Junior Catherine Ly set up an after school scrapbooking activity with 10 selected special needs students on Dec. 9. The National Art Honor Society sponsored the activity, but it for Ly’s Girl Scout Gold Award project.

“I wanted to do something with the WAT kids, but they are not allowed to stay after school,” Ly said, “but I thought this would be a cool way to give back.”

Ly decided to create the after school activity because she thought it would be a fun way for simple and fun activity for the kids.

“It’s simple and everybody has fun doing it and it allows kids to be creative,” Ly said.

A substantial amount of volunteers showed up, though the coordinators, Ly, NAHS spon-sor Asha Jones and special education teacher Kathleen Skocik thought there would be more participants than volunteers.

“I think it went really well, there were a lot more volunteers than we expected which was really helpful to us,” Ly said.

The Gold Award is the highest award in Girl Scouts and requires service hours.

“The Gold Award has to be something that can happen more than once, and something charitable,” Ly said.

The NAHS sponsored the activity, provid-ing materials and a room for the participating

students, Ly said. Ly recruited NAHS members as volunteers for her activity, as she is the for-mer NAHS president.

“I chose scrapbooking because I wanted to

do something art-related that everyone could do,” Ly said.

Ly said she likely will be running the event again next year.

“Hazing” should be consistently enforced.— See page 5

EDITORIALSFind out the “worsts” in entertainment in 2010.— See page 13

ENTERTAINMENTLearn the truth about the dirtiness of school bathrooms.— See pages 8-9

FOCUSThe boys basketball team wins six straight.— See page 16

SPORTSSenior Alex Emmons excels in various areas.— See page 11

FEATURES

Volume 40 Issue 4Wednesday, December 22, 2010 Bravely speaking to the Robinson community

James W. Robinson secondaRy school5035 sidebuRn Road, FaiRFax, Va 22032

V Dalor ictusvalordictus.com

Ly plans scrapbooking event

Following a report from a Fair-fax County Parks employee about a locker room incident, and an en-suing school investigation, head swim coach Clayton Joyner and assistant swim coach Kevin Nolan have been fired.

After the Dec. 3 swim meet at Cub Run, the boys swim team went to the locker room for its post-meet shower. A facility employee reported inappropriate behavior there to the Superinten-dent’s office, which then passed the statement down to our school. Principal Dan Meier called the report “a serious incident,” but declined to elaborate further on specifics of the incident, citing privacy concerns.

A male senior on the swim team, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, disagreed with the administra-tion’s assessment of the situ-ation. He said a freshman had his swimsuit pulled down, and was then spanked with a hand-ful of soap, behavior that occurs often in the locker room after meets, but this time a Cub Run employee ob-served the incident.

Sophomore Frank Camacho, a member of the team, said this behavior is tradition and usu-ally carried out by seniors, but the team doesn’t

Locker room investigation results in firing of two coachesBY TIM FERRELLProduction Editor

Swimming into trouble

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Perc

ent o

f You

th

National Art Honor Society Hosts Scrapbooking- Middle school students Sabrina Latif and Alicia Perez scrapbook on Dec. 9. Junior Catherine Ly organized the event to help get her Girl Scout Gold Award. “....I thought this would be a cool way to give back,” Ly said.

BY BAILEY HAASEStaff Writer

2009 FCPS Youth Survey Reveals Depression Higher

Than National AverageFCPS recently released its 2009 Youth Survey results. The survey was given to 81 percent of sixth, eighth and tenth grade students in county schools. Results showed rates of depression among county students are higher than among youths on the national level. Still, attempted suicide rates remain lower than the national level.

Reports of Depression and Attempted Suicide

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

graphic by Katherine DempseyInformation from 2009 Fairfax County Youth Survey

Depression

National

Fairfax

Photo by Bailey Haase

Considered Suicide

have a problem with it.“We all took it as a big joke,” he said.Meier said the school began to investi-

gate quickly because of the gravity of the report.

“The allegation was very serious in nature, and in my opinion, it bordered on sexual as-sault,” Meier said. Meier went on to say that according to the school’s investigation, the be-havior did not constitute sexual assault, but the swim team had been participating in some hazing.

“There were some incidents going on that the school considered hazing,” subschool 11 principal Michael Mukai said. “We’re supposed to provide a safe and secure environment for all of our kids.”

Mukai said the definition of hazing is slight-ly ambiguous, so the school has to look seriously into allegations. It is better to err on the safe side at any kind of team function, Mukai said.

“If you’re mak-ing kids do ac-tivities that you wouldn’t want publicly known, I consider that haz-ing,” he said. “How can you tell the dif-ference between kids who want to do [an activity] and those who don’t? Sometimes, because of peer pressure, they don’t want to speak up.”

The anonymous senior said he would not consider the incident hazing, and the members of the team didn’t think it was that bad. He also said the school’s investigation methods were invasive and over the top, and argued that the

dismissal of the coaches was unfair.“[The administration] interrogated people

multiple times,” he said. “They told us we were lying, and said we were guilty unless we talked to them. In the end, though, it was the kids’ fault. The coach had nothing to do with it.”

Camacho agreed with this assessment, and said he was told if he didn’t tell the truth, he would be expelled.

Assistant Director of Student Activities Jeff Ferrell said the interview procedure was stan-dard, and any feeling of intimidation was unin-tentional and just an unfortunate byproduct of the process.

“Any time a student is interviewed, there is a level of intimidation, no matter what the inter-view is about because [the student] is speaking to an authority figure,” Ferrell said.

Swim team members said they were told this specific incident was not the only factor that contributed to the coaches’ dismissal, but were not given other details. Meier and Ferrell both declined to comment on individual per-sonnel decisions. Philip Caslavka, who was an assistant swim coach at Oakton High School, will take over coaching responsibilities the re-mainder of the season.

Meier said any staff or coaching change is not something he takes lightly, and he met with swim team parents Dec. 9, and students Dec. 10. He said schools must act quickly when any kind of hazing is brought to their attention.

Meier said, “Society’s expectations of schools are changing. What was OK 10, 15, 20 years ago is often no longer socially acceptable. Things like bullying, harassment and hazing are at the forefront of discussion of acceptable be-havior. In our investigation, I’ve become aware of the fact that this [inappropriate behavior] has probably been going on for a number of years, but unbeknownst to the school. But when it is, we have to take appropriate action.”

”DanMeier

“The allegation was very serious in nature, and in my opinion, it bordered on sexual assault.Principal

News2 December 22, 2010Valor Dictus

”Wendy

Vu

““If we didn’t change the schedule, we would have to get our status as an IB school revoked.”

IB ProgramCoordinator

BY HAILEY METZGERStaff Writer

BY IAN CRIMANStaff Writer

Student organizations help spread holiday cheer

IB program changes TOK to two-year class

BY JASON FOCARINOStaff Writer

French Honor Society collects clothes

The French Honor Society collected cloth-ing, shoes and Christmas gifts for two selected community families. This is the second year it has sponsored the drive. The children of the selected families attend the Head Start program, a day care for children of families in the area with financial difficulties. Each of the families has four or five members.

SGA and other foreign language societies and teachers assisted as well. FHS started col-lecting the donations since the beginning of November and ended Dec. 10.

FHS sponsor Christine Schaffrath said, “We are successful every year because we have a good collaboration with the students and also the teachers.”

Random Acts of Kindness Club’s pajama drive

Kindness Club held its first pajama drive this year with help from the Scholastic book publishing company.

“Our officers were thinking of doing something this holiday season and Scholas-tic emailed me saying they are doing a pajama drive, where every pajama we donate the chil-dren also get a book,” said Shauntel Sibley, Kindness Club sponsor. “This was a wonder-ful opportunity.”

It collected the pajamas from Nov. 19 to Dec.9. For every pair of pajamas the Kindness Club donated, Scholastic provided an age-appropriate book for the child who received the pajamas.

SGA rescheduled its laser tag event for Jan. 5 due to snow last Thursday.

“We started preparing for it right before Thanksgiving break; and had difficulty with finding a company to rent equipment from,” said laser tag committee member sophomore Eva Tamra-kar. “

She said it all worked out, but the snow pushed the committee back a little bit.

Along with the setback of snow, the committee said they also had an issue with getting the finance department to ap-prove of the event.

SGA advertised the event us-ing GMR clips and Facebook, Tamrakar said. The commit-tee felt this was a good idea, in hopes of getting the word out about the event.

“I sent messages out to the la-ser tag group I created on Face-book with updates on the event,” Tamrakar said. “When the event was postponed, it was a simple way to let everyone know the new time and date.”

The event is not designed as a fundraiser to make money, said senior Tanner Naughton, a laser

tag committee member. However, there will be a small

fee of $2 to play. Concessions will be provided

and music will be playing at the event to make it more fun, the commitee said.

“We want to provide some-thing fun for the student body,” Naughton said.

SGA will rent out equipment from Tom’s Laser Tag in Falls Church for $300, and it will use the admission fees to offset this cost, Naughton said.

The company is not provid-ing anything else and SGA is planning to make obstacles with mats from the gym.

SGA is planning to run the event as a tournament. It will be similar to their Gatorball compe-tition in the spring, which is like dodgeball, Tamrakar said.

“Everyone can pick their own teams, which should make it more competitive and fun because students are able to compete with or against their friends,” Tamrakar said.

The teams will be composed of three students, and four groups can play at a time.

Tamrakar said, “If it turns out to be a successful event, we will use the money towards other projects later on this year.”

SGA to host laser tag event

The National English Honor Society book drive ended today. It benefited community members who are unable to purchase books for themselves.

The drive also holds a prize for the class that donates the most books. Senior co-officers Firas Nasr and Nour Alimiri organized the event with the help of NEHS sponsors Nancy Lowry and Su-san Frenck.

“We’d like to do something for charity that is tied to literature,” Lowry said.

The Book Drive began Dec. 13. NEHS members placed boxes into English teachers’ classrooms for book collection. NEHS chose the charity Book For America to help with the drive.

“I’m very confident in the fact that we can raise a good amount of books, hopefully 1,200 to 1,500 this year,” Nasr said.

Last year, NEHS collected over 1,000 books, said Lowry, and it plans to collect even more this year. It will give the books to children amd adults. This project was a “great service”, Frenck said.

A lot of work goes into organizing a char-ity event, both sponsors said. Officers needed to receive permission from the Director of Student Services,Donna Piscitelli, and will sort all of the books. A lot of planning from the officers goes in, Lowry said, and they put in long hours after school on Fridays.

Nasr said, “Our primary goal is just to reach out to the community. We want to spread the wealth of English and reading.”

The IB organization is re-quiring our school to make the Theory of Knowledge class a two-year program to meet program standards.

“If we didn’t change the schedule, we would have to get our status as an IB school revoked,” IB co-ordinator Wendy Vu said. Senior IB diploma candi-dates will be required to meet two times a month for RAISE during their se-nior year for TOK, Vu said.

This TOK format will begin next year with this year’s juniors facing the schedule change, IB coor-dinator Lisa Green said.

Senior Diploma can-didates will be divided into five classes with one teacher per class, IB coordinator Lisa Green said. Students will discuss a different subject area each month throughout the year, Green said.

Teachers will volunteer for what they will teach for that specific RAISE period, Green added.

“I think having the class during RAISE gives every-thing a lot more flexibility,” Vu said.

Although the class will not count on their report card, seniors will receive this class as a semester credit and the grade will be added on to their GPA as a half point.

“We decided to add this as a semester grade as an extra incentive for students who are taking TOK,” Vu said. “We are currently working out a clear rubric so students know what they have to do to do well in this class.”

Junior Rachel Murphy said she was glad she would not have to take TOK her se-nior year as another class pe-riod, although she wishes she had more flexibility in her schedule.

“It bothers me that I have to take this class senior year because I have already given up classes that I want-ed to take because of TOK,”

Murphy said. “Do I want to take this next year? No, but I would rather have it dur-ing RAISE than as an after-school class.”

Murphy said she de-cided on what she wanted to take for junior year in her sophomore year, and it was difficult to schedule classes around TOK because of the block that TOK took up.

IB coordinators also considered making TOK an

after-school class, but this would complicate student schedules, Green said.

“The problem with making this class an after-school class is that a lot of students at our school participate in sports and music so it might make it harder for those stu-dents,” Green said.

“I think it would be impossible to have TOK as a full-year class for seniors just because of how the schedule works,” TOK teacher Matthew Connolly said. “Given the circumstances of having to change the schedule, I

think having the class during RAISE is more than adequate and imaginative.”

Connolly also said he was proud TOK was a main part of the IB curriculum

Vu said she thought the way TOK will be held during RAISE is a good idea.

Vu said, “I think it’s fan-tastic having the class during RAISE.”

Key Club hosts winter blood drive

Key Club hosted its winter blood drive in partnership with the American Red Cross Dec. 13.

“We just need blood donation and people are into a giving spirit during the holiday sea-son,” said senior Nour Alamiri, a club member.

The club also runs the event in the spring. It runs strictly on donations as a source of fun-draising.

Alamiri said, “Blood drive is our main event and we are lucky that we get to do it twice a year.”

—MOLLIE BERNER

—SUKI ADHIKARI

NEHS annual book drive ends today

Upcoming Events

Winter break begins. Students can enjoy 10 days off school,

before returning to classes Monday, Jan. 3.

Dec.23—

Financial Aid Informa-tion Night in Russell Theater from 7 p.m. to

9 p.m. All students and parents are welcome to come learn about the college aid process.

Jan. 6 —

DECA holds annual Fashion Show in Rus-sell Theater from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Jan. 12—

Students off of school in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday.

Jan. 17—

NEHS—The National English Honor Society held its annual book drive which ended today. “We want to spread the wealth of English,” Firas Nasr said.

Photo by Jason Focarino

Snow causes early closing, event moved to Jan. 5

Several clubs participated in charity drives to help individuals in need.

Partner’s Club Winter Dance in the Gold Cafe-teria from 7 p.m.- 9 p.m.

Jan. 21—

German Honor Society competes in gingerbread house making for the holidays

German Honor Society—Senior Matt Hill builds a gingerbread house for the German Honor Society’s gingerbread house making after school Dec. 15. “The fact that a department like German can get 84 students on a Wednesday afternoon to make 14 gingerbread houses really shows our students’ enthusiasm,” German teacher Emily Massey said.

Photo by Jacob Beil

Next year’s seniors required to take class during RAISE

$2 for participation

Contact:Price:

Peter Kownacki, SGA Adviser or Laser Tag Committee members

News 3December 22, 2010Valor Dictus

BY SHARON CORISHStaff Writer

BY DANIELLE NELSONStaff Writer

DECA plans “The Sound of Fashion”

People are coming from Kansas City, Miss., Richmond and Pennsylvania to participate in the Bull Run Runners walk and run at 3 p.m. Dec. 31, in honor of class of 2010 graduate Adam Seymour who died of cardiac arrest in August.

Many of Adam’s friends and family are plan-ning to attend the event in honor of the young man who “touched many peoples’ lives,” mother Beverly Seymour said.

“I am attending this event to help Adam con-tinue helping others,” Beverly Seymour said.

Every year Bull Run Regional Park hosts an annual 5K run and walk for a different cause. This year’s cause is the Corbin Marc Grabb Heart Foundation for Adam Seymour.

Adam Seymour suffered a heart arrhythmia when training with the Lynchburg men’s soccer team in August.

“He was local and very well liked by a lot of people,” said Michelle Newkirk, President of Bull Run Runners. Adam was an outstanding athlete and kind-hearted, said Newkirk.

Seventy-five percent of proceeds go to the Corbin Marc Grabb foundation and the other 25 percent goes to Bull Run Regional Park.

The CMG Heart Foundation is a non-profit organization founded helping children with congenital heart defect. It started after Grabb died as a young boy of heart failure. It raises funds to provide scholarships to athletic, artis-tic and civic-minded students, and to provide assistance for CHD research.

This year, when the sponsors of the annual 5K heard about what happened to Adam, they contacted his parents and asked if they could hold the run in his memory.

Adam’s father anticipates seeing many of Adam’s friends and family throughout the com-munity participating in support of Adam.

Adam’s girlfriend Rebecca Holtzman said, “Adam would have been happy that we’re get-ting up and doing something as a community.”

Community organizes Dec. 31 run in honor of alumnus Seymour

Student directors, models advertisemusic-themed show

DECA fashion show—Senior Rachel Metz walks the catwalk at last year’s student produced show. “We... are able to come together and perform as a whole, rather than individuals,” said senior Charlotte Perkowski, techno scene model.

Photo by Jacob Beil

New Years Eve run for Adam

Walk. Pose. Turn. Walk.Strutting up and down the hall-

ways of the E-wing, the models participating in a student-produced DECA fashion show “The Sound of Fashion,” practice their walking skills.

On Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. in Russell Theater, DECA students will per-form a fashion show to take to the State Leadership Competition.

There is a lot of work that goes into this eight-scene fashion event. Choosing the theme takes place be-fore the school year begins.

“Originally our theme was about cliques and stereotypes, but we were afraid that it would be too contro-versial. Then we realized that music genres and cliques go pretty much hand in hand, so it sort of evolved from that,” said senior Jessica Kiraly, fashion show director.

Each of the show’s eight scenes is based on a different genre of music, including alternative rock, country, techno and pop.

Every scene has a different style to it because the type of people who listen to the music have such varying personalities.

Kiraly said for the pop scene they wanted things to be bubbly and fun, so everyone is smiling and having a good time, whereas the alternative rock scene has a more grungy appeal and all the models are more angry looking and serious. They get the clothes from various retailers to fit with the style of the scene.

Students must advertise for the show to be successful.

“We have to make promotions, flyers, banners, GMR clips and an-nouncements, and Facebook in-vites, to name a few. We need to get people excited to come and see the show. The students’ enthusiasm about being in the show and all their hard work gets them excited about having their friends and family at-tend,” said Sarah Hinkhouse, DECA fashion show adviser.

DECA students spend a consid-erable amount of time putting on their fashion show that is held once a year.

Everyone involved in the show has five practices from Nov. 21 until the week of Jan. 12—show week. During the week of the show, mod-els have practices and fittings every day.

“The models in each scene be-come a family. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and are able to come together and perform as a whole, rather than in-dividuals. The dynamic between the models in each scene needs to be strong in order to have a successful, cohesive performance,” said senior Charlotte Perkowski, techno scene model.

Working on the show conflicts with the schedules of some DECA students.

“Scheduling practices around the busy school schedule on late bus days so everyone has transpor-tation was a challenge. It is diffi-cult to avoid conflicts with teach-ers, field trips and athletics, among other things. We really appreciate the commitment from students and the understanding of teachers and coaches,” Hinkhouse said.

Working with so many students provides some challenges for the di-

rectors. “The hardest part is drama pre-

vention and making sure everyone is actually working when they are together. There are going to be dis-agreements and we have to try to work those out before it becomes an issue,” said senior Thomas Barto, fashion show director. “Making sure everyone is working is difficult because anytime you are in a group

there is going to be a certain level of sloth and we have to make sure that everything gets done.”

The fashion show is an event DECA students look forward to each year and they want everyone to see the hard work they put into it.

Barto said, “There are two things you need to know. One, you should go to the show. Two, you should bring your friends.”

4 December 22, 2010Valor Dictus

Valor Dictus December 22, 2010 Volume 40 Issue 4 Bravely speaking to the Robinson Community 5

Editorials

staff editorial

ABOUT USValor Dictus is a student-run newspaper that serves the Robinson community. All bylined articles, editorials, columns and letters are the expression of the writer and not necessarily that of the staff or the adviser. Unsigned edito-rials represent the majority opinion of the staff.

ADVERTISEMENT POLICYEmail letters to Valor_dictus@yahoo.com. Acceptance of an ad is not an endorsement of the product or services of the advertisers. Information concerning policies and advertising can be obtained by calling (703) 426-2285 or emailing Valor_dictus@yahoo.com

EDITORIAL POLICYValor Dictus welcomes student opinion as an open forum. All opinion pieces must be e-mailed to valor_dictus@yahoo.com. Letters or columns must be signed. That is, they must contain a name, and a title All content received by the paper is subject to editing.Letters must be around 100-200 words. Guest columns must be 500 words or less.Valor Dictus reserves the right to withold the publication of letters and guest submissions.

ValorDictus

EntErtainmEnt Editor:Shelby Gee

PagE 15 &16 Editor:Andrew Miller

PagE 2, 3 & 14 Editor: molliE BErnEr

PhotograPhy Editor:Jacob Beil

Staff WritErS:Suki Adhikari Chase BaileyJack Connors

Sharon CorishIan Criman

Jason FocarinoBailey Haase

Maggie HaynesHailey MetzgerNikki RobinsonLindsay Webb

adviSEr: Stephanie Axelrod

2010-2011 Staff: Editor-in-ChiEf:Kaitlin Mackie

managing Editor:Katherine Dempsey

ProduCtion Editor:Tim Ferrell

BuSinESS managErS:Lauren DuffyKate Rozelsky

onlinE Editor:Tyler Walter

EditorialS Editor:Aaron Berner

foCuS EditorS:Thomas FriestadTim White

fEaturES EditorS:Yae Ji Cha Kate Monick

Do you think hazing is a problem at our school? photos and interviews by Hailey Metzger

what theare saying

“No, I haven’t seen it, or even heard about it

going on.” —DJ Rice, 10

“What is hazing?” —Brittany Proctor, 11

kids in the hall

Aaron Berner - Editorials Editor

“Yes, hazing almost-caused death to a fellow

teammate on the freshman football team”

—Jason Allen, 9

“No, it is not that serious even though it

happens. It is something that

doesn’t matter that much.”

—Matt Jones, 9

“No, I have never been hazed, my friends have

not been hazed. I’ve never seen hazing

either.”—Joey LaFalce, 12

“I’ve never known of any hazing until now, after the swim team.“

—Margaret Veale, 12

—Sophomore Helai Karim’s name was misspelled, page 1

—The infograph about smoking was made by Mollie Berner, page 2

—Elena Patel plays volleyball, page 16

—Zach Sheldon’s position on the football team is offensive lineman, page 16

The Valor Dictus accepts allcorrections from prior issues. Please submit to room 503 or

e-mail to Valor_Dictus@yahoo.com

Check us out online at www.valordictus.com

Now including live commentaries on school sporting events

CORRECTIONS:From November 24 Issue

Hazing definition too hazyThe swim team’s recent locker room scandal

is an example of the county’s recent crackdown on hazing. However, equal enforcement and clear guidelines are necessary to distinguish between the hazing and acceptable team tradi-tions.

As a staff, we represent a variety of sports teams. Staff members have observed or partici-pated in team traditions such as locker boxing, “kidnapping”, shaving heads and BB gunning freshmen. Some of these traditions are harm-ful, more so than slapping a soapy hand on the rear end of a freshman. However, the adminis-tration is unaware of these activities and team

members consider them as part of team culture rather than hazing.

The administration needs to take action to investigate such behavior and provide its own, clear definition of what classifies hazing. Ad-ministration, coaches and students need to be on the same page.

The administration’s responsibility is the well-being of the students. If they are going to react harshly to instances of hazing, they need to ensure it is not happening in the first place rather than wait for an instance to come under their noses.

To inform all students about hazing and en-sure that they take it as seriously as the admin-istration does, there needs to be an assembly or information session.

The current definition of what activities can be classified as hazing is unclear. A definition exists in the SR&R book, but that definition can be stretched and interpreted different ways. As a school, there needs to be a clear policy.

Society is changing. “Boys will be boys” or “they’re just being kids” are no longer accept-able excuses for certain team activities, just as fighting is no longer a truly acceptable form of resolving conflicts. The administration knows this, and students need to know it as well. This mutual understanding will only result from clear standards of behavior and proper enforce-ment.

So, take the haze out of hazing and bring clarity and a sense of understanding to the issue at hand.

Jack Connors

In the past, our school has of-fered IB Theory of Knowledge to junior IB Diploma candidates as a full-year elective class. However, the IB program states the class should take place over a two-year period. Because of senior year class requirements, IB Diploma candi-dates would not be able to fit this into their schedules. This sched-uling conflict, if gone unsolved, could have disastrous effects on the school’s IB program, including getting the school’s status as an IB World School revoked.

Our school’s IB program should be striving to give students as much ToK learning time as possible.

According to IB coordina-tor Lisa Green, the solution to our school’s IB program that will be put in place for next year will make senior IB Diploma can-didates go to a special RAISE session two times a month about ei-ther the Extended Essay or Theory of Knowledge. With eight RAISE sessions a month, this is hardly too much to ask for seniors.

Only requiring seniors to come to two RAISE sessions per month is

much too weak. The more time se-niors get to expand their thinking in Theory of Knowledge the better. Our

school should be more pro-active in try-ing to prepare its students as best it can for the rigors of the IB pro-gram and col-lege later on.

With this in mind, senior IB Diploma c a n d i d a t e s should be re-quired to come to 4 or more RAISE ses-

sions per month for solely for Theory of Knowledge and Extended Essay work. In return, as already planned, senior IB Diploma candidates would recieve a

0.5 GPA boost on their transcripts.The IB program, if it wants to be

recognized as a truly international organization, needs to be able to ac-commodate the differing schedules of its schools around the world. Asking students to go to school longer than their peers, when they are already tak-ing a full schedule of advanced classes, is unfair to IB Diploma candidates.

With the obvious importance of this class, especially for IB Diploma candidates, IB as an organization should work to reach the most stu-dents it can with this class, instead of creating an issue with students whose schedules don’t easily accommodate the class.

The solution proposed by the IB coordinators is not a bad step to giving IB Diploma candidates more time in Theory of Knowledge. But more can still be done to enusre IB Diploma candidates have a strong base of IB knowledge.

Editorials6 December 22, 2010Valor Dictus

”

“ Our school’s IB program should be striving to give students as much ToK learn-ing time as possible.

BY FATIMA MUBARAKGuest Writer

Presents, shopping, and food. That seems to be all that anyone associates with Advent and Christmas anymore. Students have been focusing on the wrong aspects of the Christmas season, and don’t appreciate the true meaning of Christ-mas. The reason for Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, so students must keep this in light.

Christmas is a religious holiday commemo-rating the birth of Christ, but students do not

always focus on this. Christmas trees, music, decorations, lights, gingerbread houses, cookies, and gifts are just added traditions to make the holiday more festive. These traditions, as well as others, are not the basis for Christmas, and often, families place too much emphasis on them.

Being a Christian does not just mean one cel-ebrates Christmas—it includes having faith in God, Jesus and Christianity as a whole. In order to truly celebrate Christmas, students must fully believe in the Christmas story and Christianity and be thankful for the birth of Jesus. Jesus was born and crucified to save humanity and forgive all sins, so Christmas is a holiday to be thankful that God sent his Son and our savior.

To celebrate Christmas the Christian way, it is necessary to attend a church service Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. In order to celebrate a re-ligious holiday, students must actually observe its meaning. It does not make sense for someone

who does not believe and is not thankful that Jesus was sent to save humanity to celebrate Christmas because that is the point of Christmas.

Students must remember this during Advent when preparing for and celebrating Christmas. Advent begins the fourth Sunday before Christ-mas and is a time to prepare for the birth of Christ.

Although gifts are significant to Christmas, as the wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus, they are not the main point. If students choose not to celebrate Jesus’ birth, they should at least remember that Christmas is not about oneself, but about others. Students must focus more on getting others gifts, not what they want.

This Christmas, focus more on the religious aspects of Christmas; sing “Joy to the World” along with “Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer”, watch a Christmas pageant along with “Elf” and put others above yourself. But above all, give thanks for Christ’s birth.

Keep the Christ in ChristmasStudents should look past gifts and food

TOK scheduling conflict forces time crunch for IB Candidates

By junior and senior year, IB students are used to passively accepting a great amount of difficult material. Students write 2,000 word es-says, read stacks of historiography, process data for labs…the list goes on and on. Often, it seems as if the students have no power at all in the rela-tionship between student and teacher.

Recently, the IB Student Advisory Board— formed of students in the final two years of the diploma program—along with IB coordinators, has begun conducting informational sessions with various IB teachers.

The goal of these sessions should not be to provide a laundry list of all the complaints stu-dents have about the program. If teachers want to hear that, they can simply stand in the middle of the senior and junior locker bays. We’ve all heard the complaints:

“I hate annotating; it’s so annoying…”“The math quiz was so hard. I only got, like,

half the questions…”“My extended essay is still not finished…”Instead, these informational sessions should

serve as gauges of the extent to which each sub-ject has been successful in teaching its objectives to the students.

For example, a recent meeting of the IB Stu-dent Advisory Board discussed the lack of inte-gration of Theory of Knowledge concepts into honors classes. Theory of Knowledge (ToK) is part of the core of the IB program and teaches students to think critically about the nature of knowledge. During this meeting, I argued that introducing ToK concepts in freshman and sophomore years would help students think more analytically when crafting arguments. Thus, one point that could be brought up in an information session with history teachers would be that introducing ToK concepts in freshman and sophomore years could help students write more analytical papers.

This is very different from saying, “God, we hate writing so many papers in history!”

The IB Student Advisory Board has an excel-lent opportunity here. Rather than turning the tables on the teachers, we should push the tables out of the way and start a dialogue. Let’s refrain from providing teachers with a list of complaints that can be summed up as, “We have too much work!” Instead, the Advisory Board should take this opportunity to work with the teachers to develop the IB program into an even more valu-able educational experience for future students.

IBSAB opens doors for IB

KATE ROZELSKY

AARON BERNER

I’m writing this letter in response to the Nov. 24 article “YouCan use YouTube now.” I feel like students should be able to use YouTube because this site has a lot of useful instructional videos that can be used by teachers and by students for studying.

This site is full of videos that can be used in lessons by teachers. Teachers can use these videos in class to explain some top-ics better. For example, if a history teacher wants to show one of Hitler’s speeches, he/she could look it up and show it to the stu-dents. Another example of this is if students are learning about a book and there is some-thing about the book students do not un-derstand, a video might provide additional information.

On the other hand, students should not use this privilege to fool around. This site was unblocked to help improve the learn-ing process. Hopefully this change will do its purpose. Some students use this just to mess around and waste time. For example, some students use it to look up music vid-eos that have nothing to do with the topic they’re studying or look up random videos.

I completely agree that the administration made the right choice by taking the filter off of YouTube on school computers. It is great that the administrators finally realized the value YouTube contains. It will help the teachers considerably in teaching the class, as well as help students better understand the material. It is also a great way for students to get help on assignments when their teachers are not avail-able.

I cannot tell you how many times my teach-ers have tried pulling up a video to help us un-derstand something and it hasn’t worked be-cause of the YouTube filter. It not only wastes time but leaves students confused just as they were before. Almost every video on the inter-net is connected to YouTube so it is very hard to find videos that work. In my sports market-ing class, we use videos every class to study the marketing involved in commercials, billboards, advertisements and TV shows.

We should absolutely keep YouTube up and running because filtering it does more harm than good. It is a very good tool for teachers and has useful information that can help students in their studies. My studies in sports marketing have greatly increased since the YouTube filter has been removed and I expect it to help me in other classes in the future.

I am writing in response to the Nov. 24 article titled, “Erroneous ban on hats and hoods should be lifted.” This article states valid reasons for why students should be allowed to wear hats and hoods during school.

The reason for outlawing hats and hoods because of gang affiliation is a very weak ar-gument. Gangs are always going to come up with other ways of showing their affiliation; if it’s not hats and hoods it will be other clothing items. It makes no sense to punish an entire student body.

I feel we should get as many people as pos-sible to attend our next school board meetings to try to remove the rules on hats and hoods.

—NATHAN HACKETT, 10

—TYLER TRACEY, 10 —VICTOR SALCEDO, 11

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Students share their opinions on the Nov. 24 issue

YouTube aids in understanding

Roaming lunch would build trust

Hats do not help to fight gangs

Videos can enrich learning

To submit a letter to the editor, e-mail a signed, 100-200

word letter to valor_dictus@yahoo.com or bring it to room 503.

I am writing in response to the Nov. 24 arti-cle titled, “Lunch should be allowed outside of cafeteria.” I would definitely have to agree with the article’s author’s opinion on allowing stu-dents to have lunch anywhere on campus. The privilege was taken away from students years ago and should be tried again because new stu-dents deserve a second chance.

Allowing students to roam around the cam-pus during lunch would build a sense of trust between the student body and faculty. It would also indulge the students to feel more indepen-dent and mature knowing that they can eat lunch without being crowded inside a cafeteria with hundreds of other students. This change would be beneficial for both the student body and faculty.

In order for this change to be made possible, students must first demonstrate that they can care of themselves. This includes cleaning up their trash and not sneaking off campus during lunch time. The faculty needs to lose their sense of paranoia that students will go off on their own during school hours. Likewise, the stu-dent body needs to make an effort as a whole to prove that they will not take advantage of the faculty’s trust if the privilege were to be granted to them.

—KATHY YU, 10

Valor Dictus December 22, 2010 Volume 40 Issue 4 Bravely speaking to the Robinson Community 7

FeaturesYae Ji Cha - Features Editor Kate Monick - Features Editor

”Anthony

Avino

““I thought the car was too good to be true before it broke down, and with [buying a car] on Craigslist, you really have no guarantee”

Senior

Before I leave Robinson...

Photo Illustration by Yae Ji Cha

Senior bucket listAs the new year kicks off, seniors will be wrapping

up their last few months as high school students. Here are some of our seniors’ goals that they hope to

accomplish before graduation.

Information compiled by Nikki Robinson and Bailey Haase Graphic by Yae Ji Cha and Kate Monick

“I want to go to the Harry Potter them

e park!” ‑ Jessie McInerney “I would like to own and

main

tain

a re

spec

tabl

e f s

h ta

nk!”

‑ Stephen Goodrick

“I want to randomly burst into song during passing with all of my chorus fr

iends” ‑ J

illian

Pow

ers

“W

in s

tate

s for

boys

varsity soccer” ‑ Brian Phillips

“Take a roadtrip with friends w

ith no destination” ‑ Julie Werner “I want to

f gur

e ou

t wha

t to

do w

ith m

y life

‑ what in

spires me” ‑ Jenna Delph

“I’m going to skydive when I turn 18; I can’t w

ait!” ‑

Meg

han

Smith

“G

et a

dec

ent n

ight’s sleep” ‑Austin Tussing “To enjoy the rest of my senior year with

out s

tress

ing

abou

t c

ollege!” ‑ Skylar Barnes

“I’d

like

to ru

n a h

alf marathon” ‑ Paige H

elmick

“Roadtrip to Californ

ia!”

‑ Margaret Tolson

BY REEM NADEEM Staff Writer

Students choose self piercing over pros

Ears gleam with metal in the locker bays. For girls and boys combined, a new trend has risen and invaded high school classrooms – self piercing. The tradition-al single-pierced ear has been long gone. Girls with their hair up now show off their latest accessories, the increasingly edgy piercings have expanded into more bizarre and creative places.

This tempting trend also has its risks. Ears can become infected from using un-sanitized, improper equipment, such as safety pins and needles. The location of the piercing also affects the proper way to care for the new hole, and a profes-sional piercer would share such specific advice with customers in order to avoid infection.

Junior Heidi Akello pierced two nor-mal holes, gauged one set of them and pierced her own cartilage using only a needle, without any help.

“The gauges weren’t that big really, so it took about five minutes. But the cartilage took like 30 minutes. It was re-ally painful, and it was sore for a lot lon-ger afterwards,” she said.

Self piercing is not limited to ears. Sophomore Dhyamond Crenshaw pierced her nose with a safety pin.

“It was very painful. My mom started it but she was hurting me so I took over,” she said. The actual piercing process took about 30 minutes, but the pain lasted much longer, she said.

The pain is not an obstacle for all self-piercers. Junior Marina Gayed pierced two holes in her upper earlobe and two in her cartilages.

“It wasn’t that bad, [it was] like rip-ping a band aid off. You just have to do it,” she said.

Sanitization is also a factor in a suc-cessful piercing. Popular ways students have sanitized their home equipment are with fire, heat and rubbing alcohol. Ake-llo chose to boil the needle she used, and she put rubbing alcohol on it and the ear-rings she would soon put in. Gayed also chose to use heat held the safety pin over fire and cleansed it with rubbing alcohol.

Danny Zelsman, a professional pierc-er for nine years and currently employed at Marlowe Ink, said any cleansers avail-able at home are inadequate.

“I started piercing at 17. I did my own and they got infected, badly infected. I fell into the belief that rubbing alco-hol kills all bacteria but it doesn’t,” he said. “Kids have the idea that if you hold something up to a lighter, it’s clean, they couldn’t be more wrong.”

Several students said they purchased post-piercing cleansers available in many stores. Crenshaw, however, said she did not clean her new piercings at all, despite what her internet research told her.

Students turn to the internet to edu-cate themselves on safe ways to pierce. Articles and videos containing advice and warnings are available throughout the web.

“I looked at videos on YouTube to make sure I wasn’t piercing any veins or anything. And it was helpful,” Akello said.

Virginia law states that a legal and professional piercing cannot be per-formed on anyone less than 18 years of age, unless their parent or guardian is present. Many students resort to self piercing because they don’t have paren-tal approval.

“My parents would never let me [get

the piercings], and I wanted them so, I just did them myself,” Gayed said. “My mom wanted me to take them off and still does.”

But parents are not an obstacle to every self piercer. Crenshaw’s mother assisted her in piercing her nose with a safety pin and her ears with a piercing gun.

“We were in Pennsylvania and she saw the gun so she bought it and when we got back, she pierced my ears,” Cren-shaw said.

Zelsman, however, said piercing guns are a bad idea.

“We don’t use guns,” he said, claim-ing they are the” worst thing you could ever use. We use single-use hollow needles. Everything is absolutely single use,” Zelsman said. “The only thing we ever reuse are the forceps. Which after one use, we throw in Mr. Clean and then an ultrasonic cleanser. Scrub it with a toothbrush to clean the grooves, package it in our sterile packs and give it a serial number.”

Zelsman emphasized again every-thing else must be single-use, including the markers used to mark the location of the piercing.

Zelsman said, “We deal with a lot of messed up piercings, done by some[one] at home. You deserve to get everything right the first time.”

Students look to needles and safety pins over professional piercing

equipment

Perfo

rm o

n Ra

m Ja

m!!

Secret Wishes

Pran

k th

e se

curit

y of

fcer

s

Pass

ing

all m

y cl

asse

s

Beco

me

a uk

ulel

e pl

ayer

Reliv

e th

e se

nior

pig

pra

nk

Get a

ll m

y te

ache

rs c

offe

e

BY CHRISTINE YUMPING Staff Writer

Students take care in buying frst cars

Is it reliable? Fuel-efficient? Does it look good? Is it within my budget?

Senior Anthony Avino kept these questions in mind while searching for his first car. He said once he knew what car he wanted, the process didn’t take long.

“My parents really wanted reliabil-ity, but I wanted it to look cool; so we kind of met in the middle,” Avino said.

Other students, such as seniors Bren-dan Murphy and Eric Golman, were able to purchase their own car, with their own money, and with little advice from their parents. Both students only needed their parents’ final approval.

Crucial decisions and intense re-search surround a student when buying a car. Stu-dents must first narrow their op-tions in searching for the right car and make sure it is within their limit, said Jimmy Diani, Internet Manager of Fairfax Motors.

“Usually stu-dents go for the typical 4-cylinder cars, such as Hon-das, Toyotas, and sometimes even Fords,” Diani said.

Avino said it’s essential for the stu-dent to make sure his source of money is sufficient when deciding a budget. He said he wasn’t ready for anything that could have gone wrong, and when the car’s transmission failed a month after purchasing it, he had to spend even more money to pay for repairs. Golman agreed and said students must have enough money, in case the car has problems.

“I thought the car was too good to

be true, before it broke down, and with [buying a car on] Craigslist, you really have no guarantee,” Avino said.

Golman had to make his own repairs to his car and pay for it as well. Along with Avino and Golman, Murphy also en-countered issues with the car he bought, when the car starter failed only after a couple months of owning the car.

“Although I faced normal mainte-nance problems, such as changing the bearings, breaks, tires, and increasing gas prices, it all added up,” Golman said.

After setting the budget and nar-rowing down the choices, a buyer can search for a car. Golman said it took him six months before he found the car he wanted to buy. He said his search was based on cars of low insurance but that he wanted his car to look good and fit his budget. Avino added that reliability was

certainly necessary, while Murphy didn’t really take much into account.

“Honestly, the only thing I took into account is that the car didn’t need much work to put into it,” Murphy said.

Although all three students bought their cars on Craigslist, Diani said about 30 per-cent of buyers from the used car dealer-

ship he works at are high school students. “[Students] are easier to deal with

[than adults], because they seem more knowledgeable and sometimes even more than the dealer due to the research performed,” Diani said.

Avino and Murphy agreed not rush-ing the process. Murphy said he could have spent longer.

Avino said, “I decided way too fast and rushed it. If I were able to do it over again, I would take a longer time to decide.”

“I have seen boys throwing a hamburger around the bathroom. It was left out for days.”—Alex Hodges, 10th

“I walked in on a girl who had fallen asleep with her head on the toilet while I was washing my hands.”—Ella Bresson, 9th

Focus8 December 22, 2010Valor Dictus 9December 22, 2010

Valor Dictus

A Look Under the Seat: Students break and dirty bathrooms at school’s expense

Custodian Q&A on Bathroom Blues

Hig

h school sanitation

DOWN the to

ilet

The dirty truth on bathrooms

The Bathroom DIRT:

Students flush away resources;school flushes away money

98

By the NUMBERS

26 custodians at our school, who work

bathrooms in our school, containing

regular sit-down toilets and urinals

There are:

306

40

sinks,as well as a total of

hours every week,

and who earn

202

11.35 dollars an hour for their troubles

Photo by Thomas Friestad

1. A custodian working the night shift notices a piece of damaged equipment.2. The custodian reports the damage to the school administration.3. Administration orders new equip-ment from grainger.com to replace damaged unit.4. The parts are not delivered until one to two days later.5. Finally, custodians install new equipment.

Steps to replace

BROKEN equipment

Graphic by Thomas Friestad and Tim White

Photo by Tim White

Graphic by Thomas Friestad

How that broken toilet you pass by every day goes from dumpy to dumped on and what every student can do to keep bathrooms clean for the future

Ur A LOSER

are saying

What is the nastiest thing you have seen in the bathroom?

what the kids in the hall

“When the toilet is clogged, the entire bathroom floor becomes wet.”—Kacey Wheeler, 9th

; )

BY JACOB BEILPhotography Editor

Their names are Daniel Sakyi, a plumber for FCPS, Building Engi-neer Jerome Torrence, Building Supervisor Claudia Asifuina. These are the people who hear about that broken stall door, the clogged toilet, the busted paper towel holder in the bathroom down the hall.

Sakyi’s latest surprise he’s found in the bathrooms here —or com-modes, as he calls them— was a urinal that had been ripped from the wall. He’s just one of a few skilled workers who helps keep the school’s bathrooms in working order. He’s just one of the 26 custodians working 40 hours a week cleaning the 98 total bathrooms, 306 sinks, and 202 toilets peppered throughout the school.

“It takes four hours after school to clean up the bathrooms…every day,” said custodian Felicia Wiafe, another one of the 26 people who spends her time cleaning up the student’s messes.

“It seems that students here went out of their way to make the bath-rooms as dirty as possible, on purpose,” senior Matt Harrison said.

Harrison has a unique perspective on the school, as last year he at-tended Clemens High School in Schertz, Texas.

When asked to compare the bathrooms at Clemens to those at here, he responded with a quick, curt “definitely dirtier.”

Not all students share Harrison’s opinion though. “The bathrooms here are 10 times better, the students seem to take

more care,” said senior Dani Copeland, who moved here from Warrens-berg High in Warrensberg, Miss.

Torrence said, the responsibility lies on the students to keep the bathrooms - or water closets as he identifies them with their technical name - clean. He laments the expense students incur on the school when they mistreat equipment.

“A lot has to do with the cost, paper towel holders alone cost $130 each, not to include the time it takes to put them up,” Torrence said.

Copeland agrees with Torrence when it comes to students taking care of their own facilities.

“You should be able to take care of yourself, you’re a high schooler,” Copeland said.

Each week the school spends $11,804 for custodial labor. In addition to this, custodians are paid for overtime at one and a half times their hourly wage if a student is caught making a mess or if someone rents

the building. On average this will end up being an extra $5.68 per hour. If a student is caught in the act vandalizing or destroying property,

FCPS charges the student $32 per hour for each custodian it takes to clean up. A portion of that money goes to the custodian; FCPS keeps the other part, usually about $17.

“Once before, at another school a student threw a small bowl at the ceiling and broke a water pipe,” Asifuina said. “This pipe sprayed about five gallons of water per minute. We had to evacuate the school and then 14 people had to stay overtime for two hours in order to clean up the mess.”

This means that FCPS charged the student $476.84, excluding the cost of the equipment that had to be repaired.

Although expensive equipment does not need to be replaced very often, another factor that adds to bathroom finances is the cost of ma-terials, such as toilet paper and paper towels which must be restocked each day.

Students and faculty use 176 rolls of toilet paper and 24 industrial rolls of paper towels each day, coming to a total of $2,751 each month for toiletries alone. All of this adds to the cost of maintaining the bathroom.

Each time a piece of equipment is broken not only does the school lose money, but the time it takes to replace costs each student as well. Having to run from bathroom to bathroom looking for a stall with a door is part of the price students pay.

“It’s not the money [that delays equipment replacement] but the lack of communication as to if it’s broken,” Torrence said.

This may be why a particular piece of equipment has yet to be re-placed in your most frequented bathroom. Torrence described the pro-cess of replacing equipment as follows: First it must be reported by the night staff; then it must be put on order; then it takes time to deliver; a few days later the equipment is delivered then replaced.

Often broken equipment is not reported and then sits out of order for student use.

While Sakyi, Torrence and Asifuina each had their own biggest pet peeves about dysfunctional bathrooms, the one point they all made was that the possibility of clean bathrooms lies with the student.

As Asifuina rifled through her papers for her files regarding the schools expenses she remarked, “It’s a lot of money, and when the kids don’t take care of their stuff, it’s a lot of money going in the trash can.”

; ); ); )

What tasks do you complete every day as a custodian?In the month I have worked at Robinson, I have cleaned the floors and tables during lunch, and the bathrooms after school. The bathrooms are cleaned every day after school, or whenever they are dirty, and I help out with that as part of my job

What is the worst part of cleaning the bathrooms?The worst part of the job is walking into a bathroom and seeing paper towels all over the floor, because I have to clean those up. The work is not different from what people see [us custodians] do, but it’s harder than they think because people can be so messy.

Why do you think teenagers vandalize school bathrooms?I imagine they vandalize the bathrooms because they’re bored during passing time. Maybe they have no friends and they just need a hobby.

Annelia Jorge discusses her job as a school custodian and voices her opinion on bathroom occurances.

Info from Building Engineer Jerome Torrence Info from Building Engineer Claudia Asifuina

176 rolls of toilet paper -and-

24 rolls of paper towels =$2,751 monthly

26 custodians cleaning up messes = $11,804 weekly

1 student vandalizing property =$32 per hour cleaning per custodian

Good behavior in bathrooms = Priceless

“I have actually seen used feminine products on the floor in a boys’ bathroom.”—Chris Kasbarian, 11th

photos and interviews by Bailey Haase and Nikki Robinson

Features10 December 22, 2010Valor Dictus

‘Tis the season for bad gifts...Looking for gift ideas for friends and family? Here are some suggestions on what to avoid.

BY JENNY SHINStaff Writer

A typical college application checklist looks like this: Transcript? Check. Essays? Check. SATs? Check. Extra-curricular activities? Check. Facebook? What?

Rumors abound about the pos-sible use of Facebook in the college admission process. Whether or not students should be worried about keeping their profile “appropriate” has become a growing concern.

Despite many beliefs, most col-leges and universities don’t research their students and applicants on social networking mediums, said Jeannine Lalonde, senior assistant dean of admission at the University of Virginia. Smaller schools may con-duct Facebook searches, but larger schools such as U. Va, which has over 14,000 undergraduate students, don’t have the time.

“We don’t search for people, and we have no interest in status updates or pictures. There’s just no interest, but there’s no time. What are we go-ing to find? Oh look, our students are pretty normal, they have a life, they have friends. It’s typical normal

teenager high school stuff,” Lalonde said.

Likewise, some smaller colleges simply choose not to take part in the process. Haverford College, with a student body of 1,200 students, finds using Facebook or other social media to find out more about applications inappropriate, said Elizabeth Pan-dian, Haverford’s senior associate director of admission, so Facebook doesn’t play a role in their evaluation process.

Instead of using social network-ing to search applicants, most schools choose to use it to better communicate. According to Lalonde, Facebook provides a useful means for the admission officers and stu-dents to communicate with each other, as well as for students to com-municate amongst themselves.

“I know people that look at the school’s page on Facebook, and it’s kind of like their website, but just on Facebook,” senior Nour Alamiri said. “Some communicate better on Facebook. I haven’t done that a lot, because I just go to the [college’s] website.”

Facebook is also useful for newly admitted students to form groups and socialize to share ideas and questions. Mitchell Lipton, Dean of Admissions at Cooper Union Col-lege, said he finds Facebook a great way for newly admitted students to share ideas and questions, as well as a way to check applicants’ profiles.

“I find social networking sites to be useful tools that are a part of a larger strategy to stay in contact with prospective students and their families,” Lipton said. “The only drawback is that we don’t always have the time to actively monitor the sites.”

There are still some small col-leges like Cooper Union that check on their applicants’ Facebook pages. Alamari has heard stories of kids

who had their acceptance revoked because of unsuitable actions in high school or inappropriate pictures on-line.

“Any picture you post in your profile, the legal right belongs to Facebook, even if you untag or delete the album, Facebook still has rights to the picture, so it doesn’t mean it’s completely gone. Once you’re on their network, you have to be care-ful, because Facebook usually auto-matically allows others in the net-work to view your profile, unless you put your profile on private,” Alamari said. “I know kids get excited and enjoy the college network, which is nice because you can communicate, but it’s risky if you have anything that can tarnish your image.”

Other students, such as senior Fi-ras Nasr, agree that Facebook is an individual’s growing responsibility, regardless of whether colleges are looking at profiles.

“I think it’s a double-edged sword,” Nasr said. “Facebook is another snapshot of who you are, and if you give access to Facebook, you’re giving access to the rest of the world.”

Despite concerns, Lalonde said students shouldn’t be overly wor-ried. Additionally, students can use social networking to their advan-tage. Lalonde said most admission officers want to be available online, but they want students to initiate contact. If a student mentions in their application about something on the web, admission officers will check it out, but only if a student prompts them to.

“[Facebook] can help to build communities and share valuable in-formation, if used effectively,” Lip-ton said. “However, students are advised to be careful of what they post, because it’s still possible for us to come across their pages even if it’s unintentional.”

Information compiled by Jason Focarino, Bailey Haase, Nikki RobinsonGraphic by Yae Ji Cha and Kate Monick

As seniors prepare for college, Facebook begins to play an uncertain role in the admissions process

Do you think information you post on your Facebook profile can affect yourcollege admissions?

“When I was fourteen my

grandma got me a Barbie doll...

I was embarrassed.” — senior

Margaret Snare

“You know all th

ose little fre

e

bottles of sh

ampoo and lotion

from hotels?

My grandfather’s friend

got me a basket fu

ll of those”

— senior Meghan Smith

“I di

dn’t

get t

his g

ift, b

ut

my

little

bro

ther

did

. My

dad

got h

im a

plu

sh to

y

dict

iona

ry th

at ta

lked

when

he o

pene

d it.

.. I n

ever

saw

him

pla

y wi

th it

.”

— so

phom

ore

Sara

Khaf

fagy

“A rock... it’s not a pet.

If you’re going to get

me a pet, get me a dog.”

— junior Farnese Motto

“I got a gift

from my m

om

and we were opening gifts

in front o

f the whole family.

I opened hers and sa

w that

she got me underwear. It

was really

embarrassin

g”

— senior Paige Helmick

“Socks. One ye

ar I hadn’t

gotten anything I w

anted,

mainly clothes a

nd ugly

socks.”

— junior Katie Gibson

Information compiled by Yae Ji Cha, Sharon Corish, Jason Focarino, and Kate Monick

College Facebook frenzy

“Sure, because they actually look at your Facebook pages.” — DJ Palmer, 12

“Yes, because it’s out there. Whatever you put on your Facebook is out there for good. It’s not professional.” — Khatol Aziz, 10

“It potentially could because anyone can see the information you post.” — Anastasia Moore, 12

“I don’t have a Facebook.” — Kevin Malek, 11

Features 11December 22, 2010Valor Dictus

BY ANESSA DUFFLEStaff Writer

A Latin Bible in a Ziploc bag and a ticket to New Haven: meet senior Alex Emmons

Angie’s Restaurant Top Pick: Spanish OmeletF00D

Scale of 1-10: 8.5Taste: The french toast melts in your mouth. The bacon was crispy and fla-vorful. There was a generous amount of french toast, eggs, and bacon. Prices: $8.95

French Toast Deluxe

Photos and graphic by Kate Monick. Information compiled by Jason Focarino, and Kate Monick

Scale of 1-10: 8Taste: The bread was toasted nicely and wasn’t burnt at all. The egg was tender. We thought it would be bland because the sandwich only consisted of two eggs, but the eggs were enough. Prices: $3.25

Two Egg Sandwich

Location: Twinbrook Shopping Center 9569 Braddock Road Fairfax, Virginia 22032Website: angiesrestaurant1.com/

Rating scale: 10: Could eat it every day! 8: Would order it again 6: Worth a trip back 4: Avoid, avoid, avoid!

Scale of 1-10: 9 Taste: The omelet tasted fresh, with a generous amount of green peppers, onions and tomatoes. The dish was served with toast and the option of home fries or grits. Prices: $7.70

We sampled numerous breakfast dishes at Angie’s Restaurant in Fairfax. This restaurant specializes in Greek and Italian cuisine. Read on to find out what to order and what to avoid at the restaurant.

Santa Emmons — Senior Alex Emmons dressed up as Santa Claus for the Tiny Tots Concert on Dec. 14. He is a member of the symphonic band.

He carries a Latin Bible in a Ziploc bag. He is an IB Diploma candidate. He is called “warrior poet” and “philosopher king” by his friends. He is involved with his church. He is captain of the Speech and Debate team. And he found out last Wednes-day evening that he got accept-ed to Yale University. What drives senior Alex Emmons to be meticulous in everything he does?

Emmons was raised in the United Methodist Church.

“It’s the source of my drive and motivation. It instilled a ‘save the world’ complex. That’s why I study hard and exercise,” he said.

He is a certified speaker and is called upon to preach and lead sermons. He also co-coor-dinates the outreach projects, which help homeless people. His mother, Karen Emmons, is a United Methodist clergy member.

“I’m not the stereotypi-cal preacher’s kid. My mom doesn’t make me do any of it,” he said. “I’m also not the type of religious where I’ll take my Bible and smack you upside the head with it.”

Although he does not plan to smack anyone with his Bible, he is known for carrying around a Latin Bible in a Ziploc bag. He said he does this be-cause he wants to work on his Latin skills. It is impossible to find books in Latin, Emmons

said. He said he is trying to get a copy of “The Aeneid” and “The Metamorphoses” because they are literary works and easier to read than the Bible, he said. He said his favorite book to read is “The Iliad,” though.

“When I took the ‘Which Trojan hero are you?’ quiz on-line, I scored 98 percent Hec-tor. It was the most fun 10 min-utes of my life,” he said.

Emmons’ personality has made him stand out since el-ementary school. Up until second grade he said his par-ents thought he was autistic because he spent a lot of time reading and wouldn’t look adults in the eyes.

As he sat in the cafeteria surrounded by noise he leaned in, smiled and said, “when my mother was finishing her grad-uate work at Stanford, she used to leave me in the psychology department and they would run experiments on me.”

Now a senior, Emmons takes his academics seriously and appreciates his educational opportunities.

“I don’t approach academ-ics with a mentality of getting an A. My goal is to genuinely learn about many facets of the world, and my grades take care of themselves,” he said.

Emmons has been a student here for four years and is an IB Diploma candidate.

“We are blessed with a tre-mendous gift. I feel like a vast majority doesn’t understand the depth of the opportunity given to them,” he said

“People come in with the wrong goals,” he said. “There are people in the world that would kill for this opportu-nity.”

Emmons said he loves all his classes.

“I couldn’t pick a favorite class, it depends on what mood I’m in that day,” he said.

English teacher Susan Frenck had Alex in her class last year.

“He was extremely thought-ful in contributing to class dis-cussions,” she said. “In general he nailed all the assignments. He was one of those students that showed you the best of your ex-pectations.”

He challenges himself in aca-demics, but also makes time for Speech and Debate. He has been the captain for three years. Jen-nifer Fulton, Speech and Debate

coach, said Alex has played a key role in building the team. When the team was first formed, there were only three people and now there are over 30 people on the team.

“He is Alex Emmons, a strong speaker and the team is going to miss him when he graduates,” she said.

What does the future hold for Emmons? Senior Barton Ter-ry said, “I see Alex going in two opposite ways -- monk out in the wild or president of the world.”

Photo by Jacob Beil

High achieving senior in and out of the classroom distinguishes himself

Q&A: David Mathis A: “I don’t necessarily know what I want to do; I just know what I don’t want to do. The Fairfax area is a cubicle producing area. You go to high school, college and then an office desk job for the rest of your life. That’s just not for me.”

Q: Do you think you’re missing out on anything by not going to college?

A: ”I think college is good for some, just not me at this point in my life. I’m done with school. But I can still be successful. I still plan to be successful, I’m just taking a different route than most kids I know.”

Q: Because you are a senior not applying to college, what are your plans for next fall?

A: ”I have a friend in Seattle and we’re going to live together and get jobs. I want to live life the way I want to, not the way everyone tells me to — sort of like a free spirit.”

Q: When did you decide you wanted to do this?

A: “I’ve known this for awhile. I told my parents and they ac-cepted it. I’m 18 —I’m an individual.”

Q: Do you have any concrete plans for your future?

Hours: Monday - Thursday: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Friday: 11 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. Saturday: 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday: 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.

that send sighted people as guides for people with visual impairments to provide description for films, plays or other visual entertain-ment.

The Metropolitan Wash-ington Ear Inc. produces video description for recently released movies to be played at specific lo-cal theaters around the D.C. Met-ropolitan area, which are listed at their website, washear.org.

Most DVDs come with a video description option as well—which, ironically, must be turned on using visual cues.

Furthermore, there are no stan-dards for audio description of mov-ies in the United States, and so the experience depends on the quality of the description.

However, “When you see ev-erything, you are less imaginative. Blind students have to be picturing and conjuring up what it sounds like… [the ability to understand movies] comes from experience—things you’ve touched and heard before,” Krebs said.

Valor Dictus December 22, 2010 Volume 40 Issue 4 Bravely speaking to the Robinson Community 12

EntertainmentShelby Gee - Entertainment Editor

”AndreWebb

““Watching movies is a way for them to stretch their brains and minds.”

Teacher of the visually impaired

BY ANAGHA SRIKANTHStaff Writer

100 minutes

PG for brief mild violence

Run Time:

MPAA Rating:

BY ANAGHA SRIKANTHStaff Writer

Explore the voyage of

Illustrations by Sharon Corish, Quiz by Maggie Haynes, Graphic by Shelby Gee

Discover a new ‘happily ever after’

Photo reprinted courtesy of Disney

Once upon a time— Rapunzel, voiced by Mandy Moore in the new Disney fairy tale, is anything but a damsel in distress in the modern remake of the classic story. In the movie she says, “I’ve been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?”

When teenage audiences watch “Tangled,” the latest Walt Disney release, the magic that so many of them found in their younger days isn’t the same – but it’s still there.

In this spin-off of the tradition-al fairy-tale “Rapunzel,” a timeless classic becomes a modern work of art. Right from the beginning it is clear Rapunzel is not the typi-cal damsel in distress, and Flynn Rider is not exactly a hero. In fact, there really is no poster-board hero mounted on a pedestal above human reach.

The traditional roles of prince and princess are almost reversed at times, and eloquent language is traded in for fresh dialogue. In the middle of a heart-to-heart during which Flynn reveals his true iden-tity to Rapunzel, the mood turns flirty, as Flynn jokes that “a fake reputation is all a man has.”

One of the most gripping ele-ments of the plot is how the audi-ence is able to relate to the char-acters. The movie explores hidden dreams with menacing Vikings who reveal their secret desires to become concert pianists, take up interior design and bake cupcakes.

Then there’s the main character Rapunzel, a teenager dealing with the same conflictions as those in the audience. She’s overly giggly and innocently trusting, almost to the point of naivety. She rebels against her overprotective mother, Gothel, who insists she knows best as most mothers do—with the one distinction of Gothel be-ing a selfish imposter.

However, being a Disney movie, “Tangled” cannot escape all of the typical clichés, even with a fresh layer of paint. Corny lines, an inevi-table love story and the triumph of good over evil mark the brand – not to mention the vague feeling that some scenes and songs have been saved from the recycling bin.

“Tangled” does make its way through a fair share of detours, tak-ing an unconventional route to that familiar land of happily ever after.

Blind students listen to the sounds of the cinema

Myth: People who are blind have better hearing than others.

Fact: People who are blind learn to listen better than others.

When most people watch a movie, the soundtrack is just back-ground noise, their eyes focused acutely on the screen.

When the person is blind, however, sound becomes the en-tire movie. Subtle changes in mu-sical key, the instruments used, and even a person’s breath are keys to the plotline. Everyone hears these elements, but most people don’t recognize the importance of sound.

Junior Garrett Kearns, a visu-ally impaired student, said he can appreciate the way the sound is constructed in movies, whereas sighted people are more focused on the visual aspects of the film.

“A sharp violin gives a tense feeling, while a smooth cello cre-ates a calm atmosphere. When someone is running on screen, I can hear the sound go across from speaker to speaker,” he said.

These cues can provide small details, such as which way the person is running, that add to a blind person’s understanding of the movie.

Cathryn Krebs, a teacher of the visually impaired, said students are taught how to listen intuitively and pick up on cues.

“It’s very easy to miss things, especially depending on the qual-ity of video description,” she said.

Krebs said there are multiple services in the Washington area

Freshman Fatima Alsofayyan can’t remember ever having vision, but she does remember hearing the movie “Kiki’s Delivery Service” ev-ery day as a kid.

“Now I don’t even remember what it’s about,” she said, but when she watches movies, “I get a feeling. I don’t really know what pictures look like, but sometimes I like to pretend that I’m there.”

According to Andre Webb, a teacher of the visually impaired who also has a visual impair-ment, there are often ideas in films that blind students have not been exposed to.

“If a blind student has never seen or touched a tree, how do you explain it to them?” Krebs asked. “[Watching movies] is a way for them to stretch their brains and minds.”

While advanced technology enhances the movie experience for sighted audiences, the effects are often shallow and unreveal-ing.

“In older movies the sounds mean more, because they didn’t have special effects. It was that

carry over period from radios to television…and the sound and mu-sic really gave a sense of the plot,” Webb said.

Freshman Hannah Bartling, a visually impaired student, agreed that sound from the early ages of entertainment technology was more enjoyable, and said she really enjoys radio programs such as “Ad-ventures in Odyssey.”

“It’s like the old storytelling, with sound effects,” she said, and, like most other girls who grew up watching princess movies, she said it “reminds me of knights in shin-ing armor.”

Before you see ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ quiz yourself to see if you know your Narnia.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

What is the name of the White Witch?

True or False: Mr. Tumnus is the first creature Edmund meets in Narnia.

What does Father Christmas give Susan?

What is the name of the White Witch’s head wolf?

True or False: Reepicheep is a skilled warrior at boxing.

Where do the Pevensie siblings meet Aslan and his army?

What is the name of Prince Caspian’s mentor?

True or False: Trufflehunter cooks Prince Caspian a bowl of soup after he wakes up in the treehouse.

Who rescues Lucy from the sea?

What is the name of the island where Aslan’s Stone Table is located?

*Check your answers at valordictus.com*

EntErtainmEnt 13December 22, 2010Valor Dictus

BY SHELBY GEEEntertainment Editor

BY JASON FOCARINOStaff Writer

BY JACK CONNORSStaff Writer

Christmas classic gets spooky in D.C.

“Bah Humbug!” retorts Ebenezer Scrooge at the mention of Christmas as “A Christmas Carol” begins. The holiday classic is brought back to the historic stage of Ford’s Theatre in what has become a holiday tradition. The show is full of good messages and holiday cheer, and is a great way to spend a few hours in D.C. over break.

Scrooge, played by Edward Gero, discovers the spirit of Christmas with the help of three ghosts who visit him one spooky Christmas Eve.

The effects are the best part of the performance and really set the scene of the ghost story of Christmas. Well-done sound and lighting dominate the show. The scene where Scrooge’s old friend and business partner, Jacob Marley, appears out of a painting and tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three ghosts, as the clock chimes 1 a.m., 2 a.m., and lastly 3 a.m. makes good use of these effects. The boom-ing thunder, flashing lights and creepy appearance of Marley all make it one of the most enthralling and sinister scenes in the show.

The acting in the show also shines, particularly in the scenes with the family of Scrooge’s employee, Bob Cratchit. Cratchit’s youngest son Tiny Tim is crippled, and needs sur-gery or else he will die. The young ac-tor who plays Tim has cute little lines, but the acting that makes this scene moving is done by Christopher Bloch who plays Cratchit, and Amy McWil-liams who plays his wife. They are re-alistic as parents, it actually feels like Tim is their son when they struggle to find a way to save him.

The scenes range from amusing—

like the Christmas party scene with Scrooge’s nephew and his friends where they play party games that of-ten lead to jokes about Uncle Scrooge, to heartbreaking—like the scene where young Scrooge’s one love, Belle, breaks off their engagement because he has become too concerned with making a profit, so much so that he no longer cared about others. Tom Story, who plays both Fred, Scrooge’s neph-ew, and the younger Scrooge, shows his dimensions of emotion by going from cold and harsh as young Scrooge to fun-loving and cheerful as Fred, making him one of the best young ac-tors in the play.

The effect of the sound and light-ing, along with the live acting, is that the story becomes so much stronger than in the film. A big difference be-tween the movies and the play are the transitions from scene to scene. Between each scene the cast of towns-people join together in singing Christ-mas carols such as “Oh Christmas Tree” and “What Child Is This.” This creates a smooth flow from beginning to end, and adds to the Christmas cheer.

The only element of the show that becomes confusing is that almost all of the actors play multiple characters, which makes them difficult to iden-tify.

The play is definitely worth seeing over the holiday season, with stellar performances and astounding effects that create enthralling scenes. So, take a trip down to the historic D.C. the-ater over break and remember, don’t be a Scrooge.

‘The Tourist’ confuses with strange romance

“What would you rather me be?”

“I’d rather you be a man who does exactly as he pleases,” Ange-lina Jolie says to Johnny Depp in the new movie “The Tourist,” re-leased Oct. 10. This line is one of many sassy quotes from Jolie as she pulls Depp into an adventure that confuses even the audience.

The film is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, and is a remake of the 2005 French film “Anthony Zimmer.”

The film casts Jolie as Elise Ward, a mysterious beauty in an even more elusive situation, and Depp as Frank Tupelo, a clueless math teacher from America on va-cation in Venice, Italy.

“It all started when I met a woman on the train,” Tupelo re-calls. The film follows Tupelo as he starts his ridiculous journey after meeting Ward on a train into Ven-ice. From there, Ward takes the reins and uses Tupelo as a pawn, leaving him in a hotel to be caught by police, and later abandoning him on a dock at the Venetian air-port.

The film starts abruptly, but the audience is quickly sitting up in their seats with interest for the mystery that Jolie brings to the opening scenes. Jolie fulfills the role of being a seductive and tan-talizing woman who is skilled at escaping any situation.

The trailers lead the audience to believe the film has strong romance between Depp and Jolie. On the contrary, the two lead actors kiss once and from there on it seems like they are just good friends. The dialogue hints at a relationship, yes, but there is no actual proof of it.

Action may be the best quali-ties of the movie. The audience is forced to the edge of their seats ev-ery time the music picks up, such as during a boat chase in the canals of Venice.

Depp effectively throws out witty humor next to a seemingly serious Jolie. The two, despite be-ing an awkward and unlikely team at first, soon seem like they’ve been acting together for years. The way

they just seem to belong together, their facial expressions and reac-tions, makes them an ideal lead couple for the film.

The film may seem like it has progressed a lot, and the audience feels like it was just getting into the groove of things. In reality, when the movie is nearly 20 minutes from being finished, it feels like it has barely started. The movie flies from scene to scene, never stopping to give an ounce of why all of this is actually happening, which con-fuses the audience even more.

This also makes the film stron-ger, in a sense. In the end, the audi-ence realizes what the real story is, despite the dialogue making it a bit confusing. The twist near the end

Photo reprinted courtesy of Sony Pictures

Ciao! — Angelina Jolie plays Elise, a mysterious woman who intrigues American tourist Frank, played by Johnny Depp, when he arrives in Italy. However, he soon realizes Elise has gotten him in the middle of a mysterious situation involving the police and a man who looks just like him. The film has been nominated for three Golden Globes.

is truthfully surprising, and Depp does an amazing job of pulling it off.

After the movie is finished, and the lights come back on, the audi-ence reflects on what happened. Somehow, just as they thought things were starting to look up for the film, it is over. The tricky secret of the movie is not enough to make up for its quick end. If the director had put at least a bit more mean-ing into the story, into why people were getting chased and killed, then it might have been memorable.

Photo reprinted with permission from Ford’s Theatre

Here we come a’ caroling— The cast of “A Christmas Carol” enjoy a festive dance in a cheerful Christmas scene from Ebenezer Scrooge’s past. In this scene, Tom Story plays a younger Scrooge when he still believes in the spirit of Christmas.

Track by Track: Connors critiques Kanye

Having given up the glory of the good life, Kanye West has seemingly resigned himself to a dark and soulful existence via his new album, “My Beau-tiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Delving even further into the themes behind “808s and Heartbreak,” West explores his dark psyche. Luckily for his fans, this leads to his greatest creation yet.

A complete turnaround ar-rives with “Power,” a loud and proud call to arms. The spiri-tual successor to “Stronger,” from the third studio album “Graduation,” Kanye shows his new-found strength, and completely leaves behind any thought of humility, and does

what he does best; makes arro-gance cool again.

The real gem of “Dark Twisted Fantasy” is “Run-away.” The song opens with a haunting and simple piano piece, quickly joined by the now-famous 808 drums. West is not far behind, and works magic, using a double layer of his own voice for the chorus.

West dominates the be-ginning, and even comes out on top after Pusha-T enters, bringing out strains of Com-mon. Pusha-T’s verse is almost too short, but quickly over-whelmed by Kanye.

The lyrics are the real strength, adding real weight. West somberly proposes a toast for all those who take themselves too seriously, in-viting all those “who’ll never take work off” to join him for a

drink. He urges the listener to “run away as fast as you can,” admitting defeat and choosing to stay with his own demons.

“My Beautiful Dark Twist-ed Fantasy” is a true tour de force, lending weight to West’s words. The weak portions are effortlessly conquered by the excellent, with several outstanding songs marking West’s return to stardom, de-spite his reluctance to do so. The album itself is a must-buy for any fans, and highly recom-mended to those who have not yet had the pleasure of hearing his work.

Students decide

Worst Song Worst Singer Worst CD

Worst Movie Worst Actor/ Actress

W o r s t TV Show

“Baby”Justin Bieber

Justin BieberIsland Records

“My World”Justin Bieber

“Eclipse”Summit Ent.

Robert Pattinsonin “Eclipse”

“Jersey Shore” MTV

Students surveyed during all lunches on December10 and 14 by Maggie Haynes and Suki Adhikari

Read the rest of the review at valordictus.com

103 minutes

PG-13 for violence and brief strong language

RunTime:

MPAA Rating:

Get tickets online at www.fordstheatre.org

Nov.20- Jan. 22:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Tickets:

Show-times:

13 new songs

This album contains a parental control label

Tracks:

Lyrics:

Valor Dictus December 22, 2010 Volume 40 Issue 4 Bravely speaking to the Robinson Community 14

SportsMollie Berner - Page 2, 3 & 14 Editor Andrew Miller - Page 15 & 16 Editor

BY CHASE BAILEYStaff Writer

Winter Track

Wrestling managers put hours into ‘thankless job’

—MOLLIE BERNER

Junior wrestling manager Rachel Blaz thor-oughly scrubs the mats after a long day of practice, one of many duties she is responsible for as a wres-tling manager.

Various jobs go into being a wrestling manager, assistant wrestling coach Andrew Foster said.

“Our managers have certain jobs they do before practice such as cleaning the wrestling mats. They also keep the statistics during matches. The man-agers are a big part of the team,” Foster said.

Along with these duties they need to fulfill, they keep the clock during the matches as well, senior wrestling manager Lyndsea Seril said. The managers get the medical supplies for the wres-tlers when needed and they attend to the wrestlers who may be injured.

“We do that type of stuff, like getting the medi-cal supplies,” said sophomore wrestling manager Emily Unwin. “We also offer the guys moral sup-port and encourage them to keep it up.”

This job can also be pretty stressful as well, Blaz said. The managers are responsible for simple things yet they are able to empathize with the

players when it comes to close matches and such. These situations are a source of stress for the man-agers.

“Going to the tournaments can be a very com-petitive and exciting atmosphere,” Blaz said. “It can also get pretty intense and stressful at times.”

As managers of the team, they attend every practice and go to all of the matches. They realize they have to take their jobs seriously and devote their time to the wrestling team. Determination and hard work is the number one priority for the managers, Seril said.

“The practices have a very serious atmosphere to them,” Unwin said. “The guys work really hard and they are constantly improving their game.”

The managers really enjoy seeing the team im-prove. The team works really hard in the offseason and it is really cool for the managers to see those improvements they have made in their wrestling skills, Seril said.

“One of the best parts about being a manager is seeing the guys improve and seeing them achieve success,” she said.

The wrestling managers also have to put time in at the JV level before they can contribute at the varsity level. They have to advance their way through the system, Foster said. The managers are part of the team and are considered part of our school’s wrestling family.

Foster said, “We have had very good managers in the past and present. Being a wrestling manager can be a pretty thankless job and a certain cama-raderie comes with the title. We really appreciate how hard they work they work for the team—they are a big part of it.”

Class: SophomoreHer favorite aspect: “Seeing the boys im-prove throughout the season is really cool.”

Emily Unwin

Class: Senior Her favorite aspect: “Spending time with my fellow managers is probably the best thing.”

Lyndsea Seril

Class: SeniorHer favorite aspect: “Being a part of our school’s wrestling family and winning are both great.”

Rachael Blaz

Boys basketball plays Middleburg at 2:15 p.m. This is the first game of

the Lake Braddock invitational that extends to the three days folllowing, ending Dec. 30.

Dec.27—

Wrestling travels to Manhein, Pennsylvania for the Manheim PA

Tour Dec. 29- Dec. 30.

Dec.29—

Upcoming Events

Gymnastics competes at West Potomac at 6:30 p.m. The team will face

West Potomac, Langley, Edison, Thomas Jeffer-son and Fairfax.

Jan. 3 —

Boys and girls swim and dive compete against Chantilly at Cub Run

from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Jan. 7 —

Seril says determination and hard work is number one priority for her, fellow managers

BY MARY MCGRATHStaff Writer

Students finds love in running

Rain pours down on cold Pitts-burgh concrete. A gunshot pierces the near silence of the morning, as hundreds of runners prepare them-selves for a long, arduous journey; a thirteen mile run across unforgiv-ing landscape, a true test of human endurance. Among these brave men and women is junior Rachel Mur-phy.

“I ran with the Hal Higdon run-ning program” said Murphy. Over a course of twelve weeks, Murphy ran a set number of daily miles, in-terspersed with strength and speed training. After her success with her first half marathon, Murphy decided she would train on her own for her second.

“It’s more fulfilling to train on your own,” said Murphy. The feeling you get knowing you accomplished this [the half marathon] on your own is more satisfying than when you train with a team, Murphy con-tinued. Murphy quit the school’s Track and Field team to train.

The race itself was held under less then pleasant conditions, ac-cording to Murphy. “The weather sucked, and it smelled horrible,” said Murphy. Despite these conditions, Murphy came in first in her age group, and accomplished her before-set goal of running all of the miles, instead of slowing down to a walk.

“It [finishing the race] was re-

ally important to me. Many people didn’t think I could do it, and it felt really good,” said Murphy. She went on to note the low likelihood of hearing about a high school student finishing a half marathon.

Following in her footsteps, thought not purposely, is sopho-more Jessica Piatt, a marathon hope-ful who is currently in the middle of training.

Getting ready for a race takes a lot of commitment, Piatt said. Most runners start their training for mara-thons at least 18 weeks before the race.

“Training for a marathon takes time. I believe that the benefits and rewards are worth the effort you put into it,” mother Cynthia Piatt said. “There is a sense of accom-plishment when you cross the fin-ish line regardless of the time on the clock.”

“I haven’t ever actually run a marathon. The longest race I’ve ran in was 8 miles. It took me an hour and eight minutes to finish,” Piatt said.

Running commitment results in time away from friends and fam-ily when training. During training, runners usually spend hours a day exercising, on the week days and on the weekends.

“The hardest thing I do when I train is spend time away from my family, it takes a lot of time to put in a long run,” Cynthia said.

Although some time is spent away from family, running is some-thing that Jessica really enjoys.

“People have tempted me to quit running, but I don’t,” Jessica said. When the gun is shot at the start line, so much adrenaline is

pumping through my body. My own heartbeat overpowers my thoughts.”

Piatt plays other sports, such as soccer, that helps her train and stay in shape for the race.

“Every sport I play allows me to better myself,” she said.

Whether or not it is 26.2 miles, or just a race, the training is hard and requires commitment.

Jessica’s family is very passion-

ate about running and have run in many races, including marathons, the inspiration behind Jessica’s run-ning, she said.

Right now, Jessica is not train-ing for a specific marathon, and may run in a marathon someday. The training she does at home and for cross country is helping by prepar-ing her to run in one. It requires her total commitment.

Junior Jessica Piatt runs at the Oakland Invitational Sep. 25. Piatt is a member of the cross-country and track team and said she uses this training in hopes of one day competing in a marathon like junior Rachel Murphy.

Junior Rachel Murphy runs half marathon, Jessica Piatt hopes to follow in her footsteps

Reprinted with permission from Brett Montague

Junior Ansel Borhauer competes in the long jump event at the PR Holiday Invitational Dec. 18 in Landover, Md. He finished seventeenth out of fourty-eight competitors, jumping eighteen feet and eight and a half inches. “I felt I did well. On the first meet I usually get seventeen feet, but this time I jumped above eighteen feet, which is better than usual,” Borhauer said.

Photo by Jacob Beil

Wrestling managers participate in every aspect of the team aside from the competition. They attend every practice as well as clean and scrub the team’s mats, control the clock and keep statistics during matches, and hold the team’s medical supplies.

“We really appreciate how hard they work for the team—they are a big part of it,” assistant coach Andrew Foster said.

Spotlight onManagers

All-Met

VolleyballSenior Susie Murach named All—Met for the

second year in a row. She is an outside hitter for our school’s varsity team.. Murach plans to attend Wingate University in the fall with a full—ride volleyball scholarship.

Football

Senior defensive back Jared Velasquez named first team All—Met for football defense. He made the all—region team for offense, defense and spe-cial teams. He is a running back for our school’s varsity team who had 72 tackles, three intercep-tions and two forced fumbles this season. Velas-quez averaged 40 yards per kick return with two scores, 1,340 yards rushing yards, and 20 touch-downs, as well.

Murach, Velasquez named 2010 All-Met Fall team

—MOLLIE BERNER

Photos by Mollie Berner

—MOLLIE BERNER

SportS 15December 22, 2010Valor Dictus

BYHANNAH BUNTINGStaff Writer

The horse races down the field as freshman polo player Wyatt Harlow finishes the game’s last five seconds. He scores the winning goal and his heart pounds with adrenaline.

Harlow, nominated for Sports Il-lustrated’s Young Athlete of the Year, continues his passion on a regular basis, practicing at home and at scrimmages.

The Harlow family has been involved with equine polo for a long time. Wy-att’s grandfather sparked his interest in polo when Wyatt was in sixth grade, he said. The family has enough property in Clifton to house their horses that they just transport them to other places for scrimmages.

“It’s expensive, and takes up a lot of time every day… [but] we have a guy who works for us and takes care of [the horses]— and my family helps, too,” Harlow said.

Though it takes time, it’s worth it to Harlow because it is an activity he can see himself continuing for a long time, he said.

“I like the contact, the hitting, and the speed of the game,” Harlow said, adding “you can get scholarships or get rich if you’re really good.”

Polo is a game with two teams and three to four players each. They score points by using mallets to drive a wood-en ball through the opponents’ goal. Many of the rules revolve around safety concerns with the horses, Harlow said.

Average practices consist of scrim-maging, he said, because it is difficult to do drills. In the morning, players get the horses up and feed them. They each bring their own horses to the scrimmag-es or rent them. They switch the horses off every quarter because they get tired. And afterwards they wash them off.

Though not your average afterschool activity, Harlow continues to play and impress those who know him well and those who are just seeing him play for the first time.

Laura Linfoot, Great Meadows Polo Club manager, had nothing but good things to say about Wyatt.

“He’s definitely an asset… he stands out on the field, not just because he’s younger but because he’s really very tal-ented,” Linfoot said.

Also making him stand out is his grown-up personality.

“He’s quiet, which is nice. Lots of younger players will yell, but he plays like an adult,” Linfoot said.

Though his personality is calm and collected, it doesn’t stop Wyatt from be-ing forward and active while playing.

“He’s riding more confidently and ag-gressively… he’s improved a lot,” Linfoot said.

Polo is a worldwide sport, and Wy-att’s involvement has sent him on trips to places like Florida and Jamaica. How-ever, it’s not all glamorous.

Travis Worsham, Wyatt’s grandfa-ther, was responsible for getting Harlow interested in polo.

“Lots of people think it’s a gentle-men’s sport, but there’s a lot more to it. There’s a lot of speed, and [horses] are big animals—so it’s definitely a rough sport,” Worsham said.

Wyatt’s mother, Sherry Harlow, spoke from a mother’s point of view, say-ing the sport is dangerous but she loves it; even if it requires consistent dedica-

Photo courtesy of Sherry Harlow

tion. “It’s not like putting your cleats on

and stepping on the field. You have to load up the horses, tack all of them up, and it’s very time consuming,” Sherry Harlow said.

Though there’s a lot of work, the

Freshman follows grandfather’s footsteps, plays polo

Harlow shines at unusual hobby

family argues that it is all worth it. “The adrenaline really gets you go-

ing… once you play polo, there’s just no other sport,” Worsham said.

Freshman Matt Freer has been Harlow’s friend since kindergarten, and is always rooting for Harlow to

succeed in his sport.“[My first reaction] was like

‘wow!’ because I’d never even heard of it before,” Freer said. “He loves it, and I love seeing him play because he’s really good and might even go professional one day.”

Harlow plays polo at equestrian clubs around the area— Freshman Wyatt Harlow was introduced to polo by his grandfather and “stands out on the field, not just because he’s younger but because he’s really very talented,” said Laura Linfoot, polo club manager.

SportS16 December 22, 2010Valor Dictus

BY NIKKI ROBINSONStaff Writer

BY LINDSAY WEBBStaff Writer

Junior girls rule the court

The girls varsity basketball team improved their record to 5-2 at Friday night’s winning game against Lake Braddock. Four out of the five starting players were juniors.

Junior forward Christie Michals believes the team played a weak second quar-ter and used their strong team chemistry to make a comeback after the half, she said.

“At the half, we all really got together and it all just clicked,” junior Point guard Megan Green said. “How we were playing wasn’t good enough and we all agreed none of us wanted to lose to Lake Braddock.”

Michals believes the team chemistry helps during games, especially when fans of the op-posing team cheer against them, she said.

“It helps us stay focused. If someone is uncomfortable we can read each other and help each other calm down. We also know how to get each other pumped up”, Michals said.

Green and Michals said the team benefits not only from their strong team chemistry but also from the junior girls’ high level of skill.

“Megan can pass really well and Brigitte can run, so combined they have really good fast breaks,” Mi-chals said.

Most of the juniors have grown up playing together and some play on the same club teams, Green said, so she believes they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses on the court.

Two of the starting juniors, Green and center Brigitte Kuter, have been playing on the same club team since sixth grade, and were both on varsity as freshmen.

“All of us have been playing with each other for a long time so we know each other’s style of play and it’s a good advantage,” junior shooting guard Tyler Hansen said.

Coach T.J Dade also attributed the team’s success to the juniors’ dedication during the offseason.

“You can really tell who has put the time in the offseason,” Dade said. “Two of our [ju-niors], Tyler Hansen and Christie Michals, work really hard and you can see that they now bring a higher level of skill,” Dade said.

Juniors Green and Kuter believe they have

an advantage since they have two seasons left to improve as a team.

Green said, “It’s a great advantage to have two seasons left because some of the juniors are still learning the speed of the game and grow-ing and we will be even better next year.”

Boys basketball beats last year’s record in four games

The boys varsity basketball team is starting off their season with a 6-1 record, an improvement from last year’s record of 2-18.

The most recent 83-79 win against Lake Brad-dock may reflect the positive changes that have taken place in the program this year. The team did not yield a significant crowd due to an unsuccessful record last year.

As the swarm of blue made its way into Harry M. Smith field house, a sense of anticipation and excitement hit. Chants filled the gym and propelled the team to an emotional victory after the Bruins eliminated the football team in the regional semi-final in November.

Most high school basketball games end with ei-ther team either scoring points in the 50s or the 60s. The team has been scoring at least an average of 80 points each game, said Nelson.

“I know that we can win by scoring points,” Nelson said, “but we need to improve our defense.”

Rice agreed.“We just have to keep up the winning streak

into district play,” he said. Nelson hopes the team’s defense will improve as the season goes on. He wants them to be a tough team for opponents to

guard, he said. One of the biggest keys to the team’s success is that players can work well together, Nel-son said.

He said, “I think that we can accomplish these goals since we have such a strong team this year.”

“This year is different from last year because we have strong senior leadership,” coach Brian Nelson said. “Also, we have a lot more players that can actu-ally play so we do not have the same people playing in each game.”

This season, players have a better attitude when approaching each game, Nelson said. They also get excited for each other’s successes and they know work well together as a team, he added.

“The team’s chemistry with each other I think has made all the difference,” senior Dan Lee said. “We all play well together, which helps with going into each game.”

Senior captain Michael Rice attributed their success to the senior leadership and their desire to beat their opponents.

“I think we’re all playing better because we’re seniors and we have more leadership and we want to win more,” Rice said.

According to junior Rob Pillow, the team’s at-titude change has been a big factor in their success. “We’re more confident and play better together and take better notice of what our coach is saying to us,” Pillow said.

To prepare for the season, most of the players played on summer and fall basketball teams, said Lee. The team now has much more confidence heading into every game, he added.

“We make sure we’re getting better every day so that we can reach our goal,” Nelson said.

The team hopes to qualify for the regional tour-

nament, since they have not made it to the regional tournament in about four years.

“I hope that we keep the winning streak up,” Lee said.

Chase Bailey and Andrew Miller contributed to this article

Rams sink the Saxons 86-80—Rob Pillow added to the score with a strong offensive effort against Langley on Dec 7. Pillow finished the game with six points. “I wasn’t very focused, but I made the shots when I needed to,” Pillow said.

Junior class plays a large role on girls varsity basketball

Basketball2009-2010Photo courtesy of sportsphotos4u.com

Basketball2010-2011

Megan Green Tyler Hansen Christie Michals Noelle Martinson Caroline Parris Brigitte Kuter Cassie Wood Jenna Lamb — Point Guard/ Shooting Guard— 3 years on varsity— 62 points scored— 16 rebounds total

— Point Guard/ Shooting Guard— 2 years on varsity— 77 points scored— 19 rebounds total

— Forward/ Center— 3 years on varsity— Injured all season*

— Shooting Guard— 2 years on varsity— 2 points scored— 4 rebounds total

— Shooting Guard— 2 years on varsity— 3 points scored— 2 rebounds total

— Forward/ Center— 3 years on varsity— 43 points scored— 32 rebounds total

— Forward— 1 year on varsity— 1 point scored— 3 rebounds total

— Forward— 2 years on varsity— 20 points scored— 19 total rebounds

Record after first seven games: 5-1

Record after first seven games: 2-5

With a 2-18 record last season, boys are off to an explosive 6-1 start

Loss vs Woodson 67-78

Win vs McLean 74-59

Win vs Lake Braddock 83-79Win vs West Springfield 85-70Win vs Fairfax 96-68

Win vs Langley 86-80

Win vs Yorktown 72-65

Loss vs Yorktown 45-61

Loss vs Mountain View 56-83

Loss vs Lake Braddock 52-53Win vs West Springfield 65-60Win vs Fairfax 80-69

Loss vs Langley 47-63

Loss vs South County 67-87

Comparing Seasons Looking back on last year’s 2-15 season, there are already noticeable differences in the team’s performances.

Photos by Lindsay Webb

Photo by Lindsay Webb

”MeganGreen

“It’s a great advantage to have two seasons left because some of the juniors are still learning the speed of the game and growing.

Junior