Volume 58 Issue 1 6400 Rock Spring Drive, Bethesda, MD 20814October 8, 2012

Inside, Check Out:

Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The man behind the lensBy Sari AmielBy Melissa Wainaina

Montgomery County youth impacts Democratic National

Convention

Jazz Ensemble, although it is an extracurricular team in most schools, is an honors-level class at WJ with 18 students. The band consists of saxo-phones, trombones, trumpets, guitar, piano, bass and drums. While some students play multiple instruments, each has a distinct role. “In Jazz Band, you have your part,” said senior Molly Narkis. “It’s more individual so everyone is sort of accountable [for] their own [performance] and everyone plays a big part.” Narkis, who plays the alto saxophone, also studied the clarinet. She has been playing the saxophone for eight years. Narkis joined Jazz En-semble, commonly referred to as Jazz Band, in her sophomore year, the first year that WJ com-peted in the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival.

“Jazz” continued on page 12

By Izzy Salant

Before the major event of the Democratic Na-tional Convention (DNC) began in Charlotte, N.C., the nation’s youth held a conference to ex-press their ideas and voice their opinions. One of the conference speakers was Derek Mong, recent graduate of Duke University and a Montgomery County Public Schools and Winston Churchill High School alumnus. Mong spoke about his life and his involvement in politics at a press conference, held by College Democrats of America. Its speakers included Tori Taylor, Youth Engagement Coordinator of the Democratic National Convention Committee and Rod Snyder, the National President of Young Democrats of America. Mong also was a featured speaker in the confer-ence, which was held before the DNC began.Fol-lowing his high school graduation in 2008, Mong graduated from Duke University in 2012. Mong started getting involved in politics because it is a big deal in Maryland and it just spoke to him.

Gabe Jacobsohn is not just an average senior; he is the man behind the ideas of major WJ film productions. Jacobsohn’s interest in film production dates back to middle school, where he was involved with the theater crew and the production pro-cess of stage. Then he worked on sound production, which relates to some of the things he is in charge of at WJ.

Jacobsohn’s middle school success continued at WJ where he has directed many films, including “Every 15 Minutes,” this and last year’s homecoming videos and other films. Jacobsohn is also involved in some clubs such as WJ S*T*A*G*E crew, and has been the trea-surer of the Theater Honor Society for two years. Jacobsohn has been involved with technology and production since elementary school. “I’ve always been behind the scenes,” said Jacobsohn. “In first grade I remember [teachers] always had me go around and turn all the computers off at the end of the day. That was my thing. Then it always kept going from there.” Jacobsohn’s passion for stage and technical pro-duction followed him through high school and later became a gateway for his interest in film and movie-making.

“Behind the Lens” continued on page 13

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Salant

State delegates and members of the press congregate in the stands to listen to various speakers at the Democratic National Convention.

Photo by Caroline Steel

Gabe Jacobsohn films for this year’s homecoming movie.

Press, politics and a place to be heard

“Convention” continued on page 3

Jazz band starts year on high note

Sports, pgs. 17-20

Feature, pgs. 9-12 Arts & Ent.,

pgs. 13-16Editorial,pgs. 5-8

2 OCTOBER 8, 2012NEWS Pitchthe

LETTER FROM THE EDITORSFROM

Sincerely,Print Editors-in-Chief Sari Amiel and

Phillip Resnick,and Online Editor-in-Chief Megan Chun

Welcome back to WJ! The Pitch has lots of exciting plans for the 2012-2013 school year ,starting with this issue. One of our main goals for the paper is to cover national stories while still relating them back to the WJ community, which can be seen in this issue’s coverage of the upcoming presi-dential election. Through news articles, we are covering student voters and election volun-teers, as well as a staff member’s first-person account of the Democratic National Conven-tion. We are also kicking off homecoming week with a fashion preview and an interview with the homecoming movie’s director, senior Gabe Jacobsohn. Finally, we introduce WJ’s new staff members and include some helpful tips for freshmen. The paper is trying to utilize social media more frequently to cover breaking school news, so be sure to “like” The Pitch on Face-book and follow us on twitter @TheWJPitch. And as always, make sure you keep up on WJ news at wjpitch.com!

wjpitch.comFollow the WJ Pitch on Twitter! @TheWJPitch

Opinion Blast:Presidential economic plans

On Nov. 6, Americans will go to the polls to elect a new president. The candidates are Democratic incum-bent Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. The candidates provide drastically different plans for the country moving forward. Obama’s plan is to extend what he has been do-ing for his first four years in office, pumping money into the economy in order to strengthen the middle class. Romney’s proposal involves cutting the budget and implementing tax cuts on the country’s wealthiest people. To me, Obama’s plan is the way forward. Giving the middle class tax cuts and putting more money in their pockets allows them to spend more, which strengthens the economy. In turn, this benefits businesses by allowing them to bring in more income, which then allows them to hire more people. A top-down approach, which is almost certainly the economic plan Romney will have, says that providing more money to the country’s richest will allow them to “trickle down” their excess profits to the middle class and below. In theory this sounds very good, but it doesn’t include a vital aspect, human nature. People are inherently greedy and, to be honest, the rich tend to be even greedier. These profits might just end up in offshore accounts and won’t necessarily be re-invested into the economy whereas the middle class needs to spend. It’s no sur-prise then that, over the last 10 years, middle class pay has plummeted while the top one percent’s income has skyrocketed...

By Dashel Lewis, Online Editorial Editor

To see full articles and much more, visit www.wjpitch.com

WJ S*T*A*G*E begins the school year with a dose of humor in

“Noises Off”

Following the debuts of The Diary of Anne Frank and Les Miserables last year, both theatric works with heavy undertones, WJ S*T*A*G*E is determined to light-en the mood with the comedy Noises Off this fall. Auditions took place during the second week of school, and saw close to 60 students come to try out for nine roles. Callbacks were the day after initial au-ditions and the final cast list was posted the weekend of Sept. 8-9. Thirteen people in total were cast; four of those roles were double-cast. Senior Felice Amsellem has played leading charac-ters in four of her five previous WJ productions, most recently the role of Anne in The Diary of Anne Frank, and Cosette in Les Miserables. This will be her sixth show at WJ...

By Megan Chun, Online Editor-in-Chief

Video by Hope Marshall

Dear Pitch Readers,

Junior Coty Novak discusses his excitement for the upcoming play. Visit wjpitch.com for the full video!

3OCTOBER 8, 2012 NEWSPitchthe

Going local: National politics hit close to homeNovember 6:

By Audrey Marek

A group of people called election judges assist in the voting process by linking the Montgomery County Board of Elections to the public. Judges work both before the election with early vot-ing and on Nov. 6, the day of the presi-dential election. Several WJ students currently hold positions as judges in the upcoming election. One of these students is senior Kevin Cotter, who has been volunteer-ing since 2008 as an election aid and is now going to be a judge for this election. Election aids work fewer hours and have fewer responsibilities than judges. Cotter is motivated both by the Stu-dent Service Learning (SSL) hours and by his interest in the process. He said it is a good experience and a great way to be prepared to vote when of age. “It’s much more hands-on than any of the classes I’ve taken,” said Cotter. “It’s nice to try.” With the approval of the County Board of Elections, any student over the age of 17 is eligible to become a judge. Other requirements include being registered to vote, being ca-pable of working a 15-hour day, being willing to work outside home precincts and being able to speak, read and write in English. The U.S. also needs bilingual elec-tion judges, so students fluent in two or more languages are ideal for this posi-tion. Though work as an aid is not paid, election judges receive a salary for at-tending training and working on elec-tion day. Salaries range from 50 to 250 dollars. There is value in learning about the democratic process through helping with the inner workings of the election.

Aids assist the public in exercising its right to vote, whilst gain political expe-rience. The presidential election is by far the most publicized political event in the nation, and it provides a great deal of exposure for volunteers. For students under 17, there are other ways of participating that do not require any choice of candidate or party. These options are a good way to preface be-coming a judge and furthering political involvement of any sort. One option is the Future Vote Program from the Montgomery County Board of Elec-tions. Started in 2004, the program allows students to volunteer as election aids with a one-hour training session for each election. Cotter was a part of this program before he started working as an election judge. The trainees learn to assist in the set-up of polling places and help the voters to navigate through the poll place. The volunteers may also be

asked to help people who are in wheel-chairs to vote. Sophomore Keith Cotter, Kevin’s broth-er, has also been volun-teering since

the 2008 election. He hopes to someday become a judge as well. For the time being, Keith Cotter is an election aid, a position that can be held at a younger age. Like his brother, he is also involved in order to earn SSL hours, but wants to represent his party as well. Though no party affiliation is required for the position, and the activi-ties are impartial, it is still a way to sup-port personal political views. “I want to show that young people are helping out, and that we are involved in the community,” said Keith Cotter. Both election judges and volun-teer positions have many benefits, and

provide a way to help the public vote. The positions al-low students to learn about the system of voting in the U.S. even before they are eligible.

“I want to show that young people are helping

out, and that we are in-volved in the community.”

Students volunteer as judges, aids in upcoming election

By Izzy Salant “Living in Montgomery County helped a lot because there were a lot of local issues to write about,” he said. “I got involved very, very early on.” He added that one of his biggest de-ciding moments, which helped him get into politics, was when he took a class taught by Maryland Delegate Matthew Schilling. Taylor kicked it off by welcoming ev-eryone and introducing herself and the rest of the speakers. Then each speaker described what his or her organization did and how it was important that youth get involved in the elections. Each orga-nization had different goals on how to make this possible. Snyder said his goal was to enhance the electoral vote of youth under age 30. “President Obama has been with the youth since he stepped into office,” he said. When it was Mong’s turn to speak, he talked about how his background influenced him and his involvement in politics. “For a while, I was part of an Asian-

Pacific Islander group,” he said. “They backed me up and helped me get anoth-er stance on my role in politics.” Every four years, the DNC is held in a different city, but it attracts poli-ticians, commentators and spectators from all over the country. Many Demo-cratic delegates from all the states and U.S. territories gather there to support presidential and vice presidential nomi-nees. Republican delegates attend the Republican National Convention to do the same. This event is also largely cov-ered by the press as many news organi-zations, large and small, gather at these conventions. As well as being a melting pot for delegates and press, the DNC is used to announce the official nominees. Since President Obama and Vice President Biden are running for re-election, they were already nominated as candidates for 2012. Also, since they are already in office, the Secret Service went took extreme security measures to protect the president. These included having security checkpoints where they open the hoods of cars to see if there are bombs, using dogs to detect bombs and toxic chemicals and managing personal screenings. There were also many protests, in-cluding signs depicting aborted fetuses, marches against Obama, trucks driving by with many harsh opinions, such as, “Islam is a false religion” and “No same sex.” There were also many signs criti-cizing Obama’s campaign and America today. Through all the excitement and pro-tests of the convention, Mong was still able to send a message to the youth of America. “Get involved,” he said. “The country depends on youth, just like us.”

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Salant

Montgomery County youth impacts Democratic National Convention

Photo by Audrey MarekBrothers Kevin and Keith Cotter plan to volunteer as an election judge and election aid, respectively, in the upcoming presidential election.

“Convention” continued from page 1

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Salant

Attendees at the Democratic National Convention surrounded the stage, waiting for the ar-rival of the next speaker.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Salant

Political banners were interspersed throughout the building at the conven-tion.

4 OCTOBER 8, 2012NEWS Pitchthe

Tech Troubles: New computer system poses problemsBy Claudia Nguyen

This year’s homecoming film will feature the largest number of student and teacher participants in WJ history, according to SGA President Chris Mc-Curry. Students will witness the culmi-nation of ideas, hard work and massive student turnout which is to be featured on screens across the school. Senior SGA officers McCurry, Ty Glover, Andrew Matus and Barry Man-gold have labored since late last spring to bring WJ a homecoming video that all can enjoy. This Friday, Oct. 12, the movie will premiere during the double third period in classrooms throughout the school. Teachers and students will consistent-ly make appearances in this year’s rendi-tion. Ultimately, McCurry’s goal from the beginning was to include as many students as possible. SGA sponsor Nico Atencio noted that, besides including many students, the film will also cater to a large number of students. He said there will be something in it for every-one. “For the people that want to laugh, for the people that want to cry – whatever you want, it’ll be there,” said Atencio. This year, there were a variety of ways in which students were able to partici-pate in the film. On Friday, Sept. 14, students were invited to show up to an enormous fight scene in what the SGA later called “the biggest battle in home-coming movie history,” referring to the

nearly 200 volunteers who engaged in the hour-long campaign. But students are not the only focus this year. McCurry confirmed that the offi-cers’ intention was to also include teach-ers from a wide array of departments. “We have more faculty [and] more students in this film than there have ever been in homecoming movies,” he said. The notion of including WJ staff and students was a presence in the creative process from the beginning. Conse-quently, after spending an estimated 225 hours brainstorming, scripting and filming the video, Glover hopes students will be able to appreciate their efforts. “I’ve aged terribly because of this mov-ie,” Glover said. “I feel like I’ve lost most of my youth,” Matus added. Meanwhile, Atencio guessed he spent

30 hours of his own time in assisting the SGA and providing them with advice. This year’s movie will follow a bit of a different path than prior films. Instead of parodying a single hit blockbuster such as last year’s “Hot Tub Time Machine,” the student officers intend to combine several choice plot lines, drawing from movies such as “The Avengers” and “The Hunger Games.” Nevertheless, multiple outside movie references, as opposed to themes, will be littered throughout the film. McCurry joked that anyone who can name all those references will earn a prize. The storyline of the homecoming movie has not yet been released. Ru-mors have been circulating, of course, but they do not move past guesses and whispers. Accordingly, to find out, you will have to wait until it premiers this

Here’s looking at you, WJ

Friday. Until then, all McCurry has to say is, “I hope you’re hungry.”

By Caroline Steel

Photo by Caroline Steel

Senior Gabe Jacobsohn films SGA Treasurer Barry Mangold, Vice President Ty Glover and President Chris McCurry for one of the scenes in the homecoming video.

Photo by Wahid IshrarStudents work on the computers in room 193, one of the writing labs where the Internet was unable to open on certain computers.

This school year, MCPS decided to implement the new Windows 7 com-puter system across the entire county in

an effort to create a uniform enterprise. The new system has allowed the county to update its software and organize the database, but as with any major systems change, issues have arisen as a result.

Hundreds of students, dozens of teachers featured in upcoming homecoming video

SGA officers strive to include WJ community in filmmaking process

Collin Fotia, WJ’s information tech-nology support specialist, said that moving to Windows 7 has posed some minor challenges with both printing and application software compatibility. “[The media center has] been having some printer issues,” said media special-ist Naomi Gelfand, “but they are quickly getting fixed.” Another issue that has posed challeng-es for students and teachers was diffi-culty opening Internet Explorer on se-lect computers throughout the building. The students and faculty were required to adapt to the temporary issue by shar-ing or switching computers while Fotia made his way around the building to quickly resolve the issue. With the help of information technol-ogy regional support experts, especially Robert Jones of Winston Churchill High School, Fotia has been successful in solving many of the software issues and aiding staff members in getting situ-ated and comfortable using the new op-erating system. “Mr. Robert Jones is a seasoned ex-pert in [information technology] and

has been a key player with the success of enhancing WJ’s system,” said Fotia. A new staff member to WJ, Fotia ar-rived at the beginning of this school year and has already addressed many of the changes that the new MCPS com-puter system has posed. He previously worked at The World Bank Group in Washington, D.C. as information tech-nology support, and said that he is ac-customed to technology issues similar to those he has been encountering at WJ. “I love challenges and welcome new learning opportunities,” said Fotia. “I have embraced every moment as a positive experience and look forward to not only making my transition into WJ a success, but enriching the tech-nology support in WJ as a whole.” Currently, he is responsible for main-taining application software, manag-ing desktop resources and monitoring and supporting all components of the school’s local network, which includes managing computer security for all WJ students and staff.

Photo by Caroline Steel

SGA Treasurer Barry Mangold, Vice Presi-dent Glover and President McCurry suit up in their costumes for the homecoming video.

5OCTOBER 8, 2012 EDITORIALPitchthe

The Presidents People Youth voting could decide the 2012 presidential election

By JJ Henn

Aged 55 or older

Aged 35- 44Aged 25-34

Aged 18-24

73%62.8%

48.5%57.0%

Percentage of eligible, registered voters in each age group who

voted in the 2008 election

Would you be alarmed if I said that you are still unable to directly vote for the president once you are of voting age? It is true; we vote for electors of the Electoral College, people who tend to vote in accordance with their constitu-ents. The number of electors each state has is decided based on the quantity of the state’s senators and representatives. In turn, this means the amount of elec-tors is relatively proportional to the amount of people who are living in the

state. This does not factor in whether or not the population votes. Therefore, it is imperative that you vote, provided you are 18 years of age and registered, in order to ensure that the person elected to the presidency is the one that favors the majority of the population. There is a group of seniors who will be able to vote this year in the presidential election. I encourage all of these seniors to go exercise the right to vote so that our age group is better represented in the upcoming election. Sure, your vote may not be the swing

Montgomery County’s population growth in recent years has created hard choices for public school system lead-ers, who find themselves faced with the prospect of educating the largest stu-dent population in the county’s history. Nearly all MCPS schools – WJ included – and the commu-nities surrounding them will be affect-ed. In short, we’re all going to feel it. Not far from WJ, the White Flint development that includes high-rise apartment buildings will fall within our district, resulting in more students at WJ. According to figures posted on the Mary-land State Data Cen-ter website, Mont-gomery County’s population will jump from 971,777 to 1,141,000 between 2010 and 2030. From the amount of time it will take to get to school on more heavily traveled roads

to issues that touch the very quality of the education we receive, such as class sizes, this will impact the school community in ways both big and small. Principal Jennifer Baker said that the student popula-

tion growth will eventually overwhelm WJ’s existing school facilities that were recently renovated in 2010. Although

such an outcome is several years away, the signs are already here. With the 2,269 students that currently go to WJ, the freshman class is the largest of the four at over 600, while the senior class is the smallest. Additionally, county officials project that student population growth will require an entirely new elementary school that will feed first into Tilden Middle School and then into WJ. In the future, Baker suggests there’s a good chance that WJ students at some point in the future will have to be taught in the infamous portables.

There are examples of WJ staff al-ready being squeezed by tight facilities.

vote that lands your candidate into of-fice, but it gives the politician a more accurate view of his or her electorate. According to the Roper Center ar-chives, in the 2004 presidential elec-tion, the age group of 18-24 made up a mere nine percent of the total vote. This number rose to 18 percent of the total vote when Obama was running for president in 2008. Because our age group of 18-24 does not normally vote as frequently as older age groups do, we give older voters a disproportion-ate amount of influence. Politicians will not act in our interests because they ac-knowledge that our age group does not vote, so we have no bearing on their job security.

Cramming for Space: Students overflow MCPSSome teachers must move from class to class because they have no set classroom of their own. Songtao Shu, WJ’s only Chinese teacher, has been moving from class to class since she first start-ed teaching here. You may have noticed her in the halls with her cart full of sup-plies for her next class. “I just try to arrange this small cart and imagine it’s my classroom,” she said. “I really wish that I could have my own room.” But growth has an up-side, too. Yes, the portables

may be cold in the winter, but a bigger student body means a more diverse stu-dent population with its different cul-tures and personalities. “Growth is not always bad,” said Bak-er. “I think that we have a really vibrant community here at WJ and I love it. The more the merrier.” So the question is this: How do we handle the oversized classes, the crowd-ed hallways or the full parking lots? We have to get ready. Even though there is still time left, administrators need to start planning now in order to get ahead of the issues and successfully prepare the WJ community.

Not being registered isn’t a valid ex-cuse to not go and vote, as it takes only a few minutes to register. For all the stu-dents who are about to go to the DMV to get their permit, register to vote while you are there! It takes less than a minute and will save you the trouble of registering independently when the time comes for you to vote. If we vote, lawmakers and politicians become more aware of the large amount of 18-24 year-olds who are underrepre-sented in this country. Currently, the biggest influence on today’s policymak-ers is the group of voters aged 55 and over, and many policies are being made with those voters in mind. So, WJ se-niors, go out and vote for your future!

By Hope Marshall

MITT ROMNEY. PRESIDENT

PAUL RYAN. VICE PRESIDENT

BARACK OBAMA. PRESIDENT

JOE BIDEN. VICE PRESIDENT

(DEMOCRATIC)

(REPUBLICAN)

ELECTORSFOR PRESIDENT

ANDVICE PRESIDENT

(A vote for the candidates will actually be a vote for their electors)

OFFICIAL BALLOT, GENERAL ELECTIONMONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

1

Aged 45-5467.4%

Top Right: An overflow of students has caused the hallways to be clogged and congested with student traffic.

Bottom Left: The amount of buses needed for MCPS has skyrocketed as more students flow into the Montgomery County.

All photos by Wahid Ishrar

All infographics by Nathaniel Rees

6 OCTOBER 8, 2012EDITORIAL Pitchthe

Q: If you were to vote, who would you vote for and why?

UpBatat

“I would vote for Obama because Romney doesn’t care about women.”

Zoe JansenFreshman

Kai Zlotnitsky Sophomore

Kelly WaychoffJunior

“[I would vote for] Romney because he could do a better job and because he is conservative enough.”

Libby RiceSenior

“I would vote for Obama because I disagree with all of Mitt Romney’s policies.”

“[I would vote for] Obama be-cause Romney doesn’t support the lower and middle class.”

Danya FirestoneSophomore

“I wouldn’t vote because I don’t agree with Obama and Romney is not well-equipped to run this country.”

Samuel PruittJunior

“[I would vote for] Obama because my parents are Democrats and his policies have been working.”

Jamie FitzpatrickSenior

“[I would vote for] Obama because what Romney said in his video was racist.”

Zack SchapiroFreshman

All photos by Wahid Ishrar

November is swiftly approaching, bringing with it a new presidential election season. The Pitch asked you, the stu-

dents of WJ, to weigh in on the topic.

Editors-in-ChiefSari AmielPhillip ResnickMegan Chun*News EditorsClaudia NguyenIzzy Salant*Caroline Steel*Assistant News EditorIzzy Salant

Editorial EditorsNathaniel ReesDashel Lewis*Assistant Editorial Editor Wahid Ishrar

Sports EditorsIan MorrisonBen Resnick*Assistant Sports EditorBen Resnick

THE STAFFArts & Entertainment EditorEmily CosentinoSabrina Clarke*Assistant Arts & Ent. Editor Audrey Marek

The Pitch is published eight times a year by the students of Walter Johnson High School, 6400 Rock Spring Drive, Bethesda, Md. 20814. Advertising and subscription rates are available by visiting www.wjpitch.com. Editorial opinions represent those of The Pitch staff and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff, faculty or student body. We welcome letters, ar-ticles, photographs and artwork, to be e-mailed to thepitch@walterjohnson.com. The Pitch is an award-winning paper that works towards providing the student body with accurate, as

well as credible, information.

Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medalist 2009

American Scholastic Press Association First Place 2010-2012

Maryland HS Journalism Award Best Newspaper Overall Third Place 2009-2010

*Online Editors

Photo EditorsEmily CosentinoWahid Ishrar

Head Staff WriterAnders NorbergPhotographers

Hope MarshallSarah Schecker

Copy EditorsSari AmielMegan Chun

AdvisorSylvie Ellen

B u s i n e s s / P R Manager Claudia Nguyen

Feature Editors Ellie JorlingSabrina Clarke*

Staff WritersChristine BersabalJJ HennGrace LeslauMichael LumbukuMelissa Wainaina

“I would vote for Obama because he is the incumbent.”

CartoonistCaroline Steel

All photos by Wahid Ishrar

As the 2012-2013 school year begins at WJ, students and staff are faced with a major change in the lunch policy. The declaration of lunch as a separate period, namely, period five, creates un-necessary confusion for all the students. All juniors and seniors, who are accus-tomed to calling the current “period six” “period five,” will take some time to adjust to the new schedule. The un-derclassmen, who look up to the upperc la s smen to lead their high school lives, will be confused when they hear lunch being called “period five” by the admin-istration and “lunch” by their role mod-els. Even teachers that have been teach-ing here for years will be confused over whether to call their afternoon classes “period five” or “period six” and so on. An even bigger change that has oc-curred is the policy that states that students will not be able to eat on the second and ground floors of the school unless they are with teachers in their rooms. The only floor available for eat-ing on is the first floor, which includes the cafeteria and student commons as large student accommodations during

7OCTOBER 8, 2012 EDITORIALPitchthe

The first floor is extremely crowded, with students trying to find a spot to eat lunch amidst an overflow of students.

Photos by Wahid Ishrar

Principal Jennifer Baker ensures lunch remains strictly on the first floor.

Point Counterpoint

Message Meganit can also take a toll on a person. I feel so weighed down with work, but, more importantly, with ex-pectations. Montgomery County is so competitive, and I feel like it is all about being better than the person sitting next me. My par-ents expect so much from me, and I expect so much from myself. I want to succeed in my athletics and academics here at WJ, but I also want to maintain a social life. How do I find balance?

Sincerely,Seriously and Severely in Need

lunch. However, as winter approaches, more and more students will migrate indoors instead of using the open lunch privi-lege, which will create an overflow of students on the first floor. The noise levels will be up and hallway congestion will inevitably become a major issue. Also, the students that are taking make-up tests during lunch on the first

floor may have a hard time con-centrating due to the increased noise levels. Principal Jen-nifer Baker has not yet looked into whether or not the teachers taking make-up

tests are being disturbed by the noise levels, but has stated that she will do so soon. Another group that has not been considered are people that want to eat their lunch in quiet spaces. Since the lunch spaces have been reduced by two-thirds, there is virtually no space left to eat your lunch without loud groups be-ing inches away, unless you are accom-panied by a teacher. Overall, the changes in the lunch policy confuse some, disturb some and leave others wanting peace and quiet.

Dear Megan, High school can be the greatest place in the world, what with my friends and all the cute guys, but

Dear Seriously and Severely in Need, Wow, I can definitely relate to all of the points you made. One of the most important parts of high school is learn-ing how to strike the perfect balance between your academics and extracur-riculars, such as sports. The first thing you need to do is pri-oritize. Make a list of goals you have, whether the are for the quarter, semester or year. Do you want to get all As and Bs? Do you have specific sports goals? Do you want to spend time with a new group of friends? Whatever you plan to do,

it's important to get them all down on paper. This will help you stay organized and on top of things. Right now it sounds like you're trying to divide your time between academic, social and athletic commitments, which probably isn't working too well, because you're writing to me. Focus on one thing and try to get that done. You'll feel better about your-self when you accomplish that goal, and then you can move on to the next. Lastly, addressing your concerns of academic pressure from the county...

New Lunch Policy:Food for thought

The top floor is now completely deserted during lunch, as students are banned from eating lunch on the second or ground floors.

...For further reading, go to wjpitch.online....

By Anders Norberg By Wahid Ishrar

The recent changes to the lunch policy include lunch being named fifth period and students being limited to the first floor. Many wonder what caused these strange adjustments. According to Principal Jennifer Baker, this change occurred because in previ-ous years, after lunch, the halls were often filled with garbage. Building ser-vices fre-quently had to clean up trash on all three floors. For us stu-dents it seems unfair, but the new policy makes building servic-es workers’ jobs easier and allows for cleaner halls. That being said, students can actually eat on any of the three floors as long as they are with a teacher in their room. Some argue the first floor will be overcrowded when winter rolls around and more students stay in instead of go-ing out. The truth is that the first floor can actually hold all students comfort-ably within the halls. There are a lot of different areas around the first floor to eat and hang out in, and even with all of the student body eating on the first floor, there won’t be a cluttering prob-

lem. Another common complaint is lunch becoming fifth period, but this change wasn’t instigated by Baker or the school. MCPS decided that all schools needed to make lunch a period. This is because not all schools have one lunch period for all grades and therefore give lunch a period to keep everything organized.

They wanted this to be uni-form county-wide. This also matches teach-ers’ schedules, which are list-ed as eight pe-riods a day. One prob-lem that

caused this change is the only thing pre-venting the system from returning to its former glory. Students left their trash all over the ground last year with no re-gard for who had to clean it up. If stu-dents were to clean up their own trash then there would be no issue at all and we could eat wherever we wanted to. So unless we, the students of WJ, actually clean up our own messes, we will not get our old lunch system back. Baker said she is not opposed to changing the new policy, but for such a change to be made, students need to start taking re-sponsibility for their trash.

Following the success of 2012 graduate Ali Jawetz's advice column "Ask Ali," current Online Editor-in-Chief Megan Chun will also serve to tackle your life problems. Please email inquiries or suggestions to thepitch@walterjohnson.com. Please specify in the title that your submission is for "Message Megan." Also, be aware that your question may also be printed in the monthly version of The Pitch.

Step up to the plate, clean up your mess Eating away at our freedom

Cartoon by Caroline SteelCartoon by Caroline Steel

OCTOBER 8, 2012 EditorialPitchthe

Picture this: It’s July 20, 2012, and you are about to see the midnight pre-miere of “The Dark Knight Rises.” You enter the theater, ecstatic for the epic climax of the Batman franchise, and the movie begins. Thirty minutes later, and your life has been upended into chaos and tragedy. Everyone in the theater is screaming and crying, and your friend is shot and killed next to you by a masked gunman.

This is the catastrophe that oc-curred in theater nine in Aurora, Colo. Fifty-eight people were injured, 12 were killed and all were affected psychologi-cally. It was the worst mass shooting since Columbine, and thus reinvigo-rated the fight for stricter gun laws. But as families mourned in Colorado, and waited anxiously in hospitals for news concerning their injured loved ones, ar-ticles across the nation were published explaining that gun laws were not going to be changed because of the incident. Why? Because many Americans place a lot of value on their Second Amend-ment right to bear arms. Hunting and guns are an integral part of American culture, so politicians are scared to ad-dress the issue and risk offending many Americans who enjoy guns. But when the constitution was writ-ten, the founding fathers did not envi-

sion a future with automatic machine guns and semi- automatic rifles. They did not know that guns would be built with the sole purpose of killing other humans. Americans should have the right to bear arms, but only arms for hunting or self- defense. Not guns that have 100 round drums that can kill large groups of people in seconds.

The alleged shooter in the Aurora shoot-ing came to the theater with

two .40-caliber Glock handguns, a Remington 12-gauge shotgun and a Smith & Wesson AR-15 assault-style rifle. According to NBC news, “the weapons were legally bought from local stores of two national chains — Gander Mountain Guns and Bass Pro Shop — beginning in May.” Yes, the Second Amendment protects a citizen’s right to own a gun, but it does not prevent reasonable regulation of guns for public safety. Yes, mass kill-ings occur in societies with stronger gun laws, but not with such regular-ity — and not against the backdrop of daily gun violence that distinguishes the United States. And yes, there will always be psychopaths like James Hol-mes who want to kill other human be-ings, who succumb to fits of rage. But if these psychopaths can’t get their hands on semi-automatic weapons, there will be far fewer mass shootings in the U.S.

“I look so fat in this dress.” This saying is commonplace in today’s society, where tight, body-con outfits are the norm and clothing companies seem to be using less and less material to make their clothes. Crop tops and booty shorts are no big deal to teen-agers today. In fact, they’re almost ex-pected to be wardrobe staples. Though provocative, the skimpy and reveal-ing clothes by themselves are not an issue. However, these clothes have led to the dis-tortion of the body image that young adults, particu-larly females, hold close to their hearts during their teen years. Don’t get me wrong: I think show-ing some skin is great. I’ll be the first to confess my love for short-shorts and tiny skirts and dresses that would probably make your middle school ad-ministration wince. However, in an era where image and peer acceptance is of the utmost importance, these promis-cuous clothes often torment their own-ers. In fact, girls may not even like these clothes; they may only purchase them because they feel compelled to do so, in order to “fit in.” But buying clothes that aren’t physically the best fit can lead to a lowered self-esteem, which just fos-ters the cycle of negativity. Our peers can also be especially cruel: how many times have you overheard a conversa-tion degrading someone else? However, we’re probably our own worst critics. We’ve all seen the self-degrading comments on Facebook. We don’t say these remarks like we mean them, and often times we say them in

jest. The bottom line, though, is that it’s unhealthy behavior. Remember health class? You probably took it in your freshman or sophomore year, or if you’re like me and forgot about the requirement, eighth grade. Eating disorders. Bulimia and Anorexia Ner-vosa, or in non-scientific terms, throw-ing up after meals and starving yourself. I recall learning about these things and thinking that it was dumb. But thinking about it now, it is easy to see how this culture of clothes, combined with peer pressure to fit in and poor self-esteem,

can lead to these psychologi-cal diseases. Although you may or may not know any-one who has person-ally suffered

from an eating disorder, it’s much more common than you think. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), Anorexia Nervosa is the third most common chronic illness among teens and adolescents. The ANAD also reports that over 50 percent of female teens use “unhealthy weight control be-haviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting and taking laxatives.” It’s a scary statistic, and there is no easy fix to this problem. Getting rid of the clothes won’t do any good, and people should be free to dress the way they want. The only feasible solution is to boost self-esteem and raise one’s body image. Whether that means sepa-rating yourself from a group of people, or learning to eat healthy, there’s always a way to make things right again. Be proud. Be confident. And take care of the body you have, because you won’t get another.

A few weeks ago, I celebrated my 17th birthday. Now, like most people turning 17, I was looking forward to a fun birthday full of presents, friends and, most importantly, minimal family commitments. The morning of my birthday started

out well. I woke up to about a dozen Facebook notifications from people I don’t know who posted “happy birth-day” on my wall and then had a filling breakfast. My mom walked into the kitchen, and this is where the problems began. “Oh my gosh, Phillip! This is going to be the last breakfast you eat at home on your birthday before you leave for col-lege!” she exclaimed. “Not if I become a stay-at-home son,” I sarcastically responded as I continued to eat my breakfast. Although this moment seemed insig-nificant at the time, it foreshadowed the horrors that were to follow. As we left the house for family brunch, my mom commented on how this was the last family birthday brunch I would have at home. Then she stated how it was the last time I’d be going to Ize’s on

my birthday. By the end of brunch she was nearly sobbing over the fact that it was the last time we would eat brunch on my birthday on a Saturday at Ize’s at 10:37 a.m. in partly cloudy weather. My family has issues. However, despite the clinginess and over-dramatization of my mother (which we can all expect), I learned some important lessons on my birth-day. First, I learned that Ize’s still has the best breakfast sandwiches in MoCo, hands down. But I also learned that growing up happens really fast, and you don’t even realize it’s happening until it’s already over. It seems like just yesterday it was a huge deal that I was allowed to finally bike to the pool all by my big-boy self, and yet I drove up to Clarksburg by myself the other week for the football game. I remember in middle school

By Phillip Resnick

By Megan ChunBy Nathaniel Rees

Rees’s Pieces CurveballPoliticians scared to shoot

back at gun laws

when our parents would follow us around at the mall to make sure we were safe, but now we take ourselves to all kinds of places far away without any supervision at all. Growing up is fun, exciting and scary all at the same time, so we should all just make the most of it and hope for the best. Finally, I learned that family is really, really important even if they are annoy-ing most of the time. Although my mom made a bit too much of a point about it being the last time I did anything on my birthday, it made me realize that we (fortunately) don’t live at home forever. So, while we’re here we should cherish and value our families, with a little sib-ling rivalry and fighting mixed in. I think this was the best last column in the October issue of The Pitch that came out on Oct. 8 that I wrote about my birthday ever!

The new face of beauty

Over 50 percent of female teens use un-healthy weight con-

trol behaviors

“

”

8

ChangeupBirthday Lessons

Photo by Wahid Ishrar

Photo by Wahid Ishrar

Photo by Wahid Ishrar

August 2012 - A gunman kills six people at Sikh temple in Wiscon-sin before being killed by police.

July 2012 - Masked gunman opens fire at midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, killing 12 and injuring 58.

April 2007 - Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded 15 others at Virginia Tech, making it the worst mass shooting in the United States after 2000.

9OCTOBER 8, 2012 FEATUREPitchthe

New chorus teacher Kelly Butler an-ticipates an outstanding first year at WJ. “The reputation of the school is over-all very positive in every way,” she said. Butler has been teaching for 11 years. She grew up in the Midwest and attend-ed St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Be-fore coming to WJ, she taught part time at both Sherwood High School and East-ern Middle School. She enjoys teaching and looks forward to working with WJ students. “[I like] working with kids who are excited to do well, to be involved and to have fun,” she said. Outside of school, Butler spends most of her time with her one-year-old

WJ welcomes new staff

This is Dr. Carolyn Clark’s first year teaching French at WJ, but she certainly is no outsider to the community. Her three kids, all WJ alumni, advocated for WJ and encouraged her to teach here. Clark grew up in Ithaca, N.Y. “I started when I was very young, teaching my stuffed animals… also, my father is a professor and my mother is a high school teacher,” said Clark. After taking a gap year, Clark con-tinued to develop her passion for teach-ing at Cornell University, majoring in Classical Civilizations, and went on to receive her doctorate in Classics from Johns Hopkins University in 1998. “I wanted to finish something I start-ed,” Clark said. “I was in a master’s pro-

“I’m usually busy, but when I have time I either work out or hang out with friends,” she said. She also enjoys spending time with her family, playing tennis and running in her free time. Hernandez graduated from Win-ston Churchill High School, where she participated in many school-spirited events. Now that she works at WJ, she plans to attend sports games when she has time.

Ninth-grade administrator Regina Rodriguez is one of the many new staff members at WJ for the 2012-2013 school year. Rodriguez has taught for 17 years at various middle schools, including Til-den, North Bethesda and other schools in Montgomery County that are not a part of the WJ cluster. Rodriguez was apprehensive about working in a high school at first, be-cause her position had been held for 15 years by Christopher Merrill. “I thought that it would’ve been tough for me because [the administrators] were already in their own circle that in-cluded Mr. Merrill,” said Rodriguez.

Kelly Butler

Carolyn Clark

Regina Rodriguez

Christine Hernandez

By Grace Leslau

By Christine Bersabal

By Sabrina Clarke

By Michael Lumbuku

daughter. She also likes to travel. But-ler describes herself as goofy, energetic and hardworking. Butler is excited to be working this year at the same school as her husband, social studies teacher Jeremy Butler. They met teaching at Altona Middle School in Longmont, Colo., and coach the Glenmont Tigers swim team to-gether. Butler is adjusting to her new posi-tion and has yet to determine whether she wishes to make changes to the WJ choral department. “It would be great to have a men’s and women’s choir someday,” she said.

Rodriguez is uncertain as to whether she prefers being an administrator or a teacher, but she does feel that it is odd being on the “other side,” as an admin-istrator. Outside of school, Rodriguez loves taking any spare time to hang out with her two daughters, aged 19 and 16. She also enjoys watching baseball and taking road trips. Her grade school education took place in North Carolina, and she then proceeded to East Carolina University for her undergraduate degree. She later attended Bowie University and McDan-iel College for her master’s degrees.

gram at Brown University. When I left in [1983] I got married [and] had a fam-ily and I wanted to finish the Ph.D. in Classics.” Although many may find it impres-sive, having a doctorate sometimes can be troubling for Clark. “When you apply for things, some-times they say you’re overqualified,” she said. Clark has been teaching for 28 years, first starting out in colleges and univer-sities as an adjunct professor and then simultaneously teaching high school in 2000. Outside of school, Clark enjoys horse-back riding, skiing and reading classical mythology.

Photo by Wahid Ishrar

Photo by Wahid Ishrar

This is counselor Christine Her-nandez’s first year at WJ. Hernandez graduated from James Madison Uni-versity and later attended George Washington University for her gradu-ate degree. While at George Washing-ton, she interned as a counselor at WJ and decided that this was where she wanted to work. Hernandez considers herself to be a down-to-earth, approachable and dependable person. “I like to think people can come talk to me,” said Hernandez. As a part-time counselor at both WJ and Cold Spring Elementary, Hernandez often finds herself occu-pied but enjoys her work.

For more about new staff members at WJ, visit wjpitch.com.

Photo by Emily Cosentino

Photo by Emily Cosentino

Now

10 OCTOBER 8, 2012FEATURE Pitchthe

Advice for Freshmen

The WJ School Survival GuideUNOFFICIAL

Do your homework.

If you bomb an assignment, don’t freak out.

Try to get some sleep.

Advice for SophomoresHannah AllgoodSophomore

Don’t slack off.

Work hard.

Go to your teachers and ask for help.

Become best friends with Ms. Reynolds.

Don’t eat lunch in the English hallway.

Always go to the Asian café.

Sam JacobsonSophomore

Chris HairstonSophomore

Kyle LopezJunior

Starting a new grade can be overwhelming and inimidating. The Pitch asked WJ students to offer advice on what they wish they knew last year in order to help stu-dents struggling during the first month of school. Their bottom line: don’t stress out too much and try to balance schoolwork with things you enjoy. Have a great year!

Photos and text by Ellie Jorling

Keep your time in check.

Don’t [tick] off other kids.

Stay fresh.

11OCTOBER 8, 2012 FEATUREPitchthe

The WJ School Survival Guide

Advice for Sophomores Advice for Juniors

Don’t procrastinate.

Sleep more.

Use all the school’s resources.

Work hard.

Try to get good grades because they matter.

Study for your SAT.

Try to have fun.

Take all standardized tests early.

Keep your grades up.

Do well on the SAT.

Don’t walk through the senior hallway.

Have fun.

Emma TealJunior

Melanie AckermanJunior

Mira KrugerSenior

Jesse ColeSenior

Jamie FitzpatrickSenior

Starting a new grade can be overwhelming and inimidating. The Pitch asked WJ students to offer advice on what they wish they knew last year in order to help stu-dents struggling during the first month of school. Their bottom line: don’t stress out too much and try to balance schoolwork with things you enjoy. Have a great year!

Be social.

Take all required classes.

Your homework is not everything.

The band placed first at this festi-val in 2011 and third in 2012, and has been invited to compete again this February. The group participates in only two major competitions, the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival and the Chantilly Jazz Invitational, which will be held in March. In addition to these large per-formances, the band usually performs about once a month. Oct. 4 marked the ensemble’s first performance of this school year, at the meeting for ris-ing freshmen. The band will perform again at the Senior Citizens’ Luncheon in Novem-ber, followed by Montgomery Coun-ty’s Big Band Festival. “[Where we perform] depends on the opportunities and the calendar,” said Jazz Band director Christopher Kosmaceski. However, due to recent success, the amount of contests they participate in has been increasing over time. The group has been led by Kosmac-eski since 2005. He trains the band and sets its schedule, but does not hold practices out-side of class. Instead, before a contest, differ-ent sections of the band often meet to practice their parts. “Mr. [Kosmaceski] is a really great director and always gets the best out of us,” said junior Henry Godfrey, who

12 OCTOBER 8, 2012FEATURE Pitchthe

Jazz Band looks to continue recent success “Jazz” continued from page 1

plays the drum set. Godfrey has been playing drums for nearly seven years. Along with jazz band, he is also in Symphonic Orches-tra, Drumline, Pep Band and Jazz Com-bo. Jazz Combo is a group of five stu-dents in Jazz Band that performs twice a month on average and meets outside of school. “We get a lot of our gigs outside of school but all of them [are] through Mr. [Kosmaceski],” said Godfrey. In addition to these independent per-formances, the members of Jazz Combo are also responsible for playing in the class’ concerts and competitions. The two festivals that Jazz Band participates in are unique in that the top three teams are ranked and given professional com-mentary. “It’s an educational experience be-cause we’re getting some feedback,” said Kosmaceski. “There’s a professional jazz clinician who’s listening to the per-formance. They meet you in another

room and tell you how to improve.” During festivals, the Jazz Ensemble must play music from multiple genres,

such as Swing, Latin, ballads and con-temporary. Some of the competitions have more specific requirements than

others. Both Godfrey and Narkis notice a major distinction between Jazz Ensemble and other forms of music they have studied. “In Orchestra, the notes are all written out for you, no matter what instrument you’re playing, including

percussion,” said Godfrey. “[Jazz Band] gives you a lot more freedom.”

“A huge part of [jazz] is getting the right feel,” said Narkis. “You can play a song technically with the wrong feel and it would just be terrible.” Kosmaceski, who also teaches AP Mu-sic Theory, Symphonic Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and Concert Band, recogniz-es the difference in the musical genres themselves but still teaches them in the same way. “[In jazz], the parts are independent, and the style is different,” Kosmaceski said. “The inflection of the notes [and] the nuances [are] placed differently in jazz music.”

The Jazz Band competed in the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival in Rockville, Md., one of their larger competitions.

Photo courtesy of Molly Narkis

In Jazz Band, you have your part. It’s more individual so everyone is sort of accountable [for] their own perfor-mance and everyone plays a big part.”

“

13OCTOBER 8, 2012 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTPitchthe

Jacobsohn has always had an inter-est in film, like when his family needed help with making videos, he was always interested. “I started studying up on cinematog-raphy and different filmmaking tech-niques so every time I heard [WJ] would do a video I would always get involved,” said Jacobsohn. He enjoys dealing with technical pro-duction because there is a wide expe-rience available with film, sound, set production and more techniques. As an inspiration, he looks up to “Inception” film director, Christopher Nolan. Jacobsohn tries to emulate aspects of Nolan’s work, especially the famed director’s command of audience atten-tion. He has gone on to make a huge impact on WJ by helping out in some of the big-gest school productions such “Every 15 Minutes”(a movie done at WJ in 2010 that focuses on the dangers of underage drinking), “The Daily Lineup” and the

Homecoming videos. His involvement in these films start-ed out when he got involved with the morning announcements. Once he was associated with, “The Daily Lineup” it was easier to get into filming movies for WJ.“The TV club has a big role in filming movies because we do most of the film-ing, so since I’m kind of heading the club, I ended up taking to position of

Co-director,” he said. Once he took that position, he started working on videos like the 2011 Home-coming video and “Every 15 Minutes,” which has been one of his favorite films so far. “Every 15 Minutes was my favorite film, because it was all done in a one day, and it was interesting to see how it came together,” said Jacobsohn This year, he has taken the role of be-

ing the student producer for the morn-ing announcements and the main direc-tor of WJ films. Jacobsohn has also taken the lead in organizing the Homecoming video and some aspects that go into filmmaking. Jacobsohn explains that the process was much easier and faster compared to last year’s Homecoming video, because there was more time to film it. “We spent three and half months on the video this year whereas last year we only spent about three weeks on it.” Although having a smooth run com-ing up with the ideas, he did face some obstacles with the camera. This did not stop him from filming the huge fight scene that will appear in the homecom-ing video this year. Jacobsohn has dedicated a lot of his time to helping make WJ films produc-tion more interesting. “I try to watch movies and try to in-corporate good techniques in making the films,” said Jacobsohn. His passion stretches through the camera into the things he loves to films. Whether it’s the morning announce-ments, the Homecoming video or S*T*A*G*E, Jacobsohn has a strong commitment to the projects he works on.

The man behind the lensSenior Gabe Jacobsohn is one of WJ’s film masterminds. He is currently

directing the homecoming video, “The Daily Lineup” and other WJ productions

“Behind the Lens” continued from page 1

Depicted above is a still from one of Jacobson’s works, “Every 15 Minutes,” which portrays Death coming to a classroom. The film was made to raise awareness of student drunk driving.

By Melissa Wainaina

shorter periods of time. This particular gathering is two weeks long and relies on hundreds of volunteers, but only takes place once every summer.Students must be 16 years or older in order to apply. However, there are other programs provided by the Smithsonian institution that last year-round. One such program is the Behind the Scenes Volunteers, but this particular option requires a large commitment. According to their website, volunteers must serve for three consecutive months with six hours a week of service. The program is also extremely competitive, and has applicants with a wide range of ages and skill types. The activities in the program vary throughout the Smithsonian, so not all will involve art, but the Smith-sonian is a very organized and accessible institution to work with. If you’re looking for something a little less time- consuming, there are many websites, such as Volun-teermatch.org or Smartvolunteer.org, that can sup-ply great opportunities and good ideas on how to get involved. There are both long-term volunteering con-nections and one-time events at galleries and small art shows. The jobs range from writing positions covering art-work or galleries to teaching opportunities for chil-dren’s art classes. All possibilities shown will be in the zip code you specify, so they are convenient to attend. It is easy to narrow down the search with optional specifications that include age and the type of volun-teering you prefer. These websites also offer virtual volunteer connections, so there are opportunities to work with people all over the country without leaving your home. Even if drawing is a drag, painting is petrifying and sculpting is simply scary, these institutions, both in and out of WJ, are welcoming your help.

14 OCTOBER 8, 2012ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Pitchthe

ART FOR THE INARTISTIC The art community contains a lot of talent, but even if you’re not this generation’s Vincent Van Gogh, there are still plenty of opportunities to get involved. Vol-unteering is a viable option for helping the art com-munity, even if stick figures are your greatest strength. The art community is also a great place to get Stu-dent Service Learning hours, while actually learning skills that are hard to find in other places. There are opportunities to get involved everywhere, some of which are available without even having to leave the school. A good way to start getting involved in volunteer-ing is to join the WJ Art Club. This group of students volunteers in many different ways and can always use some extra help. “We finished the mural up in the gymnasium area and we just have to finish the letters, so anyone who wants to join Art Club can join and help out with that,” said Lishani De Silva, the president of the art club. The administration also suggested the club do an ad-ditional mural on the outside of the school, a project which the club will be embarking on. If painting is still out of your artistic comfort zone, there are other ways to help out the club. For instance, last year, the members assembled Valentine’s Day bas-kets for cancer patients. Additionally, there are ways to help the club without even becoming a member, like volunteering to paint faces or helping to collect cans for an upcoming proj-ect. One of the more well-known activities the club participates in is the “Bad Day to be a Pumpkin” shirt contest, in which anyone can take part. To participate, all the student must do is submit a design for consider-ation to be the official logo for this year’s shirt. However, for some activities, like the murals, it is preferred that only club members participate. Tra-ditional art skills or artistic ability is not required as the club is very open. The club encourages you to join, as new members are appreci-tated regardless of ability. “We had students that were coming from Photo [classes]: AP 2D, Digital One [and] Digital Two,” said De Silva. She went on to explain that Art Club is very open, and that it does not have any spec-ifications, so anyone can join. If the club isn’t what you’re looking for, there are many other places in Bethesda and Washington, D.C. where you can get involved in the art community. Some opportu-nities, like the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, occur over

By Audrey Marek

Love Lost for Lang: How this class has effectively ruined our social skills.

This class seemed straightforward enough: read a couple books, write a bunch of essays and you’re good to go. In our heads we’re thinking: I’ve been writing essays for years now, so this can’t be too bad. Plus, I ac-tually know English! This should be a cinch. WRONG. Sure, AP Language and Composition, a junior year staple, teaches you valuable information and definite-ly improves your writing skills. But after reading the same article for the umpteenth time (sorry David Se-daris, even you’re not that interesting), your eyes just want to fall out of your head and roll across the paper. We have to analyze each essay for purpose, tone and rhetorical devices. You can really only identify an au-thor’s purposeful use of diction and imagery so many times before you kind of want to blow your brains out. Okay, so perhaps this sounds a bit dramatic, but imagine never being able to read a single book, enjoy a TV show or hold a normal conversation with anyone without analyzing the heck out of whatever is being said. But let’s use an example that everyone can relate to. Textbooks. Or, for most high school students, that heavy object that you only open the first week of school. A few nights ago, we observed that textbooks tend to use formal sentence structure in order to create in-formative and educational tones. These tones are fur-ther supported by the use of the pronoun “we,” which serves to mimic the student-teacher relationship. In addition, textbooks often use real world examples to aid readers in their understanding of practical applica-tions. Oh dear. But if that wasn’t enough, we have also begun to analyze other literary works, including text messages, a popular form of communication in today’s society. “Heyy gurl u down 4 dat game 2nite? ;)))))))” The informal sentence structure and slang words in the text message create a playful tone, which sup-ports the speaker’s intention to persuade the reader to attend the football game. The extended smiley face is used not to convey that the speaker has seven chins, but rather to emphasize the excited and jubilant nature of the speaker. All in all, AP Lang has taught us numerous skills. One: To detect every single tone in every single con-versation. Two: To hunt for rhetorical devices like you’re looking for a homecoming date freshman year (look, a simile!). And lastly, to become best friends with your red and blue pens, because by the end of the year, they’ll be the only weapons you have to fend off the nightmares of annotation and rhetoric you’ll most likely have for the rest of your life. But in all seriousness, although this class has pro-ceeded to take over our lives, we recognize that our age of blissful ignorance is over and our lifelong quest for tone and purpose has begun.

Third BaseThe Humor Column

By Megan Chun and Claudia Nguyen

Photo by Emily Cosentino

Photo by Emily Cosentino Photo by Audrey Marek

At the end of the previous school year, the WJ Art Club painted a mural of a wildcat pouncing out of the school wall in the gymnasium stairwell.

At Left: An information board in the art hallway advertising various aspects of the art community, such as internships. At right: Lishani De Silva, the president of the WJ Art Club.

Word Search: Seasonal Fun SUDOKU

Junior Emma Teal found her passion in pho-tography during her freshman year. Above is a photo from her trip to Chicago in which she captured an image of the buildings in the city. In the photo below, Teal focuses on a bicycle in Chicago, using her camera to create a shallow depth of field.

Senior Steven Gondre-Lewis has been drawing intensely since the fourth grade and is still going strong. The charcoal piece on the top right is an attempt at showcasing human emotions, mainly focusing on rage and anger. On the bottom right is his interpretation of a rose, created in charcoal and intended as a gift.

Wildcat Art Update

Junior Jennifer Christakos found her artistic inspiration when she was in the fourth grade. The piece of artwork on the top left is an oil painting of lips in a jungle, which was inspired by the idea that beauty is hidden. The bottom left is an interpretive self-portrait re-flecting her inner self, which was cre-ated in acrylic paint.

AUTUMN, LEAVES, CIDER, PUMPKIN, YELLOW, ORANGE, RED, TREES, FALL, WINDY, HALLOWEEN, BRISK

Words:

See answers at wjpitch.com!

15ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTOCTOBER 8, 2012 Pitchthe

Student artists have been experimenting with different forms of art and have found their favorite mediums. Here is a feature of some of the artwork

supplied by WJ’s up-and-coming artists.

Photo courtesy of Steven Gondre-Lewis

Photo courtesy of Emma Teal

Photo courtesy of Emma Teal

Photo courtesy of Steven Gondre-Lewis

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Christakos

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Christakos

16 OCTOBER 8, 2012ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Pitchthe

Homecoming Fashion It is almost fall and one of the most heavily anticipated weeks of school is approaching us, the week of homecoming. This week stu-dents show their school spirit and the week culminates with the annual dance. Students find a date, dress up and dance all night. One of the biggest parts of getting ready for the dance is style, specifically the dress. Students want an outfit that is stylish, shows their personality and stay where it is supposed to be throughout the night. Here are some styles that the Lady Wildcats are putting together.

If wearing a shorter dress is not your particu-lar style, try wearing a dress that has a hemline below the knee. While being cute and conserva-tive, there’s no worrying about the dress being too revealing. The bold floral print and keyhole neck-line is eye-catching. Adding white sandals contin-ues the tropical theme, and they are embellished with a flower to match the print. They are flat and comfy, so having sore feet through the night will not be an issue. Altogether, it is a unique and fun style while still being practical. It is also a dress that allows for careless, fun dancing while still be-ing fashion savvy.

You cannot go wrong with a fun, strappy and bright homecoming dress, a classic style. This dress will allow you to dance with your dress stay-ing up throughout the night. The slight sweetheart neckline is noticeable without being too reveal-ing. It also allows a necklace to be worn with the dress, without being overwhelming. The border along the top adds a distinguishing touch with-out being too unusual. With a dress that is form-fitting, it can give your body a trim, fit shape. A standard pair of cute black heels can complete any homecoming look. By wearing sandals with a smaller heel, your feet will be thanking you at the end of the night for easing up the pain of wearing high heels all night.

By Emily Cosentino

Wearing a simple and sexy white dress can illuminate the look. The snug fit highlights body shape and curves. The rippled cut compliments the shorter hem. Wearing a simple pair of small black heels creates a contrast between the shoes and the dress, making them both stand out, while nicely highlighting the legs. A suggestion for wearing a short, white dress is to dress it up with some jewelry. Take advantage of the simplicity of the white and match up a cute bracelet with the outfit. A benefit of white and black is that almost anything can match. A simple black bracelet will look classy, while a colorful bracelet will add a snazzier and spiced-up look.

Photo courtesy of senior Sarah Hamel

Photo courtesy of senior Sarah Sull

Classic:

Sexy:

Conservative:Photo courtesy of senior Maesa Titensor

thePitchOCTOBER 8, 2012 SPORTS 17

18 OCTOBER 8, 2012SPORTS Pitchthe

Tackling Matters: NFL Predictions

Golf

Girls’ Tennis

Girls’ Soccer

Field Hockey

After a devastating overtime loss to Churchill in the 4A West Semifinal, the girls’ soccer team is work-ing hard to go further this year. The team lost seven starters, but is bouncing back this year with many new players as well as some more experienced ones. “The returning players are stepping into leadership roles,” said coach Elizabeth Friedman. Senior captains Carina Deandreis and Cori Cag-giano, as well as seniors Zoe Park and Sydney Calas and junior captain Alejandra Ramos, are expected to significantly contribute to the team’s success. “It’s a really tough and energetic team [that is] will-ing to work hard,” said Deandreis. Possibly the toughest division in Maryland stands in the way of the team’s high hopes, including Churchill, Whitman and Wootton. Four-year consecutive state champions B-CC will also be competitive opponents. Its season opening loss to Holy Cross exposed many of the team’s weaknesses. The team learned that it needed to play harder and more aggressively. “With injuries and tired legs, mental toughness needs to be better,” said Freidman. The team is working hard and has made many im-

provements. “The loss of some of our starters has motivated us to keep our stan-dard high,” said Deandreis. They have lost two 1-0 games to Blair and Clarksburg, but hope to bounce back in upcom-ing matches.

Girls’ tennis is currently playing very well, with seven wins and only two losses, which were against Wootton and Churchill. “I think that we’re actually really competitive this season and we have a chance of being division champs,” said senior captain Amy Caplon. This year, the team is filled with talented players such as senior Arielle Hartz, junior Kasey Yamashita, sopho-more Nicole Fatemi and freshman Eden Sela. Accord-ing to Caplon, one of their strengths is the chemistry the team shares. The girls endure difficult two hour practices every day and analyze each match afterwards to fully prepare for the upcoming one. “We look at how the match went [and] look at the weaknesses per match, per game, [and] per set,” said Caplon. ‘And we really think about, for doubles, the chemistry between the two players [and], for singles,

the mentality of how you have to face your oppo-nent.” After beating B-CC and Whit-man, usually the Wildcats’ tough-est competitors, the girls are con-fident and look forward to end-ing the season on a high note.

The varsity field hockey team has begun its season with a successful start, winning five of six games so far. Although the team lost to Wootton 4-2, the girls have been working hard to lead off this season with strong wins and are striving to win more games. “We played a good game and, while there were times where we could have done better, we pulled it together and got the win,” said senior defender Rachel Wang. With playoffs in late October, the team’s main goal is to focus on the games as they play them, as well as on their practices. “Our focus for the season is to take each game one at a time,” said coach Erika Murray. “Every season is different from the one before. We have a lot of new players on varsity so we are very team-oriented this season, [and will be] working on building relation-ships so that we can work together on the field.” This may be the key to the team’s hard work and dedication to the game.

As their season progresses, the WJ golf team con-tinues to perform beyond expectations. Led by se-nior captain Evan Shapiro and sophomore co-captain Joshua Jacobs, the golf team has started out the season winning the majority of their matches against tough competition like Wootton, Damascus and Whitman. “We started out underperforming and we have pro-gressively gotten better and in our last match we shot 3 over as a team, beating Wootton, Churchill, and BCC”, said Shapiro. Although the golf team lacks seniority, as the team consists mostly of sophomores and freshman, the un-derclassmen have persevered stroke after stroke to make the team as good as it is today. Throughout all of their matches, both the boys and girls of the team have showcased progress in maturity and skill level. “[We have a] strong freshman class and only one graduating, so we are only going to get better,” said Evan Shapiro. As they approach the end of their season, the WJ golf team plans to finish with their spirits high and a win-ning record. As for their potential in future years, the sky is the limit.

Photo by Sarah ScheckerJunior captain Anna Rowthorn-Apel shoots on goal.

Photo by Sarah ScheckerSophomore forward Caroline Braviak attacks the defense.

Sports Section Editor Ian Morrison and Assistant Sports Section Editor Ben Resnick share their thoughts on the NFL season thus far.

Robert Griffin IIIIM-RGIII has undoubtedly brought a new swagger to his Washington teammates and even to ‘Skins fans. He has a bright future here, but he will not be able to transform the team in his rookie season. The team may do well, but the pressure can’t all fall on such a young player’s shoulders. BR- RGIII is one of the best young quarterbacks in football. He revamped the Redskins’ offense and is looking like the next big thing. Like Cam Newton did for the Panthers last year, Griffin will be lighting up defenses through the air and on the ground.

Andrew LuckIM-Luck is another rookie quarterback with hugely high expectations. He, like RGIII, will be successful in the NFL. But the Colts are coming off of a dreadful season and one man cannot change a whole team so quickly; check back with the Colts in two years as he starts to re-emerge as a league leader. BR- The Indianapolis Colts know how to draft rookie quarterbacks in the first round. The last two times they have done this, they have drafted Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck (who many say will be the next Pey-ton Manning.) This young talented player has the poise and decision-making skills of a veteran and will be a household name for years to come.

Peyton Manning and the BroncosIM-Peyton has still got it. He is one of the most expe-rienced and most talented quarterbacks in the game. Despite sitting out last season, he still has the talent to revamp the Broncos’ offense and thrust them into the post season. You can’t argue with the Broncos’ week four slaughtering of the Raiders. BR- Peyton Manning is not the same Peyton Manning we came to know and love. Coming off serious neck surgery, the all-time great’s mobility and accuracy are way down, leading to more turnovers and making the Broncos a very mediocre team.

Top teamsIM-Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons has started off the season better than any other quarterback. He is top of the league in quarterback ratings and the Fal-cons have an excellent record to show for it. The Ra-vens also look promising, despite a frustrating week two loss to the Eagles. BR- With arguably the best passing attack in the NFL and a solid run game, the Falcons’ offense is already firing on all cylinders. The defense has a knack for making big plays and the special team is very good. This team is good in every phase in the game and looks to make a run deep into the playoffs.

Dark HorseIM-The Chargers have had a shaky last few seasons, after once being annual AFC championship contend-ers, but with a 2-0 start to the season, it looks like things may be turning around. More surprisingly, the Cardinals have started off well with a big win over the Patriots. Was this just a sloppy game from the Patriots? Or could this be the emergence of a new NFC playoff team? BR- After shocking the 49ers at home, the Vikings move to 3-1 and 2-0 at home. This team wins by play-ing good defense and running the ball well, and looks to make a very surprising run for the division title.

By Ben Resnick and Ian Morrison

Junior Michael Gilman tees off. Photo courtesy of Rich Gilman

Photo by Wahid IshrarFreshman Sun Jung returns a serve at practice

By Grace Leslau

By Melissa Wainaina

By Michael Lumbuku

By Christine Bersabal

that Grimes has all the credentials to be an excellent swim coach. “I can relate to the kids,” said Grimes. “I won’t give them anything they can’t do.” With his experience, Grimes says he can always tell his athletes that he’s done worse. It moti-vates athletes to know that their coach has already put in the work they themselves now must do. In swimming, mo-tivation is key, considering that swimmers must endure prac-tice up to eight times a week. For many, such a rigorous schedule could cause burnout. “I like hard work, I like training, I like practice and I like to work to see results,” said Grimes. Grimes does not credit his success to natural talent, but he believes that it is the hard work you put into something that will carry you forward. Talent can only take you so far. Despite Swim and Dive’s recent suc-cess, WJ is also well-known for pro-ducing excellent runners year in and year out. Sure, there is talent on all of the school’s teams, but no other team has had success comparable with cross country’s four consecutive state titles.

The two head coaches of WJ’s running program, Tom Martin and Tom Rogers, have been best friends and teammates since high school, are both state cham-pions and are now enjoying teaching and coaching careers together at WJ. Rogers was inspired to run while

watching track in the 1968 Olym-pics. He went on to win three state championships in high school, run at Frostburg State and even com-pete at Nation-als three times in college. Rogers and Martin both fondly remem-ber running the 3200-meter relay together in high school; they won the state champi-onship. Rogers said he and Martin were so good simply because they competed at each

practice. Every practice was a competi-tion between the two of them, and, as a result, each pushed the other to run even faster. They both attribute their success to the coaches that they had in high school. “I had great coaches,” said Rogers. “I learned a lot from them.” He said coaching has been a sort of passing of heritage for him. Rogers learned a lot from his high school coach, and brought that knowledge to the WJ track program. Rogers has even passed

WJ has established a history of excel-lent athletics. It has become an expecta-tion to have at least one team each sea-son in contention for a regional or state title. But it is not simply stellar athletes who have built such a great athletics program at WJ. Also contributing to this tradition are our very experienced, talented and dedicated coaches, many of whom have experienced the very same pressure WJ’s student athletes experi-ence every time they compete. Coaching takes just as much com-mitment as playing a sport does. Our coaches have had a huge impact on our teams. They have developed our athletes and pushed them to perform better each year. Much of the credit for WJ’s athletic success must go to them. Last year, the school celebrated our swim team as they brought the state title to WJ. Science teacher and Head Coach Jamie Grimes was key to the swim team’s huge victory. However, Grimes had personal success in the pool long before last year’s state title was won. Grimes began swimming when he was just six years old. When he was 10, he began to swim locally at Rockville Montgomery Swim Club, where many current WJ swimmers compete. However, Grimes wasn’t naturally a great swimmer. “It took me a while to get to where I was,” said Grimes. During his four years at The Univer-sity of Virginia, Grimes, an All Ameri-can swimmer, won three conference titles with the team, and swam at the Olympic qualifiers in 2000 and 2004. He even competed in a race against Mi-chael Phelps, in which he came in sec-ond only to Phelps. There’s no doubt

19OCTOBER 8, 2012 SportsPitchthe

Achievement as student athletes leads to exellence as coaches

Jamie Grimes celebrates after reciving a bronze medal at Senior Nationals.

down his love of coaching to his son, who is now the track coach at Richard Montgomery. Rogers, like Grimes, said his coaching success comes from his personal experi-ence with the sport. “There is nothing I would ask them to do that I haven’t done myself,” said Rogers. “More than anything else in any sport, it’s about passion.” To succeed in any sport, athletes must be just as driven as their coaches are to succeed. Social Studies teacher Beth Muehl,no longer coaches high school track, de-spite having an excellent coaching career at Northwest High School in Germantown. She was a runner and a gymnast in high school, and she ran in college at Bucknell University, so she has experienced the rigorous schedule many student athletes must manage. Muehl, like Rogers and Martin, was a state champion runner. She was state champion in the 1600-meter relay dur-ing her senior year of high school, and she also won a state title as a member of her high school cross country team. Muehl’s coaches had an incredible im-pact on her. “I was committed to listening to my coaches,” said Muehl. “I trusted them, and I believed in their training philoso-phy.” Her success in high school and colle-giate athletics translated to her coaching career, as she was named Coach of the Decade from 2000-2010 for her accom-plishments as the girls’ cross country coach at Northwest. WJ is home to an abundance of coach-ing talent. These coaches began their careers as athletes and used their expe-rience from competition to boost their coaching careers.

Photo courtesy of Jamie Grimes

Photo by Wahid Ishrar

By Ian Morrison

Martin (left) and Rogers (right) won a state championship in the 4x800m relay for Friendly High School in Price Georges County. Above: Jamie Grimes pictured at the FINA

World Cup in 1999. Grimes swam in a number of major meets, including the U.S. Olympic tri-als and the NCAA Divison I Championships.

Beth Muehl, who was named Coach of the Decade for girls’ cross country by mocorun-ning.com, ran for four years at Bucknell.

Photo courtesy of Tom RogersPhoto courtesy of Beth Muehl

Photo by Wahid Ishrar Photo by Wahid Ishrar

Photo by Wahid Ishrar

Photo courtesy of Jamie GrimesTom Martin (second from left) and Tom Rogers (right), after winning the state championship in the 4x800 meter relay.

With a senior-heavy line-up, WJ football is ready to go into this week’s game against Churchill for the homecoming game. “Coach Kadi and [senior defensive end] Charlie Bar-ry are the best at pumping the team up,” said senior quarterback and captain Gus Gill. “The unsung heroes [of our team] would be our whole offensive line,” said Gill. “They get the least amount of credit when they’re the reason we’re put-ting points on the board.” Senior Dimitri Xeron, captain and leader of the of-fensive line, pins the team’s success so far on its work ethic. “Hard work and devotion during the offseason has led to our success this season so far,” said Xeron. Last year, the football team managed to take down Poolesville and Kennedy for a final record of 2-8. This year’s team is cur-rently 2-3 with wins against Clarksburg and Springbrook and is looking to im-prove. The most notable game of the season is the upcoming homecoming game against Churchill on Oct. 14, where the boys will try and ex-tend the homecom-ing game win streak to two.

SportsOCTOBER 8, 201220

What’s Inside1918

Rebounding from last year’s surprising loss to Bowie in the state finals, the boys’ soccer team looks ahead to games at Whitman and then against Churchill. They have high expectations to live up to, as last year’s team had an outstanding record of 17-1-1. The team currently has four returning starters, se-niors Juan Ortiz and Mateo Arenas, junior Gabe Vas-concelos and sophomore Jeremy Ebobisse. The rath-er young team has performed well, winning games against tough opponents, such as Bowie, Blair and Northwest. “Our team this year is really young, [but] we still haven’t changed our style of play,” said senior striker Nabayee Tesfu. “The day before games we try to have clear minds during practice and to stay focused.” “The toughest game [this season] is against Woot-ton,” said Tesfu.

On Sept. 27, the Washington Post rat-ed Wootton as the fourth best team among public and private schools in this area. “Every year we have been a seri-ous contender in the region and in states,” said Tesfu. Boys’ soccer plays their next game at Whitman at 7 p.m. on Oct. 10.

According to coach Tom Martin, this year’s cross country team is said to be one of the best in years. The top runners so far this year are seniors Nathaniel Rees, Ben Crites and James Duncan, along with juniors Mi-chael Spak and Matthew Morris. Rees recently set a course record against Northwest High School at Tim-berlawn Park and Duncan also ran a 5k in 16 minutes and 33 seconds. The team has placed first in every meet, excluding the Bull Run Invitational, in which they placed third out of 19 teams, and the Carlisle Invitational, where they finished fourth. “These guys are running well as a team earlier than [they] did last year,” said Martin. “The chemistry is re-ally good.” Cross country’s goal this year is to win its fifth state championship, which should be their hardest meet of the season.

Football Boys’ Soccer

Cross Country

By JJ Henn By JJ Henn

By Anders Norberg

By Ben Resnick and Caroline Steel

Senior captain defender Rodrigo Vil-lordo clears the ball from the back.

The cross country races hard, led by senior Ben Crites and junior Michael Spak.

Photo courtesy of John Romer

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Meyers

Girls’ volleyball started the season jumping to an impressive 11-0 record. The team is the strongest in years and is poised to make a deep run into the playoffs later this month. The team mainly consists of returning players, allowing them to focus more on playing the game itself, rather than on technicalities. “We do have talent, and talent will take us pretty far – the question is how far,” said head coach Bill Morris. The team earned impressive victories over Richard Montgomery and Paint Branch and won every match in straight sets. Despite early success, the team must work consistently if it wants to do well in the playoffs. “Who plays well at the right time will determine who will win it all,” said Morris. So far, the team has been consistent in dominating its opponents. Compared with last year’s 5-2 opening record, this years’ 11-0 streak is very promising. “We’re looking to beat everybody,” said Morris, as the Lady Cats get into the heart of their schedule. The team has a key match against Damascus on Oct. 17 and potentially its biggest game of the season against reigning state champion Sherwood in

its season finale on Oct. 25. However, with a solid core of seniors and great team chemistry, the team is moving in the right direction as playoffs approach. “The seniors have really taken owner-ship of the team,” said Morris. Seniors Stephanie Paul and Kristen Larrick, both William and Mary com-mits, along with seniors Gina Fischetti and Ivana Stojisavljevic and junior Brig-id Morris, round out the key starters for a team that is very deep at a number of positions. Paul said the team has played well up to this point and, along with the other seniors, has taken her game to the next level this season. According to Paul, the seniors realize this is their last year to make a differ-ence. The intensity the team brings to the floor each game starts in practice. The girls push each other to get better and to be prepared for the games. A major concern coming into the year was that the Lady Cats would struggle to stay focused in their games against easier opponents. “[The team] has not play[ed] down to the level of other teams,” said Paul. If the team continues their dominance and performs well in the state playoffs, they could achieve their ultimate goal of a state championship.

All Photos by Sarah Schecker

Clockwise from top left: Senior middle blocker Corry Straathof blocks a hit, junior captain Brigid Morris serves, Morris hits through a block and senior libero Gina Fischetti passes to senior setter Stephanie Paul.

Senior wide reciever Courtney Caldwell slips a tackle.

Photo courtesy of Eggerton Campbell

Sports updates continued,

NFL opinions

Coaches: When coaches were athletes

Girls’ volleyball: Set up to spike down competitionPhoto by Wahid IshrarPhoto by Wahid Ishrar