Nicky Hatzidimitriou

Fells Point’s quirky spots attract visitors

Mr. Yogato’s and Sound Garden highlight a cherished Baltimore neighborhood

FEATURES 6

Index News...2 Features...4 Entertainment....7 In-Depth...8 Editorials...11 Sports...14

Local band goes major

Beach House releases ‘Teen Dream’ on Sub Pop

ENTERTAINMENT 7

JCPATRIOT.COM RECEIVE THE LATEST NEWS UPDATES, SPORTS, REVIEWS, VIDEO, AND MOREthepatriot

February 10 The John Carroll School 703 E. Churchville Rd.

Bel Air, MD 21014

General Staff

Laws works toward becoming priest

Joshua Laws gives Brady Dashiell ‘13 Communion at a school wide mass. Laws entered seminary at the end of last year.

Photo by Sue Cathell

Security cameras boost school safety

Photo by Collin Hoofnagle

Sixteen cameras were added to JC hallways to increase security. Now, 32 cameras can now be found throughout the campus.

Collin Hoofnagle & Taylor Schafer

News, Features Editors

Fencers fight toward Junior Olympics

Wake up at 6:15 to pray the Gospel of the day for a half an hour before heading down to breakfast. Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours is at 8:00. Class at 8:30.

Seminarian Josh Laws, a former JC reli-gion teacher, follows this schedule each day at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, the place that has become his home since he first began studying there in August 2009. Before St. Mary’s, Laws worked as a semi-narian at St. Gregory the Great Church in West Baltimore.

While at St. Gregory’s, Laws organized and led a peace rally, gave several reflec-tions at Mass, wrote weekly reflections for the bulletin, visited men in the Baltimore City Jail, and worked to expand the rela-tionship between the parish and the nearby community. “The parish was a real blessing for me in their warm welcome and their vi-brant worship,” said Laws. “It was the per-fect way for me to be introduced to what life is going to be like as a seminarian and as a priest.”

Laws is taking five classes at the seminary this semester: Metaphysics, Philosophy of God, Part III of the Catechism (Moral Theology), Doctrine of God, and Modern-Contemporary Church History. Each class meets twice a week for an hour and fifteen minutes. Between morning and afternoon classes, Laws attends Mass, followed by lunch with his community.

Classes end around 4:15, and at 5:15, the community gathers together again for Eve-ning Prayer and dinner. On Wednesdays, Laws and his classmates go to their aposto-late, or place of ministry. This year, Laws goes to the City Juvenile Detention Center to talk and play board games with the young men there.

See SPORTS 14

As part of a plan to increase campus security, 16 new security cameras were in-stalled across the campus during Christmas break.

“This is a driving force to make kids safer,” said Dean of Students Thomas Vi-erheller.

This addition doubles the count of se-curity cameras on campus to 32. The cam-eras are located both inside and outside the school.

Two cameras are located on each floor of the academic wing, with other cameras in the food service area of the cafeteria and the faculty parking lot.

“The prime spots have been hit,” Vier-

heller said. The cameras serve primarily to protect

the school from outsiders, though they can be used for disciplinary action against stu-dents, according to Vierheller. They aren’t monitored constantly to see student behav-ior, but rather reviewed if the administra-tion is investigating an incident.

“We’re really not looking to catch stu-dents, more for monitoring [people from the outside coming in],” said Vierheller.

Principal Paul Barker still feels that while the prime reason for installing the cameras was campus security, they have a deterrent effect on students.

“Students make poor choices,” said Barker. He added that he believes that with the cameras, students are less likely to do something foolish. However, the cameras have not prevented such behavior. A recent

incident was caught on tape in the cafetieria and resulted in extreme disciplinary action. In reaction Vierheller looked at the incident as “stealing from the community.” Vierhell-er would not reveal the identity of the stu-dents or further details of the incidents due to privacy issues.

Science teacher Linda Gustafson, how-ever, sees the cameras as mainly a deterrent to make school a safer place for students in regards to bullying.

At the same time, she recognizes the use they have in campus security. “Keeping kids safe is most important,” said Gustafson.

“We have a better sense of people com-ing in the door,” said Barker.

“I see people I don’t recognize coming in here,” said math and science teacher Susan Kraft. According to Kraft, the cameras will

See NEWS 4

See FEATURES 5

Rachel KokoskaSports Editor

The fight ends in a draw. Freshman Morgan Jones now has the harder task of winning from a tie. The referee flips a coin, which comes out in her opponent’s favor and gives the opponent priority. If the min-ute runs out without Jones hitting her oppo-nent, her opponent automatically wins. All Jones needs is a single touch.

The referee yells, “Fence.” Jones cau-tiously moves forward with her épée held out in front of her. She is trying to provoke her opponent to begin the attack.

Her opponent gives in and moves to-wards her. With her opponent advancing towards her, she races forward. In a split second, she flicks out her épée and hits her

opponent’s lower arm. Success in encounters like this qualified

Jones and sophomore James Mews to com-pete in the Junior Olympics for the épée style of fencing. The competition will take place in Memphis, Tennessee from Feb-ruary 11 to February 16. Both Mews and Jones will compete against fencers from all over the country.

In the Junior Olympic Qualifiers at the Baltimore Fencing Club in Columbia, Maryland, Jones placed in third in women’s épée twenty and under competition and Mews placed in fifth for men’s épée seven-teen and under.

Freshman Marina Farrugia from C. Mil-ton Wright placed third in women’s épée seventeen and under, also qualifying her for the Junior Olympics.

Jones first experiences in fencing were in the physical education program at Havre de Grace Middle School. “I would fence against my teacher,” said Jones. “When I started to beat him regularly, he suggested that I start fencing for a club.”

Mews became interested in fencing when he “found it in a college [South Oregon University] magazine” at the age of twelve.

He immediately started fencing in Or-egon and continued when Mews moved to Maryland later in the year. He joined the Maryland Fencing Club early in 2007, while Jones joined the Maryland Fencing Club in August of 2008.

Fencing as practiced in the Olympics in-cludes three different varieties: sabre, foil,

2 newsVolume 45 Issue 4 February 2010

the patriot

The PatriotThe John Carroll

School703 Churchville Road

Bel Air, MD 21014Volume 45, Issue 4,

February 2010

Editor in Chief:Daniel Gallen

Executive Board:Kate FroehlichJoey HoffJenny HottleAllison SiegelAllison Walczyk

Editorials:Kaitlin BobbinKatelynn Colgain

Entertainment:Nico CvachHilary Weidner

Features:Katie ClarkeTaylor Schafer

In-Depth:Julia EarnshawElizabeth Tauber

News:Alex DunnCollin Hoofnagle

Sports: Erin HanrattyRachel Kokoska

Copy Editors:Alex BahrKirby BrowningCharlotte HagermanGabbrielle Joseph

Design Editor:Ryan Selvy

Photo Editors:Haley LynchKristin MarzulloMollyann Pais

General Staff:Nicky HatzidimitriouRyan LinaCaitie Beth Shauck

Contributers:Katie DohertyMaggie Yankovich

Moderator:Mark Ionescu

The Patriot is a publication of The John

Carroll School. The views and opinions

expressed in The Patriot are not necessarily the views of the Board or Administration of The John Carroll School.

The editorial staff invites and greatly appreciates comments from readers

on any issue.

Please email us ateditor@jcpatriot.com or visit our website: www.jcpatriot.com

Board sheds light on master plan’s progress

President Richard O’Hara sits in former Vice Principal of Activi-ties Gayle McAdams’ office, flip-ping through a full color packet of architect’s renderings of the pro-posed master facilities plan. Enthu-siastically he points out the aspects: the “learning center” to take the place of the library, the stadium complete with lights and turf, the Grotto to the Blessed Mother.

“[The master plan] is bold, it is ambitious, and it represents a very hopeful future for John Carroll. It’s a challenge that will require hard work and support of many people, but any meaningful chal-lenge is worth tackling for the sake of the next generation of students,” said O’Hara.

The estimated $35 million proj-ect aims to transform much of the grounds of campus, as well as up-dating many aspects of the school.

The reason for the execution of the master plan is “so that the whole 72 acres will be the best in 21st century education,” said Chair-woman of the Board of Trustees Sister Mary Helen Beirne.

We’re not set up for learning in the 21st century. We need a much improved and enhanced facility to support a modern educational pro-gram,” said O’Hara.

He added, from “a practical standpoint,” the school faces “sig-nificant competition from public schools with state of the art mod-ern facilities. We can’t compete right now.”

The master plan is a “totally comprehensive use of the entire campus and how it will look over the course of time,” said former Chairman of the Board and trustee emeritus Gus Brown. Brown has been “involved significantly” in strategizing to raise money to fund

the plan. Major focus areas of renovation

include moving the chapel to the front of the school and the admin-istration to the guidance hallway, revamping parking and fields, add-ing a new media center, expanding the cafeteria and music hallway, and updating the academic wing, especially the science labs.

The specific details are not yet clear because the master facilities plan “is an overall picture, not a detailed design,” said Sr. Beirne.

However, behind all of the indi-vidual changes is a central theme: “include, connect, and integrate Catholic values in symbol” said Sr. Beirne.

The goal now is raising the ap-propriate amount of funds by embarking on a capital campaign, which must first be approved by the archdiocese.

Nine months ago, according to Brown, the Board hired the Sheri-dan Group to determine how fea-

sible the master plan is. Although the results were “posi-

tive,” they also revealed that the Board is “going to have to be cre-ative about financing a portion of what we do,” said Brown.

How to achieve such monetary support is “being discussed now at the Board level. Part of it involves reengaging or engaging many pro-spective donors from the extended John Carroll family, and also from people who may not even know what John Carroll is,” said O’Hara.

Other possible solutions are be-ing considered, but “we have to be mindful of what permission we get from the archdiocese,” said Brown. “In other words, are we going to be able to borrow part of what we need from an archdiocesan fund or a commercial institution?”

Before construction can start, 50 percent of the funds needed must be in hand, per archdiocesan speci-fications.

When design and development

can begin is unknown because “it involves a significant outlay of money to contract with an archi-tect,” said O’Hara.

The timeline is still under de-bate. According Sr. Beirne, con-struction should begin “before the school’s 50th anniversary [2013].”

O’Hara said, “This is probably going to take the better part of the decade to get the whole master plan completed.”

Revamping the facilities will be completed in stages, based on what is deemed most crucial, which has yet to be decided. “These elements all have to be phased so you first of all minimize disruption to the pro-gram and you eliminate any safety concerns. We don’t want students having to wear hard hats,” said O’Hara.

However, even with such ob-stacles, O’Hara chooses to remain positive about the plausibility of such an endeavor: “I think we have a good shot at it.”

Cameras help reassure students and teachersbecome especially beneficial

during evening and weekend activi-ties.

According to Barker, there was no one in ident that sparked the in-stallation. Rather, Barker said that since his start as principal in 2001, numerous parents have come for-ward each year to address campus security. “We had an open mental-ity about the campus,” said Barker. But, “we’ve had a number of things happen on campus.”

Barker cites incidents such as a man exposing himself and a cash box being stolen last year. “It hap-pened so fast, but at least we would have had a good visual of who came in the door [with the camer-as],” said Assistant Athletic Direc-tor Timothy Perry.

“Wacky stuff can happen, but now we’ve got a shot at catching bad guys,” said Barker.

And according to students, these “bad guys” can be both inside and outside the building.

Sophmore Zach Mueller be-lieves the cameras deter student misbehavior inside the building, while freshman Kiana Wright feels they deter outsiders from stepping

ibly affordable.” Gustafson agrees with the

school’s proactive approach to the cameras. “Better to have them now and not need them than the other way around,” said Gustafson.

Footage from the cameras can be viewed via an IP address, al-lowing those with access to view footage from outside the school, according to Vierheller.

Both the administration and fac-

ulty have hope to expand the cover-age of the cameras to an extent.

“If there was a third phase, it would be optimal to put cameras on the student lot,” said Barker.

Others like Vierheller and Kraft wish to see more installed in the ac-ademic wing, to “further classroom safety.”

At the same time, “We don’t want the students to be paranoid walking around,” Vierheller said.

Kate FroehlichExecutive Editor

Photo courtesy of Patriot Archive

Dean of Students Thomas Vierheller scans video feeds from the cam-eras. The cameras were placed in areas inside and outside of school.

Photo by Collin Hoofnagle

inside. Freshman Michelle Capiello

said she didn’t even notice the cameras.

Vierheller attributes attitudes like Capiello’s about the cameras as going hand-in-hand with follow-ing the rules. “No one thinks about them because you’ve done nothing wrong,” said Vierheller.

Another advantage of the cam-eras, according to Barker, is the elimination of fines from the police department for false alarm calls.

Now, when an alarm is trig-gered, security footage can be im-mediately reviewed to see if a true threat exists. If so, the police can then be contacted.

Without the cameras, the police come by default. And most of the alarms are triggered, according to Barker, by faculty or staff who for-get to follow procedure, resulting in fines for the school.

The cameras are funded in part by a grant from the Maryland Emergency Management Agency. The school pays for 25 percent of the cost, while M.E.M.A. takes care of the other 75 percent, ac-cording to Barker.

Barker calls the move “incred-

from FRONT PAGE

This computer generated image details the expected plans for the expansion and upgrade of the school. The master plan involves changes for the whole school complex including the Chapel, parking lots, and fields.

news3Volume 45 Issue 4 February 2010the patriot

Staying focused while driving saves lives

Kara Jester and her mother were driving back from the Mount St. Mary’s Open House when they received a phone call, and Jester heard the words that would forever change her life: “He’s gone.”

On October 24, Jester’s uncle, Jeffrey Neral, was killed in a mo-torcycle accident at the age of 42. Neral, a Baltimore County police officer, was riding his motorcycle on his way to work when a woman in an SUV pulled out in front of him. Neral’s motorcycle and hel-met were barely damaged, but he passed away from the trauma of the acci-dent.

According to the Maryland Highway Safety Office, there has been a steady increase in the num-ber of motorcycle-involved crashes in Maryland over the past five years. And it isn’t just motorcycles that can cause major damage.

Each year, traffic accidents kill more people in Maryland than homicides. According to the most recent statistics from the National Study Center for Trauma & EMS, there were 95,349 crashes in 2008, 539 of which were fatal.

Even more surprising is the

Maryland Highway Safety Office’s statement that over 90 percent of crashes are completely preventable incidents caused simply by driver error.

Despite the fact that the majority of traffic crashes are preventable, they still remain the number one killer of people between the ages of four and 34.

“I think a lot of people forget that you’re told when you learn how to drive that you need to look left, right, and then left again, be-cause in the time it takes you to look right, something could be coming from the left,” said Jester.

Organizations such as Choose Safety for Life call upon drivers, pedes-trians, and cyclists to make safe decisions while traveling in Maryland in order to save lives and prevent injuries.

According to the Choose Safety for Life website, there are 276 crashes in Maryland every day. The num-

ber one cause of these crashes? Inattentive driving.

A study by Virginia Tech even proves that the risk of a crash in-creases 23 percent when a driver is texting. Texting results in a de-crease in reaction time, and this loss of reaction time is roughly the equivalent of having four drinks

and then driving.Maryland is working to reduce

traffic crashes through four major areas: engineering, education, en-forcement, and emergency medi-cal services. Education is the field that plays a key role in helping all drivers to better understand how to keep themselves and others safe.

With advice like minimizing distractions, sharing the road, sig-naling intentions, keeping a safe distance, monitoring speed, and fo-cusing, the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Administration website reminds people that driving is probably the most dangerous activity they will do each day.

The MVA also states that be-cause of their smaller profiles, mo-

torcycles are harder to see, and it is more difficult to estimate their speed. The MVA advises drivers not to think of a motorcycle as a vehicle but as a person.

“They move fast, they’re eas-ily hidden, and you need to look again” said Jester.

Evidence from the scene of the crash shows that Neral did what he was supposed to do upon seeing the SUV by laying down his bike, but his life was still taken. “You just never know,” Jester said.

“I have not only lost the second biggest father figure in my life,” said Jester, “but one of my best friends in my family. You really, really need to look out because even though you didn’t know him, I did.”

Olympics lead to NBC loss

NBC Universal has projected that it will lose money because of the cost of televising the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

This loss is due to high fees NBC had to pay in order to broad-cast the games.

NBC paid $820 million for the rights to the Winter Games, which is significantly greater in com-parison to the $613 million paid for the rights to televise the 2006 Olympics in Italy.

According to NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol, this is the first time that the station has lost money on the games since the broadcasts in 1992 from Barcelona.

This loss of revenue may affect negotiations for the U.S. rights to televise the future Olympics. Ma-jor contenders for the rights in-clude Fox’s News Corp. and Dis-ney.

Time spentmulti-taskingincreases

A recent study released by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that children are exposed to an average of seven and a half hours of media each day.

This number saw an increase of two hours and fifteen minutes in the last two years.

However, when the Kaiser Foun-dation factored in multi-tasking, the statistic went up to ten hours and 45 minutes. The study focuses on how multi-tasking will affect the children later in life.

The study looked at how multi-tasking in earlier years affects a child’s ability to find a job in the work force later in life.

It also focuses on whether or not guidelines for advertising cam-paigns that target children and teen-agers need to be adjusted.

Children consumed an average of four hours and 29 minutes of television and two hours and 31 minutes of music per day.

These times were followed by computer time being just under an hour and video games with an av-erage of one hour and 13 minutes per day.

This media consumption, how-ever, only reaches its peak between ages 11 to 14.

Nicky HatzidimitriouGeneral Staff

Photo by Alex Dunn

courtesy of sxc.hu

Photo by Kristen Marzullo

I-95 is the main highway for the East Coast and as such is the most traveled highway in the system. Accidents due to reckless and driving happen on the interstate every day.

Officer Jeffery Neral

4 featuresVolume 45 Issue 4 February 2010

the patriot

teacherSPOTLIGHT

Religion teacher Re-becca Malone takes attendance in one of her Christian Life classes. Malone came to JC to cover Jackie Moeser’s Christian Life classes this semester as Moeser continues to recover.

Photo by Katie Clarke

Allison WalczykManaging Editor

Q: What did you do be-fore you came to JC?

A: Most immediately, for the last six years, I was the head of the middle school for Roland Park Country School.

Q: Where did you grow up? Was it around here?

A: No, actually it was in New York. I lived there from the time I was nine through my adult life. My parents actually still live in the house I grew up in.

Rebecca Malone came to JC at the beginning of the second quarter and is substitute teach-ing religion for Jackie Moeser while she is in recovery from cancer treatment. She taught Church History first semes-ter and is now teaching senior Christian Life classes during the second semester. Q: Did you go to school

in New York? What did you study in college?

A: For my grade school years I went to a Catholic girls’ high school called Mount St. Ursula, and then went to Har-vard for college. I majored in Religion and minored in Eng-lish.

Q: What are some spe-cial hobbies that you have?

A: Well, I like quilting. I am currently working on a quilt right now, and I really enjoy biking, especially long distance biking. I’m a computer nut; I really like playing with comput-ers.

Q: How has your transition been to JC?

A: Really smooth, I’ve liked it. It’s hard to take over a class in a situation that is so sad, but I’m hop-ing that if I handle this well, it will help Mrs. Moeser to relax and not worry about how class is going. I find the students very pleasant and hard working.

MajorDecisions

:

5

$90,830average salary of Economists

in 2008

average salary of Financial Analysts

in 2008

$84,780

Local colleges to check out:

l University of Maryland, College Park l University of Delaware l American University l Washington College l University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Five years ago, Matthew Kane, class of ’05, sat immersed in a sea of hundreds of other college fresh-men, delving into his first Intro-duction to Economics class at the University of Maryland, College Park. Originally a biology major, Kane pondered his change of stud-ies, wondering how he had arrived in this class, so radically different from the science courses he had expected to be taking in college.

Kane realized that in the next few years, he didn’t want to be dis-secting frogs and doing tedious lab work. Rather, he wanted to study change through economic con-cepts. Declaring a major in eco-nomics requires a dedication to finding out how things work togeth-er, according to College Board. So-cial Studies department chair and economics teacher Jake Hollin said, “Somebody who likes to study behaviors and patterns should try a major in economics. Economics is the study of the way people make use of limited resources.”

One way to try economics as a

major would be to take the Eco-nomics class senior year and see if the subject seems particularly ap-pealing. “Majoring in something you enjoy is a great way to gain suc-cess in college,” said Kane. “Major-ing in something that doesn’t inter-est you will more often than not lead to failure.”

Kane also sug-gests two other cat-egories of students to consider a major in economics. “The next type would be for people inter-ested in efficient so-lutions to modern problems,” he said. “[Another] group [is] people who are unsure of what they want to do. I’m not saying blindly sign up for an economics major, but they should take a wide variety of classes includ-ing economics classes to see what interests them.”

“I want to study economics be-cause I am interested in the way Wall Street and the economy work to influence our everyday lives,”

said senior Joe Henninger. Studying choices is key to an

economic discussion. “Economics is the study where you have defini-tive answers; it’s all about data, but using objective data as well helps you to create a subjective plan,”

said Hollin. To prepare for cre-

ating subjective plans, Hollin suggests taking English classes and pursuing psychology in addition to the eco-nomics class.

Economics ma-jors can pursue a bachelor’s degree in either the arts or sci-ence, depending on the school. Accord-ing to College Board,

a typical economics major aiming towards a bachelor’s degree in sci-ence will focus more on the quan-titative and statistical side of eco-nomics, whereas a student geared towards a degree in the arts will learn much more about analyzing the data through liberal arts classes and foreign languages.

After college, career options for

economics majors vary, ranging from budget analysts to news ana-lysts. “You want a major that can provide you with career opportuni-ties, and this major gives you an op-portunity for employment straight out of undergrad,” said Hollin.

Kane currently works for the Lo-gistics and Readiness Center (LRC) Enterprise Soldier Avionics at the Edgewood Arsenal facility of Ab-erdeen Proving Grounds as a Bud-get Analyst and Item Manager. An economic background has helped him greatly. “I deal with the day to day management of a particular item, in my case [a] light set used by soldier in Iraq,” said Kane. “Eco-nomic themes such as supply and demand, marginal cost, marginal utility and opportunity cost are everyday occurrences for me, and having a degree in the field of eco-nomics makes my job that much easier,” said Kane.

“Economics not only gives you an opportunity for employment, but is able to enhance your every-day life. This major can lead you to a better understanding of life. Ev-eryone’s life involves economics,” said Hollin.

Katie ClarkeFeatures Editor

‘‘Majoring in something you enjoy is a great way to gain success in college.”

- Matthew Kane,

Class of ’05

Three juniors anticipate Junior Miss competition

Allison WalczykManaging Editor

Several times a week, junior Ashley Snyder spends hours in the music wing with music teacher Marc Bolden, tirelessly practicing her song for the talent portion in the Greater Baltimore Junior Miss Competition on February 13.

As the big day grows closer, ju-niors Sydney Comitz, Angelica Elli-son, and Ashley Snyder work hard for the Junior Miss Program. The Junior Miss Program is, according to America’s Junior Miss, “a col-lege scholarship program for high school senior girls,” because most finalists are currently seniors. The moral values of this organization are different than other pageants.

“I think it’s important to teach little girls everywhere that it’s not about how many boyfriends you have but what kind of person you are,” said Ashley Snyder.

Senior Kristi Snyder, this year’s Maryland finalist, said, “The most important part of the program is to make girls understand that they don’t have to change like they do for the stereotypical pageant.”

“I chose to do this program be-

cause it’s a really great opportunity to show what the campaign was say-ing about being your best self and not trying to be necessarily the pret-tiest, but being who you are and be-ing proud of it,” said Comitz.

“A really nice part of the pro-gram is the ‘Little Sisters’ part of the program,” said Comitz. “There is a really neat part that has the con-testants partner up with a younger girl and mentor them, and perform with them as part of the program,” said Ashley Snyder.

“The ‘Little Sisters’ portion of the program started on the state level, but is now being introduced on the local level,” said Kristi Sny-der.

As the girls prepare for this event, they are fully anticipating the friendships they hope to make. “These girls become like fam-ily, because you learn more about them than you thought possible,” said Ashley Snyder.

“My best advice for the girls is to think of it not as a test, but a testi-monial,” said Kristi Snyder.

The date of the Greater Balti-more Junior Miss program is Feb-ruary 13 and it will take place in Oak Crest Village at 7:30 p.m.

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features5Volume 45 Issue 4 February 2010the patriot

Senior completes volunteer internship at Upper Cheaspeake

Senior Shayna Stoots has been anything but infected with the dreaded “senioritis” this year. Stoots volunteered at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center every Monday and Tuesday during first semester in an effort to gain more experience in the medical field.

“I honestly didn’t do it for com-munity service or senior project,” said Stoots. “I just did it to look good for college and to try some-thing different.”

Stoots was able to fit time to vol-unteer at the hospital into her class schedule on Mondays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and on Tuesdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. On Mondays, she worked in the Women and Children unit and on Tuesdays she worked in Cardio.

Her job on Mondays was mainly dirty work. Stoots would clean all the door knobs with disin-fectant wipes to stop the spread of germs. Then, she would stock the cabinets with respiratory equipment and make sure that each bed had a pillow. Afterwards, she would check the patients’ rooms to see if anyone needed anything.

In the Women and Children unit on Mondays, most of the pa-tients were seriously ill women with young children or teenagers.

However, while Mondays were fairly slow, Stoots said, “Tuesdays were very stressful and intense. Working in cardio was very excit-ing, not because of the work I was doing, but because of the intensity level in that wing.”

On Tuesdays, Stoots worked with a secretary named Christina, taking apart the patients’ files that were being discharged and wrap-ping the files up to put in the file

cabinet. For incoming patients, Stoots would make new folders and ensure that their names were on every document.

“That was extremely nerve wracking at first, because every-one’s coming in and out, talking and leaving, using the computers I was sitting at,” said Stoots. “I was so worried I would mess up their files and the doctor would report it. But thankfully I never did!”

Stoots particularly liked knowing that her work helped lighten some-one else’s burden for the day. “It was a great feeling knowing that I had saved some trouble for a nurse or the patient themself,” she said.

Stoots intends on volunteering at Johns Hopkins for her senior proj-

ect this spring. While Stoots did

not get the oppor-tunity to work with the patients as she originally wanted, she simply enjoyed being in the medi-cal environment. “I would most defi-nitely encourage [volunteering at a hospital]. It was a great experience!” she said.

“Even though I wasn’t interacting with patients, it did

mean a lot to me to be able to help someone do something for them-selves. For example, fill up their cup when they are too sick to walk to the sink,” said Stoots.

“It had a great effect on me and showed me what I would have to do if I were working instead of go-ing to school. I felt important and like I was contributing to the hos-pital,” said Stoots. “[Upper Chesa-peake] has over 3,000 volunteers, so I only made a small dent, but I still felt meaningful.”

Next fall, Stoots will be attend-ing Stevenson University and plans to major in nursing. Stoots feels thankful that she will have an upper hand, as her volunteer experience already introduced her to the medi-cal field in a more hands-on way.

Charlotte HagermanCopy Editor

‘‘It was a great feeling knowing I had saved some trouble for a nurse or the patient themself .”

- Shayna Stoots Class of ‘10

Seminarian Josh Laws serves Communion to junior Chelsea Shock during the Thanksgiving Mass dedicated to Religion teacher Jackie Moeser. Laws will continue his studies towards priesthood for the next five years and plans to be ordained in the summer of 2015.

Laws prepares to become priest at St. Mary’s Seminary

The community Laws is a part of includes about 70 other seminarians and 12 full time priests. “We are always together,” said Laws. “We eat together, pray together, [and] go to school together.” Although this change was strange at first, Laws enjoys being sur-rounded by his community.

“We all get to know each other really well and appreciate who we are, and the many things that we bring to the table,” said Laws.

However, the biggest change Laws has experienced in seminary is his tight schedule. Laws now spends his free time doing schoolwork, coaching rugby at Loyola University, going to meetings, giving vocation talks or reflections at different schools and parishes, or getting together with friends.

“One of the words of advice I received came from a priest friend of mine,” said Laws. “He said, ‘When you become a priest, your time is no longer yours.’ And I am finding that to be very true.”

Although Laws doesn’t regret joining the seminary, he does admit that there are certain days when he misses teaching, the community at JC, his free time, and the luxury of having his own house, among other things. “There are also days when I think about how nice it would be to be married and have a family,” said Laws.

“I am finding a lot of joy, clarity, gratitude, and con-firmations in my prayers, conversations, evaluations, and experiences as a seminarian,” said Laws.

“I am also inspired by the other men who have cho-sen this vocation. I am inspired by the other guys here at the seminary, our dedicated priests and lay teachers on the faculty here, and the wealth of dedicated men who serve as priests in the Archdiocese,” said Laws.

This summer, Laws is going to take courses and train in spirituality at the Institute of Priestly Forma-tion at Creighton University in Nebraska. He will re-turn to St. Mary’s for more classes in theology, and in the summer of 2015, Laws will be ordained a priest.

Until then, Laws will continue with his vocation, learning about and serving the Lord. “Through my

experiences so far, both here and in parishes, I have grown in my appreciation of the Church and its vast-ness” said Laws. “I am learning how big the Church is, and how many different outlooks and ways of believ-ing in and praising God there are – each having its own place and importance in the Church.”

seminarySTATS

diocesan priests in Baltimore

70other seminarians

at St. Mary’s

full time priests at St. Mary’s

12

from FRONT PAGE

Photo courtesy of Sue Cathell

258

6 featuresVolume 45 Issue 4 February 2010

the patriot

When thinking about Baltimore, the mind sees one of two things: the high crime rate of a city in constant conflict, or a tourist attraction for people who have an affinity for sci-ence or sea creatures. Overlooked are the true treasures of Baltimore, like Fell’s Point.

Once a well-known area, Fell’s Point now lies buried under mis-conceptions and misplaced stereo-types for many people. But when light is shed upon this historical harbor-side town, it leaves an un-paralleled impression, reminding visitors that Baltimore truly is a one of a kind city.

From boutiques to thrift shops, cafes to coffeehouses, the various businesses that make up Fell’s Point overflow with originality.

Mr. Yogato’s, a frozen yogurt shop, was initially founded in D.C. by a rocket scientist. That’s right: a rocket scientist. Steve Davis, the rocket scientist, previously worked in California, where frozen yogurt is a popular treat, until he was trans-ferred to D.C., where frozen yogurt is not as accessible. Therefore, Davis decided to open his own fro-zen yogurt shop, an unpretentious place that would be involved with the community.

Davis’ colleague, rocket scien-tist Jessica Jensen, wanted to do the same thing in Baltimore, her

hometown, so she opened a Mr. Yogato’s in Fell’s Point last April.

Mr. Yogato’s serves frozen yo-gurt, as well as cupcakes and hot chocolate, and offers over 40 top-pings, but it’s the special discounts and rules that give Mr. Yogato’s its charm: 50% off for anyone who balances on one foot with their eyes closed for 15 seconds (a lot harder than it sounds), 30% off for anyone who recites the poison cup speech from The Princess Bride (in ac-

cent), 10% off for anyone who gets a Yogato stamp on their head, 10% off for anyone who answers a trivia question correctly (and 10% added for those who get it wrong), and a flavor is named after anyone who orders yogurt for 30 days straight.

Even the quaint shop itself has plenty to offer customers. Hula hoops, board games, and an old Nintendo system are available for entertainment. “The Park,” a section of the shop, also offers

entertainment. Customers can play chess, write messages on a chalkboard door, or dress up their spoons like people.

“Frozen yogurt should not be taken seriously,” said employee Bria Murphy. “We have a good product that’s good for you, it’s a fun place to hang out, there are surprises every day, and it’s a nice alternative to spending a bunch of money to see a movie…you just have to come down and see it.”

After games and desert, walk up the street and across the block to Sound Garden, a CD, record, and movie shop with a lot of personal-ity. Sound Garden was opened in 1993 because there were no quality record stores in Baltimore.

Ever since then, it has remained a popular landmark in Fell’s Point. With an incredible selection of new and used CDs, DVDs, and records, almost anything can be found at Sound Garden with the help of their friendly, knowledge-able staff.

Sound Garden even has a small, indoor stage that has been used for intimate performances by celebri-ties such as Regina Spektor, The Goo Goo Dolls, Kiefer Sutherland, Robin Thick, Motorhead, Rise Against, and many others.

“It’s a great, independent busi-ness and just a cool place to come hang out and find out about new music and movies,” said employee Alex Ashkenes.

With only one other Sound Gar-den location in Syracuse, NY, it is no wonder why people who visit Baltimore’s Sound Garden always seem to find their way back. “It’s a destination,” said Ashkenes.

Places with originality, spunk, and their own idea of normalcy tend to be destinations. Sometimes a little out of the way, but complete-ly worth it. Fell’s Point is filled with plenty of destinations for countless unique experiences.

student artistSPOTLIGHT

Sophomore Scott Novak practices piano in the band room. Novak started playing piano at age five and originally hated his lessons.

Joey HoffManaging Editor

While students and teachers sit on the bleachers during mass, sophomore musician Scott No-vak performs.

Seated behind the Music Ministry’s keyboard, Novak helps lead the group in worship songs.

Novak performs on the piano in front of hundreds of students and teachers at each Mass and rarely feels intimidated.

Novak loves the group aspect of music. “When I’m with a group [playing piano], it’s a lot of fun. You become part of the group,” said Novak.

He also added that the group keeps him from feeling nervous. “At school, I really don’t get ner-vous. I only get nervous if I play a solo completely by myself,” Novak said.

To reach his current musi-cal ability, Novak began his first piano lessons when he was five years old.

“I hated it,” Novak said. “But around ten, when I started get-ting good at it, I liked it a lot more. It turned out to be worth it, but in the beginning, my par-ents had to force me to go to the lessons.”

Besides Music Ministry, Novak plays piano at Fallston United Methodist Church, and even writes his own classical-style piano solos, one of which he entitled “Tears of the Earth.”

For inspiration, Novak turns to Japanese composer Joe Hi-saishi. This modern composer wrote scores for over 100 films. “I’ve played and learned tons of his songs,” Novak said.

Novak’s musical interests reach far beyond the piano keys. He keeps busy by singing in the

school chorus and playing the trombone in both the concert band and jazz band.

During the fall musicals, No-vak plays the violin in the pit or-chestra. Novak performs in the spring production on stage.

“Musicals are a whole other thing with the vocals. I really like singing,” Novak said.

“Wicked” tops Novak’s list of favorite musicals to watch. “I saw it a few years ago at the Hip-podrome and loved it,” Novak said.

Whether he’s performing in musicals or writing piano solos, Novak is always involved in mu-sic.

However, as for now, Novak doesn’t believe that he will ma-jor in music in college.

Even if he doesn’t plan to pursue a major or career in mu-sic, Novak knows that music will always be a part of his life.

Photo by Katie Doherty

At Mr. Yogato’s, customers have the option of decorating their spoons, like these on display, after eating. Mr. Yogato’s is one of several interesting venues that can be found walking around on a day trip to Fell’s Point.

Nicky HatzidimitriouGeneral Staff

Photo by Katie Clarke

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JC Fast Facts:

237.5 most service hours recorded by a current student

1,931

5211,990 books currently in the library

most computers taken to technology lab in one day

average number of visitors per day to johncarroll.org

1,017 college applications received by guidance department

weekendHOTSPOT Exploring Fell ’s Point

ScottNovak

musician

entertainment7Volume 45 Issue 4 December 2010the patriot

Perhaps the best thing about Spoon is that they don’t demand that “I’m ready to listen to new mu-sic” mood to lure you into their lat-est release.

The familiar sound of Britt Dan-iel’s concise vocals and Eric Har-vey’s rhythmic percussion mastery is a welcoming hallmark. It’s all a part of the standard we set for Spoon.

Yet Daniel’s comment to Spin-ner that “Transference” is an “ug-lier record” from back in Novem-ber left fans asking what exactly that means.

Nothing on this album screams groundbreaking. Spoon didn’t blow our minds with singles similar to “The Underdog” or “You Got Yr.

Cherry Bomb” from “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” this time around. “Trans-ference” is simply less complex. “Transference” is an experience similar to sitting in a basement with the band as it tosses around some melodies and play with a variety of different mood tensions. “Writ-ten in Reverse” lets us hear that raw stage of their music. At once, the band’s caged anger runs free on a genuine rock guitar solo and passionately flowing unrestrained vocals. The rest of the album has glimpses of this rock craving, but it is impossible to give the album that identity.

Traces of the sounds we know Spoon for surface midway through the album. “I Saw the Light” sounds like that tense sharpness we got from “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.”

“Trouble Comes Running” instant-ly gives a “Kill the Moonlight” feel, as if it were written to be featured on “The O.C.”

Then “Goodnight Laura” plays in with that soft rock element that drones into “Out Go the Lights,” a quiet sequence to contrast a rock based album.

And then there’s “The Mystery Zone” with steady drum lines that compliment this bass driven track. “Who Makes Your Money,” is more of a mystic sound with repeti-tive, gentle vocals.

Even if “Transference” can’t compare to “Kill the Moonlight” or “Gimme Fiction,” there is some-thing to say about a band whose rampant escapade of experimenta-tion reassures us that quality is in its nature.

Kaitlin BobbinEditorials Editor

Beach House’s Victoria Legrand (right) performs with Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste (left) and Daniel Rossen on August 31, 2009 in Brooklyn, NY. Touring with Grizzly Bear has given added exposure to Beach House.

Photo by Anna Gallen

In order to succeed these days, a band needs a good record label, a popular single, and great friends. Beach House has all three, plus a stellar full-length album which uses these attributes to make the jump to mainstream consciousness.

The duo of Alex Scally and Vic-toria Legrand collaborate on their third studio album, “Teen Dream,” released on Sub Pop Records, to shower the listener with soft croon-ing vocals, light keyboards, and metronomic beats associated with the “dream pop” genre.

The first single, “Used To Be,” was released in October 2008 and is one of the stronger songs on the album. The beat of the song is con-sistent throughout and sweeps the listener along on a journey through piano tunes and Legrand’s vocals.

In November 2009, the band released “Norway,” which was met by much critical acclaim, earning

“Best New Music” honors from Pitchfork. The song builds antici-pation from the first piano chords and on through the intro of hazy vo-cals and arpeggiated guitar. “Nor-way” fades into what might be the best song of the album, “Walk In The Park.” Here, Legrand’s vocals imitate a clear winter day, while the drums resemble the pace of a walk in a park. “Walk In The Park” is a song about moving on, but the way it is put together, the listener wants to do anything but that.

In 2009, Beach House started to break into the musical conscious-ness of fans everywhere. Legrand collaborated twice with Grizzly Bear in the year, once with the hit “Two Weeks,” from “Veckatim-est,” and again, on the soundtrack for “New Moon” on the song “Slow Life.” While overshadowed by Vampire Weekend’s “Contra” as one of the first great albums in 2010, “Teen Dream” should not be ignored by anyone.

Daniel GallenEditor in Chief

Spoon sets bar too high for ‘Transference’ to live up to

Beach House’s ‘Teen Dream’ breaks out to new levels

‘Romance is Boring’exceeds expectations

When Los Campesinos! burst onto the music scene in Wales in late 2006, something was amiss with their music. The instrumen-tation was too loud and too fast to keep up with and just a bit out of sync while lyrically, the songs had too many words in too small of a space.

Los Campesinos! exhibited some of these flaws after their 2008 debut “Hold On Now, Young-ster...” which were shored up in the follow-up, “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed.” Los Campesinos! finally hit their stride with “Ro-mance Is Boring.”

From start to finish, the seven-piece outfit throws together witty lyrics, musical chops, and raw emo-tion to form an album that could possibly be on every critic’s top ten list when the year is through. The band’s use of group vocals is un-matched, as it livens up every song, changing pace on the listener and

changing the band’s sound at every turn to keep the listener’s attention.

The content of the album sticks better than it did previously, with song titles like “A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show Me State, or Letters from Me to Charlotte.”

“A Heat Rash” looks at a rela-tionship between two close friends that morphs into a romance from the outside while offering advice of “Walk out onto your front lawn and face into the rain / Shout into the wind, ‘This’ll never be the same.’”

Los Campesinos! refined their sound in “Romance Is Boring” without losing anything that made them one of the best indie bands to come out of England in recent years.

“Romance Is Boring” defies ex-pectations and will definately resur-face in December when the “Best of” lists are compiled.

Overall, Los Campesinos!’s “Ro-mance is Boring” deserves an A- for their outstanding new content, and emotion to go along with it.

Photo courtesy of Google Images

Due to the great reviews from Spoon’s previous albums, “Transference,”shown above, was expected to be even better.

Daniel Gallen

Editor in Chief

8 in-depthVolume 45 Issue 4 February 2010

the patriot

Student achieves cheat-free success

Cheaters weigh in on discipline cheating GRAPHS

Cheating. It’s as easy as glancing at answers on the palm of a hand, peering onto the next student’s paper, or pulling up your skirt, sleeve, and pant leg ever so slightly to ace the test. Studies show that today, high school students are willing to leave their morals behind to earn a good grade more than ever.

JC defines cheating in the 2009-2010 Student Hand-book as “giving, receiving, or attempting to give or receive unauthorized

help that could result in an un-fair advantage in completing school work.”

According to a recent poll taken by 140 JC students on the topic of cheating, 79 per-cent of students in JC cheat. In high school, students feel the heavy weight of tests, quizzes, homework, and other big as-signments on their shoulders. Not only do they want to do well for themselves, but they want to do well in academics to get into a good college.

Even though 56 percent of JC students feel that doing their own homework is easier than cheating, a majority of stu-dents are continuing to cheat to keep up. Unfortunately, students don’t always achieve their success in academics in

School isn’t easy. Juggling academics, sports, family, and friends can be a major chal-lenge. Sometimes it may feel like there’s no time for any-thing. But cheating doesn’t make school any easier either.

Junior Susan Lubejko has managed to juggle school, cello lessons, friends, and family life, without ever thinking about cheating. Lubejko is ranked first in her class and has earned all of her grades fairly.

“I think it’s unfair that I spend time doing work and people cheat and still get good grades,” Lubejko said. She and other students who don’t cheat feel they are put at a disadvan-tage when a classmate, who decides not to study and cheats on his or her tests or home-work.

Lubejko also said, “I don’t think teachers can get rid of cheating on homework but some teachers just don’t pay attention; like if there’s a test on the computer they don’t realize students are looking at their notes at the same time.” In the end, Lubejko thinks it would be easier, and smarter, for students to sit down and study rather than try to cheat. They will retain information they study and it could help them in the future.

“Cheating doesn’t help you in the long run, especially on things like exams, which you can’t cheat on,” Lubejko said.

Kristin MarzulloPhoto Editor

According to reports from Rutgers University, 95 percent of high school stu-dents say they have cheated at least once during their education. Within our own school, 79 percent of JC students admitted to cheating in a recent poll of 140 students taken. These studies and incidents indicate that cheating is becoming the norm among students. Are moral integrity, honesty, and ethi-cal standards forgotten? This issue, The Patriot takes a look at cheating, the con-sequences, and teachers’ thoughts.

the most honest way. “I cheat because I’m

stressed, because of school, and trying to get into a good college,” said one anonymous student.

Another student cheats be-cause he wants his parents to “feel proud” of him.

One student doesn’t have the motivation or time to tack-le the piles of homework every night, which many students

can relate to. “I cheat because I don’t have enough time to study and get home-work done because of conflicting

clubs and sports,” said the student.

Whether the motive behind students’ cheating is to make parents proud, get into a good college, or make up for lack of time, it is becoming a huge problem.

According to many stu-dents, the teacher, assignment type, and subject have much to do with whether or not a student will cheat or not.

“If the teacher and subject interest me, I’m not going to cheat. If the teacher’s mean and the subject’s boring, I’m more likely to cheat,” said one student.

Many students feel differ-ently about the act of copying homework, though.

“Copying homework is cheating because the person who they copied did their

Handed RedJulia Earnshaw

In-Depth Editor

homework themselves and they did not,” said the student.

One student believes it’s okay to cheat in certain cours-es. “I mostly cheat in religion because I don’t understand why we need to be tested on our beliefs,” said the student.

Whether it’s copying home-work or copying off of some-one else’s test, the Student Handbook states that cheating deserves punishment: “in ad-dition to disciplinary penalties, any instance of plagiarism re-sults in a failing grade for the assignment and, or test.” If a student has received three de-merits, they will be suspended until a disciplinary hearing is scheduled to review the stu-dent’s situation. The suspen-sion may be an in-school or out-of-school suspension, de-pendent of the Dean of Stu-dents. It may even result in a permanent dismissal from school.

Most students feel that if they did get caught, receiving disciplinary action wouldn’t curb their cheating, even if it was a three demerit offense. “It won’t stop me from cheat-ing because the likeliness of me getting caught is slim to none. I would much rather take the good grades,” said one student.

The high amount of stu-dents that cheat in JC, and the fact that 49 percent of JC students don’t feel guilty about cheating their way into a good grade, shows that tak-ing the risk by cheating to get a good grade for students in JC is more important than doing their work the honest way.

‘‘I cheat because I’m stressed, because of school, and trying to get into a good college.” - Unnamed JC Student

Caught

in-depth9Volume 45 Issue 4 February 2010the patriot

Teachers keep eye out for cheatingDaniel GallenEditor in Chief

Elizabeth Tauber

In-Depth Editor

Students risk honor, trust through cheating

studentANSWERDo teachers do a good

job at catching students

cheating? Are the

punishments fair? “I don’t know because

sutdents don’t cheat in my classes.“

-Malia Williamson, ‘13

“I think the teachers do a good job and the punishment is fair.”

- Emily Keegan, ‘12

“No the teacher’s don’t. I think cheating’s bad and they should crack down more.”

- Lance Waters, ‘11

“The teacher’s don’t do a good job at all. I hink if the student gets away with it they shouldn’t be punished.”

- Reed Freeman, ‘10

Every year, Dean of Students Thomas Vierheller and Freshman Dean of Students Sean Ireton see instances of cheating and plagia-rism, an offense that can cost up to three demerits.

“It always is [a problem],” said Ireton. “One incident is a prob-lem.” Ireton feels that the motiva-tion for cheating comes from the academic environment. “They get pressured,” said Ireton. “It’s a bigger mistake than failing a test.” “They want to do well and are pres-sured by parents and themselves,” said Vierheller. Students who cheat do so in an attempt to gain an un-fair advantage in the classroom, spending less time preparing, but hoping to receive equal to or supe-rior to their fellow pupils.

“I hate when stupid kids get bet-ter grades than me on tests when I studied for three hours,” said ju-nior Ryan Kirby.

“[Cheating students] often pro-crastinate in preparing,” said Vier-heller. “They cheat others of their time and preparation.”

A student who gets caught cheat-ing will be sent to either Ireton or Vierheller. The situation will be evaluated by one of the deans to determine the punishment.

Kirby feels that the punishment should depend on the offense, like having a detention be a punish-ment for cheating on a homework as a “slap on the wrist,” while hav-ing tests and other major assign-ments at three demerits.

On the other hand, junior Jessi Barley said, “Cheating is cheating. It shouldn’t matter.”

Math teacher Claudia Reyerson said, “I’m not opposed to students collaborating on homework, but when it’s ‘one person per paper,’ I look for it.”

Reyerson described her meth-ods for preventing cheating as a combination of walking up and down the aisles of her classroom,

watching student behavior, looking in the aisles for open notebooks that could have answers on them, and checking to see if students have answers in their calculators. “I’ve managed to stop cheating that way,” she said

However, punishment isn’t all about discipline. “We try to get the student to think about what the mistake has cost them,” said Ire-ton, referencing a damaged reputa-tion, the respect of a teacher, and trustworthiness.The honor code is posted in every classroom, and some teachers have their students write it on tests or quizzes. “[The students] have an understanding of what it means and what they stand for,” said Ireton. “The students have a sense of respect of who they are and where they come from.”

“I would like the honor pledge to mean something,” Reyerson said.

Principal Paul Barker said that he would like to see an addition of an honor court that would hold

students accountable among their peers as an added punishment. An honor court would work simi-larly to a review board, where the student caught cheating would face a panel of their peers. According to Barker, having cheating students “interrogated” by fellow classmates and having to “answer” to the hon-or court of students rather than a review board of teachers would have a “good outcome.”

For now, Barker thinks teach-ers should utilize methods such as Turnitin.com to help prevent cheating from happening. While teaching, Barker gave assignments on books that did not have much literature on sites like SparkNotes or CliffNotes available for them. He said doing this would help to “remove the temptation” to cheat on academic assignments.

“Over time, we hope to make [the honor pledge] truly a part of our culture,” said Vierheller. “Most students take pride in their work, but many do not,” he said.

From homework, tests, and quizzes, the temptation to cheat is everywhere for students on a daily basis. This temptation gripped one anonymous senior last year during one of physics teacher Lyle Bren-nen’s tests and she made the de-cision to go through with this aca-demic dishonesty.

However, she immediately re-gretted her decision.

“I’d always considered it, but never followed through,” she said, “but after that one time, I’d never do it again.”

The student said that Brennen handled it the same as any other cheating incidents.

“I always react by collecting the quiz or test immediately, stapling the test, Honor Pledge, and cheat sheets together, and giving it to [Dean of Students Tom] Vierhell-er,” Brennen said. After Vierheller has possession of the confiscated material, he decides the punish-ment for the student.

Brennen holds the usual “zero tolerance” standard when it comes

to cheating on tests and quizzes, but does admit that there is “gray area” when it comes to cheating on homework. He describes a “fine line” and “too much helping versus cheating.”

He can usually tell when two students or a group of students are cheating because the incorrect answers have consistent flaws in the work. Brennen does not have a problem with students helping each other get around a “block-ade” in their work, but wants the students to try to finish their work independently. “If you do most of the thinking, I’m alright with that,” he said.

Going hand-in-hand with cheat-ing is plagiarism. Principal Paul Barker, a former English teacher, has witnessed numerous incidents of plagiarism throughout his career in academics, including one at his former school, St. Edward High School, in Cleveland, OH. He clearly recalled catching the star shooting guard from the St. Ed-ward basketball team plagiarizing a research paper word-for-word.

He was able to catch the student because Barker collected all re-

search papers from previous years for his records. The student was suspended from school for a week and from his team for two weeks after Barker realized that the stu-dent’s paper “looked familiar.” He checked his records and found the copy of the paper from a previous year.

Barker finds it “insulting that a person thinks [plagiarism] is al-right” and asks, “How could you rationalize it to yourself?” Barker also went on to say that plagiarism is like a student thinking “it would be okay to poke your teacher in the eye.”

“There are a few things a stu-dent can do that can cause great hurt, disappointment, and some anger among parents and teachers alike than cheating,” said Bren-nen. “[Cheating is] deeply hurtful. Deeply, deeply hurtful.”

Barker said that cheating shows a “lack of class and dignity” and a “lack of respect for teachers.”

Barker, who is completing a doctoral program at University of Pennsylvania, is facing the same dilemmas that some students face with immense research projects.

Barker said that while students should contribute something new with their projects, they should “ground it in those coming be-fore” and cite their sources. “You can’t do [work] in a vacuum,” said Barker.

The aftermath of cheating proves to be one of the most try-ing times in a student’s life with the feelings of lost trust. The anony-mous student caught cheating in Brennen’s physics class said, “Ev-erything sunk. It was the worst guilt you could possibly feel.”

“After the punishment, I was so worried about what he would think about it, how he would view me,” she said.

Brennen commends students that stick with classes in the after-math of a cheating incident. “It’s very difficult to face the teacher af-ter a serious cheating incident,” he said. “It takes guts.”

Both Brennen and Barker rec-ognize that cheating is a “personal decision” that “never goes away,” as Barker said.

“No one forgets,” said Brennen. “It’s something you have to live with.”

10 entertainmentVolume 45 Issue 4 February 2010

the patriot

ABC lacks laughterNBC proves to be late night king

CBS barely breaks even It doesn’t take long after watch-

ing the dinosaur David Letterman deliver his monologue to realize how unappealing “The Late Show” truly is. His monologues apply only to old folks, most of who probably don’t even stay up that late.

And awkwardly enough, the monologues sometimes become overly sexual, for instance, when Letterman mocked Massachusetts senator-elect Joe Brown’s nude photo shoot.

It’s not just Letterman’s mono-logue that is mediocre. The entire show lacks creativity. Perhaps the most annoying part of the show is the stupid little joke that pops up before commercial breaks.

One thing Letterman does do right: interesting and well-known guests and the ability to have a con-versation with them that actually interests viewers.

Still though, I think Letter-man’s show would better be aired

throughout retirement communi-ties, rather than on a big-time net-work, such as CBS.

When Letterman finally ends, some relief comes with “The Late Late Show with Craig Fergu-son.” This Scot has a knack for doing things differently, and it re-ally shows in this playful late night show.

Ferguson spends a long time on his monologue, most of which is occupied by him reflecting on his thoughts and actions.

And while he does tend to get a bit too close to the camera for my comfort, his random ramble is amazing. It’s like nothing else on late night. The best part about Ferguson is his appeal. Both young and old audiences can find some-thing to laugh at while watching “The Late Late Show.” And while his guests may not be A-list celebri-ties, Ferguson’s monologue more than makes up for it.

I almost cried on the night Conan O’Brien left. He had only hosted “The Tonight Show” for a couple of months, but it only takes that long to become attached to that show. What made the show great was O’Brien’s great sense of creativity.

Every night he brought some-thing new, whether it was having stunt girls fired out of a Ringling Brothers cannon or racing Teri Hatcher in a full triathlon. Unfortu-nately, though, O’Brien and “The Tonight Show” are no more.

And soon, Jay Leno and “The Jay Leno Show” will be too. Thank God. “The Jay Leno Show” is sim-ply torture. Leno seemed like a comedic pro on the “The Tonight

Show,” but his move to primetime doubled as a fall from grace. The producers have lost their sense of reality, thinking that somehow ce-lebrities racing around a track in a sub-compact car is comedy.

And Leno’s monologue doesn’t help either. He tries to appeal to a young crowd, and it certainly shows. It’s just weird to hear a 59 year old man make jokes about Twitter.

Hopefully, next in line to take “The Tonight Show” seat is Satur-day Night Live veteran and host of “Late Night,” Jimmy Fallon.

Fallon’s show contains bits that sometimes don’t make sense and are always totally random. One time, he had audience members

throw hot dogs through holes in blown up posters of “Twilight” stars. Yet, they are still outrageously funny.

Fallon’s Saturday Night Live ex-perience comes through, most no-tably when he and his show’s staff, cross dress to play their wives in a mini-series, mocking Bravo’s “The Real Housewives” franchise.

One of Fallon’s writers, for ex-ample, plays “Yvonne,” an obese black woman who crashes “The Today Show.”

While Fallon only really appeals to a young crowd with his type of comedy, all of the humor in the show makes staying up truly worth it for anyone who is craving a little late night comedy.

Airing the news program “Nightline” at the same time as NBC and CBS’s prime late night comedy shows, the network isn’t too committed to late night com-edy.

Their only late night comedy show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” is not especially entertaining, but not disastrous either.

Jimmy Kimmel seems bored in his role, like he’s not having any fun. His Mexican “sidekick” Guill-ermo, who doubles as the studio’s security guard, is a riot though. Unfortunately, Guillermo’s pretty much the sole source of laughter on the show.

There’s little creativity like O’Brien’s or Fallon’s shows, un-less you call a bad interpretation of Jay Leno’s hair and voice creative.

Kimmel does get creativity points for his video-spoofs.

One of my favorites being a His-tory Channel-like documentary mocking the feud between O’Brien and Leno complete with Civil War photos.

His recurring video spoof “Un-necessary Censorship” takes clips from interviews and shows and bleeps out certain words to make it seem like people are cursing. It’s good for a chuckle at first, but it gets old week after week.

Kimmel consistently has well-known stars on the show, but his problem is that his lack of energy continues throughout the all of the guest interviews.

With no act to follow Kimmel, ABC is sort of in the dark when it comes to late night comedy.

Collin Hoofnagle braves the wee morning hours to bring you the best of late night comedy programming

editorials 11Volume 45 Issue 4 February 2010the patriot

We all know that video games don’t actually make you want to kill people (sorry Hillary Clinton) but who would think that video games are one of the few industries that isn’t tanking.

That’s right, with the economy down, people are losing their jobs left and right and one of the only industries that isn’t suffering is vid-

eo games. How is this happening? While many industries have

been forced to down size and lay people off, major gaming com-panies like Zenamax Media (the company responsible for games like “Elder Scrolls Oblivion” and “Fallout 3”) have nearly doubled in size according to npr.org.

It’s not just that company though. Most gaming companies have grown in size and it’s easy to see why. Video games have

become widely accepted in our culture. It’s not just teenagers any-more either. People of all ages can be found playing, whether it’s as simple as Farmville or a game like “Guitar Hero.”

I swear if I was in the room when somebody first pitched the idea for “Guitar Hero” I would have shot it down thinking “no one would want to play a game like that, they’d just play an actual guitar.” I guess I would have been wrong because I

haven’t met one person who hasn’t played “Guitar Hero.”

It’s sad to think about it, but video games are so popular that in an economy that is struggling to prosper we are still willing to pay seventy dollars for one game when there are so many more productive things that you could spend it on.

Applebee’s two-for-twenty deal lets you have two three course meals for twenty dollars. So for the price of one video game you could

eat at Applebee’s three times. Does anyone else agree with me that vid-eo games are overpriced?

If that’s not enough to make you think about how video games have taken over our society than think about this: according to Feed the Children Foundation you can feed a hungry child for ten cents a day. So for seventy dollars you can feed a child for seven hundred days. That’s almost two years. Should we Americans re-think our priorities?

video games move to forefront in 2000s

Reality TVNo matter how annoying the ex-

ploitation of people in “real-life” situations can be, reality shows were a defining mark in the past decade of television programming. The John and Kate saga came to an end after five seasons, but their accomplishments were no match for the reigning reality show king, “Survivor.” In the past decade, CBS managed to squeeze out 19 seasons of “Survivor” with another season planned for 2010. Nearly 52 million people watched the fina-le for “Survivor: Borneo” in 2000, making it one of the most-watched television programs of the decade. That’s a feat.

Crossover SUV’sIt’s a marketing term that’s made

its way into our vocabulary: cross-

over SUV. In the late ‘90s, the Lexus RX was the only crossover on the road. Today, nearly every major auto-maker has a crossover model, and the crossovers domi-nate America’s SUV segment. They’re convenient, comparatively fuel efficient, and hopefully here to stay. I’ll probably regret saying that in 2020.

GPSWhile Global Positioning Sys-

tems have been around for de-cades, they’ve fully made their way into mainstream American gad-getry in the past decade. Just take a look at all the glowing screens on car windshields during a nighttime drive down I-95. They’re every-where. I can hardly remember life without one. They reroute us when we’re lost, get us home from the beach, and tell us how long our trip will take. Are we there yet?

YouTubeFilm it, upload it, and you’re

practically a star. YouTube has launched singing careers, made America laugh, and provided a temporary cure for boredom by

redefining ways to avidly avoid work. Less than two years after its creation, YouTube was sold to Google for $1.65 billion. Do you have a good idea for the Internet? I’d give Google a call.

iStuffIn 2001, music changed forever.

It wasn’t the death of a famous mu-sician; it was the introduction of Apple’s iPod. We no longer had to carry around bulky CD players that skipped with every step. The iPod condensed piles of CD’s into a single handheld device! As I held my silver iPod Mini with a black and white screen, I didn’t think that technology could get any better.

But I was wrong. In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, revolution-izing the mobile phone industry. Will another Apple product define the next decade?

Mathematicians and financial analysts have argued that the new decade doesn’t start for another year. I’m still trying to figure out what to call the decade: The zeros? The double “O’s”? How about something simple: unforgettable.

We’re only a decade into the millennium, and Amer-ica has already seen new trends emerge. Managing Editor Joey Hoff takes a look back on the defining products of the past de-cade.

blast from the

The Patriot staff weighs in on tech-nology’s changes as we enter the new decade, as well as reflecting

on the past.

Technologies of the

Past, Present, and Future

Strap yourself into a time ma-chine and crank the gear back about a year. Walk down the street, look a stranger in the eye, and ask him if he has a Twitter. Naturally, you’ll be called a cuckoo nut head and will be hastily avoided. Bring yourself back to today’s world and do the same experiment. You’ll find out that the same person just tweeted while you were walking up to them.

Twitter has morphed our world into an entire new norm for getting information, sharing information, and broadcasting ourselves to oth-ers. Law suits have been filed be-cause of tweets, and law suits have been ended through tweets. Crimes have been planned over Twitter, crimes have been stopped by the police checking Twitter. But most importantly, Twitter has become a massive cloud of breaking news from people around the world.

Celebrities and companies have taken this free service and used it to share their product to the world through tweeting campaigns, slo-

gans, ads, and opinions directly to their fans. But as this became the social norm, people began abusing it and obsessing over the service, leading to law suits and tears.

Many celebrities and athletes have tweet confidentiality in their contracts now. These actors and athletes could face suspension for sending a small 140 character mes-sage over the waves.

In the beginning of August the NFL doled out its first Twitter-re-lated fined to San Diego Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie for complaining about the food at training camp. As far as celebrities, Courtney Love’s Twitter was shut down due to a lawsuit over libel in her tweets about her designer.

But Twitter doesn’t only hurt people. Companies have created social portals in which they answer their customers instantly from a tweeted complaint. If you generi-cally tweet that you had bad service at Best Buy, you can bet that some-one will message you, apologize for your bad experience, and ask if they can assist you. Then, they will proceed to sell their product to you through small messages just re-

minding you that they’re there. Twitter is no longer just a small

service used to see what you’re doing. Twitter has become a mass blob of insanity that lawyers, CEOs, media, and the public are constantly worried about. Here we are, in 2010, obsessively checking to see who tweeted what.

Twitter should not be consid-ered an evil corporation though. Blogs, message boards, MySpaces and other Internet tools have al-ways been available and popular to celebrity use. With Twitter, we are able to get more information from our favorite people. Sure, celebri-ties may have to watch what they say, but it’s no reason to abandon Twitter. It is a way to reach out to fans, by taking away their account they shut off their fans. And less fans is always a bad thing if you’re doing it for money.

Celebrities, agents, and corpo-rations need to embrace Twitter as much as they did in the future. A few bad stories here and there shouldn’t scare anyone away.

But only time can tell what will happen to Twitter. One can only imagine what lies in our future.

Ryan SelvyDesign Editor

twitter changes society

Ryan LinaGeneral Staff

What’s in store... Apple redefines the media

with the new iPad. Available in up to 64 GB, the tablet

style iPad is the new device for music, books, magazines,

and more.

not so distant past

Image from apple.com

12editorialsVolume 45 Issue 4 February 2010

the patriot

Kate FroehlichExecutive Editor

Economic times force cuts in science

The difficulty of convincing a bunch of apathetic teenagers to unite and do something together is nothing to jeer at.

Teenagers are naturally uninter-ested in things that aren’t directly related to them. Even if one per-son has the boldness to stand up for something, become active in a crusade against a societal evil, or make a simple change, he or she is often excluded for being, well, dif-ferent.

For years, there has been a fight to have teens become active in their society and to have them take full advantage of the vigor they pos-sess. Imagine if you could have a group of teenagers raise money for a homeless shelter with as much enthusiasm as they have toward at-tending a party on a Friday night.

We have the tools, they’re in our belt. It just hasn’t been brought to our attention how useful each of us can really be.

Facebook has become an inte-gral part of society. But it is not just a website to chat with your friends and send “pokes.” Facebook has become a call to activism.

The website is a tool to reach thousands of people by simply stat-ing your message and waiting for those who seem to care to come around. Facebook has brought together people for serious events, such as an effort to rally for causes like breast cancer, and events that are pure fun, like a snowball fight for hundreds of D.C. adults.

If one person can create an event on Facebook and send an in-vitation to all of his or her friends, a few will most likely respond. And when it shows up in those people’s News Feeds, a few more may be-come interested. All of the sud-den, the actions of one can cause hundreds to join. All it takes to make something successful is cre-ativity in presentation.

Teens have opinions. Why do you think I enjoy writing this col-umn so much? We have stances, we have ideas, and we have pas-sions. It’s a shame that we have to pin them down inside our heads just because we don’t have any-where else to keep them. The key to getting a teen to be involved is to guide them to the outlet. That’s what I’m here to do. I think that there’s potential for this generation. Let’s do something.

If Facebook is such an easy way to reach out to people, why aren’t we using it more? It is the one place that you can almost guaran-tee thousands of people can access every day. Facebook can be the cause; it is up to us to be the effect.

At Wit’s EndBy: Allison Siegel

Parents exceed necessary enthusiasmMaggie YankovichContributing Writer

As the new master plan prepares to upgrade science labs on cam-pus, recognizing the dire need for science skills in the 21st century, Berkeley High School in California is doing just the opposite.

Berkeley’s School Governance Council (SGC) voted in favor of a proposal to cut five science teach-ers and eliminate science labs in order to funnel that money into programs to benefit students that are struggling academically.

That’s all well and good. But how does that offer any incentive to those that make an obvious effort?

In a fair world, the students who honestly care about their marks would get the respect they deserve.

Instead, they’re seeing useful programs cut. And it’s not like stu-dents aren’t electing to take the sci-ence classes. According to a 2008 Board of Education assessment for Berkeley, enrollment in AP Envi-ronmental has increased over the past year.

The message I get from it? “Look, Susie, we know you want to become a biologist or discover a cure for lung cancer, but honestly, your future is less important to us than Rodger’s, who hasn’t done his homework all semester.”

Labs offer a variety of benefits crucial to the practical success of students when they enter the real world. The National Science Teacher Association’s website states that labs provide the oppor-

tunity to “design investigations, en-gage in scientific reasoning, ma-nipulate equip-ment, record data, analyze re-sults, and discuss their findings,” as well as encourage inquisitiveness in students.

Labs allow students to see practical uses for what they are learning and to be immersed in the process, in ad-dition to simply learning straight facts and theories.

Besides, from Frostburg to Har-vard, colleges are looking for at least two years of lab science in a student’s back-ground. I sup-pose Berkeley doesn’t see any real need to prepare their students for higher education?

This seems a little ironic, consid-ering their website boasts that 80% of their students go on to a two- or four-year college. Good luck find-ing colleges that are happy with no lab science experience on the stu-dents’ résumés.

The way of the future is in the sciences. According to cnbc.com,

9 of the 10 highest paying jobs, mostly in the medical field, require science. In addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, projecting figures for 2018, reports the need for a background in science for five of the ten fastest growing occupations.

I plead with the Berkeley School Board to reject this proposal. Don’t jeopardize the futures of students in the science field, when this field is what this world needs

more of. I do recognize the need to help lower-performing students, but find ways to achieve this with-out negatively impacting those who work hard to maintain their grades.

In addition, I applaud JC’s plans to address the downtrodden sci-ence facilities at our school. The plan for modern labs, offering a wealth of new knowledge, will only continue to fulfill the mission of a college preparatory school.

Three weeks ago, I attended my very first JC athletic event. I sup-pose this could be seen as some-what blasphemous, considering I have been at this school for nearly two years now.

Now, anyone who knows me could tell you that I normally could care less about sports. But basket-ball is the exception: fast-paced, high-energy, and a game of talent and dedication. It is the one sport that I love to watch and enjoyed playing for four years.

This came and hit me upside the head as the game commenced. It was the girls’ varsity basketball team against the undefeated Joppatowne Mariners, and from the very begin-ning, it was clear that we would give them a run for their money.

I found myself in a state of eu-phoria. Within minutes of the first quarter, I felt the adrenaline pump-ing through my veins as baskets were made and passes blocked.

It was as if I was back in my own jersey and Nikes, a forward ready to take my place under the net. I could hear the long-lost basketball hound in me ask, “Why didn’t you try out for the team last year?!”

But that question was answered when the referees apparently made a bad call. I can’t recall what that call entailed, but I can tell you what, or should I say who, shattered my longing to put back on a basketball

jersey: parents.Not just any parents, oh no.

The overzealous, sport-mongering, micro-managing parents. Their cries of “YOU’RE GONNA LET THEM CHEAT?!” or, my fa-vorite, “MY FOUR-YEAR OLD COULD DO A BETTER JOB!” echoed throughout the gymnasium.

Let me make something very clear: I have no qualms about cheering for my team or getting a little rowdy when the opposing team gets ahead. But what turns me off completely from wanting to take part in organized school sports is the disrespect that the heckling

parents display most hypocritically. I’ve never understood why par-

ents think that it is okay to act at high school sporting events like they would at a professional game. If you want to carry on and criticize the players out on the field or court at an NFL or NBA game, fine by me. But parents get this idea that if they can act out and show off at a pro game, they could certainly behave the same way at their son’s baseball game or their daughter’s field hockey competition.

Well, you look more foolish when you are in a gymnasium with 30 people, and the only one

screaming bloody murder at your 16-year-old’s team, than you do at an arena-sized venue.

These parents are the same par-ents that you hear about on the news, starting fights over their chil-dren’s tee-ball games. The same parents who pressure their kids to excel in their sport to the breaking point, making them forget why they loved playing it in the first place.

I couldn’t help but cringe during the basketball game when the par-ents refused to move on from the ref’s controversial call. Not because it was detrimental to the game, but because once parents get hysterical, they don’t stop.

The crude commotion came to an abrupt stop, when one of the girls on the team put them in their place by letting them know that it is her team’s game to play, not theirs.

I could feel the embarrassment and shame come in waves where the parents sat. I’m sure it is a hum-bling thing to be put in your place by the same children you taught the meaning of RESPECT and GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP.

Forgive me if what I have to say about high school sports seems bitter, for I do not mean to upset any parents, nor do I intend to be a muckraker hell bent on revolting against the way school sports are treated. However, if parents contin-ue to behave like a bunch of know-it-all fanatics, I won’t be the only one so disillusioned about sports.

Years ago, parents feared that schools would cut arts and music programs in order to remain within yearly budgets. The fight to preserve a variety of subjects in schools has re-emerged when a high school in California threatened to cut its science courses.

Fans gather to watch the girls basketball team play St. Paul’s. Full bleachers only add to the chaos when the intensity of the game rises.

Cartoon by Brooke Basta

Photo by Katie Doherty

editorials 13Volume 45 Issue 4 February 2010the patriot

S T A F F E D I T O R I A L

What does ‘The Patriot’ have to say?

Disaster strikes Haitians

What do you think about taking a relief trip to Haiti?

“I think that would be awe-some.”

-Erin Hellman ‘10

Kaitlin BobbinEditorials Editor s

ss

Chicken patties: that’s straight. I mean who doesn’t want to eat a slab of processed poultry of questionable color at 11 in the morning? And two dollars and fifty cents is such a reasonable price when compared to that equally questionable PB& J mom made this morn-ing. Who can resist grab-bing one? Or two? Or three?

ss

Everyone knows what it’s like to feel afraid, to feel devastated. Some people know what it’s like to lose a loved one. But few people know what it’s like to watch everything they’ve ever known crumble be-neath them.

However, most people never experience such grand scale devas-tation. They can only imagine. On January 12, 2010, this changed for the citizens of Haiti.

Throughout the years, we’ve watched Haiti and other countries throughout the world suffer from political insecurity, poverty, and natural disaster. People tend to set

themselves apart from these reali-ties. People turn away based on the conception that they can’t make a difference.

But when a human cries out for help, naturally, it’s hard to look away. On a Tuesday like any oth-er, Port-au-Prince was shaken to ruins. Over 100,000 people died. The equally important part: some people are still alive, and they need help.

JC can help. We can help. It is not our responsibility to carry the weight of the world on our shoul-ders, but as a Catholic school and as people, we should value our abil-

ity to reach out to those in need.There are people in this world

strong enough to watch their lives collapse and get up and build a camp for their families. These peo-ple are worth helping. They aren’t a lost cause or bad people. These people were just like us, until they suffered an earthquake.

The Red Cross has taken the ef-fort to start a foundation and work one-on-one with the people in Haiti. All it takes is another click of your mouse to donate to their cause.

JC has taken the effort to team up with St. Margaret’s and raise

money for the Catholic Relief for the Haitians. At the January 26 men’s basketball game against Cardinal Gibbons, a donation to Catholic Relief Services replaced an admission fee.

Students also have the opportu-nity to make a difference by selling all of their raffle tickets this year. After all, JC is donating 20 percent of the proceeds.

All the work has been done for us. Helping the Haitians is just a donation away. So if anyone can manage to part with their Starbucks one morning, their five dollars won’t be wasted.

Today, I went to McDonald’s to buy a bacon cheeseburger. Howev-er, when the clerk told me to give him $6.50, I was shocked. I wanted to take my burger and leave.

Then I stopped to think about it. The more I thought about how ridiculously expensive everything has become, I had to ask myself, why? Yes, six dollars is a lot for a burger, but fifteen dollars is a lot for a CD and for some reason so-ciety thinks that price is acceptable.

This overpriced pandemic exists at JC too. Last year, the cafeteria drinks were only a dollar and the cups were bigger. Now the cups have reduced in size and increased in price. Originally the cafeteria staff made up for the loss of cup size by giving us refills. However, that was taken away because peo-ple began stealing the cups. But still, the drinks now cost more and are smaller. It makes perfect sense if you don’t really think about it.

It’s not just JC food that is going through this problem—all over the

country, food is decreasing in size and increasing in price. It’s amaz-ing that the biggest cheeseburger is Burger King’s Whopper and the meat on it is about as thick as my finger nail.

So many people try to say that “money isn’t everything,” but how can that be, when it seems that cash is the only thing this society revolves around?

After all, there are very few things that you can do unless you have money. They say that love is free, but if you want to spend time with the people you love, you often need a lot of money to do it.

If prices keep going up and both the quality and quantity keep going down, we are heading for disaster.

Don’t believe me? This may sound like a weird example, but at Woodstock 1999, food, water, and everything else was overpriced. The concert turned into a riot, and was widely viewed as a catastrophe.

I’m not saying that the world is going to end, but if things don’t change, bad things are bound to happen.

It’s time for change.

Ryan LinaGeneral Staff

Overly expensive essentials upset all

“I don’t feel anything to-wards it.”

-Mike Schott ‘11

As if we don’t read enough books by dead people. I guess “Catcher in the Rye” just made its shift from ‘contemporary’ to ‘classic’ with the death of J.D. Salinger on January 27. I wonder if it’s still ex-tra credit for Mr. Paaby’s sophomore class to write letters to him.

Sorry Relient K, but it looks like khaki pants and sweaters won’t cut it for this Sadie Hawkins. Only formal black and white at-tire is acceptable for Sadie Hawkins: JC edition. I hope the tuxes comple-ment the cafeteria floor.

The administration is pushing the frontiers of creeping. Apparently Face-book photos are no longer enough, they need to watch us in action. Suspiciously moving down the hallway by ourselves… blatantly walking into the bathroom. Did they want to check our pockets too?

Attention seniors: ban-ner order forms are sitting in the hands of your par-ents. Begin your censor-ing now. The fact that you still need a date to prom doesn’t have to be public.

sThe lobby of the Wil-

low Valley Resort suffered damage in a two alarm fire on January 9. Fortunately, this is precisely where the senior class will be so pleas-antly dropped off on Feb-ruary 18 for a relaxing re-treat. I hope Mrs. Murphy Dohn has looked into this recently.

“It’s awesome that JC stu-dents want to get involved.”

-Adam Kuester ‘12

“That would be a great thing because it shows how much we care.”-Martha Schick ‘13

14 sportsVolume 45 Issue 4 February 2010

the patriot

Hailing from the college that claims to possess the “best damn pep band in all the land,” it’s not surprising that the music department’s latest faculty addition is able to use his skills to assist the growing JC Pep Band.

Marc Bolden, music teacher and graduate of the University of Dayton, is leading the Pep Band. Participating in the pep band during college helped Bolden reach a new level of understanding with music, showing him just how much music can add to athletics.

Traditionally, a Pep Band is reserved for men’s basket-ball teams throughout the col-lege world, but as always, JC is bending the rules.

“I think that the Pep Band has been an outstanding addi-tion to athletics. It brings the whole college atmosphere to our games,” said varsity men’s basketball coach Tony Martin.

This year the Pep Band was a part of both the Wrestle-palooza and Battle of Bel Air wrestling matches. Wrestling coach Jake Hollin had spe-cifically requested that the Pep Band play for the matches be-cause he was looking to take the events to the next level. According to him, the success of the wrestling team and the turn outs they have sustained are thanks to the Pep Band.

“It really helps in the whole mental aspect of the match. If an-other team comes in and they see that we’ve got the stands full, the team pumped up, and a Pep Band there to keep the energy high, it’s going to psych another team out,” said Hollin.

The Pep Band has come a long way from their beginning. Bolden believes that the Pep Band should really be in the control of the stu-dents participating in it. He gave them freedom to help choose their uniform, their music, and how they would support the teams.

While still in search of a true JC Fight Song, the Pep Band has had a rigorous musical process. After a month of research by Bolden for fast, high-energy songs, the band auditioned ten songs, choosing the member’s five favorites. There was no set percussion music at the be-

ginning of the Pep Band’s exis-tence, so the percussion section had to completely improvise it’s creative and original beats.

“There is a lot more freedom in what you can play. You’re en-couraged to play loud,” said ju-nior Patrick St. Clair.

Both Bolden and St. Clair agree that it would be great to expand the Pep Band and attract more people. Bolden hopes that an expansion would not mean the loss of the current band’s proficiency.

“I see it as a way to help break this barrier that seems to sepa-rate the music and athletic de-partment” said St. Clair.

Coaches were ecstatic that the Pep Band wanted to participate in their games, and future sea-sons seem like they will be just as fruitful.

Mews, Jones head to Memphis for fencingfrom FRONT PAGE

and épée. Jones and Mews both compete in épée. Épée is the most lenient of the three varieties. A fencer can earn a point by hitting any part of a person’s body. The épée consists of a blade with a point on the end. The sword-like weapon is heavier in épée than in foil.

“When I started fenc-ing in middle school I learned foil. But when I went to the fencing club, I learned épée and im-mediately loved it,” said Jones.

Foil is similar to épée, but the foil’s blade is light-er. In foil, the fencer can only earn points by hitting his/her opponent’s torso, front and back.

Both the foil and the sabre are considerably more flex-ible than the épée. In sabre, the valid point areas are limited to any-thing above the waist. The sabre is lighter than an épée but heavier than a foil.

Not only are the weapons unique but the interaction between the fencers is different. The key difference between sabre and épée is right of way.

Right of way limits who can earn points. If a fencer hits his oppo-

nent without right of way, the fenc-er does not get the point. Right of way is established by turning the bellguard, which protects the hand from stray hits, inward. If the fenc-

er becomes careless and changes the position of his wrist, his opponent can gain the right of way.

“With épée it’s more of setting up an attack, while in sabre you rush in to establish right of way,” said Jones.

Jones started learning how to compete in sabre within the last month. “I like sabre because it of-fers different techniques than épée. It becomes a lot faster and more ag-gressive,” said Jones.

Competitions, in épée and sabre, are not on a regular schedule. “I

compete whenever competitions arise. It can be as many as three times a month or once,” said Mews.

Jones joined the work study pro-gram to help afford her fencing les-sons and competitions. She assists a teacher in a class of kids age seven through nine.

Both are dreaming big for up-coming years. “The Olympics would be awesome,” said Mews. At the very least, both would like to compete in college.

Allison SiegelManaging Editor

photo by Kristin Marzullo

Senior Jeremy Griffith plays his trombone during the men’s varsity basketball game against Cardinal Gibbons. Pep band, normally reserved for basketball games in college, also played at wrestling matches this year.

Q:How did you get involved in swimming?

A:Actually, I had swam earlier, and then my son ran into a friend of his that was swimming and asked if he could try it out. When I went to his club to have [my son] try it out, it reacquainted me with a bunch of people that I swam with when I was younger and they coerced me into helping them coach.

Q:What do you like about swimming?

A:You can very easily see an in-dividual seeing the pay off of their work, and I like the fact that it’s something from an individual stand-

Q:Did you start coaching at JC?

A:No, actu-ally, I started at the club level for the Harford Hur-ricanes and the North Harford Neptunes. Then, I came to [JC] as a swim coach. I think it was nine or ten years ago. I was coaching and teaching a course here part time and then eventually became the athletic director.

Q:How would you describe your coaching technique?

A:It’s understanding the goals of each one of the individuals, each

one of the swimmers, and understanding the strengths that they have in their particular strokes. I guess my prowess is helping them with mechanics. We build mechanics before we build the endurance. We can worry about swimming fast after we learn how to swim

correctly.

Joey HoffManaging Editor

Larry DukesSwimming

Larry Dukes

Q:What is your favorite stroke?

A:My favorite stroke to swim is the breast stroke. It was my fastest stroke when I was growing up, but I always envied the good butterfliers.

fanSPOTLIGHTPep Band

Morgan Jones

James Mews

point; you’re measuring yourself against the clock.There’s always another level that you can take yourself to. It’s much like track and field or those sports where it’s you and time or you and a bar where you can always raise the bar and always get a faster time.

sports15Volume 45 Issue 4 February 2010the patriot

So many times the front page stories in the sports section involve the health of a team’s star player. For some athletes, every little detail immediately becomes front page news.

Vikings quarterback Brett Fa-vre’s rotator cuff could have had a reality show by the time it healed last summer.

But sometimes, it appears that the focus on health needs to shift from the players to the coaches. On December 26, Urban Meyer, head coach of the University of Florida football program, an-nounced he was resigning from his position due to health issues. While Meyer changed his plans to a leave of absence and said he ex-pects to coach the Gators in 2010, it was revealed that he had been suffering heart problems and stress related ailments.

It was announced on January 19 that University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Cal-houn was taking a medical leave of absence for what his doctor called “temporary medical issues.” Cal-houn is no stranger to ailments, as he has undergone treatments for prostate cancer and skin cancer in the past decade.

Meyer and Calhoun are just two of the many coaches who deal with the same thing on a daily basis: stress. With the bottom line be-ing money these days, the pressure for coaches to win becomes higher than ever.

The lengths that coaches espe-cially college ones, go through to ensure that their teams will suc-ceed are incredibly disproportion-ate to the health risks they submit themselves too. Half the time, they aren’t given their due.

No matter the sport, the players cannot do everything on their own. There must be a strong presence guiding the team. While credit is often given to an individual based on his or her performance, the per-formance is only possible because of the coach.

The coach is responsible for motivating the players to give their best effort, no matter what the cir-cumstances. Give coaches credit. Meyer and Calhoun are not the only coaches out there with health problems. It’s not easy to see when coaches are in bad health. Their intense sacrifice needs to be ap-preciated by all outside observers, as these health scares show that coaches give up more than meets the eye to do their jobs.

OvertimeBy: Daniel Gallen

Hall of Fame honors alumni athletic achievements

Alumni Bryan Barrett, class of ’96, described his time at JC as some of the best four years of his life. After graduating, he went on to play eight years of professional lacrosse.

Barrett was just one of three ath-letes inducted into the JC Hall of Fame on January 24. These three athletes include his sister Brooke Barrett, class of ’98, and Katie Ti-burzi Jenkins, class of ’97.

The Athletic Hall of Fame in-ductions have been going on since 1989. The Hall of Fame Com-mittee chooses the athletes after receiving recommendations from athletes’ friends or family.

Anne Munth, Brooke’s former field hockey assistant coach, read off a letter from Brooke’s head la-crosse coach John Hughes. In the letter, he listed several of her many accomplishments.

Brooke was captain of the la-crosse team senior year and a two year starter on JC’s varsity field hockey team. After high school, she went to Boston University, where she continued to play la-crosse. Hughes described Brooke saying, “She was a natural leader. She was always one to help others no matter what. She shares her love for the game.”

After receiving her plaque and gift, Brooke made a short but genu-

ine speech thanking her friends, family, and JC. “My biggest thanks goes to my brother. I always ad-mired him for all he did,” said Brooke.

Addressing all JC student ath-letes, Brooke said, “It takes hard work. If you just believe in yourself, whether in John Carroll or beyond, you can accomplish your goals.”

Next, Bryan Barrett’s longtime friend, Brad Knapp, spoke about what it was like growing up with Bryan. He said, “Bryan was always the guy to get picked first. His char-acter, passion, and will to win the

game was what made him differ-ent.” Bryan was captain of the foot-ball team his senior year.

After he was cut from the foot-ball team in his freshman year at the University of Delaware, he chose to play lacrosse the next three years. He described his reac-tion saying, “I believe that all things happen for a reason. It made me not take things for granted.” Later in 2007, while playing for the In-door National Lacrosse league, Bryan’s team won the bronze medal.

Bryan confessed, “I was never

the most talented kid. I had to work and earn what I got, and I think my teammates respected me for that.”

Unfortunately, Katie Tiburzi Jenkins was unable to attend, but will still be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

According to Dukes, the tradi-tion of inducting athletes into the Hall of Fame will continue for years to come. O’Hara described the goal of the committee. “We are honoring traits and character, strengths, personal qualities, and hard work. Who they are, were,

Haley LynchPhoto Editor

Photo by Katie Doherty

Brooke Barrett, class of ‘98, recieves her award from President Richard O’Hara. Barrett was recognized for her success in field hockey and lacrosse at JC and Boston University.

16 sportsVolume 45 Issue 4 February 2010

the patriot

Melissa Lookingland started playing soccer at age four. She plays forward for the Patriots, but plays defense for her club team, Laurel Lightning. The strong competition in soccer appeals to Lookingland because she has “an intense competitive nature.” Her greatest challenge throughout her four years at JC has been to remain in the starting line-up. Coach Gary Lynch chose her to be captain of the women’s varsity soccer team last fall because he could see that she would “take the high standards she used to judge herself to encourage the other players to have high expectations of themselves.” Her favorite JC soccer memory is the team’s trip to New Jersey because “the team bonded together.” She is going to play Division I soccer for St. Francis University in Loretto, Penn-sylvania.

Junior point guard Malcolm McMillan began his basketball career at age five. McMillan enjoys bas-ketball because “it’s fun to play with my teammates.” For the second year in a row, McMillan is the captain of the men’s varsity basketball team. McMillan feels that his leadership skills contributed to his being ap-pointed captain. Coach Tony Martin cited McMil-lan’s time with the program as the reason for his cap-taincy and said, “He is the most experienced player in the program.” Martin praised McMillan’s “great at-titude” and “hard work.” McMillan’s favorite mem-ory is “playing against the number one player [Greg Monroe] in the nation.” His high ankle sprain at the beginning of this season “slowed him down,” but he is back to his original strength. McMillan hopes to play Division I basketball in college.

Owona twins finally reunite on court, in countryFive rejections are hard for

anyone to take, but for freshman Christian Owona they were pre-venting his ticket to America.

Christian and his twin brother Mike went to obtain student visas in Cameroon on the same day. Both had been offered the chance to play basketball at JC.

Mike walked out with his visa, while Christian was rejected for the first time. The boys went in to-gether, but each went to a separate immigration official.

“One person can give you the okay, while the person in the next room can reject you,” said men’s varsity basketball coach Tony Mar-tin. “There is no exact logic behind [the decision].”

Both boys had the same creden-tials, but each immigration official made the decision based on his or her own opinion.

Christian did not go to the air-port to see Mike leave in August. Their mother told Martin that Christian was “inconsolable.” It was the first time the brothers had ever been apart.

Christian and Mike came to America from Cameroon, a small country on the west coast of Africa. Joe Touomou, a Cameroonian na-tive, made that all possible.

Touomou came to America to play basketball for a high school

in North Carolina. He went on to Georgetown University, as point guard for the Hoyas from 1995 to 1999. A knee injury kept him from advancing to a higher level.

Martin first came in contact with Touomou while coaching at Arch-bishop Spalding in the mid-1990’s. The Georgetown basketball coach, Craig Esherick, contacted Martin about bringing over another Cam-eroonian basketball player, Max Yokono. Yokono was like a “little brother” to Touomou.

After graduating from Arch-bishop Spalding in 1998, Yokono played basketball at Sacred Heart University while Touomou started recruiting boys from Africa to play

basketball in the United States. Originally a scout for National

Basketball Association, Touomou started his own recruiting organiza-tion Kossengwe.

Martin and Touomou were in constant contact from the mid-1990’s onward. The Owona twins are not the first players Touomou suggested, but are the first athletes to play for JC.

The Owona twins went to a Catholic school in Cameroon, fo-cusing on a science curriculum. The boys stood out because they were tall. “I was six feet and three inches when I was thirteen,” said Mike. Mike, currently six feet and eight inches, and Christian, stand-

ing at six feet and six inches, have a natural advantage in basketball.

The team has gained from Mike’s height and athleticism. “Mike is a strong shot blocker and rebounder,” said Martin.

Besides just his athletic strength, “[Mike] adds a worldly prespective for the team,” said Martin.

“In my country, everybody plays soccer, but we played basketball because we were tall,” said Mike. The boys were approached by Touomou early in 2008.

“Our parents were happy for us, but parents are parents. They were still worried,” said Mike.

America “is better than Africa in a lot of ways, but it can be bor-

ing,” Mike said. Much of Mike’s boredom can be contributed to the absence of Christian during first se-mester.

Mike began living with his host family, the Loves, in August. Senior Jamal Love was excited for Mike to come because he had “never had another guy in the house.”

Love had heard that Martin was bringing over international students from Africa last year and he told his mother about it. Love said, “She was really happy about it” and then agreed to host Mike and Christian.

Mike started to adjust without his brother. He kept in contact with his friends and family in Cam-eroon through Skype.

In school, Mike is also adapting well. “Mike got moved up in math because he is so far ahead of stu-dents here,” said Martin.

But Mike was still waiting for his brother to come over. “When Christian wasn’t there, I was really bored and lonely,” Mike said.

Christian finally received a stu-dent visa late in 2009. He arrived in America in early January and be-gan school at the beginning of the second semester.

“Christian’s the shy one,” Love said. Christian is beginning his ad-justment to America and learning English. “Mostly they talk to each other in French,” said Love.

“My hope for the boys is to have life changing experiences beyond the basketball court,” said Martin.

Rachel KokoskaSports Editor

photo by Katie Doherty

Freshman bas-ketball forward Christian Owona (42) posts up against junior center Kanu Aja of Cardinal Gib-bons while junior guard Malcolm McMillan (11) attempts to inbound the ball. Owona scored one point in the Patriots’ 52-49 victory over the Cardinal Gib-bons Crusaders on January 26.

Every four years, the world comes together to take part in the time-honored tradition of the Win-ter Olympics. This year’s games kick off February 12 in Vancouver.

Although local favorite Kim-mie Meissner will not be return-ing for her second Olympics due to an injury, this year’s games will nonetheless see the return of many fan-favorite athletes from across the country for Team U.S.A.

Among them is arguably the most recognizable Olympian, twenty-three year old snowboard-er Shaun White from California. White is better known as the “Fly-ing Tomato,” a nickname that de-veloped in reference to his flaming red hair. After winning gold on the half pipe at the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino, White became a household name.

Another snowboarder who experienced success with a gold medal from the half pipe in Torino is twenty-three year old Hannah Teter from Vermont.

Teter has used her success to benefit others, starting her own charity, Hannah’s Gold. Through this charity, Teter donates her earn-ings from competitions, along with the money made from selling Ver-mont maple syrup, to a village in Kenya. The money is then used to improve water quality conditions.

Returning for his third Olym-pics is twenty-seven year old short

track speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno from Washington. In 2002, he won a silver medal and a gold medal, and in 2006, he took home two bronze medals and one gold medal. Ohno gained further fame when he competed in and won the reality show competition “Dancing with the Stars” in 2007 with partner Julianne Hough.

A pair to watch on the ice this year is twenty-five year old Tanith Belbin from Michigan and her partner, twenty-eight year old Ben Agosto from Illinois.

Together, they took home the silver medal for ice dancing at the 2006 games. This was the first time in thirty years that a U.S. pair landed on the podium for ice danc-ing, and the duo will attempt to im-prove and bring home the gold for Team U.S.A.

Twenty-five year old figure skater Johnny Weir performed for the U.S. Olympic team in Torino. Although he did not earn a medal in 2006, he produced an unforget-table program in which he dressed like a swan, complete with a red glove serving as the beak. He re-cently placed third at the 2010 U.S. National Championships.

On the slopes, keep an eye out for twenty-five year old Lindsey Vonn from Colorado, who will be competing in her third Olympic games. In 2006, she won the wom-en’s U.S. Olympic Spirit Award af-ter racing despite having sustained injuries to her back and legs during training.

Caitie Beth ShauckGeneral Staff

Key US athletes promise excitement at Olympics

Soccer photo courtsey of Pacificus; other pictures by Katie Doherty