November 2016

THE MAGAZINE

6560 BRADDOCK RD. ALEXANDRIA, VA 22312

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CHANGING PERSPECTIVES How do we become aware of privilege?

21

DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SWIMMER

Describing the training schedule of TJ swimmers

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ENCHANTING ILLUSIONISTS

The story behind the Magician’s Alliance

NOV. 21, 2016 || VOL 2 ISSUE 3 || www.tjtoday.org

TJTODAY

IN-DEPTH || 8 HOW PRIVILIGE AFFECTS THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL FOR SCIENCE AND TECH || ALEXANDRIA, VA

NEWS

CONTENTS

NEWS

IN-DEPTH 6 Cover Story Are We Too Entitled?

12 Learning Curve 15 The Truth in the Turkey Sci And Tech 16 Siemens Project Profiles 18 Too Many Sheep to Sleep SPORTS 20 Day In The Life Of A Swimmer 21 Cheerful but Chilly 23 ReCUPerating OPINION 24 Editorial What Does It Mean to Volunteer?

26 Retaking A Look At Retakes ENTERTAINMENT 31 Enchanting Envisionists WHA WHAT T I'VE I'VE LEARNED LEARNED 32 Señora Alexandra Pou EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

ANKIT AGRAWAL, KATHERINE DU, ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN, UZMA RENTIA

TEAM LEADERS

SABRIA KAZMI, ANGEL KIM, AVNI SINGH, BAYLISS WAGNER, CHRISTINE ZHAO

BROADCAST EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

SHARON KIM, ALEXA NGUONLY, LYNN NGUYEN

BUSINESS MANAGER

MIJIN CHO

STAFF REPORTERS PARSA ABEDI, RENA CAI, JAE CANETTI, JUSTIN CHANG, AUMENA CHOUDHRY, MEDHA GUPTA, NATALIE HOMNYOM, ALEX HOWE, ASHLEY HUANG, RAYAAN HUSSAIN, RIYA JAIN, TANYA KURNOOTALA, STEVEN LE, GRACE MAK, GRACE MAK, MIKO MIWA, ANUSHKA MOLUGU, JOSHUA MUTTERPERL, VALERIE NAYAK, SHRUTHI NYSHADHAM, BRIAN PARK, SINDHU RAGUNATHAN, NEHA SINHA, NIKITA SIVAKUMAR, SADHANA SURI, PATRICK TOULME, SAMANTHA YAP

ADVISER

ERINN HARRIS tjTODAY is the official newsmagazine of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology published by the journalism staff. The staff is deeply committed to a code of journalistic ethics that demands the exercise of accuracy, good judgment and impartiality. The content of tjTODAY is determined by the editorial board. Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the staff of tjTODAY, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.

NewsMAKERS

4 Jefferson Diwali Celebration

Photo courtesy of A

Juniors Rijul Amin and Rae Moar with homemade pinwhee ian snack consisting of tortillas, cream cheese and vegetab

Photo courtesy of Am

Laura Chu, after assuming the role of President of the NAA WMHSMUN, accepts her award for Best Delegate.

Photo courtesy of Th

Members of the CubeSat team pose in front of the Naval A

NEWS

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NOV 21, 2016 WHAT’S THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THIS CLUB? Rae and I want to encourage people to become vegetarian, or at least lean toward vegetarianism, meaning to eat less meat.

We also want to show people all the reasons why it’s good to become vegetarian.

WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO ACHEIVE WITH VEGETARIAN SOCIETY? We want people to know that they can come to us if they need help becoming vegetarian. We also hope to convince people that become vegetarian is a good thing and that there’s sound reasoning behind it.

WHAT WORDS OF ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE RELUCTANT TO TRY YOUR CLUB? Try everything once! [This club] is a fun way to introduce vegetarianism, and you’ll always get something to eat!

You’ll learn something new every week, and you can [also] come to discuss your reservations on vegetarianism. If you don’t fully believe vegetarianism is a good thing, you can come to discuss and talk about your doubts.

HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR THE COMPETITION? BACKSTORY I’m in a committee called Ad Hoc, The Model UN team traveled to the where the Secretary Generals of different College of William & Marry to compete clubs are competing against each other. at WMHSMUNC (William and Mary There’s actually no preparation on our High School MUN Conference) from end, because we walk into committee and Nov. 11 to Nov. 13. Jefferson earned the find out as soon as we walk in what we’re award for Best Large Delegation, with doing. In terms of club preparation, we senior Secretary-General Laura Chu as have to assign issues to people, we have one of many Jefferson delegates to gavel. to help them on their papers, read over their papers, edit them, and make sure everyone is ready logistically.

HOW TOUGH WAS THE COMPETITION? In terms of my committee, because it was the committee of the equivalents of presidents across the club, it is designed to be the most challenging committee in the conference, but I found it pretty difficult. I found that people were definitely challenged to think outside the box, but it wasn’t challenging to the point where our delegates felt like it was impossible to do well. So, I would say, on a scale of one to ten, it was a good seven for our delegates.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE WORKING WITH NASA? BACKSTORY It’s a little nerve wracking presenting The Jefferson Cubesat, also known our project to such well read and educatas the Reverb, is a 1U Cubesat that is ed engineers but after a while we’ve just planned to be launched by mid-2018. tried to emulate their demeanor and pick Cubesats are small satellites that orbit the up as much as we can from them.

Earth for 9-18 months and their primary WHAT SPECIFICALLY DOES TJ CUBESAT purpose is to spread educational interest DO WITH NASA? in space through outreach and media We are applying for [the CSLI Launch coverage. NASA conducted a feasibility Grant] to pay for this trip. This is what review on the Jefferson Cubesat on Nov. the Merit and Feasibility Review is all 11. Junior Thomas Baron serves on the about. In December we will be subOrbit & Communications Subsystem mitting our final proposal to NASA, and Review Team. at which point they will decide on the

validity of our project. Assuming they accept us we will be hitching a ride to space with NASA and our Cubesat will either be deployed from the ISS or a rocket in lower earth orbit.

WHAT PROCESS WAS TAKEN TO PREPARE FOR FEASIBILITY REVIEW? The Feasibility Review was a culmination of our goals, knowledge and plan for the Cubesat. We delineated our basic design and desired components of the Cubesat to the reviewers as well as redefined our goals to them.

Ashley Huang || STAFF WRITER

BACKSTORY The vegetarian society, an 8th period club created by juniors Rae Moar and Rijul Amin, meets every Friday B-block to discuss topics such as the environment, human health, animal cruelty and economics, and how they relate to vegetarianism. The club features interactive games and vegetarian foods every meeting.

ourtesy of Ashley Huang

ade pinwheels, a vegetarand vegetables.

Alex Howe || STAFF WRITER

urtesy of Amritha Justin

of the NAACP at ate.

Brian Park || STAFF WRITER

ourtesy of Thomas Baron

the Naval Academy.

DESIGN // CHRISTINE ZHAO

4 NEWS

Renovation Update

THE INNOVATION OF DNA EXTRACTION

New DNA extractor provides insightful information for research projects Justin Chang || STAFF WRITER

A

s a school of science and technology, Jefferson grants its students with various opportunities to continue researching and exploring fields of study that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. And now, the purchase of another machine that utilizes Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and can receive extensive information about various organisms, has further expanded those avenues of research.

The Performing Arts Wing is complete and in use The auditorium is complete

ON THE RADAR: Gym II will be available by the end of the month The Student Activities Office, 8th Period Office and Trainer’s Room will be open by mid-December The remaining Humanities rooms, math classrooms, two commons areas, IT office, health classrooms, planetarium, Partnership Fund office, and archives room will be open late GRAPHIC // UZMA RENTIA

In order to obtain the machine, biology teacher Aubrie Holman proposed a teacher grant with support from the Parent, Teacher, Student Association (PTSA). Holman, who completed her undergraduate degree and three years of DNA sequencing research at Furman University, requested another extraction machine so that students would be able to investigate her research background, while at the same time, be able to complete their yearly research projects by examing DNA samples from deer feces using the machine.

Through biology teacher Aubrie Holman’s efforts, Jefferson was able to obtain another DNA extraction machine.

samples.”

A desire to learn and investigate the population dynamics of the WhiteTailed Deer residing in Mason Neck Wildlife refuge is what motivated freshman Samyog Lamsal to research the topic.

“Our research group decided to investigate this topic because it is a quantifiable and ‘cooler,’” Lamsal said.

As students are now beginning to utilize the machine for their yearly research projects, the DNA extractor will provide students with identification of gender, population dynamics, Currently, students such as freshman diversity of a gender with proximity to Chris Jose are working on their research a natural resource and identification for “unique” sets of fragments, based on projects and collecting DNA samples DNA samples, something that has not for utilization by the DNA extractor. been successful in the past.

“I am interested in analyzing data “Because science is never certain, from DNA extractions because it is an several attempts have failed in the past innovative concept,” Jose said. “Also, due to multiple factors and variables,” I became interested in this concept Holman said.

“However, that just makes from reading research papers and being success rewarding and exciting to have.” lectured from Mrs. Holman about the data analyzation from extracted DNA

NEWS

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NOV 21, 2016

JEFFERSON DIWALI CELEBRATION

The Jefferson community comes together to celebrate the festival of lights Parsa Abedi and Tanya Kurnootala || STAFF WRITERS

Throughout the celebration, volunteers set up various Diwali-styled activities, including an arts and crafts station and even Diwali Bingo. They also decorated parts of the Dome and Nobel Commons with with lights and lamps.

Freshman and crafts station volunteer Sarah Luthra was able to embrace Jefferson’s cultural aspect of Diwali.

“TJ knows how to study hard, but also party hard and it’s great that people from all different religions and races are here to celebrate Diwali,” Luthra said. “I hope it spreads good vibes throughout the TJ community for people to enjoy different cultures and religions.”

From left to right: Juniors Jahnavi Prabhala and Zulekha Tasneem perform during the Diwali celebration.

Photo courtesy of Techniques

O

who did not, arrived ready n Nov. 5, Diwali, the Hindu to embrace diversity and festival of lights, students, celebrate another culture’s festival. families and faculty of the Jefferson community came together to Alouf Jirari Scavotto, the new sponsor of Namaste, became celebrate the holiday. interested in the event when she To religions and people across the received an invitation via email and world, the festival of Diwali is a time decided to experience what Jefferson to come together and celebrate one of had to offer.

Hinduism’s most significant holidays.

“The email talked about games and Hosted in part by the TJ Partnership dance and food,” Scavotto said. “I Fund, the event featured Bhangra, really don’t know a lot about [Diwali], a blend of traditional dance with but [the celebration is] going to be Western pop influences, by members a chance to learn a few things about of Namaste, Bollywood music, and another culture.

I just came with an interactive games. Although there open mind and I’m going to learn were students who had celebrated myself what this is about.”

Diwali in their own homes, those

Main office staff Samantha Wolf learned about the traditions and foods cooked in Diwali through the parents in the main office and volunteers at the event. She is excited by how Jefferson students collaborate in cultural events like the Diwali celebration and hopes that the celebration will grow and continue every year.

“I think [the celebration] conveys that we have a tremendous community, a lot of wonderful people who come together to celebrate and to celebrate all of our diverse cultures, which is one of the neatest things that I find about TJ,” Wolf said. “It’s that everybody can come together, [and that everybody can] learn about each other and really by that we all become global citizens.”

WHAT IS ENTITLEMENT? DO IN-DEPTH= WE NEED A CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE? HOW CAN WE BE MORE AWARE? WHERE IS OUR PRIVILEGE AT JEFFERSON? WHY ARE WE PRIVILEGED? WHY ARE WE TAKE ACTION? HOW CAN WE TAKE FACING ACTION? HOW ACTION? WHO ARE OUR ENTITLEMENT WEThe advantages and repercussions of privilege, and how we can be more self-aware

DESIGN // Adithi Ramakrishnan

Photo courtesy of Frank Ding

|| STAFF

WHAT IS ENTITLEMENT?

F

orty-three million, one hundred thousand Americans, 13.5 percent of the population, lived in poverty in the year 2015.

Members of communities in Virginia that live well above the poverty threshold set by the United States government are able to enjoy a level of affluence that many in other parts of the country, and even the world, cannot. In 2015, Virginia ranked 11th in average per capita personal income for states in the United States, and the northern region of Virginia ranks highly in terms of per capita income and median household income. This sense of wealth can often lead to feelings of entitlement, or even superiority, in individuals.

People interpret entitlement differently depending on how factors, such as race, gender, or sexual orientation, influence their backgrounds. However, they commonly define entitlement as the feeling of being deserving of certain rights, privileges, or advantages that others may not have the opportunity to enjoy, and is often defined in a bad light.

“I think in a modern sense that entitlement has a negative connotation,” junior Anonto Zaman said. “People see entitlement as people simply parroting for rights without actually working for them.

College students who think they are entitled to a free education might be looked down upon by older people who had to pay for it. I think that’s a pretty bad thing because then people can brush off legitimate concerns as just ‘people being entitled’ without actually addressing the problem.”

Despite its connotation, there are instances where one would say entitlement entitled is deserved. For example, in instances where the feeling of deserving something is earned through work and not because of a certain economic status status or race.

“When someone works really hard and achieves something through hard work, then they can be rightfully entitled since they deserve what they get out of their hard work,” Gersony said. “But, I am opposed to, especially in politics, when particular races or religions feel entitled to things that they aren’t necessarily entitled to.”

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IN-DEPTH

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NOV 21, 2016

ARE WE TOO ENTITLED? While the label “entitled” stings, Jefferson students, at times, may feel entitled without even realizing that they are. We couldn’t have succeeded here without supportive parents and our teachers who actively work to ensure that we value and pursue our education.

Jefferson provides all of the resources, including computer labs, research equipment, mentors, tutors, and food to keep us healthy and focused, that we need to succeed and more. According to senior Jack Boyle, students here tend to feel superior towards students at other schools because we believe our intellect entitled us to all of our resources.

“We’re all sort of top one percent as far as academics go,” Boyle said. “We have to respect each other and we can’t go around thinking that we’re better than everyone else, because we’re all just high school students.”

At times, the fact that we are surrounded by individuals from mostly similar backgrounds means we fail to realize that the world outside our bubble may be quite different.

“I think that, especially at TJ, since we’re all intellectuals, we have this belief that we’re very informed or that we have a very good perspective about the lives of other people when we don’t necessarily have the perspective they have,” Gersony said.

THE STATS SPEAK

Though Boyle feels that Jefferson students tend to be overly entitled about their academic abilities, he also thinks that students going to school in areas with higher per capita income become accustomed to their economic advantages.

“I know [the feeling of privilege] can happen at other schools, where you live in a wealthier district,” he said. “That can also play into feelings of entitlement because their parents have done well.”

These types of feelings have roots in psychology. Hedonic adaptation explains that humans will adapt to almost anything, from pain to pleasure, if they are exposed to it for a long period of time.

This is the driving force behind “taking things for granted.” We develop the illusion that our privileges will never go away simply because we are used to having them.

“Availability bias” causes people to think that certain events or belongings are more common among the general population than they truly are. For example, Jefferson students sit down at their computers, receive carefully planned lessons from highly qualified, dedicated teachers and then come home to enough peace and calm to get their work done. After years of this routine, they forget that young people in areas of the United States, and even in Fairfax County itself, often have less experienced teachers, live in less wealthy areas, and aren’t guaranteed computers. Without ever living GRAPHIC // Sabria Kazmi

What do the local statistics say about our privilege?

Aryaan Hussain and Sadhana Suri || STAFF WRITERS

National average cost per student (2016)

1 4 8 , $11

2 student in FCPS 3 4 , $14

Average cost per (2016)

However: the overall cost of living in Fairfax County is higher than the national average.

Information from the Washington Post, bestplaces.net, FCPS.edu, and edweek.org

The typical household in Fairfax County makes more than twice the national household median income (as of 2015).

8 IN-DEPTH in these areas, we tend to assume that our privileges are not unique.

In reality, though, the privilege we have now may not last into our futures.

prevalent topic, some students have proposed ideas to lessen heightened senses of entitlement that may exist in society as a whole.

“Right now we definitely have a head start academically, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to be the most successful in life,” Boyle said. “We need to be a little bit more humble.”

“I think we should interact more with different kinds of people, people from different schools, and people of different ages and gender,” Yu said. “We can become more cultured, and just get to know other people besides the students in our own school.”

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? Almost every child has been taught some form of the golden rule: treat others how you want to be treated. This allows individuals to connect with one another as equals, rather than subordinates and superiors. However, this is easier said than done. Students recognize that there is a contrast between what the Jefferson community feels entitled to and what privileges they are actually entitled to.

“A lot of students at TJ think they have special privileges in that they take a lot of things for granted,” sophomore Hana Yu said. “They either don’t take full advantage of [clubs and research opportunities] or they just disregard it.”

In addition, adults in the Jefferson community can contribute to making heightened senses of entitlement less prevalent.

“I think teachers and parents can definitely breed that school-wide attitude of just being a community here like any other high school.”

Others believe that acknowledging the existence of this issue, and bonding together and reaching out to others, will aid in making people feel more humble and less entitled overall.

“The best way to go from there is to try help other people as much as possible, whether that involves offering emotional support or, not direct financial support, but helping out in your community or the world around you, giving back in any way possible, and, in a way, taking that entitlement and putting it to good use,” Gersony said.

In order to make the Jefferson community more aware of this

GRAPHIC // Nikita Sivakumar

5

PRIVILEGE HITS HOME Aspects of Jefferson we tend to take for granted

6 7 8

RESEARCH LABS TJ students have access to a variety of science and technology resources that other students in the country do not have access to. Our “state of the art” labs out-match those of any other school in the county.

EIGHTH PERIOD Unlike any other school in the county, we have the chance to take part in extra-curriculars of our choice within school.

Unlike others, we get a chance to do whatever we want for three hours, every week at school.

FLEXIBLE LUNCH We all eat lunch at the same time. This gives us the opportunity to meet with teachers and rehearse for school-wide events all at once. This makes lunch such an important part of TJ culture. No other school in the county has that extra piece of time.

IN-DEPTH

KISS THE GIRL

9

NOV 21, 2016 DESIGN // Adithi Ramakrishnan

But what if she says no?

Gender entitlement: how can we even the scales?

Christine Zhao || TEAM LEADER

“No.” A simple refusal, requiring no introduction, but understood by all. Requiring no explanation, but its impact seemingly small.

A female student, who wished to remain anonymous because she was harassed at work and felt uncomfortable sharing her name, encountered males who made the impact of her “no” seem of little importance, continuing to make unwanted advances throughout the entirety of her training.

“We’re both entitled to have a discussion and make commentary about the issues that we think are important in gender entitlement,” Duong said. “We’re both allowed to criticize and respond in “They wouldn’t really take no for an answer,” she said. “I would respectful ways. I think flirting is okay, but you need to understand say, ‘No, I’m sorry, I have to go,’ and they would be like ‘Oh, come that there’s a certain level where it’s not okay, and that level needs to on, I’m sure you have time.’ Things like that. Eventually, I got really be the same for men and women. If someone’s flirting with someone fed up with it, and showed them a picture of me with one of my guy else, that’s okay. Trying to force someone into having sex when friends from graduation, and I was like, ‘He’s my boyfriend.’ I wasn’t they’re not comfortable with it [is crossing the line]. ” interested, and I had thought I had made that clear, but they weren’t Wilson believes that a public figure like President-Elect Donald really listening.”

Trump can often cross the boundary between what is acceptable and At times, unwanted and unwarranted harassment by the males she what is forbidden, and feel entitled to act more forcefully than what is confronted at work made her feel more than just uncomfortable. comfortable for both parties involved.

She felt less control over her situation and obligations, and was “Trump, I feel like, is speaking out as an older generation who frustrated with having to resort to other measures in order to stop doesn’t really get it,” Wilson said. “He thinks he can say whatever he the harassment from happening. wants, regardless of how it makes other people feel, and I don’t think “It definitely made me feel like I was less in control [of my dating he’s alone in his sentiments. He is entitled to say what he says, but he options],” she said. “I felt somewhat obligated somehow, and can’t act on some of the things he says, like sexual assault.” obviously I knew that that’s not correct, but they made me feel like I In order to combat the issue in the politics, media, and society had to go with them. Having to make up a boyfriend just to get them as a whole, Duong believes that all parties involved should make to leave me alone, I felt like my choice didn’t necessarily matter that strides towards acknowledging gender entitlement as unwelcome and much, which is a really frustrating feeling. I didn’t want to, and not unacceptable. being heard when I said that, was kind of frustrating. There’s a line “We need to recognize that that’s not an okay thing,” Duong said. where it becomes too much, and you need to take no for an answer.

“That should not be part of our culture, and you need to stand You have to respect their opinion and their right to privacy.” against that, and you shouldn’t have that kind of thing in our media.”

Senior CJ Wilson believes that male entitlement to make advances Wilson believes that people are already making progress towards against rejection can be due to family background and environment. equal rights for women, and holds a belief in increased gender “It’s something that is in some communities. I feel like people equality in the future. are raised with this idea that they’re entitled to something, and that “Younger people tend to be a lot more liberal when it comes to they’re above other people, and I think that men tend to hold that social issues,” Wilson said. “Gender equality is something that’s come view more than women,” Wilson said. “That’s why you see issues.” about much more, happening more and more around the world in However, in sophomore Timothy Duong’s opinion, females and the past few decades.” males should both be entitled to the same set of rights and privileges.

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CHANGING PERSPECTIVES

How we become aware of privilege

P

Aaryan Hussain and Rena Cai || STAFF WRITERS

rivilege. Entitlement. Luxuries. These are words that spark an immediate reaction. As we look deeper, we understand how privileged we really are.

“We get nice clothes, and we get food whenever we want, and we get water at the tap of a faucet, but other people in the world don’t have these kinds of luxuries.” sophomore Cynthia Zhang said.

When living in a first world country, many become accustomed to working plumbing, decent schooling, sufficient food but forget that not everyone is able to experience those privileges.

“You forget that you’re in a minority group; you forget that you’re part of a small population that gets these benefits.” senior Suzie Bae said.

Despite being habituated to the everyday

convenience, people often encounter experiences that break the comfortable illusion that society creates.

PHOTO// ARYAAN HUSSAIN

12 IN-DEPTH

“I didn’t understand what it was like to The Jefferson Library is a new privilege at TJ. In it, students have access to scientific journals, magbe part of a community until I reached azines, hundreds of books , many computers and TJ,” sophomore Ankita Vadiala said. meeting spaces.

“Back in middle school, there were Bae said. groups of people - jocks, the popular girls, nerds - different groups, and when I reached Awareness of privilege can arise from an experience of seeing the less fortunate, TJ, I understood that I am privileged to hearing something on the news or even the have a community who are there to be my smallest conversation. support system.”

Sometimes, hearing someone else speak about his or her experiences can change a perspective.

“It was last year for me, when a human rights’ activist spoke about her personal experiences. [This] made me realize that I have it a lot better than people overseas.”

“For all the people who grumble that they had to come to TJ, think of it as a great privilege,” Vadiala said. “There are so many people who want to come here, who want to be part of the opportunities in this school’s program, and you are the one here.”

How many LEARNING CURVE study resources Obtaining study material and privilege do you use? Alex Howe and Jae Canetti || STAFF WRITERS

NONE - 113 A BIT - 11

SOME - 67 A LOT - 9 Survey data from 200 respondents.

Photos courtesy of TJ Class of 2018

INFOGRAPHIC //ALEX HOWE

G

etting study material is like running a race; some people are going to lose and not receive the resources needed for class.

at the moment I’m doing well without it.. I think everyone has access to it. Frankly, our community is relatively rich so I don’t think that that would be a problem, but if it is, the Many families pay for tutors that cost over $60 school can provide some help.

You can always go to teachers per hour. Online study during eighth period, and you aids can also be expensive. have so many resources to Not all Jefferson families can pay for these tools. Some may access if you need them,” said consider users of such services freshman Shubham Goda. unfairly entitled, but others Freshman Sihun Kim, who believe differently. purchased a math workbook for help, thinks that tutoring “I would get academic support if I needed to, but services give students an

advantage that others don’t have.

“It’s a good opportunity for me to have these resources, so I guess you could say that I have an advantage and it is a privilege to be able to use them.”

Junior Frank Ding also owns workbooks and took preparatory classes for math.

He acknowledges his privilege, but also said, “I always try to give those to my friends who might have a little extra challenge affording them.”

IN-DEPTH

13

OCT 21, 27,2016 2016 NOV

BEING ACC(EXC)EPTED

How does a difference in privilege and opportunity affect the TJ admissions process?

T

Joshua Mutterperl || STAFF WRITER

he Jefferson admissions process takes months to complete, but its effects can last for years. Those who are accepted are given the opportunity to move on to receiving a higher education full of resources that can be used to their advantage. A brief consideration comes to mind of those who were turned away, but the elation and pride of the moment clouds deeper insight into that subject matter. However, after a time, the Jefferson community must allow itself to look back at those who weren’t accepted with an important question in mind: Why?

“Evan has had the opportunity to do after school programs and summer camps and things like that,” Howard said. “I’m sure that all is involved, and that probably leads to having certain expectations for your children that not everyone holds.”

Differing expectations seem to be common in examining why certain groups are largely missing from TJ.

“I feel like there are different cultural values amongst the different ethnic groups, and definitely parental pressure to succeed academically,” freshman Charles Dobson said. “I was exposed to advanced One clear way of looking at those who academics at very young ages, and the kids were and weren’t accepted to TJ is examining from my area had a little bit of pressure the distinct lack of certain ethnic groups to be involved in academically competitive attending Jefferson. events.”

“TJ is a very culturally strong Years before he will take the Jefferson admissions Students like Dobson who are from community, as is demonstrated annually test, sixth grader Ethan Mutterperl works on a test areas where it may be easier to access at iNite, but some cultures are definitely preparation handbook. academic resources hold a severe underrepresented,” senior Juliana Gruver advantage over those living in lower However, the most immediate way to said. “I just had to do a survey project where income or less education based areas. create change is to volunteer with Jefferson’s I randomly sampled classes to answer my Howard proposed that all students get existing diversity initiative, Learning through survey questions. One of these questions exposure to the idea of going to TJ a lot Inquiry, Fellowship and Tutoring (LIFT). asked for the subject’s race/ethnicity. sooner than they have been.

Principal Evan Glazer, Vice Principal Shawn Looking only at the number of people “Unless you happened to be going to Frank and teacher Szilvia Oszko introduced selecting each option so people of mixed Fairfax County in second grade when the program last year. By identifying talented race could be counted multiple times, we they did all the tests and you got into the but socioecocomically disadvantaged middle had one Pacific Islander response, two school students and giving them resources African American responses, two Hispanic Advanced Academic Program, the only such as Saturday admissions test preparation responses, 28 White responses, and 85 Asian way you’re going to be able to get into that track is if the parents are heavily involved,” sessions with teachers and one-on-one responses. We couldn’t make observations about the respondents of African American, Howard said. “I’m sure many parents aren’t tutoring sessions with current students, they hoped to increase diversity at Jefferson.

Pacific Islander, or Hispanic descent because even aware of that process, so I would say outreach to all the elementary schools would we had so little data.”

“Bringing up potential methods of probably be beneficial.” increasing ethnic diversity in meetings of The fault for this uneven distribution These ideas are important and effective the school board, Parent Teacher Student doesn’t seem to lie with the blind selection ways of mending the problem, but they Association (PTSA), student council, student process, leading to the belief that certain rest heavily on the administration. Gruver government, and other administrative ethnic groups aren’t being provided with the tools and opportunities they need to be suggested students get involved in bringing bodies could potentially bring the question this issue before the right people so that of increasing the percentages of nonadmitted. A parent in the TJ community, these ideas--such as celebrating diversity, Asian/non-Caucasian students at TJ to the Stephanie Howard, spoke about the opportunities that were available to her child funding new programs, and reaching out to attention of administration, thereby initiating underserved neighborhoods--can be heard. change,” Gruver said. that not everyone applying might have.

DESIGN // BAYLISS WAGNER

14 IN-DEPTH Creative commons photo courtesy of flickr.com

A TIME TO GIVE THANKS

The History and Celebration of Thanksgiving

F

Mijin Cho, Sadhana Suri and Tim Vu || BUSINESS MANAGER, STAFF WRITERS

ootball. Family reunions. A holiday feast. Complete with roasted turkey and pumpkin pie at the table, Thanksgiving is one of the most celebrated holiday of the United States. Known as “Turkey Day”, it is often filled with unique traditions for families.

“Every Thanksgiving, my brother and his husband come home from college in Massachusetts, and we spend time together by watching movies. “Mulan” is our favorite- and go out to eat sushi,” junior Dan Tarashi said.

While some such as Tarashi choose to invite others into their homes, students also choose to venture out and travel to visit family and friends.

“We’re going down to visit family in Louisiana as we do every year; we watch football together,” sophomore Alyssa Nash

said.

Others look at the day from a more historical approach, remembering that the Pilgrims first celebrated Thanksgiving after their first harvest in the New World in 1621.

As the pilgrims prepared for the coming winter, they gathered any resources they could muster, even those that belonged to the Wampanoag tribe. Leaders and translators of the tribe visited the settlers to make a formal agreement that the tribe and the colonists would join to protect each other and share supplies.

Thanksgiving also has its roots in Puritan New England, with the event being a day of humble prayer and respectful worship. However, there was no one single Thanksgiving for them; auspicious events such as the success of new crops and the end of drought might inspire a

Thanksgiving celebration any time of the year.

By the 17th century, American colonies proclaimed Thanksgiving a regular event observed in the fall. Foods served at Plymouth were quail, turkey, greens, venison, fish, clams, lobster, fruit, berries, and squash. Some of these traditions have passed on, such as serving foods like turkey and beans. People of different cultural backgrounds have made their own original twists on the occasion.

“Our family- we’re vegetarian- we have a tradition of baking pizza together instead,” sophomore Shreya Vinjamuri said.

With the opportunity to create their own Thanksgiving culture, students use the festive holiday as a time to reflect back on the Pilgrim history and find thanks in making memories with loved ones.

CAN BAKE SALES TURN IMPACTFUL PROFITS? A look into the world of bake sales Miko Miwa || STAFF WRITER

$0.29

GRAPHIC // Miko Miwa

$0.20

$0.36

Cost of production per baked good: Chocolate chip cookie, vanilla cupcake, blueberry muffin, chocolate cupcake, brownie, chocolate chip muffin

$0.21

$0.11 $0.32

A

ny student at Jefferson tasked with the job of fundraising will likely first have “bake sales” come to mind. Whether it be for a donation to a larger organization, or funds for a project that will help someone reach their goal, one of the most common approaches used to obtain money is bake sales.

But do bake sales even work to turn impactful profits?

In 1895, the idea of a bake sale was born when the ladies of the Congregational church in St.Paul, MN decided to hold a bake sale in an effort to raise funds for their church.

Throughout the years, more and more women in St.Paul held bake sales for their churches as well as women from other small towns. However, bake sales only really began to catch on during the mid

IN-DEPTH

15

NOV 21, 2016

THE CROSSOVER OF CULTURAL CUISINES

DESIGN DESIGN // // Angel Angel Kim Kim

Diversity of Thanksgiving Food in the Jefferson Community Grace Mak and Parsa Abedi || STAFF WRITERS

Injera is an East African sourdough bread that is distinguishable by its spongy texture. ethiopiandiamondmarket.com Creative commons photo courtesy of commons. wikimedia.org

Sticky rice is a common food in southeast and east Asia.

Creative commons photo courtesy of commons. wikimedia.org

reciperunner.com

huffingtonpost.com

Keema is a traditional South Asian dish that mainly contains minced meat, peas, and potatoes.

Creative commons photo courtesy of flickr.com recipeshubs.com

1980s with the formation of the National Congress of Mothers and the PTA. Currently, bake sales have gone beyond small communities and housewives.

Students and even nation-wide organizations have held bake sales dedicated to raising money for a cause. One such group is the TJ Student Congress Debate Team who held a bake sale at TJ last year during J-Day and ended up collecting $150$200.

“A little bit of the money was used to pay

T

he aroma of warm, baked goods fills the air on the morning of Thanksgiving Day. The holiday has finally arrived, and a feast awaits..

with them during Thanksgiving,” freshman Hana Wong said.

Finally, a great part of the Jefferson community still sticks to the tradition that With the diversity of the Jefferson Americans have followed for years: turkey, community, it’s inevitable that dishes influenced mashed potatoes, and pies of all different by other cultures will make their way to the fillings. dinner table on Thanksgiving.

While Thanksgiving means having a day off One such unique food that freshman to spend time with their families for many Jonathan Daniel eats for Thanksgiving is students, others see it simply as a day to feast Injera, a flatbread from East Africa and the on large amounts of food and enjoy the national dish of Ethiopia and Eritrea. bargain deals the day after.

Several of Jefferson’s Indian students, like “People use [Thanksgiving] as an excuse sophomore Ishan Lamba and freshman Medha to eat a lot and watch a football game when Gupta, eat typical Indian cuisine such as curry, there’s a lot of people who don’t have enough rice and fried eggplant. food to eat everyday,” said freshman Param Damle.

“Since I’m vegetarian, I find it really hard to celebrate Thanksgiving, but my family and I try With the excitement of food, shopping to make it better for ourselves by making our and a break from school surrounding this own native food like curry and rice,” Gupta day, it’s easy to lose the true meaning of said.

Thanksgiving— being thankful.

Some students deviate from tradition entirely “I believe that Thanksgiving is mainly about and enjoy special-occasion meals from their family,” sophomore Ishan Lamba said. “The own culture, such as freshman Julia Chen, who spirit of Thanksgiving creates a special bond eats hot pot, an East Asian style of stew. between everyone, so we are fantastic friends and have an amazing time together.”

On the other hand, others go for variations of tradition and make dishes flavored with From the traditional turkey, to curry and rice, seasonings from different cultures.

Thanksgiving meals are like a family bonding trip around the world, while serving as a “My dad grew up in Hawaii, so we decided reminder to be grateful for every opportunity. to have Hawaiian turkey in honor of his family because they live in Hawaii, [and] we can’t be

off a national competition we had done four months ago, and the majority of the money went to pay for the competitions we are doing this year.” sophomore Ishan Lamba said.

Bake sales have been around for over 120 years. Today they continue to succeed and make profits. However, many counties and states have banned bake sales due to the increase in childhood obesity rates and a concern for the overall health of the general public.

“I think Fairfax County is actually one of them where you are not allowed to do a bake sale in school without doing a bunch of paperwork, and it is very tedious, so the only times we can sell things is during J-Day,” Lamba said. “The thing we’ve been doing right now is raising the registration fees [for competitions], and so that allows us to pay for the bigger competitions. So, I think that even with bake sales being restricted we can find other ways to get money.”

SCI & TECH

SIEMENS SUCCESS

Lauryn Wu and Yoshihiro Saito Samantha Yap || Staff Writer

S

ophomores Lauryn Wu and Yoshihiro Saito worked for almost a year researching topological insulators. Their project sparks new possibilities for topological insulators, exotic materials that simultaneously conduct and insulate electrons.

“My partner and I discovered some new topological insulator materials, which can theoretically be used [at] room temperatures,” Wu said.

Since the only topological insulators discovered so far require low temperatures, Wu’s breakthrough has real world applications in quantum computers and spintronic devices, used to study the movement of electrons. The began to garner attention after three topologists won the 2016 Nobel Physics Prize.

“We wanted to do a topic related to physics, so [our mentor, physicist Xuan Luo,] pointed us in the direction of topological insulators because she knew it was a hot topic,” Wu said.

PHOTO // Samantha Yap

Sophomore Lauryn Wu researchedd topological insulators this sum-

Wu and her partner computed their significant results using ABINIT, mer at the National Graphine and Devlopment Center (NGRD). a software that allows one to calculate the total energy, charge density, and electronic structures of systems composed of electron and nuclei. protection.”

“It was hard in the beginning, because the software is something that PhDs use. A lot of the chemistry behind it was stuff I hadn’t learned,” Wu said.

Wu and her partner labored over their project during an 11 week camp at National Graphene Research and Development Center (NGRD).

Topological material, when a magnetic field is applied to it, conducts electrons around its boundaries. No matter how they are deformed, their boundaries remain conductors, hence the term “topological

“I spent eight to ten hours every day over the summer working on the project, so it’s not like you can find some cancer cure in two weeks,” Wu said. “You actually have to work on it.”

Kelly Cho and Harriet Khang

A

Natalie Homnyom || Staff Writer

fter making it into the regional finals round last year in the 2015 Siemens competition, juniors Kelly Cho and Harriet Khang competed again this year, becoming finalists, winning $1000 in scholarship money and earning the chance to represent the Georgia Institute of Technology region in the national competition. Their research focuses on creating effective biosensors to prevent arrhythmias, irregular heartbeats which affect blood clotting.

“We listened to this lecture talking about how because the method right now is not great, it takes a long time for it to work; [it] takes around thirty minutes, whereas ours takes around two minutes,” Khang said. “[The doctors] don’t know how much medicine to give to the patient based on their blood coagulation,”

The pair started their work on developing biosensors during last year’s competition, but came across the idea to detect blood coagulation factors after a visit to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

then we would be able to get funds for our mentor and ourselves to actually develop this biosensor more easily and quickly.”

Cho and Khang hope not to be limited by the results of the competition and to continue their work throughout the year. They aim to eventually publish their work and provide a quicker, more “[The] biosensor tracks, in simple terms, molecules in the blood in affordable alternative to the current tests implemented in hospitals. your body, the coagulation factors. We created a fast cost-effective “I think the main reason why we went to Siemens is because simple biosensor,” Cho said. “Right now, on the market, there aren’t we wanted to feel satisfied with our work; we wanted to be any sensors that can test the coagulation factors in a matter of acknowledged,” Cho said. “We really wanted to share our project minutes or indirectly quantify the coagulation.” and maximize its volume. If we got recognized in this community,

SCI & TECH

17

NOV 21, 2016

Elizabeth Ling

A

Shruthi Nyshadham || Staff Writer

n idea sparked by the changing face of the planet, developed through advanced mathematical calculations, and perfected over nearly a year of hard work came together for sophomore Elizabeth Ling on Oct. 19, when the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology named her a regional finalist.

Ling and her partner, sophomore Richard Lun, focused their project on the mathematics and physics of improving solar cells made with a material called perovskite. Recent research suggests that perovskite PHOTO // Shruti Nyshadham solar cells could outperform existing silicon solar cells in terms of cost and efficiency.

Sophomore Elizabeth Ling worked with sophomore Richard Lun on a research project about perovskite solar cells.

Richard Lun

S

globe.

“We performed calculations to get the properties of

some materials that can be used in solar cells to make [them] more efficient and environmentally friendly,” Ling said.

Environmental Science Olympiad events exposed Ling to the importance of environmental conservation, inspiring her to undertake this project.

“When you learn about the planet, there’s always that message in everything you learn that [the Earth] is kind of going away,” Ling said. “So we have to preserve our environment.”

With that goal in mind, she and Lun gathered enough research and calculations to span an 18-page paper. Ling believes that her experience writing an IBET paper as a freshman simplified the process of creating and polishing those 18 pages.

“The actual calculations we did were physics related, which I haven’t encountered yet at TJ. But we had to write a paper, so writing the IBET paper helped with that a lot,” Ling said.

Rather than an advantage in writing the paper, Ling believes it was hard work that helped them progress in the competition.

[Lun and I] both put in a lot of work since last December. We worked on [the project] every weekend and put in a lot of time over the summer.”

Sadhana Suri || Staff Writer

ophomore Richard Lun, regional finalist in the competition, aims to find a more efficient, cost-effective solar cell to be implemented as renewable source of energy all across the

“I chose this project because during my trip back to China in 2014 I could experience the serious pollution issue first-hand. This was the basis for our project and the initial approach was a lot of research beforehand to find a solution, eventually settling on perovskite solar cells,” Lun said.

Previous scientists have all used similar computational methods to solve the problem, by replacing the lead from the perovskite solar cells and replacing it with another metal. This gave rise to other problems, since this procedure wasn’t always in conjunction with the solar cell itself.

“They did find some alternatives, but the PCEs (power conversion efficiencies) were so low that they were not viable,” Lun said.

By the end of the project, Lun found the solution by replacing the lead and finding a much cheaper organic molecule and halide, and tuning the cell’s band gap to be in the optimal efficiency range.

There wasn’t always a clear hypothesis in mind, with much of the experiment relying on detailed calculations and methods to accomplish goals.

“Since we are not really able to create these solar cells in a lab without a significant research lab, we decided to do theoretical calculations of our proposed solar cell materials,” Lun said.

This, of course, required hours of meticulous planning to ensure that all work was perfect. Even the slightest misstep could result in a potential disaster for the investigation.

“There was a point in our experiment where we realized that the method we were using was skewing all of our results to be lower than they would be in real life,” Lun said. However, we realized that this is easily fixed, as the underestimation was linear so we could just increase all of our results by a certain value. It was quite a scare though, we thought all of our work was wrong.”

Much of science is good communication; that is, being able to present findings in a way that other professionals can understand and further the field.

“The most important skill we learned in this project was how to present our results to make them seem attractive and influential so people would invest in the idea that these solar cells actually have potential to change the world,” Lun said. “This is crucial, because even if you come up with something truly great, nobody will care if you aren’t able to present it well.”

DESIGN // Sabria Kazmi

18

SCI & TECH DESIGN // Angel Kim GRAPHIC // Angel Kim

S T get e w A p e le s e T th v. d e e n e S w The sleep P E E SL HOURS TJ SLEEPS ON AN AVERAGE NIGHT based on a survey of 270 srudents

BENEFITS OF SLEEP

epfoundation.org

higher alertness

less stress

>10 1% 8-10 <4 10% 6%

4-6 29%

better appetite

6-8 54%

information from sle

TIPS FOR GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP

29% set a schedule

feel they get enough sleep

limit caffeinated drinks sleep in a dark room

71%

feel they do not get enough sleep

TOO MANY SHEEP TO SLEEP Amena Choudry and Medha Gupta || STAFF WRITERS

T

he clock ticks past two as she frantically scrambles to finish the paper due the next day, dreading the quiz she still has to study for. A mere few hours later, she wakes up, stumbling out of her bed at five in order to catch her bus, barely managing to get through the school day while desperately trying to stay awake and alert. This is the reality that many Jefferson students are currently facing through attempting to balance extracurricular activities and maintaining grades.

“On the days when I get more sleep I do better because I’m more energized.” sophomore Varashini Babu said.

William Dement, MD, PhD, founder of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic further emphasized the importance of the effect of sleep deprivation on students.

“I think high school is the real danger spot in terms of sleep deprivation...What it means is that nobody performs at the level they could perform,” Dement said.

“I think in junior year, when I had really rough nights and Students our age are struggling to reach their full potential stuff like that, it wasn’t of the norm, because usually I used to whether it be in academics, athletics or eighth period activities. sleep around 11:00-11:30,” senior Prathik Naidu said. “Initially, However, junior David Yan believes his performance in after taking tests it was pretty hard. So I got affected then, but academics has significantly improved since he has began sleeping nowadays, not really...six hours of sleep max is probably normal.” later.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, high school “Most people say when you don’t get enough sleep, it makes students require approximately 8-10 hours of sleep to function you tired and you don’t feel as well but I found that since I go their best. Additionally, the University of Utah conducted a to sleep later, I have more time to study and all that,” Yan said. survey in 2014 which concluded over 90% of students are “My grades have actually gone up like a lot more compared to chronologically sleep deprived, which seems to hold true at sophomore and freshman year when I slept on time.”

Jefferson.

19

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SPORTS Senior Kiersten Paul celebrates with her team members at senior night

(ACE)ING THE SEASON A review of this season’s accomplishments and goals for next season

Aryaan Hussain || STAFF WRITER

“I think we did alright this year, but we could have won more games if we hadn’t made silly mistakes. Next year I think our team is going to be very strong especially with more offseason training, and I want to win more games.

Well we got new uniforms for starters, and I think that hyped the team up and we were more motivated.”

-Sophomore Reena Medavarapu

“I look forward to bonding with new teammates next year and going all out for the spirit days.”

-Sophomore Ellen Chen PHOTO // SABRIA KAZMI

PHOTO // Sabria Kazmi Seniors Sania Alli, Brittany Fogg, and Tamara Drpic hold up their senior night posters.

A Day in the Life of a Swimmer Natalie Homnyom and Ashley Huang || STAFF WRITERS

I

t’s 4:30 A.M. on a Monday; the sky is pitch black and all are asleep- except for sophomore Kaitlin Phan, who wakes up at this hour for morning swim practice three days of the week. In addition to a rigorous workload, every day, dozens of TJ swimmers make sacrifices to train for a sport they love. But, is this much dedication worth it?

miss class for practice. Junior Jonathan Pollock skips eighth periods and has online fourth periods to go to three-hour club practices every weekday. However, even with the time commitments, swimming does offer opportunities that swimmers would not have otherwise, such as chances for scholarships and a time to de-stress after a hard day.

“Sometimes I don’t have time to do homework, so I end up doing “[While] I feel disadvantaged, I also feel I have advantages other it on the bus, which I don’t like, [or] I can’t hang out with friends people don’t have, such as getting into colleges for recruiting or because I have a competition to attend,” Phan said. getting letters of recommendations [which are] advantages that Swimmers like freshman Sylvia Tan who started playing the sport other people don’t have for not swimming,” Pollock said. at a young age have integrated the sport into their lives. Tan not only While swimming is notorious for being a time consuming and has practice four days a week but also coaches young children aged strenuous sport, it has multiple benefits that many swimmers at 5-8 at Cub Run Recreation Center on Saturdays.

Jefferson can agree on.

“My mom signed me up when I was really young for fun,” Tan said. “I liked it so I stuck with it.”

Other swimmers at Jefferson are so dedicated to their sport, they

“[Swimming has] definitely lowered my stress levels; it’s gives me something to walk away from school from and think about for a little bit,” Pollock said. “The people you meet through swimming are great people, and it’s really an enjoyable experience.”

DESIG

SPORTS

21

NOV 21, 2016

DESIGN // CHRISTINE ZHAO

Freshman Mia Yang and senior Sharon Kim cheer on the varsity football team at their last game on Nov. 4.

CHEERFUL

but CHILLY

Cheerleading team bares warmups and the wintry weather PHOTO // Christine Zhao

Anushka Molugu || STAFF WRITER

“Everybody do the TJ rumble…” Their “On really windy days, the wind just goes bright smiles bring light through the dark into the warm-ups and it’s just really cold,” night. Their cheers bring joy to the crowd. sophomore Talia Carstoiu said.

But there’s more on their mind than the next One of the main reasons that the cheer. cheerleaders feel cold is due to how thin their Although these cheerleaders put on a big uniforms are; in addition, there are other smile to pep up the crowd, they’re hiding the drawbacks of the uniform. discomfort of their thin warm-ups. “[The warmup pants] are really long, so I “Sometimes, if I’m really cold, I just want to curl up into a ball or be at home under my blankets or something because it gets really cold when we’re not jumping,” junior Lilly Ko said.

The cold weather can become especially disagreeable when coupled with the chill of gusts of wind.

“When the uniforms are long, it’s hard to stunt because you can’t hold the flyer’s feet, so the flyers usually has to roll it up to the top so it doesn’t fall off during stunts,” Carstoiu said.

Although warm-ups and the weather can present a hassle for the cheerleading team, senior Sharon Kim finds the the warmups as a way to increase team unity and identity.

can’t walk,” Ko said. “I got a small and that’s what I usually wear but I have five inches left “We all wear them during school, and when on the edge so I’d be there rolling it up and we see each other in the hallways, we feel like before I jump if I don’t roll it up I slip on it we’re all part of the same community,” Kim when I land.” said. “It helps us feel more united and close In addition, warmups can cause difficulties to each other.” for the cheerleaders when performing stunts at football games.

GRAPHIC // CHRISTINE ZHAO

10,000

18

yards

swam per day

the length of

83

football

fields

hours

6 days a week

3 hrs a day

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Pollock

a week

22 SPORTS

THE START OF A NEW SEASON Jefferson students try out for winter sports Brian Park || STAFF WRITER

J

efferson students are waking up into the dark morning and going home into the cold night to put all their sweat and effort into participating in sports, as winter is fast approaching.

Also, while many tryouts have different methods to see who best qualifies for the team, the tryouts for TJSD are unique compared to those of other sports, and may continue to be for years to come at Jefferson.

Freshmen, new to the process have a good understanding of the process and what is needed before the actual tryouts start.

“Tryouts are held at Audrey Moore REC center, and after school we take the bus there,” sophomore Kaitlin Phan, who tried out for TJSD, said. “There are really two days of tryouts where you actually swim, but you have to show up to all four.”

“You need to turn in your physical, concussion education and an emergency care form,” freshman Michael Huang, who tried out for the basketball team, said. “Then, you need to turn in a tryout contract to coach.”

In addition, students believe that winter sports are increasing in popularity, and there are more team cuts than in past years.

“During my freshmen year there was no cutting because there weren’t enough people, but last year a lot of people tried out for indoor track so if people did not reach a certain time in an event they were cut,” junior Sherry Xie, who tried out for indoor track, said.”

Cutting also seems to be more common in the boys’ teams according to several students.

“Boys’ swim cuts a lot of people and most people who get in have to be much faster than the cutoff time,” sophomore Tiffany Grace, who tried out for Jefferson’s Swim and Dive (TJSD), said. “For girls’ swim, I don’t think a lot of people get cut. Last year for dive, no one was cut.”

GRAPHIC // Nikita Sivakumar

Photo courtesy of Brian Park

Coach Gray-Mendes gestures at players while senior Jashan Matharoo and junior Yadaven Saravanapavan wait on the sideline.

FALL SPORTS WRAP-UP

FOOTBALL SENIOR NIGHT

VOLLEYBALL SENIOR NIGHT

CHEER SENIOR NIGHT

FIELD HOCKEY SENIOR NIGHT

LOST 13-48

WON 3-0

FINISHED SIXTH

LOST 0-1

Nov. 6

Oct. 26

Nov. 4

Oct. 17

DESIGN // Avni Singh

SPORTS

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NOV 21, 2016

RE[CUP]ERATING H

The art of cupping explained

Samantha Yap, Shruthi Nyshadham || STAFF WRITERS

overing over her patient, the athletic trainer presses the suction cup on the skin with a pop. The patient’s skin swells to a discolored lump within it, similar to a gigantic bug bite.

This swelling is not something you would expect Heather Murphy, Jefferson’s athletic trainer, to inflict upon students, and it’s certainly not something you would expect those students to ask for.

What is this seemingly cruel and unusual punishment? Cupping, also known as Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM) is an ancient therapeutic technique proven to be effective at healing injuries related to the soft tissues of the body.

This ancient Chinese technique, recently popularized in the West by prominent athletes such as Michael Phelps, has been a staple at Jefferson since 2014. The longevity of cupping can be attributed to factors including its simplicity, cost effectiveness, and fast-acting nature.

“You don’t [need] any special training,” Murphy said. “A general knowledge of anatomy would be important so you know which way muscle fibers run.”

There are two main types of cupping.

During dynamic cupping, suctions are moved over the skin, while in stationary cupping, suctions sit on the skin for 15 minutes. “[Cupping] is good on upper body more than lower body, because lower muscles tend to have more fat tissue,” Murphy said. “We’ve seen a lot of benefit in our muscular skeletal injuries [from cupping].”

“Sometimes your body doesn’t heal correctly, [often] due to lack of blood flow bringing nutrients to the area,” Murphy explained. “So when you trap all the blood in [the skin under the cup], you’re bringing nutrients to an area deprived of them.”

However, that is not to say cupping does not have its downsides.

“The most obvious [side effect] is the red and purple circles you get,” junior Wonwook Do said.

After an injury, scar tissue forms around the injured area, making it difficult for the tissues to heal correctly. Cupping creates a small inflammation that resets the healing process, allowing tissues to heal normally.

When asked about the discoloration, many athletes crack jokes or even spin elaborate tales about octopus attacks. Along with the circles, other side effects may include lightheadedness, pain, and numbness.

“I take a couple of hits,” senior and football player Yadeen Rashid said.

“Cupping [speeds] up my recovery.”

Many Jefferson athletes began cupping after speaking to Heather Murphy about muscular soreness or injuries they experienced from their sport.

“Depending on where you put [the suction], you can trap a nerve [and] get a numb feeling,” Murphy said.

Despite these side effects, many athletes continue to use cupping to help them recover from injuries.

Photo courtesy of Samantha Yap and Shruthu Nyshadham

Sophomore athlete Justin Kim during and immediately after cupping therapy.

“Throwing in softball [uses] the same repetitive motion, so you have a lot of stress in your biceps and deltoids,” senior and softball player Sarah Crossen said. “I went to the athletic trainer and [cupping] was what she suggested.”

“A lot of people are like ‘why would you do [cupping]?’” Crossen said. “You have to have a little bit of a pain tolerance, but I think most athletes do. It’s a good pain in the long run.”

DESIGN // Avni Singh

OPINION LEAD EDITORIAL

What does it mean to volunteer?

How do personal motivations affect the output of service?

I

t’s rare that an act resulting in such positive change is perceived in such a negative light. But this is frequently the case when it comes to volunteering.

As a result of years of service hour requirements and college applications, the motivation behind completing a service project or bettering the community seems to have shifted. Today, picking up trash around the neighborhood is associated more with gaining service hours than it is with making the community a cleaner place.

But is this necessarily a bad thing, if the community is still improved for it?

55% of children from ages 12

If a certain service activity is driven more by a personal gain than a selfless one, the overall quality of the service is reduced. If your heart’s not in it, you’re not going to give it your all. Service becomes more a question of, “How can I tailor this to my resume?” or “How can I get my service hours the fastest?” rather than “How can I make a difference in the lives of others?”

Despite this, service is still service. Even though students may not have the purest intentions in volunteering for local organizations, they are still making change--change that they might not otherwise make in the absence of a service hour requirement.

In addition, making service mandatory causes students to allot time for it in their hectic schedules, creating an environment in which the service is feasible in the first place.

If not for the importance of service hours on college applications, it’s unlikely that many students would take this initiative or make this time on their own. Who knows? A trip to the animal shelter for service hours could result in a newfound passion for working with animals, or a venture to clean local ponds could foster curiosity about the environment and climate change. The numerous benefits of service are hard to see simply at face value, and mandatory service is service all the same.

The bottom line is, few actions are truly selfless in nature. A student who volunteers at a summer camp out of passion, not for service hours, does so for his/her own pleasure and enjoyment in addition to that of others. Even selfless service finds its way onto college and internship applications. This doesn’t shine a negative light on this type of service--in fact, it’s laudable-- but it does call to attention that the discussion on volunteerism demands a change in perspective.

At the end of the day, what matters most is not the hours gained, but the change made - and change knows no hour requirement.

to

18

do community service

3

out of 4 students

who participate in community service do it through religious or youth organizations GRAPHIC // Ankit Agrawal

OPINION

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NOV 21, 2016

RE[SEARCHING] FOR THE REWARD

How innovative and new is the rigorous science research that the Siemens Competition inspires?

Christine Zhao|| TEAM LEADER

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n a research-driven environment like ours, placing 27 of our students as Siemens semifinalists seems almost commonplace.

In 2016, Jefferson students submitted nearly 50 team and individual projects to the Siemens Competition. Nineteen of them advanced to the semi-finalist stage. Of those nineteen, three, which included five Jefferson students, earned their place as the only three projects that were finalists from the entire state, marking a tremendous feat for the finalists and our school.

and jealous emotions truly begin to kick in.

I was in utter shock that there were so many finalists, many of whom I knew, many from our own school. At the same time, I was in bitterly envious, envious of students who could look to a mentor for assistance while my partner and I had had to survive our own grueling experience mostly on our own.

The paper was not written for these students by anybody else. The research that these students had completed was not done for them by anybody else. And most importantly of all, the ideas were not even spoon-fed to those students by anybody else.

The students had an active role in every aspect of the process; partners bounced ideas and topics off of each other before deciding on one of common interest; teams dedicated those hours by their own will, and dedicated extra hours outside of the normal 15 purely through their own perseverance. The instructor only served the role of the That’s why I was mentor in the intern-mentor kind at once curious, of relationship, and although shocked, intrigued, requiring $10,000 in tuition horrified, jealous, Photo courtesy of Siemens Foundation is a bit extreme, the cost is and later furious, understandable since the mentor when a family friend began listing familiar We had no guidance during the large body isn’t being paid over the summer in grant names as success stories of their Siemensof our time spent researching, and had hit money like a regular professor is. driven organization. This family friend began literally hundreds of obstacles and dead-ends, So even though I don’t agree with the by explaining the existence of a business that left for us to figure out without any help premise of the program, I can understand actively recruits magnet school students to its or guidance. I was shocked that I had not why parents and students may feel obligated rigorous research program, designed to churn known about this sooner, and resentful that to pursue scientific research in this way. out competition-ready papers and projects. others had had an experienced mentor to The organizer of this program provides a guide them through the research. An hour This internship-like program puts its systematic structure to independent research, after the friend left, the furious part of me participants through 15 hours a week of which can be satisfying to those who prefer research and presentations starting from June kicked in when I realized that the research the safety of order rather than the uncertainty lasting throughout August. The tuition is high, my partner and I had painstakingly done was of the unknown. being purchased by others, and even garnered growing into the tens of thousands, but the better results than what we had accomplished As of now, I don’t agree with putting results prove its effectiveness; all but two of students through a regimented summer in their pupils became semifinalists in Virginia, independently. Titles were bought, and the order to enter a science competition, but in spirit of inquiry in “independent research” and many became Maryland’s and Virginia’s seemed to be less important than the taste of the end, are these pupils’ efforts truly any select handful of regional finalists different from that of the typical intern? success.

However, only when the family friend began However, on further reflection, that checking off program participants from the conception of mine was partly misguided and semifinalist and finalist list did my horrified liable to counter-arguments and controversy.

DESIGN // Sabria Kazmi

26 OPINION

RETAKING A LOOK AT RETAKES

Opinions around the school on the FCPS policy “If students strive to maintain high standards of academic achievement, the retake policy really shouldn’t be an issue. It shouldn’t be used except for very extenuating circumstances to begin with.

Personally, I haven’t had to make use of the retake policy and I think that should be the case for all students.”

PHOTO // Neha Sinha

- Senior Victoria Bevard “I wish that you could get a retake more than once per quarter, per class because the whole point of a retake policy is to improve but if you bad on two tests then you can only improve on one that kind of is not good.”

- Freshman Sanjana Meduri

PHOTO // Neha Sinha

MEDHA GUPTA || STAFF WRITER

“Well the retake policy is good for those students who really benefit from the whole tool. Which is they should make sure that all those things they were failing in the first take actually are being revised and covered and understood.

Otherwise, I think it’s a little waste of time.

If the students seriously look over the test and see what things were wrong and take the time to review with the teacher I think it helps….we’re trying to make sure whatever failed the first time is not going to be a problem the second time.”

- Dr. Del Cerro

“I think it’s good but usually people that do poorly on tests get around like 75s sometimes it takes a lot of work to put in the effort to retake it and it affects your grade like 0.5% or something. So I think it’s good for people who fail a test dramatically which happens to everybody but it doesn’t really affect much if you get like a 70 or something. I took it once but I only got back 4 points because I got a 76 or something and it didn’t affect my grade dramatically it was like 1%” - Sophomore Aaron Wadhwa DESIGN // Sabria Kazmi

OPINION

27

NOV 21, 2016

PHOTO // Neha Sinha

- Junior Mihir Patel

“I think it’s fair that we get an option to retake if we do bad on a test.I also like how it’s not every single test so we can’t bomb every test and then retake on it. So I think it’s a fair policy.”

- Freshman Megan Dass

RAISING AWARENESS:

A monthly satire column tackling TJ’s issues Bayliss Wagner|| TEAM LEADER

P

eering into Jefferson’s empty restrooms during 1st period, one would see clean, gray, plastic stalls, sinks with mirrors, red, white and blue tiles and some overzealous automatic toilets.

Some would say that these are a great improvement over the bathrooms of yesteryear, in which toilets constantly broke down, stalls doors were falling off the hinges, and mirrors were stained.

NATURE CALLS In the veritable quest for an open stall, students lose themselves

Therefore, we lose education time: brightly painted Punnett squares will never again teach us about the probability of inheriting a recessive gene while we do our business. Not only that, but I haven’t seen graffiti on a single stall. Where did the scribbled “Thomas Jefferson High School for Stoners and Thugs” go? Are we even a high school anymore?

The long lines during passing periods also hinder education.

Junior Kayanaat Grewal values class time enough that she neither comes late to class nor leaves during class to use the bathroom, but by no fault of her own, her bodily functions consume focus that she needs for class.

“I never have enough time to go the bathroom,” she said.

Physical exertion punishes “It makes me really stressed those intrepid enough to brave out in class and I cannot Under the surface of these the long lines because of liber- fully direct all my attention to shiny, new bathrooms, though, al spacing between restrooms. learning.” hides the erosion of values, individuality and hygienic habits “I have really short legs, so I When students can no longer of the entire school commu- have to run to pee and make ignore the call of nature, nity. According to senior and it back to class,” senior Laura teachers regard them with regular restroom user Ankush Chu said. suspicion instead of support.

Joshi, the bathrooms were designed to reinforce the con- Senior Kirubel Aklilu wished “A lot of my teachers think formist qualities that he feels to increase awareness of I’m trying to skip class when the Jefferson administration another vexation that has I try to go to the bathroom encourages. occurred at Jefferson in new during class, but it’s not my bathrooms and old. fault [that] all these freshmen “I think when TJ got are going to the bathroom renovations it lost a lot of its “People need to improve [during passing period] like it’s character, and that definitely their hand washing abilities Mecca,” said Aklilu. happened in the bathroom,” because in past years I’ve seen he said. “Before, the comclass of 2016, class of 2015 Clearly, though it is said that munity left its mark on TJ by just walk out [of] the bathconstipation is a symptom of painting in the bathrooms room with dry hands,” Aklilu stress, we must be aware and drawing symbols of said. “It’s grimy.” that stress is a symptom of art and biology and things constipation. that they were passionate about. Now it’s all become [uniform], like the type of students that TJ hopes to spit out.”

DESIGN // Bayliss Wagner

“I honestly think people shouldn’t have a retake policy because it’s just encouraging people to procrastinate. It honestly hasn’t affected my grades much. I mean, it’s nice to have a second shot in Physics because in AP Physics they don’t have a grade limit for the second retake.”

ENTERTAINMENT STRANGE CASTING

Marvel’s new Doctor Strange switches the gender and race of the Ancient One. MiJin Cho || Business Manager

D

octor Strange thought he knew all, had seen all, and heard all about the anatomy of a human body from his years as a surgeon. It was only after countless numbers of experimental trials on his injured hands that he discovered that healing of the body may come from a mystical world of magic through the guidance of the Ancient One.

of a boy changes the dynamic between Dr. Strange and the Ancient One. [In one scene], the Ancient One was dying and the sorcerer held her hand. If it was a guy, it would probably have a different connotation. It changes the story, the overall outlook, and my opinion of the movie,” senior Radhika Agrawal said.

First created by Steve Ditko, in “Strange Tales #110”, the While some critics view the casting decision as the result character, Dr. Strange, later found a permanent spot in Marvel of the quality of acting, others find the change in race as a Comics’s Doctor Strange series. After ranking 83rd in Wizard’s classic example of whitewashing, or assimilating to a white, “200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of All Time” list in western culture, in the Hollywood moviemaking business.

2008, the comic was released as a movie on Nov 4.

I think [whitewashing] detracts from the culture. In a movie, “It’s the imagination that [we] expect diversity between the people, actors especially,” perks my attention. It’s sophomore SJ Kachru said. “But if the [producers] explain actually really cool to me the background and if they honestly thought she was better that someone can come up actress, you don’t know for sure if it was whitewashing.” with these ideas through The issue of choosing to use a character of one race the perspective of a super over another brings the school’s combinations of Asian, human’s life,” freshman Caucasian, Hispanic, and other cultures into a positive Sanika Karandikar said. perspective.

While having received a 90% by Rotten Tomatoes and 4/5 from Common Sense Media, the film is also recognized for changing the race and gender of Ancient One. While illustrated as an Asian male in the comics, the character was played by T ilda Swinton in its movie production.

“At TJ, we are a lot more embracing of other cultures.

If we spread that influence outside of just TJ and made it more of a global thing, it would definitely be possible to change the culture [of America]. More people are noticing it.

More people are outspoken about it, which is a good thing,” Agrawal said.

Regardless of the decisions in the cast for the movie, a message prevailed in the changes in Doctor Strange’s character. This message calls to attention that attitude is key in any success.

“Maybe [the producers] wanted more diversity and gender ratio. Maybe they found the “He was an arrogant, egotistical female to be a better actor. I don’t really consider the gender doctor, rich beyond comprehension. or race of the actor or actress in the situation. I just consider how well they acted. I thought they acted well,” junior Naman And he had injured himself to the point where he could not perform his Baraya said. career or do normal, mundane tasks,” Through the movie’s use of a female mentor, rather than freshman Parthiv Chigurupati said. the male spiritual leader in the Marvel Comics series, viewers “He changed in the fact that he had an saw changes in the relationship between the protagonist, Dr. understanding of the greater good, and Strange, and Ancient One. not just about money.”

“It changes the story in a way because having a girl instead

Photo courtesy of marvel.wikia.com

ENTERTAINMENT

25

NOV 21, 2016

LAST ONE IN THE BLACK BOX TJ Drama performs their last show in the black box theater before the opening of the auditorium.

Natalie Homnyom, Miko Miwa, Lilia Qian || STAFF WRITERS

A

s one of the programs affected by the loss of space due to constant renovations, the drama department look forward for a new stage for the performances.

Without an auditorium for their current ongoing shows, the theater program had to perform this year’s fall play, “The Diary of Anne Frank”, in the black box theater like their previous two productions. Members of the cast agree that the black box has turned out to be a more suitable environment to portray the annex in which the play is set.

“She’s trapped in this annex but still happy.

This play reflects [Anne’s] lighthearted nature: how she’s trying to make the best out of a bad situation.”

-Junior Masha Goykhberg “The reason that Anne Frank’s diary became so famous is because most retellings of the Holocaust are really sad,” junior and head of costumes Masha Goykhberg said. “She’s trapped in this annex but still happy. This play reflects [Anne’s] lighthearted nature: how she’s trying to make the best out of a bad situation.”

Between building a two-story set and dealing

with technical aspects of the show, the cast and crew have been hard at work, facing the challenges that come with working in the black box’s confined space. Along the way, they encountered several difficulties while adapting to the black box setup, including adjusting for lack of microphones, cutting back on makeup and manually adjusting lights and stage setups.

“With the play in the black box, we have a very limited amount of space to work with, both for the actors and for the techs,” junior Joey Kwon said. “It’s a really big time commitment; you have to focus and get work done the entire time to balance homework and this production. It’s very intensive work that we don’t often get recognized for.”

Despite the amount of tasks to accomplish in a small theater, the production was prepared for opening night, with a completed two-story set and numerous rehearsals.

“We built a two-story set in about one or two weeks, which is really difficult,” Goykhberg said.

“I think that it’s really proven to us that we can do something that massive in such a short time.

If we set our mind to something, we can actually do it.”

PHOTO // MiJin Cho DESIGN // MiJin Cho

Senior Juliana Gruver, playing the role of Anne Frank, ponders at her desk.

Anne Frank leaves a message with the audience.

30 ENTERTAINMENT

From trick, S a new for a t demo holds

EIGHTH PERIOD BLOCKBUSTERS Lilia Qian || STAFF WRITER

Just how awesome?

Awesome Association club shows movies in weekly eighth period blocks

E

ighth period takes on a new purpose: relaxation. Setting itself apart from the usual club commitments, Awesome Association holds movie showings on Wednesdays, throughout A and B block, offering students an opportunity to unwind in the midst of stressful school weeks.

The club shows movies from several genres, from heartfelt animated classics to futuristic science fiction films. Movies they’ve shown include “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” “Gravity,” “Spirited Away,” “Zootopia,” “The Avengers,” “Ghostbusters” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The wide variety attracts a large audience. However, it’s not just the movies that bring in a crowd. For many, the club is an opening in their day to escape the weight of their classes.

“It was a great opportunity for me to get away from school stress, and just sit down and watch a movie,” sophomore DJ Jassal said.

“The club was really lenient and even if you didn’t want to watch the movie, you could sit at the back

Attendees rate movies shown during Awesome Association: Iron Man 3

“It was exciting and intense but also pretty funny. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen but it was pretty entertaining throughout.” of the classroom and do whatever you wanted to do.”

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

Students who visit the club often use the time to loosen up after tough days at school.

The commitment-free nature is appealing to many who seek a low-pressure environment to decompress, away from usual clubs and work.

“I feel like the club is a great place to de-stress, and it’s different from normal clubs which you have commitments to because those can also add on to your amount of stress,” Jassal said. “It can be really helpful having a non-stressful place to go when you are going through stressful times.”

Spirited Away

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

Although attendance for the club is on a drop-in basis, the club can expect to continue seeing regular attendance for their eighth period silver-screen showings from stressed students. “[I went to Awesome Association when] I heard they were playing Ghostbusters. I needed a period to rest. I thought it was fun and relaxing after a difficult week,” sophomore Serena Xia said.

- Junior Noah Barnes

“Kind of hard to go wrong with Spirited Away. It has deeper meanings, a mesmerizing setting, beautiful art, intriguing characters” - Sophomore Arravind Sudhakar

Zootopia

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

“Even though I like animated movies this one was kind of predictable. [I would] probably not [recommend it to others]. It was just cheesy.”

- Sophomore Esther Chin

ENTERTAINMENT

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NOV 21, 2016 From left to right, top row to bottom row: Freshman Sabrina Atkin practices a trick, Senior Nikhil Shirolkar impresses the participant of the demonstration with a new trick, A student reveals a card used in the trick, A student picks out a card for a trick, A club member shuffles a deck of cards, Senior Siddhartha Edara demonstrates how to create a waterfall effect with a deck of cards, A student holds out a deck of cards

DESIGN // Angel Kim

ENCHANTING ILLUSIONISTS

T

Magician’s Alliance tricks and amazes students with fascinating acts

Valerie Nayak || STAFF WRITER

wo students, and one hope of teaching magic. The Magician’s Alliance club was founded by Siddhartha Edara and Nikhil Shirolkar with the intent of turning students into young magicians. They had been looking to start the club for a while, but were able to get a sponsor this year.

talent show, as well as a showcase of their own in December.

are interested in learning magic, but don’t know much about it, to join the club and explore a new hobby. At the beginning of the block, students are split up into three groups; those who want to watch magic performances, those who don’t know magic but want to learn and those who know some basic magic and want to move on to advanced magic. The club is especially helpful for beginners who don’t have the abilities and confidence to practice in front of spectators outside the club.

“The club really taught me how to get people’s attention and how to teach people magic,” Shirolkar said. “When people come to the club not knowing magic, haven’t even seen me perform, I have to get their attention and get them interested in what I have to teach them.”

“On Dec. 2, we’re planning on having a show,” Edara said.

“We’re trying to get one of the bigger rooms to try and fit more people.”

Edara and Shirolkar haven’t finalized any plans yet, but they “We each started doing magic tricks individually when we do have an idea of what they will perform at the showcase. were younger, but when we met up in high school, that’s when “We’re planning on doing a duel between [Edara and I],” we decided to start a club because our friends really enjoyed Shirolkar said. watching our magic tricks and a lot of them wanted to learn themselves,” Shirolkhar said. “So we decided that we’re both Creating and running the club has also taught the two interested in sharing our magic so we should start a club.” presidents valuable lessons. Shirolkar learned about performing and has become a better explainer when helping others learn.

Both Shirolkar and Edara actively encourage students who

“In the beginner’s group, we teach them the basic elements of magic, such as sleight of hand, and distraction,” Shirolkar said. “Last week, for example, we had three underclassmen come who didn’t know any magic, and they practiced among themselves. At the end of the block, we have these beginners perform for the rest of the people. I came over to watch and help them practice, and at the end they performed for some of the seniors who already know magic.”

In addition, Magician’s Alliance has also decided to put on shows that people outside of the club can come watch. The co-presidents are planning on having the club perform at the

For Edara, one of the main takeaways has been passing his knowledge down to newcomers, since he also was a beginner not too long ago.

“While I run the club, I’m sort of reminiscing about how I started learning magic and how difficult it was for me to learn,” Edara said.“I picked up card tricks, and at first, it was kind of tough because if you don’t have a proper sleight of hand mechanism, you mess up all the time. I would do tricks in school and I was still working on them and practicing. Having a magic club, the benefit is that everyone there is trying to learn magic so you’re not going to get criticized, so I think that the club really helps develop the interest and growth while doing magic.”

“

Instead of focusing on [a certain college] you need to focus on what you are best at. Go to that university. There’s another school out there that is going to fit you PERFECTLY and you are going to go there and be HAPPY.

[Teachers] are here to help [the students].

We [teachers and students] are a TEAM and we really DEPEND ON EACH OTHER.

PHOTO // Alexa Nguonly REPORTING // Alexa Nguonly DESIGN // Katherine Du

[If] you see somebody that is French and you can say “Hello” or “Thank you” or basic simple words [in French], it MAKES EVERYBODY FEEL BETTER because you are trying to understand each other by attempting to learn something other than English.

I think that a lot of the things that the kids do at TJ is geared towards ‘I want to get into [college].’ It’s not towards ‘HOW CAN I BE A BETTER PERSON.’ It’s not all about where you want to go in the FUTURE; it’s about where you are TODAY.

”

TEACHER

ALEXANDRA POU || WHAT I VE LEARNED