stentoriannorth carolina school of science and mathematics stentorian@ncssm.eduvol. XXXII, issue 3 october 2012

the

The UNI’s Fighting Hunger Club worked to spread hunger awareness in a variety of different activities and events for each week during the month of September, or Hunger Awareness Month.

The Go Orange month kicked off with Orange Weekend, which included the Orange Out soccer game against Cedar Ridge and the flash mob on Family Day.

Students attended the soccer game in orange and cheered the team to a 1-0 victory. The NCSSM Chorus surprised many parents on Sept. 8 with a rendition of Andy Grammar’s “Keep Your Head Up”.

From Sept. 10-14, the club introduced the Facebook Orange Out. Students posed in front of a “Go Orange” backdrop and posted it as their

profile picture on Facebook during the whole month. Its purpose was to have constant awareness online for not only NCSSM students, but also the whole online community.

During the third week of September, the club promoted the Dine Out sponsored by No Kid Hungry and participated in the Creative Food Drive,

or Canstruction. Chain restaurants like Bruegger’s Bagels and Papa Johns donated part of their revenue to No Kid Hungry.

The NCSSM Volleyball team hosted the second Orange Out game of the year on Sept. 20 against Roxboro, winning in three sets. The players and coaches supported hunger with

NCSSM goes orange for hunger awarenessBy Su Cho

their orange socks and ribbons. On Sept. 22, UNI’s

Fighting Hunger as well as other organizations in North Carolina worked to spread the awareness of hunger during Canstruction. Students from the club used cans of food to create an original work of art incorporating science and mathematics. The club worked

hard to build a periodic table, a beaker, and the equation, E=MC2.

The Creative Food Drive raised cans for the Food Bank for Central and Eastern North Carolina, which is the largest food bank in the state. The food drive also benefited New Hope, an organization focused on housing for the homeless in Durham.

The Go Orange month came to a close with the Chalk the Sidewalk. Students decorated the campus with hunger facts and posters.

“The reason I think fighting hunger is such an important cause is because hunger is real and is all around us,” said senior JoJo Drake, president of UNI’s Fighting Hunger. “We as individuals may only be one person but even so we’re capable in making a difference.” A Chalk the Sidewalk statistic about hunger

Social business competitors meet Nobel Laureate

Courtesy of Andrew Peterson

Unicorns to move up to 2A division

NCSSM’s athletic staff recently confirmed that the school will move from the 1A to the 2A division for athletics beginning in the 2013-2014 season.

The student body is largely unaware of this change. A sizable number prefer the change, but most students are apathetic to the shift.

In a poll of 100 random NCSSM students, only 28 responded that they had heard anything about this change.

The majority of these were athletes and friends of athletes, which means that the athletes, .

Of the 100 students polled, 30 were directly in favor of the shift, with 18 opposed to it.

Senior Yohana Dierolf commented, “It seems like a lot of our teams are owning at life, so I think they’ll appreciate the challenge.”

Put more bluntly by senior Christopher Panuski, “All we do is win.”

Senior Jordan Clark-Brown is not so certain the shift is a good idea. “It is good for the soccer team; it’s bad for most everything else,” he said.

However, the majority of the polled students are apathetic to the changes. Most of these students commented that they just aren’t into sports.

“We’re an academic school, not a sports school,” said senior Alexander Jacobsen.

One other student, senior

JoJo Drake, finds both positives and negatives in the scenario.

“I mean, the issue isn’t so black and white. On one hand, this is great for our good sports teams, who will have increased competition and probably increased scouting. On the other hand, a few of our sports teams aren’t so good, and I worry for how they will fare in the 2A environment.”

The decision to switch will cause NCSSM to play bigger, tougher schools.

The decision comes off the heels of the 2011-2012 Wells Fargo Cup, an award NCSSM received as the best 1A school in athletics in the state this past year.

In addition, NCSSM is on the cut-off line in terms of population between 1A and 2A schools. Greg Jarvis, NCSSM Athletic Director, said, “It’s going to be different for us. We’re right on that fringe between 1A and 2A.”

One big potential bonus his shift entails is increased scouting. By increasing the difficulty of competition, more college scouts may come to the school to scout for potential players for their teams.

The school will remain in the Coastal Carolina 1A/2A conference, but will move into the 2A division. This shift also means NCSSM will only play Raleigh Charter once a season instead of twice.

By MitChell tague

NCSSM students met Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus at the UNC Social Business Conference on Sept. 27. This competition was the first time NCSSM students were given the opportunity to compete on the university level for entrepreneurship.

The goal of the competition was to design a social business to meet a need in the community.

Faculty sponsor Alison Blaine explained, “A social business addresses a social problem or need in the community. Mohammad Yunus started several social businesses to address poverty in his home country,

Bangladesh.”Yunus received the Nobel

Peace Prize for his efforts to create social and economic development. He did this by developing the concepts of microcredit and microfinance, which allows individuals in poverty stricken areas to start small businesses.

NCSSM presented two proposals: one about a summer camp to promote healthy eating, and one about using video game software for vocational training.

Senior Helen Powell presented one of the team’s proposals, and Yunus sat in on her presentation. Afterwards, he told NCSSM parents, “These kids have it right. This is the way of the future.”

Powell and several other NCSSM students met Yunus after their presentations. She said, “Meeting Yunus made it a lot more personable. We’ve been working with real people in the community and him being there made it seem real and worthwhile.”

Powell worked with several other NCSSM students to prepare for the competition, and the team had to create several business proposals.

Each student who represented NCSSM in the competition was nominated by the humanities department. They worked with their faculty advisor throughout last year and the beginning of this school year to prepare for this competition.

By andrew PeterSon

Stratton Barth, Kristen Michele Larson, Matt Gibson, Ryan McCord, Ally Pfotzer, Patrick McKeen, Helen Powell, and Allison Blaine with Muhammad Yunus at the UNC Social Business Conference

Courtesy of Helen Powell

State expected to lead ACC in college basketball By: Carl yin

As November approaches, so does the start of the college basketball season. This year looks to be an especially competitive one, especially in the ACC.

For the first time in many years, neither Duke nor UNC heads into the season as the ACC favorite, as NC State looks to be the team to beat this year in the ACC.

Here is a preview of the three local ACC college basketball teams.

DukeEven though Duke had only

one senior, Miles Plumlee, graduate last season, they will be short a couple of key players. Austin Rivers, debatably the star of the Duke team last year, decided to forego his college career for the NBA Draft.

Andre Dawkins, still struggling with the death of his mother and sister his freshman year, has decided to redshirt this season. Lastly, Michael Gbinije late last season decided to transfer to Syracuse, mainly due to the lack of playing time he received at Duke.

However, Duke will be receiving a fair share of help from new incoming

players. After redshirting their freshman years, Marshall Plumlee, the youngest, yet the tallest of the Plumlee brothers, and Alex Murphy will begin their college basketball careers.

Duke’s incoming recruiting class is small, but talented. Shooting guard Rasheed Sulaimon and small forward Amile Jefferson are both McDonald’s All-Americans and will look to make an immediate impact.

Though Duke may not have the same star power as years before, they have the experience to go far in the ACC and NCAA tournament.

UNCAfter a stellar season last

year, UNC comes into the 2012-2013 season without 4 of their 5 starters from last season.

Justin Watts and Tyler Zeller graduated last year, while Kendall Marshall, Harrison Barnes, and John Henson all opted for the NBA Draft last summer.

As opposed to the forward-heavy team of last year, UNC will be a very guard-heavy team this year. Dexter Strickland, Leslie McDonald, Reggie Bullock, and P.J.

Hairston all return to create a formidable backfield for the Tar Heels.

Up front, James McAdoo needs to emerge as a star, after a great freshman year off the bench.

Incoming freshmen point guard Marcus Paige, power forward Brice Johnson, center Joel James, and small forward JP Tokoto need to make an impact and help fill the voids.

Look for Marcus Paige, a McDonald’s All-American, to make an immediate impact

and maybe even start as point guard. Nonetheless, UNC will not have the same amount of talent as they did last year, and this year looks to be a rebuilding year for the Tar Heels.

However, they will still be a strong contender for the ACC, and can make a serious run in the NCAA tournament.

NC StateWith a tremendous

recruiting class and a strong returning class, NC State starts

off the season as the team to beat in the ACC.

In only his second year at NC State, Mark Gottfried has absolutely turned the team around. This year’s team returns all but five players, two of which graduated and three of which transferred.

Of these five players leaving, only two, CJ Williams and DeShawn Painter, saw significant minutes.

Williams was a starting shooting guard who averaged 10 points a game and Painter was a second-string forward who looked to have an expanded role this year.

The incoming freshman class is one of the best NC State has ever seen. The class is made up of three local recruits, guard Tyler Lewis from Statesville, forward TJ Harris from Durham, and guard Rodney Purvis from Raleigh.

All three were McDonald’s All-Americans, and will all get significant playing time from the start.

Combined with the returning talent, which includes junior CJ Leslie, NC State is clearly the preseason favorite for the ACC and a top contender for the NCAA tournament.

Duke guard Andre Dawkins has elected to redshirt this seasonCourtesy of Zimbio

Sports news from outside the bubbleBy: Steven liao

Parity sweeps across the National Football League

“Any given Sunday” has become one of the biggest mantras in NFL circles.

In the past ten years, there has been an average of less than four 3-3 teams heading into week 7. This year? Eleven. The group includes the all of the AFC East, the Green Bay Packers, and the Denver Broncos.

In fact, only two of the teams in the entire AFC have a winning record heading into week 7. Those two teams are the Baltimore Ravens (5-1) and Houston Texans (5-1).

The Atlanta Falcons are the only undefeated team left this year, but they hardly appear unbeatable, barely eking out wins the past three weeks against the Carolina Panthers, Washington Redskins, and

Oakland Raiders.The effects of parity have

been noticeable in Vegas as well.

Underdogs are 57-32-2 against the spread coming into Week 7 this year, the second highest rate in the past 35 years.

Additionally, the underdogs have outright won 40 of 91 games, the highest win total after six weeks in NFL history.

World Series approaches; A-Rod under scrutiny

The Major League Baseball World Series started on Wednesday October 24, 2012, with the San Francisco Giants taking the first game with a 8-3 romp over the Detroit Tigers.

The Giants defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the conference title series, and

the Tigers beat the New York Yankees.

Against the Tigers, Alex Rodriguez, who received the highest-paying contract in MLB history in 2008, was benched for two games. Rodriguez also received heat for allegedly flirting with fans in the stands during Game 1 of the series.

Rodriguez’s future with the team remains unclear, with his 10 year, 275 million dollar contract complicating possible transactions.

NHL Lockout continuesThe NHL lockout is over

one month old, but there still appears to be no imminent deal between the players and owners. The owners recently rejected three offers from the players.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said of the offers “It’s clear we’re not speaking the same language in terms of what they came back to us with.”

The first game of the 2012-2013 season was scheduled for Oct. 24, 2012. With progress in talks fairly stagnant, it is looking more and more likely the 2012-2013 season will be a reduced season, or perhaps not even played at all.

Lance Armstrong keeps sliding

On Oct. 17, Lance Armstrong stepped down from

his position as chairman of the Livestrong Foundation. Later that day, Nike severed its ties with him.

Armstrong was recently banned for life from cycling, and had fourteen years of accomplishments erased from his name due to strong evidence from the United States Anti-Doping Agency regarding Armstrong’s doping. The evidence included 26 testimonies, including 11 from former teammates.

Despite no longer being a chairman for the cancer-fighting foundation, Armstrong will remain a member of its 15-member board.

Kobe Bryant under fire for calling out former teammates

In a recent interview,

Kobe Bryant looked back on the 2005-2006 season, commenting on how poor the rest of his team was.

Bryant received a lot of heat for his comments on Smush Parker: “Smush Parker was the worst. He shouldn’t have been in the NBA, but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. We let him walk on.”

Parker later responded by first admitting tremendous respect for Kobe’s work ethic and basketball talents, but later criticizing Kobe’s personality.

“What I don’t like about him is the man that he is. His personality. How he treats people. I don’t like that side of Kobe Bryant,” said Parker

The entire situation has generated a mini-controversy over whether Bryant is a good teammate and leader.

Alex Rodriguez is being carefully observed after incidents in past seasons Courtesy of WNYC

Lance Armstrong recently stepped down from his chair of the Livestrong Foundation Courtesy of Wall Street Journal

october 2012 the stentorian | ncssmsports2

NCSSM’s fall play Push/Pull, written and performed by students at NCSSM premiered the weekend of Oct. 19-21.

When I first heard about the concept for Push/Pull, I was a bit skeptical at first. Sure, the idea sounded great, but would Science and Math students actually have the time to coordinate such a production, and moreover, to do it well?

My anxiety and nervousness for my fellow classmates only increased when I heard my friends in the play talking about nonsensical lines from the play such as, “Wait! Don’t eat that mushroom!”

However, within the first five minutes of the play, my doubts were quelled. Push/Pull was an astounding

Push/Pull, an astounding performance performance that brought brilliant writing, amazing tech work, and phenomenal acting together seamlessly.

Push/Pull made remarkable observations about human nature, the relations between success and failure, reality and expectations, and love and relationships.

The play was beautifully performed and part of the power of the performance was not just in what was said, but was shown through the actions and movements of the piece.

Push/Pull captured little bits of truth in an artistic manner; there were times when I couldn’t help but nod along, thinking to myself “That’s so true!”

Of course, it wasn’t all serious; there were well-

By: MarCy Pedzwaterplaced moments of comic relief, perhaps most notably a chemistry joke about significant figures.

It was the serious moments, however, that defined the play. Perhaps the most powerful scene in the play was “Prayer,”

which left a lasting impression on the audience.

Push/Pull seemed to leave more questions unanswered than answered, but did so in a way that made it seem like it wouldn’t have made sense to do it any other way.

Overall, Push/Pull was a remarkable success for NCSSM theater.

Freelance Whales, Mumford and Sons, Jason Aldean reviewed

By: MarCy Pedzwater

This fall, the indie band Freelance Whales, folk rock band Mumford and Sons, and country artist Jason Aldean released new albums. Freelance Whales’ album, Diluvia, was released on Oct. 9, 2012.

Mumford and Sons’ new album, Babel, was released on Sept. 24, 2012. Jason Aldean’s new album, Night Train, was released on Oct. 16, 2012.

DiluviaFreelance Whales’ new

album Diluvia is utterly unremarkable. It had no huge flaws, the music flowed well, it was calming to listen to, but nothing stood out about the album. Each song transitioned to the next without any distinguishing characteristics.

The lyrics were okay, but they weren’t great and there certainly wasn’t anything quotable from them. The album might make good background music, but it’s certainly not something that I would seek out and listen to over and over again.

The album wasn’t bad; I didn’t cringe when I listened to it and there wasn’t anything that I didn’t care for.

The problem with the album was that there was n o t h i n g to set it out from all of the other new albums that have been released in the past month.

There were no stellar harmonies, breathtaking melodies, moving lyrics, or jaw-dropping instrumentals to make the album stand out. Based on Diluvia, it’s hard to envision Freelance Whales gaining much traction in the music industry, and for good reason. 2.5/5 stars

BabelMumford and Sons’ most

recent release was impressive. The unique style of Mumford and Son’s continues to stand out in their third album.

Their vocals are distinctive and alluring, with harmonies that are used sparingly, making their impact that much greater when the harmonies are used.

The instrumentation is impressive, with heavy use of banjo, giving the band a distinctive sound. The opening song, “Babel” showcases the bands talents, and completes the song with great lyrics.

The biggest downfall of the album, however, was

its lack of variation. Each song sounded like the song before it, and at times when I was listening to the album, the song would change, and I

wouldn’t even realize it. The album had two styles,

the song with an upbeat tempo with heavy banjo strumming, and the song that started slow, but, once it reached t o chorus, returned to the upbeat tempo of the songs before it.

The only exception to this pattern was

“Ghosts That We

Knew,” which was perhaps one

of the best songs from the album. The

song seemed more raw, and deviated from the pop

music mold of the rest of the album.

Hearing the band use a lighter style of banjo that supported the vocals rather than carrying them was a refreshing and necessary change of pace. Mumford and Sons clearly has great talent, but to produce a truly

remarkable album, they must introduce more differentiation between their songs. 3.5/5 stars

Night TrainJason Aldean’s new

album was fair. The vocals of the album were

phenomenal;

Aldean has a

g r e a t voice for

c o u n t r y m u s i c , and his album showcased this. The album had strong variation,

between slower songs like “I Don’t do Lonely Well” and faster paced songs like “This Nothin’ Town.”

One of the standout songs from the album was definitely “Talk,” with its smooth melody, and flowing instrumentation. The song was dynamic, and the transition from a slow tempo at the beginning to a steadier tempo towards the chorus was impressive.

The beginning of the album was pretty unimpressive, but the later tracks began to grow on me.

The first few songs lacked any remarkable characteristics, but as the album went on, the songs improved tremendously, deviating from somewhat stereotypical country music to a sound that seemed more authentic and unique to Aldean. Overall, the album was a success, but could have used more fine-tuning. 3/5 stars

SG teams address student issues

Student Government. Every school has it. Every one of them plans Halloween dances and or Valentine candy grams. But how often do you see SG making a real difference, a change that can significantly affect your time at school?

The Student Government Association at NCSSM begs to differ. As one of the most engaging and active student organizations on campus, SG serves to represent the student body by working with the administration to make practical changes in students’ academic and residential life

Academic Affairs works with Academic Programs to bring positive changes to the learning environment.

Currently, the committee is focusing on improving Grade Transparency and scheduling process. To be a part of the committee or for comments and concerns regarding academic life, contact the Committee Chair, Siddarth Modi at modi13s@ncssm.edu.

Programming Committee plans student activities and events on campus including Mr. Unicorn, seasonal lock-ins, spirit week, Powderpuff games, Senior Breakfast, College App Day and the list goes on.

In addition, Programming also appoints the mascot, Charlie the Unicorn. The committee is led by Natalie Ung who can be contacted via email at ung13n@ncssm.edu.

Public Relations works to improve communication between Student Government and the Student Body.

The PR committee organizes weekly Let’s Talk on Mondays during common lunch in which students can stop by to speak to an SG representative. In addition, the PR Task Force consists of students that specialize in computer graphics, designing, and writing to further aid in promotion of SG and SG-related events. Please Contact

Continued on Page 4

october 2012the stentorian | ncssmfeatures 3

By Sarah lee

Director of Public Relations, Jay Buchanan, and the Chair of Public Relations, Albert Hong, at buchanan13j@ncssm.edu and hong13s@ncssm.edu, to get involved.

Student Affairs prioritizes improving the quality of student life at NCSSM. In recent months, Student Affairs has gained a number of student discounts from 9th street.

The committee is currently focusing on creating a “Smather’s Guide to Durham”, implementing the Privilege Card system, and organizing group college visits and tours in addition to expanding the library hours during exams.

For questions or concerns or to get involved, contact the Chair of Student Affairs, Corey Su at su13c@ncssm.edu.

Apart from individual committees, the Executive branch serve the Senate to make an impact not only on-campus but off-campus as well.

President Anita Simha is currently working with the Sustainability Task Force to utilize the Green Initiatives Grant offered by University of North Carolina Association of Student Governments (UNCASG) to support sustainability on campus.

Treasurer Ankit Gupta is working to ensure a balanced budget and simultaneously fulfilling the needs of student organizations. Kyle Elmore, the SG Director of IT, is working to improve SG Website and possibly to create an extended website for student organizations.

Student Government always welcomes students’ input. For any questions or concerns, or to be a part of Student Government, email sg@ncssm.edu or visit the website at www.ncssm.edu/sg/.

Continued from page 3

opinionoctober 2012 the stentorian | ncssm4

Calendar options require student input

By: Jordan harriSon and Jay BuChanan

DISCLAIMER: The following is not

intended to reflect the actual views of the writers. This work is only intended as an exercise in debate.

PointThe Calendar and Schedule

Committee has been hard at work developing calendar options that fit with NCSSM Strategic Planning goals, such as increased synchronicity between residential and DEEP schedules, more common time for students and teachers, and alignment of breaks with major holidays. They have come up with five options: the current trimester system, trimesters with a November intercession (essentially an extended Mini-Term), semesters and/or quarters with Mini-Term, semesters/quarters with a January intercession, and semesters/quarters with both Mini-Term and an intercession.

It is essential that the school stay on a trimester schedule.

What makes NCSSM unique and different from other schools is our variety of classes and unique electives, such as graph theory, classical mythology, and computer science.

One of the goals of strategic planning was to preserve “authentic choice of courses and electives” for students.

Moving to a semester system would decrease that authentic choice.

In a sample of 16 student schedules on the current trimester system that were converted to a semester system, three schedules lost one elective, three schedules lost two electives, one schedule lost three electives, and two schedules lost two or more electives, whereas only five schedules gained electives.

While some departments, such as math and chemistry, would like semesters because they would give classes more “soak time”, the engineering and technology department would likely lose student participation, as it doesn’t have a graduation requirement.

Another benefit of trimesters is that they align well with fall, winter, and spring sports. Therefore, when students go home for trimester breaks, they can rest easy knowing that they not only are done with assignments, but also won’t get rusty in their chosen sport over the break.

Some migh argue that our unusual trimester calendar is what is keeping UNC from establishing an articulation agreement with NCSSM; however, many colleges operate on a quarter system, which is essentially a trimester with a summer session, such as Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, UCLA, California Institute

of Technology, and others. Experience with trimesters would give students a leg up at these schools.

Changing the current calendar to semesters would require exhaustive curriculum development, time for which would be better spent elsewhere when we have a functional and efficient trimester system already in place.

Moving to a semester system would require that students have a 6-course load instead of 5-course load. While many proponents of semesters argue that longer courses in the calendar year would take stress off of students and allow more time to learn course material, but having more classes per day would just add that same stress back into the daily schedule.

CounterpointA number of new schedule

proposals include a shift from the current trimester system to a semester system. This system is being considered because it will promote a number of programs and will benefit students more than the trimester schedule.

The length, depth, and breadth of knowledge that courses can impart to students is one of the primary arguments favoring a return to the semester system. Several departments claim that with a longer period to cover the material of their discipline, students will develop better understanding.

Courses that are currently two trimesters in length would be lengthened to two semesters, or a full year, which would yield more time for alternatives to the traditional lecture, like field trips and creative projects.

Proponents of the semester system also argue that a full semester or year for courses would allow for more free time during the week. The

homework load could be lightened because classes could move at a slightly slower pace and those courses that meet five days each week could start meeting four times instead.

This free time would give students more opportunities to rest, as well as meet with their teacher for consultation.

The semester system is significantly easier to coordinate with Distance Education and Extended Programs (DEEP). DEEP operates on a semester system in accordance with North Carolina public schools in order to serve the online students who are still working on semesters at home. This coordination would not only make it easier on the DEEP faculty and online students, but also on the residential students enrolled in web-based courses, who currently have to plan their breaks around scheduled visitation weekends for DEEP students.

The holiday calendar would also be much more manageable on a semester system. Particularly in the cases of November and December, trimester breaks and extended weekends fall at inopportune times, causing

the stentorian the north carolina school of science and mathematics 1219 broad street, durham, nc 27705

stentorian@ncssm.edu

Editors-in-Chief: Carl Yin, Jay Buchanan, Jordan HarrisonNews Editor: Rosalia Preiss

Features Editor: Mia MadduriEntertainment Editor: Marcy Pedzwater

Opinion Editor: Sarah LeeSports Editor: Mitchell Tague

Writers: Adam Beyer, Su Cho, Stephen Liao, and Andrew PetersonAdvisor: John Kirk

severe gaps in instructional time. With exams taking place before the winter holiday break students would be free of stress and homework over their time with their families.

Perhaps the most interesting addition to the annual schedule that could come with semesters is the intercession. Much like a full month of mini-term study, the program would allow students to take a month-long pair of courses for academic credit in specific disciplines relating to their interests.

Proponents of semesters feel that intercession could provide an easier transition into school following winter break (as it would most likely take place in January) and could break up any monotony that might arise due to lengthened courses.

Other options that could be provided by changes to the trimester or semester system are more evening courses, an alternative “A-B Schedule” (in which one week of each month would come with time built in for field trips and projects).

Todd Roberts, NCSSM Chancellor, will release a decision based on the results of focus groups and Calendar and Schedule Committee meetings later this year.

Elective gain and loss on semester system in 16 diverse schedules Courtesy of Calendar and Schedule Committee

SG teams at work

SG General Meetings

WEDNESDAYS 12:25-12:50PM

Every other SUNDAY 7:00-8:00PM