The PageS T . P A U L ’ S S C H O O L

APriL 2011

JaPan Club Raises $1,300 foR ReliefALeC WHiTe ‘13

The earthquake struck around 2 pm JST or 1 am EST on March 11: a 9.0 magnitude disaster that shook Japan. The earthquake’s epicenter was Sen-dai, on Japan’s East coast about 200 miles away from Tokyo. Following the earthquake was a 70-foot high tsunami, several 6.0 magnitude aftershocks, and a Chernobyl sized nuclear reactor meltdown outside of Tokyo. The disas-ters have left over 500,000 Japanese homeless and 10,000 dead. Japan is not alone in its struggle to rebuild after its largest recorded earthquake. Charities from Europe to America have come together to raise money and send relief to Japan.

Here at St. Paul’s, The Japan Club has raised over $1,300 for the Japanese Red Cross. They have been selling red wristbands, organized a free dress day, and sold rice balls at lunch. The free dress day was $2, the wristbands have a recommended donation of $5, and the rice balls were $1 a piece. Ap-proximately $230 was raised from the rice balls and $1,100 from the free dress and bands. The Earth Day T-shirt profits are also being donated, but the total has not been tallied yet.

Mrs. Julian, who is the proctor of Japan Club, says the on campus generosity is encouraging: “Some even gave money and didn’t take a rice ball or wrist-band.”

The Japan club chose to give to the Japanese Red Cross because there are no fees for the Japanese division and they have a distribution committee that directly distributes the money to the local governments affected by the di-saster. The fund raising for the Japanese Red Cross is apparent on campus. The halls are filled with people wearing little red bands that read, “Hope for Japan” in English and a literal translation of “Let’s cheer for Japan” in Japa-nese. The school even organized for the entire student body to send a video message to Japan to show them that we care.

The red bands are still on sale in the office and Japanese room. All donations are accepted but $5 is recommended. The work to rebuild will take many years and a lot of hard work because many small cities and town were lost in the tsunami. The Japan Club hopes to keep raising money and continue to help rebuild Japan.

feaTuRes sPoRTs

news The Middle, Lower, and Upper Schools gather to send a video message to Japan. In the background a banner reads “ganrare nihon” meaning “good luck Japan.”

Photo Mr. Brown.

on The Road wiTh evan sChwab evAn SCHWAb ‘12

Smart cars… if you have seen one you will understand this rant. If not, imagine a stall in St. Paul’s Upper school Third floor bathroom with two seats and an engine the size of a large lunchbox. That’s about the size of a Smart Car. The Smart Car runs on an in-line 3 cylinder 1L engine and gets 33 MPG city and 41 MPG highway with a 300 mile range, not very good for a car so small. This is especially so since Lexus just came out with a Hybrid that is twice the size and gets over 40 miles per gal-lon and 187 HP versus the smart car’s whopping 70 horsepower! Be careful or you might just get up to 70 miles per hour! The one advantage of a Smart Car is its un-canny ability to fit into any parking spot, anywhere. Instead of parallel parking, you can simple pull straight into a parking spot and be perpendicular to the sidewalk, yet not stick out in the road at all.

The most interesting thing about the smart car is how well it holds up in a crash. Guess what? It doesn’t. Even though the smart car has safety features comparable to that of a Mercedes Benz, like side and knee airbags, it only weighs 1,700 pounds. Imagine how that would stand up to a Ford Explorer, weighing almost 4,600 pounds and twice as long? There are basic physics at work here which I will leave to Mr. Stine to figure out, but if both cars hit head on at 40 MPH, it’s clear who would fare better.

However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and even though I think it looks like a large toaster with wheels, some people find it attractive and have spent the $14,000 on a new one. I drove one once and although acceleration was decent, the steering was lackluster. It felt like a large go-kart with 50 more horsepower. Everything aside, the Smart Car is still the best car in the world for parking in Baltimore.

CRime and PunishmenTCAmerOn DACHiLLe ‘13

In a psychologically enthralling 85 minutes, Baltimore Centerstage presented the theatrical adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 700 page novel, Crime and Punish-ment, which was brought to the stage by Curt Columbus and Marilyn Campbell.

Given a cast of three actors, and what initially appeared to be a rather lack-luster set, I didn’t know what to expect. The leading character, Rodion Romanovich Ras-kolnikov [played by Eric Feldman], is a former student living in a less-than-lux-urious apartment in St. Petersburg. The play opens to black stage with a spotlight on Raskolnikov, sitting in a chair. Soon after, another spotlight illuminates Porfiry Petrovich, a detective, who is presumably present to question Raskolnikov [played by John Leonard Thompson]. The two exchange questions and answers until the is-sue of a murder is revealed.

We are introduced to several female characters, the most notably recurring being Sonia Semyonovna Marmeladova [all portrayed by Lauren Culpepper]. The play continues on, showcasing Raskolnikov’s concept of ordinary men – who are to abide the laws of society and lay low – paralleled by the extraordinary men – fewer in numbers, but advanced thinkers who may bend the rules for their ideas. Raskol-nikov is eventually revealed to have committed a murder, using this theory as justi-fication.

Eric Feldman portrayed the role of Raskolnikov beautifully. Feldman, along with his unkempt beard and tattered clothes, looked the part from the moment the first spotlight was shining on him. Every monologue he presented was with conviction and clearly amplified the desire Raskolnikov possesses to be “a Napoleon.” His con-versations with his mother were heartfelt and even called for tears. His connections with every character were distinct and truly built up relationships, pivotal in mak-ing the production come alive.

This, however, cannot be done without other characters. John Leonard Thompson had the booming voice and collected demeanor that is to be expected from Porfiry, the detective who suspects Raskolnikov of committing the murder. His persona seems to be a typical suspicious investigator. However, as Raskolnikov begins to share his theories on ordinary versus extraordinary men, a visible change is made. The two begin to develop a genuine friendship, or acquaintance at least. Lauren Cul-pepper’s responsibility, playing Alyona, Lizaveta, Raskolnikov’s mother, and Sonia, was handled seamlessly and astounded me from scene to scene. Having to switch between characters who all have such different relations to Raskolnikov, and mak-ing those bonds realistic, is a role not many are capable of. The relationship shared between Rasklonikov and his mother was warm and sincere, while Sonia and Ras-kolnikov do not exactly get along until he is revealed as the murderer of Alyona. Lighting cues played an instrumental role in scene changes.

There was not a single set change. The stairs, door, bed, chair, and desk that were on stage never left once. This was both impressive, but also, my only complaint. A real set change would have drawn me in further. Alternatively, the speed of this set change could slow down the performance, which had an amazing pace. Overall, I can truly say Centerstage did an “extraordinary” job with Crime and Punishment.

sePTimus bean: a life in inkFOrD DUvALL ‘13

Septimus Bean, Mrs. Bean’s husband, has been a topic of interest at our school. Be-tween the balloon animals, his work in the theater, and his tattoos, everyone seems to want to know something about him. I decided to get to know him a bit, and I decided that the tattoos were the best place to start.

Mr. Bean and I met at Café Zen for dinner and talked about his tattoos. On his left arm he has a sleeve of native American rock art, which I always wondered about. I was most interested in these at first, but Septimus started with something complete-ly unexpected.

He told me that the reason he started with tattoos was as a substitute for acupunc-ture. He reasoned that he responded to acupuncture therapy very well, and a tattoo would cost the same as an acupuncture session. Mr. Bean said that he considered whether the permanent nature of a tattoo would be reflected in the feeling. When he was 31 years old, Septimus got his first tattoo, a tribal wrist design on his right arm with J.A. tied into it (for Jenn and Alyx, his wife and biological daughter re-spectively.) Mr. Bean said that he responded to the experience so well that he went back the very next day and got a native American petroglyph of a hand with a spiral in it, a common symbol in cave art. After this, he repeatedly returned to the tattoo shop instead of the acupuncture clinic.

Septimus’ left arm was planned image by image, with many symbol based off of na-tive American rock art. As his family grew, these tattoos progressed, representing his life experiences in pictures on his arm. He later tattooed the native American symbol for father figure, mother, and child on his arm, but he left space for more because he knew that he and his wife were going to be adopting soon. He added images of his other two adopted daughters in the same space. His arm continued to evolve as his family did, telling his life story illustration after illustration.

One day Septimus was inspired and combined the shamanistic symbols for “Bean” (his last name) and “Father” to create a “Father Bean” symbol, that he got tattooed on his lower arm/wrist. This became a recurring symbol on his arm. One incred-ibly interesting thing about it, to me, was that he did not plan these tattoos or push them. He simply waited for inspiration to come, and when he was inspired, he had the tattoos done.

The father-bean symbol appeared once again on Septimus’ upper arm, above the maze of life, symbolizing how Septimus has worked through the maze of life thus far. The next time the “Father Bean” appeared was on his left hand, along with his family symbolized on his fingers again. He actually did the design in marker, and when he saw it in ink, he knew he had to get it tattooed. He went to an artist and got it done in permanent ink as soon as he could. He told me that it was “meant to be.” And when he looks back on pictures of himself before he had that tattoo, he looks almost incomplete, because the tattoo is missing.

The last story from his left arm was a tattoo of some kind of animal running with 26.2 tick marks. He got this tattooed the day that he ran his first marathon. He has left space on his left arm, so when something else big happens in his life, he’ll be able to continue telling his story.

Septimus’ right arm is more meaningful to him, as it includes symbols that he holds dear to him, and what he calls his “birthday tattoos.” The first tattoo on his right arm that he pointed out is Prince’s symbol. He told me that he isn’t a die-hard fan, but the symbol is homage to Prince’s creativity, and it’s amorphic. The next tattoo he pointed out was a Joseph Campell quote, and then another small text tattoo reading “surrender all expectations,” which he says is a good motto.

Each birthday, Septimus’ family designs a tattoo for him as a surprise. His first birthday tattoo was designed when Alyx was four years old. Since then, every year on his birthday, Septimus has gone into a tattoo shop, been blindfolded and sat in the chair. When the blindfold was taken off, he would have a brand new tattoo from his family.

Septimus’ last few tattoos on his right arm are more motivational. One is a tattoo of the word “Alegria,” meaning ultimate state of happiness. On his right hand, Sep-timus has a tattoo of Salvador Dali, the surrealist artist. On the rest of his hand, he has a melted clock from Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory.” He also has the word “Chronomentrophobia,” meaning the fear of clocks or time.

The last story that Septimus told me was the story of his name. Septimus Bean was born Josif Bean, and he said that the name really never fit him, so he took the name of a children’s book character, named Septimus Bean. He has this character tat-tooed on his right leg. Septimus changed his name officially 11 years ago, because it resonated with him more. Septimus was very into medieval themes and renaissance fairs. He and Mrs. Bean actually had a medieval wedding at a renaissance fair. For him, the name Septimus was “perfect.”

Septimus has provided me some important information and a few words of advice about getting a tattoo: Tattoos are not for everyone...don’t rush into getting ink per-manently applied on your body. Anyone under 18 should wait and discuss obtain-ing a tattoo with their parents. Everyone should take some time to research your design and the tattoo shop, making sure the shop is licensed and using sterilized equipment.

Never allow “a friend” to tattoo you, it is not safe; Nor will it be a good tattoo. Take the threat of getting HIV/AIDS or hepatitis as one of the dangers of getting a tattoo seriously. For more information on safely getting a tattoo, visit https://www.msu.edu/~krcmari1/individual/get_health.html.

College Road TRiP: wake foResTWiLL enSOr ‘12

Wake Forest

Location: Winston-Salem North Carolina

Enrollment: 4,500 Undergraduates

Tuition: $41,500

Academics:

Wake Forest’s classes average twenty students as a product of being a smaller school. To help each student during college they are assigned two advisors. The library is nine stories tall and has a Starbucks if you ever need some coffee. Wake Forest has over 400 study abroad programs which many students participate in. Wake Forest’s most competitive major is Business which has a 70% acceptance rate. Wake Forest students are able to apply for the graduate school as sophomores and can continue to apply as juniors and seniors.

Outside the Classroom:

There are 200 clubs and organizations, including club lacrosse, in which students can get involved in. Greek life is a huge part of Wake Forest, but it differs from other schools. Freshmen do not actually join the fraternity or sorority until their second semester. Wake Forest is a member of the ACC and has competitive Division I ath-letics, including football and basketball. Both the football and basketball stadiums are located just off campus, but Wake Forest offers free shuttle services to and from the stadium. About five minutes from the campus is the city of Winston Salem, which has a cool downtown area.

Campus:

Wake Forest requires students to live on campus for three years, with an option for living on campus as a senior. Many students do stay on campus for all four years, partly because of the air conditioned dorms, but mostly because of the great cam-pus. Wake Forest has two main eating areas, one of these being buffet all-you-can-eat style. You can literally sit in there all day and eat as much food as you would like, the food looked amazing, hence “the freshman 15”.

Application:

Wake Forest’s application differs from that of many schools as they require an in-terview which can be either in person or via Skype. Their application is a “holistic read,” with the three main components of the application being GPA, curriculum, and curiosity. The curiosity segment focused mostly on the writing portion of the application. In addition to the common application Wake Forest has a series of oth-er questions in which play a major role in the admission process. Notice test scores are not a significant part, as Wake Forest is test optional. That being said only 28% of applicants did not submit a test score and they did not identify the percentage of those applicants that were admitted. The early decision deadline for Wake Forest is any time after completion of your junior year, and the regular decision deadline is January 1st. Note that the interview can be done after the application is submitted. And also if you are applying to the art program they request a portfolio in addition to the application.

sPRing shoRTs ends dRama seasonmike AnDerSOn ‘11

During the evenings of April 7th to April 9th, students from the St. Paul’s and SPSG Upper Schools performed the Spring Shorts in the Ward Center Theater. The Shorts included a conglomeration of student written productions as well as acting show-cases presented by the Theater Arts 2 students of Mr. Chris Briante, the Theater Director for both schools. This predominance of student responsibility, talent, moti-vation, leadership, and teamwork has been a decisive factor in determining whether or not past Spring Shorts were absolute rejects or resounding successes. Writers say the unique experience of writing a play has provided students with an unforgettable experience and insight into a different side of theater.

“For me, the pleasure of writing has always been in the creation”, said Vincent Car-bone ’11, writer of play, The Late Shift. “To watch a character of your creation come alive on stage instills in me a deep, almost paternal pride. That said, I wouldn’t trade my time with the theater department for anything.”

Unlike Fiddler on the Roof or The Man Who Came to Dinner, practices were more relaxed and less stressful until the week leading up to opening night. Students had the option of auditioning for and participating in more than one short. Practices averaged at roughly three times a week, which were led by the directors assigned to each short, most of whom were students.

“Being the director of The Late Shift was a great experience and I’m extremely grate-ful to Mr. Briante for giving me the opportunity”, said Devin Seldon, “while it cer-tainly had many difficulties, overall, the cast worked well together with each other. Just the opportunity to bring such a brilliant comedic short together was worth the while.”

The types of short plays varied in style and genre. There were dramas like Prep, writ-ten by Brad Mutchnik ‘12, a story about the conflicts experienced by two students (Duke Entwistle ’11 and Daniel Trazzi ’12) in an ultra-competitive boarding school. Other plays included the comedy Happy Holidays, which deals with family Thanks-giving dinners, and Cide, a period piece murder mystery set in 1885.

Although everyone praised each short for their story lines and talented actors, a large majority praised Carbone’s The Late Shift as the performance that completely stole the show. The Late Shift deals with the humorous story of an exasperated wait-ress, Mary, (Norie Knipp ’11) as she struggles to deal with a variety of outrageous customers ranging from the bizarre artist Giorgio (Duke Entwistle) and his equally outrageous publicist (Cameron Smith ’12) to the hysterical antics of the B.G.R. (Black Gay Racist) portrayed by A.J. Koikoi ’12.

After the free student night performance, student and teachers alike provided great positive feedback, with the only complaint concerning the fact that Shorts were not so “short” in length. Many students commented that they were surprised by the high quality of the shorts and the professional attitude of the actors, directors, and writers.

“There was no tension or anxiety about not fitting into the group. It’s just fun. You get a chance to act outside the box”, said Junius Randolph ’11.

Unfortunately, the widespread success of this year’s Spring Shorts was somewhat overshadowed by Briante’s departure.

As one student, who wished to remain anonymous, mentioned: “Mr. Briante was always there for me whenever I needed a shoulder to raise me up. He helped me break out of my shell and become a more sociable and confident person as well as improve my skills as an actor. Out of all the teachers I have ever had at St. Paul’s, Mr. Briante has impacted me the most. I guess the saying ‘you don’t know how good you got it till its gone’ is bluntly true to the core.”

Mr. Briante has indeed left a truly unforgettable legacy that will be deeply cherished by students from both St. Paul’s School and SPSG who experienced his lessons ei-ther as member of the cast for one of the theater productions or a student in his Theater Arts class. Even though this year’s Spring Shorts brought the curtain down on Mr. Briante’s career at SP, he and the other actors experienced a thunderous round of applause that threatened to bring the house down.

Norrie Knipp, AJ Koi Koi, and Cameron Dachille act in the final proformance di-rected by Mr. Briante. Photo Mr. Brown.

sCReam 4: noThin’ To sCReam abouTbrAD mUTCHnik‘12

After a decade full of horror movie remakes, torture films, creative and unrealis-tic deaths, and the explosion of the found footage genre, the slasher film seemed to have taken a hiatus from the screen. During the late 1980’s to the mid 1990’s, the slasher movie was ironically considered dead. That was until 1996, when Wes Craven re-established it with his hit new movie “Scream.” “Scream” revitalized this murderous motif, proving it to be scary while maintaining its status as a proper satire. “Scream,” after all, critiques the horror movie “rules” while trying to live by them. The “Scream” franchise gave new life to the genre before, seemingly tearing it to bits.

Until now. Scream 4 was supposed to “reboot” the horror franchise. The series’ pro-tagonist, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), returns to her hometown of Woodsboro on the ten year anniversary of the “Woodsboro Massacre” in which she survived. After a period of peace, a new masked killer emerges, making threatening phone calls, stabbing teenagers, and stalking Sidney, her friends and fellow survivors Dew-ey Riley (David Arquette) and Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox).... Cousin Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts) also gets stalked.

The infamous openings of the Scream franchise are entertaining, and this opening is no exception. It plays off of the stupidity of horror sequels while making jokes about modern horror movies such as the “Saw” series. However, after the first thirty min-utes of the movie, it falls victim to the over complexity and comedic over tones that most horror sequels suffer from. The film tries so hard to live up to the original that it became cliché and boring.

Also, once you find out who the killers are, they can not live up to the psychopathic characters portrayed in the past films, which makes Scream 4 a little boring towards the end. However, the dialogue is as fresh and “hip” as it is in the first two scream movies. It tries to make fun of modern horror and it keeps a rather long movie moving along at a faster pace. Scream 4 is entertaining, yet cliché to the slasher movie cinema it critiques.

Grade: B-

williamsbuRg is wheRe Time sTands sTillryAn beLTOn ‘11

While looking at colleges, I had the unique opportunity to relive some memories from my St. Paul’s career. I asked the middle school if I could tag along for the 5th grade Williamsburg trip so that I could visit the College of William and Mary. They happily agreed, and for the second time in my career at SP, I headed towards the birthplace of America with some of SP’s finest.

Before leaving, I tried to remind myself how excited all of the 5th graders would be so I could prepare myself for the gratuitous amount of noise I would encounter. That made me remember how excited I had been to go. Studying Early American history all year, culminating in a trip to one of the places where it all happened. The excitement of going out of town on a school trip was enough to make me smile. I remember not being able to wait for the countless adventures I would have. I also remember how every waking moment of the day was planned and accounted for, so adventure was not an option. There was never a moment that wasn’t planned. We marched on the lawn of the magazine, toured the Governor’s Mansion, and count-less other historical events. Then of course there was the gift shop, what every kid waits all day long to visit. As I looked back on my trip those were what I thought was the important parts. I was wrong.

Being with the 5th graders reminded me what had made the trip so truly memo-rable. It was the people I went with. The real fun from the trip didn’t come from any museum or historical facts we learned, it came from what we all did together. The awesome part of the trip was being with everyone in our grade for an entire two day period. We had our own rooms with T.V.’s, we played video games with each other, which regardless of what any adult tells me it is still an appropriate form of bond-ing for children in our generation. The Williamsburg trip was a huge landmark in Middle School, and what made it important was the people we did it with. I’ll prove my point, how much fun is it to go to a movie by yourself? None--it kind of makes you look creepy. I hate to use cliques, but here we go: live it up, we won’t be with all of the people here forever and High School only last four years.

The geRman ConneCTionWiLL enSOr ‘12

In early April, St. Paul’s opened its doors to twenty new students from Münster, Germany. This is the twentieth year that St. Paul’s has been involved in a foreign exchange program with the Pascal-Gymnasium school.

While visiting, the German exchange students toured St. Paul’s, commenting on how large it was in comparison to their school in Germany. There some other distinct differences between Amer-ican and German schools. In Germany, there are different schools based on merit... or, as Sophia Gräler explained, “if you aren’t smart you have to go to other schools.” Sophia also commented that German schools are “harder and more strict” in comparison to American schools.The Germans also engaged in some St. Paul’s activities, like watching the club lacrosse team and the baseball team.

The students also visited Baltimore where they toured the Inner Harbor. Sophia, a foreign ex-change student, commented on how interesting Baltimore was compared to her hometown of Münster. One of the main differences many of the students found is how spread out and large Baltimore was.

“You have to drive a car everywhere” commented Caterina Cichon, a stark contrast to Münster where traveling by bicycle is one of the most common forms of transportation.They also visited American institutions such as Five Guys, Starbucks, and McDonalds. Stereo-types, while taboo, inevitably popped up in the course of conversation.The German students all smiled, and were reluctant to answer until Christophe Limberg spoke up.

“We hear that all Americans are fat and (eat) unhealthy food” and Americans don’t look at their country very open minded.” Does he find these stereotypes to be true? “ “Yes,” Christophe re-plied without hesitation.

There were some disagreements. Sophia did not find the American stereotypes to be true, saying “not everyone here is fat. But there is a lot of fast food.”

The German found out about America was negative though. They all agreed that Americans were very polite, always holding the door and saying hello.

They also really enjoyed their trips to American landmarks, such as New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. “They were very interesting,” commented Caterina, regarding the cities and landmarks.

Mr. Stollenmeyer, the head of the German department, commented on the exchange programs success. “The exchange this year ran as if on rails. The students blended perfectly with their counter-parts at SP and made fast friends within the first week of their stay here.”

St. Paul’s students who have finished German II are eligible to participate in the exchange, which takes seventeen students to Berlin for three weeks after graduation. “We are looking forward to a wonderful experience abroad in Münster,” commented Mr. Stollemeyer on the exchange, which happens every two years.

German exchange students and their hosts gather. Photo TJ Root.

sunny Times in PhiladelPhia foR The PageALeC WHiTe ‘13

On Thursday April 14th, The Page staff traveled to Philadelphia to visit The Philadelphia In-quirer. Our host was Bill Marimow, a former editor of The Baltimore Sun and The Philadelphia Inquirer. This was The Page’s first field trip of the year. We received the opportunity to go to Philadelphia because Mr. Marimow, a former St. Paul’s parent, wanted to help critique our writ-ing and share with us what it feels like to work at a newspaper.

We set off on our journey to Philly at 7 a.m. I traveled with coffee in hand. The bus ride with five other members of The Page staff and Mr. Kasper went by very quickly. When we arrived in the city we initially had trouble finding a parking spot. That was only because the bus couldn’t fit into the parking garage. We settled for a spot in an old garage with high ceilings.

Mr. Marimow greeted us outside before ushering us into a small elevator to take us to his floor. The floor he worked on used to be where the presses were. The floor was open and had big ceil-ings because of its history. We received a quick tour of all the departments and a little biogra-phy on them before arriving at a small conference room where we discussed the layout of The Inquirer’s front page. We learned that the front page of a newspaper includes a mix of local, national, and even international stories. Mr. Marimow was eager to get us involved in the news making process. We participated in a writing exercise about reporting a controversial story. The exercise involved deciding whether to report a story about a former Governor’s son getting ar-rested at 19 for drinking and driving. We had to decide whether the story was worth publishing, and if so, where it should be published.

Mr. Marimow critiqued three of our articles that were entered into contests and offered con-structive praise and criticisms. We then discussed the articles about education and K-9 police squad brutality in the 80’s that earned him a Pulitzer Prize Award. He shared with us some tips on writing and getting into journalism and took us to the editor’s meeting where the editors of the paper discussed stories.

After the meeting concluded, we called a cab and went to Jim’s Steaks on South Street. On the way there I asked our cab driver if he know where “Paddy’s Pub” was from FX’s TV show “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.” He didn’t respond and the rest of the drive was awkward. At Jim’s, everyone ordered the “must have” cheese steak with chesse wiz and fried onions. The meat was cooked on an open grill and prepared right in front of us. The process of ordering at Jim’s was quick and interesting. You had to say what you wanted with no hesitation right away or you would slow the line down.

Collectively we agreed that these were the best cheese steaks any of us had ever had before. Af-ter the signature Philly meal we walked back to The Inquirer. Outside of Jim’s we encountered a man talking to himself about the Philly’s, we almost got hit by cars going into parking lots the wrong way two more times, and we talked about how we enjoyed, and were going to regret, those cheese steaks.

The Page speaks with Bill Marrimow, former editor-in-cheif of the Baltimore Sun and Philidelphia Enquirer. Photo TJ Root.

CRusadeRs laCRosse on a RollTOm CHeek ‘11

The Varsity Lacrosse team has had no easy games in conference play this season. The Crusad-ers are now 6-3 in the conference, sitting in third place in the Red Division. St. Paul’s started off conference play with an 11-2 win over Severn before dropping two games in one week. Calvert Hall gave St. Paul’s its first conference loss 5-4, and McDonough added another loss to the Cru-saders record, dropping them to 1-2 in the conference.

They then faced the red hot Saint Mary’s Saints, who were 3-0 in the conference and power ranked No. 1 in VSN’s top 20. St. Paul’s traveled to Annapolis for its toughest game yet, and it turned into a dogfight. The Crusaders prevailed 7-6, making a statement to the league that any-body can beat anybody.

St. Paul’s would have had a bye in conference play, but would take on nationally ranked Garden City (NY) that weekend, on the road. Once again, they would have a dogfight on their hands, and once again would pull away with a win. Robby Maddux would score three goals as St. Paul’s slipped away with a 7-5 win over Garden City.

Shortly after, Gilman came to Brooklandville with a big win under their belt from the Friday before. Gilman had beat Boys’ Latin before, and had a little momentum going into the game. St. Paul’s jumped out to a quick lead before losing it, and the game would go into overtime. Gun-nar Waldt made 4 key saves in overtime, including one right on the doorstep, diving across the crease. Spencer Parks came around the goal on the dodge, hitting the corner pipe with his shot. Jay Carlson would scoop up the loose ball and put it into the back of the net, sending Gilman home with the loss, and improving St. Paul’s to 3-2.

St. Paul’s would then smoke Severn 17-7, getting another season sweep. St. Paul’s looked for redemption the next week against Calvert Hall, losing a 9-6 battle that was really closer than it seemed.

The Crusaders then took on the Dons of Loyola, a game in which St. Paul’s faced adversity at its strongest. St. Paul’s found themselves down 9-7 with just about one minute to go in the game, Taylor Michel fired in a goal on an extra-man opportunity, making it 9-8 Loyola. Junior Ben Brehne controlled the faceoffs well that day, and was able to scrap for a ground ball and give the ball to Spancer Parks, who dodged down the left side, and snuck a shot in the corner to tie the game up at 9, and send it to overtime. Once again, Brehne was able get the ball out, but Connor Curro came up with a huge ground ball in overtime. Jay Carlson slipped in the mud, but quickly got back up as he swam over a Loyola defender, and was able to stick a shot in the bottom right corner for the win. Loyola fell two games behind St. Paul’s after that game, alleviating some pres-sure for the Crusaders, nearly locking third place for them. St. Paul’s was able to pick up an 8-1 win over Archbishop Spalding on the following Tuesday.

Every game is an important game from here on out, as seeing that they need to keep their dis-tance from Severn and Loyola in an incredibly hard division. They are staying focused as a team and look to stay hot down the stretch and are currently at 6-3 on the season. The team faces McDonough on Friday.

Gunner Waldt looks attentively in the April 12th game against Gillman. St. Paul’s would go on to win 8-7. Photo TJ Root.

Tennis Team faCes ChallengesnATe SHADe ‘12

St. Paul’s Varsity Tennis has had its fair share of wins and losses this season against challenging MIAA “A” Conference opponents. With only two conference matches remaining in the season, Varsity Tennis maintains a 4-5 record.

Struggling to compete with some of the top contenders in the league, the Crusaders faced 5-0 set backs at Gilman and home against Loyola. However, the team respond-ed, travelling to Severna Park on April 8 to battle Severn in a must-win match for the team. The Crusaders prevailed, 4-1, with victories coming from #1 singles Julian Vesnovsky (’11), #2 singles Alex Lerner (’12), #1 doubles Henry Crompton (’11) and Jack Hamed (’14), and #2 doubles T.J. Root (’11) and Nate Shade (’12). The team then had a decisive 5-0 victory at home against Calvert Hall on April 14, followed by a deflating 3-2 loss to Park School, at home, the following day.

The team played one of its best matches of the season collectively even with a 4-1 loss to a tough Mount Saint Joseph opponent. The only victory came off the rackets of #2 doubles T.J. Root (’11) and Nate Shade (’12). St. Paul’s had an excellent 5-0 vic-tory over John Carroll on April 21, with Dan Wells (’11) and Nick Baker (’12) mak-ing their Varsity debut at #2 doubles with a strong two set victory. St. Paul’s Varsity Tennis will close out their conference season at top ranked McDonogh on April 26, and at Boys’ Latin on April 27. The team’s final match of the season will be at home against Bethesda school, Georgetown Prep on April 28.

The Crusaders remain in the playoff hunt, as the final matches against McDonogh and Boys’ Latin will be vital for the team’s possible seeding. The seniors will play in their final match on April 28, as St. Paul’s Varsity Tennis looks to finish the season strong.

Julian Vesnovsky prepares to surve during a tennis match. Photo TJ Root.

baseball baTTling baCkSTUArT yOUnger ‘11

Varsity baseball is in great position heading into the stretch run. The team is current-ly 7-5, with 4 games left, and in 4th place in the league, in position for a home game in the playoffs.

The team took a disappointing loss to Archbishop Spalding, the current #2 team in the league. The Crusaders were leading 4-0, then gave up the lead, and then got a 6-5 lead, which they also blew a 7-6 loss. But then the team went on a 5-1 streak in league play, including a come-from-behind win against the current #3 team John Carroll, and another come from behind win against Gilman, the defending league champion, in which Andrew Agnone (’12) pitched 7 innings of 1 run relief to beat the Greyhounds in 10 innings. After taking 2 losses last week, the team rebounded with an 8-6 win over Archbishop Curley, which was nowhere near as close as the score indicated.

With four games left, the team is in 1.5 games ahead of the 5th place team. If the Crusaders can hold on to 4th place in the league, they will have a home playoff game for the first time in 4 years.

golf Team swinging sTRongevAn SCHWAb ‘12

St. Paul’s golf has fought valiantly through 6 matches and is coming to the end of the season at 2-4, with Hunter McGuirk leading the team. Even with its star players, the season has been rough for St. Paul’s, and the team has not played up to its full poten-tial. Their most recent game against Loyola however, was different. They played their hardest and pulled out a victory with 15.5 to 5.5 as the final score. However, the road to the playoffs remains treacherous but if St. Paul’s is able to grasp a victory against Calvert Hall, currently ranked number 1, they will be able to make the playoffs.

As far as a future team, St Paul’s has never looked better with several very good in-coming freshman coupled with several returning seniors, St Paul’s golf should be the team to beat. St Paul’s strong point however, remains its “depth” as quoted from Ju-nior Tommy Dickson, “While Hunter is the best on the team, everyone else is not far behind. We have enough talented players to create a strong starting six, which most teams cannot match. In our league, most teams have really strong 1’s 2’s 3’s and 4’s, which makes those parts of matches really competitive. When a team has a strong 5 and 6, that can take 5+ points a match, it is really hard to lose.”

memoRies on The waTeRvinCenT CArbOne ‘11

Ask any rower to describe their sport in three words and you’ll find that the gen-eral consensus seems to gravitate toward three words: “early, hungry, cold.” Having rowed for four years now, I find it hard to disagree.

Still, I can think of surprisingly few members of the team who would not find them-selves at least somewhat grateful towards Judd Anderson for bringing the program to St. Paul’s, making us the only high school men’s rowing team in the greater Baltimore area. In the end, Crew is about togetherness. Nowhere else will a single misstep by one man ruin the efforts of eight others. To row is to work as hard as you can to become the best that you can be for the sake of your team, and to put your trust in each and every one of the other men in your boat that they will do the same. I only hope that those who founded our team know that the lessons learned through this unique opportunity do not go unappreciated. Still, in a race one cannot stop charg-ing forward, no matter what may happen. And so, as we waved goodbye to our past, we also look ahead to the future.

While I cannot be certain how our new head coach, Mr. Nick Stolenmeyer, wanted to reveal himself to our competition for the first time, I am fairly sure our Novice 8’s first race was not what he had in mind. For those who do not know, a boat’s oars are meant to all move in unison, like a bird’s wings, and not one after the other, like a millipede. Oars are also not meant to get stuck in the water and pulled over a rower’s head during a race.

As I said, the boat that started that novice 8 race was not the boat that I would choose to start my career with. But the boat that finished that race, the one that instead of stopping and quitting, took their oar apart and reassembled it mid stroke, found their rhythm perfectly, and managed to not only catch up to but also beat the boat ahead of them, set a pretty good precedent for our team this year.

Perhaps I’m just a hopeless romantic, but I like to think that when someone is pas-sionate about something, there is nothing that can keep them from perfection. I see that passion in my teammates today. I will never forget watching Teddy Plass (‘13) collapse during a workout, vomit, get back up, continue the workout, vomit during the workout, and still pull a better time than most of those around him. I will never forget watching Sam Blum pull in his sophomore year a better time than I am pull-ing as a senior. I will never forget watching Noah Price practicing through summer break, and even during the school year, to shave precious seconds. It is this passion that fuels every member of our team this year. These are the men of whom the an-cients would sing. They see their goal, and will stop at nothing until they surpass it. They grip the oar until their fingers bleed and their sides ache and even then they pull harder still, because Crusaders settle for nothing less than being the best they can be. At the end of the season, wherever we stand, I am confident of two things: one, every man on this team will leave this season better than he arrived, and two, whatever we end our season with, be it a gold medal, a gentlemen’s second place, or simply a hot meal and a teammate’s congratulation, St. Paul’s Crew will have earned it.

EJ Mitton, Teddy Plass, Jack Pellington, and Vincent Carbone row to the finish line. Photo TJ Root.

STAFF:eDiTOr in CHieF

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