THE PINE NEEDLEVolume XCIII St. Christopher’s School, Richmond, Virginia, November 2007 No. 2

Tidbits from Teddy

by Robert Allen ’09

The drive-thru in front of Chamberlayne Hall has seen a variety of cars from across the automotive spectrum. These cars range from 1926 to 2006 models with top speed anywhere from 43 mph to an electroni-cally restricted 155 mph. From a gas-sipping hybrid to a 13-mpg diesel truck and hot pink wire wheels to 20-inch chrome rims and everything in between. Here we look at three of the most extreme fac-ulty cars and their owners. Many of the aforemen-tioned statistics belong to the Mercedes-Benz S500 of Mr. Bolling. His car is clearly the most powerful, luxurious and extravagant faculty car at St. Christopher’s. Mr. Bolling has

had a lifelong passion for cars. “My father said I was vaccinat-ed with a spark plug.” he said. In his life, Mr. Bolling has owned roughly a dozen Porsches along with several Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs. He even autocrossed years ago with his Porsches; however, he insists those days are over. “I can’t do the little sports cars anymore,” he said. This is one reason Mr. Bolling went with the S class Mercedes. “It’s easier to get in and out of,” he said. He also likes its style and the statement it makes. “It makes a positive statement as opposed to an ‘I want a geezer car,’” he said. So what’s next for Mr.Bolling? Not surprisingly, he is in-terested in the Mini Cooper. Meanwhile, Dr. Sharp’s 2006 Toyota Prius is a very different

machine. “We wanted a hybrid for gas mileage, plus Toyota makes some of the best and most reliable cars on the market,” the Upper School biology teacher said. Dr. Sharp recalls a trip in his Prius from Charlotte, N.C. to Richmond, a distance of about 350 miles, in which he used just six gallons of gas. That’s 57 mpg. Dr. Sharp is obviously very practical about his cars. In addition to gas mileage and reliability, he enjoys the com-fort, interior space and many cool features such as keyless ig-nition. But to Dr. Sharp, his Pri-us is more than just a practical, cost-saving car. He also bought his car to do his part in making the world a better place. “It says I care about using less gasoline for

Faculty shows off automobiles

Inside

Mr. Nelson Reveley has long given up his childhood dream of digging for dinosaurs as an archaeologist. A 13-year Saint of the class of ’01 and a 2005 Princeton graduate, Mr. Rev-eley now sets his sights on be-coming a Presbyterian pastor. He decided on his career path in his sophomore year of col-lege, majoring in religion. Cur-rently in school at Union-PSE, he needs only two internships to graduate: one under a pastor in a church and one under a chap-lain. This fall he is interning under Chaplain Melissa Hol-lerith to fulfill his requirements. He spends his time teach-

ing a New Testament studies class, leading a chapel service once a month and helping to coach the Cross Country team. I asked Mr. Reveley how today’s St. Christopher’s is different than it was dur-ing his days as a student. He replied, “It’s a lot fancier. We definitely didn’t have the huge flat screen TV’s.” He went on to talk about the community

saying, “Everything is pretty steady as far as the community goes and the school produc-ing well-rounded gentlemen.” Mr. Revely is popular in his sixth period biblical stud-ies class, one student saying, “I’d give him an eight (on a 10-point scale) based on pure coolness. He’s a ‘beast.’” – A beast indeed. Another student said, “He’s an 11 on an awesomeness scale,.”

Reveley returns to STCby Kurt Jensen ’11

See Automobiles page 5>

(Above) An enthusiastic class yearns for Mr. Reveley’s atten-tion ( Left) Reveley’s Senior Portrait ‘01

See Tidbits page 2>

Due to popular demand, “tid-bits” has returned to bring you up to date on all the latest news and gossip from around campus.

***** I feel it is appropriate to begin by welcoming the newest member of the St. Christopher’s

community. At 6:52 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 26, John Asher Green was born at St. Mary’s Hospital to proud parents

John and Vicky Green. The second child of our venerable English sage will apparently be called Asher. “Quite frankly, he looks like a garden gnome,” said Mr. Green. We at The Pine Needle wish to extend our con-gratulations to the Green fam-ily on their newest addition.

***** In my last column, I informed you of Coach Tune’s arrival in the Upper School as head disciplinarian, taking over the position from our beloved Mr. Abbott. I caught up with Coach Tune and asked him how he likes his new job. “It is what it is,” he said. “I can’t fill in Mr. Abbot’s shoes, just can’t replace him.” According to Coach Tune, repeat offenders of school rules include T.D. Hoover ’08, Jimmy Meadows ’08, and Paul Ferramosca ’08. He has no-ticed that a good majority of the troublemakers also happen to be seniors. I then asked Coach Tune if the allegations are true that he is calling students’ cell phones to see if they are turned on, an action that many would label as entrapment. “Possi-bly” was the brusque reply, and then the interview was over.

***** We also celebrate the marriage of Ms. Ryan Miller to Mr. Gregory Peirce of Utah. Mr. Peirce, whom Ms. Miller (now Mrs. Peirce) met at church, cur-rently attends medical school and plans to enter the army as a doctor after he graduates. The Peirces will wait until Christmas to take a honeymoon, when they will travel to the Dominican Re-public. That low, droning noise you hear in the background is probably Mrs. Peirce’s physics and chemistry classes emitting a collective groan. Speaking about her new married life, Mrs. Peirce said, “It has not been awkward or weird, just really comfortable and like it was meant to be. The hardest part is now sharing my bathroom.” We wish to congrat-ulate Mrs. Peirce on her big day.

***** Alas, the brutal ordeal that is summer reading test-ing has finished. While it took

Sports pg. 3

Boese, King:Homecoming float contest

pg. 4

More faculty carspg. 6

Bring your cansto Saturday football

game against Collegiate

pg. 2

2 The Pine Needle November 2007

Every year the University of Virginia and Virginia Polytech-nic and State University sponsor a massive canned food drive at their football game. The schools work together to collect as much as possible to donate to charities. This year, our school will do the same thing at the football game against arch rival Collegiate. Both schools have decided to participate in a united effort to gather canned goods for the Central Virginia Food Bank. “It is not a competition be-tween the schools,” said Mrs. Hollerith, Upper School chap-lain. “We decided it was bet-ter for the schools to join forces for a change rather than make it another competition.” In other words, it’s on. The Student Council and Mis-sionary Society will advertise the food drive as the game approach-es. Families from the Lower, Middle and Upper Schools will be asked to bring a grocery bag of canned goods to the game, where they will be collected. The goal is to break the Rich-mond city school record, which is 3,300 lbs or 220 grocery bags.

Mrs. Hollerith is very optimis-tic about the chances of break-ing the record. “When she told me what the record was I was surprised,” said Mrs. Hol-lerith, “I told her we would at least double that record. We will get at least 450 bags.” Somebody call Guinness. If broken, the record will be recorded as both schools having the record together. The game is Saturday, Nov. 3 at Knowles Field. Come out and show your support for the Saints football team and bring a bag of food to help those in need.

Cougars and Saints team up to break canned food recordby Mark Burlee ’10

There are a total of 30 Eagle Scouts, give or take a few, in the Upper School division of St. Christopher’s. You may have noticed their pictures posted on the bulletin board in Chamber-layne Hall. In troop 400, at least 10 of our St. Christo-pher scouts achieved the rank of Eagle by eighth or ninth grade; this is ex-tremely fast since Scouts have until age 18 to achieve this rank. One may wonder why our students succeed in this field. Many of Scouts traditions and mottos mirror St. Christo-pher’s. The school cherishes the teaching and develop-ment of the “whole boy” while scouts also embraces teach-ing of character, being honor-able and helpful, in essence

being a “man of character.” “The caliber of the stu-dents from St. Christopher’s is what allows them to advance so quickly,” said Ian Codding-ton, troop 444 scout master who is an administrator at the Steward School. Many of our

Eagle Scouts also tend to dominate in their chosen fields: Neil McGroarty, f o o t b a l l , track and la-crosse stand-out; Pierre Molster, Stu-dent Council p r e s i d e n t ; Charles El-len, who heads Battle of the Brains and Sci-

ence Bowl; and Brewster Rawls, president of Outdoor Gentlemen’s Club. In addi-tion, three of four Pine Needle Editors are also Eagle Scouts -- Brian Kusiak, Brendan Worst and John Mark DiGrazia. Mr. Szymendera’s statement on the matter—“It’s awesome.”

Eagles soar at St. Christopher’s

On Aug. 31, at Jena High School in Louisiana, a black stu-dent at an annual school assem-bly asked if he was allowed to sit under a tree that was generally regarded as being for white stu-dents only. The school adminis-tration granted him permission. The next day, three noos-es in school colors were found hanging from the tree. The administration found that three white males were respon-sible. The school board gave the three students three days of in-school suspension for what the Superintendent and many in the small, Louisiana com-munity regard as a “prank.” Many black students at Jena High School held a protest un-der the tree on Sept. 6, when the suspensions were issued. Officers came to the school, threatening the students to end the protest, and an as-sembly was held due to the words exchanged between the white and black students. In December of 2006, some black students were invited to a party whose attendees were predominantly white and de-nied entry by a 22-year-old white male. This white male, along with some others at the party allegedly punched, kicked and threw beer bottles at them. He was later given battery charges and probation. One of the attackers later saw those he attacked at a conve-nience store. He pulled out his shotgun, which was wrestled away by the attacked individu-als. The black students received charges of assault and theft. Days later, Justin Barker, a white student at Jena High School, allegedly taunted the attacked students about be-ing beaten. Barker was later beaten in the hallway for his taunting and sent for a precau-tionary checkup at the hospital after the beating. He went to a

school function later that day. The six black students who beat Barker were arrested and charged with attempted mur-der and were held on $130,000 bond. Charges were later re-duced to aggravated battery. All of the black students were out on bail except Mychal Bell. On Thursday, Sept. 20, in Jena, thousands protested for the Jena Six, what the six black students have been called, and for the release of Mychal Bell. Rallies were held all over the country. One was held in front of the Library of Virginia and on the campus of VCU that day. The march/protest in Jena and the rallies at VCU and the Li-brary of Virginia were reported-ly peaceful. Civil Rights lead-ers such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton all voiced support for the Jena Six along with radio personalities Tom Joyner, Steve Harvey and Michael Baesdon, who covered the event non-stop for more than two weeks on his afternoon FM radio show. Da-vid Bowie even donated $10,000 for Bell’s defense. Bell was re-leased on Thursday, Sept 24, a week after the massive protest. I interviewed more than 70 teachers and students from the St. Christopher’s and St. Cath-erine’s. I was sure to interview people of different races, reli-gions and viewpoints to make certain that the interviewing pro-cess wasn’t biased in any way.

The general consensus was that it was a tragic situation, but the opinions on the details of the is-sue varied greatly. Many said that all of the students should have been punished equally. One student said that the black students were right to beat up the white students, another said that the black students were asking for trouble with others agreeing. Some said that the issue was overblown and the country should “chill” about it, and others said that more should be done and the times haven’t changed as much as many Amer-icans believe that they have.Many people took sides, say-ing that the blacks should have been punished, or the whites should have been punished, or that the blacks were exploited. One teacher said that it was disturbing that this country is still dealing with separation. Another said that it reminded him of the civil rights era, and another said that it was a misun-derstanding between both par-ties. Over half of the students I interviewed did not know about the issue (most of these students were from Middle School.

Saints react to Jena 6by Jabriel Hasan ’11

by Rennie Merhige ’10

some students multiple tries (three to be exact), all eventu-ally passed. “I’m just swelled up with pride that our class has passed these rigorous exami-nations,” said senior Brendan Worst. “I give all the credit to our superb English staff.”

***** One person accus-tomed to mastering massive texts is sophomore Titus Mat-thews. Next August, Mat-thews will defend his title as the Bible Quizzing National champion, which he won last summer. He is the youngest winner ever, and the only victor from Virginia. Mathews stud-ies the bible for five hours each weekend, although he has not read the entire Bible. “I am a devout Christian and it’s fun to do the competition,” he says. “I learn a lot about the Bible.”

*****

Si Wofford ’10 broke his own fundraising record in the walk to cure lymphoma and leukemia. His team of dedicated walkers, the cy-clones, raised more than $3,000.

***** The Saints football team was a smashing success on homecoming, thrashing St. Anne’s-Belfield 30-7. Mac Jennings, one of the games many stars because of his first quarter touchdown catch, said, “It was unbelievable! It was like the ball came down from heaven right to my hands. I felt like I had so many endorphins coursing through my veins!”

***** That’s it for this edi-tion of “Tidbits.” If you desire a heftier dosage in the next Pine Needle, please inform me of any news from around school.

Tidbits, continued from page 1

Some St. Christopher’s Eagle Scouts pose outside of Scott Gymnasium. In the wake of the recent

changes in the cafeteria, The Pine Needle set out to investi-gate student opinions on the new service. What we found . . .was startling—average responses. The three questions in which we asked for ratings generated these averages: how would you rate the food -- 3.345, how would you rate the service -- 3.379, how would you rate the cafeteria layout -- 3.046. Unfortunately, the averages seem too similar to differentiate, but the layout of the cafeteria received the lowest ratings by a fair margin. Despite our efforts to get the surveys out to most of the school, only 88 of the 320 stu-dents in the Upper School re-turned the surveys. Even with the small number of returned

surveys, we still received many memorable and valu-able opinions and suggestions. Students have commended the higher quality of the food this year with the new food service, Sage. One unsigned service hailed the “better food overall, especially the salad and deli bar.” Student after student mentioned the bet-ter quality of food this year. While the quality of the food has improved, students still have found areas which could be improved. William Irby ’08 wishes the cafeteria could more often “keep the drinks running properly.” Some such as Justin Thompson ’09 among many others miss the Chick-Fil-A sandwiches from years past. John Wilkinson ’08, a rather ac-complished gourmand, would like “thicker gravy for the bis-cuits.” Portions also recurred as

Perspectives on the new food serviceby Brian Kusiak ’08 Teddy Mitchell ’08

an issue because many students are dissatisfied with the amount of food they are apportioned. Many praised the drinks this year. Dr. Boese has been very happy with the return of iced tea to the cafeteria beverage options. Others enjoy the lem-onade and the strawberry-ba-nana-kiwi. By far the runaway favorite though was the orange-passion-guava juice. Orange-passion-guava delighted stu-dents. When, one morning, the students arrived in the cafeteria with an empty glass, ready to fill it with that beautiful nectar, the orange-passion-guava had been replaced by mere orange juice. One student exclaimed in response to this replacement, “Oh! The inequity!” Senior Jack Hutcheson added that it “made me mentally unstable.” We all hope to see the return of the orange-passion-guava juice. The changing of the layout has been very controversial and has met with few compliments. Charles Ellen ’08 said that “speed getting and leaving trays” should be improved. Another student said the “efficiency of the caf-eteria layout” is lacking. Most have noticed the cafeteria being very crowded during lunchtime. In summation, the student body and the faculty all seem to agree that this year’s cafete-ria is an improvement despite the few complaints. Overall, the most pressing of the com-plaints was the need for im-provement in cafeteria layout.

See Hasan’s Editorial page 2>

November 2007 The Pine Needle 3

Sports

Waking up at 4:15 a.m.; en-during nine practices a week; swimming 160 laps with a heart rate of 180; leading the nation’s No. 1 18-and-under 200 in-dividual medley relay team. Impressed? This dedication and excellence is what St. Chris-topher’s all-American swimmer Robert Barry ’08 is all about. Barry, the All-Prep, All-State and All-American captain of the Saints swim team, has taken his swimming to the next level by competing year round for the Poseidon Swim team. Barry is not only a dominant presence in Prep League swim-ming but also a member of the No. 1 ranked 18-and-under 200 meter individual medley team in the country. Barry’s team’s time rank first nationally, and his Poseidon team was .01 sec-onds off the all-time 18 and un-der mark with a time of 1:46.79. “Robert is very competi-

tive and a great racer,” one of Barry’s teammates, Stuart Fer-guson, a junior at the Colle-giate School, said. “Our record came during the last race our team would have together, and we were racing against a lot of college guys, some of whom were in their 20s. We wanted to show what we were made of.”

They certainly proved them-selves, as two of the members of the team are now swimming at the college level and Barry and Ferguson are sure to fol-low. Barry, who ranks his top choices as the University of South Carolina, the University of North Carolina at Wilming-ton and the College of Charles-ton, hopes that with another year of hard work and success he will be able to continue his success on the next stage. Already having been named a high school short course all-American in the 100-meter back stroke, Barry continues to set his sights higher. Barry’s goal is expected to set the Virginia In-dependent Schools state record in the 100-meter back stroke, and he hopes to lead the Saints to another winning season. “This year’s St. Christo-pher’s swim team will make a run at Collegiate and the rest of the teams in the Prep League and State,” he said.

Robert Barry, all-what? Bryce Chalkley stood on the eighteenth tee at the RGA Junior Championship in July knowing he had a chance to win the tournament. Chalkley did not win, losing by one stroke on the final hole to Matt Neely, yet the tournament added to his impressive resume as a golfer. The RGA Junior Champion-ship was only part of Chalkley’s busy golf schedule during the summer. The St. Christopher’s junior traveled to Florida twice and played in several in-state tournaments. Last year, Chalk-ley took part in the Varsity golf team and competed well under pressure. “I guess I thrive on being nervous,” said Chalk-ley. He has certainly faced his fair share of pressure situ-ations, including last year’s Prep League playoff against Hunter Ross when the match was decided after extra holes. “I was nervous because I didn’t want to lose to a girl,” he said.

The success that Chalkley has had on the course did not come immediately, however. Chalk-ley has been playing golf since the young age of 2 when his grandfather encouraged him to take up the sport. Chalk-ley says his inspiration comes from his father, who is also an avid golfer. Chalkley’s home course is the Country Club of Petersburg, but he is also a regular at Salisbury Golf Club. One day, Chalkley hopes to earn a golf scholarship to a good school and travel to the venerable Augusta Na-tional Golf Club in Georgia.

by John Stillwell ’09

Chalking up a career

What is the current STC XC record?Our dual meet record is 3-1 right now, with wins over Trinity and Woodberry and a loss to Doug-las Freeman. As far as the invi-tational races go, we placed 2nd at FUMA (B race), 4th at Wood-berry Forest, 2nd at William & Mary (C race), 6th at May-mont (B race) and 1st at STAB.

What have been some key rac-es so far this year?For one, our strong showing at the Woodberry Forest Invita-tional let us know that we have a lot of potential to work with. Our 4th place finish (compared to last year’s 15th place finish) demonstrates that we made a significant leap over much of our competition. Recently, a first place finish at the STAB invitational was solidified with five of our runners placing in the top 10 overall. As far as our dual meets go, certainly a main highlight was beating Wood-berry Forest for the first time since 2003. However, losing against a strong Douglas Free-man team shows that we still have much ground to cover over the latter part of the season.

What do you think of the per-formance of the team overall? What is going well and what could be improved?Overall, I am pleased with our performance at this point. All of the upper classmen had very high expectations going into the season. I think that everyone has been putting in a lot of ef-fort, from summer mileage to our recent track workouts. In particular, Harrison Tucker and Sam Hewitt have both stepped up a great deal from last year, with Tucker leading our races thus far. Andrew Bernard has also proved to be an extremely valuable member of the team, making the transfer from track to cross country this season. John Mark DiGrazia and Mack-ie Wellford round out the rest of our senior members with their dedication and persistence.

What are some of your best times of the season?

My best race time so far is a 17:45 posting at William & Mary, yet I consider my 60:38 10-mile run to be a much greater accomplishment. I’m not very satisfied with any of my 5k races so far, but I am looking to drop my times significantly over the latter part of the sea-son. I plan on taking advantage of our speed workouts to break my 17:01 PR from last year.

How is it different being a cap-tain versus just being a player on the team? Being a captain, I feel com-pelled to set a good example in terms of work ethic, dedi-cation and racing strategy. I feel that it’s my obligation to help keep the team motivat-ed and focused on our goals.

How do feel about the claim that Cross Country is more of an individual than team sport?It places a great deal of re-sponsibility on each of the top members of the team. Every-one has to come through in the end for the team to place well, but it takes a great amount of individual persistence and dedication to motivate yourself to put forth 100% every race.

What has it been like running with coaches Nystrom, Bruner and Green?Mr. Nystrom is without a doubt the most knowledgeable dis-tance running coach out there, and it’s a great comfort to have him designing the workouts for

our team. I think that his records in the past speak for themselves, boasting a four-year streak of undefeated dual meets (1973-1976), as well as producing a national champion in Charles Alexander (1981). In addition, Mr. Bruner’s legendary stories and upbeat attitude always help to improve team morale. Mr. Green works a great deal to motivate the team, often run-ning the workouts right there with us and serving as a great pacer. Both Bruner and Green help inspire the team through their accomplishments in dis-tance running over the years. Are there any young guys (freshmen and sophomores) who are making a big im-pact?Jamie Ruml put in a great amount of effort in the sum-mer and it’s really showing now. Ruml is leading a dedi-cated group of sophomores that should develop into a strong team in the years to come, in-cluding Robert Johns, Wil-liam Newman and Brian Finch.

What is it like running three seasons?It’s definitely tough to keep mentally focused in running distance for nine months. You have to pick and choose your goals carefully, deciding at which times you plan to peak because you can’t run at an el-evated level year round. Be-tween cross country and track, cross country is definitely the better sport, no question.

by Ryan Van Sumeren ’10

Harrison talks Cross Country

John Mark DiGrazia (right) winces from salt sweat as Benja-min Harrison (left) flexes hard. Note old truck in background. Top that, Mr. Bolling.

Barry flexes to intimidate competition.

by John Mark DiGrazia ’08

Varsity football highs and lowsby John Mark DiGrazia ’08

Captain Neil McGroarty runs hard down field

Two weekends ago, in the game against Episcopal High School, captain Richard Luck suffered a shoulder dislocation that halted his football season and may end his athletic par-ticipation for the entire year. However, the Saints fought hard and won 20-17 in overtime. Earlier in the season, in the Homecoming game against St. Anne’s-Belfield School, the Saints rallied in front of an en-thusiastic home crowd, winning 30-7. However, in the very next game, they lost 61-7 to Fork union Mili-tary Academy. These extreme highs and lows have character-ized the erratic Varsity football season for 2007. Despite good team unity and high intensity, the team has come up with several tough losses. The team’s current record is 3-5, with wins over Bullis School, St. Anne’s and Episcopal High School, and losses to St. Stephen’s & St. Ag-nes School, Norfolk Academy, Fork Union Military Academy and Bishop Ireton High School. However, the current record has not gotten the team down, ac-cording to Captain Neil McGro-arty. “I think it’s easy to get the team motivated because we’ve won a double overtime game and we crushed STAB at Home-coming,” he said. “ We know the feeling is really good when we celebrate in the locker room. We have to get that feeling back.” It is hard for McGroarty not to be positive given his injury and sickness from last year that kept him from participating in Varsity Indoor Track and La-crosse. First a pulled muscle and then meningitis set back Neil’s athletic goals in teams where he has been a huge pres-ence. While he had to take it easy in preseason when he was still fighting off injury and sickness, he is now back. McGroarty felt like a switch went on when the school year started, and he began to feel better. Now he is focused and ready to finish off his last sea-son. “Given what happened last year with all my sickness and injuries, anything can happen,

so I go out there and play every play like it’s my last,” McGro-arty said. “You never know if you’re going to get a concussion and get taken out of the game.” Other seniors are focused, too. Everyone is hopeful to im-prove last year’s 3-7 record and finish this year with more wins than losses. The seniors have a great sense of unity in their quest to finish off the season strong. The night before most games this season, the seniors have gotten together at a team member’s house to eat dinner and get ready for the next day’s

c o m p e t i t i o n . In addition, c o - c a p t a i n , Richard Luck, who will play next year at Vir-ginia Military Institute, has shown strong d e d i c a t i o n . M c G r o a r t y said that he

and Luck work well together.

“We’re always on the same page about everything,” Mc-Groarty said. “He’s got the defense, I’ve got the offense.” Before the game against Episcopal, McGroarty said, “We’re going to take the next three games a game at a time, so right now we are just focusing on EHS. Obviously the team will be really jacked up against Collegiate, but we need to take that intensity into the rest of these games.” The team split the next two games, beating Epis-copal but losing to Woodberry. Now everyone is only focused on the Colle-giate game this Saturday. At this week’s pep rally, Luck and McGroarty took the stage to inspire their teammates and loyal fans. “We have a very hard-working team, and we’re good, but we’ve been making some stupid mistakes that have killed us,” said Luck. “But everyone should come out to our game against Colle-giate. Remember November.” Come out on Saturday to see the seniors put on their pads for the last time wearing red and gray. “Seizing the opportunity we have on Saturday and de-feating the hated Cougars will shine a light on the season that I, as a senior, will never for-get,” said senior Mac Jennings.

4 The Pine Needle November 2007

Jena 6Continued from page 2

This issue is very personal to me, since my grandfather was going to be lynched dur-

ing the 1920s. He ran from the threat of lynching all of his life. For me, as for most black Amer-icans, the noose gives a burning reminder of what the past was and the old racism of America. A noose hanging from a tree in the new millennium speaks for itself: that old racism isn’t so old. America still faces social problems involving racism, prej-udice and discrimination that go unnoticed unless they are overt. As school fight participants are up for prison time, Latino immi-grants are being bought and sold like slaves by big money corpo-rations, such as the meatpacking industry and the agricultural in-dustry, people are slowly being killed by harmful chemicals in everything from meat to chew-ing gum and women are still

Rest assured, you aren’t hal-lucinating. Alex Gannon ’10 is back at St. Christopher’s. Gannon moved this past summer after the company his father worked for, Wachovia Securities, announced that they were moving headquarters to St. Louis. He spent four weeks there, during which he partici-pated in preseason football and attended school at Mary Insti-tute and Saint Louis Country Day School, MICDS for short. Gannon had lived in Rich-mond his whole life and he was less than happy to be leaving. “Richmond is my home,” he said. “It was tough to leave all my friends.” However, after living only a short period of time in Missouri, he was ecstatic to find that his father had accepted a new job for Capital One, and would be moving his family back to Rich-mond. Gannon was most excit-ed to learn that he would be able to return to St. Christopher’s

and reunite with all his friends. Although he liked MICDS, which is bigger than St. Christopher’s and coed, he said he enjoyed going to St. Christopher’s more. “It [St. Christopher’s School] just suits me better,” he said. Besides for the make-up work and missing out on St. Christopher’s football, mov-ing back after a couple weeks of school had gone by did not bother him. “I’m just happy to be back,” he said. “My life’s fi-nally getting back to normal.”

Gannon returnsby Patrick Delaney ’10

As the half-time buzzer at the Varsity football game sounded its cry, another contest was about to start. The floats were ready, and the competition was on. Before Homecoming had even arrived, students had been working on another contest: the float competion. Each class cre-ated and decorated a float, and then displayed it during half-time at the Homecoming game against STAB at Knowles Field. The competion took the form of a parade with Dr. Wayne Bo-ese coming out first in a sporty, white convertible as the King of Homecoming. Immediate-

First annual homecoming float competitionEDITORIAL

being reduced to homemakers, not capable of high positions in working society. We’re still dealing with issues such as the disenfranchisement of voters in poor communities and/or of old age. A student commented on my writing this article, say-ing that The Pine Needle is a school newspaper and this issue has nothing to do with school. I disagree. The whole point of school is to learn how to know not Biology 1 or Algebra 2, but to know how to understand the world, conquer it and make it your own. If we don’t know what’s going on in the world, how can we understand it? What happened to the spirit of stand-ing up for the hard right against the easy wrong? Did it die with the hippies, the disco balls or the platform shoes? Where is the hope that we can make the world a better place one person at a time? Did that die with 9/11, or Hurricane Katrina? We seem to forget that America wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for people fight-ing for what was right. Remem-ber the Pledge of Allegiance, with liberty and justice for all…­­

Every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday a group of seniors tutors kids from Kindergarten through fifth grade at St. An-drew’s School. Many students might consider this to be the most frustrating time of the day, but if you were to ask any of these tutors what the best part of the school day was for them, they would most likely say their time at St. Andrew’s S c h o o l . Every time we go there, the kids are waiting at the door for us to arrive. Some tutors teach the kids the basics of reading, while other tutors simply help the kids complete their homework for that night. St.Andrew’s mission “is to edu-cate children of limited resourc-es through a balanced academic, social and spiritual experience shaped by the Episcopal tradition and inspired by Christian faith.” These kids have little, but when we go and see them they gain a

lot and their lives become much happier. “It’s helping me a lot, and it also helps my mom,” said Vincent Green, a first grader. After completing their home-work, the kids get to enjoy the rest of the afternoon outside with the tutors. When outside we play basketball and kickball. A few weeks ago, senior Aus-

tin John-son hit a homerun in base-ball, and the kids went cra-zy and ran a r o u n d the bases with him. T h e s e moments m a k e

the kids happy, and their joy reminds us why we volunteer there after school every day. Seniors who participate are Austin Johnson, Whit Long, Logan Cochran, Brian Kusiak, Brewster Rawls, William Irby, Rob Valentine, Pierre Molster, William Cronly, Matt Clark and I. “I could have done SAC, but I chose to tutor at St. Andrew’s so that the young students could get the help they needed to do well and be excited about school,”

ly, the Boese chant broke out as the tomahawk song blared out over the sound system. Next, the freshman class en-tered, driven on a trailer by Mr. Green. They endeavored to lead the Saints with cheers and sported a lot of white and red colors with painted faces. Even Mrs. Varner joined the fun. Close behind, the sophomores drove up in their trailer. Follow-ing a Super Smash Bros. theme, they popped out of a trashcan dressed as the game’s characters. All William Bannard ’10 could manage to say about his Princess Peach costume was, “I was hot.” After that, the junior class made their debut with a Saints

Dr. Boese, the parade’s grand marshal, brandishes his scepter.

A member of the sophomore class’s winning float beats down a koopa as part of their Mario Bros. themed float.

sports theme and “The Final Countdown” music. In the “wrestling arena” Briggs Cooke ’11 was finally beaten down by other juniors such as Tyler Span-gler, who was decked out in a studly wrestling singlet. They also threw candy into the crowd, but these hard projectiles were not cheerily accepted, as many students were pelted in the head. The senior class then brought up the parade with many of the seniors, including Joe Munno and Dante Bellins cruising in Richard Luck’s red Dodge Ram 1500. Behind them Charles El-len, Kirby Fox and Sam Hewitt fired off a potato gun filled with Saint’s T-shirts into the crowd. Originally, the seniors were going to bring in T.D. Hoover’s grandfather’s 1929 fire truck. Unfortunately, it broke down on Huguenot Bridge while traveling to St. Christopher’s. After much dispute between the judges (including Mrs. Hol-lerith and Mr. Bolling), the an-nouncer declared the winners the sophomore class. Many sophomores were overcome, as Will Connolly ‘10, with tears in his eyes, said, “This is the best day of my life.” All in all, the majority of the students declared the float parade to be a success. Many partici-pants said, “At first it was kind of nerve-wracking, but once you got into it, it was pretty fun.”

Seniors Ellen, Fox and Hewitt operate their home-

made t-shirt launcher.

by Stephane Irankunze ’09

It was only seven years ago that he stepped onto Ameri-can soil for the first time. His new life was much different from life in Burundi, his native country. The culture seemed different, and the language was foreign. The memories of his arrival and subsequent culture shock are still vivid.So when Stephane Irankunze, a junior at St. Christopher’s School, heard of an opportu-nity to tutor children who had a similar background, he ea-gerly embraced it. Ms. Var-ner had told Irankunze about twins from Tanzania who needed some academic help. The twins, Billy and Bobby Burris, moved to America when they were just 4 years old. “I don’t remember much about Tanzania,” Bobby Burris said. “All I know about it is from what my mom tells me.” Since Tan-zania borders his native coun-try, Irankunze is familiar with the twins’ culture and heritage. While the Burris boys may not know as much about Africa, they are very much into its cul-ture and always proudly tell peo-ple where they’re from. “So they got really excited to meet Ste-phane because they knew he was from Africa,” their mother said. “It’s like visiting with people from the same continent you are

from, except [now you’re on] another continent,” said Bobby about getting to meet someone from Africa. “It’s pretty cool.” While their common eth-nic bond would be compelling enough, this tutoring trio has a mutual connection founded in admiration and respect. Irankunze said, “They are two of the most respectful and well-mannered boys I have ever seen. They are very impressive.” Billy Burris said that learn-ing with Stephane has been fun. “He encourages me to want to learn more,” he said. Billy and Bobby are in the fifth grade at Mary Munford Elementary School. While Irankunze said that they are “very bright,” he modestly aknowledges the boys’ marked improvements over the past year

since he has been working with them. He has tutored them in math, English and social studies. “It has been a pleasure to be able to work with some-one in need and see them im-prove,” Irankunze said. “I am very happy for them.” He used to meet with the boys every few weekends, and he regrets to admit that he has been un-able to meet with the boys in person yet this school year. According to the Burris’ mother, however, Irankunze has not been completely re-miss in his duties. “He always calls to check on them and to see how they are doing,” she said. “[Stephane] is a good boy and is very encouraging.” And Irankunze is still quite confident that the twins are doing very well in school—even without his regular help. As Bobby said, “He taught me how to study,…­­and [he taught me] different [techniques] to use. He also taught me that I need to study every night, [whether by] writing sentences down or studying multiplication.” Irankunze said the experience has added to his own well of wisdom. He said that the twins have taught him that one can still be a well-rounded, outstanding person even if he is not neces-sarily the brightest in his class.”

Irankunze tutors Tanzanian twinsby Kyle Wittenauer ’10Seniors tutor at St. Andrew’s School

by George Parrish ’08

November 2007 The Pine Needle 5

In mid-September, all St. Christopher’s Upper School students trudged into different classrooms to be quizzed on the choice book they had read dur-ing the summer. Many of them did not think there would be any need to remember or review any information from their choice books, so they didn’t prepare. Because of this, a general air of sadness and resentment filled the hallways. I had chosen “The Code Book” by Simon Singh and, like most people, I had not seen any need to review. I walked into Mr. Kiefer’s room feeling pretty anxious.

Early on during that period, while everyone was agonizing over one question or another about codes during World War II, a merry Christmas tune sud-denly filled the air. Mr. Kiefer, under the assumption that the noise was that of a cell phone, sighed and stoically walked to-wards the sound. He held out his hand to confiscate the ring-ing phone. It turned out to be one of the math teacher’s “Ugly Ties” that was producing the happy tune, but the point still stands: despite numerous rules, confiscations, and warnings, the use of cell phones in school re-mains a controversial subject.

The line separating those approving of cell phone use in school from those in disap-proval seems to be as clear cut as that between teacher and student. According to Mr. Ab-bott, Upper School dean of students, cell phones are “dis-ruptive to the educational pro-cess,” and Mr. Tune, the man in charge of discipline in the Upper School, goes so far as to state that cell phones “detract from the community.” However, most students feel differently. The majority of students at St. Christopher’s own cell phones, and all of them would rather not see them taken away. In fact, says one student, “some people would rather get an hour than get their cell phones taken away.” Many at the school con-sider cell phones a necessity and make sure one is on their per-son, and usually turned on, at all times. Also, most cell phone-owning students at the school seem to think that the punish-ment required of those caught with a cell phone at school is not fair, another source of strong disagreement from the teachers. The students seem to feel that, as long as you are not call-ing or texting anyone during class, it should be perfectly all right for them to have phones on. The general belief is that students should be allowed to use them outside, during break or even in the hallways

Cell phones: nuisance or necessity?

if they are not in class. Mr. Ab-bot openly disagrees with this, saying that there are places that students are allowed to use cell phones, and that they should remain out of sight and out of use anywhere else. Some students believe that this is too strict, and that the punish-ment can be disproportionate to the crime. For example, one student said when his phone was confiscated he was check-ing the clock However, despite the danger of getting caught, one student probably stands for many when he says that he uses his cell phone “whenever teachers are not looking.” Per-

haps the greatest source of con-troversy over cell phones, even amongst the teachers, concerns the gray area surrounding the use of phones outside. Mr. Ab-bot refused to comment, while Mr. Tune said, “I’m all for it provided the Student Council can come up with a way to [keep it from getting out of hand].” Cell phones are a difficult subject to side on, one way or the other. Many people, both teachers and students alike, have found a middle ground on the use of cell phones in school. But Mr. Abbott is still not satisfied. He said, “they (the students) are trying to find loopholes.” Jo-Sua illegally smuggles his cell phone into the library as an

angry Kusiak looks on in disgust.

This student ignores the school’s stringent cell phone ban.

Faculty automobiles, continued from page 1political and environmental rea-sons; and, that I am very cool.” “He puts his money where his mouth is,” said Mr. Bolling of Dr. Sharp. And then we have Mr. Mc-Guire’s 1926 Model T Ford, eas-ily the most extreme faculty car. The Model T has a top speed of 43 mph and could be purchased new for around $300. More in-teresting than the car itself are the stories behind it and its value to Mr. McGuire who also teach-es science in the Upper School. Mr. McGuire has had the car since he was 10. “I fell in love with the car when I was 8,” he said, “My uncle made me learn to fix it before I could have it.” The Model T was his daily

ride through high school and college and he still commutes to work with it occasionally. As an aside, he has nine other cars in his garage in various stages of restoration and drivability -- a 1991 Mercedes 350 SD, 2000 Ford F-350 Super Duty pickup, 1926 Ford Touring with pink wheels, 1926 Ford ton Truck, 1923 Ford Centerdoor Sedan, 1921 Pierce-Arrow two-ton truck, 1929 Packard 626, 1926 Ford Roadster and a 1909 Ford Touring he built from scratch. But back to the focus of this article. To Mr. McGuire, the impracticality and unreliabil-ity of the 80-year-old Model T only makes the experience more enjoyable. “It breaks

down periodically,” he said. “I like that because I learn more about it when I fix it.” Every summer, Mr. McGuire takes a road trip with the Model T to a different area of the coun-try. “It’s a vehicle for experi-encing the U.S,” he said. “It’s amazing what you notice with no radio or air conditioning at 35 mph.” Perhaps as much as anything else, Mr. McGuire loves and appreciates the his-torical significance of the Mod-el T. He said, “The Model T represents the democratization of America. It made it so that a farmer could go to town. It significantly leveled the playing field of how the U.S. operated. It changed the landscape of the U.S. I like that piece of history.” The variety of cars parked on campus during the school day reflects the variety of personali-ty in our faculty. To our faculty, a car is so much more than just transportation. These cars make a statement about their owners’ values. As Mr. McGuire points out, “The social definition of a person’s car is much greater than the definition that Webster gives. People become their cars and their cars become them.”

by Ben Resnick ’11

Mr. Bolling goes huntingby Jay Lynde ’09 Kyle Wittenauer ’10

The Pine Needle

Senior ContributorsGeorge Parrish

Junior ContributorsRobert Allen

Stephane IrankunzeJay Lynde

John Stillwell

Sophomore ContributorsPatrick Delaney

Ryan Van SumerenKyle Wittenauer

Freshman ContributorsJabriel HasanKurt JensenBen Resnick

Faculty AdvisorKathleen Thomas

Senior EditorsJohn Mark DiGrazia

Brian KusiakTeddy MitchellBrendan Worst

Driving his wife’s grandmoth-er’s car at the age of 29, the Rev. Randy Hollerith (the Rev. Me-lissa Hollerith’s husband) felt it was time to “lose the granny-car.” This 1970 Delta 88 was decked out with big bench eats, silky fabric and seatbelts without shoulder straps and was finished with a pale sky-blue paint job. At the time, Mr. Hollerith was working for St. Stephen’s Church in Richmond, and he was obviously in the market for a new ride. With only a $10,000 budget, however, he needed some help so they consulted with St. Christopher’s resident car guru Mr. Jack Bolling. Mr. Bolling suggested a Saturn saying he was impressed with the workmanship and that they could buy a new car within their budget. However, Mr. Hol-lerith, who had never bought a car before, wasn’t thrilled. When Mr. Bolling questioned him further, he described his dream car: a black Saab Turbo with a stick-shift transmis-sion, sunroof and CD player. “Give me a few days,” said Mr. Bolling in reply. Sure enough, after in-depth research, he found what he was looking for. The five-year-old Black Saab had 30,000 miles and all the perks Mr. Hollerith wanted. And it was being sold for only $9,900. Moreover, Mr. Bolling arranged for a mechanic to check it out and for someone to drive it down to Richmond from the north. Mrs. Rev. Melissa Hollerith add-ed, “He went above and beyond, and he does that for everybody. He loves the thrill of the hunt.” The Holleriths are one of literally hundreds of fami-lies Mr. Bolling has helped. He takes all the knuckle-bit-ing anxiety out of a difficult, time-consuming process. To name but a few, Mr. Bol-

ling helped Mr. Stillwell buy his family’s Honda Odyssey, Mr. Szymendera a Toyota Camry, Mr. Hudepohl a Toyota Camry and Mr. Ace Ellis a Toyota High-lander. He’s also helped students including Alex Landin with a Pathfinder, alum Nick Erdle with a Chevy pickup and Mac Jennings with a Ford Explorer. One of the quickest deals Mr. Bolling ever struck was helping Mr. Hudepohl. He walked out a lot with hundreds of parked Toyotas, picked out a 2007 Camry and a half hour later, the deal was done. At the time of closure, the salesman told Mr. Hudepohl, “It’s been a pleasure, see you in 10 years,” referencing his former Camry which he drove for 10 years. Mr. Bolling has had an in-terest in cars for as long as he can remember. In high school, his father used to park his car at a filling station while work-ing and Mr. Bolling used to hang out there waiting for a ride home. “I was always get-ting under the grease monkey,” he said. He bought his first car at age 16 from money he earned from washing cars, a Plymouth Coupe. With a $2,000 gift he received from his father after graduating from the Univer-sity of Richmond, he bought a Chevolet Belair, a $5,000 luxury car of that era that now sells at auctions for $150,000. That passion for finding the deal he now uses to help friends. Mr. Bolling starts by find-ing a budget and a basic idea of the desired car for his par-ticular client. He then uses his numerous connections with car dealerships across the city to locate the right car. As Mr. Bolling said, “I view it as hunting or fishing.”.” This is just one more thing Mr. Bolling has done to help people in the St. Christopher’s commu-nity. As Mr. Ellis said, “I think he enjoys helping people deal with difficult situations in general.”

Toyota Prius Hybrid

6 The Pine Needle November 2007

Fall Dance ‘07In wake of the recent St. Christopher’s Fall Dance, your friendly Pine Needle editors

decided to run an informative column on how various Saints structured, planned and spent their Homecoming evenings. Enjoy.

Italian leather shoes: $500French cologne: $300Dance lessons: $150

Lacoste chemise, Peter Blair tie, and Burberry jacket: $1,800Salon del Sol styling: $220

A night of confidence: Priceless

Jamie Ruml spent the majority of this soiree in the center of the dance floor doing the robot. Indubitably.

“Well, after combing the dance-floor, I found the perfect spot. I found the three-foot radius where the ceiling AC vent cooled. It was glorious and pit-stain free.”

Malcolm McGovern got his slip signed, so he left casually at 9:30 to translate Virgil.

Kyle Wittenauer worked the crowd with considerable panache, reciting ,“Oh Captain, my Cap-tain,” while dancing with his friends from the football team. Kyle left early for a late night Def Jam Poetry recital in Carytown.

Faculty Cars: Fun FactsWe conducted a survey concerning the automobiles that St. Christopher’s teachers own. We received some interesting responses via email. Here’s a sampling.

Ms. Asha Ban-dal about her 1997 Suburu Outback: “I call my car the Grocery-ge t -ter because I look like a

soccer mom driving around in a station wagon.”

Miss McLean Turner does not enjoy, “all of the scrapes in the bumper from sharing street parking (insert emoticon smiley face).”

Mr. Billy Ab-bott enjoys his 1998 S90 Volvo because “it runs and it’s safe” but notes that repairs are expensive.

Mr. Michaiah Abts: “I least en-joy the fact that my wheel cov-ers consistently fall off. The factory ones were cheap janky plastic pieces, and available replacements aren’t much bet-

ter. Check any old model Galant driving around town (there are lots of them), and the odds of it having all four wheel covers are slim indeed.

Ms. Elsa Woo-daman’s 2001 VW Passat is the first time she’s paid more than $500 for a car.

About his 2005 Suburu Out-back, Mr. Greg Tune said, “I enjoy the rocking 4-cylinder engine and the all-wheel drive.”

Mr. Phil Spears wishes his 1998 Toyota Camry LE had more space for baby and dog.

Ms. Nancy Young isn’t thrilled that her 1990 Honda Accord only has two doors. “But for the price I paid for it, the inconven-cience has been worth it.”

In his 1997 Toyota 4-Run-ner, Mr. Bruce Nystrom said, “I can cruise my fields and look for (at) cows and ponds.”

Mr. Don Golla-day likes that he can tow his pop-up camper with his 2005 H i g h l a n d e r.

Mr. Rusty Wilson drives a 1988 Chevy Silverado pickup that he named Oz.

Mr. Frank Kief-er likes that his 1994 Chrysler LeBaron con-vertible is paid for and lets him catch the oc-casional ray.

He doesn’t enjoy “ the repair bills, mutant windshield and unreliable electrical system.”

Ms. Lucy Berndt isn’t thrilled that that she spent a lot of money getting her 1991 Saturn fixed this sum-mer. She wishes that she had spent on the downpayment for a new car. “So now I will be driv-ing it for forever,” she said.

Mr. Hill Brown said about his 1989 Toyota Land Cruiser, “I have had it since the year I graduated from college, and it is like an old friend. It is safe, spa-

cious, well-made and it has run al-most trouble-free for close to 20 years. I hope to keep it for another 20 years.”

Ms. Susan Kirk enjoys that her 1995 Honda Civic is paid for and is extremely reli-able even with 125,000 miles.

Mr. Gene Bruner keeps the top off his 1993 black Jeep Wrangler as much as possible. “So tooling down the highway with a couple kayaks on top al-lows me to feel adventurous.”

Ms. Mary O’Brien likes her 1989 Toyota Corolla but after it dies she hopes to get a hybrid.

Mr. Tom Franz: “My primary vehicle is a 1998 club car which gets about 60 miles to the gallon. I most enjoy the

easy access to almost any location on campus and the fresh air when driving. O c c a s i o n -ally I drive a 2000 Grand Caravan that gets 15-22

mpg. I most like the car because my entire family can ride in it. I least like the feel of the ride.

Mr. Mark Busser said his 2007 Honda Ridgeline pickup is the best vehicle he’s ever owned. He raved about the in-bed trunk feature, Nav system and voice recognition controls.

What does Mr. Elliott Gravitt enjoy most about his 2001 Suburu Lega-cy? “The fact that it works. “ Least? “The fact that it is not a Range Rover.”