Volume XVIIIssue 55 February2015Trinity Preparatory School 5700 Trinity Prep Lane, Winter Park, FL 32792 thetrinityvoice.com

IN THIS ISSUE February

UPCOMING CONTENTSnews...................2opinions.............7focus.................13lifestyles............18sports................23etcetera.............28

Sadie Hawkins DanceFebruary 7

Winter BreakFebruary 12-16

OPINIONS 11 SPORTS 23

Saints tip o� against district rival Lake Highland Prep

Aaron Goldstein

NEWS 3 LIFESTYLES 18 Baselice goes Google

Defeating religious intolerance

Alum stars in Book of Mormon

Berryhill is up to batintolerance

2 February 2015

Student scientists set standardsSTAFF WRITER Amy Sukserm

Courtesy of Sarina Kothari

Science Olympiad students eagerly anticipate putting their knowledge and skills to the test.

A group of high schoolers and judges dressed in black and navy T-shirts gath-ered around a small wooden bridge hold-ing up a giant bucket of sand. They stood with watchful eyes in anticipation of the moment it finally snapped under the pressure. On Jan. 17, 23 upper school students competed in the regional Science Olympiad at Lake Nona High School. The competition draws more than 40 schools from our district, and they participate in 25 different events in all fields of science, including Biology, Forensics and Chemistry. Students can choose to take a classic paper and pencil academic test, take part in events in a lab or engage in more labor-intensive activities like build-ing Rube Goldberg machines. “I like Green Generation,” sophomore Sarina Kothari said. “You take a multiple choice test about the environment, and there’s a short answer portion about the food chain and lakes. It has a lot of En-vironmental Science and Biology, which interests me.” Preparation for competition, whether it be mental or physical, varies depend-ing on each event. For events like the Anatomy and Physiology test, the only thing students need to do is study, while bridge building is an event that requires more physical labor and long-term prep that leads up to the competition. Partici-pants are given a set of criteria, and they must stay within those guidelines. They will build and test their structure over the course of the fall semester and decide which bridge they’re going to enter into the regional competition. Science teacher Lali DeRosier is the head coach and led the team to third place overall, putting it in a position to qualify for the state level competition on March 15. “This is my first year as coach, so it’s been a huge learning experience,” DeR-osier said. The amount of qualifiers varies from year to year, depending on each dis-

trict. Our district qualified the top eight schools. In recent years, Trinity has sent teams to nationals. Last year, the high school team received second place at regionals and sixth place at the state competition. This year’s team is on the road to keeping the legacy alive. Despite the impressive re-cord, Science Olympiad is a relatively new activity for the upper school. However, it has been a long-time middle school club activity. “Science Olympiad is an opportunity for students who are really passionate about science to do something in a non-traditional way, not strictly a classroom

kind of way,” DeRosier said. “It’s a little more open-ended and about real-world problem solving in a competitive envi-ronment.” As opposed to some schools where Sci-ence Olympiad is a class, Trinity treats it as a club activity that allows students to have fun while doing something educa-tional. It gives high school students, who want to pursue a career in the science field, an opportunity to be exposed to various types of topics and ways to apply what they learn to real-life situations. While Science Olympiad puts students in a competitive environment, it is also a way for people from the same school and

different schools to connect with each other and build friendships around com-mon interests. “The whole point is that we all have to work as a team, and everyone has to do well in their events,” junior Jacob Gold-berg said. “Despite the fact that there are individual events, it is a team competi-tion.” The team has a diverse group of representatives from all grades in the upper school, and each of them possesses a huge passion for science. They are not short of talent this year, and even more can be expected from them in the spring semester.

3February 2015

In her hopes to enhance students’ learning environment both inside and outside of the classroom, middle school math teacher Jennifer Baselice recently became a Google Education Trainer.      The Google Educator  Training  certification  is  an official  “stamp  of   approval”  from Google,  assuring that the trained educator and learning materials meet high quality standards. After becoming a trainer, Baselice has had the opportunity to showcase her knowledge.    “I have been presenting a lot about how to integrate Google Apps and technology in the teaching and learning process, and I really enjoy it,” Baselice said. Baselice’s professional learning community involves a network of teachers and leaders across the country who also have the desire to innovate their classrooms.      “The  Google  Education  Trainer  program  will connect me to even more wonderful educators and trainers who will challenge me and motivate me professionally,” she said. “This, in turn, will reflect on my work as a math teacher at Trinity and as a colleague to my peers.”      To  become  a  certified Google Educator,  Baselice went through an extensive application process. Not only did she have to acquire presentation experience beforehand,  but  she  also  had  to  pass  five  tests  on a variety of Google App skills. Alongside these credentials, Baselice had to submit an application and a training resume highlighting her leadership in training. Additionally, she had to create a case study showcasing materials she used to deliver professional development workshops in the use of Google Apps in Education.       “The  case  study  was  a  workshop  I  put  together for a school  in Miami,” Baselice said. “It was geared towards their Math Department, and how they can use Google Forms to continuously assess students, gather data,  and  reflect  on  that  information  to  guide  and personalize the learning experience for the students.” Lastly, she had to make a two-minute training video regarding the use of a certain Google app tool. She admits that keeping it at two minutes was tough. After completing this lengthy set of requirements and attaining her certification as a Google Educator, Baselice can finally exchange her acquired knowledge.      “My  responsibilities  are  to  share  the  knowledge,” Baselice  said.  “I  have  to  present  or  lead  workshops that highlight ways to integrate Google Apps in the classroom.” Baselice must facilitate these workshops at least three times each quarter. Her credential is valid for a year. In order to renew her license, Baselice must engage

in the continuous training process and connect with educators, as well as annually pass the five exams that she initially took. In spite of the added workload, Baselice remains passionate about enhancing the academic atmosphere in her classroom through the incorporation of these tools. Invited as a keynote speaker, Baselice voiced this idea for the Archdiocese of Miami on Friday, January 16.   “These tools will extend and enhance their learning in ways we can’t even begin to imagine because we weren’t  taught with  them!” Baselice  said.  “I want  to make sure [that children are learning] the power of these tools on my watch and I’m doing my best to prepare my students for success in their digital world.” Baselice’s admirable feat is recognized by many in the Trinity family.    “We are excited and pleased  that Mrs. Baselice has become  a  certified  Google  Educator,”  Headmaster Craig  Maughan  said.  “This  achievement  represents a commitment on her part to advance her technical skills, which in turn, will benefit our students.”

Alongside Maughan, Academic Technology Integrationist Rita Kienle is also proud of Baselice for her efforts to enhance the overall learning environment.       “We are  lucky  to have  teachers  that  are willing  to grow professionally and share their knowledge with their colleagues and students; Mrs. Baselice is one of those  teachers,”  Kienle  said.    “She  has  been  willing to support and work with our teachers on the many different Google applications and tools to help with productivity and organization.” Throughout the entire process, Baselice expresses how her passion to progress has stemmed from her time at Trinity.     “My work  [here]  is what paved the way for me to feel  confident  and  comfortable  enough  to  share my knowledge with others, both at other schools and national conferences,” Baselice said. “I will continue to always grow professionally and share and collaborate with other educators in order to provide my students with the best learning experience possible.”   Furthermore, we look forward to seeing the positive impact of Baselice’s remarkable achievement.

Baselice builds bridges with GoogleAlisha RajanLAYOUT EDITOR

Laura Toye Baselice facilitates a classroom discussion in her Prealgebra class by actively engaging students in the lesson.

4 February 2015

Every year, more than 100 students graduate, begin-ning a new chapter of their lives: college. Students go to schools all over the country, from Orlando to Boston to Los Angeles, to study dozens of different subjects. Each student finds his or her niche before leaving their high school. Even after graduating, students look to their high school for assistance and guidance. No longer do they need help editing a paper or studying for a test. They need help finding jobs. On Dec. 18, Trinity held its first Young Alumni In-ternship Seminar to help young alumni find internships or jobs during and after college. In the past, the school has sponsored an Alumni Holi-day Party. The holiday party was helpful to young alum-ni in finding internships and jobs, but Ashley Johnston wanted to do something different, a seminar. “When coming up with this program, I did not have an event like this to model; I could not find any other schools like Trinity Prep that offered something like this,” Johnston said. Because of this, Johnston spoke to Jennifer Owen last August to brainstorm ideas. The shared ideas of a po-tential keynote speaker topics and idea formats. 42 students, graduating high school in years ranging from 2011 to 2014, attended the seminar to hear the speakers give advice for their lives after college. The seminar began with the presentation of YouTube sensation Kid President and his video Pep Talk. His motto “What will you do to make the world awe-some?” was the underlying message of the seminar. The audience was filled with alumna who want to succeed. With the help of the speakers, success is within reach. All of the speakers of the seminar worked hard to get where they are. They did not achieve success by hoping it would come to them. Instead, they persevered in or-der to reach their goal. The seminar began with keynote speaker Tom Pisello, CEO and Founder of Alinean. Alinean is a company develops value marketing and selling tools and improves the ability to communicate and financially justify your value. It deals with sales and marketing software and consulting services designed to evolve normal product-centric pitches into more value-focused tools. Pisello’s presentation focused on the social media as-pect of his company. He admits that he is speaking to a group of people who grew up with social media at their disposal. He is familiar with the business aspect of social media, using it to hire workers for jobs. He began his presentation with a story. For Christmas

in 1978, his parents gave him an Apple II; one of the most high-tech computers of the time. “It was a device that didn’t have much power,” Pisello said. “[It used floppy disks instead] of a hard drive or a flash drive, unlike the Macs today.” The start of his technology career was figuring out how to program his gift, as it had no programs pre-installed. This was the start of the personal computer revolution. “Even though PCs and Bill Gates took over back then, it really was pioneering,” Pisello said. Pisello explains that he is an active Facebook user, but mostly just from the business perspective. He tells the audience that there are 1.2 billion Face-book users worldwide and 2.5 pieces of content posted each day. “I’ve got to admit, most of it is junk,” Pisello said. “There are a lot of inspirational things that people post and video and other things that people share, but it is [more than] 500 terabytes a day.” From a business standpoint, Facebook is used by con-sumer brands to connect with the audience. Businesses share pictures, videos, promotions, or anything to get the consumer’s attention. Pisello says that he uses Facebook to promote Alinean. He writes a lot of thought leadership pieces that gets people to think about ways to sell and market differently. “Lots of businesses do this for advertisement, out-reach and special promotions,” Pisello said. “The way

I want you to think about it is content sharing because content is the fuel of the social media world.” Zach Tippit, Class of 2011, was one of the alumni in attendance. “As a college student, getting the opportunity to come back to TPS in a professional capacity was both en-thralling and nostalgic,” Tippit said. “While the event served as a networking opportunity for us recent Trinity grads, it also provided an opportunity to reconnect with old friends-- both student and teacher alike. Tom Pisello was an interesting addition as a keynote due to his ad-vice on utilizing social media while networking with in-dustry giants present at the event was something that not even my university could provide.” The other speakers were Whit Watson, Golf Channel reporter; Allison May, NASA intern; Rajeswari Cabey Sr., Human Resource Specialist at Sanford-Burnham In-stitute; Dawn Butler, VP HR Corporate for BeautiCon-trol and US Compliance, Robert Gordon, President and CEO of FreshPoint and Craig Patton, VP and Recruit-ing Manager for Wells Fargo. Each speaker recognized that interns don’t necessarily need business experience to work at their companies. Companies look for candidates that partake in school clubs, sports, community service and have a history of part-time jobs. To quote Kid President, “The world needs you to stop being boring. Boring is easy. Everybody can be boring. What will you do to make the world awesome?”

Young alumni seminar inspires gradsDaniel SteinNEWS EDITOR

Daniel Salas (‘13), Ryan Hopkins (‘14) and Paul Reggentin (‘14) were three of the alumni in attendence.Ashley Johnston

5February 2015

TPO celebrates Boys in BlueZach WatsonSTAFF WRITER

The Boys in Blue enjoy their luncheon held by the Trinity Parent’s Organization in the Miles Room. EllieClaire Gordon

On Jan. 16, the Trinity Parent’s Orga-nization held a luncheon for the Boys in Blue to give thanks to the members of the maintenance department. While monitoring air conditioning and flip-ping fuses may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the school, these tasks are an in-tegral part of keeping Trinity Prep run-ning. The Boys in Blue are and always have been just the men for the job. “Trinity Parent’s Organization, rec-ognizing the importance of the depart-ment and appreciating how helpful the department members are for the smooth operation of the school, pre-pare this special luncheon each year,” Headmaster Craig Maughan said. The Miles Room was filled with lunch-meats, vegetables and cakes as the five Boys in Blue discussed recent work and made friendly conversation between posing for photos and videos. The added bonus of having some time off from work brightened multiple spirits. Lane Epps, Director of Parent Rela-tions, briefly came in to thank them and take pictures. Since Trinity was founded in 1968, the Boys in Blue have helped maintain the school. Originally one man was tasked with everything from mowing all the grass on campus to doing everyday tasks such as electric work. Eventually another staff member was added to ease the workload. “When I first came to the school in 1993, we had two people in the depart-ment, one who handled all of the re-pairs and one who handled all of the grounds work,” Maughan said. “They were called the ‘Boys in Blue’ because they always wore blue work shirts.” The team eventually grew to the five staff that make up the department to-day. Each Boy in Blue has a specific area of expertise. Lou Garcia maintains the air conditioning, and he is depart-ment head for the maintainance staff. Justin Mahler serves as Trinity’s electri-cian, and Robert Selfridge specializes in carpentry.

In addition, John Milander does much of the grounds work, and Mitchell Shu-lich assists in priority jobs or wherever needed. Before coming to Trinity, Garcia worked at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. He was part of the maintenance staff that cared for the building. This was no small job, as the National Cathedral is the sixth largest cathedral in the world. After moving to Florida, Garcia found an open position for the Boys in Blue. Today, his role has expanded to make him head of the Maintenance Depart-

ment. He is more involved with stu-dents, parents and teachers than ever. In addition, Garcia prioritizes what un-finished jobs need to get done from the previous days. “[My favorite part of the job is] not knowing what’s going to happen on a day-to-day basis,” Garcia said. “While it could be a little scary, it keeps you hon-est and makes your job interesting.” In the past, Garcia has had to fix flat tires for stranded students, jump-start stalled cars and rescue turtles. “I love that we get a lot of time to spend outdoors, especially in Florida,” Selfridge said.

The Boys in Blue have also served an important role in the construction of the new Brokaw Hall. Although they aren’t wearing hardhats, they act as con-sultants to the construction company. If any questions arise about potential problems, such as the classroom layout or appliances and lighting, the Boys in Blue offer advice at weekly meetings. The Boys in Blue have always shown that they provide a pivotal backbone for the advancement of the school. Along with keeping Trinity Prep functioning, they provide a perfect ex-ample to students on how to be a great member of the Trinity family.

6 February 2015

Emphasis on endowed chair Imagine a group of students writing funny and exciting poems for a grade. In English teacher Mrs. Lilley’s creative writing class, a class started through an endowed fund, students indulge in clas-sical literature. They also explore differ-ent sorts of poems including odes and sonnets. Like Lilley, other endowed chairs have added a variety of classes to Trin-ity Prep’s academic curriculum. An en-dowed chair is created when a donation is made to the school, specifically to start another extracurricular course. A faculty member in any department can then make a proposal that may have a signifi-cant and positive impact on the school. Current classes from endowed chairs have created heavily enrolled classes such as Lilley’s creative writing class and anatomy teacher Mrs.DeRosier’s inde-pendent research class. Trinity Prep coach Amanda Dean was the most recent teacher to be selected for an endowed chair position. She was ap-proved to be the Jaworski Physical Edu-cation Chair. Joining former endowed chairs, Dean hopes to introduce a new course to Trinity Prep next year that will encompass fitness ideals. She hopes to contribute to the ‘overall well-being’ of the Trinity family. She believes that the chair positions are fantastic opportuni-ties to offer variation in the curriculum. “Overall health and wellness are so im-portant, yet are so often overlooked in our society,” Dean said. “I was interested in this position because I believe I can help to make a positive impact on the overall well-being of the Trinity family.” Dean plans to survey students to see the courses they have interests in. She predicts students will be interested in stress management, organization and ef-ficient study skills. Furthermore, she hopes to offer extra-curricular fitness activities for interested students.

The newly appointed endowed chair hopes to encourage faculty members to follow healthier lifestyles. “For faculty I plan to create lunch ses-sions on topics they may be interested in,” Dean said. “Topics may be include healthy eating tips, stress management, etc. I also hope to facilitate fitness groups that will help encourage employ-ees to become more active.” Dean hopes to pursue her passions by utiliz-ing her new position. Before coming to Trinity, she worked as a personal fitness trainer and wellness coordinator. How-ever, Dean has a desire for teaching. Her previous experience will enhance the overall enjoyability of this course. She explains that her new chair posi-tion will allow her to pursue both of her professional hobbies simultaneously. She wants to be able to educate Trinity faculty and students on the principle of fitness for life. “[I want to] create opportunities that will bring a higher level of health and overall wellness to the Trinity campus,” Dean said. Dean interacts with students while teaching the principles of fitness. Ellie Claire Gordon

Trinity curriculum undergoes expansion

Vikas BommineniSTAFF WRITER

7February 2015

� e lead editorial expresses the opinion of the Trinity Voice editorial sta� . Send comments to voice@trinityprep.org.

Something ticking you o� ? Submit your anger to the Trinity Voice. Email us at voice@trinityprep.org

Tardiness ticks me off. - Mrs. Aull, Economics Teacher

It ticks me off when people click their pens in class. - Matthew Peterson, 10th gradeSweater combos that don’t match

tick me off. - Varun Bhatia, 11th grade

Jacque Vaughn ticks me off. - Scott Fisher, 12th grade

It ticks me off when people park badly. - Alexis Frezza, 12th grade

It ticks me off when my brother tells me I’ve reached the word limit for the day. - Emma Meeks, 9th grade

It ticks me off when people say “like” too much. - Carolina Jorro, 6th grade

Waiting to hear back from college ticks me off. - Taylor LaPeters, 12th grade

Pointless assemblies tick me off. -Walker Wood, 10th grade

It ticks me off when people yell at me when I want to move on in class. - Kiko Ilagan, 12th grade People who play games during

class tick me off. - Akhil Karandikar, 9th grade

Headaches tick me off. - Melissa Pregasen, 10th grade

Our position

It ticks me off when people ask me to give pithy remarks on the fl y. - Mrs. Farmer, English Teacher

Not being able to grow my hair out ticks me off. - Ikie Evans, 8th grade

The slippery slope of stereotyping When we look at people, we rarely see them as who they are. We place them in a group based on their race, ethnicity and a variety of other factors before getting to see the person as an individual. Recently, we have begun to see the negative conse-quences of this type of thinking. As the United States turned its attention to the events that took place in Fer-guson, Missouri, the dangers of stereotyping have been exposed. Since the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, stereotyping can no longer be ignored. Brown and Garner were both African American men and are just the most recent lives to be lost due to ste-reotyping. Both men were unarmed African Ameri-cans who were killed at the hands of the police. While some facts of their deaths might be unclear, most concluded that both men were victims of racial profi ling. Racial profi ling, an action that relies on stereotypes about race rather than seeing that person as an individ-ual, caused these men to be treated differently. They are not the only ones who were subject to this faulty thinking.

A 2005 U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Justice Statistics showed that African Americans were twice as likely to be arrested during a traffi c stop and three times as likely to be searched at one of these stops. The U.S. Sentencing Commission found that prison sentences for African American men were 20% longer than those for white men who committed similar crimes. Afri-can American and white populations use drugs at very close rates, yet African Americans were 3.6 times more likely to be arrested for drug use, according to the Hu-man Rights Watch. All of these statistics are due to viewing African Americans not as individuals, but rather as part of a group that has been looked down upon and viewed as different. In order to change these statistics, we must start seeing people as individuals. The issue is that stereotyping is simply easier than seeing people as individuals. When someone is part of a group, it requires more thought, more time and more energy to take them out of that group. It is harder to give them an identity as a person than it is to clump them together with a group, whether that group is de-

termined by race, gender or something more trivial. We use this quick thinking daily; although, luckily for us, people aren’t usually killed due to our faulty think-ing. We do, however, lose the opportunity to see peo-ple as who they actually are when we stereotype them. We might not see the football player as more than an athlete, when he is actually an amazing writer. We might think of the artist as not having any athletic abil-ity, when she is an important member of the cross-country team. We might think of the student who isn’t in all AP courses as not as smart, when he actually just wants to focus his energy on things outside of class. No one can be placed in one category, and no one can be judged based on one aspect of him or herself. When we start seeing people as individuals, we start to realize how unique we all are. When we see people as individuals, we are giving them value and worth. People are more than just the group that they are part of, so it is time we start view-ing them as so.

It’s time we stop stereotyping and start seeing individuals

Graphics Editor: Marissa Block

Editors-in-Chief: Alice Beneke and Jessica Kotnour

Copy Editor: Amber Yang

Layout Editor: Alisha Rajan

Faculty Adviser: Mrs. Erin Miller

News Department: Daniel Stein (editor), Vikas Bommineni, Amy Sukserm, Zach Watson, Amber Yang,

Managing Editor: Marissa Block

Lifestyles Department: Eden Smalley (editor), Christian Dantes, Lily Bounds, Allie Stein

Sports Department: Scott Stinson (editor), Bradley Hull, Ellie Claire Gordon, Nick Smith, Lily Israel

Photography Department: Ellie Claire Gordon, Aaron Goldstein, Laura Toye

Online Editor: Oliver Trapp

Business Manager: Bradley Hull

The Trinity Voice is produced by the newspaper/journalism class at Trinity Preparatory School of Florida. Editorials represent the opinion of The Trinity Voice writer and are not necessarily the views of the administration, faculty, or Board of Trustees of Trinity. The Voice welcomes letters to the editor and free-lance articles or photography. All submissions become the property of The Voice. Please send all correspondence to 5700 Trinity Prep Lane, FL 32792. The Voice may also be contacted via phone at 407-671-4140 and via e-mail at voice@trinityprep.org. For information regarding the purchase of advertising within The Voice contact us by one of the methods mentioned above. The Voice is a monthly publication during the school year (with the exception of January).

NationalScholasticPressAssociation

Focus Department: Amy Lowndes (editor), Noopur Nathan, Shea Perera

Opinions Department: Brian Min (editor), Aavani Gupta, Jack Meeks, Oliver Trapp

The Trinity Voice is a member of the Florida Scholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association.

What has been your worst New Year’s Resolution?

The word on campus

Stealing Dr. Boerth’s samurai swordTyler Lowman, Alexandra Rick, Liam

O’Connor, 9th grade

DeclutteringJudy Babcock, Substitute teacherBeing cool

Kendra Eichelberger, 9th Grade

Not procrastinatingMichelle Ohlwiler, 10th grade

Telling a funny joke in assemblyNick McKenzie, 12th Grade

Geting a 100% in a class Ben Thompson, Charles Ahl, 6th Grade Getting swole

Chase Altomare, 9th Grade

Getting specifi c ranks in video gamesAlex Spallone, 8th Grade

Eating less than one donut in a sittingAaron Ashworth, Science Teacher

Getting Mrs. Aull’s numberMichael Wartski, Molly Antoon,

Rory Costello, 12th Grade

The Bite:Kendall Rotar (editor), Elizabeth Fenichel, Sarina Sutton, Taylor Johnson

8 February 2015

Furthermore, some believe that lock-ers don’t really affect educational envi-ronments negatively. “I think the lockers [at Trinity] look fi ne and defi nitely fi t the campus mood,” Langdon said. However, lockerless schools can incorporate more aesthetic environ-ments without obsolete lockers con-suming unnecessary space, especially for public schools with thousands of students. Similarly, more classroom space and increased space for gathering areas could psychologically improve student performance. Although critics deem that back-packs will get too heavy, the expand-ing use of laptops and electronic equipment will alleviate this concern, and students are also encouraged to be more effi cient for school so that they are more academically prepared. Although no lockers might appear to be a shocker, lockerless schools will be the essential rocker switch to turn on educational success.

9February 2015

Latching the locks for lockerless schools

Walking through the hallway of Germantown High School in Madi-son, Mississippi, everyone will notice one distinctive aspect: no lockers. In the past decade, schools without lock-ers have increased exponentially with school districts from California to Florida removing the ubiquitous metal symbols for school. With a new generation of e-books, secondary schools across the nation are beginning to modernize and save costs by not building or dismantling lockers. According to The Journal of Industrial Teacher Education, school facil-ities including lockers can have as large of an impact as teachers on the abil-ity to learn. Thus, lockerless schools could provide tremendous educational benefi ts. As Trinity plans to incorporate much wider lockers into the new Middle School building, we must evaluate the role of lockers in schools. Modernizing to a new age of educa-tional architecture, secondary schools should dismantle and/or not build lockers to improve cost effi ciency, safety and the learning environment. As fewer people are using lockers, lockers pose a drain on resources and are not cost effective. “The last time I used a locker was in the 7th grade, so I don’t exactly fi nd lockers to be an integral part of my school experience,” junior Will Haftel said. Trinity’s locker environment refl ects that of the nation because the majority

of students, particularly high school-ers, do not use lockers frequently. “I don’t use my locker at all. I fi nd carrying all my books in my bag to be much more convenient,” sophomore Taylor Langdon said. “Because of our use of online textbooks, I am able to fi t everything inside my backpack, and I don’t think lockers are necessary. Most people seem to use their lock-ers either to store things until they are necessary or not at all.” According to USA Today, Madison County saved $200,000 by not build-ing lockers for new schools, and new schools reduced costs of construc-tion by 4% on average without lock-ers. If students are using lockers less from the digitalization of school, the maintenance costs of lockers will also eventually become obsolete. Additionally, the safety threats caused by lockers could be eradicated by dismantling lockers. As the University of Texas notes, lock-erless schools have reduced the use of contrabands—drugs and weapons theft, and bullying. Because there isn’t a place to store dangerous weapons or substances and cliques associated with lockers die down, lockerless schools create a much safer school environ-ment. After observing lockerless schools in Texas, researchers concluded that dis-cipline referrals decreased 90% after lockers were removed. Furthermore, as students feel more secure in hall-ways and at school, they evidently will improve academically and socially. As school violence has increased at an astonishing rate, lockerless schools could help slow the tide of insecure campuses. Thankfully, national school violence has not seriously affected Trinity, but locker reforms could still prevent future misconduct. However, some critics note that lockerless schools have some safety concerns. “As long as you have some valuable items like laptops, I think it’s nice to of-fer some lockable space, and the lock-ers provide a security for valuables,”

Headmaster Craig Maughan said.But, seeing that theft has also declined from lockerless schools because stu-dents are more conscious of their belongings, the security issue for valu-able items would be minimized. Overall, lockerless environments also enhance the learning experience signifi cantly. Besides the reduction of distracting noise produced by lockers, no lockers force students to come to school bet-ter prepared. Encouraged to carry around note-books and textbooks either electroni-cally or physically, students unsurpris-ingly will develop better academic organizational skills. In addition, as teachers don’t have to worry about students putting inappropriate sub-stances in their lockers, they can focus more on teaching. Consequently, Granger High School reported improved math, reading and writing scores by at least 4% for the Texas Assessment of Academic Skill after it went lockerless.

Alice Beneke

February 201510

On Jan. 7, heavily armed gunmen, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, infi ltrated the of-fi ces of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical news-paper in Paris, killing more than twelve people, including its editor, before fl ee-ing. This is the deadliest terror attack on French grounds in over a decade; the at-tacks are a painful reminder that the war on Islamist terror is far from over and that jihadists are striving to eradicate the history of Western freedom. In a way, the western world has come together in the spirits of patriotism with a renewed perspective on the impor-tance of our guaranteed basic rights.

Charlie Hebdo was founded in 1970, and ever since, the left-wing weekly publica-tion has been satirizing and making fun of everything from Michael Jackson to the Pope. Nothing has been off the limits.

Charlie Hebdo has been compared to Private Eye in the U.K. and The Onion in the U.S. In 2011, Islamist terrorists fi rebombed the offi ces of Charlie Hebdo after their announcement of a “Sharia Hebdo” with the message “100 lashes if you don’t die laughing.” Following that release, another cover depicted a French cartoonist passion-ately kissing a Muslim man with the headline: “Love is stronger than hate.” No one was hurt, and the attack was not able to subdue their pens. The ji-hadists’ message of suppression of the freedom of press did not achieve their

Fighting with words Charlie Hebdo continued to write when faced with vio-lence, will future satirists do the same?

original intent. According to the National Public Ra-dio, Stephane Charbonnier, the editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo once said, “I don’t have a car, I don’t have a wife, I don’t have children, so what could they do to me?” in response to the 2011 fi re-bombings. Charbonnier was one of the 17 people murdered by the Kouachi brothers in January. Throughout Paris, blue signs read-ing “Je suis Charlie” or “I am Charlie” wavered in the streets, and cartoonists have depicted guns and armed weapons going directly against a pencil in protest of injustice. Within a week after the January attacks, Charlie Hebdo released its fi rst issue since the attack featuring Muhammad. The is-sue sold millions of copies worldwide, and the people of France were glad to know that the snide remarks of Charliehad not changed. James Poniewozik, a senior writer at Time, said that the killings pose a threat to all types of satire. Now many artists are being conscien-tiously aware of their use of words in

fear of their own personal attacks. The satire genre is already shadily treated by media companies, as seen in Sony Pictures’ initial decision to pull the North Korea-mocking comedy The In-terview following a hacking and threats from North Korea itself. When the TV cartoon South Park was planning to feature Muhammad in an episode, it didn’t require anyone physi-cally attacking the Comedy Central of-fi ces for somebody to become nervous and say, “this isn’t worth it,” and censor the offending comedy. However, English teacher Susan Speicher believes that satire is alive and well. Satire is only dead in places where it isn’t understood, and western society should not fear this. When British writer Salman Rushdie fi rst published The Satanic Verses, a novel that portrayed Islam in a negative light, a death threat was placed on him by the Supreme Leader of Iran for over a de-cade. Although the threat was eventually lifted, Rushdie never backed down. He claimed that if he couldn’t write what he wanted to write, then he didn’t want to

write altogether. “In America we have very few prob-lems with satire being attacked by violence,” English teacher Susan Lil-ley said. “If writing is really offensive, people simply won’t buy it, and the free market will take care of it.” Both humor and satire have always been accepted and even cultivated in America. For example, immediately after the 9/11 attacks on America, jokes were published all over the Internet. However, Americans were not igno-rant towards the seriousness and sad-ness of this event. We are a society that can laugh for itself. Rather than believing that satire is headed towards its demise, people should have the abilities to express their thoughts without being overly offensive. However, moves such as using lethal violence in response to the expression of opinions are unacceptable. One of the last sentences that Char-bonnier said in an interview after the 2011 attacks was, “We have no choice. If we cease to publish, we are dead.”

Marissa Block

11February 2015

During chapel, Chaplain Vinal asks us to bow our heads and join him in prayer. However, this is optional and many stu-dents do not engage in the Christian ob-servance. However, no matter what beliefs a student has, they tolerate the religious ceremony with reverence and respect. Because we are immersed in this open-minded atmosphere, it is easy to for-get how special our mutual respect for one another actually is. In an age where one can get murdered for praying to the “wrong” god, our school’s religious toler-ance is a rare and beautiful thing. Yet, all it takes is a glance at a newspaper to acknowledge that the world is much different than the tiny microcosm we ex-perience. In the “caliphate” of the Islamic State, ruthless Sunni militants have estab-lished a theocracy built upon the blood of “infi dels.” The terrorists are in the process of committing a mass genocide, merci-lessly killing Christians, Shiites, Yazidis and even Sunnis who don’t adhere to the Islamic State’s perverse version of Islam. However, when witnessing the devas-tation occurring in Iraq and Syria, we make a common mistake. Thinking that these doings are limited to one region of the world, we assume that these crimes could never happen in “civilized” soci-ety and are largely caused by a seemingly “barbaric” religion: Islam. Not only is this belief wrong on multiple levels, but it is also naive. In reality, religious intolerance is not lim-ited to the Middle East, but it is a wide-spread phenomenon across the world.

Moreover, the great irony of the situ-ation is that the primary motivation for religious groups to be intolerant is that another religion is perceived to be intol-erant. For example, the most polarizing con-fl ict in the world is the question over the statehood of Israel. This political con-fl ict has been linked with a religious en-mity. In the Israeli side, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s administration has justifi ed strikes and raids in the West Bank and Gaza as a measure to prevent a terrorist attack against Israel. Unfortunately, this seemingly noble effort has translated as an aggressive campaign to the people of Palestine. According to Amnesty Inter-national, more than 2,000 Gazans died under Israeli bombardment and invasion during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. These grim statistics paint Israel as an enemy to the Arab world. Even though this is false, Palestinians and their allies claim that the Zionists are waging a war against Islam. Then, when a car bomb detonates in the heart of Jerusalem, the Jews claim that the intolerance of Islam is aiming to destroy their state. It is a vicious cycle that has had destructive ends. When there is an international dilemma that a state can’t solve, that state will of-ten turn to a minority within their own country that they can associate with this dilemma. After the loss of WWI and a devastating economic crisis, Nazi Ger-many found the ideal target in the sparse Jewish community. With a wave of pro-paganda against the ridiculous idea of Zionist global dominance and the Jewish betrayal that led to defeat in the war, the Nazis organized the most horrendous genocide the world has ever seen. Is there worse to come? Disturbingly, historical parallels are constantly being drawn before our eyes. Professor Bernard Lewis from the University of London studies Anti-Semitic literature in Arab Countries, and offers his perspective. “Anti-Semitic literature has become an essential part of Arab intellectual life, considerably more than in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century France, and

to a degree that has been compared to Nazi Germany,” Lewis said. Unfortunately, Anti-Semitism has also gained foothold in the place where it most infamously was depicted, Europe. Frankly, these concerns are not without reason. On May 27, 2014, four Jewish people were shot dead in the Brussels Jewish Museum. However, unlike in the Holocaust, these attacks are made in the name of a war against the “crimes” of the state of Israel. However, the Jewish people aren’t the only ones feeling the heat wave of reli-gious intolerance. After the devastating Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, there was a dramatic surge in Anti-Muslim behav-ior across Europe, especially in France. In this attack, a group of armed Islamic militants killed seventeen people, includ-ing members of the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. Subsequently, this has led to a state where the Muslim minorities have been directly associated with the behavior of a few radicals. Without any tolerance, many Europeans have committed various hate crimes at ordinary people who observe the Islamic faith. According to CNN, “religious build-ings have been set on fi re, a pig’s head has been stuck to a prayer room door and messages of hate have been sprayed on walls.” Perhaps, the most saddening part of this dilemma is that many of these at-tacks are justifi ed by the Christian faith. In this environment of pitting differ-ent religions against each other, the concept of tolerance seems to be steadily slipping away. To clarify, there is no religious

group that isn’t guilty of being intolerant. Too often, we tie terrorism and hate to the Islamic faith, but the same could be said about most other global religions. Anders Breivik slaughtered 77 people in Norway to further his anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and pro-“Christian Europe” agenda. Recently, extremist Buddhist have rampaged and killed innocent mus-lim families in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. In the last ten years, Hindu terrorist organi-zations have been linked to over six mass attacks(The Economic Times). This does not mean all religions are equally bad. No, it means that every re-ligion is burdened by certain radical fac-tions. For us, the challenge is not to al-low these radical factions to infl uence our opinion and persuade us to stray from the virtues of religious tolerance. Currently, the US is blessed in the sense that intolerance of religions is not truly a widespread issue. However, intol-erance grows quickly. All it takes is the right conditions for demagogues to infi l-trate our minds and push us towards the path that so many other nations are trod-ding upon. As we slowly graduate from this tolerant environment, let’s remember to keep our guard and never accept intol-erance in any way, shape or form. Even though Chapel may not engage all religions, let us recognize how special it is to hold a prayer with no violence, no uproar. For as I gaze upon a crowd of ev-ery imaginable religion, standing in peace, I witness an event that in many countries would be undeniably impossible. The

United States is where the im-possible becomes possible.

Now, it’s our responsi-bility to keep our na-

tion a tolerant one.

Rugged route to radicalism

In this environment of pitting differ-ent religions against each other, the concept of tolerance seems to be steadily slipping away. To clarify, there is no religious

I witness an event that in many countries would be undeniably impossible. The

United States is where the im-possible becomes possible.

Now, it’s our responsi-bility to keep our na-

tion a tolerant one.

Marissa Block

February 201512

Compromise is a “co-promise”:

On Aug. 8, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown—a resi-dent of Ferguson, Missouri—was shot and killed by police offi cer Darren Wilson. In November, a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson for Brown’s death, sparking widespread civil protest in Ferguson. In De-cember in New York City, a similar situation occurred when two New York City Police Department offi cers were not indicted for allegedly intentionally choking store owner Eric Garner to death. Protesters in both states have accused police offi -

The barriers to compromise and how to get past them

Marissa Block

cers for brutality and racism, while police sympathiz-ers, such as ex-NYPD offi cer John Cardillo, have made many criticisms directed at the weaknesses of the pro-tests. Political analysts, politicians and average people alike to this day have not reached a fi rm agreement or consensus. “The main obstacle to civil discourse seems to be hu-man emotion. [Certain reactions to the] Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases… [Have] unfortunately sty-mied meaningful change rooted in logic and reason,” said senior Samuel Leavitt. Events such as the chaotic Ferguson riots, orches-trated as a form of “protest” against the police for Brown’s death, suggest an all-too-clear conclusion: if we can’t talk about a problem like the police debate as rational, peaceful individuals then the problem will never be solved. When people disagree on a course of action or the validity of a belief, they champion their own thoughts. In the midst of a matter such as the police debate, this one-track mindset can be deadly, as one side will try to contradict the other and vice versa. Though such a process is part of effective and peaceful debate, more often than not hatred, denouncement and apathy begin to settle in people’s minds. “Compromise is diffi cult, but governing a democ-racy without compromise is impossible,” said political theorists Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson in an article from the Harvard Magazine. To make amends, one must fi rst recognize that there is

a sense of validity to any and all sides of an argument. It sounds like a basic idea, but too often people forget that it exists. If we tried to count how many times we argued with a friend, sibling or parent and stormed off assuming the other person was completely wrong, the number of instances would most likely be quite high. Granted, it is in human nature to be a staunch sup-porter of one’s beliefs, but this defensiveness must be tempered with humility and a recognition of one’s faults. “More police productivity has meant far less crime, but at a certain point in time New York [felt like] a police state...the police don’t like it any more than [the protesters] do,” said NYPD offi cer Steve Osborne in a piece for The New York Times. Compromise is not a euphemism for surrender or submission; it is a synonym for progress. When we make peace and settle an argument with a verbal or in many cases physical handshake, we are ultimately mov-ing forward. “If there’s any common ground between [a group of] arguing parties, make it known,” Leavitt said. Why insist on getting the fi nal word or try to force others to see a certain point of view? Instead of liv-ing in the past and wasting time and energy on fi ght-ing one another, we could be trying to mend relations and work on solving problems together. At the end of the day, everyone’s opinions are fl awed, yet correct in many ways. It is only through cooperation that we can be rid of the fl aws.

A few words with an astronaut

Addressing a crowd of beaming children, sun-burnt tourists and even a member of the Canadian Parliament, retired Navy officer and astronaut Jon McBride delivered a speech about his career in space. McBride, who has piloted the Challenger and ascended to space alongside Sally Ride, was presenting as a part of the Kennedy Space Center’s popular Meet an Astronaut program. With regular admission, visitors have the chance to hear one of the center’s featured astronauts talk. At the end of the talk, McBride answered a few of our pressing questions. What was your best memory of your career?My first vision of Earth from space; an hour after takeoff over Brazil—I got to look out the window and see Australia from space, something I’d been dreaming about all my life. And your greatest fear?

Driving on I-95 to get to the Space Station. I kind of was not afraid of a whole lot of things, or I wouldn’t have done all I got to do.

What part of the Kennedy Space Center would you recommend seeing?

The Atlantis—you gotta see the Atlantis. It’s one of the most gorgeous displays I’ve ever seen in my life.

And finally, how do you sleep in space?You can sleep in space pretty much anywhere you want to. We have a

sleeping bag, crawl into it, it’s got a tether you can tie to the ceiling or the wall or to the floor with your feet up… You don’t need pillows

or mattresses because there are no pressure points.

Amy LowndesFOCUS EDITOR

rate or true events that can take place, they still influ-ence the way we perceive space. The Star Wars movies have taken place in space, but set unrealistic expecta-tions and false perceptions about space. Little kids like to believe that there is sound heard in space, and that aircrafts that fly in space are similar to the ones on Earth. However, this is not the case. “As with most space movies there is a false sense of what it realistic and what is fiction. With space being a vacuum there would not be any sound in the void,” said Mazza. Space movies typically forget basic laws of sound and motion in order to engage the audience. Yet, some movies present concepts that are neither proven to be accurate or false, but leave ambiguity. The science behind Interstellar includes theoretical physics which have not yet to be proven. Theoretical physics employs abstractions of physical objects and systems to explain and predict natural phenomena. However, theoretical physics isn’t the only matter that perplexes the human mind. Interstellar introduces the concepts of the dimensions. There are five dimensions, and each dimensions in-creases in complexity. The first three dimensions deal with lines, planes and space. In the movie, the fourth and fifth dimen-sions drastically increase in complexity, and people decide according to their be-liefs whether the dimensions hold any truth. The fourth dimension deals with time while the fifth dimen-sion deals with seeing the past, present, and future simulta-neously. At any moment in time, humans could be in a black hole, thinking in the past, living in the present, and imag-

Back in elementary school, I was taught the solar system consisted of nine planets, and that the Earth was the only planet with life. As more discoveries and studies have been made, these facts that I thought were true are now proven to be false. Since Pluto is no longer a planet, only eight plan-ets form our solar system, and potential life has been found in other far away planets such as Kepler-186f. Similar to how science discoveries change our perspec-tives on space, movies also influence our beliefs and the way we think about space. Rocketship X-M was the first space movie released in 1950. In the movie, scientists tried sending an ex-perimental rocket into space in order to set up a satel-lite that would hopefully orbit around the Earth. The rocket designed to be sent out into space was both un-realistic and unsuitable for space. “With our knowledge of space travel and space liv-ing, and with new technology such as CGI, the film industry can better represent what space is like” said Ralph Mazza. Even though the experimental rocketship crashed, sending it right back to Earth, we have learned how to set a more realistic representation of space unlike the first space movie. During the 1950s, audiences were mesmerized by the thought of sending an object into space and wondered whether if it would even be possible to accomplish this feat. Later in 1957, when the first satellite was sent out by the Soviet Union, movies were created based on Sputnik’s launch. Sputnik’s launch led to the production of October Sky in 1999, a true story based on Homer Hickman. Hickman was fond of Sputnik and had a passion for building rockets. Although his father was not pleased by Hickman’s decision to build rockets, he continued working till he launched his rocket. People once thought that buildings, rockets, satellites and other space inventions were impossible, but mov-ies have shown that small rockets have evolved into larger modern inventions. Although movies don’t always represent accu-

ining what is ahead of us all at the same time. As people learn and understand more about space, the attitude audiences have towards space movies change. Regardless of whether people accept or believe all aspects and theories present-ed by space movies, space movies are entertaining and filled with action. Watching space movies is a fun and exciting way of seeing how our perceptions of space have changed over time.

Movies take o

ur ideas

of space out of this worldShea Perera STAFF WRITER

On Jan. 12, 2014, a long awaited jar of mustard travelled 260 miles above the Mediterranean and was finally delivered to the eager recipients after a delay of 75 days. No, UPS had nothing to do with this late delivery. Their international shipping services do not offer destinations that entail gravity drag. At least, not yet. This celestial delivery was flawlessly executed by the SpaceX Falcon 9 Dragon spacecraft.When the $200 million spacecraft, Antares, blew up on Oct. 28, 2014, it not only blew up the precious supplies needed by the six astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS), but also the ambitious dream of using an enhanced propellant

motor, Castor 30XL, which has the capability to lift more mass into orbit

than the last spacecraft. This incident marked the first disaster since NASA

outsourced the responsibility to resupply the ISS to two private

U.S contractors. A $1.9 billion resupply contract

with Orbital Sciences requires the

delivery of 20 metric tons

(approx. 44,000

pounds) of supplies over eight missions to the orbiting outpost and a $1.6 billion contract with California based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). Removal of trash from the ISS was of course included in the fine print. With the Antares debacle, the resupply missions to ISS were in jeopardy when SpaceX quickly stepped in to salvage the situation. After rocket snags that lasted a month, SpaceX Falcon 9 finally lifted off Cape Canaveral on Jan. 10,

2015, to place the Dragon resupply capsule on a direct path to the orbiting laboratory.

This mission was extra special. As if launching rockets into space is not tricky

enough, SpaceX tried to bring one back down safely to earth. Complex

engineering processes, recovery timing, and recondition for the

next launch, etc., have made the business of bringing

space vehicles back to Earth rather difficult

and expensive. The Jan. 10

S p a c e X l a u n c h

was an

attempt to create a fully reusable spacecraft that would revolutionize space travel and make it a lot cheaper. Unfortunately, shortage of hydraulic fluid caused a hard landing and ended this endeavor midway. However, SpaceX founder Elon Musk remains optimistic and hopes to achieve success in the next launch. “The next big step for SpaceX is human spaceflight and we expect to see that happen in 2017,” states Kelvin Manning, Associate Director at NASA Kennedy Space Center. Manning believes that in twenty years, the concept of space tourism will become a reality. “2035 is the timeframe when NASA is targeting to sending humans to Mars,” Manning says. The next mission is scheduled for next week on Jan. 29, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The mission is called SMAP (Soil Moisture Active and Passive). “SMAP will produce global maps of soil moisture, which will help improve our understanding of the Earth’s water and carbon cycles and our ability to manage water resources,” Manning predicts. NASA’s next “big thing” is to continue to expand human presence into the solar system and to the surface of Mars. NASA is continuing to develop the Space Launch System or SLS rocket that will carry the Orion spacecraft and allow astronauts to explore beyond low earth orbit. SLS and Orion will take us further into space than ever before. Meanwhile, on Jan. 12 2015, ISS station

commander Butch Wilmore maneuvered the robotic arm of the ISS to dock the Dragon

capsule filled with prepackaged meals, freeze dried crab cakes, late Christmas

presents, experimental equipment and of course… mustard.

Hotdogs anyone?

Graphics by Amy LowndesPhotography by Jessica Kotnour

Noopur Ranganathan STAFF WRITER

SpaceX launches into the futu

re

The idea of alien life has long captured the world’s imagination. Various incar-nations, from Men in Black to ET to Lilo and Stitch, are staples of pop culture. As extraterrestrial life looks more and more probable with scientific advance-ments, we asked student Nate Wisniewski (’17) to reimagine what is out there.

17 February 2015

February 201518

Alumna Benton builds buzz in Book of Mormon

Seven years ago Denée Benton could be found on the Trinity Prep Stage bringing life to roles like Sarah in the musical Rag-time or leading a dance number in Aida. Back in my glory days of middle school, I remember the powerful stage presence she had in every performance she had in the beloved auditorium. “The role of Aida was probably her most memorable role for me,” said Fine Arts Department Chair Janine Papin. “It was during the run of that show that Denée decided to make theatre her life.” Little did we know the mark she would leave on the school and our stage and what success she would have in the fu-ture. After her graduation in 2010, Benton went on to study at Carnegie Mellon University to continue her theater train-ing. To imagine that her first professional role would be a lead on a national tour of a Broadway favorite is a dream come true. This past holiday season, Benton fin-ished her year-long contract with the traveling show in Orlando. Book of Mormon was one of the first shows per-formed in the new and beautifully con-structed Dr. Phillips Center for the Per-forming Arts. The show ran with performances from Dec. 26 to Jan. 4. Each night Benton amazed audiences and familiar faces with her role of Nabulugi. Book of Mormon is brought to you by Trey Park and Matt Stone (the minds behind South Park) as well as Robert Lopez. The musical follows the journey of two young Mormon missionaries who are sent to a remote village of Uganda in hopes of converting the villagers. The missionaries befriend Nabulugi (played by Benton), and her optimism helps the village accept the unfamiliar men. From her witty comments on stage to her beautiful voice in “Sal Tlay Ka Siti,” Benton captivated the audience. The hilarious musical brought laugh-ter all over Orlando. I still can’t get the

clever, hysterical songs out of my head. Book of Mormon has received numerous Tony, Grammy and Emmy awards. Benton stands as a perfect example of Trinity’s mission to promote excellence in college and life and to serve as con-tributors to our communities. Her success is a success for our school. “She is reminder of how far you can go with hard work, talent and passion,” Papin said. “Trinity’s theatre department has quite a few alumni working in the professional theater world both in New York City and in L.A. I am so proud of

all them and try to stay in touch. To be a part of anyone’s creative and artistic path is a privilege and a gift. It is pretty darn awesome.” This semester the theatre department will be bringing us The Merry Wives of Windsor, a Shakespearean classic, as well as the musical Into the Woods. “I think we [the current theater depart-ment] provide lots of opportunities for growth and self discovery,” Papin said. “Whether or not the students go on to make theater their profession, they all awaken the artist within themselves and

Eden SmalleyLIFESTYLES EDITOR

Courtesy of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

Nabulungi (Benton) sings “Baptise Me” with Elder Cunningham (Cody Jaminson Strand).

constantly challenge themselves to get to that next level. The connections they build and the memories they make, last a lifetime.” With Benton’s homecoming, it’s impor-tant to note that everyone of us holds the potential to follow our passions. There’s nothing more motivating than seeing others fulfill their dreams. We are all gifted with many resources to grow in our passions, and it is clearly achievable to reach our goals, even if we come from a small high school in Winter Park.

February 2015

Parks and RecreationTuesdays at 8 on NBC Parks and Recreation began its seventh and final sea-son on Jan. 13. Parks and Recreation is known for its comedy starring some of Hollywood’s funniest actors and actresses. The show is about Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) who works for the Parks Department in Paw-nee, Indiana. She shows great love for her co-workers and her town. Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) who is in charge of the Parks and Rec department. Swanson plans to make city hall less effective and does every-thing he can to get that to happen. Season six of the show ended with Knope receiving a job for the Na-tional Parks Service as Regional Director in Chicago. The seventh season takes place during 2017, jumping forward three years from the previous season. The show has been nominated for and has won many Gold-en Globes, Emmys and American Comedy Awards.

19

The BlacklistSundays at 9 on NBC The Blacklist continues with its second season begin-ning on Feb. 1. James Spader stars as Raymond “Red” Reddington who is a former U.S. Naval officer and cur-rent FBI agent. Reddington works with Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) a rookie FBI agent. The two work hard to capture criminals, terrorists and other threats to the United States that are almost impossible to catch. Season one began with Reddington killing the first person on his “blacklist” to prove himself to the FBI. Throughout the rest of this season Spader and Keen plan to find and kill the rest of the people on Spader’s list.

The Odd CoupleThursdays at 8:30 on CBSThe Odd Couple is a remake of the 1970s sitcom of the same name. It stars Matthew Perry as Os-car Madison and Thomas Lennon as Felix Unger. The show is about two divorced men who are good friends and move in with each other. The two friends are polar opposites: Felix Unger is an obsessive neat freak, and Oscar Madison is sloppy and messy. The new series focuses on the two men’s very opposite lifestyles, their ex-wives and their children.

Spring shows save the season

Courtesy of NBC

Allie SteinSTAFF WRITER Courtesy of NBC

The television was first showcased in San Fran-cisco on Sept. 7, 1927. Two years later, the first commercially available television had just one channel. It was John Logie Baird’s Televisor, and it was used by the BBC from 1929 to 1936. Since then, thousands of channels have become available to the public. From NBC to CBS to ESPN, television has no limits. Each year, channels premiere new shows and returning series, and 2015 is no exception. Dozens of award-winning shows are making their season premiere in the next few months and even more are headlining for the first time.

New and old shows you should be watching this spring

The Walking DeadSundays at 9 on AMC The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic, horror-drama series continuing its fifth season on Feb. 8. It has been one of the most successful shows on AMC. Andrew Lincoln stars as Rick Grimes, a former sheriff ’s deputy located in Atlanta. As he awakens from a coma, he finds a post-acopca-lyptic world dominated by zombies. He and his group of survivors continue their jour-ney to defend themselves from walkers, cannibals and other survivors in hopes of finding their family. Based on the original comic The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, the tv series has enough material to produce several seasons in the furure. The next season will take place with Rick, Darryl and the rest of the gang fighting off the walkers and living in the hospital.

BackstromThursdays at 9 on Fox Backstrom is a new crime comedy drama series that premiered on Jan. 22. Rainn Wilson stars as Detective Everett Back-strom who is an offensive but brilliant detective put in charge of the Portland Police Bureau’s Special Crimes Unit. He and his team, made up of other detectives, are in charge of Portland’s most serious and difficult crime tasks. Some of the other detectives include Nicole Grave-ly (Genevieve Angelson) who is very optimistic and helps balance Backstrom’s controversial behavior. Detective Backstrom always figures out a way to outsmart his enemies, manipulate others and crack the cases with the help of his impressive team. Rainn Wilson brings his crazy yet funny antics from The Office to a new comedic show.

Courtesy of Fox

February 201520

Valentine’s Day is either one of the most looked forward to or most dreaded holidays of the year. Usually a person’s attitude toward it is a direct reflection of his or her relationship status. Couples love to love each other, but if you’re single, seeing all of the happy couples can make you want to cry. But if you really think about it, whether you’re in a relationship or not, Valentine’s Day is a cliche for many reasons.

If you want to have a nontraditional holiday but still want to celebrate, there are some things you can do. Have a girls (or guys) night and treat yourselves to dinner. I’ll be getting my favorite comfort food (sushi). Of course, there’s been a lot of chatter go-ing on about various movie releases.Whether you go out to see a movie and grab dinner or stay in and avoid all of the couples, just remember: you’re not the only one who hates Valentine’s Day.

Holiday or cliche?Lily BoundsSTAFF WRITER

Valentine’s Day might not be something to celebrate

It makes people who are single feel bad about it. While being in a relationship is great, being single has its perks too. On any other day of the year, many single people are glad to have their freedom and not to be tied down to someone else. They have the opportunity to meet new people and be all that they can be on their own. Valentine’s Day makes the majority of single people want to stay at home and eat ice cream because all of the happy couples around are depressing to them.

Not many people know why the holiday started. Valentine’s Day was actually created to honor the three martyrs named Valentine. The first Valentine was a martyred priest in Rome. Valen-tine of Terni is said to have been martyred dur-ing the persecution under Emperor Aurelian. A third Valentine was martyred in Africa. The day is called a commemoration on the Calendar of Saints. It also falls on the fertility festival, The Feast of Lupercalia, which was celebrated in the Coliseum where people had foot races and made animal sacrifices. Not exactly what you would think of when you think of Valentine’s Day. As much as I dislike the holiday, I would choose chocolate and teddy bears over animals sacrifices anyday.

It’s the biggest example of a Hallmark Holiday. The company makes the most money off of Valen-tine’s Day. Other examples of Hallmark holidays are Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, as well as St. Patrick’s Day. Most people buy into the commercial side of the hol-iday and ignore the idea of just telling people you care. Instead of really showing their significant other how much they care with something heartfelt, they buy huge stuffed animals, stale candy and half-dead roses from the nearest CVS. Why use one day a year to give someone gifts that they’ll probably want to throw out in a few days (I mean what is a teenager going to do with a huge stuffed bear) when you can show him or her how much you care everyday? Don’t buy into the commercialism of the whole thing.

It promotes gender stereotypes. It typically reinforc-es the idea that women, being the more emotionally unstable and needy in the relationship, care way more about the holiday than guys do. There are hundreds of jokes about girlfriends going crazy when they don’t get the exact right gift; In reality, only an extremely high maintenance and frankly crazy person would freak out about something like that. It’s also expected that guys do all of the work and buy all of the gifts when, in real-ity, I’m pretty sure that a guy would like some chocolate too.

Aavnia Gupta

21February 2015

I sat down with sophomore Jimmy Hur-ley for this month’s “conversation with a not-so-average saint.” You may have seen him in last year’s musical theater production of Alter Boyz and in the sum-mer intensive play, Spamalot. Jimmy and I discussed everything from his sketch-book to Pack & Paddle to England.

Favorite movies: The Breakfast ClubFavorite band/singer: Lana del Rey or HozierFavorite book: the Game of Thrones se-ries by George R.R. MartinFavorite play/musical: Once

What makes you average?Everyone is average at some things, but no one really truly is average in a sense. Average is a weird word; there’s a lot of meaning to it. I’m average as in I go to Trinity, and I struggle through work like the average Trinity student.

What makes you not so average?Everyone has their own special thing. Everyone is unique and different in their own way; people can be similar, but you’re never completely similar because everyone has a different opinion on so-mething. Everyone’s unique, so I guess there are lots of things that make me not so average. Everyone has so much to them that it’s hard to choose one trait that makes them stand out from the ave-rage person.

What is your favorite activity that you’ve been involved in at Trinity?The theater department. It’s a lot of fun to do all the shows. It’s never the same type of thing because Ms. Papin always has some sort of strange, new idea to plunge into and make us work really hard. I’ve never really done many plays—this semester is the first one that I’ve done at Trinity. It’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, and I’m the main character. I prefer musicals because musicals are a lot easier to remember because you’re memorizing to a tune.

What would be your dream role in a play or musical?I don’t know. I don’t spend a lot of my free time doing musical and play stuff. I spend most of my free time drawing things in my sketchbook. I listen to a lot of music. I write poetry and do a lot of things other than theater outside of school.

Do you have a quote or piece of ad-vice that you live by?The Golden Rule: treat others the way you want to be treated. Treat everyone with respect and equality no matter who they are, because they’re a person and that’s what they should be judged for.

What do you value the most?I value the freedom we are given and the places we are able to go and live. I’m glad we have freedom to be whom we want and say what we want.

What has been your favorite moment or memory at Trinity?I’ve made a lot of good memories; it’s been a lot different from the other schools I’ve been to. In the canoe part of [Pack & Paddle], I had to canoe with a teacher because I had no friends. It’s more of a bittersweet memory because that’s how I met everyone I’m close to right now. People came up to me during that trip and said, “Oh, you’re lonely—do you want someone to talk to?” So I’d have to say Pack & Paddle was a good experience for me—well, somewhat.

What is the meaning of life?That’s a brain-twister. I just think that the meaning of life in general is just to be the best person you can and follow your dreams instead of conforming to what society wants you to do.

Describe a time when you were hap-piest.Probably the England trip in 2014. Those were some of the best memo-ries I’ve ever had. My favorite part was either getting to know the people I went with or just learning [about] the whole culture. I fell in love with the culture and

the idea of England. It was the happiest I’ve ever been. That’s where I want to end up after college.

If you could live anywhere, where would you live?I would live in London, hands down. It’s so pretty and cultural and old. I either want to be a psychologist of some sort

A conversation with a not-so-average saintAlice BenekeEditor-In-Chief

Hurley will star in the upper school play, The Merry Wives of Windsor, as Sir Falstaff. Ellie Claire Gordon

or do art, like drawing or poetry. I would do things for West End if I ever got a chance.

What’s a change that you want to see?A change I would like to see would be for Trinity to realize that you can’t grow Northern grass in Florida.

February 201522

It’s fi nally the start of a new year which brings new beginnings and, of course, New Year’s reso- l u -tions. As a tradition, most people make a list of goals they want to achieve to celebrate the new year; but do they follow through with these prom-ises? According to a 2014 poll by the University of Scranton Psy-chology Department, 71% of Americans hold to these an-nual resolutions for the fi rst two weeks. Six months later, less than 50% of those surveyed actually upheld the resolutions. Why aren’t we able to fulfi ll these promises? For starters, many of us set lofty goals or a multitude of wishes that may seem doable, but are un-realistic. Another reason is that our reso-lutions start to become unim-portant to us, and we become lazy as time goes by. “Sometimes people make res-olutions because everyone else is doing it,” said mathematics Chair Deb Costello, who has a minor in psychology. “Sometimes they know they ‘should’ do something, but they don’t really want to do it. Sometimes the resolution is a great idea, but there’s no plan for success and thus the person fails.” We also tend to set nonspe-cifi c goals for ourselves. Set-ting ambitious goals can be fun and inspiring, but the dif-fi culty in achieving them means that your elation can quickly give way to frustration. In order to increase chances of success, goals should be made in a measurable way, in order to increase chances of success. Just aiming to “get better

grades” or “lose some weight” isn’t specifi c enough to be effective. Aim for a precise, yet small, goal that can be recorded or mea-

New Year, new me? Don’t New Year’s reso-lutions always go as planned.

It’s fi nally the start of a new year which brings new beginnings and, of course, New Year’s reso- l u -tions. As a tradition, most people make a list of goals they want to achieve to celebrate the new year; but do they follow through with these prom-

According to a 2014 poll by the University of Scranton Psy-chology Department, 71% of Americans hold to these an-nual resolutions for the fi rst

Six months later, less than 50% of those surveyed actually

Why aren’t we able to fulfi ll these promises? For starters, many of us set lofty goals or a multitude of wishes that may seem doable, but are un-

Another reason is that our reso-lutions start to become unim-portant to us, and we become

“Sometimes people make res-olutions because everyone else is doing it,” said mathematics Chair Deb Costello, who has

“Sometimes they know they ‘should’ do something, but they don’t really want to do it. Sometimes the resolution is a great idea, but there’s no plan for success and thus the

We also tend to set nonspe-cifi c goals for ourselves. Set-ting ambitious goals can be fun and inspiring, but the dif-fi culty in achieving them means that your elation can quickly give

In order to increase chances of success, goals should be made in a measurable way, in order to increase chances of

Just aiming to “get better Amy Lowndes

Aavni GuptaSTAFF WRITER sured.

Some ways we can fulfi ll our annual goals are by fo-cusing on one resolution rather than trying to make a

whole list of things to achieve. There will be more room to focus on one task, and it can be completed through small steps. Otherwise, you might quit because the magnitude of the goal becomes overwhelming. Don’t wait until the goal is fi nally completed to celebrate. Celebrate your success at each mile-

stone. Positive feedback on any new habit

will increase the likelihood of success. Studies have shown that if people tell

friends or family about their goal, it gives them an incentive to want to fulfi ll the task,

because they are counted on to succeed. “My New Year’s resolution is to clean my

room every night, and I am able to keep up with this resolution lately,” freshman Sam Di-

Maio said. “In order to achieve resolutions, it’s important not to give into temptation and say, ‘this

is too hard’ or ‘maybe next time.’” DiMaio said to try mixing your resolution with

something you like to do. “If your resolution is to lose weight, you can run or walk on the treadmill while watching your favorite movie or tv show,” she said. Despite our focus of goal making in the beginning of January, we shouldn’t make all of our resolutions at that one time. We often have the mentality that right when January hits, new goals have to be started. We should maintain that mentality throughout the whole year. We can still make resolutions for the be-

ginning of the new year, but should really make the majority of our resolutions in our daily lives. “Stop making resolutions because it’s January. People who make change in their lives are those

who genuinely want this change for themselves and not because someone else told them it’s a good idea

or because society wants it to happen,” Costello said. “Life change requires commitment, sacrifi ce and hard work. You cannot be nagged into change or paid to do it. People make change when they are ready to do the work.” So before we make a goal on getting a 100 on one of Mr. Krueger’s essays, we need to take baby steps to ultimately achieve our goal.

February 2015

Berryhill hits a home run as new head baseball coach

23

Trinity Prep’s newest staff member Trevor Berryhill has his “bases loaded” for this Spring. He enters his first season as head coach for the Varsity Baseball team, with the season officially beginning on February 5. Berryhill recently received the elite invitation to take his team up to Cary, North Carolina in March for the National High School Invitational, NHSI, hosted by USA Baseball in Cary. “USA Baseball invites teams that were either seen by someone in their organi-zation or were referred to them by col-lege coaches or professional scouts,” Berryhill said. “It is a great honor to be able to go to this tournament, and I am stoked for our program to go compete against the best.”USA Baseball invites 16 teams from across the country every year to com-pete in the event. Each team will play four games against strong competition from all over the country. Although the invitational is March 25-28, in the middle of the team’s season, Berryhill assures that his players will re-main well focused on their goal of win-ning a District Championship. Accord-ing to Berryhill, the NHSI is just another opportunity for the team to play against great competition, therefore making the team better as a whole. “In my opinion, if you want to have a team that is tough and tested going into the playoffs, you have to play great teams and you have to play on the road,” Berryhill said. “Championship teams find a way to win against tough competition, and to win a championship you usually have to win games on the road. This tournament will help us do that for sure.” Berryhill is no stranger to coaching baseball. In fact, this is his seventh year coaching. He worked part-time at Trinity in 2008 and 2009 but left to join the baseball coaching staff at the Division 1 University of Tennessee Martin for two years. Upon returning to Florida, Berryhill

hoped to coach at Trinity, but there were no positions open at the time. He soon after became the head baseball coach at Father Lopez, where he said he enjoyed his time. Berryhill won back-to-back District titles in his three years at Father Lopez and in 2013 led his team to the Regional Finals in what was the team’s most successful year. When a position opened up for head baseball coach at Trinity, Berryhill felt like he needed to go after the job because of his belief that Trinity was and still is a great place to work. “At the end of the day I wanted to have a better ‘quality of life,’ being able to work at a great place with great people but be able to be a family man as well,” Berryhill said. “Spending time with my family is very important to me, and working at Trinity allows me to be around home more.” Berryhill believes that Trinity’s base-ball program has been very successful. It has sent multiple student-athletes to continue their baseball careers in college, with one player, Max Morroff, class of 2012, going pro. “The previous coaching staff did a

tremendous job in making the Trinity baseball program relevant,” Berryhill said. “I hope to continue to move the program in the direction of winning championships on the field and helping young men achieve their dream of playing baseball in college.” Berryhill has high expectations for his players. He has coached more than 50 players that have been drafted, three that have made it to the professional league, and helped guide more than 60 players to continue their baseball careers in col-lege. “I would say that a staple in my program is that the expectations are always to be great young men first and foremost,” Berryhill said. “ I also expect my players to take care of business in the classroom. Lastly, we want to compete for championships.” Since the school year started, Berryhill mainly has been working on building relationships with his players, which he believes to be an integral part of being a great coach. He also coached some of his players in their fall league, which started in September and ran through the first of November. Although sched-

ule conflicts kept some players from participating in the fall league, Berryhill believes it was a good opportunity to create overall team chemistry. Once that ended, Berryhill and his players transitioned into the most im-portant time of the year— off-season training. “During this period we have been conditioning and weight training,” Berryhill said. “This time is very important in having a successful spring because it prepares the body and mind for the rigor of the [baseball] season.” Senior baseball player Patrick Trevisani has known Berryhill since he helped out at Trinity in 2008. “I’m thrilled to finally be able to play for Berryhill,” Trevisani said. “I admire what he’s done with the program so far, and I think he will lead us to a very suc-cessful year.” With six home games on the schedule, Berryhill looks forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for his team and is extremely thankful to be able to take his players to the NHSI and partici-pate in a potential once in a lifetime op-portunity.

EllieClaire GordonPHOTO EDITOR

Laura Toye

Berryhill (left) begins the first official week of baseball practice by demonstrating techniques for his players to imitate.

February 201524

Three-sport athletes strive for success Trinity Prep is known for being one of the most academically challenging schools in the state of Florida. The time associated with school work is enough to keep a student very busy. When a student is participating in an extracurricular activity such as a sport, it can be exhausting. This is why it is rare to see a student-athlete play a sport in every one of the sports seasons at Trinity. For most sports, the seasons overlap so the student-athletes have no time in between seasons to rest and adjust to their next sport. This means being a three-sport athlete is almost impossible. Seniors Jalen Cayo and Johnny Evans both play football, basketball, and track and field throughout the course of the school year. Evans is committed to play football next year at Davidson College, and Cayo is undecided but plans to play collegiate football as well. Some think that once athletes have committed to play a sport at the next level, they should cut ties with all other high school sports to avoid injury and to focus on their one sport. Johnny Evans, however, doesn’t agree. “Playing three sports is the best way to maximize the high school experience.” Evans said. “You only have so long until you have to stop playing altogether or you have to focus on one in college,” Sophomore Taylor Kienle, who actually plays four sports-volleyball, soccer, weightlifting, and lacrosse-agrees with Johnny. “Playing different sports helps me keep in shape,” Kienle said. “It’s always fun to play a different sport every now and then, especially with a different group of girls,” Some athletes also think that if a student-athlete is going to play a sport in college and in each season of high school that it would be smart to only play one sport. Or if they insist on playing multiple sports to at least be careful to not get injured in their other

sports that they haven’t committed to play in college. However, Evans thinks differently. “Once you start worrying about ‘taking it easy’ for the sake of preventing injury, you get injured.” Evans said. “So I think it’s best to just always play hard and not worry about it,” Jalen Cayo agrees with Johnny, but does admit that it can take a toll on the body. “I give it my all no matter what the sport so it [the three sports] doesn’t affect my performance in my sports, but it really does take a toll my body because it doesn’t get a break,” Cayo said. Three-sport athletes never get much rest during the school year. Most of them will go right from one sport to the next within a day. The lack of time to prepare for the upcoming season can cause the athletes to fall a bit behind the players who focus year-round on just one sport. Sophomore Lauren Cameron plays volleyball, soccer and softball and does think it is difficult sometimes to catch up to the one-sport players. “Since I don’t have the time to play club or travel ball in any of the three sports, I definitely have to work really hard to keep up with girls who play year round,” Cameron said. Even though she may find it frustrating at times, Cameron thinks it brings out the best in her. “It helps to push me to the best player I can be during the season,” Cameron said. Coaches are also aware that it normally takes some time for a player to transition from one sport to another. Head Varsity Track and Field coach Mr. Arney sees it every year. “I do think it’s difficult, especially in a team sport, for athletes to come into the season late and gel right away,” Arney said. Arney was the Girl’s JV Basketball head coach and admitted that it was very difficult, from a coach’s perspective

Bradley HullBUSINESS MANAGER

as well, to transition to track after basketball ended. “It was almost impossible. The seasons either overlapped or were just days apart and gave me no time to prepare for the next season,” Arney said. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of being a year round student-athlete is keeping one’s grades up. Arney is the head of the Science department as well, and believes that keeping up grades as a three-sport athlete is almost

impossible. However, most year round athletes agree that playing multiple sports helped them stay focused in school. “Playing sports has always helped my grades. In season, it goes: school, practice, homework and then sleep. When I don’t have practice, I don’t study as routinely. It’s as simple as that,” Evans said. Playing a sport year-round is an incredibly hard task Very few students can do it, and all that do love it.

Amy Suskerm

February 2015 25

Many athletes’ seasons start much be-fore their school games. Weightlifting, playing in club tournaments and partici-pating in off-season cross-training re-gimes help Trinity’s athletes excel when the season rolls around. In recent years, Trinity has had much sporting success, and it can be traced back to players play-ing when not in season. The Trinity Prep boy’s basketball team got its new head coach, Irwin Hudson, from a local basketball training facil-ity. Because of his professional training experience, Hudson understands how valuable individual skills acquired during the off-season can be in seasonal play. This year the varsity squad has 11 mem-bers, eight of whom play Amatuer Ath-letic Union (AAU) club basketball when not playing for Trinity. Trinity players find themselves sepa-rated out on different teams in the off-season, but most learn more individual-minded AAU league skills and translate them to team-oriented play. “Playing club in the offseason definite-ly elevates my game because I am com-peting against some of the top players in the country,” junior Blake Garfinkel said. Across all sports, the college recruiting process is tied to off-season play. It is much easier for big-time college coaches to travel to large showcases and tourna-ments rather than going to individual school games. Junior Trent Suddeth plays basketball at a high level and has begun garnering interest from colleges across the nations. “School season is more competitive, and more is on the line,” Suddeth said. Much of the Trinity basketball team’s success in recent years can be attributed to the players’ commitment to club play. Basketball players are not the only ones who see the merit in off-season play; both the boy’s and girl’s soccer teams are very active in local clubs. Sophomore Nick Olore is an advocate for playing club soccer.

“I believe that if everyone plays club in the off-season, it will help the team. By the time school season comes, you have the experience that is needing to greatly benefit the team,” Olore said. Especially in a sport like soccer, much of the college recruitment process hap-pens during club play, rather than the school level. The Orlando area has a variety of prominent club teams that travel around the nation to tournaments regularly. Keeping a feel for the ball when not in season is important. Sophomore Lindsey Greenwood plays club to keep herself playing throughout the year; Greenwood is one of many club play-ers to start for the Saints’ varsity squad this year. In lacrosse, it is important to keep stick skills honed year round. “The more practice the better!” soph-omore Annie Richardson said. Girls such as junior Gracie Gigliotti and sophomore Richardson are team-mates on both club and Trinity teams. An added benefit for Trinity girls looking to play club lacrosse is that their school coach, Katie Palasz, is also a coach for the local club Revolution Lacrosse. Both Gigliotti and Richardson noted that the pressure they feel is much high-er when playing club, as they find them-selves up against the most elite players in the area. Often club teams have very selective tryouts. Gigliotti added that the last tourna-ment she attended had more than 500 coaches from all over the U.S. Trinity Prep Aquatics is an interest-ing case, as the off-season program is still considered a Trinity function. Many Trinity swimmers swim after school ev-ery day year round. There are of course swimmers who take on another sports outside of fall season. “With the exception of backing off a little bit in the spring to run track, I basi-cally swim year round here at Trinity,” freshman Kaitlin Gasner said. A few Trinity swimmers leave Trin-ity Aquatics to swim at the local Blue Dolphins club, but most of the athletes

Saints reap rewards of off-season trainingNick SmithSTAFF WRITER

have their teammates around them all the time. “Swimming during the off-season definitely brings a racing mindset with it since we all chose to be there and to swim in club meets,” freshman Matt De-gtyar said. Most swimmers agree that the college recruiting process for their sport is in full swing year round, whether they are swimming in the high school state com-petition or national tournaments in the

spring. As well as having all of their Trinity Prep teammates to support them, Trini-ty swimmers find themselves in a deeper pool during the offseason. “During club season, [we] have the addition of kids from other schools, as well as swimmers out of college,” junior Caroline White said. For swimming, basketball, soccer and other sports, Gasner added a key bit of wisdom: “There is no offseason.”

Trent Suddeth brings skills from AAU to the Saints’ basketball team.Laura Toye

February 201526

Why play sports? Why run that extra suicide or wake up really early to lift weights and be sore the whole day? After all, it is just a game, meant to be played for fun. Similar to American politics during its infant stages in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, sports, in its beginnings, were only played for a certain time of the year. Early American politicians would return home to their other jobs after Congress had finished meeting, similar to how athletes and coaches, in the beginning stages of professional sports, would return home to their full-time jobs after the season had ended. Today, this is simply not the case; year round NFL coverage, offseason training and sports are examples of the evo-lution that has occurred in the sports world, going from a part-time job to a full-time, year round career. Some believe this evolution has taken the fun from sports and has made kids prone to injury, exposing to them to intense competition and forcing an adult schedule at a young age. Amateur Athletic Union, or AAU basketball, soccer, volleyball and baseball teams have dominated the youth sports scene in America. It is an opportunity for top athletes to travel and get seen by college coaches and scouts. In South America and Eu-rope, travel teams are made for soccer, since it is by far the most popular sport. Athletes are sometimes around eight or nine years old when they enter into the AAU system. The evolution of the sporting world has been accom-panied by great achievements and also awful tragedies. Rugby helped Nelson Mandela to end the apartheid in South Africa, an extraodinary social accomplishment. A Brazilian soccer referee stabbed a player during a match and then was brutally murdered by crazed fans afterwards, an example of the awful, ridiculous culture sports sometimes causes. All of this being said, I still believe people should play a sport in their lifetime, even after being taken to drastic extremes such as AAU travel organizations. Sports are fun to play; they build long-lasting relation-ships, teach life lessons and therefore should be a part of society. The fundamentals of sports still remain the same, and everyone should participate. Senior basketball player Kobe Eichelberger echoes this sentiment. “[Sports] is a way for me to get into shape,” Eichel-berger said. “It also teaches a person a lot of life les-sons. I have learned to be a leader, to play with people I do not like, and to play when nothing is going your way.” These simple lessons that can profoundly change a

life are at the core of sports. Teamwork, dedication, and maturity: these are the things that sports teach you. Like Eichelberger, I learned how to be patient and calm when things went out of control through years of bas-ketball and baseball. Senior swimmer Allie Parent understands this concept in the context of sports. “I feel that sports should teach leadership, teamwork, integrity and honesty,” Parent said. “I do feel that peo-ple sometimes lose perspective on sports. When in-tegrity is lost just for the sake of winning a game, the purpose of playing the game is gone.” Leah Krinker, a senior soccer player, leaves the game on the field. She doesn’t want to sacrifice competition

What’s the point? Sports are worth playing not only to win

Scott Stinson SPORTS EDITOR

Aavni Gupta

for integrity. “Im not a super intense person when it comes to soccer,” Krinker said. “I think that the moment I be-come too intense and need to win and think of it as a way of life, is the moment that I start to like soccer less than beforehand.” Being grateful and attentive to the lessons taught during a sports career is what really takes hard-work and dedication. Realizing the blessing, to play a game and dedicate time to it constitute a worthwhile season and career for athletes. “I get to play the sport I love every single day,” Parent said. “Sometimes I think people need to take a step back and realize it’s just a game.”

February 2015

Remy ButlerBoys Varsity Soccer

Kerstin HeinrichGirls Varsity Weightlifting

Will MilesBoys Varsity Basketball

Suzie EvansGirls Varsity Basketball

Junior Remy Butler plays cen-tral midfi eld for the Boys Var-sity soccer team. Finishing up his third year on the team, Butler said that it was diffi cult to say goodbye to his senior teammates when the season ended, but this season was one to remember.

EllieClaire Gordon EllieClaire Gordon

Varsity basketball’s new start-ing power forward Will Miles has been a threat to opposing teams at six feet and fi ve inch-es tall. Transitioning from Lake Highland, Miles admires the versatility of his new teammates and looks forward to a successful post-season.

Laura Toye

Suzie Evans is in 8th grade and a starter on the Girls Var-sity basketball team. She is the only middle schooler on the starting lineup. Suzie looks to help the team as their season winds down and they head into District play.

EllieClaire Gordon

27

Junior Kerstin Heinrich helped lead the Girls Varsity Weight-lifting squad this season. She placed fi fth in her weight class at the regional meet, achiev-ing personal bests of 120 lbs in bench press and 125 lbs in clean and jerk. Being a fourth year member on the team, Heinrich hopes to lead the team next year to even more success at the Regional and State levels.

February 201528

Preston Copenhaver

Bo Cherry

Bo Cherry

Ellie Claire Gordon

Derek Martin