VoiceThe Pennsbury

The Pennsbury High School Newspaper September 2016

Pennsbury Drama Needs Your Help!By Nathan Siegel

With numerous productions each year in the Cave, Pennsbury's drama department and thespian troupe #830 is in dire need of a new light board to help their shows thrive. With the current light board that

has been in the Cave for decades, the lighting for the shows is minimal and comprises of the work of Pennsbury's dedicated actors and technical crew.

To learn more and make a donation toward Pennsbury's new light board, visit gofundme.com/lightboard today!

1

2

What I MissBy Mason Collier

Waking up to the scen-ery of the 1000 Islands, a

place I’ve been fortunate enough to call my

second home since I was very young.Sylvia Fisher

Senior

Living with my best friends for 6 weeks at

summer camp.Josie Stephens

Freshman

Over the summer I went to Pipestern, West Virginia and we helped renew houses that were in poor condition. It was such a great experi-ence meeting new people and making friends.Caylee JumbelicSophomore

Being able to sleep in until one in the afternoon and not having to worry about home-work.Ashley JohnsonSophomore

The freedom, waking up at a reasonable hour, being able to fit things into my day how I want to, and not having to work around school hours.Roxy GeersJunior

3

Staying at home and bonding with family and

coaching swimming back in the Philippines.

Gaille Guinto

About Summer& Gaille Guinto

The pace in which life moves. I miss feel-

ing more relaxed and working at sports camp

because I like playing sports and kids. But

now I get to school by 6:15 am and get home

by 8:39 pm.Mr. Demore

The beach.Kallie Konnow

Freshman

Not going to school.Daneyan KingSophomore

My daughters. I miss being with them but now they have to be in college. It makes me sad.Mrs. Purdy

4

The Seven People You Forgot About Over the SummerBy Rachael Summers

Summer, what a blast. Some people went to Europe, a lot of people went to Europe. Why did everyone go to Europe? I went to Europe, it was pretty fun. Europe is my favorite country in all of Africa to be hon-est. But while I was learning to build a canoe from scratch in Shanghai, I let a few people from school slip out of my mind. These are the seven people we all forgot about over the summer.

The kid who sat next to you in...English?No, it was definitely algebra two that I sat next to them. Or was it chemistry? Ninth grade health? Global? Yes, it was global. What was their name again? I think it ended with a Q. Wait, never mind, that’s a mirror. Waking up at 5:30 every morning can be sociologically taxing on a person.

Sasha & TylerSasha and Tyler (not based on real people named Sasha and Tyler) are the “it couple” of Pennsbury High School, except everyone hates them. Maybe it was the first time you walked on the path and saw the two doing that famous scene from The Notebook that helped refresh your memory. “Oh right, I forgot about you two”. It was mostly on purpose that you forgot about them, but don’t worry, they won’t let you forget until the school year ends. Ah, there they are again. Every day you’ll thank them for reminding you that they’re in a relationship. In case you forget though, you can be sure they constantly post #couplegoals pictures on Instagram.

YouMost of us don’t lose contact with ourselves over the summer, unless you just need some space from yourself. But coming back to school I real-ized that we all have a slightly different version of ourselves when we’re in school. While enjoying your near three months away, it’s easy to forget who this person is. However, the first month of school is over, so welcome back “school version” of the kid whose teacher won’t let them take their phone out after a test and that’s the only reason they’re reading this article.

The group of pals who sat at the other half of your lunch tableThe great thing about lunch at Pennsbury is that usually you can fit two groups of friends into one lunch table. The not so great thing is that most people throw common manners away at lunch. You can’t expect people to act like they’re eating at the Rainbow Room, but still, some manners would be nice. This group of rowdy freshman was never afraid to throw grapes at your side of the table or hog all of the seats. But now they got taller, so you might have to take the abuse.

The people who walk on the wrong side of the hallwayThis isn’t a specific person, but rather a large group of people. By that I mean half of the people in the hall or on the path. “The right side of hall-way is the right side of the hallway” is a helpful saying I just came up with. It’s not that hard, stay to the left.

Your friend’s friend’s boyfriend’s sister’s friend’s dog sitterLet’s be honest, you didn’t really know this per-son. The two of you just hung out in that class because it was convenient. As you pass by in the hall, you’ll be reminded of all the special moments the two of you shared: pity laughing at their jokes to maintain a friendly relationship, when you awkwardly bumped elbows, and most memorably, that time you borrowed a pencil from them.

5

Who Wants a Headphone Jack?By Eric Festa

Apple announced the iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 on September 7, and both were released on September 16. While they seem more evolutionary than revolutionary, there’s more to them than you might think.

iPhone 7Every year, Apple claims that the new generation of the smartphone is “the best iPhone yet”, and this year is no exception. The iPhone 7 sports the quad-core A10 Fusion chip, which makes it the fastest smartphone on the market and brings bat-tery life improvements (up to 2 more hours when compared to the 6S) paired with the larger battery. It has a 7-megapixel front-facing camera (up from the 5-megapixel camera of the 6S), and the iPhone 7 Plus has a new dual-lens camera that provides optical as well as digital zoom. Apple replaced the Space Gray color with two new ones, Black and the glossy, fingerprint-and-scratch-prone Jet Black.

And now for what everyone has been talking about: the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus have officially dropped the headphone jack. While devoted wired-headphone us-ers may object to this, Apple provides Lightning Ear-Pods and a Lightning to headphone jack adapter in the box; the only downside to either of these is that you can’t listen to music while charging your phone. In October, Apple will release wireless AirPods, which are basically EarPods with the wiring cut off.

So why did Apple remove the headphone jack? One argument is that its removal makes the iPhone 7 waterproof for up to 30 meters, but it also allows for more, newer technologies to be implemented. For example, the battery is bigger, and the Home but-ton is no longer clickable; the more advanced Taptic Engine inside the phone makes it feel like the button is being pressed down (this change is also good for waterproofing). But if you prefer wired headphones, the iPhone 7 may not be for you.

One iPhone competitor had a rather explosive re-lease of one of its new devices. Samsung, wanting to upstage Apple, released its Galaxy Note 7 early, shortening its inspection time. Thus, many Galaxy Note 7 devices exploded or overheated.

Apple Watch Series 2This is the first time Apple refreshed its smartwatch line since releasing the original Apple Watch in 2015. This time, Apple is put-ting an emphasis on fitness as a primary use for the new Watch, with GPS built-in for work-outs, water resistance for up to 50 meters, a new Breathe app (which tells you to breathe deeply for a minute), and a brighter display for better visibility outdoors. Even if you’re not particularly interested in fitness, Apple Watch Series 2 includes a dual-core processor for improved performance, better battery life, and watchOS 3, the latest version of the Apple Watch operating system that provides dra-matic speed and navigation improvements.

When it releases a new iPhone, Apple always drops the price of the last year’s model or models. With Apple Watch Series 2 on the market, Apple is doing something a bit differ-ent – rather than just lowering the starting price of the original model (which it did, from $349 to $269), the company also replaced the smartwatch’s original processor with the same dual-core chip from Apple Watch Series 2. This “new take on the original” is called Apple Watch Series 1.

Speaking of prices, the days of the $17,000 Apple Watch Edition are over. Apple replaced the solid gold in the luxury line with white ce-ramic; now the Edition costs just over $1,200.

6

ScienSpace: Suture ‘Smart’By Diya Cherian

Smartphones, smart cars, smartwatches, smart glasses…everything is ‘smart’ these days, and technology is no longer simply a way of conve-nience but a way of life. Our generation is the first of digital natives; we’ve been around technology our entire lives and technology has been around us. We were born into this ‘smart’ life, but some fundamental concepts haven’t changed since 3000 BC. We’ve swapped bone and silver nee-dles with steel ones, and traded silk and animal threads for cotton, but the concept behind sutur-ing as a medical practice still makes sense today, just with a few modifications.

The threads used to close up a wound are called sutures, and usually gets covered with a ban-dage. This low-tech form of closing a gash or cut typically blocks the view of the wound, and can lead to issues, since any infection would be masked. However, researchers have developed new technology to alert physicians of any issues that might have emerged. Further advances and variations could even make it possible to admin-ister drugs via these modified stitches.

The purpose of sutures is to hold large cuts or incisions in place in order for them to heal prop-erly. Most sutures are made of cotton or silk, and some are even made of plastic. Others are designed to dissolve over time, and don’t require a practitioner to remove them. However, occa-sionally, things don’t go as planned. The tissue held together by sutures may become infected causing adverse side effects. Tissue may swell, bulge, stretch, or redden, and these can affect the sutures, sometimes even resulting in an ugly scar. Other infections don’t cause any pain, so the patient and the doctor overlook the site of the wound, and certain infections could go un-noticed, causing them to escalate into a larger problem.

Sameer Sonkusale and his team of researchers at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts took this problem into their own hands, and found a way for sutures to have sensors to detect problems that arise at a level below the bandage. In order to make a suture ‘smart’, it needs to be able to conduct electricity, accord-ing to Sonkusale. In order to do this, the re-searchers coated cotton thread with a material that is a good conductor. Certain coatings can sense tissue that might have stretched, and provide a heads-up about potential swelling, while others measure the pH of the surround-ing tissue. A change in pH might be a sign of an infection. Along with a coating, sensors were also added, in order to measure temperature. If temperature is higher than usual, it could be a sign of an infection. If a change in any one of the aforesaid categories occurs, the electri-cal resistance will have a slight change, and will change how much electricity the suture can then conduct. This difference in electrical resistance can be tracked through a device that is similar to a watch and can be worn on your wrist or attached to an article of clothing. From there, it can send data wirelessly to another device where it can be recorded and analyzed.

The team working on these advanced sutures has discovered a way to embed sensors direct-ly into the skin, thus making them bio-integrat-ed, and much more accurate than devices like wearable fitness technology. Hopefully, smart sutures are on their way to becoming more versatile, from monitoring blood proteins to monitoring blood sugar for diabetics, and even carrying fluids with certain drugs to help the recovery process of a wound through capillary action. This is one smart invention really worth looking forward to.

7

To Pee or Not To PeeBy Clio Harris

The discomfort of public bathrooms is magnified when you’re transgender. New laws forcing trans people into the bathroom of their assigned gen-der pop up daily without reasonable cause with the side effect of hate crimes and harassment.

Behind most trans bathroom laws lives mis-guided fear and prejudice. Some believe that to be trans means to be predator, harasser, danger. Lawmakers believe they are protecting “normal” people from the likes of the trans community, but in reality the trans community poses very little threat to society. The main fear is that some sick individual will take advantage of trans protection laws, dress up like a trans woman and assault women bathroom goers. However, according to the Advocate, “there has never been a verifiable reported instance of a trans person harassing a cisgender person, nor have there been any confirmed reports of male predators 'pretend-ing' to be transgender to gain access to women's spaces and commit crimes against them.” Trans women face so much difficulty that no cis man (assigned male at birth) would go through the ef-fort and risk of pretending to be trans to assault someone. On the other hand, trans people are at extremely increased risk when forced into the wrong bathroom. Because of these “bathroom bills,” they have two undesirable choices: use the bathroom that fits their gender identity and risk being arrested or use the bathroom of their as-signed sex and risk rape and abuse. That is quite a decision to make.

President Obama thought such a decision was unfair to force upon people, so he released a di-rective saying federal funding would be withheld to public schools disrespectful of trans people’s genders. It also required schools to respect proper names and pronouns of trans students. Even though it has been temporarily struck down, change has arrived at Pennsbury.

In past years our school’s policy on trans individ-uals has not been one of complete respect.

Trans kids were not supposed to use either bathroom, but instead were relegated to the nurse’s bathroom. This policy seemed designed to avoid creating complaints or harassment that might occur from letting a trans kid pee in the right bathroom, but for many the policy skirted the larger issue of transphobia. In some cases this fear was not without cause; many trans kids have described harassment at using the bath-room fitting their gender identity. One trans boy at the school stated he has been called the all too familiar “F slur”, shoved into walls, and gener-ally harassed for using the men’s room. However, shoving us in the nurse’s bathrooms was not a solution; it segregated us. They are also often occupied and out of our way. We deserve the opportunity to use the gross bathroom of our gender just like everyone else.

And the school has started giving us that op-portunity. In the past year the administration has begun reflecting more of Mrs. Callahan’s opinion that “our country’s black and white view on sex and gender is not true in many parts of the world and many people need to liberalize their views on it.” She also said that she understands that this can be a daunting task, but “America is a society of individualism and our laws and poli-cies for bathrooms should reflect that whether that means trans kids using bathrooms that match their gender or using a third room like the nurse’s.” Our school is in the midst of working to change their policies for trans students. This is a great start, and we need to keep the momentum going.

We as a school can work for a better tomor-row by stopping transphobia in our community. We must hold each other accountable and help those of us who need it most. Going to the bath-room should not be dangerous or traumatizing; if you see someone being harassed for being trans or just not fitting in with gender norms, step in and help if it is safe to do so or get an adult if it is not. Let’s make trans kids feel safe.

8

Pennsbury Voice Staff 2016 – 2017 http://pennsburyvoice.tk

STAFFDIYA CHERIAN, MASON COLLIER, CAMEREN COOPER, ERIC FESTA, GAILLE GUINTO, CLIO HARRIS, NATHAN SIEGEL, RACHAEL SUMMERS, COURTNEY TERR

The opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily represent the views of the newspaper staff or Pennsbury High School.

GRAPHICS EDITORCOURTNEY TERR

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFERIC FESTA

ADVISORSMR. WERTMR. STOLOSKI

EDITORRACHAEL SUMMERS

Bridging the Gap: Mr. MeadowsBy Cameren Cooper

On August 4th 2016, Mr. Meadows was offi-cially appointed as principal of East.

Outside of the office, Mr. Meadows has 2 young boys ages six and four. He is passionate about sports. Whether he is watch-ing or playing them. His favorite, if he had to choose would be football. Sports is just one of the many ways Mr. Meadows bonds with his two sons. He coaches their soccer and flag football teams so he can see them succeed.

During the summer, you won’t find him much in Penn-sylvania. His family rents a beach house in Ocean City.

Mr. Meadows loves history and learning about past cultures.

Mr. Meadows feels that he is a leader, and since given the chance, believes he will do a great job. He says that no one should ever just sit back; we should always strive for great-ness.

Mr. Meadows, a name you may already be famil-iar with here at Pennsbury, has now replaced Mr. Neely as one of our principals. Thirteen years ago, Mr. Meadows walked onto the Pennsbury High School campus as a social studies teacher, then an as-sistant principal, and now the principal of Pennsbury High School East. I had the privi-lege of meeting our talented new co-leader and found out more about him.

Mr. Meadows is a lifelong resident of one of our border states, New Jersey. He attend-ed high school at Absegami High School in the city of Galloway. Following his high school graduation, Mr. Mead-ows studied for his undergrad-uate degree at the College of New Jersey. Once he achieved his bachelor's degree, he went onto Rider University for his Masters in Administration. He noted that before he came to Pennsbury in 2003, he taught Social Studies at Absegami for four years. After a few years as a teacher, he became an administrative intern followed by the title of As-sistant Principal. He said it felt as if he kept trans-ferring “back and forth” between campuses, as he has done so several times in that position. As you are aware, in 2016, Mr. Neely retired as Principal of East leaving his position as principal of East open.