where every person has a storyTheNewsstreak

Marching band kicks off yearBand major Alex Hunter-Nickels conveys high hopes for marching squad

Harrisonburg High School • 1001 Garbers Church Road • Harrisonburg, VA 22801 • 540.433.2651 • Volume XIC • Issue 1• August 21, 2012

High schools’ exteriors may not appear similar, but they are generally alike in all other respects; their social dynamics tran-scend regional differences. Sure, HHS stu-dents bond together during football games or while fundraising for a noble cause. But from novice freshmen to presumptuous se-niors, the students of each grade level tend to believe themselves superior in compari-son to the other three classes. Although rarely voiced aloud, these assumptions are always simmering below the surface, eager for a confirmation, according to current student council president Ben DiNapoli.

DiNapoli has decided to utilize this la-tent competitive nature in coordinating this year’s ‘Class Wars’ with the rest of the SCA staff. He is determined to restore the HHS tradition his sister, Emma, began. DiNapoli terms the games, ‘an intramural points competition between the grades.’

The ‘Wars’ will be held continuously throughout the 2012-2013 school year. Examples of previous class competitions are the ‘penny wars’ from two years ago, and the chip pieces distributed during spirit week to those whose creativity in apparel went above and beyond the norm. This year’s are centered around sports

SCA, DiNapoli bring back class wars

SCA Fast FactsPresident: Ben DiNapoliVice President: Alex Hunter-NickelsTreasurer: Jacob ByrdSecretary: Sarah BellReporter: Sam St. OursHomecoming Game: October 19Homecoming Dance: October 20

See SCA on Page A2

The start of a new school year involves numerous stressful activities, and anxiety can be doubled, even tripled, for teachers of AP classes. The new twelfth grade AP Literature & Composition teacher, Melo-dy Wilson is making the transition from tenth grade English to AP English Litera-ture, replacing the recently retired long-time teacher Sheila Fielding.

“Nothing is more daunting than be-ing the successor of someone with such an impressive track record. I could never take her place, but I hope to preserve the legacy of her passion for literature and learning,” Wilson said. Wilson is looking forward to the range and freedom of her new position, unlike the grade specific curriculum orchestrated by the state of Virginia for tenth grade.

Although the torch has been passed to a new teacher, the curriculum of the class will mostly be the same with the excep-tion of one unit, literary criticism, and the sequence of material. Wilson’s expe-rience with teaching English has not in-cluded seniors, and she is somewhat wor-ried about the jump.

“[Senior year] is complex, between the

college applications, and extracurricu-lar activities, it’s hard to stay focused. I expect upperclassmen to be already well disciplined judging from Mrs. Fielding’s previous classes,” Wilson said.

Wilson is not the only teacher expe-riencing back-to-school jitters. Mark Tu-eting, former AP United States History teacher, is now in charge of the new AP Economics class. With this addition, the HHS Social Studies Department is look-ing to expand their number of offered AP classes to four. To prepare for the class, Tueting attended a week long workshop to learn the ins and outs of the new cur-riculum.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve taught the subject, the workshop helped with devel-oping classroom tactics. The class will be taught similar to learning a foreign lan-guage with a systematic approach,” Tuet-

Wilson, Tueting prepare for challenges of AP teachingCelia EhrenpreisEditor-in-Chief

“Nothing is more daunting that being the successor of someone with such an impressive track record... I hope to preserve the legacy”Melody Wilson, English teacher

See TEACHERS on Page A2

PLACES! Band Major Alex Hunter-Nickels conducts band camp on the practice soccer field. Hunter-Nickels is re-sponsible for acting as a leader to this year’s band, as well as keeping the marchers in position.

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

Mark DudaEditor-in-chief

The click of a metronome on the practice soccer field heralds the start of a new school year at HHS. The repetitive noise, a staple of the late summer and early school year, also in-dicates the beginning of a new incarnation of HHS’ Marching Blue Streaks band. This year’s band is led by senior band major Alex Hunter-Nickels, a third year band student.

Hunter-Nickels was chosen as band major last spring after a rigorous tryout process. “To actually select a drum major there’s a inter-view process, and I had to do some conduct-

Instrument section leaders take chargeMusicians in band take directions from student leaders. A7

Band members adjust to personnel changesBand director JR Snow decreases time at practice because of job requirements, assistant Ian Richard helps take over. A7

See BAND MAJOR on Page A2

A10: Costa Rica tripA6: Exploring H’burgA8: Fall sports preview and predictions; freshman, senior athlete profiles

Coming Up Updated sports scores for all seasonal sports an intramurals

Feature package stories and extended coverage of print packages

Advertising forms and information Breaking news from school community Video footage of sports Variety of reviews and blogs Poll of the week Picture of the day

Sneak peak of Homecoming theme Fall sports coverage: football, volleyball, and more

Get to know new teachers Movie, music, and game reviews Presidential election coverage, featuring student interviews and policy compari-sons

Advice, interviews, and features for col-lege application season

Scan this with your mobile phone to go to www.newsstreak.com

On the Web

FOLLOW MY LEAD Band director Ian Richard (right) displays proper form to senior Alan Pineda at summer band camp held two weeks before school began.

Two weeks before school starts, mem-bers of the HHS competition marching band go to a camp at the school to get ready for their competition season as well as Fri-day night football games. The camp starts at 8 a.m. and doesn’t let out until 6 p.m. Friday Night band members join their fel-low marchers a week after they start, but their days are several hours shorter. Color guard and the percussion section start even earlier than everyone else, coming in a couple days a week throughout the sum-mer to perfect their routines.

All of this practice is supported by sev-eral marching band parents. They make sure that all of the marchers are fed well

Sydney LittleFeature editor

See VOLUNTEERS on Page A2

Band parent group volunteers at camp

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

At your fingertips

Gina MuanNews editor

STEM ACADEMY OPENSNew STEM Academy opens up in the 2012 school year. STEM focuses on science, math, and engineering cours-es. The pre-selected 24 students will work together in integrated courses and will receive college credit for their work.

SCHOOL START TIME CHANGESSchool times have changed for the 2012-2013 school year. School will now begin at 7:45 and end at 2:35 p.m. Students should arrive before start time to ensure they get to class on time.

DUAL ENROLLMENT KINESIOLOGY ADDEDNew Dual Enrollment class being of-fered this year. DE Kinesiology will be taught by the physical education department and will give students an advanced start on college credit as long as they receive a C or above in the course.

SCHEDULE CHANGE DEADLINE NEARSAll schedule changes must be submit-ted within the first ten days of school. If you wish to change your schedule, visit the guidance department and sign up under your counselor’s name.

NEW ONLINE GRADING SYSTEM INSTALLEDStudent portal will not be available until October this year. A new sys-tem is being set-up and will take time to complete. If a student or par-ent would like to know their current standings in a class, they should con-tact the teacher by email or phone.

PARKING PASSES AVAILABLE IN ATHLETIC OFFICE

See athletic department secretary Kim Hill to purchase your parking pass.

RED SEA T-SHIRTS ON SALE NOWJoin the best student pep section in the Valley! Red Sea t-shirts are avail-able now in room 444 for $10 each. Sweatshirts and beanies will be avail-able as cold weather approaches. The SCA has requested that we pack the student section with as many stu-dents as we can possibly get. Start your Friday night fun with Red Sea tailgating prior to the game in the student parking lot. Bring $1 for food.

News Briefsconducting for a panel of directors and student leaders that were graduating, who determined who would be able to do the best job,” Hunter-Nickels said. He was surprised to be selected because he hasn’t been a part of the band for all four years of high school. He cites his “ability to work with people” as his biggest asset in getting the job.

As band major, Hunter-Nickels is re-sponsible for conducting, but he doesn’t see that as his primary responsibility. “First and foremost I have the respon-sibility of supporting the students, and making them feel like they’re welcome, and they are wanted, and important. I also have the huge responsibility of keep-ing everyone safe. It’s not just my respon-sibility, but I work with everyone to make sure we’re in a welcoming community. Then, of course, I have the responsibil-ity of conducting the show and keeping everyone in time. I communicate with the band to make sure we’re having suc-cessful performances, and that we’re hav-ing successful practices,” Hunter-Nickels said.

Music has been part of Hunter-Nick-els’s life since he was young, and he be-lieves taking a leadership role is naturally the next step in his musical development. “Part of me likes to be doing a lot, and this is definitely a lot to do. Part of me

really enjoys working with people, and this is definitely a place I’m working with people. Part of me really digs music, re-ally digs whatever raises me when I’m in an environment with music,” Hunter-Nickels said. “I like being connected with it- marching, conducting, and all of that stuff.”

Although he enjoys band camp, Hunter-Nickels is most excited for competition season and “shows, man”.

“I can’t wait until I’m up there, and it’s like, the middle of a really intense piece, and I’m just going crazy while the band screams up at me. There’s this powerful connection between [me and the band],” Hunter-Nickels said.

The process of getting the band com-petition-ready has not been easy so far. “Sometimes I feel like I’m overloaded, like I’m in overdrive. It gets really intense, so I have to continue to chill out and go with the flow. Working with people has been a challenge. It’s been positive overall, though,” Hunter-Nickels said.

Hunter-Nickels has spent the last sev-eral weeks conducting band camp, a crash course in marching and band life for stu-dents new and old.

“First we warm up, y’know, play music, do all sorts of dance moves and stretch moves, do some jumping jacks maybe. Then we get on the field to practice our marching and getting out air, getting out lungs warmed up. We practice different

moves and different patterns, we call it ‘fundamentals’, or ‘fundies’. Every day is different, which is what is really cool about band camp and band in general. So far we’ve been practicing and memorizing the music for our show, and we’ve been practicing where we march on the field in order to make giant shapes together,” Hunter-Nickels said. “It’s kind of hard be-cause we all have to be together to have an impact on the audience. We’re really try-ing to focus on where every person goes.”

A unique challenge for Hunter-Nickels this year is dealing with the change in pri-mary leadership from director J.R. Snow to Ian Richard. “I haven’t been in band for all four years of high school, so I haven’t seen too much of [Snow’s] relationships with past band majors, but my relation-ship with Mr. Richard is really positive, even though [Snow] isn’t always here, and I feel like I can work with him without feeling like I’m under his control. We’ve found a nice balance between Mr. Snow’s balance and energy and Mr. Richard’s pos-itivity and humor,” Hunter-Nickels said.

His ultimate goals don’t lie in awards or competitions, however. “I wouldn’t say I have any goals in terms of awards for the band. My personal goals lie in trying to grow as a person and helping to grow the band in the sense that I can help people who are struggling to grow,” Hunter-Nick-els said.

in apparel went above and beyond the norm. This year’s are centered around sports tournaments, in-spired by the Olympics which took place this sum-mer.

“I was thinking along the lines of some three-on-three basketball, soccer games, maybe a dodgeball tournament,” DiNapoli said, listing ideas. Most of the events will have to oc-cur outside, after school or on early release days.

DiNapoli admits plans are still in the ‘developing stages.’ However, in work-ing with the other members of the SCA, he is certain the ‘best possible events’ will be presented. He also does not wish to reveal the nature of the prize for the champions, but assures that it is ‘highly desirable’ and much more than ‘mere bragging rights and a sense of satisfaction.’ Naturally, DiNapoli plans to compete himself, stating confidently that, “the seniors are defi-nitely going to win.”

worldwide economics, from supply and de-mand to inflation.

“[The class] is open to any student who loves to learn, you don’t have to be a his-tory buff,” Tueting said.

“Although AP Economics has always been discussed as an option, it was re-ally Tueting’s passion for the subject that made the class possible. His enthusiasm will really take it to the next level,” guid-ance counselor Tim Meyers said.

More and more students are enrolled in

AP courses at HHS and each year and the number of students taking AP exams has increased steadily over the past five years.

All interested students should talk to their guidance counselor as soon as soon as possible.

BAND MAJOR from A1

SCA from A1

TEACHERS from A1

during the camp, seeing as they have a 10-hour practice time. They also help out the band by making sure everyone gets their uniforms and that they keep them clean. In addition, they help collect money that the students pay for the com-petitions they go to. “Band parents play a critical role in the success of band camp every year at HHS. The all-volunteer par-ent staff ensures that all students have properly fitted uniforms and that students are well-fed through-out camp. Additionally, they also volunteer their time to build drum

stands, photograph the band, or act as part of a competition pit crew,” marching band director Ian Richard said.Marching band camp coordinator Amy Labarge is one of the main parent forces behind the success of band camp, as she is the person who rounds up all of the parent volunteers.“Having parent support helps the marchers to concentrate on the program and music. We are sup-porting Mr. Richard and the band members by keeping them well fed, taking care of all aspects of the uniforms,being the nurse when

VOLUNTEERS from A1

FEATURE- A3NewsstreakTheAugust 21, 2012

Marching band experiences personnel changes

The HHS competitive marching band has 83 people. This season, 34 rising freshmen are joining their ranks for

the ‘taiko’ (Japanese drums) themed performance. Adding such a large number of newcomers to the HHS exemplary marching band makes it particularly clear why certain mu-sicians must be chosen to take a position of leadership. These talented players are expected to guide the rest of their section with infectious charisma, dazzling musical-ity, and killer ‘toes’ on the field.

Attaining the position of section leader is not a simple task. One must first fill out a self-assessment to demon-strate his competence as well as procure the evaluations of two teachers or coaches. Having done this, he is then interviewed both individually and as part of a group. It can be nerve racking to sit in front of the entire senior leadership team and rattle off answers to their sponta-neous questions, admits Gabe Hoak, marching trumpet leader. For this reason, section leaders are usually upper-classmen, who tend to be more mature marchers and mu-sicians. They can be recognized on the field by the silver cord around the shoulders on their uniforms.

Section leaders are in charge of sectionals, leading warm-ups, and stretches. They’re always taking the time to perfect musical phrases. Looked up to on the field, they are the core of the band’s success, building a phenom-enal show from the base up.

“We just like being together and hanging out,” sopho-more Michelle Huynh says about her section.

Undoubtedly, one of the toughest aspects of being sec-tion leader is how time consuming the position can be. Juggling school work and marching band in itself is al-ready a daunting task, and adding to that all the duties of leadership makes life a little stressful. Despite the work, the outcome is always worth it, according to Margaret King, mellophone section leader. Section leaders are con-stantly planning group bonding sessions. The ‘mellies’ (mellophones) enjoy hanging out at Ham’s and decorating T-shirts. Current section leader, junior Ellen Upton, led the flutes in a tie-dyeing activity.

“Yeah, sometimes it gets tough with school work, but you also want your section to be ready and have fun,” Up-ton says.

Possibly the most rewarding aspect of being part of the marching band are the memories created and cherished. Hanging out and embellishing matching possessions lends to a sense of unity between members of a section which in turn creates a closely knit band.

Experienced band members lead sections

It is already scorching hot a little after 8 a.m. on a Saturday in August, as the members of the HHS competitive march-ing band begin their four hours of outdoor rehearsal. It is the sixth and final day of intensive band camp – Country Day, “to be interpreted in any way you choose” – and students are decked out in everything ranging from camo and straw hats to Span-ish soccer jerseys and Union Jacks. Senior Alex Hunter-Nickels, the drum major, climbs the podium as the band gets ready to march and play part two of their show (entitled, “Taiko” and based on traditional Japanese drumming). It is a customary scene to anyone familiar with the band program at HHS. However, there is one noticeable difference from the band camp of years past: Ian Richard is the man with the microphone instead of JR Snow.

Now the Fine Arts coordinator for the Harrisonburg City Schools, and the direc-tor of the all-new Fine Arts Academy, Snow now works half of each day in an adminis-trative position.

“I’m working 20 hours a week teaching [at the high school], 20 downtown, and I knew it would be hard to also do the 20 hours required for marching band every week,” Snow said. “It’s better for everyone that I find someone else with the time and energy to really focus on marching band – and Mr. Richard can do just that.”

It wasn’t an easy decision, he is quick to say.

“I love marching band. This is the first time in 22 years that I haven’t been at band camp every day,” Snow said.

Nor will he leave it for good. “Mr. Richard is the main teacher now;

I’m secondary. I’ll be at a rehearsal or two every week. My role now is to be a mentor, a teacher, or whatever he, the staff, or the students need me to be.”

It is also a huge transition for Richard. “This is an extremely significant change

[for me personally],” Richard said, “but it shouldn’t change the way the band works and performs. Our goals are the same as they have always been: to have a better band than last year, and to continue to im-prove the program. Even though though there is change happening, it’s important that we continue to focus on improve-ment. It’s easy to say ‘things are different, so it’s okay that this isn’t happening like it should be’, but we can’t do that. The stu-dents deserve improvement.”

Drum major Alex Hunter-Nickels is con-fident that the band will continue to per-form as it always has.

“It’s really different, but I’m very confi-dent about it. I think it’s a positive change,” Hunter-Nickels said.

Other students don’t notice as much of a difference.

“It hasn’t changed things as much as I thought it would,” junior Miranda Wilson said. “I had Mr. Richard for concert band

and he definitely knows how to keep the energy up. My favorite thing about march-ing band is seeing people who wouldn’t normally be friends come together to get something done.” That’s something that hasn’t changed.

Many students talk about the tightly-knit relationships formed in band.

“I find band one of the most accepting organizations at this school. No one is judgemental; we’re a family,” senior Kirst-en Ferguson said.

Snow’s new administrative role is all about making the family bigger.

“My self-defined role as Fine Arts Co-ordinator is to advocate, support, and celebrate K-12 fine arts teachers in Har-risonburg. Part of this is to create a Fine Arts Academy, which will implement new curriculum to enhance fine arts education in the city. I want to reach as many kids as possible, and this opportunity to reach 5,000 kids instead of 100 is great for me,” Snow said.

At 4:30, the students head back outside for another hour and a half of marching rehearsal in intense heat. This time, both Richard and Snow are on the field, as well as the dozen or so members of the JMU/EMU staff, who are around to help out with marching technique and musical quality.

“I’m so fortunate to have a staff I trust to get the job done,” Snow said. “They make the transition much smoother. And the ability of the students to adapt is awe-some.”

In step! Director Ian Richard conducts the competice marching band as they practice part of their show

Touch your toes! Section leaders stretch along with the band before every practice.

1 Drum Major

2 Bari Saxophones

3 Tenor Saxophones

3 Tubas

4 Alto Saxophones

7 Colorguard Members

8 Clarinets

8 Mellophones

9 Baritones

9 Pit Members

9 Drumline Members

10 Trumpets

11 FlutesInfographic by Brenna Cowardin and Sydney Little

Listen up! Ian Richard motivates the marching band as they practice during band camp that was held at HHS two weeks prior to the beginning of school.

This marching season there are a lot of freshmen joining the HHS band. Although it is different from middle school band the freshmen seem pumped for a new challenge. The New Marchers Camp started August 2nd. This was open to all freshmen and newcomers, they then joined the rest of competition band two weeks before school.

”I am excited for competition band because everyone is really welcoming and you get to make friends with people from different grades,” freshman marching baritone play-er Ava Reynolds said.

For many freshmen the switch between middle school and high school music is a little bit overwhelming, but most of them are ready to embrace the challenge.

“High school band is very different from middle school band. [High school band] is more like a family, everyone

wants to be there. Marching band is hard but it’s also re-ally fun at the same time,” freshman trumpet player Ellie Plass said.

Some freshmen can’t do competitive marching band because it is so time consuming or because of the added pressure of high school sports. Instead they just partici-pate in Friday Night Band which plays during home foot-ball games.

“I run cross country so I can only do Friday Night Band, but the band is a great group of people and I don’t want to miss out on getting to know them,” freshman flute player Kayla Leaman said.

This year’s theme is Taiko, which is based on traditional Japanese drumming. The gradual increase in speed of the music during the halftime show will be difficult for rising freshmen but it will help them grow as musicians.

“Doing high school band is going to be a lot more chal-lenging but I am excited to explore another level of music,” Leaman said.

Freshmen describe band as ‘fun, exciting’

Practice makes perfect! Freshman percussion player Noah Heie practices on the granite blocks for the Taiko performance.

Band by theNumbers...Gina Muan

News editor

Sydney Little and Brenna CowardinFeature editors

Ellie Pruett-FiederleinStaff reporter

Warm up time Band major Alex Hunter-Nickels leads the bands in pre-practice stretches during an 8 a.m. band camp session on the practice field.

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

Friday night show should be unique, exciting performance

STYLE - A4NewsstreakTheAugust 21, 2012

Although the new ‘Step Up’ movie, Step Up Revolution, was not as popular as the The Dark Knight Rises, don’t just write it off as a bad film. It was actually very good.

First of all, the dancing was hardcore and fabulous. Second, even though the movie was heavily focused on dance, the

writers did not forget about the plot.

The female lead, Kathryn Mc-Cormick, was a finalist for “So You Think You Can Dance” and got third overall.

Ryan Guzman, McCormick’s co- star, was not always into dancing and acting. His ca-reer started in martial arts and modeling. As soon as he caught the acting buzz, director, Scott Speer, snatched him up to play the male lead in Step Up Revolu-

tion.The movie was released on

July 27, earning $42,152,889; just over $9 million more than what they spent to produce the movie. When I saw it, the the-atre was packed.

When I left, I heard many people say “Woah” or “that was awesome!”. Definitely a must-see if you enjoy dancing and great music!

Have you seen Moonrise Kingdom yet? You need to!

Moonrise Kingdom is a dramedy about two mentally unstable teens who find themselves in love on a island whose pop-ulation can be counted using fingers and toes. The film is directed by Wes Anderson, so expect the unexpected and you will be treated to a visual delight.

Throughout the story you will meet two absentee parents (Bill Murray!!!), and washed-up cop (Bruce Willis), and a camp counselor (Edward Norton), all of whom contribute their own story to the unfold-ing relationship between the two love birds. What you get is a confluence of nar-ratives all orchestrated into a single story.

Don’t go into Moonrise Kingdom expect-ing a gut-busting comedy. You’ll find your-self chuckling along to the absurd situ-ations, antics, and idiosyncrasies of the characters. Expect more subtle or macabre humor. One of the more humorous scenes involves a stabbing. But its a light-hearted darkness; it never becomes overbearing.

The soundtrack to the film is equally amazing. I can still hum some of the more memorable songs, even after a couple of months. They augment the actions on-screen, yet have their own presence. Basi-cally the soundtrack is awesome.

Moonrise Kingdom is easily Wes Ander-son’s best film, and beats any of the other summer movies, hands down. You can take your Ted and shove it into the dark nethers of oblivion.

One Direction makes boy bands cool again

Issac FalkOp/Ed editor

Isabelle BurdenFeature editor

New ‘Step Up’ movie delivers great dancing

Moonrise Kingdom could win big

With the hot “Shot me out of the sky, you’re my kryptonite,” One Direction didn’t only captivate my heart, but the hearts of millions of girls all around the world.

One Direction’s first album, Up All Night, which has already sold three million copies worldwide, has become one of the most popular and desired albums of the year. Their music attracts mainly girls be-tween the ages of 12-20, but it’s popular to a wider audience than most would realize

Up All Night has a mixture of differ-ent music genres spanning from pop to ballad-like songs. Their most well-known song “What Makes You Beautiful”, which recently won a BRIT award for best single of the year, is very catchy and highlights their amazing voices.

Personally, my favorite song is “One Thing” which features all of their individu-al voices at different moments in the song. Liam Payne usually starts out each song

followed by Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson. All five members contribute something special to each track on the album.

Even though many of their songs discuss rela-tionships and love, a few of them deviate from the norm and describe an aver-age teenager’s life. “Up All Night” is a prime example. The lyrics focus on a young person just wanting to go out and enjoy life.

This album is a ‘must-buy’ for anyone who loves boy bands and music in general. There is also a special edition album that features two more of their songs, ‘Moments’ and ‘Stand Up’. It costs $5 more than the origi-nal, but is totally worth it.

Up All Night is definitely the best album

of the year. Who knew that a British boy band would steal ‘directioners,’ one heart at a time?

Mary McMahanNews editor

Hit British boy band One Direction new album Up All Night ts now touring in the U.S.

I’ve always loved the Olympics. Ever since I was young enough to understand it’s significance and impact on the world. The two week event brings together over 200 na-tions from the farthest corners of the earth to compete with gusto against their arch rivals whom they see only once every four years.

Every night during those two weeks, you could count on seeing me plopped down in front of the T.V. from 8 p.m. until midnight. I would sit and watch everything from Jordyn Wieber’s crushing injustice in the women’s gymnastics all around, to Michael Phelps astounding 22nd medal, making him the most decorated Olympian of all time.

I would even suffer through the snore-inducing wom-en’s water polo, not wanting to miss a moment of the USA team dominating on the track. Before the men’s 100 me-ter final, I remember my heart beating so loud I thought my family would comment on the obtrusive noise. After the final I couldn’t fall asleep, my head filled with thoughts of Usain Bolt, officially the fastest man in the world.

If someone asked me my plans for a Friday night, I would simply say I was busy. Which was true, I had to watch history being made as 15 year old Katie Ledecky won gold in the 800-meter freestyle.

When the Olympics concluded with the Closing Ceremony, I

was blown away with the impressive display of British bands. I am now deep into post-Olympic sadness. I can’t believe that I have to wait four whole years until Rio De Janeiro where the whole whirl-wind will happen all over again.

The Olympic rings hang from the Tower Bridge in London. Photo cour-tesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Celia EhrenpreisEditor in chief

Olympics inspire,amaze billions of viewers

Falk reevaluates, rates, reviews childhood favoritesSONG: “Blue”ARTIST: Eiffel 65 Review as a child: 9/10Review as of 2012: Well we are off to a weird start. This is a song about an alien, who is blue. The lyrics are rather limited, and include a de-scription of the protagonist’s life(hint, it’s blue). The melody is still as catchy as ever, it’s only a shame the lyrics are not more subtle. The singer sings in an alien voice, which fits in nicely, yet I hope he does not sing like that all the time.Overall score out of ten: 6/10

SONG: “Hot in Herre” ARTIST: Nelly

Review as a child: 6/10 Review as of 2012: Even as a child I realized this song was not exactly the most nuanced. He is Nelly. It is hot. Take your clothes off. Rinse and repeat. I suppose it is a decent party song, for when you are just looking to dance, but as a song for personal enjoyment you may want to look elsewhere. Overall score out of ten: 3/10

SONG: “Toxic”ARTIST: Britney Spears

Review as a child: 9/10 Review as of 2012: Britney Spears. No but re-ally, as a child, I loved Britney Spears. To this day I am still befuddled by my infatuation. But on a return trip to Britneyland, I find it is not as bad as I thought. She really did birth this mod-ern generation of pop. Within modern music you still hear echoes and Toxic is no exception. The lyrics are the most nuanced of the bunch, but that is not saying much. The music itself still holds up, and I think a re-release would be warmly met. Overall score out of ten: 7/10

Stacie I. Dietz, DDSCreating Natural

Smiles1663 Virginia Avenue, Suite 210

Harrisonburg, Virginia 22802

Phone: (540) 442-9100Fax: (540) 442-9096

One of Harrisonburg’s most delicious traditions

22 S. Main StreetHarrisonburg, VA 22801

540-434-8282

NEWS - A5NewsstreakTheAugust 21, 2012The

Harrisonburg High School Newsstreak

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The editors and staff

Editors-in-Chief:Print - Mark Duda, Celia Eh-renpreisOnline - Maggie Siciliano, Ben DiNapoliManaging Editor: Mia KarrAdvertising Managers : Aus-tin Coffey and Bryndal Fulg-initiPhotographers: Ana Hunter Nickels

Staff Reporters: Mark Duda, Maggie Siciliano, Ben Di-Napoli, Anastasiya Kalyuk, Mia Karr, Katrina Sokolyuk, Anthony Duong, John Earle, Max Johnson, Isabelle Bur-den, Julexus Cappell, Bryn-dal Fulginiti, Victoria Giron, Ana Hunter-Nickels, Gypsy Torgerson, Hope Carr, Gina Muan, Kerri Hofacker, Ken-dall Bailey, Jacob Byrd, Josh Byrd, Soma Barzanji, Cierra Pharr, Cheyenne Saylor, Austin Swift, Shad Abdul-lah, Valerio Aleman, Tyrone Kirkland, Jr., Jesus Lopez-Chang, Ellen Plass, Felicia Tran, Brenna Cowardin, Luke Gibson, Sarah Mon-gold, Matt Shifflett, Isaac Falk, Sukriti Adhikari

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In all the years that my family has been going to the beach, we have never suffered so strange an occurrence as we did this August. As a last summer hurrah, we ven-tured down to the Outer Banks with two other families. The week was going smoothly and every-one was having a good time. We all kind of wondered about the guy in the house next door who would sit all by himself tossing a frisbee, but we did not give it too

much thought.A couple of the dads had rallied

us together to start building on a giant sea turtle sand sculpture. It was go

ing really slowly the first few days, but by day three or so we had a solid foundation. So, it was dismaying to find the next morning that the turtle had been destroyed. Our strange neigh-bor, Rob, was looking kind of suspicious, so my friend’s dad questioned him about the turtle destruction. He denied any kind of involvement, but we later re-ceived eyewitness accounts that he and his son had done the deed.

Never mind that roadblock, we fell on our sculpting with renewed vigor. By our second to last day of vacation, we had a sculpture that was gaining plenty of attention. Children and adults alike were stopping to ask questions and admire. When we left the beach that night, no one gave a second thought to how the sand creature would fare. We should have.

The next morning, my mom and I were relaxing in the hot tub when most of our friends re-turned from a beach walk.

“We have something serious to tell you,” my mom’s friend said, sounding slightly shocked. Not only had the turtle been de-stroyed, but someone had left, on top of the remains, a literal pile of crap. Who would do such a thing? Rob was instantly blamed. Unfortunately, we didn’t think to get a DNA sample until the waste had been disposed of, but he will forever live in our hearts as ‘The One’.

So what does this have to do with returning to school? Well, it’s all about the attitude. We could have gotten angry. We could have cried. Instead, we made a sand octopus. The begin-ning of the school year can bring an onslaught of stress and frus-tration, but it does not have to get you down. The world does not end when someone craps on your turtle.

Mia KarrThe Mia Perspective

The first day of school isn’t as terrible as everyone makes it out to be. Yes, summer break is over and we get locked in a cinder-block maze, but we get to see all of our friends who we haven’t seen for the past two months.

The first day is our first ex-perience of the year. We can ei-ther make the best of it, or go in thinking that it will be one of the worst days of our lives. Person-ally, I think that someone should go in with a positive attitude. You never know, you could have a friend in each of your classes and love every second of it.

The best way to deal with the long day is to break it down into hours. Instead of looking at how

much longer you have to sit in the school, think of how many hours you have accomplished. One hour doesn’t seem like much time has elapsed, but it’s one hour closer to the golden time, 2:35 p.m.

Hour 1. Freshmen will be run-ning frantically through the halls trying to find their English-9 classroom, while the upperclass-men run through the doors at 7:42, praying that they’ll make it to class before the teacher slams the door shut.

Hour 2. We will still be sitting in our first class, wondering how in the world we’re going to sur-vive another ten months of bor-ing lectures and documentaries that were probably filmed back in the eighties.

Hour 3. We’re finally halfway through the day despising the fact that we basically have to re-

peat the first two hours or so all over again.

Hours 4-6: The rest of the day is pretty much bland, except for the periods of time in which we briefly get to see our friends in the hallways.

So now we basically need to repeat this day 179 more times, but each day will get better. We’ll know where all of our classes are, and know which of our friends are in our classes, and we’ll (mainly freshmen), be more familiar with the layout of the school.

I wouldn’t say it’s a complete waste of time. The knowledge that we begin to collect on this day is essential to our well-being and our futures. So once we get through the first day, it will be pretty much smooth sailing until June....knock on wood.

Outer Banks experience teaches lesson

Howdy there class of three years after the class of 2013, my name is Isaac Falk and I shall be your assimilation guru for this upcoming year. As freshmen you are certain to have many questions regarding the change from middle debauchery to high school eti-quette. Questions such as: “Where are the bathrooms?” and “Will I ever find true love?” The answer to both is a whole hearted no. How-ever you can flourish yet, so long as you follow my advice.

“Everyone seems so tall, how can I expect to get so big?” You can’t. There’s a secret to all of the upperclassmen’s height, and it is bovine grade growth hormone that you can find in the dairy sec-tion at any local grocer. I’ve been snorting that stuff for years, and look at me. I’m a giant at 6’1, and the only side-effect is a ringing in

your ears. Well, that and the desire to chew grass. But it’s such a well kept secret everytime I mention it to another upper classmen they play dumb and look at me like they have no clue what I’m talking about.

“This place seems so big! How will I ever find my way around?” Truth is nobody knows the layout of HHS. We all just wander from hallway to hallway in search of our next class. HHS is like Hogwarts, the layout switches over night. The only way to get from point A to point B is to slowly meander the halls, if you don’t believe me just look outside the classroom. Don’t bother bringing a map like Lewis and Clark, the only way you’ll find your way is to lose your way.

“Is it true there is a pool in the basement?” Who told you such filthy lies! In the basement is our maintenance facility, that and the magical grove where we breed unicorns.

“Will I find a group to fit in to?” Probably not. You will spend your eternity alone, devoid of any hu-man existence. Caught in a mal-aise of solitude, you will reach out to others only to find the cold grips of ennui. Wait we’re still talk-ing about high school, aren’t we? You will likely find others with the tastes you possess. Whether you fancy yourself athletic, geeky, or otherwise you will find some-one. Unless you like Nickelback, in which case there is no hope for you. At all.

“And who are you?” I am Isaac Falk, Lord of Mann, Ruler of Slam-pas, and Puba of the Jews. I have braved the cornfields of Iowa, the onslaught of a Bar Mitzvah, and the terror that is the viola. If any-one is your salvation in this purga-tory they call high school it is me. If you ever need me just say my name three times into a dreidel. Then find me in the hallways. God save the Queen.

FEELING

Write a letter to the editor!

Let us know what we are doing well,

doing poorly, or not doing at all.

Drop ‘em off in room 444

Isaac FalkOp/Ed Editior

Mary McMahanNews Editor

Mia KarrManaging Editor

Make the best out of your first day of school

Falk deals advice for freshmen

Summer

Summer’s always a good time to just chill out and unwind with a cool glass of lemonade.

Summer is always a good time to get in a guilty movie, or to hunt for indie flicks.

Nobody likes to wait in line at the airport security for some geriatric gentlemen to slowly remove his penny loafers and fiddle out his I.D.

The record-breaking heat this year really put a damp-er on outdoor activites and prevented enjoyment of the beautiful weather.

What’s HOT

Summer movies

What’s NOT

Excessive heat

Travel

What a better treat for this hot weather, than a specialty soda like Bundabergs.

Mars rover landing

Gourmet sodas

Olympics

NASA’s Mar’s lander succes-fully landed and will hope-fully transmit exciting new facts about Mars.

What a great way to get ready for this school year by spending less.

Team USA really won gold this year, getting a total of 107 medals, beating out all the other nations by a large margin.

Tax free weekend

The payment for getting tan is the pain of a thousands suns scorching your flesh. Also, cancer.

Sunburns

We get it. You want us to vote for you. Leave us alone!

Political Ads

Sorry ladies, he’s taken.

Kim Jong Un’s Marriage

Voting

Democracy rules!!!

Op/Ed - A5NewsstreakTheAugust 21, 2012

OPINIONATED?

Chick-fil-a

The chicken sandwich com-pany recently came under fire for its anti-homosexual CEO’s remarks

Weather

Quite literally, with this past July being the hottest month on record

FEATURE A6NewsstreakTheAugust 21, 2012

The sweet taste of watermelon, the crunch of corn on the cob, and the cool creaminess of ice cream are all associat-ed with summer. They can also be asso-

ciated with the Harrisonburg Farmer’s Market, located in the Municipal Lot on South Liberty Street, which sells everything from fresh pro-duce to clothes to baked goods and jewelry.

“[We have] a pretty big variety of vendors,” Justin Van Kleeck, Farmer’s Market assistant manager said. Anybody in Rockingham County, or its adjacent counties, can apply to be a ven-dor, but the market is producer only, meaning everything you sell you must have grown or made yourself. The market is currently at full capacity on Saturday mornings, with over 50 vendors selling their products over the summer.

Popular summer products include fruits, such as peaches and berries, sweet corn, ice cream, donuts and tomatoes. Van Kleeck favors blueberries, watermelon, and cantaloupes when they come into season, as well as the unique ground cherry, which tastes something like a tomato mixed with a cherry.

There are also plenty of non-food vendors, such as Ed Latham, who sells his artwork at Oa-sis Art Gallery in downtown Harrisonburg, in addition to being at the market many Saturday mornings. Latham is a blacksmith who shoes horses and makes metalwork, such as intricate metal roses.

“I especially like making the roses. People

say they look real,” Latham said. He encourages people to come down to the market because of the large variety of things to see and buy. That’s just one of many reasons the area’s residents flock to the market instead of shopping at a tra-ditional store.

“[The food is] almost universally healthier for you,” Van Kleeck said, explaining that store-bought produce is picked before it reaches full ripeness and therefore loses nutrients and taste before it reaches the grocery aisles. HHS algebra teacher Tricia Cummings, who went to the market several times this summer, also enjoyed the benefits of local food.

“It’s fresher. It’s nice to know everything about the growing process,” Cummings said. Not only is the food fresher, but, according to Van Kleeck, many of the farmers grow their food using sustainable methods.

This is important to English teacher Peter Norment, a die-hard Farmer’s Market fan who shops there twice a week.

“Produce tastes infinitely better if you buy it locally,” Norment said. He tries to buy as much food locally as possible, for enviromental and health reasons. In addition, supporting local business is a priority for his family.

“I’d rather support Farmer Joe down the street ...than know I’m paying... some large cor-poration to wreck the planet with their farming practices,” Norment said.

In its mission statement, the market says it aims to support community well-being. Cum-mings also enjoys supporting local businesses, and also seeing people she knows when she

makes trips to the market.Norment has gotten to know the vendor at

Staff of Life bakery, where his son gets his fa-vorite pastry. (Other favorite products include produce, hot sauce, and gazpacho.) He finds that the friendly atmosphere of the market makes for a much more pleasant shopping expe-rience than the grocery store. Van Kleeck would encourage high schoolers to join the fun.

“It can be a really fun place to hang out for people of any age. [In high school] there may not be as much awareness about health and local food,” Van Kleeck said. On most summer Saturday mornings, live music adds to the at-mosphere. Local musicians play in a variety of genres from bluegrass to rock and roll.

Van Kleeck wishes to make it clear that the market is a good shopping experience for many different groups of people. In fact, through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), customers with food stamp benefits can shop at the market.

The number of SNAP customers is growing, as well as other customers. Last year the mar-ket passed the $1 million sales mark, and this year is shaping up to be a busy one. The mar-ket is open from 7a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays from April to Thanksgiving, and 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays from December to March.

“You have the opportunity to build a rela-tionship with the person growing your food, rather than just going through a drive through,” Van Kleeck said.

• The market is open 7a.m. to 1p.m. Sat-urday and Tuesdays from April to Thanks-giving and 9a.m. to 12p.m. Saturday from December to March.

• It is located in he municipal lot on South Liberty Street in downtown Harri-sonburg . It moved to its current location in 2006.

• It was voted “Best Place to be on a Satur-day Morning” by the DNR three years in a row.

• The market began in 1979.

• The Harrisonburg Farmer’s Market As-sociation is run by an elected board of direc-tors. This system be-gan in 1994.

BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS Metalworker Ed Latham’s favorite products are metal roses.

Mia KarrManaging editor

Farmer’s Market bursts with food, fun

Downtown music, film festival remains popular summer activitySydney LittleFeature editor

YUM! This is just one of the many vendors selling a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables at Turner Pavillion.

COLORFUL QUILTS Vendors must handmake or grow all of their products, making it a “producer only” market.

POTATOES, WATERMELON, TOMATOES! Fresh local produce is one of the most popular items of the summer.

PHOTOS BY CELIA EHRENPREIS

During the months of June through August the people of Harrisonburg spend every Friday night downtown at court square for the 2012 music and film festival, known as Fridays on the Square. The festival is currently celebrating its 22nd season and is a parntership of the Citizens for Downtown and Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance.

The festival consists of twelve performances that switch between local bands and films spon-sored by various groups and organizations of Harrisonburg. This summer the musical enter-tainment included The Judy Chops and George Wesley’s Small Axe Orchestra. A wide rangs of films was shown, including The Help and The Wizard of Oz. The final movie, Hugo will be shown August 24th. All events are free and open to the public. Music begins at 7 p.m. and films start at 8 p.m.

“I particularly enjoyed selecting the films

this year and really wanted to focus on recent and award winning films,” Harrisonburg Down-town Renaissance promotions manager Nicole Martorana said. Harrisonburg Downtown Re-naissance focuses on picking the films, while Citizens for Downtown works to book bands. There seems to be something for everyone.

“I’ve been going down to the square every Friday for a few years. It just kind of became a habit to go,” junior Larkin O’Hara said.

For some, Fridays on the Square is just a place where people of all kinds get together and enjoy the diversity of music and family films, but for others it is a local place where they can just get together to hang out with friends.

“I usually just meet a few friends there and we throw a frisbee around or sit in the grass and talk. I used to also watch the films they showed, but I don’t as much anymore because now they are meant more for younger kids,” O’Hara said.

“Each event in the series had an average of 100-200 peole in attendance, though some bands or films draw bigger crowds,” Martorana said.

The festival is truly a community effort, and is funded by donations. At each event a “Love Bucket” is passed around, where those in atten-dance can leave a donation.

“Fridays on the Square could not take place without the generous support of many in our community- the partnering organizations, the dedicated volunteer’s at each night’s event, the event and series sponsors, and the community members that attend the events,” Martorana said.

Those are not the only ways Harrisonburg’s community makes Fridays on the Square its own. One of the film nights featured the Super Gr8 Film festival, a popular local film festival that was featured at Fridays on the Square for the second year in a row.

“Featuring local films is another positive way to build the Fridays on the Square series by sup-porting our local arts community and the many talented voices we have here,” Martorana said.

This summer, Fridays on the Square has con-tinued to be the same staple of the community it has been since 1990.

MORNING MUSIC Local musicians serenade customers in at the bustling Turner Pavilion on a Saturday morning.

PHOTOS BY MIA KARR

Q & A with Farmer’s Market Vendor Stuart Mercer

Q: What do you make?A: I personally mine, cut, and polish Virginia gemstones. I have my degree in geology which I got specifically to do this job. I started doing this in fifth grade.

Q: What kinds of rocks do you mine?A: There are like 16 different types of rocks that I [use.] They run from bloodstones to agates and jaspers.

Q: When did you first become involved with the market?A: I did my first Farmer’s Market this spring. A spot was available so I signed up and I did very well.

Q: Do you see any of the same customers?A: I do have a number of repeat customers. There is no one else doing what I do.

Q: Why would you encourage people to come to the Farmer’s Market?A: Because it is a great experience with lots of different offerings. It is all homegrown, personally done. It’s home-grown food to homegrown jewelry. Everything is the best quality.

Q: How would you describe the atmosphere at the Farmer’s Market?A: Uplifting, high energy, positive, happy.

Infographic by Mia Karr

PHOTO BY CELIA EHRENPREIS

Farmer’s Market Facts

ADS - A7NewsstreakTheAugust 21, 2012

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NEWS - A8NewsstreakTheAugust 21, 2012

Freshman Senior

Abby Westfall Girls

Cross Country

What are you look-ing forward to?Having fun with the team.What are you most nervous about?The length of the races. I want to pace myself well in the 5k’s.Who is your role model?Hannah Purcell, she stayed with the freshman for the first couple days of practice and kept us at ease.What are your goals for your first season?Always do my best.

Erin GoodsteinGirls

Cross Country

What is your fa-vorite memory from your sport?Going to Olive Gar-den with my team before the State meet! We all sit to-gether and unwind before the meet.What will you miss the most about cross country?The team and the sis-terhood.What do you want to leave behind for others to remem-ber?Making people laugh and be comfortable with themselves.What are your goals for your final season?Go to the State meet again with the team. I also want to keep my number one po-sition on the team.

Freshman Senior

Sophia Hartman Girls

Volleyball

What are you look-ing forward to?Being the starting setter for JV and possibly being cap-tain.What are you most nervous about?Getting injured and letting the team downWho is your role model?The varsity setterSkyler Johnson.What are your goals for your first season?Imrove my sets and be a good leader for the team.

Sarah RoseGirls

Volleyball

What is your fa-vorite memory from your sport?Playing warm-up games and team bonding activities.What will you miss the most about volleyball?My teammatesWhat do you want to leave behind for others to remem-ber?I want others to re-member that I was a great team player and a strong leader.What are your goals for your final season?Be a beast hitter and have a winning sea-son.

Freshman Senior

Sam ClarkGolf

What are you look-ing forward to?Improving and get-ting better every-day at practice and matches.What are you most nervous about?Nothing really.Who is your role model?Graeme McDowell.What are your goals for your first season?Improve, play well.

Troupe Armen-troutGolf

What is your fa-vorite memory from your sport?Beating Robbe Failes.What will you miss the most about golf?Practices with the team.What do you want to leave behind for others to remem-ber?That I was the calm-est player to ever play the game.What are your goals for your final season?Make it to the state tournament.

Young athletes anticipate upcoming fall season

Sophomore Kara Simmons warms up her hitting arm before practice. The volleyball team opens their season on August 23 at home against Eastern Mennonite High School.

The varsity volleyball team listens to instructions given by their coach, Andy Thompson. Before each drill, the coach explains the concept and how it will help his players prepare for the upcoming games.

Every athlete is excited to start playing sports as soon as school starts. The football players are ready to strap on their pads and start hitting each other, while the volleyball team is ready to start spiking the ball at each other. Some players are more experienced and they’re anxious to teach the younger players everything they know. The freshmen are usually the most nervous ones at try-outs. They aren’t sure if they’ll make the team or if they’ll get cut.

Sophie Hartman said, “I’m not too nervous, because I played vol-leyball in 8th grade on the JV team and I know most of the girls al-ready so that helps a lot.”

When Tanner Grogg was asked about playing high school sports he said, “I’m not too nervous be-cause I’ve played football since I was little, so it’s something that I’m used to.”

Other freshmen are a little more nervous about trying out for something that they’ve never done before. For Kendyl Brooks, trying something new was a little intimidating. “I’m really nervous, because I don’t really know what

I’m doing, but at the same time, I’m excited because it’s something I’ve been looking forward to.”

When asked about the team’s biggest competition this year, So-phie said, “It’s most likely going to be Turner Ashby. They always seem to have a really good team no mat-ter how many people they lose each year.”

“I’m not really sure who’s go-ing to be the biggest competition because this is my first year, but there’s usually a big rivalry be-tween us and Spotswood so maybe they would be good competition,” said Brooks.Grogg said, “Broadway should be the biggest competition this year because they got really good last year, so it should be a really close game when we play them.”

There are some things to look forward to when playing sports for the high school. “I’m really looking forward to the team bonding that we did last year. We would play games and stuff at practice and that was always really fun,” Hart-man said.

“Just being part of a team is what’s exciting for me,” said Brooks.

While Grogg said, “I’m excited to play under the lights and be with my teammates.”

Down, set, hike! The varsity football team lines up to run a play in an early season practice. The foot-ball team opens their regular season schedule at home against cross-town rival Turner Ashby on Fri-day, August 24.

Kerri HofackerSports Editor

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELS

PHOTO BY ANA HUNTER-NICKELSThe varsity football team run sprints across the length of the field before cooling down to stretch at the end of a long day of practice.

The football team runs different plays to prepare for their upcoming games.

SPORTS- A9NewsstreakTheAugust 21, 2012

Union Springs Antioch Burtner Farm

Montezuma

Pence Middle School

Clover HillLocation: West 33, south 743Terrain: Rolling hillsGood for: Distance, tempo runs

Location: West 33Terrain: Literally a mountainGood for: Distance, hills

Location: North on Ft. Lynne from 763Terrain: HillyGood for: Distance, tempo runs, hills

Location: East 33, near Peak View Elem.Terrain: Rolling hillsGood for: Workouts, tempo runs, races

Location: West of DaytonTerrain: Relatively flat, rollingGood for: Distance

Location: South on 42 towards DaytonTerrain: Rolling hillsGood for: Distance, tempo runs

Before Fee Days, sched-uling, or even the Back-To-School signs appeared, the boys and girls cross coun-try teams were already pre-paring for their fall season. Both teams could be seen running in huddled clumps through downtown Harri-sonburg, Purcell Park, and the local college campuses as early as the end of June.

“They’re called captains’ practices”, senior captain Caitlin Kelley said,“ Coach Loughran gives us a list of runs we need to complete at the beginning of the summer, then the captains decide which days we do which runs until we get them all done.”

For the boy’s team, the practices are organized by their coach, Lauren Jeffer-son.

Besides running, the girl’s team practices in-cludes diverse activities, including several aerobic stretches, core exercises, and lifting weights.

For the boy’s team, it’s a totally different story.

“We actually don’t do anything else besides run, not even warm-ups or pre-run stretches,” senior cap-tain Jordan Leaman said, “But we always stretch af-terwards.”

There’s good reasonin for having runs so early before the start of the sea-son. “[They’re] primarily long distance runs rather than speed, aimed at build-ing endurance so we can focus on speed later in the season.” Leaman said. The purpose is more than just practicing The runs also

help to establish a team bond for newcomers as well as returners.

“The summer practices help the upcoming fresh-men to join the sisterhood of our team,” Kelley said.

The team bonding por-tion of the summer runs have sparked a lot of fond memories for the members as well. There are numer-ous times when teammates have gotten lost during practice and were searched for for hours.

“One time Andrea [Wood] and Ambar [Gon-zalez] got lost at The Gorge, and everyone was scared because Loughran always warned us to stay togeth-er because The Gorge was haunted,” continues Kelley, “ but we ended up finding them and everyone was re-lieved.”

Another favorite for the girl’s team are ‘The Little Grill’ runs, since the ath-letes get to enjoy breakfast together after a long prac-tice.

The importance of the summer runs couldn’t be stressed enough. Both cap-tains have high expecta-tions for their teams this upcoming season. The girl’s are looking forward to re-claiming their district title and both teams are shoot-ing to make it all the way to the state meet in Novem-ber.

The men’s team is hop-ing to recruit a good num-ber of freshmen to repopu-late the team for future seasons.

“Mainly, we want to go in with a positive attitude, not be as stressed as past seasons, and improve our times,” Kelley said.

Cross country teams start practices early in summer

David Loughran, cross-coun-try and track and field coach of 12 years, is excited about how this year’s cross-country team is shap-ing up. There are 26 girls running this fall, which is the largest girl’s cross-country team HHS has seen since the program began 34 years ago. As always, he can’t wait to see how the freshmen fit in on the team.

“It’s been a long time since a freshman wasn’t in the top ten,” Loughran said.

Another valuable runner is Aisha Dames, a track and field district quali-fier in all three distance races, the 800, 1600, and 3200. She is running cross-country for the first time this year.

“The number one goal of the sea-son is to stay healthy,” Loughran said. He’s very big on making sure

his team eats their fruits and vegeta-bles, ices sore muscles, and reminds them constantly that soda is poison.

Loughran wants the team to run faster this year. He’s hoping to win districts and make it to the state meet after ending the season a week and a half early last year. Looking at the team line-up, it’s very pos-sible. Only one senior graduated last year, and the top ten has re-mained the same, growing stronger.

Loughran’s not chang-ing his game plan to do that.

“Workouts may vary from last year, but the general philosophy will stay the same,” Loughran said. That philosophy is to “[My philosophy is to] get strong, and add speed.”

Loughran organizes summer prac-tices that are not mandatory, however many girls show up to prepare for the upcoming season. Summer runs, un-like workouts, are based on time, not a certain number of miles. This sum-

mer, practices began the week of June 25, and have continued throughout July and August until official prac-tice started the week before school.

“We started with three 25-30 min-ute runs and two at 30-35 and even-tually built up to one long run, one shorter, quicker run and three base runs every week,” Loughran said. This year he added an extra five min-utes to every run this past summer which gave the team almost three hours of extra running. He wants them to be prepared to work harder in post season races where the differ-ence between going to the state meet or going home could be one runner.

Loughran says it’s hard to know how other teams are looking before actual meets. However, consider-ing the seniors that graduated last year, he predicts that Fort Defi-ance and HHS will be the major contenders for the district title.

Loughran plans for successful seasonBrenna CowardinStaff Reporter

Kendall BaileySports Editor

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NEWS - A10NewsstreakTheAugust 21, 2012

Celia Ehrenpreis editor-in-chief

¡Pura Vida!

The most well known Costa Rican phrase is “pura vida”, although it can be used for greetings it also translates to “pure life”. By all

accounts this is the Costa Ricans’ motto.“Everything is different, the fruit

tastes fresher, the natives are friendly and helpful, and the way of life is slow-paced,” junior Jacob Byrd said of his re-cent trip to Costa Rica. Six HHS students accompanied by two chaperones made the 2,000-mile voyage to reach San José, Costa Rica this past summer. This ex-change, between the Colegio Metodista school and HHS has been happening for numerous years.

The trip started at a resort, right along the Costa Rican coast in Tambor. The group spent two nights relaxing by the beach and recuperating after their strenuous journey. The next stop was La Fortuna, where ziplining, and white wa-ter rafting took place.

“We also went to these hot water spring pools in La Fortuna. They were heated by the nearby volcano, and the closer you got to the volcano the hotter the water became, it was amazing!” ju-nior Sara Shenk Moreno said. One of the main reasons for the trip is to allow HHS students to practice their learned Span-ish in a native country. That is exactly what happened when the trip traversed its way back to San José, where the HHS students stayed with volunteer host fam-ilies who had children in the neighboring school.

“The first day we followed our ‘host sibling’ from class to class. Their school had almost all the same classes as ours, but they had uniforms and not nearly as much technology as HHS,” Shenk More-no said.

The Arenal volcano, one of the most visited sites in all of Costa Rica, was described by students as as one of the highlights of the trip. The students took numerous day trips that allowed them to see the different faces of Costa Rica. They saw one of the more touristy coffee tours, but they also did projects such as helping to integrate recycling into an un-derdeveloped school with an HHS gradu-ate who is now a member of the peace corp.

“My favorite place we went was prob-ably our ziplining trip. It was rainy so the line was slick, which meant we went especially fast. It was so beautiful above the trees, even if it was raining,” Byrd said. Although it was summer at home while they were on the the trip, in Costa Rica, it was their winter. Temperatures ranged from 60-80 degrees, a strong con-trast with our winter temperatures.

“Everyone from Harrisonburg was fine, we wore shorts and t-shirts every-day, but the natives were dressed in jeans and sweaters! Their winter was our sum-mer,” Shenk Moreno said. The Costa Rica trip will be happening again next sum-mer if everything goes according to plan. Interested students should talk to Span-ish teacher Phil Yutzy.

Breath-taking! Volcanic view from hotel in La Fortuna.

Great vacation bonding! Seniors Sam Strickler, Chris Sokolyuk, and Ben DiNapoli enjoy Sanchiri. Photo courtesy of Chris Sokolyuk.

Good Night! An evening group shot on the ferry ride to Tambor From left to right: Sam Strickler, Chris Sokolyuk, Ben DiNapoli, Jacob Byrd, Taylor Swan, and Sara Shenk Moreno.

Beautiful! Sunset in Limon Photo by Jacob Byrd

Neigh! Junior Sara Shenk Moreno smiles while rid-ing along the Tambour coast.

Misty! Early morning view in the Costa Rican mountains. Photo by Jacob Byrd.

So scenic! The group went horseback riding on the beach at Tambor.

Don’t trip! The crater at a volcano in Irazú National Park.

PHOTO BY TAYLOR SWAN

So lush! The view looking down into Sanchiri valley.

Celia EhrenpreisEditor-in-Chief

Spanish class students travel to Costa Rica

PHOTO BY JACOB BYRD

PHOTO BY TAYLOR SWANPHOTO BY TAYLOR SWAN

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS SOKOLYUK

PHOTO BY CHRIS SOKOLYUK