THE OVERAcHIEVER

October 2011

Vol. 8 Issue 1

International Academy

1020 E. Square Lake Road

Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304

It ends here.

Cover Design

Photo by David Lyons Description The highlight of the school year: Olympics, the battle of the classes. This year, the class of 2012 celebrated a victory with much enthusi-asm.

In this issue...

Olympics 2012! ….……….…..3

Trick or Treat!.............…..…5 Entertainment…………...……7 Sports……….....…..…............9 Are We Stepping Back?.…10 At IA................Back Page

Staff Principal

Ms. Lynne Gibson Associate Principle

Michael Giromini

Faculty Facilitator Ms. Sarah Clancy

Editor-in-Chief Sarah Khan

News Editor Swathi Shanmugasundaram

Features Editor Sneha Edupuganti

Sports Editor Karam Hadid

Back Page Editor Abby Strub

Contributors Sarah Khan Tiffany Loo Sneha Edupuganti Mariam Anwar Yaya Sun Nancy Huang Karam Hadid Blair Prince Emma Burt Abigail Strub

by SARAH KHAN

3 October 2011 News

Olympics 2012!

Olympics. The high-

light of every year. The one

day which my fellow seniors

and I have been waiting for

since we were freshmen- the

day that the class of 2012

would win Olympics.

The mood of Olym-

pics this year was decidedly

different. Each class seemed

to be more involved. The

themes were more intense

with the Freshmen represent-

ing Atlantis, the Sophomores

as Egyptians, the Juniors as

Spartans, and Seniors as

Mayans.

Each grade put up a

valiant fight during spirit

week and on the actual event

day. It was an extremely

close call with the final

scores reading: Seniors with

203 points, Juniors with 195

points, Sophomores with 163

points, and Freshmen with

135 points.

As a senior, Olympics

this year was one of the most

intense, hyped up moments

of being at IA. And it did not

disappoint. The close score

with the Juniors, who fought

out till the last event, made

our win even more enjoy-

able. While there were some

difficulties and challenges

faced throughout the day, I

do believe that we played to

the best of our abilities.

This moment has forever

bonded the class of 2012,

and has definitely changed

our class spirit for the better.

In order to get a big-

ger picture of what Olympics

was like, I asked different

students from various grades

on what they thought about

Olympics. This is what they

had to say:

“I felt like Olympics this

year not only brought our

class together, but brought

all 4 classes together as a

whole. I am much closer to

those I competed against,

and now we have our own

inside jokes with one an-

other. All in all it was a great

stress-reliever from the

heavy IA workload, and I am

looking forward to it next

year!” -Yazan El-Baba

(Junior)

“My favorite part was cheer-

ing on my best friend during

the car race!” - Michelle

Chen (Sophomore)

“I‟m going in, victory in the

air. Smell that aroma. Sen-

iors winning Olympics, then

their IB diplomas. You got a

problem with 2012, then say

it now hater. „Cuz it‟s the

end of the world, there ain‟t

gonna be a later. You think

you got scores of Spartans,

we got scores of points. We

go hard till we ache, our

Voices and our joints. Check

the scoreboard and you‟ll see

that I am no liar, „you be

spitting hate but seniors be

spitting fire.” -Original Rap

by Sidu Jena (Senior)

“Olympics was an amazing

time for my entire class and

I. This year‟s Olympics and

spirit week differed greatly

from other years, in that we

actually bonded as a class

and came together when it

truly mattered. As high as

our flags rose, our spirits

were able to top that altitude.

The entire class remained to-

gether throughout the whole

day and never stopped cheer-

ing and encouraging others.”

-Moshe Haddad (Senior)

“My favorite part was proba-

bly the car race because it

was an unexpected victory

for the sophomores!”-Yara

Gayar (Sophomore)

“The whole Olympics ex-

perience, from the planning,

to the actual event, to the

celebration afterwards was

probably the best experience

I‟ve ever had at the IA. Our

class finally had united team

spirit, and as a class we grew

so much closer. I can hon-

estly say that I love every

person in our class.” - Deen

Debryn (Senior)

IT ENDS WITH US.

by Tiffany Loo

News The Overachiever 4

New Kids On the Block We are pleased to welcome

several new faces to the IA Central

staff this year! Like our fellow class-

mates, they come from various di-

verse backgrounds. Ranging from

elementary P.E teacher to Wolverine

graduate, they all seem to share a

mutual desire to travel to the lands of

Italy and Greece. Let‟s check out

what we found out about the new

girls in town!

Ms. Aimee Lance

Teaches: Math 3 and Physics 10

Education: Schoolcraft College 2005

-2007; transferred to MSU in 2007

and graduated in 2010

Hobbies: Cooking, gardening, and

landscaping

Ms. Lance dreamed of being the first

woman president as a young child

and explored the idea of becoming

an engineer. Describing herself as a

“farm-girl She enjoys various genres

of music including songs by Miranda

Lambert and Hans Zimmer. She is

“obsessed with food from Italy and

France…a good romance novel/

movie always seems to take place

there.” In ten years, she would love

to be married with a few kids, begin-

ning a career in the culinary world.

Ms. Danielle Jacobs

Teaches: Healthy Living

Education: Attended Western Michi-

gan University; earned bachelor‟s

degree from Madonna University

and master‟s degree from Wayne

State University

Hobbies: Shopping, getting together

with friends/family, and sleeping!

Ms. Jacobs once student-taught

physical education at Keith Elemen-

tary and Walled Lake Central, the

latter in which she also had a long-

term substitute teaching job. She has

focused her attention on academics

for the last eight years, but she re-

cently got engaged and is currently

planning a wedding for next July.

Congratulations Ms. Jacob! She has

a dog named Keifer and rocks out to

the tunes of Taylor Swift. Her dream

job is a career she can look forward

to coming to everyday.

Ms. Lauren Luedtke

Teaches: World Literature and

American Literature

Education: Completed undergraduate

at Western Michigan University;

earned graduate degree at Eastern

Michigan University

Hobbies: League bowling, walking

my dog, traveling.

If they made a movie out of Ms. Lued-

tke‟s life, she claims it would be a docu-

mentary on how much time teachers

spend thinking about their jobs outside

the normal school day, and she would be

the star. She loves the Harry Potter series

and admits that she knows every word to

the song “One Week” by BNL. Like Ms.

Jacobs, she is getting married next sum-

mer and will thereafter be known as Mrs.

Milazzo. We congratulate you as well

Ms. Luedtke!

Ms. Renee O’Brien

Teaches: Honors Biology and IB1 Biol-

ogy

Education: Graduated from the Univer-

sity of Michigan

Hobbies: Running, piano, and watching

ridiculous reality TV shows

On career day in the fourth grade, Ms.

O‟Brien dressed up as a scientist. Many

years later, she is living her dream job as

a science teacher, though she admits

Vanna White has it pretty good as well.

Her absolute favorite song is “Jessie‟s

Girl” by Rick Springfield, and she pos-

sesses the curious ability to touch her

tongue to her nose. She modestly claims

that her life is not exciting enough to

make a movie out of it, but if that were to

happen a red-head would be the star! Ms.

O‟Brien is fascinated by tornadoes and

would love to go storm-chasing one day.

by SNEHANJANI EDUPUGANTI

by SNEHANJANI EDUPUGANTI Trick or Treat! October 2011 Features

Tips for Going Green! Every issue, the Overachiever will be sharing a new idea to help you live an eco-friendly life. So, keep a look-out for more green tips in future issues!

Tip for October:

If you got old books or magazines lying around, try finding out if you can donate them to your local library or a childcare cen-ter near you rather than keeping them dusted up in a corner of your room!

It’s that month of the year again! The only month when it is socially acceptable to take candy from complete strangers: October! Most people just know that on the 31st of this month, kids (and sometimes even teens and adults!) go out during the night dressed up in the most crazy costumes and beg for candy. What they don’t know is how this unique and fun tradition actually began. Halloween actually has two supposed origins: Celtic and Christian. According to the Celtic ori-gin, Halloween began over 2,000 years ago, originally known as “Samhain Festi-val”. The Samhain festival was celebrated in order to welcome the coming winter.

During this festival, peo-ple would sacrifice some of their crops and animals to the Celtic deities using the enormous bonfires. The tra-dition of costumes began with the Celts, who wore animal heads and skin dur-ing the bonfires! The Christian origin of Halloween began in the 600’s A.D. with the replace-ment of the Samhain festi-val with the “All Saints Day” (also known as “All Hollows Day”) for Novem-ber 1st. The night before “All Hollows Day” became known as “All Hollow’s Eve”, which is now called Halloween. During “All Hollow’s Eve”, people would put on costumes in order to trick the souls into

into believing that they were one of them, so the souls would not enter homes! Since then, Hallow-een became a fun holiday for everyone, from little kids to adults, to celebrate! Halloween is the one day of the year where you can dress up as anything you want and talk to as many strangers as you choose and gather as much candy as you can, so make sure you make every Halloween memorable for you! http://www.clarkpest.com/Portals/31616/images/

by MARIAM ANWAR

6 Features The Overachiever

Bye-bye, Stress!

to increase the alpha waves

in your left and right sides of

your brain which help im-

prove your learning ability,

creativity and calmness.

3. While studying, try taking

quick study breaks. Just as it

is physically impossible for a

human being to work non-

stop for 24 hours, it is also

unhealthy for one to work

non-stop for even 3-5 hours.

Try taking 15-minute breaks

in between; better result are

guaranteed!

4. Another way to combat

stress is to make sure that

you are eating a balanced

diet. By doing so you are

once again maintaining a fit

lifestyle, in which you are

healthy and happy. Remem-

ber that our body needs many

vitamins and minerals to ef-

fectively work in the strong-

est way, so keep eating those

vegetables and fruits!

5. Consider limiting your-

self from caffeinated drinks,

including coffee! Caffeinated

drinks increase your cortisol

levels, which only make it

Being an IA student and

starting almost a month ear-

lier than most high schools,

you have already experi-

enced the immense work

load and are probably feeling

heavy stress of high school,

and for some, the IB pro-

gram. On top of that, you

may be trying to balance be-

tween school, sports, volun-

teering, friends, prep time for

ACT/SAT, etc. Well, guess

what – it‟s only the begin-

ning. You still got a long

year ahead of you, and some-

time in your high school ca-

reer, you may feel so stressed

out that you start breaking

down. However, you have a

lot more control on your

stress level than you think.

Whatever you are trying to

control – your thoughts,

emotions, the way you react

to stress – there is always a

solution, and The Over-

achiever is here to help you

find it:

1. Exercise at least 30 min-

utes a day. It‟s been proven

that exercise (though may

seem like pain to some while

doing it!) is actually a great

way to relieve stress. If

you‟re not the kind that likes

exercise, at least try getting

out and going for a quick

walk. Any type of exercise is

better than nothing!

2. Listen to music! Believe it

or not, music has been found

unhealthier for you. Try drink-

ing green tea, as it is a great

source of antioxidants and is

very tasty!

6. Don‟t forget to eat breakfast!

Busy mornings mean skipping

breakfast for most people, how-

ever, that should not be an ex-

cuse to skip the most important

meal of the day. Breakfast not

only gives you the energy you

need to get through your day, but

also balances your blood sugar

levels, which is necessary for

good health.

7. Sleeping is also another great

way to relieve stress. As an IA

student, sleep is a very limited

for many; however, it is healthy

to sleep for an average of 7-8

hours a night.

It fuels your mind, as well as

your body. If this isn‟t possible,

try taking power naps. Whether

it is an hour or less, studies show

that 20 minutes of sleep in the

afternoon provides more rest

than 20 minutes more sleep in

the morning.

Hopefully with the tips pro-

vided, you‟ll be able to cope

with your stress better. The tips

may seem redundant and said

many times, but they are indeed

the most effective ones, so why

not try them sometime? Good

luck!

Picture:

http://acsherbal.com/images/

secrets-life-healthy.jpg

by YAYA SUN

October 2011 Entertainment 7

Monthly Manga Madness: Dengeki Daisy

Image from http://cdn.myanimelist.net/

images/manga/3/36921l.jpg

“No matter what happens, I’ll protect

you.”

Ever read something like that?

Oh I sure did. Something like that al-

ways occurs in stereotypical shoujo

manga. I remember dropping a lot of

manga because they were too similar to

each other. They had so many repeating

arcs, like couples going to the hot

springs, or getting locked in the gym

closet and whatnot. But of course,

Dengeki Daisy springs out at the most

clichéd parts.

Unlike some, Dengeki Daisy is

quite the eye-catcher; it ranks at #11

out of the thousands of manga that are

on myanimelist.com, and even beats out

some old favorites like Death Note and

Skip Beat. But what makes this manga

differ from others? Is it the storyline?

DD is about Teru Kurebaya-

shi, a high school girl with a cell phone

memento from her late brother. She is

employed--or really enslaved--by the

school janitor Kurosaki after she acci-

dently breaks a window. Kurosaki

treats her like a servant and makes her

do his janitorial duties in order to pay

off her debt. She lives alone but she is

not lonely; her cell phone serves as the

only communication between her and

her unknown guardian who calls him-

self Daisy. Daisy serves as Teru‟s

safety net, and she emails him about

what happens in her regular life.

I found that even at the awk-

ward moments, or at the sweet senti-

mental moments, there‟s always a

funny line or side-story to keep the

reader entertained. The humor is sensi-

ble and tries to ease the tense moments.

The drama is more realistic and not

overly melodramatic. The plot is cen-

tered on the mystery.

Aside from what you might already be

thinking, Teru is not a typical female

shoujo character. She is independent

and helps her friends without thinking

about her safety first. She‟s not overly

dependent on Daisy, either.

I would stalk my iPod for

manga updates almost every day. I re-

member doodling daisies on my home-

work. This manga offered me a lot of

entertainment, and I know that anyone

else who gives it a chance will, too.

So forget Bleach. Forget Vam-

pire Knight or Fruits Basket. Try some-

thing new like Dengeki Daisy. Even if

you‟re a guy, it wouldn‟t hurt to try a

shoujo manga. Enjoy!

“Daisy serves as Teru’s

safety net”

Entertainment The Overachiever 8

Movie Review: The Social Net-work

by NANCY HUANG

If I ever made a movie

about Facebook, I would probably

title it The Facial Network, and cast

myself as the main character, fake-

typing on a laptop. Thank good-

ness Aaron Sorkin wrote it, instead.

Last year’s The Social Net-

work definitely made my list of fa-

vorite movies. I thought it was in-

credible; the first few thoughts I

had after watching the movie were,

as follows: Jesse Eisenberg is now

my new favorite actor, I’ve never

heard of Andrew Garfield but he’s

really hot, and I didn’t know Justin

Timberlake could act.

The movie tells the true

story of the creation of Facebook,

and the drama that followed after-

ward—lawsuits, suing, robotic lap-

top-typing, sleep-deprived hackers,

Image from http://cutprintreview.com/reviews/3-

12-stars/the-social-network-review/

good movie dramas go, Justin Tim-

berlake. The Social Network stars

Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Mark

Zuckerberg, Facebook creator and

genius The Social Network stars

sleep-deprived hackers, and, as all

good movie dramas go, Justin Tim-

berlake(wait what?). The Social

Network stars Jesse Eisenberg,

who plays Mark Zuckerberg, Face-

book creator and genius extraordi-

naire. The plot’s timeline is set in

2004, the year Facebook was cre-

ated. Mark Zuckerberg is an unsat-

isfied, bored sophomore at Harvard

University, and his best friend is

Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Gar-

Throughout the entire

movie, viewers see their ups and

downs when making decisions for

Facebook—lots of problems arise

when Mark enlists the help of Sean

Parker (Justin Timberlake), founder

of Napster, and also when Mark is

accused of stealing someone else’

s idea. Cue the sue, you guys. Cue

the sue.

This is bad for many rea-

sons. It is the start to a whole

mountain of new problems. Edu-

ardo gets accused of forced canni-

balism. Facebook gets sued--twice.

Mark never sleeps. Sean likes fast

internet and fast ladies. Eduardo

smashes a laptop or two. Mark

downs about twenty beers through-

out the entire movie. It is a scan-

dal.

This movie was made last

I was so sur-

prised when I

found out that

many of my

friends have not

yet seen it. Obvi-

ously, drastic ac-

by Karam Hadid by KARAM HADID

October 2011 Sports

Golden Sunset

IA Athlete of the Month Mohamad Demashkieh, a freshman at

the International Academy, is balancing

the heavy workload of the IA as well as

playing JV football for his home high

school, Andover. He is a starter on both

offense and defense, a center and a de-

fensive tackle. These positions are ex-

tremely important positions on any foot-

ball team. I interviewed him and asked

him several questions about how he

manages his time with this time-

consuming sport, as well as how it is to

play at Andover.

Q: What made you want to play football

this year at Andover?

A:At first when I made the decision to

go to IA, I thought it would be

too difficult to do my schoolwork and

play football at once, but football is not

just some other sport for me, it is a pas-

sion. I enjoy football more than anything

and when I put on those pads and get on

the field, there is no better feeling.

Q: How do you handle all your school-

work and attending practice and

games? Does it get difficult?

A: It‟s difficult to balance out my time

wisely in order to fit time for school-

work. I usually head straight from

school to Andover for practice and am

sometimes caught up at school and ar-

rive late to practice or game day warm-

ups which is frustrating for me as well as

the coaches. Football also causes me to

return home at a very late time. When I

get home, I have to get to work immedi-

ately or else it‟ll be a long night.

Q: How do your teammates interact with

you? Was it difficult to build relation-

ships with them?

A: The Andover JV football team is a

group of outstanding individuals and I

love them from the bottom of my heart.

My teammates often make jokes about

me going to the IA, but they don't treat

me differently in comparison to others.

Art is a big deal at the IA, and

for student Sameen Haq it is more than

just a class. Sameen is a junior at the

IA, and says art class is where she feels

most free, able to express herself in any

way she desires. IB Art is a very diffi-

cult course to do well in, let alone get

accepted in. Sameen has shown hard

work and dedication throughout her high

school years to prove that she is capable

of creating beautiful, meaningful art.

One art piece she has completed this

year is titled Golden Sunset (shown be-

low).

She created this using oil paint on can-

vas earlier this year, and wants people to

understand the meaning of it. She said

that the sunset scene shown in the paint-

ing is presented as calm and peaceful,

which shows how the world can be

beautiful and peaceful, despite all of its

issues. “The point is to look past all the

difficulties faced, and see the beauties in

life.” she said when asked about the

painting. This painting took her ap-

proximately one month to master, and

she scheduled to work on it a couple

times each week. The process to make a

painting like this is very long, with a

sketch, drawing, rough draft, etc. The

IB Art curriculum requires several paint-

ings to be done by students, each giving

a different message. The art produced

by some students at the IA is incredible,

and cannot go unnoticed. The hard work

they put in is truly inspiring to all stu-

dents. Next time you walk by the art

room, take another look to notice some

of the works of fellow classmates. It

truly is beautiful.

Q: Do you feel it‟s worth it to participate

in sports while at the IA?

A: Yes, I believe that every IA student

should be participating in a sport for

their home high school. It may be chal-

lenging with transportation issues

and time-management but every student

needs a balance in their schedule and

time to take a break from school and

relax with others.

Q: Any tips for other students at the IA

who would like to play sports but fear

the heavy workload and time consump-

tion?

A: The most important thing is

time management. Don't worry about the

workload of IA, it is definitely worth it

to play your sport. Once you return

home from a hard day of practice, you

might feel like not doing your home-

work, but you must set time for yourself

to complete your work and not procrasti-

nate.

Many students at our school participate

in extra-curricular activities. It‟s impor-

tant to learn from each other and make

sure that you are on top of your game!

We wish the best of luck for all IA stu-

dents participating in extra-curricular

activities!

**If you would like to be listed as IA‟s

Athlete of the Month, please contact the

sports editor, Karam Hadid, for details.

by BLAIR PRINCE

Perspectives The Overachiever 10

Are We Stepping Back? The months of November

and January are dreaded by all

seniors in high school. Because it

means, for most, the time that col-

lege apps are to be finished. Al-

though are there certain minority

that feel less stressed than others?

In 2006 Michigan voters voted in

favor of proposal 2, which basi-

cally stopped affirmative action in

schools, careers and contracting in

the state of Michigan (Farron 1).

The purpose of this proposal was

to implement equal treatment for

all genders, races, and national

origins. Although is affirmative

action discrimination? This has

been a looming question over the

heads of many individuals since

its origin. Although it is unlike

segregation where these specific

races or genders are separate but

“equal”; non-minority groups are

still admitted into college, and still

granted excellent jobs. The only

thing is that minorities are given

what some would call a “boost”.

Although the question is, is this

“boost” special treatment, or es-

sential in equalizing our world?

Steven Farron argues that affirma-

tive action is discrimination “a

black applicant [to the University

of Michigan] was 71 times more

likely to be admitted than a white

with the same SAT score, high

school grades, and background”.

These statistics are shocking, and

Farron‟s argument that affirmative

action is discrimination; which he

made very clear in these facts; al-

though these statistics are subjec-

tive. University of Michigan con-

siders a multitude of factors when

reviewing applications other than

SAT/ACT, GPA and background.

Outer school activities, supple-

ments and how each applicant is

individual from all others is very

important in the screening proc-

ess. Although does this change

the fact that 71 percent of black

students are receiving

“favoritism” from the University

of Michigan? Probably not. Far-

ron also argues about the fact

that Asian Americans (who are

also a minority) have 10 percent

chance of college admission ver-

sus blacks and Hispanics who

have a 90 percent chance (all

who have the same credentials)

(Farron 2). This is where the thin

line comes into play, is it now

less about setting history

straight, and more about admit-

ting a “certain person” into col-

lege. A factor that may affect

this is the verbal test, Michigan

views the verbal test as a

stronger indicator of academic

performance over average math

scores on the ACT (Farron 3).

Unfortunately it is predomi-

nately Asians who do poorly on

these verbal tests. Does this ac-

count for why small populations

of Asians are admitted into Michi-

gan, it may, or it may not. Al-

though it is important to take into

account that yes being a minority

helps, but it is not the deciding

factor into whether or not a stu-

dent gets admitted into college.

On the other side of the spectrum

Kimberle Crenshaw believes that

affirmative action is not only fair,

but necessary. She states that it is

important to note that affirmative

action was made to give minority

groups equal opportunities as

every other group. In the 1960s it

was almost unheard of a black go-

ing to college, or a woman work-

ing. These setbacks greatly af-

fected not only the black commu-

nity but all minorities, as well as a

woman‟s importance in society.

Affirmative action was made so as

not to but minorities ahead of the

majority, but to even the playing

field. Crenshaw argues that until

society is in fact even in every

way, then minorities should con-

tinue to help. She states “where

the presence of women and people

of color remains a matter of con-

troversy rather than a normal fact

of life”; this is true especially in

areas previously white male domi-

nated. Jobs such as doctors and

lawyers, even actors are uncom-

monly occupied by minorities.

Although they have started to be

integrated until it is a 50:50 ratio

Crenshaw believes that affirma-

tive action needs to stay put. An-

other important issue to take into

account is the fact that affirmative

Photo courtesy of Word Press

11 October 2011 Perspectives action does not automatically

mean a job or college admittance.

Because a individual is black,

does not mean they are getting

into a better college than a white

student who has better credentials.

There are still the same standards

for blacks and whites, only

schools like Michigan want to

“remain fully and completely

committed to diversity” states

Mary Sue Coleman president of

by EMMA BURT

Invention or Intervention Throughout the 1900s

there where many great advances

in technology and invention

across the country and the world.

The Wright brothers took flight,

the creation of the Model-T, in-

stant coffee…however not all of

the discoveries were so gripping

as these. Some of the most ridicu-

lous inventions of the twentieth

century include the combined

plow and gun, baby carrier (one

strap for each parent), the alarm

fork, cigarette holder for two, the

baby cage (suspending your child

in a secure metal enclosure in-

stalled on your windowsill over

your busy street), and many oth-

ers. One of them that I believe is

the most amusing is the mustache

guard.

First patented in 1912,

the mustache-guard was meant

to protect a mustache from be-

coming damp while drinking a

beverage or when participating

in other harmful activities. John

H. McConnell of Winslow, Indi-

ana imagined this preventative

mechanism. In the official ga-

zette of the united states patent

office (volume 183) it states, “In

a mustache guard a pair of comb

like mustache engaging mem-

bers a pair of comb like clamp-

ing members hingedly connected

to said mustache engaging mem-

bers and adapted to be swung up

into engagement with the mus-

tache whereby the latter is

clamped between said members

and the inner mustache engaging

members said clamping mem-

bers being adapted to move out-

wardly while being swung up

into operative position thereby

smoothing the hairs of the mus-

tache and springs secured to said

mustache engaging members and

adapted to engage the clamping

members whereby the latter are

yieldingly held in operative or

inoperative position,” (1236).

This seemingly simple concept

has a very specific use as can be

seen by the description, however,

how much good is this to its user?

A similar invention to this was

invented decades before the twen-

tieth century mustache-guard. In

1867, C.E. Mitchell and M.

Moriarty patented their own mus-

tache-guard that was a detachable

tray that was to be applied to the

rim of a glass in order to keep

ones mustache from dripping in its

contents. I personally find

Mitchell and Moriarty‟s method

of “guarding” ones mustache far

more useful than the inane hunting

trap contraption that was thought

of in 1912. Overall it is my opin-

ion that a guard for a mustache is

highly unnecessary and is one of

the most ridiculous inventions of

the 1900s and perhaps or all time.

Photo courtesy of Word Press

Ph

oto

co

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f Wo

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ress

University of Michigan. Basi-

cally Coleman argues that af-

firmative action ensures diver-

sity, which helps students and

faculty grow and become more

cultured

So what is the future of affirma-

tive action? Well it is definitely

not going completely away for

some time, and even if it does,

it will not be erased from the

minds of those experiencing it. It

is important to be tolerant of mi-

norities, while staying fair to ma-

jorities and that is where the thin

line of affirmative action is

drawn. Although difficult to stay

impartial in such a hot topic, it is

important to note both sides of the

story in order to fully conclude

whether or not affirmative action

is discrimination.

The Back Page Everything else you could want in the news.

Welcome to the back page! I have confetti for the occasion, but since this is printed and not

live, you can‟t see it. Sorry.

I wish I could say that this is the best part of The Overachiever. I cannot. (At least not

consistently – our other editors and our contributors do a good job!)

But I can tell you other things! Like how the paper has a blog this year! Yay blog! Be-

fore you ask, no, it doesn‟t just have the articles you find in the paper. It has shorter, day-to-day

stuff. Anecdotes from classes our contributors are in would be a good example of what will

show up there.

So, the back page . . . it can have whatever on it. We‟ve had a crossword about teachers,

a coloring page with a bunny, random quotes from students and teachers, jokes, riddles, and

(frequently) the editor just writing whatever they can think of before it‟s time to turn in the lay-

out. It‟s kind of like the miscellaneous section, or letters from an editor.

Unlike other sections, though, it usually has one contributor: me, the editor. (Before she

gets angry, I‟ll also mention a sophomore who filled this page herself last year as a sort of plug

for me, Nancy Huang). But yeah, usually, it‟s all thrown together by me. Of course, the one-

person thing is IN NO WAY a permanent or desirable thing. I welcome, encourage, and some-

times beg for people to submit material or ideas for the back page. I‟d even consider running

personal ads.

Oh, and as for who I am: I‟m Abby. Hi. I‟m a senior girl. I‟m Caucasian, I can‟t drive,

and the lenses of my glasses are totally uneven in thickness. If you see me, I‟m either looking

vaguely angry and masculine as I roll my huge duffel-backpack down the halls, or I‟m singing

alto in one of three school choirs. Or you‟re trying to get some of the anime club‟s popcorn

(honestly or not) and I‟m telling you that no, you can‟t have a whole bag to yourself. That‟s ba-

sically it.

I‟d like to tell you that this is the best section, or the funniest, or the most creative. But I

wouldn‟t want to set the bar too high. I just hope whoever reads this will enjoy it. That‟s what

we put it there for, like the whole paper: your enjoyment. So I command you to enjoy! :D

by ABIGAIL STRUB