Issue 9

A

ANNANDALE HIGH SCHOOL

VOLUME #61 ISSUE 9

4700 Medford Dr. Annandale, VA 22003 470

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VA Governor vetoes Beloved bill

BY SUMMAR AYOUB & TEAGAN FOTI Editor in Chief & News Editor Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed a bill earlier last week that would have given parents the opportunity to opt their children out of reading books in school that expose them to sexually explicit material or contain other context that they don't approve of.

The bill, which was nicknamed "the Beloved Bill", was started by a Lake Braddock mother, Laura Murphy, after she became alarmed when her son, a senior in high school, was reading the book Beloved in his AP English class.

Murphy didn't approve of the nature of some of the scenes in the book and found it disturbing that her son was expected to read the book for a school assignment.

"Beloved is about one of the most horrific experiences in American history : slavery. It does have moments that make the reader uncomfortable, as it should," English teacher Catherine Gibson said.

"Although the text is heavy on poetic and metaphorical language, it manages to give a haunting, graphic and authentic account of the slave experience. This is why the Pulitzer Prize winning novel is both one of the most frequently banned and read novels within high schools."

The Virginia Board of Education is supposedly in the works of revising their learning and reading requirements to accommodate more parents and

their concerns about their children being exposed to inappropriate and sexual literature.

The bill had support from the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia, but wasn't backed up by The National Council of Teachers of English and the National Coalition Against Censorship.

Had McAuliffe passed the law, Virginia would have been the first state to give parents the ability to monitor what their kids read in school. This would also have resulted in a possible curriculum and end of year exam change. "[I believe that students should be able to opt out of reading Beloved because] the text has a lot of uncomfortable and disturbing scenes that were sexual and violent," senior Annie Pham said. "It was also against my religion because of all the supernatural elements."

Reading books such as Beloved in advanced English classes, such as IB and AP classes, prepares students for their end of the year assessments. By letting certain students be exempt from reading the text, they may not be as prepared for those exams.

"I believe in an IB classroom that it is a near impossible task to assign an alternate text and have students be prepared for their assessments. In IB classes, students are given the list of texts a year in advance. If a student or parent deems the reading material inappropriate, it seems a better alternative to take a class that is not IB, such as a general education or honors level class," Gibson said. "In a general education class, the standards, expectations and assessments are not as centered around the specific texts being taught, so it is easier and not as detrimental to the student to offer an alternate text."

Many teachers also fear that if students are opted out from reading certain text then they

Theatre without Borders acts out Shrew

BY LINA AL-TAII Staff Writer The next Theatre Without Borders play, William Shakespeare's Taming of The Shrew, will be debuting Thursday, April 14. Theatre Without Borders is a program which has been hosting plays at AHS for years.

The Theatre Without Borders program has adapted the play with Shakespeare's original language,

but has introduced an alternative ending which has a more modern approach to gender relations.

The play was casted in December and the students have been working on the play ever since.

Theatre Without Borders has a large following and lots of community support. Their plays typically draw anywhere from 200 to 300 people. In the community, families of students come watch and many alumni come back and participate.

Most of the people who audition are in the class and rehearse during school. So many students have see THEATRE pg. 5

Day of Silence PHOTO COURTESY OF TEAGAN FOTI

William Shakespeare play performed by ESOL students

Chorus students perform Over three days, Broadway Desserts impresses audience

BY GRACE HOGYE COURTESY OF TABITHA BARNES

Staff Writer The auditorium was filled with beautiful voices and sweet treats on April 7 through April 9 as the AHS Choral Department presented Broadway Desserts. The production included performances of various songs from different broadway plays.

The plays ranged from Phantom of the Opera to Lion King, and the songs provided a range of styles and

Senior Tabitha Barnes performing her musical number at choral event.

won't grasp concepts and ideas as well as the other students.

"I feel that a student does not get the same level of education or experience by reading an alternate book out in the hall while the rest of the class engages in the study of the same text," Gibson said.

So far Fairfax County has no banned books, however complaints are often made regarding some of the material covered in English classes. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the books that is also often disputed because of its use of the 'N' word.

All books that are read by students are chosen from a specific list of approved authors or books and have valid rationale behind why students are exposed and expected to read them.

"Every piece of literature that I teach in IB and English 11 are valid pieces that promote critical thinking. Sometimes we tackle difficult material; that's how we grow as learners and individuals.

The parts of 'banned' literature that are regarded as 'inappropriate' are often taken out of context and not looked at critically," English teacher Sasha Duran said. "There's always a point to including difficult or 'inappropriate' elements in a larger work, and if the work is taught properly, then there's no reason to remove it from the curriculum or censor it for people who think they have a problem with it."

Murphy was very disappointed that McAuliffe decided to veto the bill after it had gotten a lot of support from many other lawmakers and she continues to avidly believe that parents deserve to have a say in what their kids are exposed to in school.

The bill will likely be reintroduced to the legislative system if the Virginia School Board doesn't change it's educational requirements.

emotion.

Broadway Desserts is unique in the fact that it is presented in the style of a cabaret. The auditorium was transformed into a restaurant with nicely decorated tables where the audience could sit and enjoy the show while eating the complimentary desserts that were served by the singers.

The amazing set, costumes, choreography and overall presentation required a lot of preparation. The time and effort of many students, teachers and volunteers was needed in order to put together the fantastic event.

"We have been preparing for see BROADWAY pg. 5

Students and teachers honor the LBGT community

BY SHARON SANCHEZ Staff Writer The Day of Silence is an event held on April 15 all throughout the day where you don't say a word, in hopes to raise anti-bullying, namecalling and harassment awareness for the LGBT community.

The main goal of this is to address the bullying the LGBT members receive and for people to be more accepting of others, despite their sexual orientation or self identity/self expression.

According to the DOS official website, it was created and first started in 1996 by a university

student in Virginia in response to a class assignment on non-violent protest.

Students can take a pledge online or sign up and take a pledge in Mrs. Korones' classroom located in 270B. Students who participate will be given a rainbow pin, Day of Silence button and an explanation sheet that will say the following: "Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the day of silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, namecalling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step to building awareness and making a see SILENCE pg. 5

PHOTO COURTESY OF JAROD GOLUB

Terry McAuliffe rejects measure that would have given parents the right to control what their kids read in school

Leif Jomaud and Ben Petruzzielo perform at Battle of the Bands two years

Battle of the bands Teachers get ready to play students

BY TEAGAN FOTI News Editor Ever wonder who can make the best free throw, Joe Turner or Jashon Reams? Or who can block the best shot, Michael Mazzarella or Abdulahi Abdalla?

Come to the annual student v. faculty basketball game on April 13 at 3:15 p.m. in the main gym to see which team comes out on top.

For the past two years the students have come out victorious, but the faculty team is determined to make a comeback and take down

Spring fever Look at all the candid student spring photos Photo 8

the students.

"Of course you can expect faculty members to win this year. [The] students have nobody," boys varsity basketball coach Matthew Behne said.

Tickets for the game will be sold during all lunches from April 11 through April 13. Tickets are $2 presale and $3 at the door. Prizes and other gifts will be given out during half-time as a way to keep the crowd involved and excited about the game.

The basketball game is easily one of the students favorite traditions at the school and with the competitive teams and extensive practice both teams have done the game this year is sure to be a good see BASKETBALL pg. 5

BY SERENE GHUL Staff Writer

FILE PHOTO

Annual basketball game has faculty and students in it to win

Musical student groups compete at the annual AHS contest

Students huddle together during a time-out at the game two years ago.

Student Artistss Check out the rising student rappers Entertainment 19

A wide variety of music acts will be showcased at AHSBB 2016 Battle of the Bands, the performances will range from acapella choirs to rock bands and jazz combos. The competition will be held on Friday, May 13; anyone who signs up is able to perform in the show.

Signing up is easy, all one must do is shoot an email to AHSbattleofthebands@outlook.com and sign up.

On top of looking for acts to perform in the show, the AHSBB is also

Natitude Check out how students show their Nationals pride Weekend 20

looking for someone to design a logo for the upcoming event.

Anyone interested in designing the logo must make it with any two colors and a black background. The logo must be put in .jpg format and sent to the BOTB e-mail stated early.

With students from all over the school preparing to perform, the excitement builds as the event nears closer.

"The Generational Jazz Combo see BANDS pg. 5

FIND OUT MORE On your smartphone, scan this code using the application "QR Code" to learn more about how to sign up and attend the competition.

2 EDITORIALS

April 12, 2016

NATO not obsolete, despite campaign rhetoric The work of NATO signals a positive trend in international politics American involvement in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - NATO - has been a particularly decisive issue in this year's presidential election. Some candidates and voters believe that NATO has outlived its usefulness, effectively becoming an "obsolete" organization.

Contrary to what one larger-than-life presidential candidate and his supporters may believe, NATO is anything but "obsolete." The organization is going through a particularly difficult transitional phase, but it is far from useless.

NATO is a military alliance between a number of North American and European nations, including the United States, Britain, Germany and many others.

This alliance was formed to create a united front against the Soviet Union, which at the time was seen as a legitimate military threat to the rest of Europe.

Though NATO was never mobilized to directly fight the Soviet Union, the organization has achieved a number of military and diplomatic victories since its formation in 1949. NATO forces have played a decisive role in the defense of weaker nations or oppressed ethnic groups.

The Persian Gulf War was waged primarily by NATO countries against Iraq, which was acting as a belligerent and destabilizing force in the region. NATO victory against Iraq ensured the safety of neighboring Kuwait, and the stability of the global oil market.

The alliance's intervention in Serbia in the late 90s halted an ethnic cleansing campaign in the region, a major humanitarian victory.

That said, NATO's more recent operations lend credence to the belief that the organization is obsolete.

NATO involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya has consistently failed to create stable, peaceful resolutions

www. nato.int

BY NICHOLAS MORTENSEN Staff Writer

Secretary General of NATO commends U.S. military volunteers on their service visit to Fort Bragg.

to the conflicts in these regions. In the case of Libya, Foreign Affairs magazine argues that Western intervention in Libya made matters worse for the country.

These claims are not unsubstantiated. Since Libyan rebels killed dictator Muammar Gaddafi with the support of NATO airstrikes and weapons, the country has failed to create a stable government.

Though NATO succeeded in securing a military victory, it has failed in facilitating a stable political transition.

This failure has had significant consequences.

The Islamic State and other extremist groups have exploited instability in the country to recruit militants and launch attacks into neighboring countries, further destabilizing and increasing tensions in the region.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, NATO involvement has upheld the governments of both countries, but has failed to achieve much else. Afghanistan is still coping with attacks

from Al-Qaeda, and Iraq has been locked in a battle against the Islamic State since 2014.

While these failures in the Middle East are troubling, they do not indicate NATO's obsolescence. If anything, they indicate NATO's capability to change and adapt to a changing international stage.

Libya was a disastrous case of idealism holding more influence than pragmatism. While Gaddafi was a reprehensible, brutal dictator, he was the primary force keeping Libya together and somewhat stable.

Encouraging and facilitating a violent revolt against him while having no concrete plans for a successive government was a fatal lapse in judgement that has deeply hurt the Libyan people as well as further destabilizing the entire region. It appears NATO has learned from this experience.

Though Afghanistan and Iraq are both in difficult

positions, their existing governments have fairly strong footholds in the critical regions of both countries. In Iraq's case, government forces have actually managed to gain ground against the Islamic State.

CBS reports that Iraqi forces have been steadily advancing towards Mosul, the second largest city in the country and an important ISIS stronghold.

Afghanistan has also scored a number of victories against extremists. Most recently, the BBC reports that Afghan military forces managed to recapture the city of Kabul after it was lost to an Al-Qaeda attack. That said, progress appears to be much slower than Iraq.

While the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan are different, they both reflect a change in NATO's strategy in both countries. Instead of being the main military force operating in the region, NATO has opted to put most of the power in the hands of the militaries of both countries.

NATO may have a large role in the training and arming of government forces, but it largely is not involved in direct combat against ISIS or Al Qaeda, save for airstrikes and a number of Western special forces operating in both countries.

The primary advantage to this strategy is that it empowers the governments involved in the fight against the Islamic State and other extremist groups.

While progress may be slower, it is a far more politically stable solution, and may ensure the long-term security of nations trained by NATO forces.

That said, the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in the Middle East are incredibly complicated.

NATO's new strategy in the region appears to be having a positive effect, but it is far too early to determine if this strategy will work out in the long term.

Regardless, progress is being made in the Middle East. Though the Islamic State continues to conduct terrorist attacks across the world, it is losing ground in the Middle East.

NATO is not the only military force fighting against the Islamic State, but current events indicate that the organization is far from obsolete, contrary to the trumped-up claims made by some in American politics. If anything, the organization is changing to become even more effective in light of recent events.

Raise the minimum wage Obesity is getting bigger In a stunning win for the workforce, New York and California are increasing their minimum wage to $15.

The governors of each state signed legislation last Monday that will make it so that no New York or California family has to settle for the barely sufficient minimum wage of the past.

President Obama applauded the two states and their choice. He has been fighting for a raise in the minimum wage throughout the US since the start of his presidency, setting a national benchmark for $10.10.

The raise will not be implemented immediately for either state. In California, the legislation calls for a total raise by 2023, while in New York staggered wage hikes will be implemented throughout the next few years. Additionally, New York will give 12 weeks of paid family leave to all workers.

Still, excitement abounds throughout the nation about the possible implications of the raise for other states. The wage raise signals a change for the better, and creates many possibilities for national growth.

Hiking up the wages will allow families to have extra money in their pockets. Especially for families that live on one or two parents working minimum wage jobs, the extra money could go a long way.

Parents may be able to spend more time with their children and save up for things like their child's education and their own retirement.

Additionally, the increase of wages will result in more products being sold, thus helping the economy.

People who earn minimum wage and support a family generally cannot afford much food or clothing products.

They don't go out to eat or on vacation much, but with this change more people will be able to afford a comfortable lifestyle.

Raising the minimum wage improves the standard of living for families, especially in the states of New York and California, where prices are significantly higher and the dollar cannot buy you as much as it would in other states.

For example, for what you can buy with $15 in California, you can spend around $11.8 in West Virginia.

Many states would not have to raise their minimum wage to $15 exactly, but something comparable that makes life more comfortable for residents.

With the federal minimum wage currently at $7.25 an hour, the increase in the two states is more than double the amount.

It only seems reasonable for other states to follow their example and gradually raise their minimum wages as well to that comparable price.

This move towards higher salaries will serve as justice for the working Americans.

"Working minimum wage made it difficult for me to save up, especially because I am trying to prepare for college."

Yuki Zheng Employee at Tropical Smoothie The amount of work and time most of the lower working class puts into their daily lives should be rewarded with enough money that will allow them to have a decent life.

Especially for those in America who do not have a higher education, including immigrants or high school graduates hoping to save money, $7.25 is not a sufficient amount to make a living off of, especially in an urban setting.

These individuals are aiming to build a life for themselves with little opportunities and a higher minimum wage will benefit them greatly.

Additionally, students looking to pay their way through college or workers in between jobs would find it much easier to stay out of debt with a higher salary.

Even high schoolers get jobs for spending money, gas money, or to save up for their future. Most students don't have much time to work, so they could maximize their earnings with a more reasonable wage.

"Working minimum wage made it difficult for me to save up," junior Yuki Zheng said. "Especially because I am trying to prepare for college."

New study reveals international levels are at an all time high

·

China's number of obese men has shot up from 700,000 to 43 million.

·

BY RUTH MEKONNEN Staff Writer

India was in 19th place for global diversity, and now they are in 3rd for women and 5th for men.

·

The US went from 1 million severely obese men to 16 million.

·

China and the US are the only two countries with obesity rates in the 40 millions.

·

The US is the only country with severely obese in the 10-20 millions (16 million for men and 20 million for women).

A new study by The Lancet, a U.K. Medical Journal, reported that by 2025, one in five people will most likely be obese.

The US is labeled worldwide as the fattest country out there, however, the reality is that obesity is commonplace throughout the world.

The Medical Journal stated that more than half of worldwide obesity cases are centered in 10 different countries. The top country for obesity in men and women is China, followed by the US. Also ranking high are Brazil, Russia and Mexico.

There are a lot of misconceptions about what obesity is. Although many blur the lines between being obese and being overweight, there is a clear distinction between the two.

Obesity is when one has a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, while overweight is when one's BMI is between 25 and 30. BMI is the proportion of one's weight relative to their height.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, there are many risks associated with obesity such as: diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, liver disease and many more.

The rate at which the obesity rate is increasing is very shocking considering that there have been many measures taken worldwide to promote healthy eating.

Obesity is usually caused by a large intake of calories and/or a lack of exercise.

This doesn't necessarily mean that we should stop eating junk food or fast food, it just means that we should limit our intake of unhealthy food and have a healthier lifestyle.

MANAGING EDITOR Alexandra Zernik NEWS EDITORS Mohamed Elhag Teagan Foti EDITORIALS EDITORS Sadie Modica Julie Nguyen

PEOPLE EDITORS Conrad Shartel Julie Swenton WEEKEND EDITORS Cayley Byrne Biruk Negash INTERNATIONAL EDITORS Nancy Evora Timothy Gray

COPY EDITORS Linus Bumbaca

ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS Daniel Yenegeta Ahmad Ayub

IN-DEPTH EDITORS Binqi Chen Aseal Saed

LIFESTYLES EDITORS Thida Pathammavong Tipyan Omer

SPORTS EDITORS Ryan Gammon Andrew Gonzalez Nebeyu Solomon

HEALTH EDITORS Sabrina Hawa Phuong Nguyen

SPORTS XTRA EDITORS Marem Atef Raphael Yu

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORS Soulisa Pathammavong Marilyn Rivas

ART EDITORS Alaina Garay Kailyn Garay ACADEMICS EDITORS Marife Baragano Kiara Patino WEB EDITOR/MASTER Christopher Han HEAD VIDEOGRAPHERS Faisel Hassen Bailey Oliver AD MANAGER Hussein Salem CIRCULATION MANAGERS Jeanine Barakat Maria Suarez STAFF WRITERS Almaz Abedje Sheila Aguirre Seham Ahmed Lina Al Taii Laura Clemons Anthony Dinh Serene Ghul

Grace Hogye Jennifer Kang Lucie Lefbom Kirk Lindberg Angelo Lopez Crew McCarthy Ruth Mekonnen Julius Miller Nicholas Mortensen Amani Muntu Judy Nanaw Duy Nguyen Andrew Nunez Sergio Pozo Cory Pringle Sharon Sanchez Kadijah Sesay Kavi Shamdin Rachel Shogren Camilia Soruco Halley Thadeus Karungu Thuku Melanie Valencia Firdousa Wasuge PHOTOGRAPHER Tooba Siddique ADVISER Alan Weintraut

Teens should have at least one hour of exercise per day. It is not that much exercise. Just taking a walk or a jog around your neighborhood is better for you than staying at home and watching Netflix.

Just six years ago, First Lady Michelle Obama created the "Let's Move" campaign. This campaign was aimed to promote exercise and to reduce childhood obesity.

"We have created an ideal environment for gaining weight. Fast food restaurants are everywhere and we have transportation that makes our lives so much easier," sophomore Cindy Ma said.

Obesity is not a contagious disease. There isn't any medicine to prevent it. It all depends on you. Obesity is a problem that we can prevent from happening.

Obesity is a serious problem in not only, the US, but the world.

"We need to address this issue immediately," sophomore Marina Chen said.

Talk to your doctors and figure out what steps you need to take to have a healthier lifestyle. After all, you only live once.

Dos and Don'ts: Choosing a college

Staff CO-EDITORS IN CHIEF Summar Ayoub Hezekiel Yonas

OBESITY FACTS (1975-2014)

NCD RISK FACTOR COLLABORATION

BY JULIE NGUYEN AND SADIE MODICA Editorials Editors

Annandale High School Vol. 61 No.9 4700 Medford Dr. Annandale, VA 22003 703.642.4229 April 12 , 2016 Adviser: Alan Weintraut ajweintraut@fcps.edu

The A-Blast is an award-winning newspaper that strives to inform, educate and entertain the student body and community.

Published every three weeks, The A-Blast will not print any material that is obscene or libelous; or that which substantially disrupts the school day, or invades an individual's right to privacy. The A-Blast is an independent, open forum for discussion that is printed at the Springfield Plant of The Washington Post.

Signed letters to the editor of 250 words or less may be emailed to theablast16@gmail.com or submitted to room 262 or mailed to the school. The A-Blast reserves the right to refuse advertisements.

All submissions become property of The A-Blast, Copyright, 2016.

Do visit the campus-see if the vibe matches your personality and goals!

Don't fixate on one school-- there are many options out there that must be considered.

Do make a list of pros and cons-- you need to weigh your options properly Don't choose a college just because of its prestige or price-find the right fit for you!

EDITORIALS 3

April 12, 2016

Higher education comes with a high price Students panic over affording overpriced colleges With high school coming to an end, seniors are stressing over which college to choose. Several factors influence their decisions such as distance and majors. However, the main factor teenagers need to take into consideration is affordability. Although it essentially depends on family income, the price to enter college is often an immense, unmanageable amount.

Not being able to consider a college because of its high cost can be heartbreaking for a student. A student may be accepted into their dream school but knowing that they cannot bear the expense of it can crush them during this heavy-stress time.

Because so many teenagers have trouble choosing the college that is perfect for them, when they find a place that suits all their desires it is a great relief. The feeling of finally finding a place they are able to call their second home brings great confidence to the student about their future in college.

Given this, after searching for the tuition price, how would it feel to realize they have to eliminate that option and forget about having an education there?

SADIE MODICA

BY JUDY NANAW Staff Writer

The main library at Columbia University in New York.

Tuition at a private university is now approximately three times as expensive as it was in 1974, costing an average of $31,000. Public tuition, at $9,000 has risen by nearly four times.

According to the Pew Research Center, a nationwide study reports that 57 percent of expected students believe that "a college degree no longer carries a value worth the cost." Also, 75 percent of the respondents

proclaimed college simply unaffordable.

As money is an issue for many families, students being to depend on scholarships for a chance to be able to go to a certain school. When applying, many colleges automatically offer scholarships based on the student's family income.

Some provide them based off of how well a student is doing in school. There are even some random ones

that could be found that include whether someone wears glasses or whether they are left or right handed.

What becomes a problem is when a student's family income is too high for financial aid. Even so, some families who happen to have incomes that do not qualify them for certain scholarships still have trouble affording the excessive college tuitions.

For example, Georgetown University in Washington D.C. does not have merit-based scholarships, leaving the only aid available as the ones that depend on how much money a student's family makes. For the average American household that gets little to no financial aid, higher education is frankly out of the question.

"Education is not really guaranteed but it's one of the essential things you need to just make yourself a living," junior Bitania Endalkachew said. "I think college should at least be affordable enough to not have to pay off loans for the rest of your life once you go."

Another option when it comes to money while applying is to consider a pathways program at a community college. This means spending two years in one and then automatically being transferred to a four year university if the student desires completing the four years of education. Community colleges can be a great, cost-effective idea.

Many students have gone to NOVA after attending high school for the benefit of saving money.

The price that needs to be paid in order to go to college is outrageously high. This leads to students getting rid of some of their choices, searching for as many scholarships that they can qualify for, and putting into thought the possibility of a community college.

Heard in the halls: Do you think college is too expensive?

"Yes, especially out of state college. It's very expensive and I feel like it's too much."

"Not all are public so "Of course it is. It is "It's kind of crazy. I they don't focus on the worst thing. I hate think having a much the individual needs it." more affordable color financial situations MAYA KOCH lege system would of the students." junior benefit a lot more BITANIA people."

ENDALKACHEW REECE KAEO junior junior MATTHEW VOGUS

"It's certainly expensive but you can get financial aid based on your social economic class."

"As a lower middle class I don't get any financial aid so I have to pay the $24,000 by myself."

AMIANSU KHANAL

ERIN AHN

senior

senior

"I don't think it's too expensive since the good degree you get afterwards makes up for it."

junior

Ending the orca breeding, a step against animal exploitation SeaWorld has recently announced that it will no longer continue their orca breeding program. This generation of orcas will be the last to inhabit or perform at SeaWorld.

Many of those who go to places that use animals as entertainment do not see what goes on behind the scenes.

Zoos and parks do not show the treatment of the animals, nor do they show all the mental and physical pain it can cause them.

Park officials made the right choice to stop the program.

However, some people don't see it that way. It is understandable that some people working for SeaWorld do not support the ending of the program because of all the profit the killer whales brought with them.

The huge difference in life expectancies of the orcas being kept in captivity and in the wild is incredibly shocking.

According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, 123 orca whales have died in captivity since 1961. Most of these whales have dealt with numerous horrors. Being ripped away from their families, being put into tanks that aren't equipped for them, placed in solitary, being forced to perform and so on.

It is also not rare to hear of incidents where the whales have caused the deaths of trainers throughout the year.

Keeping animals in captivity does not only hurt them, but also us.

For many years, animal rights activist groups have protested against the captivity of killer whales at SeaWorld. The fact that they will no longer force-breed orca whales is great, but what about the other animals that still have to be kept in confinement?

Barely any of the other species in SeaWorld and other animals trapped in the entertainment industry have received the aid that they need. There could still be a lot more done to improve animal's lives.

Take the animals that are used in circuses as another example. Ever since we were young, we have seen these animals perform at circuses and amusement parks, not

senior

ADITYA CHATURVEDI senior

Cartoonist's corner

acknowledging that behind all those magical moments that we have enjoyed, an animal could have been suffering.

No one should support an act like that, it is simply not right. Buying a ticket to those shows and places that display animal performances is basically supporting the industry and their poor treatment of the animals.

Another way we hurt animals is by not acknowledging that many of the products we use are tested on them. Some makeup and cosmetic industries rely on the constant usage of animal tests to experiment the safety and effectiveness of their products, and create more products.

However, not all cosmetic and makeup lines test on animals. Some of them are cruelty-free, meaning that none of their products are tested on an animal.

Adapting to a cruelty-free product lifestyle change is not only a way to live kindly, but it also makes you feel great that you're not contributing to animal cruelty, and decreasing the demand on the industries that do.

There has been more demand of cruelty-free products than there was before, and it is great that there are more industries that have chosen to abstain from testing their products on animals. Hopefully, in the future even more industries will follow.

Some of our clothing such as leather and fur is the result of animal pain as well. While many may disagree that it is not that bad and that they do not mean to cause harm, it can cause unfortunate consequences that can threaten an animal's life.

Sure, while a leather jacket or fur coat can look stylish, edgy and glamorous, is there really an excuse to wear it when there are other possible alternatives that look exactly the same?

There are better alternatives that are just as good and that have similar texture to fur and leather. Faux leather is a great way, as well as fake fur to stop the demand of real leather and fur, while supporting a good cause.

The world is changing for the better, but slowly. Perhaps, one day mankind will look back and realize how bad we treated animals in the first place for our own benefit and never want to go back to those days.

ILLUSTRATION BY JESSICA FERSON

BY SHARON SANCHEZ Staff Writer

CHRIS LEE

"Yes, because I'm an international student.

Plus they don't give you need based aid so it's going to be really hard."

Wage discrimination still a problem today Women's national soccer team takes a stand against unequal pay It is a known problem that women are still being paid less than men while working the same jobs. In order to stand up against this known issue, the U.S. women's soccer team has taken it upon themselves to finally do something about it.

Five members of the U.S. women's national soccer team, including Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan have recently filed a wage-discrimination action against the U.S. Soccer Federation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

However, this is not only a problem in the sports industry. Women all over the country are being paid less than men and this issue has raised great awareness towards wage equality in other professions like teaching.

If all individuals are essentially doing the

TEAMUSA.ORG

BY JUDY NANAW Staff Writer

The U.S. women's national team poses for a picture.

same work, then shouldn't all individuals be paid the same amount? This distinction between genders is not fair and should be fixed immediately.

The women's soccer team earned $2 million for their 2015 World Cup win that was shared between the organization and the

players while the men received $9 million for losing their 2014 World Cup. That's right, losing.

The fact that the women's national team won the World Cup final last year and still got paid less than the men is absurd. It was the most watched soccer match in American

history!

Germany, the winning team in the 2014 World Cup, was given $35 million.

Solo protested that the men get paid more to just show up than the girls get paid to win major championships.

In addition, last year the women produced almost $20 million more in revenue than the men's team, but continue to be given earnings that are far less than theirs.

Because women of the national soccer team have such great recognition in the country, they are rightfully using their popularity to gain more support towards the need for equal pay and women's rights.

They brought public attention to the fact that the women's team is being paid a quarter of what the U.S. men's soccer team earns.

"We continue to be told we should be grateful just to have the opportunity to play professional soccer," Hope Solo said in an interview on NBC's Today Show. "And to get paid for doing it."

This highlights exactly how many people try to put off the idea of inequality among men and women today.

Just like the women's soccer team,

numerous females today are told to stop attempting to stand up for their rights, deal with what they get and be happy about the opportunities they do have even if they may not be fair.

After the filing, U.S. soccer responded by saying that they were disappointed in the issue taking place.

This furthers the idea that people are not encouraging equality, but rather getting annoyed with those who are strong enough to speak their minds in an effort to make a change.

"Every single day, we sacrifice just as much as the men," Alex Morgan said. "We work just as much."

All these girls want is to be appreciated and respected as equally as the guys. All women deserve that.

Gender inequality should not be present in this modern time-- it needs to be a thing of the past already and it should not be this hard.

"In this day and age, it's about equality," Solo said. "It's about equal rights. It's about equal pay."

4 NEWS

April 12, 2016

New SGA office candidates are here Family Feud: Leadership AHS Edition Class of 2017 Class of 2018 Class of 2019 Exec. Board

BY RUTH MEKONNEN

There's a new event for students to participate in this spring. The Family Feud: Annandale Edition is meant to be similar to the popular game show on ABC. Students will be asked a series of questions that come from surveys.

Each group has a chance to come up with the answers that match the answers given in the survey. The point of the game is to see how much of the survey answers a team can come up with.

"Family Feud is a game show where four classes compete to name the most popular survey questions," the program's chairman, senior Brooke Thadeus said. "There are five members per team: freshmen will verse juniors, sophomores will verse seniors and there will be a championship round to win prizes."

Erica Arias

Eddy Mendieta

Aklesiya Abebe

Bintu Bangura

Jeremiah Bethea

Mariam Mohamed

Yabi Bereket

Tara El-Achi

Sabrina Huynh

Ricardo Pereira

Kyle Dalsimer

Saad Farooq

Matthew Vogus

Caitlyn Schwartz

Feven Lebamu

Rebecca Kindling

Vicky Luu

Faiza Shahbaz

Chelsey Robles

Karen Lara

Juliana Iglesias

McKenzie Yi

Efrata Tecle

Tehya Moss

Kimberly Vaides

Mauricio Reyes

Marilyn Rivas

SGA candidates will be giving their speeches on April 14 during W4. All students will be voting during the same period that day.

Band organizes trip to Chicago

BY ANDREW NUNEZ Staff Writer The concert band, symphonic band and wind ensemble will be preparing themselves to leave on their spring trip that night to go to Chicago Illinois on a long 12 hour bus ride from our parking lot on April 20. The purpose of this field trip is to visit numerous sites and to visit professional orchestra players.

The AHS band will perform to a group of professionals inside of a music clinic with a college band director, after which they will be judged and given pointers which will help them improve for the future.

"I cannot wait to go and explore Chicago, I think it will be an awesome experience to go and explore with my friends and to get advice from professionals," junior Toby Singh said.

Many students from the AHS band are excited to go enjoy Chicago and get some advice on how to improve.

"I've never been there before and I think it'll be a really cool first time experience there," junior George Moya said. "And I get to spend it with friends which makes it even better."

Chicago will have exciting tourist locations for our AHS band to visit, a variety of tourist attractions and learn more about their instruments from university professors.

"We plan to visit many of the city's tourist attractions, some exploration and clinic studies from university professors and professional orchestra members," junior Daniel Interiano said. "I'm excited to play First Suite in Eb (b=flat) by Gustav Holst cause we've played it before in a previous band concert and the piece itself is energetic and moving."

The Band will return the following Sunday that week on April 24. Hopefully the AHS band will have enough time to have fun and have the best experience they can have in those short four days.

Boys VB fundraiser planned

BY SHEILA AGUIRRE Staff Writer The annual Peach Fuzz event will resume once again on Wednesday, April 27 from 3:10- 4:30 p.m. The event is hosted by Leadership and it leads up to the battle of the classes on the following Friday. Tickets will be sold at the door for $2 and will be sold at all lunches between April 25-27.

Peach Fuzz is a volleyball game that pits junior and senior boys against each other. The game consists of three rounds each lasting 10-15 minutes, while the third and final round determines who move on and play the faculty team for the title of Peach Fuzz champion.

Each team consists of 12 players, with six playing on the court. The objective of the game is to win and be named champions of Peach Fuzz 2016. The winners of course get bragging rights but they also get a trophy and sash for their victory.

Each team has three coaches who will help the boys team create different plays for the game. The coaches are girls varsity volleyball members and enjoy a different way to participate in the game. The senior boys have

an advantage because they have returning coaches Symone Jenkins and Ruth Tiguh with a new addition to their coaching team, Almaz Abedje. The junior coaches consist of Katie Garrish, Lucie Lefbom and Maddy McCrossin.

In order to encourage more people to come to watch their fellow classmates compete, Leadership is having a raffle during intermission and everyone is automatically put into when they buy their ticket. During intermission students can win different prizes like gift cards to different restaurants or electronics from the raffle. Also, different prizes are going to be thrown into the crowd while the game is being played.

Not only are the Peach Fuzz event planners promoting the prizes to encourage people to come but they are also encouraging people to come based on how competitive the class of 2016 and 2017 will be during the game.

"I feel as this year Peach Fuzz game will be more competitive than the previous year before based on the returning and new players, Peach Fuzz committee advisor junior Tehya Moss said.

Come watch the game after school on April 27 in the downstairs gym to find out who will be crowned Peach Fuzz champion of 2016.

Students prepare for IB exams

BY HALLEY THADEUS Staff Writer For the whole year students have been preparing for IB tests that are coming this May with the first testing starting in May. The tests are very vigorous and can take a while to finish due to all the information being tested. Any student taking an IB test will receive two whole days to study that will count for an excused absence.

"I plan to sleep in then meet up with friends to study all day," IB Diploma Candidate David Park said.

Teachers have been putting together many review materials to refresh students' minds. It may be hard for students to remember information that they learned a year ago. Another way teachers are reviewing are by giving weekly tests to make sure students are studying and understanding the information they are given. Some

teachers may still be teaching and finishing units before starting their review. Jessica Klein, IB Math Studies teacher, has been going over tests from previous years and grading them. She feels both confident and unconfident in her students.

"If senioritis was not such a big thing, the students could do well, but they are checked out," Klein said.

Most IB testing results get returned in July, so some seniors feel it is not as important and that they can slack off. Other seniors that are going for the IB Diploma have been studying and reviewing to do well on these tests so they will be able to receive the IB Diploma they have been working on for the past two years. Many juniors will also be taking an IB test if they are in a one year IB class such as IB Anthropology and IB Music.

"We are still finishing up learning about different cultures but over time I have been making a packet of my notes to review for my test," junior Naod Getachew said about Anthropology.

Lennon Wuhrer

Staff Writer

Even though Family Feud is a brand new event created here at Annandale, other schools around the county have also been hosting events like it.

"The leadership class brought the idea up so we could have more school spirit and would be more fun to do," Thadeus said.

Although the actual event is scheduled to be in the middle of May, an interest meeting is scheduled for April 19 in room 271A. Students can also talk to leadership students as well as Carmen Bartley in room 271A for more information if they are interested in joining their class's team or even curious. The more people who get involved, the better the experience will be for everyone.

This will be a great way to compete, showcase your knowledge and have fun with your friends while showing your school spirit.

NEWS 5

April 12, 2016

FBLA regional competition

Broadway Desserts CONT. "BROADWAY"

Selected students go to a club event

BY LUCIE LEFBOM Staff Writer

Seniors Shawn Delopez and Jamiah Harrison perform their musical number at Broadway Desserts.

TABITHA BARNES

about three months," senior soloist, Georgia Steinberg said. "We have been having rehearsals to learn choreography and the music, and this past week [leading up to the event] we have had rehearsals everyday after school."

All the practice the students put into the production really payed off. The effort they had been putting in was evident when they performed. The show was very entertaining and the choreography and different elements of emotion (from comedy to romance) kept the audience hooked.

"I think the diversity of the songs they used was unique," sophomore Nicole Solis said, who watched the production on Saturday, April 9. "I like that it wasn't all just from one play or show."

The uniqueness of the show kept the audience hooked as well. The show featured live music that provided a strong element of Broadway and really helped to transform the environment.

The show also featured a performance by the director herself, Jessica Irish. This performance was unique because it displayed her passion for singing as well as her passion for the Choral Department. Irish showed true dedication because she was able to prepare for her performance while still being a helpful director to the student singers.

"She [Ms. Irish] was helpful when she gave us feedback on our performances and helped us keep track of what songs were next," sophomore chorus student, Valeria Salinas said.

Irish wasn't the only director of the production. Another unique element was that the production was also directed with the help of student directors as well as AHS alumni directors who came back in order to help.

Alumni such as Andrew and Jessica Riddle, and Steve

Aderton were also featured in the production and displayed their continuing passion for the AHS Choral Department by performing various songs throughout the production.

Along with special alumni performances, the production also featured performances by Holmes Middle School as well as Poe Middle School on the April eighth showing.

Overall, Broadway desserts was an amazing production that kept people of all ages entertained. It definitely captured the essence of Broadway, but added the sweet bonus of desserts. It was a great way for the Choral Department to fundraise while showing their talent and having a great time.

"People should watch Broadway Desserts because it's a great way to support the chorus program," Stenberg said. "Plus you get unlimited dessert!"

Student basketball game CONT. "BASKETBALL" one."

The student team has been working on their defensive plays in order to defend against some of the strong shooters on the faculty team and hopes to bring home another win.

"The strategy to winning the game three years in a row is to make them take tough shots and when they miss we want to push the ball up and down the court," senior student team member Kevin Folli said. "If we play good defense and get easy shots, I don't see why we can't beat those old bums by 30 [points]."

Three AHS students attended the state FBLA competition this past weekend. The team of two juniors, Xavian Henson and Shadi HamadehRojas, and one sophomore, Sebastian Delgadillo, has been working together since the regional FBLA competition in February. After competing on Friday, April 8, and Saturday, April 9, the team ended up coming in second and qualifying for nationals.

Specifically, the three students competed under the category of banking and finance. While they were at the competition, which was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Reston, they were given workshops before going up against other teams in the state for the presentation portion.

"To attend the state competition students must come in first or second at the regional phase, which is quite an accomplishment already for those students who represented AHS," business teacher Gloria Adams said.

The students competed in front of six judges, who initially gave them a prompt about insurance. They

were supposed to act as insurance agents, helping a family that was presented to them in a case study.

The case study included information about the family's mortgage, debts and expenses. With this information, they were tasked with finding the proper insurance for the family.

After being given the case, they were given 20 minutes to prepare to present to the judges what type of insurance to give the family and why they selected it.

"To get to states, the students had to go through two phases of online testing. They tested second best at the regional level, qualifying them for the state competition. Before they were given their case study, they had to take another online test.

They worked hard even before they were given the most difficult task," FBLA sponsor and business teacher Albert Steppe said.

At the awards ceremony held later that day, the team was awarded second place, qualifying them for nationals. Nationals will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from June 29 to July 2.

"To prepare for nationals we will be studying extra hard on the material that we might compete on, so we will be going over a lot of banking and finance materials," Delgadillo said. "I was very excited to attend and do well at the state level, so I can only imagine how cool it will be to attend nationals."

Student plans clothing drive IB student collects clothing for Ethopian kids

BY SERENE GHUL Staff Writer

DONATE YOUR VEHICLE TO THE AHS AUTO PROGRAM

Day of Silence

AHS is having a clothing drive for kids in Ethiopia, and all types of clothing are accepted due to the varying climate of the country.

Bags were distributed to W4 classes before Spring Break and were collected on Friday, April 1st.

The W4 which has the most clothes donated with receive donuts and another prize.

Junior and IB candidate Bitania Endalkachew, who is from Ethiopia, came up with the idea and hopes AHS contributes and makes donations.

"I went to Ethiopia over the summer of 2015 and saw various

problems parts of the country are facing" Endalkachew said. "The lack of appropriate clothing for kids according to the climate is why I thought of a clothes drive to help them out."

Endalkachew has performed community service in other ways however organized an event like this for the first time. She hopes the drive is successful and benefits her CAS project as an IB candidate.

She has organized the clothes drive with the help of a woman at her church, who has held clothes drives for those in need in Ethiopia before.

"Tigest Mekonnen has agreed to help me with the Clothes drive, and send the donations to Ethiopia," Endalkachew said. "She is aware of AHS contributing in service projects, and that is why she has decided to add an additional prize along with the donuts for the winners."

Battle of the bands

The Annandale High School Auto Program needs your vehicle. By donating, you may be able to deduct up to the full value of your vehicle.

The process is fast, easy and helps the best automotive program in Fairfax County Public Schools. To schedule your donation, please call: Joe Desio, instructor, 703-642-4212 or email at jfdesio@fcps.edu

'Oh, Satellite' the previous winners of the 2011 Battle of the Bands, will return to compete.

CONT. "BANDS" are excited to be performing in an environment where the audience is made up of just friends and family," sophomore Nicky Sheppard said.

"Most shows we are surround by people we have never seen before.

Playing at Battle of the Bands is very exciting for us because we will be able to showcase our talent to some of our best friends along with our families."

Some students who have not been in musical groups before are bonding together and practicing harder than ever to make the night one to remember. On top of students being able to showcase talent to friends and family, prizes will be awarded to the top bands.

So come out to this BOTB event filled with music, melodies and magic and listen to groups of talented students from all over AHS.

CONT. "SILENCE" difference and also bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, namecalling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step to building awareness and making a commitment that will address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today."

Around 50 AHS students will be participating in the silent stand.

This sheet will explain your actions to others if you are put in circumstances where the student feels obligated to talk. Some teachers have agreed to let and not force anyone participating to speak. However, if a teacher really needs for the student to do so, don't feel willingly incapable to talk if they ask them to something.

Everyone has the right to participate in the Day of Silence; You don't have to be part of the LGBT community. It's a great way to show your support and acceptance for the LGBT community in a non-violent way.

One of many ribbons that will be worn on the Day of Silence to help raise awareness in the school community

Taming of the Shrew CONT. "THEATRE" conflicts outside of school with work and family, so it s hard to bring students not involved precisely in the program in for auditions. There are about 20 parts in the play and about another 10-11 working on technological aspects of the play.

The program is free, we still take donations but it s free because it s like a gift for the community, ESOL teacher Leslie Chekin said.

Theatre Without Borders gets immigrants involved in school and in the community in a way that no other activity here really does.

Theatre Without Borders is important because it gives students the opportunity to learn about performing arts in the area and discover a side of themselves that they might have not been aware of.

Just like other activities, it helps provide a real high school experience to students who are in many cases new to this country, Chekin said. Right now we re having a new ESOL program coming, and we hope Theatre Without Borders continues. We are very lucky to have the support of our school administration.

Just like any other high school production, repeated practice and rehearsal is necessary in order to perform to their best.

We need a lot more practice, junior Daniel Canto said. For example, I m ready and I know all my lines because I ve been practicing.

Some of the other people in the play who have bigger parts don t know all of their lines yet, so we need to practice.

Although they still have lots of more preparation to finish before Thursday night, the Theatre Without Borders program is very excited and prepared to show the community everything that they have been working on for the past couple of months.

NEWS BRIEFS SAT PREP CLASS

SOCCER VS. WOODSON

The Atoms boys soccer team will take The PTSA sponsors a SAT prep class every Sat. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. . The classes are on the Cavaliers at Woodson on Wed. April 13. JV will play at 5:45 p.m. and varsity will held in room 75 and 77. take the field at 7 p.m..

FCA MEETING On Wed. April 20 the Felowship of Christian Athletes will have a meeting in the upstairs gym from 7:15 a.m. until 8:00 a.m..

YOGA FOR STRESS LESS WEEK As a part of stress less week AHS leadership will be offering a yoga class on Mon. April 25 during pride time. The class will be held in the dance room.

SUMMER FESTIVAL AUDITIONS

AUTISM AWARENESS T-SHIRT SALES

Auditions for the summer festival will be on Wed. April 20. You can sign up to audtion in the cafeteria during all lunches.

Autism awareness shirts will be sold all throughout the month of April. The shirts can be bought in room 22.

2 HOUR EARLY RELEASE The school day will end two hours early for students on Thurs. April 21. This marks the end of the 3rd grading period.

STUDENT HOLIDAY Students will have no school on Fri. April 22 due to the end of the 3rd quarter, it will be a teacher workday.

FILAMENT POETRY SLAM Wed. April 20 from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. the Filament will be hosting their annual poetry slam in Clausen Hall.

UPPER LEVEL ART SHOW HANGING Upper level art show students will be presenting their artwork on Mon. April 25 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Clausen Hall.

6 ACADEMICS

April 12, 2016

IB Spotlight: Andrew Peters

Sudoku

Q: How do you keep up with your academics and social life?

A: I keep up with academics not only by studying, but also by maintaining a balance with faith, exercise, friends, and family. I keep up with my social life by occasionally having friends over but mostly by chatting and laughing with friends at school.

Q: What are your studying habits?

A: I spend most of my afternoons and evenings completing homework and papers. To study for tests I reviewing notes, teaching the material to someone else, or completing practice problems.

Q: What is your favorite IB subject?

A: My favorite subject is IB Topics. I have always loved history, and Topics is the best history class. I enjoy not only the politics and history but also the depth of detail and critical thinking.

MARIFE BARGANO

Q: What are your plans after high school?

A: Next year I will attend Wheaton College in Illinois. I plan on majoring in International Relations and minoring in Economics.

Q: How do you think you will do on your IB exam this May? A: I am hoping for 6s and 7s for college credit. I will be prepared when the time comes.

Q: What was your extended essay topic?

A: My extended essay was on Iran's nuclear program and how they have been consistently unreliable and uncooperative with the international community.

Q: Is your only focus academics?

A: Other than academics I focus on my faith, getting daily exercise, and spending time with family and friends.

Q: Who or what has helped you on your IB journey?

A: Strong faith and a strong family have helped me preserve through IB. I have also enjoyed the camaraderie and fellowship among the other DP candidates.

Q: What advice would you give future IB diploma candidates?

A: My advice for future DP candidates is to taking the HLs that interest you most, picking a fascinating Extended Essay topic, working hard on the IAs, and planing ahead for everything.

Q: Who is your favorite IB teacher?

A: All my IB teachers are awesome people and fun to be around. I enjoy Mr. York's humor and outlook. Mr. Choi and Ms. Mullins have been an unforgettable part of my IB experience growing me in many ways. Mr. Tyndall explains concepts in ways that make so much sense. Ms. Hanneman brings a light and enjoyable atmosphere.

Q: What skills do you think the IB program has taught you that can help you later in life?

A: The IB program has taught me to think deeply and critically, love learning, and write well for all subjects.

These skills will be vital to all my future professional responsibilities.

How to Play: 1. Place numbers where they don't already exist.

2. The game only contains numbers 1-9.

3. The goal of sudoku is to place numbers 1-9 in the empty spaces so that each row, column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once.

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

A: In 10 years, I see myself either in the Foreign Service working for the U.S State Department in U.S Embassies abroad or working on Capitol Hill.

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HEALTH 7

April 12, 2016

With the hot weather approaching, the risk for sunburns increase

BY SABRINA HAWA Health Editor When skin gets exposed to the sun more often, sunburns become more likely due to the harsh UV rays given off by the sun.

The two types of ultraviolet rays that can harm the sun are ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) Things such as tanning beds produce a certain amount of UVA rays that cause a person to tan the amount they desire.

Some are more likely to sunburn than others. This includes people with paler skin tones and lighter hair colors.

"I sunburn really easily," junior Katie Garrish said. "It can become kind of annoying because I have to remember to take

precautions before going out, especially in the summer."

The UV levels of the sun are measured on an index from one to 11. The UV levels are the highest are between the times of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

With UV levels this high, a person that is fair skinned will only be safe from sunburns from about 10 minutes if they are not protected.

According to local weather stations, precautionary measures should be taken if the UV ray index is higher than a six. Some of these include wearing protective clothing, keeping sunglasses on hand, and applying a layer of sunscreen that has SPF (sun protection factor) before participating in any activity that would require being in the sun for a period of time.

"Sometimes during lacrosse season I do get sunburnt," senior Katie Pacak said. "I use sunscreen just in case it is really sunny outside. This year has not been that bad since we practice later in the day, so the UV rays are less intense."

Sunburns, if not treated properly, can lead to wrinkles, premature aging, cataracts, and even skin cancer.

One more common symptom that sunburns can cause is eczema.

"I have had eczema since the day I was born," senior Jacob Nguyen said. "I was a sick baby."

When skin is exposed to the sun for too long, it becomes red and irritated. This is a sunburn. If the sunburn is severe enough, the skin can blister and peel, turning into eczema.

Eczema can cause the skin to become itchy, red, and dry. It can even make it become cracked and leathery. It can also be a pain to cope with.

"Before, it would wake me up in the middle of the night and irritate my skin, forcing me to scratch the affected areas," Nguyen said. "It was such a nuisance and it physically affected the appearance of those areas as well. It was an annoyance but other than that it is fine."

There are several different ways to cope

CDC.GOV

Spring skincare under the shining sun

Doctors recommend using sunscreen containing an SPF of at least 30 to protect against the sun

with eczema if affected by it. Many drugstores offer simple over-the-counter lotions and ointments.

"I would use eczema ointment as I would have a lot of breakouts during the winter.

As of now, it has gotten less severe and I would just deal with the dryness with no

medication. I use lotions to help my skin just incase," Nguyen said.

Simple precautions can prevent from causing sunburns or other skin related diseases. The risk of getting a sunburn should not prevent you from going outside and doing everyday tasks as normal.

The dirtiest places at Annandale

Wrestling mat room

Water fountains

The wrestling mat room is notorious for being humid, sticky and smelly. This is due to sweat and bacteria thriving on the surface of the mats which are not often scrubbed. This makes wrestlers and anyone that uses the room vulnerable to ringworm, impetigo and the herpes simplex virus from contact with dirty mats.

Water fountains are breeding grounds for bacteria, especially on spigots and handles.

This is worsened by that fact that students sometimes touch spigots with their mouths when getting quick sips of water while others have touched many surfaces before pressing the handle. One sample study from the National Science Foundation found 2,700,000 CFUs/in sq. of bacteria on fountain spigots at two Michigan schools.

Sports Locker Room After practice, student athletes toss their dirty bags into their locker, sometimes never cleaning out the latter until after the season ends. Meanwhile, students walk around barefoot risking contact with traces of fecal matter, staphylococcus aureaus, and MRSA. Make sure to shower immediately after activity, wear sandals, never share helmets and avoid sitting naked on the bench.

Cafeteria tables

Cheer mats

Computer lab

Some people eat, sneeze, wipe their hands, and cough on the cafeteria tables without washing their hands. Even though surfaces get wiped after lunches, they are mostly contaminated during lunches from physical contact. Make sure to sanitize your hands before and after lunch to prevent contracting the cold and flu viruses as well as having other microbes on your body.

In between stunts, baskets and cheers, cheer mats rarely get disinfected or cleaned. Only twice have they been vacuumed in the last three years, leaving behind clumps of loose hair and bacteria.

Cheerleaders often have to lay down for stretches which puts them at risk for spreading lice. The consequences of dirty mats coupled with constant physical contact reeks havoc late in the fall season when colds are easily spread.

Computer keyboards are touched by many students typing their essays and panicking during timed writings. They are often ignored and left for bacterial colonies from people's dirty hands to multiply. According to the NSF, a total of 3,300 CFUs/ in sq of bacteria were detected during a microbiology experiment. Although this is much less than the number from water spigots, its best to wash your hands after using a lab.

Weight room Weight room equipment is used by almost all sports teams and rarely gets disinfected piece by piece. As a consequence, many types of bacteria such as Klebsiella (from intestines and stool) live there.

E. coli also lives on weights, exercise machines, and workout mats according to Men's Fitness Magazine. If possible, bring a towel to lay down on when bench pressing in order to avoid contracting bacteria and lice.

Bathrooms Custodians clean every toilet and bathroom floor after each school day. However, bathroom doors are easily contaminated with bacteria when people exit the stalls before washing their hands or carrying germs from other surfaces they have touched throughout the day. Faucets which are touched before and after washing hands carried 32,000 CFUs for cold water handles and 18,000 CFUs for hot water handles.

8 PHOTO

April 12, 2016

spring fever

SOULISA PATHAMMAVONG

Behind the scenes of our spring sports games and practices: boys and girls soccer, tennis, softball, baseball, outdoor track and lacrosse.

As the school year comes to an end, students participate in their last sport season of the year.

SOULISA PATHAMMAVONG

Junior Brahim Bangura takes a break from shot put practice to stay hydrated and regain energy so that he can get back to work.

SOULISA PATHAMMAVONG

ALEXANDRA ZERNIK

Before the AHS vs. WHS tennis match, the players of each team were introduced; junior Luka Fernandez gets high fives from the varsity girls tennis team.

MAURICIO REYES

Junior utility player Ricky Sobalvarro catches the ball from the catcher playing shortstop.

Boys track warms up by running a quick 200 meter before starting their conditioning for practice.

Sophomore Yvonne White practices her serves so that they are perfect for her next match.

Senior Ibrahim Quiroz Cordova goes in for a header during his varsity practice.

MAURICIO REYES

ALAINA GARAY

ALEXANDRA ZERNIK

Junior pole vaulter Jeremiah Bethea jumps over an 11 ft. bar to improve his 10'10 feet personal record.

ALEXANDRA ZERNIK

Sophomore Lennon Wuhrer gets through the defense during the girls varsity lacrosse practice.

MARILYN RIVAS

MARILYN RIVAS

The varsity softball team waits outside the jock lobby for their bus to take them to their away game at WHS.

Junior Kelsie Licatovich runs the four by four relay.

Junior Matthew Vogus clears the ball along the wings to the offense.

PEOPLE 9

April 12, 2016

Seniors decide their future Students share college acceptance tweets

PHOTO COURTESY OF JANAN GOKTURK

Rebecca Soulen to attend Yale

Senior Rebecca Soulen, in the girls locker room before her lacrosse game, just moments after she was accepted.

BY CONRAD SHARTEL People Page Editor Rebecca Soulen was recently accepted in Yale University, a feat that has not been accomplished by an AHS student in a very long time. The Ivy League school has an acceptance rate of 6.3 percent, which is very low compared to other colleges.

Soulen also got into UVA, William & Mary, Villanova, Emory and Duke University.

"I applied to Yale because it is a fabulous school academically, and when I visited I really felt that I would enjoy going," Soulen said.

Soulen says she definitely didn't think Yale would accept her. Yale University is in Haven, Connecticut, which is about five hours from Annandale, VA.

"Nobody really expects to get into an Ivy League when they apply," Soulen said. "That being said, my family is moving to Atlanta, Georgia this summer, which is a little over 14 hours from Yale. That is far. My mom says she is going to make me ride the bus."

There are 12 colleges that undergrads are divided into randomly, and there's a lot of loyalty to each college, according to Soulen. Soulen is looking to study economics or chemistry, but says that those could easily change.

"I know this is cliche, but I'm most excited to meet the people," Soulen said. "Like any community if you strip away the people, Yale would be pretty bare, so I am eager to meet them and see what they are

like."

Soulen was in the Jock Lobby at AHS when she found out she was accepted. She checked her phone and saw that they had contacted her and told her she was accepted. It was right before her lacrosse game against TC Williams High School. She was with her friends Katie Pacak and Tabitha Barnes, and couldn't hold in the excitement.

"I started screaming and we all hugged. Then we went to the locker room and told our lacrosse team who were all so happy for me," Soulen said.

Soulen recalls that being the best part of her finding out, because all her friends were so genuinely happy and incredibly kind to her about the news. Her parents were also very excited about the news, since they both attended the college as well.

When her dad heard, he said "Are you kidding?!? Congratulations! Boola Boola!" Boola Boola is a Yale fight song. Her mom said "I knew it," with confidence.

Soulen's teachers recognize her as an excellent student, and were not surprised she was accepted.

"Rebecca is a good student, very hardworking and diligent with her work," Spanish teacher Bianca Mullins said.

Rebecca's teachers know her for having a really good work ethic.

"She's always on the ball," Mullins said.

Mullins believes that Soulen will do very well as long as she continues with her study habits.

"I think her classmates really like her because she's willing to help them out when they are in a jam," Mullins said.

Soulen is overall very excited to start her years at Yale University, and is looking forward to graduating in 2020.

AHMED MOHAMED

JEFF MONTANO

BROOKE THADEUS

DINI MOHAMUD

JAMIAH HARRISON

HANAN REDI

SARAH DEIBLE

DAVID PARK

AMANDA ADENAN

NAUN GONZALEZ

Heard in the Hall: What excites you about going to college?

"I'm excited about being given a chance to start over and find myself, also meeting new people in a new environment."

SHELBY RUNOLFSON

"I'm excited for freedom and more responsibility."

"Continuing my baseball career and playing at a higher level."

ABHISHEK MAAN senior

"I like the idea of being more independent."

SHANK RAI

GRANT THOMPSON senior

senior

"Working with a voice coach for the next four years and developing my voice."

JAMIAH HARRISON senior

"I'm looking forward to taking classes I am interested in and focusing more on what I want to study."

"I'm excited for the college experience, meeting new people and sports games."

"Being able to play baseball and continuing my education."

GEORGIA STENBERG

TIM JOHNSON

senior

senior

TABITHA BARNES senior

senior

WHO AM I?

Alumni Postcard

I attended Heidelberg College.

Colleen Adenan

I was born in Elyria, Ohio which is right outside of Cleveland, OH.

Background: Graduated from AHS in 2013; involved in The A-Blast, played field hockey, participated in National Honor Society.

My family recently added a new member, who is eight months old!

College life: A third year at the University of Virginia, double majoring in foreign affairs and history. I volunteer with an ESOL program, and am in a club called Nicaraguan Orphan Fund. I also studied abroad in Switzerland for a semester!

My favorite movie is Hoosiers.

My favorite TV show is Scandal because my wife got me into it.

Favorite class: My favorite class in high school was Topics, and my favorite class in college has been Adenan paragliding in Switzerland during her study abroad. my Modern German History class. That was the one that inspired me to become a history major.

The coolest place I've visited is Punta Cana; I went there for my honeymoon.

In my free time I like to play basketball #ballislife!

If I could live any place in the world I would live in Hawaii, because of the food, weather and beauty of the island.

Before AHS I was working at Fairfax High School.

My favorite restaurant is Jackson's in Reston Town Center.

On your smartphone, scan this code using the application QR Code to find the answer to the Who Am I.

Best thing about college: The Spring Break service trip to Nicaragua every year with Nicaraguan Orphan Fund. That's where I've made my closest friends in college!

What I miss about AHS: The diversity, workload and playing field hockey.

Advice to graduating seniors: Don't feel like you need to have everything planned out, because your future plans will probably change 10 times before you figure out what you're really passionate about. Work hard, but make sure to have fun!

10 IN-DEPTH

April 12, 2016

IN-DEPTH 11

April 12, 2016

Let's talk ab ut sex Survey show opinions on sex Most students agree that clinics should give out condoms ASEAL SAED In Depth Editor

I

n television and movies, the perpetuated view of high school is the place where students meet for hookups, fester relationships and develop teen romances.

The reality is that high school may be the opposite.

A survey given out on April 7 during Pride Time, asking 214 students about their beliefs, source of sexual knowledge and their own lives, found that only 28 percent of students at Annandale have had sexual intercourse. The national average is approximated at 40 percent.

Although Annandale is under the bar in sexual intercourse, it is very open to liberal and new ideas of sex that were not accepted before, including abstinence.

The survey concluded that 64 percent of Annandale students believed that people can have sex before they are married. While only 22 percent believed that abstinence should still be continued.

Which is why it is not surprising to find that 59 percent of students believe that the clinic should offer condoms.

"Considering they teach us the importance of being safe, I think being able to get condoms from the school nurse would further promote that lesson," junior Eliana Rivas said.

In recent years, the American Academy of Pediatrics, representing over 60,000 pediatricians across the country, is encouraging schools to make "sexual health resources" such as condoms more accessible.

Although teen pregnancy rates are going down, the United States still holds the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which many of those infected are young teens.

Despite the belief by the AAP, some students are unsure this will do good.

"Getting condoms is something you should do alone. And making that decision is quite personal," senior Kerim Idris said, "That's kind of a personal thing and whether you should decide or not to get any."

Students were found to believe that their education in sex ed to be sufficient by FCPS. About 59 percent of students think that their experience learning it to be just right. However, the rising 32 percent of students believed that it could be improved.

Virginia does not require sexual education, but also does not require sexual education to be accurate.

Despite their support with the system, students could be getting information that is inaccurate.

According to the survey, students are trusting another unreliable source, the internet.

Thirty-six percent of the students first go to the internet when they have questions about sex. Twenty-six percent of males found out about sex online, while only eight percent of girls first learned about sex online.

Students also relied a lot on their friends when asking questions about sex. A total of 67 percent of students would rather go to the internet or their friends than go to a trusted sources such as a doctor or a parent.

"It's awkward to talk to my parents about sex because I am not very open about personal things like that," sophomore Valeria Salinas said.

Additionally, this is not surprising why the rates of "the talk", is declining, especially

27%

of teens have had "the talk" with their parents.

of girls have had sexual intercourse

among boys.

Only 35 percent of boys have had the talk with their parents, while 50 percent of girls have.

"The talk" is such a ritualized and known tradition because of it use in media and television shows.

This is why it is important to step back and realize that the media does not show the realities of teens. The spectrum of the views are very large, and could not be anymore different than what is portrayed.

29% of boys have had sexual intercourse

79% How well does FCPS teach sex-ed?

59%

32%

of teens think the nurse's office should give out condoms

62%

6%

Should people have sex before marriage?

Family

Yes, if they plan to Yes, if they live Yes, if they want to get married together

No

21% 37%

Friends

= 10%

4% 2%

Doctor Movies

= 23%

= 8%

Just because you are in a relationship does not mean you are obligated to have sexual intercourse with your boyfriend.

A lot of times shows like Gossip Girl, or Glee give the impression that all teens are having sex with their significant other, and will automatically make your relationship better.

The median age at first sex has increased over the past several decades. As of 2010, the median age to break virginity was 17.8 years old for females and 18.1 for males, meaning today's teens wait longer to have sex. The median age at first sex has not fallen below 17 at any point over the past 50 years. Nationwide, the percentage of high school students who reported having had sex before the age of 13 is below six percent, down from 10 percent in 1991.

= 65%

The haze of being under the influence makes it seem true, but being intoxicated can cause impotence, premature ejaculation, inability to orgasm, and other not-so-fun side effects. Because your inhibitions are being taken control of by alcohol or drugs, you are less likely to practice safe sex, so you are more likely to end up with an unplanned pregnancy or STI.

5. Hooking up with casual acquaintances is more common for teens than sex within romantic relationships: A lot of teens believe that casual hookups are the new normal in high school rather than romantic relationships. However, by age 18, over 80 percent of adolescents have had some dating experience. Only 16 percent of female teens and 28 percent of male teens had sex for the first time with someone they had just met or with whom they were "just friends." It is worth noting that the phrase "hooking up" means different things to different people.

3. Guys are the only ones that pressure for sex: That is a broad generalization, and the fact remains that the pressure of sex come from both genders. Regardless where it comes from, just because a partner pressures you, it does not mean that you have to comply if you do not want to.

6%

Other

Congress passed the Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA), Title XX of the Public Health Service Act. It encourage teens to engage in abstinence, and provide support for pregnant teens.

1919 The U.S. government supports sexuality education as part of the White House Conference on Child Welfare.

1913 Chicago was the first major city to put sex education in high school. Soon after the program was shut down by the Catholic Church.

1953

"I think we have a good balance and [in] most of the lessons that we teach we always implement in some way that abstinence is the best policy even when talking about STIs or birth control and parenting adoption/abortion we always implement that abstinence is the best choice," Winkler said.

However, a lot of issues about abstinence education comes from the fact that many of the materials used in these abstinence and sex based lessons are very old. Additionally, Virginia is one of many states that does not require information in sex ed to be accurate.

"Teenagers have to learn about the STIs and other downsides. FLE may not interest many students but learning accurate information about STIs and pregnancy could change students' lives," sophomore Amy Han said.

Some think the videos they use in class tends to be unrealistic and unhelpful, thus, a waste of time.

"The fact that the videos are so aged and uninteresting has made me not pay attention or care about what is going on in the video as much. It's not relatable to what would happen in real life," sophomore Andy Nguyen said.

That is not to say that the videos don't offer information that will encourage them to make informed choices.

"I think the videos are a bit old fashioned," Winkler said."But it does take many years to get a video approved by the county to show in class and they're currently revamping the curriculum this year."

Even though there are many parts of FLE which can definitely be improved, it is still useful to students and should be taught so all can learn about sexuality, STIs and pregnancy.

"FLE is definitely helpful, and really teaches us a lot," sophomore Lina Osman said. "Even though some of the stuff is old, it does a good job teaching students about sex and sexual identity."

Elementary School 1. Taught by regular classroom teachers 2. Distinct between "good" and "bad" touch 3. Human sexuality introduced 4. Introduced to male and female reproduction systems 5. Begin understanding to sexual transmitted infections 6. Study the effects of peer pressure

Middle School 1. Taught by health and physical education teachers 2. Continue study of basic anatomy and physiology 3. Taught about abstinence 4. Instruction on abuse, internet predation, and healthy dating relationships

1991

High school 1. Build on knowledge of human reproduction and sexually transmitted infections 2. Learn to recognize the development of sexuality 3. Learn that substance abuse affects decision making 4. Abstinence is emphasized 5. Introduced to dating abuse and violence SOURCE: FCPS.EDU

2015

2004

Fairfax County approved the addition of transgender issues and sexual identity to its sexual education curriculum.

A report found that two-thirds of the abstinence-only education curriculum contained incorrect scientific information about condom failure, sexually transmitted diseases, the health consequences of abortions, and mental health.

23 states had passed mandates for sexuality education. An additional 23 states strongly encouraged sex education.

Also, 33 mandated AIDS education and 17 additional states recommended it.

uNITS OF FLE

2009

Within his first year of Presidency, President Obama pushed for Congress to pass an appropriations bill that eliminated the majority of funding for abstinence-only-untilmarriage programs.

Teen birth rates began the overall trend of dropping. The only time they increased after that was briefly in 2005.

1989

The American School Health Association launches a nationwide program in family life education, creating pamphlets and books, for teachers, to help begin teaching sexual education.

What happens in Health class stays in Health class According to the FCPS curriculum, human sexuality is first introduced to students in grade four. The curriculum for FLE (Family Life Education) varies throughout the years and is covered more in depth as students mature.

Sophomore Michelle Akl thinks FCPS begins sexuality classes too early, saying, "If they teach it so early, people begin getting ideas about [sex] earlier."

In high school, students learn about sexually transmitted infections and human reproduction. Students also begin to learn about sexual orientation and gender identity, learning definitions of homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, etc.

A controversial topic that is covered in FLE is safe sex and preventative measures to use. Some believe that teaching students about contraceptives encourages teens to have sexual intercourse.

"I agree that we should teach [safe preventative measures] because at some point in your life you can use this information," Health teacher Craigin Winkler said. "When I teach it, I'm not pressing to use it now but some people might choose to use it now and some might choose to use it later in life. The key word is prevention because you're preventing [STIs and pregnancy] by using it."

Abstinence has been up for debate, and the question legislators have to deal with, is to what extent can teachers push for abstinence only in the classroom. Virginia is one of the many states that allow for abstinence only.

=4%

30%

Internet

4. Kids today start having sex at much younger ages than before:

2. Drinking and drugs make sex much more fun:

300 SURVEY DISTRIBUTED DURING PRIDE TIME ON APRIL 7, 2016. RESULTS COME A TOTAL OF 214 FROM 55 FRESHMEN, 53 SOPHOMORES, 67 JUNIORS, AND 49 SENIORS WHICH INCLUDED 111 BOYS AND 103 GIRLS.

Where or to whom do you go to when you have questions about sex?

1. If you are in a relationship you are obligated to have sex:

THE EVOLUTION OF SEX EDUCATION 1981

The National Education Association promotes sexuality education as a necessary part of a national education curriculum. It was the first proposal of its kind.

LINA AL TAII Staff Writer

of teens go to other sources before going to their parents about sex.

Too little Good enough Too much

1892

The advantages and drawbacks of FLE

5 MYTHS about sex that teens believe

42%

COMPILED BY MULTIPLE SOURCES

What I regret about having sex I am staying abstinent Having second thoughts after losing virginity ANONYMOUS Special to The A-Blast Sex and contraceptives are topics that are glorified in the world around me.

As a 16 year old teenage girl living in today's society, it may not come to a surprise that I was exposed to both of those within the last two years.

Although I was on contraceptives for health reasons, the connotation I got when people found out was always related to sex.

It was always, "how do your parents let you do that?" or "wow are you really messing around that much?"

I wish I would have known going into my first experience is that sex does not change who you are.

Your virginity isn't something to be lost and it doesn't make you more or less of a person.

There is nothing wrong with having sex or not having sex as long as everyone involved is safe.

I was dating a guy for almost six months when we decided it was the right time to be intimate.

It was a topic that came up frequently because we were both sure we would be together for a really long time after that.

He always made sure I was comfortable and only wished to make me happy.

As it turns out, we were together only briefly after that.

My first experience was enjoyable

because I thought that he cared about me and I was comfortable with him.

After the first experience, I felt like I had lost everything, especially since the guy I lost it to did not end up with me.

We should have talked more about these rush of emotions, And the different things I feel. I felt so terrible.

With the support of my friends and my family I knew that everything would be fine.

Me and the boy, avoid each other in the halls, get nervous seeing each other and get uncomfortable when the other is brought up.

I wish I could have known that I would feel this way.

Nearly a year later, I had an intimate experience with someone that I didn't have feelings for .

We were both on the same page and were safe.

It was much less being comfortable and more hitting it of.

I knew what to expect, and was able to have a lengthy conversation with my parents, and I knew what to do.

Sex should have been something I thought was important and serious.

Now, I am able to realize that this would affect my future relationships.

Resisting the peer pressure of having sex TYLER WESTFALL Special to The A-Blast I made my pledge to abstinence last September at this show sponsored by my church called Silver Ring Thing, where they did skits about abstinence and talked to us about the benefits and how to make it easier to achieve.

My beliefs and religion were a leading factor in making this tremendous decision, but, also, I know it just makes sense to do it.

I am a Christian and I believe in God and what he says, and one of those things is to remain sexually pure, so it was a pretty easy to commit to it.

However, that is not to say there haven't been any challenges.

A major challenge I have faced is the power of peer pressure.

A lot of my friends talk about it, whether or not they have had sex.

They make it seem like something you need to do while you are young.

However, my rigid and strength in my beliefs have not only helped myself, but helps and encourages others to abstain as well.

I think that along with my beliefs abstaining is just smart. The only way you can be 100 percent sure that you won't get pregnant or won't get an STI is to abstain.

Additionally, a major reason I have chosen to not have sex till I'm married is because of my future wife.

In one of the skits they did in the

Silver Ring Thing is they split a piece of wood that had a heart drawn on it.

And they gave each half to two different people.

And one of those people had sex with a girlfriend and they cut a piece out of his heart and that really hit home for me.

I knew that I would be forever angry and sad at myself if I didn't save myself for my future wife because of how much I know I'll love her.

And when two people wait for the right person it just makes it so much more special.

Abstinence is not a barrier, rather, it is lifestyle that frees you from all the risks that come with it.

You are not a "prude" when you turn away from something you do not need, but people regard you with respect.

When I first told people what the ring meant, a lot of people were confused, but after I explained, most people were very respectful, and understood.

Abstaining is something that everyone should do. Regardless whether you are a virgin or not, it's never too late to start.

I encourage everyone to do it and if they have any questions I would love to try and help answer.

12 INTERNATIONAL

April 12, 2016

GOP candidates demonize Muslims Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump

Texas senator and GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz

Students react to negativity towards Islam

BY TIMOTHY GRAY International Editor With recent attacks orchestrated by ISIS in Paris, Brussels and other major European cities, tensions arise to an all-time high in the United States as we anticipate an inevitable attack on the homeland.

At the brunt of the aftermath of these acts of terror stands your average MuslimAmerican.

As paranoia grows stronger and stronger in post-9/11 America, Muslim families residing stateside feel less safe as the national rhetoric (inspired by the presidential candidates such as Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and ex-candidate Ben Carson) has been set to what we can do to "contain" or "keep an eye on" Muslim-Americans.

The growing negativity towards Islam has had an effect on the students of AHS as well.

"The negativity towards Islam makes me more self-conscious because I could become a victim of a hate crime just because of what I believe in," senior Hibo Ali said.

"It's strange that I live in a country that believes in freedom of religion to all of its citizens yet I hear of so many hate crimes towards Muslims."

Republican presidential candidates

propose ideas for our national security that are quite alarming in reality. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has proposed the idea of "identity badges" used to designate Muslim-Americans from the rest of Americans. Recently, GOP candidate Ted Cruz suggested extra police monitoring for known Muslim-American neighborhoods.

Tactics such as these have been viewed as extreme and unsettling to many MuslimAmericans, as well as those outside the Muslim community.

"It does make me question if I really am safe in this country. I'm a young adult in a country that defines me as a criminal just because of what I believe in," Ali said.

Rather than focusing on tactics to prevent attacks at home, GOP candidates explain these tactics meant to "weed out" supposed ISIS militants from domestic Muslim communities. This, however, would prove ineffective and rather ingrain the idea to the American masses that all Muslims are dangerous.

"I'm not ignorant enough to believe the action of one person categorizes the entire religion," junior Salima Khan said.

Muslim-American students are not the only ones who feel strongly about this subject. Students from outside the Muslim

community believe this form of speech is an act against the freedoms of American people.

"I believe that all Americans should be treated equally regardless of their religion or ethnicity," junior Brandon Ho said.

The theories of Trump and Cruz can be interpreted as not only anti-Muslim, but as anti-American, and suggest we take away rights essential to being treated as equal to all others.

Carson's proposals can be interpreted as a direct attack on the rights of Muslim-

"Islam hates us."

Donald Trump March 9, 2016 Americans. His statements that Muslims who embrace American values must be "schizophrenic" are completely uncalled for.

Carson also famously stated that in order to be president of the US, you have to "reject the tenets of Islam."

Not only does speech like this propose the US would be in better hands with

somebody who is bloodthirsty than with a strong and intelligent Muslim, it also conveys this sort of idea to Muslim children everywhere that they are not "good enough" to compete with their Christian or Catholic classmates.

"Ben Carson barely knows what he's talking about half the time, and him saying that a Muslim is unfit to become president is absolutely wrong," senior Kerim Idris said.

Recent attempts by GOP frontrunners to demonize Muslims have also hit them at home. "It is very heartbreaking to our family, and my parents always tell me to be a good example for how people look at Muslims," Khan said.

French publication Charlie Hebdo, victim to an attack on its headquarters by two brothers pushing radical Islamist beliefs in which 12 lost their lives, recently made headlines by claiming that innocent Muslims are just as guilty as those who attack with guns and bombs.

It states that while one Tariq Ramadan, a professor of contemporary Islamic studies in Oxford, may never pick up a weapon, he still has a "role" which is to "dissuade people from criticizing his religion in any way."

Claims of this caliber would only serve

to heat up relations between outsiders of Islam and Muslims themselves. The last thing innocents should do is blame other innocents.

Whether it be professors or fry cooks, Muslims who have not committed a crime should be seen as any other human who has not committed a crime.

"If the Charlie Hebdo publication said the Jews were as much to blame as the Nazis I think that would bring so much controversy and they would be asked to shut their publication down," Ali said.

As the Islamic State commits more and more atrocities and the presidential race in the US roars on, innocent Muslims will undoubtedly find themselves in the midst of crossfire by both the GOP and the literal crossfire of ISIS, as many fail to understand.

"To say that Muslims are just as guilty as terrorists is beyond crazy and irrational.

Muslims teach and are always taught to not harm others and to be nice to everyone even if they mistreat you," Ali said. "But even with all the evidence we give, to prove we aren't monsters, I'm guessing non-Muslim people know more about our religion more than we do."

American stories Students from different countries share their journey

BY SAGAR ZAFAR Special to The A-Blast Many people come to the United States for many reasons. I came to the United States for freedom and to have a better education. Every country is different from other countries in culture, lifestyle and language.

When I came here, I saw huge differences between my country Afghanistan and the United States. In the United States, everyone has better opportunities and equal rights.

First of all, U.S. has beautiful places like parks, malls and restaurants. It is

better than in my country. Whatever United States has, my country does not have.

Here in the United States, everyone gets a better education.

Everyone has a job and has a better career. In my country, people are not educated because their parents can't afford money for school. Most of the girls don't go to school. The men work to support their family. In my country, people don't have a perfect life.

Moreover, Americans have so many opportunities to have a better life. I can support my family and stand on my own two feet here, but I can't do that in my country.

My dream is to be a successful person in the future.

Also, I want to be the first in my home to go to college. I want to have a better job.

I need to work really hard to achieve my dreams and opportunities that I have been given.

In addition, when I started going to Annandale High School. I was very excited to go to a new school.

This school is bigger than my school. I see different races of people here. Everybody is really friendly.

Before I really had difficulties in school because I barely spoke English. It was

really hard to make friends, and communicate with teachers. Somehow, I focused on my English first.

I improved my English skills, and I worked really hard by reading books; my teachers also helped me more and now I can communicate with my friends.

I do not face any difficulties now because my English is better now.

My first day coming to America was the happiest day of my life. I am really thankful that my parents brought me here to reach my dreams.

My dream is to be a medical assistant. I want to do something different for my family.

TITUS’ DRIVING SCHOOL “Titus taught me how to be a safe driver, he is the best instructor out there, he is a very patient and skilled driver. Titus is the way to go!

-Stephanie Ohene, alumni

“I am glad that I got recommended to Titus.

Titus will go over the rules of the road and strengthen your overall driving. He will make sure you are ready to handle the responsibility of driving.”

Why choose Titus’s Driving School?

1. The school is bonded and insured 2. Students do not need 45 hours driving time prior to the program 3. Parents and students can Google TDS for school reviews 4. Students don’t have to pay until they get their driver’s license 5. If you bring your friend along, you get $25 off your payment

-Alex Tran, junior

Contact us: Phone: (571)-217-1441 Email: titusdrivingschool@aol.com VA State LIC # 1503-00634

ARTS 13 Students display their Artwork April 12, 2016

BY SHARON SANCHEZ AND RUTH MEKONNEN

selection of healthy and delicious free snacks and drinks for everyone who came.

The night started out crowded and the turnout was great. Everyone seemed pretty thrilled, especially the parents who were happy to see their kids' artwork and all the hard work they put in.

There were a lot of different forms of art, ranging from sculptures, paintings, mobiles, 3-D art, photography and computer graphics.

"Making our wheelchair was the hardest thing to make of our sculpture," sophomore Jean Quinones said.

"It was really hard not to give up on it."

The art show had such a great turnout and everyone seemed proud of their accomplishments. A big thank you to the Art community and everyone that helped out to make this year's Art show.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ZOLA CARUFEL

Eighth grader Duc, from Holmes Middle School, drew this drawing called Blue Smiles.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KATIE

One of the many students in the Pyramid Art Show is eighth grader Duc from Holmes Middle School. His art work Blue Smiles has a deeper meaning behind it.

"The deep meaning behind it is that everybody has feelings no matter who they are," Duc said.

His artwork Blue Smiles is located in the second column on the top.

The Pyramid Art Show is an event that has taken place at Annandale in Clausen Hall for the past five years.

This year the art show took place on April 4. It displayed the artwork of students from different schools.

The schools that attended were Annandale Terrace, Weyanoke Elementary, Columbia Elementary, Braddock Elementary, North Springfield Elementary, Mason Crest Elementary, Bren Mar Park Elementary, Poe Middle School, Holmes Middle School and of course, Annandale High School.

"We used to do the Pyramid Art Shows at the different Pyramid schools, but for the past five years we have been doing it here at Annandale," photography teacher Meredith Stevens said. "I've been teaching here for 12 years and we've always had a Pyramid Art Show."

Each of the principals from different schools gave out two awards based on the artwork that they thought stood out the most. If there is an assistant principal, four awards will be given per school.

At the art show there was a kid friendly drawing activity in the front of the school where kids could draw and place their work for everyone to see. They even offered a

PHOTO COURTESY OF DUC

Staff Writers

Sophomore Zola Carufel painted this piece called Inner Shield.

Third grader Katie, from Braddock Elementary School, drew this self portrait that identifies her culture.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

BY RACHEL SHOGREN The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, located in DC is home to Barbara Kruger's "Belief+Doubt" exhibit. Located on the first floor, the photomontages and inspiring quotes from Kruger and other influential people are plastered amongst the walls, floor, and ceiling. Each quote is meant to conflict perceptions of democracy, power, and belief.

This four story circular building is full of art collections ranging from paintings and computer art to sculptures and photography.

The entrance is on the second floor of the building. The lobby has an information desk and a lounge area. The information center is full of brochures and information about the museum. They also show information about other museums in the area.

The escalator will lead you up to the third floor, which is closed. As the escalator goes up, you look up and see dozens of lights streamed across the ceiling. It is breathtaking.

The fourth floor is huge. Because the building is a circle, you walk around the outer loop and then you can walk around the inner

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANSELM KIEFER

Staff Writer

Anselm Kiefer made this piece called The Book. This painting is made with oil paint, lead, straw and mixed media.

loop. The outer circle starts out with normal paintings and drawing. But as you start walking through it, sculptures and photographs start to get mixed in. There are amazing paintings that are made to look 3D. There are cut out pieces of walls and stone that are

hung amongst the walls. Some are covered in graffiti and some are just marbled stone on top of more stone. Some art is made of metal like the swing located on the top floor.

Metal isn't the only abnormal material used in these artwork. There is a 7-up sculpture

made entirely of soda cans and a giant collage made of Hershey's candy wrappers.

About halfway through the outer circle there is a large room dedicated to just taking a break. There are couches and people sit up there to read, do work and look at the amazing view. There is a balcony on the top floor that you can go out on as long as it isn't too windy. The balcony that overlooks D.C. has a jaw-dropping view.

The inner circle of the top floor is all sculptures. There is one made out of wood with spray cans and added little figures to make it more fun. Another wooden sculpture

by Sol LeWitt that is painted white adds an interesting illusion to the amazing museum.

Although most of the museum is a mix of different artists' projects, there is one room of photographs of historic music compositions. The photographs are blown up to be huge and you can actually read the composer's notes on the side of the paper.

Some sculptures are a little bit graphic, like the sculpture of a severed warriors leg by Paul Thek.

The gift shop is on the first floor and so is the video exhibit. The video exhibit is a collection of mini clips or special effects video.

One video is of a mouth talking about social

Hirshhorn Museum Address: Independence Avenue at Seventh Street SW Telephone: 202-633-1000 Hours: 10 a.m. -5:30 p.m.

Closed: Federal Holidays Admission: Free Public tours: Saturday- Monday at 3: 30 a.m. and Tuesday- Friday at 12:30 p.m. To participate, meet a Gallery Guide at the Information Desk in the Lobby. issues and talking about body image. It is a powerful piece that is meant to make you think. The museum gets super busy between noon and 3 p.m. so be sure to get there early and avoid crowds.

Q & A with artist Julie Nguyen Q: What got you into creating art?

PHOTO COURTESY OF JULIE NGUYEN

A: What got me interested in art is my older sister. One day she came home from school and showed me a wood block that she painted. I remember thinking that was the best artwork that I've ever seen and that I wanted to make one myself. Ever since then I've been taking art classes.

Q: What materials do you use for your artwork?

A: I like to branch out and use different materials for my artwork. It's a lot more fun to experiment. But from all the media that I've used, my favorite would have to be watercolor. I find that watercolor works best for me.

Q: What do you like most about your artwork?

A: Since all of my artworks have a theme to it, I tend to like the theme of my artworks the most. This year my theme is psychological/mental illness in children. I feel like I can express that theme in art in so many ways.

Q: What advice do you have for other young, developing artists?

A: My advice for young, developing artists is to never let anyone tell you can't do it. You're the artist, only you know your limits.

Q: What do you plan to do with creating art in the future?

A: I plan to experiment more and go over my limits to find new limits. That's the only way to make art more fun, it's to experiment. Hopefully from experimenting, I could share my creativity to others so that they could pass it on.

Q: What would you say to someone that wants to get into creating art?

A: I would tell them to go with what your gut tells you. If you feel like painting a tree, then paint a tree. Do what you want. I would also tell them to experiment with different art medias and different techniques. There's much more to art then you think.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JULIE NGUYEN

Q: What is it about creating art that you enjoy?

A: Creating art makes me feel as if I can express myself in so many ways. I enjoy it because I don't have to let my creative imagination all locked up in my head. I can simply put it in art format.

Junior Julie Nguyen created this art piece called My Escape. In the center is a mosaic and around it is string.

Q: What is your favorite piece of artwork?

A: My favorite piece of artwork is the one I did for my MYP last year. I was able to make art by recycling used water bottles. It's my favorite piece because I took some trash and made it into art.

Featured art PHOTO COURTESY OF GISSELA APARICIO LOPEZ

We chose junior Gissela Aparicio Lopez in Art 4. These art pieces are drawings she made for an art project. Want to have your art featured in the next issue of The A-Blast?

Each issue, the Arts page will pick a student's art from submitted content and feature their work of art on the Arts page.

All mediums are welcome, whether it be a painting, doodle, poem or song. Videos can be submitted too! Send all submissions to theablast15@gmail.com, or send it to our dropbox (using the same email as above) for files larger than two GB. This drawing is called Strong Women. It was made with water color.

This drawing is called Powerful Women. It was made with color pencils.

14 LIFESTYLES Seniors finds their roommate Vinicius Rangel

Molly Gormley

April 12, 2016

Tips for rooming with a friend 1. Make sure your friend is trustworthy.

2. Pick someone you're comfortable with.

3. Choose someone who will be there for you in the long run.

4. Set ground rules.

5. Decorate the dorm together!

Throughout the long process of applying to colleges and putting down a deposit, you have to choose a roommate. There are usually two options in getting a roommate. One way is by your choice by picking the person, or most students were offered a survey which pairs you with the person who is the most like yourself.

I decided to choose my own roommate. Next year at ODU I plan to room with Tem Awoke. The reason I decided to room with him is because we have been friends since elementary school. We are really close and I consider him as a brother. Also it's good to choose a roommate so you know the person you are going to be living with, and you know that they wouldn't steal or do anything crazy.

So I met my roommate through Facebook, however, it was a coincidence that I even saw her on Facebook because I had known of her for a while since we're friends with a bunch of the same people. She goes to Jeb Stuart HS so we're pretty close together so it will be easy to hang out and get to know each other better before college comes around. We share a lot of mutual friends so that's how I knew who she was and she knew who I was, but before this we had never actually spoken before.

After I saw her post on FB, I messaged her and since then we've been messaging through FB to get to know each other better! I'm lucky I found someone going to the same college as me that lives so close to me so now carpooling and driving to and from is easier!

Sarah Deible

Tips for rooming with a Facebook friend 1. Look at your future roommates profile.

2. Follow them on social media.

3. Text for two weeks to get to know them.

4. Plan to meet in person.

5. Find out their likes and dislikes.

Tim Johnson Tips for rooming with someone through mutual friends 1. Check to see if your mutual friend approves.

2. Try to meet up with them during a school visit.

3. See if you have similiar interests.

4. Ask about them to get a better view of them.

5. Meet their friends.

I met my roommate through Facebook. I posted in the VCU 2020 group on Facebook with a description of myself which included the activities I like and my personality. I received so many messages from a lot of different girls but a lot of them seemed really weird. Then Lauren, my roommate, shot me a message. She seemed super cool and similar to me so I decided to give it a try and message her back. We ended up talking about so many things and conversing all night.

Eventually we decided it would be good to meet up for lunch just to finalize things and make sure that we would click in person, too. She lives in Leesburg, which is about an hour away so we settled on meeting at Cosi in Herndon because it was 30 minutes away from the both of us. Things went super well at lunch and we officially decided to be roommates. Since then I've seen her twice and we communicate all the time. We went down to VCU for preview day together and spent the night there and had a blast. I can't wait to see what next year brings.

Even though I haven't started looking for a roommate yet, I feel like I don't have much to worry about because baseball players room together their freshman year at Saint Joseph's. I think this makes it easier to get to know my roommate and become close friends with him because we'll be spending the majority of the time together with practices, workouts and games.

Also, I've already met a lot of the other incoming freshman baseball players while on my official visit. Each of us had a host that was already on the team, and we all stayed together and got to know each other. They all seem like really cool guys that are easy to get along with, so I don't think choosing a roommate would be a problem. So although I'm kind of late to the party with finding a roommate, I feel like I have less to worry about and I'm excited for next year.

Tips for finding a random roommate 1. Fill out the college's questionnaire.

2. Make sure this is what you want, you never know who you could get paired with.

3. Get to know each other after you meet by going out to eat.

4. Have a nonjudgemental mindset.

5. Be open to anything.

Faculty talk about living with a roommate Niki Holmes I attended college before social media (something that I am immensely thankful for on a daily basis, as my indiscretions remain within the faulty memories of a handful of friends and NOT recorded for all posterity by the undeniable honesty of permanent photographicevidence).

The process of being assigned a college roommate was left to the luck of the draw or the lack of luck in some cases. We had no choice in whom we were assigned to live with freshman year. We could indicate preferences of where we wanted to live (such as in the common towers or in an all-girls dorm), but the final decision was made by the housing office.

Sometimes we might be provided a telephone number over the summer to reach out and contact our new roomie, but mostly you learned of your room assignment and new roommate when you arrived.

I attended the University of Pittsburgh for my freshman year. As I was a member of the volleyball team, I checked into the dorm a week early for training camp.

My early arrival meant that I got to choose my bunk before my roommate arrived. I chose the bottom bunk, since I had a knee injury that would require surgery later in the season, making climbing to the top bunk an impossibility.

There was some mix-up in the housing office, because instead of being assigned a freshman, my roommate was a junior which must have been a bigger surprise for her! In the end-of-term lottery the previous semester, she had been assigned a single, but got stuck with a double room AND had to room with a freshman.

To make matters worse, she was super short, making climbing up into the top bunk a nightly difficulty, plus she did not like heights. She never complained; and we got along fine.

Holly Miller

Mick Strand I attended James Madison in the fall of 1975. I was living in Las Vegas at the time and did not know one person attending the school. Unless you requested a roommate, the selection process was filling out a three by five card with two questions: do you smoke and what type of dorm did you want (no opposite sex visitation or weekend visitation).

This type of in-depth selection process left you very vulnerable as to your future roommate. You never knew the name of your roommate until you showed up to school and read the names written on the door.

There were many horror stories of roommates being exactly opposite when it came to study habits, moral standards, music preferences, etc.

Many students changed roommates after the first semester to more compatible students. For me it worked out well, over 40 years later my college roommate is still one of my closest friends. There were growing pains as in any relationship, (I showed up to school first and took the bed by the window and kept it for all four years) but we overcame the problems as we grew from young men to young adults.

Time and distance have made our visits less frequent but remain very close and we have attended birthdays, weddings and funerals together, and we are the godparents of each other's children. We try to get together once a year for a golf outing which actually only occurs every five or six years, but the time apart fades away quickly. We do not spend time reminiscing about the old times, but genuinely enjoy each other's company.

We planned a trip to Canada this summer which may or may not happen, but whenever we see each other again we will undoubtably have a wonderful time.

FASHION SPOTLIGHT Shadi Hamadeh, 11

When I was in college, there was no Facebook, Twitter, or social media of any type! Not even the Internet, (yikes). So, I met my first college roommate, Diana, by exchanging hand-written letters over the course of the summer. The school (Northwestern University) might have had us fill out a questionnaire to indicate our interests and study habits, but to be honest, I can't remember. What I do remember are the letters we exchanged before arriving at school.

I remember discussing our interests like sports and travelling, what we had done over the summer, and the subjects we were thinking about for our majors. It was kind of fun to get to know my roommate through letters because it was sort of like having a pen-pal.

When we finally met, it felt like we already knew each other. We ended up getting along pretty well and did a lot of stuff together socially over the course of freshman year. We would eat together, go to parties together, and introduce each other to new people.

After freshman year, we kept in touch but saw less and less of each other as our lives took different paths.

Diana was pre-med and I was a history major who ended up studying abroad for a year. I made a lot of new friends while abroad that I had a lot more in common with so I saw her a lot less my senior year.

After we graduated from college, I think we might have written a few letters to each other, but we no longer keep in touch.

Overall, I think I lucked out because we got along pretty well and never had any major conflicts during our year together as roommates. Diana was really laid back and easy to get along with. If there was a questionnaire we filled out for compatibility, it helped!

Q: How did you learn how to dress?

A: I decided to change to a more mature style when I got to high school.

Q: Where do you like to shop?

A: I like to shop at H&M, Pacsun, Forever 21, Topshop and a lot of online stores.

Q: What are your favorite clothing pieces?

A: My favorite pieces are my denim and bomber jackets.

Q: What is your outfit for school or a date?

A: An outfit for school would be jeans, a t-shirt and a jacket or sweater thrown on top. For a date I'd wear a button up, jeans and some boots.

Q: On your lazy days what do you prefer to wear?

A: On my lazy days I wear a t-shirt, joggers and sneakers.

Q: What is your favorite season to dress for?

A: I like to dress for fall and spring because the weather is perfect to try different types of layers.

Aaron Schneider I attended George Washington University and since I was coming from the Midwest, I did not know any other freshmen at the university. I met a few people during summer orientation, but I was not given the opportunity to pick any of them as roommates for the fall.

When I arrived at school in the fall of 1987, I was assigned to a double. My roommate was nice but we just didn't have anything in common. We didn't have any of the same friends, we were not in any of the same classes and we had completely opposite majors. After a few months, I was able to get another student to switch out of his room and into mine. I went from a double to a quadruple.

I became good friends with the three other guys in my new room very quickly. When my parents came into town they would take all of us to dinner. During one of our vacation breaks I stayed with one of my roommates and his family in New Jersey. I met his mom and his sister and they treated me like a member of the family. We had some similar interests in music and we would get tickets for the same concerts, either in the city or at Nissan (Jiffy Lube Live) or Merriwether Post Pavilion.

After freshman year, my family moved to DC so I didn't live in the dorms anymore but I stayed friends with those guys. One joined the same fraternity, so we remained close for the next few years.

The others we would see socially until everyone graduated and eventually drifted apart. None of the guys I lived with stayed in DC. One moved back to New Jersey, one I think moved to Massachusetts and one moved to Los Angeles and tried to become a movie star.

He was an extra in the movie Philadelphia (he was a member of the jury!)

Q: How long does it take you to get ready?

A: It takes me about 20 minutes to get ready.

Q: How much do you usually invest in clothing?

A: I spend probably around $100 a month on clothes or shoes.

Q: What are your favorite pair of shoes?

A: My favorite pair of shoes are my beige Chelsea boots.

Q: Do you dress to impress or dress for yourself?

A: I dress for myself because I like to look nice.

Q: Who is your fashion inspiration?

A: I follow lots of different contemporary fashion bloggers.

Q: What's your favorite accessory to add to your outfit?

A: My favorite accessory would probably be some sunglasses.

SPORTS X-TRA 15 Student athletes to play in college April 12, 2016

Seniors plan to play at the collegiate level after graduation ASHLEY BRITTON: LACROSSE TIM JOHNSON: BASEBALL DIVISION 1 Ashley Britton will be attending High Point University this upcoming fall. Britton has been playing lacrosse for 12 years. High Point University is a Division 1 school and It is located in North Carolina. They are part of the Big South Conference. The school's colors are white and purple, and the school mascot is Prowler the Panther. Britton has played lacrosse all four years of high school, as well as being a field hockey player for three years.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TIM JOHNSON

Tim Johnson will be attending Saint Joseph's University to play baseball. In the last five years, they have been a decent team, averaging around a .500 winning percentage.

They are a competitive team in the A10 conference every year. The school colors are grey and crimson, and the school mascot is a hawk.

Johnson has played baseball for Annandale for all four years of highschool as well as playing football all four years.

TUCKER MACK: FOOTBALL

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHLEY BRITTON

DIVISION 1

GRANT THOMPSON: BASEBALL

DIVISION 3

DIVISION 3 Grant Thompson will be attending Shenandoah University this upcoming fall. Thompson has received a 50 percent scholarship to attend the school and play baseball for the school.

Shenandoah University is located in Winchester VA. The school mascot is a Hornet. Shenandoah University is a private school, and the school colors are red, white and blue.

PHOTO COURTESY OFGRANT THOMPSON

PHOTO COURTESY OF TUCKER MACK

Tucker Mack will be attending Salisbury University to play football this upcoming fall. Mack has been playing football since he was in eighth grade. The team is a consistent top 25 finisher on the D3 level and has had the same coaching staff for almost 20 years. The school colors are maroon and gold, and the school mascot is a sea gull.

BY SERGIO POZO Staff Writer Senior Evan Salters was one of 31 regional qualifiers selected from the Mid-Atlantic region to compete in the national championship for gymnastics.

This year, they will be held May 4 through May 8 at Battle Creek, Michigan. Salters has also competed in a national meet in Houston in February, and one last year in Las Vegas. The rest of his meets were in PA, VA, MD and NY. "I felt both proud and happy. This was a goal I have been working towards all season and was relieved to see that it all worked out," Salters said.

Salters has always had a sense of swinging and jumping ever since he was a child. This led to his interest and success in the sport.

"I started taking classes at age four because I was trying to do flips on my bed and sofa and kept falling and hurt myself, so gymnastics was a good way to use up that extra energy in a safer environment," Salters said.

By the age of seven Salters was chosen for a competitive team at Fairfax Gymnastics Academy where he would train for several years. In his teenage years he transferred over to Capital Gymnastics NTC in Burke where he currently trains.

"I currently train for 20 hours per week, six days a week after school on six events which include floor, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and high

bar," Salters said.

Through vigorous training and dedication in class, Salters was able to earn the title of Academic All-American last year and again this year. This title is earned not only by doing exceptionally well as a gymnast, but by also having a recommendation from a coach, and obtaining extraordinary grades in school.

"It feels great to be recognized for keeping up with a heavy training schedule while maintaining high grades in school," Salters said. "A lot of stuff goes unnoticed and this title makes my accomplishments feel appreciated."

Years of training and sacrifice has brought Salters

"I felt both proud and happy. This was a goal I have been working towards all season." to where he is today. However, gymnasts must focus on a variety of other things as well in order to be successful. What you need to focus on varies depending on what event you are doing.

Judges determine your score based on adding together the difficulty of all skills in your routines and then subtracting any breaks in form which can include a trip or fall.

Skills in gymnastics are motions that you do in your

routine such as round-offs and other types of flips and twists. Most routines have eight to 10 skills.

In competitions, it is imperative to have perfect form. Perfect form comes with great technique.

Gymnasts strive to have straight legs and arms, feet together as well as pointed toes to impress the judges in order to earn a high score. One mistake or trip in your performance can cause major point reductions.

"It also takes a lot of dedication and consistency, since you have to constantly do your routines in practice without falling so that at the competition you can consistently hit your six routines and hit a high overall score," Salters said.

In order to be even more competitive than he already is, Salters will have to change up his training and game plan so that he can perform best at nationals.

"I'm trying to throw in some more difficult skills in my routine to impress judges," Salters said.

Salters has received multiple offers but is still unsure about where he would like to compete in college. However, he thinks he will represent Temple University at NCAA meets.

"Overall, it takes a good balance of strength, technique and dedication. Mens Gymnastics focuses on upper body strength, which is definitely important, but it varies by the event," Salters said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF EVAN SALTERS

Gymnast qualifies for Nationals

Salters places 2nd in rings. Rings is an event that requires a lot of upper body strength as the competitor swings and flips.

What is in your gym bag?

Students come clean about their sports bag findings Shelby Runolfson, 12 Item: Three different sticks of deodorant "The weirdest thing I have is three sticks of deodorant. I carry them for myself and anybody who needs them.

My biggest pet peeve is when people smell bad; nobody wants stinky pits! I carry different types because everybody is different."

Luke Daggle, 12 Item: Empty carton of chocolate syrup

Eden Mesfin, 12 "I have a photo of Tammy Hembrow from instagram in my gym bag! She is a gym goddess! I keep it in there for motivation when I hit the gym! It also lightens my mood because it's funny to look at! It gives me inspiration to grind!"

"I have an empty carton of chocolate syrup! My friend Tim left it in my bag over the summer and I have never taken it out since!"

Sarah Deible, 12 Item: Moldy fruits "My bag gets like super full and messy sometimes and I'll literally find like moldy fruits that I've forgotten about. Not very unique but definitely just gross."

Mariam Mohamed, 10 Item: Extra Hijab "Sometimes I bring an extra hijab so I can match my practice/game outfits. For home games I bring a red hijab and away games I bring a white one!"

Saad Farooq and Dontae Johnson, 11 Item: Fabric freshener "We carry fabric freshener because sometimes our friends get smelly but we don't have a change of clothes. We don't carry cologne because cologne doesn't get deep into the fabric like the freshener does."

16 SPORTS Atoms fight for top two in district

April 12, 2016

Staff Writer Recently playing in their spring break tournament down in Myrtle Beach, the Boys' Varsity Baseball team started their five win streak by defeating Osbourne High School.

"We had a couple rough games in Myrtle Beach, and those games really inspired us because we weren't playing up to our potential, which was what helped keep our drive on our five win streak," senior Joseph Kurland said.

To keep the streak going, the Atoms defeated the high ranked West Springfield Spartans in a close game that went into five extra innings. The Atom's hard work began to pay off and were able to bounce back from their recent losses during spring break.

Gaining a total of four wins, three being district games, the Atoms were able to move up in the district and are placed as one of the top 55 baseball teams in the state.

"We started out slower than most of us probably thought and hoped we would.

However, I am seeing a lot of progress and I think we have a chance to be very successful

when we all perform up to our abilities," Boys' Varsity Baseball Coach Dan Porter said.

Unfortunately, the Atoms lost 7-5 in a tough game against the number one seeded Lake Braddock. With a 6-5 record and being 3-2 in the conference, the Atoms are 3rd in the district along with West Potomac and South County. Hoping the advance and work their way up in the ranks, the Atoms work to improve their game.

"A weakness we have is not playing to our potential, but when we're at our potential we have no weaknesses," senior Grant Thompson said.

The boys have played together for the past four years and some even before that, strengthening their team chemistry and ability to play well together.

"We've been playing together since middle school, and some of us even elementary school," senior Tucker Mack said.

Being third in the district, the Atoms are in a great position to move forward in the postseason.

"Our goals for the season are to win

the district championship, and go far into the regional playoffs and continue to win," Thompson said.

The Atoms are a fundamentally strong team, competing head-to-head with the number three team in the state (Lake Braddock) and beating a team who is in the top 20 (West Springfield).

"Some of our strengths are our hitting, defense and ability to work as a team," senior Aaron Boyd said.

With nine games left in the regular season, the Atoms strive for greatness on their road to glory.

"Overall, we are a very athletic team and we can take advantage of that on the base baths, by stealing and taking extra bases when possible. Our goal is to throw strikes, make the routine play on defense, and play good team baseball on offense by trying to come up with big hits, not striking out, and moving runners over," Porter said. "We have the ability to be successful, but we need to be more consistent. Our goals for this season is to be the final team standing."

COURTESY OF TUCKER MACK

BY CORY PRINGLE

Tucker Mack pitches for the Atoms in the Mingo Bay tournament during Spring Break.

Athlete of the week: Grant Thompson

COURTESY OF GABRIELA JORDAN

senior varsity athlete excited for the season

Q: When did you start playing baseball?

A: I really started to know baseball was my passion towards the end of middle school.

Gabriela Jordan races to score a goal for the Atoms on a 1-2 loss to South County on March. 13

Girls soccer looking for a turn around in their season

Q: When did you first know that baseball was your favorite sport?

A: I really started to know baseball was my passion towards the

Lady Atoms dug themselves in a hole with a 1-4 record Staff Writer As girls soccer progresses through the season, the team is currently on a four-game losing streak.

Coming off of a nasty loss to T.C. Williams High School, they are hoping to bounce back this week against long time rival WT Woodson.

Their current record 1-4 doesn't show the tremendous work theses ladies have put in since the beginning of the season.

From waking up on Saturday mornings for practice to after school practice, the girls have been able to improve a lot these couple of weeks.

"Our strength is offense, and I think we work well together," junior Gabriela Jordan said. "We are able to do through balls well."

Recently, the girls have been struggling to win games.

"We struggle to communicate well, and next week's game against WT Woodson is going to be tough," said Jordan.

Having lost four straight games, the girls are looking to improve their record by working on their weakness and talking about how they plan to improve.

"We need to start working together as a team, and start talking," junior Kasey Ritchitt said. "We should also improve our defense. If we work hard in practice on it, I think we can improve our record and start winning more."

While there is a lot of the season left, many girls look at the season as a learning point and hope to learn from their loses in order to win more games in the future.

"I think we are definitely learning a lot from this season, even though we have more losses than

end of middle school.

Q: What made you want to start playing baseball?

A: My dad was my biggest influence. He made me love the game since day one.

Q: What do you do usually before a game?

A: Before the game I usually get something to eat, listen to music and relax.

Q: What was the best moment in your baseball career?

A: The best moment in my baseball career would be advancing to regionals sophomore year.

Q: How do you and your team celebrate a win?

A: My team and I usually celebrate a win with a post game meal or we freestyle on the back of the bus coming from an away game.

Q: How do you and your team deal with a loss?

A: The best way to deal with a loss is to learn from your mistakes and move past it. We know how good we can be so we just need to continue to work hard and work towards our goal.

Q: What's the hardest thing about baseball?

A: The hardest thing about baseball is staying mentally prepared and never getting too high or too low. The ability will come with hard work, but the mental aspect can define you as a player.

Q: What do you do in the offseason to prepare for baseball?

A: The team has workouts and green days in the off-season to get the guys ready for the season.

wins," senior Brooke Thadeus said.

"There is still room for improvement for future games to come and I think with more team bonding and hard practices we'll do better."

Although the girls team seems to be struggling, they plan on taking a stand and turning their season around and snapping their losing streak against rival WT Woodson.

"Woodson is going to be a tough game to win, but with the right attitude and determination I think we'll be able to pull an upset against them," Ritchitt said.

Even though the season isn't going as planned for the girls varsity soccer team, they hope to turn it around as fast as possible.

COURTESY OF GRANT THOMPSON

BY MAURICIO REYES

Senior Grant Thompson is an exceptionally talented athlete working hard on and off the field. Working hard since he was a child and playing on multiple travel baseball teams before high school. Then came the high school team, playing for the Atoms all four years of high school and recently committing to division- three school, Shenandoah University shows his excellence which making him our athlete of the issue.

Senior Grant Thompson (right) warming up with the rest of his team before practice

Boys soccer works hard to get better Boys works hard to improve their record after starting out the season with a record of 1-3 Videographer and Staff Writer The Atoms boys varsity soccer team has started their season off with a rough start. Coming up with two consecutive losses against Lee (2-7) and Fairfax (3-1) and one win against West Springfield (3-2).

"The season has had a rough start, but we are picking it up little by little as a team," junior Luis Aguirre said.

The loss against Lee was probably one of the worst games the team had so far this season, conceding seven goals throughout the game. In that game, the team made many defensive errors that led to the goals they conceded.

It was a little better in the Fairfax game. Although they lost, they were tied until full time, so they went into overtime.

In overtime, the team fell apart and conceded a penalty and another easy goal. On the bright side, both the games they lost were teams that were not in their district.

Senior Alan Balderama is one of the Atoms' top players this season, bagging five of the seven goals the team has overall. The team seems like they can improve in all aspects of the game, but they lack in creating opportunities to score goals and lack communication on the pitch.

"The games we lost are because of miscommunication and not working together, but we turned that around against West Springfield and worked together for the win," Aguirre said.

The team's goals for this season are still very much in tact despite losing their opening matches.

"My goal is to have a home district game and/or win that game to advance to regionals," senior Jeffery Montano said.

Many of the players would like to

go far this season so they could get the support they need in each and every of their games.

"This season, I want to make this team go far and make people believe in us because no one cares about soccer," Aguirre said.

UPCOMING GAMES ·

04/13/16 @ W.T.woodson

·

04/18/16 against Lake Braddock

·

04/21/16 @ West Patomac

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04/25/16 against Jeb Stuart

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04/28/16 against Thomas Jefferson

·

05/02/16 @ Mount Vernon

OURTESY OF GABRIELA JORDAN

BY FAISAL HASSEN & ANGELO LOPEZ

Senior Raphael Yu going for a header against Falls Church high school in a 0-1 loss

SPORTS 17 Girls lacrosse needing a boost April 12, 2016

BY ALMAZ ABEDJE Staff Writer

PHOT COURTESY OF ASHLEY BRITTON

After starting the season with an 0-4 record, the Girls Varsity Lacrosse team is beginning to turn the season around. The team had their second conference game on April 7 against the W.T. Woodson Cavaliers.

In preparation, the girls used a number of methods leading up to their match. I m very excited for the upcoming game against Woodson, and to prepare for it we ve been discussing their specific tactics, senior Rebecca Soulen said.

Senior Katie Pacak sees the game as an opportunity for the team to really unite.

To prepare for Woodson, we have gone over what to do on each end of the field and in transition, and have made sure to hype each other up for the game since they re a rival, Pacak said.

In the case of junior Vicky Luu, the method is quite simple. We feel ready to beat Woodson, Luu said. The only way to really prepare for it is by practicing.

Sophomore Lennon Wuhrer maintains a positive attitude regarding the rival game.

Our game against woodson (today, thursday) is a very important game being that they are our rivals, Senior Ashley Britton splits two defenders and jukes out the third to take a shot on goal against Paul VI Wuhrer said.

Every year we do our best to beat them and this a lot of team injuries which have affected key players but Likewise, veteran player Soulen takes into account year I think we have our best shot. we re managing, Silva said. previous seasons when comparing team chemistry but Optimism aside, the Atoms have struggled early on Once we solidify our defense we can be a much comes to the same result. with one thing: injuries. stronger force, Ashley Britton said. We are improving We have a lot of fun together and love to laugh (esA couple people have been injured and are slowly every day so I think that we can flip that weakness in our pecially when we hear McKenzie Yi laugh!), but we also coming back. senior Hannah Curan said. favor. know when to focus.

I think In some ways it affects us, however, the inAn essential element, team chemistry, is something With great team chemistry comes a sense of familiarjured players still come and participate how they can that the team has a lot of this season. The team has ity of teammates according to Soulen. which makes them still part of the team. great chemistry, Senior Tabitha Barnes said, Often This season is different from others because it s a Junior Sasha Silva views the injuries as a minor set- times a team will have one or two bad seeds, but we very similar team to last year s team, Soulen said. As back for the team. Unfortunately we have experienced really don t have any, everyone gets along. a result, we know each other very well and know our

strengths and weaknesses.

In regards to weaknesses, the team believes that an aggressive playing style will go a long way.

Our goals this year are to have more body contact defense instead of stick defend or just waving your stuck around the attacking player, Wuhrer said.

Aggression, as well as better transitioning, are the main focuses for Captain Soulen.

Personally, my goal for the season is to work on making body contact while on defense, Soulen said. As a team, our goal right now is to continue to improve in our transitioning of the ball up the field.

Going forward the team has similar goals for the season, specifically the seniors. This season, I d like to see us take the conference championship, Barnes said. It s a big goal but we are definitely capable of achieving it.

For players that are still adjusting to the sport, like second-year athlete Pacak, continue to have same ambition as those veteran players.

This season I want us to win districts, we came close last year, Pacak said. I also want to go further in regionals since it s my last year.

In general, the team takes the season day by day and maintains a positive attitude looking ahead. Overall though, it s [my goal] to have the best season we can, Soulen said.

With their current two-game win streak, the Atoms have a new motivating factor going into future games and tournaments.

Getting a win against Woodson means playing a lower-seeded team in districts, increasing their hopes and chances of winning a district title.

The team s next event is the annual Atomic Blast on Saturday, April 16, with their first match at 1pm against Battlefield.

Heard in the halls: What has been your worst injury?

"Pelvis because I couldn't laugh, sleep or move well."

ANISSA CHEIKH freshman

"I got a concussion and I couldn't think straight."

"When I split open my mouth from field hockey, I bled so much."

MATTHEW DINH MCKENZIE YI freshman

"When I fractured my ankle, I was on crutches and in a cast for two months."

"When I ruptured my meniscus and had to get surgery, so that was bad."

sophomore NATNAL ENDALKACHEW sopho-

"My collarbone because I couldn't move my arm "

MADISON WALSH

JUSTIN VO junior

"I tore everything in "I pulled my hammy ankle and was in a string, I ended up boot for two months." missing five track meets."

KARMENA POWERWERKING NATHAN OHENE senior

junior

senior

SERENE GHUL

Boys lacrosse continues to be on losing end

Coach Mathis calls a timeout and explains to his players on what they did wrong

BY SERENE GHUL Staff Writer The Atom s Boys Varsity Lacrosse team took on the Edison Eagles this past Tuesday. The Atoms took a defeat with a final score of 11-5.

Although the Atoms did not win, they feel as if this loss just motivated them to work even harder for the remainder of the season.

Working on the basic fundamentals of lacrosse is one thing that we can improve on as a team, assistant varsity coach Michael Mathis said.

The Atoms were also at a disadvantage as a few players were injured. The Atoms remain positive as the Boys Lacrosse team has been saying since the start of the season that they are hoping for success this spring.

With it only being the beginning of

the season, the Boys Varsity Lacrosse team has time to get better and learn more skills and technique to prosper throughout the rest of the season.

We are going to develop and work on ground balls, catching, passing and throwing so we can improve, Mathis said.

Although the Atoms did not obtain the ultimate victory, there were multiple victories within the game.

According to his teammate, junior and face off/midfielder Gaston Sanchez, senior, Beau Hatch had an extraordinary goal from a rebound.

We as a team need to improve on communication. If we communicate to our teammates more, we would be much more organized.

Even though the athletes felt that they were lacking communication on the field, they had strength in other

areas of the field by playing strong in the offensive and defensive positions overall.

Our offense worked better at moving the ball around and scoring on defense. We also stopped a lot of their fast breaks, junior, Sebastian Saldana said. Taking more on the defense is something that we really need to work on.

Throughout the game, the Atoms were able to come back and get many points on the board. The first goal scored by senior, Franklin Joseph got the Atoms motivated to push through and continue to play hard. Shortly afterwards, senior Zach Hackfeld scored another goal for the Atoms.

With the score at the end of the second quarter at 9-3, the Atoms managed to score two more goals in the remainder of the game. Hatch got

the game back in motion by scoring the third goal for the Atoms. Senior Attack Caleb Britton added another point to the board by getting the Atoms their fourth goal.

While the Eagles ended up scoring an additional three points by the end of the game, both goalies, sophomore Marco Ocampos and senior Ryan Flynn, had prevented many goals from going in.

Although the Atoms didn t do as well as they had desired, they believe that it just wasn t their night.

The game was up for grabs and they just wanted it more than we did, Saldana said.

BY GRACE HOGYE Staff Writer

BY ANDREW GONZALEZ Sports Editor

The spring track season is underway and the girls team is reflecting upon their last meet at West Potomac High School on April sixth. This was the team s first non-invitational meet and it gave the girls an opportunity to be aware of the team s standings for the season.

Although it was a relatively small meet (it only included AHS, West Springfield, and West Potomac), the girls still worked hard to prepare for the meet and strived for success.

All the girls from our team looked fantastic, returning runner, senior Yenifer Osorio said. They tried really hard and gave it their all for each of their races.

Many members of the girls on the team seem to be proud of the accomplishments they achieved at their first meet. A lot of team members even set personal records for the season and excelled in their races.

After their participation in their first meet, this year s spring team seems to be happy with their standings after the first meet, but they still have room for improvement.

Their next meet is approaching and they are eager to improve before they race against Lake Braddock, TC Williams, and West Springfield on Wednesday, April 13 at West Springfield High School.

The softball team has definitely struggled in recent years, but with the hiring of new head coach Jim Patterson, the Atoms seeked to turn their season around.

Although things might not have gone as planned, a 15-11 win over rival W.T. Woodson High School on April 5 gave the girls exactly what they needed, confidence.

We felt pretty good.

We realized that we just have to play the game and not overthink things because it throws us off, sophomore Elizabeth Sophmore Elizabeth Corcoran shows frusCorcoran said.

They had planned totration on the previous play carry that confidence into their next game against Wash- match.

The next day brought another ington-Lee High School, but due to heavy rain, the game was conference game against top ranked Lake Braddock Secondpostponed to May 2.

I was really disappointed ary School, which the Atoms fell when the game got postponed to the Bruins 20-0.

We feel very disappointed because we were not able to play, Corcoran said. Plus, that we lost, but with every loss we were excited because they comes experience, said senior are in a difference conference Elise Kim. Hopefully we ll be so it would have been an even able to learn from our mistakes

AHS 4x800 team starts the race this past weekend at West Potomac

Schools like Lake Braddock and TC are known to have many successful and talented runners. It may be difficult for our team to race such competitive schools, but the team has proven successful and is ready to face the challenge.

Because of the upcoming challenging meets, the team has been working hard to improve. Luckily, their participation at the West Potomac meet allowed them to see where other schools stand. It also helped the team discover weaknesses or areas in which they need improvement.

The girls are diligently working

hard to perfect those areas and improve personally as well as a team.

Before the next meet, we need to improve our communication and we need to listen to the coaches more.

Said sophomore, Ingrid Guardado.

Things can go really fast at meets and it s important to be on the same page.

The girls will continue to work on this, as well as other aspects that need improvement, before the next meet and for the rest of the season.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELIZABETH CORCORAN

Softball trying to bounce back

GRACE HOGYE

Girls track excels at last meet

and this loss, and win the next game.

The season is still young and there are many games left in the season. A couple of bad losses does not reflect the whole season. The players know this and are optimistic of their upcoming games.

With two games this week, the Atoms are hoping for at least one win this week, especially against Mount Vernon High School, who is new to the conference this year.

During spring break we faced them in the Hayfield tournament. We learned that they are a strong team but nothing so extreme where a little practice won t help, Kim said.

As long as we keep practicing strong and developing our skills and techniques, we will definitely be able to defeat them someday. Hopefully that day will be this Friday when we play them.

The Atoms softball team will play West Potomac High School April 12, and Mount Vernon on April 15, both start at 6:30 and both are at home. Come out and support your Atoms!

18 ENTERTAINMENT

April 12, 2016

BY SERGIO POZO Staff Writer

Four score and about a hundred years ago, America endured its first Civil War. With the upcoming superhero movie directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, fans are sure to march to theatres as soldiers marched.

Captain America: Civil War will be released in theatres on Friday May 6, 2016 and will feature a plethora of fan favorites including Iron Man, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Ant-Man and many more.

The feud between Iron Man and Captain America is derived from two reasons. Firstly, a superhero group led

by Iron Man believes that superheroes must be monitored.

This is justified in previous installments such as both Avengers movies and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, because destruction led to public fear in both situations. Iron Man believes superheroes should be identified and known to the public as well as have their powers registered.

However, in revealing their identity, they eliminate a secret essential for them to live a normal life, claims Captain America. In addition, they expose a vulnerability that can be taken advantage of.

The other reason for the brawl is an assassin named

Winter Soldier, who Captain America continues to claim as a friend. This was even after he attempted to destroy the world because of their deep history.

Along with the division in the movie comes division among students who favor one side over the other. Kids are taking sides and predicting a winner.

"I'm team Iron Man because Captain America is a useless hero that only has strength and no abilities while Iron Man has what Captain America lacks. Also even if you take away the suit he is still a genius, playboy, billionaire philanthropist," junior Saud Shah said.

Both squads are composed of solid heroes, some of which may be crucial for their success or lead to their downfall.

"I think that Iron Man can win because I don't see how anyone on Captain America's team can stop Vision and Spider-Man," sophomore Nghia Nguyen said. "Plus he technically wins in the comics."

Although most believe Iron Man will be the winner, others believe there is still a way Captain America can win.

"Captain America is a hands on fighter while Iron Man fights from afar. If Captain America can find a way to get close to him and take away some of his abilities, he can win," senior Gammy Walsh said.

The most recent trailer for Civil War showed a young

Spider-Man, which came off as a surprise to some fans, but others who keep up with the comics expected it. How effective he will be in defeating Captain America's squad is unknown but he has potential.

"In his reveal, nothing came off as special for Spider_Man in regards to his suit but it will be exciting to see how a young SpiderMan would be," senior Jashon Reams said.

Others believed that the move to in- This film pits Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr.'s characters against each other. troduce Spider-Man in With a year filled with superhero movies with high exthe trailer was not a favorable one and that the directors pectations and high praise, such as Deadpool, Batman v should have taken another approach.

"I think that they should have kept his reveal until the Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, fans are movie came out. Kind of like what the directors did for hopeful this movie will be a success just as Deadpool was and not an average movie as Dawn of Justice was.

Luke in Star Wars," Nguyen said.

moviepilot.com

Captain America: Civil War

Weezer (The White Album) sets up students for summer vibes

BY ALEXANDRA ZERNIK Managing Editor Weezer's newest creation, Weezer (White Album)-unintentionally alluding to the Beatles' famous work of arttrails their blue, red and green albums, becoming their fourth self titled album out of a total of 10.

It came out on April 1, 2016 and gives fans a classic dose of Weezer that has been deprived since 2014, when Everything Will Be Alright in the End was released, or, depending on who you ask, since Pinkerton, released back in 1996.

Since the 90s, Weezer has always been the go to band for rock and indie lovers alike, but since the turn of the century, they have attempted to appeal to a mass

audience, working with artists like Lil Wayne.

"Normally I like when artists experiment with their sound and change things up but Weezer is kind of a different subject," senior Bebhinn Tyree said.

This new album throws it back to their roots, abandoning the pop infused influence that they tried to acquire very temporarily, and sticks to the mellow rock vibe that we all know and love.

"Their sound has pretty much remained the same since they began and that is why I praise them. They sound very 90s and make me really nostalgic," Tyree said.

The album begins with "California Kids," which could easily be mistaken as a song from Weezer (Blue Album) because of its powerful beat. The band is singing about one of their favorite topics, California, or more specifically their hometown Los Angeles. In the first track and throughout, the sound of waves crashing onto the shore is included.

"The vibe that it sends makes it a perfect summer album," senior Jenni Hall said.

Slowing it down slightly, the album continues with

www.telegraph.co.uk

Weezer releases their fourth self-titled album

three love ballads: "Wind In Our Sail," "Thank God For Girls" and "(Girl We Got A) Good Thing." These songs are very upbeat and give off a theme that continues up until the track "Do You Wanna Get High?," which was the first single released from the album.

This track contrasts the first positive half of the album by being more serious. It discusses the band's drummer, Rivers Cuomo, and his drug addiction. This is definitely the turning point of the album because the next track, "King Of The World," is also about love, but the pleasant lyrics have been abandoned.

"One more sad movie star divorce. Three hundred died in an airplane wreck, and you think of all the people suffering, and you bury that pain."

After this song, the negative direction of the album escalates very quickly. Especially in the ninth track, "Jacked Up," it becomes obvious that the lyrics are trying to tell a story and this is the point where everything is going wrong.

"Endless Bummer" is the 10th, final and slowest track, concluding the White Album with a simple plea for summer to end while contemplating the relationships discussed and ruined throughout. All of the band's self titled albums have been reflective of their color. White signifies rebirth. Hopefully that means, with the changing of the season, a new stage has begun, leaving behind past mistakes as if they were distant summer memories.

Is Drake the best rapper?

Views to surpass WATTBA disappointed in Jay-Z's contribution to the song, as he only had 19 words throughout the entire song.

Listeners all over the world have been anxiously waitToronto rapper, Aubrey "Drake" Graham, has recently ing for this project to release, but others are very confiannounced his fourth upcoming studio album on January dent in Drake to deliver.

"I'm very excited for this album and it will be amazing 30, 2016 on his Apple radio station, OVOSOUND RADIO. The highly anticipated project, Views From The 6, has hip- because Drake is the G.O.A.T.," junior Jordan Adams said.

The Canadian rapper has been on a roll lately, with his hop fans everywhere waiting on the edge of their seats recent music receiving tons of positive feedback. His sinfor the release.

Last year, Drake dropped a surprise mixtape, If You're gle released back in the summer of 2015, "Hotline Bling," Reading This It's Too Late (2015), which was expected to reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Drake's highest-charting single in be VFTS. Many fans thought VFTS the United States. would be released in late 2015 and In September 2015, Drake reearly 2016 through rumors, but leased a joint-mixtape with rapper Drake postponed it several times Future, What a Time to Be Alive. and finally set a confirmed release The tape debuted at number one date to be in April 2016. on the charts and it was the first Drake is a co-founder of the time a rapper was able to make record label OVO Sound, which he two number one projects in a year created with his childhood friend since Jay-Z back in 2004. and main producer, Noah "40" Drake was also featured in Shebib. VFTS will be Drake's first a jamaican-styled song with official studio album, produced singer Rihanna, "Work," the under OVO Sound. Drake recently track made it's way to number parted ways with Cash Money Reone on Billboard Hot 100. cords after the ending of his fourMany believe that with year contract.

Drake's impressive discograThe first track of the album, "Summer Sixteen," came out back Drake on the cover for The FADER magazine. phy, it would be tough for VFTS to impress. in January 30th. The track featured "I think it'd be really hard for him to match his replenty of positive feedback, selling over 300,000 copies in the US. Drake also takes several shots at rapper Meek cent works such as If You're Reading This It's Too Late, and What a Time to be Alive, but it's Drake so he'll come Mill, a rapper that he had a feud with in 2015.

On April 5 Drake dropped two surprise songs that through," senior David Park said.

According to Pitchfork, Drake's forthcoming studio were both expected to be on VFTS. The first song, "One Dance" featuring Wizkid and Kyla, has a Jamaican vibe to album will drop at the end of the April, but with the exit, a style the MC has looked to several times in recent tensive song leaks and the MC releasing two singles, the tracks. The second tune, "Pop Style," features Kanye album can drop any time now. No matter when it drops, it West and Jay-Z, but credited as The Throne. Many were is sure to be talked about excessively.

BY HUSSEIN SALEM AND KIRK LINDBERG Ad Manager and Staff Writer

"No, there are better rappers like Joey Bada$$."

"Yes, because he has many types of genres."

SANDRA BENITEZ

freshman

freshman

ANGELA KIM sophomore

"Yes because I grew up in the Six, I have Canadian pride."

ETHAN YU sophomore

thefader.com

GEORGE TWENEBOA

"No, I don't like his style of music."

"No, Logic is better."

IRIS ARRAZOLA junior

"No, because I've heard so much better."

"No, because other rappers are coming out that are better."

BRAHIM BANGURA

BRIAN UGLIETTA

junior

senior

"Yes, he's talented and handsome."

EDENIA BENITEZ senior

J Dilla and his legacy lives on in AHS Artists inspired by J Dilla

BY AHMAD AYUB

alive, almost making his MPC an extension of himself.

"J Dilla has left a huge mark on rap culture," Gebru said about the impact he's had on the genre. "He's worked with many well respected artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, Common and was also in Slum Village."

J Dilla passed away in 2006 due to a rare blood disease called thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura,

austin.charityowl.com

J Dilla passed away on Feb. 10, 2006.

rollingstone.com

If you've ever listened to A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu, Common or The Roots, there's a big chance that you've also listened to one more artist: J Dilla.

"I got introduced to J Dilla in middle school by my older brother after he showed me a track called 'Won't Do,'" senior Raeey Gebru said.

Born James Dewitt Yancy, producer J Dilla has inspired countless artists and producers across the entire genres of rap and hip-hop.

Know for his incredibly influential contributions to hip hop as a whole, Dilla has inspired big names in the hip hop genre such as Kanye West, Logic and Joey Bada$$.

His smooth production was revolutionary while he was

newsweek.com

Entertainment Editor

where many small blood clots appear around the Flying Lotus body. However, this hasn't stopped him from exertFlying Lotus has paid ing his influence on hip hop artists across the globe. tribute to Dilla in two noSimilar to Tupac, he has had posthumous al- table works emulating his bums released containing work of his that had style, "Fall in Love" and never been heard before. His album The Diary is to "LTWXRMX." release on April 15, marking his sixth album after his death. This is just another sign that even after he left this world, his mark hasn't.

Joey Bada$$ "His inspiration hasn't faded. People who Joey Bada$$ used J listen to old school or underground rap know Dilla beats on several of of J Dilla's legacy," Gebru said. "Last sample I his tracks on his mixtape heard from Dilla was Chance the Rapper's 'Ev- 1999. Such tracks include erybody's Something' so his beats are still being used."

"Snakes" and "Where It'$ Countless artists have sampled his work, like Donnie At." Trumpet, Nas and J. Cole. Busta Rhymes, along other artists such as Q-Tip and Talib Kweli, released a mixtape honKanye West oring Dilla, using songs that he made.

West started his ca"J Dilla had extraordinary talent. His beats speak for him," Gebru said. "Without Dilla's production, some hits reer as a producer, and on Common's album Finding would not have been made."

Forever, cut up samples in methods J Dilla used.

fanart.tv

Dilla's sixth posthumous album to release soon

Snoop Dogg April 22

Pardon My French Tour

April 23

runthetrap.com

fumedm.com

redbull.com

msopr.com

boi-1da.net

echostage.com

Artists coming to Echostage soon

Sebastian Ingrosso

X Ambassadors

May 7

Benny Benassi with Wolfgang

May 12

June 4

Diplo June 18

ENTERTAINMENT 19 Student artists are on the rise April 12, 2016

Staff Writer Annandale rappers are now on a come up. Some of the most notable include seniors Sam Waseem and Seth Tweneboa. Both of these rappers released new material during Spring Break. Tweneboa released a remix of Brooklyn rapper Desiigner's breakout hit "Panda," along with his single "My Story," which was listened to over a thousand times on SoundCloud and Sam also released a "Panda" remix which featured Tino Tino and received over two thousand hits.

Rapping has allowed these students to share their perspective and their own personal stories with those around them.

"I feel like I've been telling these uneducated students a story about my life," Tweneboa said, "which is pretty cool because not everyone goes through what I go through."

There is also the personal gratification that comes after people

recognize the hard work that goes into making music.

"It feels pretty good knowing people actually like the music I put out," Waseem said, "and I appreciate that they take the time out of their day to listen to it."

When you produce music that people listen to, you tend to be known around the school. These two have remained humble even after the increased publicity.

"I try to react normal and not let it 'sice' my head," Waseem said.

However, more fans would always be nice, and the support that they receive is much appreciated.

"I mean, I'm not getting as much love as I would like," Tweneboa said, "but I got fans always snapchatting me with my song turnt up cranking."

The music industry is a very hard industry to get into. Regarding the field, not a lot of people are successful, especially rappers. This begs the questions why did these two AHS students choose this path?

"I honestly started making music

SETH TWENEBOA

BY KARUNGU THUKU

Tweneboa is looking forward to releasing his next song.

"You know me, all I do is talk about real life, current situations," Tweneboa said. "I'll never talk about things I don't have, but my next song is going to be real and I'm putting a lot of work into it" When it comes to life, everyone has mentors or people they look up to. This is true for rap as well. Eminem had Dr. Dre, Jay Z had Biggie Smalls and Kendrick Lamar had Tupac.

"My biggest influences are Meek Mill, Fabolous, Kur, Biggie Smalls, and Lil' Herb," Tweneboa said.

"My biggest influence is my man Tino, my man Cash, my man TJ and my blood brother," Waseem said.

You can say a lot about these Annandale artists, but you can't say they're shy when it comes to their music. It's not easy releasing music, or any art form for that matter, for the world to see. You can listen to these artists' music through the following links. https://soundcloud.com/ atamo https://soundcloud.com/sethso-legit-tweneboa

SAM WASEEM

Seniors Seth Tweneboa and Sam Waseem turn to rap, release music online

because I hated all the local artists who were getting mad love," Tweneboa said. "I just wanted to show people that I'm better than the people they listen to."

Rapping is something that Waseem has been doing for a while, and he is just now starting to put his music out there.

"I've always had a thing for rapping since I was a young kid," Waseem said, "but all my men (friends) told me to release my music because they knew it had potential to get out there."

Different artists have different creative processes. Some might favor freestyling, others might rather write down their rhymes and then record.

"It takes me an hour to write one song," Waseem said, "or I just go in the studio and freestyle which I had to do for my last song."

"It takes about a day to write a song or multiple songs," Tweneboa said, "as soon as I get to the studio it takes about 45 minutes to record."

These two might have gotten started recently with music, but they have big plans for the near future.

"I have a mixtape planned to drop in the summer after Ramadan" Waseem said. "Some people would expect a new drop sooner, but again, there is always a process in making art."

Tweneboa (top, right) and Waseem (bottom) have been working hard in the studio

The problem with exclusive music

BY JULIUS MILLER

PHOTO COURTESY OF TIDAL

Staff Writer TIDAL is a subscription-based music streaming service that combines audio and high definition music videos with curated editorials. Like all businesses and services, TIDAL has its competitors, the most notable being Spotify and Apple Music. The problem that this competition comes with is music exclusivity.

For example, in music, TIDAL has recently used exclusivity for increased streams and more business. Kanye West's highly anticipated album, The Life of Pablo, was just released on Apple Music as well as Spotify.

In the business world, it was initially a bad decision for West, resulting in a reported loss of one million dollars in profit.

Though the decision seemed to be backfiring on West at the time, it was reported on March 29 that The Life of Pablo was streamed a total of 250 million times on TIDAL. Although this is great for West, people who didn't own TIDAL missed out on a great album.

TIDAL is not the only guilty one, though

they obliviously continue to do this.

Upon the release of Future's EVOL, it was released exclusively to Apple Music. It came to Spotify and other services sooner than The Life of Pablo did, but it still came out as an exclusive. So this poses the question: Is releasing music exclusively to certain services okay?

It's best to first evaluate the current state of the involvement of money in music and how music has slowly become more of an industry than an art.

It is true that music still is an art and some people make music purely for their pleasure and the audience's rather than to make money. It is also true that most people in the world wouldn't mind wealth, regardless of how they attain it.

A common pattern that can be seen among artists in the music industry is the tendency to release quality music for a while and then, once they get a deal or obtain a sufficient amount of money, begin to slack in the music they release.

This all ties into the central theme that music is becoming more and more about money than the actual music. If an artist

sees an opportunity to make more money, possibly by releasing music exclusively to a service, they will most likely take it.

This robs the people who don't have that service of music.

Music has always brought people together in a way, sparking conversations about what individuals liked and didn't like about an album or single. Now the conversation sometimes revolves around whether they were able to listen to it due to the program it's been released exclusively on.

An artist's music deserves to be truly heard and appreciated by every audience, regardless of what service they own. Exclusives are great for business, but very neglectful to certain groups of the music community.

The more and more exclusive music becomes to certain services, the less of a music community there is.

Will DC's Cinematic Universe be successful?

NO

YES

BY CONRAD SHARTEL

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARVEL

The DC cinematic universe began with the film Man of Steel, which came out in June 2013. The film was about DC's iconic superhero, Superman.

It did not directly lay a path for a cinematic universe, however, director Zack Snyder later publicly said they would be expanding into the Justice League universe.

The real cinematic universe then began with the release of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice in March.

The cinematic universe is a must for DC Comics and their movies. After Marvel Studios did it with The Avengers, it was an instant success.

However, this may have been because it was the first of its kind. All the movies alluded to other superheroes in The Avengers, and many even had cameos.

DC's Cinematic Universe will prove to be a success.

Two Avengers movies have already origin story, and without any single movies, was a good come out, and DC Comics has only reidea. leased two single movies in their entire universe.

This increased the overall hype for the movie, and DC's cinematic universe may not have started out as strong as the Avengers, but that may be because they eliminated the "I can't wait for their joint movie in three started it in somewhat of a rush. However, it is a good years!" aspect that Marvel did for so many years.

Everyone has already waited for The Avengers; DC sort of rush.

DC's most famous superheroes are easily Batman knows that, and didn't want to put fans through it again.

It would be copying the formula, and fans wouldn't and Superman. The last Superman movie before Man of Steel was in the early 2000s, and did not do so well, giv- be waiting for that huge, new surprise anymore.

The DC universe will, in later years, have more single ing Snyder the green light to make an individual movie character movies to expand more on character depth about the superhero.

Man of Steel, however, did not do very well either. and individual plotlines, but they will do it when the uniAnd although the cinematic universe jump was the right verse has already been formally established.

It's almost like they're doing the Marvel formula idea, it had to start somewhere.

Snyder and DC knew that, and realized that no mat- backwards; which frankly is smart, considering movieter how fast they wanted to jump into Batman V Super- goers like seeing new things and not repeats.

BvS' quick introduction was overall a new, fresh and man, they had to start somewhere. And who better to start with than a fresher face than Batman's, and the very action-packed start to what will become a very strong cinematic universe. superhero America knows and loves?

The Justice League movie that, yes, will come in a Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, which was in the later 2000s and early 2010's proved to be an im- few years, will not be as much of a shock the fans of the DC universe after BvS' release. mense success.

Viewers are now already accustomed to the new That is why the second DC movie already being a joint movie and large introduction to a cinematic uni- characters, and don't need an origin story for every single one of them before a joint movie. verse was a smart move on Snyder's part.

DC's new formula and fast jump will prove to be a Nobody would want to see another Batman origin story; everyone, sadly, knows how his parents die, large success down the road because they realized that how he becomes Batman, and frankly has seen it many something different will work. times. If DC did it again, nobody would want to go see it.

However, introducing the characters without an

PHOTO COURTESY OF DC COMICS

People Editor

one movie, DC should have followed Marvel in taking it slow; introducing characters movie by movie. It was too late for them to execute their plan of introducing multiple heroes in one movie in order to lead up to a Justice League film, as there had already been a Superman origin story in Man of Steel.

DC poorly attempts to compensate for the lack of a Batman origin story by beginning the movie with yet another redundant adaptation of the death of Bruce Wayne's parents at gunpoint.

The weak foundation and build up of this movie is exactly why Wonder Woman, along with brief appearances made by other members of the Justice League such as Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman, practically stole the show.

DC would have fared much better by introducing Batman in a standalone movie which would lead up to DC's next movie Suicide Squad, where Batman is said to have a very prominent role as Joker, Harley Quinn and a plethora of other Gotham-based villains are involved.

This would provide audiences the room to move on from Christian Bale's Batman, and focus on the new Batman played by Ben Affleck. In doing so, we would have a much clearer understanding of the motives of the Batman of this universe.

Perhaps this would also clarify why Batman blew up, perforated, burnt and shattered vital bones of his various enemies in BvS when the Bat's number one code of honor is to refrain from killing.

Not only would a standalone Batman movie explain his newfound bloodlust, it would also detail the destruction Superman's battle with Zod caused in Bruce Wayne's life to a greater extent, rather than spending an important 25 minutes of the movie on something that should already have been covered.

The importance of well-spent time emerges many times in this film. Most notably at the end of the movie, when Superman "dies" defeating Doomsday.

While this is an accurate portrayal of what went down in the battle between the two in the comics, the 20 or so minutes spent "honoring" Superman in the movie felt redundant, unnecessary, and as if Director Zack Snyder ran out of material and felt as if this would fill the hole adequately.

All of BvS' many downfalls could have been avoided had DC stuck to the traditional cinematic universe path paved by Marvel, leading to their success both in box office and in film quality overall.

BY TIMOTHY GRAY International Editor Marvel's introduction of a cinematic universe has proven to be a long, but interesting and worthwhile, journey. Movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron have shattered box office records and garnered rave reviews.

In recent years, Detective Comics, or DC, has tried their hand at a cinematic universe. It began with Man of Steel, a readaptation of the Superman origin story we all know and love.

Man of Steel, however, had not met such love from critics. It was thought to be boring, grueling and rather redundant considering most everybody interested in comics understands Superman's beginnings as Kryptonian alien baby Kal-El plummeting to Earth, becoming Smallville, Kansas' Clark Kent and eventually Superman.

In comparison, comic book adaptations not quite as mainstream as DC's Superman did exceptionally in box office.

Adaptations such as Marvel's Iron Man and Captain America: The First Avenger blew audiences away as they introduced a storyline moviegoers may not have been familiar with, and opened doors to future tie-ins making audiences wait at the edge of their seats year by year for each hero to come together in an official Avengers movie.

Unfortunately, Man of Steel could not capture this magic. This is where Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice fell short, as well. DC's bold attempt at introducing characters as gargantuan as Batman and Wonder Woman in a movie meant to prelude a full Justice League cinematic appearance was a big mistake.

Rather than attempting to cram characters into

20 WEEKEND

April 12, 2016

Atoms show off their Natitude Students anticipate the 2016 season for the Washington Nationals However, in the process of gaining a new coach a player was traded away. Tyler Moore was drafted by the Nats in 16th round of the 2008 MLB draft. Students were in dismay when they found out he was traded to the Atlanta Braves who they beat in the first two games of the season.

"I hate the fact that they traded Tyler Moore. I liked seeing him play, he was one of my favorite players on the team because of his work ethic and his style of play," senior Hannah Curran said.

Fans are hopeful that Harper will be able to deliver the same performance he did last year. Hitting a home-run on his first bat in the first game of the season, he shows signs of an elite performance once again.

"Harper has a lot at stake this year, after doing so well last season, there is a lot of pressure on him," Corey said.

With Ben Revere and Daniel Murphy joining this year's lineup, the team is hopeful that the new players will be able to contribute their talent to take them far.

After signing Mark Scherzer to a seven year $210 million contract, the Nats were forced to forfeit their first round pick. Despite this, they were able to draft solid players including Andrew Stevenson from LSU and Blake Perkins from Verrado High School.

"They have a good starting lineup and good pitchers that would get the job done," freshman Ethan Zimmerman said.

MELANIE VALENCIA & SERGIO POZO Staff Writers As the spring season commences, the Washington Nationals prepare for a pressure packed season. Having not made a playoff appearance since 2014, the Nats hope to turn that around this year.

Led by star player Bryce Harper who received the MLB National All-Star award in 2015, the Nats hope to use this as momentum to keep their mindset in check. Expectations are high at Annandale hoping for a playoff berth and a division win.

"This year I hope that the Nats lead in the Eastern Division and make a run in the playoffs. Last year we struggled to edge the New York mets in the division.

We finished in second which was not enough to make it to the playoffs," senior Colin Corey said.

With the coming of a new coach, Dusty Baker, replacing former coach Matt Williams, students expect a positive outcome by the end of the 2016 season.

Ironically, Baker was drafted by the Atlanta Braves, the team the Nats traded a player to and the team they faced in their first two games.

"Since they have really good players and new coach, I'm hoping it's a good year. I'm hoping this coach will be able to do things the other coach couldn't," senior Kevin Folli said.

Although the game is the main focus of those who go, there are many different activities and trinkets that people also look forward to.

"I enjoy going with friends, the environment is welcoming, the people have awesome energy, the tickets are cheap and watching good baseball," Corey said, "and part of the fun in going is also not watching at all and just having a great time laughing with friends. Also, being with a crowd that is supporting the same team as you is unifying even if you don't know who the person is next to you."

From overpriced food to the presidential race, there are many different aspects a baseball game has to offer. This year presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt will be seen running along the bases.

"I'm excited about being in an exciting environment that has an uplifting atmosphere. Also seeing home runs and meeting the presidents who run in the presidential race," Curran said.

Starting off the season with two wins, the Nats are on pace to have at least a winning record.

With their talents and support from their fans, the team is hopeful they will at least make it to playoffs. However, baseball is not only a suspenseful game, it is also a place where families can come together and enjoy time spent together.

Business teacher Howard Dwyer displays this Washington Nationals flag in his classroom to show off his spirit.

There are many places to stop in to get food and drinks inside and around Nationals Park, like this one inside the ballpark.

Upcoming games: -Nationals vs Braves: Thursday, April 13 7:05 p.m.

-Nationals vs Twins: Friday, April 14 7:05 p.m.

-Nationals vs Phillies: Wednesday, April 27 7:05 p.m.

Seniors Molly Gormley and Melanie Valencia enjoying a Nationals game during the 2015 season.

What's your favorite part about going to baseball games?

"My favorite thing about baseball is the Yankees because they have always been a good team."

MAURICIO LOPEZBATRES

"My favorite thing about baseball is the excitement and intensity of the game."

TRAVIS BEACOM sophomore

"I like when you get to meet the presidents running in the President's Race before the game."

HANNAH CURRAN senior

freshman

"I've been watching baseball with my dad since I was little so it has some sentimental value."

CEILIDH WILLIAMS junior

"The best part is when it's the bottom of the 9th and it's a tie game and the best hitter is up to bat and anything can happen."

"My favorite thing about baseball is to be able to watch the games with my family and the players have nice butts so that's a plus."

PHILLIP DELKIELA MONTIEL CORE senior

"I love actually watching the games. When I'm there with friends we just talk baseball and enjoy the game."

CHRIS TIPPINS Safety and Security Specialist

"Getting to spend a couple of hours watching the game and being able to catch up with someone."

BILL MAGLISCEAU English Teacher

senior

SARAH DEIBLE Special to The A-Blast Last weekend I took a trip down to visit Virginia Commonwealth University, which is the college that I chose to attend in the fall of this year! Located in Richmond, Virginia, VCU has a cool, artsy feel and I've known that I wanted to go there for so long.

The reason for my trip to VCU was for Preview Day, which is a day where accepted students come to the campus for information and tours.

I left for VCU at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning with my friend Marife Baragano and drove to Richmond. It wasn't a long drive, only an hour and 40 minutes, which is another reason why I like the location of the campus.

Once I got to VCU we tried to find parking. Since VCU is in the city finding parking was very difficult and it took so long, which is why a lot of

students there choose not to bring cars to campus.

We finally found parking after searching for a while, and then we walked to the Siegal Center where we were supposed to meet before the information session.

The information session covered the basic information on the university, as well as the majors they offer and the kinds of activities that take place on campus. I basically knew most of the stuff they were talking about because VCU has been my top choice for so long and I had done my research.

After the information session we all broke off into groups of different majors to get specific information. Marife and I stayed with the Pre-Health group and they showed us powerpoints telling us about the different paths we could take in the medical field.

Before last weekend I had been considering becoming a

veterinarian, but they told me that it would mean another eight years of school after undergraduate in college. Once I heard that I didn't really feel like becoming a veterinarian anymore.

During the breakout sessions they also had panels of students from those majors talk to us and tell us what it's like to study that major at VCU. We stayed for a while but then we got hungry so we left to get food.

For food we went to Chick-fil-A in the Student Center on campus. They offer a lot of other options there and we saw a lot of students eating there and hanging out with friends.

After we ate lunch we got to tour several of the dorms available to us for next year. It was cool to get to actually go inside the dorms and see a model room.

It's so much better than just looking at floor plans on the VCU housing website and it really helped

me decide which dorms to put on my preference list for housing next year.

The VCU bookstore was our next stop. They sell school spiritwear there, as well as textbooks and other things students might need. I got a couple items to show my Ram pride!

By this time it was late afternoon and our official tour was over. However I had planned to stay the night with my friend, and AHS alumni, Alexia Sung. Marife and I went to her house after our long day on campus.

The next day Alexia, Marife and I went into Carytown, a town just 15 minutes from the VCU campus. We went to a few thrift stores and then got some really good tacos.

That concluded my trip to Richmond last weekend and Marife and I drove home. My weekend at VCU just made me more excited to be there next year and I'm so glad I have friends from AHS going there as well.

SARAH DEIBLE

LAST WEEKEND I: Students visit their future college

Seniors Marife Baragano and Sarah Deible pose with the VCU mascot.

Class of 2016 Bulletin Senior Sarah Deible runs the ball up the field during the Atomic Blast Tournament.

To-do list: April Edition Pay the deposit for the college you plan on attending by May 1!

Use your study days to review for your upcoming IB/AP tests!

Don't forget to purchase your all-night grad tickets for $45

69 days until graduation