October 1, 2010

HarritonBanner

The

A Free Forum of Harriton High School

Volume 5 Number 1 Rosemont, Pennsylvania October 1, 2010

Logged Off: Harriton’s First Computerless Days

in Two YearsCassie Seltzer

Life without laptops: a Har-riton student’s worst night-mare? That is, a nightmare we all faced for the first two weeks of school, but a short-lived dream ended with a return of technology on the 21st. Obviously, the lack of computer access posed many problems to normal student life. Classrooms are designed to accommodate technologically-minded groups, and teachers write their lesson plans for stu-dents with a computer at hand. Additionally, some pupils had no access to printers or even a word-pro-cessing system without the One-to-One program, and so they fell behind in classes

that require neatness and/or typed homework. The loss of the MacBook’s organiza-tional programs was also a huge blow to students who used programs like iCal to keep track of their sched-ule, or Stickies for record-ing assignments. When the laptops were returned, we all had to rearrange the way we’ve gone through our first two weeks of school, some-how fitting together our handwritten notes from the beginning days to fit with typed ones in the months to come. Were the changes really be easy to adjust to? Hopefully, but it’s unlikely that the switch will be a smooth one.

Continued on Page 8...

September 21 marked the return to normalcy for Harriton laptops (Slyvie Krause/The Harriton Banner)

Spencer Reid running wild at LM (Alex Settle/The Harriton Banner)

On The Web...Anjali DesaiExecutive Editor

The Harriton Banner goes Online! This year just might unfold to be the most excit-ing in our history as your primary student newspaper. We have launched a web-site that is far more progres-sive than anything we have ever accomplished, and will be updating daily. We will bring you the most recent news from the school and from the world. We will also be of-fering a brand new all on-line sports section, where we get daily sports updates, scores, stats, features and a special look into Harriton Athletics, as well as special web exclusive features and columns from online Sports Editor Ryan Smith.

Tom Considine

For the first time in school history, the Rams started off the Central League season undefeated. This was just the beginning of a season that can only bedescribed in one way: the good, the bad, and the ugly finish. In the opening game of the season the Rams, who only managed to win two games last year, started off the 2010 campaign with a bang as they defeated cross-town rival Lower Merion at Arnold Field by the score of 28-6. The win marked the Ram’s third over Lower Me-rion in the last four years. It was by no means close- this game was a complete and utter massacre.

Continued on 1...

Additionally, we will also be releasing a bevy of web exclusive content across all sections of our newspaper. Our goal is that whether you need updates on the local or national news or Harriton sports, you will come to us first. The Ban-ner online is always at your fingertips. There is also a Har-riton Banner Twitter ac-count! If you have a twitter, follow us @HarritonBanner for updates, polls, and ex-citing new stories. We also recently launched our new Facebook page, where we will be posting links to sto-ries for all to see. This move deeper into the realm of on-line is very exciting for us. So be sure to check us out at www.hhsbanner.com, and check daily to find out whats going on at your school!

Sweet Victory

Open For Business

LMSD opens brand new high school for second straight year.

Page 14

Summer Movie Reviews

Can anyone top Inception dur-ing Hollywood’s downswing?

Pages 12/13

Boys XC Runs for Gold

Running Rams chase most successful season in decades.

Page 10

No Typical Tea Party

GOP resurgance looks to take back congress in mid-term election.

Page 3

Faculty Spotlight

Mr. Elder’s journey from long term sub to full time faculty.

Page 6

News October 1, 2010

Mosque Plans for Ground Zero?Sydney Soll

America is known for many things, particularly freedom of religion. Recently, there has been controversy surrounding plans to build a mosque only a few blocks away from Ground Zero. What many don’t know is that atop of what was once the North Tower sat a restaurant called Windows on the World. Windows on the World had many Islamic work-ers who would pray during brief breaks between shifts each day, forced to lead prayers in just a small stairwell. Just weeks before the tragic attack on the World Trade Centers, construction of a mosque inside of the World Trade Cen-ter had begun. One construction worker, via the New York Times, recalls exiting the building on September 11, 2001 and wonder-ing whether any of the Islamic restaurant workers had escaped or perished with thousands of other people that were inside the

building. His answer was later provided: most had perished. Feisal Abdul Rauf, a prayer leader at a New York City mosque, and his wife Daisy Khan, released plans for a fifteen-story mosque just a week after May’s bomb scare in Times Square. Normally, these plans would be passed without being a second thought, but this case is differ-ent. The location of the mosque would be just two blocks away from Ground Zero in an aban-doned and then renovated Burl-ington Coat Factory, a building that was severely damaged by a falling piece of equipment on September 11th. Many who agree with Rauf’s mentality see how this could be an opportunity to make peace in a place that mat-ters most, and understand that this could improve relations between the United States and the Middle East. They see the mosque as a way to demonstrate the face of moderate Muslims and spread their vision of peace.

Others believe that the mosque is a little too close for comfort. Many Americans fear that it would be offensive to those whose loved ones were killed in the 9/11 attacks. Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, stated that building the mosque within such a small vicinity of Ground Zero would provoke unnecessary tension between the Middle East and the United States. In an August edition of Newsweek, two mothers of fire-men that died on 9/11 were in-terviewed regarding their views of the proposed “Ground Zero Mosque.” One supported it en-tirely, stating that this would re-flect positively on our nation as a whole, help show our acceptance of all religions, and demonstrate our ability to forgive. The other felt that the mosque would be dis-respectful to all of the lives that were lost in the attack: expected of one who lost someone on 9/11. She feels that this would be an ex-treme dishonor not only to her and her family, but also to those who lost their lives during the 9/11 at-tack of the World Trade Center. At the White House Ra-madan dinner, President Obama voiced his support for the mosque project. Obama’s opinion, one of the most important in the country by nature, could have an enor-mous impact on whether or not the mosque is actually built. Rauf, though he denies it, has said that America needs to allow him to build the mosque at risk of future attacks to America regarding the plan. Tensions regarding the Islamic-American relationship have risen extremely since the re-lease of the plans. Will building a mosque help to heal the wound between the two?

A Ban on Social Networking

Jessica HermannStaff Writer

How dependent are you on so-cial media networks? Do you access them just a few times a week in order to send your friends a quick message, or are social media networks your primary method of communi-cation for group projects and homework assistance? Do you often find yourself refreshing your profile page, eagerly antic-ipating the appearance of a new notification? Whatever the case may be, social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, constitute a huge component of student life inside and out-side of the academic commu-nity. Unfortunately, they can also create large distractions and divert students from their academic responsibilities. The Harrisburg University of Sci-ence and Technology, located in Harrisburg, PA, realizes that these social networking web-sites serve both positive and negative roles on their college campus. To further explore these effects, the university conducted an experiment to test the level of student and faculty reliance upon social media. During the week of September 13 – September 20, the university blocked all ac-cess to social media networks (including Facebook, MyS-pace, Twitter, and Instant Mes-saging) within the boundaries of its campus. Students and professors were forced to rely upon e-mail, phone calls, and text messaging to communicate with one another. In addition, the student recruiting and busi-ness networking programs that the university usually conduct-ed through social media web-sites were temporarily placed on standby. According to the FOX News website, this experiment

was met with mixed reactions. Although the majority of stu-dents approved of the study, there were some participants who viewed the exercise as “a terrible thing and an infringe-ment upon people’s rights.” Nevertheless, most people felt that the experiment freed them from worrying about their on-line social status and allowed the students to instead direct their concentration towards their coursework. As student Ashley Harris, 22, said, “I feel obligated to check my Face-book. I feel obligated to check my Twitter. Now I don’t.” She added, “I can just solely focus [on my schoolwork].” On the other hand, almost everyone agreed that a year-round implementation of the ban would not be feasible. Although student levels of aca-demic attentiveness rose dur-ing the week of this investiga-tion, social media networks are simply too important nowadays to be prohibited. Students use them to organize events and schedules, to arrange group study sessions, and to collabo-rate on class assignments. In addition, teachers depend on these networks to contact their students and colleagues, and various divisions within the uni-versity could not operate with-out them. Despite its lack of po-tential for longevity, it appears that this experiment has been a success. Students, professors, and collegiate staff have been compelled to analyze their de-pendence upon social media networks and to weigh the pros and cons of spending time on-line. Hopefully, their experi-ences with this study will allow them to better plan their use of these websites and to refocus their attention less on social life and more on academic goals as the year progresses.

The Harriton BannerAdvisor

Mr. Peter Crooke

Executive EditorsDan Carp

Anjali Desai

Editors-in-ChiefMoira Lavelle

Jackie Milestone

Page EditorsNews - Emily Brody-BizarFeatures - Greg Kurtzman

A&E - Victoria SunSports (Print) - Alex SettleSports (Web) - Ryan Smith

Local - Julia GeftmanSpotlight - Julia Carp

Photo and Graphics - Sylvie Krause

Some material courtesy of American Society of News-paper Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper

Service

Banner Online:http://www.hhsbanner.com/

eMail the [email protected]

NewsOctober 1, 2010

Camden Libraries Closing

Canceled Quran Burning

Jaime ToplinStaff Writer

Muslim groups across the globe are “fired up” over a small church’s canceled plans to burn copies of their holy text, the Quran. Controversy arose when Pastor Terry Jones of the tiny Christian Dove World Outreach Center planned to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, 2010 out of anger towards the plan to build the “Ground Zero Mosque,” an Islamic cultural center near the site of the terrorist attacks. After much protest from the commu-nity, Jones called off the burning, but then revoked his statement, saying that the burning was “sus-pended, not canceled.” He later changed his statement again and said that his church will “not to-day, not ever” burn the Quran to protest Islamic ways. He flew to New York and, on NBC’s “To-day,” told the public that the church’s goal was, “to expose the [element] of Islam that is very dangerous” had been achieved, reports the Associated Press. The New York Times re-ports that Interpol, an internation-al police organization, warned its 188 member nations that “there will be tragic consequences” if the burning took place as planned. In Kabul, Afghanistan and Mul-tan, Pakistan, anti-American pro-tests, marches, and, according to the New York Times, American flag burnings took place in re-volt. Pakistan’s English language paper, The Nation, ran an article from Pakistani Christian groups denouncing the burning as well as Jones for “trying to start a conflict between the Muslims and Chris-tians” Manouchehr Mot-taki, Iran’s foreign minster, also warned of consequences, stating that the burning would “face re-actions by the world’s Muslims.” The Daily Star, a Leba-nese paper, reported similarly. An editorial mentioned that if the burning did occur, it would “like-ly ignite a fire of rage that could

consume swaths of the globe.” President Obama agrees. At a September 10th news con-ference, he warned again that protests against the burning could endanger American lives, but also that Jones’ threat was “something that could cause us profound damage around the world, and so we’ve got to take it seriously.” Gholam Rahman, a founding member of the Mus-lim Community of Palm Beach County, told the Palm Beach Post in an interview that “the interna-tional damage has [already] been done to some extent because they know there are such kooks in the United States […] this sort of an-tics from a leading country like the United States are dangerous” Rahman also noted how “ridicu-lous” Jones’ statement was, and how it was blown out of propor-tion by the media in a potentially damaging way. On the effects the burning could have had on for-eign relations, NBC reports that “the setback to Pakistani percep-tions of America could be im-measurable” if the burning were to occur. Surprisingly, NPR re-ports, Islamic media devoted much more time and space to covering preparations for the Eid-al-Fitr (a celebration marking the end of Ramadan), than they did to the Quran controversy. At least in Pakistan, there is an understanding that “[Jones] is not in line with the general thinking of American people,” as Shah Mehood Quer-shi, Pakistan’s foreign minister told NBC. He added that they have been “promoting interfaith dialogue, interfaith harmony” and that he “hope[s] better sense prevails.” Despite understand-ings like these, Akbar Ahmed, a professor of Islamic Studies at American University, told NPR that many Muslim groups fear “copycat acts and a rising spiral of violence” towards them. Some worry for the safe future of their religious groups in the United States.

Max Meyers

In Camden NJ, a crisis is forming right in front of our eyes. Accord-ing to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Camden Library System is closing all three of its libraries and dismissing all 21 employ-ees due to budget cuts. Mayor Dana L. Redd cut the proposed 2011 budget from $389,000 to $281,000. Although Camden has been facing serious government budget cuts, some people con-sider this a scheme for the county to take the libraries’ land. Some Camden residents think this be-cause the county jail and the courthouse are separated only by the Downtown Library. If the library were to close, Camden could build more prison space in order to accommodate the nation’s highest crime rate: 2,333 violent crimes per 100,000 people. Frank Fulbrook, a li-brary board member claims that “this was all a cynical ploy, the county and mayor manufactured

a fiscal crisis for the libraries to shut down.” The Camden County Freeholder also feels that “this is simply about municipality want-ing to join the system,” and added that a land grab idea is ridiculous. From now until December 31st, the libraries will remain open thanks to a grant from the gover-nors’ office. At that point, Cam-den will have to make some tough decisions: either letting their city become the 27th County Library System or simply shutting their city’s libraries down. Unfortunately, Camden isn’t the only place where librar-ies are in jeopardy. Libraries in Stamford, Connecticut may be closing soon, and the Los An-geles Public Library System has recently cut down to after-school hours only as well. With all that is happening in the world right now and all of America’s economic troubles, we have to remember that a library is a safe haven of education. We cannot afford to have them simply disappear for our future generations.

Tea Party Upset in Delaware Primary

Alex MechanickStaff Writer

In what may be the single most stunning event of the 2010 prima-ries, Christine O’Donnell defeat-ed Mike Castle in the Delaware Republican senatorial primary on Tuesday, September 14th. Mr. Castle, a former governor and nine-time elected member of Congress for Delaware’s at-large district, was a heavy favorite go-ing into the election. Moreover, in a Democratic-leaning state, he was the only Republican whom pundits thought would have a good chance to win the general election. Polling done by PPP just before the pri-mary election showed Castle with a ten point lead over Democrat Chris Coons, 45-35, with 20% of voters still undecided. But the more conserva-tive O’Donnell trailed Coons in the same poll 50-34, with only 16% of voters report-ing they were still un-decided. Ms. O’Donnell is some-thing of a perennial candidate in Delaware. She ran a failed cam-paign for the Republican senate nomination in 2006 and was un-opposed in the primary in 2008. She lost by 30 points to Joe Biden in that election, who left his seat to become Vice-President. Because of this, a special election was held in 2010 to fill Biden’s old seat. Initially ignored, O’Donnell was viewed as an a long shot against her well regarded opponent Rep. Castle. However, O’Donnell gar-nered attention by aligning her-

self with the tea party movement and portraying Rep. Castle as part of the Washington establishment. Incorrect reports that Rep. Castle supported the new healthcare law—he co-sponsored legislation to repeal it—and other similar attacks that he was a RINO (Re-publican in Name Only) were common in right-wing blogs that supported Ms. O’Donnell. National attention fo-cused on the race after Joe Miller won the Alaska Republican sena-torial primary, beating incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Fueled by right-wing endorsements and

funding from the of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express, Mr. Miller pulled a stunning upset. Following the Alaska shocker, the Tea Party Express quickly pledged to fund Ms. O’Donnell with over half a million dollars in her fast approaching primary while Sarah Palin endorsed her on Sean Hannity’s radio show. The Castle camp retaliated to at-tacks from O’Donnell by high-lighting what they referred to as “extreme” positions she held, but to no avail. Ms. O’Donnell’s mo-mentum carried her to a six point win in the primary against Rep.

Castle, 53% to 47%. Now attention has turned to the general election Ms. O’Donnell will face off against Mr. Coons. He is the executive of New Castle County, home of over 60% of Delaware’s population. In a break from party tradition, Rep. Castle did not endorse Ms. O’Donnell, but did not endorse Mr. Coons either. Worryingly for Ms. O’Donnell, the same PPP poll referenced earlier found Castle primary voters supported Coons by a 44% to 28% margin. In a “blue” state, it may be hard for Ms. O’Donnell to raise enough

money to overcome her 16 point deficit in the polls. The eccen-tricities first raised by the Castle campaign have continued to dog Ms. O’Donnell’s candidacy. These in-clude reports that Ms. O’Donnell did not re-ceive her college edu-cation until 17 years after she attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, stated that homosexuals have

“identity disorders”, admitted to “dabbling in witchcraft”, and is facing questions about illegal use of campaign money from her 2008 Senate run. Many Democrats have gone so far as to say that after Ms. O’Donnell’s primary victory, continued Democratic control of the Senate has been assured. But a very strong turnout among tea party voters in what are often low-turnout midterm elections should make any candidate worried this November, as Rep. Castle found out too late.

Pastor Terry Jones returns to Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, after talking to the media, Friday, September 10, 2010. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/MCT)

*For first six months of 2010

A troubled ArmyA recent report reveals many disciplinary problems in the U.S. Army. Some of the issues:

Suicides

Recruitment waivers

© 2010 MCT

Recruits who were given waivers for criminal misconduct in civilian life; in thousands

Sexual offensesRape is the most prevalent crime

Source: U.S. ArmyGraphic: Judy Treible

Total for 2010 is expected to surpass 2009

’05

’04

’01

129

630

’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09

85

11,766

6,1374,725

102115

’06’07

140’08160’09

148*

302’09 1,015

Misdemeanor offensesIncludes speeding, drunk driving, absent without leave (AWOL)

’04 28,388’09 50,523

’10

News October 1, 2010

American Hikers Hostage in IranSydney Berger

On July 31, 2009 Sarah Shourd, fiancé Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal were on a hiking trip and crossed an unmarked Iranian border. The three are humani-tarian workers who each worked in different fields. Shourd was teaching English to Iraqi and Palestinian refugees, Fattah was an environmental teacher, and Bauer was a journalist. Damas-cus, Syria was where Shourd and Bauer were living before the arrest and detainment. According to Shourd, the hikers were unaware that they had indeed crossed into the border, since it was indis-tinguishable. They were then detained in the Kurdistan re-gion of Iran (the area they had strayed into) at Tehran’s Evin Prison in Iran. Shourd, 32, Bauer 28, and Fattal 28, were all accused of spying and were held there for 410 days. How-ever, on Tuesday September 14, 2010, Shourd was released from Tehran’s Evin Prison and

traveled to Oman (the country that had secured her release), where she was able to enjoy her newly found freedom. According to CNN, “Shourd was released due to the fact that Iranian doc-tors thought she had a lump on her breast. […] [And were wor-ried since she] had a pre-existing gynecological problem […] her attorney Masoud Shafii said earli-er.” The reason people even knew of her lump was because she had told her mother during their only visit together, the spokeswoman for the hikers’ families told CNN. Shourd’s bail was for the sum of $500,000 and was paid for by Omani sources. On Sunday September 19, 2010 Shourd arrived in the US after a flight from Dubai to Washington Dulles International Airport where she reunited with her family. They then drove up to New York so she could conduct an interview that Sunday night. In the interview, Shourd talked about how thankful she was to the Omani government, and how she is going to do everything in her power to get Shane Bauer and

Josh Fattal released. The two men, Bauer and Fattal, are still in Tehran’s Evin Prison. The official Islamic Republic News Agency reports that Bauer and Fattal have had their sentence extended by two months. This is probably caused by Shroud’s early release. CNN reported that Ahmadinejad (sixth and cur-rent President of the Islamic Republic of Iran) told the ABC program “This Week” that his ability to free Bauer and Fattal was limited, and that they will have to face Iranian justice for illegally entering his country. Also, the release of Shourd was a humanitarian gesture. Sec-retary of State Hillary Clinton followed Ahmadinejad on the program and she called for Iran to also release Bauer and Fattal as well as gave her relief that Shourd was back in the US. Hopefully Shane Bau-er and Josh Fattal will be re-leased and there will be a happy reunion for all three in the up-coming months.

A Conversation with Mr. Kline

move forward with the improve-ments that are now in place.

What steps are we taking to strengthen the Harriton com-munity and move on [from the events of last spring]?The various policies that we now have will serve as safeguards for all of us. The two mandatory trainings were beneficial in serv-ing as reminders that new proto-cols have been implemented.

With our renewed technological savvy at Harriton, what are the biggest benefits of our technol-ogy?The various ways that our teach-ers utilize technology are amaz-ing. It is very rewarding to go into different classes and see all of the attributes that technology offers to our students.

This past week, I got the opportunity to interview our principal, Mr. Kline, to talk to him about the new school year and the Harriton community. Mr. Kline also had a word or two about technology as it pertains to the lap-tops we’ve utilized over the past two years.

Alex Cooper

What is your favorite part of beginning a new school year?The summer becomes a bit mun-dane for me so the hustle and bus-tle of the first few days of school is always exciting. It is rewarding to see the planning that went into the first few days be successful.

How do you believe the tran-sition [into a new school year] this year improved from that of last year?Because we were already moved in, the frenetic feel of the new building wasn’t present this year. Everyone was more relaxed and that showed in our smooth open-ing.

Do you believe that the Harri-ton community has recovered from last year's frenzy?I believe that our opening days showed that we are prepared to

Students take a look at the many activities offered at Harriton during Ram Day, a tradi-tional early-year activity. (Horace Debusy Jones/The Harriton Banner)

Emily Brody Bizar and Jaime ToplinNews Editor and Staff Writer

Rainy weather didn’t stop Har-riton students and local families from turning out to support Harri-ton teams and clubs as well as oth-er local organizations on Septem-ber 26 for Harriton High School’s first ever Harvest Fair. The idea for the event sprang from last year’s Carnival, and took months of planning by the entire HSA, particularly Teri Touchstone, Brucie Baumstein and Susan Read. Teri Touch-stone decid-ed to suggest a fall event in order to “gen-erate school spirit and bond-ing with our c o m m u n i t y. ” She told the Ban-ner that another purpose of the Harvest Fair was to “welcome young children all the way up to grandparents to our beautiful new

school, to have a good time and to support the participating groups.” Touchstone also made a point to mention all fundraising efforts would go directly to the clubs and that “[the HSA.] is not doing this for the money!” She believes that the event will grow and succeed more and more each year. The fair started outside in the student parking lot, with mu-sic playing from the loud speak-ers, as various

groups set up their tables. The space was

open, and it was easy to locate ev-ery table. When the rain began at 11:30, the festivities were moved inside. Arriving students helped

move tables inside to avoid the downpour. The HSA reacted well to the change of plans. The hallway and cafete-ria were filled as students lined up to “pie” Mr. O’Brien in the face, to dunk various teachers (Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Matilla, Mr. Rappaport, and Mr. Kline) into a tank of water, to make vari-ous art projects, and to buy de-licious baked goods, hot dogs, pizza, wraps, and chili. Other tables ranged from Harriton’s Music De-partment making fruit smoothies to the Crew team’s erg “races.” Clubs paid $20 to rent a table and could do essentially anything (within reason, of course). Aubrey Taylor, who ran Harriton Service League’s table, said that “the HSL did really well and raised a ton of mon-

ey.” Her table, in the cafeteria, was more removed from the rest of the fair, but she saw the removed lo-cation as “both an advantage and a disadvantage” because “Caf-eteria had much more room, but we weren’t right where the large

crowds were.” Kasie Patlove, of Har-riton Theater Company table, ex-pressed similar sentiments. She found it “a little bit of a downer” to be in the cafeteria, but felt that the Fair “connected [me] with the Harriton community and allowed me to see a lot of friends.” Parents enjoyed the fair as much as students did. Wendy

Kivitz, who ran the pie-throwing booth for the class of 2012

with Kim Tonetti, believed that “energy for the fair was great, as was student partici-pation.” She also be-lieved that teacher in-volvement and support was “fabulous.” Sofie Seymour, who ran

a booth right next to the entrance for breast and ovarian cancer awareness with Betsy Hurtado and Emma Seymour, found the fair “pretty awesome.” She “felt great to be right at the door and sell out complete-

ly.” The Harriton Harvest Fair proved Harriton’s repu-

tation of low school spirit in-correct. There were a total of 49 groups that participated, and more than 55 tables. Despite inconve-nient space and location issues due to weather, turnout for the fair was high and, as senior Molly Rothschild observed, “it seemed as if students, parents, and little kids were all having fun!”

Harriton HarvestHarriton: 1, Rain: 0

Features October 1, 2010

Alex MechanickStaff Writer

As many of you know, changes have come to Harriton’s grading system. Here’s a quick review of them:

1. Elimination of the “E” in the “E/F” grading category

The “E” has barely been used by Harriton teachers historically. The original intention of the “E/F” option was to recognize effort despite failing. Administration officials pointed out that research does not bear that out. Many stu-dents will be familiar with this from ubiquitous jokes about how “E” is the worst grade one can re-ceive.

2. Percentages will be used to calculate the final letter grade rather than the current QPA factoring system

Administrative officials pointed to studies that claim percentages provide the clearest picture of “student progress”. This is de-spite overwhelming student sup-port for the old QPA system; over two-thirds of Harriton students voted to keep the system in place last year. Quarters, midterms, and finals will retain the same weight-ing as before. How this weight-ing will be impacted with the proposed implimentation of Key-stone Exams is yet to be seen.

3. The introduction of B+, C+, and D+

The administration thought the additional grade categories of “B+”, “C+”, “D+” offer a new level of distinction for students who just miss the next higher grade. Students similarly op-posed this measure in last year’s survey. Grade inflation is a con-cern, especially with plus grades being added without correspond-ing minus grades. The adminis-tration did reject the most widely opposed grade of “A+”, to the re-lief of many students.4. A minimum grade of 56% for calculating the first semester grade

The creation of a “floor” of 56% for the first semester is designed to provide a safety net for stu-dents. Now, even with the new percentage based grading system, students have the opportunity to

recover from a poor first semester quarter grade or midterm grade.

Well, those are the new rules – do your best to keep them in mind throughout the year. For freshman no adjustment will be necessary, but upperclassman can no longer get B’s the first 2 quarters and on the midterm and then A’s the rest of the year and be guaranteed an A. It’s a shame the school didn’t look harder into preserving the QPA system de-spite the overwhelming student support for the grading policy. A timetable on when this new grad-ing policy will be up for another review has not been examined. Options such as extending grad-ing below F, such as from A-L, were never given serious con-sideration. Perhaps in another ten years the issue will come up again. For now, this is the system that Harriton students and teach-ers will be required to follow.

An Elemental Addi-tion: Harriton’s New

Science TeachersYidi WuStaff Writer

The start of this school year has brought about a variety of chang-es, one in particular being the teachers at Harriton. In the sci-ence department, there are cur-rently three new faces gracing our halls. Ms. Margaret Lesch and Mr. Nyanthen Bantoe are new additions to the chemistry depart-ment, and Mr. Michael Tudor is now a teacher in the biology de-partment. Ms. Lesch teaches Hon-ors and College Prep Chem-istry courses this year. She can be found in Room 221. Before coming to Harriton this year, she graduated from Cornell Univer-sity in 2008, and she taught at a high school in Ithaca, New York. Ms. Lesch enjoys the classes she teaches, and she finds the physi-cal classrooms themselves to be immensely satisfactory as well. Mr. Bantoe was born in Liberia, and he moved here when he was fourteen. He graduated

from Drexel and fondly recalls playing college soccer there. He presently teaches College Prep Chemistry in Rooms 219, 220, and 318. Before coming to Har-riton, he taught at Interboro High School for 7 years. Mr. Bantoe found the general environment at Harriton to be great so far, and the staff to be “extremely helpful and welcoming, especially the Science Department.” His students “seem very enthusiastic about having him as a teacher.” Mr. Bantoe is excited to be here at Harriton. Mr. Tudor teaches both College Prep and Honors Biol-ogy. He is located in Room 118. Before coming to Harriton, he taught chemistry at the Charter High School for Architecture and Design (CHAD) for five years. He also loves the Harriton envi-ronment, finding “[his] classes fun, [his] students enjoyable to get to know…[and] teaching the best job in the world.” On that note, these three teachers are appreciated elements of the Harriton staff, and we hope to get to know them better.

Ms. Lesch, Harriton’s new chemistry teacher (Sylvie Krause/The Harriton Banner)

Hitting the Mark:Harriton’s New Grading Policy

Kasie Tiler PatloveStaff Writer

First of all, please do not be drawn away from this article sim-ply by the title, and please throw away any misconceptions or pre-dispositions you have about the-ater kids. Please, it’s old already. If you don’t already know me, my name is Kasie Patlove, I’m a senior IB student and yes, I am addicted to musical theater. Yes, I’ve made the decision to some-how make my life out of singing and dancing. Practical, right? I’d like to think so. And that’s what this article is going to chronicle over the next 8 months, my jour-ney through the college applica-tion process as a Musical Theater Major. Now you may be thinking, “How tough can it be? Fill out the common app, get teacher recom-mendations, good grades, high test scores, a bunch of extracur-riculars, and I’m good to go?” Wrong. As with any performing art or music, there’s a little thing called an audition. Okay, it’s more of a huge, gigantic, scary, life-changing thing. But I’ll get to that later. My college process re-ally began this past June, when I packed my bags and shipped off

to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, which, aside from being an incredible science and engineering school, is home to one of the top 3 musical theater programs in the nation. I applied during the school year and was accepted for their six week “Pre College” Program. It basically was a taste of Carnegie Mellon’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre degree curriculum. An average weekday started at 9 am and consisted of two dance classes, acting, au-dition preparation, directing, singing, and dramatic literature classes as well as private singing lessons. Normally, I’d be done class around 7pm and then back to my dorm to start homework, yes theater kids have that too. Learning monologues, scenes, practicing songs and dances, and reading 6 different plays definite-ly kept me busy in my free time. The goal of the program was two fold, first to give students an idea of conservatory, or more theater focused training, and second to prepare for a mock audition that would be held the last two days of the program. We were required to prepare 2 songs, 2 monologues and learn 2 dance combinations and pretend that we actually were

auditioning for the school (seeing as these are the requirements for most college theater auditions). Stress and all, it was totally worth it. My summer at CMU al-lowed me to solidify my decision to pursue Musical Theater as a major because, quite frankly, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. And every teacher has told me the same thing: “If you love something just as much as theater, do that. Its not worth the heartache if you aren’t 100% committed”. Next on the agenda was creating a list of schools, which required a lot of research. My few criteria for choosing schools to apply to were as fol-lows; they must offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Musical Theater (this is mostly highly looked upon when going out into the professional world), they must be less than 3 hours by plane from Philadelphia, they must have a small class size in order for individualized atten-tion, and they must be reputable with a curriculum that supports my interests, as well as addi-tional performance opportunities. At the end of the day, I’ve come up with 13 schools. Yes, 13. This is not your average college

applicant, kids. Most programs enroll less than 30 students. Hello!?! Every kid who got the lead in their high school shows in America could apply and nowhere near all of them would get into a school, let alone their top 2 or 3. My list is as follows: Carnegie Mellon University, The Boston Conservatory, New York University, Emerson Col-lege, University of Michigan, Cincinnati College Conserva-tory, Otterbein University, Elon University, Syracuse University, University of Miami, Ithaca Col-lege, Baldwin-Wallace College and Pace University. One thing about this article I should men-

tion. I will reveal my experiences with auditions and all, and I will write when I receive acceptance or rejection letters, but I will not disclose the names of the schools until I have made my final, or very close to final decision. This is both to avoid persuasion from Harriton students or staff, and not to project any biases towards any of the schools. Alright, so I’m pretty close to finishing my common apps, writing a bunch of essays on why I like theater and this college blah blah blah (huge sigh of relief), and my next step will be to begin scheduling and preparing for my auditions!! Act 1 Scene 1, blackout.

Chronicles of An Aspiring Theatre Major

Features October 1, 2010

A New, More Open CouncilValerie Towolawi

A new school year means new clubs, new students, and new goals for student council. Al-though we just moved into the new building last year, Student Council is now settled and used to all of the new fac-ets of the facility. The Stu-dent Council is ready to get things going, and it is aiming to accomplish more this year than it did last year. Student Council has even already started shak-ing things up with Music Fridays; last year it stopped after just a few weeks, but Council hopes to make it a regular event this year. Ev-ery Friday, members of the council and an administra-tor will pick different hit songs to play through the loud speaker during the pe-riod transitions as a way to relieve stress between each class and before the weekend. The Student Council has about 65 members, but it’s not too late to join. Beware there is a deadline. Applications are avail-able on September 24, but not just anyone can join. There will be in-

terviews for new applicants dur-ing the week of October 4. That will be the last chance to apply; no applicants will be accepted in the middle of the school year, so sign up now! One of the other main goals is a possible expansion to

the technology zone, but a goal we all can help achieve is to increase the communication between the students and the administration, to “break down barriers that have existed between them in the past.” Senior Daniel Carp, Harriton Stu-

dent Council President, is making this his primary goal. “This com-munication can be best achieved by simply taking the time to ap-proach us and getting to know one of your administrators.” He hopes that the student body will see the administrators as more ap-

proachable, and he guaran-tees that if you take the time to talk to a teacher at lunch you won’t get turned down. “I can already see these rela-tionship improving” he says, “and that is truly exciting.” The student council is also open to any ideas from the student body, even if you’re not a member of the council. This current admin-istration is continually takng steps to include more of the student body in events and policies. Suggestions can be made to any student coun-cil member, or by sending an email to their suggestion box at harritonsuggestions@

gmail.com. Remember it’s your school, and every suggestion is encouraged. Student council up-dates will be posted on The Har-riton Banner (www.hhsbanner.com), and they will also be sent to the students via email through the Guidance Department.

Faculty Spotlight: Mr. ElderAdam Laplant

Born in the island nation of Trini-dad and Tobago, Mr. Elder came to the United States to attend Howard University. Mr. Elder is a teacher at Harriton High school who arrived last year to temporar-ily replace Mrs. Gauvin and teach AP Physics, CP Physics, and Ac-tive Physics. Since then, he has stayed on the Harriton staff; how-ever, this year he teaches Algebra, Geometry, and PASS lab.

Q: How long did you live in Trin-idad and Tobago? What was the name of the area in which you lived?

A: I was born in San Fernando, which is located in the southwest of Trinidad and Tobago and is the second largest city on the island.

Q: What were the good and the bad aspects of growing up there?

A: Growing up on an island was a very good experience. Because it was small, the education system was made up of very good, small schools. The teacher to student ra-tio was very beneficial. Also, there are very nice beaches and beauty surrounds you everywhere. There weren’t many bad things about growing up on the island. If I could think of any-thing, it would be that children were screened and tracked at a very young age. The children would be placed on a track that was determined to be best suited for them. The bad side of this was that some children who were

“late bloomers” had to remain on the same tracks that they were ini-tially placed on when they were young.

Q: What do you like or dislike about teaching at Harriton?

A: I don’t see how I could dislike anything. At Harriton there are only positives! At Harriton you

have your own room, and you get to teach hardworking kids who are focused on a higher educa-tion. There is really no down-side, although I guess I could have a better view [from my room].

Q: Where did you teach before you worked here? What did you

teach there?

A: I used to teach out in Bucks County. I taught physics there for 4 years.

Q: What is your favorite subject to teach?

A: I really enjoy teaching phys-ics; however, I really like teach-

ing math as well.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do outside of teaching?

A: I really like to travel when I can. I go back to Trinidad and To-bago ever year. Also, I’ve visited Brazil, San Diego, Las Vegas, Florida, and Indiana. I’ve mostly

been around the U.S.

Q: What is your favorite book?

A: I don’t read much. I’d rather watch the Discovery and History channels.

Q: What is your favorite movie?

A: I’d have to say that it’s Spike

Lee’s Inside Man. I generally like movies where you can’t predict what happens. I seldom go to the cinema.

Q: What is your favorite food?

A: I prefer island food. My fa-vorites are macaroni pie and stew chicken, which is a delicacy

in Trinidad. The chickens back home had a very different flavor because, unlike here, they were allowed to roam free and eat dif-ferently than in the U.S.

Q: Who is an inspiration for you?

A: My parents are my biggest inspiration because they worked hard to assure that all their chil-dren were well educated. They made sacrifices to send their chil-dren to good schools. They had to work very hard to send their kids to schools in foreign coun-tries. My parents inspired me to do the same with my children. I have a daughter who is a senior at Hampton University, a son who is a freshman at Howard University, and a son who is a sophomore in high school.

Q: In what ways is teaching a re-warding experience for you?

A: It feels great imparting knowl-edge, as you get to see the excite-ment of kids when they understand something. They are appreciative and will never forget you. Seeing them improve, develop, and want to learn more is always fulfilling.

Mr. Elder is a very personable teacher who is committed to help-ing his students succeed. Getting to know him has been a very plea-surable experience, as he has an extensive knowledge base and a profound love of teaching. As a former student of his, I can per-sonally attest to the vibrant ener-gy and passion he brings to class every day. We made the right choice taking him on full time.

Off to a running start

© 2010 MCT

• Keep your head level and in a straight line as you run

Running and jogging can be great exercise, but it’s hard to stay motivated if you get off to a poor start. Some tips on starting a running program:

First things firstCheck with your doctor to see whether running is right for you

Comfortable clothing and good quality running shoes that fit well are really all you need

Simple equipment

Basics of good technique

• Warm up before a run, and cool down afterwardSensible running

Orthopedic or heart problem? More than 20% overweight?

Source: American Council on Exercise Graphic: Paul Trap

• Lean forward slightly from your ankles, not your waist

• Keep your shoulders down and relaxed

• Strike ground first with your heel, roll to the ball of your foot, then push off from your toes

• Never increase distance more than 10% per week

• If anything hurts, take time off until it feels better

• Do some strength training every other day to help reduce arm-shoulder-back fatigue

Walk regularly to see how you react before starting a running program

Personal Trainer

FeaturesOctober 1, 2010

The Freshman Mentor Program: Is it effective?From the Mentor

Gregory KurtzmanFeatures Editor

The Freshman Mentor Program has greatly changed advisory, not only for the freshman, but for those that participate in the pro-gram as well. Advisory Period was traditionally run by Harriton teachers, but the Freshman Men-tor Program has given sopho-mores, juniors, and seniors the opportunity to lead discussions in freshman advisories. Now in its second year, the Freshman Mentor Program, spearheaded by Laurie Thomas and Lauren Mar-cuson, is firmly established in the Harriton community. Having been a Freshman Mentor for the past two years, it has really given me the chance to understand how difficult it is to be a teacher. In advisory, I am often greeted by blank and apa-thetic faces of freshman that are completely disinterested in what I have to say. After all, who wants to pay attention to an ungraded class at the end of the day? Men-tors are often required to go over important, yet rather dry material with the students, such as mid-term schedules, bullying, and RAM signup. Yet, I have discov-ered that it is not necessarily what you are presenting that matters, it is in fact how you present it. Last year I often went through the re-quired material simply by reading what was on the prepared sheets.

However, I soon realized that one must be creative to engage stu-dents in topics that might at first seem boring. Using teambuild-ing activities and games, posing insightful questions, and relating information to make it accessible are really effective tools for facil-itating learning in the classroom. One must be intuitive and be able to judge the maturity and level of interest that the class has in a particular topic, so that one can effectively guide discussions to reach a point of higher learning.Mrs. Thomas often tells us “It takes a teacher several weeks to make an impact on a student, but it takes us only seven seconds to make an impact on someone our own age.” I would say that the ex-perience of participating in this program has had just as much an effect on me (if not more), than it has hopefully had on the fresh-man. Selin Sakarcan, another mentor, says, “At first I did not know what to expect, but after a few months I really got the hang of it and had a blast with my freshman. I feel like we have learned so much from each other, and I am really glad that I decided to become a part of the program.” Jesi Kim admits, “I was really nervous about instructing a class of freshman, but I found that it is one of the most rewarding experi-ences I have had in high school.”

From the MenteeAdjoa ManteStaff Writer

Although all Harriton students have experienced Advisory, not all of us have had the “pleasure” of participating in the Freshman Mentor program. As a sophomore who went through the program last year, I have some positive memories of Advisory as well as some negative ones. The big-gest benefit I received from the Freshman Mentor Program was having opportunity to meet two friendly upperclassmen and have a friendly face smile back at me in the hallway. The mentors also really helped direct discussions and helped get us more involved in conversation, which I’m sure the teachers appreciated. Despite these advantag-es, in my opinion the Freshman Mentor program really didn’t make a difference with the most difficult part of being a freshman: getting adjusted to high school. Although Ashley Chong, one of my sophomore peers, does not agree with me on this point, she

shared my general view on Ad-visory. She claims, “The Fresh-man Mentor program was only helpful for the first few months of school because we were get-ting adjusted to the new school and surroundings, but after the second semester, there wasn’t any point.” She has a point, as after the first few weeks of advisory most “just sat around, played ‘get to know you’ games, ate candy, and did homework” while others “played 7-up”. Yet, it seems that no Advisory did any more to al-leviate the pressures of freshman year than play a couple games or serve as a place to take a nap. On the Freshman Mentor Program in general, one sophomore asserts, “It just seemed like a boring peri-od at the end of the day.” Another says, “My mentor was okay, but I couldn’t quite see what the point of it was. We only played games.” Most of the sophomores that I in-terviewed agreed with me on one point: the Freshman Mentor Pro-gram did not fully achieve its goal of helping freshman. Now that we can com-

pare last year’s Advisory to a Mentor-less Advisory this year, the sophomores have a somewhat different opinion of the program. “Without the Mentors, there is a lot more sitting around and do-ing nothing in my Advisory,” one sophomore says, “When the men-tors were in the advisory, they usually had activities planned for the advisory to do.” However, David Lincoln remains indiffer-ent: “Honestly, I don’t see that much of a difference. We didn’t do much in advisory last year and that hasn’t changed this year, re-gardless of the mentors.” Yet, Cat Dolan admits, “I miss my mentor so much! He would always talk to us about being an upperclass-man.” Clearly she genuinely misses the program and her men-tor. Marissa Mallee also speaks highly of her mentor, saying, “My mentor helped me find classes and answered any questions I had.” Although we might not have appreciated our mentors at the time, it seems that absence does in fact make the heart grow stronger.

Club Profile: Technology Student Association (TSA)

Jessica HermannStaff Writer

Design, competition, and leader-ship. These three words together sum up the Harriton Technology Student Association. Technology is pervasive in all aspects of to-day’s rapidly advancing world. It is the fuel that drives almost everything, even your bus ride to school in the morning. The sci-ence of technology yields life-improving devices, such as pros-thetic limbs to replace injured or diseased ones and surgeries to repair damaged eyesight. It is the driving force behind the capacity to communicate with audiences of millions at just the click of a button. Members of Harriton TSA learn how to harness and to utilize technology in unique and innovate ways in order to better navigate and flourish in the mod-ern world, to become successful leaders at regional, state, nation-al, and global levels. They learn

to shape the future in beneficial ways, while creating memorable life experiences and having an overall great time. Throughout the year, Harriton TSA members partici-pate in numerous competitive events. With over 30 events to choose from, ranging from video game creation and website pro-gramming to digital photogra-phy, music production, and ar-chitectural design, students are able to engage in individual and team competitions that specifi-cally match their interests. They compete at regional, state, and na-tional conferences, which occur in succession every few months, beginning in February. In the past, Harriton TSA has won numerous regional and state awards, as well as a second place national title. In addition, three Harriton members currently serve as officers on the Pennsyl-vania TSA state delegation.

Although TSA is a se-rious club that requires diligent work and commitment, its mem-bers have a good time. Its meet-ings offer a chance to collaborate on team events and to receive as-sistance from advisors, while also providing a relaxed work envi-ronment that allows members to complete their events alongside friends and other students inter-ested in technology. With over 150,000 members internationally, TSA also provides great opportu-nities to meet and to learn from other people. The competitions are always a blast, and the memo-ries created through the club are irreplaceable. If you are interested in joining Harriton TSA, you contact Mr. Lehman for any information via e-mail or stop by his room, 222. All students are welcome! For more information, visit www.harritontsa.com.

© 2010 MCTSource: ComScore Graphic: Los Angeles Times

Facebook visitors in the U.S. each month, in millions

Minutes spent on Facebook and top competitors in the U.S. each month, in billions

The face of successFacebook 41.1

YahooGoogle sites

Facebook

Google 39.8

37.7

Yahoo sites

0

10

20

30

40

50

’08 ’10’09 ’08 ’10’09

August 148.0

0

30

60

90

120

150

Opinion October 1, 2010

Carp Diem: Already a Crazy Year

Daniel CarpExecutive Editor

There are some things that I see around our school that leave me completely in disbelief. But none more utterly confounding than a scene we see play out almost ev-ery single day here at Harriton. Picture this, if you will. A table full of students sitting in the caf-eteria and enjoying their lunch. With a few minutes remaining in lunch, the students (as young as freshman and as old as seniors) take an awkward look at the mess on their table, quickly pick up their belongings and walk out of the cafeteria, never looking back. What’s wrong with this picture? We walk into a school every day that cost the taxpayers of this area over $125 million. Behind this building project were some very intelligent and talent-ed architects and engineers. But we didn’t need them to create a system that would work for our trash in the cafeteria. Garbage and recycling receptacles are conveniently placed at the exits of our cafeteria so that someone on his or her way out could take their trash and throw it out on the way. No extra hassle, no effort, just common decency. Somehow, Harriton students, after years of prodding from administration, haven’t caught on to the revolu-tionary concept of cleaning up after themselves. How old are we any-way? We can think and speak for ourselves, many of us can drive, many of us can even vote, but we can’t even pick up our own trash? And who is left to pick up after us when we lack the maturity

of even a middle schooler? Mr. Kline, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Matilla, Ms. Marcuson, and Mrs. Matsko are frequently spotted walking around the cafeteria picking up after Harriton students on a daily basis. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that is downright unaccept-able. They work tirelessly for the student body of this school to en-joy their experience here, and yet we expect them to clean up after us as well? As your elected Presi-dent, how am I supposed to advo-cate for more rights and privileges for a student body that is not even responsible enough to take care of their own trash? If you have ever said we don’t have enough free-dom in our school, this is a big part of the reason why: if we can’t demonstrate basic responsibilities then we deserve to be treated as immaturely as we act. It is my goal as your President to work to-wards giving students more own-ership in this school, but in order to do that we must first take own-ership of ourselves, and hold our peers accountable as well. So I implore you, Mr. Kline, stop picking up our trash. Although you and the other ad-ministrators are keeping our school clean by picking up after us, the negative effects are far more outreaching and damaging. Harriton students need to rot in their own filthy neglect for a little bit until they learn to be more ac-countable to their school and to this community. Maybe, then, only when you walk into the caf-eteria to find every table littered with trash, will we begin to take notice and perpetuate change.

(Continued from Page 1...)

We all know why the computers haven’t been returned: one of the many lawsuits plaguing our administrative offices as of late has resulted in court-mandat-ed training for all students within the building, and withholding of our laptops until its completion. Additional rewrites of the laptop policies are also giving us count-less forms to sign, brought on by this same lawsuit. These same forms are then delivered, pretty much verbatim, to us by members of the administration, changing class schedules and giving no new information. How often can we be expected to put our names on a piece of paper stating that we understand that, “If I commit any violation of the Policy, my ac-cess privileges may be revoked, school disciplinary action may be taken, and/or appropriate legal ac-tion may be pursued,” as we do in

the Student User Agreement, and, similarly in the Agreement for Laptop Use, that the “STUDENT shall not use or allow the Laptop to be used…” followed by a list of violations fifteen long? Read-ing through this heavy legalspeak many times over is bad enough, but still worse is listening to it. The monotonous presentations are taking class time away and boring us all to sleep, and staff members aren’t pleased with them, either. All teachers were made to sit through the same PowerPoints as the student body at least once, even those such as instructional aides who aren’t given laptops. Advisory periods have been de-voted to Internet safety videos, which hardly seem relevant to a modern audience who rarely, if ever, use chat rooms and certainly would not publish their life story in such places. The dramatic movies warn against the dangers of meet-

ing up with strangers met online, obvious choices to anyone with half a brain. Couldn’t they just hand us a pamphlet and let us use a RAM period? This sounds like a simple solution, but for one small problem: without laptops, we can’t have RAM periods. When are students expected to get time to meet with their teachers outside of class? Summer math packet quizzes are undoubtedly drawing near, but what happens to those students who need to review con-cepts with their teachers? Those without home access certainly can’t be expected to email for help, and so it seems we’d all be stuck in a time of need. Al-though, it seems that work levels have been slightly reduced lately due to the technological void. Classroom time moves slower when handwritten notes are a must, and teachers aren’t able to utilize Turnitin.com or WebAs-sign to electronically assign and

Log Off: Harriton Experiences First Computerless Day in Two Years

Sarah HammerStaff Writer

Global warming is here. This past summer was the hottest on record in Philadelphia. Glaciers are melting and greenhouse gases are having a devastating effect on our environment. It is time to confront the reality that we have to do something now to reverse the effects of global warming. Experts tell us that al-ternative fuels need to be estab-lished, and dramatic chang-es in lifestyle need to be made in order to “reverse” the damage. But, what can we, as high school stu-dents, do to make a differ-ence? This summer, I asked myself that very question. While in future columns, I will address issues of global warming and new technolo-gies that can be used to stop it, in this issue, I will deal with a simple solution that we can all easily pursue – composting. Landfills are quickly filling in America and round the world. Some of you may have heard about the Naples, Italy trash crisis, in which trash piled up in the streets for two years in Naples until it was taken to Ger-many to be burned and converted into electricity. Once our landfills are full, we will be faced with a similar dilemma, and will need to burn trash. While this will gen-erate electricity, it also will lead to air pollution. No one likes the idea of having a garbage burning plant in their neighborhood. A solution to this prob-lem is composting. Composting not only decreases the amount of garbage, but it also provides fertile soil that can be used in gardening, for house plants, or simply spread in your own yard. For those of us

who try to pursue the sustainable solution of growing some of our own food, fertilization by com-posting helps us avoid chemicals. Another benefit to composting is its ready adaptability to virtually any living environment. Com-posting can be easily done in any size yard, and requires very little space and maintenance. If you want to take steps toward making a difference in the environment, composting is a simple, helpful way to start.

Although composting seems like a daunting task, it is very simple to start a compost pile with items lying around your house. There are commercial com-posters that you can purchase, but no fancy equipment is necessary to start a thriving compost. You will need an old plastic garbage can with a cover, a hammer and nail, dirt, leaves, food scraps and water. First, use the hammer and nail to make holes all around the trash can, about six inches apart. This will allow oxygen into the composter, facilitating food de-composition. Next, add a layer of dirt to the bottom of the trashcan. On top of this, add food scraps, grass clippings and “colorful” items. Lastly, add a final layer of dirt and enough water to make the consistency similar to that of a wrung out sponge. Now, you have started

a composter. There are just a few more things that you need to know. About once a week, you will need to stir the mixture with a shovel, or simply roll the trashcan on the ground to mix the contents. It is also important that you try to keep the ratio of scraps inside the can to 4 parts brown scraps to 1-part “colorful” scraps to get the fastest results. Try to maintain the moisture level in the can to that of a wrung out sponge. Occasionally you might need to add water.

It is important to re-member only certain items can be added to the compos-ter. The food that is added must be unprocessed, since processed foods tend to con-tain chemically modified compounds that do not de-grade. Foods items such as vegetable and fruit scraps, rinds, eggshells, nut shells, coffee grinds, and tea bags are all acceptable. Do not

add meats, eggs or dairy products to the compost pile, as they at-tract animals, produce bad odors, and take very long to break down. Other items that can be added to the pile include grass clippings, leaves, dirt, small twigs, newspa-per, saw dust, woodchips, weeds and any other yard scraps. In about four - six weeks, your compost should be broken down, and ready to be used as soil, which can be spread on land-scaping, placed under trees, or mixed into the garden. You can also offer to share your compost with neighbors. However, one bit of advice is that you should start with two trash cans instead of one. Over the summer, I found that within six weeks, we had-completely filled one can, and a second can had to be started. Take a step toward sustainability, and start a composter.

check homework. And even with the limited work we were able to turn in, students were not able to view their grades as of yet on Powerschool without their school number and password for this year. Students may be happy with a lighter workload, but will it be too tough to adjust back to the normal levels when the computers are returned? The entire school’s dynamic has shifted through the initial two weeks of this 2010 – 2011 school year, creating prob-lems for everyone from freshman to the anxious-to-leave seniors. But while school time is spent in a state of confusion I per-sonally don’t mind the constant distractions. It is suddenly easier to focus on what really needs to be done, rather than the infinite pos-sibilities that accompany Internet access. Though it’s hard to deal with not having a steady stream of information under my fingertips at any given time, procrastination

seems to have, ironically, fallen to the wayside. Study halls are forced work time, leaving more time after school for extracur-riculars and, best of all, an earlier bedtime. Most students, however, would disagree with me. It seems as though nothing but complaints comes out of this, and when faced with the endless paperwork and assemblies I can’t help but agree. But perhaps students should take another look at the current situa-tion. Maybe the general feeling should shift against the laptops, in favor of fewer hours spent pro-crastinating and more knowledge absorbed. At the current time, however, it seems that students will celebrate the return of their long-gone machines. Classes will be more technologically focused; paper notes will fall out of use. The early days without laptop ac-cess will fade from memory, and the regular Harriton dynamic will return.

It’s a Little Easy to be Green

Sarah’s Composter (Sarah Hammer/The Harriton Banner)

The

BannerMagazine

October 1, 2010

The Banner Magazine October 2010

If You’re Going to Select, Make Sure You’re CorrectHarriton Electives

Jackie Milestone and Moira LavelleEditors-in-Cheif

One of the most mind-boggling aspects of Harriton aca-demia is the massive span of elective courses offered to the students. Unfortunately, most students have never heard of half of the multitude of classes offered until a few weeks before they are expected to make a course-selection choice for the following year. We at The Harriton Banner spoke to the students about what electives they have taken through-out their time here, which ones where good, and why. Art courses span through Multi-Media Art in 2D and 3D, which are basic expansive art courses, Art His-tory falls in a similar category but with more research and fewer hands-on projects; and Art and Modern Culture in-

triguingly relates art to all social aspects of contemporary America within such mediums as television, fashion, cin-ema, video games and more. Art Studio classes can give students a taste of the real artist’s life (minus the varied “just to get by” night jobs). Finally, some of the most talk-ed about art classes include Film Photography, Ceramics and Metal Arts. Junior Steve Kline shared his experience. “I took Film-Photo. It was great and Mr. Murray is kind of awesome. I had no idea how to work a camera and I really learned how to. But I liked the film aspect more, you could really see improvement after taking the class.” Rebecca Weinstock had a similar take, “ You get to go out and take photos instead of just sitting in the class, and I learned a lot.” Junior Zach Baumstien shared his favorite part of the class: “It was good because it was relaxed: it

allowed you to be creative.” Senior Marcel Basset talked about his experience with art electives- ceramics, where he created a Frankenstein-shaped teapot, and metal arts, “I made a metal sneaker pendant. I designed the idea and then cut out all these different layers with different colors to make a sneaker. It was really cool.” Junior Greg Winig stated that his favorite elective was Metal arts, “It was cool because you got to make jewlery. Like real jewlery. I made a necklace which I gave to my mom.” The Business and Technology courses tend to go hand in hand at Harriton, teaching students how to utilize com-puter functions and economic manipulative skills. There are options to take Multimedia/Web Design or Business Principles courses. Though technically a math elective, various degrees of Computer Science courses are offered

“You don’t feel like you’re in

school [while in philoso-

phy]. You don’t worry

about a grade. Its

really inter-esting and a great class”

“[Economics] helps you obtain real world informa-tion you’ll actually be able

to apply.”

“Most people don’t have a clear idea of what [psychology] is and everything that plays a part in it or, inversely, all the things that it plays a part in. ”

Continued Page 2

“I designed the idea and then cut out all these different layers with different colors to make a metal sneaker. It was really cool.”

The Banner Magazine October 2010 Page 2

Harriton Electiveswhere students study one of the highly mathematical pro-gramming languages for computers. Peter Downs, a Ju-nior who has just started the AP Computer Science course comments, “The class is very interesting; Mr. Bannon’s a great teacher, and we’re doing some cool stuff like con-trolling robots in a virtual world and making them autono-mously solve mazes.” Additionally there are Computer Aided Drafting and Design courses, which make use of modeling systems on the computers. The Pro-Engineering course takes these concepts and applies them to even more in-depth situations. Another course that pairs nicely with a Film Photography interest is the Video Production course, offered under the technology heading with a development of broadcasting skills. English electives include Speech, which is not an ESL course, but a class where students develop discussion, communicating, debating and speech giving and writing abilities. Speech 2 takes these concepts and applies them more specifically to movie, television and theatre perfor-mance. And naturally, in line with these courses, a Theater Arts course is offered, where basic stage performing tech-nique is taught, along with a background of directing, stage managing and behind-the-scenes stage managing. Finally, for those who prefer the written word to the spoken one, there is an elective option of Creative Writing where fic-tion and nonfiction, poem and essay will be explored and cultivated. The course of Child Development, offered under the Family and Consumer Science department, is an ex-cellent prerequisite for anyone looking interested in a job that deals with children, like pediatrics or pre-school and grade-school teachers or for anyone who imagines eventu-ally fulfilling the role of a parent. In a similar vein but un-der the Health block there is even the First Aid and C.P.R. course in which it is possible to get C.P.R. certified by Red Cross by the end of the course. The class in Consumer Ed-ucation gives a valuable amount of life knowledge for any

individual in the marketing world. Both of these courses are only offered to upperclassmen. Another favorite in this same category, are the Foods courses; there is a Basic Foods and Nutrition option and a Foreign Foods and Res-taurant Management course. And certainly everyone loves to take a break from their academic studies to make some delicious kitchen concoctions during the day. Senior Ryan Farley talked about his experience taking a foods course “I took foods in the old school and the new school. It was fun. The new kitchens are a little nicer” Senior Ayanna Deb-nam also discussed the foods course “I took cooking soph-omore year. We made a lot of things : oatmeal, salads, fried

rice. Fried eggplant was my favorite. I remember first walking into the class and not knowing what it was; it looked like fish but then we found out it was egg-plant. I now make it all the time at home.” Musical classes are also highly abundant at Harriton as electives. Band, Orchestra, and Cho-rus classes are offered for constant exercise and prac-tice of instruments. If a student’s interest in music stretches past the simple playing or singing, there are a multitude of Music Theory classes, and with the new piano lab the op-portunity to explore and apply musical logistics are at every students’ finger-tips. Music Technology and Production also makes use of these tools, Jeremy Levick, a Harriton junior who took the course last year affirms, “I really liked it because we were given a lot of freedom, with a lot of technology available to us.” Students can thus use the skills they have learned to create their own poten-tial masterpieces. The many science courses include the widely acclaimed Genetics: The Past as a Guide to the Fu-ture, which delves into detailed and interesting lo-gistics of study in the DNA and chromosomal field and application to life. Human Anatomy and Physiology is another course that calls to anyone with a general anatomy interest but es-pecially prospective sur-geons, for the learning be-

comes rather “hands-on” at times. Junior Rachel Bookman talked about enjoying genetics saying, “I look forward to disecting the pig and the cat. I think it will be really inter-esting. We’ve already practiced on a earthworm.” Courses such as Environmental Science are of-fered for the eco-conscious, and Geology for the worldly (in a literal sense). Geology is more of an earth history and paleontology course, whereas Environmental Science deals with earth issues that are occurring right now and even look forward to possible solutions. But for students who prefer to stretch their horizons, there are Astronomy courses available where part of an assignment could very well be to stargaze for a while. Senior Jared Matt took both Landscape Horticulture and Astronomy classes. “In LA hort you basically learn about plants. You learn to see the plants and grass outside and arrange them and make it look good. You learn how to breed plants. In Astronomy you learn about stars and planets. It was cool because I like the stars and the sky. It helped me a lot with physics because you learn all about the speed of light and how it takes 8 minutes for the light of the sun to reach the earth.” Theology and Modern Culture, serves essentially for Harriton’s world religions course where Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are the main subjects for study. Also in the group of social studies electives are Psychology and Philosophy; both greatly adored courses. Mr. Young, an adept Harriton

psych teacher expressed that, “…most people don’t have a clear idea of what [psychology] is.” As well, he admit-ted they do not realize everything that plays a part in it or, inversely, all the things that it plays a part in. Simply put, Mr. Young admitted that psychology is involved in “ev-ery endeavor” whether it is sports, families, relationships or something else entirely. He described the honors and college prep psychology courses as a “basic overview” of the subject. The IB Psychology course (which, like other IB electives, is open to all upperclassmen, regardless of whether they enroll in the IB program or not) offers greater depth and more substance within the course. When asked, Mr. Young said that they do not ask students to psycho-logically examine themselves in the course for ethical rea-sons, however he would hope that all the knowledge they acquire could and would be used to do so for their own benefit on their own time. Many students also discussed the philosophy class which is most often taught by Mr. Scullin. Junior Danielle Distefano said: “You don’t feel like you’re in school [while in philosophy]. You don’t wor-ry about a grade. Its really interesting and a great class.” Junior Shannon Trudgeon agreed, “Its intriguing but not hard, yet thought provoking. Mr. Scullin tries to relate it to you so you can understand. Once he put someone in the hall and then asked us to prove that they were real.” There are multiple levels of economics courses of-fered, which received excellent feedback from the student population. Jared Matt stated “ Econ was amazing, Mr. Kritzers a good teacher. There’s a lot of vocab, you learn a lot. The class basically teaches you how to play stocks.” Dan Posner explained that Econ was the best elective he’s

Students in Metal Arts class (David Lincoln/The Harriton Banner)

“You get to go out and take photos instead of just sitting in the class, and I learned a lot.”

Continued on Page 4

Continued from Page 1

Recurrent Snapshot

Page 3The Banner Magazine October 2010

In MemoiramMoira Lavelle Editor-In-Chief

It seems as if every time one turns on the television there are more and more stories about angry American citizens. Powerfully angry citizens. Citizens with some cause or another and signs. Always the signs. No one can have a rally for any cause unless there is a poster with someone sporting a Hitler Mustache. If you visit a Tea Party rally the mustachioed individual may be President Obama. At some crazy left-wing rally this individual could be Dick Cheney (still). The point of the matter is that Americans on the whole appear to be very angry and very outspoken almost all the time. And more often than not it would ap-pear that the news corporations and the media are only adding more fuel to the fire. Take for example the recent march in Washington D.C. led by Fox News pundit Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck held what he called a “March to restore honor” on August 28. At the culmination on the march Beck gave a speech on the steps of the Washington Monument. I would say that to try to construct oneself so obviously in the image of Dr. King would be a bit much: too brash, too presumptu-ous. But tack on the fact that, yes, August 28th was the anniversary of Dr. King’s indelible march on Washing-ton and you have created an affront to his legacy. True, Beck did disperse his bilge to the public a few steps below where Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Furthermore, Beck did state that he had not planned for his march to coincide with the anniversary; he had merely picked an open date in his schedule. However I find it even more disconcerting that Glenn Beck a) doesn’t know when Martin Luther King Day is and b) thinks it removes all offense if he places his podium three steps lower. Perhaps I am being a tad too overt in my loath-ing for Glenn Beck. The crux of my argument is this: Glenn Beck held a march to “Restore Honor”; I am not sure where the honor went, whose it was, and how Glenn Beck had the power to restore it. And for those reasons it appears to me as if Beck’s rally didn’t have much purpose

and was merely some fox-news orchestrated fear monger-ing. And it frightens me that this type of thing is becom-ing more and more common. Liberal Media outlets do it too. Believe it or not BP oil henchmen will not actually sneak into your house, take all of your money and swap your organic Trader Joe’s cereal for some fascist breakfast food that was mined by the poor children in Uganda. And Glenn Beck will not actually brainwash the entire nation into a bunch of Tea-Party Lemmings. So for those individuals who feel that the state of things have gone too far there is finally an answer: a light at the end of the tunnel if you will. The host of Comedy Central’s Daily Show, Jon Stewart, is holding a rally: a rally for all those people that aren’t actually thirsting for the blood of those who disagree with them. The website for the rally (“http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com/”) asks participants to: “Join us in the shadow of the Washington Monument. And bring your indoor voice.” Yes it is an-other march on the Washington Monument. Yes it may be a parody on Glenn Beck’s restoration of honor. But pre-dominantly it is a chance for some reason to finally return to the media and the people of America. We are at a time in the history of our nation where politics is perhaps the most divisive issue on the table. Re-publicans and Democrats can’t seem to find anything to agree upon and as a result the expediency and efficacy of our government is suffering greatly. For that reason, and because I harbor a deep adoration for Jon Stewart I am go-ing to try everything in my power to make it to the Rally to Restore Sanity. Perhaps travel and funding and housing and parental permission will be an issue, but this could be the defining moment of our generation. We may not have a Woodstock. We may not have a crumbling of the Berlin Wall. But we will have a rally full of nerds in ironic t-shirts carrying ironic signs trying to get across the message that sometimes sanity isn’t that bad of an idea. And that is something I simply cannot miss.

Photographs by Sylvie Krause, Photo Editor

The Banner Magazine October 2010 Page 4

World UpdatesMelina Yingling/MCT

taken; “It helps you obtain real world information you’ll actually be able to apply.” Mr. Kritzer, the beloved eco-nomics teacher, commented, “Given what is in the news these days with [economic] reports and everyone fixating on the economy, it is important to have a certain amount of information to properly understand what is going on.” He described the topics typically covered in one of his economics courses: material about Wall Street, Macro-economics: looking at the economy as a whole, the GDP, unemployment and inflation; and Microeconomics: such as markets and firms (which includes the concept study of supply and demand) and prices and costs. However, Mr. Kritzer reminded that there is the one semester course of Honors or College Prep economics and the IB Econom-ics options, and additionally there is the Penn State course program, which also offers economic disciplines. When inquired as to his favorite part of teaching the course, Mr. Kritzer admitted, “Well, technically economics does not include business – and in college business courses are to-tally separate from economics – but I include the stock market and financial topics, which are most enjoyed.” He also mentioned the two movies, Wall Street and Boiler Room, which they watch and are always found to be en-tertaining and interesting. Most importantly, Mr. Kritzer said that he makes all the theories he teaches relevant to real life, which is probably why so many students finish the class with such a positive impression. There is an incredible variety in the electives offered at Harriton and ultimately there is something for everyone. It is a shame that so habitually, when the time comes at the end of the year for students to make a choice for their classes next year, they hastily choose an elective based on titular description only. This has hopefully at least introduced all the vast options available, but if any of them are found particularly titillating, it is encouraged to pursue even more details about the course and seek out the teacher of it. Do not wait until a week before the choice must be made; embrace Harriton’s diverse palate and take advantage of it.

Harriton Electives

Gabe CavallaroBe sure to celebrate Boss’s Day this month, coming up on the 16th of October. The holiday originates from a certain Patricia Bays Haroski, an employee at the Illinois branch of State Farm Insurance Company, who registered the holiday in 1958. She chose the date because it was the birthday of her father, who was also her boss. So to everyone out there make sure you give your boss the appreciation they deserve on the 16th, and just be happy you don’t work for Michael Scott.

Boss’s Day

Drops of JupiterJulia KottlerAt the end of this month there will be an astronomical event that will not happen for another 12 years. This is the closest the gas giant, Jupiter, will be to the Earth until 2022. Jupiter will be in opposition. This means it will be opposite the sun in Earth’s sky. Other exciting astronomical events are also taking place this month.

A Journey Around the WorldGabe CavallaroIn October 1974 American David Kuenst became the first person to ever complete a round-the-world journey on foot. The trek began in Waseca, Minnesota, Kuenst’s hometown, and spanned four years. In total he traveled 14,500 miles and crossed four continents. His reason for embarking on such a trip, “I was tired of Waseca, tired of my job, tired of a lot of little people who don’t want to think, and tired of my wife.”

The Monthly Milestone

Jackie MilestonEditor-In-Chief

“If you want to live high, live high; and if you want to live low, live low; cause there’s a million ways to go, you know that there are.” -Cat Stevens

In a sense I feel blessed to have parents who have always proponed the ideal, “pursue your dreams.” In my mother’s terms, “Even if it’s shoveling manure, if it makes you hap-py, go for it.” Recently, my sister took this advice to heart and has been working at a horse stable nearby her college, literally “shoveling manure” to help support the indepen-dent purchase of her childhood sweetheart, Rocky, a cocky quarter horse. She lately brought up to my mother, “Hey, remember when you said that thing about shoveling…” The country we live in is still flooded with hearts following “The American Dream,” but what exactly does that term mean? Does it mean a hearty family with a shuttered house and a white picket fence? A stable job? Wealth? The security of freedom? When the nation was new, as the Constitution was being written, and arguably far before that, it would seem that Freedom was the dream that colored everyone’s mind. And when immigrants flooded over the sides of boats onto the shores of America, maybe their dream was just a simple, stable job of any sort. And maybe in the first half of the past century, as wave after wave of soldiers set off to fight on foreign soil, perhaps the American dream then was just for a family in a house with a white picket fence. And now, in an age where people hoping to secure their American Dream get slighted by those perpetuating their own, like our trusted stockbroker or notable company executives, maybe the American Dream is just a race for wealth. The real question is: why has the American Dream ever been anything other than a quest for happi-ness? It may have started that way, but in the process, it seems other people’s quests tainted the general vision and gave the impression that the path to this vision is narrow and singular. A stable job of doing work you cannot stand for your whole life will not make you feel fulfilled. A white house with a picket fence could still contain a fam-ily with a broken heart. And if freedom cannot secure any happiness, what purpose is it serving? So forget ideals and expectations; if your American Dream is to shovel ma-nure, then be like my sister; do not over-focus on tradition or cave into friends, family or societies pressures. Follow my mother’s advice: If it makes you happy, go for it.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Lib-erty and the pursuit of Happiness.” -The Declaration of Independence

Uranus will be very close to Jupiter because it is also in opposition. There also will be a harvest moon at the end of the month. A harvest moon is the moon that is closest to the fall equinox, which is on September 23rd. So look out your window and see if you can spot the moving of the planets.

All of the Classics... In ColorLexi Harder When most of us think about the classic Greek and Roman marble statues, pearly white and stately fig-ures come to mind. In actual fact, a statue from that time would have been looked on as incomplete in this color-

less stage. For one of the lifelike statues to be considered finished, it would most likely be bathed in a series of vibrant hues and bright patterns. Uncountable years of wear have caused the paint to be faded or disintegrated, but special advances in technology have enabled scien-tists to detect where paint most likely once glowed on these ancient artworks. Although this idea seems totally foreign and bizarre, one need only think of the colorful Ancient Egyptian art and realize that perhaps multicol-ored statues aren’t too far-fetched.

FabricanGabe CavallaroDr. Manel Torres of Spain has made a breakthrough in the fashion business with his revolutionary Fabrican, your very latest designer t-shirt or pants— in a can. The clothes are literally sprayed onto the body from an aero-sol can. The spokesperson for Fabrican explains, “The fabric is formed by the cross-linking of fibers which adhere to create an instant non-woven fabric that can be easily sprayed on to any surface.” As the substance converges with the skin, it evaporates instantly, leaving behind the cross-linked cotton fibers. Although, this product was originally developed for clothing purposes, Dr. Torres doesn’t believe its ability ends there. He ex-pects the medical industry to pick up the product as well for use as an instant spray on bandage.

This is a poem from our former Editor-in-Chief, Costanza Maio. Costanza will be spending a year abroad in Spain. Aptly, this poem was inspired by Pablo Neruda’s “Po-esía”. The Harriton Banner wishes her Costanza the best of luck in all her endeavors. ¡Buena suerte!

I was released.I don’t know how,

I don’t know where,But there I was -

While, at the same time,There I could be no longer -

As what inside me livedEnclosed,

Suddenly burst.

I screamedWith the passion of a newborn

Just revealed a worldI thought I’d already made my own

That embraced me,Even now.

And I,Small amongst

The million blades of grass around me,Radiating with the warmth

Only possible from a thousand suns,Felt words and poetry jetting,

Spiraling, rushingOut of my body,As if possessed

By the fiercest will to live,

I broke free into the world.

Creative CornerContinued from Page 2

OpinionOctober 1, 2010

Sponge Says: Television

and the Modern Student Anjali DesaiExecutive Editor

Over the course of my high school career, I have developed somewhat of a niche, a routine of sorts. I go to school, attend my after school rehearsals and meetings, and do homework. Of course the appropriate meals are thrown in the mix. But probably the most important thing, or at least the most time consuming, is my television regimen. Television and I are like peanut butter and jelly; we just go together. The middle weeks of September managed to be the highlight of my year, as new shows and old favorites were re-introduced into my life. There are some people who watch little to no television, or some people that have those few shows that they’ve been watching forever. Somehow, there is something about each show that reaches me on an emo-tional level. I manage to watch almost every genre of television. Some favorites include Top Chef, Glee, Parenthood, Project Runway, and Community. Now I know that it may seem like a mid-sized, well-proportioned list, but these are just a few of the shows that popu-late my TV roster. How many in the final tally do you ask? I would say somewhere between 12-20 over the course of a year. I’ve never quite under-stood why I have such a bond with television. I was in my AP Litera-ture class a few days ago, when I learned what catharsis means. It is “the process of emotional ex-pression and cleansing as the re-sult of sharing the experience of the protagonist.” I think one of the things that draw me most to television is watching the main character go through change, and relating to their transformation.

That being said, I am the kind of person that sobs during the season finale. My name is Anjali Desai and I... I am a cryer. Now, when LOST ended, I’m sure peo-ple across the country shed a tear or two as Jack looked longingly toward the sky as ever-loyal Vin-cent lay down beside him. I also

cried when it came time for Ugly Betty to air its last episode ever. Now, Ugly Betty began with a huge bang, bringing in critical acclaim, and connecting with the underdog in all of us. As the series progressed over its four year lifespan, Betty went from being a gawky, nerdy Latina from Queens, and grew into a grace-ful, savvy, accomplished young woman. Her emotional journey moved me and made me dream of someday having that success, and taking that same journey. Even though she was only on my tele-vision screen, it felt connected to her. I have some hopefuls for the 2010-2011 television season, but I find that as I work harder and harder in school, I’m hesitant to find new shows and “emotionally drain” myself further. Although I have not yet given in to the phe-nomenon, The Event shows amaz-ing potential as a 24/Lost hybrid. Since both LOST and 24 ended their long tenure this past spring, television is desperately looking for something to fill both of these series’ infamous shoes. I’m also vastly excited for Outsourced, in which a Kansas man takes control of a call-center... in India! Now, I may be biased, but when I tell you that Indian people are funny, I’m not exaggerating in any sense. Throw a foreigner in the mix, and you’re golden. My life is full of essays, studying, tests, lectures, notes, and rehearsals. I wake up every morning early, and go to sleep late. And somehow, in the midst of it all, I find solace in sitting down with a cup of tea in front of my television at the end of the day, and enjoying the Office. I also love to simultaneously do my calculus homework whilst watching last night’s Grey’s. Who knows what the future holds for me? Perhaps my dorm won’t have cable. The sky might feel like its falling, but don’t worry… I al-ways have Hulu.

Sitara Soundarajan

Now that students are back to school, it seems right to reflect on the educational system in our country. With ongoing glo-balization, there has been more and more discussion on how the educational system in the United States stands in comparison to rest of the world. In the past, the US has stood head and shoulder above other countries in provid-ing education at all levels. Un-fortunately, this has changed over the last few decades. For exam-ple, in 1999, out of 21 industrial-ized countries, U.S. 12th graders were ranked 19th in math, 16th in science, and last in advanced physics. Meanwhile, China only had a literacy rate of 20% before 1949 when presently 91% of the country has instituted compulsory primary education. The illiteracy rate of young and middle age has declined to less than seven per-cent there. And only last year, 69% percent of eighth graders scored below proficient in read-ing. As the educational process in general is complex, the evalu-ation of its effects on the society is challenging to measure, it is not easy to define the exact cause of this deterioration. A recent article in Time magazine reports that over the last three decades, there has been a 123% increase in spending on education per student in our coun-try (Corrected to inflation this amounts to an increase of 212%) Yet, there has been a 0% change in educational performance amongst students! Even in the recent days, $53.6 billion of the $862 billion federal stimulus package has been allocated and given to the states to improve education in the country. The national educa-tion budget for private and public is $972 billion dollars per the US Department of education. A 2004 report from the Organization for economic Co-operation and De-velopment (OECD) states that US spends $11,000 per student per year and is tied for the first place with Sweden. So it would be reasonable to eliminate lack of resources as the cause of drop in the educational performance.

In 2008 the graduation rate from high school was 77% and well below most developed nations. This is in spite of the fact college graduates unemployment rate is 4.9% and their average income is more than $51,000 in comparison to 11% and $28,000 respectively for high school drop outs. This is somewhat surprising considering more than 85% in the US are provided free education in public high schools. Clearly dif-ficulty in commuting or lack of neighborhood public schools can-not account for poor graduation rate. There is a valid con-cern that college education in the US is expensive. The mean total cost including tuition, books and board for four years was $42,780 as of 2002. Although this clearly is not cheap, most students whose parents make less than $60,000 per year are provided aid by vari-ous agencies. However college tuition has increased three times as median family income between 1982 and 2007. I believe that this is an area where there may need to better ways to ensure that the US students do not fall out from pursuing higher education due to economic constrains. US can still take pride for being a sought after country for higher education. More than 670,000 international students attended US institutions in 2008-09. Our students should also be given opportunities to visit and learn at the teaching institutions in other countries. This would better prepare us to deal with so-cial, cultural and economic differ-ences across the globe. It is believed that 55% percent college educated female workers in early thirties were em-ployed as teachers in 1940s. The book ‘Superfreakonomics’ pro-vided me an interesting observa-tion; In 1960 40% of the female teachers scored in top quintile of IQ with only 8% in the bottom. Twenty years later fewer than half as many were in the top quintile with more than twice as many in the bottom. Although there definitely are great teachers, the overall teachers’ skills declined between 1967 and 1980 with test

scores dropping 1.25 grade level equivalents. Pay and prestige could be the cause of this situa-tion and I think it would be nec-essary for the policy makers and society to bring about a positive change. Fifty six percent of Americans think tenured, long-time teachers are not motivated to work hard and 71% percent encourage merit pay for teachers based on their students’ perfor-mance. As far as parents go, 52% of Americans believe they can be more involved in their children’s performance at school. On the other hand, if students don’t do their job, parents and teachers will have a hard time doing theirs. If students can be more motivated to learn, the workload balances out among the students, parents, and teachers. Gradually, if each plays their part, the current state of America’s education could possibly be fixed. One of the other areas that may need to be optimized is unemployment amongst US graduates. There has been a trend to employ from overseas for pro-fessional jobs especially in infor-mation technology and software industry. These graduates appear to come from institutions across the world that may not necessar-ily have adequate standards and accreditation. It is difficult to say that the 65,000 professional workers recruited from overseas each year are here merely because of better education. Regulatory measures need to be exercised to ensure that these jobs are pro-vided to the appropriately skilled person rather than someone who is willing to take a lower pay. I conclude by saying that we at Harriton undoubtedly have a perfect trio of students, parents and teachers. We should not settle for mere graduation from high school or participation in extra curricular activities, but aim to ex-cel in everything and anything we do – college placements, athletic achievements, theatrical perfor-mances or community services. Maybe doing our best could po-tentially take us one step closer to resolving the current problems in our nations educational system!

Taking On America’s Education

Sports Page 10October 1, 2010

It’s SettledEnter the Vick Era

Alex SettleSports Editor

As I watch the school buses roll-ing by, the leaves falling into a heap of litter on the ground, and my assignment book slowly fill-ing up, theres only one thing that comes to my mind: football sea-son. One usually associates September with the return of ev-eryday routines. Every morning I get to wake at the lovely time of 6:00 AM, I get to sit in class for six hours a day, and I get to see Mr. Myers bright and smiling face three days out of the cycle. Whatever you do during the year, you’re probably getting back into the swing of it now. The same goes for football. Once school starts, I always know that once the week is over I have a good Eagles game to look forward to. Who can resist the urge to watch Donovan McNabb throw a screen pass to Brian Westbrook, who runs for 30 yards behind Jon Runyan, Tra Thomas, Artis Hicks and Hank Fraley? Who could turn away from a Lito Sheppard “pick-six” or a Brian Dawkins tackle worthy of “Jacked Up?” So finally the 2010-2011 started on September 12, and I promptly turned on my television to Fox Sports. Kevin Kolb hands the ball to LeSean “Shady” Mc-Coy. The next play, Michael Vick comes in and throws the ball to DeSean Jackson, who has already become a fixture in the Eagles’ offense. Then later in the game I watch good coverage from Jo-selio Hanson and an interception by Nate Allen. I think we can conclude that the only thing that hasn’t changed is the man with the big headphones and the play-calling sheet that looks like a chi-nese takeout menu. So is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Well, much like any other good couch-sitting, football-watching, fantasy-sport-tracking man, I’m not a fan of change. However, as a good Cow-boy-hating, snowball-throwing, coach-booing Eagles fan, I feel the necessity to immediately turn hateful against any Eagles player who has a bad day. So now that you’ve read about what you probably already understand, at this point you should be thinking, “What is this schmuck of a Sports Editor getting at?” All in all, change is good. Michael Vick, playmaking extraordinaire and convicted fel-on – you don’t see too many ath-lete/criminal combos these days (except for Ben Roethlisberger, Donte Stallworth, Plaxico Bur-ress, O.J. Simpson and everyone in baseball busted for steroids) – is

the new front man of our beloved Birds. With Vick at the helm, the future is looking pretty bright. Keep in mind that he is only 30 years old, young enough that we can build a franchise around him for at least five more years, if not more. Animal abusing aside, one cannot deny the fact that he is an incredible athlete. If you don’t believe me, dig into your old col-lection of PS2 games and play Madden 2004 to remember how good he was. The biggest argument against Reid’s decision to start Vick is that “This is Kevin Kolb’s year to prove himself. We only gave him a half of a game and now we’re just turning our backs to him. We have to be thinking about the future, not the present.” While I do respect this opinion, you have to think of it this way: To Eagles fans: Have the Eagles won a Super Bowl? How much do you want them to win a Su-per Bowl? What would you do to get them to win the Super Bowl? Would you rather win a Super Bowl now or later? If you are a true Eagles fan, your answers should be: No, a whole lot, any-thing that the laws of physics would allow, and now. Kevin Kolb is by all means a talented quarter-back, I just cannot see any signs of Super Bowl worthy talent. We could give Kolb a shot and if he fails then try again next year with Vick or Mike Kafka, or maybe someone totally new. However, if we do this, we miss out on the golden opportunity that sits be-fore us. The NFC East has been turned completely upside down and no one besides the Saints is showing any sign of dominance in the rest of the NFC. Now is the time to take hold of our arsenal of young offensive weapons and be the best team in the NFC. Or if you prefer, you could take the pessimistic Eagles fan approach and say this: The offensive line wouldn’t even be able to keep the Science Olympi-ad team from getting to the quar-terback, so we might as well start the quarterback who can handle constant attack and still make a play out of it. In conclusion, whether you like him or not, Michael Vick is the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. Don’t be that guy and root against him so Kolb will come back. Trust me, you’ll be happier watching Vick succeed than watching him fail. Donovan McNabb is gone and the new era has begun, so in the words of The Joker, “Here. We. Go!”

Harriton Cross Country:An Insider’s Guide To Success

Max Norris

Contrary to common belief, track and field is not the greatest sport in the universe, Cross Country is. After hearing that Harriton’s XC squad was moving up from AA to the more competitive AAA divi-sion this summer and that they were losing some talented run-ners to soccer, the Harriton boys decided to work harder, instead of giving up, to accomplish their goal of qualifying for the state championship. Each runner made great strides in improving their dedication to the sport with the help of captains Connor Wortley and James Butler. The team’s first league meet was held on Wednesday, September 15th against Upper Darby, Conestoga, and Garnet Valley. On Upper Darby’s home course over hilly roads, forests, and through a river, two of Con-estoga’s top dogs took the lead through the first mile of the 3.1-mile course. Halfway through the race, junior Peter Downs took the lead and then cruised home for an easy victory in 17 minutes! Soph-omore Max Norris was close be-hind in 3rd and James Butler, run-ning his first race in over a year clenched an imperative 7th spot. Co-captain Wortley took 4th for Harriton and the third senior to finish in the Ram’s top five was

Isaac Jennings. The final two var-sity spots were won by Cameron Trainer and Ramses Caro. The team waited eagerly to hear the results. When it was announced that they came up 6 places short to Conestoga, they were slightly disappointed but were thankful to begin the season with a winning 2-1 record. Three days later was the next race, a large invitational at Rose Tree Park. Although Harri-ton was competing in the smaller schools’ division, there were still AAA schools in the race that were twice Harriton’s size. As the gun went off, everybody sprinted down the hill to get into good position. Harriton’s top four all went through the mile in under 5:16 and they were right on the shoulders of the leaders. Half way through the race, instead of slow-ing down from the agonizing, yet wonderful pain, they ran FAST! Norris surged into first place past Strath Haven’s duo and Downs responded beautifully. With But-ler only seconds behind, Downs asked Norris in between gasps for oxygen, “Hey, you want, to slow down?” The response was imme-diate and definite “No.” “Good.” Downs said. They didn’t. Coming up the ferocious hill with a mile to go, Coach Dick shouted, “This is where your Rolling Hill Park training

pays off!” Norris was passed by the Strath Haven duo during this grueling part of the course but Downs still held onto first place. He pumped his arms through the final 1.1 miles and won an invi-tational meet for the first time in an outstanding 15:50.5! Norris claimed 4th with a 16:03.7 and Butler finished 6th in 16:18. All three earned themselves National Elite honors on milesplit.com. The varsity Rams scored 64 losing only to Strath Haven, whose runners placed 8 spots bet-ter, scoring a 56. Harriton beat seven other teams including Bon-ner, Radnor, and Springfield. Af-ter an impressive JV race, every single runner for Harriton could truthfully say that each of them had obliterated his personal best 5K time! They were all over the moon because they were see-ing the dividends of all the hard work they had put into improving their talents. After Peter won the race, Coach Dick called all the young men into his office for a team huddle. He told them that even though they ran so fast that Saturday, with hard work through the rest of the season, they would only get faster. Only time will tell how many Harriton runners will qualify for the state champion-ship in Hershey later this fall.

Field Hockey: Not for the Faint of HeartSam LincolnStaff Writer

Fast, furious, and ready for a record setting season, the field hockey team is one of the most talented, dedicated groups of athletes at Harriton. Filled with adept, athletic players ranging in age from freshmen to seniors, the team is ready to take on what-ever their opponents might throw at them and make it to the state playoffs. Field hockey players need to be able to both sprint quickly over short distances and have good endurance to keep up with play for the whole game, as well as be able to play skillfully on the field. The Harriton team possesses all of these qualities and more. Before preseason even begins, field hockey players are recommended to attend a special three-day sports camp where they work on their techniques and get into shape for the coming season. Preseason begins in mid August with a bang. The team faces one of the most challenging preseason practice schedules out of all the Harriton sports, with twice a day two-hour practices five days of the week. If players miss a day of practice, they must stay in be-tween the two workouts the next day and run, run, run. But pure physical fitness and technical proficiency aren’t

enough to make a team great. It is the teamwork and leadership present within Harriton field hockey that makes it a team of excellence. Leadership comes from many different places—the coaches, as well as senior var-sity captains Eliza Brooks, Julia Fuchs, and Mackenzie Morgan, and junior varsity captain Anna Wegbreit. Captains, coaches, and players all work together to push each other to do the very best they can. And still, all members of the team—whether they are captains or not—show the drive and pas-sion for field hockey that makes Harriton the team it is. Members of the field hockey team show optimism for

the team’s future and chance at making the playoffs this year. Sophomore Adjoa Mante, a swing player, is excited for the season that has only just begun. “Our team’s doing great in practice, and varsity just had their first win in the central league. I see excel-lent things ahead for this team” says Adjoa, who is in her second season of Harriton field hockey. The girls of Harriton field hockey put an endless amount of work and time into getting better, and it is no doubt that their work will pay off this season. While the sport can be brutal and difficult, Harriton field hockey is sure to show that they can stand up to the challenge.

HarritonBanner

The

Harriton Field Hockey takes down Penncrest 3-0 (Max Doblin/ The Harriton Banner)

SportsOctober 1, 2010

Holden McGinnis

Nearly everyone at Harriton has heard about the incredible suc-cess of the girls’ tennis team, win-ning an astonishing six consecu-tive state championships. Megan Woolbert, one of this year’s team captains, has been a key to this outstanding accomplishment over the past two years. Currently part of the 1st doubles team for the Rams with her partner Taylor Spencer, Megan has high hopes for this year as well. “I think we have a great chance to win our 7th straight state championship this year,” Megan said. “We only lost one senior, Morgan Frechie, from last year’s team. Our singles play-ers and top two doubles teams continue to grow stronger with each year of experience. I think that playing with the same partner and a similar core group of play-ers the past few years has helped us become a better team. Also we haven’t had too much turn over of seniors the past few years. Many people have the misconception that tennis is not at all a team sport, but a lot of it is being sup-portive of your teammates”. As one of the many up-perclassmen on this year’s squad, Megan has a great understand-ing of what it takes to win the state trophy. She has played 1st doubles on each of the two previ-ous teams with Taylor Spencer as well. Megan and Taylor are two of this year’s five senior captains along with Jennie Shulkin, Laura Walzer, and Rebecca Weinstock. “We’ve all grown together as a team over the past few years. This year has been a little differ-ent though; we’ve worked harder to become more united as a team. We hang out more often outside of school, becoming better friends and I think it’s helped our play on the court,” said Megan. “We’re always there for each other, cheering at the fences while the last of our teammates finish their matches. Having so many return-ing players each year has helped us grow like a family”. “Our team is mostly se-niors, but our biggest addition since our first state championship team has been 2nd singles player

and sophomore Hannah Drayton. Another key sophomore is Re-nee Simms. We also have a new freshman this year playing 3rd doubles, Jenny White,” Megan said. The way Megan sees it, one of the best new additions that have come along with the new school building has been the set of new tennis courts. “At first I was kind of skeptical about the new building, but over time I’ve come to like it. Its amazing to have tennis courts right outside of the school again, it was irritating to have to take bus rides to public tennis courts the past two years, while the courts were under con-struction. We would always miss extra class and not be able to host as many home matches as before. Last year coach had said there would only be five courts, so when I arrived on the first day of practice and saw six, it was a nice surprise” Tennis has been a passion for Megan for most of her life. She started playing at age 7 and plans on continuing to play all the way through college. “There are four colleges that I am seriously thinking about attending: Boston

College, Lehigh, Richmond and Wake Forest. Wherever I end up I’m going to continue playing tennis there for club teams. I’ve played for so much of my life, I can’t imagine stopping in col-lege”. Though tennis is clearly one of her strong suits, it’s only one of the many activities and sports that Megan has become involved with over her years at Harriton. From participating in Harriton Service League (HSL) to playing softball, where she was team MVP last season, Me-gan has a full slate of activities. “Freshman year, I was either go-ing to do newspaper or yearbook and I chose yearbook,” Megan mentioned. “It’s a small group, only four or five of us, but we have a great time together and it’s become one of my favorite activi-ties at Harriton”. “The tennis team is something that I’ve always en-joyed, and that I will always re-member. Winning a third state championship for our senior class and seventh straight overall would be the perfect way to end our Harriton tennis careers,” Me-gan concluded.

Megan Woolbert on the new Harriton Courts (Alex Settle/ The Harriton Banner)

The Good, The Bad, The UglyHarriton Football

(continued from Page 1)

Led by the rushing attack of se-nior running back Spencer Reid and the aerial assault commanded by sophomore quarterback Pat Moriarty, the Rams pummeled and picked apart the Aces de-fense. Reid scampered in for the first score from 6 yards out, and then busted loose a 65-yard touchdown run. Moriarty then found Mike Allen in the end zone, and followed it up with a 6-yard pass to Ryan Kelly. Allen, a 6-0 180 lb wide receiver, was ecstatic after the win vs. Lower Merion. When asked afterwards about what it was like to put on such a show in front of everyone, Allen said “It felt great, and hopefully we can beat them next year when I’m a senior.” The next game was a tough pill to swallow for the Rams, as they lost to Strath Haven on the road, 35-6. Zico Gaeffke, a captain on the boys soccer team, made his debut as the kicker. Unfortunately, it was spoiled by the big night had by the tandem of Strath Haven running backs, Thurman Fortune and Brett Col-lins. Moriarty found junior Wide-out Dylan O’Donnell for the lone score in the loss. The next game would turn out to be more heart-break-ing. Harriton took on Springfield at home, and looked to shake off the Strath Haven loss. The Rams started out on the wrong foot, by allowing an early touchdown in the first quarter. A 66 yard touch-down pass from Moriarty to Allen was called back by a holding call, and the drive led to Gaeffke’s first career field goal. At the end of the first quarter, the Rams were down 14-3. In the last minute of the sec-ond quarter, Moriarty found the 6’3 tight end Ryan Kelly in the end zone for the score, and after the extra point, the Rams found themselves only down 14-10 at half. In the third quarter, the Rams were fairly silent offen-sively, besides the incredible one-handed grab made by Allen. The lone mistake by the Rams in the third was a defensive miscue that allowed Springfield quarterback Dontae Allen to rush for 90 of his 170 rushing yards for a long touchdown. After blocking the extra point, the half ended at 20-10, with Springfield doubling up on the Rams. The team never gave up. With 6:11 left in the final quarter, Moriarty threw it to Al-len for six and just like that, the Rams found themselves down by a mere four points. What hap-pened next was unforgettable. With less than two minutes left in the game, the Rams had the ball, 4th and 23, from the Harriton 10 yard line. It would take a miracle to convert in such circumstances. Well, Moriarty had Lady Luck on his side on that play, as he some-how managed to not only avoid the sack and get the ball out of his hand, but to complete the pass

for a whopping 56 yards to Mike Allen. On the next play, however, his good fortune took a turn for the worse as he was picked off in the end zone. Some fans began to leave the stadium, assuming that Springfield would just take a knee and run out the clock. Instead, they ran the ball. This proved to be a costly move as the Spring-field running back fumbled on the very next play. The Rams had a new shot at life. That is, until Mo-riarty was picked off again by the same defensive back. “Last week vs. Spring-field we had a great week in prac-tice, everyone was ready to take out the other team, and emotions were everywhere when the game was in our grasp,” says Junior linebacker Kody Carb, “I think we all just wanted it so much, and to have it be that close was just even more painful. Everyone was so upset after the game, and who wouldn’t be? We poured our hearts and souls out on to the field and played our best game yet… We will take back what was al-most in our grasp before. We’re back with a vengeance this week, and we’re ready to take home an-other a win for Harriton.” Quarterback Pat Mo-riarty felt that something was missing within the team before, but says now the team has found it. “We came into the game (vs. Lower Merion) with confidence and that is why we played as well as we did. We didn’t recognize our potential until our last game against Springfield where we learned that if we play as one, we can give any team in our league a run for their money.” He also feels confident with how the rest of the season will shake up: “I think our skill players are the best in the league, and if we can play as one team we will guarantee a successful season for the well deserving fans.” What does senior cap-tain John Wright think is needed to get the Rams another win? “I would say in order to accomplish another win, we as a team need to stay focused, believe in ourselves, and keep working hard! We have the talent to win games, so let’s shock the doubters. Win one more game? No! We plan on winning a lot more than just one game.” Take into account Har-riton’s season thus far. A win, two losses, and a game that the opposing coach said belonged to the Rams. This is quite impres-sive for a team that has only one winning season in its last 18. Key Central League matchups against Haverford High and Radnor await for the Rams, who look to contin-ue their push towards a possible District playoff berth by racking up more crucial league victories. And with the leaps and strides we’ve seen this team make so far, who knows. Give this team an-other few weeks, and we may be looking at the newest powerhouse in the Central League.

Harriton’s defense squares off against Springfield (Jonathan Neff/ The Harriton Banner)

Senior SpotlightHitting the Courts with Megan Woolbert

A & E Page 12October 1, 2010

Julia Olivieri

Summer is the time for sipping lemonade on the porch, splash-ing around in the neighbor’s pool, and heading to the movie theater! Classic summer movies invite endless repeat viewings, and are known for cheap thrills, clichéd love stories, and slow-motion ac-tion sequences--with a real gem thrown in every once in a while. This summer was no exception. The season of big hits started off early – Iron Man 2 hit the theaters on May 7, mak-ing $100.2 million the first five days after release. As a sequel to an action movie, I didn’t think even the natural charisma of Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., would be able to pull off an interesting, non-redundant film, but I was pleasantly surprised. The movie worked, and not just because of a new, intricate and attention-grabbing plot, but be-cause the creators made use of the franchise’s greatest strength – witty dialogue and unexpected humor. The plot focuses on Tony Stark’s two major con-flicts: one with the government (Congress isn’t too happy with a citizen having the most powerful weapon in the world as his per-sonal property), and the other with a burly Russian named Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), a long-standing enemy of the Stark fam-ily, who strives to build his own Super Suit. This action is set off by Stark’s personal dilemma of being diagnosed with less than a year to live because of the origi-nally life-saving implant in his chest. I tend to get bored during long fight scenes, so I was glad that action took a smaller role in this movie – until the end, of course, when all loose end were tied up with an epic battle. Also, instead more stale “bad guys,” the main antagonists were as un-predictable as the smooth talk-ing hero, as Ivan Vanko’s parrot buddy and the main evil senator’s patheticly laughable demeanor demonstrated. Gwyneth Paltrow, Scar-let Johansson, and Don Cheadle completed the all-star cast, all of whom delivered entertaining per-formances. Iron Man 3 is set to be released on DVD on Septem-ber 28. The next big movie re-lease had a special place in my heart– and, it seems, in the hearts of people all over the world, as Toy Story 3 was the highest-grossing movie of 2010, both in the US and Canada and interna-tionally, garnering $1.031 bil-lion worldwide. The first two Toy Story movies were unusual in their originality–the first was completely amazing with its abil-ity to bring toys to life and give them realistic and indelible per-sonalities, and the second movie was even better. With more than ten years between the releases of the sec-

ond and third movies, many peo-ple were apprehensive about the quality of the film, though most critics expected something good. I shared this uncertainty, but I was completely blown away by Toy Story 3, which, with its combina-tion of original music, hilarious one-liners, engaging and reliable characters, and the intense, deep-ly human experiences played out so successfully by toys, is sure to become an instant classic. The plot follows Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and friends through a series of adventures set against an emotional back-drop: how will they move on as their owner, Andy, heads off for college? Even though the battle between holding on and letting go is fought out by the toys on center stage, Andy’s goodbye to his single mom is still one of the most powerful scenes in the movie, rivaled only but the in-tense realization of mortality the toys experience in the incinerator where they become terrifyingly close to being burned alive. The movie ends with Andy passing on his toys to a wonderful little girl who will play with them and ap-preciate them, and this passage to adulthood will make any watcher dab at his or her eyes (except for maybe the kids for whom this movie was supposedly made in the first place). Toy Story 3 was the heart of the summer, and a shoo-in for the Oscar in the “Best Animated Film” category. It is currently in select movie theaters and will be released on DVD on November 2. Five years ago, a vam-pire/werewolf movie would have been sure to have at least one au-dience - teenage boys who needed their fill of blood and guts. Now, vampires are less bloodsuck-ing fiends than hopeless roman-tics with complicated love lives. Eclipse, the third movie in the Twilight series, has everything the previous two had, but on a grander scale--more tension, more romance, more supernatu-ral creatures, more violence, and more shirtless werewolves. With all of these elements packed in, however, there just wasn’t room for a good stand-alone movie. The plot focuses on the choice human protagonist Bella

Swan (Kristen Stewart) has to make between a vampire or were-wolf lover, with a pack of vi-cious and bloodthirsty “newborn” vampires thrown in. The main emphasis is on Bella’s inevitable decision to give up her mortality to be with the man she loves for-ever, and the pain she feels when she realizes how much she’ll be missing. The movie was pretty much everything it was expected to be–an almost exact replica of the book, with a fan base that was able to break the record (previ-ously held by the second Twilight movie, New Moon) for money made from a midnight opening. It’s the kind of movie that’s made for teenage girls to see several times within the first week in the-aters, and then be forgotten about until the next movie is ready for release. The Twilight series has taken a lot of flak for being noth-ing more than romantic trash, but, it should also be recognized for what it does successfully – cre-ates a compelling love story with passable actors and a cult follow-ing that is impressive, to say the least. Eclipse was recently re-released and is still showing in select theaters, and will be avail-able on DVD on December 4. The next Twilight movie, Break-ing Dawn (Part 1), is tentatively slated for release on November 18, 2011. In these days of Netflix, on Demand, Tivo, Hulu, and ille-gal media downloading, it takes a special kind of movie to make the average person cough up an extra few dollars and head to the mov-ie theater, but this summer still ended with some winners – Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3, and Eclipse were three of the most success-ful movies of the summer. Even though indestructible suits, plas-tic toys, and vampires may seem like frivolous subjects for us to be especially interested in, it’s important to remember that these three movies have one similar and endlessly compelling thread run-ning through them – the issue of human (and non-human) vulner-ability, and how we each cope when we come up against some-thing bigger than we could ever imagine.

Superheroes, Spacemen, and Werewolves, Oh My!Bethany Katz

It’s back to school, and everyone is jumping into an exciting new year of extracurricular activities. This includes HTC’s fall musical, “Little Shop of Horrors,” which was written by Howard Ashman and composed by Alan Menken. “Little Shop of Horrors” premiered off-Broadway in 1982, and it was described as having a distinct 1960s quality. It was later revived in 2003, premier-ing on Broadway with enhanced orchestra parts. “Little Shop of Horrors” will premiere at Harri-ton on November 11 and close on November 14. The protagonist is Sey-mour Krelborn, a poor orphan, who lives on skid row and works at Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists. Seymour is in love with his co-worker Audrey, a beautiful blonde with a tacky fashion sense, and who is dating a sadistic dentist. While browsing the wholesale flower district, Seymour stumbles upon a mysterious plant after an eclipse occurs. He buys the plant and names it Audrey II. Seymour nurtures the plant, but it’s dying in its new environment at Mushnik’s flower shop. Seymour accidentally cuts his finger on a rose thorn, and Audrey II’s pods open up, thirsty for Seymour’s blood. With this,

Seymour realizes Audrey II needs blood in order to survive, and he allows the plant to drink his blood, which, in turn, makes the plant grow. As the plant gets bigger, it becomes popular, and it generates a lot of business for Mushnik’s shop. Seymour quickly goes from zero to hero for being the owner of Audrey II. Around this time, Audrey reveals she is un-happy in her relationship with the dentist and that she has feelings for Seymour. Mushnik’s shop closes so that they can spruce the place up. Seymour is having trouble feeding Audrey II enough blood to keep her healthy, so he stops feeding it. At that point, we learn the plant can speak, and it tells Seymour that by feeding it, the plant can make sure Seymour’s dreams come true. You will all be surprised by what happens next, as things start to get really inter-esting… This should be an ex-citing play with shocking twists, especially for those who want to have a smile on their face and who like being kept at the edge of their seats. The show also con-tains catchy tunes with an under-lying sense of dark humor. “Little Shop of Horrors” is a show you don’t want to miss!

Little Shop of Horrors, Coming Soon

Valerie Towolawi

Looking for a show to watch this year? With school just starting and teachers assigning homework at full force, who has time for much TV? But a new hit series you shouldn’t miss is “Hellcats,” a show that the Hollywood Re-porter says, “makes a graceful back flip, with multilayered char-acters that defy expectations,” and one that CW23 calls a “TV pep rally.” It’s so incredible and fun, you’ll be craving the next episode to arrive! After Marti Perkins—Aly Michalka from Disney Chan-nel’s “Phil of the Future”—loses her pre-law scholarship at Mem-phis’ Lancer University, one of the only ways she can get it back is by doing something akin to joining the dark side: trying out for the Hellcats, ‘the peppi-est, most annoying cheerleading squad’ (according to Marti), and the one she and her best friend, Dan Patch, are always making fun.

In the end, Marti makes it past the tryouts, replacing an injured, narcissistic, obnoxious cheerleader who doesn’t like the idea of someone taking her place. But now, Marti’s only obstacle is trying to get along with the Hell-cats while living with them, din-ing with them, and pretending she actually likes them. She has to do all of this while trying to stay out of the wounded cheerleader’s way, and attempting to keep the whole thing a secret from her mom, who caused chaos at her last gymnastic competition. Every Wednesday, tune in to the CW at 9 p.m. to watch the new show “Hellcats,” with actors like Aly Michalka, Ash-ley Tisdale from “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody,” Sharon Leal from “Why Did I Get Married Too,” and Matt Barr from “The House Bunny.” “Hellcats” is filled with more drama as the sea-son progresses, so you don’t want to miss it!

Hellcats!

Movie picksNew review

OutstandingWorthy effortSo-soA bomb Lo

cal c

ritic

Chi

cago

Trib

une

Min

neap

olis

Sta

r Trib

une

Mia

mi H

eral

d

Los

Ang

eles

Tim

es

Phi

lade

lphi

a In

quire

r

Sea

ttle

Tim

es

© 2010 MCT

Nanny McPhee

Flipped

Easy A

Machete

The American

The Town

Resident Evil: Afterlife

The Virginity Hit

Now Online!www.hhsbanner.com

A & EOctober 1, 2010

Train“Save Me, San Francisco”Train is back on track! With two top hits, “If It’s Love” and “Hey, Soul Sister,” they’ve made a rapid comeback. To those few who haven’t heard of this band… well, they are truly awesome, and they’re always fun to sing and dance to! This band’s sound is similar to that of Matt Nathanson and Lifehouse. If you haven’t yet heard their amazing music, I highly recommend Train! –Caitlin Doney

Mumford & SonsThe English folk quartet Mum-ford & Sons–who, contrary to popular belief, is not a fam-ily band—released their latest album, Sigh No More in October 2009 in the UK and early 2010 in the US. Only recently has it gained mainstream success, with its ever-so-catchy (and profane) single Little Lion Man. Singer, Marcus Mumford, describes it as an aggressive song that he wrote at an emotional point in his life. The music video for the single was nominated for a Video Mu-sic Award (VMA) in the category of “best cinematography”, and is currently being played regularly on VH1 and MTV. The music of Mumford & Sons can best be de-scribed as the catchiest folk-pop you will ever hear, and definitely worth checking out. They will be

playing at the Electric Factory on November 9!Sounds like: The Avett Brothers, Fleet Foxes–Jeremy Levick

RichGirlThis new American R&B group is currently in the process of re-cording their first, self-titled album, which will be released later this year. The group’s name stands as a metaphor for a rich-ness that does not imply mate-rial wealth, but an abundance of character and spirit; the members of RichGirl embrace confidence and strength of the heart, mind, and song. Director Ray Kay cre-ated the group’s first music video featuring “He Ain’t Wit Me Now (Tho),” their debut album’s lead single. So far, RichGirl remains relatively unknown due to lack of promotion. But, with their load of talent and meaningful messag-es, RichGirl has the potential to become the industry’s next R&B sensation.Sounds like: Destiny’s Child—Grace Tang

Surfer Blood“Astro Coast”

Surfer Blood, hailing from West Palm Beach, FL, is an “indie rock” band whose debut album, “Astro Coast,” draws immedi-

The Harriton Jukebox

Sam LincolnStaf Writer

While Christopher Nolan’s “In-ception” hit theaters pretty early in the summer—July 16—moviego-ers kept discussing it all through August and well into September. With its dizzying special effects, captivating plot, and mind-blow-ing twists and turns, “Inception” quickly became one of the most memorable and talked about movies of the summer. Even prior to its release, “Inception” received a lot of at-tention from the press due to the fact it had a completely original plot, setting it apart from the nu-merous sequels and adaptations of books and plays that have become prevalent in movie theaters over the last few years. And it lived up to this hype, proving itself to be an extremely original, breathtak-ing movie that had viewers leav-ing movie theaters asking them-selves, “Did I really just watch a movie, or was it all a dream?” “Inception’s” plot is all about dreams and the sub-conscious, and all of the hopes, dreams, secrets, and ideas hid-den away in the private areas of our mind. In “Inception,” anyone who has the correct technology can access any person’s subcon-scious in the form of a dream. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) markets himself as an “extractor”, who uses this mind-infiltrating technology to steal secrets from individuals’ dreams and to sell

them to others. Early on, Cobb is charged with the difficult, seem-ingly impossible task of actually planting an idea into someone’s subconscious, rather than stealing it. To do this, Cobb must create a team of skilled individuals and navigate a complex, multilayered dream while risking his own, and his teammates’, life—and sanity. The stunning visual effects of “Inception” make it plausible to think that the movie may have actually been filmed in-side a dream, rather than in real life. “Inception” is filled with numerous dazzling scenes, such a matrix-esque, gravity-defying fight scene, car chases and shoo-touts, and beautiful landscapes (or should we say dreamscapes?) throughout. Special effects aren’t the only thing that make “Inception” a spectacular movie. The cast list is full of famous names: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Ellen Page. Di-Caprio excels at portraying Cobb, a determined, quick-minded char-acter who is haunted by a terrible past. Gordon-Levitt is Arthur, Cobb’s right hand man. He puts all of the charm he showed in “500 Days of Summer” into his character, making Arthur love-able and witty but still levelhead-ed. Page plays Adriane, a spunky, intelligent dream architect who is determined to figure out why Cobb is so mysterious about his past.

Other characters include Eames, played by Tom Hardy, a man whose expertise in disguise is valuable in the dream world; Saito (Ken Watanabe) the Japa-nese business man, the one who gives Cobb the challenge of planting an idea in his business rival’s head; and Yusuf, played by Dileep Rao, a chemist who Cobb brings onto the team. While all of these actors and actresses are superb, one of the most interest-ing performances is Marion Co-tillard’s portrayal of Mal, Cobb’s deceased wife. While she has few lines throughout the movie, her presence as a twisted, evil mem-ory of Cobb’s creates an eerie, mysterious, frightening feeling that is present whenever Cobb and his team enter the dream world. The complexity of “In-ception’s” plot can sometimes make it difficult to understand. How deep into the dream are the main characters? Whose dreams and thoughts are we inside now? It is certainly a movie that you need to pay attention to if you want to follow the story… But you will not regret seeing this movie. The twists and turns of “Inception” will take your mind on an exhilarating journey through the characters’ subcon-scious. You will be on the edge of your seat for a good length of this action-thriller-drama-love story-adventure movie that practically creates a new genre all its own. “Inception” is definitely a movie worth seeing.

Inception: Diving Into Your Dreams

© 2010 MCT

#1 Album

A Thousand SunsLinkin Park

Top tracks Last week’s ranking in top five( )

United States1

2

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

5

(1)

(3)

(4)

(2)

(3)

(1)

(2)

(1)

(3)

(5)

Source: iTunes

United KingdomJust the Way You Are • Bruno Mars

Focus • Emma’s Imagination

Teenage Dream • Katy PerryDynamite • Taio CruzStart Without You • Alexandra Burke

Love the Way You Lie • Eminem & Rihanna

Club Can’t Handle Me • Flo Rida

Waka Waka (Espanol) • Shakira

We ... Americano • Yolanda Be Cool, DCup

Sonrisa • Ana Torroja

Science & FaithThe Script

SonrisaAna Torroja

Spain

Only Girl (In the World) • RihannaJust the Way You Are • Bruno Mars

Like a G6 • Far East MovementDJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love • Usher

Just a Dream • Nelly

Week ending Sept. 21, 2010

ate comparison to ‘90s alterna-tive rock-like Weezer or Built to Spill. The only difference: Surfer Blood has that factor of just be-ing more… chill. This album is consistent throughout, with catchy guitar/synthesizer riffs that will make you question your ability to restrain from humming or singing aloud (which is noth-ing to be embarrassed by). The powerful single, “Swim,” gained much popularity on the Internet prior to the album’s release, and it continues to find its way to listen-ers through internet music blogs, along with the album’s other hits, “Floating Vibes” and “Catholic Pagans.” Surfer Blood is like a modern, hipster version of the Beach Boys, and “Astro Coast” is sure to give you that beach-y, worry-free sort of vibe.–Jeremy Levick

Sleigh Bells“Treats”

This album by up-and-coming band Sleigh Bells, is, as the name states, a real treat. It’s a creative mix of two styles of music, pro-ducing a new genre that is in-creasing in popularity: noise pop. The band takes traditional pop melodies and ingeniously compli-ments them with electric guitars and a variety of distortion pedals to create a unique sound. Sleigh

Bells is known for its wild live performances and insanely awe-some music, and their new album “Treats” is no exception with songs such as my personal favor-ite, “Riot Rhythm.” It’s pretty obvious to see why the album’s number 39 on the Billboard Top 200. “Treats” has been known to sway the views of the most die-hard rockers to the bubbliest pop

fans. This collection of Sleigh Bell hits really has something for everyone, but it can also expand your opinion of what you like in music. All in all, it’s a very stimulating album, and I’d defi-antly recommend it for a party, or even if you’re simply looking for some music to add to your iTunes playlist. –Euphie La

Local Page 14October 1, 2010

The New Staff Contract ConflictJulia GeftmanLocal Editor

Although students may not have been tuned into school over sum-mer vacation, the Lower Merion School District administrators and teachers definitely were. This past June marked the end of the five-year staff contract that began in the 2005-2006 school year. For the time remaining after the ex-piration date, the staff of LMSD was working under no formal agreement. With the unpromis-ing economy that our nation has been facing causing the teachers to have new desires in their con-tracts, it was a perfect time for this contract to be created. How-ever, formulating this agreement was much easier said than done due to conflicting opinions be-tween the LMSD administrators and the Lower Merion Education Association (LMEA). Specifically, Chris Santa Maria, President of the LMEA and a teacher at Harriton, was the man representing the members of LMEA. However, LMEA doesn’t just consist of the teachers in the district; the association is also made up of around-the-school staff including technology staff, custodians, secretaries, office staff and much more. Throughout all of those staff were 1,320 em-ployed people working under no contract. After hearing from Mr.

Santa Maria, a deeper understand-ing of the contract and its issues, implications, and solutions was explained. He described the par-ticular challenges with the con-tract by stating, “The economy is in really bad shape right now. So you are going to the employer and asking for a raise and for bet-ter benefits and better working conditions and there is not a lot of that that is being granted to em-ployees out there at this time.” Likewise, our school dis-trict’s superintendent, Dr. McGin-ley answered similar questions and explained that, “The greatest challenge that we faced with this contract was the current econom-ic situation in the nation and here in Lower Merion. These past two years we have seen an erosion of our tax base and that has meant a decline in revenue for the school district. Our goal going in to ne-gotiations was to have a contract by the start of school that would benefit the future of our schools.” With the economy taking a toll on the contract, the district was also presented with the issue of catering to all of the different employees in the district. Within the group of 1,320 employees, about half of them are teachers. However, the other half are sup-port professionals who work in different areas within the district. Mr. Santa Maria explained this by stating, “The challenge there is to

bargain a contract that is fair to all [of the support professionals] and doesn’t leave any of the groups behind.” Though the teachers cur-rently have a settled contract for the next two years, people of the township were concerned with the implications of this problem. In early August with just a month left before the schools were set to open, there was still no confirmed contract. Administrators, teachers, and people of the district were in fear that a strike was going to oc-cur and that the new school year would have to be delayed. How-ever despite this fright, both the head administators and the staff of LMEA were luckily optimistic about the situation and worked hard to get a deal approved. Regarding the new con-tract that was approved by the Board of Direction just a few weeks ago, The Main Line Times reports that, “for the first time Lower Merion teachers and other district employees who fall under the collective bargaining agree-ment with the school district will have to pay into their own health insurance.” This will implicate about $2 million dollars for the school district for the duration of this contract. However, teachers did get a slight raise, as they had asked, which makes the new con-tract sound quite compromising for both parties.

However, two years isn’t as long as it may seem, and both the administrators and LMEA agree that they must think ahead for the future. Mr. Santa Maria clarified that “The law dictates that in January of the year that the contract expires, we have to be-gin forewarning. So our contract expires July 1st of 2012, and so January of 2012, a year from this January, we have to start bargain-ing. That leaves me seventeen months to do the homework that I need to do with my members and with studying what’s going on out there to get ready for formal ne-gotiations.” Although both sides wish that there had been a lon-ger contract, Dr. McGinley gave a positive outlook on where the situation is left right now. “We have two years to benefit from the changes that we have agreed upon in the new contract. That includes new opportunities for teachers and students to engage in on-line teaching and learning and a much better structure for teacher collaboration. This con-tract, although short in duration is a good foundation for the next contract.” Nonetheless, students may wonder where this leaves them. Although this contract’s main focus is on the staff, there is an advantageous side for students and their classes. Mr. Santa Ma-ria describes this advantage say-

ing that, “The new contract has language that will allow teachers to teach their courses online, to extend their course online. So a course that a Harriton student is taking now only in the classroom, part of that course, or maybe even that entire course eventually can be offered online now.” Similarly, Dr. McGinley specified, “This new language will allow us to be more creative in the use of tech-nology and make better use of learning time. I expect that some of those new opportunities will be in next year’s high school course catalog.” Both sides of this is-sue seem content with the cur-rent contract and seem pleased to know that there is a solution for the next two years. Additionally, as always, the employees of the Lower Merion School District can continue to stick with their priority of helping the students of the district succeed as much as possible. Despite any conflict that this contract may have brought to the teachers, the solution contract will not stop our studnets of Har-riton from excelling in the 2010-2011 school year. Though the so-lution only covers a short period of time, the Lower Merion Edu-cation Association and the admin-istrators are remaining optimistic that they will come to an agree-ment once this contract expires in 2012.

The New Lower Merion High SchoolAllison LangerStaff Writer

In June of 2004, the School Board authorized a contract with DWKCB Archi-tects, Inc. for the design of the new high school facilities. Six years later, Lower Merion students walked through the doors of their brand new build-ing. Us Harriton students had similar feelings last year as we took our first steps into the shiny and newly-painted lobby. How do students at Low-er Merion feel about their new school compared to the old Lower Merion? We asked students to share their thoughts on this huge and fortunate change. Although it is very exciting to see the new facilities, faimilar rules that were newly and strongly enforced last year at Harriton are now being implemented at Lower Merion High School. These rules, such as not eating in classrooms, not hanging anything on the walls because of fresh paint, and not leaving campus, will take some getting used to for most students

but are understood to be neces-sary in keeping LMHS in great shape and a safe place for many years to come.

What the students ex-pressed that they missed about the old school was their familiar-

ity that they felt in the old Lower Merion. Not just familiarity with knowing one’s way around the school, but rather the hominess

most students felt at there. How-ever, that does not go to say that seniors were happy about having

to ask lower classmen for direc-tions on the first day of school this year. The seniors, especially, shared many memories in the old

school and will be particularly sad to see it be knocked down. All would agree though, that the

state of the art facilities and the myriad of technologies offered at the new school are improved, more capable, and are all around

“better”. Students rave that some highlights in the new school in-clude the cafeteria and the library with its wall length win-dows. Also, Lower Merion students feel fortunate to have the pool on their campus and feel it is some-thing that sets it apart from Harriton High School now that the two are so similar. However they were of course excited to be sharing it with Harri-ton’s swimming team when the winter rolls around. It will be inter-esting to see how the students at Lower Me-rion High School con-tinue to adjust to their new school, facilities, rules, and technolo-gies. Although it may be a rough start, we

have high hope that their transition goes as

smoothly and is as successful as Harriton’s was.

The new Lower Merion High School (Sylvie Krause/ The Harriton Banner)

LocalOctober 1, 2010

New GPS Systems For BusesRachael Grossman

As a new addition to the many changes at the Lower Merion Schools, GPS systems are now being added to the school buses. They were installed to give su-pervisors the ability to track the buses locations. The District planned to station the units just for the next few months, although if there is positive feedback from the systems, they will be perma-nently situated. There have been multiple noted advantages to the GPS systems that help parents, students, and staff members. Supervisors of LMSD came up with the idea of adding GPS systems to the school buses to benefit the school. The school is able to support the parent’s questions and complaints asking where the bus is, and why it did not pick up their child at the des-ignated time. It was reported in a KYW interview that the super-visors will now be able to iden-tify where the bus is at any given point to help a student when they have missed the bus and must find their exact location. Officials will be able to determine when the

buses are stopped, and where they are located at any time of the day. This allows supervisors to keep a closer eye on the buses. Supervi-sors are able to assure all parents that the buses are doing their job and taking their child safely to and from school. Supervisors are also able to make sure that the buses are running safely and correctly. The GPS systems will alert if a bus is speeding, or goes outside a defined area. The school dis-trict will be able to track if the bus driver has made mistakes and gone above the speed limit, or even gone off route. This can al-most guarantee that the student’s bus ride will be taken seriously with the student’s safety as the bus driver’s main priority. Another priority of the district is to save money. The Main Line Times reported that although the purchase of the systems cost a total of $44,000 with a recur-ring cost of $23,000 a year, the GPS systems are also to be used as a money saving technique. The systems are able to track the buses idling time, which is when the buses are not moving, but still

using gas. The bus drivers will be able to keep an eye on their idling time and can make sure to cut down on the gas usage by turning off the gas while not in motion. By keeping an eye on the amount of fuel that is being used, Lower Merion School District will ulti-mately be able to reduce their fuel costs. The installment of the GPS systems to approximately one hundred buses of Lower Me-rion School District is a way to help all people of the district’s community. Students will benefit when they are uncertain of where the bus is located or if they miss their stop. They have the ability to find the exact location of the bus in order to catch the next stop so they can make it to school in time. Supervisors are able to monitor every move that the bus makes at any time of day. In addition, they can now see if the bus goes above the speed limit, or even off route and will work to save money by saving gas. With all of the advan-tages from the new GPS systems, hopefully all of the people within Lower Merion School District will be able to benefit.

LMHS Principal Helps Out His Home of Haiti

Julia GeftmanLocal Editor

Just under nine months ago the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti hard destroying the lives of the Haitians. At the time, this catastrophe seemed to have taken over the media and was definitely one of the most dramatic natural disasters that the world had seen in a long time. Less than a year later, it seems as though the me-dia has dulled down on reports of how life is over in Haiti. However life is surely not back to the way it was prior to this tragedy in January. Although it may have slipped through the minds of the media reporters, Wagner Marseille, the eleventh-grade assistant principal at Lower Merion High school has not for-gotten about his homeland. In an act to restore the education pro-grams over in Haiti with a group of workers from the University of Pennsylvania, Marseille spent eleven days during this past sum-mer repairing the place where he grew up just a few decades ago. The Main Line Times reported Mr. Marseille’s reaction to his life-changing experience. He expressed how little justice our family room televisions did on showing how much damage this earthquake really made on the lives of the Haitians. While it is just months away from the one year anniversary of the monster that harmed so many lives, very little improvement has been made

and the Haitians are still left hope-less of what there is to come. Mr. Marseille explained the conditions of life on this land telling how the people were barely clothed and had no shelter other than small tents. In addition, they are begging for money and on an average day were served little to no food. The Main Line Times also reported Wagner’s first impression after hopping off the plane of how strong the heat was right when they landed. However, hot weather doesn’t necessarily mean good weather, and the small tents that the people live in aren’t quite rainproof. Marseille explained how hard it was to look at the hundreds of thousands of citizens of Haiti that had no choice but to sleep on the damp floor while he stayed in an air-conditioned, nice, fully-built hotel during torrential downpours. It wasn’t just the living conditions that hurt Mr. Mar-seille’s heart while he was in Hai-ti. It was specifically the lack of educational systems. After gath-ering with politicians, principles, teachers, and many more form the area of Port-au-Prince, The Main Line Times reports that Wagner was informed that while schools may have had around five hun-dred students prior to the earth-quake, many schools are left with almost two hundred children. Al-though they are grateful for the few students that they still have, there is very little that they can do

with them now that their facili-ties, books, and materials have all been destroyed. With the motto of Lower Merion School District “Enter to learn; Go forth to serve,” Wagner Marseille was determined to use his personal experiences from our strong district and apply them to repairing education in Haiti. After returning back to a school district that has none of the same problems as those in Haiti, he was determined to do whatever he could to have LMSD work to-wards making a difference in the lives of the less fortunate people that he had seen this summer. He has begun his fo-cus on targeting educational and health to ensure that students can get an education and can stay healthy regardless of what their lives may look like outside of school. However, Marseille learned that it is important to fo-cus on specific schools and to not just donate to large organizations. The more specific Lower Merion can be with how we help schools in Haiti, the more schools they can get fully up and running. The people, facili-ties, and materials that Wagner Marseille viewed this summer showed him a side that he had never imagined in Haiti. With the endless amounts of technol-ogy that our school district offers, Marseille is positive that there is a large variety of steps that can be taken to turn this all around.

The Newest Way to Get to School

Caroline Dooney

Roby Burch, a sophomore at The Haverford School takes a new form of transportation to school – his horse. Since school started in the beginning of September, Burch has been riding his horse, Jet, to school every day instead of taking the school bus. His love for horses began at the age of 4 and thought taking his horse to school would be a good idea. His father came up with the interesting idea while the family was vacation-ing at their ranch in Montana this summer. When the idea was first presented, Roby and his parents were faced with the issue of find-ing a place for Jet to stay during the day. According to The Phila-delphia Inquirer, when Burch proposed the idea to his school’s headmaster, Joe Cox, he too was puzzled as to where this horse should stay while Roby was in class during the day. However Burch has a location in mind right near school. This was a piece of land next to the headmaster’s house. Luckily, the headmaster allowed Roby to build a corral, across the street from the athletic fields in the back of the campus. This has become Jet’s new home for the duration of the school day. Roby has established a usual routine for the day with rid-ing Jet to school He leaves at 6 a.m. to beat the morning traffic. He and his father found a route that would be most safe for a 16 year old and a horse trying to avoid morning traffic and busy roads. After a four-mile ride, he arrives at school at 6:45 a.m. and feeds Jet his daily breakfast. Burch changes into his mandatory uniform for the day and awaits the arrival of his other classmates. Can you imagine driv-ing on Lancaster Avenue at six o clock in the morning and seeing a horse with a boy riding it right next to you? Of course Burch re-ceives looks of confusion on his

ride to school, but he does re-ally give people some entertain-ment on their way to work. The students at the Haverford School seem to enjoy having Jet around. The younger students even feed the horse carrots in between classes. But Burch does take care of the dirty work. He cleans up the manure and feeds Jet during his frees. Burch even admits to The Philadelphia Inquirer “It’s a nice way to start the day.” He also says that he will always have a ride to school thanks to his horse, Jet. Especially since his older sib-lings who used to drive him to school, are away at college. Although Roby may be enjoying the attention that he is getting from his new ride, he tru-ly does love horses. He worked as a ranch hand doing all kinds of chores such as building water tanks, roping cows and cutting hay. When Burch turned 14 he got his own horse for his birth-day but it is kept at their ranch in Montana where they spend some of their summer. Of course, it is impor-tant to keep Jet and Roby safe so Roby makes sure he avoids trav-eling in the dark. Burch leaves af-ter football practice at 5:45 p.m. Burch changes out of his football uniform and back into his prop-er riding uniform. He joins the rest of the cars in Lower Merion Township in rush hour, however, he might get a few strange looks while on the ride.He is off on an-other four-mile ride back to his Gladwyne estate, where he keeps Jet at his family’s stable. Roby Burch will contin-ue to ride his horse, Jet to school for the rest of the school year. However, when another birthday rolls around and Roby turns sev-enteen, Burch told The Philadel-phia Inquirer that for his 17th bir-day he is hoping for a truck. Even though a car won’t be quite as fun as Jet, Roby will be able to drive himself to school in his truck in-stead of his horse.

A Lower Merion School District school bus (Tyler Schechter/The Har-riton Banner)

Spotlight Page 16October 1, 2010

Julia CarpSpotlight Editor

It’s 4:30 on a muggy August morning. The sun will be-gin to rise in about an hour. Your parents are fast asleep and it is so silent you could hear a pin drop. What are you doing? You may be having stress-related dreams about the impending school year, or you may be sign-ing off Facebook, enjoying the freedom of being able to stay up so late. You have no obligations to wake up in the morning and are holding onto the last days of sum-mer. But what is Hiba Ansar doing? It is Rama-dan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar. This is a month to “pray, fast, and cleanse yourself and your soul,” says Ansar, a Harriton senior. Now this isn’t any sort of fasting you’ve ever tried before. During Ra-madan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset every day for a month. That’s right: one month. However, the practice of fasting does not always come as a bother to those who observe the holy month. In fact, that would upset the purpose of the hol-iday itself. Hiba contends, “During Ramadan, one is supposed to be in good habits only. It is about pa-tience.” Muslims observing Ramadan are supposed to abstain from crude language and angry outbursts in order to demonstrate a more mod-est, positive, and peaceful attitude. Ramadan begins with the taraweeh prayer the night before the first fast. The word taraweeh origi-nates from an Arabic word meaning to rest and relax.

During the evening Hiba and her family gather at the local mosque, standing shoulder to shoulder with their fellow Muslims. The Imam, leader of prayer, re-cites the prayers. A portion of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, is read. While the congregation is listen-ing to the Imam, they carry out four cycles of motion: standing, bowing, kneeling with outstretched arms, and sitting. A brief interval of rest ensues and four more cycles follow shortly after. Besides having the goal of maintaining a pure mind-set during Ramadan, mus-lims aim to finish reading the Quran during the thirty days of the month. Hiba can easily accomplish this goal by attending the eve-ning prayer of taraweeh at the mosque, which is for-tunately located across the street from her house. At-tendance is not mandatory at these prayer services. Taraweeh can be recited in one’s home, but it is highly recommended to practice them with a congregation. At 4:30 a.m., Hiba and her family are prepar-ing for the daily fast by eat-ing traditional foods during sehri, the meal before the fast begins. Luckily for the Ansar family, this year many of their meals were the inspirations of Hiba’s grandparents, who spent five months visiting from their native Pakistan and were able to contribute to this year’s festivities. Once they have filled their stom-achs with traditional foods, the fast begins around 5:00 a.m. A dua, or prayer, for the intention of fasting, is recited, which is the official closing of the fast. Hiba

then washes herself for prayer. During Ramadan, practicing Muslims like the Ansars must pray five times a day. “If you fast without praying, it is said that its just like you are staying hungry,” explains Hiba. The first prayer is Fajr, which takes place before sunrise. After prayer, Hiba then goes back to sleep and wakes up at a more typical hour for Harriton students over the summer. She goes about her normal day, with the exception of eating or drinking. At noon, Hiba re-cites the Dhur prayer. She prays then again in the af-ternoon, reciting the Asr prayer. After the Asr prayer is delivered, it is time to begin preparing for Iftar, the ending of the daily fast. When Hiba cooks, it is an epic struggle to not break her fast. One lick of the fingers and a difficult day of fasting is ruined. But Hiba is able to resist the urge to do so, for she is mo-tivated to please God and to wait until sundown. When the sun finally sets late in the August day, it is time to break the fast. A dua for the intention of break-ing the fast is recited once again and God is thanked for the food. Now it is time for the Ansars to relieve their hunger and thirst and celebrate a day of fasting. This daily routine of fasting and prayer continues for the entire month of Ramadan. How difficult is it to fast during the day for thirty days straight? I fast annu-ally for the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, but can never imagine do-

Ramadan With the Ansars

ing it every day for a whole month. Hiba has been fast-ing every year since ele-mentary school, practically since she could understand the concepts of Ramadan. She reassured me that fast-ing at school isn’t as bad as fasting while she is at home because she is constantly keeping busy with classes and theatre rehearsals, rath-er than being tempted by a not-so-distant refrigerator. But what does it feel like to have a pit of hunger in your stomach every day for an entire month? What is the point of putting yourself through this experience? Hiba views Rama-dan as a meaningful expe-rience. Her parents have never forced any Muslim customs upon her. It is her choice to practice her re-ligion and fast during Ra-madan. “As I grow older, I realize the beauty of the fasting and what it teaches me. It reminds me that there are thousands of people on this earth that have nothing to eat at all.” One would think that partaking in Ra-madan would hinder Hiba’s social life, but she is actual-ly able to spend more times with friends and family. For Iftar, the Ansars attend par-ties with other Muslims to celebrate the breaking of the fast. This is similar to the Jewish custom of holding break fast parties for Yom Kippur. Ramadan ends with Eid ul Fitr, commonly re-ferred to as Eid, the celebra-tion of the conclusion of the fast. To many Muslims’ relief, it is forbidden to fast on this day. Hiba and her family usually wake up and

attend an Eid prayer. After the prayer, the Ansars attend several parties throughout the day to celebrate the end-ing of the month of Rama-dan and the conclusion of the fast. The fast is broken with a date, a fruit indig-enous to the Middle East, where Islam first began. Muslims break the fast with a date because on the first Ramadan, Muhammad, the prophet, broke his fast with a date as well. The day is spent with friends and fam-ily and eating traditional Pakistani dishes. For the termination of Ramadan, the kids in Hiba’s family are rewarded for fasting by receiving money from their family. Eid seems like it would be physically drain-ing from waking up before sunrise and having a full, eventful day. Hiba says, “At the end of the day I am beat tired from all the par-ties and socializing, but it’s so much fun!” And with that, Ra-madan, one of the more physically and spiritually demanding holidays known to man, ends with massive celebration. After thirty days of consecutive fasting from sunrise to sunset, Hiba is able to eat during the day! She feels refreshed, like she has cleansed her soul. It even feels odd for her to eat in the middle of the day! Besides feeling accomplished for complet-ing the fast and revitalized, Hiba feels grateful for her experience. “[After Rama-dan], you just appreciate what you have more and I just feel more in tune with my faith and my goals as a human being.”Hiba Ansar and her grandmother (Hiba Ansar/Reprinted with permission)

The Ansar family gathers before their bevy of Eid celebrations (Hiba Ansar/Reprinted with permission)

October 1, 2010

Documents

Transcript of October 1, 2010