THE PINE NEEDLEVolume XCIII St. Christopher’s School, Richmond, Virginia, February 2008 No. 4

When Pierre Molster ’08 and this year’s Student Council met for the first time this fall, they discussed what would define them as a council over the school year. They all agreed that their defining accomplishment would be their big event for the year.

The perennial favorites—the pep rally, dodgeball tourna-ment—would not be enough. Like the hair metal group of the 1980s, Twisted Sister, Molster and the Student Coun-cil decided, “I Wanna Rock.” The council chose to host a free concert for the St. Christo-pher’s student body, and quickly

set to work choosing the band. Council members suggested Keller Williams, Taj Mahal and Drive-By Truckers before deciding on Perpetual Groove. P-Groove was seen as a good band to book for their musical style that would be most acces-sible for the widest range of the student body’s musical inter-

ests. Many council members are also big fans of the band, as they frequently tour Richmond. The concert will kick off Sat-urday, May 10 in the Historic Corridor in between Chamber-layne Hall and the bookstore. This week will be a big week for the student body and espe-cially for seniors as they near their final weeks. “We wanted this to be kind of a last hurrah for seniors,” said Molster. May 10 comes in the middle of the two weeks of Advanced Place-ment exams, and a number of end-of-season sports events oc-cur as well, including the state tennis tournament among others. Carter Younts ’09 has been the liaison between the coun-cil and the band. Molster could not say enough about the role Younts played. “Please throw Carter in there, seri-ously a lot of credit should be to him,” he said. Younts con-tacted the band first and has been in contact since then. The band’s website, Pgroove.com, describes their musical style as “a genre-bending, high-ly original sound that touches upon jazz-rock, neo-psychede-lia, R&B, trance electronica, progressive rock and anthemic arena rock. Their large catalog of original music offers some-thing for everyone.” The band

P-groove’s Albert Suttle rocks out as the light show follows suit.

by Brian Kusiak ’08

Saints council lands P-Groove

See P-Groove on page 4>

Living black history: Walter Lindsey ’75

See Lindsey on page 4>

by Jabriel Hasan ’11

He’s paddled by moonlight and starlight, through heat, sleet and rain. He’s navigated fog so thick he couldn’t see his hands in front of him. Ice formations on his kayak have made him feel as though he was paddling a barge. Such are the highs and lows for Mr. Gene Bruner, Middle School English teacher, who kayaks daily on the James River. On school days, he wakes up at 4:30 a.m. just so he can get in two hours of solid paddling before school. His daily workout is the eight-mile stretch between Ro-bious Landing and Bosher Dam. A long distance runner since high school here (class of 1978), Mr. Bruner ran at The College of William & Mary and never really stopped running. He esti-mates that he has run more than 130,000 miles since high school, putting in several miles each day. However, running-relat-ed injuries began to plague Bruner as he got older. “As I approach 50, it has become more difficult to keep pace, especially with the high school athletes,” he said. “In-juries started to pile up, and I was looking for some type of exercise regime that would offer an aerobic workout as gratifying as running. I tried all sorts of activities, but noth-ing satisfied me like running.” He was out of ideas as to what he could do to stay in shape if he planned to take his focus off of running. That is, until his son Will suggested that the family rent a kayak during a beach vacation in 2004. After that, Bruner was hooked. Then age 45, he had lived in Rich-mond most of his life and had never been on the James River. “I was blown away by how beautiful and majestic the river is,” he said. “I didn’t think I was in Virginia any-more; it seemed like I was on one of the rivers from the L.L.Bean catalogue. It is cen-tral Virginia’s best kept secret.” He quickly grew into an avid fan of the sport, travelling fre-quently to places around Rich-mond and all over the state,

by Brendan Worst ’08

See Bruner on page 5>

“I was an oddity,” said Walter Lindsey, the first Af-rican- American to graduate from St. Christopher’s in 1975. Mr. Lindsey’s experience was one that “he wouldn’t re-place for the world.” He had good times and bad times, but through everything, he focused on his education. It was definitely difficult sur-viving at St. Christopher’s in the early 1970s as a minority, according to Mr. Lindsey. He was called names and suffered racial epithets, but he learned how to deal with it rarely using violence. He strove to rise above the stereotype that black people have quick tempers and often respond without control. He said that many white students simply did not know any blacks, and if they did, it was often someone who worked for their parents. It also must be taken into ac-count that the public school sys-tems just embraced integration in 1971 when mandatory busing began to take place. In his own words, “[The 1970s] was a tran-sitional time in black history.” Private schools were not part of this mandate. St. Christopher’s had just begun to really open its doors to blacks. As the Black Revolution had taken root and

began to make headway in white America through television, mu-sic and fashion, St. Christopher’s had just begun to make changes. Mr. Lindsey did not have many strong friendships. “I am not a person who establishes and joins cliques,” he said. “I have always been a person who is very independent…As far as having an entourage or a group, or being one of the popular kids, that has never been me.” Nonetheless, he never de-scribed himself as being alone. He said that he was surprised when certain people from the different cliques took an interest in him. Classmates from the class of 1975 such as Mr. Jay Moore, Mr. George Parrish and Mr. Tom Baker remember him as a quiet person who commanded respect, who left a trail blazing legacy.

“I think he changed their minds,” Mr. Baker said about students with nega-tive attitudes towards blacks. Throughout a recent phone interview, Mr. Lindsey stressed the importance of be-ing focused and having goals. His advice to black and mi-nority students here: “Strive to be the very best person that you can be. In striving for that, it will equip you to deal with many different situations, the good and the not so good.” Before coming here in tenth grade, Mr. Lindsey attended Armstrong High School in Church Hill. He was born in Church Hill, and he lived on 37th Street until he went to col-lege. His parents, raised dur-ing the Great Depression, were of the working class. They

worked hard for him to have the opportunity to attend St. Christopher’s and they want-ed him to get the most out of his education while at school. He said that he was a good student but not the best. He had an aptitude for science and Eng-lish but was less gifted in math-ematics. He was a dedicated member of Ampersand and the Glee Club, played the trumpet and expressed a love for po-etry. He described the faculty as being very professional and gave the names of five influ-ential faculty members: Head-master George McVey, Athletic Director Robert Herzog, ad-ministrator A.J. Bolling, coun-selor Beeves Hardy and his-tory teacher David Boney. He said that he learned more from Mr. Boney about black History than he did in public school. After graduating, he went to college to become an engineer but left soon thereafter and got a job at General Motors in Flint, Michigan. There he realized that engineering was not for him, and he turned back to his roots in theater, touring nationally in the popular 1970s musical “The Wiz.” After his time in theater, he returned to Virginia and received a degree in business at Liberty

Bruner aims to kayak 365 straight days

2 The Pine Needle February 2008

We have a fine athletic pro-gram here at St. Christopher’s. But let’s face it; at our school one rarely gets the chance to work with the likes of Chris Long, University of Virginia star defensive end. Lucky for us, we can at least be coached by some-one who has had that opportu-nity: Coach Richard Pospahala. Coach Pospahala, who began w o r k i n g with Coach Blanton in the weight room this year, has made a big transi-tion. Until last year, he was a strength and condit ion-ing coach at U.Va. Coach Po-s p a h a l a worked with many teams, i n c l u d i n g f o o t b a l l , wres t l ing , t e n n i s , golf and soccer. Unlike St. Christopher’s, the UVa teams work all year round. Coach Pospahala allowed him to build closer relation-ships with players like Long, whom he coached through all of high school and college. Obviously, his experiences have been very different. Al-though coaching at the college level appears more glamorous

than coaching at a small prep school, Coach Pospahala says that there are “benefits to both.” At the college level, there are more athletes who are extreme-ly dedicated, many with aspira-tions to play professionally. But Pospahala enjoys working with high school athletes as well. “Through what we’re doing with these guys at a young age, you can really improve their athletic potential,” he said. An-

other nice aspect of his job here is that his day no lon-ger begins at 5 a.m. and lasts until 8 p.m. There was also a much great-er diversity in the back-grounds of the athletes at UVA. Still his atti-tude toward strength and condition-ing remains the same

and he approaches his job withthe same level of intensity. The man who once coached the first Singles National Cham-pion to come out of UVA, a wrestler who set the NCAA Single Season Pin Record, and a defensive end with a chance to be UVA’s highest draft pick ever is now in our gym, ready to help out our program. Our athletes should be very excited about

Pospahala lays down the law in SACby Stephen Wood ’11

Battle of the Books ravages library with knowledge

Seniors Barry and Bartosic rejoice in Native American liter-ary heritage as Mr. Nagle prepares his own “Trail of Tears.”

by Jason Pacious ’10

Despite its ability to cause controversy throughout the community, Facebook has fi-nally united the student body. Through the powers of Face-book, astute senior Marco De León organized an incomparable Christmas present for beloved professor and history sage, Dr. Wayne Boese, who will re-tire from teaching this spring. Legend has it that the infa-mous “Boese Chant,” usually performed by students during his classes, was created in 1995. Evolving the tradition, De León converted the chant to coincide with the tunes of Christmas carols, creating “Jingle Bo-ese,” “Carol of the Boese” and “O Come, All Ye Boeseful.” During activities on Mon-day, Dec. 17, more than 100 students bombarded Dr. Bo-ese’s classroom and honored him and his eternal impact that will be left on St. Chris-topher’s history department. After making its way onto

Christmas chant rocks the “Boesement”

by John Stillwell ’09 YouTube.com, the aura of “Boese Chants” left St. Chris-topher’s and launched itself into a worldwide phenom-enon. Receiving 861 hits and counting, this Christmas fi-esta has been bringing smile to students and alumni alike. “Besides becoming a super-star at everything, the ‘Boese Chant’ was probably the high-light of my life—a truly semi-nal experience,” remembers De León of his brilliant gift. Dr. Boese, the lone South Dakota native on our faculty, seemed to enjoy the enter-tainment, but he described the event, saying, “I was sur-prised and overwhelmed.” While nothing could truly thank Dr. Boese for all that he has done for St. Christopher’s in and out of the classroom, the “Christmas Boese Chant” was certainly a valiant effort. Philip Halsey summed up the experi-ence when he said, “I normally don’t Boese Chant unless the time is right… The time was right.”

“They were righteous. I’m going to remember this ex-perience for a long time.” What was senior C.J. Wil-liams referencing when he spoke these words of praise? No, not the Varsity wrestling team’s first place finish at States this week-end. And not the program held at St. Christopher’s on Martin Luther King Day. Williams was in fact talking about the concert that the Alley Cats, an a capella group from Yale University, gave in the St. Christopher’s Middle School auditorium Jan. 10. The Alley Cats came to St. Christopher’s on a throw-away Thursday in January, one of those days when St. Christo-pher’s students begin to realize that despite freezing weather they will likely not have a single day off for snow. However, the group provided what many de-scribed as an outstanding and memorable concert to an audi-ence that more than filled the amount of seats for the event. Earlier in the day, the group worked with St. Christopher’s own a capella group, the Beaux Ties. The Beaux Ties sang two songs to the Alley Cats, and then the Alley Cats responded

with “Get Ready” by the Temp-tations and “Norwegian Wood” by the Beatles. After that, the two groups did some workshop activities. The Alley Cats lead-ers taught the Beaux Ties some warm-up exercises and tech-niques to improve stage presence. The Beaux Ties members’ response was positive. “It was cool to see how they were com-pletely self-sufficient, and it was kind of reassuring because we are like them but to a lesser degree,” said Williams, a senior member. “Their assurance that we had some legitimate talent probably helped our confidence as a group overall. We also got some good ideas from them, like what to do during performances.” The Alley Cats are rooted in jazz, and many of the songs they sang later that night in their concert, such as “Night and Day,” “Down for Double” and “My Romance,” were jazz ballads. However, the group showed its versatility in per-forming other hits such as “Nor-wegian Wood” and the Tempta-tions’ “Just My Imagination.” To complement their sing-ing, the Alley Cats told several jokes and developed detailed stage antics. For example, af-

We were coming down to the final questions. My hand was sweaty as I placed it over the buzzer with my teammates. The questioner began to speak. As the first couple words (“In which book”) were spoken I quickly began to mentally cycle through the books I had read. The next word registered and I quickly pushed the button. The light, however, which goes on if you are the first team that push-es their buzzer wasn’t there. My first thought was that there must be some mistake, like the buzz-er for our team wasn’t working. Then, from the faculty team I heard the word “Airborn” and

the librarian’s word “correct”. The Battle of the Books was held on Jan. 24 in the Up-per School library. Teams were made up of four students, each of whom was required to have read two of eight books designated by the librarians. The choic-es were “March,” “Eragon,” “Airborn,” “The Book Thief,” “Acceleration,” “American-Born Chinese,” “Firestorm” and “Surrender.” After read-ing two books, I thought they were so good that I read two more. They were all different and covered many categories. Each question was spoken by one of the librarians in the format “In which book…” followed by

an event or description. The first team to buzz in had 10 seconds to guess the name of the book. If they answer incorrectly, not only are they not able to answer the question again, but a point is deducted from their overall score. This is how several teams were actually able to end up in the negative. The next team that buzzed in would then get a turn at answering the question. On the day of the compe-tition, one team, the Tribe, put up signs saying there was no stopping them. They didn’t know how wrong they were. At the start of the compe-tition all six teams started out well. Thomas Johnson ’10 said, “I don’t think that the buzzer for my team was even working until halfway through the competition”. The team which scared the competitors the most was the faculty team, consisting of Mr. Nagle, Dr. Hudson, Mrs. Peirce and Mr. Carlson. With ease they began to pull ahead, as if they had reviewed their books 100 times over. (This state-ment has not been proven false). Whatever the case, they topped out well ahead of the rest. As a good gesture they decided to give their prizes, Barnes and Noble Gift cards from the library, to the second place student team. All in all, students say this year’s Battle of the Books was a huge success and are looking for-ward to next year’s competition, Special thanks to the librarians for organizing this year’s battle and helping it run smoothly.

BOESE! BOESE! BOESE! BOESE! BOESE! BOESE! BOESE!

ter announcing the title of their traditional closing song, “The Coconut,” the whole group ran around the room scream-ing and making strange noises, much to the audience’s delight. The room erupted in laughter. Beaux Ties and Glee Club members who attended the con-cert praised not only the group’s talent but also their cohesion and how much fun they had on stage. “It was an excellent per-formance, and I was impressed by their stage presence,” said Christian Harder, another Beaux Ties senior. “I hope we can emu-late the joy they exhibited while on stage in our own concerts.” Perhaps Senior Glee Club President and Beaux Ties Head Stephen Davenport put it best saying, “I’ve been sing-ing with Beaux Ties for four years, and the reassurance that they gave us in saying that we were some of the best high school singing that they’d heard was an uplifting feeling that all the more made me want to pursue singing in college.” The performance of the Alley Cats marked the beginning of the St. Christopher’s concert se-ries for this year. More concerts are scheduled for the spring.

by John Mark DiGrazia ’08

Yale Alley Cats perform for STC

February 2008 The Pine Needle 3

Student Election Poll (1/29/2008)

Faculty Election Poll (1/29/2008)

Indecision 2008

Total Valid Votes: 225Results: votes / % of total / % of party

Democrats: 63 / 28% Republicans: 138 / 61%Barack Obama 53 / 24% / 84% Rudy Guiliani 21 / 9% / 15%Hillary Clinton 6 / 3% / 10% John McCain 60 / 27% / 43%John Edwards 3 / 1% / 5% Mitt Romney 20 / 9% / 14% Dennis Kucinich 1 / <1% / 2% Mike Huckabee 30 / 13% / 22%Mike Gravel 0 Ron Paul 7 / 3% / 5%

Write Ins: 4 / 2% Undecided: 20 / 9%June Weltner 2 / 1% Wayne Boese 1 / <1% WINNER: John McCainStephen Colbert 1 / <1%

We will, we will, BA-RACK you!

The Pine Needle decided to have our own mock pri-mary among the faculty and students. Interestingly, the re-sults somewhat mirrored the national trends with one excep-tion: Clinton received very little support from St. Christopher’s students; whereas, national re-sults show her in a close race

with Obama. Please notice that many of the candidates on the St. Christopher’s ballot have since dropped out of the race. As you all know the 2008 presidential election is currently a major issue in our country. Be-ginning with the Iowa Caucus in January, a process of primaries and caucuses takes place to de-

termine which two candidates will be on the final ballot in the November general election. The most important day in the primaries was Feb. 5, known as Super Tuesday. With thousands of delegates at stake, a front runner is usually determined in each party; however, this year, Barack Obama and Hillary

St. Christopher’s holds mock primaryClinton are still battling for the Democratic nomination. John McCain has become the front runner of the Republicans while Mike Huckabee follows far be-hind. The other dozen or so can-didates have dropped out of the race during the past few months.

--Christopher Alexander ’09

Barack Obama for president The past month or so the United States has been littered with primaries and caucuses to determine the presidential can-didates for the two major politi-cal parties. Beginning in Iowa with the wins of Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee, this brief period in American politics has seen constant shifts in the front-runners of each respective party. The Clinton political machine was able to power Hillary into the leading role of the Demo-cratic Party and John McCain surpassed both the financially powerful campaign of Mitt Romney and the evangelical campaign of Mike Huckabee to become the Republican Party’s bona fide frontrunner. After this hodgepodge of power plays, the

editors of The Pine Needle have chosen to follow in the lead of the Los Angeles Times and other publications in choosing to en-dorse a candidate for the presi-dential race of 2008: the senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. Barack Obama has incited an uprising in American politi-cal culture. The youth vote has turned out in record numbers as a result of Obama’s campaign for political primary elections, a part of the election process that often goes unnoticed in the cycle leading up to November in each election year. Some deny the tide of change that is rolling across the nation, but the facts cannot be denied; millions are flocking to the support of the Obama campaign. We the

editors believe sincerely that, while Obama may be viewed as inexperienced in the Senate, his record at the state level and in the civil rights court gives him more than enough accredi-tation to reinstitute the values of individual liberty and due process of law that have been largely absent from the White House for the last seven years. His policy ideas are fresh and infectious with their dynamic plans for reform, both in the economy and the healthcare system. Obama has the mo-mentum to bring new hope to the American people. With our help and yours, Obama’s presi-dency will break the cynicism and partisanship that has perme-ated Washington for too long.

--The Pine Needle Senior Editors

Conducted and compiled by Christopher Alexander ’09

Ron Paul

Hillary Clinton

John McCain

Mike Huckabee

4 The Pine Needle February 2008

is not only celebrated for their musical performances but also for their self-described “intense retina-blinding light show.” Look out Aaron Newfield. The idea had been floating around the agenda of the St. Christopher’s Student Council before this year. Molster said, “We’ve wanted to have a con-cert since last year under Cap-tain Kyle, but we didn’t have the time or the legitimacy of a council—we weren’t organized enough.” This year however, the leaders of this representative assembly and the Upper School administration have worked together to increase the capa-bilities of the council. In yes-teryear, the council’s funds were fairly limited and kept in a lock-box at best; this year, the school gave the council access to a Stu-dent Activities Fund for dances and pizza lunches, and now of course to help fund this event. With this new access to funds and a new position for the council, treasurer, the Stu-dent Council has been able to

allocate money and formulate a budget for the year to accom-plish the goal of throwing this event. As of now, the Student Council is on track for raising funds for the events. Much of the Student Council events of this year have focused on rais-ing money for this concert. Molster has said that it has been a very important goal for the council to make sure the

Did Kyle Menges land P-Groove? Pierre doesn’t think so...concert will be free for all St. Christopher’s Upper School students. When he and his co-horts approached the St. Cath-erine’s Student Council led by Kate English to seek help in fundraising, the St. Catherine’s council voted unanimously not to aid in raising funds, thus St. Catherine’s students must buy their tickets to shoulder the burden of the concert’s cost.

P-GrooveContinued from page 1

If for some odd reason you happened to stray into the senior parking lot one weekend in late January/early February, you were instantly engulfed by a zoo of moving cars and pedes-trians in flashy jumpsuits. The source of this ruckus? The St. Christopher’s Invitational and St. Christopher’s Mid-Atlan-tic Track Clash, two high pro-file indoor track invitationals where the Saints showed they could compete with the best. The Jan. 25-26 invitational included top area public schools as well as out-of -town schools like T.C. Williams High School from Alexandria and prep league foes Fork Union Military Acad-emy and Norfolk Academy. The Mid-Atlantic Track Clash included many of these teams plus several other stand-out track schools including Cave Spring High School of Roanoke, Episcopal High School, Hermitage High School and Manchester High School. The meets included some top track athletes from around the state. At the second meet, Epis-copal’s Allante Keels posted 1:05.35 in the 500 meter, the sec-ond best time in the country this year. Still, the Saints held their own against stiff competition. “The track team’s suc-cess is due to great facilities, great coaching and most of all, great talent,” said senior track member John Mark DiGrazia. At the invitational, Tyler Douglas ‘09 finished fifth in the 300-meter dash, while Jay Weisbrod ’09 finished 10th in the 500-meter dash. Junior Nick Molloy also distinguished him-self with a seventh place finish in the 1000-meter dash, and se-nior Matt Clark achieved ninth place in the 55-meter hurdles. Ben Katz ’09 finished sev-enth in the long jump and first place in the high jump with a leap of 6 feet 6 inches. Senior Stephen Davenport was able to get ninth in the pole vault. The squad continued its ex-cellence at the February Clash despite an added number of

competitors. Weisbrod fin-ished fifth in the 1000-meter run, and Clark finished fourth in the hurdles. Molloy finished tenth in the 500-meter dash. One area where the Saints ex-celled in both meets was the re-lay events. In the January meet, the St. Christopher’s squad of Andrew Bernard ’08, Sam Hewitt ’08, Weisbrod and Mol-loy finished third in the 4×200 relay, shaving five seconds off of last year’s school record. Brown Farinholt ’09, Clark, Katz and Douglas followed this performance with a fourth place showing in the 4×400 and anoth-er school record. Justin Thomp-son ’09, Clark, Katz and Doug-las continued the excellence with a third place finish in the 4×800 and a third school record. The next weekend, the same relay groups ended up second, fourth and fourth in the same events. Both the 4×400 and the 4×800 units lowered their re-

St. Christopher’s hosts successful track meets

LindseyContinued from page 1

by Teddy Mitchell ’08

Sophomore Jamie “Roboto” Ruml races to the finish.

University. Now almost 51, he is an account representative at the Virginia Retirement System. He is thankful for the advice given by his high school coun-selor that he pursue business. Mr. Lindsey believes the black community is in peril because the black family is at risk. “That’s something that our churches and our leaders should help build and stabi-lize,” he said. “A problem is that we as a nation are having some difficulty because our economy is strongly based on me, me, me instead of a greater good and a greater purpose.”

Regarding Barack Obama’s bid for the democratic nomi-nation, an historic black first, he said that he believes that America has come such a long way that we should not still be talking about black firsts. “It’s troubling when you listen to the media and they say, ‘Is America ready for a black president?’ ” he said. He never doubted that a black sharecropper or sharecropper’s son could be-come president if Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer, could do it. Mr. Lindsey is not married and has no children. He still goes to Church Hill to care for his parents. He laughs often re-membering some old stories, like when his platform shoe broke coming out of chapel. He

spends much of his time writing and is working on his third novel. Like other black students who were firsts to graduate from their high schools, Mr. Lindsey is living black history. “There’s somebody coming behind you,” Mr. Lindsey said. “You want the things that you did to benefit the people behind you.”

The Saints Science Bowl team has been host to yet an-other victory. Headed by Cap-tain Charles Ellen with alter-nates Sam Hewitt, Kirby Fox, Daniel Fletcher and William Bannard, the team placed sec-ond in the regional competition of the National Science Bowl. The event, which took place earlier this month, was held at the Thomas Jefferson National

STC Science bowl team wows competition

Accelerator Laboratory in New-port News. Although the team placed behind Thomas Jef-ferson School of Science and Technology (in Alexandria), the competition was memo-rable. “Everyone was rooting for us, they wanted us to win,” said team captain Charles Ellen. So what propelled this team to such an achievement? Well for starters, practice. Every

Wednesday, the team practiced for at least an hour. This type of dedication and team effort is what drove the team to suc-cess beyond their imagination. “We did better than we ever thought we could,” Ellen said. This is an extraordinary ac-complishment for the team. They earned both $500 for the school science department and a reputation in the competition.

by Stephane Irankunze ’09

The trophy is nice, but the $500 check is much more impressive.

In other sports news, Varsity Wrestling secured their seventh consecutive prep league and state titles. They placed first as a team in the VISWA State Champion-ship held at Cape Henry Colle-giate School in Virginia Beach, 35 points ahead of second place Woodberry Forest. State Cham-pions in their weight classes were Tyler Spangler, Kevin Isaacs, Ted Gottwald and Clark Gottwald. Loren Phillips, Da-vid Wesley and Jackson Free-man all finished second. Philips and Wesley lost in overtime and Freeman lost on a controversial call that left his opponent prone on the mat. Clarke Gottwald received tournament honors for most pins in the least amount of time, and outstanding wres-tler in the heavyweight division. A highlight for the week-end? The team took a break be-tween rounds, changed clothes and jumped in the ocean. Also, kudos to seniors San-dy Wall for breaking the 50-meter freestyle school record and to Robert Barry for get-ting his second All-American in the 100 backstroke. Barry is also a contender for another-

Sports News

Stephen Davenport shows good form.

Clarke Gottwald pins an opponent in an early

wrestling match this year.

February 2008 The Pine Needle 5

Figures. So we haven’t had a snow day in three years and we come to school on every holi-day the public schools (and Collegiate) get

out. You know, those holidays you probably can’t name the dates of, like Columbus Day. He discovered America and I’m sure his fondest wish was for us to remember him on a day away from organized learn-ing. Now Martin Luther King Day, that’s just disrespectful. Such was the attitude of the majority of the St. Christopher’s population. Admittedly we have had some odd ways of cel-ebrating the day that usually just ends with teachers complaining about lost class time and rushing us from the 20-minute speech into classrooms to learn about chlorophyll. More like bore-a-fil. This year we stepped away from what some called a waste of time and tried to do some-thing proactive about prejudice.

Break the Cycle: Be the Change. It was odd sitting with the girls clutching their Starbucks mugs like they were all that was between them and the frostbitten 26-degree cold outside, but after an awkward joke about how we were in fact sitting with them, the program began. The morn-ing left me with one question–was it worth coming to school? Everyone I talked to concluded that it certainly was and that un-like many chapel speeches, it was never boring. One senior concluded there was no way to tell how good it really was, for his expectations were so low, but it easily exceeded those. Unlike other years when we listened how, “in particular,” the girls’ pink dresses shone in the sun, this year’s program was interactive. It kept us involved. Emotions ranged from tense, such as when Mrs. Marable interrogated three-year-old Jonathan about his feelings, to poignant, as each moderator revealed the prejudice experi-enced in their lives. The pro-gram explained to us the differ-ent types and levels of prejudice that we may even support with-out knowing it. Throughout

MLK day program marksimprovement from years past

by Kevin Isaacs ’08 If you’re anything like me, just waking up on days such as Presidents’ Day, Martin Lu-ther King, Jr. Day, and other nationwide holidays makes you angry. While almost all other schools in the country are closed, St. Christopher’s is al-ways in session on these days. However, next year the schedule will include significant changes, including more holi-days during the year and an ear-ly graduation date for seniors. While the school year will begin around the same time as previous years (Sept. 2) and con-clude around the same time (June 5), the schedule will include new school holidays on Oct. 13, Dec. 1, Jan. 19, Feb. 16, and May 25. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring breaks, however, will remain largely unchanged. In the past, the school has limited its closing due to national holidays because of boarding at St. Catherine’s. Boarders were often not able to return home for these weekends, and thus would be stuck at school for the long weekend. Additionally, it was

Seniors get the shaft:

New schedule for ’08-’09by Tyler Franz ’09

I remember the days at the end of school last year, the class of 2011’s last year in Middle School, when questions

were asked about whether we were excited about moving up to the Upper School. I re-member thinking, “I’m excited about summer. I don’t even want to think about school, es-pecially after that long, gruel-ing exam from Mr. Dickinson.” But I was really excited about the Upper School because we would finally have free periods: a period where you can just relax with friends or get your home-work done when you need to. Everyone was excited about having free periods. (Well, mainly about having classes with girls, but free periods were a close second.) The first three days of school were our first taste of free periods. Imag-ine our surprise when one free period of the day was cruelly torn from our grasp by a man-

datory study hall, giving us a taste of freedom before we were crammed back into a rectangu-lar box. For many people, my-self included, this was their only free period, forcing them to go through seven straight classes every day for an entire trimester. I rarely used study hall. I had a study hall during third pe-riod. I was only able to do the homework from my first period class because my second period teacher put the homework on the SIS for us to do at home. It effectively encouraged me to save my homework for later classes due that day for third period so that I wasn’t left star-ing at the board for 40 minutes. This didn’t provide nearly the level of comfort and relaxation that the couches in the athletic building would, and the 40 min-utes I wasted in a desk could have been wasted on a couch. It makes sense for students doing poorly in some of their classes to be put in study halls to help them focus, but because most of the students in the study hall were forced to be there, nat-urally, very little focusing went

Ninth grade study hall bluesby Kurt Jensen ’11 on. It would’ve been much

easier to get work done in the library in quiet, and without the constant activity and banter be-tween students who didn’t want to be there and had no work to do. If the abolishment of manda-tory study hall for ninth graders is not possible, the time should at least be shortened. A whole trimester is a long time to see how we can adjust to the in-creased amount of work and study. A two- or three-week period would make more sense, as we would have had our first tests and quizzes back by that time. Six weeks of study halls would be the longest time nec-essary, because by then the in-terim report cards come out which are meant to be guidelines to see where each student is. The administration should seriously consider cutting the time of mandatory study halls down. Advisors would still hold the power to place their students in study halls, and par-ents would still hold that same power, but holding students in a study hall which they do not want or need is unnecessary.

difficult to include both boarding holidays and national holidays in the schedule at the same time. Next year’s schedule will be able to build in much more time for vacation without sacrificing days from summer vacation, largely due to the end of the boarding program at St. Cathe-rine’s. According to Mr. Still-well, the school has been look-ing to reorganize the schedule for several years, and the end of the boarding program provided the ideal opportunity to do so. Both students and faculty are looking forward to the new schedule next year. Juniors, who will be able to graduate early, are particularly excited. “The new schedule is a lot better than the old one, and I’m glad we get to experience it before we grad-uate [unlike the graduating class of this year that deserves the ex-tra days off more than we do],” said junior Charlie Blanchard. Since we never seem to get snow days anymore, these new school holidays will be a welcome change in the 2008-2009 school year.

finding good spots to paddle. He also enjoys ocean kayak-ing, especially off Sandbridge and the Outer Banks, Back Bay and the Albemarle Sound. Mr. Bruner’s efforts picked up at the beginning of last sum-mer when he tried to match the mileage of the summer Cross-Country practices. “Our best teams usually are comprised of athletes who run at least 400 or more miles over the summer,” he said. “I was curi-ous if I could paddle the same mileage over that time period.” Running in the mornings and kayaking in the afternoons, Bruner had logged over 800 miles between May 20 and La-bor Day. In all this time, he has not missed a day on the water. Kayaking every day poses some obvious problems, from the cold of Richmond winters to the sheer consumption of time. When he says he plans to kayak every day of the year, he means it. After all, if Bruner was a quit-ter, he probably would not have managed to run 2,250 miles during the summer before his

BrunerContinued from page 1

senior year at St. Christopher’s and drop 30 pounds before he graduated the following spring. He has plans for his kayaking, and even dares to harbor ideas of starting a team here at school. As spring approaches, look for him out on the James, maybe on the Huguenot flatwater, but never in the same place twice. Sometime in the not-too-dis-tant future, he’d like to paddle the James River all the way east to Hampton Roads along with his son Will and his brothers. He and his wife have talked about tack-ling the Inter-coastal Waterway from Maine to Florida someday, and he has been plotting another particularly long trip for years. “It involves about three weeks of continuous paddling, and a lot of sun block,” he said. “I’m too chicken to tell anyone because I don’t want people to think I’m crazy.”

the entire presentation the word “diversity” was never used, and one can only assume such eva-sion was purposeful. Much like a chameleon blending into a tree, a common response for St. Christopher’s students is to zone out upon hearing the word. After the skits and forum, we broke up into smaller groups to talk about what we had seen and to discuss any personal is-sues. In my group, the ques-tions we were given gave rise to a more heated debate – if indeed St. Catherine’s is a day camp. Contrary to popular belief, we learned that girls over there do believe this assertion is a preju-dice against them and further-more is untrue. It was admitted that challenging classes exist at both schools and we could learn in time to coexist. This is a minor example of the differ-ent types of prejudice that we may be conditioned to accept. My group ended our time together by answering an extra question: What would Dr. King think about what we did? Ask yourself this question, and then decide if celebrating the life of Martin Luther King is worth more than that extra hour of sleep.

The St. Christo-pher’s community boasts what I attest to be an A-qual-ity program for helping the com-munity. Each stu-

dent is required to donate a total of 50 hours of commu-nity service in high school, but most exceed this requirement. From Richmond to the far country of Uganda, Saints have been reaching out to those in need. Just look at the bulletin board outside the computer lab. You will find pictures of all sorts of benevolent acts, from a book drive to benefit Ugandan school kids to an auction benefiting ill seniors at a local school to senior tutors at St. Andrew’s School. Talk to Rev. Hollerith and she will tell you about the 18 seniors volunteering at Meals for Wheels this minimester or the Saturday Academy pro-gram where Upper School Saints mentor young children.

Saints reach out to the community Even more amazing is our ability to come together when our very own community is in need. For example, after seventh grader Andrew Gilmore’s moth-er experienced a health crisi, the Middle School held a Turkey Bowl for Heart in her honor which raised over $756 for the American Heart Association. The Middle School has also managed to raise $1,230 for Global Partners for Develop-ment, an organization which donates farm animals, water spigots and provides health-care and education to dis-advantaged East Africans. Indeed, the school is brimming with activities such as these. Which brings me to the big question I hope you’re asking yourself: what can I do to get involved in this spirit of giving back? Well, for starters the ongo-ing Saturday Academy is a good opportunity. This program is offered three times a year on Saturday mornings in the Middle School--quite close to

home. If interested, contact Mr. Spears for more information. However, if that’s not your cup of tea, Mrs. Holler-ith said that the Byrd House is looking for volunteers for bingo on Saturday nights as well as is Meals on Wheels. If none of this seems suitable to your liking, then stay alert in chapel--often announcements are made regarding opportu-nities for community service. If that’s not enough, you can always start your own initiative. For example, Malcolm Mac-Govern has asked us to donate to Supplied to Survive and Mrs. Varner has encouraged a collec-tion in chapel for Special Olym-pics. So if you do not come across an enticing opportunity, you can always create one by asking others to help you with your community service project or just do it yourself (i.e. tutor a friend, give to church, etc...). “With our students having required athletics and many of…their matches on week-ends…opportunities to serve

become harder to work in their schedules,” said Upper School Chaplain Melissa Hollerith. “Yet many boys manage to wedge it into their weekends. I am very proud of their com-mitment to helping others.” It is with this commitment that we, as Saints, have sought to help our fellow citizens in the community and it is with this same commitment that I now urge you to continue giv-ing to others. As Mrs. Hollerith said, “This is a lifetime goal-- not a one-shot deal to be done with the service requirement.”

by Stephane Irankunze ’09

Malcolm Magovern ’09 has always tried to find ways to support the troops. Throughout Middle School, Malcolm tried to help the sol-diers by sending phone cards to troops in the Middle East. This desire led to the Supplied

by Jay Lynde ’09

Magovern supports the troops

to Survive p r o g r a m , which col-lects dif-ferent per-sonal items and other supplies to be sent to the soldiers in Iraq. “The purpose of the program is to supply the marines in Iraq with anything, including armor, scopes, batteries, toiletries, and books,” Magovern said. The program’s founder, whose son spent a lot of time as a sol-dier in the Middle East, works with Malcolm’s mother. Origi-nally supplies were sent to his son’s platoon, but they are now sent to soldiers throughout Iraq. Magovern often writes let-ters, sends emails and raises money for the program ($5,000 last year). He spoke in chapel last year to generate interest. “He has great convic-tion and felt this was a noble cause,” Mrs. Hollerith said. “He wanted to generate inter-est among his peers for it.”

6 The Pine Needle February 2008

The Back PageSpring Break and Minimester Plans

Paul Italo Ferramosca“Muscle Mania” will be

sculpting his bod with his new mail-order Bowflex Revolution. When not getting his swell on, he can be found behind 7-11.

Chris “Dwight Schrute” LohrCan be found orbiting flagpoles

around Richmond.

Have a fantastic break!From The Pine Needle staff

The Pine Needle

Senior ContributorKevin Isaacs

Junior ContributorsChristopher Alexander

Tyler FranzStephane Irankunze

Jay LyndeJohn Stillwell

Sophomore ContributorsJason Pacious

Freshman ContributorJabriel HasanKurt Jensen

Stephen Wood

Faculty AdvisorMrs. Kathleen Thomas

Senior EditorsJohn Mark DiGrazia

Brian KusiakTeddy MitchellBrendan Worst

Harrison Lamar GrahamWatch out ladies, he’s back.

“G Baby” has lost some lbs. and slashed some inches off the waistband for spring break on the beaches of Mexico, but unfortunately his wallet got caught in the crossfire–

Gold’s gym membership: $60/weekNew wardrobe: $10,000

*Lacoste full spring lineup (included): $5,000 Bringin’ sexy back: priceless

George Ryder Parrish“Papa-giorgio” will do

what he does best–childish beach activities.

Due to administrative disapproval, the joke that you would have been enjoying in this box was removed. Contact your local

student government representative for more information on how you

can tone down your humor. And remember,

funny is too funny.

Schuyler DoughtieN/A

Andrew Yancey“Sir Yance-a-Lot” will spend his time in Punta Cana, DR, high fiving random bracelet- wearing locals while making rolled-brim knit cowboy hats

look cool.