March 2014

RenaissanceThe LSMSAMarch 2014

Volume XXXI, Issue 5The Louisiana School715 University Pkwy.

Natchitoches, LA 71457

Praecellemus

CenturyLink links digital immigrants and digital natives

In This Issue:2 Editorial: The

Importance of Respect Eric

Cartman and Aretha Franklin, among many other celebrities, have endorsed this editorial.

LSMSA gets Enviro-turnt I know of no better

way to get turnt than to be in the vicinity of trees. Also, getting dirty by examining soil. Or something like that.

Feminism #TheGreatDebate How much longer

will this conversation go on? How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb?

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Students partici-pate at District Literary Rally I

heard that some stu-dents raised the roof while they were at Lit. Rally. Good for them.

Thomakos calls Phonathon a suc-cess If you don’t

appreciate that brilliant pun, then I don’t appre-ciate you.

LSMSA wins SLAMT yet again But winning in

an athletic competi-tion with other nerds doesn’t really mean that much. Oh well, #GoEagles2k14

...and more!

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Johnnette JohnsonStaff Writer

On February 27, Ms. Annmarie Sartor, External Communica-tions Manager of Cen-turyLink, spoke to stu-dents for three hours about peoples’ use of social media and its pros and cons. A key point in her discussion was her theory of the New Or-der. Sartor stressed her belief that social media encourages the start of an entirely new language that revolves around acronyms such as LOL (Laugh Out Loud), 143 (I Love You) and LLPOF (Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire).

use of punctuation as a means of exhibiting a particular emotion. An example of an emotion is a colon and a closing parenthesis to exhibit a smiley face indicating that one is happy. In her discussion of the New Order, she also introduced us to her theory of recycled communication meth-ods. Sartor gave support-ing evidence for her theory by comparing modern examples of communication to an-cient examples of com-munication. In doing so, she compared morse code to emoticons and abbreviations. While

social media is great in the sense that it can be used to strengthen public relations, it is dangerous in the sense that it can be used to check up on any per-son’s public profile by an employer or ad-ministrator. Sources of social media regret or how social media can be dangerous include unintended audiences, underestimating con-sequences, and “oops” moments. The example of an in-stance of an unintend-ed audience that Sartor used was a photo of a man’s hand holding a beer can while steering a vehicle. The caption for the photo was “Per-fect way to end a hard day”. Sartor explained how this was a bad de-cision, because within minutes, this man was found and put in jail for drinking and driv-ing. Sartor used “the tweet heard around the world” as an instance of underestimating consequences. After tweeting, “Going to Af-rica. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”, a public rela-tions professional was quickly left without a job. Sartor cited the con-sistent mistake of let-ting autocorrect adjust text messages as her example of an instance of an “oops” moment.

In closing Sartor ex-emplified good use of social media by show-ing her facebook and twitter fan pages as an author.

Sartor also spoke with Creative Writing students while she was on campus about her side career as a novel-ist.

Students Aryiana Moore, Ashlyn Fabre, and Kiana Freder-ick pose with Sartor after receiving copies of her book.

Taken by Johnnette Johnson

Students Seirra Harris, Shiva Velingker, Carlie Procell, and Charlie Bordelon pose with Sartor and Dr. Delery after eating lunch.

Taken by Will Smith The New Order also involves the creation of a new way of express-ing emotion. “In an effort to help stimulate non-verbal communication, we’ve developed the emoti-con,” said Sartor. An emoticon is the

morse code uses a se-ries of dots and dashes to represent letters, ab-breviations use letters to represent words. She also equated hi-eroglyphics to brand-ing. Sartor also stressed the fact that although

March 2014The Renaissance

Dr. Hall: “Does anyone know where the story of Adam & Eve came from?.”

Student: “Well, I know it’s from a book...”

“When I was your age, you know, back in the Devonian.” -Dr. Hodge

William Ganucheau: “It seems like a lot of LSMSA classmates got married to each other back then.”

Annalise Labatut: “That’s my greatest fear.”

Dr. Atkins: “They did it in the Big Bang Theory” Siobhan Prasad: “So it’s justified.”

Dr. Atkins: “Yes, it is.”

“It’s not about me vs. y’all, it’s about math vs. the rest of us.” -Mz. Gleason

“Just keep your eyes open; that’s how you win staring contests.” -Maggie Picone

“Most people think Animal House is a comedy, but it’s actually a documentary.” -Dr. Findley

Solo/Small Ensemble Festival

Soojin LeeStaff Writer

On Tuesday Febru-ary 25, 2014, Private Voice students trav-eled to Alexandria to compete in the Solo/Small Ensemble Festi-val. The students who participated this year were John Galatas, Marissa McCraney, Julia Landon, Nicko-las Walling, James Ro-drigue, Megan Chesal,

Isabela Walkin, Wil-liam Smith, and Soojin Lee. Each student per-formed well for the judge, earning ones on their score sheets. A duet by Marissa McCraney and James Rodrigue even enticed the judge to cry from being overwhelmed by emotion. Now THAT’s some-thing you can put on your resume.

Comic by Soojin Lee

“Did those shorts come with a pregnancy test?” This “joke,” directed toward an LSMSA fe-male student for wear-ing shorts that were “too short,” represents the disrespect circulat-ing not only around our school, but also throughout society as a whole. The causes of this condemnation range from clothing to sexual behavior. The problem in society is not merely that people judge others, as it is a natural thing for humans to do; the problem is that many people pass judgment on others in an offensive or harassing way, which can be de-structive to others’ self-esteem and to a sense of community. The latter is particularly a problem at LSMSA. That being said, people should not promote bad or “immoral” behav-ior, but they should accept someone’s decision on how he or she chooses to live. Personal choices sometimes yield unforeseen consequences, but it is necessary to be respectful and help people maintain their dignity. Re-taliatory behavior may aggravate the situation and make things worse, possibly even worse than the original offense itself. Responses should be constructive and non-degrading. A community like that of LSMSA should accept and support all of its members, honoring the familiar phrase “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Here at LSMSA, the morale of the student body is fragile; students and faculty should deeply consider the impact of their comments. Thought-less comments can be damaging both to individuals and to community morale.

Editorial: The Importance of Respect

From comedycentral.com

Brooke MendozaStaff Writer

March 2014 The Renaissance

LSMSA gets Enviro-turntAllison Boudreaux

Assistant Editor Louisiana’s an-nual Envirothon took place on March 8 in Baton Rouge Louisi-ana. LSMSA took two teams, blue and gold, sponsored by Dr. Landry. The blue team which placed second in the

Students win 3rd at state Science Quiz Bowl Tournament

Rather than enjoy-ing the Sweetheart’s Dance, on February 15, 2014, two teams of five LSMSA students competed in the De-partment of Energy’s regional Science Bowl. Both teams placed in the top five of 23 teams from all over the state. After staying the night in Baton Rouge,

Boupapanh, and Alex Robertson competed as Team B which took 3rd place. Dr. Stephen Cos-tin tagged along as a chaperone and even got into the competi-tive spirit as well. For the first time in the school’s his-tory with the compe-tition, both the A and B teams made it into the double elimination

Allison BoudreauxAssitant Editor

competition was made up of Jessi Pierce, Shi-va Vellingker, Siob-han Prasad, Ariyanna Moore, and Ashlyn Anderson. The gold team was comprised of Allison Boudreaux, Meredith McManus, Tori He-bert, Christine Savoie, and Claire Marshall.

The Gold Team consisting of Meredith McManus, Chris-tine Savoie, Claire Marshall, Tori Hebert, and Alllison Boudreaux in a pit examining soil.

Courtesy of Allison Boudreaux

The competition is based on current is-sues, understanding of aquatic systems, forestry techniques, wildlife identification, and oral presentation. Students practiced weekly for months preceding the event, observing the flora and fauna on campus and learning forestry procedures. Louisiana State Uni-versity held a career fair for participants on site which had representatives from several different natu-ral resource manage-ment agencies. This allowed students to preview occupational opportunities in envi-ronmental science.

Team B consisting of Allison Boudreaux, Alex Robert-son, Kesany Boupapanh, Marika Buchholz, and Abbie Dowd along with chemistry professor Dr. Costin.

Courtesy of Allison Boudreaux

students awoke early to reach the competi-tion at the University of New Orleans at sev-en that morning.Dr. Chris Hynes spon-sors Science Club which sends students to compete yearly. This year, William Ganucheau, Katherine Prutz, Aaron Cao, Neel Reddy, and Ethan Tesnow competed as Team A which took 5th place. Allison Boudreaux, Marika Buchholz, Ab-bie Dowd, Kesany

round. The 1st and 2nd spot in the tournament were taken by Baton Rouge High School’s two teams. “I think it’s just fun to be able to compete more than anything,” said Neel Reddy. Aside from some sci-entific disagreement among competitors and judges and an is-sue with the bracket layout in the second portion of the compe-tition, the day went over very smoothly.

Science Olympiad wins bigAllison Boudreaux

Assistant Editor Ten students from LSMSA participated in Louisiana’s Region III Science Olympiad at Bossier Parish Com-munity College on March 15. Students compete yearly in the compe-tition which includes written tests, con-struction events, and practical lab exercises. LSMSA brought home first in more than five events from Astrono-my to Forensics. Dr. Hynes and Dr. Dalling sponsored the team made up of Katherine Prutz, Ross

Jourdan, Allison Bou-dreaux, Marika Buch-holz, Kesany Boupap-ahn, Will Smith, Alex Robertson, Neel Red-dy, Aaron Cao, and Siobhan Prasad which placed third overall. Each student placed first, second, or third

in at least one event, and most received multiple awards for a variety of competi-tions. Students will move onto the state compe-tition on March 28 in Hammond.


Students read poems out loud for competitionBrooke Mendoza

Staff Writer Dr. Julie Kane, former poet laureate of Loui-siana, along with Dr. Nahla Beier and Mr. J. Michael Kenny, judged four students who par-ticipated in LSMSA’s district Poetry Out Loud competition in the CPT

Recital Hall on the eve-ning of Thursday, Feb-ruary 6, 2014. Participants Jordan Chauncy, Christopher Jackson, Julia Landon, and Aryiana Moore each read three poems from a list of about a thousand that the National Poetry Foundation provided.

Competition winner Jordan Chauncy recited “Domestic Situation” by Earnest Hilbert, “When You Are Young” by W.B. Yeats, and “After Work-ing 60 Hours Again for What Reason” by Bob Hicok. “I participated in this competition mostly be-cause I’m a sucker for a good slam poem,” said Chauncy. “I just think it’s a really neat art form, and I really appreciate it.” Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation com-petition, provides an op-portunity for students to improve their public-speaking skills while learning profound po-etry. The LSMSA competi-tors were the students that participated in Dr.

Link Hall’s special proj-ect, which in essence was a preparation for the competition. The students memorized and recited three poems while their instructor and peers critiqued their performances. “All four of these stu-dents worked very hard to get to the finals and each performed wonder-fully,” said Hall, sponsor of LSMSA’s Poetry Out Loud competition. “Un-fortunately, we could only have one winner.” Chauncy also partici-pated in the state com-petition which was held Saturday, March 8, 2014 in Baton Rouge. “I prepared for the local competition and the state competition in the same way,” said Chauncy. “Mostly, it

was a lot of walking in circles and repeating po-ems.” Chauncy recited two of his three poems at state, not making it to the third round. “There was some re-ally tough competition,” Chauncy said. “I’m not disappointed in the way it turned out because there were obviously a lot of people who had made stronger emotion-al and artistic choices than I had with my po-ems. It was a good learn-ing experience, and I’m looking forward to com-peting next year.”

Students Aryiana Moore, Christopher Jackson, Julia Landon, and Jordan Chauncy prepare to recite poems.

Taken by Brooke Mendoza

Feminism#The Great DebateAllison Smith

Staff Writer Feminism. It’s a word that has been given many definitions throughout the passing centuries, but recently a Facebook post has given it an entirely different meaning. On February 5, 2014, sophomore Eli Langley made the brave endeavor of posting a status regard-ing the word feminism. He stated, “Be a human-ist, not a feminist.” Six words. Six words caused the Facebook storm of the

lier to several pictures of sandwiches mocking the old adage of ‘women are only good for mak-ing sandwiches’ posted by student Josh Bright. It also spawned several quotes along the line of, “This is why I need femi-nism,” and, “That’s op-pressive.” Soon after the femi-nism argument sparked on Facebook, three stu-dents advertised the for-mation of the Feminism Club which was already being made. Although

tion of the club to the In-ter Club Council (ICC) to vote on its status as a val-id club. Usually, only a handful of about 20 club presidents attend ICC meetings, but the topic was of such interest that every club who could attend ICC sent a repre-sentative. Emails were even sent out specifying that only club presidents were allowed. Many students brought up questions such as, “Why can’t it just be a gender equality club?” or “Isn’t this what the club

EQUAL is for?” The spokespeople for the hopeful Feminist Club, Lauren Broussard, Sarah Bonvillain, and Caroline May, stood in the front of the CPT Re-cital Hall to answer these questions and more. The three emphasized that to achieve gender equality, one must focus on women in particu-day spurring 42 likes and

over 400 comments. These 400 comments ranged from intelligent debate between students such as Lauren Brous-sard and Mason Soude-

it was formed before the Facebook argument, it goes without saying that the controversy is what made the club so promi-nent. They took the proposi-

lar, since they are being oppressed. They also mentioned plans such as hosting informational meetings and forums where people of all gen-ders can discuss the is-sues surrounding femi-nism. Feminism is a bigger issue than just a school club or a Facebook ar-gument. Women are constantly working for equal rights, and they approach the issue in many different ways. No matter what way it is ap-proached, this issue has prompted several young women to make a change in the world, even if it starts with a mere school club.


Students place at District Literary RallyCarlie ProcellEditor in Chief

29 students rallied together in 29 different subjects to participate in the 2014 District Literary Rally on Feb. 22. Held at Louisiana Tech Univer-sity, Dr. Mark Ward and Dr. Allison Landry ac-companied the students on the two hour bus ride to Ruston, Louisiana. Out of the 29 students who participated, 26 will progress to the State Lit-erary Rally which is to be held April 5 at Loui-siana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

different subjects rang-ing from Agriscience to World History. The 29 students who represented LSMSA at the competition were hand-chosen by faculty members in each subject. Only one student from each subject was chosen. Students take a mul-tiple-choice test of ap-proximately 40 ques-tions in their subject and are judged based on how many questions they get correct. To progress to the state level in a subject, stu-dents must have scored Students smile brightly for the camera in the beautiful city of Ruston after taking their

tests at the District Literary Rally.Taken by Mrs. Ward

Subject Student PlaceAccounting I Claire Young 1st

Adv. Math: Precalculus Azum Beg 1stAlgebra II Lacey Hines 3rdBiology Aryiana Moore 1st

Biology II Bailey Dixon 1stCalculus Shiva Velingker 1st

Chemistry Neel Reddy 1stCivics Ny Pham n/a

Computer Science I Rhiannan Berry 1stEnglish II Emily Schultz n/aEnglish III Jordan Chauncy 1stEnglish IV Chloe LeTulle 1st

Environmental Science Allison Boudreaux 1stFine Arts Survey Christine Savoie 1st

French I Tiffani Smith 2ndFrench II Leia Bright 2ndFrench III Logan Osborn 1stGeometry Kate Wheeler 2nd

Health Ritcha Roy 2ndJournalism I Carlie Procell 1st

Physical Science Aaron Kastner 2ndPhysics Zachary Hall 2nd

Principles of Business Saolam Nguyen 1stPsychology William Ganucheau 1stSpanish I Joshua Poche 1stSpanish II Deborah Adeyemi 1stSpanish III Marissa Lausen 1stSpelling 10 Azum Beg 1stU.S. History Evan Hebert n/a

World History Marika Buchholz 1st

Paticipants in the 2014 District Rally

The Literary Rally is an academic competi-tion designed for stu-dents accross the state of Louisiana to compete and showcase their aca-demic prowess in 50

in the top percentage of people who tested in their respective subject at the district level. Gen-erally, the top three in a subject progress to state.


Thomakos calls Phonathon a successJohnnette Johnson

Staff Writer On the evening of February 3, LSMSA’s fifth annual Phona-thon took place. On behalf of the Louisi-ana School Founda-

tion, students met in the Language Lab and made over 1,100 phone calls to alum-ni, contributors to the school, parents of current students, and even grandparents

to ask for pledges for LSMSA. After four nights of voicemails, interest-ing conversations, and generous contribu-tions, the foundation received $63,000 in

pledges, which exces-sively exceeded the goal of $50,000. These funds, along with revenue made from other fundrais-ers, go towards the Foundation’s Annual Fund. The Foundation con-tributes to many excit-ing projects to enhance our community. Recent examples of projects include the new wireless sys-tem for the residence halls, new calcula-tors, upgraded sound equipment in Treen Auditorium, class ma-terials for Dr. Allison Landry’s “Human Anatomy and Physi-ology” course, class materials for Dr. Jason Anderson’s “Modern Genetics” course, vi-sual arts receptions,

and support for the Spring Arts Gala in Baton Rouge. Another example is the $30,000 architec-tural study for a new residence hall. “Without question, this wouldn’t have happened without do-nations received from events like the phona-thon,” said Katja Tho-makos, the Founda-tion Director. “Annual fund dona-tions have become a critical component to the LSMSA Founda-tion’s ongoing support of LSMSA, and we are extremely grateful to our donors who help make this possible.” Next year, Thoma-kos’s goal for Pho-nathon is $63,000. Do you think we will ex-ceed the goal?

Students Lillian Poe, Selene Allain-Kovacs, Brandy Ledet, Lydia Grafton, and Emily Schultz make phone calls to get donations for The Foundation during the Phonathon.

Taken by Johnnette Johnson

Spring Leadership RetreatCosette Zacarias

Staff Writer On February 21, 2014, a group of over thirty students left their dorms behind for a weekend at Lake Bistineau State Park to participate in the LSMSA Spring Lead-ership Retreat. The students spent the weekend in cabins, chaperoned by Co-ordinator of Student Engagement Jenny Schmitt and Student Life Advisors Susan Bernath and Jim Wil-son. Sign-up was avail-able to all students wishing to improve leadership skills. Activities were a way

to teach students the characteristics of lead-ers and importance of communication. Some

balloons the students could keep from fall-ing to the floor. Leadership extended to the kitchen, where students helped pre-pare meals and clean up dishes. Through-out the retreat, stu-dents worked together and learned from each other. “The leadership re-treat introduced me to a set of peers that I would have never talked to otherwise,” said Khalilah Al-Amin. “It gave me an appreciation for the various personalities among the LSMSA student body.” At the retreat, stu-

dents were also al-lowed plenty of free time to explore the campsite, play hide-and-seek, enjoy bon-fires, or just relax. On the second day of the retreat, students even attended a Mardi Gras parade on the

Students attend a Mardi Gras parade at the camp.Taken by Cosette Zacarias

camp grounds, where they received beads, candy, and even rub-ber ducks. Overall, it was a great retreat that con-tained many invalu-able leardership skills for students to use in life.

activities required stu-dents to communicate effectively without speaking. A few activities were repeated to see if stu-dents would be more successful if they were allowed time to plan and discuss. A goal of one such activity was to see how many


LSMSA wins SLAMT yet againSoojin LeeStaff Writer

On Friday Febru-ary 7, 2014, the Arkan-sas School for Math, Science, and the Arts (ASMSA) and the Tex-as Academy for Math and Science (TAMS) arrived at LSMSA to compete in the annual SLAMT tournament. This year was the 20th anniversary of this anticipated sport-ing event, lending this year’s SLAMT week-end more excitement than ever. Alumni from the classes of 2007, 2009, 2012, and 2013 flocked into Natchitoches to sup-port the current Ea-gles. The Eagles have al-most always dominat-ed the tournament in previous years. In fact, LSMSA has lost the traveling trophy only three times since the first contest in 1994. This year’s Eagles (especially the seniors) were determined to protect the trophy and defend the home turf. SLAMT kicked off with billards and table

tennis tournaments in the Prudhomme second floor lobby. LSMSA racked up six points from the two tournaments by plac-ing first in both. Then the first vol-leyball game also took place in the Gym, re-sulting in a victory for the Eagles against ASMSA. Then the tourna-ment really began as TAMS managed to take first place in vol-leyball over LSMSA in a close game, and LSMSA wiped the flag football field with both ASMSA and TAMS. Then ultimate Fris-bee games took place in the Eagle Field (by the CPT) and girls basketball in the Gym. ASMSA scored a win over LSMSA in ultimate Frisbee while TAMS defeated LSMSA in basketball. Chess was also tak-ing place in the midst of all these events in the morning; lead-ing to another sec-ond place victory for LSMSA. The soccer games

took place after lunch in Eagle Field. To ev-eryone’s surprise and excitement, LSMSA made a last-minute comeback to score a victory over TAMS for the first time in sev-eral years. Meanwhile, LSMSA took second in tennis to TAMS. The final event began in the Gym: boys basketball. The stands were packed with students from all three schools as they cheered for each other. The rumor had it that the LSMSA vs. TAMS game would determine the winner of this year’s SLAMT tournament. Although TAMS had a significant lead on the Eagles, the boys managed to close the gap to make it a nail-biting game. Unfor-tunately, the Eagles came just short at the buzzer. At the end of the day, the results were an-nounced at an assem-bly in the Gym. The group point standings were: 15 for ASMSA, 21 for TAMS, and 24

Amir Shalabi has control of the ball in the soccer game against ASMSATaken by Brandon Kongphongmany

Neel Reddy is ready to pounce on TAMS in flag football.Taken by Brandon Kongphongmany

Sundar Pandian elegantly leaps to intercept the flying disk in the frisbee game against TAMS.

Taken by Brandon Kongphongmany

for LSMSA! The trav-elling trophy would stay another year at LSMSA. As the LSMSA stu-dents celebrated yet another SLAMT vic-tory, the assembly dissolved into the SLAMT dance. Be-tween the bonfire be-

hind Prudhomme and the SLAMT dance, the students from all three schools dissolved their competitive tension towards each other. Congratulations to all athletes of LSMSA who helped to defend the Eagles’ pride!

The Fun Page March 2014The Renaissance

ACROSS:4. Another name for Mardi Gras7. Capital of Ireland8. “Mardi Gras” translation9. Irish author of Dracula10. First American city to have Mardi Gras parades12. March zodiac sign14. Roman god that “March” is named after15. A national symbol of Ireland16. Jewish festival held in March17. Traditional Mardi Gras pastries19. World famous beer that originated from Ireland20. Location of the first St. Patrick’s Day parade

DOWN:1. March birthstone2. March birth flower3. Purple represents ___ pertaining to Mardi Gras5. Special coins tossed from Mardi Gras floats6. Mardi Gras is the last day of ____ season11. Basketball tournament played by the NCAA13. Ireland’s first official language16. March 14th17. Secret societies that organize Mardi Gras parades and balls18. Date of International Women’s Day

This month’s puzzle topic is “Mardi Gras, March, & More!” brought to you by Brooke Mendoza.

March 2014

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Transcript of March 2014