Warriorthe36th Year, Issue No.4

300 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Sandy Spring, MD 20860

Inside: News: 1-3, Rock ‘n’ Roll: 4-5, Features: 6-8, Humor: 9, Spotlight: 10-11, Opinions: 12-15, Wondering Warrior: 16, Entertainment: 17-18, Sports: 19-20

March 7, 2014

Sherwood High School

Rock ‘n’ Roll Train Stops at Erztman Station

www.thewarrioronline.com

Grade Inflation Trend Persists in High Schools High school grades, partic-ularly GPAs, have long been an important aspect of the college admissions process; however, as a steady trend of increasing-ly higher grades among students continues, speculation rises as to whether these grades are truly an accurate indication of a student’s knowledge. Grade inflation, or receiv-ing higher grades for work that has remained at a constant level of rigor, is an increasingly sig-nificant problem in high schoolsnationwide. While many teachers agree that this trend occurs at Sher-wood, there are vari-ous explanations as to the cause of the problem.

“Homework completion is, by default, grade inflation,” com-mented social studies teacher Beth Shevitz. “Giving students points for simply completing an assignment is automatically boosting their grades.” Accord-ing to MCPS policy, 10 percent of a student’s overall grade must come from completion assign-ments where students are awarded points based not on achievement or comprehension of a concept, but on whether they completed the homework assignment. Social studies resource teacher Christine McKeldin

agrees that see GRADE, pg. 3

News Reports on Heroin Raise Concern About Use Among Teensby Michael Crooks ‘14

On February 2, Oscar-win-ning actor Phillip Seymour Hoff-man was found dead in his Man-hattan apartment with a needle in his left arm. The 46-year-old died of a heroin overdose. Seven monthsearlier,“Glee”actorCoryMonteith died due to a combined drug intoxication of heroin and alcohol. Cases such as these have led many people to associate her-oin abuse with celebrities. How-ever, the media is increasingly reporting that heroin is also a problem among young people in local areas. In Virginia, 16-year-old Mc-Lean High School student Emyl-ee Lonczak died on August 21 af-tertakingheroinforthefirsttime

in a car with a couple of friends. Her friends carried her body to one of their homes and eventu-ally dragged it outside near some shrubs where police found it two days later. A few months later, 20-year-old Kyle Alifom plead-ed guilty to tampering with evi-dence, admitting that he tried to hide Lonczak’s body. Over the past couple of months, news has come out suggesting teenagers are using heroin in Montgomery County, specifically in Damascus. Route27, an interstate that runs through Damascus, has been deemed bymany as a “heroin highway.”RobertHellmuth,directorof theMCPS Department of SchoolSafety and Security, notes that heroin in the county has in-

creased,butisconfidentthatitisnot an issue in schools. “I know the police depart-ment has spoken of an increase of heroin use in the county and specificallymentionedintheDa-mascus area. We have not seen any heroin or indications of hero-inuseinanyofourschools,”saidHellmuth. “Our security staff is vigilant of any kind of drug pos-session or use and the school dis-trict has programs in place to help drugusers.” Unfortunately, MCPS no lon-ger has the Safe and Drug FreeSchools Program, which, accord-ing toDougSteel, supervisor oftheDepartmentofSchoolSafetyand Security, was “probably the best source of information with-in the school system to talk about

drug abuse issues [with students andstaff].” Though heroin use and pos-session at schools may not be an issue, there are reports that it is a problem among high school stu-dents. In aNews4 storybyDar-cy Spencer about heroin use in Montgomery County, 22-year-old Damascus graduateMary Evanssaid that in her high school expe-rience, heroin “really penetrated every clique from the cheerlead-ers to the football players and then the goth kids.” Evans add-ed that she felt that heroin use in Montgomery County was at “epic levels.”However,oneDamascusstudent thinks that things have changed for the better since Ev-ans graduated. “A whole new class has gone

through and graduated and things are not like they used to be ... As a senior at Damascus HighSchool I can say it’s not perfect but students do not bring drugs to school very often and they are notnearlyaspopular,”saidNich-olas Westervelt in a comment on Spencer’s article. Others agree fully with Ev-ans’ evaluation of the situation, like Lindsey Mathis, who com-mented on the article online at the News4 website. “I know so many people in [Montgomery Coun-ty, Carroll County and Howard County] that use heroin and the terribly sad thing is, kids are go-ing to do whatever it is they want to do whether they are educated about the risk and consequences ornot.”

illustration by Mandy Stussman ‘14

by Steffani Carerra ‘14 completion assignments are an easy way to raise a grade that is notnecessarilyjustified.“Idon’tlike giving grades for completion because I often feel that when I do, I am rewarding students for what they’re supposed to be do-ing,”saidMcKeldin. Another possible explana-tion for higher grades is an un-intentional lack of awareness in regard to assignments’ point values. “Teachers may not be applying point values that correlate with purpose. For

pon di cocky

pg. 4-5

The Warrior•NewsMarch 7, 20142

NEWSin brief

As a result of malfunctions with the heater in the studio art roomG135,floodingandsteamrecentlycreptinthroughtheclass-room, causing inconveniences for many students and teachers alike. Studio art classes were forced to move into empty rooms lent by teachers with no class for the period. A few pieces of art were steamed and crinkled, and posters, teacher visuals, mat boards and furniture had to dry out. Many things were irreparable due to the extreme humidity from the steam. While the Studio Art 1 class was able to utilize photography teacherDebraBernhardt’sroomF130,withsuitingtablesandsuf-ficientspace,theStudioArt2and3classesweren’taslucky.Theywere loaned music teacher Alex Silverbook’s room E148, which providedlessspace.Despite themostrecentstruggle,everythingwasfixedandreturned.RoomG135wasprovidednewtilesandaheater. “I believe they handled it quite well. Mr. Allrich paid a vis-it to one of the classes extending his support and recognition that the students arebeingflexibleworkingunder less than adequateconditions,”saidartresourceteacherAngelaPraisner.“SomeAPstudents were a bit upset having to re-work and re-mat their pieces inpreparationsfortheAPExaminMay.”

Great Art Room Disasterby Helen Schmitt ‘15

Task Force To Address Cybercivilityby Stephen Luckey ‘15

After Superintendent Joshua Starr released an open letter to the public regarding a social media incident, MCPS has embarked on an effort to form a task force in which parents, students and adults will develop strategies to raise awareness of the need for cyberci-vility in MCPS online communication. With almost 200 volunteers, the group will have arranged gatherings once every month. The issue of cybercivility was prompted after a bitter cold morning lastDecemberwhen some students took toTwitter andattacked Starr with vulgar and threatening remarks for not cancel-ing school promptly.OnDecember 13, Starr sent out a letter tothe community condemning the tweets as offensive and disturbing. He also stated the need for a community-wide dialogue on how to teach students to be safe and civil online. The Cybercivility Task Force will guide the creation of tools that encourage conversations on the use of social media and other technologies. “The Cybercivility Task Force will be a critical re-source in our ongoing efforts to help our students understand how tousetechnologyandsocialmediaappropriately,”saidStarrinaMCPS press release. “This work isn’t easy, but it is my hope that we can help school communities and families talk about how to use socialmediainpositiveandproductiveways.”

MCPS Increases BRT Transportation Funding

by Joohyun Kim ‘14

Last month, $15 billion was made available for transportation due to Maryland’s gas tax increase. This 52-percent increase from last year is the highest funding increase the state has received for decades. The transit plan is expected to receive most of the funding. The project contains funding for eight more car trains on the RedLine,andfundingforthreeofthecounty’sproposedBusRap-idTransit(BRT)linesalongGeorgiaAvenue,Route29andVeirsMillRoad.ThepurposeofbuildingaBRTlineistointegratebusways to provide lower costs and time saving transportation. BoththesupportersandopponentsofthisplanagreethatBRTlines won’t solve all of MCPS’ transportation issues, but it will help the county’s 500,000 workers who need better transportation.

Sherwood Alumna Interns at Olympicsby Michael Natelli ‘14

For many newscasters (spe-cifically, sportscasters) aroundthe world, covering the Olym-pics is considered the pinnacle of their journalistic career. While she’s not quite there yet, aspiring newscaster and Sherwood gradu-ateAbbyIsaacs(‘12)didhaveagold medal-worthy experience at the 2014 Winter Games interning with NBC. Now a sophomore at Syracuse University, Isaacs is studying as a broadcast/digital journalism and political science dual major. Every two years, NBC runs an internship program (largely through Syracuse) that allowscollege students to intern at either the Summer or Winter Games, and after she was accepted into the program, Isaacs found her-self inSochi,Russia as anNBCOlympic guide at the Sochi Win-ter Olympics. As a guide, Isaacs assisted tourists with getting on and off buses, in and out of hotels and venues, and answering tour-ists’ questions about events and athletes. “[I met] so many amazing andtalentedpeople,”saidIsaacs.The former Warrior newspaper staffer and host of the Sherwood morning show “Warrior Wake-Up”saidshehopestohostashowlike “Good Morning America”in the future, and had a brush with fame when she met with re-nowned newscaster Matt Lauer. Isaacs also had the chance to meet several Olympic stars like former figure skater KristieYamaguchi, current figure skat-ers Meryl Davis, Charlie Whiteand Gracie Gold, and Team USA Hockey stars Zach Parise, Pat-rick Kane and Jonathan Quick.

Additionally, Isaacs attended the Opening Ceremonies and sev-en different events. “My favor-ite parts would [have] to be the Opening Ceremonies, getting a tour of Olympic Park and meet-ingsomanypeople,”statedIsaa-cs. While much was made in the media about questionable hos-pitality conditions for athletes and reporters, Isaacs wasn’t too inconvenienced. “The only issue was that the water was undrink-able and you had to let the water in the shower run for a few sec-ondsbeforeusingit,”Isaacssaid.“I didn’t have any bad experienc-es as far as housing. I stayed in

theHelioparkinRosaKhutor,bythe mountain cluster. The facil-ities were great, [and had] good food.” Now that the Olympics are over, Isaacs will be spending the rest of her semester studying abroad in London, but is making sure to visit sites before classes start in March. “NBC takes a lot of applicants from Syracuse Uni-versity so [Syracuse] … made a special study abroad program [in London] for us so that we could intern in Sochi and then take classes,” said Isaacs. “StartingMarch 2, I’m taking four classes. Until then, I’m traveling around Europe.”

Sherwood graduate Abby Isaacs (right) poses with snowboarder Jamie Anderson who won a gold medal in Women’s Slopestyle Event.

photo courtesy of Abby Isaacs

MCPS has begun examin-ing the results of a study that in-volved 400 math teachers across Montgomery County in regard to the high failure rates on county-wideexamsforthelastfiveyears,according to the Washington Post. The teachers involved in the study shared their opinions and any suggestions they had about the alarming numbers of students failingtheirmathfinals. “The exam should count for more than what it counts now to-wards the semester grade so that there is more at stake. That would drive the students to work hard-er and aim well for the exam,”said math resource teacher Sapna Chaudhry, who participated in the study. Honors Geometry and Alge-bra1teacherDelorisMartinalsoprovided input to the study and identified multiple factors thatmay have caused the startling failure rates. Martin cited the lack of basic skills, motivation and re-sponsibility of some students, as well as inadequate support out-side the classroom and the fact that students may be pushed too

quickly for classes they are not ready for. “There is no one solu-tionorfix to theproblem,”con-cluded Martin. A common issue that Chaudhry, Martin and fellow math teacher Randy Thompsonhave noticed is student apathy. The MCPS exam grading sys-tem is public and known to many students. Therefore, they are able tocalculate thefinalexamgradethey need to pass the class ahead of time and consequently base their study time off of that. Re-portedly, more than half of 600 students in a survey admitted to studying for an hour or less for their midterm. “Students who are not in dan-ger of failing the semester [some-times] think ‘I don’t have to pass thetesttopasstheclass,’”statedThompson. “You can’t fix apa-thy.” Other possibilities for the high failure rates include the curriculum and overall exam preparation. Questions have been raised as to whether or not the exam should be made more about math and less about reading, or whether the exam should be made easier.

“The language used with some of the problems on the fi-nal exam has proven to be chal-lengingforstudents,”saidMartinwhile specifically noting ESOLstudents. However, Chaudhry said she doesn’t understand how math and reading can be separat-ed. All three math teachers re-mained firm that the math ex-ams should not be made easier and agreed that students do have enough time to prepare for ex-ams. “The math department does a great job with offering students various opportunities to prepare forfinalexams.[However],manystudents are not taking advantage ofthoseopportunities,”saidMar-tin. The high percentage of fail-uresfirstbecameamajorconcernin MCPS after the Washington Post and other local newspapers began reporting on the topic last spring. Other subjects largely have escaped such scrutiny.“I don’t think [the problem] is only in math. Look at science, history and English, and compare. Math may be higher than the others, but the failing numbers are up in all subjects,”Thompsonsaid.

Math Teachers Analyze High Failure Ratesby Ketki Chauhan ‘16

The Warrior•NewsMarch 7, 2014 3

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MCPS Pilots Innovative Equipment

Inmid-Decemberoflastyear,lamps were installed in Business Education teacher Pamela John-son’s computer classroom by science teacher Jill Coutts and her Green Team to promote en-ergyefficiencyatSherwood.Thelamps use 85 percent less electric-ity than theoverheadfluorescentlighting, according to School En-ergyandRecyclingTeam(SERT)FacilitatorJimStufft.SERTpro-grams have helped MCPS save 12 percent over their energy base-line year this past fall quarter, ac-cording to Stufft. SERT first contacted Busi-ness Administrator Brenda Hoyle about the energy-efficient lampsin September of 2013. While “the lamps are no different than house-hold lamps,” said Hoyle, theSERT office provides the lampsfor free to Sherwood and only asks for the school to purchase the 23-watt CFL light bulbs. The lamps have received positive reviews from students as they are not as harsh as the ceil-ing lights. “The lamps are perfect for computer labs because they provided a soft indirect ambient light,”saidStufft. “I was apprehensive about students ‘playing around’ with them by constantly turning them off and on, but thankfully they don’t touch them at all,” saidJohnson. “[The lamps] are not a distraction in the classroom.”Johnson also stated that there is enough lighting for students to see the board and take notes. Although Johnson generally likes the lamps and has noticed that the students are calmer than last semester, the only drawback she is experiencing is having to turn each lamp on and off indi-vidually every morning and after-noon. Although a tedious process, Johnson says it’s worth it. Stufft hopes that more schools take advantage of the lamps for energy efficiency.While theenergy-efficient lampsare an optimistic step for SERT

in conserving energy, they plan to further save energy by looking into cutting-edge technologies likeLEDlighting.

New student desks have been putintothe“LittleTheatre,”roomG-238, this semester to be used as test subjects for a new standard desk around the county. The new desks,called“Zuma”styledesks,are more comfortable, durable and aesthetically pleasing than the older desks. The new desks have separate chairs rather than the traditional attached chairs. “The [new] desks are more agronomical,” saidBusinessAd-ministrator Brenda Hoyle. “Cen-tral office is providing a class-room set of the new style Zuma student desks and chairs to each school that currently does not havethenewstylestudentdesks.” Student and teacher reactions thus far have been very positive towards the new desks. “I love them, the students love them. In fact,thefirstdaytheywereintheroom, I could not get the students started on their warm-up as they

tested out all the new postures they could maneuver in the spa-cious desks,” said language re-source teacher John Falls. “I like the new desks because they are larger and I can move them around more,” said soph-omore Nolan Naik, a student in Falls’ class. “The fact that the chair is separate from the desk is nice, because it allows me to movearoundabit.” Newer schools, like Paint Branch, have had all their desks replaced with the new Zuma desks, according to Hoyle. She additionally said that MCPS is planning on making Zuma desks the “new standard.” If MCPScentral office ultimately decideson making these new Zuma desks standard, all classrooms, except those with tables instead of desks, will have them. Though a time frame for when the replacement will take place has not been an-nounced, it is likely to happen within the next few years. “My only concern is that they may not fit into a smaller class-room,”saidFrench teacherAmyGahagen.

Causes of Grade Inflation Prompt Serious Discussionfrom GRADE, pg. 1example, a take-home test may have the same point value as a test taken in class, even though theycarrydifferentweights,”ex-plained McKeldin. Others feel the rise in grades can be attributed to the high num-ber of assignments graded per quarter. “There are so many for-mative grades that in some class-es it ends up making each [forma-tive]assignmentlesssignificant,”explained English resource teach-er Shelley Jackson. “A student is able to receive very poor grades on a couple of formative assign-mentswithoutithavingasignifi-cant impact on his or her grade. If we had fewer grades per quarter, I think the overall grade would be amoreaccurate reflectionof thestudent’sknowledge.” Despite the different theo-riesabout thecauseof the infla-tion, all can agree that this trend exists atSherwood.Data for thefirstsemesterinthecoresubjectsof math and English indicate a higher than expected percentage of students receiving As and Bs. Thesemesterfinalgradeservesasthe best representation of overall student performance in a partic-ular class as it encompasses both marking period grades as well as the semester final exam.Thisyear,18.9percentofEnglishstu-dentsreceivedanAfortheirfinalsemester grade, 43.7 percent re-ceived a B, 26.3 percent received aC,9.3percentreceivedaD,and1.8 percent failed the semester. The grade breakdown for math classesissimilar:19.0percentofstudents received an A, 30.2 per-cent received a B, 31.7 percent re-ceived a C, 14.4 percent received aD,and4.7percentfailed. The grade distribution toward high grades is just as pronounced in honors and AP classes, where it is common for roughly half of students to receive an A or B for their semester final grade.In some classes, the percentage

Energy-saving lamps provide ambient lighting in computer lab A109.

Energy-Efficient Lamps

Stand-Alone Desks

Haley Whitt ‘15

- Catherine Jou ‘15

- Connor Loughran ‘15

of high grades can approach 75 percent. Of the 314 students who take AP Language and AP Litera-ture, for example, 23.6 percent re-ceivedanAforthefirstsemesterand 51.3 percent received a B. Such a high percentage of As and Bs stands in stark contrast to the method of grading on a curve, in which assigning grades is de-signed to yield a pre-determined distribution of grades among the students in a class. This method is based on the belief that a grade of C truly represents the “average”for the class. Therefore, approx-imately 70 percent of the students shouldgetaC,withasfewasfivepercent of students receiving an A in the class. “The problem is Cs and Bs used to be okay, but now, be-cause we know the way people from the outside will be viewing it … we’re more reluctant to give out Cs … We know what kind of work it is but a college is going to lookatitasbelowaverage,”saidscience teacher Mary Baker. While grade inflation mayseem beneficial for students, itactually results in lasting nega-tive consequences. As more stu-dents receive higher grades, the grade distribution grows more crowded at the top, leading many school systems, such as MCPS, to refrain from releasing class rank. Withholding this informa-tion makes it harder for a college to find meaningful distinctionsbetween applicants, which is det-rimental to a student’s chances of getting in. As grades become less reli-able, the emphasis on standard-ized testing increases as it is a form in which all students are judged by the same criteria. Ad-ditionally, any schools without grade inflation are penalizingtheir students by giving them lower grades in comparison to students at other schools even though the students may be per-forming at the same level, or an even higher one.

The Warrior•Rock ‘n’ RollMarch 7, 20144

After having worked closely with music teachers Bill Evans and Alex Silverbook during his teaching internship back in 2008, Michael Maddox is thrilled to be back at Sherwood working as a full-time music teacher. While in-terning, Maddox helped out with the chambers singers, electronic music classes and the jazz class-es. “Mr. Evans and I got along really well while I was student teaching, so it’s been a while hop-ing to teach here and now I finally am,” said Maddox. Currently, he teaches piano, guitar, women’s choir, jazz choir, AP Music The-ory, and sponsors the acapella group that meets every Wednes-day during lunch. With lots of experience gained from teaching different types of music classes at his pre-vious two teaching jobs, Maddox was ready to come back to Sher-wood. This also meant he would become a major contributor to Sherwood’s biggest production, Rock ‘n’ Roll. “I saw the show in 2009 and I saw it last year, so I know how huge and awesome it is, but being a part of it … it’s been interesting to see exactly how it’s all put to-gether and what the scheduling’s like,” Maddox explained. From the moment rehears-als began back in January to the last dress rehearsal Wednesday, Maddox has been very dedicat-ed to his specific role in bring-ing the show to the stage. “I’m in charge of vocal backgrounds.

I’ve spent many hours of the last few month[s] transcribing harmo-nies off of the recordings so that I can teach them to the background vocalists,” he said. Maddox will continue to help with harmonies throughout the two weeks of per-formances which begin March 7. Maddox has enjoyed working with Evans, Silverbook and all the students in the cast of Rock n’ Roll and it means a lot to him to be a part of such a great show. So far, this music teaching job has kept Maddox very busy, but having students who really care about music has definitely made it worth all the time and hard work. “Kids at Sherwood are extremely talented. They’re dedicated, polite, friendly and enthusiastic. I love working with them,” he explained. However, Maddox’s respect and positive attitude towards his students is reciprocal. “He’s in-credibly attentive and infinitely patient with his students … has a great sense of humor … laid-back but very educational … down to earth and really connects with his students and cares about them,” said junior Nicole Lado, a student in his women’s choir and guitar class. Having this strong connec-tion with the music students and music teachers alike will help him carry through what will hopefully be many more years working here at Sherwood. He and Silverbook will continue the long tradition of putting on Rock ‘n’ Roll each year as Evans prepares to retire in the coming years.

Audio Upgrade Brings Better Sound

by Ashley Nnabue ‘16

For the past 43 years, thou-sands of people wait in anticipa-tion for Sherwood’s annual Rock ‘n’ Roll. While singers, dancers and band members often dom-inate the spotlight, none of the music would be possible without a quality sound system. This year, the school’s music department spent more than $80,000 updat-ing the system, including a brand new power system, front house speakers, stage monitors and sub-woofers. “The new speakers are posi-tioned in a more logical way. The sound will be more consistent throughout the Ertzman,” said Paul Betances, an audio engineer for the show. “As a result, a high-er percentage of seats will get a clearer sound.” The new speakers are arranged in a vertical line ar-ray, a speaker-stacking technique that allows for sound to travel evenly throughout the theater. In addition to an updated sound system, Sherwood installed brand new electronics for system man-agement processing. The system now can be controlled by a com-puter and will be able to process effects such as reverb and delay more efficiently. “We’re all ex-tremely excited to see the new sound system in action,” said Betances.

by Lucy Hurlbut ‘14

by Dean Emerson ‘14

Young Soloists Earn Chance to Shine

Maddox’s Dedication forRock ‘n’ Roll Has Begun

Music teacher Maddox helps backup vocalists in Rock ‘n’ Roll prepare for opening night of the annual show.

Audio Engineering Terms (for Dummies):

Front House Speakers- loud speakers placed in the front of the stage and perform-ers used to amplify sound to the audience.

Stage monitors- speakers placed on stage to

amplify sound to performers, allowing them to

hear other instruments and vocals.

Subwoofers- a type of speaker used to reproduce low frequency sound, giving more strength to the bass frequencies.

Vertical Line Array- a speaker stacking tech-

nique used to project audio throughout an

audience by stacking several speakers point-

ed at different angles to ensure that sound

travels in all directions.

Reverb- an effect placed on an audio track that creates an random echo-like ef-fect, slowly decaying over time.

Delay- similar to reverb, except echoes

occur in distinct repetitions (also know

as echo).

Rock ‘n’ Roll is a big deal in the Sherwood community. A real-ly big deal. For six performances over two weekends, audiences will fill the Ertzman Theatre to witness the forty-third year of a Sherwood tradition. More than 200 students au-ditioned to score a spot on the cast this year. The long process of creating a show requires strong vocalists for the lead roles. The number of underclassmen ready for the slot as a soloist is very limited and selective. “I was so shocked [to get a leading singing role] that I start-ed jumping all over the place and people started to look at me, but I did not care. I was so happy that I got a group, especially with two of my best friends,” said sopho-more Meredith McDonald. Along with McDonald, 11 other underclassmen, two of which are boys, were honored with the great opportunity of be-ing a soloist. Sophomores Sonia Anger and Amelia Agranovich also were both surprised after learning that they were given solo performanc-es in Rock ‘n’ Roll. “I was com-pletely taken by surprise when I found out I did … I couldn’t be-lieve that I got a solo or a group,” said Agranovich. All three girls participate in outside voice lessons; howev-er, that did not stop them from joining music classes in school as well. “I am currently in show choir … [it] is tons of fun and

also pretty chill,” said McDonald. Show Choir is one of the various music classes taught by Bill Ev-ans, who is the Rock ‘n’ Roll di-rector. It is one thing to be a part of such a wonderful, exciting pro-duction, but there is also a lot competition, Anger remarked. During auditions, everyone is on his or her own and the pressure to do well can be intense. Once the roles are cast, performers must learn their songs. This is when the newbies must first prove them-selves to the other students par-ticipating in the show, especially those who were eager to obtain a lead role. However, everyone is very supportive of all performers in order to boost their confidence when singing in front of others. “I definitely do get stage fright; it is actually a little em-barrassing … my hand [starts] to shake uncontrollably,” said Mc-Donald. All singers struggle to keep

their cool, whether it is in front of a friend or thousands of peo-ple. For first-time Rock ‘n’ Roll soloists such as Agranovich, this is her first big production, but she has participated in other singing shows as a child. “It’s always the first time that’s the worst. My mind goes blank except for the words of the song. But after that, I’m not really scared anymore,” said Agranovich. This is not Anger’s first pro-duction; she participated in Rock ‘n’ Roll last year as well as in school musicals. Even with ex-perience, “I am terrified to go on stage. I always worry about mess-ing up, doing badly, and disap-pointing everyone,” she admitted. Whether an underclassmen or a senior, each performer solo-ing in Rock ‘n’ Roll must over-come the pressure and nerves of singing in front of thousands. The first-time soloists are eagerly determined to break out of their shell and expose their musical talent.

Annie Feinroth ‘15

Jack Armstrong ‘15

Sophomores Sara Cassereto, Grace Kennedy, and Amelia Agranovich rehearse “I Love You So” in preparation for opening night on March 7, 2014.

The Warrior•Rock ‘n’ RollMarch 7, 2014 5

Rock ‘n’ Roll Train Set a Rollin’, All Aboardby Marie Moeller ‘15

One of the most pivotal as-pects of any stage production is the set. With the ability to ar-ticulate a mood and atmosphere that engages the audience as well as portrays the show as a whole, Courtney Miller Bellairs, the set designer and painting crew direc-tor, faced the challenge of making a creative and thoughtful set that revealed this year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll theme: Friendship Train. Bellairs, who is a 1987 Sher-wood student and former Rock ‘n’ Roll dancer and vocalist, combined her skills as an ar-chitect and artist in her second year of designing Rock ‘n’ Roll sets. Bellairs sought to adapt the song, “Friendship Train” by Gladys Night and the Pips, the basis of the theme, into a visual representation through its lyrics. “The song is about peace, justice, love, getting along. How do you draw that?” Bellairs asked herself in the early stages of generating ideas for the set. For the answer, Bellairs consulted a vintage book of 70s patterns and designs that inspired most of the artwork seen on stage.

Much of the infrastructure of the set has remained the same, once again including vertical flats and the same riser layout. How-ever, an innovative design in ad-dition to a couple special features have helped pull the piece togeth-er for an entirely new and unique look.

60s 70s 80s

Rock ‘n’ Roll Fashion Through the Ages Costume selections are a major part of preparations for Rock ‘n’ Roll. Each year, stu-dents hand-pick costumes that fit the time period of their songs. Because performers strive to find costumes that look authentic to their songs’ era, it can be a challenge to put together an original outfit for the nearly 50 songs. “The most significant problem this year is the number of 80s songs in the songlist. We are running out of basic ideas from that era, and we

do not like to repeat looks,” said Costume Direc-tor Jeanne Laeng. Though each year presents its own chal-lenge, the overall process has improved with the help of the internet. “The costumes have improved by leaps and bounds in recent years,” Laeng said, “YouTube has become an invaluable tool as we can actually view exactly what the artist and the style of clothing was during an actual release of the song.”

“It is as if you are looking out a big window to see a train just outside,” explained Bellairs. “The middle of the set is a series of ‘over the top’ 70s living rooms. You are in the living rooms with your friends hangin’ out or in a night club with this luxurious ‘crazy’ wallpaper and you look

out your window to see the train going by … The designs of the wallpaper mimic a tunnel on the left and indicate that the train is traveling into nature on the right.” The train, a more abstract version of a retro trolley, rests be-hind the highest platform where backup vocalists sing. A light

box underneath brings the train to life, presenting the illusion of a train either speeding through the station or merely floating on the platform. The retro, psychedelic color scheme and patterns featured on the vertical flats extend onto the platforms. Two of the vertical flats stand in front of the curtains which depict 70s-inspired faces in black and white with a bold pop of color, juxtaposing with the rest of the set while still provid-ing an inquisitive piece to draw upon before the curtains open to reveal the “crazy and fun” set. While there were plans to paint the stage with this year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll logo of a colorful peace sign, this was not possible due to time constraints. “I like giving people some-thing they have to think a little about … They may not under-stand the ‘big window idea’ but I think they will enjoy the playful-ness of the living rooms and col-or schemes in any case,” shared Bellairs. “The whole thing needs to work together to inspire and to make an environment right for the performers and the music being represented.”

Courtney Miller Bellairs works on the vertical panels (top left) with the help of volunteer Theresa Mezebish (bottom right). The set features crazy wallpaper designs (bottom left) and the Friendship Train (top right).

Bridget Cook‘ 14Bridget Cook ‘14

Bridget Cook ‘14

Danny Santiago ‘16 “Cream Puff War” (1967)

Meredith McDonald ‘16 “Shoo Rah Shoo Rah” (1974)

Jada Jordan ‘16 “Head Over Heals” (1985)

The Warrior•FeaturesMarch 7, 20146

by Samantha Schwartz ‘14

Even if you do not know Dino personally, you’ve heard of him. How could you not? Senior Dino Zagami is known for his many talents and leadership roles. He is SGA president, MC at pep rallies and that voice heard over the PA system with a special an-nouncement as 2:10 nears. He is a driving force behind the school yearbook, making a lot of deter-minations of what memories of the school year will be recorded for posterity. He even finds the energy to run on the track team on top of his many other responsi-bilities. The Warrior takes a look into a typical day in the life of Za-gami. 7:20-10:53: Morning classes

consist of two periods in year-book, one in AP BC Calculus, and a period of SGA full of planning and prep. “A lot of people think SGA is a super chill class where we do nothing … but most days we are working really hard to make events like pep rallies and Mr. Sherwood happen. There is a lot of work behind the scenes that most people don’t understand,” Zagami explained. He spends lunch catching up on homework or following up on SGA responsibilities. Many days he finds himself back in the yearbook office. “I, along with [fellow Editors-in-Chief] Melis-sa Zamora, Colleen O’Neill and Kristen Lauda, take the yearbook from ideas in June to a physi-cal book in May. The amount of

work that goes into the yearbook is enormous,” said Zagami. 11:36-2:10: Afternoon class-es are a continuation of his de-manding workload; AP Psycholo-gy, AP English Literature, and AP Environmental Science. 2:30-3:30: Now that school is over, the work still isn’t. An hour is now spent coaching the bocce ball team that finished its season with a 2-3 record. “I first got in-volved in bocce ball when Mrs. McKeldin asked me to help out back in sophomore year … I ab-solutely fell in love with the cor-ollary program, made some great

friends, and the rest is history,” said Zagami. 3:30-5:00: No rest for the weary; Zagami participates in a strenuous workout running track. He runs distance and has par-ticipated in track his entire high school career. 5:30-7:30: Zagami concludes the day spending two hours at his paid job of tutoring kindergarten-ers through twelfth graders. “Two days a week I run a program called ‘Drop In’ and another day I do private tutoring in math. ‘Drop In’ is homework help on any sub-ject,” explained Zagami.

8:00-12:00/1:00: This time is spent getting ready for the next day with homework and studying before eventually passing out. Zagami is a role model for how to squeeze the most out of one’s time in high school “I’m crazy busy,” he said. “I think my only regret in high school is that I wish I could have spent more time with my friends. Hopefully, as a second semester senior I can do more fun and social things as the year winds down. But at the end of the day, I’m really satisfied with the choices I’ve made and love everything that I do.”

Zagami’s extracurriculars include being one of the four editor-in-chiefs of the yearbook (top left), a mem-ber of the school bocce ball team (bottom left) as well as the SGA president of the school (right).

Dino Zagamigraphic by Jack Armstrong ‘15

The Warrior•FeaturesMarch 7, 2014 7

Students Bring Smiles to Communityby Annie Feinroth ‘15

by Ankur Kayastha ‘15

Get into bed. Sleep, AKA blackout. Wake up. Go to school. This was my and other high school students’ sleeping routine every night before school. There is no doubt that high schoolers are on a delayed schedule and are completely sleep deprived, but we never knew how much until a new smartphone app hit the stores entitled “Sleep Cycle”. This new app was intro-duced to me and others through an AP Psychology class taught by Christine McKeldin. The psych class was immersed in an altered states of consciousness unit, where sleep was a major factor, and clearly a relevant topic of discussion. Many students added their two cents about the deprived sleeping patterns that most of them suffer from, indicating that they receive three to four hours of sleep each night, and they claim never ‘hitting deep sleep’. McK-eldin concluded by sharing an app that she had recently down-loaded that tracked her sleep prog-ress. “I down-loaded and checked out the app and found it in-teresting to see how my sleep patterns dif-fered on a nightly basis ... I always find it fascinating that we spend so much time thinking about and chasing sleeping while knowing little about it,” said McKeldin. To utilize the app, you must place the phone on the corner of the bed completely flat and lev-el. The app itself analyzes body movement and motion through the use of the phone’s acceler-ometer to determine the stage of sleep that you are in. The less movement occurring at a certain point of time within the sleep, the deeper sleep you are in. The app’s main purpose is an alarm feature, which allows you to set an interval time of waking up. Within this interval, the app will choose the point at which you are in your ‘lightest’ form of sleep, so that you can wake up without the grogginess or the crankiness. It provides you with sleep statistics including a time graph of the stag-es of your sleep, your sleep qual-

Trendy New App Tracks Student Sleeping Patterns

ity in a percentage, the amount of time spent sleeping (or laying in bed), and more. Not to mention, the app comes with some pretty nice and soothing alarms that are more appealing than the dreaded default one we all know and hate. Genius, right? But is it actu-ally practical, and does it actu-

ally work? I say yes to all three. In the informat-ics section of the app, it describes the stages of the sleep such as REM

(Rapid-Eye Movement) sleep and non-REM sleep. According to many critics, the app is legitimate as well. Clearly, the app is not 100-percent precise and accurate, but it is a cornerstone to an actual sleep analysis that would occur at sleep centers. It is as close as you can get with just a smartphone. The app is used by many, and it is improving with every update. Get this; it can supposedly even measure your heart rate. You do this as soon as you wake up by placing your finger on your cam-era and flash (the flash stays on), and it detects the color changes within your finger to predict your heartbeat. Legitimate? You be the judge. For right now, many stu-dents are buying in. “I look forward to going to bed, and turning on Sleep Cycle is the last thing I do. The first thing I wake up to is a sleep chart indi-cating that I get as much sleep as a sleep-deprived teenager. It’s not lying,” said junior Ali Waseem.

The Teen Angel Project (TAP), is a non-profit, charitable program that aims to bring joy to the community through mu-sic and dance. Consisting of 50 high school and middle school students, eight of whom attend Sherwood, they have performed more than 2,000 service hours in just one year. The group has performed for organizations such as Make A Wish Foundation and Autism Speaks, in addition to venues such as the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and local hospitals and nursing homes. TAP has musical directors, publicists, a board of parents and its own website, www.teenangel-project.com. “We do our best [to perform] for people who might not get [to see] performances [of this caliber],” said junior Sophie Mezebish, one of the Angels. In addition to Mezebish, the other Sherwood TAP members include juniors Gianna Bartolini, Will Goniprow, Rachel Hahn, Alex Hanson, Caitlin Romeo and se-nior Chase Frederick. Many of the students have been dancing, singing or perform-ing for years and are involved in school plays and Rock’n’Roll. Recently, a group of singers from TAP was featured on an episode of FOX 5 Morning News. “We could see ourselves on the moni-

tor … it was really cool to [repre-sent the mission],” Hahn said. The group is the work of Francesca Winch, founder of the organization, who was also fea-tured on the FOX 5 show. Winch visualized kids singing for people who wanted to hear them, but did not have the opportunity. The mix of high school, middle school and one elementary school student collectively bring joy and happi-ness to everyone they can. “I be-lieve in its mission … to go and perform for people who need to be cheered up,” said Hahn. The students in TAP get the opportunity to see first-hand what their performances can do for

people who rarely have anything to smile about. “We were able to put smiles on people’s faces that were sick and couldn’t leave and people’s families … were crying … it was nice to make people smile,” said Romeo. Romeo is excited about TAP’s next event on April 5 at the Olney Theatre. “We are going to be putting on an entire showcase … so other people can go and raise money for Best Buddies,” Romeo said. She explained how they have combined parts from past performances for this big performance in April. From what Romeo said, this performance will be huge.

(From left) Juniors Rachel Hahn, Alex Hanson, Sophie Mezebish and Gianna Bartolini are all Sherwood students who participate in TAP.

On February 21, Sherwood hosted its first international tele-conference through an organi-zation called Next Generation of Youth (NGY). The aim of the conference was to discuss the increasingly popular subjects of media literacy and cyber safety in the 21st century. Participants included students from Kenya, senator Donna Edwards, Host Producer Lauren Short, NICE Founder Steve Covey and Sher-wood students Yuna Oh, Sara Zarny, Vinnie Jackson, Hannah Engle, Dino Zagami, Jan Pas-ternak, Alexa Brenner, Ashleigh Daniels, Katie Murphy, Mary Macrae, Emily Lesho, Michael Sousane and event coordinator Nicolette Zillich. Zillich organized the telecon-ference through the Model United Nations Club in an effort to com-municate on a global scale about issues that are becoming more and more prevalent in the lives

of this generation. Though there were some slight technical diffi-culties in the beginning, the event ran smoothly and students were able to ask their own questions to experts in the field. “It’s really interesting to learn more about cyber security be-cause it’s a big part of our future,”

Sleep cycle data includes sleep quality and a movement graph.

commented senior Hannah Engle. “There is information not every students knows, like the different types of security threats and the differences between them.” Due to the success of this teleconference, club sponsor Ni-cole Glover hopes to host more of these events in the future.

Teleconference Links Students on Global Scaleby Steffani Carrera ‘14

Students attend presentation about cyber-safety and security that includes representatives and students from other countries.

“The first thing I wake up to is a sleep chart indicating that I get as much sleep as a sleep-deprived teenager. It’s not lying.” ~Junior Ali Waseem

Marie Moeller ‘15

Steffani Carrera ‘14

The Warrior•FeaturesMarch 7, 20148

Netflix Monopolizes American Television Watching The future of how people watch television as we know it is quickly approaching an impasse. Broadcast television and its orig-inal programming has been a mainstay in the common Ameri-can household for decades, but an opponent is coming which could rattle programming for the fu-ture. Netflix, a revolutionary web-site which streams around 2,000 different TV series, along with nearly 10,000 movies, has taken the television-watching world by storm since its streaming service’s emergence in 2011. The number of Netflix sub-scribers has grown considerably in the past three years. Audiences used to have to wait every week for their new favorite show to come on. Now, with a simple click of the mouse or tap of an iPad, an entire series can be watched in a matter of days. This constant watching of a show in a short period of time is commonly called “binge-watch-ing.” The number of binge-watch-ers is expanding at a rapid rate and Netflix is the primary source of it. The Instant Queue on Netflix is home to a vast array of shows. The most attractive part for view-ers, however, is the viewing expe-rience. Viewers are attracted to

the lack of commercials and the short length of time it takes to watch the next episode. “Part of what makes Netflix so enjoyable is the short times be-tween episodes,” said senior Sara Zarny. This feature results in impres-sive spurts of binge-watching in a short period of time. “I have seen an entire season of ‘24’ in just over a day,” said sophomore Tyler Ber-nstein. Why should network TV be afraid of this binge-watching trend? Well, for starters, Netflix costs only $8 a month, a reason-ably low price considering the popularity of the product. Sec-ondly, Netflix has been skyrock-eting in value over the past year. Stock share prices have grown more than 300 percent from the

beginning to the end of last year, permitting the company to rapid-ly expand. Netflix has successfully made a splash as a content provid-er with original programming like “Arrested Development”, “House of Cards”, and “Orange is the New Black”, all of which drew critical acclaim. Netflix has several new original shows in the making as well, including one commercial-izing on the extremely popular Marvel superheroes. In a February 3 New Yorker article entitled “Outside the Box: Netflix and the Future of Televi-sion,” Marc Andreessen, co-in-ventor of Mosaic, the first com-mercial internet browser, claims that “TV in 10 years is going to be one hundred percent streamed.” This is a scary thought for TV executives everywhere who real-

by Ryan Deal ‘16

ize traditional TV and cable must break tradition and change quick-ly to continue to cater to what the audience craves. “Cable TV should play two episodes in a row or just have the show air more than once a week more often,” said sopho-more Kendall Kahn. Ideas like these have been bounced around by networks, but ultimately the revenue from advertisements outweigh the revenue coming in from binge-watchers. But as the number of avid binge-watchers of streamed shows grow, TV may alter its schedule to suit the needs of its audience. Cable networks can allow Netflix to stream their shows so that audiences can be created for these shows. For example, the fifth season of “Breaking Bad,” the

hit AMC drama with a massive following, drew more than dou-ble the audience than the previ-ous season did. While “Breaking Bad” can symbolize the positives of network and cable coopera-tion with Netflix, these compa-nies must keep a keen eye on the doings of this and the numerous other internet streaming services. This era of television shows is often referred to by experts as the “Golden Age”. With such in-triguing and original options for viewers to choose, it is becoming the norm to feast on them one af-ter another at their convienience. Netflix is catering to these people, and that is the main reason why it is thriving. It will be interesting to see what cable TV will do to fire back, but regardless, the viewer is bound to be happy.

cartoon by Allie Pino ‘15

The Warrior•HumorMarch 7, 2014 9

Techniques for Catching the Allusive Lucky Leprechaunby Cal Wilson ‘14

Everyone knows that St. Patrick’s Day is a leprechaun’s favorite time of year. It’s their time to run around, throw four leaf-clover seeds and pinch peo-ple who are not wearing green. Playful and fun as they are, they refuse to let anyone get close to them. Don’t let that deter you from trying; there still are a few ways to catch a leprechaun. Leprechauns will not just let you walk right up and talk to them. The best way to get them is to lure them into a well-planned leprechaun trap, but first, one must learn the plea-sures and hatreds of leprechauns. Start with a common-known fact: leprechauns love green. Leprechauns cannot fight their urge to look at anything colored green. However, one fact many are unaware of is that lepre-chauns hate orange. They despise the fruit, color, and juice-with or without pulp. In fact, lepre-chaun’s hate orange so much that in their society oranges are outlawed as the fruit of the dev-il. When planning a leprechaun trap, color it green and make sure there is no orange around. The organization Finding Leprechauns for Orphaned Peo-ple (FLOP) discovered last Tues-day in ground-breaking research that Leprechauns love Irish rock and roll. Specifically, they love Dropkick Murphys. Something about the dirty, gritty vocals and fast paced fiddles reminds them of their home country. Leaving out a large pint of ale with Dropkick Murphys’ heavy accordion bass music in the background will sure-ly attract all the local leprechauns. It is said that female lep-rechauns do not exist, but they are just the most elusive of all. Because they are left alone at home while their male compan-ions go out and cause mischief, lonely leprechaun girls are often left feeling unsatisfied. Buying a box of Lucky Charms and cut-ting Lucky the Leprechaun out for use as a lure is very effective because leprechaunettes find the Lucky Charms Leprechaun to be very attractive (just make sure

graphic by Becky Ewing ‘14

CatPeopleMeet.com

Forever Alone?

Find your purfect match

to throw out the Lucky Charms cereal because leprechauns find it too commercialized and insulting). Another way to attract the green gremlins is to lure them into a trap which they despise. Leprechauns have a true rivalry against the Easter Bunny (some-thing to do with him crushing a four-leaf clover with one of his Easter eggs back in the 60s). Leaving a brightly colored egg or two out for the local lepre-chaun to smash is a great way to catch him in a rage. To fur-ther antagonize him, leaving a few marshmallow Peeps around the Easter eggs is a sure bait.

But lastly, if you do not want to go through all this trouble of studying leprechauns, you can al-ways just do the old “follow the rainbow to a leprechaun’s pot of gold.” This is easier than making the leprechaun come to you, but once you get to the pot of gold it is pretty rare to catch the lep-rechaun. They tend to enjoy hid-ing and surprising the lonely ad-venturer before running off with the gold. Those that successfully capture leprechauns usually ex-perience a short period of luck before the leprechaun manages to escape, usually leaving the captor with a series of bite marks in sen-sitive places.

Student’s Appearance Deemed a Disruptionby Chase Wilson ‘17 used to correct Lancaster’s jaw

while the UV light causes a chem-ical reaction in the gums. The two motor’s constant motion suppos-edly decreases the time which is needed to correct one’s teeth. Zagoni has a patent pending on the so-called “Thooth” apparatus. “The new system is sup-posed to closely resemble the traditional braces,” said Susan Lancaster. “That’s what Dr. Zag-oni told me at the first consulta-tion.” Zagoni vaguely described the design and failed to mention the bands, lights or motors. The case is supposed to go to trial April 13. The Lancaster family is suing for $2,000 for emotion-al pain and suffering and are re-questing a more attractive ver-sion installed at no cost to them. “Lancaster is extremely beautiful on the inside, that’s all that matters, but for-real he was ugly,” said senior Jacky Horian. Lancaster’s removal from class-es is to continue until a more attractive version of the device is invented. Until then, Lan-caster will be home-schooled.

Sophomore Will Lancast-er was suspended recently for disrupting class constantly. In Lancaster’s fourth period, teach-er Nancy Plywood told him re-peatedly to “stop his face from being so annoying.” After the third warning, she sent him to the principal’s office where he continued, in an anonymous ad-ministrator’s words, ‘to be ugly.’ The Lancaster family, and more specifically attorney Doug-las Lancaster, tried to sue ortho-dontist Phillip Zagoni after Zag-oni installed a new experimental apparatus on Lancaster’s teeth. The contraption is designed to improve the structure of the up-per and lower front teeth by con-stant movement and UV light. Unlike the traditional prac-tice of a bar connected to the teeth through brackets glued to the front of each tooth, the new device in-cludes a special type of silly band. The bands hold one micro-UV light and two motors that spin counter-weights. The bands are

No leprechaun has been photograohed, but shown above is one of the few sketches by someone lucky enough to have seen one.

The Struggle of Finding Loveby Michael Crooks ‘14 Lately, users of Internet dating sites, like E-Harmony, BlackPeopleMeet, and Christian Mingle, have been complaining that the sites are ineffective. They claim that the sites don’t match them with compatible partners because the criteria for creating a profile aren’t narrow enough. Some may say that these people should go out and try to form a relationship on their own, but that’s much too time-consuming. Some users of Internet dating sites turned their disappointment into actions. One user of Internet dating sites got so fed up with not being to find love that he decided to cre-ate his own site. Dexter Pepper-dine, a mixed-raced stockbroker from Buffalo created the dating site HalfBlackHalfWhiteStock-brokersfromBuffaloMeet.com. Pepperdine was optimistic that he would find a beautiful female partner that he had a lot in com-

mon with. Pepperdine launched the website on November 15 of last year, but he eventually be-came disappointed with the re-sults. Only 12 people created profiles on his site over a period of three months, and of those dozen people, five were his male co-workers, and the others were 50 something-year-old white guys looking for a successful woman “with some color in her.” Mary Watkins, a user of E-Harmony, still believed she could find love online until a traumatic experience led her to determine it could not be done. Watkins, an attractive 45-year-old from Salt Lake City, thought she found a man she could start a new life with when she came across Wesley Slater’s profile. The two began to flirt on the website and set up a date at a local restaurant. Watkins walked into the restau-rant only to find that the man was actually a 10-year-old kid who made a fake account to see how many people he could mess with.

jaggedsmile.wordpress.com

Usually, upon hearing the word ‘pet,’ one envisions a Cocker Spaniel, a Tabby cat, or maybe a goldfish. Yet for certain ani-mal lovers, the word ‘pet’ conjures up images of animals you’d be more likely to see in an exhibit at the zoo.

Freshman Caden O’Connell has a remarkably unique collection of animals, including a parakeet, two parrots (both of which have Mohawks), eight hermit crabs, a yellow Labrador retriever, and, most distinctly, a Sugar Glider (commonly known as a flying squirrel). “I started to get so many animals that we moved them all into what is now called the ‘Pet Room,’” said O’Connell. “I have changed

the room they live in into a jungle, where they have artificial plants, trees and perches that I have carved for them.” O’Connell has loved animals from an early age, since adopting his dog ten years ago. He adopted his squirrel, Dobby, a little over two years

ago. Dobby is nocturnal, meaning he eats and runs on his wheel at night. He has flaps of furry skin under his arms that he uses to glide. Though he is overall a great pet, O’Connell notes that it’s not always easy to own a flying squirrel. “[Dobby] has opposable thumbs

which he uses frequently to pick the lever opener on his cage to get out,” said O’Connell. “He once made his way up the stairs into my sis- ter's room where he jumped on her bed and not only woke her up, but scared the heck out of her.”

Those in the household are constantly reminded of their pets’ presence. The male parrot, named Zero, loves to talk and learn new tunes. O’Connell’s parakeet, Blue, is free to fly about the house, and the hermit crabs are free to roam the pet room as they please.

Sophomore Sara Casareto, another animal enthusiast, also owns an inter-esting group of pets, including a Norwegian Forest cat, a Siberian Husky and a Pastel Ball Python, a bold pet choice from the average standpoint.

“The idea of getting a snake was originally a joke, but when my dad began to look into it we decided to actually get one,” said Casare-to. “I’ve had her since fourth grade.”

The diet of a python is quite different than the average pet’s. Casareto feeds her snake, Esmerelda, frozen rats, which must be thawed before Esmerelda can eat them. Caring for the 4-and-a-half foot snake also involves taking her out of her cage every day to stretch.

Sophomore Ella Booz took the more conser-vative route when adopting her pet, though that’s

not to say conventional. Booz has had an African pygmy hedgehog for four years. “She loves the warm. We have a heating pad for her

or else she gets really cold and curls up in a ball,” said Booz. “The biggest challenge is probably keeping her warm and

keeping her on a healthy diet because she’s really

overweight.”

“Blackfish” is a controversial documentary that was broadcasted in October on CNN. Since then, the film has reignited debate over animal captivity and the morality of SeaWorld’s treatment of orcas.

“Blackfish” focuses on the story of Tilikum, a performing orca at SeaWorld that killed several trainers while in captivity. The documentary is mostly composed of interviews with former SeaWorld trainers and footage of killer whale

interactions to explore the ways in which SeaWorld’s mistreatment of the whales may negatively impact their well-being and cause their aggression in captivity.

Immediately following the summer release of “Blackfish” in theaters, SeaWorld described the documentary as “shamefully dishonest, deliberately misleading and scientifically inaccurate.” The company then seemingly fell silent in hopes that the controversy

would fade. However, as popularity of the film grew, SeaWorld could not avoid acknowledging the response it provoked. Responding to online petitions from fans, several entertainers scheduled to perform at SeaWorld theme parks, including the Barenaked

Ladies, Willie Nelson and the Beach Boys, canceled their shows. Southwest Airlines, a longtime partner of SeaWorld, also responded to online customer petitions. Although they decided to continue the partnership, representatives of the airline stated that they are “engaged with SeaWorld

related to the recent concerns being raised.” Protests against SeaWorld have taken place at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November and the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day, where 19 people were arrested.

The company has purchased full-page ads in newspapers to refute the claims made by the film, promoted ads on Twitter and created a webpage dedicated to demonstrating that the information presented in “Blackfish” is false. Beginning in early February, SeaWorld began individually tweeting

users who mentioned the documentary, directing them to the new webpage. In addition, it is believed that SeaWorld employees intentionally skewed the results of a poll posted by Orlando Business Journal that asked, “Has CNN’s “Blackfish” documentary changed your perception of SeaWorld?” The poll reported that over 90 percent of the respondents said no. Suspicious of

the results, they looked into it and found that over half of the votes came from a SeaWorld IP address. The directors of “Blackfish” have repeatedly invited SeaWorld to debate issues on animal captivity in a public forum; how-

ever, SeaWorld has refused to directly engage with the film in any public way.

SeaWorld Controversy Grows Months After ‘Blackfish’ Release

Just Puppies is a new pet store in Rockville where people can go to buy a new puppy, or just enjoy playing with them in the store. There are a multitude of different breeds that grow to be many different sizes, including everything from a Golden Retriever to a Yorkie. “I heard about Just Puppies from my co-worker at Pet Smart,” said senior Sam Kirschbaum, who recently visited the store. “As soon as

I got there I fell in love with this adorable German Shepherd puppy.” “All the puppies were so cute, it was hard to choose which one to play with,” said junior Elaina Pirrone who also went to

Just Puppies a few weeks ago. “I think it’s my new favorite place. I mean, who wouldn’t want to go to a store where they can just hang out with puppies all day?”

According to their website, the store started in 1997 as a family business owned by Tyler Thomson in Orlando. His goal was to open a few small, honest and open-minded pet stores that would sell quality puppies to people looking to add a fluffy new

member to their families. The shop was such a success that Thomson opened two more stores in the Orlando area. In 1999, Tyler’s brother, Mitch Thomson, opened a shop in Laurel, Maryland, realizing the need for a quality pet shop like Just Puppies up here. That store became a big success as well, resulting in the two stores that just opened in Rockville and Towson. The Thomson brothers say that they do not want Just Puppies to become a

huge chain store. They like to have a more hands-on approach when it comes to establishing relationships with customers and breeders.

However, there is speculation about where exactly the puppies come from. The main concern comes from the fact that most of the puppies are purchased from Missouri and Iowa, which are the most popular states for puppy mills. Puppy

mills are places where monstrous numbers of puppies are bread for profit only. These places don’t care about the quality or health of the puppies, and often mistreat the dogs. A lot of pet stores get their puppies from places like this.

Despite the speculations, Just Puppies assures that they buy all their puppies from USDA and state regulated breeders. The store says it always makes sure to get quality puppies, and it has a veterinarian present when purchasing the puppies in

order to assure the puppies are healthy. In addition, all of the puppies are registered with either America’s Pet Registry or American Canine Association. These registries are used by breeders who intend for their puppies to

be family dogs. All of the dogs registered with these associations must be purebred to ensure quality within the breed.

“All the puppies were wagging their tails and licking the cages when I walked by,” said Kirschbaum, “Hopefully [Just Puppies] is telling the truth and their puppies aren’t from puppy mills, because it’s a really fun place.”

Wagging Tails Thrift Store in Rockville began in 2000 with one goal in mind: to help and support animals in Montgomery County. Wagging Tails employs a staff of volunteers and paid workers, who accept donations of “gently used” durable goods like furniture and other household goods and resell them at reasonable prices to the commu-

nity. All proceeds minus overhead and staff costs go to benefit the Montgomery County Humane Society, a 501 © (3) non-profit organization. Such organizations are tax-exempt by the federal govern-ment because they work for the common good, and this designation allows all donations of goods to be tax-deductible. The funds raised through sales at Wagging Tails can be used by MCHS for any purpose because they are considered undedicated revenue.

New Store, Just Puppies, Opens in Rockville

Allowance towards Animalsby Samantha Schwartz ‘16

by Olivia Skofteland ‘14

Facilities Pr

ovide Volunteer Opportun

ities

A nimals

Far from conventional petsby Mandy Stussman ‘14

by Emma Izzo ‘15

by Julia Gajewski-Nemes ‘15

The animals have run out

of space and need a new home. To accommodate

an ever growing stray animal population, Montgomery

County has built a new state of the art facility in Derwood to house the

animals and replace an almost 40-year-old aging animal shelter in Rockville. The

ribbon-cutting ceremony took place March 1.

The new Montgomery animal shelter was built in part, because of the previous lack of adequate

space to quarantine sick animals separately from stray animals. The Montgomery County Police Department Animal Services

Division will oversee operations at the Derwood facility, and, according to recent article in the Washington Post, the change in management

is viewed as a way to improve practices and services. The new Muncaster Mill Road shelter at 49,160 square feet will be three times the size of the old

building and will not only house animals but also serve as a public adoption center and community education resource for animal-care issues.

The new facility will provide increasing opportunities for teens to volunteer. “Students who volunteer at the new animal shelter will get student service learning

hours. They will have to generally work for eight hours for six months, but for students the schedule is more flexible,” said Taleah Parker, the Volunteer Coordinator.

Teenagers between 13-17 will be able to help out in groups. A teenager under 18 will need a written permission slip from parents and will have to be supervised. Minors won’t

handle animals.

“Younger groups will have limitations on what they can do to help out. But there are still plenty of opportunities to volunteer including some enrichment with

the animals like chew toys, and for cats a sock-full of catnip, to help relieve the stress of the animals to make them feel more at home until they are adopted,” explained

Community Outreach Coordinator Katherine Venzono.

Animals accepted at the new facility range from house pets to reptiles, and even exotic animals. The animal shelter will respond to any call. “We have a barn that

we are quite proud of,” said Venzono.

According to the website of the Montgomery County Division of Building Design and Construction, “Environmental design features of the facility include

use of a vegetated roof over the adoption areas, water efficient plumbing fixtures, energy efficient building envelope and HVAC design, and use of recycled

and locally manufactured materials.”

Let’s talk about. . .

The Warrior•OpinionsMarch 7, 201412

Warriorthe ublished seven times a year, The Warrior serves as Sherwood High School’s premier news source. Over the years, it has received numerous state and national honors. With a staff of 55 stu-dents and one advisor, The Warrior keeps the Sher-

wood community apprised of local and national events.

All opinion articles represent the viewpoint of the writer. The unsigned staff

editorials solely represent the opinions of the newspaper staff. These articles do not necessarily

represent the views of Sherwood High School.

The Warrior welcomes Letters to the Editor of 250 words or less. They may be

submitted to room C268 or emailed to thewar-rioronline.shs@gmail.com. Letters must be signed, and all content received by the newspaper is sub-

ject to editing.

The Warrior staff invites feedback and corrections to printed inaccuracies.

The Warrior reserves the right to refuse advertisements.

P

In Our OpinionStaff Editorial:

For Kids To Make Money, Parents Must Spend It

In the past 30 years, the average cost of col-lege tuition at a four-year public school has in-creased 1,120 percent. Today, the average tuition per year (not including room and board) for an out of state public college is $22,203, and $8,893 for in-state tuition. With these high expenses, it’s no surprise about 71 percent of college seniors graduate with an average of $29,400 in debt. Unlike previous generations, today’s 18-year-olds and their families are struggling to find a bal-ance between who has the responsibility to pay for college tuition. It’s a large burden to bear, but since having a college education is an absolute necessity in the journey to becoming financially independent, students should depend on their par-ents first. It is unrealistic to expect a majority of teenag-ers to get a job that pays well enough to get them through four years of college. Though kids should take some action in paying for their tuition, the primary responsibility rests on the parents. In most cases, parents have larger and steadier in-comes than their child, so in order for the child to begin his or her life with a clean start, constant-ly having huge amounts of student loans racked up would be a disadvantage. Debts accumulated from all college expenses only stunt the young adult’s ability to become financially independent from their parents. This financial support should also extend af-ter the student successfully graduates from col-lege with an undergraduate degree. The graduate should be granted a “grace period” of living at home for free or little cost in order to adjust to life

outside of college and to find a job that pays well enough that he or she can support themselves. This adjustment period generally should last no longer than a year, considering the weekly salary of a col-lege graduate is double that of someone with only a high school diploma. As for graduate school, since it is a choice and not a prerequisite for most to land a good job, students should acquire more responsi-bility and pay it through student loans. But to lower the interest rates considerable, the parents should co-sign the loan because that student has proven their seriousness to get into graduate school and has willingness to continue his/her education. Parents’ responsibility to support their children financially does not include an obligation to pay for luxury items like cars, apartments (that are more costly than dorms), semesters abroad, etc. Since the parents have lifted the load of college tuition, the non-essentials should be paid for by the student. Occasional help should be permitted to keep kids on their feet, but if it becomes a habit, it’s only en-abling reliance on parents. If one expects parents to financially contrib-ute to their future in such a great amount, the child should take advantage of their sacrifice and put in as much effort in their education to make their parents’ investment worth it. This effort doesn’t just begin in college either; it should be consistent through-out high school. And to ease the financial strain on parents, the students should actively search for fi-nancial aid, like scholarships, and work a part-time job in high school and college. It’s impossible to function in the real world if one never learns how to become independent and self-sufficient.

Is it parents’ responsibility to pay

for their child’s college tuition? Is there an extent to which parents can

give too much financial support to a child?

StaffPrint

Layout and Production Directors .......................... News Editors .........................................................

Rock N’ Roll Editor ...................................Features Editors .................................................... Humor Editor .......................................................... Spotlight Editor .................................................. Opinions Editors ................................................ Wondering Warrior Editor............................. Entertainment Editors ................................................ Sports Editors .............................................................

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Staff Writers

Marie Moeller ‘15Michael Natelli ‘14Steffani Carrera ‘14

Betselot Wondimu ‘15 Whitney Marie Halaby ‘14

Victoria Florian ‘14Mary Macrae ‘14 Hunter Moore ‘15

Mandy Stussman ‘14Emma Hierholzer ‘15

Cal Wilson ‘14Samantha Schwartz ‘16

Jenni Kenel ‘14 Katie Mercogliano ‘14

Joey Lavoie ‘14Kyle Melnick ‘14

Ashley Yen ‘14

Ryan Deal ‘16 Catherine Jou ‘15

Alec Perez ‘14Will Van Gelder ‘16

Brian Hughes ‘15

Joy Zhang ‘14Meagan Barrett ‘15Michael Crooks ‘14

Tom Lee ‘14Bridget Cook ‘14

Taylor Fernandes ‘14

Haley Whitt ‘15Kelsey Morrison ‘14

Sammie Spillman ‘16

Lucy Hurlbut ‘14Sean Kang ‘14

Stacey Wells ‘15

cartoon by Helen Schmidt ‘15

Jack Armstrong ‘15

Ketki Chauhan ‘16Leo Corman ‘15Lauren Cosca ‘15Madison Dymond ‘16Dean Emerson ‘14Becky Ewing ‘14Julia Gajewski-Nemes ‘15

Emily Gilburt ‘16Kaleigh Homer ‘15Emma Izzo ‘15Ankur Kayastha ‘15Joolyun Kim ‘14Connor Loughran ‘15Stephen Luckey ‘15

Ashley Nnabue ‘16Allie Pino ‘15Dalton Sanchez ‘15Olivia Shoftdand ‘14Zach Stubblefield ‘15Chase Wilson ‘17Kira Yates ‘16

Advisor ................................................................................Peter Huck

Rule Helps Students To Keep Trying

The Warrior•OpinionsMarch 7, 2014 13

In 2006, MCPS made the wise deci-sion of implementing the 50-percent rule. The rule prohibits teachers from giving low, failing grades. Although some con-tend that the rule allows students to slack off, the 50-percent rule actually encourag-es students to keep trying and not give up on a course in which they struggle. Student athletes benefit the most, be-cause the rule makes it easier for them to balance school and sport while remaining eligible. Assuming student-athletes do their homework for a completion grade worth 10 percent of the overall grade, the 50-percent rule nearly guarantees a passing grade for the students who give an effort. The 50-percent rule not only can help keep students eligible, but also helps those tal-ented athletes to have a better GPA as col-lege coaches consider them for their teams. Without the 50-percent rule, students could not study (as most occasionally do), fail a test and receive such a low grade that it brings them down an entire letter grade in a class. Tanking on a 100-point summa-tive grade could be detrimental to a grade, but the 50-percent rule takes away some of the sting to the overall grade.

The 50-percent rule is not just for those students struggling to pass a class. Students who consistently earn As and Bs on assignments should not see all their hard work ruined by one terrible grade. Emergencies and illnesses do occur. There are also times when students have so much to do that they cannot give their usual ef-fort to everything. Students’ overall grade should reflect the totality of their effort in a class, and the 50-percent rule helps ensure this is the case. Those against the 50-percent rule may argue that students will abuse the rule and use it as a free pass to slack off. While some students may take advantage of the rule, these same students likely aren’t even bothering to complete their homework or turn in assignments. In other words, they are going to fail the course whether there is a 50-percent rule or not. Instead of the 50-percent rule being a way to slack off, it gives students more incentive to do well. Due to the fact that students may get away with a few poor grades here and there, they will study for their tests knowing that if they did not un-derstand the material, it is not the end of the world in their high school lives.

In 2001, President George W. Bush es-tablished the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which aimed to make it possible for every child to graduate high school. States and districts were expected to make adjust-ments to reflect the goals of the federal law. In response to NCLB requirements, MCPS established the 50-percent rule, in which students automatically receive at least a 50 percent if they show any effort to pass an assignment. Therefore, a student who actu-ally earned 20/100 on a test, for example, would be bumped up to a 50/100. The rationale for the 50-percent rule is to ensure that one or more awful grades do not ruin a student’s overall grade in class and lead the student to quit the class. How-ever, in reality, the rule permits students to pick and choose when they want to try on assignments, quizzes and tests. There have been many times over a student’s high school career where he/she has a mentality of, “I don’t care, I’ll just get my 50 percent because I really don’t feel like studying.” The MCPS policy provides a means for students to work the system rather than ac-tually obtain knowledge. Granted, getting a 50 percent on the

majority of assignments still will result in a horrible grade in a class, but there is still a hugely important distinction between pass-ing and not passing a class. The 50-percent rule permits students to pass classes—and eventually graduate—when they did not earn it. It also sends the wrong message about how the real world works. College professors will not give half-credit just for trying. Bosses certainly will not give credit to an employee for doing very poorly. Just the opposite; the person will be fired. As I reflect back on my high school ca-reer, I have to admit that it is hard to imag-ine making it without the 50-percent rule. But I now realize something else: the rule has taught me how to manipulate the sys-tem to get something I didn’t really earn. Too often, I have tried to work out the min-imum grade that I can receive while doing the least amount of work possible rather than actually studying for the class. This mentality is something that I cannot take with me into the real world. MCPS can-not be blamed for my slacking off, but the 50-percent rule contributed to it by making it easier to work the system and pass by do-ing the very minimum in my high school courses.

By age 19, 28 percent of all adoles-cents will experience at least one episode of major depression. With each instance, students will likely experience symptoms such as withdrawal from friends and fam-ily, changes in eating and sleeping habits, lack of motivation, and difficulty concen-trating, which can hinder the student’s abil-ity to do his or her best in school. Although more than one in every four teenagers have experienced and suffered from symptoms of depression during their adolescence, MCPS has failed to adequate-ly accommodate students who are strug-gling with it. Currently, MCPS assigns one school psychologist to several schools. Accord-ing to the district’s policy, the job of a school psychologist is to work in collabo-ration with school staff in order to create a healthy learning environment for students. However, school psychologists are strictly accessible to MCPS staff and parents and cannot be contacted by students for help. In fact, students rarely, if ever, have any one-on-one interactions with school psycholo-gists in a therapeutic setting. Nevertheless, every school in MCPS has school counselors that are available to students on a daily basis. Although in their job description MCPS briefly mentions that counselors can play a role in main-

taining emotional health, counselors at the high school level primarily focus on stu-dents’ academic achievements and goals for the future. Furthermore, students do not always feel comfortable reaching out to their school counselors or do not always realize that they are suffering from depres-sion. There needs to be more involvement in the classroom to recognize depression and respond appropriately to students who

may be struggling with it. As of today, there is very minimal training for teachers on identifying de-pression in students. Many teachers may not realize that depression affects as much as a quarter of their students and could be the reason behind a fluctuation in grades in some of them. The lack of motivation and focus that depression causes usually leads to lower test scores and the inability

Is the 50-Percent Rule Really Helping Students?According to MCPS policy, “Teachers assign a grade no lower than 50 percent to a task or assessment. A teacher may assign

a zero if the teacher determines that the student did not attempt to meet the basic requirements of the task/assessment or if the student engaged in academic dishonesty.” This sentence sums up “the 50-percent rule” of Montgomery County Public Schools. A stated intention of this grading policy is to minimize the negative effect that a single graded assignment can have

on a student’s overall grade. The Warrior debates whether the 50-percent rule ultimately helps or hurts students.

to complete tasks. Without understanding the effects of depression, a teacher may be giving grades to a student that does not re-flect his or her true capability. At a minimum, MCPS should create an online workshop that all middle and high school teachers must complete be-fore every school year to ensure awareness of the signs of teenage depression, what can cause it, how it affects a student, and the newest research developments. This awareness would allow a teacher to infor-mally screen students with depression and give them a greater understanding for the students in his or her classroom at a more personal level. The recognition of their students’ emo-tional states would allow for a more effec-tive teaching style that tailors to each stu-dent. If a teacher were to see a student with signs of depression that significantly affect the student emotionally and academical-ly, then the teacher would not only offer emotional support to the student, but also potentially offer an extension or retake on specific assignments in which the student’s true ability was not demonstrated. School would be a much more com-fortable place for adolescents if they felt that the staff are not there simply to ensure they are academically on the right path to “success.” Students need to feel that the people responsible for their education also care for their overall well-being.

Teachers Not Trained for Dealing with Depressed StudentsBy Julia Gajewski-Nemes ’15

by Hunter Moore ‘15 by Whitney-Marie Halaby ‘14

PRO CON

Ashley Nnabue ‘16Allie Pino ‘15Dalton Sanchez ‘15Olivia Shoftdand ‘14Zach Stubblefield ‘15Chase Wilson ‘17Kira Yates ‘16

Rule Rewards Students for Slacking Rule Helps Students To Keep Trying

Cal Wilson ‘14

The Warrior•OpinionsMarch 7, 201414

Just to be clear, I do not want to discourage or argue against students serving their communi-ties. Volunteering to help others is a noble and admirable pursuit. However, the mandatory nature of the service that MCPS students must perform detracts from the value of the activity and all the benefits that come with it—re-sponsibility, perspective, empa-thy and more. When students are forced to earn service hours, they are less likely to find the experience grat-ifying and worthwhile and more likely to see the hours as a chore, something to complete grudging-ly and get out of the way. The current MCPS policy does not re-ward thoughtfulness or creativity in relation to the service, leaving students with little to no incentive for seeking out the most helpful or important activity. Instead, MCPS places quantity over qual-ity, giving less recognition to a student who toils for 50 hours at a soup kitchen to feed the home-less than to a student who racks up 300 hours helping out at parent nights and school functions.

Furthermore, the service re-quirements fail to consider the needs of less privileged students. Plenty of students come home from school and have to hold jobs or care for younger siblings, and their parents are too busy work-ing to transport them to various service activities. The require-ments create an unfair burden for these students, putting them at a serious disadvantage when it comes to finding hours. At a minimum, MCPS should make a greater effort to accommodate students whose circumstances make it difficult for them to earn service hours. However, the crux of the problem does not lie with the amount of hours (admittedly, 75 is not that much to ask); rather, it lies with the general principles involved. MCPS oversteps its boundaries when it attempts to dictate how students spend their time outside of school. Just as students cannot be compelled to play a team sport or join a partic-ular club, so too should they not be mandated to complete com-munity service. No matter how beneficial or advantageous the activity, schools should not have

the power to force students to do anything not related to academ-ics. While MCPS and individual schools should do everything in their power to promote volunteer-ism and emphasize the importance of community service, in the same way they do with extracurricu-lar activities overall, they should leave the decision of whether or not to actually participate in those activities up to each student and his/her family. Schools can begin to instill the values of volunteer-ism and helping others in children at a young age, and they can offer school-sponsored volunteer op-portunities to encourage the ap-plication of these values. Ultimately, students should feel engaged and enthusiastic about the service they provide and the good they do for their communities, and this will only occur when MCPS prioritizes the type of activity over the length of time the activity takes. If MCPS removes the label of “mandatory” and allows students to see how helping others can be rewarding and fulfilling, then students will still perform community service, only they might actually enjoy it.

Required Service Hours for MCPS Render Students Less Enthusiastic

This year, the cancellation of the biennial “Every 15 Minutes” program has disappointed many. But when considered, what is it that people wish they could expe-rience? Viewing a horrific car accident outside of their school? Seeing the mangled, bloody faces of their peers who are “victims” in the accident? Watching someone in a Halloween costume proudly stroll the halls, “claiming” certain people for death? “Every 15 minutes” felt much more like a theatrical horror production than an event made to raise awareness for such a grave issue. While it’s beneficial to warn stu-dents of the consequences of drunk driving, how will crudely painting their faces with white makeup and for-bidding them to talk for the rest of the day accomplish that? When I experienced the program, I saw far too much stifled laughter as kids were removed from class and given a zombie makeover. Far too many people were eager to see the gory re-enactment of the accident in the parking lot. Drunk driving awareness is definitely critical for high-schoolers, but bloody dramatizations of tragic deaths should by no means be something that stu-dents excitedly anticipate.

It is ridiculously early to be thinking about the 2016 Presidential Election, but Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has been making some bold moves since Barack Obama’s reelection. His rise to national recognition tru-ly took off in 2013, when he led legislative reforms in legalizing same-sex marriage, implementing gun control measures and repealing capital punishment. He admitted he has presidential aspirations in a “Face the Nation” in-terview in late February of 2014, and his relative success as a governor would definitely support his campaign. Although O’Malley is respectably progressive, his hopes of a serious presidential bid are low. A Balti-more Sun poll revealed that he is the third choice among Maryland Democrats for the Democratic nomination in 2016, falling well behind Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. O’Malley completed his most memorable year as gover-nor in 2013; with rankings this low in his prime and his agenda checklist now essentially complete, he may not be a part of the conversation in 2016. Unless O’Malley does something miraculous in the next two years, it is doubt-ful that he will have a chance at making it to the White House.

Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer re-cently struggled to make what should have been a very easy decision. She had to decide whether to sign or veto a bill which allows businesses to dis-criminate against same-sex couples on religious grounds. Supporters of the bill, like the Arizona Catholic Conference, were urging Brewer to sign the bill passed by Arizona’s Republican state leg-islators. In the midst of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) social movements, big-ots are once again lashing out by using religion as a justification to deny fellow Americans their equal rights. Religious institutions, including the Catholic Church, are not compelled to preside over same-sex marriage. However, it is absurd to believe that corporations, which are not individ-uals, should have the power to establish a single religious belief for all those who enter their busi-nesses. Last Wednesday, Brewer vetoed the bill, saving Arizona from the embarrassment of stand-ing in the way of progress towards tolerance and equality.

by Bridget Cook ‘14 by Betselot Wondimu ‘15 by Becky Ewing ‘14Religion and BigotryMorbid Minutes O’Malley Not Ready

The NFL may impose a pen-alty on the use of the N-word in professional football games. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell thinks that this will help stop the use of the word in a racist way. Quite simply, it is an awful idea. What the NFL is failing to realize is that many young black men use the N-word with a pos-itive connotation. The NFL and others need to see that the word’s meaning has evolved. Now it is not just a word that evokes im-agery of lynchings and years of oppression, but one that invokes a sense of camaraderie among many young black people. Most of the time when the N-word is used on the football field, it is not used in a racist way. If it was used as a racist term, black players would let the world know. For example, the two white players, Riley Cooper and Richie Incognito, who said the N-word in a racist way in the 2013 NFL season almost lost their jobs be-cause of it and turned their teams’ locker rooms into a mess for the remainder of the season. Moreover, putting a penalty

by Leo Corman ‘15 on the use of the N-word would affect black players more than any other group of players in the NFL. After all they are the ones who use the word the most. Isn’t it ironic that a penalty that is intended to stop racism against a group of players is going to end up only hurting the group of players it is trying to protect? I am not advocating the use of the word in every situation. I am just saying we as a society must acknowledge that the N-word does not just have negative con-notations anymore. Through hip-hop and popular culture, many young people have grown up hearing the N-word used as a synonym for friend rather than hearing it as a symbol of hate. A penalty in the NFL on the use of the word would not work for this very reason; it would be impos-sible to know with what purpose the players are saying the word. If anything, penalizing the use of the word is a step back. It gives the N-word more legitimacy as a racist term. The NFL should not prohibit players’ use of the N-word, because banning the use of the word will slow society from moving on from the past.

3rd and Wrongby Zach Stubblefield ‘15

by Betselot Wondimu ‘15

As the connotation of the N-word changes, the NFL makes a bad call proposing penalties for using the word in games.

The Warrior•OpinionsMarch 7, 2014 15

A Story of ‘Affluenza’

This past December, a teen-age boy in Texas drove drunk and murdered four people. Instead of serving the recommended 20 years in prison, he got off easy with only 10 years of probation. The defense argued that the boy suffered from “affluenza,” which is a ‘psychological problem’ that can affect privileged children. In other words, this teenager re-ceived barely any punishment for his irresponsible behavior due to the fact that he was raised by a rich family. First off, the disease “afflu-eneza” isn’t even recognized by the American Psychiatric Associ-ation. This affliction is based off the belief that children who grow up in a privileged environment have delusional ideas about what is allowed. However, wealthy parents are not the only factors that influence a child’s develop-ment. Both media and friends affect individuals, meaning that privileged children should still be able to decipher right from wrong even if their parents spoil them rotten. Teachers also influence and discipline students, which means that even the most privi-leged individuals would receive punishment and understand the effects of their actions. If affluenza was an actual psychological disorder, does that mean that there should there be a disease invented for under-privi-leged children as well? If a child grows up in an under-privileged environment and never received any guidance from his parents, does he also get to skirt jail time for not knowing what’s right? Or would only wealthy teens get to avoid jail? If a rich teenager can skirt

20 years of jail time because of a made-up disease, then others may use similar excuses to avoid prison. Someone could easily claim that their glasses led them to be bullied, which led them to kill someone. The only factor that should make a difference in court is the crime in question, not an individual’s wealth, race, gender or past experiences. The teenager in Texas committed a horrendous crime and he should face the full sentence, no matter what “rich-child disease” he may have. Furthermore, America has a wonderful thing called rule of law. This means that all citizens must follow the same set of rules regardless of who they are. Way back when rule of law did not ex-ist, members of royalty, religious leaders and rich citizens were able to avoid the law while the poor would get heavily punished for minor crimes. Citizens were not seen as equals; if one individual had an abundance of money then he was able to avoid punishment. Nowadays, in the United States, everyone is supposed to be pun-ished equally, but that is not the reality. Wealthier citizens are able to buy better lawyers, while the very poor can only accept who-ever is assigned to them. Even if rule of law is not always perfect, it is still the basis of equality in America and should be an ideal that America tries to achieve. The judge’s sentencing of the teen to probation suggests that some people have the right to get away with murder. Being privi-leged should not grant an individ-ual the right to skirt jail time. If this “psychological problem” is eventually accepted as truth by the courts, then our court system will only become more unequal in its application of justice.

by Stacey Wells ‘15

Would you support or oppose a program giving undocumented immi-grants amnesty (a pardon for wrongdoing) or a pathway to citizenship if they meet certain requirements such as paying a fine, working, join-ing the military, pursuing an education, supporting themselves inde-pendently, etc.?

“I would support this idea, mostly because it feels like we are trying too hard to push immigrants away. They may not be legal, but they are here for a better life, so the U.S. needs to be willing to create better programs, in terms of helping immigrants out more than they do now.” - Ben Cooper ‘16

“Absolutely not. That’s like giving a con-victed robber bonus cash. They broke our laws. Why should we reward them for it? If they seek citizenship properly, then I would not mind.” - Jessica Fishbein ‘15

cartoon by Emma Hierholzer ‘15

Most politicians agree that the United States has a broken immigration system, but have failed to come together to improve it – hopefully until now. To begin the New Year, Congress unveiled a list of principles on the topic of immigration reform, which supports tighter border security and a new process of granting legal status for undoc-umented immigrants and “Dreamers” (undocumented immigrants brought here by their parents at a very young age).

- Immigration -

Should “Dreamers” be given the same rights as American citizens?

Do undocumented immigrants have a positive or negative impact on our economy?

Which should be the more important priority: enacting stricter border security or a pathway to citizenship?

YESNO

POSITIVENEGATIVE

SECURITY PATHWAY

70% 30%

36% 64%

39% 61%*132 students surveyed

The Warrior•Wondering WarriorMarch 7, 201416

Do you own the iPhone or an Android phone?

70% said iPhone

18% said Android

12% said neither

What do you think about the new “teen dating” apps?

“They are stupid.” -Katie Bouvier ‘15

“They are so lame.” -Anthony Jones ‘17

How much would you have to be paid to go one

month without using your cellphone at all?

“It is unsafe because people can track your private information, such as your address and age.” -Owen Followell ‘17

What do you think about parents using smart phones to track their kids?

“Kids have no privacy but they are safer.” -Erica Wragg ‘17

“We need privacy.” -Casey Minnick ‘17

“It’s not really cool to not trust your children.” -Matthew Kim ‘17

“Good for parents knowing where their children are but bad for kids because they can’t lie.” - Rachel Seney ‘16

27%100-500$

29%0-100$

23%Over 1000$

21%500-1000$

compiled by Sammie Spillman ‘16

VTHE WARRIOR ASKED SHERWOOD

STUDENTS ABOUT THEIR

SMARTPHONES

*120 students surveyed

The Warrior•EntertainmentMarch 7, 2014 17

Dubstep’s Lasting Power Testedby Madison Dymond ‘16

Over the years, many dif-ferent genres of music have had their time in the spotlight. Punk had its moment in the late 70s; heavy metal in the 80s; and rap in the 90s. Today, you can’t walk through the halls of Sherwood without hearing the word “dub-step” at least once a day. A couple of years ago, most people couldn’t tell someone anything about this type of mu-sic. However, dubstep has been around for a long time. In some cases, music that is considered popular or “in” isn’t even new. The band Grateful Dead appeared twice in the spotlight, first in the 1960s and then a resurgence. Oth-er bands, like The Black Keys, are very successful with a sound that repackages the sound of bands from many years ago. Dubstep originated from South London, England during the 1990s. Dubstep developed from many genres such as 2-step garage, drum and bass, broken beat, jungle, dub and reggae. The first sounds of dubstep came from artists including El-B, Oris Jay, Steve Gurley and Zed Bias. Dub-step has a syncopated rhythm and is sometimes characterized by its repeated bass drops. Currently, popular dubstep artists include Skrillex, Skream, Flux Pavilion, Doctor P, Nero, Datsik, Zeds Dead and Bassnec-tar. Skrillex is definitely the most popular dubstep artist among teens. “I like his songs because they’re fun to listen to and they

have a nice beat that makes me want to jump up from my seat and dance,” said sophomore Duy-An Trieu. Not only students who listen to dubstep, but even those that don’t have strong opinions about it. Sophomore Tom Baker de-scribes dubstep as an avant-garde EDM genre that combines ele-ments from 2-step, British garage and dub. He does not like dubstep because it does not have large em-phasis on highly proficient guitar work. He does, however, believe it can still be considered music “If such abstract and experimen-tal genres such as drone, noise, dark ambient and grind-core are considered music, then dubstep is no different.” Baker also believes that dub-step will always have a follow-ing, though it may not last in the

mainstream. “Just as grunge and nu-metal had their time in the spotlight among teens but slowly lost popularity, but still a lot of teens enjoy said genres,” Baker said. People of all different ages and personalities like dubstep, which is why it just might last in the mainstream. An attraction of dubstep is that it emits energy and power that makes listeners feel like they can do and be anything. “Dubstep is not symmetrical; it is not properly in order. It gives you this release that all of us desire, and is fun, full of energy, and is a music genre like no other,” said sophomore Krissy Hernandez. The term “dubstep” is often misused. Pop songs that have been remixed and have had ab-stract sounds added to them are sometimes called dubstep. Peo-ple often mix up dubstep with the other types of electronic mu-sic, such as house, techno, trap or trance. The sounds in dubstep are quite unique and easily dis-tinguishable to avid listeners, but not to an eletronic music newbie. For mostly all music genres that become mainstream there is a backlash. When rock became mainstream, there was a back-lash. Even now that pop, rap and country are mainstream, there is a backlash. With dubstep becoming mainstream, there’s already signs of negative reaction to the contro-versial style of music. It is diffi-cult to predict dubstep’s lasting power with such mixed reviews, but for now it’s popularity is still hanging on.

Shows +

Shindigs

March 8

The Orwells The Silver PalmsU Street Music Hall, DC

March 15

The Glitch Mob

Fillmore, Silver Spring

March 23

Danny ByrdFred V & Grafix

S.P.Y

U Street Music Hall, DC

Ana Sia

Penthouse Penthouse

March 26

Crash the Party9:30 Club, DC

We the KingsThis Century

March 28Nas

Kennedy Center, DC

graphic by Katie Mercogliano ‘14

eldoradobar.com

With hits like “Crank” and “Hit Me,” popular duo, Zeds Dead, has risen to fame with EDM’s surgence.

The Warrior•EntertainmentMarch 7, 201418

Tradition Triumphs for Filmby Allie Pino ‘15 The newly released film “Son of God,” directed by Christopher Spencer, is one of the best mov-ie versions of the story of Jesus. Unlike the graphic “The Passion of the Christ” and controversial “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “Son of God” is aimed more at a Christian audience wanting to see the traditional Biblical story and is unlikely to rouse controversy even though it includes violent scenes of Romans beating and killing Jews and a horrendous crucifixion scene. “Son of God” is a cut-down version of producers Mark Bur-nett and Roma Downey’s TV miniseries “The Bible,” depicting the story of Jesus. Notably, scenes with Satan have been removed from the movie because the ac-tor who played him reportedly looked like Barack Obama. There are moments when “Son of God” still looks like a TV show. Camera work that was re-alistic on the small screen can be head-throbbing on the big screen. Shots of ancient Jerusalem that looked reasonable on TV appear fake in a theater. The jumps over commercial breaks makes the film version a bit choppy in scenes. The costumes and settings all seem to attempt a classic Chris-tian look and the actors – for the

most part – visually represent the biblical figures most people are familiar with. More than that, though, “Son of God” ponders many of Christ’s teachings and pure way of life. Viewers get Jesus (Portu-guese model Diogo Morgado) reciting some of his more famous sayings, usually within a brief, recognizable biblical scene. Since the Nativity portion of his life was skipped in this version, Jesus appears on screen fully formed. The disciples move as a clear unit in “Son of God,” speaking when biblical text requires them to. Viewers still get a sense of these historical figures, such as St. John (Sebastian Knapp), who gives brief pieces of narration to string

the story together. Like many Christ stories, this one clearly prefers to focus on Je-sus’ torture and crucifixion over his teachings and ideas. Christ’s sacrifice is central to many Chris-tian churches, so it tends to be the root of most filmed version of the life of Jesus. “Son of God” ultimately is more about depicting the source of people’s faith than about the filmmaking. And while some ad-ditional footage was shot by oth-er directors to turn the original miniseries chapters into a whole feature film, the primary objec-tive of the film is to provide a rep-resentation of the life of Jesus for those who believe him to be the savior of mankind.

Avett Brothers Take Coffee House Feel to Big Stadium

Scott Galupo’s concert re-view in the Washington Post this week argued that the Avett Brothers are “trying to straddle two very different worlds.” He suggests that they employed “la-bor-saving techniques of a duo working on the cheap,” and that their lack of using their large vid-eo board backdrop and pizazz was a disappointment. Perhaps Galupo thought he was supposed to be seeing Savoy or Avicii that night? Last Friday at the Patriot Cen-ter in Fairfax, Virginia, the Avett Brothers accomplished what only a few musical acts seem capable of in modern-day performing: a combination of humility, genuine talent, and entertainment that was drawn more from the music than it was from any fancy dancers, lights or video backdrops. One might relate the show to a coffeehouse performance with 12,000 of your closest friends. There were no obscure outfits, twerking or untalented lip-sync-ers, and if that’s what Galupo was expecting, then I can see why he’d be disappointed. But what the crowd was ac-tually in for was a remarkable display of musical ability, wheth-

by Michael Natelli ‘14 er it was Scott Avett simultane-ously singing, playing banjo and beating a bass drum or cellist Joe Kwon moving across the stage while, at the same time, playing some of the fastest cello riffs I’ve ever encountered. But Galupo goes on, and suggests that after “giving a hint of what they’re becoming capa-ble of” with two up-tempo rock songs, the band, essentially, dis-appointed by turning back to “sleepy ballads.” Sleepy? Looks like the Post’s reviewer was up past his bed time. Galupo must’ve been the only one at Patriot Center last weekend that didn’t seem to quite get (or quite appreciate) what the Avett Brothers are all about. While many, from Madonna to Lady Gaga to Bruno Mars and so forth, have made their names on being stylistic and lavish per-formers, it’s not about that with the Avett Brothers; for them, it’s about taking the personal stories of hardship and triumph that their die-hard fans know so well and putting them to music. The way the audience sang along like a church choir as Scott Avett stood alone under a spotlight and sang “Murder in the City” is proof that their simplistic methods are a success.

Netflix & Hulu Hidden Gems

Freaks and Geeks (Netflix)Not only is this best on the list, but it is prob-ably one of the greatest shows of all time. It is the ultimate cult classic. “Freaks and Geeks” started the careers of Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Martin Starr, Philip Busy, Lin-da Cardellini, John Francis Daley, Samm Levine, Lizzy Caplan, Rashida Jones and most importantly, James Franco. The show follows Lindsay Weir (Cardellini) and Sam Weir (Daley) in their journey to fit in. Yes, it sounds cliché, but it’s not. In only 18 ep-isodes (people are still dumbfounded this was canceled after just one season), each character is developed immensely. And out of all the characters (yes, including Fran-co’s classic lovable rebel, Daniel Desa-rio) arguably the best comedic character ever was created, Starr’s Bill Haverchuck. A big claim to make, but it is true. There are countless reasons to watch this show, but to see fan-favorite, adorably hilarious Haverchuck dressed as the Bionic Woman for Halloween should be reason enough.

Streaming TV shows can be overwhelming with so many different options to choose from, so The Warrior’s Katie Mercogliano ‘14 assembled a list to make things just a little bit easier.

My So-Called Life (Hulu)The amazing high school drama TV show that started them all. “My So-Called Life” starring Golden Globe nominated Claire Danes and Oscar winning Jared Leto, was unlike any other teen show that came be-fore it. It addressed serious issues, but rather than solving the issues at the end of the episode, they actually kept developing throughout the season. The show covered a large spectrum of serious issues, and the narration was incredibly well written and relatable. Also, Leto’s Jordan Catalano will probably go down in history as one of the best bad boys in television.

Undeclared (Netflix)After the tragic end of Freaks and Geeks, Judd Apatow (“The 40 Year Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” “Pineapple Express”) lost another nearly perfect show after the first season as well. “Undeclared” stars Jay Ba-ruchel as a lost young adult desperately trying to become self-aware in college. The show also stars Seth Rogen, and creates that balance of humor and substance Ap-atow has in his shows and films. Whether it’s due to poor time slots or just realizing its brilliance a little too late, this show was also canceled after the first season. While not quite as amazing as “Freaks and Geeks”, “Undeclared” is definitely worth watching.

21 Jump Street (Hulu)No, not the Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum movie, but the classic 80s TV series. This was Johnny Depp’s big break, and it’s a must-watch. Depp plays an undercover cop in high school like the premise of the movie, but unlike the film, the series covers issues like alcoholism, homophobia, AIDS, hate crimes, child abuse, drug abuse and sexual promiscuity. This show could have easily been a campy-after school special if not for Depp’s commanding presence.

Moone Boy (Hulu)This quirky, family-centered comedy follows the Moone Family, focusing in on the young-est in the family, 12-year-old Martin, and his imaginary friend, Seán Murphy, played by hilarious actor, Chris O’Dowd. Set in rural Ireland in the late eighties/early nineties, it combines surrealism, comedy and family. It has six episodes per season and its third season is being written currently.

allchristiannews.com

The Warrior•SportsMarch 7, 201419

Is the NFL Locker Room and World Ready for Sam? Former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam publicly an-nounced he was gay in a recent interview with ESPN’s “Outside The Lines.” Sam’s announcement has been widely considered an act of courage, as he is prepar-ing for the NFL draft, which is to be held on the weekend of May 8-10. While many NFL franchis-es have already issued statements that they would welcome Sam into their organizations with open arms, the NFL has a reputation of having a homophobic culture, and it is still unknown what type of reception Sam will receive when he enters the NFL. First let’s look at the good news. It’s already been proven that Sam could be in a football locker room without creating a “distraction” to his teammates. This was the case last year when Sam came out to his college teammates at Missouri, which, if anything, even further supports Sam’s case as there are almost twice as many players on a col-lege roster as an NFL squad. He could also be regarded as an in-spiration to many gay athletes and convince them that they can make it in the world of sports. And with Sam and NBA cen-ter Jason Collins both “coming

out” in the last calendar year, the number of openly gay athletes in major American sports could see a significant increase in future years, helping change many peo-ple’s perceptions of homosexuals in sports. In other words, Sam’s courage may help cause a domino effect that could eventually lead to gay people being more widely accepted not just by fellow ath-letes but by the sports community (fans, players, team officials, etc.) as a whole. This could eventually lead to a growing tolerance and acceptance level of gay people in a more general context. Now for the bad news. Ac-cording to an article in The Washington Post, many NFL team officials said that Sam’s an-nouncement caused a significant drop in his NFL Draft stock, mov-ing him from the middle rounds of the draft to the later rounds because of his potential to be-come a distraction. Additionally, while many players have voiced support for Sam in recent weeks, a recent investigative report into bullying in the locker room of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins found that offensive lineman Richie Incog-nito and other teammates regular-ly used gay slurs against a rookie teammate, who wasn’t even gay. While a majority of Americans support gay marriage, millions,

including Sam’s own father, do not. Sam’s father said he “didn’t want his grandkids to grow up in that environment.” While most aspiring NFL players are drafted based on their playing skills and NFL readi-ness, NFL owners and coaches will have to consider much more when drafting Sam, including how well he will fit in the locker room and if his being gay could be a distraction to players. Sam will also be facing much more media attention and scrutiny than other potential draftees, which he will have to learn how to ignore. Sam surely knows that he will not be accepted by every player and fan, but he has already shown the courage to overcome these obstacles by coming out to the general public before May’s NFL Draft. While he’s already said he doesn’t want to get too involved in gay rights debates, Sam will certainly become an in-spiration to aspiring gay athletes everywhere.

Softball Looks to Veteran Leadershipby Kaleigh Homer ‘15

Even with the departure of their longtime coach as well as the graduation of some key play-ers, the girls’ softball team will enter the season with plenty of reasons to believe they can win a third consecutive 4A state cham-pionship. The Warriors will begin the season nationally ranked at num-ber 37, and second in the state be-hind Northern High School from Owings Mill. Senior Meggie De-jter, who was the team’s ace in 2012-2013, is looking forward to leading the ladies to one last state title before she graduates. Although outfielder Amelia Naik, third baseman Kelsey Line-berger and first baseman Megan McDonough all graduated last year, returning players include juniors Juliane Swarr and Nicole Stockinger and seniors Marybeth Bidwick, Dejter, Addie Armbrust-er and Rae Harrison. Stockinger will play a huge part for the War-rior offense; in her sophomore season she hit 12 home runs in 21 games. Dejter was the team’s star pitcher last season, maintain-ing a .90 earned run average and

12 shutouts in her junior year, and will once again be primed to lead the girls to another title. The senior also knows how to pitch under pressure after pitching a one-hitter in the 2012 state cham-pionship. “I believe states is possible this year because we have a great pitcher and awesome defense. We just need to not take anything for granted; we just need to work hard and keep our eyes on the prize,” said Swarr. The retirement of legendary coach Pat Flanagan also should not impede the Warriors’ aspi-rations, because the team has found a very capable replacement in former JV coach Ashley Bar-ber-Strunk. Flanagan turned the program around during her time in Sandy Spring, leaving a team which is currently on a 42-game winning streak in addition to the two consecutive state champion-ships they have won. “I am thrilled for this; it is something I have been waiting for,” said Barber-Strunk. “I have been playing since I was little and went DII and won the NCAA my senior year. I have the passion and the love of the sport to coach.”

by Will Van Gelder ‘16

Softball-Next Games: Northern; March 15 at 12 pm at Northern Wootton; March 21 at 3:30 pm at Sherwood

-Key News: The Warriors are ranked 37th nationally coming into the season, after winning back-to-back 4A State Championships. The team hopes to continue its 42-game win streak behind All-Met players senior Meggie Dejter and junior Nicole Stockinger.

The Warrior•SportsMarch 7, 201420

The ‘Fresh Five’ Four Years Later Seniors Kasey Rosen, Lisa Intoccia, Addie Armbruster, Rae Harrison and Meggie Dejter gar-nered attention as freshmen when they were each photographed and individually quoted in the school yearbook after they made varsity softball. The team is now made up of the latter three, who look to play huge roles in the 2014 cam-paign. Two state championships later, these Warriors are looking for the perfect ending to their careers, which began with them learning from older and more ex-perienced players. Being the youngest player on a team usually means one has a lot to prove. The case was no dif-ferent with this team, where the girls felt like they needed to earn everything. “When I first made the team I was really excited to play with and learn from all the older girls,” said Intoccia. “Play-ing with girls who had been play-ing at such a competitive level for so long really pushed us young-er girls to keep up and prove we were good enough to earn a start-ing spot on varsity.” Rosen stopped playing soft-ball after her sophomore year, after capturing the first of now two state championships. Already with two years of JV volleyball under her belt, she decided she would play club and coed volley-ball in addition to her duties as part of the varsity girls’ volleyball team for her final two years at Sherwood. “After playing softball for so long, I really wanted to try to find something new, and that’s when I discovered volleyball,” said Ros-en. “Volleyball was just some-thing new and it started to grow on me.” Intoccia stopped playing softball also, after it had long played a large role in her life. She injured her back going into junior

by Joey Lavoie ‘14

year which made the decision to leave the team a little easier. The injury also forced her to end her volleyball career after discover-ing the sport the same way Rosen did after entering Sherwood. Armbruster looks to continue to control the outfield after three years of playing under long time coach Pat Flanagan. Last season she started in left field, but will look to move around more this season with new coach Ashley Barber-Strunk at the helm. Arm-bruster was a part of an Olney Cougars travel softball team with several current players including seniors Dejter, Marybeth Bid-wick, Rachel Ames and juniors Julie Swarr and Nicole Stock-inger. “Since we’ve played together for so long we’re extremely com-fortable around each other and we really mesh well as a team,” said Armbruster. “In more of a game

sense we know everyone’s habits and strengths so we know how to motivate each other and know their abilities.” Harrison has a very different view of the field, playing catcher and having the role as field cap-tain from behind the plate. After playing behind the plate with Class of 2012 graduate Kristen Holonich her freshman year, Har-rison took over the starting role and never looked back. In her two years behind the plate, she has primarily caught for two players, Kailyn Cohen (’13) and Dejter. This experience has allowed for her to grow very familiar with her pitchers, both as fellow team-mates and friends. “Catching for Meggie and Kailyn over the years since we started softball has helped,” said Harrison. “They’re both talented pitchers and batters have trouble catching up to them. Meg and

Basketball Run Ends Early at Springbrookby Zach Stubblefield ‘15

Boys’ basketball’s playoff run came to an end on Wednes-day night when the Warriors fell to Springbrook by a final score of 74-52. Sherwood had won its first-round playoff game on Feb-ruary 28 with a 53-47 win against Paint Branch. The victory over Paint Branch was a rough and tumble affair. In the first half, bodies were hitting the floor on many possessions on both ends of the court as Paint Branch built a small lead going into halftime. The sec-ond half is when Sherwood real-ly started to take control of the game. Junior Xavier McCants opened up the third quarter with four early points that helped the Warriors get into a rhythm. The final score of the game does not tell the whole story, as Sherwood

dominated Paint Branch in almost every aspect of the game during the second half. Unfortunately, Sherwood could not replicate the sec-ond-half magic when they played Springbrook, which finished the regular season with a 20-2 record. Sherwood played from behind for virtually the whole game. Despite this, they were able to keep the score relatively close until about midway through the third quarter when Springbrook pulled away. Despite the loss Coach, Tim Gilchrist was still proud of his team. “Our team matched Spring-brook’s toughness the entire game and were resilient when it would have been much easier to just roll over and give up,” said Gilchrist. The season can only be re-garded as a success when one considers that the team lost four starters from last season, includ-

ing their top scorer, Brandon Lo-iocono, and got a new coach, Tim Gilchrist. With McCants among the returning players next season, the team looks to build on the foundation that begun this season under Glichrist. Senior center Ellis Dozier says “It was a great season and thankfully I had a great group of teammates who made my senior year really special,” said senior center Ellis Dozier. Next season the Warriors will look up to three players who had substantial amounts of playing time with this year’s team. The team will also count on a new group of sophomores who were brought up to varsity to play during the final few games of the season. With this group Gilchrist will be given plenty of opportu-nities to lead the Warriors during his second season.

From left: Seniors Addie Armbruster, Lisa Intoccia, Rae Harrison, Meggie Dejter and Kasey Rosen were a part of the 2012 softball state championship team after going undefeated during the regular season.

“It’s exciting. [Before this year] I played with the Olney Cougars for five or six years.” -Addie Armbruster

“I can’t wait to go to states, if we make it! I played outside school [before].” -Rae Harrison

“It’s a good experience to work with the upper-classmen. They work you harder and you have to impress them. They push you to do your best.” -Kasey Rosen

“It’s an honor, but it’s in-timidating knowing that you’re supposed to be the really good freshman, and everyone has expec-tations that you can’t always fill.”

-Meggie Dejter

“I’m kind of excited to play with all the upper-classmen and learn from them. I wasn’t expecting to make varisty, but it was a suprise. I’m happy about it.” -Lisa Intoccia

Seniors Ty Reeves, Giovanni Smith and junior Hunter Moore battle for a rebound with a Paint Branch player during the Warriors’ 53-47 win.

Then

I like to go through every pitch and talk about where we want it to go and when to throw it which we say helps us get in sync for games.” Dejter is going to continue to play a key role on the mound after committing to play Divi-sion I college softball at Towson University. Dejter will have a lot pressure on her shoulders to per-form for the now two-time unde-feated Warriors, after having one of the most incredible seasons in Sherwood history. “Playing all four years with Rae as my catcher has been great; these first three years we’ve re-ally gotten comfortable together because we’ve been through all the big games and even the bad games,” said Dejter. “We have that experience that’s been build-ing up these past four years which is good because now we know kind of what to expect.”

In the 2011 yearbook, five freshman athletes were profiled for their athletic excellence when they all made varsity softball in the spring.

Jack Armstrong ‘15

Now

Jack Armstrong ‘15