Holiday dinner serves kindness

page 3

Talent show raises money

page 2

Basketball off to strong start

page 15

Video cameras are being in-stalled within the building as an extra layer of school security. The cameras, which will be lo-cated in the hallways, stairwells, cafeterias, and the gym, are being installed in every building in the district and have been in discus-sion for quite some time, accord-ing to Principal Nicole Hollings. “This was part of the plan for a long time; [timing was based on] when the funding came through and the orders started to get placed,” Ms. Hollings explained. Funding for the installation is part of the Smart Bond Act, the same act that brought the turf fi eld, HVACs, and newly renovat-ed bathrooms. However, not everyone is ex-cited about the cameras. Particu-larly, sports coaches have voiced complaints. Although the cameras in the gym will be turned off dur-ing the school day, they will be switched on at 3:00 p.m. and will therefore record sports practices. Mr. Brian Moeller, teacher, foot-ball coach, and head building rep-resentative of the teachers’ union, said, “I view coaching a team like being in a classroom. I believe there is an expectation of privacy, just like coaches and teachers have had since the beginning of public education, that whatever you do in your room, you’re trusted as a professional and as an adult to do it. I think that what happens in a practice is the same thing as what happens in your room.” The controversy is centered on

the question of what makes teach-ers in classrooms diff erent than coaches in the gym since there are no cameras in classrooms. According to Ms. Hollings, the diff erence is “apples and oranges.” The district’s chief concern is not to watch a coach’s every move. In fact, unlike the exterior cam-eras, which are constantly moni-tored by security guards, the inte-rior cameras will not be monitored all the time. Instead, feed from the cameras in all of the schools in the

district will be transmitt ed to and stored in a central location. “It would be impossible for one person to be looking at feeds from a whole bunch of cameras,” Ms. Hollings said, “but when things are reported, we [are] able to go back in the footage.” In this manner, Ms. Hollings hopes to use the cameras to help resolve issues that occur within the school. “When things are reported to us about interactions between

students, for example, or an argu-ment that happens, even though we can’t hear something via au-dio, the video indicates to us how elevated the conversation was. Then we’re able to help students work through those things. Also, when there are disciplinary issues with some kids, we’re able to look on the video and see where they might leave the building or what they were carrying or things like that,” she said.

by Julia LosnerEditor-in-Chief

Focus on securityNew cameras in hallways, stairwells

‘Tis the season

For the 10th year, the “Santa Girls” performed at On Tour’s Holiday Improv, ushering in the season and later followed by a performance by the “Santa Boys.”

(photo by Dana Schwab)

(See SECURITY on page 15)

2 Hoofbeats December 2016 NEWS

Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) held its annual talent show, showcasing many of Calhoun’s singers, comedians, dancers, and all-around gifted per-formers. Sarah Kaplan won fi rst place with her performance of “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,” from “The Phantom of the Opera.” Doug Gallo and Emily Turner took second place with their duet of “Far Away,” by Carole King, while Nick Failla won third place with his original comedic act. “I was so surprised. Doug and I randomly decided to do this song, so we learned it within a night. I never thought we would actually end up performing it, let alone winning a prize,” Turner said. “We had so much fun preparing and performing it. We won a large piz-za pie from Via Roma, so we were planning on gett ing a pizza during an On Tour ‘Hell Week’ and just have fun during a dinner break.” The show is held each year to raise money for the “Music Never Stops: Tyler Seaman Foundation,” whose mission is to provide funds and equipment for music therapy for young adults and adolescents interested in music. Tyler Seaman was a Calhoun student who passed away from clival chordoma cancer, but inspired and impacted others through music. The organization focuses on providing support to cancer patients and their families through music. Sana Iqbal, an att endee, shared, “I decided to att end the talent show to support my friends per-forming and support the SADD

club. My favorite act of the show was the stand up comedy act by Nick Failla. I also loved the short skits the four MCs performed to introduce the upcoming acts; they were hilarious. Overall, the show was amazing, and everyone was so creative. All the performers did an outstanding job.” One sophomore participant, Erin Foo, performed her rendition of “Rise,” by Katy Perry. Foo also sang one of Katy Perry’s songs when she was a freshman at last year’s talent show. “I decided to join the talent show this year to overcome my fear of performing on stage,” Foo said. “However, when I realized

I had my friends there to support me, I took a deep breath and just sang. What I enjoyed most about performing in the talent show is being able to give the audience a performance they will remember and lett ing them enjoy the feelings and emotions in the song.” As the judges for the talent show, administrators Ms. Nicole Hollings, Dr. Neil Testa, and Mr. Ken Zisel calculated the results, while all of the contestants gath-ered on stage and had a dance off , displaying even greater talent and enthusiasm. “The night of the talent show was thrilling. I was able to see peo-ple I’ve never known before come

together and show their true tal-ents, all while supporting a good cause. The people in the audience were just so accepting and kind to one another, congratulating and praising the participants after the show. I really hope I get the chance to perform again next year because it has been some of the best expe-riences I’ve had throughout my freshman and current sophomore year,” Foo said. Often, the members of a crew working backstage go unnoticed, but with this show, a great amount of SADD members and the advis-ers, Ms. Nigro and Ms. Knight, were needed behind the curtains and at the doors selling tickets.

Doug Gallo and Emily Turner took second place at the talent show with their duet of “Far Away,” by Carole King.(photo by Lauren Ameruoso)

Showing talent for a causeCalhoun raises awareness one act at a time

by Jessica LinStaff Writer

Left, two of the hostesses of the night: Caitlyn Tolchin and Britt ney Allen. Right, Julia Scheffl er and Paul Cartagena perform for the crowd.(photos by Lauren Ameruoso)

News December 2016 Hoofbeats 3

Sharing is caring Calhoun recently held its 10th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner in an eff ort to bring the community together. This “Calhoun Cares” tradition started in 2006 when former prin-cipal David Seinfeld decided that it was a good idea to give back to the community by giving people a good meal, as well as entertain-ment. When Ms. Nicole Hollings became principal, she wanted to follow in his footsteps by continu-ing this tradition and making it a bigger event than ever before. “I believe that people should be able to spend Thanksgiving to-gether as a community and that we as a community should learn to give back,” Ms. Hollings said. This event featured a select group of National Honor Society Students serving food to a cafete-ria fi lled with students, families, and teachers. The menu was fi lled with traditional Thanksgiving sta-ples, like turkey, gravy, stuffi ng, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and so much more. Some of the performances in-cluded “Express Yourself,” a spe-cial group of performers that love to sing and dance along with men-tors from the On Tour Company. “This experience made me be-

come a star; I felt spectacular per-forming tonight in front of a bunch of people,” said Arianna Grieco, a senior member of Express Your-self. The group performed numbers like “Can’t Help Falling in Love With You,” by Elvis Presley, and “Uptown Funk,”by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. Everyone was dancing and having the time of their lives. “Performing makes me feel ful-fi lled,” said junior Amanda Geist, one of the mentors in Express Yourself. Some of the other performance throughout the night were “Non Dimenticar,” sung by sophomore Nicole Fauci, and “Arrivederci Roma” and “Quando Quando Quando,” sung by sophomore Sam Fortmeyer. All of these songs were featured in the On Tour Company’s Dinner Theatre performance the previous week for their closing night of “Ro-meo and Juliet.” “Performing tonight was a re-warding experience,” said junior Zach Neiger. “It gave me a chance to perform in front of our neigh-borhood and show our commu-nity what we can do as singers and actors.” The Merrick community is al-ways supportive of this event, which has now spanned a decade.

As usual, there was a heavy turn-out of people who att ended the event that raised over $2,000. “It is important that we carry on this tradition because we should always remember others and give thanks for what we have,” Ms. Hollings said.

by Lara KleinStaff Writer

Members of Express Yourself sang and danced with the On Tour Company at the dinner.(photo by Kate Derwin)

To submit a lett er to the editor,

e-mail the staff at hoofb eatseditor@

yahoo.com.

Jackie Murray and Doug Gallo were a part of the group that performed at the 10th annual “Calhoun Cares” event.

(photo by Kate Derwin)

4 Hoofbeats December 2016 NEWS

Allies, partners, and adversaries all seemed surprised by the results of the U.S. presidential election, but their tones all seem to be com-pletely diff erent. UK Prime Minister Theresa May congratulated Donald Trump on his victory, despite her previous critiques of his “Muslim ban.” Her comments (along with the several calls between the prime minister and president-elect) show some ef-fort to reduce tensions between the two leaders. It would seem that the last thing the British government needs is to add more souring relations to the divisive Brexit vote. Jens Stoltenberg, the head of NATO, tried to promote unity between America and NATO by explaining the importance of U.S. leadership in the organization,

as well as leadership around the world. Trump stoked fears that he would weaken NATO by declar-ing he would not respond to an at-tack on NATO member (an Article 5 commitment). Additionally, he said that the other NATO nations should be meeting their two per-cent defense commitments (that countries should pay two percent of their GDP on defense). The Turkish president and prime minister have shown that they like the outcome of the U.S. election by describing the strong ties between Turkey and the U.S. It has been widely reported that the Turkish government is seeking extradition of Fethullah Gulen, the man accused of leading a coup in Turkey over the summer. Trump has often talked about the groups that are being support-ed by the U.S. government in Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while criticizing diff erent groups,

has railed against the U.S. support of YPG “terrorists” in Syria. The is-sue of Gulen and Kurdish fi ghters will have to be decided early in the Trump administration. Beyond our allies, our enemies and adversaries also showed some responses to the election. The Russian president, Vlad-amir Putin, has declared that a new chapter in U.S.-Russian rela-tions will occur in a Trump admin-istration. Russian state news sta-tions like Russia Today frequently had positive articles about Trump, promoting the idea that he will restore relations between the two countries. The spokesman of the Taliban had issued an open message to President-elect Trump, asking him to end military assistance to Pakistan. He said that “America should stop military assistance of Pakistan against us in the name of terrorism.” This is in stark con-

trast to the normal rhetoric that is very anti-American. This message comes after previous Taliban lead-ers have died due to U.S. strikes in Pakistan. Additionally, the Tal-iban has lost fi ghters to a rapidly developing Islamic State branch in Afghanistan. The Chinese government has been quite muted on the election of Trump, despite his protectionist rhetoric. After his much publicized phone call with the Taiwanese president, China gave an offi cial “diplomatic protest” in response. This is because the U.S. and China have offi cially supported the “One China Policy,” where both recog-nize that the offi cial government of China is in Beijing and not Taipei. While these arejust a few of the world leader’s responses to the election, their specifi c reactions characterize how the broader in-ternational community thinks about America’s choice.

Breaking boundariesby Amber Lievre

Colture Editor

The world reacts to Trumpby Jonathan Ellison

News Editor

Calhoun’s exclusively female cheerleading team is a thing of the past. Senior Christian Concepcion started the year as the only male cheerleader on the team, later be-

ing joined by senior Nick Canta-lupo. Concepcion joined the team in August for the fi rst season of the year, game season, after being shown tons of videos of profes-sional cheerleaders by his friends. It’s not a shock that the intricate routines performed in the videos

interested Concepcion; he is al-ways had a love of choreography. He is known for posting videos to his Instagram account with his friend, Teressa Sambolin, dancing, and for dancing in the school tal-ent show with Sambolin. Concepcion was the only guy on the team for the fi rst season, and he admits that it had its advan-tages. He was easily able to catch up to all the girls in terms of skill level because of the fact that he has a more muscular build than most of the girls of the team. It made it a lot easier for him to be able to lift fl yers without having the same training and experience that the girls do. But the most challenging part for Concepcion has nothing to do athletics. The hardest part came at the beginning for him. “The most challenging part was not being afraid to let everyone know I’m a cheerleader,” Concep-cion said. “I was afraid of being judged.” Fortunately, Concepcion’s fears have never been realized; he has never faced any bullying. “After a while I was so proud of being a cheerleader that I start-ed wearing cheer gear a lot, even when I go out in public,” Concep-cion said. He said people have even com-mented on his att ire, expressing

how cool it is that he does what he does and is so proud of it. For the amount of time and work that cheerleaders put in, they deserve to be proud of what they do. Everything about cheer is enjoy-able for Concepcion, except for the usual negative parts of being on a team. As any other cheerleader might believe, not being able to hit a stunt correctly as well as ev-eryone else on the team is just as annoying to Concepcion. He also said that it’s a slight nuisance when someone from the stunt group is missing. With one cheer member missing from a stunt group, it’s practically impossible to adequate-ly practice a routine properly. While there have been some rough moments being on the team, there have been a lot of lessons learned, the biggest one being that of teamwork. Concepcion has learned re-cently more than ever that it takes an entire team putt ing in an equal amount of hard work to achieve a goal or nail routine. Concepcion plans to continue cheering in college, even though his top choice school does not cur-rently off er it. In the event that he gets accepted there and decides to att end that university, he is plan-ning on starting a cheer stunting club, being the determined person that he is.Senior Christian Concepcion became the fi rst male to join the cheerleading team.

(photo by Alicia Abramson)

News December 2016 Hoofbeats 5

Everyone says senior year is the best of the four years that students are in high school. But how does one make the year enjoyable while still being productive? Whether it be because of excit-ing events like prom and gradua-tion or the excitement of going off to college, this is what seniors have always heard about the supposed “best years of our lives.” Between visiting colleges, writ-ing college essays, applying to col-leges, handling AP classes, a job, and other responsibilities, there is probably litt le to no “me time”in a senior’s busy schedule. This can be a stressful time for students, espe-cially those who overextend them-selves with sports, drama, or other school-related functions. So what’s the answer to balanc-ing stress and obligations with fun and leisure? Teachers, students, and alumni all seem to have their own theory, but maintaining bal-ance seemed to be the common de-nominator. Be aware of all of your obligations. Know all of the short and long-term tasks that you must complete, and then plan how and when you need to do them. Art teacher Ms. Heather Lohr said, “I recommend to-do lists... lots of them and with dates. This is a tactic I use with my students often and encourage them to do tasks that are either easy or en-joyable fi rst. The physical act of crossing out more things allows the mind to be more at ease and all those hard, tedious obligations seem more feasible.” Gett ing involved in clubs and sports can help alleviate the stress of the school day. After nine pe-riods of vigorously using your brain, it’s easy to just want to go home after school. But pursuing an interest and participating in one of Calhoun’s many extra curricular activities can be enjoyable and take your mind off the loads of home-work you have waiting for you. It is also important, though, to not overwhelm yourself by making too many commitments. Sports, especially, are a big re-sponsibility, so you may not want to join a lot of other clubs while doing a sport because then what’s supposed to make you relax is only adding to the problem. When choosing the activities to partici-pate in, you have to weigh your priorities. Is it really realistic to join three clubs that meet on the same day? Can you really go to ex-

tra help after going to a club meet-ing? And if you’re in the middle of your team’s season, you might not be able to contribute as much as you would like to your club. Senior year is not a year to slack off in your classes and catch the dreaded disease known as “Se-nioritis.” It’s is benefi cial to con-tinue trying your best, doing your work, and gett ing good grades all throughout the school year. Having graduated from high school and refl ecting back, Class of ‘14 alumni Alison Scymcyk said she batt led Senioritis throughout her senior year. “I regret having Senioritis be-cause I wouldn’t want to do my work, and it made me not study as much when I should have because colleges look at those grades,” Scymcyk said. However, Scymcyk did have a strategy she used to get her work done while still leaving time for anything else she wanted to do. “I would do my homework as soon as I got home so I could have time to do whatever I want after. I would do my homework usu-ally on Friday or Friday nights and fi nish it so I didn’t have to worry about it the rest of the weekend,” she said. Hard work through the four years of high school is exhausting,

but everything students decide to do now that bett ers their grades and education — even though it may feel like a nightmare — will defi nitely help in your future. Principal Nicole Hollings said, “Continue to challenge yourself with rigorous courses because the more experi-ence you have now in high school, especially with writing and research, the bet-ter the college experience will be.” The fi rst half of senior year can be especially challenging because seniors are focusing on their cur-rent workload and have to handle the additional responsibility of the college application process. Hope-fully, some of that stress will be al-leviated once college acceptances come rolling in. “I was a focused and academi-cally motivated senior, and once I got into Swarthmore College, I used the rest of my senior year to make sure I was doing everything I could to prepare myself for being in college,” Ms. Hollings said. “I thankfully do not have any regrets at all about my senior year. I had lots of fun and still pushed myself academically.” No matt er what happens

throughout the school day, keep-ing your feet on the ground at home can help balance the day. “As much as I always had on my plate, I made sure to manage my-self and enjoy personal time with friends and family,” Ms. Lohr said.

Lastly, though seniors might be making decisions that will impact their futures, it is important to keep in mind that they are still just be-

ginning the voyage. “I can say from fi rst-hand expe-rience, it is okay to not know what exactly you want to do for the rest of your life,” Ms. Lohr said. “The journey of life and the experiences you gain over time will help you make those important decisions. It is important to just stay att uned, be receptive to new ideas and ad-vice and to ask a lot of questions. You would be surprised to see how much you learn that way.” The most important thing to keep in mind during your senior year is the future. What is the reason you come to high school everyday? No matt er what the future holds, stu-dents all want to be successful and earn a profession that they love doing, so do everything you can to be the best you can be.

The balance of senior yearby Dana Schwab

Staff Writer

Brotherhood concert

Choirs from all over the country, including Calhoun’s, showed their solidarity in support of an Indiana high school senior who tragically died in a car accident.

(photo by Alicia Abramson)

“The journey of life and the experiences you gain over time will help you make those important decisions.”

- Heather LohrArt teacher

6 Hoofbeats December 2016 Colture

Anyone who has just fi nished reading a book they couldn’t put down can understand the struggle that is often referred to as a “book hangover.” A book hangover is often char-acterized by the longing to return to a world or to the characters that were in a book you recently read, as well as the feeling that you can’t get into another book because it won’t be as good. You could reread the book, of course, but it won’t ever be the same as the excitement you felt reading it for the fi rst time. Luckily, there are ways to re-

cover from the period of mourn-ing that follows fi nishing a good book. One step is to fi nd books that might have similarities to the char-acters, sett ings, or confl icts of the book you have just fi nished. If you fi nd yourself stuck in the world that was built — for exam-ple, a dystopia — it would help to look into books that also take place in a post-apocalyptic society. If you’ve fallen in love with the char-acters that were developed over the course of the story — for in-stance, a strong female lead — it would be ben-efi cial to fi nd a book with simi-lar characters. The feeling that you will never be able to re-turn to the world with a pair of fresh eyes is completely and ut-terly devastating, but if you are a reader recovering from these pop-ular books, perhaps these recom-mendations can get you back into the world of reading. If you like The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, then you’ll like Gone, by Michael Grant. Gone is the story of a group of teens who come together after anyone over the age of 18 disappears in the blink of an eye. It has a similar feel to The Maze Runner’s tale of teens faced with saving the world in the absence of adult help; however, Gone strays from The Maze Runner in its chang-ing point of view. While The Maze Runner is exclu-sively told from the perspective of the main character, Thomas, Gone is told through many diff erent per-spectives, thus allowing the reader to bett er grasp what is going on with the characters as a whole.

If you like The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, then you’ll like Shatt er Me, by Tahereh Mafi . Shat-ter Me revolves around Juliett e Fer-rars, a girl who is locked away be-cause of her deadly touch. At fi rst glance, one wouldn’t be able to see the connection between this story and the one of Katniss Everdeen, but as the story goes on, Juliett e becomes a leader reminiscent of the Mockingjay. Both Juliett e and Katniss are

strong female characters leading a rebellion with the goal of toppling a repressive govern-ment, but Juliett e’s otherworldly abili-ties help to make her story unique.

Shatt er Me can also appeal to the hopeless romantics who had once engaged in the Peeta Mellark ver-sus Gale Hawthorne debate with its own love triangle. If you like Divergent, by Veronica Roth, you’d like Delirium, by Lau-ren Oliver. In a world where love is considered a sickness, Delirium’s protagonist, Lena Haloway, fi ghts to fi nd a way to escape the proce-dure that will never allow her to love again after she meets the mys-terious Alex Sheathes. Both Tris and Lena fi ght to be unique in a society that wants ev-eryone to be the same, and it is be-cause of this that the both of them can be considered strong and inde-pendent female characters. If you like The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey, then you’d like The Dark-est Minds, by Alexandra Bracken. After a disease wipes out most of the world’s children and leaves the rest with special abilities, The Dark-est Minds tells the story of Ruby

Daly’s fi ght for survival as she struggles to decipher who is truly on her side. Both The 5th Wave and The Dark-est Minds take place post-apoca-lypse, with The 5th Wave’s apoca-lypse caused by an alien att ack, as opposed to the disease outbreak-caused world of The Darkest Minds, and both feature a strong female lead. Both books have a similar feel of kids fi ghting the govern-ment, along with the added sus-pense of never knowing who can be trusted. Though you might never actual-ly replace the book you hold close to your heart, make your way back into the library or book store and get back to reading. You might fi nd the cure to your book hangover.

by Julia McKennaContributing Writer

Read this? Read that

“You could reread the book, of course, but it won’t ever be the same as the excitement you felt reading it for the fi rst time.”

Colture December 2016 Hoofbeats 7

The competition for the best smartphone was originally be-tween Apple and Samsung, but, since Samsung had the Galaxy ex-plosion, they aren’t really faring well in the race. Google, however, announced their fi rst smartphone under its branding back in early October. Google really takes pride in its technology, especially in its cam-era, and it’s important to see how the three brands compare for smartphone camera quality. Who wouldn’t want a bett er camera to take pictures of the family, food, and decor? Much has been said about the improved camera of the iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone was able to get a rating of 86 on the DxOMark scale. DxOMark is a camera reviewer who matches up the camera of a phone to a high-end camera and sees how it compares. Including a brighter lens, im-proved image processing, four-element fl ash, and optical image stabilization, the iPhone 7 Plus camera is the best camera in Ap-ple’s history. Both the Plus and its iPhone 7 counterpart use a new, wider color gamut, DCI-P3, which allows the picture to show richer colors when used with Apple or other high-end displays that sup-port the DCI-P3 standard.

Apple is also using its new al-gorithms running on a beefy new image processor that melds to-gether several images to create the best possible result. It comes with a 12-megapixel rear-facing cam-era and a 7-megapixel front facing camera. The phone is capable of 4K video at 30 frames per second. Available only on the iPhone 7 Plus is the ability to 2x optical zoom. Shooting video at 4K is a thing of the future, with newer model TVs off ering 4K capability and platforms like Netfl ix and Directv off ering 4K content. The diff erence even between that and HD 1080p is noticeable, even while watching videos taken on your own phone. Having the ability to shoot your own 4K videos is phenomenal. If you’re interested, check out videos shot in 4K on YouTube to see all the hype or watch a 4K television the next time you are in a store. Another reason the iPhone has an impressive camera is for apps like Snapchat. Snapchat looks a lot bett er when being used on an iPhone, as the iPhone takes the picture and processes it for use to send to someone or put it on your story. On an Android, however, it takes a screenshot of your screen and not a full picture. Since An-droid is running on many diff er-ent hardwares, it is hard to accom-modate for certain phones, thus resulting in a lower quality image for your Snapchat. But the iPhone also has its nega-tives. Sometimes, while taking pictures, very fi ne details are lost in outdoor and low-light condi-tions. Some auto focus irregulari-ties are noticeable in all conditions. And, with the fl ash, the autofocus is unstable over consecutive shots, and strong luminance shading is visible. The next phone is the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. This phone got a rating of 88 on the DxOMark scale. Featuring a 12-megapixel rear fac-ing camera and 2160p at 30 frames per second video module, Sam-sung’s latest fl agship Smartphone is a great proposition for mobile photography enthusiasts. The 26mm f/1.7 lens delivers ac-curate and repeatable exposures. Even in tricky high contrast scenes, it captures great exposures thanks to its built-in auto HDR feature, making it a great choice for land-scape or backlit photography. The 12 megapixel resolution also en-sures a good compromise between noise and detail on the S7 edge. Photos in low light will look bet-ter than previous models because

of the bigger aperture. In addition, the camera’s auto-focus speed is reliable and very quick, especially in good lighting areas. For selfi e fans, the Galaxy fea-tures a 5 megapixel front-facing camera with a wide fi eld of view. The Galaxy has a curved screen, unlike the traditional fl at iPhone screen and the icons are bigger within the screen menus. The phone’s rounded edges also make it easier to hold than other phones, especially when taking photos. But each phone has its nega-tives, as no phone is perfect. When taking a picture under a tungsten light source, a warm/yellow cast is visible. Also, in very high dynamic scenes, the brightest tone parts are clipped and some lose detail. The Galaxy might also overexpose its images in certain lighting. The last phone is the brand-new Google Pixel. Being the fi rst phone constructed and developed by Google, the Pixel managed to take the gold medal of phone cam-eras with a score of 89. The Pixel’s strong rating shows that it is an ex-cellent choice for almost any kind of photography. As with any small-sensor de-vice, results are excellent in condi-tions with good and uniform light-ing. Images captured indoors and in low light are very good and pro-vide a level of detail unexpected from a smartphone camera. With fl ash, its auto white balance and detail preservation are excellent, making it suitable for indoor por-traits and even for photographing indoor events, as long as there is some additional ambient light to help even out the fl ash. The Pixel’s 12.3-megapixel main camera is paired with a fast f/2.0 lens. Autofocus is reliable and is provided by a combination of la-ser detection (LDAF) and phase detection (PDAF). The Pixel can also record 4K video at 30 frames per second, and 1080p video at up to 120 frames per second. Its front-facing camera is an impressive 8-megapixels. Many critics believe the Pixel to have the best camera for poorly-lit scenes. The only things prohibiting the Pixel from gett ing a higher score

are slight autofocus irregularities, slight color shading that is visible in low light conditions, a minor problem with the fl ash, and the fact that slight exposure and white balance irregularities are notice-able. The camera also lost points with its video capability due to a slight motion blur in low light while walking and taking video. Samsung gives the user free control for the whole camera. Pixel does it too, but not to the extent of Samsung. iPhone however, does not give freedom and restricts its camera’s processing power, making users have to go into the phone’s sett ings to change it. At the end of the day, the choice is all yours to make. All three phones are the best on the market and have the high-est camera ratings. It all depends on your choice of phone and what other features you believe to be important.

by Ali NabiContributing Writer

Which camera phone is best?

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has a great camera and is water resistant.

(photo courtesy of Samsung)

The iPhone 7 has a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera.

(photo courtesy of Apple)

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8 Hoofbeats December 2016 Colture

It’s that time of year again. As December begins, we desperately wait for winter break to approach. Looking forward to hot chocolate and family time to come, there is really only one stress at hand: holi-day gift shopping. It is arguably the best time of the year — with decorations every-where you go and jolly characters spreading cheer, the only worries are crowded stores and the mess of ads. Who knows what to get? Starting with the gifts for the people that provide you presents everyday, it is important that you nail your parents’ presents. For the dads who can’t get enough of “Star Wars” or caff eine, I don’t think there has ever been a more perfect product than this. The self-proclaimed “geek cul-ture” retailer, Think Geek, has cre-ated an R2D2 Coff ee Press. Holding 32 ounces, or four cups of coff ee, it is the perfect way to make coff ee for the house and add a litt le happiness to everyone’s morning routine. Made in honor of the release of the new “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” this prod-uct launched at $40, making it very aff ordable. As an added bonus, it is also dishwasher safe, which just might help you out with weekly chores. For the dads (or moms) who do not like “Star Wars” but can’t seem to look away from their phones, batt ery is a problem. If anxiety strikes at the 20 percent batt ery warning, maybe it is time for a solution. The inconvenience of fumbling for a charger or having to stay connected to a cord is an annoyance that disappears with a

batt ery case. Popular cases include Mophie or the classic Apple, both retailing at $99 each. The Mophie case provides more protection and comes with many color choices, while Apple’s case is sleeker and has a more traditional feel, coming in only white or gray. Sticking with the theme of tech-nology, fi tness-crazed parents who are always on the move and hit the gym more often than you do would defi nitely adore the Fitbit. There are a variety of diff erent models in diff erent colors and styles to fi t every preference and a variety of price ranges to accompany it, the median being around $100. There are even Fitbit accessories you can buy for the fashion-conscious, who can still use their Fitbit but can look stylish while doing it. We can all agree that there is nothing bett er than the look on someone’s face when they abso-lutely love their present, but a present that benefi ts you as well has to be a close second. To stray from the theme of tech-nology, Nordic Ware came out with the cutest holiday-themed pancake griddle makers that will inspire mom to make pancakes the minute she sees it. You’ll be pouring syrup on Santa’s hat in 10. This gift will give back for years to come because mom will want to make fun-shaped pancakes every time friends or family visit; you can call that a win-win. For friends, an incredibly popu-lar item of last year has resurfaced, except it is now much cheaper. The Fujifi lm Instax Mini 8 Instant Camera is now only $55 with free shipping. This small, lightweight camera is great for those on the go who want to cherish memories by taking pictures. It runs on two

AA batt eries, so you don’t have to worry about constantly charging it. It’s fun and useful! For the seniors who are spend-ing their last high school year to-gether before everything changes, this a special holiday season to spend with friends this year. For those friends who have committ ed to a college in a whole new state or know they are destined to be in one, they might love a state neck-lace. Made by Dogeared in sterling silver or dipped in gold, not only is this a thoughtful gift, but it is something to remind your friend of you whenever they look at it. As the Dogeared website says, “Love is a state of mind.” The beach bums in your life would adore a Prezzybox gigantic frosted donut beach blanket. It is cute, unique, and a lot comfi er than a boring old towel. Falling at $30, it is an aff ordable and practical gift. The huge towel is also available in adorable burger and pizza styles. Clothing items always tend to be a hit for guy friends. If you have a guy friend that likes athletic wear, a couple of gifts that just cannot fail are a classic pair of slide san-dals (usually priced around $30)

or a snapback cap from Lids. The Lids website has countless of caps available with teams from every sport you could think of. There are hats and caps available for men, women, and kids. The caps range in price from aff ordable to expen-sive, depending on the cap you want and the amount you are look-ing to spend. On a tight budget, gett ing a friend a keychain to add to their keyring is thoughtful, and the op-tions are endless. Photography fanatics will cer-tainly adore the Photojojo Phone Lens Set, lenses that can att ach to your smartphone and turn it into a professional camera. Simply att ach the magnetic lens to your phone and you will be able to zoom in and take wide, round, or detailed shots. The lenses work with all kinds of phones and will not harm the back. With options for fi sheye, telephoto, and more, it is every beginning photographer’s dream. Although there are millions of other gifts that could be listed, re-member that the best gift you can give someone is your time and company. Price shouldn’t matt er!

Gift ideas for the holidaysby Kim Strull

Contributing Writer

The holiday season is not complete without a menorah on the auditorium stage. (photo by Amber Lievre)

A Christmas tree sits on stage in the auditorium, gett ing everyone in the holiday spirit.(photo by Amber Lievre)

Colture December 2016 Hoofbeats 9

Ever since 5th grade, I would resist my eyes shutt ing every Sat-urday and stay up until 11:30 p.m. just to hear, “Live from New York it’s Saturday Night!” Although I didn’t understand much of the humor, seeing Tay-lor Swift or Zac Efron laughing alongside my idols, Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, made it enjoyable. There was something so thrilling about an hour and a half of live comedy sketches that made the show addicting. As I grew up, my love for “Sat-urday Night Live” increased. My mother and I would wait all week for Saturday night to come around, and when it did, we would sit on the couch and giggle over the fun-ny, stupid, and satirical jokes. My mother, too, had grown up watch-ing SNL and always dreamed of seeing it live. Tickets were nearly impossible to come by though. You either had to win the SNL ticket lott ery in August (never happened to me), know someone in the cast (never happened to me) or sleep out on the city streets when they handed out standby tickets at 7 a.m. on Sat-urday. I wanted to see it live just as much as my mother, but there had to be a host so good I wouldn’t mind a cold city sidewalk as a bed. Until, of course, one night, when my mother and I were in our usual spot watching TV and, the SNL an-nouncer proclaimed, “Next week! Host Emma Stone with musical guest Shawn Mendes!” Anyone who knows anything about me can testify that these are two of my fa-vorite celebrities in the world. I fell in love with Emma Stone when she

played Gwen Stacy in “The Amaz-ing Spider-Man,” and actually met her after her performance in “Cab-aret.” Shawn Mendes, I had been following since 2013 when he was just a “viner” and even saw his fi rst concert in 2014 before the world knew who he was. So the moment I heard they would be together, in studio 8H, on the greatest show in the world, I turned to my mom and said, “We have to go!” And so, the next week was spent researching every detail about the SNL standby line. What to bring, what bathrooms to use, how to deal with tourists, etc. The thing about standby tickets is that you may get a ticket, but you are not guaranteed a seat until your body is in one. It all depends on how many people do not show up that night. Sometimes eight people from the standby line get in and sometimes 85. Most blogs said get-ting there at 5:00 p.m. on Friday was too late, so my mom, my cous-in and I arrived with our sleeping bags on 48th street at 2:30 p.m. and were the 25th people on line. (The fi rst person got there at 11 p.m. on Thursday). The next 17 hours surprising-ly fl ew by fast. We played cards, watched movies, chatt ed with our on-line neighbors, and of course, ate. The passersby assumed we were either homeless, protesting, or waiting for the new “Star Wars” movie. For those that did stop and ask, the conversation went some-thing like this: “What are you wait-ing for?” “SNL tickets” “But it’s only Friday?” “I know.” “Aren’t you cold?” “No.” “Why wouldn’t you just watch on your televi-sion?” “It’s like a football game.” “Fair enough, good luck!” Repeat that about 600 hundred times, and

that’s how the night was spent. Occasional walks to 30 Rock to use the bathroom and see the tree reminded me how lucky I was to have a mother willing to do this with me (although she wanted it as badly as I did) and how lucky I was to live 40 minutes from the greatest city in the world. With positive thoughts, I fell asleep and woke again at 6 a.m. by a security guard telling the whole line of about 80 people to get all our stuff together and prepare to get the tickets. You are given the chance to pick between the live show or the dress rehearsal when it’s your turn to get tickets (the tickets are free). We chose the dress rehearsal knowing there was a bett er chance of gett ing in, and you actually see more skits than the actual live show before they decide the fi nal cut. So we went home, knowing that we must return to Rockefeller Plaza at 7:00 p.m. and wait to see possibly the best show of our lives. The next 5 hours were spent sleeping. Before I knew it, I was inside the NBC gift shop, number 8 in line with the rest of the hope-fuls who had chosen to see dress rehearsal. In front of me was my line neighbor, and behind me, my cousin and my mom. A secu-rity guard came out yelling “First

30!” And with that I shuffl ed into room, through a metal detector, and into another waiting room. Then the same man yelled, “First 10!” and we were wrist-banded and brought to another waiting room where we could see pictures of SNL greats on the wall; we were gett ing closer. We were then es-corted down a hallway where at the end, I could fi nally see it, the SNL stage. The security guard ac-companied us to open seats and there I was, in front of the stage. I made it. The next two hours fl ew by as I saw all the inner-workings of a show I had only been able to watch from my living room for seven years. The studio was so small, and every inch was utilized to fi t the large number of sets. Seeing the cast members, Emma Stone, and Shawn Mendes all in person was almost like another dimen-sion, but just how I imagined it. Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Aniston even made guest appearances on the episode. I’m already planning to go back. I just have to wait for the perfect combination of host and musical guest again. Sleeping on the side-walk was all worth it for this op-portunity. My love for SNL con-tinues to grow, and thankfully, I understand the jokes now.

by Quinn ChaoStaff Writer

Live from New York

Sleeping on the streets of Manhatt an can have its perks for fans of SNL.(photo provided by Quinn Chao)

A stand-by card is issued for those who wait on line the night before a performance.(photo by Quinn Chao)

10 Hoofbeats December 2016 Editorial

Find your voice to speakA trend is being established

in society, and, unlike the latest fashion craze, it is

not something that anyone should want to follow. When students are confused about something, they often don’t say anything. When they are not 100 percent certain of the answer, they won’t say it. Students ward off the possibility of appearing uninformed on a subject by keep-ing quiet. After all, if you avoid a topic, it will go away, right? Students who don’t speak out about things that they don’t un-derstand in class will never learn that concept. Those who don’t of-fer answers when going over as-signments will never show their teacher how they are doing. When the student is unaware on a topic, and the teacher is unaware that that student is struggling, there is no way for that student to get the help needed to succeed.

Listen to any classroom conver-sation where a teacher shares his or her point of view. Without fail, every student who joins in on the conversation will say something supportive of that teacher’s point of view. Yet, after students leave the classroom, they can be heard having discus-sions voicing opposing opinions to the one presented in class. Too nervous to go against the crowd in class, these students’ classmates will never be exposed to this opinion, an opinion that could change the way that they view the world. It is a form of mob mentality. When it appears as though every-one else in a group is on board with a viewpoint, a person will go along with the group, even if he does not truly believe in the opinion that is being presented. Not exclusive to in-class discus-

sions, this trend also can be wit-nessed in the hallways or at the dinner table. The problem is that by trying to fi t in and present the same viewpoints as everyone else, students are doing themselves a disservice. We are neglecting our-

selves of a crucial component to-ward evolution

as a society – debate. We learn more from people who are diff erent than us than from people to whom we are similar. If we fi ll ourselves with multiple modes of thinking, we can create a comprehensive, aerial view of the world uncorrupted by bigotry and hate. We can work together to solve rifts in society instead of deepening divides. Think about the recent election. (Ah, too soon?) A campaign tac-tic used by President-elect Trump was his rallies. While rallies are currently commonplace in elec-

tions, these rallies were diff erent than others, in both the behavior of the audience and the speaker. Trump’s opinions quickly spread through his energetic crowds and anyone who objected was ridi-culed. (Mob mentality, anyone?) People who did try to protest were quickly and visibly put in their place, deterring anyone else from doing anything but parroting Trump’s words. Is this where we are headed as a society? We are regressing back to the conformity of the 1950s. Unless you want to break out your saddle shoes and poodle skirts, we need to do something. We need to re-verse the trend. Speak up. Don’t blindly follow what you don’t believe in. Put in your own two cents instead of stealing someone else’s two cents from the jar and re-depositing it. Otherwise, here’s hoping you like Elvis.

Staff Members: David Bekore, Melissa Braunstein, Quinn Chao, Marc Edayadi, Braden Flax, Rachel Gonzales, Lara Klein, Samantha Koffl er, Maritsa Koutsouras, Jessica Lin, Destiny Pineda, Gabrielle Rebmann, Dana Schwab, Ronni Schweitz er, Steven Vacnin

Hoofb eats is the offi cial student newspaper of Calhoun High School. Hoofb eats serves as a source to inform its readers of news and events and as a forum for the students of Calhoun to express their ideas and opinions. Hoofb eats accepts lett ers to the editor, but reserves the right to edit or refuse the publication of submissions. Lett ers should be sent to the school or placed in the Hoofb eats mailbox. All lett ers must be signed and include a contact number for the writer. The paper also accepts advertisements for a fee, but reserves the right to refuse advertisements for any or no reason. The views expressed in Hoofb eats do not necessarily refl ect the opinion of the administra-tors, teachers, editors, or faculty adviser.

Editor-in-Chief Julia Losner News Editor Jonathan Ellison Photo Editor Kate Derwin Colture Editor Amber Lievre Sports Editor Julia Presti Faculty Adviser Jason Boland

Hoofb eatsSanford H. Calhoun High School

1786 State StreetMerrick, NY 11566

(516) 992-1300E-mail: hoofb eatseditor@yahoo.com

Twitt er: @hoofb eatspaper

Volume 59 No. 2 December 2016

Recognized by Columbia University, ASPA, NYPA, LIPA, and Newsday for journalistic excellence

Last, but not least Have you ever been discrimi-nated against for something you cannot control? Race? Gender? Last name? It turns our silence being at the end of the alphabet is over because we are raising awareness about Alphabetism discrimination. It’s time to show A through P who is the boss. I have always felt a sense of inferiority to my beginning and middle of the alphabet counter-parts. We all learned our ABCs at a young age but litt le did we under-stand how dreadful the eff ects this system of organization would be for the rest of our lives. It only took a couple of years after learning the alphabet to have vivid memories of people in elementary school be-ing called up for their lunch fi rst, having a higher number than me on the class list, and eventually being the kids selected to serve as a bus monitor. My youth was the dipping of our toes in the pool of discrimination. In middle school and high school, these problems did not lessen. Always choosing my track jersey last, always picking topics for projects last, always starting my test last (because of my scan-tron at the bott om), and always gett ing my test back last. Not to mention those horrendous school years in a class with a person with

the same fi rst name as you. It’s re-ally diffi cult to forget those grue-some moments during att endance role call when you say “Here,” but then you realize that they called the person with the name higher in the alphabet. These years were any but a pleasant experience. The discrimination does not stop in school. In the workplace, when a report is worked on by two or more people, the names are list-ed in alphabetical order. Addition-ally, names on programs, rosters, ballots, and job interviews appear in alphabetical order. Studies have shown that as adults, people with last names at the end of the alphabet tend to have salaries 16 percent below average, they obtain only have about a third of top management positions, and they are fi ve times more likely than those with other last names to suff er depression or att empt suicide. Not to mention, people with last names at the end of the alphabet are less likely to be admitt ed to college, less likely to be chosen for a job, less likely to have job security, less likely to win the Nobel prize, and even less likely to be elected president. So rise Q through Z! Let’s take a stand to end this discrimination. We need to take a stand and raise awareness. Coerce people into ac-knowledging this type of discrimi-nation and make your voice heard in this ever growing alphabetical western world.

by Kevin SandlerContributing Writer

Staff Editorial

Editorial December 2016 Hoofbeats 11

A look at a Trump presidency In the wake of a Donald Trump presidency, it is not hard to be pes-simistic since the president-elect fl ipped many blue states that have not gone Republican since the 1980s. Democrats, who had a good shot at taking control of the U.S. senate this year because 24 Republicans were up for re-election, gained a mere two seats. With a Republi-can House of Representatives and soon-to-be Republican Supreme Court, it may seem that President-elect Trump can accomplish any-thing he wishes. With such high unfavorable rat-ings, it would be hard to envision Trump as a popular president, and the midterm elections are his-torically disastrous for the party in power anyway. In these elections during the midpoint of a president’s term, Republicans were able to gain a whopping 63 seats in the House and 54 seats in 1994 during Demo-cratic presidencies. In 2018, dozens of races for state governors are being contested, in-cluding Republicans in blue states. All members of the House and 33 Senate seats are also being con-tested. Democrats have the oppor-tunity to ride a wave with the un-popularity of President Trump in the same way that Democrats took

control of Congress in 2006 under Republican President George W. Bush. Democrats can also make up ground in state governments, after Republicans began to dominate them during Obama’s presidency. Republicans were able to gerry-mander, change districts to legally rig elections in their favor, after the 2010 census from state legisla-tures. Democrats can reverse these changes after the 2020 census. Un-like 2006, however, progressives, like Bernie Sanders, will take over the Democratic party instead of the corporate democrats. With the current makeup the Senate, the Republicans do not have a 60 seat supermajority. This number is required to block fi li-busters (protests against proposed laws through long speeches) and bring a bill to vote on. Thus, Democrats can block Re-publicans from passing controver-sial laws, as the Republicans did for the past 6 years after the Demo-crats lost their supermajority. Trump has even fl ip-fl opped on several of his positions includ-ing building a fence instead of a wall, keeping some provisions of Obamacare instead of fully repeal-ing it, and only deporting criminal illegal-immigrants. A Trump pres-idency won’t be as disastrous for America as it seems. Also, with a reformed Democrat-ic party and changing demograph-ics, it will be very hard for Trump

to win re-election in 2020 with just large proportions of white voters. Red states have actually fl ipped to the Democrats in the 2016 presi-dential race from 2004 such as Ne-vada, New Mexico, Colorado and Virginia because Trump and his party have alienated the growing population of minorities. Trump fl ipped blue states be-cause of his appeal to working class voters and anti-trade stances. Keith Ellison, a progressive, has been endorsed by many Demo-crats to be the chair of the Demo-cratic National Committ ee includ-

ing Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders. The establishment Democrats have accepted their failures and will give progressives the wheel in leading the party. Since progres-sives can appeal to working class voters, a progressive 2020 presi-dential candidate can easily fl ip back the blue states Trump won in 2016 and deny him a second term. A Trump presidency won’t be as painful if the American people stand up against him and his poli-cies. Progressives must turn out to vote in the midterms in 2018.

by Marc EdayadiStaff Writer

Look past the inappropriate comments, the questionable cabi-net selections, the rudeness and scandals, the inexperience and the temper. I know, I know. That’s a lot to look past. But look past the headlines and you can see that a Trump presidency might not be the worst thing. Remember when Obama was elected the fi rst time in 2008? Re-publicans swore the world was over and Democrats welcomed a new era. Neither of those things happened. We got “meh.” Many things improved un-der Obama, and many things got worse. That’s how most presiden-cies have gone. Even the “best” presidents had their fair share of mistakes and scandals. But in recent times, partially due to the rise of social media, people tend to overreact to both extremes; this is especially evi-dent in the case of the upcoming Trump presidency. He will not do nearly as poorly as his haters claim, nor do as amazing as his supporters hope, but there will be some good to come from this. One good thing we can defi -nitely expect from President Trump is tax cuts. Republicans have been trying to cut taxes for years, but that’s been hard to do with a Democratic president and a constantly changing congress. According to Trump’s website, his tax plan is to “reduce taxes across-the-board, especially for working and middle-income Americans who will receive a massive tax reduction.”

Now, with a president who stated he wants to cut taxes and a Republican Senate and House to support him, the average Ameri-can can fi nally get a well-needed tax break. Foreign policy could be an iff y area with Trump. We don’t know his exact plan to combat terrorism, and then there’s al-ways Russia. However, one thing we may be able to look forward to is an end to hawkish, neocon wars. Trump has said he opposed the Iraq war (somewhat wishy-washy, though) and plans to fo-cus more on America’s problems and not on the world. This is a nice gift for anti-war Democrats and Libertarians who had to en-dure years of Democrat and Re-publican nation-building, drone strikes, and questionable wars. The situation in Syria is a tragic one, of course, and ISIS continues to wreak havoc, but rather than try to rebuild the Middle East, we should fi rst rebuild our cities, and this is something Trump will do. A non-interventionist (but hope-fully not isolationist) president is just what this country needs. People have to realize that most of Trump’s outlandish comments (wall, deportations, fl ag burning, etc.) are just clickbait and will never come to fruition. It was comments about these topics that grabbed headlines and att ention, but you have to doubt that Trump will really build a wall or take cit-izenship away from fl ag burners. Critics who expect Doomsday will see that in the end, we’ll be alright. We, the people, will deter-mine the fate of this country, and our daily actions are what will make America great again.

by David BekoreStaff Writer

Silver linings

Fundraising season

(photo by Alexa O’Kane)

Senior Samantha Foley helps to unload boxes of fruit for the annual band and choral program fundraiser.

12 Hoofbeats December 2016 Editorial

Are hallway cameras necessary?Cameras add another

layer of protectionBig Brother is watching

everywhere you go “If you want a picture of the fu-ture, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.” It seems that this future is com-ing true. With an increasingly au-thoritarian and Orwellian govern-ment, our rights are being stripped away every day. Surely Calhoun High School is immune to this trend, right? Unfortunately, no. The school is installing cameras in the hallways, supposedly for “safety.”However, these cameras should not be welcomed, for rea-sons of both practicality and prin-ciple. Think for a moment about the last time you saw something bad happen in a Calhoun hall-way. If you were able to think of one, which I’m sure most of you weren’t able to, it was likely an iso-lated incident. I applaud the teach-ers and administrators here for creating the welcoming and safe environment. It is precisely for this reason that we don’t need the cameras in the fi rst place. Teach-ers don’t need to pound an honors class about homework because they trust them and expect them to do the right thing. The same goes for cameras. The school should re-spect students and trust us to do the right thing. Teachers expect us to be adults, as they should. By having cameras in the hallways, the school is blatant-ly going against this philosophy. How can they expect us to become responsible adults if they don’t trust us enough walking to class? In college and the real world, you don’t have your parents and teach-ers watching you 24/7. You have to mature and learn to do the right thing when no one’s watching. It’s an old cliché: character is who you are when no one is watching. In his case, it holds true. How are stu-dents supposed to learn this if not given the opportunity? Many of the colleges I’ve vis-ited have honor systems — a code of ethics that students are expected to follow. At one of these schools, I walked into the dining hall and saw students leave their books, bags, water bott les, and more right out in the open. Because this school created an atmosphere of trust and companionship and be-cause of their honor system, they trusted their peers. They didn’t

need cameras to watch everything. Being at Calhoun for 4 years, I know the trust and respect stu-dents have for one another, and because of this, we don’t need cameras. All they will do is cre-ate a sense of paranoia, not trust. We don’t want to be treated like children, and we want to have our rights and privacy respected. How many more “bad people” will the cameras stop? The good kids will continue to be good, the bad kids will continue to get caught — no cameras necessary. Some argue that, “If you do noth-ing wrong, you shouldn’t care.” This statement is slavish in na-ture. By claiming this, you will-ingly give up your life to that of the surveillance system, whether it be government or school. You, as an individual, have inalienable rights and shouldn’t have to be at the mercy of someone watch-ing you on a computer screen. You wouldn’t want to be followed walking to school or constantly have your parents tracking you. So why would you want the school to do so? All of us have a right to privacy, and giving up this right is the fi rst step to an Orwellian state. To quote the hero (yes, he is a hero) Edward Snowden, “Argu-ing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no diff erent than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” Do you really want someone always watching you and your friends in the hallways? Schools are supposed to be safe and protect us from dangerous threats. The in-trusive camera system supposedly protects us from outside dangers. But who’s protecting us from an increasingly authoritarian school? Picture this: you and your friends are waiting in the hallway, just be-ing teenagers. All of a sudden, a light, humorous punch looks like an assault on camera. Next thing you know, you’re facing disciplin-ary action for nothing. Obviously this is a litt le extreme, but the possibility exists. A record-ing on camera takes any action out of context, and the smallest infrac-tion can seem like a major issue. These cameras will do more harm than good, and if you think it doesn’t aff ect you now, you won’t realize your rights are gone until it’s too late.

by David BekoreStaff Writer

It’s great that there are now more cameras in the school. Hav-ing more cameras promotes bett er student behavior and makes Cal-houn students safer. Does anyone remember Sandy Hook, Columbine, or any of the other shootings in public schools? I can’t see a reason why our school should take a risk, considering how commonplace these, often-times random, acts of violence have become. Without cameras, the school would be less secure. Nobody wants a tragedy to occur in our town, but few ever thinks they need reform until reform is des-perately needed. As terrible as it is that President Obama has to make speeches af-ter tragic events, I have liked the speeches made in response to mass shootings that occurred over the past eight years. He often spoke about the need for Americans to stop forgett ing the last mass shoot-ing. He practically begged Con-gress to change the laws to make the tragedies less likely to occur in the future. School is a place for learning, and before that can happen, both students and teachers need to feel safe at all times. It is important for people to understand that the world is now a smaller place. Ever since 9/11, privacy hasn’t been as important as it once was. The most basic actions like banking, and even the most private actions like phone calls, are not as private as they once were: nothing is as it was. Why should school be an ex-ception? People who support more pri-vacy (and fewer cameras) forget that the school is not a place where personal privacy is held sacred. If administrators believe a student is hiding some type of contraband, they already have the authority to check your backpack, locker, and even access your school e-mail. In reality, the only diff erence the cameras make is to have an extra set of eyes around the school. I don’t know what everyone’s fears are, but every area of the school would not be watched all of the time. A seat in the front en-trance of the school (or wherever else they decide to put camera monitors) is not a job at the NSA.

There is no slippery slope to an Orwellian state from the addition of cameras to the school, as some might lead you to believe. No one is watching you randomly walk the halls or congregate with your friends in the main foyer. The school has rules, and it has them for a reason. Some of the most important lessons in school are not in the content of a class, but in how the real world works. The best lesson a lawless student can receive is that he is not beyond any law, not even the school’s code of conduct. It is bett er that a reck-less student receive punishments early. If he learns that he cannot be late for class, he may, for in-stance, think twice about showing up late for work. Cameras would undoubtedly help in this respect. While it is trite, it’s true that you have only to fear a lack of privacy when you do something wrong. One signifi cant diff erence to school life, due to the addition of more security measures, would be that fewer reprehensible activities, like drug use or violent att acks, would be carried out on the school grounds. Frankly, if school offi cials did not introduce a more intrusive system to watch the school, then they would only be helping these kids’ budding criminal careers and not doing enough for the innocent. I haven’t seen traditional forms of bullying in school for a long time, but new cameras would pre-clude the chances of it occurring in Calhoun again. Does anyone seri-ously think that the privacy of a few criminals-in-training is worth more than the helpless kid’s secu-rity and well-being? Conversely, cameras could also prove that a child is not a trying to deceive school offi cials. The addition of new cameras would also help cor-roborate stories. Anyone who has had to answer for a lateness or ab-sence would understand how pre-cious this would be. The decision to restrict the num-ber of exits that students could use was a commonsense reform, as was the installation of outdoor cameras. These were important steps in improving the security of the school, and the next step was to supplement the improved level of security with the addition of cam-eras throughout the school. With these improvements, we can feel more secure that a sense-less tragedy can be prevented.

by Jonathan EllisonNews Editor

Pt./Counterpoint:

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Editorial December 2016 Hoofbeats 13

To the Editor, The article “Cool for the sum-mer [News, October 2016] caught my att ention. As a sophomore, the new HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) system has caused me to feel the temperature fl uc-tuate during the day. This makes me uncomfortable and aff ects my learning. It is hard to believe that this project took up the entire summer, into the beginning of the school year, and is not complete. My reaction to your article is mixed. Although the project took longer than expected, I am happy the district fi nally updated the heating system and added air conditioning. However, the tem-perature is not consistent in every classroom. The units do not have individual thermostats. Instead, they are being controlled from one central location in the build-ing. I could walk into my science class on the third fl oor and need a sweatshirt and then walk into my social studies room on the fi rst fl oor and start sweating. It is diffi cult to carry a winter

coat along with my books all day. I also fi nd myself wearing multiple layers to school so that I can take clothes off during the day when I feel warm. This makes decid-ing what to wear to school every morning stressful. The bathooms at Calhoun are still not fi nished. The bathrooms that are working are not convenient for me to get to. This makes it diffi -cult to go to the bathroom quickly during a period or in-between pe-riods without missing some class or being late. In addition, the bath-rooms are being worked on while many sports, clubs, and extra help sessions are going on. I think that Calhoun took on a vast project and tried to accomplish it in such a short period of time. Between the new HVAC, science laboratories, and new bathrooms, a lot of work still has to be done to make the school a safer and more comfortable environment for both students and faculty. However, I do believe that once these proj-ects are fi nished, Calhoun will be a bett er and more technologically advanced high school.

- Isabella Goldberg, Class of ‘19

Lett ers to the Editor...

To the Editor, Colin Kaepernick is a black man who is brave enough to stand up (or kneel down in this case) against oppression happen-ing in our country [“Should ath-letes stand for the anthem?” Edi-torial, October 2016]. The quarterback’s noble deci-sion to not stand during the na-tional anthem has caused contro-versy. The article seems to claim that the oppression of black peo-ple and people of color isn’t at all true. I know for a fact, as a person of color, that racism in this coun-try is very real. I also know that it can be diffi cult to see racism if it is not pointed out to you or if you are not experiencing it fi rst hand. For anyone who believes “rac-ism doesn’t exist anymore,” here are some examples: a white man with a criminal record is more likely to get a job than a man of color with a criminal record; black women make 64 percent of what white men make and are less likely to be granted leniency regarding late rent payments; black people face harsher punish-ments for the same crimes. I could

go on, but hopefully you see my point and understand that racism in America is very real. Kaepernick never said he kneels for the Black Lives Matt er movement. He isn’t trying to say that every Black man shot was in-nocent. However, it is indisput-able that many of the police of-fi cers who have shot Black men were not given a fair trial. They get paid leave and then return to their jobs after a few months. The editorial also included that Kaepernick was raised by white parents and makes a good salary. I don’t understand what this has to do with it. Kaepernick is still a Black man living in America. He grew up Black and will spend the rest of his life Black. He has faced (and probably still faces) racism every day. Racism exists in this country and most famous people are too scared to talk about it. Kaepernick is trying to create a dialogue about these issues in this country. He’s trying his best to bring awareness to the system-atic oppression that is so rampant in this country. - Sarah Encarnacion, Class of ‘19

Not cool for the summer

An argument for Kaepernick

To the Editor, I am writing in regards to the article “Should athletes stand for the anthem?” [Editorial, October 2016]. Under no circumstance do I side with Colin Kaepernick. People have the freedom in this country to express their opinions. I respect that. But once their opinion starts to disrespect the founders of our country, law enforcement, and fallen soldiers who died for you to be able to have many rights, that’s where I have a problem. Being a girl who comes from a family with a father who is a lieu-tenant in the FDNY, growing up surrounded by members of the NYPD, and knowing parents of friends who have been stationed in the army, Kaepernick’s kneel-ing during the national anthem and wearing socks representing cops as pigs because he “won’t show pride for a fl ag or a country that oppresses black people” is just mind-blowing, and it’s mind-blowing to me that people think he is right in doing so. If he has a problem with this country, he should take a trip to countries where you can be killed for expressing an opinion like that, or any opinion for that matt er. I wonder if he then will realize how stupid his actions are and how he should feel lucky to have the op-portunity to live here. Then again, he does have the opportunity to leave (while some people do not have that opportunity). Let him see how hard some people have it and

how they don’t have the opportu-nity of making millions of dollars a year to throw a ball around. If it weren’t for police offi cers and the fi re department, on Sep-tember 11, 2001, thousands of more people would not be alive. Maybe it would have been people he knew and loved. The fact that police offi cers can lose their job for defending them-selves in the line of duty is abso-lutely insane. I want to see Mr. Kaepernick risk his life to protect others and really see how hard-working law enforcement is. Recently, an offi cer was shot and killed in the Bronx by an armed criminal. This offi cer could not defend himself against an armed criminal (with a criminal record and a history of violence) who had broken into a woman’s house. If the offi cer had lived to defend himself against this man (who was not white), his job would probably be taken away, and he would be called a racist, a pig, and a bigot. Kaepernick states that “People are gett ing paid leave and get-ting away with murder.” He’s gett ing paid over $19 million to throw a ball, kneel during a song that shows respect for the fallen, share his disrespectful and igno-rant opinion, and wear socks that represent cops as pigs. I’d like to see him stand up and risk his life every day to protect the rights of citizens like many people do. I’m sure he wouldn’t dare.

- Maria Fazio, Class of ‘19

Standing against the QB

Art on display

Senior Emily Batt aglia poses with her artwork at the CW Post/Calhoun Art Showcase.

(photo by Kate Derwin)

14 Hoofbeats December 2016 Editorial

Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States of America. This statement, whether you supported Trump or were re-volted by him, is a true one and must be acknowledged. Trump defi ed the expectations of most, frightening some and em-powering others, and demonstrat-ing that we must reevaluate our notions of the American political system, both historically and for the sake of the future. The victory of Donald Trump elicited a variety of reactions. The violent and adversarial nature of the post-election discourse, how-ever, has been uniquely divisive and plagued by bullying. Is Trump responsible for this? In the liberal narrative, the response is the uncompromising, affi rma-tive. But it is more complicated

than that. Yes, Trump employed sexist and racist terminology, stok-ing the fl ames of nationalist resent-ment and empowering the most reviled and primitive aspects of our reptilian natures. But the sexist and racist underpinnings of Amer-ican society were champing at the bit to be released, and Trump’s victory is a consequence of liberal complacency. The majority of Trump’s base is composed of white, working-class voters. Members of the LGBT com-munity, along with many ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups, have expressed fear of a Trump Administration and resent-ment for the angry, entitled white men that forced him into offi ce. But as Elizabeth Warren has ex-plained, many of these people did not vote for Trump because of his discriminatory rhetoric, but rather in spite of it. From the perspective of disen-

chanted Americans, Trump rep-resents the change that is so des-perately needed. The Democratic Party, the party of the people in name only, has been a sellout, en-dorsing trade deals and bailouts that should be expected of Repub-licans. As such, they have contrib-uted to the fundamental frustra-tions that led to Trump’s victory. The ineff ectiveness of some lib-erals who claim to devote them-selves to tolerance, facts, and con-sistency is further highlighted in their response to the election. The catalysts of Trump support remain unknown to these liberals who de-nounce their less-educated fellows as ignorant, discriminatory, and primitive misanthropes. Liberals are guilty of laboring under the delusion that a vote for a candidate means that someone supports all of the views of that candidate. If that is true, then votes for Hillary Clinton were votes for

the deregulation of Wall Street, im-perialism, corporate trade deals, and political deceit of the highest order, among other transgressions. It would be more effi cient for liberals to expend their energy revamping the Democratic Party, which played an integral role in the rise of Trump, and preparing to inhibit policies of a repressive Republican government. Rather than suggesting the barbarity of Trump supporters, liberals should unite with them, all against the true perpetrators of economic in-equality at the top of the oligarchy. Rather than expressing lost pride in a country that already suff ered from virtual poverty among half of its citizens and that has promoted international strife throughout its tenure as a superpower, we should scheme to improve our standing as an eventually legitimate beacon of liberalism and hope for a more egalitarian system of globalization.

Not a liberal reaction

The houses around the neighbor-hood are lit up and Santa Claus’s face is plastered everywhere. It makes you think back to your childhood. You could barely sleep the night of Christmas Eve because you were so eager for Santa to visit your house. You swore you could hear reindeer galloping on your roof. However, the jolly belief in Santa can also come with some malignant eff ects. The way a children are raised molds them into the people they will grow up to be. Yet, parents have persuaded their children that Santa is real, and it is possible for children to experience horror and disappointment when learn-ing that their parents have lied to them. After all, parents drilled into their heads that lying is wrong while their parents have just lied to their kids for years. Children can take this feeling of betrayal and confusion into adulthood. Not only will does it hinder the rela-tionship between the parent and child, but it can also be hard for the child to trust and believe anyone else. An article published in the Lancet Journal of Psychiatry has also warned about the negative eff ects of Santa Claus on the parent-child dynamic. In order for Santa Claus to leave presents under the tree, he has to slide down the chimney. How-

ever, this contradicts everything taught to children: stranger dan-ger. Parents teach their children to never allow a stranger into the house, so why is it okay to tell chil-dren that Santa comes into their house every Christmas? Also, if children learn to accept that Santa can come through their chimney, what keeps them from believing that other people can get into their

house the same way? In this way, parents have just implemented an imminent fear in their children and caused them to feel unsafe in their home. Kids are always threatened about being on the naughty list or gett ing coal for Christmas if they do not behave. However, this isn’t an eff ective parenting method. In-stead of exercising authority over

a child, parents should help their child develop skills, such as self-control, humility, and conscien-tiousness. Threatening will only cause greater division between child and parent. Just keep all of this in mind whether you have kids or plan on having them. Always be open with them and remember how heavily you can shape their lives.

The dark side of Santaby Melissa Braunstein

Staff Writer

by Braden FlaxStaff Writer

First-place fi nish

(photo provided by Quinn Chao)

The varsity cheerleading team came in fi rst place in the fi rst Section VIII competition of the season with a fl awless routine.

Sports December 2016 Hoofbeats 15

The varsity basketball team opened the season with a win and hopes to build on that game throughout the season. Starting off with an overall re-cord of 2-1 in Conference AA-III, the Colts are strong in size and toughness. The fi rst three games were all non-league contests, but are a

good tune-up for coach Jay Kreutz -berger’s team before league play begins. Junior Jalen Rosemond led the way in the opener with 23 points in a 78-73 victory against Farming-dale. The non-league game went into double overtime before the Colts would emerge victorious. Tom Cummings had 17 points, Patrick Gardner scored 12 points, and Kevin Hannon scored 8. Gardner’s 22 points against

Clarke helped the Colts to a 61-46 home victory. Rosemond scored 10 points, and Cummings had 9 of his own. Eight players scored in total, including Dylan Mulcahy, who had 8 points and 7 assists, and Co-rey Jones, who scored 5 points. In a tough game against Syosset on the road, the Colts fell, 66-48. In the loss, Gardner scored 17 points, Rosemond 10, and Tom Casimano scored 8 points. This year’s league opponents

in the conference are Herricks, MacArthur, Mepham, Great Neck South, Manhasset, and Long Beach. The schedule is packed with home and away games against those op-ponents. Also on the schedule is a non-league game against Seaford. The basketball team played hard, but fell short of making the playoff s last year, fi nishing in fi fth place with an overall record of 6-13 and a league record of 3-9 in Con-ference AA-III.

Colts standing tallby Amber Lievre

Colture Editor

Tom Casimano takes the ball to the hoop and makes an amazing lay-up in this sequences of moves in the paint.(photos by Alicia Abramson)

Another reason the district fi nds it necessary to turn cameras on in the gym after school is due to the need for increased security to protect people inside the build-ing against the outside world. With school shootings a prevalent issue in the United States, con-cerns have arisen among school offi cials that the unlocked doors to the gym during after school sports practices serve as a potential en-tryway for a school shooter. This movement towards in-creased security is not limited to just high schools. Ms. Hollings said, “We’re not adding cameras because it’s un-safe here; we’re adding cameras because this is a natural fi rst step that many districts all over Nassau County are embracing. On college campuses, [it’s the] same kind of thing. On city streets in New York City, you can’t walk anywhere without a camera being on you. We are living in a very diff erent world than what existed, and any opportunity we have to ensure student and staff safety, we have

to explore.” In general, opinions among teachers regarding the installation of the cameras have been, accord-ing to Mr. Moeller, mixed. “I think some people think it’s an overreach, that we have great kids here at this school. There aren’t really fi ghts or problems or issues like that, and if there are, they’re handled the way they’ve always been handled: by talk-ing to staff or talking to kids in-volved,” he said. Mr. Moeller, himself, is among the group of teachers who does not really fi nd the interior cameras necessary. “I don’t think we need them in the hallways. I think we have great kids; I think it sends a ‘We don’t trust you’ kind of message. I trust the kids here, I think the kids here are unbelievable and fan-tastic and [we should be] giving them respect and trust,” he said. Mr. Neil Madnick, a social stud-ies teacher, has a similar point of view, although he acknowledged that the cameras could help curb one particular problem at Cal-

houn: vandalism. “I think [the cameras] will be cer-tainly a deterrent for students who may want to vandalize the school because if they know that there’s a recording of that, they are less likely to do it, and that deterrent is always a good thing. I’m not sure I really see a downside. I’m a real proponent of civil liberties and the right of privacy, very strongly, so I don’t feel that my privacy is re-ally being threatened,” he said. “I understand it giving a feeling to some of ‘Big Brother is here,’ that we’re watched anywhere and everywhere. But, as of now, there are no cameras in the classroom, which is where really most of us are interacting with each other.” Like their teachers, students have also voiced strong opinions about the cameras. Junior Doug Gallo believes that the cameras are an invasion of privacy. “I feel a school environment, and what goes on within it, should be private,” he said. “I’m sorry, but how many harmful weapons or drugs will someone catch with a tiny, litt le camera? But think about how many times friends playfully hit each other or hug, and how wrong that will be perceived on camera.” Gallo’s concerns are especial-

ly prevalent within the On Tour Company, of which he is a mem-ber. Students within the drama program are often found rehears-ing and preparing for shows in the hallways and the lobby surround-ing the auditorium, where cam-eras will now be located. Gallo explained, “Drama is home to a bunch of kids who are passionate and do weird things for it. Of course, we avoid any sort of violation, but certain things we do, like screwdriving, sawing, and painting, can be seen as dan-gerous; meanwhile, they really aren’t. Also, people have to do quick changes. Do students want to have that caught on camera?” The common theme resonat-ing among students and faculty is concerns about the invasion of privacy weighed against the de-gree of safety that these cameras will provide. As long as no one is constantly manning the interior camera foot-age, however, many people do not believe that cameras will increase personal safety. “Unless they’ve got a guy look-ing at a bank of cameras, then I only see them as preventing van-dalism,” Mr. Madnick said. “I don’t see where they keep me any safer.”

Security focus(continued from page 1)

The reigning county champion Bellmore-Merrick Bulldogs took to the ice looking to defended their title and qualify for a chance to go back to states. Last year the team made his-tory by going undefeated and tak-ing home their fi rst-ever county championship in the team’s his-tory against its rival, Long Beach. The team is led by Head Coach Chris Patt en and Assistant Coach Lee Matt es who both have such a passion for the game. They named their lead goal scorer Tommy Con-don as captain and Anthony Cic-chett i and Jon Olson as the assis-tant captains. The varsity Bulldogs are com-prised of the 25 best hockey play-ers between Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham. This year the team has 13 seniors. This year for the fi rst time the JV Bulldogs are fully-funded by the district and hockey is now a school-sponsored sport. There were 85 players trying out for 25 spots on both JV and varsity. The Bulldogs are off to a great start this season. In their home opener against Wantagh/Seaford the team won, 9-1. Jake Gallitt o (Kennedy) had the fi rst 2 goals of the season and later got his third goal of the game in the second pe-riod. Gallitt o also had 2 assists in the game. Nick Connors (Mepham) had two goals in the second period. Cicchett i and Jonathan Intravaia (Kennedy) both nett ed goals in the second period. In the third period, Olson (Mepham) scored the fi nal goal of the game with an assist from the Condon. In their second game against Cold Spring Harbor, the Bulldogs won, 14-4. Gallitt o again scored the fi rst goal of the game. He also scored the last one of the game and had 2 assists. Olson had two goals and six assists. Eric Platt (Ken-

nedy) had a hat trick and Condon had two goals with four assists. The Bulldogs are off to a great start this season and hope to con-tinue playing as well as they have been. Being county champions, ev-ery team is out to beat them, but the Bulldogs look to defend their title and bring home their second county championship. The hockey program in Bell-more-Merrick has seen great suc-cess over the last few years. Three seasons ago, the district team made it all the way to the state semi-fi nals. Last year saw the dis-trict’s fi rst undefeated season and the fi rst Nassau County champi-onship. Last year, the Bulldogs were list-ed among the best hockey teams in the Tri-State area, ranking 12th on the MSG Varsity list. Although the

team obviously does not play on any of the three district campuses, they get a great turn-out of loyal fans at every home game and even

on the road. In fact, students from the district even travelled upstate last year to watch the Bulldogs compete for the state title.

The Bellmore-Merrick Bulldogs won the Nassau County championship last year after an undefeated season.

by Julia PrestiSports Editor

Defending their titleDefending their title

(photos by Alicia Abramson)