To investigate the role that social media and privacy play in JC students’ lives, “The Pa-triot” created a Facebook pro-file for a fictional 16-year-old named Heather Williams.

Within hours of Williams’s friend requesting JC students (Willams eventually was friends with 16.3 percent of the student body), students began posting on Facebook that Wil-liams was a teacher or admin-istrator.

[Read more about Heather Williams’ profile and friends on Page 6.]

“Heather Williams is like the John Carroll Administra-tion looking at pictures or something so no one accept her friend request!!!!” one student

posted on Facebook. “It’s funny how John Car-

roll tries to make up people on Facebook and tries adding you as a friend to get you in trou-ble,” another student posted.

“I was friend requested by her. I accepted knowing that something was up, and then I deleted her like an hour later,” senior Pat St. Clair said.

“I added her, then stalked her profile and tried to figure out which teacher it was because they added only JC people,” freshman Maddie Day said.

Dean of Freshmen Sean Ire-ton understands why students would jump to the conclusion that the administration was re-sponsible for the Heather Wil-liams profile.

“I can see where the students would see that. Why would you think that your peers would do

that?” Ireton said. “It really looked unseemly.

My first instinct was to see if it could be someone who could harm the students,” Dean of Students Tom Vierheller said.

But the administration was not the first to hear about Heather Williams.

“I was rather late in the pro-cess. A mother had called in about it. Thursday was when I find first found out,” Vierheller

said. As parents were beginning

to hear and wonder about this mysterious profile, the school had to take some kind of action.

”What now? Follow up with law enforcement in a reason-able time,” Vierheller said.

As the students began to suspect the administration, the administration began to suspect something much worse.

The John Carroll School 703 E. Churchville Rd.

Bel Air, MD 21014

Admin responds to Facebook investigation

Joey Hoff, Jenny HottleEditor in Chief, Online Chief

See NEWS 3

Index

‘Innovative’ exam sparks discussion

Teacher Richard Wojewodzki gave his two sections of Human Geography an Internet research-based and partially collaborative exam, sparking community discussion on traditional exam formats.

thepatriotFebruary 2011 Check out JCPATRIOT.COM for the latest news and updates

Basketball ChampsBoth men’s and women’s make championship appearances, men take title

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Allison WalczykSection Chief

With her laptop in hand, freshman Me-gan Greig curled up on the art wing floor and began taking her Honors Human Ge-ography exam.

In January, social studies teacher Rich-ard Wojewodzki administered a research-based exam for his Honors Human Geog-raphy students, giving his students “full open access to the Net as well as collabora-tion with their peers during ‘exam time,’” Wojewodzki posted on his blog, “Teach Paperless.”

The 14-question exam, which Wojew-odzki posted to his class blog on exam day, covered topics from the use of the word “soda pop” in New Mexico to the 2011 G20 summit in France.

“It was kind of confusing, and most of it wasn’t about knowing [facts]. The exam focused on how to learn and research to help ourselves form our own opinions,” Greig said.

According to Wojewodzki, the exam asked students to “reflect on a variety of skills they’ve learned over the semester to test your ability to actually become a researcher in Human Geography,” as op-posed to testing one’s ability to memorize information.

Principal Paul Barker, who was “in-trigued” by the “educational innovation experiment,” said, “I don’t know if I would prescribe it as a way to create exams, but it’s not an inappropriate way to hold kids accountable for what they can know and do and think about Human Geography—mission accomplished.”

Social studies teacher Rodney Johnson realizes that “in our school, we have the unique ability to teach things differently.

Volume 46 Issue 4

Photo by Kristin Marzullo

Barker to leave JC after 10 years

LIFESTYLE 6

Friend Me

See NEWS 3

Lindsay PowellReporter

“The Patriot” investigates social networking with creation of Heather Williams

See NEWS 2

Graphic by Jenny Hottle

After serving 10 years as principal of JC, Paul Barker announced his resignation on Monday, Feb. 14.

Barker will leave at the end of this school year to become the president of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Mary-land. Barker will officially start his new position July 1, 2011.

“I have not looked for a job in ten years,” Barker said. “When we decided to go to a president-principal model, which was over four years ago… I could have been the president, but I decided not to. I wanted to go for my doctorate, and I wasn’t ready.”

Barker found the position opening after browsing several job board websites.

“I had visited [Good Counsel] with Mr. Scholl back in 2003 or 2004. It has one of the oldest International Baccalaureate pro-grams in the state, and I was interested in that,” he said.

Good Counsel is a co-ed Catholic school with over 1300 students.

English Teacher Dick Paaby and former Vice Principal Jim Long Barker originally hired Barker in 1991 as an English teacher.

“He was articulate, enthusiastic, and young, we needed young energy. I knew he would give a dimension that we didn’t have,” Paaby said.

Paaby feels that this is a good time for Barker to move on. “It’s the most natu-ral moment for Barker to consider a new place, and the stars are aligning. It’s virtu-

ally irresistible, ten years is the right time,” Paaby said.

Barker recently re-entered the English classroom when he substituted for current English Department Chair Susan Fisher in the fall.

“He has a passion for English Litera-ture, is extremely analytical, and loves to see students get it,” Fisher said. “Students were very disappointed when he went from teaching AP English to being principal.”

When asked about Barker’s new posi-tion at Good Counsel, Fisher said “I think it’s a great opportunity for him and a loss for us.”

“When the job came up, I thought

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thepatriot2 news Volume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

Egyptian riots spark change, affect junior’s family

Egypt is in turmoil. All schools have been shut

down, and it is no longer safe to go outside freely. Protestors have been in the city clashing day and night with their government as they demand a new face to lead their country.

According to the International Business Times, protests against President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt broke out in Tahrir Square in Cairo a day after the president announced that he would not vol-untarily resign from presidency until the next election in Septem-ber.

The protests were peaceful at first, however, within three days since the first protest day, the ri-ots have resulted in the arrests of 500 demonstrators, 24 deaths, and about 1,000 injured.

President Mubarak has served a total of three terms and is 82 years old. Inspired by the uprooting of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia by its citizens on Jan. 24, the rioters call out for the re-tirement of President Mubarak and a president elected by the people, rather than by the typical way of election by birthright.

According to the NY Daily News, Mubarak issued a four p.m. curfew for the whole country as protests grew more persistent. The BBC has stated that Mubarak

Grace KimManaging Editor

“My first instinct is always safe-ty of our students. Your wellbeing is our number one job,” Vierheller said.

“Kids have gotten in trouble before from Facebook so it didn’t seem out of the question that it was the administration,” senior Ryan Kirby said.

“I was hurt by it because I try so hard to remain in a good rapport with the students. I would hate to think that they would think of me as someone who would abuse that relationship and then trap them. That’s a bad example to set for my students. We should be setting a good example,” Vierheller said.

“It wasn’t that what they were trying to do was wrong, it was the way they [“The Patriot”] went about it. It was deceitful and when you deceive someone it’s wrong,” Ireton said.

“We’re built on a basis of trust you don’t need teachers and ad-ministrators watching your every move. It’s off campus behavior. How long is the long arm of JC’s law for us to go out and search? No. I wouldn’t want to be a part of it.” Vierheller said.

Former JC fencing coach Rich-ard Oles was killed by a snow plow in a hit-and-run on Jan. 27.

According to CBS Baltimore, Oles’ car had been towed to a gas station and he was walking home along Mountain Road in Pasade-na. Seventy-seven year-old Oles was prevented from walking on the sidewalk by the snow and was forced to walk on the road. Around 2:30 a.m., he was slammed by a truck with a snow plow attached to the front.

A witness dialed 911 and re-ported that a red Ford F-350 with a plow had struck Oles. He was taken to Baltimore-Washington Medical Center where he died lat-er that morning.

Oles was a fencing coach at JC in the late 1960s. President Emeri-tus Charles K. Riepe hired him to start the fencing program, and when Oles left in 1970 the pro-gram ended. Oles’ exact years at JC could not be found in any re-cords.

“I knew him [Oles] and respect-ed him. I used to talk to him af-ter practice,” former gym teacher Adolph Pons said. “We were prob-ably the only private school in the area with such a good program [fencing program],” Pons said, dedicating the success of the pro-gram to Oles.

-Emily Clarke, Contributing Writer

issued the curfew to “stop riots, lawlessness, and attacks on prop-erty.” The protestors have defied this curfew since its announce-ment.

As a result, President Mubarak appointed Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman as vice president on Jan. 29. For the first time during his near 30 year presidency, Mubarak chose a vice president.

The BBC states that the U.S. considers Egypt to be one of its al-lies, thus they are cautious about taking sides. According to NY Daily News, in a call to Mubarak, President Obama urges him to take “‘concrete steps’ to improve human rights and curb violence against the demonstrators.”

For junior Erik Ishak, the cha-os in Egypt provoked anxiety at home.

“My grandfather’s brother and sister are still over there…they’re trying to get to Canada. We haven’t talked to them in a while, but we’re trying to get in touch with them since all of this is going on. We know that they’re alright as of now. We were scared [at one point] when their Internet was blocked from the outside world,” Ishak said.

Schools and the Egyptian stock exchange remain closed. Anti-Mubarak demonstrators demanded that Mubarak resign immediately, and they continued to call for more days of protests.

According to Ishak, his family

condoned the political uprisings at first. However, as the riots be-come more aggressive, they hoped for more peaceful methods.

“We know right now [that] it’s [the protests] about freedom, but for how much longer? They [my family] dislike Mubarak but they wouldn’t want violence as a solu-tion. It’s hard to say how it’s go-ing to turn out, but it’ll never be the same as it once was,” Ishak said.

On Feb. 7, the new Egyptian Cabinet raised the salaries of gov-ernment workers by 15 percent to appease protestors, according to Voice of America news. Suleiman also has met with several opposi-tion groups, along with the banned

Muslim brotherhood.According to the BBC, on Feb.

10, Mubarak scheduled “an ad-dress on national television which the U.S. CIA interprets as a “strong likelihood” for Mubarak’s resigna-tion according to the BBC.

Finally on Feb. 11, after eigh-teen days of protests, Mubarak officially announced his decision to step down. American officials approved of the decision and urge for Egypt to work on a “peaceful transition to democracy,” accord-ing to CNN.

“I’m glad that it’s mostly over and hopefully Egypt can stabilize and begin a better democratic sys-tem. Hopefully it won’t end up like the Iranian revolution,” Ishak said.

Photo courtesy of MCT

Former fencing coach dies in snow plow incident

Admin reacts to Heather Williams profile pagefrom FRONT PAGE

thepatriotVolume 46 Issue 1 February 2011 3news

Lazor likes the idea of using information learned in a cre-ative way. However, “in any class, specifically social stud-ies, before you can think criti-cally about something or think on your feet, you have to have something to think about,” he said.

“My experience with students collaborating often leads to an uneven distribution of work…In group work, I know some-one is doing the lion’s work and someone is coasting by,” Fisher said.

While Scholl acknowledges the importance of knowing some facts off hand, “There’s also another whole dimension of applying that information. In the future, that is going to be critical,” he said.

The idea of collaboration generated talk from both stu-

dents and teachers about cheating.

According to Wojewodzki, “the [Honors Human Geography] exam is set up in such a way that there’s really no such thing as cheating

on the exam.”Wojewodzki checked screens

randomly during the exam, but “he had to trust that we weren’t cheating on the test. The exam was built on trust,” Greig said.

“Fears of academic dishon-esty can be greatly alleviated by careful and considerate de-sign of the assessment itself,” Wojewodzki said.

Concern from several un-named faculty members stirred up questions regarding exam requirements, specifically the two-hour format.

The administration switched from a one-hour to two-hour exam schedule in the early 2000s “to get beyond the 150 multiple choice questions and [to] get new approaches to us-ing the exam time that requires students to use higher levels of

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AP Tests to undergo change in format, style of testingGrace Kim

Managing Editor

Get ready to meet the new AP program.

According to the College Board, several changes are being made to upcoming AP exams in several subjects such as Calculus, Biol-ogy, and United States History.

However, according to the Edu-cation Week news brief, changes to the United States History exam are being delayed in favor of changes for AP Biology, and “the final U.S. history framework is slated for publication and distribu-tion in fall 2011, with the revisions taking effect in 2013-14.”

”The board will slash the amount of material students need to know for the tests and provide, for the first time, a curriculum frame-work for what courses should look like. The goal is to clear students’ minds to focus on bigger concepts and stimulate more analytic think-ing,’” according to the New York

Times. Additionally, the New York

Times said that the AP Biology showed a decline in student scores. Many prestigious universities have begun to reject credit for AP Biol-ogy. M.I.T.’s Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill told the New York Times that students who scored fives on the exams “did not have the problem-solving skills needed for higher-level courses.”

According to AP Biology teach-er Megan Deroba, the exam’s questions will shift their focus from straight memorization to ap-plication of knowledge and more narrowed down focuses on certain processes.

Every AP teacher must submit a course outline to the College Board for approval. With the new changes to the AP Biology exam, those teaching that subject are being required to resubmit a new course audit by Jan. 2013, accord-ing to Deroba.

“It’s going to be a very good

change, not so much a focus on quantity but on quality…[it’s] learning the process as opposed to memorizing facts,” Deroba said.

“I like this [the new changes to the exam structure] better because you have a better idea of what to study and focus on rather than memorizing everything,” junior Danielle Tiger said. Tiger is plan-ning to take AP Biology next year.

Starting with the exams in May of this year, “there will be a change to the way AP exams are scored.” According to the College Board, “total scores on the multi-ple-choice section will be based on the number of questions answered correctly. Points will no longer be deducted for incorrect answers.”

“I like the fact that you don’t have to get off for wrong answers. Your level of knowledge should be based on what you get right rather than what you get wrong,” junior Jenny Yang said. Yang is planning to take the AP Language and Com-position exam this year.

Changes to the AP Calculus AB/BC exams will also be in ef-fect this year. In Part A and B of the free response questions, the “timed portion for Part B” will al-low students to continue to work on Part A if they wish, but are not permitted to use their calculators.

“We really believe that the new AP needs to be anchored in a cur-riculum that focuses on what stu-dents need to be able to do with their knowledge,” Vice President of College Board for Advanced Placement Trever Packer told the New York Times.

Senior Susan Lubejko pages through her various AP study books, preparing for this year’s exams. The College Board plans to change the methods of testing in upcoming AP exams.

it was a good fit for me,” Barker said.

In addition, the school is located about 10 miles from his wife’s par-ents’ home.

“I’ve made a professionally good career move as well as a per-sonal and good family move, and the timing is right,” Barker said.

Good Counsel is excited for Bark-er’s arrival in July. “We’re excited about his strong educational background and his strong spiritual back-ground. He also has a strong background in technology, and we’re very interested in that,” Good Coun-sel Principal John Yore said.

“[JC] will probably identify someone as an interim candidate so that they can have someone ready to go by December of next year,” Barker said.

According to the president-prin-cipal model established in 2007,

Barker to resign in JunePresident O’Hara will be solely responsible for the appointment of Barker’s replacement.

“I want to involve board mem-bers, faculty and staff, some parent representatives, and the students. I am very interested in student opin-ion,” O’Hara said.

Barker said he is excited but ap-prehensive. “It’s bit-tersweet, here’s the place I know. I’ve known some of the people for 21 years now. I’m not leaving because I think the grass is greener. I’m leaving for a neat ca-reer opportunity and have anxiety about how it’s actually go-ing to go,” Barker said.

“I am very happy. He supremely deserves it both as a professional, as an educator, and as a person. It is definitely is a loss for JC,” O’Hara said.

“But it might be a good time for the school to have new ideas and somebody else’s energy,” Barker said.

from FRONT PAGE

Principal Paul Barker

Photo by Kristin Marzullo

Exam stirs debate among teachersfrom FRONT PAGE

“I don’t know if I would prescribe it as a way to create exams, but it’s not an inappropriate way to hold kids accountable...” -Paul Barker

Each teacher has a measure of autonomy when deciding how to cover the material.” Howev-er, “I do believe there should be some sort of consistency when it comes to crafting assessments that are worth 20 percent of a grade,” he said.

According to Social Studies Department Chair Jake Hollin, all teachers give their exams to the subject department head and to Vice Principal Gary Scholl “to make sure they’re properly assessing students’ knowledge in the content area. We have ex-pectations that [the exams] will be an appropriate assessment of what was taught and would give evaluation of students’ progress in learning.”

“In this class, the exam got to the heart of what it was I want-ed to know,”

Wojewodzki said, adding that the purpose was for students to understand how the content they learned extend-ed to the real world.

The exam “matches his [Wojewodzki’s] teaching style,” Hollin said. “As an institution, our strength is teacher individu-ality.”

The final question on Wojew-odzki’s exam specifically re-quired student collaboration, which he, along with Scholl and Barker, believes is important for the real word. Partners created a “10-step plan” to fulfill the JC mission statement through the use of technology.

The idea of collaboration drew concern from faculty members such as English teach-er Susan Fisher and Psychology teacher Paul Lazor. Fisher and Lazor agreed that one must have some sort of basis information before he or she could be a valu-able participant in a group proj-ect or discussion.

thinking, analysis, synthesis, application and evaluation,” Scholl said.

Fisher was unaware of exact requirements for exams, but said that some teachers were upset about rumors that Wojew-odzki allowed his students ex-tra time to complete the exam.

Wojewodzki said that the stu-dents had the opportunity to use more time on his exams. How-ever, he said that every one of his students completed the exam within the scheduled two hours and 15 minutes extension period.

After freshman Travis Nel-son completed only eight of the 14 questions, but received an 85 percent, he wondered how the test was graded.

When grading the semester exam, Wojewodzki did not use a rubric. Instead he “[assessed] where [students] developed from the beginning of the year to where they are now.”

“It’s amazing how much of a change goes on throughout the year with each student. Still, you need to give some kind of a measurable test,” Reyerson said.

Wojewodzki said that while he believes this exam was the best way to assess his Human Geography students’ knowl-edge, “all teachers have differ-ent ways of working.”

Scholl said that the exam style could be applicable to all classes. “In the course that I teach [Anthropology], there are higher levels of thinking that are required an application of ideas. I do test those things—I just don’t do it electronically. It’s just a more traditional ap-proach to getting to that same end,” Scholl said.

“We want students here to be able to think critically, to use their imaginations, to be able to apply knowledge to things they haven’t seen before and to un-derstand it,” Barker said.Additional reporting by Collin Hoofnagle.

thepatriot4 lifestyle Volume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

Atheism in aCatholic school? “The Patriot” takes an inside

look at the presence of Atheism in the halls of JC.

Silently waiting, junior Scott Novak stands in the morning dur-ing the prayer. The Hail Mary finishes, and campus minister Patti Murphy-Dohn comes over the loudspeaker with “God is good,” and students throughout the school respond, “all the time.” Novak cringes.

Though JC is a Catholic school, not all of its students are Catholic. Novak is one of these 28 percent. Novak has found that he doesn’t actually believe in any higher be-ing at all, and does not follow any specific religion.

He finds it hard to explain what he doesn’t believe in. “I’d rather say what I do believe in,” Novak said. He holds truth in science and thinks it’s important to ask questions. He thinks that with-out this

Allison SiegelPrint Chief

process of questioning the world around him, he would be missing out on opportunities to discover. With this attitude, Novak thinks that putting faith in God shuts the door on finding reasons for many of the magnificent things the world has to offer.

Another student, who requests to remain anonymous, considers himself to be a “negative atheist.” This student thinks that all people are born atheist, and it is only some of us that remain that way throughout our development.

“The vast majority of people have ascribed to some religion at some point or another during their lives. I have not. I rejected religion from childhood on,” the anonymous student said.

Novak’s experiences could not be more opposite. Born and bred a Christian, he attended Christian schools and practiced outside of

school with his family. It was around

age 10 when Novak

had his

first experience with death that he began to question why God would let that happen.

Novak proceeded to experiment with all different religions, finding what fit him best. He looked into Buddhism, Wicca, and some oth-ers. In the end though, he found that there was really no proof to any of it, and chose to put his faith in proven facts.

“You have to accept what is true over what you want to be true at some point,” Novak said.

Novak was afraid his family would be utterly shocked and re-pulsed that their child did not want to follow the same faith that they had been teaching him for his en-tire life, but fortunately for Novak, his parents were calm about it.

Novak wanted his family to know of his struggle with Christi-anity. He was terrified, but had de-cided to rationally explain why he was no longer going to be a Chris-tian in a 13 page, single spaced letter.

Novak found flaws in the injus-tice that God allows to happen in the world. People plagued with in-curable disease, poverty-stricken communities, dying children and genocide are all things that Novak doesn’t understand to be coming from a loving and caring God.

“If God is real, I’ve decided that I’d hate him,” Novak said.

“My family does not know or is unwilling to know. Perhaps, my family simply does not notice or care,” the anonymous student said.

Being a part of the JC Catho-lic community has proven to be an interesting experience for self-proclaimed atheists. Both Novak

Senior Mike Goettner won’t need very many notebooks or pen-cils next year at college. Instead, a toolbox might be of better use to him while attending the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, North Carolina.

Goettner got his start in the me-chanical industry by working with his dad at a family-owned shop in Kingsville for the last few years.

“One big part of working for him is maintaining the equipment and fixing what is wrong with it so I have had some time and experience working in that field,” he said.

Goettner will further his knowl-edge in mechanics with the hands on program offered at NTI, where he will learn the ins and outs of engines and working in the racing industry while also learning the history, rules, and regulations of NASCAR.

Since Goettner is such a huge fan of the sport, going to college in what is known as Race City, USA, only makes sense to him. Moores-ville is not only home to NTI but

Senior on fast track to NASCAR careerTaylor SchaferLifestyles Editor

also to multiple racing attractions like historical NASCAR museums and the race team headquarters of top drivers, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kyle Busch, and Kasey Kahne. It is also located just 40 minutes north of Charlotte, North Carolina, home to Charlotte Motor Speed-

way which hosts popular events like the Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte 300, and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

These factors will help familiar-ize Goettner with the industry.

“I have wanted to be a part of the [NASCAR] organization for a

number of years, and I thought that it would be an easy way to get into it,” Goettner said. The program is taught by racing industry profes-sionals with at least five years ex-perience in the field.

The decision Goettner made to go to NTI “was an easy choice for

me because I love working on cars and trucks as a hobby, and I like to watch NASCAR. I am a big fan of it,” he said. Being a huge rac-ing fan, Goettner attends at least one NASCAR event each year at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware.

One of his favorite memories from a race came when “Kyle Busch got hit from behind on a turn by his teammate, Joey Laga-no, on the last lap. Kyle and Joey then got passed by Brad Keslows-ki and Brad ended up winning the race,” Goettner said.

After participating in the year-and-a-half-long NASCAR training program, Goettner won’t need any further education to start his career as an entry-level automotive tech-nician in the industryl he will not have to take refresher courses to update his current knowledge un-til technological advancements are made.

“My plan is to get into a good organization in the business and work my way up through the ranks,” Goettner said. “My dream job would be working as a crew member and being a big factor on why the driver won the race.”

and the anonymous student feel that it has actually strengthened their lack of religious affiliation. Learning more about the Catholic faith has helped both students see where they disagree with the reli-gion.

Novak respects other people’s ideas on religion, but gets frustrat-ed at their closed-mindedness. He finds that the stereotype of atheists being closed minded people is less true than the closed-mindedness of some of his peers. At other times, Novak just becomes frustrated how others don’t see the logic he has found, regardless of how re-spectful they are.

“High school and college years are times of searching for life’s meaning and all the answers for ultimate questions,” Campus Min-ister Patti Murphy-Dohn said. Murphy-Dohn believes that the struggle for faith in a young adult’s life is just beginning, and that many who proclaim themselves as atheists in their teens really just don’t have enough information to decide on God’s existence.

Philosophy teacher Christo-pher Yeung has at least one athe-ist student in his classes per year. “I always try to keep the two [be-liefs] in balance – the fundamental of belief is to follow yours con-science…If I’m going to be a true Christian, I still have to treat them as a Child of God,” Yeung said.

“Many might be surprised that my beliefs are not militant. In some respects, I prefer people to realize that there is no god on their own. It’s a much more enlight-ening conclusion that way,” the anonymous student said.

Photo by Jenny Hottle

Senior Mike Goettner enjoys mechanical work in his free time with his father in their family-owned shop. Goettner will be continuing his passion for cars at the NASCAR Technical Institute in North Carolina next fall.

Atheism is the rejection of belief in the existence of dieties.

The word “atheist” comes from the Greek word “atheos” meaning “without God.”

15%of Americans report no religious affiliation.

From 1990 to 2008 the percentage of Catholics in America dropped from

26% to 25%

Faith: Facts on

Americans fail to indicate a religious identify.

1 in 5Source: 2008 American Religious Identity Survey of Educated Adults.Cartoon by: Ryan Selvy

thepatriot 5lifestyleVolume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

Top: Senior Brandi Chambers hands a

customer a Happy Meal at the Constant Friendship

McDonald’s.

HealthAlert:

Leah PolakoffIndepth Editor

Fast food super sizes health risks

Cara ReillyCopy Editor

“Welcome to King Burger where we can do it your way, but don’t get crazy.”

Now while that might not ac-tually be a real fast food slogan, several JC students can empathize with YouTube sensation Bon Qui Qui and her rude customers.

“I have learned how to deal with people when they have anger issues or bad days. I have even been cursed at and flicked off be-fore,” senior Sarah Dennison said. Dennison has been an employee at Chick-fil-a for about six months.

Dennison said that her crazi-est encounter was when a couple came in and said that they wanted free brownies and fries because the last time they had been there, they did not receive the food that they paid for. The cashier, being new, agreed.

“They were sitting down and I hear the girl start screaming at him, ‘I told you I’d wait for you when you got out of jail and all you do is [expletive] cheat on me and you never call.’ Then I see a whole tray of food fly across the store,” Dennison said. “Then she gets up and turns to the register counter where all the employees are staring and starts screaming,

‘And everything he told you about the food was a lie, he’s a big liar!’”

The guy picked her up and car-ried her out of the store. “It’s a very exciting job,” Dennison said, crediting Chick-fil-a’s location near the metro in Hunt Valley to its interesting customers.

“My least favorite part of my job is the ignorant customers I have to work with. Working in the service part of McDonald’s means constant contact with people, and it breeds a general dislike for hu-manity,” junior Adam Kuester said. Working with fast food isn’t al-ways as fun as Bon Qui Qui makes it out to be, and security can’t al-ways be called either.

Kuester has been a McDonald’s employee for over two years, and he’s not always “lovin’ it.” Due to his work schedule, Kuester has to deal with “less of a social life, a lot less sleep, no weekends to myself and exhaustion.” And that’s just to name a few.

Senior Kiersten Brown, who has worked at Wendy’s for four years, agrees that balancing her job, schoolwork, and social life is not always easy. “I feel like I get the most homework on the nights that I have to work. Also, I work each Saturday and I don’t like taking off so I may miss out on some things my friends get to do,” Brown said.

“Having a job along with all my other extracurriculars means I have almost no time off, so I often am finishing my homework in the car on the way to school because of it,” Kuester said.

In addition to conflicts that any working student encounters, there are some pitfalls specific to fast food jobs.

“I don’t like smelling like grease when I get off work. It can be stressful when working during a rush or working with people who are lazy because it really takes a team to make things run smooth-ly,” Brown said.

So why do people choose to work at fast food joints? Location seems to play a big role, as well as availability and work experience.

“I applied [at Wendy’s] because it is literally down the street from my house. It was my second job

choice. Not many places hire at 14, and Rita’s didn’t have any open positions,” Brown said.

Kuester also chose to apply at McDonald’s because there was a restaurant located five minutes from his house.

In addition to the convenient lo-cations, fast food jobs come with other perks. “My favorite part of my job is the free food, drinks and dessert I get at my restaurant for working there,” Kuester said.

Senior Brandi Chambers, Mc-Donald’s employee, likes the job most for “the independence I gain from it and I like making my own money.”

“I do not like the temptation of all the food. I have to force myself not to eat any fries or anything. I

guess it’s a good way to work on self-control,” Dennison said.

However, there’s more to a fast food job than just free French fries.

“My favorite part of my job is just goofing off with my co-work-ers. I also love working with peo-ple and making their day better, if possible. I have become a much better leader,” Brown said.

“I love interacting with other people. I love seeing the regulars and continuing our conversation from previous days. I have gotten so much more than just money. I have great friends that I love working with and I have experi-ence interacting with people in both positive and negative situa-tions,” Dennsion said.

“The Patriot” takes a look at students’ jobs in area fast food restaurants.

DO YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?

Super-size me. Spoken so often with a noncha-

lant tone, people don’t realize that along with increasing the size of their burger, they are increasing the size of their waistlines. Ac-cording to the USDA, the average American has increased in size by 10 pounds or more over the past 20 years. Doctors behind this study hypothesize that caloric intake is the main cause of this increase.

Fast food is considered to be among the leading causes of obesi-ty in America, but it is not always the restaurant that leads to belly bulge. It is the choice made by the customer.

More than half of the time, people will eat all of the food that is set in front of them, regardless of the large portion sizes. A study done by the American Institute for Cancer Research showed that 67 percent of people ate the larger portion when presented different serving sizes.

The large serving sizes, cheap prices, and accessible locations are what make the fast food nation thrive.

Despite lawsuits against chain restaurants like Taco Bell for only using 35 percent beef in their ta-cos, and against McDonald’s for overweight teenagers, people con-tinue to eat fast food. According to the New York Times, people now spend more money on fast food than on higher education and elec-tronic devices combined.

Being smart about the choices made when eating fast food is the key to maintaining a healthy body. Do some research to find out what the healthiest options are, and nev-er upsize your meal.

In 1950, the average serving size of French fries was 2.4 ounc-es (around 210 calories.) By 2003, the average size had increased to 7.1 ounces (around 610 calories.)

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the average per-son should consume around 2,000 calories per day (this varies from person to person). To maintain this

number, the average meal should be no more than 600 calories. So when a “small” size of fries is the amount of calories allowed in one meal, the pounds start racking up. And this is all before the upsize.

Upsizing a fast food meal means the amount of fat has also been upsized. According to nutritionist Alicia Palmere, eating excessive amounts of saturated fat, sodium, and sugar can lead to many health issues. “[These foods] have been the major culprit of a large portion of American diseases and condi-tions such as Type II diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and certain digestive cancers,” Palmere said.

Eating natural foods will keep a person’s body running smoothly.

By planning meals ahead of time, people can avoid eating these calories. According to Palmere, “moderation not elimination” is the key to a balanced lifestyle. “If you’re making good food choices 80 percent of the time and exercis-ing, there should be no reason to feel guilty,” she said.

Photo by Ashley Moxley

Photo by Taylor Schafer

Right: Senior Kiersten Brown takes drive-thru orders while preparing a fountain drink. Brown has been working at the Churchville Wendy’s for four years.

thepatriot6 lifestyle Volume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

75

mmmmmm

In the first hour of the experiment, Heather Williams friended a new JC student every

After two hours, nearly

10% of JC friended Heather.

either accepted or requested Heather after

119

24 hour

s

That’s nearly

1in6 students at JC.

seconds

students

Heather’s Life Span

friend me on fakebookBy the Numbers

The rumors surrounding Heath-er Williams spread quicker than her friend requests.

But, Heather didn’t exist. On Feb. 1, “The Patriot” began

its investigation to understand the role that social media and privacy play in JC students’ lives with the creation of Heather Williams, in-spired by a similar investigation by “The Rider” student newspaper of Legacy High School in Mans-field, Texas.

The planning for the investi-gation began earlier that day, as staff members prepared profiles and purchased stock photos for the account. In hours, Williams transformed from a simple idea to a 16-year-old transfer student from Portland, Oregon.

With the profile ready, “The Pa-triot” was interested in collecting data that could put a concrete fig-ure on the social networking issues right here in the JC community. At 9:16 p.m., the plan was set into ac-

tion. Staff members would request and accept any and all JC students. No one else.

“The Patriot” took an exacting approach to the investigation, and staff members would neither initi-ate contact nor view students’ pro-files. Three minutes after begin-ning the investigation, Williams gained her first friend on Facebook — a sign of Heather’s ensuing at-tention.

“The Patriot” expected a slow, but steady increase in Williams’s friendships. However, the num-ber of acceptances exploded. It seemed as though students couldn’t get enough of their new friend, Heather Williams.

The influx of friend requests continued. By 10:16 p.m., Wil-liams friended 48 JC students. On average, this works out to be about one student every 75 seconds.

But, the investigation took an unexpected turn as students began raising questions regarding the va-lidity of Williams’s profile. Even-tually, all fingers were pointing at the administration, and the inves-

tigation began raising issues that “The Patriot” had not expected.

Privacy became a hot topic on news feeds, and students began sending Williams nasty messages online.

The experiment quickly became more than a collection of numbers. Instead, it offered a peek into how students view the administration and how people express them-selves online.

“You’re not as slick as you think. Better luck next time,” one student posted, as paranoia swirled about the mystery of Heather Wil-liams. Some students sent messag-es with unprintable language.

Students who are normally mild-mannered in school began using questionable language and seemed to become different stu-dents online — a real world dem-onstration of the online disinhibi-tion effect, which describes how people transform their behavior when on the web.

Still, after two hours, Wil-liams’s list of friends continued to grow to include 68 JC students — 9.3 percent of the student body. By the end of the 24-hour experiment Williams had either accepted or requested 119 JC students, which is approximately 16.3 percent of the student body.

During the investigation, the hype exploded beyond the screen, as students seemed to fear a re-currence of the actions taken by the administration in 2007 when

Facebook pictures surfaced show-ing several key athletes drinking alcohol.

The administration did not ac-tively search Facebook for the photos, but instead, an anony-mous person sent three separate envelopes containing the photos pulled from Facebook to Dean of Students Thomas Vierheller, Presi-dent Richard O’Hara, and former Freshman Dean Elizabeth Pyzik, resulting in the athletes’ ten-day suspension from all extracurricu-lar activities.

While no members of the ad-ministration or faculty were in-volved in “The Patriot” inves-tigation, paranoia struck the JC community as students questioned the true privacy of their accounts.Within two days, students and par-ents contacted the administration, questioning the legitimacy of the profile and the administration’s in-volvement.

As “The Patriot” deleted the Heather Williams profile and the experimental portion of the inves-tigation came to a close, members of “The Patriot” staff approached the administration to clarify the most prominent concern that stu-dents’ voiced during the investi-gation: is the administration cur-rently searching for inappropriate content on students’ online pro-files?

According to Dean of Students Thomas Vierheller, the answer is “no.”

Joey Hoff, Taylor SchaferEditor in Chief, Lifestyle Editor

Exploring social media and online privacy with creation of Heather Williams

In 2007, country music singer Brad Paisley brought attention to online personas.

In his song “Online,” he humor-ously describes a middle-aged, overweight burnout who works at the local pizza joint and still lives in his parents’ basement. Though this man doesn’t have much of a social life, his whole world is flipped when he logs in to his MySpace account.

The lyrics play with the char-acter’s double life, claiming that “Online, I live in Malibu, I pose for Calvin Klein, I’ve been in GQ. I’m single and I’m rich, And I’ve got a pair of six pack abs that will blow your mind.” Clearly, this isn’t the case.

My point, you might ask? While most people don’t go as far as this particular situation in creating to-tally false personas, most people act differently online than they do in real life face-to-face situa-tions. While Paisley touches on the subject in a funny way, it is much more serious in reality. It’s called the online disinhibition ef-fect.

On Feb. 1, the Patriot created Heather Williams on Facebook and friend requested most of the JC student population. Not only did the rumors of Heather being the JC administration spread like wildfire, but the online disinhibi-tion effect hit hard as well.

Within an hour of making the profile and the start of administra-tion accusations, Heather received anonymous and even signed mes-sages from students with offensive language and questionable com-ments. One anonymous student messaged Heather saying that whoever she was was “[expletive] pathetic.”

Other comments like, “nice try John Carroll,” “suck it John Car-roll,” one student asking for apolo-gies from the administration, and many more were received. Online disinhibition was in full effect.

And Facebook is not the only place where this phenomenon is taking place. Blogger, Form-spring, and just about any other site where people are allowed space to put their two cents in have illustrated the effect.

We are also lucky that in the JC community, the online disinhibi-tion effect hasn’t been pushed to its furthest limits. Many teen sui-

cides have been caused by or have been involved with online bully-ing like 15-year-old Phoebe Prince in Massachusetts, 13-year-old Me-gan Meier in Missouri, or 18-year-old Tyler Clementi in New Jersey to name a few.

But why do people engage themselves in this kind of behav-ior?

Psychology teacher Paul Lazor blames it simply on anonymity and bad judgment. “It’s similar in cars. All of these things we use to communicate like facial expres-sion, body posture and tone of voice are not present,” he said. He explained that in a real life situ-ation, “your frontal lobe [of the brain] would say don’t do it, but it gets disregarded with social me-dia.”

Guidance counselor Carol Heflin-Shupe agrees with Lazor. “They have no consequenc-es. They don’t have to look into the other person’s eyes and see the hurt they just inflicted on them.”

Though Heflin-Shupe says she has never had a student come to her as a victim of online disinhibi-tion, she’s “very sure it happens. It gives [the perpetrator] this false bravado and empowers them,” she said.

Taylor SchaferLifestyle Editor

behavior notification 9:16 p.m.Feb. 1Williams begins friending JC students

10:16 p.m.Feb. 1Heather Williams friends 48 students

9:42 p.m.Feb. 1Rumors regarding admin involvement begin to circulate 11:16 p.m.

Feb. 1Heather Williams friends 68 students after 2 hours9:16 p.m.

Feb. 2Heather Williams friends 119 students

Feb. 4Heather Williams revealed as part of social networking investigation

Feb. 3Students and parents contact administration regarding profile

1:23 p.m.Feb. 1Heather Williams’sprofile created, along with profiles for “friends” Rina Kasica and Erik Kellough

3:34 p.m.Feb. 3Profile deleted by staff

Feb. 4“The Patriot” begins collecting student and admin reactions

Uncovering the truth behind anonymous behavior online

thepatriot 7arts & entertainmentVolume 46 Issue 4 February 2011qu

ickSIPS: ‘The Patriot’ staff reviews Bel

Air’s eclectic mix of coffee shops

Shamrock

Coffee Coffee

Rogers

Hilary WeidnerA&E Editor

Stephanie LairdSports Editor

Meg KirchnerReporter

Elizabeth Tauberand Hilary Weidner

A&E Editors

Vintage art and light Italian mu-sic overwhelmed me as I stepped into The Open Door Café located in the Bel Air Town Shopping Center.

I was pleasantly surprised that this coffee shop turned out to be “a wait to be seated” kind of cof-fee shop.

After five minutes, I was promptly seated in the back of the restaurant section, which was sur-prisingly large in contrast to the outside appearance of the cafe.

I was quickly greeted by a friendly waiter who gave me the long list of options and a sepa-

rate menu of coffee, teas, and iced drinks.

I chose to get the chai tea, half a chicken salad sandwich, and a bowl of cream of crab soup.

The waiter was very quick in bringing my chai tea latte in a cute yet generous tea cup.

The chai tea tasted as good as it looked with a smooth and filling taste. This latte is a must.

The cream of crab soup was creamy and filled with delicious crab meat. I ate it within two min-utes of its arrival.

The chicken salad sandwich was also delicious and very filling. The bread was warm and toasted.

On my way to visit a little un-known coffee shop, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had no idea that this shop would sell me one of the best cupcakes that I’ve ever had in my life.

This place is Shamrock Coffee Shop located on Main Street in Bel Air.

Upon arriving to the welcoming environment, I made my way up to the ordering station and discov-ered slim yet filling possibilities.

I first wanted to purchase a

Cookies and Cream Latte, but dis-covered to my dismay that they were all out of the syrup. My sec-ond choice was a chai tea, but they were out of that syrup as well.

I then decided on the Irish Cream Latte and, after seeing the as-sortment of cupcake choices, I decided

on the Cookies and Cream cup-cake.

I received my latte and cupcake and sat down to see if the merchan-dise lived up to its presentation.

Oh boy, did it ever.The latte was extremely well-

blended and meshed to fit Irish

Cream perfection, not to mention the smooth texture of the milk in-corporated into it.

There was no distinction be-tween ingredients; all mixed to-gether to a creamy perfection.

The taste of heaven, also known as the Cookies and Cream cupcake (pictured above), was the best cup-cake I have ever had in my life.

The icing was more like ice cream and the cupcake was moist and delicious with chocolate to top it all off.

If you’re looking for the perfect little place to enjoy a cupcake and a cup of coffee, Shamrock Coffee Shop is the place to be.

As I walked into Coffee Coffee I saw towering shelves stocked with colorful ceramic containers, brown-bagged local treats, and jars of tantalizing coffee beans (pictured above). Coffee Coffee, located in The Bel Air Festival Shopping Center, invites customers in.

Atmosphere aside, Coffee Cof-fee boasts some of the best gour-met coffee in Bel Air. With a va-riety of specialty drinks, such as Snickers, Turtle, and Cupid’s Ar-row, the boast does not fall flat.

I ordered, and loved, the cara-mel and chocolate Snickers latte. The latte overflowed with warmth and flavor, especially when paired

with a Pecan Pie cupcake.The coffee leaves one feeling

refreshed and not jittery with a frighteningly fast heart rate.

Even in the specialty drinks, the coffee remains smooth and fla-vorful The deli-cious homemade or local made

pastries certainly don’t take away from the appeal of the shop.

Normally, coffee that costs $3.75 would seem a bit much for a stand-alone shop. Still, with all the satisfaction from the small cup of coffee, that price seems about right.

The coffee and the cupcakes were equally delicious.

Easily accessible and well worth the cost, Coffee Coffee has earned a five star rating.

While Rogers Coffee & Tea in Abingdon seemed to have an inviting, welcoming, and warm environment, our first impression was wrong. One word could characterize our visit to this newly constructed coffee shop: disappointing.

We all decided to order coffee and smoothies, considering that’s all we saw as options on the lim-ited menu at the ordering station. As for the food choices, the only options we saw contained some sort of animal.

However, after we sat down to enjoy our lovely drinks and chat, we saw to our dismay that there were more items, both food and drink, on the menu that were not advertised by the ordering station.

Strike one.The house- blended caramel fla-

vored coffee was barely drinkable.

The coffee was extremely strong and we were greatly disappointed in the overall quality and presenta-tion of the coffee. When we start to taste the caramel (which sup-posedly was blended into the cof-fee), we will let you know. So far,

however, there was no taste difference between this coffee and black coffee.

Strike two. The first word that came to

mind when taking the first sip of the strawberry banana smoothie was ‘weird.’ There was also an imbalance of strawberry and ba-nana. However, if you enjoy sug-ary clumps of banana in your smoothie, Rogers is the place for you.

Strike three.Although our first experience

at Roger’s wasn’t great, the shop is new and they are still getting things organized. Maybe within time, things will improve. But for now, we recommend sticking with the more experienced places.

The side salad had just enough mayo and chicken.

The Open Door Café has proven to be the perfect little coffee shop conveniently tucked right in the center of Bel Air.

The desserts are exquisite.There are numerous options and a revolving case is displyed as you walk into the dining

room, which is quite tempting. While I did not have a chance to sample the delicious desserts, the four layer chocolate cake (pictured above) was calling my name.

It would be a great afternoon hangout to unwind and relax after school and I urge you and your friends to go.

Open Door Cafe

All Photos by Hilary Weidner and Elizabeth Tauber

thepatriot8 in-depth Volume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

How smart Technology takes brains over brawnRyan SelvyDesign Editor

Today’s phone battle just got smarter with additional apps and new phones vying for everyone’s attention.

phone?

Which cell phone carrier do you use?

is your

Best smartphone apps for students

Facebook has been given the reputation for giving any and every student a severe case of procrasti-nation. However, social network-ing can easily be a very useful tool and an app every smartphone has to have. Facebook can help in a num-ber of situations. When students are a part of a group project they can easily create a thread for all group members. Facebook was created for the college student but these days the app makes every student’s life easier. “The Patriot” even uses Facebook to organize who brings food during layout week.

Silence can be absolute torture for a student writing an English essay or completing equations for Chemistry class, and the cure for the torture is music. Along with Facebook, the Pandora app is great for everyone, not only stu-dents. Pandora is a free radio app which acts as a genius for all music tastes. While doing homework, all a student must do is take out their smartphone and type in their favor-ite band into Pandora. But beware, you are only allowed to skip six songs in one hour, so choose your songs wisely.

Evernote, a free app that serves as an electronic notebook, is a must-have for students. The app focuses on having a note pad that can keep them organized and be easily accessible by fitting right in their pockets. The app has been highly rated by critics and has been placed in both Apple’s “App Hall of Fame” and The New York Times’ “Top 10 Must-Have Apps.” Ever-note has also been given the Best Mobile App Review. Its high rat-ings and simplicity have made this user-friendly app become a popular and helpful tool for students.

Most student apps run along the lines of organization and search engines, but Simple Mind does so much more. The app is like a mind of its own. There are two versions of Simple Mind, one which is free and the other which is $6.99. The Simple Mind app is unique and its helps students with all sorts of brainstorming.This app is highly recommended for students who always find a need for some brain boosting. When your mind is not working or if you are stuck on a question, just take out your phone and fire up Simple Mind.

EvernoteEducationFree

PandoraMusicFree

Simple MindEducation$6.99

FacebookSocialFree

The nation is on the brink of another war. A phone war. While this war may not include guns and soldiers like your average war, it is raising a lot of argument and opin-ion in the tech world.

This February is the first time the iPhone left its exclusive partnership with AT&T and join the Verizon Wireless network. With this action, the three main phone operating sys-tems, (Android, Blackberry, and iOS,) have met on the same carrier.

With a Windows 7 phone alleg-edly on the way later this year, Ve-rizon has opened a world of com-petition.

On Jan. 9, 2007, during Mac-world, CEO of Apple Steve Jobs officially announced the distribu-tion of the iPhone. Aside from Blackberry already having a head start in the smartphone world, this announcement arguably revolu-tionized the idea of smartphones since Blackberry debuted in 1999.

The iPhone was the first smart-phone to be used by not only busi-nessmen but also the general pub-lic. On Jun. 29, 2007, the iPhone went on sale to the United States general public.

How has your life changed since you got a smart phone?

SpeakingOUT

YeMaya Johnson, ’14

“You can keep your information on it. It’s like a planner keeping your things

up to date.”

thepatriot 9in-depthVolume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

Technology takes brains over brawn

230,000iPhone activations

per day

10 billioniPhone apps

250,000apps in the

Apple store

Which smartphone OS do you use?

Which cell phone carrier do you use?

downloaded

100,000apps in the

Droid market

300,000Android activations

per day

2.5 billionDroid appsdownloaded

Smartphonesmack downWhich smartphone gets more activity, Android or iPhone? These numbers give a closer look at how active these smartphone users are.

The Android operating sys-tem was initially released in Oct. 2008, but the platform didn’t gain momentum and publicity until the release of the Motorola DROID in Nov. 2009. With a marketing push from Verizon, the Motorola DROID skyrocketed in sales and the brand began to expand.

Due to Android’s new popularity, many carriers contin-ue to release phones with Android. The operating system gained so much mo-mentum that it be-came the top-selling smartphone platform by quarter four of 2010.

During Android’s stride to popu-larity, Verizon launched several anti-iPhone marketing campaigns, including an “iDon’t” commercial, dedicated to pointing out things the DROID had that the iOS did not. Proven as a successful strategy, the marketing continued to grow until both companies fledged a full-out war between one another.

By Feb. 2011, the two most popular smartphone operating sys-tems landed on the same carrier and continued to battle it out head

to head. In fact, Verizon and AT&T have launched commercials adver-tising why their service is better for the iPhone.

One of the most important as-pects of a phone is the user inter-face, which is how easy the phone is to navigate and use. Apple’s iOS is known for its very sleek and smooth running physique. Android

has been criticized for its user interface being too compli-cated.

“It’s confusing at first because you don’t know what you’re doing. Once I started using it more

I got used to the phone,” freshman Emily Waite said.

Applications are huge flaunting material for the two companies. Holding over 400,000 applications, the App Store has attracted over 10 billion downloads to date.

However, one of the most no-table issues with the approval process was in 2010 when Apple refused to accept the Google Voice application.

“The apps are all better,” junior Ethan Slusher said. “It [has] been around longer, so the phone has a

better foundation.”Android has a fully open market

allowing anyone to submit and host applications as long as they do not host malicious or illegal substanc-es. Because of this, some criticize the market for being cluttered and dangerous for phones. Regardless, the market currently holds 200,000 applications.

“There are so many options,” junior Max Decker said in refer-ence to his Droid. “You can check Facebook or search the web from anywhere,” he said.

Both iOS and Android have on-line versions of their stores.

Blackberry, Palm and Windows 7 continue to innovate and bring forth ideas, but Android and iOS continue to hold the top place. Per-haps in years to come, the lesser three will hold a larger market share and public image.

The battle is far from over and there is no definite winner between the two platforms. In the end, the whole process comes down to pref-erence and opinions. All platforms will continue to develop over the coming year with Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich set to launch this summer along with Apple’s annual new phone and software each July.

“In the end, the whole process comes down to preference and opinions.”

Information taken from http://www.gadgetvenue.com/apple-statistics-0901550In January the JC student body was surveyed on what type of phone and what phone service provider they use. A total of 352 students answered with a 3 percent margin of error.

David Scharfe, ’11“It does so much, and it’s way more fun to have a phone that does everything for you.”

Amy Van Baalen, ’12

“It’s a lot easier to con-nect with people and it’s entertaining.”

Brian Tenerowicz, ’13

“It’s easier than before and other than that it hasn’t changed.”

thepatriot10 arts & entertainment Volume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

Of course, Sara is oblivious, until she goes home with Rebecca during Thanksgiving break and learns about her eerie past.

Meester does a phenomenal job of going above and beyond in her role of a girl battling mental dis-orders.

Her character is so unbelievably crazy. She becomes so ob-sessed with Sara that

she eventually snaps and scares Sara away.

Then she must fight to get her roommate and so-callede "best friend" back.

This movie will leave you on the edge of your seat because of all the twists and turns.

You never know what's going to happen next, and that's what makes it such an exciting and thrilling film.

This movie is not only a thrill-er, but it contains elements of ro-mance and comedy.

Kristin MarzulloPhoto Editor

Maggie CassidyManaging Editor

Gnomeo and Juliet

AT T

HEMOVIES: ‘The Patriot’ staff reviews this season’s most anticipated movies

Colorful little gnomes make their way to the silver screen in the film “Gnomeo and Juliet.” In the movie the story line of William Shakespeare’s classic, Romeo and Juliet, manages to entertain all members of the audience.

The main characters, “Gnomeo and Juliet”, fall madly in love the second they look into each other’s eyes. It was precious to see their love evolve, in perfect correspon-dence with one of Elton John’s classics.

Elton John’s music adds a mu-sical touch to this movie along

The Roommate"The Roommate" is an out-of-

the-ordinary spine-tingling sus-penseful film that will make any college freshman a little more wary of their new roommate.

Leighton Meester (Rebec-ca) and Minka Kelly (Sara) be-come roommates as they both en-ter their first year in college.

In the beginning of the movie, Rebecca seems like the perfect person to live with.

She's a happy-go-lucky girl with a shy side, until she makes a complete 180 and lets out her true psychotic characteristics.

You watch as Rebecca stalks Sara's life and tries desperately to "protect" Sara from those who have hurt her by either scaring them away, ruining their careers, or even killing them.

Cam Gigandet (Stephen) plays Sara's love interest and also offers some comedic relief.

He cracks hilarious one-line jokes and puns and uses his charm effectively to keep the mood light.

The viewers have quick and brief moments to take their minds off the hair-raising suspense.

If you are afraid of movies with blood and guts, have no fear. With the exception of a few short scenes, this movie focuses more on suspense than horror.

The director leaves your imagi-nation guessing as to what will come next, so often that you begin to psych yourself out.

If you go to see this movie, pre-pare yourself.

You may be prone to jumping, laughing, screaming, and maybe even accidentally throwing your popcorn into the lap of the person sitting right next to you.

Regardless, this bone-chilling thriller is definitely a must-see.

with adorable dance moves, in which the little gnomes make the cute, yet realistic “chink” sound as they touch hats.

Some of the best characters aren’t even made of clay. A plastic flamingo named Featherstone (Jim Cummings) has a Cuban accent that adds levity and hi-larity to the film. Nanette (Ashley Jensen) is a sassy frog that tells it how is with every line, making the audience giggle.

My favorite character of the en-tire film has to be Bill Shakespeare (Patrick Stewart) whom Gnomeo meets during his adventure in the park.

After Gnomeo tells Shake-speare of his love story with Juliet, Shakespeare jumps right in with his ending. He tells Gnomeo, “I like the death part.” Gnomeo, of course, disagrees and goes to save Juliet from the same fate.

But don’t worry, if you think this is too safe for date night, sexual innuendos are

dispersed throughout the movie for your viewing pleasure.

I recommend seeing it at home because the 3-D feature in theaters costs extra money. But “Gnomeo and Juliet” definitely has its pre-cious and funny moments, which makes it a movie to see.

Seeing “The Eagle” was a com-plete and utter waste of time.

I wish my eyes never had to experience watching this terrible mess of a movie, if you can even call it that.

“The Eagle” is a historical action-adventure film that gets it namesake from the Ninth Legion of Rome that disappeared in the mountains of Britain and lost its emblem of the golden eagle.

Flash forward 20 years to 120 A.D. and you’ll see Mar-cus Flavius Aquila, played by Channing Tatum, who was a young Roman centurion trying to avenge his fa-ther’s death and his family name.

Marcus’ father was the lead commander of the Ninth Legion and was never heard from again after the Legion’s disappearance.

After being injured in a recent battle, Marcus leaves his uncle (Donald Sutherland) and de-cides to travel north of Hadrian’s Wall into Northern Britain with his slave Esca (Jamie Bell) who knows the native language. There the two must deal with native Seal People in hopes to save the lost eagle and to restore Marcus’s fam-ily’s name.

This movie is supposed to be an action-packed, on-the-edge-of-your-seat type of movie. However, it failed to make my adrenaline pump at all.

Throughout the first 45 min-

utes of the movie, I had no idea what it was about. It took a good hour for the plot to start moving and for the wheels to start turning in my head. And the only time my jaw dropped during this movie was during the sparse fight-ing sequences when interesting fighting tactics were used.

The plot failed to move me as well. The setup of the film is not original at all. A son trying to avenge his father’s death and re-store honor to the family name?

Sounds pretty familiar to me. The actors were

also unsuccessful at really getting into character and portraying people

of that time. Whenever Tatum tried to be all broody as Marcus, I couldn’t help but think he was channeling way too much of Brad Pitt from the movie “Troy.” Worst of all, I kept on thinking that Tatum would start break dancing from his role in the dance film “Step Up.”

Also, the acting from Suther-land was probably one of the worst acting jobs I had ever seen. His voice was monotone and his fa-cial expressions and gestures were bland. It was nothing like what a regal uncle is supposed to be.

“The Eagle” was a flop of a film, and dare I say that it failed to soar like an eagle.

Go watch an actual eagle fly because that would be more enter-taining than watching two hours of Channing Tatum failing to por-tray a Roman centurion in “The Eagle.”

The Eagle

Sarah KearbyLayout Editor

thepatriot 11opinionVolume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

People are so concerned about censorship.

It’s ridiculous to think that words can really affect people in such a negative way.

Why are people so offended by words?

People are way too sensitive and are simply offended way too easily.

Some people hear a certain phrase and all of a sudden, for lack of a better term, all hell breaks loose.

In fact, I’m surprised that the phrase didn’t get edited out of this story because some people might be offended by the mention of “hell” in a newspaper.

Whatever happened to freedom of speech? It apparently doesn’t exist anymore.

If you don’t believe me, think about this. Have you ever walked down the hallway, really mad about something, and just screamed some curse word at the top of your lungs?

If we truly had freedom of speech, you wouldn’t have to be worried about a teacher coming out of his or her classroom to yell at you.

Have you ever watched a mov-ie on television where some of the dialogue had obviously been changed or edited?

It takes away from the movie in an extremely negative way. Amazingly enough, very little of the actual violence in movies is censored, just the words.

Apparently, it is acceptable for people to be chopped in half, but if somebody heard the “F” word, he or she would be traumatized.

Do people think that the only reason we have psychos in this world is because people use bad language?

Censorship doesn’t stop at tele-vision. People have actually been talking about censoring literary classics like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Catcher in the Rye.”

How far are we going to let censorship go?

Are we really going to destroy literary works just to please those who are easily offended?

We shouldn’t because, in the end, censorship will always lead to blindness.

WorldAccording to Lina

Ryan LinaReporter

Censorship alive in American society

It’s doubtful that any high school student has 1,500 true friends.

It’s doubtful that any JC student personally knows 1,500 actual people.

It’s doubtful that those students with 1,500 Facebook friends actu-ally know who their “friends” are.

On Feb. 1, the Heather Williams controversy swept the JC Face-book community, and despite false accusations that the administration created the account, 119 students friended Williams, an alleged transfer into the class of 2012. This leads to an important ques-tion: do you know your Facebook “friends?”

All Facebook users, especially

high school students, need to think before accepting friend requests and giving strangers complete ac-cess to their personal information. Heather Williams could have been anyone.

Still, 119 people gave her ac-cess to their profiles. While “The Patriot” neither initiated contact nor viewed Facebook profiles, the open access to student accounts was stunning.

The reality is that a “Facebook” friend has serious privileges – the ability to search through photos, phone numbers, and in the case of those users “checking-in,” a person’s current location. What’s frightening is that students don’t

seem to care about or notice these privileges. It’s only common sense that users should only grant those privileges to real, trustworthy “friends.”

However, in the world of Face-book, “friending” has become a competition of sorts, but the truth is that the number of friends has nothing to do with anyone’s “lik-ability.”

A Facebook profile should be a reflection of a person’s true self, friends, and life. It shouldn’t be a hideaway for a second life.

When students began accepting William’s request, the JC commu-nity filled with an overwhelming sense of paranoia as students be-

lieved that the administration was viewing students’ profiles. This paranoia only highlights the lack of control that students have when it comes to their own profile and online privacy.

Safety on Facebook goes be-yond privacy settings. A single student’s decision could have re-percussions for the whole commu-nity. In this world of social media, privacy will only become an in-creasingly difficult, sensitive, and critical topic.

You can start the change now. Scroll through your Facebook “friends,” and keep only those people you actually know.

It’s your profile. Protect it.

Women’s sports deserve attention Imani Love

Reporter

STA

FF

ED Heather Williams highlights lack of concern for privacy:

Photo by Joey Hoff

I walked into the gym on a Wednesday for the girls’ varsity basketball game hoping to find a bit more of a crowd than I did the last time. But no, I just saw the same parents and friends of the players dispersed widely on the bleachers.

Nationally and locally, women’s sports have less attendance and are less advertised than men’s sports. Every time I turn on ESPN or ABC News, I always hear the highlights of a men’s game whether it’s foot-ball or college lacrosse.

When wrapping up the high-lights, sportscasters always tell viewers to tune in on an upcoming men’s game. Out of the whole sev-en minutes they take to recognize sports, maybe one women’s sport is mentioned.

Women’s sports need to be pro-moted and advertised the same amount as men’s sports. I feel like some of the reason why there is less attendance and viewers of women’s sports is because the

word about them is barely spread about. Not only should these sports be more promoted, but they should also be addressed with more respect.

When it comes to high school and college sports, there are some schools that have one or two sports that women play that are a big deal. We have one: JC’s women’s lacrosse.

Due to their ranking, they get at-tention and attract interested view-ers. While it is a popular sport, it always seems like more people show up to men’s lacrosse games at JC.

Women’s lacrosse doesn’t even compare to the men’s basketball, football, and even rugby games, a game that spectators often know little about. These men’s sports still easily get 50 spectators.

The only national women’s sports that receive deserved at-tention are tennis, soccer here and there, quick shots of cheerleaders doing back flips on the football field during half time, and possi-bly a view of the butterfly stroke in swimming. Other than that, the

rest of the games on television are dedicated to men.

And it is hard for women to have recognition because we don’t have the same sport choices as men.One of the most popular sports in America is football, but women are not supposed to play.

On Facebook, I recently saw a friend’s status that said women’s tennis was on television, but he would rather play with his thumbs than watch it . That goes to show how women’s sports are a joke to some people.

People need to be aware of women’s teams and take the time to appreciate women’s sports. Some more highlights on televi-sion, more promotion of upcom-ing games, and more support from peers would be ideal. Once wom-en’s sports get the respect they deserve, attendance at such events will not be forced, it will be an act of enthusiasm. This approach would be fantastic, because when I walk in the gym, it would be nice to see 75 people (or more) cheer-ing for our lady Patriots.

Junior Emily Soller shoots a foul shot in the game against St. Mary’s. Women’s sports often find a lack of spectators in comparison to men’s.

Photo by Taylor Hooper

Standardized testing ignores creativity

A pencil poises over a Scantron sheet seeking the correct bubble. Students are puzzling over their identical test forms and teachers hope that the results are favorable.

Whether it’s for placement in a higher level class or to determine how much you’ve learned, stan-dardized tests wrongly dictate how you are seen in the eyes of the ad-ministration at school and the state you live in.

Schools and states with the highest standardized test scores are lauded and respected. Other schools seem completely focused on these tests, and their entire school year is seemingly dedicated to preparing for them.

Schools should spend less time teaching their students to test well and more time helping students understand what they’re learning.

Meg KirchnerReporter

Students seek alternate ways to be academically tested. Standardized tests ignore inner creativity and focus mainly on strict logic of students.

But what do these examinations actually test? Honestly, there is a better question. What do they not test?

Standardized tests do not test creativity. These tests examine a

person’s ability to arrive upon an answer predetermined by a board of people that have determined them as correct.

Someone who becomes an engi-neer cannot think inside the box.

However, thinking inside the box is exactly what standardized tests assess.

These tests often do not prove the true intelligence of a person, but instead their ability to “play the game,” learn ways to rule out answers automatically and stra-tegically skip questions that will lower your score.

Not only that, but in some cas-es, students that work hard and earn admirable grades simply do not test very well on standardized tests, which is a poor reflection of their true capabilities.

In that regard, standardized testing could be considered un-necessary. I’m not suggesting that standardized testing should be eliminated from schools.

However, I am saying that there are other ways to measure a per-son’s intellect and simultaneously gauge how creative their thinking is.

CENSORED

thepatriot12 opinion Volume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

In a recent read of Sara Gru-en’s “Water for Elephants,” I was whisked away into the glamorous world of traveling circuses. Exot-ic animals, psychotic ring leaders and the threat of being red-lighted in the middle of the night kept me on the edge of my seat.

The circus isn’t something that hoards of people are drawn to any-more. Adults and children alike aren’t waiting for the next chance to see a woman stand on the back of a horse cantering around in the big top. We have better things to entertain ourselves with.

Video games, special effects, green screens and stunt crews have made the seemingly impossible possible. Why watch horses dance in patterns when you can watch a movie where a horse can talk, fly and save lives?

Has the reality of fear, the au-thenticity of thrill, and the risk of the world been so distorted by technology that real life isn’t enough?

There isn’t much we can find in an action or horror movie that fea-tures real action or horror. Flames are simulated, explosions are com-puterized and zombies are com-puterized images. There’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.

The idea that life can be en-hanced simply by a screen is too appealing to have teens waste time finding their own adventures and having their own experiences in the real outside world.

Horror movies are so abundant and over the top that the idea of an actual killer on the loose doesn’t surprise a teenager anymore. Psy-chopath with a gun running down your street? Meh, I play that char-acter in the new game I picked up.

The idea of entertainment at a play or in a theater is completely ridiculous. Having to imagine your own settings and props? For-get about it. I’ll just pop on my 3-D glasses and be taken away.

Society needs to experience reality. Reality is slowly slip-ping away from us because we’re wrapped up in fantasy that’s be-lievable enough to replace the world. You don’t have to step out-side your house to find the most incredible thing imaginable.

If we were made to go out in the real world and do some adventur-ing of our own, maybe humans would understand why life is pre-cious. The thrills of the real world are enough to keep us on the edge of our seats. We don’t even have to search for adventure. Adven-ture will find its way to us.

Modern advances make reality seem mundane

Allison SiegelPrint Chief

At Wit’s End

Editor questions Spanish exchange timingEvery February, many students

embark on a fascinating trip to Spain as a part of the Spanish exchange with Colegio Infantes. This is a rewarding experience, one which many more students should take. The issue? Missing three weeks of school in order to do so.

Even more questionable is the issue of work given to those stu-dents that choose to travel. Is it the same amount, and does it ever get done?

Traveling to Spain and living in the house of an actual resident could be a once in a lifetime ex-perience. Not only does it provide

the opportunity to practice the lan-guage on the deepest level possi-ble, but it also provides the ability to be immersed in the culture.

Other exchange programs, such as the German and French ex-change, traditionally take place in the summer or over long breaks in the school year, such as spring break.

This way, students can partici-pate in this rewarding experience without missing three weeks of school, which ordinarily makes playing “catch up” a stressful ac-tivity that lasts the rest of the year.

Following the lead of the other exchange programs would most likely get more students to partici-pate. Without the risk of missing school, the program is free to be

viewed as what it is – a fantastic educational experience, free of stress.

In addition to the fact that one must miss school to participate in the exchange, there is also the fac-tor of the amount of work given to the traveling students to complete while they are in Spain.

Teachers seem to give students condensed versions of all the work that will be completed by those choosing not to travel while they are away. It’s not unusual for this work to never get completed.

How is it fair that certain stu-dents are let off the hook just be-cause they decide to go to Spain? Why should they not be required to complete the same amount of work as everyone else?

If a student chooses to go to Spain, that is his or her choice. Therefore, they should be just as responsible as everyone else for completing their missed school-work. They should not be given special treatment.

The Spanish exchange would highly increase its participation if it took place during the summer or a time during the year when school wasn’t in session.

However, until then, with the exchange remaining during the school year, students that choose to travel to Spain should be held responsible for their work.

Saying “Adiós!” to America would be a lot less stressful dur-ing the summer. Until then? Take some responsibility.

Students deserve credit for school tripsGrace Kim

Managing Editor

Ashley SnyderOpinion Editor

A week after eating gelato in Italy and hiking mountains in Switzerland, students have a so-cial studies credit to proudly put on their college transcripts.

Now, students who travel to various countries in Europe and around the world, excluding ex-changes, can receive credit for their experiences — a fantastic idea that just makes sense.

In past years, students em-barking on science teacher John Hughes’s environmental adven-tures to the Eastern Shore and be-yond have been granted a science or social studies credit, as students engage in hands-on learning.

This hasn’t been the case for students embarking on adventures in Europe, where tour guides act as

teachers instead. However, this is all beginning

to change. Although students may now receive credit for trips such as the Italy and Switzerland trip, the credit cannot replace a normal so-cial studies class for credit. How-ever, students can add the credit to his or her transcripts when apply-ing for colleges.

The credit shows something unique about the student, and those little special things are what colleges will consider when it comes to picking between student “A” and student “B.”

Also, the credit shows that the student didn’t just go along for pure enjoyment and that the stu-dent was immersed in a whole new environment of historical and cul-tural knowledge — a living ver-sion of courses like AP European History.

It’s also rather simple to be granted the credit. Those partici-pating in the Italy and Switzerland trip only have to put together short presentations about their destina-tions and their experiences on the trip.

All teachers organizing or lead-ing school trips should consider granting credit, and currently, those students participating in the Italy and Switzerland trip will re-ceive a credit in social studies.

I strongly believe that all other teachers leading trips in foreign countries should follow suit, such as the Ireland and Scotland trip and the China trip.

In these trips, students will en-joy an equally educational and unforgettable experience in their respective destinations as those going to Italy and Switzerland. So why not get the same benefit?

While there is work involved to receive credits, the work is purely optional, and students can enjoy the trip without receiving credit. Either way, it’s a win-win situa-tion.

Graphic by Ryan Selvy

Graphic by Ryan Selvy

Cartoon by Lauren Friedley

thepatriot 13opinionVolume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

Times are changing indeed. My immediate reaction to social

studies teacher Richard Wojew-odzki’s “non-exams” was confu-sion. How could a teacher give an exam that allowed full access to the Internet and collaboration with other students? I understand that the focus of these unique exams was to apply knowledge and re-searching skills of Human Geog-raphy, and Wojewodzki certainly was aiming to accomplish some-thing I fully support. However, I believe that the method in which this was done is questionable.

I reviewed a copy of his exam, and at first glance, it seems that the exam is easily solved with quick Google searching. Then, after a closer look, I found that some of the questions were outright time- consuming and tedious.

I would probably be sitting there for a good hour doing a particular question that requested I fully re-search a country and compare it to the U.S., complete with graphics and at least one citation from six sources.

I also feel that this exam had the potential to be very unfair. I abhor working in groups because I feel

THE CON - Non-exams add unnecessary complications to testing methods

- by Grace Kim

that one person ends up shoulder-ing the most work while the others can hop on their backs and turn in the group work for the same A.

Call me old fashioned, but I be-lieve that students should still be required to memorize concepts and ideas that play into Human Geography. Why revamp an ex-amination system that works the way it is? If it’s not broken, don’t bother trying to fix it. According to an article from The New York Times, students that take tests the conventional way retain informa-tion up to 50 percent more than other students who simply read information and analyze it.

When comparing my freshman Human Geography exam to theirs, I feel that my exam was stronger because I came away with a wealth of knowledge that I still remember to this day from strict studying of the material. I clearly understood what my teacher expected me to understand and utilize in my an-swers. Real time application was certainly in my exam, and I con-nected what I learned in class to my test.

The exam could still be pa-perless by having the students submit their questions electroni-cally without all of the additional quirks. But when the students are given full Internet access, input from their fellow peers’ brains, and questions solved anywhere from simple searching to in-depth planning, my eyebrows are indeed raised.

Last year I had to miss my fi-nal exams due to personal engage-ments. All but two of my teachers gave me the option to either take or not take my exams. The teach-ers who gave me the options were ones that have had reputations for being very strict about academics.

Of course, I chose not to take them, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t learn anything or that ev-erything I learned disappeared. It just meant that I didn’t have to go through hours of stress, and study-ing, or in other words hours of and useless memorizing.

Like all students, I start to stress out and complain when the dread-ed exam week comes along. I may even spend more time complain-ing than actually studying.

I’m not one to say grades shouldn’t be so important. I ac-tually believe just the opposite. Grades are important. However, exams are different. Exams just teach us how to cram and com-plain.

During midterms, social stud-ies teacher Richard Wojewodzki gave his freshman Honors Human Geography Class a paperless exam which they were able to do togeth-

THE PRO - Non-exams creatively test a student’s ability to apply knowledge

- by Eva Bialobrzeski

er. They also didn’t have to cram for it the night before. The “exam” included questions that dealt with current events and researching various subjects. Things that are actually important for students to know and learn.

Not only did the students have to answer questions that are worth knowing, but they had to do it to-gether. As students, we are con-stantly told that once we get into the real world, we will have to work with people we like and don’t like. This exam seems to emulate the real world instead of just wasting two hours in solitude.

I have never taken one these “exams,” but I can’t help but to wonder how much better the ben-efits it would be than a two- hour long classic standardized test. When in real life will we ever need to take an exam? Probably rarely, if ever. When in real life will I have to work with others and research? Mostly likely every day.

This exam seems to actually test on material which was learned not just test on how to take a test. Students are already forced to take the objective SAT. Why should we have to sit through the agony of a classic exam when the future calls for a new assessment?

It’s the 21st Century, an era based on technology and moving forward. In a world where we are educated to prepare for the work force, an objective an exam is the past and a real life assessment is the exam of the future.

Writer exposes ‘evol’ behind loveLove is Evol. Spell it back-

wards. I’ll show you.Honestly, is there any other

thing in this world that affects people the way love does? People do crimes for love.

The worst part of it is if some-one asks you why you’re in jail, you can’t just go “because of love.”

That will get you beat up and picked last for prison kickball.

Many scientists say that the feeling of love is the body’s natu-ral release of the neurotransmit-ters, dopamine and serotonin.

Numerous psychologists have said that the brain of a person in love is similar to a person dealing with a drug addiction or suffering from obsessive compulsive dis-order. To tell you the truth, these comparisons do make sense.

You know why? People will do anything for love.

No matter what any person says, even if they say they only want it for various benefits or something similar to it, ultimately we want just one thing.

We all want a person who we can be with forever. A person who we can still be with when we are old, smelly, and can’t remember their name.

In the end, we can’t just stare into each other’s milky cataract filled eyes and remain happy. That is all we want in a relationship.

People do anything just to taste love. Look at women. Girls get plastic surgery just so they can look good so someone will love them. I’ve seen girls who try to look years younger, but they can’t reduce their age.

People go way too far to try to attract other people. Women try to get all sorts of enhancing surgeries so they can impress other people.

They go way too far. Not only do we see people go

too far to get in relationships, we also see individuals go through tough times just to stay in them.

Have you ever been to the mall and listened to some people fight-ing? It’s ridiculous but hilarious. So I’m going to tell you about it.

You hear things like, “I saw you look at her. Is that what you want?”

Ladies please understand some-

thing. If a man is in the mall with you,

he loves you. You know what most men are thinking while they’re in the mall? “Man, I wish I was doing something productive.”

Honestly, men shouldn’t have to prepare themselves before they go to the mall.

The sad thing is that love is powerful. You hear countless songs and watch endless movie scenes of someone going through all kinds of hardship just to please their lover or simply be with them

Bruno Mars put it perfectly when he sings about catching gre-nades and throwing his hands on blades for his lady love.

The truth is that those awful re-lationships are just not worth it.

You don’t get a rebate when you die. God doesn’t say, “I was going to kill you today, but you were with that idiot for six months. Here’s a coupon.”

If you find true love, it’s worth having it, but if you go through a living hell to get it, it shows how love really can truly be evil.

The PatriotThe John Carroll School

703 Churchville RoadBel Air, MD 21014

Volume 46, Issue 4, February 2011

Editor in Chief:Joey Hoff

Section Chief:Allison Walczyk

Print Chief:Allison Siegel

Online Chief:Jenny Hottle

Copy Chief:Kirby Browning

Photo and Design Chief:Kristin Marzullo

Managing Editors:Maggie CassidyGrace Kim

Business Manager:Ellen Barker

Section Editors:Eva BialobrzeskiCollin HoofnagleStephanie LairdImani LoveLeah PolakoffTaylor SchaferAshley SnyderElizabeth TauberHilary Weidner

Copy Editors:Gabbrielle JosephCara Reilly

Photo and Design:Taylor HooperAshley MoxleyRyan Selvy

Layout Editors:Nico CvachJulia EarnshawSarah Kearby

Multimedia Editors:Megan BattagliaRachel DinsmoreCaroline Spath

Reporters:Hayley BoyleAmanda GrazianoMeg KirchnerRyan LinaLindsay PowellBrian ReidHenry Shepard

Cartoonists:Brooke BastaLauren Friedly

Moderators:Mark IonescuNick Attanasio

The Patriot is a publication of The John Carroll School.

The views and opinions expressed

in The Patriot are not necessarily

the views of the Board or Administration of The John Carroll

School. The editorial staff invites and greatly appreciates comments from readers

on any issue.

Please email us ateditor@jcpatriot.com or visit our website:

www.jcpatriot.com

Ryan LinaReporter

Cartoon by Ryan Selvy

VCoNPro ‘The Patriot’

addresses opposing viewpoints on the future of exams

thepatriot14 sports Volume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

M a k i n gWa v e s

Rugby team hopes for successful seasonThe rugby team began practic-

ing in the freezing cold, twice a week the week of Feb. 8, prior to when the season actually starts. They hope to bring a different at-titude to the new season.

“I want to create a positive re-lationship with my team,” senior captain Brett Prochazka said. “By practicing together in the cold, and relying on each other to get through each day, I think we are already starting to come to-gether. I want us to be one team, not 15 individuals.”

Senior Matt Crane leads the team along with Prochazka. “It’s a good start to re-learn the fundamentals of rugby. It gives everybody a chance to know your teammates,” Crane said. “We should come together and have a successful season.”

Prochazka and Crane aren’t the only ones that want the team to have a strong relationship.

The first-year assistant coach Eric Sutton believes that practic-ing early will help the team pre-pare well for the season and create stronger bonds, which is key to having a successful team.

“[We’ve been] practicing for two weeks. I think the benefits will be getting these guys fit because a lot of them are going to have to play a lot of the time because we don›t have a lot of subs, so they are going to need to be in shape. And it will help with team bond-ing,” Sutton said.

Another new face to the team is junior Jonathon Galarraga.

“I’m excited to just get out on the field and play some ball. I know it will be a fun way to hang

out and prepare for the football sea-son,” Galarraga said. “I decided to join because a lot of people told me about it and said it was fun.”

According to Sutton, when it comes to strategies and drills for the team, they have covered ball handling, some rudi-mentary two- and three-men plays, tackling, and the Ruck formation.

The Ruck formation is formed when “any combination of three players from both teams bind to-gether over the ball to try and push over and gain possession,” accord-ing to guiderugbyrugby.com.

According to Sutton, the team hasn’t done the scrum yet, which is when the ball is put back into play after an infraction, according

to guiderugbybyrugby.com“Spatial awareness is what

coaches are always stressing, also communication and knowing where you’re supposed to be on the field,” Sutton said. “It’s a very precise game, it’s kind of a mess, but it has to be really coordinat-ed. It’s like non-stop football and that’s what’s cool about it. You just pick the ball up and keep going.”

When new and returning play-ers try out for the team, the coach-es are looking for determined and eager players.

“We’re looking for hard work and willingness to learn because a lot of people don’t know how to play when they show up,” Sutton said. “At least from my experi-ence, it is more than just giving a lot of effort. It’s being aware of space and listening to what Coach [Chris] Powell has to say.”

Last year’s rugby team had a re-cord of 0-8-1. In spite of that dev-astating record, the expectations for the 2011 seasons are high ones.

A coach, captain, and player have weighed in on how they feel the season will go.

“We’re expecting to win the championship and a vast improve-ment from last year,” Sutton said.

“Hopefully we’ll make it to the championships. Our entire A-side will be seniors, so we have an advantage there,” senior Vinny

Clough said. “We should have a very good

season. We have a lot of senior players coming back and some new players that could make a dif-ference. We have some new coach-es this year that will be able to help us. JC Rugby Rules,” Crane said.

“We had a rough last season, and this year we have a lot of re-turning players, so I think we will do much better. We will have about 10 or 11 starting seniors on the team, so we have a lot of expe-rience and leadership on the field,” Prochazka said.

Photo by Stephanie Laird

Junior Christian O’Neill, senior Andy Hamiliton, senior Vinny Clough, and senior Matt Tennyson practice a maul. The team has been practicing for the upcoming season.

Imani LoveSports Editor

For the fourth year in a row, the JC women’s Patriots claimed the team sil-ver medal in the IAAM ‘B’ Conference swimming championships, with Bryn Mawr capturing the gold medal ahead of JC.

Bryn Mawr moved down from the ‘A’ conference and was JC’s biggest competition all season.

In the IAAM ‘A’ Conference, Notre

Dame Prep topped defending champion McDonough for the title.

The meet was held for both the IAAM ‘A’ and ‘B’ conferences Sunday Feb. 6 at the McDonough School in Owings Mills.

Teams receive points based on in-dividual performances, gaining more points for victories and less for lower results. The final scores for the top three

teams were Bryn Mawr with 441, JC with 349.5, and Severn with 281.

The Patriots won three gold medals in the com-petition. Senior Elaina Kohles won the first gold medal for the Patriots in the 500-meter freestyle with a time of 5:25.37, beating her closest com-petitor by five seconds in the longest individual race of the day.

“I’m really proud of how well the team has done over the past four years, and I’ll

really miss being part of the team next year. Everyone is always able to swim fast and drop time in the champion-ships, and hopefully next year our team will be able to get first,” Kohles said, following her final event as a JC swim-mer.

The second gold for JC came in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:09.72 by sophomore Carrie Dukes. Also, Dukes came in second in the 100-meter butterfly, with a new school record of 57.62.

The final gold for the Patriots came in the 200-meter freestyle relay.

The team of Dukes, Kohles, fresh-man Paige Tyler, and senior Colleen Walls recorded a time of 1:53.44, a close win over Bryn Mawr’s team.

The same team from JC also claimed a silver medal in the 400-meter free-style relay, finishing behind the team from Bryn Mawr that they just beat.

Other silver medals were claimed by Kohles in the 200-meter freestyle and by Carrie Dukes in the 100-meter but-terfly.

Many other Patriots claimed solid re-sults throughout the tournament.

”It was a great day for the Patriot girls,” coach Larry Dukes said follow-ing the results.

“We are looking to be just as strong as we are this year. We will miss our se-niors, but we have freshman coming in next year that will help us out. I look forward to next year’s season and hope to compete for the championship again. Our team goal would be to win the ‘B’ conference championship. We have been runner up the last three years,” sophomore Carrie Dukes said.

The men’s MIAA championships were held Feb. 12 at Loyola Blakefield.

In the ‘A’ conference, Loyola cap-tured their 18th straight championship, topping their closest competitor, Mc-Donough, by more than 70 points.

In the ‘B’ conference, Gilman domi-nated the competition, beating all oppo-nents by at least 200 points.

JC finished in seventh place out of the eight teams competing. The Patriots were unable to win an event all day.

Photo by Jenny Hottle

Above: Senior Jenna Glassman practices her freestyle before a meet against Roland Park. The JC team defeated Roland Park in that race. Top: Senior Elaina Kohles practices butterfly.

“I want us to be one team, not 15 indi-viduals.”

-Brett Prochazka

Story by: Henry ShepherdPhoto by: Ashley Moxley

thepatriot 15sportsVolume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

Sports with Shep

Success of winter sports’ teams

Henry ShepardReporter

Derek AlbanVarsity Men’s Indoor Track

Yemaya JohnsonVarsity Women’s Basketball

Junior Derek Alban has never had an off season, and he’s not planning on taking one. Alban runs varsity cross country, varsity indoor track and varsity outdoor track.

“In indoor track, his best times were four minutes and 44 sec-onds for a mile, two minutes and 11 seconds for a half mile, and 60 seconds for a quarter mile,” coach Rob Torres said.

Alban ended up finishing in 35th in the state at the 2010 cham-pionships.

Freshman Yemaya Johnson is the only freshman on the varsity women’s basketball team. John-son plays forward and guard and has been for the past nine years.

Women’s varsity basketball Head Coach Mike Blizzard prais-es Johnson for her defense. “She has a knack for getting her hands on the ball and deflecting passes,” Blizzard said. “She’s also a good rebounder and has the ability to shoot a three-pointer,” he said.

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Wrestling, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball all had great seasons this winter. Wres-tling is ranked ninth in the metro, and wrestled in the Maryland In-dependent School Championship on Feb. 19, placing three wres-tlers. Men’s basketball are 28-2 overall, and defeated St. Frances in the MIAA ‘A’ Conference fi-nal Sunday, Feb. 20, 70-58. The women’s basketball team lost in the IAAM ‘B’ Conference Cham-pionship Sunday against NDP by three points.

For some reason, winter sports are more successful against the top competition than fall or spring sports. In the fall, only women’s volleyball was able to win a title. Last spring, only men’s lacrosse was able to win a title. But this winter, three teams had a chance to win championships, and women’s swimming already placed sec-ond at the IAAM ‘B’ Conference Championship.

The disparity between winter sports and the other two seasons are relatively consistent. Ever since Keith Watson became coach of the wrestling team, they have climbed the MIAA ladder. Head Basketball Coach Tony Martin has led the men’s basketball team on a meteoric rise over the past five years. Mike Blizzard has taken the women’s basketball team from nothing two years ago to an IAAM Championship this year.

The common denominator be-tween the three dominant winter sports is the coaches. Watson and Blizzard were brought from out-side the school and have success-fully brought their teams to life. Additionally, Martin was brought into the JC community from Spalding.

It’s hard to deny the impact coaches have on a team. Coaches like Mike Krzyzewski take differ-ent players each year to the top, while lower level coaches cannot take advantage of the talent af-forded to them.

I’m not saying all the coaches from JC are bad. Many of the coaches at JC have a passion for the game. But, after a prolonged spell of unsuccessful seasons, teams need a change in leadership. Often, a new coach provides new energy to the team. In the end, it’s all about finding the coach that is able to provide that energy.

READ MORE ATjcpatriot.comV

Basketball teams break records

JC has not won an MIAA Con-ference Championship in men’s basketball since 1995 and the women’s basketball team has not made it to the championships in 27 years. This year’s teams changed that.

On Sunday Feb. 20, JC played St. Frances for the MIAA ‘A’ Con-ference Championship at UMBC and picked up the win with a final score of 70-58.

The game started out slow. Nei-ther team took off to gain an early lead. As a result, the score was only 8-6 JC after the first quarter.

In the second quar-ter, Sophomore Mike Owona and freshman Lionel Owona had to sit due to foul trouble. This allowed St. Frances to keep the game tied at 20-20 with less than two minutes to play in the half. However, JC was able to put together a 7-0 run to end the first half, capped off with a three point-er from freshman Kamau Stokes. JC went into halftime with the lead, 27-20.

Stokes’s three-pointer would turn out to be the turning point of the game. JC continued to build their lead in the third quarter, pull-ing ahead by as much as 16 points. Heading into the fourth quarter, it was all JC, 44-30.

In the fourth quarter, foul trou-ble caught up with both teams. St. Frances lost two seniors as Greg

Lewis and Ronald “RJ” Williams fouled out. JC lost sophomores Mike Owona and Rodney Elliot. St. Frances was able to capitalize on this and made a small run in the early fourth quarter. However, JC never let them get back within five, allowing them to win the game.

This historic win was the first ever MIAA ‘A’ Conference Cham-pionship victory and broke the record for most wins in a season, with 29.

Senior Ronald Scott had a tre-mendous night with 23 points, including several three-pointers.

Junior Jarred Jones was key on the inside with 12 points. Malcolm McMillan scored 17 points, includ-ing a slam dunk.

Coach Tony Martin stressed the importance of the

end of the first half after the game. “[The last few seconds] were criti-cal. You can do a lot more with a two possession lead,” Martin said.

As for being the coach of the best team in JC history, Martin had only a few words. “It’s an honor.”

Scott attributed the win to a full team effort. “We played together with a lot of heart,” Scott said.

As for the championship win, Scott said, “It’s really exciting. It’s my last year, so I wanted to leave it all out on the floor.”

It all came down to the final match for the women’s varsity basketball team on Sunday Feb. 20. “This was it. We knew it would either be a devastating loss,

or a major win because it’s against our biggest rival NDP,” said junior Miranda Ripken.

After 27 years, the women’s varsity team finally made it back to the championships. By winning the tip ball at the beginning of the game, JC took an early advantage.

With the first half of the game slipping away, their nerves start-ed to get to them. “We definitely came out flat footed and not ready to play. In the second half we re-alized that we had to pick up the tempo and start attacking the bas-ket,” said junior Emily Soller.

With NDP starting to feel the pressure, they gave JC easy foul

Brian Reid, Taylor Hooper Reporter, Photo Editor

Men make history, women stage comeback but come up short.

shots. With JC down by 15 starting

the 4th quarter, many would think it was over. But JC came back strong, and dominated the 4th quarter, coming short with three points less than their adversaries. With the final score being 47-44, NDP came up victorious in the championship. Despite the loss, JC isn’t done yet with NDP. They are ready to work even harder next season and are motivated to win next year. “It was a lot of work, sweat, tears, and laughs, but we got there. I wouldn’t trade any of those memories for a win last night,” Coach Mike Blizzard said.

“This was it. We knew it would either be a devastating loss or a major win.”

-Miranda RipkenSenior Malcolm McMillan dribbles past opponent senior Ronald “RJ” Williams from St. Frances. The team defeated St. Frances for the third time.

Photo by Ashley Moxley

thepatriot16 sports Volume 46 Issue 4 February 2011

Nicole Trombetta

Position: BackspotYears cheerleading: 4 Biggest accomplish-ment: Being able to complete a toe-touch-tuckFun fact: Trombetta made the cheer squad at High Point University.Favorite cheer: “We are just beginning”

Michaela Kyburz

Position: Flyer/BaseYears cheerleading: 4 Biggest accomplish-ment: Being able to complete three toe-touches in a rowFun fact: Kyburz is able to fall without being injured.Favorite stunt: Ara-besque full down

Angelica Ellison

Position: Base/backspotYears cheerleading: 5 Biggest accomplish-ment: Making the JC varsity squadFun fact: Ellison likes to sew in her spare time.Favorite cheer: “Rowdy”

Meghan Kazanski

Position: FlyerYears cheerleading: 7 Biggest accomplish-ment: Becoming captainFun fact: Kazanski lovesmolecular biology.Favorite stunt: Double downs

Sen

ior

Spo

tlig

htThe JC cheerleaders set out for their first

home competition only to start to a skipping CD — a technical failure that no other com-peting teams had to face.

“It freaks you out and messes you up from the beginning,” junior Kelly McCor-mick said.

Still, at the Feb. 5 event, JC varsity cheer-leaders had to continue their routine, com-peteing against Catholic High, Mercy, Insti-tute of Notre Dame, Archbishop Spalding, or Mount Carmel.

With smiles on their faces, the teammates clapped and counted their way through their performance, keeping in sync, and nailing their routine.

The crowd was supportive, clapping with the original beat and counting to keep the team’s performance smooth.

“It was a relief [when we heard the crowd] counting for us because then we didn’t have to,” senior Meghan Kazanski said.

Even after nailing their routine on the first performance, the JC cheerleaders were given another chance.

Because JC was not at fault for the equip-

ment failure, the team was not penalized for it.

However, the cheerleaders were exhaust-ed after their first performance. “I was more excited [for the second performance], but then it just fell apart,” sophomore Lauren Heim said.

Despite the surprise troubles, the JC cheerleaders were rewarded with second place.

“I was happy [when I found out we got second place]. Of course, you want to win [and] you want to see the year 2010 on your banner in the gym,” Heim said.

Archbishop Spalding took first place in all three categories, which were sideline cheers or routines without music for both JV and varsity.

“Spalding had more skills, and they hit more of their stunts,” freshman Gianna Langrehr said.

The JV squad picked up where the var-sity team left off, finishing in first place at the Feb. 19 IAAM championship competi-tion, beating Spalding.

However, the varsity team was unable to compete in the championships due to player illnesses and injuries.

Additional reporting by Hayley Boyle.

F LY H I G HSarah Kearby

Layout Editor

Top: Senior Meghan Kazanski does a torch while being supported by junior Emily Jefferson, junior Jill Lepus, and senior Nicole Trombetta.Above: Junior Kelly McCormick performs a pike basket toss.Left: Freshman Gianna Langrehr snaps out of her pike basket toss after successfully completing it. Right: Junior Kelly McCormick does a heel stretch while being supported by junior Emily Jefferson, junior Jill Lepus, and senior Nicole Trombetta.