The Viking / Issue 3 / Nov & Dec 2013

Loudoun Valley High School . Purcellville, VA . Issue III . December 2013vikingth

e

NEWGRASSThe growing interest in the bluegrass tradition is reviving a school club that’s larger than ever. p. 8

theviking

Newsmagazine Staff 2013-2014

Editor-in-ChiefCharles Lyons

Managing EditorsBrianna JenningsEmma Rodriguez

Business ManagerCourtney Morgan

Photography and Social Media Editor

Elizabeth Sikora

Copy EditorLeila Francis

Online EditorsSami MorencyHenry Webster

AdviserPaige Cox

Writers, Photographers, Business and Promotional StaffCarina Bucci, Jennifer Colantonio, Claire Deaver, Sacha Gragg,

McKenna Holtz, Maddie Rice, Ainsley Sierzega

Letterfrom the

Editoran interview are what you will see printed unless you tell us otherwise. Our interviews are backed up via audio files, and we promise to never intentionally place your quotes out of context. If you find that we printed something incorrectly or feel that we misrepresented you in any way, please feel free to let us know so that we can print an apology. As we said, we work to serve you, our student body, and do not want to misrepresent you.

Make sure to look for us throughout the year—we will be distributing five more issues before the school

year ends. In the meantime, visit our online iteration at thevikingnews.com, where we post articles, pictures, sports coverage, videos and more on a weekly basis. Also, if you are interested in submitting advertisements or shout-outs to friends or clubs, feel free to visit Room 135 or contact our advertising manager, Courtney Morgan, by e-mail at [email protected]. As always, we hope you enjoy this issue of The Viking.

Thanks!Charles LyonsEditor-in-Chief

Top / Bridget Dunn decorates the junior hall in preparation for Homecoming week judging. Junior hall placed second in the hallway competition, with sophomore hall taking the lead.photo / Sami Morency

Cover / Junior Cameron Carlson and guest speaker and magician Steve Bargatze interact onstage during Bargatze’s anti-bullying Magic with a Message assembly.photo / courtesy of Sydney Pitvorec

thevikingnews.com | Twitter: @lvhsviking | Instagram: lvhsviking

ultimately everything is produced and crafted by The Viking staff.

If there is something you want us to cover, let us know! Room 135, the publications room, is always open for you to come give us suggestions. Our goal is to paint an accurate portrait of the current cultural, scholastic, athletic and overall climate of the environment we visit every day; knowing what you all are interested in reading will help us reach this goal.

While we want to entertain our readers, we also are very serious about our work. We do not tamper with interviews; the words you give us during

Dear Vikings,The Viking is a completely student-

run and student-funded newsmagazine, meaning that our staff is responsible for everything you see printed, unless otherwise credited. Our adviser, Ms. Cox, guides us through the process, but

Top / Senior Emily Jackson performs in The Crane Wife and Other Tales for the drama department’s first production this school year. The cast put on a great weekend of shows for the school and community, which was unfortunately cut short due to snow.Photo / Elizabeth Sikora

Cover / Senior and Bluegrass Club member Hector Pidilla strums his guitar, playing the new bluegrass melodies that are now mak-ing a breakthrough, locally and nationally.Photo / Elizabeth Sikora

Although women are perceived as thriving in math and science, the reality is much harsher: according to a new study, female students interested in science careers may be disadvantaged by their gender.

All Work, Low Pay

With more and more Christmas tree farms popping up every year, many students spend their nights and weekends working at Moose Apple Christmas Tree Farm in Berryville.

Young athletes feel pressure from colleges to play on elite teams, forced to overexert themselves by playing on two teams or neglecting high school sports entirely.

Attracting the high school crowd to Loudoun’s traditional music, bluegrass has found a new home: on the notesheets of local teenage musicians.

The Crane Wife

Weighing Your Options

Tree Huggers

Newgrass

4

6

7

8

10

CONTENTSDecember 2013

HonoringTheir Service

12After a painful decade of war, the Veteran’s Day conversation demands more than glorification and antiquated ideas.

Editorial:

Sparking a Change

All Wrapped Up

Senior and Spirit Queen Courtney Schollian pumps up the student body during the December 6 pep rally. The pep rally supported and celebrated the football team making their way to the VSHL state playoffs for the first time since 1976.

Photo / Elizabeth Sikora

“Young girls need to see role models in whatever careers they may choose, just so they can picture themselves doing those jobs someday. You can’t be what you can’t see.”

- Sally Ridefirst female astronaut and Presidential Medal of Honor recipient

Get good grades. Get into a good college. Get a good job. Life revolves around goals, but for 51 percent of the population goals are hindered by something they can’t control: gender. Although women have made great strides in STEM, or Science Technology Engineering and Math, the perception of equality

is much more positive than the reality. A new study from Yale discovered that employers reject women significantly more often than men with the same credentials, and even when women attained jobs their annuals salaries averaged $4,000 less than the men. Researchers sent nearly identical resumes to various math and science job opportunities across the country, with one significant difference: half the resumes were for “John,” and the other half for “Jennifer.” They found that “Jennifer” was rejected far more often, even by female employers; in other words, just being a girl was a detriment.Women’s struggle begins long before the workplace. The first pitfall is education; girls typically exceed boys in math and science classes in elementary school, but their success peaks early in middle school, dropping steadily throughout high school and college. It’s no coincidence that middle school is about the time when female students are denied the encouragement awarded to male students; although teachers rarely actually discourage them, girls see the encouragement given to boys and feel its absence. When compounded with girls’ tendency to be harder on themselves than boys, this lack of encouragement leads to isolation. Their shortcoming isn’t skill, but rather their reluctance to enter classes where they feel alone and insufficient.“I don’t see them coming in with a disadvantage, the biggest disadvantage that they may have is that they’re not in there,” computer math and science teacher Rodney Snyder said. “In the last decade I’d say some of the best math students I’ve taught were girls; some of the best computer programmers I’ve had were girls.”Computer math and science teach programming, a valued skill that propels many lucrative careers in a wide variety of fields, but female students tend to shy away from them; nationally, classes are often comprised of less than 20 percent girls. Harvey Mudd College in California decided to break the pattern of male domination; in 2006, when only 10 percent of computer science majors were female, college president Maria Klawe made a plan.

She sought to eliminate the misconception that prevented girls from taking computer programming classes: That programming was a “boy class” where girls couldn’t succeed and didn’t belong. Harvey Mudd made students more comfortable by introducing team work and addressed the concerns that women didn’t belong by presenting plenty of female role models who broke the stereotypical mold. Only seven years later, Harvey Mudd reached its goal of 40 percent female attendance.Their plan worked because it changed the perception of women in STEM. Media like the Big Bang Theory portrays women scientists as unattractive, unfeminine and inferior to their male coworkers. While there are dozens of successful, confident male scientists in media – the Doctor on Doctor Who, Q from James

Bond and basically everyone in Star Trek – women are forced to scrounge for any flattering examples. With no representation to prove otherwise, young girls assume that being in math and science simply isn’t realistic; by middle school they’ve dropped their dreams, and their grades. Harvey Mudd confronted media’s portrayal head-on by putting real life female scientists in the spotlight, and they won. “Everyone finds obstacles, I think everyone overcomes different obstacles. And for some women I think it is intimidating to be in a

class that’s mostly guys,” AP Physics teacher Erin Wissler said, “but once they get past that I think they do really well. So it’s a matter of just overcoming some of those fears.”While unique in their success, Harvey Mudd shares the goal of gender equality with many schools nationwide, including Valley.“I’d like to see it 50/50, but I’ll be honest, I’ve taught computer programming classes in the past that were 25 boys and no girls,” Snyder said. “When I see now that 30 percent of the class is girls, I feel pretty good about that, I think we’re heading in the right direction.”While evening the numbers out in schools is a positive change, the struggle doesn’t end in the classroom; women who fight to graduate with degrees in math and science will then fight to find a job in their chosen field. In the Yale study employers were asked to rank the resumes on various scales. They awarded the female resumes more points for “likeability,” and the male resumes an equal increase in areas like “competence.” Employers liked the female applicants more, but they viewed them as less capable, even though the credentials

AllLow

Left/Marysia Serafin experiments with electricity and sound aduring the Explore Engineering program at Sweet Briar College. During the weekend long event, high school girls worked in teams to do experiments.

4 THEVIKINGNEWS.COM DECEMBER 2013

All WorkLow Pay

Although women are perceived as thriving in mathand science, the reality is much harsher: according to a new study, female students interested in science careers may be disadvantaged by their gender.

were the same. So while in the past women were openly barred from jobs by employers specifying that they were looking for men, now women are barred by employers’ skewed perceptions, and expected to overcome them through sheer will power. “You have to be more tough to be in those subjects; you have to be willing to force yourself into that field,” sophomore and AP chemistry student Clare Mathewes said. “You have to be more aggressive.”Aggression, however, isn’t viewed as a feminine characteristic, and most reasons for denying women jobs boil down to femininity. The idea is that women can’t be successful scientists because they can’t possess the necessary traits; successful characteristics, such as ambition, are viewed as being masculine. “Everybody wants to be the best, but when women are the best, it makes them seem aggressive and unapproachable,” Mathewes said. “Women are just as smart as men [but]… men want to be the smarter people. Men want to be the smarter sex.”Benefits like STEM scholarships for women and female enrichment programs have created a perception of equality that simply doesn’t exist. While some spaces, like Harvey Mudd, have created and enforced measures to ensure equality for women, according to the American Institute of Physics the majority of organizations provide women less financing, lab space, office support and grants. For now, experts agree that the focus must remain on education to provide women steady foundations for careers in math and science, and progress can be observed at the high school level. “I would say there’s actually [an equal number] of girls,” Mathewes said, “In my science class, it’s about 50/50.”With more female students progressing to the college and career levels, they face better and better odds.“I think the biggest thing is just keeping them engaged, keeping them active. Encouraging them that they’re doing well,” Snyder said. “I don’t see why their gender should have to hold them back, as long as they get in the field.”

Layout/Emma RodriguezPhotos/Sami Morency, Ainsley Sierzega

Above/Katie Conklin performs a Biology experiment. Teachers try to incorporate girls, reflecting a nationwide effort to bring girls into math and science.

By Emma Rodriguez

DECEMBER 2013 THEVIKINGNEWS.COM 5

On the weekend of December 6, the drama department performed The Crane Wife and Other Tales as their first of three productions this school year.

The Viking Players are working under a new director this year, Russ Staggs.

Along with a new director, the drama department also worked with a new type of theater. They performed their most recent production in traditional kabuki style, a traditional Asian style of theater characterized by white face makeup as well as over-the-top movements.

“I think [kabuki] is really fun because all the characters are overdone…and you have to let the audience know what kind of character you are with the gestures you make,” senior Grace Vaughan said.

Seniors Emily Jackson and Amanda Barr directed the two accompanying stories, Rumpelstiltskin and Little Red Riding Hood, respectively.

“It was super fun but challenging,” Barr said. “I definitely recommend it for anyone looking to pursue a career in theater.”

A lot of the kids really enjoyed working under student directors along with having a new director for the year. According to sophomore Jackson Lessler, it is a positive difference.

“I think it is always a good thing to experience multiple directional styles,” Lessler said.

With all the changes going on in the drama department one thing seems to remain the same. Staggs says that not only the students but the staff, and the parents are “incredibly creative, incredibly talented and incredibly supportive.”

“From my perspective it has been the best decision in my career to come here,” Staggs said.

Photo / Elizabeth SikoraLayout / Leila Francis

BoyfriendGive him what you want him to wear: •Flannels•Sweaters•Sportswear•Brownies•Cookies•Chocolate

GirlfriendThe more personal, the better:•Mixed CD•Jewelry •Her favorite movie

BothAnything you can do together:•Concert tickets•Movie tickets

Mom•Candles•Lotions•Bath salts•Spa certificates-If all these fail, a homemade card will always make up for it!

DadThe hardest present of all: •Coffee cups•Sports jerseys•Hats•Socks

SiblingsAnything you can use too:•Movies•Books•Shoes•Camera•A one-way ticket to boarding school

All WrApped Up

Gift-giving advice and ideas for the holidays.

CatChing Fire smashed through the box offices, making $152.5 million during its opening weekend alone. But it’s not just the outstanding actors or special effects that make this series so universally appealing. Catching Fire is one of the few movies that passes the Bechdel test, a movie rating system.

Bechdel TesT criTerA- To start, it must have at least two female characters who in turn must:- have names- converse with each other- converse about something other than men.

Both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire easily fit the bill with conversations between multiple female characters.

however, they are some of the only popular blockbuster movies that do.

MosT popUlAr Movies don’T MAke The cUTHere are a few popular movies that don’t make the cut:

- the Harry Potter series- the Batman series- Finding Nemo- Titanic- The Princess Bride

Do your favorite movies qualify?

Photos / courtesy of Lionsgate

‘The crAne Wife’ BreAks neW GroUnd

Photo / Elizabeth Sikora

By Claire Deaver

By Sami MorencyThe drama department kabukis its way through December.

spArkinG A chAnGeCatching Fire sets a new standard among popular films by passing the Bechdel test.

Junior Alex Poirier and sophomore Patrick Dahlman share a kiss during The Crane Wife. The production ran two times on the weekend of December 6.


TREE HUGGERSPerhaps as common now in Loudoun County as the burgeoning wine industry, more and more Christmas tree farms pop up every year. Our families give them patronage, our grandparents run them and, most frequently, our friends work at them. Senior Grant Geary is among several Valley students, including seniors Adam Pullis and Troy Mumpower, who spend their nights and weekends at Moose Apple Christmas Tree Farm in Berryville cutting down trees, operating machinery and preparing them for the ride home to our living rooms.

Article / Charles LyonsPhoto / Ainsley SierzegaLayout / Charles Lyons


You’re bound to see them gathered around the hallway before school in the morning. You’re guaranteed to see them during lunch shifts in the courtyard plucking chords. You’re allowed to see them during activity period to hear improvisational tunes. They are the new age of bluegrass musicians.

Bluegrass has made an incredible come-up in Western Loudoun and many high school students seem to share an interest in the music genre. However, this genre of bluegrass is believed to be a new generation of the music and may be the reason that the attraction is hitting high school students.

“I wouldn’t describe it as traditional bluegrass, how bluegrass was 20-30 years ago,” Bluegrass club sponsor Scott Wallace said. “It’s a sort of metamorphosis of that.”

The clubs artists and musicians come from a wide spectrum of musical styles, interesting a variety of the student body with a blend of multiple kinds of music.

“Because of the talent and the variety of the musicians that we have… there’s some blues, some jazz, and a little bit of rock and roll in it too,” Wallace said.

The Bluegrass Club gives itself its own profile and a place for all artists to come together.

“It’s the whole [idea of] playing all as one just to form something,” senior participant Hector Padilla said.

To the artists who participate in Bluegrass Club, it is much more than just playing chords off a note

sheet. It can serve as a way to have conversation with the other musicians via the music.

“It’s like we’re talking with our instruments,” senior and participant in Bluegrass Club Brennan DeBow said. “Someone will play something and then someone will play something else, and you get a feel for what other people are trying to go for.”

This sort of “on-the-spot” exchange between the musicians gives the artists room to experiment with different sounds and melodies.

Juniors Dennis Brumback and Doug Barton agree that it’s mostly improvised. Moreover, Brumback believes that the improvisational music allows for self-expression.

“It’s a way to express yourself while entertaining an audience,” Brumback said.

The audience has been especially entertained this year considering this year’s club has produced a larger turnout than all previous groups.

“It’s gotten so big that we’ve been able to move to the choral room,” Wallace said. “The acoustics are much better in there.”

People believe there are external influences outside the high school that have contributed to the growing popularity of bluegrass.

There are multiple reasons why the nostalgic folk music has grasped the youth’s attention. Local singer and songwriter Andrew McKnight believes the passing down of tunes and melodies at various music festivals and concerts creates the biggest influence.

“Watermelon Park Festival has been around

for a long time and is a haven for bluegrass tunes,” McKnight said. “Kids will hear something that they may like and try to recreate that sound.”

Older folk musicians play the Appalachia-roots music and young adolescents share their affinity for the music. McKnight believes that where the traditional bluegrass and modern musicians intersect is where the younger artists make their own “stamp” on the genre.

The growth in this particular music among teenagers does not seem to be shared in other communities. It appears to be specific and unique to the region.

“There’s a lot of bluegrass history in this area,” Padilla said.

This history gives the students their unique regional music genre.

“I’m proud to tell my friends that I live in an area where the youth are so interested in bluegrass music,” McKnight said. “They’re always amazed to hear it.”

In a culture where musical styles can be inherited, altered or even improvised, who knows what the traditional bluegrass music that our ancestors enjoyed will have evolved into in the generations to come.

Photos / Sacha Gragg, Elizabeth Sikora Layout / Sami Morency

Attracting the high school crowd to Loudoun’s traditional music, bluegrass has found a new home: on the notesheets of local teenage musicians. By Henry Webster

Newgrass

Bluegrass finds its way into modern music culture

Mumford and Sons The Avett BrothersThe Lumineers Fleet Foxes Old Crow Medicine Show

Photos / courtesy official band websites


Top / Senior Brennan Debow plucks his banjo during a club meeting with junior Jake Lutman and senior Hector Padilla on guitars. Middle left / Juniors Trey Kerns and Dennis Brumback play some bluegrass tunes on a Friday club meeting.Bottom left / Juniors Lutman and Doug Barton jam in front of a group of students during the PSAT day activites.Right / Padilla strums notes and chords from the strings of his guitar.


Some will never know the feeling of playing on a field with their friends, school and community cheering them on. Some will never wear a high school uniform, have a Senior Night or receive a spirit bag. These are things never experienced by some students who choose to play for elite club and travel teams instead of high school teams.

Athletes are dedicated to sports, which engulf them in practices, games and constant training to impress colleges and get a chance at playing the sport they love as long as possible. But in order to reach the goal of playing in college or for a professional team, many athletic students have found that high school sports just don’t cut it anymore.

More and more high school athletes feel the need to play for club and travel sports teams because of the highly competitive college sports recruiting. These club and travel teams provide athletes with higher competition levels, more experienced coaches, better training and, ultimately, more college exposure.

Junior Clay Thomas currently plays goalie and is a team captain with the U-15/16 Development Academy Bethesda-Olney, a very competitive club soccer team based in Maryland. Thomas started playing at the elite club level at age nine. His previous teams include the Virginia State Team, where he travelled internationally to places such as Germany and France, and McLean Premier Soccer Academy.

Thomas, however, only played his freshman year for the varsity high school soccer team. In his single season of high school soccer he received the Young Player of the Year Award and started every game.

“My league won’t allow its players to play for high school teams,” Thomas said. “I am ok with my decision to only play club soccer. Playing for a club team gives you more college exposure than playing for a high school team.”

Similarly, senior Cody Sweatte currently plays for SV Sandhausen, a cutthroat competition club team in Germany. Sweatte never competed

in high school soccer before leaving the U.S. to play in Germany. Sweatte knows that the experience he currently receives will get him closer to his goals than anything in the U.S. could. Sweatte was committed to VCU for the 2014 season but has hopes of making it in European soccer.

“I chose to leave the U.S. to pursue a professional career right out of high school, instead of when I graduate college,” Sweatte said. “The competition is higher than that in the U.S. The players treat every training and game as if it is do or die. It’s simply the nature of being at a top club. All the players would kill for a contract.”

Most high school sports are played in a season opposite to that of the high competition time for travel and club teams such as softball, lacrosse and baseball all being played in the spring for high school while the high competition season for travel is spring and fall. With soccer, however, many players have to choose high school or club because the soccer season in Loudoun

County Public Schools is spring and most competitive club teams focus their season in the spring with big tournaments.

“People are competing to play on high level travel teams at the same time as high school. Students really have to choose whether they want to play high level travel or high school,” boys varsity coach Scott Hackett said. “Travel coaches are saying that players can’t play both whereas from our end of it we want to compromise where they can get the best of both worlds. What they should really do is move soccer back to the fall for high school where it belongs.”

High school sports require a certain commitment to the team, but not like the all-year commitment of travel that includes in-season and off-season time. Junior John Skinner plays for an elite lacrosse team called Black Wolf and has already verbally committed to play at High Point University for lacrosse.

“There is a lot more pressure and commitment for travel and just the competition level is a lot higher

WEIGHING Your OptionsBy Brianna Jennings

Uniforms, equipment and travel for distant tournaments aren’t included in these annual costs

VolleyballAnnual cost: $3,500High Costs

of Travel

Young athletes feel pressure from colleges to play on elite teams, forcing them to make tough decisions about their athletic future.


because of it all,” Skinner said. Students who don’t have the

ability to give such a big commitment to travel sports, or simply don’t want to play at the college level and see travel sports unnecessary for them, feel that sometimes they are seen differently to high school coaches than those that play at the high club and travel levels.

“I do think athletes who play travel are favorited more [than those who do not], whether it’s about making the team or the amount of playing time you get once on the team,” senior Tameson Blaylock said. “However, I have only experienced this in a few sports and for the most part coaches, while coaches seem to consider travel experience, they do base playing off of skill.”

Blaylock plays varsity volleyball, basketball and softball for the school. However, she hasn’t played for the travel level in her chosen sports because, for religious purposes, she has chosen to not play on Sundays, which is when many tournaments for travel sports take place, and because she plays three different sports it doesn’t allow her time to play travel alongside her other sports seasons.

“I play high school sports because I love the games,” Blaylock said. “I don’t want to play in college, I just play because it gives me something to do with my time and it’s fun.”

High school does however have a different aspect to it that travel teams do not seem to work on as

much as the actual playing.“We focus on the development

of the player as a whole: mental, physical, role models, what it means to grow up to be a productive person in society. It’s not just wins and losses,” Hackett said.

Travel teams are exposed more to colleges because large tournaments and showcases allow college scouts to watch twenty teams at one venue in one weekend.

“Travel definitely gives you a better opportunity to get college recruitment because we play showcases where college recruiters come to see us play,” junior and Loudoun Storm 18U Red softball player Kailey Liverman said.

The Loudoun Storm 18U Red

team is one of the premier softball teams on the east coast. They play an aggressive schedule of showcase events in the summer and fall, where their high national standings put the girls on the team on top of college coaches’ radar.

“Honestly, I play high school to support my school and I play travel for the competition and college recognition,” Skinner said. “High school just really won’t get you to that high college level anymore. You have to have the travel experience now.”

photos / courtesy of Addie Dietrich, Cynthia Sweatte, laffy4k, Majtner, shooten4yalayout / Brianna Jennings

Options

Left / Junior Kailey Liverman waits for the pitch during a fall showcase while college scouts watch the 18U Loudoun Storm players compete against other elite teams, trying to find individuals that are up to the aggressive college playing level.Top middle / Senior Cody Sweatte stands in the streets of Germany where he is currently going to school and playing competitive soccer for U19 SV Sandhausen.Bottom middle / Sweattte outruns his opponent during a scrimmage in Spring 2013 when he trial played for the team. The team offered him a spot in the youth academy after his amazing performance.Right / Senior Courtney Dietrich puts down a bunt during a game this summer for Loudoun Storm 18U Red travel softball team.

The U.S. spends an estimated

on youth sports annually, with the number rising.

Annual cost: $3,500Baseball

Annual cost: $3,500SoccerAnnual cost: $4,000 $5 billion


IT’S TIME to BUY YOUR

YEARBOOKYou may do so in one of the following ways- Call 1.800.282.1516 (credit card option)- Order @ jostensyearbooks.com (credit card option)- Mail in the order form your received @home- Complete a form at school and return to Room 135 or the Main Office. Forms may be picked up in either location.

AND TO RECOGNIZE THE 2013 SAGA STAFFBOOK AWARDS

CSPA - Gold MedalistNSPA - 4-Star All-American

VHSL - 29th Consecutive Trophy

JEA/NSPA Second Place in Best of Show

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS First Place Amanda Morrow - Club and Organizations Spread Katie Pownall - Sports Spread Madeline Swartz - Feature Photo

Second Place Addie Dieterich - Academic Spread Amanda Morrow - Club and Organizations Spread Katie Gutierrez - Feature Photo

Third Place Katie Pownall - Studen Life Spread

Honoring a person or event through monument or holiday is a tricky business. It is hugely difficult to honor something in a manner that properly pays homage without altering our understanding of it.

Our celebration of military service in the U.S. every November 11, Veteran’s Day, is one such complex celebration; no reasonable person contests the fact that we ought to honor those who protect—and often give their lives to preserve—our freedoms. However, the way with which we as a country and as a school choose to commemorate this holiday poses questions of how to properly applaud the enormous sacrifices made by those who serve without sending the wrong message to an audience who may not be informed in the first place.

Surrounded by a community layered with a continuing history of service—boasting veterans, those currently serving and aspiring service men and women alike—the Loudoun Valley population clearly holds the holiday near and dear. This sense of importance is mirrored by the school’s longstanding tradition of assemblies held each Veteran’s Day, largely accredited in recent memory to Veteran’s Club sponsor Leslie Bower. The commitment, spirit and respect poured into each year’s ceremony are certainly admirable, but aspects of the results can be concerning.

The content of the assemblies sometimes

defies reality and can veer toward stereotype and false impressions. This year a student gave a speech whose aim was to describe the “typical” soldier, citing qualities of bravery, short-cropped hair, hyper-masculine heterosexuality and an affinity for heavy metal. Rather than using this as a jumping-off point to discuss diversity in the armed forces, these stereotypical insights were put on a pedestal of reverence, as if these were the only qualifiers for a real soldier and, by turn, a real man. The fact that our current military is more diverse than ever questions the accuracy of such a portrait, with more women joining every year and the infamous Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy being repealed in the past two years.

What we need to honor during each Veteran’s Day are notions of sacrifice for a larger ideal, of serving for a cause and group of people greater than oneself, of giving up everything for the things you believe in. However, by not acknowledging the terrible realities of war and the personal, mental, physical and emotional toll it takes, we are lying to our student body and to our country.

It is a delusion that can affect more than just those compelled to serve—the decade of war we have endured as a country will inevitably result in every one of us shouldering the survivors’ burdens. We will be helping to pay for their health care,

rehabilitating their PTSD-stricken minds. Their families and personal support systems will feel the ache of their pain for years. Thus, the facts Principal Ross cites each year when introducing the ceremony that emphasize the decreasing numbers in service across all branches could be received in the wrong way. They could encourage 18-year-olds who know little of war and the specifics of service step up to the plate, bolster these statistics and attain the ideal qualities laid out in the preceding speeches, seeking to embody the image of bravery exuded by the photographs of pristine men and women in crisp uniform, holding babies and smiling with loved ones.

By only revealing to our audience success stories of service members like Rob Jones, who has triumphantly overcome injury and trauma to be a functional and positive member of society and an Olympian, we gloss over what war can truly do to a person—honoring this service is important, but that memorialization cannot be separate from imparting an unvarnished account of what that service entails. This understanding is crucial, now more than ever.

Photo / Roger BurchLayout / Elizabeth Sikora

Honoring Their ServiceAfter a painful decade of war, the Veteran’s Day conversation demands more than glorification and antiquated ideas. Editorial by Charles Lyons


Students perform the national anthem during the annual Veteran’s Day asembly. The assembly is presented by the Veteran’s Club, which meets during A club rotations.

IT’S TIME to BUY YOUR

YEARBOOKYou may do so in one of the following ways- Call 1.800.282.1516 (credit card option)- Order @ jostensyearbooks.com (credit card option)- Mail in the order form your received @home- Complete a form at school and return to Room 135 or the Main Office. Forms may be picked up in either location.

AND TO RECOGNIZE THE 2013 SAGA STAFFBOOK AWARDS

CSPA - Gold MedalistNSPA - 4-Star All-American

VHSL - 29th Consecutive Trophy

JEA/NSPA Second Place in Best of Show

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS First Place Amanda Morrow - Club and Organizations Spread Katie Pownall - Sports Spread Madeline Swartz - Feature Photo

Second Place Addie Dieterich - Academic Spread Amanda Morrow - Club and Organizations Spread Katie Gutierrez - Feature Photo

Third Place Katie Pownall - Studen Life Spread


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have children (ages 5-15) with special needs.

2nd and 4th Monday. 6-7.30pm

“For unto us a child is born..” Christmas Greetings as we celebrate the Savior’s birth!

Need a Job?Work Force Connections

703-554-3595 [email protected] www.tolministries.org

No Cost Help with Resumes,Interviewing & Networking

Every Thursday 7-9pm

Need Financial Help?

Financial Budgeting ClassTop 10 Budget Tips & Trained

Financial CoachesCall 703-554-3595 to Register

Necesidad de aprender Inglés?

libre Clases de InglésPrincipiante y AvanzadoHabrá cuidado de niños

Todos los jueves 6:30-8:30pm

Need a Meal? Free Food Pantry Deliveries

Call 703-554-3595

Free meal at our Community Kitchen

Served Thursdays at 5:30pm

Need Teen Clothing?

Clothing & FurnitureFree Clothing for TeensNew and Slightly Used.

Every Thursday 6:30 to 7:30pm

Need Some Rest?

All at our Tree of Life Center210 N. 21st Street, Unit D, Purcellville

(Valley Business Park - Behind Old Train Station)

Still Waters Ministry No cost help for families who

have children (ages 5-15) with special needs.

2nd and 4th Monday. 6-7.30pm

“For unto us a child is born..” Christmas Greetings as we celebrate the Savior’s birth!


Christmas Eve Service at 5 PM

THIS COULD BE YOU!

For more information regarding advertising opportunities contact Courtney Morgan at

[email protected]


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In the production The Crane Wife and Other Tales, juniors Sandy Twetten and Matt Merline interact on stage.

Eighth grader Casey Quinn plays the piccolo at the December 7 football game against North Side.

Junior Josh Auten helps lead the football team to a 34-6 victory over Central Woodstock in the playoffs.

During the first boys basketball game of the season against Millbrook, seniors Coy Bowyer and Paul Rowley along with sophomore Malcolm Miller get ready to block a shot.

Freshman Charlie Trochlil acts in the drama department’s show, The Crane Wife and Other Tales, performed December 6 and 7.

Freshman Darius Fraizer sings Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA” during the December 6 pep rally to wish the football team good luck in the playoffs.

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Photos / Elizabeth SikoraLayout / Elizabeth Sikora

Documents

The Viking / Issue 3 / Nov & Dec 2013