Day of Service plants seeds for change

V OLUME 7 , ISSUE 6

MARCH 28, 2014 Digital Desktop

DIGITAL HARBOR HIGH SCHOOL #416

School News 2-4

Catching Up With… 5

Overcoming Odds 6-7

Student News 8-9

Around the School 10-11

Teacher Features 12-15

Technology 16

Cultural Corner 17

Sports 18-19

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Gavin and his

class helped out around the building. “We are go-ing to go put flyers for DigiBall on car wind-shields, the idea being that it’s a good cause,” Mr. Gavin said. He added, “I like that it breaks up the regular school day. A day where it’s productive, but at same time, we’re doing something that breaks the monotony.” RAMdom Access em-ployees also helped out. “For our day of service, we are restocking the store so students are able to come here and buy what they need,” said freshman Elijah Jenkins. By the end of the day, students had volunteered

Digital Desktop 2014 Staff: Aaliyah Burns Chelsey Buschmann Nicolette Catlett Kevin Clark Cierra Earle Cory Forman Aronson Francis Mitchell Karla Gallardo Janice Grey Jerry Hobby Kenon Johnson Dequane Jones Tyjermira Jones Emily Marshall Patricia Moreno-Urbano Edmond Okerson Kelly Perez Bryan Swann Claudia Thomas Christian Tolentino Diamond Wilkins

Advisor Daniel Sass djsass@bcps.k12.md.us Room 464

at local schools, raised awareness for the Blood Drive and for suicide pre-vention, written letters to soldiers, learned about and raised funds for local non-profits and charities, cleaned up the school and the local communities, organized supplies, and done their part to help make Digital Harbor a better place. Digital’s Day of Service was a success.

By BRYAN SWANN

Digital Harbor students and staff each took time out of their day for the Day of Service on March 7, a “make-up day” after the last Day of Service was snowed out. Junior Patience Hum-phrey joined with other students and spent the day presenting and pro-moting an upcoming event with a big cause. “I’m promoting the Blood Drive,” Humphrey said. The Day of Service “is a day to do something good for the school,” she added, and it seems to her like her promoting and hard work is paying off. “People are coming up to us in the hallway asking to sign up, and we’re get-ting a lot of people to sign up in classes.” It wasn’t just students that worked hard, but teachers as well. Mr.

Photos by staff Clockwise from upper left: Mr. Ober and students work in the bike room; Ms. Keen, Erwin Alacron, and Alejandra Mejia read to students at Thomas Johnson Elementary Middle School; Ms. Golightly’s students promote the Blood Drive; Ms. Simmons’s students raise awareness for suicide prevention.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — L IFE AT D IGITAL H ARBOR P AGE 2

Mr. Sass’s Note: One Picture Says it All is a new section in the Digital Desktop. In this section, we have selected one photograph that captures the atmosphere of Digital Har-bor High School during the time of publication. If you have a photograph you’d like to submit for One Picture Says it All, please email it to Mr. Sass at djsass@bcps.k12.md.us. The winner for April/May will be published in the next edition. Anyone can apply. Why this photo? This photo was selected as the “One Picture Says it All” winner for Edition 2 of the second semester. Here, Digital Harbor ESOL teacher Ms. Callaghan (right), poses with an educator from Ghana. Ms. Callaghan is in Ghana with “Teachers for Global Classrooms.” In Ghana, she is meeting with local educators, teaching at Chemu Secon-dary School, and learning about the history of Ghana, its culture, and its education system. A full story will ap-pear in the next edition of the Desktop.

Life at DHHS: One picture says it all...

By DR. BOWDEN, Vice Principal DigiBall raises $30,000-$50,000 per year to help Digital Harbor stu-dents realize their dream of attending the college of their choice. Members of the Federal Hill community, most of whom do not have children in Balti-more schools, voluntarily partner with Digital staff to give a great deal of time and money to help students. DigiBall is an outgrowth of the Digital Harbor Advisory Board which wanted to raise funds for scholarships for worthy stu-dents. The brainchild of Keith Mitzner and Jim Shapiro, DigiBall, first held in 2010, has grown each year and is now the signature event of the Digital Har-bor Alliance, the fundraising non-profit formed to support the school. Scholarships range from $500 to $5,000 and usually bridge the gap be-tween grants, loans, and family contri-butions to meet tuition costs. Often this makes attending a costly college possible. Students must apply through the Baltimore Community Foundation and meet all academic, admissions,

and financial, criteria. Digital Harbor Alliance members interview candi-dates and review materials provided by the students and the school. They then award scholarships based on need and potential for success. Schol-arships are for one year and are re-newable if students reapply. Ashly McClure who graduated from Digital Harbor in 2008 received much-needed financial support from the Digital Harbor Alliance. “The scholarship helped fill in the gap and it meant so much to me and others who came behind.” She is the only Digital Harbor grad to receive this scholarship for three years. She graduated from UMBC in 2013 and is applying to medical school. She was named the Outstanding Young Alum from Digital Harbor last year. Jonnie Kay McLean, DHHS Advi-sory Board and Alliance member said, “The DHHS Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, continues to strive to expand its programs and offerings to Digital Harbor High School. Our primary focus is to provide opportunities for

Digital Harbor High graduates to further their education. To date we have raised over $200,000 and have awarded 77 scholarships. Those first DigiBall scholarship recipients have either graduated or will gradu-ate this year: three have earned AA degrees with two more doing so this year; three more have earned BA degrees and by the end of this calen-dar year eleven more will have re-ceived their BA degrees.” DigiBall will be held Sat., April 5 from 7-11 PM at the Museum of In-dustry. Ms. Schmidt is the chairper-son and Ms. DiVito and Ms. Skipper are running the silent auction. Many Digital Harbor faculty members will attend and are con-tributing time and effort to make the event a success. The goal is for an attendance of 300 people to raise $50,000 for scholarships.

A look at DigiBall 5.0: Dollars for Scholars

D IGITAL DESKTOP — SCHOOL NEWS P AGE 3

Rai launches science and tech. website By CHRISTIAN TOLENTINO

Digital Harbor junior Birendra Rai and Catonsville High junior Madhav Bajgai, a former Digital Harbor student, are official web designers, as they have both cre-ated a website about science and technology called Nultic.com. “We came up with a few possi-ble names and asked people to vote, and they voted on Nultic. It is a completely made up word, but it sounds cool,” said Rai. Rai is always up for any chal-lenge that he can find, and in the past Rai had created websites for fun. But this time, Rai wanted to create a site that people can use to access articles about news about either science or technology. He envisions the website as a blog or a wiki, where people can publish, share, or write articles about their research. Rai said, “The purpose of Nultic is to provide professional level experience to students who re-search science and technology.” He added, “When students are done with their articles, they get to work with professional editors

including Mr. Sass and my former mentor Ms. Gina Gabelia, who recently earned her Master’s at Johns Hopkins, and then they will post the final version on Nultic.” Eventually, Rai hopes that stu-dents can learn how to edit their articles by themselves or that a peer-editing program can be es-tablished where students can get trained to become editors. Nultic was created in Word-Press, an online platform where you can create a website by post-ing and uploading content and sharing that content with others. Bajgai said, “In WordPress, we

wanted to create a blog site where we could post scientific and techie things, and that’s what we have done.” The students are more than just web designers though. Rai is in the process of attempting to start a club at Digital Harbor called the Experiment Club, where students will be able to have access to all kinds of equipment and facilities. Ms. Golightly, the faculty advisor of the club, said, “Experiment Club is all about the field of sci-ence and researching.” Experi-ment Club helps student learn more about science. Rai said of the club, “Students would get to con-duct experiments on any field of science they are interested in, or they could use the computer to conduct research. Being in the Experiment Club will make stu-dents’ résumés much stronger, especially if they want a career in STEM.” If you want to join the Experi-ment Club, you can either talk to Rai, senior Jean-Marie Zotamou, or Ms. Golightly. And definitely check out Nultic.com.

Photos by Christian Tolentino

Above: A screenshot of Nultic.com. Left: From left to right: Zotamou, Ms. Golightly, Rai, and Ms. Darshan meet during Experiment Club.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — SCHOOL NEWS P AGE 4

By JANICE GREY

School nurse Ms. Baldwin has been at Digital Harbor since the school was Southern High School, but she is leaving to go Howard County to begin a similar nursing job at an elementary school. She loved her time at Digital Harbor, and she said of her deci-sion to leave, “It was a very hard decision, and I was not planning to leave. I have been with the school-based health clinics for almost 19 years, and due to some things go-ing on in my family, the new job I’ll be taking in Howard County will make that a little bit easier, so it’s

just the logistics I needed to do for my family.” She has heard good things about her new job, and is excited for the change. “I am leaving here to go to work in the Howard County Health Department. The Howard County Health Department is opening up their very first school-based health clinic. Here in Baltimore, we’ve been doing this for maybe 30 years, and Howard County has not had this, so that’s an opportunity for me to bring what I know from school-based health clinics here and take it to a new county,” she said. Although it sounds like it, Nurse

Baldwin’s new school is not actu-ally named after her. “I’ll be working at Baldwin Bridge Ele-mentary School in Howard County, working with the little kids instead of the big kids,” said Nurse Baldwin of her new job. Nurse Baldwin said that the opportunity is a good one for her, but she will definitely be missed by the students, the teachers, and her colleagues at Digital Harbor.

Digital says goodbye to Nurse Baldwin

Photo by Janice Grey Nurse Baldwin does paperwork in her office during one of her last days at Digital Harbor.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — CATCHING UP W ITH. . . P AGE 5

Valdez, ’13, finds success at Trinity Univ.

By KEVIN CLARK

Charlene Valdez, class of 2013, currently attends Trinity Univer-sity, a women’s college in Wash-ington, D.C. Valdez had a lot to say about the differences between life at Digital Harbor and life in college. “In a way, things have gotten a lot more difficult, not only because of entering my first year in college, but because I am now living on my own on a college campus,” she said. The financial aspect certainly adds to the difficulty. She added, “I have to pay for my own ex-penses and have to work and go to school at the same time, while also studying for my classes.” Thankfully, Valdez is doing well academically. “Studying isn’t all that bad, but it is necessary,” she added. Valdez is quick to thank Digital Harbor for helping her reach suc-cess. “I owe a lot to our teachers, Ms. Callaghan and Mr. Sass. They’ve helped me a lot and, I am thankful.” But still, college took her by surprise. Valdez said, “College is definitely a lot more challenging than I expected. Even though I go to a fairly easy school and take easy courses, the work load is quite difficult for me to learn how to manage, especially after casu-

ally floating through high school. “Getting a ‘C’ in college takes a super drastic toll on your overall GPA,” she added. Valdez appreciates that her pro-fessors are preparing her for life after college. “College has really opened my eyes to what I should be expecting in the real world as far as work and being independent goes. In high school, your teachers will remind you and penalize you for not doing work. In college, it's all on you and the choices you de-cide to make. Nonetheless, I have figured out what my strengths and weaknesses are in regards to the work I do and how I manage my time,” Valdez said. Many students at Digital Har-bor think college is about partying and having fun, but Valdez has other ideas in mind. “Time man-agement is critical to your survival of college. I hardly ever party be-cause I want to maintain good grades in school. High school is like a walk in the park compared to college life, but once you get the hang of things, it gets a lot easier,”

she said. Valdez is currently undecided on her major, but is looking into becoming a biology major at Trin-ity. She is currently taking five courses, and her freshman year is a busy one. She also recently won an award for being on the Dean’s List. Val-dez said, “What was holding me back from even making the cut was my mathematics course. I had a really hard time catching up with it, but I managed to get a ‘B’ in the end of it all and make it to Dean’s List. It took a lot of effort.” Valdez has shown that college can help people understand the importance of responsibility, and her year at Trinity has helped her grow and mature into a young woman.

Photos courtesy of Charlene Valdez

Above: Valdez poses with her Dean’s List award for her first semester at Trinity University Bottom: Valdez poses in her dorm room.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — STUDENTS OVERCOMING ODDS P AGE 6

By EMILY MARSHALL

Many students have stories that others may not know about. Digital Harbor senior Ashley Piner has a story she wants to tell. Piner was adopted as a baby, at the age of 18 months old, by her grandparents. She said, “I like how it worked out, because I know that being adopted was what was best for me.” Piner was very happy when she first found out that she was adopted. She said, “Being adopted doesn’t make me feel different. In fact, it makes me feel lucky to have not only two parents, but four.” Knowing about her adoption has not led to any negative effects for Piner, but it does impact her ability to trust her birth mother. She has

worked hard to separate her mother from “other people,” and Piner said that any trust issues do not extend beyond her family. Mr. Paul and Mrs. Linda Piner decided to adopt Piner when things became out of control in her house. They knew that Ashley’s parents were too young to raise a child, as her parents were only 16 years old when she was born. Mrs. Linda Piner said, “Ashley’s parents still interact with her, her father, my son, helps out both fi-nancially and physically.” Ashley is close to her grandpar-ents, and she appreciates every-thing they have done for her. She said, “I don’t know where I would be without them, but I am grateful that they have provided nothing

but the best for me.” Ashley will graduate in June, and as she walks across the stage, she will hear applause from her entire family.

Piner redefines the meaning of “family”

By CHELSEY BUSCHMANN

Imagine having two children and still finding the time to balance motherhood and school. Senior Triny Tejada has done just that. Tejada is set to graduate in June, and she has two beautiful little girls and a boyfriend, Devren Yarbor-ough, the father of her children. Her first child, Aubrey, is now 18

months old. Te-jada said, “I am so happy to have my little prin-cesses. I have had two little girls and want no more children.” Tejada re-cently missed a few weeks of school after her second baby, Sophia, was born. Sophia is now four months old, Tejada is back in school, and she

couldn’t be happier. “I feel like my family is finally complete,” she said. Yarborough, a former Digital Harbor student, said, “I am happy that I have both of my little girls,” but he admits that he would have liked a boy. He currently works six days a week to support his family and make sure that they have food, money, and clothing, and that they

are cared for. He said, “I would do anything and everything for my family, as long as they are happy.” Tejada has support systems, including her family, Yarborough, and her teachers. One teacher Tejada is very close to is media teacher Ms. McConnell, who has helped Tejada with school and family issues. Tejada said, “I want to give a special thank you to Ms. McConnell for all the things she has done for me and for all the support she has given me and will continue to give me.” Being a teenager and having a family is a very scary feeling, but if you can juggle a job, school, and your family, it is still possible to graduate. No one ever said it would be easy, but Tejada would say that it is definitely worth it.

Tejada juggles motherhood and studies

Photo by Nicolette Catlett Ashley Piner completes an assign-ment in Mrs. Manion’s class.

Photo courtesy of Triny Tejada Senior Triny Tejada poses with her boyfriend, Devren Yarborough, her newborn daughter Sophia, and her 18-month old, Aubrey.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — STUDENTS OVERCOMING ODDS P AGE 7

By JERRY HOBBY

Senior Khalil Holmes-Johnson is an artist. “I have been drawing dragons and mythological crea-tures for three years, and I think I have improved my drawing skills from when I first started. Espe-cially on my shading,” he said. Why dragons and mythological creatures? “What inspires me to draw [them] is my passion for them in general. Dragons and mythological creatures are the only things I draw, because that’s what I am best at,” he said. A lot of the figures that Holmes-Johnson draws are made up in his mind. “Drawing dragons and crea-tures and things that come natu-

rally…I feel like as though I was born with the talent. It comes so naturally to me, like I have always known how to do it,” he said. “Drawing dragons to me is just like breathing to me. I don’t even think about it. I just do it,” he added. With Holmes-Johnson set to graduate in June, he is thinking about his future. “I think I could definitely make a career [out of drawings] when I get older, be-cause I have the talent. A lot of people know how to draw, but they only know how to draw certain things, and I know how to draw dragons and creatures, which not a lot of people can do,” he said. Holmes-Johnson added, “I hope I

can do this for the rest of my life because I love drawing.”

Holmes-Johnson is a “natural” at drawing

By KARLA GALLARDO

There are 28 dead young protest-ers and another 365 injured protest-ers in Venezuela. But Digital Harbor junior Erwin Alarcon accepts the violence in his country. “It’s something that needs to happen for the country to make progress and get better," he said. However, Alarcon thinks that it is a bad situation, because it is having a big impact on students there. Many of them are being arrested, hurt, and even killed. "The govern-ment is not able to fulfill its duties," he added, "and this makes my coun-try furious, and it's the reason why

people are protest-ing." Alarcon thinks that the change of moving from Vene-zuela to the United States has been good, and he does not have any diffi-culties adapting to a new country. "Everything is dif-ferent, but the economic situation is better here. I still love my coun-try," he added. Ms. Callaghan is Alarcon’s Eng-lish teacher. "For a minute, at the beginning, I was a little worried, but I can tell now that he really cares about school, his education, his grades, and doing well in school," she said. "I think making the change to come here is such a big change that it takes a lot of a person's attention just to deal with adjusting to what they have to deal with here," she added. Alarcon has family members in Venezuela, and he is worried about them, but he hopes that all of the dreams of positive change are

worth the suffering of the people and that the situation soon changes.

Alarcon reflects on turmoil in home country

Photo by Cory Forman Khalil Holmes-Johnson draws some dragons and other mythical crea-tures during his free time.

Photo by Karla Gallardo Photo courtesy of BBC

Left: Edwin Alarcon completes an assignment in math class. Right: Women protest in San Cristo-bal, Venezuela.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — STUDENT NEWS P AGE 8

Official Ravens photographer visits Digital

Special to the Digital Desktop By DESTINY HADEL Junior Destiny Hadel is a student in Mr. Dizard’s photography class. Hadel currently runs her own pho-tography business, called Destiny Hadel Photography, and she hopes to pursue a career in photography.

Ravens fans have seen his pho-tos everywhere, including on the team’s Instagram and Facebook pages. Professional photographer Shawn Hubbard has captured hundreds of breathtaking photo-graphs to document the history of the Baltimore Ravens.

Taking time out of his schedule, Mr. Hubbard generously visited Mr. Dizard’s photography class on March 7. He shared his experi-ences, detailing how he got to where he is today, and he advised students to take any opportunities that may come their way. Picking up his first camera as a junior in high school, Hubbard never imagined that he would later be the Ravens official pho-tographer. His story about how life took him in unimaginable direc-tions makes Hubbard an inspira-tion and role model for anyone who may be interested in photog-

raphy as a possible career path. Going on more than seven years in the photography business, Hub-bard is proof that it is a sensible career option. Many people want to make a living doing what they love, but few actually get the op-portunity to do so. Combining passion for photography with the excitement of football, Hubbard is living the dream. As a student with similar dreams to Hubbard’s, I will defi-nitely remember his presentation and his advice for years to come. His work will continuously be an inspiration to me and countless others.

Photos by Mr. Dizard

Clockwise from top: Destiny Hadel, junior, prepares to take a photograph as Shawn Hubbard looks on; Shawn Hubbard addresses Mr. Dizard’s class about his career as a professional photographer for the Baltimore Ravens; Travis Walker, senior, uses Hubbard’s camera to take a photograph of Mr. Dizard’s students.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — AROUND THE SCHOO L

DI

P AGE 9

D IGITAL DESKTOP — STUDENT NEWS P AGE 9

Digital’s seniors begin planning ahead

Story and photos by CIERRA EARLE

Joseph Fales, above: Fales is nervous about graduating, but he is ready to go. He has been ac-cepted to Stevenson University, where he wants to become an English teacher. After college, he wants to settle with his girlfriend and find a place to teach. He said that Mr. Sass, Mr. Hill, and Mr. Topa have been the most influential people in this school. Mr. Sass showed him that college is worth pursuing. Mr. Hill showed him that he can do something in life. Mr. Topa has influenced him because hav-ing an intern who was currently in college showed Fales that succeeding in college was possible.

The class of 2014 talks about college, life, jobs, and plans for the future.

Eden Cabiness, left: Cabiness is excited about graduating this year and thinks she is ready for what lies ahead. She was accepted to CCBC but wants to attend MICA. Af-ter she graduates, she wants to work at the Oriole’s team store, but she also wants to get a job at a dance studio. She said that Mr. Conway has been the most influential person in this school, as he has helped her get to where she is today because he helped bring out her artistic potential.

Tristian Davis, below: Davis feels good about graduating and preparing for college. He does not know what college he wants to attend yet, but he knows he wants to pursue a career in technology. After he graduates he wants to keep playing basketball and get a job in a technol-ogy field. He said that Coach Brandon (Pops) has been the most influential person in this school because Pops has always been on his back, making sure that Davis does what he needs to do in class, and Pops has always been there for him.

Rakell Martin, right: Martin is happy to be graduating this year, admitted that she is scared be-cause graduation is approaching too quickly. She wants to attend Coppin State for nursing. After she graduates, she wants to go to the Army. She said that Ms. Bruce has been the most influential person in this school to get her where she is today, because Ms. Bruce has pushed her to attend every class and stay focused academically.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — AROUND THE SCHOO L

DI

P AGE 10

Photos by Wesley Hall

Above: Students pose in clothing traditionally worn in their native countries. Left: Students hold flags from their native countries during the flag ceremony at the International Fair.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — SPRING BREAK! P AGE 10

Spring Break, Baby!

Digital staff & students discuss plans By TYJERMIRA JONES

Mrs. Manion Music teacher

I’ll spend my time at home, which is on the outskirts of Annapolis. I’ll be preparing my boat for the boating season by un-winterizing it and bottom painting it. I hope to get it in by the end of the week so my boating season can begin!

Justin Harris Sophomore

I’m planning to spend my spring break by being outside, enjoying the weather, and skateboarding. And I was thinking about going to Myrtle Beach.

Anthony Grandson Freshman

I’ll be going out places and finish-ing up driving school, hanging out with friends, and starting to write some music, so I can plan on my music career. And I’ll be spending some time relaxing and watching TV.

Dasia Matthews Junior

For Spring Break, I’m planning to be working and just enjoying the nice weather.

Ms. Smolen Science teacher

I will be going to see friends in Virginia Beach and Atlanta. Then, I am going back to Long Island, in New York, to see my family and celebrate the holidays.

Mykia Coleman Senior

I’m planning to spend my Spring Break spending time with my family and friends. And being out-side enjoying the hopefully nice weather.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — AROUND THE SCHOO L P AGE 11

By CORY FORMAN and DIAMOND WILKINS

Digital Harbor is home to more than 1,300 unique students. But did you know that there are many sets of twins in the building? Here is a look at three pairs of twins and how they interact with each other, with their teachers, and with other students. “It is okay to be a twin, it doesn’t feel any different,” said junior Dia-mond Moore. She added, “Because people often get us mixed up, we try to dress and act differently from each other.” Diamond shared that she has different hobbies from her sister, such as swimming, and she enjoys technology. But they do

not do many things different from each other because they are so close. “We sometimes have twin te-lepathy, where most of the time I know what my sister is about to say or what she is thinking,” said Do-minique Moore. “My favorite thing about being a twin is that my sister is always there when I need her, and I know if I don’t have anybody, I can always count on her,” she added, with Diamond nodding in agreement. “Once you know you’re a twin, it’s like you can never imagine your life without one,” said junior Se-vasti Chaplin. “Jackie and I live a

separate life, and we have different personalities,” she added. “I’m more of the hipster twin, I go along with everything. My sister is more of the nerdy type” she said. Jackie Chaplin agreed, and also added that she has a different style and hangs with a separate group of friends. Jackie shared that she likes to different things from her sister. “I’m an anime fan, I enjoy drawing, and I love animals.” Jackie said. Sevasti enjoys things such as skating, photography and soccer.

“One thing I dis-like about being a twin is that my sister is another person. I kind of wish we were more alike,” Sevasti said. Although Se-vasti and Jackie have a lot of differences, they still have many things in common and they often an-swer questions the exact same way at the exact same time. Seniors Jean-

Marie and Pivot Zotamou love be-ing twins. “We do everything to-gether; he’s like my best friend,” Jean-Marie said of his brother. “I’m am the more aggressive, seri-ous, and shy twin,” he added. Pivot thinks he is the friendlier twin. “I like to make friends, and I enjoy making people smile,” he said. Although Jean-Marie and Pivot are fraternal twins they still have many things in com-mon. “We like to help each other, we share

the same thoughts, and some-times we unknowingly make the same decisions.” Jean-Marie said, with Pivot agreeing. Jean-Marie added, “If I could change one thing, it would be the fact that Pivot and I don’t look alike. I would like us to look alike because I would like people to know that we are twins.” Pivot agreed, and added, “One thing we hate about being twins is that people often expect us to compete against each other and sometimes it can be hard to make our own decisions.” The next time you see one of these twins in the hallway, relax. You’re not seeing double!

Digital Harbor sees double with twin power

Photos by Diamond Wilkins and Cory Forman

From top: Dominique (left) and Diamond Moore; Jackie (left) and Sevasti Chaplin; Jean-Marie (left) and Pivot Zotamou.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — AROUND THE SCHOO L & TEACHER FEATURES P AGE 12

By AALIYAH BURNS

Sold! Junior Patience Humphrey may have just done the unthinkable and exceeded everyone’s expectations. Getting an “A” on an assignment is one thing. However, being able to mark “sold” on it is more like a

“dream.” Humphrey sold a painting that she created in Mr. Conway’s art class. “I named it ‘Love Never Gives up on You,’” said Humphrey. “It was the first one I sold,” she added. You can only imagine the thou-sands of possible emotions that may have run through Humphrey’s mind when she heard the news. “I was excited. It gave me a chance to create more paintings,” she said. “Humphrey added, “It made me feel hopeful and gave me an opportunity to show my passion for art.” When you see a person so young make this type of accom-plishment and achievement, it only makes you think of the how the she must have felt. “I felt important,” said Hum-phrey. “The person I sold it to said

that it inspired her, and that gave me all the more motivation to paint even more” she added. “When I go to school, I plan on doing programs for art,” she said. “I want to go take my art even further and have my own gallery in the Baltimore Museum of Art,” Humphrey added. “If I could describe my art work in three words, I would have to say ‘Passion for Hope,’” Humphrey said. Humphrey’s work showcases that she is a talented person with a lot of potential and has a very bright future ahead of her.

Humphrey hears an artist’s favorite word

By CLAUDIA THOMAS

Even though Digital Harbor High School biology teacher Dr. Pannu resides in Balti-more, Maryland, today, who would have thought that she is from a place that is 8,431 miles away? “I completed my Ph.D. in India and I wanted to come to USA to gain more research experience,” said Dr. Pannu. Coming to the United States was a difficult decision. “I was-n’t sure. I had my doubts,” she said. She added, “I was a little stressed about how the adjust-ment was going to be. I was both happy and stressed at the same time. Skeptical is the right word for it.” Dr. Pannu has found some differ-ences from her life in India to her life in the United States. “The In-

dian culture is more about respect for your elders and respect for your teachers. In America, it’s more like an equal relationship. You treat everyone as equal to you,” said Dr. Pannu. “So I had a big cultural ad-

justment,” she added. When it comes to moving to a new place over 8,000 miles away, becoming homesick was definitely one thing that Dr. Pannu had to come to terms with. “Extended family, the food, the familiar places I know,” said Dr. Pannu, reminiscing about the things that she misses most about her hometown in India. “The culture to some extent, also the language…” she added. But as much as Dr. Pannu misses her life in India, we are lucky to have her at Digital Harbor High

School.

Dr. Pannu reflects on her life in India

Photo courtesy of Patience Humphrey

Digital Harbor junior Patience Humphrey poses with a piece of her artwork that she sold in New York.

Photo by Claudia Thomas Dr. Pannu teaches during her fourth block biology class.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — TEACHER FEATURES P AGE 13

Catching up with former teacher, Mr. Fay

By EMILY MARSHALL

Though he was only at Digital Harbor for three years, from 2010-2013, social studies teacher Mr. Fay made quite an impact on his students. So what is he up to now? Mr. Fay decided to go back to Boston, where he attended college, in the summer of 2013. He is now living on campus at Boston Col-lege as a resident assistant, some-one who oversees and supports undergraduate college students, while he pursues a Master’s De-gree in theology and ethics. He said, “Once I am done with my Master’s degree, I want to further my education by getting my Doc-toral degree.”And Dr. Fay does have a nice ring to it. By the end of his career, Mr. Fay expects to at least have writ-ten a book about Christianity, Jus-tice, and the Common Good. He also, wants to be married with a family. He said, “Thanks to email, texting, and social media, I have

been able to keep up with col-leagues from Digital.” Mr. Fay specifically mentioned his relationship with Mr. Heine-man, who hired him to work in the social studies department. Mr. Fay said, “Even though Mr. Heineman is a Philadelphia Eagles fan, it was a privilege and honor to work for him.” Mr. Fay also had a message for Mr. Verdi. “I know who broke the swan. You should know what

I’m talking about,” he said. Mr. Fay will be returning to Baltimore in June to see the class of 2014 graduates in their caps and gowns on Graduation Day. He said, “It was difficult leaving Digi-tal Harbor’s students and staff to go back to school, but I had to go with my gut.” He believes Digital has given him so much, and it is really like a family to him. He is proud to be-long to it. Mr. Fay also has a special mes-sage for the class of 2014. He said, “Continue the hard work; continue to learn; continue to do good things throughout your life. I look forward to seeing everyone in June of 2014.”

Photos courtesy of Mr. Fay Above: Mr. Fay and students dress in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Day during Spirit Week. Left: Mr. Fay, as coach of Digital Harbor’s unified tennis team, poses with his players.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — TEACHER FEATURES P AGE 14

College prep: Juggling “Ms. Gluth” and “Mom”

By NICOLETTE CATLETT

Ms. Gluth is not only an English teacher at Digital Harbor High School. She is also a parent of a teenage daughter about to go off to college this year. Going off to college is some-thing many seniors can relate to, as they are getting closer to graduation and preparing here to start life in the real world. So what does Ms. Gluth think of raising a teenage daughter, and how does it compare to teaching? She said, "It's easy, because I'm a teacher and I am around kids all the time. But it's also difficult at times because I know where teen-agers’ choices take them if they don't make the right one." Let's face it, teenagers are not easy to handle at times, and rais-ing a teenager can often feel like a rollercoaster ride. Ms. Gluth said, "The ups are, now that she's grow-

ing up, she sees what I had to sacrifice, but the downs are that there is a lot of respon-sibility, and you get taken for granted a lot." Ms. Gluth has spent the last few months helping her daughter Lindsay apply to col-leges. She offered ad-vice to Digital stu-dents, many of whom will soon find them-selves applying as well. "Start as a freshman! But it's also not too late as a senior to get your act together," she said. Ms. Gluth added, "If I could give any advice, it would be to let your parents help you!" Technology teacher Mr. Somers has a son

that is currently attending college, and he gave Ms. Gluth, her daugh-ter Lindsay, and other people going through this situation great ad-vice on preparing for everything that come along with the college years. He said, “The advice I would give them is to keep the communications chan-nels open. And college will test many things, for example, contacting each other. Her daugh-ter is going to want more freedom, and Ms. Gluth is going to want to have more commu-nication with her daughter. I would also advise Ms. Gluth’s daughter to be amazed at whatever she does.”

Now it cannot be easy having a mother as a teacher but Lindsay, who is a senior at the Institute of Notre Dame, said, "I love it, but honestly it's because I love school. I feel like seeing my mom's per-spective on being a teacher helps me understand my own teachers better, and it motivates me to be the student my mom sees as ‘ideal.’ It’s hard work, but I think it's worth it." As you can see having a mother as a teacher while you are a teen-ager is not as bad as it seems, and being that mother raising the teenager takes patience, hard work, and love. Ms. Gluth and her daughter Lindsay make the rela-tionship work.

Photos courtesy of Ms. Gluth Left: Ms. Gluth poses for a photo. Below: Ms. Gluth’s daughter, Lind-say, is a senior at Institute of Notre Dame, and her mother has helped her with the college process.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — TEACHER FEATURES P AGE 15

Ms. Williams enjoys new disciplinarian role

By KEVIN CLARK

Once upon a time, Ms. Williams might have been your Spanish teacher. But now she is enjoying her role as Digital Harbor’s Freshman Academy Disciplinarian, where she is monitoring behavior and teaching freshmen to become ma-ture, respectable students. Ms. Williams graduated from the University of the West Indies (she is originally from Jamaica) with a Bachelor’s Degree in Span-ish and French. She has a Master’s of Arts Degree in Spanish Lan-guage and Spanish Literature Studies, but now she is focused on a career in school leadership and administration. Many teachers would not want to become a strict enforcer of dis-cipline, but Ms. Williams said, “I have always believed that behavior and academics complement each other. I have always had a passion

for helping young people develop characteristics that will shape their lives to function in a global environment, and as such stu-dents, when guided into believing and accepting that there are rules and norms in every society, they will function as better citizens. Discipline helps the school envi-ronment to be more conducive to learning.” Becoming the Freshman Acad-emy Disciplinarian does mean more work, and more work can sometimes take a toll on a person. However, Ms. Williams does not mind the increased workload. She has been teaching full time for the past 18 years, so she misses having more than one class of students to teach. But something good has to come out of not teaching full time anymore. Ms. Williams said, “ I yearn to offer more to students in the as-

pect of how they respect and learn to live with other people in society without being confrontational, participating in fights, initiating disturbances, and instead appreci-ating that everyone has the right to feel respected, safe, and com-fortable in every environment.” As Digital tries something new this year, Ms. Williams and the freshmen will cooperate to make the Freshman Academy a safe, secure learning environment, and many of her former students and colleagues wish her the best in her new role.

Photo by Kevin Clark Ms. Williams meets with a freshman in her office in her new role as Fresh-man Academy Disciplinarian. She is still teaching Spanish part-time, and is moving towards a career in school leadership and administration.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — V IDEO GAMES P AGE 16

Post-PC products overtake gaming industry

By BRYAN SWANN

Post-PC products, like smart phones and tablets, are now the center of our lives. Contacting friends has never been faster; get-ting online has never been more efficient; finding your way to and from anywhere is now a snap. They bring us the latest news, allow us to take pictures of any-thing in sight, and enable us to buy tickets to a movie, train or aircraft. These technological mar-vels have also put objects like alarm clocks, cameras and calen-dars in the obsolete category, all in under the span of a decade, and with the massive performance power that these devices now have at their disposal, many companies have targeted the gaming market. PORTABLE GAMING BEGIN-NINGS The launch of portable gaming happened through Nintendo’s late 1980s release of the Game Boy, which brought the adventures and enjoyment of the Nintendo Enter-tainment System into a portable package that was simple and easy to use. With competitors making little to no impact in the 1990s,

Nintendo found itself with the key portable game system, and new game offerings like the fast growing Pokemon series brought more consumers. In 2004, Nin-tendo launched the DS (which stands for dual screen), which featured a touch screen which covered the bot-tom-half of the system, and a

display screen that covered the top-half, as well as a microphone and clamshell design to protect the screens. In 2011, Nintendo released its latest console, the 3DS, which al-lowed users to play games on a 3D display without using special glasses, and it brought massive software updates, including Miiverse, the popular social net-work, exclusive to Nintendo. In 2012, the 3DS XL was an-nounced. The XL brought essen-tially the same software experi-ence to users, but it has 90% lar-ger screens than the original and an extra hour of battery life. In a second attempt to capture the portable gaming market, Sony released the PSVita in 2012, which features dual analog sticks as well as front and rear facing touch screens. The system had an ag-gressive launch line up, but it is not selling well due to specific (and expensive) memory cards, as well as a price tag that was equal to the PlayStation 3 at launch. SMARTPHONE TAKEOVER Apple’s iPhone 5S has more technology than just the touch ID

login - the 5S is the first smart phone with a 64 bit processor, and the iPad Air features the same processor as well. While 64 bit is far off from Xbox One and Play-Station 4, it leaps over the 3DS and PSVita. This processor is a game changer because it finally brings the ability for game-console graphics in a smart phone. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is now downloadable for iOS 7 devices, proving post-pc products have now crossed the barrier that game consoles reached only a dec-ade ago. Nintendo is currently bat-tling Android and iOS devices, which are taking their core family and younger audiences. Games like Pokemon X & Y, Bravely Default and Mario Kart 7 have kept Nintendo fans around, and the announcement that 3DS will get its own version of the popular exclusive Smash Bros. has also brought the increase of sales. The 2DS, an announced and re-leased budget version of the 3DS, brought increased sales of system hardware, though the 15 million 3DS models sold last year were well below the target amount Nin-tendo was looking for. Post PC devices have already altered a large amount of the daily landscape, and the gaming indus-try has already seen considerable change from these devices.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — AROUND THE SCHOO L

DI

P AGE 17

Photos by Wesley Hall

Above: Students pose in clothing traditionally worn in their native countries. Left: Students hold flags from their native countries during the flag ceremony at the International Fair.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — CULTURAL CORNER P AGE 17

Digital Harbor’s international

community discusses challenges

By PATRICIA MORENO-URBANO

Ivan Tolentino Freshman The challenges I’m going through are learning a new language, learning new words, grammar, and pronouncing words but overall I feel special to have the chance to learn a new language.

Kaltum Suleman Junior When I started school, I didn’t have many friends. I couldn’t communicate because I didn’t speak English. English was the hardest sub-ject for me. Learning a new language is like trying a new type of food. The first time I didn’t like it, but the more I tried it, the more I loved it.

Achol Odolla Sophomore When I first came to the United States, learning a new language was tough for me, especially with speaking and pronunciation. I feel great now because I can communicate and meet new people from different countries.

Gladys Gonzalez Freshman Students would make fun of me be-cause I couldn’t say the words in Eng-lish right and the way I used them was not proper. There are many bene-fits in learning a new language. I have the chance to help out others that are struggling with English, like I once did.

Shujaat Ahmed Junior There are many challenges to learning a new language, and I want to achieve them. In order to reach my goals, I have to work hard to be successful. I feel grateful to have the opportunity to learn English.

Alexis Amaro Junior Learning a new language is a great opportunity to achieve many things in life, because now I not only know Spanish, but also English. It’s great to be bilingual, but on the other hand, my grades have been affected because I’m still learning English.

D IGITAL DESKTOP — SPORTS P AGE 18

By KENON JOHNSON

You are used to seeing them in the school as math teachers, but Mr. Fortman and Ms. Tronolone also work as coaches. In addition to teaching Math, Coach Fortman coaches the Varsity baseball team. He said, “Coaching is an outlet to help student athletes achieve their dreams.” He is still a teacher first though, and he makes sure his students attend coach class on a weekly basis.

Additionally, Coach Fortman said that he accepts nothing less than 100% on the field. He expects nothing but the best from each and single one of his athletes. He loves helping youths reach their full po-tential. Coach Fortman is also very ac-tive in the community. He leads Sunday school classes at his local church and attends church every day. Ms. Tronolone is in her fifth year teaching math, but this is her first year as a head coach. She is serving as the head coach of the Varsity softball team. She has been the assistant coach of JV softball for four years. Ms. Tronolone said, “I see this year as a rebuilding year because of so many new changes and faces.” She hopes for the best for this season. Coach Tronolone is

excited to coach. “I coach be-cause I love softball and the girls’ passion for the game. She hopes that with young talent, the team can reach a championship one day in the future.

Math teachers double as spring coaches

By EDMOND OKERSON

As the spring sports season ar-rives, many winter athletes are com-ing to the realization that the sports season is over for them. But some athletes participate in multiple sports, like seniors Jennifer Jones and Corey Mendez. Mendez was the captain of the Varsity Basketball team, and he is now a high jumper on the track and field team. He said, “It feels good going from being the captain of the basketball team and transferring to be one of the best high jumpers in the State of Maryland.” Mendez added, “I’m new to high jump, and I’m thankful that God gave me the talent so that I can call myself one of the best.” Last year, Mendez finished second in the state of Maryland, and he hopes to win a state title this year. Senior Jennifer Jones played for

Coach McDonald on the Lady Rams Varsity basket-ball team, and she also plays lacrosse. Jones said, “Playing different sports makes you broader. It makes you see things differently, but also makes you see things as the same, because you can take the technique that you learned in one sport and use it in another.” Both Jones and Mendez plan on going to the next level of the athletic career in college on a scholarship. The only question is, “Which sport will they play?”

Multi-sport athletes thrive in every season

Photos courtesy of Mr. Fortman and Ms. Tronolone

Both Ms. Tronolone and Mr. Fort-man work as math teachers and spring sports coaches.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Jones

Senior Jennifer Jones, seen here at the 2013 DigiBall 4.0, is a two-sport athlete and a standout student.

Digital Harbor High School #416

placing runners and jumpers at the top of state and national rank-ings. The Varsity football team qualified for Re-gionals in 2011 before a down year in 2012, and this year, the football team made a comeback, going 7-3 and barely missing out on Region-als. Other notable suc-cessful teams include boys’ and girls’ soccer, wrestling, boys’ tennis, and of course, the Var-sity baseball team. The baseball team has won six consecutive City Championship titles at Camden Yards, and they have found success at a Regional and State level as well. With all this success there are obviously a lot of trophies. Digital cur-rently has one main tro-phy case, which is lo-cated next to the cafete-ria and is 15 feet long. The trophy case is packed. Believe it or not, Digital Harbor’s sports teams have won enough trophies that the trophy case is entirely full. That is amazing news, but it poses a dilemma as

By ARONSON FRANCIS MITCHELL

For being a fairly new school, Digital Harbor has a lot of tro-phies. Digital Harbor’s ath-letic program has been largely successful since the school’s inception in 2002. The school currently has 15 teams that compete in Balti-more City sports. In a highly competitive dis-trict, it took a long time for many sports to be-come formidable com-petition to other more established schools like City and Poly, but Digi-tal has made its pres-ence felt. In recent years, Digital Harbor’s sports teams have found great success. The boys’ and girls’ basketball teams won state titles in 2009. The boys won again in 2011, and many other teams have had success on a re-gional, state, and even national level. The boys’ and girls’ cross country, outdoor, and indoor track teams have established them-selves as local power-houses, frequently

the school must to de-cide what to do with the abundance of trophies. Since the trophy case is full, many trophies go to first year athletic di-rector Coach Holmes. Other places in the building could hold tro-phies, but they cur-rently house academic and cultural displays. “There are multiple tro-phy cases in the school, but many of them have been vandalized by stu-dents, so it is not safe to keep trophies,” said Coach Holmes. But Digital is cur-rently in the process of converting the show-cases by the Media Cen-ter into trophy cases, and they are planning to bring another trophy case to the area by the cafeteria. Now, the sports teams must keep winning!

For ALL your school shopping

featuring

DHHS uniforms and apparel

OPEN

Monday - Friday

7-7:50 AM and 2:50-3:30 PM

Located in room 249-A

across from the 2nd floor

pathway office and inside

the cafeteria.

Market Day

Make your food shopping easy and

support Digital Harbor at the same

time.

Go to www.marketday.com

or contact Amy Chalk-Dada at DHHS

Digital’s trophy cases fill up

If you have story ideas for an upcom-ing edition of the Digital Desktop, please visit Mr. Sass in room 464 or email him at djsass@bcps.k12.md.us. Next edition:

A look at the Freshman Academy

Ms. Callaghan’s trip to Kenya

Preparing for graduation

How do AP classes gear up for the big test?

Photo by Aronson Francis Mitchell

Digital Harbor’s trophy cases are filled to the brim, and there are talks to add more trophy cases to the school.