the Issue 2, Volume 48

December 2012

www.jcpatriot.com

News...................................2Lifestyles...............................4A&E.....................................7In-Depth...............................8Opinion...............................11Sports................................14

703 E Churchville RdBel Air, MD

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The John Carroll School

I ndexL i f es t y l es 4

Four years ago, current senior Iris Kim made the journey from her home country of South Korea to study at JC. Unlike the average JC freshman, though, her nervous first day of school feelings were amplified by the fact that she had a hard time speaking the language of her classmates. “I felt isolated. I felt like I wasn’t part of the com-munity. I was different,” she said.

Despite this, after four years of living in America, Kim feels like the experience has been ben-eficial. “We don’t have any after school activities in Korea, and I like that in America, especially the Music Department.”

In addition, Kim had first come here to primarily “improve my English and learn new cultures,” and now she says that “I’m still struggling and learning new things, but I’m definitely getting more used to it.”

Four years after Kim started at JC when there were only a hand-ful of international students, the International Student Program has grown to allow 41 interna-tional students like Kim to attend JC. Similar to Kim, they still receive the same kind of culture shock on their first day of school.

“Everything is brand new for me, especially the culture and the education system is quite dif-ferent. I have to get used to it,” sophomore Kevin Yin said, a new student this year from China.

Currently, the international students make up a little over 5% of the student body, according to Coordinator of International Student Programs Sandi Seiler. Students come from Canada, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Korea, China, Italy, Spain, and Germany.

There are many reasons why the international students brave the culture shock of attending American school, stemming from their plans for the future. “I came because I want to go to a univer-sity here,” sophomore Claire Niu said. This is Niu’s first year at-tending JC, coming from her home country of China.

By coming to the U.S. earlier, the students are able to experi-ence what the culture here is like

and become accustomed to Amer-ican schooling. For the students, it’s easier to get into an American university if they are already at-tending school in America. With this, though, come challenges that must be overcome. “It’s a little hard because my first language is not English,” Niu said. “Some classes I do not like very much, like English class.”

In addition, there are financial burdens that come with studying abroad in America for an extend-ed period of time. According to the Director of Enrollment Kim Brueggemann, in addition to tu-ition international students have to pay for “housing stipends, the

cost of food,” and various fees as-sociated with the legal documents needed to study in a foreign coun-try.

“It’s a huge investment,” Seiler said. According to Brueggemann, there are specific prices that are not public knowledge.

“Due to differences between the liaison companies, prices differ depending on the situa-tion of the individual students,” Brueggemann said.

Even so, students have still found reasons to like America. “It’s better than in China. In America we don’t have too much homework. We have time to do whatever we want, after school

ends early. In China, school ends at 4:45 p.m. We have nine sub-jects,” junior Sunny Lu said. “I have more freedom in America. I am happy to study in America.”

There are also students who benefit athletically from playing sports in America. See Sports 15 for more information on these students.

Not only can the students ben-efit from studying abroad at JC, but the entire school community can benefit as well, according to Seiler and Brueggemann.

Statistically, having five per-cent international student enroll-ment helps numbers stay at target highs, which for Brueggemann

would be 200 students in the in-coming freshman class.

“We want to keep the school a certain size. There are so many students around the world who want to come here and it certainly helps with our numbers,” Seiler said.

Without these 41 international students, enrollment “would be lower, however our domestic ap-plications are above where they were this time last year,” Direc-tor of Admissions Kim Bruegge-mann said. Currently, application numbers as a whole are up 26 percent from last year. In Nov. 2011, 61 applications had been submitted, and this year at the end of November 84 applications had been submitted.

According to Associate Direc-tor of Admissions Eddie May-nard, December applications are also “on pace with last year’s.”

According to Seiler, by hav-ing these students, JC stands out among many other schools in the area. “We just think [having in-ternational students] is great for our entire program because it makes us unique in terms of mar-keting John Carroll,” she said.

Seiler also hopes to expand the diversity of students at JC. “What I would really like to per-sonally do is make our Interna-tional Student Program more di-verse. Right now, just the number of Chinese people that there are in the world has driven why they make up such a large part of our international student population.”

Seiler hopes to reach out to other countries and even conti-nents. “I’m really hoping that we will have students from each con-tinent. I would love to have stu-dents from Latin America or even the Middle East, not that we want to have 50 percent international students or anything,” she said.

However, this ideal percentage has not been discussed by the ad-ministration. Currently, it is still early in the application process for both domestic and interna-tional students, and “the target number [of international stu-dents] has not yet been defined,” according to Brueggemann.

Quick Bites scopes out the most delicious destinations for waffle, crepe, and other breakfast cravings in and around Harford County.

The Patriot investigates the ongoing competition between men and women to see which gender claims victory on the JC battleground.

Advisories give back to the community with presents and donations to the elderly, the Humane Society, and families in need.

Photo illistration by Shannon Olsen and Sydney Setree

I n -Dep th 8-9 A&E 7

Brianna GlaseOnline Chief

International Student Program expands its borders

Continued on News 3

news 2thepatriot December 2012

Freshman Claire Grunewald looks into the eye piece and sees everything in 3-D. She grabs the finger grippers and every inch of her movement is picked up and mimicked. This was her experi-ence while using the DaVinici ro-bot at the Johns Hopkins Robot-ics Lab on Nov. 30.

According to Grunewald, “the DaVinici robot is a surgical ro-bot used for doing surgery inside the body without making large incisions. The robot arms and a camera would be inserted into the body and the surgeon would sit at the control center. They would

put their face in an eye piece, seeing everything

the camera sees in 3-D, and then pinch the finger grippers to move the robot hands. Every twist of the wrist was picked up by the robot.”

Grunewald went to the lab with the STEM program. The class left around 9 a.m. and ar-rived back to school at 1:30 p.m.

Freshman Sydney Branch was another student who attended the field trip. “My favorite part was testing the robot they use during surgery. It was cool to see robots completing a task that may be difficult for humans to do. I also liked the fact that the lab wasn’t

shut down for the tour. Then, you were able to see people at work on multiple projects as if it was a regular day,” Branch said.

According to math and sci-ence teacher Courtney Hugo, a highlight of the trip was when the students were able to use the Da Vinci robot. “The robot is used for laparoscopic surgery, which is surgery on the eyes,” Hugo said.

PhD and undergraduate robot-ics students at Johns Hopkins showed the class robots they are researching in their hydro lab. One of the items was a $2 million robot.

“In the very beginning of the tour, we were taken into a room with a 14 foot tank filled with water. They told us how robots

for underwater use are made and how they operate. The robot they showed us had six motors and cameras to get a of view from ev-ery angle,” she said.

“I had never realized how sen-sitive robots are until I got to use one,” Grunewald said.

The purpose of the trip was “just to expose the students to a different part of science,” accord-ing to Hugo.

“I liked seeing all of the labs and everything set up in them. When I was a grad student at Uni-versity of Delaware, I worked for their bio resources engineering department and spent a lot of time in labs like that, so it was cool to be back in that environment,” Hugo said.

President Richard O’Hara and Coordinator of International Stu-dent Programs Sandi Seiler trav-eled to China for 11 days with the Cambridge Institute on Nov. 2-13. The trip strengthened JC’s relationships with current and potential Chinese parents and stu-dents.

The Cambridge Institute brings Chinese and American high schools together. The institute has been encouraging JC to travel to China to help them find students. JC finally accepted the offer and Cambridge covered the expenses.

Between O’Hara and Seiler, they traveled to eight different cit-ies, including Beijung, Guiyang, Fuzhou, Nanning, Xiamen, Shen-zhen, Chengdu, and Guangzhou. They attended recruitment fairs and met with prospective students and parents. They also met with parents of current students.

“The parents that I met were incredibly grateful that I had trav-eled a great distance to meet them in person. Many of the parents re-ally miss their children and some of them actually broke into tears when they met me,” Seiler said.

O’Hara learned about China and its culture, by climbing the Great Wall. “I never expected to get to China, much less to be

able to get to go up to the Great Wall. It was invigorating. It’s like a gazillion miles long, and we only saw one tiny section of it,” O’Hara said.

“The highlight of the trip for me was getting to visit Guizhou Experimental High School,” O’Hara said. He met with the headmaster and teachers and spoke to students about JC.

Students in China are “pre-paring for their college entrance exam,” called the Gaokoo. Ac-cording to O’Hara, coming to the U.S. “automatically expands their options.”

“What I was most pleased about was JC is a player on the international stage. They believe we have very high standards for international students’ admis-sions, which is true,” O’Hara said.

JC doesn’t accept students with varied English proficiency because there aren’t any existing

programs designed for students who don’t speak English. Inter-national students who apply to JC have to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and score at a certain level.

“The hope is that we will send somebody [to China] every year,” he said. According to O’Hara, this is important to “maintain the relationships with the recruitment agencies and the Chinese stu-dent’s parents.”

“JC is looking to recruit from as many as 20 to 25 other coun-

tries,” O’Hara said. According to O’Hara, the expansion to oth-er countries will help JC to be “truer to our mission and to be a community that better reflects the world.” He said the Chinese parents wanted the “richer educa-tion” that has students from mul-tiple countries.

“It’s important for me to com-municate to our parents why the international student program is important,” O’Hara said. “I look forward to opportunities to do that.”

O’Hara travels to China to recruit students JCINSIDER

Equestrian team hosts Christmas Bazaar

Music department performs Christmas concert

Haley KygerSports Editor

Hope KellyManaging Editor

Caitlin WolfarthNews Editor

115 Japanese students arrive before examsSydney SetreeManaging Editor

The chorus, orchestra, band, jazz band, and Belle Voce per-formed in the Christmas Concert on Dec. 7 from 7-9 p.m. in the auditorium.

The orchestra and chorus each performed three songs. In ad-dition, the jazz band and band played five songs. There were two pieces with all the ensembles collaborating. Belle Voce also sang two songs.

Some examples of songs that were performed were “Carol of Bells” played by the band, two pieces from the movie “Polar Ex-press” played by the jazz band, and “Oh Silent Night” sung in German by the chorus.

“My goal is to give students different styles of music to try and to get the audience into the Christmas spirit,” Music Director Marc Bolden said.

115 male Japanese students ar-rived on Dec. 10 “to experience a college preparatory high school in the United States,” according to President Richard O’Hara.

The students are from LaSalle Catholic High School in Hako-date, Japan and stayed for a week with different host families.

They studied in classes during their visit. On Dec. 12, they took a field trip to Washington, D.C.

“Some may be interested in at-tending JC in the future, but we don’t know that at this point,” O’Hara said.

The equestrian team hosted their annual Christmas Bazaar on Dec. 1 from 12-5 p.m. in the up-per gym.

There were various crafts, art-ists, and retail vendors. Accord-ing to Equestrian Assistant Coach Louise Doherty, “each vendor had an 8-by-10 feet space to sell their items and promote their products.” Items the vendors sold included gifts, handcrafted jewelry, and fine art pieces.

Fraser fir Christmas trees, pine roping, wreaths, and poinsettias were also sold at the bazaar. “We also had a raffle of assorted gift items,” Doherty said.

All the money raised pays competition entry fees throughout the year for the equestrian team.

Photo courtesy Richard O’Hara

From left to right, William Porter, Coordinator of International Student Programs Sandi Seiler, and President Richard O’Hara visit the Great Wall of China. O’Hara and Seiler traveled to China for 11 days to strengthen current and potential Chinese relationships.

I never expected to get to China, much

less to be able to get to go up to the Great Wall. It was

invigorating.President Richard O’Hara

”

“

50 to 60 students per class15 to 20 students per class

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USA vs. CHINAThe Patriot compares American high schools to Chinese high schools based on students

per class, duration of each school day, and free time for extra curricular activites.

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STEM program visits Johns Hopkins robotics lab

Photo courtesy Sydney Branch

STEM students watch a robot display at Johns Hopkins Robotics Center. They were also able to experiment with a robot used during surgery.

news3 thepatriot December 2012

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Critical ReadingMathematicsWriting

How does JC stack up to local public high schools?

In addition to gains in enroll-ment, Seiler believes that having international students will be aca-demically beneficial to JC. “Aca-demically, we really attract top qualified students. [Having these students] will eventually impact SAT scores. I can see our average SAT score going up in the future. They are extremely determined,” Seiler said.

Another reason for the influx

of international students has to do with the fulfillment of JC’s mission statement, according to Brueggemann. “When you have educating the whole person as our mission statement says, we want to prepare students to serve re-sponsibly in shaping a more just and compassionate global soci-ety,” she said.

“We believe that having inter-national students is directly in line with our mission statement. By having the students here, I

think that the American students can experience first-hand interna-tional cultures. It also stretches you in terms of tolerance,” Seiler said.

Domestic students also find that having international students can be beneficial to them. Fresh-man Eric Watson has enjoyed the interactions with international students in the orchestra. “The foreign exchange students are the only good players,” Watson said. In addition to this, he thinks

“honestly, it’s actually quite fun to learn about their experiences and where they come from.”

After having international stu-dents in her classes for all four years, senior Autumn Blevins has also enjoyed the diversity of the high school. “I think it’s really cool to have such diversity in our school, I like listening to them talk, even if I can’t understand what they are saying. The differ-ent languages sound so pretty,” Blevins said.

In the future, Seiler hopes to have more, better relationships between domestic and interna-tional students. “I have been listening to other schools [that]have requirements for their do-mestic kids to have to spend a certain amount of time with one of the international kids, going to the movies or to a concert or something, just encouraging them to meet,” she said. “We want to find ways to better celebrate the diverse cultures among us.”

Continued from Front Page

JC welcomes international students, fulfills mission statement

With all the choices of schools in Harford County, JC tries to separate itself by using the title “college preparatory” school. JC pre-pares its students for college with high SAT scores, higher grade and class requirements, and severe consequences for absence.

While JC scores are above the Maryland average and national average on SATs, JC does not have the best SAT scores in Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) for each cat-egory. As the bar graph below indicates, JC has the highest writing score at 518, but falls behind multiple HCPS in the mathematics and critical reading sections.

Despite JC not scoring the highest on the SATs, JC boasts an 80% attendance rate to 4-year colleges after graduation. The other 20% is split between 19% attending a 2-year college and 1% joining the military. In HCPS, 29.6% to 54.8% of their students attend a 4-year college after graduation.

English teacher Christine Zurkowski taught in public school but believes private school has more to offer its students. “The goal of the private school is to be able to tell other peo-ple who are going to pay tuition that we get students into good colleges, so everybody’s working towards that goal,” Zurkowski said.

The statistical variation between HCPS’s and JC’s attendance to college is not a result of SAT scores. According to college guidance counselor Carrie Siemsen, the difference lies in grades, attendance, and class requirements,

“At JC, our students are held to a higher standard. In HCPS, the lowest passing grade

is 60 percent. At JC, the lowest passing grade is 70 percent. Those ten percentage points make a difference,” Siemsen said.

“We’re college prep, that’s our mission, that’s why parents pay to send their kids here. It’s the focus of everything from your fresh-man year to your senior year,” social studies teacher Brian Powell said.

JC students also face expulsion because of failing grades, something that is not threat-ened at public schools. JC students can only attend the school for four years, unless grant-ed special circumstances. That means that if a student fails multiple classes and has to repeat a grade, it cannot be repeated at JC.

“If you are missing class time, you are not going to get the same out of your education as you were in class. Class time is extremely valuable because there is so much informa-tion given. If you miss that you are putting yourself very far behind,” Siemsen said.

HCPS disciplines its students with deten-tions, phone calls to parents, and probation for tardiness and absences after the first four per quarter. Students, however, cannot be expelled for being absent. They can only be forced to repeat a grade. At JC, students re-ceive a detention on the fourth tardiness of a semester. Students can also receive two de-merits - four demerits are required for expul-sion - for unexcused absences.

According to the handbook, if students miss more than 10 days per semester or 20 days per year, they have to make up days in the sum-mer before they can get academic credit.

JC also provides a special curriculum. Ac-cording to Siemsen, JC offers “a curriculum

more rigorous than most high schools in the area. JC’s lowest level classes are called “col-lege preparatory” classes.

“Countless graduates come back to JC and tell us we prepared them very well,” Siemsen said.

“I give my students more challenging ques-tions and hold them to a higher standard than I did when I taught in a public school where most of the students were not planning on at-tending any school after graduation,” math teacher Jean Willan said.

Senior Jimmy Knell sees private schools as having an advantage over public school, hav-ing attended Fallston Middle School before coming to JC. “It seems like the teachers are a lot more involved, where public schools seem to just not care about all the students. It just seems like these teachers are more involved in our lives than just our learning. I think John Carroll is actually preparing us for university, where in a public school, they are not too set on getting all of their kids into colleges.”

“It seems that students who come from pub-lic school have a harder time adjusting to our curriculum. I think as a school community, we do an excellent job of preparing all of our students, no matter what their background, for college level academics,” Siemsen said.

“I felt that going into private school after being in public school for so long, I was un-prepared and behind everyone else,” junior Marina Conits said.

According to social studies teacher Rodney Johnson, who has also taught in public school, “kids always come back and tell us they are prepared for the college experience.”

JC strives to meet preparatory school standardsEmily ClarkePrint Chief MARYLAND

SAT SCORES

488Writing

502 Mathematics

497CriticalReading

NATIONALSAT SCORES

488Writing

514 Mathematics

496CriticalReading

lifestylesthepatriot December 2012 4

Advisories bond by giving back to communityA little girl excitedly wakes up

on Christmas morning and races down the stairs to see what Santa has left for her. Her eyes twinkle at the sight of the beautifully wrapped presents under the tree.

“The glow of a child’s eyes on Christmas morning is worth all the effort that goes into the sea-son,” science teacher Tim Perry said. Perry’s advisory donates toys to the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Foundation every year during the holiday season.

For senior Kiana Wright, a stu-dent in Perry’s advisory, the best part about doing this project is “picking out the toy for the kids.”

Perry’s advisory is not the only one helping the less fortunate. Spanish teacher Deirdre Mag-ner’s advisory is collecting items for the elderly. The items that Magner’s advisory gathers will go to the Little Sisters of the Poor.

“I could not imagine not hav-ing someone there to take care of me, so knowing that I am making a difference in people’s lives is

my favorite part about this proj-ect,” senior Sierra Ficca said.

Enhance teacher Ann Drum-mey’s advisory decided to do something different by making-dog beds and donating them to the Humane Society.

“I like how it’s something dif-ferent and that we are actually in-

volved in it,” sophomore Morgan Broman said.

Spanish teacher Danica At-tanasio’s and Principal Madelyn Ball’s advisories are collecting items that food stamps don’t cov-er. These include laundry deter-gent, pillows, and shampoo.

“We decided to do this project

needed it,” according to Baker.Math and science teacher

Courtney Hugo and senior project coordinator Louise Géczy’s advi-sories teamed up and also adopted a family for Christmas as well.

According to Géczy, they “like knowing that they have a positive impact on someone else’s life.”

According to Director of En-rollment Kim Brueggemann, her advisory decided to adopt a fam-ily because “it is Christmas-time, and we should give to others in need.” Also, adopting a family for Christmas “is something [my] ad-visory does as a group every year, and it brings us closer together,” Brueggemann said.

“My favorite part is being able to deliver the gifts to the fam-ily and see their reaction. It just makes the experience much more personal,” junior Rachel Weskal-nies, a member of Brueggemann’s advisory, said.

According to religion teacher Christopher Yeung, “Christmas is about the birth of hope in the hu-man heart. It should transform us for the better.”

so that we could give to those who are less fortunate during this holiday season,” Attanasio said.

During this season, several advisories have decided to adopt families for Christmas. Science teacher Julie Baker’s advisory adopted a family because they “wanted to help someone who

Enhance teacher Ann Drummey and junior Carley Bynion make dog beds during advisory. Drummey and her advisory normally make blankets for the less fortunate, but wanted to do something different this year.

International students experience holiday spirit

Lit paper lanterns fill junior Harry Wu’s view as he looks up into the sky. The Spring Festival in China has come to a close with the Lantern Festival.

“Christianity is not widely spread in China,” Wu said. Be-cause of this, some Chinese stu-dents don’t celebrate Christmas in China.

“It’s a tradition that people cel-ebrate Spring Festival in China,” Wu said. In the United States, the Spring Festival is called the Chi-nese New Year. “We celebrate the coming of spring and our fam-ily comes together,” Wu said.

This Spring Festival will take place on Feb. 10, 2013. 15 days later, the Spring Festival ends with the Lantern Festival.

“Chinese people began cel-ebrating Spring Festival several centuries ago and we do the same thing since then,” Wu said.

Wu will be celebrating Christ-mas with his host family this year.

In South Korea, however, Christmas isn’t as big of a deal as it is in the U.S., according to senior Iris Kim. “Christmas in Korea is not considered as big as it is here. We have only one day off,” Kim said.

Christmas activities in South Korea are still similar to the ac-tivities done here. “We decorate

Above: The Lunar New Year parade takes place during the Lunar New Year. Right: Firework display at the Ke Lok Si Illuminati in China. Wu celebrates Lunar New Year, also know as The Spring Festival, each year.

According to sophomore Ma-teus Maccieri, Christmas festivi-ties in Italy are similar to the ones celebrated in the U.S. “We have Santa Claus, but there’s no snow,” Maccieri said.

Another similarity to American traditions is the family-orient-ed aspect. “I usually go to my grandmother’s for dinner,” Mac-cieri said.

Dinner usually starts around 12 p.m. and lasts about 12 hours on Christmas Eve, according to Maccieri.

“A lot of people have an im-portant dinner,” Maccieri said. “They stay together until mid-night and then they go to Mass.”

While Maccieri stays up late to celebrate Mass, sophomore Ste-ven Dierksmeier from Germany wakes up early. “We usually go to church before we open pres-ents,” Dierksmeier said.

I think [Christmas festivities are] pretty similar because Ger-many isn’t too different. We have all the similar traditions,” Dierks-meier said.

the trees and exchange gifts with family and friends. Some people who are Christians go to church, too,” Kim said.

Kim also points out the dif-ferences between Christmas and New Year’s in U.S. and South Korea. “People celebrate New Year’s Day more than Christmas [in South Korea],” Kim said.

Kim will not be returning to South Korea this year for Christ-mas. “I’m going to visit my sister in Las Vegas,” Kim said. How-ever, Kim’s holiday plans extend farther than Las Vegas.

“We’re going to watch a lot of shows,” Kim said. “We’re going to California, to San Francisco.”

Shannon OlsenLifestyles Editor

Photo by Ashley Beyer

Chioma IheomaOpinion Editor

Photos courtesy Harry Wu

of the U.S. celebrates Christmaspeople in the world celebrate the Chinese New Year

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Artwork by Emily Hennegan

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of those celebrating Christmas in the U.S. will attend a religious service on Christmas Eve or Day

of those celebrating Christmas in the U.S. think this will be a happier Christmas than last year

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lifestylesthepatriot December 2012 6

Plastic bags full of toddler’s sweatpants and mom jeans fill sophomore Annie Lerch’s view as she gazes around her garage. Lerch and her family prepared to fill a U-Haul truck with the donations, bringing the clothes to her old town near the devastated Jersey Shore.

Lerch moved from Toms River, New Jer-sey, last year to Fallston.

Although she lived on the mainland and there was not much damage to her old home from Hurricane Sandy, Lerch’s friends suf-fered much worse. “One of my mom’s friends who she worked with, her home was com-pletely washed away. All she has left is what she put in her car,” Lerch said.

Another family friend packed up her car and family to escape the rising waters, but was overtaken by a flood. They crawled out of their car’s windows, only to swim to different neighbors’ homes. “She couldn’t get in touch with her husband because the cell towers were down.

For a period of time following the hurri-cane, the high school she would’ve attended functioned as a shelter, along with another area school.

After watching the images on TV of the storm-ravaged town she was once a part of, she said it was “kind of nerve wracking. I re-member playing at [my friends’] houses, and now they’re gone,” Lerch said.

Lerch’s family began gathering donations shortly after the disaster, starting with her family’s old clothes. Her mom then took the

drive to her old town to donate the clothes, and has since made two other trips with dona-tions stemming from neighbors, friends, and her sister’s soccer team.

The donations have gone to a group created by women in her old neighborhood after the hurricane, Community Outreach Relief Effort (CORE). According to Lerch, people in the community tell CORE what they need, and the group gathers it for them.

The family is also giving the donations to “little relief groups who are helping people directly,” Lerch said. Lerch and her family are delivering the supplies to four schools in and bordering Lerch’s old town.

The Romero Club is teaming up with Le-

rch, gathering school supplies for neighbor-ing schools in the affected area. Collaborat-ing with the Culture Shock Club, who is collecting supplies for orphans in Uganda, the Romero Club used the incentive of candy grams to entice students to donate.

For every one supply students brought in or for 50 cents, they received a small candy cane. If students brought in five school supplies or $1.00, they received a big candy cane, and if they brought in 10 school supplies or $2.00, they received a singing candy gram.

According to Lerch, gathering donations and giving back to her old neighborhood makes her feel like “I’m a part of up there still and [that] they’re still my family.”

Ashley BeyerLifestyles Editor

Alvin Ward, Math Teacher, class of ‘70Teacher SpoTlighT:

Subject: Algebra 2, Geometry

Years teaching: 39

Interesting fact: He golfs with other faculty members, including math teacher Robert Torres, social studies teacher Anthony Del Puppo, math teacher Joseph Iacchei, and retired gym teacher Adolph Pons.

Pet Peeves: When students do not do their homework, because they are missing an opportunity to learn.

STaTS

Yoga and Zumba pump teens upHealthy you

By Ashley BeyerExercising is not always at

the top of teens’ to do lists, but it doesn’t have to be boring.

Doing fun exercises like yoga and Zumba are easy ways to exer-cise and stick with it.

Doing yoga is a great way to strengthen your muscles. Some poses that are best for beginners are the plank, full boat, chair, and downward-facing dog.

To do the plank pose, get in a position similar to a high push-up. Hold that position for 30 seconds to one minute. This pose helps build wrist and shoulder strength.

The full boat pose helps to tone and strengthen your abdominal muscles. Lying on the ground, your body should be shaped like a V with your arms straight out and your hands placed on the front of your legs.

In the chair pose, raise your hands straight above your head and bend your legs as if you are sitting in a chair to strengthen your lower back and legs.

At first, the chair pose was challenging for me because it in-volves a lot of upper leg strength, but after doing the pose several times, I was able to hold the pose for 30 seconds to one minute.

The downward-facing dog helps strengthen your lower back and shoulders and decreases back pain. Your body should be in an upside down V shape with your hands and feet flat on the floor.

To view these yoga poses, go to www.jcpatriot.com.

Another fun way to exercise is Zumba, which has been a great way for me to get into shape. You can enroll in classes or buy a vid-eo game for Wii or Xbox Kinect.

Zumba involves challenging Latin style dances. They are fun to do and yield great results. Ex-ercising with friends is a good way to stick with it. Doing Zum-ba regularly can strengthen and tone your muscles and improve your health overall.

Because I don’t have time to enroll in classes, I purchased the Zumba video game for Xbox Ki-nect. Now I am able to get into shape in my free time.

Zumba was difficult the first time because I had never done any Latin style dancing before. Though the steps were challeng-ing, I was able to pick up the moves.

It has a warm up, a main dance, and a cool down so you are able to get your heart pumping and ex-perience different styles of Latin dancing.

Once I got the hang of it, Zum-ba became enjoyable and it is now one of my favorite ways to exercise.

Staying in shape, and finding fun ways to do it, is vital during the teenage years.

Junior Karly Horn writes candy grams for students that donated school supplies. The donated items are going to Uganda and hurricane Sandy victims.

Riding in the wake of his friend’s boat, math teacher Alvin Ward, class of ‘70, kicks up a 10 foot spray. For Ward, this is just another vacation day on the water.

Ward has been water skiing since his junior year at JC, when he bought his first boat. “I raised money for the boat from my job. I was a paper boy,” Ward said.

His love of water skiing started at a young age, stemming from “seeing my mom waterski when I was young, I had to try it,” Ward said.

Ward first tried water skiing when he was 10, but was “unsuccessful.”

Since then, however, he has improved, but ski-ing still comes with its challenges. His favorite memory of water skiing was “trying to waterski barefoot. I saw them do it at Cypress Garden, Florida and on TV. I said ‘I’ve got to try it.’ After multiple tries, and falling while the boat was go-ing 50 mph, I packed it in.”

He even has his own boat, The Relation Ship. His children sometimes water ski on it, though Ward does not because it’s “too slow.”

Although Ward loves water skiing, there are some things he wishes he didn’t have to experi-ence. His least favorite part is “falling and doing a face plant at fast speeds, 50 to 60 mph, and the water going up your nose,” Ward said.

At 60 years old, Ward likes to go skiing at the beach with his family, his brother-in-law and

daughters mostly, and thinks that it’s good that he can still ski. “I’m 60 years old and still doing it. That’s great,” Ward said.

Ward hopes to keep water skiing “as long as I am still physically able to ski.”

Romero sells sweets to support Sandy sufferers

Math teacher Alvin Ward on his boat, The Relation Ship. Ward enjoys going on his boat and water skiing on his friend’s boat.

Photo courtesy Alvin Ward

Kailey TracyCopy Chief

Fork Veterinary Hospital, inc.

12546 Harford Road 410-592-7569Fax: 410-592-5675Fork, Maryland 20151-0118

Specializing in Companion Animal CareKevin C. Doherty, VMD

z

Ariel BashamTeacher of Piano & Voice

410-836-7359arielbashamsmusic.com

Call for lessons in Contemporary, Popular, Jazz, Blues, Classical, and Gospel Music

Photo Credit Shannon Olsen

A&E7 thepatriot December 2012

Rating

Sunshine Grille’s food proves worthy of the hassle of waking up on the weekend.

Sunshine Grille 12607 Fork RoadFork, MD410-592-3378 www.sunshinegrille.com

Rating

The new Sunny Day Café charms customers with cozy atmosphere and fantastic food.

Sunny Day Café101 South Main StreetBel Air, MD410-877-9020www.sunnydaycafebelair.com

Rating

Sweet Devotion brings France to Bel Air with tasty sweet and savory crepes.

Sweet Devotion1834C Pulaski Highway Havre de Grace, MD410-306-6610www.sweetdevotioncupcakes.com

Living in Bel Air, it’s hard to find a crepe, let alone a decent one. Luckily for the inner French-man in us all, Sweet Devotion Cupcake and Creperie Café is up to the task.

A quaint café in a small Havre de Grace shopping center, Sweet Devotion is locally famous for its cupcakes. However, they also have a wide array of sweet and savory crepes.

After walking in, I ordered,

paid, and found a seat. I attempted to satisfy my sweet tooth by or-dering a s’mores crepe. My friend ordered a chocolate chip waffle.

There were about six tables, a counter with stools, and a couch for those willing to eat without a table. The food came out within 10 minutes and smelled irresist-ible, though it may have smelled so delicious because I hadn’t eaten anything yet and hadn’t re-alized how hungry I was. Maybe the sweet smell made me nostal-gic of the crepes I remember from Paris. Either way, I dug right in.

The crepe was golden brown

and had just the right amount of crunch to it. In the very first bite, the inside ingredients ex-ploded with flavor. It was a rush of chocolate, marshmallow fluff, and crushed up graham cracker. The crepe was stuffed with the welcome taste of a s’more at a bonfire.

My friend’s waffle was tasty and had just the right amount of chocolate chips in it, but it was nothing out of this world. The crepes are what I would come back for.

If you don’t have a sweet tooth, fret not, Sweet Devotion has a

few choices of breakfast-friendly savory crepes. If you’re one of those people who eats lunch for breakfast, they also have lunch crepes.

Don’t forget to buy a cupcake or scone before you leave. Their bakery is stocked with scones and at least six types of cupcakes a day. Sweet Devotion recentely started selling their holiday fla-vored cupcakes, such as their Peppermint Twist Cupcake.

Whether you want something sweet or savory, you can’t go wrong with Sweet Devotion, no matter what your preference.

Emily ClarkePrint Chief

quic

kBites: The Patriot staff scopes out the best breakfast joints in and around Harford County

Few people would like to ven-ture out of their beds in the morn-ing, even for breakfast. Traveling outside of Harford County for breakfast is even harder. How-ever, heading out to the Sunshine Grille is worth the trip.

After entering the Sunshine Grille, it was a bit surprising to see that the waiting room was filled with people. However, I only had to wait 20 minutes for a table.

The restaurant welcomed me with a warm atmosphere. There looked to be too many people stuffed into a small space, but this just added to the cozy atmo-sphere.

The menu was large, but most of it was for dinner and lunch. The breakfast menu was only about one page. There was an ar-ray of different foods from break-fast burritos, omelets, sandwich-es, pancakes, and waffles.

I decided on getting French toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs. I also got a strawberry banana smoothie. It took five minutes to reach my table. When I received it I noticed its consistency was not as thick as I would have liked, but the flavors were great.

The French toast finally ar-rived 20 minutes later. The thick and puffy bread was soft and light in the middle and became a bit tougher towards the crust. The portion was large. My eggs were not as light and airy as I would have liked, but they still tasted good. The bacon was cooked per-fectly.

All in all, the breakfast was great and I would recommend the Sunshine Grille to anyone look-ing for a cozy breakfast spot.

Cole AlbanManaging Editor

Warmth and the smell of sau-sage and eggs lured me in. As we entered the newly opened Sunny Day Café, we were greeted by the aroma of good food and a cheer-ful waitress. She happily told us to sit wherever we would like and that she would be right with us. It was a good first impression.

We took our seats in a booth at the front of the restaurant. With-in 10 seconds of sitting down, our waitress came by, handed us menus, and took our drink orders. While she got our drinks, we de-cided on what to get to eat.

The Sunny Day Café has pan-cakes, Belgian waffles, French toast, breakfast sandwiches, yo-gurt, a variety of omelets, and a whole page of the menu dedicated to savory and sweet crepes. I was interested in the s’mores crepe, a sweet crepe filled with graham crackers, melted marshmallows, and chocolate chips. However, because I have an allergy to tree

nuts and Nutella and pecans are used with other crepes, I first had to check to see if it would be safe for me to eat.

I told my waitress of my al-lergy and she immediately went to check with the chef. I hoped that she would return to tell me that it would be fine for me to eat. Instead, she came back with the chef, who told me that he could not guarantee that there would not be cross-contamination between the different crepes. Although I was disappointed that I would not be able to try the s’mores crepe, I appreciated him coming out per-sonally to talk to me.

I decided on the Wonderful Day Waffle Platter in lieu of the

crepe. I still got to see the s’mores crepe, though, because my brother ordered it. Drizzled with chocolate syrup and surrounded by dollops of whipped cream, it looked amazing. My waffle plat-ter looked good too. The waffle was sprinkled with powdered sugar and it came with two eggs cooked to my desire, a sausage link, and two strips of bacon.

I ordered my eggs scrambled. They were delicious. They had the perfect balance of moisture to dryness. The sausage was good as well. It was a large link with a nice crispy casing and good fla-vor. My Belgian waffle was also tasty, and I liked that it was only half of a Belgian waffle.

My only complaint is that there was no pure maple syrup available. I can’t stand the thick artificial syrup that seemingly all restaurants serve. If I could make one change to the Sunny Day Café, I would have them of-fer pure maple syrup, even if they would have to charge extra for it. I would gladly pay a bit more to enjoy the sweet amber goodness that is pure and real maple syrup.

Overall, I enjoyed the Sunny Day Café, and I plan to go back in the near future. The previous two restaurants that were located there went out of business in a few years, but I sincerely hope that the Sunny Day Café will stay for many years to come.

Mary Kate LuftA&E Editor

Photo by Mary Kate Luft

Photo by Emily Clarke

Photo by Cole Alban

This delectable s’mores crepe from Sweet Devotion is just one of many enjoyable options on Sweet Devotion’s menu. Sweet Devotion offers a variety of sweet and savory crepes.

This scrumptious Wonderful Day Waffle Platter from Sunny Day Café is one of the delicious items on their menu. Sunny Day Café is open daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Sunshine Grille offers tasty strawberry banana smoothies. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily.

in-depth 8 in-depth9thepatriot December 2012 thepatriot December 2012

In a world of academics and ath-letics, the world that is JC, no one gender seems to pack the dominating punch. Women swoop onto the scene towering above men in the number of athletic Letters of Intent and alumni volunteering on reunion planning committees. They also demonstrate their strength in the academic honors arena. Vocalizing their power in the classroom, seven out of the top ten GPAs per quarter in the sophomore, junior, and senior classes belong to women. However, the 2012-2013 school year’s enrollment plays to their benefit greatly, with 374 females and 319 males. Men strike back with big numbers in the Athletic Hall of Fame and top administrators. As

only one female is inducted into the Hall each year on average, four top administrators out of five wear a red cape as opposed to red high heeled Wonder Woman boots, showing male dominance in these domains. Certain duels are still being duked out, such as athletic championships, which hold a “consistent pattern” depend-ing on competition, according to Ath-letic Director Larry Dukes. Regard-ing faculty who are alumni and top positions in this world, like academic department chairs, the sexes are on the same wavelength.

Take your bets on who will claim the final blow, and read ahead to see how the sexes have evolved in domi-nance over the years at JC.

Supermen vs. Wonder Women

At JC, for every 1 Letter of Intent that a man signs, 10 are signed by women. For the 2012-

2013 school year, 71% of students recieving first quarter honors were female.AAR

RGG

QPA Top 10 RankingsClass of 2013: 7 females, 3 malesClass of 2014: 7 females, 3 malesClass of 2015: 7 females, 3 males

By Kailey Tracy, additional reporting by Brianna Glase

KA-POWWW!!

For the 2012-2013 school year, 47% of the student body is male and 53% is female.

Culture Shock has 20 females and 3 males as members. Between The Patriot and Yearbook staff, there are 30 females and 3 males. Respect Life Club has 24 females to 5 males as members.

On averge, only 1 woman is inducted each year ito the Hall of Fame.

To protect their secret identities, seniors Hannah Jacques’ and Thomas Gardner’s names cannot be revealed.

Take that, Smarty Pants!

The Patriot measures which gender packs a bigger punch in their pursuit of truth, justice, and the American Way.

The amount of men and women in each department is about even, although

women are outnumbered 4 to 1 in the administration.

Mwahahahaha ...

SWOOSH

“I think girls run the school, because they outnumber us and girls have more

assertive personalities.”

Brad Paszkiewicz, ‘14

“I think females run the school, because not only do we suceed academically and athletically, we

dominate the social aspects as well.”

Allison Kozel, ‘13

Zo ooom

A&E 10thepatriot December 2012

Cu p c ake s w i t h C as s id yEmily CassidyA&E Editor

Romero Club donates Maryland themed tree to Festival of TreesCaitlin WolfarthNews Editor

Junior finds comfort, relief in creating artCole AlbanSports Editor

The Bel Air Armory was filled with Christmas spirit and eccentrically decorated Christmas trees. People gathered around to admire and bid on trees ranging from miniature to seven feet tall. Among the trees was JC’s “Christmas in Maryland,” decorated by the Romero Club.

The Romero Club and other schools and businesses in Harford County helped people prepare for Christmas by participating in the seventh Annu-al Festival of Trees sponsored by the Chesapeake Cancer Alliance.

Each school or business that par-ticipated bought a tree, decorated it, and donated it to the Festival. Each decorated tree was then auctioned off. Christmas wreaths and gingerbread houses were also up for sale.

All the trees at the festival were sold. The three-day event raised about $30,000 and a record number of 2,500 people attended.

The money raised at the festival went to support the Chesapeake Can-cer Alliance. This organization raises money for Upper Chesapeake’s Can-cer Life Net Program, which helps to prevent and treat cancer, according to Romero Club moderator Rachel Har-kins.

Health teacher Tess Gauthier do-nated an artificial tree to the club. With inspiration from Maryland Day during Spirit Week, seniors Becky Hottle and Susie Cumpston painted the tree skirt like the Maryland flag.

“Susie Cumpston and I made Mary-land pants for spirit day and Mrs. Gauthier asked how we made them. I just offered to make the skirt because I like to paint,” Hottle said.

The Romero Club also hosted a bake sale at a home football game to raise money for other supplies. In addition to the tree skirt and the bake sale, stu-dents donated Ravens, Orioles, and other Maryland-themed ornaments to be hung on the tree.

A Baltimore Ravens Santa hat was used as a tree topper. According to

Harkins, the club spent around $90 on supplies.

According to Harkins, six club members spent an hour and a half at the Armory in Bel Air on Nov. 23 to decorate the tree and set up.

According to Co-President of Romero Club junior Jessie Clinger-man, due to the lack of ornaments do-nated by students, club members had to decorate ornaments there, using plain ornaments and glitter glue.

“In the future, I would like to get the school more involved in bringing decorations,” Clingerman said. “We had to make ornaments there. It was pretty crazy.”

Also, the club was not informed that the Festival was a contest. The trees were all voted on and a prize was given to the winner at the end.

“I would possibly like to win the prize next year,” Harkins said.

Despite these two minor problems, the Romero Club views the event as a success.

“I think it [The Festival of Trees] was pretty successful,” Clingerman said. “It is something I would definite-ly want to do in the future.”

“The Romero Club has definitely grown this year,” Harkins said. “It was awesome to get out in the community and do something outside of JC. It was also fun to see everyone over the Thanksgiving break.”

Junior Zane Van Pelt sits down in the art wing and clears his mind. Everything that has been going on in his life flows out of his mind, through his paintbrush, and onto the canvas. Van Pelt not only takes art because it’s his favorite class, but because it gives him time to relax and clear his mind.

Van Pelt took his first JC art class when he transferred as a sophomore. However, he first began taking art in his freshman year at Boy’s Latin. Van Pelt said he began taking art because “[He] found studio as a way to take time for myself to think about whatever is on my mind.”

Van Pelt is currently taking Honors Studio 3, which is taught by art teacher Bruno Baran. Van Pelt has had Baran as a teacher his entire time here

There is not one favorite art class Van Pelt has, as they are similar. “All studio classes are a sequel of each other with different assignments as we learn more tech-niques for different mediums, so I cannot really pick a favorite,” he said.

Van Pelt prefers creating whatever he can think of when in studio class. “I prefer doing any kind of studio artwork that pops into my mind as something I like or that I am interested in,” he said.

Van Pelt does not have a specific work of art that he made and likes the most, but has a few favorites. “I like my dream catcher, and my anatomical heart. Also I like my charcoal portrait and my oil painting of a hibiscus flower,” Van Pelt said.

Currently Van Pelt is working on portraits. “They aren’t my favorite projects to do but it is not too bad.”

Baran believes that Van Pelt is talented but has room for improvement. “He is a good artist but he needs to apply himself more just like everyone else,” Baran said. Baran says he enjoys Van Pelt’s drawing work the best. “I have seen a lot of improvement in his work.”

Nothing says Christmas better than hot chocolate and peppermint. This cupcake is the perfect combination of everyone’s two favorite things of the season. They are sure to be a hit at any Christmas party this year.

Hot chocolate cupcakes:2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1 cup cocoa powder2 cups granulated sugar1 tsp baking soda2 tsp baking powder1 tsp salt3 eggs1 packet Hot Chocolate with 3/4 cup warm milk3/4 cup vegetable oil1 tsp vanilla extractIcing:3 sticks unsalted butter, softened6 cups confectioner’s sugar1/4 – 1/2 cup milk1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Junior Zane Van Pelt creates a painting of junior Jessica Ruff in Honors Studio 3 class. Van Pelt has been taking art classes for two and a half years.

Photo by Emily Cassidy

Photo by Caitlin Wolfarth

Instructions:Cupcake Base1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin

pans with cupcake liners.2. In bowl of stand mixer, combine dry

ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients: eggs, hot chocolate/milk mixture, vegetable oil and vanilla.

4. Beat on medium speed until well combined. *Note the batter may seem thick, but that is

normal*5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.6. Bake for 16 minutes or until toothpick

inserted in center comes out clean.7. Let cupcakes cool in pans for 5 minutes,

then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.8. Once cupcakes are completely cool frost

with Peppermint Buttercream.

For the icing:1. In bowl of stand mixer, beat butter until

creamy.2. Gradually add in confectioner’s sugar one

cup at a time.3. Add milk until you reach desired consistency.4. Add peppermint extract and mix well.5. Spread evenly onto cupcakes when cooled.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Junior Jessie Clingerman (above) decorates the Romero Club’s tree at the Bel Air Armory. The tree’s theme was all things Maryland. Below, a tag that identified JC’s Christmas in Maryland tree is displayed on top of the tree. Attendees at the event could bid on the tree with the profits going to Chesapeake Cancer Life Net Program

Photo by Caitlin Wolfarth

opinion11 thepatriot December 2012

Americans are getting addicted to the idea of legalized marijuana. The federal government should decriminalize it and states like Maryland should move towards legalization.

Recreational marijuana was legalized in two states in last month’s election. However, it is still illegal under federal law and in every other state. The federal and state governments refuse to acknowledge they are wasting time, money, and resources, and refuse to see the upside to legal-izing marijuana.

Every police department, ev-ery district attorney’s office, and some federal agencies waste some form of manpower, taxpay-

The PatriotThe John Carroll School703 Churchville RoadBel Air, MD 21014Volume 48, Issue 2,

December 2012

Print Chief:Emily Clarke

Online Chief:Brianna Glase

Multimedia Chief:Martha Schick

Copy Chief:Kailey Tracy

News Editors:Sydney SetreeCaitlin Wolfarth

Lifestyles Editors:Ashley BeyerShannon Olsen

A&E Editors:Emily CassidyMary Kate Luft

In-Depth Editors:Lauren FabiszakMeredith HaggertyHope Kelly

Opinion Editors:Bryan Doherty Chioma Iheoma

Sports Editors: Cole AlbanHaley Kyger

Copy Editors:Rebecca DriverBrianna George

Multimedia Editors:Brianna GeorgeEmma MinnisShannon Vinton

Artists:Brynly Wilson Catey Minnis

Moderators:Mark IonescuNick Attanasio

The Patriot is a publication of The John Carroll School. The views and opinions expressed in The Patriot are not necessarily the views of the Board of Trustees or the Administration of The John Carroll School.

A copy of each print issue is distributed to each of the 691 students and 121 faculty members. Some of the remainder are sent out to exchanging schools with a return address. The remaining copies are shared in the Main Office, Library, Admissions Office, Office of Institutional Advancement, given out when needed, or archived. For more information, please visit jcpatriot.com/about.

The editorial staff invites and greatly appreciates comments from readers on any issue.

Should marijuana be legalized in Maryland?

Bryan Doherty Opinion Editor

Pro Marijuana should be legalized to lower

crime rates and increase state revenue through taxation

Con

Freshman“I don’t think it’s

a good idea. People abuse

it and it makes things worse.

Sophomore“Absolutely. It would make great revenue

for the state. So much more money

would come in.”

Junior“No, it will really

impact the people of MD to become

more pressured to actually smoke.”

Patriots Answer

Senior

“It should be legalized because people should be

able to have rights to their own body.”

Rachel DiCamillo Ryan Sheehan Brianna Mallory Zak FlairSocial Studies

“I would favor strict medical marijuana

but I’m not sure of the social and

economic results.”

Rodney Johnson

Should marijuana be legalized in MD? Why or why not?

Con

The health risks of marijuana far outweigh the benefits that would come with its legalization

Brianna Glase Online Chief

er money, and resources to find, arrest, and convict users of recre-ational marijuana.

This does no good. In fact, it’s causing more harm than good. Otherwise law abiding citizens, many of them young, have their lives ruined by run-ins with the law because of marijuana.

Too much time and money is being spent to put away petty, non-violent offenders. Instead of continuing to make marijuana a taxpayer money pit that sucks up governmental resources, make it a revenue creating machine.

If the legalization of recre-ational marijuana took place in more states, the local, state, and federal governments’ tax reve-nues could potentially go through the roof. Each ounce of pot and all drug paraphernalia could be

taxed. That is billions of dollars that can be added to the govern-ment’s income.

The government has an op-portunity to stop wasting money trying to fix a problem that will never go away and create an enormous amount of revenue at the same time. This is money that

can be used for more important things like stopping dangerous crime, improving education, and improving infrastructure.

Maryland needs to stop trip-ping out and look at the cold hard facts. The economic benefits to legalizing marijuana far outweigh any negative side effects.

After this past election, Colo-rado and Washington voters made the awful decision to legalize marijuana.

Maryland should certainly not follow in their footsteps for the general health and well-being of its citizens.

Marijuana may seem like no big deal but it has drastic psycho-logical and physical effects.

According to the National In-stitute on Drug Abuse, many studies have shown a correlation between marijuana use and in-creased anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia.

Marijuana also heavily affects a person’s physical health. A per-son smoking marijuana is nearly five times more likely to suffer a heart attack at that moment be-cause of increased heart rates.

Some say that it isn’t an addic-tive drug. Scientists beg to differ: according to WebMD, marijuana is a physically addictive drug that shows signs of addiction even for occasional users, and even worse signs with continued use.

Artwork by Brynly Wilson

Some say marijuana should be legal since cigarettes are. But ac-cording to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana smoke contains up to 70 percent more cancer-causing substances than regular cigarette smoke.

According to the Huffington Post, a study done at the Uni-versity of Michigan showed that marijuana use for teens has been on the rise.

The teenage years are some of a person’s most vulnerable, and Maryland should strive to provide guidance for teens. If there are laws in place that help to show them what’s right and wrong, their morals will follow suit.

Authorities should crack down more on marijuana use, especially with those who supply it to oth-ers, so that marijuana use starts to decline.

Marijuana damages the health of those that smoke it and the only way to counter the rise of mari-juana use and combat these health risks is to keep it illegal. Mary-land should first and foremost look out for the health and moral-ity of its citizens, not the statisti-cal benefits for the economy.Artwork by Catey Minnis

opinion 12thepatriot December 2012

By Bryan Doherty

Doherty’sDemocracy

This past summer, the U.S. dominated the other countries in athletic ability at the olym-pics. However, when it comes to educational ranking, the U.S. doesn’t even make it to the po-dium. American students are not matching up with other first world countries, and this stems from education practices that should be adjusted.

In 2010 the Organization for Economic Co-operation and De-velopment held a test in 65 coun-tries that tested 15 year olds on reading, math, and science. The U.S. was ranked fourteenth. If America wants to remain a “su-perpower,” education has to change.

The U.S. Department of Edu-cation and Maryland State De-

partment of Education should not fix the curriculum just to compete with other countries, but also to enhance the minds of young peo-ple. Average SAT scores for Writ-ing and Critical Reading have declined since 1972. This is un-acceptable considering the scores of students in other countries are continually increasing.

The main problem with Ameri-can education in comparison to countries with higher scores is the style of teaching.

The current American cur-riculum teaches to the test. This means that tests are formed that cover all of the information the government would like children to know. This results in students learning information but only retaining it for a short period of time. The top countries teach for common knowledge and not just for a grade. This helps students

retain the information as they move forward in their education.

As a preparatory school, JC should praise teachers like math teacher Jean Willan who teach students according to what she knows they will need in college. Teachers should teach more for the future and less for a test.

The “No Child Left Behind Act” promoted “teaching to the test” when it was passed so that teachers in lower ranking schools were required to teach their kids by a set curriculum. This, how-ever, is not helpful for the country as a whole.

Fallston, the highest ranked Harford County school, ac-cording to schooldiggers.com, is ranked at just 34 out of 182 Maryland public schools. Harf-ord County as well as JC should discourage teaching to the test in order to move up the ranks.

The problem with teaching to the test is that teachers teach at a different pace. Even though they “teach to the test,” some move at a slower pace depending on their students’ ability to retain infor-mation. A blanket test that covers a wide span of classes sets back students who weren’t prepared for that exact test.

While Maryland may be lead-ing the United States in educa-tion, that is not enough. U.S. scores are average in comparison to the rest of the developed world. According to the Gaurdian.co.uk, students in South Korea, the high-est ranked country, or Canada, the third ranked country, have longer school days or school terms and teach through different methods. The only way the U.S. can right-fully own its spot on the podium is by radically changing the edu-cation system.

Chioma IheomaOpinion Editor

PATRIOTPERSPECTIVE

TH

E

JC earns its title as a ‘preparatory school’ by proving that it is more than just a name

Wal-Mart is coming to town. They’re making a list and check-ing it twice of all the profitable small businesses in the area that they can destroy.

The new Wal-Mart, set to be lo-cated at the intersection of Plum-tree Road and Route 924, should not be allowed the opportunity to carry out its plans.

This Wal-Mart is actually an expansion and relocation of the existing Wal-Mart currently lo-cated near the exit from Route 24 onto Interstate 95 in Abingdon, Maryland, and people are not pleased.

There are several key issues that have the residents of Bel Air up in arms over this move.

The first is the effect it would have on local businesses. Bel Air is filled with locally owned and operated small businesses that make up the backbone of Bel Air’s middle class community. Stores like Up-Town Cheapskate, the Bel Air Bakery, and Bicycle Connection are all located in the Festival Shopping Center or in downtown Bel Air. Businesses like these would have to compete with the prices and the conve-nience of the one-stop shop that Wal-Mart has become.

Harford County and Bel Air should not allow a large corporate retailer to come into the town and push around small business own-ers. The amount of small busi-nesses and how profitable many of them are should be a source of pride for the town, not some-thing that can be nonchalantly cast aside in favor of a corpora-tion that’s the closest thing to a monopoly in this country.

There is also the issue of hav-ing a 24-hour super store in the middle of a residential area. Traf-fic, noise, and crime will all dra-matically increase if a Wal-Mart is built on Plumtree.

Traffic on Route 924 has enough issues, with only two lanes and heavy traffic flow at rush hour. It is a residential road, lined with houses, schools, and playgrounds. Wal-Mart shoppers don’t need to make a bad traffic situation worse.

Everything that can be done to impede the Plumtree Wal-Mart becoming a reality should be done. The only people that sup-port it are Wal-Mart executives and their lobbyists. The majority of residents and business owners most certainly don’t want it.

The next time you see “NO WAL-MART” signs lining the roads around Bel Air, stop and think about the real repercussions a new Wal-Mart would have. Support your community and local business, owned by your family members and friends, and keep Wal-Mart out.

FIn the midst of declining standards in US education, JC needs to prepare students for college not one-time tests

JC deserves its college prep title. It develops its students for success in college and beyond with more skill than any other school in the county.

While Fallston, Bel Air, and C. Milton Wright High Schools have higher SAT scores in some sections, they have only slightly more than a half of their students going to four-year colleges, with some even under 50 percent, ac-cording to mdreportcard.com. Eighty percent of JC seniors at-tend a four-year college, with 99 percent attending some form of college.

JC’s SAT scores are higher than Maryland’s average and the national average because of the attention students are forced to pay to their studies. When JC’s

highest passing grade is 10 points higher than Harford County’s, students have to work harder. That 10 percent makes all the difference when it comes to the level of motivation students need to pass a class. Motivation won’t just get students into college, but will make them excel.

Public school students aren’t threatened with expulsion if they fail, as it is mandated that they attend school until the age of 16. There is no mandate that students attend private school, meaning JC students must succeed to avoid expulsion.

While for some students, this pressure adds stress and requires hard work to avoid failing, it un-deniably prepares them for the challenges they will face in col-

lege. Those who already know that failing leads to more than a slap on the wrist realize that the consequences of bad grades are a considerable danger.

A certain pride should be tak-en in the caliber of academics at JC, as it far outreaches any pub-lic school in the area. Of course, above average students at public school may opt to take honors and AP classes, but at JC the lowest level classes are college prepara-tory. These classes are designed to raise students to the academic level needed to be successful in college and not just string them along in classes that won’t help to further their learning.

JC has also devoted time and money to develop a strong col-lege counseling department. With

the introduction of the College Center and the new college coun-selor position, JC has put a stron-ger focus on helping students navigate the college application process. Public school students rarely encounter this attention and is an invaluable resource for JC students.

Students at JC are statistical-ly more likely to go to college. However, they are also more prepared for college as a whole as they complete their secondary education. The guidance students receive with regards to college decisions, the threat of academic expulsion, and the improved edu-cation students receive all ex-hibit JC’s status as a college prep school. JC is unmistakably the best school in the area.

US education system needs reform

Artwork by Brynly Wilson

Local shops deserve priority over Wal-Mart

opinion13 thepatriot December 2012

In the October edition of The Patriot, In-Depth Editor Mer-edith Haggerty quoted Mr. Paaby, a longtime spectator of Powder Puff games. Having coached in over 30 of the games, I would like to add a different perspective, from the standpoint of a coach.

The game was initiated by the late Father Riepe, JC’s principal

and president. Father Riepe’s in-tention was to give those girls not involved in fall sports the oppor-tunity to be a part of an organized athletic team.

The game, as viewed by Paaby, was about “knocking the other team down and tackling, although prohibited. It was more of a phys-ical confrontation, of who could be bigger and better.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. Playing by the rules and good sportsmanship were a priority by the coaches.

Of course, football at any level involves a certain amount of body contact. Unintentional roughness

and collisions sometimes happen. The caliber of past coaches,

that speaks for itself, would not have tolerated otherwise. To mention a few: Gary Scholl, Al Ward, Joe Gallen, David Huber, Tim Perry, John Hughes, Kris-ten Porchella, and a beloved nun from the ‘70s, who also coached basketball, Sister Rita Woelke.

Paaby also comments on the improved caliber of play today as opposed to the past. It is in-conceivable to me how this can be accomplished with only three practice sessions.

In the past we were hard pressed to teach the skills of of-

fense, defense, kickoff, and kick return teams in the required six practice sessions, with two expe-rienced coaches.

One last thought: we made sure that every girl who came to prac-tice session played the game. Can that be said about the game that was played in 2012?

We practiced hard and played hard to win. Many positive les-sons were learned by players who otherwise would not have had a sports experience at JC.

I always thought that’s what sports were about. That’s why I coached Powder Puff for so many years.

By Martha Schick

Martha’sMusings

Students were lining up to ask questions after an hour of lis-tening to the same person talk. Nothing like that has ever hap-pened in my four years at JC and, unsurprisingly, it was the result of a guest speaker.

Student body engagement should be something sought by the administration. Students des-perate to have their questions answered should be something teachers celebrate. Kids raising their hands in class to discuss an assembly should be considered a victory for all involved.

Gerry Sandusky spoke about problems that students face at this point in their lives. He used language that endeared him to the students, but even with com-plaints about his mild swearing, no one can deny that his message was one that high school students needed to hear.

Sandusky was able to present his message with humor and en-gaging anecdotes. Students were actually lining up to ask him questions at the end of his talk instead of awkwardly sitting in bored silence. The benefit was obvious and it created discussion for days afterwards.

Speakers provide an invalu-able experience that can’t be replicated in the classroom. If a teacher disagrees with the use of the word “jackass” in an assem-bly, it should lead to a discussion in a classroom about freedom of speech or how to speak to differ-ent groups. Having an advisory dedicated to talking about the speaker was a great chance to share opinions.

If someone wants to bring up a point that they disagreed with, they should be encouraged to share their opinion. Kudos to the teachers who opened their classes up to talk about the assembly.

If speakers are so beneficial to discussion and current issues, why aren’t they invited to JC more often? If JC decides to only splurge on a paid speaker once a year, that’s plenty. However, people like Sandusky came free of charge, which is exactly what we should be looking for.

There are plenty of people that would love to speak at JC for free, especially alumni. We could learn valuable lessons from the people who were once where we are now, particularly highly suc-cessful alumni.

JC is a college preparatory school. While learning all you can from your classes is all well and good, knowing the Pythago-rean Theorem and hearing from people in the real world pro-vide two very different kinds of knowledge, both of which are im-portant to life after high school.

Speakers should spark discussion in classrooms

Letter to the editor

By Russian teacher Edward Miller

JC website lags behind school in modernization

Hope KellyManaging Editor

Artwork by Brynly Wilson

December Report CardThe Patriot turns the tables by grading the school on today’s issues

Let them wear pantsD

I have a dream, that one day this school will rise up and once again allow girls to wear pants.

The complete injustice in the uniform guidelines is apparent in the fact that boys can wear khaki pants to school, but girls cannot. Women are equal to men and have the same needs. If it’s winter, do legs not get cold? Tights and knee highs, the only current option to cover girl’s legs, barely keep anyone warm.

Let us wear pants. Just try wearing tights or knee highs with shorts for a day and see how you like it.

Coming into school in the morning, students just want to be able to get to their class without having to awkwardly ask the kids making out in front of their locker to move.

Public Displays of Affection are against school rules. They’re gross, distracting, and sometimes even irritating. It just makes everyone else around you feel awkward. School’s not the time or place for it.

Teachers need to man up and enforce the PDA rule. And students, take your public displays of affection elsewhere. We don’t want to see that.

F PDA: Please don’t attempt

When a wrap that’s half the size of the one last year costs the same as the original, it’s obvious that something’s wrong in the cafeteria.

Most teenagers love to eat. It’s $5.85 for just a small drink, a cheeseburger, and a candy bar. If that’s all a person eats, it adds up to $30 a week and $120 a month. That’s expensive for something that isn’t going to be a filling meal for growing kids. There needs to be a less expensive option for students.

Something’s fishy here, and it’s not the fish sticks.

C Food prices need diet

Emily ClarkePrint Chief

Quick, check out the JC school web-site. It’s been turned into a time portal. Oh wait, that is just the lack of updating that occurs on the site.

As you go to the homepage of the school website, the first thing you are greeted by are pictures of students who graduated four years ago. It makes you wonder, why are you looking at a picture of your friends when they were fresh-men even though you are now seniors?

Could it be that newer photographs haven’t been taken that could be used to update the website? Have only medio-cre things been happening the past four years?

While the pictures capture a wide ar-ray of events and people, they are events and people from years ago. Yearbook, sports teams, and clubs are taking new photographs all the time. The pictures taken around the school by different or-ganizations could easily be added to the website.

The pictures are not the only thing that needs to be updated. The main page hasn’t been remodeled since it was first created, in 2005. The website looks nice and is better than many high schools’ websites. But why stop at average?

Website layouts and designs are al-ways changing, so why not switch it up? The main page should highlight

the school’s greatest attributes. There should be large graphics about the com-petitions teams are involved in, special events advisories are doing for the holi-days, and events that the school’s clubs are sponsoring.

The news bar on the side is up-dated regularly, which is great, but it shouldn’t be the only gadget on the home page showing what is happening around school. The website is one of the school’s best advertising tools, so the maximum amount of effort should go into producing a quality website.

To attract prospective students, the website needs to focus on aspects of the school that set it apart from other schools in the area.

The main page should have a link or graphic advertising the International Students Program. No other schools in the area have as an extensive of a pro-gram as JC does.

The opportunities that JC provides is a strong asset that should be advertised. Community-active clubs, champion sports teams, and award winning publi-cations are a few things that the school should take time to showcase on the site.

The website could also play up the fact that it is one of the few co-ed pri-vate schools in the area. The main page currently has a video about that, which is a step in the right direction. Similar updates need to be made on the rest of the website for the benefit of the school.

sports 14thepatriot December 2012

Outside, snow is falling and cars with Christmas trees strapped atop them pass by. In-side the gym, however, the bright florescent lights illuminate the sweat-scented mats the wrestlers are sprawled on, practicing for upcoming matches. While most students will spend the break enjoying quality time with their families, winter athletes will be working hard at their sports.

The men’s varsity basketball team will compete in the Bene-dictine Capital Classic in Rich-mond, Virginia. According to varsity basketball coach Tony Martin, this kind of national event gives the basketball players exposure to college opportunities and provides them with lasting memories.

The basketball players manage their studies while they travel. “Every time we go away we have mandatory proctored study halls overseen by Kathleen Landers, who is a teacher at Cathedral and wife of assistant varsity coach Rick Landers,” Martin said.

Also, at some tournaments there are various events for the players. For example, two years

ago, the basketball team partici-pated in a drunk driving work-shop at the Stop-DWI Classic tournament in New York.

“There are no problems in ar-ranging activities over the break and no one misses [them], as they and their families are excited for them to participate,” Martin said.

Men’s and women’s indoor track teams will compete in two track meets over winter break and will most likely practice four times. According to indoor track coach Robert Torres, there are two main reasons why the track team meets infrequently over the winter break. “One, a lot of kids go on vacation, or don’t have rides to school, so they end up missing. Two, we all need a break, so we lighten the load for all our sake,” Torres said.

On the other hand, the wres-tling team will be working al-most non-stop over break. The team will practice nearly every day and it will compete at three events. On the first day of Christ-mas vacation, Dec. 20, the team has a match at Loyola Blakefield. Five returning All-Americans are going to the Beast of the East tournament at the University of Delaware on Dec. 22 and 23.

According to wrestling coach Keith Watson, it’s not hard to get wrestlers to show up and put in work over the vacation. “I don’t have to make them [go to prac-tice]. They want this. My prob-lem is getting them to take a break when they need to,” Watson said.

“They just want to go, go, go all the time. I won’t organize a practice on Christmas Eve, but I’m sure somebody will. Even on Christmas Day some will find a way to work out, whether it’s run-ning or lifting.”

The women’s indoor soccer team takes a more relaxed ap-proach to the winter break. There are no games or practices.

The swim team will have two voluntary practices over break, but they will not have any meets. According to senior Rebecca Kotula, they might have a Christ-mas party. “We didn’t have one last year, but before that it was a tradition for [swim coach] Mr. Dukes to have a Christmas bon-fire. So far I haven’t heard any-thing about it though.”

With five returning All Ameri-cans, the wrestling team hopes to place in the top five nationally and second at states, according to head coach Keith Watson.

Senior Scott Strappelli agrees with Watson’s predictions. “My outlook on the team is seeing us finishing in the top three, if not in the final top two teams in the state overall,” Strappelli said.

Matches against McDonough and Archbishop Spalding will be the toughest for the team, accord-ing to Watson.

“This is the best bunch of wrestlers I’ve ever had, no matter what school I’ve coached at.”

Overall, “a lot of pieces of the puzzle are fitting together,” assis-tant coach Jake Hollin said.

Women’s basketball scores for local families

Teams continue to hustle hard during holiday

Wrestling team hopes for successful season

Swimming dives into new yearCaitlin WolfarthNews Editor

Kailey TracyCopy Chief

Martha SchickMultimedia Chief

Mary Kate LuftA&E Editor

Photo courtesy Tony Martin

The men’s basketball team relaxes in the living room of their home during their bonding retreat in Ocean City, Maryland. The basketball team has also done other activities together such as a drunk driving workshop.

Photo from Patriot Archives

Sophomore Ashley Hunter participates in the 2011 Shooting Santas charity fundraiser. The event raised money to buy gifts for impovershed families.

The 2012-2013 men’s and women’s varsity swim teams’ seasons officially started on Nov. 16.

Practices are held at the Arena Club aquatics center on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

The women’s team has 34 girls, which is much larger than last year’s team of 13 swim-mers. The men’s team, however, is still undermanned with only eight swimmers. The minimum amount of swimmers a team can have is seven.

The first women’s swim meet was Dec. 5 at Notre Dame Prep. The first men’s meet is Dec. 11 against Indian Creek School at Bel Air Athletic Club.

“I’m really looking forward to this year’s swim season,” sopho-more Taylor Fitzgerald said. “I hope to make new friends.”

“My goal for this year is to survive the boys’ team and for the girls, win the championship,” swim coach Larry Dukes said.

The women’s basketball team walks up to a stranger’s door in an unknown neighborhood. A mem-ber of the team rings the doorbell and the whole team prepares to deliver Christmas cheer. It isn’t Christmas carols they’re giving though. The team is donating gifts and other items that people need through the Shooting Santas fundraiser.

“We’re trying to help poor families at Christmastime who, through no fault of their own, find themselves financially in a situ-ation where they won’t be able to provide Christmas in terms of presents, trees, meals, and stuff like that,” women’s basketball coach Mike Blizzard said.

Blizzard started working with Shooting Santas 12 years ago as a women’s basketball coach at Havre de Grace High School. He took inspiration from the March of Dimes, a 25 mile walk in which people are sponsored for every mile they walk to help prevent health issues in babies. Blizzard decided to do the same with shooting foul shots, but to assist families at Christmastime. In their first year at JC, the team raised $1,500.

This money wasn’t raised, however, within JC guidelines for fundraisers in school.

“Shooting Santas is a perfect example of a well-intentioned fundraiser, but one that was never approved administratively here at school. It has to follow school policy just like any other fund-raiser,” Director of Annual Giv-ing and Constituent Relations Laura Lang said.

“People are good intentioned, but they need to know that they need to operate within the big picture. The guidelines and poli-cies are intended to coordinate all

fundraisers within the school and to make sure that everything is on the up and up, that everyone is following IRS [Internal Revenue Service] policy in regards to their fundraisers,” Lang said.

“At first, JC wasn’t going to be associated with [Shooting San-tas], but now they’re back sup-porting us,” senior co-captain Mackenzie Reese said.

Senior co-captain Sam Clarke is loyal to the program and how the basketball team is involved.

“With all the money we shop at Target and deliver the gifts we buy to families,” Clarke said.

Clarke has delivered to fami-lies in need through the program, but one visit stands out to her the most. “One family was living in the Red Roof Hotel. They had five kids and [one of the kids] had just had his bike stolen, so we got him a new one. It was sad to see all the kids living in the hotel in one room, but it felt really good to be able to help them.”

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sports15 thepatriot December 2012

Junior William Du splashes through the water during swim practice, working hard for the up-coming swim meet. Du isn’t just an athlete on the men’s swim team though, he’s swimming halfway across the world from his home.

He is one of the many interna-tional athletes who participate in sports.

On the swimming team, there are two international students, Du and freshman Rucheng Zhou. They are both starting their com-petitive swimming career this year, at JC.

According to swim coach Lar-ry Dukes, “they both don’t have

much experience in competitive swimming, but they are working hard.”

International students also play on the basketball team. Accord-ing to men’s varsity basketball coach Tony Martin, senior Mike Owona, senior Christian Owo-na, and junior Lionel Owona, sophomore Kimbal Mackenzie, sophomore Malik Tyne, sopho-more Elijah Long, freshman Mi-chael Tertsea, sophomore Mateus Maccieri, junior Rasheed Gillis, freshman Trystan Pratapas, and freshman Isaac Bassey are all in-ternational students in men’s bas-ketball program.

According to Martin, these students’ homelands vary across

continents. “We have student ath-letes in our program from Cam-eroon, Canada, Italy, and Nigeria currently. We have also had stu-dent athletes in our program from Croatia and Poland,” Martin said.

As of now, there has been no new information about addition-al international student athletes coming to the athletic program.

According to Martin, the stu-dents currently on the team “are doing tremendously well. First and foremost, they are high char-acter young men that have adapt-ed well into our school commu-nity and been very well received. They are doing well in the class-room, socially, and on the court.”

In women’s basketball, there is

only one international student in the program, junior Marta Moix. Moix lived in Madrid and Spain, and moved to the United States on Aug. 19.

Moix plays guard as a varsity starter.

“Basketball in America is more physical, but in Spain it is more technical,” Moix said.

“Hopefully I can stay next year too, and maybe even go to college in America,” Moix said.

She had previously planned on staying only her junior year.

“My favorite thing about American basketball is the im-portance people give to it,” Moix said.

Sophomore Steven Dierks-

meier played JV soccer in the fall and runs JV indoor track during the winter. “I joined indoor track to get in shape for soccer,” Dier-ksmeier said.

Prior to living in America, Di-erksmeier lived in Germany.

“People do run track in Ger-many, but it isn’t as popular as soccer,” Dierksmeier said.

In track, Dierksmeier runs the 4 by 800 meter relay, during the fall, Dierksmeier played on the JV soccer team as center mid-fielder position.

The rivalries between his home country and America aren’t far from Dierksmeier’s mind, as he still thinks “Germans are better at soccer than Americans are.”

Foreign students travel to JC for sports

Athlete Spotlight:

CJ SkokowskiStatsGrade: Sophomore

Featured Sport: Wrestling

Weight Class:113 pounds

Record*: 25-0 JV

18-7 Varsity

Accomplishments: Winning state championships in eighth grade

Years Wrestling: 10

Photo courtesy of CJ Skokowski

Sophomore CJ Skokowski wrestles for his Phoenix wrestling club team outside of JC. Skokowski has wrestled in the 113 pound weight group, but also wrestles in the 106 pound group.

Sports: Varsity women’s basketball,JV women’s Cross Country“Basketball in America is more

physical, but in Spain it is more

technical.”

Meredith Haggerty, Haley KygerIn-Depth Editor, Sports Editor

“[Skokowski] is one of those kids who will do anything you ask him

to do. He is one of the hardest workers

Wrestling coach Keith Watson

”

“

I like wrestling because it is hard

and challenging and it builds character Sophomore CJ Skokowski

”

“

Sports: Varsity men’s basketball“In America, you are taught more

about basketball and in Cameroon you

have to play on a club team.”

Madrid, Spain

Braunschweig, Germany

Yaounde, Cameroon

Marta Moix

Sports: Men’s JV indoor track, JV men’s soccer“I think Germans are better at

soccer than Americans are.”

Steven Dierksmeier

Lionel Owona

* Skokowski’s record from the 2011-2012 season

sports 16thepatriot December 2012

Cole AlbanManaging Editor

Qualifying height for D1 NCAA men’s pole vault

Qualifying height for MIAA men’s pole vault

11’6”Personal best for Markley in pole vault

Senior Kiana Wright stares down the lane as her palms get sweaty. She takes off at full speed and sprints at the pit. She reaches the end of the lane and leaps off the ground, soar-ing over the pit of sand. She sees the sand pit rush by under her and she comes crashing back down at 17 feet, setting a new personal record for the long jump.

Wright is one of the field athletes on the women’s indoor track team. Field events con-sist of high jump, long jump, triple jump, pole vault, and shot put.

“I started field events because I wanted to try something new … I prefer field events over running,” Wright said.

Wright is also taking long jump past her high school sports career by attending Lehigh University located in Pennsylvania for track

and field. Freshman Holly Driver, who is a high

jumper, started because “my sister high jumps and I like jumping.” Driver prefers running to field events. “The hardest part of learning to high jump is knowing everyone is watching and not wanting to mess up in front of all the people,” Driver said.

The field athletes do not practice until they are done running for the day. They stay af-ter practice for about 30 minutes every day to practice in their event. According to track coach Rob Torres, “We practice the forms and the jumps in the beginning [of the season] and then go on to hitting the qualifying marks.”

Senior Austin Markley is also going to col-lege for track. “He is good enough to compete in college and the plan is for him to compete in decathlons,” Torres said. Markley is going to Utah State. Markley also pole vaults and

high jumps. Markley began pole vaulting in the beginning of his sophomore year.

“I was glad to be able to hit 9 feet back then,” Markley said. “About this time last year I got as good as I am now.” Markley also had to overcome his fear to get to this level. “You have to have no fear to pole vault … [class of ’12] Heather Kirwan, taught me most of what I know and gave me confidence,” Markley said.

According to Torres,many of the better field athletes graduated last year but there are a lot of new athletes trying out the events. With the new athletes and other returning ones such as Markley, Wright, and senior Rebecca Driver there are still competitors. “[Rebecca Driver] is always one of the top scorers and gets us a lot of points,” Torres said. “[Wright] is one of the best in the league and she and [Markley] are both awesome.”

Photo by Cole Alban

Senior Austin Markley competes in pole vault at Loyola Blakefield. Markley’s personal bests are 11 feet and 6 inches in men’s pole vault and 5 feet and 6 inches in high jump

18’6”

8’6”

Soaringtoward successThe Patriot takes a look at men’s and women’s track and field athletes who run, jump, and throw

20’

0’

10’

Raising the Bar

Field events explainedHigh jump: Athletes run up to the high jump bar and attempt to get over by jumping over it completely parallel to the bar

Pole Vault: Athletes run up to a high bar and attempt to jump over it using a pole for leverage

Long jump: Athletes sprint towards a pit and try to jump as far as possible over it

Triple jump: Athletes sprint towards the pit and jump three times before going over it

Shot put: Athletes throw a weighted metal ball as far as they can

Photo by Cole Alban