The Chieftain Vol. 27 Issue 4 March 2016 Sewanhaka High School 500 Tulip Avenue Floral Park, NY 11001 THE CHIEF SOURCE OF NEWS In is Issue: #Trubama pg. 7 ILMUNC pg. 2 Spirit Day pg. 8 TV/Movie Reviews pg. 14 Humans of Sewanhaka pg. 16 District (Sports)manship Night Go Red For Life BY CINDY AMAYA This year once again all 5 schools came together to compete in District Sports Night. This ath- letic event showcases all the hard work the seniors and juniors put together for this fun night. Aside from that, many friendships are made by learning the importance that a team has in these types of competitions. Senior Lynn Jean- Louis said, “It was a lot of fun as my senior year. I think every senior should definitely go out and do it.” Although this year Sewanhaka did not earn victory, their good spirit and optimism made up for it. The crowd cheered, encouraging their school with every chant. In first place was New Hyde Park, in sec- ond Carey, third Floral Park, and in fourth Elmont and lastly Sewan- haka. Even though they came in fifth, Sewanhaka had contagious positivity that brought out the fun. Estefania Alvarenga now a senior said this was her first DSN. She also said, “It felt like the Olym- pics! We were just very united, and we worked together. We came in fifth place, but hey it was prob- ably the best experience from my whole senior year.” I’m sure a lot of people feel like the experience, and what you learn from it is what matters more. Aside from the rac- es and tug-of-war, a crowd favor- ite (of course) was the dance. It’s something everyone enjoys doing even the non-athletics who par- ticipate. The crowd danced along with the music that was playing. Overall the atmosphere was enter- taining. Juniors, who participated this year, will want to participate again next year. Jazlynn Diaz said, “It was pretty fun, a great experi- ence actually. I got close to a lot of people especially seniors. I plan to go do it again next year.” Events like these are ones that bring peers close to each other. They learn to make new friends and enjoy the chances they get to have fun during high school. Even though Sewanhaka did not win this year, it was an unforgettable experi- ence, especially for those who are graduating this year. Don’t worry Indians we’ll get them next year! “We didn’t realize we were making memories we just knew we were having fun.”-Unknown BY SEHER SALEEM AND ER- HAMA QURESHI Throughout the past few months, Sewanhaka students and faculty have worn pink, blue, and purple to raise awareness for vari- ous issues. But now it’s time for another color: Red. On February 4th, STAC en- couraged students and faculty to wear red in support of heart dis- ease awareness. One of the STAC advisors, Ms. Cesare, explained the extremities of this unfortunate disease. “Heart dis- ease and stroke cause 1 in 3 deaths among women each year”, she explained. Adding on, she states, “We can help change that by educating and spreading awareness. That’s why STAC and the Sewanhaka community wear red on Go Red Day,” said Ms. Ce- sare. Through- out the month of January and February, STAC conduct- ed ice cream sales. The money raised was donated to heart health awareness centers. STAC member Keillyn Servellon said, “We are supporting people who have had heart cancer and strokes.” Many of Sewanhaka’s stu- dents had positive thoughts about Go Red Day. “It’s the essence of life,” says senior David Gian- natelli. Women and men all over the world are suffering from heart disease. With everyone’s help, support and prayers, we can all make a positive impact for those suffering with heart disease and strokes. Sewanhaka’s DSN Team takes a group picture before the event.
Transcript
The Chieftain Vol. 27 Issue 4March 2016
Sewanhaka High School500 Tulip Avenue
Floral Park, NY 11001THE CHIEF SOURCE OF NEWS
In This Issue:
#Trubama pg. 7
ILMUNC pg. 2
Spirit Day pg. 8
TV/Movie Reviews pg. 14
Humans of Sewanhaka
pg. 16
District (Sports)manship Night
Go Red For Life
BY cINdY AMAYA
This year once again all 5 schools came together to compete in district Sports Night. This ath-letic event showcases all the hard work the seniors and juniors put together for this fun night. Aside from that, many friendships are made by learning the importance that a team has in these types of competitions. Senior Lynn Jean-Louis said, “It was a lot of fun as my senior year. I think every senior should definitely go out and do it.” Although this year Sewanhaka did not earn victory, their good spirit and optimism made up for it. The crowd cheered, encouraging their school with every chant. In first place was New Hyde Park, in sec-ond carey, third Floral Park, and
in fourth Elmont and lastly Sewan-haka. Even though they came in fifth, Sewanhaka had contagious positivity that brought out the fun. Estefania Alvarenga now a senior said this was her first DSN. She also said, “It felt like the Olym-pics! We were just very united, and we worked together. We came in fifth place, but hey it was prob-ably the best experience from my whole senior year.” I’m sure a lot of people feel like the experience, and what you learn from it is what matters more. Aside from the rac-es and tug-of-war, a crowd favor-ite (of course) was the dance. It’s something everyone enjoys doing even the non-athletics who par-ticipate. The crowd danced along with the music that was playing. Overall the atmosphere was enter-
taining. Juniors, who participated this year, will want to participate again next year. Jazlynn diaz said, “It was pretty fun, a great experi-ence actually. I got close to a lot of people especially seniors. I plan to go do it again next year.” Events like these are ones that bring peers close to each other. They learn to make new friends and enjoy the chances they get to have fun during high school. Even though Sewanhaka did not win this year, it was an unforgettable experi-ence, especially for those who are graduating this year. Don’t worry Indians we’ll get them next year! “We didn’t realize we were making memories we just knew we were having fun.”-Unknown
BY SEHER SALEEM ANd ER-HAMA QURESHI
Throughout the past few months, Sewanhaka students and faculty have worn pink, blue, and purple to raise awareness for vari-ous issues. But now it’s time for another color: Red. On February 4th, STAc en-couraged students and faculty to wear red in support of heart dis-ease awareness. One of the STAc advisors, Ms. cesare, explained the extremities of this unfortunate
d i s e a s e . “Heart dis-ease and stroke cause 1 in 3 deaths a m o n g women each year”, she explained. Adding on, she states, “We can help change that by educating and spreading awareness. That’s why STAC and the Sewanhaka community wear red on Go Red Day,” said Ms. Ce-
sare. Through-out the month of January and February, STAc conduct-ed ice cream sales. The money raised was donated to heart health
awareness centers. STAc member Keillyn Servellon said, “We are supporting people who have had heart cancer and strokes.” Many of Sewanhaka’s stu-dents had positive thoughts about Go Red Day. “It’s the essence of life,” says senior David Gian-natelli. Women and men all over the world are suffering from heart disease. With everyone’s help, support and prayers, we can all make a positive impact for those suffering with heart disease and strokes.
Sewanhaka’s DSN Team
takes a group picture before
the event.
BY SHAFAQ KHAN
From January 28th through January 31st, Se-wanhaka High School’s Model United Nations team traveled to Philadel-phia to debate at the Uni-versity of Pennsylvania’s 32nd annual Model UN conference, known as the Ivy League Model UN Conference. ILMUNC is one of the most competi-tive Model UN confer-ences on the high school circuit and hosts teams from not only around the nation, but around the world. delegations from India, china, and Venezuela all traveled to Philadelphia to compete at this conference. Upon arrival to Phil-adelphia on Thursday afternoon, Model UN members toured the city and visited places such as the Rocky Steps. On Thursday night, the debate began. ILMUNC was held at the Sheraton Philadel-phia downtown Ho-tel, where delegates assumed the roles of United Nations diplo-mats and engaged in intense debate. com-mittee sessions con-tinued into the week-end. Representing denmark, Sewanha-ka’s Model UN team was very successful at this conference, with members Sidney Saint-Hilaire, Sep-hora Saint-Armand,
Shaheer Khan, and Harris Pavlou winning Honorable Mentions in their committees. Junior Sephora Saint-Armand commented, “Ini-tially, I was taken aback at how experienced everyone was and disoriented by the level of com-
petition. However, by mid-debate, I finally found my grounding and immersed in the committee. I was really passionate about the topic we discussed and enjoyed the vigorous deliberation. Work-ing in coalition with some pretty bright delegates, my partner, Sidney, and I played a crucial role in the major compromise. Overall, this was one of the best experi-ences I’ve ever had in Model UN. Not only was this intel-lectually challenging, but it was also a clear reminder of why I like Model UN, a mix-ture between compromise and diplomacy.” Model UN is a debate club
where participants are as-signed a country and must debate a certain topic while representing their country’s
policy as best they can. Sewanha-ka High School’s Model UN team meets at 7:00 am to 7:30 am in Room 204 every morning to prac-tice debating and learn new skills. If you are interested in joining
Model UN, don’t hesi-tate to start attending our daily meetings; we are always looking for new members!
Editors’ Message School News.........................pg. 2-3National News......................pgs. 4-6International News................pg. 7Spirit day..............................pg. 8The Arts.................................pg.9Features................................pg. 10Editorial...............................pg. 11Entertainment.....................pgs. 12-14Sports...................................pgs. 15Humans of Sewanhaka.........pg. 16
In This Issue:Sewanhaka, Spring is in the air! The chieftain Staff would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter and hopes everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather. Study hard, because Regents’ and AP Exams are just around the corner. Hope you all enjoy these last few months of school. - Your Editors
Sewanhka delegates meet up before committee.
The delegates before embarking on their four day conference
(right).
MARCH 2016 3School News
Beauty and the Best
Sewanhaka Scientists Compete
By CHRISTELLE jULIEN AND MONIQUE vILME This year, the musi-cal cast put on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, a tale of a superficial prince turned hideous beast who is cursed by a scorned e n c h a n t r e s s who ultimately is able to over-turn the curse with his new-found ability to love. The prince’s abil-ity to love was awoken by the intel-ligent book-worm beauty Belle, who was excellently portrayed by sophomore, Jessica Staiano. The protagonist, Beast, was brilliantly portrayed by junior Louis Santos, who has been a part of the school musical since the 7th grade. When asked about his role, he commented “it was such a heartwarming experience.” Santos further noted that the best part of acting is the ability to “reflect your own personality into your charac-
ter,” which he feels “brings the en-tire story to life.” Cogsworth, the
enchanted clock, best known for his serious de-meanor and cheeky remarks, was played by junior, Pablo Giraldo. Pablo laughingly re-marked that the most annoying part was get-ting the French accent correct! He further said that cogsworth was “a really fun character to embody and the best part was that there are multiple ways to interpret his jokes and mo-
ments of hilarity.” Gaston, portrayed
by first-time actor junior Peter Boldyrew, exclaimed that the Mu-sical was “the greatest experience he’s ever had during his time as a Sewanhaka student.” He knows that going on stage is not the easi-est thing to do but he encourages everyone to embrace their musi-cal side and experience the chal-lenging fun of the musical. A great hit was the performance of Mr.
Roesler, chemistry teacher, who por-trayed Belle’s fa-ther. When asked what had spurred him to take on this challenge, Roesler giddily explained that he was look-ing for something to make him feel like a kid again. He also stated that he was looking for something to connect with his students with and the musical provided a great oppor-tunity. Unfortunately as for a pro-fessional musical career, Roesler laughingly said “absolutely not.” The show was a great success! From Friday to Saturday night, the audience was left in awe of the majestic showing of lively co-ordinated dance routines and the melodic voices of the cast. Not to forgot the meticulous music pro-vided naturally by the school’s band and the speedy performance of Stage crew.Members of the audience had only more praising words to give. A senior, Jeannie Alonzo, who has seen the Saturday night show-ing, commented, “It was one of the better musical performances. The cast was very talented and as a senior, is was nice to see all of young talent.”
BY SHAFAQ KHAN
On a snowy Saturday Feb-ruary 6th, the Sewanhaka Science Olympiad competed at a regional competition held at Kellenberg Memorial High School. This team of 15 students consisted of both juniors and seniors interested in the sciences. Sewanhaka’s team competed against 35 other schools in various events such as fossils and geologic mapping. Students gathered at Kellenberg Memorial High School at 8:30 am, sitthing though a one-hour delay due to snow. Weeks before the competi-tion, Sewanhaka members studied profusely for events while other members constructed items such as bridges for the hands-on events.Sewanhaka’s Science Olympiad team is truly aweing because stu-dents study and construct without
any funding whatsoever. Advi-sor Mr. Tesoro commented, “One thing I can say is that Sewanhaka’s team is always very serious and constantly working to prepare for their events. Students from other
teams just aren’t as motivated as our students.” Most teams at the competition receive thousands of dollars in funding and have their own labs to work on projects. But at Sewanhaka, pure intellect and
dedication drives students to suc-cess. As a testament to this, stu-dents Sidney Saint-Hilaire and John Giuffre won a medal in the Wind Power event, where they constructed a windmill to gener-
ate power. Junior John Giuffre commented, “Alternate sources of energy are vital to humans and the earth. This event helps one realize the importance of obtaining clean energy and that it is the future of
this planet.” Sewanhaka’s team also placed in the top ten in many other events, including Anato-my and Experimental design.Reflecting on his experience, Se-wanhaka junior Rajeev Singh stated, “I had a great time meet-ing new people and competing against the other schools.” Senior Martha Williams said, “As a new-bie to Science Olympiad, I am pleased with my experience. No matter what the outcome, it was well worth the time I put into it. In preparation for it, I learned quite a lot and enjoyed spending time with my peers. If I could, I would do it again next year.” Sewanha-ka’s team could not have succeed-ed without the help of their dedi-cated advisors, Mr. Tesoro and Mr. Sexton. A big thank you to them from the members of this team!
Jessica Staino stars as Belle.
The Enchanted Objects take the stage.
Beauty and the Beast’s happy finale (below).
MARCH 2016 4National News
Primary Elections
Obama Visits Mosque
By OLUFISAyO ATANDA-OGUNLEyE AND MAHNOOR ALI
The Iowa caucus. The Ne-vada Caucus. Trump’s big win. Clinton’s big win. I’m sure you’ve heard of at least one of these phrases in the past few weeks and have been left feeling extremely confused. What are caucuses? They are miniature elections for each state to decide on a can-didate for both the democratic and republican sides. States hold multiple caucuses in each of their counties. They mainly differ in how they are organized. Prima-ries are organized typically by the state board of elections, whereas caucuses are organized by po-litical parties. But how do the ac-tual caucuses work? Well, caucuses differ from state to state but overall, party members vote for candidates which translate to the number of delegates who pledge to them, which is the real determinant of the presidency.Hillary was the victor in the Iowa caucus, coming in with 23 dele-gates with 49.9% of the democrat-ic vote. Sanders came in close sec-
ond with 21 delegates with 49.6% of democratic. O’Malley unfortu-nately was last with no delegates and only 0.6% of votes. Sanders predicted this saying“while the results are still not complete, it seemed to be a “virtual tie”. On the Republican side, Ted cruz walked away with 27.8% of the vote, beating Trump by 5,100 votes. Trump came in second and Rubio in third. Trump comment-ed, “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!” About a week after, the first actual primary took place in New Hampshire where Trump won for the Republicans with 35.3% of the vote. John Ka-sich and Ted cruz followed be-hind. Sanders beat clinton with 15 delegates and 60.4% while O’Malley decided to drop out. A few days later at the Nevada caucuses, Trump and clinton won big. On the Republican side, Ru-bio was second to donald Trump with 23.9%, almost half of don-ald Trump’s percentage of votes. cruz came in third, carson came in fourth, and Kasich came in last
as fifth. On the Democratic side, clinton won with 52.6% of the vote and a total of 20 delegates.Sanders followed with 47.3% of the vote and a total of 15 delegates. After Trump’s win he said, “We won the evangelicals,” he said. “We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly ed-ucated. We won with poorly edu-cated. I love the poorly educated.” The South carolina primary occured February on the 20th for the democrats and 27th for the Republicans. Trump walked away with all 50 delegates and the great-est vote percentage of 32.5%. Ru-bio came second after defeating cruz by only .2% of votes. clin-ton once again beat Sanders with the most delegates and had three times as many votes than Sanders. “Super Tuesday” took place on March 1st with donald Trump in the lead followed by cruz and Rubio for the Republican Party. For the democratic side clinton beat Sanders and man-aged to gather more delegates.At the end of the week, “Super Saturday,” held on March 5th, 2016, Bernie Sanders was declared winner of Kansas and Nebraska,
earning a total of 52 delegates yet Hillary clinton came up on top winning Louisiana and earning 57 delegates. On the Republican, Ted cruz beat donald Trump, by win-ning Kansas and Maine and amass-ing 69 delegates while Trump only totaled 53, winning Ken-tucky and Louisiana despite the fact that they both won two states.Now comes the big question, who will be our next president? As far as we can tell the two prominent candidates appear to be Trump and clinton. Mr. Sakowich, a his-tory teacher, speaks on the matter stating “Trump and clinton ap-pear to be the two main runners in these campaigns. They represent two distinctive political views in the nation. Those voting for Trump hope for change, whereas those voting for clinton hope for some things to remain the same.” Others however feel indiffer-ent and having lost hope. daniel deslippe, a sophomore student said, “The election is garbage.” There are varied opinions but as Ms. Papaccio, an english teacher, said, “May the best man win.”
BY SEPHORA SAINT-AR-MANd
“We can’t be bystanders to bigotry.Together, we’ve got to show that America truly protects all faiths. As we protect our coun-try from terrorism, we should not reinforce the ideas and the rheto-ric of the terrorists themselves”. Obama visited the Islamic center of Baltimore on February 3, 2016, saying these words in a speech to the center members. Appre-hensive about utilizing his pub-lic platform to endorse Muslims given speculation about Obama’s personal affiliation to Islam from politicians and general impartial-ity, this marks his first presidential visit to a mosque. Obama spoke about the building tension be-tween Muslims and Americans, fueled by divisive political rheto-ric and bigotry. The implications of his visit are far reaching, sig-nifying Obama’s clear stance on the prevalent culture war against Islam, plaguing the country since the 9/11 attacks. Sewanhaka ju-
nior Asna Jamal said, “I think Obama’s presence hold weight. While he may condemn terrorist attacks and make sure to dissoci-ate extremism from Islam, going to a mosque shows his support for Muslim-American citizens in the midst of the brewing anti-Muslim climate.” Critiquing the conflated association between Islam and terrorism purported by candidates in the current presidential race, Obama ensured his audience that America would never allow such distasteful notions to stimulate re-ligious persecution or exclusion as a counterterrorism measure. He affirmed that religious freedom and cultural plurality were a few of the rudimentary values this coun-try was founded upon. He con-demned continuing discourse that encourages an “us versus them” mentality when dealing with radi-cal extremist organizations that pose a global threat. “We have to reject a politics that seeks to ma-nipulate prejudice or bias because of religion” he said. Obama con-tinued, addressing the poignant
fear growing amongst Muslim-Americans, concerned about be-coming targets of discrimination, or even possible deportation. The increasingly hostile ideals have manifested itself through action well. This past year alone, threats, vandalism, and other forms of ha-
rassment targeting mosques have reached record highs. According to the council of American-Is-lamic Relations,there have been 63 official cases reported in 2015, a threefold increase from the pre-vious year. considered violent
backlash following the Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks, America has immersed itself with-in the most intense anti-Muslim periods in history, as ensuing anger and fear targets ordinary Muslim-American citizens. Furthermore, Obama lauded Muslim-American
achievements and in-volvement in Amer-ican success, citing them as essential to the fabric of our diverse American society. Whether it be architects, Nobel Peace prize winners, or military service-men, Obama con-cludes that they are intrinsic to Ameri-can success. Tying the current attack
on Muslims as an injustice to all Americans, he commented, “We are one American family- we rise and fall together. Our diversity is not a weakness, but our greatest strength.”
MARCH 2016 5National News
Flint: A Town in Crisis
Palin Jumps on the Trump WagonBY THEOdORA cATRINA
Often, in American poli-tics, a focus of politicians is gain-ing the support from politicians and their followers, explaining why endorsements are so prominent, particu-larly surrounding times marked by important elections. donald Trump is being endorsed by var-ious people and groups, each more controversial than the next. Trump en-dorsements include high profile politicians, such as former vice-presiden-tial nominee, Sarah Pal-in, New Jersey Governor chris christie and as far reaching as the white supremacy group, the KKK. Sarah Palin en-dorsed Trump in Iowa on January 19th, 13 days before the caucuses, which could have fostered a po-tentially notable boost for Trump, and given her extensive connec-
tions that she had built in Iowa, the amount of support she had gar-nered in the state did prove helpful for Trump’s campaigning in Iowa. Despite Palin’s efforts, Cruz was victorious, with 27.6% of votes,
as opposed to Trump’s 23.4%. chris christie and previous presi-dential candidate has also recently expressed his support for Trump. despite his previous remarks about Trump, which asserted that Trump was not suited for politics,
christie has changed his views al-most entirely since dropping out of the election. Now, some specu-late, that his sudden change in his opinion, is indicative of his desire to be included in national politics,
which explains his, currently, strong al-liance with Trump. However, christie has received immea-surable amounts of backlash after his en-dorsement, stemming from Trump’s bigoted statements towards Muslim-Americans, and has sparked a concern that the Mus-lim-Americans resid-ing in New Jersey
will be subjected to marginaliza-tion. When christie was inter-viewed regarding Trump’s views, he defended him by blaming the media for putting him in a light that was far too harsh, and say-ing that the ban on Muslims was
“only one piece of an overall ap-proach to national security.” Per-haps even more controversial than Christie’s endorsement, is that of the Ku Klux Klan’s. David Duke, a previous Grand Wizard, or lead-er of the KKK, who had expressed his support for donald Trump, saying Trump will ensure that “White-Americans are allowed to preserve and promote their heri-tage and interests just as all other groups are allowed to do.” The issue was furthered when Trump did not immediately disavow his endorsement, saying that he did not understand what duke was saying, and that he knew nothing about support from white suprem-acists, or from duke. However, he did later disavow any support from duke. Overall, support for Trump has consistently produced controversy, but has added a new factor to his campaign, particu-larly as primaries crawl to an end, and the election comes nearer.
By CHRISTELLE jULIEN
Flint Michigan’s tale of ter-ror began in April 2014 when gov-ernment representatives decided to switch their water source from Detroit’s Lake Huron to that of the Flint river to alleviate costs in the poverty-stricken city. The switch was ruled as a temporary course of action and the city planned on using the Flint River as a backup until the pipeline to Lake Huron was built. The water, however, was highly corrosive and caused lead from the city’s aged water pipes to leak into the water. Resi-dents from Flint quickly noticed the odd greenish brown coloring of the water and complained about the resulting rashes and hair loss. Nevertheless, their frequent com-plaints went largely ignored by Government officials. The mayor of Flint even drank the Flint Water in public to reinforce their decla-ration of the safety of the water. This assertion, however, was far from the truth. For more than a year, Flint citizens used the poisoned water for daily activities before the perils of the Flint River was discovered and announced to the people. Ini-tially, E. coli bacteria was found in the water, causing city repre-
sentatives to increase chlorines levels to combat the bacteria. This however led to increased levels of TTHM, chemical compounds that may cause adverse health is-sues after continuous exposure. In january of 2015, Flint officials further declined offer to reconnect with Detroit’s water system, citing that the problem was “miscommu-nication” and maintaining that the Flint water was safe. In February, high levels of lead were detected in the water that was described as more than double the amount that the U.S Environmental Protection Agency considered to be hazard-ous waste. A local doctor at Flint, dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, discov-ered that the amount of Flint children with raised levels of lead has increased tremendously since the city switched to the Flint River. Further test-ing continued to support findings of high lead levels and government epidemiologists con-firmed Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha’s
analysis. The health effects of the poisoned water includes decreased development, damage to the ner-vous system, hair loss, and memo-ry loss among other undiscovered or unlisted adverse effects. All of these issues are largely irreversible and could continue to plague Flint years later. Flint returned back to Detroit’s water system and shortly after in december of 2015 Synder placed Flint in a state of emergen-cy. Obama followed suit and also announced a state of emergency, granting the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide up to $5 million in aid. despite the improving con-ditions of the water, Flint citizens remain angry at the slow action
of Snyder and the perceived negligence of the gov-e r n m e n t . The city is current ly being aided with more f u n d i n g for special education
services and mental health ser-vices. Flint citizens still maintain that all action being done by the
State is far too late and the city will be needing funds for decades following to support the poisoned kids. Many citizens and outside government officials have called for the resignation of Governor Rick Snyder. Science teacher, Mr.Burgess was questioned about his feelings towards government actions, Burgess commented, “to think the elected officials in Flint put their constituents in life-threat-ening situations is really scary. The health and safety of our pop-ulation should be paramount, not the personal or financial agendas of those in charge.” He went on to say that “there is no way to sub-stitute water with anything else so it’s important that politicians and governmental agencies do every-thing in their power to provide the population with potable water and get this sorted out.”Ultimately, the Flint Water Crisis has been a wakeup call for the American government and a major light has been illuminated on the harm of lead poisoning through-out the nation. Lead poisoning is still a major issue in poverty-stricken cities throughout Ameri-ca and Flint has not been the first city to experience this tragedy but hopefully Flint, Michigan will be the last.
MARCH 2016
BY dANIEL dESLIPPE
North Korea has rocketed its way to the top of news head-lines yet again with a big gesture to the United Nations. just hours after the U.N.’s security council voted to impose greater sanctions on the already struggling regime, North Ko-rea launched several short range missiles into the Japa-nese Sea. As any Shakespearen play that has a villain and hero, the plot usually hinges on war. With an increase in the test-ing of both nuclear and ballistic weapons, it is difficult to place just how powerful the North Ko-rean regime will be in its current state. Senior Gabby Jean-Louis made a poetic observation, say-ing “I can’t help but relating all this anxiety of the international community is feeling to literature.
Right now in class we’re read-ing Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, and the story starts off with that same warlike tension.” As sanctions increase, trade partners such as china and the cuba may slowly back away from North Korea as it collapses under the weight of its own actions. North Korea appears
to be a hot topic in international and domestic news, as headlines like these often appear in both the democratic and GOP debates. I am sure we will hear more about the state of the regime in the near future, as coverage has increased ever since the release of the inter-view. This act of defiance coupled
with the previous nuclear testing that had been reported in the re-gion was most likely sparked by the harshest sanctions in 20 years that were thoroughly discussed between China and the United States. The most striking of these sanctions is the banning of the exportation of natural resources. The inspection of all North Kore-an ships, and the virtual banning of the development of North Ko-rea’s space and missile programs. These are notable sanctions be-cause North Korea is extremely reliant on the exportation of its National Resources to bolster its Economy. “If I’ve learned any-thing from Model United Nations, it would be that the in-vestigation of all North Korean vessels would be a ma-jor infringement on sovereignty if it were any other nation, but I as-sume that this is a special case.” North Korea is unable to gain strength or ex-
plore space independently thanks to the ban on importation of rock-et fuel to the nation. North Korea can only re-side in its fantasy world before the state of abject poverty takes too great of a toll on the country. If North Korea continues to defy international law, its people will continue to suffer until the bud-dings of revolution form. Last month North Korea also defied the U.N by launching a suspected sat-ellite into space whose details and threat level were unknown. U.S. officials have reported that the once alarming satellite is stuck in the earth’s orbit, utterly useless to North Korea in its current state.
6International News
North Korea: To be or not to be...
Olympics Spread More Than GoodwillBY MOHAMMAd SAMROZ
Zika Virus could affect Rio Sum-mer Olympics.
By the end of this year, up to four million people worldwide will be infected by the Zika virus. The outbreak of the disease in 2016 has already shown its disastrous impacts, and continues to have enormous im-plications for inter-national relations. With the Olympics in Rio approaching this summer, Zika will go beyond di-rectly affecting in-dividuals, serving as an obstacle to global solidarity. The virus, related to yel-low fever and the West Nile virus, is spread through mosquitoes, and is new to the Western Hemi-sphere. The resulting lack of im-munity to the disease in the region of the world has contributed to its outbreak, rapidly spreading across
Latin America and the caribbean. due to the severity and extent of its impacts, the World Health Or-ganization has declared the Zika Virus to be an international pub-lic health emergency. Although the effects of the disease are often mild and short-term, it has been
linked to microcephaly in infants, which causes unusually small heads and often damaged brains, subsequently resulting in signifi-cant physical and mental disabili-ties. As a result, concern for the spread of the virus is primarily
focused on pregnant women. The United States Centers for Disease control and Prevention (cdc) has encouraged women who are pregnant or may become pregnant not to travel to the caribbean or Latin America, and has suggested that women take extreme precau-
tions before decid-ing to have their next child. For travelers, that concern becomes a frightening reality. Sewanhaka Junior Zaire couloute will be one of those travel-ers this summer, and shares her thoughts. “I have family in Hai-ti, and Zika is more prominent there, so it’s definitely scary. I’m going there over
the summer, so I know I have to be cautious. There needs to be a solution found as soon as possi-ble.” On the larger scale, the issue becomes further amplified. Due to the aforementioned lack of im-munity and the presence of mos-quitoes, especially during this El Niño cycle, the virus threatens to
spread to even more countries this year as the Rio Summer Olympics loom in Brazil. Sewanhaka Model UN advisor Michael Sakowich sees this as a significant test on in-ternational relations. “This sum-mer is going to be tough with the Olympics in Rio. The outbreak has shown us just how much global-ization has made issues that were regional one hundred years ago into global issues today. With air travel bringing people to and from every country in the world, some-thing will need to be done in order to address the outbreak this sum-mer. I imagine we’ll see the U.S. take more action, considering the problem is so close to home.” At the moment, researchers are struggling to even detect the virus in those who are affected, so it will certainly be interesting to see how much development will occur over the next few months. As the world readies itself to come together in Rio, the Zika virus threatens to drive us further apart.
Zika Virus’ affect on infants.
Kim Jong-Un discussing rocket launch plans(below).
MARCH 2016 7
International News
#Trubama
Colombia FARC Peacetalk BY SEPHORA SAINT-AR-MANd
In this modern age of di-plomacy, stalemates are replaced by progressive alliances, exempli-fied by the ground-breaking peace talks between the colombian government and the Revolution-ary Armed Forces of colombia, dubbed “FARC. ”During the latter portion of the 20th century, FARc amassed approximately 500 to 600 million dollars in revenue, primar-ily from drug trafficking. U.S. jus-tice department reported FARc cocaine exports account for 50% of domestic imports-and a whop-ping 60% globally. Sewanhaka ju-nior, Anastazia Moran remarked, “ The ubiquitous presence of drugs has permeated the youth culture. With unmitigated access to drugs, the use of illicit substances is nor-malized.” Fueling political cor-ruption ,endangering thousands in periodic civil strife, and forcibly funneling money from the public, FARc poses a continual threat to the tenuous stability in colom-bia. President Santos formalized peace talks with FARc leader Rodrigo Londoño in 2012 in Ha-vana cuba, using neighboring
countries as mediators. Outlined by the council on Foreign Rela-tions, the discussion included a wide range of topics, from rural development to reintegration of rebels into civilian life. Naturally, discord arose. discussion includes an international tribunal to survey reparations, collect personal ac-counts and judge FARc and state officials. Confessions would re-sult in minimum sentences, or am-nesty based on degree of involve-ment. The proposal was censured by critics, deeming restorative justice evasive and disregarding vic-tims. President Santos reasoned, “The main point of these negotiations is where to draw the line between justice and peace. It doesn’t matter where you draw it, some peo-ple with not be satis-fied.” Social Studies teacher, Mr. Nelson, weighed in on the argument, conclud-ing, “ Simply in-tegrating those responsible for drug trafficking and war crimes
into society could itself lead to legitimacy issues in terms of the government’s willingness to pur-sue justice. However, it could also be harmful for the government to act in brutal ways as the FARc by blindly punishing those who were members of the organization, without proper due process,or le-gitimate trials. Balance needs to be struck. “Furthermore, Presi-dent Santos hopes of increasing U.S. and international aid to foster economic development and invest in the public sector is met with
resistance, as FARc participants are apprehensive of foreign influ-
ence consequently creating a pup-pet state. Sharing this sentiment, Moran asserted “ U.S. shouldn’t be involved in future affairs. Their preeminence has only negatively affected Colombia’s infrastructure as they continually exploit colom-bian natural resources. ” While de-liberation over these complex is-sues continue,both parties agreed to finalize the agreement this March, and FARc vowed to put down their arms within 60 days of the settlement.The alleviation of enmities between colombia and
FARc and negotiation is an crucial indicator of Colombia’s future, signaling future recon-struction and economic sustainability, though vestiges of their embat-tled past remain. Pope Francis expressed his feelings, “May the pre-vious bloodshed sustain efforts to achieve defini-tive reconciliation. May the long night of pain and violence become an unending day of, justice, and lasting peace.”Will
these hopes manifest into reality? Only time will tell.
BY MARYYAM MIAN
Early March, all eyes were on a new international friendship namely, Trubama. The recently elected ca-nadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, met Barack Obama in the United States to formally an-nounce joint efforts between both Canada and the US. Trudeau and his wife were invited to the White House state dinner, the first dinner in nearly 20 years honoring guests from canada.Trudeau and Obama effectively agreed on international approaches in limiting methane emissions, ending terrorism, and reforming the immigration sys-tem between both countries. de-spite the common liberal values, there was also a strong sense of friendly rivalry when sports teams were mentioned. This was most noticeable when Obama, during a press conference, casually asked Trudeau, “Where’s the Stanley Cup right now? I’m sorry, is it in my hometown, with the chicago
Blackhawks?” Trudeau rebutted the comment by mentioning a number of canadian athletes who have been successfully recruited to American sports teams. Furthermore, Obama and Trudeau’s partnership especially created a frenzy on social media as both canadians and Americans shared their thoughts on officials. during the week of the Prime Minister’s visit, the hashtag “Tru-bama” started trending on Twitter as people discussed their feelings on the new “bromance” between the leaders. A few Americans even took to social media to ask Trudeau to run for 2016 Presiden-tial nomination in the U.S.. The positive media attention helped Trudeau gain a significant fanbase in America, as many Western pro-gressives hope he will be a new and positive influence in North America. Senior Josh Pointdujour shared the media’s sentiments and claimed that “Trudeau will bring a new political perspective. Hopefully Trudeau will further
Obama’s campaign and continue to fight inequality.”While Trudeau has only been in office since November of 2015, he has initiated a total political ref-ormation of canada. At the start of his term, Trudeau pledged the acceptance of 25,000 Syrian refu-gees. This gesture has been unri-valed in the global community as many other countries have refused asylum to the millions of Syrians who have fled war-torn Syria in hopes for a better life. As Syrians began traveling to canada, pow-erful images emerged all over social media of Trudeau welcom-ing families with open arms. Trudeau’s fem-inist beliefs have also shaped his campaign. In several public ap-pearances, he has emphasized the need for gender equality, especially in politics and business Trudeau
even went so far as to appoint a gender balanced cabinet, with 15 men and 15 women. during a conference in canada, the Prime Minister stated that he would, “ continue to call himself a feminist until consequently, Trudeau is seen as a fresh face in contem-porary politics.As Obama’s term comes to and end, many lovers activists are looking to Truduea to carry out the progressive agenda layer out by Obama over the past 8 years.
Truduea and Obama show-off their bro-mance.
MARCH 2016 8Spirit Day
By: Brian cano and Karina Thom-as
After every Spirit day, the class of 2017 always manages to create such a flawless finish on their hallway. The juniors, like the other classes in the senior high competition, felt an urge of tri-umph when they finally saw their artwork posted on the brick walls. When it all came down to the final results, the class of 2017 succeed-ed in achieving 3rd place. “Being a president or just being a mem-ber, I think we did really well,” stated class of 2017 President Rebecca Rodriguez. Given the fact that the juniors chose to focus on the 2000’s era, they brought back a plethora of memories that many of us grew up with. These memories included both movies and TV shows like Happy Feet, Lilo and Stitch, and American idol (which, un-fortunately, is coming to an end this year). The class of 2017 definitely made students of Sewanha-ka nostalgic about their c h i l d h o o d , and reminded us about all of the wonder-ful things we forgot about. With pride and glory the class of 2017 looked at their artwork and saw that what they did real-ly paid off in the end. “I enjoyed the theme and the year we chose because we believed that it repre-sented our childhood most accu-rately. I personally think we could have incorporated a little more, but we did well!” added Rebecca Rodriguez. With all of the hard work, time and dedication each class spent creating colorful hall-ways filled with unique decades, it is safe to say that every class is a winner. The seniors were born in the late 90’s, so they decided to base their theme on a decade that many students in Sewanhaka did not experience. The 90’s, a decade where preppy outfits and denim clothing made its grand entrance. It truly made its mark. Toy story,
Backstreet Boys, NSYNc and more hits were included in the se-nior class hallway. They even included a wall filled with baby pictures of some of the seniors, who are now ready to go off to college. “creating our post-ers and artwork definitely made us all bond and grow closer together,” said class of 2016 President christo-pher Melton. Vice President Khadeza Uddin added “It’s crazy how fast time flies by. just a few years ago, we were in 7th grade experienc-ing our first Spirit Day. Now, we are experiencing our last. I am re-
ally going to miss being a part of Classboard.” Although the Class of 2016 came in 4th place, many people weren’t that upset at all. “We came in 4th place, but our hard work was still there. At the end of the day, we all had a great time. I think that’s what truly matters,” explained Christopher Melton. With that being said, the Class of 2016 definitely gave fac-ulty members and students in Se-wanhaka a blast in the past! The class of 2018 decided to base their theme on of a decade where many of our grandparents grew up in; the 1950’s! This de-cade was a time of prosperity. Movie hits like Grease came out in this era and spurred the nation even to this day. “This year, our class worked harder than ever,” class of 2018 President Madeline denehy stated, “students in the
class of 2018 certainly went above and beyond. They would stay after
school until 9:30 at night and even sacrificed their Saturday morn-ings. “Nonetheless, we definitely had tough competition this year! Madeline added “however, I do
think that our class was very unique in our approach. We focused more on recreating Sewan-haka in the 1950’s whereas the other classes focused more towards the pop culture aspect of their decades.” Students went out-side their creativity scope by incorpo-rating Sewanha-ka’s cosmetology and automotive classes. The class of 2018’s diligent work paid off by winning 2nd place.
Awesome job sophomores! For their very first Spirit day, the class of 2021 outdid themselves and showed off their
creativity. This year, the 7th grad-ers decided on a futuristic theme
for their hall-way located in the math wing. The entire hall-way was embellished with paint-ings and drawings of the future 7th graders, as well as the future of Sewanhaka High School.
The whole hallway consisted of different types of students riding hoverboards, flying school buses and even a “Sky High” themed Sewanhaka. Their hallway also showed off some of the classes’ favorite stores such as V.I. Pizza, Matty’s Toy Shop, Manor Fruit Shack, and the King Wok chi-nese Restaurant. Without a doubt, walking through the 7th grade hallway felt like being time-trav-eled into the future! The amount of work the students and advi-sors put into their future hallway was quite impressing. 7th grader Eliana Hernandez commented on her first Spirit Day. “It was a lot of fun! Preparing for Spirit day definitely taught many of us good teamwork skills.” She added on, “It was also an unbelievable ex-perience because of the people I worked and collaborated with.” Major props to the class of 2021 for your outstanding effort!
Sewanhaka Takes a Blast to the Past
MARCH 2016 9
The Arts
BY DALTON BURNHAM
BY JOSH KESSLER
BY BETANIA MORENO
BY MICHAELA LAWSON
This page showcases the work of Sewanhaka’s talented photography students.
BY JESSICA JAIGOBIN
MARCH 2016 10
Features
Mrs. MilitoBY MAHZABIN ALAM ANd BISMA AHMEd
“I’ve always wanted to be in a career that made a difference,” claims Ms. cavallo-- now-turned Mrs. Milito. Most well-known for her role as class Advisor of 2016 and to the Rockettes, this wonder-ful teacher in Sewanhaka’s Special Education department has known from childhood that she wanted to become an educator, but did not know what she would spe-cialize in until college. She remi-nisces about her inspiration, an autistic child she used to babysit in her college days, whose thera-py sessions sparked her interest. Mrs. Milito spent her childhood in Hicksville, but has spent the last four years teaching at Sewanhaka, commuting all the way from Suf-folk county every morning. Ah, the curse of a teacher, and the things they do to mold the minds of the future… As part of the Special Education department, Ms. cavallo is a member of a de-partment that offers a multitude of subjects, practically its own scaled-down school. She actually has a degree in Living Environ-ment as well as a joint degree in
special education in order to teach her students the same Living Envi-ronment course as Mrs. Keating’s students, just in smaller group settings. Remember to banish any subconscious superiority you might feel because these students are not to be underestimated… Speaking of her students, Ms. cavallo, advisor to the se-niors, feels particularly proud of this past Homecoming with Bat-man, and is looking enthusiasti-cally forward to the future events they will experience together. To the class of 2016, she says, “Make sure you come back to visit!” Let’s not forget about the Rockettes, either. “Kickline” as she likes to reference it, will be performing at Follies this year, so go out to the show and show your support for this awesome teacher and advisor! Outside of school, though, Mrs. Milito goes wild! Just kid-ding… She has quite a variety of interests of hobbies, including country music, dogs, and real-ity TV. Similar to the thousands of people around the world, she loves reality TV programs, as they give her brain a rest after a long day of work. To counteract these mindless, but also quite en-
tertaining shows, she also watches HGTV when she can. In another life, one where she didn’t become a teacher, her profession would be of an interior designer, at least in theory. (She’s confessed that her artistic talents may be a little lack-ing, but will we ever know?) An interesting tidbit about the former Ms. cavallo: she enjoys driving… We often hear complaints about it, but she finds it to be a time of soli-tude and meditation of sorts; who wouldn’t want that? She’ll jam to her favorite artists in country mu-sic, such as the Zac Brown Band and Kenny chesney, and just relax. Along with in-terior design and music, cooking is also one of her passions, Italian in particu-lar. She fondly reminisces about her family, who of-ten visit her (partly because of her top-notch culinary skills), which speaks vol-umes about her incredible character. Her dogs seem to be the loves of her life, ranking only second to her husband, of course (or is it the other way around?) to whom she only got married this past summer. Married
on a farm upstate ended up being her “dream wedding” and as we can all tell now, she is quite happy. As a teacher we can all rely on, with multifaceted aspects to her passions and personality, we can all agree that Ms. cavallo/Mrs. Milito is a fabulous part of the Sewanhaka staff of teachers. Re-ceiving that look of enjoyment of learning kept Ms. cavallo teach-ing, and making a difference in students minds… Hopefully, as we look to the future, Mrs. Milito will keep impacting students lives.
Mr. and Mrs. Milito on their wedding day.
Google Cardboard By MONIQUE vILME
A device that is made of cardboard and sells for about $20 online wound up saving the life of newborn Teegan Lexcen at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, Florida. Google card-board allows you to place your smart phone into the opening and view images in a 3d virtual real-ity. Baby Teegan was born in Au-gust with a heart and lung defect so unusual that it left doctors baffled. The newborn’s entire left side of the heart was missing and she had only one lung. Her par-ents, cassie and chad Lexcen, said their doctors in their home state of Minnesota had no idea how to help their newborn. Regrettably, the doctors supplied the new par-ents with a nurse, medication and instructions that they take her
home to make her as comfortable as possible before the inevitable happened. Luckily for Teegan, her parents decided to gather a second opinion. Fighting for their child’s life, Teegan’s father found a pedi-atrician, dr. Redmond Burke, the
chief of cardiovascular surgery at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, who they thought may devise the solution they were looking for. Time was of the essence and so the family reached out and re-ceived an immediate response. Once they sent photos of Teegan’s heart, doctors would see what
they could do. On a Wednesday morning in November, doctors in the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital were also concerned with the im-ages of Teegan’s heart, for they had never seen anything like that before, but nonetheless they went to work. To do the surgery necessary to save Teegan’s life, dr. Burke needed a 3d image of her heart but the 3d printer in their hospital was malfunctioning. However, one of his colleagues was playing with a Google card-board in his office and gave him an idea. The Google cardboard would be better than a 3d printer, it would also show her other structures he would need to consider in the sur-gery like the ribcage. So using an app called SketchFab they down-loaded images of Teegan’s heart. The night before Teegan’s surgery, dr. Burke laid in bed, imagining her heart based on the Google cardboard image, mapping out the precise steps he would take in the operating room. Every minute wasted in the operating room try-
ing to map out a plan puts a baby at a higher risk for heart and brain damage. When he opened her up the next day, her heart was exactly the same as the image. The com-plicated surgery was a success and now a child on the brink of death
w a s a b l e to re-cover a n d g o home. When asked about
Google cardboard, senior Emily Spring said, “Mr. Reid actually brought in Google cardboard to share with our AP Psychology class and demonstrated how it works to recreate a roller coaster. I also saw it on the news so it was cool to see how it works in person and I am impressed to see that it can be used beyond recreation to help save lives.”
The view through Google Cardboard.
MARCH 2016 11
Editorial
BELMONT CASINOCasi(no)
(Yas)ino
BY NAYAB KHAN
Lowered property values. Greater chances of crime. The monopolization of tranquil family life. These are just three conse-quences to building the Belmont casino, a project that has been de-bated extensively within the past few years and especially so in these past months. There is a single benefit to building a casino: economy. Es-tablishing the Belmont casino would make business boom in our Elmont/Floral Park area. This is precisely why major supporters of the project are – you guessed it – business owners. There have been several organizations and protests held against the casino, a major one being Take Elmont Back. It is sup-ported heavily by family men and women, and notably teachers. This brings into account another issue: schools. There are many schools that surround the immediate area
of where the casino would be built. In fact, the closest schools are elementary schools – Gotham Avenue Elementary School and Floral Park Bellerose Ele-mentary School. Others that are nearby include clara H. carlson Elementary School, Floral Park Memorial High School, and our very own Sewanhaka High School. There are concerns over how this casino would im-pact the lives of the youth in our communities. There would undoubtedly be the negative influences of gam-bling and possibly even il-legal substance use – all in the vicinity of school-aged children and teenagers. Another significant con-cern in regards to the Belmont casino is lowered property values. It is by precedent – whether in At-lantic city or Las Vegas – that the properties surrounding a casino lose their value substantially. As
a result, Elmont and Floral Park would be seen as lesser towns, and less suitable for living. What this would cause is micro-emigration,
a term often use by geographers to describe a large scale move on a very small level. We do not want our property to lose value – we want it to stay the way it is. So
how would building a casino help us maintain not just the value of our homes, but the integrity of our lives?
casinos are known to harbor gambling – that is arguably their sole purpose: money. Often, where there is money and gambling, there is dirt, crime. We should be grateful that our communities do not deal with an extensive crime issue. Yes, there may be some robberies and hit-and-runs here and there, but nothing to characterize our towns as dangerous or crime-ridden. The influence of a Casino, however, would change this. The range of crime that could
occur as a result is simply un-imaginable. In the spirit of keeping our homes valued, our towns crime-free, and our youth safe, we must fight the establishment of the Bel-mont casino.
BY SELENA THOMAS
If you live in the periphery surrounding Sewanhaka, you can-not walk a block without see-ing a “Casi(no)” lawn sign. But despite residents of Floral Park hopping on the bandwag-on that is the casino resistance movement, how much have the inhabitants pondered what pros might arise from a near-by? could it be possible that the positive effects of a casino might far outweigh the nega-tives that locals are so fearful of? The obvious opposition against the casino stems from the general fear of a spike in crime rates, especially danger-ously close to a school district. Gambling, underage drinking, and illegal substance activity are all illicit activities associ-ated with areas located in a close proximity to casinos, afterall. But if you were to look at anytown predating the addition of a casino or adult resort, wouldn’t illicit ac-tivities still have already existed. Mr. Patterson corroborated such a theory, adding, “You could choose
to live under a rock or face reality. Gambling is already here. Before the Belmont Racetrack was add-ed, people probably opposed it
for the same reason. It just goes to show that people always get riled up of just for the sake of getting riled up without even looking at the facts.” despite the fact that locals show strong opposition to the casino
because of gambling, the have re-mained conveniently quiet when it comes to the current betting over horse races at the Belmont
Race Track, which not only serves
as one of Elmont’s most infamous attractions being the third leg of the Triple crown, but also gener-ates indirect revenue for the town during races.
If races that occur semi-annually can generate a significant amount of revenue for Elmont and sur-rounding neighborhoods, one can only imagine the economic ben-efits that might arise from a ca-sino that is open year-round. Nas-sau county officials are hopeful that such an establishment could potentially bring in upwards of $20 million in revenue. Even An-thony Pallisco, who harbors cau-tion regarding the casino admits, “The upside of the casino is that it would create a lot of jobs. Some-thing of that scale would cre-ate a lot of employment.” Local business owners have expressed sentiments in favor of the casino explaining how beneficial the es-tablishment could be potentially be for them. Paul Sapienza, own-er of Sapienza Bakery, on Hemp-stead Turnpike, voiced, “Any kind of development there, I would be in favor of...If there isn’t any kind of development happening there, eventually something’s going to have to be done, because it’s just too large a piece of property and too valuable a location for nothing to take place there.”
The Belmont Race Track adjacent to the potentional location for the casino
Protesting the Belmont Casino
MARCH 2016
BY NYA ARcHIE
Nothing brings us more joy than watching our favorite TV show casts reunite. We are suddenly slapped in the face with heartfelt reminiscent sto-ries, old behind the scenes foot-age, and first episode clips that simply remind us how long it has been. Lately there have been a lot of publicized cast reunions, like the ten-year anniversary High School Musical cast reunion, Full House cast reunion, The X Files cast reunion and the heavily an-ticipated Friends cast reunion. Se-wanhaka Junior, Farrah Gatling, says, “They’re the best, it’s so en-
tertaining to see all the celebrities come together, everybody always has a different story to share.” However, cast reunions have been known to be bait for a network’s ratings and can sometimes come off as too staged and unoriginal. Sewanhaka Junior, Aleyah Web-
ster, says, “I don’t like Tv show reunions because they’re fake and basically all do the same thing in the same way.” Cast reunions have also been well known for being the perfect op-portunity to announce a show’s return to television or spin-off. Spin-offs like Girl Meets World on disney channel and Fuller
House on Netflix try to recreate television classics without mak-ing it seem like a complete copy of the original which is hard to do. “I like cast reunion specials, I used to watch them all the time, but when it comes to spin-offs in general, some are better than oth-ers,” says fellow Sewanhaka ju-
nior Brianna Germain. The show has to try to gain new viewers as well as successfully maintain the lovable charisma that attracted its initial original fans, without try-ing to come out as a replica of the older version. Spin-offs can turn out to be complete successes like the highly praised six season long cosby Show spin-off, A different World, or become complete fail-ures like That ‘80s show, a spin-off of That ‘70s show, or joey, a short-lived spin-off of Friends. And yet, watching some of America’s fa-vorite characters get together at these reunions give viewers nos-talgia…reminding us why we fell for the characters in the first place.
12Entertainment
Horoscopes
TV Nostalgia
The cast of ‘Full House’ reunites.
ARIES April is a great time to be alive for you, Aries. Everything you touch will turn to gold as you experience continuous success throughout the month in every-thing from your work and studies to your social life and relation-ships. This is a good time to get everything done. But don’t let all your restless energy in addition to all your undeniable success get to your head. Stay vigilant as there could be a special some-one making their way into your life. This month will bring you a burst of confidence and you won’t have trouble finding romance. TAURUS This is a great month to fo-cus on your relationships either friendly or otherwise. connect-ing with the people around you will seem to be the theme this month. You may experience some shifts in your social circle whether you find another kindred spirit to share that pizza with or you expel that one friend who always ate the last slice. April could bring about that intense, fiery relation-ship you’ve been longing for so stay sharp and don’t miss out on any signals you may be receiving. GEMINI April is a great time to work on any existing conflicts you may have, Gemini. There are big chang-es coming your way and you may find that life is just a little bit easier. Don’t let this success get to your head and over-exhaust yourself as things may just become too much for you so keep your loved ones close and try not to let your lack of
consistency get out of hand as this characcteristic won’t help you get your feet back on the ground. Find your groove and stick with it even if you find yourself getting bored and wanting to try something new. CANCER Sensitive cancer, April is looking like a good month for you if you open yourself up to what the stars have in store. This month is a great time to break out and broaden your horizons. Don’t let your emotions or your feelings for a certain person or idea get in the way of doing what is right for you. Us this time to strengthen any ex-isting relationships that you’ve been neglecting, spend time with your loved ones, and take April as a period of exploration and growth. LEO Wild Leo, April is shaping up to be an intense month. This time will be a peirod of many doubts and you’ll experience dramatic twists and turns in all aspects of your life that is sure to keep you on your toes. Remain vigilant and be prepared because hard times are coming. With all that being said, you will be much more suc-cessful in the romance depart-ment. you’ll find comfort and di-rections within others when you let go of your self serving nature and allow yourself to notice the people needing help around you. VIRGO Honest Virgo, April will be a month of socialization whether it’s with new friends or old ones. Make sure you don’t loose sights of your relationships because this is a month of togetherness for
you. If you can look within your-self and not rely so much on other people, you will soon see the reso-lution of any conflicts you’re hav-ing. during the month of April, the influence of venus will be strong. This is a good sign in re-gards to romantic relationships. you will find that everything will run smoothly and go your way this month, and though you should be prepared for the unexpected, luck is on your side this month so go ask out that special someone and make your move because the stars definitely have your back, virgo. LIBRA April is looking to be an ex-ceptionally busy month for you, Libra. There won’t be much time for yourself during this month but that’s never been a problem for you. Use your excess power and strength to help others around you because there are a lot of other signs that won’t be experiencing the amount of pure success and positivity that you are and we all know how much you like to lend a hand to others. With that being said, there’s a little bit of drama waiting for you when it comes to romance but as long as you keep your intentions straight, it’ll be nothing more than harmless fun. SCORPIO April is shaping up to be dramatic for you. you’ll experi-ence a tremendous amount of support from the people you hold close and they’ll help you through any difficulties. in re-gards to your love life scorpio, April will fire up some passion.SAGITTARIUS
The major changes and curbe balls you experienced last month may be on their way to be-ing resolved. This month you are free to choose your own destiny and the choices you make will alter the course of your life in a pretty big way. April promises to bring along a lot of self growth for you. Your family life could start a bold new chapter so mae sure to be on top over all of your personal relationships and remember to think things through. CAPRICORN April is a month of commu-nication for you. This month will be a great time to elaborate on any-thing bugging you. Don’t let any-thing distract you from your rela-tionships. This month your friend need you to be there for them as a strong supporter and you have the strength and energy to do so and the best way to be there for them is through communication. AQUARIUS Roll up your sleeves and be ready because April is looking to be a pretty productive month for you. you may find yourself wrapped in your work or studies but make sure to make time for those you hold dear. If you’ve found yourself struggling with a certain relationship, this is the time to sit and talk. Don’t be too distracted if your friends are in need of a lending hand.
MARCH 2016
BY ARIANA YARNA
chipotle Mexican Grill, one of the largest restaurant franchises is suffering as it has experienced multiple outbreaks of food-borne illnesses. Not only is this a threat to consumers, but to businesses and sales as well. The declin-ing sales are placing a massive weight on the restaurant it-self. consumers are having several ad-ditional concerns as to whether or not the claim of “healthy” and “fresh” food holds any value. There are several investi-gative reports covering the com-pany’s food safety and health haz-ard situations they have suffered dating back to 2013. But shock-ingly, no matter how severe the contamination in the restaurant seems, customers show no doubt in their beloved food chain and believe that they will get back on track. Several sources claim that chipotle customers will continue
to consume the food from the res-taurant despite their current situa-tion. Sophomore Jillian Zieger claims
to have been to chipotle once before the out-break. She de-scribed the food to be “okay” saying that she “wouldn’t go there all the time”. When asked about growing number of diseases she responded, “The
E. coli outbreak is disgusting. First, correct me if I’m wrong but E. Coli is from not washing your hands after using the bathroom. So this indicates that employees are not washing their hands before serving your food.” jillian along with many others believes that, “chipotle has a huge problem on their hands and really needs to get it fixed.” This is a health concern and danger to those who eat from chipotle. Will you stand with Jillian or will you return to your adored restaurant?
Hello My Name is... Adele13
Entertainment
Chipotle
BY EMILY SPRING
Adele’s new album, 25, was released on November 20, 2015. According to Billboard, 25 sold 5.19 million cop-ies in the United States within the first three weeks without stream-ing. Shockingly, the new album, consisting of eleven songs, is said to have sold more copies in one week than Taylor Swift’s album 1989 sold all year, as reported by Entertainment Tonight. “In order for me to feel confident with one of my songs it has to re-ally move me. That’s how I know that I’ve written a good song for myself- when I start crying.”, Adele commented in a New York Times interview. This exemplifies the amount of pas-sion she pours into her pieces and the inspiration she instills in people around the world. Adele shared on Twitter that she would
call this album a make-up record. She tweeted, “I am making up with myself.” Adele’s second al-bum, 21, released in 2011, was what Adele considers a break-up
album. Although she is grateful for the success that accompanied 21 and the numerous awards (in-cluding seven Grammys and two Brits), Adele stated in an interview with the New York Times that she does not wish to ever return back
to the place she was in when she wrote 21, a place where she said she let herself drown in self-pity. In an interview with The Guard-ian, Adele said money was not her
motivation for making an-other album, but her son, whom the song “Remedy” is for. Although Adele was considered as a recluse af-ter 21, she was busy living the normal life she loves with her son and boy-friend, Angelo Konecki. Also, the vocal hemor-rhage that left Adele need-ing surgery forced her to cancel her 2011 tours. 11th grader, de-
rick Polanco, said, “She stays true to herself and
still manages to keep the people that matter to her around. Her num-ber one priority is her family and she could care less
about fame.” Luckily, Adele will be back touring her new album on a 56 date tour, which sold out in minutes. Senior, Philip Thomas, shared, “I love that her studio voice does not differ much from her real live voice.” The ten mil-lion people that anxiously await-ed her ticket sales clearly agree.As we enter into a new year, noth-ing can be more relatable than one of Adele’s biggest messages from this album, learning what to hold onto and what to let go of. While 21 represented an open wound, 25 symbolizes that wound finally heal-ing, leaving Adele in the position to say hello…from the other side.
Adele celebrates her 7 Grammys
OscarsBY ARIBA HAMEEd
Hollywood biggest night in-deed! chris Rock started the 2016 Oscars off with an opening mono-logue laced with humor, contem-porary issues, and - as some might say - controversy. He began with, “You re-alize if they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job! The last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart.” These lines were poking fun at and highlight-ing the issues regarding the issue of race in these year’s awards: every one of the twenty acting nominees was white. Not a single person was one of color. “It’s the 88th Academy Awards which means this whole no black nomi-nee’s thing has happened at least 71 other times.” Chris Rock had addressed the dispute consis-tently throughout the night, saying he “counted at least 15 black people” in the montage that opened
the ceremony, before welcoming people to the “white People’s Choice awards”. And how can we forget about Leonardo dicaprio win-ning an Oscar! Arguably one of the world’s finest and most re-nowned actors, dicaprio picked up an Academy Award for the first time in his twenty years of acting. His acceptance speech was definitely on for the record books. In his acceptance speech, Leon-ardo dicaprio mentioned global warming and how we should pay attention to it. It was definitely a memorable night for everyone who participated in the Oscars!
Leonardo DiCaprio poses with his first Oscar.
MARCH 2016 14Entertainment
BY SIdNEY SAINT-HILAIRE, ZAINAB MIAN, NAYAB KHAN, SHAFAQ KHAN, jOSHUA POINTDUjOUR
Deadpool
It’s a major fear of many avid comic book readers to get excited for a blockbuster based on their favorite heroes only to find strangers on the silver screen. However, deadpool starring Ryan Reynolds, does not disappoint. It is a spot on casting of the “merc’ with the mouth”, expletives and all. It is as action packed as it is hilari-ous, a combination that ensures a good time. What the story lacked in cast size it made up with in character depth and witty lines. My only critique of the film was that it was just too short; it left me wanting more laughs, explosions, and comic book accuracy. A solid 10/10.
Jane the Virgin Jane Villanueva grew up de-termined not to repeat her mother’s teenage mistakes. At 23, jane’s life is on track as she is studying to be a teacher and is engaged to a de-tective who supports her decision to remain a virgin until marriage. Soon after, a routine clinic visit changes her life forever. Insemi-nated by a specimen meant for a patient in the next room, Jane,
now pregnant, is in a situation made worse when she finds out that the donor is her boss, Rafael. As her planned life gets more like the telenovelas she loves, she fac-es a lot of complicated decisions about what to do next. Jane the Virgin is a must-watch show that airs on cW and is also available on Netflix. Currently it is in its second season and the third sea-son has been confirmed. Unlike many other current shows, Jane the Virgin incorporates intelli-gence, entertainment and wit.
House of Cards Betrayal. Vengeance. Power. All three of these are prominent
themes in House of cards Season 4. WARNING: SOME SPOIL-ERS FROM PAST SEASONS MAy COME UP HERE. We were all taken by surprise when claire Underwood left Frank at the end of season 3. But in addition to that, we had no idea what exactly her plan was. She was sick and tired of Frank using her, and wanted to accomplish something for herself for a change. This season of House of cards explores the relationship between the Underwoods more in depth than any other season. We see them transform from a married
couple – who in fact did love each other once – to a political partnership. Seems almost impossible, but somehow they make it work. Per-haps where this season was lack-ing was in its end-ing. The endings of previous seasons were characterized by cliffhangers and,
to some extent, satisfaction. This season, however, has an ending that doesn’t satisfy nearly enough. We will, however, see where the Underwoods go from here – in a year, that is.
Grey’s Anatomy Grey’s Anatomy is a medi-cal drama that focuses on a group of doctors at a hospital in Seat-tle, Washington. Meredith Grey, one of the main characters in the show, is the daughter of a famous surgeon who used to work at the same hospital Meredith work in. Since she was a young girl, Mer-edith has had a distant relation-ship with her mother, which is the reason
for many many of Meredith’s prob-lems currently. The show traces her life as well as her colleague’s lives as students, friends, and doc-tors. Grey’s Anat-omy airs on ABc and is currently on its 12th season. Recently, it re-gained its popularity as major characters, who many came to love, died or faced other types of drama. This stirred up more drama, causing the show to be-
come interesting again. All in all, Grey’s Anatomy is a great show for those who are into the medical field and love the side drama. As of now, eleven seasons are avail-able on Netflix, and they are high-ly recommended.
DareDevil Ladies and Gentleman it’s that time of the year again, another installment in the Marvel cin-ematic Universe has been released and like its prede-cessors it’s a hit. For those who don’t know, Daredevil is about Matt Murdock who is a blind lawyer by day and a crime frighting vigilante by night. He must find away to balance the different aspects in his life such as his job, his friends and the protection of his city , Hell’s Kitchen, from a new vigilante on a mur-derous rampage named the Punisher. just like the first season, daredevil, is packed with thrilling action scenes,
amazing dialogue and superb ac-tion.
Brooklyn The film Brooklyn, directed by John crowley, is based on the novel of the same name and stars Saoirse Ronan and Emory cohen. Brooklyn is an accurate depic-tion of a young woman’s journey to the United States in the 20th century. Ronan beautifully por-trays the role of Eilish Lacey, a young woman who travels alone to the United States to start a new life. Eilish lives with other young women and works at a department store while taking nighttime book-
keeping classes. At a dance, Eilish meets Anthony “Tony” Fiorello, a young Italian fellow. They fall in love and get married when Eil-ish must return to Ireland for her sister’s funeral. During her return to Ireland, Eilish forges a new rela-tionship with a young man named jim and acquires her sister’s old job as a bookkeeper; she feels that her life in Ireland would be per-fect. Although she receives count-less letters from Tony, she tries to forget about him and her life in the United States. Eventually, her past catches up with her and Elilsh must choose between her life in Ireland and her life in the United States.
REVIEWS
MARCH 2016 15Sports
All Star Weekend: NBABY JOEL cARdOZ
It was a weekend for the stars. It all start-ed Friday with the B B V A c o m -pass Ris-ing Stars challenge where the N B A ’ s brightest young stars came to-gether for one night. The game featured multiple highlight-reel dunks from Andrew Wiggins and Kristaps Porzingis. The World Team made a comeback in the second half, but ultimately came up short with a final score 157-154. Zach Lavine scored 30 points on his way to winning the game’s MVP. But that was not all for the night. The All-star celebrity Game was to follow. Team can-ada, coached by rapper drake, proved victorious as they won the game by a 74-63 scoreline over Team USA. Win Butler would take home MVP honors after scoring 15 points. But undoubt-edly, the best moment of the game
was when Team USA’s coach (and four-time MVP) Kevin Hart
inserted himself into the game in the second half. And the fun continued on Saturday. Starting the day’s fes-tivities was the Taco Bell’s Skills challenge which proved the most entertain one yet. Karl-Anthony Towns made all big men proud when he beat little man Isiah Thomas in the final round. What followed was a move that would make all casual fans laugh and NBA writers cringe as draymond Green and Kevin Hart engaged in an old-fashioned three-point shootout. And some-how cOMEdIAN Hart tied NBA ALL-STAR Green with 12 points. But Green took home the trophy as the ref deemed that Kevin Hart
did not meet the height require-ment for the trophy.
It was followed up by the actual three-point contest. The contest had everything from rookie sensation devin Booker to knock-down spot-up shooters to perennial all-star James Harden, but it was fitting that in the end, it was going to be decided be-tween Golden State’s Splash Brothers, Steph curry and Klay Thompson. Even though curry would score 21 points in the final round, Klay would bring home the
trophy with his 25 points. However, everything would pale in comparison to the Verizon Slam dunk contest. Now there were competitors in this con-test, but they became mere after-thoughts after the show Aaron
Gordon and Zach Lavine put up in the final round. What they did that night was unprecedented. It was just one great dunk after another. One 50 after another. Their show-down turned into an instant clas-sic. In the end,Lavine won, but the real winner was the dunk contest which has come under fire in re-cent years. It all culminated with the All-Star Game on Sunday. The Western conference won the game handily 196-173 over the Eastern conference. Russel Westbrook was named the game’s Most valu-able Player for the second time in a row. But the real story was Kobe Bryant as he was set to retire this season. He finished the game with 10 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds and he was pulled out of the game to a standing ovation.
By ARIS PIERRE-LOUIS
The 2016 NHL All Star game was certainly one to remem-ber, from the festivities on Satur-day to the actual game on Sunday, no one can forget. For the first time in all-star history, the events took place in Nashville, Tennes-see at the Bridgestone Arena, home to the Nashville Predators, a new format was introduced, and no one can forget the anomaly of Pacific team captain john Scott’s role in the game. This year’s all-star game launched a new format of a three game tournament utilizing a 3-on-3 with 2 teams representing each NHL division and the win-ners of the first two matches go on to play the all-finals. The Atlantic division team edged the metropol-itan division 4-3 while the Pacific all-stars dispatched the Metropol-
itan all-stars 9-6. Another surprise to the event was at the time, minor league player John Scott being voted by fans as captain of the Pacific team. Scott also scored two goals in the games he played and was named the all-star game MVP for his role in helping the Pacific division all-stars defeat the At-lantic division 1-0. “I had no idea of who he was until the All Star game” said sophomore and Rang-ers hockey fan Louis Rubino. “His story is unique and he is a good player with a lot experience. Being named Pacific team captain
while you’re in the minors is not something you see every day. Giv-en his circumstances and based on
his performance in the game, I be-lieve he did deserve to be MvP.” In addition, to the main event on Sunday, Saturday’s festivities were quite unforgettable. Satur-day’s skills competition was bro-ken into six events: Fastest skater, Breakaway challenge, Accuracy
Shooting, challenge Relay, Hard-est Shot, and Shootout. The west teams prevailed in the hardest shot and challenge relay while the east teams came up with the vic-tory in fastest skater, breakaway challenge, accuracy shooting and shootout competitions. In representing both teams from New York, the New York Rangers and Islanders players Ryan Mcdonagh and John Ta-vares. Hopefully, both teams took the all-star break to rest and con-tinue their seasons on a strong note. “Ryan Mcdonagh is one of the best players on his team and his performance throughout the season thus far definitely proves he should have been in the game and was, and can very well lead the team to success” said Rubino when asked about his confidence in his favorite team.
2016 East All Stars
2016 West All-Stars
A celebratory John Scott of the Pacific Team.
All Star Weekend: NHL
MARCH 2016
Introducing our new section of the Chieftain, Humans of Sewanhaka. Each issue, we will be ran-domly selecting three students or teachers to answer a question drawn at random. Through this, we
hope to introduce you to your peers and faculty.
16Humans of Sewanhaka
“It’s great that I can use the languages you know to speak to different people. It doesn’t matter if you’re Spanish, Haitian, French, or American. It’s easy for you because when you go to other countries you understand what they say. I grew up in Haiti but when I was four my mom sent me to chile to live with my uncle. That’s why I speak Spanish in addition to Cre-ole, French, and English.”
Clara Leroy, Grade 11
“I speak Tagalog and I grew up in the Philipines, so that’s how I know how to speak it. It’s cool knowing the language be-cause when I’m outside, I can talk with my sisters and my parents privately with others not knowing what we are saying. It’s fun knowing 2 languages because when you’re around English speakers, you can say any-thing you want in a different language.”
Cassandra Costales, Grade 12
“Something cool about being able to speak Hindi that I understand other peo-ple and its also like we have a common background since we speak the same language from the same culture. It helps start a conversation, so that’s very cool. A lot of my family members laugh ev-ery time I speak Hindi because I speak broken Hindi, whereas my friends think I speak Hindi fluently.”
