November 30 , 2012 • Volume 10 • Issue 3 Northridge High School • 2901 Northridge Road • Tuscaloosa, Al• 35406northridgereporter.wordpress.com

Of Mice and Men

Fame Ashcraftpage 8

Alex HauserEditor-in-Chief

During the first week in October, board members scoured the hallway, sat in on classes and talked to stu-dents and faculty.

Isaac Espy, principal, said the purpose of the visit was to evaluate the school’s instructional program and to help the school do a better job of instruction based on specific recommendations resulting from the audit.

“I contacted the superintendent last summer and request-ed that this audit take place in the fall. It is a very healthy practice, and our faculty and the central office are working together to improve the way we have school,” he said.

Paul McKendrick, superintendent, said the visit was not to evaluate people, but processes within the school and that some-one from the outside would have more of a “critical eye.”

“You look at a process of how [you] solve the problems, [and] the ways that the school addresses organizational is-sues,” he said.

Afterwards, McKendrick said, they look at what in-structional program needs to be altered.

“The idea is that you aren’t going into an audit saying we’re going into Mrs. Jones’ class because we heard she’s a wonderful teacher. But at the same time, you don’t say you’re going into Mr. Jones’ class because we heard he’s a horrible teacher,” he said.

“Nor do you go back to the principal saying they’re a horrible teacher or perfect teacher because this is what we saw,” McKendrick said.

Espy said teachers knew there would be walkthroughs.“[The school board] has no bearing other than the gen-

eral snapshot of elements of instruction that were ob-served at that particular time,” he said. “In a walkthrough, the learning environment is assessed along with the format for instructional practices, strategies, teacher activities, grouping, student engagement and the level of student work required.”

McKendrick said the board came into the audit without a prearranged idea of what the school was going to look like.

They looked at data gathered through the observations, the records review and the conversations they had.

“[We] try to give a portrait of what the school looks like,” he said. “If it’s something that [we’re] happy with or we think is good, then we say ‘yes, this is what the school is, and this is what the school looks like, and these are the kinds of things that we want in the school,’ [but] if the portrait shows you some blemishes that you really don’t want, then at that point, that becomes an issue.”

The board interviewed several students about their view on the school, including Natalie Patton, senior. Patton said they asked her whether she thought the school was safe,

Board visits to assist in better learning atmosphere

I was in [Shane Ashcraft’s] class, and I was talking to a 9th grade English class. They were discussing To Kill a Mockingbird.

I don’t think there was a student in there that did not comment. And they hit on some really tough questions. They had finished reading the book, and they were discussing overall themes, and he had a set number of themes throughout that they were discussing.

Shane Ashcraft

ABehindthe Scenes

LookThe Classroom of

“

”See the story on Ashcraft on pg. 8

During the audit, Dr. Paul McKendrick observed several classes, and said he wished he could have visited more.

“Because you see some wonderful people that are teaching, and you see children engaged, and you see children enjoying the classes they’re in,” he said.

and how the school could be improved.“I was glad that they were asking the questions,

but I don’t think I gave them the answers they were looking for. I think they got mad when I spoke my mind about it,” she said. “I said things like get new textbooks and better security cameras.”

Scott Johnson, math teacher, said the faculty was told that the purpose of the audit was to assist us in better understanding of our strengths and weak-nesses, but the results were “disconcerting.”

“Pre-audit, I think we were all on board, although no one really likes to be under a magnifying glass. [But] post-audit, much more was made of the school’s shortcomings than its strengths,” he said.

Johnson said the people who had the “largest hand” in the audit believe not enough is being done for students who struggle the most.

“In their view, the successful students would probably be successful in spite of the teachers and curriculum. They tend to work hard regardless,” he said. “[The evaluators said] our primary concern and direction should be with the students who are at risk of dropping out or graduation with their ‘co-horts.’ While many of us disagree with this point-of-view and believe instead there needs to be a bal-ance of both.

Johnson said that, while most of the auditor’s be-haviors were “unobtrusive and professional,” there were some that I witnessed that were invasive, dis-ruptive and very unprofessional.

“Let teachers evaluate teachers. Some of these ‘experts’ wouldn’t last two days in a classroom. Take the evaluator who pointed out that six students were chewing gum. So? Is that against some board policy? Don’t think so,” he said.

Beth Allaway, science teacher, said the examin-ers should have looked for “real teaching” and not so much for paper work like lesson plans and objec-tives on the board.

“[They should have] stayed in the classrooms longer. That way they could get an idea of how the class flows. There were judgments made on our critiques that were incorrect because they hadn’t stayed long enough to know. Many of the people who were observing had no knowledge or experience in the subjects they were observing,” she said.

McKendrick said he thought the audit did what it was meant to do.

“I think it gave and will give Dr. Espy what he needs to make some changes. One of the incentives and reasons why we went in is because the school did not make AYP,” he said.

McKendrick said, although the AYP and No Child Left

Behind has some flaws, the results that came from the test scores was a good indicator to which students were doing well, and which ones were doing poorly, and that “every-one supported [it].”

McKendrick said that remembering factors that students should be dealing is a key for educators.

“There are a lot of children that come [to school] that we have to resolve some kind of issues that are impacting their instruction,” he said. “And that’s a part of teaching and being an educator because those are issues we have to solve right when they walk in their doors.”

Raiha BajwaManaging Editor

The AP grant that grants students a hundred dollars per passing score

in any math, science or English class, also gives the teachers in those subjects a hundred dollars per student. Based on previous years passing rates, bench-marks are set for the teachers and if they surpass them one thousand dollar bonus is added.

Patsy Lowry, math teacher, had 29 of her 31 AP Calculus students pass the exam, giving her a $3000 bonus, and a total of $5900.

Lowry said she cried when she got the scores because of how hard everyone worked.

“I cried not just because of how many people passed, but passed with the high-est score they could make,” she said. “Everyone went in and did the best they could, no one drew pictures.”

Lowry said in her forty years of teach-ing that was about the best she’s ever gotten.

She said she plans on using the money on a visit to England to see her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.

“I’m really excited,” she said. “I don’t know if I could afford to go without it

[the AP money].”Lowry said she is concerned about her

current AP Calculus class on the new schedule.

“This year I’m having to do it in half the time,” she said. “It’s been very chal-lenging for me and the students, but we’ll see how it goes.”

Trina Busby, English teacher, said she was happy about receiving the money, but does not fully support the idea.

“It’s a grey ethical issue for me; I would do my job the same way regard-less,” she said. “Yes it’s a nice incentive, but at the same time it’s not why I want my students to pass.”

AP BiologyAP Chemistry

Calculus ABCalculus BC

Physics B

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Stephens

Lowery

Evans

Marilyn

Patsy

Ria

Statistics

English LanguageEnglish Literature

English Language

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Busby

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Scott

Trina

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AP Examswho passedStudents

Teachers receive monetary awards for test scores

Page 4-5

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2 The Northridge ReporterNovember 30, 2012Opinion

NSPA 5th Place Best of Show 2012 • NSPA 1st Place Best of Show 2011 • NSPA 5th Place Best of Show 2008 NSPA 8th Place Best of Show 2008 • NSPA 9th Place Best of Show 2006 • CSPA Silver Medalist (2003, 2004) CSPA

Gold Medalist (2005-2011) • SIPA All-Southern (2003, 2005–2011) • ASPA All-Alabama (2003–2011) • NSPA All-American (2004, 2008, 2011) • Best SIPA Newspaper in Alabama (2003–2007) • NSPA News Story of the Year (2005) •

SIPA First Place News Story (2007) • SIPA First Place Review (2009) • Rick Bragg Feature Writing Award (2009)

Our ThoughtsPrincipal deserves round of applause

agree (18) disagree (0)

Northridge High School • 2901 Northridge Road • Tuscaloosa, AL 35406 • (205) 759-3734 ext. 295

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*Denotes state, regional and national award winners

Editorial Policy: The opinions in The Northridge Reporter are those of the students and not of the faculty or ad-ministration of Northridge High School or the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education. It is the policy of The Northridge Reporter to publish all non-obscene, non-libelous, signed letters to the editor, regardless of the opinion expressed in them. Letters must be submitted to Susan Newell in room 109 or emailed to northridgereporter@gmail.com.

Editor-in-Chief *Alex HauserManaging Editor*Raiha Bajwa Feature Editor*Renu PanditNews Editor*Sarah Katherine Barnes

Entertainment Editor*Raiha BajwaSports EditorAbby AllenOpinion Editor*Raiha Bajwa Beat EditorMorgan DeWitt

Copy EditorKelly Burnham, Rabisa Khan, Jared LotfiInfographics EditorJakailah CooperArt EditorKanJalla DancerArtistsCheQuita Burrell, Katie Poore

Business Manager*Raiha BajwaPhotographersMorgan DeWitt, Julia Hocutt, Jared LotfiStaffJordan Hutchinson, Savren Nelson, Kayla Pate

School populationStudents: 1238Faculty and staff: 90

The Northridge Reporter reserves the right to edit letters and verify allegations. The newspaper is distributed monthly.

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Advertising & Subscriptions: Contact The Northridge Reporter Staff at (205) 759-3734 ext. 235 or snewell@tusc.k12.al.us to advertise in or subscribe to The Northridge Reporter.

Kelly Caroline BurnhamCopy Editor

Statistically speaking, most people hate math. And I do not even need stats to prove that.

This isn’t an ordinary hate, but one cultivated from years of plugging numbers into mundane functions so that they may spit out more numbers, a sickening array of formulas meant to be memorized and tedious graphs that end up looking more like a poorly constructed array of Tinker Toys.

That is mathematics at its most basic, mind you. That stuff is bo-oring!

Beyond all of those petty fractions lies a world of complex webs interlaced with math beyond your wildest dreams –or rather, nightmares. As you en-ter the world further, math begins to split into two parts: pure math and applied math.

The former is dedicated to the abstract and beau-tiful side of math that becomes so complex that our mortal comprehension starts to deteriorate. The latter literally applies math to the real world.

To understand math and to do well in math, you must appreciate the beauty of math, as Mr. John-son says. There is something undeniably fascinat-ing how the fanciest function can have numbers

plugged in before spitting out a graph that has a spinning, undulating personality.

The way the most enigmatic equation can be spliced apart and sliced away to reveal a perfect answer is almost mind boggling. And, of course, handling in-finity within your paper’s blue lines is a

thought-provoking concept.When I began to love mathematics, it

hit like a truck. Between classes, my calculator was soon filled with graph plots that left me staring in wonder, amazed at the simplicity of something so complicated. Now I grin stupidly at any sort of higher level math I do not understand, transfixed upon things I cannot possibly solve yet.

Higher math branches into specific portions varying from Chaos Theory, Vector Algebra, For-mal Logic, Fractal Geometry and my favorite, Dif-ferential Equations –though it might just be the name!

Renu Pandit Feature Editor

Brown. For Indians, Middle Easterners and other such people,

this word is both an adjective and a way of life.For starters, we refer to ourselves as “brown

people,” eat “brown food,” and perhaps most infamously, have “brown parties.”

It is the latter that I, a survivor, shall tell of today.

Let me begin by describing the setting of this strange gathering. It is seductively simple, disguising itself as a pretty and comfortable home. However, the observant explorer of this do-main will see the horror lurking behind every corner.

Guests will begin to arrive at the typical 7 o’clock party

at around 9, as per Indian Standard Time, or IST. Dressed to the nines in various uncomfortable garb and bedecked in all forms of torturously heavy jewelry, the women will stake a claim to various parts of the house and occupy ev-ery nook and cranny of it, making it impossible for a wan-

dering soul to cross.The brave ones who attempt this feat usually do not make it out without being subjected to the women’s’ favorite form of cruel and unusual torture—being stuffed alive with enough food to feed three third world countries.

They will leave the kitchen holding their bellies and groaning in pain, hoping to find sol-

ace in an empty, peaceful part of the house, but alas! They are confronted by a phenomenon that can

only be described as The Uncles. As the women had previously done, the men too will claim

their domain, and it is often the entirety of the living room and porch. They pass the time by loudly debating every as-pect of politics and cricket possible. Since being wrong, or accepting that someone else is right, is not an option for many of the men, these debates will last indefinitely.

The wise guest will scurry through the heat of these fierce battles and retreat to the upstairs area, where they are met by strange, small brown beings. Described as be-ing incredibly cute, they often lure unsuspecting guests into playing with them. The victim will be subjected to games such as Tornado and Catch Me, and will soon col-lapse from sheer exhaustion.

After consuming more food than humanly possible, the guest will stumble out of the party after delivering a roughly two-hour goodbye speech to the host.

Khaa (Eat), Mazaa (Have Fun), Rinse and Repeat. That is the Mantra of the Brown Party.

Bur

nham

Pand

it

Being the head of a high school is not an easy task, but since Isaac Espy stepped into the position three years ago, he has done an outstanding job.

You can spot him rolling the trash can around to tables in the lunchroom, playing the banjo in the school play or in your math class helping you with a lesson.

Principal Dr. Isaac Espy is our modern day Renaissance man.

Instead of sitting in his office every day, he likes to get out there with the students. He can be found interacting with his students in the hallway, holding doors open for students as they enter the school, wishing them happy birthday, and being there when they need help.

He approaches students in a friendly manner instead of being intimidating, making it easy for them to talk to him and there-fore gaining their respect. Despite his busy schedule, he finds time to personally sign each student’s report card and congratu-late students on personal achievements they’ve accomplished.

Espy has worked hard to promote an increase in students’ aca-demic performance. His introduction of the bonus block helped give special attention to students needing tutoring for gradua-tion exams or ACT prep during school hours.

The idea of letting sophomores exempt all their semester ex-ams if they passed their graduation exams was an effective way of giving students incentives to work hard. He recognizes when a student does well and celebrates it, a basis for his creating the All-Academic Team, an exclusive group for those who make a 30 or above on the ACT.

Espy has made his dedication to the school apparent with the way he treats the students and faculty. The Northridge Reporter believes that any principal who is willing to walk around the student parking lot before and after school and pick up trash after students deserves a special place in heaven.

Northridge Northridge

Northridge

orthr Central Bryant

Art by: KanJalla Dancer

See story on the Northridge audit on page 1

Cultural experience: junior analyzes anatomy of a brown party

Math more than boring requirement

Web MasterVictoria LoveAdviser*Susan Newell

3EntertainmentThe Northridge ReporterNovember 30, 2012

It was as fulfilling as an action movie can be. As pure entertain-ment, it was great; the changes in setting kept everything fresh, and I cannot describe the action se-quences without expletives.

Parker Evans, Junior

Mohabbat

It was amazing… [the film] wasn’t like other James Bond movies where he kills the bad guy and everything’s all happy; this one was more original than the others.

Joseph Mohabbat, Sophomore

It even had the old theme music. Sean Connery is my favorite Bond character, though Daniel Craig would be my second favorite.

Scott Johnson, Math Teacher

Evans

What did you think of the new

Bond movie?

Johnson

Quotes compiled by: Kelly BurnhamPhotos by: Jared Lotfi

Cultural experience: junior analyzes anatomy of a brown party

Savren NelsonStaff Writer

John Steinbeck’s book and play Of Mice and Men tells the story of two men, Lennie and George, who try to find the American dream during the Depression. Of Mice and Men tells of the hidden lies in the American dream, the cruelty of real-ity and the friendships you can make during hardships. The drama department pre-formed the play Friday, Nov. 9 and Saturday, Nov. 10.

Senior Nick Motz, played the role of Lennie Small, a man of incredible strength but with the brain of a four year old. Motz portrayed Lennie superbly. Motz’s portrayal included a nervous, laughing voice suitable for the character and random straightening of his clothes when he was not talking.

Ben Wright, sophomore, played George, a level-

headed and responsible man. Even though Lennie puts George in difficult sit-uations, George keeps Len-nie, so he will not be lonely.Their main activity was looking for work. Wright’s role was difficult, but he played it with ease.

As George and Len-nie find work at a ranch a couple of miles from where they were staying, they stumble into a few friend-ships.

Junior Parker Evans, played Slim, the respected leader of the working class on the ranch. Evans came off with a sense of compas-sion and insight throughout the play.

Some of the other work-ers on the ranch are Candy, played by junior Dan-iel Gregory, and Carlson, played by sophomore Charles Lane. Gregory did a great job portraying emo-tion when tragedy struck him. He showed true feel-ings of worry. (Gregory had

everything about his part he needed including a cast he put over his hand to make it look like just a stump.)

The victim of racial injus-tice on the farm is Crooks, played by senior DeAn-thony Mays. Crooks is the only black stable hand, and he is separated from the rest of the farm.

Curley, played by junior James Roberts is the son of the boss and thinks he owns the men at the farm. Rob-erts played a man that was small but would pick a fight with anybody. He picked on everybody on the farm, including his wife.

Curly’s wife was played by Savanna McLaughlin, junior. McLaughlin did a great job with this part and, she s t y l e d h e r s e l f beau t i -fully.

Sophomore Anna Beth Northington’s dog played the part of Candy’s dog.

The play was enjoyable, and all cast members were strong. The production crew added details to the set that made the play even more believable. The set was so detailed that it had every-thing from pin up girls on the bed walls to bunk beds that were stable enough to hold the weight of the ac-tors. Much time and

thought was put into

t h e p r o -d u c -

t i o n of this

play.

Julia HocuttStaff Writer

The Tuscaloosa City Council officially approved fund-ing for an ice-skating rink on Jack Warner Parkway. The temporary “winter village” opened, just in time for the holidays, on Nov. 26 and closes on Jan. 9.

Senior Associate City Attorney Glenda Bumpus, said she hopes the rink will appeal to all of the West Alabama area.

Bumpus said, “We hope this becomes a holiday destina-tion for West Alabama.”

The 60-foot by 85-foot ice skating rink cost an estimat-

Math more than boring requirement

Drama department performs Of Mice and Men

Photos by: Beth Allaway

Action!: Senior Nick Motz plays Lennie in a scene. Sophomore Ben Wrightand ju-nior James Roberts who played George and Curley, are in a fight scene. DeAn-thony Mays, who played Crooks, said, “It was challenging [being in the play. Mrs. Wright [direc-tor] always said the actors make the play, not the lines.”

New ice skating rink opens for holidays

Photo by: Alex Hauser

Winter Village: The new ice rink opened at the Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum on Nov. 26. “I think it’s awesome,” Hayden Murphy, junior, said. “I love ice-skating and can’t wait to go.”

ed $157,000. The temporary rink will hold up to 152 skaters. City officials expect a large turnout from families as well as students and younger people.

The project, “Holidays on the River,” is planned to be more than just an ice rink. Holiday movies, choir performances, a snow-blowing machine, as well as appearances by Santa Claus and North Pole elves are all scheduled events.

Wendy Riggs, Tuscaloosa’s Public Projects Committee’s Director of Arts and Entertainment, said, “It’ll kind of be like a family one-stop holiday event.”

Vendors who operate out of the River Market are planned to be there as well.

Mallory Steiner, junior, said she was looking forward to going to the rink.

“I think we should get a permanent one,” she said. “I’m really excited. I think it makes it feel more like Christmas time.”

Hayden Buettner, senior, was not as excited about the rink.

“Why would I ever want to go ice-skating?” he said.

Tending the rabbits

Ice, ice, baby:

Web MasterVictoria LoveAdviser*Susan Newell

Renu Pandit Feature Editor

There comes a strange mo-ment, when running down the field with the crowd cheering, that one becomes transported to previous times when things were simpler and the spotlight was not as bright.

This oddity is often experi-enced by Malcolm Johnson, tight end for Mississippi State University and Northridge alum.

“I started out playing little league for the Skyland Fal-cons,” Johnson said. “It was just for fun. I never thought it would lead me where I’m at now.”

Johnson said playing at and attending Northridge helped him, as he was “given a great opportunity to pursue goals on the field and in the classroom” that he does not think he would have gotten anywhere else.

“It helped me reach levels that I needed to reach in order to prepare for college,” Johnson said.

Jared Smith, football coach, said he coached Johnson in 2008 and 2009.

“Malcolm played wide receiver mostly, but played a little safety as well on defense,” Smith said. “He always brought this sense of con-fidence and swagger to the team, and thought he was better than the guy he was going against. This rubbed off on the team as others gained confidence.”

Smith said his most memorable moment of Johnson was when they “played Minor in pouring down rain.”

“Malcolm took the game over single handedly,” Smith said. “The play I remember most is when Malcolm caught the ball and took off down the soaked field with two Minor defenders chas-ing him. He stopped on a dime in the rain and both Minor players went sliding by, while he cruised on in for a touchdown.”

Smith said he watch-es Johnson play on TV whenever he can.

“I also try to keep up with his stats. Malcolm made the SportsCen-ter Top 10 Plays with a one-handed catch for a touchdown against Tennessee,” Smith said.

“It’s always fun watching for-mer players play on Saturday. It was especially exciting watching Malcolm and Vinnie Sunseri play against each other when Missis-sippi State played at Alabama.”

Johnson often plays against past classmates, and said he enjoys it.

“It makes the competition level go up just a little bit. Especially, when they’re a fellow student of the ‘Ridge like Vinnie Sunseri and Jared Palmer,” Johnson said.

He said he looks up to many people.

“I’m always willing to take bits of advice,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he looks to Scott Sallach, tight end coach for Mis-sissippi State University, for sup-port and guidance.

Sallach said he has coached Johnson for two years, and said he sees him as “a very competi-tive person, an extremely hard worker and someone with a thirst for knowledge.” As part of the football staff, Sallach said he was part of the recruiting team that se-lected Johnson.

“One of the biggest things that stuck out about Malcolm was when the football team came to

Mississippi State for a 7 on 7 tournament. Malcolm was very competitive all day and made a lot of great catches in clutch situations,” Sallach said. “He excelled the entire day.”Sallach said there is a big

difference between high school football and college football.

“The game is faster, harder, and more intense. The level of importance

and competitiveness is at

Tight end at Mississippi remembers his roots

Morgan DeWittStaff Writer

Driven by his passion for mu-sic, Joseph Edwards, 2012 alum, opted to move to Nashville after graduating to pursue his dream.

“I play in a band called New Culture, with band members Adam Naylor on bass and vo-cals, Andrew Lambeth on rhythm guitar and Kyle Goodin on lead guitar. Our style is alter-native rock, and it derives from many different influences,” Ed-wards said.

Edwards plays the drums and has been playing for a little un-der five years. He said many things inspired him to become a musician.

“The most important was the ability to tell a story and mak-ing it sound exactly the way you want it to be heard,” Edwards said.

Edwards said life in Nashville for a musician is rough but re-warding.

“The music life is no cake

walk. I work two jobs, play gigs at night, travel for recordings, and [we’re] constantly trying to meet other bands and people to pro-mote our music,” Edwards said.

Practicing and hanging at ven-ues are very important daily ac-tivities for New Culture. Edwards said when the band isn’t working or playing shows, they’re writing more music.

A person’s style of music can open doors to meeting other peo-ple with similar musical tastes, and Edwards has made a lot of friends from his style of music.

Natalie Patton, senior, said she got to know Edwards when she sat next to him in her AP Compo-sition class.

“We both liked the same type of music; kind of like indie-rock and alternative,” Patton said.

Jenna Sherman, Tuscaloosa Academy senior, said her friend-ship with Edwards spawned from similar music tastes.

“He’s really driven. Not in the way that most people are, but in the way that he knows exactly

what he wants out of life and knows exactly how to get there. I think that’s a really unique qual-ity in a person,” Sherman said.

As for his own favorite styles, Edwards said he’s “super open to music,” and some days he can range from acoustic music to metal. Some of his favorite bands include Radiohead, Dry the Riv-er, Two Door Cinema Club, My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses and Grizzly Bear.

Edwards said the one thing he wants people to get from the di-versity of music style is to “listen to the music you like. If someone disagrees and thinks you’re odd because of your taste, that’s their problem. It’s your dig.”

With a label in the works and a few big names in music getting in touch with New Culture, Edwards said there are bright things com-ing in the future for the band.

“We have become Nashville’s band of the month in the alter-native rock scene. We have been contacted by a label and invited to play shows. We are starting to

create a fan base and reaching out to radio stations in order to get our songs heard,” Edwards said.

New Culture’s goals consist of being placed on a label and going on tour in the next few months.

“The move to Nashville has a lot to do with trying to meet con-tacts and people that can poten-tially help us spark our career,”

Edwards said.Edwards said he is happy where

he is in life, and said he would rather be poor doing something he loves than rich doing some-thing he hates.

“A song always brings about a certain emotion to the listener, and allows them to relate to [it] on their own,” Edwards said.

Alum dedicates fully to his passionFAME

Photo by: Reid Cifrino

4 The Northridge ReporterNovember 30, 2102Feature

Beat the drums: Joseph Edwards, alum, and New Culture mem-bers Adam Naylor, Andrew Lambeth and Kyle Goodwoon perform the song “Bells” at Five Spot in Nashville, Tennessee, on Nov. 14. “When I see all the people that come to watch us perform, I tell myself ‘these people came to see a show, let’s give them one,’” Edwards said.

a whole different level than high school,” Sallach said.

Despite the difference in the in-tensity of the sport, Sallach said his expectations for Johnson’s development as a player are only getting bigger.

“As a tight end at Mississippi State, you really play wide re-ceiver, running back and offen-sive line,” Sallach said. “You are the ultimate combination as a football player. I expect Malcolm to excel athletically, academically and as man.”

Johnson said he hopes to con-tinue his career in football after college.

“Hopefully, I’ll be blessed to play in the NFL for a couple of years,” Johnson said.

He said that signing at Missis-sippi State was a great accom-plishment for him and his family.

“It felt great knowing that all my hard work was paying off, and that I could take stress off my par-ents about college,” Johnson said. “Every time I go visit my parents, I’m reminded that I have the same opportunity as everyone else; to enjoy life if I keep God first, my head in my books and keep grind-ing on the field.”

Alum dedicates fully to his passion

Raiha BajwaManaging Editor

Jack Blankenship is a man of many faces. One in particular has received a lot attention.

In January 2012, Blankenship, alumnus and sophomore at the University of Alabama (U. of A.), arrived at an Alabama basketball game with a giant cutout poster of his face.

On Feb. 4, 2012, a picture of him with the face was posted on reddit.com, which instantly went viral.

Blankenship originally came up with the face with his best friend Austin Jackson in the sixth grade.

“From there, it grew to two of our other friends, Hank DeBell and David Burkhalter, and from there a bunch of other friends caught on with it,” he said.

Blankenship said he came up with the idea after seeing people hold up cutouts of players at U. of A. basketball games.

“I noticed there were cutouts of players, so I thought it would be funny if I made a cutout of my own head and brought it to the televised games for AJ, Hank and David to see on TV.”

Blankenship said he was surprised at his rise to fame. “I was at the Tuscaloosa Public Library and looked down at

my phone and noticed that I was getting twitter mentions left and right, people were wanting to interview me: it was crazy,” he said. “I was amazed at how quickly it spread.”

Since the Face got out, Blankenship was invited to the Jimmy Fallon Show, the Today Show, a sketch for Funny or Die and commercials for activities related to the University of Alabama which can be found on YouTube.

“It was weird getting so much attention,” he said.

Trina Busby, English teacher, had Blankenship as a student in her American studies class.

“It does not surprise me at all that he did that,” she said.

Blankenship said he was shocked at how popular it got, but was absolutely glad that it did.

“I remember walking into Madison Square Garden for the Knicks - Nets game and tons of people were asking for my picture. Many of the Knicks laughed at the sign. I got on the Madison Square Garden Jumbotron and had a killer time,” he said. “Heck, I even grabbed the attention of Jay-Z and Beyoncé and got them to do the face.”

“I like to believe I made the Nets miss their first four free throws,” Blankenship said.

Blankenship said his popularity has waned ever since, but the experience was amazing.

“Never in my life would I think I would be able to do all of those things, and they all happened in a three week span,” he said.

“It’s still cool to see people who know who I am,” Blankenship said.

“I wouldn’t say they freak out, but they get really

excited,” he said.Blankenship said he still plans on bringing his Face to

University of Alabama boys basketball games.“It’s a rather useful distraction during free throws, and that’s

what it’s all been about, giving my team an advantage,” he said.

Blankenship also hosts a radio show with his roommate, Brian Hoff, on the local college radio station, WVUA 90.7 FM, The Capstone. Their show, Reel Tracks Radio, comes on every Monday night at eight, and consists of the two hosts playing popular movie sound tracks and discussing how they feel about the movies.

“Going into college, I knew I always wanted to do something on the radio,” Blankenship said. “And the fact that I am able to co-host a show with one of my best friends is awesome.”

Though it has a small audience, Blankenship said he enjoys working the show all the same.

“It airs on the local college station, so it can’t reach too many people, but it’s still fun,” he said. “It hasn’t really given me a reputation on campus, but I like it that way. I feel like I mess up entirely too much on the show.”

Chris Cline, junior, who attends the same church as Blan-kenship, said he was inspired by Blankenship’s attitude.

“He was a big influence to me at my church and my school,” he said. “He has taught me to be dedicated to my work and

have a good attitude about it.”Cline said he was surprised at all the at-tention Blankenship got with the face.

“I think he was just being a silly college kid, just being Jack, but it’s really cool that he got all that attention for it,” he said. “I’m a little jealous.”

Blankenship said everything that has happened to him has been unexpected

and at the end of the day, it was Northridge that shaped him to be the

person he is today.“None of this would be possible

without the leadership I saw in the principal’s office, many of the teacher’s classrooms, and various other places around the school,” he said.

“It feels like just yesterday I was in Mrs. Reed’s class worrying about my media journal, trying to write a graduation speech, and trying to successfully help build a homecoming decoration. It is absolutely remarkable that less than

two years later, my life has changed so radically, and I can’t help but to attribute

it to the great students, teachers and faculty of Northridge High School,” he said.

FAMEBlankenship reminisces over hispast, anticipates new adventures

Get your game face onAbby AllenSports Editor

The hum of a 300 person crowd and the roar of a 90,000 person swarm makes all the difference for alum Vinnie Sun-

seri, defensive back of the University of Alabama football team.

He went from playing 6A high school football to being part of the number one team in the na-tion.

Sunseri said he had always dreamed of playing SEC football but never thought it would actually happen.

While playing at Northridge, Sunseri had offers from both the University of Alabama and the Uni-versity of Pittsburgh. He said his family helped him choose Alabama.

“When I signed to Alabama, it was unbeliev-able,” Sunseri said. “It was a dream come true.”

Along with their influence on his school choice, Sunseri said that his family impacts the way he plays as well.

“My dad and brothers inspire me to work hard,” he said.

While playing at Northridge, Sunseri said he pushed himself to work hard and gained the lead-ership qualities it took to become a great player.

“I had to work harder than everyone else if I wanted to play,” he said.

University of Alabama defensive coordinator, Kirby Smart, said Vinnie is a great contributor in all areas of the team in terms of being a leader and motivator.

“Vinnie has accepted all kinds of challenges since he’s been here in terms of learning multiple positions on defense as well as all of his positions and assignments on special teams,” Smart said. “That is something you are not able to accomplish without a high level of motivation, determination and work ethic.”

When other players see someone else putting in extra time on their own, they begin to do the same thing. Sunseri puts in extra work and affects people in a positive manner.

“People feed off of his intensity, and he leads by example,” Smart said.

Sunseri pushes himself to reach his potential on the field, in the weight room and in the classroom. He drives himself to continually improve in all facets of life, on and off the field.

“Being in the spotlight can either make you hungry or complacent, and it has definitely made Vinnie hungrier,” Smart said.

5FeatureThe Northridge ReporterNovember 30, 2012

Being in the spotlight can make you hungry or com-placent, and it has definitely made Vinnie hungrier.

-Kirby Smart, defensive coordinator

Sunseri ‘hungers’ for spotlight, awed by journey

2004Blankenship in-vents The Face in sixth grade.

Feb. 4, 2012Picture of The Face is uploaded onto Reddit.

Feb. 14, 2012Picture goes viral after bcoming most famous hit on Red-dit.

Feb. 16, 2012Picture becomes featured on Yahoo Sports, ESPN, and in Hollywood gossip.

March 29, 2012Blankenship cre-ates “Jack for Uni-versity of Alabama president” video.

July 2012Blankenship takes part in commercial for Paul W. Bryant Museum.

Information complied by Raiha Bajwa. Designed by Renu Pandit. Artwork by Renu Pandit. Artwork by Renu Pandit.

See northridgereporter.wordpress.com for links to Blankenship on Youtube.

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Nationwide, bullying has become a prominent issue. Tuscaloosa City Schools has created a program this year called HALT which focuses on bringing atten-tion to bullying.

HALT stands for Harass-ment Awareness ∙ Learning Together. This anti-bullying program has a city-wide committee that attended a convention in Auburn over the summer where many schools around the nation gathered to discuss their ef-forts to end bullying, Kelly Brown, the new guidance counselor, said.

Brown is our representa-tive in the HALT program. She said she was excited

Kayla PateStaff Writer

Majorettes will join the marching band next year in their half time shows. Non-mandatory clinics are held twice a month and will al-ways be opened for anyone to come.

Cathy Stephens, fourth grade teacher, has never been a majorette, but vol-unteered to be the faculty sponsor for the majorettes. Falon Evans, former Ala-bama Crimsonette, will choreograph the routines

Sarah Katherine BarnesNews Editor

The time it takes for students to exit the parking lot each day is “too long” and “inconvenient” according to Junior Jayce Bass.

Bass said it takes her at least ten min-utes to leave the campus after school due to traffic coming out of the parking lot.

“There should be another entrance on the other side of the parking lot,” Bass said. “Or something like that. I don’t know I just

know it takes a really long time to leave school.”

Isaac Espy, principal said there is noth-ing that can be done.

“We can’t add any more outlets or inlets because there’s not a place for them. We created a lane just for buses, and that takes up the whole far side of the lot, so no ex-its can be put there. We can’t add one at the front of the parking lot because, well, I don’t think our traffic director could handle two exits on his own. There’s really noth-ing anyone can do,” Espy said.

Majorettes join marching band next yearand assist with tryouts.

“The response has been great. We had about 25 girls at the interest meeting. Since that meeting we have held our first majorette clinic with 13 girls in atten-dance,” Stephens said.

At the clinic Evens taught the girls basic twirls, dance and ribbon routines.

Kathryn Versace, fresh-man, has been attending the non-mandatory clinics.

“The clinics are fun and exciting,” Versace said.

She has twirled before with the Bright Star Twirl-

ers in Orlando, Florida, and she is excited to do it again.

“I think the majorette team will make the football games more exciting,” she said.

Daijah Jackson, junior, has shown up at the interest meetings. She said she is excited about the majorette team because she said it is long overdue.

“I did [twirling] when I was younger at Mary Jo’s Studio. I signed up because I wanted to get back into it,” Jackson said.

about being a part of this program and made it clear that “HALT is unique to Tuscaloosa City Schools.”

“I think anything we can implement that promotes a positive climate will have a long term effect,” Brown said.

This anti-bullying pro-gram should not only bring awareness to bullying, but it is a “systematic way to report bullying as well,” she said.

Sara Diaz, sophomore, said she thinks otherwise.

“I don’t think it helped because people started tak-ing it as a joke, even though it’s something serious,” Diaz said.

If any individual is being bullied or has witnessed an act of bullying, they can re-port it to their school either anonymously or face to face with a leader at the school. To report the incident anon-ymously, they can report it on the Tuscaloosa City School’s website or send an unsigned note or email to their school, Brown said.

“If you are being bullied, take a stand and tell the bul-ly to STOP,” Brown said.

The HALT program will be in effect throughout the school year.

Commute out of parking lot takes too long

Tuscaloosa City Schools implements HALT campaign

KanJalla DancerArt Editor

BCN-TV has made adjustments to cope with changes. Wi-Fi and cable issues have affected their viewing rates.

Christopher King, BCN-TV advisor, said, “The cable and Wi-Fi problems are hurting the viewership of BCN-TV and I have requested help from all three high school administrators to get the cable back

into the budget for our program… It has been a slow and frustrating process for us.”

Because of the new schedule set-up, one of the adjustments BCN-TV

made was moving their weekly show from 8 a.m. to

10 a.m. Another change was adding a new show called “BCN-TV Daily with Alex and Harley.” The daily show is 10 minutes, and includes daily announcements, sports, weather, lunch menus and features. This show airs on cable and YouTube, along with the main show.

Josh Thomas, senior, said that the Wi-Fi problem was not really affecting their work.

“Mr. King talked with the city board to get us the password for the city Wi-Fi,” Thomas said.

Students can watch BCN-TV on their website www.bcntv.org, follow them on twitter and like them on Facebook. The weekly show airs every Friday at 10 a.m. on Comcast channel 21 and on YouTube.

Twirl it!: Sophomores Sophia Lima and Heather Rabbit stretch during the day to prep for majorette tryouts.

BCN-TV adjusts to changes

Photo by: Sarah Katherine Barnes

6 The Northridge ReporterNovember 30, 2102News

Kelly Caroline BurnhamCopy Editor

Bearing the brunt of the Crimson Tide’s 2011 national championship victory and countless gloats that imply a fifteenth tro-phy is in the works is enough to drive any Auburn fan to the brink of insanity.

Of course, walking in a cesspool of crim-son while donning navy and orange garb is enough to put your life in danger on foot-ball weekends. Fair-weather fans flit anx-iously to the superior variety of the year, claiming their undying allegiance.

We Tigers are in the midst of having our stripes peeled off, through football drama and a season that was less than stellar. Bloodthirsty warmongers cried for the fir-ing of the head coach for the worst season in sixty years, and even this diehard fan will admit that it sure was an unbalanced ratio of losses.

Personally, I remained standing behind Gene Chizik in whatever decision he made, and I do not believe that firing the head coach is the solution to everything. While the head coach is meant to bear the respon-sibilities of the team, it is grossly unfair to suggest that the root of all problems comes from the one who is pruning the branches.

Auburn is still Auburn, the university ridiculed by the ‘other’ university in the west for being inferior.

The people who berate Chizik for being a ‘loser’ disgust me. This is the man who we praised as the best coach in the SEC, the winner of multiple awards and the fig-urehead of the football program, flanked by his knowledgeable aides. Firing him has eliminated essentially anyone caught in the blast zone radius, from the assistant coach to the water boy, regardless of their talent.

Since we fired Chizik, our team will not necessarily become stronger. Since we fired Chizik, the recruits are not going to be siphoned out from the corners of the country. Since we fired Chizik, the Univer-sity of Alabama is not going to respect us any further than if we carried twenty crys-tal footballs. Since we fired Chizik, another Cameron Newton is not going to drop in from outer space. Since we fired Chizik, a 2013 national championship victory will not be written in blood.

The only thing we gain is the loss of a man who led us through priceless victories without claiming a single one to himself, and Alabama fans will be correct in calling us the biggest losers in the nation.

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Kelly Caroline BurnhamCopy Editor

Auburn fans are well aware of the hardships that follow any loss, but a loss becomes signifi-cantly more painful when living among antagonizing enemies in the heart of the crimson-and-white land.

Charlie Gross, senior, said, it is difficult being an Auburn fan in Tuscaloosa “whether you win or lose.”

“You’re not viewed any dif-ferently [win or lose], and it’s been especially hard this year because it’s been a terrible football season for Auburn.”

Mercer Boatright, junior, said, Auburn fans are eas-ily criticized for team’s perfor-mance at games.

“Alabama fans usually get up in your face [when Auburn loses] and they tell you that your team sucks.”

He said that when Auburn won the 2010 national cham-pionship against the Oregon Ducks by a margin of 22-19, nothing changed.

“Alabama fans considered the national championship to be all Cam Newton when we had a complete, all-around team that year,” Boatright said.

Living in the heart of the Crimson Tide is certainly dif-ferent from residing one hun-dred and twenty-five miles away in the city of oak trees and tigers.

Anna Schwartz, science teacher, has Auburn’s national championship sticker on her car.

Schwartz said, “The worst is when I’m driving on game days [with] the national champion-ship sticker on my car. [Ala-bama fans] do obscene hand gestures to me, yell things and honk – it’s just not fair.”

Marilyn Stephens, AP sci-ence teacher, said, if Auburn is losing and not doing well it is easier to be an Auburn fan while living in Tuscaloosa.

“It’s only when Auburn is

doing well that you are associ-ated with a team that cheats.”

“Since I have degrees from both places, I don’t have an animosity toward Alabama,” she said.

OpinionJunior stands behind Chizik

Difficult living in Tuscaloosa for Auburn fans

Fair Game Nick Saban, University of Alabama football coach, shakes hands with Auburn’s coach, Gene Chizik, after the Ala-bama vs. Auburn football game on Nov. 24, 2012. The Crimson Tide defeated the Auburn tigers with a score of 49-0. “I was expecting Bama to win, but I was expecting points on both sides,” Will Poore, senior, said.

Katie PooreStaff Writer

First-time attendees at the North Super-Regionals, the girls volleyball team made an entrance by defeating Oxford High School in the first game, winning all three matches.

North Super-Regionals, a tournament that decides the state champions, hosted schools across the state.

Also in attendance was Grissom High School, who beat the team and won all three matches of the game.

Shirlyncia Moore, senior and middle

hitter on the team, said she is proud of the team’s performance.

“I feel accomplished knowing that this season was our best season,” Moore said. “I’m definitely satisfied with what we’ve done.”

Moore said the team prepared for Super-Regionals by practicing hard.

“We practiced with more focus on skills, technique and diversity, which is switch-ing up plays. Practice wasn’t for fun. It was serious,” Moore said. “We practiced from three until five-thirty almost every day.”

Moore said she and the rest of the team

Volleyball team makes it to Super-Regionals

Bump, set, spike! Left: Alexie Blunt, senior, dives for a ball while Katrina Strutwolf, junior, watches in anticipation. Right: Denae Sisler, sophomore, bumps the ball. D’Aja Patrick, junior, prepares to help.

Photos by: Beth Allaway

Photo by: MCT Campus

have had to overcome obstacles to make it to Super-Regionals.

“I had to work on becoming more verbal because I’m kind of quiet,” she said. “Just thinking about State and seeing we had po-tential to go to State motivated me. And it’s my senior year, too.”

Sophomore Katie McCray said she is happy “for her friends on the team.”

“And it gives us something good to say about Northridge,” McCray said. “It makes me proud.”

The team, coached by Vicky Miller, has completed its season with 22 wins and 15 losses.

7SportsThe Northridge ReporterNovember 30, 2012

Novem

ber 30, 2012

Volume 10

Issue 3

northridgereporter.wordpress.com

8Beat

The Northridge ReporterNovem

ber 30, 2012

English teacher starts out jobless, now receives praise

Jared LotfiStaff

Writer

Shane

Ashcraft,

English teacher,

could not be more optim

istic about his second year.

“I’m still thrilled to be here,” he said,

“I’m fortunate to have found a job in a

great environment that’s relatively close

to home.”

Ashcraft,

a U

niversity of

Alabam

a graduate, is originally from

Montgom

ery, A

la. and moved to Tuscaloosa in 2004.

“After graduating, I w

as without a

teaching job

for nine

months.

Those w

eren’t exactly the easiest months of m

y life,” A

shcraft said.H

e started out teaching only sopho-m

ores and juniors but began teaching pre-A

P classes for incoming freshm

en this year. A

shcraft said he was excited to

increase the diversity of his teaching en-

vironment. H

is new pupils, he said, are

“quite lively.”Senior Vaughan Veillon took 11th grade

English with A

shcraft.“H

e definitely

wasn’t

a traditional

teacher,” Veillon said, “and had a more

open teaching style that was stim

ulat-ing.”Senior Jam

eson Hubbard had a sim

ilar experience, stating that A

shcraft was able

to relate to his students extremely w

ell and bring any concept dow

n to earth.In the tw

o weeks leading up to Thanks-

giving break, Ashcraft let students sign up

for after school one on one sessions with

him for essay editing.

“Most of m

y students really took ad-vantage of the idea, and I’m

looking for-w

ard to some great revisions,” he said, “I

plan on continuing it in days to come.”

Aside from

teaching, Ashcraft served

as a boys varsity soccer assistant coach

and the head coach of the junior varsity team

during his first year at the school.Preston M

cCool, junior, played on the

junior varsity team and had A

shcraft as his sophom

ore English teacher. “A

s a coach he wasn’t as hard on us as

he was in the classroom

,” he said.A

shcraft said he has an affinity for es-pecially long road trips w

hich has led to a num

ber of excursions including a sum-

mer drive to M

ontana and participation in Spartan Sprint 2011, a four m

ile race featuring a plethora of obstacles and gal-lons of m

ud. “I did plenty of hiking in M

ontana along w

ith some free clim

bing and boul-dering,” he said.

Ashcraft said he plans to com

pete in the Spartan R

ace again this year.W

hen things are more tranquil, he said

he enjoys reading Faulkner, Orw

ell and e.e. cum

mings.

Teach it: Shane Ashcraft teaches To Kill A M

ockingbird by Harper Lee to 9th grade Pre-A

P English students. “I like how w

e can have fun in his class but still learn things,” A

bbey Burnham

, freshman, said.

Photos by Jared Lotfi

Ninth graders look for easy road, leave Pre-A

P classJared LotfiStaff

Writer

Since the beginning of the school year, five or six students have left

Shane Ashcraft’s Pre-A

P English 9 class, three of those left in the first w

eek.A

shcraft said his students should desire or at least expect to perform

at Pre-AP

levels.“Sim

ply being in a Pre-AP English class

and doing the bare minim

um hurts [stu-

dents], and they probably would learn m

ore in a regular or advanced class,” he said.

The primary cause for his concern is

that students who are capable of Pre-A

P coursew

ork may try to shy aw

ay from a

challenge and attempt to find easier sub-

ject matter in low

er level courses.“The problem

is that those students w

ho try to find an easier road are in for a rude aw

akening,” he said, “Although

our standard may be higher than other

classes, Ms. Tillm

an, Ms. W

right and any other [English teacher] w

ill still require students to w

ork hard and meet expecta-

tions. Switching to a low

er level does not guarantee a free ride; our teachers ensure

that you get what you need.”

Freshman A

nna Katherine Tucker said

that she found the class too difficult, and, w

ithin the first nine weeks, sw

itched to M

s. Tillman’s honors course.

“I understand Ms. Tillm

an’s teaching a lot better,” she said, “She’s w

illing to stop and explain details of the pieces w

e’re w

orking on, and I don’t think Mr. A

sh-craft w

as as responsive a teacher.”N

o matter w

hich English course a stu-dent takes, A

shcraft said that he or she m

ust expect to cover the same literary

content.