This MonthWomen in STEM Re-search - Page 4Holton alumnae and faculty inspire studentsMarch Madness - Page 8Students and faculty direct al-legiance to specific colleges

ScribblerVol. 51, No. 6

Hateful Vandalism Plagues Bethesda Area, Culprit Unknown By Hailey Cayne

The Student Newspaper of the Holton-Arms School Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Middle School Actors Take the Stage at Folger TheaterBy noori SrivaStava

Continued ShakeSpeare page 3

At Holton, where students abide by the nine major school rules and the Honor Code, students would like to believe crimes are rarely committed in Bethesda, but what goes on be-yond the school doors does not always live up to Holton’s high expectations.

Detectives from the 2nd Dis-trict (Bethesda) of Montgomery County have been looking for leads in the several vandalism crimes (close to Pyle Middle School) that occurred in Bethes-da’s Woodhaven neighborhood after midnight on February 17.

Around 3:15 am, police re-sponded to a call on Melody Lane, where a vehicle was spray painted black with images of profanity.

A nearby police car was also covered in black spray-painted swastikas and anti-gay comments

This MonthMother-Daughter Tea - Page 3Senior reflectionsNational Museum of Health and Medicine - Page 5Students hold human heart

The Middle School Holton/Landon production of Julius Cae-sar will take the stage at the Fol-ger Theater on March 18th. The performance is part of Folger Shakespeare Library’s Second-ary School Shakespeare Festi-val, which occurs March 18th to 22nd and 25th to 26th.

“This is the seventh time in the last eight years that Holton has taken a play to the Folger Sec-ondary School Shakespeare Fes-tival. Starting with 2006, we’ve presented A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, Mac-beth, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and now Julius Caesar,” explained Landon Director Fred Zirm.

He continued, “It’s been especially gratifying that some years the professional theater people who critique the shows don’t even realize we’re not a high school.”

The program will feature fif-teen to twenty-five minute per-formances from seven schools within the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area.

“Although the festival is not a competition for some sort of ranking, they do recognize ex-cellence in performance, and we have garnered more than our share of awards, both for individual performers and for

Last It’s Academic Match Featured Great Comeback By lindSay Cayne

“The game was one of the most exciting I’ve ever seen,” Bob Tupper, history teacher and It’s Academic advisor, said of the It’s Academic team play-offs on Saturday, March 2nd, at NBC4 Studios.

The three girls on the team, Kayla Moffett ’14, Katie Kirk ’13, and Alexandra Berthiaume ’13, were up against two all-male teams from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD and Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, VA.

According to The Guinness Book of World Records, It’s Academ-ic has been running longer than any other quiz show. The show features hard-working, extreme-ly intellectual individuals and allows for students’ academic achievements to be praised.

Many Holton students and teachers alike gathered in the studio at 3:00 pm to cheer the team on and show their school spirit. The Walt Whitman Drum-line members brought their drums along to keep the crowd bouncing through the breaks. “It revved up the audience!” Eng-lish teacher Marsha Scherbel ex-claimed.

During the microphone test, Holton students told jokes rath-er than counting. “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Kirk asked.

“Emerson would answer: the chicken didn’t cross it; he tran-scended it,” Moffett said while giggles burst from the audience.

“In the hours leading up to the game, I felt a little nervous, but I tried to relax. Yet as soon as we arrived at the studio, I sud-denly felt very excited and eager to play,” Moffett said.

After the testing rituals, the game officially began. Mof-fett described, “We got off to a somewhat slow start but later found our rhythm, especially in the visual round. Going into

the Grab Bag round, we were down 75 points, but I didn’t give up hope. The Grab Bag can really be a game-changer. We took the lead from Whitman twice. With a few seconds left in the game, we were in the lead by five points. Then, Whitman buzzed in at the last second and answered cor-rectly, gaining the lead and win-ning the game.”

Although the game did not end in the way the Holton team members, students, and teachers had hoped, the play-off game proved to be, noted Berthiaume, “one of our best games this year. We played really hard, we made a great comeback, and I could not

Continued It’S academIc page 3

pHoto Cour-

in addition to profanity and male genitalia. Later that morning, on the block of Wahly Drive, police found a light post and landscap-ing rock painted with a swastika.

Officer Britta Thomas from the Montgomery Police Depart-ment aims to spread awareness of this vandalism case at schools, especially since vandalism can of-ten be a juvenile crime.

Thomas explained, “We wanted to let high schools in the area know about the incident in case any student was a witness or had heard about it through the grapevine and [is] willing to con-tact the police.”

The detective working on the

case stated that no one has con-tacted the police with any new information, despite a reward of-fer.

Officer Thomas stated, “The crime analysts who handle the Bethesda district are not aware of any significant trends or pat-terns of graffiti, vandalism, or hate-related crimes.”

A juvenile arrested for van-dalism is first sent to the Depart-ment of Juvenile Services, where officers then question him/her and his/her parents. Afterward, explained Offier Thomas, “one of two things can happen. The juvenile can be referred to the state attorney’s office to go to

court, or the juvenile’s case can be sent ‘in house,’ where he/she can participate in educational programs. In this particular case, it is likely that, if juveniles were involved, Juvenile Services would get the case first and review it and determine it ‘in house.’”

After hearing about the van-dalism crime, Barbara Samaniego ’13 stated, “Bethesda is very safe. You feel pretty safe walking around alone - even at night…It’s a little surprising for Bethesda, but it doesn’t make me feel physi-cally unsafe.”

Delancey Wu ’13 also re-marked on the crime, “I feel like this is just one of the many wake-up calls of today. Sure the world has improved a lot, but hate is still out there and being expressed. Thankfully no one got hurt, but this kind of vandalism still con-cerns me not in terms of safety, but in terms of the kinds of people out there. Of course there

will always be hateful people, but we as a society can always reach more people and, as cliché and cheesy as it sounds, make the world a better and safer place.”

Julia Peiperl ’13 added, “Hate crimes involving vandalism don’t make me feel unsafe so much as they just make me sad…It’s sad that people still harbor anti-gay and racist opinions like that, act-ing out on them to scare other people instead of figuring out how to reconcile their outdated prejudices to the real, changing world.”

Detectives are asking any-one with information about these crimes to contact the 2nd District Investigative Section at 301-657-0112 or email a tip to BISTips@montgomerycoun-tymd.gov. Tipsters may remain anonymous. A cash reward of up to $2000 is available for infor-mation that leads to the arrest of the individual(s) responsible.

pHoto CourteSy george WaSHington univerSitypHoto CourteSy Kayla Moffett

pHoto CourteSy offiCer Britta tHoMaS

The final It’s Academic match took place on Saturday, March 2nd. Holton and Landon middle school performers will take the stage of the Folger Theater on March 18th.

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Letters to the Editor and opinion col-umns are the expressed opinion of the author and not of The Scribbler and its editorial board or advisor.

The Scribbler welcomes letters, which should be e-mailed to the Editor-in-Chief atAngelina.DiPaolo.2013@holton-arms.edu

The Scribbler cannot publish anony-mous letters, or anything deemed libel-ous, obscene, or in poor taste.

Rights are reserved to postpone, edit, or withhold from publication anything that does not meet specifications.

The opinions conveyed in The Scribbler are not those of the Holton-Arms fac-ulty or administration.

Scribbler2 OPINION March 20, 2013

Editor-in-Chief.....Angelina DiPaolo

Managing Editors........Zahra Husain Saachi Nangia

Layout Editors........Lindsay Cayne Susannah Bane

News Editor...............Hailey Cayne Assistant News.......Noori Srivastava

Spread Editors.........Allie Greenberg Jennifer Guo

Features Editor.....Tiffany OnyejiakaAssist. Features...Anya Lilaoonwala

Sports Editor................Leila Anduze

A&E Editor.............Cheyenne CooteAssistant A&E........Noori Srivastava

Copy Editor...............Isabel Cabezas

Photography Editor....Saachi Nangia

Cartoonistand Graphic Artist.......Delancey Wu

Advisor.........................Maggie Spak

Before I delve in to my argu-ment, I feel it necessary to state that I love to read. I have fond memories of snuggling under my covers when my light was supposed to be off, flashlight nestled under my chin, desper-ately attempting to muffle the sound of page turns.

When I think of those times, I do not focus on the smell of the book or the feel of the pages. I am instead drawn to the intri-cacy of the plot, the suspense of the twists and turns, and the beauty of the words. This is why I am not ashamed to admit that as a voracious reader I am a full supporter of the e-book.

Many times when I mention my Kindle, some look at me with condescension and say that they “love to read real books.” That’s

“Real Books” vs. e-books: No Time for Snobbery

Choosing the Right SaladBy Delancey Wu

nice; I like to read real books, too. For me, however, a “real book” is filled with substance, merit, and insight. In my definition of a “real book,” the medium of pub-lication never comes into play.

I understand that some may possess a nostalgic desire to ex-perience the feel of a book be-neath their fingers, so let me ex-plain why I find the positives of e-books to outshine the physical nature of “real books.” First of all, if you want to read a recently published book, it is unlikely it will be already either released in paperback or in the library.

Your final alternative is then to purchase the hardback copy. On a babysitter’s salary, this can become costly. E-books, howev-er, tend to stay around the $6 to $10 range, which is much cheaper

than a $15 to $20 hardback. But even if money isn’t a fac-

tor for you, it probably is for an aspiring author.

If an author published a hardback book, her royalties would range from about 10 to 15%. The standard royalty for an e-book rests between 20 to 50%.

Additionally, another op-tion for authors now is the self-publishing industry. This avenue gives authors the ability to cut out the middle-man altogether (the publisher) and instead publish directly through, for example, the Kindle Direct Publishing plat-form.

In this case, royalties will start at least 35% and may grow higher based on sales. In 2011, crime author John Locke be-

came the first independently published author to sell over 1 million e-books, and though he will now sign with Simon & Schuster, he was at least able to make a name for himself and his work on his own.

As I cannot hate a fel-low reader, I do not possess some ardent dislike for those who are, in my opinion, “book snobs.” I do encourage them, however, to give e-books an-other shot.

I understand e-books are not for everyone, but just as music evolved from sheet mu-sic to records to cassettes to CDs to iTunes, books are un-dergoing a similar transforma-tion, so why not evolve along with them and keep up with the times?

As RA elections approach, I think back on the last several years to all the speeches I’ve lis-tened to and all the ballots I’ve seen.

And now as a senior, I think a lot about the Holton I’m leav-ing behind and the place I want it to be.

I don’t remember a lot of content of speeches. In fact, I can really only tell you what one of them was about. But I can certainly recall what kind of impression each one gave me. And a lot of times, I was disap-pointed.

This feeling was not be-cause I disagreed with the peo-ple speaking or didn’t like the speeches, but I often felt they didn’t capture the girls giving them.

Let me touch on funny

speeches for a minute. I love people who make me laugh, but I often think funny speeches are a mask.

I, and I’m sure others, get lost in the humor and lose track of the content of the speech and of the speaker’s character. It’s good to make people laugh. In fact, thank you for laughing at yourself; it’s a great and much ap-preciated quality.

But I worry when I hear peo-ple saying, “Her speech was the funniest, so I’m voting for her.” We have to remember why exactly the speech was funny?

We should understand the person’s depth of character and reliability as a student leader more before we circle her name on a ballot. The same is true even for a serious speech.

Last year, I distinctly remem-

ber an underclassman mention-ing to me that she wanted to run a friend for an RA position be-cause the friend thought that the school uniform served as one of the most important school rules to enforce strictly.

I’ll pointedly choose to keep my remarks to myself on this matter, but I will say that I did wonder about why a person felt so strongly about the rule.

Many of us feel differently about varying school rules, but I wanted to know of a personal connection or real reason for why she cared.

So then I spent a long time wondering if the candidates even know why they feel so strong-ly about the rules. That year I expected speeches that genu-inely expressed opinions on the school system and revealed true

thoughts. But I still haven’t re-ally gotten what I’m looking for. Instead, more superficial or even silly speeches remain.

I wonder, then, how stu-dent government can really work properly. I believe leaders are supposed to listen to others and advocate for their beliefs, but they should also be able to analyze what others tell them and figure out what is right on their own.

If you get on student gov-ernment and just agree with ev-eryone all the time, what’s the point of being there? Every-thing will be exactly the same without you because you’re not contributing any of your own thoughts.

So this year, when I vote, I hope to leave Holton with a set of leaders who are not only

honest but also confident in them-selves.

A successful leader can’t just listen blindly to anyone: not a class-mate and not a teacher.

You most definitely should listen to both; that’s why you were elected, but those who take every-thing with a grain of salt will al-ways be one step ahead, and isn’t that where a leader is supposed to be?

Make Your Speeches Matter

3NEWSMarch 20, 2013

Mother-Daughter Tea “Brings Families and Friends Together”

froM It’S academIc page 1

On Sunday, March 10th, eighty-one seniors and moth-ers gathered in the Simms Re-ception Room for the annual Mother-Daughter Tea.

Tea organizer Molly La-Rochelle, mother of Anisa ’13, emphasized, “The mission of the tea was to gather people together and have a beauti-ful afternoon of mothers and daughters spending time to-gether. Instead of a sit-down tea at tables, our goal was to create an environment where people could mingle.”

She continued, “Bringing families and friends together served as a key element of the tea.” Over 160 mothers and daughters gathered on the bal-cony outside the cafeteria on the warm day to take pictures and chat.

With the tea serving as one of Holton’s most cher-ished traditions, many seniors anticipated the event’s many features. “The mother-daugh-ter video was probably my fa-vorite part of the tea. It was so cute to see how much we have all grown up,” said senior Grace Ann Brew. One of the main facets of the day always includes a presentation of pic-tures of mothers and daugh-ters from past to present.

Senior Aarushi Puri added, “This year has been extremely chaotic, so I knew that it would be nice to take time to relax and spend time with our moms and friends.”

Senior Ayesha Lilaoon-wala agreed, saying, “I looked forward to having a good time with my friends and getting a chance to talk to some of my friends’ moms who I hadn’t seen in such a long time. I think it is nice that we have traditions like the Mother-Daughter Tea and Father-Daughter Dinner. They are sweet reminders of memo-ries from lower school traditions such as the Father-Daughter Field Day.”

Many girls felt sentimental about the tea signifying the end of the year. Lilaoonwala contin-ued, “As we get older, we start moving away from spending time with our parents, instead shifting toward doing things with our friends. Therefore, traditions like these encourage us to celebrate our transition to college with our families and friends.”

She continued, “Holton has been part of my life since third grade, and I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like not putting on my plaid every morning.”

Senior Lindsey Thaker said, “I’m not ready to fly the nest

yet.” Lindsay Cayne ’13 added,

“The Mother-Daughter Tea really put my time left here at Holton into perspective. The tea is a special event that hap-pens at the end of the year for seniors. The Mother-Daughter Tea made me realize that my ten years here are really almost over!”

When the students and mothers walked into the Adal-man Gallery on the day of the tea, they were surrounded by 8x10 black-and-white baby portraits of the senior class.

Senior Austin Butler said, “I could guess a lot of the se-nior baby pictures. They were so cute. It’s amazing to think that we were ever that small,

and now we’re all about to go our separate ways.” The por-traits will be up until Spring Break and for the week of graduation.

Once the Simms Recep-tion Room opened, a Moth-er-Daughter video displayed young and recent pictures of girls and their mothers. Senior Leila Anduze said, “I thought it was a sweet way to start the event.”

An additional activity in-cluded mother-daughter letter writing. The letters are to be sent next year around Valen-tine’s Day to remind Holton students of their mothers at home.

Butler said, “My favorite part was writing a letter to my

ensemble work. I would like to think…that our reputation has also secured us a place in the fes-tival all but one year that we have applied,” expressed Zirm.

The festival serves as a learning experience for the par-ticipants because they have a chance to observe a variety of Shakespeare plays and improve their acting skills.

The actors wait in anticipa-tion for their debut in the presti-gious forum.

“I am really excited to be performing on the same stage that professionals perform on. It is quite an experience and op-portunity,” said Rebecca Chan ’17, who plays a soothsayer.

“I hope to learn how to perform on a larger stage with a bigger audience. It will train my projection, annunciation, and acting skills,” added Chan.

Maryam Gilanshah ’17 said, “Being second to last to perform out of eight schools, I’m excited to see how other schools and students take on Shakespeare

be more proud of the team.” Tupper added, “The Holton

comeback was one of the best of all time. Whitman was just barely good enough and just barely far enough ahead to hang on; I’d love a rematch. Holton’s score in the final grab bag was more than the other two teams combined.”

Kirk said, “For my final It’s Academic game, this was the best way it could have possibly ended. We played a fiercely competitive final round, and, in the end, we couldn’t have played the last five minutes any better than we did.”

Teachers and students in the audience reacted to the game set-ting.

Scherbel finds “the only problem with being in the studio while the match is being filmed is that [she gets] so nervous.” In terms of the performance, Scherbel said, “I enjoy the energy from the crowd too, which you don’t have in your living room in front of the TV.”

Senior Nikky Grover also at-tended the live taping and said,

froM ShakeSpeare page 1

mom. I got to sit down and think of all the reasons why I really love her.”

Anduze added, “Even though our moms won’t see the [letters] for a year, it was a great way to capture the mo-ment. This is definitely an event we’re all going to cherish and remember after we gradu-ate.”

There were over 500 sweets and over 700 tea sandwiches, which were all devoured by the end of the afternoon.

“My favorite was the choc-olate frosted cream pastry!” said senior Rodina Dereje. There were at least eight differ-ent kinds of tea forte, includ-ing Bombai Chai, Earl Grey, and Vanilla Orchid.

“It was too hot, so I had the water with fruit instead of tea. It was nice,” said Allie Greenberg ’13.

The next senior event will be the Father-Daughter Din-ner on April 21st. Thaker said, “I love the end-of-the-year tra-ditions. They are so important to the senior class and to all the other girls as well. It gives the underclassmen something to really look forward to, and it lets us know that we have to cherish each other because these traditions with each oth-er are coming to an end.”

By aliSon CoHen

“It was great to see that we were the only girls up on stage, and it made me proud that we stuck in the game and gave Whitman a run for their money! Holton really dis-played that men don’t necessarily have to dominate the academic fields.”

She continued, “It is really nice to see that Holton had the most people at the game; it is a real testament to how support-ive our community is. The light-hearted spirit of the It’s Academic team combined with cheering fans really made it a memorable event that I will definitely attend again.”

Getting to where the team is takes commitment. Three days a week these students come in at 7:00 am to “spend about three hours a week, most of it in simu-lated game situations,” Tupper said. During practices, the stu-dents work to learn “the facts that the It’s Academic producers tend to ask.”

Kirk said, “We memorize 50 to 100 facts called ‘greenies’ for each practice and are drilled on them first thing. Then we set

up buzzers and play practice games against Mr. Tupper, the alternates, and pre-recorded TV games.”

Tupper explained, “Those facts range from things that most students know to things that some students know to things that only It’s Academic team members know. The kind of team that you can see when the game airs in May is years in the making. Fortunately it’s really fun—for the players and for the coaches.”

Berthiume said, “Beyond all the random facts we learn, I think we bond a lot in practice. For me, It’s Academic was stress relief. It was playing a game I loved while being able to spout random facts and being sur-rounded by a group of really cool, smart, funny, amazing peo-ple (who actually laughed at my nerd-jokes).”

As a final note, Berthiume said, “For all the underclassmen: please check it out! Come to a practice or two this spring, and I promise you won’t regret it.”

and what I do to try and fulfill my role in Julius Caesar.”

Gilanshah said, “I love...submersing myself into William Shakespeare’s rich language and exploring my character.”

Zirm said, “It is great see-ing so many young people lov-ing theater and loving Shake-speare and having an amazing time both as actors and audience members.”

Zoe Chen ’17 stated, "I hadn’t actually participated in a play since third grade, so I en-joyed the rehearsals and my role. It is also something important to me because in order to make a play successful you have to work together with others.”

Gilanshah stated, “It is such a credit to all of our hard work throughout a small amount of time.”

She continued, “Although we wrapped up the show months ago, we all love this production so much that is a pleasure and honor to return and spread out love with other Shakespeare en-thusiasts alike.”

pHoto CourteSy SaaCHi nangia

At the Mother-Daughter Tea on March 10th, black-and-white baby por-traits of each senior lined the Adalman Gallery. They remained on display until the start of Spring Break.

By SuSannaH Bane

Minority of Women in STEM Presents Need for Math and ScienceIn recent years, teachers and

leaders across the country have encouraged women to enter into STEM jobs. STEM careers refer to those in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

The number of women in STEM careers is low and does not seem to be steadily increasing. According to a 2012 Forbes report, though women occupy 60% of all bachelor’s degrees, they only hold 20% of all bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science.

The disproportionate num-ber of women in STEM fields in-spired First Lady Michelle Obama to launch a campaign to encourage women to pursue STEM careers.

In September 2011, Obama noted that “if we’re going to out-innovate and out-educate the rest of the world, we’ve got to open doors for everyone. We need all hands on deck, and that means clearing hurdles for women and girls as they navigate careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.”

Obama supports women in

STEM careers to advance America as a whole and to better the lives of individual women.

Also according to Forbes, a woman in a STEM career earns roughly 33% more than her coun-terpart in the arts and humanities.

The reason for the lack of women in STEM is sometimes linked to inadequate support and encouragement in the early years. Stereotypical ideas of boys suc-ceeding in math and science often surround young, school-age girls.

Many of the biggest technol-ogy names in the last decade, such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg and Steve Jobs, are all men, a fact that leaves girls with a lack of female role models.

Additionally, the number of women in key leadership positions within many prominent technology companies is dropping.

Though women may know it is possible for them to pursue a STEM career, the lack of familiar-ity with such an idea can subcon-sciously deter girls from assuming a more “male-orientated” career; thus, some believe it is normal for

girls to find math or science chal-lenging.

At an all-girls school such as Holton, however, students tend to feel encouraged to pursue STEM careers. In Lower School, girls begin their work with technology in fifth grade by receiving iPads, which they are then taught how to use effectively and constructively.

Students also participate in a Design Technology class, where engineering and construction are key aspects.

Upper School brings a pleth-ora of science and math classes offerings. From Engineering to Computer Science to Statistics, students have the option to pur-sue a variety of science and math-courses.

Senior Alexandria Berthiau-me, who participated in Holton’s Independent Science Research Program last summer, said that “Holton gives us more than am-ple opportunity to pursue STEM fields.”

She added, “[I] probably wouldn’t have been able to find an internship in a lab this summer

without Holton’s help.” Amanda West ’16 believes

Holton encourages STEM through the “many different courses available to us as stu-dents” and found that her “Biol-ogy Honors and science classes from previous years encouraged [her] to pursue a career in STEM.”

Sophomore Caroline Mc-Taggart said, “Holton provides endless opportunities to promote STEM careers, and Holton’s faculty assists students in unbi-ased career advice. Alumnae also prove strong role models for our community.”

When it comes to positive role models, McTaggart finds that “strong women comprise our faculty’s science department as well.”

Recent Holton alumnae have entered into STEM careers. Af-ter receiving a PhD in Cell Biol-ogy, Sarah Goodwin is working on a project called iBioSeminars, which consist of free, online sci-ence talks by leading scientists.

Goodwin shared, “Many leading female scientists partici-

pate in the talks, a fact I greatly appreciate as a Holton grad!” In addition, alum Jennifer Stern works at NASA and is involved with Astrobiology and Geo-chemistry on Mars.

Amy Goodwin works in a creative STEM career as a soft-ware engineer associate in the Interactive Design and Engineer-ing Department at Walt Disney. Goodwin gets to focus on inter-active projects in Disney.

Liesel Copeland herself does not work in a STEM field but is a program evaluator on various projects to increase the number of underrepresented minorities obtaining graduate degrees in STEM fields.

Copeland has found that there is “certainly a need for bet-ter access to and promotion of math and science at the K-12 level in many communities.”

Though some may lack role models, Holton girls are sur-rounded by upperclassmen, alumnae and teachers who en-courage them to pursue any ca-reer.

By SaaCHi nangia

Plans for Math Department Allow for Growth in STEM Fields Opportunities in the STEM

fields are prevalent throughout the Holton campus. Plans for the 2013-2014 school year ensure that these opportunities will con-tinue to grow.

Following a successful pi-lot program, the fifth and sixth grade students began using iPads in lieu of laptops this school year. Lower School students rely on their iPads as note-taking tools, particularly in math classes, to access their textbooks, annotate, and utilize the variety of apps.

Director of Lower School Patrick Bane explained, “The teachers in fifth grade are huge fans of iPads; they find them dynamic, creative, user-friendly, light, and easy to put away.”

On the other hand, the sixth grade teachers miss some fea-tures of a tablet, such as the abil-ity to open multiple screens and more ease in writing with a stylus. Alicia Gram, Chair of the Math Department, who teaches a sixth grade math class, said, “The big problem is that there aren’t any good educational apps available.

Geometry sketchpad and Forum [a tool for statistics] don’t exist on the iPad.”

Of iPads, Bane said, “I know these devices are powerful learn-ing tools, but I also know that they can be distracting.” Thus, as the iPad program continues, the Lower School administration will “work very closely with par-ents to ensure the iPads are used appropriately for learning,” says Bane.

In Upper School, there are several courses that allow stu-dents to develop their interests in the STEM fields.

For example, Computer Pro-gramming and Robotics, which was made a semester course for the first time this year, teaches students to develop technical skills. Working with two pro-grams, ICGUI and MATLAB, students employ logic and prob-lem-solving to create functions to solve challenges.

Amanda Meltsner ’13, who took the course in the fall, re-called, “We used two different programming languages, which was confusing...but it was very interesting!”

The science department is also changing the sequence of science courses: all freshman will now take Physics instead of Biol-ogy.

Department Chair Carver explained, “The skills and con-tent learned in Physics will more naturally lead into Chemistry, and likewise, students will benefit from having Chemistry before a Biology course with a molecular focus.”

In addition, an Introduc-

tion to Engineering course is also available for students. This project-based course teaches Engineering through modeling, problem-solving, and document-ing.

Although the Science De-partment will not be adding any courses for the next school year, both the Computer Program-ming and Engineerning courses offer unique ways to explore STEM fields.

The Math Department also plans on further developing the peer-to-peer tutoring program, which began last school year. This year the system was changed to be one-on-one as opposed to having students drop by the math office for extra help. Gram said, “My hope is to have the program grow with this system of part-nering students one-on-one…Hopefully the program will grow next year because we have more tutors.”

Gram also seeks to “contin-ue to grow and update the cur-riculum.”

The schedule changes for next school year, which include a 90-minute class period, provide

the Math Department with many opportunities that Gram is look-ing forward to using. She said, “We’re thinking about more lab-type activities in classes. Students have the opportunity to explore the functions they’re learning.”

These activities will be simi-lar to the two math Academic Flex Day periods from earlier this year.

Those programs included in-troducing students to their graph-ing calculators with an emphasis on “what each button means” as well as on experiments. For example, students employed Hooke’s Law in an experiment where they added weights incre-mentally to a spring. The girls then graphed the data and used their calculators to model a graph to fit it.

The Math Department also aims to use the 90-minute peri-od for other hands-on activities, such as using geometry sketch-pad in Geometry classes. For Gram, “the goal for next year is to come up with a variety of things to try out in the 90-minute periods” and see “what works, what doesn’t work.”

“Opening Doors” to Women in STEM

pHoto CourteSy Jenni Jung

Senior Alex Bohannon has embraced one of the many STEM opportunities through Robotics.

“Opening Doors” to Women in STEM

By Jennifer guo

“Interest is everything” in Robotics and Chemathon TeamsFor certain Holton students,

spring not only ushers in warmer weather but also entails hours of programming codes and practic-ing laboratory experiments. For members of the Robotics Club and the Chemathon teams, the second half of the school year becomes a busy period as each group prepares for its respective upcoming competitions.

“Interest is everything,” said Christopher Lee, Engineering and Physics teacher and club ad-visor, about joining the Robotics Club. “There’s more to the club than just programming; we need builders, people to document the process, and more.”

During competition season, the group meets on Friday nights and Saturdays. The club is one of the few Holton clubs that re-quires extensive time outside of school.

The efforts of the Robot-ics Club have traditionally cul-minated in a tournament called Botball, which will kick off this year on Saturday, April 20th. Robotics members spend two to three months programming, constructing, and documenting two autonomous robots.

“What I like about this [com-petition] is that it is completely designed for the students, putting

the emphasis on them and giving them the chance to succeed and fail,” said Lee. As the advisor, Lee is not allowed to enter the arena at Botball and must watch from the side as students prepare their robots.

“Holton is one of the small-er teams at Botball, and we face tough competition from teams that are very intense, some of which meet three times a week,” said co-captain Jenni Jung ’13.

Often, the Holton team also stands as the only all-girls team competing. “Our main objective for the competition is to gain the experience of building and pro-gramming robot,” Jung added.

This year, the tournament focuses on the Mars Rover mis-sion by challenging students to create robots that can transport “rock samples” and stack rockets.

Students use a programming language called KISS-C to feed instructions into a CBC unit, which represents the “brain” of the robot.

As part of the challenge of constructing autonomous ro-bots, students must learn to code programs that allow the robots to react to outside stimuli according to their own sensors rather than relying on human controls.

“Generally, programming and building go hand in hand

when you’re dealing with sen-sors and parts since if they don’t match up then the robot won’t work well,” said Beverly Sihsob-han ’14.

On tournament day, students will initially enter their robots into seeding rounds, where each team will play unopposed.

“It’s just individual rounds, where you try to get as many points as possible, and that’s how you place in the afternoon rounds,” explained Sihsobahn. Later in the day, schools may participate in double elimination or alliance rounds depending on their previous performances.

Another competition in April, the annual Chemathon, will take place on April 27th. Holton’s Chemathon partici-pants practice constantly in the months leading up to this date. The Chemathon is a Chemistry competition that invites school teams in the DC/MD/VA area to partake in various events, such as lab experiments and chemical jeopardy.

This year, Holton has assem-bled two teams, one with Hon-ors Chemistry students for the Level I division and one with AP Chemistry students for the Level II division. “I wanted to par-ticipate because I thought that [Chemathon] would help me un-

derstand Chemistry better,” said Christina Stevens ’15, a Level I team member. “I also like being able to interact and compete with other schools.”

Maya Sorini ’14, member of the Level II team, explained, “[I joined because] I wanted to prove to myself that I was ca-pable of putting out the kind of work that Chemathon expected.”

Xu Duan, Chemistry teach-er and team advisor, noted that “originally, it was more of a problem of trying to get people to join and be excited about the competition.”

In contrast, he said, this year, the second one in which Holton has participated in the event, “it was much easier to get girls to join.” Each division in the com-petition contains twenty-four teams with exactly six mem-bers that rotate through various events on competition day.

Events include “Make My Faraday,” which asks students to plate a certain amount of metal onto a chemical cathode, and “Chemysteries,” which chal-lenges participants to identify six to eight unnamed solutions. The team with the most points accrued at the conclusion of the competition receives the top prize.

“I know from my experience

last year that the other teams participating are well trained and that they will put up a tough fight, but I am confident that both our teams this year will rank very high,” said Madeleine Hyde ’14, captain of this year’s Level II team. To prepare, students of-ten train in the Chemistry room, practice Chemistry labs, and re-view equations. “I enjoy that it is a team effort where everyone’s role is important,” said Hyde.

“I’m not as nervous as I was last year, but it’s scary to think that [other] kids have had two years of Chemistry too,” admit-ted Sorini, referring to partici-pants in the Level II division.

Both the Robotics and Che-mathon teams have allowed stu-dents to exercise a passion in the sciences and have challenged them to think competitively and utilize important problem-solv-ing skills.

“I think it is crucial that students learn about...robotics because of the different skills they can gain from it, like prob-lem solving and logic…I have learned a lot about working in a group, both as a team member and a leader,” said Jung.

“Girls can be just as good as anyone else,” said Duan. “These competitions are great for our students.”

By noori SrivaStava

Students Explore the National Museum of Health and Medicine“It was surreal, interesting,

and unbelievable at the same time. It took me a minute to re-alize I was actually holding a real heart,” said junior Eryn Terry.

On the morning of March 4th, eleventh graders explored the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Science teacher Cheryl Hansen organized the trip during F Day Flex Time.

Students had the oppor-tunity to not only hold human hearts but also to enhance their learning of subjects inside the classroom such as skeletal devel-opment and other aspects of the human body.

Exhibits included the evolu-tion of medical advances such as microscopes, plastic surgery, and x-ray imaging.

Students also observed pre-served body parts and tissue af-fected by different diseases such

as Small Pox, Elephantitis, and Typhoid.

After examining the dis-plays, Maya Sorini commented, “It is very interesting because you do not get to see the ef-fects of Smallpox and Leprosy on skin in everyday life. You only hear or read about the diseases, but seeing what these diseases actually do makes it more accessible.”

Established during the Civil War as the Army Medi-

cal Museum, the institution features the bullet that killed President Lincoln and frag-ments of his skull.

The museum also explores Neurology by explaining the effects and giving statistics about Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), which is suffered by war veterans. Students could gather around an encasement holding a suspended preserved brain with lengthy nerve cells dan-gling from the Medulla Ob-

longata. Jordan Lee said, “It was very educational. My favorite part was looking at preserved aborted babies that were conjoined and had Spina Bifida. The display on TBI was very informational as well because I learned people could get it from playing sports.”

Juniors also examined a Vir-tual Anatomy Laboratory, which showed items, such as the iron lung, that were not able to be displayed physically in the inter-nal rooms. Through this virtual

medium, Sydney Poretsky saw President James Garfield’s spi-nal column bullet wound and “enjoyed it because [she] is inter-ested in history.”

Though some found the trip useful and fascinating, others felt as though it was too much to take in because it was so graphic. “The displays made me nau-seous,” said Elizabeth Harris.

Bridget Gross also com-mented that a tour by a curator through each display would have made the long period of time more structured.

“Overall, it was an enlight-ening experience,” said Susan-nah Bane. “I think that Holton should definitely include more of such trips in our coursework. Hands-on experiences such as these are what make science es-pecially interesting. In all hon-esty, in which other subject can you hold a human heart?”

pHotoS CourteSy MediCalMuSeuM.Mil

At the National Museum of Health and Medicine, juniors had the opportunity to observe the bullet that killed President Lincoln (left) and explore Neurol-ogy and the impact of Traumatic Brain Injury (right).

FEATURES March 20, 20136By ZaHra HuSain

Class Trips to Plays “Pique Student Interest”

“It was a completely new perspective on Romeo and Ju-liet,” said Olivia Thomas ’16. On Thursday, February 21 and 22, the ninth grade ventured to Signature Theater in Arlington to watch William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet while the upper-classmen traveled to the Hispanic Gala Theater to see La Casa de Los Espiritus.

For Romeo and Juliet, the the-ater presented a new adaptation of the original story between the two lovers.

The Signature Theater placed a twist on the play in featuring the love story between two men. Inshira Mohi-ud-din ’16 said, “I thought it was really interesting. The acting was excellent, and it was cool to see a different take on the play.”

“I thought it was really inter-esting because there was a dou-ble-meaning to the play: the orig-inal story and then the story of the boys,” said Dora Segall ’16.

Thomas added, “I thought it was interesting that through comparing the forbidden love of Romeo and Juliet to love be-tween two gay students, they in-terpreted the play to fit current issues.”

The following day, the junior and senior classes traveled to Hispanic Gala Theater to see Isa-

Student-led Book Drive Benefits Community

On February 27, members of Holton’s handbell choir per-formed several pieces at the school’s first handbell concert with Landon.

Together, the groups played “Animato,” “Prelude on Thaxt-ed,” and Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida.”

In addition, Holton per-formed junior Kayla Moffett’s arrangement of “Rolling in the Deep.” Many students named “Rolling in the Deep” and “Viva la Vida” as their favorite pieces.

According to junior Perry Eisemann, “Our solo piece was ‘Rolling in the Deep’ and it sounded really cool. Kayla actu-ally wrote the music for it, so that made the piece really special.”

Junior Cecily Spindel added, “‘Rolling in the Deep’ is a pretty hard piece, and we’d been work-ing on it for awhile, but the fin-ished product was definitely worth all our hard work.”

Aarushi Puri ’13 said, “The concert with Landon was an interesting experience because

By anya lilaoonWala and angelina dipaolo

First Holton-Landon Handbell Concert “Goes Beyond Expectations”

we got to see how different the teaching and conducting styles were at Landon than at Holton. In the end, the concert turned out to be a great success as we did an amazing job playing ‘Roll-ing in the Deep.’

Moffett said, “Last year, we played ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ which was arranged by a former Holton student, and I absolutely fell in love with it. So, I thought it would be fun to arrange a song for us to play this year. I picked ‘Rolling in the Deep’ because it has gained popularity recently and is a crowd favorite. It turned out great, beyond my expecta-tions!”

She continued, “It was so cool watching my idea come to

life...Overall, I think that the joint Holton-Landon concert was great practice for the Handbell WISH Festival in April.”

It was the first time Holton performed with Landon rather than in a single choir. Spindel said, “It was a different experi-ence playing with Landon…be-cause both schools had to work on getting the timing of the notes exactly right.”

Junior Elizabeth Harris said, “I really enjoyed playing in the concert, but overall I do not think the choir benefited from the experience. Since the Holton choir only meets once or twice a week compared to Landon meeting every day, we felt a lot less prepared, especially for joint

bel Allende’s La Casa de Los Es-piritus (The House of Spirits), a play about the political revolution in Chile. The play begins with the tragic death of the daughter of a conservative senate candidate after she drinks poison.

Her younger sister Clara has a supernatural ability to see the future, but after the death of her sister, she becomes mute for many years.

Eventually, Clara marries her sister’s former fiancé, and the two move to the country, where he runs the most successful ha-cienda in Chile. Their daughter, Blanca, falls in love with a work-er, Pedro, who also happens to be a revolutionary liberal.

The Spanish 5 Class watched the film prior to seeing the play. While both had similarities, many of the students felt that the play was more powerful because all the turmoil, crime, and suffer-ing seemed so real. Yet because the scenes were taking place live, a lot of the most graphic details were overlooked.

Senior Gabriella Chen com-mented, “The movie was a lot more sexual, and in comparison, the play seemed pretty PG.”

In the movie, Blanca nar-rates the story through looking through her mom’s extensive dia-ries that documented their entire lives. In the play, Blanca’s daugh-ter Alba tells the tale through the

journals. Also in Spanish 5, Lilaoon-

wala shared, “I liked how they projected the text from the diary on the stage. I also found it inter-esting how the play was in Alba’s voice as opposed to Blanca’s in the movie.”

While the Spanish 5 students were well versed in Allende’s work, many juniors and seniors had never heard of the play be-fore.

A week before going to the theater, the World Languages Department organized an assem-bly to teach students about the Chilean Revolution.

Student government leaders were “kidnapped” in the assem-bly to demonstrate the hostil-ity toward the liberal opposition during the election of Salvator Allende. The assembly was well received and piqued student cu-riosity.

Senior Isabel Cabezas said, “I enjoyed the background pre-sentation at school because even though I am Chilean, I don’t have a good idea of what happened during the Pinochet regime. The representation really sparked my interest, especially since a few of my family members were high up in the Chilean Navy. Fortunately, my dad was studying in France at the time, so he didn’t experience as much of the torment during that time.”

By iSaBel CaBeZaS

pieces.”She added, “Working with

other choirs and conductors is always interesting because some-times they have been practicing a piece at a different tempo, which we discovered while practicing with them.”

Junior Perry Eisemann said, “Playing with Landon [was inter-esting] because we each rehearsed the songs a different way, and in the two-hour rehearsal before, we figured out how to come to-gether and make the songs sound good.”

“Viva la Vida” was very popular and had an extra special element in it because sophomore Noelle Dayal added a new sound in playing the drums.

Although Dayal “was a lit-tle bit nervous in the center of the stage playing in front of a crowd,” she said, “Playing the drums for ‘Viva la Vida’ was re-ally interesting, and with the two handbell choirs playing together, it all sounded really good.”

Eisemann added, “The piece sounds good on its own, but with

Noelle playing the drums every-thing really came together.”

The Landon and Holton groups met to practice for the first time an hour before the con-cert.

Landon senior Marc Blatt shared, “I really enjoyed the op-portunity to play with Holton’s handbell group. It just so hap-pened that both groups were planning on playing Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida,’ so we performed it jointly with a Holton girl on the drums. Our rendition went over extremely well with the au-dience.”

Landon junior Ozair Ah-mad added, “This concert was challenging yet very enjoyable as playing with other groups always makes a concert more interesting. Playing with Holton’s extremely talented group made our concert much better, and everyone hopes to continue these joint perfor-mances in the future.”

Spindel “hopes that we will be able to play together again, and I am so grateful I had such a unique experience!”

On Tuesday January 29th, junior Kayla Moffett, freshman class President Olivia Thomas, and Vice President Caroline McDonald held a unique book drive and baked goods exchange, which collected over 1,300 books and over $200 to benefit Mary’s Center.

The Center’s mission focuses on providing health care, educa-tion, and social services to those underprivileged.

The three girls collaborated because Moffett, who is involved with Mary’s Center, “noticed that they needed more books,” and, with Community Service Coor-dinator Ambria Archibald’s help, discovered that the freshmen class planned to hold a book drive and bake sale.

McDonald said that the freshmen “wanted to do a type of fundraiser to help with educa-tion.” She continued, “Bake sales always seemed successful, but we really wanted to make ours a little different. Exchanging books in-stead of or in addition to cash seemed like a fun, new take on a popular concept.”

Others helped to make the exchange a success. The fresh-man class baked and brought in the entirety of goods. Un-like most drives, not just Upper Schoolers donated; the girls en-

couraged Middle Schoolers and parents to donate as well.

The girls accepted a varied selection of books geared to-ward pre-schoolers, school kids, and adults.

The exchange even received some bilingual books.

Thomas said, “Sometimes it’s hard to know exactly where your money is going, but if you donate books, you know some-one will benefit from them.”

McDonald agreed, com-menting, “Instead of just paying for a cookie and not knowing what your dollar was going to-wards, you could donate a book and know that someone else would enjoy it...Many people had books they needed to get rid of, so the book drive benefitted two sets of needs.”

Thomas thought paying with books would serve as especially beneficial because “it’s hard to bring in money every week for bake sales, but so many people have books that they will never read again.”

Moffett mentioned, “More people continued to donate books even weeks after the event, so [my mom and I] had to make several deliveries.”

She saw how appreciative the kids and parents at Mary’s Center were, so making additional deliv-eries became even more reward-ing.

pHoto CourteSy Holton-arMS

Junior Maddie Merkle played at the joint Handbells Concert with Landon on February 27.

7ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTMarch 20, 2013

USC Sings with UMD Women’s Choir in Memorial ChapelBy allie greenBerg

On Saturday, March 2nd, the Upper School Chorus and Elea-nor Roosevelt High School par-ticipated in the “Celebration of Women’s Voices” Festival at the University of Maryland (UMD).

The festival began with re-hearsals at Memorial Chapel at UMD. After Eleanor Roosevelt, the chorus practiced their pieces and had a clinic with Dr. Elpus, the assistant professor of Music Education at the University of Maryland and director of UMD’s Women’s Choir.

Maddie Krips ’14 “loved working with Dr. Elpus because he was lively and taught us new techniques to sound better.” She added, “I also loved singing in the Memorial Chapel because the sound resonated so much. In some aspects this type of acous-tics made it harder to sing, but the overall result was well worth it!”

After another round of re-hearsals, UMD’s Women’s Choir joined Holton and Eleanor Roo-sevelt to rehearse the combined piece “This is the Day,” com-posed by Gerald T. Smith. Junior Susannah Bane said, “We were given the experience to not only listen to but also collaborate with the UMD Women’s Choir and the choir instructor. Though we were not able to immediately do every-thing we learned in the clinic with Dr. Elpus, it gave us the ability to

take that information and work with it for future performances and practices.”

After a quick break for din-ner, the chorus changed for showtime. Eleanor Roosevelt performed first. Holton fol-lowed with “Cantate Domino,” composed by Heinrich Schutz and edited by Nancy Grundahl; “The Stars are with the Voyager” composed by Eleanor Daley; “Nada te Turbe,” composed by Joan Szymko; and “Go Where I Send Thee,” arranged by Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory. The repertoire represented music cre-ated by women, for women, and performed by women.

Senior Caitlin Murphy shared, “Working with a new conductor was an eye-opening experience because he had a fresh outlook on our repertoire and gave insightful and helpful tips. It was also fun to collabo-rate…and create a big, powerful sound.”

Sammi Stroman ’14 echoed, “Participating in the Celebration of Women’s Voices at UMD gave the Upper School Chorus a won-derful opportunity to hone some of our repertoire and to learn some new material. We also had the chance to learn from a UMD choral director and to hear two other all-women choruses per-form. Overall, it was a great op-portunity and a fun experience!”

Tucked away in the back streets of Bethesda lies a dia-mond in the rough: Guardado’s. The restaurant of Spanish cuisine was established in 2007 by El Sal-vadorian Chef Nicolas Guardado and his wife Reyna. Chef Guarda-do formerly worked at the nearby Jaleo, where he became the head chef.

The restaurant is perfect if you only want a bite to eat. Simi-larly to Jaleo, Guardado’s offers a variety of tapas, a small sampling dish that is somewhat like an ap-petizer. Great options include croquetas españolas, croquettes with ham and chicken infused with béchamel. You could also try portabelo a la parilla, a grilled portabello mushroom with goat cheese. The crispiness of the golden papas fritas makes this sampling addictive.

One can taste the ocean from the mussels, calamari, and tilapia in the Sopa de Mariscos. Guar-dado’s also offers cold tapas, such as ceviche, marinated tila-pia with lemon juice, onions, ci-lantro, jalapenos, and tomatoes. Less adventurous eaters can still find something to eat by ordering simple quesadillas, caesar salad, or a platter of assorted cheeses and apples.

Chef Guardado brings his Salvadorian heritage to the kitch-en through traditional and popu-lar dishes such as pupusas. The pupusa is a combination of a que-sadilla and empanada; it is a corn

Guardado’s Brings “Salvadorian Heritage to the Kitchen” By iSaBel CaBeZaS

ChatterboxWho wore your favoritedress at the Oscars?

flour tortilla filled with either Mozarella cheese or pork and cheese.

Definitely order a paella. Whichever one you order does not matter since all taste divine, but plan to wait for at least half an hour while the chefs craft it in the kitchen.

Turn the long wait into a positive experience by enjoying a few plates of tapas. The menu says that each paella serves two to three people, but it would be wise to share it among four to five, not only because you will have already eaten a few tapas but because you will also bring your share of the cost down.

The paellas range from $27.95 to $35.95. The paella de vegatales, filled just with veg-etables, is the least expensive while the paella casera, with vegetables, chicken, chorizo, and shrimp, costs the most. You will not go wrong in ordering a paella; the flavors are so rich.

If you are not interested in paella, you can either order

multiple tapas, or choose from entrees featuring steak, pork, or chicken.

The menu includes salmon, trout, and tilapia. Common sides include mashed potatoes, vegetables, and rice. Again, one cannot go wrong! If you still have space left, try a rich flan with oranges, or the famous and creamy tres leches cake.

At night, the lighting is a bit dark, partially due to the lack of windows in the narrow area. Af-ter your first bite, however, the delicious and exciting flavors will distract you from the envi-ronment.

In the daylight, the warm yellow walls and open space in the main room make for a com-fortable setting. Make sure to admire the wall fresco and other small paintings throughout the space.

Guardado’s is located at 4918 Del Ray Ave Bethesda, MD 20814, and one can make reservations online via www.opentable.com.

pHoto CourteSy guardadoSniCo.CoM

Jessica Chastain

Jennifer Lawrence Jennifer Hudson

Reese WitherspoonpHotoS CourteSy BaZaar.CoM

SPORTS March 20, 2013

“March Madness” Popularity Stems from Loyalty and Pride of Fans By aSHley Willard

Power Up: Water or Gatorade?By leila anduZe

It is easy for athletes to run toward Gatorade when looking for a quick thirst quencher. But is it actually worth all the sugar and added artificial flavors? Ad-vertising for Gatorade assures an increase in athletic talents. Ga-torade is filled with electrolytes that replenish the body after an arduous workout. In that respect, Gatorade does have its benefits.

Senior Jasmine Gatten men-tioned that, despite the fact that she would choose water over any energy drink, Gatorade would be her best pick. “I don’t nor-mally go for the energy drinks, but I don’t think Gatorade is all that bad. It can be somewhat healthy.” On the other hand, on Livestrong.com many athletic trainers admit that they only sug-gest athletes turn to Gatorade as a last resort. Furthermore, they only use Gatorade if their ath-letes are feeling sick or running low on electrolytes.

Many think that water, by all means, serves as the best bet. Water replenishes and hydrates the body after a long workout. Barbara Samaniego ’13 is a firm believer in choosing water over Gatorade. She said, “Every time I work out, I drink water. There is no question. I think that Ga-torade just has too much sugar, and drinking Gatorade defeats

Since 1939, March Madness has served as an integral part of basketball history. Although the name was originally applied to the Illinois State High School tournament, over the years it be-came associated with the Nation-al Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

“March Madness” first de-scribed the NCAA basketball tournament in 1982, when a CBS reporter used the term during a telecast of a tournament game. College basketball fans and the media have used the name ever since.

Every year, fans gain excite-ment for March Madness and both predict and bet on the out-come of the tournament. “Trying to figure out the brackets, know-ing there will be upsets and really close games, is something every basketball fan can barely wait for each season,” Athletic Director Julie Treadwell explained. She admitted, “Sometimes I watch so many games that even a ‘fanatic’ like me gets a little overloaded.”

This year the excitement

By SaMantHa Beaulieu

Holton-Arms boasts a unique diversity of students who display academic, artistic, and athletic talent. For years, Holton has been honoring certain play-ers from all sports with the title Panther of the Week, which rec-ognizes excellence in sports.

Most recently, coach of the Holton varsity ice hockey team Kim Mathias elected the ice hockey defense, junior Blair Gre-enwald, freshman Helen Sears, and senior Bernardine Bruggen, to receive the coveted title of Panther of the Week.

“It's a good feeling to know that you helped your team be suc-cessful throughout the season, and having your coach nominate you makes you feel extra special!” said Greenwald. These girls dis-play athletic talent, sportsman-ship, and teamwork among other desirable traits.

“I think that it is great that the defense was recognized in Panther of the Week because it is not always noticed as the most important part of the team be-cause on most teams they do not score a lot. This is not the case for ours because we have Blair, but it is still the same. I think this season went really well espe-cially since we won the MAGHL champs and didn’t lose any games in the MAGHL league,”

stated Helen Sears. Greenwald, Sears, and

Bruggen not only contributed to the overall success of the team but also inspired their teammates and created a sense of hope among the other play-ers.

Ice hockey player Lindsey Thaker ’13 said, “They had a lot of pressure on them every game since there were only three of them rotating shifts. Their resilience was amazing. They worked hard each time they stepped on the ice regard-less of how tired they were.”

She continued, “They set an example for the rest of us to work as hard as we could. They protected us from letting the puck leave the zone and helped Lana Levin protect the goal.

When we started this season, we expected very little because we lost a lot of seniors, and we just assumed it would be a tough rebuilding year. Our defensive line showed us that playing this season was about quality not quantity, and you do not need a ton of people to make a big statement on the ice.”

The ice hockey defense also proved to be especially impor-tant when protecting the goal. Levin ’15, said of the defense’s commitment and assistance when blocking the puck, “They basically saved me every game. Without them I’d be really scared of the other team.”

The three Panthers of the Week represent the team work and dedication that character-izes Holton athletics.

“Panther of the Week” Honors Ice Hockey

will begin on Tuesday, March 19 and end on Monday, April 8 with the championship game. Each tournament has its own selec-tion committee composed of university and athletic directors who choose the teams for both the men’s and women’s tourna-ments.

The decisions are announced on television during Selection Sunday. After the first two days of the tournament, only 32 of the original 64 teams continue on, and after two more days only the Sweet 16 remain in the com-petition. The Final Four compete in early April for a spot in the National Championship.

As opposed to professional athletics, the NCAA tournament allows alumni and fans to feel included in the excitement. The tournament also shows that an entire nation can come together and enjoy the competition.

Similarly to Fantasy Football, fans can become involved in the excitement by predicting the out-comes of the games and select-ing their own “Final Four.”

Many key public figures re-

lease their Final Four picks, in-cluding President Barack Obama. Last year, two of Obama’s picks, Kentucky and Ohio State, made it into the Final Four.

“I love March Madness be-cause it unites the basketball-lov-ing community,” said Sky Tanous ‘15. She continued, “I love the spirit, and with my sister being in college, I can feel her excitement towards watching her school play. Two words: GO, TARHEELS!”

Loyalty is a major factor in

deciding what team to cheer for during the games. The most pas-sionate fans often root for their alma mater or for a college where they were employed, despite the team’s abilities and past suc-cess.

Director of College Coun-seling Tish Peterson revealed, “I have loved March Madness ever since I worked on the George-town University admissions staff and cheered for the team at all their games. Now I like to watch

the games and root for the un-derdogs. It’s always fun to see how many colleges are repre-sented that may not be as well known, and I like to see them get some visibility. There are lots of great schools out there, and sometimes this is how peo-ple first get interested in them!”

The March Madness season is a time where casual watch-ers, loyal alums, and ardent basketball fans join in the mad-ness and enthusiasm. Even less devoted fans understand the hype. Johanna Garfinkel ‘15 shared, “I don’t usually watch, but when I do, it’s nice to see people coming together to cheer on a sport.” Whoever and wherever college basketball fans are, they always manage to find time to watch at least a few of the games.

“March Madness is some-thing I look forward to every year!” Treadwell exclaimed. She will be one of the many thou-sands of fans all over the coun-try cheering for their favorite teams and giving true meaning to the name “March Madness.”

the purpose of working out in my opinion.”

Additionally, all the built-up sugar over time may very well defeat the purpose and cause the athlete to become sluggish and weak rather than energetic and hydrated. Of course, the sweet taste of Gatorade helps to persuade consumers, especially younger consumers. Children can often seem more inclined to drink Gatorade rather than water due to the taste, but nonetheless these children do not necessarily receive enough hydration.

Senior Gabriella Chen, a ten-nis player, mentioned her dislike for energy drinks such as Ga-torade. She said, “All I drink is water and milk, nothing else for the most part. I completely agree with the fact that water is a better option than Gatorade, [which is]just full of sugar and doesn’t ac-tually help the athlete in the end.”

Blair Greenwald ‘14 (center) was one recipient of the Panther of the Week title for Ice Hockey.

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Holton alum Sequoia Austin ’10 (center) will represent the University of Mary-land in March Madness.

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pHoto CourteSy fiona Moran