The GuardianVol. 50 Issue 8 Saint Joseph Regional High School, Montvale, NJ Friday, January 11, 2013

The Saint Joseph Regional Mock Trial Team defeated Ma’ayonot High School of Teaneck on Tuesday in the second trial of the preliminary round of the Bergen County competition to improve its record to 1-1. In an earlier trial SJR, despite an impressive performance, was narrowly defeated by Bergen Academy. If the Green Knights win next Tuesday (1/15) they will move on to the next round for the third straight year. Mock Trial is a competition run by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation in which students from various schools portray the attorneys, witnesses, and the jury of a typical civil or criminal court case, and try it in an actual court room. Mock Trial offers the participants a first-hand experience of the American legal system and an opportunity to strengthen their listening, speak-ing, reading, writing, analyzing, and overall leadership skills. The teams compete in court houses throughout New Jersey and are scored on their presentation by the actual lawyers and judges presiding over their case.

This year’s civil case involves a show dog named Sally who died after receiving a flea treatment from a well-known dog product manufacturer. Each school needs to be fully prepared to present both sides of the case in support of the plaintiff and defense. Mr. Kenny, who has coached the team for the past two years, noted that with this year’s team, “We lost many of our lead guys to graduation but many sophomores and even freshmen have stepped up; this young blood has strengthened us and made the team even stronger.”

Mock Trial Defeats Ma’ayonot HSBy Matt Casterella ‘15

Sophomores Chris McCann and Chris Presti presenting evidence

SJR Mock Trial Team

Your teachers really dislike you? Page 2 Homework? What homework? Page 4

It takes a lot of dedication and hard work by all members in reviewing and understanding all the details of the case and in pre-paring for their line of questioning, cross examination, opening, and closing statements. Returning team member, sophomore Thomas Murphy, agrees with Mr. Kenny, “This was a great experience not only for me, but for the whole team … This really gave all of us a chance to expe-rience what a court room was like, and how a court trial really works. You have to give all the credit in the world to everyone on the team. We worked hard, sometimes everyday of the week after school, and worked for perfection in the courtroom. We all gave up a lot to be part of this and added countless hours of extra homework for each of us.” Sophomore William Rappa, also a returning member, added, “We have been working hard, and I could not ask for a better team or coach.” In Tuesday’s trial against Ma’ayonot sophomores Chris Presti and Chris McCann were the plaintiff attorneys while juniors Michael Addvensky and Dan Ryan and sophomore Steve Striegel testified as witnesses. In the first trial against Bergen Academy, sopho-mores Matt Casterella and Murphy were defense attorneys; junior Louis Napolitano, Rappa and freshman Chris Cheeseman took the witness stand for SJR. Alumnus and Ridgewood attorney Matt Rogers ’70 has helped Mr. Kenny coach the team.

If the Green Knights win next Tuesday’s trial, against an opponent yet to be named, they will advance to the second round.

2 The Guardian, Friday, January 11, 2013

Opinion

Midterms Can Actually Serve a Purpose!Now I know you won’t believe this, but schools that require students to take examinations have some good reasons for doing so. Here at St. Joe’s we give midterm and final examinations because…

So. Midterms do NOT prove that your teachers hate you. They DO prove that your teachers expect that you will actually turn off your Xbox, iPod, and TV for a few hours next week and live like some kind of Neanderthal with your nose in a book and a pen in your hand. They CAN prove that if you put in the effort, you WILL see some very good results!

There Are Some Exams You Never Have To Study For…… like an eye exam. But if you want to do your best here at St. Joe’s, you must study for midterms and finals. There’s no shortcut for this.Here are some simple study tips to consider as you prepare for midterms:1. Review all of the tests and quizzes you had in the first semester. If it was important enough for a teacher to ask you about once, chances are you’ll be asked about it again. That, and it’s just easier for teachers to copy and paste questions from previous tests than to make up all new ones. Think about it like this: If a teacher uses any part of a previous test on the midterm, and if you have held on to graded tests that were returned to you this semester, you have an answer key (for at least some of the exam) in your possession right now!2. If your teacher offers an exam review in the days before a midterm, pay very careful attention to what he or she tells you to study. The teacher will not waste your time (or his or hers) reviewing material that won’t be on the exam.3. Study with someone. This will keep you focused and may help make you aware of material that you wouldn’t have thought of on your own. Set up a study session with one or more people in your class (after school, or using Skype or Facetime). Make flash cards and have a parent or brother or sister quiz you – younger brothers or sisters (who are old to enough to read) love to help you study because they relish the chance of catching you making a mistake!

Beat the Clock, Sleeping Beauty. You’re Greeaaaattt!Once you’ve done the studying, there’s not much left. But you can help improve any test results by taking these hints: •Beontime.Beinglatecanstressyouout.Ifyouarriveaftertheexamhasstarted,youwillnotbegivenextratimeattheend. •Eatagoodbreakfast.It’simpossibletofocusonthePythagoreantheoremwhenallyoucanthinkaboutisagiganticplateof bacon and a double cheeseburger. •Getagoodnight’ssleep.Freshandsharpisbetterthangroggyandgoogly-eyed. •Donotcraminthefewminutesbeforetheexamstarts.Ifyoudidn’tlearnitinthefirstsemester–orwhileyoupreparedthe night before the test – you will NEVER learn it in the five minutes before the clock starts. Use this time to relax and help yourself focus. •Usethefullamountoftimeyouhaveforthetest.Don’ttrade25minutesoveraplateofwafflesticks,fries,and“chicken”nug gets drowned in syrup, ketchup and ranch dressing for the chance to check your Scantron, polish-up your short answers, and maximize your essay points.

Your teachers, your parents, and the school’s administrators want you to succeed. Up until the day exams start, they have done all they can to help you with this. Now, it’s your turn to step up to the plate and take responsibility for the grades you’ll earn on this year’s mid-terms. We wish you luck!

1. They provide teachers with a standardized, objective measurement of student progress, a checkpoint teachers can use to evaluate how successfully their students have learned what they were supposed to and how ready they are for the next semes-ter’s work.2. They reinforce key concepts and help students recognize and really “own” the most important material covered in the first two marking periods. The midterm exam emphasizes the ideas the teacher really wants you to take from the class – and your intensive preparation will (hopefully) help ensure that you remember these ideas for a long time after the exam is over.3. They help you practice for the exams you’ll take in college – where just about every course will require a midterm and a final. College exams carry quite a bit more weight than the ones you’ll take next week, so the practice you get now can really help you master an important key to success in college.

Are Midterm Exams Proof That Your Teachers Hate You?By Mr. John VreelandGreen Knights will take midterm exams on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, January 16, 17, and 18, 2013. Because the midterm exam grade counts for 20% of your first semester average, it can have a significant impact on your overall grade for the year – it’s up to you to make sure that this impact is positive and not negative. The Guardian staff asked Mr. Vreeland, Assistant Principal for Academics, to pro-vide some advice to students about preparing for the upcoming exams.

The Guardian, Friday, January 11, 2013 3

Arts and EntertainmentAcademy Gets Oscars Nominations Right

The Oscars is the way that the American film industry honors the best movies and performances of the year. Many times, it is not the quality of the movie that earns the nomination but instead the large budget of the film, but this year that is not the case.

Last June when I first saw “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” I had guessed that Quvenzhané Wallis might earn a nomination. The young star has now become, at nine, the youngest, best actress nominee in history. Her story is even better: She was five when she auditioned for the role, and six when she performed it.

What Quvenzhané provides for the Oscarcast is what every ceremony needs: a compelling, human interest story on the side. “Beasts of the Southern Wild” plays the same role in the overall field. A first film, shot on location in the Louisiana bayous, it depicts a small community surviving in poverty in the years after Hurricane Katrina and expecting another storm even more devastating.

It’s the sort of film Oscar used to ignore. Made for $1,800,000 by first-time director Benh Zeitlin, himself now an Oscar nom-inee, it shouldered past many blockbusters not only because it deserved to, but also because some Oscar voters might have thought Quvenzhané would add great human interest to the show. She utters an incredible scream in “Beasts,” a cry like an elemental force of nature, and if that cry echoes through the television sets on Oscar night, it will be a moment for history.

Not that it is likely to. Let’s face it: The nomination is the award, and best actress Oscar this year is more likely to go to Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Silver Linings Playbook”), Naomi Watts (“The Impossible”) or Emmanuelle Riva (“Amour”). Riva, a French legend, is 85, which creates story interest of its own. She’ll soon be asked to pose for publicity photos with a child from Houma, La., more than she could ever have anticipated.

By Dan Gettler ‘13

I’ve learned that the gold statuettes are unlikely to go to my personal favorites. I often feel snubbed. When the nominees were announced Thursday at the crack of dawn, indeed, all of the coverage led with the “snub” to Kathryn Bigelow, direc-torof“ZeroDarkThirty.”Also“snubbed”wereBenAffleck(“Argo”) or Quentin Tarantino (“Django Unchained”). Yes, but they also got best picture nominations, and who won one of the five nominations instead of them? Michael Haneke (“Amour”) and Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”). That shows the voters did a little thinking outside the box.

Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” led the field with 12 nominations. But remember that it barely escaped being tied with Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi,” which has 11 nominations. “Lincoln” is drawn from history. “Pi” is a film created entirely from the imagina-tion. Both presented daunting challenges for their makers.

Now consider the range of the other best picture nominees: “Silver Linings Playbook,” a dark comedy about a father and son who are both obsessed sports fans, and “Les Misérables,” based on the hit musical set after the French Revolution. Right behind them are “Argo,” about a scam to free some Ameri-cans from Iran under cover of a fake movie production, and “Amour,” a French-language film about a long-married couple now facing death together, and “Django Unchained,” Quen-tin Tarantino’s violent epic about slavery in the pre-Civil War South.

Looking at this year’s list, I can say: The academy did pretty well by itself. Yes, I can find room for complaint. But the fact is: The members of the academy did a pretty good job this year.

Jennifer Lawerence and Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook”

Staff Writers: Chrstopher Ambrogio, Kirk Brouwer, Devin Buonan-no, Brian Buonauro, Chris Cheeseman, Vincent DePinto, Patrick Doherty, Chris Farrell, Louis Napolitano, Christopher O’Byrne, Brandon O’Connor, James Quinn, Jeffrey Richardson, Christopher Walker, Alex WalshModerator: Mr. Mackie

Editor: Dan GettlerManaging Editor: Elliot FerrisLayout Editors: Shane O’Brien, Nick Caramico, John Henry Da SilvaPhoto Editor: Peter HolzknechtInternet Manager: Daniel Scalera

The Guardian Staff

4 The Guardian, Friday, January 11, 2013

HumorWhat’s Your Favorite Homework Excuse?

These days, “My dog ate my homework” doesn’t work quite as well as,“My hard drive crashed,” or “My printer’s jammed and broken,” or “I left it in my locker.” But excuses for undone, misplaced, or mutilated homeworkwill be around as long as teachers assign it. With that in mind, we asked the students and faculty what their fa-vorite excuses are. Their answers:

T.T. Hatton ‘15: “I emailed it to you. You didn’t get it?”

Mr. Lanari: “Three years ago a student said he didn’t complete his home work because his ‘grandmother died.’ When I called his mother to offer condolenc-es she informed me that both of the student’s grandmothers were alive.”

“In a similar way, one student’s grand-father died four times during a school year!”

Cartoon by Chris Gindhart

Mr. Sandgran: “Where is your homework?”

“Student: I didn’t know I was coming to school today so I didn’t do it.”

Stephen Coscia ‘14: “The web-site was down,” or “It wasn’t on the website.”

John Dembowski ‘13: “You never told us we had home-work.”

Mr. Di Staulo: “ Teacher: Why are you late? Student: Obviously, because I wasn’t here on time.”

“I got mugged by the homework bullies; they threatened to do my homework if I didn’t give it to them.”

“I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to add to my teacher’s heavy workload.” “You said do questions 1-10.

You didn’t say bring them in.”

“I didn’t do it, because I didn’t want the other kids in the class to look bad.” Pete Holzknecht: “My cat ate my homework.”

The Guardian, Friday, January 11, 2012 5

Alumni Spotlight

On January 5th, Saint Joseph Regional held its annual Alumni Basketball Game. Over 15 alumni participat-ed in this year’s edition of the White vs Green game. Many alumni came to watch former teammates and classmates take the St. Joe’s court for one more time and relive their high school memories. The crowd was enthusiastic and full of laughter.

The day was made THAT much sweeter when all three of SJR’s current basketball teams won. The varsity pounded West Milford 65-43, the JV won 45-25 and the frosh were 69-24 victors.

After varsity’s big 22-point victory, many alumni took the court and began to warm up. Of course there were a couple air balls, and a couple missed layups here and there. Some guys began to think, “Wow. How was I able to do this back in high school? I’m so tired already!” You could hear some inside jokes to former teammates, “What happened to those three’s you used to hit in high school?! … Come on man! You gotta make that layup!”

Devin McCourty, starting cornerback for the AFC East Champion New England Patriots, was even in atten-dance. He cheered on some of his former teammates from the class of ‘05. “It’s fun to come back and see all the guys. The same guys I competed with. The memo-ries of playing basketball in high school, I miss it a lot,” McCourty said.

Basketball Alumni Gather for Annual GameBy Devin Buonanno ‘14

“I’m sure Coach Doherty will come out and shoot a couple threes.” (Coach Doherty did – even draining two!) When asked if he would be playing in this game, McCourty said, “I can’t! We have to play next week.” It was an easy-going crowd for the most part, and you could really tell that the fans, and even some of the current SJR varsity players were laughing. The opening tip was won by the white team. After a slow start by both teams, White took an early lead and led by a score of 33-31 at half.

In the second half, it turned out that McCourty was right. Coach Doherty got in on the action: sporting his old school Converses, he drained a three-pointer for the Green team but immediately after making the basket, Coach Doherty called time out, limped to the bench and grasped his hamstring.

In the end, the Green squad won by a final score of 69-50. During the after game handshake, you could see some guys’ smiles after seeing old friends. With all the alumni extremely exhausted after that long workout, Coach Doherty invited both sides, winner or loser, into the Student Lounge for a bite to eat, or should I say class reunion.

January 5th will be a day that no alumnus will ever forget. It was a day in which they could see new, and old faces and relive their high school days.

The Giles-Harris Family: Will ‘09, Mrs. Giles-Harris, John Thomas ‘16, Joe ‘15

Coach Doherty ‘82, Will Mackie ‘05, Devin McCourty ‘05, Coach Sainte-Rose ‘92, RJ Sainte-Rose

6 The Guardian, Friday, January 11, 2013

SportsWrestlers 2nd at BCCA;

Carfagno, Wilkins take 1stThere was no rest for the SJR wrestlers during Christmas break. Nine members of the team attended the Beast of the East, a national tournament held at the University of Delaware. This highly competitive tournament takes place during a three-day period in which over 800 wrestlers compete in nearly 2000 matches. St. Joe’s junior heavy-weight Kevin Wilkins brought home a fifth place medal.The following weekend, the team headed to Rockland County Community College to participate in the Bergen County Coaches Asso-ciation Holiday Tournament. The Green Knights placed second behind Bergen Catholic. Nine wrestlers medaled in the top eight of their weight class: Dominic Carfagno and Kevin Wilkins earned first place medals, Mike Silano and Matt Zovistoski took second, Ryan Freeman took third, Jon Tropea and Dan DalCortivo 5th, and Rob DeMauro and EJ Vetterlein 6th. Both Carfagno and Wilkins have said that county first is a start but they both plan on placing at the NJ state tournament in Atlantic City at the end of the season.

Coming off a strong performance at the BCCA in December, the Green Knights wrestling team took on Passaic High School and overwhelmed the Indians 67-12. The team then traveled to Jersey City on January 5th to take on St. Peter’s Prep and Haddonfield High School. They finished 1-1 on the day with a win over Haddonfield 54-16 and a 43-18 loss to St. Peters.

The SJR wrestlers got back on the road on Wednesday, January 9, to take on the Paramus Catholic Paladins. The team was happy to see Austin Cantone back on the mat after recovering from a hip injury that sidelined him for the first half of the season. St. Joe’s rolled over PC with a score of 65-6, winning nearly every match. When head coach Anthony Riotto was asked if such a decisive victory was expected by him and his coaching staff, he replied, “I had thought it was going to be a one-sided match in our favor, but I knew we had to take it one match at a time. We have been working hard and it showed tonight.”

The Green Knights’ next match is tonight against Wayne Hills, followed by DePaul and Paramus on January 16 and 18 respectively. “I will prepare the team like we do for every match,” Coach Riotto stated. “Hark work and focus in practice. We will work on condition-ing and review our technique, and clean up the mistakes some of our kids are making.”

By Chris Ambrogio ‘14

Rob DeMauro ‘13 takes on a Don Bosco wrestler

The Guardian, Friday, January 11, 2013 7

Sports

Over the long winter break, the SJR Varsity Hockey went 1-2. They defeated Paramus 6-5, lost to Pope John, 6-2, and also lost to Montclair Kimberley Academy (MKA), 5-2. The two losses came against very competitive teams who rank at the top of the state. In lone win against Paramus, St. Joe’s had to come back from 4-2 and 5-3 down before scoring the final three goals to win. Devin Moran tallied the winning goal midway through the third period. Zef Krasniqi, Jake Healey, and Kyle Javier also had goals. The Pope John and MKA games were the most difficult games the Knights have had all year. Not because SJR was integrating several new players into the lineup, but because their opponents were very good. On January 4th, James Quinn and Krasniqi scored the only two goals in the loss to Pope John, who plays in the Gordon Conference, New Jersey’s top division. Then on January 7th, SJR only man-aged goals by Devin Moran and Matt McNamara in its loss to MKA, also a Gordon Conference team. After the MKA game St. Joe’s Head Coach Jason Briggs said, “To have given ourselves a better chance to win in both games, we could have worked harder in certain times of the game and could have worked more as a team.” St. Joe’s qualified for the Bergen County Ice Hockey Tourna-ment, which will feature the best teams in the county. Last year the Knights entered the tournament as the #3 seed, but this year they were selected as the #11 seed and will play rival Ramapo on January 16 at the Ice Vault in Wayne. Coach Briggs said, “The Tournament will be tough as an #11 seed, and I believe we are seeded low due to the fact that two of our wins came against a team [Paramus] with a very poor record [1-10].” He added, “We have a tough route, but as long as the team plays as a team, I know we can play with anyone in the state.” The Green Knights are currently 3-1 in league play and 3-3 overall.

Hockey 3-3, #11 Seed for Bergen County Tournament

By James Quinn ‘13

Matt McNamara ‘15 shoots against MKA

Goalie Phil Babb ‘14

8 The Guardian, Friday, January 11, 2013Sports

Basketball beats PV, WM; Falls to Tenafly

The Green Knights currently own a 5-6 record after last night’s heart-breaking 1-point loss to Tenafly. SJR fought all the way back from a 12-point, 2nd-half defi-cit to take a 2-point lead on Pat Mensah’s layup with 17 seconds to play. However,Tenafly was able to grab a loose ball and knock down a 3-pointer with just a fewseconds remaining to pull out the win.

Despite last night’s defeat, SJR continues to improve and has won four of the last six games, including Tues-day’s win over #13 ranked Passaic Valley. The teamalso owns victories over North Bergen, Christ the King and West Milford during the last two weeks.

Senior Pat Mensah has consistently been SJR’s “go-to” guy, averaging 18 points per game. Junior Mark Fossati has been coming on strong as a defensive sparkand also scored a season-high 17 points in leading SJR to victory over North Bergen in the Indian Hills Holi-day Festival. But team depth and balance havebeen the biggest keys for SJR as seniors Sean Kelly, Ricky Jeune, juniors Quai Jefferson & CJ Fitzpatrick, and sophomores Sean McKinless, Andrew McGuireand Patrick Doherty have all played significant min-utes. Jefferson scored a season high 17 in the PC game, Fitzpatrick scored a season high eight in sparkingthe win over West Milford, and Kelly and Jeune have both hit for double-digits inmultiple games.

The Green Knights will take on Dwight Morrow HS of Englewood this Sunday at 6:45pm in the Public vs Private Showcase at Dwight Morrow. The next homegame is Tuesday, January 15th against Bergenfield.

Sean McKinless ‘15 leads the break

Dunk and a foul: Pat Mensah ‘13 against PV

Ricky Jeune ‘13 fights PV for the rebound