FAVFH stays positive SPORTS I PAGE SIX

The students of FA flocked to the doors of the Arts and Sci-ences building on Au-gust 22 for orientation. Feelings of excite-ment for a new year, mixed with a somber goodbye to summer, were apparent on the student’s faces as they lined up to receive their new schedules. Adding to the com-motion of friends re-connecting and peers comparing schedules was student’s surprise about locker assign-ments straying from FA tradition.

From the first year the Arts and Sciences Building was built, freshmen lockers have been upstairs in the sci-ence hallway, seniors in the journalism hall-way. With sophomores

in the downstairs band hallway, and juniors in the hallway next the ad-ministrative offices. But this year there has been a change. The freshmen girls and sophomore girls now have lock-ers in the old sopho-more hallway, while the freshmen boys and sophomore boys keep their belongings in the old freshman hallway.

Durso made this change for many rea-sons. There were behav-ioral issues last year, and there was also a desire to make the new fresh-men more welcome among the upperclass-men. “We were hoping to make the eighth to ninth grade transition smoother; this would make it easier for the new ninth graders to get to know other students in the upper school,” said Durso.

Not only did the ad-

ministrators want to help the new freshmen feel welcomed, they also felt that last year’s sophomore boys were spending too much time in their hallway.

“We felt that in the last couple of years stu-dents have sequestered themselves in that hall-way, and have been cut off from the rest of the school,” said Durso. There have also been noise issues, cleanli-ness issues, and cases of roughhousing. Band teacher Ben Titus had many interruptions dur-ing class last year.

“The hallway was a pigsty; it was a play area for the gentlemen. The upstairs is less condu-cive for that behavior,” said Titus, who fully agrees with the change in lockers and is already having a quieter, and cleaner year.

Some students feel

that the changes in hallways from grade to grade served as an im-portant symbol of mov-ing forward through the FA community. Sophomore John Hazel is frustrated with the new arrangements, and disagrees with the final decision.

“I always looked for-ward to having a differ-ent hallway. But now I have the same locker as last year. And all the guys have been sepa-rated from all the girls, which I find annoying,” said Hazel.

But others feel differ-ently. Some think that the location of your locker is not a big deal. Sophomore Jeff Good is in the same hallway as last year, and does not find the change to be a problem.

“It’s not like I spend a lot of time there, so I don’t really care. It’s not

like they’re rearranging your classes, or taking away unscheduleds,” said Good.

Some students feel guilty about the adjust-ment. The freshman class walked blindly into this problem. They had nothing to do with issues in the past, and have had to face the consequences of the previous classes’ prob-lems.

“I kind of feel bad because we took [the sophomore] hallway,” said freshman Maya Schattgen, who added that she would prefer to share a hallway with her whole grade.

With the varying re-sponses from the stu-dents regarding lockers, there has been only a slight amount of oppo-sition; and Durso has not received any formal complaints from the student body.

by SAMATHA KING

the falcon flier

David Weiner’s ex-perience and enthusi-asm has made a strong first impression on the administration and stu-dents.

“He is very approach-able and it seems like he brings a lot of new ideas to the table,” said senior Daniel Conway.

Weiner, who came to FA from The Boy’s Latin School of Mary-land, has hit the ground running. So far, he has helped institute an SAT prep course, held a col-lege application boot camp, and made an ef-fort to meet all the stu-dents personally.

When the adminis-tration was looking for a new college coun-selor, they had certain criteria that Weiner fit perfectly.

Students unaffected by gender separation in underclassmen hallwaysWeiner brings enthusiasm

by MATT KIRCHNERthe falcon flier

continued on back page

by MATT KIRCHNER the falcon flier

Head of Upper School Tony Durso said that after he received complaints from the

parents of uncomfort-able students, he went to the student

government and informed them of the prob-lem. Student G ove r n m e n t

was against an outright

ban of the dancing, suggest -

ing a band i n s t e a d

of a DJ at homecoming

to deter such dancing. SG did

not decide to ban grinding, but the ad-ministration overrode

this decision to do so.

D i s c i p l i n e C o m m i t t e e

Chair Blair Frazier said that she re-spects Dur-

so’s decision, but she wishes

that there had been more student input into the matter.

“I understand where

the administration is coming from. Some-times grinding can get a little inappropriate at dances, and it doesn’t seem like the kind of behavior that FA would promote,” said Frazier, a senior. “Maybe if we were told that the grind-ing was getting too in-appropriate, then we as students could have changed our behavior.”

Junior Justin Safarik thinks that while grind-ing is not that big of an issue, some problems might arise in wake of its ban.

“I’m afraid this is go-ing to lessen the amount of people that are going to come, which is going to make it less fun for the ones that actually do,” he said.

Durso said that while his ruling will stand in the meantime, things can always change.

“I’m always open to the possibility that things could change in the future, but at that moment, we needed to clarify the issue. But of course we can talk about it,” he said.

Despite Durso’s openness toward the subject, Frazier and fellow Discipline Com-mittee member Adam Abilmona were not very hopeful.

“Because the rule was

made by the administra-tion, I don’t think that we can change it,” said Abilmona, a junior.

“I don’t think so ei-ther,” said Frazier. “I think the decision has been made and that it is going to stay this way.”

Durso also said that the school’s image was taken into account when making the deci-sion.

“I witnessed some back to front dancing that was okay, but I also saw things that I wouldn’t expect from FA students,” he said. “What was pointed out to me by the parents is that FA holds students to a higher standard, and yet that type of dancing was making that not true.”

Durso said that stu-dents will just have to face each other when dancing this year. He feels that this is not the most important issue at the moment and he doesn’t feel the need to misuse student govern-ment’s time in further discussing the matter.

Sophomore Jenna LeMay was surprised by the ban.

“I had never really minded the front to back dancing … it wasn’t as bad as at public schools,” said LeMay. “In this day and age

that’s what o u r gener-ation is now used to—it’s just a normalcy. For them to take it away is just going to put us in an uncomfort-able position.”

Junior Simone Rob-erts transferred to FA as a freshman from King George Middle School and has attended both King George High School and FA home-comings the past two years.

“My first initial reaction was–‘I am not going to home-coming,’” said Roberts.

“If peoples’ par-ents were standing in the same room as us I don’t think that the par-ents would have as much of a problem [with FA dancing] as with King George’s [dancing]. It’s degrading, the way the [King George] girls dance on guys” she said.

FA students will need to go to Homecom-ing dances elsewhere to get their Freak dancing fix. Complaints after last year’s

dancing at Homecoming led the admin-istration to ban every form of back-to-

front grinding.

PHOTOS BY SIMONE WICKERPHOTOS COURTESY OF SXH.HU

Back it off BackBack

Procrastination stationFALCONS FLY around Fredericksburg RIDDLE ME THISWhat has roots nobody sees. Is taller than trees. Up, up it goes. And yet never grows?

answer (unscramble): otmniaun

www.iwastesomuchtime.com

www.youtube.com/glozell1

www.stumbleupon.com

Wicked Woods Haunted Forest:A haunted atraction.

6220 Masey Rd. Spotsylvania, VASeptember 30-October 30

Friday, September 30Kan Jam 5:30 P.M.

Saturday, October 22Fall Carnival

F r e d e r i c k s b u r g A c a d e m y F r e d e r i c k s b u r g , V i r g i n i a V o l u m e X X I s s u e 1 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 1

The Falcon Flier

Grab a spoon Sweet Frog Sammy T’sCrave

BACK PAGE

Senior Chris Hess takes on marathon

for his Senior Exhibit.

PAGE 7

Homecoming, the � rst dance where the “no grinding” policy will be enforced, is Oct. 15 at 8 p.m.

2p a g e t w o

news

The SAT is considered the most important test of a student’s life. It can de-cide what colleges they get into and even help acquire scholarships. It would make perfect sense that FA, a college-preparatory school, would offer an SAT prep course, right?

Until this year, the school did not offer such a course, despite the obvious interest of students and parents alike. Last year The Falcon Flier wrote an edi-torial about the need for a course.

This year, FA hired a new college counselor, David Weiner, to put an emphasis on college accep-tance. This summer at the student leadership retreat, Weiner talked with several students and realized the need for an SAT class.

The school used a web-site called Revolution Prep. Like the name would suggest, it uses new and unconventional methods. The point is to use tech-nology that kids use every

Twenty years ago, Em-mette Cox was a senior at Southwest Guilford High School in North Carolina, doing much of the same things you’ll find a senior at FA doing.

Like students here, Cox worked for good grades and immersed himself in extracurriculars—all in the name of college admis-sions.

Except for the art club, which he only joined be-cause he thought the club leader was cute.

Cox joined the FA fac-ulty as a physics and chem-istry teacher this year. He’s been most pleased with the atmosphere, one he didn’t experience at the pub-lic schools where he has taught before.

“Even though kids might not be into the require-ments, they’re still going to do their best at it. They still go out there and work re-ally hard,” he said.

In his classroom a layer of chalk dust covers the lab tables, as he often solves problems on their black surface, inviting commen-tary from both students who do and don’t under-stand.

Beneath the film of chalk is a room with supplies for hands-on experiments. Remote-control cars, dart guns, and his trademark miniature tank are includ-ed in these supplies, which could be easily mistaken for a toy collection.

day and turn it into a study skill. Students see a live video of their instructor during class, and the pro-gram offers a group chat feature with the instructor and other students.

The course, available only for juniors and se-niors, met for a total of

six courses, each taking up three hours. In addition to this, each week there was a practice SAT which took about 3 hours and 45 min-utes.

For senior Sydney Hawkins, the course of-fered a chance to improve her scores so that she could

get into a good college, and possibly even earn a schol-arship. She had already taken the SAT a few times and wasn’t satisfied with her scores, but only has one or two more chances to retake the SAT.

In addition to this class, a course specifically for ju-

niors is being offered in the spring. Junior Brandon At-kins is planning on taking the spring class.

“I think it will prepare me for the SAT because ev-ery bit of SAT prep that I do will definitely aid me in the actual SAT.” said At-kins.

With this being the first year that it was offered, it is still unforeseen just how well this class will work. But all signs seem to be pointing up, and students are excited to use the new techniques on the October 1 SAT, and are optimistic about their scores.

“We do a mini-lab al-most every day … I like his hands-on approach,” said senior Graham Schattgen, an AP Physics student.

Senior Emily Torrey, an-other AP Physics student, echoed Schattgen’s senti-ments.

“He makes Physics fun, with a ‘ph,’” said Torrey.

In class, Cox often re-fers to his understanding of chemistry and physics in college, offering tips and tricks “I wish I’d known,” he said.

Cox will apply his back-ground in physics and engi-neering as the new sponsor of the FA robotics team, also known as “Big Purp.”

Leader of “Big Purp” and AP Physics student, Alex Hatch is optimistic about Cox’s addition to the team. Fundraising has been a focus.

“He wants to make vid-eos that teach freshmen to do basic robotics. He thinks maybe we can get some grants… out of that,” said Hatch.

After graduating from Southwest Guilford, Cox headed to The Citadel for college. An overnight visit to the school during his senior year hooked him. He was enchanted by the structure and tradition he saw in the four-year Plebe system.

The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, S.C., introduced Cox to a rigid honor code. Like the FA Honor Code, it prohibits lying, cheating and steal-ing, but with a twist. The Citadel honor code requires students to turn in others who violate the code.

Cox’s presence as a new sponsor of the Honor Council reflects his back-ground at The Citadel. He values the honor at FA, which wasn’t present at the previous high schools where he taught.

“One day I left my calcu-lator on a bench—the next day it’s there. No one’s go-ing to take it. People who are here want to be here,” he said.

by Meggie Rochethe falcon flier

by MaRy gRay Johnsonthe falcon flier

by isabel steventhe falcon flier

by MaRy gRay Johnsonthe falcon flier

Cox brings new teaching techniques

A 2006 survey by the Centers for Disease Con-trol reported that 92.9 percent of schools had an on-site guidance counselor available for individual counseling.

At a school that seems to exceed almost every na-tional average from SAT scores to college accep-tance, FA was more than a few steps behind with the lack of a guidance coun-selor last year.

Melissa Blasiol joined

the faculty part-time this year with the sole role of School Counselor, serving students in all divisions and bringing FA back up to speed in its student ser-vices.

“Having someone who can listen to anything is crucial,” said Blasiol, who repeated the importance of having a counselor who is “outside of the loop” of teachers and administra-tors, who serve different roles for students.

Blasiol brings much

Every year, the SLC works to improve school spirit and make school events fresh and enter-taining by implementing changes and adding new events. This year SLC has had drastic changes in both their orga-nization as a com-mittee and in their interaction with the student body.

Students learned during the May 2011 elections that SLC would be re-structured. Only one representative from each grade, as well as an at-large member, would be members of SLC, instead of previous years when two students per grade were elected.

The smaller numbers have affected the group dynamic positively, allow-ing for more efficiency in meetings.

“It’s actually more ben-eficial because everyone has to talk and put in their ideas. It’s much more smooth-running than last year because we are able to get through topics quicker,” said senior SLC Chair Mary Rose Hazel.

The smaller numbers in the group also mean that each member is a des-

ignated chair of an event. They are in charge of orga-nizing set-up, ticket sales, and delegating tasks to the new student committees.

“Since numbers in the actual SLC have dropped, we hope to utilize com-mittees like last year with Prom. We hope to have more participation from

actual members of the stu-dent body,” said Hazel.

Last year’s SLC imple-mented the idea of using a committee of students to decorate for Prom. This year, SLC plans to use committees for every major event. This was introduced at the Retreat where stu-dents had the opportunity to sign up for event com-mittees. Led by an SLC event chair, committees will brainstorm new ideas and build off old ones, sell tickets, promote events, set up and decorate.

“What we really want is

SLC hopes for a more spirited year

more than just a degree in counseling and listed three experiences that will help her uniquely shape the counseling program at FA.

First, she has her M.Ed. in Counseling with a track in mental health, which was “a comprehensive pro-gram.”

“Even though I’m not diagnosing and treating, I have an understanding what pathology is. That broadens my perspective,” said Blasiol.

Second, her previous

work as a private tutor helps her, “understand the expectations, pressure on [students], all of what they’re dealing with.”

Lastly, at her most re-cent job she counseled hos-pital employees at the well-ness center, specifically in tobacco treatment. She hopes to use this experi-ence to give students long-term perspective.

“What we’re doing now makes a difference—in terms of choices,” said Blasiol, who’s looking to

address upper school stu-dents on issues that may not have been covered in the past.

Blasiol’s office is located on the second floor of the middle school building next to the administrative offices and is open from 9:30 to 1:30.

She suggests that stu-dents come when “some-thing’s on your mind to the point where you’re not re-ally able to focus.”

“Then it’s interfering with your functioning,”

she said.Senior Natalie Ducha-

rme-Barth, leader of the Active Minds club, is sup-portive of Blasiol’s new presence.

“[I am] aware of the how common it is for peo-ple to have such high levels of stress that they become dysfunctional. When we didn’t have a counselor, I was worried that, even though I was telling people to get help, it wasn’t easily available,” said Ducharme-Barth.

Guidance Counselor adds to the supportive faculty with open arms

First SAT prep course revolutionizes studying

We want the student body to be involved and have a say in everything...

“

”

for people to be honorary SLC members. We want the student body to be involved and have a say in everything so school spirit can be bigger and better,” said Hazel.

SLC’s main goal is to make these committees’ presence apparent in the school all year so that

student involve-ment increases. The group wants everyone to have a chance to be a part of making FA’s school events what the students really want.

S o p h o m o r e Kelsey Gedin, who has signed up for multiple committees, feels this new system is beneficial to the student body.

“It’s a good idea because it gives the opportunity for kids who aren’t a part of SLC but wanted to a chance to help out with the events,” she said.

In past years, students have asked Student Lead-ership Groups to offer them more opportunities to become involved in the planning and struc-ture of events. This new addition to SLC should offer the students the involvement they have been looking for.

Photos by Courtney hoffman

Students participated in online classes and chatted with a live instructor who lead them through the Revolution Prep curriculum. The class finished Sept. 24.

Mr.Cox goofs around with some students during a physics class.

3p a g e t h r e e

FeatureOn Nov. 18, 19, and

20, the upper school will be putting on a pro-duction of the musical “Bye-Bye Birdie.”

“It’s a story [set in the 1950s] that centers around an Elvis-like character and how he creates an uproar in a small town like ours,” said upper school cho-ral director Elizabeth Eschen. Drama teacher Todd Pristas called it “an upbeat and family-friendly musical.”

According to Pristas, this play was chosen be-cause he and Eschen felt it was the best choice for the cast they expect-ed. Word reached both Eschen and Pristas that many of the senior girls were planning to audi-tion for this play to have a drama experience be-fore they graduated.

“We had heard that there was going to be an influx in partici-pants. We wanted to get something that would be a fun experience,” Eschen said.

Besides the students, expect to see several fac-ulty members involved. According to Pristas, their identities will be a surprise, but he did say this much, “You’re go-ing to see new and old

faces.” This play is said to be

very different from the previous performances put on by FA. Accord-ing to Pristas, it will be much more upbeat than the last few musi-cal productions, which included “The Sound of Music” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”

“There are no Na-zis in it this time,” he joked.

Band and technical theater director, Benja-min Titus said that the staging is “a bit more complicated, but noth-ing we can’t handle.”

According to Eschen, the music has more en-ergy than the music of “The Sound of Music” last year.

Pristas believes that the drama program must improve each year.

“Expectations are as good, if not better [than last year],” he said con-fidently.

The play will also represent a major chal-lenge. The students working on the play must juggle academ-ics, sports, and long re-hearsals.

“There’s a lot more work and time that needs to go into [Bye-Bye Birdie] than I ex-pected,” said senior Matt O’Donnell, who

Have you ever wondered how prizes magically appeared at After Prom? The invisible hands of the Parent-Faculty Association (PFA) have brought this event to life year after year. PFA not only supports After Prom, but they also help pay for the Upper School Perch trip, support SLC events, aid Global Explorers, and give faculty and sta� appreciation gifts throughout the school year. Although many Upper School students do not participate in PFA fundraisers, the organization provides thousands of dollars each year to better the upper school.

plays the bartender. Eschen is aware of

how difficult it is for the students, and asks the teachers to “be patient with the kids in the play as they get their work done.”

Titus listed many of the technical hurdles of a show this large, “[Getting] wireless mi-crophones for all of the major actors, lighting for the stage, all of the sets, props and lighting, making sure that the backstage crew is well

rehearsed and able to get everything moving, and making sure the in-tern team is able to run it all. For the shows, un-less I have to intervene, the intern team runs it all.”

Pristas says that re-search must be done on the era in order to create correct costumes and props. Despite these challenges, the directors seemed very excited to be working on this play and are hoping for large audiences.

Kelley Cordova is Upper and Middle School’s new French teacher. She spent the past two years teaching English at an interna-tional boarding school in France. The time she spent in France was very mind-open-ing, but missing home and friends brought her back to the U.S.

The reason she want-ed to teach in France was because she had al-ways loved the country and had already lived there. She also wanted to practice her French skills and have a differ-ent kind of teaching ex-perience.

The time Cordova spent in France gave her a different perspec-tive on education, but was also a great experi-ence.

Cordova felt that the best thing about teach-ing English was inter-acting with students from all over the world.

“It was very cool to see everyone’s differ-ences,” she said.

After arriving back in the U.S., Cordova was browsing the National Association of Indepen-dent Schools (NAIS) website and when she saw Fredericksburg Academy’s page.

“I really wanted to have this job. At first I was thinking Freder-icksburg Academy is a great school and it would be a great com-munity for working, as it is. I appreciate and like their attitude to-wards of education and I heard so many won-derful things that I sent a letter of application right away. The school is also near my house, which is a really good thing,” Cordova said.

Cordova loves her job. She sees campus as a beautiful and at-tractive place, because it has a lot of land and the woods are nearby.

“It feels like you are welcomed to the cam-pus and it is a great thing,” she said.

Cordova has been re-ally busy because she wanted to be involved with everything

“There are not enough hours in one day!” she said.

Cordova loves FA students and says that they are motivated, in-telligent, open-minded and cultured.

“[The FA commu-nity] is like a big fam-ily. This is a commu-nity where the teacher has the possibility to be creative. It is also great that the school organiz-es things to do on week-ends too,” she said.

In France, schools are more traditional than schools in America.

“America’s schools have a student centered classroom, so it is not about lecturing to the students. It is about getting them involved. Teachers are also more creative in America and they try to think outside of the box,” Cordova said.

“Middle school stu-dents make me laugh all the time. They re-

mind me of what is it to watch world with chil-dren’s eyes and be silly sometimes. I think it is great! Sometimes we need it, because very of-ten adults think: I need to do this and this,” she said.

Cordova hopes to show students that the French language is not just for studying; it should make their world bigger.

“I hope that they feel fulfilled with themselves and more confident,” she said.

Anna Repp, 7th grade student, is glad to have a new teacher.

“Our last year’s teacher taught on her own way and Ms. Cor-dova teaches on her own way. It is great to see two ways to teach, like two different per-spectives of teaching,” she said.

“Ms. Cordova is fun and easy going. She is not angry or sad if someone doesn’t under-stand something, she just smiles and teaches until everybody has un-

derstood,” said Repp.Rachel Llufrio is also

one of Cordova’s mid-dle school students.

“It is my first time taking French and Ms. Cordova has been very helpful, so I have liked classes a lot,” she said.

“I think one of the greatest things is that she is trying to do things differently every day. She also gives stickers if we answer right to the questions and makes sure that everybody has understood a new grammar thing,” Llu-frio said.

US Global Explorers

SLC

After Prom

Perch

After Prom: $1,500

SLC: $500

Perch: $1,000

US GlobalExplorers:$1,000

Cordova brings experience abroad to French students

Bye Bye Birdie, hello new talent

PHOTO BY BETH HUNLEYCordova cherishes the potential for creativity for FA teachers.

by ROOSA BERGthe falcon flier

by COURTNEY HOFFMANthe falcon flier

by WYATT FALCONEthe falcon flier

ARTWORK BY AMY VELLENGA

THE CAST:DirectorTodd Pristas

Assistant DirectorLiz Benavides

ChoreographyChristin Pristas

Music DirectorLiz Eschen

Tech. DirectorBen Titus

ArtworkAmy Vellenga

Albert PetersonJase Davis

Rose AlvarezNatalie Ducharme-Barth

Kim MacA� eeMary Fried

Mrs. Doris MacAfeeLisa Walsh

LEAD ROLES

Mr. Harry MacAfeeKeith Wamsley

Mrs. Mae PetersonIsabel Steven

Conrad BirdieSeth Rapkins

Hugo PeabodyMitch Harrison

Ursela MerkleSydney Hawkins

Perch: $1,000After Prom: $1,500US Global Explorers: $1,000SLC: $500Total: $4,000

PFA BUDGET BREAKDOWN:WHERE THE MONEY’S GOING

PFA 2011-12 FUNDS BUDGETED FOR UPPER SCHOOL

PHOTO BY DARA DAWSONPerch 2011

Freddy the Falcon returns as middle school’s Mr. Moss

by Lauren FaLkenbergthe falcon flier

“It’s funny how peo-ple remember you,” said Will Moss, a 2006 FA graduate who was recently appointed ad-missions assistant and middle school history teacher. “Some of the kids I’m teaching re-member me as Freddy Falcon. They ask me, ‘Weren’t you the mas-cot?’”

When first walking into Moss’s office, I was very surprised at how young and lively he was. His demeanor was warm and welcoming as I sat down to begin the interview. No wonder his students remember him from years ago.

Moss attended FA from the founding year of 1992-2006. Being a part of the school’s beginning gives him a unique perspective.

“Starting in ’92 in the Old Lady’s Choice Fit-ness Center, we started with a class of 12. I re-member bits and pieces of when I was in PK with Mrs. Evans, who

is Mr. Evans mother,” said Moss, who was a prekindergartener in the 1992-1993 school year.

“To be able to come from FA being so small and seeing it grow [right in front of me] gave me a good perspec-tive on how a school grows and the names and faces may change, but the heart and soul of the school stays the same,” said Moss, who was president of FA’s student government his junior and senior years.

Moss never ques-tioned being at FA. He always knew it was the place for him.

“I had the opportu-nity in eighth grade to leave and go to board-ing school,” he ex-plained. “I looked at some, like Woodberry and St. Christopher’s. I also looked at some public schools to get ex-posure for tennis.”

However, none of the schools he looked at offered enough to get him to leave. And in the end, staying was what Moss wanted. He did

not leave FA until grad-uation, after which he matriculated at Hamp-den-Sydney College.

“I loved going to school here—I felt com-fortable,” he said. “[FA] prepared me so well for college. I did a lot of things [at Hampden-Sydney] that I wouldn’t have been able to han-dle if I hadn’t gone to FA and gotten guidance from people like Ms. Moschetto and Mrs. Nobles.”

I saw radiance in Moss’s face whenever he talked about FA, but when he mentioned school spirit, it was like another light switch came on.

“We did things like body painting, and to come back and see that people are still doing that,” said Moss with a proud yet stunned look on his face, “[says that] my class started tradi-tions.”

Moss may not know this, but I picked it up. Moss is the type of guy who will create tradi-tions wherever he goes.

He graduated from

Hampden-Sydney with a history major and a minor in military lead-ership and national security. He worked abroad last year for eight months on a French Island east of Madagascar. There he taught English to high school students.

The first few weeks abroad were difficult for Moss because of the language barrier. However, he caught on quickly, thanks to his knowledge from FA.

“The whole reason I can speak French now is not because of what I learned at Hampden-Sydney, it’s because of what I learned from FA,” he said. “Because [I started] French in PK, I had an incredibly strong base. I only had to take 3 French classes at Hampden-Sydney, and one was a French theater class.”

Moss described how different it was teaching abroad. He was a chap-erone for a school trip to South Africa while he was there, and he described how he had

to let the girls smoke whenever they wanted to because the rules did not allow him to pro-hibit it.

“The French system is so different, and it’s such a more liberal so-ciety. It was interesting to see that perspective and that side of the educational world,” he said.

Two days after he re-turned to the US, Mos-chetto offered him the position of admission assistant and middle school history teacher.

“I took [the job] be-cause I wanted to have the opportunity to come back to my roots after being away from them so long. [I wanted to] be active in a school that needs young alum-ni activity,” Moss said.

Moss is overwhelm-ingly excited about teaching here. He’s ex-cited to be back and in-volved, to share his ex-periences abroad with high school students, to help athletes in recruit-ing, to be coaching, for homecoming, every-thing.

“We have the ability here to teach kids in a different way, and we have a lot of freedom that allows us to explore other pieces of curricu-lum,” said Moss. “We are preparing students incredibly well for col-lege and, I think, to be the next generation of regional and national leaders.”

Moss’s goal is to “take [the school] from a gradual improvement to improving exponen-tially in a short amount of time in every aspect: community service, ac-ademics, athletics, en-rollment…”

Moss wants people to see that there is a lot more behind this name than just a college prep school and a big tu-ition.

Earthquakes in Virginia are like tsunamis in Kansas: they never hap-pen, or so we thought. On August 23, just one day before the first day of school, an earthquake rocked the East Coast from North Carolina all the way up to New York, with the epicenter just 44 miles from Freder-icksburg.

The earthquake, now nicknamed “hurriquake” due to Hurri-cane Irene’s arrival shortly after, was a 5.9 on the Richter scale. The last time a ’quake of this severity happened in Virginia was over a century ago. Buildings suffered structural damage, a gas leak was reported in downtown Fredericksburg, (causing 2 blocks of homes and businesses on and around William Street to be evacuated), and several people went to the hospital with injuries, including FA French teacher Suzi Valentine. The town was clearly shaken up.

Everyone at FA was affected by the quake, and so The Falcon Flier had to ask…

“I was at Target and all the stuff started falling off the shelves, so I ran out and tripped and fell and sprained my ankle. My mom also jacked up her leg. I think something also fell on top of another shopper and the ceiling started to cave in.”

– Jeff Good, sophomore

“I was at home alone, and the gas guy had just left so I thought he had put a bomb in our house. So I ran outside and our truck was moving and I yelled at the guy, ‘what did you do to my house?’ But then I realized it was an earth-quake and I was embarrassed.”

– Sara Eadie, sophomore

“I was skating with my friend at his house, and this guy drove past us with really loud music on, so we thought it was his bass. But then it kind of kept going, so we realized it was an earthquake and we kept skating, and actually got some really cool footage of it.”

– Charlie Garbutt, freshman

“I was here at FA. Ms. Eschen, myself, and Mrs. Clark Evans were outside plan-ning advisory, and all of a sudden my leg started to shake and I thought I was having a muscle spasm. Then everything else around us started to shake. The most crazy thing for me, personally, was looking up at the building, and see-ing these giant glass windows just wobble like a piece of tin foil, and the cars looked like they were on a wave.” -- Todd Pristas, theater teacher

Where were YOU during the earthquake?

Will Moss graduated from FA in 2006 and now works as a middle school history teacher, Assistant Director of Admissions, and varsity tennis coach.

Moss’s PK picture, 1992

PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAM MOSS

PHOTO BY LIZ BENAVIDES

by Liz benavides the falcon flier

Earthquake shakes things up

4p a g e f o u r

Feature

5p a g e f i v e

opinion

“It is like the movies and everybody eats Mc-Donald’s food.” That is what the other exchange students and I thought before we arrived in the U.S. In New York it was almost true; every-thing was like in a TV-series: Times Square, Empire State Building, limousines, sightseeing and a lot of people. Af-ter I came to Virginia I was surprised by how beautiful the city of Fredericksburg was and how different it is from New York City.

Before school start-ed, I was really excited and looking forward to meeting all of the stu-dents and teachers, as well as a lot of all other people too. My first day at school was wonder-ful; everybody was so friendly and helpful, as I had hoped.

It is amazing how nice the students, teach-ers and staff are at Fred-ericksburg Academy. I thought the students would be more like the

cast of O.C., at least un-like young people from Finland. People are al-ways different in differ-ent places in the world. Here I have found the teenagers to be more open-minded and fun than in Finland. Of course the Finns are fun too, but not as so-cial as the folks here. The Finns are more laid back and reserved, where the Americans are more social and outgoing.

At FA we do not have as much free time between classes as what I used to have in Fin-land. One lesson is 45 minutes, which is the same in Finland; even if some of our class-es are one and a half hours long and then we usually have a longer break. In Finland we do not need to take a lunch with us, because it is free and served every day. Also, in my high school we have a test a week after every one and a half months and then the new grad-ing period starts, so we have six seasons unlike here. Here I have found out that there may be a quiz every week. Of course we have quizzes in Finland too, but not as often as here.

Another difference at FA is the dress code. We do not have one in my school in Finland, but

it does not mean that people wear improper clothing.

The population in Finland is around 5 mil-lion people. Here, there are 5 million people just in the Washington D.C. area. In the U.S., there are also fewer open spaces. In Finland, we have a lot of forests, so there is always some forest near you.

Also, traffic here is different. In New York, you can move ten me-ters and stop, five me-ters and stop. In Fred-ericksburg, I found out the traffic is not as bad as New York, but there are still a lot of cars. In Finland we do not have as much traffic. I think one reason for less traf-fic is that in Finland you can’t drive before you are 18 and it is mainly because in Finland we use a gearstick.

I have also noticed how different the weath-er in the United States is; when it is morning it is usually cold and when it is afternoon the weather can be re-ally warm. In Finland it usually stays the same all day, but of course it can sometimes become a lot of warmer in the afternoon than what it was in the morning. I think the most impor-tant difference between the weather here and in

1. Only seniors are allowed to park, stand, or sit in the senior row of the parking lot.

2. Don’t assume you can sit in the senior section, even if your best friend is a senior.

3. If you are darted, you must fall regardless of your location.

4. All freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are expected to envy the senior picture wall.

5. If Mr. Durso sends out a mass email to the Upper School, do not open it, as it will increase

time management and priority issues.

6. If a spare Beanie Baby is found, give it to Chris Hess IMMEDIATELY.

7. Do not EVER take down any Beanie Babies.

Staff 11-12FALCON FLIERTH

E

Allegra Massey-ElimIsabel StevenLiz Benavides Matt Kirchner Meggie Roche

Roosa BergSamatha King Wyatt Davies

Wyatt Falconereporters

Mary Gray Johnsoneditor

Simone Wicker managing editor

Lauren Falkenbergdesign editor

Courtney Hoffmanbusiness manager

Beth Hunley advisor

Finland is the humid-ity. In Finland we rarely have it.

When I had my ori-entation in New York, I heard that usually all exchange students gain weight during their year in the U.S., like 5 kg or at least 3 kg! It doesn’t sur-prise me, because I have found out how good and fattening food here is. Or maybe I should say there is more food from which to choose. I have also fallen in love with ice cream. Some-body asked me, don’t we have ice-cream in Finland? Well, we do, but not as many good flavors as here!

In writing this col-umn, I realized another difference. I used the International System of Units, which we use in Finland. Now I need to learn something about miles and pounds!

I am looking forward to studying this year at FA and doing many American things, see-ing different places, getting to know new people, and having fun. It would also be my pleasure to answer some questions about Finland, so feel free to talk with me whenever you want to learn more about my country. I am really thankful to be a part of the FA commu-nity!

This school year began with a bang, and we’re not talking about the earthquake or the three-day week.

It is clear that the administration had been hard at work over the summer to put new plans into place. Here are a few of our new favorite things about the 2011-2012 school year.

Make it or Break itOne of the obvious new changes for the

year is the new a.m. and p.m. breaks. Over the past year we have gone from no break, to one break, to two breaks. Senior Natalie Ducharme-Barth describes them as a “nice little hurrah!” So thank you, administration, for these little hurrahs throughout the day.

“Family Vacation”School spirit has always been a large part

of the FA community. This year during Re-treat, Student Government put groups of 10 students together to create families. As the new students and freshmen joined their families in a welcome ceremony the lobby, school pride was bursting at the seams.

Community meeting shape-upWe used to walk into morning meeting

feeling like we needed a few more hours of sleep. A new routine, some morning funnies from Natalie Ducharme-Barth, and more detailed game reports from our captains have given us a morning energy burst.

Saved by the bellRight now our watch says it is 1:18 p.m.,

computers say it is 1:15 p.m., and the clock in the classroom says 1:14 p.m. So which is right? Thanks to the new bell system our worries will be over. Teachers can no lon-ger hold us to until their watch says it’s time. The bells ring at the beginning and end of class. Of course, now we will have to make sure we are on time to class, but with the new five-minute passing time there should be plenty of time to talk, grab books, and dart* a friend without being late.

*Dart Game: Upper School students have been partaking in the dart game this year. The objective is to make eye contact with an opposing player and shoot an invisible air dart at their neck. The player “darted” then must fall to the ground and remain there un-til another player is willing to pull the dart out of their neck.

Laptop LibertyThe laptop fight has been going on for

years in the upper school. Year after year, the administration denied students’ requests to allow personal computers besides the school-issued IBM Thinkpad. Finally, our wish has been granted. Though some opted to keep the old machines, we think that in following years more students will take ad-vantage of the new laptop freedom.

Finnish opinion on America

The rules of FAby Lauren FaLkenberg

the falcon flier

by roosa bergthe falcon flier

SEVEN RULES UNDERCLASSMEN NEED TO KNOW

R.I.P Sophomore Hall 2004-2011

CARTOON BY ISABEL STEVEN AND WYATT DAVIES

Exchange student excited about school, culture, and ice cream

New Upper School changes successful

The Staff’s Stand

unwritten

6p a g e s i x

sports

Testing physical and mental strength. Pushing for accuracy, speed, and agility. The men’s varsity soccer team has been training hard since the beginning of the season.

From sacrificing the comforts of the indoors to injuries ending with stitches, blood, and trips to the hospital, members of the team have proven extreme dedica-tion to the sport.

They have even created a test to mea-sure the rate of their improvement. Ev-ery third friday of the month, the soccer players complete a fitness test to mea-sures progress. The test was invented last season by their coach, Bill Evans.

“I came up with the test to serve as an evaluation tool for each individual, to test different areas of their fitness,” said Evans, who has been coaching soccer for 25 years. His years of knowledge and ex-perience fuel his belief that this is a help-ful way to test, measure, and improve the skills of his players.

This is the second year of the test.

Rain used to come with mixed feelings for stu-dent-athletes, some rel-

ishing in their suddenly sports-free afternoon and others feeling angry at the postponement of a major game.

Inclement weather meant one less practice a week to prepare for games, matches, or tournaments. Because of this, Head of School Karen Moschetto and Athletic Di-rector Brett Carroll made the deci-sion to create a new policy: no prac-tice will be cancelled due to rain.

The policy also expanded mid-dle school sports practices from 4 days a week to 5, with practices and games now held on Fridays. Carroll hopes that these new rules will make the schedule easier for parents, who won’t hear last-min-ute that they have to drive to FA to pick up a child whose practice was cancelled.

“We want everybody to enjoy the programs and make it as con-venient as possible,” Carroll said, adding that middle school and up-per school students who carpool will find this new schedule easier as well.

Karen O’Donnell, mother of senior Matt O’Donnell and sixth-grader Regan O’Donnell, supports the new policy, which makes after-noons easier for her.

“For me, because of where we live, that saves an hour of driving time,” said O’Donnell, who lives in Lake of the Woods. “When Matt wasn’t yet driving, it meant hanging around in town between when Re-gan got done and Matt got done.”

Parents read about this new plan in a letter that was sent home over the summer, but most students

Every school year has its beginnings and endings. There are new teachers, new courses, new lockers, and new students. For the girls varsity field hockey team, this year marks the loss of four se-nior starters. Colleen Hughes, Megan Sulli-van, Maya Brown, and Paige McDermott have gone off to college, leaving four vacancies for new starters.

Despite this, Coach Karen Moschetto is confident as usual

about this season, and has taken many steps to help the team acclimate to the change.

“Anytime you lose four starters there is going to be an adjust-ment,” she said. The adjustments include switching positions and playing a different sys-tem than the past three years. In the old system, there were three for-wards, four midfielders, and three defenders.

“For us this year, I don’t think that is going to play to our strengths,” Moschetto said.

Senior forward Syd-

ney Hawkins said the loss of critical players that occurs every year has not yet affected the team.

“We’re still one of the top teams in the state and I’m really excited to play this year. We might have lost some [players], but we gained a lot of great players as well,” she said.

When it comes to key players to fill the hole, Moschetto is relying most heavily on seniors and eighth graders.

“Seniors are key be-cause you are really re-lying on them to reach

back to their experi-ences,” she said. “The [other] key is... eighth-graders that are going to be in starting positions. We’re going to see how quickly they can adjust to playing at that level. And that will be a huge determination in our success this year.”

Moschetto does not think that the loss of four senior starters makes the field hockey team seem any less intimidating to the other teams. Even Covenant, their biggest competition from last year’s 16-2 season did not defeat them in their

first game of the sea-son. The team found the new formation to be a success.

“Everyone played the position they need-ed to be in on Friday,” said team captain Mary Rose Hazel. “During the single practice be-tween games one and two, the coaches have gone over what the team needs to improve on.” This strategy led to the defeat of their second game this sea-son against Foxcroft.

“The girls are a little more hesitant because they’ve lost these four

people, but every year we lose a group of se-niors that have been with the team for a long time, and then every year new people step up that may-be you didn’t expect to step up,” she said. Like Hawkins, Moschetto says the two-time state cham-pions are still a team to be reckoned with, even if there are some ups and downs with the move-ment of positions and new players.

“In the end I expect us to be competing for state championship just like we have for the other years,” Moschetto said.

don’t know about it and haven’t noticed a difference.

“I actually had no idea this was a policy,” said senior Imani Jones. “But it makes sense.”

For rainy days, Carroll has made a schedule that cycles teams through the gym, the weight room, and different classrooms to watch footage of past games.

Jones, who plays varsity field hockey, doesn’t enjoy the rainy days when the team has to prac-tice in the gym, and would rather watch past game videos.

“The gym surface is really dif-ferent from the field, so the ball moves differently and doesn’t give us much practice,” Jones said. “Watching videos is much more helpful.”

Senior varsity soccer player Ryan Hudson disagrees.

“I think it’s good every now and then to look back at old game film, but actually being with the ball and your team, actually play-ing, is better,” Hudson said.

Whatever their preference, all agree that gym-time is made a lot more enjoyable by the new addition of the air conditioning system, which was installed this summer to expand the school’s use of the gym.

“It was needed across the board,” said Carroll.

The new policy has stirred some mixed feelings, but Carroll insists that it has taught students one important thing.

“Flexibility. The teams have learned to work in any situation together, no matter how frustrat-ing it may be,” he said.

With the added practices, Car-roll hopes to increase team bond-ing, bring convenience to parents’ “already hectic lives,” and bring faster progress to the teams.

Optimistic start to �ield hockey season despite loss of senior starters by WYATT DAVIES

the falcon flier

Practice goes on, rain or shine

by SAMATHA KING

the falcon flier

by LIZ BENAVIDESthe falcon flier

Head Coach Karen Moschetto leads juniors Catherine Estes and Kirstie Harry in practice. The team has had to adjust positions and system of play with the loss of four starting seniors.PHOTO BY WYATT DAVIES

Some changes have been made to in-sure maximum productivity.

“We’ve omitted penalty kicks from the test, because it didn’t provide us with anything too important,” said Ev-ans. The team is trying to make their field time as useful as possible, and the improved fitness test is a part of that effort.

The test is physically and psycho-logically challenging and players push themselves to drop time, define skills, and increase accuracy.

“One of the unexpected outcomes is that the boys want to test themselves more, push themselves more, and suf-fer more. And by suffering together they grow together,” said Evans. He takes the concept of team mentality very seriously, and believes that this is another way to increase the success of the team. The players encourage each other to do better on the test and sup-port their teammates through thick and thin.

One of the greatest challenges of the test is the mile run--an obstacle that has proved to be tricky for some.

“The mile run shows the most im-provement, it’s the most helpful part of the test,” said sophomore Nathan Mc-Dermott, who is a second year varsity player. This is Evans’s favorite part of the test as well.

“I like seeing the long run. The timed mile is truly physical and men-tal; having to deal with that suffering can be hard,” said Evans.

Most of the players are excited to do the test. They want to know if they are improving and are eager to figure out what they need to work on.

“I believe it’s a good way to physical-ly show how much we’ve improved,” said sophomore Jase Davis, also a sec-ond year varsity player.

“(On a scale of 1-10) they are Prob-ably 11 in motivation; they’re begging to find out where they stand compared to the previous test,” Evans said.

Mile run

Juggling

Accuracy test

Full � eld sprint

First, players run a timed mile.

Second, a timed full � eld sprint.

Next, each player gets � ve chances with each foot to kick the ball from the 6-yard box to hit the goal post.

Last, players count how many times they can juggle the ball in one minute.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Men’s soccer makes “� t test” improvements

PHOTO COURTESY OF WWW.SXC.HU

FIT TEST2011

7p a g e s e v e n

sports

This year’s cross coun-try team has changed drastically from previ-ous years. The team has grown from only eight runners to 12, including five girls.

One of the new XC coaches, Sue Jensen has brought new energy and ideas to the team.

“The sport of run-ning is far more than pounding the pavement. Training takes dedica-tion, perseverance and inner drive within one-self to take it to the next level,” she said.

Coming into this season sophomore Marshall Steven didn’t expect a change. Little did he know that there would be two dedicated new coaches, one of them being Dan Moult-on, who is also the new biology teacher in the upper school. He has been a long distance runner all his life and did long distance run-ning at the University of Massachusetts. Sue Jensen didn’t start run-ning until after college. Ever since then she

Every Monday and Wednes-day at the

crack of dawn, senior Chris Hess lays out his Garmin Forerunner 410 watch, iPod, head-phones, t-shirt, shorts, socks, and shoes, fight-ing the urge to crawl back into bed.

Skipping even a bite of food, his self-disci-pline leads him outside for a 28-minute run for the sole purpose of loos-ening up his legs before he starts his day.

On Saturdays, he al-lows himself to wake up naturally, but just in time for a bowl of brown sugar Quaker oatmeal before getting ready for his long-dis-tance run. After swip-ing Bodyglide under his arms, he secures his running belt, complete with a water bottle and a mixed bottle of water and energy goo.

Hess is in the fourth month of a six-month training schedule for the SunTrust Richmond Marathon on Nov. 12.

“Running is my life,” he said, trailing into an explanation of his pro-

found love of the activ-ity he picked up a little over a year ago.

Hess built up the confidence to be a marathon runner mid-way through summer 2010 when he ran 3.5 miles without a single complaint. He took initiative and found world-class athlete Jeff Gallaway’s “Half-Mar-athon to Finish” train-ing schedule to prepare for a half-marathon the following December. Hess reached his goal of finishing, with a time of 1:52. For his second half-marathon, five months later, he used Gallaway’s “time goal” schedule and dropped 8 minutes, finishing Fred-ericksburg’s Historic Half in 1:44.

“It was kind of [inev-itable] that this would be [my Senior Exhibit] because I didn’t really know what to pick,” Hess said. “I thought about it, and I could have picked something way out of left field and tried something new, but I feel like I would have hated it because it would have been so for-eign and so forced.”

Having seen recent

FA graduate Colleen Hughes run a mara-thon, Hess thought it would be a lot of fun, not to mention the op-portunity to cross the long time goal off his bucket list.

Using Gallaway’s six-month training for a successful injury-free marathon, Hess began his exhibit this past summer when he trav-eled to Colorado to meet up with Gallaway, who became his out-of-school mentor, in Vail.

So far, he has re-mained injury free.

“I haven’t had any-thing consistent and debilitating,” Hess said. “I followed [his plan] to a T.”

One minor issue was soreness in his hip flexors, which was mi-raculously solved by a new pair of customized long-distance running shoes.

“I don’t stretch,” he said. “And when I say that, everyone looks at me like I’m crazy.” Hess claims that any type of static stretch is not beneficial because stretching your muscles in an unfamiliar way for what is about to be

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has run a multitude of 5ks, 10ks, half, and full marathons. Last year she came in second in the Marine Corps Marathon, dressed as Wonder Woman. She has also trained many adults and youths for 5ks and 10ks.

Jensen is a much more experienced coach than the XC team had seen recently. Steven re-alized this after his first practice.

“I realized that this year I was going to get really in shape for the XC meets and that our team, even though it lost good runners, will have a good chance of winning our meets,” said Steven, who is in his 3rd year with the team.

Sophomore Rachael Hoffman is new to the team this year. “I thought it was going to be just continuous run-ning, but I was wrong, it’s is really more of an overall workout so that we are in the greatest shape we can be and perform our bests,” she said.

The average practice

starts with a 10-minute warm-up run followed by a seven-minute stretch. Then there is usually a long distance run that is 20-30 min-utes long, and after that is weights or a workout activity that lasts for 30 minutes. Next, the runners take anywhere from five- to 20-minute cool down run. Lastly, the team does a final stretch.

The runners usually get timed about once a month so that Jensen can see growth and im-provement. Hoffman doesn’t like the drill where the runners must alternate paces, sprint-ing for three minutes and jogging for two. Moulton agreed, say-ing that this is probably hardest drill they do.

Moulton and Jen-sen agree that what they want most out of the runners this year is improvement and for them to find joy in run-ning. They both said they have seen progress already and are excited to see more as the sea-son continues.

New XC coaches take runners to the next level mentally, physically

SENIOR CHRIS HESS PUSHES HIMSELF IN PREPARATION FOR MARATHON IN NOVEMBER AS PART OF SENIOR EXHIBIT

by SIMONE WICKERthe falcon flier

by ALLEGRA MASSEY-ELIM

the falcon flier

Workout ScheduleMonday- 30-45 minute runTuesday- 40 minute walk/cross trainingWednesday- 30-45 minute runThursday- 40 minute walk/cross trainingFriday- o� Saturday- Long run (distance varies)Sunday- 40 minute walk/cross training

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS HESSSenior Chris Hess fi nishes the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon in 1:52.

Workout Schedule

Freshman Spencer Marshall competes in a meet early in the season.PHOTO BY MEGGIE ROCHE

done can tax them and weaken them in that particular use.

“It’s unnatural. You don’t run with one foot up, hopping the whole

way; you run how you run,” he said.

Inspired by his father, who ran two marathons before Hess started run-ning, he plans to keep

this as a hobby beyond his Senior Exhibit.

“I can’t imagine not doing this for the rest of my life,” he said.

backpage the

Nothing ever tasted quite as sweet as the out-of-town trip for frozen yogurt. Wash-ington, D.C. for Yogen Fruz, Charlottesville for the yogurt at Bodo’s Bagels or as far as New York City to indulge in a cup of Pinkberry.

Until recently, Fred-ericksburg was falling behind on one of the tartest trends. Now, four different hot spots around town offer this healthy, sweet treat: Salad Creations’ Red Mango Frozen Yogurt, Crave Frozen Yogurt, Sammy T’s Frozen Yo-gurt and Southpoint’s latest addition, Sweet

Frog. Safe to say, ‘froyo’ has become the new ice cream cone, with a lot less fat.

Convenience is the key when it comes to Salad Creations’ Red Mango froyo, the first local restaurant offer-ing frozen yogurt. Lo-cated in Eagle Village of Fredericksburg, it is the cheapest of all four frozen yogurt joints, but offers significantly fewer toppings and fla-vors. The fight for the most nutritious is won by Red Mango as the healthiest froyo sup-plier. It is 100 percent all-natural as opposed to the artificial ingredi-ents in others and lacks

the artificial sweeteners that are injected in oth-er frozen yogurts.

The calorie count at most places is about the same and varies as toppings are added. A small normally has 130-160 calories, a medium 220-260 calories, and a large 310-390 calories, according to Red Man-go’s website.

My small cup of Pomegranate and Man-go filled to the brim with toppings surprised me with an inexpensive price of a little over $3. But when I took the first spoonful, I realized I didn’t get my money’s worth as far as the stale toppings were con-

cerned. Scooping them out, section by section, I did enjoy the freshness of the yogurt, but still had to rank it last in the ‘Burg.

Next we trek over to Central Park to taste the yogurt at Crave. To be perfectly honest, the atmosphere of Crave can be a little too much to handle when you’re just looking for a quick treat with your friends. Whether it’s the attempt to make it look futur-istic or the music that sounds like it belongs in outer space, Crave may be the type of place you want to sit outside. If you’re a flavor and top-ping lover, this is your

go-to froyo. Most active on their Facebook page, liked by 1,025 people, Crave often updates their status with ways to get much-needed discounted yogurt. A small kid’s size cup can still rack up $6 simply because the yogurt is more expensive by the ounce.

Similar in price to Crave at 45 cents per ounce, Sammy T’s froyo is almost exactly the same as Crave in all aspects, but in a much cuter atmosphere. Sam-my T’s, in downtown Fredericksburg, has 70 rotating flavors for their daily 10 flavors and 40 fresh toppings. Also ac-

tive on Facebook, Sam-my T’s gives the largest “just because” discounts if you are a fan of the Facebook page.

Although Sweet Frog is a much larger chain than the other frozen yogurt stations of Fred-ericksburg, it is the all-encompassing place to be. Sufficient choices of flavors, fresh toppings, and cheap starting pric-es are what define Sweet Frog. Not to mention, it has the most accurate, smooth yogurt taste and great indoor and outdoor seating. Head over to Cosner’s Cor-ner if you’re looking for a great $3 to $4 cup of fresh frozen yogurt!

“We were looking for someone who was going to be enthusiastic about meeting new people,” said Head of Upper School Tony Durso.

Durso also said that they were looking for someone that has worked from “both sides of the desk” as a high school college counselor as well as some-one who has worked in college admissions. Before working as a college counselor at Boy’s Latin, Weiner worked in the admissions office at the University of Rochester.

Weiner has also made an impact by being active in the school community. He attended the student leadership retreat in August, and also participated in the varsity versus faculty soccer scrimmage. Weiner can constantly be seen wandering the halls and talking to students.

“It’s like he’s been here for years,” said senior Chris Hess.Weiner said that one of the reasons he chose to come to FA was the good

connection he made with the administration in the interview process“I was impressed with Karen [Moschetto] and Tony [Durso]. I thought

both of them shared my philosophy about college counseling, which is really that we should try to find the best fit for a student. Also, with just interacting with them, they just seemed like they would give me a lot of autonomy and I would feel worthwhile in my job, which is very important,” he said.

Another part of Weiner’s philosophy is that students should widen their search when looking at colleges.

“I really encourage students to search broader. I understand that Virginia has tons of amazing universities, and if they end up going there and it’s the right fit, that’s awesome, but I want to encourage kids to look at places they wouldn’t normally consider, see what options are out there,” he said.

I would like nothing more than to eat cake and cookies all day long. Unfortunately for me and many other stu-dents, one thing stands in our way: Sports.

A lot of people think that because a person plays a sport, they can eat whatever they want, because they will just end up burning it off. But in reality athletes need to be careful about what they eat. Their bodies have to be in top shape and have maxi-mum energy for perfor-mance.

I run cross country which means that I re-ally have to be careful. On a typical day we run a total of four or five miles. If I eat too much during the day, I’ll feel sick while I run. If I don’t eat enough, I’ll feel like fainting.

On a typical day I have a whole wheat ba-gel for breakfast with some type of juice. This will usually last me until 11:30. I try to stay away from the café for lunch. There aren’t many op-tions there other than pizza or subs, which aren’t ideal for a runner. Usually I bring a salad

with some grilled chick-en with grapes and al-monds to snack on.

Staying hydrated is the most important thing that anyone can do during their athletic season. On average, I drink four 24 ounce bottles of water a day.

Before a race I have to make sure to load up on my carbs. This week, I had pasta with chicken the night before a meet. That way, I got both the protein and the carbs. Then right before the race I eat a piece of fruit just to get the en-ergy from the sugar.

Everyone has their own game-day secrets though. So, I decided to try out a few recom-mendations from field hockey and soccer play-ers.

Sophomore Sara Eadie plays on the var-sity field hockey team. The night before a game she’ll either eat spa-ghetti, hamburger, or pizza. For breakfast she has some eggs for pro-tein. During the day she keeps it light with just a salad from the café.

“I feel like if I eat too much the day of a big game it weighs me down and I won’t per-form as well,” she said.

Her routine wasn’t that different from mine

so I figured it would be no big deal to try it out for a day. The night be-fore I felt so full, but I felt fine at practice the next day.

Another sophomore, Mitchell Harrison, a member of the boys varsity soccer team, has a few pre-game nutri-tion rituals.

“I eat pasta the day before to carb-load for lots of energy, and on game day I eat a lot of protein and carbs for energy,” said Harrison.

I’m not used to eat-ing so many carbs on a daily basis but one day wasn’t going to hurt me. After following Harri-son’s recommendations I felt so slow at prac-tice that day. My coach even tells us to load up carbs but I think this may have been a little excessive.

Every sport has its own requirements for healthy nutrition. But it is imperative that ath-letes take care of their bodies. And now it is more important than ever because teenagers’ bodies are growing at an incredible rate.

The USDA is putting an emphasis on making sure that teenagers stay healthy. More informa-tion can be found at fnic.nal.usda.gov.

Froyo wars

PHOTOS BY SIMONE WICKER

College counselor adds passion to FA continued from front

by SIMONE WICKERthe falcon flier

by MEGGIE ROCHEthe falcon flier

Tried On: Nutrition

PHOTO COURTESY OF SXC.HU

Fredericksburg’s battle to sell the best frozen tarty treat

Can you guess the Homecoming theme?

Take a step on the wild side, almost like a Safari ride. You’ll de� nitely need a pretty big roar, you could have

charm and presence but you’d need much more. The girls should get dresses at Amazon.com, as long as

they didn’t already get a dress there for prom. Even though zebra print was sort of last year, you could

de� nitely get away with that here. Guns and Rose’s might sing about it and have a major

hit, but we will actually take you there so you can see it.

by ALLEGRA MASSEY-ELIM

the falcon flier