Volume 53, Issue 2 McLean High School, 1633 Davidson Road, McLean, VA 22101 Friday, September 26

Highlander•

94million dol-lars spent by Obama and McCain campaigns in August

6presidential candidates represented in the McLean Mock Election

130people injured in Los Angeles train crash on Sept. 12; 24 were killed

4Metro stations to be added in Tysons ac-cording to blueprint approved by Fairfax County Board of Su-pervisors Monday

700billion dollars is the proposed cost of Wall Street bailout plan

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Briefly

Classroom movement attempts international impact

100+aid vehicles hi-jacked in Dar-fur so far this year

Juniors Leiba Goldstein, Chelsea Strelser, and Julia Katz speak to gathered students at last Thursday’s interest meeting for STAND, a club to raise awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Nearly 70 students attended the meeting. The students, along with sev-eral others, founded the club after learning about genocide in their tenth grade English class.

photo by Mohammed Tavakoli Annual SAT scores based on aver-age scores for graduating seniors show improvements for local high schools, with McLean falling behind Langley by 65 points. McLean students scored an average of 1759 out of 2400 pos-sible points and Langley students scored 1824.

Schools like Marshall rose by 36 points, Oakton rose by 30 and Thomas Jefferson climbed 28, but McLean only rose eight points. All these schools have risen steadily in the past three years.

McLean’s average score, 1759, is 237 points above the state average and 248 points above the national average.

-Moises Cazal

McLean SAT scores fall behind Langley

Former McLean student James Clarke was convicted last month of misdemeanor assault and bat-tery charges for his involvement in last winter’s attack against a then-eighth grader at Longfellow Middle School. If sentenced as a juvenile, Clarke faces a maximum of 30 days in jail. If sentenced as an adult, he faces a maximum of one year.

According to a Washington Post article, Clarke originally faced felo-ny counts of aggravated malicious wounding that were thrown out by the judge. He will be sentenced on Oct. 31.

-Devan Kerley

Devan Kerley and Moises CazalNews Editors

The students in Hollis King’s tenth grade English class thought it was just another research project until they realized they could do something about it the genocide taking place in Dar-fur.

“[It’s] really amazing to me that something that came out of the classroom started this grassroots movement,” STAND sponsor Christy Toledano said.

After learning about the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Su-dan in English class as part of their study of the book Night, a group of sophomores were inspired to create a chapter of STAND at McLean. STAND is an international student-led division of the Genocide Inter-vention Network.

Last Thursday the students, now juniors, held the first interest meet-ing, attended by nearly 70 students.

“Our goal is to educate, fundraise and advocate,” junior Chelsea Strelser, one of the founders, said. The students who founded the club decided not to create official leader-ship positions “because we all feel the same way about the organization,” junior Elaina Kaiser said.

At the meeting, they introduced the issue of genocide in Darfur, where the Sudanese government is “waging a counterinsurgency campaign against Darfurian rebels” and kill-

ing and displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians in the process, according to the Genocide Intervention Network web site.

“People are dying and we can’t just stand by and watch that happen,” junior Michaela Pickus, who attended the meeting, said.

The club hopes to fundraise for the Geno-cide Intervention Network, which helps the

refugees in Chad who have fled Darfur. The club is waiting, however is waiting on approval to fundraise. The founders raised $700 over the summer on their own by

asking for donations outside the local Giant, but to raise money through the club their request must pass through the county. If they are not given ap-proval to fundraise, Toledano said, they will appeal the decision.

In the meantime, the group wants to focus on creating an exhibit in the lecture hall or “mini museum,” with posters and videos relating to the con-flict. Other ideas they brainstormed included petitions and writing to leg-islators. Junior Vanessa Bretas said that Congressman Jim Moran has expressed interest in their cause. The students al-ready collected 120 signatures on a pe-tition to Sen. Jim Webb.

“One of our main goals is to get the word out and let people know that if they’re interested, there’s a place to go,”

Toledano said.At the meeting, the speakers tried to en-

courage students to take an active role in helping those suffering in Darfur.

“They have so much confidence rested in us,” Bretas said of the victims in Darfur dur-ing the meeting. “Let’s try not to disappoint them.”

“Take a Walk on the Wild Side,” a reference to the jungle, will be the Homecoming theme this year. The dance will be Oct. 18, and the week leading up to it will, as usual, be Spirit Week. Tuesday will be Tacky Tues-day, Wednesday will be Pajama Day, Thursday will be jungle-themed, like the dance, and Friday, the day of the Homecoming game against Thomas Jefferson, will be Big Red.

Tickets will be sold during all lunches starting the second week of October for $15.

-Devan Kerley

Homecoming set for Oct. 18

Former student con-victed of assault

o Turn to page 4 for a crossfire on the new McLeadership program

Learn how to make your-self look awake and refreshed even after an all-nighter on page 7

Get fit while contribut-ing to charity this week-end with the first annual McLean 5K, on page 15

McLean goes green, on

pages 8 and 9

Anna GlendeningGuest Reporter

Freshmen elections, held at the begin-ning of every school year, provide a way for the freshmen to become a part of McLean through the Student Government Associa-tion. Each year, freshmen must vote on who will join the sophomore, junior, and senior class officers in the SGA. Usually many freshmen apply in hopes of becoming more involved in the school. This year, however, was different. With only three people run-ning, it wasn’t much of a contest. When two of those freshmen dropped out, the result was a win by default by freshman Shaan Sharma-Pres.

The elections were held on Wednesday, September 10, only the second week of school. According to History teachers Lori Wagoner and Erin Truesdell, the SGA spon-sors, this was due largely to the fact that homecoming is only six weeks into school. “Having elections later would put the fresh-men much farther behind in planning for competitions like the banner contest, and

we didn’t want to disadvantage them in that way,” Wagoner said.

Last year, the elections were held a week later, but the freshmen running were able to put up posters, campaign for the offices and make themselves known. This year, not many freshmen seemed to be aware of when the elections were going to be held.

“I didn’t really know about it; no one talked about it,” freshman Andaleeb Hazra said.

Thomas Wazer, agrees that “they weren’t very well advertised. They should have got-ten our teachers to talk to us about them.”

In contrast, Vanessa Bretas, a junior class officer, thought the freshmen “were prob-ably just nervous and not confident enough to take on a leadership position.”

Before the elections, the SGA actually did advertise the election during freshmen ori-entation in August and the opening day as-sembly. They put banners up around school and in the cafeteria and asked the freshman teachers to mention it to their students. The number of freshman running was still as-

toundingly small. “I can only assume that there was so much going on at the begin-ning of school that running for office simply slipped people’s minds,” Wagoner said.

The predicament of having one class offi-cer was soon adjusted when a second round of elections was held on Friday, September 19 during A, B, and C lunches. Students were strongly encouraged to vote, and the junior and senior class officers went to table of freshmen in the cafeteria handing out and collecting ballots.

There were a total of twelve freshmen running for the vice president spots, and five were elected, including Caroline Gray, Ramsey Hakki, Malalai Nawabi, Terry Mit-tleman, and Omar Hamad. Normally there would have been only four spots, but there was a tie for fourth place and so it was easier to just add another vice president as there has already been two rounds of elections.

The officers will soon get to work on the freshmen homecoming banner, which will represent the class of 2012 at the homecom-ing pep rally on Friday, October 17.

NEWS September 26, 20082 Highlander

photo by Anna GlendeningJunior Ally Kemp helps freshman Greg Thies vote for class officers during lunch. A second election was held after the first produced little interest.

Paige KinghornReporter

The largest class ever entered the school with 444 students this fall.

The freshman class has already gone on a class field trip to the Capital One build-ing where they learned about ethics and the honor code.

During the trip, the students encoun-tered a fire in the building they were in. “It was kind of boring,” freshman Jeela Tavakoli said. “There was a fire and that was the best part.” No one was injured, but the students still had to evacuate.

Another new program the freshman class is involved in is McLeadership. The mentor-ship program is a group of about five fresh-men matched up with a junior or senior “Big Mac” to discuss school work, how they’re enjoying McLean, and to play games.

“It’s fun,” Tavakoli said, “I really like my McLeader.”

Another thing done to make the fresh-man class feel more at home were freshman prep classes. Freshmen were given two weeks before the start of school, four days a week. Students had classes and a bell schedule and they got to learn their way around the school.

In the classes they also learned about the grading scale, bell schedule, note taking, and other important skills to use and succeed in high school.

Freshmen are finding these new pro-grams beneficial.

“It was really helpful to be able to walk around and get to know the school before the first day,” freshman Hannah Welch said.

Administration are not the only people trying to come up with new ideas for the freshmen. The freshman class council are trying to schedule a meeting and start plan-ning future events. This is proving to be dif-ficult with the late elections.

“We were trying to have a class meet-ing this week, but since our class sponsor was talking to Dr. Jackson [Wednesday] we couldn’t have one this week,” freshman class council member Terry Mittleman said.

Meet the candidates: These six presidential nominees, including four independents, will be represented in the McLean Mock Election.

Barack Obama Democrat Party

John McCainRepublican Party

Cynthia McKinneyGreen Party

Chuck BaldwinConstitutional Party

Bob BarrLibertarian Party

Danny MarxReporter

For the first time ever, the social studies department will be holding a mock presidential election. They have called upon every Highlander to vote for whom they want to be-come the next president of the United States of America.

Since not every student knows where each candidate stands on the issues in the presidential election, teacher-selected student representatives will speak for each of the six presidential candidates on the Virginia ballot: Republican John McCain, Democrat Barack Obama, and Independents Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader. These representatives will introduce their candidate, explain his or her platform, and debate with the other repre-sentatives on the WMHS Morning Show.

All students will have a chance to vote in the McLean

Mock Election during their social studies classes on Oct. 27 and 28. They will vote on computers in the writing lab, most likely using the program Survey Monkey.

Social Studies teacher, Helen Stephan, realizes Highland-ers vary dramatically on what they believe, and on how po-litically informed they are. “The purpose is to educate the students as to the candidates, the issues, and the platforms,” Stephan said. Stephan is the creator of the McLean Mock Election, and one of its co-organizers along with John Hor-an, sponsor of the Young Republicans, Ian Howell, sponsor of the Young Independents, and John McGinnis, sponsor of the Young Democrats.

“It’s to get them excited, to get them involved,” McGin-nis, a long-time government teacher, said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Sophomore Sam Lockhart shares similar ideas on how

to get students involved in the mock election, but does not want to limit the learning just to students. “I think it’s im-portant that everyone knows what’s going on in politics,” she said.

Senior Charles Perla was born five months too late to vote in the presidential election, but this has not stopped him from being an active participant in the campaign for his candidate; both in the real presidential election and the McLean Mock Election. “If it does one thing, I hope it gets the people who can vote, to vote,” Perla said.

Junior David Nguyen, a first-generation American, takes pride in his vote. “My vote matters,” a school-spirited Nguy-en said. “I want to make a change in McLean High School; to make it a better place for all the students and teachers who are working so hard.”

“Every vote counts,” McGinnis said. “Absolutely.”

In heated campaign year, school-wide mock election to be held

Freshman elections take two tries to get it right

Freshmen initi-ated into school with multiple programs

Ralph NaderEcology Party

Hurricanes explainedAs we hit the peak of hurricane season, our area hasn’t experienced many drastic effects of the storms. The following recent hurricanes have defined the hurricane season:

Fay• -Dumped heavy rain throughout Florida. Through all of its thundering and storming, it deliv-ered tree frogs straight to Floridian toilets. Gustav• - Thought to be a repeat of Katrina, but soon weakened. Accountable for 138 deaths and $20 billion in damage in the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Ike• - At least 49 offshore oil platforms were de-stroyed as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico. Midwest farmers’ profits decreased as strong wind battered their crops.Hanna• - As it hit the U.S. east coast, we saw some effects of it through heavy rain storm. The storm took close to 500 victims.

HowhurricanesaffectusHurricanes have a wide spread and we can track when their effects will reach Virginia. We felt the impact of Hanna a couple of weeks ago with an all-day down-pour. Due to Hurricane Ike, which caused 14 oil refin-eries to be shut down, gas prices have increased in various parts of the country.

WMHS news show’s weatherman, Ned Burchfiel, shared a few facts on hurricanes. “Gustav was esti-mated to cost around 11 billion dollars, which affects us taxpayers,” he said. There is not a lot of information on upcoming hurricanes, however. Burchfiel said, “Hur-ricanes are a lot harder to forecast than regular storms because it involves tracking wind, rainstorms, instead of just precipitate.”

NEWSSeptember 26, 2008 3Highlander

CharlieParkReporter

One slice of pizza, one milk carton, eight tater tots and one apple: this basic cafeteria lunch cost $2.25 last year. Over the sum-mer, the Fairfax County School Board raised the lunch prices by 25 cents, making it $2.50. Now students must pay more money to get the same food.

Lunch buyers are aware of the effects of new prices. “I would get fewer lunches for each check I bring in,” sophomore Scott Feit said. “It is fair for FCPS, but it is not fair for us.”

For some, the rise in lunch price seemed inevitable. “Since the County’s in so much debt, I think it’s fair to raise prices,” sophomore Jeff Hong said.

The main factor contributing the new lunch price is economic concerns. “The current economic situation that each of us is experi-encing makes it necessary for our department to increase prices to stay current with the rising costs,” Finance Coordinator Andy Briggs said. According to Briggs, the rising costs belong to fuel prices, labor charge, and food costs.

Food prices in the general market have had an impact on the current lunch prices. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Data indicated price increases on some of the major ingredients of the school lunch. Since January 2007, whole milk, potato chips, spaghetti and ground beef became more expen-sive. The price of potato chips per

16 ounce bag showed the great-est increase of all by increasing 51 cents from last year.

In addition to the economic reasons, the funding from FCPS is another factor in the lunch price increase.

“Food and Nutrition Services is a ‘self-supporting’ department within Fairfax County Public Schools, which means that we re-ceive no funding allocation from the school district,” Briggs said. “To remain in business, costs are analyzed and prices are increased

based on the current economic situation.”

The lunch price has been changed three times in recent years. In 04-05, a regular lunch cost $1.80. After the price chang-es in 2005 and 2007, the lunch price now is $2.50 – meaning that the price has been raised by 70 cents in four years.

Briggs said that the lunch price will not be increased during this school year. But that does not mean this will not be increased next year.

FreshmanBeomSeoKoobuyslunch.Thepriceoflunchhasbeenraisedthreetimesinthepastfouryears.

Higher price for the same lunch

photo by Mohammad Tavakoli

EDITORIALS September 26, 20084 Highlander

Crossfire: Freshmen initiative and McLeadership

VS.

Mohammad TavakoliPhotography Editor

It was the last day of the quarter and the teacher was giving us our report cards. This was it! I worked really hard just for this mo-ment. She called my name. I got up and got my report card, 93.32 percent. I just froze. The difference between me and someone who had gotten an A was 0.18 percent, but that little amount gets exaggerated when calculating my GPA.

The FAIR-GRADE par-ent advocacy has been try-ing to change our six point grading scale to a ten point grading scale.

But the ten point grading scale isn’t as fair as we think. Let’s pretend Sarah’s grades are 89, 92, 79, 87, 96, 85, and 77. Grace’s grades are 70, 82, 85, 90, 84, 72, and 92.

In a ten-point grading scale they both have a 3.0 GPA, but Sarah’s average is 86.4 percent and Grace’s average is 82.1 percent. There is a 4.3 percent difference between their grades that is overlooked in the ten point grading scale.

Common sense says that Sarah’s grades are higher than Grace’s, but they are usu-ally viewed the same because of their GPA.

This might be better for Grace but I’m sure Sarah would not like to be considered aca-demically equal to someone who has lower grades.

The main argument against the numerical scale is that it could have the same problem our six-point grading scale has today. The main concern of the parents and students is college acceptance and since most colleges use the ten point grading scale, some be-

lieve that the ten point grad-ing scale would be the best choice.

The truth is that most col-leges calculate their own GPA’s from what is given to them in the student’s transcript. So

students from a school that uses the numer-ical scale would not have any disadvantage to students with the ten-point scale.

The whole purpose of grades in educa-tion is to evaluate students work and intel-ligence. If this evaluation is not accurate enough, then students work goes unno-ticed.

The numerical scale is definitely a more accurate way of evaluating student work. Now that we are trying to change our grad-ing scale, we should change it to the right scale.

Grading by the numbers

The truth is that most colleg-es calculate their own GPA’s from what is given to them in the student’s transcript.“”

Molly WelchManaging Editor

Freshman year is, by nature, a frightening—and exhilarating—year. We all have memo-ries of being taunted by seniors, wandering the halls aimlessly, and of gawking incredulously at upperclassmen. We can all also remember how little we knew about how to approach our classes, the way the system works, or the way to study.

For many juniors and seniors, our poor GPA’s freshmen year are a source of regret and chagrin now that we’re applying to college. No matter how hard many of us have worked these last two years of high school, our transcripts won’t let us forget our less-than-stellar performances in the ninth grade. The problem was that we just didn’t know. We didn’t real-ize that our grades did, in fact, count, and that they would come back to bite us in the butt in later years.

For these reasons, the new freshmen programs being instated for the class of 2012 will be extremely valuable to new ninth graders.

While some lessons may seem redundant—“the power of a zero,” etc.—they actually are important lessons for freshmen to learn. It’s important that the administration is encourag-

ing freshmen to be academically responsible and consider their futures. New pre-AP courses also help prepare students for the rigors of advanced classes without merely plopping them into the class and letting them flail desperately.

Furthermore, the McLeadership program—despite obvious flaws in its spotty acceptance process for Big Macs—is excellent in providing Little Macs with mentors to show them how to succeed in high school. Our freshman year, it would have been great to have an upper-classman to say hi to in the halls or to seek out for advice. Frequent meetings with Big Macs ensure that McLeadership groups stay tight-knit and active in freshmen’s lives. The school has offered a variety of other programs for ninth graders like Prep Plus, teaching freshmen some of the importance of various aspects of academic life, and a visit to Capital One for freshman orientation. Overall, freshmen seem to have more privileges than seniors—an interesting role reversal.

But regardless, freshmen do need these confidence boosts and repeated encouragement to succeed. For McLean to improve itself as an institution, it’s necessary that we develop our younger students to provide a strong skill base for their future studies.

McLeadership benefits, prepares freshmen

McLeadership is well-intentioned, but unnecessary

Drinking age unfair for teensAsli Uyanik Reporter

Over 100 U.S. colleges are petition-ing to lower the legal drinking age to 18 in hopes to lower the amount of binge drinking that underage college students engage in before turning 21.

The new movement, known as the Amethyst Initiative, is part of an effort to decrease dangerous drinking habits.

The Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has a different point of view than the colleges that have signed up for this new initiative.

They predict that if the drinking age was lowered, then drunk driving inci-dents will greatly increase and binge drinking will stay as popular as it is to-day.

They accuse the colleges that support the petition of trying to mask the prob-lem, but they’re not masking it they’re just expressing their ideas and beliefs.

Pressure from the MADD is causing colleges to drop-off the list such as two colleges in Georgia. The pressure from the MADD is preventing many colleges from signing.

The Amethyst Organization is ad-dressing a problem that has been going on in the U.S. for years. In Europe where the drinking age is 18, alcohol consump-tion and drunk driving is not as big as a

problem as it is in the U.S. If the drinking age is moved to 18,

then students will act more responsible and will not abuse the right. When we turn 18, we are entrusted with many new rights and responsibilities such as going to war, voting, and the right to buy to-bacco products. It’s ridiculous that we’re not allowed to drink until we’re 21.

Also, the strict rules that are imposed on alcohol causes drinking to be more appealing for teenagers. Think about it, when somebody tells you “do not touch that button!” you want to push the but-ton even more. Your fingers start to itch and you wonder “what’s so great about this button? What will happen if I push it?”

The strict laws on drinking have the same effect on the majority of people.

Four Virginia Colleges have signed the Amethyst Initiative: Hampden-Syd-ney College, Hollins University, Ran-dolph-Macon College, and Sweet Briar College. Some of the colleges in Mary-land that have signed are University of Maryland—Biotechnology Institute, University of Maryland—College Park, and Johns Hopkins University.

The drinking age is not the problem, it’s the way that teenagers abuse it. That’s the problem.

Cat DavisEditor in Chief

The class of 2012 is receiving a special treatment that no other class has ever received. They are first time recipients of the McLeadership program, a good idea, but unnecessary to improve a student’s academic career.

The McLeadership program is designed to help freshman students have an easier transi-tion from middle school to high school. At the same time, it establishes friendships between upper classmen and lower classmen. Both juniors and seniors (“big macs”) were selected to mentor five to six freshmen (“little macs”) each, meeting up with them once a month to better incorporate them into the high school atmosphere.

It is understandable that freshmen need a little help to get started, but meeting with a mentor every month is a little excessive. Not only do these meetings waste time, but they unnecessarily take students out of their classes.

Because not every upper classman is a mentor, teachers are not expected to stop class until the mentors return. Instead, McLeaders are expected to make up the missed work. For some classes this is not a problem but for other more intellectually based courses, missed work is hard to make up and can easily lower grades.

In addition, the selection process has been deemed questionable at best and absurd at worst. Granted, not everyone can be accepted-however, it would have been nice to know how the McLeaders were chosen.

Many students with high GPA’s, extracurriculars, and a high number of recommenda-tions from teachers were rejected. People who could have made a positive impact on fresh-men were denied the opportunity to mold and shape leaders from the newest incoming class.

Many excellent role models for younger students were neglected, leaving not only a void in leadership, but figuratively slapping some of the school’s best students in the face.

Although some candidates may seem overloaded with activities and challenging classes, these are the students who have proved themselves to be class leaders and capable of bal-ancing a rigorous schedule. Why penalize students who are involved—and what better way to show freshmen the quintessential McLean student who is committed, active, and enthusiastic?

In order to be more beneficial to everyone involved, the McLeadership program needs to be implemented better to accommodate teachers and students alike.

EDITORIALSSeptember 26, 2008 5Highlander

Cammie MeadeMatthew Kobylski

AdviserAmy Poe

Editors in ChiefCat DavisTalia Roth

Managing EditorsNed BurchfielMolly Welch

Photo Editor Mohammad Tavakoli

Online Editor Sarah Albani

Advertising ManagerPrianka DasSection Editors

NewsDevan KerleyMoises Cazal

EditorialsAli ShapiroFeatures

Jasmine Mohandesi Sports

David BerkLizzie MasgharaAssistant Sports

Andrew DavisIn-Depth

Holly Betancourt Reporters

Bridget BerryChris Herron- Venancio

Ibrahim JacobsPaige Kinghorn

Henry Kuhl

The Highlander is a public forum in which members of the school community can express themselves, discuss issues and exchange ideas. Printed at Silver Communications.

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http://www.myhighschooljournalism.org/va/mclean/mhs/

Ned BurchfielManaging Editor

Ever since its conception, Wikipedia.org has been singled out as the antagonist of academics. Teachers who grew up with libraries and print encyclopedias often regard it as an intellectual cesspool, serving only to confuse and misinform unsuspecting readers. Having relied on Wikipedia for much of my crystallized knowledge base, I can only say that the site deserves another look.

The concept of “Wikis,” sites that allow guests to edit and create new pages, lies at the very center of the internet’s soul. Boundaries to publication are broken into binary code and thrown away; users can tap into an ever-growing pool of knowledge without having to pay a cent. Sites like Wikipe-dia embody the free nature—mentally and financially—of the internet.

What’s the problem with “The Free Encyclopedia,” then? Simple, say professors and the general public alike. If anyone can make edits to a page, how in the world can one trust a single sentence of a Wikipedia article? Haven’t there been piles of news stories about misinformation and outright bias in the program? Such questions are enough to fuel deep sus-picion about the site, not to mention outright dismissal.

I’ll start by acknowledging such statements. Yes, non-factual information exists on the site, either maliciously or

by accident. (I myself have made a few less-than-academic edits.) There’s also bias, too, though much of it comes from corporations who want their company’s page to read like an advertisement. However, what most Wiki-Skeptics don’t understand is that the encyclopedia’s site is safeguarded by a host of editors, automated programs and an “Arbitra-tion Committee” that work to keep false information off the pages. Four minutes after I made my aforementioned changes to a chemical page, an editor had already removed the content and sent me a warning message. Lack of edito-rial oversight? I think not.

Indeed, the “anyone can contribute” status works in Wikipedia’s favor. I know of no other encyclopedia that devotes an entire article, complete with graphics and a re-spectable amount of copy, to the West Falls Church station of the Washington Metro. Nor can any print encyclopedia compare either to Wikipedia’s girth and update schedule.

A quick comparison to the Encyclopedia Britannica makes the latter look almost embarrassing. Wikipedia’s Eng-lish-language section has over 2.5 million articles; the E.B, about 250,000—less than both the Portuguese and Polish sections of Wikipedia, to name a few. Even if one ignores scope, the pages on the internet’s favorite encyclopedia are updated with an admirable speed. Wikipedia’s Moldova article was updated 24 times on the 10th of July by seven

different users; articles in the print version of the E.B., on the other hand, can go years without significant updates. (Source: you guessed it.)

My final point in favor of Wikipedia might be the most significant of all: footnotes. Even if one doesn’t trust Wiki-pedia as a research and study tool, they can find a plethora of sources for a topic in the “footnotes” section of the topic’s article. Let us suppose that someone wants to learn more about Christianity, but isn’t sure about the validity of the 8,700 word overview that Wikipedia offers. They need only scroll down to the bottom of the article, where 194 citations and 12 suggestions for “Further Reading” await them. This is one area where the website shines; even of one disregards the article, most of Wikipedia’s main articles have a series of footnotes and links that can transmit readers to profes-sional overviews. The site might not be the end-all source for in-depth study, but it certainly makes an excellent re-search portal.

The mere mention of the “W-word” in educational cir-cles is enough to make many teachers cringe. And yet, if one sees Wikipedia for what it is, a massive knowledge portal that offers updates, citations and reading suggestions, they might be willing to give the site another chance.

Wikipraise for Wikipedia

Torin Liberthson-BrownReporter

The bell sounds, and hungry students spill out into the hallways ready for lunch. Waiting in line patiently can take ten min-utes, and all they want to do is get outside to enjoy the day. Pushing open the doors to the courtyard, all they can see is trash. Trays are left on the tables, and the trash cans are overflowing. Garbage is everywhere; it cov-ers every surface, and finding a clear table becomes a problem.

While it’s only the fourth week of school, the issue of dirty courtyards has been ongo-ing for a few years now. The administration has tried to impose order by threatening to close the courtyard. Assistant principal Christie Taylor said “When the threat is placed, there is usually a slight change for a few days, but then it goes back to the way it was.”

Junior Ethan Arkin chooses to sit outside most nice days to get some fresh air, but trash doesn’t seem to be much of a problem for him. “Trash has always been there; you get used to it, but there always seems to be more after we leave because the [trash] cans fill up quickly,” Arkin said. “I think we need more trash cans. One by every other table.”

You can always count on seeing some-one trying to throw trash at the cans and missing, and then proceeding to leave their trash, lying on the ground, not even bother-ing to pick it up.

“I don’t like seeing people leave trash around,” Arkin said, “but when I do shoot at the can and miss, I’ll usually leave it there.”

How lazy can you get? Obviously, if you have the energy to throw the carton at the bin, then you can get out of your seat and pick up what you missed.

Mrs. Taylor, along with many other administrators, has thought of closing the courtyard. “We’ve talked around, but we feel that it would be punishing students who aren’t responsible for the mess,” Tay-lor said. “It’s just very disappointing to see wrappers on the ground and when the last lunch shift is over the whole place looks like a garbage can.”

The trash cans are in so many obvious places, but the tables are still the only places that seem to be covered, not to mention the concrete floor. What about the janitors who work to clean up our messes every day? What if they weren’t here to clean it? If it was just left dirty every day, none of us would sit outside, and there would be no point in hav-ing the courtyards. The halls would then be filled with the trash instead. Next time you walk past the courtyard during lunch, take a good look at it. Maybe then you can finally see that something needs to be changed.

Picking up your own trash and remind-ing your friends to do the same is an easy way to keep our courtyards clean. It only takes about three seconds to walk your trash over to the bin. Many students are not even aware of this issue, but with some help, our lunch tables can look good enough to eat off of again. If you see trash lying around, pick-ing it up and dropping it off can be an easy way to fix up our school and make lunch more enjoyable.

Courtyards cause chaos

art by Jessi Ende

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FEATURESSeptember 26, 2008 7Highlander

With the beginning of the school year comes unbearable piles of responsibility. Between juggling fall-sports, endless loads of homework, friends, and clubs, it’s no surprise that we often fall asleep at our desks. One effect of this lack of sleep is dark circles under the eyes. While lack of sleep is a prime suspect of these hideous shadows, genetics, allergies, consuming large amounts of soy sauce-laden sushi and aging are also culprits. What ever is to blame in your case, with the proper products and instruction, faking a good night’s sleep is no sweat.

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IN-DEPTHHighlander8 September 26, 2008 9

Going Green:

-Drives 2002 Toyota Prius.

-The car gets 43 m.p.g. for city driving, 58 m.p.g. on the highway.

Taking environmentalism to the roads

photo by Mohammad Tavakoli

-Drives 2007 Toyota Prius-At the most, the car gets 50 m.p.g.“[My hybrid] is my way of helping the environment.”

by Danny Jabbour

Q. Do you ride your bike to school every day?A. “Just about, yes. I don’t live very far from the school”Q. How long does it take you to get to and from school?A. “About 5 minutes.” Q. Why do you choose to ride your bike to school?A. “It originally started to help the environment, but it is now more to keep me healthy.”Q. When do you usually leave your house in the morning?A. “Around 6:50-6:55 a.m.”Q. What made you start riding your bike to school? Any specific reason?A. “I went to visit my sister in Belgium and she rode her bike everywhere, so I thought to myself, if she can

do that here in Belgium, why not back home?”Q. How can you ride to school wearing a dress or skirt?A. “I have a special bike just for that reason; I can wear a skirt and heels without a problem. The bike has wide round handlebars so I can pedal.”Q. Where else do you ride your bike?A. “Everywhere: the grocery store, the doctors, the dentist, the post office, I use my bike to go almost everywhere.”Q. How do you transport your class materials? A. “I have a backpack which carries everything I need.”Q. Have you seen a difference in your health since you began riding your bike to school?A. “Yes I have, I find that it is easier for me to go up hills now and I feel more ready to start my day.”Q. Do you do anything else to help your health?A. “When I come home at night from school or the store, I find myself taking the long way home and I go around the neighborhood. I am very careful with my diet. And I’ve bought a treadmill but I haven’t started using it yet. Ask me in a month and I’ll tell you how it is.”

Holly BetancourtIn-depth Editor

Everywhere you go, people are advocating the importance of protecting the environment, but how much of an impact has the environmental crisis had on McLean students and staff?

Despite recent pushes to live a green life, some students still believe resources are un-limited.

“[Students] aren’t aware of the problems that we have today involving the environ-ment,” Anisah Khan, environ-mental club member said.

Environmental club spon-sor Ian Howell is passion-ate about the environment, because he believes we need to act now which he tries to share with his students. “[ As a government teacher,] I try to teach students to be con-scious on what they buy [in terms of waste],” Howell said.

Everyday Howell observes how wasteful our school has become, noting that classroom lights are always kept on, students and faculty buy plastic water bottles each day, and they do not recycle.

He believes McLean High School could “save money and by raising the AC from high to low.”

Another way to make the classroom a more environmentally friendly place is to save paper, some teachers have begun asking students to turn in assignments through e-mail assignments

rather than printing pages. Although, when handouts are necessary Howell tries to fit as much information as possible

on a page. “When I can I try to put two pages on one, or reduce the font and put four pages on one single page,” Howell said.

This year the environmental club is plans on continuing their recycling plan which involves recycling bins in all classrooms. In addi-tion the club hopes to having another Po-tomac River cleanup.

“We are really trying to recruit more [club] members to teach people how to help out with environmental issues,” Khan said.

Fairfax County Public Schools are also doing their part to save energy. Bill Mutscheller, the director of facilities man-agement has created an energy perfor-mance contract to save the county millions in energy costs. The county hopes to re-duce energy and operating costs by replac-ing inefficient equipment with new energy efficient systems that will also save money.

McLean is a part of the Energy Perfor-mance Program according to Solomon Otoo, McLean’s operating engineer. As part of the program, heating and cooling systems were updated during the summer based on a study of the amount of time it takes to cool and heat rooms throughout the school.

“I can check temperature of different zones throughout the school on the laptop,” Otoo said.

Heating and cooling updates were finished in this summer and updates to the system will occur as needed.

”“Everyone needs to be concerned with the environment.

Ian HowellEnvironmental Club Sponsor

Photo by Holly Betancourt

Q & A with Madame Tulou

Teachers and students make green changes around school

teachers and students choose to be environmentally conscious

“I think that there is a huge crisis in the economy and in the environment. I think any way we can reduce our oil consumption will help make the world a bet-ter place.”

Maria Wolff, senior

Anna Kobylski, senior

-Anna Kobylski

FEATURES September 26, 200810 Highlander

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Molly WelchManaging Editor

Vampires have made a resurgence from the fourteenth century to the twenty-first. No longer are they confined to Transylvania, and no longer are they a subject to make you cringe. Instead, vampires are the new heartthrobs dominating both the teen lit and cin-ematic spheres, as well as making an appearance on McLean’s extracurricular scene.

At McLean, like the rest of the country, Twilight has become increasingly popular. It’s not uncommon to see a student absorbed in the book in the halls, at lunch, or during break.

“I love Twilight,” senior Emily Werner said. “I just started the series, and I read it all the time, especially in class—my teachers get really mad. I love Edward. I just love all of it.”

Accordingly, sophomore Farah Albani recently established the Twilight book club. Ac-cording to Albani, the club was born out of her passion for the books and a desire to unite people with common interests.

“I read the books, I fell in love, and I got excited,” Albani said. “When you come across people who are also into Twilight, you come up with something to talk about for the rest of your lives. So I decided to start a club where people who like the same things can talk.”

The club, sponsored by librarian Carol Cuccia, has plans for the rest of the year includ-ing a blood drive in accordance with the vampire theme, fundraisers, and themed meetings where members can debate.

“I was thinking of having an Edward vs. Jacob debate at one meeting,” Albani said, ref-erencing two Twilight characters who clash over their mutual affection for the protagonist, Bella. “Also, we might make a soundtrack for the book, make t-shirts, and go see the Twi-

light movie together.”Albani isn’t the only teen with a passion for Stepha-

nie Meyer’s series; the final in- stallment was released this summer, and the books have made the “hot vampire” a teen pop icon. Her vam- pires—which do not have fangs, and do not sleep in coffins—are the basis of four very lucrative books, the last of which sold 1.3 million copies in the first 24 hours after its release.

The blood-sucking protagonist, immortal Edward Cullen, has had teenage girls swooning with his humane ways (he only drinks animal blood) and passion for his true love, Bella, who, problematically, is human. The plot thickens, and four books and a movie—released November 21st—are born.

Albani, who is also a huge Harry Potter fan, says she loves Twilight for some of the mes-sages it sends about society and the sheer interest of its subject matter. “I love Twilight because I think there needs to be more gentlemen in the world,” she said. “Also, vampires are pretty interesting—especially good vampires. Ever since I started reading Twilight, I’ve been reading vampire books nonstop.”

She hopes that the club will help to unite people and help others. “If we can get people together to talk about things they love, I think we can really make a difference and help people out,” she said. “If you can get that many people together at once, why not?”

Cammie MeadeReporter

One of the most complicated questions that a person can be asked is, “What is one event that changed your life?” For people who have yet to experience that life altering event, this question is impossible to answer. There could be any number of places, people or experiences. Frequently, the place that a person grows up has a big effect on who that person becomes. Living in another country can alter a per-son’s perspective on the world, and it certainly changed the perspective of two McLean teachers who have lived over-seas.

Many people never experience living overseas, but Span-ish teacher Charles Shea was born in Canberra, Australia. He also lived in London, England, Mexico City and Cara-

cas, Venezuela, all before graduating high school. He attend-ed the American School in London, el Colegio Americano in Mexico City, and el Colegio Internacional de Caracas, all which followed American schools.

High school in Venezuela was very different from here at McLean. “In Caracas, my graduating class was only 60 people,” Shea said. However, there were advantages to at-tending such a small school. “I had a really close group of friends.”

Physics teacher Josue Limage, who lived and went to school in Haiti, agrees with Shea about the differences in schools. “It’s totally different in terms of structure, in terms of way of living,” Limage said. “In terms of education, it is probably harder in Haiti than it is here.”

For Shea, many things were missed while living abroad.

“The hardest part about living overseas is the things you take for granted here in the U.S., like TV, fast food, different foods that aren’t sold [there],” Shea said.

Shea brings his experiences into the classroom in order to show the cultural aspects of the countries he has lived in. “I did live in the U.S. for a while and I got to experience both worlds.”

These different circumstances that these teachers have lived under have given them a more balanced view of the world. Shea said that listening to the other point of view was an enlightening experience. “You interact with people who have a positive or negative perspective on Americans,” Shea said. “It gave me a chance to discuss and defend of agree with their perspective.”

Teachers learn, experience culture living overseas

Teen readers bite into “Twilight”

photo by Cammie Meade

“A Little Touch of Italy in McLean”

1357 Chain Bridge RoadMcLean, Va

(703) 821-3736

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FEATURESSeptember 26, 2008 11Highlander

Talia RothEditor in Chief

Senior Chloe Yazdani has always been politically ac-tive. In the past two presidential elections she has sup-ported her candidate in multiple ways, from canvassing to volunteering at the polls. The difference between the two elections: this year she’ll have a vote.

“I’ve always been pretty politically ac-tive, even when I couldn’t vote,” Yazdani said.

For the ‘04 election she registered voters and handed out pamphlets to voters on Election Day.

This November several seniors will be voting in their first major elec-tion.

Now that she can vote, Yazdani is taking her civic duty seriously and keeping in mind how the candidates’ policies will affect her generation. She plans to vote for Senator Barack Obama this November.

“I think his policies are better than what McCain and Palin can offer,” she said. “The debt our country is in is going to really affect our generation.” Yazdani said she thinks Obama can get the country out of it. She also wants an end to the war, women’s right to choose and more affordable healthcare.

Senior Mark Lewers will be voting for Senator John McCain. He said his vote was not necessarily because he likes McCain’s policies, more that he dislikes Obama’s.

“I knew the policies of the Democratic side and I was not that happy with them,” he said.

Lewers watches CNN, goes on the Internet and gets information about the election from his dad who is very involved in politics.

He said growing up he knew his father was a Republi-can. “I sort of grew up with that idea.”

But ultimately, Lewers made his own decision. “My dad respects whatever choices I make,” he said. “He just

wants me to care about the election in general.”When making her decision, Yazdani said she used

many different resources. “I watch the news a lot, go on the Internet,” she said. “I’ve always been interested in politics. I look at what both candidates offer and then I make my decision.”

Yazdani has always been “pretty liberal” and while her parents are

too, she doesn’t think that inf luenced her deci-sion. “I’m pretty open-m i n d e d , ” she said. “I don’t always agree with my parents. I make my own deci-

sions.”Even though

Yazdani is excited about being able to vote, she said there are many other ways to make a difference if you aren’t old enough to vote.

“Even if you are not able to vote, you can still volun-teer,” she said. “It’s definitely a lot nicer to be able to vote, but just because you can’t isn’t an excuse. You can still do a lot of things without being 18.”

Lewers will be working at the polls on Election Day as well, as an election officer tallying up votes and checking in voters.

“Because I can vote this time, I’m more aware of the issues,” he said. “I was involved with them last time, but not as in-depth.” Lewers said he is excited about being able to elect a candidate he cares about.

“Knowing I’m participating in the election, going to help elect a President, it’s just one stepping stone in some-one’s life,” he said.

Scoring the campaignsAugust 29: McCain nominates Sarah Palin as his running mate, narrowing the gap in poll results between him and Obama.McCain: +1

September 4: The Democratic presidential ticket receives $10,000,000 in fundraising after Palin criticizes the party. Obama: +1

September 11: Obama and McCain take a day off from campaigning and tour the World Trade Center together. Both candidates: +1

September 15: As U.S. markets report major losses, McCain states that “the fun-dementals of our economy are strong.” McCain: -1

September 21: Democratic vice presi-dential candidate Joe Biden speaks out against an ad disparaging McCain, calling it “terrible.”Obama: -1

Tonight: McCain and Obama meet at Ole Miss University for their first debate.Both candidates: ?

Zenobia MorrillReporter

McLean’s seniors have had their share of car accidents, serious or otherwise. A poll of 100 students found that 61 percent had been involved in a crash or fender bender, with causes ranging from inattention to recklessness and alcohol—and bad luck. The range of accidents the Class of ‘09 have experienced is as diverse as the upperclassmen themselves.

One senior who wished to remain anonymous said al-cohol was a factor in the crash. When leaving a party this past summer, the driver struggled to drive down a narrow road with cars lining the perimeter. In an attempt to get down the street, the student ended up taking out two side-mirrors and giving another car a flat tire. All the damage was done to cars that were parked alongside the curb.

“I was driving between two cars, with what felt like an inch of space on either side, when my car tilted to the left. I heard a ‘pffft’ sound and my car fell back down,” the senior explained. This “pffft” sound was that of an-other car’s tire deflating under the weight of their car.

But students need not drive under the influence to crash behind the wheel. In fact, another anonymous driver at McLean has been involved in four different ac-cidents, sporadically, and all within the first year of their possessing a license. Three of them involved the driver hitting another car from behind, once at 40 mph. The fourth time, the driver was driving in icy conditions and lost control of the vehicle; the car headed into a hill by the side of the road. Total damages done added up to a total that exceeded $1,100.

Though major crashes can be rare, many seniors have been involved in minor accidents. Senior Liz Pittman rear-ended a car after having her license only for a couple of months. In her case, the accident occurred because she was merging into another lane and didn’t have her eyes on the car in front of her. Pittman said she was shaken by the accident, but it didn’t take long for her to recover and get back on the road.

Traffic laws state that the driver of the car in back is usually at fault in a rear-end accident, a rule one student takes issue with. Senior Adam Scott encountered a truly

bizarre experience when, driving with seniors Ulrich Eras-mus and Jack Murphy, another car backed into his 1997 Acura sedan.

“I was pulling into one of the big parking garages at Tysons,” said Scott. “I was following this Mercedes SUV to go up to one of the top levels. He stops, so I stop behind him. Then he just backs up right into my car, and since his was higher off the ground than mine, he actually got on top of the hood a little bit.” Scott had been a licensed driver for about 10 months and ended up having to pay

$2,500 in expenses. “I was kind of shocked and angry as well,” he exclaimed. Scott added that the Mercedes driver who had hit him was not sympathetic nor willing to give a satisfactory apology.

Scott had a few pieces of advice for underclassmen per-paring for life with a drivers’ license.

“Just be careful and watch out for other peoples’ mis-takes,” he said. “If I had time I could have honked at him, but he backed up too quickly. Always be careful!”

With some three-fifths of polled seniors reporting a traffic accident, Scott’s advice is probably worth remem-bering.

‘08ElEctions

First-time voters find their voice

Paying upat the pump

photo by Adam ScottAn SUV backed into senior Adam Scott’s Acura, causing some $2500 in damages to his car for which he paid.

Seniors share their crash stories

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Rubina SarkisianReporter

In the past three years, the field hockey team has had three different coaches. Each new coach has had a different coaching style, and consequently has confused the players.

“Switching coaches each year has caused the team to lose direction and guidance,” junior Olivia Applewhite said. “Bad habits developed and our skill level was different,” se-nior and captain Molly Welch said. “But we are all really happy with the coach this year and we’ve all made a good transition.”

“When you don’t have a steady leader, it is hard to set goals and see the big picture,” coach Summer Hardman said. “It has been a huge adjustment, but the girls have handled it gracefully. I want coaching to become a career for me. I hope to be here for 25 years or more and hopefully bring a winning season every year.”

The team has had many losing seasons, but according to Hardman she was hired to bring change and a winning

season. “I have set my personal goals to get the state champion-

ship,” Hardman said. “The girls are there as well and are prepared. We have brought back the winning attitude.”

She and the team have set six or seven goals for them-selves, one of which was to make three goals each game and they have met this goal every game so far.

They achieved one of their biggest goals last weekend when the team beat Langley 2-0, winning the Rotary Cup.

Applewhite said Hardman has put a lot of hard work into the season. “I love her intensity and desire for us to win,” Applewhite said.

Applewhite likes how Hardman gets hands on during practice. “She participates with us in practice,” Applewhite said. “It gives us a chance to see someone better than us, so we can improve.”

Hardman said for her, the goal is not just winning. “It’s not just about winning it is about having fun and getting to be closer and stronger as a team,” Hardman said.

The girls as well as the coach participate in activities outside of school. They have team dinners, fun runs, and also bond and chat on bus rides. “We are all together all the time, we are all really good friends,” Welch said.

The players have stepped up to form a better and stronger team. The record for this season so far is 8-2-1. The girls hope to make it to districts and on to the state championships.

New field hockey coach brings focused direction to teamSPORTSSeptember 26, 2008

Andrew Davis Assistant Sports Editor

For decades sports fans have followed the National Foot-ball League. Football has always been a staple of the national sports scene. However, a new generation of football fans are experiencing it in a completely different way.

Fantasy Football is a points-based game where each play-er drafts a team of NFL stars. Players earn points which con-tribute to a cumulative total based on their drafted player’s performances in games. The player who ends up with the most points wins.

Many students have began to play this game. Junior Will Burleson has been playing for several years now. He sees it as a way to contribute to the NFL and escape the sometimes harsh realities of it.

“Fantasy Football is great if your team sucks, or is having a down year,” he said. “It really takes your mind off of that, and lets you experience some success in football.”

Many students disagree with this point of view. Junior Hanson Ngo has several reasons why he has never played Fantasy Football.

“Fantasy Football is a waste of time for several reasons. First of all, it really shows no superiority. Who cares if your group of players has better stats. Statistics do not always

reflect the actual results of games,” Ngo said.Ngo also mentioned that the amount of time students

spend on their teams detracts from their school work.“Guys spend so much time online that it really begins to

affect their performance in school,” he said. “It just seems like an addiction. People just can’t control the amount of time they spend online.”

Fantasy Football players have different opinions on Ngo’s theory. But, Fantasy Football aficionado Will Burleson ad-mits that there is some truth to it.

“Maybe I do spend a little too much time on it, maybe just an extra twenty minutes that I could use to polish up my homework,” he said.

Many people are so drawn into Fantasy Football that they

completely forget about the lives around them. A group of women has created an organization called Women Against Fantasy Sports. It was created “as an outlet for people to ridicule, mourn and lament the loss of their partners who spend an inordinate amount of time online.”

However, many Fantasy players are adamant that it does not affect their lives significantly.

“I have learned to manage my time since kindergarten,” junior Crist Vans said. “I do not think that playing Fantasy Football affects my academic performance at all. It is not like it is a particularly difficult thing to do. It only takes a couple of minutes to manage your team, and it only lasts for a couple of months.” He also stated his belief that Fantasy Football contributes to the NFL.

“Tracking players’ numbers keeps me involved in the game,” he said. “I tend to be more knowledgeable about the game when I am playing Fantasy.”

In addition to the amusement of playing fantasy foot-ball, there are substantial benefits as well. Big money fantasy football tournaments such as NBC’s Fantasy Football Chal-lenge offer a $100,000 grand prize. With events like this, it is no wonder that Fantasy Football will continue to be played despite the objections of others.

Fantasy Football leagues: Dream team or daydream?

SENIOR YEARBOOK ADS ALL-COLOR senior ads are available for the 2009 yearbook! The

deadline for submission is October 15, 2008.

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Dear Katie

We’re so proud of you. We know that you’ll have many more wonderful accomplishments to come!

Love, Mom and Dad

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Forms are available online, in the main offi ce and in the yearbook offi ce (Room S105).

Junior Caitlin Baker goes for goal during Langely game.

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SPORTS September 26, 200814 Highlander

David BerkSports Editor

Many people have favorite athletes growing up, but only a few can say that they work with them, let alone two of them. Larry Michael, the voice of the Washington Red-skins, and host of the cable television program “Redskins Nation,” has that privilege.

Michael works alongside former Redskins stars and Hall of Famers Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen, voicing the play-by-play commentary for television and radio during Redskins games.

Like many professionals, Michael— whose daughters Olivia and Angelica attend McLean— decided what ca-reer he wanted to pursue in college. As a sophomore at the University of Maryland (UMD), he intended to be a law enforcement major. That was, until, he was introduced to the school campus radio station (WMUC) and “fell in love with it.” He decided in-stead to major in radio, television and film.

After two years of covering sports at UMD, including doing play-by-play for the football team, Michael worked for several stations and covered a variety of sports. Michael landed his current job with the Redskins five years ago.

After graduating, Michael worked as a freelance reporter for Channel 2 in Baltimore and covered golf tournaments around the country. He was then hired by Westwood One, America’s largest radio network, where he covered an array of sports including golf, basketball, college basketball and football and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Michael also called games for Georgetown and did a pre-game show for Notre Dame. He even worked with Larry King, host of TV show Larry King Live, for a period of time. “I’ve been in the business for 25 years and I’ve pretty much done it all,” Michael said.

Michael had his first taste of the Redskins organization ten years ago when he did the team’s pre-game show for WJFK radio. Now, he has one of the best seats in the sta-dium and sits next to two former greats who he watched on television as a youth.

“I was a Redskins fan and I grew up watching both of them play, so it is a great honor for me to work with them today,” Michael said. “I like all of the people I work with and it is a great organization.”

While calling the play-by-play (describing to the audience what is happen-ing in the game), Michael is the only one of the trio who gives statistics, yardage and down information and oth-er quantitative data, while the other two give their ex-pert analysis and color com-mentary.

Although Michael loves his job and working with NFL greats, the job still requires a large amount of preparation.

“For the TV show, I pre-pare between an hour and hour and a half earlier in the day,” Michael said. “For games, I generally prepare six or seven hours a week by going over the opponents roster, statistics for both teams and other information about both teams. I look over media guides and press releases for information I need.”

Michael’s show broadcasts Monday through Friday on Comcast Sports net, with 6pm and 10:30 pm showings of half an hour.

Because he is such an important part of the Redskins organization, Michael interacts often with the players and has had close relationships with many of them. One of those players was the late Sean Taylor, with whom he was on a first-name basis.

“He was a good kid; a little misunderstood, but a good kid,” Michael said. “We had some long conversations. It was sad, what happened; I had seen him the day before the road trip when he went to Miami to rest [Taylor was injured]. You can still feel his presence at the stadium because he was such an important part of the team.”

Michael plans to continue working side by side with Ju-rgensen and Huff for years to come and “will always enjoy it.”

Ibrahim JacobsReporter

After finishing the preseason with a record of 3 wins and 2 losses, the Redskins had high hopes for the 2008 season, which has so far been successful. Washington is 2-1 with one of their wins coming from a comeback win over the New Orleans Saints and another stellar defensive play against the Arizona Cardinals.

The Redskins now face two tough games against division rivals Dallas and Philadelphia on the road. Both teams are considered Super Bowl favorites by NFL experts.

The Skins, who had a busy off-season signing new play-ers and coaches, were able to retain most of their key players and sign some new ones. While the team is usually known for trading draft picks to other teams to acquire older, more experienced veterans, it picked 10 rookies in April’s draft.

The first four picks were used to pick up offensive play-ers, including two bulky receivers named Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas and 2007 Mackey Award Winning tight end Fred Davis. Davis, given the award for being the nation’s top college tight end will team up with Kelly and Thomas to give quarterback Jason Campbell some large new targets. Campbell has struggled to hit smaller wide receivers Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El in the past.

The very offensive-minded draft has played to the Red-skins’ advantage so far.

“The draft this year was really used to strengthen the re-ceiving corps. Malcolm Kelley, Devin Thomas, Fred Davis, and Colt Brennan were good picks,” sophomore Will David said.

In addition to picking up offensive players in the draft, the Redskins made a blockbuster deal when they traded for 2006 defensive player of the year and 11 year NFL veteran, Jason Taylor.

Although he has yet to start producing, Taylor could not have come at a better time. The Skins lost Phillip Daniels,

their starting defensive end from last year to a season ending injury on the first day of training camp and wasted no time signing Taylor the next day.

“Taylor is a good addition to the team and will help out on the defensive line, where we lost a player due to injury,” sophomore Mike Al-Kahouaji said.

His playing ability has been questioned at times though. With the injury limiting his mobility, many teams have run a majority of their plays to Taylor’s side. He has been im-proving and hopes to be a fear instead of a target to op-posing offenses in the games to come. Stepping up quickly would be beneficial considering the next two opponents have Pro-Bowl caliber running backs.

One factor that could pose a problem to the Redskins success this year is injuries. Two defensive starters are com-ing off major knee surgeries; Carlos Rodgers and Rocky McIntosh have looked healthy but their progress is being watched closely by the medical staff. Kelly and Thomas were injured in training camp and have made only negligble contributions thus far. Thomas has seen limited action this season but is nowhere near the playing level the Redskins drafted him for. Kelly has only one catch this season and has been bothered by leg and ankle injuries. Coach Zorn has repeatedly criticized them and questioned their work ethic.

However, all the new additions mean nothing if no one is there to coach them. After losing head coach Joe Gibbs, of-fensive coordinator Al Saunders, and defensive coordinator Greg Williams in the same off-season, the Redskins signed Jim Zorn as the new head coach. Zorn, originally signed as the offensive coordinator, made the jump to head coach at the request of team owner Daniel Snyder.

There were doubts, however, that Zorn could make the jump from quarterback coach to head coach. However, it would take a Super Bowl trophy in hand to make Redskin fans forget about Joe Gibbs who fit that exact description.

“Jim Zorn has been a successful position coach, but he is

unproven as a head coach,” football coach Eric Stokes said. “Joe Gibbs is a hall of famer, it would be unfair to Zorn to try and compare him with Gibbs this early in his coaching career.”

Zorn seems to have a good idea of how to conduct himself as a head coach. In the past, players could be seen avoiding Gibbs after they made a mistake. Under their new leadership, players are more confident and accepting of criti-cism. Zorn is becoming a fan favorite and has only chewed out one player so far this year. Punter Durant Brooks, who has had holding and punting problems this year, has played a key role in two Redskin field goal misses. He had a botched hold going into the potentially job threatening Arizona game. He called for the ball too early, which threw off the kicker’s rhythm. After that, Zorn had a few words for Brooks. Zorn was seen shouting at Brooks well into the next offensive series. Although drawing some questions from re-porters at the news conference, no other comments were made regarding the incident.

Zorn isn’t the only new coach though. Greg Blache and Sherman Smith were promoted to defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator, respectively. The defense is play-ing with more confidence and is on pace to force a record amount of turnovers.

The offense is also playing at a higher standard. After struggling to get anything going against New York, Camp-bell had back-to-back game-winning touchdown passes to Moss. The offensive line has also done a good job protecting Campbell, giving him more time to find open receivers.

Although Washington has looked good in the first three games, their next two will test the team’s mental tough-ness. Should they come out winning just one of the next two games, they should be in a good position to make the playoffs.

Highlander dad does play-by-play for Redskins

Under new leadership, Redskins strive for success

Golf team finishes strong at districts

Reza MasgarhaReporter

photo courtesy of Larry Michael

HOOK SLICE

STRAIGHT

Tuesday, the varsity golf team placed third in the Liberty District Tour-nament at Herdon Cen-tennial Golf Course with a combined team score of 625 strokes.

According to Athletic Di-rector Tom Herman, the third place finish was the best in re-cent years, but it was not enough for them to advance to the region-al tournament.

Individually, sophomore Sam Nelson finished eight strokes over par with a total of 150 strokes to lead the team.

With that, Nelson secured fifth place in the tournament and earned a medal for his success.

Along with Nelson, senior Thom-as Harris was able to earn a spot in the Northern Regional Tournament, which takes place on October eighth and ninth.

Herman has faith in Nelson and Harris, saying,“We do have a very strong conference, but I feel that

both Sam and Thomas can do very well if they are able to play at the same level they did at the district tourna-ment.”

The players are confident about their chances to succeed as well. “It’s going to be tough,” Nelson said. “There will be a lot of competition there. We’ve just got to play our best and we should do well.”

SPORTSSeptember 26, 2008 15Highlander

R U RED-Y?Come watch all home games, all sports,

every season without the hassle of paying cash to get in?

Buy your annual student athletic booster pass in the activities office for $100 and get

a free fan t-shirt!McLean High SchoolAthletic Booster Pass

2008/2009

Ibrahim JacobsReporter

For as long as many students and teachers at McLean can remember, we haven’t

exactly been the powerhouse of the Liberty District. For one thing, in the past eight seasons, our football

team has had two winning seasons. Two.

Yet every year we stop school and hold a pep rally before the first home

game. The problem is, nobody cares! If the school actually had a legitimate shot at win-ning, we wouldn’t need half the schools’ staff to prevent kids from skipping the pep rally. The expectations are so low that students are trying everything to get out of them.

Although some of our other programs such as crew, volleyball, swim and dive, track and field, field hockey and golf are success-ful, they are contests that usually don’t draw large crowds.

While football and basketball, despite their troubles, seem to host all the pep rallies and draw the most fans. What amazes me, is the fact that we still get so pumped up for their games. But why does losing football games excite us more than winning track meets or golf matches?

Part of the problem is the number of kids attending the school. There are too many players who are playing on a varsity sport every season and aren’t able to focus on a single sport. What people fail to realize is that a sport goes on for more than one sea-son- if you want to be the best, players need to train year-round to keep up with compet-itors. However, because McLean athletes are too busy trying to be good at more than one sport, our athletes fall through the cracks.

Another problem is discipline. Every season, Tom Herman comes out to address the players and parents about drinking and other illegal behavior at the annual sports dinner. While the parents are hearing “don’t let your kids engage in illegal behavior, they will be caught and kicked off the team” the parents are thinking that their kids don’t en-gage in illegal activity.

While Herman is talking, kids are hear-ing “blah, blah, blah.” Most of them are too busy texting each other about the party that night.

Granted not all of them get caught, but too many players have been caught for breaking the rules and been kicked off their teams. Not only do they suffer, but their teammates, coaches, and school suffer as well.

But we can’t put all the blame on the athletes, because no team is complete with-out the fans. Players shouldn’t be held ac-countable for a loss when they’ve given their best and sometimes the outcome is just our of their control. We as a school should be proud whenever a team gives their best, even if it results in a loss.

What this indicates to me is that the re-lationship goes both ways. If the school is going to expect a winning season from our sports, then the fans need to be there and support them. No more than a third of the school dresses up for Big Red day, and if the athletes are going to give 110%, then so should the fans.

I am not saying that this is a fool-proof plan, but this school needs to return to the athletic achievements and spirit we were ac-customed to what seems like forever ago.

Bryan KressReporter

The first annual McLean Run, Walk and Roll 5K will take place on Sept. 27 at 8 am. The Children’s National Medical Center has provided care and treatment to over 360,000 children each year. All proceeds from the event will go to Dr. Bear’s Toy Closet, a program of the Chil-dren’s Medical Center.

The fundraiser is a char-ity run to benefit the Children’s National Medical Center in Wash-ington DC. It is being hosted by Century 21 New Millennium, a real estate branch in McLean. It has been sponsored by 27 other businesses in the McLean community such as McLean Copy, PNC, Balducci’s and McLean Hardware. The race begins in front of the Century 21 building, 6641-A Old Dominion Drive, in McLean. Registra-tions come with a McLean 5K t-shirt designed by a patient at the hospital, a gift bag from sponsors, and refreshments before and after the race. So far, one hundred people have registered.

Jason Carrier introduced the idea of a 5K to his colleagues at Century 21 New Millennium in February “I think a charity 5K event is a great way to bring together the community and local businesses to raise funds for a worthwhile cause,” Carrier said. The Century 21 branch has helped with spreading the word by providing brochures and registration forms in their office, while also having their real estate agents go to houses and tell clients.

Senior Amanda Ibrahim has taken an active role in preparing the fundraiser. She assisted in creating the 5K brochure, advertised in her neighborhood and handed out flyers at school. She also has discussed it with friends and believes it is important because “it will benefit the Children’s hospital and those in need.”

Both Carrier and Ibrahim hope to continue the race in future years and hope that it be successful. The fundraiser has already raised $4,000 solely from spon-sors, but they hope to raise more on race day. Carrier said, “This event also allows our community who are focused on their health and well being to accomplish a distance challenge among friends and family,” Carrier said, “it also makes a dif-ference in a child’s life.” Participators can register for $35 on the day of the race, opening at 7 am or on the official website, www.McLean5K.com

New 5K walk starts in McLean Sports at McLean:What’s the problem?

photo courtesy of www.McLean5K.com

SPORTS September 26, 200816 Highlander

TERRITORY

THIS IS HIGHLANDER

OFFENSE

DEFENSE10

20

30

40

50

40

30

20

10 1

02

03

04

05

04

01

0

Jack Murphy

Michael ShipleyAnthony Maestri

CJ RogersYael Wade

Ethan BeckettBilly Dvorkin

Jourdan Samuels

Riley Beiro

Will Hecht

CJ Rogers

Riley Beiro

Alex Del Vecchio

Will Burleson Tim Ferry Chase Mills

Drew Hunt

Kevin Staley Anthony Maestri

Ian Thompson Jeremy Goodsell

Michael Shipley

Position: FullbackWeight: 203 lbsHeight: 6”Years on Varsity: 3

Touchdowns: 1Position: Quarter-backWeight: 172 lbsHeight: 6’3”Years on Varsity: 1

Touchdowns: 1Position: Wide Re-ceiverWeight: 214 lbsHeight: 6’3”Years on Varsity: 3

Touchdowns: 7Position: Running BackWeight: 193 lbsHeight: 5’10”Years on Varsity: 2

Touchdowns: 7Position: Running BackWeight: 193 lbsHeight: 5’10”Years on Varsity: 2

Weight: 170 lbsHeight: 5’9”Position: SafetyYears on Varsity: 3

Position: LinebackerWeight: 163 lbs

Height: 5’8Years on Varsity: 3

David BerkSports Editor

McLean its attempt to change division, came short of enough votes to cross over. This adjustment was voted upon by the athletic directors of various schools in our region and, if chosen, would have created four new districts based primarily on proximity and secondarily on number of students. Luckily, this new regional structure was not selected and McLean will remain where it is.

This transition would have been unwelcome. Our new district would not include Lang-ley, Madison, Thomas Jefferson and other schools that we are currently with in the Liberty District and that we have been playing against for years. We have gotten used to playing these teams and quite frankly, the schools in our district are not far from each other in prox-imity. Not to mention the fact that Langley is our rival and has been for a very long time. After all, games against Langley are our most-attended games, with most of the school show-ing up. Events like these lead to news stories and great games such as last year’s basketball

game at Langley. Unless you drove to Langley within a hour of school ending to watch the girl’s game, you could not even get in to the game. We won in the last seconds of the game, and a fight broke out in the stands. You cannot ask for much more in terms of excitement.

I hold this view as a player and as a fan. As an athlete, a win against a team that beat you last season is better than a regular win. Even though Langley is our main rival, we have this sort of ongoing competition with all of the schools we play year after year. I believe this heightens the elation athletes at McLean feel when they beat a team, whereas one would not feel as happy if they beat one new team after another.

Now as for what would have happened if we had moved, I know some Langley students want to call the change an act of cowardice on McLean’s part. This, of course, isn’t true, but would give Langley kids all the more reason to say that we left the district to avoid getting beaten by them. I’m glad that the district will stay the same, and I can’t imagine how who-ever was responsible for such a ludicrous idea thought of it. After all, without a rivalry, you cannot have Facebook groups like “Save a Collar, Pop a Saxon” and “I Hate Langley.

McLean-Langley rivalry no longer in jeopardy