Vol. 51 Issue 1 201 Valley Brook Dr. Silver Spring, MD 20904 Friday, September 28, 2012

Inside the Blueprint

Fullbright scholars welcomed

West nile virus hits hardChris ChoppinNews Editor

Anisha SharmaFeature Editor

Ride-On bus ruins houseQuy TranStaff Writer

Photo Courtesy Sharon CohenThe Fullbright Scholars make their first appearance at a welcome re-ception. They look forward to a successful semester.

For this 2012-2013 school year four new staff members from around the world have been added to the Devil community. The Fulbright program gives educators from around the world the opportunity to go to different coun-tries and study the difference in educa-tion.

Springbrook is hosting Ivanna Pie-gas from Argentina, Suresh Joshi from India, Tarik Bousetta from Morocco, and Lynette Liew from Singapore.

Piegas has been teaching English for 15 years to a wide variety of peo-ple of different ages and with different needs. She is working with Monica Lee. Joshi has been teaching phys-ics from last 15 years to 14 – 18 year olds and is responsible for heading the learning resource center and depart-ment of physics at Ahlcon International School. His school is placed in the eastern part of Delhi, which is in the northern part of India. He is working with Dr. Melanie Rock.

“I think the program gives a great opportunity to the educators to see what the education in the United States is like. Mr. Joshi is very enthusiastic about his opportunity which is great,” Dr. Rock said.

Bousetta has been teaching Eng-lish as a Foreign Language at the high school level since 1998. Mr. Boussetta is also a certified translator. He is work-ing with social studies teacher Sharon Cohen.

“This program is a great way for teachers to see different education-al systems but it is also good for the children to hear experiences from the

teachers about their country,” Cohen said.

Liew currently teaches at Clem-enti Town Secondary School. She is a School Staff Developer (SSD) and her primary role as an SSD is to look into teachers' professional development. She also teaches English Language and English Literature. She is working with staff development teacher Cathy Marzens .

“I think it is cool because it allows us to be exposed to different ideas from around the world,” Junior Kohler Su-kachevin said.

These four teachers are also going to be in the yearbook. Piegas is very ecstatic about this opportunity because she is not going to be featured in the

yearbook in the school she works with. “It is great that the teachers get to

be in the yearbook. All the students will get to see who they are and why they were here,” senior JP Nguyen said.

Many students are intrigued by the aspect of these scholars visiting, but did not get the chance to meet them.

“I was very interested to hear that such renowned scholars were making an appearance at Springbrook, but I never got to see them! Still, it was cool to know that we have ties to some of the greatest minds in the world,” junior Aidan Andrews said.

In all, it is a great opportunity for Springbrook to have the Fullbright Scholars attend Springbrook and im-parting their wisdom.

Find out about “Senioritis” and its effects at the Brook on Page 8.

Learn all about the friendly, new staff this year on Page 4.

All of your favorite sports are back in action at Springbrook, including boys Varsity Soccer on Page 10.

While we were all sleeping comfortably in our homes on a fine summer Monday afternoon Toye Olamide had a rude awak-ening when a Montgomery Coun-ty Ride on Bus crashed into his home. Only Toye and his brother Kofo, age 22, were inside when the bus struck. The bus driver lost control after the vehicles brakes blew out,six people on the bus including the driver were taken to the hospital.

“I was sleeping when suddenly I heard a loud crash and I jumped out of my bed and went to check it out and I walked into my living room and there was a bus smack in my living room. They’re paying for all repairs and for us to stay in a five star hotel, I’m living large. I’m really lucky that the bus didn’t come close to my room or any of my family,” Olamide said.

The Olamide family is cur-rently staying at the Marriot Resi-dence Inn located in Cherry Hill. Friends and families were very shocked to hear that such a thing could happen the bus was turn-ing on Avenel Road when it lost its brakes and moved across the yards of three houses and hit-ting a taxi parked in front of the Olamide household shortly before striking the house itself.

“I cant believe something like that could happen, a bus crashing through a house? I am really glad that Toye and his family are al-right, Toyes a great and funny guy who makes everyone laugh. The scary part is that it happened in my neighborhood too, it could’ve been any of us living around here,” senior Zoe Edwards said

Although the accident is a trag-edy, there are plans in place to repair the Olamides house. Ol-amide still attends Springbrook, and has maintained a positive at-titude about the whole ordeal. In all, the community of Springbrook and the neighborhood has rallied around Toye and his family, and morale has remained high in the Olamide family.

This year spirit week will be held from October 1 through October 5 and the Homecoming dance will be held on Saturday, October 6.

“Monday will be voted on by the general assembly so it has not been decided yet. Tuesday will be wacky tacky day. Wednesday will be Interna-tional day, Thursday will be movie day, which was decided by the senior class. And last but not least Friday will be “Blue Devil” day were the seniors will wear togas and the rest of the school will wear blue,” SGA President Alex Gutierrez said.

Last year, Springbrook had a very successful spirit week. All of the school participated in spirit week, but the se-nior class won overall most participa-

tion.This year, the Brook is continuing

the tradition. “Each teacher will be giv-en cards to give out to anyone that they see participating in the attire for the day. During lunch, there will be boxes in the cafeteria for each class to put their cards and the class with the most cards at the end of the week will win,” Gutierrez said.

Springbrook ends spirit week with the homecoming game and dance. The homecoming game is the night of Fri-day, September 6. The homecoming dance is on Saturday night, the day af-ter the game.

The homecoming dance will be held in the gymnasium from 7-11pm on Sep-tember 6. “You will need to dress in for-mal attire; meaning no sneakers, jeans, or t-shirts,” Gutierrez said.

Tickets for Homecoming go on sale

in the security office and will be 10 dol-lars. Homecoming king and queen for each class will be announced at the dance and given a sashay and a crown.

“Every year I have always been re-ally involved in both spirit week and homecoming, and I am hoping that this year, especially since it’s my last year, it will be great. Both my sophomore and junior year’s spirit weeks and home-comings were really phenomenal,” se-nior Renee Adkins said.

It seems that the whole school is buzzing, and even new students, such as junior Cami Blaha, have nothing but good things to say.

“I am really excited to go to home-coming and to be able to participate in Spirit Week. I have heard a lot of great things about it and everybody at the school seems to be really excited about it,” junior Cami Blaha said.

2 Friday, September 21, 2012Blueprint News

New store at Springbrook Andrew Robinson Opinion Editor

A Homecoming to remember

Cassidy O’Hearn Staff Writer

Perry Hall tragedy Lauren Rumford Staff Writer

A word from the SGA Alex Gutierrez SGA Correspondent

Police are now revealing new information about the 15-year-old accused of bringing a shotgun into Baltimore City’s Perry Hall High School and opening fire on a classmate. Rob-ert Wayne Gladden Jr. has been charged as an adult for shooting a 17-year-old classmate, who was shot in the back in the school’s caf-eteria Monday morning August 27.

The shooting left Daniel Borowy, a 17-year-old special needs student, in critical condition. Gladden faces 29 charges, including attempt-ed murder. Police said Borowy was the only one that was shot but several others suffered minor injuries from all the commotion in the cafeteria at the time of the shooting. After

the shooting, the school was evacuated and students were escorted to a nearby shopping center and middle school.

“I think it is a tragic situation. Hopefully we can learn from it and it won’t happen again. This shows that schools with a good image can have situations like this, despite the good reputation given to them,” child development teacher Aimee Hawkins said.

Gladden was a quiet boy that kept to him-self and always wore his hair over his face. When asked about the situation, Gladdens father told the assistant principle that his sons actions may have been triggered because of bullying. Baltimore county police Chief, Jim Johnson, said he does not think bullying was a factor.

Springbrook begins the new school year with many new changes and ad-ditions. One of these changes is the school store. The school store has been introduced and is located in the pit (basement) of the school. It is run by the athletic department and current athletic director Rob Wendel. The school store sells school supplies, school apparel, such as sweatshirts, jackets, and T-shirts, along with snacks such as chips, and drinks. It seems the new school store is helping students be prepared for class already.

“It fills a need for the school; you don’t have to go to the store to get school supplies because you can get it here,” Rob Wendel said.

Another great thing about the school store is that the money goes right back in to the school. All the profits go to fund-

ing school events, the athletic depart-ment, and school needs.

One problem with the school store now is that not many people know about it. It is new so not many people have gotten a chance to visit yet, and also it’s in the basement so it is difficult to see it from any of the main hallways. However support for the store has increased in recent weeks as students begin to hear about it from other students.

“We’re getting a new group of stu-dents every day, and once we get the socks, and clothes and other apparel people will start coming,” Wendel said.

The store is a great addition to the school and it will help many students get through the day. If you forget materi-als or are running low on supplies the school store has what you need.

“I haven’t been yet, but when I go I will buy a pencil or some paper” junior Adair Walton said.

“It’s a great idea because students

don’t come prepared, you can buy stuff from there and increase your learning capabilities” senior Joshua Olabosipo said.

The school had been consider-ing reinstating a new school store for quite some time now, and this is the result. Now, many sports teams will be awarded with much needed new items, and classrooms may receive upgrades as well. The amount of revenue, how-ever, is completely dependent on how much of the student body may actually go and make purchases. One of the main concerns is that the school store is too secluded from the daily activities of the students of Springbrook, because it is in the pit. However, it has been re-corded that many purchases have been made thus far, including copious sales on back to school night, when parents were presented with the opportunity to buy Springbrook apparel for themselves and their children.

Greetings from the SGA Executive Board! Starting this year, the SGA will be having our own column in the Blueprint. We aim to have a convenient way for stu-dents to be kept up-to-date with everything the SGA does and plans to do. As of right now the executive board has come up with an outline for the 2012-2013 school year. We are open to new ideas and sug-gestions so please feel free to speak to any of the SGA board members or show up to the general assembly meetings.

The SGA board has also begun to get involved with the Montgomery County Region SGA (MCR –SGA), which is the county SGA. If anyone is interested in at-tending an MCR Executive Board meeting or a General Assembly, please talk to ei-ther SGA advisor Ms. Abeshouse in F309 or talk to SGA President Alex Gutierrez.

Our first general assembly meeting was held on Wednesday, September 12th, during the second half of lunch. The main topics of discussion were was regarding spirit week, spirit days, spirit events and activities. Other major points of discus-sion during the general assembly were about bringing up issues with the student body, and creating committees, such as fund-raising and homecoming commit-tees. If you are interested in being a part of a committee or volunteering for back-to-school night and/or open house, please let the executive board members or Ms. Abeshouse know.

If you were not selected as a third pe-riod representative, but would still like to be a part of the general SGA, there is still a way! The SGA executive board has se-lected senators already, but is always in need of volunteers. Feel free to talk to the Board or Ms. Abeshouse about opportu-nities. There are many other events the SGA has planned for the year, so we will be in need of a lot of help from students.

The SGA would also like to welcome Ms. Morales to the Brook. Ms. Morales is the new administrator who came from James Hubert Blake High School and was selected to be the administrator oversee-ing the SGA. So if you see her, please welcome her.

In conclusion, the SGA would like to en-courage students to get involved, whether it is by joining a club or by doing a sport. Also, begin studying for the PSAT/SAT’s coming up. Thank you!

The West Nile Virus is a potentially life threatening disease spread by mosqui-toes. It has made headlines recently be-cause of the high number of outbreaks and deaths in Dallas, Texas. There have been 319 cases reported in Dallas County as of August 29, 13 of which have resulted in deaths.

The West Nile Virus was first identi-fied in 1937 in the East African Country of Uganda. It first emerged in the United States in New York in the summer of 1999. Since then there have been many cases in Maryland, with the largest outbreak oc-curring in 2003. Last year there were 19 human cases reported in Maryland as op-posed to the 73 reported cases in 2003. This year has been a record low year with only 21 reported cases so far in 2012 and only one fatality. Although there have not been many cases in the area this year, there is still a risk of being bitten by an in-fected mosquito. To prevent bites, using bug spray and wearing long sleeve shirts can be effective.

“I think this year more birds and animals will be affected by West Nile Virus than humans. However, because of the mild winter last year around the nation I think that is why the west Nile Virus has had so many cases this year. If we do not have a

harsh winter this coming winter, then next summer will have more cases in humans,” science teacher Randy Decker said.

There are now prevalent effects of the West Nile Virus taking over the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area. On Monday, September 24, the local government of Annapolis allowed for the dusting of pes-ticide in the wildlife areas of the city. Addi-tionally, many town and city governments across Maryland have legislation being debated upon which will decide whether or not permission will be granted for the dust-ing of pesticide.

In response to the large number of out breaks and deaths in Dallas County, May-or Mike Rawlings made a controversial decision to attempt to control the mosqui-toes. Rawlings recently granted permis-sion for an aerial assault on the mosquito population by the use of insecticide spray to be spread out via airplane over the en-tire county.

This could be potentially harmful be-cause not only will these pesticides kill mosquitoes but they may also kill many other small insects and can infect small animals as well. This could potentially harm the entire ecosystem in the Dallas area.

“I think Mayor Rawlings decision is a waste. The value of the human life may be a little high because it is not like thousands of people are dying and it hurts the envi-ronment more with the spraying than help-

ing the few lives in danger. This could re-ally hurt the environment in that area. Also, there could be a more dangerous mutation in mosquitoes that we do not know about,” senior Chukwukpee Nzegwu.

The pesticide dumped in a wide range of areas endangers the plant life that lives there, and some of the habitats most af-fected may not be habitable to plant life ever again.

“I understand that the government needs to do what is best for their con-stituents, but I am legitimately concerned about the wildlife in Maryland. There has to be a better way for people to be safe from the virus and still maintain a healthy ecosystem in Maryland. In the mean time, the government should hold off on allow-ing more pesticide to be sprayed, and wait for some better solution,” junior Kohler Su-kachevin said.

Students at the Brook are very aware that the virus is prevalent and a real threat in the Maryland area.

“I will be honest, I understand that the West Nile Virus is a real threat in the Mary-land area. But this does not mean that ev-eryone has to stay cooped up inside all the time. Just go live your life, and just be a little more cautious,” junior Aidan Andrews said.

As the government of many states scram-bles to negate the effect, people everywhere are now taking caution in order to prevent themselves from becoming infected.

SGA plans spirit week, dance

3Friday, September 28, 2012 Blueprint News

Armstrong gets titles strippedBraedon Tock Staff Writer/ Headline Manager

Consortium open house draws crowds Joshua Dan Staff Writer

Snack prices soar

Victor Weiser Staff Writer

Ryan Hudson Staff Writer

Photo by Theresa NguyenAs she attempts to purchase a snack, freshman Kelly Stiller becomes outraged by the steep prices at the machines.

MYPprojectsunderway

The Middle Years Programme (MYP) helps build an understand-ing in students of the real things happening in the world around them and builds global connec-tions. It also teaches students time management skills and good work ethics, helping them in their future classes.

If you are a freshman, sopho-more, or new to Springbrook you are probably starting to hear all about this thing called or MYP. Most of your teachers and coun-selors will talk to you about the “personal project.” Some of you may be wondering what a person-al project is.

While you are in the tenth grade you will have the oppor-tunity participate in making your very own personal project. It can be about anything that you have a passion for such as music, art, sports, or helping an organization of some sort like two sophomores did last year.

“I chose to help the organiza-tion Urban Light after being intro-duced to the founder by my part-ner and was inspired by her efforts to help young boys in Thailand,” junior Ezra Hollander said.

Hollander did his project with fellow junior Rachel Keegan, in their sophomore year.

Hollander and Keegan raised over 200 dollars and are feeling good about their achievement. This year, sophomore Adriana Gomes is hoping to have a posi-tive experience like many before her have had.

“I wanted to do a personal proj-ect because I thought that it would help me share my interests with other students. I also did it be-cause I want to be successful and I think that it could be helpful for my future,” Gomes said.

Springbrook is the only school in the North-East Consortium that offers the MYP programas well as one of a few high schools in the entire county. Many tenth grad-ers are choosing to do a personal project this year and many ninth graders are looking forward to it.

These students are not only electing to do a personal project for the half credit but it also looks good on a college aplication. Nor are they doing it solely for the an-nual MYP trip to New York City after you have completed and pre-sented the project. They also do a personal project for the unique op-portunity to partake in a program that most students around the county cannot experience.

Springbrook High School start-ed the 2012 – 2013 year with pric-es on the vending machines sky-rocketing, which has caused an uproar in the student body. With the new prices rising, students are starting to bring snacks for after and before school.

“I am so mad about these new prices; I already have a hard enough time trying to find 65 cents after workouts. Now they raised it to 85? It is just too much for me. I buy soda after school every day and that means I have to pay an extra 1.25 since it is up 25 cents, I demand change,” junior Ladi Akande said.

Many students have been complaining about the price while some just don’t care much about it because sodas are only available to buy before and after school. Snacks are the same, with the ex-ception of lunch.

“I really do not care about the prices. They are not that big of a deal, I just want to be done with high school I do not have time to complain about food being a few cents higher. I usually only buy snacks if I am really, really hungry. But most of the time I just bring some chips or cookies from home to eat in class and after practice,” senior Jimmy Stradley said.

Sometimes these vending ma-chines malfunction and give the person an extra bag of chips or an extra soda; but if you are unlucky it will take your money. However, you can get your money by talking to security.

“That gatorade vending ma-chine blows my life! Last time I

was extremely thirsty after prac-tice so I decided to buy a Gato-rade but it took two of my dollars! My friend also tried but it also took his dollar,” junior Cindy Martinez said.

Even though the student body is disagreeing to the rise of the

vending machine prices, it is necessary for these prices to be bumped up. Due to the recession, Montgomery County has had to raise the prices on the machines in order to keep the vending ma-chines running and to keep mak-ing a profit from them.

“The county controls the prices and I do not have any control on how the items are priced. I will not distribute the name of the com-pany who changed the prices on the snacks and drinks at the vend-ing machines,” business manager Chris Grasso said.

When people hear the name Lance Armstrong they think of an American hero. However, for the last few years, Lance Armstrong has been fighting allegations of using banned substances. The fight is now over as Lance Arm-strong has given up and is no longer fighting the allegations against him.

While Armstrong maintains his innocence, he is no longer going to protest the allegations.

“There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough’. For me, that time is now,” Armstrong said in a statement.

Armstrong justified giving up

by adding, “Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investi-gation followed by Travis Tygart’s unconstitutional witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today - finished with this non-sense.”

Armstrong has had an illus-trious career. Qualifying for the Unites States Olympic team as a senior in high school, he won 10 titles in 1993 being called “The Golden Boy of American Cycling” and by 1996 he was the number one ranked cyclist in the world.Later that year he was diagnosed with cancer making him a power-ful advocate for cancer research.

“He should not have done ste-roids, but people should nott for-get everything he has done,” se-nior Ariela Vega said

The U.S anti-doping agency (USADA) successfully banned Lance Armstrong from racing on August 24th and also stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles. The anti-doping rule violations for which Mr. Armstrong is being sanctioned are:

(1) Use and/or attempted use of prohibited substances and/or methods including EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone, corti-costeroids and masking agents.

(2) Possession of prohibited substances and/or methods in-cluding EPO, blood transfusions and related equipment (such as

needles, blood bags, storage containers and other transfusion equipment and blood parameters measuring devices), testoster-one, corticosteroids and masking agents.

(3)Trafficking of EPO, testos-terone, and corticosteroids.

(4)Administration and/or at-tempted administration to others of EPO, testosterone, and corti-sone.

(5)Assisting, encouraging, aid-ing, abetting, covering up and other complicity involving one or more anti-doping rule violations and/or attempted anti-doping rule violations.

These violations may be a taint in the legacy that is Lance Arm-strong.

As schools get into the swing of things for this new school year, they also have to make prepara-tions for next year. This is also around the time where 8th grad-ers make decisions on where they are go for high school. In an effort to get students to come to their school, high schools have open houses to introduce them to what they offer at their school. All the NEC high schools will be holding their open house on the evening

of October 11th. “Open house is just a way for

us as a school to introduce our-selves to the 8th graders and a way for us to persuade them to come to our school, it is a con-sortium-wide event so the other schools like Paintbranch and Blake will be having their open houses as well,” IB Coordinator Mark Griffiths said.

Here at Springbrook, we exclusively offer various pro-grams such as the Middle Years Program(MYP), International

Baccalaureate(IB), Academy of In-formation Technology(AOIT) and Justice, Law and Society(JLS). These are only unique to Spring-brook within the consortium. Throughout the school during open house, all class depart-ments will be participating. Math, Science, English, Social studies, Art and etc. will all be showcasing their respective classes and what they offer.

There are some ways, upper-classmen can help out with open house. Some are very simple and

easy to help out with. Students can go talk to any of teachers and ask them if there is anything you can help them with on the night of the open house. Students can simply go around school and pro-mote Springbrook’s programs to the 8th graders, and explain them to the students or answer any questions they may have.

Our programs will be having individual tables displaying what they offer. All the rooms will have a teacher talking about the class they teach, so be sure to walk

around and see what is going on.“For open house this year,

hopefully, we can have a room of ourselves to display our program to the 8th graders. We’ll have some of the basic introductory pa-pers for the kids and the parents as well. One of my old students that graduated here last year and that currently studies criminal jus-tice in college, will be here with me to talk about the program and pretty much helping me promote what we offer to the 8th graders” JLS Teacher Gary Frace said.

4Friday, September 28, 2012 Blueprint News

Radio Show A new addition to the clubs at

the Brook is our own radio show. The name of the show is currently in production but shows will air first around October. This radio show will be available on iTunes for free to Springbrook students. The focus of this radio show will be talking about events coming up at Springbrook, job opportuni-ties, latest trends and new music. Also, there will be music played on this station. If everything goes well, the producers will start to in-vite guest speakers to come in.

A peek inside the classroom

Club updates around the Brook

Theresa Nguyen Photography Editor

Ivana Yakovleff Staff Writer

Tam-Anh NguyenFeature Editor

New teachers arrive at Springbrook

For the 2012-2013 school year, students are able to take the classes that interest them most. With many new courses open to students, Marine biol-ogy, creative writing, and AP Language for seniors are a few classes that students find to be the most interesting at the Brook because the classes are hands-on and they most defi-nately stand out to the students.

Marine Biology

Taught by Amy Itwaru, Marine biology is a semester long honors course filled with lots of hands on activities. Some are dissect-ing sharks, squid and many other sea animals. Apart from studying, the students taking the class will have the chance to go whale watching in New Jersey at the beginning of November.

“Once I graduate from Spring-brook this year, I want to major in Marine biology. So, when I found out about this class, I knew that I would have to take it in order to prepare myself for college,” senior John Paul Nguyen said.

IB Film StudiesIB film studies is the perfect

course for anyone looking for fun and rigor all in one. With a cur-riculum that consists of watching, analyzing, and making movies, it is the ideal class for students looking to broaden their horizons or even go into the film making business. John Goldman teaches the intuitive and hands on class. Paired with his lively and light-hearted nature, students seem to have an enjoyable time in his classroom.

Creative Writing

Creative writing is an elec-tive class that allows you to write

have a good attitude about being here. It’s definitely refreshing to see students that know what they want to achieve and work hard to get there,” Abrams said.

Another new member to the Springbrook family is Susan Van Gavree, who is a Chemistry and Honors Matter and Energy teach-er. Gavree is a Slippery Rock Uni-versity alumni as well as a hard core Steelers fan. Even being as far away from home as she was, Gavree found it easy to adjust because of all the support she re-ceived from the Springbrook staff.

“Coming from the small town I lived in while I was in Pennsylva-nia, we only had four stoplights. I wanted a new change in my life and to be able to experience more culture. Fortunately for me it doesn’t get more cultural then Springbrook. I was so amazed to find out how many students in my class lived in another country or spoke a different language,” Gavree said.

Springbrook’s new IB MYP program coordinator, John Weinshel, transferred from Ban-

niker Middle School Compared to many of our new teachers, Wein-shel has been teaching for quite a while, and this year at Spring-brook will be his 26.

“It was as if the stars had aligned. I left Bannaker after sev-en years because I wanted a new challenge. The main difference between my students at Banna-ker and the students at Spring-brook would be that they are more mature. At this age they are more goal oriented, probably because their dreams and ambitions seem more tangible than when they were in middle school,” Weinshel holding back tears, said.

Gavree along with her regular curriculum, will also be assisting Mr. Hussein with the “It’s Academ-ic” team at Springbrook. Similarly to Gavree, Abrams will be coach-ing as well during the Spring.

“I will be coaching Jv boy’s la-crosse, so I want to encourage as many people as possible to come and try out for the sport,” said Abrams, “Even if you do not try out; I want Springbrook Students to know that my door is always

With the arrival of this new school year came a variety of changes: the addition of one new electronic sign, 10 new classes to the curriculum, and 20 brand new teachers. These new teach-ers have come from far and wide to grace the halls of Springbrook High School, hailing from areas as far away as Pennsylvania, to as close as Burtonsville.

Jacob Abrams, one of the many new additions to the Sci-ence Department teaches envi-ronmental science and I-Apps in room G109. Abrams previously taught at a high school in Dover, Delaware, but when the opportu-nity of a teaching position arose at Springbrook, he decided to move to Maryland. Abrams had a hard time choosing out of the multitude of positive aspects he believed Springbrook has.

“What I like the most about Springbrook, along with the wel-coming and friendly staff, is how students at Springbrook generally

open amd they can stop by any-time. I love meeting new people and I want to meet new people,” said Abrams.

When asked what he wanted Springbrook students to know

about him, Weinshel’s answer, for the sake of being “cliché” free, was simple but fear inducing.

“I am overly and excessively serious,” Weinshel, his eyes gleaming with promise, said.

about your interest. The class is meant to express your imagina-tion and creativity. It is not only considered a fun class, but it is also a fun experience for the

people who decide to take it.“Sometimes it is easier to put

my thoughts onto paper because it feels like I am letting stress slip away,” junior Ellen Martinez said.

Stags football scandalLauren Rumford Staff Writer

DeMatha Catholic High School is nationally known for nationally for its top-notch athletic programs, especially football and basketball. Despite their reputation five De-Matha football players have been involved with an incident regard-ing prostitutes. On Friday Septem-ber 7, the morning after their away game at Hillside in North Carolina, five football players hired prosti-tutes from a call service.

Two players withdrew from DeMatha, two have been recom-mended for expulsion, and one faces a disciplinary hearing. The names of the players have not been released due to the ages of the participants. Some of the boys had sexual intercourse with the prostitutes after hiring them.

“I think a lot has been said about the chaperoning on the trip. It is very important that minors are watched when they are on an away trip. It is passing the buck to say that chaperoning was the problem. Every participant in the situation knew that what they were doing was wrong and it is unfor-tunate that the choice of the indi-viduals damaged the reputation of their institution,” English teacher and head varsity football coach, Adam Bahr said.

DeMatha coach Elijah Brooks said he could not comment on the situation. School principal Dan McMahon said he could not talk about disciplinary action either. One parent is concerned about how this situation happened and where the chaperones and coach-es were at the time of this incident.

The incident occurred at 5 a.m., an hour after the final hall check at 4 a.m. A bed check was conducted at 1:30 a.m.

“I think prostitution is a despi-cable crime and the participants who were involved in this situation should be penalized,” junior Saron Tsegab said.

The school community is sad-dened and hurt by the actions of these few who do not reflect the reputation of the community.

Spanish Honor Society

A popular club amongst Spring-brook students, is the Spanish Honor Society. The Spanish Hon-or Society has a publicity commit-tee, who will be featured on the morning announcements. They will also try to encourage Span-ish four honor students to join this club, while juniors who want to be officers for next year will be shad-owing or learning from the senior class officers. Tutoring will be of-fered Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in room F-101 during the second half of lunch. They will also try to have a Grab-N-Go sales; includes pizza, cook-ies and other baked goods.

Gay Straight Alliance

The Gay Straight Alliance will continue this year as they try to bridge the gap and stop the animosity between those of dif-ferent sexual orientations. This year there will be meetings once a week instead of last year’s once a month. English teacher Shaun Crouse will be coordina-tor of this club as always, along with social studies teacher Rob-ert Hoffman. This year will be more visual than last year includ-ing bake sales, announcements, and signs around the school.

Photo by Theresa NguyenShaun Crouse is the spon-sor/advisor of the Gay Straight Alliance Club.

Photo by Theresa NguyenCarol Middlebrook is the Spanish Honor Society adviser.

Photo by Theresa NguyenThe media center displays profiles of the new teachers for the 2012-2013 school year.

Photo by Theresa NguyenSenior Crystal Vega expresses her ideas on paper in her creative writing class.

5Friday, September 28, 2012 Blueprint Feature

A Day in the life of a Springbrook Blue Devil

Faculty

Name: Tatah Ndeh Favorite Tv Show: Favorite Food: Achu Soup Hobby: Drawing and Working

Junior

7:00 PM - Relax and Eat Dinner10:00 PM - Sleep

5:40 AM - Wake Up

7:05 AM - Get to School

11:35 AM - Lift During Lunch

2:10 PM - School Ends

3-5:30 PM - Football Practice

6:00 PM - Eat Dinner

6:30 PM - Take a Shower

7:00 PM - Do Homework

8:00 PM - Relax

10:00 PM - Go to Sleep

10:00 PM - Go to Sleep

Name: John WeinshelFavorite Tv Show: PLL and GleeFavorite Food: Chicken CurryHobby: Basketball

6:00 AM - Roll out of bed

6:35 AM - Wake up daughter/ Drive to work

7:00 AM - Get to school

2:15 PM - School Ends

3:15 PM - Watch any home sports

4:30 PM - Take daughter driving

6:00 PM - Eat Dinner

8:00 PM - Watch TV

9:00 PM - Play Basketball with

12:00 AM- Go to Sleep

Name: Nick Holden Favorite Tv Show: Adventure Time Favorite Food: Red Robins Hobby: I build legos for competitions

2:20 PM - Study hall

6:00 PM - Get home

7:15 PM - Do homework

5:00 AM - Wake up

6:30 AM - Take bus

7:00 AM -Get to school 2:15 PM - School ends

3-5:30 PM - Football practice

6:15 PM - Walk the dog

6:30 PM - Watch the Sci-Fi channel 7:00 PM - Walk the dog again

9:00 PM - Eat dinner

11:00 PM - Go to sleep

Senior

Name: Sana Shah Favorite Tv Show: How I Met Your Mother Favorite Food: Food in general Hobby: Drawing, Softball

Name: Josh Frimpong Favorite Tv Show: The Regular Show Favorite Food: Chipotle Hobby: Likes to collect wristbands

5:30 AM - Wake Up

5:35 AM - Shower

6:00 AM - Eat Toast

7:25 AM - School

2:10 PM - School Ends

2:30-4:10 PM - Marching Band Practice

4:30 PM - Get Home

4:45 PM - Take A Shower

6:00 PM - Practice Guitar, Saxaphone, and Write Music

Sophomore Freshman

6:45 AM - Catch the bus

6:00 AM - Wake Up

2:15 PM - School Ends

2:30 PM - Go the rec and play basketball

3:30 PM - Go to Mcdonalds

4:30 PM - Go Home

5:00 PM - Do Homework

5:30 PM - Watch TV or Go on the computer

7:00 PM - Eat Dinner

6 Friday, September 28, 2012Blueprint Feature

Get Rid of the Back to School Blues

Hanging up Traditions

A Week Unlike Any Other: Spirit Week

lege of wearing togas. This color scheme has been cause for much controversy amongst students.

“It’s dumb that we all have to wear similar colors just to discour-age tagging, tagging is the most fun part of spirit week! It’s harm-less and people should know not to wear clothes that they don’t want to get dirty because tag-ging has been a tradition ever since I was a freshman. I went through it and other classes can too,” senior Landon Kestner said.

For those who do not know ‘tag-ging’ is when one marks someone wearing another class’s color with the color of his or her own class. It has been a tradition amongst classes for a long time; however as of recently it has been taken away by the administration. So make sure you find a way to have fun with the absence of tagging.

“When I was a freshman I got tagged and I actually thought it was fun. I don’t really think it’s as big a deal as its being made out to be, just let kids be kids,” senior Kris Harington said.

One thing that is stressed for Spirit Week, is to be creative with costume ideas. Students do not need to spend 40 dollars on a brand new costume, in-stead try checking out the near-est thrift store for some cheap deals that are easy to recreate.

What are you looking forward to the most about Homecoming Week:

Hang-up is one of the best parts of spirit week; the whole school gets together to paint their stomachs and scream for their class. Many traditions come with hang up, such as going shirtless or just wearing a sports bra, the classes being different colors, and cutting up t-shirts and chanting aggressively at opposing classes.

Starting last year, the school has slowly taken away the tradi-tions of Hang-up. First, all classes wear blue and now the adminis-tration is trying to prevent stu-dents from taking their shirts off.

“I am kind of mad that they took away all of the different school colors because then you cannot really tell each other apart. But we still have a ton of fun! Since it is senior year, all of my friends and I are going all out with our painting and cheer-ing,” senior Jimmy Stradley said.

Hang-up will be a unique expe-rience for the incoming freshmen, even with the newly placed restric-tions. Such an event only takes place once a year, and not at ev-

ery school. It represents the start of the new school year, welcomes the students into their respective classes and serves as a prepara-tion for Homecoming with the an-nouncement of the class council.

As underclassmen, fresh-men have always felt hesitant to go to Hang-up and participate with painted bodies, but the sup-port of other students has had a positive effect on the students.

“A lot of freshmen are sup-posed to be going this year. All of the upper classmen say that it is a lot of fun and that it really hypes up the school for the Homecoming game,” freshman Kelly Stiller said.

Though many are upset that they do not get to experience the legendary class colors from two years ago, the fun and ex-citement for the students is not diminished. The hype and sto-ries from older students has at-tracted many students, regard-less of the change in rules.

“I think that we are still go-ing to be painting our stomachs just because it is a lot of fun! I think that Hang-up is neces-sary because it really excites

“Getting to dress up in crazy outfits!”

“Girls in pretty dresses”

- Andrew Burkett,10 -Vanelle Femnou, 9

Spirit week at the Brook is a fun filled week where anything goes! In the past it has featured a variety of themes including pajama day, wacky tacky day, twin day, and class color day. It gives the students a fantas-tic opportunity to express their unique personalities. Every-body has a favorite day of the week, like junior Chris Hutson.

“My favorite day is wacky tacky day because it’s fun to look at how crazy everybody dresses and I get to dress up super crazy and try to outdo all of my friends,” said Hutson.

There is also a competition among classes as to who can dress up the most. Every morn-ing in first period, teachers give out tickets to all the students who dress up. The students then put their tickets in their class’s bin and whichever class has the most tick-ets gets the spirit stick at Hang-up.

Another day students usually participate in is class color day; however, like last year this day will be a little different. Instead of four completely different col-ors, all classes will wear differ-ent shades of blue. Seniors, of course, continue to have the privi-

everyone and the school spirit gets really high,” sophomore Adib Afnan explained as he prepares for his first Hang-up.

The junior class is par-ticularly excited for Hang-up this year as they get to at-tend as upperclassmen.

“I’m planning on raving all night long! This Hang-up is go-ing to be the best Hang-up by far. My friends and I are paint-ing our stomach and getting things from the costume store to really get hyped up since we are finally upper classman,” junior Bala Natarajan said.

This excitement and buzz seems to be a common feel-ing amongst students as ev-eryone gets ready to en-joy the coming school year.

Teachers, staff and students enjoy Hang-up as one of the many functions that Springbrook high school holds. Hang-up allows all of the classes, who are normally seperated, to come together and cheer for one another in unity. It is a fun way to express pride for Springbrook and watch all the skits, dances, games and shows.

Changes to Hang-up:1. No class colors

2. No paint in the building

3. No arriving shirtless

Cassidy O’HearnStaff Writer

Braedon TockStaff Writer

Blueprint FeatureFriday, September 28, 2012 7

Get Rid of the Back to School BluesMidnight in Paris: Springbrook Gets Ready for the perfect night under the stars

Celebrate Springbrook’s new school year with not only our long awaited Homecoming foot-ball game, but also our dazzling Homecoming dance. Come ready for a night filled with smiles, great music and lots of dancing. Staff and students have come together to ensure this will be a Homecom-ing to remember, with our exciting theme, “Midnight in Paris.” Get pumped for the bon voyage Spring-brook has in store for everyone.

The first question most stu-dents wonder about is, “What do I wear to the dance?” Luckily, the Homecoming prep will be a

Get Pumped for the Homecoming Games

What are you looking forward to the most about Homecoming Week:

cinch. First things first, remem-ber this is a casual dance- dress polished, but comfortably. Next, be ready to show off your best accessory in your pictures; your smile. Savor your high school memories with friends by tak-ing tons of photos. But, we can-not forget about dancing. Bring your best dancing shoes and get ready to boogie. It is fun to step out of your comfort zone by danc-ing to music you normally would not dance to with your friends. Most importantly, keep the attire and the dance moves classy dur-ing this exciting Midnight in Paris.

Everyone is enthusiastic about what the dance has in store for us, especially our very

own Principal Samuel Rivera.Rivera reminds and encour-

ages students that “High school is a special time. We hope for even greater participation than last year’s Homecoming because we’ve never had any problems at our Homecoming dances, so come out and have a great time. Really take advantage of our en-tire spirit week by going to the pep rallies, all sports games and of course, our Homecoming dance.”

Our upperclassmen agree that since high school moves by so quickly, every moment we have to celebrate our strong school should be taken advantage of.

Senior Esther Gutierrez re-minds underclassmen looking for-

ward to the dance, “Just go with a few friends. It’s a good place to socialize and meet new peo-ple who also go to Springbrook.”

“I’m curious to see what kind of music our DJ will be playing that night. I hope the music is current to what plays on the ra-dio now. But I highly recommend going to the dance, especially if you are someone who is hesi-tant about attending the dance. You don’t want to miss out on the fun and the high school memo-ries,” junior Tam Pham said.

Our staff and students or-ganizing our Midnight in Paris can assure all Springbrook stu-dents that it will be the crème de la crème of Homecomings.

The Friday before Home-coming, we have interesting events planned out. We, of course, have the Homecom-ing game. But before the game, there is a multi-themed parade.

On the day of the game many players will be men-tally preparing themselves.

“Before the game, I’ll be get-ting my mind set and focusing on my job during the game. During school, im going to be disciplined and doing what im supposed to do, when I’m supposed to do it” junior tight end Robert Bass said.

Mindset and mentality are not the only things needed to win

a game In order to perform at a high level, players need to prop-erly hydrate themselves as well.

“I’m gonna have a bottle of water on me at all times when I’m in class on that day,” junior center Jordan Williams said.

Keeping it simple is al-

ways an option as well. “I’m not gonna be worrying

about anything at all, I’m just keeping it simple. The only things that are going to be on my mind are the game and my classwork. I’m not gonna worry about any girls as well, just going to keep

“Enjoying my last spirit week/Homecoming and having fun with friends”

- Renee Adkins, 12

“The pumping football game”

- Semir Mussa, 11

VS

a quiet and serene mind.” se-nior Safety Akeem Jones said

“I’m very pumped for the Homecoming game, it’s my first year on varsity football and it’s my first Homecoming game. So it’s kind of a big deal for me. Hope-fully my injury will heal by then, I just can’t wait to get back in the pads and play football. It would great if I could come back right on Homecoming. I’m really hoping there will be a lot of people there, the more people that come, the more fun it will be.” Defensive back Deondre Mingo-Smith said.

One of the things we have planned for Friday afternoon is inviting the classes of ’87 and ’92 back to school for an

Springbrook Blue Devils Blair Blazers

alumni event. These classes are having reunions this year and many will be in town for the event. Additionally, football coach Adam Bahr is a member of the class of ‘92 and former foot-ball coach now athletic director Rob Wendel graduated in ‘87.

“During the game, we’ll have tents set up for the classes of ’87 and ’92 up by the baseball stands next to the concession stands. It’s just an area for the alumnus to mingle and socialize, obviously they can watch the game from there. It should be a lot of fun for everyone in general. Homecom-ing is going to be great this year,” social studies teacher and SGA sponsor Jessica Abeshouse said.

Joshua DanStaff Writer

Maria HawkinsSports Editor

A tradition that has gone on at Springbrook for decades came to a screeching halt last year when administration de-cided to ban class colors. In the past, Hang-up was an event where students could represent their class and have fun doing it.

And that’s all it was. Fun.They say the use of class

colors was banned because of the apparent hazing that took place within Springbrook, both during school hours and after, but I believe the class colors unified the classes more than they separated the school.

8 Friday, September 28, 2012Blueprint OpinionOpiniOn Of The BlueprinT

Freshman would wear white, sophomores would wear black, juniors would wear red and se-niors would get to represent Springbrook by wearing blue. The separation between grades actually brought the student body together into a fun filled competi-tion. Wanting to beat out all the other grades, tons of students would donate money for the penny wars and rep their class as hard as they could. We got our school spirit and we raised money. As far as I’m concerned, neither of these have negative ef-fects.

Taking away class colors has

This election year has been a whirlwind of controversy, scandal, belittlement and vicious attacks derived from both the Romney and Obama campaigns. The sad truth, however, is that this was ex-pected, as it is has been in nearly every election in recent history. Voting booths open for “Decision 2012” on November 6, and many constituents are wondering when the real debates going to be dis-cussed, those that may actually affect the future of our currently beleaguered nation?

Major news outlets, such as CNN, NBC and FOX all have pro-vided extensive coverage on the activities surrounding the 2012 Presidential Election. However, the specific activities that are covered happen to have little or nothing to do with the agenda of each candidate. Recently, many

Throughout the year I can hear the moans and groans of students echoing down the halls of Springbrook. Not just about the usual tests, teachers or being grounded for this weekend but about our school.

This is not anything new either. School spirit has been a problem for quite some time. Support at sporting events, school plays, and yes, spirit week, has been disappearing. There is so much talk about “man I wish I went to Blake or Paint Branch” and “I want to transfer”. What is really wrong with our school?

The problem is us. We are the ones who are not making it

Senior Rayem Ali listens to music on his phone, during a season where many new albums came out such as Frank Oceans Orange, and The Sheepdogs Learn and Burn.

the best we can. We might as well make the best of it if we are pretty much stuck here for four years. Even the attendance at our school has gone down; may-be school spirit has something to do with it. What’s so much bet-ter about the other schools any-ways? Is it because they have more fun? Maybe they do, but that is not just because of the school. It is because all the stu-dents actually try to enjoy them-selves. Do not forget that Home-coming is right around the corner and instead of moping around the entire week, actually do the spirit days, go to the Homecom-ing game, Hang-up and dance. Who knows? Maybe it will be fun if people actually follow through! Stop complaining and show some Devil pride

made students very uninter-ested and uninvolved. There is much less participation in spirit week now that every class has to wear the same color. No class feels properly represented. Ad-ministration tried to show some distinction by having all under-classman wearing light blue and seniors wearing dark blue, but who were they kidding?

Getting to wear blue was considered a privilege that you earned your senior year. It was not a basis for hazing; it was a basis for class pride.

This change has students outraged.

What happened to Hang-up ?

Where is your spirit Devils?

Whose side are you on?

Colleen ConnollySports Editor

Juniors last year were not allowed to wear their pre-vious class color, red, but instead had to wear blue just like all the other underclassmen.

Photo Courtesy: Colette Colburn

Travis BauerNews Editor

Photo Courtesy: Theresa Nguyen

T a m -anh’s Music PicksTam-anh NguyenFeauture Editor

news networks have extensively covered Mitt Romney’s unwilling-ness to release his tax returns, a matter of months ago, the hot topic was Barack Obama’s sup-port of a “controversial” teacher during his college years. Both are interesting topics, certainly some which may attract more viewers to a news channel. How-ever, these stories tell us nothing of how each candidate plans to solve the major problems that the United States has been carrying for many years now.

The inclusion of scandalous stories calls for the exclusion of the policies of each candidate. Obama’s college speech tells us nothing about how he currently plans to change the country, and the same can be said for Mitt Romney’s case. It is time for the people to call upon the media to report what really matters, news which may change the course of this country.

Genre: New Wave Electro Album: Shrines Artist: Purity Ring Shrines Is the Debut album from the electronic duo Purity Ring. The band has re-mained under the radar for a year now but the new album was just recently released this July from the independent record la-bel 4AD. The album was such a joy to listen to, it offered a mul-titude of sound from a laid back to a darker more heavy vibe. The album is unique in that it does not sound similar too many of the songs that have become com-mon within the electronic genre now a days, such as the hard, often times off-putting sound of Dubstep beats and it does not opt for the traditional smooth melody with a bassline drop with-in the first minute of the song. The sounds do not crash togeth-er instead they flow and blend well creating a heavy but smooth melody. The vocalist of the band Meghan James can be heard throughout the album often times adding a mellow breathy quality, which is preferred considering it allows the beats and background music to truly shine. Overall the album is strong, the songs cre-ate a chill vibe. The lyrics aren’t exactly thought provoking and in-spirational but the combination of high synths and dull vocals really allow the music to flows. Allbum Favorites: Lofticries, Fineshrine, Obedear

Genre: Hip Hop/ R&B Album: Channel Orange Artist: Frank Ocean Frank Ocean’s first debut album Channel Orange came out this summer, and I’m happy to say I snagged it up the moment it came out. The album is a strong achievement for the young 24 year old recording art-ist. Ocean ‘s sound is heavily in-fluenced through old school R&B as well as some Motown which

is evident throughout tracks such as Sierra Leon and Forrest Gump. Ocean’s vocals are strong throughout the album; the juxta-position of Ocean’s smooth soul-ful voice against the electronic wavy beats creates an interesting sound. Frank Ocean, a previous member of the widely known indie rap group Odd Future, has really come into his own and through this album been able to establish himself as an individual soulful R&B artist. This album was so strong not only in its beats and vocal delivery but as well as in his lyrics. It being Ocean’s debut al-bum, it was surprising to see him tackle such controversial topics such as racism, homosexuality, and social statuses. For it being his first album it was also surpris-ing to see guest appearances from such well known musicians such as Andre 3000 (Pink Mat-ter), John Mayer (White) and Earl Sweatshirt (Super Rich Kids). Although the album was strong a few of the tracks did fall short in my opinion one of them being pyramids, which happened to be a huge favorite among many of the guys asked, but personally the ten minute song seemed to be lacking. Overall the album was a pleasant surprise because of Ocean’s vocals, thought provok-ing lyrics, and awesome smooth sounding instrumentals, which makes it easy to understand why the album received such hype. Album Favorites: Super Rich Kids, Forest Gump, Bad Reli-gion, Lost

Genre: Southern Rock Album: Learn & Burn Artist: The Sheepdogs This band has become one of my favorites in the past years. The Sheepdogs rocketed to fame after being featured on the front page of Rolling Stones mag-azine for winning the “Choose the Cover” competition. The Sheep-dogs are well known for their 2011

single “Who” from album “Five Easy Pieces”. Their 2011 al-bum “Learn and Burn” was ex-tremely good. The album had a very strong Hendrix and Guess Who vibe going on, and once again The Sheepdogs stayed strong to their Southern sound, allowing the spirit of real classic rock n roll pump through every song on “Learn and Burn”. The album although being heavily influenced by southern rock, echoes many classic sounds, each song making references to great rock bands, prominent throughout the 60’s and 70’s, including Creedance, Lynrd Skynrd, etc. The crazy good guitar solos, as well as Ewan Curries vocals throughout the album are strong and show a wide range, from powerful hard rock songs such as “I Don’t Know”(it’s a song not a state-ment) to a more calm mellowed out “Learn and Burn”, the song being reminiscent of Doors (and personally for me Dusty Springfield as well). Everything about this band from their rough and tumble sound to their laid back, I could care less, roll out of bed style and attitude echoes everything that was cool about the late 60’s. Listening to this album just makes you wish you could walk away from an explo-sion in slo-mo with a toothpick hanging out the side of your mouth, and this song playing n the background. It’s the kind of song you would hear play-ing, while watching a promo for Breaking Bad or Eastbound and Down, this real . So to all of you modern day music critics who are always whining about how they ‘don’t make good mu-sic like they used to’ and about how ‘back in the day’ they had quality sound, The Sheepdogs are here to prove you wrong.Album Favorites: Catfish 2 Boogaloo, Southern Dream-ing, The One You Belong To

9Friday, September 28, 2012 Blueprint Opinion

Blueprint The Blueprint is published monthly by the students of Springbrook High School. Signed editorials contain solely the opinion of the writer. Unsigned editorials reflect the consensus opinion of the entire staff.

The purpose of the Blueprint is to inform, entertain, interpret news and provide leadership within the school. The paper also serves as an open forum for readers to voice their questions or concerns, as well as express themselves. The Blueprint will do its best to cover events equally and without bias. Our goal is to be fair and impartial in addition to maintaining a good balance in our coverage of school-wide news.

Letters to the editor are strongly encouraged. Adequate space will be provided up to 250 words. Letters must be signed, though may be published anonymously. Restrictions on content include, but are not limited to: libel, obscenity and invasion of privacy at the discretion of the editorial board. The identity of those who sign letters to the editor will be confirmed.

Editor-in-ChiefMihdi Afnan

Managing EditorHannah Dario

Assistant EditorColette Colburn

Feature EditorsTam-Anh NguyenAnisha Sharma

Sports EditorsMaria Hawkins

Colleen Connolly

News EditorsChristopher Choppin

Travis Bauer

Opinion EditorsNestor Cotton

Andrew Robinson

Photography EditorTheresa Nguyen

AdviserWendy Borrelli

Policies

Springbrook High School201 Valley Brook DriveSilver Spring, MD 20904

Wendy_T_Borrelli@mcpsmd.org(301) - 989 - 6074

September 28, 2012 Volume 51, Issue 1

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/springbrookhs/

Students: 1,742Staff: 203

Breaking bad, so good Unless you have not watched TV in the past five years, there is a good chance you have heard of the AMC original se-ries, Breaking Bad. It is by far one of the best shows on tele-vision. The story follows Walter White, a chemistry teacher at his local high school. After be-ing diagnosed with lung can-cer and told that he might only have a few months to live, he decides to try to make extra money by teaming up with a former student to make and sell Methamphetamine. Before the start of Season Five, it was announced that it would be the final season; however, it is split up into two sections of eight episodes. The final episode aired on Septem-ber 2. Warning: if you have not seen the whole season yet, this will be a spoiler! The season ended with Hank Schrader, his brother in-law, seeing a book by Walt Whitman with the in-scription, “To my other favorite

Need for cleanPhoto by Theresa Nguyen

The trash being left in the hallways after lunch is becoming a major problem, causing problems such as infestations.

Do you think that our school is clean? I bet I could ask that to any random person I see in the hall, and nine times out of ten the answer wiould be “No”. When we all first come to Springbook in the morning the halls look nice and clean. They look that way for most of the day too. The real damage is done dur-ing the hour long lunch period. While you are having a good time socializing with your friends, sometimes you will not notice the occasional piece of trash falling onto the floor. You might think that that one small piece is harmless but if you just become accustomed to not picking up your trash you would be surprised of how much trash there really is. I walked around the bathrooms after lunch and I noticed that in boys’ bathrooms, people do not always flush and that is just downright disgusting! Speaking of utilities, our water

Senioritis infiltration Senioritis is a horrible disease that hits high school seniors at a very fast pace, crippling their grade point average and fash-ion sense. Symptoms include laziness, sleeping in class, not doing homework or classwork, excessive wear of track pants and t-shirts. I can be the first to say that senioritis is a very hor-rible disease that takes a toll on almost every seniors life. I wake up every morning struggling to get ready for school stressing myself out to be the best student just does not seem worth it any-more. I then proceed to put on the nearest article of clothing that is clean. I eventually push myself to brush my teeth and eat breakfast, but even on my good days I find it hard to clean my pearly whites. At 7:25 school begins, but my brain does not start functioning until I get my extra three hours of sleep during my classes. The worst part of it is that this is only the beginning of my senior year and it can only get worse from here. My teachers always point out that I am not working hard enough, but as long as I do the necessary work and projects to pass my classes and meet the graduation requirements I will be satisfied. Aside from struggling to keep myself hygienic and studious, keeping myself in shape has become an even bigger issue.

Photo by Theresa Nguyen

Senior Kevin Cristobal takes the time in his spanish class to rest and take a must-needed nap. He is just one of the many seniors that find it hard to concentrate in class.

W.W.” with the initials G.B. written on the bottom. Hank then draws the connection from when he was looking in Gale Boetticher’s jour-nal and it had the initials W.W. Now that Hank knows, most people think Walt will get turned in. However, that will not be the case. In the earlier seasons Hank’s medical expenses were paid for with Walt’s drug money, so he would be as guilty as Walt. In addition, Marie, Hank’s wife, would not want Walt to be turned in because of Skylar, Walt’s wife, who was involved in laundering the drug money that Walt made. Another part of the season fina-le that has yet to be explained is why Walt left the meth business. Although Skylar did make a point to say that he already has enough money, which has not seemed to stop Walt before. Just before he tells Skylar that he is out, we see him at the doctor’s office, getting checked on for cancer. That could be telling us that the cancer is back and that he knows he does not have a lot of time left, so he wants to spend it with his family. I fountains are not in the best con-

dition. People leave trash in them and clog the spouts with their gum and think that is diresprectful. I also walked through the halls and the only people that were in there were building services, and I was really shocked at how much trash was leftover from lunch and was still on the ground in the hall, and not in the trash cans. By the way, if you have not noticed, we have a problem with bugs, espe-cially roaches in our school. I am pretty sure that most of the staff in the school has taken notice including our principal Mr. Rivera. During the eleventh grade assembly on September 6, 2012 he told the entire junior class that we needed to “clean up after our-selves”. We are all going to be here for four years, so why not at least try and make the environment one that is enjoyable? I always do my part of cleaning up. If we make the school a better place, the overall high school experience will be unforgettable for everyone.

agree with this because Walt has made enough money so sustain his family, which was the original purpose of cooking meth, so he might want to spend the rest of his life with his family. However, Walt leaving the busi-ness might not mean he will have peace in his life. With his prod-uct seemingly going to be off the streets, there will be many unhap-py people demanding the Blue, including his new customers from the Czech Republic. That fact in addition to Hank’s discovery could lead to and explain the beginning of Season Five, showing Walt with a different identity and a whole year older and showing Walt mak-ing a deal and getting the keys to a car. Overall, Breaking Bad will continue to be successful and im-press next season because of all the twists and turns and that were unexplained at the end of the sea-son. It is one of the best shows in a long time. Unfortunately for Breaking Bad fans they will have to wait until next summer to find out what happens.

Sometimes it is easier to just munch on fried chicken instead of sprinting laps or doing Coach Murray’s infamous workouts. But, I know that keeping in shape is a must and that Chipotle can come as a reward when I try out for the lacrosse team in the spring. Se-nioritis really takes a toll on my life and many other seniors can say the same. Things begin to seem so much more difficult to deal with because there is no motivation anymore. It is actually a very hard rou-

tine to deal with because every-thing would be easier if June 10 came faster. If you were wonder-ing what this day is then you will find out that the seniors of 2013 will be graduating on this very special day! That will also be the only day I will be looking forward to this year because that will be the day that my senioritis disease will end. For right now, I just have to find a way to not slack off in an enormous way and I have to do at least some work in order to not fail and stay back.

Ryan HudsonStaff Writer

Victor WeiserStaff Writer

Chris ChoppinNews Editor

10Friday, September 28, 2012 Blueprint Sports

Golf hits for stars

Photo by: Theresa NguyenSenior captain Maria Hawkins uses her forehand to punish her compe-tition.

The Springbrook Girl’s tennis team started their season with a 5-1 record. The girls dominated against Blake High School, Kennedy High School, Magruder High School, PaintBranch High School, and Einstein High School. The only loss they had was a close match against Poolesville High School.

“We have had a strong beginning this season, but I hope to see us reach our full potential by continuing to work more ef-ficiently”, senior captain Maria Hawkins said.

The Springbrook Blue Devils noticed team problems in communication and an-ticipation. Coach White plans on correct-ing these weaknesses by incorporating 30 minute conditioning drills into practices. Team members those drills are helping them excel and Coach White agrees.

“I think we are going to do better this year, we are a lot stronger,” Coach White said.

The team has high expectations for the season. Those expectations hope to be accomplished by several experienced players including Hawkins, junior Laurette Tekudo, freshman Vanylle Femnu, senior captain Hana Yi and senior captain Renee Adkins.

“Since this is my last season on this team, I want to finish with a bang”, senior Janine Regana said.

The team wants to finish the season with a sense of unity and team spirit.

The Devils come into the season full of determination and persistence despite the graduation of two experienced golfers, Lucy Reynolds and Cory Hutson. Despite recent losses against Watkins Mill High School, the boys continue to regroup by practicing full of determination and heart.

“My expectation this year is for us to win our division,” ju-nior Captain Patrick Talsania said.

Talsania has been on the golf team since freshman year and Springbrook now wel-comes his younger sister, Megan Talsania, onto the team. The team has always been small, but productive, finishing last year with a final record of 11-3. For being the second smallest team in the school, their record truly deserves recognition. The team finished their season third in their division.

“I definitely feel as though I’ve been a leader for our team. As a team, we have placed second in all four match-es so far. We have two more matches, Monday the 24th and Thursday the 27th, until the District Tournament. We hope to finish in the Top 12 of teams in the county,” senior Elliott McKoy said.

Players to watch include fresh-man Adam Miller, Talsania and se-niors McKoy and Rafael Rice.

Varsity volleyball digs deep

Tennis cruises

Victor WeiserStaff Writer

Hannah Dario Managing Editor

Photo Credit: Miguel RoaJunior Maggie Wartman sets Senior Captain Theresa Nguyen. Nguyen defends against Richard Montgomery with her fierce spikes.

Varsity girls soccer strives for a successful season

Boy’s soccer strikes nettingRyan HudsonStaff Writer

Ivana YakovleffStaff Writer

Einstein High School. Their intense game opened with junior Sumaya Delani scor-ing Springbrook’s first goal. Unfortunately, Springbrook could not maintain a lead to secure a win.

A number of players are stepping up and taking leadership roles. “Players to watch include Lau-ren Dawson, Rebecca Jean Simon, Diana Wang, and Osiry Joya”, Coach Yi said.

These players hope to lead the team into their winning season.

During Springbrook’s most recent game against Northwest High School the girls experienced an unfortunate loss of 1-11 but continued pushing forward during their game.

Fortunately, the team continues to re-group and move forward. The girls look forward to their upcoming games against PaintBranch High School on October 2, James Hubert Blake High School on Octo-ber 8 and Sherwood High School on Octo-ber 10.

The Varsity boys’ soccer team is pumped to improve from last season’s re-cord of 4-9-1. The team has put in a lot of effort in the summer in order to excel this season by participating in summer leagues and club soccer teams.

“We put in a lot of work during the sum-mer. It should all pay off in the season, es-pecially against some of our tougher oppo-nents like ,” senior Josue Arze said.

Hard work paid off after going undefeat-ed in the preseason after beating teams Northwood, Hammond, Northwestern, Lau-rel and Churchill High Schools. The team started off the season going to Baltimore to play in the Lions Classic Tournament. Due to severe thunderstorms the team was only able to play Liberty High School. The boys left Baltimore on that Saturday disap-pointed with a 0-2 loss but were ready for the first home game of the season against Poolesville High School.

“We didn’t play to the best of our abil-ity due to the excruciating heat and being at an away tournament,” Senior Captain Landon Kestner said.

After the disappointing weekend in Balti-more, The boys were back home against a very anxious Poolesville team who was de-termined to win. The first half of the game both teams struggled to score keeping the

fans on their toes. The boys came out with a whole new attitude in the second half with sophomore Derrick Paz scoring a goal with an assist from Kevin Cristobal in the first five minutes. Shortly after Paz’s goal, Poolesville struck back tying the game 1-1. As the second half came to a close, junior Chris Hutson scored the winning goal by an assist from Kevin Cristobal.

“We played well, a little nervous at first. We did not want to lose our first home game but we pulled through and played

hard towards the end and got good goals. It was a good game overall” senior Uche Onungwa said.

Recently, the boys lost a disappointing game against Northwest High School 0-2. Considering they were a state runner up team last year, the boys played very well.

The boys look forward to the tough com-petition in their upcoming games against Gaithersburg High School on October 1, PaintbBanch High School on October 2, and Blake High School on October 8.

Photo Credit: Theresa NguyenJunior Chirs Huston shakes off the competition against Poolesville with his flashy defensive skills. The team opens their season with a win.

New season, new start, new coach, and new year. This year the girl’s varsity soccer team is ready to begin its new pro-gram on top.

This year coach Maria McAndrews, a science teacher at Springbrook, could not coach Varsity soccer because she had a baby.

Coach Yi, who coached junior varsity soccer last year, offered to coach varsity soccer this year.

“I feel confident about coach Yi being the varsity coach instead of a coach we are not familiar with, “ junior Yancy Molina stated.

“I am happy Yi is our varsity coach be-cause she has coached us before,” senior Thelma Sabi said.

The girls are excited about Yi being the coach because she is experienced with the Springbrook soccer program. Every-

one has high hopes for the season be-cause of the great chemistry between the team mates and coach on and off the field.

“This season is exciting because there are a lot of new girls on varsity that we can teach new skills to,” junior Jessica Hartley said.

Last year a large portion of the varsity team graduated, allowing a lot of junior varsity players to move up to varsity this year.

On September 4, varsity soccer went up against Poolesville which ended up be-ing a devastating loss of 0-10.

“We played our games much better than our scrimmages. Practicing hard paid off because our team works well together,” junior Yancy Molina said.

The lady Blue Devils are finding their groove while working together as a team on the field. They are improving their en-durance through running, and are bonding as a team off the field. On September 11, varsity girls soccer went up against Albert

With their new coach, Jennifer Amobi, Springbrook’s girls varsity volleyball team hopes for a winning season. Amobi has high hopes for the new season.

Pre-season conditioning started over the summer to help the players get in shape.

“No matter what, we all give our efforts as a team, and we don’t give up. If you make a mistake there is always someone to back you up,” Junior Jessica Chang said.

The lady Blue Devils lost all 3 scrim-mages in the pre-season and the first game of the season against Northwest. The first, second, and third sets were all 11-25. Fol-lowing their first game the girls also lost their game against Kennedy High School 23-25, 9-25, 25-21 and 18-25. Another close but unfortunate loss was against Sherwood High School. These games have the team hungrier than ever for victory.

“I feel like those games were a reality check to show us that we have to work re-ally hard if we want to win,” Junior Ellen Martinez said.

With their last season being as tough as it was, the team is determined to improve and learn from their mistakes.

The only senior on the team this year is Theresa Nguyen. Nguyen is usually an outside hitter, but this year she plays all around.

“It is tough being the only senior on the team because you have to step your game up. Everyone comes to you for help,” Nguyen said.

The season may not be going to well but the team recently attended a Magruder High School tournament. The lady Devils beat Clarksburg High School and Urbana High School.

“Yes, the tournament did give me hope because during the tournament I actually felt like we showed our true potential as a team,” sophomore Julie Dang said.

Their annual Dig Pink game is com-ing up on October 3 against Wheaton for breast cancer awareness month. The team is selling t-shirts, wristbands and socks to raise money! The money will be donated to the Side out Program. The lady Blue Devils continue their pursuit for a better season by preparing for their upcoming game against Wheaton High School on October 9.

Anisha SharmaStaff Writer

11Blueprint Sports

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Friday, September 28, 2012

A new athletic director means a new be-

ginning for Springbrook athletics. Known for being the head football and wrestling coach and PE teacher at Springbrook High School, Rob Wendel has now taken over Ron Lane’s job as the head athletic direc-tor due to personal reasons. This job is not only full of expectations, but it is also a job that requires a lot of time and effort in or-der for the outcome to be successful.

“Mr. Lane did a great job as an athletic director and it’s only my first year so I don’t plan on having major changes until later on in the future. I have to be able to handle the paper work, game scheduling, and many other responsibilities before I can make a change to Springbrook’s athletic program. I just don’t want to sink the ship that Mr.Lane put so much effort into but instead I would

JV football holds undefeated record

Coach Wendel takes the reigns

JV field hockey looks aheadRob Wendel is the new man in charge of Springbrook Athletics.

like the athletics to keep moving forward,” Wendel said.

This position for Wendel consumes a lot of time but he will only have to do this un-til November because that marks the start of wrestling season. Cheryl Ingram will be taking over Wendel’s position for the win-ter season and he has decided that he will come back as head director for the spring season.

“I always came to Mr. Lane when I need-ed to ask a question about boys’ volleyball. He was very supportive of every sport and everyone could count on him when it came to school spirit. I will miss him very much but I think Wendel is very capable of being successful with this job,” junior Andrew Vu said.

As the school year progresses, Wen-del’s abilities will be put the test as fall sports will soon end and winter and spring sports begin.

Cassidy O’HearnStaff Writer

Quy TranStaff Writer

Travis BauerNews Editor

Maria HawkinsSports Editor

state championship in vault and currently holds the school record.

“I had a great experience with my sports in high school,” Dietz said.

She is teaching Honors Biology and coaching junior varsity field hockey at Springbrook and track and field at Blake Hubert High School.

“I love the atmosphere of Springbrook and I love teaching here! I love coaching because it gives me a chance to see my students in a different light,” Dietz said.

Both John F. Kennedy and Northwood High School forfeit their junior varsity games resulting in an automatic win for the blue devils.

Kennedy did not have enough players to fill the junior varsity team, and Northwood informed the Springbrook team before the game that the JV team would be unable to play.

“The forfeits are really disappointing, and I feel bad for my girls because it’s just missed opportunities for practice and

games,” Dietz said.September 9 was JV’s first game. It took

place at Thomas S. Wooton High School. They faced a loss of 0-11 to Springbrook’s old JV coach, Lesley Stroot.

“Since it was our first game I think that it went very well, being a new experience for the majority of the team. ” junior captain Sherese Nornoo said.

On September 12, the Blue Devils played Walt Whitman High School. It was a disappointing loss of 0-4 against the Vi-kings.

“I liked the Whitman game a lot better than the Wooton because we played a lot better even though we are still a really young team,” junior captain Tiffany Dam said.

On September 15 the devils played Richard Montgomery High School, with a fustrating loss of 0-2.

Today, the field hockey team will be playing Paint Branch High School away at Greencastle Elementary school at 5:00.

Junior Varsity Field Hockey is starting

their season strong; with a record of 2-4. On September 22 the devils played

Magruder High School. The blue devils lost 1-0 in overtime.

“I thought that we all did really well in the Magruder game. We all stayed in our position but we should of spread out a little more and had stronger passes,” freshman Molly Emery said.

On September 19 the lady devils played Sherwood High School. It was yet another devastating loss of 0-4.

“It was an okay game.We picked up our communication on the field and I think that we definitely brought up our level of play,” freshman Sophia Cote said.

Junior Varsity coach Rebekah Dietz is new to the program. She attended Spring-brook High School and played field hockey, soccer, track and lacrosse. She won the

Cross country runs for gold

The Springbrook cross country team dashed into their season full of determina-tion and resolution with the direction of the persistent Coach Gary Frace. The team prepared before and during summer to get fit and ready for this season’s challenges. Nothing but excellence is expected from this tight knit team that continues to work together for a common goal. Coach Frace continues to work with team Captains, ju-nior Anthony Ramos, junior Ryan Washing-ton, senior Nathan Thompson, senior Maya Wallick and senior Sydney Almeida, to bring both boys and girls teams closer to reach-ing their maximum potential.

Springbrook’s season opened up with a competitive race, but unfortunately lost, against Clarksburg High School. It left the team hungrier for their next opportunity to compete. Their most recent races were against Rockville High School, which only girls won. The Bull Run Invitational had many schools competing but unfortunately neither boys or girls won. Both boys and girls ran with the firmness and persever-ance that left many of them with personal records and even higher expectations for their races to come. Fortunately for Cap-tain Almeida, Clarksburg’s race left her ec-static when she shattered the Martin Luther King Jr. course record for all of Springbrook girl runners. Her new time of 19:54 set the stage for newer and bigger goals for the rest of the season.

“I’m completely excited and motivated because this is just the very beginning of the season. I just want to break the all-time record. It was a tough, but fun race and I’m really proud of the team’s effort. Frace has been great over the years and I hope we can all continue to grow and appreciate the hard work that comes with running. I’ve definitely put in a lot more time and effort this summer to improve by participating in summer track and Malaysia’s International Sprint Triathlon with the help of Coach Compton Godette,I’m ready for what the season has in store,” Almeida saId.

Captains Ramos, Washington, Wallick and Thompson continue to set an example for the boys and girls teams by maintaining their steady leads and up-beat attitudes that get the team pumped for their races.

“I’m hopeful that both boys and girls can qualify for states this year and I’m proud of how well we work together. We can only im-prove from here. I just want to help the team stay motivated,” Wallick said.

Runners to watch include freshman Alex Mejia, juniors Isaac Stevens, Alex Gutier-rez, Anthony Ramos, Ezra Hollander, Ryan Washington, Karen Escabedo, and seniors Maya Wallick, Dd Montiel, David Soriano and Sydney Almeida.

Junior Ezra Hollander sprints the last 100 meters of the Clarksburg meet.

After beginning the year early, with prac-tices in the hot summer months before the new school year even started, the JV foot-ball team is now off and running. JV teams often draw small crowds, but that is not in-dicative with this year’s exciting squad of young players. Head coach Darnell Myers has prepared a tough fighting, exuberant and overall exciting team this year, which has come out very strong against tough ini-tial opponents.

The team began their season against Northwood High School, which has a team who has never challenged the likes of Springbrook in many years. In the initial stages of the game, the teams appeared anxious and jittery for their first regular sea-son game. However, after establishing a strong running game, the team was able

to pass the ball in the second half to be-gin their rout of Northwood. At the end of the game, the Devils stood victorious, 14-0. In their second game, the Devils faced a much stronger perennial contender in Walter Johnson High School. The Walter Johnson offense looked strong and intimi-dating in the beginning of the game, but the Devil defense stood stout. the Springbrook offense took the field and dominated from wire to wire, withour a single gaffe along the way.While the Walter Johnson offense was more potent than that of Northwood, the Devils made easy work of the Walter Johnson defense, and handily won by a score of 18-6.

The Devils square off against Northeast Consortium powerhouse Paint Branch High School this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Due to field construction, the game will be at-Blair.

Photo By Theresa Nguyen

Photo By Theresa Nguyen

The Brown FamilyJohn C. Rumford

Ellen WeiserMaurice and Kimberly Johnson

Linda WarschoffFrank and Lynn Mantello

Liz CastroThe Wartman Family

Sally and Stewart

12 Friday, September 28, 2012Blueprint Sports

Varsity field hockey holds on

Varsity football starts strong

JV volleyball puts it in the past

Springbrook defense forces a fumble against the Gaithersburg Trojans and swarm the football to help the team win 20-7.

Senior captain Colleen Connolly sprints down the field to help the team beat Northwood High School 13-0.

JV boys s o c c e rs t r i k e s

JV girls soccerscores

Andrew RobinsonOpinion Editor

Josh DanStaff Writer

Theresa NguyenStaff Writer

Braedon TockStaff Writer

Lauren RumfordStaff Writer

Starting the season off slowly with a record of 1-4, the JV volley-ball team hopes to improve their skills, technique, and athletic abil-ity in order to push for something to spark a winning streak.

The season opener was against Northwest High school. The girls lost in a 0-3 set with the scores being 25-5 and 25-12. More disappointing news came when the girls lost their next two games against Richard Mont-gomery with a score of 25-23 and 25-10. The game score for Wat-kins Mills High school was 25-20 and 25-17. The next game was against Kennedy with a score of 25-12, 18-25, and 27-25. This was their most intense game yet. The girls had a good start

and won their first set. But, they struggled and ended up losing the second set. By the third game, the girls were pumped and ready to push for their first win. Eventu-ally, they got the win because they used team work and effort to push until the end. A tough game for the ladies was against Sherwood High School. The Devils battled their oponents tough offense but-lost with a score of 6-25, 7-25, and 12-25.

“I know that there is always room to improve because there will always be mistakes that I make. But, I’ve learned that I can only fix those mistakes by pushing myself to be the best I can be and even though giving up sometimes seems like the answer, I know that it’s not just about me, but it’s about my team. We are not only teammates but we are family.”

Sophomore Amanda Ly said.Each and every one of these

girls are set out to improve their weaknesses. As an athlete and a student, the Devils believe that there is always room to improve because improving will eventually become success. They have put their minds into working hard at games and fighting through tough matches. The Devils know that they aren’t that best but they also know that giving up isn’t an option and it never will be. This team is full of dedicated girls and they’re striving to be number one to the hearts of the Springbrook family. With their new coach and gym teacher named Melissa Seesz, these girls will be guided through every struggle that they will deal with during their season and they know to go to their coaches and varsity team mates for help.

“My goal for the team this year is to prepare them for varsity and to boost their confidence in the sport of volleyball. I have a lot of hope for this team and the future can only tell how well we do.” said Coach Seesz.

While many teams in the coun-ty are pushing to have an amazing team during their volleyball sea-son, Coach Seesz decided that preparing for the girls to be ready for varsity is more important than anything. She believes that tech-nique, confidence, and the ability to put effort towards anything will allow an athlete to have the ability to be a top varsity player.

To support the volleyball team, come cheer them on as they play Paint Branch on Monday Septem-ber 23 and Blake on Thursday September 28 at 4:30.

Coming in to the new school year Springbrook Varsity Field Hockey is willing and ready to continue the winning tradition of the program. The record for var-sity field hockey is 4-2-1.

The lady Devils lost against Sherwood Warriors ending with a score of 0-6.

“The score really doesn’t re-flect how hard everyone played that game.” Junior Steph Tam said.

On September 22 were able to earn a win against Col. Zadok Magruder High school. Senior Co-lette Colburn Score three goals, junior Cassidy O’Hearn scored two goals and Catherine Smith scored one goal finishing the game off at 6-0.

On Wednesday September 12th Springbrook Girls Varsity field hockey lost their first game to Walt Whitman High School with a finishing score of 1-2. The Dev-ils fought hard but Whitman was able to score two goals in the first half leaving the score at 2-0, after battling to get on the scoreboard

junior Cassidy O’hearn scored in the second half.

Despite their first loss Varsity Field hockey has won two other games and tied one game in the season. The biggest win was against Northwood High School with an ending score of 13-0. Aiming to beat their rivals Woot-ton High School the girls finished with a score of 2-2, which was cut short because of weather condi-

tions. The season opener against John F. Kennedy High School also ended early into the second half due to our stadium lights hav-ing a technical difficulty, making it dangerous to contiue play.

“I am pretty disappointed that we haven’t been able to play a full game yet. No one has seen what we can truly do.“ freshman Kelly Stiller said.

Varsity Girls Field Hockey pre-

season was a little shaky at the beginning because there were not many girls.

“Team bonding and commu-nication is key, I feel like the loss was good for us. It showed us that we really do have to come together as a team; we just had a bad game”, junior Kendra Watson said.

Some players to watch are Seniors Colleen Connolly and Co-lette Colburn; juniors are Cassidy O’Hearn, Angelica Darling, and Catherine Smith, and sophomore Ria Peralta.

“We have a very young team this year, but none the less, I know this team has the heart and the soul to keep the tradition go-ing. Every girl who is a part of our program puts in 200% in ev-ery drill, every practice and every game,” head varsity coach Kelly Massino said.

The Devils are hoping to keep their reigning title as region champs. The girls are striving to work as a team and become com-fortable with how one another plays to help maintain a winning record and their reputation as a top team in the county.

The first home game held on September 21 proved to be a dis-appointing loss of 0-10 against the Northwest Jaguars, adding onto their previous two losses.

They are looking forward to their coming games, hoping to im-prove, all the while staying posi-tive. With a new head coach, long time math teacher Cynthia Harris, they expect things to be much dif-ferent.

“My expectations for my team this year is for all the girls to im-prove on their skills and score some goals. Ultimately, our goal is to win games. I’m very excited this year coaching soccer, but I’m a bit nervous too,” Harris said.

They opened up the season against Poolesville High School in a hard fought game. Unfortunate-ly, they lost 0-10. They lost their next contest 1-9 at Einstein High School.

“Our expectations and goals as a team this year is to win at least some games this year. Even though, we were not very suc-cessful in our first 2 games, we hope to improve together as a team throughout the season and possibly pick up some wins too,” senior captain Stephanie Herrera said.

The home opener against-Gaithersburg High School was postponed due to weather condi-tions.

Varsity football suprised many by kicking off their season strong with wins against Northwood High School and Gaithersburg High School. Recently, thier two straight losses to to Walter Johnson and Whitman High Schools have left them with a 2-2 record.

The team beat Northwood 14-7, and then proceeded to beat Gaithersburg 20-7. However in weeks three and four the team has hit a bump in the road. They have lost two straight games to Walter Johnson and Whitman re-spectively. They lost 16-2 to Wal-ter Johnson and 10-0 to Whitman. Even though the team has lost two straight, their spirits remain high as they prepare for their next game against the Paint Branch Panthers Tonight at 6:30 at Blair High School.

The team has sustained many injuries. Starting running back Tyler Stewart left the game early after sustaining a broken femur and a dislocated ankle. He is likely out for the season. Starting defensive back Baki Akbar left the game with a fractured wrist and is likely out for a month. Also start-ing linebacker Bizabiel Reyes

left the game injured. This could present a setback for the team but the players are remaining confi-dent.

“The players that come into the game know what they’re do-ing, and we all hold our end of the rope” senior defensive back Kevin Coffie said.

The team is starting fresh with many new players coming into starting roles. The team lost 21 seniors from last year’s team, meaning a huge chunk of their of-fense and defense is now gone. This season the Devils are poised to compete with many younger players such as sophomore quar-terback Neiman Blaine, junior run-ning back Tyler Stewart and junior wide receiver Isaiah Isendorf.

“A lot of people say I am too inexperienced to play quarter-back, but I worked hard this sum-mer with my teammates so I am ready” sophomore quarterback Neiman Blain said.

The team also has a new head coach. Former offensive coordi-nator Adam Bahr will take over as head coach. Rob Wendel re-signed last march after leading the Blue Devils for seven years.

The team is looking to rebound from last year’s 5-5 record and get back into the playoffs. The team

is confident that they can get it done and get back to their winning ways after a rough start.

“I think we can get deep into the playoffs if not win it all” Coffie said.

Head coach Adam Bahr has inspired many of the players and believe they can be very success-ful this season.

“They just need to hold their end of the rope” Bahr said, “they

This year’s junior varsity soc-cer team is starting out strong this season with a close record of 1-2, however with a new coach and loss of key players to varsity, the team is struggling to live up to last year The team will continue to fight and use incoming fresh-man to try and end the season impressively.

On September 21 the Devils suffered a heartbreaking defeat to the Northwest Jaguars. The Devils went up 1-0 in the first half from a penalty kick by sophomore captain Freddy Escuda; however they were unable to hang on to the lead as Northwest scored three unanswered goals resulting in a Springbrook loss 3-1.

“We could have won that game because we were playing well. But I’m mad we lost after we took the lead,” Escuda said

On September 11 the Devils played the Albert Einstein Titans and lost 0-5. The Devils played hard for a majority of the game but faltered a little bit towards the end once the game was already out of reach.

“We lost because we didn’t move the ball around well enough to get a win,” sophomore captain Emmanuel Nwana said.

The Devils will play at Whea-ton High School today at 3:30.

Photo courtesy Joshua Dan

Photo By Theresa Nguyen

should be just fine.”Though the team has many

new players, they have many returning players who have ex-perience. Junior Tatah Ndeh and senior Chris Willis return on de-fense as well as junior Terrence Caudle on offense. Although lead-ing a young team, together they will help to anchor and assist the many newcomers to accomplish an improved season.