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Transcript of June Issue
End of an Era:
Farewell to the
Class of 2012
Thomas Jefferson High School June 1, 2012 ● $1
Senior surveys,
music flashback,
and more
INSIDE
Steady as the beating drum:
Taiko drummer, Kato-San, makes noise at TJ
Student small businesses:
Sadie Shoaf and Lia Meden have already begun
preparing for the job world
TJHS teacher’s road to WPIALS:
Mrs. Karcher leads her 2012 Lady Indians to WPIALS
the statesman
Cover Stories Page 6: Taiko Drummer Kato-San’s skillful drum-ming captured the interest of many students during his assembly. Page 7: Music Flashback Take a trip down memory lane with the songs that have topped the charts since your diaper days. Pages 10-11: Student small businesses Two students have taken getting a high school job to a whole new level. Page 17: Mrs. Karcher leads her Lady Indians to WPIALS As a first year coach for Pe-ters Township’s high school varsity softball team, Mrs. Karcher has fought her way to the top.
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Elise Meszaros
Elizabeth Lowman Serena Audley
MANAGING EDITORS
Brianna Bowman Elise Meszaros Serena Audley
COPY EDITORS Elise Meszaros Serena Audley
MEDIA EDITOR Michelle O’Brien
NEWS EDITOR
Brianna Bowman
OPINIONS EDITOR Sandhya Purighalla
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Abby Stedding Angelina Ortoleva
Lauren Andros Mary Lancaster Michelle O’Brien
Ritwik Gupta Sam Robbins
WEBMASTER Ritwik Gupta
ARTIST
Connor Marshman
REPORTERS Adam Miller
Alexandrea Dalton Alyssa Gephart Anthony Rash
Antoinette Yelenic Brianna Bowman Elise Meszaros
Elizabeth Lowman Lauren Andros Liam Barrett
Mary Lancaster Sadie Shoaf
Sandhya Purighalla Sean Saputo
Serena Audley
ONLINE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Rebecca Coopie
ONLINE MEDIA EDITOR
Alyssa Gephart
ADVISOR Naomi A. Beres
2 THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ● THE STATESMAN
June 1, 2012 On this day in 1938, Superman, the world’s first super hero, appeared in the first issue of Action Comics.
Photo courtesy of
usa.gov
Thomas Jefferson High School
Inside Pages 12-13: 2012 marks the end for several TJHS teachers After decades of teaching, four of TJ’s finest educators end their teaching careers, and begin a new chapter in their lives. Page 16: Gralyssa TJ’s star sports couple sits down for a question and an-swer session.
ONLINE For polls, blogs, and follow up stories visit:
www.tjhstoday.com
SOCIAL MEDIA Follow us for constant updates inside the walls of TJHS
@TJHSToday WRITE TO US For comments or responses email us on Yahoo
6-1-12 ● TJHSTODAY.COM 3
On May 1, 2012, students experienced a piece of Asian culture while attending an assembly by Taiko drummer, Kato-San. Pic-
tured above is Kato-San with some of the students that participated in, and attended his performance. Bottom row (left to right):
Casey Chuderewicz, Kato-San, Jonathan Veres, and Meghan Poljak. Middle row (left to right): Hanna Salmon, Sean Ray, Evan
Mason, Mike Capolupo, Sam Green, Shoueb Mamoor, Brett Grimes, Alexander Reitmeyer, and Jonathan DeFazio. Top row (left to right): Mrs. Beres, Korey Edmonson, Chris Serrao, Mr. Ware, Mr. Mirabella, and Mr. Haselhoff.
Photo taken by Sam Robbins.
New Elective Will Shape Minds at TJ
Next year, AP Euro and Global Studies teacher Mrs. Sydeski will be
offering a new class entitled Shaping the Modern World. This class fo-cuses on the last century and current events, as well as
emphasizing areas such as Africa and Asia that are fre-quently neglected by the high school history curriculum.
“This will be a truly global class,” says Mrs. Sydeski. This elective is also a great oppor-tunity, as it will count for three
credits at Du-quesne University. The students will have the opportu-
nity to attend lec-tures at the univer-sity, something that is rarely given to high school stu-dents. Mrs. Sydeski also hopes to even-
tually be able to give students the opportunity to travel abroad. Only juniors and seniors are
able to sign up for
this class. It is an elective, so a US History, European History, or Global History must be taken as well. As
of right now, only
three people have signed up. Unfortu-nately, ten students must be enrolled for
Shaping the Modern World to be offered. If you are interested in current events or learning about other countries, you can still schedule Shap-
ing the Modern World with your guidance counselor. In summary, Mrs. Sydeski says, “Students will leave
the course with a
better understand-ing of their current global world and acquire the skills necessary to project foreseeable future
events.”
By Elizabeth Lowman
Cartoon by
Connor Marshman
4 THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ● THE STATESMAN
● STAFF EDITORIAL ●
Growing up and growing apart: One chapter comes to a close
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
-George Bernard Shaw
This year, two-hundred odd seniors will march down an aisle, retrieve their diplomas, and throw
their caps into the air in celebration of the most significant event of their lives so far.
Sure, they graduate high school, but on a sadder note, they grow up. They’re no longer a children. Well, age-wise any-way. Because deep
down at heart, they try to stay young…right? Ladies and gentle-men, we are getting older. This has certain perks, of course, such as the extended curfew
and…yeah. But it also
comes with a healthy dose of downsides. For those who like to dodge responsibility,
congratulations! Be-
cause you’ve won a lifetime’s worth. And for those that don’t…you see my point. But it’s not just the slackers that get the
short end. Truth is, life’s a drop in the bucket, and all
we’re left with are fleeting memories. However, that doesn’t mean that that’s necessarily a bad thing. Senior
Kendra Kozel fondly remembers “not hav-ing to give a crap about anything….I re-member playing on the playground during re-cess and the weird
stuff, like losing teeth.”
Certainly, we all miss things about our childhoods. Hot Wheels cars, Barbie
dolls, GI Joes, Toy
Story, ice cream, fre-quent candy stops, Stomp Rockets (if you can remember those), and many other things top the list of Stuff We
Wish Would Still Hap-pen/Play With/Be Around. Looking back, these things are fondly re-membered, no doubt
about that. But con-sider the following set of blurbs from stu-dents. “Summer doesn’t feel so long anymore. My main priority now is
-I’m not even worried about like hanging out with friends, I’m more worried about making money.” Toni Yelenic, Senior. “Now that my
brother’s gone, we
don’t even do anything [for the holidays],” said junior Elise Meszaros.
Seniors (one of the
authors included), if there’s one thing you take from this, be glad that things happen the way they did. Look back on childhood. Say
“Yeah dude, I totally had all the monster trucks ”or “My doll col-lection was in the sex-tuple digits!” Never let that go, because we’ll
never have it again. Cherish these memo-ries. Underclassmen, you have at least an-other year left here, and as depressing as
that seems, you’ve got to scramble to get eve-rything you can get your grubby paws on. You will not have the time with friends or family you do now;
you will not be playing with Hot Wheels; and the only time you’ll watch Toy Story is if you have little siblings. Make time for them,
because as we grow up, we grow apart. Actually, that goes for everyone. Learn from this. Cherish it. Because time keeps marching forward, and
we just get pulled be-hind for the ride. “The times, they are a-changin’.”
-Bob Dylan.
“Make time for them, because as we grow up, we
grow apart.”
“And even if you
found yourself in
some prison,
whose walls let in none of the
world’s sounds --
wouldn’t you still
have your child-
hood, that jewel
beyond all price,
the treasure
house of memo-
ries?”
-Rainer Maria Rilke
Picture: Toni Ye-
lenic (left) and her
sister, Kelly (right).
Photo courtesy of
Toni Yelenic.
6-1-12 ● TJHSTODAY.COM 5
● OPINIONS ●
Four years ago, when I enrolled in Tho-mas Jefferson High School, the school did-
n’t seem like a very welcoming place for the students. Every day, I en-tered the same build-ing, with the same stu-dents, and the same
sea foam green walls reliving the day to day motions of my eight class peri-ods. Thomas
Jefferson High school was lacking some-thing impor-tant. That something
was school
spirit. When someone in the high school would make an attempt to get the students ex-cited for something, which seemed to be a
rare occasion, the stu-dents would have no desire to participate. The real question was why? Did the stu-dents feel embar-
rassed? Did they think that they wouldn’t fit in if they actually sup-ported something in regards to our school? Or did they just not
care? What I’ve
learned is that the school year will be more fun and things will actually be in their favor if they just sup-port the school and its
By Antoinette Yelenic
Breaking through the glass ceiling: Why TJ’s school spirit must continue
clubs rather than dis-courage them. Each year, something that reflects student’s par-
ticipation and support
is the outcome of the junior and senior prom. Last year numbers for students attending prom were down from
the averaged 300 stu-dents to about150 stu-dents. Student’s claim
this was due to
the expen-sive price of tickets, after prom,
and the
fact that venues changed. This left the incoming senior class starting out in debt leading us to believe that prom could possi-
bly be held in the high school gymnasium. With that being said, this past year, school spirit has raised to a point that it hasn’t
been at in years. Between the crowded football games, pep rallies, spirit weeks, and school dances, the senior class has trans-
formed Thomas Jeffer-son High School into a place where time can be enjoyed rather than dreaded. Senior Alyssa Frankenfield said,
“Going into senior year, everyone was afraid our prom would end up in the gym, but
after seeing everyone’s
support and participa-tion this year, every-one’s fear is now ex-citement.” This year, Prom Committee has coordi-
nated two separate spirit weeks, an im-press for less up-cycle sale, the first annual zombie run, the first annual Mr.TJ pageant,
and candles and Sarris chocolate fundraiser sales. Some seniors even fundraised so much money into their ac-count that their indi-
vidual ticket, along
with their date’s ticket was paid for in ad-vance. TJ was also named the winner of the Century III “Rock Your Prom” and re-
ceived a check of $250 and $500 worth of prizes. The senior class worked hard to get the school board, along
with the community, to eliminate after prom. After many sur-veys and opinions, it was decided that there would be no after prom this year.
Because of the student’s support and cooperation, prom tickets were able to be a very reasonable price and the venue chosen was the beauti-
ful Grand Concourse in Station Square. Our numbers are up to 264
students which is a
very positive increase from last year. Now the point of this editorial is not to praise the senior class for their hard work and dedication (although it
does that, too), but rather to inspire the juniors to enter their senior year with care and determination. Leaving as a senior
and looking back at the school spirit four years ago, my advice to the juniors is that if you want something to
happen, you must take it upon yourself to do
so and if you support your school and your fellow classmates, “your dreams really will come true.”
Mr. Ware was instrumental in
the success of this year’s pep
rallies, spirit weeks, and other
prom committee events. Photo courtesy of Antoinette
Yelenic.
“Thomas Jeffer-son High school
was lacking something impor-tant. That some-thing was school
spirit.”
Come in on Teen Tuesdays for an extra 20% off !
6 THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ● THE STATESMAN
Steady as the beating drum: Taiko drummer makes noise at TJHS
By Alyssa Gephart
● STUDENT LIFE ●
make donations to his country, Japan, due to the horrific and
devastating
earthquakes that took place last year. As the drum line helped him in acquiring dona-
tions, he pre-pared for his first song enti-tled “Bonding”. It was truly
the perfect opening.
The song was upbeat, playful, and funny. “Bonding” was so funny, that laughter even played a major role in it. Kato laughed and laughed until the beat
of the drum faded out,
concluding the song. The next song that we would be hearing was named “Thoughtfulness”, fol-lowed by, “The Japa-
nese Mind”. This piece was very diverse con-sidering that the re-nowned Taiko drummer would be playing, de-scribed it as, “calm and
soothing.” It was a peaceful song with a sweet melody and showed that the Japa-nese mind thinks peace-fully and calmly. The final song of the
show was “Challenge”, on flute. This was most definitely a favorite. This song was complex and filled with high in-tensity. It displayed his true talent of Taiko
drumming and was per-fectly entitled. “I was amazed by the amount of stamina he held,”
said Mr. Haselhoff, “You
could not only see his talent was there, but also his hard work and determination.” This brings up another qual-ity trait of Kato’s. Dur-
ing his final song, he proceeded to perform a trick in which he threw up the drum stick and caught it. However, his first two tries failed due
to the auditorium’s lights in the ceiling. He did not give up, however, and, when he tried for a third time, he
succeeded. As the song ended, the crowd hon-ored him with a well deserved standing ova-
tion. Overall, everyone
in the audience not only enjoyed the perform-ance but also learned about the art of Taiko drumming. Teachers and stu-
dents sent Kato- San with good wishes and much luck at his next big event, playing with Stevie Wonder’s band in L.A., and also described
as what will be the “highlight of his career”, performing for the Japa-nese Emperor on Sep-tember 29th.
The beats of the drum echoed the full auditorium. All eyes focused on one man
and his talent. Kato - San had the spotlight shown on him for 40 minutes here at Thomas
Jefferson High-school on May 1st. Not only was he tal-
ented, he was what most of the students and faculty here at TJ would call kind and good hearted. The per-formance began with
our own TJ drum line honoring Kato-San with one of their own songs. Mike Capolupo, who plays quads, introduced the members of the drum line and thanked
Kato- San for honoring them with his perform-ance. Then it was Kato’s turn to take the stage.
First he thanked everyone for coming to see him perform with
the help of his transla-tor, Ms. Kurasawa from Pitt University. Next, he asked everyone to
During Kato-San’s presentation and per-
formance the audience was able to do-
nate funds to help his country.
Throughout Kato-San’s performance he demonstrated
many different emotions and facial expressions.
Photos taken by Angelina Ortoleva.
6-1-12 ● TJHSTODAY.COM 7
● STUDENT LIFE ●
2011: Rolling In The Deep- Adele 2010: Not Afraid- Eminem 2009: Boom Boom Pow- Black Eyed Peas 2008: Take A Bow- Rhianna 2007: Makes Me Wonder- Maroon 5 2006: Bad Day- Daniel Powter 2005: Hollaback Girl- Gwen Stefani 2004: Burn- Usher 2003: In Da Club- 50 Cent 2002: Foolish- Ashanti 2001: Survivor- Destiny’s Child 2000: Maria Maria- Santana (Feat. The Product G)
1999: Livin La Vida Loca- Ricky Martin 1998: My All- Mariah Carey 1997: Hypnotize- The Notorious B.I.G. 1996: Always Be My Baby- Mariah Carey 1995: This Is How We Do It- Montell Jordan
1994: I Swear- All-4-One
*According To Billboard.com
2012: We Are Young- fun. (Feat. Janelle Monae)
NOW PLAYING
By Adam Miller
As the class of 2012 prepares to graduate, The Statesman takes a look back on
the Billboard Chart’s number one hits for the past eighteen years.
From All-4-One to fun., Nicki Minaj, to Ricky Martin, here are the songs you won’t
admit you danced to.
8 THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ● THE STATESMAN
“En realidad las cosas verdaderamente difí-ciles son todo lo que
la gente cree poder
hacer a cada momen-to.”
-Julio Cortázar You probably couldn’t read the above quote unless
you knew Spanish, which is not an easy thing to do. That goes for learning lan-guages in general. Of course, getting
an A in three straight semesters of a foreign language class is not short of Herculean. Yet, on May 14th, forty-four fine students
were inducted into the
TJ’s newest bilinguals: Spanish students inducted to honor society
By Liam Barrett
● STUDENT LIFE●
Spanish Honor Society, and to gain entry to this prestigious organi-zation, the above re-
quirement must be
fulfilled. The TJ chapter, just one of over 1,700 chapters around the world, is named the Roberto Clemente
chapter. Spanish teacher Ms. Floyd es-tablished it in 2007, feeling that the name was fitting, given TJ’s reputation for sports
culture and philan-thropy. Seniors inducted into the Spanish Honor Society should be fairly easy to spot at gradua-tion, as they will wear
bright red and gold
cords as they march down to get their di-plomas, and this color scheme is lovingly bor-
rowed from the Span-
ish flag. I bet that quote is bugging you. It means
“In reality, things that are truly difficult are those that people be-lieve they can do any
time.” A fitting quote
for the Spanish Honor Society.
The Great American Road Trip
Who: Juniors and seniors of the 2012-2013 school year, chaperoned by Mrs. Geary, Mrs. Peiritsh, and Mr. Kaszonyi Where: Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, and Pennsylvania Amish Country When: March 22-29, 2013 How much: approximately $1150.00 Important Dates: May 2012 - $50.00 refundable deposit September 2012 - $350.00 December 2012 - $350.00 February 2013 - remaining balance *If their plans continue as planned, the teachers hope to take this trip every year in order for all students to have the chance to participate.
Senior Spanish members pose with the Spanish National Honor
Society banner after inducting their newest group of members.
Left to right: Peter Schoemer, Rebecca Coopie, Aditi Shah, Ashley
Cusick, Rachel Suppok, and Connor Marshman. Photo taken by Ritwik Gupta.
412-650-5555 840 Gill Hall Rd.
Jefferson Hills, PA 15025
bananapepperscatering.com
We offer catering services for all gatherings including graduation
parties, school activities, and other special events.
6-1-12 ● TJHSTODAY.COM 9
● STUDENT LIFE●
Custom ordered and hand painted shoes
for Maddie Savage, $45.00 (above).
Photos courtesy of Sadie Shoaf
10 THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ● THE STATESMAN
Homemade hobbies turn profitable: Two students thrive in the down economy
By Brianna Bowman
● FEATURES●
Money can be tight these days, so many high school students step up and get part-
time jobs. But a few TJ students have found a way around the hassle of a strict job
environment and controlling schedule and created businesses of their own.
Senior Sadie Shoaf has taken her creativity to the next level, by re-purposing
old fashions and add-ing her own personal touch to put them back in style. Shoaf just started her business in April and has already made a profit of ap-
proximately $300. When asked what made her want to start this savvy business, “I always really liked clothes and I noticed
how much people spent on them. I thought I could offer
items to people at a lower cost.” Since Shoaf first created her account on
Etsy, she has had or-ders from people in California, Australia,
and England who are fans of her infamous forever young shirt. She has also re-
purposed for about twenty of her peers in the school. Her prices range from $20 shirts, to shorts that at the high-est are $40. Shoaf also
makes custom orders, and you can visit her Etsy account at www.etsy.com/shop/11thDimension?ref=si_shop.
Though Shoaf is going off to California University in the fall,
she plans to continue her re-purposing busi-ness.
Hand painted “Evil eye shorts” $35.00 (above).
“Fate loves the fear-
less” tie-dye fringed
tank for Katheryn
Rotthoff. $20.00
Made to order and hand painted American flag
shorts, $30.00 (above).
6-1-12 ● TJHSTODAY.COM 11
● FEATURES●
Junior Lia Meden has taken her love for cooking and
baking and turned it
into a small local busi-ness. Meden relates that her mother inspired her cooking, “My mom is seriously the best cook EVER, so I
was practically raised in the kitchen around a food oriented fam-ily. I’ve always loved baking and have been baking since I was a
little girl. When I was younger, I baked chocolate chip cookies galore! My parents got me a cupcake cookbook for Christ-
mas in 2011, and that
is when my love for baking cupcakes truly began!” She decided to use her cupcake business as her graduation pro-
ject over the summer and realized what a good money maker it
was. She sells her
cupcakes at the Pleas-ant Hills Farmer’s Market in the parking lot of the Presbyterian Church every Thurs-day in the summer from 3 P.M. to 7:30
P.M. Every week at the Farmer’s Market, Meden offers four dif-ferent choices of cup-cakes. Her cupcakes
run for $1.25 each, $7 for half a dozen, and $14 for a dozen. She also takes special or-ders at the Farmer’s Market, or via e-mail
and phone. Look out
for Lia at the market this summer due to her success last sum-mer.
Meden’s
most fa-
mous cup-
cake flavor is Straw-
berry Swirl.
Each one is
garnished
with a
freshly
sliced
strawberry
and red
sprinkles.
Meden fea-
tures a few
different
flavors of cupcakes
each week.
Some of her
most popu-
lar flavors
include
Boston
Crème Pie
and Straw-
berry Swirl.
Meden sets up shop and sells her homemade cupcakes each
summer at the Farmer’s Market. Photos courtesy of Lia Meden.
12 THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ● THE STATESMAN
On June 6th, Lucy Fortino, Carleton “Doc” Young, Donna Cirinelli and Penny
Caswell will walk the halls of Thomas Jef-ferson High School a final time as staff. Both Mrs. Fortino and Dr. Young have taught at Thomas Jef-
ferson High School for over 3 decades, start-ing on the same day in 1976. The two have stayed on as teachers from that day, edu-
cating thousands of students over their thirty-six year em-ployment. Mrs. Cirinelli has taught at Thomas Jefferson
High School for six-
teen years, and Ms. Caswell has taught within the district for three. For Mrs. Fortino, teaching was her first passion. "My grand-
mother taught in a one room school-
at Thomas Jefferson High School, but, in the 1980s, he was
asked to teach all Eng-
lish classes. He adds, “I have enough trouble speaking the language, let alone teaching it.” He’s even educated some current TJHS teachers, including Mr.
Fluhme, Mrs. Hannon and Mrs. Wetzel. An avid lover of history,
house. I played school as a child using an old desk and very old school books that she
gave me," says Mrs.
Fortino, "I can't imag-ine doing anything else. I love school, and I love languages and travel. I could never work in a business."
She started at Thomas Jefferson High School as a Latin grammar teacher three months after graduating col-lege and has stayed at
this school district since that day. While here, Mrs. Fortino has added Ital-ian, Spanish, and even French to the list of languages she under-
stands. In this school
year alone, Mrs. Fortino has taught all three of the offered languages at different levels. Latin student, and sophomore, Ritwik
Gupta describes Mrs. Fortino as “a really passionate teacher,” adding that she “really
loved all the subjects that she taught,” a trait that Fortino ex-
presses every day both
inside and outside her classroom. Fortino has taken multiple trips to Europe, through school related tours and for her own enjoyment. Dr. Young has pri-
marily taught history and psychology career
Bidding farewell: Four of TJ’s finest move on to a new chapter
By Serena Audley
● FEATURES ●
Fortino, who plans to use her new free time to “travel, travel, travel…” has taken many tours to Europe with and without her stu-
dents. She says retiring will mark the first time in fifty-three years she won’t be returning to a classroom— as a student or a
teacher. The photo above it her from her first trip to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Photos courtesy of Ms. Fortino.
Doc has taught history and psychology at TJ for over three
decades. Most would not know that for all of those years,
he’s packed a lunch each day. Photos courtesy of Ms. Fortino.
6-1-12 ● TJHSTODAY.COM 13
Dr. Young says he chose to teach because there wasn’t “a real big job market to do much
else with history, ex-cept teach in a col-lege.” Following his retirement, Dr. Young plans to finish his famed Civil War book,
“and try to catch up on
36 years worth of missed exercise time.” His lengthy time on TJ staff wasn’t planned, however. “I hadn’t expected to stay
long [at TJ],” he says, “but it [teaching] just kind of grew on me.” Senior Alyssa Franken-field says, “Although I had Doc for an elec-tive, Psych quickly be-
came my favorite
● FEATURES ●
class. He is soft-spoken but knowl-edgeable and truly cares about his stu-
dents.” Mrs. Cirinelli says that her biggest chal-lenge was making sure she was knowledge-able enough to keep
her students well edu-
cated, a trait that Jun-ior Mary Lancaster admires her for. Mary says that Mrs. Cirinelli is “a really hardworking
teacher, really kind to all of her classes, who tries really hard to meet our needs.” Dur-ing the May faculty meeting that doubled as a goodbye party for
the retirees, Mrs. Car-
sone tearfully ex-pressed just how much Mrs. Cirinelli will be missed, describing her
as quiet, but an excel-lent professional who is a friend and a confi-dant to those who truly need her. Mary adds, finally, “I’m really glad
I’ve had her as a
teacher this year.” Penny Caswell, cur-rently employed as gifted support, was hired first in the late nineties as an art
teacher. "I've always enjoyed working with children. They continu-ally surprise and chal-lenge you," she says. She adds that “seeing all the students that I
knew as young chil-
dren turning into young men and women” will be what she’ll miss most about Thomas Jef-
ferson High School. Sophomore Ben Brletic says, “Ms. Caswell was always willing to lend a hand. She and Mr. Giger would even allow me
and a friend to go to the
gifted support room to do homework.” So, on June 6th, as the Class of 2012 take their final stroll across the field they’ve grown
to know so well, these four teachers will sit amongst and watch, for a final time, students they’ve had the chance to affect.
At this May’s faulty meeting, the four retirees were recognized with cake, tearful speeches, and an impersonation of Doc Young by
Mr. Fouts. From left to right: Ms. Caswell, Ms. Fortino, Mrs. Cirinelli, and Doc Young have each dedicated numerous years to Tho-
mas Jefferson High School and to the education of their students. Photo courtesy of Ms. Fortino.
A review
● ENTERTAINMENT ●
14 THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ● THE STATESMAN
Marvel’s Avengers dominate the box office
By Sandhya Purighalla
For the avid fans of Harry Potter, it seems like there is nowhere to go. The movies are
finished, the books
have been written. Yet J.K. Rowling is keeping the magic alive with Pottermore. Pottermore is an online Harry Potter
experience. The site takes details of the books and puts them as challenges online. There are summa-ries of each chapter
and activities that take place at Hogwarts (brewing potions, practicing spells) and
outside of the school (shopping at Diagon Alley).
Pottermore is a gateway to Harry Pot-ter with currently with 2,473,314 students
enrolled in Hogwarts. The impact and anticipation of the site was made known last year. Pottermore opened to beta tester
who participated in the
magic quill challenge by answering a ques-tion about a Harry Pot-ter book corresponding
to a certain day ex: day 1 was the Philoso-pher’s Stone.
The small and lim-ited beta user numbers made the site super anticipated. However,
now after the users had been through book one and did all the spells, and brewed all the potions and went shopping they were
done.
The site is now again gaining users due to the fact that, on April 14, 2012, it was
opened to the public. The site currently only has the option to ex-
plore the first book but the site will be adding books 2-7 within the following months.
For millions of wayward Potter fans, Pottermore is just the potion for what ails them.
By Mary Lancaster
Pottermore: an online world of magic
Total sales for the Avengers have reached
over $523,907,202 as of May 28, 2012.
Six super heroes. One Movie. That just blew
your mind. As if one super
hero wasn’t enough, the highly anticipated The Avengers became a huge success amongst almost all viewers. With egotisti-cal humor and the
thirst for justice, and destined to clash per-sonalities actually made for perfect chemistry. The movie follows
Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruf-falo), Black Widow
(Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy
Renner), as they try to find the tesseract, an immense power source like no other, stolen by Loki.
They receive their call of distress from Nick Fury, the director of the agency
S.H.E.I.L.D. Although they are very reluctant
at first, the six band together, to fight for the Tesseract, but through their petty
arguments that are conjured from narcis-
sism, self absorbency and other synonyms of Tony Stark.
Even without that
the movie still has startling graphics, an edgy plot and a 93% approval rating from critics and a 96% ap-proval rating from viewers.
Every component that made The Aven-gers flowed together as the personalities of each character empha-sized the impact of
every battle, and every explosion, it made it tough to find open theater seats. So, now it’s time to demote the first item
on your summer to do
list to number two and hurry to theaters to see The Avengers.
6-1-12 ● TJHSTODAY.COM 15
● ENTERTAINMENT●
It’s the Sixties. The upper classes slam the car doors of their Jaguar E-types,
adjust their cuff links,
and stroll up to their apartment for a party. Norah Jones plays on the radio…wait, what? Little Broken
Hearts, the new re-lease from the singer-songwriter, is a pleas-ant bit of anachronism for sure. The album presents an overhaul
from the old “Snorah Jones,” as she’s been ragged by critics, who discovered a hit with her single “Don’t Know Why.” This may be due in part to pro-
ducer Danger Mouse,
who was also respon-sible for The Black Keys’ 2008 album Attack & Release. This new release is certainly a so-called
“breakup album,” but
the difference here is that Norah Jones exe-cutes it with a smooth, glassy edge. Tracks
such as “Say Goodbye” and the title track are
a harsh goodbye wrapped in a cocktail-bar fur coat. The pity is
reserved for “Good Morning” and “She’s
22,” which are ‘why hast thou forsaken me’ kind of songs. You don’t need to have
a broken heart to enjoy this album, however;
it’s good chill out music with the pretext of a love gone sour. Really,
it’s good for any situa-tion; thinking, relaxing,
A review Who broke Norah Jones’s heart?
By Liam Barrett or hosting a nice party. It fits the bill for all of these. The aura coming off the
album is a kind of six-ties-era class. Think
Mad Men, minus all of the risky behavior. It’s easy to imagine a Don Draper montage to this music.
I’m a sucker for sixties-era stuff, so this album strikes a chord with me. Norah Jones is able to pump emotion into the cocktail lounge-jazzy
music, which takes some considerable tal-ent. But it goes into a semi-modern style smooth rock kind of music, and it’s this clash of modern and
sixties culture that makes for an awesome
album altogether. Anyone who’s a fan of some smooth music should pick this album up.
Must-see movies of 2012 Prometheus (Sci-Fi) released June 8th Starring Noomi
Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green and Michael Fassbender
Ridley Scott, director of the Alien series, returns to sci-fi in this thriller about a team of
scientists who believe they’ve found the clues to the uni-verse, but soon find out they’re dead wrong.
The Amazing Spi-der-Man (Action) released July 3rd Starring Andrew
Garfield, Emma Stone and Martin Sheen Columbia Pictures'
reboot of Spider-Man features Peter Parker back in high school, struggling to figure out
the truth behind his father's mysterious disappearance. His search leads him deeper than he'd expected, to his father's former partner, Dr. Connors.
The Campaign (Comedy) released August 10th Starring Will
Ferrell, Zach Gali-fianakis and Ja-son Sudeikis In North Carolina,
Cam Brady and Marty Huggins both want one thing: a seat in the United States House of
Representatives. The Campaign follows their battle to the office and the chaos that ensues.
16 THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ● THE STATESMAN
Alyssa Frankenfield and Greg Schneider may not have a
Maddox, Pax, Knox,
Vivienne, Zahara, or Shiloh, however they are TJ’s star super cou-ple. Frankenfield re-ceived a scholarship to Kent State University,
where she will pitch for the lady Golden Flashes. As a sophomore, Schneider signed with the University of Pitts-
burgh. He will pitch for the Panthers next year as a freshman. They met in ele-mentary school and
Frankenfield recalls that “he had a charm-
ing personality.” Schneider says that he’s “always liked her.” They don’t give ad-vice to each other be-
Gralyssa: TJ’s Brangelina TJ’s celebrity sports couple
By Sadie Shoaf and
Sean Saputo
● SPORTS ●
fore games. Instead, they discuss things after games, specifi-cally how their games
went. Frankenfield
relates that, “It’s easy to talk to each other after a bad game and be understanding be-cause we play the same position. At the
same time, it’s hard because we pitch dif-ferently.” Schneider proclaims that, “It’s more good luck we give than advice. Our
talks are post-game not so much pre-game.” With both being seniors and parting ways to different schools in August, one
may ask, will Gralyssa
stay together in col-lege? Frankenfield did-n’t hesitate to say, “There is no reason for Greg and I to break up, Kent and Pitt
aren’t that far away
and we can definitely make it work.” Schnei-der replied with, “Yes we will stay together.
Communication will be
key, trust is every-thing, and patience is a virtue.” With sports taking up a lot of time for both Frankenfield and
Schneider, these two stars need some time for one another. When it comes to the pair’s dream dates they Frankenfield answered
with, “My dream date with Greg would be a McDonald’s dinner.” Schneider, on a more-romantic note stated, “My dream date with Alyssa is a sunset walk
on the beach in Ha-
waii.” Finally, if a Maddox, Pax, Knox, Vivienne, Zahara, or Shiloh was to be on its way in the in future, what would
he or she look like?
“The baby would defi-nitely have my looks and Greg’s ability to pitch” Frankenfield
said. While laughing
Schneider answered, “It would be a boy, I would make him be-come the best athlete and the best at every-thing, he would throw
99 miles per hour, and Tyler Martier would be the uncle.” Now, all that we can wonder is what will happen in the future.
Will Gralyssa be to-gether as long as they think they can be? Will we see these two star pitchers pitching in the major leagues of their respected sports? Will
Alyssa get that McDon-
ald’s dinner she dreams about having with Greg? Lastly, will their possible “super baby” have Alyssa’s good looks or Greg’s
superstar capabilities?
Left: Greg hurls the ball at some of the highest speeds in the WPIAL, which helped him pitch twenty-seven no hit games.
Middle: Greg and Alyssa accompanied each other to this year’s prom at the Grand Concourse in Station Square. Right: Alyssa
shows great form as she pitches in one of her playoff games earlier this season. Photos courtesy of Alyssa Frankenfield.
6-1-12 ● TJHSTODAY.COM 17
“I don’t like fluff.” Physics teacher, Mrs. Karcher, likes no funny business when it comes
to softball and her Pe-ters Township Lady In-dians. After accepting a job as the head coach for Peters Township this past fall, Mrs. Karcher has coached her players
to their first section and WPIAL title in 21 years. Mrs. Karcher’s suc-cess with softball did not begin this year; it has been many years in
the making. As a high school athlete, Karcher played softball for four years in a wide range of positions including shortstop, left fielder, and pitcher. Following
graduation from high school, Mrs. Karcher walked on as a fresh-
Batter Up! Mrs. Karcher swings big for Peters Township
By Elise Meszaros
● SPORTS ●
man at Penn State Uni-versity. As a freshman, she started at first base, and continued
her success into her
sophomore year. How-ever, Karcher’s softball career temporarily ended after her second season in order to bet-ter focus on her stud-
ies. In late 2011, Mrs. Karcher was finally given another chance to continue her com-petitive softball career.
“I’ve wanted to coach my whole life,” said coach as she tied a Pe-ters Township ribbon in her hair, preparing for an afterschool game. Karcher’s winning
team did not come
without months of dedication and prac-tice.
With limited time to prepare her new players for their up-coming season, Mrs.
Karcher got to work
sharpening and fine tuning hitting, offen-sive skills and defen-sive skills. Coaching for an-other school has been
tough for Mrs. Karcher, “The time commitment is big, I had to give up my lunch, cover AM bus duty, I leave early
sometimes, and I’m often away from my family. It’s a lot easier for teachers that coach sports here [TJ].” The long hours and hard work have paid
off for the team and
their coach, who can boast a 15-5 record. Mrs. Karcher’s great-
est hopes for her team have come true. “My first goal was to win the section, which we did,
now our next goal is to
get a bid for states,” said the enthusiastic coach. Thomas Jefferson softball coach John "Hoppy" Mitruski is said
to be retiring after TJ’s softball season ends this year. When asked if Mrs. Karcher would ap-ply for the job she was hesitant, “I got a lot of
respect from the ad-ministration at Peters, and I have loyalty to my team there.” Junior Alex Hasis warned, “Regardless of which field Coach
Karcher walks onto next
season, she will leave other teams in her dust.”
Mrs. Karcher poses with her fellow softball teammates and the famous Nittany Lion statue on the Penn State campus. After years
of playing in high school and college, Mrs. Karcher has finally been given the chance to coach her very own softball team at Peters
Township. In case you couldn’t find Karcher, we made it a little easier with the arrow. Photo courtesy of Mrs. Karcher.
18 THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ● THE STATESMAN
● SPORTS ●
The Jaguar Men’s Vol-leyball season finished up not too long ago, and now, All-Conference
player Adam Miller is
talking about the sea-son, the team, and ex-pectations for next year. [The season]… “was a learning curve. We
had a lot of young play-ers and first year play-ers.” Despite the fact that there was a new team, with fresh faces, and vacated spots from
the previous season, there was plenty of team chemistry and a stable locker room ac-cording to Miller. “We had a very cohesive group. There was no
animosity between any-
one on the team. We
got along.” And with these fresh faces, came fresh talent and poten-
tial. This was Adam’s first year playing, and despite this, he was
named to the All-Section Team. Miller recalls that, “it was a shock and an honor to
have made all sec-tion. Being my first year playing I would have never expected to have received this honor, but thanks to all
of my teammates and coaches I was able to develop my skills and become an asset to the team.” As the season reaches its end, Adam
and the team look to next year, and what it
will hold for them. “I expect us to win the
section champion-ship. We have a lot of guys coming back and I feel that having a
whole offseason to work on getting better will get us to where we
need to be.” In addition to Miller’s position on the
All-Section team, Senior Connor Kooyers re-ceived an honorable mention. With this
much talent and poten-tial, Coach Staffen will no doubt have an even
more successful 2012-13 season.
By Anthony Rash
Men’s Volleyball looks ahead to 2013
The men’s volleyball team is taking a short break before they
begin to prepare for next year’s season, where they hope to win
a section championship. Photo taken by Michelle O’Brien
Walker Printing
The official printer for
Thomas Jefferson High School’s newsmagazine, The Statesman. Copy and Fulfillment Services
Brian Walker
Owner
307 Richfield St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15234
412-606-3328
412-882-7835
Open 24 /7 all of your copy center needs.
Color copies as low as $.15 a page.
Black and White copies as low as $.03 a page.
6-1-12 ● TJHSTODAY.COM 19
63%
94%
Have you ever been cheated on by a signifi-cant other?
Have you ever had a crush on a
teacher?
Which year of high
school was the
hardest?
Which political party do
you see yourself in?
Have you ever tried
tobacco products?
Have you ever
consumed alcohol?
66% have cut
class.
Class of 2012 BY THE 100 seniors surveyed.
support gay marriage.
are happy with their plans for next year.
numbers Have you ever been in a car accident?
49%
have.
49%
have not.
*Two did not answer.
81% have.
16% have not.
*Three did not answer.
67% say
they have.
33% have not.
34% have
been cheated on.
16%
have cheated.
9th 10th 11th 12th
6% 6% 79% 9%
48% have had a
crush.
31% 29%
40%
Have you ever cheated
on a significa
nt other?
By Alexandrea Dalton
Amanda Manko: It’s over...yay!
Travis Churilla: stripes,
scrumdiddlyumptious, friar Bryce Churilla: “I eat more”
Meghan Poljak: yolo, swag,
opera Jordan Lysinger: never give up
Kyle Miller: bubble shooter,
return man 2, cubefield Carson Hines: unexpected,
exciting, eventful
Photos and article by
Mary Lancaster and Lauren Andros
● 2012 in three phrases or less ●
Jacob Drnach, Freshman:
Selko, theater, Kaszonyi
Nicole Kurka, Freshman:
Stressful, different, fun
Ms. Fortino, retiring department head: Veni, Docui, nunc me oportet exire
Dan Terpin, Sophomore:
Challenging, quick, rewarding
Mr. Salopek, art teacher:
Stop, drop, and roll
Mrs. Barker, department head:
Audacious, chaotic, exhausting
Corey Lostetter, Senior:
Long, stressful, senioritis
Missy Wagner, Sophomore:
fun, exciting, eventful
Carmen LoPresti, Junior:
fun, busy, chaotic