Bellaire High School Today · The Winter Drum Line is a percussion group that competes in TCGC (Texas Color Guard Circuit) against other schools with only percussion instruments

BHS Today Volume 7 Issue 6 June 2013 Page 1

Bellaire High School Today

Volume 7 Issue 6 June 5, 2013

Stories in this Issue

- News and General Interest

o Economics Challenge team wins State

o JROTC takes first at HISD Gathering

o English Teacher wins Texas Humanities Award

o Color Guard‟s Winter Drum Line take Gold

o Youth Business Institute hold fashion show

o Annual Earth day celebration held in courtyard

o Cardinals take competitors to UIL

o Young Republicans and Young Democrats go to Austin

- Foreign Language Competitions, Awards and Events

o 24th

Annual Texas State Japanese Language Speech Contest yields awards

o Spanish classes sweep National Spanish Exam

o French National Honor Society hold Language Social at library

- Sports Updates

o Girls‟ Golf places at state tournament

o Lady Cards fight to break softball playoffs curse

- Club Profiles

o eMotion Dance Company holds Spring Show

o Orchestra visits Alamo

o Photography Club holds animal photography contest

- HISD Award Winners

o HISD Secondary Teacher of the Year

o HISD Youth Volunteer of the Year

o HISD Parent Volunteer of the Year


Senior James Davis, senior Joseph Lau, senior Adarsh Nadnur and senior Zach

Hacyner place the highest – second in the overall state competition.

NEWS AND GENERAL INTEREST

Economics Challenge team wins State

By Laurence Zhang

Last March,

students from

Michael Clark‟s

AP Government

and Economics

classes took part

of a series of

online

competitions

held by the

Texas Council

on Economic

Education.

Students

competed as

teams of four,

separated by his

or her

performance in

Mr. Clark‟s

classes

throughout the

year, in two categories: the Economics Challenge Competition in the Adam Smith Division (for

IB and AP students) and the Personal Financial Literacy Competition. These competitions

required students to take tests online that covered economic and financial literacy concepts. Each

team member took the test individually and the computer averaged the top three scores. The

window for testing opened on March 4 and lasted three weeks. The top scoring teams received

cash prizes and were invited to attend the state competition, held at the Bullock Museum in

Austin on April 5. For this year‟s competition, Bellaire sent eight different teams to state.

Bellaire had much success in this year‟s state competition at Austin. A team made up of senior

Zach Hacyner, senior James Davis, senior Adarsh Nadnur and senior Joseph Lau placed second

overall in the 2012-2013 Economics Challenge Competition in the Adam Smith Division.

Another team made up of senior Elliot Levy, senior Tian Wang, senior Edward Yun and senior

Aadil Pappa finished second overall in the 2012-2013 Personal Financial Literacy Competition,

and a third team composed of senior David Nielson, senior Tony Ren, senior Willis Nguy, and

senior Peter Elmers won first place in the same category. The first place Personal Financial

Literacy Challenge team will head out to St. Louis, Missouri to compete in the national event.


The JROTC program takes first place at the 2013 Final Review and Awards Ceremony.

JROTC takes first at HISD Gathering

By Sophie Daily

On Apr. 20, 25 JROTC divisions from all of HISD gathered for the 2013 Final Review and

Awards Ceremony at the Delmar Tusa Field House. After a yearlong evaluation against 24 other

JROTC divisions, the Bellaire JROTC won the highly envied 1st place overall title in HISD and

the Superintendents Trophy. Bellaire JROTC received the Superintendents Trophy for exhibiting

the highest degree of academic, leadership and community support, coupled with superior team

involvement in Drill, Marksmanship, Physical Fitness and overall program assessments.

Bellaire JROTC also had the highest scores in their Female Physical Fitness team, thereby

winning highly acclaimed 1st place. Bellaire JROTC also scored well in Sporter Rifle

Marksmanship, and they received the 2nd place honor. Judging these competitions were Texas

A&M University cadets and high ranking HISD officials. Some of these officials included

director Cornell McGhee, deputy director Berlin Marshall, operations coordinator Elvin Baines,

military property custodian Archie Chapman, senior secretary Brenda Alexander-Prince and

warehouse specialist Ramiro Sepulveda. Through their hard work and dedication, the Bellaire

JROTC secured numerous titles, honors and awards at the 2013 Final Review and Awards

Ceremony with their help of their instructors LTC Dennis O‟Driscoll, CSM Brian Briggs and

MSG Ronnie Jefferson.


English Teacher wins Texas Humanities Award By Laure Cundiff

Long time English Teacher, Camille Quaite, recently received

an award in recognition of her dedication to teaching the

humanities. Quaite is loved and respected by her students for

her hard work in preparing lessons and teaching English in an

appealing way. Quaite describes the ceremony and

Humanities Texas, the organization presenting the award.

"The ceremony was on Apr. 15 in the auditorium," Quaite said.

"Mr. McDonough, Ms. Shoulders and two representatives

from Humanities Texas were in attendance. Humanities Texas is part of the national endowment

for humanities, which is an important supporter of art, culture and education in society."

Quaite continues to describe the specifics of the award and her reaction to the honor.

"[The award] was in recognition of my incorporating multiple elements of the humanities into

English class including art, music and

history," Quaite said. "I was extremely

happy. I was selected as Humanities

Texas teacher of the year and thought

there was no way I could ever win with

such a large field of candidates, and yet

I won. Only 12 out of 1200 nominees

were selected as winners."

This incredible honor came with a lofty

prize for not only the winners, but also

the schools that the winners represent.

"Each of us won $5,000 and were

presented with a certificate," Quaite

said. "The school also received a check to be applied towards humanities education. I hope

they'll use it on Academic Decathalon."

Congratulations, Ms. Quaite, and thank you for all of your hard work!

Color Guard’s Winter Drum Line take gold By Tonya Chen

On Apr. 6, the Winter Drum Line represented Bellaire at the Texas Color Guard Circuit

Championships in College Station, leaving with a gold medal.


Bellaire‟s Youth Business Institute partner up with TJX Companies to

participate in a fashion marketing program.

The members of the drum line- Dominique Carter, Alexander Garcia, Alia Pappa, Patrick

Switala, Erin Szoeke and Michael Wu have practiced together many hours in order to prepare for

this competition.

The Winter Drum Line is a percussion group that competes in TCGC (Texas Color Guard

Circuit) against other schools with only percussion instruments. Some of the instruments

featured are snare, tenor drums, bass drum and crash cymbals as well as front ensemble/pit

instruments such as marimba, keyboard, xylophone, vibraphone and drum set.

Sophomore Michael Wu, who plays the marimba, describes his experience at TCGC.

“The competition is judged on the performance, technique and artistry,” Wu said.

“For me, it was hard since I had to practice afterschool but after seeing how our ensemble

progressed, it was awesome when we won championships.”

Youth Business Institute hold fashion show By Liza Didyk

Strutting their stuff

on the catwalk, the

members of the

Youth Business

Institute (YBI)

showed off their

business attire to

students. YBI, a

fashion marketing

program at Bellaire,

is an opportunity

limited to juniors

and seniors who are

interested in going

into the business

industry in clothing.

The show, sponsored by T. J. Maxx and Marshalls, featured specific attire that should be worn to

interviews or jobs. The many “do‟s” and “don‟ts” were echoed by the judges as the models

walked on and off the stage in the tune of famous pop songs like Katy Perry‟s “Firework” and

Swedish House Mafia‟s “Don‟t You Worry Child.” The audience learned what is okay to wear

and what is inappropriate.

Along with the fashion shows they get to hold, members of YBI can also learn firsthand from T.

J. Maxx and Marshalls associates, receive scholarship opportunities, network with business

leaders and get jobs.

As the fashion show came to a close with the standing ovations for the YBI and the conductors


of the show, the final showdown came when the audience was invited up to “gangam-style” as a

part of the promo video.

The ladies who participated in the fashion show will their successful strides into their future

endeavors as entrepreneurs and businesswomen.

Annual Earth day celebration held in courtyard By Stephen Proler

After another 365 days the Earth‟s birthday came and went by. On Apr. 22, 2013 Earth Day was

celebrated by the students of Bellaire High School. Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 to

provide events worldwide that would increase the support for environmental protection. Bellaire

High School celebrates this phenomenon by holding live performances, booths with

environmental facts and different organizations that talked about environmental reform. Junior

Will Levine has celebrated Earth Day for the past three years and enjoys the excitement the

holiday brings.

“Earth Day, this year, was pretty cool,” said Levine. “I enjoyed listening to the music and

hanging out with my friends. It was a really nice atmosphere and made an impact on my views

on the treatment of our planet.”

Besides the music, food and information, Bellaire students take part in the tradition of using

chalk to express their feelings and support for Earth Day. For Junior Camille Black, this was her

first celebrated Earth Day.

“My first Earth Day was really nice and fun,” said Black. “It was a sunny day, blue skies and no

clouds. It was fun seeing friends and playing with chalk on the sidewalk.”

We will just have to wait another year to see what‟s in store and what activities will be provided

for next year‟s Earth Day.




Cardinals take competitors to UIL

By Ridge Liu

Like a broken record, students from Bellaire just keep winning awards.

The latest one comes from the University Interscholastic League

(UIL), with several people competing and placing in districts, and one

person making his way to the state level. For the third year in a row,

Bellaire‟s only competitor at the state level for UIL has been a member

of the Three Penny Press. Junior and graphic artist Jason Weilee‟s

finish in the Editorial Writing competition came after Bellaire‟s win of

the Journalism competition in the district level.

The state competition was held on the University of Texas‟ campus in

Austin, with hundreds of kids from around the state participating in

various events, from Literary Criticism to Accounting. Among the

fierce competitors were perennial favorites from the suburbs, like Clements and Dulles in Sugar Land,

Cy-Fair schools and Plano schools near Dallas. Though only Weilee qualified to the state level, many

other students did well in the District level, such as the Science team, Mathematics team, and several

debate teams. There were only few events in the district level in which Cardinals did not do well,

consisting of fields where other schools are dominant.

The staff looks forward to another year of success next year.

Young Republicans and Young Democrats go to Austin

By Nico Aldape

On Thursday, May 16, the Young Democrats and Young Republicans went on a joint trip to

Austin for a day of political action and observation. Both clubs went with excitement as they

entered the world of real state politics. However, the excitement of the day was somewhat

tempered by a then-recent tragedy. Senior Chris Lydick, social media coordinator for the trip,

explains.

“We all joined together for the same cause: to show support and sympathy for the victims of

West and their families,” Lydick said. “We got to see floor action in both the State House and

Senate after presenting some ribbons to congressional aides from the areas surrounding West.”

After making and giving ribbons to aides as they arrived in Austin, both clubs sat in on Texas

Senate and House sessions. The clerk quickly announced votes on several bills, among them a

bill to reform and tighten payday loan regulations. Junior Cameron Maher, a Young Democrats

member, describes his experience watching the sessions.


Young Democrats and Young Republicans take a trip of Austin‟s Capitol

Hall to watch congressional sessions.

“It was an interesting, messy process,” Maher said.

After watching the Texas Congress, both clubs took a picture with state senator Joan Huffman, a

Republican senator for Texas‟ 17th district. After learning some history of the reception room

and the furniture in it, both clubs met with Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. The lieutenant

governor gave a speech about his business background and how well Texas is doing

economically despite the current recession. Maher, regardless of disagreements with Dewhurst‟s

politics, found the meeting enjoyable.

“The lieutenant governor was very cordial and non-partisan,” Maher said.

At the ongoing congressional sessions, senior David Nielsen got local state representative Sarah

Davis to pass a resolution. However, this was not a legislative resolution at all. Through pre-

planning and email, Nielsen arranged for Davis to ask Jennifer Knesbach, the Young

Republicans‟ vice president, to prom. David Nielsen describes how the plan was executed.

“Sarah Davis came up to the speaker position, introduced our club and then asked Jennifer to

stand up. Davis then said „Constituent service is very important to me. Jennifer Knesbach, David

Nielsen was wondering if you would go to prom with him.”

After standing up and pulling out flowers, Nielsen got a “yes.” Shortly after, all club members

quickly went on the bus to head home after a long day of politics.


FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETITIONS AND AWARDS

24th

Annual Texas State Japanese Language Speech Contest yields awards

By Alexis Freeman

The 24th Annual Texas State Japanese Language Speech Contest, sponsored by both The Japan-

America Society of Houston and The Consul-General of Japan at Houston, was held Saturday,

Mar. 9 in Rice University‟s Herring Hall Auditorium. The competition divisions included Poetry

Recitation, Free Speech and Free Speech with Text as well as an Adult Division.

Japanese teacher Chizuko Bolinger sent several of her students to the competition. Bellaire

participants for the regional Beginners‟ Poem Recitation were Tyler Smith, Danielle Facundo,

Christina Vaughn, Emma Crooks, Desmond Davis Paola Ayala and Seiji Williams. Smith,

Vaughn and Williams took the top three spots consecutively. Smith and Vaughn went on to the

state competition, where Smith won 2nd

place.

Regional Intermediate Recitation competitors were Erika Vinett and Alyssa Watson, with

Watson taking home 3rd

place.

Senior Errol Phalo competed for the third time and won 2nd place in both the regional and state

level Intermediate Free Speech with Text category. She will go to Los Angeles for the National

competition for the second time in May.

Phalo wrote her speech about her relationship with her Japanese teacher and her view on the

differences between Japanese and American school. She recounts the mood of the competition.

“The majority of the competitors were genuinely interested in the culture and language,” Phalo

said. “Everyone had worked really hard on their speeches. The hostility and competitive feeling

died down quickly.”

http://jashouston.com/en/programs/japanese-speech-contest/state-speech-contest

http://jashouston.com/en/

http://jashouston.com/en/


Spanish classes sweep National Spanish Exam

Spanish teachers Mrs. Laufe and Mr. Gunno had students take part in the annual National Spanish Exam. This mix of students from both the regular and AP level led to the results of the following:

First Name Last Name Spanish Level. Grade Placement

Meghan Parsons 3 10 GOLD

Hannah Lu 3 10 GOLD

Anastasia Chan 3 10 SILVER

Alessandra Gest 3 10 SILVER

Erik Lopez 3 11 SILVER

Kevin Nguyen 3 10 SILVER

Shivani Raman 3 10 SILVER

Claire Weddle 3 10 SILVER

Vinhngan Chuor 3 11 SILVER

Zean Liao 3 10 SILVER

Summer Alvarez 3 11 BRONZE

Sarah Gerlich 3 10 BRONZE

Richard Goldman 3 10 BRONZE

Rolina Luo 3 10 BRONZE

Sakshi Multani 3 10 BRONZE

David Coronado 3 10 BRONZE

Tianxiu Chen 3 10 BRONZE

Yiting Chen 3 10 BRONZE

Alexandra Kainer 3 10 BRONZE

Maria Ramirez 3 11 BRONZE

Michael Atkins 3 10 HONOR

Cierra Loflin 3 10 HONOR

Zhaonan Luo 3 10 HONOR

Samantha Smith 3 10 HONOR

Kenneth Zhu 3 10 HONOR

Zach Wood 3 10 HONOR

Elise Pantazis 3 10 HONOR

Shu-en Shen 3 10 HONOR

Christopher Wernette 3 10 HONOR

Danielle Morgan 3 10 HONOR

Andrew Bell 3 11 HONOR

Adaure Alozie 4 11 GOLD

Madeline Folkerts 4 11 GOLD

Bowie Lin 4 11 GOLD

Ridge Liu 4 11 GOLD


Victoria Prince 4 11 GOLD

Karlo Remigio 4 11 GOLD

Jason Weilee 4 11 GOLD

Tamarah Farchy 4 11 SILVER

Hailey Haut 4 11 SILVER

Aman Narayan 4 11 SILVER

Kyle Ozuna 4 11 SILVER

Anja Parikh 4 11 SILVER

Madison Silver 4 11 SILVER

Kendall Thompson 4 11 SILVER

Tiffany Wang 4 11 SILVER

Laurence Zhang 4 11 SILVER

Jinchen Zou 4 11 SILVER

Shivani Pandya 4 11 SILVER

Randal Scroggins 4 12 SILVER

Jose Alfaro 4 11 SILVER

Melina Quintanilla 4 11 SILVER

Cindy Flores 4 10 BRONZE

Alicia Castro 4 12 BRONZE

Ron Gadot 4 11 BRONZE

Lee Lorenz 4 11 BRONZE

Rebecca Orsak 4 12 BRONZE

Julianna Peacock 4 11 BRONZE

Danielle Shahin 4 11 BRONZE

Mollie Shin 4 11 BRONZE

Jackson Su 4 11 BRONZE

Christina Vaughan 4 10 BRONZE

Ann Romero 4 11 BRONZE

Christoper Barnes 4 11 HONOR

Katherine Cox 4 11 HONOR

Madison Mccorquodale 4 10 HONOR

Ernesto Zepeda 4 11 HONOR

Jerry Bi 4 11 HONOR

Connor Carter 4 11 HONOR

Patrick Golden 4 11 HONOR

Jillian Greene 4 11 HONOR

Melina Karayiannis 4 11 HONOR

Vivianne Pineda 4 12 HONOR

Jaclyn Riff 4 11 HONOR

Samantha Rojano 4 11 HONOR

Ann Thomas 4 11 HONOR


French National Honor Society hold Language Social at library

By Manlin Yao

On May 25, the French National Honor Society (FNHS) held the second French Language Social

at the Stella Link Neighborhood Library. FNHS members gave lessons to young children about

French language and culture and had a crepe-making activity. Senior Alice Tao, president of

FNHS, created the event, inspired by her love for language.

“At first I just thought they would be really fun! I've always wanted to go to events like these

when I was a younger student,” Tao said. “I think more people would continue studying a

language if they put it into real life situations or if they think the learning process is fun, which

was the concept behind "French Film Fridays" as well. After the first event, I realized that I

really liked teaching and sharing what I've learned, so I continued with the second one.”

Sophomore Sophia Cen also participated in the event and is glad that more people are able to

experience the French culture and language.

“The french language event is a casual way for young kids to take interest in learning French,”

Cen said. “The event also provides for people to gain in on some French culture by learning

songs and making and eating french crepes.”

FNHS will continue to offer the French Language Social event next year for anyone who is

interested in learning about the culture and language. FNHS also welcomes all students and

teachers to attend the next year‟s French Film Fridays.


SPORTS UPDATES

Girls’ Golf places at state tournament By Leslie Cundiff

Congratulations to Samantha Smith for placing 30th

out of 72 players in the state golf

tournament. All her efforts led her to finish in the upper half tier of competitors in Texas. Getting

to state took Emily Gilbreth, Samantha Smith, Taylor Moser, and Teresa Datta won the district

golf tournament with Gilbreth with a 1st place finish of 72, Smith with a 2

nd place finish of 75

and Moser with a 3rd

place finish of 79. Moser reflects on her performance in the tournament.

“The district tournament was a really great experience,” Moser said. “We got to play and see the

skill of the local kids to see what we were up against for the next few years of competition. It

was also a great experience to play with the girls I train with, and winning was awesome. It

really brought us even closer together, and when Samantha went to state, we made sure to

encourage and support her. She did awesomely, and we are all so proud of her success and our

year-long efforts that have paid off.”

Lady Cards fight to break softball playoffs curse

By Molly Oretsky

4th Round. To the Lady Cards Softball team this has been a powerful phrase for the past six

years, as the team has appeared there five times. In the last two seasons, Bellaire has lost to

Pearland in this Class 5A-Region III semifinal, once with a stacked senior-heavy team and the

second time with a young but talented squad. In their this next outing, the junior-packed Lady

Cards face the Brazoswood Lady Bucs to see if they can break the round 4 “curse” at 7:30 p.m.

on Friday night at Manvel.

Matchup:

Bellaire sports an impressive 30-5 record, but Brazoswood packs a powerful punch with a

record of 33-6.

The Lady Cards faced breezed through the previous round defeating Cy Lakes 9-0 in a

one game sweep, but the Lady Bucs came back from a loss in their first game against

mighty Pearland and powered through the next two games, winning 7-2 and 5-3.

Both teams sport impressive bats with juniors Jasmin Vasquez leading with a .539

average, eight triples, 46 stolen bases and two home runs, followed by Molly Oretsky

batting .510 with six homeruns and 51 RBIS and Sara DeLaCruz with batting .436 and 53

runs. The Lady Bucs have come up with clutch hits, especially sophomore Sara

Decarolis, who came up with a shop-stopping grand slam to bring the Bucs a victory

against Pearland.

Bellaire packs a strong one-two punch between starting junior pitcher Gabriela Alatorre

and senior spin pitcher Kristen West, while Brazoswood‟s pitcher Kennedi Fisher has

lead the team through thick and thin.


Junior Jennifer Li, freshman Linnea Schuessler and junior

May Zhong perform at the Spring Show.

The Lady Cards and the Lady Bucs face off in a three game series to decide who will move on to

the coveted third round to face the winner of Cinco Ranch and defending state champions Deer

Park.

CLUB PROFILES

eMotion Dance Company holds Spring Show

By Michelle Huang

This spring, the eMotion Dance Company performed in the auditorium. They have two main

shows annually, one per semester (spring and fall). The show theme for this concert was "Night

at the Museum", that took place 7:00 p.m. on Friday, May 3. The performance was brilliant as

always, especially considering the limitations of time, as there were many competitions close to

the show, which only allowed the

dancers to have about a month of time

to do the bulk of their choreography.

Current Modern dance officer and

rising president of the eMotion Dance

Company, junior Jennifer (Hanying)

Li elaborates on the hard work they

put in.

“We had practices everyday

afterschool from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30

p.m., but it was definitely worth it,” Li

said. “I feel like our most recent

concert was the best one we put on. I

liked a lot of the scenes. The one with

the astronauts was fantastic. We

covered everything, and the whole

show was like walking through a

Smithsonian museum.”

The orchestra group performed at the

Alamo Showcase of Music Apr. 19 in

San Antonio. Bellaire signed up to

attend and play in front of judges who

give ratings to each group. They

received best in class and best in show

awards as well as division ones,

meaning they were the best ranking

group overall.


Senior Katerina Sesic wins the animal photography contest with

this picture of a black cat.

Orchestra visits the Alamo

By Elaine Shen

The orchestra group performed at the Alamo Showcase of Music Apr. 19 in San Antonio.

Bellaire signed up to attend and play in front of judges who give ratings to each group. They

received best in class and best in show awards as well as division ones, meaning they were the

best ranking group overall. Junior Colin Shi is proud of the groups‟ achievements.

“This was like a UIL competition,” Shi said. “I felt very accomplished with our performance.”

After the competition, the orchestra and band group went to Dixie Dude Ranch to relax for a

couple of days. Junior Dallas Yu really enjoyed the trip.

“They took good care of us,” Yu said. “They fed us a good breakfast, and the living

arrangements in general were just good.”

There were plenty of activities to bring the students back to their Texan roots. Junior Bowie Lin

also had a great time bonding with his fellow musicians as the end of school year wraps up.

“We played volleyball, horseshoes, swam, hiked, went horseback riding and roasted

marshmallows,” Lin said. “It was a really fun experience, and I enjoyed getting to know people

from the other orchestra and piano classes that I usually don't see.”

Photography Club holds animal photography contest

By Daniela Carlock

The Photography Club,

sponsored by Terry Merwin,

hosted a photo contest. The

contest revolved around

pictures of animals. It could be

any animal from your pet, to an

animal you went to visit at the

zoo. The prize was a $100 gift

card to Camera Co-op. Out of a

wide range of applicants senior

Katerina Sesic, a foreign

exchange student from Boznia,

walked away with the grand

prize. The picture was of her cat

staring at the camera as half of

its face was covered by a


shadow.

President Evan Shegog enjoyed the competition and reviewing all of the pictures.

"We hosted this contest in order to get the name of our club around and promote it through a fun

and friendly way,” Shegog said. “It was really interesting to see all of the creative ways that

people portrayed their animals."

HISD AWARD WINNERS

Congratulations to all of our HISD-level award winners from Bellaire!

From left to right:

Anna Hiran was awarded HISD Youth Volunteer of the Year

Kay Kubena was awarded HISD Secondary Teacher of the Year

Deana Robinson was awarded HISD Parent Volunteer of the Year

Thanks to all for a great year!

Documents

Bellaire High School Today · The Winter Drum Line is a percussion group that competes in TCGC (Texas Color Guard Circuit) against other schools with only percussion instruments