April 2023

OPINION

A time for resilience

By EdEn MaE RichMan

We begin planning each issue of The Pirates’ Hook weeks before they’re delivered to classrooms and placed in newsstands.

For the April issue, we initially planned a joyful spring theme. Our cover was going to be a photo collage of Riverside, featuring the many exciting events on the horizon. Numerous spring sports teams are playing well. The spring musical opens soon. Prom is coming.

We spent February and March deciding on stories, researching, writing, taking photos, creating artwork and furiously editing our drafts.

Then, on Tuesday, March 22, students learned that there had been a shooting the night before involving several current and former Riverside students. Two current students died, and a third was seriously injured.

The overall atmosphere that afternoon was a muted, grief-stricken chaos. Students were crying in the bathrooms and hallways. Police officers equipped with guns were stationed in nearly every hall. The halls were uncharacteristically hushed as students moved from one class to the next.

The rest of that week before spring break felt broken. The whole school, even those who didn’t know the victims, felt like it was in a state of grief and shock. Many teachers couldn’t teach, some even leaving their rooms crying.

With a print deadline approaching, The Hook’s editorial team returned from break and knew joy alone no longer characterized this spring. We added obituaries for Osmar Burgos Banegas and Angel Canales Quintana, and moved our “fun” stories around to avoid a tone deaf spread. Now, resilience and hope better encapsulates our feelings. Like Dr. Woods-Weeks said: “We will get through this.”

I can see resilence everywhere on campus. Though I wish the circumstances were different, it's the Hook's job is to cover the Riverside community as completely as possible. The pages that follow are our best attempt to both honor the students we’ve lost and highlight the many other things that our school relies on us to cover.

Un Momento para la resiliencia

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OBituaRy

Angel Canales Quintana and Osmar Burgos Banegas died on March 22, 2023. They were 16 years old.

Angel attended E.K Powe Elementary School. Osmar attended Glenn Elementary School. Both attended Brogden Middle school.

Angel was a current Riverside student. Osmar was attending Lakeview and planned to return.

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Angel liked to play soccer. Riverside students and teachers described him as very funny, joyful and a talented artist.

“I knew every time he entered my classroom he was going to eat as many chocolate chip granola bars as he could,” said social studies teacher Rebecca Fensholt.

Osmar wrestled at Brogden and played football for River-

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side. His future plans were to go to the army. Students and teachers described him as a very charismatic person who gave the best bear hugs.

“He really cared for his friends. Whenever anyone was hurting he would reflect his feelings to be in tune with his friends' emotions,” said math teacher Christy Simpson.

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(top) Angel Canales Quintana (bottom) Osmar Burgos Banegas

Every student deserves

Ms.

Schmaltz

Emma Schmaltz joined Riverside's faculty this year as a college counselor. She is here on a one-year program from the Duke College Advising Corps, which is part of a national program funded by Americorps which utilizes college campus infrastructure to hire recent graduates as advisors.

Schmaltz has played a vital role within the Riverside community, doing everything from showing students how to apply for scholarships to reading essays to coming into classes to explain the FAFSA and activities lists. She’s organized college recruiting events and met with students individually to answer questions.

By now, most college-bound seniors have already submitted applications, yet Schmaltz's office is still busy, as juniors regularly meet with her.

Her work here has been so valuable that we wonder how much more students would benefit from working with her again next year.

What if Riverside had a permanent college counselor who could build multi-year relationships with students? This would work in tandem with and support our overworked

counseling department, which focuses more on getting students to graduate than post-graduation plans.

The reality of college admissions is that students begin building their resumes as a freshman. Without at least a basic plan throughout high school, there’s only so much a counselor can do by senior year, and students face a huge disadvantage with lack of continuity and consistency from different college counselors.

How much more competitive could college-bound Riverside students be if they had this type of intensive support? Notably, the same type of support many other schools have already implemented.

Additionally, this would help to bridge the gap between students whose families have the resources to hire outside counselors and those who don’t. Riverside already utilizes an ACT prep program that offers ACT tutoring to all students, this would be an extension of the same philosophy.

With the aid of a full time college counselor, Riverside students would be better prepared for college admissions, and more competitive with better resourced students.

Cada estudiante merece Sra. Schmaltz

Emma Schmaltz se unió a la facultad de Riverside este año como Consejera Universitaria. Ella está aquí en un programa de un año del cuerpo de asesores universitarios de Duke, que hace parte de un programa nacional financiado por Americorps el cual utiliza la infraestructura del campus universitario para contratar a recién graduados como asesores.

Schmaltz ha desempeñado una parte vital dentro de la comunidad de Riverside, haciendo de todo, desde mostrar a los estudiantes cómo solicitar becas hasta leer ensayos y asistir a clases para explicar la FAFSA y las listas de actividades. Ella organizó eventos de reclutamiento universitario y se reunió con estudiantes individualmente para responder preguntas.

A estas alturas, la mayoría de los estudiantes de último año que van a ir a la universidad ya han presentado solicitudes, pero la oficina de Schmaltz todavía está ocupada, ya que los estudiantes de tercer año se reúnen regularmente con ella.

Su trabajo aquí ha sido tan valioso que nos preguntamos cuánto más se beneficiarían los estudiantes se si trabajaran con ella nuevamente el próximo año.

¿Qué pasaría si Riverside tuviera un consejero universitario permanente que pudiera construir relaciones de varios años con los estudiantes? Esto funcionaría apoyando a nuestro departamento de consejería sobrecargado de trabajo, el cual se

enfoca más en lograr que los estudiantes se gradúen que en los planes posteriores a la graduación.

La realidad de las admisiones universitarias es que los estudiantes comienzan a construir sus currículums como estudiantes de primer año. Sin al menos un plan básico a lo largo de la escuela secundaria, no hay mucho que un consejero pueda hacer en el último año, y los estudiantes enfrentan una gran desventaja con la falta de continuidad y consistencia de los diferentes consejeros universitarios.

¿Cuánto más competitivos podrían ser los estudiantes de Riverside que van a la universidad si tuvieran este tipo de apoyo intensivo? En particular, el mismo tipo de apoyo que muchas otras escuelas ya han implementado.

Además, esto ayudaría a cerrar la brecha entre los estudiantes cuyas familias tienen los recursos para contratar consejeros externos y aquellos que no. Riverside ya utiliza un programa de preparación para el ACT que ofrece tutoría para el ACT a todos los estudiantes, esto sería una extensión de la misma filosofía.

Con la ayuda de un consejero universitario de tiempo completo, los estudiantes de Riverside estarían mejor preparados para la admisión a la universidad y serían más competitivos con los estudiantes con mejores recursos.

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In memory of Lenny May

Her work has been so valuable that we wonder how much more students would benefit from working with her again next year.

Can an English teacher catch an AI-written essay?

By HannaH Posner

Artificial Intelligence (AI) doesn’t scare English teacher Mira Prater.

“I can tell when a students’ writing is not their own,” said Prater. “It’s very clear when it’s not a student’s own voice.”

The Pirates’ Hook decided to put this to the test. With Prater’s permission, the Hook planted an AI-written essay in her class.

On February 10, Hook reporter Jackie Larios Dominguez, who is also a student in Prater’s Honors English III class, turned in an essay about The Great Gatsby created by ChatGPT.

Prater detected it immediately.

“I thought, as I was reading it, this is not good,” she said. “She’s a better writer than that.”

Larios Dominguez resubmitted her own essay, which she also finished before the assigned deadline, after The Hook followed up with Prater.

“I kind of knew from the beginning that [Prater] was gonna know it was me,” said Larios Dominguez. “It gave a more generalized essay instead of answering the question.”

Prater agreed that the AI-written essay was very vague and nonspecific compared to Larios Dominguez’s essay.

“It didn’t answer the prompts.” said Prater. “It was a summary and not an analysis.”

She advised English students to refrain from using ChatGPT for assignments.

“English teachers are looking for specific things in your writing, and if you don’t have all those things, you won’t get the points.”

AI or Real?

Did a robot write this article? ChatGPT raises concerns for teachers

By HannaH Posner

The new AI, ChatGPT, has the potential to change the Riverside English department.

The free website, launched in November 2022 by OpenAI, can write an essay nearly instantly with a simple prompt. Having scanned the entire content of the internet from 2020 through 2021, ChatGPT can write about virtually anything.

“Talk to the computer… and get what you want,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a November 30 tweet.

For example, ChatGPT can create a song in the style of Taylor Swift, an essay about the symbolism of the novel Lord of the Flies, and even, according to English teacher Matt Smith, “a guide on how to get a sandwich out of a VCR written in the style of the King James Bible.”

Teachers and students have mixed feelings about this new technology.

“I find it fascinating that machine learning has gotten so good so fast, that some of it is legitimately good,” said Smith. “It really

intimidates and scares me, because if I’m trying to get humans to do writing, and they have the easier option of getting a machine to do it, I don’t know yet how I’m gonna navigate that.”

“It is a very cool breakthrough in technology,” said senior Wade Gabriel. “But I feel like its accessibility is also a hindrance in some ways because it’s so easy to cheat and to use it for malevolent purposes.”

detect an AI-written essay.

What is ChatGPT?

Fullname : Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer

“I imagine that an effective AI could write something that sounds authentic to someone’s voice and captures an idea that does not exist easily on the internet,” Brady said. “It makes the prospect of assigning online work very daunting.”

Howtoaccess:

chat.openai.com, a free website, no app and no need to download

Whenwasitreleased?

November 30 2022

“While it’s advancing artificial intelligence, it is doing so at the cost of making people think critically and share their own thoughts,” said English teacher Emily Ericson.

Whatdoesitdo?

It can write anything, from essays to coding to poetry

Some Riverside teachers expressed concern that students would use ChatGPT to cheat.

English teacher Laura Brady worried she would not be able to

However, other teachers were confident that they would know if a student plagiarized their essay with ChatGPT.

“I’m always reading what [my students] are writing during in-class writing assignments, and I know their writing voices and styles,” said Ericson.

“I would be able to tell, if I had one sample of a student's writing, if their follow-up work was genuine,” said Smith.

However, Smith worried that

if the first essay a student turned in was AI-written, then he would have no way of determining their writing style, and might mistake future essays as plagiarized.

Many teachers and students think that the quality of essay writing from ChatGPT is not up to par with the abilities of students.

“[ChatGPT] has been shown to have continuity and be able to produce a basic rundown of a topic, but it can’t mimic writing style,” said Gabriel.

“Different teachers have shared with me examples of AI writing, and it’s not all nonsense, but it’s also not all coherent,” said English teacher Victoria Watson.

Ultimately, students and teachers agreed that an AI-generated essay might not have the level of creativity, critical thinking, and nuance that a human can produce.

“Part of the reason that English and Social Studies are part of the humanities is I think there’s something essentially human about language and speech,” said Smith. “I’m worried that when you remove that human element, you're losing an essence of the discipline.”

• GRAPHIC BY DUNYA OMAR

Test your ability to reognize human writing

Is RPC working?

Designed to improve equity and reduce suspensions, restorative practices get mixed results.

By EdEn MaE RichMan

The Restorative Practices Center (RPC) is a small, cinderblock room nestled in the entrance of the tech hall. Students sit at desks arranged in jumbled rows, chatting with former RPC coordinator Corey Hairston, scrolling on their phones.

Restorative Practice is designed to be an alternative to traditional In School Suspension (ISS). Educators, schools, and districts across the country began implementing restorative practices in 2015.

“Schools across the country are being urged to adopt restorative approaches as an alternative to suspensions, which may disproportionately affect students of color,” writes Laura McLean, who helped implement restorative practices in New York City public schools, in a 2016 Edutopia article. “Instead of using punishments and rewards to influence the way students behave, restorative approaches

address the underlying reasons for students’ hurtful behavior and nurture their intrinsic desire to treat others with care and respect.”

RPC is meant to work through a collaboration between teachers, administrators, and the district. Teachers use Educators Handbook to document incidents and infractions. Administration reviews the write-ups, and assigns appropriate consequences, including time in RPC which they can assign via the platform.

Through Educators Handbook, the RPC Coordinator receives a list of students assigned to RPC each day.

The RPC Coordinator runs restorative practices programming and supports students as they complete assignments for their other classes.

At the end of day, the RPC coordinator sends an attendance report to the entire faculty.

However, much of this model is not followed.

Disproportionate suspension rates remain

While overall rates of both in-school suspension and out-of-school short-term suspension have been cut in half since RPC was implemented in fall of 2018 (from around 500 students per 1000 to 250), the numbers have remained disproportionate, according to data from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Last year at Riverside Black students were still over 16 times more

likely to face in-school suspension than white students, dropping only slightly from 2018 where they were around 21 times more likely.

This is part of a larger issue across the country. A study from The Civil Rights Project at UCLA concluded that from federal data from 2015-2016, Black students in middle and high school were four times as likely to be suspended as white students.

RPC isn't actually restorative

Assistant principal Darryl Bradshaw and the Riverside administrative team created the “New Restorative Practice Center Daily Schedule.” This schedule consists of eight scheduled blocks of time for programming ranging from a daily writing assignment to a restorative circle, and include activities such as a walk around the track for exercise and an hour to complete assignments for classroom teachers.

However, according to former RPC coordinator Corey Hairston, students didn’t follow the schedule.

“The thing about RPC is you can’t make a kid do anything,” he said during an interview prior to leaving Riverside in March. “If a kid is failing every class and sits in class and doesn't do any work, do you really think they will do work in RPC?”

“I was in RPC for three days,” said a junior

who requested to remain anonymous. “I slept the whole time and did a little work.”

He added that there was no scheduled programming, and all he did was sit there.

In lieu of the scheduled programming, in the six to eight hours a day Hairston spent with students, he talks with them and develops relationships.

“I feel like I’m doing the role of a counselor,” Hairston, who has a degree in psychology from North Carolina A&T, said. “We talk about problems in school and the community, and help them function in class every day. [I try to get] kids to think differently about themselves, their situation, and consequences.”

Environmental Sciences teacher Shaun Thompson is frustrated with the lack of actual restorative practices, and believes this can have a dire effect on the community at large.

“If administration is going to tout that we have RPC not ISS, then it needs to actually be RPC,” Thompson said in a March 24 interview. “They aren't doing any conflict resolution, so problems continue to exist.”

Inconsistent enforcement

In addition to racial inequities, teachers report a lack of uniform punishments and enforcement of consequences.

This is especially evident in the enforcement of lunch detentions, which can be assigned for infractions ranging from two tardies to cutting class.

In one case, a student who asked to remain anonymous was given lunch detention for roaming the hallways during his class.

He opted not to attend his designated lunch detention period, and never faced any consequences for skipping it.

“Currently, students are very aware there is no follow through if they don’t attend lunch detention or RPC for a period or RPC for the day,” English teacher Mira Prater said.

This standardized system utilized in previous RPC administrators helped to ensure that students were facing the same punishments for

the same infractions. Now, according to data Prater shared from her English classes, students are assigned vastly different consequences for incidents of cutting class.

“[There is] huge inequity in student consequences,” Prater said. “And if students didn’t attend RPC or lunch detentions, even after I followed up with admin about it, there were no consequences for not attending.”

Small infractions are not the only incidents that garner unequal repercussions.

An anonymous junior shared that he got into a physical fight on a school bus with a female student his sophomore year, and was initially told that he would have to face a five-day out of school suspension, the district-wide policy for acts of violence. However, it was the week before finals, so instead he was assigned one day of in school suspension.

From the Olympics to the River

Olympian James Carter describes championships, medals, pro career

By Isaac JanIak steIn

On a Friday morning before the lunch bell rang, as he described winning international competitions and meeting world-famous athletes like Lebron James, Serena Williams, and Dwayne Wade, James Carter handed freshmen their laptops from a pile on his desk and fixed a teacher’s email account.

In the small corner in the Media Center’s office where Coach Carter is holed away, it would be hard to figure out he was a former Olympian.

If you went to get your Chromebook fixed and talked to Carter, you’d probably never know the Riverside hurdles and sprints coach and technical support assistant is a two-time Olympian, a 3-time national champion, and an IAFF World Cup champion.

You’d probably never know that black and white picture taped to his wall, the only indication by his desk of his athletic career, was from his race to qualify for the 2005 Helsinki World Championship, where he won the international silver medal in the 400m hurdles.

Meet Coach James Carter.

Carter’s earliest track memory is being beaten by the girls on his local rec team.

Long before he was coaching Riverside runners or competing internationally, he began running age-group track when he was just ten years old in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. Carter’s nextdoor neighbor saw him running around his neighborhood and suggested he join the local team at the recreational center that her daughter ran for. The team was mostly girls, and Carter, being a self-described arrogant ten-year-old, thought he’d be faster.

“I [thought I could beat them], not knowing some of these girls were ranked nationally at the time,” Carter said. “So when I started working out, they were mopping the floor with me. I didn't like that too much, but it just made me work harder.”

That competitiveness kept Carter running. In high school, he won back-to-back Gatorade Player of the Year awards in Maryland. And later, after letters from colleges

started to come in during his junior year, Carter committed to run track for Hampton University, an HBCU in Virginia.

Despite his newly packed university schedule and the big change in his practice routine, Carter loved his time running for the Hampton Pirates. In college, he was able to compete against some of the major schools, while being in an environment comfortable for him.

“I could have went to a big school and probably would have had more resources and facilities and things but I was happy where I was that close to home,” Carter said. “Nice campus, small, everybody kind of knew each other. I enjoyed it.”

In college, Carter became Hampton’s first Division-I All-American.

After graduating, he jumped into his professional career quicker than he jumped hurdles. Going into the Olympics in 2000, just 5 weeks after his graduation, there was barely any time for him to adjust to international competition.

“At one point, you're competing locally and it's like up and down the East Coast... and now you have to get used to different time zones,” Carter said. “Then you’re flying over to Europe, where it's six hours ahead. That’s the most difficult part.”

While the adjustment had to be quick, his preparation for the Olym-

and traveled with the United States team to Sydney, Australia for the 2000 Olympic games.

One of his most vivid memories is walking out with the team during the iconic opening ceremonies.

“It’s not something you can really explain,” Carter said. “It was just surreal, just walking amongst stars and other athletes that I’d watched or heard about just years before.

I’m now walking with Venus and Serena [Williams], Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter.”

His 2000 Olympics appearance was memorable in more ways than one. Two weeks before his race, Carter was reading a popular Track and Field magazine that predicted he would finish 10th in the 400 meter hurdles. It was just the added motivation the young runner was looking for.

in the NACAC Championships in San Antonio and a silver in the IAAF World Athletics Final in Monte Carlo. He finished fourth again in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. But no race stands out more in his mind than the World Championships in 2005.

In the sixth year of his professional career, his two fourth-place finishes in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics stung. Twice he made it to the final and twice he fell just one place short of a medal.

Picture it. A rainy day in Helsinki, Finland. Yet again, years of training for 48 seconds. The race had already been delayed almost four hours because it was pouring rain. It finally stopped at 11pm, and the runners lined up to race.

was 27. They said I was getting old,” Carter said. “Just thinking about all the things you did leading up to it… all of that hard work I put in training in the rain. And remembering disappointments. Remembering what it felt like to win back in high school and college.”

Through the rain and the memories of disappointing past finishes, Carter ran the fastest race of his career. He won the silver medal in the World Championship, and his time remains the twentieth-fastest 400m hurdle ever in history and the eleventh-fastest in the US.

pic games was years in the making.

“It only comes around every four years, so everything you do up until that point is in preparation for that, and it's a one-shot deal,” Carter said.

“You’re training at that point for years for a 48-second race. That’s pretty tough.”

After placing third in the final qualifying race, just making the cut, Carter was officially an olympian

“I kind of took it personally,” Carter said. “I took that as motivation as I was training, gearing up for it. So when I made the final, I was like: ‘good, I proved y’all wrong’.”

Though his finish exceeded expectations, Carter placed fourth, just 0.24 seconds short of a medal. While he just missed the olympic podium, the performance jump-started his professional career.

Carter went on to win an IAFF World Cup in Madrid, a gold medal

Right as he heard ‘take your mark’, it started raining again, this time “a torrential downpour, ” Carter said. But they wouldn't stop the race again unless there was thunder or lightning, so he had to go.

What was going through Carter’s head? Everything that led up to that moment: the disappointment of the 2004 Olympics, the pressure of competing for his first major championship medal, and all the hours he’d spent preparing for these 48 seconds in Helsinki.

“People counted me out because I

Looking back on his 9-year career, Carter is satisfied with what he’s accomplished. Early on, he set 10 goals he wanted to achieve. Among them: get a world championship medal, be one of the best in the US, get a better contract from Nike, and win an Olympic medal.

Looking back now, after retiring in 2009, he said the only goal of the 10 that he didn’t achieve was that Olympic medal.

“I don’t really miss it,” Carter said. “I’ve been doing it since I was 10, I accomplished a lot.I met some great people that I can talk to now, awesome coaches that I've learned from, people all over the world. I got to travel the world for free. So I feel good about it.”

• PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMES CARTER

• PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMES CARTER

James Carter leaps over a hurdle at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Carter placed 4th in 2000 and 2004.

"It's a one-shot deal. You're training at that point for years for a 48-second race. That's pretty tough."

Clarabelle Brown

1) Put my hair up and put it into a braid because otherwise I can’t see. I eat a Clif bar about an hour before and then I get ready for warmups.

2) It has been a place for me to get my anger out and it’s been great, I love all the girls, I love it.

3) Our past coach, my freshman and sophomore year was not informed on lacrosse. She was really energetic and loved us but did not know the rules so that presented a difficulty in games. Coach Daye was at Jordan before this so he has lots of experience so he has really changed the program around. It’s been a whole 360.

Q: What's your favorite memory from this sport?

A: That's hard, there are a lot of good ones. I'm not going to say the time Willow strangled that girl (during a game against Jordan)…that was good though. I would say when we all go to El corral after the games.

Women's lacrosse

Flash Hairston

1) I say, listening to Lil Baby.

2) Everything. It’s my favorite sport, it’s what I grew up watching and playing.

3) We’ve grown every year. We have improved since last year. Mainly we got a bunch of new people.

Q: What's the biggest team drama?

A: We fight over girls, yeah, I’d say that. I’d say it's mainly a JV and a varsity player fighting over an underclassman. I can’t say names, though.

John Ballard

1) Beating Isaac Janiak Stein in warmups every single day, and I eat absolutely nothing because I don’t need anything to win.

2) Oh, It's meant so much to me through high school. Just going out there whacking the balls as much as I can over the years has really just been, wow. What a pleasure.

3) We have had a lot of new kids come and play that have never played before and don’t know how to play tennis. It’s going to really improve the program. We are really establishing the program and we are getting that young talent. We’ve been recruiting hard in the middle schools and yeah.

Q: What's the hardest thing you’ve ever had to overcome in your sport?

A: Really good question. I like that one. It really makes me think about the struggles I've had during my career at Riverside and wow…. But um nothing, I’m just that guy.

Men's Tennis

Janika Bunch

1) I put my headphones in and I kinda lock out for a second with my team so I can get mentally prepared. I love Rice Krispies Treats.

2) I just love the integrity that it brought me and it makes me build character. I’m about to go to college and just being with a group of girls, a new set. I get to learn more and more about people and being more open and just building character.

3) It’s been getting so much better. You have people coming in as freshman who are playing college girls and it gives you time to learn about the the sport that you already play. It gets more competitive every year.

Q: What is the hardest thing you’ve had to overcome in your sport?

A: Attitudes because there are different personalities and it’s like you have to deal with it but you have to know who you are and you have to stay classy. You can’t really go low.

Softball

Spring sport captains, in their own words

1

What is your pregame routine or meal?

Baseball

Ryan Lewek

1) Usually I just pass around with some of the guys then do some face-off drills like chops to get my stick moving quickly, get ready to win some face-offs, get some possession.

2) It’s been touch-and-go because we didn’t have the season during my sophomore year because we didn’t have enough people. Being able to look forward to this year has been really big.

3) It's definitely grown a lot. We went from having no team sophomore year to having about 25 guys junior year and we got really lucky that we got that many people. Me and the captains from last year recruited a lot of the wrestlers to do lacrosse, which has definitely helped to improve our physicality. We have a lot of guys who have never played lacrosse before and they are picking it up really quickly.

Q: What'sthe biggest team drama?

A:There's so much drama I can't even keep up with it to be honest. Personally because I can't but also because I don't want to.

Men's Lacrosse

What has this sport meant to you throughout high school? 2

How have you seen the program change and grow? 3

Ellie Deskins Track and Field

Libby Flowe

1) Mighty mango Naked smoothie, and I can’t have any bumps in my hair, I go through my hair like 1800 times.

2) It has meant a lot. It's come a long way from freshman year and it’s grown into a family.

3) It was incredibly cliquey my freshman year and it's grown a lot. We are more involved in the sport and more passionate about what we do

Q: What 3 words come to your mind when you think of your coach?

A: Bold, passionate, caring.

Women's Soccer

1) I usually just do a PB&J, fruit, and maybe something salty.

2) It’s been crucial to my high school experience. It’s definitely given me a place where I belong.

3)The team has definitely gotten a lot bigger and we’ve become a lot more successful. We’ve made it to states a lot more times and there are more individuals improving.

Q: What are the first three words that come to mind when you think of your coach?

A: Supportive, encouraging, and dedicated.

Jack Soloman

1) Eli always has some hype thing for everyone. Everyone always puts their hand in and we say "1,2,3 Pirates." I always eat mac and cheese.

2) It means everything to me. I’ve been the captain for the last two years and I'm the only person that's been on it for the last four years. I'm the only person in our grade, other than Eli I guess, and everyone knows me as the golf person.

3) When I was a freshman we were dead last in the conference by a mile and right now we are tied for second out of seven. This year, for the first time, I wasn’t the best player on the team. On Monday for the first time in four years I was one of the worst two players.

Q: What's the hardest thing you’ve ever had to overcome in your sport?

A: Southern Alamance cheating last year. They were lying about their score. It kinda ruined our season because they got to go to states and we didn’t.

PHOTO BY PIPER WINTON

• PHOTO BY SAUL JANIAK STIEN

• PHOTO COURTESY CONNOR BOLEN

• PHOTO COURTESY LIBBY FLOWE

• PHOTO COURTESY ELI POPE

• PHOTO COURTESY THE HELM

• PHOTO BY WILL OKUN

• PHOTO BY MICHAEL SETJI

Bike Durham pushes for safer routes to school

By Ethan hainE

As Riverside continues to deal with bus driver shortages and increased traffic on and around campus, one local organization wants to make it easier for students to bike to school.

Bike Durham started ten years ago to advocate for making the streets safer for people to bike. It has since broadened to support safe, affordable, and sustainable transportation for everyone in Durham regardless of who they are or where they live.

The local non-profit organization also gives free classes to DPS schools, and trains 800-1000 students per year on bike safety. additionally, it advocates for the city to make more bike infrastructure, such as bike lanes and trails.

One of its recent projects was to add a green bike box and a more separated bike lane on Erwin road.

“If you are able to walk or bike to school at any age, it is better for the health of the kid, feelings of learned independence, students come to school better ready to learn because they've been moving their bodies, and getting their blood flowing,” said Bike Durham's director, John Tallmadge.

Tallmadge believes alternative transportation methods are as important as ever. Walking and biking to school reduces those issues, and many more.

Bike Durham hosts walk and

bike to school days to encourage students to try it. Tallmadge said the goal of these days are to bring attention to the benefits, and to spark interest among families to make biking to school an option they would consider.

“A lot of schools, because there isn't safe infrastructure around the school, are sometimes limited to a walk around campus,” said Tallmadge. “It’s an opportunity for administration to not only get kids out and invite families in, but to share the message about the importance of physical activity.”

He also said fewer people driving cars and riding buses puts less stress on the school to provide transportation. A lack of infrastructure for residents to access school without the use of cars, buses, or public transportation, creates questions about equity. Most DPS schools do not have sidewalks leading up to the property, and many are on roads that are unsafe to walk or bike on.

Equitable transportation means regardless of race or income, people have equal access to jobs, schools, groceries or any other necessary places.

“Right now, with the system that we’ve devised, you have good access to many of those things if you have a reliable car, and you have unpredictable access if you don’t,” said Tallmadge. “People have to cross busy streets that are not designed for people to be walk-

ing on, few places are designed for people to bike.”

Biking to school can also improve student health. A CDC study showed that physical exercise reduces the risk of depression in kids aged 6-13, and another study showed that children and adolescents who are more physically active showed better general mental health. Children who walk or bike to school are also more likely to be active throughout the rest of the day and to be more active as adults. It also means parents don’t have to waste time picking up and dropping off their kids.

Additionally, walking or biking to school can boost performance in the classroom. A study by Nordic Science found that children who bike or walk to school have higher levels of concentration in comparison to those who are driven. Children who are more active have been shown to have higher cognitive function later in life as well.

Biking to school is good for the environment as well. Just a moderate increase in bike use can save 6 to 14 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere each year, according to a study from UCLA.

Another type of pollution caused by cars is noise pollution. Biking to school keeps neighborhoods and busy streets quieter, also according to UCLA.

Reducing car transportation also

means money is saved on gas and vehicle maintenance.

Biking to school and creating bike infrastructure can save the district and the city money, too.

“We’re spending a lot of our education money on moving kids around the community with the school bus system, and that includes kids who live pretty close to the schools,” said Tallmadge.

Bicycle paths and sidewalks are much cheaper to build than new roads. It is also very cheap and fast to add in bike lanes with a buffer zone when repaving roads. Current roads can also be repurposed for multiple modes of transportation.

For example, a four lane road can be turned into a two lane road with a turn lane, and bike lanes on each side. The City of Durham will be doing this on a section of Fayetteville Street this summer with the help of bike Durham.

Many countries around the world are much less car dependent and have more developed biking and walking infrastructure. In many places, everywhere within a city can be easily accessed by bicycle. In America, where almost all transportation infrastructure is centered around cars, it can be extremely difficult and unsafe to bike around cities, especially for children biking to school.

“I have worked in Central and South America, Nepal and Haiti and felt safer walking or riding a bike to schools than I do on

my daily bike commute to the school where I currently work here in Durham,” said Stephen Mullaney, who is an adviser with Bike Durham, in an email.

You don’t have to go to Nepal or Haiti to see good bike friendly infrastructure though, Cary was ranked the twenty-fourth best city in the country for biking by bicycling.com. Cary has a developed system of bike routes, and pedestrian overpasses and underpasses so people can cross busy streets safely.

According to Tallmadge, there are many things Durham can do to improve the city for bikers and pedestrians. There are some new things they could build, like bike paths or curb extensions, but a lot of the things that can be done are maintenance projects. Right now there is a huge backlog for sidewalk maintenance and there are many miles of gaps in sidewalks. Many of the busiest streets are also maintained by NCDOT, and the city needs to do more to influence the state's decisions.

For some people, biking or walking to school is impossible, either because they live too far away or because it’s unsafe. But they could still look for shorter and safer routes near their home that they can walk or bike.

“Everyone should have access to safe, affordable, and sustainable transportation regardless of who they are or where they live,” Bike Durham’s mission statement says.

Things no one tells you about prom

By Victoria alcindor

Prom is right around the corner and the pressure is on. I have to find a dress, I have to find shoes, I have to find a matching tux and time is flying by.

Everyone makes prom seem like the best thing ever, but there are many things they don't tell you. Here’s what I’m learning.

1. Finding a dress

Finding a dress has been the hardest thing I have had to do so far. No dress is ever right. I blame the designers.

The extravagant bottoms are cool and all, but a lot of times they are too much and it gets tacky. Why do you feel the need to add dollar tree feathers to the bottom of a dress and sell it for $500?

And I’m scared to buy a dress online. Once again, we’re a little pressed for time and scams… no thank you. But I have been to at least six different stores/businesses and I haven’t found the perfect dress. If I’m going to spend a couple hundred dollars for a dress I most likely will only wear once, I should absolutely love it.

2. Hair

Stylists nowadays ask for way too much. I’m already paying $100-300 for the service alone, but I also have to buy the hair and come washed and blow-dried. And god-forbid that I’m more than 10 minutes late. I would have to completely reschedule. I don't have a stylist that I trust entirely at the moment, so finding one is just that much more stressful.

Do I really want to spend even more money on accessorizing the dress? Jewelry is expensive and the pieces I would buy wouldn’t be put to use much after prom. And price aside, accessorizing the right way is tricky. I don’t want to over-accessorize but I don’t want to underdo it at the same time.

All in all, prepping for prom is very expensive and stressful. I hope that it will all be worth it in the end.

Riverside's prom is April 29. Tickets are available on the school website.

The River Becomes the Swamp

Shrek: The Musical Opens on April 20

increased to three hour long daily rehearsals.

“It's intense because it's a lot of parts coming together,” Moore said. “It's the music, it's the acting, it's the singing, it's the tech crew. It's a lot.”

In addition to the countless hours of rehearsal, the production team has to troubleshoot all sorts of issues.

“The most challenging aspect is the set design: creating this fantasy world on stage that is visually stimulating,” theater teacher Monique Taylor said.

Junior set designer Caitlyn Doughty agrees.

“We are not an art-focused school, " Doughty said. “We have limited quality and quantity for our wood and screws and other things that we would need,” Despite the challenges, Doughty loves what she does.

By ElEna PacEs-WilEs

Ogres are like onions: they have a lot of layers. And Riverside’s production of Shrek: the Musical does, too.

The Riverside auditorium will be filled with music and lights on April 20-22 for its annual spring musical. In addition to the theater department, the dance, tech theater, and music departments will also contribute to the production.

To audition, actors had to perform a dance, a monologue, and sing 16 bars - about 30 seconds - of music.

“I have always enjoyed theater and music things so having that combined aspect here is a nice opportunity for getting into it for the future,” Sophomore Ayla Wolfson said.

Wolfson has five roles in the production. Although she originally hoped for Fiona, she has found some advantages to having a variety of roles.

“It’s nice because I can keep going on stage,” she said. “I don’t have to stay backstage the whole time so it will be nice to actually be able to do stuff.”

Playing multiple characters also stretches Wolfson’s capacities as an actor.

“It is a little difficult pulling out different personalities for different characters,” she said.

Sophomore Sophia Ventimiglia will be playing the role of Princess Fiona despite only auditioning for the ensemble. She has mixed

emotions about playing such a major role.

“I’m pretty nervous but also excited,” she said. “[It’s difficult to] get over my own nerves about the whole thing. Getting out of my own head and letting myself enjoy what’s going on is probably the most challenging part for me.”

Ventimiglia will not let her fears keep her away from the stage.

“I love performing, honestly. It’s one of my favorite things to do,” she said.

Freshman Abigail Deskins, who will play multiple roles, joined the musical to pursue her passion for dance.

“I love to dance and I have been considered by my theater teacher and dance teacher to continue doing the musical.”

Some actors are designated to do more dancing and others focus instead on acting or singing depending on their preferences. Deskins' roles require some acting but are primarily dance focused.

“I am so excited for our tap number,” Deskins said. “That’s my favorite part so far. The dancing is my absolute favorite.”

Although the actors love what they do, it takes a lot of time and dedication to produce a musical.

“Everyone has their own schedule so it’s difficult to get everyone working together,” Deskins said.

“Not everyone can make it to every rehearsal so being able to work together and give each other patience and being able to catch

up and make up for us is the most difficult part.”

“We put a lot of work into it,” Ventimiglia said. “All of our teachers have gone above and beyond to help us and I think it's really shaping up to be really good.”

Wolfson agrees and urges students to come out and see the result of their hard work.

“We've been working really hard on it,” she said. “Being able to come and see something that is mostly student run is supportive.”

When people imagine a musical, their minds paint a scene of vibrant sets with actors in colorful costumes belting out bars. But preparation for the production extends beyond the sets, costumes and stage to the auditorium floor.

“The orchestra pit has all the musicians so it's live music as the actors are on the stage,” orchestra teacher Sara Moore said.

Advanced students from the orchestra will play string and advanced students from band will contribute wind and percussion. Professionals will be hired to play parts that students cannot cover.

“The music is extremely hard,” Moore said. “The difficulty level is way beyond anything that we do in class because every song is in a different key signature, every song has a different tempo, [and] there's a lot of songs to learn.”

There will be between 50 and 60 songs in total, and rehearsals last for two hours three days a week in February and March. In April, it

“I got interested in the idea of set design over quarantine,” she said. “Seeing these walls come up and the tower built is very fun.”

Set design makes the stage come alive but without believable costumes it would be a world with no characters.

“I may have to go out of state to get the costumes,” Taylor said. “The biggest challenge is costuming the full cast and also the ogre makeup. Fiona has to change from a regular girl to an ogre back to a regular girl to an ogre again.”

Although many students are a part of the production, Taylor wishes participation was higher.

“It always seems like we have just enough,” she said. “We could have used five more people so people wouldn’t have to double up as much.”

After putting in a lot of work as an individual department, the teachers are excited to see it all come together.

“I like seeing the process of seeing the first rehearsal where everything is together,” orchestra teacher Sara Moore said. ‘It's a huge collaboration and it's very complex. And the students usually really enjoy seeing each other in their element.”

“I’m most excited for the kids to participate. It's always fun to have the kids come together and put on the show. It's a learning process for all of us,” Taylor said. “I’m excited about the costumes, the look of it. I’ve never done fantasy like this or non-realistic plays.”

3. Accessories

(left)Technical theater students created a sign which points to different area's of the play's setting. (right) A technical theater student creates the set for Shrek the Musical. Students created the entire set.

• PHOTOS BY TATE GASCH

By Lana McILvaIne and LucInda dorrance

During the Spring, there are a few major holidays celebrated by different religions. Easter, Eid-alFitr, and Passover each have unique traditions and special foods. Riverside students celebrate each holiday differently and have nostalgia for their favorite foods.

EASTER

According to Britannica, the earliest celebration of Easter was recorded in the second century. It is celebrated every year by Christians. This year Easter occurred on Sunday, April 9.

Over time, many popular Easter traditions have been introduced;,most famously the egg hunt. The Easter Bunny is said to hide the gift-filled eggs for children to find. In the past, a lamb would be eaten to represent sacrifice, along with ham, cheese, bread, and eggs.

Sophomore

Kaileigh Hill described the holiday timeline of the spring.

“Lent is the 40 day period where Jesus was in the wilderness before he was crucified.” Hill said. “The start of that is Ash Wednesday. It's always 46 days before Easter. Some people eat bread and wine, because bread is the body of Christ and wine is the blood. The other most important day is Palm Sunday, which is the last Sunday in Lent and it’s known as the ‘Holy Week.’”

“During the 40 days of lent, on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all the Fridays during lent you're not

Ham, Haroset, and Hazelnuts

Students' spring holidays include traditional foods

supposed to eat meat. You can't eat lamb, chicken, beef, pork, whatever, all meats,” says Hill. “But you can still eat eggs, milk, fish, grains, fruits, vegetables, stuff like that. If you are pregnant or ill or elderly or young, you are exempt from it. You obviously don't have to if you don't want to, but most, especially in Catholic churches, make it almost mandatory.”

Sophomore Lio Fister described their favorite Easter foods.

“We always had dinners,” said Fister. “It was a tradition with the same food. It all brought us together because it was all food that we liked.

Their Easter dinners include ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, and deviled eggs.

"One time my dad tried to make a lamb, and he did not cook it well,” said Fister. “It was not good. We really just stick to ham and rolls.”

EID-AL-FITR

Eid al-Fitr (also known as Eid- ulFitr) is an Islamic holiday, this year being celebrated from April 21 to the 22. It is celebrated on the first two to three days of the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. It is a festival that marks the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting from dawn to dusk. Other than not eating food from dawn to dusk, those participating in Ramadan do not drink, smoke, engage in sexual activities, and must abstain from jealousy, anger, cursing, and gossiping.

Eid al-Fitr is the first time Muslims can eat during daylight hours after Ramadan. Celebrations may include visiting family or friends, eating, giving gifts, or wearing

new clothes. There are many different foods eaten to celebrate, but some of the most common include maamoul, baklava, qurabiya, and other sweet treats.

Sophomore Nazanin Ghulami described Eid al-Fitr traditions.

“The Eid celebration begins with communal prayer in mosques nearby,” Ghulami said. “The big part of Eid al-fitr is having a celebratory meal with loved ones and appreciating things in life like food, people, loved ones, even as simple as having a roof over our head. Just being grateful.”

Ghulami lived in Afghanistan until May of 2021.

“Eid al-Fitr was always a fun time growing up in Afghanistan,” Ghulami said. “It came right after the long month of fasting, and even though I was too young to fast, I still appreciated how on Eid ul-Fitr the smell of Bamiye, jalebi, gheimeh, Ashak, and Bolani filled the streets of my neighborhood. There would be kids playing, running around and playing hopscotch or haft sang.”

The food, she says, reminds her of home the most.

“While I’m miles away from home and don’t get to experience celebrations like I used to,” said Ghulami. “I still enjoy making traditional Afghani meals during Eid.”

Ghulami describes the devastating reality of celebrating her culture in America.

“Since I’ve left Afghanistan and I’ve moved to these places, I’ve kind of stopped celebrating many of the traditions we would celebrate,” she said. “Many of the Eids, there are other ones as well. Just because, in the sad way that it is, there is no welcoming that I feel. So there aren’t many communities where I would want to celebrate with.”

Out of all of the Eid foods, Ghulami has a delicious favorite.

“One of my favorite meals was Bolani,” she said. “First, a large batch of filling is made using mashed potatoes and chopped-up greens such as cilantro and green

onions. Next, the dough is made using just flour, salt, and water. The dough is rolled out and cut into semicircles about the size of your palm. The best part is when, with clean hands , you fill the semicircle with the filling, and you dampen the edges and seal each Bolani, the last step is to fry them and enjoy with yogurt or homemade sauce.”

Ghulami doesn’t enjoy the desserts as much as other members of her family, with one exception.

“I don’t like sweets too much, but there is one that I will always accept, and that is Jalebi,” she said. “It’s a swirly sweet and it’s very sugary.” Jalebi is made out of flour, sugar syrup, baking soda, and ‘other flavors.’

PASSOVER

Passover is the Jewish celebration that commemorates the liberation from slavery in Egypt. This year it is being celebrated from April 5 to Thursday, April 13. Traditional customs include telling the Passover story, participating in a seder, drinking wine, and eating symbolic foods.

Sophomore

Elijah Foster’s family celebrates the Passover seder with historical rituals and food.

“You kind of go through the story, and at certain points there are different rituals you do, like escaping,” said Foster. “There’s this little book and you read it out. There are different foods you eat that represent different things.”

it gets like 20 bucks or something. There’s one part during one of the prayers where you dip your finger in some wine and each dot that you put on your plate represents a certain event in history, and that's really cool. But mostly just food and playing games.”

The Passover foods, he said, hold special significance, too.

“[Passover food is] kind of everything,” said Holder. “The games involve food, and all of the food is symbolic in some way. For example we have lambs. That’s from when in the Bible the Hebrew people spread lamb blood on doors to stop one of the plagues that were in Egypt. Then there's the matzah itself that is supposed to represent sandstone from the pyramids. The spread that goes on the matzah, that’s supposed to be the mortar that they used. The wine is supposed to represent blood. There’s like a few other things, but the food is very much tied [to Passover].”

While Holder’s favorite Passover food is the matzah ball soup, Foster loves haroset.

junior Aidan Holder

Junior Aidan Holder’s family plays several different games during passover.

“One of the games we play a lot at Passover is where you take a piece of matzah bread and you hide it,” said Holder. “After hiding the matzah bread, all the kids run around trying to find it and whoever finds

Bolani is one of sophomore Nazanin Ghulami's favorites. Try this version from Foodtasia.

“[Haroset] is like apples and honey and cinnamon and nuts and then you mix it all together,” said Foster. “There's [also] this other food called gefilte fish. It's a ball of fish and kind of gelatinous. It’s kind of off-putting, but I like it. And the other kind of big food related thing is we eat matzah. It’s like a cracker and it's supposed to symbolize the story when the Jews were escaping Egypt. They didn’t have time for their bread to rise because they left in such a hurry, so it just made this cracker, and for like the 7-8 days of Passover you’re not supposed to eat any bread, you only are supposed to eat matzah.”

Sophomore Kaileigh Hill recommends the potato pancakes from TheDaring Gourmet

Junior Aidan Holder loves matzo ball soup from Once UponAChef.

"Food is very much tied to Passover."

HannaH Posner also contributed to tHis story

"While I'm miles away from home and don't get to experience celebrations like I used to, I still enjoy making traditional Afghani meal during Eid."

sophomore Nazanin Ghulami

Kelby Hardy wins BTOY

Math teacher Kelby Hardy found out she was Riverside’s Beginning Teacher of the Year in a weekly staff email.

“It was a very little line and it said, ‘Congratulations to Kelby Hardy for being beginning teacher of the year’” Hardy said.

Later that week, Principal Wood-Weeks and other administrators walked in to her classroom during third period, popped confetti and gave her balloons and flowers.

The Beginning Teacher of the Year award is given every year to a Riverside faculty member who has been teaching for three years or less.

“I was excited,” Hardy said. At first I jumped because the confetti was loud and my students were working so quietly.”

When Hardy, who teaches Math I and Honors Pre-calculus, was young, she dreamed of becoming a teacher one day.

“Growing up, I always wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “I would play school and create lesson plans.”

Hardy went to college planning to study computer science. Then she took one math class, told herself that it could not be her last and changed her major to math. During her senior year she realized she wanted to share her love of math with students, so she got her master’s in education to be able to teach.

The high school that Hardy went to in Beaufort, NC was much smaller than Riverside.

“I went to a high school that had like maybe 500 students and graduated with 100 students,” she said.

Hardy had an English teacher who had a calming presence and made it known that she wanted you to be in her class.

“I wanted to be that for my students. I wanted to be that place where they could come to somebody they could talk to,” she said “I will listen to you and help you talk through things.”

She also had a teacher in high school that would just give out assignments and not explain them. She told herself that she would not do that to her students.

One thing Hardy likes about being a teacher is seeing her students understand what she is teaching.

“I like seeing those light bulb moments in students,” she said. Hardy sees herself being a teacher for a while at Riverside.

“I love my colleagues,” she said. “I love the students that I get to work with.”

When Hardy is not teaching, she likes to go on hikes in the mountains and walk her dogs.

“I love just being outside,” she said.

Hardy would like to let students know that her classroom is open to everyone even if she has not been your teacher.

She has also started building a self-care closet for the whole school. She is hoping that the project could start sometime before the school year ends.

“I’m working with the PTA to get hygiene products, snacks, hair ties, bobby pins, just things students might need,” Hardy said.

A long time coming

is Riverside's 2023 Teacher of the Year

By Donna Diaz

Teachers all over the United States have always been overlooked and disregarded on how important their job is.

During COVID-19, when teachers taught in front of a screen online, many found that their passion wasn’t the same.

But even though there were numerous challenges with online learning and many teachers resigned, Christy Simpson still felt the same spark for teaching she had when she first started 29 years ago.

“I love teaching,” Simpson said. I still love my job. I haven't reached the point that I want to do something else, because I still love what I do.”

Simpson said teaching during COVID was hard, but she embraced the challenge.

“It was like being a new teacher all over again, because we had to learn how to do it online,” she said. “But I never wavered from the fact that it is still what I want to be doing.”

Simpson has been teaching math at Riverside High School for 15 years and now teaches mainly calculus.

She grew up in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina and at a young age she was drawn to teaching.

“I've just always wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “Even when I was young, that was just what I felt like I wanted to do. I started actually teaching Sunday School at my church when I was in high school.“

She majored in math education at High Point University. There was a stigma about teaching back then, just like there is today.

“It wasn't very popular. In fact, if you were good in math and science, engineering, those were the big choices,” Simpson said. “So there weren't a lot of people going into math. I went to a small school, but I was the only math education major, the year I graduated.”

Even though working with children is something some people are not interested in, Simpson says it is one of her favorite parts of the job.

“It's never a boring day,” she said.

Simpson fondly recalls a comment she received from a calculus student several years ago.

“He said ‘Somehow you make this class both hard and fun at the same time,’” she said “We just thought of our goal as educators,

right? We want to challenge our kids then push them to do really hard things. But we want them to enjoy the process.”

Once a year, teachers get nominated for the Teacher of the Year award. Simpson was one of several nominees, and principal Gloria Woods-Weeks, along with assistant principals Will Okun, Darryl Bradshaw, Tammy Patterson, administrative intern Bryan Garnett and social studies teacher Allison Swaim, surprised her with balloons and flowers and a confetti cannon on March 2 during one of her classes.

“I didn't see her come in,” Simpson said. “I just heard the confetti cannon go off. And so for a minute, I was terrified. Because I just heard the loud boom. It was exciting, once I realized what the noise was. I was very surprised, but honored”.

Simpson has been nominated in past years but believed her colleagues deserved the award more.

“Some years I took my name out of the running because I've looked at the list of teachers nominated and I say ‘you know, it's their turn,’” she said. “But I’m glad I didn't this year."

Simpson believes that when you are really passionate about something and you truly love something, it doesn't matter what obstacles you face, that same spark will be with you no matter how long it’s been.

“It is an honor to be recognized by your colleagues for doing a job that you love to do every day,” Simpson said.

By Emily Diaz REyEs

"Some years I took my name out of the running because I've looked at the list of teachers nominated and I say 'you know, it's their turn.' But I'm glad I didn't this year."

Math teacher Christy Simpson

• PHOTO BY DONNA DIAZ

• PHOTO BY EMILY DIAZ REYES

Christy Simpson

Simpson poses in her class room for a photo. After teaching for 29 years,16 at Riverside, she won Teacher of the Year.

Face Off: AP Classes versus Durham Tech

AP: Convenient and accessible Durham Tech: Challenging but worthwhile

By Lucinda dorrance

There’s a reason Advanced Placement (AP) classes have been around since 1955. Even as interest in Durham Tech’s dual enrollment program increases, hundreds of Riverside students like me still prefer AP classes because of their convenience, affordability, and familiarity.

All AP classes are currently taught on Riverside's campus, and AP class registration is already a part of Riverside's class registration process. This ensures that AP classes can be easily integrated into a student's schedule and remain contiguous with other courses, helping ensure availabili ty to a broader range of Riverside students and upholding AP classes convenience and accessibility. With the exception of freshmen, who are generally limited to AP World and AP Human Geography, most AP classes are available to students in any grade, of any age, with any GPA.

Unlike Durham Tech’s courses, AP classes are stan dardized nationally, meaning the course loads and rigor of AP classes are meant to be typical across the United States. A challenge I’ve experienced when trying to pick between dual enrollment courses and AP classes, is that, though the credits all apply to the UNC system, some other colleges and universities, especially Ivy Leagues, don't accept dual enrollment credits because they can’t guarantee the class the applicant took was up to their standards.

It’s also worth noting that because AP classes curriculum is established on a national level, and because they have a more streamlined curriculum and final exam, this opens up more resources for studying and learning additional course content on the students’ own; which can be incredibly beneficial for ensuring a stronger grasp on course material, and better performance on the final College Board exam.

Contrary to some dual enrollment courses, AP classes are entirely free to enroll in and the class materials and AP exams in May are fully paid for by Riverside. Students

will only have to pay for the exam if they miss the test and must pay the cancellation fee of $40, and an additional $40 will be required if they sign up to take the exam late. Some AP classes offer students textbooks provided by the school, or will recommend buying a textbook for additional studying opportunities, which in paperback will usually cost around $20 on Amazon. There are also great online resources and study methods that are entirely free to use.

Some dual enrollment course fees aren’t paid for through

on materials and class fees is a concern, AP classes and their increased affordability is more desirable.

Dual enrollment classes take place on a college campus, with college students and professors, and a collegiate workload and teaching style. While that experience can be beneficial for some students, other high school juniors—and even seniors—just aren't ready to thrive in that setting. AP classes offer an elevated class rigor and a different style of learning, without being a different type of school entirely.

AP and Durham Tech classes also create different pathways for students after high school. Durham Tech’s CT program for students interested in going to a 4-year

college can reward graduates with an associates degree when they graduate from Riverside. While this is favorable for students who know the degree(s) and college they are working towards, students who are still unsure can’t fully commit to the CT program or other Durham Tech classes. Earning an associates degree while still in high school can shave 2 years off a student's time in undergrad, meaning they’d enter college as what’s essentially a junior, and while academically this sounds great, this can make an applicant less appealing to 4-year colleges and potentially harm their social environment in college. AP Classes offer a chance to explore rigorous courses and potentially earn college credit, with no potential harm to a student's future.

By Sadie aLLen

When I took my first Advanced Placement (AP) class online my freshman year, it was challenging.

From the excessive reading notes to the practice free response questions (FRQs) I did not like the way the class was taught. It felt like we were constantly preparing for a test instead of focusing on understanding the content.

When it was time to take the final exam for the class, my teacher explained how it would work: to earn college credit for the class,

learned that the classes students take through dual enrollment count towards their high school graduation requirements and college graduation requirements so long as they pass the class.

The classes are also weighted as an AP class on your transcript. It is almost like taking an AP class but with guaranteed college credit, regardless of the final exam.

After that meeting, I knew my plan. There were too many pros to doing dual enrollment over AP classes, like earning double credit for one class, flexibility, and a GPA boost, for me to pass up.

At the time I am writing this, I have completed one semester with Durham Tech. I took three classes at Riverside and three classes with Durham Tech last fall. I had the opportunity to take all three of the Durham Tech classes online, completely asynchronously, which allowed me to take more classes at one time.

All the Durham Tech classes both counted towards my high school graduation requirements and college credits. I got my fourth math out of the way, a social studies credit, and an English credit. And they were weighted as an AP class, meaning my GPA got a great boost, too.

• GRAPHIC BY SADIE IRBY

Ultimately, the decision between AP classes and dual enrollment courses is entirely up to the student and what they feel is best for themselves. They’re both great options, and I’m considering dual enrollment myself for next year. But AP’s accessibility, national relevance, affordability, and post-high school options all make AP classes tough to beat.

sion whether or not they would accept that credit.

I was confused. Why am I working so hard in such a challenging college course if I am not guaranteed the credit?

After I took the exam I started exploring other options. I still wanted to challenge myself with advanced classes, but I wanted to make sure I would be awarded with appropriate credit.

In the second half of the fall semester of my sophomore year I found out about dual enrollment at Durham Technical Community College. I learned that I could take college courses while in high school for free.

I met with Mr. Tevin Jones, Riverside’s Durham Tech liaison, and

I also take AP classes at Riverside, and if I had to compare the difficulty of AP classes and dual enrollment classes, I would say dual enrollment classes are harder, but the workload is less.

Because the focus of most AP classes is the final exam, students spend a lot of time doing FRQs, DBQs, MCQs and other things you’ll find on the AP exam.

With dual enrollment classes, you learn similar things, but focus more on understanding the material rather than preparing for a test.

Overall, dual enrollment classes are just better. They offer a challenge for students ready to try college-level coursework, are paid for by DPS, and don’t attach college credit to a test score alone.

Dear Lenny, What do I do if I don’t have a date for prom?

Sincerely, Single

Dear Single, Prom can be a great time to get dressed up and impress the lady pirates! But you can have lots of fun at prom without a date. It can be just as fun to dance with your friends. Don’t let being single stop you from enjoying yourself.

-Lenny

Dear Lenny, I see a ton of people at school with amazing outfits and I am really struggling to figure out what kind of clothes I like to wear. Do you have any suggestions?

Sincerely, Unfashionable

Dear Unfashionable, I think that pirate hats, hooks and boots make for a timeless look. I think if everyone started dressing like me at school, we would all look amazing! That said, I understand that it can be very hard to figure out what your personal style is. Some good movies to watch to get style inspiration are Peter Pan, Hook and The Princess Bride.

-Lenny

• GRAPHICS BY SADIE IRBY

Dear Lenny, I heard that the microwaves are being removed. Do you have any lunch suggestions that don’t need to be microwaved?

Sincerely, Hungry

Dear Lenny, It’s the second semester of my senior year and I’m so burnt out! I have little motivation to complete my work on time and my grades are starting to slip. What’s wrong with me?

Sincerely, Tired

Dear Tired, After working with high schoolers all these many years, I know these symptoms well. It seems you are suffering from a bad case of Senioritis. Withgraduationaroundthecorner,seniorsstopcompleting work. My advice is to prioritize assignments that are due soon and communicate with your teachers if you need help. But if you’re already showing symptoms, I doubt you will listen to me anyway.

At the very least, just keep showing up to school and enjoying time with your friends. You only have a few months left to go!

-Lenny

Dear Lenny, I am really stressed about AP tests. How should I prepare for them?

Sincerely, Stressed

Dear Stressed, I spent my childhood days on the open sea, learning how to ride the waves and search for hidden treasures rather than finding derivatives and studying the Mongols. But after being at Riverside for over three decades, I know a thing or two about academic success.

Earning a three or above on AP tests can allow you to plunder college credit. Set dedicated times to study each week in the month leading up to the exam. It’s better to give yourself plenty of time to study instead of cramming the week before the test since AP courses cover a lot of content. And make sure you know which units are weighted the most so you can prioritize accordingly.

Personally, I have a lot of experience with not having access to microwaves and fridges during mealtimes. When I am traveling out at sea I have to eat preserved foods like saltcured meat and bread. My favorite snack is beef jerky on stale pumpernickel.

Dear Hungry,

For less adventurous land-dwellers, there are lots of fun packaged foods you can bring that don’t need to be microwaved. My personal favorite is Pirate's Booty. Another way to bring hot food to school is using a thermos, which can also be more environmentally friendly.

-Lenny

But preparing for the tests can be stressful, too, so don’t worry if you don't get the grade you want. The exams aren’t the only things that matter. Simply doing well in an AP class is an achievement in itself. If there's one thing I’ve learned, it's that a new path will always form. When I was a young pirate, I dreamed of following in my father’s footsteps to become the next captain of “The River,” but after his beloved parrot died under my care, I was banished. I lost all hope, spiraling into a pit of depression. But I was saved by Riverside High School. I found my place. I found my purpose: to inspire young pirates like you.

-Lenny

Assistant principal Will Okun once ate dinner with an African warlord during a trip to the Congolese jungle.

Joe Biden gave a presidential campaign speech in Riverside’s bus lot in 2020, then got a vanilla milkshake from the Cookout on Hillsborough Road.

ESL teacher and men's soccer coach

Alex Ramirez has a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology.

Did you know? Did you know?

Assistant Principal Darryl Bradshaw ran track in college for the University of Kentucky. While hurdles were his specialty, his 100m personal best is 10.98.

Health/PE teacher and track coach Jason Smoots ran track in college for NCCU and won the 4x100 meter relay in the 2002 IAAF World Cup. His 100m personal best was 10.01.

Riverside is the only high school in the district that has an hour-long lunch period.

There is a pool on the roof of Riverside High. It is lifegaurded by Lenny the Pirate (pictured to the right telling kids to stop running on the pool deck).

2017 Riverside graduate Ellen McAdams plays professional soccer for IFK Kalmar in Sweden.

Northern has not beaten Riverside in football since 2018.

Mr. Meglin is a deejay. Catch him on Saturdays at 7am online at Hall of Fame Radio or on local radio in Western PA.

The Pirates’ Hook is

newspaper in the

Riverside’s

and football stadium are both named after former Riverside football coach Linny Wrenn

Emmy-nominated screenwriter Anthony King graduated from RHS in 1994