December 2009

Sports

News

Opinion

thefalconflier Volume XVIII, Issue 2 • • Fredericksburg Academy • • 10800 Academy Drive • • Fredericksburg, VA 22408 • • 540.898.0020

around town

SPIRIT WEEK 2!

2.

3.

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1.

On a sleepy Monday on November 2 in the Fred-ericksburg Academy com-mons, an inattentive girl buys lunch and stuffs $15 to $20 back into her wal-let. Catching a glimpse of her Jonas Brothers fan club card she recloses the wallet, lays it on the table, and con-tinues about her chemistry homework. Later the next day, noticing her missing textbook, Lauren Falken-berg moves up the stairs, making for her table.

“As I pulled the book from the table I saw that my wallet was underneath a sweatshirt that was not

mine. I opened it to see if the money was still there, and I was shocked to see that it was gone,” said Falkenberg.

FA abides by the honor code and all are expected not to steal. Trust between students provides the privi-lege of having no locks on our lockers.

“I feel like this is some-thing big because FA has an honor code and this is against it. I feel like I have lost some trust and can’t believe someone would do something like this,” said Falkenberg.

The honor handbook clearly states what the pro-cess and consequences would be if a student vio-

lated the honor code. If a student is suspected of committing an offense they are reported to upper school Headmaster Tony Durso who decides if the issue should be referred to Honor Council. If the student is taken to a con-fi dential meeting with the Honor Council they are allowed to bring their advi-sor and will be questioned by members of the coun-cil. The Honor Council then uses a majority vote to advise a consequence which then goes to Durso for the fi nal decision.

“There have not been any specifi c violations re-garding stealing to come before the Honor Coun-

cil this year. However, we would like to enforce that no stealing is permitted under the honor code. We feel that there is a sense of trust that has developed and that as a student body, we should feel comfortable leaving bags out on tables in the commons,” said Ra-chel Zalegowski.

At least two others, be-sides Falkenberg, have told their stories of possibly pilfered items. Trouble comes because with no confession it is impossible to fi nd the truth of the matter and there has been, as sophomore Chris Hess says, “nothing offi cial”.

“I really don’t remem-ber. All I remember was

that I was at the sports center listening to my iPod and then when I got in the car I realized I didn’t have it anymore,” said freshman Brandon Atkins.

Atkins’s iPod was never returned to him since he lost it more than a month ago even though he sent out a school-wide email. Losing something expen-sive was not enjoyable for Atkins. He believes the school should handle the problem by investigating or replacing the stolen goods.

“I think that the school should replace the iPods because our parents

Driving While In icatedTEXTTexting while driving has rapidly be-

come the number one driving distrac-tion, admitted by teens themselves through a 2009 Allstate Foundation survey. On average, 11 teenagers die each day in car accidents, making them the number one killer of young drivers according to Insurance Insti-tute for Highway Safety. Driving in-attention due to texting has only in-creased the chance of these accidents happening.

While teenagers are notorious for bending the rules, a recent law taking effect in multiple states has targeted young drivers in attempt to cease texting while driving.

Currently, the law in Virginia states that a per-son may not send or read a text message while driv-ing, unless in an emergen-cy situation.

A fi rst-time offender will be fi ned $20, and a subsequent offender will be fi ned $50. Judge Phillip Fines of the Spotsylvania Juvenile and Domestic

Relations Court says the problem with this law is that it is a secondary of-fense.

“I’d be surprised if I had [a case] involving texting and driving,” said Judge Fines, who has yet to deal with this issue in his courtroom, due to the diffi culty of charging drivers.

“There has to be a legit-imate reason to be pulled over fi rst; it’s a shame that it’s not more enforceable,” he said.

According to Fines, teens are not the only ones who drive danger-ously. iPods, cell phones, and the radio are all

by SIMONE WICKERthe falcon flier

by RACHEL FRIED

the falcon flier

Behind the Beakers with Mr. Varipapa

Feature

by TYLER LUBOREthe falcon flier

Fiddler on the Roof:Behind the Scenes

Student shares haunting experience on the road

Theft happens, even in honor-bound community

STUDENT DRIVER

HEADMASTER SALARY STIRS CONTROVERSY

R.I.P. 2009Most talked about

celebrity deaths of the year.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SIMONE WICKER

Michael Jackson

page 2

Va. and Natl. Base Salary Stats For Independent School Heads

INTEXTICATION among FA students

all of the time

every so often

when i need to

did it a couple of times, don’t anymore

never

36%

25%

21%

34%

poll represents 28 voters

(while driving)

FA Mom Susan Stimpson

Continued onPage 3

4%

Texting while driving is becoming a huge risk to teens everywhere. Keepthedrive.com focuses on changing the deadly statistics.

ElectedStafford

Supervisor

Page 6

National MedianNatl. Median for 450+ StudentsVa. Median for 450+ StudentsRobert Graves’ Base Salary

First Night Fredericksburg will be held downtown Thursday, December 31, 2009. FNF will include a variety of performing arts of Fredericksburg. See FirstNightFredericksburg.com for information.

Page 10

Page 3

Page 4SWIMMING

of

the in’s and out’s

SLC has recently implemented a second spirit week, January 11-15. The week includes themed days, and will end with a lock-in Friday night.

Farrah Fawcett

Patrick Swayze

Billy Mays

Wishlists, Calendar, and more holiday fun!

175,000187,000187,500231,250

*Source: National Assoc. of Independent Schools and Virginia Assoc. of Independent Schools; based on 07’-’08

Back Page

After the recent publica-tion of Headmaster Rob-ert Graves’ salary in a Free Lance-Star article, questions have been raised about its fairness.

According to The Free Lance-Star, Graves’ total compensation package was

$263,003 a year for 2007-2008, including benefi ts. His base salary is $231,000, according to Board of Trustees President Ste-phen Norair. Graves, who started at FA in the sum-mer of 2006, has been teaching for the past 28 years. He has 13 years as a headmaster under his belt, and was hired at FA with

10 years’ experience.Heads of school with

comparable experience or in similar independent schools, on average, make less money per year than Graves. Graves’ salary for 2007-2008 was between the 50th and 75th percentile among heads of schools in Virginia with more than 450 students, according to the Virginia Association of Independent Schools. Na-tionally, the median salary for a head of school was $175,000 for the 2007-2008 school year, according to the National Association of Independent Schools.

Norair elaborated on the process of setting Graves’

salary. “Although I wasn’t in-

volved in that hiring, in the process I do know you look at the amount of ex-perience the head has and other comparable salaries in your general vicinity, as well as the Fredericksburg area,” said Norair.

VAIS and NAIS put out statistics with the salaries of heads of schools locally and nationwide, and those involved in the hiring pro-cess uses these statistics to help determine the salary.

There were numerous people involved in Graves’ hiring. “It would have been the president of the board of trustees, and that execu-

tive committee,” said No-rair.

At the time when Graves’ salary was set, the economy, according to Norair, was doing well. “The economy was doing pretty well up until the end of 2007, 2008, especially in this region,” said Norair. Norair elaborated that dur-ing that time, factors such as housing prices and a possible recession were not considered.

After his base salary, there were a variety of benefi ts added to Graves’ salary. “You can add a

a senior boy’s take on the sagapage 9

Continued onPage 3

Continued onPage 3

2 newsThe Falcon Flier december 2009 two

by TYLER LUBOREthe falcon flier

by LINDSAY DAWSON

the falcon flier

Grabbing a gray T-9 calculator, Mr. Robert James Varipapa Junior stands back and

observes the periodic table of elements that en-gulfs the front wall. After a few seconds of typing and nodding, he places the calculator back on the table, fl ipping through the pages of the book to reas-sure himself.

After checking the an-swer to the problem en-graved on the board, he returns to grasping his arm and shoving his hands deep into his wrinkled khaki pants.

The newly turned 22 year old from Delaware is the latest edition to the FA faculty, teaching chemistry and AP chemistry. Though he is well known among students and can eas-ily be spotted in his blue checkered button down, khaki pants, lightly rimmed glasses, and assorted ties, few people besides his students ever get a glimpse into the world of the man behind the test tubes and bea-kers.

Varipapa grew up on a farm in ru-ral Delaware with a younger brother, twin sister Alexandra, a dog named Bingo, and a slew of stray cats. Growing up in the country left a big impression on Varipapa as he still loves the outdoors.

“We played tag in corn fi elds which was awesome. We climbed trees and played lacrosse. Lacrosse is big in Delaware. I watched Nickel-odeon,” said Varipapa, letting out a slight chuckle.

As for the animals, Varipapa has two dogs today that live with his par-ents.

“Now my parents have two dogs. One is named Happy and the other one is a golden retriever mix named Moose. We got Happy on my sister’s, and well my birthday and named it Happy after happy birthday,” said Varipapa.

Varipapa’s schooling was much similar to FA with small classes; however, his private middle school was much more rural.

“I was a pretty good kid. I did well in school and everything. My brother

was a lot worse. My brother was the terrible child,” said Varipapa.

Though Varipapa enjoyed grow-ing up on a rural farm, for high school he attended Episcopal High

School in Alexandria Virginia. “It was different going to a board-

ing school because I’d been in mostly smaller town places before. I got re-ally into sports and science, but not chemistry per say,” said Varipapa.

While attending Episcopal Vari-papa ran track and played lacrosse during his freshman year, but ulti-mately he chose cross country and track, later becoming a captain of both.

“I liked lacrosse but was better at running so I started doing more track and cross country,” said Vari-papa.

When high school came to an end Varipapa found himself looking at colleges mainly in Virginia. Eventu-ally, Washington and Lee won him over, meeting all of his criteria.

“I wanted a small school that was somewhere not far from home. My parents actually moved to Alexan-dria. When I visited they had a really nice science building, and I could run cross-country and track. I pretty much knew I wanted to go there,” said Varipapa.

Varipapa decided to go back to his roots, moving back out into the country during his junior and senior year.

“It was cool because you had to cross a stream to get to my house. Since I grew up on a farm, I wanted to go back and driving to and from school seeing the sunrise and sunset was one of the best parts,” said Vari-papa.

During his time at Washington and Lee Varipapa began to get in-volved in many other activities, in-

cluding rugby (which he still plays almost every Saturday), EMT rescue squad, cross country, track, and was in a fraternity.

“I was in a fraternity, but I wasn’t a big frat per-son. [At Washing-ton and Lee] it’s like by law you have to join a fra-ternity,” said Vari-papa.

Washington and Lee was the place that Varipapa began to delve deeper into his love of science, taking mul-tiple classes such as physics, neuro-science, and eventually majored in biochemistry.

“I liked bio but I like to know how things work and for me chem-istry was more satisfying. Chemistry is the middle between physics and biology for me, it’s still practical,” said Varipapa.

Varipapa’s chemistry professor helped inspire him to later become a teacher.

“My teacher was really animated. He had an incredible memory, and memorized everyone’s name by the second day of class,” said Varipapa.

After Washington and Lee came to a close, Varipapa set out in search-ing for a teaching job through the Southern Teaching Agency.

“The lady at Southern Teach-ing strongly recommended FA. It reminded me of my middle school and I liked the small classes,” said Varipapa.

When Varipapa fi rst came to visit, several aspects stuck out to him and ultimately helped him in making his decision.

“I noticed how friendly and a pos-itive the atmosphere was. I visited other high schools and they seemed more depressed. Kids would walk around like ‘I hate high school’ and looked all depressed. The students in the conference room helped a lot and I knew I would do well,” said Varipapa.

As a young teacher Varipapa is still learning the ropes and fi nds the

time between classes the most chal-lenging.

“The worst part is waiting in be-tween classes. I wish I could teach and just go home. There are so many things I can do better, that sometimes it can be frustrating,” said Varipapa.

Being a new teacher, Varipapa draws on inspiration from past pro-fessors and tries to implement what they’ve taught him into his own teaching.

Varipapa during his fresh-man year of high school

“It was awesome to have such good teachers. I think of what a good teacher is to me and I think of that when I teach,” said Varipapa.

However, the time on the week-ends Varipapa fi nds himself being much more productive and busy.

“Friday I usually don’t do any-thing. Usually I have a [rugby] game every Saturday and a lot of the time I’ll go to DC and visit friends and visit my parents. My bed at my par-ent’s house is way more comfort-able,” said Varipapa.

Though Varipapa fi nds himself with some free time, he claims that he doesn’t have any special talents to fi ll the time with.

“I used to be able to juggle; I think I can still juggle. My sister has all these weird joints, but I can’t do that. I’m pretty ordinary really,” said Varipapa.

As for what the future holds for the young chemistry teacher, it is still all up in the air.

“I’ve thought about medicine and I still haven’t given up on that. I don’t know what I’m going to do for the rest of my life,” said Varipapa.

V E R A C R O S S Changes routine for allNEW WEB-BASED SYSTEM ATTEMPTS TO FURTHER BENEFIT PARENTS, STUDENTS, AND TEACHERS WHILE SAVING MONEY FOR SCHOOL

“”

[FA] reminded me of my middle school, and I liked the small classes.

Varipapa: behind the beakersNEWEST CHEMISTRY TEACHER BREAKS THE ICE — ADJUSTING AFTER FIRST SEMESTER

“It was awesome to have such

Second from left: Varipapa ran varsity track and cross country during high school.PHOTOS COURTESY OF ROBEST VARIPAPA

FA has always stuck true to its mission to be a progressive school, and along with this progressivism comes a desire to expand the role of technology in the classroom.

We’ve seen numerous advancements in technol-ogy’s role in the classroom over the past few years, and one of the greatest changes has been the im-plementation of Veracross. The original fi nal site has been taken out of commission, and now, Ve-racross has even replaced the traditional role of re-port cards. This change occurred in late October.

“The parent portal gives parents a one-shop stopping place for all their report cards,” said head of upper school Tony Durso. “In terms of just get-ting rid of paper report cards: the primary factors were the expense of mailing and the time of pack-ing.”

Traditionally, the school would spend exorbitant amounts of money on packaging and mailing tra-ditional paper report cards. Durso stressed that the desire was to minimize the diffi culties in the mail-ing process, especially for families with multiple students in different divisions, as well as diminish costs.

“Of course timeliness is always an issue. We will

get to a point where we can post them essentially the moment the teachers turn them in,” said Durso.

“The obvious positive is that it saves the school money on postage costs. I don’t have any problems with [the switch],” said upper school teacher Keith Wamsley. Wamsley enjoyed the ease that Veracross afforded the grading process. He had no reserva-tions about the parents or students accessing the report cards, or the chronicling of student grades.

“There’s still a hard copy in the registrar’s offi ce,” said Wamsley.

Some students enjoy the change. Freshman An-drew Murphy thinks that the change from paper to electronic report cards is refreshing.

“I think it’s really cool. You used to have to wait, but now it’s just out,” said Murphy. Murphy also en-joys the transfer from the original fi nal site to Ve-racross. “I used to have to favorite everything, but now Veracross is a shortcut on my desktop.”

“At the start of the year, we had tremendous dif-fi culties with fi nal site,” said Durso, explaining the issues with the original fi nal site There were basic problems with the organization of the pages as well as frequent technical diffi culties with the site.

“To use Veracross we would be in no worse a situation than if we’d stuck with fi nal site.”

Still, there are some students who have doubts about the change.

“I like holding my report card,” said senior Em-ily Kangas. Kangas doesn’t like the disorganization that currently plagues Veracross. She fi nds it diffi -cult to sort through the various pages and resource folders to fi nd helpful pages.

“I think it’s helpful that it’s in one place but it needs to be cleaned up,” said Kangas.

While there are some bugs being worked out, Durso assures the student community that as of right now, there are no plans to allow gradebooks to be accessed on the site.

“I went to the faculty and we discussed our concerns,” said Durso. He made sure to give the faculty their rights to privacy, and ensured that no faculty member would be uncomfortable with the technological paradigm shift.

He went on to say that the fi nal decision was made to, right now, only issue grades at the ends of quarters and at interims.

Wamsley and others are positive about the switch to Veracross, and feel it will be easier for all parties involved.

“I think it’s better to have everything under one roof,” said Wamsley.

3threeThe Falcon Flier

december 2009news

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

School theft

FA MOM ADDS TO REPUBLICAN GAINby BEN HARRISthe falcon flier

SUSAN STIMPSON ELECTED STAFFORD COUNTY SUPERVISOR WITH OVER 50% OF VOTE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Graves’s salary causes concerns

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Teens’ cell phones distract when driving

ABOVE: Students volunteered October 25 for the Oyster Roast at Fredericksburg Fairground.

TOP RIGHT: Sophomore Colleen Hughes prepares to throw the frisbee during KanJam.

BOTTOM RIGHT: History teacher Je� Eckerson tips the frisbee into the “kan”, earning two points.

oyster roast “ This year, we have focused

on trying to get things started that appeal to

more and more people.”

SOFA o� cer Chelsea Edwards

SOFA 2009:THEME OF ‘WORKING LOCALLY, HELPING THE WORLD’ IS FOCUSOF NEW SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FA STUDENTS

THE GAME OF KANJAM: each team consists of two players. To participate, students had to pay a fee and bring in a canned food item to bene� t SECA.

POINTS: 1-hit the outside of the “kan”, 2-tip frisbee into top, tipping frisbee into the front slot wins the game, otherwise, the � rst team to reach 21 points wins.

PHOTO COURTESY OF COURTNEY HOFFMAN

PHOTOS BY SIMONE WICKER

THE OYSTER ROAST: Every year students volunteer in the fall to help serve and pop popcorn and clear tables. A hat and meal is included for volunteers.

Could President Obama’s “Change” be changing in the wrong way?

Virginia ran three state-wide elections on Novem-ber 3 for the positions of Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General, all three being swept by the Republican candidates. The Grand Old Party continued their gains into the local arena as well, as FA mom and new Stafford County Su-pervisor Susan Stimpson

can attest. Stimpson ran as the Republican candi-date in a three-way race for the Falmouth district’s Stafford Board of Super-visors position, hammer-ing her two opponents by gaining over 50% of the vote.

“One of the overall themes that I heard at the doors when I was talking to people is that they were very concerned about the government on even a na-tional level,” she said.

Stimpson’s biggest goals as a Supervisor are bringing jobs to Stafford

and fi xing what she sees as a broken school sys-tem; her education plans “One of the things that I love about FA is the class size; I think that greatly benefi ts kids and their educations.”

Stimpson believes that one of the reasons class-rooms are becoming un-derfunded is a disconnect between the Board of Su-pervisors and the School Board that she intends to remedy.

“We’ve had a pattern over the last six to eight years that there hasn’t

been much dialogue be-tween the supervisors and the school board. I believe that partnership needs to come back,” she said. She has already be-gun to effect this change by contacting and work-ing closely with certain members of the School Board in order to support the, “genuine needs of the students.”

Stimpson’s concept of streamlining the public ed-ucation system is remark-ably similar to that of Vir-ginia Governor-elect Bob McDonnell. According to

McDonnell’s website, his education stance is essen-tially that “more money into [the] classroom, less into bureaucracy dramati-cally increases education dollars without [a] tax in-crease.”

Another part of Stimp-son’s plans for Stafford is the creation of jobs and commerce in the area. She says that “We’ve al-ready met with George Mason University about having a satellite campus here to bring some gradu-ate level programs here,” while she intends to have

“I hope to get more people involved and exicted about volunteering.”

sophomore representative Courtney Ho� man

kan jam

really don’t want to pay for another iPod on top of paying the tuition for this school,” said Atkins.

A similar experience was had by Hess who also believes the stealing to be an important problem.

“It was in my locker, I went to play football, came back, and it was gone,” said Hess.

Hess lost his iPod touch in the spring of last year and was never returned. Tony Durso addressed the problem of stealing once by an-nouncing the recent steal-ing problems at morning meetings in front of the upper school.

“I don’t understand why the issue was ad-dressed once and then disappeared and seemed to be purposefully for-gotten. I think it is a big deal. At the time it was $300. That is not cheap,” said Hess.

Taking or using some-one’s personal property without their permission is breaking the Honor Code. At FA, the faculty keeps faith in the students. When a student steals, students abuse this faith.

“I don’t know what the school should do be-sides making a general announcement, because I feel like no one would be brave or mature enough to stand up and admit they took it,” said Falken-berg.

pension, you can add medical insurance, acci-dental death or disability insurance. These can all be seen as a package of benefi ts. That number The Free Lance-Star reported is a composite,” said No-rair.

The reporting of that number has stirred up controversy among the FA community. Many be-lieve that Graves’ salary is unfair, especially con-sidering recent economic conditions, as well as cut-backs in various school programs and personnel.

“I think that his salary should be re-evaluated, es-pecially considering when his salary is so above that of others in the area,” said one student.

This student, who asked to remain anony-mous, would like to see a more even distribution

of funds, especially con-sidering the details of his job. “What are his respon-sibilities? Does he really deserve that pay?” said the student.

Graves’ job is to over-see all aspects of an inde-pendent school with ap-proximately 450 students and a faculty and staff of about 100. When Graves’ contract was renewed, the school had approximately 550 students. According to The Free Lance-Star arti-cle, the highest paid local government offi cial, Spot-sylvania County School Board superintendent Jer-ry Hill, makes $234,000 in his annual compensation package. Hill oversees 33 school buildings, along with 3,197 employees, and 24,246 students.

While some feel Graves’ salary is too high, oth-ers feel he earns it. They would argue that running

an independent school is different from being the superintendent of a pub-lic school system.

“You have to look at it like this,” said one stu-dent, who asked to re-main anonymous. “It’s a private school. Being a headmaster is like being the CEO of a company--he’s in charge. The idea [behind his salary] seems fair, but the cost could be a little less.”

Norair seconded this point.

“I would hope that people would understand [his salary], just as you’d understand the CEO of a company in this suffer-ing economy would still deserve his salary,” said Norair.

Norair stressed that the board felt Graves’ salary was fair at his time of hiring, considering the circumstances. “I would

say his salary is fair based on his experience,” he said. The heads of Col-legiate, in Richmond, and Episcopal, in D.C., both make more money than Graves.

“My salary is set by the Board of Trustees in accordance with all fed-eral and state account-ing guidelines and regu-lations. In addition, my years of experience as Headmaster and salaries of Heads at comparable schools in the region are also determining factors,” said Graves when asked for comment.

Norair continued to stress the diffi culty of Graves’ job, especially in light of recent circum-stances. “With the reduc-tion in enrollment and the economic downturn, his job actually gets harder,” Norair said.

Norair declined to com-

ment on whether Graves has received a raise during his time here.

So far, maintaining Graves’ salary has not re-sulted in program cuts or lay-offs, Norair said. He declined to comment on whether this would be-come an issue.

“That’s a hypothetical that I don’t believe we’re going to face. For that kind of discussion to be had we’d be looking at a situation where there are a lot more problems in the economy,” said Norair.

Norair stressed that Graves has not received preferential treatment.

“He’s been treated like every other faculty member. Whenever sal-ary freezes and things like that occur, they’ve also happened to him,” said Norair. “People need to remember that the sala-ries are set fairly.”

factors that pull both adults and teens out of focus behind the wheel. Fines explained that teens are targeted simply be-cause they are younger and lack the experience that comes with years of driving.

“We as judges are taught by scientists and doctors that teenagers have a sense of invinci-bility,” said Fines. “They take more risks than older adults because [younger people] have faster refl ex-es, but that doesn’t neces-sarily mean you’re a good driver.”

Fines works to get young drivers to under-stand safe driving habits during licensing ceremo-nies held at the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. “I always tell the new drivers that they still have a chance to make the right decisions,” he said.

Senior Emily Schulz is just one of an estimated 1.6 million teens who text while driving.

“I know I shouldn’t do it, and for some reason, neither my conscience nor the law is enough to keep me from the temptation.For the most part, I wait until I’m not driving to read or reply to texts, but

there is the odd occasion when I break the rules and do it while I’m in the car,” explained Schulz

Schulz would not clas-sify herself as a “texting fi end” behind the wheel and said she is aware of the risk it poses.

“As if typing it wasn’t diffi cult enough, you have to look down at your phone when you get a re-ply, which is completely dangerous considering your eyes are now totally diverted from the road and the cars around you,” she said.

A survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project discovered that

one out of every four American teens has texted while driving. In addition, teens ages 12 through 17 have been passengers of a driver who was texting.

According to Fines, the current approach to driv-ing education is in part re-sponsible for these unsafe driving habits.

“It’s easy to identify a distracted driver. You’ll see someone talking on the phone, but then the minute they put the phone down, their speed increas-es,” said Fines, who noted that the Virginia driving education programs no longer practice teaching what they had in the past.

Deputy Steve Johnson of Spotsylvania Sheriff ’s Department has seen numbers of texting teen drivers increase drastically over the past few years and says it has become just as, if not more, common than any other distraction.

Johnson believes that the best antidote is to make teens aware, while there is only so much enforcement that can be done.

“Everyone thinks it’s not going to happen to them,” he said, referring to accidents caused by texting drivers. “People aren’t going to listen until it hurts them, or until it’s too late.”

a science and technology center constructed to en-tice companies to move in for the potential research opportunity it would pro-vide.

Stimpson plans to do all of this without raising taxes for the average resi-dent of the county.

“One of the things I bring to the table is a budgeting background,” said Stimpson. “We face a very daunting job with our budget, we are facing revenue shortfalls … they really impact a lot of areas in our lives.”

4 sportsThe Falcon Flier december 2009

four

GIRLS VARSITY BASKETBALL: FA hosted � rst Lady Falcons tournament

FA hosted its fi rst girls varsity basketball tournament Saturday, December 5, 2009. FA played Christ Church for the fi rst round of the tournament, and won 17 to 11. Junior captain Paige M c - Dermott led the team with nine points during the

game. The fi nal and consolation games of the tour-nament were cancelled due to snow. FA was scheduled

to play Chancellor High School JV team at 2 p.m. before the game was cancelled. The third team, Mt. Zion from North

Carolina, cancelled due to illness among players.

Three members from the girls varsity basketball team entered in the three-point competition at the tournament Saturday, December 5, 2009. Freshman Simone Roberts won the competition with seven three-point shots. Sopho-more and captain Courtney Hoffman competed and scored four three-point shots. Finally, fellow sophomore Emily Tor-rey competed, scoring one three-point shot.

25 METERS LONG

In the Olympics, the pool is 50 meters long

110 FLAGS TOTAL55 total on each line, 28 white and 27 blue

PHOTO BY AUSTEN DUNN

swimslang

Loa� ng: Purposely swimming slower than one is capable of

Natatorium: An indoor pool

Red zone: Term used by some coaches to describe a set that is aerobically intense

Sculling: To propel oneself by gently moving the hands back and forth in the water

“”

the gear:www.swim.com

the strokes and kicks:

SWIM CAP: $4.99used to eliminate drag of the hair

FINS: $14.99-$28.99FA uses them twice a week to give the swimmers a greater workout

GOGGLES: $12.99-$17.99used to help swimmers see clearly in the water

BUOYused to keep legs together when practicing the arm strokes

: Term used : Term used

”

90˚ view

1.

3.

6.

5.

4.

2.

1. DELTOIDS

2. QUADS

3. HAMSTRINGS

4.

5.

6.

HIPS

TRICEPS

BACK

STROKES: freestyle, butter� y, back crawl and elementary back stroke

STROKES: freestyle with � utter kick, the side stroke and the back crawl

STROKES: freestyle with � utter kick, side stroke and the back crawl

STROKES: the side stroke with scissor kick and breast stroke with frog kick

STROKES: the side stroke. freestyle and the back crawl with � utter kick

STROKES: the back crawl with � utter kick and butter� y with dolphin kick

by AUSTEN DUNNthe falcon flier

www.dietsinreview.com

COMPETING STROKES freestyle butter� y back stroke breast stroke

COMBINATION OF STROKES individual medley: butter� y, back stroke, breast stroke, freestyle

medley relay: back stroke, breast stroke, butter� y, freestyle

freestyle relay: consists of four freestyle swimmers, each swimming a quater of the race

KICKS frog kick dolphin kick � utter kick scissor kick

an inside look

“I am looking forward to improving [our] states’ times, [and] going to states for girls relay and maybe for personal times if I work hard enough. The continuously long practices are a downside. A lot of hard work is required, but it’s worth it in the end.”

swimmer gives insight for this year’s season

sophomore Natalie Ducharme-Barth

FA vs. Christ Church� rst gamecompetition

three-point

a guide to strokes, rules, gear and swimming termsSwimming 101:

www.usaswimming.org

11. At the starting, all swimmers must be mo-tionless until the starting horn is blown. If a swimmer is accused of moving, they can be disqualified.

2. There are over 2.800 teams swimming for USA Swimming across the country.

3. Swimming is the third most-watched Olym-pic sport.

4. Speedo Tip of the Week: Active warm-ups benefit performance during meets and the ability to recover from meets easily, as well as an active warm-down. Meaning, it is better to swim at a faster pace, not j ust cruising around leisurely.

Statistics, Rules and Tips

5five

The Falcon Flier december 2009Sports

by BEN HARRISthe falcon flier

by MARY GRAY JOHNSONthe falcon flier

FALCONS ARE #1

“We’re going to have to practice hard, because the competition has only gotten tougher,” said senior Na-than Bilodeau.

A change in the �itness routineMIXING IT UP:

XC – Trent Butterworth, Brian Hong (meet champion), Fitzhugh Johnson, Erica Boggs, and Walton Mahon

Girls Varsity Tennis – Anne Douglas, Mary Jray Johnson (All State), Sofi e Wachmeister, and Lindsay Dawson

Boys Varsity Soccer – Scott Davidson and Kahlil GehdinGirls Varsity Field Hockey – Nia Jones, Lucy Hazel, Mary Rose Ha-

zel (All State), Colleen Hughes, and Megan Sullivan (All Tournament)

Nothin’ but Net

TH

E FA

LL S

EASO

N IS

DO

NE

Girls Varsity Basketball

Jeff Eckerson, Alex Fisher

Boys Varsity Basketball

Delaney Athletic Conference, League of Independent Schools

Steward

“Last year we went to the fi nals game [of the DAC tournament], so this year I think we can win,” said senior Chelsea Edwards.

Delaney Athletic Conference

Wakefi eld Country Day

Phillip Brown, Todd Pristas

STEP 1 STEP 2

STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

This stretch is for the muscle on the underside of your upper calf and your gluteus maximus. Start by sitting on the ground then comfortably cross one leg over the other as seen above.

Make sure the foot of your crossed leg rests next to the knee of your straight leg. Make sure this feels comfortable to you; do not stretch too hard as you could painfully strain your muscles.

Using both arms, grasp your bended knee, pull toward your chest slightly to the side (if right leg is bent, push left & vice versa).

Uncross your leg and repeat steps 1-4 for your other leg muscle. This stretch is used by the � tness club get ready for a workout.

If you do not feel your leg muscles stretching, readjust your foot. Stay in position for around the count of 20 seconds.

Boys home games

Girls Varsity Field Hockey and Girls Varsity Tennis

Girls Varsity Tennis and Boys XC

Girls Varsity Tennis

Karen Moschetto (Field Hockey)and Kelly Johnson/John Goforth

(Tennis)

XC – Trent ButterworthGirls Varsity Tennis – Emily WhiteBoys Varsit Soccer – Kahlil GehdinGirls Varsity Field Hockey- Lucy Hazel

Girls home games

JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY 1

13

2

31

3 4 5 6 7 8

121110

9

14 1615

222120191817 23

2624 25 27 28 29 30

Fitness: a free, easy sports credit that only re-quires 30 minutes of chat-ting in the weightroom four days a week, right? Not this year.

Changes have come to the Fitness program, changes that make sure you get at least as much of a workout as with the other sports. Coordinator of Fit-ness Christopher Reed has ensured that nobody gets a free ride this time around. Reed has instituted numer-

ous changes to the regimen of the program, includ-ing adding swimming and game days to the schedule in order to get a more thor-ough and varied workout for everyone in the pro-gram.

One of the students in the fall Fitness season, Derrik Holladay, found that the changes weren’t really noticeable if you’d al-ready been working. “The few changes I saw helped the program; it’s not like a slack-off place anymore,” although he admits “I per-sonally didn’t do any of the game stuff, I was in the

weight room most of the time working on my knee.”

Midway through the season, Reed approached swimming coach Sheila Wimble. She then devel-oped an exercise for the students to do. Reed said he was impressed by the regimen, “It was a pretty good workout.” Swim-ming was scheduled for every Wednesday and man-datory for everyone in Fit-ness, failure to attend or bring your swimsuit result-ed in a loss of participation credit, one of Reed’s big-gest punishments for not doing work.

Reed realizes he can’t physically force a student to work; “It’s largely a Self-motivated activity, so to [force] somebody to be motivated for it is diffi -cult.”

But if somebody comes into fi tness and doesn’t do the work, “I’ll let them know that their participa-tion for today is in jeopar-dy.” Since receiving credit for doing a sport requires 70% attendance at prac-tices, Reed thinks this is enough of a motivation to at least try to get a full workout in.

While these changes

show promise for the fu-ture of the Fitness pro-gram as a legitimate activ-ity, its future is apparently not assured.

“[The fi tness program is only] defi nitely here for now and winter season,” said Reed. Reed believes the program is not at the top of the Athletic Di-rector’s list of priorities, a sentiment Fisher seems to share.

“Obviously with my po-sition, I’m all about the ath-letics, and I want the kids to be able to participate in an athletic organization,” Fisher said.

Fisher says that he understands that some students may perceive themselves as unathletic, and that they think they wouldn’t contribute to the team, but Fisher promises that students “don’t need to be athletic to be part of a team.”

Reed believes that even if you aren’t athletic, there are plenty of workouts one can do to build up their fi t-ness and get in better shape. “I’m a big proponent of stretching,” he says.

Conference Regular Season Champs

MVP Winners

State Semi� nalists

ConferenceTournament Champs

All conference

Coaches of the year

Coaches

Conferences

Biggest Competition

A word from the team

Coaches

Conference

Biggest Competition

A word from the team

6 opinionThe Falcon Flier december 2009 six

I hit and killed an acorn. At least, if I spoke like my friend’s Dutch grandmother, I killed an acorn.The immigrant from Holland still isn’t completely fl uent in English, but fi nds some pleasure in capturing the

neighborhood squirrels, spray painting their tails, and seeing if they come back to her yard. She refers to them consistently as acorns.

A few weeks ago, before I got my license, my dad and I were driving down the curvy roads of Dogue, Virginia. The leaves were just starting to rust over with an orange tint and we were ready to play some tennis. I had been driving for over a year with a learner’s permit, having taken the entire six months to complete driver’s education online, and felt fairly confi dent driving with my dad in the passenger seat. I had taken this road often, and the tennis courts were only 10 minutes away.

I saw the squirrel’s eyes from the road. They were beady and black, but surrounded by tufts of brown fur. How cute. Then it ran, fl at out sprinted, tail bouncing, straight towards our Subaru’s wheels. At 45 miles an hour, I didn’t swerve; I didn’t slow down; I simply plowed the “acorn” over. It felt and sounded like the crunch of a spoonful of Rice Krispies at

breakfast as my wheels crunched the squirrel. I had never hit anything before and it was hard to keep driving steadily, though my dad swore I handled the situation well. Apparently not swerv-

ing out of the squirrel’s way was the right thing to do. A stop sign was a few hundred feet away and I switched into the passenger seat, repeating “Oh my god, oh my god,

oh my god,” over and over under my breath. After putting my seat belt on, I took a breath and the tears came. Was I not a good driver? Did I deserve to be taking behind the wheel classes next week? I just killed a living thing... right outside of a church of all places. All of these thoughts were bombarding me at the same time. I cried out of simple, overwhelming surprise.

The next day, an article came out for the King George National Gardening Association to warn its green-thumbed readers of squirrels decapitating their tulips and roses. Reading this, I just felt horrible knowing that I had saved a couple tulips at the expense of The Squirrel.

Then, in AP Biology, as a pick me up, Mrs. Debra Garcia showed us a video of a baby squirrel being helped to jump a ledge by its mother and a couple college kids. The squirrels were haunting me, just threat-ening me with the knowledge that I wasn’t ready to become a driver yet.

My parents had already bickered about whether I was confi dent enough to drive by myself, if I was ready. After “The Squirrel Incident”, I wasn’t so sure myself. Was I ready? What happens if I were to hit another squirrel without my dad in the car? As much as teenagers hate to admit, the fi rst drive into school alone is as intimidating as it is liberating.

I got my license November 1 and drove by myself the forty minutes to FA the next Tuesday. My mom, this being a big step for her, made me text her once I was parked safely in the school parking lot. When she texted me back in reply asking if everything went well, I didn’t mind at all. She can text me asking if I am alright after the drive until I graduate.

Now when I drive home after tennis practice at fi ve o’clock, I am more cautious than I ever would have been. As early as it gets dark you just can’t be sure how many deer, or squirrels, could be ready to dart out to test your driving skills —and your confi dence.

I’m going to try to say this as deli-cately as possible, maybe we don’t de-serve senior privi-leges.

Now before I get my entire class to kill me, give me a minute to explain myself. We haven’t exactly proven our-

selves worthy of some of the things we’ve requested. In regards to having a senior lounge, we barely keep our current area clean. I’m not saying I’m perfect, I’ve made mistakes too, but we all need to make an effort to keep our area clean. As of right now, we’re leaving trash on the tables and leaving our books behind after school. This not only refl ects badly on us, and gives a poor impression of us to the teachers, but it is also detrimental to our classmates. Dur-ing my free periods, I constantly hear com-plaints from classmates about how there’s too much trash on the table, or how so-and-so always leaves their stuff on the table. I myself have sat down at my normal table and asked myself why there isn’t any room. However, just before complaining, I fi nd myself realizing that half the stuff is mine. In summary, during the day, take your stuff or put it on the fl oor. After school, take it with you or put it in your locker.

Now that I got the bad stuff out of the

way, I can start trying to get back on my class’s good side. As I’m sure you all have noticed, the faculty has shown a near bla-tant disregard for our opinions regarding this situation. While some of this is justi-fi ed (seriously, we’re not getting the ping-pong table), a lot of it is simply disrespect-ful to our voices. This school prides itself on communication, but when the seniors have something to say about privileges, the school seems to jam its fi ngers in its ears.

For the past three years we have lived un-der the reign of the exclusivities given to seniors. As unfair as it may have seemed to us, we were able to look up at them and say, “That’ll be us someday.” Now that we’ve arrived at this milestone, all the frills have been stripped away. The once mighty Senior Lounge has been stripped to a single, hotly contested chair and a sun screen. Under-classmen have been granted access to the once sacred Chamber of Coldness and the Boxes of Radiation. Everything about be-ing a senior has lost its glamour and sparkle. We’re basically all the same now, except we can leave the school every now and again.

We understand that there have been problems in the past, but why must we be punished for our predecessors’ wrongdo-ings? How do you know we’ll be as bad as previous classes if you don’t give us a chance? Case in point, the Senior Lounge. In the past it’s been a haven for trash and other assorted fi lth. If you were able to endure for previous generation of seniors,

why can you not at least grant us the chance to try to be better? Also, don’t give me that crap about protecting the schools image, we barely enforce the dress code. A couple of tastefully designed tables and couches isn’t going to make the school look like a dump. Despite priding ourselves on a clean ap-pearance, we haven’t stopped big problems from intruding on the school. I may not be at liberty to discuss them here, but I’m sure you all know of a few. Stop worrying so much about looking like the perfect little prep school and give us a chance to intro-duce a more inviting atmosphere.

Another thing we always envied was the seniors’ abilities to bypass fi nal exams. By getting an ‘A’ in the class they were exempt from having to prove themselves on the fi -nal exam. Now the school is trying to phase this out completely. In order for us to by-pass our fi nals, we have to get an ungodly (insert number here)%. If we managed to pull an ‘A’ all year, why would we have to test ourselves on information we’ve already proven ourselves to know very well?

Though our grade may have its problems, you haven’t given us enough responsibility to prove ourselves with. If you want us to do the best we can, give us something to work for. A little incentive never hurt any-one. If we achieve our goal, but then start slipping, you can take it away. We’re not ask-ing for golden tables and jewel-encrusted laptops, we just want some trust and faith.

Squirrel’s death leads to con�idence crisis for new driver

by AMANDA KRAUSS guest reporter

The director Tim Blake Nelson and the screen play writer Brad Kaaya captured Shakespeare’s old English play Othello perfectly for a modern day audience. Though “O’s” story line is full of disturb-ing events the explosive tale leaves you with a long lasting impression after its fi nal pow-erful frame.

Shakespeare’s play Othellotransferred stunningly to the big screen. Shakespeare’s plot and themes were kept but the characters and the setting were modernized into an overall picture students will under-stand and the teenage crowd will fi nd appealing.

Our main character, Othello is now Odin played by Mekhi Phifer; he is the basketball star for the Palmetto Hawks and the only African American student in the school. Odin’s racial background was partic-ularly important to be kept; it played a huge role in the ac-cusations against him and the reputation he had to uphold so he wouldn’t be put into a stereotype. Desodemona is Desi played by Julia Stiles the dean’s daughter and Odin’s girl friend. Roderigo is now Roger played by Elden Henson; he is easily manipulated, rich and his priorities are out of whack because he is blinded by his love for Desi. Cassio is now Michael Cassio who is played by Andrew Keegan another star basketball player who Hugo uses in his plan to mess with Odin’s head and his and Desi’s romance.

Iago is Hugo played by Josh Hartnett; he is the coach’s son, a steroid addict and a high school student wanting affec-tion, acknowledgment, and

by AUSTEN DUNNthe falcon flier

Continued on page 7

Student appreciates O’s artistic elements

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Senior predecessors control current privileges?

by ZACH SULLIVANthe falcon flier

I wish for an equestrian team.

-Katie Graves, junior

I wish the vending machines actually worked.

-Ma� O’Donnell, sophomore

I wish we could play loud Christmas

music during the holidays.

-Mary Rose Hazel, sophomore

A ping-pong table.-Brian Hong, senior

Jeans. All the time. Everyday.

-Derrik Holladay, senior

A student lounge that’s actually separate

from the commons. -Kyle Ringhoff er, freshman

Flat screen TV on the wall in the commons.

-Adam Abilmona, freshman

7seven

The Falcon Flier December 2009opinion

Tyler Lubore

editor

Beth Hunleyadviser

Rachel FriedMary Gray Johnson

Ben Harris Zach Sullivan

Simone Wicker

reporters

The Falcon Flier is produced by the journalism class of

Fredericksburg Academy. Its target audience is middle and

upper school students.

Austen Dunn associate editor

graphic design editor

Lindsay DawsonFlierFalconthe

STAFF2009-2010

by MARY GRAY JOHNSONthe falcon flier

On my left elbow there’s a small, tender scar. It’s a physical reminder of my devotion to grades.

Not devotion to learn-ing or school, but devotion to grades.

The fi rst quarter of sixth-grade had just ended, and I couldn’t wait to see my gleaming report card. Our neighbors had called to say that they had re-ceived my brother’s and my report cards in the mail by mistake.

Zach Attack:

I confess: I have focused too long on grades over understanding

WANTS YOU! FlierFalconthe

Feel free to send letters to the editor, comments and concerns to the following email address:

tlubore@fredericksburgacademy.org

Our use of technology has always been a highlight at FA. The laptop program and integration of online sources are stressed in Student Ambas-sador tours, course evaluation forms and the annual Fredericksburg Acad-emy Magazine.

However, the overuse of blogs and online busywork has taken away from the classroom experience. Technology is supposed to be a tool to expand the walls of the classroom, reaching out to sources that wouldn’t have been available otherwise. We need to be engaged with the technology we use, engaged being the operative word.

“Technology is to enhance the classroom experience,” said Head of Up-per School Tony Durso. As a small private school, FA is not exposed to much outside of its cocoon. When the technology is used to collaborate with the outside world, the classroom is enhanced. In World History a few weeks ago, an author spoke to the sophomore class via a conference call. In this instance, the students could listen and communicate with a resource that they couldn’t have accessed without technology, adding a new angle to class.

The blog assignments do not aid in conversation but instead replace and take away from classroom discussion. If the student has expressed all of their thoughts online, what is the need to repeat that information verbally when peers have just read it the night before? Blogs can take away from the legitimacy of homework as well. One student reading another’s blog instead of reading the assigned book, then copying what the peer said, is a way for the student to complete the assignment without giving the acceptable amount of effort. Blogs are supposed to be used to facilitate discussion, but those that leave comments such as “yeah, i agree” or “i didnt really understand” aren’t engaged in the conversation, just responding to make it look so.

Blogs also seem to have diminished the need for capitalizing “I” or cor-rectly punctuating conjunctions and sentences. Instant Messenger language is not appropriate for school assignments. The “idk” is not an engaged re-sponse to a discussion question, or a school appropriate one. Trying to entice students to share their feelings and ideas is important, but grammar and spelling are equally important, even in our Microsoft Word world.

Last year in Introduction to Genres, the freshmen class read Frankenstein and then wrote blog posts. Students at the University of Mary Washington commented on the FA blogs. In this case, the blogs were used as tool to communicate outside of FA, providing the opportunity for older students to give feedback and insight.

So, do Wikispaces, blogs, Google Documents, LibraryThing, Ning, Tur-nitin discussion board and Comapping really enhance learning? Some of these sites aid in the communication of information for projects and other group work, but not in discussion. To differentiate between the two would cut down on the use of blogs but make them more effective.

“Students turn it into busy work; they see it as a nuisance,” said teacher Keith Wamsley, also expressing concern with reading online in general. “You don’t give click and scan reading the same attention.” Wamsley ex-plained that those with a hard copy of the reading material process the information better than those staring at the computer screen.

In AP English this year, the senior students studied the Quran in their Search for Self unit. The text was online, but it was accompanied by a read-ing that they could listen to as they read. This helped the students under-stand the diffi cult writing and underlying themes, even though they read off of the computer screen. The recorded reading added a new dimension to the assignment, not to mention helping auditory learners.

Senior Zachary Sullivan benefi ted from submitting his MyHero paper, a school assignment, to myhero.com. Sullivan’s piece was submitted and eventually he was able to meet with the legally blind guitarist, Johnny High-land, in Virginia Beach. Sullivan walked away from the meeting with a guitar and a connection fostered by an online assignment.

It might be that there is a pressure on FA to integrate a certain amount of technology into the curriculum. On course evaluation forms, students are asked to comment on the teacher’s use of technology in the classroom. It is essential to remember not to force technology into unneeded places. Math teacher, Alpana Wilson, used to have her students complete a Wiki-space assignment that included taking a picture of an attempted math prob-lem and posting it online, trying to use the available technology. However, many students didn’t understand how to upload the photos, didn’t take the pictures correctly, or would do problems that other classmates had already uploaded. In the end, it was just a hassle.

It isn’t necessary to replace face-to-face discussions or a handwritten worksheet. The key is to not replicate what can be done in person with technology, but to expand outside the class using resources and tools to enhance learning.

The Staff’s Stand

Technology should be enhancing

I drove our golf cart to their house, but let my brother take the coveted driver’s seat on the way back as I fumbled anxious-ly through the large enve-lope that contained...What did it contain? At the time, I thought that it contained my destiny.

I was still scanning through my comments, both hands gripping the paper, rather than holding on to the golf cart, when my brother took the sharp turn into our driveway. My scar is from rolling across

Student �inds value in �ilm version of Othello

the pavement on our street, as those precious papers fl uttered all around me.

Ever since I can remem-ber, I’ve been this way. Ever since report cards were a sea of B’s, D’s and S’s (Beginning, Develop-ing, Secure) I’ve invested everything into leaving my evaluation spotless.

I’m a dork; I like getting an A+. I like that it means that my work was nearly perfect.

When the students with the highest percentages are honored at Lower, Middle,

and Upper school Convo-cations each year I admit that I like standing up. But what does it say to have a report card with impressive letters?

For many classes, it means that the student completed assigned work on time, studied for tests, and participated in class.

But shouldn’t the evalu-ation of students’ work in school be based on genu-ine curiosity, and desire to learn the material, rather than test scores and the completion of homework

assignments?For the fi rst time ever,

one of my teachers recog-nized my obsession

The night of the golf cart accident, my report card presented me with ev-erything I wanted, as usual. The third quarter of sixth grade wouldn’t end the same way.

I ended up with a grade that was to me, less than perfect. I was distraught that I let my grades be close to average. After a few nights of crying myself to sleep, my grade began to

rise, and my class averages were yet again, just as I had wanted.

For the fi rst time, one of my teachers addressed this issue, in the comments of this year’s fi rst quarter report card. The teacher challenged me to, “instead of learning the material for the grade, learn it for the understanding. To really understand the material will take a greater effort, although it will increase the reward.”

Isn’t this the way it’s sup-posed to be?

gratifi cation from his fa-ther. Hugo is controlled by jealously and is able to ma-nipulate those in his lives to help him urge Odin to the point of rage and then resulting in a violent fate. Though both the movie and the play were named after Othello I was surprised be-cause Hugo/Iago is really the most interesting char-acter. He is sly, cunning and plays both sides to gratify his own needs. Hugo easily dominates all characters. He uses Emily, his girlfriend, in the movie (played by Rain Phoenix) and Roger to kick off his plan. Both Em-ily and Roger were similar characters, they were both unpopular and weak; they wanted to be liked and gave into Hugo’s “evil plans”. Hugo then easily played his two best friends Michael and Odin. Throughout the mov-ie Hugo leaves Odin won-dering if Desi is cheating on him with Michael and won-dering is worse than know-ing which leads Odin to his own destruction. These are the main characters who lead to the fatal and tragic deaths. After reading up on the original characters from the play I was glad to see that many of the details were still kept. They were important to maintain the characters originality and the intricate story that Shakespeare cre-

ated. The original play was

based around a war but when transferred to the movie screen it was based on a high school basketball team now in a contempo-rary high school setting. The director did a phe-nomenal job of capturing the thrill of a champion-ship high school basketball game. He captured the fast pace game, the thrills and screams of the crowd and the overall high school en-vironment.

I was surprised on how drastically the language changed. In the movie the dialect is vulgar and there is use of racial slurs. Though the language can be found offensive and an extremity I feel it is necessary for the movie if you want to em-brace the overall impact. At the end of the movie you were left with this:

“Somebody here knows the truth, tell the god damn truth. My life is over, that’s it, but while all of you are out here liv-ing yours sitting around talking about the n----- who lost it back in high school you make sure you tell the truth. You tell them I loved that girl, I did but I got played. He f----- my head up, he f----- it up. I ain’t any different than none of y’all. My mama ain’t no crack addict, I wasn’t no gang banger, and it wasn’t

some hood rat drug dealer that f----- me up it was this prep school white mother f----- standing there. You tell them where I’m from” (Odin.)

The dialect is not as ar-ticulate as Shakespeare, but I feel in its own way it is beautiful. It creates a powerful and emotionally overwhelming moment and a beautifully dramatic clos-ing scene. The dialect fi t the movie, the story line, and the characters.

The movie’s dialect was questionable but the writers were able to preserve some of Shakespeare’s mesmeriz-ing and simplistic language. Hugo played by Josh Hart-nett set us up with the over-all theme at the beginning of the movie in a quote that I feel captured an essence of Shakespeare.

“All my life I always wanted to fl y, I always wanted to live like a hawk. I know you’re not sup-posed to be jealous of anything but to take fl ight, soar above ev-erything and everyone now that’s living. But a hawk is no good around normal birds; it can’t fi t in even though all the other birds would want to be hawks. They hate him; they can’t be proud, powerful, determined, and dark. Odin is a hawk. He soars above us. He can fl y. One of these days everyone is going to pay attention to me because I’m going to fl y to” (Hugo.)

Continued from page 6

FA classroom experienceJuggle, juggle, toil, and trouble

CARTOON BY ZACH SULLIVAN

8 opinionThe Falcon Flier december 2009eight

My name is Rachel Bena-vides, and I refuse to become just a number. I refuse to be defined by a statistic, a score, a letter grade, or anything that is not my name and my voice.

When I was in the eighth grade, I decided I was going to do everything possible to get into the best schools in the country. Ivy League…to me it seemed like an exclu-sive club, and if I was ac-cepted, I’d be set for life. Of course, I was aware there’d be competition—and that a lot of it consisted of the stu-dents in my class. But I was determined to be the best. No matter what, I would keep working.

What I don’t think I truly understood was the cost of that.

Now, of course, I’m not saying that working to get accepted into an Ivy League school is a bad idea. On the contrary—without that goal in mind would any of us work as hard at our studies? The problem happens when one begins to attribute be-ing good enough for those schools with perfection. I’ve seen it happen to others, and I’ve felt it happen to me. I think that sometimes the pressure we place on our-selves is greater even than that we feel from the people in our lives. To fail to prove ourselves to our parents, or to our teachers—that’s something we can change. To see ourselves as inade-quate, though, is dangerous.

It’s a lot more difficult to turn that around.

When my life became fo-cused on grades and school-work and testing, I lost some crucial parts of me that didn’t fit into such a rigid boundary. I failed to realize that I am more than just my grades; I was working toward percent-ages rather than knowledge. As a senior this year, I see this happening to my best friends and my peers.

But if we’re not working for perfection, what, then, should be our goal? Isn’t per-fection what makes people strive to be better, to work harder, to push themselves? Perhaps it is not attainable, but if we’re not looking to be ideal then what is the point of working?

Perhaps the wise Lee in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden says it best:

“Now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”

Good? Oh, good. That thing you can be when you cease to try and erase your faults and simply become passionate at what you love to do. Good. Anyone can be good at any-thing. It isn’t a statistic, it isn’t a number, it isn’t an unreach-able star in the sky that leaves you frustrated as you stretch out your arms and still feel only the cold night air.

It’s what happens when you start to love learning for learning itself. It’s what hap-pens when you cannot wait to get to work and produce something you’re proud of because you actually adore what you are doing. It’s what happens when you look away from the SAT study books and the transcripts and the multiple choice black-and-white cookie cutter answers and instead take a long hard look at yourself. You can never be defined by black and

white; only color. Never stop working hard, never stop reaching, but love what you do.

Harvard’s acceptance rate this year was 7%. That means that for every 100 students that packed their schedules with AP classes and spent countless late nights studying, only 7 actu-ally were accepted.

This used to make me anxious, apprehensive, self-conscious. I used to pore over how-to books describ-ing how to best stand out in the application process. As if a book could give me all of the knowledge I need in order to be myself in an interview, or a college es-say. As if a specific set of instructions could show me how to be who I am.

Perhaps, seniors, we should all take a deep breath and remember that, wher-ever we go next year and the years after, if we accept our-selves as individuals and not as numbers, we can work towards just being happy. Not perfect; happy. It is our thoughts, our memories, our experiences, and our values that we will carry with us through life, not our status among each other. Maybe we should encourage oth-ers to do the same, to teach those admissions directors and bosses and teachers who expect perfection that accepting human beings as imperfect and still good matters most.

I personally believe that changing the world starts with how you view yourself, not how a stranger views your accomplishments.

I don’t know about you, but when I think about that, I breathe a sigh of relief. I can work hard and still live a full life?

Well, good.

Living with siblings can be a pain. Believe me, I live with one of the biggest pains in the world: my little sister. She talks and talks and talks to no end, she knows exactly how to get under my skin, and she loves to get me in trouble, but despite all of this I wouldn’t trade her for anything.

I believe that the closer you are in age, the more you argue, but, at the same time, the better bond you have. My sister and I argue all the time, but still, there are just some things that she understands that no one else will. My sister and I could almost pass as twins (at least that’s what people say), and there are times where I don’t have to say a word, but she knows exactly what I’m thinking. It’s that type of connection that I love, and one of the things I really ap-preciate about our relationship.

Some people think that sib-lings are just individuals that they are forced to live with but have little interaction with them. Many find more comfort in their friend-ships and other relationships than with their own flesh and blood! The way I see it is, in the long run, friends will turn their backs, relationships will end, but my sis-ter will always be my sister. I know that I have some best friends now, but who can say we will still be friends five years from now? We always say we will be BFFs, but kids say a lot of things; I used to say I was going to be a queen when I grew up and…well…that hasn’t worked out so great. What I’m trying to say is that when ev-eryone else is gone, my sister will still have my back. Many may dis-agree with this statement, but it’s

the truth. As much as my sister annoys me and as much as she tells on me, I always take comfort in knowing that no matter what, she will stick by me. I can always count on her to tell me the honest truth. In the mornings, as we prepare for school, my sister and I talk a lot, one reason that we are always late! I ask for her opinion on what I’m wearing or what I’ve done to my hair, and if she doesn’t like it, she tells me. Granted, sometimes I end up ar-guing with her about why she doesn’t like it and then she gets mad, asking why I wanted for her opinion in the first place. What she doesn’t know is that I think very highly of what she thinks and everything she says. I know it sounds crazy, but at times I find my-self even admiring my sister, for her cool confidence and fearless nature; when she wants something, she goes for it. I know the little sister is sup-posed to look up to the big sister, but I look up to my little sister, figuratively and literally, considering she is 2 inch-es taller than me!

Those who don’t spend time with their siblings are missing out. I can’t imagine not having my little sister in my life; it’s a relationship that I cher-ish with all of my heart. She makes life more interesting, colorful, and she never ceases to make me laugh. Fighting and arguing are a part of life. When you argue with a friend does it mean they stop being your friend? No. When you argue with a sibling, the same is true; they don’t stop being your sibling.

I know that no sibling relationship can be perfect or even close to per-fect, but it’s not supposed to be. Life is so short, and if we spend it work-ing to avoid those we are supposed to care the most about, then what are we really getting out of it? I look at the relationship I have with my sister, and while there are some days where she makes me want to scream, there are also those days where she makes me laugh so hard I start crying. It’s those days where I’m rolling on the floor, tears streaming down my face at some crazy thing she has said that I realize we really have something special. It’s those days that I know the bond we have can never be broken.

by Rachel Benavidesguest reporter

by Matthew safaRikguest reporter

Sensitive. This word is one used to describe someone or something delicately aware of emo-tions around them. Sen-sitivity is looked upon as necessary to proper communication and pro-cedure. However, sensi-tivity is not seen as a trait of strength. In truth, it is one of weakness. One is unable to rule a people with sensitivity. To main-tain order and peace, procedure must remain unaltered and resist being overridden by this emo-tion. If such a takeover of sensitivity were to occur, nothing would move for-ward. Everything would be questioned as “insensi-tive” or “unethical.” This however, is exactly what our world today has be-come.

Let me begin with the potentially touchy sub-ject of death row. Notice how I am socially forced to prefix that sentence with “potentially touchy” in order to be accurate and accommodate the “sensitive” masses. Let us expand our view to our

neighboring state to the south, North Carolina. Less than half a century ago, the electric chair was used as an accepted form of execution. To-day, many would view this as a horrific practice and are glad to be rid of it. Do not be so quick to judge though. The softening views of the country may have swayed your views as well.

Today, it is common practice to execute death row inmates by lethal in-jection. “Why is this?” you might wonder. Be-cause of growing support against the use of “inhu-mane” devices, execution techniques such as the electric chair were retired. Due to public outcry and resistance, the death pen-alty has become a process similar in nearly every way to putting down a be-loved pet. Except the pet doesn’t get a final meal of its choice and a religious figure if requested.

It would be unwise however, to discount my rather blunt observation as extremism (or perhaps insensitivity?). On paper, le-thal injection sounds like the fantastic, pain-free plan to rid the world of scum while keeping the public appeased. When I hear this however, I tend to think of it from a dif-ferent point of view. Why, I ask you, should a serial killer or rapist be granted a quick, painless, politi-

cally correct execution? I’m not suggesting that America should upgrade to a coliseum-type public execution, nor even ad-vance the violence of the act at all; instead, I use this example of the death penalty to highlight and reveal a critical flaw in our current society.

Over time, as the indi-vidual’s self-esteem grows, so does the investment in one’s own emotions. Per-haps this is the reason that we do not wish for more “gruesome” executions to take place; perhaps it is not for the murderer, but for ourselves, so we may sleep with a cleaner con-science. Humans naturally shy away from violence, and rightly so. It is an ab-horrent and unfortunate feature of our society. But why should one who defies these natural laws, spits in the face of the justice system, tears apart families, be granted the same rights as the rest of us? This view is one stat-ed sparsely though, as an image of George Orwell’s Animal Farm begins to ap-pear, with the statement of “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” becoming a fearful future.

As we get more and more involved with how harshly we deal with the criminals and other such similar people in our country, are we not sim-ply appeasing the process

which began as a deter-rent for such crime? If someone is murdered in our current society, there’s a good chance that with a proper lawyer and enough money, the murderer can get away with simply a chunk of time in prison. It becomes a sad world where it takes multiple murders, a weak cover-up, and an amateur lawyer on the side of the defendant to even grace the death penalty. What used to be a common occurrence in our country has now be-come taboo. This is living proof that people would rather store their troubles away than deal with them. While they can live with the ends, they detest the means, though both are essentially the same.

Not everything with this national sensitivity issue is criminal and dark though. In the 1983 case of Hazelwood School Dis-trict v. Kuhlmeier, a number of sections of a public high school newspaper were considered “inap-propriate material” by the principal, and thus were removed before the publication was sent to print. What were these so deemed “inappropriate” articles then? They were none other than columns written by the school stu-dents concerning preg-nancy, divorce, and other similar issues. How can material prevalent in ev-eryday life be considered

inappropriate for a school environment? According to the Supreme Court, the school retained the right to deny sponsoring speech deemed “incon-sistent with ‘the shared values of a civilized social order.’” What social order is this however? Perhaps the world is in perfect order in Hazelwood, but here in the rest of the world both pregnancy and divorce are important issues that would be un-wise to ignore.

Still, these two very dif-ferent topics both give credence to the same problem. This problem is again, none other than the overly-sensitive nature of our society. At times I wonder what could have possibly happened to our country to allow such a drastic change to occur. Perhaps some principal got the idea in his head that all ideas that flowed through the school could affect him personally, and even if this was true, it was the sensitive nature of the society that imprinted this concern upon him. Maybe one sunny morn-ing everyone woke up and suddenly murder didn’t seem like such a bad thing anymore. I mean, things could be worse right?

Are a number of you out there still not con-vinced? Not even a little? Do you think that this is still, even with evidence

to the contrary, exagger-ated blabbering? Well, let’s take a look at a legal case known as Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants. This infamous case in-volves an elderly woman spilling a container of hot coffee on herself at Mc-Donalds, and then suing McDonalds for serving “dangerously hot” coffee without the proper identi-fication of it being at such a temperature. The simple fact that such a frivolous case as this could eas-ily be tangled up by our country’s legal system is a tribute to the sheer sen-sitivity our country must have obtained to consider such a case as this to be legitimate.

Sometimes, sensitivity can be a great tool of un-derstanding. As America is now however, it has warped our views into plastic goo, accommodat-ing even the most ignorant fool to present his case to the world and find a suf-ficient amount of sup-porters. What happened to the days of common sense? What happened to the world where a rigid system of laws and regu-lations kept the public in check? What happened to the once admired struc-ture of American society?

The warm, gooey rush of sensitivity happened, and now the same struc-ture begins to collapse.

Sensitivity is ruining American society

by nia Jonesguest reporter

SISTER, SISTER

This page features editorials written by senior AP English students. These three were selected by the

Falcon Flier Staff as the best in the class.

Senior Editorials

Sibling bond can’t be brokenIvy League overrated

9nineThe Falcon Flier december 2009feature

Imagine, if you will, that Carly Simon and Janis Jop-lin had an illegitimate child whom they named Dusty Springfi eld. Imagine they brought this child to the Deep South where she found God in a backwoods church in the heart of Mississippi, then lost Him during a raucous three day

weekend in Cancun. Imag-ine fi nally that she retired to a bar in Georgia where she wrote a dirty R&B al-bum under the tutelage of a wizened old blues musi-cian.

That child is Diane Birch.

Birch comes from an un-conventional background. The child of a 7th Day Adventist preacher, Birch spent much of her early childhood moving between Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Australia. I know, al-ready this seems a unique story. However, after her family settled in Portland when she was 10, Birch fo-cused on musical endeav-

ors, learning keyboard fi rst and then fi nally settling into her role as a vocalist.

Birch’s fi rst album, Bible Belt, was released in early 2009. I heard about it through a friend, who had acquired a gift card through Starbucks’ weekly “Pick of the Week” (or commonly known as “Here Have Some Music”) pro-gram. And when she was introduced to me, I was intrigued that such an art-ist could even exist. I was dumbfounded.

Any trepidation I had proved to be unfounded. Diane Birch has crafted one of the fi nest R&B al-bums to hit the airwaves

within the past decade. During a time when many singers are watered down with modifi ed vocals, over-ly produced rhythm tracks, and soulless, faceless studio musicians and songwriters draining the songs of any semblance of soul, Birch is a welcome relief with a simple, good old fashioned blues record.

Songs like “Valentino” and “Choo Choo” hear-ken back to a time when Van Morrison’s neo-soul was the ear-candy of the day. Both use extensive amounts of keyboards and dirty sounding horn sec-tions, along with borderline folky guitars. And songs

like “Nothing But a Mira-cle” and “Ariel” are tender, heartfelt ballads without a string section, often over-used by pop artists, to mar its soft beauty, and with none of the pretentious-ness dripping from, say, Pink’s “Sober.”

The album’s centerpiece however proved to be the eighth track, “Don’t Wait Up.” With a soulful vocal from Birch, a very cool sounding harmony pro-vided by background sing-ers seemingly culled from Ray Charles’ 1950s backing band, and a downright sexy saxophone solo, this track basically reaffi rmed my faith in modern music. No

exaggeration. The one weakness of

this album is that it is a col-lection of songs, and this diminishes its strength as a cohesive album. Repeat lis-tens will only cause you to skip to your favorite songs, but in this day and age, it’s really all about having the next great single, and there are a lot of those on the album.

If you want Van Mor-rison folk-soul crooned by a cross between Janis Jop-lin and Dusty Springfi eld, check out Bible Belt by Di-ane Birch. Even if you’re not a part of the Starbucks crowd, you won’t regret it. I give this album ½.

Twilight was a terrible movie. I’m not going to beat around the bush here; it was bad. It has an average rating of 56 (out of 100) among crit-ics, it starred one of the most boring actresses in fi lm history, and it is about sparkly vampires who don’t bite people. But it was hilarious; Kris-ten Stewart’s terrible act-ing meshed well with the meandering style of the original novel and the one action scene was embar-rassing. The rest of the movie was supposed to be a drama, carried by Kristen Stewart and one-liners.

But the recent sequel New Moon, having set the record for the best open-ing day of any fi lm of all time, had to have been bet-ter. Now there were not only two creepy guys for Kristen Stewart to look at emotionlessly, but from what I had read from the Wikipedia plot synopsis, there was more than one fi ght scene! This fi lm had double the everything, how could it not be twice as hilarious?

Well, it largely managed this by trying to actually be good. But the fi lm was pretty much fi nished in six months. So what we are left with is a bunch of terribly written and acted scenes with atro-cious action sequences and unnecessary, blatant foreshadowing. Granted, all of these elements were present in the original Twi-light, but they were done so much worse. Taylor

Lautner’s performance as Jacob is actually much better than that of Robert Pattinson’s Edward, his various emotions actu-ally being distinguishable from one another. I still have yet to see Kristen Stewart give a believable smile in any fi lm, which starts to really drag on you after accumulating four hours of droll Twi-light apathy.

And oh my word does it drag. The fi lm is 130 minutes – that’s two hours and ten minutes of mind-numbing blandness, in case you were wonder-ing – and it really starts to get to you. I would personally object to New Moon being shown in pris-ons because, quite frankly, sitting through the entire thing could legally be con-sidered torture. Pattinson is absent throughout the majority of the movie (New Moon has generally been considered by fans to be Jacob’s chance to shine), so what the audi-ence is left with is the half-naked, hardly com-petent actor (whose only previous notable role was that of Sharkboy) and his companion, a robot of a woman with recurring nightmares of something akin to childbirth (but we’re left to assume she’s just dreaming of getting old).

But for many, that half-naked Sharkboy is enough to cover the price of admission. But a 17-year-old hunksicle does not make a good fi lm, and that’s the issue with New Moon. It gives you two and a half hours of barely legal eye candy, but nothing else. Literally no emotion, no color (the environment is still hilari-ously monochrome), no surprises. The fi lm start-ed off promising, with about fi ve seconds of the title screen just saying “New Moon,” but there was simply nowhere near the amount of quotable, laugh out loud moments that the original remains known for. Heck, New Moon even tried to rip off several of Twilight’s classic moments, but it just plain missed the mark. New Moon is a failure as a mov-ie, not because it sucked (the original did that in spades), but because it didn’t suck enough to be-come great.

Sharkboy does little to save New Moon from mediocrity

A student’s survival guide

HISTORY MATH

SCIENCE ENGLISH

STILL STRUGGLING TO FIGURE OUT YOUR TEACHERS? HERE YOU WILL FIND A COMPREHENSIVE SURVIVAL GUIDE TO COMMON CLASSES IN FA’S UPPER SCHOOL. FIND OUT DIRECTLY FROM TEACHERS

AND THEIR STUDENTS WHAT IT TAKES TO SUCCEED.

What she’s teaching: World History I, World History II

What you should be doing: Participate with a good attitude, do homework to prepare for class

How to survive:Mrs. Blashford almost always hands out a rubric prior to a graded assignment or test. Organization is a must. “Taking notes in an organized fashion will help make sense of that info...Sometimes this means going back and reorganizing class notes in an unscheduled or study hall,” said Blashford.

What he’s teaching: AP Government, AP US History, Model UN, US History

What you should be doing:Do the assigned reading, show your deeper understanding of the material How to survive:Tests in Mr. Eckerson’s class not only evaluate a students’ understanding of the topic, but also the content. Tests usually include multiple choice questions and essays. Regular homework is assigned, usually reading, and, “it’s not checked, but it is necessary,” said junior Kahlil Gedin.

What she’s teaching: Advanced Algebra, Algebra II, Geometry, Probability & Statistics

What you should be doing: Do homework, take notes based on your individual needs

How to survive:Freshman Justin Safarik claims that completing homework is an easy way to keep up your grade and will help you to succeed in other areas of your math class. “I know that sounds rudimentary but if you just study and work hard during class and out of class, then you will succeed,” said Safarik.

What she’s teaching: AP Calculus, Differential Equations, Math Analysis, Algebra II/Trigonometry, Probability & Statistics

What you should be doing: Go over previous mistakes, do practice problems, question material

How to survive:Students who question the material, “produce more fl exible learners,” said Wilson. Wilson stressed the importance of understanding the logic covered, rather than just memorizing information. She suggests highlighting and focusing on previous mistakes because humans are, “creatures of habit!”

What she’s teaching: British Literature, American Literature

What you should be doing: Copy down notes from what is written on the board, read

How to survive:Mrs. Clark-Evans writes down vital information on the board. These notes are key pieces of information to study for tests and quizzes. Students should also complete the assigned reading, because SparkNotes just won’t cut it. “Read the book to prepare for tests,” said sophomore Bryan Davis.

What she’s teaching: AP English Literature, Introduction to Genres

What you should be doing: Participate in class, follow requirements on graded assignments

How to survive:Mrs. Nobles grades papers based on content and the given requirements. In class there are, “a lot of opportunities for revising,” said freshman Seth Rapkins. “She’s big on participation,” said freshman Ahkbar Khwaja, who noted thatparticipating in class was also important.

What she’s teaching: Biology, AP Biology, Topics in Bio, Marine Sciences

What you should be doing: Study ahead of time for tests, follow rubrics

How to survive:In AP Biology, Mrs. Garcia grades based on the AP rubric, and conducts the class just like a college course. Junior Ty Steve suggests doing biology homework at home because, “it takes more time and concentration,” than other homework. As for homework reading, “you have to be self-disciplined,” said Mrs. Garcia.

What he’s teaching: Calculus, Physics, Topics in Physics

What you should be doing: Practice problems, take notes from the board

How to survive:Surviving Mr. Reed’s tests and quizzes? “Tons and tons of practice problems,” said senior Jordan Banez. “The test is usually split into a few multiple choice questions, a couple short answer questions and the rest is usually skill questions,” she said. Plus this tip from senior Brian Hong: “Give him food.”

Katie BlashfordJeff Eckerson

Kris HoppelAlpana Wilson

Debra GarciaChris Reed

Jennifer Clark Evans

Susanne Nobles

by BEN HARRISthe falcon flier

by MARY GRAY JOHNSONthe falcon flier

by TYLER LUBOREthe falcon flier

THE FALCON FLIER OFFERS TIPS TO HELP STUDENTS SURVIVE A WIDE RANGE OF TEACHING STYLES

HIGHEST GROSSING OPENING DAYS

1. New Moon- $72,740, 0522. The Dark Knight- $67,165, 0923. Transformers-Revenge of the Fallen- $62,016,4764. Spiderman 3- $59,841,9195. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-$58,471,512

Music you’ve never heard of: Diane Birch’s Bible BeltEVERY MONTH THE FALCON FLIER BRINGS YOU ANOTHER ALBUM THAT YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF, FROM AN ARTIST YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER SEEN

Fiddler

Rooftheon

10 featureThe Falcon Flier december 2009ten

Practice and Pr eparation

Showtime!

-“There is an incredible amount of time and organization and a lot of hard work and a cou-ple of compromises.” -Drama teacher Tiffany Toner regarding making a successful play

-Practices ran from September 11 to the day before November 20 Opening Night

-The fi rst full run-through occured Novem-ber 15, with the dress rehearsal occuring No-vember 19

-Rehearsals took place Monday to Friday from 6 to 8 p.m., but for the fi rst few weeks, not all actors were called for each rehersal

-“Sometimes I have really late nights when I don’t get home until around nine so balance has been an issue but it’s all really worth it.” -Soph-omore Sydney Hawkins on balancing sports, school, and the play

Photos and Reporting by LINDSAY DAWSONthe falcon flier

-“I just sing [the songs] to myself in the show-er, in the car, or sometimes if I’m feeling extra enthusiastic that day, I sing a few verses in pub-lic.” -Senior Trent Butterworth on practicing

-Set constructed by: Bil Catron, Lenny Sachs, Steve Hoover, Lee Steven and John Barth

-“I can’t speak to the ones in the past. Our cast has more than doubled. This show takes on much more serious subject matter; it’s not a lighthearted musical. Basically it forces the stu-dents not to play caricatures, but people. These are people, they are not stereotypes.” -Toner on how Fiddler will differentiate itself from previous FA performances

-Make-up assistance provided by: Barbara Dimitroff and seniors Sam Edwards and Chelsea Edwards

• The FA cast performed Fiddler on three consecutive days, starting on November 20

• The performance included around 15 songs and over 5 dance scenes, drawing infl uence anywhere from ballet to Russian dance

• The performing cast consisted of 28 students, with many more helping behind the scenes or in the pit orchestra

• Faculty members Todd Pristas, Bill Evans, Chris Reed, and Tony Durso had cameos as “Bottle Dancers.”

Cast listTevye Andrew MurphyGolde Elizabeth GeyerYente Emily KangasTzeital Mary FriedHodel Jessica HooverChava Natalie Ducharme-BarthShprintze Lauren Anker*Bielke Rachel Shrader*Motel Tyler LuborePerchik Ben HarrisFyedka Aaron AnkerLazar Wolf Josh GherloneConstable Sebastian WickerRabbi Mimi Wack

Fruma-Sarah Maya BrownGrandma Tzeitel Katie GravesAvram Anna IglesiasMordcha Megan SullivanNachum Trent ButterworthShaindel /Russian Soloist Sydney HawkinsThe Fiddler/Russian Dancer Isabel StevenSasha/Russian Dancer Rachel BenavidesEnsemble/Russian Dancer Margeaux DucoingEnsemble Rachel FriedEnsemble Stephanie JacksonEnsemble Tara Doggett*Ensemble Amanda Smithson*

*denotes Middle School student

MARGEAUX DUCOING

TIFF TONER, SEBASTIAN WICKER, MARY FRIED, AND JESS HOOVER

MAYA

BRO

WN

ANDREW MURPHY AND CAST

11The Falcon Flier december 2009advertisements

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The Falcon Flier december 2009the Back page

Holiday Wish List Mash Up

A. B. C. D. E. F.Trent Butterworth

seniorKatie Graves

juniorSimone Roberts

freshmanBrandon Atkins

freshmanPrescott Castles

juniorMaddie Huddle

junior

December 20092. National Pie Day 4.

National Dice Day

8. National Brownie Day remember to bake brownies!

Hanukkah

begins!

12.

ice cream

day

yummmm

13. Games Day 20.

Christmas!

25. Kwanzaa

starts

26.

STUDY FOR CHEMISTRY!

Basketball

practice!

SAT @ 4

Bring art project home

Sea World 2009

my friends!

Will it snow on Christmas?students polled: 65

Will it snow on Christmas?students polled: 65

What’s your favorite part of the holidays?

What’s your favoriteWhat’s your favorite part of the holidays?students polled: 92

FA’s holiday wish list presents

31%

decor

24%

29%16%

food

other

Yes

No

50%

50%

according to the National Christmas Tree Association

The holiday season has

fi nally arrived. Wreaths are going up on houses, menorahs are being lit, and holiday wish lists are being made. Check out below to see

what FA students put on their holiday wish lists this year.

CHRISTMASTREES SOLDEACH YEAR

2005

2006

2007

2008

2004

YEAR Trees sold (per Million)

27.1

32.8

28.6

31.1

28.2

Answer key: A (Brandon Atkins) B (Katie Graves) C (Maddie Huddle) D (Trent Butterworth) E (Simone Roberts) F (Prescott Castles)

by RACHEL FRIED

the falcon flier

by SIMONE WICKERthe falcon flier