ESOL is “a profound class that teaches a lot of new and sophisticated material,” freshman Isabella Ariza stated.

When Ariza first came to the U.S. from Colombia, she was dissapointed for being placed in English for Speakers of Other Languages classes.

However, Ariza gives great credit to ESOL for developing her skills in English and allowing her to pursue a more rigorous academic lifestyle.

She stated that she is now part of more mainstream classes such as Biology Honors and English 9 thanks to the progress she made in ESOL English classes.

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In response to the multitude of ideas posed by freshmen, biology teachers created the Arabidopsis Fair, a science expo exclusively for Honors Biology students.

According to Biology and Environmental Systems teacher Barbara Brown, freshmen “just didn’t have the preparation” to participate in science fair, so the faculty decided to use the Arabidopsis Fair “so that it would be easier for us to help the kids.”

Every year Honors Biology freshmen cultivate mutant and wild type variations of Arabidopsis under different stressors.
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People skip class to go. Others say they went before anyone else did.

No, this isn’t Chipotle. It’s Unique. The massive store located in Merrifield is a mecca for serious thrifters, but students are increasingly going to find their own clothes.

However, the store still elicits mixed reactions because of varying responses to buying secondhand clothes.

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On April 10, Rick Santorum dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. This was a sad day for politics. Let me explain:

I find Santorum’s social policies odious in the extreme. I feel that his crusade against abortion and contraception represented, whether he viewed it this way or not, an attack against women’s rights. Which are, in fact, human rights.
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The girls varsity soccer team played strongly against Madison on April 20, drawing with a score of 0-0.

“[The girls] were competitive,” girls varsity soccer head coach Ann Germain said.
The game went into double overtime, each five minutes long.

“We just need to work on communicating better,” freshman Caitlin Dickson said.
“We’re pretty strong on defense,” junior Ayumi Matsuda said. “Our main weakness though is pushing up on offense like creating space and taking shots.”

The team has about ten new varsity players, according to Matsuda.

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FCPS needs to stop relying on other online course providers without testing them against its students. Although it can do a decent job with online classes, it is in FCPS’s online offerings for AP where it just failed.

FCPS’ provider for online classes, Apex Learning, has caused me more stress than IB. I am taking AP Calculus AB online and I had been told that it would be easy, especially since I took IB Math SL 2 last year. However, the general failure in teaching me the concepts behind the math have made me question why FCPS decided to use Apex Learning.

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The orchestra’s yearly Pops concert will be held much earlier this year due to renovation demands. According to choral director Catherine Bond, this will be the last orchestra performance held at Marshall until the new auditorium is finished.

Rescheduled for May 3, this free concert will also be the final performance for 12 seniors, who will be honored either through solo performances or renditions of songs chosen by the honoree. Cellist Brendan Metzger, senior, chose to be in the solo performance and will be playing a part in the Orchestra’s rendition of “Pavone for a Dead Princess.”
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The Fairfax County School Board approved a measure to investigate moving school starting times from 7:20 to 8:00 a.m., a motion that has resurfaced since it was intiatlly voted down by the board in 2009.

Although no plan currently exists to change start times, there is an intent “for the School Board to study how later start times could be achieved,” school board chair Jane Strauss said.

The revival of this issue can be partially attributed to the Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal.

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Marketing teacher and DECA adviser Jen Hendrickson received an Outstanding Virginia DECA Advisor award on March tenth at this year’s Virginia DECA State Leadership Conference, making it the third time she has received this award in her career.

“To be the only one from Fairfax County really surprises me because I work with a ton of other advisers who are awesome,” Hendrickson said.

These awards are based on a point system where advisers can earn points based on their participation in events at the local, district and state levels.

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The most memorable thing about Lockout were the nachos I had at the theater.

What I expected from the movie was an action-packed experience and a ridiculous story line, but Lockout was an absolute failure. The story line was completely stolen from Escape from New York, a far superior movie. Even the main character’s name from Lockout, Snow, sounds just like the Escape from New York character’s name, Snake.

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