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Monday November 22, 2010 Volume XXXXI, Issue 1

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Magruder Boys Soccer State ChampionsBy Matt Schmitt

Prank Wars 2010-2011 Magruder Boys BasketBall Call of dutythanksgiving sPreadharry Potter 7aIn This Issue..

The Magruder Boys Soccer Team celebrating their 2-0 victory over Urbana High School in the 4A Maryland State State Championship.

Courtesy of roCkville PatCh

A proud Coach London raises his finger sym-bolizing that Magruder is the champion.

Last year the Magruder Boys Soccer had what might be called a down year, finishing with a record of 7-10. It was also announced this past summer that Coach Steve Pfeil, who led the 2007 Magruder team to the state championship, would not be returning. This string of events caused various media outlets in the county to ques-tion whether or not Magruder could return to the glory they once had. Well, first -year Coach Trevin London and the rest of the varsity Soccer team erased any doubt that may have once existed as they defeated Urbana High School in the Maryland 4A State Championship 2-0 on Thursday night. By doing so, they emphasized the strength of their legacy, having won three state titles in the last decade. From the start of the season London knew that he had no shortage of talent and skill on his team. The key to having a successful season was to make sure that the players were all united and team-oriented. As London said,” I needed to make sure that there were no eagles that would stand in the way of our team chemistry.” Luckily it did not take too long for the entire team to embrace this message. London was able to rely on his captains Brandon Weiner, Matt Greene and Andre Anderson to settle any conflcts among the players, run the routine warm-up drills and keep the en-tire Soccer team comitted. Then he could focus on making them mentally tough and prepared for their next match-up. As London said, there was no doubt that Magruder had a large amount of tal-ent of this year’s team. After all, Weiner and Greene were apart of the 2007 team that won the state title. Not to mention, the fact that Junior Nate Lee probably learned a thing or two from his brothers, Alex and Justin, who not only were on the 2007 team, but are now both play-ing Division 1 Soccer. In addition, the Colonels also received some help from student transfers. The additions of Senior defender Adam Smith and Junior Charles Chapin were both vital to this year’s success. Chapin, along with Junior Jamie Merriam, created the most dynamic strik-ing duo in the state. Chapin has speed, a nice touch , and a great ability to find the open teammate when drawing attention from the opposing defense. This usually led to many opportunities for Merriam to

shine. A crucial turning point came about half way through the season, when Magruder faced down-county power

Northwood. The Colonels ulti-mately fell 0-2, but there was an obvious change to the team fol-lowing the game. Many of the Colonels be-lieved that they should of won that game, so they made a vow. From then on they would not allow themselves to lose another game during the season. While London did not encourage this type of thinking, he did use this game to evaluate Magruder and think of ways to improve.

London emphasized that “the objec-tive was to make it as far as possible.” But in the end the vow payed huge dividends. When last Thursday and the game

against Ur-bana arrived, Magruder had put together an unbeaten streak of 14 games. But this number did not mean as much if they could not get the final win. London had a simple three fold strategy that he said he used the entire year, “ 1) Do not lose 2)Get a goal 3) Don’t give up a goal.” It is safe to say

that Magruder executed the strategy to

perfection. The Colonel Crazies were all behind the Soccer team, traveling up to UMBC and braving the cold weather. The large

crowd of students outmatched any crowd seen so far this year at Magruder. With the help of the “eager” cheerleaders and Magruder “mascot” Senior Mi-chelle Nicolas , the Crazies never let up their cheers of “pump it up” and “ole, ole”. In the process, Magruder made Urbana’s stu-dent section seem non-existant. As the game began it was clear that Magruder was feed-ing off the energy of the Colonel supporters. In the eighth minute, Merriam sent a rocket past the Urbana keeper, putting Magrud-er up 1-0. Not too long after in the 33rd minute, Magruder received a corner kick. After a lot of scrambling around the net, Senior Tan Thai was able to provide Chapin with the assist, putting the Colonels up 2-0. After that it was all but a sealed deal, due to experience and skill of the highly touted Magruder defense. The combina-tion of Weiner and Smith make it nearly impossible to get a clear shot. Even if they did, Urbana would have to deal with Senior goalkeeper Torsten Meuschke, who was the star of the game. According to London, Meuschke is “like a ninja and has crazy cat-like reflexes.” All year long he

has been a staple of the Colonel defense and his showing againist Urbana made it seem like his pro aspirations could become possible. As many teams found out over the course of this season, the combination of Weiner, Smith, and Meuschke is as solid as you can get. Urbana tried many times to get a rally going, but it was to no avail. As the final seconds of the clock ticked away, the Magruder student sec-tion lined up behind the side of the field, with the intention of rushing the field. Unfortunatetly entrance to the field was denied but that did not stop the Colonels from going crazy with their team. Greene summarized the experience best ,”We worked for this our entire four years of high school, we earned this, we outplayed everyone in our county and we didn’t settle for just winning the region. We had to take it all home.”

Monday November 22, 2010

The Messenger2

Bocce Ball Provides Chance for Colonel Unity You may have noticed an announce-ment on the Magruder morning show about something called bocce, and that there is a bocce club being started at Magruder. You may have wondered what bocce is, and what it is doing here at school. The answer to those questions is that bocce is a fun sport that is here to unite students who have disabilities with the rest of the school. Bocce (pronounced “bah-chee”) is being brought to Magruder, as well as six other high schools in MCPS, this winter as a pilot program called Unified Bocce, and it is going to be a varsity sport, with its season starting on December 13. Uni-fied Bocce is the result of a partnership with Maryland’s Special Olympics branch, which offers people with disabilities the opportunity to compete in competitive sports. At Magruder, Unified Bocce’s targeted members are the students in the autism program. Although the students of the autism program attend Magruder, they are all but excluded from the rest of

the school. The goal of Unified Bocce is to provide autistic students the chance to partake in a sport, and, in doing so, become more of a part of mainstream Magruder. However, bocce is not just for students with disabilities. In fact, it is quite to the contrary. Students who do not have disabil-ities are needed to make Unified Bocce a success. The club is look-ing for students who are will-ing to work with disabled students. The students will coach, manage, and play with disabled students to help them be-come better bocce players. They can earn SSL hours for doing so. Also, students who have not played a varsity sport at

Magruder can actually play on the team if they are academically eligible, complete a sports physical, and, of course, perform well at tryouts. Leor Newman, a junior who plans on participating in Unified Bocce, is inter-

ested in all aspects of the club. “I think this is a good opportunity to compete in a sport, gain SSL hours, and most im-portantly help out people less fortunate than myself. I think it will

be a great all-around experience for me.” Mr. Benjamin Johnson, who is sponsoring Unified Bocce at Magruder, shares similar feelings. “[Bocce] is a great chance for students who would not normally be able

to compete in sports to not only compete, but interact with new people. I think that it will be successful, beneficial to every-one involved in it, and, most importantly, fun.”Unified Bocce may be focused on athlet-ics on the surface, but its main objective goes beyond sports. It is a unique op-portunity to connect with people whom you probably have never communicated with at school, and to brighten their high school experience. Although helping out Unified Bocce gets you SSL hours, and possibly even a varsity letter, they do not fully represent the pure good you can do by simply being a friend to disabled students. Come find that out for yourself by joining Unified Bocce this year.

By Daniel Weintraub

Since the birth of the Internet, users have constantly been searching for ways to efficiently share files across the vast in-terface. File-sharing in its earliest sense, was first pioneered by Grateful Dead, a psychedelic band from the 1970s, who encouraged their fans to tape and share recorded live performances with fellow fans, free of charge. However, the idea of sharing music has taken a controver-sial turn. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is beginning to crack down on a fundamental aspect of the life of a modern teenager; the means of owning music. The media has been more frequently reporting on harsh pen-alties the RIAA has placed on an average citizen for simply downloading several songs, between numerous lawsuits and the government shutdown of Limewire. On the other hand, in the simplest terms, illegally downloading music is still considered piracy because it is the act of stealing copyrighted materials. But will there ever be a balance and will a line ever be drawn? As the Los Angeles Times reported on November 5, 2010, Jammie Thomas-

Rasset, a single Minnesotan mom, was ordered by successive juries to pay major record labels $1.5 million for illegally sharing 24 songs on a file-sharing website, Kazaa. The amount that Thomas-Rasset owes to the re-cord labels seems quite unreason-able. How-ever, the prosecution argues that $1.5 is a fair price to pay for piracy. Thomas-Rasset claims that “It’s not a fair law. In my eyes, it’s legalized extor-tion.” “I think that [the RIAA] is doing

that just to scare people into paying for music,” Andrew Mcclain, a Freshman at Magruder weighed in on the issue, “and I

think it’s work-ing. I don’t want to take my chances so I always buy my music off of iTunes and support my fa-vorite artists.” While many students at Magruder buy their music off of iTunes for various reasons, Nicole Heskett, a Senior, said that she “buys off of iTunes

because the songs have better quality

than songs that are downloaded off of Limewire.”

Another major twist in the contro-versy of illegally downloading music is the shutdown of Limewire by federal court on October 31, 2010. Limewire is a massive file-sharing program that allowed users to seamlessly search and download a wide variety of tunes. For ob-vious reasons, Limewire was shut down due to its hosting of piracy, but Magruder students are not too pleased. “I am upset that Limewire is gone because it was the greatest thing to ever happen to my iPod,” junior, Nadia Teasely explained, “I use Limewire because it’s free and I don’t want to waste my life savings on music.” Senior, Hannah Khan, believes that illegal downloading actually helps the artist in the end because “the songs can spread quickly, leading to more record deals and more filled concerts and overall popular-ity of the artist. So, the artists actually gain money.” Both sides of the controversy have strong practical arguments, but one thing is for sure; this issue must be settled as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Limewire: No Longer an Option for StudentsBy Corey Zagone

Drew Murphy listens to his I-POD filled with legally downloaded songs

Courtesy of Corey Zagone

Coutesy of synlaWn

Prank Wars 2010-2011Every year The Magruder Messenger and The Liberator Yearbook try to outdo each other by pulling pranks, in the process of trying to prove which is the better student publication at Magruder. Who do you think is winning so far?

The Messenger The Liberator

Messenger Writers Bryan Bricker(left) and Timmy Greene(right) covering the Liberator office with old news.

Liberator writers retaliated by filling the Messenger office with balloons and tape.

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Messenger 3

If there has been one movie, or series of movies to define the late 1990’s/ Y2K generation of movie goers, it is the “Harry Potter” book/ film series. This epic follows an adolescent as he grows up as a wizard learning he is destined to save the world. It may sound corny, but fans around the world agree that it is one of the most intricate and intelligent pieces in modern literature and film. Now with the finale’s first part, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One fresh in theaters, the level of fandom has stepped up to a new level. Ever since 2001, when the first installment was released to theaters, Pot-ter fans and film buffs alike have gathered with the arrival of each picture expecting it to top the preceding installment. This year was no different. One week before the movie arrived in theaters Self-pro-claimed “All-things-potter” expert, Phil Gross boldly stated, “I expect a movie that’s better than anything ever made or seen in theaters. The book was so great, one wonders, can any part not be great”? Phil surmised that this film would not only be the best “Harry Potter movie, but that it would be the best movie ever made. This overly-brash statement may seem like a hyperbole, but it became clear that many people shared this belief a

week before the film was released. A month before the fantasti-cal motion picture was released, it was announced that producers had decide to cancel plans to convert the footage of the movie to 3-D. The producers claimed that they had “fallen short of time…. [And] to rush to get it done would be un-fair to the fans”. This news arrived much to the disappointment of some fans who had been excited to see their heroes in the third dimension. Other fans seemed more practical about the situation, “I am glad that they made the right decision in not rushing to convert the movie that was filmed in standard 2D to 3D… I trust the director and producers”, said junior, Max Levin. When November 19th, 2010 finally rolled around, many students such as Levin and Gross sprang to see the picture early at a midnight showing. The movie generated money and buzz alike. Fans arrived in masses unparallel to any other film; at least until the next one comes out July 15th, 2011. Until then potter fans will have to patiently wait.

Courtesy of the lions orginiZation

By Jasmine Aviles-Vega Haven’t joined a club yet? Want to help out in your community and get SSL hours for helping out? If so, Leo Club is for you! Leo Club is all about community service projects. It stems from a national organiza-tion called “The Lions,” which focuses on getting kids to help in the com-munity. This club is active all year long, even during the sum-mer break for students. Proj-ects range from can food drives to helping out in the St. Martin’s soup kitchen every month. Students in Leo Club are able to chip in ideas on how to help the community, and they are able to partici-pate in projects that make a lasting impression. There are different projects members participate in, and with the holidays coming soon, there is much need in the different communities.One project that Leo Club works on every year is going to the Rockville Nursing Home close to Christmas to make and deco-rate a 2x3 ft ginger bread house, and sing Christmas carols to entertain the residents, who like to sing along with the students. This project helps cheer up the Home residents, making their holydays happier, and making them feel appreciated. Leo Club goes back to the retiring home during the year, and once a year they bring the Buscemi’s pet sheep to do what Mrs. Jenny Foster Heller, Leo Club’s sponsor, calls a

“sort of Show and Tell,” with the residents, who really enjoy the show. Another project is going to the Armed Forces Retiring Home in DC, to talk to the residents there, giving them company and something sweet to eat. Most of the residents at the Armed Forces Retiring Home are in disabled, and the

company the students give the residents a distrac-tion from the regular routine at the retiring home. According to Mrs. Fos-ter Heller, students bring the residents of both retir-ing homes “a little bit of life, a little bit of youth,” which they greatly ap-preciate. Students

themselves have a high opinion on Leo Club, because not only are students able to help others, but are able to make new friends of any grade level and meet new, exciting people wherever they help. Jason Agyeman, a Junior and correspondent-secretary of Leo Club, says that being part of Leo Club is “not that hard.” The only requirements to join Leo Club are to be-come an active member, participating in all the projects. Members are able to get many SSL hours and, like Jason says, students can “help others.” Meetings are held the second Tuesday of every month after school in room A-214 to plan community service projects. Come on, and join the club!

By: Drew Murphy

Courtesy of filM fila

Bowie State University is a public university located in Bowie, Maryland. Bowie State is Maryland’s oldest histori-cally black university, and one of the ten oldest in the country. BSU was found in 1865. It has twenty un-dergradu-ate majors, twenty master’s programs, two doctoral programs, ten graduate certifi-cate programs and many other signifi-cant academic programs. Ap-proximately 5,483 students attend Bowie State including 4,013 full and 1,470 part time. It has many academic clubs, fraterni-ties, honor societies, organizations, sororities, and student associations’ on-campus. Some more popular organiza-tions include the computer, education, French, and history clubs are examples of the academic clubs. Bowie State is also extremely affordable. In-state tuition for full-time undergraduates is $6,005. In addition, 77% of the students receive financial aid and ap-proximately 52% receive federal grants of about $3,321 on average. In September 2007, the University began negotiations with Prince George’s County for the transfer of 214 acres of land to the school. According to county docu-ments, the land would cost nothing if used for “educational purposes including facili-ties that benefit the welfare of students and

faculty in their educational experience at the University.” The addition of this land would increase the size of the university by 63%. The main focus for the land is the develop-ment of additional student dorms. The university is located between

the metro-politan areas of Baltimore, which is only 25 miles away, and Washington D.C. which is only 17 miles away. An on-campus MARC Train station and Metrobus stops provide access to local transit. The Bowie State Bulldogs’ ath-letes compete in the Eastern Division of the Central Intercol-legiate Athletic

Association, participating in the NCAA’s Division II. Some of the sports they play are Basketball, Football, Softball, Tennis, and Volleyball. Their football team currently has a .600 winning percentage this year at 6-4. The Bowie State University cam-pus has all the resources that students need to make the most of their time at the Uni-versity. They can get involved in more than 90 student clubs and organizations, includ-ing 12 fraternities and sororities within the Greek system. The campus also offers seven residence halls. The separation of Student Affairs and Campus Life and other offices provide an arrangement of support services to help students thrive, both academically and socially.

Courtesy of BoWie state university

By Iman Dasti

The Beginning of the End

Be Like a Lion College Corner: Bowie State

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Messenger4

Thanksgiving Plans:

“I’m going to be helping my mom make Thanksgiving din-ner. It’s always so much fun and I get to cook!” Katie Sweeney (2014)

“I’m going to hang out with my entire family and my siblings are all coming home from college. It’ll definitely be nice to have all my brothers home again.” -Adam Heller (2012)

Ingredients4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter 1 large white onion, diced 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or rice flour to make the dish gluten-free) 3/4 cup milk White pepper Dash salt (be careful because there is salt in the cheese) 3/4 cup shredded white Cheddar 4 to 5 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced 1/8 cup finely sliced white parts scallions, for garnish 1/8 cup bread crumbs for topping (omit for a gluten-free dish)

DirectionsPreheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an oven-to-table baking dish with some of the butter.

Melt the rest of the butter in a saucepan or small skillet and saute the onion until it becomes translucent. Gradually add the flour to make blond roux, then slowly add the milk and allow the mixture to thicken. Season with white pepper and just a dash of salt and remove from heat. (Be careful to avoid overdoing the salt, because there is salt in the cheese.)

Layer 1/3 of the potatoes in the baking dish, followed by 1/3 of the milk sauce, and 1/4 cup of the shredded white Cheddar. Repeat the sequence twice for a total of 3 layers. You can top with the breadcrumbs before baking, but omit if making the dish gluten-free. Bake covered for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, removing the cover for the last 10 minutes. (You can speed up the cooking time by pre-microwaving for 10 to 15 minutes before baking, or even par-boiling the potatoes.) The scalloped potatoes are done when the potatoes are tender. Let rest a few minutes before serving. Garnish with sliced scallions and bread crumbs.

Drew: “Everyone seems to love this dish. My grandma keeps this dish visually simple using only light colored ingredients. However, she also uses color too. Sometimes she tops this with bread crumbs. It’s my Grandma’s County Cork, Ireland famous family scalloped potatoes recipe!”

Great GrandmaMurphy’s Scalloped

Potatoes

Here are Drew’s great-grandma’s scalloped pota-toes last year on Thanksgiving Day.

Courtesy of Drew Murphy

Thanksgiving is soon approaching and families are begin-ning to buy a wide assortment of food for the festive holiday. Like most American Holidays, a main food group served at the dinner table is meat. But what is a vegetarian to do? Hold pick-et signs urging family members to refuse meat, while marching around the dining room table? As a former vegetarian, I understand the trials and tribula-tions one must go through during Thanksgiving. As a vegetar-ian I always found it funny that those around me thought it would somehow offend me to see others eat meat. On the con-trary, I was jealous. This jealousy stemmed from the "tofurky" that I chose to eat in replacement of "real turkey". However, I would not recommend trying the artificial meat, as it is compa-rable to plastic. It is also a myth that all vegetarians follow the same strict guidelines as the organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). PETA is known for employing radical tactics to ensure the safety of all animals, while dismissing those who oppose their views. As a former vegetarian, I was against many of the positions PETA took against those who choose to eat meat. On PETA's website they described Thanks-giving as ,"the time where families gather around the big, dead, stuffed mascot and give thanks (weird, right?)." I do not believe that Thanksgiving should be considered a holiday of "murder", regardless if meat is a prominent food group served during the festivities. Thanksgiving is a holiday to give thanks, not a platform for a political agenda.

ToFurky Time!By Cayla Baker

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2 1

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Messenger 5

“I’m going to be actually helping out at a soup kitchen. It’s always a good time to give back to the community on Thanksgiving!” - Natasha Fraizer (2012)

“I’m going to hang out with my entire family and my siblings are all coming home from college. It’ll definitely be nice to have all my brothers home again.” -Adam Heller (2012)

“Oh yeah, I’m going to be watch-ing football of course! Then there’s good food...what’s not to love about Thanksgiving?” - Chris Ryan (2011)

By: Corey Zagone

Beginning in 1966 in Philadelphia, Black Friday has consistently begun the winter holiday shopping season and al-ways takes place on the Friday after Thanksgiving, this year on precisely November 26th. This trend has grown immensely

so that we are used to seeing holiday sale advertisements on television even before Halloween. An estimated 135 million people participated in the Black Friday sale rush in 2007, according to Reuters, and even more will be hitting the stores, as well as the online retailers, this year.

The majority of the stores associated with participating in Black Fri-day and offering immense deals are chain stores, such as Wal-mart, Tar-get, Sears, Macy’s, and Best Buy. Target is proud to offer a Westinghouse 40 inch LCD HDTV for a mere $298, as compared to the regular price of $549.99, as well as various toys and trinkets that will surely please your younger siblings including a 50% markdown of a pair of $50 Eyeclops Night Visions Binoculars. Target is also offering select DVDs (The Blind Side, Marley and Me, etc) for only $3.99. Macy’s has been marketing some major doorbuster deals including $9.99 Men’s and Women’s Ca-sual Flannel Shirts, Buy One Get One Women’s sweaters, and $14.99 on select pairs of jeans.

However, many local or smaller chains offer deals of the same caliber as these major retailers. PacSun will be offering many 2 for $10 or 2 for $20 deals for various items in the store, as well as on the online store. Urban Outfitters has marked down many of their items by 75%, so it is recommended to definitely take advantage of these deal because urban outfitters is regularly on the pricier side. Forever 21 has also marked down many of their already inexpensive items by 50-75%. It is recommended that you shop at the newly renovated Forever 21 with a new Men’s section. Additionally, Gamestop is offering free shipping on all online orders over $20 until December 24th.

Colonel’s Choice: Black Friday

People go crazy during Black Friday, especially at places like Best Buy.

Courtesy of Corey Zagone

Quick Tips When Shopping on Black Friday:1. Research Black Friday deals (like in the Colonel’s Choice) to make a list of exactly what you need.2. Find out when the stores you need to go to open (stores open at all dif-ferent times).3. Make sure you set a time limit on how long you are in each store (it’s very easy to get swept up in the frenzy).4. Set a spending limit so you don’t end up spending too much extra money.5. Bring a good shopping buddy who can help you find what you need and will stop you if you go over the top when shopping!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2 1

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Messenger

6By Drew Murphy

For years one of Magruder High School’s most reliable team sports has been Basketball. Since the 2000-2001 seasons’ undefeated Magruder squad, who won the 4A state championship, the school has always looked to Coach Dan Harwood. Over the years the team has made strides to get back to this unparal-leled dominance they had ten years ago. In more recent memory, one may recall the 2007 team who suffered a tough defeat at the hands of rival, Sherwood. Last year the team went 12-11 suffering a disappointing defeat early in the playoffs, this year things seem different, as if there is a different team on the court, evoking memories of 2001 and 2007. “No fakin’ out there”. This is the self created motto of the Varsity Magruder Basketball team coined by Senior, Markus Davis. Davis explains his slogan by simply saying “it means just go out there on the court and don’t back down from the opponent. Play hard all the time”. It is clear the team has a certain aura this year that has not been seen in a while. They truly believe they have a shot at winning a state championship this year, and they certainly are not shy about it. “We realistically have a great chance to win it all, but it's going to take a lot of hard work, and we have a long way to go”, Junior, Jon Bass claims. They under-

stand the amount of work that goes into a championship and they are not under-estimating it, but you cannot help but see the confidence the team has going into

this season. There is another factor the team is by no means downplaying, the importance

of school support. Senior, Joe Emerusabe says that “school support is very impor-tant. The more ‘Colonel Crazies’ we have in the building, the more we feed off their

energy” If one is to look back on the team’s past successes, whether it be 2001 or 2007, one constant factor becomes

evident, the presence of an avid student section of fans who came out every game to cheer on their team. The “Colonel Crazy” atmosphere used to stop oppos-ing teams dead in their tracks more than any other school. “The difference this year as opposed to last year is that not only do we have many great players returning, but from the starting five, to the deepest spot on the bench, we are the best team on the court”, Bass boldly commented. The Colonel’s depth is a factor that greatly contributes to a championship team. When one really gets down to it, what wins games is skill, athleticism, and heart, and it seems everyone on the team has it. From seniors like Emerus-abe to sophomores like Nick Griffin, this team is strong, fast, and best of all, they play like a team. Starting at 7:00 PM at Clarksburg High School, the team begins their highly anticipated season. There is a feeling this year that Magruder students and team members cannot seem to shake. “It means a lot to have some support. We

have big expectations for this year and by students coming out it will be a big sup-port. They will be our sixth man”!

Courtesey of dreW MurPhy

Junior Luke Ruland, and Seniors(left to right) Salim Woodhouse, Markus Davis, Mor Ndiaye, and Joe Emerusaube look to lead the Colonel to a great season

Athlete Spotlight: Junior Hallie WhalenBy Reece Lindenmayer

Many students would not get up on a Saturday at 5:00 in the morning to do anything, and most students would not even consider getting up at 4:15 AM to swim before school. For Junior and Varsity swimmer Hallie Whalen, this is something that she faces on a regular basis. Whalen has been in pools since she was four years old, but did not start competitive swimming until she was 13. She is now a steadfast swimmer for the Magruder team. Let us take a look at Whalen’s intertwining life of being a student and being in the water. Whalen first became interested in competitive swimming when her swim-ming club coach told her she should move up to the next level. Whalen soon went from swimming in community clubs to swimming for Magruder. “It’s fun, the people are fun, I like being in the water, it’s good exercise, and it’s competitive too,” she said, listing the positive things about representing the Magruder swim team. But like with all competitive sports, there are sacrifices for being in such a focused group. “I have less time to hang out with friends, and on Saturdays I have to wake up at 5:00 [in the morning] for practice, and for ‘before school practice’ I have to wake up at 4:15 AM,” Whalen

commented. ‘Before school’ practices can be tough, as swimmers need to get up extra early on those days to get a swim in before school starts. Luckily, they are only twice a week, and Whalen makes sure to get a nap afterwards on those days. Two times a day, Coach Amy Tavares leads the swim team to the Olney Swim Center for practice. There, they practice for an hour, hon-ing their skills and building their strength until they can go home for the day. “An average prac-tice is a 2000 to 2500 meter swim,” said Whalen. One lap in the pool is 25 meters, so swimmers will swim up to a hundred laps by the end of the day. “Coach [Tavares] will watch us do our strokes, and if we are doing something wrong, then she stops and cor-rects us.” Whalen herself has specialties in swimming. Backstroke and distance

freestyle swimming is what she is best at. “There are four different strokes,” she said; “Freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly.” Whalen said that the Girls and Boys’ Varsity and Junior Varsity teams train together twice a week. She said that this

makes practice more competi-tive. “Girls wanna beat the guys and the guys don’t want the girls to beat them,” said Whalen, referring to the competition that the girls and guys have between each other. An-other plus is that there is more unity when the Varsity and JV swimmers

practice together. “The Varsity swimmers encourage the new swimmers to go fast,” said Whalen. There is no such thing as talent with-out effort though. “You have to work at it to get better,” Whalen said. “It’s a con-stant process. You have to work harder to get faster.” Just as important are the traits

needed to be a good swimmer. Whalen said that being “competitive, hardwork-ing, and physically strong” are goods traits needed in a swimmer. Whalen also did Cross Country to keep herself in shape over the fall season. She said that running helped her “cardio-vascular strength and kicking strength.” In her Freshmen year, Whalen had also made Washington Metropolitan Inter-scholastic Swimming and Diving Cham-pionships as a swimmer. Metros is the top championship, after Divisionals and Counties. This was one of her biggest achievements as a swimmer, and she plans to aim for it again this year. Whalen said that since Seventh Grade, she has improved substantially as a swimmer. She said that her parents have really supported her though. “They’re be-hind me whether I do swimming or not,” she said. Whalen said that they support her by driving her around, paying for her sport fees, and coming to her meets. A good athlete needs a strong foundation. Whalen seemed positive about the new season, and seems prepared to dive right into it.

Congrats to all Fall Sports for their Success

Magruder Basketball Looking to Rebound

Magruder Field Hockey- Made it to the State Semifinals and had of the best seasons in MHS historyMagruder Boys XC- Placed 1st at the Oatlands Invitational, 6th at Regionals, and qualified for the State Championship at Hereford HighMagruder Volleyball-Made it to the 4A West Semifinals vs. Sherwood

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Messenger 7

Duty Calls...Again Call of Duty or CoD is one of the single most popular first person shooter franchises of our time. Traditionally, the game has had two producers that switch off every year. So, one year Infin-ity Ward would release a game, and then the next year Treyarch will release the other. Of course by doing it like this, the two com-panies are in a battle to out-do the other each year. This year was Treyarch’s turn to release a game. Treyarch took what Infinity Ward did with Modern Warfare 2 last year, and ex-panded the idea using the same principles. Treyarch has added their own flair into the game by throwing a curve ball to the way people gain experience and earn upgrades. In previous CoD games, to earn new guns, equipment, and perks you rank up, to earn new attachments, you get kills with the gun you want the attachment on, and to get camo on your guns you get head shots with that gun. However, now with every game you play you get a certain amount of what is called “CoD Points” which is basically like currency. With the CoD points, you can buy guns, equipment, perks, cam-ouflages, and attachments. This means instead of simply unlocking a gun when you rank up to a certain level, you have to rank up to that level and purchase the weapon with your CoD points. CoD points can also be used in other ways however. With the addition of CoD points, they had to incorporate them into the games somehow. They created new game types

called “Wager Matches”. In this game type everyone puts a certain amount of CoD points into a pot and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place player get shares of the pot. There are 3 different lev-els of competi-tiveness “Ante Up”, Weekend Gambler” and “High Roller”. Each making you progressively put more in the pot than the last. You also have the

choice to “Double Down”, and if you get enough people in the game to double down everyone then puts double the money in to double the prize. But in the midst

of all the change, Treyarch goes back to their roots by bring back the game type “Nazi Zombies” by popular demand. In

this game type you get together with some friends and fight undead zombies to survive for as long as you can. The game made its first appearance in their 2008 game, “Call of Duty: World at War”.With all the added goodies Treyarch also added much more customization that players can bring to their character. You can now buy your own titles and em-blems and even edit them, put more than one emblem on, and bend them to make different shapes. Also you can choose an option to have your clan tag written on your gun. A “clan tag” is what you use to show what clan you belong to. A clan is a group of friends who player together as a team, whether professional, or just for fun.Treyarch did a great job living up the hype that the Call of Duty franchise has brought on. They have changed many things since their last release in 2008, and have taken the idea of Modern War-fare 2 and made it better with new addi-tions. With all the new added game types I am convinced that there is a game type for everyone, no matter what.

Back To The MoonBy Bryan Bricker By Cayla Baker

Taylor Swift released her second album entitled, ‘Speak Now’, on October 25th. Although I enjoyed her first two albums, I was disappointed at her second go- around. Listening to the album was much like listening to one song that never ended. The melody and lyrics were repetitive throughout the album and made it almost impossible to listen to. Swift has had a safety blanket in writing songs about bad breakups and great romances; however, she seems to lack the ability to widen her topics. After two albums chalk full of teenage love songs, it has become a bore to listen to. In regards to the melody, each song is like the last. Most songs are slow, heart-felt ballads, which work well with Swift’s ability to tell a story with her lyrics, but fail at keeping the listener interested. Songs such as ‘Speak Now’ and ‘Enchant-ed’ would have been great on an album that also incorporated fast tempo songs;

however the melody in each is mimicked in almost every song on the album. Upsides to the lyrics in the album were the secrets that Swift revealed to the world. ‘Dear John’ was rumored to be about musician John Mayer (an alleged fling of Swift’s) and it was later confirmed that he, in fact, was the inspiration to the song. In the song, Swift sings, “Don’t you think nineteen is too young to be played by your dark twisted games, when I loved you so?” At the time of the relationship Swift was nineteen while Mayer was thir-ty-two. Taylor, don’t you think nineteen is too young to be dating someone a decade older than you? If the record had a wide variety of songs and melodies, it would have been more enjoyable for listeners. Advice to Taylor for her next record: Leave the cookie cutter image behind, and do some-thing original.

On November 9th, 2010, Kid Cudi re-leased the second part of his Man on the Moon trilogy, Man on the Moon 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager. The hype preceding this album was great after the success of his last album and Kid Cudi’s new album lives up to it. Kid Cudi changed the direction with this album still using his laid back style, but the blending of a little more R&B gives this album a different, but still refreshing feel. Songs like REVOFEV and Scott Mescudi vs. The World give listeners a taste to this different style, but listeners can still get the classic Cudi experience by listening tracks like Mr. Rager and Don’t Play This Song. It is hard to rate this album be-cause it is so different than the original Man on the Moon, but the difference is what makes this album so refreshing and laid back. Many Kid Cudi fans may not like this album as much, but they

have to consider that this album is too different to compare. What I liked the most about this album was the beats that were put together for the songs. The best part was that they did not overshadow the lyrics, but instead enhanced the effect of the lyrics. The split of the album into five parts, help to clearly seperate the differ-ent styles across the album. This makes it easier to find a group of songs that you can enjoy on the album, and it makes the album more of a story. Overall this album is not what I initially expected, but I was taken back to the moon with Kid Cudi and I was left extremely satisfied and sitting on the edge of my seat for the release of Man on the Moon 3. I give this album a grade of 9/10.

By Timmy Greene

Spoke too Soon

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Monday, November 22, 2010

The Messenger8

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MEditor-in-Chief

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Arts & Entertainment Editorcorey ZaGone

FeatureS editorcayLa Baker

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iMan daSti

tiMMy Greene

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The Magruder Messenger

Dear Phoebe, I don't like the way some people treat me. I’m really nice to everybody but no one returns the favor. It's a lose- lose situation. Even some of my teachers are like that too. Please help me? -Invisible

Dear Invisible, That seems like a very tough situation to be in, but you have to remember that being mean to everyone isn't going to get you anywhere, either. Just continue to be nice to the people around you, and I know that soon enough, the favor will be. Make sure to carry yourself with confidence, because with the right amount of confidence, you can avoid getting taken advantage of by mean people. Also, your teachers should never act disrespectfully towards you. You may be misinterpreting their actions, but regardless of whether their attitudes towards you are intentional or not, you should approach your teachers after class in private, and discuss with them (in a respect-ful and polite manner) how you are feeling. If the same behavior persists after, you should tell a trusted adult (parent/guardian) and try to arrange a meeting with them present in order to get to the bottom of the situation.

Ask Phoebe