HE BECAME A CULT FIGURE

TO WHOM TEENAGERS

PRAYED FOR THEIR

DREAMS OF A SNOW DAY TO BECOME

REALITY.” PAGE 4

THE URBAN VILLAGE VOICE

THE NEWSPAPER OF THE 2014 URBAN JOURNALISM WORKSHOP | SPONSORED BY THE WASHINGTON ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS AND ABCNE

After reports of a second data breach at the University of Mary-land in late March and a simi-lar breach at the North Dakota University server that affected around 200,000 people two weeks prior Khaliah Barnes believes that this is a sign that students are increasingly losing owner-ship and control of their own information.

Her solution? A Student Pri-vacy Bill of Rights.

“The Student Privacy Bill of Rights would tailor to today’s stu-dent privacy big data dilemma,” said Barnes, Director at the Elec-tric Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said. Although the Fam-ily Educational Rights and Pri-vacy Act (FERPA) allows student access to records held by schools and agencies, the law does not necessarily apply to records creat-ed by private companies, accord-ing to Barnes.

“A Student Privacy Bill of Rights would grant students the right to access and amend their records, regardless of who collects, creates, and maintains those records — including pri-vate companies,” said Barnes.

Furthermore, A Student Pri-vacy Bill of Rights would call for a level of transparency that, according to Barnes, students simply do not have today.

“Students are kept in the dark

After breach, student data privacy in the spotlight

FESTIVAL IS A TOURIST HOTSPOT, BUT WITH EVERYTHING FROM JAPANESE CULTURE TO SPECIAL MERCHANDISE, IT HAS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE PAGES 6-8

VIOLENT ACTS ARE GETTING MORE ATTENTION THAN EVER. WHEN WILL WE BE ABLE TO FEEL SAFE AGAIN? PAGE 5

TECHNOLOGY MAKES ITS WAY INTO THE CLASSROOM. PAGE 3

For years, Maryland’s East-ern shore has been balancing two conflicting stereotypes, a culture of coastal living, and a culture of hunting, fishing, and “living the country life.”

The two stereotypes are what

are typically thought of when think-ing of the Eastern shore. With the introduction of new cultural hot spots like festivals, restaurants, and shopping centers, comes a whole new group of people with different ideologies. The culture is more than likely going to change because of this, leaving the ques-

tion in many minds if the culture will change, or stay as is.

“The two (cultures) don’t fit together at all.” said Kent Island High School Sophomore Shanna Pellegrin. “It’s a really unlikely combination. It’s almost two oppos-ing political standpoints. You can tell that at some point, the culture

here is going to change. And that feels like it’s going to happen pret-ty soon.”

Kent Island is the largest land mass in the Chesapeake Bay, and is the main connector to the rest of the Eastern Shore.

“People drive through here on

ASTRID RIECKEN / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

The Eastern Shore’s rise in popularity has made it a place with more to offer than traditional activities like fishing or going to the beach.

Culture shifts as the Eastern Shore grows in popularity

by Austin ChAvezujw staff writer

by Chloe thompsonujw staff writer

SEE DATA, PAGE 2SEE SHORE, PAGE 5

CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL

OPINION

SCHOOL BOARD

MEMBER TWEETS WAY

TO CELEBRITY:

‘‘

STAFF:Arman AzadGabby BrooksAustin ChavezMaggie GallagherGabrielle HeadlyTayah HarperChloe Thompson

ASSOCIATE EDITORS:Joshua GarnerShantee’ Woodards

MANAGING EDITORS:William FordKirk Jackson

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR: Dakarai I. Aarons

THE URBAN VILLAGE VOICE

PAGE 2 THE URBAN VILLAGE VOICE • 2014

about the numerous parties that access their information,” she said. “And we’re no longer talk-ing test scores.”

Recently, EPIC, with the Feder-al Trade Commission (FTC), filed a complaint against Scholarships.com. The document holds that the website “encourages student con-sumers to divulge sensitive med-ical, sexual orientation, religious, and political affiliation informa-tion for college scholarships and financial aid information.”

“Schools, companies, and agen-cies are amassing more informa-tion than ever before,” said Barnes. “They reap many of the rewards of student data, but it is the stu-dents who take on the risks.”

“A Student Privacy Bill of Rights would give control and ownership back to students,” she concluded.

“I think that’s really scary,” said junior Grace Zeswitz, in response to the UMD breach that compromised the personal infor-mation, including social securi-ty numbers, of students, staff, and alumni. “Your social securi-ty extends beyond college and at work and I think it’s scary that that stuff is out in public.”

Zeswitz, 16, of Alexandria, Virginia also believes that com-panies need to be more upfront

in explaining why they get cer-tain information. “I don’t know why some companies need some of the information,” she said, in response to the complaint against Scholarships.com. “I don’t see how sexual orientation has anything to do with intelligence,” she said.

However, for Zeswitz, an even bigger issue is that students seem to not have a say where their infor-mation goes. “Obviously, I don’t think we can completely separate [our] personal and academic lives,” she said. “But students should be able to choose what kind of infor-mation they want in the Internet.”

For junior Ronie Altejar, the main issue with privacy is cred-ibility. “Personally, I don’t mind if companies ask for my informa-tion,” he said. “But I think it cru-cial that they tell us why they’re asking for it.”

Altejar, 16, of Springfield, Vir-ginia, admits that although he does not have any issues with his high school, he believes that the conversation on student pri-vacy should begin playing out in schools nonetheless. “I think my school [Bishop Ireton] would be very open to at least discuss this issue. I can’t say the same for other schools,” he said.

Zeswitz agrees.“More students should get

themselves involved. The bigger battle is ignorance,” she said.

DATA, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

JULIAN STRATENSCHULTE / EPA

ROCKVILLE, MD.– In Mooresville, N.C., students file into their class-rooms, but instead of pulling out their notebooks and pencils, they have school-issued laptops.

The Mooresville school district is joining educators who are inte-grating digital technology into edu-cation. Since these modernizing changes were passed, the gradua-tion rate, test scores, and national ranking have all increased. School districts in the D.C. metropolitan area are taking steps to follow suit.

“While computers have been a part of the classroom experience for years, school officials are final-ly thinking about how to modern-ize their classrooms to better uti-lize technology to meet the needs of all students,” said John Bailey, the executive director of non-profit organization Digital Learning Now.

In Maryland, Montgomery Coun-ty Public Schools (MCPS) Superin-tendent Joshua Starr approved a technology modernization plan in September that included expanding the number of Smart Boards across the county and installing wireless networks in all high schools. Addi-tionally, SB 283 was approved by Gov. Martin O’Malley this April and it established an Advisory Coun-cil for Virtual Learning to discuss issues regarding digital learning.

At Richard Montgomery High School (RM) in Rockville, Md., many students believe their school lags behind in digitizing. While the school has several computer labs open to all students, the Wi-Fi is password-protected and students are not allowed to bring laptops into class.

“I think RM is technological-ly advanced in terms of the Pro-methean boards, which are a fan-tastic addition that makes learning interactive. But what really frus-trates me is our outdated computer programs and the students’ inabil-ity to bring in our laptops to take notes during lectures,” said RM senior Rachel Mayl.

However, RM is beginning to digitize. The students this year were given discounted prices for Microsoft Surface tablets and were encouraged to purchase and use them to take notes in class. Begin-ning next year, MCPS students will have Wi-Fi access for person-al devices.

“I hope that RM begins to update more soon. I know that I personal-ly would be able to take much more

concise, informative, and inclusive notes on my laptop, rather than a notebook, and still be a full partici-pant in the classroom,” Mayl added.

With the many snow days hitting the East Coast this year, the digi-tization of schools has become an increasingly pressing issue. MCPS had nine snow days this school year and in response, RM math teach-er Laura Goetz filmed her lectures and uploaded them to YouTube.

“I think the online lectures were a great way to keep the class on schedule during the many snow days we had. They were exact-ly like a regular class session and you could even move at your own pace or listen to something again if you didn’t understand,” said senior Lindsey Noll, a student in Goetz’s AP Calculus class. Noll also added that even those who do not have inter-net access or computers were given enough time to go to the library to watch the videos.

Another way schools are inte-grating technology is through a model called blended learning, according to Bailey. “In a blend-ed learning classroom, students spend part of their time utilizing technology and part of the time interacting with their teacher and classmates…This approach allows teachers to reach more students in a larger class, while providing instruc-tion that’s tailored to the individu-al needs of each child through the digital content provided,” he said.

Bailey pointed to Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools Kaya Hen-derson, who said blended learn-ing means “integrating technolo-gy into the curriculum in a smart way. It’s not just putting students in front of computers—it’s helping stu-dents learn better through a blend of technology-enhanced instruction and face-to-face teaching.”

Digital Learning Now releases an annual Digital Learning Report Card and the 2013 analysis ranked Florida and Utah as the best states for digital learning, both scoring 92 percent. Bailey noted how stu-dents in these states have seen “tre-mendous expansion” in the cours-es available, especially for foreign language options and AP courses. Additionally, Florida Virtual School students are outperforming their peers on AP and state assessments.

However, Noll noted the possi-ble distractions and believes that “schools should not necessarily rely too much on technology, such as requiring students to bring their own laptops or tablets to school everyday. Instead, they should only allow students who choose to to use them in classes where they could thrive.”

“All of these great tools available today should be deployed in a smart and thoughtful manner. Today’s educators have more resources than ever before; the challenge is to use them in a way that complements their instruction,” Bailey said.

Local schools explore digitizing methodsby Gabby brooks

ujw staff writer

CRAIG CUNNINGHAM/AP

THE URBAN VILLAGE VOICE • 2014 PAGE 3

WASHINGTON D.C. — Have you ever thought of a way to get more than 325,000 youth and their par-ents in one room? The 2014 USA Engineering and Science Festival in Washington, DC successfully accomplished this.

The festival is a place for inspir-ing engineers and scientists to come and have a hands-on experience with their career goals. The festi-val began in 2010. and is continu-ing strong in its third year.

Parent Luke Memo attended con-ference this year for the first time with his son. “My son likes science, so I decided it would be a good idea to come,” he said. “I like when he uses his creativity.” Memos pre-teen son says the conference was “amaz-ing” and that he would like to come back next year.

Students from the Project Lead the Way program at Charles H. Flowers High School were also in attendance. The students presented projects they constructed in school. Their projects were an interactive alarm system and a puzzle cube.

The interactive alarm system is a mock security system. Attendees had to try to guess the correct code to disable the alarm. If the attend-ees guessed the code correctly, the display would read “open.” If the code was guessed incorrectly, the display would read “sorry.”

Nyah Drummond says, “The project showcased what the Project Lead the Way juniors did this year. We thought people would like it.”

Each attendee got three tries to attempt to guess the correct code. Most people finally made the cor-rect guess on the final try.

The puzzle cube is a five-piece

building block where attendees to create a 3×3 cube in two minutes. Different shapes were put together to make the cube. It was a big hit at the festival as the colors and the challenge attracted the kids.

“We thought it was fun since it was interactive and would really get the kids involved in science in engineering,” says Kaymin Dixon, one of the creators. “The puzzle cube allows the kids to brainstorm

on how they can solve it.”One attendee was able to con-

struct the puzzle cube in 30 seconds with two broken arms. He narrated his steps to solve the puzzle.

Alexander Dulce, a teacher, decided to bring his class because he wanted the students to show everyone what they learned in their classes.

“I wanted my students to gain advancement in learning about elec-trical and electronics engineering. They needed to be more involved in STEM.”

The students were able to show thousands of people everything they know about science and engi-neering.

“I was so pleased. There are no words to explain how pleased I was,” Dulce said. “They really showed the world what they have to offer as young engineers!”

Youth involvement in science, technology, engineering and math beginning to grow

by Tayah harperujw staff writer

JACQUELYN MARTIN/AP

Children try to manipulate robotic arms during the first USA Science and Engineering Festival in 2010. Festivals like this one are helping to boost student interest in the sciences.

J. LAWLER DUGGAN/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Children and parents watch an inflatable planetarium presentation at the 2014 USA Science and Engineering Festival.

PAGE 4 THE URBAN VILLAGE VOICE • 2014

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — It was a cloudy day on December 8. With the temperature hovering around 29 degrees, and calls for precip-itation in the following days, it was inevitable that Fairfax Coun-ty Public School students began to ponder the possibility of a snow day. Little did school board mem-ber Ryan McElveen know, howev-er, that December 8 would forev-er be placed in the ranks of July 4 and Bastille Day in terms of social and political significance for Fair-fax County students.

“FCPS is closed tomorrow, Mon-day, December 9. Stay safe,” read part of the tweet he sent out that evening, without the slightest clue as to what would happen next. As a relatively unknown member of the board, McElveen would be impressed to receive ten favorites on a tweet, but that would soon change.

“I actually had no idea what was going on at first,” said McElveen. “My Twitter interactions tab start-ed exploding. All of a sudden I start-ed seeing my face plastered on all sorts of pictures, and I couldn’t stop laughing.”

His tweet had amassed 252 retweets and 82 favorites — impres-sive, but nothing compared to his future postings. His tweet the follow-ing day, which was also the first to announce a school closing, received 971 retweets.

He became a cult figure to whom teenagers prayed for their dreams of a snow day to become reality. Numerous students satirically nomi-nated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, while others called for presidential candidacy.

One student, with the twitter handle @the_huffdaddy, tweet-ed, “There are literally more teen-age girls tweeting at @RyanLM-cElveen than at Liam Hemsworth after he dumped Miley Cyrus,” to which McElveen responded, “That’s quite an honor.”

Another FCPS student, Joey Moreno, said, “@RyanLMcElveen dibs on you for prom.” Unfortu-nately, McElveen couldn’t commit, saying, “Thanks my friend, but I’ll need to check my calendar.”

The explosion of McElveen’s fame

was, for many students, their first exposure to a political figure who was able to communicate and con-nect with constituents on a level never-before experienced. With just over 23,000 on Twitter as of late April, McElveen has a greater Twitter reach than Virginia gov-ernor Terry McAuliffe, who trails behind with just 17,200 followers.

As a school board member, McElveen is aware of school clos-ings and delays before they are announced to the public, and uses Twitter and Facebook to dissemi-nate this information. Many of his followers appreciate his humor, with jokes such as, “You and I might feel like -20 degrees, but multiplying two negative numbers makes a positive

#PolarVortexPickupLines.”Flint Hill sophomore Tamika

Alexander said, “He geeks me,” later going on to say, “He’s the man.”

Despite many students’ beliefs (and hopes) however, McElveen does not alone possess the power to close school. Regardless, many teenagers took to Twitter to express their frus-tration over a lack of school closings, especially on Friday, Jan. 24 follow-ing three consecutive snow days.

“You had one job Ryan,” said one FCPS student, Omar Khatib. Another responded with “You failed me Ryan.”

Nevertheless, McElveen believes that most understand the limita-tions on his power.

“I think it’s good for students to

have an outlet to express their frus-trations, and I’ve been impressed that many students realize I cannot unilaterally close school,” he said. “I see the expression of disappointment as an opportunity to learn how to interact with an elected official to express frustration while keeping the responses clean in the process.”

As the season of snow days draws to an end, however, many wondered whether or not McElveen will be able to maintain his popularity.

Flint Hill sophomore Sasha Bilal said, “What would he tweet about? The weather?”

McElveen argued, “It’s all a learn-ing process. I’ll have to see how to best engage students on many issues. Obviously, my goal is to use this as

a learning opportunity and teach students more about the work of the school board.”

Underneath the fame, McElveen is, first and foremost, a school-board member, not a celebrity. In terms of issues facing FCPS schools, one of his priorities on the board is improv-ing school lunches.

“I have been working on improv-ing school food over the past two years, and I led the effort to create a new pilot fresh food program at [George C. Marshall High School],” McElveen said. “ My goal is to get this kind of fresh food program implemented in all FCPS schools. I’ve also been working to improve alumni engagement and curricu-lum internationalization.”

School board member risesto internet fame via Twitter

by ArmAn AzAdujw staff writer

Fairfax County Public Schools school board member Ryan McElveen began announcing snow days on his Twitter account.

THE URBAN VILLAGE VOICE • 2014 PAGE 5

Has our world gone crazy? Is everyone just a violent person wait-ing to pop? Ever since James Holmes brought an AR15, Glock 40 Caliber, and a Remington 870 into an Auro-ra movie theater, it seems that ran-dom acts of violence are commit-ted weekly.

The Federal Bureau of Inves-tigation has reported that violent crime rate has decreased by 18.7 percent from 2003 to 2012. How-ever, this statistic seems to counter the view of Jay Walsh, 23. “For as long as I can remember there has been public violence…I don’t think that the world was any safer when I was younger, I was just less aware of it,” he said.

If the violent crime rate has diminished, why does it feel like it increased or at least stayed con-stant? Perhaps the constant cover-age of violence by the media could be a cause of our sense of increased violence.

Billy Gardell, a comedian and actor, recently talked about the lack of hope and how it is exempli-fied in the news in his comedy seg-ment, We Need Hope. The line that stuck out to this author the most is when he said, “Can’t even turn on the news that’ll horrify you, right? Murder, death, rape, child abduc-tion, — economy, oil spill, … good luck.” He continues to then talk about the need for hope saying, “Can’t anybody get a cat out of the tree or something I can hold onto?”

This phenomenon is occurring since the news and media indus-tries are continuing to barrage the world with pictures and vid-eos of violence and despair. This

idea is agreed upon by Adria Gal-lagher, 49, who said, “Yes, I agree the numbers are decreased… [its] coverage has increased-mass mur-ders are the news.”

Because of this constant por-trayal of violence, people know now how often their lives could be in danger. After various random acts of violence such as the Bos-ton Marathon, and the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut; numerous people began to worry about their safety in schools, marathons, and

movie theaters.Grace Callahan, a Boston resi-

dent, commented on this issue by saying, “I feel that public safety has definitely decreased and that things are more dangerous… I don’t feel less safe, but I think there are some people who are more concerned for their well-being and safety.”

Should more people be like Grace and not fear for their safety?

Some may say that violence has become a major issue and worry for everyone due to the media and culture making it the center of

attention. Although the number of violent offenses committed has decreased from 1,400,000 cases in 2008 to 1,200,000 cases in 2010; it seems that everything in our cul-ture is centered on violence. The world of video games and movies has come under criticism because of the extreme violence they portray.

Most may not know, but the highest grossing genre of movies is action movies according to Investo-pedia. The popularity of violence has carried over to video games. The most anticipated games are those

that are based on violence, such as Assassins Creed and Call of Duty. Maybe the sense of increased vio-lence is due our culture constantly making people remember the world of violence they often try to forget.

Life is all about our choice to be a citizen of society or let the bad voice in our head rule our world. Maybe not all of us have gone crazy, but those who have change every-one’s world. No one will ever know exactly why people snap, but maybe one day no one will have to worry if their safety is in danger.

SHORE, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

by Maggie gallagherujw staff writer

COLUMN

Have we all gone crazy?

GETTY IMAGES AND AP

Jared Lee Loughner, James Holmes and Adam Lanza have become faces of recent acts of violence in Tuscon, Ariz., Aurora, Colo., and Newton, Conn.

the way to the beach, they’re say-ing, like, wow…this is beautiful. Then they want to check it out…they want to move here, raise their kids here.” said KIHS Junior, Lily Walsh. “A lot of people that are com-ing here have lived in the city before (are living there now), and they’re coming from areas with different cultures than what is around here.”

The addition of new commu-nities and shopping centers has increased the population through-out the shore. According to the US

Census Bureau, the population of Queen Anne’s County (the county Kent Island resides in) was 47, 798 in 2011, and was 48, 595 in 2012. This addition of 795 people brought the addition of different races with it, increasing the population of Afri-can-Americans from 4.9 to 6.9 per-cent. And with the inclusion of dif-ferent races come new viewpoints and philosophy, aka, culture.

“People call them Western Shore-ers, like, no matter where they’re from, they’re going to call them Western Shore-ers. They’re from California; people here are going

to call them that. (If) they move here from anywhere other than like, Centreville (a town further out on the Eastern Shore), people are going to call them that.” said Kent Island High School Senior Kylie Haarhoff. “Yes, I do think this is because they are different races, but different races want to come here. We have good food, and now we have music festivals. We’re get-ting very hippy, kind of Coachella vibes around here.”

Music festivals in and around the Eastern Shore seem to increase intrigue with the area. In 2010, Fire-

fly Music Festival was created by a company based in Chicago called Red Frog Events. The festival is in Dover, Delaware every year, bring-ing artists on the line-up who aren’t what is expected of a concert in the Delmarva area.

“Chance the Rapper is on the lineup.” said KIHS Sophomore Mad-die Gonzalez. “That’s not country. Where we live is so country. This kind of music wouldn’t have come here before. I guess you could say our culture is expanding.”

With new inclusions of peo-ple, entertainment, and shopping,

the question still in the forefront of many people’s minds is where the Eastern Shore culture will go from here.

“It’s going to change.” said KIHS Freshman Taylor Potter. “We can’t stay country forever. Every society grows and changes. It’s almost silly to look at it differently, you know? We’re getting new vibes. A lot of people, who are, I don’t know, orig-inally from here are against that. They want the same two, the boat-ing and the country. New stuff is coming.” She said laughingly. “Just wait on it.”

2014 CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVALPAGE 6 THE URBAN VILLAGE VOICE • 2014

WASHINGTON–Anja, a traveler from Denmark said the only rea-son she heard of the parade was from Cherry Blossom attendees at the Tidal Basin.

“We saw the cherry blossoms when we came here two days ago. We didn’t know they were bloom-ing, it was a big surprise to us,” she said. When asked about her favorite part of the festivities, she replies, “The cherry blossoms.”

This seemed to be a running theme among the patrons of the 2014 National Cherry Blossom Fes-tival. Crowds were gathered on the sidewalk, on the streets, and on an occasional museum lawn.

With many people comes many different stories and reasons, and this point was exemplified by the contrasting rationale of interview-ees. One such group was the orga-nization Donate Life. This group attended the parade to promote their organization, because April is National Donate Life Month.

Another group was a dance troupe from the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Per-forming Arts, which came down to D.C. to perform in the parade. And then there were the group of women from Chicago getting food from a hot dog stand who simply said, “We came down for the food.”

The parade seemed to have entertained the masses, but many people agreed: The reason they were there, by far, was for the cher-ry blossoms.

Tourists find joy in parade

by Chloe Thompsonujw staff writer

by Gabrielle headlyujw staff writer

WASHINGTON — The National Cherry Blossom Festival was filled with people from all walks of life who came together to partake in the Japanese tradition of hanami.

Hanami is a Japanese custom of enjoying the beauty of spring flowers, usually cherry blossoms.

Many displayed their adoration for Japanese culture in a multitude of ways, from their presence to bearing small accessories like fans.

But a small amount of people proudly displayed their love for the culture in their attire, by wearing traditional Japanese garments.

A majority of these people weren’t in fact Japanese, but either

white or African American.Many, like Anime lover Everett

Turner, have been admiring the culture for years.

“I just love the Japanese cul-ture, I’ve been studying the lan-guage and everything. This [gar-ment] was a gift, I just decided to wear it, in honor of it [the festi-val] and to be a little different.”

Turner said.Other blossom enthusiasts have

even majored in Japanese studies in college and have spent years studying abroad.

But even after spending years immersed in Japanese culture, there’s something about the blos-soms that brings them back.

“The most Japanese part of the

day is going to the Tidal Basin and seeing cherry blossoms,” said Michelle Riley, a former Japa-nese resident. “But unfortunate-ly, we don’t get to drink Sake out-side and have a picnic there like in Japan.”

The Cherry Blossom Parade was easily a common ground for all culturists, linguists, and otaku.

Amid parade, Japanese culture abounds

UJW STAFF PHOTOS

Stephen Crain and Michelle Riley attended the Cherry Blossom Festival and parade in April.

2014 CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL

PHOTOS BY UJW STATFF

THE URBAN VILLAGE VOICE • 2014 PAGE 7

WASHINGTON — Adam May-hew serves a customer as many oth-ers wait patiently in the long line. Most of the customers are wait-ing to buy just a shirt, while oth-ers were buying a bag, mug, hat, or other item. All these items will represent someone’s trip, whether long or short, to the April 12 Cher-ry Blossom Festival. It is Mayhew’s job to make sure these items get sold before the day is over.

Mayhew started his hectic day at 4 a.m. He arrived at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue by 5 a.m. to set up the merchandise stand.

“The boss has a great relation-ship with the Cherry Blossom Fes-tival,” Mayhew said. “That’s why he has the only company to sell offi-cial merchandise.”

The company, whose CEO was not named, has been a successful vendor for five years now. It first started off as a small business with t-shirt printing. Eventually, they expanded and landed a deal with the Cherry Blossom Festival.

“At first, he was working in two offices and a warehouse in Virgin-ia. Now he has offices in Califor-nia and a warehouse Atlanta,” May-hew said. “For the festival, he gets

people he trusts to work for him. He knows they’ll get the job done.”

The top selling items at the ven-dor are the 100th Year Anniversary Shopping Tote, Head Boppers, and the “I Blossom DC” t-shirt.

“I bought the head boppers for my daughter,” Isabelle Felder said. “This is her first time coming to the parade and I want her to have something to remember.”

“My husband is in the Army and we travel a lot. I wanted to make sure my daughter had a chance to visit while we were here. In addi-tion to that, I wanted to get her a souvenir for when we move again,” Felder said.

Damien Lucas, who is from Hen-rico, VA, loves the festival and one particular shirt.

“I got a great shirt for my fian-cé,” Lucas said. “It reads “I Blos-som D.C.” and I’m sure she’ll love it as much as I do.”

It was a great day for sales, as the parade occurred during peak bloom, which attracted more atten-dants.

“I was happy to see the cherry blossoms, which are the obvious stars of the festival,” Lucas said. “When they’re in bloom and the weather is nice, they’re beautiful. It was just an overall great day.”

2014 CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVALPAGE 8 THE URBAN VILLAGE VOICE • 2014

OXON HILL, MD — Lifelong Oxon Hill resident Bonnie Bick has witnessed many forms of develop-ment in her hometown over the decades, some she has supported, some she hasn’t.

“They’re stealing from all of the students, they’re stealing your quali-ty of life,” said Bick, an environmen-tal activist.

In Oxon Hill, these feelings are common. With the ongoing expan-sion of the National Harbor, living in a fast-growing area is nothing new to residents. But when Wal-Mart planned to build between a high school and an elementary Montes-sori school, some locals drew the line.

According to Bick, three years ago the corporation attempted to build between Oxon Hill High School and

John Hanson Montessori School. Due to “holes in the case,” Wal-Mart had to go back to the drawing board and put their plans on hold.

Several years later, the issue of Wal-Mart building between the two schools has resurfaced. Spear-heading the initiative since 2011 is John Hanson parent Nicole Nelson with the help of the Oxon Hill High School Student Government Asso-ciation, which joined the battle in August 2013.

Residents are concerned about safety, traffic, and the misconcep-tion of jobs. According to Paulette Brown,an adviser to the school’s stu-dent government associationr, Wal-Mart will bring unwanted attention to the new campus, increase traf-fic on Clipper Way (formerly Felker Avenue) and will only hire employ-ees over the age of 18, which the

majority of the high school’s stu-dents are not.

Amanda Henneberg, a spokes-woman for Wal-Mart, said safe-ty and security of the customers is their top priority.

“The new site plan now includes a 50-foot landscape buffer between the Montessori School and the store,” Henneberg said. “We have also removed the vehicular access that was previously located between the Montessori school and the store.”

Henneberg believes that the dis-tance from the store to the school is far enough that Wal-Mart’s traffic should not interfere or create safe-ty issues at Oxon Hill High School. Even with these efforts made by Wal-Mart to mitigate the issue, commu-nity members are still passionate about their cause.

“Our main problem is getting the

word out,” said Marcel Adams, SGA President. “We’re only activists and community members, so we don’t have as much influence compared to a corporation like Wal-Mart.”

Activists agreed that the way to win this battle is through student participation.

“You should focus on people power.That’s the only way to stop it [Wal-Mart]–it’s a political issue” said Bick.

The proposal is currently sitting before the Prince George’s County Council. But to prove that this effort is worth fighting, students said there still needs to be significant partici-pation in the cause’s efforts.

“We’re trying to recruit mem-bers to join the fight,” said Adams. “We need people to talk to the elect-ed officials because the only people who have the power to tell Wal-Mart

‘No’ is the elected officials.”Keith Brooks, a local awyer,

thinks the community members in Oxon Hill should find “The best alternative to a negotiated Agree-ment and the worst alternative to a negotiated agreement.”

“Ideally, a good negotiated set-tlement would be a ‘win-win’ situ-ation for both Walmart and Oxon Hill,” Brooks said.

If this plan does fall through, for some community members there is no compromise. In the early stages of the battle, these activists made it clear that they did not oppose Wal-Mart, only its location but if this plan goes into place, many community members will not support either.

“There is no compromise, it’s like a giant: as soon as you start talking about compromise, you’ve lost.” Bick said.

by Gabrielle Headlyujw staff writer

by TayaH Harperujw staff writer

Oxon Hill fights back against proposed Wal-Mart

Offical merchandise scores a home run

UJW STAFF PHOTO

The top selling official Cherry Blossom festival items this year were the 100th Year Anniversary Shopping Tote, Head Boppers, and the “I Blossom DC” t-shirt. Pictured above are Everett Turner and a friend.