Newtonite◆ Friday, May 14, 2010 • Volume 89, Issue 7 Newton North High School, 360 Lowell Ave., Newtonville, Mass. 02460

Non-profi t org.US postage paidNewton, Mass.Permit no. 55337

Jacob Schwartz

Under surveillance: Junior Zach Grannan and sophomore Aaron Seigel talk below a survillance camera on Hull Street.

Cameras a possibility next year

Teacher wins union presidential electionBY HILARY BRUMBERG

Spanish and English teacher Mike Zilles has won the election for the Newton Teachers Associa-tion presidency 51 percent to 49 percent over eight-year incum-bent Cheryl Turgel.

After irregularities in the elec-tion Wednesday, April 6, and Thursday, April 7, the election was redone Wednesday, May 5 and Thursday, May 6, Zilles said.

The second time it was done, there was more emphasis on fol-lowing rules of the election so there would be no irregularities, he said.

“There were a few minor rule changes to make it more fair,” Zilles said. “Mostly, it was just that we were more careful.”

Zilles, who had only worked on one NTA committee in his time working in Newton, decided

to run for president because he thinks “teachers and the teach-ers’ Union are now taking the brunt of the blame for problems we have in education,” he said.

“In the last year or so in par-ticular, it has become more and more worrisome to me, and I wanted to do something about that,” he said

The fi rst thing Zilles plans to do when his term as president begins July 1 will be to ask ad-ministrators, NTA members and various city representatives what the NTA is currently doing well and what needs to be changed.

“When I campaigned, I visited schools and asked members for their vote,” Zilles said. “Now I want to visit to fi nd out what our members want me to do. I want to get a fuller sense of what people’s problems are.”

He said that his time work-

ing at this school has been good preparation for his new position because this school is a compli-cated place.

“I’m already familiar working in an institution where there are many different kinds of people and challenges,” he said. “The diversity of North and its people will help me because I will be working in a diverse commu-nity.”

Zilles will stop working at this school and will work full time as a Union representative once his term begins.

“I’m sad about that—really sad,” he said. “It’s really like a process of mourning.

“I have and have had great students, colleagues and family support. I’ll miss that.”

Zilles’ mentor from when he started working at this school, Spanish teacher Carol Seitz, is

retiring this year. “We’re leaving at the same time, and I didn’t re-ally anticipate it,” Zilles said.

Seitz said she believes that Zilles will work well with his co-workers when he becomes president.

“Mr. Zilles is very tuned into other people and listens to their concerns,” she said.

“He is very genuine with his colleagues and does not stand on formality.

“He is willing to admit when he is wrong and is able to begin diffi cult conversations that many of us would rather avoid,” she said.

“And fi nally—he is a bulldog when he thinks that something is right or should be done. He doesn’t stop until the issue is resolved to his liking or until he understands that there is a better way,” Seitz said.

BY HILARY BRUMBERG

Newton North and Newton South principals and assistant principals are currently discuss-ing with the School Committee the possibility of implementing permanent interior and exterior cameras in the new North build-ing and the current South build-ing, according to the draft of the protocol.

Currently, there are only tem-porary exterior security cam-eras at this school, which were installed earlier this year in re-sponse to threats to members of the school community, according to School Committee chair Claire Sokoloff.

However, the administration at both schools decided that permanent cameras are neces-sary because this school has experienced “signifi cant theft of classroom technology, which has disrupted learning” in the past, assistant principal Deborah Hol-man said.

“This theft has gotten to such a point that some students consider it as a natural, expected thing if

their backpack or iPod gets sto-len. That’s a problem with our culture.”

In a meeting with all faculty, principal Jennifer Price said that there will be approximately $4 million worth of new equipment, technology and furniture in the new building.

“I am petrifi ed to think what could walk in the new building,” she said. “And what could walk will stay walked because we don’t have the money to replace it.”

Holman, chief of operations Mike Cronin and South assistant principal Mary Scott created and presented a “draft of a specifi c and narrow protocol for use of a security surveillance system” to the School Committee Monday, May 10.

The draft proposed that cam-eras would only be placed in public areas, such as hallways, athletic areas and parking lots.

They would not be put any-where there “may be reason-able expectation of privacy by students and staff,” including restrooms, locker rooms, private

offices and staff lounges, the protocol said.

Price noted that there will not be cameras in any classrooms and the cameras would not re-cord sound.

Signs reading “Surveillance Cameras in Use” would be posted in public entryways and other conspicuous locations.

The student handbook would also mention that security cam-eras are in use, the draft said.

The footage would only be viewed when incidents occur in the context of the Students’ Rights and Responsibilities Hand-book or when a crime is commit-ted outside the building, such as graffi ti, the draft said.

Only the superintendent, his designee or individuals autho-rized by them could view the recordings.

The protocol said that when they would do so, they would cre-ate a log of when and why they viewed any footage.

After a certain period of time that will be determined, the re-cordings will be taped over, ac-

cording to the proposal. According to School Com-

mittee co-chair Reenie Murphy, “even if we change the existing policy, it would allow for the surveillance cameras to happen, but the funding will not neces-sarily.”

To fi nd out if other high schools in the area have security cameras, the School Committee requested that South administrators con-duct a survey.

Of the seven schools surveyed, five already have surveillance cameras in place.

Bellingham and Whitman-Hanson High Schools have both exterior and interior cameras, according to the survey results. Acton-Boxborough and Concord-Carlisle High Schools have cam-eras inside, but not outside, while Lincoln-Sudbury High School has the opposite.

According to the survey re-sponses, neither Boston Latin nor Weston High School has any security cameras, but Weston has requested to install them both inside and outside.

news

See pages 1, 3, 9Jacob Schwartz

arts

See pages 4, 5Karen Brier

features

courtesy Janice Lichtman

See pages 10-12Ivan McGovern

sports

See page 9Jay Feinstein

on campusSee page 7

Whether the new school opening this September will feature security cameras is currently being discussed by the administration and the School Committee.

The installation of security camer-as inside and outside the new school would help ensure the safety of stu-dents and aid the administration’s efforts to stop theft.

If a bomb threat occurs, as in past years, the administration can catch the perpetrator by reviewing surveil-lance tapes.

Additionally, the cameras will act as a deterrent for crimes such as theft and vandalism. At present, the two security cameras located at the Elm Road and Hull Street entrances only monitor everyone who enters and exits the school.

Cameras inside the school will provide a comprehensive view of the school, giving the administration a

The Newtonite staff does all the reporting, production work and photography to produce 16 issues a year for a circulation of 2,000.

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The Newtonite, founded in 1922, is the newspaper of Newton North High School, 360 Lowell Ave., Newtonville, Mass. 02460.

Newtonite

Editors in chief — Marena Cole, Eli DavidowManaging editor — Teddy Wen-nekerNews editor — Hilary BrumbergSports editors — Jay Feinstein, Jacob SchwartzArts editors — Kate Lewis, Perrin SteinFeatures editors — Jacob Brunell, Fatema ZaidiOn campus editor — Meredith AbramsNews analysis editor — Steven MichaelPhotography editors — Gaby Perez-Dietz, Ivan McGovernProduction managers — Katrina Barry, Ben HillsAdvertising managers — Emily Gulotta, Tiphaine KugenerBusiness manager — Dan SalvucciCirculation managers — Alison Berkowitz, Caleb GannonAdviser — Kate Shaughnessy

Production advisers — Sue Brooks, Tom DonnellanNews staff — Malini Gandhi, Ilana Greenstein, Rebecca Harris, Kayla ShoreFeatures staff — Emmett Greenberg, Gavi KaplanSports staff — Evan Clements, Nicole Curhan, Jeremy GurvitsArts staff — Audrey Derobert, Becky KalishNews analysis staff — Kellynette GomezArt staff — Anna Kaertner, Maddie MacWilliams, D’Jaidah WynnPhotography staff — Karen Brier, Ryne Duffy, Anna Gargas, Gabe Dreyer, Jaryd Justice-Moote, Ramzy Kahhale, Edan Laniado, Isabel Meigs, Matt VictorCirculation staff — Spencer Alton, Stoddard Meigs, Omar Pinkhasov, Michela Salvucci, Stephanie VitoneProduction staff — Peter Taber-Si-monian

opinion Friday, May 14, 20102 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

LettersReaders are invited to submit guest articles and letters to the editor. Letters should be put in the Newtonite box in Beals House or emailed to thenewtonite@gmail.com. The Newtonite reserves the right to edit all letters, which must have the writer’s name, class and homeroom. The Newtonite serves as a forum for student opinion.

letter

mass interview

editorial

Cameras will deter theft and vandalism

Tips to stay safe in summerThe temperatures are rising,

spring is here and summer is on the way. This calls for fun outdoor activities.

This is the time that students will start riding their bicycles, us-ing their skateboards and going rollerblading. These activities can be fun, but dangerous.

Massachusetts has a Bicycle Helmet Law that states that any child 16 years of age or younger is required to wear a helmet while inline skating, skateboarding, riding a scooter or a bicycle, or any other manually propelled-wheeled vehicles.

Passengers on these vehicles are also required to wear a hel-met. These helmets should be well fitting and be secured by straps.

This law was created because most manually-propelled- vehicle related deaths are associated with head injuries. Approved bike hel-mets have been shown to reduce head injuries by as much as 85 percent.

A bike group has been formed in Newton. It meets every Mon-day at 5:45 p.m. and leaves strictly at 6 p.m. for a 7-10 mile, easy-paced ride.

For more information, contact nathanaronow@verizon.net.

While out biking, skating or skateboarding, be aware that you can be at risk for heat cramps, exhaustion or heat stroke.

These conditions are triggered by heat and dehydration and are preventable.

Heat exhaustion is a result of excessive heat and dehydration. Signs and symptoms include paleness, dizziness, nausea, vom-

iting, fainting and rise in body temperature. More severe cases will require hospitalization.

Heat stroke occurs when the body cannot cool down and a person does not sweat (an athlete after excessive exercise could sweat).

The best fl uid to drink when you are sweating is water. It is important to know that the hotter and more humid it is, the harder it will be for you to get rid of the heat produced by exercise.

Keep cool and safe and have a great summer.—ROZANNE MILNER

SCHOOL NURSE

Students, faculty weigh in on surveillance camerasBY STEVEN MICHAEL

In recent meetings, the school administration has proposed the implementation of surveillance cameras in the new school to pre-vent theft and threats to safety.

Students and faculty weighed in on whether they support the administration putting surveil-lance cameras on the exterior and interior of the new school opening this September.Faculty

Counselor Kyra Bateman said, “I want to support any ongoing ef-forts to make students and faculty feel safer and reduce vandalism and blatant expressions of intol-erance and ignorance.

“With that said, I can under-stand that is a sensitive issue.”

Adams housemaster James D’Orazio said he supports camer-

Correction:In the April 30 issue in the article “Greengineers produce

biodiesel fuel from waste” on page 11, the Newtonite incorrectly reported that biodiesel puts nitrious oxide into the air. It should have said that biodiesel puts nitrogen oxide into the air. Also, the article should say that it takes $1.10 per gallon to make biodiesel. Also, the Greengineers get their grease from Save That Stuff.

as for “the safety of students and staff and the security of equip-ment to prevent vandalism.”

History teacher Emily Hartz said, “I don’t see it as something that’s absolutely necessary, but I don’t see any problems with it.

“Security cameras could hold kids accountable for respecting the building and each other.”

Librarian Donna Johns said the library has had three laptops stolen in the past year.

“If we had the ability to go back and review the tape, we could look to see who took them.

“In the new building, we will have brand new computers, iPads and iPods.

“We need to be able to keep them secure and find them if they’re stolen.

“The library actually asked Ms. Price for security cameras.”

History teacher Duncan Wood said he thinks that security cam-eras could help catch students.

“It’s private property—it should be protected,” he said.Seniors

Becca Rosen-Weil said, “No, I think it’s invading too much of students’ personal life, and they have no reason for doing that.”

Mike Vaglica said, “I don’t agree with it, because they au-tomatically think something is going on when there isn’t.

“There’s no trust between the school and the kids,” Vaglica said.

Derek Virgilio said, “Defi nitely no, because it’s going against your rights to be free.

“They’re being overly protec-tive of our building,” Virgilio said.Juniors

Ezra Lichtman said, “As in most things, there are pros and cons. It’s obvious how it can seem like an invasion of privacy.

“However, if you’re worried

about vandalism or safety, it seems justified. It depends on which you put the emphasis.”

Gabe Paul said, “I would sup-port it outside the new school. I don’t know it would need to be inside the new school.”

Remi Torracinta said, “I don’t support the cameras because in the past there’s been problems with transparency at Newton South.

“I think with proper notifi ca-tion and information it would be okay.”Sophomores

Mwambanga Mkaya said, “I don’t support it. I support it outside, but not inside. Why do you need it inside? Students need privacy.”

Andrew Walsworth said, “I believe it is an interesting idea because the students could be un-happy with excess surveillance.

“It could be both a positive

safety measure or a negative privacy infringement.”

Lizzie Weisman said cameras would be more useful inside rath-er than outside, because “seeing who comes in is more important than seeing what they do inside,” she said.

“There’s no way they could get inside without the camera seeing them,” Weisman said.

“If someone were to try to sneak into school, all you’d need to do would be to see them come in.”Freshmen

Jonathan Kim said he believes the security cameras are a good idea, as it will keep the new school cleaner and nicer.

Chris Wein said he also sup-ports the cameras because it makes everybody safer.

“If something does occur, it’s on tape, not on somebody’s word,” he said.

greater net to catch rule-breakers.By the mere presence of cameras,

the amount of reported crime will likely decrease at this school.

The only argument against security cameras addresses privacy concerns posed by having your actions recorded on tape.

Worrying about a “Big Brother” style administrator watching every-thing is unfounded, as the administra-tion only plans to view the tapes after a specifi c incident has occurred. There is no one sitting in a back room watch-ing students shuffl e between classes and chat in the hallways.

Anyway, if a student does not want an action recorded on camera, it’s probably not something he or she should be doing in the fi rst place.

The goal of the cameras would be to protect the safety of students, not invade their privacy.

The benefi ts of installing cameras to keep the school secure outweigh any drawbacks. Security cameras are a small price to pay for safety.

Teddy Wenneker

On the road: Junior Teddy Wenneker captures the breadth of the American Interstate Highway System in this photograph of a truck driving off into the distance on Highway 10 between Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Mingato hosttalentshow

newsFriday, May 14, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 3

Committee seeksnominationsSubmissions due next TuesdayBY HILARY BRUMBERG

Students, teachers and par-ents can nominate teachers for the 2010 Paul E. Elicker Award for Excellence in Teaching until Tuesday, according to French teacher Alieu Jobe.

Any teacher who shows “a deep appreciation and knowl-edge of subject matter, teach-ing that stretches the mind of students and standards for per-formance that inspire students” can be nominated for the award, Jobe said.

“If you believe that he or she displays and stands for excellence in its totality, you can nominate him or her,” Jobe said. “Then you should give the reasons why he or she should be nominated.”

The Elicker Committee, which Jobe chairs, is comprised of fi ve teachers, two students, two parents, one housemaster, one department head and principal Jennifer Price.

The Committee will put to-gether all of the nominations it receives into a book, according

BY MARENA COLE

To raise awareness and funds, Minga will host a talent show this year as its annual event, according to junior Jocie Sobieraj, who is organizing the event with sophomores Shahar Don, Rebecca Jereza and Diana Sapashnik.

“We hope it’ll help to get the community involved by showcasing Newton’s fin-est,” Sobieraj said.

The show will be next Friday at 7 p.m. in Lasker Auditorium.

Minga is an organization advocating the prevention of the child sex trade, she said. In August 2006, it began in Newton, and the Minga club at this school began last year, she said.

According to Sobieraj, the show will feature several group acts from this school, including performances by Spontaneous Generation and Northern Lights, as well as individual acts.

“100 percent of the pro-ceeds will go to Minga, and there will be a donation box at the door,” Sobieraj said.

Tickets will be sold for $5 at the door.

Minga is also participat-ing in a contest to win a grant through the Pepsi Refresh Everything contest, Sobieraj said.

Students can vote for Minga to win funding by visiting www.refreshevery-thing.com/minga.

The club meets Thursdays during X-block in 317. Math teacher Janice Lichtman is the adviser.

to Jobe. Then the Committee will read all of the nominations and meet at the house of one of the parents on the Committee to vote on this year’s two winners.

Price will then announce the winners over the PA system. The winner will be given a portion of the grant money designated for the award.

In 1991, Paul H. Elicker ’40 funded the Paul E. Elicker Award as a tribute to his father, the New-ton North principal from 1932 to 1940.

“It’s sort of a tradition now at Newton North, as it’s been going on for a while now,” Jobe said.

Any teacher who has won the Elicker Award in the past cannot win it again.

The full list of teachers who have won the award can be found on the Elicker link on the Newton North website.

Nomination forms are avail-able in the library, house offi ces, homerooms, the Tiger’s Loft, the cafeteria and from the Elicker link on the Newton North web-site.

Jacob Schwartz

At the new school: Workers lift turf onto the football fi eld that is under construction.

Seniors to study in immersion programState department selects languages for business, national security

According to the press re-lease, this is “one of the Nation’s highest honors for high school students.”

In honoring the Presidential Scholars, the President of the United States “symbolically hon-ors graduating high school se-niors of high potential,” it says.Math Team fi nisheseighth in competitionBY MALINI GANDHI

Reaching the New England Competition for the fi rst time in 10 years, the Math Team placed eighth out of 22 teams in the large school divison and fi nishing off a strong season, according to math teacher Elisse Ghitelman, the coach.

“The last time we were at New Englands was in 2000, so this was a very exciting experi-ence,” Ghitelman said. “Some of the teams were very strong and very competitive, but I think we performed extremely well.”

The New Englands marked the end of the Math Team’s season Friday, April 30.

Ghitelman said that this year’s team held strong performances, noticeable improvement and promising talent.

“I have defi nitely seen a lot of growth, especially among those new to high school,” she said.

Ghitelman cited the team’s high performance during the team round, a fi nal round where the entire team works together to

Senior semifi nalistin national competitionBY HILARY BRUMBERG

Senior Naomi Genuth was selected as a semifi nalist in the 2010 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.

Students with “high enough” SAT scores were initially selected as candidates, Genuth said.

These more than 3,000 can-didates were then invited to submit essays, self-assessments, descriptions of activities, school recommendations and school transcripts, according to the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program press release.

A panel of “distinguished educators” reviewed the appli-cations and then chose the 560 semifinalists, according to the press release.

“Being selected as a semifi nal-ist means a lot to me,” Genuth said. “It’s a real honor because it’s a national competition. It’s pretty important to me.

“I was pretty surprised to fi nd out,” she said. “I didn’t expect to get this far—I am very happy that I did.”

The Commission on U.S. Pres-idential Scholars, a group of “em-inent citizens appointed by the President,” will select the fi nal 2010 U.S. Presidential Scholars, who will be announced in May, the press release said.

Up to 141 Scholars will be se-lected and invited to the program’s national recognition events, held in Washington, D.C., in June.

solve problems, as a key factor to its success. The team received 16 points during this round, which was a noteworthy score, accord-ing to Ghitelman.

Ghitelman also mentioned freshman Christina Chen and sophomore Caroline Ellison as performing particularly well, placing as North’s top scorers with 15 individual points each.

According to Ellison, com-pared to regular math meets, New Englands was different and exciting.

“We weren’t even sure if we were going to make New Eng-lands, because we had placed seventh in the States and didn’t know if that would be enough,” Ellison said.

“So just being there and com-peting against teams from places like Maine and Connecticut was really exciting.”

Looking to the future, Ellison hopes for another successful season next year.

“Since we don’t have any se-niors that are graduating, I think we will have another strong sea-son, especially if there are some new freshmen,” Ellison said. “We will definitely aim for making New Englands again.”Fair gives optionsfor after high schoolBY HILARY BRUMBERG

To help students and families learn about the different supports in the community that are avail-able to them, this school hosted the Newton North High School

Vendor Fair, according to district transition specialist Jill Curry.

Curry helped organize the fair with inclusion facilitator Mark Panichella, Connections ABA director Lisa Goldthwaite and a group of Newton North parents.

The event took place Monday, May 3 in the library from 6 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. and hosted 25 vendors who displayed possibilities for “service people with disabilities when transitioning out of high school,” she said.

“They represented different agencies that help people get jobs and learn about what kinds of recreation and leisure options they have in the community,” Curry said. “We want them to be employed just like other Newton citizens.”

For example, Panichella said that Newton Parks and Recre-ation offers weekend and night programs.

The goal of the event was to “empower students to be ac-tively involved in the transition planning process,” according to Curry.

“It was a very positive evening, and we got great feedback from the vendors, parents and stu-dents,” Curry said.

Mark Panichella said that over 70 packets of information were handed out at the fair, which means that there was relatively high turnout. “This was very good for us,” he said.

Panichella also said, “We re-ally encouraged parents to bring their children.”

in brief

Newtonian

Prateek Allapur

BY STEVEN MICHAEL

Three seniors in AP Compara-tive Government were selected to participate in the U.S. State Department’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth, according to history and so-cial sciences teacher Katharine Heidlage.

She said that the highly-selec-tive program focuses on immer-sion in certain languages.

The State Department se-lected languages they consider necessary to have fl uent speak-ers for United States business

and national security purposes, Heidlage said.

Seniors Prateek Allapur and Kevin Han will travel to China to participate in the program for Mandarin Chinese.

Han plans to study in Beijing and Allapur will study in either Beijing, Guangzhou or Shang-hai.

“It’s 10 months fully paid, and I get to live in China and learn the language,” Allapur said. “The skills I learn I’ll be able to use in my career in foreign relations.”

Heidlage said she hopes Al-

lapur and Han “will become as fl uent as possi-ble in Chinese, and since it’s an immersion p r o g r a m , I think they’ll be successful in this,” she said. “In addition, I hope they learn about the so-ciety in which they are liv-

ing.”“Chinese is a particularly dif-

fi cult language to learn because it is tonal,” she said.

“One of the best ways to learn it if you’re not a child is through immersion.”

Allapur and Han are deferring college to attend the program.

After returning, in the fall of 2011, Allapur will attend Dickin-son College and Han will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Senior Max Fathy was also accepted to study Arabic in Mo-rocco, but chose not to attend the program.

arts Friday, May 14, 20104 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Theatre Ink wraps up year with four showsBY KATE LEWIS

As fi nals and summer vaca-tion linger on the horizon and another school year winds down to a close, Theatre Ink is still running full-force to bring the last four shows of this year to the stage.Troupe to present “Shine” tonight

Newton North’s contemporary musical theatre troupe will per-form its second showcase of the year, “Shine,” tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Lasker Auditorium.

The troupe is a new addition to the Theatre Ink program this year and is directed by senior Hayley Travers, junior Kelly McIntyre and sophomore Jon Paul Roby.

“Kelly approached Hayley and I about the idea last summer to create a troupe that was really passionate about musical the-atre,” Roby said.

Together, the three directors pitched the idea and soon held auditions for the troupe.

“It was a really quick process from the idea until we were actu-ally having auditions,” he said.

Roby said that “Shine” con-tains deeper subject matter than the troupe’s fi rst showcase, “Wake Up the Generation,” which was performed in January.

“Many of our numbers have commentary on teenagers and

young life,” he said. One of these songs is “Coast-

ing” from the musical “Edges,” a full-cast number.

“It’s a song about how we go through life not really thinking about what we’re doing,” Roby said.

The show will also include many comedic songs, including “Oh Henry Bar,” an ode to a vend-ing machine full of candy bars, which sophomore Emily Paley will sing.

“There’s going to be a lot of great music and beautiful har-monies,” Roby said. “Altogether, this showcase will be a very fun evening.”

Tickets are $5 and are on sale at www.theatreink.net.Energetic comedy in “Nitrous Oxide”

Nitrous Oxide, Theatre Ink’s sketch comedy troupe, will take the stage later this month with zany sketches and off-beat scenes.

Now in its second year, Ni-trous Oxide is directed by seniors Chris Annas-Lee, Jordan Ascher and Seth Simons and will be performed in repertory with the Playwrights’ Festival on Wednes-day, May 26 and Friday, May 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the little theatre.

Auditions for the troupe were held in the fall, and from the

audition pool, a troupe of 10 writ-ers and actors was assembled, Ascher said.

Together, the troupe wrote and workshopped sketches for the performance, working together to create material for the show.

An interesting facet of this process, said Ascher, is how, with a whole troupe to assist in the writing process, “the end result—a completed sketch—can be totally different from your original idea.”

By April, the troupe was armed with a show’s worth of sketches and rehearsals began. Even during the rehearsal process, minor revisions were made to sketches.

“It’s fair to say that the revi-sion process never ends,” Simons said.

Simons said he hopes the show makes audiences laugh, and that “they will leave inspired.”

“Comedy is not just about be-ing funny,” Ascher added. “It’s about changing the world for the better.”

Tickets are $5 and are on sale at lunch and at www.theatreink.net.Eight 10-minute plays in annual festival

Student-written and student-directed works will be presented in the third annual Playwrights’ Festival.

“Although most Theatre Ink shows are student-driven, the Playwrights’ Festival is produced literally from nothing, entirely by students,” said senior Jordan Ascher, who is an artistic director along with senior Seth Simons.

The festival will be performed Thursday, May 27 and Saturday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the little theatre, in repertory with Nitrous Oxide.

In November, student play-wrights submitted their 10-min-ute plays to be considered for the show. From this pool, eight plays were chosen for production.

The chosen playwrights in-clude Ascher, Simons, seniors Chris Annas-Lee, Jen Diamond, Nathan Harris, Louis Loftus, and juniors Derek Butterton and Skylar Fox.

After being selected, the play-wrights went through an edit-ing process that lasted several

Gaby Perez-Dietz

Sketch comedy: Senior Chris Annas-Lee, junior Derek Butterton and seniors Jen Diamond, Jordan Ascher and Robbie Benner have fun in rehearsal for Nitrous Oxide.

Gaby Perez-Dietz

Cabaret Troupe: Freshmen Eliza Burr and Madeline Murphy practice for the group’s upcoming show, “Shine.”

‘The Comedy of Errors’ fi lled with energy, humorBY PERRIN STEIN

Dance was featured promi-nently in the amusing show “The Comedy of Errors,” which was performed by students from North and South under the di-rection of Dev Luthra, Thursday May 6 through Saturday, May 8 in the little theatre.

The show began with the story of two pairs of twins that became separated at birth. The cast danced around the theatre using both the aisles and the stage to engage the audience.

Blacklights and a fog machine added an eerie, magical feel to the show’s opening.

After the prologue, a merchant, Antipholus of Syracuse, played by junior Justin Phillips, and his ser-vant Dromio of Syracuse, played by South junior Jaclyn Horowitz, arrived in Ephesus.

Throughout the day, the visit-ing Dromio and Antipholus are mistaken by different townspeo-ple for Dromio of Ephesus, played by freshman Anna Nemetz, and Antipholus of Ephesus, played by junior Derek Butterton.

Both the Dromios were in-credibly energetic throughout the show. Whenever they came

on stage, they always danced around and used exaggerated hand gestures to make the audi-ence laugh.

At one point, Horowitz de-scribed a lady’s incredible girth, darting from one side of the stage to the other, showing how large the woman’s stomach was.

The merchants contrasted the Dromios’ energetic charade by trying to remain logical through-out the show.

They often failed, and ended up being violent towards their servants.

At one point, Phillips chased Nemetz around the stage while wielding a rope.

This scene amused the audi-ence because both characters were making a big deal of the situation.

Adriana, Antipholus of Ephe-sus’s wife, was played by South junior Sarah Wanger. She re-alistically portrayed Adriana’s annoyance at her husband.

This anger becomes more and more hysterical through out the show.

Through many conversations with her sister Luciana, played by South junior Rina Friedberg, this

helplessness showed through. These characters were a strong contrast to the humor of the rest of the show.

Costumes, lighting and set added to the upbeat feel of the show. All together, they seemed crazy and chaotic just like all the mishaps involving mistaken identity.

A bright blue and yellow set designed by sophomore Aaron Siegel livened up the theatre. There was a blue house skeleton with yellow supporting beams. On the fl oor, there was a giant spiral shape that fi lled the en-tire stage with intricate voodoo symbols.

Four platforms were evenly spaced around the fl oor.

During the dance scenes, actors used these platforms to add levels and depth to their dancing.

At the top of one of the aisles, there was an arch with a star at the top.

Beneath the arch was a trap door in the fl oor. On a few oc-casions, people entered from this door to give the show more variety.

Entering from the fl oor made

the audience laugh because it was something new and differ-ent.

Blue, yellow and white were the main colors used in the cos-tumes, which were designed by junior Anna Gargas.

Although any actors playing an Antipholus or a Dromio wore matching terra cotta masks, those of Syracuse were wearing white and blue, while their Ephe-sian counterparts wore matching outfi ts of white and yellow.

This difference helped audi-ence members watch the identity confusion, but not be confused themselves.

During the dance scenes, the lights, designed by senior Chris Annas-Lee, complimented the energetic actors.

At the beginning of the show, the dance scene used black lights with a little bit of golden lights, so it was easier for the audience to see the dancers.

This use of creative lighting captured the audience’s interest throughout the show.

Together the acting, set and lights came together to create an interesting and amusing show.

months and involved collabora-tion between playwrights and workshops with local profession-als, Ascher said.

“We had the opportunity to meet with John Kuntz, a Boston-area playwright,” Ascher said.

In April, auditions were held. Playwrights were granted the opportunity to either direct their own plays, or one of the artistic directors would direct it in their place, Ascher said.

Three of the playwrights, including Ascher, joined the 28-member cast to do double duty as directors and actors.

“The Playwrights’ Festival is Theatre Ink at its very best,” he said. “Everyone involved in this process is both teaching others and learning themselves.”

Tickets are $5 and are on sale at lunch and at www.theatreink.net.Lasker’s past shows will be remembered

“Kiss the Stage,” a show to cel-ebrate Theatre Ink’s past produc-tions, will perform a one-night engagement on Friday, June 4 at 7:30 p.m. in Lasker Auditorium as a part of the “Bringing Down the House” weekend.

“It’s essentially a tribute to the

Lasker stage and all the shows that have taken place there,” said Rebecca Price, a former student teacher who is coordinating the performance with Rachael Zier-ing ’04, the musical director.

“Alumni from as far back as the ’70s and ’80s have been invited to perform,” Price said. “There may even be a few sur-prise performers.”

Along with these alumni, cur-rent Newton North students will present memorable numbers from past Theatre Ink produc-tions, such as “Cabaret,” “Any-thing Goes,” “Les Miserables” and “Chicago.”

“This show is unlike any other Theatre Ink production, as it brings favorite moments and memories back to the forefront to celebrate the past, present and future,” Price said.

“As we say goodbye to the old building, we welcome the new theatre opportunities to come in the new school.”

Tickets cost $5 for students and $10 for adults, and can be ordered online.

For more information on these performances or to purchase tick-ets, visit Theatre Ink’s website at www.theatreink.net.

review

artsFriday, May 14, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 5

Concertto closemusicalseason

Senior art students honored in exhibit

BY PERRIN STEIN

To close out the year, the music department will host its annual Pops Night, according to fi ne and performing arts department head Todd Young.

It is an annual event “to cel-ebrate the hard work done by this school’s musical ensembles throughout the year,” Young said. “It is also a time for us to recog-nize Mr. Travers’ retirement.”

The concert will be Thursday, May 20 in the cafeteria.

Before the concert, there will be a potluck dinner, Young said. Students will bring in food and share a meal with audience mem-bers before the performances.

The concert portion includes one or two pieces from each ensemble, giving the different groups a chance to “hear each other and celebrate music-mak-ing together,” he said.

The selected pieces go along with the “fun and celebratory feel of the event,” Young said.

Students will perform popular selections that will “hopefully en-ergize and excite the audience,” he said.

Some of the music includes a compilation of music from The Lion King and The Incredibles, which will be performed by the Symphonic Band and Wind En-semble. Additionally, the Orches-tra will perform pieces from the musical “Wicked.”

At the end of Pops Night, the music department gives out scholarship awards to a few stu-dents and acknowledges the hard work of students and faculty.

“It’s lots of fun,” Young said. “This year, it’s much more special because it will be the last Pops Night in this building.”

Karen Brier

Admiring artwork: English teacher Inez Dover looks at student artwork displayed in the library during the Senior Art Show.

BY BECKY KALISH

Seniors displayed portfolios of the work they created in the last four years at the Senior Art Show.

Paintings and photography were displayed throughout the library Monday, May 3. People were welcome to walk around, look at the work and read the students’ artist statements.

“The show was so successful because students publicized it so well,” said art teacher Sandra Truant. “The art is such a great re-fl ection of the hard work students put in, and the food and decora-tion were done so well. There was a lively atmosphere.”

In her artist statement, senior Lee Ford wrote, “Starting as an in-experienced artist, I have learned so much over the past four years. With a paintbrush in my hand, a feeling of relaxation and freedom overcomes my body.”

One of her paintings displays

an assortment of colors with vari-ous images scattered throughout the frame. These images include a large red mouth, rainbow col-ored fl owers, checkered boxes and polka dots.

The picture conveys excite-ment and creativity through its use of many different images. The contrasting designs and colors of these images swirl into one large picture to demonstrate imagination.

Senior Puloma Ghosh’s por-traits depict people in the midst of everyday actions or emotions. One of her paintings showed a girl sitting with a unique, some-what confused expression in her eyes. Another one of Ghosh’s portraits displayed a girl looking at and playing with her fi ngers.

“I have always been observing, studying and scrutinizing the

world around me,” Ghosh writes in her artist statement. “Little things were what caught my eye the most.”

Along with many different paintings, the exhibit also dis-played student photography.

Senior Jacob Horwitz’s pho-tographs were centered around nature.

One of his photographs fo-cused on a huge tree surrounded by scattered leaves.

“I think that living things are really beautiful, and taking pic-tures of nature was my way of expressing that,” Horwitz said.

“After freshman year, I kept on learning more and more new things, and the options that Mr. Morris gave us really tested our art skills.”

Senior Rebecca Oran dis-played an array of photos. She particularly enjoys her photo-graph of a wide, open fi eld fi lled with stalks of wheat, she said. Di-

rectly behind the fi eld is a digital photograph of a city.

She used this technique to demonstrate how cities nowadays are starting to take over nature. It shows the ongoing collisions that take place between the natural world and the industrial world, she said in her artist statement.

“Through my photographs, I am trying to convey to other people what I’m seeing through my lens and present it to them even when they aren’t physically there,” Oran said.

For her portfolio, senior Olivia Glennon received a scholarship from the Newton Art Associa-tion.

An honorable mention was given to Ghosh, and the RISD Book Award was given to senior Samantha Alpert.

The Art Show was run by Truant and art teacher Shannon Slattery. Student monitors were Glennon and senior Ed Pang.

Students displayed work in art showBY PERRIN STEIN

Student work created through-out the year was displayed in the Annual Art and Photography Exhibition Friday, May 7.

“The exhibit included work from all of our classes—Ms. Slat-tery, Mr. Morris and myself,” said art teacher Sandra Truant.

Work was chosen by the stu-dents themselves, but there were a few pieces teachers decided were important to have in the show, Truant said. This included the pieces that won Boston Globe Scholastic Arts Awards.

“By having the Annual Art and Photography Exhibition, students learn how to display their work for an audience to view. It’s one of the many aspects involved in learning about art,” Truant said.

A variety of ceramic pieces were displayed on a table in room 407, one of which was created by senior Simona Leone.

Leone created a rectangular plate with a slight rim. To make the piece more interesting, she had drawn in the outline of a few buildings using white paint. Her usage of contrasting colors made the building outline stand out from the plate.

Junior Emma Mahoney’s tea-pot was displayed next to Leone’s plate. Mahoney’s piece was very angular and boxlike. Each part of the teapot was a different color.

Senior Sofi a Lerner chose to display a brightly colored abstract painting. It featured three-dimen-sional rectangular stripes that went inwards at a sharp angle. This forced the stripes from the top of the canvas to meet the ones from the bottom of the canvas at the center of the paper.

The stripes were each painted slightly different colors start-ing with dark blue and moving into bright yellow. This painting stood out because unlike the other images in the room, it used geometric shapes and both warm and cool colors.

The only collage in the exhibit was made by sophomore Rachel Adelsheim. It had the faces of ce-lebrities superimposed on things that are typically American, like football, an American fl ag and beer. This was a very clever way to show the negative light in which America is often viewed.

Underneath the collage, Adelsheim had copied the collage in pastel, but the celebrities’ faces were warped and large.

Because the faces took up more of the drawing, they re-placed the beer bottle and foot-ball player It was interesting to see the alterations Adelsheim chose to make.

Gaby Perez-Dietz

Viewing students’ hard work: Junior Jess Kramer guides her mother, Karen Kramer, through the Annual Art and Photography Exhibition. The show was on display Friday, May 7.

Near the collage was a draw-ing by sophomore Nellie Rob-inson.

It showed a girl walking up a staircase towards a boy with wings on the landing. The boy’s face wasn’t visible because he was looking longingly over the banister at the real birds.

Robinson used a black pen and white paper to create the drawing. This made the image powerful, and it kept the focus on the drawing instead of the colors and painting technique.

Dispersed among the drawing

were photographs. Sophomore Alexander Oliveira’s photograph displayed a hand carefully stick-ing a fork in a toaster. This image was ironic because one wouldn’t expect someone to carefully do something dangerous like stick-ing a fork in a toaster.

One of the few digital photo-graphs was taken by sophomore Kathryn Dimond. It was of a pretty, teal building.

Even though the photograph used color, teal was the only vi-brant color in the image, so the usage of color wasn’t overdone

and distracting. The photograph was taken

from far below and at an angle, so the building appeared to be getting wider as it got taller. Dimond’s photograph used an everyday subject, but she used color and position to help people view it in a different way.

The Annual Art and Photog-raphy Exhibition represented a wide range of ideas and tech-niques, which showed the hard work students put into the pieces they have created in art classes this year.

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BY CAMILLA JACKSON

For our environmental service project, as part of the AP biology curriculum, we chose to focus on the environmental aspect of the American multibillion-dollar food industry—especially the different produc-tion and transportation methods.

There are many unsustainable methods used in America now that will, in the com-ing decades, begin to signifi cantly affect not only our consciences, but also the environment and therefore our food.

Some foods are made with more envi-ronmentally detrimental methods than oth-ers. Each of the three basic types of food (organic, industrial and processed) has a different effect on the environment.

For food to be referred to as organic, several requirements must be met.

One of the most well-known and environmentally important rules is that organic food is produced without ever us-ing pesticides.

This is significant because large amounts of pesticides can destroy the topsoil, kill or harm animals living nearby and pollute water.

The only standard for industrial and processed foods, often grouped together because they are very similarly produced and priced, is a routine examination of the facilities and factories by the Food and Drug Administration inspectors.

Processed foods are comprised of industrially produced ingredients and contain additives and preservatives to increase the shelf life and the longevity of the product.

High fructose corn syrup is one of the most common additives found in pro-cessed foods. It is made from corn. Corn is sold at a fraction of what it costs to pro-

featuresFriday, May 14, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 7

Team members say marathon rewarding

courtesy Janice Lichtman

Ready to run: The Dreamfar marathon team has prepared since November for a marathon and a half-marathon.

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BY FATEMA ZAIDI

For the first time, North’s Dreamfar marathon team met in November to train to run both the Providence marathon and Hyan-nis half-marathon in Cape Cod, junior Rolli Jameson said.

“This was South’s second year doing it, and they wanted us to do it too,” Jameson said.

Tim Killilea, a Learning Center aide at F.A. Day Middle School, began the team, Jameson said.

Math teacher Janice Lichtman explained how the team started.

“Jamie Chaloff, a member of the special ed department at South, is head coach of a program that trains adults for marathons, called Dreamfar,” Lichtman said.

“Jamie started the Dreamfar team at South last year and asked Victor Acosta, founder of Dream-far, to sponsor both North and South’s team,” she said.

According to Lichtman, the team trained as a group to pre-pare for the Hyannis half-mara-thon and continued to prepare the for Providence marathon.

But students who joined late only did half of the Providence marathon, she said.

After X-block on Mondays, the team ran four miles, Licht-man said.

Junior Brandon Duckham, an-other team member, said they ran six to eight miles after X-block on Thursdays, but the team would attend a class for training too.

Tuesdays were for theory class, when Killilea would lecture the team on proper nutrition and sleeping habits, Duckham said.

“Jodi Jones, a nutritionist, came to talk to us, too,” he said.

On Saturdays the North and South teams would join and and run 20 miles, Duckham said.

According to Duckham, there

was a written test before the Providence marathon based on the notes the runners had compiled from the lectures on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“We also ran 18 miles as a test to see if we were applying everything we had learned and if we were hydrating ourselves properly,” Duckham said.

According to Jameson, she and fi ve other girls started at 6 a.m. rather than 8 a.m. when run-ning the full marathon because the heat would not be healthy

to run in.The hardest thing for Jameson

was overcoming the “wall,” she said.

“At 17-20 miles there is a phys-ical and emotional wall, and you just don’t want to run anymore,” she said.

According to Jameson, it took a lot of dedication and willpower to run, especially when she felt she had no energy left to move.

Junior Tamra Matama shared her experience on the half mara-thon in Providence with a smile

on her face.“I never run,” she said. “So at

one mile I got shin splits, and I walked for the next few miles.

“By the ninth and 10th mile, I was lost, but after a while, I was back on track,” she said.

With a sigh of relief, Matama said, “I was mad, tired and ex-tremely hot, but after I ate pizza, drank water and saw my other team members, you should have seen me.

“I was jumping on top of people, I was so excited—it was

such a fun experience. I can’t wait to do it again,” she laughed.

Duckham emphasized that he highly recommends joining the marathon team.

“It’s a lot of fun, a great expe-rience and great for college too,” he said.

Lichtman said that if anyone is interested in joining the team, he or she can look for fl iers in the fall, or come talk to her in 317.

“You can also email Jamie Cha-loff at Jamie_Chaloff@newton.k12.ma.us,” she said.

duce due to the policies instituted by the federal government following the Great Depression in the 1930s.

When buying food, there are many factors to consider. The overwhelming statistics, combined with pricing and taste, all play a particular role.

However, we have created a guideline for choosing the “better” product. We have found that it is more important to consider how the product was produced, packaged and transported to the shelf.

There is a trade-off between organic and industrial produce. Organic is gen-erally made by a more environmentally conscious method and is guaranteed to be pesticide free (in order to obtain USDA rating, there can be no pesticides in the process).

However, most organic food comes from California, so for those of us resid-ing in the Northeast, the food must travel roughly 3,000 miles to get from the pro-ducer to the consumer. These 3,000 miles are not driven in a hybrid car, but rather a huge, diesel- consuming, pollution-emit-ting truck.

A benefi t of buying processed is that most of it comes from the Midwest, so the distance to be covered by diesel truck is about half that of most organic produce. However, processed and industrial foods are usually made with pesticides that harm the land, animals and plants in the area. So which is environmentally better to purchase? How can we make an educated decision about the food that we eat?

Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut an-swer for all products, and it depends which type of products are being compared.

In the coming two articles, the distinct environmental aspects of industrial, pro-cessed and organic foods will become clearer, such as the transportation meth-ods implemented.

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newsFriday, May 14, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 9

Group says drug use related to stress level

Ivan McGovern

Freedom from Chemical Dependency: Rich Savino speaks about how to deal with stress without using drugs or alcohol.

Hilary Brumberg

Advocating for change: South junior Ellie Wood, Brookline High School sophomore Danny Waldrop and junior Maddie MacWilliams speak at Youth Accountability Action Tuesday, April 27 at Temple Shalom.

BY MARENA COLE

Youth of Massachusetts Orga-nizing for a Reformed Economy advocates for legislation to ben-efit youth, according to junior Maddie MacWilliams.

“YMORE is a coalition of ur-ban and suburban youth groups fi ghting for teen issues that could be overlooked in the state budget process,” MacWilliams said.

MacWilliams is a member of Teens Acting for Social Change, one of the youth groups that has been a part of the coalition.

In TASC, which includes mid-dle and high school students, MacWilliams said she and other students have been learning about social action.

“It’s similar to the Leadership course here,” she said.

Tuesday, April 27, MacWil-liams organized Youth Account-ability Action along with Brook-line High School sophomore Danny Waldrop and Newton South junior Ellie Wood.

The event, which was at Tem-ple Shalom in Newton, described the work that YMORE has been doing to promote youth jobs leg-islation and funding for schools.

At the event, State Senator Cynthia Creem and Amanda Rositano, a legislative aide speak-ing on behalf of Representative Frank Smizik, spoke about their commitments to stand behind youth legislation in the state budgeting process.

Creem said she would com-mit to supporting new revenue this budget cycle, as well as meeting with representatives

from YMORE after the senate’s budget proposal is released and prior to the amendment deadline to discuss possible new revenue priorities.

Also, she said she would dis-cuss priorities for progressive new revenue options for next year’s budget cycle with YMORE members after the fall election.

“We have many holes in our

budget,” Creem said. “Many people are out of jobs—it’s not only our teens’ jobs.

“I had a job when I was a high school student, and so I know how important that was to my self-esteem.

“I’m with you,” she said.Rositano said that Smizik

would commit to prioritizing progressive new revenue for next

year’s budget cycle and meet with YMORE before the end of this budget cycle.

Smizik has also co-sponsored an amendment to the budget for $4 million in new funding that would restore the 50 percent cut that has been made to Youth Works, a program that helps fund teen jobs.

MacWilliams said that this was

her fi rst experience with commu-nity organizing.

“Not only is it fun, but it’s crucial to social action,” she said. “You can’t just care about a cause. You have to be able to explain it to people, and act on it.”

The organization plans to have more events this year, as the Sen-ate is not fi nished with its budget process, she said.

Teens advocate for change through youth coalition

BY MARENA COLE

AND PERRIN STEIN

Prevention specialists from Freedom from Chemical Depen-dency spoke Thursday, April 29 about the connection between stress and drug use, the effects of marijuana, the consequences of alcohol and drugs and the effects of substance abuse on relationships.

FCD is an organization that educates people around the world about substance abuse.

“We aren’t going to tell you what to do with your life,” said Rich Savino, a member of FCD who has been sober for 28 years.

“We just want to give you enough information, so you can make healthy choices,” he said.

Savino discussed ways to “learn about how to deal with stress without turning to drugs because there is always the risk of addiction,” he said.

One of the best ways to relieve stress is to get comfortable, close your eyes, listen to the silence and breathe for a little while, Savino said.

Students can also do things they enjoy to forget about their stress, he said. This can include things like biking and playing with a pet.

“These are responsible ways to deal with external stresses—ones that you can’t control. Savino also

recounted what led him to drug abuse and described how his abuse of drugs, including alcohol, affected his relationships.

“After a while, my fi rst wife just left me because I spent so much time drinking,” he said.

His wife took their daughter with her, he said.

Corey Manning, also a member of FCD, began the presentation with a game of Simon Says. Af-terwards, he asked the audience to think of ways that the game is related to drug addiction.

For example, in both scenarios people follow what others do and make excuses, Manning said.

Even when students got out of the game, a negative conse-quence of playing it, they wanted to keep playing. Manning com-pared this to the FCD’s defi nition of drug abuse: the “compulsive and repeated abuse of substances despite the negative consequenc-es,” he said.

Manning said he became in-volved with drugs at age 13, and his drug use spiraled until he was 25 years old and no longer had any resources to buy drugs or to support himself, he said.

He then went into a rehab and then a 12-step program, and has been sober for 15 years since, he said.

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sports Friday, May 14, 201010 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Ivan McGovern

Windup: Senior Borja Jones-Berasaluce prepares to hurl the ball towards home plate.

Ivan McGovern

Hot corner: Junior Corrine Beatrice throws the ball to fi rst against Brookline. The Tigers won 27-0 against the Warriors.

Boys’ trackprepares for States BY JAY FEINSTEIN

After doing well in their league meets, boys’ track, 6-1, is ready for the postseason according to coach Jim Blackburn.

“We hope we can do well in the State Meets, but it all comes down to the individuals,” he said.

Blackburn expects seniors Conor Ebbs and Jake Gleason and junior Isaiah Penn to do well in the State Meets.

The Tigers have improved in their fi eld events, according to senior Hao Kai Wu, a captain with Ebbs, Gleason and senior Mike Goldenberg.

“We are getting better at jumps,” he said.

Individuals are preparing for the State Relays tomorrow. Ac-cording to Wu, the Tigers are ranked fi fth in the state for the 4x400.

“I think that the 2x200 will also be good,“ he said.

The Tigers hope to do well in a Bay State Conference individual meet Tuesday, May 18. This meet is only for select individuals on the team who qualify for it, Wu

said. The Tigers

are working for a State title in the Di-vision I State Finals Friday, May 28.

“I think we can get third or fourth in one of the re-

lays,” Wu said. “I hope that we can do well for this meet.”

The All States are Saturday, June 6. The top fi ve teams in each division make it to this meet, ac-cording to Wu.

“We expect to make it for the 4x400 or the 400,” he said.

The Tiger’s last league meet was Wednesday against Fram-ingham, 85-51. The Tigers swept the discus and the shot put and came fi rst and third in javelin, according to Ebbs.

“We had all around good per-formances,” he said.

Personal records were made by senior Alex Talishinsky and sophomore Swardiq Mayanja.

Everything went well Friday, May 4, when the Tigers defeated Needham 97.5-38.5, Wu said.

“If we were weak in anything, it would be hurdles,” he said.

Baseball capturesfi rst wins of season

Softball, 10-3, qualifi es for tourney

BY JACOB SCHWARTZ

Baseball’s luck is beginning to change for the better, according to senior Borja Jones-Berasaluce, a captain with senior Eric Howard and junior Jack McLaughlin.

In one week, the team earned its fi rst three wins of the season.

The Tigers’ fi rst win of the sea-son was at Brookline Wednesday, May 5.

According to Jones-Beras-aluce, in the bottom of the ninth junior Matt Dickey came in for relief with a 3-2 lead, two outs and a runner on second when a Brookline batter hit a ground ball up the middle.

Junior Kyle Krasker, playing shortstop, made a diving play, snagging the ball and throwing it to fi rst for the out, securing the victory.

Soon after, the Tigers won their second game here against Framingham Monday, 4-3. Jones-Berasaluce said the team was behind 3-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, but scored two runs to win.

Making their record, 3-10, the Tigers defeated Natick on the road Wednesday, 2-1. According to coach Joe Siciliano, Howard pitched a four-hitter and senior Alex Bernstein had nine assists from third base.

The Tigers play Braintree

today on the road. Jones-Ber-asaluce said that to do well, the team will “continue to hit in the clutch, the way we did against Brookline and Framingham.”

Dedham comes here Wednes-day, and because it will be the only time they will meet this year, Jones-Berasaluce said the team is not completely sure what to expect.

“In the past they’ve been not great, so hopefully we can take advantage of that, if it’s still the case,” he said.

Wellesley plays the Tigers here Thursday.

A weak Brookline team comes here Monday, May 24.

The Warriors’ pitching is not great, Jones-Berasaluce said, and the team will try to take advan-tage of that weakness.

The Tigers lost to Needham at home 12-6 Friday, May 7, and the Tigers will visit Needham for a rematch Wednesday, May 26.

Siciliano said, “They come from a baseball town, and their coach is really good. We have to hit a little better.”

The team hosts Waltham Fri-day, May 28 in its last regular season.

Battling for one-run leads the entire game, the Tigers lost to Milton 9-8 here Monday, May 3, Jones-Berasaluce said.

BY JACOB SCHWARTZ

Softball, 10-3, qualified for the postseason Wednesday by defeating Natick here, 3-2, coach Lauren Baugher said.

With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh, sopho-more Katie Caruso hit the ball up the left fi eld line, bringing in senior Jess Fugazzotto, a captain with seniors Lucia Joseph and Le-anne Precopio, to score the game-winning run, Baugher said.

Earning their 10th win of the 20-game season by beating Natick, the Tigers qualifi ed for the State Tournament.

Another highlight was senior pitcher Rae Copan reaching two milestones in her high school career.

Copan earned her 500th career strikeout when the team defeated Framingham 7-1 on the road Monday.

“I actually didn’t know about it when it happened,” she said. “I was really surprised when I found out.”

A game earlier, Copan pitched a no-hitter to shut out Needham 7-0 on the road Thursday, May 6.

Speaking about the game, Co-pan said, “I was a little nervous about them getting a hit, but I was mostly just happy.”

Tonight at 6:45, the Tigers

play Braintree under the lights at Albemarle Field.

Braintree and North are two of the top teams in the Carey Divi-sion of the Bay State Conference, so the game could decide who really wins the division, Baugher said.

At Dedham Monday, the Tigers will play a “strong all around” team, according to Baugher.

We y m o u t h c o m e s h e r e Wednesday, and Baugher said the Tigers will need to match the Wildcats’ level of hitting in order to do well.

“Doing the little things” will be important when the team plays Wellesley on the road Thursday, May 20, Baugher said.

Brookline hosts the Tigers Monday, May 24. The Tigers defeated Brookline here 27-0 the last time they met, Wednesday, May 5.

Baugher said she believes Lin-coln-Sudbury is a strong team, and that the game here Tuesday, May 25 will be a close one.

Baugher said she hopes the team will do well against Need-ham here for the last game of the regular season Wednesday, May 26, but said she realizes that it “will be tough, because it can get emotional.”

Playing at Milton Monday, May 3, the Tigers lost 5-4.

Boys’ lacrosse works to maintain possession of ballBY JAY FEINSTEIN

As players have begun to come together as a team, boys’ lacrosse, 5-8 Wednesday, has “played the last stretch of the season with passion and pride,” said senior Rocco Donohue, a

captain with seniors Scott Giusti and Mike Vaglica.

The Tigers expect a tough game tomorrow at Lincoln Sud-bury Regional. “They’re one the strongest teams in the state,” coach Bussy Adam said. “We’ll

need to play our best game.”At home Monday, the Tigers

will play Weymouth, which is one of the strongest teams in the league, according to Adam. “We’ll need good offense.”

Wednesday at home, the Ti-gers will take on a deep Wellesley team, Adam said. “They’re skilled and strong athletes.”

The Tigers have “a winnable game” with Brookline at home next Friday, said Adam. “We need to prove that we can play well in different areas.”

Monday, May 24, the Tigers will visit Needham, which is a good team, according to Adam. “Hopefully we can learn to shoot better and beat them.”

The Tigers will visit Newton South Wednesday, May 26 in a night game. “They’ve always

been a rival,” Adam said. Last year the Tigers beat the Lions by one goal in overtime.

Wednesday, the Tigers de-feated Braintree, 9-2.

Monday, the Tigers lost to Natick on the road, 6-5. “We stooped down to their level,” Donohue said. “We really need to work on ground balls and we need to become a more physical team.”

The Tigers took control of Framingham last Friday, beating them 11-3, according to Dono-hue. “It was the best game of the season because we worked really well as a team. We didn’t expect to beat them by as much as we did.”

The Tigers hosted a tough game with Needham Wednesday, May 5, losing 14-7. “We were

winning 4-3 at halftime, but we turned the ball over too often,” Adam said.

A “disappointing game” took place Monday, May 3 when the Tigers visited Brookline, accord-ing to Adam. The Tigers lost 7-4 even though they were tied 3-3 at halftime because they turned the ball over 22 times, he said.

“We have to maintain posses-sion of the ball and minimize our turnovers,” Adam said. “We can’t force our defense to play this much defense.”

At home Thursday, April 29, the Tigers defeated Milton, 13-4. “We had a great start,” Adam said. According to Adam, seven of North’s players scored at least one goal each.

Yesterday, the Tigers were to have hosted Dedham.

Newtonian

Hao-Kai Wu

sportsFriday, May 14, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 11

Girls’ lacrosse practices drillson lead passes, ball control

Ivan McGovern

Focus: Senior Hannah Jellinek looks to pass the ball.

courtesy Chris Welch

Victorious: Ultimate Frisbee celebrates its win at the Greenfi eld Tournament Saturday.

Teddy Wenneker

In practice: Freshman Danielle Handler hits a forehand.

BY JACOB SCHWARTZ

To prepare for games in the future, girls’ lacrosse, 5-6-1 Wednesday, is running drills on cutting to the ball and lead passing, according to coach Kim Hamilton.

“We’re trying to keep momen-tum in games and get rebounds,” she said.

“Improving rebounds will help a lot. All it takes is a simple rebound to get the ball back and score.”

Senior Leanne Luke, a captain with seniors Brittany Jaillet and Kim Gillies said the team has been trying to take what they learned in practice and bring it into games.

“We’ve been doing really well in terms of translating team chemistry onto the fi eld,” Luke said.

“We’re also improving at get-ting the ball down the fi eld faster and learning how to break a zone,” Luke said.

Keeping possession will also be important when North goes to Wellesley Wednesday, Hamil-ton said.

The Tigers defeated Brookline 23-10 earlier in the year, and the team visits the Warriors Friday, May 21 for another game.

“Our goal for us next time is to shut out their shooters,” Hamilton said. “I think that’s possible.”

Next, the Tigers have a re-match here against Needham Monday, May 24.

The Tigers lost the last time they played, 20-5.

“I think we should take ad-vantage of their defense more,” Hamilton said. “Last time we met, we had eight shots on goal and fi ve went in.”

The Tigers play at Newton South Wednesday, May 26, for the fi nal game of the season. “This will be the only time we play them this year, so I’m not sure what to expect,” Hamilton said.

Defense was strong, but of-fense did not play well when the

Tigers lost 9-5 hosting Braintree Wednesday, according to Ham-ilton.

The Tigers defeated Natick 18-5 here Monday.

At Framingham, the Tigers lost 17-8, Friday, May 7. Accord-ing to Hamilton, even though the team lost, it was still a good game for the Tigers, because Framing-ham was probably expecting to have a much larger lead.

According to Hamilton, “Fram-ingham probably wasn’t winning by as much as they wanted to be. With six minutes left in the fi rst half, they had only a fi ve point lead.”

The Tigers were to have played at Dedham yesterday.

Girls’ tennis improves, qualifi es for postseasonBY ELI DAVIDOW

With its qualifi cation for the postseason, girls’ tennis, 10-3 Wednesday, needs to consistently improve and overcome its in-experience to succeed after the regular season, said coach John Gautschi.

“If we can show improvement in each performance we do, the wins will take care of them-selves,” he said.

The Tigers’ main weakness, a lack of experience, should also eventually fade away with more match play, Gautschi said.

“We’re turning that around each match,” he said. “We’re all working hard everyday, and we’re putting a lot into it.”

One team that is rapidly im-proving is the fi rst doubles duo of freshmen Danielle Handler and Sage Vallah, Gautschi said.

“They’re learning volumes out

there,” he said. “They’re getting total on-the-job training, baptism by fi re.”

In their next match Monday, the Tigers visit Brookline, a team with a dominant first singles player in sophomore Marie Flem-ing, Gautschi said.

“Fleming is a phenomenal player at number one,” he said. “But otherwise, Brookline’s built like us. They’ve got a great player at fi rst singles, but they’ve got some experience issues, too.”

Then in the regular season’s closing match against Needham Wednesday, the Tigers will see one of the Bay State Conference’s toughest teams for round two.

In their fi rst meeting Friday, April 30 at Needham, the Rockets shut out the Tigers, 5-0.

“The second we got off the court, we wanted to play them again,” Gautschi said. “That was

the best 5-0 loss we ever had.”In recent matches, the Tigers

defeated Weymouth at home Wednesday, 4-1.

Senior Lexi Abbott, a captain with junior Emily Kelly, said the team was “able to fi nish off points and reduce unforced errors.”

Tuesday at home in a make-up match against Brookline, the Tigers edged the Warriors 3-2.

“We all played really well, even though they were missing a lot of their team,” Kelly said.

At Dedham Monday, the Tigers beat the Marauders 4-1, qualify-ing the team for the postseason.

Thursday, May 6, the Tigers defeated Braintree here 4-1. The day before, the Tigers also beat Natick 4-1 here.

At Framingham Monday, May 3, the Flyers beat the Tigers 4-1.

The Tigers were to have visited Wellesley yesterday.

Ultimate Frisbee wins tournament in ‘nail-biter’BY JAY FEINSTEIN

After practicing hard through-out its season, Ultimate Frisbee won the Greenfi eld Tournament Saturday, said junior Dylan Wolff, a captain with seniors Nick Ble-nis and Carl Venezia. This was the fi rst time since 2001 that the Tigers won a tournament.

“Going into the tournament, we knew that we had a chance to win,” Wolff said.

According to Blenis, improve-ments in throwing and consisten-cy contributed to the win. “We’ve also been cohesive as a unit.”

A strong group of players is the main reason that the Tigers won, though, according to Blenis. “We have a good core of seniors who have experience, and our young players are fast at learning.”

In the fi rst round, the Tigers lost 8-7 against Nipmuc. The Tigers’ “heads weren’t in the game,” according to coach Matt Anderson.

The Tigers had a bye for the

second round. The Tigers beat Northfield

Mount Hermon, 12-10, in the third round after obtaining an early lead. “They played zone against us, which is our strength, so we took control at the begin-ning of the game, and we kept it until the end,” Anderson said.

The Tigers were evenly matched with Four Rivers, but they beat the team 11-9 in the fourth round, Anderson said.

“We had a tight game all the way, but we had the skill and strategy needed to win,” he said.

In an “amazing” game, the Tigers beat Pioneer Valley Per-forming Arts, 14-12 in the fi nals, Anderson said. Both teams were “neck and neck” for the whole game. “It was a nail-biter the whole way.”

Wolff and senior Joe Connors made two long thros to score the fi nal two points and win the tour-nament, Anderson said.

sports Friday, May 14, 201012 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Girls track looks to State Relays

Ivan McGovern

Hit the ground running: Runners practice for a meet at Framingham Tuesday.

Volleyball makes more changes for postseason

BY IVAN MCGOVERN

Girls’ outdoor track, 6-0, looks to win the State Relays tomor-row.

“We hope to do very well at State Relays, and we have a real shot to win if things go well,” said coach Joe Tranchita.

Senior Ariana Tabatabaie, a captain with senior Camilla Jackson, said it “should be a very exciting meet.

“We have some very strong relays this season, and we have plenty of girls,” she said.

“This is a really special meet because it is one of the few times during the season that we get to really work as a team.

“Newton North will defi nitely be one of the strongest com-petitors on the track for the state title.”

Saturday, May 22, the Tigers will travel to Norwell to take on the Clipper Ships at 9:30 a.m.

In recent action, the Tigers defeated Framingham Wednes-day, 107-29.

Tuesday, May 4, the team obliterated the Needham Rockets 119-12 at Needham.

Tabatabaie said, “Needham

does not have the depth to pose too much of a threat. They have strong distance runners, but they have some holes.

“Overall, we did well. We didn’t do great, but well.

“But like always there were some incredible performances and some stand out athletes.

“For example, junior Amy Ren ran very well in the 110 hurdles and freshman Meghan Bellerose ran a huge PR in the 400 meter.”

The Tigers also performed well against the Milton Wildcats 92-44 on the road Thursday, April 29. Tabatabaie said, “At one point in the meet they were winning, but after the 400, all the points started falling in our favor.

“Milton has a few talented athletes, but in order to match up with us, Milton had to double their athletes in many events, which defi nitely tired them out.”

Tabatabaie also said everyone on the team has been doing ex-tremely well.

“We are progressing well as the season goes on, and our under-classmen are proving themselves to be more and more talented and dedicated,” she said.

BY JACOB SCHWARTZ

In the past two weeks, volley-ball, 10-2, made more changes to its court set-up in preparation for the postseason, according to coach Richard Barton.

These modifications to the rotations were on top of changes originally made to the rotation last month, Barton said.

The point of the further chang-es, Barton said, was to have more powerful blocking. Barton said he hopes this will be the fi nal change necessary for the postseason.

Senior Jack Hannah said the changes “allow for more creativ-

ity, innovation and improvisation on a play-by-play basis.”

The Tigers play at Needham today in what Barton said will be one of the toughest matches of the year. “They crush the ball and have two of the physically strongest hitters in the state,” he said.

In a demonstration, Barton held a textbook in one hand, and lightly tossed tape at the text-book. The roll of tape bounced off the textbook and back into Barton’s hand. This represented, Barton said, how the Tigers’ blockers usually play.

Then Barton began throwing the tape much harder against the textbook, and the textbook fl ew out of his hand. “Imagine I’m shooting the tape out of a gun. That is what it’s like when we play Needham,” he said.

“Our blockers can’t handle their powerful hits.” Barton said.

According to Barton, there is a possibility the teams will be fi ghting for a better spot in the standings towards the end of the season, so the match will be important.

Towards the end of practice

Thursday, May 6, players cele-brated when Barton told the team of Framingham’s win against Needham. The win was a major upset for Framingham, according to Barton, and pushed Needham further down in the standings.

In fi ve games, the Tigers lost 3-2 Wednesday at Brookline. Ac-cording to senior Chris Keefe, the fi nal game was 15-13, Brook-line.

The Tigers beat Natick Mon-day, 3-1 here in an upset victory. Natick currently holds fi rst place in the conference, while the Ti-gers run a close second.

Weymouth comes here Mon-day for the Tigers’ last match of the season. Barton said, “It’s good that we’re playing Weymouth, a weaker team, on Senior Day. Players get emotional.”

Wednesday, May 5, on the road, the team “pummeled Brain-tree mercilessly,” Barton said. The Tigers won 3-0.

The Tigers shut out the Flyers 3-0, at Framingham, Monday, May 3.

Senior Maicen Young said he is proud of the team. “Defense was a question at the start. Now it’s much better than before.”

Gabe Dreyer

Eye contact: Senior Dilio Martinez keeps his eye on the ball as he hits a forehand in practice.

Boys tennis, 9-3,works on doublesBY JAY FEINSTEIN

Boys’ tennis, 9-3 Wednesday, has more experience and more confi dence than before, said se-nior Dan Stein, a captain.

“We’re doing a lot better than we were at this time last year,” he said.

According to coach Phil Gold-berg, the Tigers’ strength lies with its singles players. The Tigers “still need more work on the fundamentals of doubles,” he said.

The Tigers are “hoping for a win” Monday when they play Brookline at home, Goldberg said.

It will be tough for the Ti-gers when they visit Needham Wednesday, according to Gold-berg. “I hope we play as well as we did the last time,” he said.

The Tigers are looking for-ward to the postseason in June, but they are unsure of how they’ll do. “It really depends on the draw,” Goldberg said.

“The longer we stay away from Needham and Wellesley, the bet-ter chance we will have to win matches,” he said.

The Tigers played an easy game at Weymouth Wednesday, 5-0. “Everything went well,” Goldberg said. “Weymouth is a week team,” he said.

At home Monday, the Tigers

defeated Dedham “handily,” win-ning 5-0, Goldberg said.

The Tigers visited Natick Wednesday, May 5, winning 3-2. Stein was convincing at one, ac-cording to Goldberg. Sophomore Parker Swiston lost a tough match at two in three sets, he said. Junior Zev Cariani won eas-ily at three, he said.

According to Goldberg, fi rst doubles, consisting of sophomore Shelton Cochran and freshman Kris Labovitch, “played their best match to seal the victory with a straight win.”

Monday, May 3, the Tigers defeated Framingham at home, 3-2. According to Goldberg, it was a good game because the Tigers lost to Framingham the fi rst time around.

“Cariani was deciding the match at third singles, and he pulled out a third set, 7-5, to seal the win,” Goldberg said.

Needham beat the Tigers 5-0 Friday, April 30 at home. According to Goldberg, despite the loss, Tigers played well and Stein played great. “We took [Needham] to three sets at fi rst singles and second doubles,” Goldberg said.

Yesterday, the Tigers were to have visited Wellesley. According to Goldberg, Wellesley is “the class of the league.”