The dance team won two second place trophies with its hip-hop and pom routines at the national cheer and dance competition in Hershey, Pennsylvania on April 21.

“It was really great bonding time for all of us,” sophomore Annie Bryan said.

The team performed two routines at the competition. Pom routines include elements of jazz dance, with the addition of pom-poms.

“We were judged by a panel of about ten judges who based their scores on our moves, our technique, our facials, our energy and our cohesion as a team,” junior Lexie Tsantes said.

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May 21 marked the end of an era for students currently taking drama or band classes.

On that day, the auditorium and band classrooms began the process of a complete renovation. New seating, carpets and walls are just a few of the expected changes. The construction is tentatively slated to end in late November of this year, although all school activities that use the rooms will most likely need to use an alternative venue for the first half of next school year.

For now, the whole place is undergoing a process of being stripped “down to its bare bones,” band director Paul Vesilind said.
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Sophomores Ann Bryan and Emily Casey received a bronze medal at the International Sustainable World Energy Engineering Environment Project Olympiad, which took place May 3 to 7.

“They had a great idea and they ran with it and they worked very hard to work together,” science teacher Joelle Lastica said.

Lastica added that Bryan and Casey’s project was an example of how far students can advance with their project.
The team’s project looked at how to purify water. It did so by evaporating water multiple times.

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Over the years that Silversun Pickups have been recording music, they’ve been almost constantly compared to 90’s-era shoegaze, punk rock and psychedelic rock bands — think Smashing Pumpkins or My Bloody Valentine.

Their most recent release, Neck of the Woods, seems to actually try to embrace that association with the past. The resulting blend of ambience with grungy guitar hooks, ethereal vocals and thrumming bass is an homage to a time when rock was constantly being redefined. In doing so, Silversun Pickups have created one of the best albums of the year.

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A view from a car window. A bridge at sunrise. A ballerina dancing on a road in the woods.

So opens senior Madeleine Fleshman’s short film, “A Screaming Cry in a Silent Room,” which won first place in Video Fairfax’s annual film festival in the high school age category.

“I really enjoy writing but I haven’t taken the time to continue it recently,” Fleshman said, “so this was my chance to combine film with something that functioned more like a short story.”

Fleshman originally created this film to serve as both her final exam and IB exam in her IB Film Study HL II class.
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The Virginia Department of Education has revised its standards for SOL testing to include free response questions.

According to the Virginia Department of Education website, the new questions require critical thinking designed to prepare students for the challenges they will face in the next grade.

The new questions will make up about 15 percent of the modified SOLs.

“I think it’s a good idea,” math department co-chair Judy Greenblum said. “It’s important for students to know how to problem-solve and to think critically, rather than just … drill and practice kinds of questions.”
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For some, the traditional school program just is not realistic. Maybe the hours conflict with a job, maybe the scheduling does not meet academic needs but, regardless of the reason, some students find that the mainstream school system does not meet their specific needs.

Senior Troy Phares is one such student.

Due to an illness in the family, Phares felt he needed to be home more than the regular school system would allow. Phares heard about Computer Enhanced Instruction, an alternative schooling program, from senior Tyler Morris and decided to enroll this year.

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“I can’t believe Matt pulled this off,” sophomore Greer Gabor said as she mingled with students at the The Fresh Selection benefit concert at Jammin Java on May 5.

The concert, organized by sophomore Matt Colwell, featured the area’s most well-known rap artists such as Genie and Lyric as well as smaller acts such as DJ Ryan Feng from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

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The Activities Office organized its second ever Signing Day for graduating seniors being accepted to colleges to play sports on April 26. At the event, students were acknowledged by school faculty and coaches for committing to play at their respective schools.

“I had been talking to a couple of schools that I liked academically but Delaware was beautiful and close to home and the head field hockey coach was really friendly and they asked me to play for them in November,” said senior Maddie O’Beirne, a center midfielder who signed to play field hockey.

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Prom is over now and I hope everybody had a wonderful time. I have some retrospective advice I would like to offer to future prom attendees.

The first thing you need to do is to start planning early. Find a core group of people, talk to all of them and make sure everyone is on the same page. The page you all need to agree on is money.

Everybody has a different idea of prom in his or her head. Some people envision jewel-encrusted spoons whereas others want to bring a tablecloth to McDonalds. Both are fine.

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