Volume: 59 Number: 1 Fall Issue Philadelphia, PA 19136

FATHER JUDGE CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS

Editor-in-Chief

Greg Van Buskirk ’15

Senior Writers

Andrew Weicker ’14

Matt Kelly ’14

Mike McLaughlin ’14

Joe Sema ’14

Staff

Sean Burns ’15

Tom Keashon ’15

Ryan Dooner ’15

Stephen Dooner ’15

Vince Pagano ’17

Noel Guerra ’16

Moderator

Mr. Timothy Dailey

Published since 1954 in the Marian Year

THE CRUSADER

www.fatherjudge.com

By Staff Writer

On September 14, 2013

Father Judge was represented

on Fr. Judge on Philadelphia’s

hottest new game show

“Philly Pheud” with host Mike

Missanelli. Senior Conner

Sharp and teacher Mr. Mike

Campellone held their own as

teachers and students from

Judge, La Salle, Holy Ghost,

and Villa Joseph Marie versed

each other in a family fued

style matchup that pitted the

students against the teachers.

The students pulled out

the win against the teachers.

The event was televised on

Saturday, September 17.

You can see the entire

show on YouTube at

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=xxFpD4n87IE.

Crusaders Represent onPhilly Pheud

Renovations Galore at Judge

By Stephen Dooner ’15

What does the word new-ness indicate? Apparently, atFather Judge, it indicateschange for the better! As ourschool embarks upon the questof an upcoming year, we havethe privilege of encountering avariety of advancements. Dur-ing the summer, faculty andstaff members devoted theirtime and effort into makingour school a more welcomingenvironment. Several renovation projectswent into effect, guaranteeingstudents that Father Judge willthrive greatly during the newyear. The student lockers havebeen repaired and refurbished,new ceilings and lights havebeen installed in the cafeteriaand faculty dining room, and

the Crusader Shop has been re-located to the school cafeteriawhich makes it more accessi-ble to students. In addition, theformer study hall has beentransformed into a new tech-nology and conference centerand the entire school has beenrepainted. These renovationsare only a few of the many ad-vancements Father Judge hasundergone over the summer. Anew STEM Center has beenestablished in our school, mak-ing Judge the first high schoolto offer STEM (Science, Tech-nology, Engineering, andMathematics). The faculty andstaff are also being trained iniPad technology. Change in-evitably contributes to a morevibrant, productive school yearand instills within us a sense ofCrusader pride!

2013-2014 Executive Student Council

Congratulations to the 2013-2014School Year Student Council.

Meet our new Campus Minister, Mr. Dominick

By Ryan Dooner ’15

Over the summer, students

and faculty of Father Judge

learned that Father Joe Wis-

niewski, our former campus

minister, would be leaving the

Father Judge community to

return to ministry duties as a

parish priest in Wilmington,

Delaware. Therefore, our

school has assigned a new

campus minister, Mr. Do-

minick, who promises to con-

tinue to spread the inspiration

and enthusiasm that Father

Wiz brought to the ministry

office. Mr. Dominick, who

currently lives in Bucks

County, PA, is a LaSalle High

School graduate who later

went on to attend the Univer-

sity of Dayton, earning his

Bachelor’s degree in Reli-

gious Studies and his Mas-

ter’s degree in Education.

Since then, he has taught

freshman theology at a high

school in Indianapolis, which

has prepared him for his new

position as Campus Minister

in which he will assist in re-

treats, masses, services, spiri-

tual direction and guidance.

Mr. Dominick says that

“the welcoming support of the

students and faculty” has

helped him acclimate to our

school and that, in the future;

he “hopes to bring more serv-

ice opportunities that will

spark students’ interest in

joining the ministry.” We

wish Mr. Dominick the best

of luck and have complete

confidence that he will suc-

ceed in his new position.

By Andrew Weicker ’14

On Saturday, September

28th, a bus filled with 43 Fa-

ther Judge students left from

school at 5:30AM to head to

Egg Harbor, New Jersey for

the day. Beginning that day

was the City to Shore MS

Bike Ride, which the stu-

dents attended to help cheer

on Mr. Cahill, as he rode for

the entire first day, while

also knocking off most of

their community service

hours. The students all

helped prepare the quick

meals and drinks for the rid-

ers at Mr.Cahill's family's

rest stop: Weekend with

Bernie B and Sherri McG

(ran by Friends of Bernie B

and Sherri McG, which is

the 11th largest team in the

ride), along with cheering

the riders on by yelling

words of encouragement as

the riders approached the

rest stop and departed to

continue their journey on to

Ocean City. The Bike to the

Shore is the 2nd largest MS

race in the entire country,

with over 8,000 bikers par-

ticipating in this two day

event. In order to ride in the

event the bikers must have

raised money for the founda-

tion: $5,425 was raised by

Mr. Cahill alone, $15,745

was raised by Friends of

Bernie B and Sherri McG,

and over $5 million was

raised by the entire founda-

tion. October 31st is the last

day of the fundraiser.

MS Bike Ride

Left to right: Secretary of Affairs: Michael Gibson ’14, VicePresident: Vincent DeTorro ’14, President: Connor Sharp ’14and Secretary of Assembly: Robert Elwell ’14

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Jimmy Lynch: New Athletic Director By Greg Van Buskirk ’15

Father Judge is a world ofnew faces this school year.

Among theadditions tothe FatherJudge staff isnew AthleticDirector, Mr.James Lynch.

Mr. Lynch plans to improveJudge sporting programs andstudent life as a whole, and hasalready installed many newprocedures to get his missionoff to a good start. I caught upwith the new guy on campusto learn more about him andhis plans for this year.Q: So tell me a little aboutyour background, such ashigh school, college, etc.A: I grew up in Mayfair as akid before I moved to BucksCounty where I attendedCouncil Rock South HighSchool. After high school Iwent on to St. Joe’s Universitywhere I earned a bachelor’sdegree in sociology and edu-cation. Then I went on to grad-uate school at NeumannUniversity where I earned amaster’s degree in sports man-agement and served as assis-tant lacrosse coach there.That’s how I became inter-ested in athletics in communi-ties. From there I did aninternship with Northeast Uni-versity’s Center for the Studyof Sports Society up inBoston. I wrote my master’sthesis on improving athleticsin urban communities andconditions that affect partici-pation and competitiveness inurban athletics. I spent 4 yearsat Cathedral High School assports manager and alsoworked with the Boston publicschool system on programs toimprove sports in low-incomeareas. I started here in July andhave loved it since.Q: What do you like aboutbeing the Father Judge athletic director?A: I really enjoy the highschool level because you getthe kids that are still student-athletes. It’s not high-paid ath-letes. You get the kids thatwant to play because theywant to be part of a team. I re-ally enjoy seeing kids come inas freshmen and watchingthem grow in character as stu-dent-athletes and then whetherthey play sports after theygraduate or not, you knowthey enjoyed their time play-ing in high school. I like thatJudge emphasizes not justsports but just student involve-ment in general through themany clubs and 40+ teams we

Q: There’s a stigmatismaround Judge that the onlysports or activities that matterare the big 4: football, basket-ball, baseball, and soccer.These big teams are hugeparts of Judge recruitmentand promotion. However, thesmaller sports that don’t re-ceive as much recognition areconstantly doing extremelywell like track, bowling, golf,and swimming, all of whichhave found recent success onPCL and state levels. How doyou view this situation andwhat affect do you hope tohave on it?A: I’m really happy with howall our teams are performing.Golf is sending 8 guys to PCLplayoffs individually as wellas going as a team and that’shuge. Crew is getting betterand better and receiving moreinvitations to meets too. Thebig sports are important and alot of people and newspapersfollow them, but I want peopleto understand that we have 17sports here, all of which do re-ally well and deserve recogni-tion. I mean it’s hard tooverlook that Judge soccer is11-0, ranked 1 in the city and4 in the state. Football is 3-1so far and have shutout theirlast 3 opponents 122-0. Bas-ketball starts in the winter but

have. I love seeing how manykids come out to use theweight room and get involvedin intramurals. It’s also aboutgetting kids to care about nu-trition and their bodies and notjust scoring points or gainingyards. Even if you don’t playa sport, you still need to takecare of yourself. There aremajor issues like drugs, alco-hol, steroid abuse, obesity andviolence and I hope kids canget educated on all that. Judgealso is bigger than other placesI’ve been at and the commu-nity and alumni networks arereally involved. Judge has asense of pride already in placewhereas I had to try and buildthat fresh at other schools. Thefacilities are great and thecoaches and parents are veryinvolved.Q: What dreams did you haveas a kid and how have theychanged?A: Haha, well of course as akid everyone wants to a starathlete. I’m the youngest of 5so I was always getting beatup and playing sports with myolder brothers. Senior year ofcollege, I did an internship inKensington running an afterschool program a few hours aweek. I grew up having 3brothers so we could play 2-on-2 anything, ya know? Butsome of these kids don’t havefathers, brothers, mothers, sis-ters, for a variety of reasons.But that internship opened myeyes and made me want to getinto sports management andthen in graduate school I reallystarted to focus on urban envi-ronments and education whichis a hot topic in our society. Ithink it’s really interestinghow sports can build a founda-tion for success for kids thatstruggle with all sorts of prob-lems, especially poverty, andshowing kids that they can stillget involved even though theydon’t have a ton of money.Judge already has a “traditionof success” in place so I wantto keep that up with newchanges in this generation andteaching kids how to get in-volved on management levelsand athletic training. I’d loveto start senior leadership pro-grams where kids have oppor-tunities to have high schoolinternship experiences alongwith kids we have from col-leges coming.Q: What sports did you playgrowing up?A: Basketball and volleyballwere my main sports. I alwaysloved lacrosse too but I didn’thave any opportunities to playit but I was excited to coach itat Neumann while I was there.

wrestling is also in the winterand that is doing extremelywell with Coach Savage andJoe Galasso’s state win. Swim-ming, hockey, and bowling arecoming up and all 3 look re-ally promising. Hopefully wecan have volleyball next yeartoo. With almost every sportwe have, if you come and ded-icate yourself and want toplay, you’ll play. Most sportsdon’t cut anyone who tries out.Q: Judge has a lot of rival-ries, namely Judge-Ryanand Judge-Roman, and thenthere are always the prepschools that are very com-petitive. What kind of a tasteof the rivalries have you got-ten so far?A: I’ve gotten a lot. The prepschools compete with eachother heatedly because they’rethat kind of schools. We’re notthat kind of school nor do wewant to be. We like to see our-selves as a private school at anarchdiocesan price because wehave so many opportunities.Ryan and Roman are toobiggest rivals though. Romanis the other all-boys school andthey’re competing for enroll-ment from the same neighbor-hoods we are. Same withRyan. Games against them arealways huge games withpacked attendance and that

show people how great theseschools are. We show that wehave great enrollment and puta lot into making our schoolgreat with our facilities.Roman has been around since1890, my grandfather wentthere. But they don’t have thesame facilities we do right oncampus. We have everythingright on campus where kidscan go right from one buildingto another and then to anotherfield all right on campus, sortof like a private school might.Q: Super Bowl predictions?A: Broncos look nice. It’s stillearly but Peyton’s lookinggreat. I’d love to say the Ea-gles but that would be tough.Q: Wit or Witout?A: Oh, wit. Gotta go with wit.Q: Who do you idolize?A: : Muhammad Ali is a bigone. I’m all for using sports tobring about positive changeand he was a strong believer inthat. He’s a great example anda great character. Derek Jeteris another one. I hate the Yan-kees of course, but he’s a greatguy who gives back to hiscommunity and he’s always inthe spotlight for doing greatthings. The people I idolize arethose who are successful butdon’t forget where they comefrom and give back to thecommunity.

By Greg Van Buskirk ’15

Imagine sitting down tomeet what you expect to bethe attractive girl you reliedto on a dating website. In-stead, you're roped into hav-ing "your future told" by akleptomaniac who actuallyjust stole your wallet afterreading your future based onthe creases on the bottom ofyour foot. This insane situa-tion among others add up toform a hilarious short playabout the downside of thedating scene. If you thoughtyou had some crazy ex's,wait until you see this bunch!Laugh, smile, and maybe

even draw a few connectionsto your own life by seeingCheck Please: Take Two! The second half of theFall production is at the op-posite end of the emotionalspectrum. The story is told byKyle, a depressed teen who isbullied and misunderstood. IDon't Wanna Talk About Itaddresses teen issues such asbullying, teen pregnancy,sexuality, and difficult situa-tions at home and school.The multiple stories told bythe many characters of theshow hit the emotions of theaudience like a freight train.A truly moving experience,attending this show will give

you an insightinto whatother peoplemay be strugglingwith, even if they don't tellanyone. This night of both laugh-ter and tears will have audi-ences dying for more fromthe Father Judge Theater De-partment. But don't take myword for it; come out and seeCheck Please: Take Two andI Don't Wanna Talk About Itthis November! Show Dates: November22-23, 7pm and November24, 2pm in the FatherJudge auditorium!

Theatre Arts Department Fall Production:

Comedy and Tragedy

Fall Open House November 3, 2013Tell your younger brothers, cousins, neighbors, and friends to visit Father Judge during our2013 Fall Open House where they will see a detailed presentation of all that Father Judge andthe community have to offer. The program starts with lunch at 11:30am.

www.fatherjudge.com

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By Matt Kelly ’14

As another school year be-gins at Father Judge, so doesanother eventful year for theFather Judge music program.Although it's only the begin-ning of October, students of themusic department have beenhard at work since late Augustto prepare for the many per-formances, events and activi-ties that are soon approaching.Among these performancesand events are football games,

parades, and several holidayconcerts in December. Groupsperforming at these events in-clude the symphonic band, pepband, jazz band, drum line, andthe guitar ensemble. These areall ensembles that cater to allinterests of the band members. On Friday October 18, Tri-

M Music Honor Society put ona fall coffee house which en-abled musical acts of all kindsto take the stage. From soloacts to ensemble groups, thecoffee house had it all. Anyone

at all whowould like toperform is alwayswelcome at an event such asthis. There will also be a wintercoffee house that is expected torun in February. Again, thiswill feature many differentgroups and musical genres ofall kinds. This year’s Christmas con-cert will be on Thursday De-cember 19 at 7:00. Come outand enjoy listening to your fa-vorite holiday songs.

www.fatherjudge.com

By Andrew Weicker ’14

Spirit Week at Father JudgeHigh School is back and in fullstride. Monday 10/7/13 will beRelaxed Shoe Day and FacultyAppreciation Day. Every stu-dent in the school is allowed towear any footwear that makesthem feel more comfortable inschool. This includes: moc-casins, slides, sneakers, or san-dals. Students, be sure to saythank you to all the faculty thatmake your day at Judge easier.Tuesday 10/8/13: Staff Appre-ciation Day and MiracleMinute. In homeroom, eachclass has one mintue to raise asmuch money as possible for agood cause. Also, stop by themain office and give a bigthanks to the ladies who helpkeep our school runningsmoothly.

Wednesday, October 9th theCrusaders Conquer CancerColor Day (donate $1 dollar atHome Room). Seniors worePink or Red (for breast cancerresearch), Juniors will wearGreen (for leukemia research),Sophomores will wear Gold orYellow (for testicular cancerresearch), and Freshmen willwear Blue (for prostate cancerresearch). Thursday 10/10/13:

Tag Day - $1 to dress down inany appropriate attire. Pro-ceeds go to Bonnie J. AddarioLung Cancer Foundation Fri-day 10/11/13: Schedule 3 forPep Rally. Students may stillwear red or blue or pre-printedFather Judge attire for the an-nual Pep Rally to get theschool and team ready for thebig game against our rivals,Archbishop Ryan.

SPIRIT WEEK 2013

By Sean Burns ’15

Last year, the FatherJudge Model United Nationsteam could have been de-scribed as the “epitome ofsuccess.” The team remainedundefeated in regional debatesand placed in the top rankingsat the Global Classrooms In-ternational Model UN Confer-ence, held at the UnitedNations Headquarters and theGrand Hyatt Hotel in NewYork City. The team did re-ceive some recognition fortheir efforts because five ofFather Judge’s delegationswon individual awards fortheir performances, while two

of the aforementioned delega-tions were top in their respec-tive committees. This year, our team, led

by moderator Mr. Jeff Hylanand long-time coach Rev.John Hurley, hopes to achievethe same type of success.Such success, however, willnot come easy due to the factthat the club, for the most part,lacks a senior class to carrythe load. Therefore the juniorsof the team, headed by Presi-dent Dan Fritz, will have torise to the occasion. Whenasked about what his expecta-tions for the club are, Dan re-sponded by saying, “For thefirst half of the year, I expect

that the younger and less-ex-perienced members of theclub will learn the ins and outsof Model UN so that whenthey team up with the oldermembers, we will be able todo the best that we possiblycan and try to bring back an-other trophy to Father Judgewhen we head down to theNational Championship at theU.S. Department of State.” Anyone interested in

joining the Model UN team ismore than welcome to attendany one of the club’s meetingsthat are usually held on Tuesdays in room 110, or see Mr. Hylan if you have anyquestions.

High Hopes for Champion Model UN Team

Politics

By Tom Keashon ’15

The Government, accord-ing to our President and con-gress, was shut down onOctober 1st. But what doesthat really mean? Unemploy-ment compensation for themillions of workers unem-ployed has been frozen, somegovernment workers areworking without pay, and thenational parks are closed.Veteran’s monuments havefences around them to stopvisitors. However, I wasshocked to find that a twobillion dollar National Secu-rity Agency Spy Center wasallowed to open on the day ofthe shutdown. The presswere not allowed to coverthis event. Also, the last timeI checked, no troops have re-turned from Afghanistan andthe government still spends$300 million a day on thewar. Homeland Security,which has an annual spend-ing budget of $45 billion, hasnot been impacted whatso-ever by the government shut-down. Is the government

shutdown an illusion createdby the Obama Administra-tion to pressure the republi-cans to sign off onObamacare? Objectively looking at theperformance of congress andthe Obama Administration,they should receive penaltiesfor poor work performance.The job the American peopleneed to be done has not beenaccomplished by the democ-rats or the republicans. Iwould support a governmentshutdown if we could shutdown government bodiesthat are unproductive andcostly, like the congress ofthe United States. As of pressthe Government reopenedunder a temporary spendingbill that will raise our debtceiling and fund our govern-ment until February 2014.

Government Shut Down

By Tom Keashon ’15

The more than two and ahalf year ongoing conflict inSyria has resulted in thedeaths of more than 100,000Syrians. The conflict esca-lated this past August wheninnocent, non-combatantSyrians were ruthlesslygassed. President Obama de-scribed the use of saran gasas a “game-changer”, andthreatened to launch missilesinto Syria to take out the Syr-ian government for the use ofchemical weapons againsttheir own citizens. Recent evidence indicatesthat the use of chemicalweapons was not done by theSyrian government, but byIslamic extremists who arebacked and funded by theUnited States government. I can’t understand the ra-tional of President Obama,Senator McCain or Secretaryof the State John Kerry whopresent as Christians andfully endorse this brutal warwhich targets Christians.Saudi Arabian IntelligenceChief Prince Bandar hasemptied death row in SaudiArabia, flying over 1200murderers, rapists, and others

guilty of capitol crimes, sup-plying them with automaticweapons, and giving theirfamilies subsidies for them tooverthrow the Syrian govern-ment. Recent reports comingout of Syria have revealedthat these U.S.-funded Is-lamic extremists have specif-ically targeted members ofthe Christian faith. SyrianCatholic priest FrançoisMurad was murdered alongwith many other Christiansfor the crime of not denyingtheir faith. Reportedly, theyoffer Christians the choice torecant their faith or die amartyr. Videos posted onlineby these terrorists show oneeating the heart of a Syriansoldier he just killed, anotherbarbecuing the head of a hel-icopter pilot, and the most re-cent video is of two twelveyear old boys being shot todeath by firing squad for thecrime of supporting theirpresident. The media in theUnited States has failed to in-form us that every Christianin Syria supports PresidentAssad, because those whoare intent on overthrowinghim have clearly stated theseChristians will become mar-tyrs after the rebel victory.

Chemical Weapons in Syria

Old man winter is com-ing our way so make sureyou know that the WINTERUNIFORM which consistsof the school sweater, whiteshirt and school tie must be

worn beginning Tuesday,November 5. Please makesure your sweater and tieare in good condition andready to wear. You canbegin wearing the winter

uniform at anytime. Theschool sweater may also beworn over the golf shirtuntil November. No othersweaters or hoodies can beworn.

Winter Uniforms

Band Happenings

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Varsity Football • Varsity Football record as ofOctober 22 is 5-3.• Judge versus Roman Satur-day October 26th 1:30 pm atNortheast High school.• Judge versus Lincoln at theannual Turkey Bowl ThursdayNovember 28 at Lincoln High.

Soccer • Varsity Soccer finished theregular season 16-1-0• Varsity Soccer heads to thePCL semi finals after beating

Bonner 3-0 on Monday Octo-ber 21, 2013 at Ramp Field• Congratulations to the JVSoccer team who finished theseason with a record of 11-0-2

Cross Country • District XII Championship atBelmont Plateau 4:30

Golf The Golf Team finishedwith a record of 6-7 and wereranked 8th in the regular sea-son and in 7th place atChamps. All Catholics 2013were Connor Sharp, and DanFritz. Dan Fritz finished 18that Champs which was 18 spotshigher than his regular seasonranking which earned him anAll Catholic at Champs.

Sports Highlights

ssppoorrttss

Blood DriveBy Joe Sema ’14

As afirst timedonor to theblood drive,I do thinkthat every-one coulddonate if they wanted to. We hearabout it everywhere Assem-blies, Posters, even some offriends and family donate toAmerican Red Cross. Butmost of you out there stillhaven’t given a thoughtwhether to just test the watersand see if its for you. I was the same way. Ididn't really care about theblood drive and that's notsaying I didn’t care about thelives it saved, but it was likeanother Judge event that Ididn't think it’d be worth tak-ing my time to do. Now that I’ve taken astab at it, I can clearly see thatit’s not that bad to do. Myfriend, a Red Cross donorhimself who has done itevery year since we werefreshmen, constantly bickersto me about it every year ask-ing me to donate, and finally

after senior year I gave in. Besides the slight pres-sure from the needles, thebenefits outweigh the cons.Yes, you can skip that APclass that no matter what youdo, you have the urge to layyour head down and let yourteachers words sooth you tosleep. Yes, you get free pret-zels and can chill with yourfriends for the rest of the pe-riod, but that’s only a sideperk to the main focus of whyyou’re there. Helping the people out inthird world countries andpumping the life back intothe hearts of patients ofAmerica is what really bringsback the average person todonate blood in the firstplace; knowing that some-where in the world you aresaving lives with a tiny bit ofthe time it takes to giveblood, really can mean moreto someone than just anotherexcuse out of class. The FallBlood Drive had 133 peoplesign up with 116 processed,resulting in 110 productiveunits for the Red Cross. Eachpint of blood can save up to 3 lives. Thanks to all who donated.

Halloween Haunting History

The Fall of Pete Laviolette By Andrew Weicker ’14

After three miserable losesto start off the new 82 gameseason, the Flyers have firedHead Coach Peter Laviolette(along with assistant coachKevin McCarthy). This comes as a shock tosome fans, but doesn't comesoon enough for others. Totake over the helm, the teamhas decided to promote assis-tant coach Craig Berube tohead of the bench (with no in-terim tag). Berube becomesthe 18th Head Coach in theteam's 46 year history Thiswas, at the start, his seventhseason as a Flyers assistantcoach. John Paddock (a for-

mer Flyers coach) and formerFlyer tough-guy Ian Laper-riere are the new assistantcoaches. With Laperriere (di-rector of player development)moving to the Flyers bench inassistant coach role, KjellSamuelsson assumes that po-sition; his assistant is formerFlyer Captain Derian Hatcher. In the last 25 years, theFlyers have had 12 coaches.Laviolette leaves the Flyers

after coaching in 269 games,winning 145 of them, he alsolead the team to multipleplayoff appearances, includ-ing a magical 2010 playoffrun that had the team appear-ing in the Stanley Cup Finals,and falling just 2 games shortof winning that coveted trophy. This firing means that allfour of Philadelphia's majorsports teams (Eagles, 76ers,Phillies and now Flyers) allhave fired their head coachesin less than a full calendaryear. Chip Kelly, the new Ea-gles coach, is now the longesttenured coach within the fourmajor sports, only having theposition since January 16th.

By Joe Sema ’14

Halloween in America israther simple. You dress up inwacky costumes with friendsand either go out trick or treat-

ing, or party out at yourfriends house, but when itcomes to celebrating it any-where besides in the UnitedStates it can vary dramatically.It is one of the world’s oldestholidays, dating back to pagantimes, for reasons being thatit’s good and harmless fun.

In China, Halloween is re-ferred to as “Teng Chieh,” andon this day the Chinese placefood and water in front of pic-tures of relatives that havepast away. In order to guidethe traveling spirits through-out the night, they light can-dles and create bonfires as asignal to come get their offer-ing. This in turn has two pur-poses, one being that itreminds them of their familybut also to free spirits of “pre-tas.” Pretas are spirits thathave died without a properburial such as by drowning oraccidents, and the presence ofPretas is frightening to theChinese people. Some countries don’t ac-knowledge the Halloween tra-dition and only think of it as

an American tradition. Hal-loween in France was virtu-ally unknown until around the1996, where crass commer-cialism and the love for par-ties blew it up into the holidayit is. In current times, theFrench dress up in traditional“scary” costumes like ghosts,goblins, witches, and vam-pires. This is very much dif-ferent from the superheroesand cartoon characters wedress in, but the most changedtradition from the UnitedStates is that they go to storeto store instead of knockingon random house each Hal-loween. Stores even advertisefor people to visit their stores,which is much different fromthe way we do it.

By Andrew Weicker ’14

The SAT is an importantpart of your high school expe-rience if you plan on attendinga college or university. Goodscores on this exam could de-termine whether or not you getaccepted to a particular school,or even given a scholarship toattend a one. Here’s a to-do list to followif you want to receive a collegeworthy score. Before the test,get organized. Know what tobring: admission ticket, 2 no.2pencils and a soft eraser, photoidentification, an acceptablecalculator. It is also nice to

have: a watch (with no audible alarm), extra calculatorbatteries, a bag or backpack,and a drink or snacks. You alsoneed to know what not tobring: cell phones or smartphones,iPods or other MP3players, iPads or other tabletdevices, laptops, notebooks,PDAs or any other personalcomputing devices, pagers orany other texting devices, sep-arate timers of any type, cam-eras or other photographicequipment, any device capableof recording audio, photo-graphic or video content, or ca-pable of viewing or playingback such content.

Prepare for this test like anathlete prepares for a big game:get plenty of sleep the night be-fore and have a good breakfastthat morning. Studies showthat doing both of these thingswill increase your scores.While taking the test, keep fo-cused: use breaks to eat a snackor have a drink that youbrought with you. Pace yourself. Each ques-tion counts the same. Don’tspend too much time on anyone question. If you’re wondering whenscores will be released, look forthem on sat.collegeboard.org;Good luck on test day!

SAT Prep

The Annual HauntedHouse “A Nightmare onSolly Avenue” was held onSaturday Night October 26and was a huge success.

Thanks for all who volun-teered their time to makes thisannual haunting tradition asuccess.

Events