issue 6 master layout · 2016. 3. 14. · the starmites. from there the play unravels into, for...

WTHS The Patriot Page

Scott Grandrino ‘05

The 2005 Girl’s Lacrosse teamwon their f irst ever OlympicConference title in the team’s elevenyear history.

“I’m very excited,” exclaimedCoach Sandy Stockl, “the girlsworked very hard all season long.They deserve this.”

As of May 24, the girl’s had a15-2 record, ranked fourth in theCourier Post.

In the beginning of the season,the team had high expectations offinishing with a good record, butknew that winning the conferencewould be tough.

Assistant Coach StaceyMoscufo drew attention toimproving the overall program. Shewanted to “focus on improvement”so that the team could “competecompetitively all season long.”

“I thought our chances weregood, but we would have to play wellbecause we are in such a toughconference,” explained Stockl.“Winning the conference was

The PatriotIssue #6 May 2005

Inside...

Girls lacrosse ready for victory

something we didn’t expect, but wealways knew it was a possibility.”

There were many girls whocontributed to the success of thisseason. Captains Kelly Angstadt ’05,Megan Hall ’05, and Mandy Salvesti’05 showed important leadershipskills that not only helped the team,

Minutemaids win first Olympic Conference

but they were also great role modelsfor their younger teammates.

The Captains, along withLydsey Reeve ‘05 and Kelly Vaden‘05, have been waiting four longyears for this conference title. Theyare pleased that their names will godown in the history book for the

Features p. 5

Mike Jones accepts Patriot top job

Entertainment p. 15

Sports p. 20

Michelle DeVuono ‘05Darby DeCicco ‘05

When the class of 2005 graduatesthis June, The Patriot will have to gothrough a couple of changes. Currenteditor-in-chief Mallory Heimlich isleaving a big space to fill and in thefall of 2006, The Patriot staff will beginworking with their new chief editor,current junior and op-ed editor MikeJones.

“One day Mr. Jim Evangelisti[the newspaper ’s advisor and theschool’s journalism teacher] came tome and told me I was the new chiefeditor,” explained Jones.

“Mike is the obvious choice,”says Evangelisti of why he choseJones. “He really proved hisdedication to The Patriot this year bymeeting deadlines and logging a lot oflong days working on layout.”

If you are not completely surewho Jones is, he is the columnist whowrites Keepin’ up with Jonesy, whichcovers such diverse topics as secretambitions to be British and of coursemilk in a bag.

“I blew itcompletely out ofproportion, and it waskinda funny,” Jones saysof the milk in a bag storythat kicked off hisKeepin’ up with Jonesycolumn.

He kept his sense ofhumor going and it wassoon apparent that thatnext year’s staffmembers would need agood sense of humor tokeep up with this Jones.

Some of Jones’goals for next year’spaper are to get an issueout at least once a monthin an effort to increase the paper’sreadership.

Jones is very excited about hisimportant role with The Patriot andis thankful for the great staff he willhave in September. Joining Jonesnext year on the staff are MarkNatale ‘06, Rob Czyzewicz ‘06, andCheryl Supernavage ‘06.

“Jonesy is a nut. I know that

our paper will be entertaining withhim in charge,” said Natale. “He isserious about the paper and he willget it out on time.”

“I’m sure he’ll do a good job,”says current entertainment editorJamie Valentine ’05. “The paperwill be really different next year, butit will probably be a lot of fun toread.”

Girl’s Lacrosse first conference title.Stockl and Moscufo believe that

the girls can win another conferencetitle next year.

They are especially confidentin their youth. The majority of thestarting lineup is made up of juniors.

Some of the youth that showsoutstanding skills are Ally Kenney‘06, Katie Lawson ‘06, Alex McBride‘06, and Brooke Foussadier ‘07.

Moscufo said that McBride andFoussadier are two “strong players”that “work hard” during games andpractices.

By finishing with a superbrecord, the team is ranked high inthe State Tournament. They areseeded fourth in the South A bracket.

“If we hold true to our seed, weshould compete very well ,” saidStockl.

The girl’s State Tournamentjourney starts on Wednesday May25 against f if teenth seeded WallTownship.

Joe Comerford ‘06/The PatriotTownship girls play their way to victory.

Mike Jones ponders his first moves aseditor.

Darby DeCicco ‘05/The Patriot

1

Commentary p. 11

Comics p. 14


Tiffany Narducci ‘05

On May 5th 2005, Mrs.Silverman’s Actors’ Studio and TheatreProduction classes traveled to NewHope, Pennsylvania to the BucksCounty Playhouse for a day longdrama competition.

The classes performed a half-hour segment from Stardust, theirspring show. Township competedagainst schools such as Columbia HighSchool, Solanco High School andNorthampton High School, to name

Jamie Valentine ‘05

There are many opportunitiesfor students at this school to give ofthemselves, but very rarely does adrive take this literally.

On May 13, Interact held theirfirst ever Red Cross Blood Drive.Usually, there is one blood drive ayear, sponsored by ROTC. However,according to Sarah Toomey ‘05, whoran that event, ROTC was frustratedby the disorganization of the RedCross during their blood drive thispast October, as many students whohad signed up to donate were turnedaway.

Interact decided to take overthe responsibilities of the annualblood drive, at the request of ROTCand the Red Cross.

“It’s good for Interact [to runthe drive] because we do this stuff alot ,” says Kristen Scott ‘05, anInteract volunteer at the event, andalso a second-time donor.

Donating blood is a terrifyingidea for many people. The prospectof needles alone is enough to turnmany possible volunteers away.

“I’ve always had trouble with

doctors, so I doubt [giving blood]would work on a voluntary level,”says Bianca Smith ‘05, who echoedthe thoughts of many students whoopted not to donate. If you can getpast the idea of needles, donatingblood is a very rewarding way to giveof yourself.

“I feel all warm and fuzzy. I feelhonored to know I helped people,”says Amanda Powell ‘05

Acting classes compete at Bucks County festival

Student response impressive forfirst Interact blood drive

“Donating blood is reallyimportant because it helps people whoare desperate,” says Megan Fritz ‘06.

These good feelings make a lotof people repeat donators.“A lot of people who signed up hadgiven blood in the last drive,” saysReuben Gutierrez ‘05, Interactpresident. For many people, the bestpart of donating blood is that ,according to the Red Cross, forevery pint of blood you donate, threelives are saved.

Organizing the event was bothchallenging and satisfying, andaccording to many members ofInteract, the satisfying part wins out.

“You get to make it easier forthe people who donate blood,” saysScott.

The blood drive seemed muchmore organized this time around, andmore students got a chance to giveback to the community.

“I think more people got todonate this time because the RedCross sent more people,” says Scott.

If you were too young this timearound, or missed the opportunity,look for the blood drive to comeback. to the high school next year.

Excellence awards were given out,along with Best Actor/ Actress, BestEnsemble, Best Supporting Actor/Actress, and more.

All in all, the day was definitelysomething participants will not wantto forget. The day in itself, onstageor off, is full of new things and people,and is an experience that will lastparticipants a life time- or, at least,until the next year.

a few. In the end, two Townshipstudents, Amanda Powell ‘05 andKelly Karcher ‘06, were awardedActing Excellence awards.

But the whole day was not justa competition. The Playhouse islocated along a strip of shops,restaurants, and a Starbucks. The striphas an abundance of clothing shops,and even a mall. The restaurants arepricy, but the food is worth it, and ifyou don’t have a lot of money tospend, there is a little pizzeria, too.During the lunch and dinner breaks,the participants had some time toshop, eat, and enjoy the beautifulscenery.

After dinner, participants andothers got to view the play going onat the Playhouse at that time. Thisyear the play was Starmites, a sci-fimusical about Eleanor, an earth girlwho doesn’t really fit in. Instead, sheburies her life in her favorite comic,the Starmites. From there the playunravels into, for lack of better terms,an almost-average love story.

When the performance wasover, the long anticipated awardceremony began. Many Acting

Mike Jones ‘06

On April 13th, 2005 studentscrowded into the halls ofWashington Township High Schoolto see red shirts and little red signson mute students. It was the Gayand Straight Alliance’s Day ofSilence, and bold students wore redfirmly, regardless of how unpopularthat particular color might have beenthat day.

“People were tel l ing me i twasn’t right, some even said I wasgoing to hell,” said Stephanie Carr,a member of the Gay and StraightAlliance, as well as a participant inthe Day of Silence.

According to Carr, “Thepurpose of everyone being silent wasto reflect the si lence ofhomosexuals, because they couldn’tcome out.” What no one understoodabout the Day of Silence was whythe students were being silent. Thereason many student chose to besilent was to make everyone thinkabout the voices they were nothearing.

“The message was toleranceand support, as well as an end to thesilence homosexuals have faced foryears,” said Heather Petolicchio,one of the advisors of the Gay andStrait alliance.

The Gay and Straight Allianceis a nation wide club dedicated tosupporting America’s gaycommunity by means of acceptance.Co-advised by Mrs. HeatherPetolicchio and Mr. David Walls, theclub was founded in WashingtonTownship High School as of March2004. The actual club, however, hasexisted for years in other schools ofthe country.

“The Gay and Straight Allianceis where straight people and gaypeople come together to promotetolerance,” said Carr.

The club has 25 activemembers, and the Day of silence had150 students, not counting thosewho chose to support withoutsigning up. Across the country, overfour hundred and fif ty thousandstudents actively participated.

The club meets officially onWednesdays in room I 113, but themeetings tend to be sporadic and canpop up on any given day of the week.

To learn more about the Gayand Straight Alliance, or the Day ofSilence, visit www.DayofSilence.org.To join the club, just contact DavidWalls or Heather Petolicchio.

Seeing redon Day of

Silence

Illustration by Cassy Mathos ‘07

The world’s a stage

Illustration by Cassy Mathos ‘07

2


Tori Gilbert ‘05

When attending a school withover 3,000 students, it can be verydifficult to even recognize all of thestudents you pass on a daily basis, letalone get to know all of them andtheir unique personalities.

However, Township is home toa club that works to introduce all ofthese different students to each other,and to get them to respect and interactwith those they may not run in to ona regular basis.

SURE, or Students United ForRespect and Equality, is a club ofstudents in all grades, organized by Mr.Oberholtzer, that spends its timecoordinating events where students ofall different grades, cultures, andcliques can meet and intermix. SURE’s biggest event of the yearwas held Saturday, May 21st, on theshores of Washington Lake.

The 4th annual May Revel,which is similar to a coffehouse,brought together over 14 bands to

perform from noon to 7 p.m., withacoustic performances in the morningand electric sets in the afternoon.Most of the bands were made up ofWTHS students, and the play list

included Llamas-A-Go-Go, Nascence,Perhaps She’ll Die, and Landslide,among many others. All of thebands are listed on the back of the tee-shirts that were sold at the event.

Jes Johnson ‘05 was the mainorganizer of the May Revel, and sheworked tirelessly with the othermembers of SURE to ensure the eventwas a great success.

Oberholtzer was very excited tosee that all the club members’ hardwork pay off, and was eager to see ifstudents would once again takeadvantage of the opportunity to meetnew people and “witness the greattalent of students they may neverhave seen before.”

Judging by the kids in attendance,his wish for success was fulfilled.

Steve Reilly ‘05 excitedlyproclaimed the event “May Revel-tastic!” and Karen Martin ‘06 saysthat it was a “Great time, and I got tosee a lot of great bands, and hang outwith a lot of cool people.”

As Tim Ponter ‘06 said, “It wasan awesome day. It’s not often thatyou get to attend an all day outsideconcert, and it just makes it coolerthat our friends and peers are the onesperforming.”

Photo courtesy of Mr. OberholtzerS.U.R.E members sold May Revel t-shirts with a peace logo on thefront and a list of performers on the back.

4th Annual May Revel good time for all

Michelle DeVuono ‘05

The class of 2005’s high schoolcareers are about to come to a close,but not before the annualBaccalaureate service, which will takeplace on June 14th at 7:00 p.m. atthe Bunker Hill Presbyterian Church.

“Baccalaureate is a non-denominational worship service opento all students and parents of the seniorclass, whatever their religiousbackground may be,” stated Mr.

Barnshaw, who is one of theBaccalaureate supervisors. Barnshawhas been a part of the Baccalaureateservice for about 10 years, yet theservice goes back years beforeBarnshaw committed to the event.

In the past, there have beenHindus, Catholics, Buddhists, andmore present at the service.

“It’s just a nice way tocommemorate in a spiritual sense, themilestone of graduating high school,”explained Barnshaw. At the service, there will be acandle lighting ceremony which all the

seniors present will take part in, aswell as performances by WTHS’ ownchorus and band ensembles. As usual,members of ROTC will be ushering theevent and each year there is amotivational speaker. This year, thecommittee hopes to be honored by Mrs.Clark, a Spanish teacher here at WTHS,to be the service’s featured speaker.

Many people put a lot of timeand dedication into make this amemorable event: Mrs. Skow, Mr.Bozzuffi, Mrs. Handlon, Mr. Beyer,Mr. VanAntwerp, and Mr. Flemming,our districts Superintendent, all lend ahelping hand. This will be Mr.Flemming’s last Baccalaureate servicesince he is retiring after this schoolyear is through. There is usually a pretty steadycrowd at the event, ranging from 150people to 300 people, as seen in thepast years. It doesn’t seem to increaseor decrease. Barnshaw believes thatit doesn’t matter how many peopleshow up, whether it’s 20 kids or 200.The fact of the matter is that it’s animportant event. If you’re thinkingabout going, you might surpriseyourself.

“If people are wondering if theyshould come, I believe that people willlook back and be glad they went. It’sone of the last times you will be withyour classmates in a formal andthoughtful setting,” expressedBarnshaw.

Seniors unite forBaccalaureate

In accordance with Greger’s“Spoon full of sugar” theory, funevents such as Kite flying, facepainting, and even horse-back ridingare used to teach both children andadults something about theenvironment.

“Mr. Earth Day,” as Greger iscalled, received an annualEnvironmental Award given everyyear by the Washington TownshipEnvironmental Commission (WTEC)this year. Finally retired after twenty-two years of service as the head-coordinator of the Earth Day eventsat the park, Greger is now moving foremployment reasons.

Upon approaching WashingtonLake Park on Earth Day, one is rarelymoved on first impression. However,on closer inspection, it is soondiscovered that Earth Day isimportant not only to ourenvironment, but also to theeducational process of our youth.

Mike Jones ‘06

April 22nd is one of thoseholidays few can ever seem toremember, let alone celebrate.

Earth Day, however, was indeedcelebrated in Washington Townshipthis year at Washington Lake Parkon a slightly belated April 23rd. Despitethe poor weather conditions, itreceived a decent turnout.

“We have about three-fourths ofour usual participants this year,” saidPaul Greger, a local engineer andorganizer of the Earth Day festivitiesheld at Washington Lake Park.

Earth Day began on April 22nd,1970, at a time when America’s wildlifewas suffering dramatically, as a protestto urban expansion.

What started out as a simpleprotest soon became something larger.Earth Day became a celebration, tosay the least, which has lasted morethan 30 years, and its future onlybrightens.

“I have a theory,” said Gregerand proceeded to make reference tothe story of Mary Poppins.

“Remember when the nanny tellsthe children a spoon full of sugar helpsthe medicine go down? Well that’sthe idea of what we try to do, makethis day as fun as possible, but havethe people learn something in themean time.”

Earth Day celebrationteaches, entertains

Interested in becoming amember of ThePatriot staff?

Listen for announce-ments in September.

““It’s just a nice way tocommemorate in a spiritual

sense, the milestone ofgraduating high school,”

- Mr. Robert Barnshaw.

3


Darby DeCicco ’05

After thirteen years teaching atWTHS, beloved teacher Mr. RonGeorge is leaving the WTHS artdepartment and retiring. When askedhow he feels knowing that he won’tbe returning to the high school nextyear, Mr. George has one reply ready.

“Great.”With a house in Ithaca, New

York waiting for him and his wife anda plethora of hobbies, including travel,violin-making, and even genealogicalresearch, George says he has no regretsabout leaving WTHS.

“The students I’ve had have been

Larissa Chopyk ’05, a former studentof George’s.

It’s easy to see why students andfellow faculty members are reluctantto see Mr. George go.

However, with Mrs. Smith totake over his classes and a whole newlife waiting for him, George shows noreluctance at all.

“I gave it everything I had,”George says of his teaching career.“I’m ready for the luxury ofselfishness.”

amount of creative thinking andintelligence.

This creative thinking andintelligence is something Georgebrings to each and every one of hisclasses, and something that hisstudents will sorely miss in the teacherthey refer to as the “Sicilian Samurai,”a nick-name George earned whenscaring away his daughter’s highschool boyfriends.

“Mr. George is an awesome friendand an amazing Sicilian Samurai,” says

just wonderful,” George says, “but I’mlooking forward to being an artistagain.”

An artist, among other things,is what George once was first andforemost. After being riffed from theWillingboro school district in 1978,George tried out several occupationsin the art world, including graphicdesign, photography, screen printing,menu design, and owning a gallery. In1992, however, George decided toreturn to teaching.

“Teaching was the only thing Idid that ever really felt important,”he explains.

But making his return to teachingdid not mean that George hadto leave the art world behind.In fact, he was able to use hisexperiences not only to teachArt 1, Art 2, Drawing andPainting, Sculpture and ArtExpression classes, but toactually create WTHS’Animation 1 and 2 and DigitalImaging and Design classes.

George says, however, thatnot everything aboutteaching art is easy.

“There’s a misconceptionthat art is lacking in academicrigor,” George says,explaining that he strives tomake the impression onpeople that art requires a great

Cheryl Supernavage ’06

After thirty-nine years ofteaching in various school districtsincluding Woodbury, New Jersey,Monticello, New York, Palos Ver DesPeninsula, California, and LowerMerion Township, Pennsylvania,WTHS math teacher Mr. Frank isretiring.

In his years of teaching, Frankhas taught all types of math, fromjunior-high levels to Calculus. Therewas no question in his mind that hewanted to have a career in math. Hewas a math major in college and states,“I learned to love teaching after Istarted it.”

Frank attended a “teacher’sschool,” West Chester University, butdid not always want to be a teacher.He says that his only desire in collegewas just to be there; he had no interestin learning. However, now he says hedoes not regret his decision or oneminute of being a teacher.

“I backed into this job, but it’s agreat job. I highly recommend it toanybody; it’s never boring.”

As a teacher, one of his goals was tocorrect the ways of teaching. Frankwanted to make his classroom a reallearning place.

“I find the teaching set-up iswrong, but I did the best I could tomake my class the way I think itshould be.”The one thing he hopes he passedonto his students is not related to hissubject of choice; it is simply a loveof learning. Frank feels he is here tobe a teacher, support his students, andmake them do their work; he is nothere to be their friend. However, afterretiring, Frank feels he will miss all ofhis students, as well as all the otheradults in the school, most.

“The biggest and hardest changewill be not seeing a lot of peopleeveryday but only seeing my wife.Everyone here is interesting, and Iwill miss the people contact most aftermy retirement. I am worried aboutnot being involved in the world.”Even though he is retiring, Frank sayshe still feels passionate about teaching.

“Everyday something newhappens; it is what’s so neat aboutthis job.”

Frank has mixed feelings aboutleaving, and now he is trying to savorevery minute before leaving with hiswife for the Pocono’s.

“I love what I am doing. Idepended on this job to keep me aliveand stimulated.”

He feels this is a good time toretire because he is still healthy andthereare so many things he wants to do.

“I want to visit all the nationalparks in the United States, but not onlydrive through them, I want to spend aweek there and extensively see them.I also want to do a lot of physicalactivities, like hiking and climbing allsummits.”

The one thing Frank wants totell all the students in WashingtonTownship before he leaves is to neverlet anyone stop them from achievingtheir goals.“Perseverance is what counts in life.Hang in there long enough and youwill get the job done. Never quit.”Even though Frank is retiring, he hasso much left to do in his life.“You can’t wear me down,” he says.

Township bids farewell to retiring teachersSicilian Samurai retires from digital dojo

Math teacher leaves legacy of learning

Mr. Edward Frank says thehardest thing about leavingWTHS will be saying goodbyeto the people here.

Mr. George in a caricature by Mike Murro, WTHS Class of 2000.

Scott Grandrino/The Patriot

Courtney Gardner ‘05 receivesinstruction from the real Mr. George.

Ashley Horan ‘05/The Patriot

4


Justine Jacobs ‘06

This June, Ms. Norma Meyer willfinally have the opportunity to fulfilla dream she’s had since she beganteaching in Washington Townshipwhen current members and alumni ofthe high school orchestra embark ona tour of Europe.

The eleven day tour, headed by acompany called American MusicAbroad (AMA), will feature stops inItaly, Switzerland, and France.Students will play a series of concertsas well as having the opportunity togo sight-seeing.

“Italy is just such a major centerfor artistic things, and I thought itwould be a fabulous place to go andhave young people have the experienceof seeing,” Meyer says. “Just to be inthat place and seeing the art and seeingthe buildings and having the feel for

the culture, I thought would be verybeneficial.”

Meyer, who has been teaching inthe district since 1985, selected a seriesof classical American pieces and showtunes, as well as two originals, for thetrip orchestra to prepare.

“The people in Europe don’t goto our concerts to hear us playBeethoven. They hear plenty ofBeethoven. They don’t need us to playBeethoven for them. They come toour concerts to hear us play Americanmusic,” she explained. “I thought thatwith this group of kids, they’re soenthusiastic… that we’d do really wellplaying American music.”

With her extensive musical andteaching experience, Meyer is just theperson to be heading a trip of thisnature. She began teaching lessons atthe age of thirteen, then began teachingin schools at twenty-one.

“I consider myself very lucky,because I get to teach music andmusic is what I like to do…We get tomake great music, and I get to do itwith great people.”

Meyer, a skilled pianist, alsoknows a great deal about performing.She received both her Bachelor’s andMaster’s degrees in musicalperformance.

As a member of the group Piano4, which features four pianists playingtogether on four different pianos,Meyer knows the devotion necessaryto prepare for a tour. Piano 4rehearses once or twice every weekfor four to five hours at a time. Theyalso tour regularly. During theirbusiest year, the group played twentyconcerts.

Meyer also has past experiencewith American Music Abroad. Sixyears ago, Meyer went on an AMA

Meyer brings passion for music to class

Members of WTHS orchestra to play Europe

trip to Europe, and she enjoyed thetour so much she immediately thoughtof them for the trip she wished toplan.

“I saw how wonderfully they rantheir tours, and I thought, ‘Ah-hah!That’s what I want to do. I want totake my kids and have them have thisincredible experience.’”

From there the pieces simply fellinto place. Although AMA usuallyselects the students for their trips frommany different schools, the companyhad enough faith in the WashingtonTownship music department to deemMeyer’s idea a good one.

“All the stars were aligned,” shesays with a smile.

According to Meyer, there areonly two types of music: “good andbad.” It’s clear from the enthusiasmof this conductor that the triporchestra will be making plenty ofgood music this summer.

FeaturesTori Gilbert ‘06

For many students, the dream ofa summer vacation to Europe is justthat- a dream. However, for membersof WTHS’s school orchestra, thisdream will become a brilliant realitythis summer.

For years, Mrs. Meyer, thedirector of the school orchestra, hasfantasized about touring Europe witha student orchestra, and her fantasywas realized last fall when AmericaMusic Abroad contacted her and agreedto sponsor the trip. The Europe TripOrchestra was soon formed, and itconsists of about 32 WTHS students,who will play instruments includingbass, violin, viola, cello, and piano.

Additionally, three alumni chaperoneswill travel and play with the Orchestra,Ms. Toni Bennechi, the CRMSOrchestra Director, will providepercussion accompianant, and the AMAhas even allowed for relatives andfriends of Orchestra members to tagalong. The entourage will consist ofabout 30 people, includinggrandparents, parents, siblings, andfriends.

Preparation for this endeavorbegan early last year, when Mrs. Meyerthrilled students by announcing thatthey would have the opportunity toparticipate in a grand tour of Europe.

Weekly rehearsals began at thebeginning of this school year, and theOrchestra has since been working onpieces such as “The Red Pony” byCopeland, America’s NationalAnthem, “Con Te Partiro” an Italiantheme song, and several medleys fromAmerican movies, including thetheme from “Psycho” and a medleyfrom “A West Side Story.” The musicchoices have followed a theme ofdisplaying American styles of musicin the hope that the WTHS Orchestrawill illustrate to Europeans thatAmericans have developed their ownstyles and art forms.

Preparation for the trip willcontinue at the conclusion of theschool year, when the Orchestra willbegin four days of intense rehearsals:they will have to arrive at school bynine AM., and will not conclude

rehearsals until noon. Their hardwork during the first real week ofsummer will not be in vain, however,because the payoff will be immense.

The Orchestra will depart forGeneva, Switzerland on the 24th ofJune from The JFK Airport inNewark, after performing a farewellconcert on the night of the 23rd. After their arrival on the 25th, theywill travel to several towns in Italy,including Torino, Tuscany,Florence and Venice. After playingin Italy and sightseeing at such placesas the Leaning Tower of Pisa and theMedici Palace, the Orchestra willmove on to other Europeanlocations, like Strasbourg, Lucern,Angleburg, and Zurich, where they

will continue to perform and take inthe sights.

Overall, the Orchestra will spendthirteen days and play four concertsin Europe, not only gaining experienceas musicians but immersingthemselves in the European culture.

All members of the Orchestra arethoroughly excited and anxious forthe trip. It is a unique opportunity totravel to Europe, and to perform forpeople of a completely differentnationality. As Jerry Cedrone, asophomore who is the official EuropeTrip Co-Manager, put it, “It will begreat trip- the combination of thesightseeing, travel, performing, andfriendships will make it an awesomeexperience.”

Jamie Recchino ’05/The PatriotOrchestra members spend longhours practicing.

Members of the WTHS Orchestra will travel and play in Europethis summer.

Jamie Recchino ’05/The Patriot

5


Valerie Smaldone ‘05

WTHS senior Stephanie Staskinleft Philadelphia $1500 richer on April2, 2005. She took second place inthe cooking competition at TheRestaurant School at Walnut HillCollege.

The competition was open tohigh school juniors and seniors, andstudents went to compete fromvarious locations across the east coast.The two categories of thecompetition were chicken andchocolate, and only one candidatefrom each high school could compete.

“I wanted to compete in chickenbut I was too busy with school so I hadto do the chocolate,” Staskin said.

Staskin’s preparation processbegan with the invention of a uniquerecipe. She decided on a chocolatetruffle cake. The cake had to be madeat the competition in a ninety minutespan of time. If the recipe was verydetailed, the base of the cake couldhave been made at home, and thenthe rest at the competition.

Claiming to always be her toughestcritic, she did not have her hopes up.“I’m never happy with anything I do,so I didn’t think I’d win,” she said.

Staskin began cooking by herselfwhen she was around twelve years old.Her mom would call her from work,give her instructions, and she wouldhave dinner almost finished when hermom arrived home. She still findsherself baking at the most randomtimes.

“Last year I used to make cakeand cookies for my friends everyThursday. I’d get up early and bakebut then my schedule became hectic.I still bake about once a week though.”

The $1500 scholarship Staskinwon will help pay for her education atAtlantic Cape Community Collegewhere she will start in the fall as aculinary arts major. She then plans tofurther her education at DrexelUniversity and become a culinary chefspecializing in nutrition.

“I want people to eat exquisitelybut still be healthy.”

“Cooking for competitions givesme an adrenaline rush because I knowthat I only have so much time to finishand I have to have everything perfect.To me it’s like running a race,” Staskinsaid.

Staskin was watched closely bysix judges, mostly chefs from eliterestaurants. She was critiqued in herkitchen skills as well as the taste andpresentation of her cake. She wassurprised to win second place out ofthe 22 students that competed.

Jamie Recchino ‘05

For years, carshave been appreci-ated by many. Forsome, cars are morethan a modern dayconvenience. Mr.James McCully hasbeen racing dragstersfor the past 43years. He’s evenbuilt about twenty-five of his own.

McCully grewup around cars. Hisuncle was a me-chanic, and McCullydrove around theshop. When he real-ized that the cost ofdragsters was high,he began to build his own. Everythree years, the cars are inspectedby the SFI for safety regulations.

“The raw cage has to be a cer-tain size, so that if they [the driv-ers] hit anything, they don’t smacktheir face,” says McCully.

If a dragster and engine aren’tbuilt correctly, they won’t meet theSFI’s standards and the driver has ahigher risk of injury. Each car takesabout five to six months to build.They can run up to 325 mph in about

twenty-four seconds.McCully has been racing at Atco

Raceway with a group of five people.Included in this group is McCully’sson. Atco is open to the public, andanyone can watch or race.

“The people down there knowwhat they are doing,” says McCully.Twice a year, his group travels tothe Nationals.

McCully is also a firm believerin racing as safely as possible. EachMay for the past nine years, he’s

McCully promotes driving safety

Staskin’s truffle takes second among desserts

Jacquie Rue’06

Kyle Earling ‘06 placed secondat The Culinary Competition andwon a f if teen hundred dollarscholarship to The RestaurantSchool. Earling takes the CulinaryArts course offered here at WTHS.His teacher Mrs. Kelley was the onewho told him of this competition.

The competition was held atThe Restaurant School inPhiladelphia. Earling had an hourand a half to make three dishes ofBallotine de Poulet Grandmere.

“It is made of chicken that isboneless, stuffed with bread, carrots,celery, and shallots that have beencooked until tender in butter, thenthe chicken is stuffed, tied so thatnone of the stuffing falls out, last itis cooked and served” Earling stated.

“While I was preparing thedish, the only thing I could think ofwas ‘Am I going to be finished inenough time?’ [When one of thejudges questioned if I would be ableto complete the dish,] I said that Iwould, and then another judge toldme I was brave for choosing a hardrecipe. As time was running out, Ikept my cool and got it done.” saidEarling.

The dish he selected was acomplete meal. The chicken was theprotein, the stuffing was the starchand the carrots, celery, and shallotswere the vegetables.

Earling began cooking abouttwo years ago. Now he has decidedthat he wants to pursue cooking as acareer. He is planning to at tendAtlantic Cape Community Collegeand then The Restaurant School.However, since the competition hehas not been contacted by either ofthese schools.

“After college my sister and Iwant to open our own restaurant,she is in college for culinary arts,”he stated.

His sister, Ashley, was his maininspiration and the one to help himwith all the preparation and mindset of the competition.

Earling said “I enjoy cookingwhen I have spare time, because Iam a junior chef at Valley BrookeCountry Club.”

This should give him a lot ofpractice for his future career in thefood industry.

Chicken entreeearns Earlingsecond place

Staskin’s winningChocolateTruffle Cake

Student chefs serve up hits with judges

been speaking to classes in schoolabout the dangers of racing on thestreets. McCully brings about 7 or 8cars to each school he speaks at,and each class gets involved. Artclasses draw the cars, and some sci-ence classes learn about streamlin-ing.

He says, “If you’re going torace, race where it’s safe. You’regoing to have fire equipment. If yourace on the streets, you can lose yourlicense or your friends.”

Jamie Recchino ‘05/The Patriot

Mr. James McCully (left), will be retiring from his job at WTHS this year. Heplans to continue to tour local high schools educating students on the dangersof street racing.

6



Leigh Meinhart is many things:a daughter, a sister, a student, butabove all else, she is an artist. TheWashington Township High Schooljunior is currently enrolled in Art Three,plans to attend a college geared towardsthe arts, and has been passionate aboutart since the age of six.

“I remember the first day ofschool. We were given a mirror, andwe had to look at our faces and describethem. One of the questions was ‘Whatis your eye color?’ and you had todraw your eye. Well I, for some oddreason, obsessed over the one eye,coloring in the values and each eyelash with the lines going into the pupil.Everyone made fun of me, but my artteacher in school told me I had talent.That made me want to learn moreabout art.”

Since then, Meinhart as takenmany art classes, both in and outsideof school. After her initial interest inart was sparked, she attended GeorgeKieser’s Art School for three years.However, she stopped, longing toexplore other aspects of life.

“I wanted to try new things: iceskating, basketball, piano, drums,”Meinhart says. “But I always foundmyself falling back onto art.”

She dove back into art with fullforce, taking classes in figure drawing,graphic design, print making, Japanesepaper development, animation, andpainting all outside of school duringher freshman, sophomore, and junioryears.

“I always aim to be the best, theone who stands out the most. So Ipushed myself, working sometimestwenty-four hours straight just so Icould build my ability.”

The hard work has certainly paidoff for Meinhart, whose art wasfeatured in the Core Showcase for themonth of January. She is also amember of the National Art HonorsSociety at WTHS.

Back in 2004, Meinhart enteredfive of her works in a New York Cityart contest. By late March or earlyApril, she should know where sheplaced in the competition. The winnerreceives a cash prize, but Meinhartsays she would be happy with any formof recognition.

From all of her experience,Meinhart has gained a thoroughunderstanding of art that most peoplecould never hope to match. She likesto mix mediums, experimenting with

the different effect each produces.Her favorite, however, is coloringpencils, a convenient tool fordrawings.

“I have my own technique fordrawing,” she says. “For example,whenever I draw reflections on anykind of metallic surface or glass, Ithink of flowing water. It’sunpredictable. It’s loose and it’s neverwrong.”

Meinhart’s passion for her artwill come in very handy as she enterscollege. The Art Institute ofPhiladelphia and the MarylandInstitute College of Art are among herchoices. Meinhart’s possible majorsinclude drawing and painting andillustration and character design. Sheplans on attending pre-college classesin illustration and character design atthe Art Institute of Philadelphia thissummer to “see how I like it.”

Success as an artist, Meinhartbelieves, comes from training, naturalpassion, and a lot of patience. It wouldseem that she possesses all of thesetraits, simply by the devotion she hasto her work. Only time will tell if herformula for success is effective.

Possibly the most difficult thingto grasp about going away to schoolnext fall, more difficult than the factthat my roommate might be obnoxiousor that I’m going to have to start buyingmy own groceries, is the fact that I’mleaving everything behind.

For the first time in my life, Iwon’t be returning to a WashingtonTownship school, I won’t be sleepingin my own familiar bed, and I won’tbe surrounded by friends and family.For the first time in my life I’m goingto be out there on my own.

Somehow, suddenly, when Iwasn’t looking, I became a grown-up.

This is exhilarating and terrifyingand sad.

I have to admit that since I’vebeen old enough to comprehend thephrases “study abroad” and “master’sdegree” I’ve been waiting for the daywhen I could get out of this town andgo away to college. The fact is that,although Washington Township hasalways been very good to me, I’vealways known that there are biggerand better things out there, and that Icouldn’t wait to see them all.

I guess it just never occurred tome that leaving means leaving things,and people, behind.

High school, I have realized nowthat I’m finally graduating, really isan experience unlike any other.

Summers down the shore with

your best friends, first dates with cuteboys, midnight coffee at the diner.Sure, these things might all happenagain, but they’ll never happen theway they did in high school, with theinnocence and enthusiasm anduncertainty of youth. High school,in the end, is more than just a place tolearn algebra and Shakespeare. Highschool is a way of life, and one thatends more quickly than any highschool student can imagine.

This ending is the one thing thatI just can’t seem to comprehend.

The idea that I don’t haveanother year, and another, and anotherto spend hanging out with my friendsand getting ready for the rest of mylife is almost impossible to understand.The idea that these days are notinfinite, that my high school careerreally will end, never seems to haveoccurred to me until now.

But now, of course, is the timewhen I have to start understanding thatit really is true. Now is the time when Ihave to stop getting ready for the restof my life, and start actually living it.

This is exhilarating and terrifyingand true, and even armed with all theknowledge I’ve gained in high school,both in and out of the classroom, Ihave no idea how my future’s goingto go.

Scared as I am, however, I mustconfess that I can’t wait to find out.

The art of dedication

Confessions... by Darby DeCicco ’05

...of a grown-up

Justine Jacobs ‘06/The Patriot

WTHS junior Leigh Meinhartaspires to attend an art schoolin the future.

illustration by Cassy Matos ‘07

7


Finding the proper balance to excelReuben Gutierrez ‘05

In addition to being brightstudents and having an excellentacademic record, the most studiousstudent is involved with other thingsbesides school and also finds differentways to handle stress. After the voteswere submitted, the majority of thesenior class had elected Dan Martelliand Meghan Mucciarelli as the topseniors to have these qualities.

People usually do not have anatural inclination to study. Theyneed motivation and reason to do well.For Martelli, school has always beenof importance. From the start, hisparents had told him school was

important and Martelli seemed tohave felt the same way. In additionto the importance of school, Martelli’smain motivation is to perform to thebest of his ability:

“As long as I try my best, that’sreally all I can ask of myself.”

For Mucciarelli, school hadstarted to become serious once the A-B letter grading system started. ThoseE’s for “excellent” and VG’s for “very

good” were replaced with A’s and B’s,causing Mucciarelli to understandgrades were now serious business.

Grades are only one factor, forMucciarelli also looks up to hermother for inspiration to do well inschool because her mother is“everything [she’d] want to be when[she] grow[s] up.”

Good grades don’t just magicallyhappen. One has to work hard toattain them. Like most students,Martelli and Mucciarelli have foundtimes when the work was just too muchand stress had dominated.

Mucciarelli stated sarcastically,“At least one day a week I havesomeone telling me to calm down andtake a Prozac.”

loaded into large containers, and withthe use of man-power, were carried tothe checkout lane to fill the cups.Others loaded the coolers with ice andfilled them with bottled water, movingthem in front of the refrigerators.

After all the drinks were finished,preparing the hotdogs was the nextstep. First the hotdogs were unpackedand put into trays to be cooked. Whilecooking, buns were opened and laidout on other trays waiting to bestuffed. After the first hotdogs wereready to be put into buns, the job wenton until the conclusion of the festival.The kitchen workers’ gloved handswere burned with the heat of thehotdogs while the assembly line ofopening and stuffing went on.

The chips and pretzels were putinto baskets right before 11 o’clock.The final steps before lunchtime werebeing completed and it was about timefor all the hard work to pay off.

Before long the first group camein for lunch and seeing the smilingfaces was payment enough for “slavingin the kitchen.”

Cheryl Supernavage ’06

Hotdogs cooking, lemonademixing, roll stuffing, and pretzel andchip bags opening all went on in thekitchen during Festival of Friends.While others worried about findingtheir buddy and which event to go tofirst, the kitchen workers stressedabout finishing lunches and havingenough food for everyone.

To make the earliest lunch shiftat 11 o’clock, the first thing thekitchen workers did was clean off theserving areas and set up the table forutensil and napkin pick-up as well ascondiment adding. Then the problemof no straws arose. Some workers weresent to the upstairs storage room tosearch through Interact’s supplies forstraws. Luckily, just enough werefound.

The next tasks that the workerswere to do was set up the desserts andget out the drinks. The desserts wereset up along the checkout lane, anadequate amount for one per person.The drinks were made in the back,

of choirs. At WTHS, she is a part ofthe Women’s Chorus, Concert Choir,and Chamber Choir. She is a proudmember of the Agnus Dei Chorale, ayouth choir at the Queen of PeaceCatholic church in Pitman, and hasalso recently performed with fellowNHS members at the NHS InductionCeremony.

Mucciarelli also lent herdramatic skills (and hours of afterschool time) as one of the seniordirectors for the WTHS SeniorDirected Cabaret. In the midst of allthe singing, directing, and studying,Mucciarelli tries to set aside time forone hour of uninterrupted televisionviewing to keep from going absolutelybonkers.

Overall, the “most studious”seniors of WTHS are well-rounded,hard working, exceptional teenagerswho realize the importance of theiracademic career, but also theimportance of relaxing and focusingon other things.

Both have the same advice topotential candidates to be “MostStudious”: work hard and do your bestto complete everything you have toget completed.

Mucciarelli also offers one lastbit of wisdom: “Take it easy senioryear because it’s your last year andyou shouldn’t ruin it with too muchschoolwork.”

To keep from completely goingnuts, both students take part in non-academic activities.

Martelli is involved with theInteract Club, National Honor Society,Business Education Honor Society, andYouth and Government, though he hasfound his true passion in bowling. Hehad been bowling since he was 10 yearsold and is currently playing withWTHS’s bowling league.

When he is not studying, bowling,or participating after school, BostonRed Sox fan Martelli enjoys relaxingat home and watching baseball andother sports.

Mucciarelli is not only anexcellent academic student, but also avocalist and regular singer of a variety

Cooking up fun times at Festival of FriendsMost of the kitchen workers

agreed that the best thing aboutworking in the kitchen was instead ofhaving a buddy you were able tointeract with each and every personthat came to the festival.

“It was a fun experience workingside by side with my friends for such agood cause, and meeting all theattendees was definitely an addedbonus,” said Mike Miller ’06.

The kitchen is more than hardwork. It is a lot of fun. Music is playedwhere everyone sings together, newfriends are made, and it is just arewarding experience knowing you areinvolved in the process of makingsomeone’s day.

At the end of the festival, withthe constant making of hotdogs, dueto the shortage the previous year,there was an over abundance this year;there were over two hundred stuffedhotdogs with no mouths to feed andno bellies to fill and many packs ofhotdogs and rolls left untouched.

“It was hectic trying to geteverything organized. We weren’t sure

that we had enough food, but it turnedout we had more than enough,” saidChristen Mason ’06.

After some quick thinking, thehotdogs that were cooked and waitingto be eaten were wrapped and loadedinto baskets and boxes to sell toparents watching their children at thebaseball and soccer games going onduring Festival of Friends. Thankfully,the still packed hotdogs and rolls couldbe returned to Sam’s Club for a refund.

Finally, with no hotdogs left inthe hands of Interact, the day cameto an end. Hearing one of the buddiessay that she wished she didn’t have toleave let everyone know the day wascompletely successful.

“It’s the time of the year whenI’m most proud to be a teacher becauseI get to see the best side of ourstudents,” said Mr. Bucca, Interactadvisor.

Now everyone can look forwardto next year ’s festival, and relaxknowing that this year’s wentperfectly.

Senior Spoltlight: Most Studious

Senior academic standouts, Dan Martelli and Meghan Mucciarelli.

“As long as I try my best,that’s really all I can ask ofmyself.”

-Dan Martelli

Reuben Gutierrez ‘05/The Patriot

8


Michelle DeVuono ‘05 The Camden County AnimalShelter is a large shelter built in 1997by the Camden County Board ofChosen Freeholders in response to theoverwhelming stray/unwanted animalpopulation in the country thatoverburdened other local shelters. Thisshelter provides a temporary homefor more than 4,000 a year from 12different townships.

In late 2004, the FreeholderBoard contacted a new managementteam to operate the shelter. The newgroup is devoted to running the shelterin a way that will maximally benefitthe animals and citizens in the CamdenCounty area. Tragically, many thousands ofhomeless animals die in CamdenCounty each year due to petoverpopulation and the lack of shelterspace, public awareness, money, andtime.

Therefore, Camden County’sshelter ’s primary goal is tosubstantially reduce the number ofhomeless animals that must die eachyear. The shelter is hoping for theday when they only need to “put

Donations of all kind are alwaysneeded and greatly appreciated.Donations allow the shelter to movebeyond the basics and so more life-saving work.

No donation is ever too small.You can donate your time to socializeand work with the animals, help matchup pets and adopters, work at adoptionand fundraising events, transportanimals or donations, and performadministrative duties.

You may also donate items suchas dog food, cat food, and toys to helpthe shelter save time and money andmake life more comfortable for theanimals.

Foster homes are also in greatneed. Fostering an animal wouldinclude the responsibility of taking ayoung, frightened, injured, or older petto save its life.

And of course, money donationsare urgently needed. Money donationsallow the shelter to provide medicaltreatment for the animals and to hirequalifiedpersonnel to care for them. If anyone is interested in helpingthe Camden County Animal Shelteryou may stop by the office or go tothe website, www.ccas.petfinder.org.

The shelter does understand thatit is a big responsibility to decide toadopt. Whether a dog or cat, it willtake up a lot of your time. If you areunable to adopt for any reason, thereare tons of other ways to help theshelter and the animals out.

down” only a small number of animalsthat are truly unadoptable due to severeillness, old age, or extreme aggression.The shelter does not kill off an animalif it is there too long, a commonmisconception of the public.

\ The clothing most commonlyworn by high school students is eithersweats or jeans. Comfortable clothinghas a tendency to dominate on a dailybasis. Because students have to wakeup early each morning to get to schoolon time, many of them just throw onwhatever is comfortable, clean, andquick. However, some people do noteven try. They would walk the hallsin their pajamas if they could do sowithout getting in trouble. However,what they do not realize is thatdressing sloppily takes away theattention that they are capable ofreceiving, or worse, it creates negativeattention.

A few weeks ago, Fashion Firstsent out a fellow WTHS student, BillHansbury ’05, to do an experimentfor us. Hansbury was asked to dressup for a normal day of school, andwhen people asked why he was dressednicely, he was to reply, “I just feltlike it.” Throughout the day, Hansburywalked through the halls feeling theeffects of looking stylish in hispinstripe suit. Within the time ittook to get from homeroom to firstperiod, Hansbury had already receivedeleven compliments on his outfit. Bythe end of a long day for him, Hansburyadded up all of the comments peoplemade regarding his clothing and came

up with a total of forty-five studentcompliments and three teachercompliments.

Hansbury says, “People noticeyou when you are wearing a suit, andteachers definitely show you morerespect.”

The two best compliments hereceived all day were, “Wow Bill, youlook damn good today,” and “You looklike a rose among a patch of weeds.”

Hansbury told us that he feltspecial dressing up in a suit for aday, and it is something that he wouldconsider doing again.

Hansbury says, “I was verypowerful in my suit.” Hansbury isnormally a very confident person;however, dressing up made hisconfidence even stronger.

“You stand out in the crowdbecause you are one of few that aredressed up, and it makes you feelgood because you know you lookgood,” says Hansbury.

Hansbury admits that it was notall fun and games when he dressedup. “At first I was fine, butthen throughout the day it got a littleharder to breathe. And gett ingchanged for gym class was anotherstory.”

Not everyone who wants todress a little nicer for a day has to

Do the clothes make the man more confident?

Camden County Animal Shelter needs your help

come to school in a suit. A nice pairof jeans with a collared shirt and dressshoes is just as much of an eyecatcher. Fashion First suggests thateveryone should try dressing nice forno occasion at least once in his or

Fashion First by Amanda Mastranduono ‘05

The animals at the Camden County Shelter, like these two cats,need good homes.

Michelle DeVuono ‘05/ The Patriot

her l ifet ime. I guarantee thecompliments you receive will makeit worthwhile. Dressing up will makeyou feel good on the inside, inaddit ion to looking great on theoutside.

Park yourself on these benches

Mr. Evangelisti/The Patriot

Lauren Osbourne ’05 (behind bench) and Jess Wright ’05worked with fellow art students on Senior Service Day torepaint Quay Way’s benches in an effort to beautify our school.

9


Brent Bartosiewicz ‘06

He may dress in black and whitebut WTHS audio visual coordinator,Mr. Rick Huff is one of the morecolorful personalities at the highschool.

Huff has worked in the districtfor the past nineteen years andcurrently serves as audio visualcoordinator at the high school andtechnical theater supervisor for theentire school district.

“Mr. Huff is an unsung hero ofthis building. Most people don’trealize he’s here but when you needhim he’s there,” says Mr. Jeff Walter,chief day custodian.

“A big part of my job here is tomake sure the teachers have whatthey need everyday so they canteach without interruption,” saysHuff.

Also, he is in charge ofproviding audio, lighting, and stagingin the Commerce Bank Arts Centerand 11/12 auditorium. This includesschool-oriented events such asassemblies, Renaissance rallies, andtheatrical performances, but not theprofessional shows that rent out theCBAC.

Huff is also the Tech Crewsupervisor along with assistants Mr.Dennis Martell, WTHS’ liaison for theCBAC and Mr. Bob Heinze, APS

teacher.“They are both excellent theater

people,” says Huff, “and for all oftheir help and support, I thank them.”

Huff says the greatest part aboutbeing a staff member is interactingwith “the students that I work witheveryday in tech crew. I appreciatethe tech crew’s hard work, dedication,and willingness”.

Huff is known for his calm, quiet,cool, and dedicated demeanor.

Jokingly Jack Bremlin ‘06 says,“Huff is like a box of chocolates, younever know when you are going toget the good one and you never knowwhen you are going to get the sourone. He’s funny a lot of the time.”

Before Huff came to WTHS in1986 he worked at BordentownRegional High School for one yearand Maple Shade High School for fouryears.

Huff attended Allegany Collegein Western Maryland he majored inMedia TechnologyCommunications. Huff was alwaysinterested in photography though.When he moved to N.J. he also tooksome classes at Rowan University.

Throughout college Huff didsome theater work but primarilywanted to further studyphotography and mass media. Hisphotography was inspired by AnselAdams and George Hurrell.

Huff’s musical inspirations. In fact,Huff says aside from being with hisfamily, his favorite place is being behinda set of drums.

Huff has been happily marriedfor the past 25 years and has onedaughter, Beverly, 14. Huff thanks hiswife, Martha for being so understandingthroughout his life including his career,which most of the time, demands longhours.

“To be able to see my daughtergrow up,” said Huff, “is my goal in life.”

Here comes the Man in Black

In his down time, Huff enjoysdoing photography and reading books,particularly horror, mystery, andscience fiction. He also enjoys drawingthe Peanuts comic strip characters andwatching movies, especially horror.

“I’m a film buff,” says Huff, whoalso has a collection of music cd’s andLP’s, which are an old type of recording.

Above all, music is his passion.Huff has been playing the drums for thepast 38 years. Louie Bellsen, BuddyRich, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix are

Mame

The Way Off Broadway Players dazzledaudiences with their performances of themusical Mame.

March 17, 18 & 19

Brent Bartosiewicz ‘06/The Patriot

Mr. Huff enjoys photography and drumming in his spare time.

10


Commentary

Matt Kienzle ‘06

If a politician was found to havebeen elected only because of fraudulentvotes, he would be removed fromoffice and disgraced for life.When it was discovered that MilliVanilli lip-synched all of their songs,they were forced to return theirGrammy and they remain the butt ofjokes even today.

So why do we tolerate baseballplayers using steroids? Using illegalsubstances to enhance one’sperformance on the field is cheatingno matter how you look at it. Let’s be honest, despite insisting hewould never use steroids, Barry Bondshas clearly been juicing for the lastthree years.

In 2000, he hit 49 home runs,one every 9.8 at-bats, which was anabove average season for him judgingby his previous non-steroid seasons.In 2001, Bonds exploded for a record73 home runs, one every 6.5 at-bats.

Those are near impossiblenumbers for any mere mortal.

Bonds has evolved from a skinnyspeedster in his rookie season, intothe muscle bound machine that we allknow today.

Those statistical increases aresimply not possible by normalstandards and it has become apparentin recent years that Barry Bonds is acommon cheater, no different thanvoter fraud by politicians or MilliVanilli.Bonds’ records of the last four yearsneed to be cleared from the recordbooks forever, not asterisked. Heshould be banned from baseball for life.His crimes against the game are farworse than Pete Rose betting on thegame.

Not only has Bonds repeatedlydenied cheating, he has had the gall toblame all of his problems on the sportsmedia, claiming that they have madehim and his family miserable.

No Barry, you did.You were the one who made the

decision to inject yourself withsteroids, knowing full well that youwould produce ridiculous numbers.

Bonds and his supporters havemaintained that steroids in no wayaffect a player’s performance. Theyhave continuously stated that theyonly increase muscle mass, notimprove hand-eye coordination,which is necessary to make solidcontact with a pitch.

Those people are correct;steroids do not improve hand-eyecoordination. But they do allow theuser to hit a baseball over 450 feetwith relative ease, and shatteringnumerous hitting records at the same.Commissioner of baseball Bud Seligneeds to step up to the plate and ban

Barry Bonds for the remainder of hislife, erasing all of his records in theprocess.

Bonds is a common cheater whoneeds to be punished for hisirresponsible and reprehensible actionsthat have disgraced and spoiled thegame of baseball.

Bonds must be punished for cheating

pride to every American soldier. It’san encouraging tale that will be passedon from generation to generation.

A few months after Tillmanpassed away, a website was establishedin tribute to the brave patriot. It iscalled the Pat Tillman Foundation. Itis located atwww.pattillmanfoundation.net.

On the site there are quotes saidabout Tillman and why the websitewas created.

One says, “Established to honorhis memory and to carry forward hislegacy, the goal of the Pat TillmanFoundation is to inspire and supportothers who live their lives with spiritsimilar to that of his and to strive forpositive change.”

Pat Tillman was a true Americanhero that will never be forgotten. Hisbravery and legacy will live on forgenerations to come.

The anniversary of his deathreminds us that there are still manycourageous men and women fightingfor the U.S.

These men and women shouldalso be remembered and honored justlike Pat Tillman. That’s the way hewould of liked it.


April 22, 2005 marked the one-year anniversary of the death of atrue American hero, Pat Tillman.

What made this casualty of warnational news was because Tillman wasa professional football player for theArizona Cardinals. After the eventsof 9/11, Tillman felt like he had to dosomething to make a difference in theworld. He wanted to do somethingmore than just playing football.Tillman wanted to do somethingpatriotic. He did just that.

Tillman quit playingprofessional football, turning down avery large salary to join his brother inthe Army Rangers unit.

When people around the nationheard what he done, they immediatelyshowed much respect for him andconsidered him an American icon.

Tillman was just that.Tillman didn’t just do this for

publicity and to have his name knownto the public. He did this of his own freewill.

He didn’t want the media to getto focus on him. He felt there wereother brave men and women fighting

for the protection of our country too.During his time in the Army he

served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.Tillman was a strong and first-ratesoldier. He fought for his countrybravely.

Sadly, on April 22, 2004,Tillman died during a firefight inKhost, a providence of Afghanistan.

Although Tillman is no longer

with us, his courage and commitmentwill never be forgotten. He is a trueAmerican hero.

He wanted to be remembered as ahero who made a difference, instead ofbeing a hero in professional sports.

Tillman encouraged many othersto be valiant and join the military toprotect our beloved red, white, andblue. The story of Tillman itself brings

Pat Tillman in uniform with the Arizona Cardinals (left) and as aRanger Officer in the United States Army.

Tillman forever a model of pride, courage

The PatriotEditor-in-Chief - Mallory Heimlich ‘05

Sports Editors - Scott Grandrino ‘05, Joe Comerford ‘06Managing Editor- Cheryl Supernavage ‘06

News Editor- Darby DeCicco ‘05Entertainment Editor - Jamie Valentine ‘05

Op/Ed Editors - Ashley Horan ‘05, Mike Jones ‘06Assistant Editors - Tiffany Narducci ‘05, Julia Verniero ‘05,

Jamie Recchino ‘05, Christian Heim ‘05Layout and Design - Journalism II

Printing - Mr. Steve Whalen & Advanced GraphicsAdvisor - Mr. Jim Evangelisti

The Patriot is published by the students ofWashington Township High School.

529 Hurffville-Cross Keys Road, Sewell, NJ 08080Send letters to the editors, opinions, and ideas

to:[email protected]

11


Mike Jones ‘06

In the glory days, as I used tocall them, I was the proud owner of atwo-foot-power toddler-mobile,cherry-red complete with a yellow top.Owned by at least half of ourgeneration, the Fisher Price CozyCoupe was more than just a pettytoy, it was sheer elegance.

I used to polish that hard, redplastic to a mirror shine, I could haveeaten off the aerodynamic yellowroof, and no wheel ever brokealignment. My seats had no crumbson them because, so help me God, Iwould have fallen victim to a minoraneurism at the mere sight of food inmy ride. Gone forever was thetricycle, replaced by a brand new carthat in itself seemed to define me as aperson, and then somethingunexpected and terrible happened.

There I sat, in what appeared tohave become my hobo-mobile-for-toddlers, gawking in awe at the hot-pink, convertible-topped, electrical-powered speed demon awarded to mysister on that cruel summer day.Barbie had infiltrated yet another

garage for recharging, I crept in andunplugged that wretched beast. Thenext morning, I arose with energy,knowing it was my big day. Ichallenged my sister to a race, onelast race before my retirement as adrag racing five-year-old, to be heldshortly after breakfast.

At the starting line, I exchangedlooks with my competitor, knowingthat she would be difficult to beatdespite her swelled ego. Eyesnarrowed, I held the stare, I would notbe victim to her wrath. Our parentshad come to oversee the proceedings,and once they were sure of no foulplay, my father did the honors andstarted us off.

Off the line we raced, a one-hundred-foot free for all. I took thelead, praying my legs wouldn’t fail menow, but she was gaining. We soonbecame neck-and-neck, physicallystraining for the finish line. Then, amiracle occurred; her battery died andwhile she proceeded to get out andkick the once-unbeatable hot rod, Iraced on! It was as if she was theTitanic and I, the iceberg! Thetortoise had finally beaten the hare.

up with that pink devil? How would Iever be able to face my friendsknowing that Barbie had finally gottenthe better of me? How could I achievemanhood when I couldn’t even beat aBarbie car in a race?

Feeling a transformationoccurring within me, I formed adiabolical plan. Late one night, it hadto be eight o’clock, way past ourbedtime, after my sister had parallelparked that electrical monster in our

aspect of my traumatic youth, thistime as a car! The freshly polishedhot rod laughed menacingly at mefrom its sheek grill, the light reflectingof its windshield- It had a windshield!-and blinding the once happy-go-luckychild in the foot-pusher.

I suddenly felt foolish, ashamedto even be seen in that ugly block ofred plastic. Races between the twowere a joke, how was my FisherPriceFlintstone-mobile supposed to keep

Keeping Up With Jonesy By Mike Jones ‘06

Illustration by Helen Zeng ‘05

Darby DeCicco ’05

It’s not an uncommonoccurrence for high school studentsto get, for lack of a better term, stuckin a rut.

There are only so many moviesto see or nights to spend at the mall,and for students who don’t want tospend every weekend attendinggigantic parties or at home with theirDVD player, it can sometimes seemlike there is just nothing good for ateenager in Township to do.

However, for anyone who’swilling to look just a little further thanthe borders of Washington Township,there really are tons of interestingthings for teenagers to do.

If you’re looking for a cool placeto simply chill, you can look as closeto home as Glassboro, where you’llfind the Eleven East Café, which islocated on High Street, just pastRowan University. Eleven East offersa unique atmosphere and a lot morethan just coffee and muffins. On mostFriday and Saturday nights Eleven Eastoffers live music, occasionally theyhost film screenings from theGlassboro Film Society, and the Cafédisplays art from local artists on itswalls. Much along the same line, PortCity Java, located on Clements BridgeRoad in Deptford, offers local music

twice a week, paintings by local artists,and fantastic smoothies.

Coffee shops, however, are notthe only options for cool places togo.

If you’re willing to take the 25-minute drive to Oaklyn, you can spendan evening at the Ritz TheatreCompany. A refurbished 1920’stheater, the Ritz offers not only year-round musicals and plays, but alsosomething of a trip back in time. Withtickets at about twenty dollars apiece,you can spend a relatively cheap,different night out (and the brave caneven try to investigate the rumor thatthe building is haunted).

If you still haven’t foundsomething to excite your interest, youcan check out the Grounds forSculpture in Hamilton, where 35 acresof sculpture meet a museum andphotography exhibit, or try ashopping trip at the Berlin Farmer’sMarket on Clementon Road, whereyou can find everything from second-hand typewriters to fresh fruit andflowers.

No matter what your interests,there’s something in the area for youto do if you’re simply willing get outthere and look. You can check outwww.visitsouthjersey.com forupcoming events and more ideas.

Joe Comerford ‘06

My English teacher recently gaveus an article to read from the May8th edition of the PhiladelphiaInquirer regarding the new SATs essaysection. The article, written by SamuelG. Freedman a professor at ColumbiaUniversity’s Graduate School ofJournalism, cites Les Perelman oneof the directors of undergraduatewriting at Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology. Perelman fears that theessay now included on the SATs isteaching students terrible writinghabits.

It seems to Perelman thatregardless of the content of thewriting, the longer the essay, the betterthe score. It is so ridiculous that areporter held up a sample essay andwithout reading a word of it and justlooking at the bulk and shape he wasable to guess the right score. This initself is a travesty, but more appallingthen this is the fact that you do notget any points off for incorrect facts.

There is something wrong witha grading system when a long, windingfictitious essay will do better then ashort, fact-based essay that gets itsmessage across in fewer words. It seemsthat the SAT essay is graded based onhow much you write as opposed tohow well you express your point.

Fortunately, colleges are not asdim-witted as the people atCollegeBoard, at our schools recentcollege fair I talked to several collegesand universities, including TempleUniversity, York College and HofstraUniversity. All the representatives forthe schools said that they are notpaying attention to the new sectioninstead they are going to look at thefirst two sections, like the old SATs.

It seems that writing as much aspossible in a neat, orderly fashion willhelp to get you a higher score. Butdon’t bank your essay and writingsection scores on that fact, becausethe grading proficiencies can changeat the drop of a hat.

New SAT doesn’tmake the grade

Essay portion graded on quantity,not quality

Plenty of interesting activitiesoutside Township borders

Road rage at a young age

12


Lesley Stinson ‘05

Many believe living inWashington Township, in theoutskirts of the Pine Lands, homelandof the Jersey Devil, can prove to beone dull and uninteresting place.There have been times when I toohave complained about how ‘there isnothing to do’ and how I am ‘tired ofdoing the same thing every night’,but when I take time to really lookaround, I realize how much we reallyhave to choose from.

First off, our school takes greatpride in involving itself in thecommunity and holds many events tokeep students entertained andinvolved. This year alone our schoolhas put on many concerts, plays andmusicals. Some of the favorite eventsheld are the annual talent show andMr. Washington Township.

Even if you still complain abouthow our school doesn’t offer anythingnoteworthy to keep the studentsoccupied, just look around us.

Right in our very own town wehave two multiplex movie theaters,bowling alleys, a skating rink, an icerink, golfing ranges and a park. Inthe park alone you are able to go fora walk, a jog, skateboard in the skatepark, take a swing on the playground,play basketball, soccer, and during

shopping and amusement rides. Nomatter how you look at it, there willalways be something fun to do.

Whether you stay withinTownship perameters, or want to getaway for a change of pace, there reallyis always something to do. Of course,if you really insist there is absolutelynothing interesting to do, you couldalways head twenty minutes South andactually find that darned Jersey Devil.

just to walk down South Street forsomething to do.

Looking for something to do ona Saturday in Spring or Summer?Forty-Five minutes away is the beach.Not many other towns across thecountry can take a day trip down tothe shore on a whim. Don’t like thebeach or going in the ocean? There’sthe Ocean City and WildwoodBoardwalks to enjoy. The boardwalkscontain movie theaters, arcades, food,

Spring and Fall nights enjoy a movieby the Ampitheater.

Twenty minutes away is a city; acity full of shopping, concerts,restaurants and museums. Philadelphiacan prove to be very interesting on aFriday or Saturday night and canprovide the entertainment andexcitement that teenagers seek. Tome, Philly seems like such a changeof pace from our normal routines herein Township that it would be enjoyable


Did I drive myself to the wrongschool this morning? Sometimes thisquestion arises in my mind as I makemy daily eight-period journey throughWashington Township High School.

I am a senior but often feel as ifmy life is regressing more and moreback to kindergarten each day. I amleaving for college in a few months,but for now I remain stuck inside ahigh school with many unfair rulesand absurd policies.

I find the school cafeteria to bea very frustrating location. I was atone of our township’s middle schoolsjust a few weeks ago for a class trip tospeak to the eighth graders. I stoppedby the cafeteria and noticed how thekids were allowed to walk right up andbuy their lunch as soon as theyentered. Later that day I was in myown cafeteria waiting to be called upby a teacher. The period ended and

the two-minute bell rang, buteveryone had to remain in thecafeteria unless we had a little passshowing that we had to travel to the9/10 building. Students flooded by inthe hallways and all I could do wasstare at them from behind the glasswindows.

If fifty students want to cramthemselves onto one lunch table, Isay okay, have fun sweating to death.And why is it that if trash is left onthe lunch tables, we students will beyelled at, but the cafeteria workersare allowed to throw everything onthe floor before we get a chance toclean up so they can quickly wipe thetables and run home?

Our high school can be a prettystuffy place, especially with over3,000 students scurrying through it.Heat builds up and the days are long. Icannot speak for others, but I becomepretty dehydrated at various pointsthroughout my day. We have all heard

those horror stories about waterfountains, so I choose to bring a namebrand water bottle with me everyday.I have had to change my route to someclasses just because faculty memberswill force me to throw it away. Puttingit back in my locker is not even anoption for them. Why can they standthere slurping away at a drink but Iam not allowed to carried a closedbottle? I am not smuggling vodka,and I am not going to pour the waterthroughout the hallway and watchstudents slip. I am simply thirsty.

A short glance at the school’sCode of Conduct can cause somecontroversy as well. Why is that if Iget into a fight I will be suspended forfive days, but if I have fireworks inmy possession I may only getsuspended for two? Growing up, I wastaught to never throw the first punch,but if I ever got hit I need to defendmyself. If I happened to get in anargument at school, I would not usepunches as a method of resolution.

Township Turn Offs by Valerie Smaldone ’05

Township Turn Ons by Leslie Stinson ’05

But let’s say someone hit me.Becoming suspended has certainlynever been a goal of mine, so I wouldjust walk away and let the otherstudent be suspended. I have heardmany cases, however, of both studentsgetting suspended regardless of theoutcome of the fight. Violence isnever an answer, but it seems that ourschool encourages standing there andgetting hit rather than defendingyourself. Defending yourself couldmean a five-day suspension difference.

Does high school really prepareus for the real world? Faculty wantsto maintain their power over us, butsometimes it just makes students moredefiant. If they let us breathe a littlemore, there probably would not be asmany problems. In college we willneed to fend for ourselves. Disciplineis important, but there is a differencebetween keeping order and suffocatingstudents with it. I look forward tocollege. Sure it’s still school, but atleast I will not have to go thirsty.

Township offers variety of things to do

Restrictions leave no room for freedom

Illustraion by Cassy Mattos ’07

13


By Shane Walsh ‘06

Comics

By Chrissy Wood ‘06

By Brad Grandrino ‘08

by Brad Grandrino ‘08

Four Ways to Handle Horror Movie Situations by Brad Grandrino ‘08

14



“Houses don’t kill people.People kill people.” Or do they?Based on a true story, the 2005 remakeof the 1979 film Amityville Horrorbrings a new perspective to just howhaunted houses can get.

In 1974, an entire family hadbeen murdered at the Defeo residencein Amityville, Long Island. RonaldDefeo confessed toshooting his parents andfour siblings while theyslept. He testified thatvoices in the house causedhim to commit themurders.

One year later,George (Ryan Reynolds)and Kathy Lutz (MelissaGeorge), a newlywedcouple with three children,were searching for a newhome. They traveled toAmityville and found thehouse of their dreams forthe deal of a lifetime.They were astonished tofind such a large house forsuch a low price. When

George asked the real estate agent whatthe catch is, she informed the couplethat a tragedy had taken place there.Knowing full well of the murder, thecouple bought the house anyway.

Shortly after moving in, themadness began. Unexplainable eventsbegan to occur, including, voicescoming out of walls, the daughterhaving an ‘imaginary friend’, a girlwith a noose around her neck

appearing above thebed, and creatures inthe bathroom. Thelives of the familybegan to bedestroyed little bylittle.

George Lutz wasespecially affectedby the spirits in thehouse, as he spentmuch of his time inthe basement, theworst place in thehouse. Georgebecame possessedand the oncecharming guybecame so creepythat I think at times

I was more frightened of him thanthe Lutz family themselves were. Hegave off an extremely chilling vibe,as Jack Nicholson did in the classicfilm, The Shining.

The film was a short hour and ahalf, but I jumped enough times tocover that period of time. Any longerand I would have left the theater moretraumatized than I already was. Ifound the film to be very well done,with scary moments in all the rightplaces. The plot flowed at a rapidpace, never allowing you to becomebored. The plot also contained well-written and directed twists and turns,leaving me unable to determine whichwas the story was going to go. I wasat the edge of my seat the entire time.Or was I huddled in it, trying not tolook too scared? Definitely the latterone.

Theater prices have increased,but this is one film worth the extramoney. The big screen is essential toreceive the full effect. I still get chillswhen I see 3:15 on a clock.

Pay the theaters a visit and parkclose to the doors. Walking to yourcar in the dark afterwards is not fun.

Darby DeCicco ’05

Brave New Girl, Louisa Luna’sgritty, brutally honest first novel,covers plenty of brave new territoryfor teenaged readers everywhere.

Luna’s first effort is a coming-of-age novel with rough edges and abig heart. The novel follows theconfused, disillusioned, foul-mouthedDoreen, a heroine for young teenagerseverywhere. Obsessed with ThePixies, uncertain about her place inthe world, and simply looking forsomeone she can trust, Doreen is thequintessential American teenager.

The novel details Doreen’sstruggles as she deals with her best andonly friend Ted, her dysfunctional,oppressive family, and the mysteriousolder men she meets who remind herof her long-lost brother Henry. In fact,while Doreen’s story – one of a girlforced into adulthood under unusual,and sometimes frightening,circumstances – may seem far-fetchedat times, the novel’s realisticcharacters seem to identify withreaders in an uncanny way.

With a unique narrative style,Luna manages to portray Doreen’sstory with all the angst and frustrationof adolescence itself. While thecandid, first-person narration mightseem reminiscent of The Catcher inthe Rye, Brave New Girl is a far cryfrom any Catcher rip-off, and Doreenis presented as anything but a Holdenwannabe. Luna’s words, coming fromDoreen’s mouth, are littered with foullanguage, brutal honesty, and the kindof insights we all think but never speakaloud, turning the novel into not onlya brilliant story, but an edgy forumfor youthful frustration.

It is this edge that sets this fast-paced read apart from the hundredsof other coming-of-age novels waitingon the shelves. Luna’s work deals notonly with friendships and families, butalso with sex, drugs, and even a littlebit of rock and roll. A page-turner forsure, Brave New Girl draws you intoits world and doesn’t let go.

EntertainmentBrave New novelbrutally honest

Latest horror flick remake terrifying


When I am called a nerd or geek,like most people, it offends me. Thereis only one circumstance where mebeing called a geek does not insult me;that is when it deals with Star Wars.

When I am called a Star Warsnerd or loser, it is more of acompliment then a putdown. I myselfopenly admit that I am a Star Warslunatic. So of course I was thereopening day to see what might just bethe last of this amazing movie series.

Star Wars: Episode III Revengeof the Sith was by far the best StarWars movie since Episode V: TheEmpire Strikes Back.

Creator and Director GeorgeLucas did a superb job of melding thislast motion picture of the prequeltrilogy into the original three StarWars movies.

This movie defiantly made upfor the last two movies, in which mostcritics said were mistakes by Lucas.This is one of the best Star Wars filmshe has ever done.

Episode III explains the fall ofthe Republic and beginning of theGalactic Empire. But the biggest issuethat Episode III shows is thetransformation of the once heroic Jedi

K n i g h tA n a k i nSkywalkerinto thee v i l ,p o w e r f u lLord DarthVader. SupremeChancellorP a l p a t i n ereveals histrue side asDarth Sidiusa.k.a. Emperor Palpatine, Lord of theSiths. After Count Dooku’s death earlyin the film, Palpatine needs a newapprentice.

Palpatine toys with Anakin’shead, making him believe that he cansave Anakin’s wife Padme if he learnsthe dark side of the force. The youngJedi follows Palpatine down a paththat eventually leads to the dark side.Anakin turns his back on the Jediforce and becomes Darth Vader.

One of the most exciting partsof the movie was toward the end whenthe long awaited light saber battlebetween mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi andapprentice Anakin Skywalker occurred.This clash between old friends was in

my opinion the most thrilling lightsaber duel in Star Wars history.

The plot of why Anakinbecame a Sith Lord and why he hasto wear the black Darth Vader armorwas made clear to me.

All of the mysteries andquestions that Star Wars followerspondered were answered in this film.This was a most satisfying movie toend the Star Wars saga. Even ifyou’re not a Star Wars fan, afterwatching this picture you’ll want tobecome one.

I recommend everyone to gosee the last chapter of this galacticlegend, and May the Force be withyou.

www.yahoomovies.com Episode III finished the amazing Star Wars series.

www.yahoomovies.comRyan Reynolds chillsaudiences in AmityvilleHorror.

Final Star Wars installment a satisfying end

15


affection of not only ex-con neighborMike Delfino (James Denton) butevery man who comes into theirneighborhood is a funny andpleasurable experience. Eventually,Susan wins Mike over, allowing us towatch the new couple go through trialsand tribulations, and leaves Edie jealousand bitter.

Lynette Scavo (FelicityHuffman) is the former career womanwho gave it all up to raise her fourunruly boys. Lynette struggles with herkids, as well as her efforts to make hermarriage as spicy as it was before thekids came into the picture.

Bree Van De Kamp(Marcia Cross) is the tidy,almost perfect, Stepford-wife-like character whosestrict and severe family isalmost falling apart with aheartless son and cheatinghusband, Rex Van De Kamp(Steven Culp).

Finally, Gabrielle Solis(Eva Longoria), an ex-model who is living thehigh life with rich husband

Cheryl Supernavage ‘06

Wisteria Lane. It seems like theperfect neighborhood. Friendlyneighbors, beautiful homes, and friendseverywhere you turn; yet there issomething about it that is mysterious,and even somewhat dangerous- amurder just a few houses down, an ex-con living right across the street, and,of course, the suicide of your bestfriend.

Desperate Housewives is apopular new show full of twists andturns, clues and schemes, with majorsecrets in your not-so-ordinaryhousewives’ lives.

The show comes from theperspective of Mary Alice Young(Brenda Strong) who is watching downon her friends from heaven. MaryAlice shares all the secrets, not onlythat her friends have, but that all theneighbors on Wisteria Lane are hiding.The neighbors are not the only oneswith dirty laundry as Mary Alice’ssuicide is still a mystery yet to bediscovered by her friends.

The show revolves around thelives of four women that are trying tofigure out why their best friend MaryAlice committed suicide. In theirsearch, they dig up secrets from otherneighbors and struggle with theadventures of their own lives.

The hopeless romantic, SusanMayer (Teri Hatcher), is a divorced,single parent who is the goofy, scatter-brained character that you cannot helpbut love. Watching her fight with EdieBritt (Nicollette Sheridan) for the

Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira).However, Gabrielle still finds it necessaryto sleep with her 17 year-old gardener,John (Jesse Metcalfe).

The actors and actresses couldnot have been better cast and themultiple plots and story lines leaveyou craving for more as you try to fitall the pieces together. The acting isbelievable and the show is incredible,leaving Desperate Housewives withnothing to stop it.

Tune in every Sunday night at 9pm for this deliciously addicting newdrama.

Housewives deserves hit show status

Laurie shines in new medical dramaJamie Valentine ‘05

When I saw the commercials forthe new show House, I had no desireto watch it. They made it look like itwas one of those medical dramas thattries too hard to be intense, becausethat’s the way ER did it. Soon, though,one of my friends used vicious peerpressure tactics (she told me it wasgood), and I settled myself in for anhour of Noah Wyle wannabes.

I was never as thrilled with beingtotally wrong before. The only thingHouse has is common with ER is allof the sick people. It follows Dr.Gregory House, a cantankerous,eccentric doctor who happens to beaddicted to painkillers and is also afreakish medical genius. He works ina conservative hospital, and his

constant rule-breaking frustrates hisbosses, who threaten to fire him innearly every episode. Still, he is alwaysright and always saves his patientsfrom a disease that you have neverheard of.

Hugh Laurie plays Houseamazingly. You’ve seen Hugh Lauriebefore as the sweet-natured dad fromStuart Little. Take off the glasses, messup the hair, and add a limp and fiveyears worth of bitterness, and you’vegot Laurie’s new character. It is hardto play convincingly a character youraudience will love to hate, especiallywhen you usually play such a nice guy,and Laurie has really pulled it off. Ifyou watch one episode, you’ll lovehim; watch two and you’ll be in lovewith him.

The script is amazingly wellwritten. House’s lines fit hiscantankerous nature exactly, and arepretty funny one-liners besides. It’snot as hilarious as Scrubs, but it isn’tmeant to be. It passes ER’s supposedlycomedic moments with flying colors.In the first episode I saw, all of theother doctors wanted to stop a patientfrom going blind, but House wanted toknow what was causing the blindness.He growls at them and tells them,“Forget the eye. Tell him to use theother one to look on the bright side!”Much like the quips on CSI, it doesn’tmake all that much sense, but it getsHouse’s point across.

The other characters areinteresting and have well-written lines,

and the actors are perfect in theircomic and dramatic timing. Still, nomatter how great any of the othercharacters are, you can hardly tell nextto the awe-inspiring force of Laurie’sDr. House. The subplots among theother doctors are really a waste oftime. Anytime the focus shifts awayfrom House, it is easy to lose interest.It is a shame that such a great showcan only last as long as Laurie keepshis ego in check, because it will easilygo to the wayside when he asks for amillion dollars an episode.

The plot-lines are admittedly alittle ridiculous. A patient will not onlyhave one rare disease, but three. Andcancer. Another ridiculous feature isthat although House is always right,no one ever believes him, andalthough he always breaks the rules,he’s never fired. Still, thisridiculousness is one of the mostcharming features- like MacGyvermaking a cell phone out of athumbtack and a rubber band, Housecan diagnose you with a disease youhave a .001% chance of actuallygetting from twenty paces.

With Laurie’s amazingperformance, funny and intelligentscript-writing, plus the added benefitof an American Idol lead-in, House isa moderate success this season. Irecommend catching reruns during thesummer season, and waiting patientlyfor season two. You’ll feel a little bitwiser for it, and get a good hour ofentertainment besides.

Mary Alice’s suicide is a mysteryyet to be discovered.

www.abc.com

www.abc.comThe housewives cope with life in suburbia.

www.fox.comHugh Laurie stars as crankymedical genius Dr. House in new

From thestaff of The

Patriot

Best wishesto the Classof 2005 andour senioreditors:

Mallory HeimlichDarby DeCiccoJamie ValentineAshley Horan

Scott GrandrinoTiffany NarducciJamie RecchinoChristian HeimJulia Verniero

16


Jacquie Rue ‘06

Could you picture Adam Sandleris as a laid back, caring, and concernedfather? I couldn’t either, until I rentedthe movie Spanglish. Also starring inthis film are Tea Leoni (The FamilyMan) as Deb Clasky, Sandler’s neuroticwife, and Paz Vega (in her firstAmerican role) as Flor, the housekeeper for this dysfunctional family.

Flor is a domestic from Mexico,and more importantly, a single motherseeking a better life for her and herchild. She is so proud of her identityand roots that she refuses to learnEnglish. Flor gets a good job workingas a housekeeper for the Claskys, whodon’t speak a word of Spanish, soFlor’s daughter Christina, who picksup English very quickly, serves as atranslator for both the Claskys andher mother.

Chris Heim ‘05

Picture yourself in Spain, you’relaughing and chatting with your friendsover a glass of fine vintage wine. Youspent the day sleeping off the partylast night, and then went to watch thebullfights, and maybe went out on toa scenic lake for some fishing.Welcome to the world of the literarygenius and Nobel Prize winning authorErnest Hemingway. The Sun Also Risesis a beautiful novel published in 1926that still holds its relaxed charm tothis day.

The story is based upon the livesof several American/Englishexpatriates who take a trip to Paris,and gradually make their way to Spainto view the legendary bullfights inPamplona. The basis of the plot isthe one-sided relationship between thequestioning and stoic Jake Barnes (theprotagonist) and the outrageous LadyBrett Ashley, an outgoing andflamboyant character that has nointerest in settling down with anyone,especially not Jake. Meanwhile othercharacters struggle with their spouses,try and contend with their debts, andconfront their problems withthemselves. The entire story issteeped in the depression of the PostWorld War I generation, often called“The Lost Generation.”

The character development ismy favorite aspect of the book.Hemingway has an excellent way ofmaking you see what his characterssee, and feel what they feel. You beginto truly feel for Jake and his hopelessromantic bravado, and pity Lady BrettAshley, who just can’t seem to findher place in the world. By the end of

doesn’t have ana r r o g a n tmachismo thatshe was alwaysused to.Suddenly John’slife gets turnedupside downwhen The NewYork Timesgives hisrestaurant a fourstar review andhis placebecomes L.A.’shot spot to eat.This is notyou’re typicalAdam Sandlermovie, where he usually plays anobnoxiously loud but funny character.This movie was much different; Sandleralways stayed calm, cool, and

Deb Clasky is a deeply neuroticwoman who has spent time in amental hospital. She wants to becomefulfilled by her duties as a mother andwife, but she’s completely clueless ofher family’s needs. When she learnsthat Flor has a daughter, Deb asksthem to move in with the family inan attempt to be warm and motherly.Deb is unsatisfied with her owndaughter, Bernice, and she treatsChristina as a surrogate daughter, evenenrolling Christina in private school.Flor isn’t sure if it’s such a good ideafor Deb to Americanize Christina,especially when Deb leaves out herown daughter.

Deb’s husband John Clasky is acalm and understanding man. He is achef in his own restaurant. He stayscalm despite the fact that his familylife is completely chaotic. Florbecomes attracted to John, who

Darby DeCicco ‘05

It’s been three years sinceWeezer released their last album, thehighly anticipated and highlydisappointing Maladriot, and fanshave since been patiently hoping fortheir beloved band to producesomething worthy of the wait.

With their newest album, MakeBelieve, which was released on May10th and debuted at number 2 on theBillboard Top 200, it’s possible thatWeezer has delivered. And it’s alsopossible that they haven’t.

The twelve-track album’s firstsong and single is entitled “BeverlyHills,” and it recounts lead singerRivers Cuomo’s desire to be “rollinglike a celebrity.” The song, an almostboring track that sounds like some kindof Everclear knockoff, does not getthe album off to a great start.

Other tracks like “The Damagein Your Heart” and “Haunt You EveryDay” are equally as boring, and whilethey might not leave a bad taste inyour mouth, they do have a definitestigma of being nothing special.Meanwhile, the track “We Are All OnDrugs,” not doubt meant to bereminiscent of the kind of humorfound in Pinkerton’s “Pink Triangle”or “Tired of Sex,” comes across asnothing short of obnoxious and outof place with the rest of the album.

Make Believe, however, does haveplenty of redeeming qualities, the firstof which is just plain good music.

Songs like “Perfect Situation,”“My Best” and “The Other Way” arethe hand clapping, guitar-driven, get-up-and-dance kind of songs that soendear Weezer to its fans.

Meanwhile, candid lyrics like “Iam/Terrified of all things/Frightened ofthe dark” in “Hold Me” and “I tried

Return of the Weezer fans know and love

Heartwarming film out of the ordinary for SandlerOut on DVD

collected. Spanglish goes a little slowat times, especially if you wereexpecting the rollicking film thatSandler usually stars in.

The movie had a few differentplots, such as Deb not understandingjust what her family really needed, Florwanting to make a better life for herfamily, and John struggling to balancehis family with his suddenly importantjob. The previews made it seem like ithad a totally different plot, and whenI first started watching, I was a littleconfused about which of the subplotswas the main one. I finally realizedthat there wasn’t one; just one bigdysfunctional family with a languagebarrier.

I would give this movie two andhalf stars. If you like a story withseveral intertwining conflicts or plots,this is a movie to rent. If you’d ratherwatch one of Adam’s Sandler’sobnoxiously loud comedies, this is notthe movie for you.

the novel these people become soreal, you find yourself thinking thatyou could run into them while walkingdown the street one day. I found myselfso wrapped up in the story that Iwished I could jump into the pages,and sit out on a boat all day with Jakeand his companions, discussing life andlove and the tortures and joys of both.

A master of prose, Hemingwaywrote the book in a style in whichlines actually relax you. A gentlemixture of storytelling and poetrythat sort of carries you through thestory like a lazy river. I could escapeto the world of these travelers andforget all the stresses and plagues of

AntiquitiesHemingway classic takes your cares away

www.yahoomovies.comPaz Vega and Shelbie Bruce play a loving mother-daughter team in this DVD release.

our modern society. This book trulychanged my life, and since I havefinished it I have tried every day torelax and not let life get to me somuch. It’s nice to read about a groupthat had the courage to pack up theirlives, forget about their jobs andresponsibilities, and just take somewell-earned time to themselves, outin the wild, without a care in the world.I recommend this book to anyone thathas ever been stressed out, or felt likethe wanted to get away from it all.The Sun Also Rises will take you awayfrom this hectic mess we call life, evenif it is just for a little while.

my best/I gave my all/Sometimes mybest wasn’t good enough for you” in“Pardon Me,” give listeners a deeperlook into Cuomo’s emotions than pastWeezer albums have.

Add all of this to uniquelyharmonized vocals and, of course,tremendous guitar solos in nearly everysong, and suddenly you find yourselfthinking, This is the Weezer I know andlove.

Of course, it’s impossible tolisten to a Weezer CD and notcompare it to other Weezer CDs, andwhile the band’s fifth album isundisputedly no Blue Album orPinkerton, fans can’t expect a twelve-years-older-and-wiser band to keepwriting songs like “In the Garage” or“El Scorcho.” What fans can expectis exactly what Weezer produces onMake Believe; a decent effort and justplain good music.

17


PS2 Game Reviews by Matthew Starner ‘06

Have a rough day at school?Aggravated at something? Why notblow up a city in Godzilla: Save theEarth the sequel to the Game Cube’sGodzilla Destroy all Monsters: Melee?This game is a lot better than theprevious game. It has more playablemonsters, more cities, and the optionfor on-line play, mini games, andbetter graphics. Some of the monstersyou get are two versions of Godzilla,the 1990’s and 2000 versions: the evilbeast, Destroyah, the three headeddragon, King Ghidorah, two bugs,Mothra and Megagurius, theabomination, Orga, the flying dinosaur,Rodan, and the powerful Space Godzilla.

A thing that hurt the game wasthat Atari promised something, butlater he cut it from the game. Theyalso cut out the story they said wasgoing to be good for single player. Thesingle player story was just bad. In fact,there is no story. There is only onecinematic, then you just fight monsterafter monster which gets repetitive veryquickly.

Most of the challenges are stupid.I’m sorry, playing basket ball withmonsters is just a bad idea in myopinion. Some of the challenges aregood though. There are two railshooter challenges that are actuallygood. One where you are Godzillaunderwater and have to stop an aliensubmarine and fight a sea monsternamed Ebirah. Another where you are

the robot MOUGERA and you haveto travel though an asteroid fieldchasing Space Godzilla though space.Both are very exciting andchallenging.

Though a lot of the game likethe story is bad you get on-line playwhich can really make up for it onthe long run. Playing other peopleon-line is a good way to test your skillsagainst opponents that could live onthe other side of the country.

The graphics are a lot betterthan the original game. Atari made itlook like the movies that feature these

Godzilla brings monster mayhem toyour living room

Anime comes tolife

For being one of the mostsuccessful anime series in history, thisgame did okay in portraying the seriesin a good way. The game’s story wasvery well-written, the game play waswell-executed, and they had the show’svoice actors doing the voices of thecharacters. The graphics weremediocre, though, and were notimpressive at all.

This is a RPG (role-playinggame), which means you areapproached by a deep storyline and,most likely, a turn-based game whereyou and your team take turnsattacking your opponent.

In this game, you are a youngkid who is getting ready for a festivalheld at your family shrine. When yourcharacter goes into the warehouse toget something, he steps on amysterious symbol, falls through a holeand ends up back in Feudal Japan. Youend up getting chased by demons andyou’re saved by the half-demonInuyasha. You travel with Inuyasha’sgroup trying to find a way back toyour own time while trying to stopthe evil demon Naraku, who plans toget your soul.

While the story is very well-crafted, you may get bored with itpretty fast if you have no desire toplay a game that is all story-based.This game is mostly meant for fansof the show or hard core RPG gamers.To put it simply, it is not for everyone.The graphics may also turn people awayfrom the game; they are about on thelevel of a good Play Station One game.The graphics are as bad as they can getfor the new generation consoles.

All in all, this game is prettygood for its type. I give Inuyasha:Secret of the Cursed Mask a 5.5 outof 10.

various monsters. There are some badpoints though. The buildings still don’tfall like they should. When thebuildings collapse it only turns into apatch of a little rubble where thebuilding uses to stand. They shouldhave had the buildings explode withrubble flying in all directions when themonsters hit the side of the buildingswith their beams like in the movies.

The control of the game isactually no different than the originalgame. Most of the buttons are thesame only on a Play Station 2controller rather than a Game Cubeswhich makes it easier for the peoplethat played the original game so theydon’t have to relearn the controls.The sound is also very good. All themonsters have the roars and make thesame noises as they do in the movies.The sound of the collapsing buildingsalso sounds pretty realistic. Sometimesthough if two sounds are happeningat the same time there won’t be anysound at all that can get annoying attimes.

Overall this game was well made,even though there is not good storybehind it and sometimes the graphicsare choppy. But, you do get an all starcast of playable monsters and manycities to destroy which help the gamein a lot of areas, but the thing that isreally great is on-line play. I give thegame a, 7 out of 10.

The Time Splitters series is oneof the most successful first personshooters ever made. With its greatvisuals and sound it has been verypopular since it first launched in 2000.The new game is the best in the seriesthough.

In this game, the main characterSergeant Cortez, is coming back toearth from the Time Splitter SpaceStation from the second TimeSplitters game. Time Splitters are analien race that was created by amadman. They are capable ofcloaking themselves to jump yourcharacter when you least expected.In order to stop them the remaininggroup of humans, want to go back intime using the Time Splitter’s timecrystals and stop them from evercoming into existence. You spend yourtime traveling through time trying tohunt down creator of the TimeSplitters and stop him from destroyingthe future.

Time Splitters: Future PerfectExciting, innovative game play

The graphics in this game aresome of the very best I have seen in awhile. The areas in the game are justamazingly designed. In the Siberialevel, the ice around the dam is veryrealistic. All the scenery in the gameis very well made and very realisticlooking. The characters in the gameare also well designed. The maps inthe game and the scenery in the gameare absolutely amazing. The graphicsare just that good.

The game play is also amazing.There are 150 characters that areplayable in the game. They includerobots, a bunch of zombies, circusfreaks, soldiers, aliens, weird strangecharacters, and even monkeys! Thereare also a lot of different weapons inthe game. They range include sniperrifles, pistols, rocket launchers,machine guns, grenades, futuristiclaser guns, and even bricks. The bestgun that you may want to use thoughis the Injector. The best gun ever

thought up for a game since gamesthe first shooting game. You shoot adart into an enemy and the slowlyswell up and explode! You will have alot of fun with that gun every timeyou use it.

The ability to make your ownmaps is also very good. You can havethe map any way you please and youare even able to put it on-line andplay with it against other opponents.On-line play is amazing in this game.Going on-line and playing is justamazing. Up to 8 people can play in asingle game. You can challenge yourskills and abilities and even find outyour ranking in the game.

All in all this game is justamazing. Great graphics, great gameplay, a great story, endless amountsof weapons, and 150 playablecharacters this game hardly hasanything bad for me to say about it.All in all I give the game 10 out of10!

An interesting, story-basedgame for Inuyasha fans.

The sounds and graphics of thegame are major assets.

18


Chris Heim ‘05

Singer / songwri ter /mus ic ianBrian Malvey ‘05 has been adominant force in the Township indiescene for years now. His latestproject “Left of Center” is animpressive solo work with an eclecticmixture of musical styles. I had achance to talk to Brian about hisnewest album “A New Beginning”as well as his plans for the future.

Q: Who’s in the band? I knowit’s just you but did you havefriends record it or play gueststuff on it?

A: Alright, “Left of Center” isbasically me. I played all of theinstruments on that CD, (keyboards,guitars, bass, harmonica, drums,vocals) and the guest help I had wason the end of track 6 (A Sense ofDirection). There are six extrapeople there: Steve Taylor, RyanRigby, Darby, Amanda Kennedy, JoeVelasco and Lesly Stinson.

Q: What kind of equipment areyou using? What brand of guitar,recording information,instruments, maybe the type ofkeyboard or midi that you usedfor the neat melodies?

A: Equipment:Acoustic Guitar - Ibanez PF (acousticelectric pretty nicesound)

Electric Guitar - custom fendermustang/stratocaster hybrid(my uncle made i t , and i t’sadmittedly pretty shoddy)

Bass - Peavy P.O.S. that I got offEbay

Q: How far do you want this togo? You definitely sound a lotbetter than most of the stuff inyour genre, have you considered/tried getting signed to a label?Or do you want this to stays m a l l ?

A: I want to get my music heard, butthere are a few things I need to takecare of first. As soon as I can I’llstart sending CDs to labels andplaying more shows and the wholedeal, but I want to be level-headedand make sure I know what I’mdoing before I just start sending CDseverywhere.

Q: Anyone you would l ike tot h a n k ?

A:I’d like to thank Steve Popponi.He was the engineer at the GradwellHouse recording studio. He’s a realgood guy and he helped a lot. I wantto thank Darby DeCicco obviously.She’s the bestest . . . and you forsett ing up this interview.. . . andeveryone who helped out with theCD.

Track down Brian in the hallwaysometime i f you would l ike topurchase his newest album “A NewBeginning”. It’s only five dollarsand is worth every penny. Don’tsleep on the next big thing in indierock, check it out today!

Q: How long have you beensinging/playing guitar? Whatabout the other instruments youplay on the CD?

A: I’ve been singing for five yearsin and out of different bands, playingguitar for three years. Guitar ispretty easy to pick up if you’rearound it a lot. I started playingpiano when I was young, my dadplayed and I thought it was so cool,so I took lessons and have beenplaying for about ten years. I don’treally know what my maininstrument is... I’m equally bad atall of them. Piano it’s a challenge,Guitar is just fun, drums aredefinitely a stress reliever, singingis. . . I don’t really know andharmonica just soundscool.

Q: Why should people listen toyour music? How are youdifferent, what are you bringingto the table?

A: I’m different because I’m honest.All of my songs are about somethingand they mean something to me. Idon’t worry about whether everyoneelse will like it, but it’s definitelynot a bad thing if they do. I thinkpeople like my music because it’smusic. I’ve experimented withtechno sounds, folk sounds, rocksounds and I don’t want to be tieddown to one genre of music. I justwant to make music that people willenjoy listening to. It doesn’t requirethem to wear a certain type ofclothes or change their diction intosomething more primal, it’ssimply to be listened to and enjoyed.

Keyboard - Korg N-1 (my pride andjoy, it’s awesome)

Q: Why do you play the typemusic you play?

A: I play the music I play becauseit’s easy to express ideas. With folkand indie music you don’t have toimpress anyone. I can write songsabout what is going on in my life,tel l a story, be angry, happy,whatever. Anything is fair game. Iplay this music for basically myself.It helps me calm down a lot.

Q: Who are some of yourin f luences?

A: Influences include Death Cab forCutie, The Shins, The Beatles, RiloKiley, Billy Joel and Styrofoam

Q: What about some of yourfavorite bands?

A: Favorite bands include Death Cabfor Cutie, The Shins, AnimalCollective, Say Anything, WalkingConcert, Iron and Wine, Idaho, TheGet Up Kids... Avenge Sevenfold,Thrice and Scary Kids Scaring Kids...

Q: How’s “Perhaps She’ll Die”doing? Can we expect an albumsometime soon?

A: Perhaps She’ll Die is doing verywell. The legendary Dom Grecco hasjoined the crew on bass, it’s myself,Ryan Rigby, Steve Taylor, KacyCrivarro, and Dom Greco. I reallylike singing for this band, it’s soenergetic and its a good break fromall my indie stuff. It keeps me wellbalanced. We’ll be going into thestudio relatively soon, and it shouldturn out great.

Left Of CenterLocal Band Q & A

photo courtesy Brian Malvey ‘05

photo courtesy Brian Malvey

Local Band Alert!If you know a local band who

would like a spot in the Patriot,please email:

[email protected]

19


Rob Czyzewicz ’06

This yea r ’s WTHS BoysBaseball team l ived up to al l ofthe p reseason hype tha t theyreceived. The very strong lineupand equally strong pitching staffled the team to a 21-6 record.

Thei r s te l la r 7-1 d iv is ionalrecord has helped them to win theOlympic Confe rence Amer icanDivision. During the season, headcoach Bil l Alvaro announced onseveral occasions, the teams goals.

“Our number one goal was tobe d iv i s ion champs” , exp la inedAlvaro they accompl i shed tha tgoal this year in stunning fashion.“We’ve already qualified for theDiamond Classics (Tournament) ,and we wan t to advance to thestate finals.”

The team did advance to thestate championship accomplishingano the r one o f the i r goa l s .

“He went from hitting [at anaverage of] .270 last year, all theway up to .470 th i s yea r” sa idAlvaro. “I’m very happy with theway he stepped up.”

This squad features a veteranroster which includes seniors MattConnors , Mat t Johanson , NickBowen, and junior Dan Betteridge,who are all in their second year asstar ters .

They also have solid backupswho a re impor tan t towards theteam’s success , such as sen iorsKyle Terry, Mike Biedrzycki, andMike Amador, among others. Thecoach bel ieves that everyone onthe t eam has been a keycomponent to the team’s success.

The team had a t remendousseason with a lot to be proud of.Hopefully the team can take thissuccess and transfer it into morewins and more accomplishmentsnext year.

“We had such a young teamlast year”, Alvaro began. “Nowthat a l l of our key players havehad one more year of experience,we a re r eady to t ake the nex ts tep.”

Catcher Ryan D’Imperio ‘06echoed the coach’s sen t imen ts ,saying, “By beating Cherokee andEastern in late May, we were ingood pos i t ion . Tha t made usDiv i s iona l Champions o f theConfe rence . Tha t i s a b igaccomplishment .”

This year ’s squad is led byp i t che r Mike Modica ’05 . AsCoach Alvaro explained, Modicahas been the team’s ace, leadingthem to the most victories by oneindividual.

The hi t t ing has been led bythe a fo rement ioned D’ Imper io .Accord ing to the coach ,D’Imperio made a very significantimprovement over last year.

Unfortunately they could not beatCherokee for the fourth time thisyear, losing 13-1.

Alvaro sa id tha t h i s t eamimproved over l a s t yea r , so he

expected them to win in every keygame. Even with the loss Alvarowas still proud of his team.

“They’ve go t to ho ld the i rheads up high, because they had agreat season,” he said. “Winningthe Olympic Conference AmericanDivision, that’s tough. It’s like aneight-game tournament.”

He was also happy with howmuch the team improved.

SportsBaseball wins division championship

Richard Rasgo ‘05

“Determined” would be one wordto describe Washington TownshipHigh School.

With the number of sportsoffered at the high school, many ofthe students take the opportunity tobe involved. Not only is it a way tophysically stay active and fit, but toalso meet many new people. Theathletes prepare themselves by havinghard, long practices after school andwhen it’s game time, they play theirhardest to represent WTHS.

With all the hard work anddiscipline, many of the fall and wintersports had gone far throughout theirseason, winning games, making it tothe states and even to thechampionship. Now it’s time for thespring season with the Baseball,Softball, Lacrosse, Golf, Tennis,Volleyball, and Track Team to showwhat they’ve got this year.

The Boys’ Volleyball Team wasoriginally started at WTHS by CoachFrank Consiglio and Coach BarbaraMcBrearty. Coach McBrearty startedthe volleyball programs with the girlsnine years ago. The history of theBoy’s Volleyball Team isn’t asimpressive, only winning StateConference for one year in 2001.

They don’t get as much

With Drew’s leadership andsupport on the team, he’s much lookedup to from all his team members.

“Get involved in as much as youcan because I never thought of joiningvolleyball freshman year,” he advisesthe underclassmen. “I met a lot offriends and had the best memories onthe team throughout high school.”

Coach McBrearty explain aboutthis year’s Boys Volleyball Team.

“It was a very interesting year.I knew going in it would be a challengedue to the fact there was only onereturning varsity player. It wasdefinitely a rebuilding year, but weaccomplished our goal for qualifying

recognition as they deserve however,many visitors come and support themat home games. In 2003, JuniorVarsity finished their season with a17-0 record. Their strong JuniorVarsity Team will definitely help the

Varsity in the future years to come.This year, Coach McBrearty

moved up to Varsity coach due toCoach Consiglio vacating his positionthis year. Coach Mount took the placeof coach of Junior Varsity. Boy’scurrent record is 10-9. The cut offdate determining if they’re qualifiedfor State’s was May 17th. On May16th, their 9th win against Camdenallowed them to qualify. Their firstday of the State Tournament will beTuesday, May 24th.

This year’s Varsity Captain,Drew Fagundus, the only returningvarsity player leads the team tosuccess.

“Volleyball has been a lot of fun,never thought I’d get myself intovolleyball. It’s less stressful than othersports. It’s been a lot of fun with myteammates and coaches,” Fagundusstates.

for States.”She wishes to go even farther in

the future. “Next year, I hope toshoot for Olympic Conference,hopefully deeper with States withmore experience players.”

Washington Township Boys’Volleyball has worked hard to make itto State’s. Hopefully, this will beanother lucky year for the boys to have2005 printed on the volleyball banner.

Volleyball wil l always be afavored activity in gym, but for theteam, it’s no joke, no play, but allwork! Remember “Spike, Dig, orDie!”

Boys volleyball qualifies for states

Dave Zappacosta ‘06/The PatriotThe boys volleyball team on their way to Clifton for a StateTournament match.

“We had such a young teamlast year. Now that all of ourkey players have had one moreyear of experience, we areready to take the next step.”

-Head Coach Bill Alvaro

“Next year, I hope to shootfor Olympic Conference.”-Coach Barbara McBrearty

Strong lineup leads team to stellar 21-6 record

20



The girls’ relay team took homethe bronze medal in the 4x400 meterduring the April 28 Penn Relay fes-tivities at Franklin Field.

Andrea March’06, MariaFasolino’06, Laura Cundey’06, andShontae Smith’07 placed third in therace at the annual competition andcarnival held at Penn’s UniversityCity campus.

“It’s really exciting,” said Marchon participating in the Penn Relays.“There are so many people in thestands. It gives you an extra rush.”

“Although during the race youdon’t really notice the people,” addedCundey.

Cundey also feels that Marchgave a stand out performance duringtheir race.

“She passed a lot of people andgot me in second place so I could tryand hold on until the end.”

The team’s coach, Mr. BruceBurdsall, was pleased with all of thegirls’ performances in the 4x400.

“I’m very happy. The girls rantheir best times of the year,” saidBurdsall. “It is always difficult to getPenny Relays medals with all of theoutstanding teams participating. I’mquite proud of our girls for receivingmedals.”

The girls had to work hard toprepare for this race. According toMarch and Cundey, they practice ev-ery day after school until 5:00 PM inan effort to improve their times.

Also, Cundey, who runs middleand long distance as well as relay, has

had to put in some extra effort tobounce back from an injury she sus-tained earlier in the year.

“I wasn’t able to practice for solong,” says Cundey. “I got out ofshape, wasn’t able to run in any meets.It really effected my times.”

This team isn’t new to success,however. During the winter track sea-son March, Fasolino, and Cundeyplaced fifth in the Sprint Medley(which consists of two 200 m, one400 m, and one 800 m) at Nationals,earning them an All American title.

More recently, on Saturday May7, the girls attended the relay portionof the Ike Willis Meet at Rowan Uni-

versity and were all successful in theirother various events.

Smith and March helped set aschool record with their Shuttle Hurtleteam, which includes BrittanyMoore’06 and Amanda Covaleski’06.

Also running that day wereFasolino, Smith, Cundey, and team-mate Jackie Dim ‘08 in the SprintMedley.

The girls finished in secondplace with “one of the best times inthe state this year,” according to

Girls relay team takes third at Penn Relays

Burdsall. They also came very closeto setting a school record.

March also achieved a personalgoal when she set a school record of14.65 s in one of her other events,the 100 m hurtles.

“I think we did really good thisyear,” said March. “We got all Ameri-can and placed really high.”

“And it’s just the beginning [ofthe season]!” added Cundey.

The team has more competitionawaiting them in the upcomingmonth.


The Olympic Conferencedefending champs started this year’sseason with high hopes andexpectations. Their goals they madebefore the season was to win theconference again, make states, wincounty tournament, and win CarolArena Tournament.

Now, midway through the season,their goal in making states won’thappen. As of April 29, the Golf teamhad a record of 4-7.

Although the team won’t makestates this year, they are still alive intheir conference with a record of 1-2.

“It’s an up hill fight, but we canstill do it,” said first year Head CoachAnton. Even though the team has alosing conference record, Anton stillbelieves they can win the conferencebecause it is still up in the air for anyschool to win it.

“This is a very tough conference.Everybody is good. Everyone in theconference beats up on each other,”said Anton.

The conference consists oftough, challenging schools likeEastern, Lenape, and Cherokee, and

is one of the hardest conferences inthe state.

Assistant Coach Snyder said theteam “needs to be more consistent”and “work harder to have chance towin conference.”

Even though the teamthemselves will not qualify forstates, there are three players whoare close to competing inindividuals. They are captains ToddJanssen ‘05, Matt Zeiders ‘05, andBilly Pappas ‘05.

The three seniors have playedextremely well all year long and arehuge factors for the team. They arethe top three seeds on the team.Anton considers Zeiders and Janssento be the “most experienced” on theteam. Anton is very impressed withPappas’s performance and said thathe has “really stepped up.”

The other seniors on the teamwho have made big plays all yearlong have been the other captainNick Turdo, Jeremy Bernardo, Frankand Christian Anastasi, Eric Shoyer,and Marc DiGiavonantoni.

Anton and Snyder both agreethat Turdo has played “steady” as thefourth seed and that Shoyer is the

“most improved” player.The golf team also has depth

with their youth. There are golferson the team who have played brilliantthis year and who can step up and fillin the shoes of the graduating seniorsnext year.

A few names are DaveHenninger ‘06, Ian Hopkins ‘06,Scott Wright ‘06, Mike Biala ‘06,and Mike Cicalese ‘06. Anton ishoping that Henninger, Hopkins,and Wright will practice harder overthe off-season and be the top threeseeds next year.

The freshman on the team areshowing hints that they can becomegood, solid golfers.

“The freshman need moreexperience to be able to play at thelevel they are capable of playing at,”said Anton.Snyder suggests that the youth ofthe team look into getting lessonsand practicing a lot over thesummer.Anton wants everyone on the teamto raise their level of play.

“If we can be more consistentthen we have a chance to completeour other goals.”

Young golfers to lead team in future

They will be running in theGloucester County Championships,the Olympic Conference Champion-ships, and the South Jersey and StateChampionships.

Burdsall is confident in theteam’s ability and feels the success ofthe Penn Relays can be duplicated.

“I believe that our girls are start-ing to peak for these championshipmeets,” said Burdsall.

Should their coach’s assessmentbe correct, the relay team and theirfellow track teammates will be in fora very successful season.

“It is always difficult to getPenny Relays medals with allof the outstanding teams par-ticipating. I’m quite proud ofour girls for receiving medals.” -Mr. Bruce Burdsall

Hey, youlike to talk

sports?Join the

S.T.A.T. Pack forthe 2005-2006school year!

The girls’ relay team poses with their coach and a fewfriendly competitors at the Penn Relays.

Photo courtesy of Mrs. Jean March

21


Tiffany Narducci’05

If you don’t know her, MelanieHelterbran is the always cheerful girlthat lets everyone know she’s there.

A few weeks ago, she was alsonamed Gloucester County TimesPlayer of the Week for her perfor-mance as the WTHS softball pitcher.

For most people, this would bean amazing thing, but according toHelterbran, i t’s “more stress andmore pressure to be keeping yourgame up. Bad days are frownedupon.”

Helterbran has been playingsoftball for 13 years. She startedout as a child, being signed up foreverything by her parents to see whatsport she was good at and it endedup being softball.

And now she adds a twist, she isalso Coach Helterbran. Previously,she coached 10 year olds, now it’sthe 12 year olds.

One of the reasons Helterbranlikes coaching is because she feelsshe learns a lot more and can “fixmy mistakes by teaching them thecorrect mechanics.”

Helterbran noticed that theplayers on the team look at her as arole model and they are always try-ing to impress her and when coach-ing, you can’t be disappointed whenthey make a mistake.

“They have a 12 year old mind,that we don’t have anymore.” saidHelterbran.

Helterbran claims she has nosocial life—she is either playing ballor in the weight room and trainingto play.

Her schedule is fall ball (Sept.– Nov.), gym time (Dec. – Mar.),then spring ball (Mar. – Aug.)

Like any athlete, Helterbranagrees that it is hard too keep upwith school, but that no matter whather personally set bedtime is 10:30.

“I need a good sleep, because Iknow that I have to wake up thenext morning and do the same thingagain.”

This, being Helterbran’s senioryear, she says that senior activitiescome first, last year it was softball.

Helterbran’s closest friends un-derstand, but she knows it’s still hardand during her ‘off’ season, she re-kindles her relationships with herfriends, before she has to start overagain with softball.

Next year, Helterbran will beattending Elon University, a smallcollege in North Carolina, with about1,000 more people than our HighSchool.

Helterbran doesn’t like the ideaof leaving High School. She said ifshe was asked ‘What would you do if

Lauren McGuire ‘05

The Minutemaids softball teamis digging deep into the 2005 seasonwith an 18-3 record with about 3 gamesleft.

They started the 2005 seasonwith a challenging tournament win atthe Millville Tournament in April. Thegirls are currently fighting for theconference championship title, but asof right now share a co-championsspot with Lenape. (Look for that gamein the early weeks of June)

In the upcoming statetournament, there will be someobstacles that the girls will have toovercome such as teams fromRancocas Valley, Lenape, andVineland.

The girls have some hardmatches in front of them after fallingjust shy of wins at Rancocas Valleyand Hammonton Tournaments. Underthe instruction of Coaches TracyBurkhart and Angela Cardimone, thegroup is looking strong and hoping torepeat the state title last held in 2002.

The 5 seniors left on thisvarsity squad were only freshmen inthat last championship season, somewere apart of the varsity squad, butall shared in the excitement of theachievement. So what could be

Minutemaids swing away the competition

Helterbran sets goals for college, softball

better then to begin and leave yourWTHS careers with statechampionships?

Senior captain Katie McFarlandcomments on some personal goals tobuild up to a state championship, “Weneed to beat the teams we’re supposedto beat, and come together as a team.”

Those two aspects were seasongoals that need to continue throughthe rest of the season andtournament play. It’s important forthe girls to keep up their determinedwork ethic, and stay strong and

posit ive within the next coupleweeks.

Senior Captain Jesse Buchananadds, “Basically, we have to keepdoing what we’re doing and not slackoff. I t’s important not to take ateam for granted, and play the waywe’ve played all season.”

With only a few season gamesand tournament play left theMinutemaids are ready to takeadvantage of each open opportunity,on the road to a state championshipending.

The Minutemaids have played tough all season long.

you had one wish?’ Helterbran’srepled, “Repeat the four years of highschool over and over again.”

She said that she is emotion-ally holding on, like a child would toa security blanket.

Helterbran wanted to go to asmall school.

She said “[Leaving highschool] is a change in scenery that Idon’t like. I can’t imagine not see-ing the same faces everyday. Elon’snot that much bigger than the highschool [and was my college choice]for the same reasons.”

At Elon, Helterbran plans on

majoring in Biology Education, be-coming a High School Biologyteacher, and taking core classes aswell. With a 17 semester hoursin the fall , and 13 in the spring,Helterbran knows that she is an ath-lete as well as a student.

Helterbran called this year a‘climb as a team’ where she, and theteam, reached a comfort level andperformance peak and she likes whatthey are doing now.

In college, it is definite thatHelterbran will be playing softball,because she says she “has nothingto do without softball.”

Helterbran’s softball days werealmost compromised, on Friday,May 20, 2005.

While she was crossing thestreet, she was accidentally hit by acar.

Helterbran said she jumped onthe hood to avoid getting hit. Shealso sa id she doesn’ t remembermuch because she blacked out. But,fortunately, she walked away fromthe acc iden t wi th a f ew minorbruises.

He l t e rb ran’s t ime in HighSchool is almost finished, but hercareer in softball won’t be throughfor a long time.

Not only has Helterbran contributed to the softball team’ssuccess, but she also helps out in the 11/12 main office.

Meegan Wadleigh ‘06/The Patriot

Scott Grandrino ‘06/The Patriot

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issue 6 master layout · 2016. 3. 14. · the starmites. from there the play unravels into, for...

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