Seniors will be throwing their caps in the air at the NYCB Theater in Westbury, instead of at Calhoun, as they did here in 2008.

by Emily WrynnEditor-in-Chief

(photo by Lauren McGreevy)

Movin’ outMovin’ out

Seniors, ceremony leaving CalhounSeniors, ceremony leaving Calhoun

What to look for onWhat to look for oncollege campus visits college campus visits

page 9page 9

In an eff ort to make this year’s graduation ceremony more com-fortable for graduates and their families, district administrators have decided to change its location from the fi elds of Calhoun to the NYCB Theater at Westbury. This upcoming June, graduation won’t be held outside on Calhoun grounds, but instead, the school district has rented out the NYCB Theater at Westbury. In several e-mails and lett ers to parents, Principal David Seinfeld has off ered several reasons for the change. “I think the main reasons for the change were safety and comfort,” the principal said. “There have been episodes of people fainting at other graduation ceremonies because of the heat. And the con-cern of bad weather — 95 degrees

or raining. In those cases we had to move as many people as we could into the auditorium and the rest would have to watch in the gym on a TV. [At Westbury] we don’t have those concerns.” The new venue will provide lux-uries that previous graduation re-ceptions held at Calhoun have not. “Actually in the past we’ve rented 2,500 seats for the fi eld, but [Westbury] seats 2,800,” Mr. Sein-feld said. This means that there will be more room to comfortably accom-modate as many or more guests than previous ceremonies. The administration anticipates that an indoor ceremony will pro-vide more comforts than a tra-ditional outdoor ceremony. Mr. Seinfeld explained that many rela-tives of seniors have e-mailed him with positive reactions toward the change. Many students are also satisfi ed with the change, like Ju-

lia Ross, who said, “I’d rather be in the air-conditioning than sweating outside.” Not all seniors, however, are pleased with the change of loca-tion. “I want to graduate where I’ve been for the last four years, rather than some random town,” said Emily Gounden. “I can sympathize with students who wanted to graduate [at Cal-houn],” Mr. Seinfeld said. “You do lose tradition, I understand that, but there is some gain and some loss. I’m hoping that it will end up being a good decision.” Despite many changes, some aspects of graduation will remain. Members of the chorus, mostly seniors, will be singing the Star Spangled Banner and the Calhoun Alma Mater, as per tradition. How-ever, the band will not be present to play “Pomp and Circumstance” due to space limitations.

Signs of growth in greenhouse

page 2

Three-peat for girls’ badminton

page 15

Graduates celebrated at Calhoun in 2009.(photo by Jacqueline Weiss)

2 Hoofbeats June 2011 NEWS

For 35 years Mrs. Carolyn Fred-ericks has taught in this district, but this year she will be retiring. The Special Education teacher said she is planning to discover new adventures with her daugh-ter in Madrid, Spain. Her daugh-ter will be graduating from SUNY

Binghamton and then will head to Madrid with her experienced mother to fulfi ll her fi rst teach-ing job. With her experience as a teacher, Mrs. Fredericks has many creative ideas to help her daugh-ter’s students fi nd new ways to ap-proach learning. Mrs. Fredericks considers her-self very creative, so this will help teach her daughter new tactics to engage her students, to learn new things, and to open their minds. In third grade, Mrs. Freder-icks knew that she wanted to be a teacher. Mrs. Keogh was her third grade teacher who encouraged her love for reading and teaching. Mrs. Fredericks remembers the day when Mrs. Keogh had her fi rst reading contest. It came natural to her that when she grew up she would have to do this with her fu-ture students. Mrs. Fredericks fi rst started teaching at Merrick Avenue Mid-dle School. Aft er going on mater-nity leave when her daughter was

born, she returned to her job, but at Calhoun, the school she has now come to love with all of her heart. When she fi rst heard of the switch she was just a bit nervous because teaching in a high school is quite diff erent than teaching in a middle school. Once she started at Calhoun, she knew she would be in for a great ride. “I have the best job in the school district” she said. Mrs. Fredericks said she enters her classroom every morning with a big smile, ready to enrich her students with knowledge that they will need to know for the rest of their lives. Two highlights for Mrs. Freder-icks each year are the Merrick and Bellmore street fairs and her an-nual reading contest. Her reading contests are something students look forward to most. She started this contest by going to neighbor-hood bowling alleys and garage sales to collect trophies to give to the students who participated in the contest.

“I knew I was on to something grand when their eyes lit up when I displayed the trophies before my class,” she said. Every February the reading contest takes place. Student volunteers give up their free periods and help instill the success the special education stu-dents have in their reading. “I have the best students giving up their time. My volunteers have been so great, and it’s a win-win situation for me and my students,” she said. She said the students really en-joy reading the classics by Charles Dickens and Harriet Tubman. At the end of the reading contest a celebration is held at the Bellmore Applebees. Parents, friends, teach-ers, and guests help the students celebrate and feel accomplished. Mrs. Fredericks has received many awards from her students’ parents and her students. Her stu-dents have nominated her for “Fa-vorite Teacher Award” three years in a row.

A classic turns the page

Since the end of April, students have been engaged in exploring Calhoun’s new greenhouse, locat-ed in the courtyard. Students from the Special Educa-tion department have been among the fi rst to work in the greenhouse. “The greenhouse has absolutely been a success,” Special Education Chairperson Emily Paluseo said. “It’s a great hands-on activity.” Special education teacher Ms. Beth Johnson said she has taken her class down to the greenhouse several times since its construction. “The students love the green-house,” explained Ms. Johnson, “Some have worked with garden-ing before, but for many it’s a new experience.” The advantages the greenhouse brings are plentiful. The green-house provides a great opportu-nity for hands-on experience with gardening, which enables the stu-dents to develop skills for future jobs involving horticulture. “It’s a great way to have more ex-posure to health and nutrition. We encourage the kids to eat organic, since they’re growing their own vegetables,” said Ms. Johnson. The students using the green-house are currently growing

herbs, vegetables, and fl owers, which they are welcome to take home with them at the end of the school year. Ms. Johnson also said that gar-dening can be an excellent stress outlet, allowing the students a change of pace from the usual school day routine. In addition to teaching practi-cal skills, the greenhouse also pro-vides an att ractive environment to work in. Rochelle Batt ersby, sci-ence department chairperson, said the greenhouse is “beautiful to look at” giving much of the credit to Head Custodian Lenny Hyde. “Mr. Hyde did a wonderful job putt ing it up. He even built shelves out of recycled materials,” Ms. Bat-tersby said. Ms. Johnson agreed, saying, “Mr. Hyde built the fl atbed gardens and even a garden cart to store plants in. He’s been so supportive and great with the students.” Ms. Batt ersby has high hopes for its use in the future. “Many stu-dents in the Science Club are ex-cited about the new greenhouse,” Ms. Batt ersby said. “The ultimate goal is to have them work with stu-dents from the Special Education department.” The greenhouse may also serve as a means to facilitate student in-teraction.

New greenhouse springs upby Emily Wrynn

Editor-in-Chief

The greenhouse provides hands-on experience for many Calhoun students.(photo by Tatianna Flores)

Mrs. Fredericks retires aft er 35 years.

by Dana ReillyStaff Writer

News June 2011 Hoofbeats 3

Senior Jeff Caso made the most of his four years at Calhoun, taking part in many diff erent activities. Caso is the president of Model UN and the graduating class, se-nior editor of the school literary magazine, and the founder of the Latin Club. Caso will be att end-ing Georgetown University this fall, and sat down for an interview before heading south for Washing-ton, D.C.

Hoofb eats: You will be att ending Georgetown this upcoming fall. What about the school most infl u-enced your decision to go there?Caso: One of the major reasons why I was so drawn to the George-town University School of Foreign Service is that I can start taking a core curriculum of international af-fairs courses from day one. For me, seeking the sort of opportunities I am aft er, the intrigue of att end-ing school in the nation’s capital is a dream come true. Of course it

will be extremely diff erent from ev-eryday life here at Calhoun, but I am incredibly excited for the experiences that lie ahead.

Hoofb eats: What will your major be, and why did you choose it?Caso: Once I’ve gott en to know the School of Foreign Service, I will have the opportunity to choose one of their really interest-ing majors. At the moment, I plan to major in Science, Technology, and International Af-fairs, which allows me to still satisfy pre-med require-

ments - with a certifi cate in the specifi c regional studies that ap-peals to me the most.

Hoofb eats: What did you enjoy most about Calhoun?Caso: I’ve just absolutely loved the relationships formed here at Calhoun among students, teach-ers, and administrators alike. We truly have some of the most inspir-ing teachers here, and I feel really lucky to have enjoyed every sec-ond spent here in class and aft er school. A great deal of time and eff ort has been devoted to extra-curric-ular activities, and I just want to thank everyone for that continu-ous eff ort.

Hoofb eats: What do you like to do in your spare time?Caso: In the spare time I have I re-ally do enjoy just spending time with my family. Now more than ever - considering college and ev-erything - I really value the time we have together.

Hoofb eats: Where in the world do you want to visit the most?Caso: I have no problem being blunt about it: I love the world. I have an enormous interest in trav-eling the globe. I love learning about people, diff erent ways of life, and I really hope that my fu-ture allows me to travel and help out people from all ends of the Earth. I want to learn many for-

eign languages in order to com-municate with people who have new ideas and fresh thoughts to share. In short, I guess, I don’t re-ally have one answer; there isn’t a single sight I don’t want to see, or a single person I don’t want to meet.

Hoofb eats: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?Caso: Though 10 years may not be too long, it is plenty of time to help out people and make a diff erence. I want, by then, to be fl uent in sev-eral languages and be practicing them every day as I work for inter-national diplomacy through intel-ligence and technological security. Within that line of work, I hope to be traveling professionally and meeting new people representing all sorts of diff erent groups.

Hoofb eats: What are your plans for the summer?Caso: This summer I’m going to be doing a lot in order to get ready for college. I hope to spend a lot of time with family and friends, and I plan on interning once more at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Devel-opmental Language Laboratory in New York City as I did last sum-mer. Of course, I want to catch up on some reading and relax a litt le - Georgetown does, believe it or not, have a summer reading book, so I’m excited to give that a go. I’d just like to wish everyone else a great summer and the best of luck with college and beyond!

New town for head of classby Emily Wrynn

Editor-in-Chief

Caso, seen here in Pompei, founded the Calhoun Latin Club.

For the third year in a row, Hoof-beats won fi rst place in the Ameri-can Scholastic Press Association’s annual newspaper competition. This year the staff scored high enough in the contest to receive “fi rst place with special merit” for

the second time in three years, top-ing the list of high school newspa-pers in the country that serve stu-dent populations of 1001-1700. First place with special merit was given to a publication that scored over 850 points and, in the opinion of the judges, was an out-standing example of a scholastic publication in format, content, and presentation. Hoofb eats received 965 points out of a possible 1000. According to the ASPA judge, “The superior academic excel-lence of your newspaper should be shared with the neighboring schools in your area. Perhaps you could have your newspaper staff give workshops for younger stu-dents in an att empt to share the expertise they have garnered.” Also in the national competi-tion, Hoofb eats won fi rst place for “Outstanding Investigative Re-porting” for the February 2010

article, “Arson att acks” by senior Philippa Boyes and Class of ‘10 alumna Naomi Volk. The New York Press Association awarded Boyes fi rst place in news writing for her article, “Shatt ered Grass.” The NYPA said of the piece, “Shatt ered Grass” was by far the best news story in this cat-egory. Important reporting with student safety at stake. Keep up the good work.” In the Newsday High School Journalism awards contest, Hoof-beats took home four honors. The staff was awarded fi rst place for photography in the December 2010 issue. Boyes won second place for commentary in her April 2010 piece, “Stutt ering, not stum-bling.” Also in the Newsday competi-tion, Volk and Boyes won third place in news writing for “Arson Att acks.”

Third place in feature writing went to senior Emily Wrynn for “Adopting to a new culture,” a February 2010 piece following the history of two adopted students. Earlier this year, the Colum-bia Scholastic Press Association awarded Hoofb eats with its second consecutive silver medal.

Hoofb eats tops in nation, reporting

Congratulations to

Kurt Abitz - Scranton UniversityBrendan Abrams - Adelphi UniversityLeo Abrams - NYITFaseeh Ahmed - Binghamton UniversityHector Alicea - BMCCSteven Amaruso - UndecidedKevin Amatulli - East Stroudsburg UniversityZachary Ambrecht - Nassau Community CollegeLindsay Appel - SUNY AlbanyAnthony Arana - SUNY Martime CollegeHasney Arango - New York City TechJoseph Armao - Nassau Community CollegeJessica Arnone - Adelphi UniversityShawn Asman - EmploymentSara Asulin - Nassau Community CollegeDanielle Augugliaro - University of DelewareSamantha Avena - UndecidedSamuel Azzaro - UndecidedChelsea Babits - Nassau Community CollegeCasey Bader - New York UniversityJesse Bader - University of DelewareMichael Bagnasco - Nassau Community CollegeIsabel Balcazar - UndecidedJonathan Baldyga - UndecidedJacob Barber - Rider UniversityCorey Barchat - UNC-Chapel HillSamuel Barr - UndecidedAnthony Barresi - UndecidedMichael Barry- Nassau Community CollegeHarris Basir - Nassau Community CollegeJennifer Batt aglia - University at Buff aloVictoria Bennett -SUNY Old WestburyRachael Bergman- SUNY OneontaArielle Bloom - Virginia Commenwealth CollegeMatt hew Bluzer - UndecidedJames Bobb - Nassau Community CollegePhilippa Boyes - Cornell UniversityAnna Bricken - West Virgina UniversityJeanine Briott e - University of ScrantonKatelyn Brown - NYITColin Brucia- University of ScrantonGarrett Brucia - George Washington UniversityJames Bucchio - SUNY New PaltzDylan Buckley- Undecided

Michaela Buckley - Boston UniversityShannon Buckley - Nassau Community CollegeTara Bugden - James Madison UniversityRyan Burbes - Nassau Community CollegeNicholas Butera - UndecidedAnthony Calderaro - SUNY AlbanyTimothy Campbell - Cornell UniversityMario Cappuccia - EmploymentScott Caravello - The College of William & MarySean Carberry- Iona CollegeLauren Carbone - UndecidedErin Cardinal - Siena CollegeNicholas Caruso - SUNY FarmingdaleJessica Casazza- SUNY Platt sburghJeff rey Caso - Georgetown UniversityTaylor Cassidy- SUNY New PaltzScott Castellano - University of New HavenChristopher Catapano - UndecidedNicholas Cavallino - Hofstra UniversityShannon Cavanagh - SUNY AlbanyAshley Cawley - University of the ArtsLisa Celano - James Madison UniversityNicole Celauro - University of New HavenMichelle Cerniglia - Binghamton UniversityJoshua Chapdelaine - UndecidedAndy Chau - Hunter CollegeNismah Choudhry - UndecidedFariha Chowdhury - SUNY OneontaJoseph Christopher - St. John’s UniversityRyan Ciliott a - Nassau Community CollegeCatherine Clarke - SUNY New PaltzStaci Cohn- Alfred UniversityAndrew Connell - Nassau Community CollegeKelly Anne Connelly - Molloy CollegeAidan Cooper - University of DelewareSean Corcoran - UndecidedJames Cornett a - UndecidedVictoria Costa- SUNY OneontaJack Costello - Nassau Community CollegeBrandon Crociata - SUNY OneontaMerlin Cruz - UndecidedErika Danielsen - SUNY GeneseoAeryal Davison - SUNY CortlandMatt hew Defranco - Mt. Saint Mary College

Jenna DelBove - Buff alo State CollegeDannay Delossantos - UndecidedChristopher Diano - UndecidedBenjamin Dickstein - University of PennsylvaniaChristian Diconsiglio - UndecidedMelissa Dileo - Carnegie Mellon UniversityEric Doll - Hofstra UniversityJohn Paul Doucett e - Franklin & Marshall CollegeBrianne Dougherty - UndecidedNicholas Drago - UndecidedBrandon Drexler - UndecidedJessie Driscoll - East Stroudsburg UniversityAdam Earle - Mount Saint Mary CollegeLeah Edwards - Boston UniversityRyan Eisner - UndecidedDaniel Elliot- Southern Connecticut UniversityStephen Elliott - Hofstra UniversityJessica Estrada - UndecidedJohn Eyerman - Queens CollegeStephanie Falci- James Madison UniversityKevin Fedorko - NYITFrank Felice - NYITMichael Ferrett e - UndecidedJennifer Ferrufi no - UndecidedJustin Fields- University of Rhode IslandKristina Fiesel - UndecidedAaron Fischer - UndecidedAva Fitzgerald - Adelphi UniversityJulie Fliegel - UndecidedKatie Flood - Hofstra UniversityBryan Flores - Nassau Community CollegeAlexander Fodor - UndecidedBria Forbes - SUNY PurchaseKyle Foy - UNC-WilmingtonJenny Frank - SUNY GeneseoKrista Frank - UndecidedJoseph Franzitt a -Joseph Freda - Nassau Community CollegeCassidy Friedman - UndecidedMichael Fronte - Boston CollegeGabrielle Fry - EmploymentWilliam Fugina - SUNY GeneseoJames Furey - NYITElise Gabriele - Hofstra UniversityPamela Galarza - UndecidedBritt any Georgalas - SUNY FredoniaJagpreet Ghuman - Georgia TechLouis Giglia - SUNY FarmingdaleZachary Gilbert - SUNY OswegoAlexis Gionesi - Hofstra UniversityCarla Giordano - University of Rhode IslandAmanda Glickman - Northwestern UniversityJames Gliwa - Johns Hopkins UniversityMelissa Gluck - Franklin & Marshall CollegeJeremias Godoy - UndecidedChelsea Gold - SUNY Buff alo StateDiana Goldberg - UndecidedJustin Goldberg - SUNY FarmingdaleJoshua Golub - Binghamton UniversityDavid Gonzalez - Art Institute of New YorkGenevieve Goodheart - Adelphi UniversitySamuel Gorinsky - SUNY GeneseoEmily Gounden - Adelphi UniversityBrian Grambo - Binghamton UniversityJacob Greenberg - SUNY Albany

Hannah Griesel - UndecidedBernadett e Gruol - Queens CollegeNicole Gualtieri - Five Towns CollegeKristen Guaneri - SUNY AlbanyJordan Gunzenhauser - UndecidedMonica Gurfi nkel - Boston UniversityGabrielle Gussin - New York UniversityKrystal Gutierrez - UndecidedKatrina Gutt illa - UndecidedDerek Ha - UndecidedDiandra Hanna - Quinnipiac UniversityRobert Hansen - UndecidedChristopher Hazel - UndecidedChristopher Heading - Binghamton UniversitySteven Hernandez - UndecidedLauren Herschbein - SUNY GeneseoJake Hollander - University of Southern CaliforniaAaron Huang - SUNY Oneonta Zoya Huda- Macaulay Honors at CUNYBlake Isaacs - University of DelewareCharles Isham - Marist College

Kara Iskenderian - Tuft s UniversityMarissa Johns - UndecidedBryan Johnson - Nassau Community CollegeJames Jutt - UndecidedJoohyung Kang - Stony Brook UniversitySara Karol - Indiana UniversityCeline Katzman - Brown UniversityKimberly Kavanagh - Suff olk Community CollegeEmily Keller - University of Wisconsin-MadisonBambi Kerr - Adelphi University

(photo by Holly Lavelli)

(photo by Ashley McGetrick) (photo by Holly Lavelli)

(photo by Holly Lavelli)

4 Hoofbeats June 2011 NEWS

Mehmood Khilji - SUNY FarmingdaleRachel Krohn - SUNY PurchaseDaniel Kroll - University of Rhode IslandZachary Kronstat- Swarthmore CollegeJamie Kudler- Nassau Community College Andrew LaClaustra - East Stroudsburg UniversityAnny Lamothe - UndecidedKristopher Laquara - SCCCJeanmarie Latona - UndecidedMichael Latona - Nassau Community CollegeHolly Anne Lavelli - SUNY New PaltzJoseph Laviola - Nassau Community CollegeElizabeth Lebeaux - University of DelewareRyan Leimbach - University of DelewareRobert Lemaire - SUNY OneontaMarissa Levy - University of Pitt sburghRebecca Lewis - UndecidedAndrew Lief - SUNY New PaltzDanielle Limeri - Fashion Institute of TechnologyStephanie Lindahl - Binghamton UniversityMichael Lipari - St. John’s University

Stephen Lippert - Hofstra UniversityJessica Livingston - UndecidedRachel Lotardo - Stony Brook UniversityAshley Lowerre - Iona CollegeKevin Lu- United States Air Force AcademyCara Lucarelli - School of Visual ArtsLauren Lucke - SUNY OneontaStephanie Lucke - SUNY New PaltzCatherine Lupo - UndecidedNicholas Macaluso - Tuft s University

Christopher Mackin - SUNY OneontaJoseph Malebranche - UndecidedKaitlyn Mancini - St. Thomas Aquinas CollegeEmily Mandeltort - UMass-AmherstNicholas Marcello - Lehigh UniversityValerie Marchesi - SUNY GeneseoMaria Marengo - SUNY CortlandLauren Marinello - University of DelewareLauren Marmurowski - LIU-C.W. Post CampusMichelle Marshak - Stony Brook UniversityAnthony Martin - SUNY OswegoJulia Martinez - Binghamton UniversityJames Matzen - Hofstra UniversityRobert Maurer - Nassau Community CollegeMaria Mazzeo - UndecidedRyan McCarthy - Nassau Community CollegeShaun McCarthy - Johns Hopkins UniversityRobert McGahy - UndecidedJoseph McGinley - UndecidedKathleen McGoldrick - Marist CollegeConnor McLoughlin- SUNY GeneseoElise Meade - Lafayett e CollegeColeman Meier- Stony Brook UniversityChristina Metz- Nassau Community CollegeBrooke Mignosi - FITNeil Miller - Eastman School of MusicKrystina Milteer - UndecidedAshley Miro - Quinnipiac UniversityKenneth Miro - LIU-C.W. Post CampusKristen Miro - Adelphi UniversityRobert Mogollon - Hofstra UniversityLeeAnn Monteverde - UMass-AmherstAndres Morales - Stony Brook UniversityGinalesse Moran - Nassau Community CollegeJames Morrone - UndecidedDaniel Mueller - Adelphi UniversityMichael Mugno - UndecidedMatt hew Mundy - University of Buff aloChristopher Murphy - Duke UniversityMegan Murphy - Adelphi UniversityJoseph Mutarelli - Binghamton UniversityNavraj Nat- UMass-AmherstHusnain Naveed - UndecidedKrysten Nielsen - University of New HavenJoseph Nieto - SUNY DelhiJoshua Nigro - University of Rhode IslandAlyssa O’Braskin - Manhatt en CollegeSara O’Connor - Hofstra UniversityMegan O’Hara - Northeastern UniversityMeghan O’Sullivan - Castleton CollegeLatique Oates - UndecidedColleen Oggeri - University of ScrantonMichael Olsen - Hofstra UniversityHannah Ostrowsky - UndecidedDevon Ott - Emerson CollegeJacob Ott o - SUNY Platt sburghJames Panett a - Adelphi UniversityKrista Paolucci - Towson UniversityEliana Parisis- Fashion Institute of TechnologyDevon Pazmino - University of Pitt sburghYokely Pena - UndecidedDanielle Petrilli - Providence CollegeSteven Pezzulo - Pace UniversityAmanda Phillips - UMass-AmherstDaniel Piccirillo - Pace University

Nicholas Pititt o - Alfred UniversityKonstantinos Podias - Nassau Community CollegeChristopher Quinn - UndecidedZachary Radow - SUNY OneontaDanielle Rallo - University of Rhode IslandJustine Rallo - Arizona State UniversityAlexander Ras - St. Joseph’s UniversityBrendan Reilly - SUNY AlbanyMax Rodgers - UndecidedCandice Rodriguez - NYITEmily Rolston - SUNY OneontaErica Roman - Quinnipiac UniversityEddyli Rosario - UndecidedEllie Rosenblum - Susqehanna UniversityRandon Rosenbohm - UndecidedHalli Rosin- Rochester Institute of TechnologyBenjamin Ross - SUNY New PaltzJulia Ross - UndecidedJoseph Rossett i - Nassau Community CollegeKarina Rotella - Sophie Davis of Biomedical EducationJohn Roth - UndecidedAlec Sajdak - Queens CollegeAlex Salamone - Adelphi UniversityCristina Salvagni - UndecidedVincent Samuel- Worcester Polytechnic InstituteJoseph Sanfi lippo - UndecidedJustin Schmierer - George Washington UniversityCarly Schneer - Ithaca CollegeJacie Schneider - UndecidedZachary Schneider - Nassau Community CollegeMaxwell Schwartz - UndecidedStephanie Schwartz - UndecidedMatt hew Selvaggi - Nassau Community CollegeErin Sena- LIU- C.W. Post CampusNicole Sgambati- Molloy CollegeDavid Shear - Johns Hopkins UniversityDaniel Shein - UndecidedAllison Shiner - UndecidedSarah Shuster - Boston CollegeBrett Silver - UndecidedNatalie Simonett i - UndecidedDeochan Singh - Stony Brook UniversitySarika Singh - University at Buff aloSamantha Sipos - Art Institute of Chicago

Ethan Smestad - SUNY New PaltzKacey Solotoff - Cornell UniversityStephanie Spina - UndecidedChristina Stracquodaine- Binghamton UniversityMichelle Strauss - SUNY OswegoJulia Sucher - SUNY PurchaseDaniel Sullivan - Siena CollegeEthan Supovitz - UndecidedEvan Suval - Lafayett e CollegeMeg Talty - University at Buff aloChloe Tang - Nassau Community CollegeJake Thomas - Binghamton UniversityNina Thomas - CUNY BaruchAlexandra Topper - Boston UniversitySamantha Torrett a - University at Buff aloKevin Travers - SUNY BinghamtonAlexandra Treuman - Nassau Community CollegePatrick Tucker - Alfred UniversityKaitlyn Turrisi - UndecidedElliott Ullrich - Nassau Community CollegeCarlo Valladares - Dowling CollegeValerie Vancol - SUNY CortlandErika Vargas - UndecidedRachel Vargas - Fareligh Dickinson University-MadisonChristina Vitale- Penn State UniversityJake Vitelli - SUNY Platt sburghKevin Walch - Adelphi UniversityBridgid Webster - Providence CollegeTaylor Weinberg - UndecidedAdam Weiner - UndecidedChristopher Weinstein-Joanna Weiser- University at Buff aloBrian Wieners - Nassau Community CollegeJohn Wigand- Pace UniversityDanielle Wilson- SUNY OneontaAllen Winter - Ryder UniversityAlex Wolbrom- Stony Brook UniversityKenneth Woo- University of MarylandEmily Wrynn - SUNY GeneseoJenny Wu - Yale UniversityBrian Yeung - Syracuse UniversityBlanche Zahran - Nassau Community CollegeMorgan Zitay - Fashion Institute of TechnologyErin Zseller - SUNY Cortland

(photo by Emily Begin)

(photo by Emily Begin) (photo by Emily Begin)

the Class of 2011

(photo by Nicole Simmons)

News June 2011 Hoofbeats 5

6 Hoofbeats June 2011 Colture

The whole story

Walking down the hallway you see a girl with 10 holes in each ear, a nose piercing, and an eyebrow ring. Most like to pretend they don’t have a judgmental bone in their bodies, but does seeing a per-son with piercings change how we see them? When junior Jenna Weinstein was asked what fi rst comes to mind when she sees someone with many piercings, she said, “ I think they are either trying to be tough, gain att ention, or are just unique.” Are they trying to look cool, tough, or just fi t in? Are piercings a way for children to rebel against

authority or just a type of artwork and expression? Answers to these questions depend on who is giving the answer. The reasoning changes based on the situation and person. It can be a huge misconception that a person gets a piercing to be cool, while in other situations that can be just the case. There are an infi nite amount of types of piercings from the indus-trial, which goes through the top of your ear in two places, to the gauge which is a small or large hole in your ear lobe, to the tragus, which is in the middle of your ear. And those are only ear piercings. It’s possible to get almost anything pierced these days. Many have face piercings, back piercings, and even hip piercings. Some piercings on the face include

the Monroe, which is named aft er Marilyn Monroe’s famous mole over her lip, the lip piercing, and many more. Senior Amanda Happel (who has had her nose and lip pierced) said, “I get piercings because I like the way they look.” Even though looks and fi tt ing in are two plausible reasons people get piercings, there is also another major one. Many don’t realize that this can become an obsession. Peo-ple can become so infatuated with receiving piercings that it becomes an addiction. The addiction is of-ten paired with the addiction to gett ing tatt oos. Shockingly many have this issue and there are even many anonymous websites were people can relate to each other about their addiction. Senior Meghan McDonough

once had her nose pierced and now has her eyebrow pierced. “The people who listen to the mu-sic I like have a certain image. I also really like the way my pierc-ings look but it also helps me to blend in more,” she said. Though some with piercings aren’t going to admit it, a major factor in get-ting piercings is image. Do people with piercings know they are being judged? Maybe in a college or city sett ing they could blend in easily. Obviously it could get irritating, but in a school fi lled with “Joe and Jane Calhouns” the people who have diff erent pierc-ings are going to stand out. McDonough stated, “I feel like people talk to my piercing.” It’s quite obvious that high school stu-dents are easily intrigued by these metal accessories.

I must see on average about 15 nose rings per day. Ballpark, of course. At work, I give samples of frozen yogurt to throngs of pierced-nose girls of all ages, like they belong to some sort of cult. In the mall, it’s like a requirement of all women under 40 who stand behind the makeup counters. The halls of Cal-houn are increasingly being fi lled with girls who have them (and of-ten, unfortunately so). I specifi cally recall my elemen-tary school years and America’s Spice Girls obsession and how it was really “alternative” of Sporty Spice to have a hoop on the side of her nostril. Her Barbie doll even had a tiny one in the same place. You didn’t see Spice Girls fanatics

piercing their noses though; just the idea alone was so taboo. You thought about how you’d look with one, and then shook your head, like, “Damn, I wish I could pull it off , but I most likely can’t.” Today, nose rings are almost as commonplace as earrings. It’s not a big deal when there’s a small, almost mysterious sparkle com-ing from the side of someone’s nostril. Okay, it sounds a litt le weird when described like that, but have you seen Jordin Sparks’s nose ring? Kelly Clarkson’s? They rocked them like the litt le glitt ery thing was just part of their body. My 10th grade English teacher had an almost-invisible pink stud that kind of blended into her skin, and it was barely noticeable. This, my parents would argue, completely defeats the purpose of a piercing, doesn’t it? Why would you do that

to yourself if no one even knows it’s there? Don’t you want to have a real job? People won’t take you se-riously with a jewel in the middle of your natural, un-hole-punched,

beautiful face, Amanda! They don’t understand. I have a Jordin Sparks kind of nose. A tiny, almost-invisible stud would total-

Piercings come in all shapes and sizes

by Sara GerberStaff Writer

Gett ing nosy about piercingsby Amanda Glickman

Staff Writer

(photo by Nicole Pernice)

(see NOSY on page 7)

(photo by Leah Sobel)Eighty percent of American women are dissatisfi ed with their appearance.

Colture June 2011 Hoofbeats 7

From as long back as I can re-member I have seen pictures in magazines of girls that are but skin and bones. I have heard stories about the litt le girls so desperate to reach the heights of such unat-tainable beauty, they starve them-selves because no number on a scale could ever be small enough. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fi ghting a life and death batt le with an eating disorder. An unbelievable 80 percent of Ameri-can women are said to be dissatis-fi ed with their appearance. Most magazine covers idealize the “perfect” body, and the idea of accepting yourself just as you are is a foreign concept. “There are rarely ‘normal’ sized girls in advertisements or on tele-vision shows, and it just sends the wrong message about what size girls should be,” said sophomore Sarah Losner. When I fi rst learned about the trend moving toward plus-size models, I was shocked but over-joyed. For my 17 years of existence in a society that praised thinness, for the fi rst time something other than a size zero was considered beautiful. I was proud that I was part of a generation of empowered women who knew that beauty was not measured on a scale. People who no longer looked to photo shopped images as goals of unat-tainable perfection. But this was cut short the min-

ute I actually saw what was con-sidered a plus-size model. While watching a segment of “Ellen” on I saw a group of empowered wom-en. Women who said they were proud to be plus-size and show their curves; the only problem was that most of these so called “plus-size” women were smaller than the average American female. The “average” American wom-an weighs 163 pounds, precisely what is considered to be plus-size, according to USA Today. Plus size can range from size 6 to 20. “I honestly think plus-size mod-eling can be just as misleading as regular modeling,” Losner said. “There was a size 6 girl on Amer-ica’s Next Top Model who was con-sidered a plus-size model. It made me feel horrible because I am big-ger than a size 6 and that meant that I am larger than what the larg-est sized model should be.” Some people argue against the trend toward plus-size mod-els, saying they suggest an ideal-ized unhealthy lifestyle. But what many are forgett ing is the fact that not everyone is made to be a size 2. In no way am I saying it is wrong to be thin, but society praises thin-ness so much that women starve themselves to become perfect. So many television shows de-pict larger women in negative ways, challenging them to drop their weight in order to look bet-ter, depicting overweight people as “losers.” The standards set by our soci-ety are so ridiculous that they are impossible to reach. Plus-size is meant to be plus-size, not medium.

by Nina ThomasStaff Writer

Is medium the new plus-size?

(photo by Ashley Cawley)

Eighty percent of American women are dissatisfi ed with their appearance.

ly suit me. I am not the typical nose ring girl who comes into Moo La La with her fellow nose ring friends. I really love Vishnu. And know who she is, for starters. The almost invisibility of it is what gives it such appeal. It’s like when someone gets a tatt oo in a place that’s easily-hidden: it’s for themselves, no one else. I mean, ex-cept for the few who happen to no-tice. Aft er I turned 18, I was thrilled at the idea of being able to walk down the block to Village Street Wear and come out with a stud, no parental consent or anything. But I had reservations. Would I be able to get roles in college plays? Could I apply sunscreen and not gunk it up? How about when colds go around the dorms in the frigid

winter weather? Most importantly, would I upset my boss? In a desperate for unbiased ad-vice, I e-mailed Philip Galanes, Social Qs columnist for the New York Times, asking his opinion of nose rings in the workplace. He e-mailed me back saying my ques-tion was going to be used in a Sun-day Styles section and it was actu-ally printed last month. His advice was to ask my boss upfront about his policy on pierc-ings (which was never established upon my hiring). He also made some witt y remarks listing reasons not to “bedazzle my schnozzola.” While I respect Galanes’s humble opinion, I will most likely get my nose pierced in the next few weeks and show up to work, praying that nothing comes of it. If there’s

a problem, I will calmly remind my boss of the fi rst amendment (is there a clause I can pull out on the basis of freedom of expression?) I will serve frozen yogurt to oth-er nose ring wearers, walk in the halls with other nose ring wearers, and get perfume samples in the

mall from other nose ring wearers. But I will feel just as much of an in-dividual as the ahead of their time Sporty Spices of 10 years ago be-cause I know that inside, I am one of them - one of them stuck in a 2011 world where unique is main-stream and mainstream is unique.

Gett ing nosy(continued from page 6)

(photo courtesy of Gett y)Does having a nose or eyebrow piercing aff ect your employment?

8 Hoofbeats June 2011 Colture

Spring has fl ung! Shorts and bathing suits are being dusted off and taken out of the back of the closet in anticipation for summer and the promises of warm weather. However, cramming for AP tests and fi nals has had an unsightly im-pact on our ability to get dressed in the morning. So here’s the plan: as tests are coming to an end, it’s time to focus on this summer’s scorch-ing style. Instead of gett ing up early to clean snow off our cars, we can sleep in a later and throw on the fi rst pair of shorts we see, add a t-shirt and our “outfi t” is done. That’s what’s great about summer: clothes are eff ortless and comfort-able. But when you sleep through

your alarm in the morning, with minutes to get out the door, you’re lucky if you even put your pants on straight. Looking put together doesn’t require much time, but it does re-quire being awake. Without the proper essentials for a laid back, easy-going summer wardrobe, get-ting dressed is a recipe for disaster.Think about it. It doesn’t matt er how cute the new shirt you bought is if you wear it with ratt y, old sweatpants, your outfi t (or lack there of) is ruined. So, the fi rst tip of this sizzling season is focusing on your overall outfi t. Let’s assess the reasons such a prett y shirt ended up gett ing paired with holey, stained, over-sized pants. One of the biggest problems is we don’t think before we buy. Before laying out the cash

for an eccentrically colored, asym-metrical masterpiece of a shirt or gold, glitt ery heels, ask yourself, “What do I already have that goes with this?” If you can’t think of anything in your closet to go with it, put it back on the rack and walk away. Al-though it may feel like your hands are glued to the hanger, it doesn’t matt er how unique those heels are; if you don’t have anything to pair them with, they will probably sit in your closet for years (trust me, I’ve gone through this too many times — think gold leather jacket ). What a waste. Taking tips from magazines and store mannequins on well put together outfi ts will help you get on your way to creating a breezy, warm weather wardrobe with spe-cial, yet interchangeable pieces.

Just a litt le bit of eff ort and re-search will make gett ing dressed everyday as easy and eff ortless as it should be. If shopping for new summer

by Elise GabrieleStaff Writer

Summer lovin’

(photo by Elise Gabriele)

Tips for making summer wardrobe a paradise

A statement necklace gives this simple fl oral top the oomph it needs.

So one of the main things that I took away from When Harry Met Sally is actually not the whole “You can’t be friends with the opposite sex, and if you are, you will even-tually marry each other aft er years of being friends-with-a-heaping-dose-of-sexual-tension.”

The thing that really stuck with me was the theory that Harry Burns had about there being only two types of women: high maintenance and low maintenance. He doesn’t knock the high maintenance ones (mainly because he’s secretly in love with one), but he alludes to the fact that men in general pre-fer the latt er. And I just stared at

the screen and shook my head in agreement and disgust. See, a part of me wants to be the dictionary-defi nition low main-tenance girl: Colbie Callait, Lisa Bonet circa her marriage to Lenny Kravitz, Mila Jovovitch’s mostly-silent character in Dazed and Con-fused. Just chill, loose skirt and genuine African jewelry, no make-up, drinking tea on a porch while

strumming casually on a guitar (or sitar! Or harp!). This low maintenance chick never worries when her guy will text her back. Maybe she doesn’t even own a cell phone! She doesn’t chase aft er anyone, she just lets it be and goes with the fl ow and yeah, I want to be going with the fl ow, barefoot in grass...

Then I remember I hate being barefoot in grass because there are biting ants. And that the only Afri-can jewelry obtainable near me are replications made in China from Forever 21. Or at the African out-post part of Disney’s Epcot. And that Colbie Callait is so freaking dull! And I don’t want to play the guitar quietly; I want to sing, and loudly, like a diva. But divas are high maintenance. This is an inner batt le many girls face every single day of their lives: being high maintenance in a low maintenance girl’s fi gurative and literal clothing. I can admit with litt le to no shame that I am high maintenance. This is an ambiguous term, drawing up connotations of Mariah Carey in a marabou mini-dress and blingy heels, ringing a bell for a butler to get her champagne, holding her tiny dog with an equally blingy doggie outfi t. To me, high maintenance is when someone is conscious of the fact that they have desires and goals, and will actively pursue them until they’re met. Of course, the more-PC adjectives for this person would be go-gett er, deter-mined, confi dent. Still, like society, I equate these things with a dif-fi cult personality, but when you think about it, what is so bad about being diffi cult? I would never be able to com-

mit to a lifestyle of “chill.” I hate that word. Chill. I have been told, on many an occasion, to “just chill out.” But, being high maintenance/diffi cult, I analyze the meaning of “chill out” and come to the conclu-sion that it means to tone down who I am. I am aware there’s a great deal of hypocrisy in what I’m saying. Yes, I want to be chill without having to think about what “chill” is. No, it will never happen. Yes, I want to go abroad to random countries in South America with one medium-sized duff el bag of no-name-brand sundresses, and have absolutely no stress about not knowing where the hell I am. No, it’s unreastic be-cause my beauty supplies alone would fi ll said medium-sized duf-fel bag. It all goes back to the Mariah im-age: is the girl crazy and spoiled? Or is she more like Sally: very spe-cifi c and very headstrong, oft en putt ing off men? Both are high maintenance. But for society’s sake, can we look at how we (as fellow females and as potential-romantic-interest males) automati-cally categorize and write off the Sallys of the world? And, to be frank: aft er a slew of low maintenance girls, “the chill ones with no drama,” a guy wants substance. Sally = substance. Sally gets the guy. High maintenance wins in the end.

Faking low maintenanceby Amanda Glickman

Staff Writer

(see SUMMER on page 9)

Is being low maintenance a state of mind or a way you wish to be perceived?(photo by Amanda Glickman)

Colture June 2011 Hoofbeats 9

Time to sit in the car with your parents for eight straight hours. Time to stay in cheap motel rooms. Time to start thinking about the future! For sophomores and juniors, visiting colleges in the summer has become a tradition. Though school may not be in session, most college towns are lively and still thrilling during the hot summer months. So for all of you who were unable to look at schools during spring break, the summer is your time to get cracking. Maybe it’s the academics or the nationally ranked sports team that turned you on to the school. You

might not know if you like the school until you have visited. Be sure to take the necessary steps to get that true college experience.

Take the Campus Tour. The one thing every incoming student should take advantage of is the tour. Though your guide may be triple majoring, fi nding cures for cancer, and have an incredibly irri-tating lisp, their intelligence on the school is necessary to get the full experience. So walk a mile or two, and meet some people in your group; they may just be your roommate some day. Just please, don’t be that kid who tries to suck up to the guide. You will not make any friends that way, and that will not get you an

automatic admission. Ask as many questions as you need, for that may be the only time you’ll get an honest answer. Some of the most popular inquiries are “What AP grade do you need to get in order to receive credit?” and “What is the teacher to student ra-tio?” This information may not be disclosed on any legitimate web-sites, so it’s important to fi nd this out before the application process.

Visit the Library. Hopefully on the tour, you will be taken to the library. If not, go see it, seriously. You will literally spend most of your academic life in that build-ing. The library will replace the unreliable sources (aka Google) and bring you knowledge only re-vealed to those who actually read fi rsthand accounts. When search-ing through the library, see if there are separate rooms for study groups, if there is a fl oor mainly for those who are socially study-ing, and a fl oor for those who need silence. The variety in the structure of a library can be very benefi cial to one who is open to all sorts of research. Don’t forget to stop at the bookstore, where shirts and sou-

stitches doesn’t sound like para-dise to you or you’re short on cash (I know I am), you can go through the clothes you do have and edit them fi rst. I suggest giving away clothes you haven’t worn in the past year. Chances are you won’t wear them again and, honestly, they’re taking up needed space for new pieces. Another way to ensure you’re not wasting money and gett ing the biggest bang for your buck is by buying timeless items as well

as trendy items, making sure not to spend too much money on things that a year from now will be out of style. Think of the clas-sics. For example, jean cutoff s and a light neutral cardigan. They may sound boring and humdrum now, but buying more well-made and expensive looking items and then pairing them with cheaper trendier items works best. Not to mention you can wear your more expensive pieces for years to come and, not only will they last, they will still be in style.

Having a cardigan or pair of shorts that you can turn to at a mo-ments notice is the diff erence be-tween looking like you just rolled out of bed or looking put together. But keep in mind that you don’t want to look over trendy. Think of the t-shirt and shorts idea but slightly played up. Simply adding one unique item to an outfi t can give it the oomph it needs to go from drab to fab. So during these cherished sum-mer months, keep the heat in mind, think simple and fresh and cool.

Summer fashion tips

(photo by Elise Gabriele)

Look white-hot this summer with edgy tops, dresses, and even shorts.

(continued from page 8)

by Leah SobelEditorial Editor

Whether touring a campus like Vanderbilt University (above) or Tulane University (below right), spend time visiting the library.(photos by Tessa Patt i)

Touring tipsTouring tips

Tips for your college campus visitsTips for your college campus visits(see TOUR on page 15)

10 Hoofbeats June 2011 Editorial

Learning a history lessonOsama Bin Laden was

killed on May 2, 2011. He was shot during a United

States mission carried out by Seal Team Six. Matched with the scrolling, bold headlines were pictures of cheer-ing people, Americans celebrating the death of a man. In the days fol-lowing Osama Bin Laden’s death, pictures of jeering crowds chant-ing “Obama killed Osama” sprout-ed up across the country, coupled with people smiling and laugh-ing. These pictures are haunting. In a country where so many have died and even more have felt the heart-wrenching eff ects of death, it is embarrassing to see such a wide-spread reaction. Yes, removing a threat to pub-lic safety is a good thing, but death should never be accompanied with chants and celebration. The death of Osama Bin Laden is not an end; it is just the beginning to ending

the tension between the regions. It seems as though the public (fu-eled by the media) has forgott en how many have suff ered and how many will suff er. They forgot all the issues still facing this country. They forgot the wars, the economy, the rising preju-dice and political division threaten-ing the United States. The tensions between religious extremists and this country have not been solved. If anything, they have been elevated aft er the death of Osama Bin Laden. The pictures of United States citizens celebrat-ing his death prove that the att acks on September 11 and other tragic events that followed have not elic-ited a response other than war and hatred. For example, look at the Mosque issue raised in New York City last September. The public’s response to the Islamic Center proved that

we have allowed hatred and preju-dice to permeate our society just as the Islamic Extremists have. It leaves many asking if our politi-cians continually use September 11 as a rallying point and an elec-tion tool, nothing else. Let’s not

allow the death of Osama Bin Laden to be used

as another card shuffl ed around in politics, but instead, move forward and deal head-on with the other is-sues facing this country. This occurrence and the public response have highlighted a shift in American society, and at the same time reminded us all of an ugly reoccurrence that our history shows we can not and have not es-caped. Hatred runs deep. First, it was the Native Americans, then the African Americans, women, and so on. The hatred has now shift ed to new targets. The anti-gay rights movement is one example as is the

rising Islamophobia that is now prevalent in American society. As students, we are taught his-tory each day, but learning about the past leaves us with so many questions, the biggest being: why did people act so cruelly toward others? In looking at the news footage of one man’s death or the count-less examples of bullying and ho-mophobia that have occurred this year across the country, are we bet-ter than generations before us or exactly the same? It does not matt er who has done the murdering or hurtful actions, just that they have occurred. The status of this country worsens ev-ery day that we, as a people, forget about the issues facing us and in-stead take time to celebrate death and destruction. Let us move forward and prog-ress instead of dwelling cheerfully on the past.

Staff Editorial

Staff Members: Asia Brown, Michele Carroll, Julie Ciccone, Cortina Florez, Bria Forbes, Elise Gabriele, Sara Gerber, Amanda Glickman, Holly Lavelli, Ashley Lowerre, Shannon Matzen, Ashley McGet-rick, Dana Reilly, Nicole Simmons, Kushhali Singh, Nina Thomas, Kate Valerio, Jocelyn Yu

Hoofb eats is the offi cial student newspaper of Calhoun High School. Hoofb eats serves 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. Some visual material courtesy of the Ameri-can Society of News Editors High School Newspaper Service. 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 administrators, teachers, editors, or faculty adviser.

Editors-in-Chief Philippa Boyes Emily Wrynn News Editor Kara Iskenderian Sports Editors Rachel Tyson Tessa Patt i Editorial Editor Leah Sobel Colture Editor Julia Martinez Photography Editor Tatianna Flores Faculty Adviser Jason Boland

Hoofb eatsSanford H. Calhoun High School

1786 State StreetMerrick, NY 11566

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

Volume 53 No. 5 June 2011

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

NFL lucking out We are over a month into the NFL lockout, and neither side is budging on the important issues. Will they be able to sett le these dif-ferences in time for a September kickoff ? Money - The previous collec-tive bargaining agreement had the owners taking $1 billion off the league’s $9 billion revenue and the rest being split evenly amongst the 32 teams. Now the owners want to take another billion dollars off . The players are in the right here. In the previous year, no team re-ported a loss in revenue, so why should the league get more when they are already making a steady profi t? The egos of the owners are too big for their britches. If they keep being selfi sh fi nancially, the fans will turn against them and go to another sport. Schedule - The old schedule consisted of four preseason and 16 regular season games. But the owners want to add two more games to the schedule. Football is a grueling sport, and 16 games are enough for everybody. There are already enough season-ending in-juries each week. Two more games might lead to star players going down for the year or being forced to retire. They actually do the work and deserve to be paid for it. If there is an 18 game schedule, the league would have to start the sea-son earlier, or end the Super Bowl

later. Do you want regular season games in the hot, sticky weather of August? Do you want to watch your favorite star be brought to the hospital due to heat stroke? This is just a group of greedy people try-ing to milk more money from the average, hard-working fan. Rookie wage scale - Ever since the 2000 draft , the annual salary of fi rst round picks has increased dramatically. It is unbelievable that a rookie who hasn’t played a down will make more than the off ensive lineman who has been clawing his way through the league for the 10 years. For every Matt Ryan that has lived up to his contact, there will always be a Jamarcus Russell who will waste a team’s money and set back a franchise for at least seven years. HGH Testing- NFL owners want players to agree to blood testing for human growth hormones, but the players association feels that it violates players’ rights. This topic is prett y simple from a fan’s point of view. We want a clean league. The players should just man up and accept the testing. The fact that football didn’t learn the ill ef-fects of not testing for drugs from Major League Baseball is kind of surprising. People want to see their favor-ite team play football and win a championship. Both sides should get their lawyers and representa-tives and lock them in a room until a deal is done. Football is an Amer-ican business that is too big to fail.

by Bobby LemaireContributing Writer

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Editorial June 2011 Hoofbeats 11

Homework sprawled out on the bed. Looking and feeling completely exhausted. These all are very familiar to a junior in all honors, especially during the 3rd marking quarter. Is this work purposefully de-signed to weed out the kids who are not cut out for the work? Some kids really don’t have a choice be-cause dropping out of honors and APs will inevitably jeopardize the college options available. The Ivy’s and Tier 1 schools aren’t going to listen if you “succumbed to the pressure.” Teachers claim that homework is a necessary part of understand-ing the course load and that it pre-pares or reinforces what is taught in class. AP U.S. History teacher, Mr. Neal Madnick, said he gives nightly outlines to ensure knowl-edge of the material. “AP US History is a crazy course. The College Board gives too much

material and too much de-tail to be covered in such a short pe-riod of time, and ensure time for review,” he said. “Schools in other p a r t s of the country start in mid-Au-gust, so they have more time.” Mr. Mad-nick feels that the only way to check that the kids are reading is to give a writt en as-signment, so this is why he gives so much work. Time management is defi nitely an issue that many teenagers are plagued with, but not everyone is waiting until the last minute

to complete an assignment. Even those who get

a head start fi nd diffi culty in

c o m p l e t i n g everything

on time, since the a s s i g n -m e n t s can be lengthy. Matt Calo is a respon-

sible ju-nior and a

three season athlete, who

is taking several AP classes, two

science courses (one of them being AP Chemistry).

“On average I do homework from when I get home from track at 6 to 11 or 12 everyday. In addition, I work during any free periods that I have. When asked when do I re-lax during the week, I was forced

to reply that I don’t.” All of this work and stress put on students during junior year dis-courages them from continuing on to a senior year fi lled with even more APs. Most students drop-ping any AP classes feel similar to sophomore Jon Costa. “For junior year I am not taking two of the AP classes I am tracked to go into because I feel that the amount of work is excessive, and I would rather focus upon the courses that correlate with a career I’d like to pursue.” This work leaves juniors tired, especially the highly dedicated ones who actually do the assign-ments fully. We all were ecstatic aft er the last AP, and now the lull has many of us wondering what to do with ourselves, with the limited num-ber of fi nals and Regents left . So as a word of advice to incoming ju-niors: beware! Junior year will not be the easiest, especially if you get all the teachers who give the most amount of work.

by Asia BrownStaff Writer

Just too much homework

To the editor, In the last edition of Hoofb eats, I read an editorial [“Paranoid about parking,” Editorial, April 2011] re-lating to parking and the slim op-portunities to obtain a pass. The author said she would “rather be 20 minutes late to class as opposed to paying an $80 ticket.” The fl aws cited in that edito-rial are outrageous. Her solution to hold an additional meeting in the middle of the year is being done. Students had an opportunity to att end a meeting on Nov. 17, ac-cording to Assistant Principal Ni-cole Hollings. She did not take into consideration that there are many people who have late birthdays and did not have a Class D license at the time of the meeting. At the end of my junior year, my birthday and my road test was on the horizon. I knew I was not going to have a car to drive right away, but the thought of driving myself to school was so exciting, I found out the date of the parking meeting, and I made it a point to att end. My friends and I piled into the auditorium on Aug. 30 and af-terwards, I walked to the car with my mother with a sense of accom-plishment that I could now park in the parking lot. On the fl yer that went out to all seniors regarding parking, they made a clear point that if you ever want to park in the parking lot,

even if you don’t have your car or class D license at the time of the meeting, you should att end the meeting, which is exactly what I and every other senior who has a late birthday did. The cutoff for the senior class is December 1. Even holding an additional meeting on Nov. 17, two weeks before the cut off , is generous. If you have a birthday that late, you would be a junior and ineligible to park in the lot to begin with. As for the parking ticket prob-lem, seniors who were too lazy to go to the meeting are showing their laziness by refusing to walk. The signs prohibiting parking in select areas on school days have been there for four years. They have not changed, nor will they change. I think it is not an argu-ment “…between the school sys-tem and the criminal system.” It is an argument on how lazy you can possibly be. Don’t exhibit your laziness by being too cool for the parking meeting. If you do what you have to do, you won’t have to suff er the consequences, such as walking an extra 20 steps from the parking lot.

- Jacob Greenberg, ‘11

To the editor, Taking the SAT is undoubtedly an important part of preparing for college. Boards of admissions at numerous colleges argue that

the SAT enables them to compare students more fairly, since grad-ing practices vary from school to school. The SAT is supposed to grade everyone the same way. Why, then, does your editorial [“Television is an SAT reality,” Editorial, April 2011] completely justify the essay question from the March SAT? Indeed, reality TV might be a legitimate topic, but you did not get to the root of the problem. The subject matt er isn’t the issue. In fact, it’s more of the unusual specifi city of the question that causes diffi culty. Past SAT essay questions were extremely broad, allowing test-takers to write an essay drawing upon evidence ranging from per-sonal experience to U.S. History class. For example, a prompt in the offi cial SAT study guide reads: “Is there always another explanation

or point of view?” This question can easily be answered with a va-riety of supporting examples, each one providing that sense of “well-roundedness” you’d think Yale is looking for. The March SAT added speci-fi city where there was none be-fore. To ask a question so specifi c, such as the rott ing eff ects of reality television, a student is limited to discussing TV and only TV. How many essays did SAT graders want to read about Jersey Shore anyway? Sure, “a smart, well-rounded kid should know something about popular culture,” but giving such limited possibility to write an ef-fective, well-developed essay? Well, that’s just going to give you the exact type of one-dimension-ality that you tried to avoid in the fi rst place.

- Grace Barrett -Snyder, ’12

Lett ers to the editor...

The staff editorial from April said students must be prepared for any essay question.

12 Hoofbeats June 2011 Editorial

Should graduation be held on campus?A fond memory

will now be erasedA time to start new,

cooler traditions

As June 26 approaches, the talk of graduation comes up in every one of a senior’s classes. For some it’s the “You still have to work up until graduation, even if APs are done.” In others it’s the “I bett er have your textbooks before gradu-ation!” But the most common discus-sion you’ll hear if you walk into a twelft h grade class is the Westbury Music Fair, the new location of graduation. If you haven’t heard, it’s appar-ently a tragedy. It seems like ev-eryone always complains about it, mostly those who have had older siblings graduate Calhoun and want to continue that tradition of gett ing their diplomas at the same place their brothers and sis-ters have. And sure, I get that. We worked at Calhoun, we should get our diplomas at Calhoun. In a cer-tain way, Calhoun has been home for the past four years. But honestly, what great tradi-tion is being ruined? Hours out-side in the brutal sun while wear-ing a cap and gown? Bugs fl ying everywhere? Walking on grass so girls’ heels get ruined or they trip? No one being able to hear a speech because parents are seated too far away from the stage or speakers?

It’s ridiculous. So we’re mov-ing inside. Where there’s air condi-tioning and acoustics so everyone in att endance can hear each name being read and each speech being

given. I don’t see the problem. Yes, yes, tradition. Maybe we can start a new tradition. Maybe the Class of 2011 can be looked at as pioneers instead of guinea pigs. Many high schools hold their graduation else-where; it just makes the entire cer-emony go more smoothly. Not to mention when we graduate inside how the weather decides to act that day won’t be a problem. Adminis-trators won’t have to worry about back-up plans of moving to the au-ditorium if it’s rainy or too windy, and with how fi ckle the weather has been so far this spring, it seems best not to take any chances. The other issue is the number of seats. Since we graduate in-doors this year, each graduate re-ceives only six tickets. That’s six of their family and friends who get to see them walk across the stage for about fi ve seconds. I know

this isn’t ideal. When graduation was at Calhoun, you could invite however many people you want-ed. Plenty of space when you’re outdoors. I’m well-aware students have large, tight-knit families and the fact that they are going to have to cut down the amount of people they’re inviting is awful. It’s an-noying and it’s unfair to your loved ones. But is cutt ing down the list so much worse than not even being able to see the graduation because you’re so far away? At least now your guests can watch you have your moment and hear your name being called. This graduation has the potential to be great, if people would look at the positives. We get to fully expe-rience the ceremony without dis-tractions - heat being a main one. I know some students were looking forward to having the picture of the hats in the air against the blue sky, and that’s a loss too. Is that picture such a huge deal? Traditions start because some-one tried something new and it worked out well. That’s what this year can be. The Class of 2011 is the fi rst to hold their graduation elsewhere. Perhaps it’s just the fi rst step of moving on and leaving Cal-houn for the rest of our lives.

by Philippa BoyesEditor-in-Chief

I was under the impression that having graduation at school was one of the most special privileges that Calhoun had to off er. Graduation is the fi nal day that a student is part of the Colt Commu-nity, the fi nal step before heading off to college. Not graduating on the Calhoun fi eld, like every other graduating class, is a disservice to not only students, but also to their families and friends. If someone were to ask a Calhoun student what the Westbury Music Hall meant to them, they wouldn’t even know what or where that is. Ask that same student what Calhoun means to them, and they could ramble on for hours. It’s the moment when you’re sitt ing in your chair on the fi eld, blue cap, blue gown, sunglasses, able to reminisce about every mile you suff ered through around the track, every time you snuck out to lunch freshman year, and every Friday that you burst through the door with friends, free of the chains that kept you in class all week. High school graduation is im-portant for the graduates’ family and friends. At Calhoun, under weather permitt ing circumstances, this was accessible. With the new system each family is allowed only six tickets for the ceremony. There are people whose immediate fam-ily is larger than six people. How is that fair? What if someone had family fl ying in from out of state, or out of the country, and they aren’t al-lowed to come to the most impor-tant part of the trip, the ceremony. It’s a terrible system. Aunts and uncles don’t care too much about the dinner aft erward; they want to see their niece or nephew walk across the makeshift stage with their diploma. Graduation is a community event to be shared by all. I, for one, had been looking forward to att ending the ceremony. To see friends that I’ve played soccer with or had classes with for my three years of high school. Many people in the community make it a point to stop by the ceremony. The kids they are watching are the ones that may have gott en them through a diffi cult freshmen year, or they may be the people they stood on the lunch line with every second

period to get cookies. It’s a way to say thanks. Graduation ceremonies used to do a good job gett ing more than just the graduates involved. The band was able to go play for the graduating class and the audience. I guess “Pomp and Circumstance” will now be played by a CD, which, with Calhoun luck, will end up skipping, or just not work-ing entirely. How can you leave out the school band at the biggest ceremony of the year? We get it. It’s hot out, it could rain, it could snow. But that’s only a chance. The ceremony is for the students, and they want to take the chance, not matt er what the weath-er has in store on that day. Sure, maybe the entire graduat-ing class had sweat through their robes by the end of the ceremo-ny, but nobody minded. It’s the memories that matt ered more than the tan lines from sitt ing through speeches all aft ernoon. “It’s frustrating for everyone that they are changing tradition,” said senior Marissa Levy. “All of the past classes were able to gradu-ate on the fi eld of the school they went to for four years. Even some of the Calhoun teachers graduated here. Now they’re changing the location to somewhere no student wants. It’s ridiculous.” For the students yet to graduate

who may also have to graduate off -campus, I hope there will be fond-er memories to overshadow what used to be the most important day in a senior’s last four years.

“But honestly, what great tradition is being ruined? Hours sitt ing outside in the brutal sun while wearing a cap and gown?”

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(photo courtesy of Maria DiMatt eo)

Last year’s seniors may be the last to throw their caps in the air under a blue sky.

by Tessa Patt iSports Editor

Editorial June 2011 Hoofbeats 13

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but can one pose really embody four years of someone’s life? It seems impossible for yearbook photos, with their formality and stiff ness, to accurately rep-resent students’ high school ca-reers. As seniors, we have spent roughly one forth of our lives in high school. On a single day during junior year we take our pictures for the year-book—the pictures that the whole class will look at for years to come. It would be nice for us to be able to express ourselves the best we can in this picture, but that doesn’t happen. Senior portraits, though traditional, are the most monoto-nous section in the yearbook. Not only are students being de-

fi ned by one picture, but there are so many restrictions to abide by that the entire collection of pho-tos appears posed and stiff . The dull, black drape that covers girls from the shoulders down and the fake tuxedo the boys have to wear

dull down nor-mally vibrant and youthful per-sonalities. The typical student does not want to be remembered wearing a stuff y uptight get-up.

Many want to be able to wear something that represents who they are. Whether athletically, aca-demically, or artistically expres-sive, students want their talents to be remembered, even if its just by themselves looking back on their youth 20 years from now. Senior portraits show nothing about who we are. Anyone could associate a name with a face, but without personal expression

that’s all that will be committ ed to memory. As long as the pictures are appropriate and follow some guidelines, there should not be a problem with having a more elaborate senior portraits section. There are thousands of ways to spruce up the senior portraits without chang-ing tradition too much. Students should have the option to select an inspiring quote or phrase that has proved help-ful to them while in high school or every-day life. Another idea would be to put each student’s freshman and senior year pictures next to each other for comparison. This way it would allow students to see

how much they have changed over the four years they were in high school and refl ect on memories. Senior portraits consistently lack the vibrancy and fl air of students’

personalities. The redundancy of the boring black cover-ups

makes everyone seem indist inguish-

able from one anoth-

er. When we cover up our

p e r s o n a l i t i e s with a bleak uni-

form, our individu-alism gets masked

along with our cloth-ing. Something must

be done to spruce up se-nior portraits; they are the

complete opposite of what high school is supposed to

represent. What should be re-membered as one of the greatest

experiences of our lives is repre-sented by a phony smile and suf-focated with a black drape.

“When we cover up what a young person is known for, we forget how they became such an individual. Some-thing must be done to spruce up senior portraits.”

Can one portrait defi ne you?by Elise Gabriele

Staff Writer

I can’t count the number of times I was warned, but the shock still found a way to reach me. I’m a graduating senior. I was the student who was fuss-ing over what college I would go to as early as the eighth grade. Now I can honestly say that I have changed so much since the fi rst time I entered high school, and I suspect that many of my peers feel the same way. Being raised in a traditional

Indian household I was told that I was capable of being anything I wanted, but only if I wanted to be a doctor. Any other profession was point-less, and from birth I learned that boys were supposed to be engi-neers and girls were meant to be doctors. I was raised in a culture in which I was taught that being No. 1 was all that matt ered. Be-cause when asked who the second man on the moon was, the answer didn’t matt er. From as long as I could remem-ber school was a competition.

Who could get the best grade? Who could reach the very top of their class? My mom always said she would respect any career I choose, but I couldn’t ignore the sighs when she said only really smart kids can secure a career in science or math. Careers that were “stable.” The fi rst job I ever wanted was in the fi eld of medicine; I wanted to be a pediatri-cian. But when I watched the Bol-lywood movie “3 Idiots” I ques-tioned my goal for the fi rst time. Being an Indian daughter, I have this mindset but the movie revealed two facts that changed my perspective: India has the highest suicide rate and every 90 minutes a student in India kills him or herself. The pressure becomes so much that students don’t think their lives are worth living. I can’t imagine what I would have done if I was born in India; or if my mom was an unrelenting Indian moms. Sure, she doesn’t want me to pur-sue anything other than science, but she respects my decision. She has never forced me into medicine, though I’m sure she wanted to. I would imagine that not ev-eryone has the same support. It’s important for everyone to under-

stand that life and self-worth are not measured based on what you get on a test. Your worth is not de-termined by a percentile. As the saying goes, do what you love to do and you will never have to work a single day in your life. So many of us are just trying to fi g-ure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives and we should listen to our own hearts, fi rst and

foremost. The sixth grade play at Fayett e Elemen-tary School this year is The Wizard of Oz and the tag-line that I’ve seen

on dozens and shirts and heard a million times is, “Follow your own yellow brick road.” As the Class of 2011 prepares to leave Calhoun, I couldn’t think of a phrase more ap-propriate. Because I am an Indian daugh-ter, I know my mom would freak out if my overall average ever went below a 90. And if I told her that I wanted to pursue a career in theater she might actually faint. But the fact of the matt er is this is my life, and it is my decision to do what I want with it. I could fail miserably, but on my death bed, I would know that I made my own choices. Follow your own yellow brick road; follow your dreams.

Follow your own yellow brick roadby Nina Thomas

Staff Writer

“Being raised in a traditional Indian household, I was told that I was capable of being anything I wanted, but only if I wanted to be a doctor.”

14 Hoofbeats June 2011 Sports

Season ends for varsity baseball

An otherwise successful lacrosse season was brought to end as the boys’ varsity lacrosse team was de-feated by Port Washington in the fi rst round of playoff s. The beginning of the season went anything but smoothly. The team was set back aft er graduating many valuable seniors who made up a majority of their starting line. But once they were fi nally able to

produce a new starting lineup, things still did not click. “We had talent, but we didn’t seem to cooperate as a whole team,” explained senior J.P. Dou-cett e, “Aft er our fi rst game and loss to Seaford, we all knew it was a game we should have won. But we just didn’t connect.” However, as the season went on, things began to change. And many of the boys contribute this to their coaching staff . Coach Feminella, who played college lacrosse at

Hofstra, and Coach Polazzo, moti-vated the team beyond any of their expectations. They were not only able to help the team improve their game, but they molded the team together as one. The coaches’ com-bination of knowledge of the sport, as well as a focus on comradely, is what got the team this far. “Every other team I play on at Calhoun, we were forced to be a family,” said senior captain, Vinny Samuel. “This team wasn’t forced; we ended up that way and that’s

completely due to our coaches.” The Colts were seeded 12th in their conference, giving them the last spot needed to qualify for playoff s. For the fi rst round, they were pinned against Port Wash-ington High School. As regulation time was coming to an end, third year varsity player Charlie Isham scored to put the Colts into overtime. Unfortunate-ly, the team was unable to come up with an overtime win like last time. However, rather than only looking back, the boys continue to look forward. And as Coach Femi-nella was quoted, “What a ride.” The boys have a lot to be proud of. They were the fi rst Calhoun boys varisty team in four years with a winning record. And, they were able to bring a home play-off game to Calhoun, with a great crowd to boot. “The season went bett er than we expected” explained junior, Jona-than Strezenec. “We exceeded our expectations by jumping to the 7th seed. Of course it was disappoint-ing to see it all end so soon, but next year we are having many key players return. We made noise in the season this year and next year, we plan on making it to Hofstra.” “The coaches always stressed that they didn’t want to have just one good season, they wanted to build lacrosse to become one of the top competitors in Nassau Coun-ty,” Doucett e said.The lacrosse team, including Andrew Silverman, Kyle Foy, and Joe Nieto, made the playoff s before losing to Port Washington.

(photo by Holly Lavelli)

by Rachel TysonSports Editor

Lax bounced out of playoff s

year), also led the Colts in key situ-ations. With fi ve home runs on the season, Thomas hit three in one game alone to lead the Colts in an 8-1 victory against Valley Stream Central. Combined with both Thomas and Sullivan, Joey Christopher, who has plans to pitch for St. John’s University next year, started off his season later aft er a minor in-jury, but was able to lead Calhoun to a 4-3 victory over district rival, Mepham. Other key players for the Colts included juniors Alex Vargas, Frank Trimarco, and Thomas Vi-verito, who pitched Calhoun to a combined total of 14 victories. Vargas struck out 10 in a 6-1 win against Carey. All of the players have their in-dividual triumphs, but combined with all of the other players on the team, Calhoun’s success has been far-reaching, and easy to come by.

“Our togetherness, our drive, and our love for the game is what makes winning so possible for us,” explained Rosen. “We’ve always had this determi-nation to succeed each and every season, and it’s continuing on this season. All of us have been playing this game for years. We love it and respect it. Having success in the past, we all know what it feels like to win big games; and right now, that state championship is looking prett y good for us.” Rosen also had more than 15 RBIs on the season to push the Colts forward in key games. Even though they just recently suff ered a tough post-season loss to Carey, the Colts are not at all going to stop. With a fi re already warming up, Calhoun will begin to prepare themselves for the 2012 season, and fi nally capturing the title that has eluded them for the past two seasons, a New York State Championship. Coach Mike Marino (right) looks on as junior Alex Rodriguez takes fi rst base.

(photo by Nicole Simmons)

(continued from page 16)

Sports June 2011 Hoofbeats 15

For the third straight year, the girls’ badminton team has proven they are the best Nassau County has to off er. Aft er winning three consecu-tive county championships (while going undefeated twice), the team has earned its credibility. Junior Kristi Tice, a member of the team since 2009, calls it “one of the most intense sports in the school.” She credits much of their success to Coach Gregg Muscarel-la, who is “an amazing coach that has a strong passion for his team and program.” Coach Muscarella has guided the team for 12 years and continues to lead the girls with the help of As-sistant Coach Sue Litwin. Having been head coach of the wrestling

team for 19 years and a junior var-sity soccer coach, Muscarella has earned countless victories both on and off the badminton court. The girls are quick to quote Coach Musc with his motivational say-ings such as, “Don’t go to practice, go and practice” and “Winning is a choice.” The team has taken the words of wisdom to heart and put it to work as they geared up for the county championship match. “Both of our coaches put so much time and eff ort into the team” said senior Sam Torrett a. “We all really appreciate it.” Saul Lerner, District Direc-tor of Athletics, calls badminton a “coach’s sport, because unlike a lot of other sports like baseball and soccer, badminton is usually entirely a new experience for the players coming out for the team, which is why the coaching so im-

portant.” Mr. Lerner went on to credit Coach Muscarella with not only inspiring the Calhoun team, but the entire Nassau County area making badminton “fi nally seen as a legitimate sport.” These past three years haven’t been badminton’s fi rst triumph. Over the past nine years, the team has secured 149 victories and suff ered only seven losses, making them the most well-known team in Nassau County. Many of those victories were earned over the past two years as the girls were undefeated for both the 2009 and 2010 seasons. The team’s record this year is also impressive, having only one loss aft er playing Jericho High School. “As long as we go

into the match confi dent with our heads up, we will win the county title,” Coach Muscarella said dur-ing the season. And as always, Musc’s predictions proved to be true as the girls snatched the 2011

county title at Kennedy High School, mak-ing it the fi rst time in the team’s history they won three straight county championships. “Watching everyone get emotional really showed how much they care about the team,” Tice said. “It re-ally brought us all together.”

The girls, along with the coach-ing staff , have shown tremendous passion and dedication, which translated to great success. It is only a matt er of time until the girls are back in full swing with their sights set the fourth county title.

Senior Diana Goldberg prepares a serve in practice for the county champions.(photo by Holly Lavelli)

venirs are more common than any novel.

See the Town. Don’t forget to see the surrounding town (if there is one, of course). You won’t always be hungry for the cafeteria food, and that “Freshman 15” stomach won’t feed itself, you know. So make sure you check out the res-taurants, local music stores, small clothing shops, and maybe even a fro-yo spot.

Whether you’re staying in dorms or staying at home, it’s always good to take a gander at what your future might be like. Though a quality education is the top priority, look at the big pic-ture. Are you going to remember that night you studied for your Chemistry class, or that time you saw a great band at a local eatery? When looking at campuses, see if you can imagine yourself there; then you’ll realize which school is the right match.

Touring tips

Be sure to see as much of the college campus as possible on your visit.(photo by Tessa Patt i)

(continued from page 9)

Third time’s a charmThird time’s a charmby Ashley McGetrick

Staff Writer

Girls win counties for third straight year

Senior Fariha Chowdhury(photo by Holly Lavelli)

by Tessa Patt iSports Editor

Aft er a perfect (15-0) regular sea-son and a fi rst-round playoff vic-tory, Calhoun baseball fell to Carey in the Nassau County Semi-Finals for Nassau Class AA. As the boys look toward next year, they will think about captur-ing what they have been denied of for the past two years: a state championship. Although the de-fending Nassau County champi-ons fell short, it was nothing less than a remarkable season. The Colts defeated Syosset in the fi rst round of playoff s on their way to the coveted New York State Championship. But aft er victories of 15-0 and a 4-0 over Syosset, the boys fell short in two straight games to Carey (6-2, 6-5), who held second place in the conference. Though they were knocked out of the playoff s, the boys did not give up without a fi ght. Junior Robbie Rosen hit a home run ear-ly in the game to add to the Colts lead, which was 4-0 by the end of the fi rst inning. Calhoun, however, lost their lead and their chance at a state title. An early loss to a Baldwin in a non-League game showed the Colts knew that they would have to prove themselves for the rest of the season. The loss helped them to realize that they would need to compete at a higher level, and prove themselves to all other com-petition, especially those teams within the league. “It just goes to show that, in baseball, any team can be beaten on any given day,” Rosen said. “On the other hand, although we didn’t really have it that day, we still came extremely close, proving to ourselves just how good a team we actually have. I feel like we moved on from that game with a sense confi dence and a newfound focus, knowing that we need to give it 100 percent every single time we step onto the fi eld.” Aft er being up 7-4 in the sixth inning, the Colts lost 9-8. This situ-ation though, was fl ipped upside down throughout the rest of the season, and the Colts mastered keeping leads and, if needed, com-

ing back in tight games to pull out a victory. Some of the Colts biggest com-petition came from their cross-town rivals, Bellmore JFK. Going into an April 26 game, Calhoun had an eight-game winning streak to uphold. Going into the seventh inning, behind 6-5, junior Thom-as Viverito hit an RBI triple to tie

the game, which was followed by Zach Goldstein’s two-out base hit to go ahead, and eventually win. This gave the Colts an 8-0 league record and propelled them to beat Bellmore JFK 14-8 on the next go around. With three seniors graduating onto collegiate level baseball pro-grams, the Colts will have many

spaces to fi ll next year. Outfi elder Dan Sullivan, who will be play-ing at Siena College, came through for Calhoun in clutch situations. Sullivan’s RBI single against Long Beach was the deciding factor for a 1-0 victory to keep the Colts un-defeated. Catcher, Jake Thomas (playing for Binghamton next

Champs fall in second roundChamps fall in second roundJunior Frank Trimarco bats in a 15-0 game one victory over Syosset in the quarterfi nals of the Nassau Class AA playoff s. The team later celebrated (inset) aft er a sixth inning Jake Thomas home run.

(photo by Nicole Simmons)

Almost perfectAlmost perfect

(see BASEBALL on page 14)