Vol. 43 Issue 13

YOUNG DEMOCRATS County leftwingers reflect on year.

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EVERY 15 MINUTES Students reflect on an inspiring and educational Spring Project.

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PHOTO FRENZY Beloved photo store goes out of business.

VOLLEYBALL Boys’ volleyball remains undefeated.

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Volume 43, Issue 13- Thomas S. Wootton High School - 2100 Wootton Parkway - Rockville, MD 20850 - May 1, 2014

Sophie Lehrenbaum and Katie McRae editors-in-chief Freshman Ryan Walden died at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital on Friday, April 25, surrounded by family. Ryan was hospitalized and in critical condition after a suicide attempt on April 22.

“We will always remember Ryan as someone who brought kindness and joy into everyone and everything in life...he was blessed to have so many good friends,” the Walden family said.

The community mourns the loss of Ryan, who was an exceptional student, athlete and friend.

Ryan was very close with his twin brother, Matthew, and his brother, Nick, a senior. “Wootton is a caring community,” Principal Dr. Michael Doran said. “Ryan has two wonderful brothers here and I know you will show them your

compassion and love.”

Ryan is remembered as caring and good-natured person by students and teachers alike. “He had a lot of real, close friends and was very well liked,” Ryan’s guidance counselor Rob Kurtz said.

As an athlete, Ryan has been widely recognized for his love of soccer. He played on a club soccer team that had been together for a long time. Ryan also played in school during his specialty soccer physical education course taught

by James Long. Long has taught all three of the Walden siblings, and describes them as great people, as well as great athletes.

“He was a beautiful child,” Long said. “There’s no rhyme or reason. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just some people’s time, but everyone who is still here feels like it wasn’t his time.”

Whether it be skiing or climbing trees with friends, Ryan enjoyed the outdoors. Freshman Luna She remembers the

times she spent with Ryan, riding roller coasters at Six Flags, holding diving contests at Rockshire pool and going over to friends’ houses to watch movies together.

“He was the most wonderful boy who could bring a smile to anyone’s face,” She said. “He was the sweetest, most caring boy.”

When speaking to those who knew Ryan, his bright smile is a common theme that surfaced.

“Ryan was always smiling. When I picture him in my head, he is beaming and radiant. His friendship was priceless to me,” freshman Jenna Messing said.

As a student Ryan was math and science oriented, described as a problem solver who liked the complexity of ideas and abstract thinking.

“Ryan had an inquisitive mind, a loving, joyful spirit and an infectious smile,” the Walden family said.

Even those who did not know Ryan personally have reached out and expressed their support to the Walden family through mediums such as Facebook and Twitter.

“Ryan’s sudden death reminds us how precious life is.

We already miss him,” the family said.

Counselors and county-provided psychologists will be available in the school to support students as they work through Ryan’s death.

Students are encouraged to talk to their counselors, friends and family as well.

“This news is shocking and difficult to understand for all of us,” Dr. Doran said. “It is at times like this that we help and support each other, and I know that is what we will do now.”

Please do not hesitate to contact the school at (301) 2798550 if you have any concerns, or the Montgomery County Crisis Center, which is available 24 hours at (240) 777-4000.

The votes are in: SSHS raises political awareness

Beauty blossoms in Washington, D.C.

Emily Yu staff writer

The Social Studies Honors Society is holding a voter registration drive during the month of April to spread awareness about voting eligibility to as many students as possible.

According to the State of Maryland’s website, anyone who is a U.S. citizen, is a Maryland resident and has not been convicted of a felony is eligible to vote. A rule that most people are not aware of is that 16-year-olds can register to vote.

The Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) website states that by federal law, residents are given the opportunity to register to vote during a driver’s license transaction; it is more commonly known as the ‘Motor Voter’ law. “[Social Studies Honors Society hopes] that most people are choosing to register when they get their driver’s license,” AP Government teacher Christy Rice said.

Although the voting process starts at age 16, voters are not able to cast a ballot unless he or she is at least 18 years old by Nov. 4, which is the day of the next general election. Students who are currently 17-years-old and meet the other requirements are eligible to vote in the primary election on June 24.

Senior Joy Wang obtained her permit when she was 16 years old.

Now 18, Wang is still not registered to vote, yet plans to register soon in time for the general election. “It is good that [the state of Maryland] wants to encourage people to get involved in politics, but it is not a major concern for high school students,” Wang said.

Some people feel that 16 years old is too early of an age to allow for voter registration. “People at our age are not well educated enough to make important decisions involving our personal lives,” junior Kevin Li said. see VOTER REGISTRATION, page 2

Cherry blossoms bloom in the nation’s capitol.

Matt Silverman staff writer To celebrate the beginning of spring in the nation’s capital, locals and tourists from all over the world visited the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., from March 20 to April 13.

The main attraction is the cherry blossoms themselves: flowery pink and white blooms on the perfectlyspaced trees that line the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial. Sophomore Daniel Alborta, who visited this year’s festival, described the event as “breathtaking.”

“Just seeing the cherry blossoms was like being in another world of peace and serenity,” Alborta said.

For sophomore Kevin Chung, who traveled to D.C. with Alborta, it was the diversity of the festival’s attendees that resonated. “There were people of all ages, of all ethnicities, dressed in all kinds of attire,”

Photo by Takayuki Wakabayashi

said Chung. “One could easily see the vast diversity that is present in the heart of our country. The festival reminded me of how America is such a large cultural smorgasbord.”

The Cherry Blossom Festival started originally as a gift from one nation to another, but over time it has come to be reason for people to gather together despite their differences.. “The trees of course were the main attraction and were great for pictures, but it was interesting to see the variety of people there. All races were represented with young people and old alike, and it was a great snapshot of how festivals can bring out the best in people,” sophomore Nameer Qureshi said.

In 1912, Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo sent 3,000 cherry blossom trees to D.C. as a gift and sign of amnesty between the United States and Japan. The National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates the relationship see CHERRY BLOSSOMS, page 4

News

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Common Sense - May 1,. 2014

News Briefs Voter registration drive sparks awareness from Voter Registration, page 1

Boston, Massachusetts

118th Boston Marathon After last year’s bombings at the Boston marathon, the city rallied and proceeded to continue the annual race. On April 21 36,000 runners lined up for the start in the annual Boston marathon. The marathon introduced a huge increase of security and surveillance to ensure the events of the last marathon would not repeat itself.

Under the slogan of Boston Strong, which was created to showcase the city’s resiliency in the face of terrorism, the marathon went on hitch free.

Los Gatos, California Netflix CEO increases prices After years of waiting Netflix CEO Reed Hastings finally has gone public with their plan to increase subscription prices.

Current viewers pay $7.99 a month. According to Hastings current viewers will have a “generous time period” before prices are increased. For new subscribers the cost will slowly rise in the upcoming months. Netflix reports that their expanding library and new surge of original content including House of Cards, featuring Hollywood powerhouse Kevin Spacey, is what is fueling the price increase.

New York, New York Colbert takes over for Letterman David Letterman, long time Late Show host, plans to retire at the start of 2015. To fill in his place CBS has decided to give the position to Steven Colbert.

CBS signed Colbert to a five-year deal a week after Letterman’s announcement of retirement. CBS chose Colbert because of the reputation of his own show. The Colbert show is planning to run into late 2014. The producers of The Late Show are still deciding the proper time to switch Letterman with Colbert, as well as hiring the right writers and directors to keep the show at its high standard.

-Myles Romm staff writer

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Concerns about political party affiliation have also risen in light of the Maryland state law. “If you register as a moderate, you do not get to vote in the primary election. Making children choose a political party before they even know what party they want to belong to will be interesting,” AP U.S. History teacher Anne-Marie Steppling said.

Others believe that the voting requirements only allow for more opportunities for high school students, ultimately benefiting them.

“Considering how many students

photo by Ben Feshbach Social Studies Honors Society held a voter registration drive to raise awareness about voter eligibility.

might be eligible to vote but do not know that themselves, the voter registration drive aims to make eligibility to vote more lucid to the student population. Voting is essential to the vitality of our democracy, and the more young people vote, the less of a right we have to complain about the outcome of elections,” junior and Social Studies Honors Society member Ben Feshbach said.

Eligible students who are interested in registering to vote can pick up and complete a form found in their social studies classrooms, then drop it off in Rice’s classroom, room 161.

US government spurs Cuban political unrest Sarayu Iyer staff writer The US government quietly sponsored the creation of ZunZuneo, a Cuban social networking site, to spur unrest and pave the way for political change.

In the US, social media and cell phones are used by teens and adults alike for a variety of reasons: entertainment, communication of ideas, information, etc.

However, in Cuba, government tightly controls Internet usage and other means of technology, which has made it difficult for Cuban citizens to express themselves via social networking.

The program for young adults arose as a forum for them to voice their opinion on a variety of pressing topics that surround Cuba. “[We wanted to] recreate what, essentially is, a Cuban version of Twitter,” Associated Press reporter Jack Gillum said.

ZunZuneo started in 2009 when it gained access to half a

million Cuban cell phone num- illegal. Despite the word choice bers and began spamming them that surrounds Cuban Twitter, with information and satirical it is still deemed shady by some. jokes. At first, the project was “The bottom line was that the deemed successful because us- people who used the service, the ers could easily send messages CEOs who were interviewed to to thousands of followers with- run the service were never aware out prohibition from the Cuban that it was backed by Uncle g over nSam,” ment.

Gillum The said in a [We wanted to] recreate what, USAIDpress reessentially is, a Cuban version of funded lease. prog ram Even Twitter,” has spent amidst

Jack Gillum a total disapassociated press reporter of about proval $1.6 milfor their lion on camouthe proflaged gram that program, is bethe U.S. ing described as discreet rather government defends their efthan secret. The Cuban Twitter fort to provide Cubans with program is considered a democ- the opportunity to express their racy promotion program and is views. “We believe that the Cuthereby legal under US law. If ban people need platforms like the program had begun under this to use themselves to decide intelligence agencies, such as the what their future will look like, CIA, it would have been deemed and that’s certainly what we did

here,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in an interview with CNN. Social media puts political and social power in the hands of young adults, the next generation of leaders and activists, but it is up to them to use it intelligently.

“I think in America people tweet about daily activities, like eating and homework, while in Cuba people are taking advantage of the social media to voice their opinions about things with true value,” junior Anh Le said.

ZunZuneo ultimately crashed in June of 2012 after becoming too widespread in a short amount of time. The program gained about 40,000 users, but was unable to support the costs of “spamming” thousands of dollars worth of text messages each month.

It is unclear now if USAID will continue with programs like ZunZuneo in other parts of the world.

can donate up to $2,500 per election to federal candidates and up to $30,800 per calendar year to a national party committee.

In addition, the act also limited the total sum of money individuals can donate over two years.

An individual may contribute no more than a total of $46,200 to all federal candidates, and no more than $70,800 to all federal political action and political party committees.

McCutcheon challenged the latter part of the act, which set limit on the aggregate sum of donations an individual could contribute to a candidate or political party. “[McCutcheon] filed the lawsuit initially with a strong belief that the government should not impose a limit on how many candidates or political parties an individual is allowed to support in any election cycle,” McCutcheon’s public website stated.

The Supreme Court finally decided that the First Amendment freedom of expression of the individuals able and willing to exceed the donation cap was more significant than the possible disproportionate influence of a few elite minorities over the majority.

AP NSL student Anika Verma believes the decision could lead to corruption in elections. “[Elections] are going to be rigged. People are going to take advantage of [the decision],” Verma said.

On the other hand, many students think that the decision will have no effect on federal elections.

“I think [the decision] is fine,” sophomore and AP NSL student Rahin Chowdhury said.

Campaign finance reform is a large portion of NSL curriculums all over the nation.

The recent Supreme Court decision left many students and teachers baffled over which decisions to cover and review for the upcoming exams.

“AP NSL teachers are going to have a few years where we are going to teach the old decisions because the College Board writes the AP exam a few years in advance. I hope the College Board will make a statement when they change the curriculum. But, NSL classes have talked about the new case.

If students see anything about campaign finance on the AP exam we have told them to follow the old decisions,” AP NSL teacher Christina Rice said.

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Supreme Court strikes limits on campaign contributions Aparna Natarajan staff writer An individual could only donate a total of $117,000, or twice the value of the nation’s median household income, to political candidates and committees until April 2. The Supreme Court struck down the limits as unconstitutional in a 5-4 vote, after a wealthy Alabama businessman felt it violated his First Amendment rights.

Shaun McCutcheon, a member of the Jefferson County Republican Party Executive and Steering Committees in Alabama, was the defendant in the case of McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, which was heard in October.

The case challenged the limits on individual campaign contributions set by the Federal Election Commission Act. “[The act] sought to limit the disproportionate influence of wealthy individuals and special interest groups on the outcome of federal elections,” the Federal Election Commission website stated.

The Federal Election Commission Act the case argued against states that an individual

“Where enough money calls the tune, the general public will not be heard. Insofar as corruption cuts the link between political thought and political action, a free marketplace of political ideas loses its point,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in a dissenting opinion.

The same act was similarly challenged 38 years ago in the famous Buckley v. Valeo case.

While Buckley v. Valeo did state that individual donations were a form of free speech protected under the First Amendment, the court also said that campaign donations must be capped to prevent an elite minority from squashing the majority representation in governments through their monetary influence over elections.

The Supreme Court decision ignored this precedent. “If the First Amendment protects flag burning, funeral protests and Nazi parades—despite the profound offense such spectacles cause—it surely protects political campaign speech despite popular opposition,” Justice Roberts said in the court’s majority opinion.

Student’s opinions vary similarly to the Supreme Court justices’ opinions. Sophomore and

News

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Common Sense - May 1, 2014

Minority scholar students march to close race achievement gap

Joey Castelli staff writer

For the first time in Montgomery County history, members of Minority Scholars Program (MSP) marched on Sunday, April 27, from the County Council building to the entrance of the Montgomery County District Court building. The march was an attempt to raise awareness for the growing academic achievement gap among Hispanic or Black minorities as opposed to Caucasian and Asian students in school systems across the nation. The event starts at 10 a.m. with a breakfast and the actual march began 1:15 p.m.

MSP leaders are optimistic about the implications of the march, hoping that the march will have had a positive impact on the community and spawn changes in the system to focus on equality and the future of education for all students. “Building of our community and reaching out that has the potential for students themselves to have a seat at the table. In the short term coming together across the county with all the high

schools in the county really has the capacity for us to have a voice,” resource teacher and march organizer Randy Alton said.

The march included students, teachers, parents, MSP members and community members from all over the County. Among the invited, MCPS superintendent Dr.

Joshua Starr, Montgomery County executive Isiah Leggett and several other County Council members attended the march. The march featured student leaders who addressed the achievement gap in their schools and a variety of other artistic student performances. Senior Aaliyah Dixon was featured

photo courtesy Randy Alton Minority scholars and students pose for a picture with Principal Dr. Michael Doran and teacher Randy Alton.

during the march when she performed the song, “I Know Where I’ve Been” while Bianchi spoke about the achievement gap at Wootton. The march leaders hope that local business leaders, politicians and citizens will support and highlight the successes of the Minority Scholars Program.

“Student leaders from the Minority Scholars Program (MSP) have decided that now is the time to step up and address this most pressing issue,” co-founder of MSP and Walter Johnson history teacher at Michael Williams said in a press release. The Minority Scholars Program was launched eight years ago as a student-driven initiative with the primary objective being to end the achievement gap plaguing minority students in Montgomery County.

They have chapters at 10 high schools across the county and membership continues to increase. Hundreds of people attended the march and Superintendent Joshua Starr gave a speech in which he articulated the need for students to band together to close the gap.

Young Democrats countywide commence to wrap up, reflect on legislative year Maria Hafeez staff writer Young democrats from all over Montgomery County gathered at the Silver Spring Civic Center for a wrap-up and analysis of the 2014 legislative session in Annapolis on Tuesday, April 15. Special guests Lou Peck from Bethesda Magazine, David Moon from Maryland Juice and Jenna Johnson from the Washington

Post attended the meeting as well.

William Jordan Bateson attended, serving as a representative for the “Murray for Delegate” campaign.

The Montgomery County Young Democrats is a group of members who either lives, works, or goes to school in Montgomery County and are under the age of 39. The group’s mission is to “defend the American Dream by attracting and developing young people into car-

ing agents of change who commit through political action for just and sustainable communities,” according to their Facebook page.

A discussion takes place on the majority of bills passed in a specific area, including background information on the policy, comparisons with previous sessions and the current law. A 90-day report is disclosed summarizing the main points of the legislative session, in-

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state aid, state government and education. The effects of the government shutdown on Maryland’s economy was discussed as well.

“I think it is great that this meeting was held. It gives a chance for adolescents interested in politics and government to voice their opinion, especially those who are under the age of 18 and cannot be represented through elections,” freshman Gurbani Singh said.

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cluding what issues were discussed and the evidence supporting them.

The main goal of the meeting was to openly discuss the 2014 Maryland legislative session that took place in December. The issues were presented to the Maryland General Assembly, which is Maryland’s legislative body and directly represents the electorate.

The issues dealt with major policy areas such as taxes, budget and

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4 Illness plagues school in Virginia Sarayu Iyer staff writer

A mysterious illness plagued an elementary in Alexandria, VA, forcing officials to close the school on March 14 for sanitation and investigation.

John Adams Elementary School consists of about 820 students and 131 staff members, out of which 200 students and about 30 faculty members fell ill to the possible norovirus. The norovirus, a stomach illness, is extremely contagious and can be transmitted through a simple touch of infected surface, not to mention direct physical contact.

“The illness was first detected in the fourth grade wing of the school,” according to a WTOP news reporter.

The school is actively working with the Alexandria Health Department to identify and prevent further outbreaks of the disease and other highly contagious viruses. Symptoms of this particular virus include vomiting, diarrhea and feeling sick to the stomach. The illness usually goes away after two to three days, however there is no available medication to shorten the duration of infection.

The school closed on March 14 so a cleaning crew could disinfect the entire school, and stop the spread of this norovirus. Parents of the patients were reportedly glad the school took such precautions to protect students, and several others agree with the responsible decision. “I would hope Wootton administrators would close school

if there was an outbreak… so many people touch things while sick, and it’s so dangerous,” said junior Bethany Penn.

John Adams school officials asked parents to keep their children home an extra day if they still exhibited any signs of the illness.

As many students know, this precaution is not always taken, especially as students grow up.

“I have come to school when sick before. Even though I know it’s not safe, if I have tests, it’s inevitable,” junior Alicia Elliott said.

School was scheduled to resume for students and staff on March 17. In addition to this school closing, students of John Adams Elementary have also missed nine school days, due to winter weather conditions.

Cherry blossoms attract large crowds in D.C. from Cherry blossoms, page 1 between the two countries.

The first Cherry Blossom Festival was held in 1927, when a small group of children reenacted the planting of the trees and held other activities.

Over time, the event grew in popularity as it gained sponsorship by several civic groups in 1935.

Today, more than 700,000 people visit the National Cherry Blossom Festival annually to attend a multitude of events and gatherings.

The festival’s first weekend included a family day with activities including paddle boating in the Tidal Basin and youth performances.

On March 22, the opening ceremony was held with traditional and contemporary performances from the likes of pianist Judith Hill and pop singer Rimi Natsukawa.

Over the course of the festival, there were many more art exhibitions and cultural performances.

On April 12, the penultimate day of the festival, the Cherry Blossom Parade took place alongside the Sakura Matsuri, the largest Japanese culture festival in the nation.

photos by Ethan Frymark Crowds gathered to visit the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. from March 20 to April 13. The cherry blossoms were originally a gift from the Japanese to express the peace between the two countries.

Poetry lovers display their passion for slam poetry at annual National Fair Housing Alliance’s competition Sydney Heiberger staff writer Slam poetry lovers assembled at Busboys and Poets on April 14 to compete in and witness the National Fair Housing Alliance’s annual poetry slam competition.

The first, second and third place winners all received cash prize rewards.

All amateur slam poets ages 15 to 25 were invited to display their work at this artistic event in order to raise awareness about civil rights and equality issues – and there was no better month to host this event than National Poetry Month.

Hosts Bomani Armah and Gowri K. kicked off the evening and wired up the crowd for a

night of food, poetry and fun.

Slam poetry is widely enjoyed by audiences of all ages, races and genders. Junior Maddy Zacks has a passion for poetry writing and finds it a comforting outlet to express her thoughts and emotions.

“I love listening to slam poetry. It is super funky and always make me want to listen for more,” Zacks said.

Senior Hannah Hassani is another student who writes and performs her own work.

“It is scary to stand up in front of people and relate a whole range of emotions through words and the tone in which you say them,” Hassani said. “But in the end, the feeling that I was able to do that, to move someone with a phrase or

an image, really encourages me to perform spoken word and continue writing poems.”

The performers Thirteen of Nazareth, Droopy, G. Yamazawa, 2 Deep, Pages, Drew Law, Angelique Palmer, Joseph LMS and Patrick Washington all submitted their best work and were selected to read in front of the live audience.

In the end it was Yamazawa who took home the first place $1,000 prize; Joseph LMS received the second place $500 prize and Pages was awarded the third place $250 prize.

Event coordinator Steven J. Saucedo said that the event was “amazing” and that he would like to “thank all of the contestants, the judges, the backstage personnel and the audience.”

Although the competition was open to anyone who submitted their work in advanced via an online application, the vast majority of competitors were people who had ample poetry and public speaking experience in the past.

For example, Yamazawa lists himself as a poet and emcee and even has his own YouTube channel where he displays a variety of his works and performances.

These types of public events give anyone the opportunity to express themselves, and in this case it was for a specific cause.

The event was enjoyed by all and succeeded in its cause to raise awareness about civil rights and equality.

News Common Sense - May 1, 2014

Students act as guinea pigs for the PARCC tests A number of freshmen and sophomore students in Math and English classes, including my own Honors Algebra 2 class, were administered the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) pilot tests using an online program on March 24 Except they were not administered.

A number of glitches prevented my class, and apparently many similar classes around the country, from even beginning the test.

When my class was given the test a week later, it finally worked and was rather uneventful (unless you particularly enjoy standardized tests). The proctors had fixed most of the problems that had prevented us from taking the test the first time around, although a few glitches remained.

The language of the test was often awkwardly phrased, making it difficult to answer some questions, while the content of the math exam itself was fairly simple (many students finished within two periods, when the test was projected to take up to six), meaning one can expect the finalized version of the PARCCs to be more challenging.

This is due to the purpose of the pilot tests, which is at least partially to determine the difficulty of the tests.

You can try a few practice questions for yourself at practice.parcc.testnav.com by navigating to the Sample Items page.

Once you choose and begin a test, one of the first things you will notice is the length and number of parts to most questions.

The long length and difficulty of the questions have been large subjects of debate by many teachers and parents recently as a number of these similar Common Core aligned tests are being criticized as being too complicated, especially for the younger grades.

One difference from a normal paper test was the toolbar at the top of the webpage. The toolbar includes back and forward buttons, and a “review” button to go back to a menu screen. A number of tools designed to help you answer individual questions are also included, such as a pointer, ruler, protractor, scientific calculator and answer eliminator buttons.

Taking a test online also causes a lot of difficulties, especially for math tests where one must write and use formulas and symbols not found on a keyboard.

According to the PARCC website, “14 states and the District of Columbia are administering the PARCC field tests this spring. More than one million students are expected to take them, or about 10 percent of the students in the states administering the field tests.”

The PARCCs may take effect as soon as the 2014-15 school year, and are being designed to replace the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) exams, as well as some High School Assessment (HSA) tests.

-Cameron Walkup staff writer

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Common Sense - May 1, 2014

Heroin ravages state of Vermont; leads to addictions, deaths

Zach Lowy staff writer Amid the seemingly bucolic fields of Vermont, a cynical assassin lurks. Its name: heroin. Heroin has ravaged American culture. Americans often associate heroin habitats with urban slums, not rural hamlets.

Forty four miles northeast of Wootton is Baltimore, the heroin capital of America, where widespread heroin drug use (one in 10 residents are addicts) inspired the highly acclaimed drama The Wire.

In pastoral neighborhoods such as the ones found in the Green Mountain State, heroin is taking its toll.

On Jan. 8, in an almost unheard-of practice, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin dedicated the totality of his annual State of the State speech to heroin abuse.

As Shumlin noted, the heroin crisis in Vermont evolved from the pandemic prescription drug addiction the state faced in the previous decade. “What started as an Oxycontin and prescription drug addiction in Vermont has now grown into a full-blown heroin crisis,” Shumlin said in the address.

Instead of the usual interdiction and incarceration approach, Shumlin took a bold step, addressing the problem as a “chronic disease” that should be dealt with “aggressive treatment” and prevention techniques.

“We must address [heroin addiction] as a public health crisis, providing treatment and support, rather than simply doling out punishment, claiming victory, and moving onto our next conviction,” Shumlin said.

the recent rise in HIV in Vermont.

“Heroin is a really destructive drug in its potency and its potential to infect users,” freshman Franklin Liu said.

Not only does heroin make citizens weaker, but it also makes enemies stronger. Heroin is made from opium poppies, and Afghanistan manufactures 87 percent of the world’s raw opium supply. Heroin addiction in Vermont is up 770 percent since 2000, for 4500 cases in 2012.

Since Operating Enduring Freedom (the U.S.’s invasion of Afghanistan), the poppy trade has bankrolled the Taliban’s regime and corrupted Afghanistan’s police force and government.

Taliban commanders collect extortion and charge protection fees photo courtesy MCT campus from heroin refineries, thus flowing High school students greet Jesse Morella, a quadriplegic 24-year-old who almost died from a heroin overdose four years ago. the drug revenue up the Taliban’s During the economically prosperous heroin enters the bloodstream, it turns into chain of command.

2000’s, Oxycontin abuse was widespread. morphine and binds to the brain’s recepTreatment for heroin or painkiller abuse When the recession hit, financial resources tors, usually causing nausea. rose from 399 people in 2000 to 3, 479 in were scarce, and junkies turned to heroin, a Like any other drug, the users find that 2012, giving the second-smallest state the cheaper opiate than Oxycontin. after each use, they need more to get the second highest per-capita rate. The Green “Biologically, heroin has been known to same high, but unlike most drugs, a single Mountain State has a low unemployment release intense euphoria and calm its users, dose can prove deadly. rate and universal health care. What it does and it’s really difficult to quit, so I can un“Heroin destroys everything you not have is excitement. derstand how difficult it would be to lower used to have and it’s impossible to get it Decades ago, suburban and rural addiction rates,” senior Josh Hollman said. back,” Parent Teacher Student Association Americans thought that heroin was a drug Perhaps heroin’s magnetic entice- President Peggy Weldon said. tailored for the exhilarating debauchery of ment comes from its chemical attributes.

Since the most common us age of heroin urban life, incapable of corrupting smallAs the most abused and most rapidly acting is through injection, many users have been town America. opiate, heroin activates many regions of the known to share needles, thereby increasBut, as Vermont has learned, their rural brain, especially those responsible for the ing the spread of blood-borne diseases like citizens needed a bit of exhilaration to esfeelings of reward and dependence. After HIV and Hepatitis C, which may explain cape heroin’s temptation.

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Editorial

6

Common Sense -May 1, 2014

C O M M O N S E N S E

E D I TO R I A L

Having chicken pox is not a party

PATRIOT POINTS What do you think of cafeteria food?

Lollipops and friends – nothing could ever be better. And then the chicken pox takes over. Pox parties, in which parents expose their children to chicken pox through lollipops infected with the disease, through saliva or other means, initially started before vaccines became readily available and prevented infection at a later age when the disease could prove to be more disastrous. Yet pox parties did not go extinct even after vaccines became produced for the everyday consumer.

In the age of the internet, social media sites and forums efficiently arrange pox parties. Extremists urge parents to pop chicken pox sores and rub them over other children to ensure transfer of the virus.

Lollipops or similar devices are then mailed to the requested location.

Mailing chicken pox is illegal – a federal offense – yet parents are not deterred.

These parents argue that by purposefully exposing their children to the virus, their children will build stronger immune systems. Having the disease in the long run is believed to be more beneficial.

Every parent retains the right to decide what is best for their own child within reason, but pox parties are outside that reason. Vaccines are weaker strands of a virus that teach the immune system to recognize it in the future, without the risk of infection. These parents, however, are exposing their children to the virus and infection itself.

While it is important to consider the benefits and disadvantages to new medicine and technologies, receiving chicken pox is not safer.

Although most recover from chicken pox, cases have risen where the disease has been fatal. Those who are exposed to chicken pox also have a greater possibility of developing shingles, a painful rash, later in life.

Some of the movement against vaccines is based on the fear of autism. Studies have since proven this belief false.

The small minority who do not vaccinate purposefully endanger the health of others. Some individuals who have received the vaccine may still get the disease; luckily, the minority who do often only have to bear through mild symptoms. One vaccination dose is not guaranteed to prevent infection. Even after the recommended second vaccination dose, immunity protection only equates to 90 percent.

Put straightforwardly: vaccinate. You might as well , to live healthier, longer and safer from the millions of microbes that surround us daily.

“I try to avoid it because it’s not the healthiest choice. I like it better when I know exactly what I’m eating.”

- sophomore Chris Hechler “ I think the school lunches are really unhealthy and the school should invest in modeling what is right for proper and healthy digestion” - senior Stacy Khizder “I bring my own food because it saves money.”

-freshman Titus Wong

"The cafeteria food isn't that bad for the price but it could be a lot better."

- junior Michael Chidueme

“I don’t usually eat from the cafeteria because it’s easier to bring my own food.”

- sophomore Gracie Gesiskie

Common Sense welcomes letters to the editor, but reserves the right to edit them as necessary for style, punctuation, grammar and spelling. Letters may be submitted to the Common Sense mailbox.

All letters must be signed, but requests to remain anonymous will be considered. Please contact us at woottoncommonsense@gmail. com. Please visit www.woottonnews.com to see our editorial policy.

Photos by Justin Lee

Burrito bowls would spice up lunch menu Maria Zlotescu opinion editor

Editors Editors-in-Chief sophie lehrenbaum & katie mcrae Managing Editors sofie jacobs & tracy yu Arts Editor shemaiah ellis Commons Editor allie greenspun Features Editors nellie allentuck & abby wei News Editors jared beinart & alessandra lowy Opinion Editor Maria Zlotescu Editorial cartoonist Lily Zhang Senior Sports Editor sam eichberg

Lunch is a class all of its own. With a menu consisting mostly of French fries and discs vaguely resembling pizza, cafeteria food has been commonly mocked on TV and high school. Wootton is no exception.

So imagine my surprise when I saw a giant sign next to the lunch line one day. It featured a picture of a burrito and colorful letters and invited me to try the new menu. In line, the lunch ladies stood behind counters of chicken, rice and steak with burrito bowls nearby.

One by one students placed an order and received their burrito. Containers of cheese and sour cream were available and sides of lettuce and salsa were included. It almost looked like Chipotle without the chips.

Everyone was commenting on it. The usual jabs at the school lunch menu were replaced by surprised exclamations. The food was tasty and healthy.

Unfortunately, the cafeteria only chose to serve the burrito bowl for a few days.

According to babble.com, even McDonald’s meat is held to a higher standard than most school cafeteria

meat. Child obesity, childhood diabetes and high cholesterol are on the rise. Why? Because the daily dose of fruits and vegetables have been replaced by chicken nuggets.

While eating cafeteria food is not required, it is prevalent. Over three fifths of American public school students(30 million children) eat school lunches.

In addition, for students receiving free or reduced lunches, this might be their only full meal of the day. Unfortunately that meal is usually fattening and unhealthy.

There has been improvement. Sugary soda is no longer available, and the cafeteria even had a salad bar for a short time. Yet it is not enough. To reverse current trends and encourage healthier living, the administration needs to start working toward providing good, nutritious meals on a daily basis — balanced meals with vegetables and whole grains.

I hope the cafeteria continues to serve burrito bowls as well as other healthy meals. It would be nice if students’ lunches had more nutritional value than the tray it is served on.

Sports Editor eric shumacher

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Op-Ed

7

Point COUNTER Point

Common Sense - May 1, 2014

WAS THE SPRING PROJECT EFFECTIVE? Yes, it teaches important lessons for teenagers No, ringing door bells does not save lives Alan Ramsay staff writer According to the National Highway Traffic Administration 33561 people in 2012 died in car crashes with 10322 of those deaths a result of drunk driving.

To stop students from becoming statistics, the SGA teemed up with the Every 15 Minutes program to advocate for awareness and prevention of drunk driving. Every 15 Minutes aims to raise awareness toward the danger of drinking and driving, and educate teens about making smart choices, through simulations that put friends and loved ones in the position of a drunk driving victim.

On March 31, a bell rang every 15 minutes and a student was taken out of the classroom by a Grim Reaper as a police officer read the obituary. This was meant to symbolize the graveness of the situation.

Later that day there was a video shown of a fatal car crash featuring students. The purpose was to convey that the crash could have been reality and no student is immune to the effects of drunk driving.

“The video was so powerful and the scary part is that during the SGA presentation somewhere I the world there must have been multiple drunk driving crashes,” junior Ian Frelinger said.

The first day caused many periods of sobering silence as students walked among the deceased in the halls and their fellow peers with great sadness and terror.

Nearly one in three Americans will be involved in an alcohol related crash and almost 30 people in the U.S. die in drunk driving crashes every day according to the cdc.gov.

On April 1, all students went to the auditorium to witness a highly emotional assembly. The speaker told his moving story of how he accidentally fell asleep at the wheel to wake up and see his passenger severely bleeding and head stuck through the windshield.

“At the assembly I felt the pain and sadness the others were feeling as I continued

to watch silently as one by one each person Justin Lee spoke,” senior JQ Dan said. staff writer Some students do not pay much attention The SGA made a mockery of itself to assemblies but the SGA did an effective job of capturing the students’ attention and main- with its annual spring project, which focused on the dangers of drunk driving. taining it till the end.

On April 2, an SGA member came into While their intentions were pure, the SGA’s every English class and gave a presentation execution of the project was so flawed that on the effects of drunk driving accidents as it turned its own program into a humorous well as the many ways to prevent it. Students fiasco that insulted actual drunk driving also got to see how it would look if they were victims. No one should have to feel bad about driving under the influence if this is drunk by putting on a pair of goggles.

“In my English class most students don’t how the SGA wishes to present the issue.

The SGA’s audacious endeavor failed pay attention but during the presentation most students were actively participating and the second it started. Its first mistake was asking questions,” senior Nikita Lukyanov announcing the start of the project in the morning. By making everyone aware of said.

Many people act negligently every day but the project before it began, the SGA lost it is important for them to know the effects the chance to elicit real emotions from the student body. of what could happen.

Arguably the project’s biggest failure Since programs have been started to raise awareness, the rate of drunk driving has de- was its use of the bell to signal the “death” creased by 48 percent from 1991 to 2012, ac- of a drunk driver every 15 minutes. Instead cording to the National Highway Traffic Ad- of a more appropriate tone like a church toll, the SGA decided to make use of a ministration.

The presentation could not have come at doorbell. Rather than honoring the “dead,” a better time. Drinking is a prominent issue this choice only served to undermine the emotions the between teens SGA was trying and young to elicit, with adults at the students openly current time jeering and and Montgomlaughing at the ery County has “deaths.” the highest One of drinking rate in the project’s Maryland. The big hitters, presentation the vehicle might have not accident, been viewed was also an as effective by unmitigated some but it will disaster. have achieved With the its intentions if crash already it prevented at Photo courtesy Wootton SGA least one alcohol The SGA arranged a fake drunk driving car accident, complete with announced as a staged event, fire fighters and police. related crash. many took the

Common courtesy is not that common Lily Zheng staff writer Exiting the Commons at the end of a lunch period, leaving behind crushed goldfish crackers and Styrofoam trays, whipping out smartphones in the middle of class instruction - these are a few displays of the disgusting behavior students often exhibit.

Government class was made a requirement to graduate in order to enforce the schooling of civics and the institutions ever present in society. School curricula incorporates information that directly serves students after high school.

On the other hand, etiquette is another field of knowledge that teaches students how to interact with others, which will eventually carry to the workings of society.

Most think of “etiquette” as a set of rigid, frivolous rules that mandate where to tuck in a napkin and how to flip the page of a book. This assumption is incorrect; rather, etiquette is the schooling of social skills, manners and good behavior in general.

The serious decline of such skills — partly due to parenting but mostly due to young peoples’ own decisions on how to

act — can be remedied by introducing required schooling on etiquette. To increase the efficacy of such classes, current attitudes concerning etiquette need to be changed.

Student reaction could be enforced by incorporating good behavior into the school experience as a whole. There is nothing like waving the potential of a poor grade to motivate students. For example, instances of poor behavior, such as listening to personal music during class or treating teachers and peers with disrespect, could be reflected in an end-of-quarter assignment entitled “Behavior” for each class a student takes and would have a high point value and weight. In effect, extremely poor behavior would result in a significantly lowered GPA. Keep it up and a high school diploma may elude reach. Civic classes could also help. Sadly actual classes might prove too inconvenient to introduce into the daily eight-period schedule.

Regardless of how good behavior is enforced, being able to comprehend the immense value of social skills is certainly on par with being able to understand the civil liberties of citizenship that government classes teach.

event as a well appreciated break from class.

Also, the appearance of the Grim Reaper and his meager scythe at the scene and later throughout the day only served to weaken anyone’s emotional response over the SGA’s hard work.

It is unfortunate that the effects of one of the project’s more effective methods, the attempt to have students be “killed” and remain silent throughout the day, was also diminished. While the immense impact on friends and parents is undoubted, the fact that so few students actually “died” undercut its possible widespread effects.

Students often saw the “dead” as an annoyance rather than someone to be concerned about; the next day would simply see their friends return.

The program’s name, “Every Fifteen Minutes,” is also a lie. This statistic on drunk driving deaths is actually outdated by more than a decade; according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, today it is about every hour. The name is also ignorant of the fact that these deaths do not actually occur every day, but are merely divided up among the year, rendering this a the false statistic in more ways than one.

The SGA’s annual projects never seem to be taken seriously. They are always structured the same way: fear mongering demonstrations, a random speaker and a boring PowerPoint. Often it ends up becoming a joke among students. Last year’s “Mojo-Up” became a running gag.

The project also never seems to cover real issues. While bullying, global warming, and drunk driving are problems in the world, they scantily affect this school. The SGA would be better suited to choose topics that are lesser known yet affect this particular student body, such as the economic collapse, the broken political system or the true state of the job market, rather than another cookie-cutter topic. Unless the quality of the spring projects changes, every year another will bite the dust.

BUT FIRST

LEMME TAKE A

SELFIE

This week, Common Sense took to twitter to ask students for their best selfies. From #schooldayselfies to #springbreakselfies, students’ selfie skills shined through. Even the Common Sense Design by staff participated in the selfie fun. Allie Greenspun Jake Brodsky

#schooldayselfies

Commons Editor

&

Photo b Junior Adwait Shukla prou selfie with his newly obtain

Art Director

Photo b Senior Megan Capitelli s with her harry potter pur spring break:.

Photo by Mara Pugh Seniors Mara Pugh and Josh Gritz pose in their college apparel after committing for next year.

Photo courtesy Catalina Mejia Members of the morning announcement crew pose for a selfie before their daily morning newscast.

Photo by Natalia Ochman Junior Natalia Ochman takes a selfie with her junior year books ranging from SAT & ACT prep books to mock AP exams.

Photo courtesy Carly Haynes English teacher Melissa Kaplan plays along and grabs a selfie with her 10th grade students during an in-class read aloud day.

Photo b Senior Matt Bengston tak junior Johan Rafael on a school sponsored spring Photo by Lily Mayne Sophomore Lily Mayne takes a selfie with faculty member Joan Goldstein during the school day.

Photo by Sam Dhawan Junior Sam Dhawan takes a funny face selfie with Principal Dr. Michael Doran.

Photo by Arshum Rouhanian Wootton’s very own weatherman senior Arshum Rouhanian poses for a seflie before his weekly “funcast.”

Photo by Max Levine Juniors Max Levine, Jack Wright and Ryan Bass take a selfie before class.

Photo by Brandon Hall Sophomores Brandon Hall and Dylan Parr take a selfie together.

Photo by Ethan Core Junior Ethan Core smiles for a pic with the substitute teacher Ms. Egglehoff.

Photo by Ezra Sokobin Senior Ezra Sokobin sneaks a selfie in class.

Photo by David Yazdani Sophomore David Yazdani documents his encounter with “The First Daughter” Malia Obama at a track meet.

Photo by Maddy Zacks Junior Maddy Zacks mixes it up with a mirror selfie in art class with her latest piece.

Photo by Harry Williams Freshmen Benson Child, Drew Butler and Harry Williams prepare for the JV boys lacrosse Churchill game.

Photo by Mara Pugh Senior Mara Pugh and junior Anna Bartles-Newton take a break from Hairspray to take a selfie in their costumes.

Photo by Stacey Khizder Senior Stacey Khizder strikes a silly pose with Principal Dr. Michael Doran.

Sen Sop edit self

New Star the to w

by Adwait Shukla udly takes a ned license.

#springbreakselfies

Photo by Nikita Shah Senior Nikita Shah soaks up the sun at Epcot in Disney World during the break.

by Megan Capitelli snaps a selfie rchases during

Photo by Sam Goldberg Junior Sam Goldberg ups his selfie game with a picture with baseball player Steven Souza of the Washington Nationals.

by Matt Bengston kes a selfie with plane during the break trip.

Photo by David Auth Sophomore David Auth takes a selfie in his bucket hat over break.

Photo by Gerardo Espinosa Senior FHS members Gerardo Espinosa, Claire Vogel and Pedro Maddens Toscano take a “selfieception” photo during a FHS dinner outing.

Photo by Halle Byles Sisters senior Halle Byles and sophomore Megan Byles snap a selfie after a cop slowed down their road trip to Texas over break.

Photo by Ethan Core Junior Ethan Core snaps a selfie in front of the BMW factory in South Carolina over spring break.

Photo by Laura Cholvibul Seniors Laura Cholvibul and Jake Brodsky break out the bucket hats and sunglasses for a day outside in the newfound warm weather.

Photo by Cece Kobylski Juniors Mona Abutaleb, Cece Kobylski and Ellie Kobylski memorialize their spring break on the beach with a selfie.

Photo courtesy Ellie Kobylski Junior Alec Sandler sends a funny snapchat to a friend.

Photo by Abbie Croker Seniors Abbie Croker and Jackson Pierce relax over spring break.

Photo by Danny Quackenbush “Bob and I stole a plane”- junior Danny Quackenbush

Photo by David Siegel Senior David Siegel takes a spring break selfie with his dog.

#staffselfies

Photo by Nellie Allentuck nior Editors-in-Chief Katie McRae and phie Lehrenbaum (Skatie) and features tor junior Nellie Allentuck smile for a fie while hanging out over spring break.

Photo by Sophie Lehrenbaum Eighth period newspaper fits in a selfie while working hard on the issue.

Photo by Eric Schumacher Sports editor senior Eric Schumacher and News editor junior Jared Beinart take a break from working on their sections to snap a quick selfie.

Photo courtesy Tej Joshi Staff writer junior Tej Joshi and junior Erik Gunnarsson take a mirror selfie.

Photo by Evva Starr wspaper and yearbook advisor Evva rr takes a selfie with her daughter in publications room on take your child work day.

Photo by Allie Greenspun Commons editor junior Allie Greenspun and News editor sophomore Alessandra Lowy pose for a selfie with an issue of the paper.

Photo by Jason Recht Staff writer junior Jason Recht takes a selfie in his bucket hat over spring break.

Photo by Sam Eichberg Senior-sports editor and hockey captain Sam Eichberg snaps a selfie with hockey team’s championship cup after their win.

Features

10

Common Sense - May 1, 2014

The Scoop with Skatie Skatie grows up (only nominally)

Sophie Lehrenbaum & Katie McRae editors-in-chief Growing up is hard. Skatie would kill for indoor recess at Wootton or Limited Too jean skorts to come back into fashion, but we guess now we know why they call them growing pains. So as much as it pains you when you’re driving past those dorky patrols in your neighborhood, resist the urge to honk. Instead, quietly recite the patrol pledge and salute—those baby dorks are going to grow up to be a lot like you.

Remember those days before you were Barbara’s worst nightmare-- back when you strutted down the halls of Lakewood Elementary in Limited Too-wear like you were Giselle at fashion week, but more chic. Now, it just doesn’t cut it to wear bright pink sequined belts or sweaters with soccer-star frogs on them.

Even the occasional Abercrombie sweater will get you nothing but scorn and snickers (not the sweet, delicious candy, or we would be wearing Abercrombie exclusively). At least pretend Fitch was somehow involved. Trust us, in the locker room, they know you are lying when you say you bought your day-of-the-week undies from Victoria Secret. You’re a big girl now, and it is literally time to put your big girl panties on.

You know you are growing up when you don’t have your best friend’s mom’s cell phone number memorized. How else would you make plans? Birthday parties were all themed, and it would be frowned upon if you didn’t wear your elaborate princess costume. Now, the birthday party is “just a hang out.” There might not even be pizza, and cake is a luxury. If you’re dressing as a princess, the skirts are shorter and tighter. Forget about the presents. The invites are sent out in a group text…and you better hope that your best friend’s mom’s cell phone number is not included.

All those times when you quietly urged your mother to continue to make your lunch have gone down the drain. “But you make my lunch SO WELL mom.

You are God’s gift to the cafeteria and your sandwiches taste like culinary gold and ambrosia. Is it all the love you add?” Suddenly, your parents are beginning to see through the thin veil of excuses that kept you from having to do work before.

Perhaps they have caught you slowly slipping your dirty laundry into their hampers or maybe they heard you do a load yourself. Whatever their methods were, congratulations. Your parents officially have realized you know how to do laundry. And you are officially in charge of walking the dog, now that you can cross the street alone. And picking up dry cleaning. And maybe starting dinner while your mom goes to yoga classes. Looks like she renewed her contact prescription and saw how old you were, because making you the maid of the house no longer violates any child labor law.

Skatie remembers a time when the biggest ethical dilemma was chewing gum with your braces on. When the biggest fashion dilemma was getting braces to match the colors of the upcoming holiday. When the biggest photo-op dilemma was the open or closed mouth smile best suited your metal-mouth. Now that we think about it, braces were a huge part of growing up. Braces taught us how to be confident with what we got—and what we had was enough metal to be randomly selected for an airport security test. Braces taught us not to trust anyone because the date they get taken off is just a lie to make you feel better. Now we can laugh about it with our straight teeth flashing as we get ready for the next dilemma of our lives: the retainer.

A few weeks ago, the biggest decision that we had ever made was what ice cream flavor to get when we went out and fulfilled our bi-weekly duty to the newspaper/humans in the greater Wootton community. Now, we are weighing our options and deciding at which college to will spend the next four years of our life, at which will most likely directly affect our future career, potential for a family and happiness and it has definitely impacted our sleep cycle. This is the time when your newsfeed is overflowing with randoms coming out of the woodwork to commit to various colleges and people are posting in Facebook groups about their love of Netflix or, in the case of Skatie’s college Facebook group wall, strangers vowing to put in their deposit as long as they are guaranteed someone to play Dungeons and Dragons with.

The next part of your life is unknown and is scary and is potentially really, really weird. It must be part of growing up to nearly vomit every time you think about placing that life-deciding down-payment, or the very real potential to end up with a roommate who is a part-time mime and full-time psychopath. Welcome to adulthood.

Becoming an adult can be terrifying. But it can also be exciting. Just remember that not everyone grows up to be Amanda Bynes. You’ll be fine. Case closed. Bring in the dancing lobsters.

“I didn’t think I would “I missed my friends.”

“She looked horrible.” actually be impacted”

“I was scared she wouldn’t come back.”

“It seemed so real.”“I was really emotional.”

Students felt a variety of empotions about the “Every 15 Minutes” project. Quoted clockwise from top, juniors Dania Assas, Julia Lee, Ethan Frymark and Theresa Brietzke, sophomore Ryan Foster and senior Allie Foeking.

Students react to SGA spring project

face makeup. For the rest of the day, Ting and Tiffany Yu other members of the “Walking Dead” refrained staff writer Over the course of one day, the Commons from any sort of communication with other peotransformed into a graveyard. Dull gray tomb- ple. stones featured familiar faces and the date: March They could be seen weaving through the hall31, 2014. In front of each tombstone, a single, way crowds, with blood-stained faces and blank pink artificial rose and a typed obituary lay neatly eyes staring straight ahead. on the artificial grass.

“Some friends didn’t really care because they Bending a little closer, the crisp typed paper knew that they could talk to me tomorrow, but if revealed the unique talents, accomplishments, you took it seriously then you walked away with a dreams and character of the “deceased” student. message,” Ting said.

Some obituaries were longer than others, some Participants were selected to fully represent read like a college recommendation, but they all the student body, so that in theory, everyone ended with “goodbye, we’ll miss you.” would be able to relate to at least one of the parThe graveyard in the Commons was just one ticipants. Still, not every student connected on the component of “Every 15 Minutes,” a program de- emotional level that the program strived for. signed to raise awareness about the consequences “The people who were involved were probaof drunk driving. At the time the program was bly more affected than the ones watching. But you established, one person died from an alcohol- can never replicate the experience of actually losrelated motor ing someone,” vehicle crash evjunior Joseph ery 15 minutes.

Deng said. For Currently, due to some people, the success and the experience awareness raised seemed very from this projclose.

Junior ect, this numAnna Bartelsber has been Newton, along reduced to one with the majorperson every 57 ity of her chominutes.

The rus class, began Student Govcrying when ernment Assoher friend, juciation (SGA) nior Abby Wei, does a drunk photo courtesy Wootton SGA was taken away. driving project Senior Josh Hollman waits in the passanger seat for the ambulance to come after his Theater repre‘hit’ a pedestrian during the fake car accident. He was later transported to the hospiabout every four car sents a closetal and pronounced dead. years and picked knit commuthis year to focus on it for their Spring Project. It nity with strong friendships. “Abby and I are very was done prior to Prom and Junior Banquet so close and it was really sad to hear her obituary, that the lessons learned from the project would which was beautiful,” Bartels-Newton said. still be fresh in the minds of students, hoping to Although freshman Ornella Bayigamba was influence them to make good decisions. moved nearly to tears by the speeches at the as“We decided that if we could save one life, sembly, some students did not take the project then we would’ve done our job,” SGA president seriously. “I know a lot of people who are still Adam Bogart said. making fun of it,” Bayigamba said.

Guided by the Every 15 Minutes Foundation, The SGA’s limited success in getting students the SGA spent months planning for this two-day to take drunk driving seriously can be attributed event, which required the participation of the to specific aspects of the project. staff, students, families, the Rockville Volunteer On Facebook junior Edward Nusinovich exFire Department and the Shady Grove Hospital. pressed his disapproval with the way the project At the scene of the simulated car crash, the was executed. “People wearing a grim reaper cospolice questioned senior Alex Yokley, the sup- tume? Fake blood and a fake graveyard? Are you posed drunk driver, while an ambulance trans- joking? People do die in car crashes every year but ported senior Josh Hollman to Shady Grove Hos- raising awareness like that makes death look like a pital. joke when it’s not” Nusinovich’s status read.

Junior Christopher D’Arpa lay stiffly on the Junior Arda Sahiner also thought that some hood of the car until he was covered with a stark parts were too theatrical, but he noted that the aswhite sheet, pronounced dead at the scene by the sembly improved the effectiveness of the project. police. Yokley, who was pronounced drunk at the “They pulled it all together on the second day,” scene, was later arrested and sent to the Cabin Sahiner said.

John jail.

The video shown at the assembly was directDespite receiving urgent care at the hospi- ed and edited by SGA member senior Arshum tal, the doctors finally told Hollman’s parents that Rouhanian, who pulled an all-nighter to finish it. their son was dead. His parents, who were aware “Everything that happened that day was put of the project ahead of time, were still over- onto a timeline and it just made everything much whelmed with emotion. “It was sort of crazy to more realistic. Showing the parts at the hospital see people out there watching you pretend to die. and the police station, to me, was like saying ‘the To see their shock,” Hollman said. tragedy doesn’t end at the crash scene,” RouhaThough not every student viewed the car nian said. crash on the first day of the event, every person in This also gave students who were unable to school heard the repeated sound of the death bell view the car crash an opportunity to see it. and saw the walking dead in the hallway. Every Despite the criticisms, the SGA is optimistic 15 minutes, a bell chimed, signaling the “death” about the impact their spring project will have on of a student. the community. “This project made me realize The grim reaper came for senior Foster Ting how close the school is and how much the stuwhile he was in Calculus class. His obituary was dent body cares about each other. It was a good read, and he was led away to be painted with gory surprise,” Bogart said.

Features

11 Summer Job Guide: Tips to rake in extra cash Common Sense - May 1, 2014

Sofie Jacbobs managing editor

As the weather heats up and the classes slow down students all around America anxiously wait out their April’s and Mays with only one thought in their mind: summer. But with the anticipation of summer comes the question of what to fill those glorious, sun-soaked, three months with. For many teens, childhood summers at camp have been outgrown, or are coming to a close, and they are looking for a way to make some extra cash to pay for anything from Chipotle, to gas, to movie tickets.

What You’ll Need If you’re interested in finding a job, you first need to make sure you meet the age requirement. According to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, minors under 14 cannot be employed to work, minors who are anywhere from 14 to 17 must obtain a work permit, and minors under 18 are forbidden to work at “dangerous” occupations, such as with woodworking machines, or anything that involves forming metal. If you are a teen between 14 and 17 looking for a work permit, they can easily be found at the Career Center.

Food From Ben & Jerry’s, to Sweet Frog, to Starbucks, working at a fast food restaurant is easy, accessible, and has its perks. For a fancier restaurant, teens can usually find jobs working as a waiter, host, or maître d’ at places like Founding Farmers, Cava or Sugo. Employees usually benefit from discounted prices on their favorite foods. Additionally, they give experience working on your feet and staying happy and

photo courtesy Jeffrey Morse Senior Jeffrey Morse scoops ice cream at the Ben and Jerry’s store in Rockville Town Center. Morse got the job last June and works three times a week during the school year.

cheerful towards new faces!

Retail Working in retail offers the opportunity to get discounts and sales at favorite places to shop all while learning how to work well with strangers and keep tabs on what’s going

on around the store. While it may seem like working with clothes is a “girlier” job at places like South Moon Under, Francesca’s, Nordstrom’s, or any of the stores at Montgomery Mall, guys can find places where they’d enjoy the store’s discounted merchandise, such as at Lacrosse Unlimited or Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Camp Counselor Perhaps one of the most rewarding but exhausting jobs on the list, camp counselors can spend anywhere from a full day with kids to an entire summer at sleepaway camp with. Sleepaway counselors benefit from learning how to live away from home, and the excitement of the freedom that comes with being a counselor, not a camper. Day camp counselors benefit from learning how to work with young kids and stay cheerful and motivated all day long. Sleepaway counselors can work at any camp, and usually choose to work at camps they attended and loved as campers. Great day camps in the area are Discovery Day Camp, Camp Olympia and Camp JCC. Babysit The classic job, one teens around the world have been participating in since they were old enough to be trusted alone: babysitting. Unlike the other types of jobs listed, babysitters don’t need a work permit if they are younger than 17. A babysitter also has a more flexible pay— there is no flat rate among the parents, and teens can usually bargain their way to make between $8 and $12 per hour.

You also benefit from working with cute kids, and if you are lucky, might only be hired to babysit when the kids are asleep, earning yourself money for sitting in the parent’s living room, eating snacks and watching TV.

Infamous English-essay grading system does not widely vary between teachers Tracy Yu managing editor

Due to the lack of a normalized cutand-dry grading key for each essay, certain instructors in the English department have been nailed by swarms of students as either “so easy” or “impossible.”

Of course, the former is often evoked

from students gleefully waving around their 97-percent papers and the latter from those who have clocked in with an 89.4 for the third marking period in a row.

From an outside perspective, it is easy for students to presume that the grading process is arbitrary and that required class criteria is entirely unique to each teacher: some require snappy hooks and some cringe

at the thought of them, some invite students to employ outside quotes in conclusions and some viscously cross them out in purple.

Certain students have resigned themselves to the notion that the fate of their English grade is sealed not by their own efforts but which teacher their counselor assigns them to come August and January.

However, instructors are not in fact given the imagined free reign to grade carelessly and subjectively to their hearts’ content. In reality, there is a department-wide effort to align the outcome of their respective grading as closely as possible and eliminate recurring outliers.

The computer program myMCPS retains specific data from all enrolled students, which can then be mined to reflect grading fluctuations by teacher and then individual class periods for each marking period.

According to English department head Jaclynn Rozansky, this data is then analyzed for outliers, such as one particular class period boasting an abnormal number of As or perhaps the inverse of a peculiarly low number of high marks.

While it is impossible to normalize any and all factors that influence variance, as no two essays are the same and different minds are more receptive to certain ideas and styles and voices, the department does actively strive for higher similarity amongst themselves. Discussions are lead concerning possible rationale behind any outliers, as well as ways to further align intra-department teams.

The data collected remains strictly confidential and is currently not accessible to curious students.

“If taken out of context, it might give students the wrong impression [and] it could be very misleading,” Rozansky said.

Despite avid student discussion regarding the difficultly level of various teachers, Rozansky assures that generally speaking, overall grade outcome for the past marking period has been relatively even across the board. This reflection still held true even when retrieving the statistics for more notorious members of the department.

Rozansky theorizes that the origin of these ‘rumors,’ often surrounding honors English 12 and AP teachers, stems from

students growing accustomed to a certain level of expectations and then struggling to adjust to the heightened level of more advanced courses as upperclassmen.

“In 10th grade, my teacher was a pretty lenient grader, so I kind of slacked off a little. But once I got to AP Lang, it was a wake up call to modify my work ethic. Once I got into the swing of things, I got better with the help of my Lang teacher, Ms. Kaplan,” junior Courtney Peng said.

Another idea that has circulated through the masses is that new teachers are by default, easier to weasel an A from.

Rozansky maintains that such assumptions hold no truth, and that any disparity in grading that does appear can be accounted toward an adjustment period that quickly ceases to exist after first quarter.

This transitional period is experienced by both teachers new to the school and teachers new to the field entirely, but is not perceived as a cause for concern in either scenario. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), in which each grade level and AP team assemble to pass around student samples, are integral in assisting new teachers in range-finding.

The school’s expectations in writing and the general, department-wide grading scale becomes more apparent, as a wide selection of essays are read and assessed in a group setting.

“It gives them exposure to hundreds of essays. It makes it really clear what we’re looking for and what a grade really means,” Rozanksy said.

As to whether other schools in the county grade at a higher or lower difficulty level, Rozansky has no statistical basis to confirm or deny these theories. She does believe that English class expectations across the county should remain relatively level.

Should the grading at this school in fact be more rigorous than at others, Rozansky believes that this is evenly matched in more rigorous assignments and classroom instruction.

“I think there’s always going to be an outlier or two. [Maybe] that class had a particularly strong group. It’s not always a reflection of the teacher. Teachers are constantly working to be fair. No two classrooms are identical, that’s why there’s always going to be variation,” Rozansky said.

Arts

12

Common Sense - May 1, 2014

Festival of the Arts submissions

Lack of supplies hinders students’ development Jake Brodsky arts director

Clockwise from top left Charcoal Drawing by freshman Kelsey Yang, ceramics piece by junior Thomas Saunders, photography image by junior Kyle Stuart, and art drawing by senior Lauren Gorsky.

International Night introduces classic and modern customs Catherine Yang staff writer The cafeteria was transformed on April 24 from its usual drab appearance to a façade of cultural bounty. International Night 2014 encompassed the cultures of 12 different countries, including Nigeria, Taiwan, Spain, Israel, the United States, Canada, Greece, France, China, India, Iran and Peru, with its participants ranging from the various honors societies to students and parents eager to represent their home countries.

“International Night is an important event here at Wootton because it offers our students the opportunity to showcase their talents and educate others about their culture,” Spanish teacher and International Night coordinator Matthew Salzman said.

The night was kicked off in the auditorium with a wide variety of performances from Bollywood dancing of India to the peacock dance of the Chinese Dai ethnic group. “It was [a cool experience] to be able to show our culture off,” Bollywood dancer sophomore Simran Kishore said.

Afterwards in the cafeteria, the diverse displays of posters, flags and—namely—food were nothing short of prodigious.

Heaps of assorted cuisine and drink from each country lined

the tables against the backdrop of vibrant posters showcasing each country’s cultural aspects such as dress, religion, landmarks, and history. Trinkets, instruments, idols, books and artwork were exhibited as well.

“I really enjoyed all the displays and posters,” sophomore George Wu said, “but what really captured my attention was the mango juice [at India’s table].”

The most predominant country shown was India, with its bits and pieces spanning across several tables. “Basically, it’s a brown invasion,” junior Jay Shah said. “India has proven its place in the school.”

Students and parents sporting traditional attire from their countries of origin milled about, intent on expressing the material attributes of their cultures.

“I’m wearing a colorful sequined top because in Iran our Zoroastrian religion is based on spreading happiness from within yourself to others,” Sharzad Nasrababi, a parent volunteer wearing a dress emblazoned with a vivid lily, said. “The mantra is: good thoughts, good words and good deeds.”

From Spanish empanadas to Nigerian wedding gowns, the cultural abundance unveiled at international night demonstrated the full vastness of ethnic diversity here and as sophomore Eric Meyer of French Honor Society put it: “Culture is a prevalent part of all our lives.”

Music festivals approaching leave students elated about days to come Shemaiah Ellis arts editor Given that warmer temperatures are on the horizon, students find themselves in need of sunshine and live music to liberate the mind, body and soul from the captivating winter conditions of the past months.

Close to home, Sweetlife Music and Food Festival is being held at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia on May 10.

Originating in 2010, Sweetlife started out with 500 attendees in Dupont Circle and has quickly gained popularity with locals within the “DMV” area. Sweetlife is organized by salad restaurant Sweetgreen and has been recognized by locals for their ability to gather a lineup of gratifying artists in a variety of genres. This year the lineup consists of: Lana Del Rey, Foster The People, Fitz & The Tantrums, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bastille, Chromeo, 2 Chainz, Captial Cities, St. Lucia, Hozier, Gems, Spirit Animal, ASTR, Nicky Blitz and That Work.

Tickets will run $75 for lawn, $95 for pavilion and $150 for VIP.

Located in Dover, Delaware, about an hour away from highly populated beaches Bethany and Rehobeth, Firefly Music Festival will take place from June 19-22 with prominent artists and bands set to attend. Those include: OutKast, The Lumineers, Pretty Lights, Childish Gambino, Iron and Wine, Phantogram, Salva, Sky Ferreira, Gemini Club and the Colourist.

Tickets are currently set at $259.

“I think the tickets are kind of overpriced; if they had

other bigger artists like Kanye then maybe but I don’t think it’s worth $200 plus. A festival like Bonnaroo would be worth that amount though,” senior Matthew Bengston said.

Six hundred and forty four miles away, which is approximately nine hours and 50 minutes in driving time, is the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The 700 acres of graciously spaced, green and yellow patchy grass is revamped into a multi-stage, camp ground for the four-day festival held from June 12 to 15. More than 80,000 guests are in attendance each year from all walks of life to relish in the ambiance of 130 acts throughout 13 stages. Accompanied by convenient food trucks, intriguing art exhibits, whimsical comedy theatres and engaging cinema presentations, for some Bonnaroo is a worthwhile investment.

“My friends and I were seriously considering it, for real this time. It’s a scarce chance that you’ll attend it someday so you might as well take the chance now,” senior Evelyn Vartanian said.

Attendees can choose to either camp within the campgrounds with a tent or stay at preferred lodging.

Artists and bands set to appear at this year’s festival include: Artic Monkeys, Chance the Rapper, Chromeo, Danny Brown, Elton John, Frank Ocean, Fitz & The Tantrums, Ice Cube, Jack White, Kanye West, Kaskade, Lauryn Hill, Real Estate, Pusha T, The Avett Brothers, Skrillex, Warpaint and Zedd.

Tickets started selling at $234.50 but are now $284.50 as the festival date nears.

Photography students will feel the strain from a lack of necessary resources as Calumet Photographic, formerly Penn Camera, closed their doors in mid-March after filing for Chapter Seven bankruptcy.

Calumet, a large national chain, is one of many filmbased photography stores that is closing due to the increased convenience of online shopping and the availability of digital camera equipment elsewhere. With the closing of Calumet the nearest photography supply store, Embassy Camera, is a 16-mile 30-minute trip down I-270 South to Connecticut Ave in the heart of Washington, D.C. This closing provides a host of problems for photography enthusiasts and students alike. The school’s photography program builds students up, starting with basic darkroom techniques then progressing to more advanced skills such as sandwiching, superimposing two negatives onto one image and solarization, a technique that makes a positive image appear partially negative, before finally advancing to Photoshop and digital images.

Without access to the necessary darkroom supplies, students will be unable to develop essential fundamental skills learned in the darkroom that are critical their skills as photographers.

“When it comes to black and white, you have control from the beginning to the end,” photography teacher Stephanie Labbe said. “You have control over what your negatives look like, you have more control over what your final images look like.”

Digital photography is often seen as taking and then editing images on a computer, but they are actually more digital art “as opposed to learning the basics of balancing your aperture and shutter speed and taking the picture correctly to begin with. I think working with the darkroom forces you to work raw, without all the bells and whistles to help you out,” Labbe added.

Calumet’s closing illuminates a troubling trend that could become the downfall for darkroom programs in schools. Embassy Camera charges $69.49 for 100 sheets of Ilford 8X10 RC Pearl Paper and the financial burden to buy paper is placed on the students. Along with individual costs, the school must pay for maintenance of the darkroom, along with filters, chemicals and film – all necessary components of a working darkroom.

Photo-supply stores are not receiving enough income to make a profit, which in turn raises prices; the raising of prices drives away customers and therefore the store is likely to close. Even if the store is able to stay open the cost to maintain a successful darkroom increases substantially over time. And though the closing of a local store can be overcome through online shopping, the increasing financial burden placed on schools may soon become overwhelming.

While it is almost impossible that black and white photography will become an obsolete art form, an end to school darkroom programs is a very real possibility, according to Labbe.

Labbe explained that if she was teaching an all-digital curriculum the same fundamentals, such as balancing whites and adjusting exposure, could be taught, however having an expensive SLR camera would be a necessity for the lessons. She said that the darkroom would be replaced by a “digital darkroom” where students would use computers to edit their images.

Labbe also revealed that the class would not offer the same experience as it does currently because black-andwhite photography and digital photography are two different art forms.

Overall, the closing of Calumet Photographic causes a heavy burden for photography students more than most know. It makes turning in projects harder because students have to plan accordingly so that they can order offline and receive it in time.

“I find myself scrambling to either find someone willing enough to let me borrow paper or having to pay for quicker shipping because of the urgency that I need paper by, which in the end all needs to correlate so that I have my project done by deadline. The store closing just makes it a notch harder.” senior Matthew Bengston said.

Sports

13

Common Sense - May 1, 2014 RECORDS&SCHEDULES

Boys’ Lacrosse

10-0*

Today vs.

Northwood

Girls’ Lacrosse

RECORDS&SCHEDULES

3-6*

May 5 @ Springbrook

All records are as of Monday, April 28.

Baseball

Softball

10-4*

9-4*

Today @ Kennedy

May 5 vs.

Churchill

Track

Boys’

Girls’

4-0* 0-4*

RECORDS&SCHEDULES

RECORDS&SCHEDULES

Boys’ Volleyball

Co-Ed Volleyball

Tennis

Playoffs vs.

TBD

Playoffs @ TBD

Playoffs @ TBD

May 7 @ Walter Johnson

10-0*

6-4*

9-2*

*Games played too late for this issue

Boys dust opponents; girls can’t keep up Nathan Tadesse staff writer A select few Patriots represented the team at the Viking Invitational on April 26.

The boys’ team managed to place third out of 22 teams that competed, placing first out of Montgomery County schools and the girls’ team came in seventh out of 22, third in Montgomery County. Overall, the Patriots had a strong showing at the meet.

Senior Alan Banks came first in the 300-meter hurdles, and senior Urgy Eado raced his way to the top finish in the 800. Senior Kwame Frimpong and sophomore Redfield Shaw made it all the way to the 100-meter dash finals. On the field for the Patriots, senior Ithawat Keosomdet jumped 5’8’’, placing him second overall. The bright spots on the girls’ side came from a third place finish from the 4x200, and both boys and girls won first place in the 4x800 relay.

The track team aimed to build on their success this season with a strong outing at Friday Night Spikes against the Churchill Bulldogs and the Woodrow Wilson Tigers on April 11. The boys’ team captured two wins at the meet, improving their record to an undefeated 4-0 within the division. The girls’ team was not able to replicate, falling to both the Bulldogs and Tigers on the same night.

The boys’ team crushed its opponents by a combined 87 points due to many impressive individual and team performances. Junior Jaron Woodyard broke the school record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.7 seconds, and finished first in the 100-meter dash. Woodyard also ran anchor in the 4x200 team who broke a 23-year old school record, with a new school record of 1:30. The other members included Banks, Frimpong and Shaw.

This same squad added onto their 4x200 school record with a first place finish in the 4x100.

Like Woodyard, Banks’s team accomplishment was accompanied by individual success as well.

Banks raced his way to first in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles.

Other boys who enjoyed individual success were senior Urgy Eado and juniors Patrick Munro and Nathan Nadal. Eado placed first in the 800 and 1600-meter runs, and Munro finished right behind him in both events. Six out of the top seven runners in the 1600 were Patriots, one of which was Nadal, who had a top finish in the 3200-meter and helped his team to a 4x800 victory. Another of these six runners was senior Sam Feitel who set a new personal record. “It felt great to break five minutes,” Feitel said.

The two sole first place victories both came from sophomores on the team, sprinter Rachel Maizel and distance runner Grace Dellapa earned first place victories in their respective races, the 800-meter run and the 3200-meter run.

Prior to Friday Night Spikes, the Pats headed to Bethesda to take on the Bethesda Chevy Chase Barrons on April 2. The boys’

team won their meet with 74.5 points, to BCC’s 62.5. The girls’ team fell to BCC 61-76.

Wootton had a number of first place finishes coming from both the boys’ and the girls’ on this meet, individually and as a team. Both of the boys’ and girls’ teams 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams came first, and the girls’ added onto both of those wins with another in the 4x200 meter relay.

Members of both relay teams also had individual success on this day. Senior Blair Toy came first in the long jump, and senior Kara Huie in the 200-meter dash and the high jump.

More first place finishes came from Keosomdet who soared to first in the high jump, Woodyard in the 100-meter and Banks in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles, and also the 200-meter dash. Adding onto their teammates achievements, Eado placed first in the 800-meter, and Munro first in the 1600-meter.

The team’s next meet is County A’s on May 7.

photo courtesy Wootton Track

Senior Alan Banks runs in the 300-meter hurdle event at the Viking Invitational hosted by Whitman on April 26. Banks later won first place in the event with a time of 41.08 seconds; the Patriot boys placed third overall.

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Sports

14

Common Sense - May 1, 2014

Girls’ lacrosse gains momentum with three wins after slow start to season Jeremy Yeager staff writer The varsity girls’ lacrosse team celebrated the careers of five senior players before the opening draw of their match against the B-CC Barons on April 22. Senior midfielders Allie Band, Stephanie Weissenburger and Cara Traub as well as senior attack Mady Romm and senior defender Sloan Sheridan were all recognized for their outstanding lacrosse careers.

The Patriots were forced to play without their leading goal scorer, Romm, which forced other players to step up on the attacking end. The girls conceded a goal in the opening moments of the game, but were able to fight back. Sophomore midfielder Lindsey Capitelli scored a hattrick while Band, Weissenburger, Traub and junior midfielders Ellie and Cece Kobylski all contributed goals as well. The game was delayed in the middle of the second half due to thunder and lightning, but later resumed. The Patriots won 14-7 and improved to a record of 3-5.

On April 11, two days after their hard fought loss to the Sherwood Warriors, the girls traveled to Walter Johnson to take on the Wildcats. The game quickly became a shoot out with both teams trading goals throughout the contest. Romm and Ellie Kobylski led the Patriots in scoring with a combined 13 goals, while Weissenburger tacked on another four. The Patriots won the game 21-19, which was their second win of the year.

“We came out really hard against WJ.

It’s tough to not have Olivia in goal, but [freshman goalie] Marlena [Barouth] has stepped up and is playing awesome,” Traub said. The freshman made nine saves and earned her first win of the year.

The Patriots traveled to Sherwood on April 8 to take on the 2013 state finalist Warriors.

The undefeated Warriors’ potent offense proved to be too much for the Patriots to overcome.

The Pats could not outscore photo by Kevin Schuler Sherwood in the Senior attack Allie Band takes a shot on goal for a score during the Patriots’ game on Senior Night against B-CC on April 22. shoot out and ultimately lost lost 14-10. up the Rockets’ offense, Romm went to 22-11. Romm yet again led the team in The Patriots looked to turn around work on the Rockets’ goal. A last minute scoring with five goals. Band contributed their season on April 2 at undefeated RM goal forced overtime, however, the two of her own and junior attack Christina Richard Montgomery. The Rockets Patriots were still able to salvage the 13Shin added one, but they were not nearly created countless opportunities, but 12 victory, the first of their season. The enough.

Mangum stood firm in net, recording 15 winning goal was one of the 10 Romm On April 4 the girls hosted the Walt saves. During the game, Mangum made a scored on the day.

Whitman Vikings (6-1) following their first close range save, blocking a shot with her “The win was even more exciting since win of the season at Richard Montgomery. hand, resulting in an injury. She finished the game went into sudden death and Barouth made her first varsity start the game, but was later diagnosed with because it was our first win of the season,” against the Vikings, replacing the injured a broken thumb and put into a cast. She Romm said. sophomore goalie Olivia Mangum. Even would be sidelined for four weeks.

The Patriots look to continue their hot with six goals from Romm and two apiece With Mangum and the defense holding streak at Quince Orchard on April 28. from Band and Ellie Kobylski, the girls

Softball heats up heading into postseason Jason Recht staff writer

in the fifth, causing the game to go to a mercy rule.

Ultimately, ending the game with a Patriots’ victory and With the season nearing an end, the softball team a final score of 17-4.

The Pats continued their offensive strategy by looked to build their momentum into the offseason in scoring a total eight runs, with a final score of 8-1 and their game on April 26 against Paint Branch.

Patriots victory. Sophomore Bryn Fanger added to the The team struck early with two runs scored in the campaign with a home run to extend the Pats hold first inning. The Pats followed the strong start with over Gladiators in the late section of the game. On the a nine run fourth inning. The girls did not stop there defensive side, senior pitcher Kelly Reagan held up a and continued to score multiple runs in each inning, strong pitching performance with only one run given up. including a home run by sophomore Bryn Fanger in the The team previously set their sights on Walt Whitman fifth inning. on April 22 winning the high scoring game with a final On the defensive side, senior pitcher Haley White score of 19-13.

With a widespread participation on the had a strong game with only one walk given up. Due to offensive side of the field, junior Toria Yan added to the strong pitching performance by White, Paint Branch the score game by hitting a home run with a runner on was only able to score one run in the third and three second to put to the Patriots up with an early lead. Later in the game, senior pitcher Haley White helped out the team with a line drive single past third to extend the Patriots’ hold over the Vikings. Despite, the team’s offense being on point with a combined total of seven hits, they were unable to put up a solid defense and committed a lot of errors.

“I don’t think we played up to our full potential, but we pushed through it and were able to defeat them,” senior Kelly Reagan said. photo courtesy Wootton Softball The girls’ softball Sophomore Bryn Fanger hits a fly ball into right field during the game against Whitman on April 22. The Pats went on to win 19-13.

team looked to add onto their three-game winning streak in their game against Clarksburg on Friday, April 11. The Pats were able to combine for six hits resulting in three runs, but were not able to recover from the Coyote’s four run third inning. The Patriots ended the game with a 6-3 loss to the Coyotes. “[We] had a strong outing with four games in four days, we fought hard and were content with going three wins in four games, although we could be more consistent on the defensive side of play,” junior Jackie Caputo said.

Next the Pats had their third game within three days against Quince Orchard on April 9. The team added four runs on eight hits against the well-matched Cougars.

The Patriots came out of the challenge with a 4-2 win, improving the team’s record to 6-3 overall record with a 5-1 conference record. Despite the win, coach Alton Lightsey was unhappy with the team’s play. “We did not play well, we need to play better defense if we want to win consistently,” coach Lightsey said.

The team then built off their impressive defeat of Seneca Valley by setting their sights on Richard Montgomery on April 8. The Patriots had an early onerun deficit against the Rockets, with a run being scored in the first inning. After three scoreless innings the team managed to score two runs and take the lead in the fourth inning. The team then held on to the lead by managing three scoreless innings and securing the team’s 2-1 win against the Rockets at home.

The Pats in the game previous to Richard Montgomery, cruised to an easy victory with 11 runs scored on 11 hits and a final score of 11-1 against Seneca Valley at home on Monday, April 7.

In the girls’ match against Blair, the team was only able to score one run with a final score of 1-4 on April 5, giving the team their third loss for the season at the time.

The team looks to add on to their success against the Panthers with a good showing against Blake at home on Monday, April 28, which was too late to cover in this issue.

Sports

15

Common Sense - May 1, 2014

Boys’ volleyball ‘kills’ opposition Brian Gastwirth staff writer

The boys’ volleyball team moved to a perfect 10-0 record after defeating Richard Montgomery 25-21, 25-19 and 25-15 on April 23. It was the first game after spring break, but the Pats were far from rusty. The team has just one more game to play before they head to the county championships to begin their title defense.

It was both Senior Night and the last home game of the season when the Pats beat Sherwood in three sets on April 10. The victory was fitting for a group of seniors who have won every single regular season home game of their four-year careers.

The match was a hard-fought, bittersweet victory for the entire team, especially the seniors. “The game itself was one of our best,

making the night all the better,” senior Cary Chin said. “After a hard-fought match, it hit me that it is almost all over. It is a sad thought, but I am excited to see this effort until the end.”

After playing four games in six days, spring break arrived as a timely respite from a compressed season. It remains to be seen whether the time off will serve as a healthy rest from a packed schedule or disrupt the rhythm of a hot team that is trying to march into the playoffs with confidence. Still, it is one game at a time for a team that has handled every test thrown at them thus far.

“This year’s volleyball season is very short, which gives the team less time to practice,” senior Ben Wang said. “However, we have made all of our practices very efficient in hopes to win another county championship.”

On April 9, the team spoiled Blair’s Senior Night with a yet another 3-0 victory. Relentless

as usual, the team got the job done with 25-17, 25-9 and 25-15 wins in straight sets. The match was a routine team win with contributions from various faces.

In the always-anticipated rivalry game against Churchill, the Pats delivered, winning in three nail-biting sets 25-22, 25-19 and 25-23 on April 7. Seniors Cary Chin, Paul Malinauskas and Ben Wang helped defend home court from the formidable Churchill team. Other players, such as juniors Adam Kaplan and Mark Pang, provided part of the depth that helped propel the team to victory, and junior hitter Jeremy Chung came in to close the game out offensively.

The team knew that taking down Walter Johnson would be a challenge when the two sides met on April 4. The Pats prevailed at home, but not without facing adversity first. The team won the first two sets before

dropping one to the Wildcats, who took the third set 25-18. Eventually, the Pats finished the game by winning the fourth and final set 25-19.

“Both teams showed up to play and battle for every whole point in each of the four sets. Both teams started the match with zero points, and with no style points to burn,” coach John Hartranft wrote in a blog post on woottonvolleyball.com. “The Patriots earned enough points in this match to get the win.”

Similarly, the Pats defeated BCC in four sets after conceding the opening set on April 3. The Pats showcased their resiliency and perseverance in a highly competitive match that kicked off the challenging series of games that have all ended in wins.

Just one more game remains in the regular season. The Pats will travel to Blake on April 28 to see if they can maintain their perfect record into the county championships.

Resurgence for baseball after win streak Charlie Eichberg staff writer

a solid 10 hits, which is above the season average of 8.5, and only one error. The key turning point in the game was when senior Noah Kimball hit a homerun to tie it up. In the final two innings the boys scored three runs to seal the victory. Senior Matt Hsiung also had a late home run to help the team go ahead. Hsuing pitched six innings and allowed three runs.

In all the other games during the streak, the boys dominated the field, as they steamrolled Richard Montgomery 10-4, including a five-run surge in the fourth inning. They also beat Northwest comfortably 7-2. And last week on April 24, the boys dominated Northwood in a 10-1 win.

The only loss for the team in the past month, besides the Whitman game, came against Gaithersburg on April 3 and Blair on April 5. Although they fought hard, the boys were not on top of their game against Gaithersburg as they fell to the Trojans 13-1. Gaithersburg is one of the top teams in the county and the top team in the 4A west region, boasting an 11-1 record. Blair is a strong team, with the same record as the Patriots. But with Blair’s three runs in the first inning and two in the second, the boys found themselves in a 5-1 hole early on and would set the tone for the rest of the game. Blair won the game 7-1.

With six games left in the regular season, the boys are just above the middle of the pack in the standings, at fifth place out of 12 teams. The boys have some tough opponents ahead, including rival school Churchill. The Churchill game is always highly anticipated whether or not the teams match up evenly.

The team’s next two games are against Damascus and Blake, and both of them are under five hundred. Last time the boys met up with Damascus they blew by them 18-2. Look for the boys to keep their momentum heading into the photo courtesy Wootton Baseball playoffs.

After an up and down start, the baseball team has hit its groove and has put together a five-game win streak, including wins over the 6-2 Clarksburg Coyotes and the 8-3 Sherwood Warriors, two tough teams in the county. The team’s record is 10-4 heading into the late part of the season.

The Clarksburg matchup was a close game, and the boys earned a tight 6-5 victory over the Coyotes. It was a significant win considering Clarksburg beat Seneca Valley 9-1, and the boys only beat them 2-1.

Sherwood was a tougher matchup for the boys and this was the second time the two teams met this year. The last time the teams met was the season opener when the Patriots fell in a 1-0 nailbiter. But in the second meeting, the team prevailed with a go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning to give the boys a 2-1 lead with just a half inning to go.

On April 22, the Whitman Vikings put an end the streak, defeating the Patriots 4-3. With the score tied heading into the bottom of the final inning, the Vikings scored a walk-off run to end the game. The boys displayed their efficiency in the field, committing only two errors throughout the whole game. “We fought hard even though we didn’t win,” junior Kyle Saggar said. “We knew it was going to come down to the wire, and it did.”

Later in the week, the team went up against Paint Branch. Paint Branch is a similar team to the Patriots, with a record of 9-4 coming into the Junior Max Shapiro throws a pitch during the game against the Clarksburg Coyotes on April 11. game. The boys pulled out a close victory 5-3 with went on to win against the Coyotes 6-5 in a closely contested and dramatic match up,

The Patriots

Co-ed volleyball powers way toward playoffs Paul Malinauskas staff writer

The co-ed volleyball team completed the majority of its regular season, and continues their march toward the postseason. In a cramped three weeks, the team racked up wins against Richard Montgomery, Blair, Walter Johnson and Bethesda-Chevy Chase, while they lost to Sherwood, Churchill and Whitman. With their record standing at 6-4, the Patriots are looking to win their last two matches and cement their position in the postseason. “It has been a very busy schedule,” head coach Mary Malinauskas said. “We are going to have to be able to rebound from losses and play well on quick turnarounds, with very little practice time.”

The Patriots took a short journey to Rockville Town Center on April 23, as they took on the Richard Montgomery Rockets in the first match after spring break. Normally, teams tend to see a dip in form after the break, but the team showed no sign of doing so, as they broke out to an early lead and stayed comfortably in front. Junior middle hitter Tom Saunders shined with an excellent attacking match, and the Pats

remained loose as they breezed to a 3-0 victory.

The most cramped part of the year for the Patriots came to a close on April 10, as the team celebrated the achievements of the three seniors playing on their home floor for the last time. All three, middle hitters Lee Wei and Kyle Foster and defensive specialist Emily Meyer, have played major roles for the team this season, and were constantly involved against a strong Sherwood Warriors team. Although the Warriors would defeat the Patriots on this night, 3-0, the game itself took a back seat to the recognition of the senior accomplishments, and the impact they have had on the team.

After a difficult loss to Churchill a day earlier, the Patriots faced a quick turnaround as they traveled to Silver Spring on April 8 to take on the Blair Blazers. Despite the lengthy trip, the Pats were unfazed, and quickly jumped to a 9-1 lead in the first set to set the pace for the entire match. Using a variety of weapons, namely freshman outside Christine McMakin and sophomore outside Catherine Liu, the Patriots took control and easily spoiled the Blazers’ Senior Night, winning 3-0.

On April 7, the Churchill Bulldogs stepped

into their main gym for the second year in a row.

The 2013 meeting resulted in a bitter four-set victory for the Patriots, buoyed by a raucous home crowd, and the Bulldogs were intent on revenge.

A high-energy clash was expected this time around, but the rivalry match turned out to be a subdued affair. The crowd remained relatively quiet all match, and the teams seemed less like two pumped up rivals and more like two tired sides worn down from the demanding schedule.

The Patriots kept the set scores relatively close, but never truly found their footing against a solid defensive-minded Churchill team. The Bulldogs raced out to large early leads in each set, and held on for a 25-23, 25-19, 25-20 win. Despite the loss, there were strong points for the Pats, as Wei and sophomore defensive specialist Isabel Salas delivered strong performances.

The Pats played host to the Walter Johnson Wildcats three days earlier, the third team the Patriots would see that week. Unlike the Churchill game, the match against Walter Johnson proved to be surprisingly intense.

Facing a Wildcats team that had many similarities to them, the Patriots focused on

defense and limiting hitting errors. In doing this, both teams saw themselves dragged into painstakingly extended rallies. The match became a marathon, ultimately culminating in one sprint to 15 points, after the Wildcats took the fourth set to make the score 2-2. The match had been even for a majority of the night, but the Pats overtook Walter Johnson early in the fifth set, and raced out to a 15-9 victory, closing out the match in a 3-2 victory.

The match was by far the longest of the year so far, taking two hours and 11 minutes to complete.

A trip into downtown Bethesda beckoned for the team on April 2. The match started late due to the extended duration of the boys’ match, but the Patriots still came out strong.

Steady play from Wei and Meyer led the team against an inferior Barons squad. Eventually, the Pats were able to leave with a 3-0 win. Every player on the roster played, although Saunders left the game in the first set with a forearm injury. He was done for the day, but did not miss any future matches.

The Patriots’ match against Blake ended too late for this edition.

Sports

16 Common Sense - May 1, 2014

Boys’ lax bests Bulldogs for 10th straight win Kyle Perel staff writer

the board for most of the game. Only allowing 15 shots the whole game, junior defensemen Robbie Weinstein and Cole Abid led the way The boys’ lacrosse team disposed of their opponents for the Patriots’ defense throughout the game. defeating rival Churchill 14-6, pulling out a victory against Given the margin of goals in the game, junior BCC, 19-6, crushing Blair 19-1, handling both Middletown defensemen Zach De Leon and Jack Pykosh and Walter Johnson 15-3, dominating Sherwood 16-3 and were able to get playing time, pitching solid convincingly defeating Whitman 11-2. performances.

In the most anticipated game of the season, at high Cornelius continued his hot streak allowing noon, the Patriots’ handled the bulldogs of Churchill 14-6. a mere three goals on 15 shots bringing his save Senior attackmen Austin Schoenfeld and Jake Mitchell led percentage on the season to a remarkable .798 the scoring for the team. Schoenfeld has five goals with percent. Through eight games, Cornelius saved one assist and Mitchell had three goals and four assists. a remarkable 71 shots out 89 total.

Helping with the scoring were senior midfielders Max Throughout the cool April night, the Coonin and Tim Golden, with Coonin tallying once and Patriots’ offense led the team to a dominating Golden scoring twice. Senior attackmen Matt Saltzman victory, scoring 16 goals that night against the also contributed once.

Warriors of Sherwood. By the end of the first It was a commendable performance by the defense half the team lead 14-1 in part thanks to Coonin who kept Montgomery County’s highest scoring player, who scored three goals, dished out four assists Churchill’s Louis Dubick, off the board the entire game. for a total of seven points. Mitchell once again With that, the defense also kept the Bulldogs, who had contributed big, scoring four goals and helping been scoring in double digits every game, to only six goals. out on another. Other scoring also came from Junior Goalie Patrick Cornielius came through big Schoenfeld who put up three tallies. Siegel did again making 18 saves on 24 bulldog shots. the same, and Golden tallied once.

With everyone’s eyes on the Churchill game, the Pats The Pats dominated the shot count and led were able pull out another victory, defeating the Barons 37-6.The defense once again stood strong in a of B-CC 19-6. Golden led the way for the Patriots with photo by Andrew Gastwirth game that was heavily dominated by the offense. four goals and five assists. Junior midfielder Myles Senior midfielder Tim Golden scores a bouncing goal during the Pats 14-6 victory over Churchill.

“We played as a team, communicated well and Romm tallied four times that night. Senior midfielders kept everything to the outside making it hard for the Patriots. On paper, this was the team’s toughest game of Jake Dunlop (one goal) and David Siegel (two goals) them to score on us,” senior defenseman Brady Noble said. the season as they entered the game 7-0. They would leave contributed to the Pats’ win that night.

In the first half, the stingy Patriot defense allowed only In a less than stellar performance by the team’s standard, 7-1 as the Pats sent the Knights of Middletown on their a single goal to a poor Sherwood offense allowing for the the Pats allowed six goals to the 2-6 Barons. Cornelius had way. It was another scoring frenzy lead by Coonin with three backups to enter the game.

Overall, solid defensive play from his most lack-luster performance of the season only making goals and three assists, and Romm who had four goals and senior defenseman Jake Koplan led the defense to a strong one assist. Golden, Dunlop and Siegel also pitched in with five saves on 11 shots performance.

Another stellar performance from Cornelius Spring break was kind to the boys in red, white and blue two goals. It was not the quick start that has been seen seen helped the Patriots back end have a great game. in past games as the score was only 2-1 after the first period, as they outscored all their opponents by a total of 49-7.

In a highly anticipated game coming into the week, The Blair game featured a huge offensive surge from but constant offensive attack led to five goals in the second the team disposed of the Whitman Vikings on a soggy some unlikely names as well as some of the team’s stars. quarter and six goals in the fourth.

Friday evening.

Leading the way offensively for the Patriots Cornelius played arguably one of his best games of the Junior attackmen Jack Wright and Ryan Bass got into the was senior midfielder Mike Kim who put three in the net. scoring fray along with senior attackman Ben Keppler who season, stopping 12 out of 15 shots on the day and finishing Following closely behind Kim were Coonin and Schoenfeld, did the same. Junior varsity call-ups sophomores Stephen with a .800 percent save percentage. and Dunlop all who tallied two goals.

On the first night of spring break the team once again Bray (midfielder) and Harris Sorkin (attackman) both scored The defense once again dominated their side of the field a goal in their time on the field. Scoring also came from defeated their opponents, thrashing Walter Johnson by a only allowing 10 shots in total.

Koplan, Abid and Weinstein score of 15-3. In a game controlled by the offense, the Pats regulars Schoenfeld, Coonin, Golden and Romm. along with long stick men Noble, and sophomore AJ Gorsky Both goalies Cornelius and Riese got time in net during constantly peppered the WJ with 45 shots throughout the all contributed to their defensive thrashing of the Vikings. the Blair game and combined for a strong performance. game and scoring 15 times. Romm led the way putting four Both goalies Cornelius and Riese got in the game, Cornelius Riese faced a season high and allowed a single one goal while of the 15 goals in the net. Closely behind him were Coonin allowed one goal on eight shots, and Riese also allowed a one and Schoenfeld who both tallied three times.

Cornelius kept his hot streak allowing no goals in his time. goal on two shots.

Another stingy Pats’ defensemen kept the WJ offense off The Middletown game featured more of the same for

14-6

Tennis slams into postseason riding high on win streak Tej Joshi staff writer The boys’ tennis improved its record to 9-2 with a dominant 7-0 win over the Damascus Swarmin’ Hornets on April 26.

Freshman Ben Feldman played at the fourth singles position, and seniors Quinn Phelps and Ashwin Suryavanshi played at the third doubles position. Senior Titas Bera and freshman Kyryl Tsygura both won their matches in two sets with scores of 6-0 in both sets.

The Patriots defeated the Poolesville Falcons on April 24 6-1. Bera lost in three closely contested sets. “Everyone except Titas won easily,” Coach Nia Cresham said.

The team cruised through their match against the Division II Clarksburg Coyotes on April 22 at home. The Patriots won in a dominant fashion with a score of 7-0.

First singles player Bera and second singles player Tsygura both won their matches in two sets with scores of 6-0 in both sets. Senior Abhishek Patwardhan also won his match in two sets with set scores of 6-1 and 6-0. Seniors

Daniel Bogachek and Ashwin Suryavanshi, who are normally alternates, both started against the Coyotes.

Junior captains Joseph Deng and Ishuin Kuo and team mangers juniors Pritam Ghanti and Vinay Katikam planned Senior Night, which the Patriots celebrated against the Coyotes. “We decided to get all of our seniors princess tiaras and giant tennis balls,” Deng said.

The Patriots were defeated by the Churchill bulldogs on April 10 by a score of 4-3 for their second loss of the season. Tsygura could not attend the match because he was participating in a national competition in California. As a result, Patwardhan moved into the second single position and senior Quinn Phelps moved into the third singles spot.

Alternate freshman Ben Feldman was bumped into the starting lineup in the fourth singles position. Bera lost in three sets. After leading earlier in the third set Bera began suffering from severe cramps, which led to Bera dropping the set.

Patwardhan also lost his match. However, Phelps won his

match. “The Churchill match was tough because you always want to beat your rival. However, [Churchill] played a little better when it counted and it was a tough loss,” Phelps said.

First doubles court of Deng and senior Jason Liao won their match in three sets. “Jason and I went into the match knowing that our best chance to win as a team relied heavily on winning our match,” Deng said.

They got out of an early deficit. After photo courtesy Vinay Katakam dropping the first set and Tennis seniors stand with over-sized tennis balls given to them for Senior Night on April 22. being down 1-4, in the second set the doubles Feldman filled in at the four against [Whitman] because I knew team made a comeback and won singles position and Patwardhan their singles players were ranked their match in two sets. and Phelps both moved up a higher than our single players,” The Patriots had a large court to the second and thirds Cresham said. Tsygura won easily fan presence at the game. “The singles courts, respectively. Phelps in two sets. First doubles of Liao fans were great,” Phelps said. won three sets. “We played a and Deng lost a highly contested “We usually only have this many great match against WJ, they were game that went down to the wire. fans for county games,” Coach always a solid team so to win 7-0 The Patriots rolled through Crehsam added. was good for our team,” Phelps the BCC Barons with a score The Patriots defeated the said. of 6-1 on April 2. Tsygura was Walter Johnson Wildcats on April The Whitman Vikings dominant winning in two sets 7 with a score of 7-0. Tsygura defeated the Patriots 4-3 on April 6-2 and 6-3. Bera won a tightly was not able to attend the match. 4. “I’m pleased with how we played contested game.