opinionsvolume 26, issue 4 november 6, 2009

“As we all slide down the banister of life, may

the splinters never face in the wrong direction.”

-Greg “Garbo” Garbowsky

page 20

‘I will not be a bystander’

Jeff Alkins

Opinions Contributor

METCO

Stands for Metropolitan Council for Economic Opportunity

Began in September, 1966 with 220 participating students

3,300 Boston and Springfield school students currently participate in

METCO

Out of the 3,300 students in METCO, 75 percent are black, 17 percent are

Hispanic, 3 percent are Asian, and 5 percent are another race

�e amount awarded to each METCO school district is roughly $5,828 per

student

I’ve never been more enraged, hurt

or ashamed than I was a�er reading about

METCO in the article “Mountain gives

Newton conservatives a voice.” No one has

the right to say that someone’s opinion is

wrong, but I can say that I strongly dis-

agree with Mountain’s statements, as well

as with his daughter’s.

I found out that I was accepted

into METCO in 1997 and had to choose

whether to stay at St. Patrick’s Catholic

School or to start over at Bowen Elemen-

tary School. �e choice was easy; at Bowen

you didn’t have to wear a uniform. �ere, I

had Ms. Wong, who helped METCO stu-

dents understand what made us di�erent

and who answered our questions.

At South, during my �rst semester, I

had a METCO advisory, where I could talk

with students who could empathize, and

not just sympathize, with my experiences.

�e advisory only lasted a semester, but it

le� me with someone I could never forget:

Ms. Sumner. Her o�ce was always open.

My questions and Ms. Sumner’s

answers helped me better understand not

only the topic at hand but also myself. Ms.

Sumner challenged me to be a better stu-

dent and person and helped me stand up

for any opinion I had. She was more than

an adviser. She was my friend.

Tom Mountain said that for the past

four decades, Boston has sent students to

Newton Public Schools and paid noth-

ing for it. If Mountain is concerned that

our parents aren’t paying to send us to

the Newton Public Schools, he should

also consider that our parents pay Boston

Public School taxes while we don’t attend

schools there. Regardless of where their

money is going, our parents are paying to

educate us. If his issue with METCO is “speci�-

cally economic,” then he should work on

�xing the METCO budget rather than

eliminating the program completely. New-

ton is one of the least diverse communities

I’ve seen, and trying to eliminate the single

program that increases its diversity, in my

opinion, reveals some underlying feelings

that don’t need to be touched upon at this

very moment.

Since when is it okay for adults to

take out their con�icts, personal or politi-

cal, on children? Children would be the

group that truly su�ers under Mountain’s

idea.Jenn Mountain, with whom I have

no personal issues, also made a few

ignorant, disappointing comments in the

article. She stated that she remembers

learning more about Martin Luther King

and Rosa Parks than George Washington

and James Madison. She said that multi-

cultural education “is pushed a little too

much … or a lot too much.” I don’t know

where she went to elementary school, but

I know that the only time I learned about

King and Parks was during Black History

Month or on MLK day.

�e curriculum in Newton de�nitely

focuses on white Americans. We need to

put more e�ort into diversifying the NPS

community and its curriculum.

Tom Mountain said that he would

like to end METCO in the next four years

and that METCO parents would have the

option of moving to Newton or enroll-

ing their children in di�erent schools. I

for one would not sell my house to buy a

house in Newton that would probably not

be as nice or as spacious as my current

one. Nor would I willingly leave a school

with a great academics and an environ-

ment that is �nally accepting me.

Last time I checked, people didn’t

mind spending $200 on Uggs. Is it too

much to spend a little more on the educa-

tion of someone who is less fortunate? Say-

ing that METCO isn’t important enough

for funding is the same as saying that I,

along with the other Newton METCO

students, am not important enough either.

What authority do we give people today to

put a price on someone’s education?

“I detest antiracist, multicultural education

because it’s a fad that has spent too much

time in [the Newton Public Schools]. I want

our schools to focus more on academic ex-

cellence, less on celebrating diversity.”

-Tom Mountain, “Mountain gives Newton conservatives a

voice” (�e Roar, Oct. 9, 2009)

METCO CRITICISM

Junior Je� Alkins writes on the board outside METCO adviser Katani Sumner’s o�ce, where he has come to �nd a sense of comfort.

LANGUAGES, 10METCO, 23

Student challenges

METCO criticism

the

Newton South High School l Newton, MA l Volume 26 l Issue 4 l November 6, 2009

lion’sNon-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage PAID

Boston, MAPermit No. 54523 roar

L ANGUAGES, VACCINE, 4

the

H1N1 vaccine delayed until December

on April 1, but when she arrived at South and started helping a student off the bus, she felt a pain in her stomach that spread from her left arm to her heart.

“It was at that point that I knew I was having a heart attack,” Geraghty said.

Immediately, Kramer arrived at the scene and called 911, followed by Coppola, who arrived with an AED. The two women began performing CPR.

“I remember looking down and the nurse saying, ‘Grab the AED, I’m cutting her clothes off,’” Coppola said.

Coppola and Kramer shocked Ger-aghty with the AED three times before the

ambulance arrived. At the hospital Geraghty received 21 more shocks before she was revived.

“Because we gave her the first shock within 30 seconds of dying, we saved her,” Kramer said.

Coppola has shared this story with her students, which is helping sophomores learning CPR in Wellness classes to appre-ciate and pay attention to the lessons. CPR certification is a requirement in the sopho-more Wellness curriculum, and South has its own D-team (defibrillator team), a group

LANGUAGES, 10CPR, 7

Emily Breuer & Julia SpectorNews Editor, Sr. News Editor

Thanks to CNN’s Oct. 17 program about South Wellness teacher Michelle Cop-pola and nurse Gail Kramer saving bus driver Laura Geraghty’s life, South students are now taking their CPR classes more seriously.

Last April, Coppola and Kramer performed CPR and used an automated external defibrillator (AED) on Geraghty immediately after she suffered a massive heart attack, which left her with no heartbeat for 56 minutes.

Geraghty drove her normal bus route

photo by Danielle Stubbe

Due to the increasing rate of flu-related absences in the Newton Public Schools, South will offer a complimentary H1N1 vaccine to students for the first time this year. The number of students with H1N1 “is gradually increasing,” according to Newton Commissioner of Health and Human Services David Naparstek. In a PTSO newsletter last week, South nurse Gail Kramer said she hopes the vaccines will be available in early December.

Vaccinations for Influenza A (seasonal flu) were ad-ministered to students with parental consent on Oct. 15.

Sophomore Eric Davis, who received the vaccination at school, said he plans to receive an H1N1 vaccination from South as well. “I think like the whole school will get it here, since it’s free,” he said.

Reactions to the spread of H1N1 at South have been mixed. History teacher Pilar Quezzaire, who contracted the “swine flu” last spring, doubts its status as a pandemic. “I would say that [H1N1] is potentially a pandemic, but then again so is typical Influenza A,” she said. “I’m more concerned about the hysteria surrounding it than I am about

Peter Haskin & Yoonchan ChoiSports Reporter, News Contributor

Setti Warren celebrated his victory in the mayoral election over Ruth Balser at Union Street Restaurant on Nov. 3.

Aaron Belowich & Meryl HayesSr. Sports Editor, Sr. Centerfold Editor

Coppola teaches a student CPR in wellness.photo by Olivia Kennis

Bus driver saved, CPR emphasized

“But the real work begins tomorrow”

Warren embraces victory

Two years ago, Setti Warren was serving in Iraq. Now he’ll be serving as mayor of Newton. “Over the course of that year [in Iraq], I saw some of the worst of what humanity can do and the worst of what humanity can be,” Warren said as he addressed a packed Union Street Restaurant at his victory party. “Thankfully, I returned home to Newton and was able to see the best of what humanity can do and the best of what humanity can be.”

Warren narrowly beat state representative Ruth Balser to become Newton’s first black mayor on Tuesday,

Nov. 3.Despite losing the Sept. 15 primary election with

30.6 percent of the votes compared to Balser’s 36.1 per-cent, Warren was able to turn his campaign around for the general election. He finished the evening with 11,210 votes to Balser’s 10,747. Warren was able to gain enough supporters of Paul Coletti, Bill Heck and Ken Parker’s campaign to beat Balser. “This didn’t turn out the way we hoped, but it was really close,” Balser said during her concession speech.

Balser said that she is looking forward to working

LANGUAGES, 10WARREN, 4

METCO speaks out >> page

22INSIDE: Read contrasting perspectives on Newton’s METCO program.

cartoon hero page 5

november 6, 2009 fun page 2

Columns, rows and squaresEach take a digit, fallingBetween one and nine.

bad haiku by Tony Vashevko and Rob Hass

puzzle courtesy of sudokuoftheday.com

6 7

3 8 4

2 8 9 7

1 5 4

6 4 5 8

1 4 6

9 5 6 1

9 6 2

3 5

Word Search By Hallie Boviard

Unscramble these Thanksgiving words and then find them

in the word search.

T U R K I S B I A N T O O T S E P O P C M R A U T 7 W T U A U I A O 4 F L P W E A A P E R S R H S B B F S S R I T T E E S E S S D F R P S K L B B M W E I H E C A M I H R E F U P H R S E L A X E S E E A E Y T E G D B B R I U E I L Y I U P I I N D A J D G B C R E E L D L E H C C I E I P N I K P M U P A R A W G P Y T O P L K T I I O S O O K S R E K C O R S S W R E M D E U E F T U U S D H G W D L I R F A L L H A A S W A G S S E N T N O T F M O S K I T T L E S T E M S T U F F I N G Y S U J K N O 3 4 H O D F G S H P E N S T A A H E A D S H R E E G J L O R M J G I N A W M H B E C F M P S B D R F C E A U I H O O B L C R A N B E R R Y S A U C E L D F O E 5 W A K U F V G R E E N B E A N C A S S E R O L E

1) YKERTU 2) GNSUTFFI 3) YRERBACNR SEUAC 4) HESDAM SEOPTAT

5) UPMPNKI IEP 6) EERNG AENB SSACRELOE 7) PCNEA IPE

8) MAYFLOWER 9) SAMY 10) RGLIPIMS

newsvolume 26, issue 4 • november 6, 2009 page 3

South SpotsSouth

SpotsSouthSpots

In honor of South’s fiftieth anniver-sary, standout athletes and coaches from the first class in South’s history will now be inducted into the school’s newly-created athletic hall of fame. There will be a fairly brief ceremony for the hall of fame during South’s annual Thanksgiving Day football game against Lincoln-Sudbury, as well as a larger ceremony, which is scheduled for Nov. 27 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel in Newton.

Compiled by news editors

Sports hall of fame reaches South

The elections freshman class of-ficers and senators took place on Oct. 28 during B Block. Yoonchan Choi and Josh Nislick were elected president and vice president, respectively, and Emily Ho, Raquelle Zelada and Charlotte Levine are the other class officers. Isabel Collier, Matt Dahl, Julianna Dragat, Nicholas Hurney, Robert Maratos, Rose Taylor, Will Zhang and Kevin Zhu were elected to the South senate.

Housemasters and campus aides started checking bus passes regularly on Oct. 30 as a result of the recent bus over-crowding. Students who have not bought bus passes have not been allowed to board the buses. Students who do not yet have a bus pass can apply for one at the Newton Public Schools transportation website or visit thelionsroar.com for a link that will take students to the buss pass application directly.

The Newton Tanzania Club (NTC) is working to send South students to Tanzania this July, where they would help out at the Mahundi primary and the Kwala secondary school. Students would stay in the homes of teachers from Kwala, South’s Tanzanian sister school. The faculty advisers of the Newton Tanzania Club are history teachers Kirsten Russell and Andrew Thompson. There will be a meeting for those interested in the trip in room 1310 on Nov. 7 from 7:00 to 8:30. Interested students can also talk to sophomores Michael Duggan and Emily Hollender.

Freshman class officers selected

Students to visit Tanzania

Bus passes checked regularly

“To love would be an awfully big adventure.”-J.M Barrie

South shapes expectations for new superintendentZhuoshi Xie

News Reporter

Students, teachers and faculty articulate their expectations for a super-intendent as the search for a permanent superintendent of the Newton Public Schools progresses.

The current interim superintendent, Jim Marini, took the place of former Su-perintendent Jeff Young, and is in charge of the Newton Public Schools for the 2009-2010 school year.

The superintendent’s decisions about the school system as a whole, how-ever, indirectly impact the lives of everyone under the system.

“[The superintendent position] is the highest on the pecking order of importance,” English teacher David Weintraub said.

Because of this, various expecta-tions arise from members of the South community.

Newton residents range in their views on the role of a superintendent.

History teacher Pilar Quezzaire said that the Superintendent does not influence her at all.

Junior Ben Tolkin agreed. “The Superintendent doesn’t really

affect an individual student, nor should he. [His] role is purely administrative.”

Principal Joel Stembridge also finds the job of the superintendent to affect people beyond South.

“For the most part, how we do busi-ness here won’t be too different depend-ing on the Superintendent,” Stembridge said.

Stembridge is more concerned, rather, with the personality of the new superintendent.

“First and foremost, the Superin-tendent has to be someone who ... loves children. He should be deeply interested in the welfare of all kids, and knowledgeable about education,” Stembridge said.

“Keeping kids in mind is the first priority.”

Although Stembridge acknowledges that being superintendent is not an easy job, he thinks the superintendent should be “passionate about work.”

Weintraub also expects the new superintendent to remain on top of his responsibilities.

“The ideal superintendent for New-ton would have to be a very good juggler,” Weintraub said.

“There are so many different in-terests in a superintendent’s job. He has the school committee to deal with, he has students to deal with, he has parents to deal with, he has faculty to deal with, he has administration to deal with, he has building maintenance to deal with, he has politics inside the Ed. Center to deal with.”

Weintraub hopes that while dealing with his responsibilities, the new superin-tendent will form a coherent idea of what the school system should be like.

“You have to have the same kinds

of skills [as the president],” he said. “You have to be really good at listening, you have to be really good at bringing disparate strands — different groups — together for one common purpose.”

Weintraub feels that being a good superintendent “comes down to being a good politician.” Both Quezzaire and history teacher Jamie Rinaldi believe that a good superintendent would respect edu-cators and would not do anything invasive to teachers or detri-mental to the school system.

The future superintendent of Newton will have several issues to deal with, Quezzairre said.

“O n e , t h e teachers currently don’t have a contract,” she said. “The superintendent is going to have to do a lot of work in regards to ... helping to negotiate a new contract.”

Quezzaire also worries about the growing class sizes.

“There are growing class sizes and budget issues that are happening in Newton right now that definitely require strong hands from the superintendent,” Quezzaire said.

Students also have expectations for the new superintendent. North junior Lauren Ribner wants a superintendent who appreciates arts as much as athletics.

South sophomore Karen Shibuya feels that snow day policies are something a new superintendent can “quickly and directly improve,” she said.

“It isn’t just students whining, I think it actually is a pretty legitimate complaint

to say that Newton Public Schools has been terrible at making decisions on snow days. They’ve closed school when it was hardly snowing, they haven’t closed school when there were huge blizzards, and we faced the consequences when our buses were hours late,” Shibuya said.

The superintendent will also face challenges that come with the difficult economic times.

“The largest challenge that a new superintendent will face is overseeing a school system in this time of eco-nomic political un-certainty,” Rinaldi said.

Q u e z z a i r e said that Stembridge and the new super-

intendent will have to work together to figure out exactly what the community wants.

Stembridge agreed. “[For a super-intendent, the major challenge is] get-ting to know what the expectations are,” Stembridge said.

Despite their different expectations for the future superintendent, many stu-dents and teachers agree that a good super-intendent would be an unnoticed one.

“Chances are, the average Newton Public Schools student will hardly notice any changes,” Shibuya said. “That [means] a smooth transition is taking place.”

The Superintendent Search Com-mittee holds high expectations for their superintendent finalists.

“If they choose a superintendent poorly, that could have a very serious ef-fect,” Quezzaire said.

The resignation of former superintedent Jeff Young caused a re-evaluation of superintendent qualities.photo by Danielle Stubbe

“The largest challenge that a new superintendent will face

is overseeing a school sys-tem in this time of economic

political uncertainty,.”JAMIE RINALDI

HISTORY TEACHER

november 6, 2009news4

the actual disease.”Freshman Erin Katzeff also had H1N1

last spring. “I don’t think it’s as bad as people make

it seem. I mean it definitely sucks to have it, but everyone’s making a big deal,” she said.

Still, Naparstek warns people to be cautious.

“Even if you have a big test or game,” he said, “if you feel really lousy: stay home!”

The Newton Health and Human Ser-vices Department has kept in place many precautions established last spring to keep the number of infected students down.

Several PTSO updates reminded par-ents that students with flu-like symptoms should be kept out of school until “at least 24 hours have passed without fever.”

Naparstek additionally recommends

other basic safety measures, such as using hand sanitizer several times during the day and avoiding sneezing or coughing into one’s hand.

On Oct. 27, all classrooms at South received hand sanitizers as part of a wide-spread effort to protect students and faculty against the spread of contagious diseases, particularly H1N1.

Quezzaire believes that “keeping com-mon sense is the most important thing when you’re taking precautions against the flu.”

Davis, whose father works in an emergency room, worries that without the vaccination South could be in for a long, hard flu season.

“I would be concerned if people don’t get [the vaccination] because there are a lot of people here who could be exposed to the flu,” he said.

Like Davis, Quezzaire thinks the

nature of a large school “makes swine flu a little scarier.”

“My concern is that it could be devastat-ing in a high school environment,” she said.

Doubts about the effectiveness and the time frame of the vaccination at South are also widespread.

Quezzaire said she is “leery of the vac-cine for any new virus.”

Originally slated to arrive at South in mid-November, the earliest the vaccines will arrive at South is now December, according to Naparstek.

Naparstek said that the “FDA is not going to allow vaccines to be rushed onto the scene if their not completely safe.”

“As soon as we get the vaccine we’re go-ing to get it out to as many people as wanted it,” he said.

“That will help break the chain of infections.”

Warren victorious, becomes Newton’s first black mayorwith Warren in the coming months, noting that the two are “committed to [being] part-ners and [will] continue working for the best interest of Newton.”

The Warren campaign received a boost last week after the Newton Tab endorsed him, writing that “Warren has the potential to be an outstanding mayor.”

Warren also received additional sup-port from Senator John Kerry, for whom Warren was an aide.

During his victory speech, Warren attributed the success of his campaign to his door-to-door knocking.

He also thanked a “special” group of North and South students who advocated on his behalf over the course of the entire campaign.

“We won by [463] votes, and I could walk around the room and look at the people who helped out on the campaign and literally count [463] votes that we had influenced or changed over the last nine months,” senior Ben Chesler, an avid Warren supporter, said. “We really made a difference.”

Chesler was a versatile member of Warren’s campaign.

“I helped get volunteers and interns from South and volunteered [myself]. I did phone banking, canvassing and election day stuff,” Chesler said.

Chesler was one of several South stu-dents who supported Warren.

Drew Pinta, another senior, joined the campaign this past summer.

“[Warren] came to my house and knocked on my door … and we kind of started talking, and he really impressed me,” Pinta said. After further discussion with Warren, Pinta decided to give the campaign a try. “It was really fun so I kept on doing it,” he said. Both Chesler and Pinta agreed that War-ren’s name recog-nition and popu-larity skyrocketed as the campaign progressed. “Nine months ago when we were calling for Setti, even up to a few months ago, people would say ,‘Who’s Setti? Who is she?’ As the campaign went on, we just kept picking up votes as people got to know who Setti was,” Chesler said.

“Considering that I didn’t even know Setti’s name a year ago … I think it was pretty amazing that he was able to become the mayor … If you look back to a year ago and you asked me if I thought Setti was going

to win, I don’t know that I would have said yes,” Pinta said.

“[But If I had seen] his personality and his dedication the amount of time and work he put in to this at this time last year, I definitely would have thought he was going to win.” Neither Chesler nor Pinta was surprised

to see such a narrow mar-gin of votes be-tween Warren and Balser.

“ R u t h w a s r e a l l y about as in-cumbent as you can be without actu-ally being one. She was well known [as] a state represen-

tative,” Pinta said. While Chad Radock, Balser’s campaign

manager, was not surprised at the slim dif-ference in votes, he was surprised at the final outcome.

“We made thousands of calls this weekend,” Radock said.

“I was a little disappointed to see that it didn’t work out, but she was a great candidate and she proved she is one of the most successful state representatives in all of

WARREN, from 1 Massachusetts, and I’m very happy to have worked with her.”

Warren recognized the continuing con-tributions of Balser during his speech, noting that she “certainly deserves our respect and appreciation for her many years of service.”

While Balser continues to be an in-fluential member of the state Legislature and a strong advocate for Newton, she plans on heading back to Beacon Hill to work for change across Massachusetts. “It’s disap-pointing to lose but it was a very, very close election, and we worked very, very hard and we did a great job,” she said. “I’m going to keep representing the people of Newton and doing all I can for the city I love … and I’m going to keep working to make sure the schools are great.”

Though state Representative Kay Kahn was a Balser supporter, she looks forward to getting to know Warren. “We will continue to work with the School Committee, with the Board of Alderman and with the new mayor,” Kahn said.

“It’s exciting that we have a new mayor and some new members of the School Com-mittee to work with.”

Although Warren was all smiles throughout his victory party, he recognized the tough road ahead.

“This was a hard-fought campaign,” Warren said in his speech. “But the real work begins tomorrow.”

Setti Warren and his supporters celebrated a close victory at Union Street restaurant in Newton Centre, while Ruth Balser delivered her concession speech at Skipjack’s Restaurant on Needham Street. She thanked her supporters, assuring that she and Warren are “committed to [being] partners and [will] continue working for the best interest of Newton.”

“We won by [463] votes, and I could walk around the room and look at the people who helped out on the

campaign and literally count [463] votes that we had influenced or

changed over the last nine months. We really made a difference.”

BEN CHESLERCLASS OF 2010

photos by Dan Hurwit & Danielle Stubbe

Hand sanitizers, more vaccine to combat swine fluVACCINE, from 1

photo by Delphine Rodrik

Hand sanitizer was distributed to all classrooms on Oct. 27 due to H1N1.

november 6, 2009 news 5

He hadn’t seen us for eight years, but when we e-mailed Mason-Rice Elementary School Principal Mark Springer to ask him for an interview, he not only remembered our names, but also genuinely took an inter-est in us.

“Do I remember you?” he responded a day later. “Do I remember you?? Of course! I even remember that Emma girl, and I’d love to talk to you about Arthur. Did you get a chance to watch it? (If you didn’t, I have a DVD here. It might be helpful for you to watch it before we talk. You could pick it up anytime.)”

Springer wrote this e-mail with the same thought he puts into all tasks.

His devotion to his work and the long-lasting impact he has on others made him the perfect candidate for an ap-pearance on a PBS show.

A f t e r Springer was d i a g n o s e d with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma two years ago, “Ar-thur,” a na-t ional T V show aimed for young view-ers, sought him out. The show aired every day during the week of Oct. 19.

“The producer wanted to do a show about how to help children when someone they love gets cancer,” Springer said. The animated part of the episode follows Arthur’s discovery that Ms. MacGrady, his favorite lunch lady, has cancer and shows the different reactions of each of his friends.

As part of a real-life segment that fol-lowed the episode, the producers wanted to find someone whose cancer story mirrored that of Ms. MacGrady and to discuss actual children’s reactions to cancer.

Consulting child psychiatrist Paula Rausch works for the Boston PBS affiliate, WGBH, and at Mass General Hospital, where Springer was treated. To find candidates for the live “Arthur” clip, Rausch e-mailed doctors at the hospital, asking if they knew anyone who works with children and had cancer.

“She said she heard from 10 people about me and Mason-Rice,” Springer said.

Howard Weinstein, director of pediat-ric oncology at Mass General, was one of the many who recommended Springer.

“[I knew Springer was a good candi-date] because he’s good with kids, he was honest with the kids at school about his cancer, but he let them know that he was still their principal, and that wasn’t going to change,” Weinstein said.

Rausch then asked Springer if he would be willing to have people from WGBH come to Mason-Rice to film him and the students. “I said, ‘Sure.’” Four hours of filming at the school produced a short but moving film clip. When parents gathered to watch a preview last spring, Springer said that many were crying. “It still gets me every time I see it, too,” he said.

In the segment, Springer sits around a table with a group of students and discusses their reactions to his cancer. Students show cards they made and explain their emo-tions.

‘Arthur’ highlights Springer’s spirit

“ I want students to love school, love learning and get as excited about the world around them as they did in kindergarten.”

MARK SPRINGER

Two years into remission from cancer, Mason-Rice principal Mark Springer appeared on the national TV show ‘Arthur.’

T h e e l e m e nt a r y

s c h o o l e r s weren’t the only

ones who thought his appearance on

a national show was a big deal. On Jan. 20, the day Presi-

dent Obama took office, the front page of the Newton Tab had two lead articles.

The main fold discussed the first black president’s inauguration, and the bottom fold read, ”Newton’s Mason Rice Elementary principal to be Arthur-ian hero.”

Springer remains a hero even to stu-dents beyond their six years at Mason-Rice.

Senior and Mason-Rice graduate Sarah Pincus chose to follow Springer for her junior profile project, in which juniors write a report on a person of their choice. “I chose him because I feel grateful to him,” she said.

“I needed a safe place to grow and he made one.”

While fol-lowing Springer as part of her project, Pincus saw that noth-ing had changed. “He walked into a second grade classroom and looked down at one girl and asked, ‘How’s your back feeling?’ He knew everyone.”

Springer also knew her. “I came back after six years, and he asked about everyone in my family,” Pincus said. Junior Max Ezekiel also considered Springer’s constant presence at Mason-Rice comforting. “He wasn’t like any principal I ever had. He would walk around the classes; we all got to know him really well,” Ezekiel said.

“When you got in trouble, you sat with him for three hours and he gave you a lollipop.”

Although Springer takes part in ad-ministrative meetings, he also makes it his job to get to know every student. “The most important thing is to get into every class each

day; it’s the most enjoyable part,” he said.“I want students to love school, love

learning and get as excited about the world around them as they did in kindergarten.”

Ezekiel said Springer’s efforts exceeded the classroom.

“He tried to make one community, and he succeeded,” he said. “He was an inspira-tional role model to all of us.”

From the first day we walked in, ner-vous, to the day we left in black caps, Springer stood by us. And when Springer got cancer, the community stood by him. Mason-Rice students wrote Springer cards and gave him hats to wear when he lost his hair. Weinstein and other doctors at Mass General even ran the Boston Marathon in his honor.

“They were taking care of me, and that was one of the hardest things for me to deal with,” Springer said.

“My job is to be taking care of you, and all of a sudden everything got reversed.

But then we kind of turned it into a positive thing, and we ended up with good news.”

Springer went into remission in Sep-tember 2007.

“It was always sold on the idea that I was going to be fine,” he said. “With [the school community] believing it, I felt I [would].”

When Mason-Rice graduate sopho-more Becca Weinstein heard Springer had cancer, she knew that the community would support him and that his enthusiasm would be no different.

‘“Everyone respects him, and I knew he wouldn’t change,” she said.

She was right. Throughout chemo-therapy, Springer came to school every day,

continuing his daily good mornings and walks through the halls.

As a Mason-Rice student explained in the video clip, “When Mr. Springer was sick, some things did change, like he lost his hair and started wearing a cap. But other things didn’t, like he still announced the birthdays [over the loudspeaker], and he was still Mr. Springer.”

Ezekiel understands why Springer was chosen to be on “Arthur.”

He also said Springer’s strength pre-vailed throughout his illness. “Me and a few friends saw him on the street a few weeks ago, and he was the same as he was before he got the cancer, the same inspirational role model.”

Springer values his connections with every student, whether they are in elementary school or high school.

When he was sick, he went to a South track meet in Weston.

“Some of the [South] kids saw me, and they came running up and they gave me these big bear hugs,” Springer said. “And then they looked at me and said, ‘You’re not going to die, are you?’”

It was in fact Springer’s strong con-nection to the community that helped him overcome his cancer. In a 2007 letter that an-nounced his illness to parents, Springer wrote, “It is my love for your children and my love for this community that will surely bring me successfully through this challenge.”

Springer is a role model those who have attended Mason-Rice and to anyone else who witnessed his battle with cancer; his appearance on “Arthur” only highlighted his character to a larger audience.

“The event [of dealing with cancer] itself was a big thing for this community, not so much the show,” Springer said.

As we all, graduated fifth graders, hopped in our parents’ vans to celebrate our graduation, we saw Mr. Springer waving from his spot at the entrance of Mason-Rice Elementary School.

He never forgot our names.“These long term connections with

students, this stuff means the world to me,” he said. “I love this part of my job.”

And we never forgot his.

photo by Emma Chad-Friedman

november 6, 2009news6

robin shuster • robin’s rebuttal

Why you should care

To the average high school student, Newton politics are the biggest joke since A Block study hall. We see lawn

sign after lawn sign endorsing the numerous candidates for alderman, School Commit-tee and mayor. Though I have an interest in politics, in the past I have found little merit in being aware of local elections. Why should we high school students care?

I have asked this question over and over. Perhaps a reason for our lack of interest is our expected and ever-growing rebellion. Most of us want something bigger. I fed this desire by volunteering for the 2008 Obama campaign. While doing so, I had little in-terest in Newton’s municipal government. I focused on big issues and ideas such as health care, the economy and civil rights. I wasn’t thinking locally.

Over the past few months, I have begun to observe Newton’s elections. I have found that the issues publicized relate very directly to the average high school student. School Committee candidate Tom Mountain, former Newton Tab columnist, blogged his aversion to bus pass fees, writing, “It [is] just another way to pick the wallets of the public.” I take the bus and have overheard many students speaking of the very same principle that Mountain supports. Mountain continues, “[Newton] never did understand the concept of free public education, which is why they imposed these fees in the first place.” We all hate getting kicked off the bus if we don’t have a pass, and in a way, Mountain empathizes with us. Other ideas could anger a significant population of Newton’s students. Mountain writes, “Too many children who for generations would be characterized as lazy or misbehaving in class are being diagnosed with learning dis-abilities by SPED staff.” The SPED (Special Education) staff believes that every student deserves an education that benefits them appropriately.

Based on the Newton Public Schools’ “Guide to Special Education,” the SPED staff finds an alternative way to learn for each student in the program. Most South students know someone in this program. As students, it’s our responsibility to learn. If it is not ef-fective, then what’s the point?

Other candidates for School Com-mittee, like Claire Sokoloff and Steve Siegel, promote integrating technology into the cur-riculum. Sokoloff endorses online learning, “to help make classrooms more interactive and dynamic,” as she states on her website. Siegel emphasizes the importance of New-ton’s math curriculum, and hopes to promote the science, technology, engineering and math program, or STEM.

“Newton should focus on increasing interest in and enthusiasm for STEM offer-ings,” Siegel writes.

As I learn more and more about the lo-cal government that decides issues directly af-fecting me, my initial question starts to shift. I no longer ask, “Why we should we care?” but instead ask, “Why don’t we care?” Local issues are right in front of us. We care about bus passes, we care about the Special Educa-tion program and we care about whether or not our classroom will get a SMART Board. Newton voters go to the polls and vote based on platforms that can change the way we learn. That’s why we should care.

Meetings open WISE discussionsLibby Carberry &

Julia SpectorSr. Features Editor, Sr. News Editor

photo illustration by Danielle Stubbe

An increase in student interest has led the WISE program to consider making changes.

Potential changes are in the works for the WISE Individual Student Experience program, as its coordinators, Tonya Londino and Marla Weiner, are hoping to expand the program for the 2011-2012 school year.

Rather than balancing a full class schedule and working on a WISE project or internship, seniors would have the option of either partially or fully dropping their classes to complete 40-hour-a-week WISE project.

Students taking AP tests in the spring would be required to drop all classes except APs.

These revisions are modeled after WISE programs at Wellesley High School (WHS) and Weston High School, which have been praised by students and administrators at both schools.

Should students fail to meet the expec-tations about work hours, they must return to their term four classes and make up the missed work.

According to Assistant Principal Mary Scott, however, this is a rarity at WHS and Weston High School.

At a meeting on Nov. 3, Principal Joel Stembridge, Scott and other South admin-istrators discussed potential problems with the program and solutions to the potential problems.

The School Council must approve the new policy in order for it to be officially passed.

The council will meet on Nov. 17 with Stembridge.

Stembridge will then make a decision later this month. Until then, the admin-istration does not wish to make a formal statement regarding whether the new policy will pass.

Should the policy pass, two to three students will pilot the program this spring.

“[The potential changes in WISE] have been widely and wildly acclaimed, and it looks really good,” Scott said.

Wiener, the first recipient of the Chris Kim Mentorship Award for her work in founding and promoting the WISE pro-gram at South, was inspired to change the WISE program after attending a workshop this summer about possible alternatives for WISE.

In the workshop, she learned ways to improve the evaluation of the program, and to anticipate possible difficulties that a changed program might cause.

One of these difficulties includes class disruption.

The English department is reworking its senior curriculum, however, to accom-modate the new WISE approach. The new curriculum requires a “Hamlet” and college-essay unit first term, an elective second and

third terms and either a WISE project or senior seminar fourth term.

English department head Brian Baron views these discussions about reworking the curriculum as an opportunity for the department to fix current problems with the senior curriculum.

“[The WISE changes] pose kind of an opportunity for us, because we have kind of a split mind within the department,” Baron said.

M a n y s t u d e n t s strongly sup-port the po-tential chang-es, especially the opportu-nity to drop classes fourth term to focus on WISE.

S o m e , l ike senior Arielle Irvin, h a v e e v e n volunteered to pilot the program this year, should the policy pass.

“I think most of the people were re-ally for it in my [WISE] class … you get to just learn and do what you’re interested in, instead of having to come to school and just sit there,” Irvin said.

Senior Gabe Glissen-Brown agrees with Irvin, stressing the value WISE has

in preparing seniors for college and adult situations.

“I think it’s cool because the point of WISE is to have people experience some-thing they want to do outside of a school environment ... This way, if someone really has their heart set on doing something, or studying something in college, they would really have an opportunity to see what it’s like,” Glissen-Brown said.

However, he is not interested in pi-loting the program this year because he signed up for classes that he is not pre-pared to drop.

The possibility of an enhanced WISE program has also raised some nega-tive reactions from students, despite the optimism of the ad-ministration.

“I think that if a lot of kids actu-ally find out about

the new rules, they’re not going to sign up for [WISE],” senior Lydia Emmanouilidou said.

Senior Taryn Valley, who plans to intern with her church, agreed with Em-manouilidou.

She said that her project would not be rigorous enough to substitute for an entire term of classes.

“I think [the potential policy is] silly … because I’m … doing something that I think is fun. I’m not doing something work-related; I’m doing it because it makes me happy,” Valley said.

Although the student body has re-ceived the news of potential changes with mixed reactions, members of the admin-istration think the changes would work for the better.

“There is such a small amount of time that you can’t really get involved [in a WISE project] … People wanted to find a way to have more [time],” Scott said. “Lots of people feel that this might be a better way to end senior year.”

“The point of WISE is to have people experience something they want to do outside of a school en-vironment ... This way, if someone really has their heart set on doing something, or studying something in college, they would really have

an opportunity to see what it’s like”GABE GLISSEN-BROWN

CLASS OF 2010

photo by Julia Spector

november 6, 2009 news 7

Communication with candidates emphasizedDuring the last few days before the

Newton municipal elections on Nov. 3, can-didates for mayor, the school committee and alderman made a last effort to win as many votes as possible.

Some of these candidates were diffi-cult to contact, however, and many parents, teachers and candidates themselves think this problem could have injured a candidate’s popularity among voters.

Tricia HoNews Editor

“If I write [a candidate] an e-mail, and I have a question [I would like] answered, I’d like someone to get back to me, even if it’s one of their people,” South parent Lynne Brooks said.

“They should be able to squeeze in the time to get back to me.”Most agree that communication with the candidates during the campaign is essential.

“How else am I going to know how they feel about things that are important to me?” South librarian Ethel Downey said. A number of candidates have a website accessible to voters that outline their goals for the Newton community and detail their biography.

Most of these websites also list contact information such as e-mail addresses and phone numbers of either the campaign committee or the candidates themselves. Several unanswered calls from The Roar to various candidates, however, prove that some of these candidates can be difficult to reach.

History and psychology teacher Paul Estin believes that there are times when a candidate can’t directly contact voters directly.

“Certainly there are things like hav-ing a website open that not only answers questions but is open to more questions …. In this day and age there are definitely multiple methods to answering questions of your potential constituents,” he said.

School Committee member Geoff Epstein thinks that communication with voters is part of the job.

“Candidates and elected officials have a responsibility to be responsive to the citizens, and they should be seeking input,” Epstein said. “But I don’t know [why candidates could be hard to reach] other than a lack of normal responsible behavior. I think it’s not responsible to be hard to contact.”

Art teacher Megan Crist agreed. “If you cannot contact a candidate, and they’re not available to their constituents, they’re not doing a very effective job,” she said. “I would be curious to know how good of a job they would do in the actual office if they are unreachable [during] the campaign.”

Epstein pointed out that candidates could have legitimate reasons for not re-sponding to voters. Estin, however, thinks that a reason for being unresponsive can still have negative effects. “Even if there might be a good explanation, it’d give the impression [that the candidate was] not open and com-municative,” Estin said.

“If I was trying to reach [a candidate] and I couldn’t, I would not vote for them,” Brooks said. “They’re busy doing other things, but they should be making time … to actually connect with people who are trying to reach them.” Downey mentioned that besides being open to voters through phone calls and e-mails, candidates should be available through public forums.

“It’s important to see them in a venue where you get an opportunity to ask ques-tions, so candidates should always make themselves available either to organizations or groups or events so that people have time to ask questions and feel like they are getting their voices heard and questions answered,” Downey said.Though Epstein sees the reasoning behind public forums, he advocates for a more personal approach to communicating with voters. “I like to go to PTOs and talk to them. I like to go to school councils and talk to them. I will go anywhere and talk to anyone pretty much anytime. If someone calls me up and says, ‘Could you have coffee with me?’ the answer is always yes. The best thing is to have conversations with people,” he said.

For Epstein, directly communicating with the public is the most important task for elected officials.

“If you’re an official you should be interested in the job. You should actually be very curious about what people are think-ing and saying,” Epstein said. A candidate’s effort in communicating with voters can ultimately determine his or her success in the election.

“Any candidate that makes him [or her] self easily available through either face-to-face communication, through e-mail or through phone messages is the candidate that has the best chance [of winning] an election,” Crist said.

CPR, from 1

Coppola inspires students to take CPR seriously

of teachers trained in performing CPR and AED in emergency situations.

Sophomore Hannah Dober said that she can connect more to the CPR lessons after hearing Geraghty’s story.

“I never even thought about need-ing CPR, but it seems so much more real because it actually happened to someone I know,” she said.

Many other students agreed. “I think that I will take CPR more seriously because ... things like [Geraghty’s story] can actually happen to people,” sophomore Amanda Ut-stein said. “You have to be ready [to perform CPR] at any point.”

“[This story] makes me more aware and makes me want to be able to save a life,” sophomore Sam Caggiano said.

“I think that it’s amazing that [Coppo-

la] didn’t give up and she kept trying to bring [Geraghty] back to life,” Dober added.

But after they watched the ambulance take Geraghty to the hospital, there was nothing more Kramer and Coppola could do besides hope.

“We didn’t think she was going to make it,” Kramer said. “When she left, we didn’t have a good feeling. We didn’t think there would be a positive outcome.”

Throughout the night, Kramer and Coppola were in touch with a member of Geraghty’s family, who was at the hospital. “There was a feeling of helplessness,” Cop-pola said. The two said that the AED and CPR process, however, went extremely well. “If she was going to survive, she got the best care,” Kramer said. Coppola agreed. “I feel like our system is pretty amazing,” Coppola said. “The response time is life or death.”

Geraghty greatly appreciates Coppola

and Kramer’s hard work. “From the moment I dropped, they were right there. To be able to recognize what to do [in an emergency] is outstanding,” Geraghty said. “If I had to say, they did it perfectly. The doctors said they did it perfectly.”

Geraghty even survived without any broken ribs, a common result of receiving CPR. Soon after hearing about this incident, the Newton elementary schools had AEDs installed. “I think it’s crazy that isn’t not man-datory to have an AED,” Coppola said.

Coppola’s colleagues and students alike have hailed her as a hero.

“I think [Coppola’s actions] were he-roic. You’re trained to [perform CPR] as a Wellness teacher, but she was brave enough to do it,” junior Isabelle Young said.

“[Coppola] is a hero,” Athletic Depart-ment Head Scott Perrin said. “She is an inspi-ration to our department, and an inspiration

photos by Olivia Kennis

to me, as [she is] a human who would spend that much time resuscitating somebody and go through such a traumatic event.”

Wellness teacher Tod Elwell had simi-lar praise of Coppola.

“You just don’t know when you’re going to need people like [Coppola],” he said. “She represents our Wellness department at such a high level,” he said.

Coppola and Kramer’s quick response to Geraghty’s attack affirmed the effectiveness of South’s D-team.

The incident has not only influenced other schools and students, but it has also af-fected the three women directly involved.

“I’ll never forget that day and moment,” Coppola said. “It changed my life.”

“I look at things differently now,” Geraghty said. “Every day I wake up, and I am much happier. Even though it has been a difficult road, I do wake up every day.”

Since her heart attack, Geraghty has been sharing her story with others. Along with her appearance on CNN’s program “Cheating Death,” meant to educate and inspire others, Geraghty has been speaking at conferences to doctors and nurses about her experience.

D-team drills are run every year to practice this procedure. The latest was on Oct. 29 to ensure that everyone was up to speed.

“The drills are not to make people worried. You want to make mistakes so you can learn from them,” Kramer said.

The quick and flawless response proves the capability of South’s D-team and has demonstrated that South students will also have the ability to use their skills in a time of need.

“It makes it more real talking with someone who has actually saved someone, [instead of] watching videos of people working with dummies,” sophomore Stefani Karr said.

featuresvolume 26, issue 4 november 6, 2009 page 8

Jenn Mountain • Senior Column

Four steps to get-ting to school late

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

-Semisonic

My dearest chicklings, I’m con-cerned. I see you cutting me off on Brandeis Road, trying

to get to school before 7:40 a.m. I see you vomiting over the banister on the third floor from a sprint up the stairs. I see you dashing out of your house offices, crying because the secretary refuses to excuse your five minute tardy. This new, totalitarianesque A Block policy is stressing you out. Democra-cy my ass. Because my tardy self is without a doubt the reason for this new policy (sosorrymybadski!), I will help you escape the black hole of this wretched policy. In order to do this, I need your compliance. We must collectively stick it to the man. I’m sorry, Stem, but it must be done. This is where you say: “But master, I do not know HOW to stick it to the man because I’m not as beautifully intelligent as you are.” I’m aware. No fear, my dear. I have created a list of key principles to follow for those of you punctual losers whose only true desire in life is to change your ways and be super kewl like me. (I swear you’ll no longer be a loser if you achieve JMount’s status. ) Each of these vital principles follows the three S’s: sleep, slack, sarcorp. I will give a big hug to the first person that can tell me what sarcorp is and how AMAZINGLY WITTY I am to derive such a clever form of the real word. 1. It is VERY CRUCIAL to begin your homework as late as possible when you come home from school. Slack, my friend. Procrastinate as much as you can. A. Do your homework late. B. Go to sleep late. C. Wake up late. Transitive property my dearies. If A=B and B=C, then A=C. Harvard, get at me. 2. Use Facebook, Sporcle, You-tube, fmylife or Mugglenet (maybe that just works for me) to procrastinate. It’s much more important to memorize all 151 Pokemon characters than the US presidents. And honestly, modern people’s misfortunes are much more enjoy-able than Hamlet’s misfortunes. No offense, English department. 3. You always thought your alarm was there to tell you to wake up. What you don’t know is it’s actually there to tell you to wake up later. It’s saying, “Hey you slob, get yourself together … whenever you feel like it. An hour from now would be just peachy. Now go back to sleep. Ttyl.” 4. Go for a nice Coffee Corner or Dunkies run in the morning. Say waddup to Danielle or Fatima for me. And please, waltz into school with the drink in your hand just to spite the administration. Stand strong, my darlings. Listen to my prophetic soul. WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT. This school of the (former) stu-dents, by the (former) students and for the students, shall not perish from the earth.And if this doesn’t work, the Imperious Curse shall.

After spending the afternoon fishing near his home in Ukraine, nine-year-old Alex Skrynnyk, now a freshman at South, packed up his equipment, put his fishing rod over his shoulder and began his walk home.

He never thought twice about how he held the fishing rod.

He never thought the fishing rod would get caught in a low-hang-ing power line.

He never thought the power line would send 2200 volts of elec-tricity through his body.

But Skrynnyk landed himself in a coma for four days. Following the coma, Skrynnyk suffered from extensive burns all over his body and was informed that his right arm needed to be amputated.

In order to receive prime treatment for his injuries, Skryn-nyk’s family moved to Boston seek-ing care from Shriners Hospital for Children, an international hospital that specializes in rehabilitative care for young burn victims.

Dr. Gennadiy Fuzaylov, who helps children from around the world, spent four months getting Skrynnk to Boston.

“Alex was in devastating condition back in Ukraine and they asked me how I could help this

Becca Feldman & Ariel RivkinFeatures Reporters

photo illustration by Clara Lorant

When senior Gail* wanted alcohol, she didn’t have to sneak it by her parents. Her parents made it easy for her to get.

“Once they actually bought alcohol for me,” Gail said. “They knew a friend and I were going to the liquor store to buy it, and they didn’t want us to get caught by cops.”

Gail’s parents, who let her drink regularly on holidays and family gather-ings, acknowledge that teens often experi-ment with alcohol.

They choose to provide alcohol at home in a supervised and safe environ-ment so their kids can take a drink if they choose.

From a sip of wine at the dinner table to a bottle on a Saturday night, many South parents introduce their kids to alcohol at home; by doing so, they hope

to lessen the excitement that comes with binge drinking.

Senior Ari Shvartsman’s parents allow him an occasional sip of wine dur-ing dinner. “Drinking with your parents teaches you what’s acceptable and what’s not. [When] parents let their kids have parties, it leads to trouble, but having wine or a beer with the family once in a while is okay because it teaches kids to drink responsibly,” he said.

Gail’s mother, however, said that the kids whose parents are strict are the ones who get in the most trouble. “Kids that are so afraid of their parents that they can’t say, ‘Can you give me a ride?’ are the kids that get in trouble ... I don’t condone [underage drinking], but I know it happens. It’s just what kids do,” her mother said.

Senior Mara Sahl-eanu’s parents encouraged

supervised drinking after Sahleanu turned 16, the legal drinking age in Romania, her family’s country of origin. “They tried to get my brother and me into [drinking] to ‘enhance the culinary experience,’ or some-thing,” she said.

“When my brother and I were about 10 and 12, my brother

loved the taste of beer, and so my dad would

let him have sips occa-sionally, sometimes one

inch in his glass.” Sahleanu’s mother

was diagnosed with

Emma Chad-FriedmanManaging Editor

ALCOHOL, 12

SKRYNNYK, 10

•

Arm of plastic, heart of gold

Unlocking the wine cellarphoto by Dan Hurwit

november 6, 2009 features 9

One School. Four Students.

99 Problems.Every issue The Roar follows four students, one from each grade. Each has unique difficulties that dis-

tinguish their lives from their peers. This issue, each student talks about their future plans.

By Libby Carberry & Rachel Leshin

The college search and all the stresses that come with it begin at the start of junior year. With the help of friends and family, junior Elise eased these stresses. She follows the belief: “If

I stick to my heart, I’ll be happy with whatever I do.”

Elise puts most of her energy into getting excited about college, rather than dreading the application process.

“I enjoy looking at all the dif-ferent options; I’m not stressing at the moment,” she said.

Like most students, Elise is un-sure of what her future holds, but has general ideas about what she wants to contribute to the world.

“All I know is that I want to make a difference in people’s lives,” she said. “I want to be able to help others.”

Elise has tried to prepare her-self for a future of improving people’s lives by working at Children’s Hospi-tal this summer.

Elise stresses that living in the present is a priority and that obsess-ing over the future, like many do at South, can lead one’s future to be “thrown away.”

“I don’t think the future is worth dwelling on,” she said.

“I think it’s worth thinking about, but if we dwell on it, it just is overwhelming and we lose track of what is happening in the present.”

Fresh-man Cody may not have to deal with college pressures in the same way as up-perclassmen, but he still feels pres-sures concern-ing his future, primarily from his family.

Cody’s father consis-tently pressures him to play as many sports as he can in order to have a more diverse college application. Cody feels his father’s recommenda-tion asks too much of him. “I just quit football cause I couldn’t handle it, and my dad was putting too much pressure on me, so I just quit.”

Though Cody is continuing with other sports, his main focus for his future lies in baking. “I want to open up my own bakery,” he said.

Though Cody finds it difficult to predict or guarantee his future, he is still trying to shape it by taking the International Cuisine course and baking goods for SouthSide bake sales.

Other than this however, Cody feels unsure about his future since he is “not really sure what South has to offer me.”

As Cody watches his junior and senior friends “freak out” over the college process, he feels grateful that he can relax when the topic aris-es. “I don’t think [college] is worth worrying about. We’re in ninth grade right now; maybe when we’re juniors we can start worrying about it, but not right now.”

While most seniors stress to make college admission deadlines, senior Jack feels that the process has been going “pretty well.”

With eight colleges on his list and one early decision application ready, “everything’s there, it just has to be finalized,” he said. “I haven’t really felt the fire yet.”

Jack found many of the schools that he visited last year simi-lar. “Someone [once] said [to me], ‘Look, [if] you’re learning Shake-speare … whatever university you’re at, it’s [still] Shakespeare,” he said.

“When it comes down to it, finding the right college isn’t about finding the best academics … it’s about what’s the right fit,” he said. Jack’s first choice school, however, “stood out to [him]” in a way no other school did.

Like many other students, Jack may defer his admission for a year. “You’ve been going to school straight for 13 years … I think it would be good to kind of take a break.”

Once Jack gets into college, he has no idea what he’ll want to study. “For the most part, I’m very unde-cided,” he said. “I could tell you that I want to be a doctor, or I want to be a lawyer ... but it wouldn’t mean any-thing, because there’s a whole four plus years ahead of you.”

Nina thinks worrying about college as a sophomore is a “waste of time.” Even so, Nina finds the topic of college hard to ignore at South.

“[College] is the one thing that’s pushed so much,” she said. “People are always talking about tests and midterms and report cards.”

“[The thought of college] is always lingering in the back of everyone’s mind.” Nina believes that this constant reminder of college prompts people to built their sched-ules around what they wish to put on a college application.

“There’s no focus on liking what you’re doing at the time or being happy with that,” she said. “Everything you do is so that you can get into a good college.

According to Nina, at South, “[college] is just a given for every-one.”

Clinging onto her childhood dream of becoming a famous singer, Nina does not see college as highly crucial to her future. “Ideally, I would want to be a singer or guitar player like Taylor Swift … [but] I see myself going [to college] anyways,” she said.

Now is too early to decide on her future. “I’d be surprised if anyone right now was able to decide what they want to do with their lives,” she said. “We’re 15 years old; that just seems crazy to me.”

Cody

Jack

Nina

Elise

graphics by Betsy Lee

of Global is the mixing of curriculum levels in each class.

Regehr, an honors history and English student, finds this diverse blend of students to be beneficial.

“It’s great being with ... different kinds of people who think in different ways,” she said.

Sophomore Modern Global Com-munities teacher Michael Kozuch believes the multi-curriculum atmosphere of the classroom is a perfect way to address the “global” aspect of the course.

“[Part of the goal] is that we have a lot of different people in the world, with a lot of different learning styles, and we need to recognize that we’re all in this together, and anybody, no matter who they are, can

make a contribu-tion,” Kozuch said.

Barrett, who takes honors histo-ry and curriculum I English, enjoys the constant support system she gets from the mixed groups of students. “If you don’t under-stand something,

you can ask others to help,” she said.Concerns include whether each level

receives comparable work to the students in single curriculum classes.

According to Kozuch, however, teach-ers adjust assignments based on curriculum to ensure that everyone is doing an appropri-ate amount of work for their level.

“Sometimes I’ll have less [questions] for [lower level students] to answer ... sometimes the honor [students] may have to do more,” Kozuch said.

Race Class and Gender teacher Lisa Soo Hoo also thinks that the inclusion of honors, curriculum I and curriculum II

november 6, 2009features10

No one expected the work of two South seniors to prompt a program so popular that students had to enter a lottery to enroll.

As a part of their WISE project, the two seniors applied for a grant to create smaller learning communities at South, an idea that evolved into what is now the Modern Global Communities curriculum.

This relatively new three-year curricu-lum incorporates all curriculum levels into linked English and history classes.

With its growing popularity, the sophomore Mod-ern Global has expanded from one linked class to two.

At the time of the WISE pro-posal, South was t r a n s i t i o n i n g from a school of 1100 students to one of 1800.

“ [ S o u t h ] lost the feeling that everyone knew each other,“ assistant principal Mary Scott said.

Sophomore Ellen Barrett chose to enroll in Global because she thought it would be an effective way to establish a community at South.

“I thought it would be helpful to stay with the same kids throughout high school,” she said.

Others, like sophomore Michaela Regehr, enrolled in Global for a different reason. “I thought a linked curriculum [that connects] to the world today would be cool to study,” Regehr said.

A particularly controversial aspect

students in her class creates an ideal set-ting.

“For the course to be successful, it is essential to have a diverse student popula-tion [in the course],” she said.

“Students often say that [Race Class and Gender] is the first time they have had a truly diverse learning environment in their high school careers.”

Sophomore Tori Bryan, a Global stu-dent in curriculum I English and history,

Multi-curriculum classes mix more than academicsJessica Bolter &

David RabinocitzFeatures Editor, Features Contributor

Students of all curriculum levels work together in junior Modern Global Communities.photos by Danielle Stubbe

LANGUAGES, 10MIXED CLASSES, 11

believes that being in a mixed curriculum class does have its difficulties.

“During class discussions in history, it’s easy to notice who’s in honors because [many honors students] are more active,” Bryan said.

Sophomore Global student Lily Maltz agreed. “When teachers are calling on people randomly it’s often honors kids

“We need to recognize that we’re all in this together, and anybody ... no matter who they are, can

make a contribution.”

MICHAEL KOZUCHHISTORY TEACHER

child,” Fuzaylov said.According to Skrynnyk’s mother,

Olga Zabolotina, the move “changed everything.”

“I left my job and life,” she said. “But it wasn’t a question of my life ... and I wanted to give Alex a chance to return to regular life.”

Skrynnyk’s treatment, which consists of surgeries every six months, slowly heals his burns, enabling his muscles to con-tinue their movement and growth.

After the amputation of his arm, Skrynnyk received a prosthetic arm, which clasps around his elbow.

Now, years after the amputation, Skrynnyk talks about it lightly. “[It’s] fun because it’s like an expensive toy,” he said.

He found some aspects advanta-geous. “With my prosthetic arm, I am able to know who my real friends are, because I know my real friends will not be scared away by my arm,” he said.

“From my perspective, he seems really comfortable in class and with his arm,” freshman Francesca Sands, who is in Skrynnyk’s linked English and history class, said. “He fits in with everybody; he’s smart, he’s nice and he participates just

like everyone else.”Sands’ and Skrynnyk’s English

teacher, Alan Reinstein, agreed that Skryn-nyk shows remarkable comfort with his arm.

“The moment he realized people were aware [of his prosthetic arm], he was open about it,” Reinstein said. “This was a part of who he is that made everyone at ease.”

R e inste in b e-lieves that Skrynnyk has learned to help people understand this part of him so that people aren’t afraid of his arm.

He is impressed both with Skrynnyk’s “wonderful disposition” and the optimism he demonstrates, wondering if it stems from Skrynnyk’s history.

“I don’t know if his extraversion is part of who he is or part of who he has learned to become,” Reinstein said.

Fuzaylov agreed. “I love this guy. I really adore him; he has a good heart, he is brave, he is my favorite patient.” Fuzaylov said.

“I never see him crying; I never see him complaining; I never see a bad at-

Skrynnyk overcomes challenges, still normal teenagerSKRYNNYK, from 8 titude; he is like a soldier.”

Skrynnyk is so comfortable with the prosthetic arm that he uses it as a conver-sation starter. “People always ask lots of questions [about it],” he said

At the same time, however, Skrynnyk has had difficulty continuing the activities

he loved to do before the accident. Though he has been practicing the Japanese martial art of Aikido since he was six, his lack of control over his hands makes it harder for him to perform.

After losing physi-cal ability in his right hand, Skrynnyk had to learn how to write with

his left, which took about a year and a half, he estimated.

Reinstein, however, said that Skrynnyk has very good penmanship, especially for someone who had to make this change.

“It was really hard and frustrating to switch and write with my left hand,” Skrynnyk said. “But I realized that I had no other choice, so I sucked it up and did it.”

A new interest in art stemmed from this change.

When he visited Fuzaylov’s house, Skrynnyk saw his doctor’s daughter draw-ing and asked for some art supplies of his own.

“I was surprised to see him interest-ed in art because he had just lost his arm,” Fuzaylov said.

Yet Skrynnyk came back to Fuzaylov with a painting that Fuzaylov described as better than his daughter’s work.

After going to the Boston Public Li-brary to read books about painting, Skryn-nyk, with Fuzaylov’s help, received free admission to take classes at the Museum of Fine Arts.“[It was a] way to show his feelings, and [it] serves as a distraction,” Zabolotina said.

Beyond visual arts, Skrynnyk “loves to be on stage,” Reinstein said. “He is comfortable and is also one of the more outgoing students in class.”

Skrynnyk has been able to put his trouble behind him.

“It is important to treat him as a man in full capacity,” Fuzaylov said.

While he still has medical struggles to overcome, Skrynnyk continues life as a normal teenager.“There’s nothing I notice about him that’s different from anybody else at South,” Sands said. “He is just com-pletely normal.”

“I am able to know who my real friends are,

because I know my real friends will not be scared

away by my arm.”ALEX SKRYNNYK

CLASS OF 2012

november 6, 2009 features 11

they call on. Often it’s honors kids that participate more in class,” Maltz said.

Junior Tatiana Medina-Barreto, who takes curriculum I English and curriculum II history in Global, has found that the Global teachers treat every student fairly.

“If students were treated differently based on their curriculum, I’d feel more self conscious... like I have to prove to everyone that even though I’m in a differ-ent curriculum level, I’m able to do just as well as them and get all the work done,” Medina-Barreto said.

Junior Sam Kropp, who is in her second year of the Global course, sees a difference in her class dynamic from that of Maltz’s and Bryan’s.

“It’s more that kids who are inter-ested will say something,” Kropp said.

Soo Hoo also feels that the mixed curriculum setting of Race, Class and Gender does not stifle the participation of

non-honors students in the class. Instead, Soo Hoo said that the

“rigorous academic environment” of the course encourages students in curriculum II to “put forth a lot of effort.”

Similarly, Medina-Barreto finds mo-tivation from those in different curriculum levels.

“Sometimes, [my curriculum level] is a touchy subject to me be-cause I don’t want to be viewed as dumb if I’m in a lower cur-riculum level, but all that means is that I have to work harder to show people that I’m not,” she said.

This separation among curriculums, however, increases due to work done outside of class that is more particular to each cur-riculum level.

“In other honors classes you discuss books [everyone is] reading outside of

Defense Against South’s Dark ArtsThere is only one club at South that

addresses both peer pressure and wizard rock.

“A lot of people in today’s world, teenagers and adults especially, are afraid to be enthusiastic about anything. They don’t want to be excited; they want to be cool,” senior Liz Feurman, president and founder of the Harry Potter club, said.

When club discussion is based on a book, there is no need for “cool.”

“I think [members of Harry Potter club] really care less about popularity,” junior Melissa Miller said. “Mainly the people who go to the Harry Potter club, from what I’ve seen, I think all they care about is Harry Potter, rather than popular-ity.”

Junior Lily Fein agreed that social ranking is irrelevant in the club and is overshadowed by everyone’s enthusiasm for the novels.

The Harry Potter club talks about the characters and the unanswered ques-tions remaining after J.K. Rowl-ing’s seven install-ments.

Faculty adviser Rachel Becker finds a laundry list of possible topics and activi-ties, including “bespoke wands, Quidditch match, Latin spells and yule balls.”

Though the club has met only for a relatively short amount of time, it has already gained a reputation of security. In the club, students feel free to speak their minds about Harry Potter theories without worrying that others will judge. This leads to an environment Miller describes as “definitely safe.”

The club attracts students from all different groups of friends and ages because “it’s not abstract. It’s just if you like Harry Potter, you can go,” Fein said.

Becker feels the Harry Potter club is an important addition to South as a home base for many who do not feel safe enough to be themselves in a traditional classroom or cafeteria setting.

“It’s just great that there’s so many people and kinds of students, different grade levels … different personalities, different learning styles, people who are coming in with different ways of interact-ing,” Becker said.

“[That diversity] just makes me want to sit back and enjoy, because that’s not always the experience that people have [at South].”

Sophomore Dana Cohen-Kaplan said that everyone’s individuality creates a positive energy during club meetings.

“You get to see a different side of people who are often quiet in school and

they come out of their shells and seem happy here,” Cohen-Kaplan said. “They feel more comfortable.”

Becker also finds that because the discussions focus on the books, students don’t have to stress about offending other members. “If [discussion] was around some political issue or some really intense school related topic, you might not get that kind of ability to disagree safely,” Becker said.

Though the Harry Potter club is already a safe environment for all students, senior Jason Gens, another founder of the club, strives for more.

“There is a lot of positive energy,

it’s just that a lot of energy is focused on specific people. We want to give [those who are very eccentric about Harry Potter but are quieter] a chance too. Everyone’s opinion is equal … we don’t want to leave people out,” Gens said.

Both Fein and

Gens look forward to new friendships they will make due to the variety of students in the club.

“It’s one of those things — you don’t really know what people’s common interests are until you bring them together,” Gens said. “I guess I’ll meet a lot of people who I didn’t know like Harry Potter.”

Members of the club are quick to point out parallels between the equality and ac-ceptance of the club and Rowling’s series.

“[The books] are all about wizard and creature equality,” Fein said. “It’s all about the equality of everyone, and that’s what Dumbledore is for.”

Becker feels that the Harry Potter books are perfect for creating a comfort-able, safe environment for all students. “It’s about kids in school and their identities and their identities are being shaped by their interactions in the school and some innate qualities, but also by their house, their friends, their accomplishments and in some ways they’re very much like [stu-dents at South].”

Members like Fein find that a club based on a book is more approachable than any other club at South. “When you have a book in a club, there’s no limit to

who can join,” Fein said. “The ASO or a group like

that attracts a certain group of people. Anyone can love Harry Potter.”

Additionally, the acces-sibility of a club focused

on a widely read series contributes

to what Cohen-Kaplan refers to as a “relaxed

atmosphere.”Gens finds

that discussions at club meetings are very easy to formulate.

“We all had this chance to start reading the books … we get to see how Harry’s [journey] progressed and we had to also wait for all the books to come out,” Gens said.

“We all share a com-mon bond to this book.”

So far, everyone has different expectations for where the group will go. Fein hopes to start a Quidditch team; Cohen-Kaplan hopes to play trivia games and discuss events not mentioned in the series and Gens

hopes to discuss one topic in detail each Wednesday J block. Addressing everyone’s wishes will be the biggest challenge the club must face.

Fuerman, however, will always view the Harry Potter club as a place for students to come together to have fun and feel connected to others at South.

“I thought [the Harry Potter club] would be a great idea to bring people together to have fun and it’ll also be a good place for people to share a common interest,” Fuerman said.

“There [will] be so many topics and dates to discuss with people who are all obsessed with [Harry Potter].”

Charlotte Sall & Annie CuiFeatures Contributors

MIXED CLASSES, 10

photos by Danielle Stubbe

class, but we have to do it on our own because we can’t talk [about outside read-ing] in class, since we’re not all reading the same thing,” Barrett said.

Junior Nate Kropp takes honors history and curriculum I English in Global.

Although students in different cur-riculum levels have to deal with different workloads, he said the class still maintains a sense of unity.

“It’s not like the teacher says everyone in curriculum I in this room, everyone in

curriculum II in this room, all honors in this room … [Mr. Thompson] splits us up into groups evenly balanced with [all curriculum levels],” he said.

Medina-Barreto also finds that Global’s promotion of class unity has helped the course run smoothly.

This class unity has encouraged the

Mixed curriculum adds new level for studentsgrowth of new friendships. “Everyone has friends in different levels,” she said.

Although the differences in amount of work may complicate some aspects of the Global class, most applaud the diversity of learning styles Global creates and the environment in which “everyone learns from each other,” Kropp said.

The opportunity to take mixed cur-riculum classes is also seen as helpful in preparing students for the world outside of South.

“[Mixed curriculum classes are] a good experience because you’re not always going to be working with people at the same level as you,” Regehr said.

Regehr appreciates the diverse group classmates in her class.

“It’s great being with multiple differ-ent kinds of people who think in different ways,” Regehr said.

“It just brings more ways to look at different problems we’re facing with our world or in history.”

“It’s great being with multiple different kinds of people who

think in different ways.”MICHAELA REGEHR

CLASS OF 2012

november 6, 2009features12

Relationships:Girl plans for sex

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Every issue, The Roar pub-

lishes a different anonymous student’s perspec-tive on relationships. The views expressed in the “Relationships Column” do not reflect the official views of the paper.

Waiting rooms are scary. They give you no other option than to think about the upcom-ing unpleasantness. Time passes slowly as Sharon* and I wait.

“What are you here for?” the nurse asks me as Sharon and I sit down.

“Birth control,” I reply.The nurse proceeds to take

my blood pressure.“Are you nervous?” “Very.” Finally the doctor enters

the room. My heart is out of con-trol. We begin small talk, about school and sports and such. But finally, she gets to the point.

“So you want birth con-trol?”

“Yeah,” I faintly respond. I look at Sharon, who gives me a wink, and all of a sudden I feel extremely comfortable in my own skin, something I never thought would happen to me while at the doctor’s office.

“I take it you are in a healthy relationship?”

“I love my boyfriend with all my heart.”

“And does your boyfriend feel the same about you?”

“I know he does. There is not a doubt in my mind.”

“And have you engaged in sexual intercourse before?”

“Not yet. Why risk it and become pregnant when we could wait and not get pregnant?”

“I like your thinking.”The doctor asks me about

pills and side effects, and we choose one that is right for me.

“Birth control is only 99 percent effective,” she reminds me, “so make sure to wear a con-dom every time”.

“I’ve made that VERY clear. Belt AND suspenders,” I said.

“What? You have yet to mention condoms.”

“Haha, I meant I’ve made it very clear with my boyfriend.” We both start to laugh, and I regret ever being nervous.

We wrap up our conversa-tion, and I feel as if I have accom-plished something huge. I am upset my boyfriend isn’t there, but I realize that I am a much stronger person than I previously thought.

To all those girls out there who are scared to talk to their doctors about birth control, DON’T BE. The words in this article could not describe my fear. But I pushed through, and I know I made the right decision.*Name has been changed to protect student’s identity.

Parental controlalcoholism last summer, right before her brother turned 16. Her father stopped buying wine and beer to rid the house of temptations. “You could say the chance [to drink] was ruined for [my brother], but he hasn’t ever brought it up and he’s somewhat scared of any substances, illegal or otherwise,” she said.

Despite the changes in the household, Sahleanu thinks her parents still respect the legal drinking age of Romania. “I haven’t talked to my dad about it, but I’m guessing he would be okay with underage drinking as long as there was someone in the room who was a seasoned drinker who knew how to handle beginners,” she said. “Both of my parents disagree with the current drinking age.”

“ T h e driving age in Romania is 18 and kids get a handle o n t h e i r drinking be-fore they get their licenses which I and my parents have always agreed is a better system,” Sahleanu said.

South parent Cindy Yanof-sky also thinks an earlier drink-ing age could cause fewer drunk driving accidents, especially on college campuses.

“Kids do drink on cam-puses, and making it illegal to drink on campus pushes all those parties to be hidden so there’s no monitoring by adults,” Yanofsky said. According to Yanofsky, stu-dents who drink on campuses are safer because they are less likely to drive afterward.

She recognizes that when high school students drink, they all scramble for rides home to make their curfews; this is where she said they run into trouble.

“I know that kids need to come home at a certain time, and what do you do if your friend

is with you and they’re going to get in the car and drive?” she said. “[If my daughter called for a ride drunk], I would come; that wouldn’t be the time to reprimand her for calling me. I would never be angry at someone who called me. I wish all parents would do that,” she said.

When Yanofsky’s older daughter was in high school and called her mother to ask for a ride home from a bonfire, Yanofsky came instantly. “One of the kids was so drunk they could hardly stand up. I had six or seven kids I could hold [in the van,] and I took each one home and talked to the ones who were really drunk to see if they were OK,” she said.

Yanofsky did not talk to the kids’ parents. “I didn’t think it was my [place] to

tell other kids what to do.” Yanof-sky tries to prevent

her kids from drunk-driv-ing by introducing them to limited amounts of alcohol on Jewish holidays. “If they were going out and would be driving, they’re not al-lowed to drink,” she said.

On Passover, a holiday in which drinking wine is an important part of the service, Yanofsky allows her children to pour wine for themselves.

“[Alcohol] should not be seen as a prize. If you never let them have some, they’re going to think it’s this amazing thing. I never wanted that to happen, so [I made it] something that’s around, but something that’s special,” she said. “It’s not something you drink every-day like milk.”

Yanofsky thinks that

introducing her kids to the tipsy feeling that alcohol causes will reduce the likelihood of her kids drinking. “If kids know what it feels like to feel [alcohol] a little, [they will] understand why you can’t drink and drive because it does affect you,” she said. She thinks teenagers should know from experience that alco-hol does

affect them. “[It] helps for us to

explain why we drink at all. It has a way of changing you in a way that makes it hard to make good decisions.”

South parent Michael Rivkin, however, said the harm-ful effects of alcohol are too significant to disregard on any occasion.

“I don’t think [introduc-ing kids to the feeling of alco-hol] is important. If parents are letting their kids get inebriated, they’re doing damage to their kids’ brains,” he said.

“It’s illegal … I think that it’s not something that we have to encourage,” his wife Haya Rivkin said. “[My daughter] is a minor, and she shouldn’t be drinking more than a sip here or a sip there.”

Haya thinks that a small taste of alcohol at home won’t hurt. “I don’t know if I’d consider myself strict. It’s not something that we’ve encour-aged, but I would give her sips not outside the house, within the house. I’ve given her a taste, but she doesn’t really ask. I wouldn’t give her a full beer,” she said.

Legality is not the only concern for Michael and Haya. Michael, a neurologist, has studied the effects of alcohol on developing brains and

worries that too much

alcohol intake would impair their teenagers’

development. “A copious amount of data

said that alcohol affects brain structure and function in all people, and it looks like the brain of younger children and the ado-lescent brain is less developed. Small amounts of alcohol are even quite toxic for brain cells,” he said.

Haya does not believe that setting limits on the students’ alcohol intake will affect whether they binge drink significantly. “Some kids are rebellious. I haven’t seen that as an urgent issue [in our house], but I could always end up being surprised ... It hasn’t been an issue in our fam-ily to get alcohol,” she said.

Michael agreed. “I think we explain why [our children] can’t drink, and I think it helps shape a healthy attitude toward alcohol,” he said.

Yanofsky, however, said that because teenagers’ brains are still developing, teenagers may make the wrong decisions and parents should prepare their teens by introducing them to alcohol.

“You can’t always control your kids. You can suggest, you can teach, you can model good behavior, but in the end, the kids make the decision ... and we have to protect them when they make the wrong decision.” *Name has been changed to protect student’s identity.

“[Alcohol] should not be seen as a prize. If you never let them have some, they’re going to think it’s this amazing thing. I never wanted that to happen.”

Cindy Yanofsky

graphics by Max Simon

ALCOHOL, from 8

GUITAR and/or DRUM LESSONS IN YOUR HOME

Whether you’re young or old, musical or just want to be musical, it’s never too late to start learning an instrument. I’m Hunter Holmes, I’ve been teaching guitar and drums for well over 20 years in the Newton-Wellesley area. I have many, many references. I’m also a Berklee graduate. My approach is unique ! No two lessons are the same. If there’s one thing I’m not, it’s a “professional page turner.” I have the ability to quickly access what individuals need, so that they can move forward in the direction where they’d like to grow. I’m what you might call the “Robin Williams” of guitar lessons, very spontaneous, but accurate. I have one of the quickest ears in the business. I can usually jot down the changes to a tune as it’s playing, so this saves me a lot of time and allows us to get a lot more done. You could say I specialize with young kids, 8-12. My gift is knowing how to hold a child’s interest, which is often done through humor, creativity and sometimes with my natural ability to change my speaking voice. When they’re having fun, I’m having fun and the learning part feels more natural and actually becomes easier. Young people might be my specialty, but what I enjoy even more are teenagers and adults. Currently, I’m teaching a few people that are in their 60’s, and it’s great ! Music is for everyone, especially when you have the right teacher. When it comes to learning drums, these aren’t just ordinary drum lessons. Imagine this : I show up at your house, with an electric guitar and an amplifier. This technique really works ! Students are playing as if they were in a band, right off the bat. I combine this with the traditional approach, rudiments and reading, and it becomes a super way to learn. I’ve been very impressed with the results, and how quickly these new drummers get good. Students absolutely look forward to playing each week. So whether you’re young or old, beginner or intermediate, all you need is the desire to learn, and I can help you.

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HUNTER HOLMES(508) 650-0560

november 6, 2009 advertisement 13

editorialsvolume 26, issue 4 november 6, 2009

“I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion’s roar.”

-Winston Churchill

page 14•

Last week we were baffled when our teachers were handed toxic-looking bottles containing gelatin-like substances. We didn’t know that the color green repelled swine flu. But these

bottles of hand sanitizer are the greatest distraction ever to come to South. If you accidentally pump too much, you can slide

the glob around on your hand until it has fully dissolved, along with 6 minutes of long block

math. If you want the cute guy sitting across the room to notice you, you can apply a few handfuls of the solution liberally to both your arms and legs. The aroma will permeate throughout the room in a few seconds and instantly attract him. And if you’re unhappy with your neighbor or want a teacher’s attention, you can simply aim the pump and fire. The stuff is even flammable – third fire drill, anyone? That the sanitizer is aloe-infused is another plus; now we can soothe the sunburns on our hands from the scorching November sun. Going green – UPGRADE

Established in 2010, the South police depart-ment made an honorable attempt to remind the school of its right to remain silent last Friday. If they had let us speak, we might have reminded them that it’s still 2009. These “of-ficers” also showed us that fishnet tights and

plastic handcuffs were necessary to enforce this law. At first we laughed, but then our feelings softened when we learned that, apparently,

these costumes were worn in hopes of “unifying the senior girls.” We now commend this futuristic police force, and their wonderfully designed t-shirts, for effectively uniting all 30 females of the senior class. Po-po from one-oh – DOWNGRADE

upgrade/downgrade

Green Monster

‘Newton South police department’

The boys’ soccer team was completely revamped this year, boasting new coaches and new wins. Lately we’ve seen these players sport full body, royal blue snowsuits and assumed they were

making a transition from the fall season to a new winter sport: sledding. Only recently did we learn that these water-proof, snow-

friendly jackets were for soccer after all. We’re glad that they can finally have unified pregame

warm-ups, now that the season is officially over. Varsity sledding – UPGRADE

Snow Bunnies

Due to the increasing popu-larity of the WISE program, WISE coordinators Tonya Londino and Marla Weiner aim to redesign WISE to include more students. In response, the English depart-ment is strongly considering a new senior curriculum that accommo-dates the revamped program.

The curriculum would entail reading “Hamlet” and writing college essays during first term, taking an elective second and third term and either completing a senior seminar or a WISE project fourth term.

To participate in WISE, students have the option to drop all of their classes and focus solely on the project or internship of their choice.

Although offering a full-time out-of-school program for seniors is unorthodox, we think this option will offer a balance of structured classroom time and real world experience.

Theoretically, the new pro-gram would provide students with an opportunity to gain responsibil-ity, as long as they put a lot of work in exchange for dropping classes. If the students who pilot the program this spring shirk this responsibil-ity, South could discontinue the program next year. We don’t see significant harm in piloting a program that could enrich the educational experiences of many South students.

Opponents of the program argue that adjusting the curriculum will disrupt classes, as senior classes may diminish in size. If all students are given the option, it is likely that those not confined by AP classes will drop their courses fourth term

in favor of WISE. The worry is that many students would be motivated by the option to end school early rather than by the desire to explore another interest.

We think, however, that students who have no drive to work hard will lose motivation in fourth term regardless. Whether students are in class or in WISE, they will gain only as much as they are willing to put in.

To participate in the ex-tended WISE program, students will have to be in good academic standing, weeding out students who are looking for a way to es-cape school.

Another concern is that if WISE is going to take the place of a term, the projects will have to be supervised, limiting students’ cre-ative possibilities. Although some unique projects may be sacrificed, this rule could also ensure that students don’t waste their time on weak projects.

Also, students can turn proj-ects that were once done at home, like learning to play the banjo, into a supervised, 40-hour a week pro-gram by volunteering at a music school and taking lessons.

Between creative artists who want to explore new realms of expression and others eager to enter the working world, WISE is becoming more popular every year. Teachers have therefore been mentoring more and more stu-dents. Without any compensation for extra work, this places an extra burden on teachers.

Some teachers have no choice but to turn students down because they have no more time to mentor, limiting the number

of students who can participate in WISE.

The new design tries to solve these problems by administering WISE instead of classes. Rather than teaching four full classes and mentoring, teachers could teach fewer students and have more time to mentor, creating a better balance between the two and allowing every student an opportunity to participate.

The English department’s restructuring of its curriculum gives students an option to have freedom. Freedom could result in students learning nothing on their own and missing out on classes; it could mean sending students to college without all the informa-tion they need to succeed; it could mean giving students unlimited time to get into trouble; but it could also be a successful prelude into adulthood.

Students who have an idea of what they want to study can try it out before college. This way, if they screw up or simply realize they don’t like that area of study, they can start over in college.

Instead of wasting the first year of college experimenting with an array of classes, WISE may help some students enter college with a focus, or at least knowledge of what to avoid. Full-time internships also instill a sense of responsibility, time management and personal explora-tion, which students may not get from their ordinary classes.

Although the reorganization has not been finalized, we support the creation a new WISE program and a new senior English curricu-lum and are confident that the pilot will show successful results.

WISE redesign is practical, empowers students to take on responsibilities

Editorial Policy

The Lion’s Roar, founded in 1984, is the student newspaper of Newton South High School, acting as a public forum for student views and attitudes.

The Lion’s Roar’s right to freedom of expression is protected by the Massachusetts Student Free Expression Law (Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 71, Section 82). All content decisions are made by student editors, and the content of The Lion’s Roar in no way reflects the official policy of Newton

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sonal viewpoints of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Lion’s Roar. The Lion’s Roar reserves the right to edit all submitted content, to reject advertising copy for resub-

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The Lion’s Roar is printed by Seacoast Newspapers and published every three weeks by Newton South Students. All of our funding comes from advertisers.

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THE EDITOR’S DESK

Admit me to collegeoctober 9, 2009editor’s desk15

Emma Chad-Friedman Frank Chung Marsha Patel Delphine Rodrik

Section Editors

The Lion’s Roar

The Lion’s Roar 140 Brandeis Road Newton, MA 02459srstaff@thelionsroar.com

Editors-in-Chief

Managing EditorsSascha Bercovitch Hallie Boviard

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Aaron BelowichMel FinemanOlivia Larkin

Victor Moisescu

Newton South High School’s Student Newspaper

Volume 26

Faculty AdvisersBrian Baron

Ashley ElpernLily Eng

Thomas Murphy

Betsy LeeEstie Martin

Photo ManagersDan Hurwit

Danielle Stubbe

Business ManagersJillian Gundersheim

Distribution ManagersJenn Mountain

Graphics Manager

Web StaffZhuoshi XieDavid Altman

Josh GarvinAvnish Kumar

Copy EditorsEllery BerkZack Hausle

Dear College Admissions Officer:

I won’t try to say everything about myself that makes it right for you to admit me, since I know that you have huge stacks of folders to attend to. So from among many strong reasons, I choose six at random.

First, I am consistent. I have a Bo Obama beanie baby on my desk who keeps me on track with my work – he bugs me when I procrastinate, soothes me when I panic and jolts me awake when I fall asleep at the computer.

You can be assured that he will accom-pany me to college. He will sit as comfort-ably on my college desk as he has on mine at home – indeed, he will be at home there. And who knows, he may help my roommate as well.

Second, I am diligent. Every night before I turn off the light to go to sleep, I check under the bed and in the closet; then I case the corners and crevices; and of course, I make sure that the door is firmly closed. With that kind of vigilance, I have never had to worry about vamps, haunts or prying elders.

You can be assured that I will bring those habits to all aspects of my college life, from the dorms to the classroom. Some people regard these as obsessions, but I feel confident that in a college atmosphere they will be understood as the virtues they are – virtues, I may add, with the potential for research and scholarship.

My third reason concerns class partici-pation. My friends have often remarked on my tendency to say “huh” and then pause – and pause – after any question is asked. This gives them time to do something worthwhile while I think things over.

If after that their responses annoy me, I don’t lose it. I simply sulk. Occasionally, at such times, I may be grumpy or curt, but then they know to keep their distance until my gloom passes.

Although these tendencies have been under-appreciated in high school, I feel confident that they will fit in perfectly with your emphasis on small seminars and class discussion. Safety is my fourth reason – an important one, I believe, in this time of uncertainty, not only domestically, but internationally. Three summers ago, my house was struck by lightning.

The date was July 28, exactly two months after my birthday (May 28); the time was 6:47 p.m., the exact time of my birth; and the lightning hit the room where I kept my cello. The house was devastated by fire and smoke, but “miraculously” my parents and I emerged safely and many of our possessions – and virtually all of mine – remained in tact.

In short, I came out of it all in sound health and clear mind. I write “miraculously“ in quotation marks because undoubtedly this was not a random miracle, but a sign. To repeat: the day I was born and the hour of my birth.

No one can doubt that with a record like that, you need not worry about any injury of mine running up the medical center’s bills. And it is not purely in personal self-interest that I write.

I think rather of the benefit to the college. I was where the lightning hit, and as the old adage has it, lightning never strikes twice.

My fifth reason may not seem aca-demic at first: it concerns my overpowering strength.

Throughout ninth grade, my father kept challenging me to arm-wrestling contests.

It took me a while to realize that he wasn’t joking; then reluctantly (for I am a considerate person) I gave in – and broke his wrist.

I repressed my laughter, and in fact, it turned out to be not so funny after all. Over the next four weeks when my dad, nursing his wrist in a cast, was not able to drive me

to school, I had to find my own way to school by foot (no bus came near our area). I hope my point is clear enough: not only am I strong, competitive and always up for any sort of challenge – possibly even a can-didate for starting quarterback – but I am also remarkably

resourceful. The sixth and (for present purposes)

final reason: my capacity to adapt to chal-lenge.

About a month ago, my friend called me in a bit of a panic. She was in a hurry to get somewhere, and needed to be picked up

from work, which was close to North. Needless to say, I jumped at the op-

portunity to help. I sped off in the car, took a wrong turn on Washington Street and wound up far out on the Mass Pike. But I did not panic.

I did not drive, as others might, straight on to Boston. Instead, I carefully maintained my speed of 30 mph in the rightmost lane, while making use of the navigation system in the car.

Only 30 minutes late, in a pouring rain, I calmly picked up my friend and drove her to her destination, (remember what Woody Allen says: showing up is 80% of the game).

The evidence is clear, in my view, that when faced with a challenging situation I can synthesize new ideas and come up with a solution.

Let me sum it up: I offer consistency, persistence, diligence, helpfulness, physical fitness and adaptability.

With all modesty (another reason for accepting me, though I have not had time here to elaborate), I hope these candid disclosures will confirm what I feel sure is already your positive impression of my application.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon, Sascha

Sascha BercovitchEditor-in-Chief

“Although [my] tendencies have been under-appreciated in high school, I feel confident that they will fit in perfectly with your emphasis on small

seminars and class discussion.”SASCHA BERCOVITCH

CLASS OF 2010

NOT TOTALLy CONVINCEd?

E-mail me at bercovitch@thelionsroar.com for a complete list of my credentials (or if you have any article suggestions, college questions or just wanna chill).

You can also see me in action by join-ing The Roar. Come to our Monday J Block meetings in Room 1201.

You know you want to.

16

On Oct. 27, The Roar polled 130 students on school lunches and asked:What change do you most want to see in the cafeteria?

A. Improve food quality: 58%B. Lower food prices: 28%C. Other: 12%D. No change: 2%

D

AB

C

How would you rate the price of school lunch?

A. Very cheap: 3%B. About right: 42%C. Too expensive: 55%

A

BC

How would you rate the quality of the school’s lunches?

A. Excellent: 1%B. Good: 31%C. Not good: 53%D. Very bad: 15%

AB

C

D

Where do you get your lunch on an average school day?

A. The cafeteria: 40%B. From home:46%C. Other: 6%D. I don’t eat lunch: 8%

A

B

C D

Increasing food prices are some of many growing deficits throughout Newton, causing legislators to consider new methods of budget control such as privitization.

FoOD F GHT

LANGUAGES, 10DEFICIT, 19

When the food program in the Newton Public Schools finished last school year with a $1.4 million deficit, it covered its debt by taking money from the city’s general fund.

That money could have paid the salaries of 26 teachers, Food Service Director Rob Clickstein said.

According to Clickstein, this end-of-year deficit is nothing new. “The food program has failed to break even on its own for the longest time,” Clickstein said.

Newton’s food program is supposed to be self-supporting and is required by law to break even at the end of the school year, even if it means dipping into Newton’s general fund.

The fund is made up of money from the federal government, the state and the city.

The deficit increases every year as the price of the food purchased for the cafeteria increases and as a result, the food program takes more from city funds every year.

“Most recently over the past three or four years [the cost of food] has risen so much that it’s actually becoming a noticeable thing to most of the teachers and the administrators and the community,” Clickstein said.

Last spring, the deficit became so noticeable to the community that the Citizens’ Advisory Group (C.A.G.) suggested outsourcing the cafeteria as a way to save money.

Former Mayor David Cohen, past President of the School Committee Dori Zaleznik and former President of the Board of Alderman Lisle Baker created the C.A.G. to address financial pressures facing the city.

The group served from the spring of 2008 to the spring of 2009 according to Vice Chair Ruthanne Fuller.

Fuller explained that the loss of money in the food program contributed to the C.A.G.’s suggestion to outsource.

“The Newton Public School system is facing a really unusual situation in its food services’ delivery and cost … N.P.S. provided 688,695 meals but it lost $1.2 million in the

process of doing it,” Fuller said. “The losses have been

increasing over the years, the sales of paid lunches have been decreasing and our prices are among the highest when you look at other public schools in the region.”

Fu l l e r s a i d out s ou rc i ng the cafeteria could be a better alternative.

“O n e [reason for outsourcing is] that when you hire an expert , or a company t h a t specializes in providing m e a l s t o large groups o f p e op l e day after day, they often know better how to do it so that the food both tastes better but also can be delivered in a more cost-effective manner,” Fuller said. “This is their business, they understand it and this is not what the Newton Public Schools do. We’re in business to educate our kids. [Food] is not an area of expertise.”

Fuller added that the concept of economies of scale is another benefit of outsourcing.

“A company that is buying a lot of food, not just for the Newton Public Schools but also for other schools, or hospitals or colleges, can buy food in much larger quantities, and it often therefore costs less, so

they can take advantage of economies of scale that the Newton Public Schools alone cannot,” Fuller said.

Fuller’s work on the C.A.G. led to the creation of a school

subcommittee that researched a more cost-effective way of running the food program.

“[Fuller] kind of did the first round understanding that [the food program] was losing money so she made the recommendation that we should consider outsourcing,” subcommittee chair Reenie Murphy

said. “My subcommittee took it to the next level and actually went and visited other school districts and talked to their school business managers.”

The subcommittee compared the food programs of Lexington and Brookline to that of Newton’s.

The committee not only gathered information on the food programs of the two towns but also visited their cafeterias.

“Lexington has kitchens and cafeterias in all of their schools and we don’t. It’s a problem,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons that it costs us more money. We have to satellite the foods into all the other elementary schools. We have to prepare it in one place and then have somebody deliver it to the other schools. That costs money.”

Lexington also outsources its food service, so the committee chose to look into Lexington in order to see if outsourcing is an effective alternative.

Through talking to workers of the company that runs Lexington’s food services, the subcommittee was able to gain information regarding the effectiveness of their program.

“Their food service management was there so they answered a lot of our questions,” she said.

“Their district business manager was also there so she also answered some of our questions about how [Lexington delivers] their food service. We compared that to how we deliver ours.”

Murphy noted some benefits of Lexington’s outsourced food program.

“In Lexington, both the operations and the employees come under the food service company, so they have the advantage of having a nutritionist on staff, their own payroll and their own human resources,” she said. “[Lexington]can take advantage of a different purchasing system also have access to a more direct food service options.”

While Lexington’s food program is outsourced, Murphy said that Brookline’s food program is relatively similar to Newton’s.

“The big difference between us and Brookline is the benefits for the

17

Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel

616 Calories37.44 G Total Fat37.21 G Protein1822 Mg Sodium

Tuna Salad

91 Calories5.91 G Total Fat5.51 G Protein369 Mg Sodium

Think you’re eating healthy? See the

nutrition content of common meals (all based

on one serving size)

Roasted Vegetables

1570 Calories35.59 G Total Fat69.30 G Protein

14325 Mg Sodium

What do students think about school

lunch? See page 19.

:)

“... This is their business, they understand it and this is not

what the Newton Public Schools do. We’re in business to educate

kids. [Food] is not an area of expertise.”

RUTHANNE FULLERVICE CHAIR OF C.A.G.

photo by Dan Hurwit

Meryl HayesSr. Centerfold Editor

* Nutrition facts courtesy of Newton Public Schools

november 6, 2009centerfold18

photos by Dan Hurwit

Students grow frustrated with lack of options

“I definitely feel that [the school] could do better. There are healthier op-

tions. [Those options] are more expensive and that’s

where the problem is.”LISA PETRIZZIWELLNESS TEACHER

that enable students to better judge the nutritional merits and risks of certain food items.

“[Students] could make healthy choices,” she said, “but instead they choose french fries. If [a student] has an un-healthy option once in a while it’s okay, but if they’re eating french fries and burgers every day that can have an overall [health] impact.”

Principal Joel Stembridge agreed. “We have the whole wellness program,” he said. “We try to focus on educating and inform-ing [students]. I think one of the things we value here is choice and options, so I certainly think that students here either have the ability to create something that’s extremely healthy or something that maybe they think tastes bet-ter.”

Students such as junior George Kurosawa have more control over what they consume.

“Normally I bring my food from home,” Kurosawa said. He said that he doesn’t necessarily view school lunch as bad, but has just grown used to food from home, and hasn’t seen the need to make any sort of transition.

Senior Lily Strassberg, a vegetar-ian, stopped purchasing lunch from the cafeteria after becoming frustrated by a lack of options.

South does offer vegetarian alter-natives; however, Strassberg found the variety and overall quality of the food to be sub standard.

“I don’t eat there [anymore]. I don’t eat lunch in school,” Strassberg said. “The vegetarian options are minimal. By the time you go to [the salad bar] [during] third lunch it’s all gone.”

Strassberg is one of many students who think poorly of school meals due to quality, price and lack of variety.

Wellness teacher Lisa Petrizzi be-lieves that preconceived negative judge-ments of school food may prevent students from giving the cafeteria a chance and recognizing some of its healthier options.

However, she considers it the wrong message to offer items like salads and wraps alongside French fries and ham-burgers.

“I think it’s great that they have a salad bar, [but] the other options I would question in terms of quality,” she said. “I don’t know where they get the food or how they prepare it.”

Petrizzi teaches nutrition courses

One of the benefits Kurosawa gains from bringing lunch from home is the money he saves.

While he doesn’t view $3.50 as an enormous amount, he believes that the price does not accurately reflect the quality of the food.

Senior Anusha Mookherjee agreed. “[The food] is a little it too greasy and unhealthy for me,” she said. “Even at the salad bar the lettuce doesn’t look fresh, so I’ve never been inclined to get my food

from there.” Instead she opts to eat out. Although the cost is much higher than at school, she still finds it worthwhile.

“$3.50 for us is not bad for lunch,” she said. “Usually if I go out to Panera with my friends we’ll end up [spending] eight dollars, but then I

don’t feel bad because we’re getting quality food.”

While South’s food prices have remained constant, economic conditions have led to the increase in the cost of the food that the district purchases.

Petrizzi said that budgetary con-cerns can often displace the more immedi-

ate consequences of making changes to students’ eating habits.

While the current cost structure is effective, she explained, it must not take away from students’ dietary needs.

“I definitely feel that [the school] could do better,” she said.

“There are healthier options. [Those options] are more expensive and that’s where the problem is. If we offered healthy food, [kids] would have to eat healthy. I’ve read a few articles where students have gone all-natural, all-organic, and they claim that [their budgets] are balancing out.”

There is not much indication that these types of changes will be made in the near future.

Stembridge said that he is unlikely to directly intervene.

“I know, just from the push-back I’ve gotten just from asking students not to eat in a particular place, that people don’t like to be told what they can’t do,” he said. The ultimate decision of whether or not to eat healthy, he believes, is up to the students themselves.

“I would think that students are able to self-regulate, that they are able to make decisions,” he said. “When I look at the options that students have I see lots of healthy choices,and plenty of opportuni-ties for students to make those healthy choices.”

Josh KruskalSr. Centerfold Editor

South continues to promote its own offerings while students seek options elsewhere

november 6, 2009 centerfold 19

DEFICIT, from 16

Lunch prices:

Lunch for most students: $3.50

Breakfast at school: $2.00

Additional items from the snack bar:about $1.00 each

The price for reduced lunch: $0.40

Reduced breakfast: $0.30

SHOUT OUT!The Roar asked random students to anonymously comment on the

school’s cafeteria.Here are some of the responses that we received:

!hey!

“The food isn’t tht good and is too expensive. Who wants to pay

$3.50 for crappy food?”

“The food is horrible. They should have

more vegetarian op-tions.”

“Not my cuppa tea.”

“Three dollars for a slice of pizza!? I can get a slice of pizza in Newton

Centre for one dollar.”

“Rather gross at times. Selection

is poor.”

“School food tastes bad.”

“The school’s food options are okay, I suppose.”

“There are de-finately a lot of

options, which is good.”

“It smells gross.”

“It’s good, but not really

healthy enough.”

“There should be more healthy options and the price should

decrease a little.”

“I really like [the] salad

bar.”

“It’s all fake.”

“It’s alright, better than last year.”

“The better food is always gone by

third lunch.”

“School food is fine, I don’t

mind it.”

“To be honest, not that bad.”

and Brookline is the benefits for the employees,” Murphy said.

“Brookline runs its own service, kind of like we do, but in Brookline, the benefits for all of the food service employees rest on the town funds, so the school doesn’t have to account for the cost of the ben-efits. In Newton, the employee benefits are accounted for on the school’s side.

Brookline’s losses would be greater if their benefits showed up on the school’s side.”

The subcommittee ultimately conclud-ed that Lexington’s program and Brookline’s program have more benefits and are more cost-effective than Newton’s program.

According to Murphy, the school de-partment is now taking the investigations a step further.

“They’re crunching all the numbers to see which way to go,” Murphy said.

“The options are good, especially on days

[when] the main dish isn’t as appetizing.”

“The food is fine, but the cafeteria

itself is really unsan-itary and gross.”

Fun Food Facts:- The current standards for school meals are based on the 1995 dietary guidelines and the 1989 recommended dietary allowances.

- The United States Department of Agriculture sug-gests that school lunches contain no more than 650 calories for students in grades kindergarten through five; 700 calories for children in grades six to eight, and 850 for those in grades nine to 12. Breakfast calories should not exceed 500, 550 and 600, respectively, for these grade groups.

- The USDA wants to reduce sodium over the next decade from today’s average of 1,600 milligrams per lunch to 740 milligrams.Breakfasts should con-tain one cup of fruit, and lunches for grades nine to 12 should also contain one cup of fruit. No more than half of the fruit should come from juice.

- Meat with lunches should be kept to about two ounces for all grades, but can be higher for stu-dents in high school.

opinionsvolume 26, issue 4 november 6, 2009

“As we all slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never face in the wrong direction.”

-Greg “Garbo” Garbowsky

page 20

‘I will not be a bystander’

Jeff AlkinsOpinions Contributor

photos by Dan Hurwit

•

METCOStands for Metropolitan Council for Economic Opportunity•

Began in September, 1966 with 220 participating students •

3,300 Boston and Springfield school students currently participate in •METCO

Out of the 3,300 students in METCO, 75 percent are black, 17 percent are •Hispanic, 3 percent are Asian, and 5 percent are another race

The amount awarded to each METCO school district is roughly $5,828 per •student

I’ve never been more enraged, hurt or ashamed than I was after reading about METCO in the article “Mountain gives Newton conservatives a voice.” No one has the right to say that someone’s opinion is wrong, but I can say that I strongly dis-agree with Mountain’s statements, as well as with his daughter’s.

I found out that I was accepted into METCO in 1997 and had to choose whether to stay at St. Patrick’s Catholic School or to start over at Bowen Elemen-tary School. The choice was easy; at Bowen you didn’t have to wear a uniform. There, I had Ms. Wong, who helped METCO stu-dents understand what made us different and who answered our questions.

At South, during my first semester, I had a METCO advisory, where I could talk with students who could empathize, and not just sympathize, with my experiences.The advisory only lasted a semester, but it left me with someone I could never forget: Ms. Sumner. Her office was always open.

My questions and Ms. Sumner’s answers helped me better understand not only the topic at hand but also myself. Ms. Sumner challenged me to be a better stu-dent and person and helped me stand up for any opinion I had. She was more than an adviser. She was my friend.

Tom Mountain said that for the past four decades, Boston has sent students to Newton Public Schools and paid noth-ing for it. If Mountain is concerned that our parents aren’t paying to send us to the Newton Public Schools, he should

also consider that our parents pay Boston Public School taxes while we don’t attend schools there. Regardless of where their money is going, our parents are paying to educate us.

If his issue with METCO is “specifi-cally economic,” then he should work on fixing the METCO budget rather than

eliminating the program completely. New-ton is one of the least diverse communities I’ve seen, and trying to eliminate the single program that increases its diversity, in my opinion, reveals some underlying feelings that don’t need to be touched upon at this very moment.

Since when is it okay for adults to take out their conflicts, personal or politi-cal, on children? Children would be the group that truly suffers under Mountain’s idea.

Jenn Mountain, with whom I have no personal issues, also made a few ignorant, disappointing comments in the article. She stated that she remembers learning more about Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks than George Washington and James Madison. She said that multi-cultural education “is pushed a little too much … or a lot too much.” I don’t know where she went to elementary school, but I know that the only time I learned about King and Parks was during Black History Month or on MLK day.

The curriculum in Newton definitely

focuses on white Americans. We need to put more effort into diversifying the NPS community and its curriculum.

Tom Mountain said that he would like to end METCO in the next four years and that METCO parents would have the option of moving to Newton or enroll-ing their children in different schools. I for one would not sell my house to buy a house in Newton that would probably not be as nice or as spacious as my current one. Nor would I willingly leave a school with a great academics and an environ-ment that is finally accepting me.

Last time I checked, people didn’t mind spending $200 on Uggs. Is it too much to spend a little more on the educa-tion of someone who is less fortunate? Say-ing that METCO isn’t important enough for funding is the same as saying that I, along with the other Newton METCO students, am not important enough either. What authority do we give people today to put a price on someone’s education?

“I detest antiracist, multicultural education because it’s a fad that has spent too much time in [the Newton Public Schools]. I want our schools to focus more on academic ex-cellence, less on celebrating diversity.”

-Tom Mountain, “Mountain gives Newton conservatives a voice” (The Roar, Oct. 9, 2009)

METCO CRITICISM

Junior Jeff Alkins writes on the board outside METCO adviser Katani Sumner’s office, where he has come to find a sense of comfort.

LANGUAGES, 10METCO, 23

* information courtesy of http://www.doemass.org/metco

Student challenges METCO criticism

The METCO program has strongly benefited many Boston students by giving them a chance to have a better educa-tion and a better future. The program has helped change the lives of many individuals.

However, and most people do not know this, the METCO program only allows “nonwhite” inner city kids to participate. The white people from Southie, or other parts of Boston, are not able to receive a better education because they are white. Even though some of them may struggle as much, or even more than any black or Hispanic or Asian that lives in the inner city, they are not able to be in the METCO program and receive a better education.

While blacks and Hispanics who are underprivileged are able to receive scholarships, because they are under-privileged, most white people from Boston who are not wealthy do not have any chance of getting a scholar-ship.

How is this fair? Blacks and Hispanics are the minority, but why shouldn’t underprivileged white people be given the same opportunities as them?

I talked to a friend who said that a black friend of hers said “it’s ok I got

over your whiteness.” However if this student were to

ever say, “it’s OK I got over your black-ness”, drama would surround that and it could turn into a huge problem.

You don’t see Native Americans hating and saying racists things about white people who took over all of their land, massacred them by the thousands and denied them of almost any rights. Native Americans aren’t racist toward whites because this happened hundreds

of years ago; the current generation of white people had nothing to do with it. Why is the racism of blacks towards Caucasians toler-ated and in a lot of ways accepted in our society?

This is a subject that many people chose to avoid in fear of being called a racist.

I am not scared to be the voice of what hundreds of people think and are to afraid to say.

White people are aware of the mistakes that the older generations made, but they do not need to be reminded of it on a daily basis. It’s very simple, white people should be allowed in this program.

Everyone should have equal rights. White people from the inner city should not be exempt from this program because of their race. Because then, in a sense, white people are the ones being discriminated against.

Moving Mountains

METCO effective option for Boston-area students

METCO program racially unfair toward white students

Camille BrugnaraOpinions Contributor

november 6, 2009 opinions 21

photo by Dan Hurwit

Prevenya HarrisOpinions Contributor

I would hate to see myself and my friends looked down upon by a white man as we strive to climb the corporate ladder, so I’m taking advantage of the quality of the education provided to me through METCO, and I’m running with it.

Some parents of METCO stu-dents were not fortunate enough to get the education that we now have the opportunity to receive.

I do not want to grow up only to have children who ask, “Mom-my, what does this mean?” or “Can you help me with my home-work?” if I am unable to answer their questions. My mother didn’t

want the sane thing to happen either, so she chose to enrolled me in the pro-gram.

She pushes me hard so I will not have to work at a low-paying fast food restaurant with a small salary while whites make a lot more money.

I hope to become a lawyer one day, and with METCO always helping me, along with teachers that care, I’m on my way to making my dream come true.

METCO is the best program available for people of color.

We want equality, just like every-one else. With METCO, we have gotten this far.

So why stop now?

When I read The Roar article regarding Tom Mountain’s proposal for a potential METCO cut, I found it absurd.

My first thought was, “Why us?” I feel as though every time people

of color proceed two steps ahead, there is always someone, or even a group of people, trying to push us back five.

A quotation in the article expressed the opinion that there are better things to spend money on than the METCO program, but I was thinking the complete opposite.

This made me feel incredibly angry. I’ve been part of the METCO program since I was five years old.

Without METCO, I would prob-ably be a completely different person than who I am today.

The program has helped me, along with hundreds of other kids, avoid becoming unsophisticated and perhaps yet another high school drop-out.

I look forward to coming to school every day.

The first time I went inside a Boston Public School, I was greeted by a metal detector, which only con-firmed the terrifying rumors about Boston schools that I continuously hear.

The Roar’s Oct. 9 article “Mountain gives Newton conservatives a voice” generated widespread response

throughout the entire community on the importance of METCO. Read two contrasting views on the program.

“[METCO] has helped me ... avoid becoming unsophisti-cated and perhaps yet an-

other high school drop-out.”PREVENYA HARRIS

CLASS OF 2011 ” “I am not scared to be the

voice of what hundreds of people think and are

afraid to say.CAMILLE BRUGNARA

CLASS OF 2011

You’re probably not thinking about the Senate race. Why should you be? There are more important matters, like your honors chemistry test tomorrow, or catch-ing the eye of that cute guy sitting across from you. Why should you care about politics? It’s not like you can vote. You are not alone. In this country, there are millions of people who believe that their voices do not extend beyond their votes, as well as disaffected youths who feel as though they have no voice at all. Most of us are content to just sit back and let the government take its course.

Change should be influenced by good ideas, not big money. I’m not suggesting that we reform government. Rather, we need to rethink the effect that we can have on this country. Senatorial candi-date Alan Khazei is a prime example of someone who be-lieves that big changes can indeed be made by people outside of the gov-ernment. His campaign is centered around

a pitch of “big citizenship,” rather than big government. “Big citizenship” refers to Khazei’s belief that anybody, regardless of connections or political standing, can and should make a difference.

Khazei co-founded City Year, an organization that recruits college-aged

youth to volunteer at inner-city schools for a year. City Year, which served as a model for AmeriCorps, has allowed thousands of young people to help boost the literacy rates and confidence of over 75,000 chil-dren. One of the organization’s hopes is that there will be a time when the question is not, “Will you do a service year?” but, “Where are you going to do your service year?” By engaging the population in

service, we can reform the country from the bottom up. If you are unable to

devote large amounts of time to a particular cause, support politi-

cians who create change for a living. But making a differ-ence isn’t easy. As much as we crave convenience, posting our feelings on Facebook does not amount to much in

the grand scheme of things. Consider applying to City Year

or another gap year program, in which you would have the op-

portunity to make a lasting impact. Don’t underestimate the potential a

small group of citizens has to make a difference.

Under Pressure: What it’s like to not get the Grace HyunOpinions Editor

Chemistry, a befuddling fusion of math and science, is the bane of my existence.

I have never been too great at sci-ence, and I’m awful at math, so it only makes sense that the thought of chem makes me want to curl up into a corner and mourn over my failure, because regardless of how many people try to teach me significant figures, I’M NOT GOING TO GET IT. But I hear that the subject only gets worse from sig figs. Apparently there’s something called a “mole” that makes even less sense than rounding a number to another relative number be-cause it has a certain amount of numbers in it.

It’s too hard; I know I won’t un-derstand it. I can specifically remember one night when I was doing chem notes. I skimmed over the introduction para-graph of my textbook, which began with, “Almost certainly, this is your first college course in chemistry.”

Fine, that’s factual, because I’m not in college and haven’t taken any college courses yet. But wait, I’ve never taken chemistry before in my life. That’s when it hit me. I am a student at the prestigious Newton South High School, home of awesome SAT scores and infamous over-achievers.

I understand that this can be a touchy subject, and I swear that I’m not an insensitive jerk. But in all seriousness, I’ve witnessed more tears shed during class over unsatisfactory grades than over relationship drama.

It’s true, scouts honor. I’m sure many of you have either participated in or overheard a conversation in which a student responds, “Wow, you IDIOT,” after someone has told them they are in 1B math. This is deeply concerning.

First of all, I am a proud student of the 1B mathematics curriculum (1B-ers unite). Secondly, since when are you an idiot for being in curriculum 1? I must graphics by Michele Abercrombie

have missed that memo. Let’s be real, we South students are

literally bred to achieve. Sometimes I feel more like a crop harvested to do well on standardized tests rather than a student. Recently, my friend told me that she had stolen her brother’s calculator before he went off to college. Everything was smooth sailing from there, until her mom found out and insisted that she call her brother so that the calculator could be mailed to him. But the best part of her story was that, apparently, he hadn’t even realized it was missing.

This kid was a month into his first semester at Cal-Tech University and had been surviving without a calculator. Props to the math teachers here. This is truly an achievement. But seriously, WTF?

A few weeks ago, I attended the col-lege fair, an event for juniors and seniors who are beginning the insane search for their next school. I was beaten up worse than I potentially will be at powderpuff

(this is indeed a threat, sen10rs) by students and par-ents racing to get in line for schools. They acted as if impressing the representatives would get themselves or their child into that particular school. But I’m not going to lie; when I get a good grade, I’ll be kid that goes around asking everyone what score they got just because I know that mine was higher.

And if I get a grade that is a smaller number than the weight of my left leg in pounds, I’m going to be pretty upset. But don’t beat yourself up over a simple 12 point quiz because walking around school for the rest of the day with a red face and puffy eyes will be worse than making an appointment with your teacher for J Block, Finally, I want to pass on something that my history teacher, Ms. Linder, said in class: “A ‘B,’ honestly guys, is not a bad grade.” Wise words, Lady Linder, wise words.

By Hannah Fürgang

Mike Zissman • Senior Column

Muscle man takes to camera

If there were two words that de scribed me perfectly, they would be creepy and nerdy.

For example, I love Facebook stalk-ing, and I think derivatives are sexy.

Considering my hobbies, it stands to reason that I should love Google Earth. There’s nothing quite like seeing a satellite picture of Wellington, New Zealand (31 degrees south, 134 degrees east) and say-ing, “Hey, isn’t that chihuahua outside the Wellington City Hall cute?” or “That guy mowing the lawn at the Michael Fowler Center should get his mole checked out.”

Of course, the first place I searched for on Google Earth was my house, and I was not pleased with what I saw.

There it was, right outside my house. From far away it only looked like a fuzzy skin-colored spot, but when I zoomed in I realized that it was a person.

In fact, it was your favorite curly-haired, super-charming columnist pushing a lawnmower, bare-chested.

Now, some would say, “Hey, isn’t that cool? I can see Mike’s biceps from space!” but most would say, “He really ought to put a shirt on.”

It’s not that I’m self-conscious about my body, but I have noticed that I’m get-ting fewer and fewer admiring looks when I flex for people on the train.

No matter how many crunches I do, I can’t stop thinking that the ability to see every point on Earth at any given time might not be such a good thing.

When I’m famous, what’s to keep this picture from showing up in the tab-loids? What’s to prevent people all over the world from judging me on my lawn mow-ing skills? My privacy has been infringed upon, and I am not happy about it.

Since I’m a rational man, I never call out a problem without providing a solu-tion. I think that if the picture were to be edited such that there were a Lamborghini in my driveway or 25 scantily-clad women on my lawn playing volleyball, I would be satisfied.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that all the pictures should be edited; that way the world could be more fun.

There could be a moon-bounce on the White House lawn and a dragon in the Mason-Rice playground.

We could finally see the pool on the fourth floor of the 2000s. The possibilities are endless.

Truth be told, Google Earth does have its benefits. It has the potential to take Facebook stalking to a whole new level, and the giant smiley face on my roof is a lot more visible now.

Sometimes I like to look at satellite pictures of Africa and pretend I’m on a safari. I swear it’s almost like the real thing.

Whatever the case, I don’t plan on giving up Google Earth any time soon.

It’s much too powerful a tool to waste and much too good an excuse for procrastination to let fall by the wayside. Do you know where the Arafura Sea is? I do.

Do you know which of the Azores is largest? I do. Do you know that my chest is so pale it actually reflects sunlight? Now everybody does.

november 6, 2009opinions22

graphic by Annie Cui

Educate yourself, raise your voice

Mika Braginsky Au Contraire

Debt in the water

Recently, much of the national political debate seems to focus on government spending. Stimulat-

ing the economy, reforming health care, fighting a war – nothing’s cheap.It’s easy to get lost in the mind-bogglingly large, constantly changing figures. Hundreds of billions here, a trillion mthere – who can keep track? Besides, why not just spend as much money as we feel like? It’s for getting people health insurance and jobs, and the rich can afford to pay up, right?

However tempting this happy fantasy may be, this path is a sure way to eventual disaster. The soaring national debt isn’t only a concern of those doom-mongering balance-the-budget-or-else types; it’s a nationwide threat.

One of the chief obstacles to resolv-ing this issue is people’s basic confusion about the terminology of fiscal policy. In a given fiscal year, the budget deficit is the difference between the amount of money the government takes in and the amount it spends during that year.

The national debt is the sum of all the budget deficits and surpluses ever, or the total amount of money that the gov-ernment owes.

So when a politician says he’s going to reduce the budget deficit, he doesn’t mean what you might think. Sure, the government will spend less money, but it will still be losing money every year and adding to the national debt.

The only way to actually reduce the national debt is to consistently have budget surpluses — for the government to bring in more money than it spends. Apart from a brief spell of surpluses during the Clinton years, the federal government has been in the red since the 1950s.The result-ing national debt has reached staggering levels; it peaked at 108 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) during World War II and has never dropped below 22 percent of GDP since then.

But past deficits pale in comparison to the colossal expenditures of the Obama administration. The budget deficit for fiscal year 2009 (which ended in Septem-ber) was $1.42 trillion, more than three times the record (set in 2008). In the next 10 years, a projected $9.1 trillion more in deficits will be added to the national debt. So what? Obama may be spending a lot of money, but so did Bush, and for that mat-ter, almost all his predecessors.

In the long term, however, govern-ment spending will undergo completely unsustainable growth, not because of how much Bush spent on Iraq or how much Obama spent on the stimulus, but because of mandatory spending.Without compre-hensive reform, mandatory spending will exceed total tax revenue in the 2030s.

This means Congress will have to borrow money for defense, law enforce-ment, education, etc., adding to the deficit and the national debt.

Regardless of one’s preference for Obama’s deficit spending or for Bush’s, our current fiscal path is simply not sustain-able. In the short term, massive spending on the economy has made deficits sky-rocket. In the longer term, entitlement spending threatens to bankrupt the nation.

november 6, 2009 opinions 23

•

Middle school blues hit homeRavi Panse

Opinions Contributor

Don’t you remember how easy it was when grades didn’t matter, you got six weeks to write a 700-word paper and you didn’t have to stay up until 3 a.m. trying to be Nikola Tesla for physics class? I sure do.

It’s called middle school. That relatively sheltered and easy environment feels like preschool when compared to South.

Once you step into high school, college, lurking in the form of a giant elephant, bears down on you in every room.

It’s that devilish animal that laughs at you when you get a bad test score and keeps you pinned to your seat when you say, “Hey, it’s 11 p.m. and I’m tired. I’m thinking it’s bed time.”

It can be scary, even if you were born

with the wonderful tool called perspective.

Now, there is a point to all this; I’m not being a whiny freshman just because I can. I think middle school could use a boost in difficulty to better prepare students for the rigors of high school.

Because, let’s face it, mid-dle school was easy.

You might have had one teacher who was truly hard, or maybe you were assigned one project every few terms that kept you working into the early morn-ing, but those three years as a whole feel like a cakewalk in hindsight.

In high school, however, both academ-ics and other extracurricular activities really start to get intense.

As a result, countless students must forfeit something in order to make time — for example, sleep. Admittedly, South does quite a lot to help with the transition period between middle school and high school.

Teachers don’t go full-throttle at the very beginning of freshman year, and freshman grades in general don’t affect that evil thing we call the grade point average. Middle school is meant to prepare students for high school without the pressure of grades affecting your future in any way; the work should be more difficult so the school can do its job.

This isn’t a hard problem to fix. Teach-ers in middle school just need to move through the curriculum a bit faster and assign a little more work each night.

This way, students will be more expe-rienced in handling piles of homework, and more of the material that they learn at South will be review. Or high school could just get easier. Either option works for me.

If anyone is going to tell me I am not worth taxpayer dollars, he or she better have a good reason why.

I wake up every morning at 5:30 a.m. to get on the bus, sit through classes that don’t cater to my culture or beliefs, feel a slight sense of disapproval, work my behind off, stay after school for sports, get back on the bus, get home at 7:30 p.m. (on a good night), stay up so I can finish my homework and finally get to sleep at 11:30 p.m., only to wake up six hours later to repeat my schedule.

I am trying to dispel negative ste-reotypes and prejudices made about black Americans to make the same situation a little easier for the students who come after me. I know why I am a South Lion. Anyone who tries to belittle my life and my purpose to a dollar amount better be prepared for a heated debate.

The problem is that those who feel like Jenn and her father don’t have the courage to openly speak their minds, and so these unexpressed thoughts about the METCO program remain an underlying problem. I think the only way to resolve this issue is to put it out in the open.

If I have to be the voice of the entire Newton METCO program, so be it. But I will not be a bystander as someone speaks about trying to destroy the organization that has the most impact in setting me up for a successful future. Mr. Tom Mountain, I would love to see you go up to kindergarten METCO students and explain to them why they are not worth taxpayer money.

Because if an unbiased, unobjection-able kindergartner can understand your reasoning, then it must be just. After all,

children are the future, right? Let’s see how far America has truly come in the past 250 years.

People have constantly assumed that METCO is a waste of time and money. Some people don’t see the use of it or understand its benefits. So naturally when I saw an article in The Roar in which people stated that METCO wasn’t worth the money, I was outraged and confused.

I believe that some people think that METCO students don’t take advantage of the opportunity they are given. I also think that some people drew the conclu-sion that METCO students at South aren’t smart and don’t do well in their classes. Many people have assumed that I live in

Newton — possibly basing their assump-tion on the classes I take. After discussing these feelings as well as many others with Mrs. Sumner and the staff of the The Roar, I decided I would write opinions article. Without METCO, I wouldn’t be the same person I am today. I can’t imagine life without METCO.

Why would I sit back and watch another student be denied the chance to grow into something new, something bet-ter than he ever thought possible? I know I have.

My life is a lesson in diversity, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I don’t think words will ever do my emotions for METCO justice.

photos by Clara Lorant

photo by Dan Hurwit

METCO, from 20

Alkins finds comfort through METCO, adviser

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•

artsvolume 26, issue 4 november 6, 2009

“You dumb babies, monsters are just frigments of your infactuation!”

-Angelica Pickles

page 24

Member Motoki Otsuka described the band’s style as “electric indie pop.” Juniors Brittany Bishop and Jacklyn Horowitz settled on the description of a mix between reggae and electronic. Other fans can’t even pinpoint a single genre or description that encapsulates the band’s music, but most can recognize that they like it. “It’s a very different sound; I don’t know if I could compare it to anyone,” junior Tanya Lyon said.

The band’s unique style is only one aspect that sets it apart from other high school bands; another is its unusually strong fan base.

Vitamin Seed’s Website has gar-nered 17,792 plays of the five demos available.

Even though Otsuka said that it’s “not really [their] goal to make it big,” the band’s distinct sound has attracted crowds from South and even from surrounding towns.

“[The band has] very many fans, all the way from Dover,” Lyon said. “They’ve come all the way to Newton several times … to see Vitamin Seed play.”

Junior Pat Walsh, who plays the synthe-sizer for the band, appreciates its widespread fan base.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “It’s really weird to think that there are people that aren’t our friends, that we don’t know, that go onto our MySpace and listen to our music. It’s kind of surreal.”

Fans are attracted to both Vitamin Seed’s unique sound and their strong stage presence. “They’re really calm [onstage], and they’re very social,” Lyon said.

Horow-itz added that their excite-ment transfers to the crowd. “They have a very exciting and interactive feeling ... You just wanna dance,” she said.

Lyon agreed. “They interact with the audience when they’re performing; they’re really into what they do.”

As a result of the band’s popular-ity and its members’ passion, members Otsuka and Neev Blume, both ‘09 South graduates, decided to take a year off before college to pursue their music.

“We wanted to play music and just, you know, relax for a year,” Blume said. “We decided to take a break from our next chapter.”

While Walsh and lead vocalist and bassist junior Zack Levine-Caleb juggle

classes at South, Blume and Otsuka live in Cleveland Circle and work full time. “It’s pretty difficult now that Motoki and Neev live in different towns,” Walsh said. “They have their

lives, and they’re very different from ours.” Nevertheless, the band remains very close. “We’re really great friends; we like each other a lot,” Walsh said. Otsuka referred to

“We wanted to play music and just, you know, relax for a year. We decided to take a break from our next chapter.”

Neev Blume

Perfect Harmony: Pajammin’ balances practice, schoolwork

Graduates grow with Vitamin Seed, strike chord with fans

By Julia Gron

South band Vitamin Seed’s MySpace pagedescribes them as a combination of experimental,

electro and Dutch pop inspiration.

“If the challenge is there for the musicians, it’s going to

be entertaining.”NICK SOBEL

CLASS OF 2010

“With school it’s difficult, but somehow we always find

time [to practice].”BEN WEISSMAN

CLASS OF 2010

“It’s important to not care what other people are saying, because

it takes away from the fun.”JOSH RICHARDS

CLASS OF 2010

Read four members’ perspec-tives on keeping their band

together during the school year.

>> For more, see page 26

the band as “a big family.” “I think we have really good chem-

istry,” Blume said. “Writing songs is really easy for us. We all bring different ideas to the table, and we all try to make it work, and it usually does.”

Even though Blume and Otsuka’s jobs make finding rehearsal time difficult, Vitamin Seed is still busy with its music. It has been booked for multiple shows, and the group is trying to release an album in the near future. “We have a bunch of recorded material that we’re just finishing up,” Blume said.

Horowitz and other South fans are excited for these upcoming shows and recordings.

“Everyone is always really excited about [Vitamin Seed],” Horowitz said. “Most people I’ve talked to enjoy their music, and I think it’s really rare that such a large group of people can really come together under one band. [The music is] fun to listen to, it’s happy and it makes you feel good.”

photos by Olivia Kennis

“Trying to force every-one to work together will

never work.”MATT BREUER

CLASS OF 2010

Boston Culture Focus: Kendall Square Each issue The Roar selects several places in one area of Boston which are perfect for high

schoolers. This issue we explore, Kendall Square, accessible off the Red Line.

Located in Kendall Square right by MIT, the Garment District is a famous Boston haunt, supplying unique con-signment finds and endless costume selections. The lower floor consists of the “dollar-a-pound” area, essentially a floor covered in a pile of clothing through which buyers can rummage. Also on the first floor is the famous Boston Costume section, which boasts new costumes and party gear, and a counter where customized T shirts can be ordered. The second floor holds a more organized and expensive selection of consignment and vintage clothing, organized on racks by color. For an almost free find from the pile, a unique costume or a used designer item, the Garment District is the perfect destination.

By hannah nussbaum

Location: 40 Hampshire St.Cost: $$Specialty: New York Style Pizza

After a tiring search through Gar-ment District, buyers often find themselves in need of a meal. For such hunger, Emma’s pizza is conveniently located just around the corner. Emma’s offers an extensive selection of salads, sandwiches and pizzas with toppings from sausage to sweet potato. The pizzas are New York style, thin, crispy and are always made with fresh ingredients. While the restaurant is not absurdly over-priced, Emma’s is hardly a cheap eat. The restaurant is small and often crowded, but the environment is pleasant, and the service is attentive and friendly. For an occasional splurge after an inexpensive afternoon of shopping at Garment District, Emma’s is a tasty choice.

Location: 292 Main St.Cost: $$Specialty: Hard-to-find books at good prices

To satisfy your inner bookworm, there is no better place to go than the MIT bookstore, located only minutes away from Emma’s and the Garment District. This bookstore is filled with a great selection of books covering a variety of technical, philosophical and other interesting top-ics. The prices are generally reasonable and books are often on sale. Buyers can spend hours browsing through shelves and flipping through books and not face salespeople who say they cannot read a book without buying it. The bargain section is filled with books on art, science, economics, philosophy and culture, all marked down to ridiculously low prices. The MIT bookstore is a great store for avid readers.

november 6, 2009 arts 25

Jonah Reider • food, stuff & jake

Pizzalicious options

It was a dark and dreary night. Torren-tial downpours washed away my soul. Owls hooted, and tigers growled. Pizza

is delicious, with a sort of saucey-cheesey-bready taste.

It is a simple yet profound exposi-tion of the spiritually gastronomic life inside all of us. The roundness symbolizes life’s continuing cycle, while the harmoni-ous coexistence of sauce and cheese teach-es us to resolve our differences. An ethnic culinary art, pizza originates from the age of the Hittites. The ancient society topped off matzot with a tomato and cow. And so be it: Pizza was created. Ritual dances took place around the pizza for eras, until it was discovered edible.

Almost everyone likes pizza. When I conducted a survey telephonically, the re-sults were astounding. About 78.5 percent of respondents reported that they were eating a pizza at the exact time I called. This staggering figure left me curious about the food. “Pizza is like a brother to me,” explained sophomore Jake Abramson. “Whenever I’m feeling lonely, or when times of trouble hit, I can always lean on a pizza —literally and figuratively. That’s how versatile pizza is.”

Toppings are another matter to con-sider. Epicurean ascetics will prefer just a salty crust of bread to nibble on and savor. The other end of the spectrum, however, loves to have a pizza with fresh tomato sauce, four cheese blend, seasoned crum-bled hamburger, marinated chicken and steak, pepperoni, salami, sausage chunks, bacon strips, fresh mushrooms, green/red bell peppers and kalamata olives, homemade eggplant, fresh tomatoes and broccoli. Not everyone likes pizza. Shaking with fear, a bashful Josh Harlow confided in me: “One time my brother read a book where pizzas were the bad guy.” This disturbing childhood incident provoked a lifelong phobia of this heavenly food.

To assist you with procuring the most praiseworthy, precious pizza, I will now describe in depth two of New-ton Center’s finest establishments, two neighborly competitors: Bill’s and Sweet Tomatoes. After carefully experiencing unadorned cheese slices from both, I offer critiques and compliments.

Bill’s offers a good crust. It’s evenly cooked, chewy and crispy at the same time. All elements of the pie have a symbi-otic relationship, providing a holistic eat-ing experience. The sauce, however, is too sweet. Also, there is unwarranted excess of oily cheese, which distracts from the taste of the crust and sauce. All together, though, it’s delicious — and cheaper than that of Sweet Tomatoes.

Sweet Tomatoes has a great crust, if you eat the right part. The pizza is cooked slightly unevenly, so the crust can be seri-ously soggy and gross at some parts. The sauce, however, is delicious. It’s flavorful, well spiced and aromatic. The controver-sial components of a Sweet Tomato’s pizza are the “chunkz.” These chunkz are sketchy blobs of tomato that cry with precocious smugness, “We are indie and part of an artisan pizza!” Some people like them, and others do not. All over taste: yum.

I hope that this history and review will prove helpful in times of grief.

Emma’s Pizza

Location: 200 Broadway St.Cost: $Specialty: Unique vintage items

photos by Danielle Stubbe

g eetakes over

Hayley GoldsteinArts Contributor

Seniors Tamar Gaffin-Cahn, Abby Shuster, Mike Zissman and Mara Sahleanu are avid fans of “Glee” and watch the show together every Friday. “Glee” airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m.

The many South “Glee” fans can clearly explain why this show has become so popular. “It’s about kids our age … it’s an underdog story,” senior Jacob Liverman said. “Glee club is geeky, but ‘Glee’ leaves audiences cheering for them.”

Freshman Gil Blume feels that view-ers can identify with the characters and the story personally. “[ People in the show] handle prob-lems that real people face in high school,” Blume said.

Freshman Matt Dahl thinks the best part of the show is its music. “It’s really original,” he said. “The key point [in making the show popular] is how the music is integrated.”

Chorus teacher Benjamin Young-man watches “Glee” as well, and relates to the glee club’s leader Mr. Schuester. “The emotional highs and lows … seem familiar,” Youngman said. “My favorite

character is Mr. Schuester … especially for the look of consternation on his face as he watches the actions of others. I also relate to him because he wants his students to be their best.”

The characters seem to be a sell-ing point, though students disagree on

which one they like most. Freshman Rose Taylor favors Sue Sylvester, the power-hungry and of-ten politically incorrect cheerleading coach.

“She’s so deadpan and hilarious,” Taylor said.“I like the way she does her lines – I can’t imagine anyone else saying those things,”

freshman Hannah Robbins added. Blume, however, thinks Kurt, a gay fashionista, is most interesting. “He’s so funny … he could be my best friend,” Blume said.

Liverman loves wheelchair-bound Artie. “When he does Michael Jackson [songs], it’s hysterical,” he said.

Among all the fans, or “Gleeks,” as they like to be called, there are some South students who aren’t as enthusiastic about the show.

“The first episode I saw … was very badly acted, the script was poor, not what I’d call high quality,” junior Amanda Sands said, who has watched two episodes and is not planning to continue. “[In] the second episode … the actors were still bad, but the script was a little better. The produc-ers seem pretty desperate … glee clubs are never on TV.”

Some, like Dahl, believe that the show relates to South because it deals with issues such as being yourself and popular-ity. Others, however, don’t think the show has any significant message. “It’s watched by a lot of teens, so [it is relatable to high schoolers],” Liverman said. “But is it thought-provoking? No.”

Freshman Hannah Robins thinks the show’s simplification of high school makes it less relevant than people say. “The show describes everything in black and white – South is more diverse,” she said.

“It’s about kids our age ... It’s an underdog story.

Glee club is geeky, but ‘Glee’ leaves audiences

cheering for them. JACOB LIVERMAN

CLASS OF 2010

Bands find chemistry instrumental to group success

ook out, Twilight – there’s a new sensation sweeping the country.

It has taken South by storm and it goes by the name of “Glee.” The FOX TV show about a high school glee club, its inspired teacher, his scheming wife, a pregnant cheerleader, dancing football players and a tyrannical cheerleading coach first aired in May to great reviews and stellar ratings.

The show incorporates some of the greatest radio hits and show tunes of the past three decades and stars many relative unknowns. Over the summer, the cast went on a nationwide mall tour to pro-mote the show to screaming fans, appear-ing here in Massachusetts at the Natick Collection.

The evening of Sept. 9, the show made its official debut. After 8 episodes and 7.14 million viewers every week, it appears that the next big thing on TV has landed.

“Peach Funk” plays at Harvest Fair.

photo by Danielle Stubbe

Sophomore Aaron Davidoff is a member of the rising band Peach Funk, along with fellow sophomores Ben Korsh and Josh Harlow. After taking the summer

off from practicing, Peach Funk recom-mitted to the band and recently played live at Harvest Fair in Newton Center.

Davidoff said that juggling a practice schedule and schoolwork is man-ageable, and this new

commitment has made the band’s revival a success.Band members’ prioritization, dedication and com-

photo courtesy of Aaron Davidoff

Max EzekielArts Contributor

patibility all have different effects on the successes and failures of high school bands.

Senior Ben Weissman, a member of the South band Pajammin, dedicates a lot amount of time to his band. “With school it’s difficult, but somehow, we always find time [to practice],” Weissman said.

Senior Eric Phillips and junior Pat Walsh have both been members of a series of bands over the past several years. Both Phillips and Walsh prioritize school before their bands. “It’s more like my practicing interferes with my schoolwork,” Walsh said.

Phillips, a member of two bands and a solo artist, believes there are many factors that contribute to the suc-cess of a music group. “Prioritizing music is the only way to succeed as a band,” he said.

A member of different bands since middle school, Walsh has seen the rise and fall of many. Phillips has also been a member of bands that were together for years and others that fell apart relatively quickly.

Walsh said he feels that a certain chemistry is neces-sary for a band to have lasting success. He said that all members must be dedicated, passionate and contribute to the band. “Eventually, what happens is people learn how to play with one another, and it works with some groups of people and for others it doesn’t,” he said.

Some bands lack initiative from the start, such as Junior Cooper McDonald’s band, which broke up last year. “Homework rarely affected our playing time, because we gathered outside once a week for only a few hours,” he said. “It was rather easy to move around the stress of homework and make time for the band. But after a while, we realized that nobody particularly wanted to do anything.”

Bands are most successful when they make music that they enjoy.

“I’ve tried to make music that sounds unique and original, which hasn’t really worked out too well, but I hope it will with these two bands,” Phillips said.

november 6, 2009arts 26

Ari Shvartsman • The Art of Relations

Rate your date-a-bility

I was recently approached by my acquaintance Zike Missman. He, a curly-haired bespectacled character,

was completely clueless when it came to the fairer sex. The evaluation of whether or not he was good enough to exchange genetic material with mates was plaguing him.

Although every person is special in his or her own way (especially Zike), I have decided to provide my acquaintance, and you, with a simplified version of my Eligibility Calculator™ from my recent bestseller, “Being Great at Everything but not Quite as Great as Ari.”

Follow these simple prompts to de-duce how eligible you are for mating (you may want to have a pad of paper on hand):

If you are a freshman or sophomore write down a “0” on the provided line. If you are a junior, write a “1”. If you are a senior, have graduated from high school or are actually capable of higher thought (i.e. twelfth grade and up) write a “5”. _____

On a scale of one to 10, rate your cleanliness (a “1” is least clean, and a “10” is most clean). If you have recently had a UTI or refuse to take me to semi, please write “1”. _____

If you consider yourself a photo kid or hipster or think you are super indie, write “0”. Otherwise, write “1”. _____

If you participate in the human wall formed by the juniors during most passing times (or any other form of a human wall) write “0” and proceed in castrating your-self. Otherwise, write “5”. _____

If you are no longer allowed on the Boston College Campus and primarily entertain yourself through Facebook’s Hottest Teen, write “0”. If you are a pleas-ant human being, write “3”. _____

Rate your intelligence from one to five. Next, rate your sexual appeal from one to five.

Average these two numbers and write them in the space provided (this is your attractiveness index).

If you are part of a cult (i.e. track, speech, Arthur Mescon et co., Newtones) write “0”. _____

Also, if you partake in the incest prevalent in any of these groups (NEW-TONES!), shame on you. Your kind is responsible for whatever is rotten in the state of Denmark. If you still know how to enjoy yourself without being gross or exclusive, write “1”. _____

Rate the size of your personality from two to 12. Subtract two points for lying. Write this number in the space provided. _____

If you like UBurger more than Flip-pin’ Burgers, write “0”. Also write “0” if you enjoy Lee’s Place Burgers. Otherwise, write “1”. _____

If you haven’t sent me questions to answer in my column, write “0”. Other-wise, you are a liar _____

Now add your scores together. If you scored between four and 13, you need to re-evaluate your life and possibly never reproduce. If you scored between 14 and 33, you make a decent catch but may easily be replaced. If you scored between 34 and 37, you should consider bartering your gametes for gold and rare jewels.

“I immediately fell in love

with comedy. theres noth-

ing better than getting

onstage.”

MAX CLARYCLASS OF 2011

Going to a comedy camp in Marshfield, Mass. wasn’t junior Max Clary’s idea, and he wasn’t particularly enthused. He knew nothing about comady and wasn’t too intrested in the subject. Nevertheless, Clary agreed to attend the camp in 2008 when the son of his mother’s boss wanted company.

Clary hadn’t realized, however, that making people laugh came naturally. “I im-mediately fell in love with comedy,” he said. “There’s nothing better than getting up on stage.” At the camp, Max’s skills emerged, and the camp’s instruc-tors began to focus on Clary personally. A tape of Clary’s standup wound up in the hands of a club owner in Harvard Square, who immediately asked him to perform at his studio.

Clar y was soon working alongside notable performers such as Sean Sullivan, Shane Mauss and Joe Wong. He began work-ing at multiple clubs in the Boston area, performing at fundraisers and participat-ing in contests.

Clary achieved a top

COMEDY AT ITS MAX-IMUM five ranking in the Bean Town Comedy Riot competition only a year after attending his summer camp.

He has been approached by n u m e r o u s club owners and agents from the Bos-

ton Cast ing Agency. Despite

these offers, Clary said he does not in-

tend to go into commer-cial acting. His passion lies

in stand-up. Clary’s humor is evident both

on stage and off. “I’ve always been funny, but never the funny guy or class

clown,” he said. “I’m just a normal guy who likes to make people laugh.”

Junior Zach Levine-Caleb, a friend and fan of Clary’s, recalled the first time he spoke to Max about his stand-up.

“Not long ago, Max was just another kid at South. And then one day he said to me, ‘Want to hear some jokes I wrote?’ And while I don’t remember the jokes themselves, I do remember the painful feeling in my stomach that en-sued from laughing,” Levine-Caleb said. According to his friends, Clary’s gift for comedy is natural in everything from his gestures to his speaking patterns.

“If you really tune in to what he’s saying, you recognize a sequence simi-

lar to that of a stand-up comedian mid-routine,” close friend junior

Molly SilvermanArts Contributor

When English teacher Sarah Munsell tries on shoes or gets a pedicure, salespeople gape at the bruises covering her legs. These bruises, along with her highlighted pink hair, are results of playing on a roller derby team.

A friend encouraged Munsell to try out for the team three years ago. “I sucked – literally, I couldn’t stand on skates,” Munsell said. She made the team anyway because she had shown that she was com-mitted, a quality important to the league. Now Munsell attends multiple practices and a scrimmage each week.

Roller derby has recently increased in popularity after its peak in the ‘70s. “Whip It,” a new film about an under-dog roller derby team, has furthered this revival. Contrary to its portrayal in “Whip It,” however, roller derby isn’t all about brutality. There is some physical contact, but the rules include no tripping, elbowing or punching.

“A lot of people think it’s a brute sport, but it’s all strategy,” Munsell said.

The movie does accurately portray the basic rules of the sport. There’s one “jammer” on each team who tries to score the maximum amount of points by getting through the pack of skaters on the track before the jammer from the other team does.Other stereotypes and misconcep-tions have been connected to the sport ever since it became popular. “It’s not a gay, tattooed sport like many people think

it is,” Munsell said. She added that no one would ever

guess many of the women on her team play roller derby if they saw them on the street. “It seems like most of the other girls [in the league] are married ... [and some] are having babies.” Munsell ex-plained that not as many lesbian women are involved with the sport as common stereotypes suggest.

History teacher Sean Turley thinks that these stereotypes reflect society’s view of women. “I think it’s very easy for people to reduce women competing as butch or manlike or acting in a way that’s not be-coming of a woman,” he said.

Turley hopes to see the sport grow in popilarityand ex-posure because the nature of the sport accepts pain. “I think we live in a society that’s afraid of pain and the more we are afraid of it, the more we are hurt.”

Roller derby is not only a sport; it’s also an underground culture. Munsell’s team calls her “Holly Nass” (Haulin’ Ass). In roller derby, given names are called “government names,” and some women who play take on different personalities,

or alter egos, while skating.These personalities are visible in

players’ costume choices. Munsell’s team is called “The Nutcrackers,” after their theme of “ballerinas gone bad.” Munsell wears a tutu and belts around her waist to match this theme and died her hair pink to match the team colors. These acces-sories are not only fashion choices but are

also team strategy. Munsell said her jam-mers pass through the pack as quickly as possible by holding on to her and push-ing off for speed.

History teacher Brian Murray went to “check out” one of Munsell’s games and found it different than he anticipated. The game was “much, much more complex and strategic than I thought it was,” he said. “It’s cheerful, fun and not blood-thirsty.”

Turley, who saw “Whip It,” said that the renewed cultural interest in roller derby is a product of an obsession with “every-thing vintage.”

Turley approves this particular interest. “Some sports of the past are worth raising from the grave, and roller derby is one of them.”

Teacher skates over stereotypesZoe ClaytonArts Contributor

photo courtesy of Sarah Munsell

Given / “Government” name:Sarah MunsellSkating name: Holly Nass

Team: “The Nutcrackers”

Alexandra Fen said. “I guess it comes naturally. He’s got the gift of gab.” Clary practices new material on friends, not only to test it out but also simply because he loves making people laugh. “Jokes are constantly popping into my head. They often start out as everyday conversation and wind up in a performance,” he said.

The ease with which Clary’s tran-sitions from South to the stage is the foundation of his success. Unlike many comedians who find comfort in portraying characters or speaking with affectations, Clary said he is simply himself on the stage, and that is where he’s most comfort-able. “It’s all about taking everyday things and presenting them with a different perspective,” he said.

Junior Satchel Forrester, another fan of Clary’s work, feels his onstage personal-ity is natural. “His big personality effort-lessly hits the stage,” he said.

Since the first time he performed, Clary has been in love with the stage. “There’s no greater feeling in the world,” he said. “No matter how nervous I am before a performance, when I get on stage it just clicks. I love having an audience. The bigger the audience the better.” Clary’s philosophy on performing is simple: be confident, be natural and be yourself. “I’m 100 percent Max Clary,” he said. “The best part [about stand-up] is having found something I’m good at and I love.”

Even with his success, Clary has re-mained the same confident, good-natured kid who always has his friends in stitches.

“He has the perfect personality for a comedian,”Forrester said.

graphic by Estie Martin

november 6, 2009 arts 27

sportsvolume 26, issue 4 november 6, 2009

“If someone met me on game day, he wouldn’t like me. The days in between,

I’m the goodest guy you can find.” -Roger Clemens

page 28•

Ben Weissman • Words From A Weiss Man

Fixing what’s already fixed

It’s getting cold and that sucks. Oh, and it’s also time for the annual pow-derpuff game. Yay.

You may notice my hint of sarcasm. And that sarcasm is not present without good reason.

But what cause for excitement is there in this game the way it’s done here? Why would somebody get excited for Brazil vs. Djibouti in soccer?

You already know the outcome. Ya tú sabes. And I’m not just referring to how the class of 2010 is the best class ever and how the class of 2011 is mediocre at best. It’s because the game is fixed. This is not news.

Ya tú sabes. The seniors win every year, and I

can understand that. It makes sense to give the senior class its glory on its way out, and the junior class knows that its time to shine will come next year.

But, there has to be a better way of going about this game. There’s really no point in wasting time to practice if it comes to the same end anyway. The game needs some added spice or needs to be played legitimately. The natural spice to add would be to have a game of strip football instead of flag football. Something tells me, however, that this would not go over too well with the administration.

Since that is the only spice I can

When senior dance co-captain Liza Barnes was a sophomore, the group of nine South dancers was merely a club.

Last year, the group was promoted to varsity status and will begin their sec-ond season of competition this November. “Now we practice every day of the week and have 20 committed girls, a devoted coach and a beautiful practice space,” Barnes said.

The team, which is hip-hop in style, has its first competition of the season at Braintree High on Monday, Nov. 9. “We are somewhat skeptical because there may not be a separate hip-hop division, so we would be competing against [different types of teams]. It’s a big step up, a more difficult competition, but we have high hopes,” Barnes said.

The dance team became a two-sea-son varsity sport at the beginning of last year, after Barnes, her older sister Olivia and junior Aly Gordon spent the 2007-2008 school year trying to turn the club into a varsity team.

To gain varsity status, the founders lobbied Athletic Director Scott Per-rin. “The dance team had a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and parental and student support,” Perrin said.

Perrin recognized both the impor-tance of having an equal number of male and female varsity teams, as well as the tal-ent that the dance team displayed. “I run an athletic program and the dance team is very athletic. I couldn’t do some of the stuff that they do,” Perrin said.

The dance team achieved its status with the help of coach Jaime Gaudet. Gau-det helped form the dance teams at both of her alma maters, Weston High and Babson College.

“At South, starting from the ground up, I knew that we had every opportunity at our feet. We were a new program and had kids [involved in] it who not only appreciated having such a program, but [also] who had the talent and the drive to take it to the next level,” Gaudet said.

The team performs half-time routines at every football game that are mostly hip-hop, but as they prepare to compete, they incorporate more acrobatics and jazz. “Last year, it was really impor-tant that we showed that we could [be a varsity sport], and so this year we want everyone on the team to know that they can be even better than last year,” senior co-captain Stacy Yanofsky said.

The dance team provides benefits beyond competing. “[As dancers], we usually spend all this time doing something that we love outside of school,” senior co-captain Emma Hastings said.

The dance team has become a way to connect dancing, normally an out-of-school activity, to South.

“This is the way that I connect to South.

I used to be in JSU, but it’s a lot different from just being in a club. Performing at school events make you feel like part of the school,” Yanofsky said.

The team has grown under the strong leadership of captains Barnes, Hastings and Yanofsky.

“They’re exemplary role models for the younger girls on the team. They

and the other five seniors on the team work hard to set goals and to motivate each other,” Gaudet said.

The team however will not suffer when the seniors leave. “I feel so comfortable leaving it in the hands of the juniors on the team now and we have a re-ally strong freshmen and sophomore base,” Barnes said.

In the mean-time, the team looks forward to its com-petition next week. Though the team has been enduring long practices to prepare for competition, the players understand competition is tough.

“We just always try to go in prepared. We’re just there for the experience and to have a good time,” Gaudet said.

Dancing Queens>>See powderpuff, page 30think of, I think the second option of play-ing the game legitimately seems preferable.

Yes, I understand that this is the easy way out. Every grade gets its chance to shine. But this is a serious societal problem.

Tell the field hockey team (one win in three years … still #1 in our hearts, though!) that everybody gets his or her chance to shine. The world does not work like that. Even Little League does not work like that.

If South really wants its powderpuff game to be taken seriously, it needs to be made into a legitimate contest. Millis High School, for example, has the right idea.

The game is actually a competition there. This year the seniors won the game, but the juniors (yeah that is the same class … 2010 is clearly on top of the game everywhere) won the year before.

One of the benefits of having the powderpuff game is that the game builds school spirit.

Imagine how much better it would be if both teams actually had a chance to win the game.

Of course, this change needs to be made for next year’s game; to implement it now would be ridiculous on such short notice (and 2010 needs to have its glory anyway!).

But for next year, I strongly push for a genuine competition and an honest rivalry.

Put the ‘game’ part back into the powderpuff game, stop coddling the ath-letes, and let the best team actually win.

Olivia LarkinSports Editor

photos by Olivia Kennis

After gaining varsity status last year, South’s dance team has grown, now performing regularly at football and basketball games.

november 6, 2009 sports 29

Mixed reviews of first regular season on new fields“So many people were getting injured before. One [even] tripped in a hole [in the grass].

The turf has definitely reduced the number

of injuries.”ISAAC FREEDMAN

CLASS OF 2010

“The only downside is that there are a ton of lines, which

makes it difficult to play but it allows

lots of teams to play [on the turf].”

BECCA RAFTERYCLASS OF 2010

Melanie FinemanSports Editor

“Though every soc-cer player would

prefer to play on well-groomed grass, that is impossible, and since there is no mud, turf is the next best thing.”

DOUG MCCARTHYGIRLS’ SOCCER COACH

“I enjoy playing on grass, but I prefer to practice on the turf, especially because so many of the teams

that we play against have [turf].”TAMIR ZINGER

CLASS OF 2010

Since the opening of South’s new fields, many teams as well as wellness classes have had the opportunity to play on the turf.

Because the majority of other schools in the Dual County League have turf fields, South athletes felt they were at a disadvantage by not having turf.

“For field hockey, the turf is much better because only one other team in the league does not have [turf],” senior field hockey captain Rebecca Raftery said.

Girls’ soccer coach Doug McCarthy agreed with Raftery. “We have been at a competitive deficit within the DCL by not having turf fields, and [the turf] should be beneficial,” he said.

The brand-new level turf has helped reduce injuries that were related to unsat-isfactory fields.

“So many people were getting in-jured before,” senior football captain Isaac Freedman said. “The turf has definitely reduced the number of injuries. It has been great.”

Though Freedman has been out with a stress fracture unrelated to the new fields, he still believes his team has ben-efited from the turf.

“The turf has gotten the players and the fans more excited,” Freedman said. “We even had 800 people or so at the last

home game.” Freedman believes that the new

facilities have greatly contributed to school spirit within the South community and that this support inspires and motivates South athletes.

Athletic Director Scott Perrin agreed with Freedman.

“[These fields] have allowed us to use these fields regardless of the weather and it has given new ownership and pride in regards to the facilities,” Perrin said. “I’m very excited to have a playable surface that we can use.”

Though the turf fields are widely cited as an advantage, the project is far from perfect.

Since the fields need to work for field hockey, football and soccer games, they contain multiple boundary lines that can cause confusion for athletes.

“[The lines] make it difficult to play. However, it allows lots of teams to play [on the turf],” Raftery said.

In an ideal world, soccer players would not even need to play on the turf.

“I enjoy playing on grass more be-cause then [the game] is not as fast paced,” senior boys’ soccer captain Tamir Zinger said.

McCarthy agreed. “Though every soccer player would prefer to play on well-groomed grass, that is impossible, and since there is no mud, turf is the next best thing,” McCarthy said.

Agreement reached, track construction to beginPeter Haskin

Sports Reporter

The city of Newton announced a final settlement on Oct. 20 with petition-ers concerning the completion of a new outdoor track.

The petitioners, led by Newton resi-dent Guive Mirfendereski, believed that the track would harm the swamp behind the football field.

Many saw the track, which will circle the recently completed competition field, as the final obstacle in completing a project that was started more than five years ago.

“We were exhilarated,” junior and track runner David Melly said on hearing the news with his team. “I’m really glad they were able to come to a reasonable agreement.”

Even after the Massachusetts De-partment of Environmental Protection approved a city permit that allowed the track to be built within the parameters of the nearby wetlands, opponents filed an appeal that would have delayed the process even further.

The recent agreement came when petitioners decided to revoke their appeal and permit the track to be completed.Reactions at South ranged, however, from excitement to skepticism.

Athletic Director Scott Perrin said that the agreement is nothing new. “All that this means is that what we were aim-ing for has been deemed acceptable,” he said of the agreement.

However, Perrin does feel that the timing of the agreement may pose a prob-lem for next season. “I question the time frame for the track and wonder whether there will be track for the of the start sea-

son,” he said.Still, most popular opinion on the

settlement is a positive one. Senior Madeline Reed, a varsity

track standout and senior co-captain, said that the anticipation of a new track for her last season would “definitely be a motiva-tor.”

Boys’ cross country and track coach Matt Capstick agreed with Reed, and said that the prospect of South hosting just its third meet in the last five years would be “pretty exciting.”

Perrin and Reed both pointed out that almost every other outdoor fall sports team at South has been able to take advantage of the new facilities one way or another; “Cross country has been about the only team [that has not benefited],” Perrin said.

Melly hopes that South can make amends with the cross country team by ensuring the track is ready for the spring outdoor track and field season, but he said that it is not the school’s fault that the project has been delayed so long. “The blame falls on the people who held up the construction initially,” Melly said.

Besides the luxury of a new, high-quality track, Capstick said that “being able to perform at home, in front [the community]” would also be a privilege for a team that has been so successful running at other school’s facilities. “We have such a great, hard-working team,” Capstick said. “It would be unfortunate [if the track was not completed for the coming season], but there is a lot that goes into making a track.”

“It would be sad,” Reed said of the possibility of not being able to run on the new track before she graduates. “But it will be what it will be.” An agreement was recently signed that will resume the construction of South’s new track.

photos by Dan Hurwit

november 6, 2009sports30

Senior strengths: Experienced coaching staff, regiment-ed practices including “Madden NFL ‘10” tutorial, possession of Felix Felicis, the one ring to rule them all and control of the Death Star.

Senior weaknesses: Lack of sophomore sleepover may result in envy, undeniable popularity may interfere with mo-tivation, slump predicted to start in late October may make attendance an issue.

Junior strengths: Friends of MADD, unique ability of coordinator Sachs, depth at the running back position.

Junior weaknesses: Awful class slogan, Childlike inno-cence, DRUMS-A-PLENTY.

By Liam O’FlahertyBy Jeff Hurray

Cora Lee Visnick: Speedy, powerful and deceptive, the captain of gymnastics and outdoor track will put up big numbers. She has been ru-mored to vault to heights of 10 feet, a valuable skill that she will need against the freakishly tall juniors as a wide receiver. Visnick secretly attended Bra-zilian jiu jitsu classes in order to toughen up for powderpuff 2009.

NFL comparison: Chad Ochocinco

Tessa Ruben: As a Soccer star and straight-A student, Ruben is the perfect combination of brawn and brains. Her tendency to wear one sock may affect balance; however, it is expected to be a non-issue as she will probably forget socks altogether. She is committed to eating only chicken salad in order to bulk up.

NFL Comparison: Troy Polamalu

Haley Stein: The ideal balance of speed and power will enable this running back to cruise past the juniors’ amateur defense. Sophisti-cated fashion sense may be problematic as neither Juicy nor True Religion makes football jerseys. Stein often pulls her mid-sized SUV around the senior lot during free blocks to improve strength and endurance. She may use look-a-like sister Jilly as a decoy.

NFL comparison: Brian Westbrook

Quinn Ferarro: A seasoned veteran of the defensive unit, Ferarro will demoralize the juniors with her uncanny ability to smell fear. Use of the “hit stick” will undoubtedly force fumbles and pos-

sibly detach limbs. Her surprising strength and godly agility will enable her to hos-

pitalize running backs. Her obses-sion with vampires makes last

year’s bloody nose incident all too coincidental.

NFL comparison: Shawne Merriman

SeniorS ‘10JuniorS ‘11

The Soccer Girls: The engine of the team, their powerful, dynamic athleticism combined with their drive to win help to create a winning resumé. Celia Kaufer: Crazy talent, beats up all 11 of her siblings. Hannah Nussbaum: Has re-ceived multiple death threats for her aggressive play. Audrey DaDalt: eats Berman-Bits for breakfast. Jesse Eysenbach: A German native and citizen, but will she be at the game or with college friends? Blair Borden: The allit-eration speaks for itself. Martha Schnee: Put her in the game and she will wreak havoc (although no one knows for which side).

Chloe Rothman: Rumored to be in contact with the Cleveland Browns and Cava-liers, Rothman is an offensive dynamo bred to play the position. She ran a 4.30 at the 40-yard dash during the National Powderpuff Combine. In position to step in as the varsity quarterback tomorrow against Lincoln-Sudbury if all goes well this game.

NFL Comparison: Tom Brady

Rachel Leshin: Muscle-bound freak of nature. Has a killer in-

stinct. Likes: Bones snapping, touchdowns, injury timeouts, protein shakes.

Dislikes: Pansies, losers, overachievers, seniors. Imagine the person who can take down Brandon Jacobs – Leshin would send that guy to the hospital.

NFL Comparison: Dick Butkus

photos by Dan Hurwit and Danielle Stubbe

Rachel Davidson: Do not be fooled by the Peter Pan or Pocahontas outfits, the big game falls right in the middle of shark week. Strengths:

She has a highly streamlined body and her ability to sniff out blood from miles

away will result in a feeding frenzy behind the line of scrimmage.Weaknesses: Sensitivity to allusions from Pixar’s “Finding Nemo.”

NFL Compari-son: Julius Peppers

graphic by Delphine Rodrik

Powderpuff Preview

november 6, 2009 sports 31

The Sports Reporter

Junior Austin Pollack is taking his interest in broadcasting to a new level by recording South’s football games for NewTV. The Roar asked him about his new responsiblities at the job.

Powderpuff Preview

The Lion’s Roar: What do you do to pre-pare for games?Austin Pollack: For the other team [be-sides South], I usually start off by search-ing for the school football team in order to try to use their records, rosters and notes [for my commentary]. I also try to find an article from their last game, their captains, coaches and any other interesting statis-tics.

LR: How did you get involved with this?AP: I have a friend whose father knows I am interested in sports journalism, so he called Macey Russell then he asked me if I wanted to do play-by-play for the football team.

LR: Is anybody working with you?AP: The second game I worked with a former South football player, Stephen Wu. Working with somebody will be a game-by-game situation. Sometimes, I’ll have somebody with me, and sometimes I won’t. However, it is much easier to be working with somebody. That way, I can share the talking, and I can focus on the play-by-play.

LR: Why are you doing this?AP: I want to pursue a career in sports journalism or sports broadcasting, so I figured that two years before I go to col-lege this would be a good way to start. It’s a great resource to send to colleges, and this

is a good way to show them that I really care about what I’m doing.

LR: Would you like to see a program for broadcast journalism at South?AP: It should definitely be an elective for students. I think it would be a good class for people who are really interested in pur-suing a career in sports journalism so that they can learn how to be more confident [while on the air].

LR: Is there anything you don’t like about broadcasting the games?AP: I don’t like the fact that it is on Friday nights. It is only for the fall so it’s not a big deal I guess. I also don’t like some of the

press boxes that I sit in to call the play-by-play. I like the experience of the whole thing, but for my second game against Weston, I had to stand on top of the press box and it was rainy, cold and simply unpleasant.

LR: Do you feel any pressure on the air?AP: My confidence is really boosted when a big play happens and I know exactly what to say.

But when I’m not exactly sure what’s happening, then it can be difficult. There’s pressure to explain what’s going on, but the problem is I’m not always sure what’s going on because sometimes it can be hard to see [the field].

photo by Dan Hurwit

TEAM

5-11-2

Loss to Needham, 8-1

Girls’ Soccer

Boys’ Soccer

Loss to A-B, 8-0Field Hockey

Golf

Football

Nov. 6 vs. CharlestonVolleyball

8-1 DCL Championship Oct. 30, 2nd place

EMASS Championship

Nov. 14

“For these next two weeks we are going to work to improve our depth as a team.” – Madeleine Reed

Girls’ XC

5-4 “We want to qualify at least as individuals for the All States meet, and ideally we will qualify as a team.” – David Melly

Boys’ XC

RECORD LAST GAME NEXT GAME QUOTE

DCL Championship Oct. 30, 4th place

EMASS Championship

Nov. 14

Did not qualify for state tournament

Did not qualify for state tournament

Did not qualify for state tournament

4-8-3

Loss to North, 3-1

1-15

8-3-1

13-6

Win vs. Boston Latin, 16-6

Tie vs. Westford, 113-113

Loss to A-B, 3-0

3-5 Nov. 7 vs. Waltham

“It was more of a building year for us. Overall we have a great

team that is going to succeed in the future.” – Mikayla Bogart

“I think we improved a lot from last year but we still have work to do.” – Colby Medoff

“Despite the record, the team improved a lot, and we have high hopes for next season.” – Chloe Milliman

“We have a chance to win the DCL if we win our last three

games, and we definitely can do that.” – Arthur Mescon

“We won DCL’s but didn’t quite go all the way. We were a little

disappointed with how the postseason went.” – Jesse Zorfas

“We have a group of girls who have been together for three years ... we are not the underdog anymore.” – Todd Elwell

Did not qualify for state tournament

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