The Odyssey

INSIDE

A Saint James School Tradition Since 1969

We hope everyone had a great holiday!

From Auburn... ...to Saint James

“Our goal is to be the best football team we can put on the field...”

By Caitlin CobbSports Editor

After a very productive 2010-2011 season with Coach Smeltzer, Saint

James decided to take a new di-rection with the coaching staff. The season ended with 9 wins and 3 losses. The Saint James Trojans even made it to the play-offs (the first time our team had been to the playoffs since 1998). Another huge accomplishment was being able to host the first round. Even though we ended up losing, everybody affiliated with the team was extremely proud of the amazing job the football team had done this year.

The coaches were especially honored to have coached this class of seniors. They said the guys were great because of their leadership and the way they han-dled each game. Our school was very appreciative of the coaches and players this past season, and they wanted to go even further this next year. In hopes of going back to the playoffs and progressing even further (maybe winning a state championship), Saint James School hired Coach Jimmy Perry.

Coach Perry has much expe-rience in the coaching field. His most recent job before being hired at Saint James was the head coach at St. Paul’s High School for three years. Before that, he had a job at Auburn University for nine years, coaching under Tommy Tuberville and Gene Chizik. Pre-vious to his job at Auburn, Perry coached for Robert E. Lee High School for eighteen and a half years. Clearly, Saint James hired a well-experienced head coach.

Since Perry has been with the Saint James Trojans, he has made many changes to the Trojans’ workouts and meal plans. He changed the workouts according

to what he has previously done and has had much success with. The meal plans now encour-age certain foods in excess. The coach wants them to eat at least five meals a day plus snacks, and, if they wake up at night, they should feel free to consume another meal. Coach Perry said, “We will be monitoring their weight gain over a two week pe-riod.” Basically, the motto is to eat and gain twenty five pounds. Also, if they have fast food, he wants them to have a snack be-fore they eat since the food at McDonald’s is not very healthy.

Due to the positive changes in-cluding the altered meal plans and workouts, Coach Perry has high

hopes for the upcoming season. “Our goal is to be the best football team we can put on the field, the best product we can put out there, and the best prepared we can be,”

he said. Whether Saint James loses five games or none, Coach Perry will be proud of the players. This season is a season of changes and improve-ment. Perry thinks we will finish as well as we can at the end of the season.

Evan Border, a sopho-more football player, said, “I’m really excited about him being the new coach, and I really like him a lot.” The players have obviously bonded with the new coach and are extremely excited about playing under him this upcoming season. Com-pared to previous teams, Coach Perry thinks that it is too early to tell what the season will be like, but he has high hopes.

His high hopes will continue into spring train-ing and summer work-outs. Coach Perry plans to work out three times a week. The players will work on weightlifting, conditioning, offense and defense plays, and kicking installations, especially.

Besides being an out-standing coach, one of the many reasons Coach Per-ry was hired was because he had several ties to our school and family. He told the Odyssey, “Both of my children went to Saint James, and I have been a Saint James parent for a long time. Now, I am an employee of the school.” Hiring a new coach was a

Photo by Amelia Hanan.

Cupcakes and Grilled Cheese:

Gigi’s and Waffle House Review

See Page 4

See Page 3

Huddle up for Saint James Basketball

news!!

MeetSeñora Fox

SeePage 7

Students learn about parenthood

Page 2

drastic change for the school and football program, but I think it will benefit both the players and the coaches. Let’s see how this next season turns out, and go Trojans!

Photo by Hayley White.

2 News

By Madeline PendleySGA President

SGA

Photo by Reed O’Mara.

February 6, 2012 The Odyssey

STJ’s Baby BoomBy Amelia HananFeatures Editor

Each year the junior and senior psychology stu-dents spend one weekend

as a teenage parent. This year the students are responsible for a baby from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.

Before taking the babies home and being on their own, the students learned how to care for the baby by changing diapers and being careful with them. In addition, they also learned about the serious illnesses that some babies are born with such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and shaken baby syndrome (SBS). Fetal Alcohol Syndrome comes from when a mother has been drinking during pregnancy. Shaken baby syndrome is when a baby has been purposely shaken. Both are very serious illnesses which cause brain dam-age.

This is not a normal baby doll. Each baby is computer-ized and realizes how the baby is being treated by the students. Considering Mrs. Majors, the psychology teacher cannot be around each student the entire weekend they have the baby,

Seniors Logan Strane, Camilla Bryant, Zack Taylor, Savannah Smith, and Hannah Hoover celebrate their new bundles of joy with food and drinks. Photo by Hayley White.

Mole-reka!!By Amelia HananFeatures Editor

The Saint James chemistry classes celebrated mole day with a mole proj-

ect, mole-related games, and a class party on January 31, 2012. Although National Mole Day is normally celebrated October 23rd at 6:02 a.m. which is de-rived from Avogadro’s num-ber, the high school chemistry teacher, Mrs.Whigham, chose to have her classes celebrate mole day a few months later once they had learned about the mole in class. She explained that National Mole Day is meant to inspire interest in chemistry in addition to honoring Avogadro’s work with the number 6.02 X 10^23 atoms.

Students receive a test grade for their project. Students’ projects include an actual mole dressed in a certain theme or as a certain character. Junior, Ashely Williamson, told of how much she enjoyed working on this cre-ative project by saying, “I had so much fun doing this project! My mole is Nicki Molaj, and she has a pink wig. It was a really fun test grade.” While some found stuffed animals which looked similar to a mole, others elected to make the mole themselves.

Last year’s class included many Auburn-themed moles like Camole Newton and Gus Molezahn as the Tigers were fresh off of the national cham-pionship win, so naturally this

year’s class had Alabama-themed moles such as Mole Tide. Other favorites included Nemole, Voldemole, Hannah Moletana, Little Mermole, Old MoleDon-ald, and Dr. McLemole.

Many students found this project fun and enjoyed the pro-cess of making the mole in addi-tion to the mole-related games. The mole games included pin the nose on the mole, a mole toss, and hot mole. In pin the nose on the mole, students were blind-folded and spun around. The closest person to the actual nose of the mole was the winner. They also had a mole toss to see which student could throw the mole across the quad the furthest. Hot mole is when students passed the mole around while music was playing. Once the music stopped, the person holding the mole was out. This continues until there is only one person left. Each class period had winners from these three games who received prizes in addition to the best mole project which was voted on by the class.

Students were to also bring in some kind of food which is related to the mole to help their grade such as cupcakes with 6.02 X 10^23 on them. Once all proj-ects were presented to the class, they then enjoyed the class party for the rest of the period. This has been a fun project for the stu-dents to be able to take a break from the chemistry curriculum and be creative each year.

Reaching out to new horizons

By Zoya AhmedBuisiness Mananger

This coming year, Saint James School will be offering some new, awe-

some electives. Our school is trying to focus on career-based classes to help the students plan their future. So far, thirteen new electives have been chosen including additions to the arts, history, science, and health departments.

Music composition will be taught by Mrs. Smith. Students who take this class will be learning about the history of music and learn how to produce quality recordings for CDs and DVDs; one might even learn how to create original music. Also, graphic design will be taught by Mrs. Shoults. Students will have the opportunity to combine their art and computer skills to master graphic design taught at college levels. In addition, another AP art class will be available for motivated art students. Mr. Gunter will be teaching AP studio 2-D design. In order to take this class, stu-dents will have to have been in at least one year of high school art.

Also, students will have a chance to finally get their cre-ative juices flowing. Mr. Clinton will be teaching visual story-telling. In this class, students

will learn about scripting and filmmaking. Also, students who are interested in politics will have their time to shine. Next year, Mr. McLemore will be teaching a class about the United States’ global affairs. In addition, Mrs. Latham will be teaching a class about business, marketing, and finance.

Students can also learn about environmental science from Mr. Turner who will be teaching about the ecosystem and prob-lems facing our environment. Mr. Long will have a class about 21st century technology. He will also be teaching a class on network-ing. In addition, Mrs. Eichelberg will be teaching a robotics and pre-engineering class.

For students interested in health, there will be a class on sports medicine and physical therapy taught by a new teacher named Ms. Hurd. Also, there will be two health and wellness class-es available next year, which will be one semester each. For now, the teacher is unknown.

Hopefully, these new elec-tives will help students decide their future careers. When asking about what she thinks about new electives, Mrs. Richardson said, “I can’t wait! I wish I had this chance when I was in school. I want the students to have the op-portunity to get a taste of a col-lege major, so they can decide if they want to pursue that career.”

the students’ grades are lowered each time they are rough with the baby, do not support its head, miss a diaper change, burp, or feeding. They must also secure the babies in a car seat at all times when they are not tending to the normal baby duties.

The students had to check on the baby each time it cried

during the night. Junior, Matt Young, commented on his baby, Abcde (pronounced Abs-si-dee), crying during the night by say-ing, “The baby would not cry during the afternoon. She would only cry at midnight when I was asleep!” He continued to say the entire experience was terrible. When he recalled that weekend,

he commented, “After a while, I got so annoyed when the baby was crying that I had an impulse to punt her across the room since she is not a real human baby.” Although he did not enjoy the experience, he decided to partici-pate again with this project during the fourth quarter.

Students often commented on how people reacted to seeing teenagers car-rying babydolls with them around town. Junior, Kendall Ham-ilton, commented, “I got really weird looks from people because no one knew why I was carrying a

plastic baby.”Although the students only

had the babies for one week-end, and they turned on at their convenience, they realized the responsibility that comes with parenting and protecting their child from diseases as well as simply tending to the baby’s needs.

Greetings, Trojans! I am pleased to announce that we

are now nearly half way through the third quarter. Your SGA officers have been working diligently on preparations for this year’s Community Day, which will be held on Thursday, April 5th. If you have stopped by our bulletin board, you have noticed our nauti-cal décor. After lots of brainstorming, we chose our theme: “Anchored in Service.” T-shirt forms will be distributed shortly. We encourage everyone to purchase a t-shirt! Pro-ceeds will help us meet our fundraising goal of $2,500 for the Wounded Warrior Project. Commu-nity Day has been a STJ tradition for many years. Students will be serving throughout the tri-county area at various locations. The freshmen class will board the buses to give back at YMCA Camps Chandler and Grandview. Meanwhile, the sopho-more boys will revital-ize Remount Cemetery, and sophomore girls will return to The Children’s Center. The Cabaret mem-bers will be brightening faces at McInnis School, and AP art students will be serving at the Mont-gomery Museum of Fine Arts. In addition to our traditional locations, we have new venues that have signed on for our big day! We are pleased to publicize that John Knox Manor, the Montgomery Zoo, and Elmcroft Assist-ed Living are welcoming students into their facili-ties. Stay tuned for more information!

The Odyssey February 6, 2012 3SportsLS-WHOOOOO?

Before the game, Barrett Jones, an Alabama offen-sive lineman, said, “We

are not getting revenge on LSU, we are restoring the order.” That is exactly what they did. Ala-bama, coming in as the underdog to number one LSU, completely dominated in the National Cham-pionship, thrashing the Tigers in a 21-0 shutout.

All of the fans were ready to get the game started. Alabama won the coin toss opting to kick off the first half. What came next was very unusual: Cade Foster, one of the Alabama place kick-ers, kicked the ball past the twen-ty yard line. You could tell what Nick Saban had been working on for the past month. The Crimson Tide’s special teams were all over the Tigers return man; he didn’t get past the twenty. LSU’s first drive of the game resulted in a big, fat nothing. They went three and out but punted the ball almost 60 yards. If only Alabama could do that! Alabama’s first drive resulted in a field goal. This cycle of LSU earning almost zero yards and Alabama kicking field goals continued until the end of the half.

One of the most surprising and clever plays called by Nick Saban was when Alabama was going to attempt a field goal, but, instead, they threw the ball for a first down. If you are an avid Alabama fan, you know how surprising this is because the Crimson Tide always plays very conservatively. The first half of the National Championship was

extremely exciting for Alabama and even more disappointing for LSU. Even by halftime, a few LSU fans had started to exit the stadium. As a fan who attends many football games through-out the season, I know that the cardinal rule when your team is on defense is to scream as loudly as you can to try to distract the other team. LSU fans obviously did not know that rule because they were silent throughout the entire game.

As the third quarter unfolded, LSU fans became more and more disappointed by the minute. The Tigers did nothing during the third quarter but take up playing time. On the other hand, Alabama charged down the field several times and on occa-sion scoring field goals. As the seconds clicked by, LSU’s fans slowly walked out of the stadium disappointed in their so-called invincible tigers.

The fourth quarter came with extreme disappointment and embarrassment on the LSU’s players’ minds, and astonishment and excitement with the Crimson Tide. The last quarter ended with an Alabama touchdown by Trent Richardson and a first time cross-ing of the fifty yard line by LSU. What a big accomplishment! As I said before, the LSU fans had been leaving the stadium since the beginning of the third quarter. On the other hand, Alabama fans stayed till the police kicked them out (not literally). During the entire game, you could hear the Tide fans screaming their hearts out for their beloved Crimson Tide. Thankfully, it worked, and, as you know, Alabama won their fourteenth National Champion-ship, beating the LSWHO Tigers 21-0. This was the first shut out in a BCS National Championship ever! Roll Tide Roll.

By Caitlin CobbSports Editor

Alabama is about to sack for the twelth time LSU’s quarterback. Photo by Caitlin Cobb.

Scoops on the Hoops

By Hayley WhiteNews Editor

When asked, sopho-more Evan Border told the Odyssey a

little bit about the 2011-2012 varsity boys basketball sea-son. He said, “Our past games haven’t all gone as planned. We lost some we really needed and wanted to win. We’re do-ing okay in our area and our records are better than usual.” The Trojans lost to ACA Friday, January 27th. However, they didn’t let that discourage them in Saturday’s game against Marbury—the Trojans won! Now the boys will focus their energy to beat Trinity in their last regular season game Friday, February 3rd at home. It is also senior night, and the band will be in attendance; everyone should come out and support the varsity girls and boys!

Border also told the Odyssey

about changes to practice this year; he said, “Our practices are shorter than last year—some-times only an hour long—so that’s pretty nice.” But, just because practices are shorter doesn’t mean that they have gotten any easier. He also shares, “Our practices are tough, but we don’t mind. We manage to have fun most of the time.”

To add to the excitement of the 2011-2012 season, Junior CJ Duncan, and Sophomore, Slade Methvin were just featured on Sports Center . Yes, the Sports Center we all watch. In the Saint James VS Saint Jude game, Slade sunk a 90 foot shot to end the 1st quarter, and CJ Duncan made a half court shot, ending the first half of the game. The varsity boys are a very bonded team, and the Odyssey wishes them the best of luck in the Trin-ity game and the playoffs. Let’s go Trojans!!

Green CuP ChallegeJanuary 17-February 15

Turn off lights, unplug unused electronics, and save energy!

Ben Graves prepares to make a free throw against ACA. Photo by Hayley White.

4 Features The Odyssey February 6, 2012

The Odyssey StaffEditor-in-Chief Reed O’Mara

Business Manager Zoya Ahmed

Section EditorsNews Hayley White Sports Caitlin CobbOpinions Allison RutherfordFeatures Amelia HananEntertainment Zoya Ahmed

Photographer Hayley White Advisor JamesHadleyGriffin

Member Alabama Scholastic Press Association (ASPA) and Journalism Education Association.Recipient of the ASPA All Alabama Award 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002

Recipient of the Troy School of Journalism Hallmark Award 2000, 2001, 2003

The Odyssey is published seven times a year. The opinions in the Odyssey are the view expressed by individual staff members. This is not necessarily representative of the opinions of the faculty,

administration, parents, students, or advisor.

The Odyssey welcomes letters to the editor. The letters must be signed and the staff reserves the right to edit the letter before publication for length.

Saint James School n 6010 Vaughn Road n Montgomery, AL 36116 n (334) 277-8033 ext. 116odysseynewspaper@gmail.com

Advice from Cobby Da Fool

I have a whole world of problems. I had been dat-ing this guy for a while, and when we broke up, he changed and went through a personality makeover….he is insane! Now he follows me around school like a stalker and overanalyzes every con-versation I have with people. How do I get this creeper off of my back?Sincerely, AnonymousAnonymous, Let’s not be too full of ourselves. One of your first problems is being selfish. You need to start thinking about others for once in your life. Think about the starving children in Africa. What about them? Anyways, if this per-son really did go through a personality makeover, then I, using my profes-sional knowledge, think he might have a multiple personality disorder which can only be cured with medicine. Sorry! You might need to inform him that he has this disease and needs to get urgent care. Personally, I don’t like be-ing around anyone who has a multiple personality disorder. Also, you need to understand that he obviously has a problem, and you need to be a little more sensitive to him. I have to admit, the following is sort of creepy. Does he have any friends? Try confronting him, but since he has that disorder he might be especially furious with you. I would go to kickboxing classes just for protec-tion matters. With Greatest Sorrow, Cobby da Fool

Bakin’ and Bacon

By Reed O’MaraEditor

Thursday, directly depart-ing from the school, the journalism crew minus

Zoya headed to Noodles Café. It was to be a review focus-ing on Thai food and cupcakes from Gigi’s, but, unfortunately, Noodles Café was closed.

Deciding to take dessert first, we drove to the much-esteemed Gigi’s. Immediately we noticed the very pleasant atmosphere, however, disappointingly, there were only four chairs. I ordered the Lemon Dream Supreme, made from a lemon cake (with a surprise lemon filling) and topped with a tower of lemon icing, decorated with a lemon candy. The thing to note here is when I say a tower of icing, I mean a tower. That cupcake, that 3.25 dollar cupcake, must have weighed three pounds. I dare not think of the calories. So after chopping off two stories of the icing, I began to enjoy the flavors of lemon cake and uber-soft, melt-in-your-mouth icing. Conclusion: the hype was not unfounded, but most definitely exaggerated. Hayley and Caitlin ordered a box of Canadian Bacon, English Toffee, Lemon-ade, and Chocolate Chip. They then shared the Canadian Bacon cupcake. Is that not disturbing? A cupcake topped with Canadian bacon? Apparently I am wrong, as Hayley commented, “It was amazing. It was like breakfast. The cake was like a pancake, and the maple syrup frosting was so good.” Caitlin’s only comment was, “Fiesta in your mouth.”

Allison’s was the Scarlet Red Velvet, which she said was “a

pastry of high-class. One might say it was the First Estate of cupcakes.” Amelia herself had the White Midnight Magic, a cupcake created from chocolate cake, white icing, and chocolate chips. She described it as, “Very good, but I could have done with half the icing. One thing I really like it how everyday there are different cupcakes, so you always know it is fresh.” Mr. Griffin refrained from order-ing a towering $3.25 cupcake and instead ordered a refreshing Coke Zero.

By the time the only thing remaining of the cupcakes was icing, it was only 3:30. Debat-ing whether to wait another hour to go to Noodles Café or not, the crew decided that the new Waffle House should merit some

attention. After a quick stop at the grocery store by Caitlin and Hayley, we made it to Waffle House. Here, there were no seat-ing problems. The bar has six chairs.

After sitting down, everyone made their orders pretty quickly.

I was irritated however, when I asked to order a kid’s grill cheese and hash browns and was refused because I am seventeen. Age discrimination much? Anyway, I would have been fine with this, until I found out that after ordering a chocolate chip waffle instead, there was an adult grill cheese. Could the waitress not have made this suggestion? So all was okay. To complete my dessert-first dinner, I was willing to also have breakfast for dinner.

Until I was told there were no chocolate chips. I changed my order to the adult grill cheese. Delish. Caitlin also ordered a grill cheese, and she said it was delicious.

Mr. Griffin ordered coffee

El CaminoBy Zoya Ahmed

Buisiness Manager

You may have heard of this awesome band before. They are known

as The Black Keys. They have been a band since about 2001, and they started in Akron, Ohio. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. They are a blues-rock band that some might compare to with The White Stripes. The Black Keys are known to make some catchy tunes. They have a unique music style as well. Their guitars are like springs be-cause the music makes you bob your head. Their songs sound like the oldies like for instance, The Beatles. Also, the band has made seven albums so far because people appreciate their fantastic music.

The Black Keys last came out with the album Brothers in 2010, and it was absolutely wonderful. It had the similar

(black, because Sam Spade would) and to-go he ordered a bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich, which he said was greasy. Hayley got the same, however only with egg whites. Hayley said hers was “good, but the bacon was not of the best quality.” It is a given at Waffle House that one is not paying three dollars for quality, but for atmosphere. Nothing beats a blinding sun beating on your back, a juke box with no music, a noisy child, and the sound of sizzling hash browns on the grill.

Amelia ordered herself a patty melt, which rendered no complaints. Allison had cheese hash browns, and after smothering them in ketchup said they were “the champion of all cheesy foods.”

In conclusion, the cup-cakes were good, but their prices and icing got in the

way of superb. The cake beneath all of that is fantastic—if you could reach it. They also definite-ly get points for creativity and for friendly employees—which Waffle House generally lacked, but in its own way, that was good. Most people aren’t look-ing for creativity in their Waffle House trips at 1 a.m. The entire experience together earns three stars. Perhaps the Gigi’s Cupcake and Waffle House experience can become the new first-date thing.

oldies sound to it like most of their albums before, and the ma-jority of the songs were amazing. The upbeat “Tighten Up” and the smooth sounding “The Only One” were wonderful tracks that people are still in love with.

But recently, The Black Keys released another album referred to by the name of El Camino (their seventh album), which in Spanish, literally means “the way.” It does not sound nearly as wonderful as Brothers. It still has that same Black Keys sound to it, but it just is not as catchy and fun. There are only a few songs on the album that stand out a bit more than the others. By far, “Lonely Boy” is the best track on the whole CD because it has the older Black Keys sound, but “Dead and Gone,” “Hell of a Season,” and the cheerful “Gold on the Ceiling” are great listens as well. But don’t get me wrong, you should still try the album out. The album still has a few excellent-sounding songs.

Photo by Amelia Hanan.

Photo by Amelia Hanan.

Out of

Photo by Hayley White.

The Odyssey February 6, 2012 5Senior Spotlight

Wrestling

What weight class are you in?195How long have you been wrestling?6 yearsWhat is a typical practice like?It’s strenuousWhat are your goals for the rest of the season?Keeping my 1-0 recordWhat is your favorite part of being a senior?Graduating in May

What weight class are you in?128How long have you been wrestling?5 yearsWhat is a typical practice like?Rather strenuousWhat are your goals for the rest of the season?To win the rest of my matches and win stateWhat is your favorite part of being a senior?Graduating in May

What weight class are you in?147How long have you been wrestling?6 yearsWhat is a typical practice like?Good. We work hard.What are your goals for the rest of the season?To winWhat is your favorite part of being a senior?Working hard

Alex PattieCal Cherry Brett Murray

The wrestling team raises the bar. Photo by Hayley White.

6 The Odyssey February 6, 2012

Zoya Ahmed: Count the ContradictionsBy Allison Rutherford

Opinions Editor

The name’s Ahmed. Zoya Ahmed. No one is really sure who she is because

she is constantly contradicting herself. As a two-year member of the journalism staff, I thought it would be a simple task to uncover just exactly who this girl is. However, underneath her innocent glasses and leggings with socks lies a much deeper person. She has become much more interesting since the last “Meet the Writers” article.

First off, she does not even have a legitimate birthday, un-less you consider February 29th being a real day. Every since she was a young child, Zoya has had an intense fear of large dogs. According to her, a toy poodle is the largest of all dogs, and it is also her favorite animal. Zoya also loves cars, even though she won’t be eligible to get her license when she turns 16. Poor Zoya is also deadly afraid of cars.

Zoya absolutely adores badminton because it amazes her. She says it is so unique and enjoyable, which is why it’s her favorite sport. Her favorite sport is soccer. She used to play as the goalie on a team, but she quit since she doesn’t like soccer that much. Her favorite words are contradiction and soccer. She tries her best to embody her fa-vorite word, contradiction. Well, not really.

The Ahmed household has a strict sleeping schedule--lights out by nine. However, Zoya usu-ally stays up an extra hour read-ing her favorite series, Nancy Drew. Zoya has three favorite series: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars. She claims the Star Trek is such a wan-nabe Star Wars, although Star Trek apparently debuted before Star Wars. Zoya, get your facts straight.

Zoya’s favorite number is

se7en because she claims it’s very “inspirational.” Se7en is a direct metaphor to the “Se7en Wonders of the World.” Zoya is the number four wonder of the world. Her favorite food is sushi because it’s nice. Zoya’s theory is that “the world is like a sushi platter--it’s filled with all sorts of sushi, but it all comes together in one package.” Zoya is the number four wonder of the sushi platter.

Zoya has a best friend, Anna, who is in the ninth grade. They have known each other since birth, and over the years, they have developed a very close re-lationship through their musical obsession over the guitar and the triangle. When asked to describe Zoya in three words, Anna de-scribed her as stubborn, intelli-gent, and contradictory. She also mentioned that she can be quite the nuisance. Zoya is a target for criticism not only from Anna, but apparently from fellow journal-ism staff member Reed O’Mara. Although Zoya claims her proud-est day was when she met Reed the first time, Reed constantly mocks her for her poor fashion choice--leggings with socks. However, the two have bonded over their passion for James Bond and Daniel Craig.

If Zoya could become an exchange student and go to any other country, she would, without a doubt, pick England. London to be specific. She loves the Beatles, who are all pretty British-like. She tries to pull off a British accent sometimes, but fails miserably every time. She visited London for the sixth time last year, and she says it was a life-changing experience. In fif-teen years, Zoya wants to move to England and become a neu-rologist. She is oddly fascinated by how the brain works and how dreams work. In six years, Zoya imagines herself graduating Co-lumbia University and moving to Hawaii for medical school. She loves Jack Johnson, coconuts, and pineapples--all associated with Hawaii.

Zoya’s school schedule goes as such--Biology, Latin and Spanish, Geometry, English, Lunch, Art, History, and Journal-ism. A commonly overlooked fact about Zoya is that she is fluent in Spanish and takes Span-ish 4 during the same period she takes Latin 1. Her dream is to move to a Mexican desert after she retires her job in London. Her favorite vegetable is the cactus.

Zoya in her natural habitat. Photo by Allison Rutherford.

Meet the New Faces on Campus

Ashley Ahn9th Grade

Where are you from?Korea and Canada.What do you think of Saint James so far?It is a good school.How is this different from your old school?Block schedule.What are your hobbies?Art.If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?A bird, so I could fly.

David Ye9th Grade

Where are you from?Cheonan, Korea.What do you think of Saint James so far?Great.How is this different from your old school?It is more free. I like the people here.What are your hobbies?Piano.If you could be any animal, what would ou be and why?A dog--because it’s normal.

Hyun Jung11th Grade

Where are you from?Seoul, Korea.What do you think of Saint James so far?Nice.How is this different from your old school?Here--lots of homework and shorter time. What are your hobbies?Piano.If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?Fish so I could travel any-where.

Regan Riddle10th Grade

Where are you from?Memphis, TN.What do you think of Saint James so far?Great.How is this different from your old school?People are nicer.What are your hobbies?Basketball and volleyball.If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?A sugarglider, because they fly.

The Odyssey February 6, 2012 7

New Years Resoultions

Faris Haque5th Grade

Wonil Chung7th Grade

Mrs. ShoultsTeacher

I want to improve in tennis.

I want to be more adorable (if possible).

I want to sew and com-plete a wear-able dress.

Carolyn Byrd10th Grade

I want to eat less sweets and to make all A’s.

Day in the life of...Señora Fox

Señora Fox is the Spanish and French teacher for both the

elementary and middle school here at Saint James. She was born in Lima, Peru and learned Spanish as her primary language. At a young age, she was sent to a British School and was able to learn English at a young age as well. After com-pleting high school at six-teen, she returned to Peru and entered college. She graduated with a degree in business and adminis-trative psychology. Fresh

from college, Señora Fox became the head of human resources and logistics for a Peruvian company at age twenty. After spending time in the business, she decided she was more of a people’s person and returned to college to get her teaching degree. Over these years, Señora Fox started to learn more languages, including Italian, French, and Por-tuguese. She then started teaching English at schools in Peru, but then she moved to Alabama. While at a local book store, a school official offered her a job to teach Spanish at Saint James. It took her awhile to

adjust to the new pro-gram, and she worked until seven at night to prepare her classes. Af-ter getting her program adjusted, Señora Fox has now added French to her students’ cur-riculum. For the third graders, they will learn a basic form of French during the third quar-ter, including colors, numbers, and more. The fifth graders will review their knowledge during the first quar-ter, and add on to their learning more numbers

6:00~ She wakes up and eats a hearty break-fast. 7:15~ She leaves her house to go to school. She lives 45 minutes away, so she arrives around 8.8:00-8:20~ She pre-pares for her long day.

8:20-10:00~ Her schedule varies from day to day since not all the classes last equal times. She will either be teaching kinder-garten, first, or second grade. Although they are young, she says they are good learners.

10:20-11:09~ She teaches Spanish III, or the eighth-graders. She says they are a ram-bunctious group, but a joy to teach.11:09-11:34~ Lunch time. However, Señora Fox usually has little time for lunch, so she usually eats a simple meal, such as a sand-wich or soup.

11:39-12:26~ She teaches the sixth grad-ers, or Spanish I dur-ing this time. Sixth graders are one of her favorite classes to teach.12:31- 1:18~ Still in the middle school, she teaches Spanish II with the seventh grad-ers. After the class is over, she has to rush to make her next class in the elementary school.1:30-2:00~ After rush-ing out of the middle school, Señora Fox goes to teach either the third or fourth graders. 2:05-2:35~ Her school day comes to a close as she finishes up teaching either the fourth or fifth graders.2:35-4:30~ Sometimes she leaves earlier or later, but usually Se-ñora Fox stays awhile after school to prepare for the next day’s les-son. She also has tu-toring during this time for all students.

and useful phrases. Out of the middle school, only the eighth graders learn French. Since middle-schoolers rotate their exploratory schedule every nine weeks, four weeks will be dedi-cated to French and the remaining five to Spanish. They will basically review all they have learned in the third and fifth grades. She wanted to add French to her students’ curriculum so they could have a first taste of French to see if they would want to take it as a full class in high school. Señora Fox has a varying schedule; however, it nor-mally goes as such:

Photo courtesy of Mrs. Fox.

By Allison RutherfordOpinions Editor

8 Photo Gallery February 6, 2012 The Odyssey

Advice for the New Year from the Staff1. STOP TURNING THE LOCKER BAY LIGHTS OFF. (You are not funny.)

2. The locker bay is an area shared by everyone. Respect others and stop having pow-wows in front of their lockers. Or doors. Doors are meant to be walked through.

3. GUM GOES IN THE TRASHCAN. Not in the fol-lowing places: the lockers, the Quad, the PAB, under the desk.4. Read the book (not Sparknotes).

5. In case you didn’t realize, there is a line to get your lunch.

6. When in doubt on a test, try answering “Jesus.”

7. Don’t ask, “Is this going to be on the test?” Just don’t.

8. Whatever you do, do NOT run across the Quad.

The journey of a beard

9. Don’t embarrass yourself with a random outburst at lunch.

10. When you drop something in the hallway, pick it up. Don’t gaze around looking for some-one to help you.

11. Stay on the right side of the hallway.

12. Stay out of senior parking.