the establishment of a Palestinian state, but it does leave the possibility open. Some displaced Palestinians have been able to return to the Gaza Strip, but disputes remain over the control of the withdrawal line. Both sides have accused the other of violations—mainly over hostages, the withdrawal line, and aid delivery. Hamas returned all remaining living hostages within three days of the withdrawal period in exchange for the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,700 detainees.

Israel and Hamas also agreed on the return of 15 deceased Palestinians in exchange for each deceased hostage returned by Hamas. Israel, however, claims that the return of the deceased hostages was invalid and has delayed parts of the ceasefire agreement. The plan outlined full aid delivery, but while Israel has opened the Zikim border in the northern Gaza Strip to allow aid to flow into Gaza, the Rafah crossing located on the southern border of Gaza remained closed as of Dec. 5. Aid continues to be transported to Gaza in an attempt to relieve the ongoing famine.

Nigerian school abductions

GRAPHIC BY JAMES YI AND ZOE GORBACHEV | DATA COURTESY OF MONTGOMERY PLANNING

On Nov. 21, over 300 students and 12 teachers were kidnapped from a Catholic school in Nigeria. Nigeria has faced unrest for several years, fueled by issues including religious conflicts and land disputes. The abduction took place less than a week after the kidnapping of 25 students in the same region, and both were carried out by gunmen. All 25 have been freed—one escaped, and the other 24 were rescued by authorities.

As of Dec. 5, 50 students from the Nov. 21 abduction have escaped, but 253 children remain captive along with the 12 teachers. No groups have been identified as suspects for the kidnappings, but authorities suspect local gangs carried them out. Analysts believe these kidnappings were carried out to obtain ransom money and gain public attention.

silverchips

A4 News December 10, 2025

Another scandal plagues electric buses Maryland State Board of Education rules contract

By TOMAS MONTICELLI

multi-member team.”

Watkins and Ewald were two of the four MCPS officials responsible for scoring the contract bids that determined which company would receive the electric bus contract. Both Watkins and Ewald ranked HET first, with the highest scores. If their scores had not been counted, HET would not have won the contract, as First Student— another electric bus company—had a higher average score between the other two evaluators.

AutoFlex Fleet, another company similar to HET that also competed for the contract, challenged the award immediately, alleging that MCPS had shown favoritism toward HET. Their complaint was the first in a series of legal actions

perintendent Jack Smith, called for 326 electric buses over four years. The project originated on Jan. 2, 2020, when County Executive Marc Elrich facilitated a meeting between HET CEO Duncan McIntyre, Todd Watkins, and others.

The proposal was initially well-received by environmental advocacy groups like Chispa Maryland. Ramon Palencia Calvo, the Senior Program Director for Chispa Maryland, supported the initiative when it was announced.

“When Montgomery County signed the contract, we were very excited about … the opportunity to start electrifying the fleet and, of course, benefiting children,” he said. “We know the connection be-

One of the big things that was supposed to make it a no-brainer was that it was going to cost the same amount of money to switch out to electric buses as to have the diesel.

That hasn’t happened.

cost the same amount of money to switch out to electric buses as to have the diesel,” Sartucci said.

“That hasn’t happened.”

The proposed fuel savings also seemed to fail to materialize. A Public Information Act request from the Parents’ Coalition on fuel

That lack of transparency is something that really keeps community members, students, and parents in the dark on this issue.

data revealed that diesel consumption increased by 80,649 gallons from 2022 to 2023.

The project also originally featured a vehicle-to-grid system, which would have allowed buses to return stored electricity to the grid and generate revenue for MCPS. However, the technology was never implemented.

In March 2024, following the indictment, the Appellate Court of Maryland ordered the contract to be reevaluated. “The contract must be reviewed in light of the adjudicated facts supporting the convictions of these DOT directors who were integrally involved in managing MCPS’s bidding process,” the court stated. “In particular, the Local Board and the MSBE may

MCPS appeared to comply with applicable law, regulation, and policy in soliciting and awarding the contract.

MEGAN LIMARZI

“In its proposal, HET does not name ATB as merely a supplier or

GRAPHIC BY DORIS WANG

tween diesel emissions and health, [including] lung disease, cancer, and other illnesses … and we also know that it affects more children because their organs are still developing.”

However, in the wake of controversies surrounding the contract, community members like Calvo grew disappointed with MCPS. “They never share any of the information that they learn,” he said.

“That lack of transparency is something that really keeps community members, students, and parents in the dark on this issue.”

The board also raised concerns about MCPS’ transparency and record-keeping. The opinion pointed out discrepancies among the scoring sheets provided—including missing documents, conflicting score sheets, and inconsistent totals across evaluators. The board highlighted that MCPS failed to preserve Ewald’s original scoring sheet. “This Board is left with the presumption that Mr. Ewald’s scores and score sheets were not maintained by the local board, despite pending litigation, or that Mr. Ewald’s scores heavily favored HET,” the opinion stated.

Beyond procurement issues, MCPS also faced complications with the contract’s implementation as HET continuously failed to meet deadlines; of the 285 buses delivered, none arrived on time. In February, Superintendent Thomas Taylor canceled the purchase of the remaining buses, ending future deliveries from HET. Due to delays and additional mechanical issues, MCPS determined that HET had accumulated $1.5 million in performance fees owed to the school system by December 2024.

The district also failed to achieve its goal of a budget-neutral transition. MCPS’ current webpage on the electric buses states that they have a lower total cost of ownership, but a Center for Effective School Operations audit published by the Montgomery County Board of Education in January 2024 found otherwise. According to the audit, the new electric buses cost $38,500 annually, which was higher than what a diesel bus costs. “A comparable diesel bus cost was found to be approximately $30,000,” the report states. “This represents a 28 [percent] cost premium for the electric fleet.”

These projected savings from electric buses had been a major selling point. “One of the big things that was supposed to make it a no-brainer was that it was going to

JANIS SARTUCCI

RAMON CALVO

We know the connection between diesel emissions and health, [including] lung disease, cancer, and other illnesses … and we also know that it affects more children because their organs are still developing.

surrounding the contract.

The initial contract, which was signed in 2021 under former Su-

RAMON CALVO

On Nov. 5, the Maryland State Board of Education (MSBE) released an opinion declaring that MCPS’ $168 million contract with Highland Electric Trucking (HET) was illegal due to procedural violations during the bidding process.

“The award to HET was unreasonable, arbitrary, and in violation of the local board’s own Procurement Manual,” the opinion stated.

As a legally binding decision, the ruling nullified the current maintenance agreement and posed problems for MCPS, which relies on the 285 electric buses for roughly 20 percent of its fleet. Unlike diesel buses, MCPS does not own the electric buses; HET owns and maintains them while the district leases them.

Janis Zink Sartucci, a member of the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland—which is an MCPS watchdog group that has been following the bus contract since its beginning—expressed concern about the future of the county’s electric buses. “The electric buses are leased,” she said. “Let’s say this company went bankrupt or decided not to do business here; however many buses we have right now … can disappear literally tomorrow.”

A major factor in the board’s decision was the involvement of former MCPS Director of Transportation Todd Watkins and former Assistant Director Charles Ewald during the contract award process.

Both Watkins and Ewald were implicated in a theft and misconduct scheme involving the company American Truck & Bus (ATB), a subcontractor to HET. “The participation of these individuals tainted the bus procurement evaluation process, such that no one can know what the outcome of the evaluation process would have been,” the opinion stated.

According to the opinion, Watkins directed ATB to withhold funds that were owed to MCPS, allowing ATB to maintain an offthe-books account. Ewald then used that account to misdirect payments to himself, ultimately stealing over $320,000. Watkins later pleaded guilty to misconduct in office for enabling the scheme, while Ewald pleaded guilty to theft and misconduct in office for directing payments for personal benefit.

The opinion also noted that ATB was an important partner of HET.

subcontractor,” the opinion stated.

“Instead, it refers to [the company] as a partner and integral part of its

consider how these two officials impacted MCPS’s award of the Contract to HET.” A letter from the Inspector General of Montgomery County to Taylor in response to the order concluded that MCPS appeared to have followed protocol. “MCPS appeared to comply with applicable law, regulation, and policy in soliciting and awarding the contract,” the report stated.

Because of the controversies surrounding the project, supporters like Calvo expressed concern that public perception of the buses could be undermined. “We should be very careful in separating … a policy solution, a solution to climate change, a solution to environmental health, from individual misconduct in this case,” he said.

As of the time of writing, Silver Chips has been unable to confirm what action MCPS has taken in regard to the opinion. If the opinion stands, MCPS has not outlined how it will proceed toward its stated goal of a 100 percent electrified fleet by 2035. “At the end of the day, integrity in procurement is essential for public confidence. In any clean energy transition … there has to be trust,” Calvo said. “And that’s something that we haven’t seen throughout the entire process.”

silverchips

December 10, 2025 News A5

Resistance to new data centers in Maryland

By ASHER LIPCZENKO

tion workers hired were not from the surrounding area.

Communities across Maryland have resisted the construction of these data centers. In Prince George’s County, a plan to build a data center at the former site of the Landover Mall drew protests from residents who cited environmental concerns and the facility’s heavy consumption of water and electricity. A medium-sized data center could use up to 110 million gallons of water—enough to provide for 1,000 households, and as of March, the 5,246 data centers across the U.S. collectively consume 17 gigawatts of electricity— equivalent to the output of 17 large nuclear reactors.

Maryland, as a net importer of energy, faces challenges in supporting additional centers. One proposed solution to the infra-

ing tax revenue, but typically [data cenTAN E PA ters] are doing their best RK to keep the property taxes or the value of the property lower so they don’t have structure problem was to pay as much,” he said. “And in the Maryland Piedmont Reliability terms of jobs … advocates of data Project (MPRP), which proposes centers will throw out a job num- a 70-mile-long transmission line ber, but those are short-term jobs.” across Baltimore, Frederick, and Mahmoudi added that construc- Carroll Counties. On Dec. 31, tion jobs created by these data cen- 2024, the Public Service Enterters were often contracted out to prise Group (PSEG), a New Jerlarge companies, and the construc- sey-based energy company, applied

for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to carry out the project. “MPRP will enhance reliability and support affordability to Maryland ratepayers by increasing the amount of available electricity to the state and diversifying the grid geographically,” PSEG’s website read.

The transmission line proposed by the MPRP would primarily cross farmland—a detail that has gained pushback. In April, PSEG started to sue property owners who interfered with attempts to survey the land. On Aug. 15, the company filed a motion in the U.S. District Court in Maryland requesting U.S. Marshals be deployed to protect surveyors after accusing some farmers of threatening surveyors with guns and dogs. In October, the organization asked U.S. District Court Judge Adam Abelson to temporarily block deer hunting in the area to protect surveyors. The project has been stalled by this ongoing litigation, but if the cer-

tificate is approved, work is scheduled to begin in June 2027. “The issue is that, all across the United States, electric grids are outdated and underfunded,” Mahmoudi explained. “Maryland is thinking about using this as an opportunity to build that infrastructure out,

The problem is that new infrastructure would benefit primarily data center operators, and not necessarily everybody across the state.

DILLON MAHMOUDI

The Critical Infrastructure Streamlining Act, which exempts high-energy-use facilities from regulatory review by the Maryland Public Service Commission, was signed by Maryland Governor Wes Moore on May 5, 2024. “It’s going to supercharge the data center industry in our state so we can unleash more economic potential and create more good-paying union jobs,” Moore said during the act’s signing ceremony.

Data centers, the facilities affected by the new law, have grown rapidly in size and importance in recent years. A data center is a physical facility used by companies—often more than one—to store and process data. As demand for storage increases and more advanced applications are developed, companies have expanded their data infrastructure across the state and country.

Dillon Mahmoudi, an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and the director of the school’s geography and environmental systems graduate program, explained that while AI is often cited as a driver of the development of data-related infrastructure, crypto has been a far more significant factor. “It’s actually crypto that has influenced the development,“ he said. “What’s happening right now is companies are using the technological developments that were gained for crypto … and applying and using that technology to speculate or be the first movers in [the] data center space.”

The industry’s expansion coincides with a shift toward larger facilities. “In the last 10 years, the size of data centers was much smaller,” Mahmoudi said. “What we’ve seen recently is this growth in what are called hyperscale data centers.”

Google launched the first hyperscale datacenter—a 1.3 million

square foot facility staffed by 200 employees—in 2006. As a result, data centers have sparked controversy over the areas where they are located. Many are placed in lower-income areas or in communities predominantly made up of people of color. “There’s been a proposal to put in a couple of data centers [in Maryland] in places that are historically majority Black neighborhoods and communities,” Mahmoudi said. “And so those communities have been fighting back.”

The extent to which data centers affect local economies has also been the subject of controversy.

Developers claimed that data centers create new jobs and increase tax revenue through property taxes, but Mahmoudi suggested that there is more to the story. “Municipalities are chas-

[but] the problem is that new infrastructure would benefit primarily data center operators, and not necessarily everybody across the state.”

Amid debates over energy capacity, on Sept. 15, Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy signed an executive order establishing a Qualified Data Centers Task Force to investigate the potential risks, benefits, and revenue of data centers. The order froze all permits for data centers until the task force presents recommendations on how to proceed.

Some states have also passed legislation to manage the effects of data center operations, though Mahmoudi suggests that legislation at a higher level of the federal government may be needed. “There are some decent laws on the West Coast [and] a lot … in Oregon, Washington, and California,” he said. “But really what we need is a nationwide policy, because those kinds of small county- or even state-level policies [just] move data centers from one place to another.”

Maryland officials and local governments will continue reviewing data center policies as the industry expands.

Future of SNAP benefits uncertain

Government shutdown leaves unanswered questions

By DERMOTT FOLEY

A lot of people may not realize this but in Montgomery County, about 35 percent of our population is at risk of hunger.

HEATHER BRUSKIN

Federal officials have threatened to withhold Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding from millions of recipients in 22 Democratic-led states—including Maryland—that have refused to provide detailed data about individuals receiving the federal benefits.

The Dec. 2 announcement followed a nearly two-month funding freeze that began on Oct. 1 with the federal government shutdown, and continued until Nov. 12.

SNAP, the nation’s largest food security program by federal spending, provides monthly nutrition assistance to low-income families, some of whom are senior citizens and people with disabilities. Nationwide, more than 40 million Americans rely on the program. In Maryland, over 680,000 residents— including nearly 270,000 children— receive SNAP benefits. That includes roughly 70,000 residents of Montgomery County. According to Heather Bruskin, the director of the Montgomery County Office of Food Systems Resilience, a large portion of Montgomery County’s population is food insecure. “A lot of people may not realize this but in Montgomery County, about 35 percent of our population is at risk of hunger,” she said.

On Oct. 10, states were notified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that funding would be suspended at the start of November due to the government shutdown.

In response, on Oct. 28, Maryland joined representatives from Washington, D.C. and 24 states in suing the Trump administration, request-

ing the use of emergency funds to continue SNAP and challenging the planned suspension. By Nov. 3, the Trump administration announced that it would cover up to 50 percent of SNAP benefits. Maryland Governor Wes Moore announced in a press release later that day that the

state would contribute $62 million toward funding the remaining benefits in Maryland.

On Dec. 2, a few weeks after the government’s reopening, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that she would stop moving federal funding into states that did not comply with a request for data that had been made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This request included information on SNAP recipients including immigration status, social security numbers, household income, addresses, and more.

According to Rollins, these details were needed to prevent fraud. State officials questioned the legality of the request, arguing that the move was done to take advantage of recipients’ personal data as part of an immigration crackdown. Maryland joined other Democratic-led states in filing a lawsuit challenging

the request, arguing that it aimed to “amass Americans’ sensitive, personal data and misuse that data for unauthorized purposes.” As of Dec. 2, 28 states had provided the requested data, while 22 states refused to provide it.

According to Raj Awasthi, a Blair junior who organized a food drive last year, SNAP provides vital assistance in obtaining food for many residents in the Silver Spring and Takoma Park area. “Food stamps are insanely important, especially in our community,” Awasthi said.

Across the state, local initiatives such as Blair Kindness Corner and a Montgomery County volunteer network called Grocery Buddies have been working to help families stretch their food budgets.

Farzaneh Nabavian is a family engagement specialist at Blair who runs the Blair Kindness Corner program, which organizes food and clothing benefits for people at the school. “The Kindness Corner’s mission and vision is to make sure that all the students and families … have their basic needs,” she says.

Nabavian said she has seen increased demand for Kindness Corner assistance recently due to the administration’s aggressive immigration efforts, and was worried that losing SNAP benefits on top of administration actions would escalate hardship in the community. “The need has grown more because of what we are going through,” she said. “We have a lot of families whose breadwinners are being picked off by [Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)]” Nabavian expressed concern about the future of funding for food

stamps and public assistance. “If ter of the Unitarian Universalist SNAP funding for a family of four Church of Silver Spring, joined who gets $400 a month to buy food, the effort after hearing about it on for example, … and then all of a Facebook.“Our mission is to prosudden they have nothing, or they vide grocery gift cards to people have $100 … that shortage will put who need help putting food on the them out on the street,” she said. table,” Schmidt said. The organizaGrocery Buddies has grown tion also hosts monthly food drives, rapidly across social media in re- neighborhood potlucks, and colcent months, connecting residents lects hygiene products. who need help buying food with According to Bruskin, the past neighbors willing to pitch in. What few months have demonstrated began as a small Facebook page how fragile food assistance can be. has grown to include a large, active “[The county’s] food insecure popgroup of participants offering sup- ulation is on a roller coaster of the port throughout the county. reliability of programs that have Kristin Schmidt, senior minis- been universally, for the most part,

UNCERTAIN MEALS SNAP Tokens are distributed at the Takoma Park Farmers Market. The Trump Administrations policies, along with a government shutdown, have raised fears about the longevity of the program.

PHOTO BY IAN WOODWORTH

B1

OPINIONS

silverchips

December 10, 2025

A bright idea

Solar panels at Blair will save money and cut emissions

By CELIA MAX AN OPINION

like Blair.

The emptiness on the roof allows for more heat to be trapped around the area. “Blair has such a large, impervious area on campus.

There’s just so much space without vegetation,” Roark said. “Urban heat islands [like Blair] are how heat gets trapped into our city environments.”

Studies have proven that solar roofing strategies have reduced urban heat by providing shade to the roof and converting sunlight that would have otherwise spread heat to the city into electricity. This leads to less air conditioning use, reducing the amount of energy used.

Solar panels are the clear solution to improving our environmental footprint, and MCPS already has programs in place to assist schools with installing solar panels.

The county is currently engaged in solar power purchase agreements (PPA) with solar contractors that allow for schools to install panels free of charge.

The high upfront costs that come with the installation of solar panels are often a deterrent, but MCPS’ PPAs remove this barrier.

“Generally speaking, there’s a high upfront cost to build [solar panels], and then once it’s TINBITE ABIE operating, [it] dramatically reduces your costs over time,” Bliss said.

In 2024, MCPS spent $38 million on electricity, but the addition of so-

lar panels would cut that cost. The county purchases the energy that the solar panels generate from the contractors at a reduced rate, saving more than $300,000 per year.

A prediction from Google Earth estimates that, based on the size of Blair’s roof and the amount of sunlight it receives, Blair could generate 3.68 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per year. In 2024, Blair used 3.88 million kWh of electricity, meaning this predicted energy output would nearly offset almost all of the energy Blair requires.

We have the answers, and we know how to transition the energy system, probably like 80 percent of the way away from CO2-emitting energy sources.

WILL BLISS

Blair’s roof is large, flat, gray, and a waste of space. Every day, it soaks up large amounts of sunlight—potential energy that could power our school and others.

“It’s just lost energy … going into the concrete,” Summer Roark, a science resource teacher at Blair, said.

MCPS is the largest user of electricity in Montgomery County, with 200 facilities and 160,000 students.

“Any work we can do to reduce our water and electricity usage can have a large impact on the environment, because the scale of our usage is so large,” Rylinn Sorini and Richard Benjamin, leaders of the MCPS Sustainability Team, wrote in an email to Silver Chips.

The MCPS Climate Action Plan, created in June 2021, promises to reduce the school system’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2027 and 100 percent by 2035. These deadlines are fast approaching.

Our school needs to be a part of the change,

and rooftop solar panels are one of the best ways to do so.

We already know how to transition to solar power, making it an easy solution. “We have the answers, and we know how to transition the energy system, probably like 80 percent of the way away from CO2-emitting energy sources,” Will Bliss, co-founder of Reservoir Power, a company that works to make the power grid more sustainable, said.

Currently, Blair is connected to Maryland’s energy grid, which relies on natural gas for 41 percent of its electricity production. Natural gas, when burned, releases large amounts of carbon dioxide, ultimately trapping heat from the sun inside the Earth’s atmosphere.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that 2024 was the warmest year since 1850, when global records began.

The high temperatures are often intensified in areas filled with large buildings

This would also result in an estimated 1,711 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide saved from entering our atmosphere. “Anytime you install solar on a rooftop or in an area where there’s existing usage of electricity, you’re just lowering the burden on the grid, and therefore you’re effectively helping ramp down some of the fossil generation that is happening,” Bliss said. To maximize their reach, the solar panels could even power electric

vehicle charging stations in the Blair parking lot.

Some Blair students believe that solar panels would be an important addition to the school. “I feel like putting solar panels into Blair would be a great idea, especially promoting energy-efficient ways that also contribute to bettering our environment, and just promoting green schools as a whole,” Blair junior Juliana Fay Thompson, a member of the student-led advocacy group Eco Moco, said.

Other students emphasized the importance for Blair to be a leader in sustainability.

“I think using renewable energy like solar would be good for the school, as it could save energy and set a good example for other schools in MCPS,” Nuhamin Michael, Blair junior and member of the Student Action Climate Council, said.

These panels also provide an opportunity for student apprenticeships and hands-on learning about their installation and maintenance.

“The solar panel sector is hurting for workers,” Roark said. “This is a great [opportunity] for them to have a partnership with high schoolers who may be interested in going into that field right out of high school.” Roark warned that, with changing government policies, some of the Maryland solar panel programs may be discontinued.

Blair has a golden opportunity to reduce its carbon footprint, and it is more crucial to act now than ever before.

Blazers need more lunch distribution sites

ANAIS EJIOGU

If I’m planning on studying during lunch [for a quiz] ...

It takes 15 whole minutes to wait in the lunch line, so I can’t study.

To avoid the crowds of current lunch lines, students like Blair junior Murilo Dos Santos have devised their own tactics. “I have a strategy for the lunch line,” he explained. “I go in at 11:23 [a.m.] to get lunch, and that’s when the line has died down.”

Many students use this strategy

to shorten time in lines, but it can make club involvement and other lunchtime commitments difficult.

Since many club meetings start at 11:15 a.m., choosing a shorter wait means missing at least half of a club’s weekly meeting. “I don’t do any clubs because the lunch line is so long that I have to wait until 11:20 a.m. … to get lunch,” Dos Santos said.

Long wait times can have negative effects on all students, but students in lower socioeconomic classes shoulder an even greater burden. These students are more likely to rely on school lunches, forcing them to miss extracurriculars that often play a key role in college admissions.

This disparity is not limited to extracurriculars. Many students take advantage of their free time during lunch to get work done, helping them academically. However, it is almost impossible to find the time to study after waiting in line and eating—especially if one wants to work in the food-restrictive library. “If I’m planning on studying during lunch,” Blair junior Anais Ejiogu said, “It takes 15 whole minutes to wait in the lunch line, so I can’t study.”

Faced with the long lunch lines, many students are forced to compromise their nutritional health to keep up with these social and academic pressures. Many students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals (FARMS), but only so many lunches can be distributed. This likely indicates that many students

are skipping their midday meal.

Eating too quickly and skipping meals are detrimental to hunger regulation. The CDC recommends at least 20 minutes of seated eating time for proper nutrient consumption. “[Eating too quickly] is associated with reduced interoceptive awareness,” dietitian Jamie Plodzik said. “That increases the risk of overeating later in the day, where our body compensates for missed energy earlier.”

I have a strategy for the lunch line ... I go in at 11:23 [a.m.] to get lunch, and that’s when the line has died down.

versions of the cafeteria kitchen were set up in concession stands across the school. Unfortunately, cafeteria staff explained that this solution failed because the cafeteria was the only location that had the equipment to keep lunches warm.

Had the other locations been updated with suitable equipment, this system might still be functioning today.

make a sizable difference in the efficiency of the lunch system.

Similar to the original satellite stations, the new lunch locations should be placed in the concession stands next to the gym and athletic field, but this time with proper equipment to keep food warm.

By adding more distribution sites, classrooms will be in closer proximity to lunch lines, meaning short-

MURILO DOS SANTOS

By ELENA KLEINER AN OPINION At lunchtime, the Blair cafeteria is a machine. Lunch servers, managers, and security staff are all present to make sure the lunch lines flow smoothly. With over 3,000 students in the school, efficiency is crucial to getting every student fed.

Yet despite the hard work of cafeteria staff, many students still miss out on academic and extracurricular activities while waiting in lines that extend beyond the cafeteria.

The issue is not the speed of cafeteria staff—it’s the system of lunch distribution, which must be improved by creating more food pickup sites across the school.

Not only does reduced eating time have physical repercussions, but it can also pose a threat to the mental health of some students.

“Students with developmental considerations like ADHD, autism, anxiety, sensory issues, or even [gastrointestinal] issues may need extra [eating] time and a calmer environment,” Plodzik said.

One might wonder why the school has not opened lunch lines in other locations outside the cafeteria. Blair has, in fact, attempted this six years ago through a system called “satellite stations”—smaller

PHOTO BY KAYLEE HOPKINS

WAITING FOR GRUB Students who eat school lunch are often forced to choose between lengthy lines and lunchtime commitments.

Although this experiment failed, two additional lines were added last year inside the cafeteria. Ejiogu attests to improved efficiency with three lines instead of one. “Overall, I think it’s a lot better,” noticed Ejiogu. “The difference between freshman and sophomore year is very noticeable.”

The success of this change indicates that adding more distribution points across the school would

er walks. The lunch lines still have a long way before reaching maximum efficiency. Funding cafeteria equipment to provide more distribution points is key. For students to have optimal eating time, play a role in Blair’s vibrant community, and take advantage of extracurricular opportunities, the lunch line must be shortened.

silverchips

December 10, 2025 Opinions B2

Is citizen journalism beneficial to society?

On May 25, 2020, 17-year-old Darnella Frazier saw police officer Derek Chauvin restrain a man, put him in handcuffs, and drag him to his police car. She took out her phone and started recording. The roughly ten-minute video she posted on Facebook— documenting the brutal murder of George Perry Floyd Jr.—became a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and changed the course of American history.

In 2021, Frazier was awarded an honorary Pulitzer Prize for recording the murder and “highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists’ quest for truth and justice.”

Frazier’s video is one of the most powerful examples of why citizen journalism—reporting by members of the public who are not necessarily trained journalists—is so important to society. Although they are not employed by a mass media outlet with a fact-checking team, the varied perspectives and insights that citizen journalists offer are crucial to developing a well-informed, democratic society.

It is impossible for mainstream journalism to capture all perspectives or cover every community, and certain communities—such as countries in warzones, or areas with strict or oppressive governments—have little access to establishment media. Citizen journalism is a solution to these barriers—both for the populations that they report on and for a broader audience in other countries, in the sense that it brings information to the attention of the outside world that may have been overlooked otherwise. In Ukraine, for example, citizens have been reporting on Russian attacks through social media since the Russo-Ukrainian War outbreak in 2022. American news organizations cannot send journalists to Ukraine without risking their lives. On the other hand, Ukrainian citizens are already there and can post their experiences and provide an international audience with real-time, personalized accounts. “Citizen journalism offers raw, ground-level perspectives that mainstream media may overlook,” Mastura Mahamed, an academician at Universiti Putra Malaysia, said. “It captures emotion, immediacy, and authenticity in ways institutional newsrooms sometimes cannot.”

Critics of citizen journalism may say that it is less trustworthy and more biased than traditional journalism because they do not get training on how to be objective and fair in their reporting. However, citizen journalism is an essential tool for getting diverse, usually overlooked information. Citizen journalism is used as a tool to help marginalized communities. In the U.S., individuals have used social media to warn their communities

PRO

CON

Citizen journalism is beneficial to society because it allows for more diverse perspectives, a faster release of information, and creates more engaged and connected communities.

Citizen journalism harms authentic reporting, contributes to the spread of false information, and ruins journalism’s integrity.

BY: VEE DIMYAN AN OPINION

BY: ALICE LEVINGS AN OPINION

of potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, posting videos of arrests.

In a study conducted by the WIRED en Español team, multiple social media pages and accounts were found to be dedicated to reporting on ICE checkpoints, patrols, and raids. These types of accounts allow people to serve as watchdogs for their own communities and highlight the local impact of national issues. “Citizen journalism really opened up the ability to get very tailored to specific communities, and it can be as basic as just giving them the information they need,” Diana Moskovitz, investigations editor at Defector Media said. “That allows a level of trust to happen that cannot

On Jan. 6, 2021, chaos erupted as an armed mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the presidential election results. Among them were self-proclaimed citizen journalists—individuals lacking formal journalistic training—who blurred the line between biased narratives and fact-based reporting. These individuals spread false information, amplified violence, and fueled outrage and fear instead of informing the public, ultimately ruining the integrity of mainstream, ethical journalism.

MELANIE FANG

happen, sometimes, with very large institutions.”

Citizen journalism is also vital for connecting communities to their governments. Anastazia Vanisko works with the LA Documenters program in Los Angeles and trains citizens to record and report on local government meetings.

Though these documenters are not professional journalists, they serve a role that mass media cannot. “[Citizen journalism is] addressing a need that traditional journalism wasn’t filling, which is that people don’t really feel that they’re represented by the news that they read,” Vanisko said.

As a society, we need citizen and professional journalists to work together so that all communities are seen and heard. Citizen journalists bring diverse and new information to the table, while professional journalists bring expertise and objectivity. Together, they can create informative reports that benefit all citizens. “Citizen journalism is not a replacement for professional media, but a partner to it,” Mahamed writes. “Journalism, whether professional or citizen-based, is ultimately about serving the public good.”

MELANIE FANG

On social media, it is easy to deem oneself a journalist and report on a story without professional credentials, which can, at times, result in an inherently biased news piece that seeks to generate controversy for its views. “[Anyone can] be a citizen journalist [but] that really hurts credibility because if you’re not a professional, what are your motivations?” Blair journalism teacher Kyle Wannen said. “Are you trying to [shine] light on the truth, or are you trying to increase your [follower count?]”.

In addition to lacking formal qualifications, citizen journalists are not held to the same ethical standards as professionals. All news organizations have internal ethical guidelines that their reporters must follow, but citizen journalists do not. “[Ethical decisions] involve case studies,” Jennifer Plaia, a former journalist for ABC Channel 7 and news producer for China Global Television

Network (CGTN), said. “They involve discussions.”

The standards that professional reporters are held to ensure accountability—something citizen journalists often lack. Without such standards, misinformation spreads quickly, obscuring the line between fact and opinion.

Five years ago, as news organizations lost staff and funding during the COVID-19 pandemic, the public turned to social media for updates. Emerging from this digital community, self-proclaimed citizen journalists easily spread false claims that the vaccine caused autism in children, implanted trackable microchips in people, and reduced fertility rates. Presented as truth to the general public, these rumors fueled fear and mistrust, encouraging many not to get vaccinated, which proved to be an often deadly choice.

To avoid liability for defamatory or libelous claims, professional journalists go the extra mile to verify facts and validate sources. Their workload is heavy, as their jobs rest on the accuracy of their work.

Forty percent of journalists have already quit since August 2024 due to demanding workloads, and now, they face the added pressure of competing with untrained citizen journalists. These untrained citizens can post stories instantly without the same ethical or professional standards, and often make mistakes that ultimately end up pinned on professional journalists. “There’s the challenge of people not trusting and not believing what we say,” Jim Saksa, a journalist for Roll Call, said.

“When [one] citizen journalist makes an error … it gets painted on all of us.”

Although citizen journalists can cover more stories, it is dangerous for these individuals to hold authority in the industry.

Citizens who label themselves journalists make it harder for average media consumers to distinguish between facts and falsehoods, contributing to the overall erosion of public trust in the news. “There’s this old chestnut in the [industry],” Saksa said.

“A lie gets halfway across the world before the truth [can put on] its shoes.”

In today’s media landscape, the truth does not just risk running late—it risks never even having the chance to catch up in the first place. In order to participate responsibly in the media space, students must openly acknowledge that they are not qualified journalists—and therefore lack the years of training, ethical responsibility, and experience that the title implies—when posting.

voicebox All photos by Eleanor Olson

Scan this QR code to share your thoughts!

“Most of [citizen journalism] happens on social media . . . it’s pretty equatable to gossip.”

“It’s everyone’s right to say their opinions out loud.”

“Even if [citizen journalists] don’t have a degree it’s important to hear how they feel and their side of the story.”

“Since [citizen journalists] don’t have the credit or degree . . . there’s a chance it’s misinformation.”

CONNOR MOODY senior

SAM MARKLE junior

LYDIA STAGER freshman

BLEN BELAY sophomore

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B3 Opinion December 10, 2025 silverchips

Montgomery Blair High School 51 University Boulevard East Silver Spring, MD 20901 silver.chips.print@gmail.com

Not all charities created equal ment’s main agency overseeing for- There are everyday crises in our eign aid. Under its purview, Amer- community and long-term disasters ican aid money has gone to polio in our nation. There are cuts to nuvaccinations, human immunodefi- tritional programs that keep people ciency virus (HIV) treatment, and fed, increases in the cost of living, famine prevention—resulting in a and collapses in our trust with our 15 percent reduction in all-cause fellow citizens. But while we conmortality and 32 percent reduction tinue fighting for long-term reform, in mortality for children under five we can also achieve immediate in the countries where it operated. progress by directing our attention This aid was achieving extraor- to the problems that are surprisingdinary, tangible results for people ly solvable. 330 million children overseas. As GiveWell notes, many suffer from vitamin A deficiency of these initiatives were among worldwide, and supplements cost just $2 the most per child cost-effecper year. tive interThat’s ventions the kind available of issue for saving any of us and imcan chip proving away at— lives. but beAmercause of icans are its invisnot inibility in herentour daily ly more lives, we valuable rarely than huchoose m a n s to donate around CARTOON BY JOSEPHINE BRUNN LAKE to it. the world, Students yet we often center our charitable efforts as if we are. Proximity does are doing good volunteer work. In not equate with need, even when 2023, over 71.9 percent of people our instincts suggest otherwise. So aged 16 to 17 volunteered—forwhile causes fronted by cute ani- mally or informally. We on this mals or misleading pictures may editorial board have logged a coltug on our emotions, they are often lective 2,100 hours. But how many not the best possible uses of our of those hours have actually had clear, measurable impacts on our money.

This paper has chronicled some community? Probably less than of the many ways in which the world we’d like to think. At the very least, looks quite bleak at the moment. it’s hard to imagine that marching

Independence Avenue carrying a giant American flag did anyone much good.

But even our more valiant efforts—cleaning parks and making cards for senior residents—aren’t always the most effective. These projects matter, but they’re not always the most effective use of our time—the same few hours spent helping families signing up for SNAP benefits or distributing vitamin A supplements could do far more. And because we have the privilege of choosing where and how we give, we can aim for options that create even more impact.

We know service matters, and— despite our jokes—we genuinely appreciate anyone who gives their time or money to help others. But as the holiday season approaches and the spirit of giving spreads, it’s worth rethinking how we give. We already care about efficiency in almost every facet of our lives, from taxes to recycling. Now, we should factor it into our charity, too. A donation is an expression of our values, and we value results. A lot of volunteering advice centers around how doing good can make you feel good. But charity is about so much more than personal satisfaction— it’s about making life better for someone else.

So as we move into the season of giving, we invite you to think about not just giving more, but about giving better—because results matter.

housing burden, both for renters “academy” about how permitting and for homeowners.” works should be a sign that perThe housing market is heav- haps it is too complicated. ily overregulated. Imagine if you If that was not bad enough, the AN OPINION Despite AI doomerism, wide- wanted to buy a car. You would County Council has adopted the spread mental health fears, and the consider it preposterous for the worst possible policy for encourburden of senior subsidies, young government to declare that you can aging new housing: rent control. A people today are better off than their only buy a sedan even if a minivan passing glance might suggest that parents in every way other than one: is more efficient for transporting limiting rent increases would keep their ability to own a house. Housing your family. Yet this is essentially prices down overall. However, is a massive way in which generation- what happens with housing. Cur- a majority of economic research al wealth is transferred. The median rent zoning laws restrict the type of finds that rent control consistently age for a first-time homebuyer is 40. housing that can be built, forcing leads to a decrease in housing conNearly one-third of American house- lots to contain only single family struction since developers do not holds spend more than 30 percent of homes. Getting rid of those laws want to build unprofitable buildwould enable people to choose ings. It also leads to a decrease in their income on housing.

This is the case in Montgomery what to build on their own prop- mobility as people stick to their County. This summer, housing prices erty. “[Eliminating single family controlled apartments rather than in the County were 35 percent high- zoning] is wildly successful; neigh- moving, and an increase in prices er than in 2020. “We have a housing borhoods aren’t … being drastical- for everyone whose home is not crisis; there’s not enough housing ly destroyed, but people who want rent-controlled.

Sure enough, this is exactly what and there is not enough housing at to build three or four units are doevery level,” County Councilmem- ing it. It gives people options,” lo- happened in Montgomery County ber and County Executive candidate cal real estate developer Eric Saul after the passage of the 2023 Rent Stabilization Law. A report by the Andrew Friedson said. “The cost of said.

The housing crisis is a simple Planning Board found that “by far housing is far exceeding the capacity of our residents to pay for it. [This] case of supply and demand. Sup- the most common policy barrier has created a tremendous amount of ply is low and demand is high [to new development] was the rent which results in high prices. Part of stabilization regulation.” Part of the the problem may be Montgomery problem is that developers do not County’s own planning commis- just have the money to build lying sion. Permits for new housing de- around. They rely on loans from velopment that go beyond existing banks which are difficult to obzoning laws are reviewed individ- tain in rent-controlled areas. “You ually by the Montgomery County can’t just goodwill build affordable Planning Board. This process can housing. You have to borrow montake years and is frequently de- ey and pay it back,” Saul said. “If railed by local activists. “Residents I give my money to Virginia, I can organize opposition and watch earn 9 percent on this. If I give projects get approved anyway. De- my money to Montgomery CounPHOTO BY IAN GLEASON velopers comply with every regula- ty, I can earn 5 percent on this. If Silver Chips is a public forum for student expression. Student editors make all content detion and still face rejection,” Casey you’re a bank, what are you going cisions. Unsigned editorials represent the views of Anderson, the former chair of the to do?” the editorial board and are not necessarily those of To contact Justin the school or of all Silver Chips members. Signed County planning board, wrote.

This may help explain why in letters to the editor are encouraged; submit them email him at The fact that the Board feels the the second quarter of 2024, prito silver.chips.print@gmail.com. Letters may be scombud@gmail.com need to promote an entire online or to the implementation of the edited for space and clarity.

Rent Stabilization Law, the Planning Board permitted 1,240 new multifamily units. In the second quarter of 2025, they permitted 23, none of which were for rental.

When there is a shortage of cars, the government does not decide that now is the time to control the price of cars. The solution is for car companies to produce more.

That is how markets work—and when they are allowed to work, they work well.

It seems the County Council failed to understand the effects of the law. In March of this year, Councilmember Kristin Mink wrote a memo to the Council saying “rent stabilization will not negatively impact development.”

This statement couldn’t have been more wrong. Mink herself later said “a pattern that has been seen that we were aware of is a temporary drop in the development as developers evaluate the market conditions” at an October Council meeting. Time will tell if that drop is actually temporary, but I would not bet on it.

The solution to this problem is not more regulation, it is less.

What we need to do is treat housing like we treat every other market. “We seem to think housing operates in a different economic magical kingdom and it doesn’t,” Saul said. “Magic[al] Kingdom?

Disney’s solution to a streak of bad movies is to simply make more. It may not work for them, but that is exactly what housing needs.”

2024 NSPA Pacemaker Finalist, 2024 American Scholastic Press Association Most Outstanding High School Newspaper, the 2024 American Scholastic Press Association First Place with Special Merit, the 2024 National Scholastic Press Association First Class with Three Marks of Distinction, the 2024 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal winner, and the National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker 100.

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Satchel Jelen Doris Wang DESIGN EDITORS Senaya Asfaw Lucy Holland Kiya Tiruneh Eric Yang NEWS EDITORS Casey Pendergast Jessica Zhang OPINIONS EDITORS Elora Derbyshire Yongle Xin FEATURES EDITORS Neha Narayan Priya Tapia-Pereira CULTURE EDITORS Senaya Asfaw Lila Grosko SPORTS EDITORS Mackenzie Lyons Sahana Parikh OMBUDSMAN Justin Rosentover COLUMNIST Kiya Tiruneh SENIOR WRITERS Adanna Akamigbo Rae Foster Tomas Monticelli Ruth Wajda-Gotwals STAFF WRITERS Molly Breen Sonya Del Roza Vee Dimyan Hope Faye Dowd Kiran Durvasula Leya Fekadu Dermott Foley Zoe Gorbachev Lark Jeffers Elena Kleiner Asher Licpzenko Alice Levings Jamie Love Marcela Mason-Rodriguez Celia Max Gabriella McKenzie Ada Schwartz Hana Sor James Yi BUSINESS DIRECTORS Sophia Li Eva Schwartz BUSINESS STAFF Andie Alison Jocelyn Nolasco Molly O’Brien Marilyn Ramsdell ART EDITORS Josephine Brunn Lake Luca Esser ARTISTS Tinbite Abie Victoria Angeli M. Regachuelo Eva Dammann Melanie Fang Jessica Hsieh Tane Park Jason Yu Sophia Zhadanova PHOTO EDITORS Ian Gleason Daneel Kutsenko PHOTOGRAPHERS Sadiq Abdillahi Raffi Diamond-Berman Rae Foster Kaylee Hopkins Jamie Lozada-Mcbride Linnea Menge Maz Olson Eleanor Olson Lila Shaw SCPSPORTS EDITOR Daneel Kutsenko MEDIA EDITORS Eloise Carter Keelin Pegg PUZZLE EDITORS Ruth Wajda-Gotwals Daneel Kutsenko OUTREACH COORDINATORS Justin Rosentover COPY EDITORS Neha Narayan Casey Pendergast Eric Yang ADVISER Jeremy Stelzner HEADER ART Lucia Wang Jason Yu

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD AN OPINION Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society International) received nearly $182 million in donations in 2024.

With that funding, the organization funded 60 scholarships for veterinary students and vet tech students, provided $100 million of animal food in the U.S., and successfully pushed for Maryland and Massachusetts to ban certain wild animals from circus shows. These are admirable achievements that have produced real impact—but they also illustrate a broader truth: not all charities produce the same impact per dollar.

Many of the world’s most effective charities are not the ones we donate to most often. For example, GiveWell estimates that just $4,000 spent on malaria prevention can save a human life—a staggering gap. At that rate, the $182 million Humane World for Animals received could save roughly 45,500 lives. Does this mean you should donate all your money exclusively to malaria prevention?

Not necessarily. But it does illustrate how dramatically the impact of our time and money can vary depending on where it’s directed.

Administering assistance effectively used to be something the U.S. government excelled at. Before it was forcefully furloughed, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was the federal govern-

MoCo’s magic kingdom of housing

By JUSTIN ROSENTOVER Ombudsman

silverchips

December 10, 2025 Opinions B4

Food for thought

Vending machines should be unlocked during the school day

By JAMIE LOVE AN OPINION It’s 1 p.m. You haven’t eaten all day. You leave your classroom, hoping to find something—anything—to stop your stomach from grumbling. As you venture into the hallways, you catch sight of a solitary vending machine, its delicious contents gleaming in the distance.

At last! You’ve finally reached the cure to your hunger. You stride to the light but quickly feel a surge of disappointment. “Machine Disabled,” the payment pad reads.

In order to keep classroom distractions and hallway wanderers at a minimum, Blair’s vending machines are locked at all times during the instructional school day, apart from a brief hour-long lunch period. Unfortunately, this policy has proved quite troublesome—not only for hallway roamers now deprived of the vending machines as an alibi, but also for club leaders, student-athletes, and countless others looking for some form of nourishment during the school day.

Lunchtime at Blair can be chaotic. Although the period spans an hour, many students find themselves busy participating in various

COLE DUBOIS

I [felt like] I didn’t have the energy I needed to perform to the best of my ability.

clubs, retaking tests, and attending other important meetings with teachers or counselors. As a result, students at Blair often end up without enough time to eat a proper lunch. They might think to get a quick snack from the vending machine instead, but that means standing in a 20-minute-long line with their peers, who are also trying to capitalize on the machine’s short window of availability.

Blair senior Cole Dubois is no stranger to this frustration. “This week, I was looking around for lunch,” he said. “I waited in line [at the vending machines] for 10 minutes, and then they locked five minutes before [the period] ended, so I couldn’t get my Skittles.” As a track athlete, Dubois had reason to be worried. He had a workout to run after school—a recipe for disaster on an empty stomach. “I was stressed about getting enough calories in before practice,” he said. “I [felt like] I didn’t have the energy I needed to perform to the best of my ability.”

For student-athletes like Dubois, scientists at the University of Parma suggested that “the ideal meal should provide four grams of [carbohydrates] per kilogram of body weight in the three to four hours preceding [a] sports activity, followed by 0.5 to one gram per kilogram in the hour preceding it.”

Basically, a small snack will suffice before working out. But without access to vending machines during the school day, these athletes, especially those with a ninth period,

can’t fulfill that. They have no time to meander in search of the ideal meal after their school day ends because they have to head straight to practice.

Moreover, it isn’t just student-athletes who suffer. Liana Flint, a clinical dietician at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, California, wrote that “teens should have three balanced meals with nutrient-dense snacks two to three times throughout the day,” adding that eating at consistent times throughout the day can help support a healthy metabolism. Unless they bring snacks from home, there is simply no way students can satisfy the latter requirement; no vending machines means no snack, let alone the two or three recommended by Flint.

Sure, the lure of unlocked vending machines can create classroom distractions. It can cause students’ attention to wander in class, tempted by the possibility of putting food in their bellies. But when machines are locked, this problem only worsens. Students are still distracted by their hunger, which they now have no easy way to satisfy.

Sophomore Santiago Beltran knows this feeling well. “In my sixth period, there are times where I have a hard time focusing,” he said. “I end up super hungry, look at my lunchbox [to find] there’s no food left, and it bugs me for the rest of the day.”

Sure, unhealthy vending machines can encourage poor eating habits for students. However, with moderation, this doesn’t have to

TINBITE ABIE

be the case. These machines can serve as an infrequent last resort, as something to relieve one’s hunger momentarily. After all—as Dubois can attest to with his desperation for Skittles on workout days—any kind of food is sometimes better than none at all.

Plus, the majority of Blair’s vending machines are healthy. They are stocked by VendNatural, whose products meet the MCPS nutrition guidelines, making them both food and nutrition-compliant, according to the county. They also follow the United States Department of Agriculture’s SmartSnacks policy, a decade-old standard for school nutrition.

Ultimately, though, the question is not whether vending machines

are ideal from a policy standpoint,

but whether they can support stu-

dents’ basic dietary needs. Re-

search from The Nutrition Society

confirms that “nutritional needs increase during adolescence, with

requirements for most nutrients

higher than those of adults relative

to body weight and energy require-

ments.” Simply put, teens need to

eat, and Blair must recognize this.

Occasional classroom distractions

and hallway wanderers are inevita-

ble, but they’re a small price to pay

for supporting student health in the short and long run.

silverchips

C1 La Esquina Latina el 10 de diciembre de 2025

la

El 8 de diciembre de 2025

esquinalatina Representando la comunidad latinx desde el 2003

Volumen 89 Número 2

CAP, una experiencia multidimensional Por TOKYO HOPKINS

English, durante sus primeros dos años. Estos cursos solamente están disponibles para ellos. Además, las clases en el programa se enfocan más en la creatividad en comparación con otras clases. El Dr. Howard explicó que las clases de CAP se alejan del plan de estudios de MCPS. Por esto, los estilos de aprendizaje de los estudiantes en el programa son diferentes y han sido notables en clases fuera del programa.

Según Fillman, la solicitud de un estudiante incluye su género, sus acomodaciones especiales si las

Hay una expectativa diferente en clases de CAP

SARA BELTRÁN

El programa de CAP de Montgomery Blair es reconocido en el condado de Montgomery por ser el único programa de las artes de comunicación. Fue diseñado para ayudar a estudiantes en el Consorcio del Condado Bajo a desarrollar habilidades en las humanidades y los medios de comunicación. A medida que el programa se ha vuelto más diverso, estudiantes de grupos minoritarios se han enfocado en encontrar maneras de compartir sus experiencias con la escuela.

Desde 1988, CAP ha ofrecido clases avanzadas para preparar estudiantes para sus estudios en la universidad. Los estudiantes son introducidos a varios cursos en el campo de las humanidades desde el principio de la escuela secundaria, como la fotografía, el periodismo y clases de estudios avanzados (AP por sus siglas en inglés) que pertenecen a las humanidades.

Cuando llegan a sus últimos años, preparan una presentación final que demuestra cómo utilizaron su aprendizaje para contribuir a sus comunidades. Estas presentaciones podrían estar basadas en trabajo voluntario, actividades extracurric-

tanto, el proceso de reclutamiento está realmente orientado a mostrar lo que distingue a nuestro programa, y son ​​ esos proyectos. Es el aprendizaje colaborativo”.

Los solicitantes están obligados a mantener por lo menos una B en sus clases de inglés y estudios sociales. Además, la solicitud incluye un ensayo de 250 palabras y una sección para incluir sus intereses, permitiéndoles expresar ellos mismos en un proceso de admisión que es, desafortunadamente, limitado. Según Fillman, los estudiantes interesados en aplicar tienen un menú desplegable en una solicitud común donde pueden seleccionar programas especiales que les interesan, lo que podría introducir el programa de CAP a estudiantes que no están familiarizados con él.

Esta aplicación común, sin embargo, no es específica al programa; por instancia, los solicitantes enviarán la misma información a la solicitud para Magnet, el programa acelerado de STEM en Blair que ofrece clases avanzadas en las ciencias, matemáticas, y ciencias de la computación. Más aún, los datos que Fillman recibe sobre los solicitantes no muestran raza, lo que dificulta solucionar los problemas de diversidad.

Granados expresó que no hay

tiene, su estatus de almuerzo gratuito o a precio reducido, y si ha recibido servicios de aprendizaje de inglés. Debido a reglas establecidas por el condado de Montgomery, a Fillman “ni siquiera se le permite considerar algo que puede dar una idea sobre la raza de un estudiante”.

muchos estudiantes en sus clases de CAP que se parezcan a ella. En cambio, dijo que ha visto una mezcla diversa de personas en otras clases fuera del programa. Sara Beltrán, una estudiante en CAP en el grado 12, corroboró esto, “Dos o tres personas no representan una perspectiva entera…si hubiera más personas [en CAP] tendríamos representaciones más precisas”.

El Dr. John Howard, quien enseña investigación de CAP11, observó que la falta de diversidad en CAP ha creado sentimientos de “síndrome del impostor” entre minorías en el programa. “[Los estudiantes] no sentían que alguien reclutó minorías cuando vinieron a sus escuelas para CAP o Magnet”, dijo. De manera similar, los estudiantes fuera del programa han sentido una desconexión. Astrid González, una estudiante en el grado 12, no recibió información sobre el programa antes de empezar la escuela secundaria. Expresó que los estudiantes en CAP tienen más oportunidades para “agarrar becas y entrar a escuelas de altos niveles”.

Una gran cantidad de oportunidades como estas no se les ofrecen a los estudiantes fuera del programa y, de otra manera, no serían accesibles. Por ejemplo, los estudiantes en el programa reciben clases de inglés más avanzadas, CAP

L a c o m u nidad m i noritaria dentro de los programas de CAP y Magnet ha utilizado BoCo Color como una plataforma para sus voces. Este club ofrece a minorías en estos programas una oportunidad para compartir sus voces y les provee con asistencia. Anais Ejiogu, una estudiante en Magnet en el grado 11 y la oficial de BoCo Color para Magnet, dirige las conversaciones y demuestra su relacionabilidad al grupo. Ejiogu ha recibido apoyo de los maestros; valoran la diversidad en Blair y qui-

FOTO POR TOKYO HOPKINS

CLASE CAP Sexta hora de la clase CAP del Sr. Grossman ulares, experiencias en sus clases, u otros proyectos. Gracias a CAP, los estudiantes fortalecen su pasión por la escritura y la comunicación.

Loly Granados, una estudiante de CAP en el grado 11, ha participado en algunas actividades memorables durante su tiempo en el programa.

“Mi segundo año, había un gran enfoque en el sistema gubernamental”, dijo. “Disfruté de los proyectos porque pudimos ver los procesos judiciales y legislativos, y pudimos participar en ellos también”.

Sarah Fillman ha enseñado en Blair por 23 años y ha sido la coordinadora de CAP por los últimos diez años. A Fillman le encanta trabajar en el programa donde expresa su creatividad a través del currículo interdisciplinario, creando una experiencia académica más comprometida en comparación con clases regulares. Junto a los embajadores de CAP, Fillman visita escuelas en el condado de Montgomery para contactar a estudiantes interesados en las humanidades. Estos estudiantes son invitados a una jornada informativa donde asisten entre 200 y 300 personas y en la que los alumnos mayores comparten anécdotas personales sobre lo que les gusta del programa. “Quienes nos escuchan obtienen información de primera mano de estudiantes que están en el programa”, dijo. “Por lo

cambio, y siempre me empujan a reflexionar sobrecómo presento lesiones y a mej o rar”, dijo.

Expresó que es cuestionada por la falta de diversidad en CAP, pero ha intentado con su mejor esfuerzo diversificar el programa. Con otros administradores de CAP, hizo una auditoría al plan de estudios, porque quería asegurarse que los estudiantes no aprendieran los mismos temas de historia. “Empujemos estudiantes en sus tareas…a mirar e investigar fuera de sus propias identidades y perspectivas, para ser más consciente y empática hacia perspectivas fuera de las suyas”, comentó.

Para asegurar que varias perspectivas de raza y género son incluidas, Fillman también revisa el listado de estudiantes cada año para cada clase y realiza cambios si es necesario.

“Aprendo en el camino, porque los estudiantes están en constante MICHELLE NEE

eren que los estudiantes superen sus desafíos. Para crear un espacio seguro, Ejiogu desea tener más reuniones, ir en excursiones, y tener exalumnos visitar a estudiantes.

“Es más sobre los estudiantes que del programa en sí”, enfatizó.

GRÁFICO DE TOKYO HOPKINS

La diversidad busca su espacio

Otras e s tudiantes fuera de BoCo Color también han expresado sus intereses en fortalecer una comunidad positiva en programas especiales.

Jaida Cox, una embajadora de CAP en el grado 11, ha trabajado con Fillman y otros embajadores para planear eventos divertidos, incluyendo actividades para la Noche de Brujas y salas de escape. “Uno de los eventos más grandes que planeamos es CAP Community Day, donde todos hacemos servicios comunitarios”, dijo. “Intentamos hacer cosas en las que podemos unir amigos y grados diferentes para que incluimos a todos”.

Para los estudiantes, las experiencias en CAP han sido como ninguna otra, y se sienten preparados para empezar una carrera en las humanidades. Cox aseguró que el programa le ha dado “una gran variedad de habilidades que [ella] puede usar en entornos diferentes”. El programa de CAP siempre está evolucionando, y las personas en el programa han trabajado para cerrar las brechas en el programa.

silverchips

el 10 de diciembre de 2025 La Esquina Latina C2

Dos mundos en profundidad

Programas bilingües en el condado de Montgomery Por KENAI FRAIZER RAYAS y LIVIA ROSENBERG

Fue interesante aprender sobre diferentes culturas en Latinoamérica porque muchos de mis maestros eran de muchas diferentes partes

MIREYA TAPIA-PEREIRA

Los programas de inmersión prometen un camino al bilingüismo para estudiantes de las escuelas del Condado de Montgomery (MCPS por sus siglas en inglés). Estos programas proporcionan la oportunidad de recibir clases en español, y los estudiantes obtienen un entendimiento de la cultura latina.

El Condado de Montgomery ofrece varios tipos de inmersión.

Algunas escuelas tienen un programa que promete clases completamente en español. Antes de que el año escolar empiece, los padres aplican para que sus hijos entren en un sistema de lotería para el programa. La Directora de la escuela primaria Rock Creek Forest, Lavina Carrillo, explicó que el programa es competitivo: cada año se llena completamente. Desde kinder hasta tercer grado, se da instrucción solamente en español con la excepción de clases especiales, como música y educación física. Los últimos 2 años de primaria les preparan para la secundaria con más enfoque en el inglés. Otras escuelas ofrecen programas de Dual Lenguaje, donde la mitad de las clases están en español y la otra mitad se enseñan en inglés. Al mediodía, los estudiantes cambian de maestro y lugar. Con este formato, la escuela entera sigue el modelo de Dual Lenguaje y no se aplica para entrar.

Los programas de inmersión tienen varios beneficios. Para la mayoría de los estudiantes, que hablan inglés en casa, el programa les da la oportunidad de ser bilingües. Desde el inicio de

la primaria, ellos están expuestos a dos idiomas y aprenden a escribir, hablar y pensar en una lengua extranjera. El bilingüismo es una destreza valiosa que les ayuda tener una ventaja para la secundaria, la universidad y el mundo laboral. Es tan importante en los Estados Unidos, donde el 13% habla español.

En la comunidad de Blair en Silver Spring, un cuarto de la población son hispanohablantes, pero hace pocos años no era así. Carrillo dijo, “Conseguí este trabajo porque yo era bilingüe. Antes, hace diez años, eran menos [profesionales bilingües]. Así que eso fue algo muy importante que salió de mi currículum”. La inmersión cambia las normas y promueve un mundo más compasivo y comprensivo.

Los programas sirven no solo como inmersión lingüística, sino también como inmersión cultural. El mundo hispanohablante es muy diverso, y a través de los programas de inmersión los niños aprenden sobre distintas culturas alrededor del mundo. Una estudiante anterior del programa, Mireya Tapia-Pereira, comentó que

Para los estudiantes que crecieron hablando español, la inmersión ofrece un provecho único: seguir practicando su lengua materna durante toda la primaria. Carrillo explicó que cuando un niño hispanohablante entra en una escuela tradicional en inglés, normalmente lo que pasa es “Los padres continúan hablando en español, pero los estudiantes responden en in-

sotros con herencia hispana normalmente están tratando de conectarse con sus raíces, mantener el idioma y poder comunicarse con sus abuelos”.

Aunque hay muchas ventajas en los programas de inmersión, también existen desventajas.

Montgomery County tiene pocas escuelas de inmersión completa, y por eso, la mayoría de los estudi-

riencia del día a día con amigos de la escuela es difícil para ellos coordinar e ir a playdates y todo eso”.

Además, no hay tantos recursos para los estudiantes que tienen dificultades de aprendizaje.

Con esos beneficios y retos, ¿el condado debe continuar los programas de inmersión? Hitschfield

MOSTRANDO ORGULLO La escuela primaria, Rock Creek Forest muestra con orgullo las decoraciones para el mes de Herencia Hispana. glés”. Los programas de inmersión hacen que ellos puedan continuar sus estudios en español. La Señora María Paz Hitschfield, una maestra de tercer grado en la inmersión de Rock Creek Forest, anotó que “Las personas que vienen a no-

antes necesitan viajar largas distancias para ir a la escuela. Hitschfield comentó que “Los niños, como es una lotería regional, no tienen la oportunidad de conocer a sus vecinos tanto y pasar tiempo con ellos durante el día. Entonces, esa expe-

FOTO POR LIVIA ROSENBERG

dijo que sí. “Los idiomas abren muchas puertas, no solo las culturas, sino oportunidades, y por eso creo que es importante que el condado siga fomentando eso”.

15 segundos en el mundo de los latinos

Influencers hispanos se vuelven mainstream detrás de las redes sociales Por EMMY HENRIQUEZ y SANTIAGO JÍMÈNEZ Ash Treviño, Dkane, Lelepons y muchos más son influencers latinos dentro del internet, unos más malos que buenos. Por ser reconocidos, sus acciones tienen repercusiones importantes en la gente, tanto buenas como malas, es por ello es que se expondrán distintas opiniones de estudiantes acerca de estos influencers.

SOPHIA BENITEZ

En los últimos años con el incremento de usuarios de las redes sociales muchas personas se han hecho famosas en estos medios y se les denominó como “influencers” por la gran influencia que estos tienen en opiniones y comportamientos de sus seguidores.

Especialmente los jóvenes son los que se dejan influenciar más y a veces toman decisiones erróneas que pueden tener consecuencias negativas.

En la comunidad latina hay diversos influencers en distintas plataformas y con diferentes tipos de contenido. Aquí se van a destacar a algunos de los influencers, tanto buenos como malos.

Ash Trevino es una influencer controversial que reside en Texas y que es conocida por sus “lives” en TikTok. Ella siempre está en una transmisión en directo creando contenido y generando bastante sumas de dinero. Sin embargo,

esto repercute en su vida, ya que ha sido acusada de ser mala madre y de no cubrir las necesidades básicas de sus hijas. Como menciona Jennifer Reyes, una estudiante del grado doce en Montgomery Blair High School, “No sabe cuidar a sus hijas, ellas no tienen camas”.

También es muy polémica por sus relaciones problemáticas con hombres que están en prisión, lo que muchos describen como un “inmate hopping” (saltando de prisionero en prisionero en relaciones). Esto puede ser una mala influencia para sus dos hijas y para sus seguidores en las redes sociales, ya que ella normaliza las relaciones con personas peligrosas. Ya van varias veces en las que sus seguidores han llamado al servicio de protección de menores, porque sus hijas, que son menores de edad, estaban sufriendo de negligencia infantil.

Lele Pons es una influencer Venezolana que se hizo famosa detrás de un aplicación llamada Vine que después se convirtió en Musical. ly. Desde el año 2017 Vine ya no existe, por lo que desde ese año, Lele Pons decidió mover su plataforma a Youtube, en donde tiene más de 18 millones de suscriptores y 5.6 mil millones de vistas. Ella es un ejemplo para seguir adelante ya que a pesar de sus enfermedades, como el síndrome de tourette y TOC, pudo convertirse en una persona recono-

cida por su música y sus videos que se han hecho muy virales.

Dkane es otro influencer de Texas que es muy popular en el TikTok, con más de 1.7 millones de seguidores y es conocido por su apariencia llena de tatuajes. Sin embargo, su fama también es por las polémicas que ha tenido, como su arresto por presuntamente llevar un arma y presuntamente “por abusar de mujeres y niños”, como dijo Dayanni Orellana, un estudiante de Blair High School en el grado doce.

Luisito Comunica es un youtuber Mexicano reconocido por explorar distintos países y exponer la realidad de muchos de estos. Sebastián, un residente de Perú, opinó sobre él, “Pues me parece un contenido actualmente educativo, me parece que difunde información relevante en su mayoría y de manera imparcial”. Recientemente abrió su cadena de comida rápida llamada “Fasfú Burgers” que se encuentra en diferentes países, lo cual refleja su éxito en Latinoamérica. Él es un ejemplo y motivación, ya que informando a la gente pudo crearse un nombre y abrir su propia empresa, lo cual puede influenciar a la gente a perseguir sus sueños y cumplirlos.

Con el incremento del acceso al Internet, las nuevas generaciones empiezan a crecer y a interactuar con la red. Por eso, debemos aprender a convivir con el fenómeno de las redes sociales, teniendo en cuenta lo que vemos y consumimos en las redes sociales, ya que nos puede influenciar a nosotros y a otras personas a través de nuestras acciones y opiniones.

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C3 La Esquina Latina el 10 de diciembre de 2025

¡Ni chicha, ni limonada!

Funciones políticas paralizadas Por KRISTEN LLERENA y STELLA THEISMAN El primero de octubre de 2025, el gobierno estadounidense cerró debido a la imposibilidad de aprobar el presupuesto federal. Republicanos y demócratas no lograron llegar a un acuerdo para aprobar un proyecto de ley de financiación. Es el primer cierre en aproximadamente siete años y el cierre de gobierno más largo en toda la historia de los EE.UU. El mayor desacuerdo estaba relacionado con los programas de seguro médico.

Este cierre afectó a varios servicios de gobierno, incluyendo la pausa temporal de financiamiento del Programa de Asistencia Nutricional Suplementaria (SNAP, por sus siglas en inglés), asistencia para la educación y los proyectos a largo plazo de la Agencia Federal para el Manejo de Emergencias. El cierre terminó el 12 de noviembre, con el compromiso del partido republicano a apoyar la distribución de seguro médico. El compromiso sólo se extiende hasta el 30 de enero de 2026. Esto resulta en la posibilidad de otro cierre si los partidos no llegan a un acuerdo.

Uno de los puntos más afectados hacia los ciudadanos es SNAP. La administración de Trump decidió suspender el financiamiento de SNAP y esto tomó efecto el primero de noviembre, dejando a aproximadamente a 42 millones de estadounidenses y 700.000 ciudadanos de Maryland sin asistencia. Esto ha resultado en 25 estados demandando a la administración, incluyendo a Maryland. El 18 de noviembre, los beneficios de SNAP se resumieron en Maryland.

Recientemente, el gobernador de Maryland, Wes Moore, ha tomado una postura firme en el proceso de recuperación por los efectos del cierre. A los 34 días del inicio del

KYARA ROMERO LIRA

cierre gubernamental, el gobernador publicó un video mensaje a su Instagram, “Hoy firmo una orden ejecutiva que autoriza 62 millones de dólares para garantizar que los habitantes de Maryland sigan recibiendo los beneficios del SNAP… firmé una orden ejecutiva que proporciona 10 millones de dólares en asistencia inmediata a los bancos de alimentos… Donald Trump intentó violar la ley para quitarles la asistencia alimentaria a nuestros niños, demandamos al presidente y ganamos”, dijo Wes Moore. En al área de Silver Spring, Matt Mulkey, Gerente de Participación Comunitaria para Meals on Wheels, un programa que entrega comida a los menos afortunados, comentó sobre los efectos del cierre, “Hemos notado un aumento considerable en el interés por nuestros servicios

este año, sobre todo en octubre y principios de noviembre, cuando se retrasaron los fondos para los beneficios del programa SNAP”.

Hubo una gran afluencia de personas interesadas en el programa.

Mulkey explicó que fue un momento difícil para su equipo. “La ansiedad en las voces de quienes llamaban era palpable. Trabajamos para conectar a otros con organizaciones de asistencia alimentaria cercanas que pudieran ayudarlos”, dijo Mulkey. Meals on Wheels cumplió con su prioridad de conseguir una solución para todos, incluso si no recibieron la asistencia directamente de su organización.

De acuerdo con las estadísticas de NHSA, la asociación nacional de Head Start, 7.774 niños en Maryland asisten a clases de NHSA y 456 familias sin hogar reciben

apoyo de la asociación. En el artículo, “¿Sobrevivirán los programas Head Start de Maryland al cierre del gobierno?” Tommy Sheridan, el director de NHSA, describe la condición de niños y familias estadounidenses como daño colateral debido al cierre. En relación con la educación, Lance Corporal Luna, marinero y estudiante de finanzas, habló sobre su experiencia con el cierre, “Lo único que realmente me ha afectado del cierre es que ya no recibo la ayuda para la matrícula, algo que me prometieron desde que me inscribí…No sé cuándo podré retomar las clases.

Siempre digo que no me gusta estudiar, pero la verdad es que ahora me siento derrotado porque nunca he tenido problemas para recibir educación”, dijo Luna. Aunque no recibió mucha información so-

bre sus limitaciones los primeros días del cierre, Luna aseguró que continuó recibiendo el pago normalmente.

Desde 1981, se ha cerrado el gobierno 14 veces. Ocho de estos cierres fueron durante la administración de Ronald Reagan entre los años 1981 y 1987. Ninguno de estos cierres duraron más de tres días. Desde 1987, han ocurrido seis cierres. Uno de estos 6 cierres duró 21 días, entre el 16 de diciembre de 1995 y el 5 de enero de 1996, siendo el cierre más largo antes del cierre de 2025. Pero, ¿por qué los cierres están pasando con más frecuencia? ¿Por qué han aumentado en los años recientes?

Rebecca Stelzner, una profesora de gobierno en Montgomery Blair dice que esto se debe al aumento de polarización política en el congreso de los Estados Unidos. “La idea que todo lo que dicen, todo lo que hacen se informa y se tiene en cuenta hace que la gente esté más alerta, y les hace más cauteloso ante el compromiso. Ellos sienten que hay algo malo sobre el compromiso”, dijo Stelzner. Ella también explica que los cierres son más comunes cuando tenemos un gobierno dividido, que significa que el presidente es de un partido diferente de la mayoría de los miembros del congreso. Fiel a este hecho, nueve de los 14 cierres del gobierno desde 1981 fueron durante una era de gobierno dividido.

Solidaridad en el universo “no [le] dio la oportunidad de hablar”, y llamó a su seguridad porque ella no estaba siguiendo sus órdenes. “No me estás respetando como mujer”, argumentó Bosch antes de salir de la reunión con otras participantes. Inmediatamente después, ella le dijo a la prensa, “Lo que hizo [Itsaragrisil] no es respetuoso. Me llamó tonta porque tuve problemas con la organización y pienso que esto es injusto”.

Después de la reunión, Itsaragrisil lloró durante una conferencia, afirmando que dijo la palabra “daño”, no “tonta”.

Durante otro evento ese mismo día, Itsaragrisil se disculpó directamente con las participantes al decir, “Creo que deben entender que la presión es muy grande. Soy humano y a veces no puedo controlar[me], pero por cierto no tengo intención de dañar a nadie porque respeto a todos ustedes”.

En respuesta a las acciones de Itsaragrisil, Raul Rocha, el presidente de Miss Universo, publicó un video en la cuenta oficial de Instagram de Miss Universo.

Anunció que se tomarán acciones legales y otros ejecutivos se harían cargo del evento, A

una sesión de fotos que promovía a Tailandia. Él fue grabado diciéndole, “Si sigues las órdenes de tu director nacional, eres tonta [inaudible]”. Cuando Bosch intentó responder, Itsaragrisil le gritó porque

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El 4 de noviembre de 2025, Fátima Bosch, Miss México 2025, salió de una reunión previa al concurso de Miss Universo con otras participantes después de recibir comentarios irrespetuosos por el anfitrión del concurso. A medida que se desarrolla este evento, la trayectoria del concurso de Miss Universo 2025 ha cambiado.

Miss Universo es uno de los concursos de belleza más significativos del mundo; 120 concursantes, cada uno viniendo de varios países y territorios alrededor del mundo, compiten por el título. Este concurso no solamente es una celebración de belleza y feminidad, sino también de filantropía.

Según el sitio web de la organización, el propósito del concurso es dar a las mujeres una plataforma para crear un impacto en sus comunidades y conmemorar sus contribuciones como modelos a seguir.

Bosch se ha destacado como líder en su comunidad, siendo admirada por muchos fanáticos de Miss Universo. Representando su región de origen, Tabasco, fue coronada como Miss México en

septiembre; como ganadora, es la representante de México para Miss Universo 2025. El concurso, ubicado en Bangkok, estaba siendo organizado por el director de Miss Tailandia, Nawat Itsaragrisil.

Bosch experimentó un conflicto inesperado con Itsaragrisil en frente de las otras participantes.

Itsaragrisil criticó a Bosch por n o participar en

A RO

Por TOKYO HOPKINS

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Firmes con Miss Mexico

reemplazando a Itsawagrisil. “No permitiré que los valores de respeto y dignidad hacia la mujer sean violados”, dijo. “Nawat ha olvidado el significado de lo que es ser un verdadero anfitrión”.

Otras mujeres en la comunidad de Miss Universo han apoyado a Bosch públicamente. Victoria Kjær Theilvig de Dinamarca, la Miss Universo actual, fue una de las personas que salieron de la reunión. Theilvig objetó, “Insultar a otra mujer es una falta de respeto enorme… Por eso me quito el abrigo y me voy”. Andrea Meza de México, Miss Universo 2021, también expresó su opinión durante un segmento de La Mesa Caliente en Telemundo, enfatizando lo irrespetuoso que fue el comportamiento de Itsawagrisil. “Momentos como este nos recuerdan por qué los espacios que empoderan a las mujeres deben seguir defendiendo el respeto, la justicia y la empatía por encima de todo”, declaró.

Bosch se refirió a la situación en una entrevista al decir, “Vine aquí para ser una voz para todas las mujeres y las chicas que luchan por causas y para decir a mi país que estoy completamente comprometida para eso”. Al quedarse en el concurso, Bosch demostró su resistencia y espíritu irrompible.

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el 10 de diciembre de 2025 La Esquina Latina C4

Irresponsabilidad en las vías Una lección cara Por MARIA ESPINAL

La seguridad de los estudiantes es relativamente la cosa más importante

LESLIE BLAHA

Ha habido muchos accidentes en las calles últimamente, es porque ha habido un gran aumento. Según estadísticas de la organización mundial de la salud (WHO), más de la mitad de todas las muertes por accidentes de tránsito se producen entre personas vulnerables de la carretera, incluyendo a peatones, ciclistas, y motociclistas. En el condado de Montgomery, muchos peatones han resultado heridos o atropellados en la calle. De acuerdo con NBC Washington, la comunidad de Rockville recuerda la memoria de Summer Lim, quien fue atropellada en su bicicleta por un autobús escolar. Estas estadísticas son muy preocupantes debido a que muchas personas son afectadas por la calle.

Laton Pfeiffer Hicks, un estudiante en el grado doce de Blair explica, “Cuando intento cruzar el paso de peatones y [un coche] intenta girar, nosotros dos tenemos paso, pero yo tengo prioridad y luego se enfadan conmigo por intentar a caminar”...“La vida es definitivamente mucho más fácil con un coche”.

Por esa razón existen las leyes de la conducción y se castiga la desobediencia.

Recientemente, Maryland ha intentado reducir el número de conductores imprudentes con la implementación de multas de velocidad severas. El

sitio web The MocoShow explica que las multas empiezan en $40 y aumentan cada doce millas por encima del límite de velocidad, con lo que cuarenta millas por encima del límite es equivalente a una multa de $425. Estas cifras están hechas para desanimar a los conductores a continuar infringiendo la ley.

Leslie Blaha, la coordinadora de clases AP en Blair explica que,

La Sra. Blaha continúa diciendo, “Hay un umbral entre, ‘si yo hice algo mal, estoy dispuesta a pagarlo’ a diferencia de, ‘se me hace muy difícil pagar,’ no solo es un elemento disuasorio, pero no se va poder pagar el importe total de la multa”.

Es importante encontrar las soluciones necesarias que mantengan la responsabilidad en los conductores sin causar más daño. A pesar del daño económico que las multas pueden causar, el objetivo es que este daño es disuadir a un conductor de sobrepasar el límite de velocidad o quebrar la ley.

Las calles alrededor de Blair pueden ser sumamente caóticas, aunque los conductores sean

cuidadosos. También es responsabilidad de los estudiantes mantener un medio ambiente seguro para todos. Cruzar la calle de manera imprudente (conocido en inglés como “Jaywalking”) es muy peligroso y en muchos casos puede ser el factor más grande en accidentes según Cero Muertes Maryland, que reconocieron 408 muertos de accidentes de coches, y en las calles en este año solamente.

Courtney Mason, una maestra de ciencias ambientales y horticultura en Blair expresa que los estudiantes tienen que cruzar por los lugares adecuados, “Creo que los estudiantes deberían caminar en el paso de peatones, porque es donde los [conductores] esperan ver a los estudiantes y es más seguro cruzar así”, dijo la señora Masón.

La vicedirectora de undécimo grado, Adriana Burgos Ojeda explica que los estudiantes no solo están poniéndose en riesgo cruzando la calle sino que también en los negocios.“En términos del campus cerrado, adicionalmente hay otras preocupaciones con la seguridad de los estudiantes en los negocios”, dijo la señora Burgos.

Aunque no siempre es así, existe el estereotipo que los conductores de Maryland no pueden manejar.

En muchas instancias, un acci-

MARIA ESPINAL

dente pasaría por la culpa del conductor, tal como afirmó Marcella Verchinski, una estudiante de Blair en su último año, “A veces cuando camino a la escuela veo accidentes que pasan delante de mis ojos, y usualmente no hay tantos problemas en las calles, pero depende mucho de la gente y no en el estado”.

Muchos estudiantes de Blair merecen una educación en la que encuentren éxito en sus estudios.

Los estudiantes no deberían estar a riesgo de accidentes o perder sus vidas solo en el viaje para la escue-

Notas musicales con tonos latinos Por JOAQUIN CONTRERAS-RUSHING En culturas de todo el mundo, la música es uno de los elementos más importantes. La música es algo con lo que la gente se puede conectar y compartir. Para la cultura hispana, la música es algo fundamental, pero al mismo tiempo, muy diversa. Cada país usa sus raíces e historia para crear una versión especial de música. Los orígenes de la música latina vienen de muchos lugares alrededor del mundo. La guitarra viene de España, los instrumentos de viento vienen de culturas ancestrales, los tambores vienen de África y las comunidades indígenas de los países latinos.

Hay bastantes artistas y grupos musicales en el mundo de la música latina. Algunos de los artistas favoritos de Jonatan Fuentes, estudiante de décimo grado de Blair, son “Los Tigres del Norte, J Balvin y Nicky Jam”. En sus artistas favoritos se puede apreciar que pertenecen a diferentes géneros.

Los Tigres del Norte componen corridos mexicanos, pero J Balvin y

Nicky Jam son artistas de reggaeton de origen colombiano y caribeño.

Otra estudiante de undécimo grado de Blair, Sofia Pinilla Espitia, mencionó que sus artistas favoritos son, “Romeo Santos, por mis raíces colombianas”, pero también a ella le gustan artistas de reggaeton como, “Bad Bunny y Rauw Alejandro”. A Pinilla Espitia le gusta la música de Romeo Santos, especialmente la bachata, por su origen cultural. También le gustan artistas populares de Puerto Rico, como Bad Bunny y Rauw Alejandro, que cantan reggaeton.

Los Grammys latinos honran la mejor música de este año del mundo latino. Este evento ha sido descrito por CNN como “una gran fiesta”. Este año aparecieron artistas como Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, Karol G, y muchos más.

Los ganadores de los Grammys fueron Alejandro Sanz por mejor grabación con su canción “Las palmeras en el jardín”. Además, Bad Bunny ganó mejor álbum con “Debe tirar más fotos”. Karol G ganó mejor canción con su éxito mundial, “Si antes te hubiera cono-

cido”. Finalmente Paloma Morphy ganó el premio de mejor nueva artista.

La música se distingue en diferentes regiones de América Latina, por ejemplo, los corridos vienen del norte de México, la bachata viene de República Dominicana y la salsa empezó en Puerto Rico.

Hoy en día todas las culturas se están mezclando y formando nuevos tipos de música latina como el reggaeton y el pop latino.

Para mucha gente de la comunidad latina, la música es algo emocional y ligado a su cultura. Pinilla Espitia explica que la música latina “se usa en muchos momentos, para las celebraciones, cumpleaños” y que es, “Una manera de unir los miembros de las familias”. Para Pinilla Espitia la música latina es algo crucial para las celebraciones y momentos de familia. La música latina es ritmo y vocales, pero de una manera más profunda es la pasión y emoción que une a LatiHEAVEN MESKELU noamérica.

la. Los estudiantes de Blair tienen que priorizar su seguridad. Una solución para la seguridad vial es que los estudiantes dejen de hacer “Jaywalking”.

Una profesora de español de Blair, Michela Corcorran dijo que, “si doblo por Colesville y doblo en University, de vez en cuando he visto estudiantes cruzando como Jaywalking, sin el cruce y es súper peligroso porque yo estoy doblando así que no los veo súper bien y ellos pues me cortan”.

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C5 La Esquina Latina el 10 de diciembre de 2025

Un Super Bowl contigo El conejo rebelde destruye estereotipos

LA ESQUINA LATINA

Por PRIYA TAPIA-PEREIRA “Si no entendiste lo que acabo de decir, tienes cuatro meses para aprender”, dijo el cantante Bad Bunny en Saturday Night Live, un programa de televisión estadounidense. Su comentario fue en respuesta a la oposición que él recibió acerca de su espectáculo de medio tiempo en el NFL Super Bowl.

En los últimos años Bad Bunny ha sido la fuerza emergente centralizando la cultura pop latina teniendo el álbum más reproducido de la historia de Spotify “Un verano sin Ti” que salió en 2022 y ganando múltiples premios Grammy. Su álbum más reciente, “Debí tirar más fotos” solo ha animado más a la carrera de Bad Bunny. El álbum contiene temas de la identidad puertorriqueña y usa estilos musicales de Puerto Rico como la plena y salsa.

Para la creación del disco, Bad Bunny trabajó con un profesor universitario de historia latinoamericana y el Caribe. El profesor le aconsejó y ayudó a Bad Bunny a incorporar el contexto político en sus canciones y videos. Canciones como “Nueva Yol” contienen música de salsa y reggaetón,

KYARA ROMERO LIRA

dos estilos que fueron promovidos por artistas puertorriqueños. Además, la canción “Lo que pasó a Hawaii” trata de la colonización de Puerto Rico, un tema que ha sido controversial pero emergente en la nueva generación. La canción narra el cuento ficticio de un campesino que se muda de Puerto Rico debido a la subida de costos de vivir por el incremento de turistas, una situación muy real para los puertorriqueños. Bad

Bunny dejó claro para los oyentes del disco, que uno de los temas era de la colonización y gentrificación de Puerto Rico.

Aunque en los años anteriores y el inicio de su carrera, Bad Bunny no fue reconocido como una artista que promueve la justicia social. Empezó como una artista de música “trap”, un género de música caracterizada por su lírica y contenido explícito. Dianette Coombs, una profesora ju-

bilada de Blair y oriunda de Puerto Rico comentó que cuando se enteró de la existencia de Bad Bunny, “Al principio no me gustaba la música de él, porque usa un vocabulario no aceptable”.

Coombs continuó, “pero el último disco que tiró, me gusta porque está más relacionado con la cultura puertorriqueña”.

Una estudiante de Blair fanática de Bad Bunny, Jennifer Reyes, también comenta cómo ha cambiado

la música de Bad Bunny.

“Comparado con su primer álbum, [Debí tomar más fotos] es muy diferente… cuando el primer inicio siempre hablaba de Puerto Rico, pero ahora habla mucho mucho de PR”, dijo Reyes. “Creo que evolucionó a la persona que es porque muchas personas tenían sus dudas de él”.

Aunque mucho del mundo hispanohablante está celebrando el álbum, una controversia reciente ha surgido. Debido a la nueva administración de Trump y la intensificación de I.C.E en comunidades latinas, en su gira de conciertos, Bad Bunny decidió no pasar por los Estados Unidos. En vez de venir a EE UU, en su gira de conciertos hizo una residencia de 2 meses en Puerto Rico donde presentó 30 conciertos.

Reyes, que ha escuchado a Bad Bunny desde sus inicios artísticos, cuando anunció que no iba a venir a EE UU lo lamentó. “Yo estaba triste personalmente, pero ojalá tenga la oportunidad de verlo en los años que vienen.” dijo Reyes, “Aún así, creo que fue una buena cosa que hizo, para proteger a sus fans en Estados Unidos”.

EDITORES-EN-JEFE Kyara Romero Lira Tom Sparshott ESCRITORES Alena Ahn Camilla Chi Joaquin Contreras-Rushing Murilo Dos Santos Maria Espinal Kenai Fraizer Rayas Emmy Henriquez Tokyo Hopkins Santiago Jímènez Kristen Llerena Jacqueline Machado Garcia Edwin Medrano Anyeli Muñoz Rodriguez Emanuel Morales Arene Jocelyn Nolasco Fernandez Livia Rosenberg Candela Rubini Lafuente Priya Tapia-Pereira Stella Theisman Nate Viechnicki EDITORES DE ARTE Maria Espinal ARTISTAS Sophia Benitez Michelle Nee Heaven Meskelu Aleydis Romero EDITORA DE DISEÑO Adanna Akamigbo ASESORA Maria Eugenia Tanos

Obstáculos interrumpen la cultura Nuevas políticas cambian celebraciones Por JACQUELINE MACHADO GARCIA y JOCELYN NOLASCO FERNANDEZ

ar a la comunidad. Al apoyar la participación, incluso en formatos adaptados, y apoyarse mutuamente, la comunidad puede adaptarse y disfrutar de estas tradiciones, asegurando que se mantengan vivas a pesar de las presiones externas.

Los refuerzos de co-

laboración, como los de organizaciones locales y escuelas que promueven la conciencia cultural y los recursos necesarios, son una de las maneras de superar los efectos de estas políticas. Al convivir, las comunidades latinas suelen disfrutar de sus orígenes, fortalecer sus relaciones y seguir prosperando, afrontando los desafíos y preservando al mismo tiempo su valioso patrimonio cultural.

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siglas en inglés), que ayuda a familias de bajos recursos a complementar su presupuesto de alimentos.

En diciembre, las familias latinas suelen prepararse para celebrar la Navidad con alegría, comida tradicional y reuniones llenas de música y unión. Sin embargo, este año la situación económica ha cambiado por las nuevas políticas del gobierno estadounidense.

Estas medidas han impactado directamente la manera en que las comunidades latinas celebran las fiestas. Antes era común celebrar grandes reuniones familiares, decorar las casas, preparar su comida típica y compartir regalos. Ahora muchas familias tienen que reducir gastos, organizar celebraciones más pequeñas o incluso limitar los platillos tradicionales por su alto costo. Algunas familias tampoco podrán viajar o reunirse con sus seres queridos debido a la escasez de recursos.

Sin embargo, las comunidades latinas siguen siendo muy fuertes.

Iglesias, escuelas y organizaciones comunitarias ya han comenzado a recoger y distribuir en eventos solidarios la ayuda que necesitan las familias más vulnerables para seguir adelante con la vida y así continuar con la unión, la alegría y la esperanza tan navideñas y tan nuestras que la Navidad hispana nos deja.

Como la señora Davison afirma, estas medidas no detienen las celebraciones latinas, “Yo creo que es importante mantener nuestras culturas, nuestras tradiciones y celebrarlas porque es una manera de que nos da, especialmente a los estudiantes, una continuidad y un sentido de pertenencia”. Como comunidad, muchos están unidos para celebrar los eventos importantes para los hispanos y apoy-

KYARA ROM

El 24 y 25 de octubre de 2025, la escuela Montgomery Blair celebró su evento anual Voces Unidas, dedicado a honrar la herencia hispana. Este evento suele estar lleno de energía, con bailes como la bachata, el merengue y la cumbia, acompañados por canciones tradicionales de distintos países latinoamericanos. También incluye un colorido desfile de banderas y presentaciones de poesía.

En años anteriores, Voces Unidas se realizaba después del horario escolar. Era un espectáculo al que podían asistir los padres y miembros de la comunidad, quienes disfrutaban de una noche llena de música, danza y orgullo cultural.

Sin embargo, este año el evento fue diferente en parte debido a las nuevas políticas del gobierno estadounidense. La maestra de Blair, Sonnia Davison nos explica, “esta vez debido lastimosamente a redadas migratorias, los estudiantes y algunas familias se vieron afectadas y había cierto miedo y cierto temor”.

Bajo la ley conocida como el “Big Beautiful Bill” o “La Gran y Hermosa Ley” se destinarán más de 47 mil millones de dólares a la construcción del muro fronterizo y la contratación de más de 10 mil agentes de inmigración. Este aumento en el personal del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés) ha resultado en redadas masivas en vecindarios y lugares públicos como calles, cortes e incluso cerca de viviendas y lugares de trabajo.

Según el Centro Nacional de Justicia para Inmigrantes, estas me-

didas han generado un ambiente de miedo e inseguridad en las comunidades hispanas, afectando su bienestar y su percepción de seguridad. Como consecuencia, el evento Voces Unidas fue trasladado al horario escolar, realizándose durante el séptimo y octavo período. Los maestros tuvieron la oportunidad de inscribir sus clases para asistir al espectáculo. Al respecto, Salomé Bentacur, una de las participantes, compartió su opinión sobre el cambio, “el cambio de horario afectó a la comunidad latina porque el evento se quería hacer para que los padres lo vieran, no solamente los estudiantes, para que vieran la honra de sus lazos y raíces culturales”.

Sin embargo, Voces Unidas no es la única celebración afectada por las nuevas políticas y la administración del gobierno actual. Se especula que este año también podría verse impactada la celebración de Navidad en muchas familias latinas debido a los despidos masivos impulsados por el gobierno. La administración de Trump justificó estos despidos bajo el argumento de aumentar la eficiencia gubernamental y eliminar programas o ideologías que consideraba innecesarios, como los relacionados con la ecología o el gasto social. Se han reportado despidos masivos en departamentos como Estado, Sanidad, Educación, Tesoro y Vivienda, sumando aproximadamente 300,000 empleados federales afectados.

Estas medidas podrían limitar las celebraciones de muchas familias latinas que dependen de esos ingresos. Además, el gobierno también canceló la financiación del Programa de Asistencia Nutricional Suplementaria (SNAP, por sus

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Lingüística con Nate Por

NATE VIECHNICKI

el 10 de diciembre de 2025 La Esquina Latina C6

Preservando el pasado para crear el futuro

En la región más austral de América sobreviven los últimos ecos de algunos de los idio- Por ANYELI MUÑOZ mas más complejos del munRODRIGUEZ do: el Selk’nam, el Yagán y el Desde tiempos antiguos, Kawésqar, los últimos de los lenguajes indígenas patagónicos. el pueblo maya ha conservaDurante más de un siglo, estos do su identidad a través del idiomas fueron declarados “ex- conocimiento, el arte y la cotinguidos” en discursos oficiales munidad. El Club Maya de chilenos, ignorando a las familias Blair surge con la misión de y comunidades que continuaron rescatar y promover esa hertransmitiendo fragmentos, cantos encia milenaria.

El Club Maya nace como y palabras. Hoy, la narrativa está FOTO PARA SELVIN VAIL cambiando: Tierra del Fuego un espacio dedicado a que comienza a escuchar las voces estudiantes de distintas Mes de la Historia de los Nativos Americanos Club Maya excursión al Kid mueseum que siempre estaban ahí. procedencias conozcan su en Bethesda El caso más emblemático es el pasado maya, lo valoren y que forma parte del club de Yucatán hay 4,5 mil- busca abrir una puerta hacia del pueblo Selk’nam. Su idioma, mantengan viva su lengua, es Selvin Vail Lopez, quien lones de habitantes de ori- la inclusión y la valoración el Selk’nam (también llamado sus costumbres y su senti- define el club con palabras gen maya que luchan por la de estas raíces. Además, en Ona), fue uno de los más golpea- do de orgullo y así poder como orgullo, identidad y supervivencia de su cultura la práctica, el vínculo con la dos por la colonización y la vio- compartirla y reforzar lazos. tradición. Para él, aprender y su idioma. Asimismo, in- tradición se manifiesta medilencia de fines del siglo XIX. Sin El patrocinador del club, el la cultura maya es “muy stituciones especializadas embargo, en los últimos años ha señor Carlos Landau, de- importante para ayudar a como la Casa de la Cultura ante actividades que permiresurgido gracias al trabajo de un scribe la misión del club descubrir una parte muy im- Maya promueven la edu- tan a los jóvenes “conectar” descendiente, lingüista y activista. como “preservar los idiomas portante de nuestras raíces. cación e investigación sobre con sus raíces: aprender Keyuk Yanten es uno de los hom- mayas y dar espacio a estudi- Este club le ayuda a no todas las expresiones so- palabras del idioma, combres que más seriamente ha es- antes de herencia maya y de olvidar de dónde viene y de ciales, artísticas, religiosas y partir con compañeros de tudiado y aprendido el Selk’nam. mostrar orgullo”. Él señala estar orgullosa de sus raíces políticas de la cultura maya. herencia maya y no maya, y afirmar que participar no reA través de talleres, registros co- que uno de los desafíos es y de cultura”. Destaca que Un componente clave de quiere descendencia directa munitarios y proyectos educati- la conexión que los estudi- el proyecto, “el club busca la identidad maya es el idiovos, Yanten, junto con otros co- antes tienen con su heren- fortalecer el orgullo por las ma como herramienta para sino interés genuino. Como señala el señor Landau, laboradores, ha demostrado que cia. Algunos conocen alguna raíces mayas en las nuevas propagar sus creencias y sus “quiero que todos sepan que una lengua puede renacer aun palabra, otros no dominan generaciones”. valores. En Guatemala, por esto no tiene que ver con el cuando los libros la declararon las lenguas, pero saben que Esta iniciativa cobra may- ejemplo, el reconocimiento nivel académico del estudiperdida. sus raíces son mayas. Esta or relevancia en el contexto Desde su niñez en Santiago, a desconexión conduce a que más amplio de la cultura de los pueblos indígenas in- ante o su involucración en cluye más de veinte lenguas otras actividades de la escueYanten siempre le han fascinado no todos los estudiantes parmaya.

Las comunidades mamayas como oficiales, lo que la —este club es para todos los idiomas indígenas. Su padre había pasado parte de su infancia ticipen activamente en su yas enfrentan retos para que demuestra que este es un los estudiantes que quieren en la región de Arauco, donde cultura, y el club pretende su lengua y su identidad per- aspecto clave de la preser- aprender o conocer y podmanezcan vigentes. Según vación cultural. El Club er conectar con la herencia vive el pueblo Mapuche, la co- cambiar eso.

Uno de los estudiantes un reportaje de la cadena Maya destaca que cualquier maya y su importancia”. munidad indígena más grande de El valor de un club así Chile, y le enseñó a Keyuk su idi- de doceavo grado de Blair France 24, en la península estudiante puede participar, oma, el Mapudungun. Él decidió aprender el idioma Selk’nam al descubrir en su adolescencia que su madre tenía herencia indígena. Ya que Angela Loji, la última hablante del Selk’nam, se había muerto en el siglo XX, Yanten tenía que aprender del análisis lingüístico que leía en libros. Lo significativo para él era descubrir tigio civil. Aunque la unidad de la afirmación de género, visto para la atención de Por ALENA MARIA que el idioma de sus antepasados se unió a esta demanda reci- sin importar qué lado gane. afirmación de género para OLIVARES AHN representaba su perspectiva úniente para reivindicar la juris- En cambio, podría dejar a menores han establecido el ca como indígena. “Para mí, una dicción del estado, sacarán los jóvenes de la comunidad estado como un refugio sede las cosas más importantes del La Oficina del Fiscal a colación la protección de transgénero con incertidum- guro para ella. Sin embargo, idioma es su vocabulario relacio- General de Maryland se la atención de afirmación de bre y temor continuo. las órdenes ejecutivas surten nado con el amor”, Yanten dijo. unió a 16 otros fiscales ge- género durante la demanda efecto en cada estado. Un “En [el] estado “Las palabras cambian según la nerales en una demanda siempre que puedan. La actual de la naestudiedad, el sexo y el grado de par- contra la administración de administración Trump, por ante ción, nunca entesco de quienes las pronun- Trump. Intentan proteger cian, así como según la naturaleza los derechos de los estados otro lado, podría mantener se puede los asuntos separados. esperar del sentimiento.” y el acceso a la atención de “Los argumencon Su trabajo no solo busca re- afirmación de género. tos que la admingacuperar estructuras gramaticales El Fiscal General Brown istración o vocabularios, sino reconstruir se unió a la coalición de esla vida y la identidad Selk’nam, tados en la demanda el 1 ya que la tribu fue declarada ex- de agosto. La demanda tinta por el gobierno chileno a fi- responde a las órdenes nales del siglo XX. Cada palabra ejecutivas y las directivas rescatada trae una historia, y una de la administración que transrelación con la Tierra del Fuego. amenazaron con enjuicigénero de En este sentido, la revitalización amiento criminal contra Blair, Evian lingüística también es un proceso hospitales que proveen Guilfoyle, de sanación comunitaria: una for- atención para el cuidado relata sus exma de reparar la violencia históri- de menores transgénerperiencias con ca ejercida contra este pueblo.

M el acceso a la El resurgimiento del Selk’nam os. Los demandantes afir- ARIA atención de afirES ha inspirado esfuerzos similares man que la administración PIN mación de géneAL entre los Yaganes y los Kawésqar, obstruye inconstitucionalro en los últimos quienes también trabajan por mente la autoridad de los e cinco meses. documentar sus lenguas y trans- estados sobre la atención d n a s ha “Cuando estaba mitirlas a nuevas generaciones. médica y daña la salud Trump lo que comenzando el proceso de dado sobre el Como investigador lingüístico, pública.

“La práctica de la medici- asunto en demandas p u e d a conseguir mi [Terapia de Yanten también aprendió el idiop a s a r , Reemplazo Hormonal], lo ma Yagán de su última hablante, na es una área de autoridad similares no se han relaciocomo ante- hice por la oficina de mi Cristina Calderón, antes de que estatal que es reservada a los nado con la sustancia de la estados por la Décima En- atención de afirmación de riormente hacíamos”, dice psiquiatra, Children’s [Naella se muriera en el 2022.

Queda mucho por hacer. Fal- mienda, y la administración género”, dice Donelan. “A la psicóloga Labria Weaver, tional] Hospital”, dice Guiltan recursos, formación lingüísti- está tratando de…redefinir menudo, no se inclinan a quien trabaja como psicólo- foyle. “Todo estaba sucedica y mayor reconocimiento es- vastas franjas de la práctica defender los méritos de su ga educativa en Montgom- endo normalmente, pero tatal. Pero la voluntad está. Tierra médica de una manera que conducta y prefieren con- ery Blair HS. “No es justo un día recibimos un correo del Fuego, una tierra marcada por infringe los derechos del es- tar con argumentos juris- que nadie tenga miedo a electrónico que decía ‘lo ausencias y silencios, comienza a tado”, dice Jennifer Done- diccionales, diciendo que ser quienes son, o a hablar siento, ya no podemos ofrecuperar sus voces. Y al escucha- lan, la portavoz de la Oficina demandamos en el tribunal libremente sobre sus expe- recer la atención de afirequivocado, o no somos las riencias, o a querer ciertos mación de género’”. rlas, también recupera parte de del Fiscal General.

Dentro de la Oficina del partes correctas, en vez de derechos”.

Children’s National Hossu identidad. Los idiomas indíMientras la demanda pital, que tiene oficinas en genas son un aspecto indispens- Fiscal General, hay un equi- realmente intentar defender pasa por un proceso legal Maryland, Virginia y Washable de la identidad, y aunque los po de trabajo, la Unidad de lo que hacen como legal”.

Un argumento de índole extensivo, las órdenes ejec- ington DC, detuvo sus prodesafíos son enormes, el interés la Responsabilidad Federal académico y comunitario ha cre- (FAU, por sus siglas en in- técnica podría significar que utivas surten efecto mucho gramas de atención de afircido. Como dice Yanten, “Hay glés), dedicado a combatir el resultado de la demanda más rápidamente. Las pro- mación de género para los cosas que no se pueden decir en el exceso de intervención no abordará ninguna de las tecciones que el gobierno menores este año cuando el del gobierno federal en el li- preguntas sobre la atención estatal de Maryland ha pro- presidente Trump emitió su español”.

Maryland demanda a la administración de Trump

trasciende el aula, ya que promueve un sentido de comunidad, de pertenencia y permite que los estudiantes descubran la riqueza de una cultura milenaria que sigue viva. A la vez, contribuye a revertir la invisibilización o la pérdida de conocimiento que muchas veces afecta a las culturas originarias.

Como subraya el Señor Landau, “al mismo tiempo que fragmentan el respeto y la valoración de una cultura que sigue viva en el corazón de los estudiantes… Aquí es donde nace la idea de crear un club donde los estudiantes puedan saber un poco más de las raíces de sus padres”.

El Club Maya representa más que un espacio extracurricular: es un puente entre el pasado y el presente, entre la tradición y la juventud. Al invitar a todos los estudiantes a participar, promueve el respeto intercultural, la valoración de la identidad y el aprendizaje activo de una herencia viva.

Preservar la cultura maya no es sólo rescatar el pasado, es también fortalecer el futuro.

orden ejecutiva. El hospital no respondió a solicitudes de comentario. Guilfoyle dice que él ha experimentado un entorno de miedo respecto a la atención de afirmación de género. “[Mi psiquiatra] estaba dándome unas clínicas diferentes a las cuales podría ir en vez, y [para] uno de los lugares ella dijo que cuando llamáramos, necesitaríamos dar un código porque…todo es tan difícil [y] está en el aire”, explica Guilfoyle.

Ganar la demanda contra la administración de Trump no resolvería todas estas dificultades, pero sería un signo prometedor para los jóvenes transgéneros en medio del desprecio de la administración hacia la comunidad LGBTQ+. Independientemente del resultado de la demanda, la Oficina del Fiscal General y la Unidad de la Responsabilidad Federal seguirán comprometidas con proteger los proveedores médicos de la atención de afirmación de género.

“Espero que los practicantes de medicina vean que los estados están dispuestos a defender la legitimidad de la atención de afirmación de género cuando es médicamente necesario…para que no se sientan intimidados por las acciones de la administración”, dice la portavoz Donelan.

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December 10, 2025 Features D1/D2

Center Spread

This land is their land

Indigenous histories in the lands now called Maryland We acknowledge the lands and waters now known as Maryland are the home of its first peoples: the Accohannock Indian Tribe, Assateague People’s Tribe, Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians, Choptico Band of Indians, Lenape Tribe, Nanticoke Tribe, Nause-Waiwash Band of Indians, Piscataway Conoy Tribe, Piscataway Indian Nation, Pocomoke Indian Nation, Susquehannock Indians, Youghiogheny River Band of Shawnee, and tribes in the Chesapeake watershed who have seemingly vanished since the coming of colonialism. We acknowledge that this land is now home to other tribal peoples living here in the diaspora. We acknowledge the forced removal of many from the lands and waterways that nurtured them as kin. We acknowledge the degradation that continues to be wrought on the land and waters in pursuit of resources. We acknowledge the right of the land and waterways to heal so that they can continue to provide food and medicine for all. We acknowledge that it is our collective obligation to pursue policies and practices that respect the land and waters so that our reciprocal relationship with them can be fully restored.

This is the land acknowledgement that can be found on the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) website. It was created with the help of tribal peoples living in the lands now called Maryland, and it is used to recognize the rich histories and connections that Indigenous peoples have with the lands. If you are surprised that this list is that extensive, or that there even are Indigenous peoples still living in Maryland, you are not alone. “If you ask any random person—I was this random person for a time—‘Where are the tribal people in Maryland?’ The assumption is that … tribal folks are in the history books,” State Folklorist Ryan Koons says. As the State Folklorist, it is Koons’ job to help Maryland communities preserve their cultural practices. “‘They were here.’ It’s all narrated inaccurately—as past tense—when in fact, they have always been here,” he says. “They continue to be here.”

value. Native bridges and pathways marked the landscape, forming strong trade routes with northern regions and demonstrating the incredible interdependence of communities prior to colonization.

In the 1700s, perverse laws were designed to effectively erase the existence of Native people in Maryland, classifying any Native person with a drop of non-Native blood as “Other” under any census category. Thus, Indigenous peoples in Maryland—and around the country—lost many rights. Treaties went unrecognized, land was unlawfully stripped, cultural celebrations were oppressed, and Native life changed drastically. “Indigenous peoples are so disappeared,” Minner Jones says. “That’s part of the reason why the general public doesn’t know we’re here.”

Even today, the notion of Indigenous erasure still persists. Databases of missing women often fail to include information about Indigenous women in their data, documents about Native people use passive voice—making them seem less present, and a general lack of public knowledge leads to dangerous misconceptions surrounding the history and presence of Native people in the area. “Another part of erasure is the literature and the usage of the language, that passive voice … telling the public that this happened … rather than saying this is continuing to happen and it’s affecting a lot of these Indigenous communities throughout the Americas,” Autumn Powell, a University of Kansas PhD student and enrolled member of the Dine Nation, explains.

This misconception leads to the false impression that there is one type of so-called “Native American.” In reality, there is a large diversity of Indigenous groups, each with their own history and traditions. “Too often, the narrative that we tell is that there is one set of American Indians,” Koons says. “That is highly inaccurate. Tribal communities are as varied as, for example, Germany is from Australia, is from China, is from New Zealand.”

Revival of culture

An overview of tribal histories

RYAN KOONS

If you ask any random person---I was this random person for a time--‘Where are the tirbal people in Maryland?’ The assumption is that . . . tribal folks are in the history books. ‘They were here.’ It’s all narrated inaccurately--as past tense--when in fact, they have alwas been here.

They continue to be here.

It’s important to remember that in many ways, colonization started right around here. So the peoples [in the place now called] Maryland have been dealing with it longer than other people.

ASHELY MINNER JONES

Dating back over 10,000 years, the Chesapeake Bay region has been home to a diversity of Indigenous tribes. “Folks most often point to that very, extraordinarily rich immigrant culture of folks coming here from elsewhere and bringing their cultural traditions with them,” Koons says. “But we’re also extraordinarily lucky that the place now called Maryland has always been home to a very rich series of Indigenous cultural practices and relationships with lands, and the cultural wealth that tribal peoples maintain in Maryland is significant.”

The three major language groups in the area were the Algonquin, Iroquois, and Siouan, all of which were made up of multiple tribes. Most of the land in Maryland was claimed by Algonquin tribes. Many were coastal peoples who lived on or near the Chesapeake; however, most emigrated westward by the end of the 17th century due to tribal wars and colonial aggression. A fourth major group, the Powhatan Confederacy, was an alliance of Algonquin-speaking tribes that was the largest organized body of tribes in the Americas during early European settlement. “It’s important to remember that in many ways, colonization started right around here. So the peoples [in the place now known as] Maryland have been dealing with it longer than a lot of other people,” Ashley Minner Jones, an artist, folklorist, and enrolled citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, explains. Tribes and bands were present in most colonies, typically residing along the state’s many rivers, particularly in the Chesapeake area. In Maryland, for example, maps made by the group Indigenous Maryland show that the Piscataway people’s traditional lands can be found in the southern counties of Maryland, including Prince George’s, Charles, and St. Mary’s.

During the colonial period, tribes had a consistent relationship with the Maryland Charter, signing peace treaties and going to the capital of St. Mary’s City to file grievances and make complaints in courthouses.

Despite some successful trade with settlers, most tribes ultimately emigrated from the Eastern Shore of Maryland due to disease and unrest with Europeans. The Assateague and most of the Pocomoke and Nanticoke tribes left Maryland during this time period, some assimilating with tribes in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Later, in the mid-20th century, thousands of Lumbee Indians, along with other tribal groups seeking better job opportunities, moved to Baltimore and settled in an area around Upper Fells Point. So many Lumbee came to the area that Maryland is now home to the second-largest Lumbee population in the world after their traditional homelands in North Carolina, and this community has developed unique cultural traits that combine both Baltimorean and Lumbee culture. “There is a unique, new flavor of Lumbee that only exists here,” Minner Jones explains. “We don’t have an Indigenous language, just remnants of one or several, because we’re sort of the result of a bunch of diverse populations coalescing many years ago.”

The atmosphere of this area allowed for unique traditions to emerge. Dugout canoes, for example, were commonly used to navigate the many rivers in the Chesapeake region, and jewelry made from clam shells held significant traditional

As of the 2020 census, there were 128,650 people living in Maryland who self-identified as Native American or part Native American. The Baltimore Metro area, which is comprised of six counties including Baltimore County and Howard County, boasts the largest percentage of the state’s current Native population. Many efforts are underway to preserve and protect Native culture in Maryland in order to combat the Indigenous erasure that has been perpetuated over time.

One such initiative is the Beach to Bay Heritage Area, which is a state-certified heritage area on the Eastern Shore, working to preserve Indigenous cultures.

One of its recent projects was to reform the Beach to Bay Indian Trail, a recreation trail created in 1993 that did not actually reflect any history of the Native people of the area. Andre Nieto, a program specialist of the Beach to Bay Heritage Area, explains this process. “It was just cultural appropriation in the name of tourism,” he says. “We worked with the Pocomoke Indian Nation to rework the trails’ interpretive material, and came up with this guidebook, which really honors the Indigenous heritage of the lower Eastern Shore.” This was a long-awaited change—one that showed the power that lies in the accurate telling of history.

Another organization pushing for the preservation and celebration of Native culture is the Baltimore American Indian Center (BAIC). Founded in 1968 as the American Indian Study Center in response to the many Native Americans moving into the area surrounding the center, the BAIC aims to help Native families move into urban areas, and is also an important center of education on Native cultures and traditions. Each year, the BAIC hosts a pow-wow at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. In Native culture, a pow-wow is a large gathering that consists of dancing, singing, food, and traditional performances. They are important cultural events, often used as opportunities to pass down traditions from older to younger generations. The BAIC pow-wow offers this opportunity to the many Native peoples living in Maryland, facilitating the celebration of their cultures. Featuring tribal peoples from all over the state, the event is not limited to just Maryland tribes—at the BAIC pow-wow every year, there are also Cherokee and Tuscarora peoples in attendance, for example.

The indoor event comprises a large dance circle where regalia-clad attendees can perform various traditional dances, including fancy dance and grass dancing. Along the outside of the circle, there are chairs set up for people to sit and watch the performances—many bring their own from home and set up camp to stay awhile. On the outskirts of the event space, vendors are lined up along the walls selling various traditional crafts, such as birch bark hair cuffs and ribbon skirts, long dancing skirts with bits of ribbon attached to them. The intergenerationality is striking; the dance circle often includes toddlers and adults alike, dancing to the beat of the drums. This pow-wow has been up and running for 49 years, facilitating the celebration and preservation of Indigenous cultures in Maryland, and encouraging the passing of traditions between generations. Powell brought her classmates to the pow-wow to introduce them to the culture. “[We saw the] different booths there and dancers and singers,” she says. “[It was] kind of a community event to get together and everything. It was really

Story by: Sonya Del Pozo and Lucy Holland Art by: Jessica Hsieh Design by: Lucy Holland

nice.”

Along with the p o w - w o w , tribes have emphasized educating students in their local communities about Indigenous culture, common stereotypes, and traditional life skills. These lessons help ensure that future generations are aware of and understand the presence of Native peoples in their area. “The humanity of Native people, historically, has sort of gotten overwritten by what Hollywood has reflected as the savagery. It’s a much different story in truth than it is in fiction,” Pocomoke Indian Nation Councilmember Norris Howard says. “That’s really the essence of our mission: to reinvigorate [and] re-educate the public as to the truth of Native history on the Eastern Shore.” The Pocomoke Indian Nation recently created a mobile museum to bring to schools and teach both students and teachers about the history of the Pocomokes of the Eastern Shore.

Howard highlights the importance of sharing this curriculum with teachers.

“By educating the educators, we have been able to extend our voice much, much more widely, and that has been a big kick to our outreach,” he says.

This revitalization does not come without its challenges, especially for tribal communities on the East Coast. “The East was hit the hardest, because there’s a lot of tribes that lost their language, lost their culture … it’s kind of hard for them to do a lot of that revitalization [when they have] lost probably 80 percent of their cultural heritage,” Powell says.

Dealing with the bureaucracy

By 1000 B.C.E., there were around 40 tribes in Maryland. The Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs (MCIA) now recognizes and serves eight tribes. Three of them, the Piscataway Conoy Tribe, the Piscataway Indian Nation, and the Accohannock Indian Tribe, are state-recognized. None are federally recognized. State recognition essentially means that the government of the state of Maryland recognizes a tribal government as a sovereign entity, giving that government the power to generate its own laws and access certain special healthcare and educational resources. Federal recognition means that the government of the United States recognizes a tribal government as a sovereign entity—able to govern their own people and enforce their own laws. In addition, federally recognized tribes gain access to certain resources, such as the Indian Health Service.

It is important to note that not having official state or federal recognition does not make a tribe’s identity any less legitimate. “This narrative of authenticity is dangerous. It ignores a whole series of histories,” Koons cautions. “For example, the U.S. federal government engaged in a practice called termination in the ‘50s, where tribes that had federal recognition … [were] terminated. Some tribes have managed to get it back. Many have not. They are therefore unrecognized.”

After receiving state recognition in 2012, the Piscataway Conoy Tribe and the Piscataway Indian Nation decided not to pursue federal recognition because the arduous process did not represent a meaningful addition to their identity. “A lot of tribes don’t necessarily seek it out because they feel that they don’t need to have official state recognition to know who they are,” Nieto says.

Instead, many tribes—regardless of their recognition status—work with state and local governments to preserve their heritage in public locations—particularly ones that have been misrepresented. On Nov. 12, a historic roadside marker at the Worcester County Visitor Center was unveiled. “[The Pocomoke Indian Nation has] been working with the Department of Transportation to make sure they get an accurate sign telling that this was their historic homelands and that they’re still here,” Nieto says.

This is one of many efforts that have sought to remind all Marylanders that they are not the sole inhabitors of this land. Having persisted through the many attempts to erase both their histories and impacts with and on these lands now called Maryland, the state’s Native peoples maintain a unique joy and connection with each other, their cultures, and their environment. “They all don’t speak the same language. They all have their own histories and stories to tell. They are all still here and they are still active,” Nieto says.

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FEATURES December 10, 2025

The making of an advocate

Jesse Hahnel’s journey into the world of education equity

By HOPE FAYE DOWD

Before he became a national voice for education reform, 1994 Blair alumnus Jesse Hahnel was a student occupying the same hallways as today’s Blazers. Hahnel now serves as an executive-level social justice leader—fueled by a passion for equity that grew under the influence of his mother. “My mom was a teacher in Montgomery County Public Schools and a big education equity advocate. I grew up … really believing that education was incredibly important, but also incredibly inequitable,” Hahnel says. By the time he graduated from Blair, Hahnel already knew he wanted to help change that.

When Hahnel walked through the hallways of Blair in the ‘90s, he was full of ambition, surrounded by a community that valued curiosity, diversity, and drive—ideas that would shape his life after high school. He credits Blair not only with preparing him academically but also with teaching him what being part of a community is like. “In terms of just being in a big school that was very diverse, that’s kind of what life is like. I felt much better prepared when I went to college, and when I started my career,” Hahnel says.

Surrounded by a diverse and hardworking student body, Hahnel’s interest in education grew. Hahnel notes the importance of heterogeneity among students.

“You can get a great education at

a bunch of private schools, but they’re private schools, and the people who go there are pretty homogeneous,” he says. “Whereas Blair has people like immigrants from all over the world, people speaking a thousand different languages, and great academics.”

After graduating from Blair, Hahnel pursued higher education with the same focus and determination from his time in high school.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in math at Harvard University, and then went on to study law at University of California Berkeley, Harvard Law School, and Stanford Law School. Each step prepared him for a career in education and social justice, as Hahnel would later set out to improve the education system and advocate for kids who lacked the same academic and personal support he experienced at Blair.

In 1998, Hahnel began teaching eighth grade at Ron Brown Middle School in Washington, D.C. A few years later, he moved to New York City to work at Louis D. Brandeis Public High School as a math teacher.

After Brandeis, Hahnel began searching for a way to make an even bigger impact. In 2009, he founded FosterEd, a program that works for child welfare and high-quality education opportunities for foster children. FosterEd targets the education opportunity gap and works to ensure all children have equal opportunities regardless of familial

circumstance. “I founded Foster Ed to try to improve the educational outcomes of young people in foster care,” Hahnel says. “FosterEd was an attempt to try to make sure

home, their schools are constantly changing and they are repeatedly placed in the wrong classes. This system greatly limits their educational opportunities. Many of them are told they cannot graduate since

PHOTO COURTESY OF JESSE HAHNEL

[foster children] got the opportunities they needed to actually graduate high school and go on to college or career.”

Hahnel explains that since foster kids are moved from home to

they do not receive credits for their classes that are interrupted and switched around. Through partnerships with schools, social workers, and policymakers, FosterEd has

made an impact nationwide and has become a model for educational equity in the foster system.

After FosterEd, Hahnel worked as the executive director at the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL). NYCL is a non-profit organization that uses impact litigation and policy advocacy to fight for low income and minority children.

They specifically target education, health, immigration, foster care, and systemic youth justice.

Today, Hahnel serves as Program Director for Democracy and Environment at the Crankstart Foundation, where he works to advance equity on economic, educational, and justice issues.

Crankstart, founded in 2000, is a San Francisco-based foundation that works to promote low-income communities, proper education for all, advance housing security, and promote environmental health and scientific innovation.

Despite his success, Hahnel has never lost sight of the people at the heart of his mission: the students.

Hahnel continues to devote his career to work in education, social justice and making sure all students receive the best education possible.

His experiences at Blair were crucial to his career path and shaped him as a person. “It just was a great place to grow and learn and be surrounded by awesome people,” he concludes.

Racist incidents persist in the county

By LEYA FEDAKU and ALICE LEVINGS

“It was sort of an out-of-body experience,” Thomas S. Wootton teacher Freda Jones, who witnessed 1,000 sheets of paper printed with the N-word in her classroom on May 15, 2025, says. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing—just the sheer number of papers [with the N-word being] printed out,” Jones says.

Police Department, the county reported 382 unclassified hate incidents in 2020, while over 900 incidents were reported in 2024. The county also accounts for 52 percent of these reports, with 484 in the past year.

Black Student Union Co-President and Wootton senior Urielle Ngako reports that she feels unsafe in her school environment following these incidents, fearing she could also become the victim of racially charged attacks. “You never

GRAPHIC BY MOLLY BREEN AND ALICE LEVINGS

This is neither the first nor the most extreme case of racially motivated incidents in MCPS, and the frequency of incident reports from students and faculty has been increasing in Montgomery County.

According to hate and bias surveys conducted by the Maryland State

senior shirts were printed with letters and numbers that resembled the N-word. “At Sherwood, there’ve been three other incidents in the span of the last school year, and they had to send out messages because people were using the N-word,” Sherwood junior Rember Burthy says. “Hearing that, especially as a Black person, doesn’t make me feel good, and it’s kind of just exhausting.” That same afternoon, MCPS issued a statement apologizing for the T-shirt design,

DATA COURTESY OF MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE

think there would be anyone who would have hatred to that level, and finding out that someone in your school community, who walks the same halls as you every day, feels that way, is so unsettling,” says Ngako.

In October 2025, a similar incident occurred at Sherwood when

though debate among students and staff over its intended meaning continues.

At Blair, concerns about racial insensitivity have also surfaced.

Incidents of racist slurs being inscribed into students’ desks and used casually in conversation have become more noticeable, prompt-

ing Principal Damon Monteleone to address the issue in a formal announcement on Oct. 3.

Previously, Monteleone announced that students could not wear face coverings, such as ski masks, for a DMV-themed spirit day in September. For Blair junior Kahmyah Yirenkyi, who is Black, this announcement led to an interaction that made her feel targeted.

“When [the principal] announced that, it felt like my entire class started laughing at me and said, ‘Kahmyah and Paul have to worry about that,’” Yirenkyi says. “They assumed that because of my skin color, I already dress like a hoodlum.”

Other hate and bias incidents include the use of slurs and gestures, but these can be harder to enforce as there is often little concrete evidence of their occurrence.

These incidents are also rarely reported, and increase the risk of larger issues. “The reporting process also depends heavily on students’ willingness to come forward.

Many harmed students or families hesitate to report because of fear of retaliation, distrust of adults, concerns about being labeled ‘sensitive’, or the belief that nothing will happen,” Executive Director of MCPS Department of Equity, Melaika Brown writes in an email to Silver Chips. “When reporting is delayed or incomplete, investigations become harder and less conclusive, which affects enforcement.”

MCPS has many initiatives to combat these issues, including posting the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, administering a Culture of Respect Train-

ing on reporting incidents, alerting students to their rights, and implementing a tiered system for responding to hate-bias incidents that uses a restorative approach. However, some students feel like these initiatives do not resolve current racial issues. “The consequences aren’t severe enough to make a real impact,” Ngako says. “There’s no real incentive for [offenders] to stop and rethink their actions.”

Toftaa Fedhaa, a Blair junior and junior officer for the Minority Scholars Program (MSP), cites this as a lack of education around cultural understanding and respect.

While Blair and other MCPS schools have clubs such as MSP that promote cultural awareness, Fedhaa says that it is essential for teachers to help guide students. “In MSP, we work to uplift minorities and create a safe place for them, so we build that trust and respect in each other,” Fedhaa says. “It’s hard to create that initiative for other students not in the club, though … teachers can educate everyone.”

Despite the county’s promotion of equity and inclusion, students of color still report facing discrimination in MCPS, contributing to a hostile learning environment.

Brown acknowledges the difficulty of addressing these incidents effectively. “[There is] complexity in the system, the sensitivity of the incidents, and the high emotional stakes for students, families, and staff,” she explains. “These are precisely the areas the equity office works to address.”

silverchips

From academics to activism

December 10, 2025 Features D4

Successful worldwide Gen Z protests

By LARK JEFFERS and LEYA FEKADU In a world increasingly strained by political and social chaos, a new wave of student-led protests is rising worldwide, each movement inspired by the last. These young activists are raising their voices and pushing for change, fueled by hope for the future and frustration at what older generations have failed to accomplish. They prove that the future of change lies in passionate youth who seek to elevate their country and demand justice amid societal inequity.

Chile

Starting in 2019, Chilean students led what has become known globally as a “social outburst,” as Gen Z citizens united to fight social and political issues. The protests began in response to an increase in subway fares nationwide and expanded to address inequality, high living costs, and corruption in a government still operating under a dictatorship-era constitution. “There was [a] social uprising here where people left their homes to demonstrate … because of the many injustices that had been happening for a long time,” Chilean student protester Colomba Rivera says. “One day they just exploded, and everyone went out into the streets.”

In October 2019, one of Chile’s largest protests in history took place, with around one million participants. The movement grew broader than just the youth that started it, though police crackdowns made peaceful protests difficult, with officers often turning violent toward demonstrators. This pattern of force has continued in many Chilean protests, not just student-led ones.

In 2020, the International Women’s Day march quickly turned violent as government and police troops were dispatched. “On March 8, there was a planned protest [for International Women’s Day] that happens every year. It’s never violent. It’s actually a very safe space where there are families, girls, boys, and women,” Rivera explains.

“There’s no need to use violence or fear, but they use[d] tear gas … they spray[ed] water very strongly and scare[d] you, it [was] very unpleasant.”

Despite these challenges, students continued to protest, frustrated by what they viewed as ongoing government disregard. In 2023, a new constitution was proposed during a constitutional convention to address the issues raised by protesters, but was rejected by voters.

Rivera advises protesters not to feel discouraged if change does not happen immediately. “Some might say, ‘I don’t think they’re making any change with it,’ and I don’t think that’s the case. You have to demonstrate, you have to exist—it’s a part of life,” she says.

Serbia

On Nov. 1, 2024, a newly built glass canopy at a railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia collapsed, killing 16 people, including two children. This incident raised questions— both within Serbia and worldwide—about why a brand-new canopy would collapse and who should be held accountable.

Serbian citizens attempted to pay respects to the victims, but were met with forceful police efforts to stop them.

“People began gathering at crossroads for 16 minutes every day, one minute for each life lost, simply to show respect,” university student protester Filip Duranovic says. “Instead of supporting that, the government reacted defensively, sending groups to provoke incidents and create chaos so they could discredit peaceful gatherings. That’s when people realized how deeply the system was resisting accountability.”

Students quickly emerged as key organizers. The largest demonstration, held in Belgrade on Dec. 22, 2024, drew more than 100,000 people. Students held nighttime meetings in town halls to organize protests, with computer science students developing encrypted communication methods, law students helping detained protesters, and medical volunteers treating those who were injured.

Students involved in the protests often felt energized by public response to the movement. “I personally walked from Belgrade to Novi Sad—80 kilometers [50 miles]—with the student movement. Along the way, people came out of their homes crying, hugging us, giving us food, thanking us,” Duranovic shares. “For the first time in a long time, people felt hope and believed

things could be different politically.”

While protesters pushed for early elections to unseat the current government, their demands have yet to be met. Still, the upcoming 2027 election might bring the change many young Serbians have been fighting for.

“After almost a year of nonstop protests, people are tired,” Duranovic says. “But politically, something irreversible already happened. Public opinion shifted, fear broke, and people became aware of their power.

The next step is elections, and I think Serbia is closer than ever to major political change.”

Nepal

In Nepal, a movement under the hashtags #NepoBaby and #NepoKid spurred frustrated Gen Z citizens.

The campaign exposed the unfair lives of government officials who used public resources for their private luxuries, while many many citizens of Nepal—especially those aged 15-24—faced job insecurities and economic instability. “Nepal has so many natural resources and a hardworking population, but our potential keeps getting wasted because politicians have exploited the ordinary population of Nepal for generations, and also because of mismanagement and money being embezzled instead of being used for development,” Nepali student protester Hridika Acharya says.

Tensions escalated on Sept. 4, 2025, when the government shut down social media—including commonly used messaging platforms WhatsApp and Instagram— which many believed was a move to LEYA FEKADU silence resistance. “The government tried to act like they were listening, but there was also a lot of subtle push back such as deleting social media posts, controlling narratives, and even intimidating some of the vocal youth leaders,” Acharya says.

This censorship incited youth-led protests.

Demonstrations turned violent, with protesters setting fire to the parliament building in the capital city of Kathmandu—a move which resulted in former Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation the next day.

Since then, there has been a flood of other student groups around the globe who have taken inspiration from Nepal to uncover injustice in their own countries. “This isn’t just about Nepal,” Acharya says. “Around the world, young people are realizing that poor leadership and corruption aren’t just normal parts of politics. They’re taking action and demanding better, and that’s what this movement was really about.”

Madagascar

Starting in September, students in Madagascar took inspiration from the movement in Nepal to combat hardships they were experiencing in their own country. Madagascar has had a long, persistent issue with power and water outages, which frustrated many citizens. The issue evolved into broader complaints of political corruption and calls for political reform under the rule of former President Andry Rajoelina. “Nepal inspired the Malagasy population a few weeks later because everyone was tired of the government’s corruption and the lack of water and electricity,” Malagasy student protester Tskiy Dilivo says. “It was tense between the people and the law enforcement. The authorities were extremely violent, and that violence became the spark that motivated the protesters to keep going every day until we won this fight.”

A grassroots group called “Gen Z Madagascar” formed online, using Discord and Facebook to coordinate protests. Nepali protesters supported their efforts by joining these platforms and offering tips for protesting. While the Malagasy government responded negatively to the protests, Rajoelina soon fled the country to Dubai.

Looking toward the future of their country, protesters are optimistic, but remain aware of the work that still needs to be done.

“We are in the process of rebuilding our country, which has been stuck in a deep crisis for the past 16 years. There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but we are determined to move forward,” Dilivio says.

Dilivo encourages students around the world to go out and fight for the change they wish to see. “The time is now, if you want it, go and get it,” he says. “It’s our world, and it’s our total responsibility to create a dream world where everything is correct.”

D5 Features December 10, 2025

Ter-porters start the presses

silverchips

UMD Local Network continues to thrive

By MARCELA MASON-RODDRIGUEZ and HANA SOR To combat the decline of local news coverage, the University of Maryland’s Phillip Merrill College of Journalism started the Local News Network (LNN), a program

listings. They didn’t look at the auto ads that we used to run, because they weren’t there anymore.

They migrated to the web.”

The decline of local news is increasingly concerning because of its far-reaching consequences.

Kushboo Rathore, an alumnus of Merrill College, explains that the

fessional journalist since 1982, he leads as many as 100 students per semester in writing stories ranging from local news coverage to articles featured in The Washington Post.

Zremski’s approach to teaching offers hands-on experience, giving students the opportunity to work on real projects and articles.

newspapers closing,” Sam Gauntt, a reporter for the program, says.

“Hundreds of counties don’t have a single dedicated local source anymore.”

Aside from its benefits to local networks, the initiative is a great opportunity for students to develop

The network actually runs an internship program that helps jumpstart your career in journalism. I did that this summer, and that was a really good experience.

SAM GAUNTT

it has expanded as more students got involved. “We started with the concept in one class … but inevitably, we needed more students, so Professor Zremski immediately reached out to all the other Journalism 320 classes,” Lorente says.

To get the team up and running, Lorente collaborated with Zremski and the Andrew and Julie Klingenstein Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to education and health causes.

Since its inception, the LNN has received widespread support from both the college of journalism and local news outlets. Students in the program are often paired with their hometown newspapers, which allows a more personalized approach and spreads the LNN’s reach across different states.“I survey all the students … and I find out where they’re from, and I try to get them to do volunteer work for local news organizations,” Zremski explains. “For example, if [Blair students] were to come, [they would] probably cover Montgomery County or Silver Spring for this publication in Takoma Park.”

In addition to producing five clips—published samples of their work—students at the network must write for their individually assigned outlets while collaborating on a larger investigative project each semester. “We try to take on a proj-

journalistic competence before entering the workforce. In addition to the projects they take on every year, students who participate in the LNN are offered a variety of internships throughout their junior and senior years through the network’s mentoring program. “The network actually runs an internship program that helps jumpstart your career in journalism,” Gauntt says.

“I did that this summer, and that was a really good experience.”

Though the local news landscape remains uncertain, hope is not lost for journalism. Job satis-

JERRY ZREMSKI

ALL PHOTOS BY LILA SHAW JERRY ZREMSKI Students participating in the strikes wear gags to protest inaction while continuing their education aimed at providing local news to decline of local news is as damaging reporting outlets throughout Mary- to communities as it is to the outlets “Here at Merrill College, we have land and beyond by connecting themselves. “It creates a very disen- what we call a teaching-hospital them with student journalists. gaged society—both disengaged in Every year, local news reporting their community and disengaged in becomes significantly more scarce their politics,” she says. as newspapers shut down and the Dean of the Merrill College number of journalists dwindles. Rafael Lorente explains that when This decline has persisted for over local news is cut back, citizens lose 20 years, expedited by the rise of a crucial source of information the internet and social media. Less about their communities. “We than 25 years ago, the U.S. averaged know less about what’s going on approximately 40 journalists per around us,” Lorente says. “And 100,000 residents. This has now that inevitably not only makes us fallen to a meager 8.2—a 75 per- less informed when we go to vote cent decline. Since 2016, approxior when we make decisions, but it mately 40 percent of all local news also means that we’re more likely to polarize and see differences between each other than we are to see Classified ads used the commonalities.” to be the heart and When local news is present, individuals are more likely to fosoul of newspaper cus on common issues rather than economics. party lines, uniting people over a range of political beliefs. “Local news is the one place where libernetworks across the country have als, conservatives, [and] people of disappeared. What started as news- all sort of beliefs mostly agree on paper closures due to decreased what they want locally,” Lorente THE DIAMONDBACK Head of the Local News Network Jerry Zremski and Dean of the UMD Phillip Merrill College of Journalism looking at their student published newspaper. revenue from advertisements and says. “They may not agree on how subscriptions has only worsened to do it, right? But it’s not a liberal ect that no one organization could faction in journalists has increased due to the pandemic and the domi- or conservative issue that ‘I want approach to teaching journalism,” do on its own,” Zremski says. “In in the past few years, and journalmy streets paved or that I want a Zremski says. “If you’re a journalnance of online platforms. that way, we can produce a project ism students are increasingly likely Jerry Zremski, who leads the safe school or a good police depart- ism student here, you are practicing that news outlets from all across the to graduate with a college degree. journalism. You are learning as you LNN, believes that one of the main ment.’” state can publish, or at least publish Meanwhile, local journalism resources of this decline is the sharp While it is important to rebuild go. You are producing stories.” parts of it that are relevant to them.” mains the backbone of American drop in classified ads. “Classified local networks for the sake of comThese collaborative projects media, though many reporting outads used to be the heart and soul munity identity and shared under- It’s just not realistic are especially helpful to outlets with lets are switching to a digital model of newspaper economics … there standing, Rathore argues that doing to rebuild every sinfewer resources or funding. “One for increased accessibility. Reports were people who had subscribed so through individual publications of the key things that the LNN has show that approximately 74 percent gle local news orgato the newspaper and never read it, is unrealistic. “Unfortunately, it’s been able to do is provide a lot of of Americans have “a lot of” or but they wanted to read the classi- just not realistic to rebuild every nization that exists. these new deserts across the state “some” trust in their local news orBut it is possible to fied [ads], because they wanted to single local news organization that with further resources and addi- ganizations, and 85 percent believe shop for this or that,” Zremski says. exists,” she says. “But it is possible add … backing ortional coverage that … the news that local news coverage is import“Once Craigslist came along, those to add … backing organizations to ganizations to help publications in those areas may not ant to their community. classifieds started going away.” help support the smaller papers in support the smaller be able to fulfill because of their Through initiatives like the Search engines—such as Google— their local publications.” size,” Rathore says. papers in their local LNN, these local outlets are able with wider reach and search capaFirst brought in to direct The LNN serves as an aid, to continue informing citizens nabilities, have also sped up the shift. the initiative when he became a publications. strengthening networks across the tionwide, serving as a pillar of their “People started looking online if lecturer at Merrill College in July state.

“It helps fill the gap of en- communities and keeping the spirit they wanted to shop for something,” 2022, Zremski now devotes his terprise reporting in Maryland that of journalism alive.

Launched in July 2022, the Zremski says. “They didn’t buy the time to teaching and mentoring LNN program started small, but comes from new staff shrinking and Saturday paper to see the housing undergraduate students. A pro-

KUSHBOO RATHORE

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silverchips

CU L T U R E December 10, 2025

Spill the tea

The controversy of anonymous apps

A LUC

ER

ESS

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

A young woman opens the Tea Dating Advice app on her phone.

She has finally been accepted—two weeks after submitting a photo of herself to verify that she is, in fact, a woman. Her screen opens to a series of photos of men, each smiling—unaware of the dozens of belittling comments beneath their posts. “Liar. Manipulator.

Cheater,” one reads. The woman scrolls down. She spots the face and name of a man she has been interested in and sees that 12 women have given him red flags.

Her stomach drops.

Over the past few months, anonymous social media platforms like the Tea app have gained remarkable popularity. In July, the app reached number one on the App Store, and downloads increased by 525 percent over the summer to reach a total of 6.2 million female users. Created by founder Sean Cook and made public in 2023, the app quickly gained traction on TikTok. According to its website, the app’s mission is to “revolutionize dating safety by equipping women with cutting-edge tools, real-time insights, and a powerful community to navigate the modern dating world with confidence and control.”

Since its inception, the Tea app has become an online version of a whisper network—spaces where women spread information about sexual assault and warn each other about potentially dangerous men.

These networks have existed for decades—particularly in workplace settings—but expanded dramatically following the #MeToo movement in 2017, as women spoke out about their experiences of sexual harassment and assault.

In an era of online dating, it can be hard to know if the person you’re talking to is who they present themselves to be. With features like catfish image searches, an AI program that spots fake profiles, and sex offender and criminal record searches, the Tea app can provide women with some reassurance that they are safe going on a date with someone they have never met.

To access the female-only app, women must first submit a photo of themselves and wait to be verified by AI-powered software.

Once verified, users can anonymously post a man’s image, name,

age, and general location, along with a caption requesting information or detailing their own experiences with him. Women can also assign red and green flags to the men on their feed.

These flags, at one point helpful in warning women, have evolved into a strategy to destroy reputations. Unlike other platforms where names are attached, posts on the Tea app cannot be traced back to the user.

Douglas Jimenez, an AP Psychology teacher at Blair, explains that the anonymity on social media often empowers users to post whatever they want—true or not—without any social consequence.“In anonymity, there’s no accountability for what they say, so that just emboldens people to just say things that might not be true,” Jimenez says. “For some people [posted], it could just be a mild annoyance, but for other people, it could be absolutely life-ruining.”

High school and college students are already experiencing the issues associated with user anonymity. “Some of the stuff I’ve seen has been blown out of proportion,” Adan, a senior at Walt Whitman, says.

“More people comment about them than should. So it could be the same people [commenting on] the same account or people just repeating stuff that they’ve heard [but have] not even experienced.”

When Adan found out that he was posted on the Tea app, he initially thought it was funny, since most comments were positive.

But the post soon began affecting his life. “One hundred percent, I think it has made a little bit of an impact,” Adan says. “A few [girls] I was talking to asked me about it.

[One girl] took it way more seriously than it should have been … because of one thing that one comment said.”

Posts and comments on the app can seep into people’s personal lives, affecting their relationships and self-confidence. “I know a bunch of people who go to my school that have horrible ratings, and people will stay away from them on purpose because of that,” Adan says.

Addison Congleton, a junior at Clemson University, faced a similar experience when a user on the app alleged that her boyfriend had cheated on her. “[My

Some of the comments were just cyberbullying. It wasn’t warning potential new girls about him ... It was an outlet to be mean.

ADDISON CONGLETON

By CELIA MAX

friend] called me, upset because someone had claimed on the app that they had gotten with my boyfriend recently,” Congleton says.

“She thought … that he was cheating on me.” After talking to her boyfriend, he confirmed that what was said on the app was a lie. “He does have some girls at Clemson that don’t like him at all,” Congleton says. “So basically, they were just trying to get us to break up.”

But the comments on the app quickly escalated from rumors to insults directed at her boyfriend.

“There were a lot of mean comments,” Congleton says. “Some of the comments were just cyberbullying. It wasn’t warning potential new girls about him; it was calling him short or talking about his body. It was an outlet to be mean … I could tell it definitely hurt his feelings.”

Despite the prevalence of these negative posts and comments, the Tea app is not held responsible for what its users post. In 1996, Congress passed legislation protecting websites and apps from becoming liable for what users say on their sites. Following a major data breach in July, in which hackers leaked approximately 72,000 images alongside government IDs and verification selfies, the Tea app lost many users and was subsequently removed from the App Store.

The rising popularity of anonymous social media sites reflects a growing issue: a widening gap between what is perceived as acceptable to say in real life versus on the internet, and a detachment from the real-world consequences that words can have. Many users believe that reforms are necessary to make anonymous social media sites less harmful and hold users accountable. “I think they could put parameters in like Instagram does on comments,” Congleton says. “Something that’s just straight up bullying—like ‘He’s ugly’—could [be banned while] still allowing personal stories of [women’s] experiences with the guys.”

Kiya’s Kravings

By KIYA TIRUNEH Throughout the Washington, D.C. area, pieces of Mexican culture peek out in colorful ways. Whether it’s live music at the Wharf on Día de los Muertos or taco trucks serving steaming piles of al pastor and carne asada late into the night, these capsules of rich history and tradition serve as a home for some and an entry for all. Among them is Cielo Rojo—one of the newest, most popular restaurants in Takoma Park, located right next to the Takoma Park Fire Station.

David Perez and Carolina McCandless, the founders of Cielo Rojo, fell in love over their shared passions for Mexican food, mezcal, movies, and the outdoors. After moving back to Takoma Park with the intention to start a restaurant of their own, they serendipitously came across the current space and opened the restaurant in 2018. Bridging their love for family and food, they created a space that showcases Mexican cuisine and their classic mezcal, serving as “a place where friends [and] family can come together to nourish themselves with the beauty of food, community, [and] mezcal,” according to Cielo Rojo.

Upon entering Cielo Rojo, I was immediately enveloped by the ambient chatter and low hums of laughter that filled the outdoor dining space. Passing through an earth-toned rustic door, I was not only greeted by the hostess at the front desk, but also bright beams of light that poured through the window-lined walls and into the room.

Splashes of burnt orange, red, and cream decorated the walls, adorned with intricate paintings complementing the color scheme. Vibrant green plants and succulents draped from mounts on the wall, bringing the atmosphere to life. Hung from the ceiling were bohemian-style chandeliers reminiscent of tumbleweeds and white flags displaying the Cielo Rojo logo.

The table was soon covered with an assortment of dishes, starting with guacamole and tostadas. The purple tostadas were the perfect mix of flaky and thick, paired with refreshing guacamole. The Birria De Res Taco Platter, which included braised brisket in consommé served

JOSEPHINE BRUNN LAKE AND SOPHIA ZHDANOVA

with onions, cilantro, watermelon radish, chipotle-guajillo salsa, and a side of heirloom corn mini quesadillas, was next. The brisket was tender and savory, melting on the tongue, while the consommé served as a delicious dipping broth for the crispy, cheesy quesadillas. Next, I sampled the huevos rancheros, which consisted of two fried eggs served on top of homemade tortillas with melted Oaxaca cheese, a duo of salsas (verde and ranchera), queso fresco, pinto beans, and guacamole. Unraveling the layers of flavor within the dish felt like nothing short of opening presents on Christmas morning, as each layer revealed something greater than the last.

From the cuisine and service at Cielo Rojo, it is evident that community and authenticity are top priorities for the restaurant. Eva Black, a manager at Cielo Rojo, explains that despite the restaurant opening during a challenging time, only positive feedback was received from the community throughout her tenure.

“They’re happy we’re here. We also appreciate the support, especially because it basically opened the same year that COVID[-19] happened,” she says. “The fact that we’re able to stay open is really a testament to the community.”

To this day, Cielo Rojo continues to honor members of the Mexican community by incorporating aspects of Mexican culture through cuisine, decor, and service, highlighting unknown artisans. “We’re currently changing all of our wines to be Mexican wines, which is new to most people. Most people don’t know that there’s a wine culture in Mexico,” Black says. “We get handmade glasses from Mexico … support[ing] the artisans and producers. [Even] all of our corn is from a woman-owned organic farm in Mexico.”

Taken together, these gestures paint a larger picture. Cielo Rojo offers something rare: a place where culture isn’t diluted for mass appeal, but celebrated for its vibrant details.

Each of the elements, from the vast menu to handmade glassware, is strung together beautifully to create a true love letter to Mexico.

E2 Culture December 10, 2025

silverchips

10 things to do this holiday season A guide to winter-themed activities around Blair

By RUTH WADJA-GOTWALS From the sparkling lights at the National Zoo to the decadent hot chocolate at Koma Cafe, the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area has no shortage of festive activities. After careful consideration, here are ten wonderful holiday events and experiences that are sure to fill your December with joy!

Smithsonian Lights

National

Zoo

If you’re looking for a dazzling night, venture to the Smithsonian National Zoo between Nov. 22 and Jan. 3 for a journey through their decorated walkways of twinkling lights and animal lantern displays.

The affordable $9 entry fee offers a beautiful and seasonal experience, with brightly lit trees and colorful lanterns representing almost every zoo animal. For optional additional costs—all under $10—you can make s’mores over a campfire, navigate a light maze, ride the carousel, enjoy the National Zoo Choo Choo train, or purchase special-effect glasses that make the small lights look like snowflakes. The concessions are endless, so purchase a warm drink and some food to huddle around their outside heaters as you enjoy the display!

Washington Capitals Hockey Game

glass windows offer an inspiring place to escape the cold and focus this winter.

Shopping in Georgetown The charming, historic Georgetown neighborhood is the perfect place to visit this holiday season.

Shop around, walk along the scenic Potomac River, or enjoy a nice meal at il Canale or 90 Second Pizza. For a fine dining option, check out Filomena Ristorante—a restaurant serving delicious Italian food, known for its holiday decorations.

The bustling Georgetown cobblestone streets and Federal-style architecture are reminiscent of a European Christmas town, and the array of decorations on the streets and in the shops serves as a reminder of the holiday season to come. Remember your wallet, though, as Georgetown can be pricey!

just south of the White House. The Willard Hotel Christmas tree is located in the hotel’s lobby, which also boasts a cafe. Meanwhile, the CityCenterDC tree located near Chinatown is accompanied by a booth of handcrafted trees made by local artists in various materials, textures, colors, and artistic styles.

Whichever you pick to visit, these towering evergreens are sure to get you in the holiday spirit.

or to the trip is highly recommended; on their busiest nights, there’s a chance that they may sell out!

Koma Cafe and La Gelaterria

Folger Shakespeare Library Looking for a beautiful place to study? Interested in learning more about Shakespeare’s history?

Take a trip to the Folger Shakespeare Library, located near the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The beautiful architecture, including the vaulted wooden ceilings and intricate mezzanines gives the library an invigorating academic vibe. It’s the perfect place to keep those first semester grades strong while enjoying a latte and a bite to eat from the Quill and Crumb Cafe found inside. The library boasts the largest collection of his printed works, so stay a little longer and wander the beautiful dimly lit downstairs to learn more about Shakespeare. The candlelit chandeliers, sky-high ceilings,

For the more ambitious, the Whitetail Mountain Resort is roughly an

Located on Flower Avenue in Takoma Park, Koma Cafe serves delicious hot chocolate and small bites. Stop by if you’re looking for the perfect seasonal beverage, and grab some pizza, pasta, or pastries hour and a half a w a y from Blair and offers a variety of fun winter sports like skiing, snowboarding, and snow tubing.

At $48 per person for two hours of unlimited riding, snowtubing is the cheapest option—and doesn’t require renting extra equipment.

Riders can reach thrilling speeds zooming down the mountainside on their tubes. For skiing and snowboarding, book a lift pass for the day to travel up and down the mountain—an experience that will cost you around $125 per person.

If you don’t have your own equipment, you can typically rent it for under $100. Grab some warm apple cider afterward, and enjoy a scenic drive home through the winding mountain roads.

Eastern Market Every Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Capitol Hill’s Flea Market at

Ice

If an energy-filled night of sports-game liveliness appeals to you, head into Washington, D.C. to catch a Washington Capitals game at the Capital One Arena. After bundling up to face the fierce winter winds, you can join the sea of red Capitals merch in the stands.

Nosebleed tickets are typically around $40, but no matter where you’re seated in the arena, the game is thrilling to watch. With the liveliness of the crowd—chants and cheers ringing across the stadium— and the intensity of the sport surrounding you, the game is sure to bring your night to life.

Whitetail Resort Snow Tubing

Seneca Creek State Park and Billy Goat Trail Hikes Bundle up and stay fit this winter by taking a hike at the picturesque Seneca Creek State Park!

Located only 30 minutes away from Blair, the park hosts a beautiful trail circling Clopper Lake.

For more of a challenge, Maryland’s Billy Goat Trail—which runs along the Potomac River—is a good choice. Park at the Anglers Parking Lot for the shortest drive from Blair—and to avoid paying for parking! It’s closest to trails A and B, which will guide you through the woods to the rocky landscape of Great Falls and the Potomac. The view is magnificent, and the hike— which calls for scaling and climbing through the rocky terrain—is exhilarating. Getting outside and exercising can brighten the dark winter days, so grab a hat and a coat and don’t let Seasonal Affective Disorder keep you down!

Eastern Market bustles with shop-

pers and vendors. To stay busy on a winter weekend, venture into the city to explore the unique stands selling vintage fashion, art, collectibles, handmade items, and more.

Get breakfast at Market Lunch, or sample from stands selling Mexican, Southern, and Filipino food.

Be sure to save time to purchase a $5 Nutella and strawberry crepe from Eastern Market Crepes—arguably one of the tastiest foods at the market!

Washington, D.C.’s Christmas Trees Before the new year, pay a visit to one of Washington, D.C.’s public Christmas trees. There’s a tree at the Wharf, one at Union Station, and another, more famous variation— the National Christmas Tree—located

ALL ART BY VICTORIA ANGELI M. REGACHUELO

Rockville Town Square Ice Skating For a more active option, rent some skates and glide around the Rockville Town Square Ice Skating rink. It is the largest outdoor ice skating rink in Montgomery County, and also serves coffee and hot chocolate for skaters to warm up.

For $18 a person, take a trip with a date, friends, family, or a sports

as well! Another notable spot—located in Kensington, just past the intersection of University Boulevard and Connecticut Avenue—is La Gelaterria. This shop serves an array of coffee drinks—including all of the classics in addition to flavors like peppermint, maple, s’mores, cinnamon toast crunch, gingerbread, and tiramisu. La Gelaterria also has a delectable food menu complete with bagels, sandwiches, omelets, toasts, and salads.

You can’t go wrong with these wonderful winter activities. Whether you’re looking for something active, cozy, or festive, get

out of house winter explore all of places DMV!

t h e this a n d one or these in the

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December 10, 2025 Culture E3

Spot the difference

Exploring Blazer trends in Silver Chips’ archives

Blair junior Marilyn Ramsdell agrees. “I think a lot of brands mentioned [in the archive] are [well]-known, such as Abercrombie, Calvin Klein, Gap, and Nordstrom,” she says. “People still shop there often, so I think a lot of the stuff is similar.”

Far from disappearing, clothing trends from the ‘90s have resurfaced in thrift stores, Pinterest boards, and Depop storefronts, influencing wardrobes of today. Students at Blair are taking these older styles and remixing them through a modern lens. “I think that silky, nylon pants influenced Aerie or SKIMS foldover flare leggings,” Ramsdell points out. “That style is really popular now.”

Though fashion trends have remained largely timeless at Blair, teen social spaces have changed dramatically. In the ‘90s, Blair students flocked to teen clubs such as PT Flags in Baltimore and Cuckoo’s Nest in Olney. These were local hangouts where they could socialize without feeling like they might get in trouble. In a 1988 Silver Chips article titled “Dancing the Night Away in Under 21 Clubs,” written by Heather Benson, senior Corrina Beal said, “[Under 21 clubs are] a great place to dance in a different type of surrounding, plus it’s a wholesome kind of fun. I don’t feel like I’m doing something I’d get in trouble for.”

Now, Blair junior Alexis Taylor says, these teen-friendly places are disappearing. “I feel like a lot of the time, some places

can feel like they don’t want people under 18 there,” she says. “It can feel more exclusive.”

Bridging decades, Blazers of both eras agree on the need for designated teen social places. “I think it’s really important to have spaces for teenagers to be able to socialize, dance, and hang out in a way that’s not crazy or unsafe,” Taylor says.

Beyond teen clubs where they could dance, hang out, and meet new people, ‘90s Blazers also participated in activities such as laser tag, after-school sports, and rec-league hobbies.

Many of these activities that defined the high school experience in the ‘90s now feel outdated, as students today prefer faster and more technologically advanced activities. “I don’t think [laser tag] is as popular because it’s just not as much of a new thing anymore,” Blair junior Kai Briley says.

In the ‘90s, another popular activity was floor hockey.

Students would participate in pickup floor hockey after school, in games organized by physical education teachers. The activity quickly became a popular sport, evolving into a full league at Blair with multiple teams participating. Silver Chips published a 1996 article titled “Floor Hockey Scores High in Popularity,” written by Dale Chah, sharing that “the program …

[Teen style today is] relatively the same with just some slight differences in brands.

NAIMAH WARD

I feel like a lot of the time, some places can feel like they don’t want people under 18 there ... It can feel more exclusive.

ALEXIS TAYLOR

Walking through Blair’s halls today, it’s easy to think you’re witnessing an entirely new generation—from the vibrant fashion and the niche hobbies to the crazy chaos of teenage life in the digital age.

But if you dig into Silver Chips’ archives—which span almost a century—worn pages filled with articles reveal the experience of a teen in the ‘90s—and they look surprisingly familiar.

Silver Chips has multiple stories archived online, dating back to 1950. These archives offer insight into student life and how Blazer culture has evolved over the years.

Comparing archived ‘90s Silver Chips stories with the voices of today’s Blazers reveals both how student life has changed and how trends never truly fade—instead, they grow and evolve, highlighting the similarities between teens growing up in two different eras.

In the ‘90s, Silver Chips’ Katie Muehlenkamp wrote a story titled “Bald is Bountiful, as Shaven Trend Rules,” where students flaunted their shaved heads—inspired by figures like Dr. Dre, Onyx, and Derek Coleman—speaking proudly about their experiences shaving themselves. The symbolism of this style was clear: your hair represents your identity.

That same philosophy resonates with Blair junior Amir Alshaheri, who recently buzzed his hair. He sees the trend as a form of self-improvement. “Shaving your head coincides with a new era,” he says.

“A time where you’re gonna lock

in.” Alsaheri shaved his hair partly because it was difficult to manage when playing soccer, but also because he wanted to try something new. “[I] was seeing the same three haircuts everywhere,” he said. “[I] wanted to break out of that cycle.”

That same desire for individuality lives on in teenage fashion. Blazer’s closets in the ‘90s were stocked with tailored clothing, fitted jeans, and chunky heels—some of which can still be spotted in the hallways of Blair today.

Blair sophomore Naimah Ward believes that little has changed in fashion over the last 30 years. “I’ve noticed that we [girls] still wear baby tees and skirts,” Ward says. “[Teen style today is] relatively the same with just some slight differences in brands.”

JOSEPHINE BRUNN LAKE

By KIRAN DURVASULA

reached new heights in popularity and participation.”

Justin Ciabotti, a junior at Blair, believes that floor hockey is timeless. “[It’s] usually a consistent staple in physical education programs across county districts,” he says.

“It’s never really reached mainstream prominence or had the kind of fame of ice hockey or field hockey, but it hasn’t necessarily fallen off either.”

Just like hair and fashion, Blazer hobbies have evolved with new technology and time—but their core meaning remains, demonstrating a desire for individuality and belonging. Across Blair’s decades of archives and student stories, one truth stands out: the details may change, but the culture does not.

E4 Culture December 10, 2025

Never was a story of more ‘WOW!’

silverchips

Behind the scenes of the making of Blair’s fall play

By ADA SCHWARTZ

After getting to see their production of ‘Something Rotten,’ I realized that there was a lot of comedic strength in this group of young people and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is such a dark tragedy that you need to be able to bring light in the comedic moments.

NATALIE GARCIA-RUIZ

When putting on a play as big as Blair’s—which features over 50 cast members—preparation must begin long before opening night.

In fact, planning and organizing were in progress before the school year began. “[Stage crew] came in a week before school started to start cleaning up, organizing, and getting ready, and then we started actually working the first week of school,” Sol Blount, president of Blair Stage Crew and co-head of carpentry, explains.

The next step was to recruit new members by advertising Blair Theatre. This included a morning announcement, a message on Info-

flow, posters around the school, and setting up an outreach table in Blair’s main hallway. With two separate casts and complex sets, the show required a large number of actors and stage crew staff. According to Blount, the efforts were a success. “We [got] a big turnout. I would say like 50 people … [each of the] two orientation days.

By the end of the first month of stage crew, we had about 60 people showing up every day … a lot of that [being] new people,” she says.

During auditions, each candidate performs a short cut of the script in front of the directors.

Then there are callbacks two days after the first round of additions where directors evaluate how potential cast members perform a full scene with other actors. AfPHOTO BY MAZ OLSON ter that, parts are assigned, and ON HER DEATHBED Blair Theatre members reenact “Romeo and Juthe separate casts get to work. liet’s” infamous death scene Belinda Moore, Stage Manager and Head of Sound explains three its core, it is the community with- growth. “Everybody here wants to weeks before the show goes on, the in the program that makes it so see each other grow, and we just all actors begin running through the great. Cast and crew work closely care about each other really deeply play on the stage. together, providing an opportunity ... It [feels] like a safe space,” Blair From there, dress rehearsals for new friendships and personal junior Emerson Glispy, who plays Lord Montague, says. “Whenever and tech week take place, where I need an extra boost or anything, cast and crew run through the show Everybody here just to feel better, this is the place as they would on opening night to I go.” make sure everything is ready. And wants to see each Garcia-Ruiz is incredibly pleased then it is showtime. other grow, and we with how her first production went.

“Romeo and Juliet” was a critShe explains there is nothing quite ical show for Blair Theatre, as it just all care about like seeing the audience fall in love was the first show for the new dieach other really with a show. “It’s really exciting to rector Garcia-Ruiz, who is looking see the community come out and deeply . . . It feels to move Blair Theatre into a new support these young artists,” she era of productions. “Trying to like a safe space. says. “There’s nothing [quite] like modernize the productions a bit Whenever I need putting on a good show and [seemore is something that I’m looking ing] there’s a full audience laughat doing … trying to find shows that an extra boost or ing, clapping, and standing up for really resonate with the high school anything, just to feel you. It’s one of the most validating population,”Garcia-Ruiz says. feelings for a performer in real Blair Theatre is a wonderful better, this is the life.” program in so many ways, featuring place I go. stellar performances and offering many ways to get involved. Still, at

EMERSON GLIPSY

The lights dim, and the crowd goes silent as all eyes turn to the center of the stage. The stage lights flicker to life, illuminating the villa and a classic line rings out in the dulcet voice of Principal Monteleone: “Two households, both alike in dignity...” That classic line is usually associated with medieval costumes and fair Verona, but Blair’s fall play, “Romeo and Juliet” (‘Love Island’ edition), subverts those expectations. With the characters dressed in Hawaiian shirts and a cameraman visible in the bottom right corner of the stage, this reality TV inspired spin-off takes the best parts of “Romeo and Juliet” and adds a modern twist.

Blair Theatre’s rendition of “Romeo and Juliet” still has all of the classic scenes of the original— from a dramatic double suicide to famous lines like, “wherefore art thou Romeo” and “I do not bite my thumb at you”—but the adaptation is also full of jokes poking fun at the original, including the addition of modern language between scenes for comedic effect. In Act I, during a scene change when the Capulets’ servingman (Yonnah Reiter and Maramawit Abel) is running to where Romeo (Connor Mcguire and Asher Howell) is sitting, Romeo asks Mercutio (Sebastian Ko and Ben Kirby), Ben (Leonardo Bentizer and Ellie Romney), and Volio (Kiera Earle and Fiona Cox),“How many times is too many times to text someone?” Later, when Lady Capulet (Serena Laney and Sofia Saz Lorenzo) comes to encourage Juliet (Casey Pendergast and Amen Worku) to get married, she is on the phone, AirPods in, shouting, “Gerry, if you don’t get this done, I will cancel you faster

than the new Taylor Swift album.”

Director Natalie Garcia-Ruiz thought the show’s unique nature would play well to the strengths of Blair’s actors. “After getting to see their production of ‘Something Rotten,’ I realized that there was a lot of comedic strength in this group of young people and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is such a dark tragedy that you need to be able to bring light in the comedic moments,” she says.

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December 10, 2025 Culture E5

Chips tries comedy

By JUSTIN ROSENTOVER and YONGLE XIN

Nestled in the corner of a Gaithersburg Mexican restaurant, La Mexicana, is a small comedy club called Give a Hoot. Give a Hoot, so named because 50 percent of all profits go to charity, is where we decided to try our hands at stand-up comedy on one frigid night before Thanksgiving.

For two hours, the dinky corner was filled with the sounds of sizzling fajitas and roars of laughter as one comic after the next (“all there to escape their families,” as one comic joked) stood up and delivered their set. Between each comedian, the evening’s host would deliver a Thanksgiving dad joke designed to elicit maximum groaning. For 30 minutes before the show started, we sat in the car, perfecting our jokes while worrying about how they would be received

ANA EWACHIW

I fell in love with comedy ever since I was little. I think I just love making people laugh.

CRACKING JOKES Justin Rosentover and Yongle Xin perfoming their stand up comedy skit at Give A Hoot. struggles” were funny. They duly responded by determining which jokes were too obscure for the average human being and needed to be cut (e.g., our celebrations of analytic and algebraic topology of locally Euclidean metrizations-day).

I think it’s easiest for people to get their footing if they pick funny things from their own life ... that’s the best way to connect with audiences.

It turned out that basically every comedian at Give a Hoot had some connection to Blair and

addressed the school—and us—in their sets. By the time our five minutes of glory were upon us, we had gotten much more comfortable after seeing that the night was informal and our preparation was perhaps overdone. So when our time started, we delivered a banger: “High school is the best time to do journalism, because it’s the only time when you can be a journalist but not have to pay rent.” The room erupted with somewhat undeserved laughter.

The ice had been broken. For the next couple of minutes, we gave our whole bit line by line. Some sections went well, others flopped.

But by the time we were finished, there was plenty of applause from our new adoring fans.

ALL PHOTOS BY LILA SHAW

It turned out that the hardest part of getting into stand-up was just facing the fear and committing to getting on stage. The comedians we talked to agreed. “The thing that stops us from doing it is the little homunculus that sits on the top of your brain and tells you that you’re doing bad stuff. The one that tells you, ‘That’s stupid, don’t do it,’” Black says. “Just start doing it and figure it out along the way.”

That night, Give a Hoot was filled with people from all walks of life. One comic was an MCPS bus driver and mother of 11. Another

High school is the best time to do journalism, because it’s the only time when you can be a journalist but not have to pay rent.

JUSTIN ROSENTOVER

people to get their footing if they pick funny things from their own life. And whether they exaggerate that story or tell it exactly as it happened, that’s the best way to connect with audiences,” Kevin Corbett, the Roundlings’ Director, says. Professional comedian Jay Black gave a more evocative image for the brainstorming process. “I would try to open your third eye.

What is it that’s obvious here that nobody else is seeing?” he says.

For our bit, we decided to talk about our personal experience with the intersection between Jews and Asians in the Blair Magnet.

We consulted with friends about whether lines like “regardless of the origin of your lactose intolerance, we all go through the same

KEVIN CORBETT

by an audience. But eventually, our turn came.

Stand-up comedy has been experiencing a boom in the last few years. The genre’s gross ticket sales have tripled in the past decade, and the rise of short-form content has propelled young stars like Kareem Rahma and Matt Rife to national prominence. Blair senior Ana Ewachiw performs with the Roundlings, a stand-up group based out of Round House Theatre. “I fell in love with comedy ever since I was little. I think I just love making people laugh,” Ewachiw says.

The first step on our path towards comedy stardom was writing a set. For help, we sought out the professionals and their advice was to recount stories of our own lives for our sets. “I think it’s easiest for

was a drunk 20-something-yearold who could barely put two sentences together. There was also a proud father who choked up when he took a break from his set to brag about his son’s Michelin Star, and a former Today Show writer whose only dependent was a stretch of highway he had adopted.

People ridiculed their jobs, their spouses, and their fellow comedians. They made light of the tragedy and brilliance of joy.

It did not matter that some jokes only drew a chuckle, while others had people rolling on the floor.

For two delightful hours on a weeknight, we were all laughing together.

silverchips

E6 Culture December 10, 2025

Go big or go home Every Monday at lunch, Room 346 transforms into something between a battlefield and a family dinner. Black and white stones click on boards as conversations drift between strategies and small talk.

Go is an ancient Chinese board game of territory, control, and patience. The game dates back 4,000 years, although its popularity has fluctuated across generations.

Players take turns placing black or white stones on a grid, aiming to surround more empty territory than their opponent. Players can also capture an opponent’s stones by surrounding them with their own. A game of Go ends when both players pass their turn consecutively or when one player resigns.

Since the formation of the Go Club at Blair, the game has steadily been increasing in popularity.

Arthur Wang, who founded the club last year, says he wanted to bring young people into a community that AN AMM D generally A EV

skews older. “Right now it’s a bunch of old Asian people and old white people,” he says.

Wang’s mission to grow the club at Blair has been quite a success; Room 346 now boasts around 30 active members meeting each week on Mondays, and the club has become a hotspot for game knowledge. “We built this sort of community where we all support each other, and we’re all passionate about Go,” Wang says.

Club sponsor and Blair math teacher Edward Kirk is delighted at how successful the club has become. “Go Club is the greatest club,” he insists. “It’s better than the chess club and also other clubs.”

Although Kirk intends his diatribes as jokes, the numbers back him up. Go Club started with just a handful of players but has grown significantly. “Now, we’ve got 30plus people … [and] tournaments [are] starting to happen,” Kirk says.

“This is beyond my wildest dreams.”

The organization of a Go tournament is no small feat.

Tournament director Justin Jiang explains the process.

“It’s a team-based tournament—double elimination,” he says. “Our goal is to organize tournaments and expand Go throughout not only our school but also other schools.”

Wang sees Go as more than just a game. For him, it is also a way for students to reconnect with their culture and each other. “A bunch of people come from families that have a vague idea of what Go

Our goal is to organize tournaments and expand Go throughout not only our school but also other schools.

PHOTO BY MAX TROY

JUSTIN JIANG

By ZOE GORBACHEV

is,” Wang says. “I think [playing] is such a nice way to connect with [their] cultural roots.”

The connection is not just cultural; it is community-based, too.

“I want people to have friends who are on a similar level,” Wang says.

“That’s something I really missed when I was learning, and I just hope to build a community.”

The American Go Foundation (AGF) shares Wang’s vision to grow the game. After Wang met AGF officials at the National Go Congress, the organization offered support to grow Blair’s Go Club. “They give us funds for our Go Club meetings and anything we need to do,” Jiang says. Those funds are used to help pay for the club’s equipment, tournaments, and prizes.

Paul Barchilon, vice president of the AGF, explains how the AGF’s support extends beyond Blair.

“We’re a national nonprofit, and we open programs in schools all over the country,” Barchilon says.

“We provide free equipment, free educational support … and we will send that for free to any [kindergarten] through grade 12 schools.”

For Barchilon, growing the game of Go is about increasing accessibility. Though Go is easy to get into, it is difficult to become a skilled player. “Go is … actually harder than chess in terms of the possibilities,” he says. “It’s much easier to learn … I’ve taught five-year-olds

A FRIENDLY GAME Every Monday in Room 346, members of the Blair Go Club meet to face off in recreational competitions how to play successfully. The rules are very easy, but once you start playing, it becomes a challenge.”

When it came to sponsoring the Blair club, Barchilon believes that the decision fit into the AGF’s larger mission. “We all share the goal of getting Go into more places than it is now. There’s definitely a local thing going on in Maryland and Washington, D.C., and [Blair] is definitely part of that,” he says.

In other words, Blair was a perfect starting point for the foundation’s push to spread the game in the area around it.

As a whole, the AGF funds anywhere from 75 to 100 free Go programs per year in schools, libraries, and senior centers. A major aim for the foundation is to increase the number of young Go players through online servers and support

for programs. “The district is very supportive of our efforts, and we’ve launched eight programs in the area,” Barchilon says.

In the future, the Blair Go club aims to continue hosting tournaments. Kirk is already dreaming big. “I really want to have the finals in the auditorium, with a document camera projecting the game onto the screen,” he says. “I want to make it epic.”

If the club’s success thus far is any indication, he might just get his wish. For now, though, Room 346 on Mondays is enough. 30 students, black-and-white stones, and 4,000 years of tradition, alive again at the lunch table.

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December 10, 2025 Culture E7

Chips Clips ART BY LUCA ESSER

Sudoku Fun Fact!

The Worlds largest Snowflake was recorded at 15 inches across and eight inches thick

Contact Puzzle Editors Daneel Kutsenko and Ruth Wajda-Gotwals at silverchipsclips@gmail.com with the subject “December Chips Clips” with questions, comments, concerns, or any other feedback

Happy Holidays!

Across 1. Twice-monthly tide 5. American Online CDs 10. All the rage 13. Slant 15. Japanese city, now called Iwaki 16. Corn serving 17. Honey Smacks mascot 18. “Full Metal Jacket” actor R. Lee ___ 19. London financial market, Abbr.

Down Down Cont.

1. Essential for all life 47. Brings to mind 2. Elden ring character 49. Of a summit 3. Consensus reached 50. Former Iranian empress 4. Intertwine, as branches 51. Spooky 5. Bottom-left corners, in Bat- 52. “r u 4. real?” tleship 53. Cheerful 6. Paddle 56. Latin love 7. Group of worms 57. Modernists 8. Greek islander 60. Extinct bird 9. Place for pampering 65. Informal pass 10. “Greetings!”

11. Desert haven 12. Apples and oranges 14. One who feels what you feel 21. Muhammad’s disciples 23. Attorney ___ 26. Long and lean 27. Publishing corp.

28. Exit a Greyhound 31. Airships 33. Brown ice-cream flavor December Solutions 34. Former Sony line of robotic pets 35. Wrinkle remover 37. Green sauce 39. Elvis the quarterback 43. Loner 46. Pecking order?

20. All American paralympic games 38. Pack again, as groceries 22. Emphatic denial 40. Spinning sound 24. Org. for nursing students at East Caro- 41. Joint with a cap lina Univ.

42. Fermented Chinese tea 25. Graduation ritual 44. Classified ad abbr.

26. Common Christmas display 45. Straw beehives 28. Celtic musician ___ Lunny 48. Guiding light 29. Lawyers’ org.

50. Celebratory 30. Eye color 53. Oprah’s production company 32. Antioxidant berry 54. Spray can 36. Philippines national service training 55. Football club that plays at San program Siro

58. Monopoly quartet: Abbr.

59. Cut corners 61. “Veni” 62. Feel poorly 63. Start of menopause 64. _____ine, planet in Star Wars 65. “Yo!” 66. English assignment 67. Learning and employment records

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E8 Culture December 10, 2025

JOSEPHINE BRUNN LAKE

JOSEPHINE BRUNN LAKE

VICTORIA REGACHUELO

TINBITE ABIE

SPORTS

F1

Blazer on ice

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December 10, 2025

Junior Nathan Leitan competes for U.S. ice dancing team

By ADA SCHWARTZ In November, Blair junior Nathan Leitan stepped onto the ice for his first international ice dancing competition in Budapest, Hungary. The cold brushed his face as he stared at the ice beneath him.

He took a deep breath, smiled at the crowd, and began to skate.

Nathan Leitan is not any ordinary student. He is an ice dancer for Team USA, one of only a few elite athletes selected each year.

Team USA is the pool of athletes who represent the U.S. on a global level. Olympic competitors are selected from this group, and in ice dancing, the top three performing pairs at the U.S. National Championships earn spots to compete at the Olympics.

Ice dancing is a subset of tradi-

tional figure skating, but the two have some big differences. Ice dancing emphasizes technical steps and movements, while figure skating focuses more on large movements like jumps and lifts.

Nathan Leitan started ice dancing at an early age. “I was four when I started ice skating. [There was] a professional [ice dancing] academy next door,” he says. “I was eight years old when they took me in.”

Ice dancing is sometimes performed solo but usually done in pairs. Nathan Leitan currently skates with his sister, Natalie Leitan. Working together has been incredibly rewarding for the siblings.

Natalie Leitan explains that skating together has brought them closer.

“Most of our summers are spent just the two of us and our coach, so [we’ve become] quite tight,” she

ranked number one in the world.”

He competes next in the Bavarian Open in Germany.

In addition to being a high-level skater, Nathan Leitan is a student in Blair’s Magnet program. His never-ending training schedule makes Blair Magnet, which offers a tough course load and vast amounts of homework, even more challenging.

During the school week, he practices early in the morning as well as after school. “We do 6 a.m. to 7:15 [a.m.] practice,” he says, adding that he goes to the gym or heads to practice after school.

It is very uncommon for athletes at Nathan Leitan’s level to continue attending public school. “Most of my competitors are just homeschooled, or they do [something similar to] two hours a week of classes and then everything else at home,” he says.

Multiple people asked me if I was intermediate or basic. They were all thinking we were [not] that good … then they realized …

‘These guys aren’t here to lose.’

NATHAN LEITAN

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF NATHAN LEITAN

THE LEITAN SIBLINGS Nathan and Natalie Leitan (from left) are the first South Asian ice dancers for Team USA. Leitan is also a student in the Blair Magnet

says.

For the past three years, Nathan Leitan was on the National Development Team, the group from which candidates for Team USA are selected. There, he and his sister continued to improve their skills. On Oct. 22, Nathan Leitan received an email saying that he had been selected to compete internationally for the U.S. in Budapest over Thanksgiving break, officially making him a member of Team USA. In Budapest, the Leitans took first place in the advanced novice category, which they did not expect. When they first arrived, the international scene was intimidating. “[The Europeans] were showing off and were trying to scare us,” Nathan Leitan says. “I was thinking, ‘These Europeans are [good].’

I was hoping not to come in last.”

The fact that they were the first South Asian ice dancers on Team USA made arriving on the international skating scene more difficult.

When the Leitans first arrived at the competition venue, other competitors did not take them seriously. But after winning the first round, others started watching. “Multiple people asked me if I was intermediate or basic. They were all thinking we were [not] that good … then they realized …

‘These guys aren’t here to lose,’” Nathan Leitan says.

After winning this international competition, Nathan and Natalie Leitan became world champions in their division. “There haven’t been any other international competitions for my level [so] I hold the highest score at the moment,” Nathan Leitan says. “I am

Nathan Leitan is determined to keep going to public school, though that means he accrues more absences than the average student. “I have 20 absences already because some days I skip school and just go

UNDER INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE The Leitans perform their third and final dance in Budapest, Hungary.

practice,” he says.

Even though skating is a huge time commitment, Nathan Leitan still makes time for numerous extracurriculars, including coaching, volunteering at Shady Grove Hospital, and playing the guitar, saxophone, and piano.

Nathan Leitan hopes to continue ice dancing, but college could pose a major hurdle. Ice dancing is a partner sport, so distance could make it difficult for him to keep competing with his sister. However, he is determined to make it work.

“My goal is first to get into college.

[If] I end up going to Harvard, I guess [my sister’s] coming to Harvard with me … or maybe I’ll stay here. I don’t know yet,” he says.

Nathan Leitan has big dreams, and he hopes to eventually make the Olympic team. “You’ll see me at the 2034 Olympics,” he says with a grin.

More losses than wins in DMV pro sports

By VEE DIMYAN All information and records referenced in this article are from before Dec. 7, 2025.

With sports teams’ stadiums just a metro ride away, local sports fans in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area can easily watch a game live or curl up on a couch and watch one remotely. Winter is just around the corner, and multiple local football, basketball, and hockey teams are currently in the midst of their season.

Football

The DMV’s two professional football teams, the Washington Commanders and the Baltimore Ravens, are approaching Week 15 of the National Football League (NFL) season.

Last year, the Commanders placed second overall in the National Football Conference (NFC) East and made it past the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, which they had not achieved since their

Super Bowl victory in 1991. Unfortunately, the Commanders are not doing as well this year. The team will finish their season on a high note, but with a 3-9 record and a

winning percentage of .250, they have lost any hope of making the playoffs. Their mediocre performance this season is mainly due to fumbled plays and poor calls from both players and coaches. Additionally, star quarterback Jayden Daniels injured his elbow in a Week 9 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks; Daniels has missed every game since. “I think we have a lot of talent on the team, and I think that we saw that a lot last year,” Blair senior Liahana King Cull, a lifelong Commanders fan, says. “But I think that we’re seeing some disconnect and … there’s also a lot of issues with coaching.”

Player (MVP) and quarterback Lamar Jackson missed three games due to a hamstring injury. Jackson had continued to miss games and struggle with minor injuries that seemed to be affecting his playing. Starting wide receiver Rashod Bateman was out with an ankle injury from Week 11 to Week 13, and the Ravens were struggling on the offensive end. The Ravens suffered a rough loss against the Bengals on Thanksgiving, which disappointed many fans. Last year, the team only made it to the conference championship, and this year, they have a projected 60 percent chance of making it to the playoffs.

Hockey

The Ravens’ season has been much more successful than the Commanders’, but they also got off to a rough start. “[We] could be a lot better, but hopefully, with time, we can see where our mistakes are,” Blair junior and Ravens fan Gabriel Belay says. “Last year, we got pretty close to getting to the Super Bowl. I hope we can go as far as we did last year, if not further.”

Heading into Week 15, the Ravens have a 6-6 record and are tied for first place in the American Football Conference (AFC) North with a winning percentage of .500.

Two-time NFL Most Valuable

The Washington Capitals are the only local National Hockey League (NHL) team, with thousands of fans and a stadium in Washington, D.C. They are led by a number of great players, including Alex Ovechkin, the all-time highest goal scorer in NHL history with 911 regular-season goals. Last season, they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs of the Eastern Conference.

The Capitals are currently ranked third in the league with a 17-9 record. Forward Pierre-Luc Dubois will be out for the next few months recovering from surgeries on his abdominal and adductor muscles. For the first few games he missed, head coach Spencer Carbery struggled to fill the hole in the lineup. However, it seems like

the team has found its stride again.

“From the beginning of the season, they’re doing a lot better, which is

good to see. Ovechkin, especially, has gotten a bunch of points lately.

The defense has been contributing—Thompson, their goalie, has been incredible. So things are really clicking for them right now,” Douglas Wilson, Blair TV studio teacher and lifelong Capitals fan, explains. “I think we’re going to make the playoffs and then we’re probably going to be eliminated in the first round.” The Capitals have 52 regular games left this season, which will determine if they make it to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

son, the Wizards acquired veteran player CJ McCollum. They also acquired seasoned player Khris Middleton before the trade deadline this season. The players were drafted to improve the team by offering offensive stability and mentoring for younger players, but some have struggled to deliver the help the Wizards need.

Wizards fans are disappointed about the bad season but remain optimistic. “I think we can do better,” Rhys Hughes, a student at Blair and Wizards fan, says. “[B] ased on the things that I’ve seen, I think, there are a lot of things that we can improve on … I hope we make the playoffs, and eventually, we do [well] in the playoffs, and we win the NBA finals,” he says.

Basketball

The Washington Wizards, D.C.’s home basketball team, have had a rocky start to their season. With a 3-19 record and a winning percentage of .136, the Wizards have been struggling to keep up with other National Basketball Association (NBA) teams.

The Wizards’ poor performance mirrors their disappointing season last year, when they finished with 18 wins and 64 losses, ranking fifteenth out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference. This past offsea-

LUCA ESSER

Although many of the local sports teams have struggled this winter, fans have still been able to find the silver lining. Ultimately, win or lose, they are part of incredible fan communities. “Being so bad for so long has helped form a very tight-knit community,” says King Cull. “It’s just so much fun being a Commanders fan, even when we lose.

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F2 Sports December 10, 2025

Impossible to score

Fans struggle to purchase 2026 World Cup tickets

DOUGLAS JIMENEZ

TravelFutbolFan in 2022 to help fans save money for the 2026 World Cup. “It will be the largest FIFA tournament in history,” Navarro explains. “By teams, number of matches, and—most importantly—geography.”

12 U.S. cities will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco, and New York/New Jersey. Chosen cities must shoulder immense costs for the games that they host. While the United States Congress has approved over half a billion dollars in security funding, local governments will still end up paying around $150 million for World Cup expenses.

“FIFA has made the calculation that they are here in the North American market to make money,” Navarro says.

Nevertheless, host cities will experience an immense level of tourism that will provide significant financial benefits. In Los Angeles, the World Cup is estimated to attract 150,000 visitors above the baseline level of tourism.

Fans are expected to directly spend $343 million on lodging, restaurants and transportation.

People all over the world travel for ART BY LUCA ESSER this event—over one million

visitors traveled to Qatar in 2022.

While overseas matches might have been impossible for many students to watch in-person during past World Cups, eight matches— including the final—will take place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, just a four hour drive from Blair.

Thanks to the close proximity of these matches many students are scrambling to claim tickets. Blair junior Sasha Glick, an avid soccer enthusiast, explains that ticket prices have risen in recent years due to a lack of price caps. “[In 2022], you could only resell tickets for face value,” he says. “But now there’s no cap, [and] you can resell it for

[In 2022], you could only resell tickets for face value. But now there’s no cap, [and] you can resell it for however much you want.

SASHA GLICK

probably going to generate the most revenue of any World Cup,” he says. The increase in teams particThis year, the United States will ipating, along with the scale of three be one of three primary hosts for North American countries hosting, the first jointly hosted International will likely result in higher profits.

Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup. The U.S., Canada, and Mexico will showcase the It’s probably going distinct cultures and peoples of the to generate the 48 teams taking the global stage this most revenue of summer.

The first FIFA World Cup any World Cup. took place almost a century ago in 1930, featuring just 13 teams from three different continents. Now, for the first time ever, 48 teams will be playing in one of the world’s most Growing anticipation has resulted significant sports events, drawing a in expensive ticket costs—many now massive global audience. During the cost over $1,000. The current re2022 Qatar tournament, 5.6 billion sale ticket price for the final match people streamed the games, with an is $22,319, with the semi-finals avaverage of 175 million people tuning eraging from $5,000 to $7,000. In in to watch each match. response to these increasing costs, Douglas Jimenez, s o - various vendors have begun offercial studies teaching tools to help fans get ticker and boys’ JV ets. Danny Navarro soccer coach at started Blair, says that students are excited for the World Cup. “It’s

By SONYA DEL POZO and DERMOTT FOLEY

however much you want.”

Still, tickets remain popular. Over a million tickets were sold following the Visa presale draw, and prices are still growing. “[It is] safe to say [FIFA is] overpricing tickets and making the ticket-buying process opaque enough to create [a] fear of missing out amongst fans,” Navarro says. Glick recommends that students only use the official FIFA website to buy tickets, and avoid buying from ticket resellers.

Beyond tickets, there are additional concerns that host cities

may be relocated. In October, President Donald Trump discussed the possibility of switching host cities to ensure the security of the games.

During his presidency, Trump has named Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston as areas of concern—all of which are World Cup host cities.

While President Trump has no direct control over where FIFA hosts the World Cup, his remarks have sparked concerns among fans. Navarro criticizes Trump’s words, chalking them up to political bluster. “They reflect this administration’s attempts to sabotage the potential economic benefits [that] some of these cities could achieve from the World Cup matches they are hosting,” he says. imenez hopes that people will be able to attend the FIFA World Cup and enjoy the games regardless of Trump’s actions. “I’m just hoping that people aren’t deterred from coming, because there seems to be a chilling effect with the immigrant hostility from the [Trump] administration,” he says. “I’m just hoping that politics stays out of it, and we’re just allowed to have a lot of fun, and people feel welcome to come.”

Glick agrees with Jimenez, expecting fun and exciting games. “I think that the quality of football will be good, and I hope to be able to make it to at least a game or two,” he says.

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Playing a different game

December 10, 2025

Sports F3

Disparities between private and public school sports

By RAE FOSTER and GABRIELLA MCKENZIE There are approximately 462 high schools in Maryland, spread across 24 districts. Although these schools have over 100,000 student-athletes combined every year, Maryland’s high school athletics are consistently dominated by athletes from the same seven schools.

Aside from being consistently ranked in the top 10 for each sport, these schools send a significant number of graduates to commit

KYLE SCHMITT

We try to run our program like a college program … it’s year-round.

to Division I (DI) or Division III (DIII) athletic programs in college each year.

Out of all the high school athletic programs in Maryland, Archbishop Spalding in Severn is generally topranked in multiple sports—third in football, fifth in girls’ lacrosse, first in boys’ lacrosse, and fifth in boys’ basketball. Another leading school is McDonogh School in Baltimore County—ranked fourth in girls’ lacrosse, third in boys’ lacrosse, ninth in football, and fourteenth in girls’ basketball. In Annapolis, St. Mary’s School was ranked tenth in football and tenth in girls’ lacrosse.

Other prominent schools include St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, DeMatha Catholic, Our Lady of the Good Counsel, and Bullis School. While rankings feature both public and private schools, most top athletic programs still belong to private schools.

Archbishop Spalding Football head coach Kyle Schmitt highlights

the rigorous schedule that his team follows to maintain their status as one of the top high school football programs in the state. “We try to run our program like a college program … it’s year-round,” Schmitt says. After the fall season ends, his team starts again in December.

Throughout the seasons, Archbishop Spalding football coaches strive to teach their players soft skills like professionalism and organization. “We want players that are really grateful for the opportunities. We want players that are persistent, show up on time, wear the right gear and the right dress,” Schmitt says. Skills like these can prepare student athletes for a career in college and beyond. “We want our guys to be really talented football players,” Schmitt adds. “If they walk out of here as talented football players, but they lack any sort of understanding of structure and rules and how to work within a team, then I think we failed.”

Resilience among players is key to Schmitt. “The lessons that are going to stretch far beyond football are really, really important,” he says. “And that’s the accountability, that’s dealing with competition and failure and not just making it all about football.”

Kostacopoulos shares how private school sports camps over the summer help draw prospective students. “We encourage students to come look at Saint Mary’s through our athletic coaches who are involved in summer programming; a lot of them run summer teams,” he says. “We’ll see younger players and encourage them to look at Saint Mary’s, obviously as a school first, but certainly as an athletic opportunity as well.”

Another perk is the pipeline that typically exists between private school athletic programs and club sports teams. “No matter what school you go to, you’re going to have players who play in clubs,” Kostacopoulos says. “It has become, for better or worse, a very strong relationship between club programming and high school programming … because kids are playing all year round.”

Blair senior Owen Hauser, who recently committed to Bucknell University’s baseball team, has seen a similar relationship between private schools and colleges.

“In eighth grade, I thought about going to [St. John’s College High School], and I talked to the head coach there,” he says. “One of the main selling points … was that he knew a lot of big colleges in the South that he could set me up with if I wanted to go there.”

DI lacrosse player Devin Stewart, who plays at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), summarizes the advantage that many private high schools have over public schools in athletics. “It comes down to resources, and private schools typically have a lot more,” he says. “[Coaches] have recruiting pipelines already in place [and] kids who are in private school for a sport almost always play club in the sport during the offseason.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF DEVIN STEWART

DEVIN STEWART

PAUL KOSTACOPOULOS

PRIVATE TO PRO Landon School commit Devin Stewart positions himself during a match. Stewart currently plays at the University of Pennsylvania been good,” Stewart says. “This Although public schools general- means that even if you are in the ly have fewer athletic college comDMV, if you aren’t at a known lamits compared to private schools, It comes down to they still have quality programs that crosse school, it may be hard to get resources, and help students further their athletic exposure.” private schools As one of the top-ranked footcareers. Since public school athtypically have a lot letes cannot rely on their schools ball programs in the state, Archmore. to get recruited, they often turn to bishop Spalding has had multiple other methods. Blair senior Meron graduates who committed to DI Koro shares her strategy for reaching out to coaches that helped her football schools. University of get recruited for DI soccer. “There Maryland (UMD) freshman quarAlthough most of these private weren’t really a lot of resources on terback Malik Washington is one schools do not formally recruit the high school side,” Koro says. of these athletes. Schmitt shares athletes, they still employ other “It was through my club that I how his football program helps outreach methods to attract stuwas able to contact coaches. I sent dent-athletes. Saint Mary’s School athletes with their success. “I think emails before tournaments [and] in Annapolis’ athletic director Paul games, … letting the coaches know, PHOTO COURTESY OF JONATHAN PETER BELLING Both girls and boys ‘Hey, I have a game this weekend. who want to play It would be great if you can come at the next level watch me.’” really need that During the college recruitment process, Hauser also found the type of competition most success by taking initiative. [in] high school to “I’d say actually reaching out to get them ready for those specific college coaches was [college]. the most influential [part of] my own process,” he says. “I think I gained the most following based on [athletes] come to Spalding with the my actions.”

Athletes who have played at mindset that they’ll be prepared for feeder high schools recognize that college. And we feel really comfortresources from their schools have able about that for guys like Malik— contributed to their recruitment that they’re ready to play as young prospects and decisions. Stewart, players because of the preparation a Landon graduate, explains how they’ve had at Spalding,” he says. his school—whose boys’ lacrosse As the high school athletic scene team ranked top four in the state gets increasingly competitive, these in 2025— encouraged his athletic career and commitment to Penn. private athletic programs have “The school you go to plays a very been gaining attention. “We play important role in recruitment—es- in a very competitive conference,” pecially in a sport like lacrosse.

Kostacopoulos says. “Both girls College coaches typically recruit only from lacrosse hotbed areas and boys who want to play at the like New England or the District of next level really need that type of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia competition [in] high school to get TRUSTING HIS TRAINING Archbishop Spalding commit Malik Washington throws a pass during a Univer- (DMV) [area], and furthermore, them ready for [college].” only focus on schools that have sity of Maryland football game

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F4 Sports December 10, 2025

Blair Blazers have a good run

Cross-country, football, volleyball teams place in post season

By JAMIE LOVE The last time boys’ cross-country was a state finalist, the price of gas was 31 cents per gallon. This year, girls’ volleyball made the state semifinals for the second time ever in the competition’s 79-year history. After a disjointed 1-4 start, the

football team pieced together a run that carried them to the state quarterfinals. Although no Blair team captured a state championship this year, they still made history.

Chasing history

With all seven members of the varsity roster returning for their se-

Blazers bounce back

While the cross-country team was consistently performing well in races in September, the varsity football team’s season seemed to be headed in a different direction early on.

Blazers football opened the season with a home conference matchup against the Wheaton Knights. With a varsity lineup dominated by juniors, the team’s lack of experience showed. On offense, they struggled to move the ball. On defense, they failed to keep the run game in check. On special teams, they struggled to execute a clean kicking operation. They were dominated by the Knights on all sides of the ball, getting shut out 32-0.

In the following weeks, there were few signs of improvement. At Bethesda-Chevy Chase (B-CC), the team was blown out 5012. At Paint Branch, they suffered an even greater defeat, losing 61-14. At the end of week three, they found themselves 0-3 and ranked twentieth out of 25 teams.

After a rough start to the season, the frustration was evident—especially for the team’s seniors. “It was very sad that that was the [last] year we [seniors] were all going to have,” kicker and punter Teagan Willis said.

However, in week four’s homecoming game against the 1-2 Albert Einstein Titans, Blair found its spark through junior quarterback Malachi Rice. The offense ran through the Titans’ secondary, with big plays from Blair seniors Benjamin Giblin and Jayden

Netting success

Whitman, Springbrook, and Seneca Valley to even their record. In week nine, they fell to the 4-4 Northwest Jaguars, but still managed to secure a spot in the playoffs.

The team’s first round matchup was a meaningful one. The Blazers were set to take on the B-CC Barons in a revenge game.

PHOTO BY IAN GLEASON

LOCKED IN Blair football quarterback Malachi Rice prepares for a snap play at a game against the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Barons

sult directly in a point—per game as a team.

After a win over Damascus brought their record to 6-3, the team hit a rough patch. Blair lost four of the five succeeding games, moving their record to 7-7. Nonetheless, a win against the Paint Branch Panthers was enough for the team to earn a first-round bye in this season’s playoffs.

We almost gave up ... I thought that was going to be our last game.

TOFTAA FEDHAA

To open their season, Blair girls’ volleyball faced a situation the football team knew well: a revenge game at B-CC. After losing two games to the Barons in the last two seasons, the Blazers knew they needed to fight hard for every point. Even with outstanding performances from Blair freshman Pallavi Stone and junior Kiya Boggan, the Blazers were defeated 1-3.

Despite the early loss, the team was not shaken. In their second game, Blair senior Kacy Nguyen and junior Briana Romero-Fabian starred in the team’s 3-1 victory at home against 1-0 Blake, amassing 24 digs—defensive plays preventing the ball from hitting the court—between the two of them.

After a 3-0 loss at Magruder in their third game, the Blazers found their rhythm, winning five of their next six games, including those against rival teams from Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, and Wheaton. Over this winning stretch, they were lethal from the serving line, averaging 13.3 aces—serves that re-

Parker, while the defense played lights out.

The team shut out the Titans 42-0, winning their first game of the season.

Despite a week five loss to the 3-1 James Hubert Blake Bengals, the Blazers began to gain momentum. In weeks six through eight, they averaged 35 points, defeating Walt

more success, winning the Bull Run meet and defeating Richard Montgomery and Magruder in a tri-meet at Lake Needwood. At the MCPS County Championships, however, their momentum stalled.

Looking to place first again, they struggled to get out and establish themselves in the race. When their last runner finally crossed the finish line, the title had already slipped out of reach. The team finished third, concluding a poor race by their standards.

Looking to bounce back from the disappointment at counties, the boys’ team set their sights on the regional championship. Once again led by Burckle, they quickly returned to the top, cruising to victory. The girls also had a breakout race, winning comfortably and solidifying their title as the region’s best.

By the end of the season, Blair boys’ cross-country had one goal in mind: to win the state championship. On race day, they poured everything they had into the course, fighting through injury and illness.

Despite their relentless efforts, the

After their bye, the Blazers were set for a rematch against Paint Branch in the regional semifinals.

Blair had dominated the Panthers in the past three seasons, winning four straight games, and this one was no different. The team controlled the game from start to fin-

ish, winning 3-0. The regional finals were a similar story. Blair secured a decisive 3-0 win over Eleanor Roosevelt’s Raiders, comfortably winning each set.

As the playoffs progressed, the team’s chemistry grew stronger.

“We started having more energy,” Blair junior outside hitter Toftaa Fedhaa said. “We started communicating more with each other while we played.”

That bond was put to the test in the Blazers’ state quarterfinals matchup. Their opponent, Dulaney, entered the matchup ranked 28th in the state with a record of 15-1, while Blair came in as the 77th ranked team.

In the first set, Blair struggled to keep up, losing 15-25. “We almost gave up,” Fedhaa said. “I thought that was going to be our last game.”

Still, they began to settle in. “We felt that there was definitely a way we could beat this team.” With the help of impressive net play from Boggan, the Blazers fought back, winning the following three sets and moving on to the state semifi-

team was narrowly defeated by Urbana, finishing in second place.

Though disappointing, it was still the program’s best result since 1963. Burckle, therefore, reflects on the season with immense pride.

“I know for a fact that I gave everything I could have,” he said.

I’m proud that we came out and we showed the state we’re here, [and that] you cannot ignore us anymore.

ERICH RAMOS

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARGARET HOLLAND

REGIONAL SWEEP Blair boys’ and girls’ cross-country pose after winning their respective Regional Championships

nior season, Blair boys’ cross-country knew this had to be their year.

In early July, the team began their summer training in Colorado, looking to deepen their bond. By August, team members were running an average of close to 50 miles a week.

The girls’ cross-country team, on the other hand, entered the season fairly inexperienced. With two of their fastest runners graduating in the spring, four of the seven rostered varsity runners this season were freshmen. Despite being young, the team was faster than last year, and they knew they could take the program to new lengths.

In September, both teams faced an early test at the Chesapeake Invite, competing against many of Maryland’s best programs. Racing first, the boys took care of business, with Blair senior Benjamin Burckle setting a school record time of 15:59 and leading the team to victory. Next up, the girls—led by Blair junior Marcela Mason-Rodriguez— placed third.

As the season progressed, Blair boys’ cross-country encountered

Blair senior Erich Ramos shared a similar sentiment. “After all the adversity I faced, and two years of mostly disappointing performances … to be able to come out and compete and run with the top guys again, I’m just grateful for that,” he said. “For the team, I’m proud that we came out and we showed the state we’re here, [and that] you cannot ignore us anymore.”

“We were really hyped,” Willis said. “We knew … that the start of the season was not who we truly were.”

After a hard-fought back-and-forth game, the Blazers found themselves driving down the field, trailing by three late in the third quarter. On second and short from the Barons’ 17-yard line, Rice found his receiver Parker in the end zone to reclaim the lead 24-20. The Blair defense then shut out the Barons in the fourth quarter, completing their upset and advancing them to yet another rematch game at Wheaton in the second round.

This time, the team comfortably dealt with the 8-2 Knights. After taking an early 8-0 lead, they never looked back, snapping Wheaton’s five-game winning streak with a 36-14 victory and advancing to a state quarterfinals matchup against the 10-1 Winston Churchill Bulldogs.

Averaging only 10.2 points allowed per game, the Bulldogs boasted one of the best defenses in the state, and it showed against the Blazers. Although they kept the game close with a long rushing touchdown early on, Blair struggled to keep up with Churchill’s high-powered offense. After a resilient four quarters, the Blazers fell 42-7 to the Bulldogs, ending an impressive playoff run.

While his final season has come to a close, Willis is already looking ahead with optimism. “This is a really young team,” he said.

“They’ll have a lot of … chemistry and skill to carry on to next year.”

nals for the first time in 26 years and the second time in the competition’s history.

For a spot in the state finals, the Blazers faced Urbana, whom they defeated 2-1 last year. This time, however, the Hawks were simply too strong to overcome. Blair strug-

gled to get going and was defeated 3-0. After a great playoff run, the team’s season came to an end.

Though they fell short of the state title game, the girls’ volleyball team, like cross-country and football, showcased great talent and resilience throughout the fall, setting

PHOTO COURTESY OF TINO PHAM

SKY HIGH Blair volleyball opposite hitter Sana Kanta goes up for a spike against the Urbana Hawks