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Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ Children’s & Teens’ Connection 2018-2019 ❖ 1www.ConnectionNewspapers.com

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Serving Alexandria for over 200 years • A Connection Newspaper December 27, 2018

Children's & Teens'Gazette Packet 2018Children's & Teens'

Gazette Packet 2018

By Alexandra Wise,Kindergarten,

Charles BarrettElementary

2 ❖ Alexandria Gazette Packet ❖ Children’s & Teens’ Connection 2018-2019 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com


Children’s & Teens’ Gazette Packet

The AlexandriaChildren’s Gazette Packet

is published byLocal Media Connection, LLC.

A digital version of this publicationand 14 sister publications available at

www.connectionnewpapers.com/documents

For information on advertising [email protected]

For information on local content [email protected]

Dear Readers:This week, the Gazette Packet turns

over its pages to the youth and students.We asked principals and teachers from

area schools to encourage students tocontribute their words, pictures and pho-tos for our annual Children’s Issue.

The response, as always, was enor-mous. While we were unable to publishevery piece we received, we did our bestto put together a paper with a fair sam-pling of the submitted stories, poems,drawings, paintings, photographs andother works of art. Because of the re-sponse, we will continue to publish more

artwork and writings in January.We appreciate the extra effort made by

school staff to gather the materials duringtheir busy time leading up to the holidays.We’d also like to encourage both schools andparents to mark their 2019 calendars forearly December, the deadline for submis-sions for next year’s Children’s GazettePacket. Please keep us in mind as your chil-dren continue to create spectacular worksof art and inspiring pieces of writing in thecoming year.

The children’s issue is only a part of ouryear-round commitment to cover educationand our local schools. As always, the Ga-

zette Packet welcomes letters to the edi-tor, story ideas, calendar listings andnotices of local events from our readers.Photos and other submissions about spe-cial events at schools are especially wel-come for our schools pages.

Our preferred method for material ise-mail, which should be sent [email protected],but you can reach us by mail at 1606King St., Alexandria, VA 22314 or call703-778-9415 with any questions.

— Editor Steven Mauren

Welcome

Tree of Life Zentangle Mandala in marker and colored pencil byGrace Hart, T.C. William – Minnie Howard Campus

By Rachel Ransom, Grade 12 at T.C. Williams High School

By Eleanor L., Grade 7, George Washington Middle SchoolBy Aya Mohamed in Mr. Albert’s Grade 5 class, Lyles-Crouch Tradi-tional Academy


T.C. Williams – Minnie Howard Campus

Glazed Clay Maskby Itzel Hernandez-Wilson

Glazed Clay Maskby Daviana Robles-Mongue

Glazed Clay Maskby Jeinny Guzman Bautista

Glazed Clay Maskby Daniel Garvin

Glazed Clay Maskby Rachael Lamparty

Glazed Clay Mask by Shelby BavinGlazed Clay Maskby Corrine Miranda

Glazed Clay Maskby Fiona Donovan

Glazed Clay Maskby Jonathan Vaile

Glazed Clay Maskby Gwendolyn Peace

Glazed Clay Maskby Brandon Siyarath

Glazed Clay Mask by Rai HillGlazed Clay Maskby Kenner Lovo Marquez

Glazed Clay Mask by Kevin Zheng

By Khalese HendricksGlazed Clay Mask by NansiraDoumbouya


CONGRATULATIONS STUDENTS ON YOUR IMPRESSIVE WORK!

119 South Royal Street • Alexandria, VA 22314

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Come in and try our Bistro Burger and check out our NEW MENU

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ALEXANDRIA RENEW ENTERPRISES (AlexRenew)INVITATION TO BID NO 19-016

AlexRenew is seeking competitive sealed bids for Motor

Control Centers (MCCs) for the Building J Facilities Relocations

and Decommissioning project.

Sealed bids with the notation “Building J Facilities Relocations and Decommissioning- Motor Control Centers”, ITB No. 19-016, will

be received at Alexandria Renew Enterprises, 1800 Limerick Street,

Alexandria, VA 22314, Attn: Maryam N. Zahory, Purchasing Agent,

on or before 2:00 pm, January 22, 2019.

Solicitation documents may be obtained from the AlexRenew website

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and the Commonwealth of Virginia website

http://www.eva.virginia.gov/pages/eva-i-buy-for-virginia.html.

T.C. Williams – Minnie Howard Campus

See Valedictorians, Page 24

By Griffin Harris

T.C. Williams High School

For most high school seniors, graduation cannot come quickly enough.

But once inside that crowded,hot auditorium, it does not pass quickly

enough. The sheer length of graduation is inevitable— almost 850 students must cross the stage — butthere is one problem that is in the school’s power toaddress.

The student speakers at graduation — the vale-dictorian and the salutatorian — are not the bestones for the job. To finish at the top of their class isan impressive achievement, and it requires a lot ofhard work and intellect. But the two who finish thereare not representative of the graduating class theyaddress. Instead, they represent a perverse systemthat claims to reward behavior over good fortunewhile actually ensuring that society’s richest and mosteducated remain at the top.

Before I go further, I should say this: I have hadthe privilege of knowing well the valedictorians andsalutatorians of the last few years, and they are won-derful people. A couple of them gave good speechesat graduation, too. I know well the prospective vale-dictorians and salutatorians of my class, and I like

them all. I am not out to bash the nerds here or toattack anyone in particular.

What I am saying is that there are many admirablequalities in the T.C. student body, and the valedicto-rian and salutatorian tend to display only a few. (Forconcision, let’s call the duo V/S.) No one person couldpossibly embody all of these values, which is pre-cisely why variation in the speakers is needed.

Meet Your V/SThe V/S can almost always be described as fol-

lows. They are white students, from a small handfulof elementary schools — usually George Mason. Theyhave not taken, or even considered taking, fewer thanfive AP courses in junior or senior year. They are verynarrowly separated from the others in the top ten ofthe class; the difference is often as small as gettingan A- for the year in a course instead of a full A, ortaking that one non-AP class junior year, or getting aB in a freshman year class.

Finally, the V/S, for all the discipline and intelli-gence and admirable work ethic, owe their high rankmore than anything to sheer luck. What is in placenow is a meritocracy — a term coined satirically, andfor good reason. The meritocracy claims to reward

Merit, diversity, and a modest proposal for graduation.Valedictorians and Their Discontents

Pencil and watercolorpainting by Brianna Meyers

Still Life Contour Line Drawing in Oil Pastelby Robert Holibar

Jug Value Drawing in Pencilby Diane Perez-Orellana

Still Life Contour Line Drawing in Oil Pastelby Alexis Colton


Maury Elementary

By Conor Dixon, Grade 4 By Harper Braun, Kindergarten By Mahlon Press, Grade 2

By Adonia Muguleta, Kindergarten

By A’Ziyah Palmer, Grade 1

By Nicolas Jenkins, Grade 1

By Melinda Foldi, Grade 1

By Phoebe Smallman, Grade 3

By Harry Schofield, Grade 1

By Emily Jullien, Grade 2By Sophia Coleman, Grade 2

By Madeline Thomas, Grade 3

By Madaleine Manning, Grade 5

By Phoebe Trabb, Grade 2

By Ke’Shon Valentine-Williams, Grade 3


Maury Elementary

By Hatton Haralson,Kindergarten

By William Jones, Grade 3

By Jillian Organek, Grade 4By Kristian Toney, Grade 4By Eloise Schlieter, Grade 4

By Nadja Duss, Grade 5 By Peyton Turnbull, Grade 5


Lyles-Crouch Traditional AcademySubmitted by Marisa St. Louis.

By Gustav Hunnius in Mrs.Yeager’s Grade 2 class.

By Kaitlyn Cabralis in Ms.Wang’s Grade 1 class.

By Kyla Almand in Mr.Orndorff’s Grade 4 class.

By SophiaDuka in Ms.Allen’s Kinder-garten class.

By NoahDavid in Ms.Vega’s Grade

4 class.

By Shanaya Kamal in Mr. Albert’sGrade 5 class.

By Evelyn Pollard in Mr. Wise’sGrade 3 class.

By Lucia Fernandez in Ms. Kelly’sGrade 1 class.

By Madeleine Doss in Ms. Owen’sKindergarten class.

By RakaebSolomon inMs.Riedinger’sGrade 3 class.

By ReikaAida in Ms.

Maslyn’sGrade 2

class.


George Washington Middle School

By Taylor C., Grade 8By Nafessa N., Grade 6By Eva M., Grade 7By Annika L., Grade 7

By Sofia R., Grade 8By Mateo Murguia, Grade 7

By Darcy S., Grade 8By Andy R., Grade 6

By Oscar R., Grade 8By Iris R., Grade 7By Anthony P., Grade 6By Alice T., Grade 7

By Paris W., Grade 8By Kenny A., Grade 8

By Audrey L., Grade 8By Alondra., Grade 7

By Samantha P., Grade 8By Kevin B., Grade 6

By Caroline B., Grade 6By Anabel D., Grade 8

By Andrew C., Grade 8By Catherine G., Grade 8

By Laiyana J., Grade 6

By Sarah M., Grade 7


2 pm - Midnight • Old Town Alexandria, VA

Entertainment. Fireworks. Family- Friendly. Safe & Fun. Affordable.

For Tickets & Information: www. FirstNightAlexandria.org

Another Community Partner

By MC., Grade 7By Katherine H C., Grade 8

By Ethan S., Grade 6By Annabel M., Grade 6


By Catherine G., Grade 8

By Ledya T., Grade 6By Samantha P., Grade 8



By Sofia R., Grade 7

By Trudy H., Grade 6

By Nora M., Grade 8

By Christian T., Grade 8

By Ingrid J., Grade 6

By Logan E., Grade 8By Azarya A., Grade 6

By Bethel H., Grade 6 By Bryan R., Grade 6

By Alberto V E., Grade 7 By Amare W., Grade 8 By Anabel R., Grade 7


Samuel W. Tucker Elementary Submitted by teacher Sean Murphy.

1pt PerspectiveLandscape intempra paint byMahi Bhanot, 8,Grade 2.

1pt Perspective Landscape in temprapaint by Kenza Naji, 8, Grade 2.

1pt PerspectiveLandscape intempra paint bySophia Han, 8,Grade 2.

Mirror Tessellation PlayingCard in markers and cray-ons by Talya Samake, 10,Grade 4.

2pt Perspective Store in pencil and colorpencil by Angelica Wannakul, 10, Grade 4.

2pt Perspective Store in pencil and colorpencil by Brielle Bittner, 10, Grade 4.

Fall Tree in crayon andtempra paint by ArezuAmirir, 6, Grade 1.

Mirror tessellation PlayingCard in markers and cray-ons by Justin Han, 10,Grade 4.

Slide Tessellation in color pencil and penby Adut Nhial, 11, Grade 5.

Slide Tessellation in color pencil and penby Franco Baldivieso-Vargas, 11, Grade 5.

Mirror Tessellation PlayingCard in markers and cray-ons by Khadija Kamara, 10,Grade 4.

Fall leaf rubbing in crayons, mark-ers, and watercolors by CeceliaMcCormick, 6, Grade 1.

Fall leaf rubbing in crayons, mark-ers, and watercolors by DanielAgama-Perez, 6, Grade 1.

Fall leaf rubbing in crayons, mark-ers, and watercolors by SohaTuladhar, 6, Grade 1.

Fall leaf rubbing in crayons, mark-ers, and watercolors by BanyaminQaderi, 6, Grade 1.

Slide Tessellation in colorpencil and pen by HannahAbed, 11, Grade 5.


ALEXANDRIA’S NEIGHBORHOOD RESTAURANT • SINCE 1904

734 North St. Asaph Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

703-548-1616RoyalRestaurantVA.com

Food fit for a kingon a family budget

Monday - 1/2 Price Burger NightTuesday - Kids 12 & under Eat Free

with accompanying adult. 1 child per adult.

Wednesday - Roast Turkey SpecialThursday - Lasagna Night

Friday - Fish FrySaturday & Sunday - Full Brunch Buffet

with Omelette Station

DAILY FEATURES FOR EVERYONE!

Samuel Tucker ElementarySubmitted by Art TeacherLaura Wollman.

Leaf Study inOil CrayonWatercolorby Ms.Cocolin’sGrade 4, Ms.Roberts andMs. Cash’sGrade 2students.

Oil Crayon WatercolorResist by Alexi RamosIguina, 6, Kindergarten

Native American Symbolsby Collin Afshar, 6 Oil Crayon Watercolor

Resist by Raja Hisham, 7,Grade 1

Self-portrait Collage byAlexia Hermann, 10,Grade 4

Self-portrait Collage byJazlene Ofori-Atta, 8,Grade 2

Native AmericanSymbols by Rhoda Abay, 6,Kindergarten

Oil Crayon WatercolorResist by Arianna Brarreda,7, Grade 1

Native American Symbolsby Justin Collins, 6,Kindergarten Oil Crayon Watercolor

Resist by Zahra Amiri, 7,Grade 1


Alexandria Country Day School

Bishop Ireton High School

By Annie Mildrew,Class of ’19

By Catherine Hiyama,Class of ’19 By Reyna Osborne,

Class of ’19

By Reeves Versaggi, Grade 7

By Amirah Jackson,Grade 4

By Brooke Dunton,Grade 7

By Caleb Banks,Grade 2

By Josie Jones,Grade 6By Payton Rizzieri,

Grade 2By Sarah Friedrichs,Grade 8

By Steven Peguero,Grade 7

By Lauren Oehler,Grade 8

By Marshall Rhodes,Grade 1By Andrew Talay,

Grade 4

By Astrid Ellehuus,Grade 5

By Christopher Duffield,Grade 4

By Charlotte Curzon Hill,Kindergarten


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Francis C. Hammond Middle

When I Came to America

Submitted by Francis M. Chase.

By Sumaiya Shaily, Grade 7 By Sebastian Hanna Pierce, Grade 8 By Carlos Lopez Torrez, Grade 6

By Lidya Mekonnen Giorgies, Grade 8

By Xaria Ward, Grade 7

home, I thought it would be a bighouse with five or six bedrooms.It turned out to be a small house,smaller than the house we had inAfghanistan.

My Dad and I went out to go tothe market close our new home tobuy food but we couldn’t find any.We called my Dad’s friend to getsome food for us. After eating, mymom was feeling sick because sheneeded to take medicine everyeight hours and we didn’t knowwhere was the CVS. When wesearched our bags, we found hermedicine. After she took her medi-cine, we all wanted to sleep be-cause we were so tired.

The next day, my brother and Iwent out to look for a market tobuy food. We found the same placeI went to yesterday with my Dad,but I didn’t know where we were.It all still looked so strange to me.When we were walking backhome, I found a bike that was littlebit old and my brother stopped toteach me how to ride the bike. Ithought about doing this in Af-ghanistan, but I knew that itwouldn’t have ever happened. AsI continued my walk home, Ismiled. America was the coolestplace I’ve went to because therewas no danger like there was inmy country.

— Kalimullah Shirzai, 11,

Grade 6

We were on a flight to America.I was so nervous because it wasmy first time going in an airplane.When the plane start moving, Itold my Mom in a trembling voice,“I am scared.”

“There’s nothing to be scaredof,” my Mom said. I nodded, but Iwas still nervous.

Finally, we arrived in New York,and I was so hungry. When I toldmy Mom, she said, “Ok, I’ll get yousomething.”

When we got in another smallerplane, I told my Mom “Now, whereare we going?”

“We’re going to Virginia,” Momsaid.

Tired and hungry, I groaned.”How long is it?”

She said, “It’s about two hoursto get there.”

When we arrived in Virginia, wewent to a hotel for two days. Aftertwo days, we finally got to ourhome. I was so tired that I didn’twant to do anything else. I lookedat the endless boxes of things thatneeded to be unpacked anddropped onto the dusty floor.

My mom said, “Help me and re-member never be afraid of some-thing, everything will be fine.”

I said, “Ok mom,” and I got upto help my mom with more energy.

We only had three bedrooms, some and my brothers had to sleepin one bedroom. I didn’t like the


Congressional School

By McCrae Swank, 9,Grade 3, Alexandria

“The Potomac River Sun-rise” (2018) by KilandHatcher, 6, KindergartenEmmy Pascal, Grade 9Ella Barker, Grade 7

Charlie Woodruff, Grade 5Alex Galdamez, Grade 9

Hayden Wilkinson, Grade 5 Lila Doyle, Grade 9Nyla Zindler, Grade 5 Rebecca Giardina, Grade 7 William Merluzzi-Hitler,

Grade 5

St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School

Makin Blalock, Grade 8

Madison Sandy, Grade 7Emerson DuFault ,Grade 6

AJ Degler, Grade 7Aakash Chadive, Grade 11


Mount Vernon Community SchoolSubmitted by students of art teachers Sara Bukoski Lovelace and Sergio Sierra.

By Kevin Ochoa Fuentes, 7, Grade 1

By Adelaide Carland, 6, Grade 1

By Mara Weingart, 8,Grade 3

By James Abbott, 8,Grade 3

By Lilia HernandezVasquez, 9, Grade 4

George Mason ElementarySubmitted by art teacherAmanda C. Williams

By Alicia Randall, 10, Grade5, teacher Robert Gunby

By Katie Farrell, 10, Grade 5,teacher Sandi Slaven

By June Gunter, 8, Grade 3,teacher Corey Toliver

By Ben Riley, 7, Grade 2,teacher Marci El-Baba

“Nature’s Beauty”The sunlight shines down on me and

gives me its warmth.The flowers bloom and stand tall and

brave in the grass.The sun hides behind the clouds as

they move.And at night we play with the stars.

— Tess Sidley, 10, from

Alexandria

Grade 5 at Mount Vernon

Community School in

Ms. English’s class.


Charles Barrett Elementary Submitted by art teacher Ellen Pattisall.

By Grace Major, Grade 4By Kevin CorcioGarciaguirre, Grade 4

By Maggie McCommons,Grade 5

By Sydney Zvonkovich,Grade 5

By Karima Cruz Ortiz,Grade 5

By Marcos Perez Canas,Grade 2 By Alexis Bittner, Grade 2

By Reese Waterhouse,Grade 4

By Josie Dickerson, Grade 4By Katherine Newill, Grade4

By June Babin, Grade 1By Joseph Daly, KindergartenBy Max Kessler-Gowell, Kindergarten

By Ellie Eile, Grade 4 By Evelyn Booth, Grade 4By Sloane Davis, Grade 2


By Lara Colon, Grade 3 By Kaia Brown, Grade 3By Millie Snipe, Grade 3By Nathan Schenectady,Grade 1

By Taylor Theoharis, Grade1

By Grace Wittmer, Grade 2 By Scarlett Kennedy, Grade2

By Ruben Von Schukkmann De Zwarte,Grade 4

By Finn McNabb, Grade 5

By Jenine Arriaza, KindergartenBy Evan Elkins, Kindergarten

By Scarlett Liddell, Grade 2By Phoebe Nunes, Grade 3

By Charlotte Cornish, Kindergarten

By Gunnar T Shackleford, Grade 5 By Arden Taylor, Grade 5 By Megan Baisley, Grade 5 By Lucas Turner, Grade 5


James K. Polk Elementary

WinterFall falls and winter snows inwinter is here and it will beginSnow ball fights happen all aroundAnd sledding is racing down

— Addison Gutherie, Grade 4

By Naomi Temprosa, Grade 4

“Get into theholiday feel-ing” by ParkerLee, Grade 4

Infinite Room, inspired by Yayoi Kusama, by Ms. Pittman’s Class, Grade 2POW, inspired by Roy Lichtenstein by Leyla Budak, Grade 4

Fall Leaves by OrianaMagdaleno Sanchez, Kin-dergarten

Fall Leaves by ValerieBenitez Sanchez, Kinder-garten

La Catrina, inspired by JosePosada, by NaomiTemprosa, Grade 4

Calavera, inspired by JosePosada, by Victoria Perman,Grade 4

Nike Shoes, inspired by LeoChang (work in progress),by Elena Sokolove, Grade 5

Gallery

Makena Kaiman, 13, tookthis photo at Windmill HillPark on Sunday Nov. 4.


Patrick Henry

Elementary

Douglas MacArthur Elementary

John Adams Elementary

Submitted by art teacherJordana Rochkind.

Marina Briones Camacho,Grade 5

Shenaya Lokko, Grade 5

Kidus Gebresillassie,Grade 3

Shikana Asnake, Grade 3

Romy Vaca Mendez,Grade 5

By Adriana Orellana-Saravia

By Anna McMahon

By Arjen Lopez By Genesis Ortez

By Lily EckelBy Ariya Harrington

By RenaCooper

Mondrian by Aiden Cunningham, 6

Leaf collage by Arafat Latifi, 6

Submitted by art teacher Lauren Dykhuis.

Moon collage by Nora Rhnim, 7 Moon collage by Shayla Uddin, 7

Paper geode by Byren Wynn, 9 By Genesis Pineda Alvarez, 9

Art work by students in Grade 5,submitted by art teacher Julie Donaldson.

Oil pasteland water-

color leafby

SamanthaHermano, 9


From Page 5

T.C. William – Minnie Howard Campus

See Valedictorians, Page 26

hard work, dedication, smartness, and am-bition, and in a way it does this. More thanvalues, though, meritocracy loves one thing:achievement. Ostensibly, achievement is theresult of the right values; adhere to themstrictly enough, meritocrats say, and you canstand at the graduation podium.

It sounds good, and that is why is mostAmericans support the idea. The reality,though, is not as neat. If one has watchedmeritocracy become the calling cry of anti-affirmative action politicians and Chief Ex-ecutive Officers all over America for the lasthalf-century, then one knows that “merit”is a sort of con invoked to protect the al-ready powerful and successful. This prin-ciple applies at T.C., too. Why are nearly allthe valedictorian and salutatorian speakersfrom affluent, white families? Could it besome grand coincidence?

How to Win the RaceIt is because achievement is not just the

result of having and implementing goodvalues. Achievement owes a lot more tocertain characteristics that are either innateor given to someone at a very early age.These sorts of characteristics are the exactopposite of meritorious — they are uncon-trollable. It has been proven again and againthat: (i) children from families with highlevels of education are more likely to suc-ceed in school, (ii) that children from fami-lies with high incomes are more likely tosucceed in school, and (iii) that because ofcenturies of direct and indirect racial dis-crimination in America, white people tendto have higher levels of education and in-come than most other ethnic or racialgroups. A 2016 study from the Pew Re-search Center found that among U.S. adults25 and older, whites were 13 percent morelikely to have a college diploma than theirblack counterparts and 21 percent morelikely than Hispanics. The same study foundthat the median income was $28,000 higherfor white people than black or Hispanic, andthat black and Hispanic Americans weremore than twice as likely than their whitecounterparts to be poor. Other studies andinformation from the Census Bureau con-firm these trends. (There are of course ex-ceptions. There are many children frompoor or relatively uneducated parents whodo well and vice versa, and there are manypeople from black, Hispanic, or other mi-nority backgrounds who are well-educatedand financially successful. What I’m talk-ing about are statistical averages. Et cetera.)

Those students from wealthy, educatedbackgrounds will likely live in better neigh-borhoods and attend better elementaryschools. They probably will have their par-ents at home more often and will hear morewords in their first few years, a hugely im-portant factor in intellectual development.

The children of college-educated, six-digitearning parents will have greater access toresources like tutors, college counselors,computers, books, and all the other thingsthat are very helpful for doing well inschool. And yet, none of these gifts camefrom hard work; students were given thiscompetitive edge because of the arbitraryfact that they were born into better finan-cial circumstances.

So, when a white, wealthy student ap-proaches the microphone in EagleBankarena this summer, it should be recognizedthat the winner of the meritocratic race hada massive advantage. To continue this al-ready overused analogy: imagine there areabout 900 students, the 2019 graduatingclass size, in a 100 meter race. Those whocome from well-educated parents are givena 10-meter head start. Those from parentswithout a college degree are given ankleweights. And so forth with income andneighborhoods and elementary schools,until the poorest students with the lowestlevels of family education are weigheddown to a slow jog, and the richest studentswith the most educated parents are only 20meters from the finish line. The winner ofthis race really only had to compete withthose 50 or so students who had the sameinnate advantages as he or she did, amongwhich probably at least half were not veryserious competition. You may have heardthis all before, but it remains worth asking:What are we clapping for?

The Right SpeakerI submit again, though, that the valedic-

torian and the salutatorian are not thewrong people to deliver speeches, butmerely not the best. Americans love merit,it is clear, because it is the foundation oftheir namesake dream. Work hard and getahead, no matter what your skin color,country of origin, sex, etc. And while thelove for merit may be misplaced, the idealsthat are reflected in the American dreamare honorable ones. The best examples ofthose ideals and that American dream,though, are the people who have actuallybeen disadvantaged and who have actuallyhad to climb society’s ladder by their merit.

A couple years ago in this newspaper,now-seniors Evan Paez and Luke Remywrote an article about a 19-year old juniorin T.C.’s International Academy who cameto the United States at 15 from El Salvador.Inigo Chavez, a pseudonym, escaped thegang violence of his home country to studyhere. He was caught by border police swim-ming into the country, but managed to stayafter collecting nearly $4,000 in legal fees.Chavez worked nine hours after school mostdays in a restaurant — the only way hecould manage to pay for his one bedroomapartment — and earned about $20,000 ayear, a figure barely above Virginia’s pov-erty line.

Chavez managed to keep himself on trackto graduation. He did not take seven APclasses and earn straight As — his Englishwas weak — but his story is interesting andcompelling. It is emblematic of what is bestin both T.C. and America: our diversity andour commitment to equal opportunity. Hisstory is much more meritocratic than anyvaledictorian’s. Surely, Chavez worked ashard, if not harder, than the V/S, even ifChavez’s academic achievements are not asimpressive at face value. So, why should henot be rewarded with meritocratic prizeslike the chance to speak at graduation?There are hundreds of students at T.C withstories similar to Chavez’s. There are peoplewho have immigrated to the U.S. in theirlifetime, people who have faced severe pov-erty or systemic racism, people who arehoping to become the first in their familyto attend college, and people who havepersisted in classes despite not fully under-standing the language of instruction. Thesepeople are the ones that could break thestreak of boring, nearly identical, clichedgraduation speakers and speeches.

A Constitutional ProposalThis might work better in theory than in

practice. Speakers with these sorts of inspir-ing stories do not just appear. So how, then,to decide them? One idea is to mimic theConstitution’s plan for the legislative

branch. For each house of Congress, therewill be a graduation speaker. One will be,for the purposes of this metaphor, the Houseof Representatives — that is, elected directlyby the people. The other will be the Senate— chosen by a select group (assuming apre-17th Amendment Constitution). Insteadof state legislatures picking the Senator,though, there will be a committee of teach-ers — spread evenly across all subjects andlevels of courses — who will pick a studentto speak.

I can hear the counter-arguments now. Infact, I’ve been hearing them for the past twoweeks as I’ve been informally polling peopleabout their opinions on such a plan. Theobjections come down to two main ones:

(1) The popular election of a speaker willbe a messy and chaotic plurality in whichonly a small portion of the student bodywill vote

(2) The students selected by the teachercommittee will have the same diversityproblems that the speakers now have.

These are reasonable concerns, to be sure,but there are some steps that can be takento limit these problems from reaching theirextremes. For (1), the requirement for be-ing on the ballot of potential speakersshould be submitting a petition with, say,50 signatures from classmates endorsing a

Valedictorians andTheir Discontents

“Ode to Frida” by Kalista Diamantopoulos, 18, a senior atT.C. Williams High School.


Jefferson-Houston School

By Saha Irwin, 8,in Ms. Carter’sGrade 3 atJefferson-HoustonPreK-8.

Burgundy Farm Country Day School

By Eva Albarelli,Kindergarten

By Ash Uttam, Kindergarten

By Elsa Murchison,Kindergarten

By Pippa Ashton,Kindergarten

By Thomas O’Neil,Kindergarten

By Tabitha Richey-Allen,Kindergarten

By RosieBeggs,Kindergarten

By Sam Hole, Kindergarten


Kenny Lourie is an Advertising Representative forThe Potomac Almanac & The Connection Newspapers.

By KENNETH B. LOURIE

Back to Abnormal

From Page 24

News

student. This is required to run for Con-gress, too. Candidates for the House ofRepresentatives need 1,000 signaturesfrom their potential constituents to be puton the ballot. The petition introduces abarrier to running for the speakership thatwill put only the most ambitious and se-rious students on the ballot. Without sucha restriction, the number of candidateswould soar into the dozens, and it wouldindeed devolve into a messy battle for athin plurality.

Furthermore, a petition will encouragepeople to vote. Signing a petition investspeople in a candidate’s campaign, and thisinvestment will draw the signer to the bal-lots. Once someone has done the work ofsigning a petition for a candidate, he orshe has little reason to not do the smallextra step of voting for that candidate.There are other ways to increase voterturnout, too. For example, at the end ofthe school every senior year must com-plete a survey reflecting on their time atT.C. Failure to submit the survey meansnot getting to walk the stage at gradua-tion — so nearly every senior takes it.Adding the ballot for student speakershipat graduation to this survey would guar-antee votes.

And for (2). I spoke to several teachersabout the question of graduation speak-ers while writing this article. Nearly ev-ery one expressed concerns similar to theones I do: that the V/S lack diversity and,often, originality. It is hard to believe,then, that if put together on some sort ofcommittee to choose a speaker the teach-ers would repeatedly select the un-di-verse, unoriginal white, wealthy kid. As acheck on this, though, rules can be put inplace for the composition of such a com-mittee. It should have even numbers ofteachers from all subject areas — includ-ing career and technological educationclasses — and from all levels of difficulty.This would mean teachers of AdvancedPlacement classes, but also teachers ofstandard courses and from the Interna-tional Academy. Diversity within the com-mittee will ensure diversity of thecommittee’s choices.

This Constitution-based proposal is justthat — a proposal. There are certainlyother ideas for how to choose speakers,which may very well be better than thisone. The central argument here is not forthis particular plan but for the abolish-ment of the old format.

I went to George Mason ElementarySchool and both of my parents have col-lege degrees, though. I’ve probably saidenough on merit and diversity. Theogonyand I want to know what you, the reader,think about this issue. Send an email withyour ideas to [email protected] orbring a written response to our classroom,A202.

Harris is a senior at T.C. Williams andan editor of the student newspaperTheogony.

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